#so lots of moon or water motifs lol

[pechuyu]

had an idea of katara putting on air nomad clothes and also wanted to experiment with water tribe tattoo designs

[bleachbleachbleach]

Helloooo love your meta posts esp wrt to language so much!! It really has elevated my appreciation for the series by A LOT lol so thank you!

I have a question regarding ch 98 that's been bugging me incessantly: in the official translatjon renji says "all i do is bark at the moon", however in fan translations (and anime) renji is seen to be referring to a star. I am unable to find the raws anywhere to ascertain the finality of this conundrum so I was wondering if you could clarify what exactly is the 'object' renji is referring to here and lend us your thoughts?

Thank you for reading! I started this reread because I knew that the potential to really revel in this kind of stuff was already there, but I am really enjoying jumping into it full-on and wondering about and learning about a lot of extremely random things as I go. I'm really enjoying it!

[Bleach 098]

The Short Version

In the Japanese, Renji says, 星に向かって吠えるばっか ― which could be translated as "I’m just barking at the stars." 

The word he uses is 星 (hoshi), star, not moon. My guess is that the Viz chose "moon" because it’s more idiomatic in English to howl at the moon, and the phrase conveys that sense of lone wolf yearning/misdirection--particularly given that he’s talking about Rukia, and Rukia already has some moon imagery associated with her.

The catch is, the concept of "howling at the moon" also exists in Japanese; for example, there’s a famous modern poet named Hagiwara Sakutarou who wrote a collection titled 月に吠える、or, well, "Howling at the Moon." (You’ll notice the same verb, but 月 (tsuki/moon) instead of 星 (hoshi/star). But that's not what Renji says. I’d argue that it’s worth considering the idea that Renji was making a choice in not using that idiom! 

The Very Long Version

Stars and Moons and Monkeys and Tigers and Snakes and Dogs and-- oh my!

Tomes have been written about celestial symbolism, in Bleach and otherwise. I’m not a big celestial symbolism person, because they’re such BIG symbols I feel like sometimes they can feel very locked in, if that makes sense? Like X = moon and moon = Y and therefore X = Y. And while I love an extended metaphor, my preference is for very unstable, borderline sloppy referents. Which isn’t to say that celestial symbolism can’t be unstable and sloppy, too, and that’s what I really like about this whole Renji section. Renji is the KING of "imagistically, there is a lot going on here, my man."

As far as folklore is concerned, reaching for the moon might call to mind the story of the monkey reaching for the moon’s reflection:

The branch the monkey’s hanging from breaks and he falls into the water. His folly lies in failing to distinguish between what is real and what is illusion.

One one hand, this is fitting for Renji, our resident howler monkey. I don’t know how much baboon we’ve actually seen at this point, but we’ll see Zabimaru’s nue form very shortly. But of course Zabimaru isn’t just a monkey—he also has the head of a snake. And we have this dog imagery, coming from both Renji’s affiliation with Inuzuri and other body parts in some versions of the nue. And later we’ll have TIGER in the mix, too!!

There’s SO much going on. If Renji were a Project Runway creation, Tim Gunn would probably invite his creator edit—maybe choose one motif, one metaphor, one guy who will scan well on the runway.

But Renji exists in excess, he IS all those things, both in terms of his chimerical zanpakutou spirit and in terms of everything we’ve seen of him thus far: tearing through Ishida and Ichigo; herding butterflies with Rikichi; stunting with Rukia in jail; delivering Rukia to prison; getting stunted on by Aizen in a supply closet; being friends with Hinamori; tearing through Ichigo a second time; and now, finally, giving it all up and begging Ichigo: Just save her.

Bone Metaphors

The reader hasn’t seen it yet, but Renji knows what form Zabimaru’s bankai takes. In addition to all those animals and their potential allegories, we also have bone. In Renji's earlier line, there’s an idiom that I wish were preserved:

In the Viz, he says, "I’ll always be a stray dog." In the Japanese, his line is 「骨の髄まで野良犬根性が染み付いてやがるんだ.」Which could be translated as "I am, indelibly, a stray dog to the marrow of my bones /contemptuously." Or, more succinctly:

"I’m a stray dog to the bone."

I love this line because it’s reaching toward Renji’s challenge to Byakuya, insinuating still more layers to Renji’s multitudes.

Different Flavors of Disgust

Still thinking about Renji’s second act in this arc, I am also interested in his subsequent line. He says 厭になるぜ (iya ni naruze), or, in the Viz, "It makes me sick." But I was curious about the kanji 厭 (iya), because it’s more commonly written 嫌 (iya), which can be used as a negative interjection, or, pronounced differently, as the same word you’d use if you hated snails, or homework, or something―嫌い (kirai). Using the kanji 厭 is a less common spelling, though the meaning is similar. So I was like, well, what is the difference? According to this article, the kanji Renji uses is a lot more common in Chinese. If 嫌 is an expression of digust or hatred, 厭 suggests that you’ve specifically gotten tired of something (and are now disgusted with it). It’s the kanji you’d use to create the word for a pessimistic worldview, 厭世観 (enseikan). That is all to say, Renji has become sick and tired of it, and he’s about to change tack.

Failing Poetry 101

Coming back around to the original line, I really like Renji’s "I’m just barking at the stars" specifically because it doesn’t really reference any existing idiom, as might howling at the moon. "Barking at the moon" is an interesting middle ground, in that "barking" definitely feels more dog-like and howling more wolf-like; barking is less majestic, which fits with Renji’s description being derogatory of himself. Renji is not a poet in his use of loaded idioms but in his negation of them. And if Rukia can be described by moon imagery, she too contains multitudes and I think it's well within her power to be the stars, too.

Kira, as Renji’s most poetic friend, probably rolls partway into his grave whenever Renji says stuff like this, because it breaks poetic form. But I think he’s probably also kind of envious that Renji thinks this stuff up, because it’s fresh, new, off-kilter imagery, it is its own kind of poetry, and let's be real, the moon imagery market is fairly saturated. *frames moon with giant rebar hole in body*

So I’d say, "howling at the moon" conjures a certain kind of poetry, steeped in all the macro-folkloric meanings of the moon and dogs/wolves. "Barking at the moon" is kind of half-half. "Barking at the stars" is not a pre-existing idiom (or poem, or expected language), and conjures a completely different referent(s), the immediate of which is, of course, the volume’s own poem. Renji is out here Renji-ing it.

[Bleach Vol. 11 poem]

[marcusagrippa]

regarding the…Strabo passage from the biography. the one that you tagged as “the sea that defines the contours of the man”. i agree so much…

from a narrative perspective it has always seemed to me that water (in its various forms) is a very very appropriate theme in Agrippa’s life….Agrippa, born-feet-first, reluctant to leave the water of the womb…Agrippa, ager-ripa — the field and the river bank, the land that meets the seashore….his construction of aqueducts and clearing of sewers, the veins of the empire that run above it and beneath it, one who stands firm upon the uncontrollable waves and then steps back, returns and leads the tamed waters of the empire into the cities and baths and fountains…Augustus’ affiliation with Apollo and Diana mirrored by the steadfast sea — the sea that reflects the brilliance of the heavens in the day and the tides that shift with the moon at night….even the scattering of his ashes from the mausoleums by the visigoths 400 years later, washed away by wind and rain….:”

(Also. On the point of the name etymology. Ager and ripa aren’t actually a proper pair of words for his name’s etymology but it struck me because it is so symbolic….if you’re interested in more scholarly interpretations of his cognomen in poetry, I’d recommend “M. Agrippa in Horace 'Odes' 1.6, Author(s): Francis Cairns”!)

hi anon! i agree entirely with water being a running theme throughout agrippa's life - all the points you've made are really intriguing, and may or may not have given me some ideas for my wip (thank you ashgfkhsdj). i didn't know about his ashes being scattered by the visigoths - that's fascinating. do you have any further sources/articles you'd recommend in regards to it?

juxtaposing his water motif - and by extension the tides, and the moon - with octavian's association with apollo and the sun (very off topic but one of my favourite examples of this is suet. aug. 94.6) is something i think about. a lot. how they reflect and mirror each other; how agrippa's cast into shadow (ish) by octavian's 'brilliance', so to speak... ough. ow owie. and while we're on the subject - agrippa offering to raise octavian to the heavens in the pantheon:

(cassius dio 53:27 my beloved)

kind of the sun-moon thing again. especially with their statues in the anterooms, mirroring one another - as it resembles the heavens, they are heavenly bodies themselves? augh.

sorry, off topic. going back to the water thing - in addition to the contemporary sources while he was actually alive, he's also been depicted more recently on two panels of the trevi fountain:

(i really like the first one lol. look at him go. point boy.)

and even here, he's shown discovering the source of the aqua virgo. water as veins and the empire as a living thing, and agrippa in the middle of it all (even now!).

that article was really interesting, thank you so much for recommending it. i personally know very little latin/greek so i'm sure a lot of it went over my head, but still! the etymology of his name is definitely something to look into more closely. ager-ripa might not be 'proper' but i agree - the symbolism, the symbolismmmm. augh.

[illegiblewords]

Made some adjustments to Tavs and guardians, discussing below.

First, a disclaimer: these aren't actually all of my Tavs lol. I have a male human fighter named Murad too, who looks like this:

and I plan to have him romance Minthara/betray all tieflings without being Dark Urge. But I don't remember his guardian and haven't settled on story/psychology beyond having been a soldier. I'm also still mulling over if I want to do a lady bard to pair with Karlach and what she might look like.

Top to bottom, the design ideas are basically as follows.

Anat, a Mephistopheles tiefling Great Old One warlock. Patron is Hadar. Design is cold and wet but carries vitality. Evokes both the sea and the stars. Avoided hyper-saturated colors for cast coherence and because I also wanted to visually mesh with Gale for pairings. Water/wind motifs in that pairing. Guardian meant to evoke heroic figures who have been lost as per backstory. Hot, dry, and barren visually--eyes evoke the sun a bit with yellows and reds. Contrast a living and close sun with distant stars for him versus Anat. Similar use of faded browns in design to create a mirroring effect. Relationship between Anat and the guardian should be two heroic figures who are similar in many ways but are opposites in others. Note that whether the ocean or a desert, not a lot of freshwater for either when that's necessary to survive.

Cassian, half-high elf and cleric of Selune. Wanted to evoke red elves conceptually and lunar eclipses/blood moons. Figured it'd be fun to evoke an impure/ominous aspect of the moon in contrast to what is usually associated with Selunites. Cassian specifically is noble-born and was raised in faith. That strain of worship was fairly sterilized though, mainly used as a tool to claim moral superiority--his elven mother being particularly egregious about it. Cassian was left disillusioned and Selune took note. He began to receive dreams of the Dark Moon heresy. Wanting answers, Cassian left the comforts and privileges of his position behind to learn more. It is years into this mission that he gets abducted by mindflayers. His guardian reflects how he perceives his own goddess. I'm planning to pair him with Shadowheart, with her being mainly black and white motifs versus Cassian leaning more toward red and white.

Uzal, another Mephistopheles tiefling--born a draconic sorcerer (white) but primarily a cleric of Ilmater. This is my Dark Urge run lol. I didn't want to go full white dragonborn but did want to pay homage to that with a more humanoid option. I figure the Bhaal connection also fits with some of the odd blood combinations here. My initial plan was to make the Guardian a white dragonborn with the default design, but this is beyond the game's abilities so I made an ominous red version of Uzal instead. There are probably some self-image issues there lol. I plan to pair Uzal with Astarion but with less focus on the Dark Urge by itself, more on the angle that this Dark Urge has been chosen by Ilmater. Uzal is basically Patrick Bateman from American Psycho but is doing his best to become a man of god now. He's an inverse of Anat too in that she's mainly good aligned with an elder evil patron while Uzal is mainly evil aligned with a good deity supervising. In terms of visual connections for pairings, I originally knew I wanted to make a white draconic sorcerer tiefling Dark Urge and that I wanted to pair Astarion with a cleric of Ilmater--but it was feeling like more alts than necessary even for me. Crossed my mind that for the themes and story stuff I had in-mind it'd be more efficient to just combine two concepts. Works out though--Astarion has white/red visuals against Uzal with white/blue visuals. Overall similarity makes the accent colors stand out more.

Behati, a Zariel tiefling fiend-pact warlock. Patron is either Zariel or a devil in Zariel's service. I've done a lot of fiddling with her in terms of design to visually stand out against Karlach while linking to Wyll and creating visual consistency with the Zariel tiefling subtype in character creator. I also never use orange so it was a step out of my comfort zone there lol. I wanted to set Behati up specifically to pair with Wyll in a way that would challenge him as a character somewhat. Knowing Wyll is selfless perhaps to a fault, I decided Behati would be a very selfish person initially. She's a charlatan and a cheat (embracing what people expect tieflings to be and trying to do it far better than expected) compared to Wyll trying to make himself into the Blade of Frontiers as a heroic figure. She embraces her warlock pact while Wyll wants to escape his own. When Wyll is transformed and feels upset about the changes, Behati has had to embrace her own fiendish features because there was never any getting rid of them. I like the idea that at her core, Behati is actually a better person who does care more about others than she likes to admit. Contrast with Wyll suppressing his own personal needs and justified anger/grief on his own behalf. I don't think Behati would go so far as betraying the tieflings, but do think she makes some morally questionable choices at times. Behati's guardian I think on the one hand reflects Behati having an aspirational concept of fiendish beauty (like a tropical flower here), but also--that purple has mindflayer undertones.

Tarmyr, half-drow necromancer. I haven't worked all the details out about this guy tbh and as a note, I'm trying to explain my intentions for him without spoiling buddies who haven't finished the game. I plan to pair him with the Emperor and am going to shape his choices accordingly. Tarmyr probably has weird complexes about control--over the dead via necromancy and the living with psionics. He probably went through some terrible shit to cause that. His guardian is modeled off of Balduran as best I could manage. I can say with Tarmyr's design, I wanted him to be very desaturated but with vibrant eyes. Mostly blue, a bit of violet at the center.

Kodos, a githyanki monk. Planning to pair him with Lae'zel. I've been trying to sort out what kind of character he is and I think he's specifically a negotiator. If knowing your enemy is a useful tactic, it's his job to evaluate and utilize both githyanki and non-githyanki to the greatest advantage possible through manipulation. He'd be a monk specifically because during negotiations it's sometimes expected for emissaries to disarm. This can be exploited by those approaching in bad faith. As a monk, he'll never have cause for concern. I think Kodos privately has theories about whether eusocial, presocial, subsocial, etc. forms of interaction are the most efficient. He believes Vlaakith is trying to mold githyanki into a kind of hive society, but in such situations an isolated member fares poorly. Moreover, whether such a society could be called free anymore is uncertain. It reminds him a lot of elder brains and mindflayers but to express as much would practically be treason. His guardian is a githyanki with a few features reminiscent of mindflayers, as per his own private concerns but with further subtext regarding how the guardian means to approach him. I wanted Kodos to have features common to Githyanki/not to stand out too much, but to also look visually coherent with Lae'zel. I also didn't want the green body spots to clash honestly lol, since those aren't changeable. Thematically I wanted to make a githyanki character who offers another way of seeing things to Lae'zel while still being firmly rooted in a githyanki background.

[teenytinyteaa]

I got a new 3d so i started playing etrian odyssey V again and uhhh

Here be ocs

Under cut is random info on the ocs and pic of the 3ds lol

First off! Nevermore the warlock (he/him)

He has a raven looking skull on his head (because i thought it was funny)

He is very confident in his ability and is the leader of the team. He is extremely afraid of snakes.

Second across is Amani the masurao! (She/her sometimes buns/bunself

She is extremely powerful but very kind. Looks like they could kill you but is actually a cinnamon roll sorta vibe. She hums and sings to herself a lot. T-rex arms for the win. She has a hugee sweet tooth and will eat almost any lolly you give her.

Thirdly we have Namir (they/them) the rover and their goodest boy mame (pronounced mah-may)

They are mute. They communicate through sign language. They love a good dad joke and will be the first to make a corny joke given even the most dire of situations. They may or may not have made some deal with some sort of god or demon to allow mame to allow them to live as long as they live.

Even the team has never seen them with their bandana down. They will wait until everyone else is asleep or move to a secluded area to eat and drink. No one really knows why they wear the bandana around their face but with the ygdrasill being as dangerous as it is, most people dont dare to ask because they fear what they may see.

Next is Dreiax the botanist (he/they)

Dreiax and Lucian are siblings! Drei had a tendency to get sick a lot so when they were growing up, they learnt to make more and more food and drink with healing capabilities. They dont have traditional sort of magical skills. All their healing is medical related through medicinal plants and stuff. They love tea and are a stop and smell the roses kinda guy (and then promptly freaking out when they realise that is in fact not a rose and is in fact an enemy) they are very optimistic and are usually the last one standing in a battle due to them keeping back from the battle to make sure everyone is ok.

If you are sick, he is the type of person to have the perfect recipe to make you feel better.

His recipe book actually doubles as a sketchbook. He loves to sit on the lower levels of the ygdrasill and just sit there and draw.

(Drei is also the most fleshed out oc here, this version of him is more like an au version lol)

Last but certainly not least is Lucian the shaman (he/they)

Lucian is the older brother by a few years. He used his magic to try and heal drei whenever he got hurt since drei never really developed magic. Their parents travelled a lot to sell from town to town so they sorta raised themselves. When they were kids and drei was still learning to cook the accidentally spilt some hot water on Lucian and burnt his face. Due to his magic he was able to heal most of it but it never fully healed. Lucian almost blames himself for the accident, for not being more observant. He does not blame drei at all.

Their favorite pass time is stargazing. They love watching constilations at night and watching the world pass by. Because of this facination, his outfit is adorned with sun,moon and stat motifs.

When they perform their magic their horns, scar and the tips of their ears and fingers glow a cyan colour. Also their hair is not naturally blue its blonde like their sibling.

Despite dealing with cards for his magic. He is notoriously bad at card games.

And i think that's about it

Anyways cool minecraft 3ds go brr

[tropical-starlight]

Fish moons got a grip on my brain <3. cackle and melon,, if youve got any facts on em plzz

If not, whats an aspect of the world/story youve been focused on lately?

tysmm!! so cackle is a very interesting character, hes not evil but hes not completely good either.so quite morally grey. everything honk does is either out of spite or for its own entertainment (usually the latter)

some little facts:

cackles "party hat" isnt actually a hat, its their horn lol. they can change the color of it tho

cackle's weapon of choice is a comically large hammer

cackle can breathe fire (cus honks a dragon demi-min) and its called trick fire because you cant put it out normally with water (like trick candles almost)

the first ever drawings that ive made of cackle had a VERY different design, he was gonna be white, black, and red and have a card motif, but i changed it because i thought the primary colors would fit the whole clown theme much better

i havent thought about melon's backstory a whole lot, but i can tell you some facts about them!

melon is capable of photosynthesis but since they live in noxturnia its kinda useless

melon is capable of angelic magic, but is kinda a novice at it

skys angel half is a clione (angel serving Luneria)

they live in coraleann

i feel like they'd probably be a big fan of frutiger aero

tysm for asking this!! i love being able to talk about my funky brain critters :3

[gigilefache]

Hat and Bow adult spaceship concept. Click for better quality.

Now I get to work on homework again lol.

More details about it under the cut. Just be aware it's kind of long. Some aspects of beta and a lot of silly stuff in there as well.

Premise- A bigger spaceship for Hat Adult and Lady Bow.

Rooms

* Main Foyer

The biggest room and the main entertainment space. Access to all rooms including upper levels can be found here. TV monitors and high-tech control panels for the ship can be found here, as well as couches, a table, gaming consoles, and a miniature house for Rumbi. Large glass windows on the sky and walls are in this room, which serves as the biggest in the ship. The Foyer also has many relics on display for all to view, although they are quite silly.

*Kitchen/Dining area

The Dining area houses an array of both fancy and somewhat wacky decor large forks and spoons are displayed like statues and are dressed to the nines along the sides of the room. A large cat clock stands above the kitchen and chimes every five hours unless the ship is in sleep mode. Chandeliers hang from the ceiling and windows to space line the walls and are decorated with red drapery. Few paintings are also seen for different planetary locations, and in the center lies a small mahogany table.

The kitchen is a mess. Dishes line the sink and baking powder can be seen in a couple of places. The trash also needs to be taken out. Lists decorate the refrigerator along with art done by Timmy, who placed it there himself. However, the food in the fridge is exquisite. Meats and cheeses hang from the ceiling, nothing is contaminated, and though exotic and scary, the food is quite delicious and has the correct amount of sweetness or spice in it.

*The machine room

The machine room has machinery in it. Anything that isn't a gear or tool has been removed for explosion safety reasons. Blueprints are stored here though as this room doubles as a mechanical workshop. Two yellow birds somehow managed to waltz their way in and make a family in the room, but they don't mess anything up, so it's ok with Hat and Bow. They help with carrying parts to higher places. The birds are alien as they can make disturbing unnatural noises and can lift car batteries despite being as big as a human hand.

*The Bedrooms

There are two bedrooms, one for each alien. Hat has a star on her door and Bow has a moon.

Hat's bedroom is full of strewn books on astronomy, astrophysics, language books, time philosophy, and murder mysteries. They have a closet that they have a science skeleton in. His name is Jeffery and he wears a pretty dress. The room isn't too bright, and it is mostly luminous decals and a lamp lighting the room. Hat still has the pillow pile, which can be used as a doorway to Bow's room and Hat's secret study.

Hat's secret study is in the same location, however, it has expanded to a pillow for builder's dream. There is a TV, more books, some art, a diary, a timepiece lamp, nerd magazines, and plushies.

Bow's room is much more vibrant and bright. There is a big ceiling lamp, fairy lights, lots of loud and colorful posters, soft plushies, and a pillow pile. Bow's secret study can also be accessed through her pillow pile and leads to a much more tranquil space. There are a lot more plants and mini water fountains here, along with the occasional cat plush and valuable condition manga connections. Bow also has some piece lamp. The timepiece lamps follow the same motifs of star and moon for the respective girls.

*The engine room

The engine room is a bit different than before. It contains more machinery than in the game, which is much more neatly mapped out to cover all areas of the ship with equal amounts of power. This is to avoid another incident like doors not being able no be opened because of a missing timepiece issue. The engines use the timepiece power extracted from the ship's core. The engine room also powers the ship's cannons, transporters, and produces wifi on the ship.

*The Attic

The attic is the storage space. There is a bunch of cryptic stuff in here, from childhood drawings to Moleman lore, photo albums, haunted paintings, R.K.'s hidden kingdom, and old badges/clothes that don't exactly fit anymore. The attic looks relatively the same, just another round window on top of the stained glass one. There is also a couple of musical instruments here, in good condition too.

*The Mail Room

The mailroom is the same, just more organized. There is the help of an alien animal here too, they look like a cross between a puppy, bunny, and cat. Their name is Monoliath, destroyer of a thousand suns, or Mooni for short. They are white and have a little umbrella. This room also has a transport for the girls to bean down to the planet. A signal from this transmitter can be activated via a watch (inspo from doodle-draws-things) to beam them back up. There is a letter that, because written in a weird language, can not be translated and has been put to the side for several years. It has a red cross-like wax sealing...

*The Gallery/Library/Music Room

The gallery has been expanded into a vast library with relics, music, and more books. A good chunk of the paintings here are silly. Mooni often comes here as well. A miniature theater has been constructed in a room connected to the gallery.

*The Lab

This is where all the experiments are tested. A vast array of chemicals, elements, plant life, organs, and time energy can be found here. The technology keeps everything in the toon stable by forming a protective twilight barrier aground it, preventing anything from getting out and destroying the ship. Large test tubes are here to contain things that usually aren't living creatures. Just more storage room and food that couldn't fit in the kitchen fridge. And of course ice cream.

*The Laundry room

The laundry room now has a bathroom. Both rooms are clean, don't worry. Soap bubbles are usually seen floating in the air and the theme of the room has a very tropical vibe.

*The Basement/Gamer/Party Room

The basement storage room has turned into an arcade, complete with modern and classic games, claw machines, bowling, a disco and karaoke setup, a streaming section, vending machines, and a food stand. The Nyakuza Metro cash pile is still here.

*The observatory

An observatory with a map of the whole Milky Way galaxy, with a sticky note added for earth since it wasn't stationed on any reference map. The note pictures planet and text that says "Earth :)" There is flora around the edges of the observatory and rotating machinery that serves no purpose other than to loom like a cool clock. This room is the highest in the ship

*The Safe Room(core)

This room is in the center of the ship. It stores a host of valuable items along with timepieces to precious and important to display. A bright sun-like core is contained in strong glass and has wires connecting it to the engine room, which in turn, powers the whole ship.

What else?

There is are two escape pods that connect to the main control center with the fastest wifi in the galaxy and plenty of food. They look like minivans if they were square. The ship exterior is made of space-resistant wood. You must have a password to access the control panel and an additional three passwords to access the safe room. The ship has exterior weaponry, to mainly shoot at asteroids, but also for self-defense. The Nova Model ship has more security than the original, and any intruder is scanned for threat levels. If it is a dangerous intruder, Hat and Bow are immediately notified and the ship fires lasers on sight. If it is not a threat, they are allowed to stay. Most Earthlings are not considered threats.

[theomnicode]

A kind of crack theory because ONE has plenty silly pokemon references in OPM and he likes video games:

--

Saitama's divine power that I theorise being sunlight charges with him absorbing it. Like solarbeam in pokemon needs to be charged for two turns but you don't need to wait if you got Sunny day active.

Still practically infinite resource of energy.

Saitama is a day walker and he rarely operates during the night, he has depression because he'd been in isolation for quite a lot and so got lot less sunlight since he went out less, with Genos he started going out some more even for random fun activities which energizes him more.

Monster Association happens to be built underground where sunlight does not reach (and how convenient that MA didn't become active till this point despite kidnapping Gouketsu 2 years before) and he spent the entire day roaming underground and not getting much light at all, so it made him even moodier and throwing Serious Punch at ocean water because he doesn't like to splash around and I bet that cactus of his does not get enough sunlight either.

Then he stores all of that inside his head and it's one of the reasons it's so sensitive to touch. Also all the sunlight motifs around his head. Then Garou having solar eclipse symbolism, where the moon obscures the sun and it will darken the area around earth during perfect solar eclipse.

Idk if Saitama needs more Vitamin D or if he should jump into the Sun. Some heliotherapy might help him out a lot lol.

[xgardensinspace]

28. satin

UwU

My boy! Your fic almost made it to 2,000 words xD It's about 21 words shy of that which is CRAZY! xD Nandermo is TOO precious...I couldn't contain myself from typing a tiny drabble, lmaoooo.

I hope you like it thoooo! <3 I know you gave me the word "broken" a bit later, but I wanted to mention it so readers know what to expect from this dumb lil piece, lol.

Reminder that I'm taking drawing and writing commissions in exchange for donations to Ukraine, btw! Get yourself a cool fic (like this one!) for your generosity! We all win :D I'm working for multiple fandoms (INCLUDING NANDERMO!), so shoot me a DM and let's talk!

But anyways...I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, GRIM! I wrote this with lots of love to you so we could feel the feels together xD Cheers, my goth friend! I am sending you virtual hugs! c:

Guillermo thought material perfection didn’t exist, until his eyes fell upon the midnight drapes peeking from inside a window display. He knew that this cape had to belong to his master. The moment he caressed the fabric between his fingers, he was sure that the grey and white embroidered appliques over a sea of black satin were most appropriate for Nandor. The black lace that decorated the hem and collar of the cape gave it the regal aspect Guillermo had been looking for on a late Victorian piece. And the silver clasp closures with the leaf motifs were in pristine condition. Honestly, the goods you could sometimes find at charity shops was obscene. Without thinking twice about it, he took it off the dress form, bought it, and went next door to look for the classiest gift bag and creepiest of crêpe paper in a fit of giggles. Back home, once Guillermo was pleased with the outcome of his gift’s presentation, he decided to get ready for the waking of his master and the rest of the vampires in celebration of the blood full moon later that evening. Was it coincidental that the blood full moon fell on Valentine’s day this year? Perhaps, perhaps not…but all Guillermo knew was that his excitement for the celebration knew no bounds.

Once everyone was finally up and ready for the “romantic” feeding festivities, Guillermo had a spur of energy to fetch his present immediately. He speeds to his bedroom and grabs the large, matte black and charcoal striped paper bag from his bed, fluffs up the mahogany paper and brings it into the sitting room.

To Guillermo’s dismay, however, Nandor’s face began to look sour as he saw him approach the group.

“Master, this is for you.” Guillermo presents the gift with a pleasant grin. “I think it will be to your liking.”

Nandor looks from Guillermo’s spectacled face to the louring faces of the other three vampires in the room. “Guillermo.” He starts, holding the ‘o’ in his usual manner. “What is this about?” Nandor doesn’t sound very delighted, and Guillermo takes a step back before answering.

“It-it’s a gift. I bought it just for you.” He heard a hint of snickering from behind, but refused to look over his shoulder at the others.

“I don’t want you buying any suspicious things for me, Guillermo!”

“But…I even got creepie paper for-”

Suddenly, the bag is smacked off of his hands and the cape partially spills when the bag makes contact with the floor.

“I’ll have none of it, Guillermo. Please don’t bother me on this important night.” Nandor almost hissed at him, but seemed to keep his composure. Unbeknownst to Guillermo however, was Nandor peeking at the metal clasps of the cape with major intrigue. All Guillermo saw was Nandor’s decision against softening his ego to avoid judgement from his housemates. He quickly retrieved the bag from the floor and stormed out of the living room before Nadja or her dollie could make any cheeky comments about his feelings.

*

Guillermo basically stumbles towards his bedroom, afraid that the tears might fall from his eyes whilst in the presence of the other housemates. He doesn’t like appearing weak in front of anyone, much less showcasing his broken feelings through watering eyes and salted cheeks. Guillermo quickly tosses the gift bag onto his bed without turning the lights on. At the moment, he really doesn’t care where it landed or if the cape gets ruined; he only hears the clasp hit the wall, so he sits on the edge of the bed with his hands over his face. He does his best at keeping most of the tears inside, and successfully manages to grunt only a little. The knot in his throat is not a good reminder of what just happened, but it will suffice in ensuring that the rage remains with him until the vampires come back from their “celebration”. In fact, Guillermo realises he too should be part of the celebration. So he quickly wipes the small trickling tears that made it onto his cheeks, and goes to turn on the small desk lamp. He thinks ‘To hell with it!’ and grabs the cape out of the bag. In his mind he’s placing that cape rather roughly over his shoulders, but in reality he’s handling it with extreme precaution. It fits odd in some places, but quite comfortably in others. As he looks in the mirror, shape draped in black and completely swallowed by the nightly sheen of the satin, he starts picturing himself just running across the residence, jumping around like in the most frivolous action scenes in movies. The crew will be too busy outside filming the vampires doing their stupid shenenigens. He can stay home and pretend like the good old days. You know, like the time he first saw Antonio Banderas in Interview with a Vampire that inspired him to dress up like a vampire as a kid himself. Or those good times like when Nandor used to lift him up and…pretend like he was flying. Or when he’d actually carry and fly him around the city. Some felt like just yesterday, and…in fact just last week Nandor had let him kiss his neck and dig his stubby teeth on it. Even if there was no blood gushing out, Guillermo liked to pretend. He would suckle on that spot for hours if he could; the red mark would never appear on Nandor’s neck to denounce their sins and hidden desires. No one could tell, and it was just perfect.

Everything had been just perfect. So why did Nandor have to hiss at him and let him rot with his feelings? It’s not like Guillermo wanted to call attention to their secret relationship; he knows how much they’ve tried hiding already. He was just being nice…bearing a gift was commonplace for a familiar, right?

Guillermo didn’t quite catch the moment he had come down to his knees, but he was currently balling, and didn’t know when the tears had started coming. He just wanted to show Nandor his appreciation. He just wanted to show him how much it meant to him that he’d finally said Yes. After all these years. If he wasn’t allowed to become a vampire yet, this was the next best thing, and it made Guillermo yearn for the secret to just see the light of day. It wasn’t fair. Why would his master be so mean? And after all the feelings they shared the other night! And the confessions…ah!

The confessions.

The thought of his master being ashamed of him brought Guillermo to hop back onto his bed. He no longer wanted to run around the house. His feelings were making him tired. ‘Why is he being a jerk?’ was the last thing to cross his mind as he almost felt dizzy enough to fall asleep; cozied up with the cape still around his neck. It was softer than he remembered, and he wished it smelt of Nandor…but it didn’t. Maybe it never would.

~

Throughout the Blood Full Moon feasting, Nandor came to realise he wasn’t enjoying himself as he should…or as he often had so many times before whilst celebrating this dumb holiday some humans call Valentino’s Day. He’s still not sure who Valentino is and why they celebrate the fucking guy by sharing chocolate. Before leaving the host’s house, he laid eyes upon one of those silly heart-shaped boxes and decided to nick it when no one was watching.

Colin Robinson had tried making some conversation with him, but too many thoughts clouded his nogging so he decided to just let him ramble on while they walked back home.

Once there, he waits no more than a minute for his housemates to rest or busy themselves with useless activities; so Nandor takes the opportunity to sneak into Guillermo’s bedroom. He walks trepidatiously inside and spots the precious familiar washed by a soft light, laying over his bed like the princess from that one fairytale…sleeping and draped in some silky and frivolous fabric. He looks so peaceful, but when Nandor approaches he notices furrowing lines and reddening shade adorning Guillermo’s fragile face. He must have cried himself to sleep, for his eyeglasses still frame his face and Nandor feels like quite the monster. He sits on the floor, oh so very close to Guillermo’s face and starts to lace his fingers through those luscious curls. He lays the stupid heart-shaped box on the floor with his free hand, and brings it to the bed so he can rest his chin upon it, gazing dreamily into Guillermo’s half-lidded eyes.

Oh.

“Hello, sleepy head.” Nandor tries to sound cheery and calm. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Wh-what are you doing?” Guillermo starts to rustle about within the cape, tightly wound over his limbs.

“I was just passing by, making sure you were okay.” He stops rubbing Guillermo’s head. “And perhaps hoping you would forgive me?” Nandor throws those puppy eyes at Guillermo.

“M-master…” Guillermo sits up, and suddenly Nandor puts the heart-shaped box over his nose and mouth. He hears a slight gasp come from Guillermo’s mouth, so he takes out a rose as well, in hopes that it will surprise him some more. That makes Guillermo giggle a bit, and he accepts the items: “Did you take this from the front yard?” He says childishly with a smile.

“Noooo…Guillermooo. Why would you think I’d do such a thing?” He gives Guillermo a cheeky smile in return. Nandor could be a little cheap sometimes, but he was improving. And honestly, it was the thought that counted over anything in Guillermo’s eyes.

They share a warm chuckle, and Guillermo puts the items down to finally unwrap the cape off his body so he can present it to Nandor. He makes sure to cover his entire face when extending the cape; he’s nervous at the moment and dealing with this again is too much for him.

He hears an audible gasp from his master, and the cape is quickly taken from his hands, revealing the shy smile that slowly turns to a sorrowful one. As the grogginess of the nap leaves Guillermo’s body, he starts to remember how upset he’d been earlier that evening. He’s still not quite sure if a rose and a box of chocolates is enough to make up for–

Nandor was hugging him. His dork of a fucking boyfriend climbed up the bed and had him wrapped up in his strong arms. Guillermo thought he could blow up right about now.

“How dare you buy me the most amazing gift ever.” Nandor softens his threat with a kiss on Guillermo’s temple. “But mostly, how dare you do it in front of everyone…” Nandor breaks the embrace and looks directly into Guillermo’s deep eyes. “I’m very sorry I threw your gift on the floor.” He brushes a curl back in place with his firm fingers. “I’m still afraid of the other vampires seeing us. They’ll get suspicious…and…that thought sort of frightens me. Could you ever forgive me for that?”

Guillermo’s eyes got watery again, but he was tired of crying. He hugs Nandor this time instead.

“Of course, master.” He sniffles a bit. “I know I’m getting a bit impatient, but it’s difficult to not show my appreciation for you.” Nandor is drawing circles on his back. “Perhaps you can make it up to me at some point.”

“You silly boy.” Nandor says before going to kiss Guillermo’s neck tenderly. He pushes his body towards Guillermo, making the boy lay down, and proceeds to cover them both under that satin cape. “Only the best cuddles for my best boy.” They both kiss tenderly in the comfort of darkness, clueless to the fact that they’ve crushed the (hopefully empty) chocolate box in the act.

[vagrant-soul]

Matching the Twelve to Zodiac Signs

yeah yeah. I know they all have months. But the months would make Azeyma virgo despite being associated with the sun and we simply cannot have that, so here is my best guess for each.

Aries - Halone

War/Governed by Mars, this one's pretty straightforward and Halone couldn't go anywhere else

Taurus - Byregot

Byregot was kinda the leftovers tbh but Taurus is a very materially oriented sign that works for a smith

Gemini - Thaliak

Air sign ruled by mercury, suits a scholar, lots of thinking going on here

Cancer - Menphina

Ruled by the moon, similarly emotional and heart-driven

Leo - Azeyma

Ruled by the sun, similarly outgoing and willful

Virgo - Nophica

Virgo's traditionally a young maiden with a scythe associated with wheat and fertility, so a natural fit for Nophica

Libra - Nald'Thal

Nald'Thal's symbols are the scales, another no-brainer

Scorpio - Rhalgr

Scorpio is governed by Mars and Pluto which suits a god of destruction, there's a power motif here that works well

Sagitarrius - Oschon

Both symbolized by the bow, Oschon is a wanderer and Sagitarrius is typically a traveler as well

Capricorn - Althyk

They're austere and serious in similar ways, both associated with earth, and an emperor seemed to fit capricorn. Saturn as a ruler fits here too

Aquarius - Llymalaen

The wind-oriented god of Limsa Lominsa's of course suits the air-sign called aquarius lol

Pisces - Nymeia

Both water signs, and Nymeia governs fate, which makes her seem like a good fit for this "psychic" sign

[djs-sideblog-for-pog-trains]

Ok these arent very good but like uhhh

Moonstone is a white-pale blue stone and Edward is a very old gem. His is on his hand, and is a little cracked purely from age, really, and it messes with his vision. Thus he also wears glasses.

Don't know a lot abt moonstone but i like the idea of if they do have powers, Edward's is to do with light and darkness and maybe water (like the moon lol)

They don't yet have someone who can fix gems (so far considered impossible) so he just lives with it. (Lady might end up being a rose quartz, able to heal)

Henry's an emerald and with his gem on his navel, he's a heavy lifter. (His shirt is only open so you can see the gem. He usually covers it, or wears occassionally cropped shirts). He used to be sickly/had a poorly cut gem which might have messed with his physical form a bit, but maybe underwent some very experimental stuff to sort of "fix it" and fortunately it worked.

Plants and Henry is a good motif, so he's strong but can also influence organic plant life. If he's in a really good mood, things sprout around his feet as he walks.

[sunshinemarauder]

I’d LOVE to hear about the emoji choice 👀

FUMING because I just typed like a 300 word response and tumblr erased it. i hate my life oh my god but here you go & tyvm for asking!

seven is one of my favorite songs ever bc of the nostalgic, wistful tone to it - and i will forever & always interpret it as a young sapphic awakening (“your braids like a pattern / love you to the moon and to saturn” is about a girl, “sweet tea in the summer” as a reference to baby taylor’s unreleased Sweet Tea & God’s Graces that’s about britney from me and britney (?), and obvi “you won’t have to cry or hide in the closet”). definitely is influenced by my young sapphic experience but the emoji represents the two girl best friends depicted in seven.

Cornelia Street beloved!!!! love this song SO MUCH and it's my #1 from Lover! as for the emoji, it's a bus stop emoji so it's both the closest thing to a street sign (to represent, yknow, cornelia "street") as well as a subtle nod to the cafe called The Bus Stop ("i thought i saw you at the bus stop, i didn't though" from the 1) that's near Cornelia Street and the West Village IRL. how these two songs are connected make me sooooo ! but that's a conversation for another day / another ask.

my tears ricochet is an obvious one - just the tear emoji haha

ivy is a bit obvious too, but it represents the imagery of spring, clovers blooming, and rebirth that is present in the song. on second thought i should have put a clover emoji LMAO. also obviously another mega gay song (hello emily dickinson)

Dress was a basic emoji choice but i was tempted to just put a bunch of rainbow emojis and call it a day - bc "i don't want you like a best friend" and "our secret moments in a crowded room / they got no idea about me and you" "all of this silence and patience, pining and anticipation" so 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

Sparks Fly was just a spark/star so nothing much there lol

The Way I Loved You definitely had some reasoning behind it! the song itself gives off lots of compulsive heterosexuality vibes (comphet) w/ the interchanging descriptions of "he" who is sensible and patient and everyone thinks they are great together - but "he" doesn't make the narrator feel anything, just "perfectly fine," whereas the character "you" (note the lack of gendered descriptors) is what the narrator misses; "you" makes the narrator feel "a roller coaster kind of rush." therefore the mask emoji represents the mask the narrator wears to pretend like she's still into the guy that can be interpreted as comphet if you want to.

State of Grace was the start of the gold/fire-imagery motifs that taylor began using in her music w/ “this is the golden age” and “twin fire signs / four blue eyes”, as well a continuation of the religious metaphors and the allusions to sin (a state of grace is a christian reference). i love this song x1000 because it’s BEAUTIFUL and hence i am giving it a gold star :)

This Love has always been a fav song of mine bc of its ethereal, gorgeous production - and i chose a shell emoji as a nod to its beachy vibes, the picture of the Taylor’s Version single cover (bc 1989 is a seaside album), and “clear blue water, high tide came and brought you in” and “sinking ships”. also, This Love, Wildest Dreams, and Clean are totally about the same person!

You Are In Love is a new favorite - I’ve always loved the beauty of the simplicity, but I love it even more now, after the many discussions (aka breakdowns) we’ve had over percabeth and YAIL over on discord (@ange @allie @mi). gorgeous gorgeous song and the two girls / best friends emoji is because “you’re my best friend” which is totally a breakdown-inducing line. and also bc we all know how much lovers can parade as near-identical “best friends” 👀 fair warning i will never believe that YAIL is about jack and lena and frankly that’s blasphemy to the true muse of the song lmao.

ANYWAYYYY thank you for listening and obliging me and sorry for the essay-length response you got!! feel free to send me stuff like this anytime xx

[hamliet]

So about your (very deep) RWBY analysis you said there were a few plausible ships in consequence, could you write on that too? I'm curious to see what those are if we follow that analysis

Sure! Firstly, thanks for reading that lol.

So I’ll just come out and say that I don’t fully trust the writers in this aspect, but the main ships that I see set up for in the alchemical sense are, of course, Yang/Blake and Ren/Nora, but also Ruby/Oscar and potentially Emerald/Mercury and Jaune/Weiss. (I will touch on Pyrrha/Jaune, but I don’t think Pyrrha is going to or should come back so... :( ) This all depends on how they stick to the alchemical structure, but just to reiterate: it’s extremely unlikely an alchemical story with a fairy tale basis is going to end with most characters single. It could and could do it well, but I’m skeptical lol.

Just to add a disclaimer: this is all theory and speculation; I honestly do not care about ships in this series besides Ren and Nora and hence am not emotionally invested. I could be wrong, and I’m fine with it. Please don’t come for me. 

Let’s begin by going over what romance is in alchemy. I talked about this in my previous meta, but the key principles of an alchemical work are the solar king and lunar queen. So who are they? What is their role in alchemy? 

Behold, the symbol for the philosopher’s stone:

Or more clearly: 

The large circle is the macrocosm, or universe as a whole. The triangle is body, mind, and heart (originally it was body, soul, and spirit). The square is the four classical elements (fire, air, earth, water). The smaller circle is the microcosm, wherein the two people inside are the Solar King and Lunar Queen, opposites conjoined in harmony. Together two conjoined opposites (yes it’s related to yin/yang, but eastern alchemy focuses more on the Elixir of Life rather than the actual stone and there are five elements, not four) create the philosopher’s stone. 

I talked about this in the past meta, but we know Ruby is a philosophical child because her father’s name literally means sun and her mother’s defining trait thus far is her silver eyes. She’s the stone itself, but also team RWBY is the stone, and other characters are on their own journeys to becoming philosopher’s stone. Things overlap. 

I didn’t come up with those designations of silver=moon on my own, though. Generally the two principles that are combined in a philosopher’s stone are marked by one (or more) of the following: 

Male: Sun, Sulphur, fire and air, hot and dry, Red, gold, heart.

Female: Moon, Mercury (or quicksilver), earth and water, cool and moist, White, silver, mind.

Don’t read too much into the genders, because that tends to matter the least and plays into antiquated views. Obviously. Characters rarely meet all the marks as well, but if marked with one should be paired with someone from the opposite marking. 

Let’s talk the obvious ones first: Ren and Nora, Blake and Yang, and Jaune and Pyrrha. 

Ren and Nora are pretty perfectly matched. Ren is mind, earth (“Lie” means “plum tree”) and water (“Ren” means “lotus,” a water-based flower). Nora is heart (her shirt, plus her brave qualities), fire (Thor and the association with electricity, plus “Nora” means “light”), and air (she flies, and a Valkyrie is a mythical flying creature in Norse mythology). 

Yang and Blake are also a good match. Yang is sun, gold (her name), fire and air (”Xiao long” means dragon), and heart. Blake is moon (Belladonna is a nightshade), earth and water (think of where her home village is), and mind. Blake was also a match for Sun Wukong, however, and this is why I’m skeptical about the writing of ships in this series--because they teased Sun/Blake for little reason (and I remember being confused). However, they did know that Blake’s partner needed to be her opposite, so Yang or Sun could work, and I think it’s clear that Blake/Yang is endgame and I like it. 

Pyrrha is red (her name), gold (her outfit), heart and mind, and her shield had a sun on it. 

Jaune was white (the dress he wore to the dance), body (differing from the norm, but fit because Pyrrha was both heart and mind; a body character tends to be either lusty or cowardly, the latter of which was Jaune in the first season), and moon. Look at Jaune’s shield, which so happens to match the silver/moon symbol in alchemy: 

However, Pyrrha has now died, and I’m still sad about it. However, also of note: fitting with the characters they are based off of, Team JNPR are have reversed gender dynamics from the alchemical norms. Again, I would bet that was done on purpose. 

Onto my speculations: 

For Ruby... well, I said she was the philosopher’s stone. 

In some ways, Ruby and Weiss are the philosopher’s stone together, but I think this is more platonic than romantic (it’s a lovely ship though and I see why people ship it). The reason for this is because while Ruby is Red, air, and Heart, and Weiss is White, water, and mind, Ruby and Weiss are both silver. They don’t compliment each other in this, which is why I don’t see it as a likely endgame romantic ship (but, like Frodo and Samwise Gamgee, I do see them as alchemical partners who help stop Salem together). 

But her romantic partner should be someone who is also both sun and moon, who is white where she is red, gold where she is silver, earth where she is air (she flies), mind where she is heart. Ideally they would also be a philosophical child. There’s one character I can think of who is marked as sun and moon, white, mind, and earth, and that’s Oscar Pine. See: Ozpin’s cane, which Oscar uses on his own quite a bit (that’s a sun and moon motif):

Additionally, in the scene where Ruby and Oscar meet for the first time, the paintings on the wall are a sun (fire) with distinctive air around it and a crescent moon over earth and water. 

If Weiss ends up in any ship, it will be with a person marked as heart, red, fire, and gold to her mind, white, water (ice), and silver. Neptune is water too, so this one is unlikely. Sun seems like a possibility on paper, but they haven’t interacted significantly at all (maybe they will in Vacuo?) But the most likely option to me is actually Jaune Arc--but a lot depends on the coming arcs (heh).

Wait, you said he was white! Key word: was. Jaune was never mind and will never be mind, but he has become brave as opposed to his initial fear, and I’d go so far as to say he’s heart now thanks to Pyrrha’s influence. Since Pyrrha’s death as well, he’s started incorporating gold and red into his outfit in a likely homage to Pyrrha. (It is actually possible for someone to shift markings; Daenerys in A Game of Thrones is white and moon, but becomes red and fire and all that by the end of the novel). 

Jaune’s arc of grief over Pyrrha is unlikely to end with him being forever alone, and while there are plenty of ways to show this that don’t involve him in a relationship with someone else, it’s the most obvious way to show this. It also fits from a narrative perspective that the only way Jaune could ever be with Weiss is through integrating with Pyrrha’s traits and qualities. We’ll see, though, because as of now he’s still marked as moon, and he’d need to become sun or fire. Cinder also directly compared Pyrrha and Weiss, and immediately after this Jaune unlocked part of his soul to heal Weiss, playing the role of the prince in Weiss’s fairy tale (Snow White). However, as Cinder’s own story shows us, not all princes in their retellings of these fairy tales are romantic. So this might not play out, but it has the set-up to do so. 

Lastly, Emerald and Mercury I think are alchemical partners regardless of whether or not they end up together romantically. Mercury’s name says it all, and Emerald’s eyes mark her as red. He’s mind, she’s heart. I’m adding this to the questionably romantic ones because I’m curious about the fact that Emerald and Mercury are now separated in the current season, just like all four of the above ships I mentioned. 

Also to keep in mind: sometimes writers say eff the tropes. See: Harry and Ginny, who are both red and air (but Ginny’s name also marks her as white, so). 

[kingjinxii]

Ren’s Ryoma Rewatch: Episode 1

In Which I Fall in Love with Soft Tennis Goro Akechi

Introduction

So, I’ll be honest. Ryoma is the reason I started watching Stars Align in the first place, because he looks like one of my other favorite characters, Goro Akechi from Persona 5 (the similarities end at appearance). I basically came into the show already attached, and the more I think about him, the more I believe that understanding him could be key to understanding Toma and possibly Maki’s character arcs.

The setup of these posts are simple: I mark down anything I feel may be key to understanding Ryoma, along with bits of Toma and Maki’s characterization that may help. Explicit canon and information are marked in bold, whereas my own speculation and inferences are marked in italics.

I hope people can use these posts to help understand Ryoma and the Shinjo/Katsuragi family dynamics!

7:28 - Middle school team hasn't won a match in 4 years

9:22-9:36 - First Ryoma appearance

Ryoma seems to wake up later than Toma. Figures, considering he’s a college student.

Ryoma is closer to Maki than Toma is to Maki in the beginning. They're close enough that Ryoma knows Maki moved back while Toma doesn't.

Ryoma calls Maki just “Maki” with no honorific. This is called “yobisute”, and denotes that Maki is an incredibly close, almost familial friend. However, Maki is also younger than Ryoma, so while the no honorific thing is important, it’s common for older Japanese people to refer to younger people by their first name, especially if they’re kids.

Ryoma also knows Maki likes astronomy.

Flower motif - white lilies. In Japanese flower language, white lilies are associated with purity. They’re also associated with girls who love girls, but I doubt that’s a meaning they’re implying here lol

10:49 - Flashback to little Toma from Maki’s POV. It’s done in pastel tones. Lucky 4-leaf clover!

11:05 - Book was a surprise gift from Ryoma. It appears to be brand new, in a bookstore shopping bag. It seems like Ryoma knew clearly in advance that Maki was coming, if he knew to buy a “welcome back” gift, and what day Maki would be at school.

Maki addresses Ryoma by his first name with no honorific, whereas Toma is referred to by his last name, with no honorifc. Maki referring to Ryoma in this way would usually be highly disrespectful (since Ryoma is 5-7 years older than Maki), unless they are just that close. Considering what I said about Ryoma referring to Maki in the same way, it’s pretty safe to assume they’re basically like best friends. Maki deosn’t seem as close to Toma, despite them being the same age. Still, even though he refers to Toma by his last name, he still uses no honorific, so they’re still friends(ish), even if Maki isn’t as close to Toma.

The book is the Astronomical Almanac, a star calendar and map.

Toma doesn't answer when Yuta asks if Maki is a friend. Toma doesn’t consider Maki a friend at this point in the story? However, he does smile, so they must still be friendly. It’s probably just evident of how long it’s been since they’ve seen each other last.

13:30 - Astronomical Almanac appears again

13:50 - Toma refers to Maki by his last name with no honorific, mirroring Maki doing the same.

14:55-15:53 - Ryoma appearance, in Ryoma's room.

Ryoma's room: Lots of leafy houseplants, green and brown earth tones. People have established that Toma is usually associated with green. Looks like Ryoma is similar!

15:10 - Magazines on Ryoma's bed: Both about sports. The top one features a soft tennis team, the bottom one is explicitly a soft tennis magazine. Might belong to Toma, as they are next to him rather than near Ryoma.

Ryoma notes that Maki just transferred so he might not have many friends. He believes this is the original reason Toma wants to invite him to the soft tennis team

15:18 - Ryoma is surprised the soft tennis team maybe get disbanded, and seems conflicted, but has a lukewarm reaction.

Nature photography on his corkboard. Right to left, an orca, two forest scenes, a fox, and a giraffe. While the riverbank is an important location in the show, you don’t see really anyone associated with water. So the orca is an interesting choice.

15:22 - Ryoma is a club alumni, who went to nationals.

Ryoma appears to understand what his brother is thinking well, practically finishing his train of thought (of Toma thinking Ryoma would want him to keep the club alive) before he could.

Ryoma believes in whatever the team decides. He doesn't think he should have a say, whereas Toma expected him to be upset.

15:45 - Ryoma has an iPad. (lol)

Toma assumes Ryoma thinks lesser of him. He appears to have low self-esteem.

Ryoma doesn't appear to chase after Toma to explain himself.

16:00-16:36 - Ryoma appearance with his mom.

Ryoma has a smartphone. I can’t tell the model but I’m going to assume it’s an iPhone considering he has an iPad.

More flowers, different from the ones from the previous day (sunflowers). Sunflowers are associated with respect and passionate love. (Uh...I’m gonna say a yikes here folks). Interesting to note that while Ryoma’s room is full of lots of leafy plants, there are no flowering ones.

Prefers just coffee instead of eating breakfast. If he’s still an athlete, he really should be more worried about his health! [Insert “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!” PSA here].

Is in college, has friends (plural).

16:18 - Shinjomom attempts to guilt him into staying for dinner. She doesn't even say anything outright, and Ryoma already knows what she’s attempting to say.

Dad is on a trip, and may travel a lot.

Mom says Toma is "nothing like [Ryoma]".

Ryoma shuts down after his initial attempt at argument.

Ryoma calls his mom "kaa-san." It’s a pretty generic way to just say “mom”, but I do want to note that technically the standard was to talk to your mom is to call her “okaa-san”, so dropping the “o-” may denote slight familiarity.

16:30 - Ryoma likes his coffee dark. Maybe black. Just a little characterization note here: stereotypically in Japan, liking sweet things and having a sweet tooth are associated with children and femininity. Since Ryoma likes his coffee dark, he prefers bitter things, so going by stereotypes (as this is a trope-filled anime), we can safely assume he’s a fairly masculine guy.

Mom has dark thoughts around Toma. It appears to be pretty common.

17:03 - Moon and Venus, with seagull. I did say that there’s basically no character associated with water, but pretty much everything in this shot (aside from Maki’s fingers) has some sort of water connection. The moon pulls the ocean tides, Venus was named after a goddess that was born from seafoam, and a seagull...is a seagull. They’re associated with the sea. It’s in their name. I know there was a meta post by someone else about this shot a while back, and I’ll hunt for it later.

Maki Kyobate. Not super important to Ryoma, but Maki’s old last name is useful to note anyways. Maki’s shit dad can, as such, be referred to as Kyobate-san. Could maybe tie into why Ryoma refers to Maki by his given name, rather than his last name, considering the last time Maki was around, he must have been going by Maki Kyobate.

The Shinjo family is well-off enough that they don’t need to worry about money. Toma can afford to buy Maki’s uniform and equipment.

19:13 - Maki forgot/didn't know Ryoma was an alum.

Toma knows Maki cares enough about Ryoma that that information could be used as leverage.

19:18-19:24 - Ryoma appearance, flashback featuring little Maki. Is this their first meeting? Also important to note that, unlike the flashback of Toma from earlier, this one is not done in pastel tones, and instead is done in the show’s usual coloring style.

Ryoma either practiced at a shrine or hung out there from time to time.

Ryoma was already in middle school and on the soft tennis team the last time Maki was around. Considering he’s a college student by now, that puts him at around 19-21 years old.

Ryoma has seen Maki injured.

Maki knew Ryoma had a racket, but didn't know Ryoma was a soft-tennis player. “He had a racket back in middle school. So that must have been a soft tennis racket?” I’m putting the dialogue here because there are some interesting implications going on just in that one line. Maki knows Ryoma had a racket, but he didn’t know it was a soft tennis racket. If Maki and Ryoma are as close as they appear to be, they must have talked and hung out a lot, so it’s odd that Ryoma never...mentioned that it was a soft tennis racket, and that he played soft tennis? Unless Maki just straight up forgot, but that seems really unlikely.

19:23 - Ryoma's racket was red. Again, Toma is associated with green. Maki is also associated with blue. Their tennis rackets match their colors. Ryoma’s, however, is red. His bedroom is very green though. I know all the rackets that are used in the show are based on real soft tennis rackets, so I may hunt down the model Ryoma is using in this image.

Maki seems to want to join now that he knows Ryoma was apart of the team and approved of him joining. Again, he’s incredibly close to Ryoma, and that fact that this is the first thing that gets him to actually consider soft tennis is telling.

Maki only joins after asking for money. Since we’ve already passed the summer tournament, I just want to note that Maki earned 40000 Japanese yen by joining the soft tennis team and winning at the summer tournament. That’s around 370 US dollars, 480 Canadian dollars, 280 English pounds, or 330 Euros! Some some fun trivia.

Toma assumes Maki accepts joining without him saying anything. Like, seriously, he doesn’t even wait for an answer.

Toma is incredibly persistent. He chased after Maki for several days, and continually sweetened the deal for joining. That boy really wants Maki on the team, even if it’s just because he wants to win and not necessarily because they’re close.

Maki’s first racket is blue. Again, they’re all based on real soft tennis rackets and I know there’s a post with Maki’s model somewhere.

22:15 - Maki’s shit dad shows up. Pretty much everyone knows this, just noting it for posterity.

Recap

What have I learned?

In order from mostly canon to mostly speculation:

Ryoma is a young college student, around 19-21 years old, and a formerly successful soft tennis player.

He’s explicitly said to be in college, and that he was an alum of the Shijo Minami boys’ soft tennis team, and ended up going to nationals.

However, currently it’s unknown whether he stuck with the sport or stopped after middle school. He has sports magazines on his bed that focus on soft tennis, but they may belong to Toma, considering they’re positioned next to him, rather than, for example, on Ryoma’s desk or shelves. In fact, Ryoma doesn’t appear to have any magazines on his shelves, nor does he have any photos of soft tennis on his corkboard. (Toma doesn’t take the magazines with him when he leaves, so they could be Ryoma’s. I think there’s evidence leaning both ways. Hell, they could just be sharing them.)

He also seems surprised that the soft tennis club is doing so poorly, and when Toma suggests recruiting Maki, Ryoma’s first thought is of the camaraderie the team provides, and not necessarily about Maki’s technique or physical talent. This possibly shows he doesn’t/didn’t necessarily take soft tennis as seriously as Toma does currently.

Ryoma and Maki were/are relatively close friends.

Ryoma and Maki both refer to each other using their given names without honorifics. Ryoma knew Maki was coming back to their city, and knew with enough time in advance that he was able to prepare a welcoming gift for Maki, the Astronomical Almanac, which Ryoma knew Maki was interested in.

Interestingly, Maki wasn’t aware that Ryoma was a soft tennis player, despite him basically being his team’s ace player. If there were truly as close as they appear to be, it’s interesting that it was...never brought up at all. This may tie into my theory that Ryoma isn’t as into soft tennis as he appeared to be. Maybe he just had natural talent, and he was more into it for the friends, rather than the sport itself.

Ryoma has seen Maki injured, and considering this was back when Maki Katsuragi was still Maki Kyobate, aka when his shit dad was still living with him, Ryoma may know a lot about Maki’s abuse. Ryoma may have even been the person Maki vented to about his dad, and he might still be, considering they seem to still be in close contact. It’s an interesting friendship for sure, considering the age gap.

Maki and Toma aren’t as close as Maki and Ryoma are (at least, not in this episode, as they do get closer relatively quickly). Maki only refers to Toma as “Shinjo” (no honorific), so while they may have been close as kids, they aren’t as close now.

Ryoma and Toma are set up as opposites and foils.

A foil is a character that “highlights someone else's trait, usually by contrast.”* 

Toma, again, is associated with the color green, which is also the color of his racket. However, Ryoma’s racket, as mentioned before, is red. Red and green are opposites on a color wheel in basic color theory. Still, it may be a stretch to say that Ryoma’s color is definitively red, because Ryoma is also associated with green and earth tones in his room.

I was going to save this for when I rewatch Episode 3, but I feel it’s worth mentioning here. Ryoma’s room is filled with leafy plants. Toma’s room has plant life too, but his plants are cactuses, plants that don’t need a lot of water, whereas Ryoma’s would. Again, opposites.

The plants they own can also hint at how their mother feels about them. Ryoma’s plants require a lot of water, and he’s his mother’s favorite, whereas Toma’s plants are ones that flourish in a dry environment, and...explicitly, Shinjomom hates him.

There’s a bit more contrast though, both in how they appear to approach soft tennis and how they approach conflict and resistance.

I already discussed in depth above how Ryoma doesn’t seem to be as obsessed with soft tennis as Toma is, despite being a well-known star player, so let me focus on the other contrast.

There’s two scenes in this episode where Ryoma is met with friction and immediately backs down, or ignores what’s going on. The first is when Toma is angsting about the tennis club shutting down, and he assumes Ryoma thinks that he can’t save it. Toma runs out of the room, and while Ryoma calls after him, we don’t see him try to explain himself, or even get up out of his chair.

The second is when Shinjomom is asking him to stay for dinner, using her hatred for Toma as leverage. She starts off subtle in her distaste for Toma, but Ryoma seems to immediately know where her train of thought is going. He tries to reply gently, but is cut off by her snapping at him, and he just...shuts up.

It’s becoming more and more clear to me that, while Ryoma is a fairly gentle and kind person, he’s really non-confrontational.

This is in sharp contrast to Toma, who spends days trying to convince Maki to join the soft tennis club. Toma knows his club is going to get shut down, he thinks his brother doesn’t believe he can keep it alive, but he doesn’t want to give up. He’s going to get Maki and his sharp reflexes on his team if it kills him, and he won’t take no for an answer.

Maybe it just has to do with maturity. After all, Ryoma’s racket was red, a color associated with hot-bloodedness and strong emotion. Or maybe, it’s just like Shinjomom says, in that “[Toma] is nothing like [Ryoma]!”

Conclusion

Both surprisingly and unsurprisingly, I think I covered a lot of ground of Ryoma’s characterization and role in this episode. Unsurprising since it is the first episode he was introduced, and surprising since...you know, it’s only been one episode. However, Ryoma doesn’t appear in most episodes in the series (he has appearances in episodes 1, 3, 9, 11, and 12, yes I did count), and this is the one where he appears the most, so I doubt most of my other recaps will be this long.

Still, I hope this was informative for some people, even if no one else is as obsessed with him as I am.

Is Stars Align and Ryoma my new special interest? Eh, maybe.

See you in the next recap!

[spectrowhirl]

Weirdly Specific Artist Ask Game

From @i-like-eyes

Didn’t see a lot of artist ask games, wanted to make a silly one.

(I wrote this while sick out of my mind last year and it’s been collecting dust in my drafts, I might as well let it run free) 1. Art programs you have but don’t use: I have some anime animation program I’ve never used.

2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even): Left weirdly

3. What ideas come from when you were little: lol all of them? I still paint dragons and magic and stuff

4. Fav character/subject that’s a bitch to draw: I paint gears all the time even though they’re miserable to paint

5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself: I post 100% of it

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn’t supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it): My obsession with mysticism and demons influences me more than I plan.

7. A medium of art you don’t work in but appreciate: Digital illustration

8. What’s an old project idea that you’ve lost interest in: Various film ideas

9. What are your file name conventions: The title of the work plus the file type in all caps, then “Water” if it has a watermark

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw: Haha jackets I guess?

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what: Animal Collective

12. Easiest part of body to draw: Torso

13. A creator who you admire but whose work isn’t your thing: Anything hyper realistic

14. Any favorite motifs: Flowers, gears, suns/moons

15. *Where* do you draw: My living room

16. Something you are good at but don’t really have fun doing: Making YouTube/TikTok videos. Idk if I’m good at it per se, but I have never enjoyed it and I’ve done it for over a decade now.

17. Do you eat/drink when drawing? if so, what: Yeah Zevia or coffee

18. An estimate of how much art supplies you’ve broken: I break about a brush a week

19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.): Mushrooms

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy: Machinery

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways: Landscapes I guess

22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any: Nothing but I should stretch my hands

23. Do you use different layer modes: I don’t do digital so no

24. Do your references include stock images: I don’t usually use references.

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by: Lisa Frank

26. What’s a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended: Nobody’s told me any interpretations

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with: No.

28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines): No, I wish.

29. Media you love, but doesn’t inspire you artistically: Books

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated: My old monochromatic paintings

[metronomeihear]

I found interesting your TG/BLEACH idea with Aizen. I have a personal theory there are Tarot Cards references in BLEACH in an especific way. Aizen's Major Arcana is The Hanged Man, just like Kaneki. Funny how Aizen's outfit in the last story arc is black with an eyepatch. The lack of an eye is an usual motif of the character asociated with the Hanged Man because the esoteric conection with Odin missing an eye for knowledge. Aizen also has some references to Sun Wukong, the Monkey King.

That sounds really interesting! I didn’t know Aizen’s Major Arcana is the same as Kaneki’s. To be honest, I wrote The Moon on the Water because I wanted to see what a person like Aizen would do if he was put into Kaneki’s situation. Would he panic? Would he embrace it? Would he become a monster like what the public believes Ghouls to be? Or would he rise up to become something greater? What sort of relationships would he build with the ghouls he meets? What about with the investigators?

I ended up not finding the answer to these questions, which is why The Moon on the Water never went any farther than what you see. It was an interesting idea, but I lacked the ability and knowledge to turn it into something more

The Arcana symbolism so often used in TG goes over my head sometimes, lol, but I’ve always found it really fascinating. The different associations with different characters, and the way that the symbolism of those Arcana changes as the characters themselves do--it’s always interesting to read about. I didn’t know that the same sort of symbolism was present in Beach, but it has been a very long time since I read the manga and I am in no way caught up at all. I might have rage quit reading the manga when they turned my favorite villain into a butterfly, and basically undermined the very reasons he was my favorite villain in the first place: his intellect, his skill at manipulation, and his ability to play the long game. 

I’ve been meaning to read it again and catch up with everything that happened after that point, but I haven’t gotten around to it just yet because of a lot of things that have been happening in my life. Most of what I know happening after that point comes from fanfiction and tumblr spoilers. 

But I mean it when it sounds interesting! I did a brief google search just now to take a look at Aizen’s outfit in the last story arc, and I can see what you mean. The Arcana’s association with knowledge fits Aizen well, given that he such an intellectual character, and the eye patch does bring to mind motifs such as Odin. It’ll be interesting to read that arc with this in mind when I finally find time to do it. Having said that, I couldn’t find any references to Sun Wukong with regards to Aizen. I would love to hear what you have to say about that, though!