#wait i think i almost did a sufficient job. YAAAAYYYYY 🎉🎉🎉🎉

[moe-broey]

YOU'RE SO RIGHT. YOU'RE SO RIGHT!!!!!!! The thing about Alfonse is that he should be a reflection of everyone he has ever loved, admired, or otherwise is important/had an impact on him.

LIKE MAYBE WHAT HAPPENS IS. He goes from being a reflection to what he thinks people want to see/a reflection of an Ideal Image, to being a reflection of his loved ones. But in there, somewhere in there. He also finds something that Isn't just a direct reflection of something else? It's SUUUUUCH a tricky balance to strike.

.... Full disclosure I jotted that down immediately and that's as far as I got. I got too excited. I just kinda combusted. Been kinda locked up about it ever since. Help.

I do really wanna say though, I love how you world build and factor in Everyone. I kinda get tunnel vision about it! 😅 I feel like you do an amazing job at filling in the blindspots I have. Which is to say, I am just absorbing everything you just said LMFAOOO

I ESPPP ADORE WHAT YOU'VE DONE W SHARENA'S CONCEPTS...... SO REAL SO TRUE........ I am taking notes while sobbing. I need to incorporate that like YESTERDAY. And the progression of it all in general is soooo good! Like, reading it through I'm just saying to myself "YEAH! YEAH!!! That's EXACTLY how it is....!!!!"

Especially, actually -- there are very specific circumstances where it feels like you have to speedrun a second puberty, in a way. Most obvious example is transition (hi. LMFAO), but I think the core idea behind it can be applied more broadly, too. When you said that Alfonse's fashion choices end up feeling juvenile at first, and it takes time for his fashion taste to mature... that's exactly it. This is something that you usually would parse out, during your tweens/teenage years. But due to being brought up in a restrictive environment and feeling a need to carefully curate An Image as a means for protection...... Alfonse never got that, at least not at that age. AND ESP ESP the DRASTIC swing in the opposite direction. THAT'S JUST HOW IT IS..........

Also as a side it will NEVER NOT be hilarious to me, this sort of rivalry Veronica has with Alfonse. The stakes are way higher in canon ofc, but. This specific case is the funniest shit to me. Local teenage girl PISSED that the grown ass man she's decided she has beef with is Suddenly Really Fucking Cool. No. No, he's NOT. He's still annoying as fuck AND a loser. I have to outdo him. Or straight up kill him. Or BOTH.

ALSO. THE KIRAN THOUGHTS. YEEESS... and that's so much of what I think IS really compelling about parsing all this out, actually. The variety of ways different characters may hide in plain sight. By curating a very specific image, by misdirection/distraction, or by literally being buried under there. LIKE getting INTO the characters heads about it... and the extra fun of comparing/contrasting, when you've got two or a handful of guys Doing This. Examining the methodology/mentalities behind it.

Ehhh fuck it I'll post this one too -- I wanted to color it first, but. I'm actually split on redoing Alfonse's outfit completely, or at least making adjustments.

Like, in my head, I think I was doing two separate things between the Askr siblings and it just doesn't feel cohesive to me now.

What, you ask? Well, the first thought behind this, was this is a visit. So, Sharena is straight up wearing Moe's old clothes it never could seem to let go of. I think I got mixed up around Alfonse, though. Literally half and half. He's wearing some of Moe's clothes (esp the flannel, green, band merch), but the idea here is they did have to go out and get stuff that actually fits right.

Which... works. It does work. But I think in the back of my head I was also wanting to design an outfit that's more AU coded. Going from argyle sweater vest ass to mmmmaybe trying to develop his own sense of style. Which kind of directly clashes w the idea that he's wearing some of Moe's clothes. But also. So. SO BADLY. ESP IN THIS CONTEXT. I would LOVE for Moe to have direct influence in the process of that. Another detail you don't even get to see here is Alfonse is wearing a studded belt. Courtesy of Moe.

Lack of direction too many ideas at once. Maybe if it's an AU, the dress could have been a hand-me-down? If you like it, and it fits. You can have it. If you want... (Moe completely dodging just how deeply meaningful this gesture is when doing this). But also, could go REALLY crazy if Moe (previous life) had fashion taste that was close enough to Sharena's that, like. At different points of time, each ended up picking out the same dress. It's such a funny line to balance, actually. Because despite all the parallels I may draw between them, Moe was NEVER what Peony was, to Sharena. Not even close.

Idk idk there's a possibility that I'll get too frustrated w all the details not matching up here that I scrap it completely. Just know that the dress Sharena is wearing is pink and white. Very Princess Peach core. The style of it, though... it's pretty close to something else... a certain Something Else... just enough to scare ya. Which is ALSO WHY this might work better as a visit and unique psychological damage for Alfonse but I DIGRESS. WHAT YHE FUCK EVER. TOO MUCH GOING ON HERE JUST THROW IT ALL OUT‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️