Zephaeon

"The first 10 people who comment on this journal will get a sketch, free. However, in return, you must offer 10 free sketches in your own journal. If you've already done 10 Free Sketches, simply link the journal entry in your comment... You still qualify."

I was inspired to do this by . I'm doing this out of stubbornness and a desire to inspire someone else rather than a desire to improve myself, though that would be pretty cool as well. I'll also be allowing people to request short literary pieces as well, since I have more faith in my writing than my drawing. Either way, I will do my best to offer something semi-decent for anyone who wants it. Just keep in mind that I am busy with Uni and RPing. On the other hand, PLEASE poke me and hassle me to get started. This is something I really want to do.

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Tagged by ~Kasamizuki - no idea how to do that icon thingie, so deal with it .


1) Please post the rules in your journal.
2) Say your 5 favourite bands/artists, 3 favourite songs by them, and what genre they are.
3) No tag-backs and the same person can't be tagged twice.
4) You have to tag at least 5 people. Random ones will do if you're desperate. But you can tag more.
5) Post the icons of your tagged people in your journal, and send them a message telling them they're tagged


See-Saw (J-Pop)
-Anna ni Issho Datta no ni
-Yasashi Yoake
-Obsession

FLOW (Alternative rock)
-Colors
-Go!!!
-Re:member

Kawada Mami (J-pop/trance)
-Hishoku no Sora
-Radiance
-Get my way!

ALI PROJECT (Neoclassical/Dark Wave)
-Boukoku Kakusei Catharsis
-Yuukyou Seishunka
-Waga Rōtashi Aku no Hana

FictionJunction YUUKA (J-Pop)
-Silly-Go-Round
-Akatsuki no Kurama
-Honou no Tobira


For the people who are cursed to do this as well - AKA tagged - I tag:

1. ~Mallory77
2. ~HermioneStar
3. ~Sliptail
4. ~Superlia
5. ~jialikali

You can either not do this, and believe whatever you want to believe, or you can do it, and see how far the rabbit hole goes.

After reading another person's journal update for the sake of updating, I decided to do likewise. Besides, it makes sense, since I have some news - not that anyone's interested .

I'll be changing my degree from a Bachelor of Communication to a Bachelor of Arts. Why, you ask? Frankly, because I hate public relations. I'm sick of it. I went into the course hoping to do journalism, but I hated it. So, I picked PR instead, thinking it was more interesting - well, Film Studies would have been better, but I can't see myself making movies for a living. Turns out that was crap as well. I figured switching courses would be better than doing something I hate, and unlike other countries, education here isn't too expensive, so it's alright to switch. I'll be starting my new course next year. Hopefully I'll be able to do English and Asian Studies for it...


Oh yes, if any of you like Type-Moon stuff - Fate/Stay Night, Tsukihime, and Kara no Kyoukai - I recommend downloading Battle Moon Wars. It's a fun tactical RPG that has all the characters in these series meeting up and fighting their respective enemies.

Well, sort of. It was my birthday yesterday. Dad took me grass-kart riding today, though, and I got a sprained ankle, and my hands are rubbed raw. I also got a lot of great birthday presents - although half of them were early to some degree... I'm not complaining . This is partly why I'm making this post, actually. I would like to dedicate this post to kasamizuki.deviantart.com/ and hermionestar.deviantart.com/ - known to me as Kanata and Hazuki, respectively. Sorry, but I don't know how to do fancy links here .

Anyway, both of these people were under no obligation to give me a birthday present - and I wouldn't have expected them to, either - yet they saw fit to do something incredibly generous... again. Not the first time they've treated me to birthday presents . While people in real life lavished me with games for the 360, anime box sets and even my long-awaited dance mat (will try that out when I download Stepmania and my ankle heals), Kanata and Hazuki each gave me a creative gift of a drawing.

kasamizuki.deviantart.com/art/… is what Kanata made for me. While it probably means nothing to most people, this is an incredibly personal gift to me, focused on the life of my longest running RP character, Asukai Rin. It's an album cover that reflects the life she's led, the people she's met, and her relationship with them. I was completely taken aback when I received this - and it explained some of the questions that Kanata was asking in the days prior, as well. I couldn't have asked for anything better.

hermionestar.deviantart.com/ar… is Hazuki's gift, and would likely appeal to a larger base of people. This is Rin herself - 3 years into the future. As my friends on Naruto: Shattered Pieces would know, I've been excited by the prospect of a timeskip for quite some time now, and in particular, the dilemma of what would happen to the charming young ninja. Hazuki was more up-front with her gift, offering it to me a few days ago, and probing me for details. I must say, I am very pleased with the result! She even managed to have it ready for me just before midnight her time, meaning it was in time for my birthday, her time

To the both of you, thank you very much. I'm sure most of the people reading this would know about them already, but to those who don't, I urge you to look at their galleries - they're work is more than deserving of a little look. Consider this my thank you - plugging of your dA's .

I would also like to thank aequora.deviantart.com/ - or Naz - for messaging me out of the blue to wish me a happy birthday. I don't even think I told her about it . Anyway, she offered to do something for me, and I asked if she would draw Sahar for me, a task she took to with gutso. Though she hasn't finished, I don't see why I should neglect her generosity, particularly since we don't talk nearly enough. Thank you, Naz! I can't wait to see what you draw!


www.acornrack.com/nsp - if any of you aren't a part of NSP, and enjoy roleplaying of the play by post variety, I highly recommend joining.

This is a competition entry for SephirothCrystal's character creation contest. I hope you enjoy reading it!


Mina Lenscraft


Appearance

Mina is a young, energetic woman with a bright disposition. Despite her line of work, she keeps her golden brown hair longer than she should – a little longer than neck length. However, a large set of goggles on her head obscures much of this. Her eyes are hazel in colour, with a bit of a greenish tinge, and are slightly larger than average, giving her a cute appearance. Mina’s small nose doesn’t help, which is normally a good thing, except when people underestimate her. Usually her smiles aren’t toothy, but when something is sufficiently amusing, it’s clear that she takes good care of her teeth. Around her neck is a bronze pendant in the form of a cog. It doesn’t look valuable at all, but she’ll never be without it.  

Mina has fair skin and is quite strong for her small stature. Most people wouldn’t expect a woman of only 5”3’ to possess a lot of upper body strength, but working with machines most of her life has toned her muscles quite well. To her chagrin, she has slighter curves than a lot of other women, and her mechanic’s attire tends to conceal them even more. As a result, it isn’t uncommon for people to think that she’s a young boy, and for those people to get their head bitten off. Even being called a "pretty boy" poses the same problem.

Speaking of her attire, normally she’ll be wearing some overalls, due to the likelihood of her tinkering with some sort of mechanical object, and therefore needing the protection they provide. Her pair is well worn, with oil stains, patched holes and frayed sleeves. Mina is almost always with her belt of tools as well, which contain things from screwdrivers to hammers, and is even heavily weighed down at one side by a huge wrench. When not in her overalls, the young woman prefers lighter and more feminine clothing, such as a light pink tanktop and... trousers so she can wear her tool belt. Even though she’d like to be and tries to be more feminine, it unfortunately just doesn’t work. On the rare occasion that she doesn’t have her tool belt, she favours dresses and skirts, but this isn’t nearly as often as she’d like.




Personality

Mina is a tough and confident girl who is more than willing to speak her mind. She has to be this way otherwise her customers and competitors wouldn’t respect her. Few people think of short woman when they think of mechanics or engineers, after all. She can also be quite competitive – for example, if someone thinks that they’re a better mechanic than her, Mina won’t rest until she’s proven that she’s better than they in no uncertain terms.

Though she often looks and presents herself as a tomboy, she’s actually quite fond of typically girly things – for example, flowers. Despite them not being machines, she loves their natural beauty, and how it is impossible to create one through science. Also, her aggressive behaviour is just the way she expresses herself. If she’s yelling at you about your choice in boyfriend, it’s because she’s worried about you. Deep down, she cares about others, but it just manifests in a less than kind way most of the time.

One thing that Mina really hates is being mixed up with either a child or a boy. Unfortunately, it is often both at the same time. This will often result in the poor person in question being harshly told off for a minute or so. This greatly annoys her because she’s a full grown woman, and it highlights how unfeminine she looks at times. Despite a pretty face, she’s self-conscious about her body image, and aware that her occupation and love make it difficult for her to improve it.

She’s also got a bit of a taste for adventure. This is probably why Mina is so willing to travel long distances for tasks. Unlike her parents, who mostly let people come to them if they needed something fixed, or made only short journeys; she’d be willing to travel pretty much anywhere if the job required it. It gave her an excuse to see the world and learn about machines elsewhere – and charge more for her services – and it was more exciting than just running a mechanic’s shop. Mina was a fan of change rather than order, so a life where she could travel was one that she liked.




History

Mina was born to Willard and Leanne Lenscraft in a major city of the Linosinean Kingdom. They ran a workshop together, where they fixed everything from small steam engines to airships. Their business was never in lack of tasks, and their employees had a reputation for professionalism. Asides from repairing broken or damaged machinery, they also sold various mechanical gadgets as big as small, personal airships.

After Mina was born, her parents took it in turns to look after her, alternating between managing the workshop – they also took to not going on long trips as they did before, preferring instead to send their employees. It was only natural for their only daughter to get interested in the family business, and she had a knack for machines at a young age. Though she was teased at school for being a grease monkey and a tomboy, she didn’t let that get in the way of her interest in how things worked, how to fix them and how to make things.

Unfortunately, one day, when she was staying with her grandmother due to an important job at the workshop that required everyone, disaster struck. Authorities were unable to determine the cause of the explosion, but the fact was that the workshop was now nothing more than a smoking crater. Almost everyone was killed, and the rest seriously injured. Her parents weren’t among the handful of lucky ones.

Mina ended up living with her grandmother from then on – her only living relative. The death of her parents was a harsh blow to the girl, but there were two things that helped her get through it. One was a pendant that she’d received from her mother – it had been passed down through her family for generations, and she was to receive it when she turned 18. Because of the tragedy, however, she ended up getting it in the will. The second was a small, ancient airship that had belonged to her father, that didn’t even work anymore. The pendant gave her a piece of her parent’s that she could wear close to her heart, and the airship was something that would give her something to do other than mope.

By the time she’d finished school, she’d finally managed to complete the airship. Unfortunately, even though it flew better than the original design did, it was notoriously unreliable and looked like it was held together by duct tape. But Mina loved flying around in it, and was always thinking of workarounds for it that she could apply to other things. She hoped to one day fly around the world in the ‘Firebrand II’, as she called it. Until then, she was happy with running a small, one woman business out of her grandmother’s home, flying around and performing odd jobs for people unable to fix their own machines.