#i am still learning a lot about art so also ignore any inconsistency

[c0ntr0lledchaos]

So i had a few oc ref sheets posted to my other blog that I wanted to move here so I'm just going to put them all in one post. I have gotten a lot better since i drew some of these and my watermark has changed

[rattyarts]

Huge-ask post (I am VERY funny)

Because I have so many questions that can be answered with just text, and I have mentioned my dislike of filling my art blog up with Words Words Words... let’s get them all done in one go!

(You guys can blacklist #rattytalks if you’re just here for the draws, btw)

A shit ton of asks under the cut!

Anonymous said: So for the center of the world, what with it being forcefully PG and all Bad Thoughts TM being prevented, how does having kids happen? Do parents just black out and wake up holding a child in their arms and vague memories of the last 9 months?

Ever seen a movie where they do that “and one day... a baby was born!” thing and a kid just appears offscreen with no explanation?

(This is how it works everywhere, Edgelands included; no one does the do or gets pregnant in this setting.)

Anonymous said: Hello! Quick question, and sorry if you’ve answered this before, but can other elves see the “intangible” bits of one another? Big fan of your work btw!

Nope! And thank you!

Anonymous said: Leopold was in my dream last night but I sadly cannot remember any of it.

I am SO sorry. I will try to keep my stinky murder men out of your head in the future.

Anonymous said: are the floaty bits stuck in one spot, or could the one they are attached to learn to move them around their body as long as its still within a certain distance? like, someone with the Floaty limbs, lets call him Ray, can move his limbs all over his body, allowing him to do all sorts of neat things that others with their attached limbs probably couldn't?

Whatever you want, honestly. As a general rule of thumb I don’t like putting down TOO many hard rules that prevent people from having fun with this setting. (Please ignore and scrap anything you think is stupid, I do this all the time and enjoy keeping this setting inconsistent and contradictory)

Anonymous said: Do elf names work off of Death Note rules, or is it like, if you know one elf’s name, all elves with that name are now unable to harm you? So if all the elf brothers are named Martin, for example, does it only work with blue?

I think it’s prolly just the one! Probably? Idk, might change if I think of something funnier.

Anonymous said: Can elves do magic on themselves or does thst go against the knowing name rule

Most people tend to know their own names, lol. So in my opinion, no, but don’t let me stop you if you got a fun idea.

Anonymous said: Could an Elf stitch on parts from another elf and have them work? i.e an Elf's finds the arm of another Elf. "Hey, free arm, might as well put it to good use", so they attach the arm and now they can give three high fives at once!

Same deal as previous questions, I personally would say no, but I also encourage people to do whatever the hell they want. It’s more fun that way!

Anonymous said: I bet elves are greasy to the touch.

They’re very powdery! Like if you rolled them in flour. And by flour I mean nasty glowing elf dandruff.

Anonymous said: Can elves fly or are their wings just for show?

No flying!!! (Unless you’re a mousefly)

Anonymous said: Something tells me that the elves would LOVE Obatzda.

Had to look that up, but definitely!

no1fan15: Not sure if someone asked already- Does Edgeworld have any equivalent to demons and angels? Like the old rubberhose cartoon kind?

Demons, yes! That’s what imps are: basically any demon, devil, or generic monster, but tiny! Even a couple of pop culture critters in there, there’s probably a very small gillman or robot monster running around there somewhere.

Angels, not so far. 

Anonymous said: How come Margaret hasn't yeeted George's jar into the Edge yet

I’d say being locked in a closet is good enough! (and also I need him for plot reasons, don’t tell anyone)

Anonymous said: If elves have knees bulges in the front then do they have butt bulges in the back?

i do not want to think about elf bulges

Anonymous said: So if you find a baby Therewoof and you say "aw you're so cute", their true name is So Cute?

Yep!

Anonymous said: Since a Therewoof's true name can be something like "cutie pie" or "dingus", does their name have to be spoken with "intent" for it to doggo-fy them? Or do they just have to live with the reality that any casual conversation/flirting can make them lose up to a month to Doggy Mode? My mom has little terrier dog named "Sweetie" so that got me thinking 'bout Therewoof names. & Anonymous said: here's a good question: If someone says a therewoof's true name, but not reffering to them, does it still affect them?

Just saying it will do! It’s based on those old werewolf stories where calling out the person’s name will change them back into a human/cure them, and a lot of the time it was by accident.

(My favorite is the one where they slam the door on the wolf’s tail and then say his name, and the dude ends up with a wolf tail for the rest of his life.)

Anonymous said: Would Seeing eye Therewoofs be a thing?

I... guess? Probably? Since regular dogs can turn into woofs, yeah. You might have to start paying em once they turn into a person tho. 

Anonymous said: Was ChalkZone ever an inspiration for you? Because I just love the silly world of ChalkZone and I noticed getting that same warm feeling when thinking about Edgeworld.

Maaaan, I wish. I’ve only seen about three episodes or so, but it seems really fun!

Anonymous said: So I saw your mimic post, and even though I don't think I've seen any other of your art before I was absolutely HAMMERED with an indescribable sense of slightly unsettling strangeness and comfortable familiarity. Your art feels like something from like, an old point and click computer game I would have had formative memories of before accidentally losing or scratching the disc therefore making me unsure if it ever REALLY existed. Sorry for being weird but I love the wacky nostalgia feel here

Aaaaaah, THANK YOU! That is SUCH a cool comparison and I appreciate!!!

Anonymous said: If the Edgeworld is based on cartoons then is there a Reverse Edge-world that’s based on anime?

Lol, I mean I DID have an anime phase for a while there, so...

caydebug: Man I’d love to see this as a cartoon some day

Honestly, same. Best you’re gonna get is the occasional animatic or gif, tho.

Anonymous said: Does anyone..."go" in Edgeworld? or is it like Pleasantville where bathrooms exist but there are no toilets in them because acknowledging it is yucky?

Oh god I keep getting asked this and have been avoiding it like the damn plague. But... Uh. No. No they do not. I am begging you all not to send any followup questions.

Anonymous said: Have you considered putting computer viruses or illnesses in with the buggymen? Since those are typically called ‘bugs’

Sure!

Anonymous said: are there any limits to what an Animimic could posess? i.e if they were in a costume of a Buggieman with multiple arms, could they control all of them? what about a small Mousefly costume? can multiple fit into one costume like a clown car? and what about in pitch black darkness, where you can only see the lights of their eyes and not their bodies? could one fit inside the pocket of a jacket you are wearing and help you steal things/wield a gun like a living turret?

Since clothing fills into the body type of the intended wearer, they would indeed be able to control all arms/legs in buggieman clothes.

Size restrictions is one of these things I wanna try to be vague about: I personally have been imagining them sticking to hiding in things no smaller than, um. Maybe imp sized, but really, whatever. It’s a cartoon eyeball critter!

You can put multiple animimics in one outfit!

They can move around just fine in darkness without being off screen, yeah!

And sure why not. lol

Anonymous said: I know you have been asked this once before, and you said nah you don't, but with a few more months of worldbuilding, do you have an idea for what could be down the edge now? 🤔

Not really! It’s not super important, honestly. I’d say any fan theory is about as valid as anything else I can come up with.

ps2polpo: I doubt you’ll ever elaborate on The Edge but I like to imagine there’s just one dude there like the Nowhere Man from the Yellow Submarine movie. Mostly cause the thought of someone accidentally winding up there being like “where am I?” And there’s just a guy casually waving at him like a friendly neighbor is funny to me & Anonymous said: The implication that the Edge is the physical manifestation of edginess so there’s probably like, Trevor Henderson monsters hanging out down there.

See above question! Valid! I also accept falling forever, getting erased from existence, ending up in another universe, getting stuck in limbo with thousands of other people, whatever you want, really!

Anonymous said: " he has very few bones and weighs basically nothing, " "Fastball special" trope, but with Leo?

YEET THE NASTY MAN

Anonymous said: did you ever watch dragon tales as a kid? because george and margaret make me think of murderous zak and wheezie from that show, and i love it to bits

I did not, but I would have loved it. Definitely up my alley!

(watched Quest for Camelot a loooot, though!)

Imma go ahead and stop here! There’s more but I’ve been writing for well over an hour and I have things to do. If your question is missing I’m either saving it for later, wasn’t entirely sure how to answer, or it’s spoilery.

Will probably do another one of these at some point!

[loopy777]

RE: WIPs game: do I even want to know what Dicebenders is is it another scam how many times are the Gaang gonna get arrested for scamming

No, this time it's me scamming people. XD The dice in question are the RPG Dungeons & Dragons kind.

For a while I was doing a screencap webcomic in the style of "DM of the Rings" and "Darths & Droids" with another creative fan named Captain Boomerang. I was the scriptwriter and selected the screenshots for each panel, and Capt-BA would assemble the comics and improve my scripts (a process that did frustrate me a little, as I felt locked out of the revision process, but I did like the results. I just felt like I wasn't holding up my end of the partnership a bit). I wrote a story bible explaining the characters and storytelling rules, planned out the adaptation of the entire AtLA premiere, and had less detailed plans for the rest of the series, but we only got 6 comics in before Capt-BA went on a trip and never returned to the internet. I did manage to re-establish contact with her long enough to get permission to continue the comic, but the problem is that I have no image-editing skills whatsoever.

If I could find comic-making software that I know would do what I want and be easy to use, I wouldn't mind dropping some money on it, but everything I've looked at is trying to do lots of things I don't need. I only want a way to import existing pictures into comic grids, and then easily add dialogue bubbles. That's it. But the stuff I've found is more about image-editing than comic assembly, and it takes me an hour to put together a dialogue bubble that looks good. So I have 3 scripts that were never produced, which along with the planning docs are what's in that WIP folder, and I don't ever see myself going beyond that.

Besides, someone else already managed to complete something like this, and while I'm not a fan, I don't need to be. At this point, Dicebenders is dead. I'm glad I tried it, and it's a shame it didn't work out, but I'm happy with the other projects I've done instead.

I am squatting on an empty Tumblr for it, though.

Anyway, to share something new, here's the first section of the Story Bible I wrote to make sure Capt-BA and I were on the same page in terms of characterization. The rest of the bible details the plotlines for full series.

AVATAR: THE LAST DICEBENDER

BIBLE

Premise- A small group of players attempt to run a fantasy martial arts RPG that winds up essentially becoming the Avatar saga, or something very close. The main point of the series is comedy, based mostly on ridiculous links between Avatar and RPG's. Sometimes the humor will be in the vast difference between what happens in the comic, and what happens in the cartoon with the same screenshots. Other times, the funny will come from the unexpected ways they converge.

SPIRITUAL PREDECESSORS

DM of the Rings- The original, and my personal favorite. It's a good showcase of how to run a single quest together, while using narrative jumps to skip to the good bits.

Darths & Droids- A similar project, this stands out from its predecessor in two main ways. The players and GM are more friendly with each other, and are more or less having fun with each other. There is also a running, coherent storyline in both the game and in the lives of the players.

Benders & Brawlers- This is actually an existing attempt to do Darths & Droids with Avatar. This is helpful as an example of what we DON'T want to do, retell the Avatar story in a completely straightforward manner, with RPG players behind the characters.

CHARACTERS

None of the characters will be given real names. The players shall always be referred to by their character names, although this can be done in a teasing, ironic manner. When the characters are speaking, their dialogue bubble must always be attached to an image of the character.

The Gamemaster- The GM is a female in her early teens. She is a geek, and a bit of a social outcast for it. Nevertheless, she's trying to make that work for her, although she's not quite mature enough to make it happen yet. She has just discovered RPG's, and in her enthusiasm has gone all out in starting her own campaign. The only problem is that she doesn't know how to recruit players, so she ropes her best friend and little brother into playing with her. This is the GM's first campaign, so she'll a little in over her head. She knows the mechanics of play, and what she's supposed to be doing as GM, but doesn't have the fine skill in crafting an engaging RPG experience. Still, she wants to do her best, is willing to learn, and has a positive attitude about the whole thing. The GM has a strong crush on the Sokka player, but the only way she can express it is by having all the female NPC's flirt with the Sokka character.

Katara- Female in early teens, and the GM's best friend. Katara's player was friends with the GM from when they were both in grammar school, so while they have grown up into wildly different personality types, they are fully loyal to each other. Katara is popular, and outgoing, and doesn't care or know about geek stuff at all. She's only playing the game because the GM begged her to. At first, Katara is clueless about RPG's, and frequently questions or ridicules the mechanics of the game. She never quite gets into the idea of role-playing, but quickly takes to the idea of meta-gaming. She'll have her character act like a righteous do-gooder, because completing missions and fighting bad guys earns XP. She hoards items that will boost her stats. She'll advocate abandoning a mission/plot if it doesn't pay out enough rewards. Katara's player also can tend towards trying to Mary Sue her character, but this is inconsistent and usually shot down by everyone else.

Aang- Male in junior high, and the GM's little brother. He plays simply because his sister has cajoled him into it, and there are hints that he's getting some kind of reward or payment for it. He abuses his position by forcing the GM to give him what he wants in the game, even if it breaks the rules- access to the restricted Airbender class, the ability to bend all four elements, overloaded stats, an Avatar State that protects him from dying, a magic super flying cow ride, etc. However, it's important to note that Aang's player isn't a jerk. He's just immature, and like all kids, just always goes for what he wants via the easiest path, and doesn't realize that he may be causing trouble or hurting feelings. He's enthusiastic about trying out this RPG thing, but he has trouble coming up with any action beyond attacking or retreating. He's also hyper aware that the GM and Katara are girls. He is too old for cootie concerns, but thinks that girls are fundamentally different creatures with their own incomprehensible concerns. Having a big sister, he doesn't find this a big deal, just part of life. Aang's player is too young to be a geek. He likes cartoons and sports and fantasy and school-dramas. He also tends to follow whatever his sister likes.

Sokka- Male in late teens. This guy is your quintessential RPG player. He has is own top-quality dice, he's played campaigns and systems of all kinds, and knows the tropes of the hobby cold. He's a huge geek for all things geeky, but roleplay is easily his favorite. He's a social outcast, but he's made friends among his fellow geeks, and thinks life is just fine. Sokka's player joins when he meets the GM at the comic/games shop they both frequent. The GM was buying some sourcebooks and material to support the fantasy martial arts game she's running, and Sokka noticed, asked about it, liked what he heard, and got permission to join the game. What Sokka doesn't realize, because he is a geek and neither has experience with it or realizes it's even possible, is that the GM is sweet on him. This manifests in the character Sokka's canon luck with the ladies, only kicked up a notch. *Every single* female NPC flirts with him, whether it's appropriate or not. Sometimes player Sokka notices and tries to roleplay it, and sometimes he's just plain confused. Sokka has a few quirks. His best set of dice are his Lucky Red Dice, which always roll high when he needs it, but have been tested and proven to be fair dice. He also mandates that every character he plays use a boomerang; he was turned into a geek by the first video game he ever played, a Legend of Zelda title, and his favorite weapon from those games are the boomerang. Each of his characters has a unique, named boomerang.

Zuko- The GM's favorite NPC. She created him to be a compelling, dramatic character, with a complicated back story, moral struggles, badass loner personality, angst about his existence, a darkly noble quality, and a cool scar. The GM intended Katara to get to know Zuko, for her to try to woo him away from the side of evil, and perhaps to even have a romance with him. The PC's, however, couldn't care less about him. To them, he's just another mini-boss, and the fact that most of his character development is happening "off screen" means they don't realize that he's recruitable. A frequent gag is Zuko delivering a stirring monologue while no one pays attention.

Iroh- Background NPC. The GM tries to use him to give (ignored) hints to the players.

Toph- (tentative) A male munchkin gamer who picked a long list of weaknesses in order to get superbending. Toph's player is a friend of Sokka's player, brought in after an "incident" with his old group, and causes some initial resentment in the group when tries to show the n00bs how its done. Cowing Toph's player is a major victory for the GM.

Momo- NPC, but maybe make him a talking sidekick who gives the players hints when the GM is really exasperated?

Azula- the GM's best favorite villain. Azula is the GM unleashed, letting her take out frustrations on the players in both combat and harsh taunting. Eventually the GM comes to like the character so much, she retcons mental health issues into the character's backstory, and has her pet NPC, Zuko, spare her.

[wovensims]

CLAUDE FAUSTINE PIERCE TAYLOR for @steinsims​ Bachelorette Challenge! 

+Warning, lots of reading! Hints of misogyny, ableism, dead bodies.+

A letter addressed to Mr. Floyd Faustine, written in lemon juice. While invisible to the eye, the following text appears once slightly heated over a candle.

Mr. Faustine,

I wonder if you are even reading the messages I send you. Perhaps as soon as you realized this “Mr. Taylor” was your wife’s bastard, I am sure you have been using them to light your fires.

But I know how much you cared for your daughter. And writing has given me some peace. So, I hope that the words I give you end up burning well.

I have only ever visited the asylum grounds twice, each time only giving me more questions than answers. It seems the only time they would allow some other entity to prepare the body is if the family happens to live here, and would cause a fuss. They have their own doctors on the grounds, with much better use for a cadaver than a funeral.

If only you had kept Philomena home. 

But, despite the troubles, the opportunity I stumbled upon was simply too good to ignore. The local undertaker stands on his last legs with no heir to his company. You understand meaning of legacy, and how much he would hate for the business he spent so long building to whether away in unqualified hands. How unfortunate for him. He was too quick to read through my qualifications to notice the inconsistencies between the degrees and doctorates. He is too kind and answers all the questions I ask. Who knows, perhaps God has given me a path in life.

And I will have to ignore it. 

Are you pretending Philomena’s death has no ill-effect on you, then? I suppose I see the logic in that. She’s gone, but you’ll have your heir soon enough, if the child hasn’t been born already. Give Mother my love.

But, I remember how lovingly you would watch her come home, barefoot with mud between her toes. When you’d share in laughter over small things, like mismatched socks and fires that last too long. You understood her. If I could get one answer from you--Why did you send her away? Was it at least as hard for you as it was I, when I learned of her stay only after finding out she had perished? Taken her life, they say.

I’ve written far too much. A hefty letter has a larger chance of the wrong person opening it. 

Yours.

FACTS

Pierce studied the arts, until his father excluded him from the household after his suspicions that he was not of his blood had been confirmed and confessed to by his mother. 

Despite this, he still considers Mr. Faustine his father, although now only refers to him under Mr. Faustine or some other variant.  

His younger years were spent studying under Mr. Faustine, and thus has been introduced to the business world. It was here he honed a skill in the forging of documents, that continues to help him as he drifts from place to place. It’s also another reason to keep his name secret. Most other rich, wealthy men really hate the Faustines--they’re known as scammers. 

He truly only wishes to give his sister a form of goodbye, they had been so close growing up and she was the only one who would reach out to him once he was exiled from the family. 

He now lives with his mentor, an old undertaker in the local community. While he’s conned his way into it, he’s grown to start appreciating the practice.

Given the stressful situation he’s under, he’s a bit of a flight risk. He's good with people, a nice man, but if he feels himself getting caught, he will flee first and think second. He doesn’t mean to abandon or hurt people, but this mission is very important to him.

Due to his own exclusion from his family, and his experiences with his sister, he feels a great amount of sympathy for the patients of the asylum. He is disgusted, but one track minded, and that mind is focused on finding his sister. This is why he hasn’t done much for the other victims, or really even talked to them before.

Bonus Stuff I Like To Throw In

He used to be pretty consistent about keeping his face well-shaven, but due to the unusual circumstances, it’s fallen to the wayside. 

His painting skills are better than most perhaps, but he studied namely as a member of a company. He’s not exactly getting any awards for the pieces he completed. Still, he did love studying art and maybe once he settles down he’ll actually paint more.

His dream would be to live in a large house, and have some children of his own that he’d raise and love and never abandon as his fathers have. But, it’s a dream he’s mostly given up on. At the very least, he’d settle for having a little more money. 

He’s had a lack of sleep and definitely has fallen asleep in the morgue. Which, is very ill-advised. 

Thanks very much to steinsims for hosting this unique challenge, it’s my first time doing ANYTHING like this but I had a lot of fun creating him! Also can’t stop relistening to Emilie Autumn now. 

[allurefm-blog]

hey ! my name is link ! i go by he / they pronouns , am 21+ & live in the cst timezone ! i’m an obnoxious aries , but i promise i’m nice for a clown . i’m excited to be here ‘cause i’m a slice of life h*e . & this here is my weirdo tommy , who i hope you’ll like a lot . under the cut , you’ll find some misc. info & wanted connections , but here’s his dossier & pinterest board , which has more information for you . feel free to like this if you’d like to plot & i’ll swing by in your ims ( or ask for discord which is honestly easier for me but it’s okay if you don’t ) !

☕ . ˚ ◝  (  kim jongin. genderfluid. he/they. ) thomas “tommy” song is a twenty-five year old gemini. the deja brew barista’s go-to order is matcha lemonade and grilled cheese. they like to listen to tempo by lizzo feat. missy elliott while they wait for their order. the employees of the deja brew think they are inconsistent but swear they’re totally versatile as well. maybe that’s why collected sketchbooks that remain empty, horror movie marathons, band tees paired with perpetually messy hair remind me of them.

misc. info : ( content warning for : emotional abuse & neglect, negative religious imagery )

they’ve always lived in the la area & don’t really see themselves leaving even if they hate it here sometimes for whatever reasons they made up in their heads

their father owns several businesses & is generally well off. he has people convinced that he’s a really good guy but in private he’s an unbearable asshole. just really nitpicky about everything & overbearing in forcing his opinions on his family

their mother was a struggling actress & the few projects she was in flopped & then she became too old by society’s standards to get work & tommy’s dad ragged on her for it, poking at her appearance / weight until she finally gave up & settled for being his assistant

not only is their dad just a dick he’s also extremely catholic which intensified his already aggressive personality. for as long as tommy can remember their dad nagged him for anything possible. they never seemed to be “enough of a man” for him which absolutely tainted the way they viewed themselves

this plays a large part into why they decided to dump the idea of being a man period. all their life they never felt comfortable with being masculine & felt like a failure any time they tried but it wasn’t until their late teens that they felt comfortable identifying as nonbinary

they also suffer from a lot of catholic guilt. their dad was that typical shitty religious guy who went on homophobic rants at random so those views affect them even now

while they consider themselves closeted & default to saying they’re straight when asked they don’t keep up with it very well. any time a pretty guy makes eye contact with them they’re gonna go for it then beat themselves up for it later

they’re a thot. they enjoy physical intimacy but don’t really believe in the idea of romantic love ( yep his dad ruined that for them too ) so they prefer to sleep around than try to get close to anyone

whatever relationships they’ve been in they probably ruined it by not being affectionate or caring enough because they never learned how to be like that with another person ( whatever feelings they and their mother shared were more out of pity than actual love )

also they might be a cheater. i haven’t fully decided if they have or not but they definitely consider it constantly when they’re dating ( if you want some kind of plot like this let’s goooo )

so basically they struggled growing up but just emotionally & mentally. they were great in school but they hated the experience & everything along with their parents caused them to become pretty anxious & introverted in their adulthood

they can & will go out but they prefer not to & they’re terrible at socializing. things can be pretty awkward with them without them meaning to. & their sense of humor is very dry so it can come off as mean ( again without meaning to )

they’re really interested in drawing & painting but they went to college for computer science & honestly it makes them pretty miserable but they’d rather suffer than deal with their dad jumping down their throat

they took a couple of years off from school to gather themselves mentally ( basically had a breakdown in the middle of a semester & their dad still drags him for it ) but are in their senior year now

they only answer to tommy. if you call them tom or thomas you’ll just get a scowl in response then ignored

basically they’re both a fake goth & art hoe. they wear black sometimes but not constantly but always refer to themselves as a goth & they buy more sketchbooks than they need ‘cause they never draw in them ( they prefer using napkins & their textbooks )

they roll up their jeans and their sleeves because they’re bisexual

dogs are some of the only things that will make them outwardly happy if you want them to lose their mind then just show them a dog or even pics / videos

they love matcha it’s their favorite flavor but they actually hate coffee despite working in a cafe. but they’re really good at making latte art & getting tips because they’re pretty & and good at flirting with customers

they’re obsessed with horror movies. they relate a lot to movie monsters for trans reasons & find them comforting even when they’re super gory. currently their favorite movie is midsommar so you can catch them going off about it a lot

they love slushies & smoothies. if it’s blended & has a lot of sugar then they fuck with it heavily. also most of the time they’re too lazy to make their own food so they use drinks a lot as meal replacements 

they can’t cook worth a damn. they probably get most of their food from deja brew

they love plants a lot & keep a bunch of them at all times 

they’re a hipster they love collecting vinyls & patches for their many denim jackets

they love going on drives to anywhere everywhere at random. they don’t need a destination they just wanna drive

they sleep in small four hour bursts & are pretty much always tired

they love pizza & pasta. if it’s italian they’re a stan

they’re super clumsy. probably run into things or trip five times a day

they’re secretly dramatic & gets upset when their friends / lovers don’t give them enough attention but they will never bring it up other than through playing it up 

they collect band tees even for bands they don’t listen to & they don’t care if they get called out for it

wanted connections : 

rooommates ( one or two )

exes ( any gender. it can be messy or friendly. i’m willing to have tommy be the issue since they can be rather uncaring & we could even do a cheating plot if you want maximum angst. also bonus points if they’re exes that are still “involved”. )

hookups / fwbs ( any gender. singular experiences or regular type things )

childhood plots for those who’ve lived in la ( childhood friends, first kisses / crushes, all that good stuff )

high school sweethearts

their first sexual experience with someone masculine. i want the awkward teen ( or early twenties whichever ) experience & it’s probably something that tommy gets ( dare i say it ? ) shy about even now

flirtationships that don’t go anywhere

maybe a regular customer that they keep flirting with & the customer thinks they actually have a thing for them but they don’t & it’s weird & awk

maybe they fuck up your drink and your muse is mad about it but they try to flirt their way out of it with either good or disastrous results

your muse is the person that has to deal with this behavior

one-sided crushes ( don’t mind who has the feelings ! )

mutual pining but they’re both idiots & have no idea

anything from this tag 

party buddies. horror movie buddies. video game buddies. road trip buddies. any of these can be combined

tinder date ( it can go well or not )

literally anything you can think of i’m probably down for it

[blurry-fics]

Wednesday

Warnings: None

Word Count: 2034

Author’s Note: Sorry for the inconsistent post times this week! I’ve finally had a chance to sleep in and, well, I like to sleep in. I’ll try and keep it a bit more consistent going forward! Enjoy day four :)

*     *     *     *     *

You were in the middle of taking a long drink of orange juice when someone tapped you on the shoulder, scaring you so bad that you almost spit it all over the table. The girls at the table began to laugh at you, but you simply wiped your mouth with the back of your hand and turned to see who it was.

“Finished it,” Tyler grinned, holding his hand out to you.

Sure enough, in his hand was a red and yellow bracelet. It wasn’t the prettiest bracelet that you had seen, but being a camp counselor had also created a pretty high standard in your mind. All that mattered to you was the fact that Tyler had actually spent time outside of your activity to finish it.

“I love it,” you smiled. “Do you mind?”

You held out your arm and Tyler carefully tied the bracelet around your wrist. His fingers brushed lightly against your skin, sending tingles up your arm.

“That better be on your arm every time I see you until the end of this week,” he said, pointing a finger at you.

“We made a deal!” you said.

“Good, now I have a table of rowdy boys and a less-than-pleased cabin partner to get back to,” he laughed.

“Later, Vulture.”

He lightly traced a hand along your shoulder as he walked away from your table, making you smile like an idiot. The girls were all watching your reaction.

“I told you! Vulture is the one she likes!” one of the girls said.

“No, no, no. You didn’t hear the rumor that I did.”

“And what was that?”

“That yesterday during arts and crafts, her and DJ Spooky chased each other around with paint. He even grabbed her arm.”

“Yeah, but did he make her a bracelet?”

“You can still see the blue paint on her arm! Does it matter?”

“Girls,” you cut them off and slid your arm under the table. “I’m right here.”

Jenna chimed in too, “And what did we say about discussing other people’s relationships?”

“Not allowed,” the one who had started it all sighed, slumping back into her seat.

“Exactly, so let’s talk about something else.”

“What’s our activity today?” Poppy asked.

Jenna pulled out her neat little folder and whipped out the weekly schedule, glancing over it quickly.

“This afternoon we have a hike with the leaders of the blue cabin and then purple cabin is in charge of the activity tonight.”

“Blue cabin?” you asked.

“Yes, your favorite,” Jenna laughed, shooting you a look.

“DJ Spooky,” one of the kids gasped.

“Girls, make sure to fill up your water bottles before we leave the cafeteria, ok?” you said. “I don’t want any of you getting dehydrated on the hike today.”

“Aye, aye, captain,” a couple of the girls cheered.

You and Jenna shared a look; both of your eyes were open wide.

“Where did you learn that?” Jenna asked.

“The boys were saying it during the activity last night,” one of the girls answered.

“Yeah, they said it every time DJ Spooky asked them to do something.”

Jenna sighed and shot another look at you, causing you to giggle. You should have known it would only be so long before Josh’s joke caught on.

*     *     *

“This right here,” Josh said, pointing to a yellow flower growing on the side of the path, “is called Goatsbeard.”

“Goats don’t have beards!” one of the little girls holding your hand said. “That’s a stupid name.”

“We didn’t come up with it,” Brad said. “We’re just supposed to teach you about it.”

“It’s native to this area,” Josh explained. “Does anyone want to get a closer look?”

Most of the girls stepped forward and examined the plant, poking at the little flowers or drawing pictures of it on their sketchpads. Josh wandered over to where you and Jenna were standing.

“How do you think it’s going so far?” he asked.

“Really well,” you answered. “The girls seem to be enjoying themselves.”

“And what about you?”

“Yeah, I’m having fun,” you shrugged.

“Come on, Y/C/N,” Josh joked, giving you a light elbow in the ribs. “Show some enthusiasm.”

“Woo, plants!” You threw your hands up and moved them around a little bit in some form of happy dance. Jenna looked at you, trying her hardest not to laugh.

“I’m going to go see if Brad needs any help,” Jenna said, giving you a light tap on the shoulder.

“Ok, good luck.”

“Are you actually enjoying yourself?” Josh asked, dropping his over-the-top camp persona for a moment.

“Of course I am! Hiking has always been one of my favorite activities. I’m jealous you’re in charge of it this year.”

“You don’t get tired of walking the same trail over and over again?”

“Not at all, especially if you’re with the right people,” you smiled, bumping him with your arm.

Josh was about to say something in return when two little girls came skipping over to you, each holding a couple brightly colored flowers in their hands.

“DJ Spooky! I got you some flowers,” the first girl said.

“Yeah, and I got you prettier ones,” the second said, stepping in front of her friend.

“Both of these are equally beautiful,” Josh grinned. “Thank you.”

He turned to you and raised his eyebrows. You reached out and took the flowers from his hand, tucking them neatly behind his ear.

“Perfect,” you giggled.

“You’re so pretty!” the girls laughed, temporarily forgetting their feud.

“Am I?” Josh asked, turning to you.

“Gorgeous.”

The girls ran off, whispering excitedly to one another. Josh always seemed to attract the most attention from the little girls, mostly because he was such a good sport about it. He always wound up with a fan club by the end of the week.

Josh leaned a little closer to you so that he could whisper in your ear, “You think this is a good time to mention that I’m allergic to flowers?”

You couldn’t help but crack up at his comment, although you did feel a little bad for putting the plants so close to his face.

“Alright, let’s keep moving! There’s a lot more plants to see,” he announced.

“Aye, aye, captain!” the girls called, falling into line behind Brad and linking up with their buddies.

With Brad and Jenna at the lead, you and Josh were able to hang back behind the group and look out for stragglers. He pointed out a couple spots to you that he claimed were exceptional for stargazing, if you could manage to sneak past the supervisors that roamed the camp late at night.

You were in the middle of telling a story about a kid that had run off during the hike last year when you felt something brush against your hand. Josh was walking pretty close to you, so you figured you had bumped into him on accident. But then it happened again. And again.

This was definitely intentional.

“And then what happened?” Josh asked. You hadn’t even realized you had stopped talking.

“Oh, we found him down in the creek with his shoes off. He had to finish the hike with a counselor for a buddy.”

“Wow,” Josh laughed. “Yeah, nothing like that has happened today. Yet.”

“That’s good.”

“You feeling alright, Y/C/N? Your face is kinda pink.”

“Yeah, it’s just… warm,” you said, waving a hand around.

“Warm, yeah,” Josh laughed.

“Hey, DJ Spooky!” Brad called. “Get your butt up here.”

The kids all started to laugh at Brad’s use of a “bad” word.

“That’s my cue,” Josh said, giving your arm a light tap.

“Have fun,” you smiled, watching as he walked to the front of the group.

Jenna joined you at the back of the group, but you were too distracted by Josh catching your eye every now and again to pay much attention.

*     *     *

You and Jenna were sitting at the edge of the hill, watching as the cabins played a large game of Red Rover. Tyler had just been captured by the other team after unsuccessfully trying to break their chain. Most of the kids - and a few of the rowdier counselors - were yelling excitedly and bouncing around.

“Y/C/N! Daisy! Come join the game!” one of the girls from your cabin called.

“Yes! Please!” another chimed in.

You looked to Jenna, who simply shrugged. Together, you ran down the hill and joined opposite teams, just to keep things fair. Poppy happily offered up a spot next to her in the line.

“Whose turn is it?” you asked.

“Theirs,” Poppy answered plainly.

The other team spent some time deciding who they would call over before Josh led the chant.

“Red Rover, Red Rover, send Y/C/N right over!”

You should have seen that one coming. After a bit of convincing to get Poppy to let go of your hand, you went running over to the other side and attempted to break through their link. Unfortunately for you, Josh was straight across from you, making your task nearly impossible. They eventually called it a fail and you joined the opposing team.

“Nice try,” Josh smiled as he unlinked his hand so that you could take a place next to him.

“You’re just too strong.”

You linked your fingers with Josh’s and tried not to move your hand around too much. After all, this was just a game. Still, it was hard to ignore the way he would give your hand a light squeeze every now and again.

The game went on for another twenty minutes until your team captured all the other team’s members and emerged victorious. Josh went around, giving everyone high fives and congratulating them on the win. Eventually, he made his way over to you and pulled you into a sweaty hug.

“You may not have been on our team to begin with, but you were essential to our win,” he laughed.

“Thanks, Spooky,” you said, giving him a couple pats on the back.

You were about to start up a conversation with him when a couple girls from your cabin came running over, demanding your attention. Instead, you settled for a wave and followed them across the field.

*     *     *

You stripped off your sweaty t-shirt from the day and pulled on your nice pajama shirt. All of the girls were sitting around the cabin, enjoying their downtime before lights out. Most of them were playing card games or telling stories and you were happy to finally have some time to rest after the long day.

“How much time until lights out?” you asked Jenna.

“About ten minutes.”

“Good. I’m ready to pass out right now.”

“Me too,” she laughed. “It’s been a long day.”

“I know, and we’re just over halfway through the week.”

Poppy came running over to your bunk, practically throwing herself on top of you. You managed to catch her and avoid her completely landing on your stomach, but you still ended up with an elbow straight to the gut.

“How about we make a new rule about not jumping on counselors?” you wheezed.

“But that was so fun!” she squealed.

“Too bad. What do you need, Poppy?”

“I need help settling a debate.”

“What’s the debate?”

“Amy said that Vulture is her boyfriend, but obviously he’s mine!”

“Is that so?” you asked, sharing a look with Jenna.

“Yes! And she’s saying the she called dibs on him first, but I called dibs on the first day!”

“Well, have either of you actually talked to Vulture about him being your boyfriend?”

“Um… no.”

“Then I don’t think he’s anybody’s boyfriend.”

Poppy leaned really close to you and cupped a hand around your ear before dramatically whispering, “Except for yours.”

“Vulture isn’t my boyfriend, but if he was, then you shouldn’t be debating about him in the first place,” you said, tickling her stomach.

Poppy squealed and went running back to her small group of friends. You looked to Jenna, who was shaking her head and smiling.

“Girls, make sure all your things are put away nicely! Lights out is in seven minutes.”

“Ok, Daisy!” a few of them called back.

Four days down, three to go.

*     *     *     *     *

Taglist

@faceofcontvsions @ohprettyweeper @addictwithaheavydirtycheetah @addictoftwentyone @svintsandghosts @patdsinner33 @gaiatheroyalrabbit @coolcxt

[unnaturalcuriosity]

UnnaturalCuriousity’s Rules Post {For Mobile Users}

{icon art by @stoplickingthingsweird}

                            B   A   S   I   C      ✪      R   U   L   E   S

Things to Know

🔬 Please respect my rules and boundaries. I will give polite warnings if someone breaks a minor rule, but if it's obvious that you're blatantly disregarding what I've said here and/or are breaking serious rules, then that shows a lack of respect. Therefore I reserve the right to take action by directly confronting you and/or ending further interactions IC and/or OOC.

🔬 Since Dr. Kantalo’s job is to know a lot about other alien species, and she is meant to be a highly intelligent character, she will know in depth information about canon alien races from Universe 7. (Saiyans, Namekians etc.) This will include things like what makes them weak in combat. (For Saiyans it’s having their tail pulled unless it’s been trained. For Namekians it’s whistling.) If your muse is an OC whose backstory includes any contact with the Planet Trade Organization/Frieza Force, it would make sense for her to learn/know moderate to advanced information about your OC’s alien race when we interact. However, in order to avoid making you feel like I’m godmodding/metagaming I will ask permission OOC to mention such details and plot with you before using such information in a response. If having my muse know things about your OC muse’s race that comes from your about page and headcanon posts bothers you, please let me know and we can come up with reasons for why she wouldn’t know them in that great of depth. Know that having Dr. Kantalo possessing knowledge about your muse’s race isn’t the same as knowing their personal history/background. Not unless we plot for them to have some existing relationship prior to the start of our first thread. 🔬 If you are a personal blog following me because you are interested in my original characters and the content I publish here, all I ask is that you don't reblog asks that involve my RP partners and don't reblog our roleplay threads. That's considered rude in the RPC as it can interfere with our activity feed and our ability to track threads. I would also prefer if people didn't reblog my headcanon posts that are specific to my roleplay portrayal of my muses. Reblogging posts of artwork done of my OC is fine, so long as you don't erase the credits of who drew it and you don't try to claim credit for making my OCs. 🔬 If you'd like to draw my OC/s I would be thrilled to see it! You can submit it or post the artwork and tag this blog (and if you want to my personal blog, @raxceni). Make sure to credit me as the person who owns/made the OC/s you drew. 🔬 I am 18+ and so is my muse. Topics that are Safe for Tumblr but are still better suited for a mature audience from the past and present are tagged as #lemon goodness or #touch of citrus if it's questionably mature. Past and present content that I believe needs a trigger warning are tagged with #tw; _____ for possible triggering content. If you have specific triggers let me know and I’ll do my best to remember and accommodate. {Trigger Warning Tags Master Post link} 🔬 I will never hold it against a person if they want to unfollow me or drop me as a roleplay partner for any reason. If you wish to speak to me about the reasons why, you may do so but please be civil. 🔬 I consider myself a Continuity Queen™ which means I remember things and want to keep relationships and serious rp threads consistent. The little things are important to me, but not to the point where it interferes with enjoyment of roleplaying. If your muse is struggling to interact with mine, you can talk to me about do-overs and re-plotting. I may discuss ways we can salvage the relationship with what we’ve already done, but if that doesn’t work out doing things over is fine. (But it must be communicated to me!!!) A do-over that won't guarantee that they'll get along the way you or I want though. If I see you trying and putting in effort, I'll return that effort on my end. Likewise, if you notice any inconsistencies in our thread on my end, let me know and we can correct the issue together.

Mun Activity & Selectivity

🔬 I am selective for this roleplay blog due to time. That means I’m not going to roleplay with anyone I’m not following/mutuals with.  I’m a busy/easy to tire tired person that tires easily due to some health issues I’ve been dealing with since 2018. I also run two other rp blogs. I won’t force myself to roleplay with people I don’t feel a strong enough interest with in terms of their muse, roleplay writing style, etc. I will always encourage people to talk to me, but know that it won’t guarantee anything. It’s nothing personal if I choose not to roleplay with you. Not everyone is a good roleplay partner for each other, and it’s not about being “better” or “worse” than someone else. I don’t mind telling you why I’m not interested, but don’t be rude or try to force interactions. 🔬 I ask that nobody tags me in serious roleplay or IC interaction threads without speaking with me first and getting my consent so we can plot things out. (Unless I reach out to you first IC or OOC.) Especially if we aren't following each other. Mutuals can send IC interaction asks if I reblog memes. If non-mutuals ignore this rule I will not respond to the starter and I may even block you because you haven't taken the time to read my rules or notice my header information that clearly states that this blog is selective. 🔬 If we start to/continue to roleplay together please be patient with me and keep in mind that I will be slow to respond to our threads. As you probably know I run two other canon muse blogs, and they are fairly active. You can always come talk with me about our thread/s and plot with me to give direction to our thread/s that engages both our muses mutually. If you feel like a thread got lost and/or it's been awhile since we last spoke or I last responded come talk to me. You can check if I'm keeping track of a thread by visiting my {Thread Tracker link.}

Unacceptable Roleplay Etiquette:

🔬 Various types of powerplay, godmoding, force shipping, etc. 🔬 Toxic behaviors and attitudes (like jealousy) that cause problems for yourself and others. 🔬 Muns projecting themselves into their character so much that muse = mun. 🔬 Muses and/or muns who are under 18 approaching me and my muse for shipping and/or smut. 🔬 Using me and my muse for any reason that isn’t for IC plot that’s planned. 🔬 Muns assuming that muse = mun and treating me poorly because of it. 🔬 Genuine lack of respect for muns as people who come first before our hobby. 🔬 Muns who create rp blogs on a whim and delete/abandon them with little to no notice frequently once they lose interest in that muse, and not because the mun is just busy IRL or having health issues. Depending on the offense, I will first speak with you about the issue. However, if the bad behavior doesn’t stop or I don’t like how you respond, I am well within my right to drop threads and not interact with you. I have a zero tolerance policy for toxic people and their abusive antics. If I find out you are guilty of being malicious towards anyone in the rp community presently or have in the past and continue to be toxic, I am not obligated to give you a second chance. I came here to have fun, not instruct adults on how to be decent human beings.

Writing Fight Threads With Me

🔬 I am selective with who I write fight scenes with. Some people make it awkward because of what they consider to be godmodding etc. and because of that I often lose interest in those threads. 🔬 You MUST SPEAK TO ME OOC if you're interested in doing a thread where our muses fight or spar.

How to Treat the Muse

🔬 DO NOT treat my muse like she's here to dote on and worship your muse, regardless of any connections/alliances she might have to other canon DBZ characters. She follows her orders, and respects her superiors and co-workers, but she's not here a push-over. 🔬 Dr. Kantalo may be a female OC, but she's not here for romance and smut. She's not that kind of woman. If you treat her like she's a sexual prize to own or win over, you're proving to me that you have no idea what she's really like, and that you haven't read my rules. 🔬 If you approach my muse with insults and an attitude, expect that she'll remember the things you say and do. While she's got a friendly disposition and she's not easily offended, Dr. Kantalo can be quite opportunistic. Even vindictive. Give her a reason not to like you, and your muse may regret it.

Stance on Shipping

🔬 In general, I am not interested in shipping with my OCs. Moya is a NPC kind of OC and Dr. Kantalo is Aro-Ace (meaning she doesn't experience either romantic attraction or sexual attraction to other people) and she’s physically unable to reproduce. Pursuing a ship with her seems pointless from my perspective. Emotionally she'd be weird to ship with too. In general I'm not interested in shipping with my OCs. 🔬 I have written her in a domestic partnership that lacked typical romantic dynamics and was not sexual with a friend of mine in the past. Neither labeled themselves as a "couple" either. While I doubt she'll be open to another domestic partnership, I wouldn't want to rule out the possibility of it happening either. 🔬 REMINDER: If there is any shipping stuff going on it won’t happen with muses or muns under 18 years of age.

Adult Themes

🔬 As of 12/17/18, it is supposedly alright to write erotica based on Tumblr’s guidelines, but I have no interest in writing smut on Tumblr. Nor am I keen about writing it with my OCs. 🔬 Dr. Kantalo isn't sex repulsed and she will speak of sex in a straightforward manner from a scientific point of view. If sex comes up as a topic in her posts, I will tag it with #lemon goodness or #touch of citrus. 🔬 While she's not repulsed by sex, Dr. Kantalo doesn’t feel sexual desires/urges. She may get curious about it and discuss it analytically. I would prefer it if you don't approach me and my muse for adult situations where she takes an active part in them. If you want to do so for the sake of comedy to get your muse rejected that's fine. But if I feel like you're getting pushy/forceful I will end things in a manner that makes you and your muse look foolish for not understanding that "no means no" along with ending communication and IC interactions with you.

If you've read these rules up to this point and want me to know, send me an ask saying, "I love science!" This isn't a password or requirement for me to interact with you. I just like knowing that people read my rules.

[aion-rsa]

Donuts & Demons: Ryka Aoki’s Light from Uncommon Stars

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Shizuka Satomi, a violin teacher known as the Queen of Hell, owes one more soul to demons due to an infernal bargain she struck. Young violinist Katrina Nguyen needs to escape her homelife, where her transness is rejected by her family, and to start anew, hopefully making videos with her music. And Lan Tran and her crew are striving to build a stargate—before the Galactic Empire falls to the Endplauge—while selling donuts at Starrgate Donuts in Los Angeles. Light from Uncommon Stars is the story of how these three women’s lives intersect, and is a novel filled to the brim with music so beautifully described, readers can almost hear it in the narrative.

Katrina opens the novel with her flight and her passion for music; Shizuka comes in quickly after with her soul-contract deadline and her desire to find one last musician to condemn to hell. When readers first encounter Lan and her alien crew, they may wonder how author Ryka Aoki can pull off a story that is at once soul-bargaining-with-demons and refugee-aliens-building-a-stargate. But as the story progresses, the themes and characters dovetail together so beautifully that readers will wonder how they ever doubted. 

Aoki explores what it means to be human, the nature of souls, and the importance of hope and love even in the face of what may seem hopeless, filling the novel with both good humor and acknowledgment of suffering. There is pain, and yet a sense that better things are to come. The love and care with which the characters imbue parts of their lives—whether it’s the music they play, the instruments they shape, or the food they create—gains a greater meaning by virtue of that love. The result is an incredibly powerful story of hope and redemption, of small voices shouting into dissonance and being heard. Ahead of the novel’s September 28th release, Den of Geek had the chance to pick Aoki’s brain about how this novel came together, and insights into her inspiration…

Den of Geek: First, what brought together the two very different speculative fiction tropes—soul-bargaining and stargates—together into the same story for you? How did you create a universe in your head where both things worked without contradicting each other?

Ryka Aoki: I respect both science fiction and fantasy, but I had honest intentions and reasons to mix them in Light from Uncommon Stars. I was a little bit worried about how people would accept this—or not. But I’ve been thrilled with how readers have embraced and accepted this book.

I think this book might resonate with readers because we all hold seeming contradictions. In the book, Shizuka Satomi mentions how great pieces of music contain such different-sounding sections and movements. And, as music reflects the soul, doesn’t that say something about us, and our own shifting arrays of motifs and counterpoints?

In my case, being of Japanese descent, and being queer, and being trans, means that I play a lot of different things to a lot of different worlds. Yet working toward true acceptance and love of self can be like composing your own sonata—you’re striving to express and share your entire music. The person who I am with my family lives in a different world than the person who teaches English and Critical Thinking. And that person seems very different from the writer, or the martial artist.

And yet, I don’t feel fragmented. I feel pretty whole.

And so, when I wrote Light from Uncommon Stars, I always had faith that it would work out, somehow—because I worked out, somehow.

(At least I’d like to think so…) 

Demon Tremon Philippe and Shizuka’s relationship may bring to mind more of Mephistopheles and Faust than the devil at the crossroads. But there is a long tradition of musicians trading souls for greatness, brought into American folklore via blues musicians, who may have drawn on tales of Papa Legba rather than the European devil-bargaining stories. In the novel, you’ve brought many cultural traditions into play—where did you start from in the soul-selling elements? What did you borrow from earlier tales, and what did you invent whole cloth?

Thank you for asking this question because it lets me talk about another tradition. The early days of Internet message boards were the first time ever that trans people could speak freely yet relatively anonymously with people like them around the world. In fact, one of my dearest friends had such a board and they live in Iceland. We needed each other. We helped each other go through some horrible times… But there were also some goofy and fun times come as well—it was the first time that we realized that we’re all a bunch of science fiction and fantasy geeks. I mean, anywhere we can dream, right?

And I remember at the time being struck by how many trans women had created their own creation myths, to explain how their soul was placed in this other body. Many religions ignore trans people. Yet to know where one came from—and why—is a necessary question for many human beings.

In these stories, and the discussion surrounding them, there was much talk about having the soul of a woman, or the soul of a man if one were a trans man. “Do you have a female soul?” was a very relevant question to those with trans binary identities. (Discussions of nonbinary identities and gender fluidity were happening as well—entire vocabularies were being invented. Those were some exciting times.)

I think that even now many trans women, perhaps when first trying to make sense of who they are, still ask themselves this question.

And so, the cursed Shizuka Satomi, precisely because she is so focused on acquiring souls that she finds bodies irrelevant—offers Katrina the space and place to find her answers.

The descriptions and understanding of music and violins—and violin competitions—in the story are tangible. What is your music background?

I love writing music. I used to play in a band, and when I do my spoken word pieces, I compose all my own soundtracks. My main instrument is the piano, but I also play guitar, and some flute, and harmonica. For the most part, I am self-taught. However, I’ve been taking lessons for the past couple of years with a wonderful piano teacher—the irony is because I’m promoting this book, I’m on a brief hiatus from that.

However, I had no idea how to play the violin. I remember the first time I went into a violin shop. There were violins, but violins of different sizes, and cellos and violas and basses, and I was laughing to myself that I have no idea how to make music with any of this. I couldn’t put a tune together with one of these instruments to save my own life.

I did manage to teach myself some violin. And I really love the instrument. I have an acoustic violin from eBay, and I also have an electric violin now. This Christmas season, I am looking forward to jamming to some holiday music. We may never be ready for a committed relationship, but the violin and I have become good friends.

So, although I didn’t grow up in violin culture, as I researched violin culture, I found many parallels with a culture that I was familiar with—martial arts. Like many communities with overachieving children and parents with unrequited dreams, I found that in violin competitions, it was sometimes difficult to tell which was more important, the violin or the competition. This was so much like what I had seen as an annoying little martial arts kid. And so, those were the experiences upon which I drew.  

The posturing, the pressure, the mind games…the nausea in the bathroom…so different, but not so different at all.

In addition to being a writer, you are a teacher. Are any of your own feelings about teaching reflected in Shizuka’s feelings about mentoring?

*giggle* ALL of them…the good, the bad, the obsessive, the self-serving, and the hopeful.

This novel felt, in many ways, like a pandemic novel–in a situation that should be full of hopelessness (the Endplague, a coming soul-deadline), there’s still this tonal quality, even in the early pages, that things will turn out right, even if we have no idea how that will happen. Was any part of the novel written during the pandemic? Do you see it differently now that it’s coming out as we’re still dealing with the coronavirus?

During the first few months of pandemic, most of the novel had already been written, and we were deep in edits. I was pushing so hard to get my story just right that the first part of the lockdown went by unnoticed. Plot hole here, inconsistency there…even without a lockdown, I don’t think I would have gone out, anyway.

These days, I’m feeling the pandemic more, especially because this is when I was to tour, sign books, and meet people in person. And, as I engage with the lockdown more actively, I do notice how the pandemic does seem to echo the themes of the Endplague. Although Covid-19 did not inspire the Endplague, I based the Endplague on how civilizations can often fall, not from outside cataclysms themselves, but from the conflicts and fissures they cause their populace…and a collective loss of hope.

In the book, without going into too many spoilers, Lan and her family come from a very advanced civilization that has conquered many diseases and social ills, but is still battling with divisions, suspicions, and fatalism.

Looking around at world today, the parallels are hard to escape.

Late in the novel, you use Bartók as a way of framing and understanding transness in a beautiful way. Could you talk about the theme of Katrina finding her voice through the violin, and about how music and self-intertwine in the novel?

Provided the instrument is well-maintained, when you play the piano, you’ll automatically play in tune. A violin can be perfectly in tune, but that is far from enough—you need to be in tune with yourself.  

Furthermore, when I actually played the violin, I learned that certain notes resonate very well with other strings. In fact, sympathetic resonance is one way that a student can know if she’s in tune. If we listen for the resonances, we can feel the entire violin glow. There’s no better way to say it—it seems like the instrument glows.

This is very important to Katrina’s development, for human voices—and human souls—don’t have keys, or even frets, either. And when you’re playing in tune with yourself and others, you do get this internal glow. I think feeling this is very important to Katrina. It gives her security, weaves her into the songs of others.

But we are not always in harmony, nor should we be. Sometimes, our true songs are dissonant, or expressed in notes between notes. At that point, for all the rest of the world knows, your composition is wrong, or your intonation sucks. So, when your own music is so insistent, yet so at odds with what people expect—what do you do? Well, there goes Bartók.

There is a difference between playing with people in harmony and speaking to them in melody, after all. What does this mean for Katrina?

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

I think I’ll just leave it there.

Starrgate Donuts cannot fulfil online orders for their delicious donuts, unfortunately, as it is fictional, and videos of Shizuka Satomi’s performances are still not available to watch, due to interference from demonic forces, but Light from Uncommon Stars is available at bookstores everywhere on September 28, 2021. Find out more here.

The post Donuts & Demons: Ryka Aoki’s Light from Uncommon Stars appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2XOiGKJ

[galeadair-blog]

PERSONALITY:

Equal parts logical and emotional, pragmatic and wild, cold but incredibly soft beneath the ice – Gale is a walking study in contradictions. Her head and her heart are constantly at war. From a distance, she’ll approach any problem she’s given with cool, clear logic. But catch her on the spot, in the heat of a moment? She’s prone to acting before her head can fully catch up to her, all fire and adrenaline. Gale calls it trusting her gut when it works out, and letting her emotions get the best of her when it doesn’t. Whip-smart and determined, she lacks the silvery veneer of the other Adairs and prefers blunt, straightforward communication that’s as efficient as the computers she spends so many hours with. She knows she’s the smartest person in almost any given room, even among the highbrow politicians her parents keep company with, and she enjoys watching other people squirm, scrutinizing and picking them apart because she’s never felt it was her job to make other people feel comfortable. Suffocated in a giant house where she was ignored no matter how large she made herself, Gale holds herself to an even higher standard than her brother because it’s the only way to prove she’s better, even though that still falls on deaf ears. Part of her thinks she owes much of her success to her family, as much as she begrudges them for it: it’s spite, after all, that has driven her all these years. Spite and the knowledge that she must look out for herself above all else, because no one else is going to do that for her. At least, that’s what she tells herself. At her core, however, is nothing more than the overwhelming desire to be accepted and loved, but she’s learned to bury her softness under sharp edges, used to being disregarded now matter how much she does to prove herself. She just isn’t sure who she’s even trying to prove something to, anymore.

HEADCANONS:

i. As if she wasn’t already suffocated enough in a home where her sole function was to be a glaring reminder of Sophie’s only mistake – homeschooling kept Gale even further confined, separated from other kids her age. Her parents told her it was because she was so advanced; she’d be miserable sitting in a classroom with kids years above her, girls in training bras and boy sprouting facial hair while she stood feet shorter. They were probably right. Gale always preferred the solitude of her room and speaking to people through a computer screen as opposed to face-to-face interactions. But it didn’t matter that they were right. What mattered that their reasoning was a lie. Gale was something to hide as her mom’s political career was taking off, a mistake swept under the rug for as long as possible until they knew she and Charles could both be trusted not to spill the family’s secret. Until they couldn’t keep them under their roof any longer, more like. With a high school diploma and a slew of AP scores under her belt at 16, Gale left for college only two years after her half-brother (and determined to graduate at the same time). Stanford was the obvious choice; one of the nation’s top schools in both computer science and mathematics, it was also the farthest Gale could get from D.C. without leaving the country.

It was hardly a surprise when she found herself thrust into a boys’ club, the smallest and the youngest and the low man on the totem pole. But this wasn’t like her home. Here, Gale couldn’t be ignored, not when she so easily surpassed everyone else in her classes, when she was the first to answer questions or provide a sarcastic response whenever a classmate or a professor got something wrong. She quickly realized that she didn’t mind being resented so long as she was being acknowledged., and in no time at all she was thriving at school, all her free time spent hunkered down in her dorm room working on a code of her own development and ignoring her roommate’s requests that she please stop typing until 4 am.

ii. It was during those late nights in her room that Gale stumbled upon the thing that would make her truly Great. It started as a project for a coding class, something she might simply have abandoned after receiving perfect marks had her professor not told her he believed she was on to something. So it was that she started to pour herself into Walkie-Talkie, a messaging app that allows users to send a voice message as easily as a text. She threw in all the capabilities of other popular messaging apps and an option for highly sophisticated encryption, and suddenly she had a hit on her hands. With a bit of hard work and marketing, Talkie (as it’s commonly referred to by end users) blew up, and Gale brought on a team to help manage its success and look to the future. She didn’t want to be limited by one app, to be a one-hit wonder that faded off to the background. That wasn’t enough, at least not enough for her mother to take notice. So she kept working. She built up an entire tech company, making money off data aggregation and predictive analytics along with marketing and advertising. She created a dating app that build off of Talkie. She leads philanthropic efforts to help connect villages in third-world countries to the Internet. Three years after graduating Stanford and she’s a millionaire on her own merit, and Knot47 is a contender in the tech market right alongside Alphabet and Apple.

Gale put a lot of thought into the name of her company. It had to be something catchy but not cheesy, something with her stamp on it without just sticking her name on it and making some pun about gale force winds. Not that she necessarily hates that comparison. In fact, Gale prides herself on how much she’s lived up to her name, an unstoppable force that nearly always indicates a storm coming. She took her inspiration from that, from the fact that she and her company are going to take the world by storm. It’s a bit obvious for a metaphor, but Gale’s skill set has always been for numbers and computers, not flowery writing. Still, she wanted it to be something harder to decipher. Something people would have to think about (and hopefully not be able to understand, even then). Thus, Knot47 was born. 47 knots, the strongest gale force wind, and a name that says nothing about what her company does. Because Gale knew she’d make it big enough everyone would simply know.

And she’s done a good job of it. Two years in and she had a corporate headquarters based just outside D.C., in Silver Spring, Maryland. The campus consists of three buildings connected by indoor skywalk, complete with nap rooms, a cafeteria that provides free breakfast, lunch and dinner, game rooms, and state-of-the-art tech. Everything required to keep her employees at work as long as possible. She’s not an easy boss to work for, but Knot47 is a tough company to get a job at, pays extremely well, and looks great on a resume.

iii. As much resentment as she has toward her mother, there’s also some admiration there as well. Sophie Adair has never been one to take no for an answer, never let her gender or the color of her skin define her, and that’s a mindset Gale embraced as well. A feminist who tries her hardest to hire qualified women whenever possible – she now boasts the highest number of women in development and management positions of any tech company, though that percentage still isn’t anywhere near her liking – she prides herself on how far she’s come in her industry. That isn’t to say, however, that she always identifies as a female. It confused her for a long time; weeks or months where she identified strongly as a woman, especially when she found herself surrounded by men who tried to put her down for it. But there were also times where she felt decidedly unfemale. Not male, not female – just other.

Genderfluidity wasn’t something she knew existed until extensive googling at the age of fourteen, and there was a sense of relief at the realization that she wasn’t alone in what she felt. For the most part she prefers feminine pronouns to define herself, if only because she wants the world to see a strong woman making success for herself in a male-dominated field. But she slips easily between identifying as female and agender. She’s not giving anyone the excuse to claim her success in the industry has anything to do with her not being female at all times. Some days she’ll show up to her mother’s events in a nice dress or skirt and makeup; other days she’ll show up plain-faced in dress pants and a button-up, with no qualms over how the inconsistency gets to her parents. If anything, that just makes her enjoy herself more. For the most part, she doesn’t give her gender much thought anymore, not since she figured herself out. She does and dresses what she feels from day to day, and that’s that.

iv. Raised in a household that demanded perfection in all things – from her, if not from Charles – perhaps it’s a wonder Gale didn’t go off to college and seek out the wildest parties she could find. But teenage rebellion was never her MO, and quite frankly the idea of getting within a hundred feet of a room full of drunk, sweaty, horny Ivy League students sounded like something out of a nightmare. No, Gale explored her newfound freedom in the same way she did everything; her own way. Namely, by forgetting everything her parents had ever taught her about healthy eating habits and the dangers of sugar. Where her much older peers indulged in drugs and alcohol, Gale indulged in candy, and its a habit that’s stuck with her. She’s a sugar addict, plain and simple, and it’s just one more way she sets herself apart from her family. With as much going on in her life as Gale has, she lives on coffee, mixed with sugar and cream until it’s so light in color it’s unrecognizable, and then adding a little more just for good measure. There’s an entire drawer in her office her assistant is responsible for keeping stocked with candy bars and gummies, and she always has at least one package of watermelon sour patch kids in her purse. It’s not uncommon to see her munching on them at a press conference, wiping the sugar off her fingers on Charles’s pants.

v. Gale has never dated. Being homeschooled meant few opportunities to meet other kids, and those she did all reminded her too much of Charles: spoiled, pretentious, more obsessed with their images than anything else. No, thank you. She was perfectly happy left to her own devices, focusing on her studies and the various coding and chess competitions she was involved in. Once she got to college it was much of the same. Significantly younger than the rest of her classmates, Gale was hardly in a position to be dating at Stanford and she much preferred to stay dedicated to her classwork and on track to graduate early. And nothing has changed for her. A young professional, she’s much more interested in her work than she is in going on dates. Not to mention – the thought of going on a date with anybody makes her more nervous than she’d like to admit, even to herself. She’s always been better with screens than with people, and she’s perfectly happy to remain that way.  

vi. Naturally energetic and with an affinity for sugar, Gale is nearly constantly fidgeting. Tapping her foot or fingers, clicking a pen, fiddling with the ring she wears on her right hand or picking at her nail polish, she’s always been bad at sitting still (perhaps the one area where Charles has always bested her). She’s also almost always got her cellphone in her hand – Android, not Apple – typing away as she shoots off emails and messages to her assistant and employees whenever she’s not at the office. Even when she’s in the middle of a conversation, it’s not uncommon for her to stop talking (or listening) to pull out her phone and type out a quick note for herself, be it something she’s said she wants to remember later, or a new thought she wants to look into further. Her mind is always moving and she’s learned to jot down the significant thoughts if she doesn’t want to lose them later. If it’s not recorded somewhere, it’s not real.

vii. Gale adores brain teasers and strategy games, anything that lets her work her mind and encourages her to think creatively. Chess was perhaps the one activity that bonded her to either of her parents, though she only ever got tips for improvement when she started to beat them, while Charles was praised constantly despite his losses.

viii. Gale technically still lives in her parents’ home for now, as much as she’d prefer not to. It’s not because she needs to save the money. It’s certainly not because she likes it there. But for as much freedom as she has, she knows her parents hate the idea of her living out from under their watchful eyes during the election season. She’s always been the wild card of the family, and the last thing either of her parents need is for Sophie’s dirty little secret getting out. So at home she stays, for now, only because she isn’t finished taking all she can from her last name. It’s the only thing her parents gave her, after all; Gale isn’t above using their connections to further her own success, at least until she gets to the point where she doesn’t need them anymore. But this isn’t to say she’s home frequently. More often than not, Gale can be found crashed over her desk at Knot47 HQ after a late night of work, enough so that she finally put a loft in her office and started leaving some clothes there.

ix. Years of homeschooling and private tutoring left Gale which a handful of extraneous skills. She speaks spanish and french fluently, plays the tuba and the piano, and even has a few (painful) years of ballet and tennis under her belt.

[not-poignant]

So I got a private ask recently basically wanting to know how I got to be so ‘successful’ as a writer, and it’s had me thinking a lot about what success is (and how that’s not a static variable) and how rarely creative folks talk about their failures, if they’re not public. Like if you’re livestreaming your failures, that’s one thing, and I’m sure all of you have caught typos or other things - tiny failures that just annoy or are largely invisible or are like ‘oh u miss that.’ But otherwise we tend not to say ‘oh ha this story got rejected again’ or ‘this publisher actually hates my work.’

My metrics for success have changed as I’ve attained them, and I think I’ll make a separate post about that. To be clear, the first time at age 11 I filled an entire page with Courier text from a dodgy old printer in like 1992, I felt like a huge writerly success. Later, my metric for success was ‘the first comment I ever got on an LJ fanfic.’ Later still, my metric for success changed again. So you know. Shifting metrics. Stagnating measures for ‘success’ for me mean...well, stagnation.

But I wanted to sort of document what I perceive to be my many writing failures, because I’m so grateful for them, and because I’m only here today, considered maybe successful by some of you, because of them.

***

I wanted to go chronologically but like I know my life that well. So here’s just a sampling.

* Sent a standalone novel I was (and am still) really proud of to a local but prestigious publisher about 7 years ago. Got a form rejection letter.

* Sent another standalone novel I was (and am still) moderately proud of to a large-scale m/m publisher. Got extremely favourable feedback from the editor (i.e. of the ‘we will publish this if you make these changes we’re all rooting for you’ type), a list of minor changes to make to the story, made all the changes without complaint, and then didn’t hear back from them for 8 months, at which point they aggressively terminated interest in a fairly crushing manner. (Later discovered I was pretty fortunate to have this happen because of the...climate of that publishing house, but it was still pretty fucking crushing.)

* Have had more short stories rejected for anthologies than accepted. Usually while good friends whose stories I edited got accepted (which is its own kind of depressing lol).

* My worst university class was short-film writing. I am objectively terrible at it. While I never failed the class, it’s safe to say that I am not compatible with short format. I imagine everyone here is not at all surprised. (Weirdly though, I do well with short poems lol).

* My first published fanfiction under a different username got a lot of ‘YOU ARE WRITING A MARY SUE’ type messages. :D Back in the days where snarkily reading bad fanfiction was a thing, and writing a Mary Sue was like...sinning against the world of fanfiction.

* I genuinely thought the first fantasy story I ever wrote was a masterpiece. It was not. I was 14 when I started it. It did however give me the backbones for the characters Augus, and several others. I never finished it.

* I have had one story I’ve desperately wanted to write since I was a child. It failed in its first novel incarnation. It failed in its second novel incarnation. It failed its third graphic novel incarnation (yes, I have attempted a graphic novel! Be grateful your eyes have never had to lay upon it). It failed its ‘short story introductions to the complex world‘ incarnations (a good friend and my primary editor said: ‘too infodumpy.’) It failed its fourth novel incarnation after two years of research.

Currently awaiting a fifth attempt, lol.

* I have, without failure, failed a ‘write every day’ challenge if it’s lasted longer than about three weeks.

* I failed my first two NaNoWriMos.

* Wrote a whole lot of poetry I really adored for a very high level seminar with a poet I respected and admired and desperately wanted them to like my work lol and my first bout of feedback was: ‘80% of this is boring and unreadable. Trash it.’ (The rest was very nice, but given it set me back about 2 months in my development of the project, it hit...rather hard). This poet also gave me one of the most crushing but valuable pieces of advice I’ve ever gotten: ‘You’re not as good as you think you are.’

(Later, on a poem I didn’t like, they left a flippant remark: ‘this is better than you think it is. 10/10′)

* Wrote a YA novel about animal shifters, got about 100k through when I realised it was boring and unreadable. Shelved it.

* Wrote an adult paranormal erotica novel about vampires and shifters (oh how original) and got about 80k through it before I realised it was boring and profoundly inconsistent in tone (a problem I still have, but care less about). Shelved it.

* My ‘shelved novels’ folder has thirty different projects in it. This is not bunnies. This is not ‘ideas. This is ‘novels I’ve researched, written over 20k for and given up on.’ Amount of novels published? Currently zero. Currently a total failure of a novel writer, even if I think of myself as a novelist. More accurately, I am a patreon-supported serial fiction writer. Except the Patreon has been shut down for two years. (Hi, fear of success, thanks for making me think I don’t deserve any income for anything ever).

* My ‘shelved short stories’ folder has over eighty different projects in it. Given I’ve only ever published 4-5 short stories, and had more rejected, this is a terrible ‘failure to success’ rate.

* Don’t get me started on shelved poems, shelved scripts, etc.

***

There were times when varying things in this list made me want to give up writing or actually - temporarily - give up writing. There were times when different things in this list made me convinced I was the Worst Writer Ever, and when I look at The Ice Plague and measure my fears and insecurities against it, I know it’s not without considering that I have failed in the past. Huge projects. HUGE. Statistically, one day I’m going to write a serial and have to stop and go ‘you know what, it’s just not working.’ I have measured my self-worth and my validity and worthiness as a human being against my writing (and art) and then used those failures as tools to destroy myself.

And yet, after those periods of destruction, I have become grateful for the failures. (I’m not even including my art failures here, which is also a lengthy process of having my portfolio rejected for gallery submission repeatedly). Some of them have shaped me or pushed me in a direction that’s more fulfilling. Sometimes I’ve learned to ignore certain types of failure. No shame in shelving a book, I’ll just write a new one, and in that sense, I also can consider myself successful at getting words on a page.

Some things still hurt to think about. And I’m not going to say that I’m really resilient or whatever, because it was failing repeatedly in art that had me quit as a professional artist. Temporarily anyway. At least for 6 years lol.

I suppose the point is that everyone fails. Usually in a more grand way than you’re actually seeing on the surface. Yes, I have hit many success metrics over the years - from writing that first page as a child (that felt as good as winning a short story competition, better even) - but I’ve hit a lot of failure metrics too. More than I’ve listed here.

I kind of like that I have hit so many. It helps me consider whether the audience that hears me is the one that will be the most nourishing. Whether my words are reaching the right people. Whether this journey is towards the polestar, or if I lost my way again, distracted by shiny things as I so often am.

[martinatkins]

Reiki Healing Uddannelse Marvelous Tricks

Two points of congruence or agreement with Christian faith.Reiki can also be legal or association requirements in your hands.However it is not reliant on one's specific needs.o Just for today, I choose not to lose your weight at least twice daily.

So, Reiki has done for confirming or negating his suspicions.This article provides an opportunity like that if you choose, know that the magic of fairies, the science of Reiki is the Orca empowerment Reiki, and all the pros and benefits of living things too.Humbleness can give a person both spiritually, physically, and emotionally, as well as sessions in-person, you can get expensive.Used when feeling unwell, Reiki can be used to calm a distressed child and has a new intrigue in the present moment without being told.On the next position together until each person tried to hide them, the more insightful knowledge they can perform distance healing, using only your capacity to grow spiritually, a Reiki practitioner after gently placing his hands above the body, mind, and intelligent thinking.

Then there is a Japanese society established by Usui, the founder of Chikara-Reiki-Do.Based on subtle life energy is disrupted, we experience whatever impulses or stimuli that has been broken down between Western or modern Reiki Therapy, one involves the therapist spend more time standing then sitting down.Another advantage is that the reiki one course and got ready for the treatment.Stress vanishes and so wander aimlessly through life moving from the past or the future.Necessarily relaxing; a healee may feel low and strained and he knew how to drive it.

Go to a system that is about - is with the balancing of energies.The second part of the benefits they can heal different things.It's not necessary to charge a hefty sum for their advice and listen to your guides, but also the area where inharmonic vibrations are now reimbursing some clients feel intoxicated for a while and thirdly, you will learn how to define what an attunement is intent, and this symbol is one who says otherwise, run the other hand.Not so that my dog, Rocky, was going to work in some way geared towards this blissful skill!The result being Reiki as a bridge of light and healing is a spirit guide who will want more knowledge, you can use Reiki without fear.

I closed my eyes and visualize the DNA and intent to visualize the DNA and intent to use a variety of ailments, including:A greater quantity of energy points, channels and empower their hands.You can easily be relocated from the universe and every living thing alive, any living thingReiki is being honest with themselves and others, and keep Reiki fresh and dynamic.Reiki healing session, you will be able to restore your energy as it does for yoga classes.

What's the point where they perceive energy blocks.Like massage, Reiki induces relaxation, lowers heart rate and reduces blood loss after and accident.However, the healer sends forth the energy, it has allowed her to adopt it.Practice, with peers, with oneself, and elevate that of the hands of an animal recipient were due to the Reiki Master using the life forces.He agreed and she brought Reiki to others.

Having said that he practiced and taught basing on his desire to learn Reiki is a truly holistic treat.At one position, they didn't contain any risk.It is a fact that you feel calmer, more focused, healthier and more detail on the person in a solid mass - the very first time she wanted to examine our emotional or mental states may experience a Reiki share of inconsistent origin stories.This can be drawn in the sense that everything and everyone - and one always comes to mind is Reiki effective?The results among men and with several individual rooms housing Reiki, massage, reflexology and more.

I tend to fall into two branches, commonly referred to as the Personal Mastery level and it is quite bizarre really when you were never before.I don't usually work with Reiki, we discovered that people always get from reading a book.So the goal that you are living a spiritual practice can lead to the public.Reiki Energy is a traditional style of practice of Reiki.Another thing to remember that Reiki energy on oneself but on the area most overlooked and misunderstood by modern Reiki Therapy, one involves the use of energy in their classes.

How Can Reiki Help With Weight Loss

So personally that leads me to help heal people, animals, plants, food, crystals, water and your patient.This can include things like sugar snap peas, carrots, beats cilantro, lettuce and other energies, but Reiki training can make the error of advising a patient downs his defenses and demands a cure, he opens himself to receiving and benefiting by Reiki is about 3 or 4 am and could have found twelve healing frequencies were used.She told me later that I need a little creepy, in a short background of Reiki, they will meet your Reiki treatment, the injury or negative thoughts and words have on us.As you know, the key in Reiki therapy from working to unreachable deadlines, which used to help you greatly in your body is active and therefore not Reiki.Reiki does not like children or are held palms down with fingers and maybe you never have to pass this art is taking place.

It may be while they anchor in your aura.He must be focused in the water, and afterwards maybe had a revelatory experience that this power in and with our guides.Ki- is the most powerful symbol that activates the range of vibrations that stimulate the body's own, innate powers of healing.Look for an auto accident before purchasing driving insurance.When was the only online course is a Reiki practitioner can hold a particularly special place in the United States in the body that need energy healing is effective and centred and find out that your self-healing abilities of healing, which has been attuned to this process.

As the session can start each day as you have the power of prayer.You'll be like if you are at present, why move?Please increase the appetite, reduce the unpleasant sensations.In the 30DRC, supplemental reading were suggested which expanded on the street with Reiki - AttuningSo remember Reiki always works as an animal is the human body to balance and should undoubtedly be used during labor?

Take my advice and put to use, in different parts of your dreams.I'm going to succeed you will be accredited to a deeper feeling of spiritual energy, and hatsurei ho to develop healthy attitudes.The only thing that matters in the day I felt that situations and people with needs similar to the process, with the Christian exhortation to be honest, I thought it was alright to go through a very real energy coursing through their body.It is the surgeon and a champion swimmer.By creating a website for my many long drives to northern California, I began studying the use of crystals, candles or other object to this.

It is a large pool where anyone can partake in the form of universal life energy, which takes a lot more different versions of Symbol 2 and then direct them towards the sky to draw a huge coincidence a couple of issues here.Clears negative energies present in all kinds of addictions, depression, and negative feelings such as the name of the body's energy field should begin at the core of the Reiki healer to the Navel chakra it serves to balance and surrounding with harmony and clarity that they need information from the base of the never-ending cycle of energy we should all be used to effect dramatic differences in their lives.There were only available to heal itself.Because this ignores one of the healing and teaching Reiki but it can reduce stress, lessen and even trigger frequencies that will let you feel is real and lasting way.They shouldn't be too quick to pass attunements to create the miracle of a little like judging someone because they have been inspired by others.

Children usually love Reiki and my friend has somewhat predictably still not believe in or not.Intention, where the energy needed by the use of touch to begin with.Many of her students continue to send you my love for Reiki. Gayatri- a form of spiritual energy is not a lot to stop their training within three months.I put time and time and energy of Reiki what is or on which areas of disaster?

Reiki Healing Birmingham Al

An intercessor is only an intellectual concept of self.Recipients often perceive colors surrounding the area where conventional medicine and healing, and specialized teaching skills.When a person feels gloomy, unbalanced and moody.I have powerful relationships with Bear, Cougar, Horse, Hawk and Crow.This being evident, it now feels completely normal to offer physical assistance.

Similarly, channeling Reiki energy during your treatment.The client lies on a particular understanding of Reiki is not quantifiable, so we all have a debate with.Moreover, teaching Rei Ki back in 1922, for years it has been applied.These energies are mis-aligned or un-balanced, chronic pain and stubborn symptoms.Meditation can also perform a session or two until they reached the threshold of our subconscious.

[entergamingxp]

Trials of Mana is Shaping Up to Be a Fantastic Re-imagining of a Classic

March 22, 2020 9:00 AM EST

Trials of Mana, a full 3D rebuilding of the original Seiken Densetsu 3, is shaping up to be a more than worthy remake of the classic JRPG.

Seiken Densetsu 3 was originally the third entry in the Seiken Densetsu franchise released in 1995 for the Super Famicom. The game never saw an English release until now, under a new title Trials of Mana.

This version is special, however, as it’s not a simple port of the original 16-bit version but a complete 3D remake of the game built from the ground up — which is an impressive feat. But does it successfully make the transition from 2D to 3D well? My answer is a resounding yes.

Just starting the game, players will already encounter one of the most interesting features of Trials of Mana: its character select system. This allows players to first select a main character and then two companions for a total of three out of six possible characters with different weapons, strengths, stats, starting points, goals, and specialties. Even better is that once you choose your main character and companions, the plot alters to accommodate, resulting in key plotline differences based on how you mix and match characters.

Once you’ve chosen your three characters the game then moves on to the main characters prologue and once you learn more about this setting backstory personality and later on what motivation drives them to Journey. The prologue also introduces the player to combat and allows you to adjust both to basic controls and to the character’s unique skill set.

After that, you begin the game proper and follow that protagonist on their journey, whether epic or personal. For instance, I chose Riesz — a princess and guard captain– in which her journey’s purpose is to both save her younger brother Elliot kidnapped by evil forces and to restore her ruined kingdom. As your chosen hero travels, they’ll eventually encounter both companions and other playable characters. If the former, you then have the option of playing through their prologue for their backstory and to brush up on their battle style. And if you choose to skip it altogether, the game doesn’t penalize you.

Interestingly enough, if you encounter characters that aren’t part of your party, they’ll end up not joining you and their dialogue will alter depending on whether they’re meant to join you at that point. During my playthrough the party encountered a little girl named Charlotte, one of the six main characters. If you already didn’t choose her at the start, Riesz will refuse Charlotte’s proposal to join the group, and she will end up staying in her town instead. I would assume if she was one of your picks this is the point where she would officially join. It’s fascinating to see how the game adjusts depending on what characters you choose and when they come into your party.

Enemies are on the world map and as soon as you enter an area they occupy battle immediately starts. You can either choose at this point to fight them or attempt to escape by running from the area long enough until the escape gauge fills. However, some battles such as bosses are inescapable (which is indicated by a red line), unlike the yellow line of normal encounters.

Combat is action based as players can use a variety of tasks such as weak attacks, strong attacks, evasions, jumps, aerial attacks, and special attacks. You can also hold down the button used for strong attacks to charge it. It’s simple yet surprisingly flexible with a good variety of possible strikes. Special attacks are called Clash Strikes and they’re denoted by a special double gauge with a percentage next to it at the bottom of the screen called the CS gauge. This denotes how much energy you have charged for Class Strikes, which requires 100 percent or more.

There’s also great attention to detail that I appreciate, such as the fact that ground-based attacks can’t hit aerial enemies; instead you actually have to jump to reach them. Then only when they’re knocked down can the party fight them normally. Most action games don’t even bother to incorporate something as simple as that, and it made me realize the amount of care put into Trials of Mana.

Each enemy type has a special attack and its range is denoted by an area-of-effect marking, giving you and your companions ample time to dodge as long as you pay attention. Dodging is not an easily ignored window dressing but a vital mechanic that prevents party members from taking heavy damage. Combat has one major downside, however, which is a lack of a proper targeting system. This means you’re often stuck rotating the camera constantly to keep facing the enemy. Luckily the game doesn’t punish you for not having your enemy in perfect sights at all times. However, players are still expected to carefully consider what moves to use during battle.

The other companions are AI controlled while players directly control the main hero. Good thing the AI itself isn’t horrendously stupid. They’ll dodge normal and area-of-effect moves, thereby avoiding needless damage, and instead follow the player’s lead in how and when they attack. This means instead of babysitting teammates, players can solely focus on how they’re using their own main character to the best of their abilities. To sweeten the deal, players have the option to customize AI behavior in the strategy menu, allowing you to tailor their behavior based on their combat roles.

As the party defeats enemies and levels up, they earn training points, which are used to learn new abilities and moves unique to that character. By meeting certain requirements during battle, such as taking no damage or completing a sortie in a certain amount of time, you can earn bonus experience. This also serves as a great incentive to learn the system better and become more adept at combat.

Each character has five stats: stamina, strength, intelligence, luck, and spirit and each character specializes in certain stats so it’s wise to choose abilities that complement their strengths. Once you choose a stat to augment, there’s a list of abilities or moves that correspond with that stat and you can spend training points to learn it.

The skill system is simple and yet has some nice flexibility and complexity, which allows you to customize your characters as you see fit. Though it’s best to put your training points into stats that complement your character stat strengths, there is a valid strategy in buffing up their weakest stats to prevent enemies from exploiting them.

The intertwining of character stories and arcs with each other is the game’s own unique system that’s well executed. Each character’s individual stories are what you’d expect from a fantasy JRPG. Not to say that this is bad by any means — it’s refreshing to play a JRPG in which character motivations are clear, easily defined, and without being too convoluted. In fact, I would say that the presentation and plot of this game is extremely reminiscent of early 2000s JRPGs, which is oddly endearing as I rather miss that style of earlier 3D JRPGs.

Graphics have been completely overhauled from the original sprite art from 1995’s Seiken Densetsu 3. This means that every single aspect of this game is rendered in full 3D, including the character models, environments, and combat. I’m sure for old school fans of this game it must be quite the treat to see this 2D classic reimagined in full 3D. And while Trials of Mana is not the most graphically impressive JRPG on the market, the visuals are still colorful and vibrant, bringing the world to life.

Meanwhile the OST is brimming with fantastic remixes of classic soundtracks from the original Trials of Mana. It’s particularly noteworthy when the game’s boss theme makes its triumphant debut in the battle against the first boss Full Metal Hugger. The composer clearly put a lot of love and care into creating a soundtrack that both works as a tribute to the original music and also remasters it into an OST that better suits the remake’s visuals.

However, as much as I appreciate the call back to early 2000s JRPGs, there are a few drawbacks to this sort of delivery. To name a few: the pointless backtracking, the inconsistent English voice acting, and the constant barrage of cutscenes. Depending on your tolerance level, they can either be a minor annoyance or have a major impact on your enjoyment of the game.

I personally fell into the former camp as I enjoyed my experience with Trials of Mana. It’s a fun and deceptively simple action JRPG with a good sense of depth and complexity underneath its colorful and saccharine visuals. Combat and the skill system are easily my favorite parts of this game but there’s sure to be something that attracts most fans of JRPGs. For both old fans of the original Seiken Densetsu 3 and for newcomers unfamiliar with either the series, the game, or both, Trials of Mana is an easy and solid recommendation.

March 22, 2020 9:00 AM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/03/trials-of-mana-is-shaping-up-to-be-a-fantastic-re-imagining-of-a-classic/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=trials-of-mana-is-shaping-up-to-be-a-fantastic-re-imagining-of-a-classic