First is the small version of a wonderful banner done by megumi_dono. I think it exemplifies the Meiji nice enough. ^.^ MANY THANKS!

Except, why is it that I'm the only one who looks 3 years old?



Next is the small version of a horrifically large poster done by MYSELF (okay, my player may have had something to do with it). It pretty much sums up the combined two years at both himuragumi and meiji_restored. My player is evil. Never forget that.

( The Meiji Restored Anniversary Roster )

These may be moved into my profile when my lazy player gets off her ass and does something.

I picked up the looking glass and heard applause as I examined my own profile in the reflective surface.

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ~the crowd roared.

Oh yes. The fairest one of all even sitting in the quiet of my room. I crack a smile.

HAAAAAAAAAA ~the crowd continued to roar in my perfect ears.

I was about to give my two dimensional twin a light peck on the lips when my reflection began to twist and bend.

And then I realized it wasn't just my reflection.


Begin Aoshi's lesson in Mortal Sin #7: Vanity.

Ep 7 Old Timey Shinsengumi Photo...Back When They Were Optimistic

No, seriously. I intended to snap fewer shots, but I ended up taking RIDICULOUSLY more. (So much that two eps ended up being way more than the previous five) And I crashed my computer and had to restart it.

Sigh.

Anyway, these are surprisingly more boring than the last gallery and I'm trying to figure out if it's the serious nature of the eps or if it's that my own perspective has drastically changed so that different images pop up at me than would have over a month ago.

Anyhow, I have the caps of the eps up to 10, but it's too much work to try and get those in working galleries at the moment. But hope you enjoy. My funny bone is lacking lately. T___T

The Gallery

Be good while I'm gone!

Sometimes when all is quiet, I sit in my room and listen to the silence that man creates for himself. I imagine it as a big, wide expanse of nothingness as I'm sure many others do as well. It is filled with white light. It is vast. It is endless. It is all-powerful.

It is under this light that all my ugliness can be seen. Nothing is sacred. The light pierces every human flaw I have created in myself.

In this place, I am as I was intended to be. Mangled, twisted, deformed, my body lurches around in this vacuum. There is no hiding from the scrutiny of Judgement. It ticks away, steadily, the only entity in this nothing.

I crumble.

First. my hair. a tangle of twisted metal coated in razor dust. fall out. one by one with a "twang." sluicing through the empty air. slicing the bumpy texture of the skin at my cheeks. skin of a squash. blood the consistency and aspect of murky brown mucus.

That is first of me to go. My one vanity.

It takes my hands next.

I am left helpless, a hideous creature without even the mercy of tear ducts to ease my torment.

It is when I scream that I am knocked out of that reverie.

Silence does not always mean that I am subject to the white light. It is only when I withdraw and force the silence upon myself that it comes. Some silence is good. I have found some measure of peace in it. But every now and then, when I am not careful, the silence creeps upon me unawares.

Every day, I open that blind just a little further, letting the natural light hit me. Every day, I accept that they are dead and I am not. I am seeking an anchor, a harbor that provides safety from the tumultuous storms that brew in the vast unknown and fathomless depths. My reason to live cannot be another person. They are too easily lost. In a moment. In a struggle that takes years. Without a trace.

And yet my memories serve as the buttress of what I once held to be true. Where is the tangibility in that? How can I believe in something that is only the echo of a fleeting time that now has no solid base in my present?

I am broken. My perceptions are false. I see apparitions that have no more substance than memory. What is to say that my memories ever happened? What if it was all an elaborate fantasy? The family I'd found? The girl I held in my arms? The woman I swore I'd marry?

What if the white light is the real world and I deserve everything I receive?

I enjoy silence. But I seek the sound of voices and movement, clues that my living is grounded in this world, where I can mend the encasement of my disfigured self and hope that cosmetic surgery changes the balance of the sum of all my parts.

Ep 4 Heisuke Presents...

Hey! A heads up that I've now uploaded screencaps for PMK Episodes 1-5 (they are in order at least by episode). Hope you enjoy!

The Gallery

Now if you want to be helpful...can you tell me who is egghead number 4? Can't figure out how to tag that one.

Anyway, happy birthday Shuki and Sherl! Hope some of the pictures crack you up. :p

(The winners for top tags are: Shinpachi 19, Tetsu 16, Okita 15, Harada 14, Saya 14, and Heisuke at 11. Some folks are just really photogenic. XD)

Ep 1 Tetsu Tatsu Fear the Reaper

Went insane last night and took a bajillion screencaps for the first five PMK episodes. Still rooting through what is gallery-worthy for the other 4 eps and trying to plan out future screencapping-happy business (so if you have requests, you better say so before I'm too lazy).

Right now, only Episode 1: Cherry Blossoms has pictures up. As a warning, yes, those titles are REALLY what I name my pics. YES, I am cracked out. It's the only way I can catalogue the masses of images in my mind.

My Gallery

I haven't actually searched on the net to see what pictures are available, so if I'm not original, sorry, you'll live. I have a particular fondness for emotional snapshots, images that capture movement, sequence series shots that follow movement, and all-around FUNNY FACES (there's also a few scenery-type stills). The first ep doesn't have a whole lot of funny faces, but you'll see later on...OH BOY...I get really snap-happy.

(and of course, I have originals and other crappy shots that didn't make the cut, just hit me up. I'm sure there are plenty of good shots I missed, too.)

I also realize that most of these pictures aren't particularly helpful for the RP, but LOL. I like them, dammit.

Tah!

I regard Himura with a most unkind look, slowing unsheathing my pristine blade.

"I am loathe to do this, Himura, but you leave me little choice."

I take a step closer, the dust barely disturbed on the cold, dead dirt, sheath in my clenched gloved hand.

Having drawn my weapon against this opponent, I have officially broken my oath. But this is a grievance I can no more let pass than have my little Misao accept the attentions of just any beau. No. Himura must know I am in all seriousness in this.

Blade glinting in a dazzling light show, I take another step toward the redheaded swordsman, watching for his response.

"You leave me little choice, but the choice is yours entirely, Himura."


*open to everyone! Everyone punished by Soujirou take your revenge now!!!! XDD*

I realize I have not paid the Himuras a visit in some time and it is most discourteous of me, considering that I owe much to the newly wedded couple.

Perhaps I have not taken the time to get to know Himura's bride as well as I could have.  I approach with some trepidation, but do not hesitate in knocking on the gate before me.  Do I strike people as one who would fear a gate?

A gate no.  People I am not in the habit of conversing with, yes.

I wait for an answer.


(Kaoru should be joining us shortly.  No scaring her! :P)

Picked up this Original Character Quiz from someone, thought I should use it here. I think I may use it for larfs for my actual original characters. It may also be a good way to make sure they're more fully developed.

 > basics <

+ What's your character's name? +
AOSHI SHINOMORI

+ How old is he? +
um...26, I believe. ^.^;; Okay, I'm sad.

+ Is your OC a boy or girl? +
Male Man.

( Extensiveness )

I hear a rustling in the bushes nearby.

And stop.

I can feel my veins pumping a little harder, a little faster. My eyes grow sharper. My fingers grow restless.

The soles of my shoes stay planted, soundless. Anticipation is causing the roots of my hair to tingle sharply.

At last.

My player thinks it incredibly funny to contrast my famously silent and imposing reputation with extraordinarily verbose thought sequences that in one way or another contribute to my public humiliation, whether they be recognized as such by those in my acquaintance or not.

It is a pity that all of my eloquence and emotional unsurety must go unvoiced...

And I'm afraid I don't perform well before an audience.

Although, I would like to remind readers that had I truly been this way while at Edo Castle, I most surely would have perished within the first week.

My player enjoys dismissing my purported tactical skills, as well as my superior skills of manipulation and information-gathering (sometimes by questionable means), and has effectively stripped me of everything that has ever made me a superman in order to downgrade my person into...an...average...person. (and at times, I am sure I see signs of definite _below_ averageness)

Surely, Watsuki would protest this. Is this not a gross bastardization of the man that had screaming fangirls squealing over him?

Happy early Easter and Passover and all those other great celebrations...

For those like Player-san, who will be ringing in the New Year soon enough, party hardy, but not too hard!

She has not actually participated in the temple or dancing festivities in many years, but this year, she may just accompany her mother (who claims she is not going to prepare any special foods -- Player-san says fie on that) and eat well.

If you would like to learn more (and send Player-san detailed outlines, she is horridly unschooled in such matters), some light reading:

Resources:
Folklore of the Origins of the Khmer New Year
http://www.mot.gov.kh/event_festival/khmer_new_year.htm
Khmer New Years Overview
http://ethnomed.org/cultures/cambodian/khmer_new_yr.html

Player-san knew it needed to be written. So here it is.

For your viewing pleasure:

( Rated XXX for XXXiness. Just kidding. )

I am thinking on my life. Black. Darkness.

And red.

Redness.

Spilling

onto

the

floor.

I am alone.

Always alone.

In my hand, a single, red rose.

A lost hope. A cry in the darkness.

A splash of red.

I wait for eternal darkness to fall over

me. My heart can no longer sustain

me. It is red even in the darkness.

I wait for forever pitch darkness.

Or light.

For light to come and awaken me from

my eternal slumber.

*do not enter this thread if you haven't posted in-game in the last 48 hours! (or Aoshi will kaiten kenbu you!)

[thread rules: speak in clichés and archetypes - only please. :3]

If in need of aid of hugely random plot points for the RPG, please feel free to visit this place:

http://www.gkbledsoe.com/articles/process/writing_prompt_generator.html

It is hugely entertaining, and you never know when you might actually land on something that inspires you. *wink*

Also, for those wanting something a bit more comprehensive, this site actually writes out an entire movie based on the answers you give:

http://www.maddogproductions.com/plotomatic.htm

( View My Customized Script Behind the Cut )

But seriously, please drop plot inquiries by the mods if you are having trouble!!

I guess I should have mentioned this before...(in case y'all didn't know)

I have officially moved locations.  My home is no longer with himuragumi, but instead at a cozy little place called meiji_restored.  Do visit me and my adventures (if you really care all that much. XD)

Not only do I rock, but you should see how I school all the other characters, too.  They are no match for my sexy coat, double kodachi OR stylin' hair!

A public service announcement from the lovable ninja boy,
Shinomori Aoshi.

My player seems to think it funny that she begins puppeteering me while in a deliriously foggy, sleep-induced trance.

If this becomes habit, I am going to need someone to monitor just how it is she decides to take all sorts of interesting liberties with me.

And no.  It's not funny.  I'm concerned.

Please tell her to get more sleep if you see her online at some ungodly hour.  No promises that she will listen...but I would like to be coherent in my posts and if my mistress is not functioning mentally, it seems unlikely I will turn out much more cogent than her.

To you, with love.



This year, I decided that since Tsukioka Tsunan has been such a popular choice, I would visit him for a painting that could be beautifully displayed for guests. He convinced me otherwise. And I have to say...it felt a little weird, but in the end, I am happy with the way it turned out.

Have a nice holiday season!

:33

*sketch by Gary Chan