i dont think ive said it before but twig has got to be one of my favorite pmd ocs from other ppl because of just how much her character has changed after so long and especially after ive long finished tpiag. i remember her as the sad sopping charmeleon when i first saw her and now shes a fully grown and fledged woman with her weird freaky nightmare husband and her wee baby daughter. its always fun seeing her on my dash and im so happy that while her story has reached a conclusion she still grows and learns. thank you for all your massive efforts on making me (and many others) be so interested in the wee lass, and i hope you have a good day! (also sorry if the compliment was worded a bit funky im not used to writing compliments such as this)
This ask has made me into the soggiest, most grateful skeleton ever.
Twig has grown so much and come so far, and I’m so proud of her character development. Honestly, she’s past being a partial self-insert and is more like my baby at this point, and I’m really happy she’s grown into the woman she is now. And I’m so grateful to everyone who has followed along with her journey, whether through the art and comics I’ve posted or the fanfic or both! You guys and your kind words mean so much to me.
I can’t tell you how much the feedback I’ve received on Twig and The Present is a Gift has changed my life. I’m so honored that Twig and the AU at large have had an impact on people and occupy a corner of their brains every so often— speaking as a writer and artist who has never felt truly confident in sharing her work, and never once dreamed of her creations truly being significant to anyone beyond herself, this has been huge for my creative aspirations.
I finally feel like I can do some of the scarier projects I’ve got in mind and have daydreamed about making for years. And it’s all thanks to you guys. Thank you all so much.
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I know you said you don’t love writing thenamesh as actual biological parents (totally respect that and agree, I especially agree that Thena probably wouldn’t be the most willing mother (although I live and die for TMTL AU)) ANYWAY! would you possibly be interesting in writing something where Thenamesh accidentally stumble into parenthood without meaning to?? Maybe a little orphan child in ancient times won’t leave them alone and they end up raising them? (probably begrudgingly on Thena’s part to begin with but she’s a secret softie especially when Gil is smitten and we all know it). No worries if you don’t wanna write something like that, just something I was thinking about!
Thena sighed, "I know you're there."
She didn't receive a reply, and she knew she wouldn't. She stood from where she had been - entirely against her wishes but at Ajak's behest - reviewing some of the senate's requests. The various war orders and border reports were draining her.
She stepped down towards the door of the room, the skirts of her white toga trailing behind her. She spoke again, "orphan."
He responded to more than that, of course. Sersi thought it was cruel of her to address a child that way, but he responded to it. A small head of blonde peeked out from behind one of the larger vases.
"What are you doing here?" she asked him with an expectant tone. She raised her chin to further look down upon the boy, "you know better than to enter the temple of Athena without permission."
Usually, she was loath to bring up the title of Athena in any way. But if she need be stuck with it, she could make use of it.
The boy shuffled out, his hands clasped in front of the brown burlap of his tunic. "I was looking for Gilgamesh."
The boy was positively enchanted by her Champion. Plenty were, of course, but this boy idolised Gilgamesh and the very ground upon which he walked. And Gil was equally charmed by the small child. She thought he entertained his obsession entirely too much.
But the boy enjoyed trailing behind Gilgamesh when he was walking between the forge and the acropolis, or watching him train fighters in the arenas, or even when he was in the orchards gathering fruit.
"Why do you think he is here?" Thena fixed her eyes on the boy. Most grown men would be sensible enough to cower, but the child stepped even closer to her.
He glanced behind him a few times.
Thena let out another breath. She was not a caretaker, she had no business with the boy steps away from clinging to her. But she unfolded her arms and knelt down to see him better. Children's heads were so small. "Speak."
"The guards," the child twisted his lips. "They tell me not to bother the gods."
They also were no gods of old, at least not how Athens imagined them to be. But Thena had no qualms letting them think that if it meant them keeping their distance, either.
"And if they are correct to tell you these things?" she raised her eyebrows. But the boy shuffled even closer to her. She sighed, "what did you do?"
This child was no angel, just like they were no gods. He liked getting into trouble, challenging those twice his size, proclaiming that he would be a fierce warrior someday. And sometimes that 'challenge' was him running up to someone and whacking them with his only possession: a toy sword, fashioned from wood (clumsily, by his own hand).
"They were being cruel," he spoke in defense of himself. His hands left his tunic to clench into tiny little righteous fists. "They were laughing at old man Socrates! One even threw his apple at him!"
Thena felt her hackles raise. She had no business policing humans; they were of no concern to her. But what did bother her was senseless cruelty to those more vulnerable than the strong. "And you decided to do something about this."
The boy's small shoulders fell again, though. "I told them I challenged them to a duel."
Thena tilted her head. His tunic was still fastened above his trousers with a rope, but there was no toy sword. "Where is-"
He sniffled, trying not to let his tears fall, "they took it and broke it in half."
That was why he had run to her. Well, he had been seeking Gilgamesh's comfort, foremost. But he had also known that if the authorities of Athens were the ones committing an injustice, only the gods would correct them.
Thena frowned at the child's tears dropping onto the stone floor. He wasn't her child; he was no one's. He was, like many others, a result of the many wars Athens had waged before, and were attempting to continue waging. It was exactly that which she was opposing, despite her title as their figurehead for war.
Footsteps approached, heavily and loudly. The boy nearly leapt in fear and scurried to hide himself behind her, even tugging at her dress like a tapestry to hide his feet.
She glanced somewhat over her shoulder in the direction of the little head of blonde hair, getting tears and snot all over her pure white robes.
"Goddess Athena!" the guards greeted her before all else. Their heavy armour and leather skirts made sound with every breath they took. "Forgive our intrusion."
She said nothing.
"We were pursuing a street urchin, and we fear he may have run in here." The captain of their group stepped forward, the adornment on his helmet distinguishing him from the others. "We wish not to disturb you. But we cannot let a stray mutt wander into the hall of gods."
Thena looked at each of them. She owed them no words, and they had no right to ask them. Her lips twitched. "You have a splinter."
The guard seemed embarrassed, rubbing at his arm. "Forgive me, O-Warrior. I was struck with a splintering old board."
A child's toy, now no doubt sitting broken in the streets. Thena looked at the others. "Which of you ate the apple?"
They looked between themselves, confused. "My Lady?"
"One of you was eating an apple," she continued, raising her empty palm. They knew what that meant, stepping back. "And threw it at a harmless old philosopher."
Their faces went pale. It brought some joy to her, but she kept her face even. Their fear was the best part of her day. Rather than deny the wisdom of the Goddess of War, they knelt. "We beg your forgiveness, great Athena."
She drew back, her blade in her hand in a second. She took a harmless swipe over their heads, although the tops of their helmets fell unceremoniously to her floor like feathers from a startled bird.
The men trembled.
Satisfied that her message was received, she retracted her powers like a cat closing its paws. "Be gone from my sight."
The men obeyed, scurrying away, abandoning the remains of their rank, leaving them to explain what had happened to their uniform. If she ever did see them again, she would not be so kind as to let them go with their dignity.
"They will not bother you again," she said more quietly. The boy was strong; he had stopped trembling. And he had, at the very least, the wisdom to let her face his multiple foes.
He sniffled one last time before stepping away from her protection. "They always do, eventually."
Then next time, she would have them begging her for their lives. She kept her eyes looking out the door as she patted the boy's head. She wouldn't have been able to read the expression on his face regardless. "Gilgamesh should be done in the forge by now. He may even take you to the great hall. I believe they are making the baklava today."
The child's eyes lit at the promise of sweets. "Can I have some?"
She did her best not to smile, lest she encourage his youthful impertinence. But she may not have been entirely capable of suppressing it. "Tell them Athena herself demands it."
The boy didn't even look twice at her, running towards the door and nearly slipping in his old, worn sandals.
"Heracles," she called after him. He turned at the sound of his name. "Return with Gilgamesh. We will show you how to strike someone properly."
The boy beamed. His cheeks were ruddy and his teeth were small and uneven, and yet they fit his cherubic face. "Yes, Thena!"
He had heard Gil address her casually too often. If he called her that, what if others thought it acceptable? But she couldn't bring herself to be angry with the boy. It was far too difficult to hold a grudge against something so sweet and innocent.
Technically, the senate decrees still needed seeing to. But she had more important things to think about. And before young Heracles returned with Gilgamesh in hand, she had some whittling to do. She wasn't Phastos, or Sersi, by any means, but even she could carve a sword out of some spare wood.
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watched all the available episodes of sousou no frieren today and surprised myself with how much i enjoyed it so i want to leave my thoughts here before i forget them; i think it would've been a lot more enjoyable if i was catching it from the start, but i ended up crying more than several times anyway
it's such a good concept to begin with, the storytelling is so compelling, and i really enjoyed the atmosphere in every episode. the worldbuilding is very good, we never really get exposition dumped but we learn things as the characters do, which keeps things believable and easy to stomach... plus, we always see stories about the defeat of the demon king, and much less the story of the aftermath, which got me interested in it in the first place. and especially when you add in the factor of time as a matter of inconsequence to frieren in comparison to everyone else especially with her personality... it's so satisfying seeing the exploration of things like the delicate balance between memories of the past and their inability to be changed with how they have influenced and shaped growth (of both the characters and the world) into the present, the passing of time and its varying (in)significance to the characters caught in its flow, the transience of life and (the learning of) what it means to live...
even then the flow of time passing is animated so well; there's this relentlessness to its passing, but despite that it flows like a calm river, clear and constant and steady, never hurrying, never drying. and mage's comment about it showcasing perfectly how frieren stays the same despite time passing is really neat too. on the flip side seeing how things have changed over time (the borrowing, adaptation, improvement of spells from demons which then go on to be adopted by mages is something i really fucking liked!! and the way fern uses the magic so casually as a way to demonstrate the development of magic turning a death spell into 'ordinary offensive magic' is so so good. frieren using this to teach her a history lesson was Also really good.)
it's hard to dislike any of the main characters when they show such strong cohesion of their complex pasts and personalities, and their actions do so well to showcase who they are even in battle (fern's precision and blunt simplicity stands out here). you can even see how they have changed each other over the course of their journey... frieren wanting to give up on finding the lost ring so not to slow the party down but fern insisting they'll stay until she finds it contrasting with her impatience with frieren spending months trying to find the blue moon weed at the beginning of their journey is something that stuck with me a lot
the other thing that stuck with me is the rebuilding of the original party not only thematically within their roles but also in influence by the original heroes (fern being taught by frieren and their noted similarity in the earlier episodes with regards to magic, stark being taught by eisen and the same way they express and approach fear, sein's choice not to become an adventurer being directly influenced by heiter not to mention their obvious similarities in habits)... and of those it's really fitting how frieren represents himmel's hero role now after she was influenced by her journey with himmel, especially with his death giving immense meaning to her new journey and frieren copying his actions because it's what he would do
but i enjoyed it... will be back next week..... waha.............
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Book worm questions: 43, 44, 49, and 50 please :D
43) Title of a book you own that's in the worst physical condition you have. Explain what happened to it. Post a picture if you want: Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey! Alas, I don't have it to take a picture of, because it fully disintegrated. It was an old printing, on the pulpy paper that yellows quickly and swells and curls in humidity, and I got it already second-hand and from an un-air-conditioned stall at a giant flea market, and then I read it a lot. The glue went out of the binding and it was just a collection of pages, and the front cover had already softened to nothing, and then one day I was rereading it and couldn't hold the pages together well enough to read it at speed anymore. Runner-up is Dragonlance: The Lost Histories: The Dragons by Douglas Niles, which is as you can see now two half-books and a free-floating front cover. I got it in 1998 and have read it multiple times a year every year since.
44) The book(s) whose stories have become part of your very makeup: I listed a bunch in my answer to carrionfourth, but actually The Dragons is another good answer, as is Key of the Keplian by Lyn McConchie and Andre Norton. I got them both at the same time, and grew up with them (I was six in 1998. they might not have been entirely age-appropriate, but that didn't matter, because what they actually were was a bribe. to keep my mouth shut, about something which I won't now disclose, because they were a damn fine bribe). Also the Dragonlance: Dwarven Nations trilogy by Dan Parkinson--all of them to some extent, but most specifically and vividly the scene in the second book, Hammer and Axe, where Handil the Drum collapses the caverns. The first time a book broke my heart.
49) Do you prefer hopeful, humorous, very emotional or darker books? It's very important to me that a story has a satisfying and happy ending (gotta be both) but I usually enjoy any sort of tone on the way there. Sometimes I'll be in the mood for funny or intense or agonizing or uplifting specifically, but I think more often it's the satisfaction I crave.
50) What kind of book have you never read but always hope to find at some point in the future? This one is definitely not something I’ve never read before but it is something I’m always looking for more and better examples of--people having mind-links with animals. I do want to see there be bleed-through effects so that the humans pick up more of their friend's instinctive behaviors and the animals gain more human perspectives, but I'm so so picky about how it's handled. Love how Tamora Pierce did it with Daine in the Immortals quartet. A Companion to Wolves by Elizabeth Bear came close but then really lost me at the end, but I love how I've seen fandoms use the setting as an AU. Oh, you know what. It's like a hyper-specific somewhat more violent daemons AU. I'm looking for something like His Dark Materials, but with more cool fight scenes and less religious undercurrents. All recommendations welcome!
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