#helmet comparison not included

[facingthefossegrim]

Chapter 452: Forgotten

Spoilers for 19 Days, chapter 452: Forgotten

I'm gleaning a lot of information from this one; looks like Mo Guan Shan's either changed jobs or acquired a second one since the Christmas update (bro looked like a bus boy taking out the garbage in chapter 224). I'd put my money on He Tian having a hand in this hook up (it wouldn't be the first time he's recommended him for something with good pay, and it seems like a job Mo would enjoy).

I'm wondering if this takes place before or after the Christmas proposal, though, since He Tian's hair looks so different, but that could be either a stylistic change or HT just dressing up for a nice dinner. Either way, I'm not seeing any rings, but maybe they don't always wear it? Or it could be under their clothes? (It would make sense for Mo not to wear it on the job, but would HT ever go without it?)

Something to consider is that we know HT was away for a while before the Christmas events, and perhaps him being away was what soured the relationship pre-proposal. 🤔 But then if this took place before that, why would Mo not continue with this job? (So it makes more sense that this took place after Christmas, but they just aren't wearing the rings.)

It's fun to see the consistency of both character's habits here; He Tian blowing smoke in Mo's face yet again (as he did in chapter 224; so rude), and also being quickly swayed the moment Mo offers him a gift. The value doesn't even matter; we know He Tian's love language is gift giving among others, and he softened right up with this chapter. XD

Mo also has the same ride, but a different helmet this time around. Doesn't seem like the type of person who has much, but also is really into the things he's into, so. It's not a stretch to say he has multiple helmets or replaced one with the other.

Some images for your enjoyment:

[dkettchen]

how to appeal to voters of any party in this country: ask for funding for the NHS, they love that shit here 🌈🩺💊

(no but for real, fund the NHS holy heck, the waiting lists have breached containment of the trans & mental health servicese by now! as someone who's a patient at like 5 different specialist departments, it's rough out here)

[kaethefangal]

Tim had quit his life as Red Robin. When he was younger he was so proud to be Robin, so happy that he got the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fight by Batman’s side. Everyone thought he was destined to do great things, and honestly so did he. He would’ve never dreamed of leaving Batman’s side. That was until he found out about Jason. 

Finding out that Jason died made him hang up the cape. He couldn’t bear to carry on a mantle that wasn’t his. He knew Dick willingly quit, leaving the Robin position vacant. But Jason hadn’t willingly died, and Tim could never feel comfortable in that suit knowing it belonged to a dead kid. The second robin was great, and Tim could never live up to him, and he didn’t want to. He didn’t deserve to. A few years after he quit being Robin, he resurfaced as Red Robin. Because once you lived life as a bat you could never go back, not really. It was a perpetual struggle of constantly looking over his shoulder, constantly wondering if the woman staring at him was planning something or was just admiring his clothes.

 As of now, Tim acted as an information broker.  He worked with the entire Justice League and all heroes/vigilantes, including Jason. When they’d first met Tim was bleeding out on a rooftop after he’d won a fight as Red Robin but had taken substantial physical damage. He’d been expecting a punch in the face for replacing him or at least some kind of anger or resentment. Tim was surprised when the man’s first words to him were ‘Rough night?’ and even more surprised when Jason patched him up and sent him on his way. He’d only worked with Red Hood three times when he found out the man smoked weed. ‘I thought Red Hood was against drugs?’ Tim had asked him as he watched the man light a blunt. ‘Red Hood is against selling drugs to kids. I look like a kid to you?’ Jason asked with a raised eyebrow. Tim had just shook his head and turned back to the screen that was in front of him.

Tim was focused on his current case, his brows furrowed in concentration as he went over a file that the Titans needed from him when he heard those familiar three knocks at his window. He turned his head to find Jason standing on his balcony, his helmet on. Tim stood up to let him in because at this point they’d worked together enough to be considered friends. It’d started out with only interacting for crucial cases, but they grew on each other. Tim enjoyed Jason’s laid-back but still about-business attitude and in turn, Jason savored Tim’s non-judgemental and sarcastic personality. They complimented each other well, after all, albeit in different senses and categories, they were both emotional and social wrecks. Tim was a social recluse because he didn’t know how to understand complex human emotions and Jason was anti-social because he didn’t care about human emotions.

“What’s going on?” Tim asked as he lifted the window. Jason landed inside silently, which was ironic in comparison to his imposing build.

“Nothing. Just need these scanned,” Jason pulled a case holding 5 vials of green liquid from his jacket.

“Got it. What are they?” Tim asked, taking them from Jason and placing them in the chemistry analyzer that sat at his workstation. He sat in his chair, facing away from the man behind him, which was a huge show of trust in itself.

“No idea. Grabbed ‘em off some dealer I caught on the street today,” Jason replied.

“Is said dealer still with us?” Tim asked curiously. Personally, Tim didn’t kill. He couldn’t handle knowing he’d taken a life. Though he didn’t care much about Jason’s killings it still made him feel better knowing Jason was becoming less violent and more understanding.

“With us meaning..?” Jason asked with a hint of amusement in the robotic edge that his helmet put on his voice.

“In the world of the living,” Tim put out bluntly.

“Yes. In the hospital, but alive,” Jason said, taking off his mask.

“Doesn’t it get hot inside that thing?” Tim asked, turning around to face Jason.

“Better than being dead,” Jason shrugged, taking a seat on Tim’s bed.

“You’re never gonna let that one go, are you?” Tim chuckled.

“Would you?” Jason shot back lightning-quick.

“Fair point,” Tim conceded. The chemical analyzer dinged, catching his attention. “Looks like a drug called Viper,”

“Damnit, I should have killed him,” Jason scoffed.

“Bruce wouldn’t like that,” Tim said for nothing else but a reaction.

“Since when do I care about what Bruce likes?” Jason looked at him incredulously through his domino.

“Fair point, go ahead, kill the man,” Tim waved a hand dismissively towards the window.

“And you wouldn’t have a problem with that?” Jason asked in disbelief.

Tim fixed him with the look he always gave Jason when he asked a dumb question. “Viper is a deadly poison, and he was selling it. I’m not saying he deserves it, but he deserves it,”

“So you’d help me?” Jason asked with a small grin.

“Why would I help you kill a man?” 

“I meant help me find out where he got it from and shut the operation down,”

Tim knew the answer was yes, and had to stop himself from shouting it. He pretended to think about it for a few seconds before shrugging. “Sure, sounds fun,”

Jason’s grin grew and Tim couldn’t help but smile too. 

“I’ll swing by again tomorrow,” Jason said, standing. It was then that Tim noticed Jason piling all his weight onto his right leg.

“What’s wrong with your leg?” Tim questioned.

“Nothing. My leg is fine,” Jason replied. He began walking towards the window again but Tim noticed the slight limp he moved with. 

“Okay,” Tim sighed, kicking Jason in his left knee. 

“Fuck!” Jason shouted, falling to the ground.

“Thought there was nothing wrong with your leg?”

“I said my leg, not my knee,”

“Your knee is a part of your leg,” Tim called, making his way to the first aid kit he kept in his bathroom. He inwardly chuckled at how Jason attempted to hide his injury from Tim. 

He bent down, opened his cabinet, and looked for the shiny white box with the red plus sign on it. 

He returned almost as quickly as he left to find Jason lying on his bed.

“Either the pants come off or you roll them up,” Tim said as he sat the first aid kit on his bed and opened it.

“Roll it,”

“I’m not your maid,” Tim scoffed. The smile on his face betrayed how he wanted to sound but he didn’t mind much. “Not my doctor either but here we are,” Jason countered smoothly. Tim always enjoyed his and Jason’s banter, not that he’d ever tell the other man that.

Tim stared at him unimpressed. Jason scoffed and pulled his left pant leg up. Underneath it was a deep gash that was poorly stitched up. Blood leaked out of the stitch and it looked infected, yellow pus seeping out around the edges.

“This is one of the worst stitch jobs I’ve ever seen,” Tim said. He got on his knees and began cleaning the stitch with anti-septic.

“In Roy’s defense, his hand was injured too,”

“You should’ve told someone, this is dangerous,”

Jason huffed out a laugh. “That’s an occupational hazard baby bird,”

“Stop calling me that,”

***

Tim watched Jason jump out of his window, the man leaving with a shout of, “I’ll get you some new sheets!” 

Tim hadn’t noticed the blood-soaked sheets on his bed until after Jason was already gone. Tim could do nothing but sigh and begin getting ready for bed. He walked into his bathroom, taking in his appearance. His eye bags were still dark, and his face was still on the grey edge of pale. His eyes were tired, almost lifeless. He was beginning to see his skin clinging to his bone, a telltale sign that he hadn’t been eating. He sighed and looked away.

He brushed his teeth and washed his face almost robotically, avoiding locking eyes with himself in the mirror at all costs. 

He replaced his sheets and got into bed, letting his mind take the wheel.

Viper.

They were already aware of the effects of the drug, it slowly melted away calcium that the bones needed and left it’s victims with dust in place of bones, killing them slowly and painfully. It allowed for a small period of inhuman strength, which was unbelievably dangerous. Solomon Grundy was a prime example of why people out of their minds should not be given super strength. He only hoped they could shut the operation down before Viper spread too much. 

***

“Plan?” Tim asked warily. Jason had come crashing into his room with a look of pure rage on his face a few moments earlier. He’d explained to Tim that there was a new variant in Viper that allowed the victims to live longer and made them susceptible to suggestion. Tim didn’t like drugs that made people susceptible to suggestion. Jason had his theories on what the drug trafficking rings could use it for, who they could sell it to, and none of them were good. The way Jason paced as he spoke made Tim worry that he’d jump into action without a plan.

“My plan is to track down the piece of shit that started this and paint the wall with his brain,” Jason spat.

“Jay as of now you and I are the only ones on this. If you die who will help the victims?” Tim questioned in an attempt to be the voice of reason. 

Jason stopped pacing to think, at least that’s what Tim assumed, he couldn’t tell much from the helmet.

“Fine. What’s the plan?”

“Where’d you find the dealer last night?” Tim asked, turning to his computer.

“Corner of fifth and Eagleside,”

“There’s a warehouse not too far from there. I say we check it out, and if it’s a hit, follow it,”

“And if it isn’t?”

“Then we look somewhere else. The drug hasn’t hit the streets hard yet or else Bruce would know. We need to stop it before its next shipment,”

“Right. I’ll-”

Tim’s police radio went off, and he whipped his head towards the noise on his desk. ‘Hostage situation at Gotham Bank, calling all units,’ 

Tim turned his head back to Jason, who’s figure had just leaped out of his window. Tim could do nothing but sigh and run a hand down his face. He really hoped this wouldn’t get them killed.

[hellsite-proteins]

STOP POSTING ABOUT AMONG US! I'M TIRED OF SEEING IT! MY FRIENDS ON TIKTOK SEND ME MEMES, ON DISCORD IT'S FUCKING MEMES! I was in a server, right? and ALL OF THE CHANNELS were just among us stuff. I-I showed my champion underwear to my girlfriend and t-the logo I flipped it and I said "hey babe, when the underwear is sus HAHA DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DI DI DING" I fucking looked at a trashcan and said "THAT'S A BIT SUSSY" I looked at my penis I think of an astronauts helmet and I go "PENIS? MORE LIKE PENSUS" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHGESFG

ඞ

letter sequence in this ask matching protein-coding amino acids:

STPPSTINGATAMNGSIMTIREDFSEEINGITMYFRIENDSNTIKTKSENDMEMEMESNDISCRDITSFCKINGMEMESIwasinaserverrightandALLFTHECHANNELSwerestamngsstffIIshwedmychampinnderweartmygirlfriendandtthelgIflippeditandIsaidheyaewhenthenderwearisssHAHADINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDIDIDINGIfckinglkedatatrashcanandsaidTHATSAITSSSYIlkedatmypenisIthinkfanastrnatshelmetandIgPENISMRELIKEPENSSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHGESFG

protein guy analysis:

this is a weird looking structure. i haven't shown you the confidence rating, but its not far off from the red colour i chose. the most immediately apparent factor is how long and spread out this protein is. when i rotated the structure from how it originally loaded (second image) to the significantly worse looking one (top image) i was genuinely taken aback. there are some interesting elements of secondary structure visible, including two parallel beta strands, some more twisted sheets and a couple helices. the loops look messy as always, but with how far apart the two areas connected by the loop are, this feels reminiscent of a flexible linker. of course, neither half of this protein is functional in the slightest, so that's a mildly ridiculous comparison. this protein seemed so goofy that it only felt fitting to display it with the flattened graphics that i find give it an even more cartoonish appearance.

predicted protein structure:

[sailorsoapbox]

Not Sailor Moon related, but I'd like to share this gifset/analysis of cinematic parallels between The Castle of Cagliostro and The Great Mouse Detective with you. This was a Patreon request, so consider this post a preview of what you might see if you subscribe (Tier 1 starts at only $1/month)!

Today I would like to do a quick piece showcasing some of the cinematic parallels between Hayao Miyazaki's The Castle of Cagliostro and John Musker & Ron Clements' The Great Mouse Detective. Famously, both films' climaxes take place inside the workings of a clock tower. As many Disney animators, Musker & Clements included, are known to be fans and admirers of Miyazaki's films, it is quite likely that TGMD's climax is an intentional homage to TCoC. Here are five similar scenes from each film (reproduced as animated gifs) that I would like to discuss in particular:

The Villain's Entrance: Notice that both the Count and Ratigan take advantage of the clock tower's gears to sneak up on their enemy. Their figures are similar - large, hulking bodies, swishy red capes, and an unusual head shape. In the Count's case, his head shape is changed by his goat-shaped helmet, while Ratigan's angular pointed rat ears contrast heavily with Basil's rounded mouse ears. Interestingly, the Count moves vertically, while Ratigan moves horizontally. Both villains are temporarily thwarted by their respective Damsel in Distress warning Our Hero about the impending attack. 

An Unfair Battle: Both films feature a battle to the death on an unstable surface - Caglistro's being on moving clock gears, while Mouse Detective's battle is on Big Ben's clock hands which are slippery from the rain. As mentioned earlier, both the Count and Ratigan have large hulking bodies which visually contrast between Lupin III's and Basil's lanky and significantly shorter frames. The Count and Ratigan are also armed (with a sword and rat claws respectively), whereas Lupin III had to improvise with a long wrench. Basil is completely unable to defend himself, which accords with his characterization as being entirely Brains, not Brawn. Lupin III is an adventurer, so he fares much better in this battle, but it is still heavily weighed in the Count's favour.

A Near Miss: Both movies feature a brief scene where one of the "good guys" is nearly crushed by the clock gears, only to survive from a split-second escape. Both Damsels, Clarisse and Olivia, are relatively passive in the battle and are heavily protected by Lupin III and Basil. Clarisse, being a young adult rather than a little girl, is noticeably braver and more proactive during the battle. There is brief tension when Lupin III almost looks like he will be crushed, but because of his reputation for getting out of any jam, the audience never has to worry about how he will escape. In comparison, Olivia is helpless to save herself from being crushed, and Basil has to take advantage of his knowledge on the physics of clockwork to rescue her. The scene with Olivia is significantly longer, drawing out the tension.

The Villain Unmasked: Both battles take a turn when the villain is literally, and figuratively, unmasked. A gleeful Lupin III shatters the goat horned helmet, instantly making the Count look less intimidating and more like the pathetic man he is. His stance immediately changes from murderous and dangerous, to bewildered and annoyed. The result reminds the audience that for all his ambition and bluster, the Count is just a petty criminal with delusions of grandeur. Ratigan, in comparison, shatters his own "mask." Merely spotting Basil and Olivia trying to escape from him shatters his mind, and he destroys his own illusions of good breeding and sophistication. Ratigan might be a charismatic and brilliant criminal mastermind, but when he doesn't get his way, he reveals himself to be nothing more than a feral rat.

Falling From The Clock Tower: Clarisse, who is more proactive in this battle than Olivia (for understandable reasons), attempted to knock the Count off the tower to prevent him from activating its secret. He kicks her off him in retaliation, but she and Lupin III managed to fall into the water. They are miraculously (if implausibly) unharmed, and it eventually turns out that their falling off the tower saved their lives, as the Count would be gruesomely crushed between the clock hands triggered by the secret mechanism to point to midnight. In comparison, Big Ben itself is what causes Ratigan's demise. The tolling of the tower's bells (also at midnight) would be already deafening for a human, but are completely disorienting for a rat. Disney are known to kill off their villains by having them fall off something (so as to imply their deaths rather than showing a body), and Ratigan's death is another example. Interestingly, Ratigan's fall from the tower is implicitly shown to be fatal, which contrasts with Lupin III and Clarisse's survival. The films' respective target audiences also are a factor in how their villains are defeated - Cagliostro is aimed at an older audience, so while the Count's death is not explicit, his demise is far more visceral. Knowing exactly where the Count's body is (and what has happened to it) is a more potent image; we know Ratigan likely won't survive his fall, but we don't know where his body will land.

They're pretty good movies, y'know.

[ash5monster01]

Perfect to Love

Pairing: Steve Harrington x FemReader!PlusSize

Warnings: fluff, mentions of bullying, body image issues, fat shaming, angst, trust issues.

Summary: Beth Walker was used to living in the shadows. She had only one friend and anyone else who paid her mind usually bullied her for her size. So she learned to keep her mouth shut, her head down, and her heart closed because she had to accept the fact that she would be nothing more than the fat girl to people. That is until Robin decides Beth needs more in life and that might just include a boy who she never would’ve thought could see her for who she truly was.

word count: 1,326

→ Part 1

Masterlist

"Bertha!" chuckles from teenage boys followed the sneer that came from Colin Matterson's mouth, football captain, and all around douche. Beth recoiled into her self as heads turned to look at her and her peers chuckled. People thought they were clever adding two little letters to her name, instead they were just mean.

"Eat shit Matterson!" Robin stood and yelled to which the boy just brushed off and continued on his way to a seat in the bleachers. Beth felt her breaths coming out in heavy paces but she appreciated Robin for sticking up for her. "Don't listen to him Beth, he's an asshole"

"You know I ignore him" Beth told her, adjusting the strap to her marching band helmet. Robin took notice of how her flute trembled in her hand despite the tough facade she was putting on.

"Still Beth, people like him aren't going to matter by the end of the year" Vickie piped in. Ever since the three had been placed beside each other in the line up they had gotten to know each other. They also learned that Beth was super cool despite being silent most of the time. Things used to not be so bad until Barb Holland passed away, leaving her to be the only bigger girl left in their grade.

"I know, just hurts that he's right" both girls instantly gave offended looks, quickly muttering off how she was one of the most prettiest girls they knew but sometimes those comments didn't hold a lot of weight opposed to the mean ones. Beth knew it was wrong to not think her friends were sincere but if Colin Matterson was the one calling her beautiful things would be a bit different. Being seen at all by somebody new would be different.

"Beth nobody is perfect and you in comparison to Colin Matterson is a thousand times better and I mean it. You have more personality and good qualities in your pinky finger than he does all together" Beth offered a smile because a small part of her knew she was right. Yet after years of opposite comments there was still a small part of her that believed Robin was just saying it to make her feel better.

"Thanks Rob" but Robin knew she still didn’t get through to the girl and that thought frustrated her more than anything. Beth deserved to be seen for the amazing person she was, somebody like that shouldn’t have to hide from the world because of some stupid standard of beauty. It pissed Robin off to no end especially when she knew if Beth looked how people thought she should look she would be the most popular girl in school.

Robin kept this in mind throughout the entirety of the pep rally, walking Beth to her car, and waiting for Steve to pick her up. She was frustrated not only trying to find a way for others to see how amazing Beth was but for Beth to see herself as such. Robin knew what hating yourself could be like, it took years for her to accept being gay. Some things you can’t change and the sooner you learn to accept them the happier you’ll be. Yet since she couldn’t come up with a sure fire way she continued to be frustrated.

“What’s with you?” Robing looked up from the returns she was stacking to see Steve leaned against the counter giving her a confused look.

“What do you mean?” she asked and he quickly chuckled, a shake of his head swaying some stray hairs loose.

“You’ve barely said a word since we’ve gotten here. Normally you’re going on and on about how cute Vickie was at band practice today. You being quiet is weird” Steve told her and Robin finally sighed, falling against the counter like she had finally given up.

“It’s Beth” Steve rose his eyebrows in a suggestive way and Robin shook her head against the counter top, a sign that it wasn’t like he thought.

“Beth Walker, you remember her?” Robin asked and Steve shook his head which only caused Robin to sigh harder.

“She’s my friend and easily the sweetest girl on this planet but she gets terrorized at school, she doesn’t even know how cool she is because of how terrible to other students are to her” Robin explained and Steve suddenly felt guilty for not knowing her despite being a grade ahead.

“Why are they bullying her?” Steve asked, curious as to what reason someone would have to treat a sweet girl badly.

“She’s bigger, kinda like Barb but shorter. They call her Bertha” Steve cringed at the mean name, even he could feel the sting of it.

“That’s awful Rob” he told her and she nodded as she lifted her head from the counter.

“It is and Steve she is so great. Like the coolest chick you’d ever meet. She drives a brand new corvette and the kids still treat her like shit” Steve smiled at Robins defense for the girl, the thought comforting him to know she’d do the same for him.

“Have you tried telling her this?” Robin let out a small groan as she started to pick at a stray string on her shirt.

“All the time but I know she doesn’t listen. I can’t blame her though, when the same people keep building you up and hundreds of strangers tear you down it doesn’t do much. That’s a battle meant to be lost” Robin wished that her words could resonate with the girl but the only way they would is if someone like Colin Matterson finally came around and started saying them. Then suddenly it hit her. “You used to be a dick right?”

“Woah, what the hell?” Steve held his hands up and Robin rolled her eyes.

“You know what I mean Steve, you weren’t the best guy back in the day” Robin defended and he dropped his head.

“That’s way harsh Rob, you know I’m not like that anymore” Robin nodded and began to move around the counter to face him.

“Well yeah, you’re super cool now. But guys like Colin Matterson still think you’re King of Hawkins?” Steve thought about it before nodding, he graduated with the Mr. Popular reputation even if he still didn’t feel like he had it.

“Not that I’m proud of it but yeah, those guys all still think I’m hot shit” Steve said as he crossed his arms. “So what’re you getting at?”

“Meet Beth, hang out with her in public, if people see you with her they might realize it’s not her size that matters” Steves eyes widened, totally not seeing where this conversation was going.

“I don’t know Rob-”

“Please Steve, she’s so great. It doesn’t have to be right away, I can bring her to a movie night or something. She just deserves to be seen for who she is and I can’t help her with that but you can” Steve pressed his hand to his eyes, thinking about it for a moment before turning to her.

“One movie night, then I’ll think about it” he told her as he pointed a finger at her and she began to jump and cheer. “You’re something else”

“And you’re the best Steve Harrington, truly” Steve tried to hide his smile but he couldn’t help it as he watched Robin become so happy over the thought that she could help a friend.

If Robin had claimed this girl was so special maybe it was worth a shot. Hell he never even really thought of Barb as big, it was mainly Tommy and Carol that ever bullied people for things like that. Yet he realized he wasn’t much better never even realizing her when he knew most of her grade because of Nancy. The size didn’t matter to him, but if he didn’t like her and started bringing her around wouldn’t that be just like using her?

a/n: if this is a story you guys would be interested in plz let me know, I am also aware I have not finished my Rooster Series yet but I do have the outlines for the remaining chapters so I wanted to get a head start on this. I think the concept would be cute and I’m a sucker for the fact I think Steve Harrington would be all about plus size girls. I think this could be a cute short little series <3

let me know if you want to be added to the tag list

[shizukateal]

Miraculous Ladybug Magical Girl Fashion Review -Part 1

Preamble

Ok, so. What do you people generally think of as a "superhero outfit"? Spandex, right? Tight-skinned, uninterrupted spandex covering almost all the body, or at least not straying away from the body line if you're a girl and only get a swimsuit. Maybe a cape (hood optional) depending on how dramatic you are to add some flow or, if you're a woman, your hairstyle will do that job. Otherwise you can have some form of helmet or headpiece to distinguish yourself, and that's it. That's the extent of options you have. If you're extremely lucky, they might allow you to wear a jacket.

While this description might be a bit of an exaggeration (not by much, though) I think we can all agree that this is a very restrictive set of rules to work with. It's very hard to make something that completely contours to the body visually compelling. It's hard to distribute colors and shapes and patterns in a neat way that makes you stand out when you have to compete with thousands of millions of characters with the same 3 allowed bodytypes (lean, broad, or Woman™️). Which is why we should clap even more at designs like the DC holy trinity and especially Spiderman, who not only has a fantastic design in spite of how alienating it should be, but whose look is also currently inspiring thousands of artists to make their own variations, technically also including today's very own Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

This is all a very lengthy way to say that some of the MLB people wear their fursuits better than the rest. Skin-tight onesies with fur patterns are not something everyone can pull off. Doubly so with how inconsistent the art direction in the show is, with everyone in the cast reaching different levels of uncanny valley and swagless drip. I personally think that many of them would do better if they thought a bit outside that box of "standard superhero fashion" and went for something more specific to the personalities of the characters, but there are some winners amongst the rabble. Much like the writing of the show itself, the show's design averages into a trashy sludge pile that still manages to look tempting thanks to some unexpected moments of competence. Let's sort through the pile *cracks knuckles*

Ladybug (standard and ultimate version)

You'd think it would be easy for me to just say "yeah, the bland, near fully uninterrupted polkadot bodypaint onesie is both boring and silly and the other more balanced version is a LOT better by comparison" and leave it at that, but unfortunately I also have to talk about the hairstyle. And the hairstyle is wrong in a very specific way which I don't have concise terms for, so I need you to pay attention and stay with me here.

The pigtails work well for Marinette. They are distinct, practical, realistic enough while bordering just slightly on the fantastic, and their mild childishness enhances Mari's romantic nature. In theory they also match the polka-dot theme and they are not impractical considering the function of Ladybug's suit, but they still go against what it's trying to do. There's probably a concrete term in shape and action line theory that better educated people than me know about, but to give you the gist of what I mean I'm gonna do another Shitty Paint Edit™️ so I don't go in too many circles explaining myself:

Ok, you get what I'm trying to say here now? The pigtails match the balance of this specific pose, but the suit is too skin-tight and it highlights Marinette's neck, so they interrupt the buildup. They don't even work well as pieces of flow for contrast, because the hair is so stiff and the ribbons are barely noticeable. Compare to itsanarkee's cosplay and how much better she looks because she has an updo. The worst part of it all is that, usually, matching a body-paint suit with a hairstyle to provide contrast in a female superhero is, like, babyshit, the bread and butter of superheroine costumes, but Astruc managed to find the one hairstyle in the world to make it work wrong because he was to proud about Marinette's design to change anything. Just give her the fucking buns already.

Chat Noir

He serves cunt. Pops pussy, if you will. The only very mild itch it gives me is that I can't see what his ears are attached to and it bothers me, although he's not the only one with that feature and I understand why they would want to hide a hair band especially in his design. I can forgive that when everything else in this design is genius. The belt tail. The way his mask sharpens his features alongside the hair and ears. The flaps on his boots and gloves that highlight how his movements put more weight in his joints. The acrylic claws, the paws on his boots. The lines that highlight his figure in just the right way. The fucking bell. Chat is easily the best design amongst the heroes.

And while this my purely subjective interpretation, I truly do think it's understated how much this outfit manages to sell Adrien's clark kenting. It makes complete and perfect sense to me at least that Marinette wouldn't recognize him like this. Adrien is just slightly generically pretty enough that you wouldn't assume they are the same person just because they're both blonde bishies, and the contrast between the two personas is high enough that it could be realistic that some people wouldn't put them together if they are not looking for that connection. Doubly so for Marinette, who is way too enamored with Adrien's personality of generic un-disruptive niceness with a touch of rich boy angst to fully reconcile it with Chat's outright spicier demeanor lightened with Pathetic Wet Beast Energy for potability.

Rena Rogue vs Volpina

Yeah, this one merits a comparison. It's a perfect example to elaborate on my first rule. Lila already stands out as another of the best human designs amongst the cast, and the sleaze she exudes lends itself a lot better to this slick body-paint tightness and form-highlighting curves. The tail-sash around her waist is also brilliant. She'd probably look even better in something more grounded, but the fact that she's already pulling the outfit off like this is still an accomplishment.

Rena Rogue on the other hand... well, everything around her head is very good and cute, and I especially appreciate the eyebrows on her mask. On paper I also like the top with its longtail, but overall Alya looks a lot blander than Volpina, because her outfit doesn't reflect her personality the way it does Lila's. It's not ugly, even if the patch of white starts to bother me because it has no interruptions as it goes down. In fact it succeeds in making Rena look kind of adorable, really, but Alya is not a cutesy girl, and tbh the overall general texture of the outfit is a lot more body spray-painting-ish than Volpina's, which also makes it look cheaper in a bad way.

The Fox miraculous may be summarized as the power of Illusion, but both girls represent two facets elaborating on that concept: where Lila is the Fox as Deceit, Alya is the Fox as Cleverness. So Lila may be... smart manipulative -Ok, sincerely speaking Lila Rossi is the single most blatant Villain Sue I have ever seen put onscreen, but what I'm trying to get at is that while she -supposedly- has some cunning, her pettiness and eagerness to speak on the fly is -or rather should be- a contrast to Alya, who goes around sniffing for the truth and thus always has a fuller picture. Because remember: the best liars tell the truth. So Rena's outfit should reflect that. It should be less slick and more street-savvy, something that the pendant with its long chain is especially well suited to.

Speaking of all these thematic parallels, am I the only one in the fandom who is extremely weirded out that Lila isn't a rival to Alya? Like, aren't they extremely obvious foils beyond both of them being fox-themed? The girl who bases her clout on lies vs the one who searches for the truth? The girl who pretends to be friends with Ladybug while bullying her civilian identity vs the girl who is friends with both? Have the writers ever exploited this ever since I stopped watching?

Carapace

Nino is almost perfect. I am genuinely impressed at how well they chose the angle of this costume. It's so easy for me to imagine a much shittier version with an ugly cowl/spiderman wannabe facemask -because other characters in this series take that approach-, but taking a page out of spider-gwen's book instead paid amazing dividends. He looks great as teenage not-mutant ninja turtle.

He only has two significant faults. One is that I feel his goggles should be tinted opaque orange, and he should wear a mask over his mouth and nose. You know, make the clark kenting a little easier, the stealth more pointed, maybe he can have a cool graffiti of a turtle beak over the mask for a sprinkle of his actual personality. The second is that the partition he chose for his crotch area is a bit iffy and yes, I am very sorry to talk about this. The shape of the partition itself is not bad but it's the same color, so it doesn't actually help the transition all that much and instead, sadly, it only brings more attention to the middle. My suggestion is that he should take a page out of Rise of the TMNT's book and make the plastron into actual armor that goes from his chest to his navel, instead of just a logo on the front. Then he can either wear black shorts or he can go the Rise!Casey Jones route and wear pants that are slightly baggy but still cinch to his ankles.

Then there's only one last thing he needs to be completely perfect and that is having an actual relationship with Master Fu since he is the direct successor of his miraculous and one of the first characters to be akumatized on account of his resentment towards adults, so I feel like there's a whole bunch of narrative foiling potential not being explored there, you get me?

Queen Bee vs Vesperia

Zoe's face is more interesting and I appreciate that, as well as the design team giving her a braid, but Chloe still wins this one. Vesperia's outfit is reasonably cool on its own, but it does very little aesthetically for her. Perhaps if the colors of her top and pants were inverted it could work, but there's something about the aggressive sharpness of its lines that Zoe's bubbly face is not matching, made worse by the black being at the forefront. That might not be a problem in civilian outfit, but only because that look is balanced with other colors. Or rather, I think she also needs a more casual fit to pull it off instead of a skin-tight jacket. I also get what they're trying to do with her bangs and I would love it were it not for the fact that it doesn't look good in this artstyle. Chloe also has that problem with her hair, but Queen Bee's style fits her a lot better in a much obvious way, and for added points I think Queen Bee wears the cord as a belt better too., so congrats to Chloe on her one win, I do hope the writing allows her to have proper character development later instead of constantly resetting her to square one for conflict.

[pawborough]

Howdy everyone!

Happy Valentine's day folks! We have the long awaited contest results in this update, as well as some small updates to fauna, and a new system for accessories.

Contest Winner

We previously held a sweepstakes to win a Design An Accessory Tier (1st place) and Monarch Tier (2nd place) and we can now announce the winners!

(We want to apologize for the low quality of the video; we wanted to crop out the advertisements on the website we used)

Over 580 people entered! 

Congratulations to our winners Emma and Erika!

Thank you to everyone who entered!

Fauna Updates

As previously seen with the Featherbeau, Kintsune, and Javasqueak, we have been updating all the fauna art to match the new style overhaul.

Here is a comparison to the old artwork.

Toshi has very minimal changes. There are some minor color and shadow touch-ups, but as this was our most in-style original fauna, very little change was necessary.

Here is the new and old art.

Like the Featherbeau and Kintsune, the Phantowl has a full overhaul. With a more dynamic pose and better detail, we hope to invoke spookiness in the new design.

The new and old designs are below.

Accessories + Dye system 

Speaking of designing accessories, we've finally begun production on our accessories! Here is a preview of what we are working on, showing illustrations of the original Gilded Helm and Iridescent Trail!

Our focus is on adapting challenging items. For example, the Helm, and similar helmet items, provide unique challenges when on fluffy breeds. 

Here are a few previews of our solutions so far:

And here is a preview of our first backer-sponsored design!

Lastly, we’re very excited to announce a system we've been workshopping. 

Accessory dyes! 

PawBorough is built by the players, and it is in our interest as players to have as much quality customizability as possible. We want expansive options! All the recolors!

Accessory dyes will allow users to craft any accessory on the site into a different color. 

The system we are designing incorporates “standard” and “special” dyes. 

Standard dyes are a set number of colors which will be compatible with all accessories, meaning all accessory items get a blanket number of recolors. 

“Special” dyes will only be compatible with certain items, and will include alternative colorings such as rainbow, pastel colors, gradients, patterns, etc! 

The benefit of such a system means all items will get a set number of varieties, and it lets us expand upon certain pieces to include alternative or unique colorings. But it doesn’t commit us to an undoable recolor demand. 

We’re still working out the kinks and pain points, such as easy to see information on what takes a special dye and what doesn’t, but we hope this will prevent item bloat, give users more creative control, and overall improve the gameplay! 

Site Themes 

We’ve started workshopping the Borough themes with our completed assets. Take a look at these previews! 

Zenith 

Luna

Pawprints

Next let’s look at a cute feature we have on the backburner. 

Ever imagine your cat has polydactyly? While we can’t break lineart, we do have a fun new feature for rare cat collectors. Every cat will have their very own paw print on their profile, with a very very small chance of having a sixth toe!

There are 55 unique pawprints!

Have fun trying for cats with silly paws ~

Stonehide texture

We’ve upgraded our asset technology! The rainbow sheen seen here on the scales of the Stonehide was a breakthrough in our coloring limitations. This texture will be applied to mystic breeds in the future and bring further quality to our assets!

Great stuff! 

On the backend, we've not done many notable new things this month, but we're continuing through as we prepare for a dedicated alpha. Longhairs were stuck with file processing complications, but we're working them out and working in tandem!

Speaking of alpha, we're looking at opening free applications for alpha and transitioning from solely an internal to a semi-external volunteer test. More information on this as we grow closer. 

To Summarize: We showed updated Beta, Toshi, Phantowl and accessory assets, the dying system, two new site themes, a cute pawprint feature, and a new texture for mystic breeds.

What to expect next month: Further accessory assets, potential alpha update, and asset and software updates.

Note for Tumblr users: Something went wrong on our end, and while this update got posted to Kickstarter, it somehow did not got posted to Tumblr. We have re-uploaded it now for proper record keeping. Our sincerest apologies.

[reconstructwriter]

So I Finally Finished Attack of the Clones

...for the very first time. When did this movie come out again? I am late, is there still room on this bandwagon? Anyway more thought vomiting on this movie...

Sith Pattern: I do appreciate that Palpatine is old, rich, white male fascist. Dooku is old, rich, white male fascist. Anakin shakes things up a bit by starting out young and poor but he’ll get there and has the rest down. Meanwhile our heroes are Padme Amidala, Mace Windu, Yoda, Bail, etc. Would have loved for George Lucas’ original casting of Obi Wan to have gone through! This does make Mirror!verses and morality flip AU's very weird because the Galaxy is being saved from aliens by three white guys? Unfortunate implications aside I can suspend a lot of disbelief about laser-swords and magic IN SPACE but I gotta draw the line somewhere.

Anakin’s attachment: Is well-shown here with convenient comparison to Cleigg – her husband and her son, the two who should love Shmi the most. At her funeral Cleigg is all ‘you’re in a better place. Thank you for the time we had,’ vs Anakin’s ‘I wasn’t strong enough to save you, I won’t fail again’ and ‘I miss you’. Exact opposites. Cleigg was entirely focused on Shmi while Anakin was focused on himself.

Also Anakin’s focus kinda screwed up Obi Wan’s mission when he wasted precious moments FINDING Anakin to get his galactically-important message through.

Mace Windu Not Killing Dooku: Shatterpoint, along with some fanfics, has Mace beating himself up for not ending the war by killing Dooku but my man you’re too hard on yourself! You only killed Jango when he decided to fuck around and find out with you in the death arena. Dooku did not fuck around and find out so your only chance would’ve been to throw away all your Jedi morals and stab him in the back! Thus risking becoming Darth Tyrannus 2.0 and screwing the galaxy.

Jango why did you fuck around and find out? I get Mace held a laser sword to your throat and you had a working jetpack going into the arena…but that arena is No Man’s Land. Even if Galidraan was canon you could’ve stayed back and taken pot shots.

The scene with Boba giving one last keldabe kiss to his father’s helmet is heartbreaking! Ouch!!!

Padme: So I kinda get being willing to confess her terrible taste in men on Space Fantasy Death Row. She doesn’t want to live a lie and is straight up expecting to die so what does it matter if she confesses? And then she does live so consequence time! Still feels like she’s ignoring the genocide – or George Lucas is ignoring the obvious implications. Genocide does work for foreshadowing Jedi genocide and Nazi comparisons (boy howdy does it!!!). But murdering every single member of an entire tribe down to the babes in arms doesn’t work for ‘Anakin doesn’t Fall here, he just dips his toe in the Dark’.

Padme otherwise doesn’t seem too terribly out of character throughout. She stands her ground against Anakin and where she does give in – rescuing Shmi – or chooses to go after Obi Wan? Well both did do her immensely big favors it’d be weirder if she brushed them off. Plus, rescuing both comes with additional benefits – no assassin will look for her on Tattooine (it worked before) and Obi Wan’s rescue could offer the opportunity to discuss peace with the Separatists before war happened.

And it did – in the cut scene :P

Dual with Dooku: So Anakin did put his duty first when Padme fell in the (barren, sans enemies) sand with an ally but damn if his attachment to her wasn’t still affecting him. The hot-headed idiotic attack was the worst possible timing! Why does everyone beat Mace up (including the man himself) for not killing Dooku but give Anakin a pass when he had every chance of ending the war Right There if he’d been able to keep his head on straight for two minutes.

The End: As with the first movie, we end with Mace and Yoda clearly knowing what the Sith are doing, though they're split with Mace believing Dooku while Yoda thinks its a trick. And I think they’re both right because I read somewhere Dooku and Palpatine were hoping to sow doubt between the Jedi and the Senate but also was telling the truth – from a certain point of view. Anyway, they aren't oblivious. Yoda straight up says the Shroud of the Dark Side has Fallen.

The last scene really drives that home! How the beginning of the war is the beginning of the Empire. The war kills the Republic and this is repeatedly smacked into our brains with the imagery of Palpatine standing at the head of everyone else, the most powerful Supreme Chancellor ever as the army of white-clad troopers marches out into the galaxy below him. The Destroyers lift off. The Empire’s freaking theme music plays.

Overall the movie had its high points and stinkers but that was a damn fine end!

[katyspersonal]

What are your expectations/theories for Messmer?

I have a few! I even considered making a predictions bingo on him specifically to check when DLC comes out! XD But overall the predictions resulted from me and @val-of-the-north bouncing the ideas around 🤔 I'll need to link a few of other posts here too to help clarifying some relevant topics!

___________________________________

1) I think he is one of the children between Marika and Godfrey, or maybe even her first-born!

At first I was also thinking that him having red hair was a damning evidence that he had to be born from selfcest, like Malenia and Miquella! But Val brought this to my attention that in ER manga, which is apparently on a stronger level of directing than BB comics from my knowledge, Rykard is a blond!

So Val suggested that genes can work a funny way since Marika and Radagon are still the same person, and if Rykard got Marika's golden hair gene even from Radagon's body, the reverse is possible and someone in Golden Lineage could have red hair even from Marika! I also agree because Miquella is venturing into the Shadows Land presumably to discover Marika's secrets:

(Famitsu interview with Miyazaki, taken from this ( x ) post) But Messmer to me feels like he would be fully aware of every Marika's dark secret there is! I joke that he is very Lucifer-coded, but actually Satan-coded is a better comparison. He is the holder of "Hell", where the 'graceless' beings and those rejected by Golden Order reside, like that ancient Misbegotten(ish) creature! If he was the third sibling of this kind, why would he know more than Malenia and Miquella? (I mean, surprise me!) But if he had been there from the very start, carrying her (God's) punishment, then sure!

My other clue towards that is that he shares the "spartan" aesthetic in his clothes with Godfrey and his Duelists ( x ) (and actually Goldmask too)! This whole thing with leg wraps and waistwrap!

2) He is the first to historically partake in Dragon Communion, and the inspiration of Drake Knights

There are dragonic features about himself, the design of his armour and his snakes! Initially I thought of Dragonic Sentinels too, but their whole deal is to combat Granssax, who I concluded attacked after Farum Azula war and Placidusax' lord was fled. More than that, their deal is 'electric' line of dragons specifically, whereas Drake Knights and others who that partake in Dragon Communion are not picky! They eat dragon hearts to take their power, and that includes 'fire' line of dragons, like Greyoll and her spawn!

I speculate that he was the first person historically, with the bright idea of eating dragon heart to take its power, and this is where his fire powers came from. Fire is associated with heresy, but in his case it was both: assuming powers of dragons was heresy itself (so, before Godwyn made dragons 'friends'), but fire powers came from it! As a Demigod, he also did not meet the same miserable fate as Magma Wyrms! He had the privilege to really take something useful by being not mere mortal.

3) The snakes, therefore, are part of his body!

There are two of them, and I assume they're growing from the base of his spine and function like his tails! If Placidusax is anything to go by, this is part of him developing multiple heads but in the way that would not mess with his body too much. Funny enough, I had two dreams of Gwyndolin as a baby, and in both Gwyndolin as a child only had two snakes that did work as tails, so maybe I am biased!

4) Rotten Duelists also take inspiration from him

I am resharing the image by Val from a post I've already linked, but whereas they elaborate sign of Godfrey and hatred for the Giants in their design, the snakes around their arms and on their helmets are supposed to refer to Messmer!

I imagine Godfrey and Messmer being that super cool OG battle duo. Duelists feature two kinds of 'heresy' in their design - the snakes and the symbols of the Giants, and I assume they were proudly wearing these before being driven from the Coliseum! Back then symbolism of "taking power from the enemy" was something honourable, and so was what Messmer did - becoming 'sinful' to be the more powerful weapon of Marika was courageous and virtuous of him. So, snakes were also fine to proudly depict in the clothes! Until it was not:

5) He is banished for (attempted) burning of the Erdtree

This theory is coined in by @val-of-the-north! In this ( x ) post it is explained better, but in short, there are evidences that the big golden Erdtree we see is an illusion, most interesting one is ashes being all over Leyendell even before defeating Maliketh. So that's why it no longer is giving its blessed sap and is "only an object of faith" now, though its lower part is still physical of course. I agree with this idea!

I think he had to do something bad because of the huge sealed eye possibility! Ranni and Melina also have an eye sealed, and both are Demigods that had their 'privilege' within the Golden Order removed in one way or another. Messmer, on the other way, wows to burn whoever is devoid of grace, so I doubt that he would willingly divest himself of it! Whereas he's been heretical for dragonic powers and the 'Satan' to her system to take care of the 'sinners' from the beginning, but he got excommunicated from the family and likely erased from its records! Bonus points if Godwyn being the first in the Golden Lineage is just what they tell people now!

6) GEOOOOOORGGGEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

I've always had a feeling that whereas everyone is anticipating him to become the first true Soulsborne sexyman, something just has to put a dent in it. Just something to sour the character. I can't explain it, it is like sixth sense...? But I think I finally know what it is. During answering this ask, I payed attention how even with other things put in consideration, he still appears to be loyal to his mother and the purpose she intended to him. He speaks defensive against her letting the "unworthy" to become a Lord. Like... this is not necessarily something weird, it could just be strong loyalty even against his self-interest like what we see in Maliketh or Morgott, but there is just strange sixth sense about perhaps some Freudian shit going on in his head that I can't shake, and not anti-climatic one after what they did with Mohg.

7) Motivation for attempted burning of the Erdtree were themes of ambition and perfection

I will link a couple of posts (with pictures) in which I explained how Erdtree is itself a Crucible and how I theorise existence of Omens resulted in denying and loathing the thing ( x ) ( x ). They're not too long tbh, and in both I forgot to bring up the fact that Ancestral Followers worship Minor Erdtrees :') But the main point is, everything sacred will eventually rot and die, however, giving the way to a new thing to sprout from it, and that was something Marika was unwilling to accept. Erdtree and Golden Order, were supposed to be Eternal, like herself.

Marika made everything that reminded of the other side of life, like Misbegotten and Omens, illegal, and ensured immortality in the best way she could, but Messmer took it even further. He attempted to remove the 'life' aspect of the Elden Ring, to separate the sacred power granted to his mother and relatives from the earth. So, from from inevitable death, from ever rotting, from 'cycle'... from everything "imperfect", so it could be just the one perfect, pure, 100% spiritual thing in their hands. + I think what he did happened after Gloam-Eyed Queen fiasco, so that was another point in realising the instability and imperfection. + to draw from the previous point, he might have been really pissed at Greater Will itself on behalf of his mother.

Except, what he did was not something even Marika would agree to. Greater Will specifically sought this "imperfect" world FOR its "imperfections", to gain form and purpose through births and deaths and feelings and struggles from the amorphous empty cosmic state. It was suffering from its superiority, there was nothing to love or hate or want. It gives me the same vibe as how in BB, the Great Ones are willing to trade their perfection for simple joy of loving a child; they don't need to give birth since they're immortal and their genes are not in need of surviving, but there is just... nothing in this immortality. This is something Messmer would not understand. Sellen is another example of this mindset, aspiring for the things the "perfect" beings were willing to escape. It is always the case of 'greener grass' lol

But yes, absolutely no one appreciated the attempt to separate the Elden Ring from being rooted into mortal "flawed" things. I think he still thinks he is right, and that whatever little dialogue he will have should contain quite the vitriol.

8) In the second stage of his battle, he will become far more dragonic.

I expect at least something happening with the snakes akin to becoming his wings. Maybe he will even turn into a dragon, a two-headed one! + also if there is no particularly gruesome (lethal) visceral attack by his snakes I will rebel lol

___________________

Soooo yeah... This isn't much, but my imagination is weak when I have limited information x) I have also seen an idea that the thing that pierces Marika's body might be his doing since he is titled the Impaler, but for now I think this is not the case! Her hammer is full of similar sharp shards of Elden Ring, so I think this is just another shard, or, perhaps, something Elden Beast threw at her. Red coloration comes from being bloodied! Marika was a mortal once, after all!

[blueiscoool]

Gold Glass ‘Roma’ Unearthed in the Excavations of the Rome Subway

A very rare and refined piece of gold glass representing ‘Roma’, the woman symbol of the Eternal City, has been discovered during the construction of Rome’s Metro C metro line.

It is the first time that any representation of Roma in gold glass has ever been found, according to archaeologist Simona Morretta of Rome’s special superintendency.

Describing it as “extraordinarily refined”, Morretta told news agency ANSA: “Golden glass is already a very rare find, but this has no comparison”.

Originally the base of a drinking glass, the discovery features an image of the female deity – the personification of the city of Rome – wearing a helmet and carrying a spear.

“The thousand-year history of our city never ceases to amaze and enchant the world,” the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, wrote in a tweet.

The recently found personification of the Eternal City has no writing on it. She is dressed in an Amazonian-inspired outfit, has a diadem on her forehead, and a helmet with a plumed crest. Over her chest, she carries a spear. The curls in her hair and the scrollwork on the helmet are both beautifully crafted details.

Gold glass is a high-end glass that has a decorative design in gold leaf fused between two layers of glass. The majority of surviving Roman examples are drinking glass bottoms that have been cut off.

Morretta said the precious artifact did not belong to the military barracks found during the subway works – which was abandoned in the middle of the third century and subsequently razed to the ground – with preliminary studies suggesting the glass is from the start of the fourth century.

The gold glass artifact will go on display in a new subway station museum that will include an in situ exhibition of the barracks.

By Leman Altuntaş.

[kuiperblog]

Why the movie villain’s henchmen always wear masks

One of those “can’t unsee it” things about modern action movies is the fact that, overwhelmingly, the generic bad guys wear face-concealing masks, particularly in mid-budget direct-to-Netflix action movies. (My definition of “mid budget” here also includes “high budget” Netflix action movies where the bulk of the budget was clearly spent hiring Ryan Reynolds.)

I dislike this for many reasons, but high among them is that it deprives the stunt actors of the opportunity to act with their faces.

For contrast, watch a Jackie Chan movie: a huge part of the fun of Jackie Chan action scenes is the incredibly human reactions that people have when delivering (or taking) punches. When the hero is punching bad guys, it’s not just about the punch itself, but the reaction of the guy who’s getting punched! When someone gets kicked in the face or takes fist to the stomach, I want to see him react with obvious pain!

Even if the stunt actors aren’t amazingly emotive actors, it’s nice when all of the bad guys (even the “generic”) ones are visually distinctive. For one thing, it makes it easier to tell the “generic” characters straight from each other -- it’s simply harder to keep track of the action when the hero is fighting five bad guys who are all basically identical. You can try to get around this by giving the bad guys face-concealing helmets that are visually distinctive, though doesn’t make a ton of sense from a lore perspective, considering the entire point of a uniform is.  (Functional uniforms are, by their very nature, and by definition, designed to be uniform. It doesn’t make sense for the Galactic Empire to come up with unique helmets for each individual stormtrooper.)

But apart from the practical issues that come from all of the mooks being indistinct human-shaped blobs, there’s just the fact that as a human, I am  deeply biologically hardwired to find human faces compelling.  Human faces and bodies can be so delightfully idiosyncratic -- no two people look the same!

And therein lies the problem for the moviemakers.  Because if you wish to show dozens of unique human faces, then you need to have dozens of unique human faces.

If all they need to do is be excited faces in a crowd, then you can get extras. But if your movie is about a protagonist delivering bespoke acts of violence to dozens of generic bad guys, then those bad guys have to be played by stunt actors. And if you show us the stunt actors’ faces, audiences will start to notice when you start reusing stunt actors. (Even if we wouldn’t consciously register the fact that Chris Hemsworth is punching the same guy he just killed five minutes ago in a different action scene, our neural circuitry is really good at noticing familiar human faces. As Mike Stoklasa is fond of saying, “You may not have noticed it, but your brain did.”)

So, if you only have half a dozen stunt actors, but the movie calls for dozens of bad guys getting punched or stabbed or shot, then you have to cover their faces.

Realizing this has given me a greater appreciation for movies of this genre that don’t hide the actor’s faces. For example, Nobody is perfectly willing to show us the bad guy’s faces as they get punched, shot, and knocked around, which is great, because it’s a movie that is specifically about the consequences and brutality of violence.

Nobody does have one scene where the bad guys’ faces are covered -- they wear ski masks during the home invasion scene, because it makes narrative sense for them to do so. But ski masks still allow them to act with their faces during the intense moments! You get to see the fear in this guy’s eyes in the moment he realizes what’s about to happen to him.

Nobody’s credits list a whopping 35 names as “stunt performers.” (And that’s not including the actors credited as “stunt double.”)

For comparison, The Adam Project has 9 credited stunt actors. No surprise, then, that all the “generic bad guys” wear helmets. (Not that they get to do much “stunt” work in the moments before they get vaporized into flashing bloodless PG-13 approved CGI dust. Not only does the movie not let you see bad guys’ faces react after they get shot, but it doesn’t even want to let you watch their bodies collapse to the ground.)

By the way, since it’s the measuring stick that all movies get measured against these days, John Wick credits 59 stunt players. (Again, this is separate and in addition to the tally of “stunt doubles,” which is a different credit.)  The John Wick sequels each credit around a hundred stunt performers (John Wick 2 credits 103, John Wick 3 credits 94, John Wick 4 credits 100.)

The decision to cover everyone’s heads with face-concealing helmets can be a stylistic choice -- the Star Wars franchise showcases many of these, including of course the iconic stormtrooper, among many others. However, more and more, it feels like this not a creative design choice, but a practical one.

Movies are a product of human labor and talent, and that costs money. Like a lot of the things involved in making a good movie, hiring a lot of different stunt actors isn’t easy. But I always appreciate the movies that are willing to make the effort, because when audiences see it on screen, they can tell the difference.

[riacte]

Re: Dearly Beloved in-universe fandom, it struck me that I have somehow never mentioned in-universe superhero/villain/whatever fanart despite fanart being such a core (and more importantly visible) component of fandom. (While mentioning fanfiction, subreddits, touching on fancams and ASMR roleplays etc etc) And I guess it makes sense because this is text, I don't really know they look like, and it's hard to describe visuals given the format I've constrained myself to. But I also feel like this blind spot has to do with other fandom-related meta lol. (Self indulgent and long rambling)

1. Superheroes/villains are classified as "real people". In real life fandoms, while there's fanart of famous real people (actors in movies, singers, Kpop groups, athletes, F1 drivers, etc), there's less fanart compared to fanart of characters (anime, video games, books, etc). I assume this is because you need to have a certain level of skill to capture a real person's likeliness nicely. And real people may feel offended upon seeing "bad" fanart of themselves, whereas fictional people can't feel offended.

But superheroes/villains are masked and often wear helmets for safety. So you don't need the skill to draw their real life faces. Their suits are probably visually distinctive which makes it fun to draw (and cosplay!).

2. Superheroes/villains aren't just famous real people. There's a political connotation, in which it could be dangerous to support villains and people may not like heroes because they're like fantasy cops with powers. Especially in this context in which the government controls the heroes, there's whole system to raise heroes from children, there's censorship and conspiracies. Bringing to the third point:

3. Fanart is a very visual. (No shit, Sherlock.) Okay, in the sense people outside of the fandom are more likely to encounter fanart. It's also a publicly liked form of fandom, in comparison to fanfiction. I guess edits and cosplay are also liked and respected, but probably less common than fanart. (Insert something about my positionality as a fan of MCYT who writes fanfic, something about MCYT loving fanart and including it in their videos, commissioning artists, whereas fanfic (rightfully and thankfully imo) stays underground) So people who write hero RPF are already seen as "weirdos" and "the corner of the Internet you shouldn't see". It's not taken seriously. But if someone posted hero fanart on Twitter, normies would see this as liking / endorsement of said hero, whereas fanfiction would not get this kind of visibility. (And is shunned upon probably no matter what you write because fanfiction is generalised is "weird thing Wattpad teenage girls do when they want to bang a famous person".)

3.1. Back to the MCYT fandom thing. Heroes/villains can be compared to MCYT since they look different on and off camera (with and without their suits, like Minecraft skins and designs), they use different names for their different identities, and they put on a public persona. Similarly, I can imagine heroes finding fanart of their hero persona flattering and occasionally engaging with it on Twitter. (Whereas fanfiction stays underground.)

3.2. So I loveeee parodying the "cringe" Wattpad fics, not because I want to make fun of them, but because it's enjoyable to write without restraint. (And it's funny.) I think the general style is so unapologetically fun (and nostalgic). I have a lot of things to say about Wattpad (in defence of its users!), but it mostly boils down to young people being excited and earnest. I know a lot of people hate Wattpad, especially its RPF. I find it fascinating. Because someone (often tweens) had to be motivated to write that, someone had to have the passion to do it, and they'll do it badly (knowingly or not), because writing as a hobby is supposed to be fun! It's the essence of it! And it's the "bad" kind of fanfiction that I want to pay respect to. The kind that people look upon with disdain. The kind YouTubers make fun of. Because more often than not it's a thirteen year old being silly/stupid and it's mean to make fun of kids earnestly trying to make something.

Anyways in the universe, fanfiction sites become a place to store government censored conspiracies/theories because they fly under the radar compared to Reddit and Youtube.

4. I always felt I wanted to write the story instead of Tweetgen-ing it. Maybe it felt more "serious". And mimicing social media with text/HTML is easier than graphics. Now I feel like the utter lack of visuals in a social media fic (when social media is extremely visual, almost obnoxiously so) makes me focus on text itself— dialogue, transcripts, usernames, Tumblr tagging, YouTube comments, notices about subreddits being taken down, to-do lists, "confirm to delete" text boxes. In-universe fanfiction (both the Wattpad and Ao3 type) is taken seriously in the sense it helps with storytelling— it shows differing attitudes to events and public figures. It shows what type of perception is popular.

Anyways. I'm not sure this is interesting and I'm probably rambling inside my head. I guess I do love fanfiction as an art form. And I do admire and respect the earnest writers and readers on Wattpad. I still occasionally wake up to like 30 comments on a Wattpad fic from 4 years ago. I'm glad people still read it lmao.

[randomlywanderingmoth]

Tam Lin Bedivere: Appearance and Behavior

Second Ascension first, as that is who you will see the most:

THE FAERIE KNIGHT OF AUTUMN

Her armor is the first thing you'll see. White, like polished bone, or ashen wood, polished angles- reminiscent of the armor of a certain Lion King of Camelot.

That usually includes the helmet- except that, after certain events in A Different Faerie Britain, that helmet was irreversibly destroyed in a clash at Londinium.

Lacking her helmet, the second thing you'll note then is her face. Said face is... distinctly familiar. With her gleaming hazel eyes, she looks so much like the female iteration of the Last Master of Humanity. Her autumn hair is brushed roughly out of her face and otherwise left quite wild, and if the aura she gives off does not give away her fae nature the pointed tips of her ears will.

The third thing to note is the armor of her right arm- jarringly rounded in comparison to the angular nature of the rest of her armor, ribbon-like gold coils up from the tips of her fingers, up to her shoulder, looking not unlike a prosthetic.

Those coils can unfurl at her will- usually to form a sword in her hand, but she can also command them about like homing darts, skewering threats at range. She can also command them to flatten out and weave patterns, such as to form a near-unbreakable shield, or ride them like a surfboard across the sky.

Behaviorally, the Autumn Knight is cold and stern... unless she knows you well. To those with whom she is not on a direct name basis, Tam Lin Bedivere is professional. Polite as the situation calls, and even courteous, but her expression is near-unchanging. A joke among the knights of Morgan's Camelot was that it took a fortress-breaking strike to get her to open up, given that outside of the Tam Lin and Her Majesty she only turned casual in the presence of Woodwose. The joke was later galvanized and taken more seriously after she was seen commiserating at the Ball at Gloucester with the knight that was responsible for shattering her helmet. That is not to say she is of boundless patience- challenge her loyalty, or threaten the wellbeing of those she would protect, and she could snap to violence in a heartbeat.

Casually, the Autumn Knight has an inexplicable charisma to her. Her tones soften and brighten, and she has this perpetually amicable presence. And yet, this gentleness seems dulled, somewhat- like it had been blunted over the course of two thousand years. She also becomes far more impulsive, her words turning more casual, her demeanor far more fae-like. She will gently chide misbehavior, and playfully chuckle at jokes, and... it becomes far more understandable that she might be mistaken for the Last Master of Humanity, when her guard is down.

Of course, it is important to remember her loyalty. If Her Majesty gave her an order, she would follow it almost without fail or reservation, and seemingly without consideration for self-preservation. Likewise, as a Servant, her loyalty is near-absolute to her Master.

First Ascension comes second.

THE FAERIE SQUIRE OF THE SAVIOR AESC

A vastly different individual from the cold and stern Autumn Knight. Her armor is softer too- as though forged of polished silver, it looks as though she'd appropriated the armor of a certain loyal knight of Camelot. Indeed, her armor is highly reminiscent of the knight Bedivere, of Pan-Human history. Her hair is also reminiscent of the Last Master of Humanity, shorter, neater, and tied up in a side-ponytail with the stems of a few yellow flowers.

Her demeanor is clumsier, brighter. She gets names wrong by accident, and apologizes for it. This Tam Lin is far more likely to be found cracking corny jokes, or laughing freely at a prank- as long as the pranks do not go horribly wrong. Honestly, if you dressed her up, hid her pointed ears, and instructed her behavior for only a few days, she could easily pass for Fujimaru Ritsuka.

Her handling of her gold-coil sword is similarly clumsier. Unlike her later iterations, she struggles to command it freely- and is far more likely to settle it as a sword. She certainly does not have the elegance to freely draw the coils from her arm and send them dancing like arrows through the sky. There are times when she clumps it messily together, and swings it recklessly like the world's most ostentatious club, but those moments are rare and not to be spoken of in good company (she gets embarrassed of her lack of grace in combat.)

Third Ascension.

...

"This is what you wanted, isn't it?"

"That's why you kept making me stronger."

"You wanted me to remember, is that it?"

Her expression is cold to most. To the Last Master of Humanity, her demeanor is somewhere between bitterness and pity. Her hair is managed now, brushed down and neat, and she is clearly dressed in Fujimaru Ritsuka's old Mystic Code, the Chaldea standard uniform. White shirt with belts, black skirt. The gold coils circle around her now, no longer bound to her arm. Like this, her True Name is rather obvious, even to her.

The girl who forgot.

The faerie who remembered.

The Master No Longer.

She'd forgotten the home she could no longer return to, the world that was no longer hers.

And now she's remembered it all.

"... what, do you really want me to shed this title? There are two names. One I held once, for something like twenty years. The other I've carried proudly for two thousand, four hundred. As far as I care to declare it, Tam Lin Bedivere is my True Name. You can keep your name, I already have my own."

"Are you happy with yourself, then?"

[vibratingskull]

I was so excited to see requests are open!! I'm kinda obsessed with your fics where Thrawn has a child on Peridea (or children in that one fic), and I love them because yes Thrawn deserves to be a dad, but also because you include Enoch, my beloved. I was wondering if you could please expand on how Enoch interacts with Thrawn's child and/or Thrawn? Like did Enoch see the newborn and go 'it's a free niece' or was he roped into it when the kid asked him to pretend to be a patient while she pretended to be a doctor?

Thrawn do deserves to be a daddy ! He deserves a large family to hug and love him ❤️❤️❤️

Part 1 - Part 2

Thrawn x F!reader

Tag : Fluff, domestic bliss, death of a character

Let’s be honest, Enoch was not too keen on the idea at first.

First you’re a jedi and then you’re pregnant… Are you trying to take Thrawn’s focus away from his true mission or something? What’s your deal?

And then Thrawn gave him Thiroy to hold. It’s not even something supposed to be meaningful, his comlink just started ringing so he gave Enoch his 3 months old daughter to hold for a second and his world just… crumbles.

Thiroy is so, so tiny, so fragile, she cannot survive without help and he is so, so much bigger, so much stronger and powerful. It reminds him why he enlisted in the navy in the first place : to die so others weaker can live. And here he is, holding a little baby in his full armor, legs and arms feeling like jelly suddenly, fearing he could drop her if he isn’t careful.

Clearly a stressful situation.

Thrawn would have him beheaded for that, no doubt about him, no matter his years of loyalty and competency under his lead. So he is extra careful, holding her little head firmly, his large hand supporting her small body.

He is completely speechless, out of words.

She looks at his helmet, absolutely entranced by the features drawn by the metal, he’s not her mother or father, who is he?

And then she explodes laughing, trying to grab the helmet with her tiny hands and he feels something melts in his heart. He is a soldier, a trooper! A trained killing machine, born to obey his Grand Admiral and lead troops in battle.

But she is sooooo…

Tiny

And fragile.

“She likes you.” Thrawn suddenly says, snapping him out of his hypnotized trance.

He realizes he was completely focused on the little baby, not uttering a word, not even realizing Thrawn finished talking to his comlink and was observing him holding his precious daughter.

“Really? A pity.” Enoch shakes his head with a harsh tone.

“Why?” Thrawn tilts his head.

“I am no good with kids, they give me headaches.”

“They take a lot of work. Like troops.” Thrawn concedes.

“Troops are organized and obedient, children are unruly and headstrong. They are nothing alike!”

“Both need training and a strong figure to rely on and guide them.”

 “The comparison stops here. Soldiers can be reasoned with, children are utter chaos entity and I cannot deal with them.”

“Then why did you not give me back my baby yet?” Thrawn asks, with a little grin at the corner of his mouth.

Enoch realizes that he held on to the baby like a buoy in an open sea without giving her back to his father.

“I am sorry, Grand Admiral.” And he gives her back to Thrawn, escaping her little grabby hands.

And Thiroy immediately starts crying, being denied a toy.

“See? She appreciates you.” 

Enoch purses his lips under his helmet.

A baby sees him as her personal toy, what good is that?

But deep down, he feels a pinch of pride that the baby demands him.

He silently observes Thrawn calming down his baby with soothing words and cradling her.

It is…

Adorable?

Enoch only knew Thrawn through the leadership lens. He came under his commands as a simple trooper years ago and obediently followed his orders, slowly climbing the in hierarchy under the Chiss watch, leading his troops to battle, sharing his victories and defeats.

And in all those long years, this is the first time he catches a glimpse of the real man Thrawn is, a man of desires and wants, a man of tenderness and peaceful strength. A father. A loving being.

Just like him.

It remembers that one woman he used to date and left behind. What would he have done if she had announced a pregnancy to him? Would he have retired, keep his mission? Would he be a father too today?

Thrawn doesn’t have those questions.

He has the best of both worlds, a family and a noble goal.

And for the first time in decades Enoch feels terribly alone…

---------------------------------

At first he watched the baby grow from far away, looking at the little family growing, full of love and determination. But one day, Thrawn asked for him to come into his office.

You’re here too.

Enoch tenses up immediately, he still didn’t accept you. He respects you as a warrior and as the wife of his esteemed Grand Admiral, but it stops here. 

You’re holding little Thiroy in your arms, he doesn’t really knows where she should be in her development but she should have started walking now, right?

He focuses back on Thrawn, giving him orders for a mission on the dry land of Peridea, but he sees you having difficulties keeping the baby in your arms, she seems to agitates yourself in your arms quite a lot so you lower yourself and put her down.

And to his surprise and horror, she starts waking towards him!

What is he supposed to do?! He’s not trained for this? What is the correct behavior when your Grand Admiral’s baby is walking towards you with clear determination?

He takes a step back by reflex but she follows with her clumsy little legs, tongue sticking out as she focuses on her target trying to escape her. She finally manages to catch his leg and he remains unmoving, a bit terrified.

What now?

What Thrawn will say?

She tries to climb him now!

What’s the correct etiquette in this situation?

He raises his head when he hears you giggling. Are you mocking him?

“What is happening, Enoch?” You ask with a broad smile, “You sprint towards the enemy's armies but collapse in front of a baby?”

Thrawn observes the scene silently, but with a gentle smile on his face.

“Why don’t you try to take her in your arms?” You ask.

“I… I would never! She is too tiny, I would hurt her!” He tries to escape the situation.

Thrawn then slowly rise from his seat and walks towards them both.

Thank the maker, he is going to take her back!

But instead, he lifts her and puts her in his arms. She’s way more heavy than last time! She grew too.

And Enoch feels his heart clenches and melts once again.

This time she can grab his helmet and she holds both of his cheeks in her tiny hands with a giggle.

He feels the air getting knocked out of his lungs.

“We discussed with (Y/n).” Thrawn speaks softly, caressing his daughter cheek “We need to find someone in case something happens to the both of us. Would you accept to become her godfather?”

Enochs feels struck down by lightning. Her what?!

He’s not cut down for that job! He’s a soldier! Not a nanny!

He…

His words dies down at the sight of both of you. Thrawn is looking at him seriously, like he is planning a campaign and you look at him with tenderness in the gaze.

“She already adores you.” You had, coming closer to put a hand on Thran shoulder, “You are an honorable man Enoch, you would raise her well.”

“I am not sure I can do that…”

“Why not?” you insist.

But he has no argument.

How could he when his Grand Admiral and his wife both looks at him with such clear eyes full of trust and determination.

“I… I accept.” He lets out, almost against his own will.

You smile broadly and Thrawn nods, visibly satisfied.

“We knew we could count on you, Enoch.” Thrawn takes his shoulder and squeezes it firmly.

Enoch gazes lowers back on the little girl face.

She looks like the both of you. A perfect 50/50 of you both.

“Eeeeee… nock” She tries to say.

And his heart is suddenly filled with warmth.

This is the good decision…

He can feel it.

-------------------------------------

“What are you two doing?” You ask, entering the room.

Enoch jumps out of his skin and stands up immediately.

“Nothing, my lady! I was just…”

“Enoch…” You look at him with a smile hidden behind a hand “Where you playing tea parties with Thiroy?”

“No! I was simply…” He starts, but he sees your gaze.

There is no getting out of it.

“Please do not spread the word that I do that.” He asks.

You clear your throat, trying to contain your amused smile and put your hand on your heart and raise the second.

“You have my word, I will not reveal you like playing tea parties with my daughter?

“Thank you.”

He sighs, by necessity he became one of Thiroy nanny… 

And he does like to play tea with her.

But he would kill himself if his troops ever heard ot it.

“Thank you for looking after her.” You continue, taking her in your arms.

“My pleasure, my lady.”

This is not a real doll’s tea of course, just stealed tea cups and dessert plates that they displayed on the ground with her plushies.

“He married my unicorn!” Thiroy exclaims full of joy.

“Oh my! My congratulations to the young couple.” You give him a lopsided grin.

He’s going to die of shame.

It was their little secret! And now you know too. Great!

You lift the plates and tidy the room with your jedi sorcery that always made him uneasy. But today it doesn’t feel like it.

“Time for your nap, young lady!” You annonce.

“Noooooooo!” She cries, “I want to keep playing with uncle Enoch!”

“If you take your nap, I’ll come back to play tomorrow.” He negotiates.

The little Chiss girl looks at him with eyes full of tears.

“You promise?”

“Deal!” 

And they lock their pinky.

“Hop your pop! To bed you go!” You decide.

He awaits outside the room for you to finish tucking her to bed.

“Thank you again.” you murmur to not wake her up.

“You’re welcome. Could you give her this when she wakes up?” He hands you two little wooden figurines.

“Did you sculpt them yourself?” You can’t help but ask.

“Yes.” He admits, “For her starday.”

“They’re beautiful. She will love them, thank you.” You take them with a gentle smile.

He stands to attention and returns to his post, overseeing the Chimaera.

------------------------------------------

Enoch is fully focused on his datapad but he still notices you walking towards him, holding your back with both hands, your pregnant belly in front of you.

“Good day, milady.” He salutes politely.

“Oh it will be good, Captain.” You say with a smile in your voice.

He turns to you, raising an eyebrow under his helmet. Did you ever see his face once, he suddenly wonders.

“Why?” He asks, curious.

“My waters just broke.” You release the bomb.

He completely blue screen for a second, freezed mid-movement.

You what?

“Are you alright?” He immediately asks worried, tossing his datapad aside carelessly.

You chuckle at his worries, amused by his distressed tone.

“I am very well, thank you.”

He boldly circle your shoulders with his arm and take you hand to give your support, Thrawn would kill him if you ever collapsed alone in the corridor of the Chimaera in such a critical time.

You are as joyful as ever, not stressed for a second while he is sweating bullets under his armor.

You, finally, reach the med bay and Enoch helps you lay down the med bed and starts ordering the droids around. Where are those stupid machines when you need them?!

He takes his comlink and calls his subordinates immediately while the droids plug their monitors and take you in charge.

“Call the Grand Admiral to the med bay.” he orders.

“But sir, he expressed the order to not be disturbed under any circumstance!” The bridge officer argues back.

Enoch sighs silently, back when Karyn Faro was here those comments would have never flown off, but now those officers have real problems submitting to a Captain trooper.

Despite Thrawn making him his right hand.

He gathers his calm and speaks, really calmly, really coldly.

“I don’t care if you have orders, find him and tell him his wife is giving birth! Now!”

He cuts the communication, turning back to you, peacefully laying on the bed with your feet in the stirrups, morphine getting transfused. 

You suddenly wince with a groan. He immediately approaches to take your hand, ready to jump into action.

“Is everything alright?” he asks.

“It’s okay, Enoch. Just a kick.” you smile blissfully.

He slowly relaxes, but can’t help some of the stress to pour in his veins.

He is so out of his element. He’s used to wounds and death, not birth. 

He never delivered a baby, this is the complete opposite of his job! 

“Mom!” Thiroy burst into the med bay, running towards you.

Enoch smoothly intercept her before she hits the bed and hurts herself.

“Sweetheart, did you find your father?” You gently ask.

“I am here, Cha’cah.” Thrawn appears behind her. “Is everything alright, my love?”

He immediately comes to your side, seizing your hand in his.

“I am well, do not worry.” You smile at him “You want to feel them?” 

You place his hand on your tummy to feel the kicks.His shoulders seem to relax instantly.

“They are so energetic.” He sighs.

“Yes. Soon you will meet them.” 

He looks at you with love and adoration in his eyes while your daughter just looks worried.

“You are shining, cha’cah.”

“It’s because I am happy. Our family is growing, love. I have a present for you.”

“You giving birth is enough of a present for me.” He purrs.

“You’ll see.” You wink.

He leans in to kiss your forehead and you wince, in pain again.

“Oof…”

“Enoch, take Thiroy outside.” Thrawn orders.

Enoch takes your daughter's hand and escorts her outside the med bay. Thiroy follows him reluctantly, looking back to you.

“Why couldn’t I stayed?” She asks worriedly.

“It is for the best, miss.” He simply says, “Your father is here to support your mother in this moment.”

“Is everything gonna be okay?” She wonders, full of worry and doubt, “I never saw mum like that.”

“Everything is going to be alright.” He kneels in front of her, “Your mother is a warrior, she will can do it easily.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.” 

And they hold their pinkies.

But not everything went well.

Quite the opposite.

Thrawn didn’t need to say a thing, Enoch saw it immediately, something went horrifyingly wrong.

“Dad!” Thiroy jumped on her feet and run to him.

Enoch holds her back by reflex, like her touching her father would have made him implode. Thrawn slowly walk up to his daughter and kneels in front of her with a tired sigh.

“How’s mum?” She asks immediately “When can I see my little brother?”

“Thiroy.” Thrawn starts.

He sounds absolutely exhausted and his features are drawn. Enoch saw Thrawn staying awake for more than a week without sleeping more than one hour per night and remaining energetic and focused, this behavior is highly out of the ordinary for the Chiss. 

By instinct, Enoch squeezes Thiroy's shoulder.

“Your mother is…” Thrawn says before stopping, closing his mouth in a very thin line “She did not make it.”

He did not sugarcoat it, he told her straight, like an adult, looking right into her eyes. She remains silent, looking at her father with round eyes. His hand comes caressing her cheek tenderly.

“Do you understand?” He gently asks.

“Yes…” She very sternly says.

“Your two brothers are well and healthy. They are taken care of.” Thrawn continue.

She simply nods, but Enoch can feel her stiff body in his hand. The wonderful news of two brothers cannot outweigh the horror of your death, and Enoch supports the little body of Thiroy just in case she would lose consciousness.

You are dead.

You abandoned your husband and three children.

“I want you to go to your room. I have some affairs to settle and I will come back to you rapidly to speak with you.” Thrawn tells her.

“What is there to say?” She asks with a cold but unmistakably devastated tone.

“There is a lot to say, actually.” Thrawn argues back, “Especially for someone your age.” He leans forward and kisses her forehead with trembling lips “Follow Enoch to your room, I will come back to your side as quickly as I can.”

Enoch guides Thiroy in the corridors of the Chimaera in dead silence. She doesn’t cry, doesn’t shout, doesn’t throw a tantrum, she remains calm and still but her little hand trembles in his large own.

Enoch remains mute. 

What could he ever say to alleviate the pain of an 8 years old who just lost her mom?

“Do you want me to stay with you?” He finally asks in front of her door.

“No…” She barely responds, unsteady “I want… I want to be alone… A bit.” 

“Alright.” He squeezes her hand one last time before seeing her close her door on him.

He comes back to the bridge with a cramped mind. She didn’t say a thing but he clearly felt her pain and her hatred towards him.

He did promised her you would be alright…

And you died.

Enoch straightens his back and walks with assured steps. With your sudden death his workload suddenly got heavier and Thrawn will need as much help as possible.

And Enoch is not about to fail his Grand Admiral.

@bluechiss @thrawnalani @justanothersadperson93 @al-astakbar@thrawnspetgoose @readinglistfics @elise2174 @debonaire-princess @twilekchiss @pencil-urchin @ineedazeezee @mssbridgerton @dance-like-russia-isnt-watching @Cortisolcosplay

[honestlyboringperson]

Name: Sayaka Miki

Arcanas: Justice/Lovers

Personas: Calliope, Aphrodite

Our go-getter of the team and avid music fan, Sayaka is the same as we’ve seen in the anime, including her idealistic and black&white view on the world and justice. She finds Kyoko to be frustrating. If she has the power to defend the weak and protect the world, why isn’t she doing anything? Unlike in the anime, she is fortunately still alive by the end of the game. Hitomi still confessed her feelings to Kyousuke before she can, but this is after realizing that they just made the world closer to ending by defeating the 12 shadows.

Sayaka’s idealistic view on the world shatters and almost develops apathy syndrome due to it. But she manages to get a wake up call with the help of Madoka and Hitomi. After Madoka is forgotten by the world, she is still very hostile towards Homura, as she was there during Madoka’s last moments and still grieving over Madoka’s death.

PERSONAS

Sayaka’s initial persona is Calliope, of the Justice Arcana. Calliope is the muse of epic poetry, and is the mother of Orpheus. Epic poetry mainly focuses on myths and tales about heroes and the gods, fitting Sayaka’s “hero of justice” theme, and with Calliope being a muse, this also fits with her over arching theme of music. With Orpheus being the son of Calliope, this refers to Sayaka’s romantic troubles over Kyosuke. I mixed in a bit of a groom’s outfit to fit with Sayaka’s love problems but also a conductor’s dress to fit her music themes. Her helmet has pink lenses; literal rose coloured glasses.

After Hitomi and Madoka’s intervention, Sayaka gains the persona Aphrodite. Aphrodite is well known to be the goddess of love, romance, sex, all that gushy stuff but also her flighty and slightly inconsistent character. This of course, was based off of Lisa Silverman’s evolution, learning to love herself, reflected by her Persona going to a simple spirit to the full blown god of love. Aphrodite’s character can also fit with Sayaka’s former disposition, being different to different people; hostile to Homura, enthusiastic and friendly towards Madoka, frustrated with Kyoko, etc. Aphrodite, in comparison to Calliope has lighter armor and her helmet doesn’t cover her head entirely, referring to Sayaka’s maturing mindset; no longer holding herself to an impossible standard of good and justice.