#details: Phosa

[justashadetalkative]

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I look into the waters and see a face I don’t recognize:

Who’s this?

(Who’re you?)

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[justashadetalkative]

“I… maybe?” Phosa took the supplies with an uncertain air. She didn’t often draw. Still…

It took her a few tries to settle on colors, starting out with a plain black pencil and straight strokes before eventually switching to warmer hues and jagged, wandering lines. Once she’d found something that felt right, she flipped to a fresh page and drew a final version.

Phosa stared at it. It felt… the center was wrong. Gently tearing out the page, she pressed her thumb to the drawing and let her light burn closer to its full spectrum until the paper charred through.

That looked right. But the act itself had been unexpectedly satisfying, and Phosa found that she didn’t want to stop. She pinched out several thin lines, the paper vaporizing into smoke and ash, before making herself set the drawing down. It didn’t quite look right anymore, and what she really wanted to do was to keep going until there was nothing left… which didn’t feel like what Megan had asked for.

(For the first time, she thought she might understand why Linast had such a hard time keeping himself from scratching things.)

Once again, Phosa stared down at the drawing; gestured towards it, a little helplessly, and shook her head. She still couldn’t pull any words to mind.

"I... I can't explain. I don't have the words." (Phosa to Maude or Megan?)

mothtown starters

“Could you draw it, maybe?” Megan hesitated only a moment before she flipped her big sketchbook to a blank page and pushed it across the grass toward the other, followed by a box of colored pencils. “Here. You can use more than one page if you want.”

[quiet-psychic]

@justashadetalkative​ asked: “I’m glad you’re here. Truly.” (Phosa to Lys after a bad day?)

Lys hums quietly at that. They had known Phosa had had a rough day of some sorts. Even if she hadn’t told them the details of it. After spending enough time with her, they had noticed they had been getting a bit better at reading her. Or at least, what was there to read.

“I’m glad that I can help. Even if it’s just by being here with you.” All soft and reassuring. They did care about her after all, she was their friend. Lys wanted to be able to help her. Even if it was just little things like this too. Every little thing mattered after all. “Y’know I’m here for you Phosa, alright?”

[grumpyoldsnake]

[Image description: An illustration of Phosa and Linast reimagined into the Hollow Knight universe as sharing the body of a modified kingsmould construct. Detailed description below the cut. End ID.]

Hollow Knight AU for Linast and Phosa, mostly because I can and inspired by some interactions with @ausp-ice​ . I had fun with the design. :D

The vague undeveloped concept is that they’re a kingsmould that the Soul Master had gotten ahold of and used to experiment with storing large amounts of soul. Eventually the soul coalesced/broke free into a being of its own shaped by the kingsmould‘s original form, and there was enough life energy involved all around for sentience. Phosa is the soul-based being and Linast is the void-based being.

[Detailed ID: Two beings share a body that is shaped like the four-armed Collector from Hollow Knight; their head has the pronged crown shape of a kingsmould. The illustration is a turnaround showing them both with and without clothing; the clothes are a simple robe with a golden clasp. On the left, Linast is dominant and their from is black; Linast holds a blue lifeblood butterfly and cracks of white light cover their form. In the middle, Phosa has partially split from Linast, hovering above him as a white wraith connected to him by tendrils of soul and floating motes of void. On the right, Phosa is dominant, standing in a fierce pose with nail drawn and black legs fading into a white upper body that is covered in tendrils of void. End ID.]

[morrislotto]

Bapedi King Victor Thulare III has died

Bapedi King Victor Thulare III has died

The King of the Bapedi kingdom Victor Thulare the third has died. His death was confirmed on Wednesday by his lawyer Mathews Phosa. His death comes just months after he was recognized by President Cyril Ramaphosa as the rightful king of the Bapedi nation. Details surrounding the recently recognized king’s death are still unclear but it’s understood he died at a private hospital in…

[justashadetalkative]

Aaaaa this is wonderful! :D Thank you so much. It’s lovely to see that scene in the Archive illustrated, and it’s always neat to get a more direct idea of Wiki and Elk’s opinions. (And ahahaha, the entire exchange at the end regarding Phosa is amazing. xD)

@justashadetalkative Elk and Wiki see Linast and Phosa as very reliable in different ways, I suppose!

And just generally like them a lot heh

[justashadetalkative]

⚔️ CROSSED SWORDS — do you have any skills that you are absolutely grateful you have and that mean a lot to you? how do you usually use these skills? would they come in handy if someone you cared about was in trouble? ( Phosa + Linast )

The constructs glance at one another, flickering briefly in silent conversation.

“There’s a lot of stuff that means a lot to us that… other people would take for granted? Or wouldn’t think of as skills?” Linast offers after a moment. “Body language. Moving things. Making s-sounds.” He makes a face. “Talking, even. I’m ffinally getting to where that feels like my own skill, now, instead of something that’s only there because it was shoved in my head.”

“The skill of not crisping people with radiation unless I want to,” Phosa adds. “Pretty grateful I can do that. Took a lot of work.”

“…that,” Linast agrees. “But! Again… Lots of people, they take those things for granted. It isn’t exactly… fun to bring up.”

“So my skill is that I’m good at planning, and at committing to doing the work of… mm. How to put it. Following through on my decisions?” Phosa says. “Kind of the reverse thing, I guess… I’d probably take it for granted if I didn’t see other people have so much trouble with it. But it means a lot to me that I can be proactive. And it’s good when there’s trouble — whether that’s real danger, or just a friend having trouble cleaning their room.”

“And mine is my art. Which… I guess is part of body language — our bodies, those are kind of art we make, right? They’re our designs — but I more mean the, ah… the physical stuff I make. Sculptures, and paintings. I use it for… journalling, I guess; helping my own thoughts make sense to me, or at least getting them down somewhere. And for making gifts! I really like that I can make things that other people find beautiful, or that help them understand ssomething. I dunno if it’s good for other people in trouble, though… I guess it might cheer them up? But that’s about it.”

[justashadetalkative]

Writing Phosa

Writing Phosa is hard for a few synergistic reasons.

Part of it is… in-character, in a way?

Phosa barely knows who she is when not acting in relation to Linast, so of course it’s hard to write her on her own.

Right?

Except that’s not how writing is supposed to work.

Phosa might not have a strong self-conception, but I’m supposed to know her. She might not know how to act when on her own, but I should know how she acts when she doesn’t know how to act. And so on.

The problem is that I don’t, yet. Don’t know her that well, don’t know the answers to those blank spots. Don’t know how she makes friends that aren’t also Linast’s friends, ^_^;

Which is frustrating! I have much newer characters that I’ve written less than her, but I feel like I understand what I’m doing with them better than I do with Phosa. And I don’t know why.

[justashadetalkative]

!! ‘anxiety’ and ‘excitement’ for both linast and phosa!!

(Send me an emotion and I'll describe how my muse expresses it non-verbally!)

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Anxiety

Both

They both get more protective of the core when anxious, so whoever's carrying it will tend to manifest more heavily around it; a solid layer of brighter light or darker shadow, respectively.

They both "shiver"; a low-level, unsteady flickering along the edges of any manifestation. This might be just a brief flicker of discomfort, or it might be an ongoing reaction that doesn't stop until they manage to calm down.

Depending on the source of the anxiety they can both get very jumpy; much more likely to flinch, to rapidly retreat from or lash out at any unexpected stimulus, etc.

Phosa

Phosa gets tense and less emotive; stiff shoulders, restrained motions, thinned mouth, wide or tense eyes, eye contact avoidance. She has a tendency towards defiant posture if it's mild, and a tendency to curl up or shrink down if the anxiety is worse. If it's really bad she might get shaky and uncoordinated; she'll be tempted to fidget with things to distract herself, but she'll also be much more likely to drop or break them.

If she starts dissociating, she seems to grow steadier; any shaking stops, and while she might not straighten unless prompted, the tension drains out of her. But her reactions will get sluggish and dazed. She stops making any unnecessary movements, and her expressions will be muted or absent.

Linast

Linast gets tense, fidgety, and sharp-edged with even mild anxiety. His shoulders will be hiked or hunched, his manifestation gets more angular and forms more spikes, and he’ll almost certainly be drumming his fingers, most often against his chest. He'll often pace, and any gestures he makes will be jerky and agitated. Severe anxiety tends to prompt flight, violence... or else a very tenuous, huddling shut-down as he tries to prevent himself from fleeing or attacking anything.

Anxiety is one of Linast's main triggers for self-injurious stimming. His stims usually involve either seeking/exerting pressure, or scratching; scratching the core, wrapping his arms too tightly around his chest, digging his fingers into things, etc. During that human incident, he also often bit his wrists and hands.

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Excitement

Both

Their respective lighting will tend to grow more intense; darker or brighter manifestations, and often a bit of an impact on ambient light as well. If they're both excited and present, it's kind of like turning up the contrast on the world, hah.

Any light or shadow in the general vicinity of their focus, including any active manifestation, will give a rapid triple flicker when their mood first shifts or when responding to a conversation about the topic of excitement. Flickersign uses repetition for emphasis, and yes-yes-yes is a pretty common exclamation of approval or excitement.

They both get a bit fluttery; excess, eager motion, a bit of wiggling or rocking from existing manifestations, and often nonspecific wisps and tendrils of magic that gently pluck or tap at their surroundings.

In humanoid forms (manifestation or that human incident) they will noticeably perk up; lifted head, wider eyes, straightened posture, often leaning forward or up. They both smile; excitement is usually something that they want to communicate clearly to the people around them.

Not really many individual mannerisms to add; they both express excitement fairly similarly! Any exceptions more or less mirror how they express enthusiasm, wherever that doesn't contradict with what's here.

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[justashadetalkative]

Details: Clemcy & Phosa

Clemcy's avoidance of Phosa, especially in comparison to his behavior towards Linast, is twofold.

He didn't intend Phosa to exist. He was specifically exploring the shadow magic that was used to create Linast. Of course, he would have been extra fascinated by her spontaneous creation and its implications about the nature of said shadow magic; if anything he should be putting more focus into her than Linast. But...

...because of the mythology surrounding shadow magic in his home realm, he has a sneaking superstition that she might be a splintered, captured fragment of a god. He is Absolutely Not going to mess with that too much.

Simply put: she makes him nervous.

[justashadetalkative]

Enthusiasm ( Phosa and Linast )

(Send me an emotion, and I’ll describe how my muse expresses it non-verbally!)

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Phosa:

Humanoid manifestation — Her eyes will brighten; quite literally, hah. She’ll usually be leaning forward, her hands raised or restless somehow — like she’d physically urge whatever she’s enthused about forward, if she could. Her expression is more likely to be intent than to look overtly happy; when Phosa’s actually, truly enthused about something, she stops paying much attention to animating her face in favor of focusing on whatever it is she's trying to accomplish.

Natural ‘body’ language — Any active light manifestation will tend to burn brighter than normal, and she's more likely to move with curling, twisting motions. Even if she isn't manifested, the ambient light in the general vicinity of her focus is likely to brighten at least a bit when her mood first shifts; a gradual but definitive pulse before fading.

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Linast:

Humanoid manifestation — Linast also often leans forward, and he'll usually noticeably perk up; straightened shoulders, lifted head. He's a lot more likely than Phosa to smile or even outright grin, and it tends to spread all through his manifestation; any small details and struts tend to curve upwards a bit at the edges in small, non-threatening curls.

Natural 'body' language — Linast doesn't darken with enthusiasm, but the curling motion with manifested magic is similar to Phosa. When his mood first shifts, shadows in his general vicinity might also curl; a small twisting motion that might make it seem like any light sources in the area moved briefly before steadying.

[justashadetalkative]

👻 GHOST — is there someone or something that you feel is missing from your life? do you know if there's any way to find it/them? (For Phosa and Linast!)

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Phosa:

“I don’t… mm. It’s. I guess? Maybe? I don’t even know how to put it into words, though, and I don’t know if missing is the right…”

Phosa trails off. It isn’t entirely that she doesn’t know how to describe it, it’s that she doesn’t want to; doesn’t want to admit to the endless sneaking feeling that she’s doing something incorrectly somehow, that she’s never once interacted with someone without misleading them. She wants, somehow, to find some way to talk to someone—or some person who acts differently towards her in some way she can’t define, perhaps—where that feeling isn’t there. Even just once.

“…anyway. Doesn’t matter. If there’s a way to find, or, or fix it, I don’t know it.”

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Linast:

“There’s stuff I’d like to change, or… dynamics? That could be different? But no, I don’t think there’s someone or something that’s missing, or anything. Maybe… ssomeday I’ll want more of a — a purpose, I guess. Something I can do that feels important in… a lasting way, instead of, uh, a preventing-disaster way.”

He shrugs. “But right now, it’s enough work just keeping up with life, and… ah, well, trying to make things suck less, hah.”

.

[justashadetalkative]

IC musings: Phosa

“I’ve been thinking about switching to a helmet design for my manifestation. I think I’d like it more if people weren’t… weren’t picturing a face when they’re thinking of me.

“But I also really like being able to use expressions — how they work, like in a conversation, I mean. So. I dunno.”

[justashadetalkative]

hc + 🌍 for a travel-themed headcanon — For Phosa and Linast? :3c

Phosa and Linast really enjoy people-watching, and they find the realm of the Spire itself claustrophobic, so they spend a lot of time off-Spire.

Their travel time is a roughly even split between visiting existing off-Spire friends and exploring new realms. They have the most practice with interpreting and mimicking humanoid body shapes, so humanoid-populated spaces are their most common destinations, but they’ve been to plenty of other realms as well.

They can spend a consecutive month or two off-Spire safely, but they don’t tend to push it that far. The Spire is their home, no matter how many mixed feelings they have about it, and they often get restless staying in any one place for too long—no matter where that place is.

[justashadetalkative]

hc + 🤥 for a lie-themed headcanon (phosa and/or linast)

Both of them prefer to lie with the truth when they can — not necessarily for any particular moral reasoning, they just find it much easier to do, hah. It also means that they’re less likely to accidentally contradict each other. They both lie fairly frequently when outside the Spire, mostly to misdirect people about their origins or activities.

For a long time, Linast found it very difficult to lie. This was mostly due to his difficulties with communication in general. It was hard enough for him to convey ideas in general, so lying with any more complexity than a “yes” when the truth is “no” or vice versa tended to leave him tongue-tied and confused; he’d quickly revert to the truth out of frustration.

Phosa didn’t have nearly as many difficulties on that front, and she has even fewer moral reservations about lying than Linast does. She also has more reason to lie… including to herself. Phosa tries very hard to seem like she’s always on top of things, even when she isn’t.

That said, all of it pretty much boils down to trying to protect themselves (physically or emotionally) or the Spire’s secrets. They don’t tend to lie for their own advantage, or even for social politeness’s sake. (Especially not Phosa. 😂)

[justashadetalkative]

Details: Phosa & Linast

Mundane video technology hits something not unlike an uncanny valley for Phosa & Linast on two fronts:

1) Their spacial awareness is intense and encompasses the electromagnetic field around them, so trying to process 2D images as representations of 3D objects & space was a learning curve for them. Even after they learned the trick of it, it’s still more like viewing an autostereogram than anything natural or automatic. (They have to trick themselves into perceiving it as looking at something that is very far away and outside of themselves, even as it's (usually) radiating from inside their range of perception.) 2) They don't have a brain that smooths a rapid sequence of images into a perception of smooth motion for them, and while their conscious processing speed isn't precise or rapid enough for them to truly discern the actual movement of light through space (unless working with large enough distances), they can still sense it to some degree. Between those two factors, it's like touching a vibrating surface; they sure as heck couldn't count the individual jerks, but they can feel that something about the motion isn’t smooth.

Some of these factors were mitigated during that human incident, and it went a long way towards helping them figure out how to interpret 2D images the way most sighted humans do.