#it references her older work but is still new and very different in fun ways

[puphoods]

lush... puberty 2... bury me at makeout creek... retired from sad... be the cowboy... laurel hell... IN that order !

[vimbry]

*if you've heard a couple songs but don't really know much about them, or haven't listened in a long while, you can play!

update: the highest votes went to gudetama. but was it correct? here are the full titles and albums.

❌ "put your hand inside the puppet head" - they might be giants

the opening verse makes reference to leaving one's job and how "it's sad to say, you will romanticise all the things you've known before. it was not, not, not so great". according to flansburgh, "the lyric revolves around the idea that looking back on anything colors it in sentimentality".

❌ "I'll sink manhattan" - they'll need a crane (ep)/miscellaneous T

this is a flansburgh song, but linnell explained its meaning in a 1989 interview with NME as "a song about a guy who somehow figures out how to sink the island of manhattan just to kill his ex-lover, so it's his apology to the other people he's gonna kill in between. he's just gotta do it!"

❌ "meet james ensor" - john henry

it's about james ensor (belgium's famous painter).

❌ "wicked little critta" - mink car

from the tmbg unlimited collection: "forged in the crucible of an eastern massachusetts junior high, this song expresses the dreams, fears and hopes of a new england young adult" the lyrics seem to suggest said young adult fantasising about being a sports star alongside bobby orr and john havlicek while goofing off outside.

❌ "working undercover for the man" - mink car

from flansburgh: "it's more a meditation on the "mod squad" [a 1968 crime series about cool undercover detectives] than anything else. the idea of the narc just seems... like, those episodes of "dragnet" where they have the young undercover dress in a hippie suit."

✔️ "talent is an asset" - kimono my house

the lyrics illustrate an overly-cautious family shielding their very gifted child from others, to keep him studious and soak in all the glory, and is heavily implied to be little albert einstein through puns on relatives and relativity. it's not by them, tho. it's by the band sparks. it came 2nd, so I think many of you recognised it (or really wanted to see the results!)

❌ "bee of the bird of the moth" - the else

"this is a song about a creature called a hummingbird moth, which imitates another creature, which imitates yet another creature. it's completely fucked up, and can only be explained in song!" so they did.

❌ "2082" - join us

thewrap's review of the album describes this song as, "a science-fiction short story (...) a protagonist who travels into the future, finds himself hobbled but still unhappily alive all the way into the next millennium, and travels back to the title year to smother himself with a pillow in a mercy killing". fun!

❌ "call you mom" - nanobots

referred to by linnell as an "oedipus pan" song, the lyrics follow an unfortunate young man beginning a relationship with a woman, getting dumped due to his behaviour of treating her like a mother figure, then infantilising a possibly younger woman in a different relationship and in turn leaving her, who goes on to experience the same issues. fun! (altho, the final chorus actually still refers to her Mom leaving, not her dad, I got the details wrong there in the poll).

❌ "gudetama's busy days" - dial-a-song / my murdered remains

yes, that's a real song. quote flansburgh: "(...) it is really just about feeling isolated from the world, even if you are in a crowded place and manically trying to keep up with your life. the character of gudetama appealed to me because he is such a mopey sad sack."

❌ "marty beller mask" - album raises new and troubling questions

this is real, too! it's just about how marty beller was actually an alter ego of whitney houston the whole time. he's not, but wouldn't that be interesting. the song name-checks multiple of her own in the lyrics. it was temporarily retired out of respect following houston's death (4 months after its release), returning to live performances ten years later in 2022.

[garfield-mug]

Can I request a Bob blurb? Maybe he has a really hot girlfriend and nobody believes him until they meet her? You can do whatever you want with this!

A/N: for the purposes of this story, the daggers are permanently stationed in san diego. idk if this really fits the request, but i look at bob and immediately think that man can dance, so....

also, the squad gives bob a bit of a hard time in this one, but i promise they love each other lmao and the length of this may have gotten away from me, but i had fun, so it's okay lol and this isn't proofread bc i'm tired so excuse any spelling errors (i'll stop talking now byeee!)

(p.s. see if you can spot the movie reference, 10 bonus points to whoever points it out)

Word Count: 2.2k

Content Warnings: none unless you don't like dancing ;)

Cheek to Cheek

Bob knew he wasn't really a "ladies' man." He was rather quiet and reserved, keeping to himself most of the time. He wasn't cocksure and forward, like Jake. He wasn't a goofy, shameless flirt, like Bradley. He didn't consider himself shy; he wasn't afraid to engage in conversation or make friends. Bob just preferred to sit back and observe. He liked to watch and listen, getting a good read of every room he walked into. Watching and listening was how he noticed you.

You were a sight to behold. Bob reasoned that you had to be new to the club because he would've noticed you before.

Bob doesn't get much downtime, but when he does, he likes to spend it at the San Diego Swing Dance Club. Since he was little, Bob loved to dance. He remembers his mother teaching him a basic waltz when he was about seven. Gliding and twirling around the living room on top of his ma's feet are some of his fondest memories. He started ballroom classes when he was around twelve (he wanted to impress his date to his very first dance) and fell even more in love with the art. His repertoire grew and grew, having meticulously memorized different styles (paso doble was his favorite). He still loved dancing as he grew older, able to turn on the charm as easy as he knew the moves. He loved the way dancing made him feel. Bob never felt more free than when he was drifting about the dancefloor, leading his partner. He thought it was the closest you could get to flying while staying on the ground.

That's why, when he noticed you, he knew he had to have a dance. Thankfully, his regular partner, Julie, understood and agreed to the switch for the night (she was a great wingwoman). For as often as he was in his head, Bob usually never got nervous. He was nervous approaching you. He remembers it like it was yesterday. It was Lindy Hop night and you were wearing grey striped slacks, a white blouse with the sleeves rolled up to your elbows, and an old, beat up pair of white slip-on vans. He was in his usual button down and slacks. One look at you and he knew he was a goner. You looked a bit disheveled, hair haphazardly put up and out of your face, making small talk with a few other members of the group. He thought you looked ever so slightly out of place and that it was so, so endearing.

Eventually, he worked up the courage to ask you for a dance. It did take more than a few pep talks from Julie to get him to go over to you, but she didn't have to literally drag him there, so it was a success. He asked for a dance, holding out his hand. You said yes.

One dance turned into two, then three, and eventually you'd danced the whole night away. You'd exchanged numbers before going home and then you weren't just meeting once a week at the dance club. You were making time to see each other whenever possible. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. It had now been six months since you and Bob made it official and you couldn't be happier.

Now, it made sense with his job and his general personality why the rest of the Dagger Squad hadn't known about you. They'd had conversations about their love lives often, but Bob had never really volunteered much information. You two had a good thing going and he liked to keep good things to himself for a while. Plus, the conversation rarely ever got turned his way. Bob was... very unassuming. The rest of the squad, except for Nat, never really inquired much about Bob's love life. It's not like Bob was purposely keeping you from his friends— it just never really came up. Nat was the only one who knew Bob was seeing someone and she was keeping it close to her chest out of respect for her friend and WSO, but also in the event that it spawned a bet. A bet she would surely win.

Eventually, one evening at the Hard Deck, the Daggers were all discussing their love lives once again. Mickey turned to Bob and asked if he was seeing anyone.

"I am, actually." Bob felt 5 more pairs of eyes snap to him, a collective "what?!" buzzing in the air at their inquisitive looks.

"You're seeing someone?" Jake asked, partially stunned. Bob wasn't offended, he knew he presented as a bit of a wallflower, and he was okay with that.

"What, you jealous, Bagman?" Bradley couldn't help himself. Jake's gaze snapped to the other aviator, challenging. Despite them both being on... better terms after the uranium mission, they still liked to jab at each other. Jake was usually better at it— slow, persistent needling while keeping a calm and collected facade. Bradley was more direct, favoring an immediate reaction over slow buildup.

Before Jake could respond, Bob cut in, turning the focus back to him.

"Matter of fact, I am," He sat a little straighter, dusting his pants of remnants of the peanuts he was snacking on. Natasha took a swig from her beer to hide the sly grin that was threatening to break across her face.

"Romantically? You're seeing someone romantically?" Reuben questioned.

"Sure am." Bob pushed his glasses further up his nose. He was thinking about you and how he wished you'd been able to come out tonight. You had talked to Bob about coming by to meet his friends, but scheduling conflicts always arose.

"What's her name?" Mickey asked.

"What's she look like?" Nat played into it, ignoring the pointed look Bob shot her way. He was still thinking of you, particularly about how darling you looked when you writhed underneath him, but they didn't need to know about that. Instead, Bob refocused, a dreamy smile taking over his features and a rosy blush creeping up his neck, landing on his cheeks. He couldn't help but look at the ground for a few moments, then he relayed your name. It felt so natural falling from his lips. The squad was eager for more information.

"She's just... perfect. She's smart and funny and so, so beautiful. She's got these eyes that just... and her smile?" Bob sighs, he actually sighs.

"I don't buy it." Jake is the first to burst the bubble. "I mean, we ask you what she looks like and all you give us is "oh, her eyes, her smile"? No way," Jake throws back the rest of his drink. Mickey and Reuben nod, signaling their agreement. Natasha smiles devilishly to no one but herself.

"C'mon, Bagman, he's clearly telling the truth. I mean, look at him. He's actually lovesick." Bradley chimes in. He knows what a man in love looks like.

"Yeah, it's kind of disgusting," Javy pipes up, firmly siding with Bradley.

"Well boys," Nat claps Bob on the shoulder. "Looks like we have a bet on our hands." She watches the men around the high-top table, eyes sparkling with mischief. "Hundred dollars in the pot says Bob's mystery girl is real. You in?"

Nat pulls out five twenty dollar bills, placing them in the middle of the table. Bob watches in amusement.

"Steep price, Natty, but I'll bite." Jake throws his wager in as well.

Eventually, everyone put some money in the pot, much to Nat's satisfaction, even if she would have to split the prize money.

"Alright, alright... When and where can we meet your lovely lady?" Jake asks Bob, who is glancing down at his watch.

"Uhh, this Thursday at the San Diego Swing Dance Club. Seven-thirty, sharp. Wear something nice, but comfortable." With that, Bob was throwing on his jacket and out the door, headed home to see you. He wouldn't have left so abruptly, but you'd sent him a text and he wasn't going to keep you waiting.

The Daggers were even more perplexed. Well, all except for Nat, but the rest didn't need to know about it.

"San Diego Swing Dance Club?" Reuben was taken aback. Jake was thoroughly amused.

"Oh I have got to see this now."

-

The week flew by, and eventually it was Thursday evening. You were excited to finally meet Bob's friends, he talked about them so often. You'd be lying if you said you weren't a bit nervous, fretting over your outfit and hair more than usual, not to mention your makeup.

"Babydoll, you'll look beautiful no matter what you choose." Bob had been sitting on your bed for the better part of an hour now, as you agonized over your outfit choice.

You sighed, coming to sit next to him. "I just want to make a good first impression." You rest your head on his shoulder.

"I promise they'll like you no matter what you wear." Bob presses a kiss to your temple. You take a deep breath and close your eyes.

"I'll go with the plaid pants then."

Bob huffs out a laugh, "Alright, baby."

-

The Daggers arrived at seven-thirty, sharp. Just like Bob had told them. Nat sent Bob a text, letting him know that they'd arrived. He excused himself from the group to collect the rest of his friends. He was excited, happy to share one of his passions with the people he called friends. He was also happy to finally introduce his girl to the rest of his friends. Bob made his way over to the rest of the squad, clustered awkwardly by the main entrance of the dance hall.

"Glad you could make it!" Bob pulls Natasha in for a hug and greets the rest of the guys in a similar fashion.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Bobby." Jake says, eyes sweeping the room for a lady to take home for the night. Bradley and Javy were doing the same. Mickey and Reuben had brought partners for the evening— a double date.

The group fell into their usual rhythm, easy conversation and a few friendly jabs here and there. Almost forgetting the reason why they were there. Almost. Jake was just about to bring up the fact that they still had yet to meet Bob's mystery girl, when the intro to Thurston Harris' Little Bitty Pretty One started playing from the bandstand. It was jive night, which just so happened to be your favorite. Scanning the crowd, your eyes found Bob talking with his friends. 'Well, it's now or never,' you thought, and you were beelining towards your boyfriend so you could make it onto the floor for the first dance. Bob was just telling Nat about this new recipe he tried out for dinner when he felt a tug on his arm. He turned to look at you and smiled.

"Bobby c'mon, can't miss the first dance!"

He looked back at his friends, "Be right back," and Bob was off to the dancefloor with you. The Daggers watched as he whisked you away, stepping into a seamless jive. You felt like you were positively flying, floating through the air, feet touching every cloud. The way you and Bob danced together was something special. You could read each other in a way most dance partners wished they could. Feeling the music, keeping in time with the rhythm, anticipating and adapting to every move the other made. Improvisation was the purest form of art, the amount of trust placed in your partner is unlike anything else. You and Bob had something special, there was no denying that, especially as you were twirling across the floor.

"Who knew he could move like that?" Javy had to pick his jaw up off the floor.

"They make it look so effortless," Reuben looked utterly amazed.

Jake had to admit, he was impressed. Game recognizes game and damn it, Bob Floyd had game. It really was always the quiet ones. You were pretty, and you seemed fun. You seemed like you'd be good for Bob, even though they hadn't technically met you yet. Jake couldn't even be mad that he'd lost the bet. What he needed now was to learn how to dance like Bob because apparently, that was a great way to meet a lady. You and Bob were out of breath when you rejoined the group, introductions going a smooth as ever. You like the squad and the squad liked you. By the end of the night, you and Bob had shown everyone how to do a basic jive. Reuben, Mickey, and Javy caught on quickly, feeling comfortable enough to join the people out on the main floor. Bradley and Jake needed... help. Nat was managing, wanting a bit more time to figure the steps out before trying them on the floor.

Before everyone knew it, it was ten o'clock and the band was saying goodnight. You and Bob were saying your goodbyes, ready to head home. Once you and him were out the door, Natasha turned to Bradley and Javy.

"Alright, we split this three ways and make sure to absolutely rub it in Jake's face." Nat divvies up the cash and Bradley and Javy take their cuts. Javy gives a curt nod and a smile before walking to his car.

Bradley turns to Natasha. "Can I walk you to your car?" He offers his arm.

"Sure," Nat smiles and accepts.

[vigilskeep]

im rly enjoying hearing about bea, it’s always so impressive to me how you can make so many very different characters and yet they all feel complex and very grounded in the setting! do you have a process for coming up with them or do they just sort of fall into place?

ahh thank you!!!

i don’t know that i have a specific process exactly... i love making characters who are very grounded in their setting & origin so i kind of work up from that. for me everything is about backstory and how that feeds into motivation and big decisions

that can go in either order, so like: minerva’s basic character concept starts with me seeing the circle and saying ‘what if i make a character who really tried to fit in here and be everything this place wanted?’, in combination with the later-introduced addition once i knew more about the setting, ‘what would it be like to have tevinter elven heritage but end up in a southern circle?’ i only go from there—the backstory—to figuring out what this person’s goals might be as the grey warden, so minerva’s ambition and obsession with optics stem from that, and her decision to spare loghain, her choice of romance, etc. all from what i think someone with that background might do

keir’s basic character concept starts with my interest in some red hawke/anders dialogue i’d heard and the concept, ‘it’d be fun to play a hawke whose love is so clear and ruthless that the question of whether or not what anders finally does is morally acceptable is almost irrelevant because he’d stand by him even if it wasn’t. what kind of person would do that?’ so with him i’m doing it in the reverse order, i’m starting with the motivation and the big later decision and then “reverse engineering” the backstory, what his relationship with his family must be like, how the hawkes’ childhood affected him. and in funny ways that changed what i started with; technically the original concept is still true, but when i made keir so protective and dedicated and fierce to justify those depths of devotion, suddenly he was really angry and heartbroken after the chantry explosion regardless, because anders was willing to throw away the life that mattered so much to him, and because anders expected him to kill him, which is the antithesis of his entire character and suggests anders might not know him very well at all. that’s the best thing, when they start coming to life in ways i didn’t expect

coming up with inquisitors i can stick to is harder for me because they don’t have what the warden and hawke have, which is a clear backstory environment and cast of characters i get to work with for those building blocks. so the reason i find trevelyans so much easier than other inquisitors to make is that i know a little about medieval history and how christian(-coded) nobility works, so it’s very very easy for me to like... figure out the “cast” i might be working with and play barbies with the setting and decide how some people might turn out. i think the eagle-eyed can notice that when i come up with a new inquisitor, it’s usually an idea for backstory and how that makes a character, even if a simple one, like: “what if i play a very privileged member of the carta who’s never fought like this before in her life?” “what if i play an older dalish character who has leadership experience?” “what if i play a pious young noblewoman who’s not yet had any experiences that break that mold?”

for me i very much believe setting is closely closely intertwined with character. it’s why i find it really difficult to make one in a setting with less hard rules, like bg3. i believe that people, based on whatever circumstances they grew up in, learn a set of logic and behaviours and frames of reference for how they think they can best deal with situations. that’s defined by your “personal” backstory, your family and your life and so on, but also by your place in the world. what were you taught about who you are and who other, different types of people are in comparison? where do you come from? what’s your religion? how much money are you accustomed to having? who in this world do you look up to? i don’t believe in making characters in isolation from all that, i’m not sure how it can be possible. it’s why i’m so passionate about dragon age, because it gives me a world that is so full and varied with options of where to come from, but also has so much room with blank spaces for you to write into and characters who can have very nuanced individual experiences that still belong in thedas. i really love it jgshsksk

i hope any of that made sense 😭

[wazzappp]

I drew. a lot for this. Also heads up for non RE mutuals this is going to be. confusing for you. I'm going to do my best to annotate and provide context but you are in for a wild ride.

Anyway long ass lore post for how Lisa and Robbie go from fighting to working together in this AU.

In the RE8 cannon all of the Dimitrescu daughters are made at the same time but for the sake of ✨the situations✨ I am going to change that. Lisa lived the longest as a human before being assimilated into the mold with a Cadou (infecting extension of the Megamycite). Technically her 'sisters' are older than her, as they were assimilated a while ago. Lisa has been a member of house Dimitrescu for about 2 years now. This puts her in this. Weird middle child zone. She wants to make her 'family' proud but she's also aware that what makes them proud isn't really the most achievable thing in the world (expecially with Bela to contend with. Older sibling overachiever to the maximum). She's got a certain degree of distance from them and sometimes wonders if she wasn't better off before all of this. Her memories are fuzzy but still there for the most part. She cant remember faces or names but she remembers feelings and situations. She doesen't remember families being like this (she wants OUT).

Chasing prey brought in is fairly standard for her. It's some of the only entertainment she gets. So when she catches Robbie exploring around the castle she has no idea that he's special in any way. He's just some new guy she gets to mess with before eating and DAMN he's FUN. If she didn't know any better she could almost think that he has experience being chased around (he does. he very much so does. all of RE7's worth). What she ALSO doesn't know is that Mother Miranda (big bad. Different from Lady Dimitrescu, who she refers to as 'mother') is planning on using Gabe (who is replacing baby Rose in this) to try and resurrect her dead kid with a 'perfect vessel' and this requires. uh. disassembly (in the base RE8 gameplay the reason Ethan goes to each house is because uhhhhhhhh his infant daughter has been dismembered and stored in jars and he needs to collect them so he can put her back together.... yeah). Robbie intervenes before this can get going and is instead going house to house because if he wants to get out of this stupid fuckass villiage he needs to collect the key components to unlock the gate keeping him in here (i need him to have a reason. to kill everyone. its important to me ok).

When Lisa finds out this random, but fun guy, she's been chasing who she thought was JUST SOME NORMAL GUY killed one of her sisters she mentally goes 'Oh. OH. THERES A CHANCE FOR ME TO GET OUT OF HERE'. That in conjunction with discovering Mother Miranda is planning on FULLY DISMEMBERING A CHILD she uh. Makes some decisions.

What you have to understand about her plans of matricide is that neither Lady Dimitrescu or her sisters can actually really fully die. Sure, their bodies are gone, but their consciousness is stored in the hive mind and they can reform later after gathering their strength. If she has to put her kinda shitty found family in time out for the sake of getting herself out of here + keeping her newly revived conscience clean she's absolutely going to do it.

(fuckin. backgrounds. dialogue. fuck. why can things not just take place inside of the void. DUKE MY BELOVED WE LOVE AND RESPECT DUKE IN THIS HOUSE HES A REAL ONE fuck now I got it in my head that he keeps trying to play matchmaker for them and i need to. go draw that because its too funny not to.)

Lisas plan involves this lab I had her mention in the comic above. It's where Robbie needs to go to synthesize more poison for the dagger of deaths flowers, and SUPPOSEDLY where a medicine that might allow her to go outside again might be (enemies of Lisas type become SIGNIFICANTLY weaker in the cold. She could try to bundle up but its still really not a good idea). She would love to go there herself, but it's in an area of the castle thats exposed to the cold of the outdoors.

The Two of them make a fairly decent team and Lisa finds herself having a LOT more fun hunting with someone else than she does on her own. They balance each other out pretty well; Robbie works primarily with guns so he can watch Lisas back while she's up close wrecking any grunts they run into. It's also pretty helpful having someone who can turn into a swarm of flies for puzzle solving purposes.

After all this Robbies trust for her increases SIGNIFICANTLY. He's still not really sure about her, but she's moved out of the 'active threat' classification into the 'kinda helpful' zone.

Lisa's plan has three ways it could go:

They all fail miserably and get sent to mental and physical time out in the megamycite.

They win and get to go free but either the medicine isn't there or it doesen't work. In which case she's just planning on getting as many coats as possible and Try-or-Die-ing it.

The medicine is there and she actually gets to roam free

Luckily for her, the medicine IS there, it DOES work, and Robbies sense of honor / noticing her usefulness (its hard to wage a one man war on an entire community of mutants ok you cant blame him for appreciating having some ACTUAL HELP for once) all align for the best possible scenario.

The cold does still affect her; her healing isn't as quick as it usually is and her increased strength / speed is a bit reduced, but she can go!! outside!!

She decided to stick with Robbie in getting out of the village as a whole. She doesen't really know what the world outside is like but anything has to be better than here (plus if she stays here she's probably getting shoved into the Megamycite by Mother Miranda PERMENANTLY and that just. wont do).

Also yes Lisa being with Robbie for the rest of his adventures means that she is there for Heisenbergs 'proposal'. She uh. Does not like that much.

this all made. more sense in my head I hope it at least makes a little sense out loud.

[stemmmm]

Stem's Thoughts on Harvest Moon GBC3

Harvest Moon GB1 has a mechanic called “Harvest Sprite Help” which lets NPCs take over the work on your farm for you. I criticized it heavily for the way that it took control away from the player by encouraging a style of gameplay where you turn the help setting on and then leave your game for real life hours at a time to effectively play itself. What if there was a way you could have someone else work your farm while you can still have fun playing the game though? How could you make this mechanic work?

Generally my rule when I play a new one of these games is that I have to go in without knowing anything about it, or at least as little as possible, since I've absorbed some knowledge for the older games via cultural osmosis. I don't fully know why I broke that rule for this game, but I'm grateful that I did because everything you do here hinges off of one choice you make the instant you start your new file: will you play as a boy or a girl?

Gender selection in this game is not just an aesthetic or story choice, but a mechanical one, too. Each character is given access to different tools and is expected to do a different type of work on the farm– the boy has all the basic crop-farming implements, and the girl has all the tools for animal care, plus a few farming tools that lack the ability to be upgraded. This makes it pretty hard to do the work of the other gender from what you selected, but that’s not an issue because you aren’t meant to be doing that work anyways, they are. Whichever character you don’t choose will live on the farm to work with you.

Before you start your day, you’ll need to talk to your partner and tell them what you would like them to focus on. It’s not too complicated with the girl because you can just ask her to do general things like get milk and eggs from the animals or pet all of them, but when delegating work for the boy, it’s as complex as telling him what to do on every 9x9 section of the crop field. This isn't the first game to have work delegation, you could argue Harvest Sprite Help was the same thing, and Back to Nature had you asking Sprites to assist you as well, but this is definitely the most thought out version.

The story

The premise of the story is that the boy character and the girl character are coming together to save an old farm like usual. The difference here is each character's relationship to the farm. 

While HM64 was a sequel to SNES in that all the characters were the descendants of the original cast, this game is a sequel to GBC2 in a more literal sense. The boy character is literally the farmer who saved the farm in GBC2, called over to do the job again. He even makes references to characters from that game as if they're his old friends. It feels a little awkward narratively, since he saved that old farm from becoming new development just to abandon it again, like what benefit does that bring to anyone? Who knows. It doesn't matter here.

The girl on the other hand actually has a relationship to this farm. When you choose to play as her, the game opens with cutscenes showing her as a small child watching her father work the fields. In the current day of the game, her father has died and we enter on a scene of her arguing with the mayor that she can take the farm over, but to no avail. What wins him over is that someone else brings in the boy and proclaims he can save it instead. This is accepted without question, but at least he’ll let you live with him in your own house and pick up some of the slack. This game has somehow figured out how to turn sexism into a mechanic as well.

The girl is only expected to care for the animals, a very simple task compared to the hard labor of working in the fields. There is also only one way to get married in this game, and that is to marry your partner on the farm. If you’re playing as the girl and decide to get married, your game ends. Playing as the boy, you can keep going and even have children, but marriage for a woman is game over.

All that said, my choice was actually to play as the girl, and I think it was the superior option, at least in terms of having a good gameplay flow. You may only be supposed to care for the animals, but you still have all the tools you need to grow crops, they just aren’t the best. At the beginning of the game, your partner usually isn’t very good at their job. For me, this manifested in the boy doing effectively nothing. The game started with me doing every last bit of work on the farm– planning the field, buying seeds, weeding and clearing the field, plowing, planting, watering, caring for the one cow you start with… It was basically just the same as every other farming sim. The difference is that by the time I was sick of that grind, the boy was competent enough with his work that I could just tell him what to do and go about my business. 

A management sim

It took a minute for the management part of the game to kick in, but once it did, it ran like butter. Sure, I would have had better tools to work with had I picked the boy, so it wouldn’t be so labor intensive once I got to that point in the game playing as him either, but I still much preferred assigning him the work rather than actually going and picking every single crop. It feels a lot nicer to go out and buy the seeds while I know he’s harvesting the grown crops so I can tell him to plant them himself the next day. It also meant that for the first time, I was giving almost my full attention to the animals. They don’t have any more nuance to them compared to the usual, but I did feel inclined to keep more of them and actually try to care for them the way you’re told to. On top of all that, the boy has nothing to do in winter because there aren’t any crops that season, so at least the girl has year-round work.

I really think that to play as the boy and have to take care of all the crops actually would make the management part of the game a little overwhelming, because there’s a lot more to it than just delegating work. Your farm is located on a small island off the coast of a city, and because of that, the only way to get to any shops to buy things for work is by taking a boat to the mainland. This wouldn’t be so much of an issue if it weren’t for the boat only running two days of the week, assuming good weather. This means if you’ve got five days left in the season and you want to buy a crop that’ll grow up in four, if it’s raining on the last day you can go to the island, you’re straight out of luck. If you make good enough friends with some people in the island village, one of them can let you use his old fishing boat which lets you access the mainland whenever you want, but you’re unlikely to get that until you’re a year or so into the game. This limit makes the start of the game really complicated– in a fun way.

Shipping your produce isn’t limited by boat availability, thankfully, since your produce can rot in the storage shed. The shed is where you can hold up to 99 of every type of produce for about a week until it starts to go bad. No one automatically comes to pick up your goods like in other games. Instead, there’s a phone in your house that you can only use to call into the farmer’s union and tell them that you want to ship something. This works for one item type at a time though, so you’ll have to make a whole lot of calls if you have a lot of different things to sell. I tended to try and leave things to sit as long as I could just to make fewer phone calls. It also only works while the union is in business hours, but this is a problem I ran into more often very late in the game when I ran out of work to do early in the mornings before the union even opened.

The goal

Speaking of work, the goal you’re aiming towards isn’t something that you know straight from the beginning. In fact, for a short while playing the game, I was under the impression that there was no “goal” or real endpoint at all, because it seemed to be the case that the farm wasn’t in jeopardy at all with the two of us in charge of it. It turns out my feeling was true, because this is one of the few early games where there is no failure state. There is a winning state which is presented to you once you’ve gotten a little bit better of a relationship with your partner. You need to have three of each of the four types of animals (you have room to keep eight of each type), and you need to ship 300 crops. By the time this was brought up to me in the first summer of the game, I’d already shipped well over that many crops and had the requisite number of chickens. 

The more challenging part of the goal is definitely the animals, as they all cost money which can be a pretty limiting factor, especially early-game, but I should also note that when I’d already destroyed the crop goal, that was without any help from my partner, because he still completely sucked at gardening at that point. The game is made pretty easy to play though the task management system, but it’s also made a lot easier thanks to the way its menu works. It’s the first time I’ve seen a Harvest Moon game use a Pokemon-style menu with a dozen different options that let you check everything from your tools, to your inventory, to the individual statuses of all of your animals. Actually, this might be the first Harvest Moon to actually let you know how well your animals are doing in detail, which is really handy. The menu also lets you choose between tools on the fly without having to go back to your house for a toolbox, which makes working the field way faster than other games, at the cost of having to constantly go in and out of menus because there’s no quick-swapping function. The inventory is also the biggest it's ever been from the beginning at nine slots, including whatever you’re holding in your hands, so you’re able to carry a full seed bag’s worth of harvest back to storage at once. All of this mixed with the fact that you aren’t time-limited to make sure everything is shipped before 5PM means you’re free to work both more efficiently and more calmly to get way more work done than in previous games. The only risk is that the storage shed only holds 99 of each item, so you can lose a lot of harvest if you don’t pay attention.

The rest of the game

Other than that, there really isn’t that much else in the game. This is the first entry to have no character portraits for anyone, so even if there are other NPCs that you can build some small relationships with, it’s very hard to connect. The game exists on a tiny island with a small village of about six people you’re able to talk to every day, and you’re able to boat over to the mainland where you can talk to people and shopkeepers in the mall, but the relationships are pretty limited to only a few events for people in the village and a quest each that can be given to you by the shopkeepers. Don’t get me wrong, there is some story you can run into with a couple ongoing narrative threads, the biggest being something to do with a mysterious mermaid who you correspond with through messages in bottles found on the beach, but for how big the world is, I personally expected a fair amount more than there was.

The island that you live on has five different zones that you can visit via map selection: your farm, the village, a cliff where you can see the mainland from, a mountain path, and a labyrinthine forest. The cliff really only comes into play for a fireworks-watching event with one of the villagers, the mountain exists mostly as the only place where you can find forage to sell or gift, and the forest hides a good lake for fishing but also comes into play for one late-game event, if you manage to run into it (I couldn’t get it to trigger). The mainland works the same with its five shopping areas: the port with a weekly farmer’s market, the Farmer’s Union, the shopping mall, the movie theater, and the aquarium. Each of these areas has a good deal more going on than the island, though.

The port is obviously where you go to take the boat back to the island, but off to the right there’s an entrance to a farmer’s market area that’s only available to enter on specific days– notably, days when the ferry doesn’t run, so this isn’t something you can experience until you’ve gotten your own boat. It doesn’t work how you’d expect. The idea is that you’ll be standing at a stall with everything in your inventory on offer and people will come up looking for something very specific. If they don’t find that one thing, they’ll be disappointed and leave. Their requests aren’t locked to any season either, so someone can ask for corn in the winter, and you’ll just be out of luck.

The Farmer’s Union sells and buys animals, sells farming tools and specific seeds, and can give you part-time work which usually is a specific request to ship a certain number of a given item. It also has a bank to store excess money, which is easy to have in this game. Anything that you can’t find at the Union you can find at the mall, which sells seeds for vegetables and flowers, food, special tools, and books which teach you special tricks. The books are mostly there to teach your partner new ways to do things. For instance, I could buy a book that taught my boy to plow in a U-shape, but by the time I had the kind of money I could throw around at things as frivolous as books, he was already competent enough to handle a field full of 3x3 squares without issue.

The theater is just a place where you can watch short movies, but the aquarium actually gives you something else to do. It’s empty, much like the aquariums of the Animal Crossing series, so the owner requests that you go to all the different areas you can find and catch a variety of fish that he can populate his tanks with. This quest was a life saver to me when I completed all the goals given to me well before it was time for the game to end. There’s the river on your farm, the lake in the woods, the beaches, and the open ocean to fish in with a decent variety of fish to catch. It’s tedious and random, but the fishing mechanic is the usual timed-press type, so it wasn’t too hard, and once you’ve filled up the tanks, you can see whatever fish you caught swimming around in them which felt very rewarding!

Criticisms

If I had to criticize this game, I would say that it’s a little bit too easy and it doesn’t have enough going on narrative-wise. This is a pretty light criticism though, because at the very least, because of how easy it is, it never overstayed its welcome. This is probably the fastest I’ve ever managed to beat a Harvest Moon game and that’s definitely because it does half the work for you through the management aspects. Given my complaints about GB1’s help mechanic, it’s easy to assume that this would be a massive downside to this game, but I think the reason why it works here is because it never takes the control away from the player. It never encourages you to put the game down and let it play itself. Instead, I’m still an active participant who’s in control of everything going on on my farm. That feels good to me!

Between the management aspects and all the new things the game is playing with like the irrigation and scarecrows and new crops, I feel like this game was actually interested in doing something new and different with what farming mechanics are and always has been.

For lack of better way to get to everything in a succinct manner, here’s a list of things that show up which, as far as I'm currently aware, never return in mainline Harvest Moon: 

Pet selection that includes falcons and pigs (or either being things you can have on your farm at all)

Digging out irrigation

Sprinklers (that use this irrigation)

Scarecrows

Produce rot

Fertilizer (that’s made from the rotted produce)

Boating

A bank to store excess funds

Buying books to teach you new skills

Snowboarding minigame

Male animals and animal breeding that requires having one of each gender

Fish collection on the level of the Animal Crossing museum

Multi-seasonal crops (wheat, rice)

Things that are new here that I know come back: 

Horse breeding

Farmers market

No shipping bin (manual selling)

Part-time work

Saving the game anywhere you want

With all these crazy mechanics, this is the type of game where you need a manual that comes with it to tell you what to do. Fortunately for me since there was no chance I'd get one, this is the first game I've seen with a dedicated fansite detailed enough that I think it actually covers every single aspect of the game accurately, and that's obviously because the mechanics actually have something going on for once. If you’re curious about what all of this is, I highly recommend either playing the game or at least checking out the site to see what’s up with them.

I am infinitely charmed by the sheer quantity of weird stuff this game tries out. Truthfully, it makes me a little sad that none of it seems like it ever went anywhere based on the state of modern farming sims, not just because I wish more games would reconsider what farming mechanics could be, but also because some of this stuff is really cool and fun to consider!

I think the path of progression through this game is fascinating, and could work magnificently if it was just tuned a little bit better. The beginning of the game is incredibly hard between the lack of energy, incompetent partner, mess of a field, and hard time limit on when you’re able to get seeds to earn some money with, and I think that early game struggle is truly the most fun part of farming sims. The number of barriers keeps you in that state of constant fighting a little bit longer, but I do feel like as soon as you get a little bit of leeway, everything cascades into becoming infinitely easier. The point where you finally have a perfectly clear field, a partner who can actually do some work, and a boat to get to the mainland on your own can hit all at once, and once you’re there, the challenge is all gone. I don’t think that this point shouldn’t exist, because it’s part of what makes this kind of game satisfying in the end, but I think it could have been reworked to keep some of the challenge a little longer. At the bare minimum, they could have added some expensive items to buy at the end of the game that aren’t just stuff that generates more money like cheese makers and such, because I have no reason to try making more money when I already hardly have anything to spend it on.

Conclusion

In the end, I just think this game is neat. I don’t think it’s the best game out there, it’s certainly lacking most things I look for in farming sims (narrative), but it’s still a lot of fun to play, and even if you don’t like it very much, it’s over in a flash. If you’re the type of person who wants to make a farming sim of your own or someone who’s just interested in weird farming mechanics, I seriously insist that you should check this game out because it tries so many different things. It’s a fantastic thing to study if nothing else.

[solar-sparky]

Character Log

Allen - Agent 8

Pronouns: He/She

Age:

• 14 (as of Splat1)

• 16 (as of Splat2)

• 21 (as of Splat3)

Species: Caribbean Reef Octopus

~~~

Early life

(Allen's original name is Phyto, and I will be referring to him as Phyto until the Octo Expansion arc where I will then call him (Agent) 8. His name is then Allen post OE)

Phyto was born into a family of 3; his mother, father and older sister. His mother and sister are both soldiers in the military, while his father is a mechanic, occasionally tinkering in music. Being mostly raised by his father due to his other family members' jobs, Phyto grew fond of working with tools and such. He would then later follow in his father's footsteps to be a mechanic just like him.

(Read more)

At the age of 14 Phyto would have to leave his family in order to receive proper training, something all Octarians had to do as everyone needs to be useful in some way while living in the harsh conditions the bunkers provided. He trained in engineering and mechanics, and due in part to all the help and knowledge from his father, Phyto did exceedingly well and is able to work as he pleases.

The 3 of them met when repairs on their weapons needed to be done. Aurora is a soldier, still in partial training (still in training but could get called out for field work if necessary). Skip, an odd octo trooper is her partner, the two of them being grouped together in the hopes that they would help each other in training. Aurora found Phyto to be very fun and silly, becoming quick friends.

Having a fondness for older tech as in his experience most of the time older things seemed to work better and last longer, Phyto combined different features from new and old tech to create beneficial equipment. He would continue to work on and develop new tech that could help improve life around the domes and while not working directly for the military, oftentimes Phyto would be called in to do some repairs on different machines and weapons. During one of these sessions he would meet 2 of his greatest friends; Skip and Aurora.

~~~

One task that was assigned to Phyto as an extra job was looking after the Zapfish within the domes. It is a once a week job, with every week being a different dome. The zapfish would be given breaks at night time as it would save electricity and give the creatures a break. During this down time, Phyto would do check ups, give them their food and water and just overall play and spend time with them as a form of enrichment. He learned a lot about the zapfish during these times, however his knowledge would soon come in handy as within one of the holding areas for the zapfish was one special case.

Lots of TLC helps bring 1202 back to health. While it still cannot produce electricity, it bounced back really well. At this point however, it has become very attached to Phyto, besides it's not like he was thinking about bringing it back anyways. Aurora and Skip are the only 2 other people that know about 1202.

As most zapfish were given labels to be identified with, this zapfish was labeled "1202" and looked noticeably different from the other zapfish. It was a duller, darker colour, it moved slowly, and had a severed whisker on its left side. When asking about the fish, Phyto is told that it is a dud that can not produce electricity and was just hanging around the place without contributing anything. Phyto wonders if he could just take 1202 and help bring it back to health; no one would notice if it was gone.

~~~

On his trip to the breakroom later that week, there are noticeably less zapfish in the holding area. Phyto is told that they've been under attack by "The Inkling Menace" who's been stealing the zapfish from them. Phyto knows that both parties are involved with stealing the zapfish back and forth, it is true that stealing isn't the correct way to go about things, however the domes are experiencing an energy crisis and the Octarians need all the energy they can get.

During an on-call task to fix and enforce a zapfish bulb, Phyto is promptly attacked by none other than Agent 3 who has come to take the Zapfish. While having the smallest bit of combat training, he is no match for Agent 3, swiftly defeating Phyto and taking the zapfish within the bulb away.

~~~

A job that Phyto is later called upon for is the restoration of an old Octo Weapon, the Octomaw. The Octomaw was quite the machine, even able to dive and swim through ink. It wasn't an easy task but Phyto and the team of other engineers managed to get it back in working order with a few new features. However, the one known as Agent 3 was easily able to defeat it. Watching something he worked so hard on easily get destroyed, and by the person who formerly beat him in combat no less, it didn't make Phyto the happiest camper.

Like a lot of fellow engineers and mechanics, Phyto was also called to the showdown of Octavio and Agent 3, both parties wanting to stop this feud once and for all. While Phyto was rooting for Octavio at first, something changed once a certain song was hijacked to play instead. It made him think about the surface, a topic of which, while interesting, it was never something he had thought about going to see until now.

After the showdown which had ended in Octavios defeat, Phyto had to meet up with Skip and Aurora who too were at the event and heard the song; they shared similar thoughts now. While Phytos interactions with Agent 3 were nothing but negative, he now thought about what it was like on the surface; he started to collect various items he could find such as books, magazines, albums and more. Learning through these things about what it's like and growing more distasteful to how life in the domes was.

Phyto couldn't leave right away, more specifically, he didn't know how to just yet. He feared everyone or at least someone would notice. So he began to devise a plan and discover a route to escape. While out and about he would discover what looked to be an old train tunnel, where it led, everyone who he asked didn't seem to know where; perfect. At this point it has been 2 years since hearing The Calamari Inkantation, and Phyto was just about ready. He had to leave without telling anyone so it'd be longer before anyone would notice he was missing.

With 1202 by his side, months of planning and prep, Phyto set off down into the train tunnel.

(This post will be updated in the future!)

Fun fact: Phyto met Callie briefly a few days before leaving.

~~~

[perexcri]

there’s nothing more cruel than to be loved by everybody but you - [byler week - day 5]

yeah so i thought this fit the secret identities thing until i wrote it and realized it uhh. isn’t quite that. so enjoy whatever this is i guess - lots of miscommunication and a fun set-up for potential enemies to lovers

also it’s my personal headcanon that Will is a music snob, so if you don’t like that then uh,,,,i guess skip this one idk

title from: wilson (expensive mistakes) by fall out boy

dedicated to: the listening party for fall out boy’s new album that i went to last week in a city an hour away from me; i came up with this stupid idea on the drive there! indie record store in [city redacted], you were very nice, and thank you for having a decent selection of poetry i could pick from :]

Don’t ask Will how this ended up being his job, because he honestly doesn’t know. One day, they had a meeting for the university’s queer artists’ zine where he was complaining about everyone’s responses to the new U2 album (yes, it sounds different from other U2 albums, but obviously if you look at the lyrical and metatextual themes of Achtung Baby, it’s still very much U2), and then BAM–suddenly he’s in charge of doing the cover art for the zine and writing music reviews.

Sure, he could probably turn it down, but nobody else will take the job.

Also, he’s pretty sure they wouldn’t do it right, because, as much as he loves this group, their music tastes are…well…not everybody has an older brother like Jonathan Byers who makes sure they grow up with proper music opinions.

So, if anything, Will does this to keep the spirit of reviewing and recommending underground artists in New York City alive for the zine, and also because he doesn’t think anybody else could do it justice, no offense to them.

But Will is loathing this job for their upcoming edition. He’s sitting in that weird liminal time between class periods where people are in the chaotic throes of rushing around or throwing their notebooks open to prepare for the lecture; his elbows are pressed into the desk that’s just a little too small, and his head is in his hands. He’s staring down at the one submission he’s been putting off for precisely three semesters, because the president of the zine said it needed to be done before they moved on to new submissions, so could you please just lower your standards for one night and go listen to them play so you can write the damn review?

The Fellowship of the Ring, the submission card reads in faded pencil. Scratched under it in the slightly-fresher ink of the zine’s president’s pen, it reads: Thursday - The Purple Hall - 8 PM.

And, God, Will wishes this show was just gonna be a live reading of the Tolkein book. It would be so much better than what he knows it actually is.

The Fellowship of the Ring is a local, up-and-coming act in the underground venues of the greater New York City area that everybody loves because they sound like Nirvana and, you guessed it, throw out Tolkein references like they’re Led Zeppelin. They’re huge on college campuses, where students pass around live-recorded tapes of their supposedly-legendary performances all the time, gushing about how even the bass sounds, the peeling shrieks of guitars, the way the vocalist wavers between grumbles and ethereal, falsetto howls. They even gush about the lyrics and how they truly capture the experiences of Western youth in these first few years of the new decade: malaise, boredom, this sense that there is no great struggle for the future left for them, only an endless drowning in comfortable excess.

Will had even seen a girl with the band’s logo tattooed on her shoulder.

Which is…fine. He guesses.

If you like shitty music, that is.

See, that’s the fundamental problem here: Will likes doing these silly little reviews for live music around New York because half the time, the music is passably decent, and even if that doesn’t work, the lyrics can make up for it. There’s so much creativity in the air, and people are doing so much with it.

Not The Fellowship of the Ring, though.

Where everybody else sees innovation, Will sees reductivity; where everybody screams about the charm of the lyrics and the pop culture references they sneak in, Will sees a demeaning pandering to an audience. Every single time he has been subjected to the squawks and out-of-tune guitars of The Fellowship, he’s spent his time thinking he would be better off to save himself the time and just listen to Nirvana’s Nevermind for the millionth time, because that’s all The Fellowship’s trying to do, anyway, and at least then Will could listen to something good.

Yeah, Will hates The Fellowship of the Ring, and now he’s squeezing his temples so hard that the letters on the submission card are beginning to swim in his vision.

“Hey!”

Thankfully, Will is saved by his very friendly, incredibly good-looking neighbor in History of the American Constitution, Mike Wheeler.

“Hey!” he says, trying to gain back the energy that seeing The Fellowship’s submission card had unwittingly drained out of him.

And honestly, seeing that flash of Mike’s smile and how the fluorescents dance in his eyes, Will feels like he has enough energy to power the sun now, even if they are going to have to sit through yet another lecture about Article II–whatever the hell that means.

“What’s got you so down?” Mike asks, head tilted to the side, some of his hair tumbling into his eyes, and all Will wants to do is push it away–

But, no, he has to have a coherent conversation right now, so he shakes his head and tries his best to return Mike’s smile. “Oh, nothing…Just something for that zine I work on.”

“Oh, yeah!” Mike snaps his fingers, causing some of the buttons on his jacket to rattle together. He always wears a leather jacket no matter the weather or the rest of his attire, and today, paired with plaid pajama bottoms, held-together-by-duct-tape converse, and a baggy Care Bears shirt, it shouldn’t work, but in Will’s eyes, it does. “I think I saw one of those around! I wanted to grab a copy, but somebody else did before I could get to it.”

“I can bring you a copy of the next issue,” Will says, then, remembering the task at hand, groans and puts his head back in his hands. “That is, if I even survive it.”

“What, are they making you skip classes for it?”

“No, worse: they’re making me listen to a band I hate.”

Mike winces. “Yikes.”

“Yeah.”

“That sucks.”

“Right?”

“Can’t you just, like…push it off?”

“I did. For three semesters.” The professor wanders in with a mumbled greeting and a steaming cup of coffee in hand, and Will lowers his voice in anticipation of the lecture beginning. “That’s why I have to do it now.”

“Maybe it would help if somebody went with you?”

Despite having flirted with each other mercilessly all semester during this one shared class of theirs, they haven’t hung out much outside of it, so to be faced with the possibility of something that could potentially be labeled as a date between them is shocking. For a moment, Will can forget about the future torment awaiting him Thursday evening at The Purple Hall’s listening stage, and he thinks that maybe, just maybe, having somebody to talk to over the drone of the lazily-played guitars could make the evening slightly more bearable.

“Yeah,” Will finally says, a grin stretching across his face. “Of course. Yeah, that’d be awesome!”

Mike returns the look twofold, and one of his legs begins to bounce. “Awesome! When is it?”

As the lecture begins, Will resorts to a torn piece of notebook paper, like he’s a kid passing notes in class again to survive the boredom. He scribbles The Purple Hall - Thursday 7 PM, then hands it to Mike, who responds with a quizzical look at the paper, scratches something out, and hands it back to Will.

The Purple Hall - Thursday 7 PM 6?

Will shoots him a thumbs up, prays it wasn’t too awkward, and then folds the sheet of paper up and sticks it in his pocket.

And if he carries it around there for the rest of the week, then that’s his business alone.

---

The pros: this is one of Will’s favorite music venues, there’s several bands to look forward to tonight, and Mike seems wholly invested in the idea of this being a date, if him leaning closer and the playful hand on Will’s knee mean anything.

The cons: Will has to listen to the fucking Fellowship of the Ring in approximately ten minutes.

He’s able to put the thoughts off for the first hour. After all, The Fellowship isn’t set to perform until 8–he and Mike had met at 6 as planned, and Will has spent the first hour and a half trying to be blissfully unaware of the torturous fate awaiting him.

Even as his skin begins to crawl at the thought of having to hear those plucky, out-of-tune guitars and the lead singer screeching about the Gulf War under the guise of Star Wars references, he does feel a little settled. Mike’s fingers are surprisingly warm, and the alcohol they’ve been nursing makes his chest glow with warmth. It’s easier to laugh, to be focused solely on Mike and these wonderful, looping conversations they’ve found themselves ensnared in.

“This one’s good!” Mike half-shouts over the drum solo of the current act, consisting of just a drummer and a bassist crooning over their heady rhythms. They’re called the Jazz Squares, or something like that. Whatever.

At least they’re not The Fellowship.

“The drink or the band?” Will queries. His own head’s spinning with the beer he’s been sipping on for the better part of an hour, and he already feels lightheaded, because he’s a lightweight, and Mike’s got something to do with these pulses of courage thumping in his chest, right?

“Both!” Mike takes another long sip from his Jolly-Rancher-blue mixer. Will had asked him what was in it earlier, and all Mike had responded with was Coconut-something and a whole lot of rum!

They’ve talked about so much already–their families, their majors, their hobbies. Mike comes here a lot, he reveals, and he mentions that he plays guitar, too. He keeps it a playful secret when Will asks for more information, though: how long have you played? Do you write, too? Are you in a band, because I could put you in the zine if you wanted–

It’s a surpriseee, Mike had drawled in response, a stupid grin twisting his mouth as his fingers had vacated Will’s knee momentarily just to ruffle through Will’s hair.

As the Jazz Squares’ set finally dies down to some spotty applause (this is more of an alternative scene, after all, but a gig is a gig), Will lets out a groan, melodramatically knocking his forehead into the table, and finally drags out his notebook.

“What’s that for?” Mike asks, eyebrows high on his forehead.

“For that review I have to do,” Will grumbles.

“But isn’t that act on in, like, two hours?”

Will blinks a couple of times. He supposes he hadn’t actually told Mike which group he was here for, but he thought the fact that he originally proposed a meet-up time of 7 would have communicated enough that it was somewhere around then. “Um, no? I didn’t say anything, I guess, but I think they’re up next.”

Mike’s fingers begin to nervously tap on what remains of his electric blue potion. As his and Will’s gazes snag together for several heady seconds, he purses his lips, then throws back the rest of his drink, swallowing the last of it in just a couple of gulps.

Will slowly draws his notebook out, flipping to the page he had specifically marked The Fellowship of the Ring with a disheartened, frighteningly life-like frowny face scrawled next to it. “Is something wrong?”

Mike drags his wrist across his mouth, smearing any remaining drops of blue onto his leather jacket’s sleeve. “So this band you hate that you have to review…It’s The Fellowship of the Ring?”

“Yeah.” Will taps the top of his paper. “I didn’t say anything, but…Yeah.”

“Oh.”

“Why?”

“Um.”

Will quirks an eyebrow up. “I mean, do you like them? That’s fine, of course, I mean–people have different tastes and what-not. I’d just have to seriously question your judgment in all matters music-related, I guess.”

“Um,” Mike repeats, fingers now tapping a dangerously fast staccato against their bartop table. It makes the remaining beer in Will’s bottle slosh around. “Um…This is bad.”

“What? Are you a super fan or something?” Thanks to the alcohol, Will feels bold enough to scrunch his nose up with disgust. “I mean, fine, whatever. But seriously, if you want a second date, I’m gonna take you to a record store so you can hear some actually decent music. If you’re impressed by that fucking band’s reductive bullshit, you’ll be positively amazed by a group like The Clash or Smashing Pumpkins or–hell, even fucking U2–”

“Excuse me!” the MC calls over the mic; when the feedback whines, he takes a second to tap at the mic, then announces: “Calling everyone’s favorite up-and-coming group, The Fellowship of the Ring, for soundcheck–their set starts in five!”

The club erupts into raucous cheers. Will has to hide the involuntary groan of annoyance he lets out behind his hand.

Mike casts a nervous glance at Will, then pushes his chair out and looks like he’s going to walk away, the buttons on his jacket clicking together. He nearly trips over the saggy laces of his converse, and through the tears in his jeans, he almost looks like he’s shaking.

“Hey, wait!” Will says, reaching forward and grasping Mike’s wrist. It makes the other guy stop, a blush creeping up into his cheeks, and Will tries to push down his distaste for the band and lets out a sigh. “Listen, I’m sorry–I was being stupid. It’s just a band, after all. If you like them, that’s fine, and I will…” he swallows here, and it hurts, taking on this insurmountable task of trying to push his music-snob’s pride down. “I won’t make fun of you for it. I promise.”

Mike blinks a couple of times before a reassuring grin overtakes his features. “Uh…Nope. That’s okay, Will. It’s not for everyone. I wasn’t like…trying to run out on you or anything.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. I’m still gonna be here.”

“Then why are you getting up?”

Mike points at the stage, where a drummer and bassist are setting up their instruments, their eyes scanning the room in search of their infamous guitarist and singer. “Didn’t you hear? We have soundcheck. The set starts in five.”

Will slowly nods. “Yeah. Then the next act starts, and I have to scratch down whatever notes I can think of for them, and then we can get back to our date.”

Mike stares at him for several seconds.

And then it all catches up with Will.

“Oh, shit–”

Mike’s grin turns into something playful, his eyebrows shooting up beneath his bangs. “Can’t wait to read your official review of my fucking band’s reductive bullshit!” he says with a two-fingered salute, then spins around to make his way to the stage. He’s bathed in the dim lighting of the stage, hunching over his guitar the second he straps it around his chest, and Will wonders how somebody who was brave enough to wander around in a leather jacket and a fucking Care Bears shirt and look that good could be involved in a band that’s just–

This bad, Will finishes for himself as Mike strums his first cord, its electricity shaking the walls of the club, and he begins yet another signature Fellowship song that’s nothing more than various John Hughes and horror movie quotes juxtaposed over warring drums and guitars.

Of course Will would be stupid enough to fall for the lead singer of his most-hated band in the greater New York City area.

[period-dramallama]

Review: Katherine by Anya Seton

I know I know I said I would have time at the end of last year, but then I got bitten by a plot bunny and after that I had my annual New Year holiday at my mum’s, AND THEN I got bitten by another plot bunny…

TLDR: an enjoyable read, but my high expectations were disappointed.

The plot

At times the novel was very slow, but it felt slice-of-life looking at different aspects of the 14th century: the plague, jousts, pilgrimage, murder, the Peasant’s Revolt. The title ‘Katherine’ is rather misleading because the world around her is much more interesting than she is, frankly. And while the pace is slow, the murder of [SPOILER] is a good source of dramatic irony: waiting for the characters to find out the terrible secret.

You can see the seeds of the dynastic dispute that will become the Wars of the Roses: Mortimer thinking that his descendants by Philippa will get the throne sooner than John’s descendants. Cob’s subplot with Katherine was good.

Also good on Anya for not lazily confusing her history and remembering that the young Hotspur of Shakespeare is not the same as the historical dude, who was much older than Harry of Monmouth. It was good to see Hotspur, although I think his fame from Shakespeare is probably the reason he’s in the book. At times the book is like a who’s who of 14th century England: Katherine meets Julian of Norwich. It’s also fun to see Chaucer and the references to his work and historical people influencing his writing. I liked his perspective on the Peasants’ Revolt: he’s hidden in his rooms, passing the time with his stories, so he comes out to see the destruction like that gif of the man who enters the burning living room with pizza.

Gaunt confronts the archbishop at St Paul’s and it’s a great set piece.

More Wycliffe and John of Gaunt, please! I loved seeing John of Gaunt use Wycliffe for his own political ends. “John was truly devout in a hearty male way… he believed as his father and mother had believed, so Wyclif had ended by horrifying him.”

Whoever wrote that placard calling Gaunt a Flemish changeling…truly the winner of the Darwin Award. My guy, at least disguise your handwriting.

I did get a sense of the importance of religion to medieval people, which was good:

“What then was certain? What was there that would not shift and veer at the mercy of the winds of feeling?”

“Sanctity, the clergy said. Prayer. The practice of religion. The benevolence of the holy saints. The Grace of God.”

“He had not pointed out that the devil’s hand with the five fingers of lechery gripped a man by the lions, to throw him into the furnace of Hell.”

The action scenes, for want of a better phrase, are also well-written: “But on the second course he shattered the boy’s spear and, though his own lance point was broken off by the shock, he swerved Morel and, coolly slanting the butt of his lance into the boy’s armpit- beneath the breastplate, lifted him from his saddle and deposited him on the ground.”

The writing

“During the time of terror and hideous death there had been no dignity of mourning, and now in the honours done the Duchess they could weep quietly for their own dead, too.”

The plague sequence was well written: atmospheric, full of doom and dread.

Sometimes the writing was….IMHO, bordering on the silly. “Lay bathed in a moony light” “the blue Percy lions on their surcoats jigged in and out with their fierce breathings.” Anya, baby, don’t write under the influence. It’s not a good idea.

The medieval songs were a welcome inclusion that made the world feel more real.

There are some good turns of phrase in this book: “He’s swollen with pride and no doubt March has been puffing it with the hot air of promises.”

“Bloodshed-“ the friar smiled faintly. “Blood is all you knights understand.”

“There’s still the bishops! May the devil’s pitchforks prick their fat rumps until they’ve bled out all the gold!”

“like released bowstrings, the two hundred diners jumped to their feet and waited.”

Anya writes crowds and the mood of crowds well, she is good at depicting mass hysteria and mob mentality. “Already a dozen heads had rolled into the central gutter, which ran crimson. Vultures and kites perched high above on the house gables, watching as intently as the crowd did.”

There are some lovely expressions of emotion. “Humility struck Katherine, even shame that she had dared to expect love from such a man as this.” “Am I then nothing of myself? She thought with anguish. Can I not live apart from memories of him”

There’s humorous moments too. “The excited fishmonger had just caught sight of Katherine standing like a church statue beyond his angry wife.” “She held out a fat dimpled hand so loaded with diamonds that Katherine, as she curtsied, could scarce find space to kiss.” “There he may cool his ardours by taming the Scots, who are rampaging as usual. God bless them.” “They were recounting with relish the horrors of the revolt in London two months ago, while a Norfolk man insisted that they had had a worse time of it up here than any Londoner could know.” “Five children stood by a thatched stable which enclosed crudely painted homemade figures of the nativity, and loudly disputed whether the Baby were smiling or not.”

The characters

Take a shot every time Katherine’s beauty is mentioned or described. You will pass out.  There are fewer references to her beauty as the book goes on.

“She had beauty still, the thinness of her flesh but exposed the grace of her bones and sinews.”

…mostly fewer references.

“He reached out his finger to touch the white streaks at her temples. “Age on you has but added swan’s wings to your fairness,” he said wryly, “while I’m grizzled and hacked like an old badger.”

I said FEWER references, not none.

“They stared at each other in a struggle that racked them both, and she clung to the sudden enmity between them as a shield.” “They stood looking at each other, breathing as though they raced with time.”

The chemistry between John and Katherine has promise, but the development of the attraction is pretty thin. There is attraction between them but at almost halfway through the book, I still didn’t get what Katherine’s appeal was to him, apart from her beauty. She’s the main character, yet I didn’t get a sense of a personality. Philippa ‘Pica’ Chaucer might be brash and grating to the people around her, but at least I could describe her to you. What’s Katherine’s personality? Um…she’s beautiful? She’s a controlling parent to Blanchette? She’s a loyal friend to Blanche? And….um…yeah.

John goes from desiring Katherine to suddenly saying he loves her: it’s a very abrupt change in his feelings.

“Inclination and good taste” prevent Katherine from interfering in politics. It’s “men’s business” and she’s framed as better than that meddling realm-ruiner Alice Perrers (boo!hiss!)

It might seem hypocritical of me to criticise Katherine being apolitical- didn’t I just say I wanted Katherine to have more personality and now she has a definable personality trait I’m criticising it for not being the personality I wanted?

But I do think it’s a missed opportunity. Yes, I’m biased, I like scheming women, but I really do think it would be a more interesting book if Katherine paid attention to John of Gaunt’s activities, maybe even advised him. It would serve as a window into John of Gaunt, who he is, what drives him. There’s nothing wrong with wanting the quiet life but it does make Katherine rather passive. Dozens and dozens of pages go by without Katherine and the duke interacting. Their reunion at the end is lovely, but it would be even better if their relationship was well-developed. “This castle was his, the bread she ate, the clothes she wore came from his bounty. Like the hundreds in his retinue, like his children, like this young squire who stood waiting respectfully before her, she had no course but submission.” I like the realism of this passage, but again, it does feel like a missed opportunity to get closer to John of Gaunt’s inner workings. There is a scene where John confides in Katherine by her coaxing, and it’s a pleasant scene, but it’s all the more frustrating because it’s the only time. “His need for her deepened, he talked to her more freely about all his concerns, and he kept her with him constantly, showing her many public as well as private signs of his love.”

That’s the good stuff! I don’t want that information in passing, I want to see it happen! That’s what I want to read! Not Reminder no. 312 that Katherine Is Beautiful!

(Maybe this is a sign that I should be reading a novel about Alice Perrers instead. Or writing one? Eyes emoji.)

“But by night, sometimes she was with him in dreams. In these dreams there was love between them, tenderness greater than there had really been. She awoke from these with her body throbbing and a sense of agonising loss.” I was struck by the nuance and the pessimism of this passage. It was a different kind of love story than I had expected from a ‘classic romance’.

“She was no longer simply ‘Katherine’ she must adjust again to the various labels that the world would give her, and the demands fair and unfair that it would make.”

That’s great but I still don’t know who Katherine IS beneath all these labels!!

I did like this moment with Katherine during the Peasants’ Revolt. Anya astutely summarised some historical truths: she gets it right where Margaret Mitchell got it wrong:

“A good manor lord cares for his serfs,” she continued. “He gives them ale feasts and alms. In time of trouble he protects them, feeds them, and he administers justice for them that they have not the understanding to do for themselves. They’re like his children.”

The friar gave his rare chuckle. “You voice the arguments for slavery that are old as Babylon and have satisfied many. There are however others who prefer freedom to any benefits – I don’t know,” he added half to himself, “what is God’s law.”  

I was not expecting Katherine to imprison her daughter for disobedience, especially as the real Blanchette seems to have died younger.

(However, espousing the views of the time is still not a personality.)

“Katherine, who was always just, stroked the dark curls.” Always just??? Anya?? My sister in Christ, she bullied Blanchette into marriage, that’s not just!!

Anya definitely has Opinions about gender roles. Katherine’s femininity is Good and Modest and Natural, Richard’s femininity is Sinister and Unnatural.

“Ay, there was perversion of all sorts dwelling behind those tinted beardless cheeks, the gold-powdered curls, the tall slender body that bore itself so haughtily in violet brocade which gave forth a wave of scent as he passed.”

“Next came a giggling, mincing group of young men in skintight hose that showed their thighs, and more, and who wore velvet shoes with points half a yard long – Richard’s contemporaries and cronies.”

Why is literally everyone in this novel more interesting than Katherine? This novel is like a bagel: a hearty ring, but the centre is a hole, a void.

[wow-its-me]

Alright Mutant Mayhem post, I just got back from the movies so these takes are are all of my first un unfiltered thoughts

SPOILERS AHEAD

First off the animation style : Absolutely Amazing,

Very claymation like, and although I see the comparison to Spiderverse, I think it’s completely unique,

If anything it reminds me of The Mitchell’s Vs The Machines

Next the cast : Absolutely Amazing

The way the characters had so much energy and just bounced off of each other. The kids that voiced the turtles really did great, everything they said felt very natural, and like teenagers actually talk. It was A LOT of pop culture references, but while a little cringey, none of them felt forced.

I absolutely LOVED this version of April and she’s currently fighting IDW April for the “best april” spot in my head. Again Ayo did a great job and I can’t imagine anyone else in the role. A fresh take while still being true to the character

And of course Splinter carried the movie. Jackie Chan was incredible as always, and this is splinter is truly the best dad. He was really just looking out for his sons, and doing anything and everything he could to make them both safe and happy.

I’m never going to get over Paul Rudd as Mondo Gecko

And Natasia Demetriou was perfect (hearing her definitely through me off guard though, just cause I’m a wwdits fan, and I though her being the bat was very silly)

Overall thoughts :

If anything I found myself a bit distracted through the movie. Getting caught up comparing things to the TMNT I already know. Learning to accept that while, similar this one’s different, a new take on a beloved series.

I wasn’t comparing it as “worse or better” but seeing the similarities to certain comic issues and runs, and assuming that I knew what was going to happen based off of those. Super fly is just like Hob, Cynthia Utrom is Bishop, ect.

And while those comparisons are both interesting and fun, I was getting too into it, and overlooking what THIS movie was trying to do and say (which is a problem that I think a lot of comics fans run into)

OK critiques : I tend to be nit-picky but I only have a few this time

The Mutanimals,,,, (that what I’m calling them here y’know who I mean) their were ALOT OF THEM and I feel like they all weren’t utilized in the film, and used to cast stars who would only have a couple lines, and probably sell more toys (which, let’s be honest, is the biggest reason TMNT exists now)

Bebop and Rocksteady didn’t really do anything, I swear Leatherhead had two lines, I completely forgot about Ghengis Frog, Rey Fillet was literally just Post, and the only ones who felt like real characters were Mondo Gecko and Wingnut (and I might be bias cause I love them) and slug lady???

The way they almost immediately turned on superfly, their older brother, who was clearly like a father to them, with no hesitation?? One second their down for mass murder, and the next their helping the turtles???

Their actors and designs were cool, but the movie was only 1:35 or something, I feel like a bit more character development for them could’ve been put in

The timeline? Also a bit confusing, and implies that every mutant other than Splinter, Slug Lady, and Superfly is 15. Which I don’t think is true.

But all of the Mutanimals were shows to be babies/toddlers in the 15 year flashback?? And they all seemed like infants in Stockmans lab (other than superfly whose a couple years older) and older slug lady would’ve been tiny anyway

But I just got a little confused

And lastly the ENDING :

I really didn’t think they’d actually make it to highschool!! This is honesty super interesting and opens up the story for a lot of new plots and takes, doing things that the turtles could never do in previous iterations. It makes me very excited for what could come next for them

Their in the real world

People know them

They could have actual futures

(I’m very curious to how taxes and stuff work for splinter now, but I doubt it’ll ever get into that)

AND THE SHREDDER TEASE

Very hyped for what’s coming next, left the theater ranting to my sister about how I hope Karai will be in the next one too.

And with the backstory loosing that tie to the Foot, I’m really wondering how things will go down

And worried for how underprepared they are for someone like shredder

[tammyhybrid21]

Generation 3 Iterators

(The Highlights)

Oh boy, finally the last of the generations. As with the other two this will just mostly be highlights. And again for the main iterators only really. So Unparalleled Innocence and Five Pebbles mostly. Even if there are a few more cameos for others of these guys along the way. There’s chaos in the bones of this generation of iterators.

As with the other lineups, here’s the names of everyone in order:

Gin & Tonic, Unyielding Tenacity, Unparalleled Innocence, Five Pebbles, Solace of Ink, Pleading Intellect, and Secluded Instinct

Much like in other lineups, some of these designs are yet still going to eventually change. Not fully solid at this time and might be more refined later on. I mean you can already see this happening with my design for Innocence just in the refs here.

Even the boy Five Pebbles getting a bit of a tune up. Although these are more or less the designs I’m going with at current. As it is not really much to say about them as a whole.

For Innocence I have her design split as base, no cloak, cloak and then with her “guilty pearl” as I sort of call it. Some wear and tear and then some nebulous point in the future. I don’t really have so much to say about her, pink-purple highlights I guess. And then Five Pebbles, again that base design, then Rotten at Rivulet’s point of the timeline, although that might get further refined later on to be... worse with the rot... but for now. Just a few spots... and then Saint timeline design, which I really need to wash out more... and bonus Cyan Cloaked Pebbles for a nod to Backwards Through the Snow.

Do I need to explain my Avatar still? Just height reference.

So, anyway... time to actually get to the headcanon Scribbles. Most of this is Innocence and Pebbles of course, with some random nuggets of world building sprinkled in. As usual I probably won’t expand too much on things, since it’s random scribbled headcanons but anyway.

For example, this first sheet of scribbling is basically all building up my idea of what a Third Generation iterator even is. They are on some level chaos gremlins, mascotified-- and well, they overall have less personal experience with the ancients. Shorter time scale in relativity and all.

Also fun fact, a lot of their opinions thus are handed down in some ways. While they do have some grounds for their own ideas and experiences it’s very much extra framed from what they hear from other older iterators. Which is mostly who they look up to. For better or worse in all the cases, even if they have a semi-negative view on the ancients like Innocence did end up with, they wish they could have experienced more... you know.

It was half of their jobs and purpose to care for the people after all, the mascotification and all.

More of that same expansion. Innocence was very much, I think beloved. There were fewer mixed opinions about her, and well, she was in the news. WAS THE NEWS ACTUALLY. Broadcast Iterator, both for the people and while not as touched on in these scribbles she worked something as a relay iterator between different local groups. Represented here by having the sketch sheet include PI and SOI...

This did come with a massive downside though, because her gossip nature isn’t just a personality thing. She was made for spreading information and relaying it. Gossip is a quick and dirty way to get information out after all... And she’s had to learn to moderate and filter things over time... which unfortunately meant early on she didn’t do that so much...

Ahhh, the debate of who was the last one built. I think Five Pebbles is the youngest, as well the possible last Iterator ever built. There’s reasons for this based on Canon Evidence(like Five Pebbles not already having records of Innocence been a construction project despite one of his important houses signing off on it) and then there’s just some thematic and personality reasons. Anycase, doesn’t really matter, I DO, However think that there was a fair bit of overlap in their construction timelines.

Like to the point where they ended up antagonizing each other just because they were built at similar times and there was inbuilt rivalry in it. “I’m not a baby you are! But I’m baby” moments mixed in as well. Also absolutely some sibling vibes to their arguments even if no actual relation exists.

They will bully each other, taunt and jab, tease. Yet absolutely will throw down if someone else insults the other.

...I also like to imagine that on anon they somehow are great friends. Sharing a single neuron at times. (EP & TI great friends, FP & UI screaming matches for fun). It’s a principle thing really.

Oh boy, sure do love giving Five Pebbles issues on top of his canon issues. Also how much of this is projection, I don’t think I could really say. More like I was trying to conceptualise the explanation for him... and then got side-tracked. Mostly because good lord the game sometimes drives me nuts. Metropolis why are you so empty of anything set dressing? Like seriously, what is with it?

Anycase a lot of this is kind of surrounding emotions without much actual explanation. And I do think “baby Pebbles” was a lot happier in the first few cycles of his existence. He had a good big sister, was there to help... good. But well, didn’t work out long term because the comparison hurts, as well the fact people... didn’t really like him. A subgroup sure, and something he reflects on with amusement but at the time... and even lingering...

The city was made empty, the people didn’t stay... it had to have hurt and was some of what influenced his downwards spiral... Suns, I do think they made it worse. Maybe not intentionally, maybe thoughtlessly, but Suns certainly never opposed the views they were handed down, and even again, showed seeming support in Pebbles endeavour to cross himself out.

...that pearl...

I also do think there is something quiet in how Pebbles tried to keep Moon out of it. Her own line in Rivulet about how he knows how protective she is of him... old insecurities and the knowledge from Pebbles side, he knows he’s not the preferred one. Whether that’s fact or just insecurities hard to place fully.

Finally just a page where it’s my Colourblind Pebbles propaganda as well as the fact I genuinely think that Innocence and Pebbles have a kind of mutual “the grass is greener” view of each other. Something that of course doesn’t help their arguments and petty disputes and jabs. Pebbles even further because again, he’s colourblind has some appearance envy mixed in. At least Inno isn’t just a remix of another iterator.

Also, I like to keep things a little bit ambiguous, but I do generally believe that Innocence had, at least somewhat good intentions with leaking Pebbles rot photos. If Moon was already unable to be contacted by that point, a desperate attempt to share it with someone, anyone who might have been able to help resolve the situation...

Only it... made things worse.

And yes. Rivulet made and sent by Innocence propaganda. Though again, who fully knows what the intentions were there. Good, bad, generally hoping that somehow the water dancing slugcat could help.

Also some ship based bonuses just because.

Sorry Inno, Moon probably will only and can only see you as a little sibling in vibes.

Anycase, while it's mostly in a hero-worship way, I do kind of ship Innocence with Moon, Innocence definitely has a little bit of a crush, even if it would go... nowhere.

And yes, hello I am a RageQuit shipper reminder. As well more of Pebbles colourblind propaganda. This started as a joke headcanon, how did it become so central to my interpretation, help. I will likely post both of these again later on their own, but for now. Here.

[causeitsagame]

I've finalized all of my fangan base designs (...I think) and look, the most important part of the entire height reference chart:

She's short.

I love being able to see my kids in front of me ❤️😭 (I'm going to murder so many of you in unspeakably horrific ways)

Everyone behind the cut, with a brief bit about their design + role!

This is uhhhh nothing that will be playable any time soon, but I'm aiming for an honest-to-god full (fan) game experience. :) First trial has eighteen different truth bullets, this protag has her own unique mechanic, I'm building things out in Unity, etc. etc. etc.

I am GOING FOR IT, because setting a high creative bar and forcing yourself to push yourself is how development happens!

I'm moving from left to right and including the name/talent/MTBI in text below for readability. I included the MBTI here because I tied each one of them to an MBTI archetype as a fun self challenge (hey, sixteen people!) and so you can look to see who you match up with.

Every single talent is plot-relevant by the end of the game, at minimum. Many are plot-critical. I didn't want anyone to feel like wasted space.

Emi (Tailor, INFJ) - Sweet and humble, she's the type to just wear a standard school uniform. She focuses on assisting others, so she's always got her equipment ready if someone needs something mended.

Akari (Actress, ENFJ) - THE BEARER OF THE AHOGE. Famous ever since she started as a child star, she's always had every life decision made for her by her agent or stage parents. Sounds like you need some character development, girl!

Minata (Gardener, INFP) - Shows off detailed scientific knowledge more suited for a "Botanist" title, but he goes by Gardener for a reason. Practical and kind, he's the type to show up in a working outfit.

Hana (Cinematographer, ISFP) - Has earned awards for her work, yet currently struggles to get attached to new films. Design-wise, her formal presentation is her trying to compensate for that career struggle and look older. Girl should be on LinkedIn, she wants to N E T W O R K.

Momoko (???, ENTP) - Picture a walking pair of 🖕🏼🖕🏼. But. Like. A funny one. Don't worry, girl; as a ???, you're plot-important! You're sure to stick around! (Ignore the muffled Rantaro voice.) I actually had a very specific inspiration for her look, but it's a spoiler for why she's actually there and what her identity ends up being.

Maeko (Director, ISTP) - Three movie-related talents, by now. Is that plot-relevant? An artifact of me being near the Hollywood Sign? MAYBE BOTH? (It's both.) Anyway, Maeko is willing to Commit to the Bit of whatever she's working on, hence showing up in that old-fashioned director's outfit. She knows how the whole Ultimates thing works.

Shin (Statistician, INTJ) - My MBTI sign. :) As a kid, Shin decided that the mathematician in Jurassic Park was totally cool. That ended up steering him toward ear spikes and hair streaks instead of sweater vests. Still gotta have glasses, though.

Riko (Astronomer, INTP) - Riko is clueless about basically everything besides star maps, including "how to act like a normal teenager" or "how to stand comfortably." She gets a generic uniform (with constellation tights) because she wouldn't have the slightest clue where to start, otherwise.

Moriaki (Salesman, ESFP) - Heya pal 👉🏼👉🏼 Thanks for stopping by for a chat 👉🏼👉🏼 I definitely won't make any deals I can't handle 👉🏼👉🏼 KHAKIS 👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼

Ayame (Journalist, ENTJ) - I don't think it's much of a spoiler to say that an investigative journalist is a good fit as one of the hard carries in trials. She zips around to stories on her motorcycle, hence the boots, jacket, and sunglasses :)

Satoru (Historian, ISTJ) - What an asshole. (He has my favorite of everyone's FTEs.)

Hiro (Fire Fighter, ESTJ) - A fire fighter. Literally named Hiro. His existence as a character is NOT. SUBTLE. Add in his first aid training, and you have someone too good to be true. (Maybe...?)

Katori (Beach Volleyball, ENFP) - Obviously, this design had to exist if I'm trying to respect many (but not all) of the tropes. Laid-back, optimistic, and totally into manifesting positive outcomes. She's basically an insta influencer who found herself in a killing game.

Katsuro (Rock Climbing, ESTP) - HIS SISTER WAS THE ONE TO PROPOSE THESE DUMBASS THEMED OUTFITS, FYI.

Ren (Bodyguard, ESFJ) - You might be big as hell, but that doesn't look like much of a bodyguard outfit, bro 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

Daichi (Outdoorsman, ISFJ) - A second huge dude! BREAKING THE MOLD. (Actually, you might have noticed that there are four pretty ripped dudes, and that is in fact plot-relevant at multiple points. It's not only me going 'thirst traps for both sides.' Anyway.) I'd loosely planned out his outfit (flannel shirt, timberland boots, etc.), but I also wanted to involve a school uniform somehow. The only way he could fit into one: ripping his blazer's arms off to turn it into a vest.

SO, there they are. :) I'm tens of thousands of words into this fangan script, have all the trials, evidence, major plot beats, and the ending mapped out, and a 100+ CC0-license 3D objects + locations plus several hundred sound effect files stockpiled. It's happening! Slowly. But it's happening! I will try my very best to make a fun, engaging game.

[kindaoptimisticsquirrel]

Why not: A CCS reread, Part 3

It's saturday and I cannot stop myself from reading more. Time to go on with Chapter 13!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

Ch13:

I'm just now catching on the resemblance of Nadeshiko to Kotoki from X...

Batting Fujitaka with a stick because for heaven's sake you don't hit on your students, ESPECIALLY when they are still under 18. And not with these cheesy lines, too, sigh.

Oh Tomoyo, you're so dear to me <3 I met her first when I read Tsubasa Chronicles, because I read Cardcaptor Sakua later (I don't even know when the anime aired in Germany. Probably way before my time) It was nice seeing her here in the story where she originates and where her character can be more child and follow her hobbies (cause tsubasa is a bit darker in its theme)

Ch14:

Saving this for reference for when I might want to photoshop something stupid onto the newspaper

Loving the little "yikes" at the size of the bread :DD

Ch15:

I definitely forgot about this woman and that she and Touya had been..a thing? (Geez. I try not to think too much about the ages of the characters in CLAMP works)

You know what, I would have loved to get to know Shaoran's siblings!

Hihihihihi *giggling and kicking my feet*

Ch16:

Awww he's so cute when embarrassed

Sometimes it's a wonder how oblivious Yukito can be.

Ch18:

oooh I'm saving this for a drawing reference because I want to try to imitate this beautiful light effects! Gonna try with ink if I find time.

Ch19:

No, Fujitaka, when an adult man offers your 10 year old daughter some tea and biskuits and invites her to come over the other day, you don't just smile and tell her to go back. I'm shaking my head here very disappointedly. (I know it's a childrens' story so it isn't supposed to be taken that seriously, but if you try to look at it from an older perspective? Phew :D Some choices are really dubious.) (I'm only making fun of this, I'm still very much enjoying this manga. It's just interesting to see how different you can see things once you are NOT the target audience's age anymore) Oh yeah I forgot Fujitaka probably knows the man is Nadeshiko's grandfather, but my point still stands. Ch20:

I'm at the screen play now, and Yamazaki really is the perfect cast for that role hehe

Ch21:

You know I really like drawing style with the no hatching, and the light greytones. Normally we don't see shadows really so scenes like this with dark and light really stand out more. Also I think, this drawing style of the manga might look easy, because it's just outlines, and they are all the same line weight mostly...but I've seen other mangas trying to do it like this and I feel like they didn't pull it off this well. I'm wondering, if you don't really use grey tones to give your characters and objects depth, then at LEAST you gotta have a good feeling for shapes and panel arrangement and such to make it all work.

Good to see that the Light and Dark cards are just your average sweet lesbian couple. Good for them! *thumbs up*

Ch22:

I think I want a fic with Touya working at the most obscure places.

Touya: Bitch, don't be giving me love advice when you're the one who broke up. Sooo this is long enough for a post! Time to make a new one! :)

[hospitalterrorizer]

diary24

9/28-29/2023

slow day.

i didn't do a lot other than talk to my friends and work on a couple new songs, and get an idea for an older one (came from listening to some kazumoto endo (feel goofy even saying that (like, feeling some voice far outside my own, some kind noise super-nerd being like, basic choice, and like, why does that guy even exist in my head)). i should write the idea down somewhere. excuse my while i write it down somewhere.

the idea is something like this:

using ring mods and beat chopping, both synced to the bpm and not (some super out of time stuff would be great) and automation, i can get maybe a really hideous sound that modulates itself, using various plugins that also emulate feedback and will interact with some pitch that's right beside itself. the gating/beat repeating should have distortion after, saturn2 w/ env following so that way i can get it to sound like it's interacting with something (or not sound that way, actually really having it interact).

anyways, today feels sort of good because i'm coming up against an old problem, how do i write riffs, how did bands i like write riffs, how do i learn from that. i want to write some really weird stuff, usurp synapse wrote weird riffs, i want to figure that out. so i'm listening to their huge compilation again and trying to i guess observe how they do it. it's honestly a lot slower than i really feel it, and they don't get quite as speedy between ideas/parts as i do, a lot of stuff is really simple 3 chord moves, half step movements. stuff i use a lot but i'm always like, is that too incomplex. 30 seconds songs shouldn't be concerned with complexity, they're entirely cut off from that. they have things happen, it's a composition of phases.

anyways, maybe i should listen to something different. i'll listen to masonna's goofy psych rock thing. i listened to like one song and honestly it wasn't so goofy, it was really noisy and freakish, and just getting outside of hardcore all the time / hardcore adjacent stuff always might be a good idea. or maybe not. at least the synths will be exciting to listen to on this record. also it has a great cover.

that's just one of the coolest ever prolly.

my gf's mom also brought a bunch of stuff to us because my girlfriend gently complained about not being able to buy snacks at a regular grocery store yesterday (she didn't really care and we aren't low on anything actually) but her mom was so sad thinking about that i guess she decided to bring us a bunch of stuff. which i'm really thankful for, it's very kind. it's crazy how my gf is still spoiled sort of. saying that makes me sound resentful or something, when really i'm just amazed by it. it's not a really crazy sort of spoiling, it's not like, actually spoiling her, the way the turn of phrase is meant to be read (outside of how we always see it) is kind of awful to think about, having thought about it a lot (you spoiled that plant by watering it too much, its leaves have gone off and its fruit is overripe and falling apart). it's an awful way to think about people but the phrase refers to a semi-true thing, i guess, where people are given a lot and so on. anyways it's not like anything is wrong with my gf for being given a lot, and there's not a lot wrong with giving her a lot.

i almost just talked about the one thing like that i really tease her for (or there's 2, and the second one is way more acceptable to talk about) and that seems cruel of me. anyways, the second one is that when she was a kid on the east coast, her mom really would buy her whatever clothes she wanted in the mall, it was really hilarious to hear about that, and how she'd try to walk out with something without paying, and her mom would just pay for it.

anyways i've just washed my face and worked out and stuff. whatevs. or something.

now i'm listening to ejaculation generator by masonna. it would be really fun to try and get some of these really horrifying feedback sounds.

it's interesting how noise people approach this stuff, i always just felt like it was a kind of punk music, noise people are like, i dunno, they want it to be more extreme i guess, than that.

it's hilarious what you can do with a contact mic and everything turned up to 10.

i don't recall if i talked about this here, but i think one of the two "live" things i did (one being actually a live show i djed at in a really fucked up and weird/wrong way, which you could listen to here if you're inclined ) and the other is when i was at an old job once, we had two phones on the line, and i took them both off, put them right beside eachother, and started playing the feedback with customers there, i took a cup, put them in the cup, started playing with that, and that made them feedback in a new and cool way, and it was louder, and then i started screaming into the cup, like shrieks like i was getting stabbed. i loved that. it lasted about 5 minutes. real art terrorism, i guess. invading where people go to eat with something really annoying.

that's fun to do. i didn't even get fired from that job, for any of the reasons i could have been.

when i was talking to my friends today, we got to talk to the long absent friend who has just been working on his own life a lot, which was a joy, he seemed really happy to be there, today. his mom got on him about it a bit it seemed like but that's whatever, he seemed able to justify it for long enough, to her i mean. he also posted a song he made today, he said it's a few months old. i wonder why he won't put anything out, i wonder if he's in a hell of just accruing and waiting to have enough good stuff like i feel like i am in sometimes, or just doing it for his own pleasure.

i wonder who would even find his stuff if he did put it out. he's a quiet person, i am too but i'm out here putting my diary on a site anyone can see it, he's even more quiet than that. it's not like what i'm doing makes anyone more inclined to look at what i actually do anyways but i am out here instantiating myself, as a thing. he's not not, but he's not really interested in that, whatever it means to him / me. anyways this question is more about, who really goes searching thru bandcamp tags, for instance, to see what's up. i do sometimes, in the things i'm into (noise rock, synth punk, pv, emoviolence (not real but kind of real, not in a retroactive way it's just a weirder way of writing pv)) and see what people are up to. i know some other people do, i know a woman who knows a cool local band and she's like, got nothing to do with vegas, that band spring breeding, that's sort of insane to me cuz they are super niche, broadly speaking i guess. the scene here probably, at most, tolerates a presence like that, and says, it's fun in a way but it sure is weird, to something like that. you know. so beyond the handful of trawlers, it doesn't feel like there's a lot going on to get people to check you out. that's okay, and stuff, when you can just freely put things out, which i feel like, in the music sphere, most of us can. blowing up is not a big deal.

supporting/being in a band makes that a lot more complicated, obv, but also there's probably the expectation of loss and suffering for one's own desires/art in that.

anyways, apparently bandcamp got bought out today, that's pretty bad maybe, or for some people it's really scary, and me i'm like, what does this mean, there's a bunch of fearmongering. what i know is that there's gonna be layoffs (bad) and these people are probably gonna crack down on everyone putting their superlong ambient paulstretch records on there, is what everyone thinks/fears. the sample stuff is gonna be rough/awful, i can't imagine what it's going to be like if this makes it super easy to litigate against like, teenagers just trying to flip disco records for future funk, random funk stuff, random post-rock, anything that's on a major at all ever, and i wonder even more about people trying to crack down on "stolen" musical phrases and so on.

i don't really want to be in a world where that happens, it's interesting to me that we're currently worrying about the potential of a crackdown on small artists who, by what now they want us to think have been good graces on not by any kind of common sense (like, if i'm not making money, i can't pony up any money, and if no one cares about whatever stealing someone does, who cares?), have been allowed to create music by stealing the materials (samples daws, everything, you know, the way you get into this stuff at 15 and keep at it for life). stealing here is used loosely and positively ultimately. you should steal.

there isn't a lot of fear over sampling here. for instance this record i have is standing at 28 songs, there's like, i think 2 drum loops on it i got from 2 songs. that's about it, very minor stuff that i think falls under fair use basically. the other records i've made are like that, only with more drum sampling. i really just like grabbing drums. for instance my 2nd ep is full of sampled loops from post punk albums, i won't say what but there's one super iconic one on there, it's like kind of funny to me.

this also is what happened with unity recently, or maybe it's why this panic exists. people who don't do anything but make small things to carve out their own ideas, you know, create art that is meant to communicate from that context they are in at that point, or from a longer stretch of time (gamedev is like that, so is making an album, different in many other ways (games result in a continuity and albums can be/ are often sequences of things written at different points re-arranged, linear history destroyed and made into linear time (and that's not particularly special to the album, that's true for many novels as well, though they also create the continuity a game might have via the narrative (i should not compare novels to games but the other way around, probably)))) anyways, the point is people are making art that doesn't require a lot of investment outside of time investment, meaning, if you are willing, you will learn it. this is seen as a huge loss to anyone thinking capital first ofc, so there's i guess a massive impulse to stamp this out. think about how massively owned visual art currently is with payment subscriptions and things. though i guess like how if you are really really invested in music, you can learn to make music in audacity, and if you're invested in drawing, you can invest in learning how to draw with a mouse or trackpad in mspaint. it would be hard but you can do it. people might confuse that with a passion when it's really just a high level of confidence in oneself. some people might need whatever guardrails they perceive in something like ableton or idk what artists use. clip studio paint and stuff. there's also all that free stuff out there, there's not a total horrific thing happening where options have totally disappeared, it's just that the interest in maintaining those things is like, i don't know if it's dissipating or not, i doubt it is because some people could give a fuck about money and stuff, but i guess this all really corresponds to places to share and have your stuff hosted.

but the anxieties right now seem pretty, i dunno, far away, with the bandcamp thing. i don't feel totally terrified, but i guess i know what could get bad if things do get bad, that sort of worries me i guess. or it does, but it's not the kind of thing i've not got any idea how to deal with, you can find ways to get your music out there but it means you need a bigger personality to get people to see it (i have a tiny one (let's compare personality sizes (that's a good song title in a cheeky annoying hardcore way (which is what i like anyways))))

aside from everything what is there to worry about.

and anyways it's getting late and i'm listening to usurp synapse. i wish i knew what the fuck this guy did to his guitar.

short review of ejaculation generator by masonna since i just heard it:

good, loud, stupid, i like all the annoying sounds, i want more annoying sounds, some of the time at least.

i love annoying squealing noises, i don't know what's wrong with me, i love when notes are right next to eachother fighting it out, or ringing out in uneasy cooperation, however you want to imagine it (or maybe it's just a kind of loving thing).

the guy who plays guitar in u.s. has some vids on yt, i might as well watch them and try to learn, but i know sorta already how he does stuff, or at least the chords he likes.

anyways, byebye!!

[juukyu]

Oded Ezer 3 Day Workshop

Idea 1: CCD Nostalgia

Y2K Picture Aesthetic + Photography = Project

Over the past 10 years or so, there has been a longing in certain parts of the photography community to use film as their primary medium again. The aesthetic that it brings is hard to match digitally, and the experience of shooting is very different to shooting on a DLSR or mirrorless. But with film prices rising, and the generation that grew up with film getting older and losing their cultural relevance, a new alternative has appeared; digicams. These small, low megapixel digital cameras were the definitive look of the late 90s and early to mid 2000s, in a time before phone cameras were good enough to take casual pictures on travels or with friends. As a result, everyone used to carry around digicams to document their experiences, and sites like Flickr are flooded with thousands of photos taken with these cameras. They have come back into popularity not just because of nostalgia, but also because of the sensors that they used. Cameras nowadays use CMOS sensors, which can achieve much higher megapixel counts, but older cameras used CCD sensors, which meant much lower megapixel counts but a more realistic colour palette. The way they rendered colour has a very filmic look to it, and as a result they have grown in popularity in the film photography community and have even spawned their own community. In a time where a single 36 exposure roll of film costs nearly £20, it’s hard to justify shooting it over digital. In comparison, you can buy an old CCD sensor camera from a charity shop or off of eBay for less than £5, and even for the nicest CCDs, you’re looking at a maximum of £100-£150.

I think it would be interesting to do a photography project where I only shoot on CCDs. It would come with its own set of challenges; for example, the maximum megapixel count you’ll get on a CCD is around 10MP, which isn’t bad but limits how large you can make a print before it becomes pixelated. Also, many CCD cameras are typically around 2-6MP, so finding one with more megapixels is hard and expensive. As for subject matter, I feel it could be interesting to make something like a photo diary, documenting what I see throughout a day or something like that.

Idea 2: Painterly Photos

Historical Paintings + Photography = Project

The general idea would be to take pictures in the style of historically significant painters/art-styles.

I’ve done things like this before on a small scale, as shown below, but I’ve never really done a deep dive into it.

It would be interesting to look at certain painters and try to make an imitation of the work using just my camera and photoshop. In the examples below, I achieved the painterly look just by intentionally moving my camera during the exposure. In the last picture, I took a regular photo and then heavily edited it in photoshop to achieve the look of Japanese Ukiyo-e paintings from the 1600s.

Photographer Samantha Cave has made a career taking a similar approach. I initially got this idea by looking at her work. She mainly take influence from Claude Monet and other impressionist painters: https://www.instagram.com/samanthacavet/?hl=en

Idea 3: The History of the Rave

Raves + Photography & Editorial = Project

The term “rave” was first used in the 50s, but back then it mostly referred to the excitement and environment of the party life. These days, raving is still linked with partying heavily, but the subculture has evolved and grown significantly. The current iteration of raving started in the late 80s/early 90s with acid house and jungle music. Eventually, as technology progressed, more electronic music genres like techno and drum & bass came into existence and got tied in to the rave culture. I think it would be interesting to take a deep dive into raving, ravers, and all the strange aspects of the culture. Most importantly though, I would like to try and convey through visuals and words exactly why raving is such a fun experience. A lot of people don’t know a lot about it and view it in the exact same light as regular clubbing, which isn’t the case. There are also darker sides of raves though, and to be impartial it would be best to include those parts as well. It’s no secret that raves are rife with drug use, and that’s rather unsurprising given its origins in the 50s and 60s as a word to describe heavy partying (Keith Moon referred to himself as a raver, need I say more?). I do, however, want to make it perfectly clear that raves can be enjoyed without drugs or even alcohol. I’ve also observed that people that typically aren’t big fans of electronic genres like techno or drum & bass still tend to enjoy their experiences at raves, because it isn’t just the music but also the lights and the atmosphere that heavily play into just what makes raving such a great experience.

I guess maybe I’d make a book about it? Or maybe a video essay/short documentary film. Something along those lines.

I really like Fruits magazine, which was a Japanese fashion mag that went around mainly Harajuku documenting what people were wearing on the streets in the late 90s and early 00s. I wouldn’t want to do the exact same, but I definitely would take influence from it:

Here’s some pics of ravers throughout the years, and links to rave fashion (bucket hats, Kandi etc):

This is Rainbow 2000 Fuji. It’s a rave that took place on top of Mt. Fuji in 1996.

Bucket hats and sunglasses are very poplar at raves. The sunglasses I understand because the lights can be a bit much at times, and wearing shades helps prevent overstimulation, but I’m not too sure yet on why everyone wears bucket hats. It would be cool to research where the trend started and why.

Pacifiers at raves aren’t as common as they were in the 90s. This is because people wear them after taking MDMA (ecstasy) which causes you to grind your teeth. The pacifiers are worn to prevent the teeth grinding. The use of MDMA is still rampant in raves but wearing a dummy or having one on you is basically advertising that you’ve either taken some or are going to, so most bouncers will either confiscate it or refuse you entry if you turn up with one. As a result you don’t see them much anymore.

Rave Kandi is more of a festival thing, it’s just tons of handmade bracelets and necklaces. I don’t know the origins but it’s pretty prevalent at festivals like Boomtown. In your typical weekend rave though, you don’t see it as much.

This is a contemporary photography project that focuses on the fashion side of nightlife; it’s not specific to raves but also live music and clubbing, but the general idea can relate to what I want to do: https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/anna-rose-mcchensey-whats-your-favourite-outfit-to-dance-in-project-photography-050922

Idea 4: A Simulated World

“We live in a simulation” + Photography & Photo Manipulation = Project

There are many theories for our existence, from religious takes to scientific attempts to explain the unexplainable. One take is that our world is actually just a simulation created by a species beyond our understanding. In recent years this interpretation has been used more as a joke than anything (referring to random people as NPC’s, calling the sky the “skybox” etc) but some do take it quite seriously. The idea of living in a simulation is actually a fantasy for many. The development of VR technology has allowed for this on a small scale, and the popularity of series like Sword Art Online show that this concept is something that people wish for. With this, though, comes dystopian aspects. Games often have areas that are stuck behind invisible walls, where they haven’t been properly designed yet, but what if reality was also like this? What if advertisements were constantly forced into your peripheral, replacing the stars in the sky?

I think it would be interesting to do a photography project that explores what the world could look like if we were in a simulation, a world with bugs and glitches, kind of matrix-esque.

There’s an artist online by the name of nry.ae that specialises in pixel sorting. I think this technique could really lend itself to such a project: https://www.instagram.com/nry.ae/?hl=en

This article talks about a project that documents “real life glitches”, like fake villages and perfect cities that never existed in America, interesting read: https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/orejarena-and-stein-american-glitch-photography-270622

Very cool music video that uses AI to “delete” all people and advertisements from the insanity that is Shibuya: https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/daito-manabe-squarepusher-terminal-slam-music-video-300120

It could also be really cool to make a soundtrack for such a simulation. Serial Experiments Lain is a series that has a lot of influence in this space; it along with Ghost in the Shell were the main inspirations for the Matrix. In recent years, Lain has come back into fashion, mainly thanks to the music genre of breakcore. This genre is essentially a form of drum & bass, heavily influenced by jungle, liquid and atmospheric. The general vibe is sci-fi-esque, almost as if it’s trying to soundtrack the future. The aesthetic leans heavily into SEL and GitS, and samples from them frequently. I have some experience making breakcore music so it could be interesting to try and make some to add context to this project.

I’m thinking maybe like a gallery exhibition with these photos flickering and glitching and stuff, with the music playing in the background to increase the immersive experience. Or maybe it could be a project built in VR, where you can be almost transported into these simulations, as if you’re living it yourself. Or something like that. 

Or maybe it could like an ARG or something, like a short video series based in a fiction version of reality where everything is just a little off.

[wewerebornsextuplets]

it's time 😏 under the cut for brevitys sake and also no new pictures because im on the train. ill just be reposting their original refs

going left to right, that means we'll have to start with eo-chan!

her real name is a honoka watanabe, though in true chuuni fashion, she insists her real name is "Eos Dusk Symphonia". she claims to be an angel, sent to purge the world of all evil through her holy instrument (aka her trumpet). of course, this naturally means she had to join the school's jazz band. the stickers on the trumpet case are what she calls "seals" to protect the trumpet from dark energy and to keep humans from touching it, because she claims it burns mortal flesh.

eo-chans home life is very normal, her parents are quite loving and actually indulge her in the chuuni antics when they can (though they still call her honoka. the name think is a little over their heads). i think she's probably an only child. she met ippei through the jazz band and became friends with him that way!

next is ringo. she's a rather sporty girl, and her lack of adherence to uniform code + quiet demeanor often give others the impression that she's stern or rude. in truth, she's just had a hard time making friends, and it's made her quite shy. her and ippei share a homeroom class and became friends that way. they quickly realized they were the only queer kids in their homeroom class (ringo being a trans girl who is only just starting to figure stuff out, and ippei of course being a little gay boy) and decided they had to stick together

ringo's the second of four children, with a considerable age gap on either side. her older sister is 23, and has been away from home studying since she graduated high school, and her younger siblings are still in elementary school. since her parents are very busy with work, she usually has to take care of the little ones, which caused her to have to sacrifice her own social life in order to do so. it's also left her a bit confused in terms of her own self expression, which is something she works on as she comes out of her shell a little bit

third in the lineup we have amina! she's a transfer student from america, staying with her father who moved to japan for work. her dad is a very upstanding guy who really wants her to do well, which she recognizes, but she's quite anxious which has led to her accidentally overdoing things in order to prove herself. with school, this manifested as her accidentally signing up for too many extracurriculars and clubs, and stressing out so badly she gave up all of them except for one; the computer program that ippei is in!

though she's quite fluent in japanese, she's still very worried about saying the wrong thing on accident, and so carries around a speaking dictionary wherever she goes. unfortunately, she often second-guesses herself into failure, and references the book at inappropriate or incorrect times. her and ippei get along quite well since she relates to him in the sense that neither one of them is originally from akatsuka (albeit in very different senses) and his very lackadaisical attitude tends to bring her down from getting too anxious.

finally, we have yumie. she's a bit of a curveball in that she actually didn't befriend the rest of them properly at the start, but instead joined the group later. beforehand, she got sucked into the school's gossip culture in a bid to become popular in an attempt to distract from her home life being less than ideal. this led to her befriending the "popular" crowd and adopting their more callous and snarky attitude, even making fun of people who are just like how she used to be.

yumie first starts talking to the group after one of her friends makes her ask him out for a joke; obviously, being that ippei doesn't like girls like that, he turns her down, which leads to yumies old friend group developing a weird fascination with keeping tabs on him and his "weird friends". so, yumie starts spending more time with them under the guise of playing double agent, but eventually finds herself liking talking to them more than her old friends, whom she ends up ditching. in particular she gets a lot of joy out of (affectionately) teasing ringo, who usually doesn't pick up on her jokes and takes them at face value

and as a group, they do what every teenage friend group does best: terrorize local shopping districts

i thiiink tomorrow i will try to type out the little blurbs for ippeis friends so they have a bit more characterization to them 👍 since i would like to talk about them more....