Gonna respond first, and then I'll get to a new story (finally).
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ooh, i'm instantly enraptured by her narrative voice. very sorrowful and sympathetic, in a sense? hmm, idk words to describe, but it's very beautiful. the setting is cool as well, with K being the leader of a band and all—are they all dragons in your piece here, or humans? :P
Dragon people, just like my lore in general! If I have a fandragon and write stuff here for them, assume that's always the case. :3 Kanade is just one of my favorite characters to write, honestly, her speaking style is surprisingly distinct for a character who is actually rather quiet. (The 25ji main story being primarily from her perspective probably helps though, especially combined with her being one of my favorites in general.)
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for aldebran and asteria's sibling... conflict (idk what to call it), their relationship is really interesting. aldebran definitely seems to be the more boisterous of the two, also a bit pushy. the fact that they used to be 'gods' is interesting, what sort of powers would you need loss of life to get back?
They're this thing I created that I ended up calling celestial spirits! Me and my friends jokingly call them baby gods sometimes, but they're more like magical protectors of solar systems... when they're fully grown. Normally, they're dropped onto some planet with a well-established society and left to not only develop their powers, but grow a general sense of understanding of life and how to care for it. They initially appear as the primary species of the society on their planet, but turn into the start of their real forms when they're partially through childhood.
Once in their fully grown protector form, they
are essentially gods. They're immortal as long as the star is alive, and they can influence how life can develop on any of the planets under their care. But while they're growing, they still have some powers that are fairly impressive. Flight, enhanced strength, accelerated healing (in the adulthood of their disguise species, it reaches a point where they are essentially invulnerable to physical harm), emotional perception (and sometimes influence), and a wide variety of various other random abilities that may either be enhanced versions of ones that their disguise species has, or pretty much anything else that may develop to help them in their current world.
Aldebaran and Asteria were ripped away from their original planet in a disaster (along with
Iolanthe, who is just a normal person from their world, but she's Asteria's closest friend), and in the shift, both were stripped of their powers as well. Aldebaran wants his powers back, even if it means finding a method of draining them from others. Asteria doesn't really care, she's content to enjoy life as a normal person. Would she complain if her powers were restored? Not at all! But she doesn't want to take it by force like Aldebaran does.
They kind of act like siblings though because they're the only two celestial spirits on their planet at the time, and coincidentally crossed paths enough times to realize they were the same thing. They ended up forming a sort of rivalry out of that, mainly in a clash of ideals, but then they sometimes also just act like siblings. Aldebaran is the younger one, by a few years, and while in some regards, he is more powerful overall, he's a lot more reckless, so Asteria is still more than capable of handling him.
And now, onto the new writing. More stuff with 25ji, but that's because I felt like
Ena feels right to use here. Having to replace her usually foul language with FR rule compliant language is a little annoying, but it's whatever. I'd rather not risk anything by partially censoring the swearing, so she just gets her overall speaking style slightly adjusted. Hopefully you'll still get the impression that she's got a tendency for pretty harsh language.
Usernames again, Ena's is Enanan, Mizuki's is Amia, Kanade's is K, and Mafuyu's is Yuki. Any time they're meeting over a call, they'll always use these names when directly speaking to each other, but expect everyone to still think of the others by their real names internally.
October 25 2021 wrote:
When you're making something by hand, you need to leave some of it imperfect. Otherwise it has no personality, no soul.
Ena groans again, glaring at the canvas in front of her. She's started over and over, and she still can't figure out what she's doing wrong. It's always this way.
She can't even take a break and take some cute photos to post, or she'll just get a million questions asking why she's doing it in the middle of the night.
But to her dismay, a playful voice responds to her groans. "Hey Enanan~, you forgot to mute yourself again."
"Shut up, Amia," Ena growls back.
Mizuki laughs back. "If you've got that much of a problem with it, then don't forget next time~. I'm guessing you're stuck again?"
"What else would it be."
"Do you need to take a break, Enanan...?" Kanade adds in. "We can stop for now..."
"I can keep going, K."
Ena mutes herself, and turns back to her canvas. The other two go quiet, too.
She knows what she needs to convey, but it just isn't coming out as she draws. She can't even get through the sketch.
If she were any less careful with her art supplies, she happily would've ripped it up right here and now. But she spent way too much money on this to waste it, and it would probably wake up her brother anyway.
Instead she just stands up and stretches. Her wings spread, only for one to smack directly into her lamp. She swears under her breath, but continues to stretch anyway. As soon as she pulls her wings back in, she sits back down.
She turns on the demo Kanade sent the group, and lets the feeling wash over her. It's just like always... sad, but warm. Hopeful. She needs to capture this feeling on a canvas.
She gives up on the pencil sketching, grabbing her paints and letting the lingering feelings guide her.
The vibe is broken suddenly by someone speaking. "Good evening."
Ena's finger slips, and her claw punctures the canvas, and she swears again. She unmutes herself, only to snap, "What the hell, Yuki?"
"I was simply greeting everyone."
"You could've done it more quietly!"
"I do not see anything wrong with how I entered."
"Enanan~, calm down. Yuki~, don't provoke her." And there's Mizuki, of course.
Kanade doesn't respond to greet Mafuyu like she usually would, but Ena wouldn't be surprised if she's completely silenced the call to focus on music.
"She just made me rip a hole in my canvas! I think I'm allowed to be angry, Amia."
"Can't you just patch it..."
"I was in the zone, you stupid bat. You ruined it."
"...Sorry."
Ena huffs, and mutes herself again before she actually starts shouting and wakes Akito for sure.
Looking back up at the canvas, though... the hole, the dark of her room (only illuminated by a single lamp this late at night) piercing through it... maybe she can work with this.
Her father would hate it. He hates her unconventional art takes in general. He'd call it imperfect, ruined by the puncture of her claw (or the many more she adds along the way).
But she knows her friends will like it. Their music isn't meant to be perfect, anyway, but instead a spill of their feelings and struggles, to help others feel less alone.
The holes add to the charm, anyway. It feels more genuine this way.
