#grimm steed

[linterteatime]

more gijinkas for y'all, as a treat for uhhh good behavior in prison

[mxescargot]

Willoh...

doesnt get much characterization but i really appreciate what she does have. shes not evil shes just a bug and tbh it fits in so well with the entire world of hk. maybe its just me but ive seen so much stuff abt her being evil or creepy etc and its like she just wants a snack and does not have human morals :( anyways also love how shes a weevil and her design is so pretty

[rwby-encrusted-blog]

Blake: It's the Frosted Empress! One of the sentinels!

Frosted Empress: Indeed I am, but- *removing her veil*

Weiss: I prefer 'Weiss'

Yang: WEISS? WHY ARE YOU THE FROSTED EMPRESS?!?

Blake: How didi you get so old?!?!

Ruby: Are you alright?

Weiss: Please give me a moment to respond!

Weiss: Me and Jaune are both down here. We fell, we traveled through time because of ... magic, I suppose is the simplest answer, and We waited. For you. We know how to leave, but we still have things we must do - Jaune, Pyrrha and I have been waiting for a long Time.

Ruby: Wait- Pyrrha? You- you said Pyrrha, Right?

Weiss: Yes? Why are y- *realization* YES! YES I Did! She's here! We found her- we don't know why or how, but she is- She's the Tarnished Spartan! One moment-

Weiss sends up a Flare using her semblance and some material from around the place

Weiss: Now come on! *Summons Grimm* Hop on, We've got Ground to cover!

~~~~~

Weiss: Jaune? JAUNE!

The Rusted Knight: Weiss- TEAM RWBY!

Blake: JAUNE?!? YOU'RE THE RUSTED KNIGHT!

Jaune: What, did Weiss forget to mention that? Gods- It's been so long!

Yang: Hey! It's your Steed!

Jaune: Yep! Juniper- Even if Pyrrha's here I still needed the rest of my team with me- Has she told you about Pyrrha?

Yang: Only a Little bit! You found her in here? How have you been? What happened?

Jaune: We'll explain what we can on the way- We've got food at the cabin, Pyrrha will get back to us soon after, and we can all explain the situation at once, so none of us forget anything.

Weiss: *Walks up to Jaune, grabbing his chestplate*

Jaune: Kisses?

Weiss: Yes.

Ruby: Wait, hold on, When did that happen?

Jaune: A couples years after we got here, Come on! Back to the Cabin!

Yang: Dang, never thought I'd be jealous of Vomit b- Well, Vomit Man now.

Blake: *Leaning in Close* And just why are you jealous of Him?

Yang: *Blushing* No reason! Let's go!

Blake: *Snickers*

~~~~~

Pyrrha: I'm back! I didn't find-

R_BY: ...

Pyrrha: ... Team RWBY?

Yang: The- The rest of us, Yeah ...

Blake: Pyrrha ... I- You look ...

Ruby: So you really are alive ...

Pyrrha: Yes. I- I believe I am at least. That or one of us has completely lost our minds.

Ruby: ...

Pyrrha: I heard that, uh, you managed to put the hurt on Cinder after she ... You know ... Killed me.

Ruby: I- Y-yeah.

Pyrrha: ...

Ruby: ...

Jaune: I think we should all have a seat now. Weiss, Pyrrha and I will tell you about what all has happened here, and we'll get you something to eat.

Weiss: C'mon honey. Let's get you out of that armor.

Pyrrha: Thank you Weiss. *Smooch*

[pilot-boi]

So… how feral is the Jauniper fusion?

After months alone in the forests of Mistral, and so much of the Knight’s steed being needed to repair him, Juniper’s behavior is largely the default

He’s still Jaune. He’s still friendly and clumsy and kind, but he’s also a rabbit. Alone and terrified in the forest with normal predators AND Grimm hunting him. Skittish of anyone who tries to approach. Antlers and fur and bare catching on branches and brambles and stones

And always the pain, the FEAR. Absolutely heart stopping terror because he is PREY and there is no way for him to defend himself

Basically, by the time RNPR gets to Mistral, Jaune is barely a person anymore

[mantisgodsart]

With the @bug-oc tournament still ongoing, Round 2 drawing to an end in favour of Round 3, another handful of bugs are knocked out of the competition, who will of course arrive home safe and...

Well, differently-shaped. Marigold's been busy! An unusually fast round, here, we got a decent burst of inspiration while procrastinating on packing chatting with some friends and - what? Other contestants? What other contestants? You must be mistaken, of course there were only seven bugs lost this round. It's not like we would lie about that, right? Clearly, if anyone else was transmuted, you'd see them right here. With the rest of Marigold's successful experiments. It's not like we've got any more to do... right?

(Names and owners of transmuted OCs below the cut, in order of pictures here - no group picture for this one, sadly, since we still have more to do here. Hopefully, we pass Round 3 - we really want to draw some transmutations for the other bugs in this round, and the narrowed competition means we can bring out some of the fancier paper we'e got rattling around! Vote for Marigold so we can do more of these - and, of course, for her many natural good qualities.)

First up is Fahris from @tetraterantula, as a Kingsmould! Though tampering with Void isn't precisely advisable, and going from a normal bug to an artificial one is jarring at the best of times, he at least has hands - better than most of this batch can say! This one was fun to do, and we tinkered with a lot of things - the side effects being, of course, that we're tinkering with things we don't already know how to do well. We did make some mistakes here - we are not, admittedly, an expert in humanoids, and long straight lines are the absolute bane of us, but we did our best!

The dark gray used here is starting to fray, which we can unfortunately do little about, as we're out of replacement nibs for our pens at the moment, but which might have caused some interesting texture. We defined the boundary between the lighter cape and the darker one with a white gel pen because our black and dark gray proved to be a bit too close in color to tell at a glance - the pains of traditional art, we suppose. Still turned out fairly well! We wonder if the color palette would interfere with his ability to stroll into the White Palace...

Next up is Cici from @mimicspider, as a Giraffe Weevil. Probably not doing anything for her clumsiness, and definitely not doing anything for her number of hands - the neck is a lot to get used to, even without getting into the whole set of bauplan changes going on here. At least she's probably faster like this? Once she gets used to the legs, at least.

Though we've technically already made her into a Lightseed, double transmutation is fair play... probably? Lightseed Cici was less than a centimeter of our paper, so obviously we had to do something bigger. We modelled this one in particular after the Grimm Troupe steeds - the clown theme fits, and we wanted to toy with the... cloak-looking bits? The polka-dots were a fun challenge, and we definitely think the abdomen came out well. One of the more successful transmutations here, we'd say!

Next are Willow and Lily from @razs-archetype, with Willow as a Moss Knight and Lily as a Belfly. Y'know when you take just a few seconds to yourself, take just a quick nap, and next thing you know you've woken up and the moss has grown over you and your hands have been turned to strange talons reminiscent of a god's dream? Yeah, happened to us too. Awful time. At least their partner's here to- ah, shit. At least this one comes with flight? Probably a damn hard sell of a consolation prize, but...

Not as much to say with the choices here - the Moss Knight felt like a natural choice, and the Belfly just... clicked? We had fun with Willow's moss - the highlights here actually use the same white gel pen as was used with Fahris, since it's got a nice semitransparent thing that we particularly like. We think the style conversion for Lily's face worked out particularly nicely, here. The piece as a whole turned out as one of the best of the batch, as far as we're concerned. Was nice to draw them!

Next, of course, are Drya and Tel from @enbeemerang, with Drya as a Tiktik and Tel as a Nosk - we predict strange waters ahead for them, relationship-wise. Two bugs, and not a single pair of opposable thumbs. The economy is clearly in shambles. At least they've still got each other?

Tel here specifically is actually inspired by a fic that Cog himself wrote - would it surprise you to know that we know them outside of this tournament? They've actually been handed over to us for transformation practice once before, in a sequence that we... might post as propaganda, later. Drya, we deliberated on a few options before settling on a Tiktik - it just seems to fit!

Last but not least, Sehra from @shiningnightstars as a Hive Soldier. It's probably better than it could be, here - at least bees are a bit familiar to Bugaria! This particular variant, admittedly, might not be. Again with the hands, and this time with the looking like an unawakened bee - it might mean a bit of trouble for her, but we're sure she can power through.

The wings here were particularly fun to do - again, we're doing blending tricks here, and we think that the purples turned out particularly well! Sehra's palette is quite pretty, and the gel pen on the eyes wound up looking amazing. Though "soldier" probably doesn't fit too much for what Sehra... is, it felt like the closest to her as far as aesthetics go. The Hive Guardian is a bit too big for a moth like her, the Hiveling feels a bit too far in the other direction, and the Hive Knight... we're actually avoiding bosses and more sapient-looking folk here when possible. Hopefully, it's to your liking!

[grollow]

writing suggest: grimm and the knight(/the lord of shades) chatting about places they've travelled~

Every time you ask me to write these two together, I feel like I can hear @aewrie making a little delighted noise. The psychic transmission is strong.

(But I like writing their interactions, I think they are fun.)

I am enjoying the attempts of half of these asks to get me to write fluff. You might be the one who succeeded. Is this fluff? Does it count?

storyteller || AO3

His companion does not make words. Whether that be a limitation of the design of the vessels or simply its choice, he is unsure: it communicates fine, however, on the rare occasions when it chooses to.

Grimm hopes this will be one of those times.

“The wind is cold up there,” he tells it, gesturing vaguely to the east. “Where we came from. But it is not as cold as the kingdom we last visited. Would you like to know more about it?” 

He is draped across the back of the bench. The elderly bug that often lingers nearby has retreated to the safety of the general store and is casting him looks that are distinctly, undeniably hostile: he does not like the troupe’s presence in his town and is very convinced they are of a sinister make.

Perhaps he is not entirely wrong – but he is not completely correct either.

Grimm sees no need to alter his perceptions. It is rare for him to come out of the tents and mingle, but his summoner is a worthwhile source of interest – especially when it is yet nursing injuries.

Its mask is cracked and it has not healed it (although he knows that they can). He suspects that extending the soul to do so is not something it is interested in when it can just as easily rest in the comfort of the sleepy little town.

It looks up at him, its head craning back as if to meet his gaze, and he drums his claws melodiously on the back of the bench.

He takes the movement as indication of interest.

“The last one was frozen solid. The ground was slippery to walk on and the Steeds… well, did you know that they slip? We found this out quite unpleasantly. It is difficult for them to gain traction on ice.”

It stares openly. There is something on its face, he realises belatedly, and he reaches down to remove it: a shorn piece of some kind of plant leaf stuck to the hard white shell. It leaves behind a smudge of green stain that makes it seem all the more like the child its form is often mistaken for.

He makes no such mistake. There is wisdom in those eyes. There is also something a little wild. He is reminded of the black clouds that billow overhead and the smell of the air before coming rainfall. He is, in the same moment, also reminded that it is better to be indoors before the water starts to descend.

But he has ever been a reckless creature, so it is in his nature to ignore self-preservation.

Besides. He likes its company. Small and unassuming but with a will that could overcome any obstacle. It is an admirable trait.

He hopes the child adopts it.

“Have you ever seen snow fall heavily enough to collect upon the ground?” he asks it and to his surprise, it nods.

His mind is filled, then, with an image of the sprawling desert wastes: barren, lifeless dunes and great wooden structures that stand as testament to time. The image shifts to chilly winds and the blowing snow, positively howling, and then snow piled up thick enough to be impossible to navigate.

Along with the images is a distinct feeling of frustration. It does not like the cold and it does not like the snow. These things it finds inconvenient to try and work around. It does not enjoy anything getting in its way.

He is amused by how cranky it is. That he (a spirit of flame) should find snow more entertaining than it (a creature of the cold and fathomless dark) is an irony not lost on him as well. 

Perhaps it is evidence of magnetism.

“It melts in my presence,” he tells it. “Turns to slushy water and mixes with the dirt; it stains black and brown and becomes very messy.”

It looks down and then lifts its hands in front of its face. He wonders if it is trying to picture what he is describing. 

“I thought to try skating across a frozen pond in the last kingdom. The bugs do it, and it looked to be entertaining. I was young, you see, and I thought… when would I ever get a chance like that again? And so I slid out onto the ice. I would dance as the others did. They made it look easy. I have a confession.”

He leans down, then he whispers, “It is not easy.”

It turns its head to the side. He thinks it is probably trying to picture what he is telling it. Unfortunately, while it can share its memories with him to some degree, the same is not true in reverse. He does not possess that skill, that strange form of communication. He is bound to the mercy of words, as helpful and hindering as they can sometimes be. 

“It is especially not easy,” he continues, “when the ice starts melting underneath you.”

Its shoulders shake. It is laughing at him. It has no voice with which to do so, but he knows the gesture just the same and that is the response that he was trying to elicit with his story. After all, are bedtime tales not ideal to lighten one’s mood before sleeping?

He circles around the bench and then settles on one knee before it. The vessel follows him with its eyes and he turns his head before offering it a smile. 

“I managed a few loops, trailing water and ice behind me, and then, in an act of enviable grace, I managed to tumble onto my backside.”

Its shoulders shook again and he hummed.

“You will, perhaps, be pleased to know that the child takes after its father in some regards. Falling caught me off guard and I reacted appropriately… by summoning fire.”

It shares a mental picture with him again: of ice melting into water.

He nods to it and then smiles widely: all teeth, but harmless.

“That is exactly what happened, my friend. I went swimming. I did not know how to swim yet. Brumm had to come wade out and rescue me while I floundered about, half-frozen. To this day, he does not let me live it down.” 

The shaking becomes more and more prominent and he laughs with it; he gives sound to what it cannot. Perhaps he should be embarrassed by the tale but it is so long ago now that he hardly finds it worthwhile to dwell on. He is long past humiliation over the deeds committed when he was yet a child himself.

It is not as though it will tell his secrets.

It laughs and it laughs, soundless and shaking, its tiny body trembling under the force of it, and when the laughter subsides, it is still. It is possessed by an eerie, statue-like quality that tells him it has fallen asleep there on the bench.

Exhaustion takes its toll.

He stays with it, sitting on the ground in front of the sleeping figure. He has time to spare and there is something peaceful in the quiet.

And his presence greatly annoys the elderly bug staring nails into his back. He will take his wins where he can get them. 

[bluegekk0]

Everyone is playing Oblivion, which race, class, and birthsign would they choose? As a bonus who would create the most cursed character?

Hm... I haven't actually looked into each race in detail since I knew from the start I wanted to pick Khajiit, but let's see.

FPK - I think his playstyle would be less combat focused and more based around exploring, gathering ingredients for potions, and trading. For that last one, I think he would choose Imperial as his race, Pilgrim as his birthsign and perhaps The Steed as his birthsign, since I think he would like the speed bonus for exploring.

Grimm - I could absolutely see him going for a thief/assassin build, so for the race, I think he'd go with a Khajiit. As for the class and birthsign, I think he'd pick Agent and The Thief.

Hornet - I think she would pick a combat focused build, she's the type to blow off steam playing games. So perhaps Nord would be the race she goes for, Scout would be her class and The Warrior her birthsign. Or perhaps she would go for a custom class, I think she'd want to be as efficient as possible.

Holly - they'd playstyle would be similar to FPK's, though I think they'd want to dabble in spells. I think High Elf would be their choice, since they'd like the additional agility. They would prefer fights from a distance, so Witchhunter would be their go-to class, and The Mage their birthsign.

Zote - I think he'd go for a mix of a combat and magic for his playstyle. He would need some help building his character since it would all be overwhelming to him, though he'd act like he's simply above reading, and that he doesn't need Hornet or Holly's advice. If by any chance he actually accepts their help, he'd pick a Dark Elf character with Spellsword and The Lord as his class and birthsign respectively. If he doesn't, he'd probably pick stuff at random or based on how cool it sounds. But hey, I think he deserves a chance to at least have some good perks in a game haha.

The kids are too young to play, though I could see Grimm making a spare save to make a character and pick whatever they would like. As to what that would look like, Lewk would try to pay very close attention to what Grimm says when he describes each option, but in the end he would be swayed by the cooler descriptions rather than the ones that sound useful. If Asta and Milo join in, they'd only pick things based on pictures since they don't understand all words too well just yet.

As to who would create the most cursed looking character... Maybe Hornet? I like the idea of her creating exaggerated characters in the creator to make the kids laugh (since she wouldn't have the patience Grimm had to explain all the races and classes only for them to pick the worst options, she's too much of a sweaty efficient gamer for that lmao).

[amphiptere-art]

Meh. Hollow Knight on the Brain. May as well post here and my hunter's clan idea.

I'm not going to worry about finding the images. Although I do have a lot of drawn pictures for this AU/OC.

So in this AU I actually kind of based it on if it was DLC or a mod. The whole thing is based off of this idea that you could actually play it. So I had mechanics and area set up for them.

The area of this little clan would set up in is actually the destroyed cart near dirt mouth. Or at least my brain is telling me it was a cart. Might have been a pile of rubble. Either way you would find the group there. Along with two centipede steeds.

The main character who was basically an OC. Was sort of like the grim troop leader but young? I would describe their design as a weird mix between Grimm and hornet. Anyways they are the leader. They would task you to go help their clanmates to basically fill up this sort of death meter. This is probably portrayed through a charm upgrading. Although I don't remember the specifics.

The main idea was that you would go and find one of the 5 Companions. Then you and this companion would kill a bunch of enemies and basically gain their 'death essence', until It filled the charm and you could move on to the next area.

I say five companions. So let me just list these off my head.

There was the clan leader.

Their first hand man a mantis with a giant nail. A compensation for tiny claws

There was a tiger beetle with maces.

An ant with a bunch of knives.

An assassin bug with a glaive or spear.

A fly like sly, But it was somehow a different type of bug?

And that's all I can remember off the top of my head.

Either way you basically went through a bunch of main areas and killed a bunch of things until you got a fully upgraded charm. You would then go back to the group and fight each one of the companions in a Boss Rush until you beat them all and they would point you in the direction of where their leader went to finish the ritual.

You would then find the leader in basically the void I think. Where they would be summoning the god of death with all the death essence you got. The God of death was this giant centipede. You had to defeat the leader and the God of death in a battle together.

This is the only one I actually have somewhat vague memories of what the battle arena looks like. Basically the god of death was moving platforms. He had to watch your step because they got a death could leap out of the ground and bite you, or he could twist his body that you are using as a platform to spike you. All the while the leader was jumping around firing off flying balls and other things. It was a weird mix between Grimm and I think The Mantis Lords.

Want you defeated the God of death he would basically die and take over your charm. Becoming baby god of death. The leader would then congratulate you on defeating the greatest hunters. Allowing you to take that baby god of death as long as you raised it well.

And that was the entire idea. At least as much as my memory is giving me. It has been a very long time since I've looked at this. So some details are lost. Most of the loss details are what the doodles inclined. Which was some nonsensical doodles of the leader riding centipede steeds, chilling out with the giant mantis guy. Just kind of fun scenarios with these characters in a void.

Anyways I hope you all think this idea is cool.

[random-tree]

(So I impulsively wrote this three part essay in a poor YouTuber's comment section, and since it's unlikely to ever be read and I also spent too much time on it I'm posting it here)

Okay I'm stupidly passionate about Grimm, and in the mossbag reaction video you were interested in a deeper dive into Grimm's lore, as well as in this video you expressed confusion on why people view the banishment ending as the bad ending, so I decided to a three part essay about the subject matter, enjoy!

*Part 1: Grimm's nature: Grimm Vs the Pale King*

You have stated that you prefer the banishment ending because it's more in line with the rest of the game's story, one that condemns those seeking eternity, but to know why the main story condemns this we must examine the person who set it in motion, the Pale King.

The Pale King not only sought to create an eternal kingdom, but he also maximise its size at all cost , tempting the moth tribe away from their god, the White Lady taking chunks of Unn's land, and them attempting to build into Deepnest despite Deepest clear hostility towards them. And when the desire for endless growth came to bite them in the ass with the Radiance retaliating, the Pale King sacrificed droves of his own children to prolong himself and his kingdom. This goes against the natural cycle in which the parents give themselves up for the sake of their children.

For an example of similar messaging within a popular piece media that should be known to all, in the novel Dracula, a novel that places emphasis on one's inheritance, the aforementioned Dracula is villanised due his nature breaking the natural cycle, feeding on the blood of young people prolong himself and achieve immortality. He is criticised not simply because of his want for eternity but because of who he harms along the way, especially those who still have their whole lives ahead of them.

Now compare this Grimm, who despite his title as king in this dream fight seems to have no desire for a kingdom, happy with four mortal followers (Brumm, Divine and Grimm steed, that being those Willoh like bugs in front) alongside the Grimm Kin, which seem to be extensions of the Nightmare Heart rather than individuals, with Grimm having the smallest number of followers out of all the higher beings (with the exception of the thing that spawns the lifeblood cocoons which appeared to only have one follower that being Joni).

The Grimm troupe also do not come to Hallownest to conquer it, in contrast to the Pale King, rather they are there for the nightmare essence, something that seems to only spawn within lands long dead, and used to nourish the Grimmchild. In essence the Grimm troupe are vultures feeding on the dead rather than predators seeking the living, seemingly uninterested in the residents of Dirtmouth, and therefore essential to the process of decay.

With him only feeding on the nightmares of the dead and bearing such a small number of followers Grimm/the nightmare heart, despite his devilish appearance, is ironically one of the higher beings that has the least capacity for harm.

Not only that, while the ritual is described as a never ending song Grimm, unlike the Pale King, does not break the natural cycle, giving *himself* up for the sake of his child ("burn the father feed the child"), rather than the other way round like the Pale King, as he dies in the nightmare king ending. He does not seek to prolong himself but rather his lineage, the difference between these two things will become important later.

So why does Brumm take issue with the ritual?

*Part 2: Brumm's dilemma: and why people feel like the banishment ending is the bad ending.*

While the citizens of Dirtmouth, Jiji in particular, are wary of the Grimm troupe, believing them malicious, Brumm does not appear to wish to discontinue the ritual because of the harm it may cause, but rather out of compassion, especially for the Grimmchild, believing their lineage would strip them of their free will, and Brumm himself feels that he lacks it within the troupe, going into Deepnest to avoid his master's scarlet eyes. He wishes to banish the troupe but does not believe himself capable, seeking Ghost aid as he sees them as without a master. He however does state that he bears them no hatred if they choose to not banish the troupe, as in his eyes any choice is right as long as it's willed as and he believes himself as without a will.

So what happens if you do banish the troupe? Does Brumm regain his will? Does the endless song end?

Eh here's where things get murky and heres why this ending is so divisive. Not only does Grimmchild disappear alongside the troupe making it possible that they are with their father awaiting a new summoner in a different land making it so that the ritual, and therefore the endless song, have not been discontinued but rather paused.

Not only that but Brumm regaining his will is debatable, as Nymm, now mask-less without the memories of his previous identity as Brumm, stays in Dirtmouth. But does do so because he wants to? Or because he does not remember any other option? This gets especially murky at his carefree melody dialogue, as he describes this charm, clearly from his time in the Grimm troupe, as filling him with a sense of longing. Would Nymm choose to return to the troupe if he remembered it?

That's what his story is about, the circumstances one is born in and how that leads them to live a certain type of life. While Grimmchild is born into a role he did not choose, is Nymm not the same? Born again with a new identity confined to a small town because his memory does not allow him to conceive of anything else.

That's why people view this ending as a bad ending because to most it does not feel like much was achieved.

But does the nightmare king ending not doom the Grimmchild to become another puppet for the Nightmare Heart?

*Part 3: Grimmchild and Ghost: the nature of vessels.*

In the Grimm troupe DLC we are shown that Grimm and later grimmchild are the mortal bodies of the Nightmare Heart, a higher being that cannot exist within the mortal plane, only shown to us in the background of the nightmare king fight within the dream realm ( perhaps because after the dream realm split, as the seer states in the hunters journal, it became too weak to do so) . Because of this it's not uncommon to see comparisons being drawn between Grimm and his child and the vessels, however there are some differences.

For one the relationship between the Hollow Knight and the Radiance is not one either party had any say in, with the Radiance enraged with her containment and breaking the Hollow Knight's body in the process.

In comparison the Nightmare Heart appears to be a lot more passive, especially with how easily it can be banished, with it's relationship with Grimm appears much more symbiotic, allowing Grimm his own voice and sense of self, (perhaps even allowing him to choose who to recruit to the trope as there doesn't appear to be a reason why the nightmare heart would require bugs like divine and brumm specifically tho that is more speculation on my own part rather than anything).

While the Radiance acts as a parasite to the bodies of those she inhabits, the Nightmare Heart is more akin to stomach bacteria, because while the majority of bacteria is harmful to us, some not only live passively within us but also benefit us, as you can see with Grimmchild lacking the ability to defend itself until it has consumed the nightmare essence.

Because of this I believe that Grimmchild is not necessarily doomed simply because they are the new troupe master, but rather I believe that they by sheer virtue of not being their father, regardless of their role, has the chance to do things differently.

This does not even get to the role of the summoner within the ritual, that being Ghost.

When you finish the ritual Ghost and Grimmchild awake in dirtmouth, with the troupe gone. If Grimmchild were to take the role of troupe master immediately would the troupe not stay with their new master? I believe that the reason the trope disappears is so that the Grimmchild is raised by their summoner, and only when they reach adulthood are they to return to the trope (perhaps even assembling his own troupe? It's unclear whether they're supposed to find the old troupe or create their own) and take on the role of troupe master. This is so that the child is not spoiled as child leaders tend to become, and to acclimate them to the common bug as the role of the troupe master would require them to travel many lands and interact with a various selection of bugs.

Even if Grimmchild is merely a vessel to the Nightmare Heart, who's better raise them than Ghost, a vessel created for a specific purpose but shown time and time again that they are capable of going against what is expected of them.

In conclusion, to me both endings are morally neutral, it just depends on whether you, the player, values giving Brumm a chance to regain his sense of free will, or whether you value giving Grimmchild the chance to come into their own. It's the choice of continuing one's lineage or not and cutting oneself from it, both of which can be seen as valid outcomes depending on your outlook.

Personally in my playthrough I picked Grimmchild because I have a soft spot for the concept of two weird godly children hanging out in a dead kingdom, and Grimmchild being the only one keeping me sane after half of the character I liked died.

Also Grimm pretty

[beautifulpeachcandy]

Goethe's Letter, 1787

Three thousand years ago, when the island was still heavily contested, the elephants came. Stormy winds attend [them]; the gift is given [them] of walking on the sea as the steeds in the aaskereia skim over tho wave. [Grimm, Teutonic Mythology The Complete Work] They took the long way from Africa across the sea to Sicily, because they heard that here were the oldest laimun tree with the most delicious fruit. This tree is seventeen feet in diameter. [Michelet, The History of France Vol 1] And it was said that whoever tastes a laimun once becomes wise and has a long life.

An elephant then has a special experience with a laimun. The tree cried, “Shake me! [Grimm, Fairy Tales] And the fruits fell off... The elephant picked up a lemon and took a bite. And from that first bite, he was able to see into the future. The general vibration that it produces in the whole [laimun] tree, [...] [Bichat, General Anatomy Applied to Physiology and Medicine Vol 1] makes the tree a sacred place. In front of the elephant’s eyes appears the story that I will experience 1500 years later in this very place.

We got off our ship and in front of us – the city – Palermo! You know [...] what is happening at Palermo[?] [Marx, Collected Works]

Through the wonderful gate consisting of two enormous pillars, [...], we were led into the city and immediately left into a large hotel [“The Intercontinental”]. The proprietor, a comfortable old man [named Orlando] who had always been used to seeing strangers of all nations, led us into a large room from whose balcony we could look out over the sea and the roadstead, the Rosalia Hill and the shore, and also see our ship and judge our first position. [Goethe, April 2nd 1787]

In the public garden directly at the roadstead, I spent the most pleasurable hours in silence. It is the most wonderful place in the world. Regularly laid out, it seems fairy-like to us; planted not so long ago, it takes us back to antiquity. Green borders enclose foreign plants, lemon trellises arch up to the cute foliage, high walls of oleander, adorned with a thousand red carnation-like blossoms, tempt the eye. Trees completely unknown to me, still without foliage, probably from warmer regions, spread strange branches. [...] But what gave the ensemble its most wondrous grace was a strong fragrance that spread uniformly over everything... [Goethe, April 7th 1787]

Since we must now threaten ourselves with an imminent departure from this paradise, I hoped to find a perfect refreshment in the public garden today. [Goethe, April 16th 1787]

A little of this lemon juice ... This should make it possible to look into the future. However, there are only a few hundred bottles left. Just a few people know where they are stored. The fear of running out of these Laimuncello bottles is too big.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Palermo, April 1787

[linterteatime]

All the hollow knight gijinkas i have made so far, with links for easy find (◕_◕)

Troupe Master Grimm, Divine, The Radiance, Brumm, Broken Vessel

Quirrel, Mantis Lords, Traitor Lord, The Knight/Ghost, Tiso

Hornet, Lace, Myla, The Collector, Bretta

Pure Vessel, White Lady, Pale King

Marissa, The Hollow Knight, Iselda, Xero, Eternal Emilitia

Monomon The Teacher, Cornifer, Cloth, Jiji, Soulmaster

Hive Knight, Queen Vespa, Grey Mourner, Traitors Child, Marmu

God Seeker, Blue Child Joni, Herrah The Beast, Midwife

Nightmare King Grimm, Markoth, Gorb, Zote The Mighty, No Eyes

Grimmchild , Dung Defender, Moss Prophet, Grub, Grey Prince Zote

Paint Master Sheo, Nailmaster Oro And Mato, Nailsage Sly, Nailsmith, Lurien The Watcher

Salubra, God Tammer, Pale Lurker, Seer, Thistlewind

Small changes to Pure Vessel, Troupe Master Grimm, The Radiance

Fierce Dryya, Mister Mushroom, The Hunter, Snail Shaman

Isma, Revek, Steel Soul Jinn, Tuk

Flukemarm, Fluke Hermit, Dream Warrior Galien, Relic Seeker Lemm

Milibelle, Nosk, Elderbug, Maggot

Grimmkin Novice, Grimmkin Master, Grimmkin Nightmare, Elder Hu

Distant Villagers, Grimm Steed, Massive Moss Charger, Kingsmould

Unn, Cristal Guardian, False Knight/Mighty Hegemol, Watcher Knights

Gruz Mother, Vengefly King, Leg Eater, Menderbug

Willoh, Grubfather, Hot Spring Bugs, Mask Maker

The Last Stag/Old Stag, Brooding Mawlek, Little Fool, Soul Warrior

Ummu, Bardoon, Soul Twister, Volt Twister, Mistake, Folly

Extra stuff for the gijinkas + Fixes for old ones

Greenpath Vessel, Ellina The Chronicler, oblobbles, royal retainers

White Defender, Lord Fool, Winged Nosk, Grub Mimic

(Greenpath enemies): Mosscreep, Mossfly, Mosskin, Volatile mosskin, Fool eater, Squit, Obble, Gulka, Maskfly, Moss knight, Mossy vagabond, Durandoo, Duranda, Aluba

(Fog canyon enemies, The hive enemies, and 3 other ones without groups): Ooma, Uoma, Lumafly, Lifeseed, Bluggsac, Wingmould, Husk hive, Hive soldier, Hiveling, Hive guardian.

(Enemies from the abyss, ancient basin, and some others): knight's shade, siblings, lightseed, infected balloon, mawlurk, lesser mawlek, shadow creeper, entombed husk, void tendrils.

(I will make more dw)

[quidam-sirenae]

Fic writer asks

Tagged by @bidoofenergy

Ao3 name: eatgreass

Main fandoms: right now? Obsessed with the Iliad and arthuriana. All time? Most of my fics are 3rd life, tma, rqg, and hamlet.

Works: 112! Most were written during Covid and I don’t recommend reading anything I wrote before I started college but I’m also not taking anything down from an archive.

Work I spent the most time on: a Grimm world indeed. It was one of my favorite things to write and I’m very very proud of it. I started it in January 2021 and finished it august 2023. That’s nearly three years.

Work I spent the least time on: probably this. Not my favorite thing I’ve written but I needed to write it at the time, so it sticks around.

Longest fic: also a Grimm world indeed. 132079 words babeyyyyy. I need two Google docs to write it cause at the halfway point my computer started crashing when I opened it.

Shortest fic: hamlet in Latin, 116 words. Written as an exercise in composition. No, I’m not linking it.

Most hits: a doorway,probably because it’s a tma fic and therefore one of my bigger fandoms.

Most kudos: I’ve been chronically tired since high school. I also got the kindest comments on that fic!

Word count: 486842. Let’s goooooo.

Favorite work of my own: either I’ve been chronically tired since high school (it was really fun to write, y’all) or one of my Iliad fics cause my Iliad fics don’t get enough hits.

Fic you want to rewrite/expand on: I think that my series the knights of the round table could definitely be rewritten. As for expand, I’m constantly thinking about my that college au I never thought I’d write series.

Share a bit of a wip: woe translation of Gawain and the green knight be upon ye:

“No, I tell you in faith I seek no fight.

Here on this bench I see beardless children.

If I were clad in arms on a huge steed

There are no men to match me, their mights so weak.

I desire a christmas game in this court,

For it is yule and new year, and there are many here.

If any in this house thinks himself so hardy

With such bold blood, such brave mind,

That dare to strike one stroke for another

I will gift him this great battle-axe

This axe, that is huge enough for him to hold as he likes,

And I shall bear the first blow as a sit here.”

Tagging @sharpilu @eyelessfog and anyone else who wants to participate! Thank you so much for tagging me!

[etruatcaelum]

On Ruakh.

Lux Aeterna, the kingdom Ozma and Salem had built together, was situated in the foothills of what is now the contested border between southern Mistral and the Palash region. Salem fled east after the kingdom’s violent collapse and ultimately came to a vast, arid expanse of grassland known today as the Taiyin Steppe. There, she buried herself: literally found a cave, laid down, and did not move for centuries.

About six hundred years later, a faunus boy called Irem found her. He was thirteen, and he hailed from a nomadic group—a deme—which had recently been decimated by human rivals; Irem had been among the youths captured and enslaved by the raiders, and after two grueling years of mistreatment, he had slain his master, stolen the man’s fastest horse, and escaped into the night.

All he had meant to do was hide in the caves from his pursuers until nightfall. Instead, he found Salem—far from an intimidating figure by then: emaciated and barely conscious, her flesh so fragile after centuries of stillness that it shredded like wet paper at the slightest movement. When Irem looked upon her, it did not occur to him to feel afraid; he felt only pity and profound concern.

He decided to stay with her. Help her, if he could. She did not speak any language he recognized, but when he offered her half of what little food he had, he saw a faint spark of hope catch behind her eyes as she reached out to take it.

The pair stuck together from then on, gradually learning each other’s language and piecing together their respective histories as they roamed the steppe. Salem grew very attached to him; he began to call her mother.

Then, about five years later, they were found by Irem’s old captors. The human warriors did not recognize him as the boy who had once killed one of their own, but they did see an able-bodied young man and a monster; they attacked, intending to slay the witch and capture the youth.

Not a single warrior survived.

After that massacre, they gave those who remained a choice: gather what they could carry and leave unharmed, or stay and live by the rule of Irem and his mother.

Most chose to stay.

Every enslaved person in the deme—whether human or faunus—was immediately freed, and the livestock of those who had owned them was immediately portioned between them. The dead warriors were given proper funeral rites and, with them, the brutal cruelties of the past were to be laid to rest too.

That was the beginning of Ruakh.

Irem would eventually take the name Samandar Khan. Under his rule, the deme grew stronger and swiftly became the dominant power on the steppe—not by conquest, but by brokering peace with grimm hordes and demes alike.

(Of course, it is rather difficult to say no to a khan whose favorite steed is a grimm.)

Ruakh lasted for some three hundred years: a khanate comprising myriad demes of humans and faunus living alongside thousands of grimm hordes, spanning the Taiyin Steppe from the western mountains to the more fertile plains far to the east. Salem never staked a claim of rulership, though she did receive a say in the assemblies to elect new khans. Mostly, she came and went as she pleased, sometimes among grimm and sometimes among people.

Owing to her immortality, her grimmness, her presence in the story of the khanate’s origins, and her reputation as a teacher of magic, Salem gradually came to be regarded as a god. She was mythologized as the Witch-of-the-Wilds, a god of storms and fire, witchcraft and war, death and rebirth—a prominent deity in the Ruakhian pantheon, but far from the only one.

However, nothing lasts forever. West of the mountains and far to the north, the young kingdom of Mistral had been pushing its borders ever further south, and although the mountains had long prohibited conquest of the steppe, the invention of airships opened the eastern frontier to the empire.

In Mistral, in those days, grimm were thought to be demonic spirits who preyed upon humans and infested the bodies of the slain, reanimating them as faunus. When rumors of Ruakh began to flow north, they inspired first panic, then hatred. The steppe was not desirable country, unsuitable as it was for farming and crawling with grimm besides, but that did not matter: terror of the grimm and religious zeal made the only arguments Mistral needed to justify a conquest.

Brutal, ugly warfare followed.

Ruakh held its own for many years, bolstered by the grimm—who were far more numerous than the khanate’s people and the empire’s armies combined—and by Salem’s raw power. The mountains and the vast steppe gave the advantage to the Ruakhian defenders, whose horse archers gained fearsome reputations among the Mistrali infantry.

For a time, it seemed as though the campaign would be forced back in the end.

Then Mistral found a powerful champion of its own in Kawayanagi Asaki, a young man of common birth who claimed to have received the blessings of the gods to put an end to the scourge. He demonstrated awe-inspiring magical powers, and the emperor sent him to the front without hesitation.

It was the first time Salem had seen Ozma in almost one thousand years, and meeting them again on the field of battle in a war of undeserved persecution broke something in her. That day was not the fall of Lux Aeterna all over again: it was far worse.

Ozma had not yet sacrificed their divine gifts—they would do so in their next life—nor found the lamp of knowledge. Asaki possessed the limitless might of ancient magic and nine lives’ worth of mounting desperation burning with the conviction that Salem could be destroyed. Salem, meanwhile, fought for a land and a people she had lived with and loved and learned from for three hundred years.

When they dueled in Lux Aeterna, they had ripped the castle down on top of their own heads and burned each other alive. This time, they met as opposing forces of nature. The mountains shook and the sky rained fire and the earth opened like a great maw to swallow the armies of Mistral whole; but Asaki was the better fighter, and she lost ground slowly but steadily as he advanced with what remained of his force.

So catastrophic was the scale of the battle that by the time Salem managed to kill him at last, the steppe had been utterly destroyed by fire, quakes, and a volcanic eruption.

The surviving Ruakhians were few in number. Although they begged her to stay, fearing what would become of them without her protection, Salem looked upon the charred husk of what had been the happiest time of her life and decided that she could not live among people ever again. Not if this was what Ozma would do if she tried.

But neither could she abandon the few people she had left, so Salem made them an offer: far away, on the other end of the world, she knew of a magical oasis protected by impassable expanses of uninhabited desert. It would be different from the life they had known, but she could take them there, and they could live in safety without her.

Most of them agreed.

And that was the beginning of Vacuo.

In the modern day, Ruakh is a quasi-mythical lost civilization—think in the vein of Atlantis. The Taiyin Steppe is very sparsely inhabited, still torn up and prone to quakes and volcanic activity.

Unlike the very short-lived kingdom of Lux Aeterna, Ruakh endured for hundreds of years; Ozma couldn’t erase it from history, but they did succeed in muddying the waters enough to create widespread uncertainty among historians as to whether the khanate truly existed as described in the sources. (Grimm have foiled every effort to mount archaeological surveys of the region.) The legend of Ruakh a favorite of occultists and conspiracy theorists, and better known to faunus than to humans.

Descendants of the Ruakhian survivors Salem brought to southern Sanus still live in the Vacuan desert, and although their culture has dramatically evolved in the three thousand or so years since, there are traces of Ruakh to be found even now in stories of an ancient journey into the unknown, a paradise promised by the gods and ripped away by human hands, and indomitable will to survive.

[pilot-boi]

Twins AU

So with this being bonded by Aura thing that twins share, imagine during V9 Yang is hit with a tidal wave of pain and everyone panics because they have no idea what’s happening

It all makes sense when they find Jaune

It was twenty years worth of experience being shared with Yang in a fraction of a second, all of it avalanching down onto her because Jaune went back in time and it’s all catching up to her now

Imagine how horrified she is to see her brother, *her twin,* suddenly so many years older than her

When Yang first lands in the Ever After, she is in agony

White hot and blinding, it’s like a tidal wave of emotions and pain sweep over her, bowling her over. It feels like her arm is being cut off all over again, like her mind is breaking, like she’s blinking and a life age of anguish and sorrow is passing by.

And then it’s over

Yang lays under the canopy of an unfamiliar forest. Her vision is blurry and her limbs are tingling. She wonders distantly if this is how Blake feels when she uses her Semblance, all sort of detached from her body

She can’t place it, but it feels like something inside of her is wrong

Not like something bad happened (although it did) but like something vital inside of her is missing. Something is just… not right, like the whole world is off kilter somehow

Is this what being dead feels like?

Blinding pain and then just feeling not quite all there for the rest of eternity?

She’s shaken out of her musings very abruptly when a raccoon riding a wagon of garbage all but gleefully grabs her prosthetic and runs away

Things happen very quickly after that

She doesn’t catch the raccoon, but she IS accosted by a giant monster that isn’t a Grimm. She doesn’t beat the monster, but she DOES get found by the rest of her team. They don’t know how to get home, but they DO realize they’re in a fairy tale

The Girl Who Fell Through The World, with all of its quirky and charismatic characters

Yang gets her arm back from the Jinxy Peddler. She helps her team battle the Red Prince-formerly-King. The Curious Cat rescues them and pesters them with questions

The Herbalist is a new face, one not mentioned in the story. Yang finally verbalizes what it turns out she knew all along. She doesn’t have to be symmetrical, or whole, or easy to understand. She is a Huntress

She doesn’t have to be whole. When her smoke-self asks if she wants that, Yang can’t help but think of her twin up in Vacuo. Gods, what he must be going through

Feeling her get hurt destroyed him enough, but he must think she’s dead

Maybe that’s why she feels so off, so not-right. Because the other half of her soul is in another dimension

While they travel to the market, Yang mentions the pain she felt when she landed

Blake postulates that it was caused by her lack of Aura, but Weiss’s Aura broke as well, and she didn’t feel anything. Ruby, as taciturn as she’s been, suggests that maybe her prosthetic didn’t like the journey through dimensions, but Yang didn’t have any pain when first entering the Crossroads

Yang wonders aloud whether Jaune was hurt during the time she was falling, and their bond amplified it somehow. The Curious Cat blinks up at her when she mentions him, and smiles knowingly

She doesn’t know what to make of that

Until very suddenly she does

The market is attacked. Neo sends copies of the Jabberwalker to wreck mayhem. And finally, the last missing character from the story appears: The Rusted Knight

He drives the Jabberwalker away and seems to freeze at the sight of them. Yang isn’t surprised, according to the story he’s supposed to be the only competent fighter in the whole place. When copies of the monster appear, he doesn’t try to fight, prioritizing getting them to safety while the Cat covers their escape

The Knight leads them to the top floor of the market while it burns behind them. They follow his gestures into a room inside a giant flower, where his steed is waiting

Blake is pretty much vibrating with excitement next to her. It’s no secret the Knight is her favourite character

“You did good, Juniper,” the Knight says, his voice echoey from behind his helmet. The jackalope’s name tugs at Yang, reminding her of their sister team, of her absent brother. Gods she wishes he was here

Then the Knight takes off his helmet

Long blonde hair, streaked with white and tied back by an achingly familiar piece of red cloth, falls onto his back.

He turns. “Team RWBY,” he says, sounding relieved, sounding exhausted, and Yang can feel her teammates freeze beside her, she can hear them all gasp in horror.

For her part she can’t move, can’t breath, can’t take her eyes off his face.

The same face that stares back every time she looks in the mirror. His sad blue eyes creased with smile lines, with age, with decades of pain. Twenty years older than he should be, twenty years older than her

Dear gods… what happened to her brother?

“You finally made it.”

[fethreepandas]

Everyone seems to prefer reboogles over likes, and I'm too deep in this fandom not to give them anymore. (Also, I can't sort my likes by tags to find squat.) So here I'll list what my tags will be so if I or anyone else is in a mood for a particular character or aesthetic, all I gotta do is click a tag.

As 99% of what will be reblogged is art, it will not have its own tag. Written works will be tagged as #written works. Written works I have written will be tagged #panda writes, those written by others will be tagged #others writings.

Works with detailed backgrounds will be tagged #scenery.

If a pet animal (e.g. cats, dogs) or other fauna found in nature (e.g. birds, game) is in the work, the work will be tagged #animals. Works with pegasi, war horses, or wyverns will instead be tagged #noble steeds.

If the art depicts food, whether preparing or enjoying it, there will be the tag #food. Tea times, picnics, and meals fall under this category.

Canon Timeline:

Works set before the events of White Clouds will be tagged #flashback.

Works set during White Clouds or depicting the students as students will be tagged #white clouds or #cindered shadows if about events in the DLC.

Works set during the time-skip will be tagged #during timeskip.

Works set after the time-skip will be tagged #timeskip. If the work is set post-timeskip during the events of Warriors: Three Hopes, it will instead be tagged #hopes timeskip. If a work is from a specific route, it will also be tagged by that route’s name (e.g. #crimson flower, #scarlet blaze). 

Works set after the events of games will be tagged #post canon.

Anything associated with the spin-off game Warriors: Three Hopes will be tagged #three hopes. This includes routes, events, and outfits.

Similarly, anything associated with the mobile game Heroes (such as seasonal attire or holidays depicted in Heroes) or works including characters from other Fire Emblem games will be tagged #heroes.

Alternate Universes:

Works depicting more than one Byleth and/or Shez (usually of different genders) interacting will be tagged #twinleth.

(WIP) Works involving some deviation from the Three Houses or Three Hopes canon will be tagged #canon divergent. If enough works fill this tag, there may also be sub-tags for how the canon diverges (e.g. #everyone lives for works involving a canonically deceased character living on or characters getting happier introductions or endings along when canonically they wouldn't, #original character for works including an OC).

(WIP) Works with characters donning the outfit or hairstyle of another character will be tagged #outfit swap.

(WIP) Works set in alternate universes will be tagged #alternate universe, and also tagged as its specific AU. Some of these will be tagged as follows: #high seas au for works involving pirates and/or mermaids, #regency au for works depicting ballgowns and non-canon balls regardless of time period, #supernatural au for gothic works or works including mythical creatures like vampires, #fairy tale au for works depicting Grimm's or Disney's version of classic fairy tales, #futuristic au for works involving space fantasies.

(Later WIP, WIP squared) Works under #modern au may need to be redone. Works with one or more characters in musical groups fall under #pop idol au. Works in coffee shops, flower shops, or diners as #modern shop au? Modern high school, college or university settings under #modern school au?

Works including interactions with another franchise outside of Fire Emblem will be tagged #crossover. Some crossovers may be tagged as a specific alternative universe (e.g. #pokemon au).

Characters:

Individual characters will be tagged by their more commonly used name, or the name they go by as a playable character. (So the Death Knight goes by #jeritza, and Cichol will go by #seteth.)

With the exception of Yuri from the Ashen Wolves, the main three house lords will be tagged as #house lords, but not as their house faction, as listed below.

Non-avatar playable characters will also be tagged as the class or faction they are associated with (e.g. Hubert will also be tagged #black eagles, Cyril as #church of seiros).

Minor characters, mentioned by name or not, will be tagged once as #minor characters, then again as the country/area most closely associated with them (e.g. Tiana von Reigan would be tagged as #leicester; Glenn Govan Fraldarius as #faerghus; Shahid as #non-Fodlan; unnamed students, church worshipers, merchants, mercenaries, and knights as #garreg mach). Some of these may have names or titles and will go by one as well if there are enough posts about them (e.g. #gatekeeper).

If minor characters are interacting with a leading character who is related to them, the post will be tagged #family.

Avatars Byleth and Shez will have additional tags indicating the male or female version of their characters (e.g. #female byleth, #male shez), or someone’s take on a non-binary version (#enbyleth or #enby shez).

Small Groups:

Since posts have a maximum of thirty tags, if a work includes all eight students of a house, the work will be tagged #all eagle students, #all lion students, or #all deer students, and each individual character’s name will be omitted.

Depictions of smaller friend groups interacting (e.g. Adrestian Trio, Faerghus Four) will be tagged #group photo. If poly-relationships are depicted, the work will also be tagged #ships.

Ships are tricky...

Romantic works of popular pairings will be tagged #ships and their ship name. Byleth ships where either gender is popular in the ship, especially lord ships, will also have a [m or f] and a space preceding the ship name, (e.g. #f dimileth).

Less common romantic pairings will be tagged #rairpair. If there are more than five works of the pairing (romantic or platonic), it will also be given a "ship" name. It may be promoted to #ships if there are enough arts from more than two artists.

A platonic depiction of a pairing will be tagged #duos. If the work is ambiguous whether the pairing is romantic or platonic, it will be tagged as both #duos and [#ships or #rairpair].

Uncommon depictions of any two unrelated named characters platonically together will fall under #acquaintances instead of #duos.

Pairings with more than a few arts will be tagged as their "ship" name regardless of if the work depicts them platonically or romantically (especially if works portray at least one of each). (Some of my favorite ships (in no particular order) include #mercedue, #ferdithea, #felannie, #sylvgrid, #cyrithea, #hilclaude, and #hubernie.)

[diamondsableye]

drew this for the r/hollowknightmemes spooktober event way back in October.  I am still super proud of it.