State of the RP (end of August)

character: Nara Shikamaru (

endgames)
series: Naruto
tagging priority: ■■■■□: He's my only character, obv. He only loses out to my desire to do other things when that comes up.
muse strength: ■■■■□: I feel solid, but it wouldn't hurt to brush up on the anime. Or read some fanfiction, since that oddly helps more.
cast strength: ■■■■■: The cast can always grow, but you know. When you reach the point of having 20 characters in your cast, I think you have to give them a 5/5.
plotting capabilities: ■■■■■: I can insert him into just about any plot that comes up, if it interests me enough to do so. It's what makes him so playable, honestly.
general fun level: ■■■(■)□: It's three blocks or four blocks, depending on the day. I'll get into the reasons below, but they're all overcome-able. I still enjoy playing him like no other.
likelihood of drop: □□□□□: 8|

So in the last few months, the Naruto cast has exploded at Luceti and left me with a problem I wasn't quite expecting/prepared for. I love my castmates and the characters they play to death, but it's gotten to the point where there's so many of them that I don't have as much time or energy as I'd like to do things with everyone else. Not unless I cut making a post for Shikamaru every month or two, but he's active enough that that's not the best option for me.

Enter the second problem here. The mood of his friends from home effects him, and when they're all coming in from the war-trauma-central he's trying to put behind him (or going home to die, like Asuma) it sucks the life out of him for a bit because he's either reminded of that sadness or has to be super serious for a while. At which point I get him to recover only to do it all over again when the next person arrives/goes home.

TL;DR, what does all this mean?

• I need to work out some kind of balance, for starters. Make sure I'm getting him out there to the rest of the game like I used to.
• Expanding on that: I miss having panfandom CR with him, and more that that I miss having meaningful panfandom CR. I want to get new relationships with him, as well as strengthen some of the ones he already has. It would make me happy, and I think it would make his whole life easier in Luceti if he had more of that to fall back on too. It'd also help me get back on track and focus him on the plot of the game instead of what's happening back home.
• Luckily, the event gave me a lot to work on in those regards! With Makie and Tony especially, but there's a few others and I'm looking forward to it.
• The event also made me realize I want to do NEW things with him. Playing him in a relationship with Sakura was fascinating. The dad issues with Tony were fascinating. I want out of my comfort zone with him in a good way. It doesn't need to be anything like that or lasting, just something different.
• I've also cleared his Twila symptoms and allergies with the mods, so once he comes back from his mission I'll be playing with that. Some will be fun, some dangerous. I'm looking forward to it.

If you read that whole thing, I'm sorry. BUT CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE REACHED THE END.