DGM: [Kira Malcolm] Future Uniform Change

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR MY DGM FANFIC SONG OF THE FOURTEENTH

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So initially this was for the shits and giggles like with Noah!Kira but I ended up putting more into it than I intended. After Reisy showed me her alternate designs for Shiroyama Rei and Kanda Yuu's 3rd exorcist uniforms, I wanted to try it out myself with Kira. Annnnd, I ended up integrating the change of outfit into her story (future chapters, 'course), depending on how Hoshino continues D.Gray-Man (if she does; I'm praying she does for my sanity /shot).

Note: This is still more AU-ish than anything right now. Don't worry, I'm not getting rid of her current 3rd uniform! I'm too used to drawing it and it fits her lol.

But ANYWAYYY. A lot of the changes to her alternate uniform here are either from previous sketches I did before I decided on her current uniform (which was like, uh, four years ago? PFFF), as well as from new sketches that I've done randomly over time after examining canon references more. I've always had a fancy for the idea of a double split on the 3rd uniform jacket bottom, but decided against it originally because of my limited drawing talent (it looked fucking weird in my old sketches LOL) and because a normal, single split jacket for Kira just seemed to fit better given her character at the time. However, seeing as how Kira's going to grow older as her story progresses, I figured she may end up changing her uniform to accommodate that growth. So that's what this pretty much is.

Anyway, hope ya like~!



More Details About the Uniform, If You're Interested :D

Kira's first uniform was intended to be more childish in appearance on purpose to emphasize her age (14/15). In her current uniform, she has those shorts with the undershorts and is sleeveless. However, after her training with a certain General (loltoospoilerysorry), Kira (ideally) gets this uniform (around age 17 maybe?). This alternate version is a little more mature in appearance in my opinion, and still functions appropriately for her.

Ruffles! - It's a bit more girly with the ruffles, which I wanted to pull in since both Lenalee, Miranda, and even Klaud have the pinkish ruffles on their uniforms. I decided to have them stitched onto the side flaps of her bottom uniform jacket rather than as a skirt (not sure how Klaud's and Miranda's work). I threw 'em into the sleeves for the helluvit too, though I may change that idk Chikita would definitely like playing with them.  

Sleeves or no? - I would assume Kira would grow a preference for sleeveless, seeing as how she's habitual in her clothing; so I made it so the sleeves could be removed if need be. This doesn't exactly happen often (yah sure let's throw our sleeves off every battle amfg that'd be so troublesome trying to find them afterwards can you imagine -), just whenever Kira feels like going sleeveless or in battle if they need to be removed for functionality reasons. I kept her tight sleeve on her right upper arm seeing as how she'll still need it when she uses Light Cannon and figured it wouldn't hurt to keep the shoulder sleeve on her left arm. I dunno why, but it's those two things amongst a few others that help me pick her out amongst other charas so xD

Pants & Boots - A few others things that were added/changed are her pants and boots. Regarding the pants, if you look at the pants on the big reference on very left, there's a line and a pulled up part (black spot, marked with the red). Kira can hook her finger into there and pull back, and the side of the pants split open like in the second, sleeveless reference. She wears black shorts underneath to stay decent (similar to Lenalee), but this makes it easier for her to access more of her Innocence if need be. This splitting works through small hooks stitched into the inside of the pants; same with the way her sleeves connect to her top (think of those small, plastic bra hooks). The boots, meanwhile, are larger than her old ones and different in style. Kira had some issues with scratching up her calves a lot during her training, so she opted for taller, knee-high boots. I changed the style of them too since from the references I looked at, the boys all had a relatively similar style of brownish boots with slight color variations which can be seen here [link has been fixed]. I couldn't find solid references for the girls on their footwear aside from Lenalee's, so I went with the boy's; I figure it's not too far a difference if Hoshino gives the girls boots.

Hairstyle Change? - Kira had to chop it off because of an incident with a Level Three and a dumpster, along with the never-ending teasing about it afterwards (lolmorecensoredspoilers). She grows it out again though, and starts alternating between shorter and longer hair. When it gets too long, she gets it cut short again, then lets it grow long again as shown in the headshot references. (Jeryy is usually the one who does her hair like how he did Lenalee's; otherwise Kira uses scissors, much to Jeryy's and others' collective horror).

New Innocence Tats - The new appearance for her black Innocencial flesh is just a slight upgrade that came along with her developing a higher synchronization rate with Afe'la Ohr. It's not an evolution or anything, just a slight shift in look as she bonds better with her Innocence.

Regarding the small, uncolored, full references - (right hand, upper corner). I wanted to show the layers of her uniform. The undershirt, rather than being the training, skin-tight shirt, is instead the one you can see under Allen's and the other's uniforms. As for the third mini reference, that's her corset. Looking up some of the history on corsets, I found a lot of stuff for Victorian corsets (those are scary) and how they became much more supportive of the breasts rather than only the waist thinning around the 19th century and 20th. I also managed to find a few that looked much more like bras (albeit more skin covering), so between this and my own idea of the Order making everything for functionality, I spat out that thing for her corset LMAO. It was just for my own shits and giggles honestly /shot. It's not fancy or anything, just black and supportive aha.


A few other sidenotes:
What her Innocence lacks in strength, Kira makes up for in speed and calculated bursts of energy to take down Akuma. By this time she's practiced much more at alternating between her levels of release (such as switching to defensive body armour and giving up offensive attacks, then switching back to offensive and giving up defensive armour).
Since Kira's training with her General didn't have the perks of Allen's eye that she was used to (and crippled on) originally, she's become much more paranoid around crowds.
Kira's grown to enjoy fighting more rather than detest it; she's also more inclined to welcome the challenge of a stronger Akuma rather than finding herself falling back for her stronger comrades to take care of it (usually on orders of said comrades pff).
She can now hold her own against a Level Three, but still can't defeat one with her power alone. If someone wears it down enough, she can manage a strong attack to finish it, but otherwise, she still needs her ass to be saved ahaha.
Kira's more likely to talk back now in a less polite and ambiguous manner than she did originally. As a result, she's also gotten wittier and is better at responding to Lavi's teasing and jokes.
At this point she also attempts trying to learn how to meditate, much to Kanda's chagrin (she has a tendency to fidget if she stays still too long, which annoys him when he's trying to meditate LOL).
Due to her tendency to cut her hair short at this point, Lavi now calls her a "lioness" more than a "kitten" when he's joking around; both an insinuation that her hair looks like a mane (to which she isn't sure if she finds as a compliment or not, especially since it's the male lion with a mane) and that she's grown up from when they first met her (become more confident and outspoken).



Kira Malcolm [SOTF] (c) ChikitaWolf
D.Gray-Man (c) Hoshino Katsura