#oneaday Day 42: Soft

I feel like I've developed something of an appreciation for virtual costume design quite recently.

I mean, I've always appreciated a character with a good, interesting design, but just recently I feel like I've been enjoying a particular appreciation of how a character dresses: as a means of that character expressing who they are, their role in the story, the themes of the story and all manner of other things.

There are simpler ways to enjoy costumes too, however, and I've been feeling these things quite acutely recently.

I'm quite a "tactile" person, for want of a better description. I enjoy the sensation of touching things, feeling their texture and perhaps how they "move" if they're a container of some sort. I'm particularly fascinated with very soft textures; if I find something that is particularly pleasing to the touch in this regard, I'll often spend a very long time idly touching it in various ways. It's why I enjoy petting my cat so much; she is very soft.

I believe all this is something to do with being "on the spectrum", as it were, although I believe sensitivity to touch relating to autism more commonly manifests itself as an aversion to touching things or being touched, so I don't know. I don't pretend to understand it all. All I know is soft thing good.

Which is why I like Meruru from Atelier Meruru so much.

Meruru's design is pleasing to me in so many ways. And although there's little doubt that she's an attractive, cute girl, the things I feel about her when I look about her aren't sexual; they primarily relate to her costume, and the tactile feelings I've just described.

I find it very easy to imagine how different parts of Meruru's costume feel. Particular highlights for me include the silvery-white corset that forms the front of her dress, and the inside of her cape. I imagine the corset as feeling like soft satin (in certain artwork and the in-game 3D models, it appears to have a slight "shine" to it, which emphasises this feeling) and the cape lining as being extremely smooth silk — the kind of silk that you touch and your fingers just glide across, sending shivers down the spine in some cases.

I also like her boots, but not in a particularly "I want to touch them" sort of way, I just think the way they look suit her very well.

To reiterate, the things I'm describing here are not sexual in nature; I'm not saying that if Meruru was real I'd feel an uncontrollable urge to grope her, because come on now. I just find the way she's depicted to be a particularly, oddly strong stoke to the fires of the imagination, particularly with regard to an aspect of sensory perception that appears to be quite sensitive in me.

This is probably more than you needed to know about me, but it struck me this morning, and I thought it was vaguely interesting. Please continue to go about your day!