#Grimoire asks

[zoe-oneesama]

What are the rules for power upgrades in ML? (Not that the writers will remember after three episodes, but I'm curious)

Based off how Ladybug starts making Anti-Akuma charms by the power of just "I Do What I Want", and Shadowmoth overcoming those same charms immediately through the "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better", I just made a sort of vague rule that if the holder is ever desperate enough, and focused enough, a power could possibly manifest to fulfill that desperation.

I imagine there'd be some blocks, like you can't manifest a power that will completely replace another kwami's power, and if you use the Miraculous for evil, it'll take more than just desperation to make a new power manifest and for evil holders it may only manifest one time. But these caveats probably won't come up since I only have a few episodes left to write.

[askchevymlp]

"I won't, I promise."

[celerydays]

could you walk us through what notebooks & journals & pens /etc you use - they look so good!

I would be SO happy to, you have no idea!!

Alright, let's fucking GOOOO~

Starting off with my current "workhorse" pens - I have like *checks notes* 36 fountain pens and a bit too many inked up atm, but these are just the ones I'm currently reaching for or have inked up more often than not:

TWSBI Go (F): Kinda ugly! But also kinda cute! It's cheap and works great (I friggin love TWSBI pens tbh) and it has a little hole on the cap where you can attach a lanyard or charms, like I did! Makes it cuter imo and it's kind of my emotional support pen these days.

Opus88 Pocket (EF): This 2022 edition has a little Moon tarot design on the cap so it's pretty much the pen I use exclusively for my witchy/tarot practice journals! A lil bummed the cap doesn't post, especially since its a shorter pocket-sized pen, but not a deal breaker and I still love it.

Pilot Custom 823 (F): My grail pen that I've literally coveted for years and just recently acquired at the DC Pen Show this weekend! It's only been a day but I think it could potentially become my favorite pen. Ever.

Pilot Prera (CM): This is my third Prera lol. I just think they're great and really underrated pens! Also a recent acquisition from the DC Pen Show and this cursive M nib is suuuuper fun to write with.

Pilot Vanishing Point (EF): My favorite pen for planning! Super fine-tipped for writing task lists and schedules and love that it's so convenient/quick-draw with the click mechanism.

(I'm totally a Pilot pen ho, can you tell? asdjflaglsg)

Journals/Planners/Notebooks under cut–

Sterling Ink B6 Common Planner: For a good chunk of this year, I was in this planner because I honestly love the size and all the layouts. Super practical and flexible as a system. 10/10 would go back. I've used it to plan, as a reading journal, as a tarot log...

But I get the itch to move around so it's been sitting a little unused since like June, oop.

Leuchtturm A6: I started craving something tiny and minimal so I've been bullet journaling in this pocket notebook for the last month or two and I'm really enjoying it!

Standard-sized Tomoe River Paper notebook: This is pretty consistent in that I don't change up the system itself, but I'm in and out of it for memory keeping/scrapbook journaling! It's almost always a Tomoe River paper notebook of SOME kind that I usually buy in A5 size to go to FedEx and get it cut down to standard. Though I'm thinking of getting a blank Midori MD A5 to have cut down next time - I've been liking the freedom of blank pages for journaling instead of anything lined or gridded.

I really need to catch up with it tbh, but I love sitting in an explosion of printed photos, stickers, and washi and going ham with the pages.

(I do have a flip through of my January-March 2022 pages on YouTube)

Midori MD Cotton B6 Slim: I also have this sketchbook that sorta turned into a visual sketch diary of sorts. I fell off a while ago but want to get back into it because it's super fun to work in and to look back on!

Wide-sized Cosmo Air Light notebook & A5 Filofax Malden: These are my tarot/witchy journals. Grimoires I guess? One is for journaling and all my messier notes while the other is more for reference and ease of organization.

A5 Leuchtturm: I didn't know if I should include this guy, but I've been writing it in a lot recently so I guess I will lol. This is like truuuly a miscellaneous™ notebook.

I got this A5 notebook back in 2017 to use as my very first bullet journal, then found out that this size is personally waaaay too big for me to use as a bullet journal so I hopped off of it pretty quick. It now sits on my desk because since it's mostly blank I'll just pick it up to use it to write literally A N Y T H I N G.

Most recently, I wrote like 5 pages in one night on notes for a fanfiction piece I was working on (I'm not a writer, this fic is never gonna see the light of day by anyone but me lololol. Hyperfixation is so wild; I've put 80k+ words within just 10 days into it so far and it's been hella therapeutic.)

That's all, I think!?

It's funny because I actually have a NEW notebook arriving tomorrow that I'm going to try out as a bujo/commonplace/omni journal of sorts?? I might write an update post after I've set that up and see how I like it <3

[persicipen]

i had quite the burnout from playing genshin, only keeping up with dailies and events, but ignoring many quests and exploration (especially the lore heavy ones because i really wanted to enjoy them and not rush through), but i think i’m slowly getting out of it. currently finishing remuria, and dare i say that i would die for scylla, prince of dragonborn. he cute! :’3

[wildflowercryptid]

V FOR VALEDICTORIAN character introduction :

VICTORIA VALENTINE, the valedictorian & victim.

after dragging my feet on finishing her chara intro, here's some more info on victoria! the basic idea behind her design was "60's girl-next-door meets elle woods & cher horowitz." it's a bummer that she's not really present in the story because i ended up liking her a lot, too bad she got caught up in something much bigger than what she thought it was.

( alt text for vic's bio below! ) ⤵

Victoria Valentine, Also known as Vic

The Valedictorian of Chumbridge College’s Postgraduate Class, known for being a kind-hearted and passionate person who was extremely active in campus life and local outreach projects. She was about to graduate with a Masters in Law.

Found dead at 6:26 in Chumbridge College’s Grand Auditorium by Georgie Grover, hung by one of the stage curtain’s counterweights.

According to her partially recovered Valedictorian speech, she was going to expose someone on campus. Who this was exactly is still unknown.

Her father was a former business partner of Hugh Henly, but was convicted of accounting fraud and embezzlement 6 years ago. Her mother left him not long after his conviction and Victoria hadn’t had much contact with either of them since.

Harris was one of Victoria’s closest friends, having known each other since childhood, as well as her #1 academic rival. The two also dated for a brief time, which ended in a nasty fight, but had since reconciled.

Angie was Victoria’s roommate and closest confidant. Having met in one of their undergraduate classes, the two had become extremely close friends and were rarely seen apart. Though, it seems their relationship was a bit deeper than just friends.

Recently, she had been seeing Dr. Conrad to help mitigate some of the stress related to her role as Valedictorian.

For some reason, she seemed very concerned about J.B.’s safety lately.

Like Drew, she had a very strong sense of justice. Due to this, she intended to work as a Civil Rights Lawyer after graduation.

According to Harris, while Victoria was always well-intentioned, she had a bad habit of getting overly involved in other people’s business (whether they wanted her to be or not.)

[getvalentined]

Someone asked me about something VinVeld related and I've been working on the response for two hours because I had to double check some terminology to explain the canonicity of them being partners, which led me down a rabbit hole on titles used amongst coworkers, which led me to check how often one title specifically shows up in the Japanese BC script, which led me to double checking that I remembered the honorifics used between characters and how that's super relevant to keep in mind when interpreting Veld and Vincent's short interaction—

This isn't even the question, it's just necessary information for me to be able to explain my take on the situation, because I don't want people to just take everything I say at face value without knowing where it came from.

There is something so fucking wrong with me.

[antikristvs]

Since I'm sharing belated pictures, here's one from my Vėlinės/Samhain altar 🖤

[sephirthoughts]

for char/hc ask game. providing a couple options, feel free to just pick your favorite!

Vincent Valentine - 8, 16

Nero the Sable - 18, 21

yayyy thank you for the ask, i love doing these!! i pick all of them they're all my favorite

Vincent Valentine

-8- smell/personal scent:

i have very specific and detailed headcanons about the way that Vincent smells (gasp). i don't think we have reason to believe he sweats or produces much personal body odor, since he's an indestructible undead shapeshifting monster —however— his hair grows. so maybe some of his body functions are normal. who knows. also, his training as a turk likely taught him some scent masking, so he might not have any particular smell, but that was a long time ago and he really has no reason to practice that now. anyway i like to think he does have a distinctive personal scent

Mahogany. This just plain has to be an element of his scent profile. He spent decades sleeping in a coffin, of which one of the most common materials is mahogany. Also, the coffin Vincent uses in the Shinra Manor basement just looks like mahogany. Mahogany has a deep, woodsy, slightly spicy scent. Kind of perfect for Vincent.

Leather: He is covered head to toe in armor constructed of several different kinds of leathers there is no way he doesn't smell like it. That also happens to be a very sexy scent, so good job Vincent.

Old books: He's been holed up in the Shinra basement for decades, and there is a lot of evidence he's been actually living down there, not just comatose in the coffin. There is literally nothing else but a huge library, packed with old books. Don't tell me he hasn't wandered in there and whiled away countless hours reading them.

Pipe tobacco: Unexplained. We have never seen him smoke a pipe but no one can prove he doesn't. Also before you say yuck, pipe tobacco is an ENTIRELY different scent from cigarettes and even cigars. it's very aromatic and mellow and sweet. A highly attractive masculine scent.

Petrichor: He lives in a basement full of wet rocks.

Blood: Dependent upon how recently he's been in battle.

Gunpowder: Same as above.

Bourbon and cigarette smoke: Dependent on whether or not he's been hanging around with Cid.

Conclusion: Vincent possesses the sexiest personal scent imaginable.

Vincent's coffin for reference

-16- home/place that they live:

You're never going to believe this, I have a bunch of headcanons about this, too.

We all know about the Shinra Manor basement, but he wasn't born there and stops living there when he gets picked up by Cloud's crew. In Dirge of Cerberus, we see him in a room, in Kalm, that looks very lived in (bottles of wine, etc.), so it's clear he's staying there. I prefer to think this is some sort of inn or extended stay situation. Vincent doesn't actually strike me as the kind of person who maintains a fixed abode, long-term. if he had someone important enough to him, however, he'd be perfectly happy to make a home with that person/people. It's just not something he seeks out for himself

Now, hear me out, I HC that Vincent's vampirey habits and aesthetic have nothing to do with him having become a monster. He already had pale skin and red eyes, before he was undead—he just looks like that. Lucrecia even mentions how much he resembles his father GRIMOIRE who also dressed and looked just like a vampire, for no explainable reason except that he wants to and no one can stop him. I believe this is just the Valentine family aesthetic. They're weird people. Vincent only wore a suit in the Turks because that was required dress code. Red capes, pointy armor and black leather are his comfy clothes. What does this have to do with home/place of residence? The Valentine family home. I very strongly HC the Valentine family as being from Old Money. Like, the old-world, 1200 years of ancestors buried in catacombs on the premises, kind of Old Money. And by premises, I mean the sprawling grounds of the massive, gothic-horror style mansion that is the Valentine ancestral castle. Do I think Vincent lives there currently? Almost certainly not, and he probably avoids visiting, too, because of painful memories. If one knows anything about the way hereditary lands and estates (in Europe) traditionally work, though, they are a business unto themselves, and such a property would have many dedicated caretakers and staff, usually offer tours of the property as a historical site, and generate its own income, without much interference from the owners. Thus the Valentine family home, huge and dark and creepy and amazing and perfect as it is, would be respectfully maintained by the loyal staff, in the event that the Valentine heir shows up any time and wants to skulk around like Dracula frightening away tourists. This is very likely the reason Vincent chose a coffin in a creepy basement for his self imposed exile, and also why he really seems to like the haunted hotel. It's just like home!

the Valentine family castle probably

Onward!

Nero the Sable

-18- beloved or important items or property:

This is a tough one, because Nero was born and raised in Deepground, and likely had very few pieces of personal property. He probably learned very early to never become attached to things, because they could and would be taken away at the whims of the people in charge. However, he keeps one thing that is deeply important to him, and if anyone dared to touch it they'd never even know how they died.

This precious item is a picture Weiss drew of them together, on the back of a pilfered prescription slip from the medical ward, when Weiss was eight and Nero was six. They weren't allowed art supplies or other such frivolous items as children, so that's the closest they got. the lines are wobbly and childish and the heads are a bit wonky and out of proportion, but to Nero, it is the greatest work of art the world has ever produced. He treasures this above all things and always has it with him, tucked safely away in a little pocket of darkness.

-21- fears:

Nero is a scary motherfucker. He commands people-eating darkness tentacles, he can suck out your soul and make your corpse into a puppet to fight for him, and he has huge metal wings with knives on the ends. Nero hates human beings for their cruelty and cares for nothing but his brother, who he calls the only person who loves him and the only one he'll ever love, so it stands to reason that his greatest fear would be losing him or harm coming to him. This is evidenced by...literally every word out of his mouth. I think that deep down, Nero fears being alone. Not that he likes being around people (he literally hates it) it's that there is a bone-deep sense of loss and emptiness in him, that he was born with and he can never seem to escape, and when his darkness voraciously consumes souls, it's an unconscious to attempt to fill that emptiness. But when he's with his brother, the emptiness goes away. They seem to share a psychic bond, too, so even when they're not physically in the same location, the two are 'together'. The only way Nero could truly be alone would be if Weiss were to be taken from him. So it's no wonder he mobilized all of Deepground to try and revive him, when he was in that deathlike state. Only to be betrayed by Hojo of course, who tricked him by saying he could revive Weiss because he wanted to steal Weiss' body. Hojo you stupid bastard I just got fuckin mad at you all over again.

Here's a picture of Weiss smiling probably about something evil to cheer us back up.

[altocat]

would Sephiroth have been better off with his grandparents (on either side)

Sephiroth would not have liked his maternal grandparents (or in this case, his maternal grandma) at all. Lucrecia never had a good relationship with her mother and Sephiroth would have easily picked up on the ugly, resentful feelings permeating around the room just in being around the older woman. He would have been very bitter towards her, and probably would have blamed her for Lucrecia's flaws as a person (despite Lucrecia's flaws being her own).

As for Hojo's parents, Sephiroth would have liked them. Hojo cut them out so there was really no way for them to have ever met. But Sephiroth would have taken to them very well, especially since they would be preferable to living with Hojo.

BONUS: Sephiroth would have ADORED Grimoire and would have hung around him constantly. And maybe would have even followed in Grimoire's footsteps to study properties of Chaos and Omega.

[winterwrites23]

Nevermind, I just read your info page about the Magic Items the brothers have. If it was the necklace, then you would've put it on the page.

Yup, the necklace isn't a Mark, just a magical item (although a powerful one). It used to belong to Ireland when he was a kid, but he gave it to North when he officially left the Union.

North doesn't know it yet, but that necklace he likes to fidget with is actually packed with protection spells. It's Ireland's way to indirectly keep North safe, all while keeping his distance.

[witchcraftwithaster]

hey how knowledgeable are u about astral projection?

hi! sorry for the late response. I would consider myself a beginner (not a newbie, just a regular beginner), as I really am still working toward astral projection. I've successfully done it once, just to see if I could do it, and I started out with practicing meditation until I could do long meditative sessions. By this, I mean I started out with doing like 2 minute meditations a day, working up to 10 minute meditations, and gradually increasing until I can go about an hour meditating. It's not "easy" but it feels good to do it, for me. and I find it comes in waves of meditative trance intensity if i sit for like 4-6 hours meditating. I would say it's one of those skills that you need to keep working at or else possibly risking skill regression, but don't worry about that.

That said, I believe there are different types of astral travel in my experience which I could also chat about!

[askchevymlp]

I am on too u Seed the banan guys after you

". . ."

[watfordgrimoire]

What about 'Water into Wine"?

Also is there a spell that turns tea into coffee and/or vice versa?

Ooh I like "water into wine"!

Hm... there definitely should be. Maybe "not my cup of tea" one way and "wake up and smell the coffee" the other? Thank you so much for suggesting 💚 💚💚

[mobiusstripper]

For Lucrecia FFVII

7- What do you like most about this character?

8- Do you think this character is underrated or overrated?

9- What’s your favourite headcanon(s) for this character?

Ooh thank you!

What do you like most about this character?

She's completely integral to the story! And she gets totally sidelined! Who is she?! Why did she do the things she did?! I want to know! I need to know! Why don't more people want to know?

Do you think this character is underrated or overrated?

Totally underrated. Most people either don't care about her at all or just straight-up hate her with zero curiosity about her character or motives. Also, when they hate on her, they tend to be really misogynistic about it.

What’s your favourite headcanon(s) for this character?

Of the few fandom folks who really like to deep dive into Lucrecia, I think I might be the one who gives the most credence to Dirge of Cerberus. It's not that I don't agree with the assessment that it's a shit game - but it planted certain headcanon seed in my brain during my teenage years that have endured to this day. The linchpin of my headcanon for the dynamics between the parties involved in the Jenova Project is and always will be Grimoire Valentine. In my version of the story, he was a surrogate father figure to Lucrecia, and she was a surrogate child to him. He put a lot of energy into mentoring her and looking out for her on a personal level to cope with his guilt over emotionally abandoning Vincent (from whom he was estranged for the last ten years of his life). Lucrecia gradually comes to realize this and harbors a deep jealousy toward Vincent before she ever meets him. I love this because it adds some heavy layers of "fucked up" to Lucrecia's relationship with Vincent.

[wildflowercryptid]

made some visdev doodles for my fancase & have gotten way too invested in characters that aren't even alive during the story, oops.

also, since some of the text in the last drawing is hard to read, here's the plain text version of the letter under the cut! ⤵

Dearest Ramona, Disregarding the ache in my heart whenever my thoughts linger on your absence, I have received your letter in good health. My recent expedition to the lake has borne quite the bountiful fruit, as I stumbled upon one of the mystids from the book you had shown me. It appears that a flock of Inkdips roost amongst the lake's spires and they are truly magnificent. When I gaze upon their elegant and beauteous visage, I am reminded of you. Enclosed is an Inkdip feather to serve as a memento. May it also be a promise that, one day, I shall share their splendor with you. I await your reply with bated breath. Yours forevermore, Reimund Remington

[lilithhedwig]

btw this is great and I love it you should definitely grab it if you have the chance would absolutely recommend