cnocno

[allherfaeriesmeetinjuly]

obsessed with russian “doomed” music and german expressionism art rn

[talbaquix]

A layman's guide to olympic fencing—

for writers, artists, olympic fans, or the otherwise curious.

disclaimer: i say layman for a reason! i'm not at all a professional, or even good, but i have been fencing (very) recreationally at an amateur level for ~7 years. also, my exposure to sabre is extremely limited, and i am speaking from an american POV, so please feel free to correct me on any points you see necessary. :)

long post incoming...

So, what is "Olympic fencing?"

First and foremost, it is a sport. Not a fight, not a duel—a sport. One of five that have been permanent fixtures since the very first modern Olympic games, actually—hence the name! While other similar sword-wielding activities (such as historical European martial arts (HEMA), kendo, or wushu for example) may occasionally be referred to as "fencing," most people (me included) define fencing as this specific sport, and use other classifiers to categorize the rest.

Originally, fencing began as a form of military training in Germany and Italy, before spreading recreationally across more areas in Europe. Currently, the fencing scene is almost uncontestedly dominated by Italy, France, and Hungary, though both China/HK and the US have had some pretty stellar wins more recently.

In addition, French has a pretty large influence on fencing terminology and language, at least in the West. Be prepared!

The Basics

Three Weapons

Fencing is divided into three disciplines, each with their own equipment, strategies, and ruleset. They are as follows:

Épée: The classic. The heaviest and most defensive of the three blades, épée's simple ruleset allows for more elaborate strategy and really lives up to fencing's moniker of "physical chess." In épée, the entirety of your opponents body (including face, toes, etc!) counts as valid target area and all hits must be scored with the tip of the blade. In case of a double-touch (relatively simultaneous hits from both opponents), both opponents score points.

Because there's no need for specific target areas, épéeists enjoy minimal equipment, forgoing lamés (electric jackets, pronounced luh-may) and mask cords in exchange for a larger bell guard to protect the hand (that big bit of metal at the end of the blade). Épéeists can use pistol grips for more point control (molded to fit a hand), or a french grip to get a little bit of extra distance (red stick grip).

Épée bouts are stereotypically known for being slow and boring, since the absence of right-of-way (explained later) allows more freedom in trying to sus out opponent reactions and strategize, and the whole-body target + double-touch system means there's more benefit to fencing slowly in comparison to sabre or foil. It's not uncommon for épée bouts to begin with both fencers being carded for passivity! There's a lot of bouncing back and forth in the middle.

Saber (Sabre): Fast, slashing, and aggressive. The fencing you see in movies? Sabre. It's the only cutting weapon, where the entire length of the blade is able to register contact with the opponent. In sabre, the target area is the upper half of the body (including the face, but excluding the hand) and their lamés reflect that. Sabre also employs what is known as right-of-way/priority/advantage (from here on abbreviated as RoW) which, in the case of a double-touch, essentially gives RoW—and therefore the point—to the "aggressing" fencer at the referee's discretion. RoW is pretty complicated, but is very influential in how both sabre and foil play out.

In their ready (en garde) position, sabreists also hold their blade vertically to protect the face (as opposed to foil and épée, where the blade is held horizontally to keep the point towards the opponent). Sabreists also need special masks to register hits, as well as a mask cord to connect it to the rest of the electric circuit. Sabre bell guards are kinda swoopy and extend downward (think pirates) and are always "french grips" (aka just a stick).

Sabreists are generally known for being (respectfully) batshit insane and dramatic as hell. Bouts are extremely fast (rarely more than a few seconds) and look simple, and rely much more on pure athleticism and fast reaction times than épée. Most bouts consist of the two fencers running towards each other, maybe a parry or two, then both fencers scoring hits with a fair bit of screaming and angrily pointing at the ref. Oh wait, did I say running? Sorry, I meant advancing, since sabre is also the only discipline where crossing-over with your legs got banned because people just started sprinting towards the middle instead of actually fencing. Love them for that.

Foil (Fleuret, rarely): Oh, foil. The artistic middleman. Originating as a practice weapon, foil tends to sit in the middle of épée's careful point-control and elaborate strategy and sabre's split-second reactions and fuck-it-we-ball energy. Yet somehow, it ends up being more nit-picky and complicated than both. It has the smallest target area of the three, only covering the torso, as well as the lightest blade. Touches are only registered from the tip.

RoW's influence is noticeably large, since, compared to sabre, the longer bout times actually allow for opportunity for RoW to be traded between you and your opponent. Foil can almost be thought of as turn-based combat. Fencer A initiates the attack first, now has RoW, lunges and misses, which gives RoW to Fencer B. Fencer B attacks, gets parried (back to Fencer A), A extends, B counterattacks, A gets the point.

Foil stereotypes aren't as strong as épée or sabre stereotypes, but foilists are generally known for either being super pedantic and arguing w/ the ref about RoW or whipping their blade around constantly & being flowery (hence, "fleuret"). Because of how bendy the foil is, foilists can also do cool stuff like flicks (snapping your wrist so that the blade bends around, oftentimes to hit your opponents back) and can also get into pretty funny in-fighting situations a bit more often than sabre/épée (since corps-a-corps contact isn't allowed in fencing, and stepping back means you lose RoW, there's a lot of awkward up-close poking).

Some Positions

En garde: the basic fencing position. In essence, a squat, with one foot facing forward and the other turned out, roughly one and a half foot-lengths apart. This is the basis from which all other movements—the lunge, the advance, the retreat—should be executed, and the position fencers return to once an action is completed.

Lunge: the quintessential fencing attack. From en garde, extend your dominant arm, kick out your front foot, land forward, and extend your back arm for balance. To recover, bend your back leg and return to en garde.

Parry: the most basic piece of defensive bladework that every fencer learns, with the "beat" serving as its offensive counterpart. Consists of hitting your opponents blade to prevent a touch. There are nine different parries in classical fencing, but the most common (in foil/épée) are the four and six, which defend the inside and outside lines respectively.

Ettiquette & Other Fun Facts

All fencers must salute their opponent, referee, and audience (if there is one) before and after the bout. Usually just consists of "nodding" at the salutee with your blade before the mask is donned. At the end of bouts, a handshake with your opponent using your non-dominant hand is also expected. Many people substitute/add on to the handshake by tapping blades instead.

Unlike in tennis, seeing a fencer hold up a one on their hand after a touch is an acknowledgement of the opponent's point, whereas a closed fist is a claim of theirs.

When fencing without a ref, many people will slap their thigh to indicate the start of a bout.

Fencers may not speak while the mask is on.

Fencing clubs are also sometimes called salles.

While electrical equipment can vary between disciplines, all fencers are required to wear knickers, a plastron (under-arm protector), a body cord, a jacket, a glove, and a mask. For women, a plastic chest protector is also required. In sabre and foil, fencers also wear a mask cord and lamé.

The first safety rule most fencers learn is to never raise your blade towards someone without a mask on, and it's taken pretty seriously. Because the back of a mask is exposed, its also a big big no-no to turn your back to your opponent during a bout or otherwise lower your head.

Common Terminology

En garde, prez, allez! - On guard, ready, fence! Used to signal the start of a bout.

Halt! - Said by referees to. halt the bout.

Strip/piste - The surface on which fencers fence. Usually around 2m wide and 14m long, the lines on the piste also dictate where fencers must move to to begin bouts, and where they're considered out-of-bounds. Sometimes, they're on raised platforms. Yes, people have fallen off, yes, it's extremely funny.

Feint - Probably what you think it is.

Disengage - Moving your blade in a little circle to avoid contact with what is usually an incoming parry/beat. On a very basic level, straight attacks beat disengages, disengages beat parries, and parries beat straight attacks.

Fleche - An explosive running attack. Due to not being able to cross-over, sabreists use "flunges" instead, a mix between a fleche and a lunge that essentially entails flinging yourself at your opponent in a flying lunge.

Balestra - hop :)

Riposte - An immediate attack done after a defender's parry. Usually heard as "parry-riposte."

Tempo - A kind of nebulous concept, but very similar to the musical definition of the word. The pace of a bout, sorta. Often used when someone is advised to break tempo or if one fencer is controlling the tempo of a bout.

FAQ

Why are the blades bendy? To keep us from dying, mainly. What, you want the metal pole people can throw at each other at the same speed as a bullet (literally) to be solid? Also, blades break a lot already, especially in the hands of the inexperienced—they'd snap a hell of a lot more if they weren't flexible. Ouch.

Does it hurt? About as much as getting poked really hard with a steel stick would. Leaves bruises often, but cuts very rarely. You get used to it. The real kicker is staying in en garde for that long. Trust me, your quads will be screaming.

Is it- No, it's not dangerous. If you follow the rules, fencing is actually extremely safe, especially compared to contact sports.

Does a red light mean no touch? No. One fencer is assigned a red light that lights up whenever a touch is made, and the other is given green. In sabre and foil, yellow (sometimes white) means whatever the fencer hit was off-target, and should not be counted as a point. Épée doesn't have an off-target light, since épéeists don't wear lamés.

How do the masks know when a point is scored? Often asked upon seeing the little lights on the side of masks light up upon touches. Unless you're "dry fencing" (no electricity), you're typically hooked up to a circuit. If you fence épée or foil, there's a little button on the end of your blade that registers when pressure is added onto it. When a hit is scored, the signal goes through the wire in your blade, up your body cord, and eventually to "the box" (and your mask if you're fancy), and the corresponding light is flashed.

Why hold your hand behind your back? Most people don't! Some beginners do it to prevent themselves from reflexively moving their non-gloved hand in front of them when being attacked (which is against the rules), but most fencers either keep their hand relaxed at their side, raised in a t-rex pose, or occasionally above the head.

Helmet? Mask.

Sword? If you want.

Touché? Often "touche," actually. No accent.

Paralympics? On (stationary) wheelchairs. Extremely cool, actually, and very hard. Check it out!

Expensive? To get all your own stuff? Yes. But most clubs will rent you equipment, or sometimes lend it for free! But yes, more expensive than, like, soccer. :(.

Is it fun? Absolutely. To quote some random internet user, "it's like chess, at 90 miles an hour, oh and there's swords!" I would 100% recommend it to everyone, especially if you're on the older side (fencing isn't super age-restricted at all—seeing a 12 y/o and a 70 y/o facing off on a club piste isn't uncommon!) It is exhausting, exhilarating, and super, super fun. Give it a shot!

.

Please feel free to send any and all questions, corrections, or musings my way. Thanks for reading—I hope this was interesting and/or useful!

[scalproie]

whatever. tekken hadesgame AU

or as I like to call it: "what if Kaz raised Jin: God Edition lmao"

so. to lay the groundwork:

They're all gods/powerful immortal beings of an unspecified pantheon (but still loosely inspired by a pretty famous one I'm sure you'll recognize)

Big Bad Thundergod King Heihachi (whom I am now realizing shares quite a lot of similarities with good ol' Zeus), after getting bored and worried he's raising a weakling unfit to be his heir, still threw his little son down a cliff, except this one was from the highest heavens to the deepest hells, to make sure that if the little godling died, well, the death would actually stick. Which it did.

UNTIL another deity who's the personification of the devil gene (and who kinda look like Kazumi-but-it's-unsure-wether-or-not-it's-actually-Kazumi) took pity on him and revived him by giving him part of itself/hell aka the devil gene. So now Kazuya is "alive" and immortal again, but he's now bound to hell, aka he can't live away from it for very long. And yknow what they say, if you're stuck somewhere, might as well become it's ruler. Especially if you've gained the favors of the entity that embodies the place and that you've found a new life goal in making daddy dearest's life unbearable.

Anyway eons passed and Kaz's brothers (his adopted one Lee whom ascended to godhood on one of Heihachi's whims as a way to counter his annoying firstborn's meddling, and his heroic half-brother Lars) reached out to him one day to propose an alliance to take their tyrannical father down. Kaz only agreed on the condition that he get to expand his domain once Heihachi is out: if he cant leave hell, no worries, he'll just make hell bigger. Anyway Heihachi's children rebelled against him and with their might combined they managed to take him down, with Kaz even having the honor and pleasure to deliver the killing blow.

For the aftermath tho, when it was time for Kaz to begin his conquest, his brothers came back on their word to let him, bc Lars Actually Gives A Damn About Mortals and he knew full well that Kazuya wouldve had exactly the same rule as Heihachi if they let him, so they didnt (and Lee is more neutral on his views toward mortals but he gets along with Lars FAR better than he ever got along with Kaz so the choice on who to back up was easy). And even though Kaz 100% wouldve been as bad as Heihachi is he was allowed to rule over mortals as Lars thought he would be, and Kaz KNOWS it, that doesnt mean hes not gonna be mad that his brothers didnt keep their words to let him be evil in peace.

Well if he cant have what he wants the fair way, might as well try to take it by force. And thus Kaz resumes his battles against his brothers with his attempts at invasion of the mortal realm.

This goes on for awhile with things going great for Kaz as he is the stronger sibling out of all of them, until his aggression puts him on the path of one Jun, who counters him in a most efficient, masterful and complete manner. Basically he was doing too well at bringing evil onto the world and she had come to balance him out.

In a most unforeseen turn of events, as they get acquainted over the course of their different confrontations, they discover that they respect and admire each other's strength and actually get along pretty well, even enjoy each other's company.

Anyway being around Jun makes Kaz chill out MASSIVELY and soon enough you'll notice the amount of invasions from hell have greatly diminished.

Eventually they get in an actual relationship, with Kazuya even wanting her to become the queen of his domain. And Jun is not opposed to this proposal, quite the opposite in fact. But complications start to arise when Jun began moving in hell: she is everything it's not and vice-versa, and the environment itself even seems harmful for her the longer she stays. Even the devil-Kazumi-entity, for all that it's/she's fond of Jun as a person, cannot meet her physically for she would eradicate it/her should they come into contact.

Jun bears it as long as she can bc Kazuya Literally Cannot Leave Hell and she wants to be with him as much as he wants to be with her, and Kaz promises her that he's working on finding a solution (and by "working on it" I mean Kaz is threatening the dead soul of a demi-god known as Gepetto Bosconovitch, reknown for giving life to things that didnt have any, into fixing this).

Eventually Jun reaches her breaking point when their son dies a stillborn because he bears her blood and he is much weaker than she is, bc he's a baby. This is the last rejection of this place that Jun can take before it potentially kills her, esp since that last event took such a toll on her, and even tho she loves Kaz as much as he loves her, she has to leave and WANTS to leave. Kaz, in a rare moment of compassion, let her go and spares telling her the news that, ironically, Bosconovitch JUST finished his work and managed to make a garden, indentical to the ones she would have on the surface, grow in the deepest level of hell where she could thrive.

So Jun is gone and Kaz is miserable, so much so that he doesnt even have the mind nor heart for conquest anymore. The only thing left of her being the corpse of his child that he decides to bury in the unused garden.

But just as the tiny body touches the soil, he begin to scream as he takes his first breath and the initial shock then WAVE OF RELIEF Kazuya feels as his son is alive surprises even himself bc he didnt even want the damn baby in the first place. This is probably the most outwardly loving Kaz will be with his son as he's holding his tiny body while being hit with a fucking storm of emotions but hey we take those.

"This is great! Their son is alive and the garden works! Now Kazuya only need to reach Jun and they can-" Except Kaz Will Not bc he does NOT want to reach Jun. Not bc he doesnt love her anymore but 1) bc he now knows the pain of losing her and bringing her back into his life means getting the risk of getting hurt again and he neither wants to feel that pain ever again nor even knowing he has that "weakness" in the first place so he'd rather cut her off from his life, he'd rather deal with loneliness than heartache, and 2) even he realized that what his domain is, what he is, brought Jun pain, and some part of him does NOT like to see Jun in pain.

"Well if he doesnt want Jun back into his life, why doesnt he send her their son?" This is objectively the best course of action. But Kaz is Not A Good Person. He's selfish. And again. Their son is the last thing he has left of her, and goddammit if he doesnt have her eyes, her nose, her face.

So Kaz is now stuck with this lame baby and only partially vibe with it. Problem is, that baby cannot live in this tiny garden for the entirety of his immortal life. Thankfully the devil-Kazumi-entity offers Kaz a solution: the baby not only carries Jun's blood but also Kazuya's, and that makes him able to be a receptacle for the devil gene, binding him to hell as well, yes, but keeping him alive in there.

So now Kazuya is raising his son whom he named Jin based on one (1) short conversation he once had with Jun but didnt forget. He is also personally training him in the art of combat, bc sadly Kaz does take a bit after his father, and he would not have the prince of hell be a weakling.

OKAY BACKSTORY ESTABLISHED FINALLY now onto the main course:

So Jin grew up and similarly as in the game, he eventually learn that his family is not just him and his dad but he also have a mom somewhere, and he wants to find her. Bc one day he steps into the famous garden that Kaz had closed off after That Day and Jin figured that his asshole dad would NOT have such a pretty garden made without reasons so after a few researchs behind Kaz's back he eventually found out the truth.

Long story short, Jin wants to leave hell, Kaz doesnt want him to, and they antagonize each other constantly.

Jin eventually comes into contact with both his extanded family and multiple allies who wants to help him leave (without anyone knowing yet that just like Kaz, Jin cannot live outside of hell for long. tho Jin can survive longer than Kaz thanks for his mom's blood)

The people from outside helping him are:

Lars: his heroic half-uncle, OF COURSE Lars was going to help him.

Lee: his adopted uncle, he does like Jin but mostly he helps him out so Jin can run a few crash tests for him on Kaz's minions, AND he gets to piss off Kaz in the same move? Excellent.

Alisa: an ascended goddess who relate to Jin due to their origin, she as well was "dead at birth" until her father found a way to bring her back (in a way) tho he was cast to hell for it.

Leroy: the grandfather-figure Jin wishes he always had.

Asuka: she insists to him they're related and that once he makes it outta hell, she'll teach him about their side of the family.

there'll be more down the line but I need to workshop this...

Anyway Jin has two goal: 1) escape dad's hell, and 2) find mom. whom he will discover has straight up disappeared from everyone ever since she left hell herself.

So Jin starts from the bottom of hell and has to climb to the top where the entrance lies, in the mouth of a volcano. Wink wink fucking nudge nudge

When he falls he ends up back in his father's home where he can meet a bunch of friendly dead souls:

Lucky Chloe: usually the first person he sees after falling down, she's kind of the court jester, she was spared damnation bc Kaz thinks her annoying people is really funny as long as its not him, thats where the "Lucky" come from.

Azucena: she provides delicacies from the surface to hell (for a price), Jin can find her as he's running up to the surface and she'll happily sell him things to help.

Jane: she provides Jin with some sort of "bestiary" and she actually does not mind that he keeps beating Kaz's minions (the JACKs among others, tho they are her favorites) bc she get to improve them thanks to the data gathered afterward.

Bruce: Kaz's chief of security. When Jin didnt trained with Kaz, he often sparred with Bruce. Bruce will let Jin try his different styles against him before climbing back up hell again. He's fond of the kid :)

"Kazumi": Jin can never get quite a good read on her/it, but she's/it's always kind to him.

and others that I will also figure out...

But that's not all the people Jin meets, as he's ascending, he also encounters a bunch of people, tho not all are friendly.

Nina and Anna: contracted by Kazuya to stop Jin. Tho they spend more time fighting each other...

A reptilian monstrocity by the name of Alex.

Some strange crystals take him to a bizarre location where he can meet Azazel, who present himself as the progenitor of the devil-Kazumi-entity, making him technically Jin's great-grandpa. Via him, Jin can fight Devil Jin and gain more access to his style (more on that later)

Xiaoyu: a phoenix Jin befriended, the only reason she's in hell is only bc she can cheat death. She is not bound to hell, so she technically can come back to life if she manages to escape, until she dies again on the surface. They often run into each other and have a friendly competition to see who can defeat the most of Kaz's minions, if she loses, Xiaoyu will leave Jin with one of her feathers, that increases his health. Jin can also meet her sometimes back at the house. It's rumored that she spend more time in hell recently to hang out with the hellish prince🧡

Hwoarang: another dead soul of a great warrior contracted to stop Jin, but he couldnt care less about what Kaz wants. He wants to defeat Jin, so he will hunt him down everytime he hears that Jin is trying to escape again. Over time he and Jin have come to enjoy their rivalry. Jin can also meet him sometimes at the house🧡

And more yknow the drill...

And of course, once Jin finally manages to come to hell's entrance, who waits for him there but Kazuya. The two have a nice little father and son fight to the death between immortals where they can work out their problems in an healthy manner: with extreme violence, and the winner get to throw the other down the volcano cliff aaall the way to the bottom (bc sometimes the best way to work out trauma is thru exposure therapy. wink)

Jin starts by only knowing his father's style, but after finally finding his mother, and after the initial story-related reunion (and the tragic realization that just like his dad, Jin cannot stay out of hell for long), they bond with Jun teaching him her style. And Jin can work his way to the top again using her style to learn more about it. When dueling Kaz with it, he's preeetty conflicted like: My traitorous son is using another style than ours👿 -> omg that's Jun's moves... 🥺 -> HE'S NOT EVEN USING THEM RIGHT👿👿👿

And basically, Jin has multiple styles: his dad's, his own, eventually his mom's, and devil style. He gets to pick the one he's going to stick with at the start of every ascend.

Anyway this is the story of a child of divorce trying to reunite his parents who are both extremely stubborn and extremely still in love with each other, bc if Jin has to live another day with just his father he's going to LOSE IT.

[sprinklenoodles]

So I MAAAY have gotten absorbed in the siblings instead of reading (at least in the moment of typing this). Tried drawing them all to some extent. Also, one of my pencil's got lost so some of their penciling is a bit mixed. Here are my thoughts on them all in varying levels of detail! Page 1:

Byakuya: He was the first one I drew before I planned out drawing the siblings. If I were to draw him again, I'd probably try and call back to suits in the early 2000s. I say this mostly because I like channeling the idea that THH came out in the 2010s era and how it affects how the characters look. This applies to the rest of them too since I wanna ensure that they have a slight older look in their clothes to show "Yeah! this is in the past" minus Byakuya being a tot. Which gosh. Does this mean Byakuya's a Millennial with this logic/hj Ichiro: really wanted to give him that prick look. He's got a sleazy smile and sharp angles! Really happy how he turned out. Eyumi: Made her very straight laced, giving her some rectangles in her design but with a tad of edge. Also, it's not very apparent but her dress shirt is a gradient... for reasons I guess. Also, I looked a bit at Mai from Avatar the Last Airbender cus she gave me that energy and it definitely helped with getting her all finished! Wasuke: Wanted to give him rounder shapes to give off his lack of edge in the competition. Also, since I accidently made him look too young, I slapped on a sad little mustache for good measure. Shinobu: Made her a bit timid since she has that Toko inspo in her. Also some moles cus I felt it fit. Struggled a bit on her hair but I think I did okay? Was initially going to put it in a low ponytail but I changed it. Also, her poor face got reconstructed a bit cus I accidently made her look older. Takaya: He's kinda boring but I made his hair curly-ish I guess. Asa: Was kinda unsure with her, I'll be honest. Like, she looks cool but nothing else I can really say. She's got a cute bow and freckles I guess!

Page 2:

Jiro: I like his energy. His suspenders really make him look sick. However, he's not really mentioned much at all so... whoops! Saburo: I made him look way too young and I am not proud. Shiro: He's the real mess up out of all the designs. I redid his hair and face so many times and I'm still not happy with him. They can't all be winners in the design department though! Mitsuzo: Really happy with him. Wanted to ensure his glasses were different from Byakuya's so I reversed the darker area and made them more square as opposed to the rounder edges I went with Byakuya. Asagao: She's cute. I like her energy. If I ever colored her in, she'd pop the most with her yellow clothes. Also, I'm guessing she has a skirt but she also looks like a bell-bottom queen Hiru: Probably one of the top designs of the half-siblings here. Feel she has that "determined sisterly" energy going on. Feel I failed with injecting some Celeste energy in her though like... big time. The most I did was give her vague playing card symbol earrings and that's it. Yoro: She's also pretty cool. She's like Asa though in which I have no clue if I did good. Also, think the descriptions were like, messed up at some point (not in the story itself) cus they were almost the same which I was unsure of what to do with. I think I made them fairly distinct though So I MAAAY have gotten absorbed in the siblings. Tried drawing them all to some extent. Also, one of my pencil's got lost so some of their penciling is a bit mixed.

Also, if you have any tips on how to improve these designs, which ones are the favorites of the bunch, ect, am happy to here!!! Wanted to make them distinct in their own ways but not like, award winning at the same time. We ALL know who the star of the show is >:] Ichiro probably thinks it's him though! Also if I missed anyone, I am so sorry ;-;

These are all SO awesome! I ADORE all of them, but would have to say my fav here is Jiro. Dunno why but he just looks AWESOME!

I also love Ichiro- you captured his stinky personality perfectly in that drawing.

And as for Asa and Yoru (Hiru too but realized her clothing bit got cut off) that was intentional. I don't think it was mentioned a lot in the fic, but they're triplets. They're the only full siblings and in true triplet fashion decided to wear the same outfit. With their almost identical looks it makes them almost impossible differenciate for most people.

It's also why Hiru gives off that big sister energy- she does love her full siblings and is not happy when they get eliminated. Unfortunately for her though, Kijo isn't a fan of that...

But all of these are really awesome! The siblings aren't mentioned a lot, especially not the ones outside of Byakuya's Group.

From the start, I knew that this was gonna be a smaller fic, so I also wanted a small main cast. And even though the siblings wouldn't get mentioned much, it would still feel crowded if all of them were together at all times...

So, I just chose a few to stick with Byakuya and that was that. But now that the whole island is open, the siblings that haven't gotten eliminated might be seen...

In the end though, the fic is about Byakuya. Ichiro just happened to fit in nicely with the story. I really haven't given his siblings a lot of thought, mostly cuz it wasn't needed. But who knows, there's always a possibility of me making a one-shot collection about them...

[radiation]

when putting art out into the world, are you in any way opposed to the possibility of it becoming massively popular? privacy + the familiarity of a small community of patrons is something i'd worry about losing

There is something extremely nice about having my current small audience -- I feel like you guys respect my privacy and genuinely understand what I'm going for in my work in a way that's really fucking cool. However at the point I'm at now, I couldn't even begin to support myself off of making original art and games and music and such, so I don't get to work on it nearly as much as I'd like to. I would not be able to create to the full extent that I am capable of unless I reach a wider audience and that's a tradeoff I think I'd be okay with making. Moderate popularity is definitely the goal but I try to remind myself of potential negatives and put a lot of thought into how I'd act in that scenario. I already try to plan for this kinda stuff by, for instance, making my art pretty unapproachable for a younger audience. Kids are great but I hope to god my stuff bores the shit out of them. I also think over time I've been increasingly withdrawing socially from the internet and making it harder to get a read on my personality, which Id just kick into overdrive if things really blew up. This would kind of cut off the connection I have with my audience which is unfortunate but I think its ok, Im in good company with my friends and local community and prioritize that anyway

I think the biggest thing I'm anxious about if my shit gets popular is people WIDELY interpreting the stuff I make in shallow ways and giving characters TOO much of the fandom treatment, but I'm not nearly as prickly about that stuff as I used to be because Im a lot more confident in my own artistic perspective

[moonlightsapphic]

Y'all, I find the reception of XO, Kitty so dissapointing.

TL; DR: The underlying homophobia/biphobia/lesbophobia/misoginy towards Yuri as potential and viable endgame which I don't think would have happened if she were yet another hot guy.

The straight-baiting marketing of this show was absolutely genius and I loved that Jenny Han, who writes the straightest central romances to ever romance (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, The Summer I Turned Pretty), actually initiated a series with such visibly queer storylines and then literally jumped into this sort-of-interracial, sapphic romance centered around a bi+ character. I could see Han trying to be more inclusive in her past on-screen works, but this was incredible.

No you don't understand. There was this point midway through the show where I thought I was in a fever dream and watching wishful fanmade content because I couldn't believe an IRL Netflix show could actually give us this. My mind was blown.

So you'll understand that I was fully bamboozled to see that social media is swamped with Min-ho fangirls pretending like Yuri doesn't even exist. I love Min-ho too, but am I the only one who also saw so many signs that point to a future Yuri x Kitty?

First, for the narrative satisfaction of their moms being best friends in the past!

... and to complete Kitty's coming of age! Kitty, growing up in the cisheteronormative Song-Covey household, made the oversight of initially operating under the assumption that she exclusively likes boys and that she has mastered the art of relationships. That's already been debunked partway by her breakup with her first boyfriend who was supposed to be endgame, and is only going to be sealed further if she ends up with a girl in a long-term relationship. (And no, of course she doesn't have to "end up" with a girl for her queer identity to be valid, but I think it just makes the most narrative sense to have that unfold in the story as her worldview alters.)

Here I present to you: my pet peeves in the XO, Kitty fandom

hyping up parallels between Peter x LJ and Minho x Kitty scenes claiming that this means Minho x Kitty may be endgame. They literally have to reach and dig for those because the most parallels are between Peter x LJ and Yuri x Kitty, right from the scene that they bumped into each other! Kitty has also shown zero romantic interest in Minho so far, as opposed to her very keen interest in Yuri.

People finally addressing the elephant in the room like "Ugh, Yuri is probably going to be endgame. 🙄 I want Minho instead!!" like it's such a disappointing or borderline gross outcome. Yuri is a much more intense enemies-to-lovers character than Minho. She is beautiful, kind, and fun with a little bit of bite, everything that Minho is plus Kitty is falling for her hard.

Being real here—If you think Yuri is a boring love interest or kind of a b*tch while Minho is simply a fun old enemies-to-lovers character, I am begging you to check your biases. You, a straight woman, may only see hostile fictional women as competitiion and hostile fictional men as ... well, kinda hot. However, Kitty is bi+ and she could see them both as viable romantic interests, equally. Yes, Yuri has done more malicious things than Minho, but then again she has had a harder time this academic year than Minho. You are obviously still allowed to like Minho better, as long as you're not dismissing the struggles of and flattening a strong female character. Misoginy and homophobia make an ugly combo, y'all. Trust me, you don't want any part in that.

(Additional unpopular opinion: I'm going to get crucified for this but I genuinely think Kitty is too boring for Minho in the same way that Dae was too boring for Kitty. He seems to be into her only from the Halo Effect. Minho is my child and I squeal whenever he's on screen and I hope to see him finding someone actually fun!)

Saying that Kitty’s crush on Yuri was just a token plot point with no real basis or depth. While there is some unrealistic family drama in the show, it's all still credible. Fiction is supposed to bring in imaginative elements and try to keep things grounded. Regardless, I'm never going to be the person who says that a wild and shocking bi- or gay-awakening is unrealistic. As a queer person, let me tell you that it is just as wild and confusinh for us IRL.

Besides, many cishet people actually do not care if (or is hateful when) the MC is bi, that I doubt how much it “helps” with marketing. (That's why queerbaiting exists, folks.) Also, have you seen Kitty in TATBILB? That's a bi preteen right there if I've ever seen one.

"Stop trying to invalidate other people's ships!" I will say this once: I don't care if you ship Kitty with Min-ho, or Dae, or anyone else that's not Yuri. I DON'T CARE! Frankly, good for you because straight ships have better luck out there anyway, ya know? I am simply begging you to not reduce a queer person's nuanced concerns about dismissal of sapphic fictional characters to petty fandom arguments. Read the room, guys. Please.

This is such a crucial show to many of us. I just want y'all to understand that this is just a little bigger than your celebrity crush on a hot guy whose character you're rooting for. We never, ever get contemporary slice-of-life romcom sapphic rep (and Netflix is notorious for cancelling sapphic shows, too). Please don't be dismissive of a perfectly good possible ending! We want to give Netflix every reason to renew this show, and give Han every reason to allow Kitty to flourish just the way she plans to! (This is me begging y'all to not influence the writers into swerving last-minute towards a sloppy Minho endgame, though I do trust her better than that.)

I hope that Netflix renews the show, even if it's through the excitement of straight people in denial LMAO. And then I hope it treats us with a glorious sapphic ending.*

*(Aaaand I can already imagine the cishet women in the audience complaining online about what a terrible person Kitty is for leading Min-ho on and then dumping him, and how she and Yuri are both awful and totally deserve each other. Music to my ears.)

[theoutcastrogue]

[D&D PLAYTEST] Pleasant surprise: 5.5 is actually getting good! And in combat I can FINALLY do something more exciting than "hit it again"

So this was my biggest issue with 5e: when I play a character who's good at hitting things, as opposed to flinging spells at things, I want to do cool shit! I love tactical combat, and I can't stand it when "I hit it again" is the only option of a martial character. Everyone should have options, but especially the Rogue. (I'm biased, yes, but the Rogue is conceptually the one class that fights dirty.) And disappointingly, not even the Swashbuckler got manoeuvres in 5e. For everyone other than Battle Masters and monks with Stunning Strike, our only options in 2014 were a measly Shove / Grapple / Disarm IN PLACE of an attack (for many of us, our only attack), and that was WITH optional DMG features. And Tasha's additions were only a marginal improvement.

You couldn't impose conditions with an attack, which, from a simulation aspect, is just silly. Any two-bit caster could do the craziest shit with spells, but an epic level martial couldn't even say "I hit 'em so hard or so deftly that they got a headache". For the most part, they could only say "I hit it again" and deal damage. And I hate that. It's boring. I even had an unfinished homebrew project of Called Shots, where you could spend a resource to do interesting shit with your attacks (give 'em disadvantage, make 'em dazed, reduce speed, that sort of thing). For Rogues, that resource was Sneak Attack dice. And guess what! In the latest version of the 5.5 playtest, WE GET THAT!

Can I get a fuck yeah, and also a fucking finally.

It's not an automatic win button, and that's good! I don't want win buttons (that's also boring), I want options. Cunning Strike is situationally useful, and that's ideal: if it's always good, you'd do it every time (so why isn't it a standard rule?), and if it's always bad, you'd never do it (so why does it exist at all?). If it's potentially good, depending on the situation, it means I get to THINK what I'm gonna do on my turn, and that's such a joy.

For years now, the only combat decisions my Rogues made in 5e were about movement/positioning, and how to get advantage. And co-ordinating with the others, which always happens, I mean it's a group game. But I had very little to contribute in that department other than flanking, I usually just waited for THEM to help ME to get advantage or something.

With this feature (which I'll be stealing as is, regardless of what happens to the playtest, or if I'm gonna adopt 5.5 as a whole or not), I can set up moves for others, I can impose conditions, so many things. Plus, it's customisable. Now that this basic framework is in place, anyone can fiddle with it and come up with new effects that fit their game and style. (I am NOT in favour of perfect rulesets that cover all bases, needs, and preferences, since that's an impossible and silly thing to ask. I am in favour of solid frameworks, that can be easily tweaked and built upon.) So I am ecstatic. I don't have to hit it again every time! Holy shit!

This is not a blanket endorsement of "One D&D" (I'll keep calling it 5.5, thankyouverymuch). It's still a work in progress, I haven't even read all of it in yet, and I do have issues with it, big and small. (And if my favourite class was the Monk, I'd be thumbs down right now: this one needs a lot of work, oof.) But with Weapon Mastery rules (another interesting development for martial characters), and better feats, and with this enormous improvement, I feel that some of the fundamental problems I had with 5e get... kinda solved. The new Rogue simply KICKS ASS. The whole class, not just Cunning Strike, it's a huge improvement. [Go read it, here's the PDF link.]

It's not overpowered, mind you. In terms of damage output it still lags behind Fighters and Barbarians and whathaveyou (which I'm perfectly okay with: Rogues are experts and skillmonkeys, they got stuff to do out of combat, meanwhile Barbarians have ONE JOB so they better be scary good at it), and full casters still slay. It just does cool shit, and I ask you: why do we even bother with the fuckton of combat rules in D&D if not to do cool shit?

See treantmonk's video below for a nice breakdown of the new Rogue. It's a few months old, and a couple of things have been revised since then: there's no "Arcane" spell list any more, so the Arcane Trickster presumably reverts to the Wizard spell list, and the Weapon Mastery rules are slightly different now. But they're very minor changes, and all the conclusions, with which I wholeheartedly agree, stand: this is simply FANTASTIC.

[chiyeko-kurea]

one of my favorite poems + my analysis

i wanted to share it with you guys:)

(VERY poorly translated, sadly never as good as the original)

« Je vis, je meurs » Louise Labé, Sonnets, 1555

« I live, I die: I drown and I burn,

I endure at once extreme heat and cold;

Life is at once too soft and too hard,

I feel boredom mingled with joys.

At the same time, I laugh and I cry,

And I endure many torments of pleasures,

My fortune fades away, and lasts forever,

At the same time, I wither and I Bloom.

Thus I suffer love’s inconstancies

And when I believe I will suffer more,

Without knowing, I find myself at peace.

Then, when I feel my joy is certain,

And I am on top of what I could wish right now,

Love casts me back into my former grief. »

.

So there’s a few things i would translate differently.

1) I would write « I drown and burn » without the other « I » because in the original poem, the idea conveyed is really that the feeling of drowning constantly is parallel to the one of burning, happening in the same time in the author’s mind while being completely opposite.

The idea of drowning constantly (that I personally really relate to) = therefore maybe also feeling like suffocating/ choking constantly, not being able to breathe and a constant weigh inside the chest.

+ sinking further and further until one day reaching rock bottom -> the idea of giving up on ourselves?

Or you could also interpret the word ‘drowning’ as fighting to stay above water, to gasp for air, being between sanity and trying to stay there because if you give up you will drown into insanity and darkness that is trying to pull you in. With that interpretation you also get the idea of tiredness and eventually having to give up if you know you’re doomed to drown anyway, but you can’t stop trying to survive.

But i think in this case ‘drown’ is more that achingly slow, constant, oppressive feeling of slowly sinking opposed to the complete chaos of burning fire and being actively consumed alive/ having a fire inside ur mind.

2) Second verse is also poorly translated. It would be more like ‘i burn while enduring chilblain’ which is completely different from the original verse but closer in terms of meaning, to me. Same idea of opposite feelings, i think everyone interprets differently.

3) 3rd verse IS JUST SHIT!! WHAT IS THAT TRANSLATION?? It’s so lameeeee! Ugh. The idea that i felt in the OP (original poem) was like ‘Life is to me too listless/ limp/ (=basically ‘soft’ but in a pejorative way. Life is boring, tasteless, nothing worth much, nothing that excites her mind.) Also she says ‘TO ME’. To her. Her life, not life in general. Basically, how life is to her, « towards » her. But at the same time, life is too hard to her (not « for » her!) to the point it’s like torture.

4) The next verse is kind of a résumé of her whole fucking life. That i would translate as ‘i have great ennuis intertwined with joys’. « Ennuis » could be, indeed, translated as ‘boredom’, (the way i understood it) but also as ‘problems’/‘worries’. Basically either a long, dull, boring, worthless road with sometimes great joys/ or if you got for the different meaning of ‘ennuis’: lots of terrible problems and disasters in your life but sometimes also great joys, both mingled.

5) « love’s inconsistencies » -> Love is written in the OP with a capital letter. I don’t really think it’s necessarily romantic love, but love in general: what you experience, live, feel, discover, which is basically essential to life. Imagine a life where you don’t love any type of music, book, movie, food, weather, people, feeling, taste, smell… But primarily, I think she means that Love (as an entity rather than a simple feeling) kinda throws her around; and she is a ‘victim’ of it, she suffers from it and its intensity, unpredictability, force. She is condemned, as a human, to be a subject/ slave of love. She is not, and never will be, in control of that -and therefore her life.

6) The two last verses are so poorly translated it should be a crime. The idea behind them is really interesting!

« And I am on top of what I could wish right now » -> when she has everything she could wish for, she has obtained and achieved everything she ever dreamed off, longed for, ached for, when she has reached what is the ultimate completion of her desires that would grant her happiness; and finally everything that bothered her and kept her from tasting a freedom and peace of the soul is gone; when there’s nothing more she could possibly need or even wish for; she doesn’t. Feel. Happy. Anymore. She loses it. She feels the same as she used to before. It’s a never-ending cycle. She thinks she finally has it all, but it all crumbles, again and again and she can never keep it. She can taste it for a bit, but then it vanishes and she is right back in her ‘primary misery’.

She feels joy, she feels happy, she thinks it’s gonna last forever: it never does. For me, it really convey the idea of relapse. You get clean, you feel great, life is good, but then, how could you even think it was gonna last anyway? You relapse, fall right back in your misery.

I haven’t analyzed (corrected) the 2nd quatrain and the first tercet because this post is already very long (so i just corrected the most important ones)

and i don’t wanna bore you😭 but if you like poetry we could discuss it together if you want🫶

[spot-splatter-splash]

We all know I love the Storm E. era content for this franchise (Lalaloopsy Girls & We're Lalaloopsy). But! I'm willing to admit that it is flawed. As much as I put it on a pedestal for it's humor, It's only fair that I acknowledge the strong point of the Webisodes and Nick Jr. Series. The animation.

Where I (personally) feel that the later pair adds more in terms of personality for the cast with the dynamic between Storm E. and Jewel being my favorite to watch and explore. The animation in those series does feel stiff when held next to the earliest set of media.

A lot of the time Its because of how sharp the joints are when they bend as opposed to the earlier series rounding them out. That created the ragdoll feel that the later series lack which breaks immersion.

This could have been a budgeting issue due to the declining popularity of the franchise. The puppet style animation bends at odd and sometimes sharp angles. Which breaks the illusion of them being rag dolls.

Mind you there is a way to make that style look good, if im not wrong the earlier series were rigs too. Just designed with more attention to the ragdoll feel. The bendiness of the limbs and squashing and stretching for emphasis when interacting with certain objects. Good examples that come to mind are Mouse and Pix E. In the episode Flight Plan And Peanut. In general Peanut has some of the cleanest animation.

While I hail the later series for the personality they give the characters that is not to say I think the eariler media is boring or does it poorly. I find the Webisodes and Nick Jr. Series really cute and pleasant to watch. But they also had more characters to work with and had to split that attention between them.

I have seen comments about the cast being boring in We're Lalaloopsy. A criticism which is subjective of course. But one I struggle to see. (I also see a lot of people shoot Storm E. down as being too mean. A rant for another post surely).

And while I acknowledge the subjectivness of it. I think Jewel, Storm E. and Spot are really well done in that series.

Spots is still an energetic artist who doesnt mind a mess. But added onto that she doesn't like conflict, struggles to voice her thoughts when frustrated, get attached easily, is eccentric and pleasantly weird, sensitive and forgiving almost to a fault. And yet still stands as her own person capable of putting her foot down when she reaches her breaking point. Shes lovable and I adore a weird girl whos just so comfortable being weird.

Jewel is clearly rising the ranks of favoritism. Shes still 'perfectly perfect' Jewel having a checklist for everything she deems important enough too. But now shes someone who can be easily frustrated, doesn't enjoy her schedule or plans being disrupted or altered, kinda of ditzy yet not entirely stupid. She focuses on herself to the point she talks over others and cant see that shes being an issue and has to be reined in. Perfectly perfect Jewel is actually wildly flawed. Shes not malicious but can come off as hostile or petty. Shes dramatic, a primadonna, self richeous and sometimes holier-than-thou and needs to have others correct her or to fail to learn and better herself. I am wildly enamored by this. She sucks shes my favorite. Her flaws are what makes her so fun to watch.

Finally Storm E. Shes polarizing and due to her being the most recent doll to make it into the animated series theres not much to compare her to. By design shes suppose to be the odd one out. A black sheep. I see a lot of critique about her being too different which is the point. Shes often yeilded as this unlikable asshole by some of the really critical fans but I feel that doesnt do Storm E. justice.

Shes different by design in both media shes in. Shes has a dry sense of humor, isn't as comfortable with affection as the other girls, isn't as open about her feelings as others, tends to fall to the back of the pack and a bit of a loner. But she's not a bad person. She does care about others she just has a hard time showing it. It does bother her when she hurts other people with her behavior.

We're Lalaloopsy handles this with her dynamic with Spot and Jewel. Spot is someone she has a soft spot for. Shes more open to Spot being in her space and feels like Spot kind of gets her as another artist. Spot likes Storm E. as she is. Her personality isn't the problem to Spot, it's certain actions that are. And that soft spot for Spot doesnt stop Spot from getting hurt. Storm E. (like Jewel) doesn't necessarily intend to harm others with her behavior. Intent doesn't negate hurting someone and Storm E. learns that. She does feel remorse and is apologetic. I like that shes never urged to be more like the others just corrected when her actions hurt someone.

Which is why her and Jewel work so well. They parallel eachother. Both of them have a tendancy to focus on and put themselves above others without any real malice behind it. Jewel needs to feel important and Storm E. feels she had to be independent. Storm E. is misunderstood and Jewel is melodramatic. Theyre polar opposites on the serface yet are so similar when cross examined. They clash but also relate to eachother.

The others get unique little peronality quirks too. Crumbs is very particular to an obsessive degree, Rosy will put herself last at the expense of her own well being and is anxious, Dot frequently fails, yet is excited by any chance to invent something.

Tangent oops, this post is getting long. The point is every bit of media for this series has merit and def worth watching for whatever it offers. Could be a good laugh, clean animation, fun dynamics, or a unique take on an old favorite.

Feel free to ask me about characters I can write essays about some of them. I know I haven't talked much about proper reboot stuff and thats because I'm in the process of watching everything I can to get a feel for the extended cast.

[calyxthenerd]

So I’m gonna rate and rank songs from all three seasons of Violetta (in groups of three, one from each season) based on categories I made up in my head because I’m bored

Starting by Vilu’s main solo song in each season:

1st place is Soy Mi Mejor Momento for season two and it gets an 8/10 because it’s inspiring, has a good melody and I always loved the lyrics, but for me the performance could’ve been a little better

2nd goes to En Mi Mundo solely because I dislike it less than the other one, 5/10 and it only gets points because of the nostalgia I feel whenever I listen to it

And 3rd Underneath it All, now, objectively it is a good song, but I give it a 3/10 because of all the hatred I feel for the Roxy plot

Next up is Leon’s Solo song in each season:

1st is obviously the best song in s1, Voy Por Ti 9.7/10, showstopping, incredible, only lost a little because of his outrageous haircut that pisses me off to this day

2nd goes to Entre Dos Mundos, great song, love the vocals, very energetic, 7/10 because it didn’t really get a performance so I can’t rate everything

3rd is Amor en el Aire, now, is it cute? Yes, but it’s plain, shallow and frankly it hardly scratches the surface of his songwriting potential 2/10

Moving on to Leonletta joint compositions/dream songs:

1st is Nuestro Camino, because everything is perfect, from the dream performance, to the lyrics, the melody, amazing, 9.5/10, because of Leon’s atrocious suit

2nd we have Podemos because it’s probably amongst the three favorite songs for like, half the fandom (including me) and it has some of the best performances from the two of them and probably the best romantic lyrics in the whole show (the Karaoke scene and specially the one in Madrid) 10/10

And 3rd is Abrazame Y Veras, and I hate to put it in the last place, but it doesn’t stand a change against the other two, but it is a great song, (one of the few that saves s3 from being an absolute trainwreck) 8/10

Coming next is the friendship songs:

1st is Junto a Ti, cute, love the vibes, awesome rhythm, great lyrics, 10/10, best one

2nd is A mi Lado, and it kind of opposes the vibe of Junto a Ti which is kind of a more fresh vibe that comes with the experience of finding a new great friend, A mi Lado shows how much they’ve grown and their bond has grown with them and they’re preparing for the reality of not being able to see each other all the time am I projecting because of what’s going on in my life? Maybe, leave me alone and so I love how it shows how they’ve grown 8/10 because it could use a better melody

3rd is Codigo Amistad, my least favorite song in the show, now, it sounds kinda cute but also really gives off misogynistic vibes so I give it a 1/10 because at least is an upbeat song you can dance to, so a point for that

Now onto the band’s songs

1st - Ven Con Nosotros, the choreography is great, energetic and really bouncy, the lyrics are awesome and full of I m p l i c a t i o n s (iykyk) and the performance is definitely their best one, 9/10 because it took me weeks to understand Diego’s part in the rap

2nd - Are You Ready For The Ride? is a good song, but it’s too messy and kinda all over the place, also the lyrics are plain, 6/10

3rd - Every Season 3 Song, they’re generic and boring and kinda sound like Every 1D Song, frankly after Diego left to be with his Dad on Art Rebel it all went down the drain, 4/10 because at least they’re catchy

And Lastly the Beginning/End of season group song combos:

1st place goes to Hoy Somos Mas for Beginning and Crecimos Juntos for Ending

2nd place goes to the Ven y Canta*/Ser Mejor combo

And finally, 3rd place goes to En Gira and Esto No Puede Terminar since they’re both lame

*The song I chose since S1 doesn’t start with a group song

Honorable Mentions:

From Violeta’s solos we have Descubri, an amazing song, one of s3’s saving graces that I forgot until I went to check the playlist with all the songs

From the friendship songs we have Encender Nuestra Luz, and I love it, because we see Naty singing more

From the band’s songs we have Tu Foto De Verano and Cuando Me Voy, the first one is good but I’m sick of it since it was constantly stuck in my head before I even rewatched it so yeah, and the second one is probably my favorite one of theirs, but the recorded version doesn’t have Diego’s vocals which I really don’t like

From the group songs we have Tienes El Talento, On Beat, Euforia, Friends Till The End, Es mi Pasion and Llamame, are any of them in the beginning/end a season? No, but I love them so there’s that

And now a list of random songs that don’t fit into any particular category but I feel should be included because I love them:

Habla Si Puedes

Te Esperare

Como Quieres

Algo Se Enciende

Luz, Camara, Accion

Si Es Por Amor

Ser Quien Soy

Quiero

Aprendi a Decir Adios

Mas Que Dos

[darqx]

Good afternoon! I have been your subscriber for a long time and wanted to ask... Do you have any updates and work on the Battle Priest??? I miss the characters from this project very much and I can't wait for a comics or a novel with them! (sorry for possible mistakes, I'm not an English speaker)

Hullo and thank you for sticking around so long AND aaaaaaa I am so happy you are excited for BP :D I have indeed been working on it when I can (though with a full time job my time and inspo is sometimes severely lacking |D)! At the moment a good 80% or so of the story is plotted out and I got bored of writing dot points and so also started thumbnailing on the side lol. Now if I can just keep it up!! OTL

Here’s a sneak peek in the face of my generally doing things quietly in the bg XD;

Yes I have this aforementioned little webcomic I’ve kinda been pottering away at XD It’s not out or anything yet though.

I think that’s partially due to Tumblr being rather bad at searching for stuff and that yes it is a little disjointed at the moment! |D (there is a BP tag on my blog which might be helpful though). I can’t really put that much about BP out yet since like a bunch of stuff I actually want to draw are IN the story and so I’d just end up spoilering a lot of it lol, so what I DO put out might be somewhat random. You can of course still ask questions about it and if I can answer it without spoiling something I will :)

I’d love to just ditch the first few pages at everyone since I’ve finished thumbnailing them and could actually start drawing it, but I’ve learned it’s so much better to have a good bank of pages so alas, we’re all gonna have to continue being patient whilst I thumbnail/work on it 😭

It technically doesn’t have one (I have consciously not made much ref to an actual date lol), and exists in one of those AU timeframes where some things from different years got shoved together. An example being the tech is reminiscent of the 90s but then there’s also some fashion from the 2000s etc.

In the lore of BP, there are technically (love that word lol) no angels so canonically this would be a moot point lol. IF angels were a thing, any mixed race would have the free will to either be good or bad (like the demons), and it wouldn’t affect much other than maybe they might have their own special abilities that could counter the demonic ones (like how priests do).

🤔 Hmmmm if i had to pick just one as a main it might be like (and this is expressing as opposed to receiving):

.D: Acts of service

Izm: Gift giving

Marcus: Quality time

Zeke: Acts of service (specifically, cooking)

Wei Ren: Words of affirmation

Rire: ...uh...i’m gonna say quality time

Well, a satanist would not be sanctioned as a battle priest so if there is one they’d have to be worshipping in secret cos that would get them unsanctioned pretty quickly. .D and the gang would be like wat. Rire would be like well...this is unexpected. I will let you imagine the tone that conveys XD

[araveninthedarknight]

A brother's secret is another's nightmare

A little note before we get into the actual fic, I am not the best at writing, my spelling is shit (thanks dyslexia) and I have the mouth of a sailor.. Also, I will probobly end up with veryyyy Out of Character Yasushi and Binzo but it's whatever 🤷🏻‍♂ hopefully you enjoy it non the less.

Sumary: Binzo's secret twin brother who no one really knows about is friends with Oya, and gets set up on a blind date with his crush by said crush's bestie and eventually all chaos ensues, ala high and low's typical fashion

Warnings: Extreamly terrible writing, swearing, its a high and low fic so violence and language are kinda inevitable. I use a random name i got from google for the main character, please don't be mad lol

______________

Binzo has always been fiercely protective of his secret twin brother, that much was for sure...But the twin knew that his brother would be so absorbed in his affairs with the Suzuran's Raho faction, he will never find out about his own hidden life, right?

The young teen boy, Binzo's secret brother named Yuri had long stayed a secret, his brother knew everything about him and wanted to protect the fragile seeming boy, but because of his position in the Raho faction at Suzuran, he had not been around as often, and getting bored easily, Yuri took to making friends with other boys his age, one being Fujio of Oya and then the others of oya too. Two boys in particular became close to him, Kyoshi and Yasushi, becoming inseparable as a trio, and soon enough the ladder of the two found himself crushing on the mysterious boy, named Yuri.

His brother thought him to hide who he was related to well, so he knew being anywhere near Oya as a rival's brother would not work well, but when he was with them, he didn't even remember who his brother was, or the school he attended. He simply was him and falling hard for Yasushi...which considering Kyoshi knew pretty much everything about his partner in crime, fellow chaos gremlin and brother from another mother, he knew both boys had fallen for each other over the span of a few months. Todoroki and the others soon would grow annoyed with the two trying to flirt but backing away with it as if the other wasn't just as shamelessly in love with them too. Kyoshi planned with Jamuo to set up the head strong couple on a blind date, one where you would think nothing could go wrong, fool proof in the eyes of the excited Oya gang's most excited.

Yuri approaches a beautiful cherry blossom tree, one by a body of water that glimmered in the light, a little garden with a pond that had frogs singing softly through the warm breeze. Yasushi had followed a lit path to a blanket, soon meeting up for what both boys had thought was a group hang out, though it seemed fancy in the eyes of the two but none the less brushed off as an attempt at a high school friend night that was made to be affordable but still look nice.

"Are we the only ones showing?" Yuri breaks the silence of the shy couple after reading a simple text from Jamuo to have 'fun' on 'the date'..

"It appears to be that way.. but they are missing out on some really good food!" The blonde who tends to seem sour to untrained friend eyes said to the other teen, his dark red dyed hair shone like a dim and dark halo. "But I think we were just set up... On what would be called a blind date." The chuckle Yasushi let fall from his slightly chapped lips causing butterflies to fall into Yuri's stomach as he swept dark red velvet locks from his face with a bobby pin that he always carried with him.

As the two teens one oya, one secret suzuraun spoke softly, blushing, laughing and behaving like a couple, another teen, also from Suzuraun looked on in disbelief, he knew his twin had tried to follow his orders, protecting Yuri from being a target for opposing school gangs, but he had no clue his younger by five minuets brother was friends with Oya. But he knew he would be able to handle himself in a fight, taught by Binzo himself to survive one if absolutely needed. He left not thinking much of it, and missed something in the distance that would for sure have caused his blood to boil, maybe even start an all out war between schools.

"Yuri, I really really like you. As more than a friend. And tonight was wonderful, we both needed it more than I thought, away from everyone else, away from the chaos for a few hours. Will you be my boyfriend officially?" This seemed like the first time Yasushi had ever been so anxious, not something he did often, and of course his heart in his ears made him worry that the other boy could hear his pulse loud and clear in the soft moonlight.

"Of course 'Shi, I love you with all my heart, I have for a while now. As silly as it sounds, my worries of it being one sided only are just subsiding, I am glad you like me too." Red velvet hair tickled the blonde's face as the secret twin of Binzo leaned in and kissed a rival of his own twin, blood rushing adrenaline through him as he did, now his boyfriend, and he knew this would have to be his one and only best kept secret from his protective zombie fighter of a brother. The kiss sent both boys off into the world of bliss, hands intertwining with a delicate care, love the only emotion surging through the crisp spring nightfall air.

A couple attached at the hip was now a common sight at Oya, and though no one other than Kyoshi said it, they were all glad the two had finally gotten together, Todoroki himself seemed to let out a breath of relief when he laid eyes on the hands holding onto one another that belonged to Yasushi and Yuri, though he kept it to himself, he knew it would balance the energy of the erratic blonde before him.

Not too long later, Oya and Suzuraun united to fight, and while Yuri had stayed out of it all, he had rushed to pack a big duffle bag of first aid, knowing that his love would be battered pretty well, and the last time it had happened, the dark red haired boy had let his sobs free, his fear as he kissed his lover's lips and tried to be ever gentle with him, causing him to vow he would always come through with as much as he could to help him from then on after a particularly hard battle.

Long forgotten were the thoughts about his brother having been dispelled from his mind, not thinking he would be there as he rushed to where he knew his darling blonde devilish angel would be, the fight had clearly been over, bodies groaning in pain on the ground, the boy carefully stepping to avoid them but looking for a mop of blonde hair tied up on one side into small braids that only went half way down the side of his head, cascading into a soft flow of sandy clouds.

"YASUSHI!!" Yuri scurries to his partner, opening the bag he brought and pulling him to sit by him on a stack of mats he had formed in the gym to help be more comfortable for the other. "Fucking hell, you look like you got the shit beat out of you with a fucking iron fist darling." Pouts the hidden twin, his frown making his adoring boyfriend let out a pained chuckle as he holds his middle, "I am ok baby boy, just a little run down, nothing I can't handle." Yasushi promises, missing Binzo having an alarmed look on his face as he sees his brother patching up an oya, the same one he was with months earlier in the garden, and then to his horror kissing Yasushi, being careful of the split lip and blood drying on in flaky cakes of smeared crimson. "Babe, you had previous injuries, its only natural I worry." Yuri sighs, remembering the fear he felt when he saw a haggard Kyoshi and a not much better Yasushi.

"WHAT IN THE FUCK IS THIS MIYAUCHI YURI?!?!" Binzo roars, causing his twin to jump and all of the occupants of the gym to fall silent, non of them expecting a relative to Binzo in their midst.

"You said you wanted no one to know we were twins right? This was me being not your twin, blending in and falling hopelessly in love with my boyfriend." Yuri says, anger laced in his tone that his brother would dare cause a scene, especially while he was tending to wounds of someone from the fight. "Wait-wait wait..."Tusksaka sais, befuddled by the sudden commotion that all were watching with pure shock, "Yuri is your twin? Heads up, Yasushi and Yuri have been dating for months, sooooo um... yeah, they are together and you will have to buck it up. We all love your brother, and he too is friends with Fujio, much like Raho himself."

"HOW DID WE NOT KNOW HE HAD A TWIN??" Mercy says, he sounded alarmed,surprised and at the same time impressed as his voice cut through the thick tension that hung upon the air, like a thick blanket in winter.

"I had him keep it hidden to protect him, told him to act normal because I didn't want him a target, but I also taught him to fight for emergencies, he has a mean right hand hook, I have to say. But I worried he would be a target, one that could be avoided, so I hid him...Had I known about this...."Binzo feels the air deflate from his lungs, letting out a sigh, "Hurt my brother and you will have to pay."

Yuri hears his twin grumble as he walks away, hand running though his crazy hair, his signiture look of his own.

"Sorry you had to find out like this and see him blow up." Yuri whispers, laying his head on Yasushi's shoulder as he felt his partner wrap his slender arm around his waist, something the two often did on Oya's rooftop on a sunny day.

"All that matters is that I love you." Yasushi says softly, breaking his normal tough guy act long enough to kiss his head and then glare at the crowd, "What the hell do you all think ya are fucking looking at??"

This was only the start of something bigger, a love for the ages.

A/N: Soooo.... first high and low fic in the books.. I hope it was ok, but I am super proud of it because I don't Know if I have ever willingly written something so long before in my life. I apologize for all of the out of character moments, but I just felt the need for fluffy goodness with a small pinch of angst.

[sehrgefaelltmir]

Tell me about planes!! :)

BDKDJDJDJDJS OH MY GOD WITH PLEASURE BRO i am vibrating with excitement THIS IS GONNA BE SO LONG IM SORRY IN ADVANCE

OK SO!!!!!! for someone who is obsessed with planes i haven’t been on many exciting planes (mostly just 737s cause if you live in ireland you always just take the L and fly ryanair lmao). my favourite plane i’ve ever been on is the embraer 190 cause it’s SUCH a lil cutie patootie. and my favourite plane overall is the A340-600. i don’t have any tattoos but if i was gonna get one i would get a schematic style tattoo of the A340 cause it’s just so pretty. (idk if u can really describe a plane as pretty but it is to me djdkjddsj) they’re kinda being phased out of use now cause airlines are moving to 2-engine planes (as opposed to the A340 which has 4) but i really hope i’ll get to fly on one one day before they’re all retired!!

also a cool thing about being obsessed w planes is that i have infinite tolerance for them. like one time i had to go through like 4 airports in one day and i had a BLAST i never get it when people don’t like going to the airport?? it’s just like. head empty 🥰 planes 🥰

my favourite airport is nicolaus copernicus in wrocław cause i had a layover there on the way to visit my friend in warsaw (connecting flight was a LOT E190, best day ever tbh) and it was just kinda vibey? djdjskbds idk it was late at night and really empty and the vibes were immaculate

also i LOVE planespotting. if someone agreed to go planespotting w me i would literally propose to them on the spot. it sounds boring but i swear its not jfdjdjdjjd its so fun!! there’s this really good spot for it near where i live atm and one time i was there and i saw this couple taking pics together with an A320 taking off over them ☹️ like thats the most romantic thing ive ever seen??? ouch???

anyway im like,, in a constant state of planespotting. the second i hear a plane i whip out flightradar24 cause i NEED to know where that mf is going im nosey. and the best thing about flightradar is that it tells u the aircraft’s whole schedule, so this one time i was flying home from nürnberg and i could tell the flight was gonna be delayed like 4 hours before they told us cause our plane was still in spain and it hadnt moved lmao (ryanair moment)

oooh also lowkey no one likes flying w me bc like. a) im really annoying abt the planes as u all can see. and b) i WILL make u be at the airport like 5 hours early. one time i was flying w my friend out of copenhagen and it was like 3 hours before the flight n we were in the WRONG COUNTRY i was on the verge of tears all day 😭 never missed a flight n i never will. im an airport dad frfr 🫡

OK LAST THING one time i saw a concorde!! like,, it wasn’t flying obviously lmao (i was born the year they were retired) but it was on display and i got to get on it n see the cockpit and stuff which was like very cool actually

oh my god this was so long sorry jdsjjdjdhd but ty for letting me infodump at you <33333

[chubbygrape]

More Photosfere VS LightHead Order rambling cause their dynamics are getting interesting to me now

(V6, CH37) okay so this is veeeery interesting

So the only people who know of WHERE and WHAT Zora is are Big Sparkles (1) and 'The Great Lord of Light' (2).

I reread volume 7 yesterday (idk why im going backwards) so the Great Lord is this guy -

Later on Sanko's bone falls into the hands of 'the Director' (white guy in the next pic, creepy eyes) who hides the fact they are in possession of the bone from the rest of them in v7ch43. Not only did he hide it, but he also then (being a person of power) expedited the Zora Research.

He knows that if others find out he will be forced to hand over the bone to the Great Lord who no doubt will then use it for his own desires.

I am not 100% sure of the Great Lord of Light's role but I think it's obvious he rules over both Photosfere (business)AND the Lighthead Order(cult) as one and has influence on them both. I mean the Director (i need his name honestly) pays him a visit and all.

Also the Great Lord's been literally crying his eyes out for over a month over Big Sparkles' death, so safe to say he DOES care about the Lighthead Order (LHO) quite a lot. He even calls him his dearest pupil, which implies to me the Great Lord leans more towards the Cult.

Given the Photosfere VS LHO situation, I am sure this would be enough to cause the Director to not give a shit about the Great Lord. He's looking down on the LHO so if the Great Lord is crying like that Im sure he has no respect/interest in him.

I mean when Viper started shitting on them and celebrating they were destroyed he literally agreed

if the Director DID give a shit about the Great Lord SURELY he would have told him about the bone

^^^The Great Lord would 100% LOVE to know about Zaha Sankos' bone but ofc the Director doesnt say anything. (This is from ch43)

I kind like this guy!!! He is very calculated and interesting. Frankly speaking the lighthead guys were a bit of a joke to me so i was very bored of them (thus why I haven't paid any attention to them despite having reread the volumes 3-4 times now)

But this guy clearly means business. I do have to commend Hayashida though on the dynamics and characterisation of the two opposing 'organisations.'

Photosfere which is into business and money and expanding reach and the individuals making it up are shown as intelligent and calculated (i.e. the Director, Viper, Theta), meanwhile the LHO which is a cult and based around influence and whatnot is made out of individuals that tend to act on emotion and may appear immature and their relation to the cult either makes them incredibly devoted or selfish- I mean it's literally Business VS Cult so I like that we're seeing a representation of that in the individuals' characterisation.

(the director's also kinda creepy which I like.)

But anyways back to my original point -- If only two people know WHERE to take the bone, and now big sparkles is dead, this means only the Great Lord knows the location of Zora which IS INSANE!!!!

I am very interested to see how this plays out ; now that the LHO is wiped out we're bound to see more of Photosfere which I am only now realising we technically have not really seen up to this point. - that mummy (the Great Lord) also seems to have an interesting character and his design is also... yeah, unique; so i hope (and kinda expect) he has a bigger part.

Ultimately this is all just triggering my desperation to find out wtf Zora is tbh sshhs

[vancilocs]

✨🎯🥊🍀and🧠 for mara, lowri and any blorbo that is part of the brain bees?

shipment arrived just as night shift started so there was a downright hullabaloo going on for a while

���- How did you come up with the OC’s name?

Pretty sure after I decided to lean into Sumerian mythology inspirations and specifically the mušḫuššu I googled something like "ancient sumerian names" and scrolled the first very dubious list I found and it just felt right immediately. Mara's a traditionally feminine name (and also has origins in Hebrew and proooobably not Mesopotamia) but idk it just clicked

After I decided that she's from the same place as Angharad I just had to pick another Welsh name, so I scrolled around trying to find one, and Lowri just felt nice. Also with Irish and Welsh names pronounciation is important so I wanted to find one that was also easy to pronounce correctly. Also also it sounds a bit masculine compared to Mara and I liked that juxtaposition

Wanted a Greek name for Nepheli because she's a cyclops like her mom, looked through some older/mythology adjacent ones and I thought it was really pretty. Also Elden Ring's Nepheli Loux.

🎯 -What do they do best?

Manipulate and read minds, capable swordfighter but why fight when you can just Brain Blast them before they get to you

Sneak around and eavesdrop, bite and kill so hard with knives or snakes.

Wander around the castle looking at things and also hide from scary things (of which there are many), bother family members

🥊 -What do they love to do? What do they hate to do?

Loves to do whatever Lowri asks of him, enjoys being able to use his spirit powers, really doesn't like doing what anyone else tells him to do. But if Lowri says to obey Angharad in everything, he will...

Loves to listen in on people and gather all the intel, loves when she has a task from her queen. Doesn't like staying out of other peoples' business. Both also love doing each other tbh

Likes to go around at her own pace and experiment with things such as physics (rolling dad's crown down the stairs) and chemistry (make potion in mom's garden), pet the librarian cat, demand snuggles from family members no matter what. Doesn't like wearing giant ruffly dress and sit at table for long boring dinner. Also not a fan of hair being brushed UNLESS ITS MOM BECAUSE SHE DOES IT RIGHT

🍀 - What originally inspired the OC?

I kinda built him to fit with Lowri and into the environment, so the light cult and spirit thing was to directly oppose Angharad, and when I researched dragons of mythology and the light/sun theme went so well with the mušḫuššu I was like yes all according to keikaku

MESSMER SNAKE COOL I WANT. Also Lucanis's dumbass cowlicks enchanted me. Otherwise I just built her to fit in with her surroundings and backstory

I felt bad Fenrir and Merope didn't have a cyclops baby, and also tiny baby for big ruff tuff man is very important to me.

🧠 - What do you like most about the OC?

The day I don't love a man absolutely lost in the sauce for his wife I am dead and have been replaced with an evil clone. Bonus if the man and wife are kinda insane and evil about it

#need a creepy cannibal woman in my life

She's small and weird and unapologetic about it

[soundwave-macaque]

So I've played dnd for a decent amount of time. And I do genuinely enjoy 5e, but I've started to get into other systems and have started realizing that dnd doesn't quite do the art of ttrpg quite as good as others.

(Note: I will get very incomprehensible with this post. I'm sorry)

Now this could totally be because of the type of player I am. I much prefer to engage in the roleplay aspect of these games because combat kinda bores me. Dnd puts like 60% of its focus onto combat, and even outside of that it overcontrols dice rolling.

Dnd is a game that at its core focuses heavily on your modifiers, they determine how you interact with the world and what you are capable of. The problem is that so much emphasis is put on this and the thing you are rolling around is at the complete whim of the GM, so it doesn't feel consistent. It doesn't always feel like it matters that I should in story be really good at this if I roll really badly or my GM decides it was to hard for me to do. This can be fine for a lot of things (combat mainly) but for outside of combat and doing things that will progress the plot it just feels like I am not enough in control of my characters success. Yes I understand that sometimes people fail even when they are really good at something but I want more certainty in the skills I'm supposed to be good at.

For example, take Call of Cthulhu. CoC has a stat based system where you are trying to roll a d100 under your own skill stat to determine success. It feels much more like your character has their skills and you're actually good at things, as opposed to a +5 which supposedly means your good but if you get a 2 on the dice you still rolled a fucking 7 loser.

Or take Wildsea, a system I am trying to get into more that tells you out of the gate whether or not you will succeed based on exactly what you roll. It doesn't even really have stat numbers its great!

It just feels like those games let you focus more on the roleplay and the story aspect without having to worry too much about if my numbers are good enough to do the things I want to do. Dnd spends so much time telling you about how its numbers work and directing all of your time to them its no wonder some players don't even think about roleplaying.

I guess what I'm trying to say is dnd feels almost too gamey. It feels too focused on the function and not focused enough on the character and the roleplay aspect.

And dnd doesn't even offer that much customization across characters! The amount of times I've stopped myself from making a character because they are too close to a character from a podcast is insane! Which is odd because in truth these characters are very different they only have a shared race and class! They have completely different personalities and stories but I can't get myself to make them because I don't feel like I can distinguish them enough!

I think that dnd might just not be the game for me. I'm gonna keep playing it because its fun and a good way to spend time with friends also it is the most well known system I just think it's not even close to the best one.