#con artist quest

[blepthe13th]

Finally going back to ibis x after suffering through sketchbook these past few months. Thinking about making the comic for these two soon :3 The one in the red is Fen-Nick and the other one is Felis.

[incorrect-borderlands-quotes]

Fiona: I'm screwed. They're gonna send me to prison. Vaughn: Worry not, Fiona. I can help. For I, too, have been in prison. Fiona: You have? Vaughn: Oh, yes. The most notorious prison of all. The prison of mind. Fiona: Cool. Yeah, I'm going to actual prison. Like bars and concrete and inmates and shit. Vaughn: Oh, right. Yeah, I've never been there. But I've heard dreadful things.

[idiopathicsmile]

you know what really grinds my gears?

okay, bear with me: so as you may know, harry houdini and arthur conan doyle were friends, at least for a while.

by the early 1920s, both arthur conan doyle and acd's wife jean, aka lady doyle, believed whole-heartedly in spiritualism, talking to ghosts and all of that. (sidenote: this was of course right on the heels of a devastating world war and a devastating pandemic, both of which had created a huge population of grieving people, so spiritualism was having a moment.)

lady doyle sincerely thought she had the ability to go into a trance state and pass along messages in writing from the dead. she offered to do this for houdini. houdini agreed.

lady doyle attempted to channel houdini's late mother. she basically drew a cross at the top of the paper and filled it with generic platitudes addressed to "harry." houdini's mom was jewish and didn't talk like that, so houdini knew the jig was up, even if lady doyle didn't. but not wanting to make the situation awkward, he kind of went along with it to their faces.

then acd decided to publish a glowing account of the seance, and since both he and houdini were super famous, it got a lot of attention, and letters started pouring in for houdini, asking if this was true. ultimately, houdini couldn't lie about it. so he essentially said, like, "yeah, i think lady doyle THINKS she can talk to ghosts but she absolutely can't." and it ruined his friendship with acd forever.

and then of course a lot of the people running seances weren't even well-intentioned like lady doyle, they were just simple charlatans taking advantage of traumatized people mourning loved ones. in houdini's youth, he and his wife had traveled the carnival circuit where he did an act pretending to commune with spirits, so he knew all the tricks of the trade AND he had lingering guilt over having done this, AND he was infuriated by this increasingly popular wave of con artists so he decided to assemble a team of anti-grifting grifters and together they went on the road exposing whichever spiritualists were preying on the locals.

houdini's best agent was a young woman named rose mackenberg, who donned disguises to visit the fraud de jour and then importantly sussed out what non-supernatural thing was actually happening, and then houdini would demonstrate the techniques onstage to packed audiences.

(if you want to know more, check out episode 175, "ghost racket crusade" of the podcast Criminal or read Tony Wolf's book The Real-Life Ghostbusting Adventures of Rose Mackenberg.)

but yeah, what really gets my goat is that all this happened and as far as i know, we still don't have like four seasons of a Leverage-style historical procedural about rose mackenberg and the rest of the crew having adventures in the 1920s as they unmask craven hucksters all over the united states. (what we do have, apparently, is one season of a show called "houdini and doyle" which is about the oddball friendship of two contrasting men solving sometimes-actually-supernatural mysteries, and whose premise does i think at the very least a real disservice to houdini's whole quest and also totally erases rose, who is arguably the most interesting part of this story to me.)

i am just steamed about this. steamed.

[fabiansociety]

da2 isn't the best dragon age game *because* it's openly a tragedy, but being a tragedy forces a level of narrative coherence that the other games in the series don't have, and *that's* what makes it a better game.

okay, so. dragon age 2 runs on nested foreshadowing and a limited set of themes that almost every character and plot beat fall into: love is not enough, wealth is not enough, power is not enough, good intent is not enough. the problems you run into are structural, rather than individual, and your ability to resolve them as one person is strictly limited. the arishok is a central figure for this, because he prefigures every other tragedy and makes the game's thesis statement as clear as possible. he doesn't want to be in kirkwall, but he is compelled to remain until he gets back what was stolen. he doesn't want to lead a coup attempt, but he is compelled by qunari codes of justice to act. he does not want to die and fail his duty, but but he is compelled to by the other two impossible demands. every tragedy in kirkwall is the result of too many people with wildly different definitions of justice crammed into one place specifically designed to maximize human misery and suffering, and so you get a wonderfully nested narrative onion where each quest reinforces that idea, where there are no good options, just positions you can take — even the affinity system plays into that, where constantly gassing up your friends or constantly pushing them to change are equally correct ways to go, but ones that won't ultimately make a huge difference in their lives or characters, because no matter how much they like you, they're not under your control.

this coherence is even justified by the framing device. of *course* the moral of the game is "insisting on a dogmatic, narrow idea of justice destroys individuals and societies," it's a yarn being spun by varric the con artist to a chantry cop!

neither origins or inquisition play with that sort of narrative complexity. origins is a jaundiced hero's quest, certainly, but it's still basically a hero's quest; inquisition has a number of characters who question what you're doing and why, but the multitude of voices pulls the game in too many potential directions. DA2 was so constrained in its production that it pulled on decidedly ancient theatrical traditions, and it worked so, so well

[stirpicus]

two questions!

1-what was the scrapped lore reason for the sky city portal being in Jesse's world (as you mentioned exploring that if it never got explained?)

2-I forget if you've mentioned it before but what's the Sidekick Academy?

1 - We had considered the idea that maybe it was the portal that Soren first used to enter Jesse’s world but it opened up too many other questions and ultimately just wasn’t very interesting to make a concrete answer.

2 - So I’ve talked about this in bits and pieces, but Jack’s backstory is that he was a scrappy wannabe hero in a town that was like a superhero story and a fantasy world blended into one - Taverns and quests and things but with more outlandish characters with gimmicks and things. This town had a big academy for heroes that was very tough to get into, and also a school for the sidekicks that weren’t good enough to be heroes or just didn’t want to be in the spotlight. That sidekick academy is where Jack and Vos met - Vos was a potions and enchantments expert who wanted to be on the sidekick track, and Jack was stuck as a “stick boy”, gathering the sticks to make swords and other equipment for the heroes. He really, really, wanted to be on the hero track, but he was just too impulsive and also didn’t have a “gimmick” like a lot of other heroes. He just.. wanted to help people. He finally gets his shot when a big bad villain comes to town who drains the power from heroes so only the sidekicks are left to save the day. This was also the adventure where they met Nurm (the latest in a long line of talenting mapmakers who is in a broody emo phase of rejecting his family business, and who they need to talk into helping them make a map to follow the big bad) and Sammy (a master thief and con artist who could be a hero and star of the hero academy if she didn’t think they were all such dorks)

[princeescaluswords]

Shipping Madness Part 72,000

I'm watching rage explode among some viewers of Agatha All Along. They are very upset that Agatha didn't get a "happy-ish" ending and some are calling it 'bury your gays.'

Agatha lived for four centuries, give or take a few decades.. She was a power-hungry con-artist and serial killer who deceived and murdered at least 30 women on-screen (with the implication there were more) in her quest for power. She did have a love interest, Rio Vidal, an incarnation of Death, whom Agatha also hated because Death took her child. What type of happy ending were these members of the audience expecting?

An ending which featured domestic bliss, with Agatha and Rio doing things like shopping for microwaves at Costco, would have been incongruous and incoherent. It ended the way that both Agatha and Rio indicated it would end, even though Agatha managed to come back as a ghost. (Which Death hates, by the way)

Agatha comes to be Billy's ghostly mentor (something similar happened in the comics by the way) after Agatha is shown to have transferred her feelings for her long-lost son to Billy and once says so explicitly. She figured out that Billy was Wanda's son and that he had created the Witches' Road. It was easy for her considering she created the very idea of it with her deceased son and used it in her long-running con. Every aspect of the story was set in motion by Agatha and related to Agatha's narrative.

Nothing was taken from the character. Her sexuality wasn't tacked on to her character to make her a target, and her emotional relationship with Rio wasn't given short shrift. This isn't Bury Your Gays.

There might be legitimate reasons for being dissatisfied with the ending of the story, but a series which proposes the line "Death Comes for Us All" is a comfort because "It's one thing we all have in common," wasn't treating it's main character as a disposable prop.

[yaksha-lover]

Lemme just toss my idea in here— SO, basically MC/Yuu is a con-artist, and one day they see a quest to retrieve the head of a certain naga (/insert monster) They thought, “Ehh I’ll take the quest but lemme just make a fake naga head and be done with it—“ WELP, THINGS OBVIOUSLY DIDN’T GO AS PLANNED— MC got paired up with Rollo (an actual monster hunter) who’s the only other person who’s willing to take the quest. MC tries their DAMNDEST to fool Rollo into thinking they’re the real deal, but, upon entering the forest— MC accidentally split apart from Rollo (shenanigans ensues for MC) and the next time they see each other MC is being coddled by said monsters of the forest :)))

He enters a clearing and finally finds the nest of the nagas. And you! You’re being crushed, held in the tail of the giant black snake. He’ll rescue you! Wait, why are you just relaxing in the naga’s grip? Why is the purple one feeding you grapes? Why is the silver one just sleeping? The green one is so awfully loud too, how had he not found the nest earlier… Nevertheless, he must persevere, free you so you can help him take town these ferocious beasts! You…you don’t want to escape? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY’RE YOUR BOYFRIENDS???

“You impotent fool! I knew you were no monster hunter. Step aside, I will deal with the situation.”

Meanwhile Malleus just disentangles from you and squares up with Rollo, his tail making him loom far above the monster hunter. “What did you say about my new mate?”

(Rollo gets his ass beat again while Lilia pours you some wine for the show🤧)

[idkfitememate]

Hi, I was wondering if you could play around in Chasm? Like a Lucklight Fly! Creator. Guiding Xiao and the others whe in the chasm in his interlude.

- 🌾

Abyssal Encounter

૮꒰˶ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ˶꒱ა Pairings : GN! Lucklight Fly Reader x Abyss Group

૮꒰ྀི∩´ ᵕ `∩꒱ྀིა W.K. : 512

໒꒰ྀིᵔ ᵕ ᵔ ꒱ྀི১ Tags/CW&TW : crack, reader is a con artist lmao

The darkness of the Chasm swallowed up any and all light around them. The small group had been dumped into darkness originally, sure, but this was true,

Utter

Complete

Blackness.

Everyone could barely see in front of themselves, constantly bumping into each other (which was a solid pain for Shinobu and her K.O.’d boss), so the part had officially come to a standstill.

Yanfei had tried to start a fire… only to reveal some of the worst looking creatures they’d ever seen gripping the walls in sleep, so that plan was down the gutter.

So, they were stuck. Great.

Any elemental power would’ve probably been to bright seeing with the creatures that stuck themselves to the walls, so at the moment? They were very screwed.

…

…Of course, that’s what they would’ve thought if they haven’t seen a small light before them. Tiny and blue, it flew towards them, gently glowing, though not enough to illuminate the walls. Getting close enough, they realized it was a-

“A lucklight fly?” Yelan questioned. “Now what is a small thing like you doing all the way in here?”

She had assumed they were long past the point where anything besides hostile monsters would reside. So seeing you was honestly a bit of a shock.

“This is our chance!” Yanfei whispered. “If there’s a lucklight fly, then there must be a way out close by! Come on… show us where you can from…” she said as she shooed you away.

Naturally you could understand them, but you were just a little offended at being just an escape route (you were more than happy to lead them out, but for a price), so you were genuinely considering turning off your light.

But, you would be the bigger person in this case and turned around, leading to small cheers behind you.

As you lazily flew through the darkened cavern, you made sure you were still in sight of those behind you, turning every once in a while to make sure they were still behind you. You’d scoff when you saw they fell behind.

Eventually, you found yourself and your new ‘friends’ in a lighter cavern, away from the whatever the fucks were in the darker area. You could hear the sighs of relief as you flew towards Xiao.

Buzzing around his head, you heard small ‘awe’s from the women, thinking he had befriended you. Instead, he reached in his pocket, took out one mora and a small candy, and gave them to you.

You hummed in delight as you then began to ascend. They looked at Xiao in confusion.

“I’ve known that lucklight fly for years now. They never do anything without reward.”

All jaws went slack. Then they whipped their heads to where you were.

“…Xiao.”

“Yes Traveler?”

“How long have you known them.”

“Well over a hundred years now.”

“… And have you?-“

“Yes I have payed them every time we’ve met.”

“…Huh.”

And while they continued to sit in silence, you chilled in your large tub of mora, nibbling away on your piece of candy.

໒꒰ྀི˶˙Ⱉ˙˶꒱ྀིა Author’s note : I hope you enjoyed! This is honestly a cute idea, but I haven’t heard/done anything to do with this quest in so long!- I had to look up so much stuff ૮꒰ ˶꒦ິ꒳꒦ິ˶꒱ა♡-

[paintingdragonfeathers]

All set up at a Scifi Valley Con Fall edition! You can find Painting Dragon Feathers on the lower level at booth P1 for all kinds of creature art, charity Con-Quests, and I’ll be giving panels Friday and Saturday. Stop by and say hi!

#convention #dealer #artistalley #paintingdragonfeathers #artist #fanart #artistlife #con #writer #diorama #pokemon #pokeball #pokeballterrarium #art #craft #terrarium #legendsofarceus #pokemonscarlet #pokemonviolet #pokemongo #pogo #gengar #mimikyu #umbreon #shiny #shinyumbreon #scifivalleycon #scifivalleyconfall2024

[blepthe13th]

Page 2 of comic

[uzumaki-rebellion]

"Tethered to You" ("The Acolyte) Chapter 1

Chapter Summary:

Qimir's prolgue intro where he meets an imposter trying to trick him.

"While I was tethered to you,

You cut it straight to the truth

And we're so one and the same,

So all my pain is your pain

You thought your soul was a necklace

That you could wear and take off

That you could rip then break off,

That you could trade in the dark

But you're mine…"

Victoria Monet"—"Power of Two"

Qimir leaned against the curved, key-holed style archway in the back of the dusty apothecary fiddling with a piece of half-eaten fruit in his hand. He wore a pair of dark shop goggles out of boredom and thought about what kind of meal he wanted for the evening to settle his stomach. Much of the food available in taverns and outdoor markets of Olega made him queasy. Bland spices on greasy meat cooked out in the open, and overcooked flatbreads paired with soggy tasteless vegetables was the norm in his immediate area. He much preferred simpler fare like homemade soups and grilled seafood freshly caught.

Waving his hand to shoo away an insect from his face, he glanced over his shoulder and sniffed the scent of the fresh decoction he created. Lavender and mauve spindly herbs boiled away in a scarlet glass pot on the workshop table where he used a mortar and pestle to grind some different dried plants he would boil and steep later for tea in the evening. For now the herbs filled the apothecary with a pleasant aroma of nature in the wild on a cool Olega afternoon. There were other edible plants and some off-world mushrooms covered in containers along the shelves across the room that he could use to make a savory broth. Perhaps he could finesse some taste out of some tavern vegetables left over in the small conservator behind the work table.

Strands of silky black hair fell against his cheek as he tilted his head to listen.

Footsteps approached the entrance.

She wasn't due back soon.

He had a sign posted on the door informing inhabitants that he was on a lunch break and would re-open in half an hour. Olega was rife with black market vendors, unscrupulous tradesmen, and con artists, so no one paid much attention when he took over the place after tricking the feeble humanoid mind of the original owner. Using his handsome face and seductive predatory eyes, Qimir led the old shopkeeper to believe that he had to leave immediately for an overdue vacation. The husky and very hairy owner removed themselves quickly and Qimir settled in temporarily with Mae…Mae who was supposed to be out scouting and not returning to the shop at that exact time.

The footsteps sounded like her, but with less aggression. She seemed to walk with hesitation and entered the apothecary with unfamiliar coquettish eyes. Her physical bearing was off-kilter. She was different. Mae not Mae.

An imposter.

This one tried to recreate the persona and mimicked Mae's style, but his real wanna-be acolyte never owned that particular black body wrap. The true giveaway was the lack of a mask across her face to hide her identity from the general public.

Curiosity rather than caution percolated in his mind.

"Hello…" she said.

He fought the urge to burst out laughing from the poor charade. Mae was always direct and didn't waste time on pleasantries with him. No, he was simply the stranger who did her bidding on the Master's behalf. He was there to assist her goal of killing four Jedi masters without weapons. Once her task was done, she would return to his planet and tell the Master that her quest had been fulfilled, and that she was at last ready to become his acolyte.

A restless anger lived inside of Mae. Hate even. Qimir had hoped that she would be up to the task and she showed great promise and focused determination. However, she lacked a certain quality that prevented him from accepting her outright. Until he witnessed that one thing she needed, he would have to wait for proof of growth and readiness. Or kill her.

"Oh, hello," he said, waving his hand at her.

She stayed rooted in place. Wary.

"Hi…you alright?" he responded, studying the imposter from head to toe while he placed the mushy fruit on the counter along with the goggles.

Carefully rounding the counter, he approached her as he normally would Mae.

"You're back so early…"

She was guarded and yet committed to the poor acting job. He followed suit, still amused to see Mae's face on someone else. She feigned confidence in her presentation. He sensed others advancing toward the shop. All Jedi. She was a pawn they used to shake Mae out from the shadows.

"I wanted to see you."

She intrigued him now. The awkward words tumbled from her lips and heightened the tension crackling between them. He touched his chest, "See me? Oh…Mae, uh, are you okay? Did the poison work? You're acting so strange."

He tilted his head and watched every facial tic in her round light brown face. Mae always had intense eyes reminding him of meteors blazing across the darkness of space. Fake Mae held the same fierceness. It was time to let her know he was on to her.

"Wait," he said, easing ever so close to her. "You killed Torbin without the poison. He will be so pleased."

He hoped it was true. The yellow elixir he made for her couldn't even touch skin without harming someone. It was that powerful and deadly. The imposter's eyes flickered the truth and an inner part of him slumped with disappointment. He gave her a sly smirk. She lifted her chin up.

"No, I used it. I just wanted to thank you…"

Her eyes almost became watery and he gazed at her lush lips, struck by how easy it would be to kiss her trembles of fear away. His mask slipped. A part of her knew he discovered the ruse. The corners of his lips dropped the smirk from his mouth. She kept stretching their farce with shaky bravado in her stance. He stepped to his full height in front of her, his gaze dusting across her eyes, rounded nose, and full lips once more up close. So close. The temptation to trace the calloused tip of his thumb across the outline of her lips beckoned, but he resisted crossing that frontier. The Jedi would barge in on them at any minute. He'd have to take on the caricature he played for Mae again. The imposter caught a glimpse of the real him and he let her see more.

Those dark brown eyes stared at him and something new flickered in them.

Interest.

In him.

They were both mysteries to one another. She teased hungry eyes. Beautiful eyes. They compelled him to step into intimacy. Her breath came out in a tiny gasp that only lovers shared when they were about to touch for the first time. His body became aware of the heat from hers. A nervous tremble quaked her body and he ignored it, enraptured with those luminous eyes that would haunt him the way Mae's never did.

He knew of a long dead twin sister. Mae told him about her when he trained her. With his helmet snug on his head sporting a twisted, sinister cortosis smile and his light saber holstered to his hip, he listened to his young charge spill out the secrets of her life among exiled witches on Brendok. It had to be her. There was a coolness to her that he liked. Mae was the hot-headed one. But this one…

Was she force sensitive too? His eyes narrowed at the possibilities until he sensed the pulsing energy of the force within her. He opened himself up more and a wave of incredible energy rippled across his body from her. The tendrils of his innate power uncoiled and reached out to her in a subtle test seeking light or darkness. He had to be careful. He was pretending to be a nobody, a nameless minion for her twin.

The dark power was in her and he almost salivated. He embraced the idea of having two strong acolytes at his fingertips. The imposter already looked mesmerized by his presence and he was ready to seduce her further. All he needed was a few more minutes alone with her.

"You look exactly like her…"

He left his real self wide open for too long. Her keen senses reacted to his pulsing desire that thread itself around her mind. Panic set in, and she jumped back, leveling a weapon at his face.

"Whoa…whoa, whoa, whoa, wait!"

He threw his hands up and a tall Jedi with short locs and an agitated tone dashed in front of the imposter wielding his light saber. A second Jedi with lank hair and a weary battle-worn face strode in, and still another snuck up behind him. Qimir slammed the mask of his false self back down and quickly became the bumbling stranger who knew nothing. They wanted Mae, asked him questions about her whereabouts and threatened him about helping her poison a Jedi. The older Jedi pounced on him with an offer. "If you will cooperate, we will consider letting you go with a warning."

Qimir held his hands up in a defensive stance making himself appear small and meek. He wanted to keep the imposter close and was willing to give up Mae in the process. The Jedi weren't interested in arresting him or punishing him for assisting with the murder of Master Torbin. They only wanted Mae.

"If you want to get to her, she'll be back here tonight. I'm holding some things for her," Qimir said.

"Yord, secure the peremiter. Keep an eye out for Mae," the older Jedi said.

He brushed past Qimir with a dismissive whoosh of his robes and the other Jedi followed him.

Qimir gave another glance at the imposter. Her eyes latched onto his for a split second longer than necessary before she swept her way across the threshold leaving him alone in the shop.

His soft fleshy lips swept up into a dark delicious smile.

A flame had been sparked in her eyes.

Ignited by him.

Chapter 2 HERE.

[ofliterarynature]

TBR TAKEDOWN: Week 12 (Aug 18)

TLDR: I have too many unread books, and I’m asking tumblr to help me downsize. Pick one or none, and comment if you can - a convincing sentence is worth a dozen votes! You’re also welcome to just choose the one that sounds the worst :D Book descriptions below the cut, see my pinned post for more info.

The Rector and the Rogue by W. A. Swanberg

It began quietly enough one morning in February 1880, with a mutton-chopped Acme Safe Company salesman knocking on the door of Reverend Morgan Dix, the starchiest clergyman in Manhattan's most respectable church. The salesman was surely misdirected, Reverend Dix explained--he had no need for a safe, and he had not made an appointment. But soon after, used clothes dealers arrived, followed by heavy machinery salesmen, and soon the street filled riotously with wave after wave of solicitor-tormentors--hundreds of funeral directors, horse traders, wigmakers, fellow clergymen, doctors--all insisting they'd been summoned by the bewildered Reverend Dix. And for weeks, it continued in this manner. Reporters from every newspaper in New York camped out to watch the fun, and as the story gained national attention, police and postal officers raced to capture the gleeful prankster-cum-performance artist who was making a mockery of the esteemed Trinity Church.

A fascinating tale of detection and revenge, The Rector and the Rogue uncovers for the first time the trail of celebrated Victorian trickster "Gentleman Joe"--the mysterious con-man whose innumerable identities, wild fabrications, baffling motives, and international trail of chaos would lead to one of the most bizarre criminal cases of the 19th century.

The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl by Melissa Kiel

Alba wants to stop time so she can stay in her small town forever - but the end of the world might just force her to confront her future.

Alba loves her life just as it is. She loves living behind the bakery and waking up in a cloud of sugar and cinnamon. She loves drawing comics and watching bad TV with her friends. The only problem is she's overlooked a few teeny details. Like, the guy she thought long gone has unexpectedly reappeared. And the boy who has been her best friend since forever has suddenly gone off the rails. Even her latest comic book creation is misbehaving. On top of all that, the world might be ending - which is proving to be awkward.

As doomsday enthusiasts flock to idyllic Eden Valley, Alba's life is thrown into chaos. Whatever happens next, it's the end of the world as she knows it. But when it comes to figuring out her heart, Armageddon might turn out to be the least of her problems.

Full of Keil's trademark quirky characters and witty dialogue, readers will be hooked by Alba's romantic dilemma and the hilarious plot that links the end of high school with the end of the world.

Moth and Spark by Anne Leonard

A prince with a quest. A commoner with mysterious powers. And dragons that demand to be freed—at any cost.

Prince Corin has been chosen to free the dragons from their bondage to the Empire, but dragons aren’t big on directions. They have given him some of their power, but none of their knowledge. No one, not the dragons nor their riders, is even sure what keeps the dragons in the Empire’s control.

Tam, sensible daughter of a well-respected doctor, had no idea before she arrived in the capital that she is a Seer, gifted with visions. When the two run into each other (quite literally) in the library, sparks fly and Corin impulsively asks Tam to dinner. But it’s not all happily ever after. Never mind that the prince isn’t allowed to marry a commoner: war is coming to Caithen.

Torn between Corin’s quest to free the dragons and his duty to his country, the lovers must both figure out how to master their powers in order to save Caithen. With a little help from a village of secret wizards and a rogue dragonrider, they just might pull it off.

[allhailkingsquest]

I picked up two of Molly Nemecek's (@jakface) double-sided King's Quest/Monkey Island charms at Fan Expo! 🎉 If you're in Toronto for the con's final day tomorrow (Aug 25), drop by Artist Alley booth A28 for your own, or buy it online here.

[sciatu]

In un mio precedente post (vecchio di alcuni anni fa) ho parlato dell’arte dei “diversi”, di chi aveva problemi psicologici o sociali e esprimeva nella sua arte una “vita parallela” alla “vita normale” che noi viviamo. Per questi artisti la loro arte descriveva quella “normalità” che vivevano dentro di loro, completamente assorbiti da essa tanto da descriverla in opere, che a noi cittadini ordinari, apparivano quanto meno “diverse”, “inquietanti” o “anomale”. Ora Farm Cultural Park di Favara, appare come una città di queste “vite parallele” in quanto la nostra “normalità” è ridiscussa, rielaborata, provocata e criticata. Un tipico paese siciliano, con le piccole case dei contadini, per lo più dirupate e abbandonate, rivive nella Cultural Park un “altra vita” quella senza le convenzioni, o le ipocrisie presenti vita ordinaria che vorrebbe il centro abbandonato del paese, come luogo da scartare, cancellare, dimenticare. Osservando tutte queste reali illusioni o rivisitazioni del Park, chiediamoci, prima di giudicare, con quali occhi lo stiamo giudichiamo. Quelli di un pollo di allevamento rinchiuso in una piccola gabbia di regole e obblighi o quelli di una colomba che vola altra sui roveti delle convenzioni ed i deserti del formalismo. Capire come guardi, ti farà capire in fondo come sei.

In a previous post of mine (a few years old) I talked about the art of the “different”, of those who had psychological or social problems and expressed in their art a “parallel life” to the “normal life” that we live. For these artists their art described that “normality” that they lived inside of them, completely absorbed by it so much so that they described it in works that to us ordinary citizens, appeared at least “different”, “disturbing” or “anomalous”. Now Farm Cultural Park of Favara, appears as a city of these “parallel lives” as our “normality” is re-discussed, reworked, provoked and criticized. A typical Sicilian village, with the small houses of the farmers, mostly ruined and abandoned, lives again in the Cultural Park an “other life” one without the conventions, or the hypocrisies present in ordinary life that would like the abandoned center of the village, as a place to discard, erase, forget. Looking at all these real illusions or revisitations of the Park, let's ask ourselves, before judging, with which eyes we are judging him. Those of a farm chicken locked in a small cage of rules and obligations or those of a dove that flies high above the brambles of conventions and the deserts of formalism. Understanding how you look, will make you understand deep down how you are.

[verdemoun]

i found something on tiktok that reminded me of your timewrapped arthur and maybe a lot of the gang it was someone crying over the trope “when the trope is a character born to be a weapon but no longer necessary and having to learn to be a normal person” 😈

this is the essence of timewarp. all of them had to have that painful revelation in their own time that they are not normal and it is going to take years to unlearn those 19th century survival skills

bessie's 'no guns in the house rule' originated because they are all weapons. her and annabelle weren't weapons they had to go through learning not to expect every single person they pass on the street is capable and ready to murder. it only took trying to find the callander boys to realize the fact most died with guns in their hands or at their sides is going to be an issue. first thing a disorientated gunslinger does is reach for their gun. fortunately meeting The bessie matthews face-to-face is enough for most to be star struck enough to not really react to her asking them to hand over their weapons before she starts explaining hi welcome to the future

hosea didn't fully comprehend how much he was a weapon himself. he made it to what was considered seniority as an outlaw because he thinks quick and has a faster trigger finger have you seen his quick draw?? he is not 'just' a con artist he is as much a fine tuned weapon as the rest of the gang.

while he will do anything for bessie and does thoroughly enjoy exploring modern era without the constant fear of being recognized as The hosea matthews, he really doesn't ever move on from that constant overanalysis of his surroundings. he had to live and rely on those instincts so long he can't make them go away. on some days is relieved to use keeping an eye on kieran as an excuse not to leave the house because he never learns to become a normal person in modern era

but the angst and guilt of him realizing how much the gang in general struggle with it and knowing he contributed to that. him encouraging dutch's ideals of saving people who needed saving accidentally becoming taking easily influenced young boys and men off the streets and teaching them how to survive in 19th century which meant being a weapon was necessary. watching the manifestation of a group of adult outlaws trying to survive modern era with not only their pre-existing lifetime traumas but the additional c-ptsd of veterans struggling to unlearn how easy it is for them to see a threat and want to reach for their guns, readily capable of killing another in cold blood in case they were a threat to the gang

not knowing how to help them because he doesn't even know how to help himself

bessie needing to get used to when someone knocks on the door absolutely all of them turn with that dangerous look in their eyes and the comfortable positions they had been in seconds ago now look more like a pack of crouched predators waiting for the call to attack. watching how quickly they could recover from that state becoming longer episodes of confusion wondering why they reacted like that when people knocking on the door becomes something normal

very predictably arthur is the worst because he could acknowledge he was nothing but a killer by the end. but the first time he is walking down the street having settled into modern era and notices he still has his hand hovering over his hip ready to draw for absolutely no reason is so frustrating for him.

arthur would get angry at his relapses into weapon coding. he wanted and got his out of the gang. he has more avenues of exploring his curiosity than ever before and the freedom to still go on his side quests and explore the world in an entirely new context and he still reaches for a gun.

he knows he is safe walking down the street. modern era is objectively so much safer than canon era. he is mentally trying to convince himself he feels safe but those stupid relapses wanting a gun, surveying any area he walks into for cops, the second of suspicious fear when he sees someone in a suit and wonders if they're a pinkerton, are constant reminders that he is still a weapon and he just wants to be normal so badly he feels abnormal being the way he is

[closedrop]

So far I am 25 hours into Crisis Core and learned many things

(Crisis Core spoilers and theories ahead)

- Genesis has a Bible (most likely related to LOVELESS and his theories) and I joined his fan club

- Sephiroth has a fan club with “images that your average Sephiroth fan could never ever dream of seeing” apparently which is a bit worrying but I am also a Sephiroth fan club member so

- Tseng knows Aerith somehow? Willing to bet this is either related to her having been in I think Shinra facilities for a while. Orrrr something love related(?)

- Cid is in space training :) (I love Cid.)

- Cissnei is a character, don’t know much about her but she’s there and I don’t THINK she’s in the original FFVII but if she is she’s hidden because I dragged Cloud around on SO MANY side quests. (Cissnei your chances of living do not look good in the future I’m not gonna lie)

- I believe Gongaga is still intact and hasn’t yet been destroyed by theeee Mako Reactor I think it was sooo that’s probably gonna be an important plot point if that happens

- At least two of the SOLDIERS are gay for Zack or at least find him attractive in some way (which if they are, good for them, good for them)

- The fact that once you’re in the science dept. you can’t leave because they deal with too much sensitive information, that’s a really nice detail and I really love it. I learned that a few days ago I think and I really appreciate that because it makes Hollander’s stuff make more sense I guess from what little I do know

- I lied about Sephiroth he’s not the comedy character it’s Genesis, my man just shows up, spouts poetry(It’s always LOVELESS) and then dips. “My friend, will you fly away now. To a world that abhors you and I 🤓” (I’m sorry Genny ily I’m in your fan club 😞)

- Apparently nobody likes Angeal because from what I saw there was one person in his fan club and it’s getting shut down because she’s too depressed to do anything about it (unless Zack intervenes, which can’t be possible anymore because I missed that chance, sorry Angie 😞)

- There’s a lot of definitely not relevant small details(lie) Like Zack’s whatever limit break that he uses when you haven’t gotten the character’s image in the DMW yet. It’s just cross slash, which is Cloud’s 2nd limit break in the original FFVII (I can’t say anything about the new one since I haven’t played it yet- but yeah) Another one being Aerith’s bow, since Zack buys it. (I’m sure there’s more I can’t think of right now but yeah)

- Zack is 6’1” and his hobby is squats apparently which makes sense but I figured he’d more of a casual baking kind of guy. (Though he’d also be the kind of guy to burn like Kraft Mac n cheese so I don’t know if I’d trust him in the kitchen ever-)

- Zack got doxed lol (and Yuffie got his address)

- Zack the puppy.

- Wutai spies are very bad at being spies

- Every child is a con artist (except for that one that one time)

- Zack, master treasure hunter (Me because I have spent most of my time doing just missions and side quests-)