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windmaedchen-oceanhorn · 2 months

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More Valen & Fay Headcanons

I've done some digging today, and I found more pre-release backstories. I really needed to get my thoughts sorted and put out, so there is no drawing this time... 🙇‍♀️

Let's just say, overall, I like all these previous ideas and will use them as the basis of my headcanons, as long as it is possible to incorporate them into the current canon of AFK Journey.

So you understand what's from the beta backstories, I marked them appropriately. Since this folder is pinned publicly in the AFK Journey Discord, I assume there is no harm in sharing it here also. 💎 = Fay's backstory ⚔️ = Valen's backstory 🪙 = Atalanta's backstory 👣 = AFK Journey game

Here we go...

Stoutstone Isle is known for its gemstones and other natural riches (💎).

Fay bemoans her being inferior to her parents, both "smart" Evergreen Conservatory scholars. (👣, Fay's Mystery Theater II)

Fay has been absolutely spoiled by her grandfather, so she can be certain of his love and adoration (💎), but I can imagine that she feels insecure about her parent's love AND Valen's love for her. Valen more so than her parents, but they all kinda left her behind after all and she is beyond the moon to now be roaming the world with the Evergreen Conservatory (👣), having the chance to do stuff that'll impress them all.

I still think Valen's father is the one born into the ruling family of Stoutstone Isle. He became a scholar of the Evergreen Conservatory and got to know Valen's mother there. Both spend most time on the main continent but visit occasionally.

Valen has not forgotten his sister and he sometimes writes her a letter (💎). She hates him for leaving, but loves him for at least sending her elaborate letters from the mysterious outside world. I bet, upon meeting her bro again after so many years, the first thing she does is telling him off for his horrible handwriting. xD

I think I will stick to the explanation given here as to why Fay and Valen don't ACT like they know each other during the Remnant Peaks main story arc. I am inclined to believe, however, that for the two little sidequests "Fay's Mystery Theater I & II", they know who they are even if they are not mentioning their relationship specifically. This revelation happened off-screen and since their backstories aren't further elaborated on in-game, it isn't revealed here either. Merlin knows at that point.

They act close enough that I think it's too odd and unbelievable that they still don't recognise each other.

But I admit that they COULD be acting a lot more akin to the first AFK Journey trailer IF THEY DID know each other then.

The Japanese release is close at hand. If someone was willing to keep an eye open, it might be worth checking out their conversations in Remnant Peaks and that side quest. The Japanese like to address siblings with certain pronouns and I would not be surprised if Fay, at least, would have this implemented in her speech whenever she talks to Valen. (But how adorable would it be if Valen did the same to his little sister? xD)

Fay's backstory explains why Valen and her join Merlin in the first AFK Journey trailer. Miasma (I take it, that's maybe an early version of the corruption appearing all over the place, announcing the return of the Hypogeans) has appeared on Stoutstone Isle and Fay ventures out to find her brother and with him, a solution to the Miasma problem = trying to safe their home island. (💎) Since this doesn't quite work with current canon, I have to ditch this particular part. At least to the extend that the Miasma is known to Fay. I don't rule out that Stoutstone Isle may have to be rescued by Merlin, much like the Dark Forest, at a later point of the game.

Valen's beta-backstory made him a member of the Gray Foxes for possibly the entire 8 years after he has left home and before meeting Merlin (⚔️). However, in the current canon he reveals that he's lived in Holistone for "a long time" and the theft of the Faith Stone seems to have been a couple of years ago, too. My personal estimate is that he was about 5-6 years in Holistone… and thus about 2-3 years with the Gray Foxes.

Just as Valen was a member of the Gray Foxes for some time, so was Atalanta! In Atalanta's beta backstory it is revealed that she was a lone wolf, fighting on her own, with huge trust issues. None of her colleagues would work with her, except for Valen. When he insists to help the villagers fight after a job done, Atalanta is basically just walking away, leaving him to fight alone. Of course, while she had every intention to not turn back, she sees hidden archers about to burry their arrows in Valen's back, and she just can't NOT help after all. Without showing herself, she leaves Valen to fight alone in the front lines, but she does take out the enemies in his back. She doesn't admit it, but Valen later knows that she stayed and helped, since he found her arrows all over the battlefield. (🪙)

Even though their relationship was a professional one, and probably not a close one, I could imagine that Valen considered himself in debt to her. So when Atalanta "slipped" away from the HO in Remnant Peaks… it was, as surmised by other fans, done on purpose by Valen. In such a way that he specifically won't lose his face, though. Thus Valen might have paid back what he owed to her. I still have to think more clearly about the violence and crimes in this game, but hey, the Faith Stone WAS a pretty valuable item and proven to have been stolen by Atalanta. If she had been convicted, in all seriousness, I don't think a death penalty would be all that unlikely. Bandits are killed on the spot for way less. (See Hendrik's backstory, AFK Arena).

When Atalanta appears during Remnant Peaks, even though there is no "hi, how have you been" between her and Valen, it is HE who advocates for her being their guide. A reference to their shared past and another "opportunity" given to her to be trusted? ;-)

Reading Atalanta's backstory made me understand her a bit better. But I must still admit, that she doesn't click with me at all. I'd even say, I kinda hate her. But THAT makes me actually appreciate her existence since I can like other characters even more thanks to her. xD

And that is it for now! Thanks for considering my ideas and please do let me know what you think! You can always message me or send an ask. 🥰

#afk journey #afk valen #hcs #afk fay #afk atalanta #I am developing things as I go along #the more I learn about the lore of afk journey (or afk arena) the more I think and the more I may have to adapt #since I haven't played afk arena I am mostly focusing on afk journey BUT I will take bits and pieces from arena if I get to know them

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lumienyx · 11 months

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Could you write something about astarion getting to eat a dish with garlic in it for the first time since he became a vampire?

I assume that the tadpole would let him do that and think getting to experience food youre basically allergic to again is an experience.

Maybe it doesnt taste the way he remembers and doesnt compare to memory (based on my experience with milk based products)

Delectable Treats

A/N: honestly I just wanted to write this exact scene as is but then the idea uhhhhh well it got away from me XD not quite into crack territory (hopefully) but definitely there with a hefty dose of humor and fluff🥺 hope you enjoy✨

Rating: T | Pairing: Astarion/Male Tav | Words: 2,362

Tags: Humor, Fluff, Banter, Astarion Being Astarion, Astarion POV, Appropriate Use of Illithid Parasite Powers

Summary:

Astarion lets out the heaviest sigh he can manage, making it all kinds of dramatic; he has an audience after all. He turns to said audience, looking them straight in the eyes, and says, “Can you believe I’ve been relegated to this? By my own lover, no less.” He only gets a headshake and a slow blink in reply. “Have you nothing to say about my misfortune? At all?"

Or, after a violent altercation that leaves most of the crew dead or incapacitated, Astarion ends up cooking dinner for the newly healed and revivified. It goes as well as you… wouldn't expect, really.

Read on AO3 or under the cut ↓

Astarion lets out the heaviest sigh he can manage, making it all kinds of dramatic. He has an audience after all. He turns to said audience, looking them straight in the eyes, and says,

“Can you believe I’ve been relegated to this? By my own lover, no less.” He only gets a headshake and a slow blink in reply. “Have you nothing to say about my misfortune? At all? And this is after all the treats I’ve given you! Scratch? Tara?”

Scratch barks at him, circling around himself a few times as he wags his tail. Tara keeps staring at him with a calm, collected expression which Astarion can swear is almost sympathetic. She then allows a gentle, drawn-out meow.

“I mean, it’s like we’re just tools for them, aren’t we?” Astarion goes on, lifting the lid to check on his… experiment. Seems fine, for now at least. “You, Scratch, ever bound to chase that muddied pathetic excuse for a ball—remind me to buy a new one next time we’re out, by the way.”

He focuses once more on the spell he has active, heating the metal contraption further as the time is just about up.

“And you, Tara—are you forever fated to hunt down rare scrolls for Gale and be his comfort object?” Astarion goes on. “Well, I mean, that is what cats are—”

Tara cuts him off with a hiss.

“—I mean, tressyms are for, of course.” Tara’s hiss melds into a threatening growl, which Astarion completely ignores. “But me,” he sneers, “cooking? Beyond humiliating."

Scratch barks his agreement. Tara flaps her wings in another half-hearted threat, before sliding closer to Astarion, no doubt asking for apologetic pets.

With another painstaking sigh, Astarion relents, running his hands through her soft fur. Scratch soon joins, too, never one to miss out on affection offered freely, and so Astarion has to alternate between petting them both. As he bakes dinner. For everyone in camp but himself.

Astarion supposes it's kind of his own fault for not keeping his mouth shut but he prefers to blame everyone else anyway. Shadowheart for casting her new 'blessing' of a protection spell on them before their party left. Clueless herself that the spell would deal damage to her for every wound the targets suffer, and so she just up and died spontaneously while staying back at camp. Lae’zel up next, killed by a far-too-lucky blast to the head. Gale drained dry of almost all life within him with a necrotic energy so strong that Tav's Counterspell did nothing against it. Karlach and Wyll both trapped by Hold Person and hit by a rock—luckily not quite killed, but very much incapacitated.

The Underdark truly was a place too dark and full to the brim with terrors.

Astarion and Tav managed to avoid most of the damage; Astarion by hiding and Tav with a Globe of Invulnerability that came into effect far too late to protect the others. And so, the both of them ended up dragging dead and disfigured bodies of their friends back to camp, where Halsin, a newly resurrected Shadowheart, and Tav tended to the wounded—and Withers to the dead. The quite gory sight made even Astarion uncomfortable, the spilled blood not inducing any hunger, just crippling anxiety for those he has come to call friends.

“I suppose dinner will have to wait,” Halsin says somewhat grimly, somewhat as a joke as he takes in the gravity of the situation.

“If it’s not anything difficult,” some doubtless evil force prompted Astarion to say, “I can take care of that.”

“Can you?”

“Really?”

And suddenly, Astarion found himself directed to a meager stash of ingredients—because the bigger one is located in Gale’s pocket dimension for preserving any and all food, which they now cannot access with the wizard comatose. It’s how he finds himself here, now, opening the metal contraption serving as a poor substitute for an oven, kept hot continuously by a Heat Metal spell Tav modified to run past its one-minute time limit. Lying there on the makeshift cooking trays is perfectly cooked, aromatic garlic bread along with a few hefty pieces of beef lathered with the variety of vegetables Astarion had found in the stash. He’d thrown in the spices they had as well, and by the way the meat smelled, he’d added just the right concoction of those.

This is absolute insanity, Astarion decides. Though he can’t help but feel strangely satisfied with his efforts. He hopes, though he’s loath to admit it to himself, that Tav enjoys it, at least.

It all starts to seem even more like a fever dream as Astarion returns to the campfire to find all of his companions in an adequate state of healed or revivified. Some drinking water, some leaning hard on the booze.

“My painkiller,” Wyll insists, holding tight to his wine bottle.

“Give it back and eat first,” Shadowheart reprimands him, herself still looking more like a walking corpse than a living being.

It’s then that Astarion cuts in with the announcement that dinner seems to be, by all means, ready.

There’s skepticism, at first. Gale scowls, unable to accept that they decided to ‘trust dinner to a vampire whose diet only consists of blood and self-glorification,’ rather than wait for his rather lengthy return from nigh-eternal sleep. Tav smiles as he cuts himself his share, but the smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes, the look in them a bit apprehensive. Karlach says, well, they’ve gotten through the sheer hell sprung up on them in the Underdark, they can survive food poisoning, right?

Astarion simply lounges with his head on Tav’s lap in their childish-looking circle around the fire, wishing he could drop dead a second time in his increasingly agonizing existence. Preferably right there on the spot.

Though when Tav runs his hands through Astarion’s hair, the touch soft, and warm, and perfect—Astarion thinks that maybe that’s payment enough for enduring all this slander.

“I’ll remind you,” he says, waving in Tav and Halsin’s direction, “that you explicitly asked for this.”

“Wait, listen!” Karlach’s eyes grow wide. “Holy hells, this is actually good!”

“What?” and that’s Gale, “I don’t believe it.”

“Hm. Neither did I, but by Vlaakith, it truly does taste… palatable.”

“Palatable? The bread is fucking delicious! Astarion, how did you manage it?”

“Is it a flavor illusion?”

“Did you steal it?”

“Did you hire one of your ghouls to do it?”

“No, ghouls wouldn’t know how to cook, Tav, stop acting the idiot. But maybe he has some imprisoned, tortured chef we’re unaware of?”

“Honestly, sweet Shadowheart.” Astarion lifts his hand to his chest in mock offense. “I would never stoop so low.”

“Then how?” Gale frowns, chewing slowly, so evidently confused as to why he isn’t disgusted by it.

Astarion only grins. “Trade secret.” Mentioning nothing of how he was himself quite concerned about the end result. He hasn’t cooked anything in hundreds of years—what felt like eternity, really.

But there was a time—and the memory of that time is too precious and painful to be lost even to Cazador’s hold. A time when his mother fell ill of a magical ailment that required a most complex and lengthy treatment. When his father was ever so busy with magistrate business, begging his only son to support his mother in any way he could at home while he worked his way up, growing desperate as their family fortune dwindled. And so, Astarion had to learn to cook from scratch, opting for baking and boiling with just the right concoction of spices to make even laughably simple meals tasty nonetheless. Something his mother could stomach even during the most severe fevers and his father would eat cold as he returned from late nights at the office. Astarion barely remembers either of their faces, barely allows himself to utter their names in his mind, but these flashes of memory stay etched too deep into his brain to be forgotten.

“Well, I admit it,” Wyll says then, returning Astarion’s attention to the present. “I owe you an apology for the mistrust, Astarion. But I honestly thought this would taste like ashes in my mouth.”

“It would only taste like that to me,” Astarion says, “don’t you worry.”

“Oh!” Tav throws him a strange look. Astarion still can’t quite get used to the beauty of those eyes, especially as they reflect the firelight, blue and green reflecting the flame’s auburn hue. “I just wanted to offer you to try. I—I forgot, sorry.”

Astarion shrugs. “No need to apologize, darling,” he mutters, “it's my burden to bear.”

“But it’s literally melting in my mouth, it’s that good!” Karlach persists, quite loudly.

“I’d say it might just be because of the…” Shadowheart motions at the entirety of Karlach. “The heat, but I agree.”

And so commences another round of compliments Astarion can’t quite deny are lifting his mood.

Well. Seems like he’s valued after all. He sees Scratch and Tara watching him through half-lidded eyes as they doze by the fire. Envious, no doubt.

“Listen,” Tav says suddenly, putting away his plate, the food just half-finished.

Astarion asks, “Something wrong?” from where he’s still resting on Tav’s lap.

“Not at all.” Tav has that dangerous glint in his eyes, the same one he gets when he’s describing a new terrifying way he’s bent metamagic to do his (sometimes downright insane) bidding. “I was just thinking.”

“Quite dangerous for us all,” Astarion remarks, lifting himself up to sit facing his lover, “if you’re thinking of doing something… questionable again.”

“When have I ever made a so-called ‘questionable’ choice, love?”

“Oh! Remember that time you crushed me—and Gale by the way—with that bloody sun temple?”

“Anyway.” Tav averts his eyes. Astarion is glad to see he’s still embarrassed about that particular debacle. “What I was thinking is that… the tadpoles allow us to read each other's thoughts, yes? And use the other’s senses—I mean it worked when I showed you your face, right?”

Astarion’s already slow enough heart skips a drawn-out beat as he remembers. Connected to Tav’s mind, resonant with his soul, seeing through his eyes: a reflection Astarion has all but forgotten. Silver curls framing a face that seemed so new yet painfully familiar. Red eyes staring back at him—a prettier shade than the gory blood-red he’s always imagined.

“I remember,” he says, “how could I forget? You insist on showing it to me every day.”

Tav smiles. “Because it makes you happy.” And Astarion can’t help but smile in turn. It does.

Tav opens his mouth as if to say something, then thinks better of it. Chews on his lip, considering. Then finally asks, “Let me in?”

Astarion frowns at the proposition, still unsure of what Tav has on his mind. But he’s long gotten over the initial distrust he harbored. There really is no going back, Astarion supposes, now that he’s shown his cards and revealed just how much he cherishes Tav, relishes his closeness. How thankful he is for Tav's painfully earnest sympathy regarding Astarion’s past interfering with the present. His patience is another precious gift, as Astarion grows used to the simplest touches once more, just now comfortable with all kinds of intimacy that don’t quite lead further, thoroughly enjoying the chastest of kisses.

And so, “All right,” Astarion says. Closes his eyes and opens his mind to Tav’s.

It feels familiar, a rush of warmth that makes him shudder. A foreign presence in his thoughts that’s welcomed, because it comes with peace and no hint of deception.

“Open your eyes,” Tav prompts, then. Astarion does—only to see Tav offering him a piece of the garlic bread from his plate.

“I can’t—”

“Just try it.”

Frowning, quite confused, Astarion still accepts the piece. Takes a tiny bite and—

“Oh.” His eyes grow wide. “Hells. What the?..”

“It worked?” And Tav is smiling at him, that childlike joy illuminating his face as it so often does. “I supposed that the senses we share through the connection aren't just limited to sight. It could be taste as well. How is it?”

“Erm,” Astarion himself is quite speechless, too focused on the taste buds that are finally working the way they’re supposed to. The bread is sweet-tinged with a slightly salty base, so soft it melts on his tongue, buttery but not overly so. “It’s. Well. Uh. I can taste it. ”

“You can.”

“It’s… strange. Such a… unique flavor. I don’t even have a memory to compare it to,” Astarion muses, treating himself to another bite. "It's quite like I'm trying it for the first time." He mirrors Tav’s smile unconsciously, feeling a giddy kind of happiness bubbling in his chest. He can’t quite tell whose it is. Maybe it stems from them both. “But actually—it’s delectable, if I say so myself.”

“See what I mean?” Gale grumbles from someplace too far off to bother Astarion’s reverie. “Thrives on self-glorification.”

“Thank you, my love.” Astarion leans in for a gentle kiss. Draws it out, moving his lips softly against Tav’s, melding their thoughts so that what forms is one unified feeling of contentment. Happiness. Love—the most delightful gift Astarion’s been given. “Still, you make my life all the better,” Astarion whispers as he draws away. “You treat me so kindly and yet ask for no favors in return. I’m feeling increasingly guilty about it, truth be told.”

“Don’t.” Tav shakes his head. “You don’t owe me anything. Your happiness is a reward precious enough.”

“And how do I make you happy?” Astarion demands. “Right now, this very moment?”

Tav sneaks a glance at the others, who are all doing a rather piss poor job of ignoring Tav and Astarion’s little moment of closeness.

“Let’s get away,” Tav suggests, voice barely above a whisper. “Enjoy dinner in private. If I get a few more of those kisses out of you—I might just be the luckiest person alive.”

“Darling.” Astarion grins at the idea, though Tav must already feel his excitement through their connection. “Nothing would please me more.”

~~~

thank you for the read💙 I'd love to hear your thoughts if you enjoyed it!🥺

tag list (lmk if you'd like to be added!):

@spacebarbarianweird, @satanicspinosaurus, @tallymonster, @tragedybunny

#prompt fill #astarion x tav #astarion x male tav #astarion #astarion ancunin #bg3 astarion #lumi writes #astarion fanfic #bg3 #baldur’s gate 3

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river-muse · 2 months

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How do you think the DMC crew handles dancing?

Hello Prototype! I forgot to answer this ask yesterday because I received it in the middle of playing in my Starfinder campaign, so I'm answering this right as I wake up instead xD

Hmm. I could go the easy route and say "I can use the EX Provocations in DMC5 as my main evidence" but something about that feels almost like I'm chickening out of a challenge. So time for me to dig into my brain and see what comes to mind! (I might not hit the mark for what you're looking for but this was fun.)

Dante's shown very much throughout the series he can be a showoff if he feels like it- especially when claiming and testing out new Devil Arms. That man can definitely dance and will if he so feels like it (though it's questionable how modern his dance moves are even if Patty's tried to teach him some). I won't say you'll be catching him at the club anytime soon for his own entertainment, but when the mood strikes him he'll dance. It's just a shame more often than not that his audience ends up being demons who're about to get their asses kicked.

Vergil. You know, it would be so simple but so dismissive of him as a character to just be like "he doesn't dance." Instead imagine if he DOES know how to dance(probably the basics of a few styles from observation but mostly self-taught), maybe even better than Dante can. Yet- he thinks he's cringe as hell about it. So he sometimes dances when alone and Sparda help anyone who stumbles in on that. He'd probably tell them not to say anything then won't talk for a day or so not because he's pissed but because he's embarrassed.

Lady probably had taken dance lessons when she was younger. Most likely something like ballet. She seems like the type who would have been neutral about it- but definitely happy to quit the moment she had the chance. The basics of those lessons helped serve as a good foundation for her later demon hunting job. It's not uncommon in real life either for athletes of all kinds taking ballet to help their own profession, so it's not too far off to think the same could apply for Lady's own skills. I think she still does warm-ups when she has time to help maintain her body. Since she classifies her physical health as part of her work she doesn't care if anyone sees. She doesn't dance much anymore- but sometimes she thinks about trying it again.

Nero's not a fan of dancing in public(in this context places not overrun by demons) or around strangers. He'll jam to a good beat if it catches his attention. Nod his head to it a little or even headbang if the music's appropriate. In private? I think he enjoys dancing. Especially if sweeping Kyrie into his arms for a bit can get her laughing after either of them have had a rough day. He doesn't mind if Nico or anyone else from the Devil May Cry crew sees them. Though if Julio jokingly yells "ew" as loud as he can again then the little troublemaker's going to have a stern talking to.

Trish likes dancing. Not around or with anyone she knows, though Lady is an exception to that. She's probably tried a few styles out over the years and hasn't found a favorite yet to stick with for the long haul. If she ever asks Lady to join her either in private or at a club it's constant excuses as to why Lady won't dance with her- but the way Lady watches her is borderline envious.

Nico will swear up and down that she won't dance for no one, but the moment she gets one too many beers in her during downtime I think she loses that fight before it even starts. Put on one of her favorite songs and soon enough someone has to drag her ass back into her seat so she doesn't end up climbing onto the table. If called out about it later she'll defend herself- but won't deny that she did in fact end up dancing.

BONUS ROUND - Propaganda Edition

Patty absolutely loves dancing, and jumps at any chance to try out something new. Especially if it requires a dance partner so she can bug Dante to help her practice when he's lazing around the shop (he won't help unless she bribes him with strawberry sundaes or a good pizza). She'll say to his face that he has two left feet and a dance bar would be better than him even on a good day- but she knows he's just trying to wiggle his way out of their deal the moment he gets a chance.

#This was so much fun #So I threw in an extra treat for you at the end #Prototype beloved <3

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mappsiemakesthings · 1 year

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I'm very low-key participating in the Tour de Fleece with my goals being

to spin a little whenever I can so it doesn't need to be every day

to spin what brings me joy in the moment, so i'm not "locked" into a specific project

So far, I can report the following:

I finished a single turtle with more of "Mondschaf" fluff.

It's gonna be chainplied when my plying spindle has been freed from its current entanglement of:

chainplied Zwartbless (my beloved 💕)

I also started a plying turtle with my Super Hightech plying contraption:

The blue yellow thing is spun from what i call the Paz Fluff. The white is Alpaca from my hometown which i spun on my little Nano 2. I have more hometown-grown fluff in brown and black, so I might go for a little sorta gradient here, we'll see ^_^

I wanna knit (!) a Paz Hug Shawl bc if I can't hug fictional people I can at least make something with their main colours and wrap myself up in it xD

This is a very longterm project. I expect it to be done in 3-4 years or so. The alpaca fluff might be carded but there's a lot of VM in there, so it needs more prepping time. Then spinning up like 400g each of Paz Fluff and Alpaca Fluff. Then plying. Then knitting. And all at my slow pace.

So, yeah, 3-4 years seem appropriate xD

I also have this one with merino and silk in the backburner which I might take with me on my oncoming journeys, though it seems to be prone to felt quite a bit.

Yeah..

So, Hiiiii fellow TdF participants 👋😊

#tdf 2023 #mappsie spins #hand spinning #drop spindle #handspun yarn #tour de fleece 2023

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ericvelseb666 · 7 months

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Hey, i know this is going to be a weird question, but I was making art for the whole Bob and Eric shark Au thing, as well as Nina being the beach go-er but before i posted it i was unsure if the swimwear for Nina is appropriate or not. I don't want to end up upsetting you or having one of your characters portrayed incorrectly or in any light. I guess I'm being a little too nervous and anxious, but this is the first time I actually drew swimwear from what i remember and I'm scared I am doing something wrong.

Sorry for the strange question.

Oh it's quite alright since I'm an adult (22) so Nina having swimwear is quite alright! It's fine that you asked me first so it's quite alright since I already have a sketch of Orca Eric and Nina in progress and....wait...hold on...*holds up binoculars* is that...oh crap seems like Orca Eric has a sea monster form as well?! Oh I like that! He reminds me of the kraken Bob Au and the Nightmare Bob Au! (Combined)

Anyway, yeah it's quite fine to give Nina some swimwear, she would wear a swimwear similar to Luna's (since she based off Luna) but Bob would cover her up quickly when a guy goes near her xD

Similar to this: Art by Wynterstar93 on da

So it's quite alright! 💗

You're always free to ask questions about my characters

Bob when someone just glares at Nina: 😠

#spooky month #spooky month oc #nina velseb #nina velseb spooky month #bob velseb #spooky month bob velseb #bob velseb x oc #eric velseb #eric velseb spooky month #spooky month au #digital art #art

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the-fab-fox · 3 months

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Hi, @ocean-blue-orchids here :>

Normally I’m shy about sending in requests but I know how it feels to have that NEED to write requests but an empty inbox so here I am :’3

Requesting a one shot (or headcannons, up to you), platonic, with my Octavinelle oc Wiro Scribe, with any of the Octavinelle characters! Azul or a Tweel, take your pick!

Quick info on Wiro but feel free to dm if you have questions, and here’s his blog which has a small introduction - @trappedinoctavihelle

Wiro Scribe is a freshman who, despite his love for programming and his antisocial (bullied) tendencies, got sorted into Octavinelle instead of Ignihyde. He’s a short guy with white hair and freckles all over pale “doesn’t go outside” gamer skin. He’s timid, afraid of his own shadow, and despite trying his best to avoid trouble, he has a horrible habit of falling into it (He probably ends up on the side of the prefect during chapter 3, getting kicked out of the dorm for three days in the process). He’s in NRC because despite him having the disposition of a sad wet puppy, when backed into a corner he will resort to nasty tactics. He has a glass eye and his unique magic lets him see through others eyes for five minutes a day. He is also from flower town, so grapes are his favorite food.

He is scared of azul, TERRIFIED of the tweels. After the events of chapter three (assuming he gets off the hook for helping the prefect) he’s a bit less afraid of the Octatrio, and is able to at least hold a conversation with them. Wiro has such an obvious crush on the freshman characters, it’s so bad and probably part of the reason he helps the prefect (he would probably end up part of the freshman polycule). He’s the pop music club’s sound mixer which has worked out ok for him. He works reception at the Mostro Lounge. Oh, and Floyd calls him Seaglass since he’s so jittery and he’s got those bigbig eyes..

(Thanks for taking the time to read this! Hope you don’t mind the long infodump)

| Request Fill for @ocean-blue-orchids. To find out how to request your own, check out this post here. |

Welp this got MUCH longer than I planned but it's Floyd POV and you don't really argue with him so...

Hope you enjoy it and that it's close to what you wanted! Thank you kindly for the request, @ocean-blue-orchids. I had a great time getting to know your Twst!OC. Hope I did them justice!

[Request Fill under cut for length. (Not edited as I don't plan to have these requests edited. XD my beta has more than enough to edit with my current twst series on AO3.)]

—

Floyd was bored too say the least. Honestly. Ever since Sea Slug's overblot was annihilated everything seemed to quiet down and had become very hum-drum.

Which really didn't suit the eccentric moray-mer. Not at that moment, anyway.

“This suuuuucks. I want someone to pester and tease.”

A chuckle reached his ear and he rolled his eyes at his twin.

“You're just as bored as me, so don't even start.”

Jade raised a brow before grinning unrestrainedly, showing off far too many teeth than most humans would be comfortable seeing. It did nothing to Floyd who had an identical smile.

“I would like to think I'm smart enough to not ‘start’ anything with you that I would have no hope of winning. That said, you are quite correct. It has become increasingly dull as of late.”

Just then, Azul strode into the Monstro Lounge, carrying what looked like and endless stack of papers. He was heading their way and Floyd’s expression became disgusted.

“Nope. Not doing it. No papers for me today, thanks.”

Azul sighed in that haughty way of his. When it was directed at others, Floyd found it to be one of the best sounds in the world. When it was directed at him, it pissed him off to no end.

Jade chuckled in that amused but tentative way of his where Azul was concerned. The tentative part was a smokescreen, of course. There was no part of his twin that was truly tentative.

“Don't fret, Floyd. Azul asked me, as is appropriate considering I am the Vice Housewarden, to assist with paperwork today.”

“Good. I'd say have fun but I don't think paperwork is any fun at all so I won't.”

He went back to grumbling to himself about the lack of stimulation when another student came in and looked around. The dormmate in question gave an amusing squeak when his eyes met Floyd's and the moray smirked.

Ah, right on time!

“Oh, hey there lil Glass Squid. What's got you here off hours? If you're looking for some fun I'm looking for the same. Why don't you come talk with us for awhile, huh?”

Like clockwork, Jade chimed in.

“Ah, if it isn't Wiro. Yes, it has been too long, hasn't it Floyd? I think the four of us are long overdue for a little chat. Don't you agree, Azul?”

Azul, who had been sorting out the papers into piles, looked up and glanced over in the direction his childhood friends were looking. A smirk slipped onto his face but he quickly covered it with his hand until he could smooth out his expression into one of concern.

“Ah, Wiro! Yes, quite. Why not come sit and we can have a nice, long conversation.”

The Octavinelle first year narrowed his eyes, one blue and uncanny and the other green, as his mouth formed a set line.

It was clear to Floyd—just as he was certain it was clear to Jade and Azul—that their little firstie had no desire to have any length of conversation with the three of them, much less a long one. Immediately, Floyd could feel his mood lighten.

“Aww, come on, Glass Squid. Why not pop that eye out and we can play a little ‘Squidy-in-the-Middle’. You'd be the Squidy, obviously.”

Wiro crossed his arms with a scowl. “You three don't scare me anymore so whatever this is, you guys can just… just not.”

“Oooh, Glass Squid’s got a little bite in him today. That's okay, I like when my prey fight back.”

Jade snickered as Azul chuckled.

“Did you hear?” Jade began, as if he were just bringing up the weather or something equally as ordinary. “That little Wiro here got himself not just one but six boyfriends.”

Azul blanched at that, his mask slipping. Floyd took on a surprised look but grinned.

“Hell yeah. Glass Squidy doesn't play around anymore, do you, dude?”

Wiro was blushing but said nothing.

“Six…six boyfriends. I can't imagine you have enough time to finish your homework with so many partners to contend with. Who even are these boyfriends?”

Wiro was tight-lipped but it didn't matter. Jade chuckled.

“Would you believe that he joined both Ace and Deuce in their relationship as well as Jack and Epel only for Epel and Deuce to suggest they just be together in a polycule?”

Azul and Floyd raised their brows before looking at Wiro with more consideration than he'd ever given them before.

“That's only four not counting our very own Wiro. Who are the other two?” Azul asked. Jade smiled pleasantly, his sharp eyes not leaving the first year for a second.

“Well, Yuu joined the five of them not long after. The part that makes the least sense to me… is Sebek is the sixth member.”

Floyd let out a huge guffaw at that causing Azul to cringe at the sharp noise as his twin chuckled.

“I'm sorry… I thought I heard you say Crocodile is part of this first year love fest. You're pulling my leg, right, Jade?”

“Not in the slightest, Floyd. Ask him yourself.”

“No. Don't bother asking me. Who I'm dating is none of your business.”

“But you got Crocodile to date you and lil Shrimpy to boot. Not bad, Glass Squid. Not bad.”

The first year seemed surprised but pleased with the praise.

“Well, then be prepared to be even more amazed ‘cuz Sebek was the easiest to get to join.”

The three older students laughed, obviously amused by the fiery show.

“Well, regardless of how or why it happened, it's apparently having a good effect on you. Still, if you didn't come for a chat, why are you here, Wiro?”

It was a fair question, Floyd supposed. A boring one but fair.

He was also interested in the reason why as well, for all the question was boring.

“Oh, right! Yeah. Azul the Headmage is looking for you.”

That got Azul’s attention immediately. Floyd and Jade smirked as their childhood friend sat up straight before getting up just as briskly. His light purple-blue eyes glared at Wiro, who just barely held back a smirk.

“Why did you not lead with that upon your arrival,” he asked, irritation laced in his words even as he tried to keep his voice as neutral as possible.

Wiro smiled in a fake pleasant smile as he crossed his hands behind his back. It was generally a sign of respect but for this little squid it was all show. Floyd could tell.

Huh, lil guy is finally learning the way things are done around here. Good for him.

“Ah, I was planning on it until you all decided to pick on me. Tit for tat, and all that. Isn't that what you wish us to learn?”

Touché, buddy. Touché.

Azul narrowed his eyes but Floyd could see that even he was impressed at how well their little firstie was holding his own. It was a far cry from the way he'd been back before Azul's overblot.

Refreshing, really.

Floyd also no longer felt bored.

“Well, get outta here before we decide to put you to work.”

Wiro didn't seem to need telling twice, quickly making his exit as Azul sighed again.

“What in the Sea Witch’s benevolence could that imbecile want now? When I've already got so much work to do?”

Jade sighed and shrugged. “I haven't the slightest clue but I must admit I'm intrigued. For all he is a useless educator, you can't deny that things get interesting when he comes to call.”

Floyd perked up at that. “You're so right. I say we go hunt him out and find out what it is he wants. Then Azul can do what he does best and make sure it's worth our time.”

Azul sighed again. “You both make excellent points. Very well. Floyd, you'll come with me for bargaining and contingency purposes. Jade, I'll leave the paperwork to you and we'll fill you in when we return.”

“Of course. I would expect nothing less. Have fun with you two but not too much. We do want to stay on our esteemed Headmage’s good side.”

Azul scoffed at that. “For how much he gets from the Monstro Lounge’s profits, it would be in his best interest to keep the three of us on his good side.”

The twins agreed and with that they got to work—Jade digging into the paperwork as Azul and Floyd took their leave to hunt down—that was to say seek out—Headmage Crowley.

#request fill #twst #twst oc #floyd leech #jade leech #azul ashengrotto #first years x oc #platonic #teasing #banter

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tarisilmarwen · 1 year

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Rebels Rewatch: "Twin Suns"

In which the end of the Malachor arc is profoundly beautiful.

First off, obligatory live reaction version from 2017.

Second, I would be remiss if I did not link back to this close read of "Twin Suns" (by greenreticule here on Tumblr), from which I draw quite a bit of my own analysis and opinions about the themes and messages of the episode. Check it out sometime, there's ten parts (technically eleven but the last post in the series is more of a memoir/personal reflection by the author and therefore not as relevant to our meta purposes) and it is a loooooong read but worth it, in my opinion. I don't always agree with every single point of the analysis (the stuff about the Sequel Trilogy, for example) but there's a lot of things that resonate and that I incorporate into my own interpretation of the episode so I figured I'd mention the source.

Onwards!

Rather appropriately we open on a shot of the titular twin suns themselves.

The next series of shots are stark and empty, nothing but the vast white desert, emphasizing the loneliness and isolation of both Tatooine itself, and Maul in particular.

And he is not, ah... taking Ezra's rejection or the long wanderings out in the desert well. To say the least.

From this first opening monologue we can already tell that Maul is fraying. He spent ten years in the depths of madness and it seems like he's descending into madness once again. Even his clothing reflects this, sandblasted and torn, a ragged hood recalling the one he wore at the beginning of Malachor as he feigned being weak and decrepit, and uneven wrappings circling his arms, asymmetrically.

His mood swings from "Visions and Voices" are more pronounced, one moment warbling pitifully about being lost, about being so close to his target, the next shrieking Obi-Wan's name skyward like an obscenity.

Obi-Wan has managed to elude him all this time since Dathomir, and Maul is beginning to get desperate.

RIGHT, SO THIS IS THE PART WHERE I GET BACK INTO MY BLUBBERING KENOBI SHOW FEELINGS BECAUSE "JEDI CANNOT HELP WHAT THEY ARE. THEIR COMPASSION LEAVES A TRAIL. THE JEDI CODE IS LIKE AN ITCH. [THEY] CANNOT HELP IT." AND SOB FOREVER ABOUT HOW WHOEVER IT WAS ON THE WRITING TEAM THAT CAME UP WITH THAT RAW-ASS LINE, THEY UNDERSTOOD THE ASSIGNMENT.

So not only is this a callback to the previous times Maul lured Obi-Wan out to him in TCW, this now also a call-forward to Kenobi and I just want y'all to appreciate for a moment that Maul is using the exact same tactic on two different Jedi, simultaneously.

Maul is luring Ezra and taking advantage of Ezra's compassion, hero complex, guilt complex, and sense of hyper-responsibility, in order to then exploit Obi-Wan's compassion and protector-guardian streak, so that he can kill Obi-Wan when Obi-Wan comes to Ezra's rescue.

Because that's what Jedi do, that's what Jedi are, the Jedi Code is like an itch they cannot help it--frick man, I'm already emotional and we're not even two minutes in.

A general overview of the music this episode, and I'll comment on specific cues as they happen, but I mostly want to point out the frequent lack of music, actually. This episode is very stripped down in terms of theme and instrumentation and there are long stretches of utter silence, to help us absorb the atmosphere. It's very effective in making Tatooine feel utterly desolate, like we're alone on this journey with the characters.

This episode had originally been very ambitious, we've been told from behind-the-scenes commentary, longer, more complex, a lot more plot points, but as it was coming together they very wisely pared it way down to the barebone tacks, cutting out all the excesses and stripping things down to a simple character journey narrative, making the resulting story that much more profound and intimate.

(Plus the saved budget allowed us to get some absolutely gorgeous animation and new pajamas for Ezra. XD)

He looks so comfy in them.

This sequence is heavily styled after the cold open in "Legacy", camera movement and shot choice almost exactly matching. This is not a coincidence, as the basic premise of both episodes is the same: Ezra receives a vision through the Force, and it moves him to action.

Unlike in "Legacy", however, when the Force itself was moving to comfort Ezra and connect him to the voices and images of his parents one last time before their death, this vision is artificially constructed, sent to him by Maul--like the ones in "Visions and Voices"--to deliberately manipulate him, pull him away from his support network, make him act out of fear.

A false Call To Action, in an artificial Hero's Journey narrative that Maul has constructed for Ezra to follow. (More on that later.)

Side note, completely unrelated to all this meta, but an observation I just want to point out: It's the middle of the night and Kanan is not in his room on the Ghost. Where exactly was he eh? Perhaps a certain Twi'lek pilot's room? *eyebrow waggle*

Anyway, after Ezra's Weird Force Tele-Distance Holocron Call we move to a scene that is a bit heavy in the exposition department, by virtue of it having to hold the burden of the extra plotlines they pared down. It's maybe not quite as effective as it could have been but it serves its purpose: It establishes that they identified the "desert planet with two suns" as Tatooine sometime offscreen, and that they asked about Obi-Wan and Bail Organa lied through his teeth about the man being dead. So therefore they must have decided to give the matter up, and let Maul chase ghosts in the Tatooine sands.

Rex being clearly distraught at Obi-Wan's assumed death. :(

Kanan also reminds Ezra that the last visions he got from and about Maul were a trick designed to manipulate him.

Ezra's insistent though, as he always tends to be whenever the notion of being able to obtain "the key to destroying the Sith" pops up. So Hera takes him aside for a moment.

Her face and how often she touches Ezra's arms and shoulders in this scene hurts. :( And the strain in her voice when she asserts that if Obi-Wan were alive he wouldn't be hiding in the desert, he'd be helping them, Hera understands Jedi nature too, she just hasn't gotten the full picture, doesn't know the reason why Obi-Wan is doing... well... exactly that.

This is where the story beat parallels to "Legacy" end, because this time, Ezra does not receive Hera's blessing to go. Instead she reminds him, rather sternly, that he is supposed to be there with them, planning the attack on Lothal, she needs him and his focus here.

Recall Yoda's line about Luke: "Never his mind on where he was. What he was doing." Since all the way back in Season Two, when his mere presence started to become a danger to the safety of his friends, Ezra has been growing more and more obsessed with finding a way to kill the Sith, whenever Maul turns up more distracted. It ties straight back into his motivation for becoming a Jedi in the first place that he told Yoda in "Path of the Jedi".

"I just want to protect myself and my friends. And not just them, everyone. I'll protect everyone."

Ezra has an abundance of that natural Jedi urge to protect (planted by his parents, nurtured by Hera), the itch inside him intermingles with his clingyness and attachment to his Ghost family in particular. When everything went wrong on Malachor he internalized that failure severely, and his natural Jedi compulsions went overdrive into a crippling sense of hyper-responsibility, magnified by his guilt and leading him down the same path Anakin walked--seeking more power, from dubious and deceitful sources, in order to prevent another personal tragedy from happening to him again.

His desire to protect got twisted into attachment, into a clingy possessiveness, into a fear of more potential loss. In this way his flirtations with the Dark Side mirrored Anakin's, though ultimately Ezra never went far enough that he wasn't able to come back, the disaster at Reklam and his reconciliation with Kanan enough of a kick in the head from the Force for him to be all, "NOPE, I REGRET EVERYTHING, I'M NOT DOING THAT AGAIN."

But even though Ezra came to his senses and rejected the Dark Side, he was still not on the right path. The aftereffects of Malachor remained and he kept letting that Sisyphean unattainable goal of defeating the Sith--himself, personally, or else personally enabling it to happen--pull him away. Kept letting it move him out of place in the narrative.

He was supposed to be here, Hera needed him here. "You're in the wrong place, Ezra Bridger," Obi-Wan tells him gently, later. Ezra lets Maul, lets his obsession with destroying the Sith, yank him out of order in the cosmic destiny of things.

The Force has a place for him. But it is here and not there.

But he kind of has to go on this perilous journey for it to finally kick in.

(One of the scenes I do kind of wish they had kept from the original extended plot is the one where Hera and Kanan and Zeb all kind of commiserate about how "the kids", meaning Ezra and Sabine, are growing up and leaving home, and how they have to let them go, even if they might make bad choices, really playing into that whole parental angle and explaining why they didn't immediately rush off after Ezra.)

Despite Ezra's half-hearted assurance to Hera, it's clear he has no intention of obeying her order to stay put. His sense of impulsive hyper-responsibility is too strong, he's following the same instincts that led him to obsess over and misinterpret his other two major Force visions.

So he swipes a training A-wing.

He's such a little shit I love him. <3

This is the point of no return and Ezra is unwittingly drawn into Maul's trap, which mimics the beats of a classic Campbell Hero's Journey.

Joseph Campbell, for reference, is a writer and philosopher who purported the idea of the monomyth, that in all stories and all mythologies across cultures there are similar patterns and cycles. His Hero's Journey is often styled as a closed circle ("It ends where it began."), with a dividing line between the Known and Unknown worlds and various stops and characters and plot elements mentioned along the sides. The Hero's Journey monomyth, incidentally, was one of George Lucas's major inspirations for writing Star Wars, wanting to create one such classic mythological narrative.

So we have all the elements in place here. We have the Call To Adventure (the distorted holocron message). We have the Refusal Of The Call (Hera ordering Ezra to stay and him initially not fighting her). We have the Supernatural Aid (the pieces of the holocron that function as some kind of magic compass). We've outmaneuvered the Threshold Guardian and crossed over into the Unknown (Ezra swiping the A-wing from under the technician's nose). Along the way we'll pick up the Ally or Helper (it's revealed Chopper snuck along and went with him). And we will be facing Trials, Tests, and Tribulations (everything from the initial Tusken attack to braving the harsh elements of Tatooine's unforgiving sand and heat).

...But it's all wrong.

See, Ezra has already answered the Call to his own Hero's Journey, the one that started for him all the way back in the pilot, when he returned Kanan's lightsaber and crossed the Threshold into the Unknown world of being a Rebel and a Jedi Padawan. This falsely constructed cycle Maul has drawn him into is not his narrative. It was never intended to bring him enlightenment, never intended to complete, only to be used to further Maul's selfish ends.

That Ezra manages to find enlightenment and complete the cycle anyway is something that happens in spite of Maul, and not because of him, and takes some severe course-correcting from Obi-Wan. Over and over this episode we'll hear this idea repeated, that this was not where Ezra was supposed to be in the story, it's not his job or responsibility to deal with Maul, he is where "[he] should never have been".

We'll table that for now and come back to it, have a moment to enjoy some pretty caps.

Thus far, music-wise, we've had a couple ominous cues, and a bouncy jaunt full of Rebellion flutes and brass as Ezra made his escape, in between a couple of the aforementioned long bouts of silence. There's a bubbly little bit when Chopper is discovered. (And I can't even tell you how much I love the touch with Ezra startling so bad he smacks the A-wing cockpit window and bumps the steering column so that the ship swerves out of place--PART OF THE METAPHOR MUCH?) Soft vocals filter in as Ezra consults the holocron shards, holding in long, mystical notes. A lone viola sounds, mournfully. Higher strings sound with spiritual reverence as Ezra gets out of the A-wing, as if to suggest his goal, his enlightenment, is just up ahead.

Then, darker notes like a pulsing heartbeat. The voices go discordant.

Then the Tuskens attack and hell breaks loose.

One of the underlying threads this episode is Ezra and Chopper's devotion and loyalty to each other so I really like how, even though Ezra told him to find cover, Chopper doesn't and charges in to get a Tusken off Ezra instead. Ezra in turn shields him with his own body when the Tuskens score hits that make the A-wing explode.

And that's Ezra's, "I'm in so much trouble." look lol.

Maul, meanwhile, decides to go ahead and murder all the Tuskens and I would not fault you for thinking back to another lightsaber-fueled Tusken massacre.

In fact, probably any parallel or allusion you think of during this episode is in all likelihood deliberate. Frankly I'd argue that this is one of the most important episodes of the show, with how integral it is to Ezra's character arc.

Which is why it was so annoying and asinine that people complained that Ezra took up most of the episode's focus and whined that it should have been only about Maul. Hello, do you understand the concept of a protagonist?!

Speaking of allusions though, we get some lovely call backs to "Visions And Voices" with Maul once again letting Ezra hear him inside his head and catch fleeting glimpses of him, this time in order to lure him further out into the desert. Maul is still trying to keep him in the false cycle, tempting him away from escape.

And Ezra's sense of hyper-responsibility, of This is all my fault and I have to fix it, leads him right down Maul's preordained path.

"I have to help Master Kenobi, if I can." As if Obi-Wan needs any help dealing with Maul, ha ha.

Another moment of pure heartwarming loyalty from Chopper here, he has the opportunity to keep going along the path to safety, but begrudgingly chooses instead to stay with Ezra, through thick and thin.

Ezra once again returns the favor by refusing to leave his side when he runs out of power.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: The way Ezra staggers, looking completely exhausted. Also the sandblasting in his hair and clothes kjhfkasjfha.

Taylor's acting here is heartbreaking, he makes Ezra sound SO lost and scared. :(((((((

Maul decides to rub things in a bit and oh hey some mirror dialogue here, eerily similar to a certain exchange in "Gathering Forces". :D

Grand Inquisitor: The Darkness is too strong for you, orphan. It'll swallow you up even now. Ezra: No. Grand Inquisitor: Your master will die. Ezra: No! Grand Inquisitor: Your friends will die, and everything you've hoped for will be lost. This is the way the story ends. Ezra: NO!

And in comparison:

Maul: He is dead... He is dead. Ezra: No... Maul: You led me to him. Ezra: No. Maul: You failed your friends. Ezra: No! Maul: You will DIE!" Ezra: NOOOO!

~It's like poetry, it rhymes.~

Also this is terrifying.

So I've legitimately teared up like... twice watching this show. This was one of the times. This moment right here where Obi-Wan's feet step softly into frame.

Yeah it got me.

Cut to... Night. A quiet campfire. Ezra comes to and things are suddenly put into perspective.

"You're in the wrong place, Ezra Bridger."

(The voice they got for Obi-Wan is perfect btw, sounds just like Alec Guinness.)

Obi-Wan explains gently that he is not "the key to defeating the Sith". He never was. Maul's desires muddied the holocron vision, he used Ezra to get his own answers and left Ezra with only partial answers. Because Obi-Wan is associated with the key to defeating the Sith but he's not the Chosen One.

And neither is Ezra.

He is a narrative "chosen one", a key player picked by the Force, imbued with purpose, but defeating Vader, killing the Emperor... that was never his task to take. After the loss he suffered in "Legacy" Ezra had been letting himself get obsessed with the idea that he could fix that problem--the problem of the Sith--himself.

But that is not his role in the story.

It is not yet sunrise (Luke and Leia). So the moon (Ezra) must endure.

"You win by killing an Inquisitor." "No, you win by surviving."

Ever since before Malachor, Ezra has been stepping outside his station, trying to do things he was never meant to do, instead of what he was supposed to do, which was to help the people in front of him, right now, do what good he can in the moment. (Something that he'd gain clarity on via a falling out with Saw in Season Four.)

"What you need, you already have."

Ezra lost sight of that in the grief over his parents, in his guilt over Malachor. He was never going to be the one to defeat the Sith. Yoda and Obi-Wan both knew the only ones who even stood a chance... would be Vader's children. Maybe Ahsoka. Perhaps that was even why Yoda advised going to Malachor, to test and see if Vader could be saved, or killed, by his former padawan. Someone who he might have had a strong enough attachment to that it would cloud his judgement. (Just as Obi-Wan's mere presence would drive Vader mad with irrational murderous rage and yet, paradoxically, a cloying need to have him back.)

"We asked for a chance to destroy the Sith... and we failed."

Vader has no connection to Ezra, therefore Ezra will not be the one to end him.

His task is to endure, keep the darkness back, and hold the line until the narrative chosen one who will do that task (Luke) is ready to take up the sword. This is not Ezra's role in the story. He has his own destiny, his own part to play in the Rebellion.

And he needs to return to it.

Obi-Wan closes the broken cycle for Ezra, rescuing him from The Ordeal or Abyss, and sending him back to the Known world with the Boon (his sage wisdom) irregardless of how false the path there to him was. Ezra is freed from the obligations, responsibilities, and burdens he wrongly took on himself... to return home, and rejoin his own Hero Cycle.

And then all that's left is to "mend this old wound". (Maul)

Maul has what he wanted, or so he thinks. His old enemy, his past, ready for the killing. His future and legacy, his apprentice, within reach for taking.

But things have changed. Obi-Wan is older, wiser, more serene and at peace with himself and with the Force, in spite of all he's suffered. He has grown from his failures, let go of the past, and found balance, while Maul has regressed, repeated the same mistakes, clung to the hurt and pain in his past and deteriorated, been sucked almost dry by the Dark Side.

And Obi-Wan pities him.

Maul is scalded by this, upset that after everything he's endured, Obi-Wan seems to have taken no ill effect. And it's not like Order 66 and Anakin's betrayal didn't hurt him (hell we have all of the Kenobi show to demonstrate otherwise) but that he's processed those emotions and feelings and traumas, and returned to a settled baseline. He is more a Jedi now than ever, and revenge is not the Jedi way.

And can I flail a little bit inarticulately for a moment about the dichotomy between Obi-Wan's "I had no intention of fighting him, though that seems inevitable now." and Thrawn's "It was not my intention to utterly destroy Lothal but that is inevitable now."?

So Maul digs for something to bait Obi-Wan with, touching about the reason he's there on Tatooine to begin with, discerning that there is someone that Obi-Wan is protecting. Notes of Sith vocals creep into the music here, a sequence that sounds like Maul's arrival on Tatooine from Phantom Menace ("It ends where it began.").

And with this implicit threat towards Luke, Obi-Wan ignites his saber.

SO much ink has been spilled about this duel. I was surprised at how short it was at first too, but it makes perfect thematic sense in hindsight. The way Obi-Wan slowly baits Maul, drawing Maul's mental frame of mind back to Naboo, because he knows that Maul is stuck in the past, constantly reliving that moment of triumph and defeat over and over again, fixated on it as the shatterpoint where things in his life first went wrong. He can't let it go. He can't move on. He has to keep going back to that moment over and over to make things "correct" and kill the one he pins the blame on for his pain. (But this will not fix him, even if he accomplishes it.)

An entire story is told solely through foot placement and stances. Maul moves through the stances he's used in duels with Obi-Wan before. Obi-Wan shifts through his classic New Hope lightsaber grip, to his iconic Soresu.

And then he switches to Ataru, to the same stance Qui-Gon used.

The music has been tense throughout, but now the Force Theme creeps in. There's a flare of recognition in Maul's eyes; He knows this, this is familiar.

So he lunges, using the same lightsaber trick that he used to kill Qui-Gon...

...except it doesn't work.

I love the look of quiet realization and acceptance in Maul's expression. It's just like, "......Oh."

Maul submits and falls in defeat, into his enemy's arms, yet another parallel to Phantom Menace, to the start of everything between these two men. And then he asks something heartbreaking: Is Obi-Wan protecting the Chosen One? The one who would defeat the Sith?

And because Obi-Wan no longer believes that Vader can be saved, he answers yes. (Amazing how well this scene fits with the later Kenobi show.)

With his dying breath, Maul finally recognizes his true enemy, accepts and forgives Obi-Wan as his brother, as a fellow victim of Palpatine, and declares with almost prophetic insight, "He... will avenge us."

Not take revenge, avenge. As Trilla Sundari would admonish Cal Kestis in the Jedi Fallen Order video game, Maul also asks for restitution and justice with his last words.

(I do kind of wish we got one brief reaction shot from Ezra as he sensed Maul passing, just for confirmation that he knows. It's inferred but still.)

Back with Ezra as he returns home with the Boon, and he's also claimed the prize of Maul's ship, the Mandalorian gauntlet. (Again, just the briefest scene of him finding it, that would have been nice.)

"I was wrong. This is where I'm supposed to be. You're my family. And we should go home."

Ezra has finally forgiven himself for Malachor, completed the arc he started in "Legacy" (or maybe even earlier), and returned to his proper place. His family accepts him back with the laying of hands like a benediction.

And meanwhile, just to wring your heart one last time, we return to Tatooine, to watch Obi-Wan watch over Luke from a distance, a scene drenched in OT nostalgia, from using the exact audio of Aunt Beru calling Luke to closing us out with Luke's Theme and Binary Sunset for the credits, reminding us that the shadow will not hold sway forever.

Eventually, the sun will rise. And a new hope will emerge.

Trust in the Force.

Man, there aren't enough words to tell you how much I love this episode. It's so beautiful and poetic and thematic. It's the lynchpin of Ezra's character development, he needed to be in this episode, to go on this journey. It's gorgeously animated and there are so many many layers of parallels and themes, motifs and archetypes, that tie into the monomyth in general and Star Wars in particular. I'm astonished how well it melds with later canon material (JFO and Kenobi), but I guess that just speaks to how true to the spirit and essence of Star Wars it is.

It's just beautiful.

#star wars #star wars rebels #ezra bridger #obi-wan #kenobi #rebels rewatch #liveblog #meta rambling #long post #music #soundtracks #this is a pro jedi blog #i love rebellion era jedi they come pre traumatized #rebels rambles

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m0nster-babi · 1 year

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I see quite a few BAU Agere Family fics and headcanons of Hotch being the dad, Rossi being the grandpa, and the rest are their littles which is super cute! However, I would like to introduce my own personal BAU Fam

Rossi is absolutely the grandpa, Garcia is the momma, JJ is a flip, and the others are the littles

Hotch usually regresses the youngest to a toddler with Reid being second youngest, Morgan is an older child, Prentiss is anywhere between older child to preteen, and JJ is anywhere between younger to older child (between Reid's little age and Morgan's)

Morgan and Hotch seem to 'fight' over Reid's attention quite often

Prentiss is most often aware of Hotch's age and is most active in finding ways of involving him in games safely

Rossi sometimes has to argue to get the kids to eat food outside of just nuggets or mac and cheese or Garcia's cookies. His cooking work, he feels, goes unappreciated (he's totally not dramatic when guilt tripping the kids into trying his food). His arguments are often with Reid and Morgan

All the kids LOVE and are fascinated with Garcia's outfits and accessories! She always looks so pretty to them, and Reid and Hotch, being younger, tend to get distracted by her accessories a lot

Morgan most often refers to Garcia as Momma while Reid eventual gets comfortable and says it more often, and Rossi will refer to Garcia as Mommy to the littles. Prentiss and JJ often call her just Penny, and Hotch doesn't really say words

Rossi doesn't physically play with the littles as much as Garcia (old man XD) but he instead often asks them questions about what they're doing/making and will let them talk or show him through their process

Morgan's favorite activity is make-believe, adventures where he is the victorious hero! They are often more fantasy based rather than games like Cops and Robbers

Reid's favorite activities are of course reading and generally getting into things he's not supposed to. A lot of things are ment to be kept out of children's reach but he'll grab it and show off some physics or chemistry magic

Hotch's favorite activities are playing with Legos (mainly just separating the pieces) and napping. He's often a very tired baby who doesn't like a lot of loud noises

JJ's favorite activities are drawing and reading when regressed. She loves using bright colors in her drawings meaning that Garcia is often her favorite subject, asking her to pose for a drawing. JJ sometimes reads with Reid but when regressed she often chooses a different book since he doesn't always pick the 'age appropriate' ones. When she's big, she loves sitting with Reid and reading

Prentiss often goes along with what other people may want, but she does love playing make-believe with Morgan a lot. She likes being the powerful witch who kidnapped and poisoned Princess Penny and Morgan has to save her before the stroke of midnight or she may never wake up again! Mwa ha ha!

Rossi often naps with Hotch (once again, old man)

Reid doesn't generally like laying down for nap time, but a night light for his fear of the dark and reading to him till he falls asleep often helps

The older littles don't generally have set nap times like the younger ones, but naps don't always sound so bad

JJ when big (often referred to as Aunty) tends to make comments on Garcia constantly spoiling the kids with new toys and baked goods, but then turns around and buys new books or pacis or sippies/cups ect. that 'Ooo, Prentiss loves this character! Of course she needs the whole cup set!' or 'Reid said he used to have this book when he was younger!' or 'Morgan loves playing make-believe, a few costumes won't hurt to have'

Reid is the main collector of stuffed animals. When he carries one around, he'll often spout facts about the animal or character

Prentiss likes helping out around the house, like helping Rossi with the cooking even if it's just stirring the pot, or cleaning up after the littles lay down for naps. Morgan teases her calling her Mini Momma

#agere #age regression #sfw agere #age regressor #agere blog #sfw age regression #fandom agere #criminal minds agere #a longer list of headcanons than originally intended XD #maybe at some point I'll start writing agere drabbles or something #i write fanfics connected to another blog of mine but they're not agere

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phaerlax · 9 months

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you as the WolfBoyGuy and me as someone who has just recently seen the puppy light, do you have any tips or what you'd consider Required Reading to get a good grip on writing wolf boys? moreso karu than garu just because i personally have a hard time writing dudes with as much bluster and "doesn't tend to default to conventionally agreed on niceties". i have (admittedly mild) torments I'd like to put him through >_>

Anon is asking me about blorbo... I have been training for this for so long... behold now the ramblings of a man possessed by two wolves. I'll talk a bit about how I approach writing Karu and then include some curated recs.

It took me some time to really get going on wolfboy fics; I also found it challenging to handle Karu's characterization. Two big reasons why:

Tsunderes are just difficult to do if you're grounded in realism. It's a very 'anime' archetype and people don't behave quite like that. This makes it harder to naturally reach for reasonable/appropriate responses when putting the character in situations. The big want/think/say/do splits can also complicate straightforward scenarios (e.g. the character wants something and does what he needs to do in order to get it. This path is often closed to the tsundere).

The game gives little insight into Karu's inner world. NU: Carnival is very dialogue-heavy in its narrative. When we do get introspection, it's often Eiden-focused. This means we basically never get to see the thought process that leads Karu to act this way or that, except in the rare instances in which he talks to himself (like in some H scenes when he goes "ugh it feels so good but-").

The style that I ended up developing for my angry wolf boy writings follows these principles:

Keep him silly. This is because I fundamentally see Karu as a comical character. Yeah, his personality can be traced back to traumas and there's a lot of interesting stuff to explore in that regard, but I am not personally interested in that tbh. The reason I love him is the wacky nonsense and ridiculous behavior that we see in the game. It was at first sight for me. I didn't need depth and I still don't XD Any advice and references I provide are skewed by that. I have a preference for almost never taking him seriously.

Mind his 'narrativization' tendencies. Karu is comically very enamored by the idea/narrative that he's a mighty warrior with many great skills who will conquer humanity and who should be respected and served. On some level, he knows this isn't entirely true, so he will sometimes (try to) avoid situations that would bring attention to his shortcomings. But most often he's trying to prove himself and get others to share his narrative. When something or someone reinforces the narrative, he gets proud, pleased or happy-flustered. When something or someone goes against the narrative, he gets annoyed and angry-flustered. He is very good at ignoring reality, however. Even though he'll seemingly take exception to every little slight, he moves on very quickly and pretends nothing happened. And though he's stubborn, he's also willing to surrender, cut his losses and 'try another day' when he's foiled.

Mix his narrativization with the narration a lot. This kind of free indirect discourse is just my style in general, but with Karu I find myself using it more intensely, to such an extent that the narration can get quite dialogue-like in how it expresses his thoughts. When I want to portray a 'tsundere stumble' moment, I sometimes make the narration interrupt itself as Karu consciously aborts a line of thinking that would lead him to unacceptable conclusions.

Let him just be rude for no reason and with little consequence. Karu's default way of addressing and dealing with people (other than Kuya) is rudeness. At best, he attempts some form of condescension in which the reason he's doing something 'nice' is because you're so weak and he's so awesome or whatever. Most characters seem to simply not mind his behavior and, again, it's usually played for laughs anyway.

Bibliography of Karu Studies

Keep in mind that many Karu fics are kuyaru, and Karu in kuyaru is quite different from the core of the character, since he's uniquely eager to please Kuya. Still, even kuyarus can have some nice insight.

who let the dogs out has a lot of juicy Karu inner conflict, and it even explores the ways in which such hangups make him outwardly grumpier. Due to kuyaru, it ultimately leads him to a place of submission, but his initial thoughts are very in-character.

Baser Instincts is a kuyaru in which Kuya gets to see the pups in a new light, because they help him in a difficult situation. It's another great source of inspiration for Karu struggling to express his feelings.

Bow Down! explores how he might react to Eiden letting him top, in a very true-to-character way.

Lonely at the Top is Karu/Dante, which means you get to see Karu at his prickliest and most insufferable, and how that can be managed.

A Matter of Pride is a good example of the 'concessions' dynamic that can be done in Eiden/Karu.

Goshujin-Ai is an older Karu/Yakumo and a good example of Karu feeling comfortable and doing the 'attempts at condescension' thing I mentioned before.

Slave number one, rub my chest again is me speculating on what it might look like for Karu to ask Eiden to do things to him and try to control sex.

Warden slander wolf Commander is probably a good example of the 'fine I give up but I'll get you next time' potential of Karu, as well as the kind of bleed-heavy narration I talked about.

Master, do you have another wolf besides me?! delves into Karu's potential for jealousy as a way of expressing affection. It's pretty canon-compliant because most of it is adapted from NEON Carnival.

There are many other fics in the Karufic Archive, but I think the ones above are among the best for the purposes of thinking about the writing.

Please feel free to talk to me non-anonymously if you ever want to discuss wolf boy content! As you can see I am cursed with thoughts and need places to put them. I'm also always very happy to do anything that I can to shepherd and sponsor GaruKaru content; if you go ahead with your impulse to write about them (please do) and want a beta reader, don't hesitate to ask~

#nu carnival #nu carnival fanfic #nu carnival karu

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rosetyler42 · 2 months

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If the Drac Fam got corrupted by Bendy's Ink:

Dracula: Bendy or Tom-like Boris.

I know there's a thing about Jewish characters and horns/Devil imagery, but personality and Aesthetic-wise Drac has ALOT in common with Bendy/The Ink Demon: Tall, thin, associated with darkness and the color black, wrongfully seen as nothing but dangerous murderous beast, a signature toothy smile, kind of a butt monkey, both having been persecuted by humans, both have a mischievious streak, vampires being thought of as soulless demons, try to act tougher and scarier than they are etc. (Plus, there are alot of Jewish coded characters here sorted as things without horns and goyish characters WITH horns.) However, Drac also has alot in common with Tom too: a loveable wolfy damaged grump who's suspicious of strangers. However, I DO have 3 other Borises.

Bonus: He also has some similarities to a more competent, good-leaning Joey Drew as well, who at least one point was thought to be the soul at the heart of Bendy/The Ink Demon.

Ericka: ALICE ANGEL. Specifically, Twisted Alice.

Ok, this one's probably one of the clearest of the lot. Not only does Ericka ALREADY have a strong Fleisher vibe, but she has the duality of angelic charm, friendliness, cheeriness and elegance with a feral murderous and mischievious gremlin side and somewhat unhinged dramaticism. She's unconventionally attractive, knows it, and is more than willing to use this to her advantage - and is something of a soft dom in the bargain who loves to toy with people's heads even if it's not malicious. She also has Allison Angel's athleticism, pragmaticism, and optimism and has a similar taste in love interests. XD She also, like both Alice's, never had parents and delt with abuse/neglect in some ways by their "creators."

Mavis: Alice Angel or Audrey

Mavis has a similar optimism and relative sanity to both Allison and Audrey, and seems to serve very similar roles for Drac that they did for Henry and Audrey: the hopeful innocent that serves as something of a moral compass to the more damaged morally grey Drac. She also has a similar nievite to Audrey and a similar mischievious streak and emotionality, but lacks Audrey's dryness and trauma. Like both Audrey and Allison, Mavis didn't grow up with a mother and was favored by her "father" and is oddly chill with weirdness. Not to mention: Glowing eyes, zipping around, and the ability to drain her enemies and oddly unsettling/secret badass power despite her friendly nature.

Johnny: BORIS

Loves food, a cheerful-yet-easily-scared good boi, oddly chill with weirdness, loyal as bleep, clashes with his opposite Drac but genuinely likes him as a friend/father-in-law, a surprisingly brave risk taker despite being the least powerful and scary of the group, loves dancing and plays an instrument, something of a slacker, possible Jewish coding... it's perfect.

Dennis: Also Boris.

Taking more after his father and nearly ending up humany, the shy quiet and sensitive yet adorably loveable Dennis strikes me as another Boris. Lile Buddy, both he and Johnny are also chronologically 2 of the youngest here and are both Jewish coded.

Abraham: Bendy, Alice, Dudley, or Bertrum

Dunno if this is a bit on the nose, but him ending up as something with horns would be hilariously appropriate. Bendy kinda comes from his horns and his status as Drac's rival and evil counterpart, Alice is because of his thought he was doing something good for humanity, Dudley for his mechanical aspects, sea association, and similarity in personality and motive to Wilson. And Bertrum...well, he is mostly head and machine XD

Vlad: BENDY

A surprisingly easy one, but with his mischievious/scary somewhat irresponsible nature and secret soft side, not to mention technical villain status for a bit there, I feel Bendy works pretty well for him.

Simon: Boris or Swollen Searcher

I mainly see Simon as a Boris, perhaps with something of a Brute Boris bent. He's a big strong guy and secretly quite dangerous, but most of the time he's a shy sweetheart. He's much like a tougher, more pragmatic and less sheltered version of Dennis. However, his large size also works well for Swollen Searchers.

Lucy: Bendy, Alice, or in @lovelylivelyv 's AU: Jack Nephalem

Being Ericka and Drac's daughter, Lucy has aspects of both Bendy and Alice. She's a mischievious chaos gremlin who takes pride in her monstrosity and power, but is also charming and elegant and generally both braver and not as ruthless as her parents and something of a rebel. Kind of similar in personality and concept to @lovelylivelyv 's chaotic good Bent Halos ship child oc Jack Nephalem - who in Original canon, was an unused character born from the ink machine and the soul of Wally Franks. In canon, Lucy would probably be closest to Bendy, but I like the idea of the mischievious Dhampirica being a Jack in the universe this is possible.

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kotelok16 · 2 months

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What was your thought process for your post canon SDR2 designs for each character, if you’re able to divulge?

The thought process? No thoughts in this head, a perfect emptiness-

Okay, seriously, I'll try to describe it briefly, because there were a lot of thoughts in the process. But the post will still be long xd

1) Nagito and Mikan. I really wanted to make them simple and cozy outfits. They are just the usual calm (haha...) married couple, you know? Their designs have been around for more than a year, although I did redo Nagito's home clothes, I categorically did not like the original version. I can tell you in secret that Mikan's home clothes was inspired by Hitomi character from Ai Somnium Files.

2) Hajime is a pretty simple guy, even if he has experienced experimental surgeries from the academy. Therefore, I didn't think too much about his outfits, everything is simple, convenient, without bright accents.

3) Hiyoko. I really like the way her design turned out, I won't lie. I tried to leave Asian motifs in her everyday outfit as well, since in this story she is a teacher of traditional dance in her hometown outside Tokyo. And as soon as I came up with the idea to make her kimono monochrome, I immediately ran to do it, because the combination seemed very interesting to me!

4) Ibuki. I couldn't decide whether to reduce the degree of insanity in her image. She's a grown up woman, after all. As you can see, in the end, crazy colors and combinations in clothes won. It's Ibuki, damn it! Although it was difficult for me to find references, because I still did not understand the name of the Ibuki style. I mean, it's not really a scene kid or a similar direction... As a result, some kind of mixture of different options came out. The main thing is that there are massive cool shoes, yahooo!

5) Akane. I wanted to give her a comfortable sporty style, so I was looking for something appropriate. It's pretty simple. And in her work clothes, I couldn't resist putting on high-heeled shoes for her, even though it wasn't very comfortable... But it's convenient to step on someone- okay, I'm kidding.

6) NEKOMARU NIDAI. I suffered. I suffered a lot. I don't know how to draw pumped-up men. But that's half the trouble. I had no idea what to WEAR to PUMPED-UP MEN. That's why he wears a little sporty, a little plain, something like that. But it seems to me that Nekomaru would not dress too fashionably? So whatever.

7) Mahiru. The woman is strict, demanding, restrained in style, so she dresses appropriately. I don't know what else to say.

8) The Imposter. I really wanted him to look so cozy, so that you would want to fall into his arms and feel in them that all your problems were left somewhere far away... And glasses! I don't know, I just wanted an Imposter with glasses!! Well, he's such a comfortable guy((

9) Peko. I also wanted to dress her quite strictly and restrained, like Mahiru, but with a little more... What should I call it?.. Freedom of expression? Manicure, bright shoes, unusual jacket style. Peko is no longer an instrument, but a personality, so I wanted to show exactly that she expresses herself, albeit in her usual restrained manner. Something like that.

10) Kazuichi... Um, well, did I make him homeless?? And did people like it?? I felt so guilty while I was doing his design, it's a nightmare. But in general, yes, he looks a little wild, because he lives 24/7 in a workshop on the outskirts next to an uninhabited destroyed area. From there, he drags all sorts of funny things from a landfill, so that he can make and experiment with them later. Inspired by Phoenix Wright's design from the game Apollo Justice.

11) Gundam. I wanted to make him such a modern vampire Dracula. Gundam is still on his own mind, but just much more restrained and majestic, or something. And damn long hair, I love drawing long hair for men TOO much. And yes, he has work clothes for work at the research center. He's a bit of a scientist, a bit takes care of animals.

12) Sonia. I wanted to highlight her by the fact that she looks younger than the others. I don't know if it worked out, I still have difficulties with the transfer of age in art. I don't have any clear definition of what was in my head when I created it. She's just a fashionable, well-traveled (because of work) woman in the prime of her life.

13) Fuyuhiko. He is... Yakuza... And I do not know what else to say. I was just trying to make him look like a yakuza... And he has long hair... that's it, bye.

14) Teruteru. For some reason, I aggressively wanted to give him a stereotypically French image. I don't know how it turned out or didn't work out, I don't know why I decided to do it at all, but the man looks stylish. I also couldn't stop thinking about that one character from the third Phenix Write game, who was just a stereotypical Frenchman and owned his own restaurant.

A bonus. Kageshimo (son of Gundam and Sonya) is strongly associated with the Little Prince from the fairy tale by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

#Kotelok talks #post canon

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shadowmaat · 6 months

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Be better, you buffoons

I've been enjoying watching vids from Ian Runkle, a Canadian laywer. He's the primary way I've been following all the llama drama about Lauren the Mortician and Jeanette Braun.

Today he shared a link to a group 'cast put together by a US lawyer named Eric Hunley. Has to be a good guy if Ian's sharing it, right? Nope.

The first item Eric brings up for discussion with his primarily older white male lawyer group is something he prefaces multiple times with "I'm not trying to be judgemental." He also asks the group how they'd feel if they were on trial and *this* was the public defender assigned to their case.

What followed was some vid of an extremely busty woman in a tight blue top that showed off her boobs. Cue the snorts and giggles in Eric's audience.

The lawyer in question is Stephanie Mueller, a transwoman who practices in Seattle. She's 70, has been lawyering professionally for over 30 years, and as far as I know is good and competent at her job.

Except no one seems to care if she's good at her job, they're too busy making fun of her appearance. Eric and his buddies are no different. Or, at least, I assume they spend the whole time mocking her top; I quit watching after it became apparent the only thing they were going to discuss was her physical appearance. In one twitter thread multiple people were being openly transphobic about her. In another one someone posted a screencap of old school Lara Croft with the sentence "new lawyer outfit dropped."

It was gross. It was shameful. It was... not surprising, but definitely disappointing.

Personally, I wouldn't call her outfit courtroom appropriate, HOWEVER, she may have had good reasons for choosing it. Certainly it's distracting, and it's also causing everyone to underestimate her. That could work in her (and her client's) favor.

There was one fantastic bit at the end of the clip Eric shared where a reporter was asking her questions about the case and wanted to know if a trial date had been set. She said "yes" and talked a bit as she gathered up her things. He asked if she was going to tell him when the date was. She said "no" and sauntered away from the camera. XD

Is anyone talking about that moment? No. It's all "lulz boobs" and transphobia. Tsk.

#transphobia #trans lawyer

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tenshiharmonia · 1 year

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I was browsing through the Sonic Unleashed tag when I saw someone who was making a tarot deck themed after the blue hedgehog's universe, and I must say, it kind of inspired me. So I wanted to give it a try and imagine what my own version of such a deck would be like. Not that I have the artistic skills needed to concretize my vision, but hey, it makes for a fun exercise. I mean, I've always been a fan of tarot iconography, and it just so happens that one of the franchise's main characters has a canonical interest in the matter (as Frontiers reminded us not so long ago), so it seemed appropriate. XD With that being said, let's see what I came up with. (Note that I'll mainly focus on the major arcana. I know that the minor ones are much richer in terms of meaning, but let's be honest, they don't stoke the imagination as much as their "greater" siblings. :p )

0 - The Fool : Sonic himself. Now, calling him a fool is obviously a gross misnomer, but the card itself represents bright-eyed and free-spirited idealism. It is the start of a new journey, which - you will concede - resonates quite well with the eternal adventurer that the blue hedgehog is. (Besides, it's only natural for the franchise's main character to figure on the first card. :p )

I - The Magician : Tails. This card is all about limitless potential, so the two-tailed fox was an easy choice (besides, as Sonic’s right-hand man, it’s only natural for him to come just after the blue hedgehog :p ). Learning from the Fool’s mistakes and experiences, the Magician works towards manifesting its intentions into beings, which resonates pretty well with the genius boy’s heroic aspirations and constant quest for self-improvement... Also, he is quite the tech wiz, and you know what they say : any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. :3

II - The High Priestess : Tikal. In tarology, the Priestess embodies feminine wisdom and intuition, perfectly echoing Tikal’s own role as the Echidna tribe’s voice of reason (even though nobody listened to her). Moreover, the Priestess is also regarded as a mentor figure, bringing to mind how the girl’s spirit acted as a guide for Sonic and his friends during their quest to stop Eggman and Chaos. Lastly, the Priestess is supposed to be quite knowledgeable about the universe’s secrets, which - once again - parallels Tikal’s ancient knowledge of the Chaos Emeralds and their powers...

III - The Empress : Aleena. I know, I know, Underground is probably a part of the franchise that most people would rather forget (except for its banger of a theme song). But I must admit, I’ve quite a soft spot for the way it depicted Sonic’s family (Manic, my beloved). As it happens, this card symbolizes motherhood. Both literally and figuratively. Since Aleena’s main characteristic is her status as both a mother and a queen, she seemed like a royal fit. :p Visually, I also like to imagine that the card’s illustration would take cue from the show’s opening and depict the gentle monarch, in her queenly attire, resting on a bed with her three playful newborns, highlighting both aspects of her character (I won’t deny that her design could enjoy a bit of a face-lift, though)...

IV - The Emperor : Eggman (featuring Sage). Naturally, as the Empress’ counterpart, the Emperor represents the figure of the father. Of course, they are merely symbols, so it’s less about their genders than what they stand for. While the Empress is kind and nurturing, the Emperor’s authority is harsh and severe. He isn’t devoid of affection, but he still views himself as reigning over his progeny, which I think echoes Eggman’s personality and the relationship he has with his creations pretty well. Also, he is at the head of the Eggman Empire, so he truly is the best suited for the job. :p

V - The Hierophant : Professor Pickle. Without going too much into the details, the Hierophant alludes to traditions, institutions, and to a certain extent, dogmatism. Like the High Priestess, he will often take on the role of mentor, providing wisdom and guidance. But he can also represents someone who is a little too set in their ways... All in all, I think you can see why I chose the professor. After all, he is an expert archaeologist who’s passionate about the planet’s many cultures and customs, counsels Sonic and his friends during their worldwide adventure, and who can be a little uncompromising on certain topics (like the making of cucumber sandwiches :3 ). Really, the guy checks all the boxes. One can imagine that the card’s artwork would depict the old chap enjoying a cup of tea and some (properly prepared) snacks while looking contemplatively through his office’s window…

VI - The Lovers : Sonic and Shadow. I mean, this is my tarot deck, so I can indulge myself as much as I want. :p No but seriously (not that I wasn’t serious, but you catch my drift), I would probably attribute this one to Amy. After all, she is the one with romantic aspirations, the one who yearns to experience the sweet embrace of love, waiting for her blue prince to notice her... That being said, instead of depicting Amy and Sonic as an actual couple, I like to think that the card would represent the young girl, bathed in a soft and summery light, simply daydreaming about her proverbial knight in shining armour. Indeed, the card itself is less about romance than fulfilling connections, in the broadest sense of the term. So the idea here would be that, even if her relationship with Sonic is not the passionate fairy tale she’d like it to be, it doesn’t prevent the two of them from sharing a meaningful and inspiring bond. :3

VII - The Chariot : The Tornado, soaring through the clear blue sky. This card stands for travels and freedom, so it was only natural for it to feature our heroes’ trusty mount. After all, it helped them discover so many new and exciting places... (As a bonus, I like to imagine that the card’s illustration would also include the three Babylon Rogues, racing through the sky around the plane. I don’t really know why, but I think it would be neat. I mean, in a sense, they do embody a certain form of freedom. A more abrasive and selfish variant than the one Sonic himself stands for, but still, it makes for an interesting contrast...)

VIII - Justice* : This one was admittedly a little tricky, but in the end, I think I’d go with Chaos. Let me explain. This card is about karma and retribution. It warns us about the consequences of our choices and actions. To put it simply, you reap what you sow. And I think that Chaos, standing impassively among the burning remains of the Echidna tribe, would make for an impressive illustration of that message. Because it’s also important to remember that the line is often thin between justice and madness, and that a righteous crusade can easily turn into a destructive vendetta if hatred and despair are allowed to fester. There is a time to punish, and a time to pardon. * Note that Justice (8) and Strength (11) are known to switch places depending on the deck. This numbering is the one I’m most familiar with, but feel free to procede in the order that suits you best. ;)

IX - The Hermit : Knuckles, sitting on the steps of the Master Emerald’s altar, contemplating the sky from his lonely island. Naturally, the Hermit represents the need to isolate yourself to reflect on your life and actions, which resonates quite nicely with the echidna’s "lone wolf" nature. This choice, however, carries a certain irony. Indeed, while the Hermit is supposed to be a figure of enlightenment, Knuckles’ solitary life has also led him to become a rather hot-blooded - and at times, naive - individual. In a way, it reminds us that maintaining some distance between yourself and the world can often be a double-edged sword...

X - The Wheel of Fortune : You’d think that in a series with so many casino-themed levels, this one would have been easy, but I had a surprisingly difficult time picking who - or what - would be adorning this arcane. Ultimately, my choice would probably be the Chaos Emeralds. As a card, the Wheel of Fortune naturally represents vagrant luck and the whims of fate, an idea that - I think - resonates pretty well with those miraculous jewels. Just like luck, they come and go as they please, and you have to seize them when they pass. And while they often seem to favour the heroes, they ultimately serve no master, meaning that they can be used to defeat evil just as they can help it rise. Their power will often shape the course of history, but there is no telling what awaits those who got caught in their crystalline spiral... Of course, the card’s artwork would depict the seven stones arranged in a neat circle, with the sharp ends all pointing towards the center, to mimic the appearance of an actual wheel. Incidentally, the center of the circle could be occupied by the sparkling silhouette of Super Sonic, to symbolize the ultimate and decisive power that the Emeralds bestow. Alternatively, I was thinking about having an image of the Phantom Ruby in this place, as the Chaos Emeralds’ sinister counterpart, a concept I wish had been explored more. In that case, the image of Super Sonic could be placed above the "wheel", while the bottom of the picture would be showcasing a nefariously grinning Eggman, emphasizing once again how the power of the Emeralds can affect the course of destiny... for better or for worse. (Of course, everything about this deck is merely hypothetical, so don’t take all those details too seriously. This is just brainstorming...)

XI - Strength : Cream. While this card’s name brings to mind the image of a fierce animal, it actually refers to inner strength, the force of the soul that manifests through courage and kindness. As someone once said, it takes a lot of strength to be kind. And I feel like there is no one better than the little rabbit girl to illustrate this message. For her sweetness and innocence hide a heart as strong as the mightiest of metals. A heart that is not afraid of standing against evil and injustice, but that will always choose to extend a hand to those who might need it, be they friends or foes. Brave, humble and generous, the little bunny is truly a shining example of fortitude. (Also, we all know what a punch she packs in spite of her age and daintiness, making her fits the literal definition of "strength" just as well. :p ) That being said, I must admit that I don’t really know what the card’s artwork could look like. My first idea would have been for it to feature Cream happily flying through the sky alongside Cheese while carrying an enormous - and adorably decorated - basket full of Chao*, but to be honest, I’m not entirely convinced... * One can even imagine Gemerl’s head sticking out of the pile, with an air of dumbfounded vacancy colouring his mechanical face, as if to say "I have absolutely no idea how I ended up in this situation, but I cannot say it's disagreeable". XD

XII - The Hanged Man : Big (featuring Froggy, of course). This card invites us to take a break and look at things from a new angle. So naturally, the feline fisherman was the number one candidate, considering how well his laid-back personality and tranquil outlook on life fits the arcane’s meaning. Besides, his passion for fishing provides us with the perfect excuse as to why he would be hanging upside down in the first place, having inadvertently got caught in somebody else’s line because of his clumsiness. :3

XIII - Death : The End. This one is actually deeper than it seems. Of course, the End fancies itself as an ineluctable embodiment of destruction, which already fits the card’s esthetic quite nicely. But those who know about tarot know that this card is actually about transformation and renewal, echoing the End’s role in the franchise’s narrative : by precipitating the fall of the Ancients’ civilization, it triggered the chain of events that would ultimately allow the entire series to happen (or at least most of it). In doing so, it also gave rise to the very hero(es) who would eventually defeat it. True to its name, its advent spelled the end of an era, but it also brought forth a new future, just like a decaying corpse will return to the soil and nourish the seeds that lie beneath... In fact, the card’s artwork would probably have the End’s moon form looming in the upper portion, while the bottom part of the illustration would feature a lonely flower, blooming in the middle of some verdant field (heck, said flower could even be growing out of the husk of a departed Koco, to really drive home the card’s message XD ).

XIV - Temperance : Mighty the Armadillo. This one was easily the most difficult for me to figure out, in part because I feel like there wasn’t really any obvious candidate. In the end, though, I think that Mighty would probably be the best suited for the job. As you can guess, Temperance represents the need for balance and moderation. It invites you to put a little water in your wine, and I feel like it resonates quite nicely with the armadillo’s character. Think about it, Mighty’s main attribute is that he is monstrously strong. Just like Equius Zahhak. He has to be extremely careful around other people, as even one single slip could result in him badly hurting those he cares about. Just like Equius Zahhak. Which is not always an easy feat, as he’s got a pretty extroverted and impetuous disposition. Just like... well, not really, but I think you see where this is all going. XD Mighty’s story is one of constant restraint and cautiousness, which - I think - echoes what this card stands for in a very interesting manner. Granted, I’m not really sure how to convey all that in a simple illustration*, but the idea is there. XD * Maybe having the armadillo rushing worriedly over to Ray - or helping the little guy up - after he accidentally sent the squirrel flying with a not-so-light jab on his shoulder, in reference to that one moment in the Sonic Mania animation (said scene greatly influenced my decision to pick Mighty for this arcane, so it wouldn’t be surprising)...

XV - The Devil : I actually have two different ideas for this one, so brace yourselves. :p - First of all, Solaris. I mean, a being of pure light hiding a heart as black as the darkest of nights ? Yep, that guy fits the bill like a glove. XD As a card, the Devil warns us about the dangers of materialistic obsessions, which could resonate with the all-consuming nature of the sun god’s flames. Not sure about which of his forms the illustration should depict, though. My main idea was for it to feature Mephiles with Solaris’ true form looming behind him, but it’s just one possibility (and even then, I’d still have to choose between the two different forms that the god takes during the final battle). Also, the Devil is usually depicted with a young couple chained at his feet, symbolizing his grip and power over mankind, so I was thinking it’d be interesting to have them be replaced by shackled silhouettes* of Silver and Elise, those whose lives were ruined by the flames of Solaris and the manipulations of his tenebrous half (alternatively, one of them could be replaced by Elise’s father, as it was his own obsession that kickstarted this whole mess)... * To represent how they are just unaware pawns on the fallen god’s chessboard. - Secondly, the Deadly Six. Now, I know what you’re thinking : "urgh, not those guys". But honestly, I don’t really mind them. Sure, Lost World’s writing was a little lackluster, to say the least, but in and of themselves, I don’t think they are that terrible (personally, I have a special fondness for the Zazz X Zavok pairing, but I guess that’s another story XD ). And more importantly, they would be perfect for this card. I mean, as I said, the Devil warns us about self-indulgence and earthly desires, which resonates so well with the hedonistic nature of the six Zeti. Truly, it’s no coincidence if the name of their group references the seven deadly sins. You have the glutton one, the vain and glamorous one, the one who revels in violence, the apathetic one, and Zavok himself is quite the epitome of pride. (And I’m not even taking into account their fittingly demonic, oni-like appearance...) As I said, though, I don’t really know which direction I’d rather take. Ultimately, I feel like the Deadly Six fit the card’s actual meaning better, but I also really like the gravitas that the fallen sun god brings to the table in terms of iconography. How can I put it, I feel like the Zeti would be better suited for the illustration of a minor arcane, if that makes any sense. I mean, the Devil is a figure that comes with a certain weight, and I’m not sure they’d be able to shoulder it. XD

XVI - The Tower : Imperial Tower, with the artificial sun created by Infinite looming over in the background. This card represents impending disaster, so it's only natural for it to feature a level from Sonic Forces. :p No but seriously, I think the choice is rather self-explanatory. In two different ways, actually : Eggman orchestrated the "false sun" battle as the ultimate demise of the resistance, but in the end, it spelled the fall of his own empire...

XVII - The Star : Maria. The Star’s message is one of hope for the future, so Maria felt like the best suited for the job. Her serene kindness and unwavering optimism certainly fit the bill. I mean, even as she was unjustly murdered by those whose role should have been to protect the innocents, her dying words were still for Shadow to not turn his back on humanity, to allow everyone living on the world below "a chance to be happy"... Truly, I cannot think of a better candidate to embody the Star’s promise of a brighter future. (Also, she spent most of her life in a space station, so she’d be right at home on this card. :p In fact, its artwork could easily depict the young girl gazing at the stars through a window aboard the Ark...)

XVIII - The Moon : Rouge. This card is associated with both feminity and deceitfulness, warning us that everything isn't always as it seems, so who better than our dashing femme fatale-slash-master spy to illustrate it. Besides, as a bat, she’d fit the card’s nocturnal esthetic pretty well. :p

XIX - The Sun : Charmy Bee and his two dads and the rest of Team Chaotix. The Sun stands for radiant joy and success, so I thought those three would make for a fitting choice. I mean, they are quite a lively and light-hearted bunch, run a detective agency, and even founded their very own band. Sure, they seem to be perpetually broke, and I don’t think that their musical performances attract that much people, but... what was the point I was trying to make, again ? XD No but seriously, the irony of having those three goobers as an illustration of "success" is not lost on me. In fact, this hilarious contrast is also partly what motivated me to pick them for this card. :p As for the "joy" part, I guess it’s pretty self-explanatory. In terms of visuals, the card’s artwork would probably depict Espio and Vector standing in a sunflower field as they watch Charmy flying happily in the sunny sky above them...

XX - Judgement : Shadow, standing in a flower field, with the Ark looming in the sky above him. Entrusted with the hope of an innocent soul, but turned into an angel of death by his creator, the black hedgehog is ready to pass sentence on humanity. Will he find us guilty, or will he have enough strength in his heart to forgive ? Damnation or atonement, it’s up to him to decide what form the future will take... Anyway, the Judgement card is tied to introspection, so Shadow felt like the best candidate. After all, his personal quest is one of identity, reflecting upon the mistakes that were made and learning the truth of the past in order to move forward and forge his own destiny...

XXI - The World : Chip and Dark Gaia. This one was a no-brainer. After all, those two carry the will of the planet itself. Moreover, the World is, as a card, a symbol of triumph and completion. The journey is over, and it’s now time to celebrate. But it also reminds us that every end is a new beginning. In a sense, it mirrors the glorious cycle of nature that Chip and his brother embody : day and night, death and rebirth, plurality and unity... Now, in terms of appearance, I like to think that the card would depict the little lad hugging an image of the world, in reference to that one panel from the comic, with the serpentine body of his dark counterpart forming like a mandorla around him, to mimic how the card is traditionally illustrated. (Moreover, in order to tie things up and emphasize once again the cyclical symbolism of a tarot deck, I like to imagine that on the illustration of the Fool - which can interchangeably be numbered as either 0 or XXII -, Sonic would be depicted wearing Chip’s necklace/bracelet, reflecting how the story has come full circle and it’s now time to begin anew. Really, Sonic Unleashed as a whole feels like it was tailor-made to illustrate that particular part of tarology...)

And it seems that this post has come full circle too. Haha, I hope that you enjoyed the ride. Some were actually trickier than I was expecting, but all in all, I’m quite pleased with my choices. Of course, there are still a few characters that I wanted to include but couldn’t find an appropriate spot for, like Blaze or Metal Sonic. But hey, for the most part, I’m pretty satisfied. Besides, we still have to tackle the minor arcana. I don’t know if I’ll ever get the courage to do the whole deck (as I said, the suit cards don’t really fan the imagination as much as the "greater mysteries"), but still, theoretically speaking, there is plenty of space left for all the characters who didn’t make the cut this time around. XD Anyway, it definitely was a fun exercise. I wish I had the artistic skill needed to materialize my vision, but alas, my puny words will have to do. Of course, feel free to comment if there is something you’d like to tell me about the content of this post. If you have a remark to make about one of my choices, for example, or if you’d like to share your own take on the premise. Who knows, my knowledge of the Sonic universe is not exhaustive, so I might have overlooked someone or something that would have otherwise been perfect for one of those cards… In any case, I’ll be more than happy to hear your thoughts. ^_^ Also, in spite of my fascination for its iconography, I’m far from being a tarot expert, so don’t hesitate to correct me if I made a mistake when talking about one of the arcana’s meaning. :p With that being said, I don’t think I have anything to add, so I guess it’s time to close this post. Once again, I hope that you had fun reading it, and to those who made it this far, thank you for your attention. Take care ! :3

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