faesphere | State of the Muses: April 2012 (Reply)

character: Edward Elric (

automailed)
series: Fullmetal Alchemist
tagging priority: ■■■■■: I've been trying not to do his tags first ALL THE TIME since. Obvious bias is obvious. But it still happens to him more than anyone else.
muse strength: ■■■■■: Oh my god he is so noisy always.
cast strength: ■■■■□: Even with the sudden family drops I adore this fucking cast ;A;
plotting capabilities: ■■■■■: I have all the ideas for Ed. All. The. Ideas.
general fun level: ■■■■■: He went through a rough patch of "sob so depressed" with Trisha and Al going home, and it hurt for a while, but with the last event he's bounced right back and I think it's really going to strengthen some of his relationships. It's already done a number for he and Hohenheim. I'm having a blast with him right now.
likelihood of drop: □□□□□: lolno.

Other Thoughts: Edward is doing really well, and for that I am delighted. I think part of his muse strength is that I love FMA so much, and I love talking about it with people, and the people I talk about it with are awesome, so there is a lot to keep my interest well-fueled. And I love Edward as a character more than just for playing (there's a reason he was in my top-five favourites before I even got into serious RPing) so I love to really ponder his motivations, thought processes, blah blah blah. As a very new character to me (even after a year) I still have a ton of potential ideas and plans to follow through on. Overall it's just. Really awesome to be playing him right now. I'm not sure what his relationships with some people are like right now (Haruhi and Winry come immediately to mind with the recent developments, but I'm sure there's more) but overall he's doing fantastic.

character: Asch the Bloody (

dissonates)
series: Tales of the Abyss
tagging priority: ■■■■□: I tend to do his tags either second or third, depending. He doesn't have many so they're easy to pick off really quickly.
muse strength: ■■■□□: His voice still comes very easily to me, but stuff explained below has made me less interested in playing him, so it's been a little rocky.
cast strength: ■■■■■: oh my god how did we get 20 fucking characters jdskdf
plotting capabilities: ■■■□□: Asch is kind of middle ground. He's not up to much so he has a lot of potential, but he doesn't have much incentive for getting involved with stuff. Thankfully Guy's kidnapping offers up a window of opportunity, so we'll see how that evilness goes.
general fun level: ■■□□□: This one took a dive. A lot of really awful things happened to make his life shit, so he's feeling like shit and that makes his threads kind of miserable to tag sometimes. I love a good angstfest but he's really unbalanced right now. It's why the Auldrant AU was exactly what I needed. I wasn't having much fun, and Auldrant provided that fun.
likelihood of drop: □□□□□: I'm not ready to give up on him, there are fabulous things incoming. |D

Other Thoughts: Asch is in a difficult spot right now, and it's not one that I see as being very easy to get out of. Because he was unhappy with the potential home situation (that is, living with Guy) he's shoved himself into a corner with the "bad guys", meaning he's become very much a recluse by necessity. There's also the fact that a) he barely talks to his housemates, b) Van is kidnapped/on hiatus, and c) no one wants to visit a house where Van lives, he's basically screwed for a lot of cast interaction. Not that he'd want them to visit a potentially dangerous situation, but he doesn't really do house visits much either. The one exception is that he's agreed to meet with Natalia for tea like... once a week? But I don't have details for that sorted out, I just know it happens.

In short I can't help but worry if I'll have written myself into a corner; by making him so isolated from the rest of the cast, I'm starting to feel isolated as well, and I don't want to become as bitter and cranky about it as he is, especially since everyone else is having happy bonding times with their close CR. The downside of playing Asch, I guess. It's just that this is the first time I've really felt this level of isolation, and I don't know how to fix it.

character: Mikage Celestine (

fyulong)
series: 07-Ghost
tagging priority: ■■□□□: He's part of the latter three of my set. It just sort of works out that way.
muse strength: ■■■□□: Doing okay. Shaky sometimes, but overall he's gotten a nice little bump in the right direction thanks to a fandom shift.
cast strength: ■□□□□: Uhhh... well there's two of us and we're kind of active? |D;;
plotting capabilities: ■■□□□: Mikage is my everyman. I don't do big plots with him, generally, so he's free fore whatever, whenever. Most of his life revolves around the Brigade, close CR, or Shuri. Yes, Shuri is his own category. He's getting a hawkzile though, so that should keep him plenty occupied for a while. I'd kind of like him to get Elizabeth too, but fff. One animal from home. :c Unless he and Shuri just shared them.
general fun level: ■■■□□: When I'm doing stuff with him, he's great. When I'm not, he's mellow enough that I kind of forget about him. Every once in a while I'll hit AC and go "whoa, do I have enough?" and then I do and stop worrying, so... idek??
likelihood of drop: ■■□□□: If I had to pick anyone, he'd probably be one of the choices to go, simply because he has so little keeping him around. No immediate plans though, just possibilities.

Other Thoughts: N/A for now.

character: Suki (

kyoshi)
series: Avatar: The Last Airbender
tagging priority: ■■□□□: Man I never know how to answer this question, I try to do tags from the bottom up... :|a when I do go by preference, though, it's a toss up between her, Mikage, and Fluttershy for last. Sometimes it's based on numbers.
muse strength: ■■■□□: She's better now that I've rewatched all of Avatar. Amazing what a full review will do regardless of character screentime. She's still shaky sometimes, but it's helped. I am almost certain that she will fizzle and die when Korra characters get enough canon to be appable for me. (This fills me with both glee and sorrow.)
cast strength: ■■■■□: Growing again! If Bayley apps we'll have the whole Gaang! It's crazy. (Always room for more, though.)
plotting capabilities: ■■□□□: This... I'm iffy about. Her Kyoshi Warriors are kind of the only thing I've got going for her right now. I don't know what else to do with her, and it's disheartening, especially since I don't have a lot of time to devote to really in-depth planning these days. Plots for other characters just come so much more easily to me than for her.
general fun level: ■■(■)□□: This one derps between 2 and 3 for me, depending on my mood, incentive, and how thoughtful I'm feeling that day. Usually I enjoy her, but once in a while I feel suddenly unsure about what I'm doing, which causes me to fuss a bit and stop enjoying it. It's hard to explain.
likelihood of drop: ■■□□□: Same as Mikage. I get the urge to drop her when I'm feeling overwhelmed, but usually I tough it out and then suddenly bounce back, and that's why I haven't yet. It's not so much that I'm dragging it out but that I want to make sure I'm sure when/if I do let her go. For now? She's fine.

Other Thoughts: N/A for now.

character: Fluttershy (

shying)
series: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
tagging priority: ■■□□□: See above with Mikage/Suki?
muse strength: ■■■□□: ...She's surprisingly easy for me. Her tags are practically mindless |D;; I waver sometimes when something new comes up, but I forge ahead anyway and it's worked out pretty well so far.
cast strength: ■■■□□: We have 4 of the mane 6! ...fuck did I really just do that
plotting capabilities: ■□□□□: This goes hand in hand with the muse strength comment. She's from a kid's show, and most of the characters are not particularly deep or complex. They have issues, problems, fears, concerns, whatever, but her backstory or problems cannot compare to, say, Edward or Asch. She's simplistic, and it's delightful, but it's also limiting. I can't be mean to her because it's goddamn Fluttershy.
general fun level: ■■■■□: Despite the above she's been refreshingly fun to play. I don't get it, but who cares, PONIES ARE FUN DEAL WITH IT.
likelihood of drop: ■■□□□: Same as Mikage/Suki again. She'd be easy to let go if I had to, but I don't have to right now so I'm not going to.

Other Thoughts: N/A for now.

character: Zack Fair (

wingenvy)
series: Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core
tagging priority: ■■■□□: He's up there with Ed and Asch, depending on number of tags.
muse strength: ■■■■■: I've never had a problem with his tags. Like. Ever. I hope that's a good sign.
cast strength: ■□□□□: ...ahaha...
plotting capabilities: ■■■□□: I am never really sure what to do with this guy. He does a lot at the bar and tries to do stuff with Brave Vesperia, but reforming the guild is going to be tricky and I wonder if I am even capable of fixing the problems there, especially since it depends so much on player involvement at this point. I'm kind of "idk" a lot with him right now. But Zack is such a go-with-the-flow guy that I can't help but wonder if he clashes with Mikage because of it. Maybe the age gap is the only thing that's saved me from that so far...
general fun level: ■■■□□: Problems aside, I usually have fun with the stuff I do with him.
likelihood of drop: ■□□□□: I gave him one box because sometimes I wonder if Zack has run his course and that I'm just playing him because I can't remember a time when I wasn't. I'm serious. I have played this guy consistently in various RPs for almost ten years now. Sooner or later the well is going to run dry. ...But again, no immediate plans. It's just a thought that worries me- because I played him before the release of Crisis Core, am I still playing Zack, or the Zack I've had for those ten years? It's a tricky question.

Other Thoughts: N/A for now. (I might add to this but my shift is over and I have to run off home...)

Possible Apps
...this section is a formality. I would love to app someone else but I am really not prepared to go back to 7 characters. I still occasionally flounder with 6. I do not know how to handle this. (sob)

[■■■□□] Simon Jiha (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann)
[■■□□□] Rui Yamase (Lux-Pain)
[■■■■■/□□□□□] A Character With A Fucking Dragon (Some Dragon Canon)

For Simon, it's because I miss him on a fairly consistent basis- at least once every month or two I think "ohhhh Simon, he was so good to play there", and now we're getting a Viral. HOWEVER two problems: 1) I am seriously out of practice, and 2) I usually play young Simon, who is probably not very interesting to Viral, and who has the same problem as what in part caused me to drop him way back when - Kamina. I had like... three Kaminas, I think? App and then drop, some longer lasting than others. This really gets Simon down, and it got tiresome to play out. There's a middleground option of playing post-Genome but pre-timeskip Simon, so he's dealt with his grief enough to handle such things better and is less of a pussy so he could stand up to Viral, but I dunno. There's also the potential of playing end-canon Simon (which would be kind of boss) but I don't know if I'd want another badass combatant character when... well, look at my roster. :|;

For Rui, it was pretty much because I dropped her without putting to use her full potential, and looking back it seems kind of wasteful. I just didn't have the time or incentive for her that I needed to bounce her back. ...And canon review is a chore because lol Lux-Pain.

For the dragon one: fuck it, I'm shallow. I love dragons. If Hiccup was my type I'd have played him. I'd even considered Astrid or Snotlout because I love that canon. But it's because of the dragons. I fucking love dragons. I want a dragon 8|; Hell, I even tossed around the idea of playing an OC of all things because of a dragon familiar. THIS IS HOW DEEP THE OBSESSION RUNS. You guys I have a problem. orz

...Pretty sure I had other people in mind but now that I think about it I have no idea who! So w/e w/e it must not be important enough.

Code courtesy of

saltprince

State of the Muses: April 2012

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