#dependent modifier
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Me when I remember that average height is determined by nutrition and medicine, so in a world like Erdas my 6'0 Abeke and 6'3 Shane would be pretty unlikely...
#all of the heights i've given them are unlikely. actually. (sounds of crying)#does this matter in the grand scheme of things? not really. will it bug me if i don't do something about it? YES#i will try to modify their heights in light of this fact#because by today's standards they would have all been short‚ average at best#it'll be a complicated process to figure out how tall they should be because each land would have a different average#for males and females#dependant on the resources they have at that specific time in history#but i'll see what i can do#text#a revised history of erdas#spirit animals#spirit animals books#spirit animals series#abeke#shane
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used the equilibrium deck to have an easier time drawing him. look at him yayyyyyy
#honestly for a really quick prototype he looks pretty good :D#i spent 90% of my time on the background and almost none on him KJHFKG#the background is final probably. sadly the eye will surely be hidden#but i'll know it's there#i gotta figure out how to mod this game (or just edit cryptid to do what i want) i wanna make him do something soooo bad#i know exactly what i want him to do. i have no idea how to make it work tho#actually i dont even know if the SPECIFIC thing i want to do will work at all. might have to modify it a bit#depends on if cards getting destroyed also tracks the method of destruction (hanging. death. immolate. grim. etc)#might just have to settle for ''when a card is destroyed'' instead of what i want to do. but that's fine too#and honestly i might be able to throw that together now bc surely that's just a copy/paste job from another card right...#there's a lot of cards that do similar things
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Like no-
Uh- I'm not charging 50 for days on days of work and gad to pay so much money to get the stuff
#Depending on the mask 300 is a but much#But only 50?! Fuck nah#If it's water proof#we'll made#lined#furred#modified#and looks good? That takes alot of time and stuff to do#(my second main mask is all those)#Like nuh uh man 50 bucks? Idc if somones broke they don't have to buy it#Sorry for my little asshole rant#Surprise I think ppl shouldn't only be paid 50 bucks for weeks of work
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homoerotic fight scene, you say? Added tension of being engaged AND a possible traitor, you say? Even more tension over that being the person that you thought you knew better than anyone else in the world hiding things from you, you say?
YES EXACTLY. JAY IS SO MAD COLE IS SO MAD AND STRESSED JAY IS STRESSED NEITHER OF THEM IS HAVING A GOOD TIME IN THAT ARENA. I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THEY'LL BE ABLE TO PROPERLY RECONCILE. CHEN IS GIGGLING IN HIS SEAT THINKING HE'S GOT THIS WHOLE "if my son-in-law (to be) won't turn against the other ninja i'll just turn the other ninja against him" THING. MAYBE EVEN COLE WINNING MAYBE EVEN SKYLOR USING BORROWED EARTH POWER TO MAKE COLE WIN WHILE APPEARING UNINVOLVED. IT'S GONNA BE SO SO FUN FOR ME FR FR
#ask zaz#betrothal au#they should get to reconcile regarding the love triangle at least#which also. is modified slightly for this au#originally i modified it so that jay's upset with cole for the perfect match thing and cole's upset jay seems to think so little of him#but i might modify it a bit more to try and be true to the characters???#either way cole's whole ''i am going to run away from my emotions'' thing comes to bite him hard there#depending on if what cole and jay say in the arena can be heard by anyone they MIGHT be able to reconcile fully/cole explain that he#and skylor have a Plan#or they might only be able to affirm that they want to be friends to themselves but be unable to express it to the other and jay goes into#that hole with so much emotional distress still between them#cole ninjago#jay walker#lego ninjago
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Fantomette Bloodbornetober drawing list!
Saw
Sword
Chief
Powder
Spark
Cosmic
Wheel
Crow
Bloody Crow
Fire
Radiant
Love
Gilbert
Chapel Dweller
Gascoigne
Henryk
Imposter
Adella
Arianna
Antal
Valtr
The Madaras Twins
Yamamura
Gratia
Henriett
Yurie
Edgar
Forgotten madman & escort
Yharnam
Lost
Happy Halloween 🎃
Death
#my inktober#fantomette22art#i will update it with the links!#also it is not definitive I might still modified or change a few things#depending of the things I want to draw and ideas I have#i will see what I can do#inktober2023#inktober#prompts#bloodborne
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i think its kinda funny that ibis paint is regarded as the Broke Artist App or whatever (as opposed to more mainstream programs like csp or procreate) because its free and because of how popular it is with phone + finger artists while im jusg sitting here having used ibis for a cool eight years on purpose.
like i have an ipad and an apple pencil and all theyre very nice and i absolutely could move to a more powerful program i have the resources to do so but my change averse brain has decided they like it here a lot and im not leaving
#not talking smack on phone and finger artists btw. some of my mutuals use their fingers and their art goes crazy i respect that so much#even when i did use my phone (most of 14 crush was done on a phone!) i still had to use a cheap rubber stylus hahaha#anyway maybe ill try procreate someday but also i hate learning new programs and i like ibis's brushes too much#fingers crossed that they add fully custom brushes someday though#like id love to be one of those artists that makes really cool art with ridiculous shapes and nobody even knows until they tell you#younger artists might not know this but modern ibis is STACKED compared to how it was in 2015#like i remember when clipping layers were first implemented. and they sucked. like they didnt fully go over the lower layer#so it just left a gross tiny outline around the shape#and there wasnt any border or text tools either#and there was a hard cap on layer count depending on your device's storage and the canvas size#modifying brushes wasnt even a thing HAHAHAHAH you just used what you had#anyway okiku reference window unrelated shes just there for something else im working on<3#bri talks#for the record all this is to say i think the smack talk towards ibis is pretty unwarranted#like yeah maybe its not as powerful as a lot of these fancy paid apps but i honestly think its insanely good for being a free program#i think getting rid of the ads costs more now than it did when i paid to get rid of them but i mean#free with ads is still a lot more than csp's ever gonna give you!!!!#(psst. secret from me to you! you wont get any ads if you disable the app's data usage and turn off wifi when you use it)#(alternatively just use airplane mode but you can still get texts and stuff the first way)
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Localization discourse has cropped up again on Twitter, and someone posted a few before and after screenshots of an Echoes mod that retranslates the game to be more faithful to the original JP script, with that same person claiming that all the mod does is remove all the personality and charm 8-4 added to the dialogue; for reference, here's the lines they're referring to:
Lukas (EN): But just once, i should like to be red with rage, green with envy... Something!
Lukas (JP): But still, i've never been caught up enough to lose control of myself...
Clair (EN): Do i not deserve better than these trite gambits of yours?
Clair (JP): That kind of behavior is very hurtful towards the one it is directed at.
Clair (EN): If that crass phrase means you wish to speak with me, then please proceed.
Clair (JP): Oh, Dyute. What is it?
I can somewhat get why people could see the first change as just being a less interesting way of getting across Lukas' lines about struggling with not feeling enough emotions (though even then i'd argue that changing the lines from him being dejected and resigned at his emotional struggles to him being actively angry about them is a decently big change to his character and not just "oh they worded it in a more interesting way"), but i really don't get how people can argue that Clair's localized lines aren't blatantly rewriting her character; her criticism of Gray being changed from "your behavior hurts people and you should stop because of that" to "your behavior hurts me and you should stop because i'm your superior and deserve better than to be toyed with by the likes of you", along with her greeting to Delthea being changed from "oh hi, what's the matter?" to "if that gross phrase means you want to talk to me, then i suppose i can grant you the privilege of a conversation" doesn't make the dialogue any wittier, it's just making Clair into more of a spoiled brat than she was intended to be originally.
You ruined my day with this :(
(i know this is an old ask, but I forgot it in my drafts!)
I thought FE15's localisation was nice, but granted, I didn't have access to the JP script (nor JP audio!), but now I wonder if the schtick "nobles vs commoners" wasn't overplayed in the lolcalised version, which in turn, would kind of explain why some people felt cheated by Alm's reveal -
Even if I always took it as "being a noble has nothing to do with birth" didn't meant Tobin as a peasant could become a noble and have a noble heart, but meant that even if you are born a noble with super special powers or not, being a noble character only falls on you, and the actions you take : Alm rescues random women (FE15 for you!) around at the cost of his mission/safety/etc, when Berkut, who is noble-born just like Alm, hunts peasants and burns his fiancée.
8-4 adding more "Nobles BaD" feels in touch with what ultimately happened with Fodlan, even if while the FE series already tried to dip its toes in this water with Ike, his "nobles BaD" ultimately amounted to childish tantrum and refusal to deal with "complicated things" when you realise and learn what kind of people he's working with, and their responsabilities.
In a way, I can understand the people being annoyed that the mod removed the "additions" brought by 8-4 if they really made the characters more memorable - but my stance will always be to be able to choose if you want to put parmesan on your pasta or not.
8-4!Clair is a spoiled and snob brat - but can't we get the choice to get a Clair without parmesan?
You know what, I'm thinking FEH's decision (in 2017!) to, uh, not include dual audio was due to the supposed limitations of the app, but imo, was also amde with the dubbing/US!VA industry in mind because, imagine the players from FE14-FE15 having characters who, by tone alone, are different from the ones they're used to, what kind of message would that send to players? You've played the parmesan!version of those games?
And to be clear, I like my pasta carbonara with heavy cream because I'm french and cream is life.
And yet, IDK, maybe that's just me, but I think I'd feel a bit out of the loop if I was thrown in game that celebrates a franchise I never played, since the games I played were... heavily "localised" to catter to my tastes and overplayed issues that weren't there because I'd maybe like this theme more than what was initially presented.
Cultural differences are a thing, but Crayon Shin-Chan is meant to be watched, in japan, by children in primary school.
OD's Crayon Shin Chan is basically japanese!Family Guy.
We had the "same" heavily lolcalisation back in the days here, with French!City Hunter ("Nicky Larson") and French!Hokuto no Ken ("Ken le Survivant"), and while in the 80s-90s some people still harped that those were the "real deal", with time it became more and more widely accepted that Nicky Larson and Ken le Survivant were... products that were lolcalised to fit with the regulations of that time (no blood for children! no swear words - when the regular french person says "merde" at least 10 times per day) - but if you were to go and interview the authors of those mangas, they wouldn't have a clue about what you're talking about with your french "dessins animés".
(granted, I've heard that recently, during a convention, both the author of City Hunter and Hokuto no Ken were surprised but pleased that even if it was lolcalised to oblivion, their work was so appreciated here!)
With modern FE though, I feel like FEH has to pretend that Nicky Larson and Ryo Saeba from City Hunter are the same person - so they will put Ryo in a fridge and call Nicky Larson "Ryo Saeba".
I mean, that's what we got with Halloween!Rhage - who roars using her special, and yet winks in her artwork because the artwork was commissioned by the people who designed/came up with Rhea, not with Rhage - and here, with your examples, with Clair.
Clair is a young noble lady, who as you pointed out with those lines, is a well mannered noble who doesn't hurt nor is looking down on people from lower birth, eons away from the "oujou who only means well" trope we ended up with with 8-4.
At the end of the day, people are free to enjoy whatever they want, let it be 8-4!Clair of Jp!Clair - but I'll have the same opinion as I always did regarding localisation : was it really up to 8-4 to change her characterisation this way? Are they still localising or swapping Jp!Clair with a brand new character of their creation?
If so, can this still be called localisation?
#sealofreconciliation#lolcalisation issues#I get that it's a very complicated work and it's easy to criticise behind your computer#and yet there's no reprieve from people who lived in the 2000s#Sure the anime expended on it because anime is different from the manga#but Katsuya Jonouichi was changed from Joey Wheeler from Brooklyn#Japanifornia is a term that was coined up by all this need to lolcalise even when it doesn't make sense#Localising isn't as easy as putting words in google translate#and yet I think 8-4 inserting their character in FE15 is not localisation#that's what we got with Fates and the differences between characterisation in the JP and US versions#it happened to a lesser degree with FE Fodlan#but there's still this discrepency between the og source material aka H!Rhea winking and throwing cookies#and Leigh's Rhage lines to go with that image#maybe as a non US person all this US localisation pisses me more#because the french localisation is either loltastic or at times and recently closer to the jp script which leaves me with more 4kids feels#sure you can always have the argument that if you can't understand the source material you have to use a proxy#but hey your proxy isn't even my native language so why should I use yours if something else is available?#even if what is available is crap and yet still manages to make me understand that your proxy isn't only a proxy but basically your takes#and your inserts in what the game isn't originally saying?#tbh I called out Rhage before the Halloween!alt especially with her lines about Willy in Tru Piss#Sure I couldn't understand a crap that was being said but by tone alone? the Rhea I couldn't understand felt like a very different characte#compared to Rhage#then friends translated the lines and I read that TV Tropes thing and found out Leigh's interview where she says#Pat told her to act in a certain way#and the rest is history#what is good localisation from what is lolcalisation always depends imo on what you want#and yet i think after a certain era people are more critical of what they consume#especially since the internet existing means people can check the og script and find out what was modified#sometimes it sucks and you have a dude writing 10k words about toxic masculinity because he didn't understood what 'boku' meant#and yet sometimes you have people finding out the lolcalisation turned someone saying Church GooD in Church BaD for no reason
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guys we're so back (crocheting some snails. of a certain variety.)
#depending on how cute they turn out ill post some pics#using a tutorial ofc but im modifying one of them so the neck is longer for gem#they call me the crochet master#moss chitchat
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at one point i considered trying lotd but recently on r/skyrimmods ppl have been coming forward with the mod author being really fucking rude and pretentious over ppl who don't want to update to latest version for various valid reasons. because the recent lotd update made the resourcespack.esl a master requirement of the mod and that file is from the most recent ae update. you know what it does? add fucking lily pads to the mod. that's it. i already have two whole ass water plants mods that add those. what is so special about these goddamn lily pads.
#they throw fits and delete any comments detailing how to get the file without updating#which is 100% legal via a steam function.#and if someone points out the mod works fine if you remove that dependency they're banned from the mod page#we have a new arthmoor i guess#they also have been extremely antagonistic to beloved authors like mihailmods too#tf is their problem leave mihail alone he's a national treasure#i also after finding out it went from being a museum mod to being a fucking TWO THOUSAND ITEM COLLECTATHON#i was turned off lol#i think there's a cool solitude museum mod ill try out eventually instead#just why are people so fucking bent over SKYRIM MODDING#are we not supposed to be a community helping each other modify a fucking fantasy game or
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tbh tho this is EXACTLY what merfolk relationships look like
and they just keep track of this. in their heads. all the time.
#all the care guide says is 'biomass'#they dont have gendered pronouns but they do have tone modifiers for every other fucking word depending on their relationship to the other#and their mood. and if theyre referring to multiple people at once or just one person. and often layered on top of each other too.#merfolk have poor vision but they DO inherently think of things in a more ''three dimensional'' way than we do#considering they live underwater and youre operating with another axis just to move around anywhere#which then gets applied to the rest of their everything#ESPECIALLY language because theyre nerds who went hard into the sound focus#their visual art in comparison has simpler elements than ours (but a lot more focus on light/movement)#this is why merfolk have some very unique spellcrafts and theyre notorious for complicated and detailed spellwork#like yes a part of it is the fact that theyre older than the other species and have had more time to work on it#but also they can just DO really unique things compared to other cultures because they emphasize layered detail in this way#this is also why - from the outside - so much of miranda's job looks like parties and balls and attending to the courts#because again. its all about the emphasis on who has what relationship with who and how to operate within that.#legal agreements are multilayered and come with terms and conditions a mile long and you need to have a very careful hand on the pulse#of all of this#even moreso because royal families go even harder with treating the lineage as the individual and the merfolk#as just limbs and organs of this equation#this is why it was so important that miranda be good at manipulation and speaking and just *charismatic*#literally making people do what she wants or needs them to do is just what makes the merkingdom GO and operate#and why she (and the other royals) occupy a space a little like a public performer does as well#and why royals showing personal favor and having close personal relationships is frowned upon as#mixing pleasure and business#since those relationships ARE their business and so much of the underlying politics#if youre showing undue favor to someone because you personally just like them then you aren't judging them based off of actual talent#merfolk complicated! merkingdom complicated!#(the merkingdom is also SUPER fucked up but thats tangential from this tangent)
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"Got no diamond, got no pearl -- Still I think I'm a lucky girl."
x~x~x~x
HPHM Cardverse developed by @ariparri // Read about how Jacob and Duncan met
x~x~x~x
Duncan Ashe was an incredibly driven, ambitious person. It was part of the reason why he'd climbed the ladder at court so fast and earned the position of Jack of Spades while still only a university student of 21. That same year, he brought Jacob Cromwell on as an advisor and technology expert, and the following year, he brought his best friend Coby McQuaid into the fold as well. This second addition in particular had prompted a lot of waves, and before long, Coby had actually been named the new King of Spades himself.
All in all, Duncan was very pleased with how his life at court was shaping up. This was why he was perturbed to find his "right-hand man," Jacob, looking so tired and gloomy that autumn. And to make him all the more perturbed, when Duncan asked him about it, Jacob forced a painful-looking smile on and lied through his teeth.
"Gloomy?" he said. "Aw, nah, I'm fine, Ashe, just...just a little tired is all. But don't worry! I just have to finish this up, and then I can get right to the next prototype..."
Duncan's eyebrows furrowed. "Jacob, your shift's ending in an hour. If you're tired, then maybe you should go home and rest -- "
"Rest? When I'm on a roll?" laughed Jacob. "Nah, I've got to start experimenting on those soil samples tomorrow...and hey, this wind turbine isn't gonna fix itself..."
"Jacob," said Duncan, but Jacob cut him off with another forced smile.
"It's okay, Ashe," he said as reassuringly as he could. "I don't mind staying late to finish...and well, the overtime pay here's great! So it all works out."
The sentiment was familiar enough to Duncan that, very reluctantly, he gave in and let Jacob be. The Jack would still watch Jacob from afar, noting the dark circles that were slowly forming under his blue eyes and the way all trace of a smile would disappear the moment he thought no one could see him, and he grew more concerned by the day.
That concern was sidetracked completely, though, by the very nasty surprise Duncan got, when he accidentally overheard some other courtiers talking.
" -- he's got a sweetheart!"
"Cromwell? No way!"
Duncan stopped mid-step down the hall. His head shot around and he stilled, trying hard to listen.
"It's true!" said the first female voice. "He's been receiving boxes of white flowers and chocolate every day for a week now!"
"From who?" asked the other.
"That's what's so mysterious! I saw one of the packages arrive in his office the other day -- it had no note, no return address...not even a name! Just 'Jacob Cromwell' and his office number, printed on the light blue paper."
Duncan's ears perked up at once. Light blue paper? Only one store he knew of wrapped their packages in that stuff...
Sure enough, the other courtier made the same connection.
"Light blue paper? Only Pique's General Store wraps their stuff up that way!"
"Right! I talked to the gent in the mail room, and he said that he's found one of those such packages on his desk for Jacob at 5:15 PM every day for the last week!"
"How quaint! Then maybe Cromwell really has got some kind of secret admirer..."
"A lady, undoubtedly -- I saw the handwriting on the package, and that kind of penmanship is most assuredly a woman's..."
As their voices came around the corner, Duncan quickly peeled himself back from the wall. Not wanting them to think he'd been eavesdropping, he quickly strolled past the two gossiping girls without even looking at them. Even so, Duncan couldn't ignore the stifled gasps they gave at the sight of him.
"You don't think the Jack heard you?" one asked the other, as Duncan walked that little bit faster down the hall, sliding his hand into his vest pocket at he went.
x~x~x~x
Now, at first, Duncan wanted to confront Jacob about the rumors. Very quickly, though, he decided against it. After all, however much Jacob saw him as a friend, Duncan was his employer, and truthfully, it wasn't Duncan's place to stick his nose into Jacob's personal life. He was perfectly within his rights to date, if he wanted, so long as it didn't interfere with his work...
But that was kind of the sticking thing.
Jacob was entitled to date. He was allowed to do anything he wanted romantically, really -- even if that idiot had somehow turned out to be some sort of Casanova with women on every block, that ultimately was his business and his alone. And yet the thought of Jacob having some squeeze on the side...it was disquieting to Duncan, way more than it should've been.
You hired Jacob to serve as one of your courtiers, Duncan had to remind himself. He's your subordinate. People already think you favor him as it is -- if they had any reason to think you were romantically involved...
Duncan wasn't a naive person. He knew full well how such a thing could be spun, in the public sphere. And with people like Patricia Rakepick looking for any kind of opening to "one up" him, Duncan couldn't risk that.
And so that next day, in the late afternoon, Duncan paid a visit to the mail room. Sure enough, when he arrived, the older gentleman working there had a light blue package set aside for Jacob, accompanied by a bouquet of white hydrangeas.
"Saw Pique's new little shopgirl drop them off, as I came in," said the mail clerk cheerfully. "Poor lass...asked her if she wanted a spot of tea before she left, but she looked to be in a dreadful hurry..."
Duncan cocked his eyebrows as he picked up the package. "Really?"
"Yeah, well, old Pique's always been stingy about how many people he hires," said the mail clerk. "And she was a tiny little thing -- no older than my granddaughter, I think, 13, maybe? I reckon Pique's probably running that girl all over town, dropping off stuff..."
Well, there goes the idea of that girl being Jacob's "secret admirer," thought Duncan. Sounds like she's barely old enough to even think about romance. Still...
"What did the girl look like?" Duncan asked.
"Ginger hair, red lips -- and small, of course. Very small. Probably only five feet or so."
Near Veruca's height, Duncan mentally filed away the information.
"Thank you."
With this, Duncan took the light blue package, placing it under his arm as he headed out.
x~x~x~x
When he brought the package around to Jacob's office, his subordinate's face lit up at the sight of it. He unwrapped the package, and sure enough, it was a box of artisan chocolate.
When Jacob noticed Duncan looking over his "gifts" so critically, though, his smile faded.
"It's not what it looks like," he said immediately, sounding incredibly defensive.
"Oh?" said Duncan, raising an eyebrow.
"I've needed to harvest the flowers' seeds for my experiments," said Jacob with a weak smile. "It's all about the pH of the soil, see -- the hydrangea is a very unique plant -- "
"And the chocolate?" asked Duncan.
Jacob brought a hand through his dark curls uncomfortably.
"...That's just...to try to cheer me up, that's all."
"Cheer you up about what?" Duncan pressed him.
Jacob avoided Duncan's eye. Duncan swept around, trying to force Jacob to look at him.
"Jacob," he said sharply, "if there's someone -- "
Someone else...
Duncan forced himself not to go there. He couldn't confront Jacob's romantic life straight-on: if he did, he was afraid he'd say too much...
"...If there's something going on, you can tell me. You know I can help -- "
"I can do it by myself!" Jacob said in an oddly harsh tone.
Duncan flinched. Something almost stricken seemed to run over Jacob's face -- it made him lose a lot of the color in his face.
"It's fine, Ashe," Jacob said very firmly, putting on that strained smile again. "I've got it under control. I do."
Duncan's eyebrows came together tightly. "Jacob -- "
Jacob seized Duncan's shoulder and squeezed.
"I've got it," he insisted as reassuringly as he could.
Despite saying this, his hand on Duncan's shoulder was shaking.
Duncan's dark eyes flitted down to Jacob's hand on his shoulder, before looking up. They ran over Jacob's strained, pale face critically, taking in how tired the wrinkles around his eyes were...and then narrowed.
Jacob was lying. He was lying right to his face. What Duncan didn't know is whether Jacob knew it as well as he did.
"Fine," said Duncan, more coldly than he meant to.
Sliding out of Jacob's grip, the Jack of Spades turned on his heel and left, his long coat sweeping behind him as he went.
x~x~x~x
The following day, in the midst of work, Duncan went on an unscheduled outing into the capitol. He'd taken off his usual purple and white sash, preferring to go a little bit more "incognito" for the moment, and even took the trolley rather than a private streetcar with a driver.
His destination -- Pique's General Store.
Duncan had only ever been to this store once or twice. It was a store that sold a little bit of everything, from food to flowers to household trinkets, but was best known for its wearable pieces. Many women bought dresses, shoes, and jewelry from Pique's -- even Duncan's father had stopped in here to buy himself a new pocketwatch once, when Duncan was young.
When Duncan entered the store, he found it incredibly busy. The line was nearly out the door, and several of the shoppers seemed rather impatient. This may have been, however, because there was only one person at the register -- a girl with a black ribbon in her ginger ponytail and an apron tied over her second-hand gray dress.
Duncan's eyes narrowed. So this was the shopgirl who'd dropped off that package from Jacob's "secret admirer."
The mail clerk was right -- she was small. Her young, make-upped face indicated she was a teenager -- fifteen or sixteen, perhaps, a few years older than Veruca? -- but her petite height definitely made her look younger. Despite this, though, she zipped around behind the counter, fetching various goods and ringing up what the customers brought to the register. At several points she had to dart up the ladder leaning against the back shelf to pick out specialty items for a customer, sweeping back down to the floor with the grace of a chubby little robin landing after a flight. And all the while, even as the whole shop rumbled with the mutters of grumpy customers, she kept on a pretty, lady-like expression: not smiling, exactly, but nonplussed and grounded. This affect didn't shift even when one customer started berating her for making her wait fifteen whole minutes for service: instead, the small girl faced her with astounding patience.
"I apologize for the wait, ma'am," she said.
"I'm sure you do," the older woman sneered sarcastically.
The shopgirl didn't rise to the taunt. Instead she rang up the woman's total.
"That'll be a hundred, altogether."
The woman reacted with anger. "A hundred? The sign on the window said 'sale!'"
"The 'sale' items are marked in that far corner, with blue marks on their tags," the shopgirl explained. "I'm afraid only two out of your ten items have those marks."
"That is not what it said on the sign!" the older woman shot back angrily.
"The 'sale' corner has the exact same sign as the window does," said the shopgirl calmly. "If you'd like, I can put what you don't want back where they belong. Or if you want them all, but can't afford them right now, I can always put some of them on layaway for you."
The older woman looked so affronted, she looked close to literally clutching the pearls around her neck.
"How dare -- this is outrageous! I demand to speak to Mr. Pique this instant!"
"I'm afraid Mr. Pique is on a coffee break," said the shopgirl, "but if you wish to speak to him, then you can come back in twenty minutes. He should be back by then."
"I'm not leaving until I see Mr. Pique!" the older woman shouted.
The shopgirl's pale face hardened.
"All right," she said lowly. "Then stand off to the side, while I help these people behind you."
She immediately turned her attention to the man waiting behind the woman in line.
"Bring your things here, sir," the girl said more gently.
The man, with a faintly stunned look at the woman in front of him, hesitantly approached the counter with the bottle of whiskey and bag of candy he'd purchased. The woman in front of him looked outraged.
"Excuse me!" she shrieked. "I am your customer -- "
"And so are they," the shopgirl cut her off.
The girl's voice was very quiet, but it sounded so authoritative that she suddenly sounded much older and stronger than she looked.
"You complained about waiting fifteen minutes for my assistance," the shopgirl said coldly. "I'm not going to have all these people wait longer, simply because you no longer want that assistance. If you want Mr. Pique to speak to you, then he can speak to you after he has had something to eat, as I'm sure you will, once you've finished your shopping for the day. And hopefully you'll treat him with more respect than you have me."
The older woman started to redden as red as a tomato, her whole face puffing up like an angry fish.
"You -- !" she spluttered furiously. "You -- low-class, uppity little tramp -- !"
"And now you're disrespecting my other customers, by making a scene," the shopgirl said in that very soft, but pointed voice. "Either wait for Mr. Pique outside, or have a lovely day elsewhere."
The older woman spluttered some more nastier swears under her breath. Then, whirling around to look at all of the other stunned customers, she pushed right through the crowd and out the door of the shop, leaving all of her things strewn about the counter.
"That's it!" she raged. "I'm done!" She paused in the doorframe just long enough to add, "You may tell Mr. Pique that he has just lost himself a loyal customer -- !"
"Thank you," the shopgirl cut her off with great finality.
This only seemed to make the woman even madder as she stormed out, slamming the door shut behind her.
"I have never been treated thusly in my entire life -- !" could just barely be heard through the closed door.
Duncan watched her go, his lips spreading into a broad smirk despite himself.
Not bad, he thought as he glanced back at the shopgirl as she addressed the man who'd been behind the difficult customer in line.
"I'm very sorry about that," she said kindly. "And about the wait..."
"Oh, no, it -- was no trouble," said the man. He cleared his throat, clearly still a bit uncomfortable about what he'd just witnessed. "Ahem...I'm just sorry a little thing like you had to deal with that all by yourself..."
"It's no trouble," said the shopgirl, her red lips forcing a smile. "I've got it."
Duncan stilled. His smirk faded from his face as he stared at the shopgirl with a clarity he hadn't had until just that moment.
That strained smile...that pale face, that modest height...those almond-shaped blue eyes...
Those eyes...were Jacob's eyes.
Duncan felt like his heart had leapt up into his throat.
Carewyn. The shopgirl who'd delivered all those anonymous packages was Carewyn Cromwell -- Jacob's little sister.
Since when did Jacob's little sister have a job? She had to be so young still -- right around Veruca's age, Duncan thought. That would be way too young to be working a job like this... Was Jacob's family really that bad off that Carewyn had had to drop out of school too, to support her family?
Duncan suddenly felt like his heart was being squeezed.
Was this why Jacob had been so depressed? Because his little sister had had to give up on her academic future, the way Jacob had his...?
"Is there anything I can help you with, sir?"
Duncan was startled by the sound of an older, portly gentleman coming in through the door, putting out a cigar on the door frame as he entered.
"Ah...yes," Duncan said after he'd recovered. "You'd be Mr. Pique, I suppose? I thought you were out for a coffee break."
"Oh, I am," said Pique gruffly. "My thirty minutes isn't up quite yet...but I thought I'd just check in on my new little lady -- wasn't sure how she'd do behind the desk all by herself..."
His rough face broke into a fonder smile when he saw Carewyn quickly ringing up one customer's totals while adding another's by hand on a spare piece of paper, so as to cut the line down faster.
"But it seems I needn't have worried," he said, his smile becoming a bit more crooked. "I knew she'd be good help, the moment I met her."
"She is a bit young to be working here, isn't she?" asked Duncan.
"A bit, yes -- lass isn't going to be fifteen until September," said Pique.
"Then she's fourteen?" recurred Duncan.
She really was right around Veruca's age. The thought of Coby's sister working a full-time customer service job with people yelling at her for nothing made Duncan feel nauseous.
"Yes, I usually don't hire until at least sixteen," Pique said with a shrug. "But she fought hard to get this job, even just part-time. Said she'd need to save up some money, if she was going to be able to attend university..."
Duncan's heart leapt. "University?"
Then Carewyn hadn't dropped out?
"Yeah!" said Pique with a barking laugh. "I gather her family's financial state isn't so great. Her brother works for the Jack of Spades, so I hear, so he earns good money...but I reckon my little lady doesn't want him spending his pay on her future, when he's had to work so hard as it is. And well, I'm sure that boy would want to move into his own place and settle down with someone nice, at some point, not just stay at home with his folks forever..."
Duncan found himself tuning out as Pique rambled on a bit longer, only because his brain and heart were both turning with this new information.
The Cromwells weren't in financial trouble. Carewyn hadn't had to get a job to save her family, like Jacob did. She'd done it to pay for her education, so that Jacob wouldn't have to. She'd decided to work part-time, while still going to school...
...Kind of like Duncan had...working under the previous Jack while he was at university...
Duncan looked back up at Carewyn behind the counter. Her line of customers was almost completely gone now, leaving only a young man with a very dorky bow tie fumbling through his wallet for exact change.
"I can count it out for you, if you'd like," Carewyn offered.
"Th-thank you," the young man said with an uncomfortable smile. "I-I guess I'm just a little frazzled..."
Carewyn very quickly counted out exact change on the counter. Then, after scooping up the rest of the coins and returning it to the man's wallet, she handed a rather pretty light blue-wrapped box with a white ribbon to him.
"Here," Carewyn said with an encouraging smile. "I hope she likes it."
The young man's face burst into a blush, but he nonetheless smiled, encouraged. "Thank you!"
With a little wave, the young man left the shop. Carewyn likewise waved as he left, before sighing heavily, clearly relieved that the long line was gone.
"Well done, Carewyn!" said Pique jovially as he strode up to the counter, clapping her hard enough on the back that the much smaller girl winced. "Quite well done, indeed! I knew I was right to take you on..."
Carewyn put on her best smile. "Thank you..."
Then she immediately frowned as she gathered up the hats and dresses the difficult customer had left strewn on the counter.
"...But sir, your break isn't over until 4:30 -- "
"I'm still on break, I'm just not 'breaking,'" Pique said brusquely.
"Put on the brakes now, or you might break down later," Carewyn warned the man concernedly as she put the hats back on the proper mannequins.
But Pique waved this off. "I'll brew up some coffee and drink a cup before ringing anyone else up. Why don't you go take your lunch break a little early? You've worked hard enough."
Carewyn hesitated. "Are you sure? I can work until your break is over -- "
"Nonsense!" said Pique. "I passed around some fliers advertising the sale during my walk, so we'll undoubtedly have another rush of shoppers this evening, after people get off work. You go on ahead for now and get something to eat -- I'll have plenty of work for you to do when you get back."
Not looking entirely convinced, Carewyn nonetheless did as her employer said, putting the rest of the dresses away before heading back to the counter. She took off her apron, hanging it up on a nail on the side, and then headed to the backroom. Duncan lingered in the store, watching, as a minute later, Carewyn came bustling back out, a light-blue package under her arm.
Duncan's eyes widened in realization. Then the packages weren't being delivered on behalf of some secret admirer -- they'd all been from Carewyn herself!
"I'll be right back!" Carewyn said, as she darted across the store to the door.
"Be back in thirty minutes on the dot!" Pique called after her.
Just as the door would've closed, though, Duncan grabbed it and left the shop after Carewyn.
x~x~x~x
The Jack followed Carewyn out of the general store and then to the trolley stop. He climbed onto it right after her, and upon catching sight of her moving toward the very back left corner of the car, he moved after her, taking a seat right beside her.
Duncan sneaked a covert glance at the girl out the side of his eye.
She really didn't resemble Jacob at all...did Carewyn take more after her mother, while Jacob took after their father, or vice-versa? If it weren't for their identical eyes, Duncan would've been tempted to think they didn't share blood.
"Why did you follow me?"
Duncan blinked. Carewyn hadn't even looked up, when she asked this. Instead she looked out the window on the other side of her.
"I saw you standing at the back of the general store," she said lowly. "You didn't browse through any of the inventory or even get in line. All you did was watch me work and then talk to Mr. Pique when he came in."
Her blue eyes narrowed upon Duncan's reflection.
"...What do you want?"
Her eyes may have been colored and shaped like Jacob's...but in that moment, so sharp and piercing and full of distrust, Duncan was almost reminded more of Patricia Rakepick's.
Duncan's surprise melted away into something more serious.
"I came to talk to you, actually," he said.
Carewyn raised her eyebrows.
"Recently my subordinate has been getting a lot of...mysterious packages, delivered by a shopgirl with ginger hair," said Duncan. His eyes flitted down to the light blue package in Carewyn's lap. "No name, no note -- no return address...but all in Pique's distinct light blue paper."
Carewyn's eyes grew a little bit smaller.
"...And this 'subordinate' of yours...?"
"Jacob Cromwell is his name," said Duncan. His lips curled up in a small smirk. "Your brother, if I'm not mistaken."
Carewyn turned around to look at Duncan properly, her eyes very wide. Then something in the back of them brightened.
"...Ashe," she breathed through a smile. "You're Duncan Ashe!"
Duncan's smirk broadened. "You've heard of me?"
"Of course!" said Carewyn. "Jacob's told Mum and me all about you."
Duncan's heart fluttered. Jacob had told his family about him...?
"...Has he?" he asked softly.
"Well, he talks about you a lot," said Carewyn, and she had to stifle a giggle behind her hand. "If either Mum or I ask after you, he'll ramble on and on until he's completely run out of breath."
Duncan gave a cynical laugh. "Well, give Jacob just about any subject, and I daresay he'll do the same thing..."
Despite saying this, though, Duncan couldn't mask the light, happy flush painting his face, nor could he deny how warm he felt, thinking of Jacob rambling on about him to someone. Did he talk about his intellect, his cleverness -- his ambition -- his looks, how well he dressed? Surely not -- Jacob was an absolute idiot when it came to picking clothes for himself, Duncan had had to pick out something proper for him to wear to court...but maybe Jacob appreciated how Duncan dressed, despite this? Duncan wished his mind wasn't dancing so giddily with such fancies.
Carewyn's eyes softened.
"Really, though," she said more gently, "Jacob is so grateful for everything you've done for him. And I am too."
Duncan avoided Carewyn's eye. "Well, it's...nothing Jacob didn't earn, really. He's got a brilliant mind -- someone else would've seen it, even if I hadn't..."
Rakepick would've snatched Jacob up in a second, if she could've, Duncan thought, a surge of dislike pulsing through him at the thought of the Ace keenly parsing over one of Jacob's blueprints.
Carewyn shook her head. "But that's just it. My brother is brilliant -- he's always been brilliant -- but so many people have never seen it."
Her gaze drifted back out the window.
"...I was too little to remember all of this, but...when Jacob was young, he was bullied, for being interested in things. Even sometimes for not being interested in other things, like sports, or clubs, or parties. He was beaten down and ignored...and whenever he'd lose his temper or try to fight back, he'd get in trouble for it. Soon the only thing anyone ever saw of Jacob was his misbehavior -- our dad, included."
Duncan stared at Carewyn's reflection in the glass. Her face looked almost heartbroken, thinking this -- as if just recounting what her brother went through physically injured her.
"Jacob tried really hard to be better after I came along, and especially after Dad left us," she said softly. "He had to help Mum look after me...so he worked really hard, for a really long time. He dropped out of school, gave up a lot of dreams...all to try to make sure we had a roof over our heads. And eventually...all anyone ever saw of Jacob was that he was useful. That he could do things they could use for their business -- that he could fix things, or cook things, or file things, and do it all perfectly. They weren't looking for him to talk, or explain, or share, or teach, or think -- they just wanted him to do."
Duncan found his own eyes drifting through the window now, barely seeing either Carewyn's or his reflections now. In his mind's eye, he could see Jacob fixing the trolley door through another window, on another trolley -- see the muscles in his arm flexing -- seeing him smile so brightly --
"Your brother likes being useful," Duncan said softly.
"Of course he does," said Carewyn. "He always has. But that doesn't mean that's all he is."
She turned to smile at Duncan. "That's why I'm grateful you brought him to court. I know Jacob feels useful to you, but not just because of what he can do. You value his ideas -- his hopes and dreams. His drive to challenge the status quo...to shake things up and do real good for people. His passion and his aspirations for a better future. His brain and his heart."
Her blue eyes sparkled as her smile softened.
"Jacob's happy there, with you," she murmured. "Happier than he ever was at those other jobs. He wasn't unhappy, exactly -- those bosses did appreciate what he gave them, and those jobs did help him support us...but, well..."
Her eyes fell down to her hands in her lap.
"...They only wanted one small piece of Jacob. You...want all of him."
Duncan felt his face darkening with a redder flush. He quickly looked away, trying to hide it by covering his mouth, cheek, and chin with his whole hand.
"Well...um..."
Duncan felt very flustered, and he really didn't like it. He shot a look at Carewyn -- fortunately she too still had her eyes averted to her hands in her lap.
He swallowed, trying to recollect himself. When he finally did, his voice came out a bit strained.
"...I...I do want Jacob here," he said lowly. "He's...very special."
To me.
Refusing to let those words leak out, Duncan forced himself to get back to business.
"...He...said that you sent those packages to cheer him up."
Carewyn smiled a bit uncomfortably, her eyes drifting back out the window.
"...Yeah...Jacob's been pretty upset that I took a job too, around my schooling. He said he didn't want me to have to work -- that he'd work twice as hard, so I wouldn't have to...but I can't do that to him. Jacob and Mum have provided for me my whole life...it's my turn to help them, now."
Duncan's eyes betrayed concern. "Is it still so difficult for you? I thought with Jacob's higher salary -- "
"We're not struggling," Carewyn said earnestly. "But well, Jacob and I have still had to share a room my entire life. Jacob needs space. We both do. He needs an office -- a place where he can work on projects outside of work. I need a real closet where I can organize my clothes properly, so I don't have Jacob pairing my socks with his by accident."
She actually pursed her lips a bit, giving off something of a haughty expression. It made Duncan bite back a snort of laughter.
"Jacob's good at earning money and doing without on things, but not budgeting."
"And there is a big difference," said Duncan.
Carewyn nodded. "So Mum and I have been looking at the long-term...and what's holding us back from buying a bigger place is saving up enough for me to afford books and tuition. Jacob wants to just stay where we are and pay for me to go to university...but I don't want that for him. I don't want him to have to do without anymore, when I can help him now. And I wish he wouldn't work so much overtime to try to persuade me otherwise!"
This came out a bit frustrated, despite Carewyn's seemingly best efforts. She looked almost guilty, expressing such emotion in front of Duncan.
"...I'm sorry," she said lowly. "I...know you're Jacob's friend, so I thought I should explain."
"You don't need to apologize," Duncan said at once.
Carewyn still looked a bit uncomfortable.
"Please don't tell Jacob I told you all this," she said quietly. "I know Jacob esteems you...he wouldn't want you to see him as unable to do something."
Something stirred in Duncan's memory.
"I can do it by myself!"
"It's fine, Ashe. I've got it under control. I do."
Then that was it. Jacob hadn't just been lying to Duncan -- he'd been too proud to even accept things as they were himself...too proud to acknowledge he couldn't carry the world all by himself...
Duncan's brows and lips both knit together tightly.
"What I see him as is a complete idiot," he said dryly.
The Jack pulled down on the trolley string to make it stop outside the Palace of Spades. As he got up, Duncan extended a hand to Carewyn as if to help her up.
"Now, then -- Jacob's lab is on the far end, so we'll have to walk briskly, if we're going to deliver your care package to him. I'll need to drive you back in my personal car afterward, if you're going to have any decent time to eat before returning to work..."
Carewyn flushed. "That's all right -- I don't need anyth -- "
"Let me guess -- you've been skipping out on meals, just to bring these packages to your brother on your breaks," Duncan cut her off.
Carewyn shot him a glare through her blush. "There's always something to eat quickly at home -- I can more than manage until then..."
Duncan brought a hand up to his face and shook his head.
"Well, now I see sacrificing for your loved ones is something of a family trait, for you Cromwells. Ugh -- come on, then -- we're picking up your brother, dropping off his chocolates in the lab, and then driving somewhere for a proper meal. Shut your mouth right now and don't bother taking out any money, I won't hear any arguments from you or your brother about it."
x~x~x~x
Despite the sourness he'd spoken with, Duncan still kept his eye trained behind him to make sure Carewyn was keeping up with his longer strides, as he strolled quickly down the hall. And when Jacob looked up to find Carewyn in his lab and practically leapt out of his seat, throwing his arms around her and squeezing her tight as he beamed so happily over her shoulder at Duncan, the Jack of Spades couldn't have possibly obscured the soft, contented rosiness of his face as he watched them.
Jacob did in fact try to argue with Duncan about paying for their supper in full -- and Duncan scolded him just as much as he had Carewyn.
"Don't argue with me, I'm your boss. And no more of these little package deliveries, to cheer you up -- the next time Carewyn wants to bring you something, I intend for her to bring it to you when she's off from work and school, on formal visits..."
Jacob's eyes widened.
"Formal visits?" he repeated, disbelieving. "You mean...Wyn can come see me here, at the Palace?"
Carewyn looked just as stunned herself. "Duncan, you -- you don't have to do that -- "
"I know I don't," Duncan said, averting his eyes uncomfortably, "but I'm doing it. I give my permission -- Carewyn can come whenever she wants."
Jacob and Carewyn both stared. It made Duncan's flush creep up his neck all the more.
"Just as long as you don't get distracted, Jacob," Duncan added, his voice becoming a bit more strained in its defensiveness. "After all, you'll still be at work and earning pay -- it's just easier than making Carewyn use up her break times. And Carewyn seems responsible enough that she won't keep you from your work. Plus it'll quiet a lot of the unnecessary gossip around court about you having a sweetheart sending you packages..."
Jacob's mouth fell open. "What? Oh, come on, Ashe, I told you it wasn't like that -- !"
But Carewyn disregarded this completely. Instead she got up and, opening her arms, gave Duncan a hug.
The gesture made Duncan stiffen, taken aback, and she immediately withdrew, looking a bit guilty.
"I'm sorry," she said quickly, even though she couldn't keep the smile off her face. "It's just...thank you, Duncan. I've never been inside the Palace before, aside from the mail room, and seeing where Jacob's working..."
Her eyes sparkled like gems.
"... Your invitation...it's very generous," she whispered. "Thank you."
Duncan hadn't thought he could go any redder, but somehow he was. Coby would probably be comparing him to a tomato by now.
"Ahem," he cleared his throat awkwardly as he looked away. "...You're welcome."
He glanced at Carewyn out the side of his eye, to see her smiling sympathetically. Maybe she sensed his discomfort -- or maybe, being far more insightful about people than Jacob, she sensed what really fueled it: that stifled, hidden desire to make her brother happy.
Either way, Duncan found himself smiling a bit too, as he looked back at her.
Maybe Carewyn wasn't Jacob's sweetheart...but she did have a very sweet heart, all the same.
#hphm cardverse#cardverse au#hphm#my writing#fanfiction#duncan ashe#jacob cromwell#carewyn cromwell#aesthetic#moodboard#lane cromwell#patricia rakepick#coby mcquaid#veruca mcquaid#hydrangeas change color depending on the soil they're grown in!#jacob's testing which plants grow best in soils with different pH balances#so as to experiment with ways to modify those pH levels and make more usable farm land#carewyn didn't have access to seeds so she did the next best thing she could#which was buy hydrangeas with some of her own salary for her brother to use in his experiments#jacob adores his little wyn to pieces but damn it he has trouble accepting that she doesn't need him as much#hey he was her only real father figure her entire life so there you go
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*talking about a character who lives in a world where prosthetics very much exist* "he's never going to be able to [do thing that you can very much do with prosthetics]!!! 🥺🥺🥺"
#😬😬😬😬😬#can you guys maybe calm down and think about what you're saying. please#like whether this is permanent or not depending on where hori wants to get at with the modified quirk. can you please think for a second#there is a line between being sad and sympathising with deku and saying straight up ableist things. lol#bnha#animanga#mytext#midoriya izuku#🧂
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//Alright since I can't find the post right now, I still stand by older Lambda maybe sounding like this if he decides to get his voice modified.
#//and yeah i do mean modified not him taking hrt#//cashing on cyborgs being able to do cool things with their bodies if they have the option to do so#//also because i still really like the idea of lambda choosing to have his body modified in a way he wants for once#//doubly so for him having voice modifiers he can slap on whenever depending if he feels like it#backup log {ooc}
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So the anthropologist nerd/loser in me wondered what kind of folklore and mythology various alien cultures in the Ben 10 universe might have (creation myths, folk heroes, ways of explaining natural phenomena that aren’t science-based, etc.) and caused me to come up with possibly the dumbest idea for a Ben 10 OC yet: an alien bard who travels across the galaxy not just to perform but also to collect stories and ballads of great events and heroes from different planets to add to their collection and form new ballads based off of them.
One of their original stories tells the tale of an alien from a far-off planet who attempted to take control of the space-time continuum and was cursed by the gods of his planet for his hubris by being scattered across time and space and sent back to the beginning of the universe, forced to live through its entire history in an endless cycle all while never being able to experience the sweet release of death, only for him to learn how to bend time and space to his will and ascend to godhood himself, leading to an epic battle between him and the gods who had cursed him in the first place. Though they are required by the man who served as the inspiration behind the story to put a disclaimer at the beginning that the story is merely a dramatization and doesn't 100% line up with what actually happened before they can tell it.
Oh totally! With the advent of space travel, especially among the species that have had such for a LONG while, there would most certainly be folktales and mythology abound for newer space travelers to pick up. Like, even with a significant scientific understanding of the happenings of the universe, older facts translate into newer fiction as stories develop by word of mouth (or the equivalent depending on species physiology) by the more bardic types of intergalactic individuals.
Of course, you'd probably have the more librarian types who not only record all these tales but also all the fact that it was inspired by through vigorous fact checking. Me making Sugilite a mutant with a more unique planetary psychometry (accessing the 'memories' of the entire planet) lends to me also making him this librarian of Petropian history, and considering the state of Petropia (aka not revived) he can't particularly afford to spin a few myths of his own. Instead Sugilite would totally have some bardic stories ABOUT him and his 'Library of Alexandria' mutant power, especially with Mor'Otesi being as barren of cystalsapiens as it is.
#ask#anoymous#technically this wasn't about him but i brought it up#sugilite#sugilite ben 10#ben 10#even tho galapagus said that his folks sung songs about ben 10's accomplishments i think he's lying#schmooze up to the guy that's CLEARLY important in order to get ben to actually help him and the others#but it's not entirely out of the picture lmao#the entire reason why rook was so excited to meet ben was because of the extranet#heck- ben rook listens to that tokusatsu about ben 10 (if i got that right)#i mean deefus veeblepister is like the most blatant example of 'turning heroes into myth'#even if he was just the main actor of a ben 10 tokusatsu that simian ran#it makes complete sense if there were intergalactic myths that started out as stories based on true events#though it's not quite the same i'm aware that a lot of chinese myths used real people#like the ever famous journey to the west; inspired by the monk Xuanzang's pilgrimage to india#considering that tortugans are advanced enough in space tech to have family species on at least 2 different planets#(that being the pelarotas and the VULPINIC tortugans)#some of the intergalactic myths are modified stories of tortugan historical events#probably to the point that depending on what myth you hear it actually might be tortugan-centric#as opposed to the fault we fall into as human-centric#you might be able to tell when the myth talks about how life on other planets are described tortugan-esque#ben having run into many people try and rip off his story for commercial gain doesn't like it when his story is mythologised#so bards would probably go out of their way to add way too many of their own details so that it doesn't sound the same#which has a problem of being THEIR species-centric take on the hero#it's really fun to imagine
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Given Prestidigitation’s ability to flavour things, do you think there’s debate around whether you can taste if food has had its flavour magically altered? Like, is it passé to serve dinner and have someone notice you didn’t actually have any *real* basil to put in it, or try to make your 2cp wine taste like a 10gp vintage?
#socket talks#to me I think it depends on the skill of the caster and how well they can imagine the flavour#Julian is a No Magic In The Kitchen purist except for when his ADHD ass has forgotten something and he’d ruin the recipe without it#but he does not hesitate to modify shitty ale into a fruity little concoction#it’s good enough for him but he thinks it’s bad form to try and sneak it past a guest that you did the cheap and easy trick
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im GLAD i got to play ai dungeon since. milk biggie smalls. since early on because it made me understand how ai works and thats important so i can be pedantic about everyone else who doesnt get this is the machine that says what you teach it to say.
#luly talks#does character.ai not let you modify ais anymore? like you can literally go in the settings#but also seeing ai dungeon become more and less smart depending on the day and like#reeling it to the kind of responses i wanted#it teaches you a lot
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