#also I do have a character sheet I downloaded ages ago that I ALWAYS use to create my original characters and stories

[polarisbibliotheque]

Hii!! so i just want to say first that i love love the way you write dmc fanfics. The way you just understand them, makes all their action seem like something they'd do. And well, if it doesn't bother you, may I ask a few advices on how to write Vergil, young and current? I'm trying to write a story and I think your input would be very helpful since you're probably the most accurate Vergil writer there is. Thank you andI just want to say that your fics helped me out a lot mentally. Thank you for bringing the characters to life 🫶

You just left me floored, loved to death, giggling like a 7 year old in public, and I thank you wholeheartedly for that 🖤🖤

First of all, thank you SO much for your words - and wow, I am absurdly flattered that you think so highly of me as a writer, really! I mean, I'm just writing my crazy shenanigans here, I don't expect much hahahaha words like yours make my day and, honestly, you made my whole week!

I am SO happy what I write helped you mentally. I do write to help myself in that regard too, and seeing I was able to have an impact on someone else, it makes everything worth it. That's what Dante would have wanted :')

Asking me for advice doesn't bother me AT ALL! Feel free to ask anytime you want it - by all means I see myself as someone so good as to give advice, but I've gained some experience and it's always good to share! Maybe I'll say something that makes sense to you!

So, without further ado, a few advices on writing Vergil - young and current - down the cut 'cause I haven't written it yet, but knowing myself, I know it's gonna be big :)

(spoiler: it's huge *puts on fool hat and jingles away*)

I sprinkled some things here and there about Dante and Vergil on this blog, but I think it'll be nice putting it all together in one place!

I recently got an ask about which MBTI personality I think it's Dante and Vergil, and there's a LOT on BOTH of their characters in there. You can find it here.

(I won't repeat the things I wrote there, 'cause oh boy this one's got bigger than I expected)

But oh, Verge, this little emotionally constipated goth man *sighs* he's Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. I'm not even joking.

But all of that aside, I do keep a few things in mind when writing him. I've said before I have many similar personality traits with him and I think it makes it easier for me to write this little bitch (affectionate).

Vergil is pretty much shaped by his trauma. You could argue Dante is as well, but differently from his twin brother, Vergil never really found acceptance. Yes, the twins lived through the same thing but the fact that Eva managed to save Dante and not Vergil is crucial to both characters.

Dante has survivor's guilt and depression from all that happened. He can't keep a deep connection to save his life, 'cause he keeps everyone at bay - he thinks his demonic blood is a curse and he is the reason everyone perishes. So it's best if people keep away from him.

But even with that, Dante loves being around people. It's what makes him so fond of his human part and, in my opinion, it's what made Dante healthier than Vergil. He seeks connection and humanity, he wants to use his strength to protect the weak - like Eva once used hers and sacrificed herself to protect and save him. That is crucial to Dante's character.

Vergil, in the other hand, believed for a LONG time he was left for dead. That his mother chose to save his brother because she loved Dante more and Vergil was left to die. He was left all alone in the cold, in a cemetery filled with demons who slaughtered him in quite a gruesome manner. If he hadn't find the rage, strength and power inside of himself that day, he wouldn't have survived.

Vergil learned he is on his own, his own family didn't love him (even if he was wrong, that's the impression he had for a LONG time) and the only one he could count on was himself. That made him withdraw completely: be wary of people and their intentions, shut himself to the world, allow only strength and power to come through his personality and keep his vulnerabilities and feelings shut down in the darkest and most protected place of himself because if he didn't, that could be his death.

Vergil didn't learn to protect the weak, because he wasn't protected when he was weak. He learned to survive, because when he needed the most, no one was there and his own will was the only thing that could save him. If he had given up, he would've died - no one would come, no knight in shiny armor, no powerful protecting demon, no sacrificing loving human mother.

✨That's why he's an asshole✨

Hahahaha jokes aside, that's why he's so laser focused on power, I think. When he was younger (around DMC 3), he finds Dante again and there's a hatred for his brother because he believed he was left to die and wasn't loved as much as Dante (as always, our red devil being a clueless himbo who just got lucky to be around Eva, poor guy). He wants to prove he is better than Dante, that he was worth something, that he too was worth saving - even more than his brother.

To some extent, up until that moment in DMC 3, Vergil is better than Dante (regarding power). He's got a lot of knowledge and control over his demonic heritage, things Dante didn't even know he could do. But Vergil is so blinded by his hurt and in so much pain he can only deem himself worthy if he beats Dante down, if he wins, if he gets all the power in the world.

I don't think he ever wanted to kill Dante - he just wanted to win. Like a kid, going "see, mom, dad, I win, I'm worth as much as Dante!!" - quite tragic, really.

With his power thing, it's not a desire for power for it's own sake, but as an armor. Given everything that happened to him, that Vergil has this thing of "only I can protect myself and I can count only on myself to save my life", it's very understandable that his logic takes him to the path of "if I am the most powerful being in this world, I will never bleed and I will never hurt again".

So, even if he says on the outside he is power hungry because he wants to honor his demonic heritage and humans are weak, on the inside it's actually that he's trying to carve his heart out from himself so he won't feel nothing and stop hurting - as well as gain all the power he can so NO ONE can make him feel scared, vulnerable, weak and powerless like he did that night when no one appeared to help him.

Vergil hides his pain under a mask of cruelty and hubris - since being honest means being vulnerable to him and that is something he's got a deep aversion to.

Current Verge has dragged himself out of Hell in a crumbling body. If Dante hadn't "killed" him as Nelo Angelo, he probably would've never been free of his shackles with Mundus, but once again he was left for dead (even if not intentionally, I know Dante would have gone through all the layers of Hell to bring his brother back, but VERGIL doesn't know that). Once again, Vergil had to muster all his will, his power, his demonic heritage to drag himself out of that godforsaken place.

He didn't know Nero was his son, he just took Yamato back 'cause he didn't really had time to explain everything that was going on. Vergil was on the brink of death, it's not like he could think logically about everything he was doing and weight pros and cons. He needed to survive. That's what he does.

It's only when he separated his human and demon parts that he came to realize a bunch of things - because Vergil never really had time to do anything else other than surviving; and thinking too much, going over your feelings and past trauma, doesn't do anything good when you're stuck in survival mode (been there, done that).

After he gets both of his parts together and goes back to being Vergil, he knows a lot more than he did before, because V allowed his heart to feel and to process all that pain he didn't allow himself to process before - because if he did, he would probably break, like V himself was falling to pieces.

He knows his mother loved him. He knows it wasn't Dante's fault. He knows it was all a tragedy and no one is to blame - he knows he wasn't left there to die: Eva died trying to get to him. It honestly changes everything he's been thinking for the past 40 (if I'm not wrong...?) years.

That's why he wonders, if he was in Dante's place all those years ago, would that change something? And honestly, it probably would. Because everything Vergil did was from a wound he couldn't bring himself to heal from that fateful night.

Therefore, current Vergil is a lot more accepting to his feelings - but internally only, he won't let it show. He also understands his thing of wanting to surpass Dante wasn't his brother's fault and it's something he has to work on.

Not saying he won't be a little bitch sparring with Dante all the time and keeping score over stupid stuff, because that's EXACTLY how these two function - but now Vergil is fueled by healthy sibling rivalry and fun instead of inferiority complex and pain/hatred.

Vergil's path is a lot similar to Anakin from Star Wars: fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate and hate leads to the Dark Side of the Force. If the Jedi Council had understood Anakin's upbringing as a slave, his deep love for his mother - and for all the beings on the Universe, I argue, because he did want to become a Jedi to free all slaves - his overflowing empathy, his deep feelings, his love for Padmé, etc., Anakin wouldn't find himself vulnerable to the grooming of an older man who saw all this and took the opportunity to twist it all to make him feel pain, fear, anger and hate.

If Qui-Gon Jin had trained Anakin he would've never turned to the Dark Side, I will DIE on this hill and fight EVERYONE, even if I love Obi-Wan

Star Wars ramblings aside, that's Vergil in a nutshell. And I think with him older, currently, he can finally see all of that, because he had a chance to be just demonic, as Urizen, and just human, as V - noticing how everything that happened to him shaped him to feel pain, fear, anger and hate, doing desperate things to protect himself and feel safe.

I argue Vergil hasn't felt safe for a single day in his whole lifetime, and that matters. Because in the end, that's how I write him: a wounded stray dog who knows only pain and hatred from the outside world.

If you try to approach him, he'll first bare his teeth, bark and try to bite you - not because he's mean, but because he's stuck in survival mode and that's his first response to ANYTHING. Just like a wounded stray, you have to approach carefully, offer kindness and show him you're not there to hurt him.

And just like a stray dog, he'll eventually melt and accept that kindness - he just has NO IDEA how that feels like.

✨What about Nero's mother, I hear you ask?✨

Hahahaha so that one I have some doubts myself. I often imagine two scenarios and I still haven't chose one of them to satisfy my heart HAHAHAHA

That might be me projecting, of course, but because of ALL THAT, I don't see Vergil as being open to relationships and one night stands - he takes things too seriously, and that's part of his character.

He either decided to try it out empirically with a one night stand with someone who was kind to him and he wanted to understand that kind of experience to understand himself better and out of curiosity (look, I know this sounds crazy, but that's exactly what I did on my first kiss with a super random guy at a party and I was like "oh, well, that's not for me, I'm gonna stick to kissing people I love, this sucks" and it took a weight off my shoulders)

oooooor he was treated with kindness for the first time in his life and that broke him for a while, he melted under a soft touch and gentle words and couldn't resist trying out new experiences he only had by proxy from his books - and when he woke up next morning, he was reminded how broken he is, how powerless, how not worthy of love not even from his own mother, and left because that would lead to nowhere. Because of him. Because he wasn't worth it - she probably fell for his looks, his heritage, his outside, but when she knew his inside she would run in horror.

Again, Vergil has a lot of issues, the poor man.

When I'm writing Nemesis, we have young Vergil - laser focused on power, proud as fuck, stepping over anything and everything to get what he wants, because life favors the ones who survive. The weak ones should die, that's the law of the jungle and he won't waste his time saving those who can't do it for themselves like he did for himself. When he sees the reader struggling to keep fighting him to protect others, he sees not only Eva, but himself in a will of a survivor who will go through excruciating pain to save themselves. He values that and admires that - admiring the reader as an enemy and having utmost respect.

When he's older, he's trying. And he has a LOT to learn - but his partner has to understand he's the stray dog who knows nothing but harshness. Vergil is quiet, methodical and disciplined, knowing how to live only with himself as company. But now he has a family: he has his brother back, he has a son, he has the whole crew to live alongside him. That's new, harrowing and comforting at the same time.

So, when in doubt, think about how a wounded animal would react - and how you would have to act to be able to approach and help.

Vergil, differently from Dante, is forever stuck in survival mode and has forsaken his humanity so he could keep going. As a younger man, he's ruthless and won't spare efforts to get what he wants because he is desperately trying to not feel vulnerable and worthless as he usually feels. As an older man, he's trying - in his own stupid Mr. Darcy way - to recover, to understand himself better and finally heal that horrible wound in his heart.

But of course. He is still proud, observing, regal and prone to overkill here and there and showing off his skills. These are all inherent to his personality.

(Also. Vergil enjoys some dumb fun sometimes - he only lets it show a tiny little bit when competing with Dante over ANYTHING. If Dante says he can eat a cheeseburger in three bites, Vergil will go above and beyond to eat it in two. Everyone thinks he's just being stupidly competitive with Dante and wants to win against his brother no matter what, but that's just his way of being fun)

Phew! That's quite a lot on the blue devil! Hahaha it isn't everything I keep in mind - of course there are the other things like him being reserved, more on the quiet side, intellectual, methodical, a lover of beauty (like literature, philosophy, poems, etc.), stupidly independent... But I think those traits are more "worldwide" known.

If you take all his trauma and how it affected him into consideration, I think, his personality follows easily. You understand a lot better how he would react in certain situations - in the end, that's what being a writer is all about: creating characters and watching how all of them react to situations given their backgrounds and baggage!

I'm so sorry it's such a HUGE answer, but I do hope it helps. There's a lot to unpack and I didn't want to just "oi, he's a traumatized asshole, that's it" - because you miss the nuances if you just work with that perspective.

Thanks a lot for asking, though, I had fun writing this little essay on Vergil, the man, the myth, the legend HAHAHAHAHAHA

Hope you have a nice weekend and have fun writing!! If you need any advice, even on writing in general, you can always ask me again! As you can see, I'm happy to help and I do love sharing what I know xD

[bookworm-2692]

About a week ago I finally finished bookbinding @airdeari‘s beautiful Zero Escape fic The First Nonary Game. It took about a month (between all the waiting for glue to dry and also several days each week when I was unable to work on it), and was so much fun! It’s so satisfying to just... hold this book in my hands. 

Details about how I made it, along with additional photos (and commentary) below the cut.

So I came across this post on Tumblr, which immediately inspired me to try bookbinding myself. I spent a few days watching so many tutorials from the youtube channel linked in the post (I’ll link the specific tutorials I used in this post), and googling how to actually manage to print pages so they form proper signatures, because the inbuilt booklet creator in Word doesn’t exist in my Word apparently so that’s fun.

Anyway, once I started, I asked @airdeari for permission to print and bind his fic, and he immediately said yes, so that was good. Then I spent a good couple of days copying the entire fic into a Word document, and fiddling with formatting so it would look like an actual book (section breaks, page numbers, headers with the fic title on the left page and chapter title on the right page (this took ages to work and I kept on stuffing it up), and making sure things just... looked nice. I added in the art After The War that @keycrash created specifically for the fic (third pic above), and an “afterword” containing credit and links and the author’s notes from AO3 (because even if I’m the only one who will ever see it, it still feels weird to not add the credit stuff in so it’s there).

I then saved the document as a PDF, and used CheapImposter to correctly shuffle (impose, hence “imposter”) the pages so when folded into signatures, each page would be in the correct order. This program was the first free one I could find, and was great because you could specify the number of sheets you want per signature, rather than stuck with a default. I chose to have 11 signatures of 6 sheets of paper, since that was the amount that would have the least blank pages and the end of the book. The file was 261 pages, so with two pages per side, and two sides per sheet, you divide the number of pages by 4 to get 66 sheets of paper

I then printed. There was only one (1) paper jam in the process, which was great. Unfortunately, I realised after I printed that one of the headers for one chapter was wrong (I hadn’t properly disconnected the two chapters), but fortunately that only involved reprinting 4 sheets of paper.

I used the following tutorials to make the books: DIY Textblock, a general “how to make a textblock” tutorial; DIY Kettle Stitch, a specific look at the stitching for a textblock, since the first tutorial doesn’t focus on this; DIY Book Cloth, since I chose to use fabric for my cover; and DIY Hardcover Book, how to put all those pieces together.

So then I started folding all the signatures. I was watching so much Brooklyn Nine-Nine during both the folding and stitching sections, since it was repetitive actions I didn’t need to concentrate on that lasted hours.

It was at this point that I sliced each signature one by one to make the end smoother and less pointy. In future I recommend not doing it at this point - wait until the very end. Instead, move straight onto stitching. 

I don’t have any photos of the stitching portion, since my phone died the morning I started the stitching, and I wasn’t able to replace it until after all the stitching was done. In fact, originally all the photos from before the stitching were lost too. It was only about two days ago that magically the My Photo Stream thing kicked in and brought back all the photos - if it had worked two weeks earlier I would’ve had more. As it is, all photos from September to January are gone forever, unfortunately. But that’s another discussion entirely.

The above is the first book photo on my new phone, so as you can see, all the stitching was completed, the spine was glued, and the purple paper attached. I couldn’t buy two A4 sheets, so instead I had to buy one A3 sheet and cut it in half. Which was difficult cycling home from the city with an A3 sheet that didn’t fit in my bag on account of being A3 and not A4, but oh well.

I don’t have a book press, so I used a pile of DND books and my brother’s weights instead, as shown below.

I then had to re-slice the book after this point bc my first go wasn’t even, on account of slicing each signature separately. Next time definitely I’ll just do it at the end like this. I then also sanded it to make it smoother. It’s still not perfect, but it’s something that’ll take practice and patience so.

Next I made the book cloth, which involves using appliqué sheets to combine cotton fabric and tissue paper. But first I want to talk about the fabric I chose for the cover, because I’m quite proud of it. I spent ages wandering around the shop, trying to find something that fit the feel of the book. Spoilers for the content of the fic if you haven’t read it yet, and also for the source material (999/Zero Escape). I was thinking about some sort of blue swirl thing, because of the Gigantic sinking. I found that, but hesitated because it didn’t fully fit, and my favourite colour is blue so I always pick blue. I also considered flames/fire because of the incinerator thing, but couldn’t find any. I can’t remember if I just couldn’t find any four leaf clover fabric, or if I’ve just since thought about that as a cover. But instead I chose the butterflies below. They fit in several subtle ways that I’m proud of. The colours of blue and pink(/red) matching the receiver and transmitter coding all throughout 999, as well as the moments of purple as well (I don’t think I need to get into that, I’m sure it was analysed to hell and back when the game first came out). The butterflies also point towards the butterfly effect, and in turn the different timelines present in the series. So together it just works. /spoilers over

It’s also just a pretty fabric.

Now the making of the book cloth. I had to make it twice, because I was too impatient the first time, so the iron was too hot and it steamed, which wrinkled and warped the tissue paper, so the fabric was all wrinkly too. The second time took ages and was a worse quality appliqué sheet, but worked well enough anyway.

(My parents: did you have the iron out? what were you ironing? you never iron)

And then I cut the book board to size, using the measurements from the tutorial video. I’ll repeat them here: front and back cover: width = width of textblock minus 3mm, and height = height of textblock plus 6mm, and spine width = width of textblock spine, spine height = same height as covers

I then glued the board onto the book cloth, and put it under the book press. The dnd books are not large enough to cover the whole thing, and also I really wanted the board to stay flat and not curl, so I grabbed way more dnd books and way more of my brother’s weights. I also accidentally started putting the glue on the wrong side of the board (bc one side is smooth and the other is rough), hence the colour difference as well.

The corners were cut and folded and glued over...

And then the textblock was glued in, and put in my book press for a whole weekend. I added a sheet of paper to absorb the glue so the pages wouldn’t become wrinkly, but instead the sheet I added was fine and every other page in the book is wrinkly. So I dunno what happened there. After the weekend I took it out and looked at it, and then put it back for another week to be sure.

And then the complete book is shown at the top of the post!

As I was starting I was talking a lot about it, like about the process I had to go through, or how I was going to obtain what I needed, etc. Mum asked if she could read the story. I froze, like a deer in the headlights... because this is a fanfic. She saw my fear and immediately backed down, explaining she only wanted to read it because if the story was that important to me that I was going to literally turn it into a book, she wanted to read it to yknow like know me better or something? Which makes sense. And when I got over my initial reaction, and remembered that indeed it was technically my dad who introduced me to fanfic, and thought about it more, I said okay. Because since the fic is technically a prequel to the first game, and most of the characters are technically OC’s (like, from the first game we know that all eighteen children must exist, but most of them don’t have names or anything so they are effectively OC’s), then knowledge of source material isn’t strictly necessary. This fic can probably be enjoyed on its own. I mean I’ll probably have to explain the concept of morphogenetic fields, and the last four chapters might not make sense? But I’m okay for my mum to read it. So when she’s less busy at work I’m going to download the epub onto her phone for her - we’ll see how it goes.

Anyway, this fic is a masterpiece, extremely well written and I highly recommend it. As said, most of the characters are effectively OC’s, and yet they are all given such rich histories and personalities. All of them have access to the morphogenetic field, so I’m just so glad that @airdeari​ explores nine unique relationships with the field - nine unique sibling dynamics, and esper powers and abilities. It’s just so good.

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (154/?)

Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball,  which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation.   This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made  on this work  by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please  don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.

Continuity Note:  This story takes place about 1000 years before 66 years after the events of Dragon Ball Z.

Time Patrol.  When you’re here, you’re family.

[28 February, Age 850.   Toki Toki City.]

The overseer of time itself was Chronoa, the Supreme Kai of Time.   Her headquarters was a strange realm known as Toki Toki City, which housed the Time Nest, a habitat for Tokitoki, a bird-like creature of great cosmic significance.     Within the Time Nest stood the Time Vault, a stone fortress which housed the Scroll of Eternity.     Luffa recognized the atrium of the Time Vault immediately.    The first thing she saw when she materialized was the large octagonal table in the center of the room.   There was a casserole dish of lasagna sitting on it.    Luffa had left it there before she departed for her mission, and now it was half-empty.   A pair of plates and forks were lying beside the meal, both stained with sauce and crumbs.    

"Excellent job," said Trunks, who was standing to her left.    

"The mission, or the lasagna?" Luffa asked.    She wanted to lighten the mood, but she had taken a lot of damage, and now that the battle was over, she found it difficult to remain standing.    

"Both," Trunks said.   He pulled one of the round stools closer and gestured for Luffa to take a seat.   "That was a great fight."

"They got away," Luffa said.   She lowered herself onto the stool and found it much more comfortable than she had expected.  "Did you pull me out of there because I couldn't find them, or because you didn't think I could beat them?"

"Sorry, but you didn't have your earpiece, so I couldn't tell you what was going on," Trunks said.   "You accomplished the mission and contained the changes to history.    And you found the two that were behind all of this, which is awesome, but I didn't want to push our luck.    You see, I know those two.   I've had dealings with them before."

"I get it," Luffa said.    "Instead of letting me follow them blindly, you wanted to compare notes."

Trunks nodded.   "Even if you had found them and defeated them, Towa's quite the escape artist.   And if you pursued them out of that time period, we'd have a lot of trouble tracking you down.   If they managed to lure you into their territory, they might have been able to steal your energy."

"Mira said something about that," Luffa said.   "And Towa acted like I didn't have enough power to justify the effort."   She put her elbows on the table and couldn't help but notice the leftovers nearby.    "Were you guys done with this, or...?"

"Oh, sure," Trunks said.    "Help yourself."

Luffa grabbed the dish and scooped a chunk of lasagna up in her hand.    As she began to eat, she noticed the bird, Tokitoki, standing next to her stool.     He looked up at her with a curious expression.    She didn't know if he was begging for scraps or just interested in what she was doing.  

"Towa and Mira are energy thieves," Trunks explained.    They travel through time, siphoning ki from powerful warriors."

"If that's what they're after, then you'd think they'd be more subtle about it," Luffa said with her mouth full.    "If they stole some energy here and there, it wouldn't actually change history, right?   But instead, they're making these guys stronger and more aggressive, and wound up getting your attention."

"Yes, but Towa has ways to draw energy from the damage inflicted upon warriors as they fight," Trunks said.   "Look at what she did to Guldo and my father.   By enraging them, making them more powerful, the battles were longer and more intense than in the original history.   Not to mention your involvement.   There's a good chance she was counting on us sending someone to clean up her mess, just so she could harvest energy from whatever Time Patroller we sent."

"Then maybe it's good that I'm the one who confronted them," Luffa said.  "Towa was sure I was working for some group, but she didn't know who.   That might give us an edge."

"Perhaps," Trunks said.   "But they know the Time Patrol will come after them eventually.    If she hasn't already figured out you're one of us, she soon will.   I'm more concerned with what she plans to do with all this energy she's gathering."

"She put some of it into Mira," Luffa said.   "I can tell that guy used to be a lot stronger before, but she said she was saving up for something else.    All of her meddling with history, she called them 'experiments'."

"Mira's especially dangerous," Trunks said.    "If Towa restores him to his full power, he could give us a lot of trouble.   So if she's putting that off, then whatever she's up to must be even worse..."

"But who are they?" Luffa asked.   "Towa thought it was strange for me to be traveling through time looking for trouble, even though she's basically doing the same thing.    Where did she come from?"

"They're inhabitants of the Demon Realm.    In the distant future."

Luffa looked up from her meal to see Chronoa enter the room.    She noticed that, whenever the Supreme Kai of Time entered the room, Trunks seemed to stand up a little straighter, if such a thing were even possible.    

"Supreme Kai of Time," Trunks exclaimed.

"Demons?" Luffa asked.

"Towa is the younger sister of Dabura," Chronoa went on.   "He used to be the King of the Demon Realm for a time.    She might have tried to claim the throne for herself, but Towa is much more interested in her research.   Mira is a warrior she created to serve her ambitions.   Trunks defeated Mira the last time we encountered them, but it looks like she's managed to put him back together."

"But what could they be up to this time?" Trunks asked.  "Before, Towa was gathering energy to resurrect the Dark Emperor, Mechikabura.   But there's no way he could have returned, is there?"

"No, I'm sure of that much," Chronoa said.   "Remember, Towa sought to revive the Dark Empire because she wanted to break the seal on the Demon Realm.    With Mechikabura lost to her, she may be looking for another way to reach the same goal."  

Luffa didn't care much for her somber tone.   Chronoa tended to be much more cheerful, but not now.   "Seal?   What do you mean?" Luffa asked.  

"The universe you know is just the part that mortals live in," Chronoa said.   "There's also the higher realms, where gods like me live, and a lower realm.   Millions of years ago, Mechikabura was banished to a space beyond time.  A seal was created to keep him from escaping into the normal universe.   It was meant to imprison him, but he founded what eventually became the Demon Realm, the home of his Dark Empire."

"I think I get it," Luffa said.   "If someone breaks the seal, they could cross over to this side, and invade."

"The seal isn't an absolute barrier," Chronoa said.   "Lesser demons can pass through without quite as much trouble, but the stronger ones need a large amount of ki to get across.   To break the seal entirely would require an enormous power.    If it ever happened, an invasion would only be the beginning.    Even if the demons were turned back to their own realm, there would be nothing to keep them there.    The balance of the entire universe would collapse.   Nothing would ever be the same again."

"Then it sounds like we should take the fight to them," Luffa said.  "Kill Towa before she can take any more energy."

"I'm afraid we won't be able to find them, Luffa," Chronoa said.    "Towa's proven to be very resourceful.   She knows that the Time Patrol will be watching for her, so she's always been very careful about having a place to hide."

"I agree," Trunks said.  "Our best chance is to keep tracking them through the changes they cause in history.   And when we catch up to them again, we'll be ready for them."

"All right, then, I suppose that'll have to do," Luffa grumbled.    "I should probably get healed up while I still have the time."

"I can take care of that again," Chronoa offered.   She stepped towards Luffa and smiled warmly as she held out her hand.

"No!" Luffa said.   "I mean, you've already done enough for me.   I can make it to the hospital.  Pulmon can take care of it.   You don't need to hurt yourself like you did before."

Chronoa shrugged.   "Well, if that's the way you want it, suit yourself."  

Luffa nodded as she rose up from the stool.   "I'll be fine.   Just make sure you let me know as soon as you find anything.   I want another crack at those demons.   My ancestor, Chanisp, he slew a demon or two in his day.   Maybe it runs in the family."

"Don't worry about that," Trunks said.   "I'm sure you'll get your chance very soon."

*******

[3 March, Age 850.  Toki Toki City.]

"Nothing!   Three days, and no changes in history, no time anomalies, no nothing!"

Luffa was in her apartment, sitting in her roommate's bedroom.    Jayncho lay on her bed, fast asleep.   It was a black canopy bed with red fabric hanging from black metal posts.   The sheets and blankets were varying shades of pink and gunmetal grey.    Despite Luffa's outbursts, Jayncho did not stir.    Occasionally, one of the Majin tentacles on her head would twitch, or she would smack her lips and snore quietly.

Luffa had discovered that Jayncho was a very sound sleeper, and she had gotten into the habit of talking to her while she was asleep.   It was far easier than talking to Jayncho while she was awake, since the Majin was very terse and eccentric.    Besides, Luffa found that she could speak more freely when there was no chance of being heard. 

"I haven't seen much of Trunks either," Luffa grumbled.    "Not sure what he's been up to, but I guess it doesn't matter much while we don't have a lead on Towa.   That smug demon bastard.    I'd like to make her eat that spear."

Jayncho rolled over onto her left side.  

"No one in this era even remembers the Super Saiyan," Luffa went on.     "On my mission to Namek, Kakarot told me he'd never heard of the idea.   Well that figures, since they shot him to Earth as a baby.    Still, you'd think his mother would have at least told him a few stories  about me before they launched him, but whatever.    I guess Vegeta's mother might have said something about me, but he barely paid attention, the royalist twit.    He thought the Super Saiyan blew himself up on accident.    Himself.    Don't even get me started on that."

Jayncho did not get Luffa started.    She instead raised her hand over her face and murmured quietly.    

"I don't know why I'm suddenly sore about it now.   I guess switching bodies with Captain Ginyu spooked me so badly that I forgot to get pissed off about everything else.    I'm not the Super Saiyan anymore.   I don't even know why.  But I think I wouldn't mind so much if people at least remembered me.   I remembered Chanisp, dammit.    Everyone remembered Chanisp.   I was a Super Saiyan just like he was.   So... did I do something wrong?    Was I just not important enough to remember?"

Jayncho did nothing.  There was a plush unicorn doll lying beside her pillow.  It had a friendly smile and stared pleasantly at the ceiling.  

"Your ancestor, Majin Buu.   You told me about him.   You remember him.  He was important enough for that, at least.   I just thought... no matter how bad things got, that at least people would talk about me, and the things I did.    My wife, all my friends, they're all long dead by now.    I figured they'd be forgotten, but at least if people remembered me, then it'd sort of be like they could live on through that.   Does that make any sense?   It sounds kind of egotistical now that I say it out loud."

Luffa stood up and began to stretch her arms and legs.    "I just wish they'd find those demons already, and then I could settle this.    I don't know that killing them would change anything, but at least it'd give me something to take my mind off things for a while.   After that... well, I don't know.   I can't go home.    I don't even know where home is anymore.    Oh, what's the use?    I'll see you later, Jayncho."

She left the room and shut the door behind her.   Jayncho continued to sleep peacefully for another twelve hours.

*******

[13 June, Age 1001.   Planet Frieza 79.]

Planet Frieza 79 had been abandoned and resettled numerous times over the centuries.    Certain populations had attempted to rename the planet, but none of the new designations ever seemed to last.    Eventually, it came into the possession of a wealthy Imeckian baron, who used the planet as a private resort.   There was a small population of servants and technicians, whose sole purpose was to maintain the manor while their lord was away.  

"Who are you two, and what are you doing in my private bedchamber!" he shouted at the man and woman who had inexplicably walked right into his home.  

"Why Baron Tur Kee," the woman said.   "I didn't realize you had returned.   How are things on Imecka?"

"Wait... I remember you," he said, a sheen of cold sweat forming on his face as he spoke.  "You did this before.   Eluded my security forces somehow, and then you... you did something to my mind... Why can't I remember?"

She pointed the tip of her spear at his head, and a glowing purple vapor appeared and surrounded him.   Soon after, it vanished, and the only trace was a curious red glow in the baron's eyes.   It faded a moment later, leaving no trace of her spell.

"Welcome home, Mistress Towa," the baron said humbly.    "How may I be of service?"

"The usual, Baron," Towa said.    "Go and make yourself at home in the servants' quarters until you're scheduled to depart for Imecka.   Mira and I will be using the manor for a while, and we don't want to be disturbed."  

He bowed to them both and took his leave.   Mira closed the door behind him.    

"Would it not be simpler to place him under a more permanent thrall, like you did with the servants?" he asked.  

"Easier, maybe," Towa said.    "But not worth the trouble.   The Baron is a powerful man, and if anyone noticed him acting strangely it could attract unwanted attention to this place.    What good is a secret lair if it isn't a secret?"

She sat down on the edge of the bed and removed the golden clip from her white hair, then shook her head to let her hair fall freely.    With a tap of the blunt end of her spear, her high-heeled boots vanished from her legs and reappeared along the far wall of the room.   Then she held up the spear and it levitated away from her, crossing the room and taking up a position next to the boots.   Mira stood at attention, never taking his eyes off of his Mistress.    

"You are displeased with my performance," Mira said.   The words might have suggested hurt feelings, but his voice was cold and dispassionate.  

"Don't be ridiculous, Mira," Towa said.    With a wave of her hands, her skin-tight unitard rearranged itself, blooming into the form of a red nightgown.   "You've been exceptional during these expeditions."

"But you did not allow me to finish that Saiyan interloper," Mira said.  

"I already explained that, didn't I?" she said.   "I want to know who she's working for.   If it's the Time Patrol, then we need to know for certain.    If it's another faction, then we might be able to play one side against the other.    But if we killed her, then we might never know the answers, and all it would gain us is a small amount of energy that we can easily gather later."

"As you say, Towa," he replied.  

She regarded him for a moment and smiled.   "Come here," she said.   "I'd like you to rub my shoulders for a while."  

He moved to the bed immediately to comply.    Towa took a deep, satisfied breath as he began.    

"You really don't appreciate our relationship, do you, Mira?" she asked.  

"You created me," he said.    "My only goal is serve you as efficiently as possible."

"Good boy," Towa replied.   "The thing is, Baron Tur Kee serves me just as faithfully, you know.   At least, he does when I don't forget to enchant his mind.   But you're the one I married, Mira.    You're the one who fathered my son.   Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"Those were your orders," he said.  

"Of course they were," she said.    She reached up for his face and leaned back to kiss him.   Mira returned the kiss, but immediately resumed his task when she was finished.  

"I created you, Mira, to be the ultimate life form.  Not just a superior warrior, but a perfect mate.    You could think of yourself as my critique of everything I find lacking in the universe.   Some might call that egotistical, or blasphemous.   A woman falling in love with her own creation.   Some might say that I'm a fool.    You're nothing more than a living machine, and yet I'm putty in your hands."

"I am whatever you desire me to be," Mira said.    "It follows that our relationship is whatever you wish it to be."

"That's the next frontier for you, Mira," Towa said.   "I want you to have a soul.   To realize that you're more to me than just a slave, and return my feelings.   That's enough.    Just hold me for a while.   No, move your left hand a little higher.   Good.    Very good."

"I will do everything I can to achieve this goal, Towa," Mira promised.    

"Ah, but that's the trouble," she said.    "Even if you can grow a soul, I still want you to be my obedient slave.    If I can pull that off, manufacture a soul without free will, then I can truly unlock the secret of life itself.   With a little more work, I'd soon be able to enslave anyone and anything."

He rested his chin on her shoulder and she ran her hand down the side of his face.    "What a shame that you can't understand what I'm telling you," she said.   "You're my love letter to myself, and you can only think of yourself as black marks on white paper, unable to comprehend the meaning of the words."

"Perhaps with more energy, I can advance my consciousness as well as my physical strength," he suggested.  

"Interesting.   What makes you say that, Mira?"

She touched her cheek, and he kissed it, in accordance with pre-arranged instructions.   Then he replied: "I have a strong motivation to destroy the Saiyan time traveler we encountered," he said.  

"Yes, I see," Towa said.   "Could this be pride in your design, Mira?    Or ambition?   Or maybe you feel humiliated by your perceived inability to defeat her.   Could it be that your hatred for this Saiyan woman is greater than your love for me?   I wonder if I should be jealous."

"My devotion to you is absolute," he assured her.  

"Naturally," she said.    She got up to move to the side of the bed, and gestured for Mira to lay down beside her.  "You only want what I allow you to want, but this fascinates me, Mira.   Does this prove that hate is more powerful than love?   Or perhaps hatred is simply more primitive, and easier for nascent intelligences to develop.   I almost hope this Saiyan girl does try to interfere with our plans again, Mira.    It could be worth it just to see how you react."

"Is it worth risking your ultimate objective?" Mira asked.    There was no emotion in his question.    A genuine husband might have asked "Would you really give up your dreams just to understand me better?"   He might have had tears in his eyes, or placed his hands over his heart.   But not Mira.   He spoke as if he were asking Towa whether she preferred coffee or tea.

And she adored him for that.   It wasn't just his cold demeanor, though it did give her a thrill.    No, she loved Mira not only for what he was, but for all the things he might become.  He was truly the perfect man, an undiscovered country that she could go on creating and exploring forever.

"Have I ever told you why I want to break the seal on the Demon Realm?" Towa asked.  She snuggled up closer to him so she would feel the warmth of his breath as he answered.  

"You have said before that it would liberate Demonkind," Mira said.    "That it would allow the Dark Empire to be restored, and to expand into the outer Universe."

"I did say that before," Towa admitted, "but only because that's what Mechikabura wanted to hear.  Now that the Time Patrol has defeated our Dark Emperor, I suppose there's no longer any reason to hide my true motives."

She took his hand and intertwined his fingers with his own.   "I've heard about the seal my whole life, Mira," she said.    "How the Kais sealed us away, how the great Mechikabura turned our prison into a mighty nation of evil, and how it all came to an end because he tried to break the seal, only to fail.   And I heard of how the seal was just permeable enough to let certain beings through, given enough energy.  It always seemed to me that breaking the seal was the only goal worth achieving.

She pulled his arm over her like a warm blanket.   "Soon enough, I learned to pass through the barrier at will.   I could go anywhere I wanted, but the real wonders lay in the outer Universe.    It's no mystery why I spent most of my time out here, instead of back in the Demon Realm.   For a time, I honestly started to think that the Kais had been right to seal our kind away.    They had built a magnificent world, while ours always seemed so stagnant.   But they didn't seal us away.   It was just Mechikabura they feared.    We demons worshiped him as a god-king, but only because we had been trapped alongside him.    Punished for his sins, he was as much a jailer to us as the Kais.   Maybe more."

"If you felt this way, Towa," Mira asked, "then why did we travel back in time to revive Mechikabura?"

"Excellent, Mira.   You know, there was a time when you never asked questions at all.   Your curiosity has come a long way."  She gave him a playful kiss on the nose and smiled before continuing.   "I never hated Mechikabura, if that's what you're asking.   It's just that his legend had been this constant in my life, and I needed to see what he could really do if he had the chance.    My scheme to restore him to his former glory, that was a test.    Three tests, really.   First: a test of your capabilities, of course.   You served me brilliantly in that adventure, Mira, as you always have.    Second: a test of my enemies.   I wanted to discover what sort of resistance I could expect to face.    The Kais, the Time Patrol, and so on.    Third, and most importantly: it was a test of Mechikabura's reputation.  If he could shatter the seal, then I would have been satisfied.    As the one who resurrected him, his successes would have been my own."

"But Mechikabura failed.  The Time Patrol defeated him."

"Which was a setback, but one that also showed me the path forward.   I learned more from Mechikabura in a week than I had gained from years of research.    And his downfall proved that he was an anchor holding us back.   With his power, he made me into a Demon Goddess, and that was exhilarating, but it also proved that his power wasn't unique.   Any demon could become a "god" like him with the right preparation.   And when I finally shatter the seal, it will prove that I've truly surpassed him."

"Then you must understand my need to defeat that Saiyan woman," Mira said.  

"Of course I understand, Mira," Towa said.   "But for me, it's about more than just proving my superiority.    Once the seal is removed, the Kais will never be able to make another, because I would just remove that seal as well, and the next, and the next.  They'll have no choice but to accept the presence of demons in their precious creation.    And who knows what sort of chaos that will bring?   It will be a new world, brought into existence by me."

"You would create an Empire of your own, then," Mira suggested.  

"Hardly, Mira," she said with a smile.   "The universe already has far too many kings and emperors and gods.   I seek knowledge, not conquest.    And that's why I didn't let you kill that little Saiyan woman.    To you, she's just another warrior to conquer, but to me, she's an opportunity.   A chance to learn what our enemy is planning.   Her energy is pitiful, but she might improve, or lead us to more powerful enemies who could serve our purposes."

"Then you believe we can gather energy from even stronger fighters in history," Mira said, almost hopefully.   She grinned as she enjoyed the hint of emotion in his eyes.    

"Yes, Mira!" she whispered excitedly.  "The Saiyans and the Ginyu Force were just the beginning.   Now that I've learned that the energy stealing technique works, I can refine it, and use it on more powerful targets.   And best of all, the targets are historical figures, so we know exactly where to find them.   The Time Patrol will discover our tampering eventually.   Maybe they already have.   But so what?   All they can do is clean up the changes we make to the timeline.   Meanwhile, we escape to our present time, and the energy we steal is ours to keep.   Some for you, and some for my experiments."

"What of the side-effects from the temporal changes?" Mira asked.   "Before, you had mentioned concerns about making frequent trips into the past."

"At first, I was cautious," Towa said,  "but with the knowledge I've gained, I don't think it should be a problem anymore.   Let the Time Patrol worry about any time anomalies we might cause.   And even if they fail to prevent history from changing, you and I will be protected from those changes.    When I'm finished, I'll have a universe made to my own liking.   A chaotic wonderland where I can roam freely through space and time.   And if the Saiyan girl tries to get in our way, you can destroy her, Mira."

She decided to tease him a bit.    "Or... on second thought... perhaps I'll let her live," Towa said.   "She can join our good Baron in the servants' quarters, and she can bring you tea every morning."

"Whatever you wish, Towa," Mira said.    She sensed a hint of resentment in his voice, but decided not to point it out.    Instead, she simply embraced him and gestured with her finger to magically douse the lights.    

"That's right, Mira," she replied.   "Whatever I wish..."

NEXT: History and Trunks

[9luttony]

Who is your favorite character in obey me? Are they also the character you’d like to romance the most? If not, then who are you most romantically interested in? Which MC of yours do you pair them with, and could you tell us a bit more about this MC?

fffAAAA i’m so sorrty i took so long only to keep rewriting so much stuff so it’s under a cut you don’t have to read this i promise 

who is your favorite character in obey me? honestly i don’t have an ultimate favorite, they really rotate around but i definitely notice that i’ve got a preference for being softer with the younger demon brothers (and luke!! he’s the best little brother) than the eldests. levi and i are too similar and i cast my self projection beam on to him so often it almost isn’t fair to him, mammon is my favorite but in a platonic chart they all are special and are favorites to me in different ways!! but at the end of the day my favorite character is probably asmodeus!! there’s just something about them that gets me into a really happy mood, the way their energy is always up and the confidence boosts and being called cute like? i will be second best if it means you’re number one absolutely sweetheart i’ll do anything for you asmo ♡ other than asmo it’s luke!!! he reminds me of my siblings a lot, in some of my family’s eyes i’m michael but to others i’m lucifer, but my younger siblings always see me as a friend and they resonate with me the way that luke does! the fact that he loves to bake also makes me really comforted because my family has a history of bakers and working in the dessert industry so it’s like a nice dash of home.

are they also the character you’d like to romance the most? asmo isn’t the character is like to romance the most but she’s in my top 3!!!! my shipping circle tends to go between levi, beelzebub and asmo the most though i’ve crushed on the others (as well as simeon & diavolo) on good occasion!!! i tend to swing back and forth between depending on how im doing because i love them all in different ways for different reasons,

if not then who are you romantically interested in? ok so i do have to say that beel is definitely like,,my type and this was my first otome game ever i never had the guts to play one of them because i get second hand embarrassment and flustered really easily especially when it comes to media i don’t know why but i had just decided to download it one day and i just? fell in love with the whole game it opened up an entire world for me and my first crush, the one who i decided that i’d try to ramp up my heart level with, saving photos of him and just ?? ugh beel means so much to me but all the other brothers do as well but beel!!  i’ve got commissioned art for him before i’ve never gotten to do that before? but yeah im getting rlly off topic but also on topic at the same time but i’m pretty sure you could guess by now the answer of your question <3

which of your mcs do you pair them with? / could you tell us more about this mc?  tosa!! moreso a persona i also adopt + a self insert mc & he is absolutely gnarly, i’ve got a character sheet for them somewhere in my google drive but it isn’t fully completed since i’m very good at thinking about things but not writing them down, i work in theory. my mc doesn’t follow the lilith storyline because i personally am not interested in it so tosa (short for: tomas bassano) is part of a long line of animal shifters but from long ages ago due to the town that his family initially came from and still visit often/live nearby but roughly 3,000 years prior to the tosa mutation starting, the cause is due to a fissure in the well that lead to a water reservoir absolutely polluted with the magic runoff that occurs in hell. his family used to all be able to shift but as the generations passed it became less likely to occur until it only happened twice every 10 generations (the reason for this occurrence, lord diavolo’s command for a helldown day [ as observed in the lucifer, you s*ck!(3) chat group between satan/belphegor/mc ]) so!! something tosa doesn’t know, is that they’re part hellhound essentially. a part time college student living in his hometown city, they’re an incredibly hard worker spending more time with their grandmother in his family’s clinic than anything, always wanting to spend time with her and they were both very close even though tomas had quite the reputation, he was already was a pretty big troublemaker in the human world so in the devildom he settles in real nice amongst the abrasive common behaviors of lesser and upper demons; he’s very protective of the brothers and antagonizes fights for the fun of it that the the school had given him the nickname of lamentations guard dog, much to their dismay he wears it with pride. everyone slowly starts to notice that the longer tosa’s been staying in the devildom the more he changes physically and mentally. their canines get sharper and longer, they have a major growth spurt, eye and pupil change the whole buffet and table. their bark is as bad as their bite when lucifer starts to take notice of this and it comes to his attention that lord diavolo was unaware of their bloodline. making for a sticky citation when tosa doesn’t remember attacking people in the middle of the night on dorm grounds. thats all the story line that i can get into right now but he’s got issues and they’re ruff.haha i’m so sorry for all the canine references and puns here.

[pepperoniwhirlwind]

🌼~Honesty Hour~🌼 (pt. 2)

     I was asked by @lovelynhiddenkittens to do 150 questions in the honesty hour tag quite a while ago, and only did a third of it. But no longer will this be the case! Midterms are mostly over (the two biggest ones are done at least) so I can focus on more fun things, like answering these questions! Here’s my answers to questions 51-100:

51. Ever wished you were someone else?

     Yes. I have a lot of internalized shame about my body type (petite and curvy) that whenever I see someone super tall or toned I just want to be them. Even if it’s only for a day. I don’t have these wishes so much anymore though. Alex and I have been dating for 5 months (on the 21st of this month) and he loves my body type. Thanks to him, I’m learning to love myself, and learning that I don’t have to be a model to be loved~ 💕

52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself?

     My depression. I feel like it makes me a burden on everyone, and although it’s shaped who I am, has it really changed me for the better? Maybe I’m more understanding and empathetic because of it, but it’s also caused me an inordinate amount of pain, and unnecessary pain for my loved ones.

53. Favorite make-up brand?

     I don’t wear make-up often enough for me to even have a clue.

54. Favorite store?

     What I’m buying changes which store I prefer. If it’s food, I generally hit up Fry’s. If it’s home decor (Which Alex and I needed quite a bit of in recency, given that we just moved into an apartment together a few months ago) I shop at Target. If I need to buy shampoo, face wipes, deodorant, shaving cream, etc. I typically go to Wal-Mart. Does anyone really have just 1 store that they shop at? I know if I bought non-food items at Fry’s I’d go bankrupt. 😂

55. Favorite blog?

     That’s a real tough one. I love all of my Tumblr friend’s blogs. @im-here-cause-im-not-all-there posts a lot of stuff I relate to, same for @theperksofneurodivergency, who always posts great content. Seriously, I could sit here for ages and list off all the people on Tumblr that I follow, but that would be ridiculous. Rest assured that if I follow you, it means I generally like what you post.

56. Favorite color?

     I love darker colors on the cooler end of the color spectrum; mainly green, blue & purple. I even like pastel colors occasionally. Though that’s more likely when I’m being influenced by some of my alters who like lighter colors. Like Honey, who loves pastel colors, and all things sweet really. That’s why sunflowers are her favorite flower. She appreciates all the sunny and cheerful things in life. ☀️ In our inner world, she even has a garden that she tends to regularly, and grows (you guessed it) sunflowers, among other things.

57. Favorite food?

     Oh look, another tough one. Hmm... It really depends what I’m in the mood for. But my boyfriend recently started taking me to Schlotzsky’s, which has a lot of really good sandwiches. Though, I’m always down for some Arby’s. I’m in a rut there, but I don’t care. Their roast beef classic and curly fries are to die for. 😋

58. Last thing you ate?

     Speaking of Arby’s... 😆 I ate there for dinner last night in celebration of passing my proctored exam for my math class. It was worth 75% of my grade, and I wasn’t allowed to have anything (they even confiscated my bottle of water). It took 2 hours and was suuuper stressful. So my BF rewarded me with Arby’s when I passed~ 😄 This is just one of the many reasons why I love him~ 💖

59. First thing you ate this morning?

     It’s the morning right now, and I haven’t eaten yet... 😅 Does the two sips of my boyfriend’s coffee count?... No?... Okay. *sighs* I should go eat now actually, so I can take my morning meds. Thanks for reminding me, Tumblr ask!

60. Ever won a competition? For what?

     I got first place in a race once... then immediately quit the track team. 😂 Running just wasn’t for me. I’ve won blue ribbons for art (culinary and painting mostly) before at the 4-H Fair, but I don’t think I’ve ever been in a proper competition that I won. I recently participated in a Drag Show at my college, and even signed my performance (I know ASL, and I hoped it would make me stand out a bit against the competition), but I didn’t win. It was actually a really close call between all the participants, and the host/judge couldn’t decide who the audience cheered louder for, so the lady who’d set up this event had to come up and make the decision. I was one of the first people she decided should leave the stage. So, needless to say, I felt a little embarrassed and defeated afterwards.

61. Been suspended/expelled? For what?

     I never even had detention 😂 ; I was a goody two-shoes growing up. I was always the teacher’s pet, so no, I was never suspended or expelled.

62. Been arrested? For what?

     ⬆️ See the point I made above for your answer. ⬆️ I’d have to cease being a goody two-shoes first before being arrested is even a possibility, so no, my record is squeaky clean... we won’t speak of the songs I’ve illegally downloaded from YouTube though. >-> <-< Don’t tell the po-po about this, or else I’ll be forced to participate in court-ordered rehab for my music addiction. 😂

63. Ever been in love?

     Yes~ 💘 I’m in love right now, with the most supportive and understanding man I’ve ever known~ I shouldn’t have to say who at this point, but I will. It’s my BF, Alex~ ❤️

64. Tell us the story of your first kiss.

     Well, this was back when I lived in Indiana. I had a core group of friends, that all happened to be on the LGBT+ spectrum, so we were practically dripping in rainbow-y goodness. 🌈 Mich, essentially the leader of the group, is trans. While Levi is gay and Laci (she thought she was a lesbian originally, and identified as such for the time that I knew her; I don’t really have contact with any of them anymore) is bi. That just leaves Sasha, who is also bi, and she was my first kiss. Mich, Sasha, I, and others (Levi and Laci weren’t there though) all decided to play spin-the-bottle. Sasha was the first person I landed on, and I still remember her kiss. It was soft, like a cloud, and tasted like strawberries. 🍓 It was a wonderful first kiss, but I definitely prefer kissing Alex the most~ 😍

65. Are you hungry right now?

     Well, considering I just ate a mini donut with my pills... yes, yes I am. 😂 ...Don’t you judge me either! Alex and I bought a bunch of mini donuts for our last D&D gaming sesh at Tyler’s, and there was still a bunch left over, so someone has to eat them, and I didn’t feel like making a proper breakfast. Plus, the one I ate is strawberry flavored, so how could I not eat it? If anyone turns down a strawberry donut, suspect immediately that they are a lizard-person.

66. Do you like your Tumblr friends more than your real friends?

     What a savage question. No, I do not. I like all of my friends, equally, whether they’re online or offline. I only care if my friends are good people or not; and if they care and respect me as much as I do them. Whether they live nearby or not is of little importance to me. I base my friendships off of their character, their morals; not their place of residence.

67. Facebook or Twitter?

     Well, I don’t have a Twitter, and only really check my Facebook once in a blue moon. So... neither?... What, is that not an option? Fine... I choose Facebook... I guess.

68. Twitter or Tumblr?

     Tumblr.

69. Are you watching TV right now?

     No, I’m currently typing this... I am listening to music though, of course. 😆

70. Names of your best friends?

     Well, Tyler’s the only friend I have IRL that knows me, like, truly knows me. By that, I means she knows about my DID, among other diagnoses, as we’ve talked at length about both of our diagnoses before. Since she has Bipolar disorder, she gets what it’s like to have a “scary” mental illness; the ones that get characterized by media to always be violent and unhinged. She didn’t judge me or fear me, she only asked questions and tried to learn as much about my system as she could, which tells us that she truly cares and understands. I’ve told other people before, but they’re either no longer a part of my life, or were creeped out by my DID, and are choosing to forget that I ever told them in the first place. My Tumblr friends also know about my DID, given that I post about it and mention it in my blog bio, but there’s a certain level of anonymity on the internet that allows for me to be more open about it. Telling someone IRL? Now that’s terrifying. It takes a lot of trust, and given that I have had some bad reactions in the past, it makes it even more daunting.

71. Craving something? What?

     Honestly? A vacuum. And a mop, while I’m at it. I’ve been cleaning for most of the morning, and those are the only cleaning supplies that I need and don’t have. I keep trying to talk Alex into buying them, but he’s not as bothered by dirty floors as I am. He even walks around barefoot on these filthy floors! IDK how! Even if I’m wearing socks it bothers me. I don’t like stepping on anything, and the only way I don’t feel what’s on the ground is if I’m wearing shoes. So... I basically never take off my shoes except for when I’m in bed. 😂

72. What color are your towels?

     What a weird question. 😆 Before I moved in with Alex, I lived with my parents, and we didn’t have a standard color of towel. We had an assortment of colors from multiple old sets of towels, a lot of them raggedy, some of them bleached, most of them ancient. Then when I started living with Alex, we still have some towels of differing colors, but most of them are blue and soft~ ✨ The sheets and pillow cases are blue too, though a lighter shade.

73. Do you sleep with stuffed animals?

     Not anymore. I used to when I was younger though. When I was a kid my stuffed animals felt like my children. I would rotate which ones got to sleep with me each night, hug and kiss them all goodnight then tuck them in. If one of them fell out of my arms in the middle of the night, it would wake me up immediately. Not even a slow, groggy wake-up. It was like my motherly instinct was an alarm clock, so I would wake up instantly and be wide awake, frantically searching for the stuffed animal that fell out of my arms. I would then pick them up, dust them off and apologize, then snuggle them and drift off back to sleep. When I was a teenager, I mostly cuddled them when I was lonely and needed some companionship to fall asleep. Now that I snuggle and sleep with my boyfriend each night, I no longer sleep with my stuffed animals, but I still love them and keep them as decoration for my bed at my parent’s house, since I never really sleep there anymore. I nap there occasionally, but that’s about it.

74. How many stuffed animals do you think you have?

     Uhhh... I’ve never actually counted, but at least a tub full.

75. Favorite animal?

     Elephants and foxes, equally~ 💖

76. What color is your underwear?

     I’m wearing black panties at the moment. It’s satiny with lace, so it’s cute and comfy; the best of both worlds. 😉

77. Chocolate or Vanilla?

     Definitely chocolate, 🍫 provided it’s not too rich.

78. Favorite ice cream flavor?

     I’m obsessed with matcha green tea ice cream right now, OMG, it’s sooo good~ 😋 Same goes for the matcha green tea frappuccino at Starbucks. It’s the only drink there that I actually get. I’ve tried other beverages they have, and generally don’t like them, but the matcha green tea frap is too delicious for it’s own good.

79. What color shirt are you wearing?

     I’m actually wearing a really comfy dress right now, that I slept in as a nightgown last night. 😆 It’s gray and has a lace band on each sleeve.

80. What color pants?

     ⬆️ Once again, reference my previous entry. ⬆️ I am pantless, given that I’m sporting a dress at the moment.

81. Favorite TV show?

     Oh geez... another hard one. Let’s see... I’ll just put the name of the show I’m watching the most right now. That would have to be “Crazy Ex Girlfriend” on Netflix. Before that I watched the newest seasons of “BoJack Horseman” as well as “Orange Is the New Black”, but I’ve already finished those.

82. Favorite movie?

     Honestly, I’ve been really obsessed with “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” recently. When I re-watched it as an adult, I noticed how much more serious that movie is compared to Disney’s other films. They cover some pretty dark subject matter, and do it well... *sighs* if only they’d nixed the addition of the gargoyles. They ruin every emotional or tense scene that they’re placed in, and make the lighter scenes just plain cringey. I know they wanted to make it suitable for kids, but I think Disney underestimates what kids can handle, especially considering they reference the darker scenes subtly enough so as to keep the movie’s G rating intact. Like what about the goat, Djali, that belongs to Esmeralda? The goat could have been the comic relief, but instead they brought in the talking gargoyles. They couldn’t even do something cool with the gargoyles, like make them a part of Quasi’s imagination. He’s been alone in a bell tower for his entire life, so it would make sense that he would begin talking to the statues and giving them personalities... but no... it’s shown at the end that the gargoyles can interact with and impact the real world, making them a part of it as well.

83. Mean Girls or Mean Girls 2?

     Well, considering I’ve only ever seen the first one, and didn’t even know there was a second one, I’m gonna have to go with “Mean Girls”.

84. Mean Girls or 21 Jump Street?

     I’ve never seen “21 Jump Street”, so once again, “Mean Girls” takes the cake.

85. Favorite character from Mean Girls?

     Oh, that’s hard, especially when they’re all such fun characters. Janis is pretty cool, so she’s up there, but Karen is probably my favorite. She’s such a simple, naive soul, you can’t help but love her.

86. Favorite character from Finding Nemo?

     Dory, hands down. But I wanna give a special shout-out to Bubbles, the character from the fish tank that, (you guessed it) is obsessed with bubbles. 😆 He cracks me up every time.

87. First person you talked to today?

     Alex. Considering we both wake up in the same bed, it would be nearly impossible for him not to be the one I talk to first thing in the morning.

88. Last person you talked to today?

     Once again, Alex, given that it’s still early in the day and I haven’t seen anybody else yet.

89. Name a person you hate?

     All of my abusers. Every. Single. One. They made me feel small, worthless, and unloved. So I hope each one of them feels that way for the rest of their miserable existences.

90. Name a person you love?

     My boyfriend, Alex~ He’s my world, my hopes and dreams, and everything I aspire to be~ 💖

91. Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now?

     No. I want to punch all of my abusers in the balls. With a baseball bat. Repeatedly, until they’re infertile.

92. In a fight with someone?

     No.

93. How many sweatpants do you have?

     Only one. I want to buy more, but that requires that I have money, which I don’t.

94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have?

     I have my Nirvana sweatshirt, my “Nightmare Before Christmas” sweatshirt, and two hoodies with my college logo on them. One’s gray and the other is red.

95. Last movie you watched?

     “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”.

96. Favorite actress?

     I have no idea. So I’m gonna go find a list of the top 100 actresses and go from there. *some time passes* So, I found an actress I actually know, and that’s Krysten Ritter, who played Jessica Jones on Netflix’s hit series named (you guessed it again! Wow, you’re really good at this.) “Jessica Jones”.

97. Favorite actor?

     That’s a tie between Robin Williams (I really miss him... He was such a vibrant and energetic actor, who also knew how to portray more serious, and heart-felt scenes. He was a skilled actor and a good man. May he rest in peace.) and Tom Hanks. I like quite a few films starring those actors.

98. Do you tan a lot?

     Never.

99. Have any pets?

     No... 😭 RIP Batman and Robin (my previous pet hermit crabs).

100. How are you feeling?

     Productive! I practically cleaned the whole apartment in like 2 hours this morning, and just finished another third of this ask! I’m on a roll, and intend to do homework in a minute. For now though, I’d like to thank everyone who read through to the end, as well as thank @lovelynhiddenkittens for sending the ask in the first place! Sorry it’s taking so much time to finish it, but I’m over halfway done now! Whoo~! 🎉 *sets off a confetti popper and basks in the confetti shower* Anyways, take care everyone! I hope you all have a fantastic rest of your day (or night, wherever you are, just have a wonderful time!) See ya ‘round the bend~! 👋

*grabs a broom and begins sweeping up the confetti, muttering to myself* Why do I do this? Every time, I know I’m gonna have to clean it, but I do it anyway...

[13thhr]

Episode #209: Empty Hands Reading – Elemental Alignments

https://archive.org/download/podcast209_201908/Podcast%20209.mp3

This week, I’m reading a short excerpt from the martial arts novella, Empty Hands, as a follow up to last week’s episode on the Dungeons and Dragons influences.  This section touches on the five elements in nature (more back in episode 151) and how they fit the characters:

  Jake and Aurora both fell into a character class Wally the wizard had called the “earth type.”  As the guys had mentioned, we’d done a little presentation detailing our strengths and weaknesses early in our training (I had to do mine twice since I didn’t understand the assignment the first time and had instead talked about Aurora).  Wally used that assignment to go into something he called “The Elemental School of Personality Assessment,” which he said was an important part of not only our magical studies but our training in general.  There were five main personality types corresponding to the five divisions of elemental forces in nature – earth, water, wind, fire, and space, as well as an infinite combination of blends.

Pure earth types were grounded, practical people who, like strongly rooted trees, were good at weathering the vicissitudes of life but could be a bit stubborn at times.  Dependable, practical, and steady types like Jake and Ben fell into that category.  Pure water types were kind of the opposite – adaptable and fluid, like water conforming to whatever container it finds itself in, though they could be a bit all over the place.  Phil, an easy-going sort who tended to go with the flow, fit this category.  He was not, however, a fickle person, prompting Wally to categorize him as an earth-water blend.

“You mean like mud?” Phil had said when Wally passed him the sheet of paper containing his alignment and its characteristics.

We’d laughed, but then Wally shrugged.  “Water is flexible, but it can be hard, if the force is right.  Earth is not fluid but mixed with a little water, it moves easily from one place to the next until it dries.  Too much, though, and it just becomes dirty water.  Do you get my drift?”

“Um … no,” Phil had said after a long pause.

“You will.  For now, it basically means you have the best of both worlds.”  Then to all of us, he said, “Keep in mind these are just predictions.  It’s up to you to figure out if they’re accurate and how to apply the knowledge to your training.”   

Like Phil, Aron also ended up a blend – part water and part wind.  Pure wind types, like Allan, were open-minded and peaceful.  Like birds soaring above the clouds, the day-to-day troubles of the earth-bound held little meaning for them.  They craved freedom, which fit Aron, but could be a bit impractical and out of touch with reality (definitely Aron and sometimes Allan, who preferred to think everything through prior to acting on anything).  Pure fire types, like Lance and Blake, were no-nonsense folk who believed the best defense was a good offense.  It was pretty clear that dynamic, straight-forward weapons like the bow and sword fit guys like that.  The downside of fire, of course, was that not all problems could be solved in direct ways. 

That left the last category, which Wally had initially called “empty space.”  Aron had burst out laughing at this, muttering something about it being the one that fit me best, and the others had joined in.  Wally silenced them, then paused and said that, actually, Aron might have been right for once.  This caused me to redden in anger and disappointment as Aron went bug-eyed and laughed hard enough to fall out of his chair. 

It wasn’t like I was especially taken with any of the previous categories, but as the youngest and physically smallest of the Rangers, it would have been nice to not be different at something – anything – for once.  I didn’t really care about not being able to run, swim, climb, fight, navigate, or use magic as well as the others.  Unlike some, I couldn’t imagine myself “a career man,” so excelling at soldiering skills (assuming I lived long enough), seemed a bit irrelevant for me and my life in the long run.  Frankly, I couldn’t have cared less whether I fit earth, wind, water, fire, or some blend of the four – but “empty space?”  Come on!

As if reading my thoughts, Wally frowned and said, “Empty space is perhaps not the right term.  The magic books sometimes use the word void (which produced a burst of hoots from Aron), but that, too, has always seemed a poor choice.  It’s …” he frowned, sighed, then continued.  “At some point in the future, science will catch up to what we wizards have known for eons – that all matter is composed of tiny particles too small to see.  They are the essence, the anima, that gives substance and life to all things in the natural world.  And, as such, particles from the void can become any of the four.  Add enough of them packed together, and they become earth.  Space them out far enough, they become wind.  Push them a bit closer together, they reform as water.  Add a bolt of lightning or some other energy source, and they become fire.”      

Allan nodded, saying, “Most interesting.  So this is the essence we harness when we generate magic.”

“Exactly!  You are pulling directly from the void,” Wally said.

There was silence for a time as we mulled this over.  Finally, Jake turned around in his seat and looked at me with his steady, cool brown eyes.  “I’m sorry we laughed, Logan.  It was wrong of us.”

I reddened further and stared down at my notebook, doodling with my piece of charcoal.  “It’s okay,” I finally said, still avoiding Jake’s eyes.  When I look back on that experience, I wish I had met and held the man’s gaze to let him know I appreciated his apology.  But … there are some things I suppose that only come with age.

After a moment, Aron asked quietly, “So … do you think there’s maybe a little void somewhere in me?”

Wally rolled his eyes and said “Aron, be grateful for what you have.”  After the lesson finished, Wally handed me the piece of paper containing information on my alignment.  On the side, he had written:

Read this over, and see if you think it fits.  Find me if you have any questions.

~Wally 

P.S. The woman you told us about from your town – the one you grew up with – sounds like more of an earth type, though at least from your description, she sounds like an earth – void blend.  I can see why you would enjoy her company.  Hope that gives you some more information about yourself that will be helpful in the coming months.

To be honest, it wasn’t then, but looking back years later, it sure has been.

Here’s a little character sketch I did about a year ago (a little different from their final iteration) when I was coming up with the ideas presented above:

—————–

This page formerly had what I affectionately dubbed a “starving artist” section on little side hustles you could do (mostly on the internet, often with a phone) to make a few bucks here and there, often in gift cards.  Well, now you can listen to this show (as well as other podcasts) and get paid to do so!  Check out https://www.podcoin.com/ to listen to the show and start earning points that you can redeem for gift cards (Amazon, Target, Starbucks, etc) or donations to a number of charities.  Use the code “Thirteen” when you sign up to get 300 extra points.  The Thirteen Hour Podcast is now on BONUS this week, so you can earn more than normal (1.5x).

Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.  

Follow along on Spotify!  There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.

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#TheThirteenthHour #Podcast 209: reading an excerpt from the martial arts novella, "Empty Hands" on the 5 elemental alignments (earth, wind, water, fire, void) #dandd #fantasy #rpg Episode #209: Empty Hands Reading - Elemental Alignments This week, I'm reading a short excerpt from the martial arts novella, …

[audreygallegoba2b]

Personal Branding - WIP

For this project, we were asked to have a web-based online portfolio, a CV and a showreel. During these last weeks, I have been working in all of these, starting from my website: https://albamingogallego.wixsite.com/hello

I used Wix as my website building platform cause I felt like it was the one which would help me get that clean look that I was going for much easier.

I actually started working on my website from the very first day that we hat the brief for this project as I was that excited about it. However, even though it went through tons of changes, I didn't keep track of almost anything of it. And, cause this is a website that is in constant evolution, I can't just open an older version and check out how was it looking. So, I will try to go through some of the processes here:

I began with this simple home/title:

I chose a picture from a character design from my first year that I like in look and colour. And decided to use my complete name ‘Alba Mingo Gallego’ rather than any other combination Alba Mingo (most used in Spain), Alba Gallego (plausible here) or Audrey Gallego (kinda artistic name that I started using a few years ago). I thought using my full name would work better in the UK as it would be more memorable/recognisable. Maybe someone wouldn't remember my full name, but they wouldn't forget that it was three non-English words together - idk perhaps?

I was also thinking about a catchy and nice tagline to have. I knew I wanted to mention that I was specialised in 2D as well as something colour related, however, I was also looking for a third thing to add maybe. 

Then I kept adding the sections I wanted for my website underneath, all together in one page, as I saw some people used this method before and I liked it. I also added a header that would redirect you faster to the selected section from the very top of the page.

Some inspirations that I had for that idea of having everything together on the same page flowing one thing to the next were websites such as:

http://rafaelpizzo.com

or http://corentin.strikingly.com

I included an About Me just after the title card, then my showreel + a playlist with my most recent work. I also added a header that contained some of my social media links and that later on would include a menu to the different sections.

If I remember correctly, after these sections, I included some digital images in a photo gallery that you could see scrolling side to side. Another one but for traditional work and finalised the strip with a brief representation of my Instagram account at the very end.

I was kind of digging this whole long, and flowy aesthetics, however many things were just not working out for me.

A few weeks later, after tons of little changes almost made daily, I got closer to what it is now and worked much better. I decided to separate the main sections and also worked out better the style of website that I wanted to have. I liked the cleanness of the constant white background that allows the work to pop up by itself. And so I had this sections in my header to go to:

Home

ALBA MINGO GALLEGO

Colour enthusiast.  2D Animator.

Image of an old character design

Reel & Film

Showreel and a playlist of all my audiovisual work altogether

recent projects section

three recent projects explained briefly with links to pages dedicated to them

Gallery

Digital work (mostly related to animation projects rather than illustrations and such)

Traditional art (actual drawings etc)

About

photo of moi

a small bio that was still a work in progress

an also work in progress CV - just some skills and education for now

Contact

the city where I am based

email

social media links

contact form 

Then the CV went out of the About page to have its own page. Also, I made a PDF version of it, which I am quite proud of for now - I will talk about it more in depth later.

I was every day coming back to my website and seeing that some things were not quite right just yet, and I could not work out what it was... until I did! I came across this website while doing my daily research:  http://alimacdoodle.com and really liked the menu that she used. All words with four letters. The clicked something in my brain and led me to almost the final look of my website - for now anyway.

I ditched my ‘home’ page as it was a bit useless. It was only giving the first impression and showing my name. However, my name was already on the header, and after that first impression, you were forced to go somewhere else as there was nothing to see there. Before entirely ditching it, I tried to add my Tumblr account at the bottom, but I did not like it after a few days of considering it. So I got rid of that.

I changed the name of the page were my reel was for ‘reel’ and later for just ‘work’ because of not only my showreel but my whole animation work was going to be in here. I figured out that cause I already had some hidden pages dedicated to some projects, in particular, I thought it would be a good idea to actually separate them all. I put the showreel at the top of the page and then the eight videos that I wanted to show. When you clicked on them, they would open on expand, while having on the left a bit of info about them. However, I had these three extra pages for those three more significant projects in particular. So, after working it out for a few days, I actually created a page for each one of the videos/projects that I wanted to show and linked each video to those. During my first tutorial with Mhairi, a classmate pointed out that it would be more fitting those links to be images rather than a video, cause when you clicked on them, they would not open a video on expanding anymore but a whole new page. And so I changed that too, which also got me working for a few days on a nicer cover for all of my videos. I updated them both on Vimeo and on my new website.

For my gallery, I decided to get rid of the digital bit as it was mainly style frames, character sheets, etc. for the projects that were on my work page. I put those images in the pages about their projects making them a bit more enjoyable too. And so only this page only my traditional work and life drawing were left, Mhairi helped me decided how to call it which ended up being ‘sketchbook’. This longer word broke the idea that the previously mentioned website inspired me of having this short words in the header. However, I do like the name for that section, and so I went for it anyways.

For my About and Contact page, I actually put them together as ‘Meet’, following the short-words idea. I put it so that if you click on it, you will go to my About Me page, but if you just hover, you would also get the choices: contact and CV. During one of the tutorials, it was also suggested to me to put the CV somewhere else, so I later on decided to include it at the end of my Bio text. We also discussed whether the contact page was too hidden there. However, the header that appears in every page contains both my email and my social media, so it should not be really a problem to find my contact even if someone is in a rush. I also added a Contact button along to the CV one after my bio.

My bio took weeks to write as I tried different approaches and saw what people thought about each one of them. I asked a few lecturers and got great feedback from them. In the end, my about me says:

Hello there! I'm a Norwich-based animation student.I'm currently in my second year of Animation at the Norwich University of the Arts, specialising in 2D Animation. I have always been a visual and crafty person. Since an early age, I have had a passion for the arts and I have been working for them to become my professional career. As they say, 'find a job you enjoy doing and you will never have to work a day in your life’ Before Animation, I studied Fine Arts for a couple of years while participating in a sculpture studio in the evenings. I was able to do some commission work that gave me some early experience in working with clients. I love learning about other cultures and exploring the world. I come from Zaragoza, Spain, where I did my Spanish Baccalaureate in Artsbefore coming to the UK.

Which I think that summarises well the topics I wanted to mention, gives a warm and somehow interesting feeling and does not feel like a cv 2.0.

I also decided to keep the photo I included there after checking on many people that it was ok and didn’t bring out weird reactions. People agreed on it being a professional photo, and so it was fitting.

The contact page stayed pretty much the same. While the CV got a complete change of style. I did my cv both on the website and in a downloadable PDF.

I included the same info in the same order. I will soon have to update the Ponyo project, both here and everywhere else on my website. Mhairi liked the layout and overall look of it. The only things that pointed out were that: in the printed cv, the first things that she would look at would be the software that I know and use; and something that would make her go ‘uuuhhh’ would be the languages. So she suggested me to put these two on top of the education even, rather than at the very end of the page however that might mess up the layout. I understood what she meant, but for now, I prefer it as it is. Another thing that she mentioned was the cv on the website was only black and white + some light grey. She suggested me to add some hits of colour or small drawings that connect it better with me and my work.

Then, I came back to my ‘work’ page and removed my showreel from there, I did a home page again and put it there along with my name again. I thought about the layout and colours of this front page for a long time and arrived at this last final version were my name is all in one line, the tagline is now ‘-    2D Animator & Colour Enthusiast    -’ and the showreel is in the middle and does not open in expand neither plays automatically.

As you can see, I also designed a nicer cover for my reel and actually updated it and changed it once more so that I am happy with it now:

I got rid of some bits that were bothering me since Christmas and went straight to the point. Now I am really proud of it!

For my home page, I had this idea of having a darker background rather than a white one cause I wanted to keep that clean and minimalistic look while not making it look too empty or boring. I choose specifically something dark so that it acts kind of like a cinema, the colours would pop up better against a black rather than a white background too. Though, I avoided using pure black.

What Mhari had to say about these decisions were that she liked it but that she had some prejudices about the colour choice particularly. She told me that not choosing a pure black is a good choice but that the grey that I went for looked out of a template and not like if I did all the mental process of deciding it etc. She suggested two ways of fixing these issues: to use this grey somewhere else on the website so that it would look more consistent and as a conscious choice. Or the one that she really encouraged me to do: to change the grey for a lighter one so that it would look less trendy and more like a personal and original choice. I personally thought about the first choice, and I still do. As for the second one... I chicken out cause I am scared to use an ugly grey tbh.

Now, the only thing it is left mentioning is the blog. I decided to include a blog on my website halfway through the making of my website, and since then everyone has been continuously asking me ‘are you sure about that????’. I decided to have a blog on my site because:

I think it’s a way of getting to know me better - pop in a post and read a couple of paragraphs 

It is a good practice for me to keep up to date with exciting topics about the animation industry, and it prepares me for future conversations where I can bring them out

It shows some consistency as well as activity on my website

And some other reasons - such as having the perfect excuse to go to film premieres more often

In a nutshell, I think a blog is fitting for me - cause as you can see I don't really mind typing and typing if I have to - and has some potential. The only downside is that if for some reason I stop being consistent and publishing there it would give an awful image, in which case I would hide that page until it is alive again.

I worked in my blogs for a few weeks now, and I wanted to do something else with it, and so I came up with this:

I decided to write every Saturday - or every two Saturday when very busy - and add an illustration of mine using iconography related to the subject and using the same four colours over and over for it. For now, I am digging the looks of it, and I have been able to keep up with it, so I am really excited and proud of it.

But yeah, I hope this can kind of make it up to not having posted more regularly all my progress etc. I tried to cover every relevant change that I made, but I am sure there were more than I could have mentioned if I did my daily blogs on this project too etc. This last term I had a really hard time organizing my work, my life and my mind. But I tried to do my best in every project, so I hope that can save me just for this time!

[soundtrackphoto]

Utica, NY Sign

The older I get the more I find my mind goes backwards and forwards through time. Why wouldn’t it when you realize that things that were once staples of my youth became abandoned, ridiculed and made redundant. Regarded both as old fashioned and old ways of thinking. Yet now many are celebrated as being cool and relevant again. In music this has happened with the re-emergence of vinyl records and recording in analog instead of digital. Believe it or not, I was at a record show a few weeks ago and in some places the long forgotten cassette tape is making a resurgence! If 8-tracks make a similar return then the cycle will truly be complete.

Other recent trends that have slowly been coming back are things like typewriters, film photography, real corks in wine bottles, Atari video games, even quality non- disposable pens. What makes these comebacks satisfying for me is that it is not purely nostalgia driven. After years away from these things, I think people realized that they do prefer the tactile feel of a real pen in their hands for example. Some companies are realizing that the value of documents typed on a single sheet and stored in a physical filing cabinet is safer than being stored on a server digitally. Others are realizing that there is a benefit in this fast paced world of slowing down just a little bit…say the length of time it takes for a Polaroid photo to develop, another product making a comeback.   Some of these trends are more of a ‘best of both worlds’ scenario-new pressings of vinyl records that come with a digital download link or classic video games you can play on your smartphone. The key to all of these elements is the feeling that maybe there was a rush to push these things to redundancy a bit too quickly for things newer and flashier. The throes of technology can be alluring, but in honesty, they are not always the only way.

Long Island City, NY Sign

Another trend that I especially appreciate making a comeback are old building signs painted directly on the exteriors. Before newer, lighter, and cheaper methods took over, that is how billboards and company signs were done. There were no neon flashing signs or waving inflatable characters waving at you from the roadside, bombarding you with messages. Instead there was a building with its business name emblazoned on the front. Or for advertising purposes, the ad was painted directly on the side of the building. Often now when I come across these types of signs or billboards I take a photo. The photography is more for preservation sake and not creative. I just like what I am seeing and want to keep a record of  it because I have always liked these sorts of signs.

A number of years ago before I took up photography seriously I noticed one such old advertisement on a building near Lincoln Center in New York. Another building adjacent had been knocked down, which revealed a great old advertisement for a now forgotten brand of bread. The ad was in great shape, no doubt shielded from the weather by the now torn down building. But it did not last, as another building soon started going up, and before long the advertisement was covered up again. I’m kicking myself now for not taking a photo to preserve it, but who knows, perhaps the newer building will meet a similar fate and the same ad will see the light of day once again.

And I think that notion is exactly why I love those old signs so much. Just like with old vinyl or dusty typewriters, or old camera gear in a thrift store, they manage to hang on, year after year. Of course that is a testament to the way things were made back then, but also to the sensibility for what was important. Old billboards for Coca Cola had the same purpose as ads for Coke do now-to sell product. But somehow those painted billboards seem way less in your face than the flashy celebrity driven ads do now. Ads today are driven by market research, target audiences and data mining done from sites you click online. The old ads were trying to stand above the crowd too of course with slogans and characters pushing the product. But because they were in the pages of a magazine, or painted high above the street on a city building, they don’t come across the same way thinking about them now. Rather than being ‘in your face’ it was more the idea of ‘try it’ and tell all your friends.

Putnam, Connecticut Sign

Additionally, there were other signs that are just company names, and though they may have been defunct for years now, the signs still survive. You can usually pinpoint their age by telltale signs like fonts, design, and color patterns. It has been nice to see this trend coming back on some level today with new businesses painting murals on their buildings, or just using the side of a building as a blank canvas to advertise what a particular company does. I go back to that realization that tactile and audio elements have already come back. So why shouldn’t having the side of a building be the advertisement rather than a billboard? With a billboard you have to pay for the ad, the cost of the billboard itself, with the knowledge that it will only be up for a certain amount of time. With a painting there is an element of being permanent, of quality and confidence in a brand. Like those other things we have discarded that are coming back, perhaps we will get back to that idea again someday.

For the musical side of this post I wanted to feature someone that has that same sort of old school meets new school vibe. Music with one hand firmly based in the past, but musically in the present. In the 1990’s I came across the country band BR549 (the name came from a sketch on Hee Haw). Right away I was hooked by their infectious mix of original songs and classic country songs. Most sounded straight out of a 1953 honky tonk bar though the subject matter was pure rock and roll. None more so than my favorite song of theirs- ‘Little Ramona (Gone Hillbilly Nuts). It ties in well with what this post is about-things going back and forth in time. Ramona might have punk rock roots still in her, but she is more interested in the older country roots. Its the musical version of the examples from above. Living in the present, but having appreciation for the ‘realness’ of the past. Just like vinyl records, Polaroid cameras, typewriters, pens and old signs on older buildings. Below in the gallery are a few from my archives of old sign taken in several locations.

Little Ramona (Gone Hillbilly Nuts)-Written By Chuck Mead

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All Photographs By Robert P. Doyle

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Ozark, Alabama Sign

Baltimore, Maryland Sign

Long Island City Sign

Utica, NY Sign

Putnam, Connecticut Sign

Signs The older I get the more I find my mind goes backwards and forwards through time. Why wouldn't it when you realize that things that were once staples of my youth became abandoned, ridiculed and made redundant.