#and Maiden Guards

[sunshine-and-moonshine]

So hungry for Gaz right now that I’m considering rewatching once upon a time for Elliot Knight’s Merlin scenes

[strqyr]

can you imagine they're having official, super important, no one else allowed meetings that include oscar (ozpin), theodore, three maidens. . .

and qrow.

[ilynpilled]

love the twins needing each other in order to be capable of loving the self. love the both of them constructing a distorted mirror that allows for a fantasy to persist through a delusional relationship. cersei has power and jaime has purpose. then i love jaime hating cersei and hating the self in tandem. love desperate self-love turning into bitter self-hate

[roodllle]

I go back and forth on being understanding and upset that people don't know/forget that Melina's dagger (Blade of Calling) is found in a one-room, guarded, prison that was built inside the elevator lift that goes to a place no one is supposed to go to anymore (Consecrated Snowfields/Forbidden Lands SoG)

And there's this item on a corpse right outside the room

Official's Attire Grubby blue robe worn by magisterial officials to carry out their grim tasks. Surveillance, executions, gruesome rituals... The darkest duties drive the wheels of mankind.

And here's the description for the Blade of Calling

Blade of Calling Dagger given to one who set out on a journey to fulfill her duty long ago. The power of its former owner, the kindling maiden, is still apparent. The one who walks alongside flame, Shall one day meet the road of Destined Death.

We know that Melina was born at the base of the Erdtree, she was given her duty by Marika, and remembers quotes from her mother. And yet she doesn't remember what it's like to have a loving mother

Melina about Boc: "I think he misses his mother. He wants someone to tell him he's beautiful. Does being born of a mother... Mean one behaves in such a manner?"

I also find it interesting that Melina was given this purpose but now is not doing it for Marika, but for herself and she talks a lot about how she wants to see this world change for the better. Ex.:

Melina: However ruined this world has become, however mired in torment and despair, life endures. Births continue. There is beauty in that, is there not?

My own personal theory is that Marika knew that her first daughter was destined to burn the Erdtree and that scared Marika, so she locked her away and Melina died in that room. I know that doesn't explain the burn marks on her skin or why Melina has a claw/talon mark over her closed eye that goes away when we don't use Death/Giant's Flame but Frenzied Flame. And no I do not think Melina is/was the Gloam Eyed Queen.

[frootlooppoptarts]

[praetorianxxiv]

To celebrate finishing another paint job, I thought I'd had a pint 🍺

This is The Trooper, Eddie from Zombicide and Iron Maiden + their beer.

I think I'll be using this little Chap in my Praetorian Guard army as a company standard bearer.

[carpe-mamilia]

You know what show I really hope the ghosts put on while they were all together? HMS Pinafore. Everyone from Fanny onwards most likely knew it reasonably well already, either by cultural osmosis or from being a theatre gay, and for the rest it's probably the easiest operetta to pick up that's ever existed.

I imagine it would have gone down something like this:

Josephine Corcoran- Kitty

Ralph Rackstraw - Thomas

Absolute no-brainers for the lead soprano and tenor. Ralph scores extra points for being one of the most dramatic and flouncy tenors Gilbert ever wrote. At one point he has a speech that's so flowery it's genuinely incomprehensible. Unfortunately his big aria is terribly dull (still in-character tbh) but both of Josephine's are brilliant. Especially "The hours creep on apace", where, having secretly accepted Ralph's proposal, she does waver a bit since, after all, he is a bit of a pleb.

Captain Corcoran - The Captain

Keeps the Pinafore ship-shape and Bristol-fashion. Would have a lovely father-daughter relationship with Josephine. Gets to be in lots of bangin' numbers, especially "I am the Captain of the Pinafore".

Captain: I do my best to satisfy you all -

Crew: And with you we're quite content!

Captain: You're exceedingly polite and I think it's only right to return the compliment.

Sir Joseph Porter - Julian

Marvellously smug and superior patter baritone who got to his lofty position via flattery and luck rather than merit. No direction needed.

Little Buttercup - Fanny

I think she would struggle playing someone who's meant to be lowly, but on the other hand she'd probably really get into every other aspect of the character, especially when she gets to drop mysterious hints all the way through, and dramatically reveal the twist at the end. (She also really reminds me of the mature student who played Little Buttercup for my university's Light Opera Society once, who was very definitely another repressed middle-aged horndog. Get it, girl.)

Cousin Hebe - Mary

Not much of a part, but I suspect getting Mary to concentrate on something like this for any length of time without going off on a tangent would be... tricky. Would be enthusiastic about helping Josephine and might have to be held back from headbutting Captain Corcoran when he tries to stop the elopement.

Dick Deadeye - Robin

Hunched, triangular bass Dick Deadeye growls his way through the opera causing chaos just... 'cos. Is far more perceptive than the Captain and has to really spell out that Josephine and Ralph are planning on running away together.

Bosun's Mate - Humphrey's head

Carpenter's mate and director - Pat

This probably required slightly delicate handling, since Pat is the better singer (and He is an Englishman is harder than it looks), but a) keeping rehearsals from descending into anarchy probably took all his energy and b) Humphrey might have been slightly grumpy being relegated to a really tiny role again. At least they both get to be in A British Tar is a Soaring Soul.

Chorus of sisters, cousins, and aunts - Humphrey's body

Carries the whole show on his back.

[anosrepasi]

Chapter 5: Provençal/Read from the beginning

Chapters: 5/6 Fandom: The Old Guard

It is a long time, 400 years beneath the water.

–

A coda fic for Lingua Franca.

[1doesnotsimplyhavejust1fandam]

Okay this might be a concept already touched on because idk what happens in the old guard graphic novels, but remember how the immortals begin dream of the new immortal once the immortality kicks in? What if that happens when/if Andy’s immortality kicks back in? Depending on when it is, all 5 of the other immortals might dream of Andy, if she’s separated from Nile, Joe, and Nicky at that point in time. And Andy could potentially dream of Quỳnh having escaped the Iron Maiden before they’re reunited! Andy may be thousands of years old, but regaining immortality means she’s technically a “new immortal”. I would accept any dumb jokes cracked about how she’s actually the baby of the family now bc I think she would get super grumpy about it and that would be adorable and hilarious. Also, I think that Andy dreaming of Booker again could help bring him back into the fold if that’s the aim because man is SUFFERING when Quỳnh rolls up to where he’s staying at the end of the movie.

[unofficialadamtaurus]

Have you seen this fight animation? It's amazing youtu. be(/)0IR3toI25po(?)si(=)qh1RP5u8SXj-TeIF

THIS FUCKING SLAPS

[artmill-danaan]

Doodletober D2 - spider

[theoldgvard]

imagine explaining to someone that one of the most common aus for your favourite movie is different members of the group drowning repeatedly for five hundred years

[spikedru]

how do you feel about the transfem drusilla hc? (obv it wouldn't rlly work in canon but)

i hadnt considered it before ! i dont really have any strong feelings on it as its not a hc that ive thought about. tbh i do sometimes think about dru and spike being nb4nb and bi4bi but idk ! its fun to play around with these vampires genders

[onewomancitadel]

On the topic related to the silver eyes, if you think the main four are going to get the Maiden powers and you only understand it as a superficial powerup you have missed alllllllllll of the themes. This isn't merely divergent interpretation; it is literally just not getting it.

It's what sets R/WBY apart from other shows; they're clearly doing something special and meaningful here where the magical power has lost its metaphorical meaning in the world (Ruby's silver eyes aren't laserbeams!) explicitly recognised by the characters (see previous SEW post). So if you want R/WBY to be paint by number tropes, then sure, the main team should get the powers on the basis of superficial power-ups by rights. I think a lot of people do genuinely want that and get mad when it isn't that.

Same thing as Jaune not being Ozma's new vessel (dumb). It's just not how it works. None of these powers are the Best Boy or Girl In Show award which is why people still get weird about Pyrrha being the supposedly rightful Fall Maiden lol completely missing the point of her tragedy.

This isn't even just a Reddit or Discord fandom problem, since the Summer Maiden (and Fall Maiden...) hot potato speculation is grounded in which character gets the most good girl points for being the Maiden and is therefore narratively validated. It should be a burdensome responsibility that actually challenges the character in question. Particularly if it's tied to their redemption arc and the way the powers can be redeemed and she herself. Notably - as I have lamented - Cinder's death is taken as a foregone conclusion in order to validate a different character (since Cinder is both unsuitable as a Maiden and unlikable and most importantly unforgivable).

Add in the fact we have been explicitly told (and I'm repeating this point just for the sake of collated evidence) that the powers intensify with age, and we are not seeing team R/WBY getting the powers at the end of the show to have a super duper magical powerup scene. It is related to experience and actually learning and understanding the powers (largely reflected in psychological experience inasmuch as combat experience). I think it is inevitable that the endgame Maidens - and their joining the main cast as heroines - is effectively 'the' narrative height of the powers. Who team R/WBY are as themselves is enough.

The point of that SEW post is that this idea - that it's mere powerup - is an audience belief reflected in-world, in a 'realistic fairytales' way. But what it truthfully calls for is a return to understanding the actual essential magic. Not as mere technical tools, or as demonstrations of physical might, but the responsibility and capacity for good (or evil) that those entail in that world, and how it expresses the psychological struggle of the Maidens, in even representing the potential for their own redemptions. They could continue to hoard the power in their own ways or they could step up to the plate as guardians: this is why Penny and Winter's character arcs are so significant and the future potential of Raven and Cinder is as well.

[wyvernwriterarchive]

Mari, Lady of the Village

Mari was born in a small town in the southern parts of Vanar. She was a bright and intelligent child who liked to read and study. She was born as a boy, but through the years, she slowly began to realize that she didn't really like being a boy.

Her family wasn't exactly understanding of this. Once they heard, they're attitude towards her switched from kind and caring, to cold and sometimes downright cruel.

Mari had enough of this when she was about 18 running away from home, wanting to be free from the wrath of her family. While running, she found a strange talisman of some kind. It looked like something she had read about. A type of artifact that could potentially make your biggest dream come true.

She wished to be her true self. And because of this, she turned into the girl she is now.

Still she continued to run, eventually finding her way to a village known as Mayville. Mari was cared for there and eventually she saw them as her family.

Including another new girl named June, who Mari immediately befriended. The two even served in the village's guard together. June is the first person who she told about her past, and she is thankful to have such a trusted friend.

One day, members of the Silver Lances, a famous mercenary company, came to the village's defense. Inspired, Mari thought about joining them in order to be brave like them. June and Mari both decided to resign temporarily and join the Silver Lances, promising to return with stories of their travels. She specifically wants to grow strong enough to be able to tell everyone about her past.

[praetorianxxiv]

Some of the stuff done in 2023 🎉

I thought I'd already posted this 😅