#I'm discovering a pattern in the characters I like...

[cyren-myadd]

Spider isn't getting a "redemption arc" in Avatar 3

Whenever I see Avatar fans talk about their predictions for Spider in Avatar 3, I keep noticing this idea popping up again and again. There seems to be this expectation that there'll be a nasty fall out with the Sully family after they learn he saved Quaritch, possibly even exile or an attempt to kill Spider, and then Spider is going to have some kind of dramatic "redemption arc" to win back their trust, if he's able to get it back at all. Now, I don't think this scenario is completely outside the realm of possibility, BUT at the same time, I have this gut feeling its not gonna happen at all.

Avatar has an interesting track record with handling betrayal and forgiveness. Most notably, in Avatar 1 there's the whole plot point of Jake actively helping Quaritch plan the na'vi equivalent of 9/11, and then after the truth comes out, the na'vi are angry with him, but Mo'at still shows him mercy and gives him a chance to escape hometree, and after he bonds with the toruk pretty much everything is forgiven. No discussion about it, no questions asked, just forgiveness. This pattern happens again with a character from the videogame, Teylan. Teylan gave the location of the resistance HQ to the main antagonist and got a lot of resistance members killed. Despite this, he's forgiven pretty much immediately.

To be clear, I'm not trying to argue whether or not Jake or Teylan deserved to be forgiven so easily (that could be its own separate discussion post!), I'm just pointing out that Avatar has a pattern of easily forgiving characters whose actions caused people to die, and Spider's worst crime is saving a life, not taking one.

All this is to say that I don't think Spider is getting a "redemption arc." This idea I keep seeing thrown around where Spider gets cast out of the family and has to do something big to "earn" his way back into everyone's good graces feels like it won't happen. He's going to follow in the same pattern as Jake and Teylan, where his action is discovered, everybody's upset for a bit, but then the plot happens and they just forgive him and move on without really addressing it. Partly because they're straight up not gonna have the time to properly address it. We already know there's a whole bunch of new characters, plot points, and world building that needs to get introduced and fleshed out in Avatar 3. They're gonna skip all the emotional processing that would come with the discovery and jump to everyone forgiving him so they can advance the plot.

If my gut feeling turns out to be true, I'll be a little disappointed ngl. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those folks who believes Spider should be "punished" for saving Quaritch, but I also understand the Sully family, especially Neytiri, are gonna feel betrayed by his action. I wish the movie would take the time to address how they all feel about it, but I can't ignore my gut feeling that it's gonna be resolved just like Jake's betrayal with an "I see you" moment and no hard feelings. But this is just me speculating, so maybe I'll be wrong, who knows. What do y'all think?

[lululaozi]

A letter to Gerda ♥️

[chow0w]

oh i just LOVE your style!!!! if you wouldn't mind, could you explain how you go about designing and what your artistic process is with dragons specifically?? I love your lady jewel design the most!!!!!!

Of course, and thank you so much! @aldershadows also asked this question, and I hope I can give you a comprehensive answer, and will be taking this oppurtunity to create a one-and-done design tutorial to answer any similar questions that may come up in the future.

Bear in mind that I'm not a professional, and I'm not looking to dissuade people from following traditional techniques or other advice. This is purely a discussion of MY process, and what I consider to be good/bad design technique.

Where to Start

There are six important conceptual 'principles' I like to consider when in the initial stages of (Re)designing a character: Story, Personality, Aesthetic, Interpretation, and canon/fanon appearance. Fully understanding these principals can help you understand a character, which will make both your life and design better.

Story: What is this character's actual story? What's their lore? Where do they start, and where do they end up - and most importantly, where does your design fit into that timeline? When I design characters, I try to be clear on exactly what part of their journey they are on. (Ex: blaze and the coat -> sandwing succession war)

Personality: This one is pretty easy - what is your character like, and how do they present themselves to the outside world? When you make a character and show them to the world, everything in the canvas is interpreted by the audience: even down to simple details like posture or background. Treat it like an opportunity to show off as much of your character's personality as you can.

Aesthetic: Aesthetic plays the most important role of all: it's job is to make sure your design is cohesive. It can be a common theme, pattern, color pallet or shape - as long as it reoccurs throughout a design, it's good. Use aesthetics to amplify the other principals, and figure out how to make it *look* nice as a secondary goal.

Interpretation: This one is specific to redesigns, but could also be applied to OCs - I like to consider my personal interpretation of a character: the media I see, the opinion I have... Multi-animator projects, other fanart pieces and personal quirks make up my interpretation of most WoF characters. You don't always need to incorporate your interpretation, but it's good to have in mind.

Canon/Fanon appearances: If you want to design and OC, ignore this. If you're redesigning an existing character, it's useful to consider how your audience views them - for example, most of us collectively agree on a few key design aspects of most characters. That doesn't mean you have to follow those conventions, but keep in mind that they may make your character more or less recognizable. You can also call on the other principles of design to make up for any leap-of-faith redesign choices you make.

Narrow It Down

Now that you're thinking, it's time to narrow those ideas down! Be aware that sometimes, less is more: you might have a ton of cool concepts, but your design will look BAD if you can't stay cohesive. The number of different ideas that can co-exist in one design varies a lot by preference and similarity, so be evaluative when doing this. If you follow my blog, you might notice I tend to walk the line between detailed, cohesive design and overwhelming animator repellent. To combat this, I try to step back often and consider if I've gone too far.

At this stage, it's good to make notes or small sketches - anything to get your ideas down.

Experiment

Test your ideas out with more sketches - alter, add, subtract... whatever your heart desires. Experimentation is the best way to discover your specific design tendencies, as well as breaking new ground and stepping out of your comfort zone. The more you experiment, the quicker you'll improve. This is usually the point where I start testing out different patterns, since those are the main highlight of most of my redesigns. Pertaining to dragons, it's always a good idea to test out different shapes - especially wings, spikes, arms and tails, which are generally the most customizable features of a character. Looking to other artists for advice/inspiration is also a great tactic, but be sure to follow the 80/20 rule of originality within your designs!

Judge yourself (not literally)

Evaluating your designs as you make them is always a great idea, but sometimes you need multiple tests/sketches in order to know what you REALLY want. Compare your experiments - what do you like about them? What do you dislike? Which are more faithful to the character, and which ones confuse you? understanding the flaws in your design can help you to overcome even the biggest challenges.

I've used Kinkajou to show how important evaluation is: despite being my favorite character, she has proved exceedingly hard to redesign (to my satisfaction,) even with multiple attempts from this year and the last. She might not even be released by the time this post airs - but with the power of critical thinking and good evaluation, her design has gradually improved over my last few attempts.

Stay on your toes

Did you think you were done? Did you think it was over? NO. Life doesn't get easier just because you made it past the idea stage. When you have your final thoughts and want to get chugging with your reference page/illustration, make sure to stay alert! Keep evaluating, keep experimenting, and make sure to stay mindful of what you do! One of the more common issues I have is that I turn my brain off while I draw, and then slowly my designs drift further and further away from the idea I actually wanted to put down. Asking yourself questions along the way can help to sharpen your design, and train your mind to think more artistically.

It's always good to take a once-over of your final product: check for errors you might have made, and think about whether or not your design still looks good. Does it show personality? Is it consistent?

If you do find that your end product isn't what you really imagined, don't despair - there are plenty of lazy tricks you (And I) can pull to string things back together again. Using gradient maps is a great way to fix your colors, and simple filters like 'overlay' (procreate) can help to neutralize your pallet. My favorite trick is to use the 'curves' tool (procreate) to make certain colors darker, in the case that I feel my design doesn't use a wide enough range of light and dark shades. I also like to turn saturation down if I think there's a color problem, to see if it's actually my pallet or if I'm using too many colors with the same tone.

Keep Going

My design strategy relies on confidence. You won't be able to improve if you doubt that you can! So, my most important piece of advice is to keep going, no matter how fast or slow you seem to make progress. My second most important piece of advice is not to compare yourself to other artists - focusing on their progress is neglecting your own.

To everyone who made it this far, thank you so much! Posting here truly is an amazing experience and I adore you guys. Sorry if this got a little out of hand. I hope this was helpful to you and anyone else with the same question, as well as being a useful resource to other artists in the future! As always, my askbox is open to any and all questions + requests for redesigns!

( ´ ω ` )ノﾞ

[thirrith]

You may remember that I planned to knit a fair isle vest with motifs replicated from a costume piece in the original 1978 All Creatures Great and Small... well, I finished it!!! And I AM SO HAPPY ABOUT IT!! The marled colours are so pretty!! (I held two strands of heavy lace weight lambswool together) And the fabric is so light and drapey!!! Ahhhh!!!

Here is the original vest it's based on. It's the vest worn by a side character called William Dalby and the shot is from episode 7 of season one. I didn't plan to make an exact replica so I took some creative liberties with my chart.

And here are some photos of the steek because I think it's really cool:

Some things I've learned from this project:

For armhole and neckline shaping, I actually don't have to do the extra k1 between the decrease and the steek stitches. When I'm knitting flat and decreasing next to the selvage I'd like to have an extra stitch to make picking up easier, but with the steek it's easy to pick up stitches either way. In fact, decreasing right next to the steek makes the decrease column more invisible in the final result.

I used shoulder shaping in the round technique developed by Feral Knitter. I used 3-needle bind off on the wrong side but it was incredibly fiddly. I dropped a stitch twice and had to use duplicate stitch to mend a few holes. I probably should've grafted the shoulder seams instead.

My tension was OK but I didn't give CC long enough floats in the beginning, which created very small and not very visible stitches in the first couple repeats of the chart.

CDD at the bottom of v-neck probably shouldn't be done in the first round right after picking up stitches. Needless to say I had to mend holes.

I'm glad I hand sew. I used back stitches to secure the steek (with a single strand of the same yarn so that the whole vest shrinks and grows at the same rate) (I only used 5 steek stitches because I was ready to fight god). When tacking down the cut steek, I used the felling stitch first but it was too bulky. The herringbone stitch (sewing) is more suitable and creates a flatter and more flexible hem, although the yarn ends will be poking out. I'm not too worried because although this lambswool is not as sticky as shetland wool it will still felt over time.

I was able to knit from memory after about two repeats. Lining up patterns while at the same time doing decrease shaping wasn't as difficult as I thought.

I don't know what possessed me to bind off the back neck with two colours, but it looks pretty nice from the wrong side…

Having knitted both I've discovered I still like plain ribbing better than corrugated ribbing, especially when the ribbing is less than 3cm wide.

[httpsserene]

(flower) arrangements — 𝐜𝐥. 𝟏𝟔 charles leclerc x florist! fem!sri lankan!reader (fc: maitreyi ramakrishnan) you are a florist in the heart of monaco, solely focused on operating your flower shop without any distractions. your friends are adamant about you needing a break to breathe air that isn’t floral scented. kika, in particular, thinks you need to add some spice to your life—you are unaware that "spice" is scuderia ferrari formula one driver, charles leclerc. status: completed.

smau. requested! reader’s ethnicity isn’t detailed — she speaks sinhala & tamil (and french! lmk if i need to make any changes < 3). fluff. angst so light, it feels like a paper cut. strangers to lovers. getting together. takes place during the 2024 f1 season. calm and collected!reader. down bad! charles leclerc. good friend kika gomes. good friend pierre gasly. original female character (océane). kika, as your unwanted, unpaid, personal cupid. unhealthy work-life balance. no love triangle. flowers. small business growth.

the title is a double entendre about the reader's career and the matchmaking kika does for her—it has nothing to do with arranged marriages or actual desi matchmaking. in addition, i know i'm one of f1 tumblr's most unreliable writers, but i have finished writing the entire smau, all that's left for me to do is formatting. each part will be posted in a timely manner. with that disclamer, if you'd like to join the taglist for this specific smau, you are welcome to reply to this post or send me an ask.

༊࿐ ⊹ this is the third time one of my lovely readers has requested a smau and gave me permission to pick the plot—and, i believe the saying is, "three times makes a pattern." which means, there's an 100% chance of me turning a simple smau into a multi-part affair, if the plot wasn't specified in the request. there's your fun fact of the day lol. happy reading, xoxo 🤍

⌕ join taglist | requests & feedback | upcoming chapters | table of contents ↻

chapter one: red carnations | kika refuses to let you waste another night holed away inside your shop, arranging bouquets that will never be gifted to you, since you’ve become “too busy for a relationship.” she discovers that charles might be willing to assist you in improving your work-life balance.

chapter two: purple lilacs | a mutual friend, océane, upsets kika’s plans when she begs to be set up with charles. kika can only hope that océane doesn’t take it personally when she realizes that charles has his eyes focused on you, and he won’t let his gaze wander.

chapter three: blue hyacinths | the reason you avoid dating isn’t because you’re afraid of love, it’s because you don't have the time for love. charles wants to change your mind and prove that it’s possible for you to manage your business and fall in love with him at the same time.

© httpsserene - do not reupload. photos in header image are from pinterest. divider by @cafekitsune.

[ceruark]

Hello! Recent follower but long time fan of your work. I adore how introspective you are with writing characters and how you tend to write the darling/reader, its a very refreshing take on yandere content.

On that note, I was curious if you had any insight or thoughts on how yandere!Aventurine would handle a Darling that rejects his advances, not from a place of distrust but a place of insecurities? Like I imagine it would be entirely possible for someone who is quite capable or self-assured to become overwhelmed by the glamor and brilliance that Aventurine maintains for his carefully crafted facade, esp if its directed at them with romantic intent.

What could you have to offer someone like Aventurine, a man who seemingly has everything he could ever desire? In perspective, it would be extremely humbling and perhaps make Darling feel self-conscious upon consideration, leading them to politely turn down Aventurine's advances and affections in the sake of self-preservation.

yan! aventurine x insecure! gn! reader

wc: 633 cw: yandere themes - obsessive behavior, stalking. a/n: thank you so much for the ask! i'm so sorry i'm answering it so late, but i'm very grateful for your compliments and your ask :> (this got a little suggestive at the very end, hope that's alright!)

Aventurine is incredibly adept at reading people, which makes this situation quite frustrating for him. You’ve always come across as someone secure in your identity—it’s clear in the way you carry yourself, in the way your brilliance takes up the entire room, an outward reflection of the completeness of your character. And he latched onto that immediately, holding the gem that is your personality up and carefully studying each refraction of light, committing the patterns to memory. He’d played his cards just right with you, and had no problem luring you in and getting you right where he wanted you.

So, then, why are you rejecting him? 

Things had been going so well between you two, up until he began flirting with you more openly and gifting you things he knew you wanted, but were out of your budget. He made sure not to lovebomb, of course—it would scare off someone like you, and he couldn’t have that—and he knew that you hadn’t yet discovered his… rather underhanded methods of learning everything about you. 

He knows you, everything has gone perfectly for him, and yet here you are, turning him away.

You’re being painfully sweet about it, too, in the way that you always are, reassuring him in a soft voice that it’s nothing he did, you just don’t think you’re ready for a relationship. You say this, but he can see it in your eyes, see that you want him, too, but for some reason, you’re hesitating. You’re scared.

From your perspective, it’s quite simple, really: Aventurine can do better, and he deserves better, too. He’s an extremely high-ranking member of the IPC, with an unfathomable amount of wealth to his name—what could you possibly offer him? 

You’ve heard countless stories of high-ranking IPC officials using marriage as yet another tool at their disposal, so his advances toward you leave you confused and bewildered. You’re a mere civilian who lives in the capital city of one of the planets he’s been assigned to watch over. You don’t come from wealth or political power, so what does he want from you? 

Not to mention all the risk that would come from being romantically involved with him—what if one of the IPC’s enemies came after you as a means to get him? You do like your head where it is, attached to your neck, and your own safety aside, you don’t like the idea of being seen as Aventurine’s weakness, something that would hold him back.

It takes an incredible amount of willpower for him to not spiral. No, he’s worked too hard for this, and he can’t risk messing things up by abducting you. It would ruin the feelings you so clearly reciprocate, yet refuse to act on, for some reason.

It’s not difficult to pay someone to pull your messaging history and get it cloned to his own device. After digging through conversations with some of your friends, your insecurities are made clear to him, and with them, your reason for rejecting him.

Oh, how he wishes he could coo at you and pull you into a reassuring hug. You’re worried about the fact that you don’t add value to his position in any way? How silly, that’s exactly why he wants you. You’re real, and once you overcome this trivial worry, you’ll be entirely his—not the pawn of some government body, not the IPC’s, but his alone.

No matter—it’s a minor setback. He’ll just have to work harder at showing you just how much he loves you, and that there aren’t any strings attached. His devotion will get through to you one way or another, whether it’s from honey words dripping off his tongue, or from loving every inch of your body with his mouth until you can’t take it anymore.

[kissedbyaphrodite]

Kyle Broflovski's got powers, and I don't see people talk about it

Okay so, I don't know if nobody's talked about this or if I'm just disconnected from the fandom. But just how many powers does Kyle Broflovski have!?!?!?!? Like, we see him having powers for the first time in The Tooth Fairy's Tats 2000 (season 4 episode 1) He develops not only Personal Existence Manipulation but also Reality Warping and some sort of Omnipresence and Higher Consciousness. He develops these abilities after he discovers that the tooth fairy is not real, and he starts to question the truth of all things, including his own existence. He begins to study various philosophies about the nature of reality. (Wikipedia plot summary). In the end of the episode, Kyle disappears into thin air while questioning his own existence, but soon reappears wielding control over all reality, even becoming a half-chicken half-squirrel beast.

Then in Cartman's Incredible Gift (Season 8 episode 13) he shows/develops psychic abilities, after jumping of a roof in order to fake having an accident to develop psychic abilities (Since in the episode Cartman starts telling people he's a psychic after he jumped of a rooftop) In order to be taken seriously (Wikipedia page so you can read the summary). After everything's said and done, at the hospital, a fight breaks out between Cartman and the fake psychics, at which point Kyle gets annoyed and yells at them to stop, at which point the light bulbs in the room explode and a shelf becomes partially detached from its wall, spilling its contents on the floor.

In the episode It's a Jersey Thing (Season 14, episode 7) he has these "Transformations" that are obviously making fun of/Referencing werewolf transformations, but you know, I'm still adding them mostly since he does seem to be stronger in his "Jersey form" and more aggressive (Again, clearly both making fun of people from Jersey and Werewolves)

In Turd Burglars (Season 23 episode 8) he seems to be able to see/feel the microbiome of his entire body and everything else, having almost psychic dreams showing the bookcase in Tom Brady's house, which is actually a secret entrance to a basement where he has been hiding his faeces. In the end of the episode, the boys take those faeces and they're used to save the whole town (Again, you can read the episode's plot in Wikipedia to get a better summary of it). And when asked how he knew about, Kyle just says that his microbiome knew.

Like, just the implications of it have so much potential, I know the show doesn't follow a canon timeline, with many characters dying and appearing again later on, or the cannon in the games, show and movies being different, etc. But like, it's almost becoming a running gag with Kyle having powers (If we follow the logic of "One time is a X, two times is a Y, three times is a pattern"). Just imagine both Kyle and Kenny would become the only characters (To my knowledge) Who canonically have superpowers (Kenny's immortality).

I don't know, I just thought I'd talk about it.

[sydneymykah]

☆MY FASHION ICONS☆

How to turn influence into originality

I think everyone should have at least 2 - 3 different fashion icons. Whether it's an artist, model, designer, fictional character or even cartoon. It's these influences that can help build upon your own fashion sense and style. Relating and gravitating towards certain people can help us decide how we want to present ourselves to the world. Help us find our inner confidence shine through to the physical. Taking bits and pieces from other influences to make something completely your own.

This post is in three sections

1. How finding your influences can help you find your style

2. My icons and their style

3. How I use their influence to find my own original style

(Also I use fashion icon and style icon interchangeably. The basis is just someone who’s fashionable and has a style you feel inspired by)

Lets get into it

FINDING INFLUENCE

Maybe you watched a movie when you were younger and a character dawned an outfit that has stuck with you forever. A specific show or movie has stayed with you simply because of the fashion alone. You discovered that you would give anything to dress like the people you grew up seeing on your screens. To a celebrity's iconic street style or a characters impeccable fashion choices. What we naturally gravitate towards is what inevitably ends up being our main influence. Knowing what we are inspired by helps us figure out how we want to represent ourselves. Today I'm focusing on fashion and style.

If you're someone who wants to figure out what inspires you I'd suggest to go explore all genres of films and tv. Regardless the decade I bet you, you will find a movie or show that resonates with you in terms of fashion/style and aesthetics. Pinterest of course is also an amazing place to look for inspo. Especially if you already have an idea of what you want but need expanding upon it. Environment also affects inspiration. I've seen people's style and how they express themselves completely change because they moved abroad or just simply to a new city. I hope people who read this who are in an environment who cant express themselves the way they want are able to find a place for them someday. If you cant find an environment physically, I'd suggest finding one online. Twitter communities, Tumblr and discord servers pertaining to your interests can help you extremely.

Now, people might struggle to take what inspires them and make something of their own without looking like a straight up carbon copy. Not knowing how to build a style and not look like they're wearing a costume. What I've found to be helpful is to start off by noticing patterns with how your influences dress. If one is a celebrity you can probably find interviews of them talking about the style you're trying to implicate. If it's a character(s) there's a high chance there are YouTube videos and even tiktoks dissecting their style. The best part about this is that you can pick and choose what you like and what you want to try out.

That is also how you eventually find your own style through influence. You have to do things through trial and error. I know that makes people wince because they don't want to look ridiculous but it's true. The main thing you need is confidence. And if you don’t have that fake it till you make it sis. I can think of many people and celebrities who started off one way and evolved into the icons they are today. To people like Rihanna, Bella Hadid, and Sabrina Carpenter. Even with them you can see what influences their style. Rihanna (who has gone through many fashion phases) once being very heavily influenced by 80's UK British punk rock style and Americana. Bella recently being influenced by vaquero and cowgirl chic fashion because of her current cowboy boyfriend Adan Banuelos. Sabrina being very influenced by baby doll aesthetics, lingerie, and 60's style of clothing. You can see with all of their influences they're able to make it theirs. Of course they have stylists to help them(not to take away from their own creativeness) but you can still find ways to help yourself.

Even I am in the trial and error stage. Finding out what I like and what my current influences wear that I want to try too. What helps me is making mood boards and finding pieces that look similar to the ones my inspirations wear. It’s important to note that just buying statement pieces won’t help you build style because it’s harder to create different outfits with them. Basics are VITAL. So don’t overlook them when dissecting your influences. Let me show you how I dissect the patterns and fashion sense my fashion icons have and how I use these as blueprints in figuring out how I want to style myself.

MY ICONS

FRAN FINE

Played by the fabulous Fran Dresher, Fran Fine was the main character in the extremely popular and iconic sitcom of the 90's "The Nanny". Fran being a flashy girl from Flushing Queens who stumbles into a nanny job taking care of rich bachelor Maxwell Sheffield's three kids. The shows main plot is the will they won't they dynamic between Fran and Mr. Sheffield and how unconventional of a nanny Fran is.

Her unconventional yet charming nature reflects in her many iconic outfits. Many pieces being traditionally sophisticated like blazers and turtlenecks are made more flirty and tempting with mini skirts. Frans style didn't shy away from any sort of color, texture or pattern. Wearing things that range from a brick pantsuit, a rainbow sequined strap dress, tiger print blazer and mini skirt set, many bright colored fur coats, and full vinyl and leather matching sets. Her main inspo to her fashion seems to take from 60’s and mod fashion trends. Especially with her big hair and headbands being her main choice of accessory.

Frans typical silhouette would consist of some sort of turtleneck or vest. If she wore a vest it'd usually would have some sort of blouse underneath (collared or another turtleneck). Her bottoms would either be fitted pants, a mini skirt, or a mini dress. Frans signature shoe was a classic pump heel and would usually wear some sort of stocking or tights with them. (usually black) Occasionally she'd switch out the pumps for a boot that would either be reminiscent of 60's mod or just a regular heeled boot. Fran loved a matching set so typically her skirts would usually match her jackets. Her jackets typically being cropped or regular sized blazers. A lot of them being fur trimmed.

CHER

Cher is a famous musician, actress and Tv host. She was the IT girl of the 70's deemed " Goddess of Pop" and was known muse for the incredible Bob Mackie, one of my favorite fashion designers.

Cher was known for her impeccable and ground breaking style. She was unique and was never afraid to dress outside the box. Proudly showing off her stomach and wearing very risqué mesh outfits. Cher's approach to fashion was like a hybrid of bohemian, Disco and old Hollywood glamour. The main thing I think of when it comes to Cher is how she was almost always decked out in sequins and diamonds. Forever sparkling and shining in the cameras. Looking like a colorful disco ball. Cher was also known to not shy away from feathers, furs, and metallics. Considering she can technically be considered a showgirl and had her own popular show filled with musical numbers it makes sense for her to wear that sort of fashion.

Cher's classic silhouette was usually some sort of form fitting, skin showing dress or two piece. She would start off covered in some sort of shawl or jacket that was usually fur or covered in feathers. Then she would reveal her outfit. Typically the outfit would show some a lot of skin, usually her stomach, chest and arms. She was almost aways wearing cross body dresses and tops. a top that would wrap around Chers chest but still show off her core and arms. If Cher wasn't wearing a dress with this type of top she was wearing flared disco pants/Bell bottoms. Similar to Fran, Cher never strayed from interesting patterns and designs. Both very flashy and fashion forward women who knew how to light up a room with just their style alone.

JEM

Jem, from the 80’s cartoon "Jem and the Holograms" is the lead singer of her pop rock band of the same name. Not only that but she’s also secretly Jerrica Benton, the groups manager and owner of her late father's record label starlight music. Jem's 80's fashion can only be described as truly outrageous along with her big pink hair.

Jem of the Holograms was a unique show not only for its premise but because the main cast almost always had a new outfit every episode. Jem didn’t have a consistent silhouette but her outfits were adjacent or the inverse to her alter self. Jerrica being more conservative and covered while jem was more flashy and glamourous. Like a rock star should. One thing consistent with jem were her colors. Pink being her iconic color along with purple, light blue, fuchsia, and yellow.

Jem wore everything from pant suits, bodycon dresses, ball gowns, evening gowns, trench coats, matching sets, and bodysuits. All with 80’s trends like shoulder pads, fingerless gloves, popped collars, patterns like polka dots, layered necklaces, and mini skirts (one reminiscent of tutus artists like Cyndi Lauper and Madonna would wear) The one accessory that stays consistent with her is her gem star earrings and if you notice in the show are the bands symbol. In many of her outfits she dawns a star shape or pattern

*Note that not just Jem inspires my fashion tastes in the show but other characters as well. The other person inspiring me second to her is her antagonist Pizzazz who I've opted as my alter ego. especially considering Jem wears pink and Pizzazz wears green, (opposite colors)

CREATING YOUR OWN STYLE

If it’s not obvious based off the three examples I gave, I like dressing like the brightest thing in the room. The star. The showgirl. The main character of you will. I like to be dressed up even if I’m the only one doing so. So naturally I gravitate to people (or characters) who dress like that. Showgirls like Lola Falana and Josephine Baker inspire me too. Now what I do is take the inspirations and make a mood board. You might've seen my "The Vibe I Bring to the Function" post. That is one example. I've created many moldboards of the type of style I want to have. By taking those influences I notice the similarities between them then make a base line. Here's what I've noticed with mine:

Sequins and rhinestones

Feathers and fur

Leather/Vinyl

Figure hugging

Skin showing

Bodysuits

Turtlenecks

Fitted Blazers/Suits

Flared pants/Bell Bottoms

Matching skirt/pants and jacket sets

Animal Print

Bold Prints/Patterns

Cross body/Halter tops

Bold and bright colors

Then I take this andattribute it to what I know looks good on me. Like certain accessories. for example headbands and bamboo hoops (usually in gold). Speaking of you should also learn your colors. Coincidentally Jems colors are actually some of mine. Especially the color pink. But like I said above trial and error is how you soon figure out what works for you and what doesn't. I used to have a romper body suit once that was baggy with spaghetti straps. The pants were hemmed with elastic so it looked like sweatpants… That's when I realized that if I wanna wear a bodysuit it looks better if its form fitting and flared at the leg lol. Asking people what looks good on you helps a lot too. A lot of the stuff I figured out looks good on me is because I consulted some good friends. When it comes to my environment I'm in an astrology discord chat with some close friends and long story short I'm associated with peacocks so I consider that into my style as well. I'm also from the south so southern inspired outfits also intrigue me. I take this all and experiment with it. I currently have a bunch of animal prints in my close to a peacock corset to an orange velvet bellbottoms. This is only the beginning.

At the end of it all it comes down to experimenting, finding what looks good and realizing that what you gravitate towards. Learning to style yourself is as easy as looking up the basics on YouTube and building on from there. Your icons in fashion will help you get to the direction you want and one day you’ll see how much you’ve developed.

Also ALWAYS remember that you’re in charge here. You can change whenever and whatever you want. You don’t have to find your style and stick with it forever. Like I mentioned before Rihanna has been through multiple different fashion phases, we’re seeing the same with Doja cat as well. Your influences now can be completely different later. Whether it’s your environment or tastes that change. Whatever you find in life that influences you. So today I might be dressing like a 70's showgirl the next a man-eater vampire. Still me at the end of the day. And whoever your icons are, or whatever your inspired by at the end of it all should be reflection of how you want to express yourself.

✧─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

Xoxo, Sydney Mykah -☆

[pastel-rights]

Beyond Memory Lane // [ PROJECT SEKAI ART PROJECT ]

[ EVENT SUMMARY ] - One day, after cleaning out the attic of his home with Emu, Rui discovers an old box hidden away in the corner by chance. Opening up the box, he finds several things from his childhood, spurring a trip down memory lane.

…

[ hii, i felt inspired and wanted to try and make a project sekai event set for an au I have, known as the "DECORA AU", that I've been working on for the past few days! and this is the collection of those efforts... yippee? yippee!! ]

DECORATED FLIPSIDE ♪ GACHA

4 ✩ Rui Kamishiro - [ The Space Left In-Between ]

"I've found yet another wonderful and special treasure."

**comes with the “Leading Director” costume. Card Skill: My First Light Show [ life recovery ]

..

4 ✩ Emu Otori - [ Watching Digital Stars ♪ ]

"Emu wonders what else this can do?"

**comes with the “Gummy Bear” costume. Card Skill: So Sparkly ♪ [ perfect tap score increase ]

..

4 ✩ Akito Shinonome - [ Captured On Film ]

"What are you doing now?"

**comes with the “Husk” costume. Card Skill: What Are You Doing...? [ score increase ]

..

4 ✩ Ena Shinonome - [ Old School Photography ]

"Never used one of these before... they're interesting."

**comes with the “Narcissus” costume. Card Skill: I Need A Good Filter. [ turns taps to perfect ]

..

4 ✩ Airi Momoi - [ Rewatching Movies Together! ]

"It's been so long since we've gotten to watch something together!"

**comes with the “Poppy Flower” costume. Card Skill: Want Some Snacks? [ life recovery ]

..

4 ✩ Kanade Yoisaki - [ A Trip To The Gas Station ]

"I made it... Now to buy some snacks... maybe dinner too?"

**comes with the “Koi Fish” costume. Card Skill: What's For Dinner...? [ score increase ]

…

[ EVENT STORYLINE BASIS ] - An event storyline that surrounds the recorded past and the recorded present of the characters involved in the story. The first half of the story primarily focuses on Rui, Emu, and the story of the old light projector found among the junk in the attic, while the second half focuses on Kanade and the others, running into one another while outside.

[ TRAINED CARD BASIS ] - The trained cards are all based on characters within the DECORA AU, their titles being the names of the associated characters they're "playing", which are The Leading Director (depicted with Rui Kamishiro) of the Decorum Hosptial, and the 5 different protagonists of the AU, Gummy Bear, Husk, Narcissus, Poppy Flower, and Koi Fish (depicted with Emu Otori, Akito Shinonome, Ena Shinonome, Airi Momoi, and Kanade Yoisaki). Everyone (hypothetically) gets the associated outfit and hairstyle depicted on the card.

[ ART AND CHARACTER DESIGN BY ] - All art shown is by yours truly! I also designed all the trained character designs and additional casual outfits. Yeah, even the patterns and the backgrounds, drew all those myself... godspeed if I say so myself /silly

...

[ FINAL WORDS? ] - hii! if you're seeing this, you got through everything, wow. i always wanted to do one of these custom sets but I was never really sure where to start and... figured I could do it with these goobers first, and so I did!! it was a very fun project.... i got to draw some people I've never drawn before, so i'd say it was an overall fun experience!! if you guys like what you saw, want to know more, or want to see a part two with the hospital staff and the vocaloids (I did NOT forget about them, promise!), maybe you could reblog the post or send in an ask? even a comment would make my day!

okay, I'm gonna go now, have a good day or night (wherever you are!), make sure to drink some water, the small things!! okay, bye!

[moonpool-system]

💗💗💗 OH MY GODS IT'S FINALLY DONE 💗💗💗

I've been crocheting for a little over a month now and it's thrilling to discover all the things I love making. This is my first complicated project like this and I couldn't be happier with how it all came together. Crocheting garments is like character design in real life it's amazing 💕 This is the pattern video I used but a lot of the detailing is altered. I might make the waistband bow longer but otherwise it's done ^^ I'm so proud

[yoiisa]

Hello! This is my first time ever requesting something on tumblr ^o^

I was wondering if you could do any BLLK characters would react to reader coming out as asexual? (Someone who feels little to no sexual attraction). And how they are with it?

Take ur time! ( ´ ▽ ` )

ofc my love!! the first time anyone ever came out to me was my middle school bff and she was ace, so y'all hold a special place in my heart <3 for this fic I'll do Chigiri, Ness, Sae, and Kunigami!!

➜ in my mind chigiri hyoma also falls somewhere on the ace spectrum (probably demisexual) but he just didn't have a name for it ➜ you coming out to him helped him a lot with discovering a new part of his own identity ➜ whereas there are def some boys in blue lock who i think no sex would be a deal breaker for, chigiri isn't one of them ➜ i think chigiri would've already known you're ace long before the two of you get even a little romantically involved, so he already knows what he's getting into with you when it comes to be your boyfriend ➜ but he wouldn't have it any other way

"Hyoma~" you sing as you open the door to the hallway outside the locker rooms, "look what I have~" Chigiri looks up, pushing some of his hair from his face. You're holding out a roll of something that looks like athletic tape but it's patterned in a way he can't discern from all the way over here. "What is it?" he asks, reaching out and taking it from you. You plop down onto the bench beside him and he turns the tape over in his hands. Black, grey, white, and purple stripes. "What is this design?" "It's the ace flag!" you say excitedly. "Another friend of man who does basketball-" Chigiri grimaces, but you brush it off "-showed me this Etsy store that makes athletic gear in pride theming." He nods and looks back down at the roll of tape. "Is it for me?" "Umm . . . I mean, if you don't want it, I can always take it back," you say sheepishly after a second. "No, no, it's cool," he says. "I just already have a lot of tape so." "Sorry." He frowns and looks over at you. Your smile is waning and he sighs. Chigiri lifts a hand and pats your head, kissing your forehead softly. "I like it, I'm happy. Don't worry," he says softly. "Don't look so sad." You laugh quietly and nod, before resting your head on his shoulder and sighing. "I'm glad," you whisper. The next time you see him during practice, his knee is all bandaged up with the tape, and you can't help the way your heart flutters. He really did like it.

➜ alexis ness asks a lot of questions about your sexuality ➜ after all, the aroace community is definitely not as well known or talked about in the grander LGBTQ+ space, so he's not super well versed on it ➜ at first he takes it as you saying you want to break up with him and gets super worried and anxious, but once you explain how being ace actually works, he calms down ➜ you're one of the most important people in his life, so he really doesn't want to lose you

"My love, please, it's okay-" you try to say through Ness' shallow breathing. "You promise we're not over?" Ness asks- no, practically begs you to say. His sweet eyes are so wet from tears and he's hiccuping as snot leaks from his nose. You're not sure how this reaction is making you feel. Certainly not good though. "No, Ness, we're not over," you insist. "I promise. I'm . . . I just don't want to have sex. Ever." "Who cares about that? As long as you're not leaving me!" He's so earnest with it, and you just can't handle how sweet and sad he's being all at once. "I mean, this is a deal breaker for a lot of people, I get it if you want to-" "Do you want to?" he asks incredulously. "No! Of course not!" "Well God gave me a hand for a reason!" Ness says cupping your face. "And besides, I'm not only with you for sex! I- I don't care if you're . . . what was it?" "Asexual." "Asexual, yes, that! I just," he sighs, finally seeming to have gained the ability to calm down a little. "I just don't want you to go anywhere. I like having you with me." You sigh and lean into his touch. "You mean it?" "Yes! Absolutely!" he kisses your forehead and then presses his against yours. "Tell me if I accidentally mess something up, okay?" You shake your head. "You won't." "Just in case, yeah?" You giggle and nod. "Got it."

➜ sae itoshi genuinely could not care either way ➜ honestly, not having to have sex probably makes the relationship a little easier on his half ➜ he's a busy man, and he's always bouncing around between spain and japan ➜ and while yes, phone sex is a thing, it doesn't come close to the actual act, which you very much need both people present for ➜ it makes your reunions while you're doing long distance a bit easier on him, since he doesn't have to worry about going straight to the bed with you, but instead can just chill

When Sae sees you at the airport, he practically collapses onto you. He smells like the airplane and is all musty from his traveling, but you couldn't care less. You wrap your arms around his middle tight and do your best to lift his body weight a little so he's not crushing you. "Missed you too sleepy," you tease, scruffing the hair that peeks out from under his beanie. "C'mon, let's get your suitcase and go home." He nods against your neck, before sighing and straightening up into a standing position again. The time between getting his luggage and getting back to the apartment is a blur you could not pay him to recall. He collapses onto the couch after taking his shoes off and just lays there like a log until you come up to him and sit next to him. "Sae," you whisper, poking his cheek. He opens his eyes and stares up at you, before holding your hand and kissing your fingers. "Hmm?" he groans. "I missed you," you say, rubbing underneath his eyes. "Have you been getting enough sleep?" "I'm trying to sleep right now," he grumbles. A pang fills your chest and you nod. "Okay, I'll leave you. Sorry." Before you can move too far though, Sae yanks you down onto the couch and practically drags you into his chest. "Don't go," he whispers and you smile. You kiss the tip of his nose and as sleep yanks his eyes shut once more you whisper, "Welcome home."

➜ kunigami rensuke is definitely the kind of man who cares more about who you are as a person than what you can offer him sexually ➜ when you tell him that you're ace, he kinda just stares at you blankly, and then is like okay?? ➜ he's genuinely confused as to if he's supposed to care or not ➜ like, he strikes me as the type to never be the first to make a sexual advance. he's the type to sit patiently and quietly until you make the first move ➜ honestly, you could've not said anything at all, gone your entire relationship with him having zero sexual intercourse and this man wouldn't have bat an eye

When you asked your mother if you could sleepover at Kunigami house, she had no worries. His mom on the other hand did. "No closing doors please," his mom begged before you got there. "Mom, would you just listen to me," Kunigami groaned, putting his head in his hands. "Rensuke, please, I was a teenager too once! I know what happens with these-" "Mom, gross," he cries. "I don't want to think about that." "I'm just saying-" "And I've already told you that she doesn't want to have sex with me. Or anyone. She's not like that!" "But how do you know?!" "Because she told me. She's asexual, she's not going to want to have sex with me, even if I beg her to!" His mom falls silent, her posture still stiff as ever though. His little sisters watch from the stairs, intrigued as to who Kungiami's invited over for the night. Finally his mom slumps and leans against a wall. She gives a dramatic sigh before finally smiling at her son. "Okay fine," she says gently. "Maybe just leave the door halfway open?" Kunigami rolls his eyes, but before he can say anything, the doorbell rings. He perks up and heads to the door. "Rensuke!" his mother calls after him, and he comes to a stop. He looks over at his mom, noticing how tight her expression still is. Kunigami sighs and smiles. He pats her shoulder and says, "Okay mom. Okay."

[catscoollike]

Future chapter discussion, Now with 10% more Catti and Jockington!

(CW / snow grave discussion)

I haven't gone on one of these rambling tirades in a long time. But I kinda fell out of deltarune for awhile. But chapters 3 and 4 are coming out real soon! So I have a reason to playthrough this 9 hour beast again!

Now I know chapter 3 is the one that's more reasonable to be excited for since it's the next one. But come on, look whose post you're reading. I'm gonna be hyped about the chapter with Catti in it. And that's all but confirmed right? You could say it could be another solo Kris and Susie chapter but this image on steam kinda gives it away for me:

That's chapter 4, it has the same floor pattern from the confirmed chapter 4 segments in the trailer. And it's referencing Jockington. And besides a single room in chapter 2. Lightners are only mentioned by name if they're actually there.

Like there wasn't a point in chapter 1 where the Top chef mentions Snowy or something. There is that one time where Ralsei shows that he knows where the empty classroom is in the light world, but Ralsei is probably the exception since he's just weird with stuff like that already.

continued under the cut:

Not to brag, but I actually thought chapter 4 would be the J/C chapter for a long time. I mean if it's going to be the church, then you gotta have the goth girl show up. It's right there. Although I don't know realistically why the two of them are going to be there.

So what is that going to be like? Besides awesome.

It's impossible to know for certain what's going down in chapter 4 since it takes place after the events of a chapter already we know nothing about. We don't know why there's a dark world in the church, if it wasn't opened by the knight then it could have been opened by Alvin, and assuming that this isn't the chapter where the entire town discovers that dark worlds are a thing, there probably isn't a sermon that day.

It's safe to believe that Susie's tactic of making everyone think that the dark worlds aren't real so this stays a thing between her and Kris, isn't going to work on J/C at all. Catti's into the occult, if there would be anyone to believe about some secret underworld it would be her.

I won't use her chapter 2 dialog about Noelle as evidence that Catti already knows that they exist since it's just a gag about her way of talking.

Short sentences, long pauses...

Only the most important details. Scattered between metaphors.

A poet's intent. Lost by the listener's own beliefs...

Search for meaning... At you're own risk.

She does weirdly over correct herself after mentioning Noelle walking among the dark. Like she said something she shouldn't have.

Maybe Kris gave her a weird look after she said to protect Noelle from the dark, and she's just clarifying. I don't think this is anything more then a joke.

The two of them don't seem to tag along with you for that long, because in the... One screenshot we have of gameplay after the presumed opening with Kris and Susie before Ralsei appears. They are nowhere to be found.

There could be a segment similar to chapter 2 where Ralsei and Susie leave Kris alone, and Catti and Jockington would take their places. Catti also really doesn't like Susie, to the point where Susie doesn't even want to be around her, she doesn't have that reaction with anyone else by the way. So that's probably why she isn't around in that screenshot.

Maybe Catti and Susie could grow to be friends in chapter 4? Or at least not hate each other. Depends on what history is there. Catti and Kris were friends, maybe she tried standing up for Kris? That's probably not in character for her at all, and we still don't really know how close Kris and Catti were. "Don't die.", we at least know Catti doesn't want Kris to die. And they studied the occult together. That's about it.

They could also be in antagonistic roles like Berdly and Susie were in their chapters. Maybe Jockington sides with the bad guy. Why? Maybe Jockington is really religious, probably not.

I use Jockington as an example because I can't see Catti willingly siding with the antagonist unless the chapter is more occult themed then just basic religious stuff. But Jockington is pure of heart so I can't imagine him being evil either. Maybe he thinks he's doing the right thing, but he's Jockington so he's completely wrong. Jockington gives strong Lancer vibes in their types of villainy.

So ever since chapter 2 any discussion about future chapters has a certain subject loom over it like a storm cloud. You know it, you might like it. The weird route. Will Chapter 4 have a weird route.

Probably not.

I could type all sorts of hypothetical situations to how the chapter's guest characters could turn to murder and how that's based in small plot details from already obscure characters. But I think a lot of people miss the point of the route.

The weird route isn't about brainwashing your friends into killing people. It's about the player getting desperate for control.

Deltarune isn't shy about telling you that you have no control over what happens in it's story. It's on the steam page, the second voice in the intro tells you that nobody can choose who they are in this world, and Susie tells you your choices don't matter shortly after that.

I think Susie represents this idea a lot actually. Time and time again you are shown that you can't control what Susie does. In chapter 1 she fights without you telling her to. You spend her entire fight against Lancer desperately trying to knock her down so she doesn't kill him. In chapter 2 she wills Ralsei and herself into having ACTs because she's getting upset with the sweet cap'n cakes fight taking too long. And anytime there's a dialog choice with her, you can pick anything you want but nothing actually changes.

And it looks like there's gonna be a rhythm game segment in chapter 3, and would you look at that. you can't control her there either.

I think Noelle is supposed to be Susie's opposite here. Her own desire/lack of control is a running theme with her. There are a lot of things in her life that she can't control, so she clings onto what she can. She likes being in situations where she's scared, but still has enough control to get away at anytime.

It's why she has the courage to talk to Susie in the Farris wheel at all, it's still scary, but she believes that she's dreaming and can wake up anytime, nothing she said will matter.

Noelle also is into looking for glitches in video games, pushing them as far as they go until they break, finding things in a game's world that should be impossible. And through you doing the same thing in the weird route, you don't allow Noelle to go through her intended character arc. She stays a pushover the whole time and does everything you tell her to do, the thorn ring probably helped a lot here too. When the player calls out to her in Spamton's fight she's drawn to it like a magnet, and instantly follows the player's orders. She gets the route where you can actually change what happens. It's fucked up, but you made your choices matter through any means possible.

This is also my explanation for why I think [Hyperlink Blocked] is the word "choices" being censored. "YOU AND THAT [Hochi Mama], YOU'VE BEEN MAKING CHOICES". If he ever said the word choices without getting censored please let me know.

You have no control over Susie, and you have way too much over Noelle

And while we will see if chapters 3 and 4 have weird routes. I think thematically it fits for this route to be more Noelle centric. It requires less mental gymnastics to justify Noelle being special with her connections to the game's central theme and her inability to stand her ground against the player. Then trying to justify how Toriel and Catti, people with much stronger wills and little to no connections to the theme of control, will start killing people because Kris said so.

But then again, before chapter 2 came out If you told me you could convince Noelle to kill people with a magic ring and enough persuasion, because the game's theme says so. I wouldn't believe you, So I don't know.

I guess... Catti thinks her family isn't goth enough and uh... Can't control that... Oh and Toriel... She's... divorced... yeah... Doesn't really hit the same as Noelle's missing sister and terminally ill dad. Maybe we just don't know enough about them yet. And this route is all about going against what should be possible, so you all can point and laugh if I'm wrong. I at least know that I'm right about friend inside me absolutely not being a thing that's going to happen... I hope...

Also, I don't know if we're seeing Papyrus in this update. This screenshot of Sans correcting you about something doesn't inspire confidence.

I swear this is all set up for the ultimate joke that deltarune's Papyrus is a baby or something and Sans is acting the way he is because, "What do you mean you want to meet my baby brother, fuck off. Come back tomorrow". It would explain why Papyrus knows what green grass is but not the sun. He was a baby the last time he saw the surface.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Ok I know this sounds specific, but do you know any good investigation/mystery games that AREN'T Eureka?

THEME: Non-Eureka Mystery Games.

Hello friend! I've got quite a few recommendations for you, especially at the end of this post! I hope that one way or another, your mystery game craving is sated!

Delta Green, by Arc Dream Publishing.

WELCOME TO THE APOCALYPSE

Born of the U.S. government’s 1928 raid on the degenerate coastal town of Innsmouth, Massachusetts, the covert agency known as Delta Green spent four decades opposing the forces of darkness with honor, but without glory. Stripped of sanction after a disastrous 1969 operation in Cambodia, Delta Green’s leaders made a secret pact: to continue their work without authority, without support, and without fear. Delta Green agents slip through the system, manipulating the federal bureaucracy while pushing the darkness back for another day—but often at a shattering personal cost.

In Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game, you are one of those agents. You’re the one they call when unnatural horrors seep into the world. You fight to keep cosmic evil from claiming human lives and sanity. You conspire to cover it all up so no one else must see what you’ve seen—or learn the terrible truths you’ve discovered.

I don't think I can do a better job of recommending Delta Green than Quinns from Quinns Quest, but since his review is an hour long, I'll summarize: Delta Green is a heavy trad game that takes much of the horror of Call of Cthulhu and revitalizes the genre by turning you into everyday government workers pulled into investigations at the cost of their peace of mind. The rules of the game seem to be pretty down-to-earth and detailed, but the mundanity of the core of the game is what allows the horror of the adventures to well and truly pop. In his review, Quinns mentions that for much of the investigative parts of the game, a well-built crew will hardly ever have to roll to gather clues - which means that solving the mystery is doable, smooth, and makes room for plenty of interesting story once you start putting the pieces together.

Detect Or Die, by silkandstone.

Discover who you were. Decide who you are. Solve the Case. A tabletop RPG of neo-noir empiricism, unstable detectives, and total ego death & resurrection. Inspired by science fiction stories of memory and detection like Blade Runner (1982) and Disco Elysium (2019), Detect or Die places the players as the various inner voices of the Detective, collectively embodying the fractured psyche of an amnesiac protagonist attempting to solve the Case - whatever that entails.

One player takes on the role of the World, laying out the setting and mystery for the rest, using a bespoke variation of the Powered by the Apocalypse game engine influenced by Blades in the Dark and Bluebeard's Bride. The rest play Personality Components, the fragments of the Detective's Ego who combine investigative competencies with erratic coping mechanisms, trading off control and emotional stamina to make it through the Case to the ultimate revelations - about the World and about the Detective.

I'm intrigued about the pattern of mystery games and their attachment to systems that encourage you to inflict negative changes to your character as they discover more and more about the truth over the course of play. Detect or Die is unique in that all of the players are technically embodying the same character, or rather, fractured pieces of them. The pull from Disco Elysium gives you some really unique and iconic terminology, such as Exofamiliarity (a skill), Heartbleed (a skill), and Egghead (an archetype). I think it's also fascinating that Detect or Die pulls threads from Bluebeard's Bride, which is also about many facets of a personality inhabiting one person, but is a much different, very horrific kind of game.

The creator of this game has released a free case: The Case of the Signal Fire, as well as an example of play for folks who might want to get a taste of what the game is about. I still feel a little bit out of my depth with this game, and I suspect that's because I'm unfamiliar with much of Disco Elysium, but the combination of PbtA and Blades in the Dark rules certainly has me intrigued.

Elementary, by Black Armada Games.

Elementary is an Agatha Christie-esque game of convoluted relationships, seemingly insoluble mysteries and quirky detectives who solve them. It is GM-less: you take turns to introduce clues one at a time, building up a picture of the murder and who might have done it. And, it's competitive. You each have a preferred suspect and you try to introduce clues that will implicate them. At the end, like the movie Clue, you each create an alternate ending where the detective accuses your target suspect.

If you really like watching mysteries with friends and trying to guess who the murderer is before they are actually revealed, you might enjoy Elementary. It feels like the GM-less format is meant to allow you to play the game competitively if you wish, and GM-less games also typically spread out the burden of rules-knowledge, which means that this game might be easier to pick up if your group has a hard time deciding who should be the GM. Judging by the store page, you might be able to learn how to play Elementary in a way similar to how you might learn a board-game, and that's another strong point in its favor in my book.

Red Harvest: Mystery on Mars, by fuzztech.

RED HARVEST: MYSTERY ON MARS is a one-shot tabletop roleplaying game based on the 1929 novel RED HARVEST by Dashiell Hammett.

Play as a private investigator from the Galactic Detective Agency. You have been hired to investigate a mining colony on Mars. It looks like it’s going to be a routine case. That is, until your client turns up dead at the dig site. It’s up to you to solve the case, and unravel the mystery of the mine.

Includes Player Manual (1 page) with rules for character creation and taking actions, and Game Master Manual (3 pages) with a pre-written mystery scenario and supplemental materials.

Mysteries… in space!

Red Harvest is a relatively simple mystery game with four basic backgrounds for your character, with two skills per background. The game is meant to be a one-shot, with the mystery and setting laid out for the GM, as well as a map for the players to move through and investigate. Equal parts mystery, sci-fi and horror, this is a great game for folks who want a one-and-done taste of roleplay, and might even be a great introduction to the hobby!

Unravelled Knots, by Emily Cambias.

Each Saturday, a rag-tag group convenes in a dusty tea-room to discuss the criminal cases detailed in their local newspaper. Their leader is the mysterious Old Man in the Corner, whose knowledge of each case (and the true perpetrators of each crime) seems unmatched. From each newspaper headline, he extrapolates the truth of What Really Happened to these victims, and the missing pieces of each case that escaped the bumbling authorities—aided by his eager listeners and his trusty piece of string. Based on the book Unravelled Knots and The Old Man in the Corner by Baroness Orczy.

Instead of dice or cards, Unravelled Knots uses a piece of string as a measuring tool for when your story is coming to an end. It's less like a traditional mystery game and more a collaborative storytelling exercise, with each player taking turns adding clues to the mystery as well as offering up reasons as to why those clues bring you closer to the real answer. You take turns playing The Old Man in the Corner, who acts as a sort of Poirot or Sherlock, in that he presumably holds the knowledge about What Really Happened. You also pick up other roles that are meant to introduce new clues, such as the details of the crime scene, the gossip surrounding various suspects, and the real state of the deceased's finances. If you like Agatha Christie novels, you might enjoy Unravelled Knots.

The Road Ahead, by WendigoWorkshop.

In The Road Ahead… you play as a group of young adults returning to their hometown for a summer of fun, parties and nostalgia. After one of their close friends suddenly disappears, new and old feelings stir, eventually getting them involved in the case. Through the carefree lens of an eighteen-something, uncover the truth and make sure it is the best summer of your life!

This game uses a deck of playing cards to provide resources for the characters, as well as dice to help resolve decisive actions. Built on the Songs and Sagas SRD, it's meant to be inspired be OSR-style play, with a flowchart to help the GM put a story together - a kind of adventure-builder, if you will.

The Road Ahead doesn't feel like it's solely a mystery game: your character is probably going to get into dire situations that they need to fight themselves out of, and if the right consequences happen, it feels like there's also personal fallout that each character might have to deal with, which feels very iconic of games about teens and young adults.

Haunted Echoes, by gaa_txt.

Have you ever wondered who died when the echo of a bell toll reached your ear?

Who died when the masked man descended from their black church to burn the flesh of the forgotten? Some say there aren’t enough of them to give names to the bodies, find the culprit. Even worse when you slip through their fingers, the only thing you can do is return as the worst memory you ever had, hoping your loved ones aren’t a part of it.

HAUNTED ECHOES is a lightweight TTRPG focused on one-shots and short term games where we play as weird detectives in the rainy streets of a fantasy Victorian city. Use your talents to gather clues, solve cases, banish ghosts, deal with elemental demons and ruthless scoundrels while trying to search for an answer to the question that haunts your very being.

This game combines mystery with the paranormal, giving your investigators technical and/or supernatural abilities that will help them try to solve a mystery of using a clock that is reminiscent of the same mystery clock found in games such as Bump in the Dark, or Brindlewood Bay. The game is a stripped-down Forged in the Dark rule-set, with play-sheets that are less differentiated than a typical playbook, a brief overview on how to run the game, and plenty of cases, questions, and details to help put together a mystery as well as flavorful characters to learn about as you play.

Some Days, You Just Can't Get Rid of a Body, by C.R. Legge.

You have received a letter that you hoped to never get. The one person that could ruin your life has invited you to a party, and wishes to discuss things…

As you arrive at the old mansion, they find you and ask that you meet them in a side room at a specific time. When the time comes you see a few others moving towards the room as well. Cautiously, you all enter the room and see them standing in front of the fireplace, arm against the wall. Before anyone can say anything, your host falls backwards onto the floor, dead.

You all had a reason to want them out of the picture. Unless you find out who really killed them, any of you could be framed for the murder…

This game is unique in that everyone who sits down to play must embody someone who had a reason to kill the central character. What I think is absolutely hilarious about this little game is the fact that since all of your characters are suspects, you as a group must carry the body of the victim with you around the house, to prevent NPCs from discovering their death. I can think of so many shenanigans a crew could get up to in trying to solve the crime while also keeping the key piece of evidence out of everyone else's hands.

Games I've Recommended in the Past...

One More Thing, by Nathan D. Paoletta.

Brindlewood Bay, by The Gauntlet.

After the Mind, the World Again, by Aster F.

Grandmothership, by Armanda.

Film Noir Game Recommendations

Mysteries Recommendation Post

If you like what I do and want to leave a tip, you can check out my Ko-Fi!

[youuuimeanmee]

Get ready with me to be surprised with

✨️Arnold Crowley✨️

Hint: Crowley

I was scrolling through Twitter/X, laughing and giggling at the cute DamiAnya and Loid tweets from the recent chapter 95, when I stumbled on a tweet about Arnold Crowley.

Btw, Arnold is one of the character I'm looking forwad meeting the most because he's the top scorer in the classical language test. His score must be 90 or above, which is kinda insane when we know classical language is a dead language and barely taught anymore. I previously made a theory that the reason why Anya is so good at classical language is because she came from Covenia, the equivalent of Romania irl; which language derived from Latin language. That's why I was intrigued with Arnold Crowley; I want to know how is he able to beat Anya's score. Like, did he come from the same place as Anya, or, does his family have a medical/researcher background; stuffs like that

Anyway, back to the tweet. Some people are weirded out with Arnold Crowley's hairstyle, which is not surprising, because me too.

I clicked the comments when I saw this.

What. The Fuck. Is That.

The hair/hat reference! The same last name!

Suddenly everything about Arnold clicked. Why I feel weirded out not just from his hairstyle, but also from his bow tie (which reminds me of a moth's wing pattern). Why his polite demeanor is lowkey making me uneasy. Why he is so interested to meet the runner-up of his strong subject. Why he is so good at classical language.

I was scared. I am scared.

But I was still excited to learn that Crowley was a real person, so I googled him just to make sure.

Oh FFUCK.

Dear God what did I discover.

Arnold Crowley or his parents might be based on Aleister Crowley.

Aleister Crowley is an occultist.

He practiced spells.

Spells often comes from Latin words.

He is also a poet.

A poet also often uses Latin language.

Do you see what I'm seeing here.

Summary:

Arnold Crowley or his parents might be an occultist or poet; that's how he's able to be excelled in classical language.

If Arnold's family is a poet, then thank God.

If Arnold's family is an occultist, I am really scared for Anya. What if he wants to learn if Anya is a fellow occultist like him. What if he wants to invite Anya to join his cult. What if he finds out about Anya's telepathic ability. What if he somehow trigger Anya's bad memories with his magic skills(?). I really want Anya to get tf away from him now.

And here I was so excited with Arnold's appereance, I even joked he'd become Anya's new classmate or even the 2nd ML, lol. But now? I'm really not sure. I better keep an eye on him from now on.

Yah that's about it! Thank you for following me in this short journey! 👋

*Edit: I missed the fact that Aleister Crowley is from British. Now I imagine Arnold speak in British accent and I can't stop laughing 🤣

[coupleofdays]

I think I've been temporarily posessed by the @astercontrol Pattern Recognizer. Or maybe the universe is just trying to tell me something, though I have no idea what it might be.

See, I have had this half-joking, half-serious headcanon for a while, about the character Allenby Beardsley from the anime Mobile Fighter G Gundam. For those of you not familiar with her, she's a mech pilot hailing from Sweden (or technically "Neo-Sweden" in the sci-fi future universe of the series), and she pilots a giant robot named the Nobel Gundam, which inexplicably is designed to look like Sailor Moon. This is especially weird in the context of the series, which contains multiple mech pilots from different countries, all piloting robots that are somehow based on national stereotypes. So while the name "Nobel Gundam" makes sense (named after Alfred Nobel and the Nobel Prize), I have no idea what a Japanese magical girl anime has to do with Sweden.

Anyways, my headcanon is based on the following aspects of the character:

The name “Allenby Beardsley” is definitely not a traditional Swedish name. In fact, it consists of two English surnames, and is thus gender neutral.

Allenby pilots a mech that looks very feminine, but is named after Alfred Nobel, a man.

The blue hair.

From this, I have decided that Allenby Beardsley is nonbinary, goes by they/them pronouns, and that they chose their name themself.

Now, here's where things get weird. I've had this half-joking headcanon for a while, but yesterday, I discovered that there's a comedian/actor who goes by they/them pronouns, named... Ally Beardsley. And I thought "haha, that's a funny coincidence"...

...but then, today, I discover "Alienby Comics" ( @alienbycomics ), by a they/she creator, who has explained that the name is a portmanteau of "Alien" and "Enby".

So now I'm basically like this:

[theresatzu]

Blue Lock characters and being your study buddy

Starring. Isagi Yoichi, Bachira Meguru, Reo Mikage, Nagi Seishirou, Itoshi Rin & Chigiri Hyuoma

Tags. crack

Isagi Yoichi

✎ He cannot focus. Like at all.

✎ He's the type who would constantly be distracted by every single thing. He cannot for the live of him concentrate on that boring piece of chopped wood they call a math book.

✎ Bounches his leg. Shifts every five minutes in his chair. Sighs. What does being quiet mean?

✎ He is surprisingly good at discovering patterns and finding logic in equations or questions when he actually locks in.

"Are you done yet?" Isagi's left leg bounced up and down.

"Not yet." You responded, not looking up from your notebook.

Isagi slumped back in his chair. "I want to play football."

You sighed. "You haven't even started."

"I know... but I just..."

You raised an eyebrow, "...Am too distracted?"

Isagi flushed. "No..."

You stared blankly at him.

"You've been staring at the window for over ten minutes now."

Isagi let out a loud sigh as he listlessly kicked the table leg.

"Look," You pushed Isagi's math book back to him.

Isagi's face fell.

Ignoring his dismayful look, you reasoned, "If you want to play more football, you have to get a good grade for math, or you'll be kicked off the team. Do you want that?"

Isagi's eyes widened. "Kicked off?! No one told me that!"

You raised an imperious eyebrow. "Better get going then."

"What the hell. Since when were you a math genius?" You exclaimed, looking over the equations Isagi had dutifully written down.

"Oh... I'm not?" Isagi bashfully scratched his neck. "I just saw some patterns, that's all."

You looked between Isagi's notebook and the man himself in disbelief.

"Dude. You can literally be like... a top student if you wanted to."

Isagi shrugged. "I think I'd prefer to be a top footballer."

Well, what could you say to that?

Bachira Meguru

✎ Similar to Isagi, he cannot focus. Likes to doodle all over his notes, with his tongue poking out between his lips in deep concentration.

✎ He's also restless. But worse. Will randomly like... jump from his chair, or make paper planes and throw them at passerbyers (Rin).

✎ When he's bored, he'll come to bother you, poking your cheek, nudging your side. Bachira is not a responsible study buddy.

"What are you doing."

You eyed Bachira's hunched figure, which was shielding something he had been working on for the past few minutes.

And by the looks of Bachira's mischievous grin, he was not up to any good.

"What?" Bachira asked innocuously.

You raised an eyebrow.

"I'm doing homework!" Bachira defended. "Look, I can say the days of the week in English! Monday, Tuu-tuesday... uh... weddo--weddosday?"

You made a face.

"It's Wednesday. And what are you planning?" You corrected, moving closer to take a better look, but Bachira hurriedly covered it with his arms.

"Show it to me." You demanded sternly.

"No." Bachira stuck out his tongue.

You moved your fingers, beckoning. "Come on. I don't have all day."

Bachira petulantly crossed his arms, "I'll show it to you when it's ready."

You clacked your tongue in annoyance. "Are you even ready with homework? Bet you haven't even started."

You swiped Bachira's chemistry notebook from underneath his nose.

Your eyes bulged.

"What the fuck did you draw?! Is that... is that me?!"

"Oh that?" Bachira laughed as he pointed at a very deformed figure. "That's you, when you try to catch the rain with your tongue."

"What."

"And look!" Bachira excitedly tapped onto another doodle he'd drawn. "That's Isagi, when he really gets into a game."

"You made his face three times bigger than his body."

Bachira snapped his fingers. "Exactly!"

"..."

"I need to sit down." Shaking your head, you leaned back in your stool.

You opened your bag and took a long swig of your water bottle.

"Oh wait! Is that a peppermint? Can I have one?" Bachira piped up, pointing at the peppermint role sticking out of your bag.

You removed the bottle from your lips. "Oh, Sure."

You handed him one.

You didn't see Bachira's twinkling eyes.

"Thanks!" Bachira walked off, as you sat down, determined to get the remainders of your homework wrapped up.

However, the peace didn't last long.

"Aha! That's what I was missing! Come on, Y/n, look!" Bachira pulled your arm, causing you to drag your pen all over your notes.

"Bachira!" You hissed.

"Come, come!" Bachira dragged you away, and pointed at...

"What have you done?!"

You shrieked, eyes widening, horrified, as you stared at the bulging coca cola bottle that was dangerously on the verge of bursting.

"Amazing, right?" Bachira cheekily grinned. "I call it the Bachira Special!"

"No. No, no. There is nothing special about this!" You hissed. "Don't you know what happens when you put mint in coca cola?"

"Uh... no? I didn't make my homework." Bachira shrugged.

You shot a dismayed look at Bachira's forgotten chemistry book.

You turned back to him, "You should've! Because it--"

The coca cola blew up, shooting up from the table and sprouting juice everywhere.

A loud kabam reverberated as it smashed against the ceiling. Then it fell down, straight onto--

"What the actual fuck."

You froze.

Itoshi Rin.

There he was, in all his mighty glory. And with coca cola dripping from his hair.

His eyes locked onto yours and Bachira's.

"We're dead, aren't we?" You whispered.

"Only if he catches us!" And without further ado, Bachira sprinted away.

"You traitor!" You yelled out, still rooted to your spot, but as you saw Rin lunge, your legs desperately pumped to get away from the murderous glint in his eyes.

As you catched up to Bachira, you panted. "You... you're terrible."

"Am I?" Bachira smiled.

"No." You heaved. "You're awful, loud, and--"

"A chemistry genius!"

"You're dead!" Rin yelled.

Reo Mikage

✎ Certified genius. Literally passes all his subjects with flying colours.

✎ Helps others, is actually a good tutor.

✎ Though, if he's bored, he'll whip out things like intricate diagrams that predict the flow of the economy, or reports of board meetings. No one really understands it. Except for Reo Mikage, of course.

"You've... already finished everything?" Your jaw fell to the ground.

"Oh, this? Yeah, not a big deal." Reo dismissively waved his hand.

"Not a big deal?!" You echoed, positively flummoxed. "You've done the homework for... the next two periods for all the subjects already?!"

"Oh." Reo made a disappointed noise. "Thought I'd already finished everything for the whole year. Guess I'll do the rest tomorrow."

"You're unbelievable." You shook your head.

"Well, if that's all, do you want to see some really exciting stuff?" Reo asked, enthused.

"Uh..." You eyed your half-made work. "...sure?"

Rookie mistake.

Half an hour later, you were pretty sure your brain was fried.

"Wait... wait, so... hold up, you're saying that the sudden...addition? Of a new company could cause... fluctu--fluctuations in the economy's growth to just... disappear?"

"Yeah! When we're talking about a monopoloy, then a new business could..." Reo droned on.

Your face fell.

Everything whirred, the world spun, and Reo was still talking. Still talking, and...

"You actually understand this?" You inquired incredulously.

"Huh? Yeah, of course. These are just the basics." Reo shrugged.

Shrugged as if this was child's play for him.

Shrugged as if this was just a walk in the park for him.

Shrugged as if he didn't see the ominous glint in your eyes.

Reo went on. "Interesting, right? Right? Wait, Y/n, where are you going? Wait... why are you walking to the window? No, don't open it--DON'T STICK YOUR LEG OUT--"

Nagi Seishirou

✎ Does... nothing. Except sleeping and lazing around.

✎ Despite his unprolific attitude towards his studies, he actually manages to perform exceptionally.

✎ He'll be that guy that'll do nothing, but then solves the most groundbreaking, world-devastating problem ever.

"He's just... sleeping. Why is he even here?" One of your study buddies asked.

"At least he doesn't snore." Another grumbled.

You sighed. "He wanted to come. Wait. Scratch that. His exact words were: "It's too much of a hassle to walk back home.""

"Well, sounds like him." Another shrugged. "Hey, can someone help me with his sum? I don't understand it. I was pretty sure I had applied the right rule to it, but it doesn't seem to bring me any further."

Someone winced. "Ah... geometry. Literally the bane of my existence."

You took a glance at the question and blanched. Yeah, this was just a reach too far.

When no one seemed to be able to help, the person threw their hands. "Ugh! I'm going to get a one at this rate! This shit's too difficult!"

"I feel you buddy, I feel you." Another commiserated.

"Why do they even give this to us poor kids?! What's wrong with them?"

"What's all the fuzz about?" A sleepy voice drawled, causing the exclaims to take on another note.

"Wow. So he's not a statue?"

"I thought he wasn't breathing."

"Nagi, we were just discussing math." You elaborated.

"Oh." Nagi blinked. "Can we go home?"

You made a face. "Sorry, but we need to get this sum solved, or we'll be in trouble later."

"Oh." Nagi shuffled. "That sum?" He pointed at the one you'd been on the verge of pulling your hair out for.

Nagi squinted his eyes for a moment.

Then, "Just apply statement of Thales, then use the uniformity used in right triangles before you calculate the acreage of the highlighted field." Nagi blurted out.

A silence fell.

"Holy crap... he's right!"

"What the hell... he's been sleeping all this time and he actually managed to solve it... is he an actual monster?!"

"Can you just make all my homework for the year? No the next few years?"

Turning an ignorant ear to the other's words, Nagi tugged on your sleeve. "That was such a hassle. Do you have to do that all the time?"

You chuckled, teasing, "Not everyone can effortlessly pick that up from the get go."

"Oh." Nagi's mouth moved. "Well, I solved it. Can we go home?"

You shook your head. "Fine." You inclined your head, "Get on."

Nagi draped himself over your back, his face nuzzling your neck. "I don't understand why everyone makes such a deal about that. Ugh, my head hurts from all that thinking."

You raised an eyebrow. "You've slept for two hours straight."

"That's exhausting, too." Nagi defended. "But this is nice." His body went slack as he relaxed against you.

Nagi yawned. "Maybe you should just carry me in my dreams, too."

Itoshi Rin

✎ Only does his best when he wants to. He's the sort of person that'll only excell if he actually puts his mind to it.

✎ Doesn't even do the homework, except for English, because that's the only subject he finds important for his professional football career.

✎ When he's done with English, you might be able to guess it, but yes, he'll do only football related things afterwards.

"Hey Rin, do you know the answer to the third question of math?"

"Huh?" Rin looked up from his studybook. Without even glancing at your book, he responded, "No."

You blanched. "You haven't even looked!"

"That's because I don't make math, dumbass." He responded.

Your eyebrows furrowed. "Huh? Why not?"

Rin shrugged, his eyes still glued to his book. "I don't need it. Why would I waste time on such trivial things?"

"But then... what are you doing now?"

You curiously chanced a look at Rin's book, wondering what he actually did do.

"English?" You raised an eyebrow.

"Is that the only subject you learn for?" You asked incredulously.

Rin irritatedly looked up. "Yeah. I don't need anything else, as I've said before."

"Well... how good is your English then?" You couldn't help but ask.

"Tch." Rin rolled his eyes as he shoved a paper in your face.

With a perfunctory eye roll at Rin's typical antics, you grabbed it from him.

Your mouth fell open.

"Rin?! You got full marks on the writing assignment?"

"What? Should that be a surprise?" Rin replied, aloof.

"Uh... I guess... no?"

The answer was yes. One thousand times yes.

The writing assignment was extremely difficult, even just one eeny teeny mistake could cost one tenth of a point.

And Rin had received full marks.

"You... how did you not make any mistakes...? You had to write at least twenty pages..." You whispered, amazed.

Your eyes widened. "Wait--if you're that good, how come you're so shit--uh... less better at the others? You can easily be top of the class!"

Rin let out an exaggerated sigh. "How many times must I repeat this? I have no interest for things that don't have any purpose." He slammed his book closed.

He shoved his books in his bag. "I'm done with studying."

You checked the clock. Hardly twenty minutes had passed.

You raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You're just going to fail all the other subjects?"

Rin's eyebrow tilted. "I'll get passable grades. The thing that really matters is becoming better and crushing my older brother."

"..."

Ignoring your baffled expression, Rin took out another notebook.

"What's that?" You peeked at his notebook over his shoulder, in which Rin was scribbling some notes.

"Football analysis." Rin curtly replied while taking out his protactor.

You chanced a glimpse at his notes.

The colour drained from your face.

"Wait Rin..." Your eyes widened.

"What."

"You... did you just apply the second rule of Newton?!"

"Huh?"

Nodding to yourself, you prodded a finger at Rin's notes. "Yeah, look. You've ciphered out from underneath which hook and with what amount of strength to hit the ball to get it in the right corner on a windy day!"

Rin rolled his eyes. "That's just common knowledge."

You gaped at him. "No, it's not. Look, you even applied Pythagoras there."

"I need to know the distance to the corner of the goal." Rin deadpanned. "Any normal person would know how to calculate that. Now shut up, I don't need your blabbering to disrupt me."

And with that, Rin went unperturbed back to his notebook, scribbling down more formulas and equations the man himself was unaware of.

You shook your head.

"Normal person, my ass." You mumbled.

Chigiri Hyouma

✎ Is good at explaining. If he wants to. Might be a little mean, but he means well.

✎ Favourite subjects are English and History, so he won't really spend much time on the others. Doesn't mean that he isn't good at them, though.

✎ His notes are neat and organised. Anyone would beg for them.

✎ Chigiri values speed and efficiency, so he'll make sure to be the first one who's done.

"Wow Chigiri, your notes are impeccable." You complimented in awe, as you watched Chigiri neatly highlight something he'd written in his elegant calligraphy.

"Ah, really? Thanks. Yours not too teribble, either." Chigiri carded his fingers through his hair.

You chuckled. "So, do you think you can help me with this question of English?"

"Hm? Sure." Chigiri looked up from his notebook. "Which one?"

"This one." You pointed at a particular trying question. "I'm wondering if this conditional is correct in this specific context."

Chigiri's eyes narrowed. "What did you have?"

""If I had been elected I would have been president by now.""

It was silent.

Then,

"Pfftt..." Chigiri's shoulders shook.

"Hey! Don't laugh!" You snapped, ears flushing red.

"Ha ha!" Chigiri slapped the table. "It's: "If I had been elected, I would be president by now", because it's a hypothetical happening in the past with a present result."

"Huh?" Your eyebrows whizzed together, before realisation dawned in. "Oh! I guess you're right. But," You punched his arm, "don't be such an arse about it!"

"Sorry, sorry." Chigiri said with a grin.

You made a face. "...You're not actually sorry, are you?"

"You're right, I'm not." Chigiri flipped his hair.

Tch. Diva.

You threw your hands. "You're impossible."

"No, I'm just fast." Chigiri winked, as he slung his bag over his shoulder.

You tilted your head. "What are you doing?"

"What? You haven't finished yet?" Chigiri teasingly flicked your forehead.

You grumbled, "I'll be faster than you."

"Oh, yeah? Try to catch up then."

And before you knew it, Chigiri had ran off.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" You yelled.

Chigiri's smile only widened, swinging with something in his hands.

Your eyes went wide.

"Give me my English book back!"

Chigiri ran.

"I'll pull your hair!" You threatened, voice suddenly dangerously close.

Aw shit.

Chigiri ran faster.

© Don't copy my work, use it in AI or Chatgpt, or for other nefarious means.

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