[emerges from the ground after six years like a cicada] guys she lived in his closet. he brought her dinner. they snuck out at night. he had to tell her what a vending machine was. he showed her canned soda. they probably rode on a bus. that? thats a box fan. thats "stationary" and no, i dont know why they call it that. [he bought some for her. rabbit-print.] im changing a light bulb. its like a candle that lasts for a long time. dont come to my desk for a while, i accidentally called you 'rukia' in front of the class. [her reprimand was wordless, carried in the arch of her eyebrow and smug, smug smile. he wanted to crumple her up like a piece of paper and toss her in the trash. then dig through the trash and carefully smooth her out. whatever.]

they ate snacks together in the early evening and while her mouth was full he pointed at all the things she might find new, and strange. there, a car, that, a street lamp, there, a broken computer left mangled in the alleyway. it was summer.

[a computer is like, a box that does math. and shows pictures. you can talk to people all over the world.]

[the sun receeded, and around them little lights came out to play. those are fireflies, he starts, but she waves him off. i know what those are, she says, curtly. minor souls, of plants and animals and things well-worn, and loved. when its calm, when its quiet, they come out to dance, and see the stars. she looks thoughtful, contemplative, despite crumbs on her collar and a smear of sugar glaze across her lower lip.

we have those too.

he laughs a bit. a bit. minor souls? god, she's so...

an effortless gesture to snatch one from the air, with its slow, bumbling flight. a tiny thing, utterly fragile, with its emberlight abdomen and legs like silk threads. the firefly made a great show of traversing the wrinkles of his palm before settling; still, save for its waving antenna, and occasional lazy glow. he holds it out for her to see.

youre speaking metaphorically, he says. here, theyre only insects.]

SOME SKETCHES👁️👁️👁️👁️

Rukia bankai soon? 👀

love nichijou because the entire cast is really funny and iconic in their own ways but i couldn’t tell you the names of 80% of them

@ichirukimonth day 5: classic ✨💙❤️

*welcome to the black parade playing in the distance*

happy april 13th !!

Ichiruki month 2022 - Day 1: Boy meets girl

Mai just walking her dogs

rose lalonde hides behind eloquent speech just as much as dave hides behind irony to appear as if she isn't just as if not more silly and awkward and weird than anyone else because she's terrified of emotional vulnerability and she'd be thrilled to know thousands of homestuck fans fell for it

Here's my analysis

UPDATED GAY GAME DIAGRAM™️ 1.1

Patch Notes:

!RANDOM DISCLAIMER!

1) Please squint real hard before requesting a game, any games requested and not added were already on there. (Ace Attorney is in 245 next to Corpse Party for the 4 people who asked lol)

2) Th is graph is based on vibes only- nothing makes sense and it’s all arbitrary because I says so

3) I don’t know a lot of games and there’s a lot of games on here I don’t know. I stupid, sorry.

4) My word is fact and anyone who disagrees with my gay science is gay wrong.

5) No I will not rotate the games fuck your eyes

Anyway I plan on updating this with as many games as I can until it’s an indecipherable mess please keep requesting things I’m invested now

UPDATED VERSION 1.2

both portal games exist in that weird space of being unsettling and creepy but actually comforting and funny and in a meta way kind of ridicululous and thats such a weirdly comfort feeling

Writing your First Chapter (Part 1)

There are tons of things that go into making a killer first chapter. Here are just a couple of things to consider.

Introducing your Protagonist and Making us Care

When writing your first chapter, you’ll be introducing your protagonist. When introducing your hero, here are some things to keep in mind:

1) We have to care about them (to want to follow them on their journey). This is typically done by giving your protagonist weaknesses and flaws or even quirks we can relate to. Your protagonist could be a grumpy, cold-hearted thief… but if they give half their findings to homeless children, our heartstrings are suddenly pulled on.

2) Don’t info-dump their backstory or appearance right away. Only give the reader what they need to know to understand the scene at hand. You especially don’t want to have your hero standing in front of a mirror describing themselves to the readers when you only have so many pages to hook a reader. You’ll have plenty of time to go into the details on your character later. This leads me to my next point…

3) Leave your readers wanting more. This is how you create page-turning chapters. If your protagonist has a mysterious limp… don’t reveal why right away. If their flaw is that they hate magic and refuse to use their birth gift… leave the reader guessing why. Little mysteries like that will keep readers subconsciously turning the page to figure out why. Just make sure you eventually give them the answer.

Foreshadow your Theme(s)

As early as you can, you’ll want to show readers what to expect in your book. Authors can do this by foreshadowing. Think of it as a “mini-scene” or description that gives the reader a taste of what’s to come. 

This can be a as small as a sentence or as long as a paragraph or scene. 

Right away, the reader knows to expect themes of poverty and survival.

Ground your Readers, but don’t over do it.

Your first chapter is critical in catching your reader’s attention– so you don’t want to use up all your words on describing the setting. This is unwise, because, during this time, you need to be making us care about your hero and their actions.

Instead, show the reader only what they need to know to understand the scene. Too much description will slow down the story. 

However, if your story has an unusual or unique setting, this can be used as a hook. Although, as a general rule of thumb, you’ll want to write only what is necessary and dive into those beautiful descriptions later.

PART 2– COMING SOON :) Instagram: coffeebeanwriting

5 tips for outlining a story

1) Start by brainstorming your story ideas, and create an outline of the main points you want to include. This can help you organize your thoughts and keep track of the plot and characters.

2) Make sure to include a clear conflict or goal in your outline. Establishing the main challenge your characters must face will help you shape the rest of your story.

3) Consider the theme and message of your story. Making sure your story has a purpose or moral will help guide you and give it a greater sense of meaning.

4) Don’t forget to include details in your outline. While the broad strokes are important, it’s the small details that will make your story come alive.

5) Allow yourself the freedom to make changes to your outline and adapt it as you go. As you explore your story, you may find new ideas or plot points that you want to add.

Random writing tips that my history professor just told during class that are actually helpful

Sonny Boy Watchthrough

Episode 1: The Island at the Far End of Summer

Sonny Boy’s first episode was great! Definitely get a Lord of the Flies feel, very much about personal authority and ego, order vs anarchy, etc. The second episode will probably dig even more into that. Who knows where it’ll go next, but as a stand-alone mood piece, excellent!

Visually, it was great. I love how at first for this scene, for example, you’re like, “woah, fish eye lens”, but no, it turns out the actual space is distorted. That’s awesome.

Also, can I just say? I love this hairstyle.

Themes have already been introduced, and we were quickly introduced to a bunch of characters and how their values differ. For what’s really going on, my first guess would be they’re all dead, but.  So far, this show, good in my book. Hella excited for more.

Episode 2: Aliens

There were even more Lord of the Flies influences in the second episode, hammering home on the authoritarianism vs. anarchy themes. So far, the show has been most critical of the leaders of the group. Yet it seems to posit the thought that order is still necessary, with all these rules in these worlds (unless that’s manufactured by some being). So, potential for lots of allegorical, social commentary here.

I’m suspecting the kid with the star on his face, might be different from the rest. Might be the guy who set this all up, as an experiment of sorts. Also, Rajdhani is smart as hell, they’re very lucky to have him there.

I also noticed there’s very little to no music in this show, it’s just ambient noise, which is an interesting artistic choice. 

Most of the drama in this episode was centered around Mizuho and her blue flames, but I’m not quite sure why she didn’t just apologize. 

I get that she’s sulky, but on principle alone? There was a hint about something to do with some teacher (her having a crush on them was an immediate thought), so maybe more will be revealed.

So far, I’m invested in the sense of being very curious as to what’s happening and why, but that’s as far as it goes right now. But even with just that, that means it’s plenty good in my eyes, and I’m reasonably hopeful Sonny Boy will fulfill its ambitions here.

Episode 3: The Cat Who Wore Sandals

Ah yes, Mizuho’s power opens up this kind of social commentary, nice.

Booo

The voice in Hoshi’s head having a completely different audio quality is a really cool effect.

I’m still feeling the Lord of the Flies influences here. It’s not nearly as brutal (yet at least), but it touches on the same core thematic idea that people are fundamentally fucked up and society’s rules are what keep them in check. Maybe Sonny Boy will diverge later on tho.

It hasn’t chosen an explicit side yet or anything but it’s critiquing institutions and abuse of power, it’s critiquing the leaders of this group who force the reclused children back into the caged society even though they were happier alone. So, I’m getting those vibes. 

The fact that Mizuho is the only one with this power that sustains their entire structure, that she was given it without any effort or warrant, and its comparisons to our real-life system. It’s pretty obvious it’s an evil systemic issue regardless of intentions. 

But again, the show still values order, it still values pragmatism and rationality and everything, so I don’t think it’s just gonna go anarchy all the way, as cool as that would be. It’s a tough thematic nut to crack, but, I’m here for it.

Episode 4: The Great Monkey Baseball

All I could think about was, “what the fuck are you on about with these monkeys?”

What I got from this was the story about that one monkey that supported the rules, and was torn to pieces for it, since the series is all about rules. And the whole talent talk maybe? Other than that, have a hard time figuring out what this contributes to the bigger picture.

Nagara not being able to choose which world to go to, he’ll either have to team up with Nozomi to do so, or he’s what got us into this mess in the first place, and he has some psychological issues to solve before he can use this power more precisely.

Episode 5: Leaping Classrooms

Nagara’s power being revealed to actually create worlds (although it’d also have to be teleporting, cause otherwise, it’s useless lol) makes me think it’s not just a cause of his running away, but it has to tie into the social commentary somehow.

Don’t ask me exactly how, cause that part, I’m still figuring out. So far, its thematic plate is very broad, but I wonder how in-depth it’s actually going to go while juggling this many topics. 

Visually, it’s great as usual (hence screenshot). Lots of trippy stuff. Need them to go all out with that for the finale.

Episode 6: The Long Goodbye

EP 6 was practically like an ending, and I guess it’ll very much prove to be one to the first half of the series. The set-up is probably mostly done now. For what’s to come, God knows.

The world in this episode being a film world is a very cool idea (altho, I’ll say, Raj being this technical genius who can create an app for anything is a bit of a narrative cheat).

Hoshi is very adamant about saving people with his ark, but I like that when it’s shown they can edit themselves back into their world, he does support the project. 

I am still just intellectually invested rather than emotionally, and at this point, I think that’s gonna last throughout. But, that’s okay, some series are like that. This second half could be very EoE-like, so I’m interested in how it’ll switch things up.

Episode 7: Road Book

Even though the last episode kinda indicated that it would switch things up with this second half, I’m not so sure anymore that it’ll be a very drastic difference lol. This series seems intent to kind of just keep going as it always has.

Nagara seems to have decided that he doesn’t want their drifting to be a mistake, so he’s more determined to actually get them out of here, I guess. And the umbrella/bat guy is satisfied with that answer and lets him go.

I think I’m following along pretty nicely, and if I’ve interpreted how this episode contributes to the bigger picture, it’s that the whole Tower of Babel thing being a false hope made Nagara realize he doesn’t want that.

Yeah… I’ve mentioned it before, but, while I’m still curious about the answers, I have little to no emotional investment in the story, and honestly, wouldn’t surprise me if most people felt like that. 

I can’t imagine that many people were really rooting for these kids to make it back home, cause they’re that emotionally invested, but they’re just curious about what will happen story-wise. 

Which is fine! Not every story needs to be emotionally investful, but it does mean that there will be a ceiling for me. But, this very much seems like a story Natsume’s mostly making just for himself anyway.

Episode 8: Laughing Dog

EP 8 was yet another interesting subplot (best-directed episode so far, holy shit), but also proves to be yet another cryptic puzzle piece in how it could fit into this bigger picture. Not much to do about it either, but keep watching.

Episode 9: This Salmon Chazuke, Forgot the Salmon

My only thoughts on Sonny Boy’s 9th episode is that I like that the cats are getting a more active role.

Well, a few more thoughts actually. I’m not sure what the whole twins fighting over one strand of hair subplot was about, that struck me as more metaphorical (somehow)

And then there’s also when Nagara said to Nozomi that he had changed because of her, and it was just kind of like, really? In what ways specifically has he changed so much because of her? The character development he’s referencing there isn’t too coherent to me.

Episode 10: Summer and Shura

EP 10 just continues to trudge along as it usually does. I’ll probably finish the series today, so we get somewhere lol. Hope this wasn’t it for Nozomi.

Episode 11: Boy and the Sea

I do feel that Natsume let the audience a bit closer with EP 11 (about damn time), big tonal shift, but very much appreciated. I still feel like the narrative is a bit of a mess, but you know, I’ll take what I can get. Mizuho leaving her cats behind is the saddest shit.

I do feel like, when it comes to Nozomi, that a lot of her character was to contribute to Nagara’s and Asakaze’s arcs rather than focusing a bit more on her as her own person. Since she does seem to be really gone, I’d want more of that. 

Episode 12: A Two-Year Recess

Yeah, I wasn’t really satisfied with that.

Yes, one of the issues is the lack of clarity. Were these twelve episodes intellectually stimulating? Sure. But we don’t really get any explanations, many plot lines aren’t addressed, and several character arcs get no real resolutions.

It just came off as vague meditations on random topics Natsume found interesting strung together in random order. I’m not sure I even want to tackle my interpretations on the finale.

One of the things I thought we’d dig into here, was precisely why Nagara and Mizuho decided to go home, she actually asked him this even, and well, the answer wasn’t exactly satisfying. 

Nagara’s character resolution with Nozomi, kinda getting over his apathy and accepting that hurdles are part of the journey, I guess that was fine. Nice callback to the bird. 

Yeah, just overall, I found it to be a messy work. Maybe I’m just not smart enough to get it. Maybe it comes down to personal preference, I dunno, but it wasn’t satisfying to me and I personally didn’t get enough out of the series compared to the investment it asked of me.

But again, I’m thankful it does exist and that we can still get unique art like this at a time where the medium is riddled with light novel adaptations and the likes. I want more like this, even if I personally didn’t buy into the hype for this one, in particular.

Overall Thoughts: 

I’m happy we still get creative art like this, but, I do not buy into the hype for this one. Un-addressed plotlines, no proper resolutions, just a messy meditation on random topics. Some interesting ideas there, but didn’t really come together for me. Music and visuals tho are excellent.

Guess who’s my favorite!