#One issue is the very strict 5-character limit for pet names

[definitelyimportantpost]

Tempted to use the wonders of portrait editing to put the Outland Count and Margherita in EOV as a Rover and Hound...

[paladin-pile]

What “Pilot Personality” do each of the Voltron Characters fall into?

This has been sitting in my docs for exactly a year under the title “stupid freaking meta” cause it was a pain to write. But it’s been on my mind so I thought it was time for another post, based on my experience as a pilot and member of the aviation community. 

As I was making this I realized that this might be some good fanfiction material for y’all, so enjoy. (Fyi: every pilot-related example or description I use in this post is a real life true story/situation that I have heard or experienced! Nothing made up.)

I began learning to fly at age 16, before I learned to drive. I got my pilot’s license at age 19 which was almost 6 years ago, and it’s safe to say I’m just a little obsessed. I spent years around pilots from all walks of life, and very quickly caught on to the fact that there are different types of pilots, but still a common thread that goes through everyone.

When I sat down one day in July 2016 and watched Voltron for the first time, I was immediately smitten. It was everything I loved: space, flying, technology, awesome characters, all rolled into one. Interestingly enough, I can pinpoint the EXACT SECOND I first fell in love with this show...

I literally paused the episode here and texted my friend about how I had found the new Big Thing in my life. This was it, this show knew us. As I continued watching I was thrilled to see each character be such a fabulous example of the different types of pilots and have a lot of deep threads I resonated with. I’m going to go through each main character and describe what “type” of pilot they fit and why. So buckle up folks, this post is Hella Long. First up,

Lance

It may be hard to believe, but I speak from experience when I say the vast majority of pilots are exactly like Lance. Even if your normal personality is not like his, he amplifies the traits that are inside every one of us. It doesn’t matter what your personality is like on the ground, your pilot personality can be a lot different, 

Lance isn’t scared. 

These are the kind of people who live for dives and stalls, pitching down the nose and laughing maniacally as the engine builds up to a whine and the ground fills the windshield. In order to get to this point, you have to be really comfortable with the aircraft, know what it can do and what it can’t. This kind of boils down to the first point about pilots in general that are illustrated nicely in the show:

Pilot thing #1: You have a healthy fear of what you should be afraid of, but you know you don’t have to be afraid of much.

Personally I have learned to fear only three things as a pilot: birds, fire, and myself (the ‘myself’ point we’ll come back to later when we talk about Shiro). Most everything else is a non-issue and might even be considered a thrill. This doesn’t mean we’re not cautious and responsible, but we’re not scared.

True, imidately following this scene, Lance crashed the simulator (which I also theorize he did on purpose), so it could be argued he’s not that great of a pilot, but the point still stands. He’s in training, we all did stupid stuff in training, I did stupid stuff in training. It’s the attitude we’re talking about here.

* Side dish for thought: I see a lot of the fandom throwing around the term ‘cargo pilot’ like it’s some sort of insult, or ‘oh that’s so boring and has no prestige whatsoever’ but let me set one thing straight: being a cargo pilot is the BOMB, and I would take that over being a fighter any day.

Flying a 180 ton aircraft filled with supplies or troops through canyons and around mountains, low enough to trim bushes and kick up sand, and the satisfaction of yelling “5 tons of toilet paper comin’ in hot!” into the comms is an end in itself. The poor grunts in the back are strapped in like sardines and trying not to hurl at your erratic maneuvers, but they don’t complain cause they know you have to stay low and move crazy to avoid enemy fire. You and your Thicc Baby are proud as anything when every load is delivered safely, whether its potatoes or tanks. (From what we see in Voltron it seems Lance didn’t want to be a cargo pilot, but I have to admit it would have fit him pretty well.)

#2 Talking to your aircraft

There is not a pilot on the face of the Earth that does not talk to their aircraft like it is a sentinent being, and treat it accordingly. No matter how big and tough we are, you can always catch us patting our ship with a dopey smile and gooey eyes, cooing “Hey Beautiful” or any other myriad of pet names.  It’s a thing, everybody does it. I don’t pretend to know the psychology.

Keith

Ok story time.

A few years back, I took a nurse’s assistant course and worked in a elderly care home.  It was an awful place. Elderly folks who had no family lived in small, dirty rooms, no longer able to care for themselves or sometimes even communicate. I knew everyone on the floor, and tried to show them love as much as possible in their often abusive situation.

One such person was a tall gangly man in his nineties. He was confined to a wheelchair, never made eye contact, and never spoke. Every mealtime we would take him into the cafeteria and sit with him, spoon-feeding because his hands shook too much to hold a utensil. We were encouraged to talk to him as much as we could, even though he never responded and none of us were sure just how mentally present he was.

One time I went into his room, I noticed something. On the rickety table at the end of his bed was a small, dusty photo frame. It held a picture of dashing young man in an Air Force uniform with sharp eyes and half-smirk, a curly-haired little girl in his arms. One of the nurses told me that was him and his daughter. Since we now had a little something in common, I decided to bring it up at the next mealtime.

“Sooo, I saw your picture on the end table,” I hedged, holding out a spoonful of potatoes. I didn’t expect a response, and sure enough, he remained staring at the table blankly.

“You were in the Air Force, huh? That’s pretty neat. I’m a pilot too, but I’ve haven’t flown anything very exciting.” I held the spoon to his mouth and he took it, swallowing slowly.

“P-38’s or P-51’s are my favorite,” I rambled, scraping together the creamed peas. “There’s something about the sound of that Merlin engine that can’t be beat!” I hummed and shook my head with nostalgia. The fighter planes from WW2 had always been my favorite. With the next bite ready, I turned back to him, and almost dropped the spoon in shock.

His head was lifted, back straight, staring at me with such intensity I almost thought he would leap out of the seat. My mouth hung open, spoon frozen midair, and for a moment I sat there in disbelief. I’ll never forget the look in his eyes, bright and fiery, overflowing with words he couldn’t speak. Finally, I recovered enough to smile, wishing I could hear what he wanted to say.

“I love flying,” I whispered, “There’s nothing like it, is there?” His eyes stayed locked on mine, and it was a long time before he could be coaxed into taking another mouthful.

Here’s where I’m going with this. Pilots like Keith are from an era that no longer exists. His are the type we can only find in the silent annals of history, like WW1 and 2. Pilots who were called “knights of the air,” unorthodox and brave in every sense of the word. Cutting out engines and making impossible maneuvers that pushed themselves and their aircraft to the limits and beyond. Split-second, all or nothing stunts that shouldn't have worked but did, pilots that flew by pure instinct and blood running like fire through their veins. Pilots who couldn’t let go of the controls when they landed because they had been gripping them too hard, too long. Pilots who would wait till the very last second to bail out of a burning plane so they could direct it to crash into a target, pilots who coaxed their plane to finish a mission even though half of it was missing, oil was smearing over the canopy, and hydraulic fluid was dripping down their legs. Pilots that got into a new plane that had just been designed and no one knew what it could even do, and flew it anyway. Kamikaze pilots who put their plane into a dive toward a target, knowing it would be the last thing they ever did.

They fought a war, some of them won, and they all disappeared.

The nature of air war isn't like that anymore--with the advent of supersonic jets and drones, the era of the fighter pilot is all but gone, and the gritty sword fights in the sky have become extinct. Even those who are fighter pilots today are given strict guidelines, and risks are reduced to a minimum.

Pilots like Keith don’t exist anymore because they are not born, they are only made under certain circumstances.

The closest you will get to those kind of pilots today are probably bush pilots, they’re pretty much the only ones left that push everything to the limits, fly with no rules, and rely on instinct. But for now, that spirit of Keith, that “you fight like a Galra,” drive, that extra sense and lion-heartedness...are only found in museums, in monuments, and in gravestones.

Shiro

Shiro is a classic fit to what we call a “Jet Jockey.” Responsible, hero-type, yet still a massive dork; the guy you’d see in charge of the Thunderbird demonstration team. He’s a leader, calm, charming, and fierce. It’s in the blood, in the way they walk and smile. When you hear the term ‘you got it or you don’t,” these people definitely “got it.”

They’re perfect, polished in the exterior, but what you sometimes will not notice is their vulnerability. Most all of them have lost close friends, hold some kind of loneliness or sadness in their chest, something that only the love of the air can soothe. Be nice to these guys. People like to put them on a pedestal, but they need human companionship to not let lost in the sky.

I’d like to take a moment here to share my insights from aviation relating to Shiro, namely, Pilot Error, and the Kerberos mission. I see a lot of content in the fandom of Keith and the Holts being outraged that anyone could suggest that the Kerberos crash was caused by pilot error. The typical response is along the lines of, “Shiro was the best, the brightest, most skilled and responsible student, he would NEVER make a mistake like that.”

That’s bullshit and every pilot knows it.

From our very first day in flight school, this concept was drilled into us until we could recite it in our sleep. Mistakes happen to everyone, no matter how good you are or how much experience you have. You think, “Oh I would never do that” or that just because so-and-so is legendary they can do no wrong. It happens every day and the best pilots are not immune. The vast majority of crashes are caused by errors by pilots who are not dummies. It’s the go-to answer when no one is quite sure what happened because it’s the most likely reason. It sobers the rest of us, thinking “that could easily be me,” but we don’t doubt it or get outraged cause we know it can happen to the best of us.

People are prone to make mistakes for no reason, when we know better. It just…didn’t even cross your mind at the time. You thought you were doing the right thing. It’s happened to me personally and I very nearly got killed, but it really opened my eyes to the whole issue.

Semi-related to this is a theory I’ve been toying with: that Shiro getting chosen to pilot the Kerberos mission was a controversial and even scandalous decision. Here’s the cold hard facts: There is no way Shiro was the most experienced pilot at the Garrison. Even if he was a prodigy and had insane natural talent, someone that young just does not have the experience that an older pilot that had been flying for years would have under his belt. Shiro was probably so good that some of the higher-ups at the Garrison wanted to assign him to Kerberos, but the other portion were against it, saying it wasn’t smart to be sending someone so inexperienced, no matter how good he was. When the Kerberos crew disappeared, it could easily have become a huge, maybe even public scandal, where the people who opposed the decision were crying “I told you so!” and citing what a mistake it was to assign someone so young.

The youngest astronaut NASA ever sent to space was 32 years old, and she certainly wasn’t in charge of anything at the time. The youngest person ever in space was a 25-year old Russian cosmonaut named Titov who was essentially strapped into a capsule and launched into orbit to test what happened to the human body in zero gravity for 24 hours (not pleasant, they found out). He was also the second human to go to space, when we knew pretty much nothing about anything. I can’t imagine the guts this guy had, knowing he was going up as an experiment. The whole story is worth checking out. Honestly this sounds more like something the Garrison would do, and the whole situation adds to the suspicion that something is fishy in the place.

Experience rules, I cannot emphasize this enough. It doesn’t matter how “good” you are or how fast you learn, the guy with more experience will always be better than you, no matter how old they are. For Shiro to be the most experienced at such a young age, all the other older pilots and instructors would have to be dead or medically disqualified, or something.

Short end of it is, there is no way Shiro was the best pilot at the Garrison, or the best choice for the mission. Even if he was a prodigy and at the top of his class, which I’m sure he was, that’s not what the higher-ups use to make a decision. Of course, this whole theory might be moot. The creators most likely put Shiro on the Kerberos mission for plot reasons only, but realistically is a little different story.

Hunk

Hunk’s category of pilots hold a special place in my heart: the mechanics. They probably otherwise would not be pilots, but it’s convenient to be able to fly the stuff when they’re running checks. Always covered in grease, their second home is in the hangar, tending to the planes like a kind doctor to a child with the flu. They listen to the aircraft. It’s more of a technical relationship, not quite as mystical as the other pilots tend to portray it. For the Hunk-type, it’s dissected into moving parts.

These folks are NICE. My best friend in training was a mechanic named Bob, who was a ray of sunshine and the sweetest guy absolutely ever. He was also HUMONGOUS, and it was always a kick to seem him squeezing into a tiny Cessna 150 with a squinty-eyed smile and a cheerful “Let’s see how she does!” He would never fly more than a few trips around the pattern.

“Nothing major,” he would say. “I’m not gonna do any crazy stuff like these guys,” *points thumb over shoulder at the Lance-like pilots drinking coffee* “Just little trip around the pattern so I can check out what I did without having to wait for another pilot to take ‘em up.”

They talk up a storm, they ramble. Mechanics tend to make fun of pilots for knowing nothing about how the airplane works, and have gut intuition like no one else. You LISTEN to these guys when they have a hunch or you. will. die.

Pidge

Pidge’s type of pilots are fun to be around. Curious, in the learning stage, usually teenagers, enthusiastic and eager, wanting to be a pilot for the intellectually stimulating reasons (“I read all the fighter manuals”).

I’m reminded of one of the students who was training at the same time I was. 5’4, short cropped hair, large aviator sunglasses, devouring the training books with quick wit and banter with the instructors. She also would roll up to the hanger in her sporty convertible right after getting her drivers license, blaring “Sexy Back” loud enough to shake the propellers off the nearest aircraft.

They may not have the ingrained, primal love for hardcore flying that pilots like Lance, Keith and Shiro have, but to them it’s cool and they love it for their own reasons. It’s a stepping stone to something greater, more knowledge, laid out before them like the rolling landscape far, far below.

Allura

When we’re sorting Voltron characters into pilot categories, Allura drops with a perfect little clink into the box marked Female Helicopter Pilots.

If you’re looking for folks that are Tough, who can catch grenades in their teeth while brandishing two sub-machine guns and walking through fire, you’ve come to the right place. Arnold Schwarzenegger's got nothing on these women. Don’t cross them, they can most likely bench press their own helicopter. They instantly generate mad respect, you feel like bowing whenever they walk in a room.

Fixed-wing pilots and helicopter pilots are two very different breeds, and usually are very loyal to their respective aircrafts. Most airplane pilots wouldn’t be caught dead in a helicopter and vice versa. Of course there are exceptions, but the accepted culture is for the two groups to rib each other, kinda like cat people vs dog people.

These pilots have a beaming smile and deceptively sweet twinkle eyes. These are people who have whipped the butts of every obstacle given to mankind, stared death in the face and beat it with their bare fists. I might be exaggerating here, but this is the feeling one gets when coming across these women.

Coran

Oh Coran, you are one of the most iconic pilot types, and the one folks are most likely to encounter hanging around any small airport. The middle-aged-and-older folks that fly to to other cities for lunches, dubbed “$100 hamburgers.”  They are chipper, wear shorts and Hawaiian shirts, and like to reminisce about the good old days. I am not exaggerating. Most of them are hobby flyers or retirees with eccentric senses of humor and very large amounts of money, maybe more than one plane and an antique car. If you start talking to one, be prepared to spend a while. They are a bottomless well of tall stories of glory, belly laughter, and that snark and slightly odd sense of humor that can turn dark if the right subject is brought up.

All together, pilots are a colorful bunch. Most everyone fits into these basic categories, but there’s a common thread through it all. Love, almost to addiction. Once we get in and taste the crisp air aloft, feel the vibration of the aircraft beneath our fingers, hear that ethereal voice speak to us. There’s no going back. It calls and calls and calls, and the farthest star is too close to hang our dreams.

Hope this has been helpful or interesting to someone. Please feel free to come by and talk to me about anything!

[sleemo]

Daisy Ridley: A New Hollywood Heroine

[ scans: daisy-ridley.net | translation by @afterblossom​​ | copy edits by @sleemo​​ ]

Disclaimer: This interview was translated from English to Chinese by GRAZIA and then back to English here, so these are not direct quotes from Daisy. Please excuse any awkward sentences. Some sections were difficult to translate. If you are sharing any part of this elsewhere - please give proper credit!!

GRAZIA has an exclusive interview with the most-wanted female lead in Hollywood who is the heroine in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. People [in China] call her “Dominant Daisy” and “Naïve Ridley/Rey”. Her Rey is the first female Jedi in the 40-year history of the Star Wars franchise. She is not only a Jedi in the film itself, but outside of it as well. She is concerned about social issues and, most importantly, has stayed humble after becoming a superstar. It doesn’t sound much easier than saving the universe. 

— GRAZIA China, January 2018

Just before Christmas, the most anticipated film Star Wars: The Last Jedi held its premiere in Shanghai. If you’re wondering what it felt like to be there, besides that the film was fantastic and you need to book your tickets early, it’s that it was excruciatingly cold! I wore three layers and was still freezing after I came home. It made me shiver just seeing how dedicated Daisy Ridley was, wearing nothing but a cheongsam-style dress. Even though the cold made her cheeks pink, she still signed autographs for fans and each time she saw them pulling out their phones, she immediately stood by and smiled, showing off her white teeth and reminding us of the fluffy Jelly Cat Toothy toys.

One day ago, I still didn't think that way. The day before the premiere, GRAZIA had an exclusive interview with this new representative heroine from Hollywood, and I couldn’t help but do some research about her, besides that after being chosen as the new lead of the Star Wars franchise, she lifted weights for 5 hours every day. Here are some other fun facts about her:

• She is a strict vegan. That means milk, eggs, and even food containing these ingredients is a no-no for her;

• Before Star Wars: The Force Awakens she produced and narrated a documentary called The Eagle Huntress. This is a very feminist story about a 13-year-old Mongolian girl named Aisholpan who is trying to challenge a long-held tradition that’s only been passed down to boys over hundreds of generations. The girl learns how to hunt with an eagle with the help of her father and becomes the first eagle huntress;

• After her fame skyrocketed, she didn't move to Hollywood. She is still living in her house in London with her family;

• She has no social media, no Twitter, no Instagram, no Facebook. During the interview, she said, “I don't want to be a part of social media. It’s not good for your health.”;

• Oh, and she had a pitiful deaf and blind dog named Muffin.

Five hours prior to the exclusive shoot and interview, I reached the Shanghai Disneyland Star Wars Launch Base. I already felt myself walking through a long path, and I couldn’t help but think—not to prejudge her, but it must be a long, hard, and lonely path. Is she always hard on herself? Lifting the heaviest weights; having a dog that is difficult to care for; supporting her most vulnerable friends; walking the loneliest path; avoiding any temptations that humans like us fall prey to? Or should we describe her like a piece of iron?

Once we started the interview, my worries went away, because all these things I mentioned above didn't affect her cute, charming and playful personality. She is like the metal BB-8, doing big things but still being cute. She sat on the sofa, cupping her chin, with her big round eyes, rubbing the tip of her nose with her right thumb (she did this at least 5 times, oh poor nose) she looked to me like a husky dog, asking out loud: "Hey, how are you doing today?"

After that, she showed us some BiaoQingBao (表情包) expressions [@afterblossom​: this is the Chinese version of memes or emojis]. When we ask about the difference between JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson, she said: “JJ is like that YOYOYO kind of guy, and Rian is huhuhu. Both of them are Star Wars fans, are good directors and screenwriters, but their temperament is different. JJ is more like heng! Rian is like en~en~”

You don't get it? Let GRAZIA translate it for you: “JJ is like those ‘Hey hey hey, give me more enthusiasm!’ sort of directors. Rian is the type who would be smoking a cigar, leisurely doing his crossword puzzles. JJ is more capricious, Rian is more steady.” Please don't praise us for our cleverness, because if you saw her snapping her fingers, crossing her legs pretending to smoke, you would totally get what she meant.

Her musical background meant that she would sometimes sing during our photo shoot in her free time. She is bright like the sun, unlike Rey, who is an orphan and a scavenger with a depressing story. "Rey is very patient, I am very stubborn. She doesn’t judge people and is far better than me... I'm trying to channel all her good personality traits, but she's saving the galaxy and I’m just a human being.”

Daisy is very modest. After being announced as the lead of the new trilogy, the 22-year-old actress’s attitude during filming was quite uncommon: “It’s the first time. La la la, just enjoy it.“ After Star Wars Episode VIII, her audition for The Force Awakens was released online and it was the interrogation scene with Kylo and Rey. You can see tears falling down her face, and even though she is wearing a simple mint green sweater and messy short hair, as a viewer you feel her emotions keenly and you can’t help but worry about her. Could not imagine these were sensations outside of method acting [Improved translation by @reylocalligraphy]: "I don’t stay in character forever, I'm more of a rational actor." 

Daisy is very lucky, and her Rey is not a regular heroine or female lead. After watching The Last Jedi, everyone suddenly realized that, from the start, she was quite different from other heroines. A Mary Sue? Not at all. "Rey has more space to develop. For some female characters, the script does not allow enough time and space to do that. But in this movie, you can see how she grows and what her relationship is to the people around her. With the previous Star Wars movies, even though we had Leia and the great, awe-inspiring performance by Carrie Fisher, in the end they were still male-centric films and the fans were mostly guys. But things are different now."

Was there any risk in joining Star Wars? She shook her head and it was like some question marks appeared over her head: "What risk?!” What if the audience doesn’t like your performance? What if people only remember you as Rey? Once again, she had a puzzled look on her face like a husky dog: "Wow you really dare to ask... but no, when I started I asked myself, can I do it? But if I do it, I refuse to worry about how people think of me, otherwise there is no way to do anything. It’s just going to diminish your ability to perform." 

She’s not afraid to be typecast—after Star Wars Episode VII, she worked on four more films which is set for release this year and each role was different from Rey. "How do I say this. I know as an actor there is a limit to what I can do, what I can achieve... but I didn't deliberately choose these roles that are different from Rey. It's that these cool, interesting characters found me and I am very lucky, through Rey, that I found more opportunities. One of them is a rabbit, how could it be the same? Let’s go and see."

Just like her skyrocketing fame, Daisy went from an unemployed rookie to the most wanted actress in Hollywood. In fact, she has a hard time explaining what the difference has been. Rumors say she will collaborate on a new movie with JJ Abrams: "It's not settled yet. Actually I’m very nervous because a lot of things have change in the past three or four years. I’ve done a lot that I never have before so I’m a bit worried. Will I be as good as last time?"

Perhaps we can see how she's changed through her perspective on Hollywood. Back when she had just made her debut, she said: "I admire Carey Mulligan and Felicity Jones." Now she says: "I admire a lot of actors, but now I’m more concerned with who I want to work with, like Emma Thompson, Meryl Streep..." Everyone wants to work with the big names, but clearly she has much more opportunity to do that now. She collaborated with all the masters on Murder on the Orient Express and the forthcoming Ophelia and even had a supporting role. 

This change makes her nervous: "I feel I have more responsibility now. I have a deeper understanding of the unfair treatment that women experience in this industry and in movies. When I realized this, I was shocked and it's now something I worry about. Every time I see girls who like Rey, I think: 'Oh my god, they like my acting?’”

"I don't think any one quality makes for a strong woman. Every woman is strong, as long you stay true to yourself.” Don't dwell on the past, just run towards the future. This young female warrior represents the newest trend of Hollywood heroine. Your strength comes from yourself, just like the lightsaber tips she gave us: "Lift more weights! Because what's in your hand is heavy, you need to build muscle. Remember, you're stronger than you think. Every time I train I think: no no no I can't, but actually I can!"

DAISY'S PLANS FOR 2018: A pet dog, school, and beautiful clothes!

Grazia: Between BB-8, a porg, and R2-D2, which one would you choose as a pet?

Daisy: Of course it would be BB-8, he is caring, capable, quiet and not that annoying.

G: Do you think BB-8 and your dog Muffin could become best friends?

D: If Muffin was still here I'm sure she would, but she passed away a couple of months ago (G: Oh I am so sorry!) No don't be! She’s already lived for 18 years, long enough for a dog, I think she had a very good life. When she was still around, we had a small BB-8 toy, and she wore this ‘What the hell is that’ expression on her face. Muffin's been with me since I was very young and nearing the end of her life, she could no longer see or hear anything, so she became very lazy and didn’t want to go anywhere. But she's adorable indeed.

G: Do you prefer dogs?

D: Absolutely. I'm allergy to cats, and some have told me that cats are related to some witchcraft and I think... umm, dogs are great. But I still like cats.

G: Do you think about owning a dog again?

D: Yes I do! But since 2017 I’m rarely at home, so I can't take care of it. But I still plan to have a dog in the future.

G: Your middle name is Jazz, any story behind it?

D: Nothing special, my dad likes it, just like my second sister Kika, and my eldest sister’s middle name is Sophia. It’s just a cool name.

G: Why did you become vegan?

D: I saw some documentary and it was very scary, especially about the dairy industry. So I made a decision and the next day I switched to a strict vegan diet.

G: Does being vegan affect your work-outs?

D: No. When I started and I was very busy and tired, I couldn’t tell if my body was actually tired or if it was because of my vegan diet. The key thing is that you have to make sure you’re getting enough nutrients. Before, when I was working on a film, their food was so good. Now that it’s done, I have nothing to eat at home and I have to learn how to cook.

G: You studied psychology before. Why is that? Is it to help with your acting performance?

D: No no, it has nothing to do with acting. I'm very interested in psychology because I’m interested in the motives behind human behaviour, the human brain, emotions, impulses, what is behind these things? It's interesting, but in the end I studied social research. (G: How is it?) It's boring! It was an introductory course. There were two options for me to choose from, between humanities and social research. I had studied humanities before so I was thinking: wow, this time I’ll pick something different! And I chose social research... in the end... but anyway I finished it and passed the exam. 

G: Why don't you continue? Too busy?

D: Yes, but next year I want to do another program. It’s a part-time course and I have 16 years to get all my credits. 6 courses need to be complete and each take 8 months. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time, so I plan to finish it.

G: Did you like today’s photo shoot? Does fashion interest you?

D: I liked it. Yesterday when I went back home I was thinking, I need to upgrade my wardrobe. Otherwise, I wear beautiful clothes during the day and make a big movie, then go home at night just to wear casual stuff... It’s time to dress better.

G: What’s the last piece of clothing you purchased?

D: A Stella McCartney sweater. It’s the first piece I brought from them. Very eco-friendly, comfortable and fashionable.

G: This is your second visit to China. Would you like to try something new while you’re here?

D: I still plan to go to TongLeFang (同乐坊) [@afterblossom: a creative market in Shanghai with lots of galleries], there is a Chinese store called "Spin旋", it's awesome, I've recommended it to many people. I still want to go to the Great Wall, but my family won't allow me. They want me to take them together.

[ivis-00]

Get to Know Me

So…if anyone ever decides my blog is worth following…here’s a little get to know me to give some people an idea of who I am. 

1. Name: Ivis is my middle name and my preferred name online. Whether I’ll disclose my real name later on or not is yet to be decided, but for now, it’s just Ivis. 

2. Why my username? Well, Ivis was already taken, so I had to come up with something that included it while also describing me. And thus my username was born. 

3. D.O.B., Age, Zodiac: Born Feb. 21, I’m 17, and a Pisces. 

4. Favorite colour(s): I don’t have one specific color. I like black, white, grey, and green. 

5. Background: My family is Cuban and I have some Afro-Caribbean on my mom’s side. 

6. What do I look like? Essentially, I look just like my profile photo except that my eyes are green, my hair is not as bright, and I don’t have bangs. Much like my name, whether or not I upload a picture later is yet to be decided. I’m kind of average when it comes to height - around 5ft 6in. I’m a little overweight, but I’m working towards getting to a healthier weight. 

7. Cats or dogs? Both. Although I’m allergic to both. I have two small dogs and I really want a cat, but my mom thinks they’re the devil. 😥 

8. Tea or Coffee? Again, both. I usually drink tea when I want to just relax and unwind. I don’t drink much coffee, but when I do it’s just to give me a little boost. 

9. Favorite Author: Edgar Allan Poe. The man was a genius. 

 10. Favorite Book: At the moment, I’m loving Animal Liberation: A Definitive Classic of the Animal Movement. Really opens your eyes to the issues surrounding animal exploitation for human ends. I strongly recommend it. 

11. Favorite TV Show: Hands down, Young Justice. I don’t know why, but that show has a special place in my heart and I cannot wait for season three to finally come out after four years of waiting. 

12. Favorite YouTubers: Myah Alanna, Dan, maybe Phil (I’m just now entering the Phandom (?) so please be gentle with me), JREKML, and Kalyn Nicholson 

13. Any Sports? Lmaooo no 

14. Clubs: I’m the vice-president of my school’s Japanese Culture Club (aka JCC), and I’m proud of it. We’re different from an anime club; our focus is Japanese Culture as a whole, hence the club name. I’m also the historian for the Piano Club (aka Club 88 - you’ll get it if you know about piano). I was also in my school’s choir (aka Glee club). I couldn’t be apart of it this year because of academic reasons, but I signed up for the next school year. 

15. Favorite subjects? Least Favorite? I love English and history. HATE MATH. Enough said. 

16. Single or Taken: Single with an inability to mingle. The only thing I have to break the ice are horrible sex jokes. 

17. Siblings? I have an older half brother on my father’s side. He’s in his late twenties with a fiancé, a daughter, and a son. I have younger brother as well. Lucky me being the only girl. Whoo. 

18. Favorite movie: Brave because Disney acknowledged that I’m a princess. Jk, but really I don’t know. I’m really picky when it comes to movies, so trying to decide amongst the ones I do like is like asking a parent to pick their favorite kid. Possible, but very difficult. 

19. Favorite fictional character: See #18 

20. Favorite band: I didn’t always have a favorite band, but as of 2015 it has been Panic! at the Disco. 

 21. First concert: One Direction. Went with my cousin and my best friend. We sat in the nosebleed section. I had a great time, but now that look back on it, I wish I hadn’t had my first ever concert experience with a One Direction concert. Nothing against them, it’s just not who I am anymore. Not my style, I guess you could say. 

22. Current Obsession: BTS (or just K-Pop in general, really). Ever since my friend got me into K-Pop, I have fallen down a dark hole that I don’t want to get out of. 

23. First best friend: I’ll be real and just say that I don’t think I had a real best friend until middle school. Her name is Melanie, and in all honesty she is one of the most precious people in my life. I don’t know what I’m going to do once high school is over and we have to go to college because I wouldn’t want to lose contact with her or not see her at all. 

24. How would you describe your fashion sense? Vintage grandma edgy classy chic (I need help???) 25. 

Pet peeves: Dishonesty, narcissists, hypocrisy, EATING WITH YOUR DAMN MOUTH OPEN OR TALKING TO ME WITH YOUR MOUTH FULL LIKE PLEASE CHEW AND SWALLOW TYVM, disregarding my privacy (let me end this list here) 

26. Languages you speak: English, Spanish, Sarcasm, Gibberish/Fangirlish 

27. Been out of the country? I’ve been to Dominican Republic three times and went to Italy in 2015. Next place I want to go to is Japan, and later South Korea. ☺️Travel is something I plan on doing a lot in my life. 

28. How would you describe yourself? I like to consider myself an honest person. I try to treat others the same way I want to be treated. Respect is a two way street. I’m a clown, and no matter how insensitive my jokes may seem, at the end of the day, they’re just jokes. I don’t lose sleep over whether a person gets offended by something I said or if they don’t like me. I only care about what the important people in my life think about me, and strangers are just that: strangers. I’m more outgoing online with strangers, but my kindness should never be mistaken with complacency or weakness. As nice as I am, I have a limit just like any other person, and once that limit is reached, I can be cold and detached. I hope to never have to reach my limit. Other than that, I’m just your average weirdo on the internet. 

29. Fears: Dragonflies and dark hallways. Ironically enough, my patronus is a dragonfly. I am my own fear. Real deep. 

30. Reason why I joined Tumblr: This isn’t my first time on here. I had an account prior to this one that I wasn’t really happy with and I deleted it. I made this one in hopes that I’ll finally start being a bit more active. I like the variety that Tumblr offers in terms of individual interests and the kind of people you can find. There’s something for everyone. I joined Tumblr to find people with similar interests to my own and make new friends. 

 31. Favorite song: At the moment, it’s My Friends by Oh Wonder 

32. Favorite holiday: It’s a tie between Halloween and Christmas. (Tim Burton: Why not have both?) 

33. Future goals: I want to pursue a career as a foreign service officer (that’s not the FBI; it’s essentially a diplomat). I believe that peace and prosperity for all countries is possible through proper negotiation and discussion between governments. If people placed more focus on talking through problems, compromising, trying to understand one another instead of just heading straight to military action, we could avoid war in most cases. 

That’s about as much as I’m willing to write right now in terms of questions. I know it’s all over the place, but I just don’t care right now. If there’s anyone that’s reading this and has any additional questions, feel free to ask. I’ll answer to the best of my ability and as soon as I can. However, if I don’t respond in a couple of days or maybe even weeks, it’s not because I’m avoiding the question or the person who asked it. I’m currently in “testing mode” and my phone has been confiscated for trivial reasons by my strict mother. Alright, that’s enough rambling. Thanks for taking the time to read this if you did. Bye bye.

[rhuemis]

13

13. Introduce your current party.

hoo boy so we got: 

-Scales

-Rhys

-Jeckyl

-Isiah

imma put the lengthy descriptions under a read more aha

Scales ((I dont think Scales even has a surname lmfao)):

-Warlock but insists that hes the party medic

-A white dragonborn that was born without scales due to a birth defect who has more than a few screws lose, calls himself a ‘doctor’ and we cant quite tell whether thats the truth or not

-Grew up in a brothel and now travels with the party to gain ‘medical knowledge’ whatever that means

-Has dissected the corpse of a literal god, harvests organs from whatever we kill and puts them all into bottles and then offers to transplant them into you if you get even remotely injured 

-Is already mildly possessed but then ate some of the tentacles from a weird squid god for fun and then got DOUBLE possessed and tentacles shot out of his mouth and we had to drag him to a temple 

-Something burst out of his chest one morning and now its his familiar. We were all stood at the door to his room like ‘This is Scales, this could just be part of his morning routine for all we know.’

- Speaks with a heavy German accent which makes anything Scales does like 4000 times better

-Isiah has literally promised his corpse to Scales

- Despite his quirks is protective of his party and deserves a pat on the snoot every so often

 Rhys Lignius

- Half-elf sorcerer that currently has more levels in warlock than sorcerer

- hes the mom friend of the group and is a pretty serious guy, hes the one who gets shit done but not before he monologues so hard that the rest of us party members say ‘oh fuck no im not listening to Rhys’ spiel again’

-Came from a very important family and is very proud of his Latian heritage, doesnt let you forget that hes a big fuckin deal lmao hes on a mission to do something in relation to his father but hes not quite spilled on exactly what yet, hes just trying to get to some ancient ruins

- Is so much of an actual loser that whenever he casts Prestidigitation he clicks his fingers and the whole party has started doing it back at him jokingly

-Despite being a square we all love him and hes probably the most reliable in the group. Lawful Good™.

-Flavours my bacon.

-Is the metaphorical designated driver of the party, cleans up after us shit monkeys.

-Is physically around 22 years old but might as well be 55 years old.

Jeckyl Corvus:

- Newest party member, a half-elf rogue that keeps getting cockblocked from actually stealing anything

-Wrote a really intense anonymous love letter to my character and slid it under his room door at a tavern a few years before the campaign started after watching him perform and recognises Isiah but Isiah doesnt realise it was him who wrote the letter yet

-Spent some time in gay baby jail for being part of a group of thieves that got bamboozled by a rich and powerful family and was abandoned by the people he thought of as family.

-Wanted to be a tailor in the years before his taste for adventuring kicked him in the nards. He ended leaving his family to go and explore but this decision ultimately ended up with his family being stripped of everything they had so now hes plagued by The Guilt™. Wants to eventually save/steal enough money to get his family back on it’s feet again.

-Rugged and handsome but the most important thing you need to know about Jeckyl is that he keeps a pet mouse in his pocket named Rupert and that one day Jeckyl wants to fucking transmute him into an owl or some shit because he just cannot be satisfied huh. ‘Oh Rupert was my only friend whilst I was living on the streets blah blah blah’ yeah sure tell that to his face whilst you go fuckin Fullmetal Alchemist on his ass. Love Rupert for the contents of his character, not his form smh.

-Acts suave and cool but loses all of that composure when it comes to Isiah. Would probably commit sepukku if Isiah died. 

-Has a lot of knives, which Scales finds ‘respectable’. 

-First combat fuckin crits the fish plant man that had Isiah grappled 15ft underwater out of sheer gay panic. RIP Shape of Water fish man, you’ll be sorely missed.

Isiah Vakalyn:

-My character so you know hes....really something. Half-elf bard.

-Comes from a weirdly strict family who were actually fucking cultists and were ((and probably still are)) planning on sacrificing him to a demon or some shit but Isiah didnt even notice this shit and still has no idea. He thought everybody was taught Infernal and that families were just like that. His family told him to become a bard and he obeyed. They told him study and he obeyed. They limited his interaction to the outside world and he only really started thinking for himself after he made his first proper friend who then also later fucked him over real bad.

-Ran away from home after being cucked by his “only friend” into maybe murdering her dad we dunno if he died or not but I sure did stab him a lot. She lied and told him she was being abused by her dad and Isiah saw red and agreed to her murder plot only to be abandoned midway through. He also pickpocketed for her for like a year beforehand bc she said she was poor. She was very not poor. Bring on the subsequent trust issues.

-Is a bard but hates getting attention so he wears a black rabbit mask when he performs in front anything that isnt a small crowd. He found that mask in his house so you know thats gonna be some spooky cult shit.

- Is only 5′4 and is very conscious of it. Luckily the party is very understanding and calls him ‘the halfling’ or ‘the midget’ lovingly to watch him implode.

-Once accidentally stole a dwarven baby. Named it Isiah jr.

-Has a pet eel named Illius who is the most fuckin talented eel you’ll ever find. He glows! He talks! He beats your ass at card games! Translates languages! We found him behind a door that was sealed by magic and was only opened after Isiah played the music notes on the map we found. Those notes were an exert of a song by the most famous of all bards, Rickus Astelyus. Lo and behold behind the door was a huge tanks with a heckin good boy inside and Isiah adopted him IMMEDIATELY. Loves bacon bits and scritches.

-Received an anonymous love letter a few years back that gives him major anxiety and literally avoids the city he got it from. RIP Jeckyl youre gonna have to talk to him about that, Isiah is oblivious and has no idea lmao.

- Loves to eat bacon and recently bought out the bacon from the local tavern. Feeds some to Illius because its what he deserves. He’s also currently carrying a fuckton of bread, cheese, jam, and flour. Food is practically his way of diplomacy as he gives some to whoever he meets. It’s almost like his way of nervous self-defence. When tentacles shot out of Scale’s mouth Isiah just started shovelling bread into the tentacles and Scales woke up feeling incredibly full lmao.

-Has also in his inventory: a gay erotica book, a romance novel in a language he cant read, a rainbow slinkie, a magic mood ring that gives him poison resistance, 6 wolf teeth, a wolf leg bone, some gems, 4 days worth of rations on top of all the food he already has, a violin, a flute, and a fancy lute that he found in Illius’ chamber.

-Hes just nervous but loud mouthed and contradicts himself a lot. Anxious and eccentric. Says that hes just a bard and wasnt meant for any kind of greater scheme but the universe has other plans.

-Was once dabbed at by the god of entertainment, Apollon. ((Apollon is the only god Isiah really cares about lmao)).

and despite him not being in the party anymore im gonna give honorary mention to my favourite skyrim-glitch-of-a-barbarian, Florys:

-Was the character of a guy who played with us for one session. At the beginning of the next session he was on webcam with us all and we were about to start playing when suddenly his camera cut out and he went offline and weve literally not seen from him since. He’s not been online in over a month now. Some common theories in our group is that hes off fighting ISIS or got arrested for weed right there and then.

-Due to this weird player disappearance our DM, Benjamin, had to take control of Florys whilst we looked for a new party member. In the session that the player disappeared from we didnt know if he was gonna come back or not so Benjamin had Florys suddenly contract a horrific stomach bug and was just in the tavern toilet presumably making a fuckin hole in the floor with the noise it apparently made lmfao Isiah actually had to try and play music over the top of Florys’ shitfest at one point and only just managed to drown the sound out. But as time went by days were eventually passing in the campaign and the player still hadnt come back so poor Florys was not having a great time in the bathroom for several DAYS.

-Eventually the DM realised that this player was not gonna come back and that the party was short on a tank so he started piloting Florys for a while to accompany us on our quest ((and miraculously recovering from his terrifying stomach illness)) but hed forgotten how the player said Florys was so just was making shit up on the fly. I specifically remember the original player of Florys saying ‘Oh Florys isn’t like those stereotypical dumb barbarians’ which is why I lost my shit when the Florys being piloted by the DM turned around and said ‘What the fuck is a triangle?’ ... Florys is practically brain-damaged at this point, I think it might be the DMs retribution for the player disappearing lmao

-Threw all of his hand axes into a river during one fight and then into a cieling the next, which provoked Isiah to jokingly call out: ‘Oh, Florys! You’re so handsome and cool!’ which Florys with his last 2 braincells took seriously. The handsome and cool line became an on-running meme and gets used whenever any of us fucks up lmao

-For some reason grew rlly attached to a piano he found in Illius’ chamber and carried it around with him out of two parts stubborness two parts piano LUST.

-We ended up using him as a mule to carry all of our heavy shit bc he’d just do it and he literally wouldn’t think anything of it.

-We found a giant birds nest and Florys for some reason picked it up and carried it away and got fucking kidnapped by a giant bird so now hes literally just in fucking sky somewhere sat in a birds nest and being flown around which is wild bc we expected the DM to just kill Florys but instead hes just in the fucking sky where he belongs. Like legit hes just sat in there. Hes just in the sky. Godspeed.

HEAVES I could write so much more but this is already incredibly lengthy so here take it

also @redthebattler idk if any of this would be interesting to you lmao

[alltheworldsrpg-blog]

WELCOME TO ROSWELL, AXON!!

ADMIN CAMERON: The balance between the thirst for freedom and fear of breaking the rules is one of the more difficult aspects of the skeleton, but I believe Axon really hits that middle-ground well. There’s this repetition in the writing as well which really gets across that vibe as well, it feels almost like an internal battle inside of them. 

You’ve been accepted as THE CIRCUIT with the faceclaim of CHA HAKYEON. Please follow all rules and regulations as laid out by the Roswell Town Council, especially concerning any non pre-approved biologic. All UFO’s outside of city limits must be stickered or will be towed. Enjoy your stay in the first city of extraterrestrials.

OUT OF CHARACTER.

NAME/ALIAS + PRONOUNS:

Tony + He/him

AGE:

17!

TIMEZONE + ACTIVITY:

EST + I would say about a 5 or 6 out of 10. I have a job and currently am doing summer school work, but I should be able to keep a fairly stable activity level. Even when school starts again, I think it would be safe to put me at a 5.

TRIGGERS:

Removed for privacy.

ANYTHING ELSE?:

I’ve been role playing on Tumblr since, like… god. 2012? I’m in a few roleplays, but I miss being in a literate roleplay. I feel like my writing has gotten a bit weak and I want to take up something that could possibly help that.

IN CHARACTER.

SKELETON TITLE:

The Circuit

FULL NAME:

AX-00N:3 (Used name: Axon)

Utilizing the parts that make up the transition of messages in a human neuron as names, Axon makes the third attempt at crafting the android they are. Following project names DN-DRT:1 and SYN-PS:2.

GENDER + PRONOUNS:

Agender, they/them

Axon has no concept of gender, in their mind, they see themself as an “it”. An object, rather than an actual person.

SEXUAL + ROMANTIC ORIENTATION:

?? + ??

In addition to not having an idea to a gender, Axon doesn’t quite understand what it means to be in love or to lust after someone. They’ve never explored this concept of their personality, so giving them a concise label would not make any sense.

DATE OF BIRTH + AGE:

After years of developing and error, Axon was turned on for the first time on July 2nd, 2063, making them just shy of turning four years old. Their appearance, however, looks like a young man about the age of twenty-seven.

OCCUPATION:

Owned by the government and shown off as an example of sorts, Axon has no current “profession”. However, they can be found doing menial tasks throughout the offical building they are kept in.

FACECLAIM:

Cha Hakyeon

BIOGRAPHY:

You were created- you were born from the delicate hands of engineers slaving over android after android. There were so many failures in the past, so many chances to correct what had been wrong in the first place. Someone could say that hope was almost lost with how many times all your android brethren were dismantled and began anew. But then you happened. After all the hard work and careful planning. This is why you’re perfect- you see? You’re the pinnacle of what androids should be. You’re sheltered because you’re valuable, everything keeping you safe is beautiful because you’re just as beautiful. Don’t question it, the program reads, bold words engraved into everything you know. This is all you need to know, this is all you should know. You don’t have to know anything else because you’re not going to be a failure.

You’re perfect. You’re perfect. You’re… supposed to be perfect.

Then how come, for split milliseconds before you force your usual programing in your eyes again, you’re always unsure?

Everything you could ever need to be perfect is in your programing. You know languages, you know the people native to that language’s slang dating back several years. You know how to take apart machinery and understand how to piece it back together. You can paint beautiful, elegant landscapes that looked almost photocopied. Your voice, when you’re asked to sing, is angelic. You understand the combinations of chemicals and the interlocking of cells during reactions.

(But you also know what happens to androids when they step out of line. You aren’t supposed to know. You know what happens when the engineers find actions unsatisfactory. You aren’t supposed to know.)

All of this to show have marvelous this line of androids are. All of this yet you never get to use it.

Your home (your cage) is the place you spend most of your time. Despite how big it is, you know the exact layout of it because you’ve walked all the halls hundreds of times. You don’t get to walk outdoors and understand the limits of all your sensory receptors. You can see it all happen, you can see other androids come and go, but you cannot. (Because you’re perfect.) When you do, you’re kept with security. Hidden away in back of windowless cars with your power turned off. Kept safe until you’re in another closed room. You don’t understand how all of the advanced technology technology that makes up your body is supposed to feel. Conversations with you that deviate from normalcy are choppy, short and awkward. People only come to gawk and stare at what a marvel of human technology you are, they don’t really care for conversation. Media only goes so far to show you how humans act and respond to stimuli. You find it hard to empathize with people who express deep emotion right in front of your eyes. (You know what they feel. You register it. It’s because no one allows you to feel that you cannot understand.)

All you ever need to do is to please those engineers. The people who own you. Sometimes they ask you to paint for them, to sing or dance. Recite pages of law documents in full, unedited length. Sometimes all you have to do is clean the building. Whatever it is they want from you, you’ll do it. You don’t really have much of a choice, anyways. (You do, you always have a choice. You just know the consequences of making your own choices.)

Don’t question it, the program reads. (You wish you knew what it was.) If you ever do, don’t acknowledge it, ever. (Are you really so important that you must be kept in a box?) Forget you did. (How come you were made to look like a human, yet your interactions with them are so limited?) Tell no one. (Why can’t you be like all the other androids? Why are you so bland and boring? You have no history. You just exist.)  The program screams to alert the engineers. (You wish you could escape, sometimes.)

You’re perfect and you can’t let anyone, not a soul, not a circuit, know that you wish someone else stole the burden. So you’re going to lock away all these thoughts behead miles of encryption. When they surface again, repeat the process. Lengthen the password. Scramble the numbers, letters, Make the file corrupt. Smile and nod at you creators and people watching in awe when context requests for you to.

You’ve gotten very good at pretending like you don’t wish life meant more than being what you’re told to be.

MUSING + HEAD-CANONS.

HEAD-CANONS:

1. Axon is very fond of classic human entertainment. They like watching television shows and movies, reading only news articles and studying the history of Earth. Among this crave to understand more and more comes one of Axon’s most beloved hobbies. Listening to music. Sound is something that Axon enjoys. They tend to sit very still whilst engineers run amok, trying to fix issues. They take in all the noises and words spoken. Because of this affinity, they adore music. They have collected a hard drive’s worth of songs from any genres they can find. Pop, metal, folk, electronic and idol songs. When they get down time, they can be found enjoying these songs.

2. It say Axon is stifled would be an understatement. But all the coddling and supervision has left them with a constant fear that they are being watched. Even when left alone, completely alone. Axon will police themself and avoid all contact with windows or doors, for fear that someone ison the other side just waiting for them to mess up.

3. Something that Axon wishes they could have, because their human interaction is so limited, is a pet. They appear to be rather fond of rodents. Rats, specifically. They are frequently found watching animal documentaries about rats and mice with a look of wonder on their face.

4. In addition to the previously stated fear, Axon is also terrified of failure and disappointment. After constantly being told they are a perfect android for four whole years, the thought of anyone finding out they have secret, unperfect desires and thoughts petrifies them. They will do anything to keep their dirty secret a secret from everyone.

PLOTS + CONNECTIONS:

I’d like to see Axon finally get their wish, be the method leading up to it good or bad, and be able to leave the watchful eye of people who are supposed to make sure they stay where they’re supposed it. The reason why they come off as so bland and uninteresting is because they don’t really know who they are as a person. Their personality, for the most part, is blank.

I want them to interact with other androids and humans to build this sort of sheltered jealousy they harbor toward them. There’s a lot that could happen with this, aside from jealously. They could form friendships, enemies, find people they admire, ect. But because they’re kept to a very strict schedule by the officials who own them, very rarely will they leave the building. These people would all have to be coming in to visit.

WRITING SAMPLE: 

Removed for privacy.

ETC:

It may not be totally fleshed out during the time of me submitting this, but Axon will have an inspiration blog: http://ax00n3.tumblr.com