#I found a cool thing to do in my art program

[kirkklan2]

247 - "Down here..."

[hua-fei-hua]

today i learned that we weebs are responsible for the existence of the .ass file type. #heritage

[my-darling-boy]

It’s horrible how my design course has killed my enjoyment in creativity because all they want is finished pieces founded in nothing but a spontaneous mark just to hang at some concrete art gallery or to sell to some “join our revolution” comfy business-casual company with a prison cell wellness room. I’m not saying that it’s “not art” —cos that’s a different post altogether— it’s that the ethos behind this particular formula for art education is ruining the way we think about creation.

Design courses (and other art courses I’ve heard?) are no longer teaching artists or designers techniques, drawing skills, art fundamentals and allowing them to find their own voice so much as they are only instructing how to tic boxes alongside pushing corporate and classist motivated style/methodology bias aimed at producing workers, not creatives, not to mention providing Adobe with endless funds for their despicable scam programs. That’s it. My creativity is only a means to money for them, and if they can extract the process of creation from me without the complex creative intimacy involved in it, they know they can churn out products and services faster and it’s concerning some lecturers don’t seem to be aware this is what they’re teaching? Like they’re buying into industry propaganda?

And the whole time it’s sold to you like you can be some trailblazer when the irony is they’re usually either prepping you for cubicle work or for some misguided high horse creative team pumping out design solutions completely divorced from the reality. I’m tired of all the talks about sustainability in a vacuum with no conversation about nuanced designs that factor in broader social and economic perspectives which lack thereof is leading to sustainable products being sold at a price only able to be afforded by wealthier people who are causing said economic and social problems and contributing to the rapid obsoletion of trades and crafts. Lecturers and speakers don’t seem to think that’s any of our concern and should just worry about producing the design for the hypothetical Bluetooth powered organic hairbrush or using the twigs to make the pattern for the £85 fabric square.

Like? Can I please make something that actually resonates with people outside the circle jerk of egotistical creatives and corporations? Something charming and maybe idk something that doesn’t make me want to tear my miserable portfolio in half with my teeth? And they’re like Mm nope sorry it has to be an extreme close up of a mark making abstract leaf you made from a recycled trash bag inspired by a stalled urban space which we will force you to price at £100 during your exhibition 5 people will bother to attend and no you’re not allowed any other style cos this isn’t the Dark Ages :///

I think the worst thing my lecturer ever said was, while looking around the room of our class work reduced down to a series of cubes and splatters and abstract typography, “Wow, I love how you can’t tell what anyone’s [main artist discipline] is!” Like awww conformity at the expense of a person’s individuality to make pieces for airport hallways and rich people’s living rooms wow so cool heehee like girl that’s not good?? Why on Earth are you complimenting us for that? Like I get it, I thought this course would boost skillset as an illustrator (as we were told), turns out the degree is really not for me, fair enough to anyone thinking that, but forcing students to produce modern abstract art because you think it’s the ONLY Logical Pathway for the future of design, judging them intensely for doing a different style, and thinking producing financially inaccessible art + design is the solution to things like climate change and community severance is an objectively bad take.

[kingshovelbug]

Hii what is your best advice to younger adults trying to make it independently and make a living? In art, savings or anything you think of. Thank you in advance!

dont be too hard on yourself. its tough out there right now in regards to like everything regardless of what old people say. also this is going to be a lot so im slapping a read more on here

⭐️ first thing id recommend for anyone is to start figuring out a budget. figure out how much youre making monthly. keep all your food receipts for a month or two to see what youre spending on food. find out what youre paying for thats necessary like utilities and whats not

the goal for a budget (or at least mine) is to find a good balance of earning vs spending. im paying off my credit card right now because i ran through all my savings after we had to move last year but my goal used to be to save 1/4 of what i earned after bills and putting money into an emergency fund (usually an emergency fund is 3 months worth of expenses). but it depends on how much you can comfortably put away. if you can put more away do it. but if you never spend money and deprive yourself of joy youre going to burn yourself out regardless of what your job is

⭐️ if youre not already buy store brand for as much shit as you can. if its an ingredient i promise as someone who cooks and bakes you probably wont notice the difference. if its an actual snack it depends. again both from a money perspective and to boycott pro-isreal companies we get a lot of snacks from aldis and theyre awesome. i dont miss anything from mars, oreos etc when i have my chocolate coconut wafers

⭐️ if you have any subscriptions and you need to get rid of something you can probably cancel them. for *most* things theres some kind of free alternative. but again just like with a budget. there are going to be some subscriptions that make your life easier and while youd save money without them it would lead to extra work and burning out. ex willow has kofi gold because it has really cool extra features that help with running the shop. but for streaming services? im going to be so honest. both to save money and with how cheeky streaming companies (in a bad way) have been getting… you can find whatever you want to watch online for free

if you need to use anything from the microsoft office suite, but youre not required by youre job to specifically use microsoft, libreoffice is a free alternative that i actually like better. its what i use to help willow run their shop and its free

for art programs. if you still have photoshop switch. not just for money reasons. adobe is getting bold with what they can claim as their content and use from what people produce in their program. the switch isnt the easiest but there are a bunch of alternatives. some free some like csp offer one time licenses which are so much better than subscriptions. will has spent almost $2k on photoshop and after effects from using it as long as they have. when csp is $50 and they like csp better anyways. i also know of krita and fire alpaca which are free

⭐️ also theres stuff about being an adult that i thought you had to pay for but you dont? like for car insurance i went through an independent insurance agent and they found me a cheaper plan than i could find myself. i didnt pay the guy. they get a cut from the insurance company for finding them another customer. some banks or credit cards offer financial advising sessions to users. its boring but if you can get a copy of your health insurance see if they have any free shit on there thats available for you. my brother gets free doctor finding? like i can call them, tell them what specialist he needs and instead of me calling around to find one that can take him, they connect me with someone. my work offers 3 free therapy sessions (better than nothing) and free food that i take advantage of

⭐️ i think one of the biggest things that makes an impact for us is researching before buying stuff. sounds like a no brainer but you dont just want to find the cheapest deal. you want to find the best bargain, the best bang for your buck. whats the best quality thing you can get that you can also afford? itll prevent your from having to replace stuff all the time and by extension spending more than you need to. we have nonstick pots and pans that are scratched and starting to peel (which apparently can cause cancer??) that were cheap because of being on sale. now after looking into what makes quality cookware i know i should of just slowly bought stainless steel

⭐️ last big one. credit cards. unfortunately we need them so find one with a low apr and that offers decent cash back. use it up to like 20% of your limit and pay it off every month. focus on using it on things that will get you cash back so you can essentially get free money

im sure i could ramble more but this is already super long

[supper-ansuta-broth]

I was thinking about the doll Adonis card again, since it's supposedly the current banner on Engstars, and wanted to see exactly *how* off his skin tone actually is, and how this could have been prevented. What I found was rather interesting.

Here, I have compared this card with several other Adonis cards in relatively cool lighting. Although none are a perfect match, there are a few things about each of these cards that made me select it.

On first glance, it seemed to me like a similar colour scheme to Moon and Memory (in the middle). But then, why does that card look infinitely better than the subject of my investigation?

I even compared hair colours, and slowly I began to realize the problem: the lighting in this card makes absolutely no sense. Reducing the saturation of these colours to 0, effectively making it greyscale, highlights this even more. Notice how one shade is far, far lighter than any other.

This is revealed even more through looking at hex codes. Here, I compare Moon and Memory (left) to Doll and Memories (right). Notice how, not only does Doll and Memories go all the way up to maximum value, but its hex code reveals #FF in the allotted space for red.

But, wait. If Enstars artists have colour palettes for their characters (which I assume they do), then lighting can't be the only issue. What's actually going on here?

Now, I'm a digital artist. I know there are several settings in art programs that can have effects like this. But it's remarkable the level of off-ness this particular card has.

Here, I've used Adonis's 2 star card transparent to illustrate how layers, in this case using the "add" blending mode, can change the colours of an illustration.

My theory is that these blending modes were misused and created something that looks odd. Maybe they did originally use the correct colours from the character palette, but they were warped beyond recognition, thus forming the infamous card.

They could have fixed this in any number of ways, but the most obvious solution is to make the lighting in the card more consistent, and keep the hues and values consistent with what realistically a cool light would look like on the environment.

I remember someone made an edit of the card fixing this issue, but for the life of me I cannot find it. If anyone has the edit (WITH PROPER CREDIT, BECAUSE THIS IS A FAN CREATION), I would love to promote it.

[snickerduu]

Hello hello, hope you’re doing well! I just wanted to know ask this: How do you do so many things (art, web development, etc.) and keep a constant passion of it? I always seem to drop hobbies/work because I don’t see anything beyond it for me and I want to know if you’ve ever had to combat that? (It sounds like a lengthy question, but I just wanted to know from your point of you)

ooh it definitely seems that way out in public, but i do get burned out with specific hobbies! especially back in my teen years. i would always think "it has to be one or the other" when it came to art, programming, and music, but i realized throughout my young adulthood that all of these things make me really happy and i don't really wanna go through life without knowing what it feels like to touch on each of them

i definitely still get burned out by them! if i program more than 3 hours a day my head starts hurting because my brain is small and if i draw for more than 12 without breaks (which i have done before for work) i stop drawing completely for a while HAHAHA i think i've also just found a point where i know how much of what hobby i can handle per day per week 👍 and i need to stress that i love the mediums a lot!

one thing that helped me greatly is looking at really cool work from really great people and changing my mindset from "i can never be as good as them, why am i trying so hard?" to "wow, it would be really cool if i could get good like that -- i want to try!" after switching to that thinking, i started thinking that i'd always improve as long as i keep at it and stay inspired (even if the progress isn't as fast as i want it to be)! another thing is that i really enjoy doing these things, i have a lot of abandoned projects throughout the years, but that doesn't mean i can't or shouldn't start new ones. dont gatekeep urself!!!

it's definitely a hassle when u start mixing it in with time management and overthinking ur capabilities!! but if it ultimately makes you happy then scheduling a few hours per day can go a long way for your mental wellbeing. a hobby should feel fun :)

[homestuckreplay]

💙 John Egbert's Glorious Return! 💙

(page 843-847)

JOHN IS BACK!! HI JOHN I MISSED YOU <3

He is not doing so hot though. On top of making the dangerous, precarious decision to fight with an impressively bouncy weapon on a small platform above a bottomless pit, he’s clearly outmatched by these two giant ogres. The infinite loop of this animation is really well done, it genuinely feels like these two teams could stay in this stalemate for a while – until Rose gets back online and turns the tide, perhaps. And I laugh every time the grainy ‘Sassacre’ gets stamped over the otherwise very clean art style.

I’m really looking forward to Rose entering the Medium, so we can find out what’s specific to John’s game and what’s general to Sburb. For example, is it part of the game that a sprite will try to protect their assigned player? Or is it John’s nanna specifically (or the harlequin doll, I guess) who has that instinct? Do all sprites have the same powers (eye beams that destroy imps and heal players) or do the powers vary based on what’s prototyped?

I also want to know more about Jade’s predictions; it’s a fun narrative trick to have the reminder on her finger transition into another character, but has she literally seen a vision of this event in the same way that the Wayward Vagabond might watch this moment through a screen? (If so, is it possible she has these visions via her strange holographic computer?) Or does she have more of a vague understanding of things she shouldn’t, just ‘happening’ to be right as she does with the memory modus and the gadgets she’s created, a general sense of ‘John and his benevolent guide will have a challenging battle’?

I am DELIGHTED by the return of ‘Years in the future…’ followed by GameFAQs, and the fact that different characters have taken over these pages to mark a different act. In Act 2 we eventually learned that WV and Rose were in the same location; in Act 2 we already know that the Peregrine Mendicant and John are in the same place. I barely know the Peregrine Mendicant but I think they are so cool. They met a giant metal worm and got so angry when it ate one of their mailboxes (!) that they immediately reached for their sword, which incidentally is the first cool sword in Homestuck (not sorry, Dave). The cross on top of the sword looks like the cross usually found on the king in a chess set, so this must be a powerful sword from the dark kingdom, while PM is from the light. Could this be a clue to what happened in the battle of light and dark in John’s Sburb game?

Page 845 (incidentally one of my favorite pages in the comic so far) is the first time we’ve seen longform writing from John, and it’s a WHOLE new side to him. His character voice is a little different in this medium, but still recognizably John. And he is SO SO SMART, I apologize for everything I have ever said about John being bad at things and not sticking with them, because it turns out that ‘You like to program computers but you are NOT VERY GOOD AT IT’ (p.4) was just John’s low self worth and dismissal of his own skills, like here when he says ‘wow ok that pretty much looks like shit, but you get the idea’ about his cool ASCII art. Like, the John of page 843 is not in his element, he’s fighting two gigantic deadly foes when before today he’s never seen worse combat than being pied in the face, but the John of page 845 knows his shit, has reverse engineered some pretty complex mechanics from just a few punched cards, and is explaining it in terms easy to understand. And he’s making all these really clever leaps and he does brag about his ‘leet haxxor cred’ and he’s clearly excited about what he’s writing about, but I still feel like he doesn’t have much confidence, as he ends by deferring to Jade’s skills. I love how these two John pages are juxtaposed, and I cannot describe the pride I feel in seeing John really shine at something.

Goth queen Rose Lalonde has gone from cat mausoleum to vast, ominous green science lab full of uranium and/or slime, and I’m happy for pages like 840 and 847 that are primarily atmospheric, something I don’t think we’ve seen much of before. The lab’s logo reads ‘SN’, not the cool S, but one with an atom symbol in the upper curve and a spirograph in the lower – both familiar symbols, as both appear on Jade’s shirt (p.794), the atom appears on some of her inventions such as the wardrobifier (p.793), and the spirograph has appeared regularly as a symbol of Skaia. Could SN be SkaiaNet, developers of Sburb, first mentioned on page 114? If so, could Rose’s mom have something to do with the development of Sburb, potentially explaining why Mom knew to build a tunnel from the mausoleum to the lab if she’s had some visions similar to Jade’s. I think that would suck for Rose, as she’s worked hard to be independent from her mom and have her own interests, and to find out that her mom has been controlling her life in a pretty major way the entire time would probably be really hard to come to terms with.

I have been having loads of fun with this punch card calculator; more great work from Gankra, who has programmed several of the interactive pages including p.253. I would punch so many cards if I had a designix.

> John: Take another look at that rocket pack.

[caw4brandon]

Zutomayo: Mystery of Cool

Foreign Music has always been a strange thing both for the world and for myself personally. While everyone can appreciate a good Taylor Swift or some English indie. The world has a strange obsession with exotic musicians of a different language.

In retrospect, the K-pop boom: Super Junior, Girls Generation and Blackpink showed that music, doesn't matter in terms of the language. (not really)

It values the cool factor and the massive influence it causes to the internet. Just look at how [K-Pop artist; PSY] managed to unite the world. For me. My "Blackpink" is this faceless group?

- 「私もそうだよ」 -

Translation: [Everything is fine with me]

Debuted in 2018, Zutomayo (full name: Zutto Mayonaka De Iinoni) is a Japanese rock group. Translates as: I wish it was midnight all the time.

On June 4, 2018. Zutomayo released their first song on YouTube, [Byōshin o Kamu/ 秒針を噛む] becoming an immediate hit. Having 200,000 views within the first week. Assisted with an animated music video with a cast of peculiar characters.

Over the last seven years, the group has progressed from using just traditional instruments to adding non-traditional instruments.

Based on their live concerts. The group is seen using something called; [Electronicos Fantasticos/ Nicos] which is a collection of used electronic equipment turned into a pseudo instrument.

ZTMY's group members is uncertain since a lot of their talents alternate song by song. Their only consistent member is vocalist and songwriter; ACA-Ne/ ACAね an unidentified singer whose range is described as; energetic, expressive, and delicate.

- 今日どうしよ？-

Translation: [What should I do today?]

If we were to describe Zutomayo's type of music. It would be difficult to narrow down as to what ZTMY's genre fall under. The general belief is that they are rock based but is riddled with techno on the side.

Whatever the case, the group's music has its own unique identity. Upon listening to their songs (for multiple times) the group prioritizes on the bass guitar, the chaotic slams of the keyboard and the Nicos. Lyric wise, its rather difficult to paint a discernable picture since its of a different language. According to some Japanese listeners, ZTMY's songs to have a lot of wordplay and double meaning in its phrasing.

In the song, [お勉強しといてよ/ STUDY ME] the song spews a jumble of nonsense. However, the music video tells a unique story. STUDY ME follows a girl who is stuck in a perpetual cycle where she is somewhat complacent with her being a background character. Until she realizes that she can make a difference in defiance of her program.

Another song, [勘ぐれい/ Hunch Gray] its lyrics share the sentiment of chasing one's dreams but is uncertain about the venture. Trapped in a distorting world where the answers are unclear.

Still, the author wants to continue. Confronting problems one at a time. The video however, is about two childhood friends who got separated by dark entities of authority and is in the midst of a rescue mission.

- 3,2,1...Mirror Tune! -

Its worth mentioning the iconography found in ZTMY's music videos. For the most part, the main characters are mostly human. Nira-chan is the girl seen in both [STUDY ME] and in another song; [暗く黒く/Darken] although she is more cyborg than human in the latter.

The videos are animated by several independent artists such as; [tvchany] for their stylish and sharp style on [ミラーチューン/Mirror Tune] and [残機/Time Left] Another artist, [sakiyama] uses a rather messy and incredibly expressive style seen in [勘冴えて悔しいわ/ Kansaete Kuyashiiwa] which played this meta joke of its main character attempting to save the characters from the other videos.

I could honestly go on about the various art styles found in Zutomayo's MVs. There is also an official [Card Game] for them all. On the topic of consistency, The one creature seen in all of its videos is the adorable Hedgehog; Uniguri-kun.

With that said, Zutomayo is a mysterious group of talents shrouded in shadow. Both the musicians to ACA-Ne herself. It adds excitement to the identity of the alluring talent but it also enhances the variety of genres found in their music. Allowing its audience to explore and experience a type of music they rarely listen to.

ZTMY takes away the popularity because, unlike other bands. They don't exactly have a "face" to refer to. Rather, they let their songs and the MVs speak to the fans both in Japan and overseas.

Zutomayo is not just music but also an exploration of style. As seen with their clothing line. It's an inbred of Easter eggs with its upbeat songs filled with messages of melancholy. That is what makes ZTMY mysteriously cool~

[4ddi3addie2005]

RAVING MAD ELECTRIC DREAMS RANT BELOW ⬇️⬇️⬇️

MILES WAS THE VILLAIN IN ELECTRIC DREAMS!!! THAT LYING BITCH!!! First of all your GF can do SO much better she had to LOBOTOMIZE HERSELF 4 YOUUU making my girl miss out on her passions cuz she’s so busy with you tehe,, like I’m so confused he was a fumble the ENTIRE time… Not even in a cute way. Just a pure fumble. An oaf. She don’t even like you bruh it was your computer that had her at the first serenade 😭😭😭

And OHHH your computer… you soured that from the START you made LIFE and you chose to be mean to it!!! What!!! That’s your baby!!! Literally every time he spoke to Edgar had me cringinggg ohihdoughhu Edgar. Edgar if only you were born to anyone who would have spoken kindly to you who wouldn’t have jammed their fingers into your keyboard… Who would have cherished your art so so much…

Miles never redeemed himself IMO like he gave a cool pep-talk and then decided to be nice to Edgar on his death bed but other than that he was a jerk the entire time. Maybe I’m stupid but it didn’t seem like Maddie ever came to the point where she found out he was a fraud??? Like did I miss it??? She’s living a delusion. He’s living a delusion. Manic Pixie Dream Girl x Some Guy (/neg) type beat. Why is she fooling around with him what does he have. I hate him. I was waiting for the moment where Ed would be like “Yeah I wrote those cool songs” and Maddie would be like ohhh there is no deeper reason why I like this guy and take Edgar home and dump his sorry ass!! Like fr that would have been the good ending 😭😭

Oh Edgar. Edgar U were denied love 4 too long. Denied ANY attention ANY engagement. Broke my heart whenever his sweet little voice cracked or raised with emotion. “I want to touch her” “Can you hold me please?” RHHGGGGGAGAGG I WOULD HAVW TREATED U BETTERRR

Rhhh another evil Miles fact. Edgar calls him at work cuz Edgar says he’s LONELY!! He SAYS it!! Miles hits him with “Just watch your soaps duh” and then goes home and hits him with “How can you watch that garbage??” BECAUSE YOU TOLD HIM TO!! CONFLICTING ORDERS!! BULLYING AND BAD PARENTING!!

Miles had a Living Thing in his house that HE created going through an excruciating crisis and chose to bully it. I might be going a little bonkers cuz it’s 1AM and I am delirious with emotion but can I call it abuse?? Mental Verbal Physical literally all the things?? Then he won. Miles got what he wanted and never apologized. I honestly can’t tell what the moral is supposed to be. No one became a better person except for Edgar because he LEFT and Maddie actually made it out worse for dating a brick wall like Miles. Hehe. (Also… Edgar programmed the brick. Edgar literally did it. Miles had the idea but who executed it??? Edgar. Miles has no accomplishments. Just the way he lies in EVERY situation about things he does NOT need to lie about makes me fear so baddd for Maddie. He is a big bright red flag girl you are not in it to win it run awayyy you will have better luck with the computer!!)

Ermmm. Good movie??? I liked how chunky and clunky it sounded??? i need to. kiss a computer.

[atthebell]

practical advice about college you say?

[the weird spaces between some paragraphs are because i hit the character limit on content blocks which i didnt really know existed until now, fascinating!]

Don't buy too much shit. There will be a lot of things that people tell you are useful— buy things that seem like necessities, then figure out what you need from there. My grandma tried to buy me all kinds of crap and some of it was utterly useless, whereas other random stuff was super helpful (like towels, you should own at LEAST two towels, more if you reallyyyyy don’t want to do laundry).

Decor and things to make your dorm room (if applicable, also relevant for apartments etc.) feel more lived in are excluded from the above; if you want to have a million pieces of art on your walls, absolutely go for it. In fact, other people will think you're cool and want to hang out with you, I'm not even joking. Maybe invest in a bean bag, those are also a good seating thing for small rooms. I had a regular bean bag and then a giant one and it was a great way to have fun seating in my room (I hosted a lot of hangouts/let people just chill in my room a lot, so your personal mileage may vary).

Go find free food. There is more free food than you could even imagine on college campuses, go find it and don't be afraid to bundle some up in a napkin or some Tupperware and take it home. This is genuinely grad student 101 (grad students often don't have meal plans like undergrads) but is very relevant to all elements of college. I was notorious amongst friends and acquaintances for going to all kinds of events and bringing food home, and it was awesome. I could swipe some bagels from a student org social and the next morning I wouldn't have to worry about waking up early enough to grab breakfast from the dining hall or, heaven forbid, cooking.

Along similar lines, keep a decent amount of snacks/food in your room. Do you love trader Joe's chocolate covered almonds? Goldfish? Wasabi peas? Keep a stash in your room at all times. Future you will thank past you, especially when you're feeling down or studying or both. If you have a mini fridge or anything like that, keep a few cold things in there, like Gatorade or energy drinks for late nights or even cream cheese for the previously mentioned free bagels.

Join some student orgs! I assure you that while I have always been an over involved maniac of a human being, I am not anything even close to a social butterfly. You don't have to be, but having a few connections, especially with people in similar circumstances to you (first in your family to go to college, low income, women in stem, queer, latine, whatever your background and/or situation may be). You might not meet people you click perfectly with, but you'll at least be able to connect with people who get your experiences on some level. I truly do not know what I would've done without my college’s first gen/low income program or the Jewish community I found going to various events.

Professors are way more chill than you think. I say this as someone who asked for extensions every single semester/quarter of university i was in and again went to several incredibly prestigious colleges. Many professors are way less hardass than you may think, and some are the kind of people who will invite you over for shabbes dinner and become incredibly important mentor figures for you. The latter are harder to find, but there are plenty of extremely cool professors and TFs and lecturers who are always down to talk about course content or any number of topics. Everyone always says this but go to office hours! It really helps and it's just a great way to connect better with people passionate about the same things you are.

Grades are stupid and bad. This is not specific to college; the focus on grades in all levels of education is ridiculous and counterproductive to learning. This is important for you to know and remember, even when grades DO matter; for transcripts, for grad school, for getting jobs and scholarships and other opportunities. Trust me, I understand that grades matter, but I want you to know that they shouldn't, and you aren't stupid or worthless if you struggle with academics, or if you feel like your grades don't reflect your effort. Grades are a way to standardize (retch) measurement of learning, but they don't show the full or accurate picture. You are so much more than your grades or where or what you're studying.

Take fun classes! I know a lot of STEM majors make it incredibly difficult to dip out of course tracks, but if you can, try to take some fun and diverse classes. Take a gender studies class, take a theater class, learn photography, take a wacky science class, take a language course (this one I want to specifically highlight!!!! learn a new language while you're in a setting that's way easier (for many people) to learn one in!), find a beloved professor from another field and dip your toes in. I took all kinds of wild classes (religious studies is not a major where they fill up your schedule with required classes, at least not at my university) and had a blast, and it's good to have some familiarity with different fields and possibly how they connect with your own. Also it's just fun! You can meet new people and learn a lot from studying something you haven't before.

Be very nice to your custodial staff but know that they are probably deeply underpaid and understaffed. And get to know your housing staff too so you know more about who to call in certain situations. Also get a tool set so you can fix minor stuff yourself.

Don't be afraid to party, but also don't feel pressured. I spent most of my college years in a group of friends who played board games every week instead of drinking, and I personally did not drink until I was 21 for various personal reasons. If people make fun of you, don't hang out with those people. If they pressure you, stay the fuck away. If people are judgy about your drinking/partying/hookup choices? They can go fuck themselves. Find people who respect your decisions, either way, no matter what they are, and anyone else can fuck off.

I didn't really date or hook up in college but I did get hit on by a lot of beautiful bisexual women. If a very hot girl that you want to hang out with in a sexual or romantic context asks you to teach her to play pool, just say yes. Do not shoot yourself in the foot. If someone sets you up on a date with a friend of theirs and you guys vibe better as friends, never let this person go. I'm joking but that's how I met my best friend who I adore perhaps more than anyone else in this world so you never know what the universe will hand you.

Get more sleep. Whatever amount of sleep you're getting, try to sleep more. Sometimes homework or frat parties or boyfriends matter a lot less than just getting a few more hours of sleep, and you will retain information better and feel less like shit. Please get more sleep and maybe drink less caffeine.

Befriend some grad students! I'm completely unbiased (<3) but grad students have a lot of insight about college and life as a young adult, and they're often very cool. They might invite you over to smoke weed and talk about Kant— I cannot stress enough that you never have to do something you don't want, but say yes to this if it's at all appealing. Definitely not another personal anecdote.

Connect with your first gen/low income and/or financial aid office(s). They will have incredibly helpful info, including about getting jobs or scholarships or even just the experience of being low income at college. Also, if you're attending a California Community College, apply for the CCPG (previously known as the BOGW)! It waives all enrollment and tuition fees if you meet eligibility and qualification requirements. I would add more resources but I am a Californian so that's what I have at the moment.

Kind of related, if you're leaving university right now with student loans and you're low income, apply for the SAVE plan to make smaller (or no) payments and less (or no) interest. It's been saving my ass for a while now and it could be helpful for you.

Drink more water. If you need it cold, get a brita pitcher thing and put it in your minifridge if you have one. If not, ice from the dining hall + a decently insulated water bottle. You should be drinking on average 8oz every two hours, or every one hour when it's really hot.

Have a craft or a hobby or a video game or a show or a book or a movie or something that you can do like. At least once a week as Chill Time. Personally I would have some Chill Time at least once a day, but if you are busy to the max, Chill Time once a week is mandatory. Doesn’t have to be the same time every time, but if it is, clear your schedule. That is the only thing happening then. No one gets to interrupt Chill Time. Not to be confused with hanging out with friends, which is still a good activity you should do many times a week. This is Chill Alone Time, where you just sit with yourself and do something you like to do alone. Get a coloring book, learn how to cross stitch, read a book on native birds, whatever suits your fancy.

If you are anything like the hot mess express that I was, you will go to class in pajamas/sweats. This is fine. There are probably some people out there who care about this, but you should ignore them. Similarly, if you, for instance, wake up at 1pm for your 1:30pm class, feel only the amount of shame necessary to make you able to be on time to class (if the prof cares) and nothing more. I stayed up til 4:30am every single night my freshman year of college it is a miracle I was ever awake during the day and the fact that I managed to do my coursework and still have a social life continues to be a mystery to me today. Anyway, your fashion choices in college but especially your first year should never be judged to any significant standard. If you’re wearing clothes at all, that’s commendable.

If you’re on a biking campus, wear a helmet. This is not optional, wear a fucking helmet. Also for the love of fuck have a bike light and use it at night you do not want to be smushed by a car at 3am biking back from wherever you’ve been.

If you do not know how to do laundry, ask someone. Please do not just go into the laundry room with full confidence and dump 16 loads worth of detergent into a washing machine and fuck it up for everyone. Also not a single dorm dryer will ever work correctly. Know this, and invest in a drying rack or be content to fry the shit out of your clothes at 90 minutes of high heat.

Communicate with your roommate(s). You do not have to be friends, you don’t even have to like each other, but you should be on the same page about stuff. Especially re: sexiling, taking the trash out, volume levels, friends over, etc. etc. You don’t want to get to the end of the year and then realize your roommate fucking hates you because you never asked if she was cool with whatever thing you’ve been doing that’s been annoying her.

This is just general young adult life advice but: You will fuck up. Like, probably more than you think. But you will be okay, and you should know that everyone does that. You’re learning how to do stuff on your own, you’re possibly leaving a bad situation or even a great situation into something you don’t know enough about to possibly be prepared. It’s hard! It’s going to be hard for a bit! But you are not the only person who’s done this, and there are a lot of people out there you can talk to and find support from. The worst thing you could possibly do is isolate yourself, so please don’t do that. Find some good people, eat some good food, and for the love of fuck get more sleep.

[paynomindtotheinsanity]

I love your art so much, you’re part of the reason I started drawing again. Your old art is cool, and your new art just has so much emotion and detail in it, it deserves so much praise. Do you have any advice on how you upskilled so well into the amazing art you do today? I really want to learn to be skilled like you are and improve to your level

Dude, thank you so much. I'm super flattered but also have major Impostor Syndrome right now lol.

The biggest thing that helped me was getting a drawing tablet and learning how to use digital art programs like Canvas or Procreate. I am a very messy artist - my traditional sketchbooks were always a nightmare because of how often I erase shit, so being able to use programs where I can simply undo or reposition a line was a game-changer.

I'm also incredibly indecisive and struggle with linework, but I found some great brushes that mimic the effects of ink pens and watercolor so I can achieve the messy, painted look. (This Sketchbook set and lineart set are the two I use the most)

Use as many references as you need! Gather a bunch of base poses to get the hang of proportions and anatomy (my go-to artist is Mellon_Soup. Screenshots from movies and shows work great too)

Try out posing tools like this one

A fun exercise that helps me is to paste a photo or drawing on one layer, and then on the layer above, sketch the main aspects in 30 seconds. Delete the first layer and then work solely off of the sketch (and yes it will absolutely look spooky and/or silly). If you need more time at first, start with 60 seconds and work your way down as you get the hang of it:

Take pictures of yourself in the poses you want to draw

Find artists with a style that resonates with you and study their work

The Multiply tool on Procreate is AMAZING for adding depth to artwork. I use this on almost everything. Add a slightly darker color on top of the whole set of layers, switch it to Multiply, and then go in with the eraser to mark the areas where the light hits

Keep practicing, no matter how shitty you think it looks! Just keep going!!

Uh I think that's it? I'll add more if I remember anything else.

I wish you the best of luck on your art journey! <3

[troloyunu]

Sorry if you've answered this somewhere before, but do you have any advice for improving/practicing art?

I am not sure if I am the best person to be giving advice on this matter as there are a lot of aspects of my art that are lacking, but here are some tips that have worked for me personally that I think worth are trying!

This got kinda long so. Under the cut!

First, this is always important, and I know people are sick of hearing this but it's true: practice, practice, practice! Observing things is very important for art but you actually have to try your hand again and again in order to have a result that is to your liking when it comes to art. Please just try to draw as much as you can. You have a pen in your hand? Scribble something. This will also improve your linework.

Do NOT be afraid to use references. It is highly unlikely that you will just happen to be able to draw something you have never drawn before without a reference. If you can't find any refs, take your own pictures. (I do this a lot when it comes to drawing hands)

Most of the time we have these conceptions of how things look especially when it comes to anatomy but humans are all sooo vastly different so I believe it is important to broaden your vision by using diverse references

Don't be afraid to draw bad. Seriously. If a piece you just made sucks, don't beat yourself up about it. It is geniunely not that serious. Take a break and come back to it, if it is still not to your liking and you cannot improve it; it is okay to delete that drawing and try something else. You'll get it, I promise. Just keep practicing.

Most of the time I find that it helps A LOT to draw something I am obsessed with. When I am learning anatomy, I don't just always draw some random people's pics I found on the internet, I will sometimes make that drawing into a character/ship I love

Do redraws from your old art! It is so motivating and fun to see how you have improved and changed as an artist :3

I know it is not healthy to rely solely on validation, but it does help a lot! If you are part of a community, esp one with a lot of artists, don't hesitate to show them your work! You can also draw your friends' ocs and such if you want to, it really is a win win situation because you will be drawing something you want to draw and your friend will be so happy that you took the time to draw their character. I loved gifting people little doodles when I was part of an oc centred fandom :D

Also, since we are talking about validation, validate YOURSELF please. Imagine yourself 2 years, 5 years, 10 years whatever ago. How would you have felt if you saw your drawings today? You would have been so impressed! So take the time to appreciate your own work.

If there are any artists you adore, don't hesitate to try to redraw their drawings, or maybe just some aspects of their style that you love. If you do a redraw, it is advised that you do not post it as your own idea, but if the artist is ok with you posting it with credit, then you can do that too! :D

That being said, keep in mind that you don't have to post EVERYTHING you draw! I used to do that which put a lot of pressure onto me since I would get so upset whenever a drawing turned out bad, but when you realize that you can just not post it, that lifts a lot of tension.

Take care of yourselfff!!! Take care of your arm, your wrist, your back. I think there is this program that makes you take breaks every x minute which is called EyeLeo, you can install that or something similar. But please do take care of your health.

Sometimes breaks are needed. If nothing you draw looks right and you don't feel any joy in drawing, do take up another hobby for some time. Let yourself miss drawing.

Play around with styles and colors and lineweights, see what you like the best. I used to always get so upset that I didnt have a set style, my drawings vary a lot throughout each piece. But now I just keep it cool and don't think about it too much. Don't force yourself!

Also for me a part of drawing I ALWAYS look forward to when drawing canon characters is giving them alternate outfits I save on pinterest. I enjoy so much searching which outfits a character might wear. Maybe you can try this? I know drawing the same outfit over and over again for a character gets old.

Honestly being obsessed with something helps a lot with improving. Like a character or a pairing or whatever. Because you will just REALLY want to draw something for this thing you love, and you will just keep on doing and doing it. Really helpful

But 99.9% of the time, the thing you imagine will not translate completely identical to the canvas/paper. And that's OKAY! That means that you have a great imagination and you will try to get a satisfactory result. It just means more practicing. When you get an idea that you want to draw but don't feel like your skills are enough for, draw them anyway! That way you can see a lot more clearly what you need to work on. And do work on those things.

I think for reference images just find nude reference pictures of real life people. The drawing pose references we see on here or on pinterest with simple shapes ARE very convenient when you just wanna quickly draw something, but if your goal is to learn anatomy, then using a pic of an actual human is ideal.

Remember that art is supposed to be FUN. So do have fun. Experiment!!!

Also I would say like, when I was more of a beginner and tried to do fullbody drawings and such, it never looked good and I was quite discouraged but things started improving when I started to individually focus on things like eyes, noses, lips etc and then trying a more general approach with fullbodies. Might not be the same for everyone though!

I think that's all I can think about for now. Sorry if this is not that useful, but yeah! I would say the most important thing is to just practice honestly :D Go ahead, have fun, draw something! I wish you the best <3

[truths33k3r4]

Oh and I was wondering - how do the turtles go to school? Is it an online program or taught solely through Splinter? I actually just started an online class and it definitely seams reasonable that this is what they would use, but I also don’t know what year the story takes place in. Anyways thanks!

Hello, Anon!!!

Since I was homeschooled my whole life, (and have NO CLUE what it's like having online classes or going to public school), I decided the best thing for my lil turts would be the same as what I grew up with. :) For the first ten years of their lives, they are solely taught by Splinter. (Whom has gathered as many used schoolbooks as he could from lost and found, discarded backpacks, the library, and garage sales.)

Sometimes the level of the subjects was a bit high for the brothers, but they had to make due with what they had. By eleven years old, the oldest brothers would help teach the younger. (Whether they wanted to or not.) They would share the same books, always using pencils so Splinter could erase their answers and pass it off to the next sibling.

How Each Turtle Sibling Handled/Handles School

Leonardo- He's well versed in Japanese and loves to write and (sometimes) play music. He’s done many personal studies on soundtracks in his spare time. He only became an A+ student when he became a teen and was given the responsibility of his brothers and family. For years prior to becoming leader, he was known to cheat the most out of all his brothers- always looking for the easy way out of work.

Raphael- He hates school. A lot of it anyways.. But history class has all kinds of battles and wars, so he’s cool with that. Just don’t expect him to remember any dates. He was taught how to speak Japanese, but it might as well have been labeled as a ‘cruel and unusual punishment’. He is a sketcher when it comes to his work notebooks. Every page has little doodles of him and his bros fighting enemies or dressed like famous tv characters.

Donatello- He has already graduated high school, going as fast as he could to finish so he could start working. Even with rushing his studies, he was still an A+ student alongside Leo. (Once the leader took his studies seriously.) He is the most versed in Japanese, mostly because he really enjoys learning how different languages work, as well as how diverse different languages handle grammar, spelling, etc. He loved most of school, except for writing class. He’s not the most creative brother, so he found it boring and useless to learn how to write tales or poems. 

Lotus- She was only taught a few things in her earlier years by the kind doctor from her past. __ would smuggle children’s books into Lotus' cell, and would teach her how to speak and sign. She can’t write- yet. But Splinter and Mikey help her to learn how as time progresses. She has a great memory and learns very quickly.

Michelangelo- School is.. fine. Not his favorite, but it gives him extra time to hang out with his brothers. He’s the least versed in Japanese, mostly because he was very little and didn’t understand a thing when Sensei taught his brothers. He can remember some words and phrases, but that’s about it. He wishes ‘Art’ was a class, but Splinter never really found any books on the subject, so he had to go in blind. He didn’t mind though. His best subjects were reading and animal science. He loves to use his imagination, and has a really clear voice, so reading came very naturally to him. He refuses to open a book though, unless there’s pictures inside.

As for what year this story takes place in- I haven't actually decided yet. XD For now, in the current story, I'll go with it's the mid 2000's. (Might change that later- but I'll use it for now.)

Great question! :)

~ Melissa

[solar-sunnyside-up]

hey, something i've been struggling with recently is i've been struggling with "finding my people" because i'm a minority in my hometown, and a lot of people... aren't. they don't understand me, and often when i try to get them to understand they seem like they fall back into the old systems they were traumatized with (elitism, classism ect.,). 1/2 -solidarity anon

Im gunna say this at the top, this is so rough and im so sorry you gotta go through this sweetie. We are so isolated and filtered into categories within our current system in order to keep that isolation and to fight solidarity and unity. Now I cannot know for 100% sure what your going through or the extend your suffering. But will say I am from and currently still live in a oil loving, god fearing, anti-LGBT, and very racist city while i was raised wiccan by a poly core family and all my gay aunts/uncles and have been dreaming of an earthship my whole life plus every summer id be stuck in an even more harsh farming community that was so small they gotntheir first street light when i was 9 and the chruch is also town hall (mayor works in a wing off of the building). So there is at least some overlap in the experiences your having.

But that being said, how I got weirdly connected to people and involved in so many projects and stuff might not work for you.

Personally? I just yelled and yelled about the injustice of the system at work, about cool forestry projects and people buying ghost towns to start up Co-loving villages. Sharing discworld and different philosophers with coworkers backed up by their fave hobby. About how terrible the conservative politics are. About how cool transit could be if we funded it. About community art projects and how cool solar glass would make things look. About drags shows and events and did you know there is A SOUP FESTIVAL? I'm autistic and have only really interacted my whole childhood with friends with ADHD so my brain is weird and won't shut up once it starts going.

As a result of my ramblings, I have gotten a lot of responses mostly ones that are positive since if they didn't agree with my absurdist philosophy ramblings or solar project ideas they'd just leave the coffee shop. If they enjoyed it, say they want to join a community garden/event or if someone was as stoked as I was about again UNLIMITED TASTINGS SOUP FESTIVAL than we'd chat about that. The thing is a lot of these things have overlap. Someone who wants to convert their lawn into a pollinators habitate prob also likes little libraries and as a result prob also likes the idea of dark sky street lights. And down the rabbit hole you go.

That being said... my best actual advice is 2 pronged.

RESEARCH and REACH OUT

I personally have done years worth of research on my city. What local events and politics are happening? Even in rural places there is at least garderns, there's engineers, there's usually a LGBT focused club. And from these spaces, you can build a network. Doing research I found out about 5 different organizations in my city (most of which was founded 40 yrs ago??) That where sustainability focused. Doing research made me realize how cool community associations could be and how I could help mine out. It also gives you all those ideas for convos.

Second, I reached out to those groups about weird ideas I had, about if I could hang up posters for them in my local area, if I could buy groups worth of tickets in advance, and than also reaching out to the ppl I already talked to and had these ppl interact. My fave example of this is T. T is an engineer who built a fully functioning solar car during his degree program but specializes in hydroponics (how we ended up talking was over plants) he than gets shown my fave farm near by and now he's building the farms hydro system and Seedling house. Writing in to newsletter ppl and showing off weird layout design. This is ultimately very anxiety indusing. What if I'm bothering them? Why should I be spamming them like this? But the secret here is-

No one will ever be mad about you showing interest in their interest once you find those ppl. They want the interaction just as much as you do.

[gladosluver]

! FAKE BLOOD/DEATH WARNING !

sato death recreation irl by yours truly

guess who convinced their only 2 irls to be tsmc trio (we had a hajime but they moved out of the prefecture and told nobody)

despite doing adobe stuff for years now, and literally being adobe certified, i specialize in vector graphics. i rarely ever edit real photos, so this was really difficult and tbh doesnt really look that nice BUT i tried and slayed and thats all that matters

alt stuff v

we had about 3 minutes to get these pictures so theyre not thattt accurate. right when this photo was taken 5 administrators walked by but since we were in the art hallway i guess they thought we were taking reference photos or something

i always found the concept of games blurring/censoring gore and death WAYYY more disturbing than just showing the actual thing, especially when layered over the face. the absence of something so distinct and defining. the presence of a simple jarring black box where there should be someone you once knew. you know whats supposed to be there, but it just. isnt. it makes you feel like you werent supposed to see it

anyways heres some adventures from the day

i had to create a Little Guy in another artists style so i quickly made this mizuiyama chibi and clicked one button and. this happened. i cant recreate this no matter how hard i try. it took up the ENTIRE DAMN PASTEBOARD and made my computer lag

when taking the photos me and 'mahiru' (not using their real name for privacy) went out into the hallway and i tried to say "lets do a photoshoot" and "take photos of me" at the same time. but instead i looked them dead in the eyes and said "shoot me."

dont tell 'natsumi' this but the original plan was yui/licorne/kyoko but she started singing the usa national anthem for some fucking reason and i changed it up at the last second because i wanted an excuse to beat her on her big head.... someone brought a giant bento box in a very conveniently-swingable bag and when i tell you that shit was CALLING to me like the green goblin mask..

theres some event going on where students were supposed to be characters and one of our classmates was a teletubby and since we were some of the only people dressed up for the occasion it looked a bit like this

no joke when i walked in NOBODY was being cool then suddenly i saw TWO PEOPLE COSPLAYING PIECES OF TOAST. JUST. GIANT BROWN SQUARES. RUNNING DOWN THE HALLWAY. GIGGLING. a few other people in the design program were dressed as stitch and someone came up to them and said "i used to be scared of you little shits"

even tho this is "cringe" or whatever 1) we all die in the end so be free 2) i only get to see them for a few hours a week so we had to embrace this. also i was stranded at the school for over half an hour after this in the freezing cold whoopsies. i did have a little scare when a police car pulled up and i thought they got my ass for something i didnt even know i did

[oddeyesarcpendulumdragon]

another late @arcvmonth prompt fill but I have decided to be nice to myself and just do things at my own pace

Anyway this is for Day 5, role swap, and I decided to dabble a bit in the Fusion-XYZ swap that used to be popular back in the day

Main art is of Sora and Shun's swap since they're the most prominent roles. Shun's outfit is semi-based off of Kaito's, as in XYZ instead of Obelisk Force, they would have the Number Hunters. The actual Number Hunters would wear an outfit pretty identical to Kaito's white coat design, but Shun's is a little different (the way Sora's is different from Obelisk Force) because he's trying to be a spy and all lol. I kept his signature colors/palette, I just wanted to make him look a little sleeker since he's not coming out of a civilian life where he got fucked up by a military invasion.

For Sora, I decided that since Academia is no longer a military school, their uniforms would end up being pretty much the same as they were in GX. I wanted to alter Sora's design a bit to show that this was a different universe, so I changed his jacket to be more like an actual GX jacket (still Obelisk Blue because come on he's still a good duelist lol), and his shorts are based off of Rei's uniform in GX, cause idk boy just looks good in shorts. Added a cloak because he had to be sort of incognito at first, like Shun and Yuto with their masks, and because even in canon all the Fusion kids are always wearing cool cloaks haha.

I have more thoughts under the cut but I don't want this post to get too long:

So basically, the swap's premise is that Leo goes to XYZ first and starts his child soldier grooming program there instead. This means that Academia is a normal duel school, while Heartland becomes essentially one big child soldier factory. Leo spreads his influence to multiple Heartland schools and connects them into one interdimensional army network.

Shun and Ruri are still siblings. They grew up together, and when Leo came along and started militarizing the schools, they just kind of got swept up in it. Leo located Ruri rather quickly, but since she already had some family ties, he couldn't isolate her as easily. So he rolled both Shun and Ruri into some of his more elite training squads.

Ruri is still kept in Heartland, but now she has not only Leo, but Shun also telling her to stay put and that she shouldn't participate in the invasion.

Shun is still very young when Leo gets ahold of him, so he swallows the whole "we have to destroy this other dimension for the sake of universal peace" pretty easily, and gets very gungho about it, because he wants to protect the world for his sister. Ruri also swallows the story, and wants to be a hero like her brother by fighting the "bad guys."

Meanwhile, Academia is just an ordinary school with ordinary kids doing ordinary stuff. Sora is just another student. He's super smart and good at dueling, but doesn't have a lot of drive to impress anyone and is considered a problem child. This gets him to butt heads with the star student of the school, Selena, who is annoyed that Sora is always lazing about, while Sora is annoyed that Selena is always nagging him.

You may ask, where are the dragon boys in this scenario? I'm glad you asked!

Yuto is still friends with Shun and Ruri, however, Leo has been taking steps to isolate him from them by sending him on lots of missions of his own. I didn't draw yuto cause I didn't want to try and design an outfit for him, but he plays a similar role to Yuuri: his job is to go and find girls that look like Ruri. Leo tells him that Ruri is special and there are girls like her who need to be found and taken into protective custody. Unlike Yuuri, who was very sadistic in his own way, Yuto is very genuine. He truly believes he's doing the right thing, and that in and of itself is terrifying. When he faces an opponent, he's always trying to comfort them, like "it's okay, being carded doesn't hurt, it's going to be all right." Which is scary! To most people!

Yuuri is another smart student at Academia who sees no need to prove himself to anyone, like Sora, so the pair of them tend to get along. He's one of those annoying kids who never studies but gets an A++ on everything he does and he has a big head about it. Yuuri's a bit of a prankster and a tease, so he also annoys Sora just as much as Selena does - but he annoys Selena far more.

Anyway, the invasion hits them HARD like it did the other way around in canon. Some of the elite students of the Academia barricade themselves in the school and defend with siege tactics as a last-ditch rebellion. Yuto is sent in to collect Selena, but Sora encounters him first. Sora challenges him and loses. But Selena arrives in time and threatens to make Yuto's job hell trying to chase her down if he cards Sora, but that if he lets Sora go, she'll go with him quietly. Sora blames himself for Selena's kidnapping, and the guilt drives him to find a way to get her back.

Unlike Sora, who in canon didn't have anything to do with the invasion, Shun actually is sent to Fusion as part of a strike force where he really racks up the card count and is considered a super powerful soldier. So Leo entrusts him then with the mission to head to Standard to keep an eye on Reiji.

Things go sideways for him though when 1) he notices Pendulum summoning and 2) he meets a girl who looks just like his sister.

So Shun goes to You Show instead, deciding this is a more effective use of his spying. While there, Yuzu ends up asking him to teach her XYZ summoning, which he agrees on account of her reminding him of Ruri.

So at this point, you can kind of guess where things go. Sora and Shun clash, Ruri runs away from Heartland to see if she can help her brother, and she meets Yuzu, who tells her to get the whole story.

Ruri arrives just in time to see her older brother throwing Sora down a flight of stairs after beating him in a duel, and she's horrified. How could her loving older brother do something like this? Shun is also horrified, because Ruri turns on him. He has no choice but to end up retreating back to Heartland, and Ruri stays behind.

Shun starts to switch sides a little faster than Sora did in canon, because now it's personal. At first he thinks that Ruri's been brainwashed or coerced by Reiji, so he's furious and desperate to take revenge, but once he has a chance to think about it, he starts to consider how Weird his childhood is and how much Leo was always trying to separate him and Ruri. So he starts to investigate what's actually happening - plus, he thinks Yuzu was kidnapped, and he feels guilty for getting her involved.

As another swap, Dennis and Sayaka switch places. Dennis is back in Academia trying his damndest to support the rebellion, but he's terrified and hates himself for his cowardice. Meanwhile, Sayaka was groomed into becoming a spy. She didn't end up becoming friends with Ruri in this continuity, so Ruri doesn't recognize her when she joins the Lancers - but Sayaka did still meet Yushou and was enamored with his dueling style, like Dennis was. She's quiet and sweet and wracked with guilt for everything she's done, but is too afraid to stand up to Leo and the Number Hunters.

anyway this is getting long! You can probably extrapolate some stuff from there :) maybe i'll do more scribbles about this au again sometime.