ive been saving for a new laptop so i can play bg3, cyberpunk 2077 and a bunch of games im my steam library + use adobe after effects but god the new spidey game is hardcore tempting me to reshift my funds to a ps5 aaaaaa

met my official team for work and they're all a bunch of chill nerds who bully each other affectionately with an incredible supervisor, holy shit these are My People

first day of being properly deployed to an agency after months of training and im AAAAAAAAAAAAAA what do you MEAN these people expect me to be an executive

there rlly is nothing quite like messing around and playing dumb party games with your officemates to make you go "yknow what, life is pretty hella good"

also i was accused of murder, my work husband has betrayed me by saying he was planning on murdering me, and real life danganronpa is a trip.

there's a different kind of ego boost that comes with being told by your hr director how much faith he has in your leadership capabilities tbh

i think the biggest, like, commonality in all the fcs i use — or more specifically, the art i like using — is that i tend to veer away from styles that appear too moe/cutesy/Too Pretty, even (or especially tbh) for fcs in media that relies on that kind of art style (i.e. genshin, idolmaster, etc.) idk, it just never jived with me even if i love the designs. i take a long time finding art of an fc i rlly like because of that particular gripe. i've fc changed a bunch of old characters who had fcs with primarily That Specific Art Style for that reason. 

(which is rlly funny given one of my all time favorite OCs is a venti fc LMAO)

at the same time though, at least for male characters, i find that i'm not too fond of characters that look Too(TM) conventionally masculine, or has muscular features. sharper features also tend to be a miss for me more than i'd like. i usually tend to choose fcs that look attractive, but not too overbearingly so — if that makes sense? and a lot of it rlly goes into the art style. you can easily make me adore, or be mid, on an fc depending on the art style. i like the more illustrative art styles, since i personally prefer how they look in crops. i also think they scream personality a lot more but that's my personal Hot Take(TM).)

generally a lot of my characters && fcs i choose for them feel like they could fall in mid to late 20s, and these days i rlly do prefer finding fcs for dark skinned poc, which can be,,,,, difficult when you rp animanga since animanga poc fcs tend to be in short supply and/or not hit as well. i love designs like mel medarda (arcane), pan (stray gods), and human marshall lee (fionna and cake) (the latter sparking SO much joy for me in a design and fc level honestly its unreal) but finding art for western characters tends to be more hit-or-miss than many standard animanga fcs orz.

no but like seriously. i think the matter of “starting” is often the hardest part, so it rlly is just a case of Just Do It. the words won’t come out unless they’re written, so just write. i can edit later, but i may as well start writing.

going on live tv is a surreal experience, gotta say

finally did serval's companion quest and i have completely normal feelings about the landau siblings

clenches fist i love talking literary analysis with people

i remember this thread!!!!! god, that was such a fun one for the drama and angst, and it's rlly happy to read that it stuck out bc, like, same? that thread was such a highlight and got me to realize my character's voice fully too aaaa

which leads me to another favorite thing about rp-ing, which echoes what a lot of ppl also said: just the high of getting replies and Knowing(TM) how you'd wanna reply back. it's such a rush in the best kind of way. i've genuinely, like, slept wayyyy too late because of rf and even remember doing rf for a not-quite ship thread in the middle of my philosophy class in uni because of how excited i was.

honestly, replies that make you wanna do mobile posts to maintain momentum are just another massive favorite rp moment to me

 'sup. i just saw how much bits i had and figured i can treat myself LOL

i've got a lot, so let's go

+ a feeling that happened last year for one character of mine, that's now recently returned with two other characters of mine, but figuring out an arc's "ending point". it's not necessarily restricted to rp alone, but storytelling in general, but it's just... really hecking nice to look at a character and realize "oh, this is where you're meant to end up". it's cozy as a feeling, and just makes me feel content, ig, even if there is a VERY strong possibility that either a) that ending won't be reached due to the fundamental nature of rp, or b) that it won't 100% 1_by-1 fit what you originally had in mind, you still have something you want everything to lead to. as someone who writes her characters on the idea of arcs, usually filled with them taking Ls upon Ls, making tough decisions, being difficult people who have to interrogate that fact, and having to fight bitterly through circumstance, conflict, or even themselves — i love the feeling of knowing where i want it all to lead to. makes the effort and work put into things so much more worth it.

+ seeing other people who are similarly passionate about their stuff. i love being a spectator honestly, and i do love using my characters and my plot ideas to help nudge or bring people's narratives to the directions they want to go. i love seeing enthusiasm, and i love seeing people talk about their characters, material, memes, etc. these past few months rlly did cement that too. writing should be fun, rp should be fun, do all the dumb shit you wanna do with 'em and your ocs and i'll cheer like hell.

+ in addition to the above, building a bigger narrative together. i think that's honestly the biggest thing about rp: we play these roles and characters with other people who do the same, using language to build scenes that grow into mini-stories that grow into bigger stories that we're invested in, so much so that we keep writing and making them and making the same characters in different settings or making new ones in different settings, even though we know it's likely to be shortlived and brief, and something that is inherently private / personal to ourselves because the only audience to see this work is ourselves and the immediate people in the same circle, and a lot of people talk about these characters with the same amount of interest as an actual fanbase for an actual piece of media. that's like, legitimately so cool? art is cool. the work and labour people put into rp is cool. and the fact it is fundamentally a communal effort is so much cooler because you aren't just writing the story you want for yourself, but the story you and other people want together, because they are making the active choice to engage and write with you. that's kinda incredible, tbh.

+ less sentimental and pretentious but: embracing absurdity. i love funny threads, ridiculous dynamics, silly moments, and dumb internal monologues. it comes so much snappier to me, and it sparks so much joy.

+ just seeing shit through. few things are as satisfying as finally getting a plot you've planned out for months reach its endpoint, or a ship finally get together, or an arc get finished, or a scene finally occur. for me, this goes especially harder when its seeing other people achieve things they've talked about so long. like, hell, man, i'm happy for you! get that bread!

+ seeing and/or receiving reactions to threads and plots from people who aren't directly part of them. one memory that sticks out to me, constantly, is getting a message from someone who wasn't even part of the forum i was in, telling me they've read my characters' threads and were so hooked and wanted to participate in whatever comes next that it made them want to join too. that's a near incomparable feeling, imo. but it's also just really nice to hear server responses to things like big plot points, reveals, or even just specific quotes ppl liked. reactions to something concrete — whether emotional, critical, or praise — just feels hella good.