#;; I know I'd probably do the same thing but I'm Not a Professional Animator Either

[scienceoftheidiot]

Hi there! I know you have a collection of skulls and bones, i'd like to ask what is your favorite piece (and why)?

Aaah ahaha well I don't have one favourite but I can share a few. First I need to say I just counted how many skulls I had and

I counted 58 right now and that's forgetting there is one macerating since uuuhhhh last year that I should probably go bac to

Also since I guess not all of my followers knew about this other obsession of mine, I do not hunt, and all my skulls have been either found, purchased on yard sale, given out of school/museum/university collections, or indeed given by hunters but the animals were hunted legally and eaten for their meat.

Also I'm a biologist so handling dead animals and chemicals is basically something I'm trained for. I'm not telling you not to do it at home, but teach yourself safety and beware. I've been patronised enough by people who didn't know I handled FAR MORE DANGEROUS stuff at work than fucking acetone daily when I started doing this and it made me so angry guys I'm not going to do that to you. Just know chemical burns are no fun, especially if it happens in your lungs (didn't happen to me because safety)

This disclaimer done here is the pieces I like the most in my collection, and the reason why :

First roe I found, somewhere in Alpes-Maritimes. I was living there for my PhD at the time. Like most of the skulls I have found, it was when I tagged along while my husband fishing. Somewhere in 2015 I think ? My collection was already started but I had yet to find a buck.

First cat! Same, my husband found it in the river and I was nearby. Same as the roe, it was all clean already. I love cat skulls. You get to see how big their eyes are. This one has spent a lot of time in the river, has no teeth, and I never could get the patina off, but I think I love it because of it too.

My poor husband doesn't really sit well with the idea of picking up dead stuff but he's always been very supportive, and this is a skull he bought for me, as a tongue in cheek joke. We had almost a row because he told me there were raccoons where he lived, and I didn't believe him, because we're in France, and those are North American animals. We have a habit of taking the car at night to go and look for wild animals (fun thing is that it's a childhood thing for both of us) and one night... You got it, I saw a fucking raccoon happily shuffling on the side of the road. Mindblown. Got this skull next Christmas lol. Since then I've learnt there are raccoon everywhere.

I'm just proud of this one (beech marten) because it's the first I cleaned through by myself. A friend gave me a dead beech marten. Fur and all. And now I find this skull is perfectly clean, sometimes cleaner than some that were professionally cleaned. So.

Dream skull ! A young male horse, and considering where it comes from I might even be able to tell the breed (Camargue). One of my biggest, and I just love horse skulls. I own 3 😅 it's the only male.

Last but not least ! I think I told you about this one. Not a skull per se, but eh. It's a mouse that has been found in one of the beehives I worked with during my thesis. Mice creep into beehives during winter because it's warm and full of food, but bees usually kill them. Then they cover them with propolis, that is an antibacterial and antifungal agent, basically mummifying the mouse. It's not fully mummified here, but I didn't do anything to clean it. It smells like propolis and beeswax, even. It's a little sad but also I'm glad the beekeeper who knew about my hobby just saved it for me.

Here you go!! Sorry for the amount of personal information lol. Thank you for asking 🥰

[schrodingersinteraction]

So I've been catching up on High Class Homos...

and was reminded of a particular plot point/character appearance choice that doesn't make the most sense to me, especially in the vaguely historical/fantasy setting of the story. (For context, I'm coming at this as someone who knows a lot about historical costuming, but by no means on a professional or even academic level, this is mostly just stuff I've absorbed over the years engaging with it as a hobby. I know that this series is not intended to be 100% historically accurate, and by no means take this as a serious critique of the work as a whole. I had just been texting my sibling about this yet again and realized I had a lot of thoughts about it)

So. The part that caught my attention was this

Spoiler Alert from this point forward.

This is Odette. She works as a maid in the castle and we care about her cause she and a princess in said castle are a couple of Useless Lesbians™. But a part of her backstory is that she hasn't always been a maid, no, she used to live in fairly remote village where she foraged and communed with the animals and all that jazz. And when she was romping about the woods, she looked like this.

Long, flowing, luscious locks that apparently were never put up or braided? As someone with about this length hair, probably longer, I can tell you that you do not necessarily want it down and in your way, *especially* outside where it can act as a net to catch various leaves, twigs, branches, bugs, etc.

And apparently no one at the castle thought of braiding it either when she goes to work in the kitchen, because part of her backstory is that she *had to cut her hair* (this connection to her past life and all that, I can understand the metaphorical authorial intent) in order to work safely in the kitchen.

Now, this has been a thing in history. Working class people, often young girls, have had to crop their hair pretty short in order to do certain work and keep themselves safe, among other reasons. However, if it was for work, this work took place factories, right at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, in order to not have their hair caught in fast-moving, definitely not OSHA compliant machinery.

The general understanding I have of this world is it's pre-Industrial Revolution, with a touch of fantasy to have things such as magically assisted gender transitions (which I genuinely love). Obviously there's a lot of various anachronisms here that I'm willing to suspend my disbelief about! This, however, not so much. And I was trying to figure out why and as far as I can tell it's because it's so central to her character arc/backstory, and there's a lot of other explanations that could've led to the same result - she used to have long hair, and now she has short hair. (It could be a personal choice to indicate her change of environment, part of her overall character arc as she plays around with presentation and becoming more comfortable with her queerness, she prefers how it feels, there's a lot of options) But the implication that long hair would be so much of hindrance in pre-Industrial kitchen is not really a thing.

Long hair is not that much harder to take care of and keep clean and out of the way. If anything, I'd argue it's easier with the level of technology they are implied to have access to. It can be braided and pinned up and fully covered by a headscarf, brushed out every day to minimize tangles/dirt/grease, all of this keeping it clean without necessarily needing to wash it every day. (Access to running/clean water and enough of it to wash regularly was very much a luxury for a lot of history and I got the vibe it was here too?) And I know this both from various historical sources (people have had long hair in a lot of different jobs at a lot of different points in time), and from personal experience!

There's a lot more specific anachronisms I could get into, but this was the main one that stuck out to me. Overall I have a lot of fun reading the series, I'm also just a wee history nerd and I don't always know when that will completely take over.

[possessionisamyth]

So, while I do think a lot of the criticism of Remake Ada is in bad faith, I do think there is something to be said about how the design of the character does not match the personality they gave her.

They clearly want to portray Ada as someone who puts up a cold, professional front with a heart hidden underneath but the outfit they gave her still screams Femme Fatale and is in some ways even less appropriate than her original outfit. The animated direction doesn't help either with quite a few shots of her ass. Not that any of this is remotely the fault of Lily Gao who clearly knows what type of character she is supposed to be voicing.

Basically, the writing and acting for Ada aren't the issue, the design and visual direction are the issues.

I forgot I got this in my askbox! I can't really add much to this. You're right, but the problem isn't limited to Resident Evil. Many game franchises pull this shit no matter how nuanced they write the character's story and personality. If they have boobs, it's fair game to try and sell the sex angles. It's honestly their default most of the time.

The people who spend money and yell the loudest about the things they've purchased are the opinions that corporate will listen to. It's why we get the scene of Rebecca struggling in a wedding dress in Vendetta. It's why we got Claire tank top shot and then struggling while tied to a chair in Infinite Darkness. It's why we got that close up of Jill's cleavage with the licker tongue in Death Island. Hell, it's why you could look up Ashley's skirt in the original RE4, an aspect that a very specific group were so pissed about being removed in the remake. Maybe that's why they added all those close ups to Ada's ass and not her face. Who knows! I couldn't tell you. I don't pay much attention to the development side of media unless I have to fix a problem or it's an interesting factoid.

Also gotta take into mind who is behind most of the development process decision making. Is it mostly men? Yeah. Are there good men writers/directors who don't do this shit? Also yes. Are they the ones with the final call on all these decisions for the particular game/movie? Probably not. Which is why it happens, and why it happens so often.

I'm sure when it comes to outfit design and framing, thematically speaking, the stark contrast of Leon's old flame Ada to Leon's new flame Ashley could be used as a line of reasoning. Ada has to be the lusty forbidden fruit while Ashley is the pure fairytale princess, but I'm not here to spout bullshit with confidence. Ada was supposed to look hot and sexy in the original games. They did the same in the remakes, but due to her sweater dress they likely chose to improvise for the same effect.

Does it suck? Yeah. Is it good because woman hot and I do thirst for Ada? Idk! I'm still waiting on my fave youtuber to play Separate Ways DLC, and I'm avoiding spoilers like the plague.

I could attempt to go further into what design decisions define a femme fatale, gender expression, and how a woman and a man can wear essentially the same outfit but the woman's will be framed as more sexual or fragile due to how she's forced to move combined with the camera angles. However, I feel it's faster if you look up those mods where people replace the guy characters with girl characters in game cutscenes to see the sexism at play.

Batman and Catwoman wear the same outfit until they start giving him more armor in later iterations. But look.

Sometimes the clothes don't matter. I think there's a mod where someone switched Ashley and Leon's roles too, and you can see Leon doing Ashley's girly run versus Ashley doing Leon's manly sprint even though they both have shirts that cling to their fat tits. I'm sorry if you wanted something more nuanced than this. I'd say the only true solution to this problem if they're so insistent on selling sex is to give me more ass and bulging crotch shots of the men. It's only fair.

As for Ada's writing versus her depiction, her writing is just recently becoming stabilized and good. If they Remake RE6, we can see whether or not they learned their lesson or if these choices will keep being made regardless. Though they need to fucking remake Code Veronica first.

[builtperil]

Anonymous said:

Is there a big difference between Genndy & Savino's DL art styles?

;; maybe it’s not obvious to some off the bat, but there ARE key differences to their styles, as a matter of fact!

;; shot 1 is taken from ‘ let’s save the world you jerk! ‘ season 2, episode 25 shot 2 is taken from ‘ school girl crushed ‘ season 4, episode 6

;; now, these aren’t the best shots - I just needed them for comparison’s sake. cleaner, smoother look aside; the majority of the characters became more shape dependant, with less soft, smooth movement in place for stiff & rigid movement. notice how dexter is more cube-like & mandark has a much more sharp, square body. IT MAKES A LOT MORE SENSE SEEING ANIMATION COMPARISON TOO. designs were also simplified, presumably to make them easier to animate - given they were using flash from cel animation for the reboot ???? I think ??? 

;; styles for backgrounds, background characters & supporting ones are also MUCH different than genndy’s, with less variety in body types, shapes & such. you’ll notice watching rebooted episodes that backgrounds are a lot less detailed than the original season’s; much flatter & depending on patterns more than detail, if that makes sense??? does any of this make sense ???? ANON YOU’VE GOT ME GUSHING AGAIN DAMMIT

;; but uh !!!! yeah !!! there are a few components that stick out more than others between the styles, some more obvious than not, but I suppose that also depends on how keen of an eye you have!

[charrwybie]

(I've seen this interview meme floating around the tag and it looks super fun so here it goes! Wyatt is not my Commander, but he's still a fun character who WOULD have fans bc he's in a band! Used to do ballet!)

INTRODUCTION

- Can you introduce yourself?

I'm Wyatt Epping - Wybie for friends! I play bass in a rock band with my friends.

- What is your gender identity, orientation and relationship status?

I'm a guy, bi, and not... availa-bly. That was Awful, sorry about that. Not looking to be in a relationship right now, either, I have some healing to do before I'm ready to try again, found that out the hard way.

- Where and when were you born?

We - mom and me that is, assume in Lion's Arch because that's where she found me as a newborn cub some twenty years ago.

- What is your weapon of choice and fighting style?

I prefer to not fight, but when I have to, I prefer my staff or greatsword, and an axe for when things get close. My aunt calls me a powerhouse and I'm usually last still on my feet so I guess I'm good at dancing around the danger and hitting hard when I need to.

- Lastly, are you happy?

Yeah. Yeah. Getting there at least! I've gone through some shhhhoot that made me not happy for a long time, but I'm getting there again! Feels good.

FAMILY AND FRIENDS

- What’s your family like? What is your relationship with them?

(Wyatt laughs) I have a big and weird family by a lot of standards. I'm sure you're thinking that Epping doesn't sound like a charr name and you'd be right! I was raised by my mom, Norma, a human woman, in Lion's Arch so I definitely don't have like a charr upbringing, or a charr name even. I also have another mom who's a charr but not the one that birthed me, and a step-sister who's about the same age as me. Then there's my dads who aren't really my dads but kinda are -- it's a long story, but we're happy. Close! I love them very much and am definitely a momma's boy and a family boy.

-Have you ever ran away from home? 

No. Well yeah, when I was like four and mad about something and I got all the way to the other side of the street before running back to hug my mom and cry that I missed her.

-Would you consider marriage or having children? 

Marriage, definitely, with the right person, I -- think I want that, but it's also scary right now. Kids? No thanks. Thought I wanted some, but nah, turned out to be some misplaced emotional shenanigans. Kids are great, but not for me.

-Do you secretly hate one of your friends?

I wouldn't waste time being their friend if I did, I don't think. I can be a polite boy and act civil in any company, but I'm not gonna be friends with someone I don't like. What's the point?

-Which friend knows everything about you? 

Ordell, who is also in the band - he grew up with me and my sister and we were like an inseparable triple trouble trio, and he was kinda like our little brother but not really. Still is the same. He's the kind of friend I can talk about anything with, or just sit quietly, and it's just... comfortable. Cozy.

ASKED BY FANS  

-Are you literate? Have you been to school?

Is this a joke about bassists being dumb? Yeah I'm literate, have been to school in Lion's Arch, and did real good there. I liked school and studying and would work on ballet flexibility while doing my homework; hobbies, no matter how serious, never were more important than learning.

-The eeriest prediction you made that later came true?

Hmmm. I don't know if anything like that's happened? My mom used to call me Stormlord because I used to predict thunderstorms and lightning strikes as a kid; does that count? She was amazed that I didn't become an elementalist.

-What is something you were embarrassingly late to realize?

You know what, PROBABLY a lot of things, but I can't think of an example.

- Do you have mental health or physical issues?

Both, haha... I have seasonal allergies, a permanently injured knee that ended my hopes of dancing professionally, depression that came with THAT, aaaand PTSD from a different kind of trauma. I'm healing, though!

- What is your current main goal?

Just... To have fun! And to get a griffon, that's what I'm working on right now. We'll see, a lot of animals don't like me, and I really don't know why. I think I'm cursed or something. Let me tell you, it's not fun out there when seemingly every animal ever seems to have a personal beef with you, specifically. And I'm not talking about wildlife, I'm talking about cows and chicken and like generally friendly things.

CHOICES:

- Drink or food?

Food, unless my sister made it, in which case probably neither.

-Cats or dogs? 

Both! I grew up with both and currently have both - I have a cat called Silly - Cilantro, really - and a dog called Potato.

-Early bird or night owl? 

A little more of a night owl, I guess, though not really that either. I like sleeping.

-Optimist or pessimist? 

Optimist. Trying to be real hard at least! Mostly it's working!

-Sassy or sarcastic? 

Depends on the day and company I guess. Not a lot of either.

HAVE YOU EVER:

-Been caught sneaking out

No, but sneaking back in, yeah! (Laughs) I'd come home too late from parties or something drunk before I was supposed to be drinking and inevitably mom would catch me because I'd always get sick, or be way noisier than I thought, or, you know, both. I try to not drink enough to get that drunk anymore.

-Broken a bone

Kneecap, yeah, when I goofed my entire knee. Some toes, I think? Amazingly not anything bigger than that though.

-Received flowers

Yeah! From friends and family and dates, and fans too. I like flowers, am very allergic to some of their pollen though, haha!

-Ghosted someone

Well, yeah. Sometimes deservedly, sometimes it's been me panicking and being shitty as a result-- aw rats, there goes a coin in the swear jar... But yeah, I have.

-Pretended to laugh at a joke you didn’t get

Oh for sure. Sometimes I don't have to pretend because I'll just laugh at myself not getting it!

[todomitoukei]

thank you friend for replying to my ask 💞

ahh waking up and driving at 2:30 am must suck i feel for you 🥲

ooohh a concert!! which one are you going to? 😍

my sister said the same thing. she said don’t let the sensei ruin japanese when you enjoy it so much. continue it for yourself and not for him. btw, he isn’t an official japanese teacher. he’s just a college professor who has the n2 level japanese and is teaching us the language at his home.

and your resources are very helpful! i’m currently doing some journaling with japatalk and it really does help. same with hellotalk but i quickly run out of things to talk about sadly 😅

for the listening section, i used to do shadowing back in n5 but only stopped when the sensei said we’re good enough to move on but i think i’m going to do that again. i also want to listen while reading and i have a lot of books to do that but i’m gonna be honest i’m quite lazy. i think that’s my thing is that i get lazy and demotivated very quickly and i need to find something to fix that.

my favorite thing about japanese is when i’m watching anime or playing a video game in japanese and they use a word i know and i just scream I KNOW THAT ONE! I KNOW WHAT IT MEANS! and then when i hear a new conjugation of a word i know i quickly write it down and share it with the class (i had to wait an entire year to learn about うごくな because i just loved that word from jjk and when we finally learned it i was like 🤩 this the entire class lol)

thank you for always answering to my asks and for being so supportive, my role model and source of motivation! i’ll definitely continue and keep you updated 🥰

どうもありがとうございます💕

You're welcome! Also, you're being too nice!! 😭 It makes me really happy to hear that and I hope I can keep motivating you!

I'm gonna see my chemical romance live, which still doesn't feel real to me and probably won't until it's actually happening lol, but I am excited either way!

Oh I see. Well, him not being a licensed teacher at least explains why he sucks at teaching. There are so many professional Japanese teachers online that teach for free on YouTube or that you can pay for one-on-one lessons on iTalki (I haven't tried that tho so I can't say what that's like but I've heard a lot of good things about it), so I'd definitely recommend trying out those instead of continuing your current class.

And I totally get what you mean about recognizing words, it always makes me super excited especially because it shows me that I made progress and then it makes all the time and energy I've already dedicated to it super worth it.

Oh and about reading and listening - I always like to recommend Satori Reader. It's a website/app that has lots of stories (only the first 3 episodes or so of each story are free but the premium version is absolutely worth it) and they all come with audio as well (you can also slow down or speed up the audio), plus you can click on every word to get the translation, and lots of grammar notes. You can add all the words to a study deck to review, too. There are lots of stories with different genres so maybe you can find some stories that interest you there. Honestly, I want to say that most of my progress comes from there. It honestly helps a lot.

I also have days where I don't really feel like it, which is why I try to have lots of different things I can do so if I don't feel like doing one thing, there's still something else I can do. And sometimes you really just have to make it your routine and do it even when you don't feel like it (and then feel proud for having done something afterwards).

The best thing you can do is find something you really enjoy and consume that. Again, it's okay if you don't understand everything, you'll still learn a lot. I've read the entirety of Attack on Titan in Japanese and while that was... exhausting, it helped a lot and since I love the story I wanted to keep reading it. Another thing I like doing is watch gameplays in Japanese on YouTube. I like to watch gameplays in general, so when there's a game I've already played myself or already watched a gameplay of in English, I know the story, etc. well enough. Watching a gameplay of it in Japanese is nice because even if you didn't understand a lot, you could still follow the story and just try to pick up as much as possible. And for gameplays people usually turn on the subtitles so you can read while listening. For example, The Last of Us 2 is a really really long game so watching a gameplay of that taught me quite a few words! You could also play the games in Japanese yourself, but it can be difficult to get access to the Japanese version sometimes and if you don't understand a lot you might get stuck or mess up if it's something like a choice-based game, but it can also be a lot of fun!

Basically, it's also about creativity and finding as many ways as possible to interact with the language on a daily basis. There are resources that will teach you more than others, but everything will teach you one or two words or expose you to the language at the very least and slowly but surely you know more and more.

I look forward to your updates✨

[fansofvow]

Interview with Eve Golden Woods!

Many of you know who is Eve is. She's a writer and artist, a part of Dreamfeel studios whose beautiful game If Found won Best LGBTQ Narrative and Best LGBTQ Indie game at the first ever Gayming Awards presented by EA games. I am really excited I had the chance to ask Eve some questions about herself, her time at Lovestruck and her creative process.

Congratulations on the two Gayming Awards (Best LGBTQ Narrative, Best LGBTQ Indie Game) for "If Found" from your game studio, Dreamfeel. What was the inspiration behind making the game?

If Found... was a game that emerged out of a collaboration between Llaura McGee, the founder of Dreamfeel, and artist Liadh Young. Liadh's background is as a comic artist, and so when they started working together Llaura had the idea of showing off Liadh's art by making a diary game, and using an erasing mechanic she had previously developed to let the player move through the diary in a fun way. By the time I came on board at the start of 2019, the game had already been in development for a while, so in some ways my work on that game was similar to the work I did for Voltage, because it was taking existing characters and concepts and writing a lot of scripts for them. Unlike Voltage, though, my work for Dreamfeel was a lot more collaborative and I had a lot more creative input. I really enjoy taking something and helping to make it the best version of itself that it can possibly be, but I was also really happy that I got to reflect a lot of my own experiences in If Found. Llaura and I both grew up on the west coast of Ireland, and although If Found... isn't autobiographical for either of us, it was definitely really meaningful to be able to tell a story that reflected our own experiences of growing up as queer teens in a similar kind of environment. Since the game came out we've had fans reach out to us and tell us that they also connected to the experiences of the main characters, and as far as I'm concerned, that makes me feel like I achieved everything I wanted to.

You are a writer and a visual artist. Does one come easier to you than the other?

I used to think of art and writing as talents, and I always felt like my art was at a very mediocre level (that's probably still true, lol). So when I was younger I focused a lot more on writing. It was only later that I started genuinely trying to improve as an artist, but when I did, I think I had a much healthier mindset, and approached it as a skill I could learn with patience and effort. Because of that, even though I still have a lot more confidence in my writing, I find art more fun and relaxing, and I don't stress about it as much.

Did you always know you would follow a creative path?

Kind of? Both my parents are artists, and I grew up surrounded by artists and writers, so it was something that was always very familiar and accessible to me. On the other hand, I didn't exactly have a clear idea of how to make it into a career, or what kind of work would be involved. But there's never been a point in my life where I wasn't doing something creative, even if it was only writing fanfiction.

What did your path to working professionally as a writer/artist look like?

I did a creative writing masters in college, but after that I spent years teaching English as a second language. That was really fun and I got to live abroad, but it was so busy and tiring that I didn't have time to do any writing outside of the occasional fanfic. I only started to take art seriously again when I became interested in games and comics as ways of telling stories. I did some critical writing, which led me to speak at a few local events and get involved in zine fairs. That was how I met Llaura, the director and lead of the Dreamfeel studio, and it's also what gave me the confidence to start applying for actual writing jobs.

Is there any work of art, visual or written, that you look to for inspiration?

So many! I try to read and watch as widely as I can, although there are touchstones I always return to, like the works of Ursula Le Guin and Terry Pratchett. Right now I feel very passionate about the actual play podcast Friends at the Table, which manages to combine really thoughtful worldbuilding and storytelling with cool, fun characters and great action scenes. I'm also reading a book called The Memory Police by Youko Ogawa, which has extremely beautiful prose.

Do you have a favorite piece of your own art, whether it is something you’ve drawn, a screenshot of something you’ve written or something else?

My favourite piece of art is usually whatever I finished most recently (I think that's true for a lot of people). Especially with visual art, once a bit of time has gone by you look back on it and start to notice all your mistakes, which is very annoying. But actually I do still really like the first piece of Fiona fanart I did last year. I managed to use some effects to give it a kind of nineties anime quality that I find really fun, and I think it conveys an emotion pretty effectively. That's always one of the hardest things to predict with visual art, whether the different parts will come together to create the exact mood you're looking for.

I also really like the compass I did for Bycatch. Krissy (@xekstrin) was the one who suggested filling it with fingernails, which was such a good, gross idea! As soon as I heard that I knew it was perfect and that I had to try and draw it.

Many people who read this blog know you as a writer for Lovestruck. When you look back on your time there, what stands out in your mind?

Lovestruck was very important to me when I first started because it was my first ongoing, regular, paid writing work. It gave me a lot of confidence and helped me to get into the habit of writing consistently and rapidly, which is a really useful skill to have. I know I was right to leave when I did, though, because I am just brimming with energy to work on my own projects, and channeling that power into something that you can't control will always end up disappointing you. Also, I made a ton of incredible friends, through Lovestruck itself but then even more so through VOW (@vowtogether), and that is more than worth all the difficult parts.

Is there any character that you would have liked a crack at writing?

Oh gosh, what a fun question! There are so many, but one I do sometimes think about is Axia, just because I know there are a bunch of fans who want her route, and because I had fun writing her as a villain in Zain's route. I can see in my head the shadow of a storyline that takes place after Zain's route is over, where she's in prison and trying to understand how she lost the battle with Zain and MC. I think there's, like, a gap there, where you could see her downfall forcing her to reconsider her assumptions about power, and that could build into a very interesting redemption story. But maybe it's for the best I never got to do that, because I would have wanted full creative control over it, and also I think the story in my head is very different to the sexy, in control, menacing version of Axia that her fans enjoy.

Do you have any upcoming projects you can talk about?

Most of my current work is under NDA, but I will say that I'm doing something very exciting with other VOW members that we should be able to talk about soon(ish). Maybe I can even give a little teaser... It's not a game, but it is something you can read, and my part involves cakes, swamps, and a museum.

Do you have a favorite quote or song lyric?

It's a big long, but there's a section from The Dispossessed by Ursula le Guin that has stayed with me ever since I read it:

"For we each of us deserve everything, every luxury that was ever piled in the tombs of the dead kings, and we each of us deserve nothing, not a mouthful of bread in hunger. Have we not eaten while another starved? Will you punish us for that? Will you reward us for the virtue of starving while others ate? No man earns punishment, no man earns reward. Free your mind of the idea of deserving, the idea of earning, and you will begin to be able to think."

It's such a profoundly radical way of imagining the world, so different to everything I was raised with, but whenever I think about it I feel like I can see something very beautiful and powerful that I hope to come closer to understanding some day.

And of course, "Solidarity forever, the union makes us strong."

I was a big fan of the show Inside the Actor’s Studio. Host James Lipton asked every single guest the same 10 concluding questions. I’ve picked 3 of them:

-What is your favorite word?

My favourite word: for sound, I like words you can really roll around on your tongue. Chthonic, alabaster, insinuation. For meaning, I think simple words that encapsulate big concepts have a kind of power to them. We use them so often we forget how big they are, how much weight they really have, but they give us the space to imagine new possibilities. Love. Freedom. Revolution.

-What is your least favorite word?

I've heard that "moist" is a lot of people's least favourite word but it doesn't actually bother me. My least favourite word is probably one where I feel like the sound doesn't match the meaning. One of the Irish words for rain is báisteach, which I feel has a much weightier and more onomatopoeic sound than rain. Rain is just very flat and uninteresting.

-What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

Oh, so many! I love history, and I think being a historian/archaeologist would be fascinating. Or something that had a physical component to it, like being a potter or a carpenter. I don't think I'd be any good, but I'd love to take the time to learn.

What would be your advice to anyone who wants to pursue a creative career?

All the work you do matters. Even the failed experiments, the things you hate when they're finished. It all helps to make you better. Also, creative career paths are often really unexpected, so chase any opportunity that seems remotely interesting. Don't work for free for anyone who can afford to pay, but work for yourself and put it somewhere. On a blog, twitter, whatever. You'd be amazed how many people get noticed and get offered opportunities because of something they made in their spare time. You'll probably have to work another job for a long time, so don't be hard on yourself if you're too tired to devote much energy to creative work. Try to make art consistently, but don't feel like that has to mean every day. Don't chase after celebrities. Make friends with your peers.

[leotssukinaga]

Friendship Bracelet

Makoto Yuuki x Reader

A/N: I literally dont know where this fic came from, it just popped into my head a few hours ago and now its here. Disclaimer that I don’t know Yuuki that well as a character so I’m not entirely sure how well I wrote him. This ends so cheesy but its cute so I stand by my choices Summary: Makoto and you have been best friends for years, even when you couldn’t see each other often your friendship held firm. There’s just one issue... Makoto doesn’t know if it’ll survive the romantic feelings he’s developed for you. Tags: Fluff, teeny tiny bit of angst, cheesy as hell, childhood friends to lovers Word Count: 1.7k

Makoto wasn't sure whether to smile or frown as he stared at the bracelet adorning his wrist, fiddling with it with his other hand. It was a little worn, though you could hardly see where he'd had to mend it when he caught it on that fence last year and it snapped, but even after 4 years of wearing it constantly the colours were as bright as the day you'd given it to him, the green heart embedded in the blue standing out as much as ever. It had been on his mind a lot recently- or rather, what you'd said when you gave it to him had.

-

You hopped up to him at lunch time, a sad sort of smile on your face. He knew why. You were graduating middle school in two days, and you weren't going to the same high school. You'd admitted to him a few weeks before that you were scared to face the world without him, that you didn't want him to stop being your friend just because you didn't see each other every day. He'd been a little too embarrassed to admit that he felt the exact same way. "Hey, I made you something. It's a little silly but... I want you to wear it all the time, okay? So that even when you're old and you can't remember your own name, you'll have a reminder that once upon a time, in middle school, we were best friends." He grinned as you showed him the blue friendship bracelet. He didn't even know you knew how to make them, but he admired your handiwork and held his wrist out for you to tie it on. It was only when you'd done so that he was the green heart you'd sewn onto it. "Not just in middle school," he reassured you, "just because we're going to different high schools doesn't mean I'll forget about you."

-

He'd been right, too. The two of you were in your third year now, and your friendship was as firm as ever. Of course, the different high schools situation had changed once Yumenosaki had opened up the producer course and you'd transferred (something you hadn't told him until you surprised him on your first day there), but even in your first year he'd cycled over to your house every night he had free. You'd always fussed over how he had the energy to do that, with how strenuous idol work can be, but he was insistent that you didn't worry about him too much. And now you were at Yumenosaki, he walked you home every day, just like he had in middle school. He was grateful for your ongoing presence in his life, but recently... He wanted things to change. Not in the sense that he didn't want you around anymore- as if he could ever want that- it was more like he wanted to see you more, if that was even possible.

He'd often catch himself thinking about you in a way he didn't know he could- about holding your hand or waking up next to you, about how nice it would be to be your boyfriend. It was bugging him endlessly. How could he fall in love with his best friend? That was something that belonged in slice of life manga and cheesy sitcoms, not real life. Not his life. Not when you had so many better options out there than him, when half the guys in your year were vying for your attention for less than professional reasons- and he knew that every one of them was likely better suited to you than he was. "Hey, what's on your mind?" Makoto nearly jumped out of his seat when you appeared next to  him, a concerned look on your face "O-oh! Nothings wrong, I'm fine." "I didn't ask if anything was wrong, doofus, but the fact that you answered like I did tells me you definitely just lied to my face. Cmon, out with it." "No really, I-I'm okay!" You frowned at him, pulling out the chair next to him and taking a seat. "When did you start hiding things from me?" "W-what?" "I feel like you don't tell me anything anymore... What happened to the Makoto who'd tell me everything, right down to how long it took you to eat your lunch? When did you stop wanting to share things with me?" You looked sad- heartbroken even- as you stared at your best friend. But that was just it. He'd always be your best friend, and nothing more. He'd thought he was okay with that, but he was beginning to realise he wasn't. "I don't know, I... I guess people just grow apart." He knew, the second he said it, that it was the wrong thing to say, and the tears pricking your eyes as you nodded and silently left the classroom confirmed it.

You didn't wait for him that evening. He arrived at the spot the two of you had used as a meeting place since you'd started at Yumenosaki and found nobody there. You didn't pick up when he called you, either, and the walk home was painfully silent without your company. He'd screwed up majorly, all because he couldn't stand to tell you he was in love with you. And he didn't know whether he'd be able to pick up the pieces or not.

But he knew he had to try.

This wasn't like him. Normally he'd call you before heading to your house, it was rude to drop by unannounced, but this time he didn't even think about it. (You'd likely not pick up anyway.) It wasn't until he turned onto your street that he even realised what he was doing, that he'd cycled all the way here without making a conscious choice to do so. Whether it was the fear of losing you forever or some miraculous bout of previously unfound confidence that saw him climbing the tree outside your window and knocking on it like some anime protagonist you guys would definitely make fun of together, he didn't know. All he knew was that when you opened the curtains you looked like you'd been crying- and that you shut them again the second you saw him. He slumped back on the branch he was sitting on, not ready to give up but feeling a little defeated, when he heard the door open below him.

"Makoto! What the hell are you doing up there?!" "I need to talk to you." "Ever heard of knocking?" "I didn't think you'd answer." "You could've tried!  Ugh, will you just get down from there, please? I'm having horrible visions of you with your head splattered on the sidewalk." He nodded and made his way out of the tree, trying not to think about how cute it was when you covered your eyes so you wouldn't have to see if he fell.

"I...I didn't mean what I said earlier." "I know." "You do?" "Yeah! I mean, come on. I know you better than anyone- if that was really how you felt you’d wanna talk about it, give me the reasons. You’re always so gentle with people, even when you don’t like them." "When you didn't walk home with me today I thought maybe I'd messed up beyond repair." "I was upset. Even if you didn't mean it, it hurt. And you've been so distant lately. I don't wanna lose you. Ever." "I don't wanna lose you either." The way you smiled at him warmed his heart, but your next words put a knife right through it. "Good. You're stuck with me as a best friend forever, whether you like it or not."

Makoto couldn't take it. He knew he wasn't good enough for you. You deserved a boyfriend who could sweep you off your feet, not some dork who's only romantic knowledge came from manga. But... even if it was unfounded, he had to have hope. He had to tell you how he felt.

"Y/N, look, I- I need to tell you something." "What is it?" "I-" The words stuck in his throat. You stared at him expectantly as he tried to get them out, but they wouldn't go, no matter how much he stuttered. Now was not the time for him to freak out and forget how to speak. He'd cycled over here and climbed a tree, for God's sake, and now he couldn't even say what he wanted to. He couldn't help but think that this was why you deserved better than him. "Makoto? Are you okay?" "Yes, I just-” He took a deep breath before finally blurting it out, so fast you could barely make out what he was saying. “I'm in love with you and I have been for like a year and I thought I could be okay with just being your best friend- and if you tell me to shut up and never talk about this again then I will, I'll be happy to be in your life in any capacity- but I knew I couldn't live with myself if I didn't try, you know? You're just so perfect and I know you deserve better than what I can offer you and it's so stupid for me to think I have a chance in hell but-" "Makoto!" "Y-yes?" "Will you shut the hell up and kiss me already?" "I- what?" "Oh, I have to do everything myself, don't I?" He was still processing what you'd said when you pulled him in for a kiss, cupping his face gently with your hands. It took him a minute to come to terms with the fact that you were kissing him, but eventually he settled his arms around your waist and melted into it. You pulled away abruptly when something cold and wet landed on your forehead, squinting up at the sky. As if the night hadn't played out enough like some cheesy romance film, snow began to fall around you.

"I probably should’ve worn a coat, huh..." "Oh my god, come inside before we both freeze to death!" "Will your parents be okay with that?" "Of course they will, it's you." You reached for his hand to pull him inside, but stopped when you noticed something. "Hey... you're still wearing the bracelet." "'Course I am. You told me to wear it all the time." You grinned up at him, giving him a soft peck on the lips. "I guess that heart means something different now, though." Makoto's real heart swelled in his chest. Being with you was... Well, it felt like something out of a fairytale, or one of those dreams that waking up from upsets you because it's not real. "Yeah. I guess it does."