#meteorain

Meteorain

Meteorain

One of my favorite cards to use in the early days of Duel Links, Meteorain holds a special place in my heart. It almost makes it disappointing that I don't really like looking at the art super close up like this lol. The part I dislike the most is definitely how the shadows on this guy's face seem so much lighter when viewed up close. From far away (how you'd view it on an actual card), his face shadows look dark/cohesive enough that it enhances the glow from his eyes enough that it looks eerie. Here it's toned down a lot, which actually shifts the focus downward towards his mouth. The way the meteors were rendered is still so cool that it's unreal (they literally look like they're melting/crumbling apart from the heat of rocketing down through the sky), but a little of the impact is missing without this guy looking completely sinister. Up close though, I can't stop looking at the hot pink that they used for the meteor streaks. It's so fantastic and pairs really well with the blue and white swirled sky background.

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Tagged By: @othard

Aggressive | Callous | Cannibal | Careless | Compulsive | Cowardly | Domineering | Envious | Greedy | Hypocritical | Impatient | Impolite | Kidnapper | Lazy | Liar | Lustful | Materialistic | Murderer | Obsessive | Overcritical | Overemotional | Patronizing | Psychotic | Sarcastic | Self-Indulgent | Serial-killer | Torturer | Touchy | Unclean | Unpredictable | Untidy | Vain | Vengeful

As most of you have noticed, I left CR. While I have no issue with most of the people in the group, I’ve had a hard time getting my footing and momentum lately. I also don’t really like this “new direction” that the group is taking. It seems like much more work than I’m really willing to put into RP.

The final reason I’m leaving is I believe Ley has been acting inappropriately with her Cloud blog lately. I am not saying she shouldn’t have the Cloud blog. However, her aggressive promotion of her own Cloud blog in the group chat with group members is just plain selfish and rude. I have seen her again and again plotting and discussing her non-group Cloud blog when we had a Cloud blog in the group. It would be one thing to do this privately, but to do it so publicly in the group chat is just a mean thing to do. It gives people the impression that Ley is the Cloud blog and it marginalizes and ostracizes the in-group Cloud.

I’m not sure how people don’t see this as a rude thing to do, but it’s really kind of nasty on Ley’s part. I’m not saying people shouldn’t RP with her Cloud. All I’m saying is it’s rude af to promote her non-group blog so aggressively in front of the whole group when there’s already an in-group blog for the same muse.

I hope there is something to be learned here because I know many of you will jump to Ley’s defense and think this is an unwarranted attack. However, in doing so, consider how you’d feel if you were in Cole’s position. If you saw the leader of the group constantly trying to plot with her out-of-group Cloud in the group where you’re the one supposed to be playing Cloud. Imagine how you'd feel if you were the one being overlooked because people think someone else is the in-group Cloud. Imagine how you’d feel to have the leader of the group come to you and ask you to stop playing your muse so she can play him instead.

If you can’t empathize with that, then I’m sorry. I’m not telling people to stop being friends with Ley, but before you jump to tell myself, Cole, and anyone else how horrible we are for “attacking” Ley, you really ought to sit down and realize just how much Ley’s blatant rudeness has hurt people in the past.

Oh, immeasurably, he knew that Cloud cared about him. How could he not, when he worked so hard to provide for the blond? It would make very little sense if no attachment developed as a result of that -- after all, it had a very similar effect on Zack, only that there’d already been those seeds planted within him even before that run, and simply put, the year only provided an enhanced sense of loyalty between the two of them that already existed from within him. For Cloud to approach him and to tell him as much, if anything, offered a kind of redundancy as he knew that already.

And yet, it was not simply that that Cloud was trying to communicate to him. Certainly Zack sometimes fooled himself into believing that the world didn’t feel like a crushing weight upon his shoulders. He smiled in the mirror until he meant it and he smiled at the blond with every ounce of love meant in the world within that expression; but it did mean he sucked it up, he shelved any moment of weakness aside and he never addressed it later. Sometimes, it was simply easier to smile. When he smiled, it made others feel comfortable. Feel safe. Made him feel safe, too, because then when he presented himself as being okay, then he managed to convince himself that he was.

Still, a part of him knew of the pain that lingered at the back of his head, translating instead to headaches and nightmares and hesitation and late night anguish when the thoughts cascaded down upon him and he simply couldn’t smile anymore. He remembered the faces of those he struck down, he remembered the agony that Cloud advertised before he was placed in that mako tank, he remembered his sword slicing straight through his mentor and his very breath being sucked out of him, he remembered as the organization fell around him and everyone he trusted turned their backs on him, leaving him nearly completely alone.

He remembered a year, a year, of running from death, with the only person accompanying him being unable to answer.

It was easy to pretend none of that bothered him because he had that beaten into him in the military. There was no time for crying. Only time for action.

But his posture remained just a little bit warier. Those memories manifested with a sharper edge within the realm of night, with nothing to hold them back. And sometimes, even when Cloud was gone for maybe an hour at most, did the fears rise up again, fresh and new as if he hadn’t lived in them for a year.

He had to do it on his own. So used to providing for everyone else. So used to providing for Cloud. It was hard to imagine doing anything else.

“Oh? Y’know I’m up for anything with you, Cloud! Where d’ya wanna go?”