#I also made her a sticker version that I think is super cute

[blockgamepirate]

idk if anyone has done this yet but I just wanted to share close-ups of each of the custom signs Richas, Pomme and Bad made, with individual alt-text descriptions (the descriptions are a bit subjective but I wanted to make them as vivid as I could because I feel like these designs deserve that)

I might include my own feedback in a reblog, to get extra subjective, but the main gist of it would be that these are super cute and much much easier to read.

Note that these are not the final designs! Richas, Pomme and Bad said they're still working on them and asking for feedback, especially in regards to the accessibility aspect.

The same descriptions under a cut, just in case the alt-text doesn't work for some reason:

1:

Pomme's custom canvas sign on a wall. This will be the most detailed description since it's the first: The sign has a wooden frame that surrounds a red canvas. The canvas has a very subtle patchwork like texture and is slightly darker on the edges than in the middle. The text is a slightly transparent white (effectively beige) and reads Pomme in all caps.

The custom texture pack version is a much darker shade of red, which makes the contrast between the text and the background much bigger and thus the text much more readable. The frame is also decorated with a little French flag in the bottom left corner and tree branches with green leaves and apples on the right. The leaves and apples overlap the canvas portion slightly. The overall vibe is very classy and makes you think of a roadsign advertising a French vineyard. Or I guess more like an orchard in this case.

2:

Sunny's custom sign: The colour is a much softer and lighter orange than before, almost more like a warm yellow. The text is black like in all the lighter coloured signs. The frame is decorated with sparkly blue diamonds, a small diamond shaped one in the lower left corner with sparkles almost as big as itself, and one big one in the lower right corner which is in the princess cut shape. The general vibe is like a pre-teen girl's notebook decorated with glittery stickers.

3:

Chayanne's custom sign: The colour is a very soft and pale lemon yellow. The frame is covered in subtle vines on the top and the bottom. In the lower left corner there's a small orange pumpkin among the vines, and in the lower right corner there's a little yellow rubber duckie, also partially covered in vines, which does blend into the background a little bit where it overlaps the yellow canvas. The vibe is very cottagecore but also very childlike, this could be a sign for some kind of family vacation location with cabins and gardens.

4:

Tallulah's custom sign: The colour is medium pink, somewhere between her original pink signs (now used by Pepito) and her current magenta signs. Clearly lighter than the latter, but darker than the former. The frame is decorated with poppies in the lower right corner, and some kind of blue flower, maybe a blue lily, on the lower left corner. One of the blue flowers also sort of peeks into the frame on the right between the poppies, right in the corner. The flowers are of course framed by their leaves, which reach out towards the middle around them. This definitely has the vibe of a sign for a flower garden, probably one maintained by a little old lady who loves pink.

5:

Richarlyson's custom sign: The colour is a deeper indigo blue than his original signs, like deep blue denim. The text colour is the same light beige as Pomme's signs and as all the darker coloured signs. The frame is decorated with a tiny Brazilian flag in the lower right corner, and red-cap mushrooms in the lower left corner. The mushrooms seem to be releasing little white spores into the air, some of which can be seen in the top right corner as well. I can't quite pin down the vibe. There's something a bit fairy tale like, like a storybook maybe. You half expect a little troll creature to show up. But also… random Brazilian flag I guess lol

6:

Empanada's custom sign: The colour seems to be the same soft beige as before, I can't tell if it has changed at all. The frame is covered in golden syrup in the top left corner, which spreads out all over that side of the sign, dripping down in big goopy clumps. It looks delicious and I don't even care that much for syrup. The lower right corner across from it is decorated with white flowers, maybe white cherry blossoms? The flowers are stemless and leafless, just the flower floating over the frame and the canvas. One big one and one small one. There seem to also be small petals floating in the other two corners of the sign, over the canvas. One petal is even floating on the syrup where it drips down on the left. This would definitely be a sign for a small independent bakery.

7:

Ramón's custom sign: The colour is the same white as always, I don't think it has changed at all. The frame is very simply decorated with copper-coloured gears in the lower left and lower right corners, with one particularly big gear on the right side. It doesn't bring any particular vibes to mind but it is cute. The gears look very shiny and it fits Ramón very well. I guess the thing that it most reminds me of is actually Ramón's elevator shaft with its white walls and coppery create machinery.

8:

Dapper's custom sign: The colour is a darker grey than usual, I would honestly call it black rather than grey. The lower edge of the frame is decorated with what looks like darkened blotches of blood, with white ghostly spirits rising out of them towards the left and right edges of the sign, framing the canvas and partially overlapping it. The ghosts are similar to the souls that rise from soulsand in Minecraft but whiter, with only a hint of blue. The vibe is very Halloweeny of course.

9:

Leonarda's custom sign: The colour is a much deeper purple than before, you could even say a more royal purple. In the lower right corner there's a beautiful sparkly cluster of amethysts which are a lighter pinkish lilac colour and which look absolutely gorgeous, just masterful pixel art crystals. There is an amazing sense of depth and transparency in such a minimal resolution. There are also some pinkish sparkles in the lower left corner to balance out the composition a little bit. I don't know how to describe the vibes but it's beautiful. It's like a much classier version of Sunny's sign (not an insult to Sunny's sign, just a neutral description. It's like the cliché of the nouveau riche versus old money. Sunny's gems make you think of glitter stickers, Leo's look like she just happened to place the sign next to an actual cluster of amethysts with perfect artistic composition. Or maybe like she hired a professional painter to decorate each sign.)

(Okay sorry for the rambling, I just can't get over how pretty these amethysts are. Sunny's diamonds are also very pretty but they do look more like stickers to me)

10:

Pepito's custom sign: I think the colour is a softer and lighter pink than the original, it looks like freshly washed baby clothes. The sign is decorated with a tub of popcorn in the lower right corner, with the classic red-and-white design, which sits partly on the frame but mostly overlaps the canvas. Some popcorn seems to have fallen out and is scattered across the lower edge of the sign. There's also a stripe of alternating red and white on the right (over the edge of the canvas rather than on top of the frame itself) which vaguely makes me think of film reel, probably because of the popcorn. I should note that the white and red on both the tub and the "film" are a bit desaturated and dark, technically the white is more like light grey, which gives an effect of shadow and contrast compared to the very light pink canvas which looks very cool. There's also some subtle white flakes across the sides of the canvas; I'm not sure what they're meant to represent. They're very similar to Empanada's petals. The overall effect of the sign is very retro to me. It makes me think of the sixties.

11:

Gegg's custom sign: The colour is a softer version of the lime green of the original sign, and slightly lighter. The canvas is decorated with a little Gegg pixel art sitting in the lower right corner. Otherwise the sign is undecorated, but there's a subtle effect on the canvas itself that makes it look a bit goopier, like there's a thin film of slime over it. And there's a tiny reflection of light in the upper left corner which adds to the wet look. It's very subtle though, it could very easily be missed if you didn't look at the sign closely. The overall vibe is: Gegg

[good-beanswrites]

WAH HEY BEANS!! okay so i was looking at the plushies and merch again and i suddenly had a thought in LCSyS, what are their thoughts on like merch?? i have no idea if you've mentioned this before and if so i am silly. i can totally see fuuta go OH NO IVE BEEN TURNED A MARKETABLE PLUSHIE

YES AHAHAHA I love that!! This is for the gone-public variation of the au

This made me realize the wide range of official merch, plus I think a lot of them would love supporting artists once they're out and have access to the internet again lol. Overall I think the plushies would cause the biggest stir around the facility 😂 I mention bootleg merch, like when you have random companies making weird/ugly knockoffs -- I don't think real Milgram has that but it was a fun idea for the story lmao

Haruka isn’t used to having his own image on so many things. The others are really sweet about taking care of his plushie and doing kind things for it to boost his own confidence (although there was One Singular Moment of jealousy where his tiny counterpart was getting more attention than himself and needed to be talked down lol) He and Muu have plushies of each other that they’ll plan cute matching outfits/accessories with.

Yuno loves her own plushie, and is excited to share it with Yura. She takes really good care of all the plushies she has, and they genuinely bring her warmth, especially post-milgram when they all separate <3 She (or maybe Mikoto, I haven’t decided) gets only the weirdest/most concerning buttons on her personal bag. She loves her Borderline Suicidal Fuuta, Crazed Bug Muu, Grieving In A Hospital Shidou, Rats Mahiru, and so on. She asks Amane for permission to add Waterboarding Button to her collection. For her more public displays, she likes the aesthetic things from the anniversaries and birthday art. She loved those days of dressing up for the photoshoots, so they carry nice memories as well as being super cute. 

(I tagged you in the art I thought of, but yeah,) Fuuta puts up a big act about how weird and capitalistic it is to have merch of oneself, how plushies are “for kids,” and also how ugly/skrunkly his t2 one looks... His refusal to interact with it only makes the others interact with his more. I can see some of the prisoners (*cough* yuno *cough*) carrying around their Little Fuuta and sharing full conversations and activities while he looks on in horror. In the end, he caves in order to set a good example for Amane, and keeps a few in his room. He never admits that he also gets really attached >:3 Another secret -- he likes using the special bluetooth headphones. He thinks they look cool and the voices are a fun touch, but he’d never dare tell the others. 

Muu has one of those really aesthetic merch bags where she keeps buttons, plushies, stickers, keychains etc. She has a little something for every prisoner, but there are definitely a few who have some shameless favoritism… Once out of Milgram, she makes a lot of social media posts focused just on the plushies in different locations and outfits. She keeps them in pristine condition, caring a lot for them.

Shidou gives the plushies to his kids, and the prisoners laugh/brag about which one each child chose as their favorite. (I also like to imagine the conversations Shidou must have with strangers: “aww your daughter is so sweet! Who do you got there, honey? Aw, you’re squeezing ‘em real tight! Is that your favorite disney princess or something?” “Ah, that’s a little doll version of the divorced cop who lives a few streets over. In a prison uniform.” “O.oh…?”) He likes adding stickers to his tech, using some of the cases, and thinks the album covers look nice to display.

Mahiru goes crazy over the plushies. She sews little mv outfits for all of them, alternate outfits, and other accessories to hand out. She starts planning on making custom plushies for other people – her bf, Hinako, Shidou’s family, Lucky, etc. She was genuinely upset by how sad her T2 plush looks, thinking no one will love it – Jackalope breaks his experiment-long internet ban only once to sit with her and scroll through pictures that people had posted of them treating the plush kindly because of her looks. Also, even though they broke up, she excitedly shows her bf the buttons that feature the two of them 😅

Kazui already has a lot of records/CDs collected, and he makes a really nice display of all the albums for his wall. The other prisoners love gifting him bootleg merch of his own videos – tshirts and things from random companies that are juuust off somehow. (I have no clue about her sense of humor, but maybe one day Hinako wears one of the Cat marriage buttons like “I got married and traumatically divorced and all I got was this this stupid button)

Amane would have tried to match Fuuta acting too cool for the plushies… if it weren’t for every single other person absolutely fawning over them. She can admit to loving them and carries a different one to set with her each day, treating them kindly and dressing them up with Mahiru. She also enjoys adding stickers to her notebooks and things, they end up completely covered by the time the later mvs come out. At the very end of the experiment, she ends up using merch to cover up the old cult stickers on her backpack.

Mikoto owns the most of his own merch, claiming “it’s John :)” (and then John points to the same things claiming “it’s Mikoto :)”). They each have a T1/T2 plushie to carry around, though they end up like that Garfield "to be loved is to be changed" plush -- they really go everywhere. Mikoto gets those anniversary art shirts with the prisoner’s face taking up the whole center, and wears it to each of their mv shooting sessions, much to their embarrassment. He owns a lot of the stands to keep on his desk while he works, using them for rubber-ducking when needed. He posts I feed him rocks.

Kotoko prefers the more general things when she goes out, feeling like it’s odd to show off the other’s faces out in public. (They claim they’re famous anyway, but she insists you can never be too careful.) So she wears a lot with the main milgram logo/inno and guilty symbol/Jackalope/etc. In her personal space, though, she has a ton of the others’ things, and tries to play down how much she really likes the plushies :3 When Mahiru’s finished with it, she’s excited to show Lucky both of theirs.

Everyone owns a lot of Es merch. They try to be subtle about it post-reveal and not overwhelm their poor guard, but it comes out eventually and does scare them just a bit. 😅 Later, Es really enjoys having something of each of the prisoners close even when everyone goes back to their lives.

[dnpanimationstudioclone]

Danny’s Bedroom👻🛏️

Made my own version of Danny' bedroom. I dug the blue and whites he had and the overall mellow, normal teen vibe it had with the little bits of space and sci fi with the pictures and ships. For mine I decided to push that even further along with the other stuff hes into!!!

NASA posters and decor, Ship and shuttle model display, the telescope, alien decor, action figures with Star Wars, Star Trek, Guardians of the Galaxy and even a cute Final Space Mooncake plushy(they actually have that u should look it up super cute!!!), hanging solar system, Northern Lights Calendar cover, sci- fi posters, u name it! I wanted the room to SCREAM space kid!!!👨‍🚀🛰🌌☄️👽👾

Fun fact. His blanket and curtains r glow in the dark, along with the other stickers throughout the room!!!🌟🌠💫

Awhile back I helped @a-sterling-rose find some ideas for her cool Astronomy club room by showing her some decor ideas like that astronaut space projector on his nightstand, I decided to adapt it to his bedroom since it fits so well!👨‍🚀

For books, I added a lot of space and sci fi-related books, like the Time Machine, The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Cleopatra in space and Star Wars and Star Trek. I also gave him tons of DC Marvel and IDW comics like Spiderman, superman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, TMNT, Transformers:MTMTE(Tucker also has that, shows how they're into similar things), Invincible and Ghost Rider. Danny Phantom was based on superheroes like Spiderman so I thought it'd be fitting to incorporate that, especially since many of the superheroes have space and sci-fi themes🦸‍♂️🦸‍♀️

He also has some books related with ghosts, the infinite realms and life and death. I can imagine he'd try to figure out that whole situation with being a ghost and all👻 I can imagine Sam suggested those.

I'm also DEF on board with the Danny is Trans headcanon, added that "Jupiter is Trans" as a fun Pride flag, a Trans colored planet on his bulletin board and in his book selection, has a book called "I Am J" by Cris Beam which is also about a young trans boy and going through that journey🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️

Fun fact, the plants in Danny's Among Ua plant pot are called "ghost plants"👻

I also added a poster of that band Danny liked in the show, Dumpty Humpty!!!🥚🎸🤘

Kept the blue but went with lighter grayer blues to five off his mellow shy, vibes. Also added a lot more colors like green for the whole Phantom connection and make the decor stand out better🎨.

For the record he doesn't always have ecto covered clothes hanging in his room, he just de-transformed too soon lolXD.👻👻👻

Here's my other rooms:

Sam🦇

Tucker💡

Jazz🌼

What do u think? I'd love to know💖

[taavisplushies]

zayn and kato! my prime shiba plushies :3

zayn is a piebald husky (white) and kato is an agouti husky (black)!

more about prime shiba below!

prime shiba is a small business focusing on dogs/wolves! they have plushies, stickers, keychains and more.

of course, the plushies are my favorite product! the 2 i have are very soft and well made! they’re both 15in, so they’re perfect for hugs!

what i love about prime shiba is that the plushies are unique! for instance, they have plushies of unique breeds i’ve never heard of (kai ken, thai bangkaew, etc), and also plushies of common breeds that have unique fur patterns, like the 2 huskies i have.

since the business is small, prices are expensive… but they’re not super high! $45 for a 15in high quality plush! i think that’s a good price, because i’ve seen smaller plushies go for more!

ALSO there are sales sometimes! AND if you live in the US, free shipping for plushies!!! anyway, there’s a sale rn! the older plushies have higher discounts than the newer plushies and preorders.

prime shiba makes plushies ranging from 15in to 30in! good sizes for cuddling!

unfortunately prime shiba does not have a lot of followers. on instagram, they have less than 2k :( i hope one day they can become big and famous!

these plushies below are my favorites…

quil my beloved… there has been multiple versions of them! blue eyes, brown eyes, and then this one which is i think bigger than the previous ones.

i love the design!! unfortunately i just don’t have room for such a big plush (or the money lol). i’m hoping one day a smaller version of quil is made… i would buy that so quick!!!

shikoku ken plushie!!! i think their name is haku, but im not 100% sure. sometimes the owner doesn’t put the names on the listing and idk why….

anyway i think this fella is so cute!!! maybe one day i’ll get them if they are on a big sale! i like them but i don’t like them enough to spend a lot on them yknow? like it’s a want, not a need lol

okay this fella has a simple design but the color is so pretty!!! love you nike… but again, i don’t like em enough to spend a lot on them!

falcon!!! love this design, and idk if you can see but there’s little freckles on their muzzle!!!

if i had the money, i definitely would snatch this fella up, even without a big sale!

okay last 2!

embry looks so sweet!! she’s a need tbh. i hope i’ll be able to get her someday.

quest my beloved…! this photo doesn’t do him justice. he’s so cute! i think i preordered him a few months ago when he was on sale for $30 but i can’t remember for sure. i’ll just have to wait for december and see if he shows up lol

OH I FORGOT ATLAS!!!

i can’t add any more photos but he��s a bluish grey and white border collie and super cute :3 another one i’d like to get someday… even if it means spending a lot lol

[the-enzyme]

A small haul of toys that I recently received. These were mostly not released this year, except for my first Blythe ever (YAY!, I am super happy with her!), but I was just recently able to get these. So, I am calling this a small toy haul, and not part of my January toy haul, which is still traveling from Japan to the USA, despite the excessively expensive shipping costs. >__>;;; I was considering yet another 30-smothing-cm BJD, but then I remembered, shipping and handling costs are freaking insane right now! I also keep hoarding acrylic stands and other small stuff that add to the size and weight of my shipments, and so I can’t afford other fun stuff, because I keep getting things I don’t need. On the other hand, I also don’t need another resin doll, now or ever, so maybe I am better off. DX

From Left to right: Good Smile Company BlytheSuri Sustainable Fashion Doll; HeyDoll Kiki & Tata Yogurt Candy Secret Pocket Series Trading Figures; Banpresto Eren Yeager The Final Season Non-Scale Prize Figure; MGA Na! Na! Na! Surprise Mini Doll; MegaHouse Naruto: Shippuden Petit Chara Land (10th Anniversary Ver.) Sasuke Uchiha Red Yukata Vers. Non-Scale Trading Figure. 

Once again, I am thrilled with my first ever Blythe doll. I wanted to go with Floating Away Dream, but for some reason, GSC Shop USA had her for 60USD more than this version, so I went and pre-ordered this one instead. I am loving her and her clothes more in person. However, I was originally thinking of customizing my first Blythe and finding possible optional tanned male doll bodies seems to be a pain in the gut. So, thought it would be easier to get the paler version, not for 60USD more though. They were the same cost from GSC shop Japan, but the shipping made them so much more expensive, so I went with pre-ordering from the USA shop instead, and that’s how I got this version. Regardless, I a super happy! She’s beautiful, and now I am thinking I might just leave her in her box to look pretty, instead of customizing her. Kind of wonder why secondhand ones, even in terrible condition are so expensive, when they are so much less expensive brand new. I am guessing it’s the “collector” status of the older ones? Now that Good Smile Company is manufacturing them, I wonder if they’ll be an increase on Takara Tomy versions... 

I am also super glad to finally have received my TOM pre-order of Banpresto Final Season Eren, now I ca unbox the one I got pre-owned (MISB) one. Also got a Nanana surprice from Amazn; I was so excited thinking it was CJ Cuddles, due to the sticker. Unfortunately, it was Britney Sparkles, who is gorgeous, but I only want four of them and she is not one of them. She’s still super cute and I am glad to keep her, but I wish they weren’t a royal pain in the gut to get in store, so I could get the ones I actually want! Now that they don’t have that terrible (to me) printed texture. Also got more HeyDoll Kiki & Tata Yogurt candies! I am glad to see they are totally random, and you don’t get more Kiki than Tata necessarily! I got three Tata this time. Now I just need three Kiki and one more Tata! I got the special Tata, which I thought I didn’t want, but she’s super cool IRL. Finally, I am now the proud owner of the two version of the 10th Anniversary Pettit Chara Land Sasuke Uchiha, the one in the red yukata! I’m super happy with this tiny, tiny haul! (:

[toasty-owoasty]

Trick or treat! gimme all drawings

all as in 5 drawings? you got it boss!!! with all the IDs and explanations though this is prolly gonna get a little long, so past the first one I think I'm gonna put the rest under a read more. you got a REALLY good spread tho

art 218!

[id: a simple pencil drawing of a girl. her hair is split down the middle, with the left side in a floating ponytail and the right side down, showing it as unkempt. she wears a black face mask with teeth printed on it, as well as a cropped tank top under a leather jacket with spiked shoulders /end]

this is art from late 2020 of an old oc of mine, shūki! she was originally a my hero academia oc I'm not gonna lie, but she (and the rest of the ones my friends and I made) have grown and changed since then. I still think about her sometimes

art 389!

[id: a waist-up traditional sketch of a different girl. her skin has the appearance of a ball of yarn. her irises look like buttons, and she's looking up and left. she has chunkier yarn for hair, which forms heart shaped bangs as well as a high, side ponytail that falls to about her mid-chest. she's wearing an undetailed turtleneck sweater with a heart shaped cutout on the chest. /end]

this one says it's from 2022 but I don't trust it. anyways, here's another mha oc, ito button! she is made of yarn!!! (also her and shūki are girlfriends hehehe) I love ito I think about her all the time

art 418

[id: a drawing made in tabletop simulator using the pen tool. the drawing starts with an image of the moon, that we turned into a goofy cat girl. she has big circular glasses, a somewhat concerned/ditzy expression, and strange markings on her cheeks. she wears a tank top, shorts, and knee high socks, as well as a gold chain /end id]

this one is actually not all me! I only did the stuff in blue (y'know. most of it). I suppose I got bored during a game of betrayal at the house on the hill and started turning the moon into a catgirl, then the people I was playing with started joining in, lol. she's super cute though, I can admit that much.

art 200

[id: a very quick, simple, messy doodle of a Homestuck fantroll. he has fangs, short hair, and asymmetrical horns. the one on his right goes straight up, then splits into a Y shape. the one on his left goes up, then turns to go down diagonally /end]

ah yes, right smack dab in the middle of all these quick sketches I did, you will find restaurantstuck characters. restaurantstuck is a Homestuck au focused around trollified versions of restaurants, made by me and a few friends from an old discord server. shown here is subway yurway, predictably the troll version of the sandwich place subway. this doodle really does him no justice though.

and finally, art 414

[id: a pencil drawing done on the back of a laptop case. it shows the shoulders-up of an individual drawn exclusively with straight lines. they have short, shaggy hair, and sticker-like marks on their face in different polygonal shapes. their expression is somewhat intense, with angry eyebrows and a mouth opened in a toothy smirk. their eyes are formed of concentric shapes, starting in the middle where the pupil would be with triangles, and adding one side as they progress towards the edges of the eye /end]

so the reason this one is on a computer case is because I did this after finishing a standardized test where I wouldn't've been able to take any paper drawings I had done with me. I wanted to challenge myself to make a character using only straight lines, and this guy is what I ended up with! I think he's pretty neat. anyways I hope you enjoy your candy!

[magentasnail]

well, you asked for this! but don't say I didn't warn you !

so assuming the twins were 12 in 2012, they are about 24 in this

I imagine that dipper has graduated (possibly even from the dream collage ford wanted to go to? and made him super proud) and is now back in gravity falls doing his own research and documenting it all on his "modern day journal" - aka laptop

mabel is a multi talent artist, I wanted to say she'll be doing fashion design because of the sweaters thing but I think that's underestimating her overall arts and crafts abilities, so she's probably doing a bit of everything (maybe even animation ? 👀) I just hope that she got her ADHD diagnosis and medication so she can focus her energy and not crumble out of wanting to do too much!! (like yours truly)

things that I gave both of them: I gave them glasses, to resemble stan and ford - mabel's round glasses are like ford's (kinda) and dipper square ones are like stan i specifically made sure to have the less common pairing, because the other way around is the more prevalent (+ i did give dipper ford's chin dimple) and I wanted them to have a bit of each grunkle !

I also gave them shooting star/pine tree necklaces, I just imagine they are hand made by mabel as a gift on one of their birthdays

individual design: first we have mabel, as I said in the original tags I gave her puffy messy hair as a child because I feel like she has curly hair and doesn't know how to take care of it, and honestly it gives her so much personality

but a part of why i gave her this hair is because I wanted older mabel to have short curly hair inspired by kristen schaal (her voice actor)! i did make the hair a bit longer than hers just so it'll look nicer with the colorful highlights!

generally, I think adult mabel probably dyes her hair all the time in every possible color, but to keep her recognizable I made the rainbow hair only as ombre to keep the original brown visible

for her outfit I just assumed mabel is going to decorate everything she possibly can, so like super colorful makeup, piercings, tattoos, stuff like that

I gave her a cardigan because it felt like an elegant evolution from sweaters (still hand made of course) and heels (/boots with heels?) because it felt like the natural progression from her doll shoes

her wardrobe is probably super colorful and diverse! I feel like as an adult she has a lot more tools for self expression through clothes, like sewing ! technically she did use a sewing machine on the show, but I just imagine that because she was young she wasn't really allowed to use it much / had a pretty bad kids focused version, which is why she focused on knitting because it's safe and easy for a 12yo but as an adult she has a proper sewing machine and can make more serious outfits! so everything she wears is either fully hand made or thrifted and patched up and decorated with a bunch of embroidered stuff

I also feel very strongly about her tattoos, i just feel like she would LOVE them!! she probably say something like "tattoos are just permanent stickers for your body!" not to mention she has 0 impulse control so she gets so many you can take a closer look at all the tattoos i drew her, but my favorite idea was ducktective, just because a lot of people are getting gravity falls tattoos for being their favorite childhood show so i feel like she'd do the same!

I have slightly less things to say about dipper's design, mainly because I don't think he cares that much for his appearance, but mainly for practicality

so, like every other adult dipper design, he still has wendy's hat (which is hopefully surviving all these years), and a flannel unsurprisingly, the flannel is supposed to represent alex hirsch and I imagine him being equally attached to the idea of wearing it and probably has a similar story to alex of "a girl told him it was cute so he never took it off"

I gave him a blue shirt to play on the young dipper colors, and it has a little stain because of course it does

I also imagine him also having curly hair like mabel, just that he doesn't even bother with washing/brushing his hair as much so the curls aren't getting all puffy so they are visible, but it is greasy adult dippers hair is also a bit long, just because it's fun and again, because he couldn't bother with a haircut

he also has a bit of facial hair, something a bit like young alex hirsch or jason ritter (his voice actor), mainly because he can't be bothered with shaving it off most of the time (and he feels a bit proud of being able to grow it) i didn't give him much in the drawing though, but that's just because it was hard + i liked the way his face look

and both him and his young self has cargo pants, mainly for the functionality of having as many pockets as possible I am also not against the possibility of older dipper's pants being detachable into shorts, for extra functionality

and that's all i thought about when making this !! I hope it's what you were hoping for

bonus detail if you read everything: if you look closely at dippers laptop, the pie chart is supposed to look like a pacman

ok pause from bill art time for some mystery twins art !! specifically, 12yo selves meeting their current day selves!

[peace-coast-island]

Diary of a Junebug

Paintings, candles, and maple dandelion wine

Beauchamp Ranch in the spring really is the best time to visit. Since I last visited, things were a bit quiet, mainly because it was winter and things were at the stage where everything’s being set up. Now that things have settled, they can really start taking off and I’m looking forward to see how things will go in the future.

Joe’s been working really hard to fix the ranch up with help from Maddie, Josie, Nina, and Junia. The winery was first as they already have the equipment so that has been going well. Then there was Junia’s physical shop, which has been slowly taking off as well. Eventually she will need to expand in order to keep up with orders.

Next up is the bakery, though that’ll take some time, which is why it’s not really a priority, more like something to plan ahead for. Joe’s already found some people for that, so it’s a step forward. After all, there’s only so much that they can take on, and at the moment, livestock isn’t feasible. Ideally, Joe would like to bring a few animals in but with everything else going on, time and resources are limited. It would be nice, but I agree that maybe it wouldn’t work with the direction they’re planning to take with the ranch. Besides, it’s already a lot running a winery, art shop, and bakery.

Nina and Junia are doing well now that they’ve settled in Northpass. Junia’s shop, Flickering Dreams, has expanded from candles and stickers to tote bags, wax seal kits, and now keychains. The physical shop has been slowly gaining traction, a venture she feared was too risky, especially for someone relatively new. So far, things are going well, far better than she expected, and it’s made her more confident in herself and her art.

I can see in her vlogs how much happier and self assured Junia has grown, especially in these past few months. Ever since meeting Nina and transitioning, Junia’s been going through a lot in terms of transformation and finding herself. After spending her 20s stuck in the rut playing the role of dutiful son while constantly being compared to her “perfect” older brother, she’s spending her 30s getting to know the best version of herself and just living life without constantly putting herself down for not being as good as the others.

As for Junia’s family, she says her grandma’s trying to outdo everyone in terms of being her biggest cheerleader. From what I’ve seen in the vlogs, she seems like a fun person. A bit overbearing, but in a nice way. Grandma Chi volunteers at a nursing home and she constantly talks about Junia and Nina, so they’re pretty well known over there. In fact, when Junia first opened her shop, most of her first customers were residents from there. As a result, Grandma Chi had to help most of them order stuff since a lot of them aren’t familiar with computers, which I think is cute.

Junia’s parents have also been super supportive, though like many parents, they were a bit hesitant at first. Sure, they’re a little old fashioned, but they’re open. Maybe they can be too on the nose sometimes with their support - rainbow cups and gaudy trans flag pins, to name a few, - but they really do care, even if they don’t fully understand. It’s far from perfect, but they make an effort, and that’s what’s important. Plus, they like Nina and think she’s the best thing to ever happen to Junia, so that helps too.

Nina’s going through a similar change as she also broke free from a life that was draining her and is now slowly finding herself. Her personal blog’s been a great outlet for her, especially when she couldn’t do much while recovering her health. Moving in with Junia has been a big step for her and she couldn’t be happier, especially with most of her troubles behind her for good.

The biggest change that’s happened recently for her is having top surgery. It was something she was considering on and off for pretty much the past decade, but she wouldn’t say it out loud at the time. After completely breaking ties with her old job and getting compensated for a lawsuit tied to that, she figured that now’s the time to get it done. Her parents didn’t quite understand, plus they were reluctant about her having surgery since she was already dealing with a bunch of health issues, but they were able to grasp why she wanted to go forward with it.

It’s been a month since her surgery and she’s glad she did it. Aside from helping with her self esteem, there were health factors to consider too, which was part of the reason why she decided to do it. That, and also getting back on her feet and helping Junia with her shop has helped boost her self confidence. She also hopes to eventually be able to help Joe with the winery and probably the bakery as well, but she still has to take it slow and not overexert herself. There’s also a bunch of other things she’d like to take on, though again, she’s trying not to take on too much, but at least she knows all the possibilities are out there.

Again, I’m happy for Junia and Nina and I’m looking forward to see where their journey takes them.

Along with me, Daisy Jane, and the campers, Richard, the girls, and Ken are also visiting the ranch. Quinn has spring break so the family’s spending the week with Maddie and Joe. Ken and Junia are doing a collab together as well as filming stuff for their vlogs.

It’s been a while since I’ve heard from Ken and now they’re slowly coming out of their social media hiatus. They’ve been going through a lot since taking their sister under their wing after their abusive mother’s death. In short, Ken and Carol grew up in a shitty dysfunctional family and between all their siblings, they’re the only ones with some sort of relationship. Ken considers themselves lucky as they were the youngest, meaning they got away with most - as in being neglected. Carol was the middle child who ended up being the mother’s punching bag and emotional support. Yeah, far from a happy loving family.

Things have been a rollercoaster for Ken and Carol, which is why they decided to take a hiatus. Despite that, they have been a lot happier without a certain someone’s shadow constantly hovering over them. However, things are still rough as you can’t easily undo years of abuse and neglect. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t hope. Ken’s feeling optimistic as they have been making an effort, and that’s a pretty important thing.

Earlier this year, Carol voluntarily went into an institution, which wasn’t an easy decision, but one she and Ken felt was necessary. As much as they care about their sister, Ken feels like it’s best for them to maintain a healthy distance for the time being. It’s natural for people to get worried or concerned when they hear the word “institutionalized”, as Ken pointed out, but it’s not always as scary as society makes it out to be. In fact, most people like Carol voluntarily seek treatment, so they have a say in that, which I think is very important. Plus, she did her research and chose that facility because she trusted them, and likewise Ken trusts her judgement.

So far, things have been going all right - still too early to tell, but they feel like it was the right decision. Ken visits and keeps in contact with her often, so at least they know that she’s not being kept under lock and key. They said they were actually surprised by the place, especially since it’s not what you’d expect. The best way they can describe it was that everything was so ordinary, like the patients there are just people you’d meet out in the streets, something that surprised Carol too. She’s made some friends over there and they’ve been a great help to her, so that’s another good thing.

With that out of the way, Ken is slowly getting back into the swing of things. They reopened their shop a couple weeks ago just as a start while preparing for a major update in the summer. They’re also doing various collabs, the one with Junia being the first of hopefully many for them. I’m glad to hear that they’re doing much better and that the hiatus has been good. I’m also looking forward to see what they have in store for the future.

Once again, Joe gave us another tour of the ranch since a lot has changed since our last visit. They really did a nice job of fixing up the place! Since Junia’s shop is closed on weekends, it’s just the winery that’s up and running. Maple dandelion wine’s in season so that’s their most popular product at the moment. With the way activity is picking up Joe hopes to arrange some events like wine tastings next year.

There is’t really much on the bakery yet other than cleaning and fixing the place up. Maddie and Josie helped with the redecorating so all that’s left is to replace some of the equipment. I really like the cozy, homey vibe they’ve got going on there. But for now, Joe has other things to focus on before he and the others can give their full attention to that. I’m interested to see what they have in store once they get there.

Flickering Dreams has obviously expanded so it’s looking more like one of those independent art stores in the cities. Junia and Nina gave us an updated tour of the studio, which has grown too now that they can afford more fancy equipment. Aside from the candles, Junia has started outsourcing the rest of her stuff. Running both an online and physical shop has been a lot so she’s still trying to find her footing, but she enjoys it. Also, that wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for Nina and Joe - and Grandma Chi.

On the weekends things are a lot more quiet, allowing us to go on short hikes in the woods. We also did fun activities like paint and make candles. Junia’s considering the idea of doing a candle making workshop, but obviously that’s something for the future as she really doesn’t have the time and energy for right now, but she wants to do it if people are interested. I totally would be!

I’m not really a candle person, but I have grown to appreciate them thanks to Junia. We made a bunch with some leftover materials so nothing is wasted. I made earl grey vanilla, jasmine milk tea, and citrus tea candles, all which I plan to put to good use.

During our hikes, we did some art, mostly painting. It’s been a long while since I painted and I keep forgetting how much I enjoy it. I think my biggest thing with painting is that I’m impatient, which is probably why I hardly ever reach for my paintbrushes. I like the look of watercolors but have an easier time with acrylics. Gouache is nice to work with too but again, patience, as they tend to dry a shade lighter. I really should learn how to paint better and get better brushes while I’m at it. I just feel like I’d really enjoy it a lot more if I put more effort into it.

Maddie has been popping in every so often to help Joe, Junia, and Nina out. If she wasn’t already busy with her day job, she’d want to run the bakery. However, she has no intention of changing careers at the moment and she has other obligations to fulfill, but it has been something she’s considering. After all, she never intended to get involved with Joe and the ranch, at least not by this degree. Josie and Richard were surprised too when she brought up the bakery, so I guess it’s something she’s trying to figure out.

Whatever she decides to do, I’m sure Maddie will be happy. She seems like the kind of person who has good judgment, so if she decides to make a big change, it’s because she knows it’ll work out. I think that’s why she and Richard have remained good friends over the years, because they’re similar like that. However, unlike Nina, she isn’t burnt out or disillusioned by her life and career, but she says she’s open to change.

Well, the possibilities are bountiful so you can’t really go wrong there. How nice it is to say that with such confidence!

Read on AO3

[echo-of-sounds]

😍 I loved this chapter of AB!! I fell in love with Ursa drunk version, I identified myself so hard jeje. About her additional room of hers converted into a warehouse I started to think: How would boys react if they found out that you keep all the things that remind you of them? I mean... the first flower they gave you (already dried obviously), the wrappers for the candy they gave you; that sort of thing. I don't ask cause I have saved even the bus ticket for my first date with my husband. 😉

Aizawa isn’t sentimental. He doesn’t need little pictures to know he loves you. Though as smart as he is, he can’t remember everything. Seeing the ticket for the play he brought you to and the business card for that little ice cream shop you stopped at reminds Shouta of those little moments he had almost forgotten. It’s nice being able to look back on the things you’ve done together.

You’ll have a lot of little mementos from your relationship with Toshinori. He gives you so many things: flowers, candies, little statues, bookmarks, stuffed animals, jewelry, charms, stickers, everything. He just adores giving to and spoiling and seeing you smile. It’d be a wonder how you’d manage to keep everything. Toshi loves how you keep them because he’s loved.

Hizashi is kind of the same way. His memory isn’t always the best, so he ends up collecting movie and concert tickets, lanyards, and pins of all the shows he’s brought you to. Having something physical helps him keep those memories. Hizashi appreciates that you do it too. You two can sit back, relax, and go through your memories together.

Fatgum thinks it’s super cute. He’s also the sentimental type. And he loves keeping them on display! Small stuffed animals, holiday and get well soon cards, seaglass you found on your seventeenth date, the tiara he made you wear for your latest birthday are all neatly and safely placed on a bookshelf. Tai smiles and kisses you every time he looks at them and gets a warm feeling.

Gang Orca’s heart nearly bursts. That's not being dramatic. Not only do you love him so much, but you love everything he’s done for and given you. He’s so careful when picking up the dried petals, wanting to smell them. Even though their scent is long faded, he’s able to remember their smell and your smile when he gave them to you. Kugo won’t go through everything unless you say it’s okay. He doesn’t want to pry. But seeing how much you kept really warms his heart.

Hound Dog doesn’t understand. Why keep the old, wrinkled bracelet from a fair you went to years ago? You have the memories. Why do you need something physical? Nevertheless, he still sorta kinda appreciates it. Trinkets and tickets remind Ryo of the smaller parts of your relationship that were still just as important. He may tease you about some things though.

[queen-of-my-goofball-army]

Sakura's First Guitar Lesson

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I've posted some writing here because most of the time I use my a03. For Sk8Tember writing athon I originally wanted to do Fairy Tale day which is tomorrow. However, since I'm currently in the middle of changing up my writing style from first person to third person to try and be a better writer I thought that it would be for the best that I pick Instrument Day because guess what? Today is my birthday! I'm now officially 22 years old even if I don't look or act like it. I'm here to celebrate my birthday with everyone by sharing my new writing with all of you.

Songs mentioned in the fic:

La Via Strangiato: Rush

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK1hmDpa8bo

The Long And Winding Road: The Beatles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR4HjTH_fTM

Let It Be: The Beatles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDYfEBY9NM4

Sakura Nanjo rocked back and forth on her heels outside of the music studio that she had her first lessons in. Since she told her parents that the thing she wanted to do more than anything in the world was to learn how to play the bass guitar just like her hero, they had been encouraging. Haru even found that he had a profound interest in learning how to play the drums. In reality, he wanted to do it so that his sister wouldn’t feel alone in wanting to try something new. He would never admit that to her though. There were some things that his sister did not need to know. She would never let him live it down if she knew the actual reason why he was so adamant about learning to play the drums.

“Sakura, if you keep doing that you’re going to wear yourself out. I know that you’re excited but it’s really starting to freak me out.” Her best friend, Miya Chinen, reminded her lightly with that same small smile that he often had when he was around her. He couldn’t help but find this childish and excitable side of her adorable. She would always be cute in his mind but especially when she got excited about the simplest of things. Like learning how to play an instrument that had always spoken to her.

“I can’t help it! I’m excited, I’m nervous, part of my brain is screaming at me because what if this is a really bad idea and what if I’m not any good at this thing that I’ve never tried before and change is terrifying and-“ He lightly put his arm around his best friend cutting off her word vomit. She only got like this when she was way past nervous and her brain to mouth filter failed her.

“Change is scary but it can also be good for you. You told me so yourself that this is something you’ve wanted to do for all your life right?” Sakura nodded her head nervously trying to stop this anxiety from bubbling up inside of her. With the recent diagnosis of aspergers syndrome she’s still learning to cope with the help of her friends and family.

“Well yeah, I’ve always loved the idea of playing music. Especially bass guitar because of my fixation on Rush and on Geddy Lee as a whole.” She argued and he just chuckled lightly at his best friend. Leave it to her to want to do something that could potentially become life altering just because her favorite singer did it too.

“Then I think that it would be a great experience for you to have if it’s something that you really want to do. It’ll make you happy and give you a hobby that you didn’t have before. You really need to have more hobbies other than cooking Saki.” She sighed knowing that her best friend was right as she looked over at the music studio.

“I know that it’s bad. But this could be something that I get really passionate about. I already know that it won’t necessarily be easy. Nothing really ever is easy for me.” She looked down at her skateboard tracing the end of her Haku dragon sticker before sighing slightly. Nobody ever did anything by being anxious about every little change that they came across. If that was the case then most of her favorite music would have never come to exist.

“Skating came rather easily for you after you got those grips for your feet. You just needed to distribute your weight easier than the way that you were.” Miya argued lightly hating that she would get like this sometimes. She shouldn’t ever have the need to feel sad. He preferred her when her ruby red eyes lit up with happiness rather than downcast and saddened like they were right now.

“Yeah that doesn’t mean that I’ll be good at this though… what if all of this is just me being childish?” She just sighed burying her head in her hands. Now that she had been told to stop being so overly excited the dread was starting to sink in. Her playing bass guitar? Yeah and the moon is secretly made of cheese.

“I don’t think that it’s you being childish. I think that it’s you trying to make yourself into a better version of yourself. You’re clearly not happy and you barely do anything for yourself simply because you want to. Saki you can’t know that you suck at something if you’ve never really tried it before. I know that you can do this because you’re the bravest person that I’ve ever met. You can literally do anything that you set your mind to. If you can dream it you can do it.” He comforted her and watched as slowly the light came back to her eyes.

“You’re right! I can do this, and I’ll be good at it as long as I work hard enough at it. I know that I can do this.” She clenched her left fist and shook it up at the sky daring anyone to tell her otherwise. If you asked Miya, this was the first thing that he really noticed about her that was different. He never met anyone that was as determined to do their best until he met Sakura. Her determination to defy every obstacle inspired him to push past his limits as well.

“That’s the stubborn best friend that I know and love.” He lightly teased and she looked down at her lap picking up the instrument that was there. The second that Kaoru found out his beloved daughter wanted to learn to play bass guitar he found the best one that he could through hours of off the clock research. He wanted his little girl to be happy and if this is what would make her happy and confident in her own wicked way then he would do everything that he felt within his power to do so. The guitar that he had eventually chosen for her was a lilac colored and sparkly one that he thought just suited his little girl’s personality.

“Shut up, I know I’m super stubborn already. It’s why me and Haru struggle so hard to see eye to eye because he’s just as stubborn as I am if not more.” She huffed a breath thinking about the argument that her and her brother had gotten into last night. It had been about something so stupid but it had just got blown way out of proportion and now she wasn’t sure if things were going to be awkward around him for a while. It had been about who was going to make dinner that night and Haru just blew up at her. Of course, never to back down from a fight the only thing that Sakura did was yell right back at him.

“He’ll forgive you eventually Saki. He always does you’ll go home and there will be forgive me cookies on the table for you. Besides he’s usually the one who yells first and knows that you will yell back. I’ve never once seen you actually pick the fight with him personally.” Miya hated when Haru would purposefully try and ruin her mood. He knew that he was just going through his own personal hell as he was still in the early stages of transitioning but he didn’t need to take his anger and aggression out on her.

“This one was really stupid though. It was just over who would make dinner since dad had to be at the restaurant late and mom was working late surprising absolutely no one ever.” Kaoru had always been the type that worked long hours even at the cost of not spending a whole lot of time at home with his children. He did the best that he could with the time that he was given and had mandatory time with them on weekends but the house was most of the time silent except for the twins. And sometimes they just couldn’t be around each other without a screaming match breaking out.

“You guys are the kids of Cherry and Joe, it would be weird if you guys didn’t fight constantly.” Miya tried to joked just to hear her laugh, which it worked. The first thing that really drew him to her was that laugh. That loud and open sound when she was well and truly tickled by something or the more quiet sound that he got right now when she was emotional.

“That’s true, come on, I’m thirsty all the sudden and want to get a drink before I have to go in for my first session.” She stretched getting off of the concrete and offered her best friend a hand up off the ground before she stepped onto her board.

“Arizona sweet tea?” He offered her that option and she nodded her head with a small smile on her face. She had fallen in love with her best friend’s sweet tea that he had gotten her addicted to after they got introduced to each other.

“What are you going to do while I’m doing my session?” Miya gestured to his backpack where he was hiding his switch that he brought with him today. He knew that he’d want to spend the afternoon waiting for his best friend to finish her session.

“I’ve got my games in here don’t worry about me. I want to spend the afternoon with you. You’re my best friend and I want to support you in any way that I can.” He encouraged her as they pulled into the connivence store so that they could get their tea and some snacks while they waited. This was a huge deal for her and he wanted her to know how much he supported her.

“You’re going to be amazing Sakura. I know that you will be because you constantly give everything that you can into your interests.” Miya knew that she could do anything that she put her mind to because if his best friend was anything it was bound and determined to do her best at every little thing that she tried. Even if she found that she wasn’t as interested in the idea of playing her favorite instrument as she made it sound both in her head and in the music she listened to, she wouldn’t back down without a fight. That stubborn nature combined with her kind heart had him being pulled even deeper into her orbit.

“I sure hope that your right cat-boy because I am so nervous right now. As was prevalent by my earlier word vomit.” He just smiled softly at her doing his best that he could to be her support system as much as he knew that she was nervous.

“Sometimes your nerves stop you from doing things that you’re really good at though. They stopped you from making genuine friends before now didn’t they? Being nervous about something is considered totally normal. But you can’t let those nerves run your life Sakura. Otherwise you’ll never get anywhere. If you let nerves stop you then there’s so much you can’t really achieve.” He knew the amount of almost crippling anxiety that she struggled with. He had only ever wanted to support her and push her further. As they stopped in front of the music studio and she took a deep breath opening the front door and hearing the sound of somebody in one of the rooms practicing.

“Hello! Are you here for a lesson or just here to see what kinds of facilities we offer here?” Sakura lightly yanked on her ponytail just to try and ground herself.

“My mom scheduled my appointment, it’s Sakura Nanjo. I want to learn how to play the bass guitar.” She told the clerk and Miya just squeezed her hand sympathetically. Talking to people that she didn’t know was never a skill that Sakura had excelled at. Haru was always the people person not really her.

“Oh that’s right!! Your mother did call in to our shop so we’re excited to begin to teach you. We’ll have your teacher be with you in just a moment. You’re welcome to look around. He mentioned that you’d bring your own instrument?” She nodded her head holding up her guitar sleeved she had walked her with her.

“He bought it for me a few days ago and came home with it the day before yesterday!” Sakura showed her the guitar that her mom had bought for her that matched her personality.

“That is really pretty!! It does seem to match your bright and bubbly personality. Are you here for lessons too or just moral support?” Miya put his arm around his best friend’s shoulders supportively with a small smile on his face.

“I’m just here for the moral support factor. She struggles with nerves and anxiety and I thought that it would be easier for her if she had me here to support her.” He reasoned and she smiled gratefully at her best friend. Despite only being friends for a few months she knew that there was something unique about the video game obsessed boy next to her. Something that was life altering and that she wouldn’t ever want to change.

“That’s really sweet of you!! I’ll go and tell your teacher that your ready to learn.” The worker went off in search of the bass guitar teacher and Sakura’s ear twitched lightly.

“Are you hearing La Villa Strangiato?” Her ear was always in tune to when a Rush song was being played around her. Miya couldn’t help but laugh lightly at her as he had been hearing it since they had come into the studio. She must have been way too nervous to notice that somebody had been playing a song by her favorite band.

“They’ve been playing it since we walked in. Want to go and see who it is?” She followed the sound of the guitar as it led her to a spare room where a girl with dark hair and baby blue highlights was playing a guitar. She was wearing a different school uniform than the one that they were wearing. It had a music note on the band around the arm. Maybe she went to a music school of some kind? Whomever she was, she was clearly absorbed in the music that she was playing. And what’s more than that, she was a good. Good from years of clear practice at her craft and good from knowing exactly what she was doing. Miya accidentally leaned into Sakura’s side a bit too far trying to get a better look at the girl and knocked her over. The girl that as playing the instrument suddenly stoped and looked over at Sakura who was on the ground.

“Sorry Saki!” He frantically apologized offering her a hand and helped her to dust off the back of her skirt.

“Are you guys new? I thought that I closed that door!! Sorry if I was playing too loud, my dad runs the studio here I don’t take lessons.” The girl apologized very clearly worried that she had distracted them from something.

“Sakura is here to get lessons but she’s a huge rush fan and knew exactly what you were playing. She wanted to see the person that was playing La Villa Strangiato.” Miya explained to the girl lightly put off by the fact that the girl instantly took Sakura’s hands in her own.

“A fellow Rush fan?! At long last!! I’m Kayla Sunohara!! Super awesome to meet you Sakura.” She introduced herself excitedly and Miya just possessively gripped her hand.

“I’m Sakura Nanjo, this is my best friend Miya Chinen. How long have you been studying Alex Lifeson?” Miya buried his face into Sakura’s shoulder, trying on a whim to keep the possessive nature that he was feeling come up his spine. She’s allowed to have other friends and not just me. She should have a female friend who likes the same style of music as she does. It was only a matter of time before Sakura made another friend that wasn’t just me. She’s too nice for me to keep all to myself like that.

“Oh I’ve been studying his work since I first started playing when I was seven!! What about you? You interested in studying Geddy Lee?” Sakura gripped her bass guitar a little bit firmer in her hands nodding her head.

“That’s so cool…” She gushed and Kayla just laughed a bit waving her hand up and down in a dismissive manner.

“It’s not really anything that fantastic, I’m nowhere near his level and I probably never will be. But his guitar is what inspired me to pick up my own. What about you? Why did you want to learn bass?” Miya couldn’t help the halfhearted glare that he was sending to the other guitarist. He didn’t know why, maybe it was because he hadn’t had friends in so long but he wanted all of Sakura’s attention on him.

“Sakura?” The lady in the front of the studio called her name and she instantly lightly hugged her best friend noticing the slight stiffness in his appearance.

“Miya, I have to go. Is there something wrong?” He shook his head at her putting on the fakest smile that he could muster at the moment.

“I’ll be alright, I’ve got my games and I’m going to play these games with Sunohara.” He lightly told her and she just sighed a little bit.

“Look we’ll talk later cat boy alright? Don’t do anything stupid like start a fight or whatever.” She lightly told him with a small smirk on her face going out of the room and carrying everything over to the room.

“Miss Nanjo? I’m Shizuko, I’m going to be your teacher.” She took a deep breath just trying to do the final calming of her nerves. “I’m Sakura, it’s nice to meet you.” She bowed before her teacher with a small smile on her face carrying the guitar.

“It’s nice to meet you as well. Why don’t you come with me and we can figure out what you want to do and why?” As her teacher led the way she couldn’t help but look at everything with this sheer ease of wonder and light.

“So, why do you want to learn how to play bass guitar?” She sat down in the chair in front of her putting the guitar on her lap lightly.

“I want to play guitar because I was deeply inspired by Geddy Lee. My dad he raised me on Rush because that was what he loved back in high school.” Her teacher listened to her speak passionately about her love of the music that had inspired her to get through the day.

“My little sister has been studying the art of Alec Lifeson for a majority of her life. So I totally get that you can be inspired by the lead singer. He’s a big inspiration for everyone that ever felt like they didn’t fit in. She’s going to probably take over this studio one of these days.” Shizuko bragged about her younger sister that was now bonding with Miya over a shared love of video games in the spare room.

“I met your sister! She was playing La Villa Strangiato in another room. I thought that she was really amazing at it too. She’s really talented.” Sakura exclaimed her praises towards the other main guitarist. Her teacher just laughed a little bit already foreseeing a future friendship between her newest student and her younger sibling.

“You really know your stuff if you knew the exact song that she was playing. Music has always been something that brought us closer together as a family. Performing has been something that was passed down through the lines. Our dad taught us when we were just little kids so it’s always been a big part of our lives tighter. So what do your parents do?” She put her guitar on the floor knowing that this would just be an initial interview to see what she wanted to do and why.

“My dad he runs an Italian restaurant, Sia La Luce by the marina that’s what I’m going to do when I get older too. That’s what I was doing until both of my parents decided that I should be allowed to be a teenager for a little while. I’ve wanted to play bass guitar ever since I first started to deep dive and I really learned what music was and what instruments did what. It wasn’t just Geddy Lee. I’ve been inspired by countless other artists as well.” She reasoned and the teacher just smiled to herself. She had a feeling that this student would excel really far at the guitar. She also thought that her sister might finally make a really good friend.

“Do you do well in school? Do you have any other interests?” She nodded her head with a small smile on her face thinking about her lessons in skateboarding.

“I’m currently learning how to skateboard finally. My parents both do it and compete in their own ways. My brother picked it up like a fish to water. I’ve only recently started to learn how because a friend wanted to teach me. He’s the first friend that I’ve ever made. I was relatively well liked by my classmates but we weren’t ever really friends. I do pretty good in school depending on the subject. I’m mostly good at math and English but struggle with science. That’s my brother’s area of expertise.” Sakura talked about the little things in school that she enjoyed doing.

“Science isn’t for everyone and it’s not your fault that you aren’t very good at that class. I’m sure that yo excel in other areas. Who are some of your other heroes in music that aren’t behind Rush?” As important as having one hero was, Shizuko knew that she wouldn’t get very far if that was the only genre of music that she wanted to play.

“The one that my mom got me hooked on from a young age was Queen so I’ve always admired John Deacon. He was the quiet one so not a lot of people really think about how important he was. He was both an incredible bass player but he wrote some of Queen’s most iconic songs. Also, Paul McCartney has always been one of my favorite musicians for The Beatles and for Wings. Really I found a lot of different musician heroes that I could aspire to one day learn more about. I have a recent diagnosis of aspergers that caused me to rethink a lot of what interested me.” Sakura was still just ever so slightly self conscious about what had interested her. She’d had so many people judge her that weren’t Miya it felt like. Shizuko couldn’t hep but smile softly as this young tween in front of her reminded her so much of her when she was younger. From the admiration that she had of all these different styles of bass guitarists to her naturally shy disposition.

“There’s a lot of really beautiful Beatles songs, do you have a favorite one?” She nodded her head with a small smile on her face.

“My favorite is The Long And Winding Road. Many times I’ve been alone and many times I’ve cried anyway you’ll never know the many ways I’ve tried. It reminds me of my relationship with my brother. We get into a lot of really heated arguments but at the end of the day he’s my twin brother and I love him.” The entirety of Let It Be was her favorite non-Rush album of all time and it was one that she listened to consistently when she was alone in her bedroom. Her parents got her a record player when she was eight because that was the item she most desperately wanted. Ever since then she’d been collecting records and she shared it with Haru.

“You sing really, really well for somebody your age. That takes a lot of talent, have you ever done it professionally?” Do my friends in Italy count? We’re kind of a band I guess and I always love singing with them. While Sakura had friends before Miya, they didn’t live in this country. Rather they all lived in Italy. They were the only large group of people that had welcomed her into their group.

“I have a couple of friends in Italy where my dad did his studying for his restaurant. We go back every summer just about and my friends and I we sing. I’ve always appreciated singing because it was something that I could control. It could be loud or quiet. I could train it to sing in different styles.” She explained her dynamic with her small group of female friends that welcomed her with open arms years ago. Found family movie nights on Friday’s were something that she always looked forward to even if it was earlier in the afternoon for her then it was for them.

“I don’t know very many young girls that are that into singing. They do it for fun a lot of them but none of them that do it for fun are very good. Not unless they put in the effort. Talent takes effort. You have to put in the work and make the commitment in order for talent to come from that. Taking on an instrument is a pretty big commitment especially with the guitar. Sometimes you just want to throw the thing against the wall and call it a day. But then you get back to it and you’re suddenly able to do it and you feel this sense of self worth and accomplishment.” Shizuko tried to make her young pupil see things from her perspective. She had lost a lot of younger students because they weren’t serious about the instrument. Once they saw the first sign of struggle they threw in the towel and gave everything up.

“I’m willing to put in the work. I just need a teacher to show me how things work.” Sakura never did anything halfway. She was either all in or had absolutely zero interest in the task at hand. She had grown up around the sound of a bass guitar coming from every room in the house in some capacity.

“I can tell that you’re one of the serious ones about this otherwise you wouldn’t have stayed after that talk. Most of the students leave because I’m “too harsh”. I just want people to try their best and to succeed in the areas where they should.” The teacher ranted and Sakura couldn’t help but laugh a little bit. That threat hadn’t even begun to diminish her joy at the idea of simply being here.

“My mom is a lot more scary than that so I’m used to the idea of being threatened. Music has always been a part of my life and now I want to learn how to play it.” She said confidently and by the look on her face Shizuko knew that she had found a gem in the rocks.

“That was why I wanted to learn how to play bass too. I grew up hearing it with my dad because he loves all different kinds of music really but it was a whole lot of Beatles, Rush, Queen, Heart, and a lot of other artists that just seemed to flow out of the windows. I’m glad that you came in today Sakura. I can’t wait to start teaching you. We’re just going to gloss over the essentials today.” Sakura looked at her teacher one question burning in the back of her brain. “What is your favorite Beatles song?” Shizuko blinked a little bit in confusion before a small smirk appeared on her face.

“My favorite Beatles song is Let It Be. Has been since I was a little kid, Mary was my mother’s name. She died last year so it’s been kind of a rough point in my life. But that song has always gotten me through bad times. And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light that shines on me. Shine until tomorrow let it be.” As Shizuko told her new student about her song obsession Sakura’s heart warmed. It was such a beautiful story that she couldn’t help but love it.

“I’m sorry for the loss of your mom. That really must have hurt something awful. Is it just you, your dad, and your sister now?” Sakura pulled her hair back a little bit further with a small smile on her face playing with the ends of her ponytail.

“Thank you so much sweetheart that makes a lot to me. My dad has a girlfriend, they were divorced for a while since Kayla was younger. It was a bit of an experience for me to deal with but we’re still a family anyways.” Shizuko reasoned and her student just smiled sympathetically at her. She had no idea what it would be like if there was a fight that just pushed things over that sometimes tightrope edge that her parents walked on. When she was younger she feared that one day one of them would fall off the tightrope and it would end their relationship. That it would go out in a burning inferno and that one fatal argument would end their bickering relationship. It wasn’t until she got a bit older and wiser when she learned that their love language was bickering.

“I’m glad that you were still able to have that family. My family can be a bit loud and chaotic personally. It’s a lot of bickering and a lot of arguing sometimes about the simplest of things. But I love my parents even if half the time it’s like I’m the parent and they are the children under my care. My twin brother isn’t really that much better.” Shizuko laughed openly at the idea of this family as she could completely visualize it. From what she had gathered when she had spoken with Kaoru Sakurayashiki the man seemed like a complete overprotective but at the same time loving mom figure.

“So you have two dad’s right?” She nodded her head getting out her phone and showing her a picture of them all skating together.

“I have two dad’s. My brother and I were surrogate children because they wanted kids with their own DNA. To keep things less complicated when we were kids me and Haru decided okay your mom and you’re dad. It’s been that way ever since. Our family dynamic is a bit unique because of it but I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if they weren’t my parents. They bicker like people that have known each other their entire lives because that’s what they do.” She settled against the back of the chair that she was currently in.

“Do you and your brother bicker a lot because of the fact that your parents do?” Sakura sighed heavily playing with her index fingers. She hated the fact that she had instantly been called out like that.

“Well… yeah we kind of do. Both of us are naturally stubborn types of people and sometimes it gets to be rather explosive. If it’s a day that we don’t get into at least a little spat well then that’s a miracle I feel like. We’ve really put our parents through hell these last several years especially.” She picked at the hem on her skirt just wishing that she could finally get along with her brother. It was so hard for them to see eye to eye though. Half of the time she had no idea what he was thinking and why he was doing the things that he was doing. She just wanted to help and every time that she tried he exploded on her.

“Sometimes siblings just don’t get along. You’re one of the lucky pairs if you don’t fight every time that your put in the same room together as children. My sister and I still fight a lot because we’re just different kinds of people. I’m sure that it’s the same way with your brother and you.” The older of the two of them felt the pain that the younger one went through like it was her own. There was a time a few years ago where a positive relationship between her and Kayla seemed like a wish on a dying star. It was just plain not going to happen.

“I want to be a better sister to him. I know that I do. I also just really want something to bond with him over. He wants to learn to play the drums.” Her teacher smiled at her instantly feeling that sense of love that Sakura had for her brother.

“Now that we’ve gotten all of that personality stuff squared away I know how to properly teach you. We’ll put primary focus on songs from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s rock n’roll because that seems to be the genre that you enjoy the most. I appreciate the taste it’s a welcomed change of pace. I get so many people that tell me their favorite artist is somebody more modern.” She got her own red guitar that looked familiar enough to the young tween in front of her.

“That a version of Brain May’s red special isn’t it? For the bass guitar?” Shizuko grinned openly at the girl in front of her for recognizing the iconic guitar.

“My dad also happens to make guitars here so I asked for this one to be custom made once I started teaching. It’s always been my favorite guitar that’s an icon so I asked if he could take that concept and make it into a bass guitar for me. I used to do band when I was in school and now I’m going to college for music theory.” That guitar had gotten the teacher through a lot when she was younger. Everyone has their little things that they’re obsessed with and for Shizuko that would definitely be her guitar. She couldn’t live without it.

“That sounds like me with my cookbook. I can’t go anywhere without it. My mom calls it my grounding object because it helps me to stay calm and it helps me to remember my goals and ambitions. I want to one day make food that will make people happy just like my dad. If that means that I have to do the same training that he did in Italy for four years then so be it. Whatever it takes to make people smile when they eat my food.” Whatever it takes to make Miya happy when he eats my food. I want to keep making meals for him that he’ll love. I want to get him on a healthier diet. She shook the thought right out of her head, now was not the time to start thinking about Miya. It was the time to start learning the basics of the instrument that had always inspired her.

“Your mom mentioned that you have a recent diagnosis of aspergers?” She nodded her head unzipping her own guitar and showing it to her teacher.

“I got it a few weeks ago when it was still summer break. We went to Hokkaido to get it in a beach town since my family and found family wanted to go on a small vacation.” The shiny guitar that was in her hands made Shizuko smile softly. It was obvious that everyone in the familial unit that made her heart happy.

“Does that boy that was with you, is he in your found family?” She blushed a bright pink and her teacher couldn’t keep back the cackle of laughter from leaving her.

“Miya is my best friend, I’ve only known him for a few months but he’s… well he’s everything to me. I never had a friend before him really. I was popular enough with my classmates but was never asked to hang out when I wasn’t in class. That was fine with me but I never really thought about how deep down lonely I really was. Loneliness started to get to me and I was depressed every time I would go to school.” As Sakura talked about what she went through during these last few months the sadness in her voice was evident. She had spent the last couple of months just half alive until she met Miya who had brought life and color back into her eyes.

“I’m sorry that happened to you sweetheart, I know that you’ve struggled a lot during the course of your life. Sometimes we just need to wait until the right person comes into your life. I didn’t meet my best friend until I was eighteen and she’s been there for me every step of the way. I only had rent-a-friends during my entire childhood.” Shizuko reasoned and she played with the ends of curly hair with a small laugh.

“He’s easily the best thing that has ever happened to me. We do everything together now and he’s been teaching me skateboarding.” She lifted the guitar that was in her hands and put it over her lap. Shizuko demonstrated the first cord that she would be teaching her and Sakura easily copied the same note. She was instantly feeling the energy that she was actually really good at this job.

“Skateboarding can be very difficult but I know that you must feel very passionately about the art from. It can be a lot of fun actually. My friend’s and I used to do it all the time when we were back in high school. I still skate because it’s rather simple to get from place to place that way.” Shizuko reasoned with the young girl as she showed her the chord again and Sakura hit it with ease. The teacher was surprised at the amount of talent that the girl clearly had for somebody that had never touched a guitar before. It was something that she was just clearly passionate about.

“I was never really able to do it until a friend of mine was able to make me a custom board. I had to have little divots for my feet to go so that I could maintain my balance. I have really bad balance normally so trying to do that on a skateboard was just a plain old recipe for disaster.” Sakura laughed a little bit at the pain of the moment as the timer on Shizuko’s phone buzzed.

“We spent most of the session today learning about each other so that we can better work together through this experience. I know that you’re going to be one of the best students that I’ve ever taken on. I’ll see you again next week?” Sakura nodded her head zipping up her guitar before her teacher stopped her.

“For right now, I think that I should keep the guitar here. It’s probably difficult skating with it right? I can have my sister drop off a rental at your house since she’ll probably be one of your closest friends.” Her teacher reasoned and she handed the sparkly guitar to her teacher.

“Thank you, I’m looking forward to you teaching me as well!” She looked down at her shoes with a small smile on her face. Sakura bowed right before she left the room easily picking up her backpack with a small smile on her face as she heard Miya’s familiar laugh.

“Hey! I finished my session. What did you two get up to?” Sakura flopped onto the ground next to her best friend and he instantly put his arm comfortably around her shoulders. He had missed her despite her only being gone for a small amount of time.

“We were just playing some Crash Bandicoot!! Your friend is really good at video games. How did your first session with my sister go? Was she too hard on you? She can be a lot during first sessions. I try to be a lot more open minded and friendly with my students.” Kayla mentioned off handedly as the pinkette just shook her head.

“No she was actually really, really cool. I liked my studies quite a bit and I’m excited to come back next week. I’m hungry for dinner though, you coming cat-boy?” She lightly ruffled his dark hair as he nodded his head against her shoulder. As much as he knew that she had to make new friends and that it wouldn’t be just the two of them forever and ever he would always be protective over her. She might be her friend but I’ll always be her best friend. Nothing in the world can change that.

[arknights-imagines]

Exusiai for the Christmas letter and gift prompt with a Male Sarkaz Operator S/O who is a part of Penguin Logistics and acts as her weapon smith making sure her gun is working properly and that she has plenty of ammo when she goes out on Operations. Thank you for answering my request.

From, Exusiai

Christmas Letter and Gift event

Satisfied with your work, Emperor gives you the rest of the day off after you deliver to him your report of weapon and cargo records for the month. The Penguin Logistics base is quiet as you head back to your workshop for the night.

You flick the lights on with a yawn, but your eyes do a double take when they fall to your workbench. There, amongst your tools and papers is a red envelope sealed with a cute cartoonish sticker, sat next to a cute gift bag of the same colour.

Your gaze stares the items down, the glint in your eyes curious; a gift perhaps? It is the Holiday season, but who would be sending you something at such an odd time? Though you feel a little bit cautious, you sit yourself down at your workbench, taking the envelope and turning it in your hands carefully.

The words on the back of the envelope reveal the identity of your sender immediately - in bold, messy handwriting is ‘To my baby, from your Exu! A very Merry Christmas!’ surrounded by playfully drawn hearts and stars.

Exusiai - you told her that you didn't need anything for Christmas, but you aren't surprised that she got you something regardless. You open the letter carefully, pulling from inside the envelope a sheet of Penguin Logistics stationary paper, that smells faintly of apple pie. Even though Exusiai’s hand penmanship is barely legible, from the very first words of the letter, a smile comes to your face.

--------------------

Yo, hi [name]~! I hope my favourite cutie is feeling good today.

I’m not much of a writer, but the boss sent me out on a mission I’m not sure when I’ll be back from, and I wanted to give you your gift ASAP. Don’t worry about me! I’ll be back faster than you can say ‘apple pie’~.

What's up with this letter and gift? Well, it’s Christmas season! That means lots of parties with me and the other girls - Ehehe, I hope you're ready for a Holiday party the Penguin Logistics way. You know, you really do need a break baby~. All that tinkering with weapons all the time looks like it would really poop me out. But I guess that's why we all have our roles, right? Without you, I’m not sure what the other girls and I would do.

Christmas is a big deal pretty much everywhere - from Lungmen to Rhodes Island, everyone celebrates the Holidays.

When it comes to Christmas, I only like the fun parts - that's probably why I like celebrating it my own way, different from how other Sankta do it. Most Lateranos celebrate Christmas seriously, with all these intricate traditions and whatnot. Me? I just like the gifts, the smiles, the lights and the food! And baby, if you ask me, as long as you're having fun, Christmas can be spent anyway you like~. The Holidays came so fast this year! I guess time really does fly when you're having fun~.

Do the Sarkaz celebrate Christmas? Ehehe, sorry, maybe that question is a little too personal. Don't worry baby, now that we’re together, we can celebrate the Holidays together however we want.

That reminds me - what do you want to do for Christmas this year? We’ll have a party with the girls, obviously, but we will need to make plans just for us. We can hang around the base and I can make us apple pie, then we can cuddle or watch a movie. Or if you're feeling adventurous, we can go out into whatever city we’re in by the time Christmas rolls around and see where fate takes us. Ehehe, think about it, okay?

[Name], we’ve run into all types of things, but honestly? I wouldn't really have it any other way. If I had never met you, I don't think waking up for the day would bring me half as much excitement as it does now. Knowing I get to get up in the morning and see you working when I pass by your workshop really makes me smile. Ehehe, is that too cheesy? I’m sorry cutie, my insides really do get all mushy when I think about you.

Y’know...people like to call the Sarkaz ‘devils’, but [name], you're not a devil at all. You protect me by keeping my gun and I in shape and if anything jams, we can trust you to fix it. I might be the one with the wings and halo, but you're the real angel - my guardian angel. The boss and the other girls ought to be super grateful for you~.

Baby, I feel like I really need to repay you for everything you’ve done for me. I know you repair my gun and help the girls and I on missions sometimes, but it’s more than that. You gave me a real shelter, a place where I feel safe and can be myself. I don't really fit in with the other Sankta back at Laterano, Rhodes Island and Penguin Logistics are nice but the people there are my friends and colleagues - not my lover. The one I love, the one I know I can rely on no matter what, is you.

My cutie, my baby, my [name] - what I’m trying to say is that my home is with you. I want to be with you forever.

I wanna do so many things together; eheh, where do I start? I want us to go to Siesta for their Obsidian Festival, I want us to go to Lungmen again so we can properly celebrate the Sauin festival, I even want to bring you to Laterano, my hometown, just to show you where I grew up.

Is this warmth inside my heart the Christmas Spirit everyone keeps talking about? Ehehe, I’m just kidding. Only you have this kind of effect on me, [name]. I wonder - when you think of me, does your stomach do the same summersaults mine does when I think of you~?

But seriously - baby, I love you. So much that I’m basically oozing with affections for you, but that's probably obvious. Someday, I’ll find some better way to say thanks, but for now, take this letter and gift I got for you. Also, it’s Christmastime! Hold your head up and smile big for me~.

Ehehe, boss is gonna start yelling at me if I take too long, so that's all for now! Keep up the hard work [name]! Ehehe, maybe the boss will give us a nice long break for the holiday season if we all blow him away with our amazingness~. Right, Exu out!

--------------------

Exusiai and her antics never fail to make you smile; this time was no different. A small chuckle leaves you and your lips upturn into a warm grin as you read the conclusion to her letter. Exusiai really does mean as much to you as you meant to her - you remind yourself to tell her that when she comes back from her mission.

Your gaze returns to your workbench, more specifically, to the gift bag. Its colour reminds you a little of Exusiai’s hair, and sticking out the top of the bag is tissue paper of all different colours. Your brow lifts as you pick it up; the bag is light, what kind of gift did she get you? You shrug to yourself slightly, ‘Only one way to find out’, and so, you open the little bag up.

Inside of the bag, underneath all that colourful tissue paper is a cute keychain with two chibi figures and a tag with your name hanging off it. You immediately recognize one of the little figurines as Exusiai - the cheeky grin and halo are both pretty unmistakable - and the other figure; confusion paints your face for a few moments as your try and rack your brain for who it might be, and then it dawns you. You almost facepalm; it's clear from the Sarkaz horns that the other chibi is you. Another smile is brought out of you and a light laugh follows. The gift is lighthearted and playful, and at the end of the day, it's just a keychain; but paired with Exusiai’s letter and the thoughts she conveyed with it, to you, it's so much more.

Your eyes go back to the gift bag, and you this time notice the tag hanging off its handle. Gaze curious, you take the tag between your fingers and see that Exusiai’s handwriting is squished onto the little blank space it provides, ‘Merry Christmas cutie! I promise I’ll be home for the holidays, but for now, check out this keychain! It’s mini versions of you and I, pretty cool right? Shoutout to the super awesome craftsman I met during my Operation in Lungmen who made them for us!’ Your heart goes mushy - she had been thinking of spending Christmas with you even during her missions? You can tell you’ll always be in her heart, and you can't wait to tell her that she’ll always be in yours, ‘[Name], carry the keychain around with you everywhere you go - that way, we’ll always be together~.’

[starmakerdotcom]

PURPLE NIGHT is a mini album by solo artist CHAE released by SMKE on september 10, 2020. the mini album, which is available digitally and physically, contains four tracks, purple night acting as the title. the song got three music show wins in total, while it was promoted from september 10 to october 1.

TRACK LIST:

PURPLE NIGHT (title)

RAIN

HAPPINESS

SAME HERE

STYLING:

hair ;; shoulder length black with blue fringe and tips

ERA HIGHLIGHTS:

so . she kinda popped off ??? KINDA ????? GH

SHES NOT IN HER EMO PHASE ANYMORE !!!!! WE GET CUTE SHIT NOW !!!!! i mean we’ll probably still get edgy chae every once in a while bc she gotta stay true to her roots but EEEEE

yea this was a pretty successful era for her

purple night was #1 on melon for quite a few days !! some of the bsides most notably rain charted pretty high too !!!

her instagram was super active ! she made friends w everyone this era i swear

THE LIVE STAGES WERE SO PRETTY THEY WERE SO PRETTY

it was all sparkly nd shit and she did her own makeup !!! so obviously it looked AMAZING

who tf needs a stylist when you’ve got chae like

also she said she helped design a few of the stage outfits !! so once again who needs a stylist when you’ve got HER

she did an unboxing of the album on her youtube !! it was so cute the cover was like sparkly and stuff and it came with a bunch of photocards and STICKERS !!!!! IT HAD STICKERS

purple night was the only song with actual choreo so we only got one dance practice BUT there was a studio version of rain and that was cool as hell

the entire video was like lit up rlly cool it probably gave atleast one person an epileptic seizure but . it looked cool

she also uploaded the garage band demo of same here which was . kinda funny

i mean it wasn’t bad but the fact that she recorded it on garage band . legend

she made so many friends this era her instagram was like . ten updates a day all with new people she met LSNKSNDKDN

it was so cute tho like

so mf cute

there was so much youtube content like vlogs almost daily and vlives or instagram lives literally every other day she had so much fun !!!

she said her favourite part abt the styling that era was her hair NLSJDKND she loved it so much like the lil egirl hair going on and she just thought it was so fun

so for her first comeback in nearly nine months ? i think it was worth it personally i think she snapped 10/10

[uzunehitori]

Every single one

Good morning, Robin! (Good morning at 3 in the morning)

Here we go! Thanks for sending a birdie some questions

Favorite characters?

Answered! I will always love Ryouta and Kazuaki, and Nageki!

Least favorite characters?

I don't have one really, but just only Sakuya's racism is so intolerable, but I still like him as a character overall!

Favorite route?

My favorite route would always be Shuu's because there is a lot of interpretations you can do with his and also like Ryouta's and Nageki's because they really hit hard! Though overall the best route is BBL since you get to learn more about the story!

Favorite human design?

Answered! Anghel's and Ryuuji's hands down are my favorite human designs!

What’s a part that sticks out to you the most?

"Quails are still learning to adapt to social life." and also, Yuuya caring about Sakuya all the time, it's really cute

What did you think of the new birdies in Holiday Star?

I loved Albert and seeing Tohri some more is great and funny, he's a great birdie. I loved Miru and Kaku they are super wholesome little white marshmallow gumdrops!

What was your first reaction to the Bad Boys Love route?

My first reaction when I played it in 2012 was I sobbed, I was in suspense, I was in surprised, and everything and it made me fall deeper than I was before with Hatoful, it's such a nice route that I wish there was so much more to it and would say that I loved the changed in textbox color that I wish we gotten it for Holistar!

How long did it take you to unlock the ‘hidden routes’ and ‘secret’ endings? What was your reaction to them?

Not to long, I was extremely curious about trying to get any option I can available especially the hidden routes and even the easy to miss conversations, I was so eager to get everything complete! I was extremely surprised with some and it was extremely enjoyable and didn't feel like a drag like I would feel for most other games like these.

Do you like to draw certain birdies a lot?

Answered! I used to draw a lot of Yuuya and Shuu, and Nageki art, I still do to this day! But now I draw a lot of Ryuuji and Quail boyfriends as well.

What are some of your favorite ships?

I really like a lot of ships, especially quail boyfriends and HitoriNageki and even Ryuuji Isa just the relationship in general I think is cute, I love plenty of other ships, like Sakuya and Ryouta! I do also like Nageki with Anghel!

Least favorite ships?

I don't really have one in all honesty.

Do you own any of the Hatoful merch?

I own a Ryuuji plush with his charm and an isa charm with a Shuu one! I also own fanmade Nageki and Yuuya button! Some other merch I have which is a sticker I did for myself of Nanaki too, it's super old.

Do you write fanfiction for the birdies?

I used to, but they don't exist anymore since I deleted my tumblr from 2012, unfortunately! I just draw more so and make little drabbles.

Do you have any AUs you like to write about?

I would love to draw a few, especially since me and my wife talk about a lot of AUs together of the things we like. I think about drawing some zombie apoc or some metal gear ones since we've talked about that before! I do like to make some winter AU ones that are nice too and cute.

Rank birdies from tallest to shortest.

Nanaki / Hitori > Yuuya > Asami > Leone > Okosan > Shuu = Tohri > Ryouta > Kazuaki > Sakuya > Nageki > Anghel > Miru/Kaku

What are some of your gender and sexuality headcanons?

I headcanon a lot of them to be just bisexual and the ones I think would be not caring or just nonbinary is Anghel and Shuu, and Hitori and Kazuaki and as well as Nageki, but still use he/him! Sakuya and Shuu to me are male leaning at best, while I think Kazuaki + Hitori and Shuu are gay / male leaning, while Shuu is aspec.

How did you get into Hatoful?

I got into Hatoful while dabbling around Yume nikki that I just bumped into a blog back in 2012 talking about it and learned that it recently got a release! I do miss the egg buttons with the save and load, that was cute... I wish we had it again for the remake!

Have you made any friends in the Hatoful fandom?

In 2012, I made a few friends! I made a friend with a really nice person that was a little older than me that we met on an online drawing board called iscribble, I was really young and we would roleplay the birdies. I don't remember what had us lose contact if it was over time or what? I do see them around however! I remember I've been meaning to contact them for a commission. I wasn't friends but I knew someone who used to run a hatoful ask blog named puddington, they were pretty nice! I hope to make new friends this year since I am pretty open to that!

What are some of your favorite headcanons?

I like the idea that Shuu has sensitivity towards the sun, temperature, and especially like I say it's a projection of sorts since he gets pretty moody and likes to be in the shade often. I also think he might have tritanopia. My other headcanon that I think despite things being mildly clearing up for Nanaki, I think he is still will be ridden in guilt with what he's done regardless. And I like to think that both Shuu and Nanaki gained a relationship after BBL, while having somedays being pretty bad for them.

Anghel shares his home country's food with every birdie as form of "healing properties". I think that Sakuya wears heeled boots because he's short. Hehe!

What’s your favorite piece of canon trivia?

Despite everything, Hitori likes bitter sweets! Shuu gets sick from having his glasses removed (Big mood.), Kazuaki-kun doesn't like veggies!

What birdie do you wish had more to them?

I really wish to learn more about Kazuaki-kun, I just more about him even if we know why he doesn't! I just love him and interested about him a lot... I also wish there was more to Anghel as well than just sometimes feel like he's the hehe eccentric character, I just want to know his life besides his chuunibyou.

What are some songs you associate with characters?

Shuu/Isa to me feel strongly of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SgWum9kHYk Duvet - Boa

Nanaki is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE6pANWJGuU Imagination - Foster the People

Both Ryouta is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeRIAew8eXc Freaking out the Neighborhood - Mac DeMarco

Yuuya is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xtg-ntDZGk Come a Little closer - Cage the Elephant and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4qsjmLxhow The Adults are talking - The Strokes

Sakuya is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85Z3iwpFQeg Leave me alone - IDKHTFM reminds me of him, I think it's his sharp tongue

If Okosan had a true human form, what do you think he would look like?

There's this really buff japanese guy on tiktok that wears an apron that I just saw as the embodiment of Okosan, I will draw him in his liking because he just LOOKS like it would be what Okosan would be!

If you could change one thing in the story, what would it be?

Sakuya. I am kidding, I know most of the things he learned and was taught was from his very highly racist and classist dad, but I wish he would not be so? Aggressive towards Anghel... i also wish for the Comedy to drop a bit less, but not drop it entirely because almost a lot of the times it's really perfect!

What’s your version of Hiyoko like?

I like Hiyoko to be messy hair brunette that sometimes brushes it and sometimes doesn't and she can be messy with how she puts on, but really just like any teenage girl, I also picture her to be a little muscular since she is a hunter after all! I like seeing her as mixed as any race really, at most 2012 me just pictured my current partner without knowing lmao....

What’s your favorite irl bird?

Answered! I have many but I love the bearded vulture which I have an OC of!

Do you have any bird OCs?

Answered! I plan to make some though, I have one that wasn't originally planned for hatoful, but IT DID have hatoful in mind along with another thing!

What do you think would be a cool crossover for Hatoful?

Answered! I think also a Funamusea x Hatoful crossover would be really cute...

Do you have any human designs headcanons for the birds aside from canon (body type, etc)?

Answered!

What kinds of Hatoful merch would you like to see?

Answered! I do think it would be cute if there was also hatoful link charms, I plan making some in the future whenever I find a seller!

What’s your favorite Absolute Zero character?

Answered!

[nodesiretogrowup]

alrighty, review time!

Do you think Donald wrote the song? He did write a song when he was younger and the lyrics fit him best

I love that Donald is the sane man of the Caballeros

Why did you choose the bathroom? That’s really weird and kind of perverted

I love the picture of a rubber ducky in a top hat on the wall

Just how big is that bathtub? Four grown men were able to fit in it at the same time

Never mess with a man who has a demon-ghost butler

“That’s the FOURTH rich guy’s bathroom we’ve been kicked out of.” I...I would like to know about the other three. And again, WHY THE BATHROOM?!

“We just need someone to listen to us!” Donald giving us the theme/moral of the episode

Was Louie just waiting out there?

Louie looks like a drug dealer. He also looks a bit like the reboot version of himself from that poster in Quack Pack

“And you’re willing to do whatever I say, at any cost whatsoever?” “Well, not any...” “QUIET, DONALD!” Guys, you should listen to Donald, he knows Louie better than you

Poor Donald, the only sane man here

I love the stickers on Louie’s laptop. I wonder if he actually knows how to hack

I love the stupid “it” trends. Hats-Hats and Invisible Piercings, what will they think of next

Of course Dewey would keep up with an IT list. He actually cares about his image/how his peers view him

The lead singer of the Feather Weights looks like a punk girl version of Drake. I’m gonna go with them being related somehow. Or they used to date. Or they go to the same hair stylist. THEY ARE TIED TOGETHER SOMEHOW

Yo-yo tricks were more of a 2000s thing, Dewey (seriously though, does anyone else remember when yo-yos were SUPER POPULAR for some reason?)

Panchito is so ridiculously EXTRA and I LOVE HIM

“These are my people.” Oh sweet Dewford, they wish they were on your level

“Internet fame-the most important fame of all” Well it’s the most achievable

And then Dewey just rolls off screen

“If only someone had a super-elaborate scheme to get in...KA-BOOM!” Dewey’s not the only showman in the family

This show LOVES some big boards

Why/when did Louie plan all of this? I mean he did want the Caballeros to make him their manager so he could get a cut, but why?

Already you can see that Louie’s pride is gonna get in the way

Again, Donald is being the responsible one

I love their signatures. Panchito’s is like a 12 year old girl’s, José’s is curvy, and Donald’s is the least showy. And I love that Panchito thought “Don” was enough lol. He is close to Launchpad levels of ditziness

The pictures Louie uses on his board are GREAT! I love fridge-raiding Panchito

Agent Dewey-License to Chill. Dewey, that was two episodes ago

“I have a very special job for you.” “Oh-ho ho-ho, special.”

Luis P Canard. Is that a false identity Louie already had or did he make it up for the party? Or is there an actual Luis P Canard?

Huey looks SO CUTE! Though he should have known something was up when Louie asked him to forge a signature. Do you think Huey has forged other documents with or without knowing it?

Louie looks good with that black “lipstick”

“Welcome to the scheme.” “What scheme?” “Nothing.” “TELL NO ONE.”

Gyro Gearloose-Kid inventor. Does that mean he was a child prodigy or that he LITERALLY invents kids? Or both? The possible clone’s tube had K.I.D. on it. I bet this will be explored more, probably next episode

I love how they all stare at the earpieces when Gyro says the DEFINITELY won’t explode 

I love that the lion statues have sunglasses and there’s a statue of a ballerina hippo from Fantasia

OUR QUEEN HAS ARRIVED

How do ducks whistle if they don’t have lips?

Daisy-smiles, Donald-I WOULD DIE FOR YOU

I love Daisy’s fake laugh

With both of them in tuxes you can really see that Dewey and Louie have different body types. Louie has broader shoulders.

“I’M GONNA DANCE DOWN THE RED CARPET.” No Dewey, that’s for the after party

It’s the PEP guy! I feel like he’s gonna become a villain with how much he’s been embarrassed (and he already LOOKS like a cheesy superhero show villain)

GRAVES IS BACK, BABY

Dewey has made a LOT of enemies

“New plan-Dewey is NOT going to the party!” DAMN, THAT’S COLD

“This is the Dewey-est party in town!”

“Oh, WHY was I cursed to be so FLASHY and UNFORGETTABLE?!” I love my dramatic son

Why did the Caballeros have to switch hats?

“SO TIGHT. !”

WE NEED MORE DJ DAFT DUCK

Ok, real talk? That party looks boring as fuck 

I like that there’s sweat when Dewey pulls off his helmet. It’s the little details

“Everyone listens to my plan.” Dewey looks PISSED

“The plan to wow Glamour with our haunting melodies.” Panchito is Drake/DW if he was a Latin Lover. THEY NEED TO MEET. IT WOULD BE HAMMY AND GLORIOUS

“You mean our SICK dance beats!”

Donald is like “girls, girls, you’re BOTH pretty”

But seriously, they need to decide what direction they want to go with their sound

Donald is ALWAYS the voice of reason (except in The Town Where Everyone Was Nice, he got a bit caught up in that lie)

“I will charm my way on stage with my golden voice.” #youtried

That smirk José gives him, beautiful

“Easy, grownups.” YOU JUST GOT DISSED BY A 10 YEAR OLD!

“So I’ll dazzly Daisy with my hip, cool yo-yo tricks.” I would have liked to see how that played out

Does Louie have some kind of dirt on Jane? Why does she keep helping him out? Why does she call him “Mr. Duck?”

Glamour is a BITCH. And it seems like Daisy might share the same luck as Donald and Della

SERIOUSLY, WHAT DO YOU HAVE ON HER, LOUIE?!

Donald was posing all cool

Why send Donald in to do the most important part of the plan? At least have someone with him. Louie should have gone with him so Donald could distract Daisy and Louie could use his pickpocket skills to get the pass. Louie did not account for the variables

“Ooooh PHOOEY.” I love that all of the Duck family say Donald’s catchphrase

POOR DEWEY!

I love Louie’s other distraction ideas-explosion, food poisoning, SET FREE A WILD MONGOOSE, ghosts, ANOTHER explosion 

LET DAISY SAY FUCK

I’m pretty sure Donald got a boner when he saw Daisy DESTROY that vase (I also found it hot). He was scaroused

OUCH. That HAD to have hurt/broken SOMETHING

How did Louie get that picture of Webby? Hell, how was that pic taken in the first place?

“WHEEEEEEE” Webby knows what’s up

“MY FAULT! It’s...your bag.” Oh Donald

LET DAISY SAY FUCK

“My band is sorta...crashing the party.” DONALD YOU ARE TOO CUTE

The yo-yo just rolls away

Louie, you hurt Dewey’s feelings! Also, your plans are pretty ridiculous too, including the one you are currently trying to pull off. There had to be a better idea than a harpy

Listy-er

GLAMOUR MUST DIE FOR WHAT SHE DID TO LOUIE! IT’S A GOOD THING DONALD WASN’T THERE OR ELSE SHE WOULD BE

“I don’t want to be at Funzo’s forever.” “Why not?” Oh Webby, so innocent to the horrors of minimum wage jobs. Also it’s nice to see Webby being able to have an ordinary conversation with someone

FALCON’S EYEBROWS ARE MESMERIZING

It’s equal parts cute and sad how long Dewey takes to count

MANNY IS FUCKING SWOLE

Manny is 0 for 2 when it comes to being the muscle (I’m counting him vs Mega-Beaks as well)

“That was odd.” You have no idea

Donald sees Daisy as the GODDESS she is. GET YOU A MAN LIKE DONALD

I KNEW IT! I KNEW SHE WANTED TO BE A FASHION DESIGNER! It was like the only guess I got right so let me have this

“Nobody listens to me either.” Awww

“They don’t understand me.” AWWW

“Well that’s weird, I understand you perfectly.” MY HEART!!!

I LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH! And when it changes into how Daisy hears him...chef’s kisses. It reminded me of Remember Me from Coco and I Love You Too Much from Book of Life

Real talk-the song really got me. I feel a lot like Donald. A lot of times it feels like no one is listening or understands me because my thought process is a bit different. Or they can understand but they don’t care, like how Daisy feels. When Donald sings for her, I teared up because I want to be comfortable enough with someone to let down my guard like that. Music is a big part of who I am so I would love if someone sang for me even if they don’t have the “perfect” voice. I want someone to feel comfortable enough with me to let down their guard and be real

Daisy is a woman of ACTION

Do you think she’s been stuck in that elevator before?

“My kids!” “Wait, you have kids?” Whenever Donald calls them his kids I gain 5 years to my lifespan. I can’t wait for Daisy to officially meet the kids

“Oh no, not again!” Starting to rethink your life-choices aren’t ya?

I love Mark. He’s so stupid and out of touch with the real world

“Oh Gravesy! Long time, no crime.” GRAVEBEAK LIVES ON!

I love Mark’s hoverboard crashing and catching fire in the background. And then it chases Slash

Haha, Mark’s name is Markus. What a dewb

I was rooting for rich lesbian aunt, but mom works too

Graves is SO DONE with these people

Dewey is all of us

Poor Louie. His self confidence is the most fragile of the kids

Nerp

“Just listen to me for once.” WE ALL NEED TO LISTEN TO EACH OTHER, THAT’S THE THEME OF THE EPISODE

THEY’RE HOLDING HANDS! And Mark seemed into it ;)

“I want to look away but I can’t” CALLING IT NOW, THIS LINE’S GONNA BE A MEME

I want Dewey’s yo-yo skills to be a reoccurring thing

That’s one of the things he has in common with his uncle-being a performer even if they aren’t the best at it

Louie’s face as he sneaks away is great

“The failure of it is ridiculous...and BEAUTIFUL!” Gonna use that to describe myself from now on

Dewey is IT. SO FABULOUS!

Daisy, maybe you should let the man get rid of them

DOUBLE BADASS ONE-LINERS

LET DONALD SAY FUCK

HE’S SO PROUD OF HIS BOY

I like the “totally not Pirates of the Caribbean” music that accompanies José when he’s fighting

“Nice singing.” “Nice moves.” NOW KISS

“Oo, nice dagger.” Webby, not the time for that

There is NO WAY that the scene with Gabby and Webby isn’t foreshadowing SOMETHING

“I gotta get out of Duckburg.” Jane starts a GoFundMe page to get out of Duckburg when she gets home

BATTLE COUPLE!

DAISY WILL FUCK YOU UP

DON’T MESS WITH HER MAN

It was then Donald realized that he had met his future wife

DONALD AIN’T GONNA TAKE THAT SHIT FROM YOU

It was then Daisy realized she had met her future husband

“LOVE YOUR BLOG” Who knew Manny kept on on the latest trends

Glamour probably realized those fuckers were crazy so she should back off

SILENT M’MA CABRERA!

OMG EVEN THE TREE HAS FUCKING SUNGLASSES

Manny is one suave motherfucker

Glamour playing with the yo-yo while Mark acts like a spoiled brat

DEWEY IS PROUD OF HIS DADNALD!

IF WE DON’T GET DEWEY’S DOZEN AT SOME POINT I’M SUING

“Our brotherhood is the greatest scheme of all!” SO FUCKING WHOLESOME! MORE LOUIE AND DEWEY PLOTS

“HEY, YOU’RE MESSING WITH MY MOJO!” Don’t be a hater, Manny!

“I could listen to it all night.” DAAAAAWWWWWWW

GAAAAAAHHHHH THIS EPISODE WAS SO GOOD! I love that there was a common theme of feeling like you aren’t being heard. Daisy felt like she was too unimportant to be listened to, Louie doesn’t listen to Dewey because he feels like Dewey isn’t serious enough, and NO ONE listens to Donald because his voice is hard to understand. In the end they all get heard, with Donald and Daisy getting the bonus of finding someone who understands them. The two of them really are relationship goals. I cannot WAIT for more wholesome Donisy content. This one bumped Quack Pack down from my favorite so far.

[framing-visualculture]

Garden by Meiting Song

Hello everyone, welcome to Framing Visual Culture. I am Yi Jing Fly. Today’s guest is Meiting Song, a graphic design and motion graphics artist based in New York and Beijing. Her works exude the fun and exciting energy of early 2000s Asian pop culture and embraces girlishness in their character designs and color palettes. She is currently finishing her final semester at School of Visual Arts (SVA) in NYC.

Meiting talks about how she developed a simple aesthetic for her digital designs through the process of silkscreen printing, finding the relationship between colors blocks. She also shares her influences looking back on the nostalgia of 90s and y2k aesthetic shared between her Asian friends, where the common language of communication is English but the visual language of shared pop cultural knowledge transcends words. Meiting ponders why no one aspires to design the branding of feminine hygiene products, and hopes to one day work on such a project herself, where she gets to design a fun and lovable brand image for such a ubiquitous and important product.

I saw that one of your illustration has been translated to a t-shirt design on Animal Crossing?

Haha, yes. In the beginning I tried to make a pixel art design in Adobe Illustrator, but there is some difficulty as the squared corners become rounded in the game drawing tool. It’s hard to come up with original designs as I have to do a lot of drafts, so what I do more now is to turn clothes already available in stores or others’ designs into digital versions in the game. There are also many accounts (like Nook Street Market) dedicated to making designer fashion and luxury items into Animal Crossing outfits. It also feels great when I can wear a luxury brand I really really like without spending any real money!

What is the situation like for young artists and art students now in NYC with Covid-19? Do you feel less affected since most of your works are digital?

For students in the digital art department it’s pretty much the same, we are used to working remotely on our laptops. But I’m taking a risograph course this semester and I can’t access the studios to work on my prints.

The grad show is also affected, as we usually have a huge event at SVA where we get to present our works to industry experts and network with them. I would say our career prospects are definitely jeopardized.

I especially love the animation series and gifs you’ve been working on lately. They remind me of Chinese paper-cut animation enlivened with simple Internet aesthetic. Can you tell us more about how you developed this aesthetic over time?

When I first started out doing graphic design in college I was making a lot of minimal and clichéd designs. We were all inspired by Apple’s aesthetic, but the minimal things I made in the beginning were more unfinished, and I realized I can’t keep doing that.

For the whole of last year I took silkscreen printing classes, and that was where I really challenged myself to think about the relationship between color blocks and each layer I’m making; eventually I learnt the skill of simplifying a very complicated thing. A lot of people like to make complex prints with silkscreen, but that’s not meaningful for me personally. At the time I also looked at a lot of art involving color blocks, and Taiwanese graphic designer Wang Zhihong’s works especially inspired me.

There are strong elements of 90s and Y2K Asian pop-culture in your works, are they from your own nostalgic references?

When I was little I didn’t pay particular attention to the pop-culture I was consuming. It was actually after growing up and meeting many Asian people from other parts of Asia that I noticed these things more. In fact, my inspiration comes more from other people’s sense of nostalgia. For me I watched a lot of Card Captor Sakura, Crayon Shin-Chan, Doraemon, and Hannah Montana. Hannah Montana was actually my fashion icon as a kid. Now I am searching for the songs that were super popular in my childhood, like Jay Chou’s songs, and trying to recall the streets and scenes where I heard them. It brings me a lot of joy doing that.

Another interesting thing I found is that, with my Asian friends, even though we communicate in English, we actually know the celebrity or show we’re talking about, we just don’t know the name in the other language. Communicating this shared cultural experience in English and reaching that moment of connection beyond language is really great!

Fashion and art are very interrelated. Oftentimes we find artists expressing themselves in both their art and fashion, and the aesthetics of both are usually aligned. What kind of clothes are you into right now, and how do they reflect or inspire your creative process?

Right now I’m really into the clothes by designer Rui Zhou (a recent Parsons MFA graduate). I especially like the sinuous lines in her garments, the flow of the curves, as I like round edges. The pearl/ bead element that holds the delicate knitwear together is my favorite part, it almost looks like an exclamation mark! I probably wouldn’t wear the whole look directly over my body, but it’d nice to just wear a piece of the ensemble as an accessory. There are also a lot of singers and celebrities in America that are wearing her clothes in their MVs or photoshoots. I find it interesting that what is indie or non-mainstream is the mainstream in New York.

Ruizhou SS19

I do think that she is one of the designers creating entirely original designs and pushing the boundaries of fashion. You recently did a collab with clothing brand Unif and photographer Monimogi, can you tell us the concept behind that collab?

It began with Moni following me on Instagram, and she liked the Sunrise Mart zine that I made and wanted to collab on something similar for Unif. Sunrise Mart had more of a Shōwa era advertorial aesthetic, with the nostalgic design elements stemming from that time, but for the Unif zine I wanted to make something with a Y2K aesthetic.

A page from Sunrise Mart

A page from Unif zine

I wanted to make something very “Tai” (corny Taiwanese subcultural style), hence the blings and saturated colors, and the use of Traditional Chinese chracters. They are quite characteristic of early 2000s teenage girls magazines as well. In those magazines you will often find horoscope readings or personality quizzes, and I incorporated that into the Unif zine, by making a quiz for “finding your perfect shoes.” I previously made a quiz for finding out what type of drink you are in Sunrise Mart and my friends told me it was pretty accurate lol.  

I also made a series of stickers to go with the zine, adding many elements that I have designed on my own. I also slid in a picture of a glass dildo with a heart shape on the top, and I thought no one would find out since its quite inconspicuous, but Unif side found out immediately and exposed me. But they kept it anyway because they thought it was funny. They’re pretty chill about things.

It took quite a while to make this, from the photoshoot in February to layout design of the zine in March. The Covid-19 situation was worsening at this time, and I had to focus my mind on making this really cute and fun zine when in reality I was being super anxious.

[putschki1969]

Wakana LINE LIVE ~ Summary

Title: Monthly#6 o’clock Radio LINE LIVE [2019/09/26] Download link: !Click me! (some hiccups here and there) All credit goes to my friend @mowskyuu ( @sky_emi on weibo) The entire episode (including all the other segments) can also be found on Bilibili (in higher quality). All credit goes to VOCALOIDの生放送

Notes: As always, be prepared for a long read (keeping things short is not my forte). You better get yourself a cup of tea and some cookies. Without further ado, let’s get started. 〈(•ˇ‿ˇ•)-→

We start out with our hosts Daniel and Rina introducing the program schedule. Wakana will have a special appearance in the guest corner. Rina was very hard to understand at first, I think her microphone didn’t work properly. Turn up the volume during the first few minutes or so. Be sure to lower the volume in time or you will have a heart attack when Wakana finally joins the hosts. The audio is still pretty bad afterwards so you will have to adjust your volume a lot. Ahhh, Wakana looks so pretty with her navy dress and her gorgeous long hair. It’s been a while since we have seen her with her hair open like that. It has really grown a lot!!

Since this is Wakana’s first time on the show Daniel is providing a short introduction. The usualy stuff. Born on Dec 10, from Fukuoka, Studied music ever since she was 12. Took part in all kinds of events since she was 17. Moved to Tokyo and joined the FictionJunction project. Debute as part of Kalafina by singing the theme songs of KnK. Recently started her career as solo singer with her single debut in February 2019. Just yesterday her live blu-ray got released. Daniel points out that he is also a Sagittarius, he was born on Dec 16. Then they get to the main topic of this episode. Something that Wakana is currently into. Wakana chose to talk about “gyoza” because she ALWAYS loves to eat them. She will never get tired of them. She even goes as far to create live goods related to gyoza. This shows how strong her love for gyoza is. Daniel wants to do a test with Wakana to find out what kind of Gyoza Type she is. Wakana is very excited to do the quiz. She is super curious to find out what type she is [Go HERE to find the test]

Q1: You really wanna eat gyoza but you already have plans to meet someone you like later on. What do you do?

Have some gyoza as you normally would

Just eat a tiny bit of them

Eat gyoza with garlic

For an extra kick add a lot of garlic to your gyoza

Decide not to eat any gyoza

Wakana goes for answer #5. She would rather not feel bad about the smell when she meets someone. She could always go for vegetable gyoza that won’t make you smell bad but then again, if she has a bad craving for gyoza she has to eat them with a LOT of garlic.

Q2: Before heading to bed you turn on the TV and realise an interesting movie is about to start. You have to get up early in the morning. What do you do?

Watch a bit and go to sleep

Watch it while constantly dozing off

Watch it to the very end

Immediately fall asleep

DVR it and go to bed

Wakana goes for answer #4. She hardly ever watches TV. Usually she watches stuff online on Netflix or something. She tends to watch about three films every day, she has her own schedules. And once she is done she immediately goes to sleep. Sleep is super important after all. She worries a lot if she doesn’t get enough sleep.

Q3:Do you see yourself as a hot or cold type?

More of a cold type

More of a hot type  

100% a cold type

100% a hot type

Neither

This question is giving Wakana quite a bit of trouble. Also, the answers are taking super long to appear. Wakana works her magic. And she eventually goes for answer #2!!

She doesn’t see herself as a complete “hot” type but she is definitely not the “cold” type. She always gets hot super fast and super sudden. And she gets easily over-excited/hyped when she is talking with others. Also when she is together with her colleagues or having lunch/dinner with someone, her conversations tend to get heated quite quickly. Daniel is kinda surprised because he didn’t get that impression of her. Wakana says that all the fans who have known her for a long time will surely understand. We have seen how she acts after all...so it’s really not a surprise for us.

Q4: Do you have a strong personality?

Very strong

Considerably strong   

A little strong

Not very strong

Rather weak

She goes for answer #2 again. She believes herself to have a somewhat strong personality. Right now she wants to try a lot of different things, she listens to so many different artists and gets inspired. Then Daniel remembers that there is another host so he finally starts including her as well. XD But only for a few seconds. And her microphone is still wonky...

Q5: How do you interact with your friends?

I socialise a lot but nothing serious

Just a small number of friends with a strong bond

I put all of myself into my friendships

I keep my distance when socialising

I have no friends

Answer #2 AGAIN. She really likes to spend quality time with her friends, like going to dinner and having a nice girls’ night. She also likes to do Ghibli meet-ups with all her friends who love Ghibli just as much as her. On to the final question.

Q6: Rate your own positivity from 1-5! Wakana goes for the highest rating. => 5. She has a very positive outlook on life. She always tries to look straight ahead and make the best of it. But of course there are some regrets here and there despite all the positivity. Sometimes she can get a bit cranky and negative. For example, when she fails to get enough sleep or forgets about it. She tends to get really annoyed with herself at times like that. She will make sure not to forget about her sleep again.

Daniel says he isn’t the positive type and he would rate himself as 1. Rina on the other hand also goes for 5 just like Wakana. Wakana is happy about that.

Drum rolls for the result. Wakana can barely hold it in, she is so excited to find out which type of gyoza she is.

Wakana is the Plenty of Garlic&Ginger Gyoza Type!! Wakana is not surprised about the garlic. A unique personality with a strong commitment to your own personality. Very honest and straightforward, many people will be attracted to that sort of personality. Imagining you were a gyoza, a garlic and ginger dumpling is really the best fit because it has a great kick to it and it is very popular. You may not always leave the most pleasant aftertaste (Wakana’s “noooo” is so cute here, she is sad to hear that!) but you always leave a strong impression and people will remember you longer after an encounter. Overall Wakana is happy with the result since she really loves to eat this kind of gyoza. She likes things that have a kick to it. Such an interesting quiz. Turn out that Rina did the same quiz and she had the same result. Wakana is happy they are matching. They even have the same hairstyle today with the open hair and parting in the middle. Daniel is the Boiled Gyoza type. Wakana mentions that she recently talked about boiled gyoza in her fan club magazine. They are soft and yummy and juicy. Anyways, everyone should try the quiz too! It’s a lot of fun!

We then talk about how Wakana doesn’t only love eating gyoza, she also really enjoys to make them. Back in May of this year she visited her older brother and his family in Australia. She helped his wife make gyoza for all of them. It was fun to make them in a place that’s so far away.  They bought the gyoza skin at an Asian store and then made them together. They were super yummy. Her niece helped too. Rina happened to make some gyoza too the other day. Wakana is impressed. Daniel adds that he recently went to Gyoza no Ohsho which is a popular restaurant chain focusing on gyoza and Chinese food. Wakana hasn’t been there in a long time and wants to go as soon as possible. Rina went to a place called Gyoza Yasubee or something. Wakana also wants to go there. She wants to go everywhere. If it went her way she would be throwing a gyoza party tomorrow. Everyone is invited.

Time to introduce the gyoza goods Wakana has created for her fan club event.

First we get her lovely bag which can be worn in many different ways. Then we have her gyoza plate. She added the characters/kanji of her name to make it more personal. Then we have her GyoZame shirt because she loves both gyoza and same (sharks).

And the stickers of course. Fans are commenting that they have bought all the goods and love to use them. Wakana thinks her shirt is super cute [it really IS!!] A fan requests a slightly burned version of the gyoza bag. So that it looks like a proper pot sticker. Wakana then shows the inside of the bag which is cute and soft.

Daniel notes that Wakana often posts gyoza on her instagram. These pictures are all taken with her very own camera - Wakame. Rina is also a big fan of cameras. Wakana is once again happy to find someone who enjoys the same things. And she is sorry that Rina is getting sidelined all the time. Wakana’s brother seems to be quite the professional when it comes to camera work. Apparently he takes pictures of make-up and for that he needs some super fancy lenses. It’s very complicated and she doesn’t really understand all the details. Camerawork is very hard.

Now we are getting to all the promotional stuff. Nothing interesting here. First they introduce Wakana’s Blu-ray which got released yesterday. They provide a sneak peek of the limited edition. Daniel shows a few pictures from the booklet. Due to the exaggerated reactions of Daniel Wakana tells us that there are no sexy pictures in the booklet even though it might seem like that if you just judge from the noises Daniel is making. They talk a bit more about the contents, the setlist etc Wakana talks about loving Spitz and Miyuki Nakajima. She loved singing Jida during her tour because at that time Japan transitioned from Heisei era to Reiwa era. She felt like it was very meaningful to sing a song like that. That Tokyo performance was actually her final Heisei live.

As we know, Wakana is currently working on new releases. She loves this sort of work. Exploring different genres, finding new kinds of music for herself. This process makes her very happy and she always looks ahead to discover something new. Because she is super positive as we have learned already.

Some promotion for the December lives. As she just mentioned, she is working on a lot of stuff and she hopes that we will get to hear some of it very soon. Sadly, the final greeting is cut off. Last but not least a very patchy Kinmokusei from the live. Consider it a sneak peek for the Blu-Ray. Her performance is lovely. I hope it gets you hyped to watch the release!! Edit: Be sure to check out the Bilibili version to listen to the song in its entirety.