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If anyone is interested in my medieval children's names, I'm going for Welsh 14th century names for my main household, since I am Welsh.
So far I've had Madog, Morcant, Ieuan, Blethyn and Iestyn as my boy names (only 3 have survived). And Lleucu for my girl. Also one other baby girl, Sabina, who I named before coming up with the Welsh name rule. But none of our baby girls have survived.
A lot of the names I've used so far are quite uncommon these days, I've heard of them in children's books for example but never met anyone with some of these names. Where I live, people don't really speak much Welsh, so it may be a different story in other parts of Wales, where the Welsh language is spoken more commonly.
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future is past is present
[ @beastenraged ignore the fact that it's 12:43 when i post this. i finished this so y'all are gonna see it. have some references to friend's OCs as well.]
[nyx tenebris belongs to @voidgearr. aria fiore and linaria "ves" fiore belong to @void-feather. Seren Lleucu belongs to @ephemxras. technically these are all alucinari au versions of these ocs, but credit is due where credit is due.]
He's watching again. Watching, because one can never know what will go wrong when you've got two versions of Ruse fighting. (Especially because. . . it's Ruse. Who knows what kinds of things she can break without knowing.)
There are others here. As always. It's a new fight, a new face against one nearly identical (though -- this other Ruse, the Daymare's Fluorescence, seems a bit less healthy. Older, for one. Does she have the same chronic illness as the Mirage Arena's Radiant Nightmare? Has it been flaring up more? Has she been letting herself rest?). Faces that Riku knows, faces he's seen once or twice or faces that he's long-since memorized. Roxas announces the matches, a play-by-play commentary as he always does.
There's Queenie in the crowd, Riku notes, with Seren standing beside him, and Ves and Aria (in her Darkling form, rather than Pink Possessor -- understandable given the crowds) a small bit further back.
(And, of course, there's Nyx making his way through the crowds, but Riku is going to ignore Nyx for now and focus on more immediate things. Like the Xion -- black hair, similar to the Xion he knew but of course not the same -- sitting nearby.)
Riku turns to look at her -- and something in him tightens. There are tears in her eyes -- unshed, but still tears. It aches to see her upset like that (it aches to see any replica upset, any Riku or Replica but especially Replicas or Riku), and Riku folds his wings back, moving a bit closer. "Are you alright?"
She swallows, dabs at her face to get rid of any tears. "Yeah, I just. . ." She looks. . . so sad. And lonely. "It's fine. I miss people back home."
Riku knows that feeling -- a soft, understanding noise leaves him. "I understand. It can be difficult to leave what you've known behind." He's not aware of the story behind this Xion, Xehanort, this Ruse. But. . . they've ended up in the Mirage Arena some way or other, and he knows that feeling. That confusion, uncertainty of suddenly being in a new place. (Whether they're permanantly here or not is irrelevant, really.)
She looks at him, that Xion. Then asks. "Why are you so different from the Riku we know? You feel. . . like a different person entirely."
Riku freezes.
Of all the questions, it's that one to be asked, hmm?
"That is. . . a long story." He settles on. "It's not one many ask."
Still. Even with that vague answer, she looks at him expectantly. And perhaps it's the air of the evening -- perhaps it's the fact that it's Xion, or a version of her, a version of that sister of his. And perhaps it's that -- it's been long enough. Decades. Centuries. Millennia, even. Those who knew him as that broken, confused, tired boy are gone now, all except for Roxas and Genesis (the latter of which isn't here yet -- won't be, for some time, but his future is Riku's past, and like many things in the Mirage Arena time is nothing more than a vague guideline).
Riku sighs. Settles, more, lets his wings loosen and relax. Tail-tip flicking against the ground, like a cat's might. "To be entirely honest," he begins, "my name is Riku, but I'm more like your Rook than your Riku." And then, to be sure she doesn't misinterpret, he adds, "I'm a Replica. I. . . switched places with my worldline's Riku, and thought I was him, and eventually ended up here. Everyone assumes I'm a variation of him -- which, isn't technically untrue, though it isn't the way that they think."
There. That's a palatable-enough summary. Cut out the bloodshed and face of a dying boy realized just-too-late that he was the real one and not an illusion. Cut out the confusion and twisted tangled memories and question of identity. Cut out the way that Riku had fallen apart and broken entirely when Genesis found him, and later Roxas, and carefully fitted the broken pieces together until Riku was a functioning being again. (Being a happy person took a lot longer. But still. Genesis put a lot of effort into it. There is a reason why Riku and Roxas mourned when Ultimeccia slayed him and overthrew him. There is a reason why Riku and Roxas are so quick to look at Ven and his twin, these two children that Genesis adopts, these two children that Genesis had talked so fondly of back when he'd still been alive. Back before his large, feathered wing turned from glossy iridescent raven black to pale ashy gray, before he had died. Past and future all tangled and twisted around.)
Riku offers this other Xion a small shrug. "It doesn't really get talked about much, and I'd appreciate if you don't go shouting about it to everyone. We're all allowed our secrets, mundane as they are, yes?" He gives her a fanged smile. She sees no danger in it. (Good.)
The fight ends. Roxas' voice calls over the cheering of the crowd, announcing the winner. Oh, it's the other Ruse. The older one, more scarred one. (She won't stick around to stay for more fights, won't stay to cement her place in the Mirage Arena. This Ruse -- and Xion, and Xehanort -- is only a visitor. Riku's learned to feel for these things, in the many years he has lived here.) "That's your friend who's won." He comments, to the black-haired girl beside him. Mirror of his once-sister. "Shall we go congratulate her?"
He stands. Begins making his way through the crowds. Eventually meets Nyx.
"Hey Riku!" Says the man (young only by relativity), slinging an arm over Riku's shoulder. "Guess what?"
Riku hums in response. Lets Nyx sweep him up in idle chatter about what this person did or what that person said, about what the Starseers were up to that week, and so on. Mundane things. Things that keep Riku just a bit too connected to the Mirage Arena to ever fade away or die, just as Roxas is too connected to the Mirage Arena, the way that so many others who had been alive in their time had done.
(That is how the Mirage Arena works, after all. If you connect yourself to it -- if you are tied to it deeply enough -- then you will live for as long as it exists, unless someone is to kill you. Unless you are disconnected enough that you fade. And that is why Riku lets himself be tied to his desk and his manager job, why Roxas ties himself to his announcer job, why Axel keeps himself busy with maintaining the little details. Tied to the Mirage Arena like this, they live forever. And it's only slightly lonely.)
Riku spares half a thought for that Ruse and her Xion and Xehanort -- but Ven and Vanitas will find them, and the three will be guided around to wherever they are led. Ven and Vanitas will find Genesis, Riku is sure. Either by Sephiroth's guiding or by Genesis' own first visit to the Mirage Arena.
(And if Genesis does appear in the Mirage Arena for the first time in his present, well -- Riku and Roxas will be there to greet him. Like Genesis had greeted them all those millennia ago, when he'd still been alive.
As much as it'll hurt to see Genesis again, younger and not knowing Riku at all yet. . . Riku finds himself looking forward to it. It'll be good to see the man who'd become almost like a father to him. To share kindness and a good introduction to the Mirage Arena, if nothing else. Riku can hope.)
[ nyx tenebris belongs to @voidgearr . aria fiore and linaria "ves" fiore belong to @void-feather . Seren Lleucu belongs to @ephemxras . technically these are all alucinari au versions of these ocs, but credit is due where credit is due.]
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Post 1- FIRST STEPS:
Initially the thought of having to work with a large group of people towards organising and curating a pop exhibition was quite overwhelming. However, it definitely sounded like a good challenge, as well as a really good way of learning about the more entrepreneurial side of the job of an illustrator, and also a great way of practicing working in a creative environment alongside a team, compared to the usual mainly individual work that we have to do.
During the briefing, as we were taking through options that could work and discussing exhibitions organised by previous students, I started noting down passing ideas. At this point any idea could work or not, so I noted down everything that I could think of on the top of my head. I feel like I was very lucky, as I was able to see a bit of the behind the scenes of organising a pop up exhibition the year before, through friends that were at the time in their 3rd year facing the same challenge, helping me understand a bit more of what to expect from the brief and one thing that I understood from the first moment was that the time we were allocated to fulfil this in seemed much more forgiving than it actually was. I decided that the most effective approach to this was to start getting the ball rolling as soon as possible.
After being split into 2 teams we were given a list of roles that we had to allocate, this made everything a lot easier to understand and clearly underline what we had to do in order to be able to organise everything properly. Before actually splitting roles and responsibilities we all sat down to see if anyone had any specific suggestions or ideas which would afterwards help to make sure we have the right people doing the right thing, as we had to also consider how individual each one of us was and make compromises for the good of the team.
First thing that came to my mind was the location, which was ultimately the team that I was part of, securing that would offer our team stability and give us a free hand to polish up the concept in order to get a qualitative final product. Some of the locations I could think of are:
Big Moose Café- previously having worked with them through my part time job I thought that the charity element would also be really good as we would actually be able to have an effect towards the local community;
Kin& Ilk – main reason I think this one came to mid was the fact that I know they have previously been really eager to work alongside illustration students;
Ruin Café- Beautiful space;
Flamingo’s Vintage- They already had local artists displaying work in their shop and as the space they have available was quite big I thought I would be worth to check it out;
Deciding on roles took almost a full day, as we were taking a break I decided to run to Big Moose café, to see if it would be option to bring forward to the group. When I got there, I spoke to one of the managers that was in on the day and let him know of our brief and he seemed very interested, so I asked to see the space they would be able to provide. I took some photos and went back to talk to the rest of the group and decide from there. At that point the café was willing to help us out with the opening event as well in terms of drinks and snacks, and also not charge for renting the space. It felt like we were off to a really good start, having a solid option for a location on the same day we got the brief, but this was more than just having the space. After choosing the members for every team and deciding on what responsibilities everyone has, as I had a proactive attitude I became part of the Locations Team as well as Project Management alongside Lleucu Williams. After my visit earlier on the day, I asked the curation team and Daniel from the Locations team to go have a look at the possible venue as well but after further discussion as a team we decided that the layout of the café however was not fully suited, as even though it was a really nice location there wasn’t enough wall space for us to display all of the pieces, and they were only able to provide the space upstairs no the whole building, which would not have worked out properly for us.
It was a strong start as a lot happened in the first couple of days. Even though our first location fell through, we kept looking and it definitely was more a full team decission than just the location group, but it was great to have full support from the curation team, especially through venue viewings .It was really nice to see people working together and really exciting to do something completely new, learn as we go. Within a few days we managed to secure our official location in Castle Emporium, which provided us with the right space for our work and also the time we needed, however I think we viewed a total of 6-7 different location before choosing one we were all happy with. I think the first thing I got from the experience is that the best thing to do sometimes is to be daring, ask more questions, approach more people, take advantage of every opportunity.
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