#ch: escher

[rahadaddy]

[fipindustries]

I meant to respond to your ask privately, I guess because of spoilers + I wasn't sure if it was meant to be public. But I posted it publicly by accident, oops. I've deleted the post, so here's the response again as a new ask.

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Unfortunately (?), I really can't give you much to go on here. I basically don't visualize my characters at all!

I do visualize locations, just not people. I have a clear picture in my head of what 27's bedroom in Michael's crash looks like, but 27 herself is a blank in my head.

(I'm so used to doing this that I don't think I realized the extent of it until I tried to answer this ask. Although there was a time a while back when you and celestialmechanic both posted some fanart, and I didn't have a strong feeling about whether most of it looked "right" or "wrong.")

I do describe my characters on the page sometimes -- like you do -- so really the best I can do is to quote some of that "canon" material.

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Keep in mind -- 11, 25 and 27 all changed their appearances when they left Michael's crash, so they will look different depending on which point in the story we are seeing them.

(17 chose to look the same way outside and inside, as she mentions in Chapter 34. This implies that the others didn't do this, but only in 11's case do we learn anything about the actual change in appearance).

All the Annes inside Michael's crash look like the same person, or like identical twins. After their departure, 11 and 25 and 27 no longer look like that person.

Anyway, here is what little we've learned from the text, which is also the extent of my own knowledge:

The Annes in Michael's crash have dark hair. (From chapter 3, "This new woman’s hair was dark like her own")

11

After her exit from Michael's crash, Eleven looks like "a girl, mid-teens probably" according to Jodie in ch. 25.

I think Jodie is low-balling it here -- Eleven gives off an intense aura of youth and freshness (which is what she wanted out of her post-escape appearance), but realistically looks more like 18, like a young college student.

Inspecting her body after her escape (chapter 34), Eleven describes herself as "petite," and "young, small, sleek, eye-catching," with "sleek, dainty fingers, ending in the glinting pearls of the nails."

17

From Chapter 33: "tangled, knotted hair, slick with sweat near the roots ... hands, rife with scar tissue ... have bad posture, I don’t like taking showers."

In Michael's crash, she has that scar tissue as a result of her experiments with "the aux knife" and similar implements. It's not clear whether or not she would have similar scars later on, during her time with Hector.

During her time with Hector, she starts wearing what she calls her "veil" (ch 34), a magical illusion obscuring her face, covering it with animated black "scribbles" and a very wide Cheshire Cat grin. (It's described in the Sibelius scene in Ch 21.) I picture this as looking like the kind of thing you'd see in one of the Madoka witch worlds. She wears this "veil" most of the time (as she tells us in ch 34, she eventually even stops taking it off during sex).

During this time, she also takes to wearing "impossible clothing [...] Escher necklaces, Lovecraft dresses."

In the Sibelius scene, she wears a "frilly black [lace] dress ... dramatic, eye-catching, a bit much. But pretty, too."

25

After her escape, she is "a small person, short and slim" (chapter 27), with "short messy hair" (chapters 24 and 27).

She wears "quirky," eye-catching clothing. From Chapter 19:

She wore her white dress, the one that was originally white, anyway.  The dress was torn in places, near the shoulders and around the hem.  When Moon’s clothes tore, she would carefully extend the damage with scissors, creating some new design, jagged but purposeful.  He had never seen her fully give up on an article of clothing, though it must have happened.

And chapter 27:

an orange t-shirt, a yellow pencil skirt, a black bowler hat atop a mop of short, messy hair [...]

this ratty orange t-shirt, with an energy-drink logo printed on it in black, and stark block letters below it spelling out GAMER BURST

She carries her body in an unusual way, as described in Ch 19:

Her posture never failed to intrigue.  Moon seemed to abhor simple forms and right angles — aesthetically, physiologically, morally, or all three.  She folded herself into any available space, and stood or sat with a jaunty tilt whenever balance permitted it.  On her last visit, she had perched on the kitchen counter like a gargoyle.  This time she merely reclined against it, but in her own way, one leg bent to rest on the drawers, the other flat on the floor, one arm reaching way out with its fingers idly drumming the counter surface, the other up in her hair where it pulled at some knot or itch.

27

The text has very little to say about Twenty-Seven's appearance -- before or after her escape -- and likewise, I have no clear image of her.

Relative to the other post-escape Annes, I picture her as being somewhat taller, more "normal"-looking / not deliberately weird, more sober in affect. Big-sisterly, basically, as befits her role in the group.

In Chapter 39, it's stated that her official outfit on Stein's rock involves both the Wolf Squadron camo-print fatigues and the Blackhat trilby + vape pen. It might be amusing to depict her this way, but then again, it's also stated that she rarely actually wears this stuff in practice.

here are the prompts for the character designs if anyone is curious

[critfailclub]

Airing soon in a tavern near you!

Raising Lathander: Meet gay & religious new dads Ember (paladin) and Escher (cleric) as they learn how to raise an infant who is the literal embodiment of their god, Lathander. Season premieres tonight, right after Dragonborn of our Lives.

[valgalart]

@tessacrowley Escher in last night’s one on one hugging some sense into Vasha and relentlessly trying to get them to lighten tf up already!!

The opposite of grimdark is hopepunk. Pass it on.

[rosethornewrites]

Fic: The Rebellion of Adrien Agreste ch. 1-2

Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Luka Couffaine, Lila Rossi/karma, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth/aneurism, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi, Plagg & Tikki

Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Lila Rossi, Jagged Stone, Plagg, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine, Penny Rolling, Anarka Couffaine, Rose Lavillant, Juleka Couffaine, Kagami Tsurugi, Alya Césaire, Chloé Bourgeois, Wayhem, Nadja Chamack, Nathalie Sancoeur, Sabine Cheng, Tom Dupain, Tikki, Fang, Principal Damocles, Caline Bustier, Ms. Mendeleiev, original minor character, Alec Cataldi, Lila Rossi's Mother, Sabrina Raincomprix, Roger Raincomprix, Mylène Haprèle, Le Gorille | Adrien Agreste's Bodyguard, Nino Lahiffe, Nooroo

Tags: Lila Rossi salt, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Teenage Rebellion, Swearing, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Crack Treated Seriously, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Cuddling & Snuggling, Luka Couffaine Needs a Hug, Paparazzi, Parentification, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Gabriel Agreste Needs an Aneurism, Uncle Jagged Stone, we're all queer here, the spirit of punk is sometimes just being allowed to be yourself, Kagami Finds Her Groove, punk rock fashion, Savage Kagami, Marinette protection squad, Good Parent Sabine Cheng, Good Parent Tom Dupain, Protective Kagami Tsurugi, Protective Luka Couffaine, Bisexual Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Pansexual Luka Couffaine, Sharing a Bed, Pet Names, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Instagram, Bullying, Social Media, Anxiety, Makeover, Hugs, will cure your acne, Face Punching, Bad Ass Juleka Couffaine, Rumors, Protective Juleka Couffaine, Protective Adrien Agreste, Lawyers, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Holding Hands, accountability, mental health, Jagged Stone's well-paid pet shark, How to Make the Evening News, Sexy eyeliner for days, one fish two fish Lila is a screwed fish, How to have fun and piss Gabriel off, Fuckery, sweet litigious karma, Alya sugar, lawyer shark doo doo doo doo doo doo, Schadenfreude, Bad Ass Alya Césaire, Gaslighting, abuse denormalization, Jagged likes his lawyers like he likes his pets: toothy af, Blood in the Water, Everything you didn’t know you wanted and some things you did, Gabriel Agreste is shark bait, Denial, Consequences, Principal Damocles salt, caline bustier salt, the impotence of Gabriel Agreste, snarky Nooroo, lies and the lying liars who tell them, Lila's brain is a narcissistic hellscape, Lila’s mind is built like an Escher piece, Alec Cataldi salt, Adrien Sugar, wholesome salt, Fu Salt, Kwami Shenanigans, Nooroo is a little shit

Summary: Gabriel decides that Adrien entering a romantic relationship is a good move for the brand. He chooses Lila Rossi as the other half. Adrien nopes tf out.

Notes: I was gonna have it be a slow acceleration, but Adrien was all “Go big or go home.” Also trying to find motivation to write more of this fic.

AO3 link

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“No,” Adrien growled. “Absolutely not!”

Lila made a show of crying, not that anyone in the room believed her tears were real.

Gabriel frowned at him from his desk. “This will be good for the brand—”

“Fuck the brand!”

“Adrien! This is unbecoming. You will be seen to be dating Ms. Rossi. That is final.”

Adrien’s fists were so tight he was sure he had crescents eating into his palms. “Like hell it is! I will not date that—” he gestured at Lila “—lying cow. Not after how she’s hurt my friends.”

Said girl gasped, outraged, and Adrien was glad to see she actually looked truly upset.

His father stood, but kept his voice emotionless, calm, self-assured that he would capitulate. “Cease this ridiculous teenage rebellion.”

He saw red, but oddly it calmed him. “Father, you have not seen teenage rebellion,” he said, his voice almost terrifyingly calm. “But I would be happy to teach you what it looks like if you try to force me to do this.”

Gabriel’s eyes narrowed behind his glasses. Adrien could see him considering that, but then discarding it. “It will be in the papers tomorrow. If you misbehave, you’ll no longer be permitted to go to school.”

Adrien snorted. He knew more ways to escape this house than his father could possibly anticipate—some he’d made himself, even. “Good luck, Gabe. You’re going to need it.”

He spun on his heel before his father could respond and slammed the door behind him. With the enhanced strength he had as the Black Cat Miraculous chosen, the wood cracked audibly.

As he made his way back to his room, he realized the opportunity his father had just placed in his lap. As the face of the brand, Adrien had more power than Gabriel seemed to realize. It was time to stretch those muscles.

He had planning to do.

---------

His father had spectacularly good timing for pulling this kind of stunt—for Adrien, anyway. He’d heard from a couple of friends of his that a certain rock star was in town. And if anyone was up for promoting teenage rebellion, Adrien had no doubt it would be Jagged Stone.

It was child’s play to sneak out of the house. He didn’t even have to transform to do it. From there it was just making his way to the Grand Paris Hotel. The staff assumed he was there to see Chloé, so getting in was no problem. Jagged Stone always rented the same suite, so that wasn’t an issue, either.

The hard part, he knew, would come after he knocked on the door.

Jagged opened the door, and then peered at him suspiciously.

“Um, M. Stone, I don’t know if you remember me but—”

The rock star suddenly broke into a wide grin. “Oh, you’re Marinette’s model friend, right?”

Adrien blinked. Maybe this wouldn’t be so hard. His rock idol knew him?

Sadly, he had no time to fanboy.

“Yes, Adrien. I was wondering if I could trouble you for some help?”

And so that was how Adrien Agreste wound up sitting in Jagged Stone’s suite, petting Fang, and telling him about the woe that was the obsession his father had with Lila Rossi, Liar Extraordinaire.

“She said I had a what?”

“A kitten. And she got Marinette expelled and is just being really awful to her.”

Jagged opened a cell phone. “Penny, I need you. Yes, I know I sent you for macrons, but this is really important. Bring my niece with.”

When he was finished, he turned to Adrien again. “We’ll get that taken care of.”

“That’s not all, M. Stone.”

He pressed forward, telling his idol of the relationship he was being forced into and his promise to show Gabriel Agreste just what he could do if he really rebelled.

When he was done, Jagged’s face was gleeful in an almost terrifying way.

“Oh, please tell me I get to help with this?” At Adrien’s nod the man whooped in excitement. “Brilliant. Once my niece gets here, we’ll plan properly. She’s a planner, that one. Smart as a whip.”

Adrien blinked. “Your niece?”

“Marinette, of course! Honorary niece.”

His jaw dropped. Marinette had always had the upper hand on Lila, could call in Jagged at any moment to destroy her, and had held back. He never should’ve stopped her.

“My father can’t know she helped. He’s got so much power in the fashion industry, and I don’t want to hurt her career.”

Jagged waved away his concerns. “Mate, listen. From what I understand you’re the face of that company. You have the power, not him. Get you in some Marinette originals, and he can’t undo the fame that’ll bring her.”

Adrien hadn’t considered that. “I just don’t want her hurt.”

He heard the door open, and then a soft, “Adrien?”

It meant he had to explain the situation all over again, letting Jagged Stone assure her that he was going to pop the liar’s kitten whopper as soon as possible.

“I can stop by your school with Fang, yeah? They can’t keep me from saying hi to my favorite niece.”

Marinette bit her lip. “That would be helpful, but for Adrien…”

Adrien smiled. “I want you to design me a new look. Something we can do here and now—maybe with the discrete help of some of the hotel staff, since they have that nice spa and such. Hair dye, new clothes. Maybe some fake piercings. Oooh, a fake tattoo?”

Jagged glanced at Penny, who looked uncertain about this. “Don’t be a party pooper, Penny.”

“His father might sue you,” she pointed out.

“Like I care. I have money.” He grinned. “And for what? Giving his kid a makeover?”

“French law—”

“Nope, don’t care. It’s happening. Get his sizes and go to my favorite stores. Adrien, what color scheme?”

Adrien blinked. He hadn’t thought that far. He glanced at Marinette. “Um, do you think Chat Noir would mind if I used his colors? I think of him when I think teenage rebellion.”

That was more because being Chat Noir had up to this point been his way of rebelling, but she didn’t need to know that.

To his surprise, Marinette grinned, the smile wide enough to match Jagged’s. “Oh, I like that idea. Chains and spikes? Fake lip ring and septum?”

“Absolutely!”

Jagged made a shooing motion at Penny, who rolled her eyes and headed toward the door, before joining in. “Now how about this idea: black and neon green hair, done to look like a skunk’s stripes!”

Adrien was surprised to find himself laughing honestly at the idea. He’d been so angry less than an hour ago, but this was truly fun. “This makes me think of those J-Rock bands, how they used to dress up.”

Jagged’s phone let out a guitar riff and he glanced at it. “Oh, right. Penny needs your measurements. Shoe size, too. Definitely some stomping boots, I think.”

He handed over his unlocked phone for Adrien to text.

“I’ll call the salon, yeah?”

Adrien nodded, texting the information, then froze. “Wait, Chloé might tell my father.”

That got a laugh. “Nah. They’re discrete. They bring everything up here for me—I won’t be around people if I’m getting my hair dyed.”

While Jagged made the call, Adrien finished the text. When he looked up, Marinette was watching him. She turned pink when she realized he’d caught her.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” she asked after a moment.

He sighed, slumping back on the sofa and resting his hand on Fang’s head again. “No, but I don’t have any better ones. That stupid news claiming I’m with Lila’s going to hit tomorrow. And I’m so done with this, with him treating me like I’m property.”

Marinette looked worried, and he tried to muster up a smile. From her expression, he didn’t manage it.

“Maybe…” she started, then trailed off.

“Maybe?”

She didn’t look at him. “Maybe you should look into laws involving child labor and parental responsibility. You… you might be able to get emancipated.”

That startled him—something he hadn’t even thought of before. He hadn’t even been aware it was an option.

When Marinette did look at him, her eyes were stormy. “He’s so… cruel to you. Maybe there’s legal recourse.”

“I’ll think about it,” he murmured. That seemed like such a drastic measure. “I don’t know if I want to go that far.”

She nodded, and he excused himself to go to the bathroom.

Plagg shot out of his pocket the moment the door was closed. “I’m so proud of you kid. This is gonna be great!”

“Thanks, Plagg.”

The kwami grabbed the proffered wedge of camembert.

“And think about what Pigtails said. Your dad’s a real piece of work, and you deserve better.”

“I will.”

Adrien could feel the idea turning over in his mind, as though gathering strength. When he left the bathroom, Jagged met him excitedly.

“I have just the idea! A temporary face tattoo!”

[ceescedasticity]

more director’s commentary: Escher Ch. 9

paragrin said: Director’s commentary on the Asherah fight and/or subsequent discussion/awakening?

Let’s see...

I do not like writing fight scenes. Fight scenes are HARD. My biggest concern in this one was having them lose believably.

Her mother's Shadow wasted no time, but immediately blurred and distorted and dammit, they'd never been ambushed by a Palace ruler before—

"Get ready to defend!" Yusuke yelled to Hifumi. Dammit, she should have had him take the Snuff Soul after all—

"The floor!" Hifumi yelped.

Asherah is, per Wikipedia, strongly associated with trees in the Bible. That’s the main inspiration for the Shadow’s form. I can’t remember how I came up with the rootlets on the floor, but I may have wanted a reason to have everyone playing ‘the floor is lava’ BESIDES all the little jars of Greek fire.

From the safety of Prometheus, Futaba looked down. There were — tendrils, spreading across the floor, twining around the clutter. She didn't want to follow them back, but did anyway, to see them thicken and join into — roots.

"You shouldn't be here!"

Her mother's Shadow was a tree.

Or. An Ent. Except the Ents in the movies only acted like they had two arms and decorative branches, as opposed to all the branches acting like arms, which really made more sense even though it was harder to fight, and really most of the Shadows they'd fought had been more grotesque, this was nothing really—

Asherah, Prometheus informed her. Strengths and weaknesses currently unknown.

It still had her mother's face.

I think the body horror is getting to Futaba just a bit. She wouldn’t care, if it wasn’t her mother.

Below, both Yusuke and Hifumi had managed to get clear of the roots — Yusuke was standing on a plinth, Hifumi balancing on a stone lion-dog. Yusuke was adjusting one of his boots. The rootlets were waving up at them from the floor, but not achieving any elevation gains.

One thing I enjoyed writing was specifying what features of the ridiculously cluttered and clashingly-furnished room they were standing on while playing ‘the floor is rootlets’.

One of the higher branches trembled, then lowered, and shook, and then Yusuke and Hifumi were being hit with a volley of acorns that did gun damage. Not too bad, but… not negligible, either.

"No info on weaknesses yet, guys," she said anxiously. "Just… be careful?" She really didn't need to worry, it wasn't like anything they'd done to the Palace-ruling Shadows in monster form had hurt the people—

How DOES that work, anyway?

"Fox, try ice," Hifumi said. "I'm going to stick to my bow for now… getting in close enough for melee doesn't seem practical."

Futaba assessed the results. "Resists ranged weapons, but it's not doing nothing… ice is connecting, but it's not a weakness." She'd thought ice might do more damage to a tree… but the weakness was probably fire. Not that that did them any good. Damn it, and Mona had mentioned something about tools that did elemental damage, but Futaba didn't know anything more about them because Akira had never used any when she was around because he could just use whichever Persona was needed…

Damn Wild Cards...

A different branch reached down, and out, and hit Yusuke with a melee attack which he managed to counter. The branch recoiled.

"How did you get all the way up here?" Asherah demanded.

"We climbed a lot of ladders," Hifumi said, and tried wind.

What kind of a stupid question is that, there are ladders everywhere. How did you get IN, that’s a better question.

"Same as ice, neither a strength nor a weakness," Futaba reported.

Yusuke did more damage with a stronger spell. "I need the Snuff Soul to keep this up."

"Use it," Hifumi said. "I'd suggest running, but the exit…"

The exit was covered with a network of rootlets. Damn it.

Had to keep them from running away since they hadn’t technically calling-carded so the ‘one chance’ thing PROBABLY isn’t a issue. Not that they’re trying to steal the Treasure...

"Who sent—" Asherah broke off. "Children. You're children!"

"I'm not a child," Hifumi said indignantly.

(Kiddo, you’re in middle school.)

Researchers at the lab have had ‘teenagers get Personas easier’ for a while now, and they’re coming up with ideas to exploit it, and Wakaba has been doing everything she can to shut it down/head it off. The Metaverse isn’t safe, and she wouldn’t trust the people who’ve slithered onto the project with supervising children taste-testing cookies. Actual Wakaba doesn’t think that the conspiracy already has teenage Metaverse operatives, the Shadow just jumped to that conclusion immediately. Because it does want them!

"How dare they," Asherah said. Yet another branch came down, this one covered in flowers. "This isn't right."

If that wasn't a status effect in the making, Futaba didn't know what was. "Guys—"

The branch showered Yusuke in flowers, and— Sleep.

Of course he immediately toppled off the plinth onto a delicate sandalwood chest and crashed through to the floor, and that woke him right up. Not in time to completely avoid the rootlets, though.

I learned after writing that apparently Sleep works differently on different difficulty levels? ‘Normal’ is probably closest to canonical...

Hifumi managed to evade another cloud of flowers by jumping from the lion-dog to a stack of books to a creepily smiling statue. "Oracle? What's this now?"

"Sleep," Futaba said. "There's armor to resist sleep, but we don't have it, because no one uses sleep, because you wake up the first time you get hit!" Or it could be fought with some kind of medicine they didn't have, or a healing technique which Futaba might be able to get ready at the right moment— "Fox isn't hurt — more — he's just… a little tied up."

"Was that supposed to be funny." Yusuke was half-standing, leaning on the plinth, using his sword to cut himself loose from the rootlets twined around his boots, up nearly to his knees. "I don't think it was funny." The sword was obviously not the best tool for the job. Hifumi's naginata would be worse yet — hopefully she could continue avoiding getting caught…

It was kinda funny.

"As soon as you're loose, Fox, agility buffs," Futaba said.

Hifumi got off another volley of arrows before she had to run from the flowers again — statue to reliquary to another lion-dog to Yusuke's plinth, to give him a hand up. "I'm not sure he shouldn't save his magic for the ice attacks, they're the only thing doing any meaningful damage!"

"Yes, but he's going to need agility to jump around avoiding the sleep attacks so he can use the ice attacks!"

Hifumi is the combat strategist, Futaba is the Metaverse-experienced person and does more logistics, and Yusuke mostly does what they tell him.

"I'm right here," Yusuke said mildly. He went with the agility buffs, and just in time — more flowers, and they had to run in opposite directions.

"Stop fighting — I don't wish to hurt you!"

"Sorry, Mom's Shadow," Futaba muttered, "not gonna take your word for that."

It genuinely does not want to hurt them, but honestly I wouldn’t trust it not to hurt them by accident even if they weren’t fighting.

The battle didn't improve from there, although not in the usual way. Asherah stuck to attacking with the sleep flowers, which it was easy to see coming and which could be evaded — assuming there was something other than the rootlet-covered floor to jump to. The most damage either of them took was when Hifumi slipped off an urn and landed on one of the smashable fire pots. She wasn't on fire for very long, thanks to Yusuke's questionable but effective use of an ice spell and the Shadow using a recovery spell on her, but it put enough of a dent in her health that she had to use a remedy.

If they weren’t so exhausted and nervous, they’d probably be commenting more on how it’s a really ridiculous-looking fight. The room looks ridiculous, they’re playing ‘the floor is lava’ on really tacky statues, the enemy is healing them... But the fight isn’t going well, so they’re focused on trying to turn it around.

Asherah just wasn't taking much damage, either. A few windtorn twigs, some marks in the bark from arrows or bullets, an ice gouge or three — not nothing — but it wasn't like they'd be able to keep this up indefinitely! Prometheus could do some magic restoration, but it wasn't keeping up!

"Say the word if you see a chance to get out, Shade," Futaba said finally. Running from a Palace-ruler fight felt all kinds of wrong, but it wasn't like they'd sent a calling card that would wear off.

"I've been looking," Hifumi replied tightly.

…Not good.

"Stop fighting!"

The first time Hifumi got hit with the sleep flowers, she managed to sort of drape herself over the statue whose plinth she was sharing and avoid falling to the floor — which was great as far as not being tied up by rootlets and having to try to cut her way loose with a naginata, but on the other hand the fall would have woken her up. It took Futaba several tries to muster a recovery spell to get rid of the sleep. In the meantime, Yusuke had the Shadow's complete attention and had to devote himself completely to dodging — no counterattacks, no agility buffs, no arginade. He was running out of places to jump to when Futaba managed to get Hifumi awake to distract Asherah with another attack. From her dwindling ammunition supply.

I think if they’d had even one more active combatant to split the Shadow’s attention they might have won.

Futaba had kind of been thinking they had until Yusuke ran out of magic to come up with something, but it was beginning to look like they'd be lucky to make it that long.

I’m going to break off here -- may continue later.

[adobe-outdesign]

Your Ch.5 video made me realize a way that BATIM could've foreshadowed the studio being "fake" in a way that also connects to the cartoon theme: an out-of-the-way door that opens to a flat wall with a drawing of a room, Roadrunner-style. With that and a couple of side areas where low-priority details are left unfinished (because Joey got lazy), the studio being unreal could be hinted at in a way people might pick up on.

Anything that would make the player question reality would be good. Other ideas:

You encounter a realistically-modeled object with color in one of the rooms

The thing with Henry’s desk repeating but in Chapter 3/4 rather than only like 15 minutes before the reveal

Just more rooms repeating in general or escher-esc building design that doesn’t make logical sense (like you walk through part of Bendyland when fetch-questing for Alice on the upper floors)

Joey’s storyboards spread out on his desk (which you encounter earlier in the game)

Some NPCs showing up as only half-drawn/roughly sketched in

[crowholtz]

I love them so much I love the way you drew them together! Thank you so much.

Helene and Escher's relationship is just *chef's kiss*

Helene abd Escher having their little moment comm for @lunastres ❤️😳

[dr-gloom]

The Makings of Greatness: Chapter 4

Fandom: Sanders’ Sides

Pairing: platonic logince, platonic moxiety, platonic anxeit, familial ThVi

Tags/Warnings (for this chapter): crazy architecture, lots of aliens, slight conflict, seafaring lingo

Ko-fi

AO3

Masterlist

Prologue  Ch 1  Ch 2  Ch 3  Ch 4  Ch 5  Ch 6  Ch 7  Ch 8  Ch 9  Ch 10  Ch 11  Ch 12  Ch 13  Ch 14  Ch 15  Ch 16  Ch 17

If Virgil thought his home at the Inn provided him a window to the galaxy, the space port was like blowing a giant hole in the wall. It was massive, nearly impossible to navigate. The entire thing existed as a hodge-podge of white buildings and layers of docks, lifts, catwalks and pathways all in the shape of a crescent just on the edge of Montressor’s orbit. From the planet’s surface, it looked like a moon permanently stuck in the crescent phase. The entire port glowed, giving off a faint light - just like a real moon - and ships of all sizes sailed to and fro overhead, either docking or taking off. Aliens from all corners of the galaxy milled through its pathways, the strangest of them all being Virgil, the only human in sight.

Virgil looked around in complete wonder as he got off the transport ship. Fellow passengers passed him by, giving him dirty looks. A heavy-set anthropomorphic frog woman with a small head and a strange furry pet in her arms, a man who almost looked human - if it weren’t for the anteater snout on his face or the leathery, bald skin covering his entire body -  a man wielding some sort of stringed instrument over his shoulder with tendrils for hair, grey flesh, and the nose of an elephant seal all passed him by as they exited the ship. He wasn’t focused on them, though. He was looking at the space port. It was like a sci-fi M.C. Escher artwork; Virgil’s eyes were dazed trying to decipher where one catwalk met another, where that pulley system was anchored, how those people below him reached the top pathways. If he looked closely, he could see the gaps between the structures, and the brief thought of falling into empty space unnoticed brought him back to attention.

He didn’t want to have to explain to his dad that the entire trip got cancelled because Logan wasted his money recovering Virgil from his float through deep space.

“Virgil? Virgil!” Logan called behind him, finally making his way off the ship. While Virgil had elected to bring nothing - what could he bring? His entire home burned down - Logan had brought several bags of varying sizes containing…. God knows what. He’d said, ‘you never know what you might need when traversing uncharted territory into the realm of piracy’. Whatever that meant.

Virgil turned just as Logan got off the ship and had to laugh. Logan was wearing possibly the weirdest get-up he had ever seen in his life, and that’s saying something. He was wearing some sort of space suit; an imposing, bulbous thing in mustard yellow that clanked and shifted with every step, a few buttons resting below the rim of the helmet and a large red… thing on the stomach. Logan pressed a button that released the lock on the glass faceplate, giving Virgil a forced kind smile. “Well, if nothing else, this shall be an… opportunity to get to know each other, I suppose.”

Virgil rolls his eyes. “Look, let’s just find the ship. This place is a fucking maze.” He starts walking, Logan trailing after him silently. Virgil shrugs it off. He’s only being nice to me because of my dad… And because I have the map. He huffs and starts walking faster.

“Second berth on your right.” The robot calls down from the ladder he’s climbing.

“You can’t miss it.” comments the stout, red alien steadying the ladder.

Virgil gives a grateful smile. “Thanks.” He turns to descend the staircase, leaving Logan to catch up. Logan huffs and hurries down the stairs, hesitant to lose Virgil in the crowds.

“It’s the suit, isn’t it?” Virgil doesn’t answer. “I should’ve never listened to that two-headed sailsman. This one said it fit, that one said it was my color… I just get so flustered in those situations, I suppose. I’ve never been good with handling people.” Virgil stops, and Logan nearly runs into him. He stops just short of the teen and looks up. “Ah, yes, here we are. The I.M.G. Nation.”

It was a nice-looking ship, with a smooth cream-colored body and amber trimmings. Large solar sails rose high above them, held aloft by amber-and-gold-plated masts. Virgil climbed the catwalk up to the ship, grinning. “Whoa…”

Pulley systems delivered crates onto the deck, directed by crew and pulled into place before being released from their ropes. All around crew bustled about, maintaining the deck, managing supplies, and following directions to prepare to embark. Virgil stopped short as a crew member bustled by, taking extra precautions to make sure he wasn’t in anyone’s way.

“Stow those casks forward! Heave together, now!” A man called from the base of the main mast. His lean and fit form was made of stone, but not in the sense that his body was a collection of stones pressed together; it was as if his entire body was one large stone with chiseled edges, somehow granted the ability to move and flex and bend. He wore a couple medals pinned to the breast of his blue coat and a tricorn hat atop his head, completed with cream-colored pants and black boots.

Virgil turned in a circle, watching crew members move about the masts and use the ropes. “This is so cool…” He took a couple steps backwards, bumping right into someone. Virgil flinched, spinning around to apologize only to be met with what appeared to be a very angry… blob? Slug?

The blob alien had many… tentacles? Snouts? Along its pale body, holes cut into its vest to allow for them to rest freely. A few more protruded from its face where a mouth and nose would be. “S-sorry, I didn’t-” The alien let out what Virgil could only think of as farting noises from its…. okay, guess those are snouts? And raised its fists as if declaring a fight. Virgil took a step back, eyes widening. Not even on board for five minutes and he’s already gotten in trouble.

Logan walks up behind him. “Excuse me, ah…” Logan blew a few raspberries, filled his mouth with air and pushed his cheeks in to release it, and made a few armpit-fart sounds. The alien stared at him for a moment before letting out the farty equivalent of a laugh and flapping its hand in the universal “oh stop, you!” gesture, slithering away.

Virgil blinked. What just happened?

“I’m fluent in Flatula, Virgil. It is an incredibly complex language that takes years to master. I studied it in high school.” Logan informed the human with a smug grin before continuing to cross the deck.

“Flatula, huh?... Cool.” He grinned and followed after the astrophysicist.

Logan walked up to the stone man, extending his hand. “Good morning, captain. Is everything in order?”

The stone man took his hand with a soft smile. “Indeed, it is! But I’m not the captain. The captain’s aloft.” He gestures up to the masts, Virgil and Logan looking up.

A cat-like man swings from a rope effortlessly, landing along a supporting beam and running across it before grabbing another rope and using the momentum of the swing to jump to the deck, landing on his feet with an elated cry.

He was lithe, of average height, but everything about him was pure muscle and power. His jaw was angular, almost small, and he had a broad nose that ended with a pink, leathery tip and nostrils, much like a real cat. His ears were wide and pointed, set higher on his head than a human’s, his chestnut hair styled perfectly side-swept and voluminous, and he wore a red-and-gold jacket, cream colored pants, and white gloves. He crossed his arms, grinning at the newcomers before making his way over, speaking in a regal tone.

“Mr. Picani! I have checked this ship from stem to stern and-” His tone softens, “it’s spot-on, as usual. Can you get nothing wrong?” He grins at the stone man, his first mate.

Picani tips his hat. “You flatter me, captain!”

The captain moves on to Logan and Virgil, pausing as he takes in Logan’s suit. “Ah… Doctor Abbott, I presume?” He speaks louder, slower, as if he expects Logan to be of a lower intellect. “Excuse y-” The captain knocks on the glass plate, grinning. “Hello~! Can you hear me?” Logan scoffs and pushes the glass plate up from where it had fallen during his walk to the ship. “Yes, I can! Stop that; it’s highly fatuous.” The captain puts a hand to his chin, grinning as he watches Logan struggle to get the helmet off and fail.

“If I may, this suit works better when it’s turned to the right,” he grabs the red thing on the suit’s stomach, turning it to the right. A plug pops out, “and plugged in.” He grabs the plug and forcefully turns Logan around, plugging it into the bag attached to the suit’s back. “There you go! You’re welcome.”

The helmet comes off with a pop and Logan turns to glare at the captain. “I can manage my own equipment; your assistance was not necessary.” The captain takes his hand and shakes it, looking around almost as if he were bored, if it weren’t for the self-satisfied smirk on his lips.

“I’m captain Roman Amamoto, I’ve had a few run-ins with the Protean armada, but ah! I won’t bore you with my scars.” He winks and Logan huffs in annoyance. Roman moves to Mr. Picani, nudging him with his elbow. “You’ve met my first mate, Mr. Picani. Sterling, tough, dependable, honest, brave, and true.”

Mr. Picani laughs lightly. “Please, captain!”

“Oh shut it, Picani, you know I don’t mean a word of it.” From the grins the two share, that must be some inside joke of theirs. Logan clears his throat.

“While I’d hate to interrupt this… lovely banter, may I introduce Virgil Shae?” He wraps an arm around Virgil, drawing him closer to the adults and pulling his attention away from the hustle and bustle of the ship. “Virgil is the one who found the tre-”

Roman clamps a clawed hand over Logan’s mouth. “Doctor, please.” Two nearby crewman who were evidently listening in go back to working. Roman sighs. “I’d like a word.”

The door of the stateroom shuts, and Roman turns the lock, turning to regard the two men standing before his desk. “Doctor… to run your mouth about a treasure map in front of this crew shows a level of simple-mindedness that borders on the imbecilic. And I mean that in a very caring way.” He grins almost mockingly. Virgil has to stifle a laugh. Who knew someone would actually school Logan in something? Who knew there was someone out there who could make Logan look like an idiot?

“Imbecilic? That’s foolish, I’ve-”

“May I see the map, please?”

Logan looks at Virgil. Virgil shrugs helplessly. Logan sighs and gestures to Roman. Virgil grimaces slightly, taking the orb out of his pants pocket and tossing it to Roman. “Here.” Roman catches it effortlessly, turning it over in his claws to inspect it with interest. He grins. “Fascinating.” He levels a serious look at Virgil as he turns to lock the orb in a small chest, hidden in his armoire. “Mr. Shae, in the future you’ll either address me as Captain or Sir, is that clear?”

Virgil scoffs and rolls his eyes. Roman’s ears perk up. “Mr. Shae.”

Virgil ducks his head, glaring. “Yes, sir.”

“Good.” Roman locks the armoire and turns back to the others. “This is going to remain under lock and key unless in use. And, doctor, again.” He leans into Logan’s space, getting in his face. “With the greatest possible respect; zip your howling screamer.” Logan scoffs indignantly.

“Captain, I assure you, I-”

Roman sits at his desk, fiddling with a drafting compass. “Let me make this as simple as possible. I. Don’t much care. For this crew. You hired.” He points the compass at Logan accusingly and Logan crosses his arms, eyebrow raised. “They’re… How did I phrase it, Picani? I said something rather creative before coffee this morning…”

Emile’s eyes drift towards the ceiling as if the memory will surface on the wood. “‘A ludicrous parcel of driveling galoots’, sir.”

Virgil raises an eyebrow. Wow, what?

Roman grins. “There you go! Poetry.”

Logan purses his lips, gripping the table. “Now, see here-!”

Roman stands over Logan, smirking. “Doctor, I’d love to chat - tea, cake, the whole nine - but I’ve got a ship to launch, and you’ve,” He flicks Logan’s suit with a claw, “got an outfit to buff up.” He straightens back up and crosses his arms behind his back, all business once again. “Mr. Picani, please escort these two neophytes to the galley. Mr. Shae will be working for the cook, Mr. Moran.”

Virgil looks up from where he’d been messing with some swinging wall decoration, his hand dropping to his side. “Wait, what? The cook?”

Taglist: @the5thcoy @dailysandersidesaudoodles @hungry-red-panda @neonb-fly @chemically-imbalanced-romance @punsterterry @dead4sevenyears @metaphoricalpluto2 @tanyatoloni1334

[rahadaddy]

Just commenting to @thelostbarovianroyals that even though I replaced Escher with an OC for plot in our Saturday game, it doesn’t matter when it comes to fancasting. Strahd’s male consort is 100% Freddie Fox.

[tezsaltblogsrhpc]

Twelfth Bottle of Mike’s (strawberry this time!): SH Ch. 5 (part 1)

There's a lot of things I don't understand about the decisions they made about Nemesia's quests, but you know what I really, really don't understand?

Why they bothered to have her ship be in the water at the node you use to access it.

It's never used as a mundane ship. We never see it moving in water, or access it from a dock; we just magically warp in. And there's no spectacle of it taking off, because they awkwardly write around ever showing the transition from water to space. And the scene when you first arrive there could have been so much more interesting if they'd led with the actually impressive situation and visual, not "I guess we're on a boat now."

They made extra work for themselves to make the thing less interesting.

For some inexplicable reason, they cut Garland saying, "Ah, there you are, Stocke." Besides the fact that this makes Stocke come up and say hi first like a respectful person-

Let Stocke Say Ass: 10

-that's not just a platitude. This is only the second time we see Garland call Stocke by his... uh, "real"... name up to this point, barring his appearance in the Mimel quest.

Why was this changed? 245

Sips++++

Original: "You wanted to talk to me?" PC: "So what was it you wanted to see me about?" Standard PC unnecessary wordiness.

Why was this changed? 246

Sips++

Garland's smiling again, and I find myself contemplating that if I hadn't committed to drinking when pissed off or utterly baffled, "drink when an incredibly stupid-looking expression appears on the screen" would also be a good rule for PC.

Sips++

Garland's line: "I was playing politics." Garland's voice: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Garland's face: DX

Poor choice of expressions/voice clips/sound effects: 69

Sips++

I used to read the word "ballista" in my head correctly (buh-LISS-tuh) when I was little (look, I read DnD 3.5 sourcebooks for fun when I was like 10. I was a weird child), but then at some point whatever part of my brain is responsible for translating letters on paper into sounds in my head decided that since that was how I was reading it automatically, it was clearly wrong, and the word must be "BAL-ih-stuh." So I'm kinda having some weird reactions listening to it here. :::PPP

Aaand Ricky walks straight into Garland's elbow, and because apparently Garland's sprite is on a closer Z-layer than his, he ends up subtly MC-Escher-bent because his face is behind Garland's arm but his feet are further down the screen than Garland's.

How Do I Art: 43

Oops: 31

Sips++

Every time this happens, I become more bitter about that "Glorious HD" post I made way back when PC was still announced and notification-blocked a few months later because every like was salt in my wounds.

...Actually, what the hell.

The monkey's paw is flipping me off: 10

Original: "Let me say that I don't think you made the wrong choice." PC: "Let me say, I don't think you've made the wrong choice." That's a really weird tense change.

Why was this changed? 247

Sips++

Original: "Please elucidate." PC: "Continue." On the one hand, tragic loss of a particularly hilarious bit of incredibly silly Dias dialogue. On the other hand, Dias's voice actor gives the most dramatic sigh, and then says the line in the voice of a man who is being very patient despite being very put-upon.

Dias: 😒 Me: *snrk*

Original: "Once Garland has been dispensed with, Cygnus stands ready to fall in an instant!" PC: "Once we have disposed of him, Cygnus will surely fall!" I guess the PC one is less silly, but it's Dias, so silly is in line with his general speech style.

Garland: "There's more we can count on. A whirlwind's coming soon, and it will pass directly over the meeting spot." Eruca: "So, nature itself is on our side. There are many ways to fight a battle against men... But nothing can hope to win a battle with nature."

This isn't, like, a terrible addition? And I'm glad they let Eruca talk. But it'd hold a bit more water if it wasn't in a game where you can kill tornadoes by hitting them with swords. Still,

Changes I Don’t Hate: 114

Original: "I appreciate the concern for my health, but I don't believe I'm as weak as all that." PC: "I appreciate the concern, but I don't believe I'm so weak." 𝔚𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔴𝔞𝔰 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔭𝔬𝔦𝔫𝔱 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔰?

Why was this changed? 248

Sips++

Garland's line: "And the same to you!" Garland's voice: >:D Garland's face: >:C

Poor choice of expressions/voice clips/sound effects: 70

Sips++

I have not stopped finding every single instance of "prob'ly" in Raynie's dialogue being changed to "prolly" weird and awkward-sounding, especially when said aloud.

At least Stocke sounds appropriately resigned and exasperated about Aht deciding to follow him into a pitched battle. :::PPP

Original: "Wait, how could they!?" PC: "But how!?" 𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕨𝕒𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕠𝕚𝕟𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤?

Why was this changed? 249

Sips++

Original:

Marco: "Oh no...! I can see something in flames over that way!" Raynie: "Don't tell me... That's where Cygnus is, isn't it!?"

PC:

Marco: "Oh no...! Fire! Over there!" Raynie: "No... Cygnus!?"

Not real fond of either of Marc's lines, but I like Raynie's PC version better.

Changes I Don’t Hate: 115

Oh boy, Operation "Move everyone closer together" includes corpses, too!

Sips++

I appreciate Granorg Soldier #2's "I started to laugh and then I realized these people would murder me for a nickel" voice clip.

Thank Noah, "After he spilled his guts... well, he spilled his guts" made it through.

Original: "I... have something to take care of." PC: "I have something to take care of." ᗯᕼᗩ丅 ᗯᗩᔕ 丅ᕼᗴ ᑭᗝᎥᑎ丅 ᗝᖴ 丅ᕼᎥᔕ?

Why was this changed? 250

Sips++

Lippti and Teo appearing makes corpses dematerialize now, I guess.

Oops: 32

Original: "Hedge's own possessions, eh?" PC: "Hedge's own possession, huh?" I think this sounds fine with or without the plural; really only bothering to quote it because it's another one of those "eh?" -> "huh?" substitutions I was talking about last time.

Aht: *grumpyface* "(Them again…)" Me: *once again struck by the adorableness of grumpyface*

Sporadic and glitchy as the skip function is now, at least it's harder to accidentally skip past the "scaring the pants off Hedge" scene. Even if Hedge is still making bad-cat-impression noises.

Stocke's VA is having an appropriate amount of fun sounding sarcastically friendly here. :::PPP

Anyway, Itolia battle! This bit was something of a difficulty-spike-by-attrition in vanilla, so I won't be surprised if the enemies here got severely nerfed.

Original: "The arrows seem to be coming from the west!" PC: "The arrows are coming from the west!" Sure, I guess?

Changes I Don’t Hate: 116

Oh thank god, Desert Mercenaries with Counter up have a different pose now, so it's harder to accidentally forget and get murderized.

Handy-dandy gameplay changes: 24

Apparently they added a mini-cutscene showing you the boulders on the northeast side, which, I guess if you want? But "(Not only are the ballista shots still incoming, but the path is blocked too!)" is a weird thing to have Stocke think when I've walked like twenty feet into the area, towards the completely unblocked path leading to where the shots are coming from.

"(For now I should focus on stopping the ballista fire.)" Yes, game, that's what we WERE doing before you STOPPED ME FROM DOING IT WITH THIS DIALOGUE YOU ADDED.

Now I'm going to fight a random encounter I would have skipped, just to spite you.

It's so viscerally weird to me that support physicals combo as normal phys attacks. Something deep in my soul tells me you should be getting the attack type switch bonus if a phys support kicks in at a combo starting with a phys attack.

With the absurdly high level I'm at, Moirae Manteau, and Pieti Edge, Stocke has pretty much turned into an indestructible murder machine. Almost everyone here is doing 1 damage to him, even crits from the mercenaries.

*vaporizes ballistas with Heat Blade, only then remembers the stupid things probably still have a gun to steal* *grumbles*

...Yeah, okay, S. Magic Boosted Blizzard just killed an entire row of archers with no combo. Pretty sure there was a nerf to these dudes.

...Oh come ON. They changed "Freikugel Kreuz" to "Kreuz Bullet"? SERIOUSLY? There's an obvious weapon line here! Identifying them all by related names was a good idea! And it's a relevant reference, to the German legend and opera Der Freischütz- the freikugeln are magic bullets granted by a deal with the devil, cursed such that the first six will always hit their mark, but the devil decides where the seventh goes (which, naturally, means it gets shot at the shooter's girlfriend at the end of the story). This is appropriate to the guns' stats (enormous magic bonus with defense penalty, so you can kill lots of stuff but may get screwed over at the end) and there's a certain amount of resonance in connecting Eruca to a character who kills/almost kills a loved one against their will.

Why was this changed? 251

Chug++

, and if this has been done to all of them it'll be Fuck you and your Hell Spider material, but I'm not going to find that out for a while.

...Oh, and incidentally, they increased the DEF penalty from 3 to 10. And this is just the first one. Guess they thought too many people were getting too attached to the OHKO potential.

Garland's dialogue: "I brought you guys a present!" Garland's face: >:C Awww, don't be sad, King Bara! I've still got cake, you brought explosives, we can have a party! :::DDD

Poor choice of expressions/voice clips/sound effects: 71

(even though I suspect this one is probably a sign that the Japanese line is a lot less upbeat)

Sips++

A bunch of the archer dudes keep doing 1 damage to Eruca, which is honestly an impressive feat.

Incidentally, I noticed they have not nerfed Mana Regen into uselessness, which honestly shocks me, because "put an enemy to sleep -> kill everything else -> Mana Regen on everyone -> defend until it runs out -> repeat as necessary -> stack up ten turns and kill the thing" will effectively render most of the Vault of Grinding MP resource management a moot point.

Original: "The ballistas have all been destroyed! Now we can fight Dias!" PC: "The ballistas have all been destroyed! Now we can fight!" I actually quite like this change- with the voice acting, it changes it from sounding like a "BY THE WAY HERE'S THE NEXT PLOT POINT" reminder to "finally those damn things that were stopping us from charging in and murdering people are gone and we can have an actual battle! Hell yes!"

Changes I Don’t Hate: 117

Original: "What are you doing!? Hasn't the rabble of Cygnus been dealt with yet!?" PC: "What are you doing!? Why haven't these Cygnus infidels been dealt with!?" … Infidels?

This is Dias, not Hugo, game.

Why was this changed? 252

Sips++

Original: "What in high heaven are you babbling on about!?" PC: "Nonsense!" Now that? That right there? That is a CRIME. That is heinous. I am owed an apology for that.

Why was this changed? 253

Sips++

Clearly that is a sign I should cut this off. Tune in next time as I fight Palomides.

Tally:

Why was this changed? 253

Changes I Don’t Hate: 117

Poor choice of expressions/voice clips/sound effects: 71

How Do I Art: 43

Annoying Sound Effects: 33

Oops: 32

Handy-dandy gameplay changes: 24

Nyarlamesia: 19

Great budget priorities: 11

Let Stocke Say Ass: 10

The monkey's paw is flipping me off: 10

FUCK YOU AND THE HELL SPIDER YOU RODE IN ON: 7 (+1 provisional)

Save Me From Fanservice: 4

[tomoyoo]

Ch 6 cover is an Escher reference

One thing I love about Witch Hat Atelier is how Kamome Shirahama mixes and matches a bunch of different art styles.

The overall style of the manga seems to be mostly inspired by illustrations from old fairy tales

(Household stories from the collection of the Bros. Grimm 1922)

But Kamome combined this Fairy Tale style with elements from many other styles, for example:

-Art Nouveau

("Zodiac" by Alphonse Mucha 1896)

("illustration for Le Morte Darthur" by Aubrey Beardsley 1893)

-Baroque

("A New Book Of Ornaments With Twelve Leaves" Matthias Lock and Henry Copland, 1752)

- Rococo

("The Apotheosis of Hercules" François Lemoyne 1736)

-Western Comic Style

The western style should come as no surprise since Kamome did work for DC Comics

There are probably a lot more art styles hidden in Witch Hat Atelier that I missed, so let me know if you spot anything else.

[kathleenatmusic256a]

Reading Response 3

Ch. 3 Imbuing personality -- "Never mistake motion for action." -- "Animation alone is not enough; visual design is also about personality." &  strange design loops

The notion of imbuing personality (Artful Design, pg. 134) is equally applicable in violin playing - pulling a sound is not enough to tell a story; you have to give it personality by changing bow speed or the contact point or with a certain type of vibrato or the way to reach that note through a shift or glissando, or more. In fact, pg. 135's collection of expressive verbs could be applied in an aural domain as well. For me, well-designed things often have a strong story (linear or nonlinear) that it is portraying, and having a wide vocabulary or experimenting to find the best fitting word you can find is the name of the game.  Then, it comes down to understanding the mechanics of producing a sound that you are aiming for, through trial and error. The Golan Levin Yellowtail example is super cool to me, as I try to imagine a living catalogue of producing certain sounds in a library of expressive terms. Actually, that's corpus based synthesis, isn't it…

(Side note on the Escher/auditory illusion spread on pg. 138 - composer David Bruce did a video on Ligeti's auditory illusory pieces: The M.C.Escher of Music?)

I also enjoy the concept of strange design loops/the medium is the message (Artful Design, pg. 138. Marshall McLuhan? :)), exploring endless iteration, fuzzy Gestalt, paradoxes… some of my project ideas or even my sense of humor comes from putting things together that don't necessarily make sense,  or just trying to break things. Specifically when I think of strange design loops, I think of fugues (disclaimer: not actual loops), which invite multiple voices to imitate and interact around a main theme, becoming a small self-sustaining universe. I love things with unreliable narrators, fourth wall breaks, nonlinear narratives; that turn the focus on you, are maybe disorienting, or somehow feel different depending on where you start in the book and loop back around to (Natsume Ono's Not Simple gave me an experience of reading a different story by starting at different places, as you fill in gaps of knowledge. I read it as a tween and maybe that's why I continue to like work that is complicated and breaks me a bit by the end lol xd). A compelling piece that makes you think about the whys and hows of its creation is what I enjoy the most and hope to create more of. 

[deltaponline]

Von der Kartoffelflocke zur Hochtemperaturpumpe

  Autor: Thomas Bleif

Der Pumpenpionier Emile Egger in seinem Büro im Neuenburgischen Cressier, Schweiz. Was haben Kartoffeln mit Pumpenbau zu tun? Der Verfahrensingenieur Emile Egger plant und baut im Januar 1944 die Kartoffelstärkefabrik Cisac SA in Cressier in der Westschweiz, die Aufgabe erweist sich jedoch durch den kriegsbedingten Mangel an Baustoffen als besonders schwierig. Im September 1944 ist die Anlage dennoch anfahrbereit. Ein sehr gutes Kartoffel-Erntejahr wird für die Stärkefabrik zur Katastrophe, denn alle Pumpen versagen und können das stark gashaltige und schäumende Gemisch aus Fruchtwasser, Kartoffelpulpe und Stärke nicht fördern. In schlaflosen Nächten entwickelt Emile ein Speziallaufrad und setzt dieses in die bestehenden Pumpen ein. Am 2. Oktober 1944 läuft die Stärkefabrik Cressier einwandfrei und die Stärkefabrikation kann stetig optimiert werden. Die Fabrikation von Futterflocken in der Stärkefabrik Cressier war jedoch kriegsbedingt und mit Ende des 2. Weltkriegs wurde auch der Betrieb zurückgefahren. Im Dezember 1946 meldet Emile Egger die Egger-Pumpe in 25 Staaten zum Patent an und entschließt sich, seine eigene Pumpen-Fabrik auf der anderen Straßenseite zu eröffnen.

Die neue gegründete Pumpenfabrik Emile Egger gegenüber der Stärkefabrik Cressier im November 1948. Am 29. Oktober 1947 läuft die erste Drehbank der Pumpenfabrik Emile Egger und die junge Firma produziert mit einem Zeichner, einem Dreher und einem Monteur die ersten eigenen Egger-Pumpen. Im April 1948 wird die Einzelgesellschaft in eine Kommanditgesellschaft umgewandelt; zu den ersten Kunden zählen große Papierfabriken wie Biberist, Balsthal, Landquart aber auch Chemiewerke wie Geigy und die Maschinenfabrik Escher-Wyss. In der Zeit des Wiederaufbaus ist der Bedarf an Pumpen in der Schweiz und Deutschland enorm und die revolutionäre Pumpe findet bei zahlreichen Lizenznehmern einen großen Anklang. Zu den Hauptapplikationen zählten damals die Förderung von Stärke-, Zellstoff- und Nitrozellulose. Als erstes Schweizer Unternehmen führt Emile Egger 1949 die 5-Tage-Woche ein. Schon bald wird Egger führend in der Automatisierung des Stoffauflaufs für Papiermaschinen und neben Dickstoffpumpen liefert die Firma komplette Schaltanlagen, Armaturen und Rohrleitungen. In den frühen 50er Jahren baut Egger seine ersten Rohrbogenpropellerpumpen, die vorwiegend in der Salzindustrie ihren Einsatz finden. Ende der 50er Jahre laufen in unzähligen Industriebetrieben Egger-Pumpen mit einem Schwerpunkt in der Papierindustrie. In dieser Zeit wird auch der Iris® Blenden-Regulierschieber geboren, ein neuartiges hochpräzises Regulierorgan. Durch die Fähigkeit auch dickflüssige und faserhaltige Medien regeln zu können, findet der patentierte Iris Schieber hauptsächlich in der Papier- und Zuckerindustrie seinen Einsatz. Ein entscheidender Meilenstein in der Firmengeschichte ist die Entwicklung der einzigartigen Turo® Freistrom-Pumpe, die Mutter der Vortexpumpen, die in Kürze weltberühmt wird. Diese revolutionäre Pumpe mit völlig freiem Pumpendurchgang wird zum Markenzeichen der Firma Egger und trägt entscheidend zum stetigen Wachstum des Unternehmens bei. Im Jahr 1959 wird sie in über 30 Ländern zum Patent angemeldet. Die Turo Pumpe eröffnet völlig neue Märkte und Egger macht sich über die Jahre als Problemlöser bei schwierigen, zu Verstopfung neigenden Medien einen Namen.

Ein Messestand von Weise-Monski mit dem Egger Portfolio in den 1950er Jahren. Auch in dem vom Wiederaufbau geprägten Deutschland wird der Marktbedarf für die Turo stetig größer. Deshalb entscheidet sich Egger, die Zusammenarbeit mit dem Lizenznehmer Weise-Monski zu beenden und ein eigenes Vertriebsbüro in Deutschland zu eröffnen. 1959 wird in der Schleiermachstraße 5, an der Augustaanlage der Grundstein für die Egger-Niederlassung Mannheim gelegt. In den Anfangsjahren kümmert sich Walter Egger persönlich mit Herrn Nagelsmeier um den Aufbau des Vertriebsnetzes und um die Präsenz beim Kunden. Im November 1977 ziehen das Vertriebsbüro und die Werkstatt nach Mannheim-Neckarau in die Wattstraße um.  Heute feiert die Niederlassung Mannheim ihr 60-jähriges Firmenjubiläum und plant weiteres Wachstum.

Die Pumpenfabrik Emile Egger in Cressier, Neuenburg (CH) Ende der 1950er Jahre. Ende der 1970er Jahre wird ein breit angelegtes Forschungsprojekt lanciert und gipfelt 1978 in der Eröffnung eines hydraulischen Forschungsinstituts im Neuenburgischen Lignières. Trotz der schweren Wirtschaftslage im Kanton, bei der viele Betriebe in den 1980er Jahren schließen müssen, legt die Firma Egger im Jahr 1981 Patente für eine völlig neu entwickelte Freistrompumpen-Generation nieder. Mitte der 1980er Jahre entsteht die Prozesspumpen-Baureihe EO/EOS als Weiterentwicklung der ursprünglichen Egger-Pumpe. In den nächsten Jahren folgen zahlreiche Produktanpassungen und Sonderentwicklungen und Egger festigt seinen Namen als Prozessoptimierer und Problemlöser.

Die Emile Egger Niederlassung Deutschland / Luxemburg in Mannheim-Neckarau. In dieser Zeit wird auch der Iris® Blenden-Regulierschieber weiterentwickelt und findet in der Abwasserbranche eine neue Anwendung. Mit der Verschärfung der gesetzlichen Vorgaben für die Abwasserreinigung in den 1980er Jahren ändert sich auch die Verfahrenstechnik in den Kläranlagen und für die biologische Reinigungsstufe in der Nitrifikationsstufe ist eine präzise Lufteintragsregelung entscheidend. Erstmalig wird der Iris® Blenden-Regulierschieber in der Kläranlage Heidelberg zur Belebungsluftregelung eingesetzt. Durch seine einzigartige Bauform eignet sich der Schieber besonders gut um hohe Durchflussmengen mit niedrigen Differenzdrücken zu regeln. Heute wird der Schieber weltweit in Kläranlagen zur Belebungsluftregelung eingesetzt und ist als energiesparende Regelarmatur eine Referenz. Mit der Einführung der Prozesspumpenbaureihe HT/HPT Ende der 1990er Jahre werden neue Märkte für Reaktoranlagen in der Chemischen Industrie für hohe Temperatur und hohe Systemdrücke erschlossen. Es folgen viele anwendungsspezifische Sonderpumpen, welche unseren Kunden langfristig und individuell ihre Produktivität sicherstellen. In den letzten Jahren ist die Förderung von Rohabwasser für viele Betreiber zunehmend anspruchsvoller geworden, was vor allem durch eine Aufkonzentrierung der Abwasserschmutzfracht und einer starken Zunahme von reißfesten Feuchttüchern verursacht wird. Egger hat sich der Verstopfungsproblematik von Rohabwasserpumpen angenommen und im Jahr 2012 eine neu entwickelte Freistrompumpe zum Patent angemeldet. Die Turo® TA Freistromhydraulik für Rohabwasser sorgt durch ihren störungsfreien Betrieb für eine hohe Betriebssicherheit und ermöglicht eine deutliche Reduzierung der Betriebskosten. Sie hat sich seit Jahren in vielen Pumpstationen bewährt, auch bei kritischen Anlagen, die vorher regelmäßig zu Verstopfungen neigten.

Die Werkstatt der Kreiselpumpenfabrik Emile Egger Ende 2016. Heute werden alle Pumpen nach Kundenwunsch frei konfiguriert und in allen metallischen Werkstoffen oder am Markt verfügbaren Abdichtungen angeboten. Unser regionaler, endkundenorientierter Service rundet das Portfolio an Prozesspumpen ab. Als unabhängiges Familienunternehmen hat Egger im Laufe der Jahre Tochtergesellschaften in zehn europäischen Ländern, in Asien und in Nordamerika aufgebaut. Ein Netzwerk von Handelspartnern ergänzt die Präsenz in Kundennähe. In der über 70-jährigen Firmengeschichte konnte Egger durch die Nähe zum Kunden die revolutionären Produkte der Anfangsjahre stetig verbessern und auf die geänderten Kundenbedürfnissen anpassen. Der hohe Qualitätsanspruch und auf Langlebigkeit ausgerichtete Produkte verkörpern zusammen mit Schweizer Innovationsgeist die Philosophie der Firma Egger. Read the full article

[5-7kacholluria]

Weekly Update 11/9/18

General Studies:

Reading:

Some friends learned the poem, Number Rhymes, focusing on writing numbers 0-5. We practiced tracking by looking for the sight words line by line, as well as spelling the words. We learned the sight words, zero, one, two, three, four, and five.

Many friends are noticing sight words all around the classroom! One friend found the word “of” on the tag of our bean bag! As we read with partners, the friends counted how many sight words they found in their book. We also found new sight words as we read, for example the words little and big. Some of the partner reading strategies discussed include: sitting together with one book,” “taking turns” and “doing something together after they finish reading the story”. The friends also learned the importance of helping their partner sound out challenging words and not giving the word away (”helping not telling”).

Some friends learned how to read and spell words that contained the “ch” and “th” digraphs. We used new Montessori activities to strengthen these skills such as reading silly sentences and matching it to the correct picture card and using the movable alphabet made from pumpkin seeds. We also learned new habits to become even stronger readers such as scooping up words in phrases. We even used a real spoon to help us! This habit helps readers strengthen their fluency and expression.

Writing:

This week, some of our friends received their journals! They were so excited to have a book where they can write freely about their daily activities and feelings. It will also be used to answer a fun writing prompt. The friends also used their 5 senses to write about the park. We even took our writing materials outside! They used the outdoors as a tool to help add more detail to their first drafts. We also worked on handwriting skills that focused on writing neatly and the proper use of capital and lowercase letters.

Other friends wrote stories telling their readers about their favorite things. They included reasons and details. Some friends worked on handwriting, practicing Frog Jump Capitals, where you lift (jump) your pencil to the next starting point.

Math:

This week in math some friends continued practicing how to add numbers using manipulatives such as unifix cubes, sticks, and drawings. They showed so much excitement creating and solving their own addition equations! We also reviewed writing numbers 0-10. Here are the rhymes that are helping us learn! 0: Around you go, around you go, that’s the way you make zero! 1: Straight line down and then you are done. That’s the way to make the number one! 2: Round and back. Then across the railroad track. Two! Two! 3: Around a tree, around a tree. That’s how you make the number three! 4: Down and over and down some more. That’s how you make a four! 5: Put on a hat then take a dive. Make a belly. Now that’s five! 6: Slide down and around to pick up sticks. That’s the way to make six! 7: Straight across and down from heaven. That’s the way to make seven! 8: Make an S, but don’t wait! Come back up to make eight! 9: Make a loop and then a line. That’s the way to make nine! 10: Make a straight line down then around some men. That’s the way to make a ten!

Some of the other friends continued to work with addition equations and word problems within 20. They were introduced to the unknown number in an equation and this concept was so tricky, we spent and will continue to spend some time working with it.   The friends explored with problems where the action, which represents the change, is unknown. For example, “Ben has 5 pencils. He got some more from his mother. Now he has 9 pencils. How many pencils did Ben get from his mother?” We explored this method using concrete, pictorial and then abstract materials. They began to notice that their understanding of number facts within 10 will help them when adding and figuring out higher numbers as well. Additionally, some friends learned to use pictorial representations to write expressions, and demonstrate that they are equivalent by using the equal sign. The friends also learned to construct true number sentences such as 3+5 = 7+1 without misunderstanding the equal sign to mean that the numbers are the same. The friends understood that when added together, two numbers make a the same total, regardless of whether one of the numbers appears first or second in equations and expressions.

Cultural:

Last week, the friends explored the Story of the Universe and the Seven Days of Creation. We used our scientific, theory based, lens to understand what scientists think occurred when the Universe was created and simultaneously learned about it through a Torah lens. This week, we learned about the Timeline of Earth! Through an interactive scientific, theory based story, we were able to demonstrate just how much evolution there has been throughout the Earth’s 4,500 Million Year existence. We started with the Pre-Cambrian Era, when Earth was made up of water and rocks. We learned that through the Paleozoic Era, most life on Earth was found only in the water until lifeforms adapted for land. The Mesozoic Era was most popular among the children, as this was the Era when dinosaurs roamed the Earth! It was interesting to see the change of life and spread of continents throughout the waters. When we reached the Cenozoic Era, the children were able to make many more connections to lifeforms they are familiar with in present day, including Humans!

Ivrit:

This week the 5-7 friends continued to talk about the Stav and learned about the changes that occur in nature in compression with the changes that occur in Israel during This time of the year. For example, there are some Migrating birds (tziporim nodedot) that appear in Israel during the fall season like a bird called Nachlieli. It has zanav aroch (long tail) and is shachor velavan black and white). In addition, a beautiful plant called Chatzav, is blooming in Israel. However, we see snai (squirrels) only in Brooklyn and not in Israel.

Yahadut:

This week in Yahadut the friends learned about Parashat Toldot. We learned the story using our key words ( Esav, eikev- heel, Kol, yadayim) we learned about the tension between Yaakov and Esav. Some friends reviewed the breakdown of the Torah into the 5 sefarim. Other friends began our new Tefillah unit, about asher yatzar. We began by exploring the human body and discussing which parts of the body we think are most important. The friends were able to appreciate that there are so many parts of our body that we need to be able to function each day.

Specials Update:

Art with Steven Strauss

Monday and Tuesday Art classes completed their first project which began with an artistic technique called a wash, which means working wet on wet.  Students applied a thin coat of saltwater to watercolor paper, then dripped food coloring and observed how the colors spread and mixed.  The following lessons focused on font, pattern, line and shape.  Students used pencil then black marker to sketch their names, then transferred their designed names to the drip-colored background.  This name-based project allowed me to learn students'  names, get to better know them as artists and people.  

Thursday classes moved forward to a project based on the artwork of M.C. Escher.  Students created circle stencils, repeatedly traced the stencil onto 9x12 bristol board, outlined the circles and filled in the negative space with black marker.  Then we moved into color and pattern, and students are painting in the circles with primary and secondary colors.

Gym with PopFit Kids

What a great kick off month for our FUNctional Fitness program at Luria Academy! With our goals of having each child develop a true appreciation for physical fitness and a positive association with movement - whether it be jump roping, agility drilling, soccer ball kicking or running - we are excited to implement our versatile curriculum and find something special in each child’s wheelhouse.

Students were introduced to some of the fundamental principles of Fit Five exercising by starting out each class with a fun dynamic warm up to help activate the body. High-knees, walking leg extensions and low down lunges are just a few of the active movements that sets each class in motion.

Over the course of the first few sessions we worked on the start of basic locomotor skills, building through a combination of relays and drills that included running, galloping and jumping tasks as well as an introduction of cooperative games toward team building on and off the court.

We have definitely seen a ton of smiles and a few ah-ha moments out of the gate. There is nothing better than having fun, learning and getting exercise all at the same time.

Music with Yoshie Fruchter:

Last month at Luria, we had a blast continuing our fun and musical exploration! We focused on the concepts of “beat” and “rhythm” and started with rhythm sticks and shakers to practice.  We did some freeze dancing, some tick-tock beat keeping, and some major scale hop-scotching, using our bodies to learn about rhythm and melody.  After my recent trip to Sao Paolo, we had a chance to look at some instruments from Brazil and learn a fun (and tricky!) multi-part song about mangos, kiwis and bananas. Looking forward to lots more music creation, learning and fun in the coming weeks!