#I tried to put a lot of symbolism into this so there are items from most of the confidant ranks and Akechi's pose in the foreground mirrors

[onehundredfallenpetals]

I'm late but here's my piece for 11/20, I had a lot of fun with the concept

[transmascutena]

Bird Symbolism in Revolutionary Girl Utena

There is quite a large amount of bird and bird-related imagery, symbolism, allegories and metaphors in Revolutionary Girl Utena, and i think all of them are very interesting. Here is a ~2000 word essay about the topic.

The Birdcage Garden: Anthy and Ohtori Academy

This is perhaps the most obvious of the bird symbols in Utena. It is literally Anthy's cage. It is where she, as the Rose Bride, is supposed to spend her time watering the flowers. Touga talks about never letting her out of it once he wins her, and calls her a "lovely little bird." And doesn't that just sum up what so many people's idealized version of her is like? A pretty thing to be admired, only in captivity.

I think the birdcage can also be seen as a sort of microcosm of Ohtori Academy as a whole. Akio does call the school "a garden where people will never become adults," after all, and Anthy is not the only person trapped there, nor is she the only character associated with birds.

According to this analysis, "Ohtori" as a word can mean "big bird" in japanese, and is also a Japanese term for the Fenghuang bird in Chinese mythology, said to be "beautiful, immortal and rules over all birds." Sounds a lot like a certain someone in charge of this place, doesn't it? Which would make every person in Ohtori a bird, symbolically speaking, trapped in the cage that is the academy and ruled by Akio (who, despite being the biggest, and the one with the most control, is also a caged bird.)

Additionally, the statue on the gate to the dueling arena is in the shape of a bird, before it transforms into a rose when opened. I am not sure exactly what this means, but I assume it is in some way symbolic of Akio, Anthy and Ohtori.

The Bird and the Window: Shiori and Juri

The bird that flies into the window during Shiori and Juri's conversation in episode 17 is a Java Sparrow. Despite its name, it is a part of the Estrildid Finch family, but I think the symbolism for sparrows fits the context more, as they can represent love, devotion and compainionship, all of which are very relevant for Juri and Shiori.

The bird is also the symbolic item for Shiori's black rose duel, which means we should associate the bird mainly with her. What, exactly, is the window, then? I think it is symbolic of Shiori's feelings for Juri, Juri's feelings for Shiori, or most likely both. The bird hits the window directly after Juri says "Is that all you have to say to me?" and turns to leave. The bird hits something it could not see in its flight, just as Shiori hits against something that hurts her, even if she doesn't understand it, in her conversation with Juri. The bird is shown to be lying still, presumably dead, after Juri reveals that she was never in love with the boy Shiori "stole" from her.

The bird is shown again after Juri throws her locket in the lake, and before Shiori finds it in her dorm. I've heard it discussed that this implies the bird retrieved the locket (probably through Anthy-as-Mamiya), and if the bird is symbolic of Shiori and the locket is symbolic of Juri's feelings for her, it would mean Shiori is the one to bring them back after Juri tries to rid herself of them. This makes sense.

The Bird Nest: Kozue and Miki

The bird nest that Kozue rescues from the tree that is going to be cut down is symbolic of her and Miki. Or, at least they are symbolic of how Kozue views the two of them. The comparison is pretty straightforward; Kozue projects her and Miki's feelings of abandonment onto these baby chicks, who have been left behind by their parents, just like the two of them were when their parents divorced. I think she projects her protectiveness over her brother moreso than her own feelings about the whole thing, as Kozue likes to think of herself as very independent ("a wild animal") and very unaffected by it all. As seen by her attempt to save the birds in the first place, she is very willing to put herself at risk, and is less concerned with her own feelings/safety.

Now, I don't want to get too much into speculation, but I have to wonder if there was more going on in the Kaoru family than just the divorce and the too-high expectations for the "twin prodigies." Miki's uncharacteristic cynicism in saying "adults who tell you something is for your own good can never be trusted," as well as Kozue's total disregard for authority and her tendency to use her sexuality as a tool both concern me. Although Miki and Kozue's parents are not explicitly shown to be abusive, I do not think it is a stretch to say that there is a possibility that they were. It explains some of Kozue's behaviour in regards to Miki as well. It's not just posesiveness but protectiveness. She has needed to protect him before, and she feels she needs to protect him still (pushing the predatory teacher down the stairs, saving the birds she sees his innocence in.)

Interestingly enough, Anthy interacts with these chicks as well. She advices Miki on how to feed and take care of them. Utena even comments on how unusually straight forward she's being about the whole thing. This might just be another instance of characterizing Anthy as a person who is fond of animals, and that is certainly part of it, but i think there is more to it as well. If these baby birds are symbolic of (Miki and Kozue's, but also a general) feeling of abandonment by parents/adults, as well as their potential abuse, what does that mean for Anthy not only knowing how to take care of them, but being eager to talk about it? Could it perhaps be that she, like Kozue, sees herself in them? Like Kozue, Anthy herself is symbolically a bird, but a caged one in contrast to Kozue's claims of being a wild animal. Could it be that Anthy has had to become an expert in taking care of those (herself) that have been abandoned or failed or abused by the adults in their lives? Rememeber that this is the same episode where she says that Akio is more like a father to her than a brother. A parallel is indirectly being drawn between him and the Kaoru parents.

If Miki and Kozue's parents were abusive, this might be a rare moment of Anthy empathising with other victims, telling them through metaphor how to take care of themselves. Although, it doesn't keep her from continuing to manipulate them, as she goes on to say her line about returning the chicks to their mother, which is what sets Kozue off. Anthy also says that she's never actually raised chicks before. Maybe she's not very good at taking care of them (herself) after all.

There's also what looks like two caged parakeets in Miki's flashback of their childhood. I assume this has similar meaning to Anthy's birdcage, as a feeling of being trapped, in this case by their parents' expectations for them. Kozue used to be a caged bird, but now claims to be a wild one, despite still being inside the birdcage that is Ohtori.

Brood Parasitism: Nanami and Touga (and Utena)

The Kaoru's are not the only sibling pair in Utena to be compared to birds. In Episode 31, Her Tragedy, a pretty unique shadow play is put on in the Chairman's Tower about a cuckoo leaving its egg in another bird's nest, a phenomenon known as brood parasitism. It also references the fairy tale The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen. Perhaps the most interesting part of this play is that it's done in the style of the ones in the black rose arc, with C-Ko playing all the roles, the return of the monkey-catching robot, and Utena's fourth-wall breaking commentary at the end. I won't get into what this means, as it doesn't have anything to do with the bird metaphor, but maybe in another post.

This shadow play is about how Nanami and Touga were adopted, and specifically about Nanami's feelings on the matter. Of course adopted children are not parasites, but it makes sense for Nanami to think along those lines, considering her fear of being compared to animals or aliens, and of being ostracized by the society she lives in. Nanami doesn't actually know that she is adopted, only that Touga is, which muddies that interpretation a little. Perhaps it is about Nanami blaming Touga's birth parents for "leaving him in another nest"? Something about her resentment of Touga at this point in time, thinking of him as a parasite in their family? Or simply her fear of what not being his blood-relative means.

I'm more confident about the Ugly Duckling reference, and it being symbolic of Nanami's worry of not fitting in among her peers. Nanami mainly copes with this by thinking that the reason she doesn't fit in, is because she is actually better than everybody else, because she's related to Touga (being a beautiful swan among the common ducks.) The play ends with the cuckoo insisting that it will become a swan one day, when really it can't. It will never be a duck that fits in, either. It will always just be what it is, a parasite (a space-alien. A girl who lays eggs.) This reflects Nanami's despair at the idea that she's "just another fly in the swarm" after her duel in the next episode.

And like all the shadow plays this one can be interpreted as being about Utena as well. She is an orphan who is now being raised in Akio and Anthy's "nest". Although she wasn't placed there by anyone but Akio himself, so it's more about her insecurities about feeling like an outsider in their family. And like the Ugly Duckling/cuckoo, she is also out of place among the rest of the students, and dreams of growing up to be something she can't actually become, in this case a prince. (credits to this analysis on the shadow plays for helping me piece together my thoughts on that. Always cite your sources!)

Cuckoos can also be symbolic of one-sided love, and is the origin of the word cuckoldry. Make of that what you will.

I should mention that Nanami also lays an egg of her own a few episodes prior. ...Or does she?

Her nightmare sequences show her fears of being compared to a chicken, a turtle, a frog, and of course, a space alien, but it is quite obviously a bird egg. And since we are later shown that Anthy has a chicken named Nanami, much like the cow with the same name, it can be assumed that the egg comes from there, and that Anthy brought it to Nanami's bed, perhaps via Chu-Chu. Could this relate to the brood parasitism of the cuckoo in some way? Is this not one bird (Anthy) laying its egg in another bird's (Nanami's) nest (bed) and getting them to raise it? is this what Anthy means when she tells Miki she has never personally raised chicks? Are all of these metaphors connected??? There's also the fan-theory that Nanami's egg hatched a reincarnated Chu-Chu, and in that case would he be the baby cuckoo while Anthy is the mother and Nanami is the duck? I'll be honest I'm not really sure what to make of it at this point. Draw whatever conclusion you want!

Last and probably least interesting is the third of Nanami associated bird imagery: the crow in episode 10. Crows can be symbolic of death, and it feels safe to say that this one is just here to set the mood of the scene, and as visual confirmation that the kitten did indeed die. Not too much to say there.

The Chicken and the Egg: The Student Council

I'd be remiss if i didn't mention the student council's chicken and egg speech in this post as well, even if it has been analyzed to hell and back by hundreds of people before me. It is a reference to Hermann Hesse's book Demian. It is about breaking out of childhood and into adulthood. It is about escaping Ohtori, which is both the egg and the cage (and interestingly enough, during the speech birds can be seen flying by outside the cage of the elevator.) In Nanami's version of the egg speech she mentions "the cage of freedom" and how it cares for the chick. This something that ideally should be true for schools. A place that limits children, but in a way that prepares them for the adult world. Of course, Ohtori as a system has no interest in this, as it is a cage in its most literal sense: a place to keep people trapped. Trapped in their harmful behaviours, in their lack of growth, in their idealized memories of the past, and most of all, in childhood.

And with that, we have come full circle back to Anthy's birdcage as a symbol for all of Ohtori. Thanks for reading :)

[echo-bleu]

shine still brighter (2/?)

Chapter 1 | On AO3. Deaf!Artanis bullet-point fic.

And I'm back with some linguistics! I barely have an idea where I'm going, but writing this AU is a lot of fun.

Three weeks later, Arafinwë brings little Artanis to Fëanáro’s office. She’s immediately entranced by all the shiny gems and strange little contraptions that are everywhere and she tries to touch them, and Arafinwë is terrified that she’ll break something and Fëanáro will explode.

“Let her,” Fëanáro shrugs. “There’s nothing in there that I can’t afford to replace. It’s mostly old prototypes, anyway.”

Right. His twins are a year younger than Artanis. He’s used to little children running around and being curious.

He brandishes a sheet of paper. “This is just a very rough sketch, and sign language is terribly frustrating because you can’t really write it down, but I’ve thought of ways to go beyond the basic mimic gestures and into the symbolic, which is really what you need for a language to express complex thoughts. We can use spatial variation to express basic grammar, such as tenses. A flexible word order can also take us a long way. Using the entire body opens up an incredible number of fascinating options, think of facial expressions alone! A smile or a frown could be used to modulate any statement into a question or an affirmation, or even something else entirely! We could have a specific mood for reporting speech whose origin is doubtful, for example. And the potential for spatial morphology! I really need to talk to some dancers about this, they might have new ideas. Or theatre comedians, maybe. Oh, and I’ve also devised a signed alphabet based on my Tengwar, for direct translation. It won’t be immediately useful, of course, but you’ll be able to teach her to read and write more easily, and it can be used for names and maybe homonym disambiguation.”

Arafinwë has not understood any of that, except that Fëanáro is very excited.

Fëanáro has never been excited at him before.

It’s a very intense experience.

“…can you teach us?” he asks, a little winded.

Fëanáro once spent a decade learning the languages of various wild animals, one after the other, so he could in turn teach them to Tyelkormo. Of course he can teach them.

“It’s not a complete language yet,” he warns. “I can’t make a language for her. She’ll have to make it her own.”

“…okay.”

“I’m calling it Mátengwië.”

‘Language of the hands’. Fair enough.

He goes to sit cross-legged in front of Artanis.

She puts down the shiny brass model of a windmill she was playing with and looks at him.

She doesn’t instantly scream in his ear, which is a good thing, because Arafinwë has clear memories of Fëanáro excusing himself from meals because of the noise he and his siblings were making.

“Hello,” Fëanáro says, deliberately moving his hands into signs. “I’m your uncle and I’m going to teach you some signs.”

Arafinwë’s heart jumps at “uncle” (Fëanáro has never forgotten the “half” before, when he even bothers to acknowledge them as family).

Most likely he hasn’t invented a sign for “half” yet, but that seems like a strange oversight on his part, given his insistence.

Artanis is fascinated.

“We’ll start with simple words.”

Fëanáro is speaking slowly, because he’s not fluent with the signs yet, but he doesn’t baby-talk. Arafinwë isn’t sure what Artanis actually understands of this – she can recognize some words from their lip-shape, but not consistently, and definitely not whole sentences.

The signs don’t seem to look like anything, not like the ones Findaráto made up. Those were all easily understandable in context.

But within a few hours, Artanis and Arafinwë both have a handful of new signs for everyday items and tasks.

Fëanáro uses clever ways of mimicking and pointing to explain them to Artanis, and she seems to catch on immediately.

Then she spends the rest of the lesson pointing at various things around the office for Fëanáro to name.

Artanis’s signs are a bit sloppy and simplified, because she doesn’t have much dexterity yet, and Arafinwë’s are self-conscious (because doing literally anything in front of Fëanáro makes him self-conscious), but they’ve communicated more in one afternoon than they have in the last two years.

And it’s thanks to Fëanáro.

Ñolofinwë is never going to believe it.

And Fëanáro was bearable the whole time.

Scratch that, he was nice. He teased a little, but it was never mean, and never directed at Artanis. And he laughed at his own mistakes just as much.

Arafinwë actually had a good time.

They go back the next afternoon.

And the next.

And the next.

They get to basic grammar and full sentences.

Artanis is opening up again.

She still gets frustrated a lot, and she’ll slam the door and lock herself in her bedroom whenever that happens, but she retains and uses each sign that Fëanáro shows her.

Arafinwë does his best to keep up.

Findaráto is still not doing too well, but he notices the changes, and after a couple of weeks, he begs for permission to come with them.

Fëanáro seems a little doubtful at adding a teenager to the mix, but Findaráto, if he has sufficient motivation, is an excellent student.

He takes to signing like a fish to water, faster than Arafinwë, and faster even than Artanis, who doesn’t have the benefit of translation.

Within a few more weeks, Fëanáro and Findaráto, and Arafinwë to a lesser degree, are capable of basic conversation in the sign language, allowing Artanis, by imitation, to start moving beyond naming objects and easily demonstrable actions, and into the abstract.

It’s beautiful to witness.

It’s still not a complete language by any means. Fëanáro repeats that warning several times per session, though Arafinwë doesn’t completely understand why it’s important.

It’s important because as they make up more and more sentences, they’re starting to hit at the limits of what Fëanáro has built.

It is not long before Artanis and Findaráto are inventing their own words, at first by combining signs or miming things, but soon enough they’re using their instincts and coming up with brand-new signs. And sentence structures. And grammatical elements.

It’s fascinating to Fëanáro.

(Contrary to popular opinion, he’s not a prescriptivist. The thorn issue is specifically sensible to him because it relates to his mother and he’s entirely irrational about it, but he’s otherwise endlessly happy to watch language evolve and he’s tracked all of his sons’ linguistic progression from when they were born, with charts and all, well into their adulthood, recording all the teenage innovation that other elves tend to scorn.)

Findaráto’s innovations in sign language are mostly based on Quenya, making up signs to translate words from his mother tongue.

Artanis’s innovations are astonishing. Entirely new ways of expressing concepts, of stacking signs on top of each other, of using space and her body to explain abstract ideas.

She takes Fëanáro’s basic concept and elevates it in a way he would never have thought about.

He hasn’t felt the rush of shared creation since he was Mahtan’s apprentice.

He can feel it with Nerdanel when they try something entirely new that isn’t either of their fields (like, say, making children) but in his chosen fields, everyone else is too far below his level to follow him.

And now this tiny child, who is far from being able to keep up with his linguistics knowledge, is making leaps and bounds that he would have never imagined.

He is obsessed.

Arafinwë is getting a little concerned.

He’s also getting frustrated, because he was never good at the word invention games that many of the Noldor are so fond of, and now he’s getting left behind in his children’s learning.

Angaráto and Aikanáro are learning signs bit by bit, enthusiastically, uncaring about having atrocious grammar and form in the way only children can. Artanis frowns and corrects them with a serious face that’s absolutely adorable.

Eärwen is struggling because of her fatigue, but she’s better than Arafinwë at getting to the essentials, at mastering the phrases and signs that she needs first without getting into complex, abstract things. It means that she misses some of Artanis’s rapid development, but at least she can tell her daughter that she loves her

And to stop screaming in their ears to get their attention.

Generally, things are getting better. Findaráto is coming out of his shell, Artanis gets frustrated far less often, and astonishingly, Fëanáro is being nice to Arafinwë even outside of the lessons.

The lessons are really more of an excuse for Fëanáro to document Artanis’s progress, she doesn’t actually need his help any more, though she’s surprisingly open to his suggestions to make a turn of phrase more elegant, or a sign more economical.

Surprisingly, because she’s not taking anyone else’s advice.

On anything.

Being able to communicate hasn’t made her any less stubborn.

She insists on doing everything herself, and now that she has a language of her own, she’s started to resent people who don’t sign.

Findaráto’s translations, even though he tries hard, aren’t good enough for her.

She refuses to play with anyone who can’t sign to her satisfaction.

Understandable reaction—but unfortunately impractical, because she has little patience for anyone who don’t sign as well as she does, which means the only people she’ll voluntarily spend time with are Fëanáro, Findaráto and maybe Arafinwë, on a good day.

Fëanáro has shown an incredible amount of good will so far, but he’s very busy. Mátengwië may have become one of his special projects, it’s still only one of them.

Specifically, aside from his princely and fatherly duties, he’s working on ways to capture light inside gems.

He can’t spend all of his days with a child that isn’t even his.

Findaráto is about to start university and needs to focus on his studies, however much he loves his sister. And socializing exclusively with a child isn’t very good for him, coming out of several years of depression.

“Eärwen and I have been talking about tutors,” Arafinwë tells Fëanáro one day. “Artanis is more than old enough to need one now, but none of them can sign with her. And she doesn’t read or write yet.”

“Reading will be a challenge,” Fëanáro confirms. “She doesn’t know Quenya, she will need to learn an entirely new language and medium at the same time. But she’s very bright, she’ll pick it up.”

“But who can teach her? I tried to start, but didn’t make any progress, she lacks any patience for what she doesn’t understand.”

“That’s not strictly true,” Fëanáro chuckles, remembering hours-long conversations with little Artanis about subjects as varied as which of her brothers is the most intelligent and what should be the right hand-shape for the word “turtle”. “But this particular challenge is understandably frustrating. I will teach her.”

“Truly?”

“Yes. As for tutors, I suggest Tulcasar, once she’s proficient with writing.”

“The loremaster? They’ve always refused to tutor any of us, I know Father asked them.”

Fëanáro laughs. “They tutored me before you were born. They will only accept the brightest students, they dislike children who cannot keep up with them. They lasted two weeks with Findis.”

Arafinwë tries very hard not to feel offended. Fëanáro isn’t even saying it as an insult, he’s so confident in his own superiority that it doesn’t register to him that it might be belittling.

“They’re tutoring Morifinwë and Curufinwë part-time right now,” Fëanáro continues. “My eldest two were never as interested in academic pursuits. Tulcasar will enjoy the challenge of learning Mátengwië, and Artanis is bright enough to keep them on their toes.”

“Alright,” Arafinwë says carefully.

“In the meantime, for the other subjects, you might ask Nelyafinwë or Morifinwë. You know Nelyafinwë adores her. And Morifinwë could use the challenge. I think he’s been feeling a little inadequate since Turkafinwë was accepted into the Hunt and Curufinwë got me to promise him an apprenticeship. He hasn’t found his craft yet.”

“Does he even need a craft?” Arafinwë asks. “I don’t have one. Findaráto is showing no sign of choosing a single field, and neither has Findekáno. Or Father, for that matter.”

“He thinks he does, at least,” Fëanáro says. “Perhaps Nerdanel and I have encouraged that a little too much. He persists in learning to paint, thinking it will please his mother, but I doubt it will ever be more than a hobby. If tutoring Artanis could help him realize that his strengths are more in academia, I would be grateful.”

“Fine, I will ask him. On one condition.”

Fëanáro raises an eyebrow—they both know that Arafinwë isn’t the one doing him a favour, here. But Arafinwë persists nonetheless, because he’s been meaning to bring up the topic.

“Let Maitimo finish his apprenticeship with Ñolofinwë. You know Father is not a good teacher, and he dislikes statecraft, for all that he is the King. Your hang-ups with our brother are hindering your son.”

He fully expects Fëanáro to get angry, only hoping that he’s accumulated sufficient goodwill that it won’t be the end of what friendship they have managed of late.

But Fëanáro laughs.

“You have been away from court for too long, Ara. Nelyafinwë has been shadowing Ñolofinwë for years.”

Arafinwë frowns. “The change hasn’t been acknowledged.”

“Does it need to be?”

Maybe it doesn’t. Let Fëanáro keep his pride and his misplaced grudge intact. He’s been fairly quiet about Ñolofinwë lately, no need to push him into another bout of paranoia.

And so Artanis starts taking reading and writing lessons from Fëanáro in the morning and spends many afternoons with Maitimo or Carnistir. Arafinwë and Findaráto come along the first few times, but it quickly becomes clear that she’s in good hands, and that their presence is hindering her more than helping. Arafinwë starts spending more time at court, since the family are now in Tirion a lot more.

Fëanáro and Ñolofinwë are actually being polite to each other. It’s quite a sight to see.

Things are going quite well, really.

[newblette0-o]

Fallout New Vegas Framed Posters [Base Game Download]

*please re-download if you currently have the original Honest Hearts Posters*

I was given a reference image from one of the Fallout New Vegas Dead Money slides and I decided to challenge myself to make more from it. Ultimately I ended up with some I don't love and some I absolutely love, and I think its ready to share.

At the bottom is a link to download 5 framed landscape posters. Each poster has 6-7 swatches and represents one area of Fallout New Vegas.

I tried to do 3 that are more busy/graffiti/artsy, and (at least 3) that are more simple.

A lot of the art I used came from the slide shows before you start/when you end each DLC. All of the descriptions come from the slides, even if I left out parts to make it work.

Where I could not use slides, I used concept art and screen shots. That symbol there is from Fallout 76 for the nature park magazines ((?) I actually played the beta for 76 and I refuse to touch it again so I might be wrong about the specifics here))

Last bit about the art. I had found a bunch of other graffiti and I liked these Bomb slides, so the "Mojave" poster are a mildly off theme bonus. But that deathclaw one is just *chef's kiss*

ok ok here is the download a SFS. You can pick and choose which one(s) you like. All items are searchable under: 'Newblette', 'Fallout', 'FNV', and 'DLC'.

-one day I'll do a real TOU, but for now, please don't claim as your own or put behind a paywall, thanks-

[hows-my-handwriting]

Hobie Brown Headcanons

long post ahead. will put as much as i can under the cut but i will have a.... loose table of contents.

and im not feeding you everything. i need more content to drip feed you later.

the inspo is driving me crazy but the hands are refusing to write.

the table: backstory food british animals

lmk if ppl want this to be split up into individual posts per category. cuz its l o n g

BACKSTORY:

Not based on the comics. purely my own attempt at writing his backstory and his particular villains.

Hobie's Doc Oc was a university professor pressured by Osborn's regime to produce weapons. Hobie had met the guy while crashing a university class, but nothing more than that. Octavius snapped and took the revolution to the extreme. he built a WMD and planned to use it on the city. Hobie talked octavius down and disarmed the weapon.

Hobie's lizard was his close friend and bandmate who got jealous over their lead singer's affections towards hobie. they were close friends until hobie started drifting away. curtis was bitter and never really forgave him. the final straw was when hobie returned in full, having just abandoned his spider suit. the band is back together but curtis still has hard feelings. he knew vaguely about hobie's connection with spiderman but thought that it was some kind of special deal or friendship which was just another nail in the coffin. he turns himself into the lizard and attacks hobie, demanding answers and refusing to listen.

the above is just an excuse to hurt hobie really bad >:3 i love my angst and my beating my muses up. i wanted to break his ribs.

electro was a civilian who just happened to get struck by lightning. he is the sole reason hobie has insulated all of his gear and one of the reasons all of his spikes can shoot excess electricity like one of those funky little electrode balls. hobie took one look at this guy and immediately got to work.

Kraven was a bounty hunter hired and possibly engineered by osborn and fisk to hunt down hobie. classic kraven activities. he tried to drown hobie in the thames. hobie managed to escape but couldn't breathe or eat properly for a week after the attack

hobie's ship was hauled from the local junkyard. It was originally just used as a figure head to lead the charge from the government locked dam blocking off water. it somehow survived so he uses it as his hq.

hobie is immune to his scorpion's venom after being stung so many times and stealing samples of it to build up an immunity. yes it hurt. yes it sucked. but it worked. (loosely inspired by a fanfic)

the above are not in chronological order. mostly.

FOOD:

Hobie's world doesn't have a lot of spices. it's a closed state unless importing 'important' materials like lumber, steel and other sciency stuff, food is a lower priority or just a restricted luxury. the spice trade has regressed to something like the 1600s where foreign spices are held by those in power purely as a status symbol. the common man might have access to salt, sugar and cream, but anything else- especially anything spicy- is a luxury item.

hobie would love spicy food. i just dont think he's gotten much exposure to it. day one out of e-138 he opened a bag of spicy chips in the cafeteria, touched one and exploded.

exotic/foreign fruits fall under this same category but for more legit reasons of travel and lack of safe storage. so for example: mangoes, oranges/citrus, kiwi, pomegranates.

boba would freak him the fuck out. he has no idea what those little jiggly things are and its only made worse when one of the kids inevitably shows him the hamster 'is it worth it' meme. he becomes scarred for life.

if you take too long to take a bite out of whatever you're holding and hobie is hungry, he will just lean over and take a bite out of it. sandwich? bitten. spaghetti? stolen off the fork. chocolate bar? wrapper and bar, gone.

his favorite flavor of cake is chocolate or caramel. sue me im projecting onto him

BRITISH

he holds out his pinky when holding cups. it's just an unconscious thing that turns conscious once someone calls it out. in which case he sticks it out even further

flips the police and the royal family off regularly with the one fingered or the two fingered version. will only respect the french for inventing the creative two fingered fuck you, but nothing else.

has a winter fit that is just like a pile of whatever sweaters he has and two scarves. and long socks that make the space in his tight boots even more tight. sometimes cuts off circulation to his feet.

loves going to pubs and just chatting with people. also loves picking fights with the drunk people. Particularly the irish. he thinks their accents are funny and has long arguments with them while they're both speaking absolute gibberish.

knows french but only the insults. has an arsenal of french insults he will just whip out of his back pocket and drop on someone's head.

not really a british thing but i bet he doesn't know how to ride a bike. he was a) too tall and b) not willing to get his entire skeleton rattled by riding over the cobbled streets of london.

wimpy's fan. (its like the british version of mcdonalds but less popular and less famous. according to my research).

ANIMALS

Hobie keeps pigeons. he built a little house when he was bored and was surprised to find three pigeons hiding from the rain underneath it the next day. he didn't really intend to keep them but they nested and he kept bringing them food and water. he did name the brown one hobie jr.

hobie has a cat. again, not really 'has' but rather 'it broke into his boat and wont leave'. he didn't name her because he can't think of a good one. for the longest time he had no idea she was living in his floorboards but later discovered a hole in the side of his boat and found a crawlspace just large enough for a kitten.

he is freaked out by snakes. not as in a fear of snakes. but rather in utter disbelief that they can be the size of a human person. he's read about and probably seen the average snake, about the size of an arm. but anything larger than that will make his jaw drop right off of his face

he did have a symbiote dog for a short time. the dog was badly hurt and the passive symbiote had merged with its body to try and help it. he offered it a place to stay and rest and it happily agreed. it followed him around for the short while they had together and one day went off on its own.

he still sees that dog around (affectionately named 'spider-mutt') and offers it head scratches or belly rubs but they always part ways sooner than later.

loves opossums. thinks they look funny.

part two? maybe....

might add more to this as my brain keeps turning.

[aaronsrpgs]

A Worksheet Manifesto (Rough Draft)

The Worksheet Manifesto is an attempt to explain why I'm moving my game design toward something I can print for free at the public library and give away. It's not a scold or a call to action; I buy full-color zines and hardcover books, and I support people charging for their work. This is a personal manifesto—an exercise in self-exploration.

The first reason I pursue this is ACCESS. I want people to be able to find and play my games. (Accessibility is maybe a better word for this, but I don't want it confused with the process through which something is made easier to use for people with disabilities.)

Some of the main barriers I've seen are financial (someone can't afford my games), technological (lack of computers and/or printers makes it more complicated to read my games), and international (shipping to someone outside the U.S. is prohibitively expensive).

Combining these three elements, I realized I wanted my games to be cheap or free. The common "community copies" solution on itch.io is much touted, and for good reason, but as I tried explaining the process to friends who weren't familiar with the site (or who flat-out aren't tech savvy), many responses were confused or frustrated. So I've set most of my games to pay-what-you-want with a suggested price.

Going from computer tech to printer tech, my most recent games were laid out in black and white, without ink-sucking textures (although some still have large spots of black in the art--something I continue to consider). Many American libraries offer limited free printing, and I always hope people will "utilize" the printers at their jobs or schools. I want people to be able to easily print out my games and share them at the table or pass them to friends.

And more selfishly, I hate dealing with fulfillment and shipping. It's stressful for me, it requires money up front to print things, and I'm bad at it, which means shipments go out slow, or not at all if someone lives outside of the U.S. Creating a file that's easy to print hopefully encourages people to create their own copies.

These cheap print copies also hopefully contribute to a feeling of DISPOSABILITY. I grew up with comic books, magazines, newspapers, and mass market paperbacks, and I think these cheap, short slabs of culture helped them feel like someone could engage with them without having to be fancy or educated or in the know. (A lot of us gatekeep ourselves!)

Prices for RPGs, like so many nerd collectibles, have steadily risen at least since the start of the pandemic. Crowdfunders often capitalize on FOMO, encouraging people to go all in on deluxe hardcovers with fabric bookmarks or whatever. And if my experience working at a used game store is anything to go by, lots of those fancy editions go right onto the bookshelf, unread. Don't want to break the spine or get fingerprints on it!

And I guess I'm just against consumerism? If someone wants a nice thing, I hope they get it, but a culture of games as luxury items and status symbols is not something I'm interested in.

So if someone has a game of mine and they don't want it anymore, I hope they pass it on, put it in a little free library, or recycle it.

And those dirty little printouts of my games? I want people to touch them and write them. I want TACTILITY. This is partially a usability issue: 300-page hardcovers are hard to find information in, and they're heavy if you have to lug them to a friend's house.

So I try to design games where everything a player (including the GM) needs is on, at most, three sheets of paper. I want them to be able to spread a couple pages out and take in the shape of the game they're about to play. I want them to circle things and make notes in the margins. Moving a pencil around does wild things to your brain, the same way that picking at a guitar or molding clay does. It focuses attention in interesting ways.

And in the end, you hopefully have a personalized article of play. And if you spill beer on it, no one's worried about replacing that $50 hardcover.

Speaking of beer, I want my games to be available to and contribute to COMMUNITY. As the pandemic started, I retreated into lots of online spaces, and those were absolutely vital to my survival. But I lost touch with lots of my friends and acquaintances in my city. I want to reconnect with them.

One of my favorite cartoonists, Mark Connery, is known for drawing little zines and just...leaving them all over. Coffee shops, art galleries, bathrooms. And when I think of him, I think of an artist responding directly to the places around him. Is it sad that some of this work is probably "lost" to all readers other than the person that happens across the zine? A little bit. But I think that comes from a bad part of my brain, the part that wants to own things.

I certainly don't want the entirety of my own work collected and widely distributed. Some of those things were specific responses to specific times that I've moved past. Some were bad! But I want to keep responding to my specific times and my specific place. I want to give things to friends (even if they just pass them on or recycle them). I want to give a game to someone at a zine fest and have them recognize my name from a zine they read in a coffee shop bathroom. And maybe they'll give me a zine in return.

My last hangup is MODULARITY. First, similar to tactility, I want to be able to give a player only the rules that matter to them. Character creation and basic rules? Here's a page. And once you're familiar with that and we've entered a downtime phase, here's a page with those options. You want to start a farm? Here's a page. I want it to feel like printing coloring pages for kids or ripping out my favorite magazine articles. These are the parts that matter. And if they stop mattering, you can get rid of them.

But I also want modularity on a system level. I want to add a subsystem to game as I think of it. I want to throw in an adventure pamphlet when it comes to me. I can keep them all in a little box, like a care package from my past self, and when it's time to run a game, I can dig around like a verminous animal and build my nest out of the best bits.

In CONCLUSION, I want to reiterate that this is a personal practice, and I'm not criticizing people who work differently. I used to work differently, and in the future, I'll probably work differently again.

This is simply the way I've identified what's important to me, set that up against the things that cause me to stumble, taken advantage of the privileges I have, and tried my best to bring that all together in a way that keeps me excited about my own work.

[blackstarchanx3new]

FSR Rambles 16

Dark spiraling into an episode is halted by a "Distraction" aka a flower.

Shadow being disturbed at Dark's response to eat it, just goofy shit.

Dark doing horrible to thinks he supposedly "Likes" is a trend with him. I discussed the "dark eating flowers" symbolism awhile back.

Dark just settles into being kinda forlorn again.

"I like Vio the most" pisses off Shadow. Obviously.

Dark's reasoning for liking vio is just "Everyone else does".

Which. Is just an implication he is feeling the vibes of everyone else and how they feel towards Vio. Thus. Dark likes Vio.

Lore about Dark Link's creation:

Vio's panicking was a caducous in a way to why Dark appeared in the form he did.

Dark Link wasn't entirely aware of his own presence at this time until Vio noticed him.

Dark continues to just point out Shadow's past wrongdoings lol.

I don't think many people noticed the shift in Dark's hair here to match Shadow's hair and not Vio's becoming a warmer shade of purple.

I ALSO don't think people noticed what Dark said here wasn't his own opinion. At least the 4th panel.

His immediate "hm?" as if he had no clue what the hell Shadow's reacting too made that more obvious.

Dark quickly gets mad at the notion he'd think something like that when that was smth he was just parroting from Shadow's internal thoughts.

Repeating what Dark actually thinks of Shadow and himself: He thinks Shadow Link is an outright monster and he himself a hero.

Dark being high key delusional about his standing in the world is just par for the course.

He keeps pissing shadow off and gets angry about that himself. Really in darks mind he isn't doing anything wrong so everyone else is just being unreasonable. 🫠

Shadow tries to deliver the same sentiment that Green gave him earlier to...different results.

Darks lovely thought process:

Family. Link had a father. His father was his family. Thus, if shadow is his family, Shadow is his dad.

He even elaborates that him having a father is a lot like link lol.

Shadow, is reasonably confused as hell at this response.

Shadow tries and fails to explain they're just friends not THAT kind of family. But Dark is stubborn and insists shadow is his dad now.

Repeating that shadow would drag his "son" to be an accomplice in lying to the others about being a part of Gannon.

Shadow tries to justify, and is worried about how dark even got this info to begin with.

Memory shinanigans.

Shadow cant deny cool powers when he sees em but darks lil internal monolog (a first with him having a thought bubble if I remember correctly) he expresses confusion at Shadow not being able to see into others memories too.

Dark just assumes everyone else can do what he can haha.

Shadow pushes for dark to do the right thing. But dishonesty isn't smth dark likes to do so, dude just roasts Shadow again for his lies.

His word choice of "I don't like lying" not that he DOESN'T lie is pretty accurate as to get shadow to accept him he lied XD he just didn't like doing it.

Well. Someone sleeps like a rock.

Dark just wants to kiss people lmfao. A weirdly sweet and creepy gesture from him towards vio.

Asking his dad if he can sleep, obviously that's just how that works hah.

Dark's wings haven't made an appearance in a long time lol.

Dark is now a key item. Lmfao. My way of putting off dark and vio talking rn hahahaha. Not yet...we're not there quite yet. 😈

Shadows inventory being call backs is just funny to me personally.

Obviously the triforce of power, the cups he used to drink with vio and his sword.

Shadow continues to admit he doesn't like dark what so ever lmfao.

Poor vio fell asleep while reading again lol.

... Someone's not talking...how suspicious.

Hahahahahaha. Not responding to your "name" is kinda odd.

WELL OKAY THEN.

Vio thinks he's Link lmfao. No wonder dude wasn't speaking.

Smth to consider...

If everyone is talking and speaking normally, but Link himself was silent.

Who was causing link to be mute?

A horrifying thought:

What DOES happen if a Four Sword user pulls the sword twice?

There's no true guarantee that it'd split them the exact same way as it did previously.

Especially after 7 years...

Who's to say this is "Vio" and not, a part of Link who thinks they're Vio? How would they KNOW for sure they are 1 to 1 with the Vio that was created all those years ago?

Even if the sword COULD do that...it's been 7 years. Link is a VERY DIFFRENT person since he first pulled the sword.

Whatever made up the previous four Links, could just NOT exist or be different now.

After all, they all LOOK different now. They don't even have the same face as Link.

How much is THIS Vio the Vio from back then?

Hey Vio's using his big boy words again.

Shadow references when Vio was talking about his home back in the flashback chapters.

So we FINALLY get an answer as to what freaked Blue and Green out back in page 108.

The presence of Mr. Demon king.

That was a LONG time for pay off lol had to do other stuff. XD

...Green. Your eyes are green. :)

Leave Vio alone Blue he's exhausted and his brain is working at 5% capacity atm.

Shadow and Green having a fun ol convo about how Green lowkey doesn't trust Vio right now hah.

He did catch Vio staring at the sword pedestal after Link ripped that thing out like a bayblade.

Shadow gets pissy about the implications.

"you trust me don't you green?" he asked in a very untrustworthy way.

I get it Green this dude spent your entire mission being an enemy and tried to kill Vio, trusting him is going to be difficult. Even if they spent 7 years together.

Shadow trying to urge Green away so he can talk to him in private. Perhaps share a smooch-

Anyway, I love this moment between Vio and Blue in the background of these pages. XDDD 💙💜

Blue willing to beat Shadow's ass at the drop of a hat lmfao.

Considering how Vio and Shadow's "Friendship" ended up last time...I'll let you decide if Blue's being over protective or not.

Blue points smth out that's been a visual thing for awhile: Vio's the most covered up one out of all of them.

He has gloves + arm guards, chainmail under his tunic, and is the only one with his sword visible at ALL TIMES.

Vio from a visual standpoint is always ready for a battle/on the defensive.

Huh. Okay. Vio's arm is scarred to hell. Wonder what that's about...

Blue's concern continues to be cute to me.

Haha it moves. It moves when you feel bad about it.

Vio's dismissive about it though.

Oh hey! It's our bestie Dark! Doing his job still hahaha.

The transition to real world to the headspace is one of my faves just because it's so quick.

Whipped his head around to see who was talking and bam. Dark Link.

Visual notes for the headspace: it's visually COLD here.

People didn't get Dark's cruel reference to it "being cold in the house' as him messing with Blue over the fact he was frozen. 😭

Unlike Vio, he doesn't get a real response out of Blue....So he baits again to no avail.

Dark's hair shifts to being blue, a clear sign he's mimicking someone directly and acts. well a lot LIKE Blue. Getting angry Blue is "Staring at" him, proclaiming Blue is "Boring" for not responding to him.

Dark's form starts to melt away as he promises they'll have fun "Later" whatever that means.

Vio: The master of tugging on people if he wants their attention.

Blue's helpful. Even if he's a dick about it.

HAHA WHAT DOES GREEN'S STOMACH LOOK LIKE AFTER VIO WHACKED HIM?

I'm not tellin'. Just alluding to it's existence.

Dark being cute as hell and for what.

Shadow deciding it's "Safe" to confide in Green about Dark is an interesting choice.

Hiding it would have meant issues and Green IS mr. Leader so. It makes sense.

Of course...Shadow ya don't need to shake Dark around and grip him so hard. Really makes you no different than vaati in that sense.

In the final panel you can see Dark's hair is just...Vio's hair. And he's in a very bad mood.

For whatever reason he doesn't want to come out even on Shadow's command.

Cut off time! Bleh.

[hashipond]

I respect you（Damian x Jon fanfic）

On a sheet of paper, only the title is written. Jon shakes his head, saying that he can't just look at this for good. It is not like him normally to put on the brakes as soon as he tries to write a sentence.

The sooner he finishes his homework, the more time he has for the patrols he looks forward to each day. The images that popped into his brain were quickly shut down. The information about "him" was now reduced to the bare minimum for John. It is enough to know the name and several related items. It is not often that he can be so stubborn about him.

The fact that he is aware of it makes it even more difficult to know what to do. It's all because of the title written at the top of the paper.

It was a homework assignment given by my homeroom teacher.

It was assigned for the homeroom assembly, and when the whole class was discussing who to choose, Jon had only one answer. It had to be Superman, the symbol of hope for the world. In fact, I heard him say from somewhere that he would make a good-looking Superman.

Jon is always chasing after that glorious back. He was proud of Superman both as a superboy and as a son.

I'll write as soon as I get home. As John stood up, one of the students asked the teacher a question. Jon asked the teacher, "Sir, is it okay if it's family or friends?"

The word "friends" echoed in John's ears. The teacher's voice suddenly became distant as she smiled at the student. I have a lot of friends. They are all good friends. There were countless moments of kindness and fun.

Among them, the one that comes to mind is Damian, with whom I work with on our daily patrol. His blunt but earnest attitude toward helping people and the way he would quickly come up with a plan when an unexpected incident occurred are firmly etched in Jon's mind.

It's the same with Superman. It is only natural that Damian respects the Batman he aspires to be as well, since they share the same aspirations, even though they live in different places.

So it's no wonder that he cares so much about his nagging heart. It happens all the time to people we admire.

Jon finishes his daily patrol, faking the sound of his heart pulsing a little faster, attributing it to the incident. It is a relief that there are few criminals today. Jon goes home and pulls out a piece of paper with just the title written on it from his bag. Jon takes a deep breath, trying to control his rising body temperature while trying not to think about Damian as much as possible.

Hang in there, Jon, you can do it, Jon.

He somehow manages to pick up a pencil, mentally cheering himself on. What should I write out?

Rather than go round and round in circles, I thought it would be better to write it all down at once. Oh, let's just write it all down. Impulsively, Jon ran his pencil across the paper.

"…… someone you respect,"

Damian muttered to himself as he looked across at Jon, who was asleep at his desk.

While on patrol, I thought John was apparently distracted, so I put a trail on him. And here it is.

Damian shrugs and looks at the paper,

"It's just a school homework assignment"

For a moment, Damian's movements stop. Comparing the paper with Jon's, he takes a cautious step forward, trying not to make a sound with his footsteps. With his index finger, he carefully traces the words on the paper.

"My admirers are Superman, my mom and dad, and my friend Damian."

It was a very Jon-like answer, Damien thought, and he suddenly felt a sudden urge to ruffle Jon's hair as he watched him sleep.

Suddenly, he felt like stroking Jon's hair while he was sleeping peacefully. He wants to stroke Jon's hair until I'm satisfied. I don't care how he reacts. But if I did, I would never see this peaceful sleeping face again.

Jon's reflection in the window was so desperate that I was almost pushed by his spirit.

So Damian tore off a bit of Jon's notebook next to him.

He wrote just a few lines. He would really like to go on and on, but it is better to tell it directly to himself again.

He places the scrap of notebook next to the paper. Jon's bouncy hair sways a little. His bangs have grown a little longer, Damian touches them lightly.

It's a minute exchange. It's an innocuous action. Still, it's all Jon's fault that it floats in the corner of my mind.

Damian closed the distance further. As their shadows blended together, the sliver I had just written fluttered away.

"The people I look up to are my mom, my dad, and my friend and future lover, Jon"

[felis-artis]

so if crowtongue is scourge... does he gut and kill timberstrike... is he still cool emo man?

Well, he doesn't gut him, but personally I think something cooler happens. Crowtongue still gets to be super emo though.

Crowtongue is able to wrestle away Timberstar's pouch in a previous battle, before the Dawn of a New Age, and takes it back to the Vigil of Thunder. Snakefang quickly realizes that it's a spirit summoning and channeling guide. She almost burns it, but Goldenflower stops her.

She wants to speak to Wildfire.

Crowtongue refuses to give up the item that his brother loved.

When the Battle of the Old Age happens, he frantically summons Wildfire. They talk in jaded sentences, but when Wildfire says "mi pakala" Crowtongue realizes what he has to do. He tells his brother to stay nearby.

When the fire goes out, Crowtongue scrapes dirt over the indented symbols and sigils in the dirt. He then turns, and realizes something. They hadn't tried using blood in any incantations yet.

Exhaustion dragging at his pelt, he frantically runs over to Bluestar and tells her about this plan. Dazed, she agrees to the plan. Crowtongue hurries and prepares the ritual.

Bluestar eagerly gives up her blood.

Eventually, Bluestar goes to lure Timberstar into the circle. She stumbles, and doesn't see Timberstar above her. He pounces on her, and her head is bashed into a rock. She dies instantly. Crowtongue screeches, and Timberstar turns to look at him.

Timberstar walks in front of Crowtongue.

"I'm sorry, my hatchling, I didn't mean for you to see that. I'm sorry." A pause. "She had to die, you see? You are ready for leadership, see? You put together a way to see your brother again. So honorable."

Crowtongue's body shakes. His claws reach for his flint. His mouth moves before he can speak.

"You killed him though. You made Dandelionclaw slit his throat. His own BROTHER!" He snarls, voice cracking. His eyes are tearing up, and he suddenly realizes that Timberstar is standing on the ritual circle.

"It's not like Dandelionclaw had any idea of the family relation."

Crowtongue sets Timberstar on fire.

The ritual activates.

The first thing Crowtongue realizes is that Wildfire isn't there. Then, he hears the scream of his brother. He doesn't process what it means, but he realizes it was:

"ona li pakala e ona!"

Then, a lot of things happen at once. Timberstar screeches in fear, looking around. A paw, claws extended and covered in blood, explodes from Timberstar's chest, holding his heart. Crowtongue recognizes the paw as his brother's immediately. Timberstar then begins to cough, blood curling at his lips. Wildfire's paw then fades as Timberstar begins to put out the fire, but so does Timberstar.

Wildfire had dropped Timberstar's heart.

And then, Timberstar was gone. Crowtongue just stared at the heart in horror. Blood still pumping for a moment, before it stilled. Red seeped into the ritual circle. Crowtongue, in shock, picked up his adopted father's heart, and leaped up onto the Great Rock.

He screams out: "ona li pakala e ona! Timberstar is dead!"

[wszczebrzyszynie]

3, 9, and 26 for the ask game :D

9. What are your file name conventions

ouhh i name them whatever. song lyrics im currently listening to, character names, actual illustration titles, random messages to myself. nothing funny enough to show im afraid just a bunch of polish and polonisations (apparently i refuse to title scar drawings with anything but skar)

26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended

i dont think i have such piece. its much more common for people not to know the extent of themes/metaphors used in the drawing; not a bad thing by any means, whenever i try to have some more hidden meaning in my art its with oc drawings, and theres often just no way people could guess that not knowing about my ocs as much as i do. Oh and also people love to take my anniversary 3rd life art and interpret it in ways i wouldnt even dream of but theyre all so correct its sad to say i didnt plan that. Like the fact that the border breaks around Grian but allows Scar to leave without tearing is... im so dissapointed i didnt plan that i just drew whatever fitted the vibe. aah

(this one will be long and also probably weird to read soo im putting it under the read more thing. sorry bout that its about one of my favourite oc drawings)

Matka is one of the drawings of mine that come to mind when i think of a drawing that no one but me can possibly get fully and its only because i just dont share everything i have in my brain. Probably because there was a person who actually tried to analise this one as a challenge they had for themselves, and while they werent incorrect, there was a lot they were lacking.

The patterns on the side are meant to resemble both belarusian embroidery (important culturally for both characters, since the story takes place durning the 19th century belarusian cultural revival and they are belarusian, even if to some degree polonised, because 19th century western Belarus) and candle holders (item i associate with Mikita, its the tool that lets him navigate the manor after all, and plays into the ghost idea people have of him); the black and white contrast of a nightgown (Mikitas signature look durning the first part of the story (i like to call it the ghost part, since it mostly deals with Mikita (and also Przemek but this isnt about him) relearning how to be a person after everything that happened to him) It symbolises his need to live in the past, his inability to esentially become human again, he plays into the idea of a ghost as much as he can, even if unnkowingly) and a mourning dress (both in a cultural sense - it was used as a protest against russian occupation durning the january uprising, as well as the general sense - Apolonia is dead and this is the dress she would have worn if she could get a proper funeral. This is an idea of her that Mikita as her son can only imagine). The pose is self explainatory and reveals a lot about their relationship already. The text zwróć że do nas jasne swe matczyne dłonie / okaż swoim dzieciom swą bezdenną litość (turn your pale motherly hands towards us / show your children your neverending mercy ) is actually a lyric from the song Marzanna, which is stylised like a prayer to the slavic goddess of winter of the same name; a comparison way more fitting for Apolonia than Mother Mary. And in the background theres a willow tree, literally called the mourning/crying willow in polish, a very simple symbol of death and mourning.

[the-nosy-neighbor]

Repeated symbols: Spirals

Staff Only page, Staff Only framing

I tried to do this as spirals, then Staff Only framing, but they are two great tastes that go together and apparently are tangled in my mind.

Spirals abound on the hidden staff only page. Given that we have no proof that Wally can manifest anything in the physical world, it means that someone in that building has been drawing these spirals.

The Question Answerer (QA) is a bit freaked out about this. The original spiral in this space appears to be the red notebook, which the QA has asked people not to write in, as it is an artifact or item provided by the Welcome Home Restoration Project (WHRP). At first, I was a bit confused about the difference between the two, because the WHRP is the group that has presented us with the website and the information we have so far (hence ghe focus on framing i keep having), including announcing that the QA will be participating.

So, the QA appears to have joined as a museum/archival professional that is building an exhibition for the WHRP, presumably because the team is jazzed about it, but also because they hope to find people who can remember the show.

We have two documents describing the first interactions with WH. The first appears to be from the first person on the WHRP, from the red notebook.

The interior of the book has some of Wally's drawings as the inside cover. Did patient zero put it there? (Courtesy of u/foxbrush_darazan on r/welcomehomearg)

So, patient zero is some kind of archivist? Why does their name not matter, why are they writing about it? It could be a journal entry, but who ends journal entries with xoxo? Text i can barely read, children's book, black goo. And including antiques?

Sounds an awful lot like the image they first interacted with was this image, though we would have to assume there were more pages, some of which included Wally:

Brightly colored envelope, is this delivered by Eddie? I think i read something about him traveling and not being able to remember where he has been. "The running joke often had him stating a place that did not exist, followed by an admission to misremembering it as a place he delivered to as opposed to a place he lived." Could this potentially be a result of traveling to other areas that he shouldn't be able to, or just forgetfulness and confusion caused by the black stuff?

The black stuff is present, and the paper appears to have been wet at one time, and we can assume this person also is now possessed or linked to all of the others through the black goo. I guess the end result isn't clear. They have potentially contracted whatever the QA has.

From the website, we learn that Patient Zero (PZ) is sharing thoughts that almost appear to be experienced on a subconscious level. These bits of text don't appear unless they are highlighted, like "it hurts" and "when i first...open, open, open." Is this something that the PZ is unconsciously adding to the discussion?

Back to spirals before I get totally derailed.

Staff Only Room:

So many spirals. Spirals everywhere.

I am not sure why I can't place where this one is from. I will return for him. It is pretty cool that you can see a lighter version of the drawing behind the red drawing.

This is a lightened version of the picture and the floor, with the colors adjusted. I mess around with the colors sometimes until I can see a good amount of detail. Throughout the Staff Only area, there are these spirals on paper. They are on the floor, and they are posted to walls. You can see some of the black sprinkled throughout on the paper. I can't see whether or not these spirals have the eye in the middle.

Here we can see some more of the set up, and more spirals. Color adjusted. The interesting thing here is the specific clarification that these items give us. The red notebook we have established as belonging to the WHRP, and here is further proof, as it is labeled "For Research! ON LOAN DO NOT WRITE IN >:("

But the book laid on top of it belongs to the Question Answerer. The image shows a question mark and a bubble with an A, with a note that reads "THIS ONE IS MINE ALSO FOR RESEARCH ALSO DO NOT WRITE IN" It really leads me to wonder what was written in the book. One would assume that they would have had to discovered writing that didn't belong to them in the book for this to be the case.

Is there any indication of how many people are working on this exhibit/team? The prevalence of notes to people, calling them jerks for using office equipment to punk them, makes you at least hope others are involved.

There are more spirals on papers tacked to walls and sprinkled on the floor throughout, but none out where the public could see it.

I think we'll save this one for the discussion of invisible writing.

So what do the scattered spirals mean? Why are they just left there scattered? Can the staff see them?

I think at this point, we can assume that the spirals are somehow operating on a less than conscious level. The spirals are coming out, but like in the case of the puppeteer parasite, people might not realize that they are riding along. Whatever is driving it, they have enough control, whether theirs or whatever is riding along, to keep the spirals in a contained area.

Another note on the spirals before I leave the spirals for a bit:

Later I want to explore the Staff Only area as a physical space, as well as discuss a potential popular culture reference that could inform the story quite a bit.

But hopefully, we will have a whole new set of things to obsess over soon!

[kiruamon]

Paper Heart (Part 1: The Past)

Story part for the possessed doll au I was talking about. Your eight-year-old you is alone at home one evening and hears an unfamiliar voice coming from the usually locked basement. Of course you had to go down there even if you weren't allowed to do so.

_

„Young one. Come closer.“ He could feel the child - feel you - standing there in hesitation at the open basement door. "Come to me. I can fulfill any of your wishes," the being cooed empty promises to the child. He didn't cared if the human he lured to him was a child or an adult. It didn't matter. Soft pattering of feet on the basement floor echoed through the dimly lit room and soon the child came into his view, looking at him out of curious eyes. "Were you talking to me?" the child asked coming even closer. "Indeed, I did." "And you can fulfill any wish?" "If you form a pact with me, yes." "A… packet?" Apparently, this human boy was not very… matured yet. "… I need something from you young one. Bring me a suitable heart and place it in the chamber of my chest. A heart as black and cold as the night. A heart burning as remorseless and torrid as the sun itself. Most certainly something of use will be found among the things down he-." "Oooooh! I know what to do! Just wait here! Don't run away! I'll be right back!" the child shouted, running up and away. Humans. Despicable. A slight anger rose in him before it subsided. As long as the child came back with a heart everything would play out as intended. A living one was always preferable, as they were the strongest. Full of fear, terror and the desire for revenge. But possibly that was too much to expect this time. An inanimate object would do just as well. There was so much in the cellar surrounding the entity that would have served as a strong, well suited heart. He felt the suppressed presences slumbering in the items around him. But for now, he would be willing to settle for less. As soon as the child would present him a new heart, a dark shadow would settle in its soul. From the inside he would corrupt it little by little. Twist every single innocent wish in the child's heart into horrible nightmares ready to be unleashed at humankind. In order to create the bond, the vessel, which the human child had to offer him, did not play a major role. It held only a symbolic value. Some vessels were still more preferable. However, the heart and soul of the child would soon be lost. So he waited for the child to return. When it did, its tiny hands were grasped around something. "I'm back!" announced the clueless thing cheerfully.

One glimpse was enough for the creature to know that this was a pathetic heart. Made out of paper and silly little trinkets. So weak it could easily torn apart. It was full of dreamful wishes. It was… innocent. Too pure. He shuddered. Wanted to scream at the child to scare it away from him along with this abnormality. But the little hands were already placing this wicked thing in his chest! He immediately felt that something was off. That this heart was somehow different from all the other ones he ever recieved before. How it began to change him. Changing his entire being. What he was. What he would become. He tried to fight it, but to no avail. It frightened him to feel his mind slipping away. How it no longer felt like his own.

When he awoke, he didn't knew exactly what he was. He remembered parts of his old being, but he felt like something else, something new. He had never felt so confused. He had never felt so… warm. At peace. A face popped out in front of him. "Do you like your new heart?" He tilted his head to the side, looked at his clawless hands, his smooth body, thought about these strange new feelings, and then nodded. It was all so strange, but somehow… he liked it. You smiled at him, wide and a little proud, and held out your tiny palms for him to look at. Full of glitter and glue. "I made it extra sparkly for you. Put a lot of good stuff on it, too." As you're still telling him about it, you climb - to the entity's shock - into his lap without any sign of fear. Baffled, he looks down at you. So brave. So small. "Can I… tell you my wish?" you ask him as quietly as if you were about to tell him your utmost secret. He looks you straight in the eyes and suddenly you seem a bit shy. "Of course," the entity replies gently and a little curious about your request. "O-okay. You know… I'm already a big kid and all that. But… tonight my parents aren't home and… and I'm not scared, but it is a little lonely up there. So… I… I would like to have a friend with me and… wanted to ask if you… want to be my friend?" There is so much hope in your eyes. So much loneliness, too. Ever so carefully, the entity wraps his arms around you in a gesture of comfort. He never tried such a thing before, yet the gesture feels almost natural to him. "I would like that. Very much so," he says, and it isn't a lie, like half of his words in the past were. "I'll be your friend," he tells you, this time with even more certainty in his voice, and he feels a smile flit across his face. You smile at him, too. So bright. So happy. It fills his new heart with warmth. Makes it flutter from sheer happiness. He likes this feeling.

The rest of the night you show him your house. Your room. Your favorite toy. Your little collection of treasures - things you found at one time or another and included a very pretty button that now rests on the heart in his chest. You show him the glow-in-the-dark stars glued to the ceiling of your room. Together you read one of the books you like so much. When he sees you getting sleepy in his lap and how you can barely keep your eyes open, he gently lifts you into his big arms and carries you to your bed, where he tucks you in. He sits next to your bed. So close by your side. Your small hand rests on his so much larger one. You are seeking for his presence. Some closeness. "… do you… have a name… ?", the question comes out slowly. Already tired and accompanied by a yawn. The being thinks. He had a lot of names over the time. But none that fits his new self. "No," he answers, and his free hand gently strokes your head. The steady motion feels soothing. "Oh… maybe… I can… give you one… " "That would be nice." You don't get the chance to give him a name. You're already fast asleep. It's okay. He will wait for it.

[biscuit-sheep]

I spent the past 3 days working on making a zine based around AA4 and more specifically Kristoph. (I’ve never made a zine before so yeah it’s been interesting) I’ll go over it in more detail after the break.

Starting off with the first image I have a flower sticky note thing I made to look like the attorneys badge (didn’t use a reference for it’s not exactly correct), then I have some chains because psyche-locks and Klavier’s necklace. Then we have a card for poker and a bullet wound because bloody Ace. The flowers and mushrooms are supposed to kind of connect everything but also supposed to be like a Kristoph is everywhere and it’s like he has two sides (Flowers and Mushrooms). I also have moths and butterflies, both are pretty but it’s supposed to be like butterflies are the better one.

Next we have the attorneys badge but ripped up cause Phoenix gets disbarred. I added in Zak’s top hat and pin as well (on pink paper no less) it being on sticky notes is also supposed to be like a “plan to meet with this person this day” sort of reminder thing which I think fits with the poker meetings. Then there’s a butterfly like “this is the start of something bad”

Then I had this page dedicated to people affected by Kris’s actions (aside from Phoenix) so we have Klavier with his 7 years past self looking concerned about what he did with his rockstar persona pit onto of the pink paper. Trucy’s happy version is on blue because it’s supposed to be like when she was with Phoenix. I also added Mr. Hat cause I think the fact his face is based on Zak is cool. Then also because Trucy puts on an act of people happy for those around her I made it so you can flip the sticky note.

The next image is based around Phoenix during the disbarment. We have Trucy in the corner. I tried to give it sparkles and a white outline to be like “she’s the light of his life” then in the other corner I put the magatama and it’s cracking as well as the pearls because Phoenix distances himself from Maya and Pearls. Then we have Charley of course as well as “grape juice” I wanted it to splash a bit on the samurai and book in the bottom corner representing Edgeworth. On the sticky note I put a bloodstain thing where Phoenix’s Attorney badge would be. Then there’s a butterfly which is supposed to be like “things will get better”

Phoenix’s and Kristoph’s dinner dates. I have the bike for Phoenix then I have that little shark attack thing basically because Phoenix knows it’s dangerous to keep interacting with Kris. (Not a huge fan of the drawing of Kris here but we deal with it). Then we have the flowers and mushrooms as more control and things aren’t as pretty as they look. I also have a moth for that same reason.

Next we’ve got the lobster that Olga had, a card, the bottle Kris used, and Phoenix’s beanie. Not much symbolism here. I saw the lobster and I couldn’t pass it up.

Next we have Klavier and Apollo’s page. We’ve got Apollo’s bracelet, the perceive eye, and just a regular eye. For Klavier I have a motorcycle and his necklace again. I added the sunflower because it’s supposed to be for all the defense attorneys. Another card, and there’s a little cat toy thing which was just a fun little “oh Kris is toying around with both of them” and I also added Apollo and Klavier’s hair in the background as some extra stuff.

This is the last panel. We have Phoenix’s locket with Trucy inside, the blue bird Kris has in a cage in his solitary confinement cell, the stamp (which I’m actually pretty proud of how it looks), Kris’s glasses, the nail polish (I’ve always questioned why it looks like that), then a fox which is supposed to represent Kris with being sly and a predator. Then there’s a gear above it to be like “running the whole thing” and I put a rabbit to represent Apollo (because “bunny ear hair”) and it just worked out will with Rabbits being a prey item.

I put a lot of time and thought into this and I’m very proud of how it came out. I’ve never made a zine before so this was interesting though very fun. I’m pretty bad at using scissors though. I might make more in the future. But yeah sorry this is so long. I do have a bunch of other projects going on as well.

[ja9-animations]

this is your free pass to yap about your ocs tell me about the smallest details 👀

Ok I'm gonna list a bunch of fun facts about random stuff in Melancholy be prepared for the long list that's about to be made.

In the Barclay family, it has been a tradition since Orin to only have one child. It was also a tradition to keep the last name Barclay for everyone in the family because it was Eryss's name. So for example, Astor used to have her dad's name, Powell, but after she met her brother, Orin, she changed it to Barclay. Her daughter Irma was married and her husband took her last name. This continued until Leian Barclay, who's name was changed to Tulia Birch by the King for her own protection. The tradition sort of continued to Lyke, who took his mom's last name, Birch, instead of his dad's name, Cahill. Tulia went a long with the tradition to only have one child, but broke that tradition when she adopted Mayn, symbolically turning away from Orin and her family and becoming her own person.

Viridian was the Shapeshifter that rules over Steris (the island Kandid and Lyke are from) and she was an artist. In her temple, she painted a sculpted a lot. Cora (Castella's mom/Kandid's grandma) was hired by the King to create Orin's grave because he wanted a human to do it instead of a Shapeshifter. Viridian often came to see the progress of the grave, and she was very impressed by the artistry and detail Cora put in. When Cora finished the grave, Viridian invited her and Castella to live on her island and Cora agreed. Viridian and Cora straight up had a secret affair going on, and literally nobody found out. Viridian watched Castella grow up, and sort of viewed her as a daughter. After Cora died, she tried to connect to Castella but Castella despised Shapeshifters and never became close to Viridian. When Kandid was born, Viridian also sort of saw him as family but she didn't make any efforts to talk to him cause of Castella and Antin. After the entire war, and after Viridian's death, her temple was opened to the public by Rosie's dad, and a young 12 year old Kandid found several paintings of Cora and even a couple of paintings of him and his family. He told Antin and he was so confused like "wtf is this???" It's just a little funny I think cause this is the closest anyone ever found out about Cora and Viridian's relationship.

All True Weatherman have blue eyes. The named True Weatherman characters in Melancholy are Kandid, Castella, and Thieous (Acreaous' dad.) all these characters have blue eyes always. Some people can have eyes the same color as the color their eyes turn when they use their abilities, like a Healer having natural red eyes, or a Speaker having natural yellow eyes. It's rare but it can happen. A somewhat example of this is Ronan who has light gray eyes. She doesn't have completely white eyes, but her ability definitely impacted her eyes color making it light gray.

A 12 year old Lyke saw a painting of Sirin in Viridian's temple and was incredibly put off by it. He told his mom and Tulia explained a few days after he was born, Sirin and two other Shapeshifters named Corrin and Aantra tried to kill him and his family, but Castella came and helped fight them off. Lyke doesn't remember the experience, but he subconsciously remembers the fear of it.

Orin's knife is basically the chekhov's gun of Melancholy and is one of the most important items in the entire story.

Kya tried to kill Acreaous once before she started the second rebellion.

There's an island called The Desolate because it was destroyed by the King and Queen about 900 years prior to the start of Melancholy. They created a volcano which wiped out the people, and the remaining people that tried to escape were turned into sea monsters. There's a legend that if you sail to The Desolate, the sea monsters will attack your ship and you will die.

Part of Kandid's ancestry is from The Desolate, but he doesn't know that.

Barclay actually means "birch meadow" so I think you can put two and two together to why Tulia surname was changed to Birch.

The abilities people can have are Speaker ("talk" to animals,) Reader (create thought into reality, can sometimes read minds but very rare,) Bender (basically just telekinesis,) Mimic (mimic a person or animals voice,) Healer (Flesh Healers can heal people, a Plant Healer can heal plants,) Aquas (control water,) Ignitor (control fire,) Weatherman (control weather,) and Shapeshifter (basically every ability combined.)

I might reblog this with more facts when I think of some later but thanks for much for the ask peach!!! :D

[thisismeracing]

https://www.tumblr.com/thisismeracing/736462766873919488/bonoreader-head-canons-cont-for-real-this?source=share

bono!reader head-canons (pt. 3)

even though bon is not biologically related to anyone in the paddock other than her dad, a lot of them see her as their kid because she really is. i think it’s hard not to grow attached to someone who is there, at your place of work, day in day out starting when that person is 5 years old. it also helps that said 5 year old is a little sponge for the work you do and is genuinely interested in it and can get so wrapped up in it but also still needs help tying her shoe laces. there was just this want to help raise this kid into the best possible version of themselves and if it took a small army to do so then so be it

other than english bon speaks: spanish (from nando), german (from toto, niki, michael,seb, etc.), finnish (from mostly kimi but a bit from val as well), italian (from toto, niki, and michael), and french (from toto as well) girl is multilingual and sometimes when she was very small her head got confused with all the languages and would start speaking in a different language each time she responded to what you said to her. because she could comprehend what she was hearing, but the wires in her brain just got a little mixed up

i think there is exactly one photo of max, mick, and bon all as babies and they all dont remember it but all the people around them see it and go “oh yeah! you did all meet that one time at that one race”

bon used to do work in bed. laptop set on her thighs or on the mattress in front of her, calculator somewhere in between the sheets, and a countless amount of work papers and documents strewn about. it’s a bad habit she developed over the years and knows it's bad but has never gotten around to breaking. that is until mick is over one day and he goes to get into the opposite side of the bed than she has gotten into and when he lays down he is met with an odd feeling at his back and when he investigates it’s her calculator. and before he can ask why it’s in her bed at all his eyes fall on her work laptop that is sitting in the gap between her pillows. at this point he has put two and two together and asks if she works in her bed and she sheepishly goes “maybeeeeeee” and god that look on her face is so cute so he pulls her into his space after removing the work related items and says “you may be cute but we are talking about this later” and then they continue their cuddle sesh with sweet nothings and stolen kisses until they fall asleep

[including this lil hc that i sent to you on email] bon has a teal ti-84 for work purposes and it’s always on her person and it’s a running gag amongst fans to grab screenshots of when it makes an appearance on camera and post it to their fan pages dedicated to her calculator of all things

susie taught her how to do makeup

painted a lot of peoples nails when she was younger, didn’t matter who you were. if you were around this girl when she was painting her own nails then you would somehow be sat across from her after trying your best to get out of the situation. (imagine toto with teal glittery nail polish just imagine)

loves to drape her arms around mick from the back and to kiss his head while having him in her arms

buys platform shoes on accident all the time. she pays attention to the design more than anything so when she wears them out she’s closer to toto’s 6’5” than before and in comparison her boys (her dad and mick) are just standing there 🧍🧍in their not tall statures

more of a mick hc than a bon hc but, mick’s wec and f1 helmets after they get together include a little something incorporated into the design of the helmet that reminds him and symbolizes bon [feel free to share any ideas on what it could be with me cause i cant really think of anything rn]

prefers to be the one driving when going somewhere and this extends to when traveling somewhere, by car, with mick. like this boy has tried to drive for his girl but she just wont let him so he’s just accepted his passenger princess fate

[i would just like to let you know this breached the a second page on google docs and that is how i knew where to end it]

☕️

Prev link

I love the fact that she grew around everyone because thats exactly as the saying goes: it takes a village to raise a child. it took the biggest village ever (aka f1 crew) to raise bono baby.

the fan page to the calculator loool this is something that I can totally see happening

I think for the helmet he would totally include a small calculator or even a cute draw of a sticker (to remind of when she was a kid and used to put them on everyones car), or a secret reference when theyre not public yet, maybe a doodle of something because she would totally doodle random cute stuff on some of the papers sometimes when shes distracted, and maybe she doodled a heart or a small cat, so mick will have this cat on his helmet.

[taras-toe-beans]

I was tagged by @kelandrin to do this challenge from @sporeservant

Izzrhys Illith'vir | he/him | drow | oath of devotion paladin | 103

What is your Tav’s…

favorite weapon: Glaive

style of combat: He's a human shield; throws himself in the middle of a battle and takes the brunt of the damage from enemies. Heavy hitter, loves his smites

most prized possession: He doesn't have a lot of physical items he holds dear. Most important is probably his amulet of Ilmater, as both a symbol of his faith and his spellcasting focus. The amulet is made of wood and red cord.

deepest desire: He wants to be useful, to be needed, and to help alleviate the suffering of others wherever he finds it.

guilty pleasure: He loves trashy romance novels. Both the cheesy, sickly-sweet kind of romance and the steamy, smut-filled kind. I'm starting to think the companions should form a book club.

best-kept secret: He doesn't go out of his way to hide this, but Izzrhys doesn't like talking about the fact that he has children in the underdark.

greatest strength: His compassion. While considered a bleeding heart by some, it has proven to be one of his best qualities. He will go out of his way to help others in need, especially if he knows no one else will stand up for them.

fatal flaw: Recklessness. Izzrhys is quick to lend a hand and equally as quick to put himself in danger. He frequently takes worse beatings than everyone else in battle.

favorite smell: Freshly baked breads and pastries

favorite spell or cantrip: Divine smite. Who doesn't love smiting the fuck out of baddies?

pet peeve: He gets really annoyed at people who have blind faith in any sort of leader. He's been there, done that, and at this point, watching it happen to other people just hurts.

bad habit: He frequently takes on way too many responsibilities and tasks. Time and time again, he's presented with the lesson of "you can't help everyone," and yet he still tries, even if he's spread too thin as it is.

hidden talent: He's surprisingly good with animals. No druid, of course, but animals have always been more drawn to him than a lot of his peers. He's also good at animal care and can usually heal them if need be.

leisure activity: He likes reading, mainly fiction. He's also very interested in linguistics and sometimes studies books on that in his downtime.

favorite drink: Brandy, fruity wines

comfort food: Has a not-so-secret sweet tooth. Especially loves fruit pies and pastries

favorite person: Gale- he would do anything for that wizard

favored display of affection (platonic and/or romantic): Hugging. Izzrhys is a BIG hugger. He loves holding Gale (he's 100% the big spoon), he makes sure that Karlach gets to make up for years of not touching anyone, and he ensures that everyone gets some physical affection, should they want it.

fondest childhood memory: He remembers the time he spent with his younger brother, Valdaer, in the underdark. It's all pretty mundane, some of the memories unpleasant, but any memories of his brother, he tries to hold onto.

Is there anything else you'd like to share? edit: totally forgot to fill out this section, bc I did have a couple of things to add. Izzrhys has severe arachnaphobia (needless to say the spiders under the blighted village and his meeting with Kar'niss did NOT go well). Also as mentioned, he spent his earlier years in the underdark, specifically in Menzoberranzan, but didn't escape until he was in his 80s.