#blue vertical tile

[zippywondernumbat]

Bathroom - Contemporary Powder Room

Example of a small, modern powder room with blue walls, dark wood cabinets, marble countertops, a vessel sink, and glass and blue tiles.

[kleinefreiheiten]

06.2023 Hamburg

[majesticleon]

Kids - Bathroom Bathroom: mid-sized 1950s kids' bathroom with blue floor, double sinks, flat-panel cabinets, dark wood cabinets, one-piece toilet, white walls, undermount sink, quartz countertops, hinged shower door, white countertops, niche, and built-in vanity

[dukegenocide]

Transitional Bathroom - Bathroom

[kid-crayon]

Family Room Open in Phoenix

[michelepoehler]

Contemporary Powder Room - Bathroom

[finleycannotdraw]

yo, hi,

please rant about the use of colours/shots in dead boy detectives (if you want to), that would be amazing to read!

omg hell yeah i would love to. <3 buckle up everybody!

(there were some other people in the comments who wanted to hear more as well. for convenience's sake i'm going to keep it all in one post.)

I'm not going to talk about every single frame in the last post, because there are a lot, but I'll be sure to touch on all of the ones that have a good amount of depth beyond the dramatic lighting. (sorry, Angie shot.)

...this is going to get long.

so first, this one:

With Edwin's brown coat, Niko's green coat, the brown bushes in between them, and the trees behind Edwin, this shot is cohesive and satisfying. I drew the orange lines to sort of illustrate how your eye moves across the frame; the line of eye contact, the tree branch (dashed lines) almost parallel to that, the sidewalk/grass line, and the lapels/shadows/folds of their jackets all form a general diagonal streamlined snapshot. Then the black post behind Niko, the tree between them, and the tree trunk behind Edwin continue to divide the frame vertically and add to the additional invisible "line" created by their height difference. Finally, the sky behind Niko, as well as her hair, contrast heavily and very well with the darker colors of the tree behind Edwin, though there is still white on his side (the building) and brown on hers (tree branches). If you were to take a single diagonal line from the bottom left corner to the top right, you would get two incredibly distinctly colored sections, but they complement each other so well.

This whole scene is gorgeous because of the pale sky and water up against Niko's hair and the brown tree trunks with Edwin's jacket, but I also love it because it's so simply colored. We have the classic blue+orange color dynamic, but diluted down to very pale blue and very dark brown. This shot specifically features Edwin focused at the center (the blue lines show that he is standing mostly straight up, while the trees on the borders of the frame are all leaning inwards), with Niko crouched down to fit with the shape of the hillside (orange) AND the silhouetted rocks in the foreground. Then the hillside, the shadow on the water, the general cutoff of the tree branches, and the island in the distance (purple) frame the two of them in the middle without making a Point of it. It looks very natural, especially with the dark shadows around the border of the frame. (personally sort of brings to mind Wanderer Above The Sea of Fog).

I don't think I need to add any annotations to this one. The lighting is sharp and so are the shadows. The fog and the shine on the water, his hair, and the collar of his coat are starkly lit, while everything else, including his face, is deeply shadowed. Plus it's all an ominous, murky green. It's almost the opposite of Lilith coming out of her blood-red ocean. 10/10 frame, I have no words.

I gasped the first time I saw this shot. There are so many vertical lines (orange), which make the space feel thinner: the spike, the bulletin board(?) on the far left, both doorframes, the edges of the table and boxes, the tile on the wall on the right, Maxine herself... and then there are the diagonal lines, all sort of spreading out from Maxine, which includes the table edge, the shadows, and the wall tiles again. Then there's the fact that it's all so dark, but not quite pitch black. Once again we have a green/orange combo, and the light behind Maxine being so small in the whole frame makes it very effectively claustrophobic. We also never saw her enter this room from behind, which elevates her as threatening, because the camera work makes it seem as though we, the audience, are backing away from her as she enters, and then hiding from her as well. While I am devastated by the lack of a sapphic romance arc, I have to say I was blown away by the production of this scene.

I love this one because they're arranged so neatly around the book. I didn't draw a curve over their heads, but it's easy to visualize by following Monty's hairline up to Edwin's, and then Edwin's down to Charles' down to Crystal's. The height order is perfect. Then there's the black-brown-black-brown of Monty's jacket, Edwin's jacket, Charles' jacket, and Crystal's hair. The book itself helps frame their faces (diagonal blue lines), and their clothes fall into uniform with the vertical trees behind them, creating a satisfying, natural, unobtrusive background. This is definitely more visually appealing than a shot of them leaning over and looking down at the book/camera. It's also broken up very nicely by the greenery. Plus, none of their faces are shown from the same angle! Refreshing!

Poor Monty :( but hey, he gets a really awesome shot here! We're back to orange+blue, and the angle of this shot makes it look like the vertical trees behind him are positioned diagonally (orange) to follow the dark blue shadow behind his head. We also get two light sources: one of them is the moon, and the other one comes from the same place as the music. The moonlight (blue) sort of encircles his head and cuts off at the line of trees about halfway across the frame. Both the back of his hair and the far side of his face are illuminated, which is very effective in terms of bringing him into the foreground and making him the focus of the shot even though he's not in the middle of the frame. It's also balanced nicely by having background detail on the left, with the orange trees, but not on the right, where there's nothing but dark blue behind Monty. This is also a great shot when it comes to his hair and jacket, because the jacket is used to add to the framing of his face with the dark blue background, and his dark brown hair is lit sparingly, which ties in the left side of the frame.

Like the frame with Maxine, this one has a lot of shadow and a little bit of light, and again works with an orange/blue (or teal, really) color scheme, but this one is much friendlier. The windows are larger than the doorframe and Charles isn't actually blocking the light the way Maxine did. Instead, he's illuminated from the right by Edwin's orange lantern, and the shot is balanced by highlights (blue) that stop it from becoming cramped and stressful. There are stable vertical lines (purple) and rafters and shadows spreading out from the center (orange). Charles, though he is blocking the window, is wearing a white tank top, and his skin takes on the warmth from the lantern, so he's not in silhouette and he blends very nicely with the scene. I love that he's not at the center of the shot, but instead framed almost perfectly in the right window. (Another thing I love about this show is that the characters almost always interrupt the continuity of the background even when they're positioned to be framed by it. It makes the scenes feel much more natural even while they continue to be gorgeously directed from an artistic/stylistic point of view.)

This is one of the simpler ones, but it's perfect. The Night Nurse's hair and vest are the same brownish orange, and her shirt is the same as the walls, sticking with our tried and true brown/green (easy variation on orange/blue) color scheme. She is framed in the blackness of the doorway, but once again interrupts the white doorframe on the left side. Even the lamp and the board (?) on either side of the frame fill the negative space in a natural way. Also, the vertical lines of the board, doorframe, door, and lamp aren't perfectly spaced apart, which makes the whole shot feel more down-to-earth.

There is so much going on in this shot. The beams of light (orange) are emanating from behind Edwin in a shape sort of reminiscent of wings. The angles of light/shadow and the immediately obvious position of some of the mirrors (blue) also spreads out from behind him, reinforcing the wing imagery and focus. The background is lighter than the floor, and Edwin's clothes blend in with the floor and the reflecting highlights (green) in the mirrors. It's all balanced by shadows (purple), which aren't so much shadows as they are dark-colored mirrors and the blood on Edwin's face. This shot is an unsettling combination of chaos and order, increased by the strange phenomena of mirrors endlessly reflecting into each other, especially since Edwin doesn't show up in any of them. You'd expect him to look out of place, and he mostly does, but there's just enough immediate immersion with the color scheme and light angles to make him fit perfectly. And he wouldn't fit in this shot nearly as well if he were wearing his usual clothes. It's such a good way to introduce Despair. I love this scene.

Now I needed to include these two next to each other, because they're. They're the same scene. Maren is on the porch looking down at Crystal and the boys, but the color schemes and blocking are so starkly different. Maren is wearing black, and the house is washed-out yellow and maroon, both unfriendly colors in this scene. The windows all show the gray reflections of the dead tree instead of even a glimpse inside the house, immediately showing that Maren is hiding something. Then in the shot with Crystal and the boys, they're positioned behind her on the path. Edwin is next to the brown gate and gray stones, and Charles is sort of shadowing Crystal and framed by the green bushes. Crystal's shirt is flower-patterned to match the pink petals on the ground, and her red hair and purple jacket make the whole shot more vibrant and friendly-looking than Maren's, even though Maren is supposedly the one being helpful/friendly/hospitable. The first time I watched this episode I knew I couldn't trust Maren as soon as I saw her standing on her front porch. This scene is, as Charles would say, brills.

Okay, last one, I have to stop somewhere. (I have so many more. I have. SO many more. that i could talk about. but this post is so long already). There are three windows, evenly spaced, white light and curtains framed in them. Charles is in nearly full silhouette as he opens that chest; his head and the lid of the chest intersect with the vertical window frame, and his arm runs parallel to the middle bar. He also blocks a good portion of the leftmost window, while Edwin stands in front of the one on the right. He's fully framed by the window and standing farther back than Charles, not quite silhouetted but still very dark compared to the background. When he ducks down to inspect the cabinet, his head ends up in front of the wall between the two windows. This whole scene is an excellent display of blocking/framing/lighting, just in terms of where they end up holding any given position while they talk. Once again, there's nothing artificial or manufactured about their blocking. These aren't statement shots (all film projects have a few Really Good Shots, but they're often at extremely important, pivotal, or emotional times, instead of spread out through the storyline.), which makes them even better.

I might have to make another post and include shots with Jenny, the sprites, the Cat King, Esther, and more landscape shots. There is no shortage of stunning frames and scenes, and there's no reason not to dive into the production and hidden meanings.

TL;DR: this show is an ARTISTIC MASTERPIECE. Please watch it. :)

[eobardthawneallen]

Tea time with octokittens :3c

[ID: From left to right a drawing of Gunpowder Tim, Nastya and Ivy are sitting on the floor of the Aurora.

Tim is smiling sitting cross legged, he is holding a white teapot with gold and pink decoration, in front of him are two tea cups on the floor and one black with withe octokitten is drinking from their nearest cup.

Tim's eyes have dark sclera with yellow zigzagged lines, with the same yellow it does a not complete circle inside the iris with a little dot opposite side of the light reflected, then a full complete circle surrounding the center as pupil, the iris of the eye is black. there are also vertical black zigzagged lines around his eyes.

Nastya is smiling towards Ivy, she is sitting with her legs to the respective sides of each leg, she has one greenish grey tabby octokitten on her shoulder and maintains them there with one hand on their back, she also has a sleeping calico octokitten on her lap.

her cheeks are grey blushed, she has a blue fade on her hair, where her tips are more blue.

Ivy has one hand up in a cup, she is drinking tea, a smile is shown towards Nastya. she is sitting with her both legs to one side, she is petting an orange tabby cat.

her haircut is a red mohawk, on the shaved part is a few pieces of metal riveted to her head.

clothes are:

for Tim are all different tones of brown except from the green glassed goggles, dress shirt and two black crossed belts by the chest. he is wearing a coat, a vest, stripped pants and work shoes, he has a kerchief with golden figures stuck in the belt of his coat.

Nastya is wearing a black coat with golden buttons, she has brown pants and black boots.

Ivy is wearing a heart earring, her make up is a red lipstick. Her clothes are a red dress shirt sleeves rolled to her elbows, is wearing a colorful necktie, a black on front and red on back vest, flowery skirt, dark blue tights, red socks and a pair of tall black boots.

background is a grey room, with square tiles, there are cables hanging on the top corners of the image, there is a vent, 3 machines, a there are octokittens up there, one is sleeping, other is looking down to an ocltokitten on the floor, there is also one looking at a wall that is damaged by shoots, there are repairs of the walls with rivets.

END ID]

[s-b-party]

Ena, HooH, and Xipe: Overseers of Balance

****Honkai star rail/Penacony including 2.1 spoilers ahead****

With 2.2 livestream today [I didn’t watch the livestream on the day it came out so this was written without knowing what was coming out soon but also….THE NEW BOSS????], I wanted to take a closer look at 3 Aeons in particular for this thread bc of the similarities between their concepts & also to look at possible roles/connections in the story of Penacony in particular

Since I normally analyze pairs of Aeons & this time we have 3, I’ll briefly introduce the 3 then I’ll talk about them in detail while trying to connect them to each other & the story

First is Ena, the Aeon of Order; they were absorbed by Xipe during the Swarm Disaster; they had a faction that followed them called the Beyond the Sky Choir which eventually stopped when they were absorbed

The second is HooH, the Aeon of Equilibrium; currently they are alive, their faction is the Arbitrators

The third is Xipe, the Aeon of Harmony; they are currently alive & their faction is the Family in Penacony

From Ena’s entry, we see they have a human-looking face or mask with an inner body that seems to encompass space & stars, giving off mostly blue & purple colors while their face, limbs, accessories, and veil have a white & gold palette; their arms have strings coming out from them which presents them like a puppet; another feature to note is the eye that appears besides them which has a gold outline and a blue and purple iris

Their symbol is represented by the icon of an eye, referring to the open eye that is present behind them in their art, with abstract shapes behind it; at first glance the symbol might not mean much when we look at it & it might look simple bc it’s just an eye but I feel that there may be more to it

The 3 circles & 3 sharp points are arranged in a way that doesn’t look randomized where if we were to divide it in half vertically, it would be balanced

Why does this matter? Mainly bc Ena is the Aeon of Order but what exactly does that concept mean? Order can be defined in a few different ways depending on context but in this case, Ena’s concept is related to the idea that things are arranged or done in a particular way, method, sequence, etc. of which we see an example in the dev log as explained by Herta

She states that she doesn’t like Ena’s personality as a “control freak” but rather their concept or at least how the universe followed the Order

In the case of planets & civilizations, under the Order they would first prosper for a time before coming to an end; this would be the cycle that was followed consistently as it is natural for civilizations to rise and fall

Going back to the abstract shapes, I want to bring up the Rule of Three, which applies to many situations but the general rule involves three things that make something effective, satisfying, ideal, etc. As we saw, the icon had three circles & three pointed ends but they were arranged specifically to make the whole symbol not very chaotic, thus it can be satisfying to look at

Interestingly we see 3 being involved in their faction, the Beyond the Sky Choir: the dev log which mentioned a “three-dimensional framework” & the curio called the Triangular Drum-roll Device

HooH the Equilibrium has a face w/ a body consisting mostly of geometric shapes, giving them a sort of blocky appearance; their body swirls & twists in a round circle which converges towards the center where we see two orbs(?) that are blue & orange while their two hands are clasped together in the center

When we look at their overall design, we can tell that they exhibit some form of balance; their name is exactly symmetrical since it can be split into Ho & oH; when it comes to their physical design, they have what we could consider, for simplicity’s sake, both “positive” & “negative”

Let’s pretend that positive is represented by the white tiles & negative is represented by black tiles, you can reverse the situation & it’ll still apply: the positive & negative tiles balance each other bc there is enough of both positive & negative that they would cancel each other out, creating a sense of balance

The symbol of HooH is well represented by a balance scale, often used for measuring & comparing the weights of objects to see if one is lighter, heavier, or equal in weight to another

Equilibrium as a concept refers to the idea that two opposing things cancel/balance each other out, creating something called “sum zero”; the implication of equilibrium is that things in life are divided by two as opposed to any other number

Herta talks about HooH in a dev log regarding how long they’ve been around compared to other aeons while also pointing out how they focus on duality

Now we have Xipe the Harmony who has a human-like body w/ 3 faces on a single head, long hair, purple skin, a dress that encompasses space, a ring of rainbow colors behind their head, and puzzle pieces floating around their form

Their symbol is quite abstract when we look at it as a whole

It is similar to Ena’s symbol where we had those abstract shapes in the background which came out to be 3 circles & 3 sharp points; here is a similar situation where the shapes are repeated 3 times in a circular fashion (it reminds me of the mitsudomoe, it’s the symbol that has 3 tomoe going around the central point of focus)

As of this point I’m not sure if the shapes themselves actually refer to/mean something specific to Xipe but I think something to point out is that the “commas” act differently based on whether they’re in the forefront or the background

The ones in the front don’t seem to interfere with any of the outer shapes on the same layer as them; however when we look at the background, the commas seem to cross into the other shapes next to them

Now what exactly is Harmony? The concept itself is when everything comes together in a single thing to create something unique or something that is typically good; for example we use harmony in music to refer to when notes or instruments are played together to create a coherent/cohesive song but we can also use harmony to refer to other things like life; in other words, harmony is a synonym for unity

Next we’re going to look at connections to each other & to the story; these 3 Aeons have varying degrees of involvement in the story as well as with each other; HooH seems to have very little connection to the other two so there isn’t rlly much I can say about them for the time being aside from their supposed involvement in the Swarm Disaster & the end of Tayzzyronth which we find in the simulated universe

However Ena & Xipe are much more connected both to each other & to the story when compared to HooH

Ena & Xipe are quite similar which makes sense considering that their concepts were fairly similar which ended up with the former getting absorbed (to clarify on their concepts, Order is the specific way to arrange or place things while Harmony focuses on fusing or combining things to bring about peace or good)

In terms of design, I would argue that they share similar color palettes, mainly cool colors (purple, blue) w/ a side of warmer colors on other features (Ena’s accessories & veil, Xipe’s halo)

Another similarity that I can see is their connection to music

Both Aeons received praise through songs through their respective factions, Beyond the Sky Choir & the Family; now that I think about it, perhaps the “commas” in Xipe’s symbol are actually supposed to be music notes in the world of HSR? I wouldn’t be surprised if they write music notes differently from what we would expect

Now in terms of their connections to the story I’ve heard theories of Ena being possibly connected to Gaiathra Triclops, the Mother Goddess that is mentioned in the most recent Trailblaze quest (****the next part about Gaiathra Triclops is mostly just me entertaining some ideas & pointing things out that I want to note, take w/ a grain of salt); I don’t think they are the same bc there are a few discrepancies that can be pointed out but maybe Gaiathra Triclops is an aspect of Ena that physically manifested

It is explained that Avgins do not follow the Aeon belief system but we also don’t know the exact origins of the Mother Goddess so what if she came from an Aeon? Aeons are the origin of concepts so it doesn’t seem far fetched to suggest that “minor”/sub-gods(?) could possibly come from them

We know that even if an Aeon dies, sometimes they leave behind remnants of themselves that still exist in the current time (e.g. Tayzzyronth & Swarm Disaster) so I don’t think it’s impossible for a similar situation here

We hear that Gaiathra Triclops is depicted as a left palm w/ 3 eyes & Ena does have 3 eyes in total if we count the one in the background; interestingly she is described specifically to be often depicted as a LEFT palm so are there any other manifestations of Ena possibly depicted as a right palm or just another body part in general?

Speaking of eyes, many have pointed out that the eye in the background has a striking resemblance to Aventurine’s eyes

The irises & pupils don’t look the exact same but it feels more of a design choice bc Aventurine’s eye shapes help to establish a sense of mystery/suspicion when it comes to his character; other than that the purple/neon pink outer ring & inner blue ring do match

If the Mother Goddess inherited the same eye from Ena, it could possibly explain how the Aventurine got the same eye despite Ena having been gone before the Sigonian incidents; I know the timeline of events are a bit cloudy so it’s not all clear but it just seems way more than a coincidence to me that Aventurine has the same eye colors as the one that appears besides Ena but I’ll leave my musings there

Now Xipe is the one who has a much more prominent presence in Penacony’s story compared to the other two Aeons

Even before entering the world we are made aware of Xipe’s ties to Penacony & its history; Penacony used to be a desert planet that acted as a prison which was owned by the IPC; the IPC eventually lost control of it due to Nanook & the residents of Penacony became members of the Family under Xipe

In terms of the Trailblaze Mission itself, we never see Xipe in person but we do see two notable instances of (extensions of) Xipe’s powers in the story: first is when we enter the Dreamscape & Robin helps us get accustomed to the new environment through tuning; second time is when Sunday invokes their power on Aventurine during the interrogation

In both cases we get the rainbow aura reminiscent of Xipe’s halo around our screens, for the MC we seem to have less of a problem whereas Aventurine suffers the entire time he’s under the influence; this reminds me of our clockwork ability which is essentially direct emotional manipulation (Clockie is most definitely sus, no question about it)

To me this change in how the extensions of Xipe’s power can go from harmless to dangerous is representative of Penacony’s storyline; it looks like a normal peaceful resort at first glance but then we learn about the darker aspect of the Dreamscape aka the memes that have appeared & untold dangers

To end this off, I do want to reiterate how Ena, HooH, and Xipe are interesting representations of different aspects of balance if you could tell based off my title for this thread; my main reason why I bring this up is bc Nanook is presented or framed as the main antagonist of this game bc of their nature as the Aeon of Destruction and the intention/goal is to stop them supposedly…

Therefore I am curious of whether we will see Xipe, HooH, and just the other Aeons in general play a bigger role in this plot of somehow stopping Nanook or if they’ll leave them be bc that is simply their nature; they are all beings who follow their own concepts & ideals so they do what they feel is right based off of their own values

If we are to consider what is balance in this universe, destruction would be the opposite of preservation which is represented by Qlipoth but we also can consider Yaoshi to be their opposite since they help grow life wherever they go

We also were somewhat expecting the Annihilation Gang to make an appearance during the story but we learned that they disbanded after Ifrit was killed by Acheron; does this mean that we won’t really see them again? We also know that Nanook doesn’t really like how the Annihilation Gang operates bc they see their sadistic desire to destroy as “impure” so it seems almost like we’re left hanging when it comes to them

I know that we are still in the Penacony arc so this might not be addressed at the moment but I’m still interested in seeing how the overall plot involving Nanook will play out 👀

[rockethorse]

Alright, let's meet Calcinidae Bay!

Calcinidae Bay is a(n unpopulated) work-in-progress CC-free Sims 2 neighbourhood where all the buildings are made from shell challenges.

I'm planning on posting more about Calcinidae Bay and its lots, so I wanted to make an intro post to start the tag! Feel free to mute the tag "Calcinidae Bay" if you're not interested.

Shell challenges are quite popular in the Sims 4, but they're possible to do in any Sims game and the principles are largely the same; one player puts down a bunch of walls, then other Simmers have to turn those walls into something without altering that "shell". Rules may vary depending on the creator and between game versions, but here are the general rules I'm playing by:

Walls that are already placed cannot be deleted, moved, or swapped with fences/half-walls.

New exterior walls cannot be connected to the the shell; they must be separated by at least one tile. This includes vertically (e.g. additional storeys, basements, dormers). New interior walls may be placed freely, but any preexisting interior walls must be preserved.

Fences and half-walls are allowed to be added/connected anywhere.

Foundation can be added freely but any existing foundation must be preserved (though it can be replaced with any of the 3 basegame foundation types).

There are some lots in Calcinidae Bay that don't follow these exact rules (such as my Foundations For Families houses) but do follow other building-restriction challenges, but the majority of lots are based on Sims 4 shell challenges converted to the Sims 2.

Let's take a look under the hood!

Calcinidae Bay is split into five sections, and has two roads leading in/out of town. Its terrain is Compass River by Leekeaux on MTS.

The blue/cyan area is the civic centre, where the entertainment, business, and government buildings are. There are some residential lots here, but mostly community. The road out leads to/from the future Downtown subhood.

The yellow section is the suburban area where most Sims live. It has a lot of housing, some smaller shops, and community lots like a library and public primary/secondary schools. The road out leads to/from the future Shopping District subhood.

The red/pink area is the rougher side of town. Since there are no roads out, there's less incidental traffic, so the real estate is less valuable and thus tends to be cheaper. This is where the remote offices, factories/warehouses, and affordable housing is/are.

The purple area is where the rich snobs live and gather. Houses here will be larger, older, and more expensive, and the few community lots will be more exclusive. (Note that "expensive" does not always mean "tasteful".)

Lastly, the green area in the corner is military ground. Eventually, it will have barracks, offices, and research facilities.

And if you were wondering, "why Calcinidae?" Well, Calcinidae is a family of hermit crabs - creatures that take shells left by others and repurpose them for their own use. :) The hermit crab and its shell are the coat of arms for Calcinidae Bay (and would be on its flag were I using custom content).

Most of the shells I use for Calcinidae Bay are remade from Sims 4 challenges, but I would love for Sims 2 players to donate shells too! Feel free to send me a Sims2Pack of a packaged shell OR simply draw the floorplan out on a grid and I'll remake it myself. You can also include other rules/suggestions about what the lot should be, what objects must be used, etc.

Lastly, I can't promise how useful all the lots in Calcinidae Bay would be for other players, especially since shell challenges can result in some unintuitive floorplans, but if you would like any of them, simply ask and I will do my best to share them. :)

[3ofpents]

Lake Champ // Fabric design for @shapeshiftersvt and the Cryptid Collection

Ah Champ. Vermont's very own lake monster that seems to illicit panic and terror from half the people who see it by just ... swimming around.

Out of the six fabric designs in The Cryptid Collection, there are three where I adapted elements from the existing poster to create the design. But while there's still one more I haven't talked about yet, I think this one and the Jersey Devil design I talked about yesterday are the only two that are truly a straightforward adaptation of their respective posters. Like, if the brief was "turn these posters into a fabric design" I think that the Jersey Devil design and this Champ design are the ones that really fill that.

Here's the Champ poster for reference:

Like, I rendered the water a bit differently, I took out a couple of elements, made the clouds more sparse, and shifted the colors around a bit. But yeah, pretty much turned the poster into a fabric design. I mostly used the same palette save for the Champs, which are a dark green that wasn't in the original poster. But I did also make the maroon a little more red and the yellow-green a little more yellow. Because, I think, for this one especially, I took the opportunity to alter the palette into something I preferred a bit more.

Well, I also had to shift some colors around because I wanted the pattern to repeat vertically along the length of the yard, but I didn't want there to just be a hard line where the water stopped and the next repeat began. There's already a hard line where the sky stops and the water begins and I thought it would look a little weird. But also I just thought it would be really cool to have the bottom of the water just fade back into the sky. That's why you can see more water ripples at the top of the tile. Oh wait, I can just show you! And I'm going to because I'm really very proud of this:

Look at that! Look how smooth it is!

Now, obviously this was designed with a binder or sportsbra in mind, that's why the tile is the height it is. But since, with the binders especially, folks can get them made anywhere from 14-30" long, I not only wanted to make sure there would be no issue making longer binders with it; I was also thinking about folks who might buy it to make other things with it. And I really love how it came out. The colors I think contrast so well together, and, like I keep saying, I'm so thrilled, like insane over the way the fade between tiles came out.

Oh, I realize I haven't talked about Eli's influence on this one. That's mostly because this isn't a design they're using in their runway collection! They're using a completely different version of this that isn't available as a binder/sportsbra, so I didn't want to use it as one of the main photos. But here it is as a bonus:

So right off the bat, you can see that it's a completely different color scheme, and also it's sideways and much taller. This is, Eli informed me, what's called a border design, where the main design element runs along one side of the fabric, repeating along the length of the yard. So when you make a garment from it, you are (typically) putting it together so the border is along the bottom hem.

This is why this version isn't available for a binder/sportsbra, there's just too much empty space. We'd end up having to use multiple yards for some folks in order to make a garment that had the design all the way around, which would also waste a ton of fabric.

So Eli's original concept for the Champ runway look was a vintage style swim costume — essentially a one piece suit but with shorts. They were taking inspiration from the way the mountains fade into a misty blue as they get further away, hence the color scheme. And they wanted the lake and Champ to just be a border around the bottom hem.

And here's where we get into Eli's unintentional influence on the Cryptid Collection version. While they asked me to create the base design, they asked me to leave out the mountains because they wanted to add the mountains themself using some physical techniques. Then, because they felt the final design looked a little too empty, we decided to add the second Champ.

I wanted these two designs to coordinate. Like, obviously, they're part of the same collection! So I ended up merging Eli's design with the poster and just slightly tweaking it to make it work on its own, as a repeatable design, at an appropriate size for making binders and sportsbras. I pulled the colors from the poster, I added the second Champ, I left out the mountains, but kept the clouds.

So it really is the lovechild of Eli's runway design and my poster design.

As I keep saying and will continue to say, if you'd like to purchase your own binder or sportsbra in this fabric like the ones pictured above, you can find those listings (and the poster listing) here on the Shapeshifters website.

If you'd like to purchase either fabric for your own sewing projects, you can get both the runway border design and the Shapeshifters design through our Spoonflower shop.

[demeter1111]

Serpent mask of Tlaloc (the Aztec god of rain and lightning), in the form of two intertwined and looped serpents worked in contrasting colours of turquoise mosaic.

Made of 'cedro' wood (Cedrela odorata) with pine resin adhesive. The teeth are made of conch (Strombus) shell and the resin adhesive in the mouth is coloured red with hematite.

The rattles of the serpent tails were originally gilded. They are moulded from a mixture of beeswax and pine resin; the same resin mixture coats the interior surface of the mask.

"Two serpents of blue and green turquoise mosaic entwine to form this stylised mask.

Their interwoven bodies create the prominent twisted nose and goggle eyes associated with Tlaloc, the god of rain. The eyebrows, which double as the two rattles from the serpents' tails, are made from pine resin and beeswax and would originally have been gilded. The teeth are depicted in white strombus shell.

Snakes copulate by intertwining, sometimes in a vertical position. In Mesoamerica, this act of procreation may have been observed and adapted, both visually and metaphorically, to symbolise the fertilizing rains sent by Tlaloc.

The striking green and blue colours of the mosaic evoke the waters and vegetation covering the earth's surface. On the mask's forehead an engraved mosaic tile in the shape of a bivalve shell may symbolise water, while the large green mosaic tile on the opposite snake perhaps represents vegetation, both aspects associated with Tlaloc. Mosaic representations of feathers flanking the face may have mimicked part of a larger headdress that once complemented the mask.

Open cavities in the eyes and suspension holes indicate that this mask may once have been worn. The priest who served Tlaloc in the Templo Mayor at Tenochtitlan was known as Quetzalcoatl Tlaloc Tlamacazqui, and may have worn a mask like this as part of his ritual attire. Another example of a Tlaloc wooden mask, painted in blue, has recently been excavated from the Templo Mayor (offering 102). It bears similar perforations and may have been worn by a deity impersonator."

The British Museum

[kleinefreiheiten]

06.2015 Hamburg

[sonekwi]

☆ ⸻ the white paladin, keith x reader

chapter three: lion assignment

characters/parings: keith, female reader

genre: fanfiction

summary: on another planet millions of lightyears away from earth, you and your friends awaken two aliens who have been asleep for 10,000 years.

word count: 3,911

links: previous, next, wattpad, masterlist

     The Blue Lion flies towards a castle. Four tall pillars accented with a blue that reminds you of the coastal waters of home surround the main structure. A long, ancient, and deteriorating bridge connects the lone plateau the castle sits on to the rest of the world.

     As the Lion lands in the large, spacious courtyard before it, it lowers its head to the ground.

     "Keep your guard up," Shiro warns.

     "What's wrong?" you ask.

     "My crew was captured by aliens once, I'm not going to let it happen again," he says.

     The group exits the Lion, your mouths agape and your eyes wide with awe and disbelief. Your footsteps echo loudly within the courtyard and the pearly white stone beneath your feet seems too clean. You look around, hoping to spot someone or something, but you're alone.

     Behind you, the Lion stands and roars. Hunk freaks out and hides behind you, screaming that you're going to be eaten. But the doors to the castle groan as they open and the Lion sits back down.

     "Oh... the door is open!" Hunk says, coming out from behind you. He looks at the Blue Lion, "I guess I was wrong about you!"

     The doors lead to darkness, the sunlight only reaching so far inside. You feel uneasy not knowing what lurks within. Thankfully, Shiro takes the lead and the rest of you cautiously follow. And after a few moments inside, your eyes finally adjust to the darkness. The group stands in a room larger than any you have ever seen; the Blue Lion could easily fit inside.

     "Hello!" Hunk calls out and you nearly jump out of your skin.

     The group stops in the middle of the room. In front of you, a large staircase leads to an upper floor and the balconies overlooking the room.

     "From the size of the Lion, I expected these steps to be bigger," Pidge observes.

     "Maybe the castle isn't for the Lion," you say, looking around.

     Something powers on above you and creates a ring of light around you. The tiles below you illuminate and a robotic voice speaks, "Hold for identity scan."

     A light rises from the ground at your feet and up to your head, scanning you and gathering whatever information is needed.

     "Why are we here? What do you want with us?" Shiro interrogates but is left unanswered.

     The scanner powers off. The room lights up, the torches along the walls igniting. You can properly see now, and you're realizing just how futuristic the castle is. Its architecture is abstract and alien.

     As the long corridor at the top of the steps lights up as well, Pidge shrugs and says, "I guess we go that way."

     The group moves forward and you grab onto Lance's arm to make sure he stays close. Knowing him, he would see something and wander off.

     "(y/n), I can walk myself," your brother complains.

     "You're basically a two-year-old in the body of a teenager," you say.

     Lance irks. "You're literally ten months younger than me! What makes you think you're any different?"

      You roll your eyes, "I'm much more mature."

     "What!?" Lance barks at you, ripping his arm from your grasp. "You drink apple juice and eat animal crackers like they're your freaking life source!"

     "So?" you say and raise a brow at him.

     The six of you wander into another room. In the center sits a control console and two cryopods standing vertically a few feet behind it. Lance walks up to one of the pods, tapping on the glass. He mutters something to himself.

     You and Pidge inspect the control console in the center, or at least that's what you think it is now that you're looking at it. There's nothing on it, and there doesn't seem to be a way to turn it on.

     Lance screams when the cryopod he stands by hisses loudly, the freezing air from within escaping as the seal breaks. The glass door opens, revealing a beautiful woman with curly white hair and dark skin. She whispers something and her knees buckle beneath her. Lance catches her before she falls to the ground.

     She looks up at your brother. "Where am I? Who are you?" she asks.

     Lance grins, his cheeks flushing. "I'm Lance, and you're right here in my arms," he flirts.

     The woman gives him a quizzical look. She reaches a hand towards his head. "Your... ears?" she says. It's now that you notice her ears are pointed.

     "What about them?" Lance asks.

     "They're hideous," the woman grimaces, "What's wrong with them?"

     "Nothing's wrong with them! They heard exactly what you said about them- Agh!" Lance grunts as the woman yanks him by the ear and throws him to the ground. She grabs his arm, pinning it behind his back.

     "Who are you? Where is King Alfor?" she interrogates. "What are you doing in my castle?"

     You feel your heart beat wildly within your chest. Adrenaline rushes through your veins at the sight of your brother in danger. Without a single thought, you charge at the woman to protect him. Your shoulder connects with hers and she falls to the ground. As you stand over Lance, you watch her movements carefully.

     "Don't touch him," you growl, "A Blue Lion brought us here and that's all we know."

     The woman picks herself up and dusts off the skirt of her dress. "How do you have the Blue Lion? What happened to its Paladin?" she asks, staring at you and Lance for a moment. She glances around the room and sees the rest of the group. "What are you all doing here? Unless- How long has it been?" she rushes over to the control console, placing her hands on top of it.

     "So that's how that works," Pidge comments as the control console powers on, a holographic screen popping up.

     "Who are you?" Shiro asks, "Maybe we can help?"

     You glare at the back of her head as you help Lance off of the floor. Whoever she is, she is not touching Lance ever again.

     "I'm Princess Allura of the plant Altea," the woman says and presses a button. The other cryopod opens up and an older man with a bushy orange mustache wakes up.

     The man gasps and shouts, "Enemy combatants!" He lunges from the cryopod at you and Lance, and the two of you easily dodge him.

     The man catches himself on the other pod, groaning. "Quiznack! You're lucky I have a case of the old 'sleep chamber knees'," he says, turning to you.

     Crazy old man, you think to yourself. His detailed explanation of how he would take you down in a fight goes in one ear and out the other. You feel no need to be defensive, because if he was going to fight you he would have done so already.

     But your brother decides it would be fun to entertain him.

     You leave Lance to the chaos and join the rest of the group near the control panel. You keep your distance from Allura as you watch her pull up some data.

     "It can't be," she says with shock.

     The man stops and looks at her. "What is it?" he asks.

     "We've been asleep for ten thousand years," Allura says, her expression quickly turning to anger. She glares at her hands before turning to the man. "Altea and all the planets in our solar system have been destroyed. Coran... Father is gone. Our entire civilization... It was all Zarkon."

     Shiro's eyes go wide. "Zarkon?"

     Allura clenches her jaw. "He was the king of the Galra. A vile creature and enemy to all free people."

     Shiro looks down at his robotic arm, flexing the fingers into a fist. "I remember now... I was his prisoner."

     "He's still alive? That's impossible," Allura says.

     "I can't explain, but it's true," Shiro says. "He's searching for a super weapon called Voltron."

     Allura shakes her head, "He's searching for it because he knows it's the only thing that can stop him," she says, "And that's exactly why we must find it before he does-"

     The castle's alarms blare and the console's screen flashes red. It shows a video of an alien warship similar to the one you encountered back at Earth.

     "A Galra battleship has set its tracker to us!" Coran exclaims.

     "How did they even find us?" you ask.

     "I bet it's Keith's fault," Lance says, side-eyeing the mullet boy.

     Keith rolls his eyes, "Say whatever you gotta say to make yourself feel better," he growls, "After getting us stuck on the other side of a wormhole!"

     Lance gets in Keith's face, "I'll stick you in a wormhole!"

     Shiro grabs Lance and pulls him back and you do the same with Keith. As Lance raises his arms and feigns innocence, Shiro steps between them, "Stow it, cadets! This is no time to blame others, it's time to work as a team!"

     Keith stares your brother down and you can practically feel his blood boil beneath his skin. You tighten your grip on his arm to get his attention, but he doesn't look at you.

     Shiro turns to Coran, "How long before they arrive?"

     "At their speed?" Coran hums, counting his fingers, "I'd say... a couple of days?"

      "Good, let them come," Allura says. "By the time they've arrived, you will have reformed Voltron and together, we will destroy Zarkon's empire."

     "Princess," Shiro says, "There are five of these Lions, how are we going to find the rest?"

     "Come with me," Allura says and walks out of the room. The group follows her, but you're wary. The last time you told you to go with them, you ended up flying through space halfway across the galaxy... at least you think it's halfway.

     Allura enters another large room, glass windows reaching floor to ceiling all around it. The room contains a large control console at the far end of it, six individual chairs towards the entrance, and two waist-high pillars in the center. A large crystal is mounted on the ceiling above them.

     "King Alfor connected the Lions to Allura's life force," Coran says, "She alone is the key to their whereabouts."

     Allura walks up to the pillars, placing her hands on the crystal blue orbs sitting on top of them. She closes her eyes and the crystal above her shines a light down on her. After a moment, a three-dimensional, holographic map of the universe fills the entire room. Stars, planets, and various other markers float through the air. You smile, amazed at the technology.

     "These are... coordinates," Pidge says, curiously reaching a hand through one as it floats by him; the Black Lion. "It looks like the Black Lion is in the same place as the Blue Lion."

     "That's because the Black Lion is in the castle," Allura explains.

     "To keep it out of Zarkon's hands, King Alfor locked it in the castle," Coran says, "It can only be freed if the other Lions are present."

     "As you have found, the Lions choose their pilots," Allura says. "It is a mystical bond and cannot be forced."

     You cross your arms, confused. "Then how come the Blue Lion let me and Lance fly it? These things are made to only need one pilot."

     Allura furrows her brows, "I... do not know. Perhaps it's because you share the same blood? The quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in their Lion," she says.

     You share a look with your brother and he shrugs.

     Allura swipes her hand through the air and the map rotates. The Black Lion floats above Shiro's head. "The Black Lion the decisive head of Voltron. It requires a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times. Someone whose men with follow without hesitation. That is why, Shiro, you will pilot the Black Lion."

     "The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality," Allura says, moving the Green Lion to Pidge, "And needs a pilot of intellect and daring. Pidge, you will pilot the Green Lion."

     "The Blue Lion–"

     "Hold up, let me guess!" Lance interrupts, "Takes the most handsome slash best pilot of the bunch?"

     You smack his arm, silently telling him to knock it off. He hits you back, and it takes every fiber of your being to not give in to your little sister instincts.

     Allura moves on, "The Yellow Lion is caring and kind," she moves the Lion's marker over to Hunk, "Its pilot puts the needs of others before his own. His heart must be mighty. Hunk, as the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together."

     Allura looks down at her hands where the Red Lion's marker now sits. "The Red Lion is temperamental and difficult to master. It's faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable," she releases the Red Lion and it floats over to Keith. "It's pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instinct rather than skill. Keith, you will fly the Red Lion."

     She continues, "Unfortunately I can't locate the Red Lion's coordinates yet. There must be something wrong with the castle, and after ten thousand years, it might need some work..."

     "Don't worry!" Coran interjects, "We'll find it soon. They don't call me the Coranic for nothing!" he pauses, "You know, cause it sounds like mechanic... Coranic... mechanic..."

     Allura smiles, laughing softly. As she continues speaking, the Lions floating around the map roar and fly toward the center of the room, forming Voltron. "Once the Lions are united, you will form Voltron, the most powerful warrior the universe has ever known!"

     The map dissipates. To be honest, you're a little bummed you don't get a giant robot cat to fly around. But at least you still get to help out... maybe. You're not sure what you can do.

     "Wait, how does a Lion turn into a leg?" Hunk asks Allura. "Also, is this going to take a while, because I have to pee. Do you people pee?"

     Shiro sighs, "We don't have much time. Pidge and I will go after the Green Lion. Lance, you take Hunk and get the Yellow Lion. Keith and (y/n), you can stay here until the Red Lion is found."

     "In the meantime, I'll get the castle's defenses ready," Allura says. "It will be sorely needed."

     Coran folds his arms behind his back, "I'll ready a pod and load in the coordinates so you can get to the Green Lion," he says, "But we can only keep the wormholes leading to the other Lions open for two of your Earth hours, so make it quick!"

⁀���

     You and Keith sit on the floor, playing a game of twenty questions while Allura and Coran configure the castle's defenses. You lean back against the wall, puckering your lips as you think.

     "Is it... big?" you ask.

     "Yeah," Keith answers.

     "Is it... an animal?"

     "Sort of?"

     "Is it red?"

     "Yeah."

     "Is it the Red Lion?" you ask with a smile and sit up.

     Keith kisses his teeth, "Yeah, how'd you guess it so quickly?"

     "You just gotta come up with things that are harder to figure out," you say. You place your hands on your knees and Keith takes his turn asking questions.

     The two of you get through a few more rounds of the game before the others return. Shiro and Pidge are in a pleasant mood, whereas Lance and Hunk look like they went through Hell. Keith stands and you grab his hand and he helps you up.

     "You made it!" Allura chirps.

     Lance rolls his shoulder, groaning. "Yeah, just barely. That was a nightmare..."

     "Did you find the Red Lion yet?" Shiro asks.

     "Allura just located it," Coran says. "There's a bit of good news and bad news..."

     "Good news first?" you shrug.

     "Okay, the Red Lion's nearby!" Coran says, then crosses his arms. "The bad news... it's aboard that Galra ship now orbiting planet Arus."

     You grimace, glancing at Keith. He's going to have to go straight through the enemy to get to the Red Lion.

     "But wait, good news again," Coran exclaims, "We're Arus!"

     "They're already here!?" Shiro shouts.

     "I guess my calculations were a bit off..." Coran says. "Finger counting is more of an art than an actual science."

     The room's lights flicker for a moment before a broadcast appears on a large screen. On it is a one-eyed alien with purple fur and fluffy ears. Under other circumstances, you would think he was adorable. But his menacing snarl reminds you what he's here for.

     "Princess Allura," the alien speaks, "I am Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire. I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon to confiscate the Voltron Lions. Turn them over to me, or I will destroy planet Arus."

     The broadcast ends and you feel nauseated. You turn to Shiro, hoping for some words of encouragement.

     "Alright, let's not panic," he says.

     "Not panic?" you look at him with disbelief.

     "The scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship towards us!" Hunk exclaims, "We only have four Lions–"

     Pidge interjects, "Technically three working Lions."

     Hunk pats his shoulder as to say a very sarcastic thank you, "Three working Lions and a castle that's, like, ten thousand years old!"

     "Actually," Coran smiles proudly, twirling with his mustache, "It's ten thousand six hundred years old–"

     You shoot him a glare, "Not helping Coran!"

     "See?" Hunk gestures to Shiro, "Now is the perfect time to panic!"

     "Just wait," Allura says desperately, "This castle has a particle barrier we can activate."

     Lance smirks, "Girl, you've already activated my par–"

     "Lance!" Shiro growls.

     Coran pulls up a diagnostics screen of the Galra battleship. He highlights the canon sitting on top of it and isolates the individual information of it. "The particle barrier won't stand against Sendak's ion canon forever. The Galra's technology must have advanced since the last time we fought..."

     "Panic now?" Hunk asks.

     "No," Shiro sighs, "We just need to figure out our plan of action... and figure it out quickly."

     "I say we pop through a wormhole and live to see another day," Lance says.

     "I second that," Hunk says.

     "Did you not hear Sendak?" you ask, frowning at the two. "He'll destroy the planet if we don't do as he says. We'll be screwing over everything that lives on Arus if we run away!"

     "And the Galra will keep destroying planets and capturing prisoners until we stop them," Pidge says.

     "But what if Sendak doesn't destroy the planet and follows us through the wormhole?" Hunk asks.

     "Are you seriously gonna trust that?" you cross your arms.

     "Staying is our only option," Keith says, standing beside you.

     "Here's an option, shut your quiznack!" Lance says and the vulgar words nearly kill Allura and Coran on the spot.

     "I don't think you're using that word correctly," Keith says, getting increasingly frustrated with your brother.

     "What do you know, mullet?" Lance asks, getting in Keith's face.

     "We're staying!" Keith shouts.

     "Leaving!" Lance argues back.

     "Guys, stop!" Shiro barks,

     You step between the two, holding your arms out at your sides to keep Lance from simply going around you. You take a few steps back, moving Keith with you. "Can you not go at each other's throats right now?" you growl.

     Shiro turns to Allura, "Princess, these are your Lions. You've dealt with the Galra Empire before. You know what we're facing better than any of us. What do you think is the best course of action?"

     She hesitates, eyes wide with uncertainty, "I don't know..." she says softly.

     Coran rests a hand on her shoulder, "Perhaps your father can help?"

⁀➷

     Allura returns a few moments later dressed in an Altean uniform, a determined look on her face. "You five paladins were brought here for a reason. The Voltron Lions are meant to be piloted by you alone. We must fight and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon. Voltron is the universe's only hope."

     "We're with you, Princess," Shiro says.

     "Then come with me," Allura says.

     She brings everyone to an armory. Five suits of armor sit safe and sound within glass cases, the accent colors of each one coordinating with a Lion.

     "Your suits of armor," Allura says.

     You watch as your brother runs up to the Blue Lion armor, gawking at it. You frown, majorly feeling left out, and walk over to him.

     "This is so cool!" Lance says, glancing back at you. "I wish you could get one too."

     "Yep," you purse your lips.

     "Alright," Shiro says, "Let's suit up!"

     Once everyone is in their Paladin armor, Allura moves over to a table. She places her hand on the glass top and it slowly disappears, revealing four strange objects.

     "These are your bayards. The traditional weapon of the Paladins of Voltron. It takes a distinct shape for each Paladin," she says and they mystically float up and into the hands of their Paladins, transforming into a different weapon.

     Hunk gets something similar to a Gatling gun, Keith gets a sword, Lance gets an Altean rifle, and Pidge gets a handblade. But Shiro doesn't get a bayard.

     "Shiro, I'm afraid your bayard was lost with its Paladin," Allura says.

     He shrugs, "I guess I'll just have to make do."

     When everyone comes back to the main control room, the group begins to devise a plan. Coran pulls the Galra battleship diagnostics back up, and Allura talks the rest of you through it.

     "You'll need to retrieve the Red Lion from Sendak's ship," she says. "There are various areas of the ship you can enter through, but not without being spotted."

     "That's a really big ship," Keith says, "How are we going to know where the Red Lion is?"

     Pidge says, "It's not a matter of we, it's a matter of you."

     "Yeah!" Hunk says, "Once we get you in there, you'll be able to feel the Red Lion's presence and track it down."

     "You know how you felt that crazy energy while we were in the desert?" Lance asks.

     "Yeah, you made fun of me for it," Keith frowns.

     "And I'm proud of it," Lance smirks, "But turns out, it's just like that."

     "Keith," Allura says and he looks at her, "Remember, the Red Lion is extremely temperamental. You'll have to earn its respect."

     "Alright," Shiro says, placing a reassuring hand on Keith's shoulder. "Here's our plan of attack...

     "The Galra empire knows about the Blue and Yellow Lions, but they don't know about the Green Lion. Hunk and Lance, you'll act as a decoy by pretending to give yourselves up. Keith, Pidge, and I will sneak onto the ship in the Green Lion. Keith and I will find the Red Lion while Pidge guards our exit. Hunk and Lance, you need to find some way to take down that ion canon in the meantime."

     "Let me come with," you say, "I want to help."

     "I don't think there's anything you can do other than stay here with Allura and Coran," Shiro says. "Besides, you don't have any armor or weapons."

     "I'm sure there's some spare stuff," you say, hoping to persuade him. "I don't want to sit here and wait around. I can help you guys find the Red Lion."

     Shiro stares at you for a moment, considering. He then sighs, "Fine. Allura, is there another suit of armor (y/n) can use?"

[graycats-arcane-blog]

Lightcannon Week, Day 8 Fic!

Prompt: Free day (wingfic)

Title: Shooting Star

Rating: T

Length: 3.3k words

AO3: link

@lightcannonweek

Synopsis:

Lux feels defeated after a mageseeker's net pulls her from the sky.

Meanwhile, Jinx is looking for a shooting star.

Reference:

A blue jay, seen from the back. Photo by Brian Kushner, Audubon Photography Awards

A white-tailed kite in flight the wings are mostly white, darkening to gray on the primary feathers, with a dark marking at the curve of each wing. Photo by Matt Davis, Macaulay Library

. . .

Everyone had a little magic in them. No one would get off the ground otherwise.

Magic was the force that made people weightless when the sky called them. It stole the heft from the most cumbersome pieces of the human torso, causing each long, leaden leg to float like a feather rather than dangle like a pendulum. There was a shift in weight, a shift in strength, as if all the power in one's body were gathering around the muscles of their second shoulders where their wings attached. Without magic, no being in Runeterra, no matter how broad nor how swift their wings were, would have the strength to launch their bodies into flight.

Lux was born with far more magic than the small amount needed to fly. Her power ran dangerously deep, as far as Demacian opinion was concerned. In other regions of Runeterra, those with strong magic were admired, especially when their arcane skills proved to be useful, but Demacia, on the other hand, never forgot nor forgave the terrors that magic had wrought in wars of old. Any Demacian with strong magic was imprisoned, or worse, trained to hunt and harm their own kind.

That was why Lux had needed to flee.

That was why she had been chased.

That was why, just when she'd dared to hope that her pursuers were falling behind, one of them had tossed a net threaded with beads of petricite into her path.

No mage was allowed to escape Demacia. No mage was allowed to fly free.

Dazed and entangled, Lux plummeted. The light in her luminous kite-wings blazed in one last show of defiance before fading into darkness.

. . .

When she woke, Lux was hanging in the net, breathing slow mouthfuls of cold, sour air. Some of the beaded ropes had snagged onto a bit of rusty gutter cutting out awkwardly from a sloping rooftop. The roof tiles were broken along the telltale trail where her body had landed and rolled down.

Groaning, Lux swept her bleary eyes over her dark, derelict surroundings. She'd fallen into some sort of vertical city built layer over layer, so high - or, perhaps, so deep - that the top wasn't visible. About three stories up, a gauzy haze fuzzed the air, hiding the starry sky from view. If it weren't for the flickering streetlamp standing just past the gutter, Lux wouldn't have been able to see a thing in the darkness.

No sooner had she wondered if the city's residents might take pity on her than a glimpse of masked figures descending from the fog dashed her hopes.

The mageseekers had tracked her descent, and now, they'd come to collect their quarry.

One of them landed heavily on the walkway next to the streetlamp, shaking out his dark, glossy starling-wings before furling them against his back. He looked up at Lux, cocking his head to the side. "I'm glad you survived your fall, Lady Crownguard," he said smoothly. "I know you don't understand it now, but we only want to help you. You'll be grateful, in time."

Another two mageseekers landed on the rooftop, one on either side of Lux, their smoky petrel-wings long and gloomy. They reached for her net, their hands shod in thick, leather gloves, and didn't falter when they grasped the ropes beaded in petricite.

"Haul her up," the leader of the hunt called to his fellows as more mageseekers landed beside him. "I know it's been a long trek, but we must return Lady Crownguard swiftly. With the wind under our wings, we may cross back over Demacia's borders in a week's time."

Magic-draining weakness riddled Lux's body. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes.

Why couldn't they just let me fly away?

As her captors tugged her bonds free of the gutter and dragged her up onto the roof, she could feel her feathers fraying and getting caked with dust from their rough treatment. She shivered - the air was as chilly as it was dark. It was easy to let despair overtake her in this state, to let her mind go numb and lose focus of her surroundings.

She'd almost dissociated completely when a note of song snuck into her ears.

It was comforting and light, fluttering softly like a friendly spirit in the darkness. Instinct told Lux that these notes spoke of hopefulness and excitement, of anticipation, of a search for something wonderful. The song reminded Lux of her own search for freedom, and although her hunt had failed, she felt better for having this song in her hazy mind. She would have to remember the tune when the mageseekers returned her to Demacia - perhaps it would comfort her in her imprisonment.

“Save your songs for when we’re back in the air,” The leader of the hunt called up. “Let’s avoid attracting the attention of the locals. This strange place doesn’t sit well with me.”

“The song isn’t ours,” one of the petrel-winged mageseekers called back. “One of the locals may already be near.”

To Lux's dismay, the song trailed off. However, she had little time to mourn before an unseen voice said, “Oh, the local is near alright!"

The voice that echoed eerily around them as if it were flowing through every pipe and gutter in the vicinity, coming from everywhere, pinned down to nowhere. Lux could feel her captors’ grip on the net tighten as they turned their heads, searching for the source of the voice.

“Who goes there?” shouted the leader of the hunt. “Step into the light and state your name!”

“Hmmm…" The voice's hum thrummed through the rooftop, making Lux's feathers tremble. "Nah, I’m good.”

The leader of the hunt straightened his back, flaring his glossy, speckled starling-wings. His wings assumed a tense, half-furled position, partially on display, partially wound-up as if he intended to punch someone with his wing-joints. This was a show of threat. “This is no game, dark-dweller,” he warned. “By order of the Mageseekers of Demacia, reveal yourself!”

“Tell you what,” The voice replied, her tone far more playful than a response to a threat display ought to be. The voice had seemed to speak from atop the opposite building, but when it resumed speech a moment later, it resonated from under the walkway. “If you can answer a suuuper easy question, I’ll let ya get a good look at me, just like you asked for! How’s that sound, stranger?”

Lux could see the feathers lifting along the head hunter’s back as he cautiously eyed the metal panels beneath his feet. “I don’t entertain riddles.”

The voice laughed, and the laugh bounced all over the walls and rooftops, haunting in its pervasive presence. “my question isn't a riddle, silly!” she chuffed. “I just wanna know where the star fell!"

“… The star?” The lead hunter said slowly.

“The shooting star!” The voice became incredulous as she continued, “Even you dumb-dumbs had to have seen it! The light trail hit the fog just above here; it must’ve flown right by ya! C’mon, tell me where it went!”

Understanding filled the hunter’s face, and his mouth curled into a derisive scowl. “The light you saw is no concern of yours," he spat harshly. Tipping his head up to show of the condescending gleam in his eyes, he added in a magnanimous sneer, "Leave this place, and think of the light no more.”

“Awww, but I reeeally wanna have it,” The voice complained. Her petulance was almost childlike, if a child could make their voice resonate through the street as if their words were spoken by the shadows themselves. “If you tell me where it is, I might even let you live!”

At that ominous offer, the wings of all the surrounding mageseekers flared into threat displays. Most of those wings, well-trained over years of hunts, were stiff and steady. However, the youngest mageseekers’ wings were trembling. “Don’t test us, dark-dweller,” threatened the lead hunter. “Leave, and keep your life!”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk… Those are some fighty words for a bird out of their element. Didn’t anyone ever tell you…”

The voice vanished suddenly, echoes of it rustling like a dying wind over the metal walls of the buildings. More mageseeker wings began to tremble. The voice had been spooky, but the silence was somehow worse.

Then, there was a hiss, almost more feeling than sound, which seemed to slither straight up Lux’s spine.

“... There’s monsters in the dark,” the voice whispered, and, suddenly, she was right in front of Lux.

Wings spread wide open – no, not wings, but a giant, monstrous face, flashing out of the dark with wild, round eyes and neon fangs. The petrel-winged mageseekers on either side of Lux shrieked, leaping back. Light glinted over metal as something attached to their armor, and then…

BANG!

Twin bodies of fire fell, howling, from the roof.

The mageseekers below screamed, some in fright, others in fury. A few of them launched themselves toward Lux and the monster, but the terrible face twitched, then growled in staccato like gunfire and madness. The mageseekers fell. Others tried to fly away, but they fell too, blood blooming red over skin, clothes and feathers.

Lux watched them fall numbly. Did she feel numb because of the petricite in her bindings, or because her body didn’t know how to react to the sudden presence of a monster? Maybe it was both.

In time, all went quiet. The gunfire-growl ceased, and the mageseekers on the walkway were silent as the grave. Not knowing what else to do, Lux turned her glazed eyes to the face of the monster looming over her.

How strange. The face was folding – like wings.

As the neon feathers furled away, Lux saw the small woman who’d been tucked between the halves of the monster’s face. Her wings had been so eye-catching that Lux hadn’t noticed there was a person between them. Judging by the satisfied grin on the woman’s face, that had probably been by design.

“Well!” Releasing her minigun so that it pitched down on its strap and bounced against her hip, the woman clapped her hands in finality. She shook her head, sending a pair of long, blue braids swinging. Her vibrant, magenta eyes landed on Lux. “ You don’t look too cozy!”

Lux doubted she’d find mercy at the whims of the woman who’d just gunned down an entire dispatch of mageseekers, but she pleaded anyway in a frail, tired voice, “Please… I’m not with the people you killed. Could you please set me free?”

The woman tipped her head to the side. Lux didn't know what to make of the eerie smile on her face, if it was meant to be friendly or unsettling. “Depends,” she chirped. “I’m lookin’ for a shooting star. Did you see where it went?”

Lux had a bad feeling that, if she were to say no, she wouldn’t have long to live. “… I can take you to it,” she agreed, trying not to think too hard about what would happen when the woman realized that there was no star. “ Set me free, and I’ll show it to you. ”

A broad, excited grin swept over the woman’s face. “Alrighty! Fair warning – if you fly away, I’ll put a bullet in that pretty spine!”

Wincing, Lux nodded weakly. “Okay. I won’t run.”

As the woman procured a knife from one pocket and began sawing cheerfully through the net, Lux hesitantly inquired, “If you don’t mind me asking, what do you need a shooting star for?”

“I heard they’re full of reeeally rare metals!” the woman announced eagerly. “Top-tier stuff! I’ve been itching to get my hands on star-metal and see if it’s any good for making explosives with. I mean, stars burn super hot when they fall, so star-metal's gotta pack some heat, right?”

“… That makes sense,” Lux tentatively agreed.

Damn it, this woman would be ticked off when she learned that there was no star.

“Those are some sleek wings,” the woman commented. Lux felt her prod a secondary as she pulled the net away. “What are you, some kind of falcon?”

“A kite,” Lux shared, her tone growing more sure as the net finally came off. Wings above, it felt amazing to have those petricite beads off! Euphoria trickled through Lux's veins as she stretched her strong, sleek wings out as far as they would go, showing off their backdrop of downy white and trimmings of smoky gray. As she stretched, warmth returned to the channels in her body through which magic flowed. She furled her wings back in gingerly, letting them rest at her back.

Eager to keep their conversation away from stars, Lux returned the woman's interest in wings. “Your wings… I’ve never seen anything like them. What type of bird has a neon face on its wings?”

“Ha!” The woman’s laugh resounded over the rooftop. “It’s paint," she announced proudly, extending her left wing. Lux was prepared for the monster's face this time and didn't flinch at the sight of a vivid eye and pointed teeth. "Feather-safe and glows in the dark. I made the stuff myself!”

“Wow!” Lux was genuinely curious now – that, and focusing on the woman’s artistry felt much better than focusing on her gun. “Decorating your wings? That’s a really cool idea!”

If possible, the woman’s grin grew even wider, preening under Lux's attention. “It is a good idea, right? You’d be surprised by how many people don’t get it! They all run away screaming; hardly anyone takes the time to admire ‘em!” The woman let her right wing join the left, showing off the entirety of her handiwork. “I just decorate the underwings, since those feathers are kinda boring and dusky. My back feathers, though…” She spun around, showing Lux the backs of her wings. “Look at ‘em! Cool, am I right?”

They were indeed cool, such an intense, vibrant blue that they rivaled the Demacian sky at noon. The woman's wings were interlaced with trimmings of black, white, and cyan, seeming iridescent in their vividness. To Lux, who's mind had been dredged in darkness ever since she'd fallen into this strange place, the feathers' beauty might as well have been hypnotic.

Lux forgot the red of her pursuers' spilt blood, and the red of her own highly-spillable blood as well, as her mind sunk into the enrapturing blue. Thoughtless, she trod closer, reaching out a hand. “They’re lovely,” she murmured as her fingers gently traced the shaft of a long, vibrant feather.

Lux was so enthralled by the woman’s wings that it took her several moments to realize that she'd overstepped.

Oh, shit. Had she really just touched a complete stranger’s feathers, uninvited? A stranger with a taste for murder, no less? Mind, this woman had some of the loveliest feathers Lux had ever seen…

… But now was not the time for the bird-side of Lux’s brain to start showing interest in a stranger's feather display!

Lux forced herself to step back, tucking her hand to her chest as a wave of mortified embarrassment swept through her. “Um… Yeah,” she choked out, shifting her weight awkwardly between her feet. “You have really nice feathers.”

At some point, the woman had turned her head to watch Lux over her shoulder, her back still facing Lux. The woman's feathers trembled slightly, as if ruffled by a breeze, and there appeared to be a faint blush of pink on her cheeks. The woman turned to face Lux, furling her wings back in, then cleared her throat. “ Uh … Aaanyway!” Her fingers twitched restlessly at her sides before she shoved her thumbs into her shorts-pockets. “You owe me a shooting star! Lead the way, kite!”

Lux’s spirits plummeted.

Right. The star.

“… Very well," she acceded as a sour, sick kernel of dread formed in her gut. "Just… Don’t freak out, please?”

Jinx tilted her head to the side. “ Freak out? About what?”

Lux bit her lip… Then, she spread her wings out as far as they would go, letting her feathers puff out.

The woman noticed that this was a display pose rather than a takeoff pose. Had the color in her cheeks darkened? “Hey, uh…” The woman stammered. “Just ‘cause I gave you a good look at my super-awesome wings doesn’t mean you've gotta…”

Lux pushed her magic into her wings, heat rushing through her as her light shimmered to life.

The woman’s eyes went wide. Lux could see her light reflecting in them, brightening the magenta irises even as her pupils went wide.

“Woah.”

Now, the woman was the one stepping forward, arm outstretched. Lux didn’t stop her as she pressed a thin-fingered hand into Lux’s pale underwing, and didn’t push her away even though the woman’s twitching fingers were a bit ticklish. “Shiny,” the woman murmured, her eyes not leaving the luminous feathers. “I thought angels were just a myth.”

A warm blush rushed to Lux’s cheeks. “I’m not an angel,” she said quickly, “just a mage. A light mage.”

The woman’s hand trailed down over Lux’s shining feathers. “You look pretty angelic to me. A light kite, huh? A bright-light-kite...”

Unlike Lux, the woman didn’t awkwardly pull her hand back after moments of staring. When she raised her gaze back to Lux’s, her hand was still pressed tenderly to Lux’s wing.

“I’m guessing you're the star, then,” she said.

Lux dipped her head sheepishly. “I’m sorry I can’t give you the metal you’re looking for. You seemed really excited about it.”

“Aw, it’s fine… I bet another star’s gonna roll through eventually,” the woman deflected. “It’s just a matter of time before I get my hands on some star-metal! So... where are you off to, now that you’re out of that net?”

It sounded like the woman wasn’t interested in killing her, which was nice. It was, admittedly, also nice to be near someone who didn’t look at her magic-filled wings with disgust - who was willing to touch her, even. “I don’t suppose you could recommend a place for a newcomer to find shelter?” Lux asked hopefully. “Those people you… took care of… chased me here. I’ve never traveled this far before, and I don’t know where to find a place to spend the night.”

The woman’s eyes brightened. “You know what? Seeing as how I freed you and all, I feel kinda responsible for you. Why don’t you come stay at my digs for a while?”

“Really? You’d let me stay with you?” Lux was caught off guard by the woman’s boldness. “You barely know me.”

“Well then, this’ll give us a chance to get to know each other better!” She spread her arms, gesturing to the darkness around them. “What do you say, Light-Kite? Feelin’ up to spending the night with one of the monsters in the dark?”

A strange, fizzy sensation bubbled in Lux's chest.

Be careful, warned the logical side of her brain. She set you free, but she's a killer.

Go for it, encouraged her bird side. Such nice feathers... Pretty bird... Pretty bird...

It took a massive effort for Lux to keep her cheeks from heating like the sun.

Well... Seeing as how she didn’t have any other options, she supposed that she might as well spend the night with the killer who seemed refreshingly fond of her illuminated wings. This was preferable to a night on the street, right?

Lux took a deep breath, steadying her nerves. “Lead the way,” she accepted. “By the way, it’s Lux, not Light-Kite.”

“And I’m Jinx! Jinx the Jay! The Mad Bomber! The Loose Cannon of Zaun!” Grabbing Lux’s hand, Jinx tugged her across the roof, away from the streetlight’s yellow gleam. “Welcome to the shadows, Lux the Light-Kite!”

As they dashed into the darkness, Jinx hummed a song of excitement and discovery...

... And Lux, feeling her spirits lift, joined in.

[slugdragoon]

Dungeon Appreciation Post #4 - Womb of Grief (Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux)

I mean, just look at this thing. The scale of the optional extra dungeon in SMT: SJR is something I aspire to. I mean, the original game came out for Nintendo DS in 2009, the remake (and thus this dungeon) in 2017, but the design here is truly old school.

While the dungeon itself is super recent, it follows the general design of dungeons in the main game, which is to fill just about as much of the map grid as possible on each floor, except this one has seven, and you return to it, going deeper each time as you go through the main story. Typically, you go to a lower floor and eventually open a shortcut to the one above so that you can return more easily.

The Womb of Grief makes heavy use of conveyor floor tiles and teleporter tiles with unclear destinations, classic but controversial elements in DRPGs, some say outdated. Strange Journey was notable for throwing back to these designs that have in some ways fell out of fashion, but they are classic confusion tactics. My first experience with both of these was Pokemon Blue, with conveyor tiles in the Celadon Game Corner and teleporters in Sabrina's Gym. It also has some invisible floors, and pit traps that can take you to an unfamiliar part of a lower floor. It's main characteristic is that it's huge and very difficult to traverse, and is so despite having the map fill in as you go.

In a simpler game like Pokemon, similar traps present no real problem, but are a nod to the games that inspired them both, but in the Womb of Grief, though you map the dungeon out and can try paths you haven't yet tried, the complexity is cranked to such a level that you can have a hard time keeping track of where teleporters lead that you definitely have already been through, just because there are so many to keep track of. There's also a floor where teleporters have multiple destinations depending on the order you used them in. Both enemy encounters and poison and sleep tiles will drag and punish your failures of memory and mapping, which you might need to do on paper.

Takeaways for my own game: The Womb of Grief upsets players. It's beautiful. Strange Journey directly inspired my decision to make a dungeon crawler. But, I don't want my own game to feel as oppressive, necessarily, that requires trust from the players that I as an unknown will not have. However, I do love a sprawling dungeon that feels dangerous and uncharted. I'm not necessarily as interested in having a dungeon fill literally all available space to the point it loses a readable form, but mine will have verticality, so there's a ton of space to play with layout. I don't have to use traditional conveyor tiles, but what about a slide? It's already possible to fall off ledges, so why not have pitfalls and leaps of faith? I do want the spaces to feel real and take advantage of three dimensions, which is where the intertwined maps of Dark Souls (the first) might guide me. I'm considering having the bulk of the game take place in one mega-dungeon, so I'm looking for ways to add variety within it. In that sense shortcuts to different sectors as a progression mechanic will be a must.