#like. the lore i have in my head for them is fairly heavy or AT LEAST not like.. slice of life.

[caracello]

they're still getting the hang of the whole 'kissing' thing...

[ok2rb, they/it for s/i! ( ━|<)⌒☆ !]

[shalomniscient]

Acheron angst is like unrealistically spicy food. It hurts so bad but it’s just so good…

Anyways: I hope this will be this 🤏 much engaging for you.

You vaguely thought it was ironic, a little memory teased at your mind through the agony. You’d switched tags at the perfect (or worst, depending on your point of view) time. Despite the pain, and the fact you were the one dying— not she. All that you could see in your mind’s eye was her. That horrified look on her face as she watched you fall- She’d never been one for such exaggerated expressions, usually opting for that flat look. That stare you’d grown oh so fond of. That’s when the weight of the situation seemed to settle itself on you. Seemed like such a heavy weighted blanket, oddly comforting—however suffocating at the same time. She was right there. A hand stretch away, but you couldn’t seem to muster up the strength to lift your head. The blanket got to your limbs first, that comforting feeling slowly pushing that horrible pain away. It moved up your legs, up your fingertips- Spreading to every fiber of your being. Black. You’d closed your eyes. You felt a numb vibration shaking you, suddenly she was there�� Right above you. Something felt vaguely wet, and with a little bit of focus you began to realize her tears painted your face, a beautiful canvas for her to paint her misery. You had a thought far off in the distance, Idrila would be pleased.. You forced a smile on your face, despite all the effort it demanded. You could hear her voice, whispering.. Murky through the blanket that whose weight was working its way to your chest.

Seconds later, you’d close your eyes— Feeling the calm arms of Death herself wrap themselves around you. Her darkness closing in.

Now she who stood alone, hovered above the still warm body of the one she’d once held in her arms, kissed with all the love she could give— felt herself go cold as if she too had become one of those many corpses that scattered this Aeon forsaken planet. Acheron. In that moment when Death claimed you for herself, she had claimed this widowed woman as well.

DUDE when i tell you i have something cooking up for acheron involving her having to watch you die.......................... BUT IT'S WORSE 😈😈😈 there's a sprinkle of hi3 lore in it but i'm keeping it mostly vague so non hi3 players/lore enthusiasts can still fairly keep up with it :) N E WAY this is so fucking good, my liege, LOVE angst w acheron sm. the way u wrote this and the gradual progression of reader's thoughts leading up to the eventual cessation of them is SO yummy YOU COOKED frfr

[jupiterswasphouse]

WASP REVIEW - THE HIVE (and more) (HOLLOW KNIGHT)

[Image ID: The official artwork for the Hiveling, Hive Soldier, and Hive Knight, followed by a second image for the Hive Guardian, from Hollow Knight /End ID.]

Now this is one of my favorite bug games! I'm sure almost all of you are familiar with it, being the lore-heavy indie hit and highly prevalent, much deserved bugblr fan art fodder that Hollow Knight was. This is a very good one, and takes inspiration from many different species of terrestrial arthropods as well as other invertebrates and fungi. However, many of them are much, much different from their real world counterparts, in part due to their design style as well as the infection which has taken hold in Hallownest, which certainly calls into question how The Hive and its honey bee inhabitants fare.

First, as always, let's take a look at them visually! All the bees that you fight generally seem to share many of the same features. Black and yellow stripes, a generally darker upper half, and fuzzy bodies, as found in real honey bees (although you tend to be able to see more of the exoskeleton through the setae of a real bee), but they also are all missing the middle pair of legs (Which I've noticed is shockingly common in fictionalized depictions of bugs). Most of them also have somewhat accurate antennae that bend forward with an 'elbow' (the pedicel, which sits between the flagellum and scape, allowing greater movement control of the antennae) in the middle, the antennae not present in the Hiveling, and a pair of wings, as opposed to a real bee, which has two pairs, the wings not present in Hive Knight. Another thing I find notable about these guys is, they all have a fairly round body, fatter than the average honey bee, with no discernable waist nor separating point between the head and mesosoma.

[Image Sources: Jupiter's Wasp House, ie Myself, and Wikimedia Commons, Tanner Smida | Image IDs: Two photos of different, black and yellow honey bees, one on a light-skinned human hand and the other on a wooden surface /End IDs.]

Another two things that these bees lack, which real bees have, are ocelli (the three simple eyes on top of their heads), and a pair of mandibles (and seemingly other typical mouthparts). It is, at the very least, shown that the Hive Soldiers and Hive Knight do have mouths, although they're more like mammalian mouths but with a sort of sharp, angular outer edge. Also, strangely, the Hive Knight is also shown to be capable of spitting out Hivelings, which raises a few questions.

[Image IDs: Two in-game screenshots that show both the Hive Soldier and Hive Knight opening their mouths, the Hive Knight spitting out Hivelings rapidly /End IDs.]

The Hive Soldier specifically also has one big difference, as its metasoma splits apart into seven stingers. One in the middle, and six that spread out radially, seemingly partially retractable into the mesosoma. Whether or not the others have stingers is entirely unclear, as the Hivelings and Hive Guardians attack with their bodies, and Hive Knight (Already predisposed to lacking a stinger, being a male honey bee) attacks using some form of blade or lance.

[Image ID: An attack sprite of the Hive Soldier /End IDs.]

There is one more bee in this kingdom, which you have already seen in a previous screenshot, that being the Hive Queen, Vespa. She looks very different from the rest of the bees, having a more realistically (although far from perfect) segmented body, which sort of resembles that of a paper wasp's body moreso than that of a honey bee queen, although she maintains the fuzz, specifically around her neck in a way that is reminiscent of a fur coat or a rabbit's dewlap. She also has a teardrop-shaped head, an extra pair of (presumably compound, although they could be simple) eyes, and a notable lack of wings.

[Image Source: Wikimedia Commons, Scott Bauer, USDA Agricultural Research Service | Image ID: The artwork of Hive Queen Vespa as viewed as a spirit, followed by a honey bee queen, artificially marked with pink paint, surrounded by other honey bees /End IDs.]

When she appears as a spirit, she's not too much taller than the Hive Knight, however, her carcass lays just in the background of the room in which you fight her dear protector, who does not yet seem to realize she's gone. In this form, her final physical self, she had grown too large to leave the hive, easily 5 times her original size or more. Again, honey bees do not get this big in real life, but it is true that queens are generally larger than their "subjects" by way of their longer abdomen.

[Image Source: Carolina Honeybees | Image IDs: An in-game screenshot of Hive Queen Vespa in the background of the room in which you fight the Hive Knight, followed by an illustration that shows the difference between a drone, queen, and worker honey bee /End IDs.]

Now, I've posted about this before, so I won't go on about it for too long, but I do have to call into question, out of curiosity, the naming of Vespa, given her name is not one that is entomologically associated with honey bees, but instead, their distantly eusocial relatives of the family Vespidae, genus Vespa, the hornets. Something tells me I have an idea as to why she was named this way, but we'll get to that later! It certainly doesn't make the species discrepancy any less confusing.

Finally, there is one more resident of The Hive, although this one is not a bee, but instead, a Hive-specific variation of an enemy that reoccurs all throughout the game. The Husk Hive shambles through the halls of The Hive, surrounded by and/or fused with a structure that is, itself, a miniature hive. The Hunter's Journal describes this enemy as follows: "Cowardly husk, its body colonised by hivelings | Did the hivelings build their nest around this sorry bug, or did the bug squeeze its body into their nest? Either way, they seem happy enough together."

The relationship between the Husk Hive and the Hivelings seems less parasitic and more symbiotic, as the Hivelings protect the Husk Hive and the Husk Hive flees from danger, attempting to remove the Hiveling's living space from locations which may prove to be dangerous.

[Image ID: The artwork of the Husk Hive /End IDs.]

With all the residents of The Hive out of the way, let's discuss The Hive itself.

Now, of course, being part of Hallownest, The Hive resembles something that's less like an actual hive and more like a human community, or, perhaps more accurately, a town or village built of one continuous building, containing mostly wide open areas, but also including areas of rest, with tables and chairs, and a locale or two that resemble the shelved rooms of a library.

[Image ID: An in-game screenshot of an area of The Hive which contains a table, chairs, lights, and shelves that contain tablets /End IDs.]

One thing you'll notice, passing through, however, is that the hexagonal structure that makes up The Hive, outside of the shelves pictured above, doesn't seem to resemble the cells of the prototypical honey bee hive. Not only are they elongated in a way that resembles the Rupees of The Legend Of Zelda series, they appear filled in and crystalline. Some of this unusual material glows, which appears to be what the lights of The Hive are filled with, as opposed to the lumaflies used in other areas of Hallownest.

It's possible that a lot of this is built of crystalized honey, as it is shown that the honey of The Hive can become very hard, very quickly. This is perhaps showcased best in the room, in which you find a bench encased inside of a large, already cracked glob of honey, hanging from the ceiling, which The Knight has to smash open as if it were made of glass. Several other objects in The Hive act the same way.

[Image ID: An in-game screenshot of the bench room of The Hive, in which the bench hangs up /End IDs.]

One thing that's completely unclear, is how brood spawning occurs in The Hive, with seemingly no cells that contain eggs or larvae. Furthermore, it's unclear how long it has been since the queen died, so depending on the time past, it may be implied that it's not just Vespa who held sole responsibility over populating the hive.

Perhaps, as is the case with a few Hollow Knight characters species as they mature in this universe, they don't follow the same lifecycle as a real honey bee, emerging as something close to their final form and molting into later stages should the hive need Soldiers, Guardians, or Knights. It can also be inferred that, maybe, the cells in which the young live in their initial stages are themselves living creatures, such as the Husk Hives and the Hive Knight.

Finally, I find it interesting that The Hive is walled off the way it is, in a similar way to how the nest of a colony of hornets would be, as opposed to the open, tree-hanging slab nests of real world honey bees, seemingly with multiple entrances apart from the ones entered in the game, and also partially subterranean, as evidenced by one of the lower entrances of The Hive.

[Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons, Michael Apel, and wildalongtheway | Image IDs: A photo of an empty paper European hornet, Vespa crabro, nest on the inner part of a human-built structure of some sort, another photo of an empty honey bee hive hanging from a tree branch, and two in-game screenshots showing the upper and lower entrances of The Hive /End IDs.]

With all that said, it's safe to say that Team Cherry really respects their bees, but doesn't mind making them too inaccurate in the name of cool lore! It also provides a lot to think about. I know I've gone on a bit long, though, so I'll get to the point and give these g-

HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER! - MANTIS YOUTH

[Image ID: The artwork for the Mantis Youth /End IDs.]

Ok, this one's outside The Hive, and by its name, not even a wasp, but I wanted to give these guys a quick mention. I always found these guys confusing, but it wasn't until it was brought up in conversation by Rev that I truly thought to question what they had going on.

For one, Mantis Youth? Mantises rarely fly in the first place, but their young don't even have wings in the real world. On top of that, they have a stinger, being literally described in the Hunter's Journal as delivering "stinging attacks", a stinger being a modified reproductive organ only found in wasps (if you haven't gotten the memo by the rest of this post, bees and ants are included in that). Plus, they don't have the same almost scythe-shaped forelimbs as the adult mantises, as well as all stages of real mantises, do.

If anything, minus the specialized forelimbs, with that sort of neck, they moreso resemble Neuropteran mantidflies. But otherwise, I'd say they're the closest thing to non-bee wasps we have in Hollow Knight!

[Image Source: Michigan Nature Guy | Image ID: A photo of a wasp mantidfly, Climaciella brunnea, on a green leaf /End ID.]

My only guess for why this happened, considering the mantises are unaffected by the infection, would be interspecies mating, but the mantises are, in lore, known to detest outsiders, as evidenced by the fact they completely disapproved of the love between the Traitor Lord's daughter and the Grey Mourner for the very reason of the Grey Mourner being an outsider.

But maybe this happened a long, long time ago, before they became their own long-standing and wholely independent tribe. I mean, having interspecies children with varied features isn't unheard of in Hallownest, the Pale King and Herrah The Beast had a child together, that being-

HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER! (... AGAIN) - HORNET

[Image ID: The artwork for Hornet /End ID.]

Yeah, remember when I said earlier that the whole weird naming thing would come up again? This is it. The sibling of all the vessels, the half-Wyrm half-Spider, the gendered child (The White Lady's words, not mine), and the probably-still-canon-but-it's-unclear trainee of Vespa after she was thrown by the wayside by the Pale King in his neverending quest to win a Worst Father Ever Award.

Now does this explain why Vespa is called that? Honestly, not really? It's still confusing as to why they decided to name the bee hive queen after a very distant relative and our dear hopefully eventual Silksong protagonist after an insect genus that isn't on either side of her family. But one, certainly, at least, explains the other, as stated by a Team Cherry member here, Hornet and Vespa share a related name on purpose! So one of the two was named first, and they gave a related name to the other.

Now that THAT'S out of the way, though, it's safe to say I can't give either Hornet or Mantis Youth a proper rating due to the fact neither are true wasps, but I can absolutely give a rating to those this review was about in the first place, the bees of The Hive!

... Also please let there be actual non-bee wasps in Silksong.

-

Overall: 5.5/10

-

Leave your wasp review suggestion in the replies, tags, or askbox!

Next week's wasp has not been chosen yet!

[xaz-fr]

A Leap In Magic 5/5

Christ I meant to have this finished like 4 months ago. Anyway. This is the end and I'm giving away two of the babies specifically to LORE CLANS who want some inter-clan interaction. I'm specifically giving away the Jaguar (girl) and the Python (boy). If you're interested please hit up my messages or you can PM me on FR (xaz). These are Leap Year dragons (so they are adults) and their parents will never breed again. So they're quite special. This is not first come first serve and I'm not above just keeping all three.

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

There weren’t many maren left who called the lagoon around the Windsinger’s Tale home. Only those most loyal to the clan or their dragon friends stayed. They’d kept the bottom of the ship in fairly good repair still. But today was not an inspection.

Nadalin sat on the edge of the dock, her hatchlings under her wing. They were sleeping in the shadow of her protective wing. Ars was talking to the elder of the small group of maren. It was a heavy day today. These hatchlings couldn’t stay here. They’d grow Silenced too and Ars knew nothing would break Nadalin’s heart like watching her children go Silent. She didn’t love sending her children away but it was one heartbreak over another. Ars was confirming with the elder about the plan.

A skiff was brought forward made of native Labyrinth hardwood and bamboo that grew along the banks of the lagoon. Three large thresher tailed maren pulled it and brought it up to the dock. The skiff was lined with some pillows and blankets, baskets of food, for the journey away from the lagoon and out into the Gladeveins and beyond.

Swallowing Ars turned to his sister. “Nadalin,” he said. “It’s time.”

She looked over at him, her wind-full eyes sad. “Already?” she asked.

“Yes. I’m sorry,” he couldn’t help but say even though they’d both agreed. It had even been Nadalin’s idea to call upon their maren friends.

“Alright,” she said softly and got to her feet. She picked up one of the hatchlings and brought them to the skiff. Ars took the second and third as Nadalin bundled them in a blanket and pillow. She stepped out of the skiff looked at them and then left, walking away quickly, back through the docks into the ship.

“Is she alright?” the elder asked.

“She knows what she’s doing is right but it pains her,” Ars said.

“Ah. We know that feeling well. We will look out for these children and find them new homes,” he promised.

“I know,” Ars said looking at his nieces and nephews. They wouldn’t wake for some time. He knew that. He knew because he’d put a sleep spell on them. It wouldn’t be until they were out of range of the Windsinger’s Tale that they’d start to wake. Hopefully the maren would find homes for them quickly and this Silenced clan would just be a bad dream from a time when they were small. He sniffed. “Please, go now,” he said, voice thick.

“We will return home once our task is complete,” the elder said. Ars nodded solemnly. The elder sank beneath the water, mustered the three thresher tailed maren, and with great speed pulled the skiff towards the edge of the lagoon. Ars waited until the skiff was swallowed up by the Gladevein’s growth before following after his sister and heading back into the ship.

It was better this way.

It was better this way.

[blood-orange-juice]

Tumblr doesn't let users send asks with side blogs that are attached to user's main blog account so this is user bitchin-witchin up in your ask box. I saw you reblog on a post about childe liking the aranara with the reply that if he could see them it would be too spoilery. I'm curious what you think would be spoliery about it. theories are difficult for me to follow with how heavy genshin lore can be and when I think about childe and the aranara I have a difficult time rationalizing in my head that he would be able to see them. I want him to be able to see them and I can think of reasons he could but I can also think of counter arguments. Though I suppose if you don't pick a direction with theories you could go in loops like that forever xD Anyways, all this to say: would be very interested to hear your thoughts behind that comment :3

(necroreplies are my forte)

I'm not sure if I'm right, but wasn't the inability to see Aranara a byproduct of Sumeru's people inability to see dreams? So now that Akasha terminal has been shut down they should go back to to seeing them.

Also Childe is not from Sumeru to begin with and he's fairly open-mided, so he at least stands a chance.

As for spoilers... I think there's something wrong with how his mind functions, he's a bit too comfortable with holding mutually exclusive ideas in his head at the same time, and his personality structure doesn't fit any personality structure that I know of (even split personality disorder), even if I make adjustments for anime logic. Anyone with an ability to walk through dreams or read minds would notice that.

Also after Narcissenkreuz and Aranara quests I have an impression that the importance of childhood dreams that he talks about in his personal quest doesn't simply stem from trauma ("I want others to have the things I never got for myself") but rather happens to be some important worldbuilding detail.

Childhood games are too similar to ancient creation magic in this game. This seems like endgame lore to me and I think that's exactly what he'd like to talk about with Aranara if he met them.

So... no Aranara-Childe interactions for us. *sad Rinn noises*

art by HAZE

[night-raven-miscellany]

Rules, Charas, and Tags :3

✨ I'm an adult (21+) but this blog is PG13 (there will be swearing and occasionally more mature topics) SO nothing NSFW/18+ pretty please (heavy gore, sexual themes, etc.). If you're not sure if something would be ok, just shoot me a dm and I'll happily answer!

✨ With the above, if you want to ship OCs or characters??? Please actually send me a DM about that. I'd prefer to actually be able to discuss it in depth and depending on the context, I may or may not be chill with it.

✨ I have anxiety, a part time job (with an irregular schedule) and full-time school. Pls be patient if I don't respond asap or don't frequently send asks.

✨ Pretty pls read about my OCs before you interact <3

✨ Also if you're sending asks, pls do try to specify whomst you're talking about! Usually I'm pretty good at picking up on context, but I still slip up once in a while </3

✨ I yap a lot in the tags sometimes. This isn't a rule but more something to just be aware of.

✨ Very basic DNI. I don't rly think there's any need to elaborate just keep away if you're a creep or a bigot.

✨ Anyways now the fun part! The actual OCs! Post break, ofc

Our Lovely Cast <3

🎩Lewis Hatterson: A second year from Heartslabyul and host of a gossip-based radio show on campus, NRTea☕. He's relatively laid back and doesn't like sticking to strict rules or schedules (ironic, considering his dorm placement). He often butts (and loses his own) heads with his housewarden because of this. Intro Post

🦐Yuna Sid: Ramshackles prefect (or... One of them?). She's from another world and generally doesn't know what's going on. She's fairly confident and sociable but very guarded unless she trusts you. Intro Post

♌Izem Usiku: A Savanaclaw 3rd year who is in charge of a band of "delinquents" called "The Black Sheep". He's a bit gruff, but ultimately caring. Despite the fact that his group is full of students who don't like their dorms or housewardens, Izem himself is highly respectful of his own. Intro post

🐁James Ratt: Pomefiore 2nd Year, heir to a financial conglomerate in the Shaftlands, very prideful and cares a lot about his image. He's Lewis's co-host on NRTea☕ and is certainly the much more strict and serious of the duo. He doesn't get along with too many people due to the perception that he is incredibly high maintenance. Intro Post (TBA)

🌙Casimir Chernenko: Diasomnia 1st Year, Chuunibyou with a one sided rivalry against Malleus. He speaks in (and often misuses as a result) very complicated and flowery language, so no one seems to know what he's saying half the time. Wants to become "The Most Evil Overlord". Whatever that means. Intro Post

🦜Rusul Sader: Scarabia 1st Year, a dancer and son of a merchant family with a penchant for mischief and pranks. He's got a habit of weighing the pros and cons of things before making commitments (unless it comes to what would simply be the most fun for him). Intro Post

✨Characters are associated by their colors and any time I speak, there will be a fun lil star by it!!!

Important Tags on here!!!

I don't have too many tags, but here are the main ones. They'll be updated as I reveal more characters or get anons and things <3

#✨mod speaks - My tag for just general posts that aren't OC related!!

Likewise, #✨mod reblogs and #✨mod answers are for reblogs/asks that are not in character.

#✨lore dumping and the occasional #✨lore dumping (RP edition) are for posts where I talk about or introduce significant pieces of character lore

#✨dashboard commentary is exclusively for silly posts related to things I'm observing going on in the RPC. They're open for RP, like all of my posts.

#⚫blot accumulation is. A very self explanatory one that you likely won't see often. But oh, it will be there. It will be there.

Below here are all the character tags that you'll see on posts where characters are speaking and/or are heavily talked about.

#🦐nrm Yuna

#🌙nrm Casimir

#🎩nrm Lewis

#🐁nrm James

#🦜nrm Rusul

#♌nrm Izem

The respective lore tags for these characters are identical, just with "lore" at the end.

Anons + Others :3 :

- 🌙🏔️

- 🔌

[eriisaam]

It's that time again, time for "I spam multiple polls on you and then run off to do errands". Yay~

So. Summoner OCs. As you know, we're nearly done wrapping up all of the six in sprite form at least, with the only odd one out currently being Eclair (and his alt as Magni) before they've all collectively graduated to 'actually has an up-to-date visual on them for once' status.

The original plan after this was to then go and make ref sheets based on the visuals given by the sprites.

But then the art meme invasion happened, and now I'm stumped. So, that brings me to this latest bout of questionaires with the gist being: "Shit. What now?"

So first question (this'll be rapid-fire-repeated for the sake of slotting the polls in proper, sorry in advance, I hate it too): What should I prioritize first? It's for-sure related to the summoners at least (other OCs exists, but they're still baking in the oven at the moment, give them a bit more time), but the question comes in what's next and what now for them.

Of the possible choices, we have:

A) Ref sheets (like initially planned).

Pros:

Tries to document as much as possible of certain details to the summoners from multiple angles.

Has a more finalized and uniform documentation and idea on things from drawn details to color palettes and such.

Get a more closer-up view of what the FEH sprites originally conveyed, including details simplified, too tiny to see in detail, or straight up skipped due to either the angle or the simplification of the sprites.

Cons:

It's a LOT of details to unpack. Including certain alt details, including details that might not fit in a single sheet, and so on. It's a pretty big project that'll take a bit of time per summoner I feel.

In terms of immediate reference, you now already have the FEH sprites to have a more immediate general idea of what each summoner looks like in their 'default' state, so this is a more detailed walk-back of much of what you already know by now.

Worth noting:

That's not to say I also might not have other drawings on the side that escape containment (especially if I get stumped on specific parts and try to visualize it mid-work, like what happened with Magni-Eclair), but for the most part, there'll be quite the ref sheet flood.

I'm also torn likewise on whether to do the ref sheet with minimal (thin) lineart (neater than sketch but around the same idea) or to go all-in on the usual stronger lineart (mostly out of concerns whether or not it conveys properly or the line thickness might get mistaken as overdetails).

B) This big-ass compilation of OC meme prompts hmrg brought to my attention (thanks~)

Pros:

Conveys a lot of prompt ideas and alts that I've been sitting on that a quick cautionary glance at the prompts hit the nail on the head of giving it a good platform to bring certain prompts up.

Silly times for silly moments in a lot of these. It's a lighthearted break from being either informative or dark-heavy-handed lately. (Well, some of them anyways...), and since a lot of these memes are based around capturing moments or pointed context, less word vomit this time.

They're fairly small, straightforward, and isolated, compared to a lot of these being bigger or fuller spreads (especially the ref sheets).

Cons:

Certain prompts might be about things I already just did and reiterating what you already know very recently even. Not all of them, but some of them (ex: the sudden spike of attention to Ephrel/Spectailis and again likewise with Eclair/Magni).

Derails reference based prompts and collections compared to a lot of these. This gives visuals to key moments of their lore, but is a lot less referential compared to the other two options here.

Many, MANY parts to the meme as a whole, so Summoner OC tag is gonna have quite A Time...

Worth noting:

I'm also torn on whether or not to do this sketch style (again, quicker, but somewhat messier), proper art style (fully rendered) or the aforementioned compromise (lineart, flatter colors, simpler shades) so that's a whole other discussion about how to approach it too.

I'm also going to properly break this down into individual parts, rather than dump the entire compilation on everyone's heads, and more than likely, it'll rotate across the six summoners, rather than be uniformly on one each.

C) This other big-ass meme quite a bit of you had been chipping away at for a good while before that I've been watching other people work on for a time (Henlo buds, nice to see your summoner alts 💖)

Pros:

Much more detailed and pointed look at the summoners and their specific alts (compared to the haphazardness of the other two, especially the other OC prompt meme) and even pokes at a lot of the rarer alts the other two options might gloss over.

Lore for alts not necessarily plot-centric compared to the others which tend to focus on alts or the moments that inspired them. It gives a chance to see or hear about seldom-seen or seldom-discussed alts.

Cons:

Basically the same as the second option where they'll be broken up into a LOT of parts, a lot of tag spam, and a lot of word vomit to go with. Not to mention it might single out a summoner, rather than rotate among them, so you're gonna be especially spammed multiple times over by one summoner in particular out of the rest.

There's also a lot of lore attached to the fleshed out alts too... which people might be a lot less patient of the essay floods to go with. hrm...

Worth noting:

I'm also only going to focus on one summoner at a time, which leaves it up in the air of which summoner even goes through these gauntlet of alts in the first place.

Whether or not the five who DIDN'T get picked right away also go through it is up in the air, but in the hypothetical scenario all six of them got a go on Summoner Alt's Wild Ride, that means you take all the concerns of this and multiply it by six.

-

Which brings us to the second half of this questionaire: What's a good bare minimum here?

As you saw recently, I tried to experiment around with a good grasp on what is the bare minimum to aim for before something's presentable enough to share. The last two things that flew by were sketches I felt were my new bare minimum (cleaned up sketchy lines with enough cleaning to fix details, overlap, or early-sketch jank to convey the main idea, but no attention otherwise to being neat and tidy, adding weight like cleaned up lineart, and either no color and shading or doing it more sloppy style in the future).

In the past, my previous bare-minimum used to be to at least get them to lineart level, give or take a much more emphasis on color-flats or much simpler cel-shade if even that. The former was way quicker and I had an easier time getting more art out (especially "give general ideas of what I'm trying to convey" pieces rather than fully-realized pieces) while the latter is tidier and at least more presentable, short of going all-in from start to finish with rendering and the whole nine yards.

There WILL be a return to art-that's-fully-realized, but how do you guys feel so far about the sketchy-lines (quicker but little to no line-weight and less stress on tidiness) versus the inked-lines (as close to final lineart as possible with lines, but takes a bit longer)? A good comparison of what I mean is compare for instance the last bit I did with Magni-Eclair versus pretty much all of Sharena Week.

-

So for poll 1 or 2...

[markerofthemidnight]

Chonny Jash Design Details And Other Headcanons (Until I’m Comfortable Enough Sharing My Designs)

So funny story: I’m only now thinking about the fact that I’ve never shown you guys my HMS designs. I’ve turned them into bugs- twice- and incomprehensible abominations, but I’ve not shown you my normal designs for how they look.

So until I feel confident enough to show you all the designs, here’s some visualisation!

Also, today marks the first anniversary for me coming up with these designs (although I’ve polished them since)! So… yeah!

Heart

Basic Design

My Heart design is honestly pretty simple

Mainly because the first “lore-heavy” CCCC video I watched (and continued to watch for like a day) was The Mind Electric, and Heart was the one we saw the most of

He’s got all the things people think of when they think “Heart design”: the blindfold, the white sweater, the wings with purple tips, etc

However, the sweater is covered in noticeable purple patches that tend to get brighter in certain places

This is because, when he’s injured in battle and it gets torn, the sweater starts repairing itself, but the scarred places always come back in a light shade of purple

The brighter the colour, the more times it’s been scarred

Speaking of which, there are long, thin purple marks running down his cheeks, starting where his eyes would be

Are they scars? Are they tear marks? Who knows?

Oh, and underneath his blindfold, his face is heavily covered in purple scars

And as for the eyes themselves… they’re just not there. Just giant black holes in his face

He also has tail feathers. and his neck works off of owl logic

His wings change depending on his emotions: they shimmer and start glowing when he’s happy, lose their colours when he’s sad, and when he’s angry they light on FIRE (PURPLE fire) and become big enough for him to actually fly

Extra Details + Headcanons

Stims by flapping his wings!!!

Is actually a whole lot more capable than the others seem to act like he is… but honestly, I didn’t need to tell you that

For example, him being blind means he needs to focus more on hearing to get around: memorising audial cues in his friends’ voices and such

With this in mind, it’s possible he’s actually the most perceptive of the three

Also: despite how much he cares about being treated fairly by the other two, he loves self-depreciating humour

In fact, the only reason why Mind and Soul are so comfortable making blind jokes around him is because he’s the one who does it the most

Also likes warmth. His room has little sources of light- and therefore also heat- so he needs all the warmth he can get

Mind

Basic Design

Mind is an android. I feel like I have to get this out of the way first

He wears a skinsuit which conceals this mostly, but it’s removed around his hands and upper head, revealing the mechanical features beneath

He wears a wig since his actual fake hair was torn off by Heart in a particularly nasty fight, as well as most of his forehead area

(the wig was actually a very recent addition on my half: without it I felt like he stood out too much, him having a wig fit the lore I have for him, and also if I showed you guys a design of him without hair you’d probably just call him a boiled egg)

He wears a suit, and generally his dress sense has a pretty “sophisticated yet casual” vibe

He has four-fingered claws and an electric watch permanently fused to his right wrist

Well, he calls it a watch, but really it’s more like a phone

It has a whole variety of functions, though it’s mostly used for note-taking, and also contains his charge plug

Extra Details + Headcanons

HOO BOY DO I HAVE A LOT OF THOSE FOR THIS MAN.

First of all, I feel like I need to go more into the charging thing: Heart and Soul can sleep, although they don’t necessarily need to, but he charges instead

He can go for a whole week without needing to recharge, and low battery only starts to affect him at 5%

He acts tired for a little while whilst basically forcing himself to go as long as possible without charging, only deciding to go back and recharge at 1%

Whilst doing so, he basically acts surprisingly nice and polite and almost kinda drunk for a few minutes before passing out, only waking up when he hits EXACTLY 100%

He’s well aware of how “submissive” he is when he’s charging, so that’s why he avoids it like the plague

Anyways, he is- as we all know- an absolute jackass, but he’s immediately impressed by you if you can tell him things even he doesn’t know

The man hoards trivia like a dragon. The more practical uses the information has, the more valuable it is to him

This means he’s a very good hacker, because what information would a robot find more valuable than coding?

He also likes gaming in what little spare time he allows himself to have, but he does NOT let Heart and Soul find out

He inwardly panics at the presence of all genuine emotion, especially big overpowering ones

And now for my favourite headcanon about Mind: he doesn’t let it show, but he is incredibly self-conscious about being a robot

He’s pretty much incapable of interacting with strangers, since he only exists in Soul’s head, but if he was, he would go to all lengths necessary to conceal his face and hands

The reasoning behind this? Well, when he and Heart were first born, they had no identities besides Soul’s and had to figure out who they were for themselves

In other words: it took Mind weeks of existing in the Headspace to even figure out that he was a robot.

He had his suspicions that something was wrong the second he mysteriously passed out whilst charging his “watch” and woke up just as it hit 100%, but he didn’t really figure it out until a particularly bad fight with Heart revealed one of his eyes was actually mechanical

As for the not needing to eat or sleep, or the four fingers, or the fact that he couldn’t take off his watch no matter how hard he tried? He just blamed that on the Headspace being weird. It’s surprising how many leaps in logic the brain is willing to take in order to ignore the truth.

It’s been long enough since then that he’s been able to mostly fight off the existential dread, but he’s still uncomfortable with it

After all, he used to be human. He knows that- he has memories of being human, even if those memories are rightfully Soul/Whole’s.

He knows he’s not a robot, yet his body tells a different story. Wouldn’t you feel the same about that?

Soul

Basic Design

For the most part, his design’s pretty simple

Hypnotic, pure red eyes with white pupils (as seen on the right side of my Abstracted Soul design)

He wears a light brown cloak complete with a hood that, when pulled over his face, obscures his whole face except for his eyes

He also has fangs, pointy ears and a snake tongue >:3

His fingers become red and start glowing near the tips: he also has claws

he has chicken slippers. this is the most important piece of information.

If he was REALLY being serious on that particular day though he’d probably change to something more threatening…

imagine like armour or something? Idk I need to polish that part of the design out more

OH AND ALSO. The trident has a sheath: his head. It literally phases into his hair when he’s not using it and you can see its tips poking out like a little crown.

Extra Details + Headcanons

He’s the only one who (usually) takes control of the real body, only coming to the Headspace while asleep: hence why Heart and Mind are able to fight so often

Actually doesn’t like Monster as much as people think.

He only drinks it so much because he needs a good source of caffeine and he doesn’t like coffee

After all, this man has absolutely NO internal clock, especially inside the headspace

There are certain moments where he’ll just… pass out, for no reason… so most of the time Heart and Mind can tell when he’s asleep because like:

*CRASH. CLATTER. BANG.*

”Oh, Soul’s asleep again.”

However: he does like chickens. He has no Darrel in my version but he’s still a big fan of birds, flightless ones specifically

He thinks flightless birds are the coolest things ever: because honestly, who doesn’t?

Favourite song from CCCC, assuming he’s aware of it in this universe or whatever, is Mucka Blucka because it combines his two favourite things: music and chickens

(though he likes the OG Mucka Blucka better, because that’s just the same song except he doesn’t also have to deal with Heart and Mind)

His power stems from all the raw magic inside the Headspace. With the Trident, he can harness this magic (although he can’t do EVERYTHING)

He likes to refer to himself as a warlock, because that really suits his style

He’s pretty bad at hiding how love-hate his relationship with those two is. It’s like 15% love and 85% hate, though.

As I discussed in an earlier post, his problem- at core- is the fact that he’s so obsessed with trying to bring back the past that he doesn’t realise the problems he’s causing

HE is actually the reason why the three can’t stay Whole: and he’s so focused on his goals that this possibility hasn’t even crossed his mind

(or the other’s minds, for that matter. Which says a lot about Heart’s confidence, and Mind’s resentment towards his emotional half).

At the end of the day, I fully believe that the story will only be resolved once he finally figures out that, after all the heartbreak they’ve been through trying to become Whole… maybe it’d be easier for all of them to just stay split.

And that’s all!

[auxxrat]

It's sooner than later that I'll be six feet under/sooner than later that you'll be alone

• one shot • Jango/Shaak

Tags - Angst, Jango's past (comic based) Other Tags - Boba Fett(mention), Clone Troopers + Omega, once again based on my own lore because I'm predictable

Summary :

“I love you, Jedi Master Shaak Ti." The declaration took Shaak’s ability to think, but Jango had more to say; he couldn't leave just yet. “Whatever I do, please forgive me. Whatever I leave behind, promise me you’ll finish it.”�� “Jango…” Shaak, utterly and truly, was at a loss for words. Jango had been set on living, especially for his son, but it sounded to her as if this was his deathbed confession.   “Listen to me, Shaak; promise me you’ll forgive me, and that when it’s all over, you’ll understand. You're the only one who understands; we’ve always been on each other’s sides. Shaak, promise me you’ll love them. Promise me you won’t let them suffer because of my sins.” 

The only notice Shaak ever got of his arrival was how loud he could be.  

Jango had never been quiet; his feet were heavy, and his voice was loud. His armor was even more deafening. He wasn't one to waste time either, which didn't help his cause. But Coruscant was even louder than his laugh or arrival at places he had no business in. The city made for a perfect hiding spot for such a noisy man.

The soft clinking of armored boots against marble excited Shaak more than anything; it made her heart race and her chest feel tight. It was a nauseous feeling. The sight of him standing in the balcony doorway felt too unreal—like a living myth was standing in front of her, years of searching finally at an end. He returned ever so often, like an anxious animal coming home with a bird in its mouth. No amount of gifts could make up for his leaving, but it was never worth mentioning—Shaak knew he’d only do it again. 

Every year he came back to her, he looked different. The soft eyes of a boy turned into the tired ones of an overworked man, and the slender arms of a teenage boy turned into muscles with scars to last a lifetime. The curly hair was long forgotten, forced into a military-type cut. It was unnatural for a man whose hair was just as unruly as he was. Jango once had a bright smile, Shaak remembered, so wide that it stretched across his face and made his eyes almost invisible. That charming smile was never present, only saved for times like this. but even then, it wasn't as it was. 

“Welcome home, Jango,” Shaak said, as he’d only gone out for the day, just coming home from a long day at work.  

There had been a time, in Shaak’s youth, when she would have run to him. He jumped into his arms and exclaimed how much he was missed, complaining about his leaving. But she was older now, having grown into a woman Jango had not yet seen.  

If Jango was changing with age, Shaak was even more so. Her head-tails had gotten longer and taller, and her face had morphed into a woman. Her youth was all but left behind; there was no sign of the young girl she once was. She felt no more of that childlike confusion or anger, but her feelings for Jango always remained. It was an emotion that Shaak did fairly well at suppressing, hiding it easily from the Jedi Order. 

But then he comes back and messes it all up again.  

“I can’t be long” is the talk of a man who never stays in one place.  

"You have never been here long; maybe that’s why this place gathers so many shadows.”  

Shaak was a Jedi; she wasn't here in this apartment often, hidden at the very peaks of Coruscant, but Jango had gotten this place for them. Slowly, it became a place for her. It was true that Jango never stayed put in one place for long; he only found good hiding places for his most precious items, so he could come and go as he pleased.  

Maybe there was a time when they would have embraced each other, but they only moved to the front living room in silence. It was a quiet home, where the love never really died but was beaten into a corner. Jango never talked anymore, never sought out her touch, and right now he looked like there was something serious on his tail.  

There was nothing to speak of, not when their lives had grown so far apart, so they sat there saying nothing. But there was so much to be said by the both of them that Jango simply didn't have enough time.  

He was going to speak, but Shaak beat him to it.  

“You never reach out.”  

“What?’, The confusion was pitiful; even he knew what Shaak was talking about.  

“Even when you’re gone, you never send anything, not even a letter. And this time, you were gone longer than the last,” Shaak knew. Jango was a criminal, completely fallen from honor; she made it her business to never know his.  

“You don’t want to know, Ti,"  Jango stated. And she didn't want to know, because she knew it was only something terrible.  

She felt it in the Force. She felt it between them now; she could feel it in her heart that there was something vastly bigger than the Jedi could even comprehend. She could feel the many lives and the many hearts beating, but the question was where they were coming from. There was this other feeling—the feeling of fear—on the horizon of something. Shaak couldn't bring herself to think of it. She knew that whatever this was, Jango had a hand in it.  

She knew it, yet at the sight of him and everything she’d missed, it was easy to deny. Even after all the heartache,  

And that was only the beginning of her many regrets.  

“It’ll all be done soon." He didn’t sound too reassuring. “Then I won’t leave you.” 

It only took those little words to finally make Shaak soft and formable, like putty in his work-beaten hands. She sighed, turning her head to the side so that the soft blush that did appear would dissipate quickly. Her face was brighter when she turned back, inching closer to Jango. When they were younger, she used to be so curious about the stories he had to tell, about the things he saw and places he’d been. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to wonder now.  

“So? What has the infamous Jango Fett done this time? What adventure did you seek this time around?”  

“I have a son.”  

Shaak stumbled, feeling nauseous as if all the unfairness in the world had fallen upon her. She, a Jedi, and he, a Mandalorian, were too far apart. Even in a normal world, Jango would have been a Mandalorian prince, and Shaak would be just a girl back on Shili. Regardless of the universe, timeline, or the will of the Force, Shaak and Jango would never be able to be together. Yet she couldn't help but think that he still held onto that fantasy—to be with her.  

It was the highest number of betrayals.  

“What is his name?” Shaak swallowed the bile.  

Jango hesitantly moved to the armor surrounding his wrist, messing with the gauntlet buttons until a picture lit up. It was of Jango and a small boy, no more than ten or nine years old.  

“His name is Boba.”  

The boy was quite the spitting image of his father, so much so that it scared Shaak. He had the same nose, eyes, and smile with the sharp side tooth. Even down to the very curls on his head. Shaak felt bad for whoever the mother was. Mostly because Boba showed no sign of having any of her genes, but also because Jango’s heart still so painfully belonged to Shaak. 

“An heir for the Fett line, the exact image of his father. What you wanted, right?” There was an obvious attitude behind Shaak’s words, but Jango was blinded by love—love only a father could experience.  

“He’s perfect… He’s nothing like me." The statement was full of relief.  

“He likes to read." Jango added, pressing a button that consumed the photo back into his gauntlet, “He doesn't know fear; he doesn't need to. He learns so fast, quicker than I ever could. He’ll survive in this universe. I won’t bind him to Mandalore as I was; he doesn't need to win back anything; he’s already so special.”  

Shaak’s heart wanted to scream; it wanted to grow its own pair of arms and throttle Jango right where he sat. She felt cheated, and her stomach couldn't stop turning. Tears must have slipped because, in the next moment, Shaak felt the tip of his thumb at her waterline—he wasn't giving her the chance to cry. 

“I got you something," Jango whispered, her thumb leaving her waterline and tracing the line of her cheek. “But you can’t open it until the time is right.”

Shaak wanted to spit at him; his face was close enough, but she wouldn't. She knew she could never hurt him, even if it was life or death. She wouldn't be the one to do it. Through anger, confusion, and sadness, Shaak spoke 

“And how will I know when the time is right, Jango Fett?” 

“If I know, then you’ll know soon enough.” 

Jango slid a small metal case into her hand. She looked down and ran her fingers along the skillfully crafted box. The design was Mandalorian, but it wasn't native to this box; it was carved on. By the time she was able to pay attention to the world around her once more, Jango was already up and leaving, causing that old panic reflex that came whenever she saw and knew he was going to disappear again. The box was forgotten on the plush cushions of the couch where they once sat, and Shaak was up chasing Jango once more.  

She found herself ensnared in his tight grip, her heart aching to plead with him to linger and explain these cryptic messages that left her feeling scared and uneasy. However, before she could utter a word, her voice was stifled by a tender and longing kiss—a kiss that would ultimately be their first and last. This kiss was the only true, solid evidence of his love. One she could be sure of.  

“I love you, Jedi Master Shaak Ti." The declaration took Shaak’s ability to think, but Jango had more to say; he couldn't leave just yet. “Whatever I do, please forgive me. Whatever I leave behind, promise me you’ll finish it.” 

“Jango…” Shaak, utterly and truly, was at a loss for words. Jango had been set on living, especially for his son, but it sounded to her as if this was his deathbed confession.  

“Listen to me, Shaak; promise me you’ll forgive me, and that when it’s all over, you’ll understand. You're the only one who understands; we’ve always been on each other’s sides. Shaak, promise me you’ll love them. Promise me you won’t let them suffer because of my sins.”  

Shaak’s breathing was labored, and her eyes shot so wide that one might think she turned to stone. There was always an underlying method to what Jango was doing; was the kiss a distraction? Was this all for a confession of guilt?  

“Remember that I love you, if nothing else.”  

And like that, he was gone. 

—

“It’s a transmission from Master Kenobi.”  

Shaak’s heart dropped to her stomach the moment Obi-Wan’s static image came through; he looked like a cold, soaked rat standing out on Kamino. He came bearing information that she had been dreading.  

It was all too coincidental—Jango showing up and then the news of Padme’s failed assassination the next morning. There was no direct link to Jango until now, but Shaak still knew it was all him. She knew him too well, and it made her sick. Shaak was also assigned to look into whoever this bounty hunter might be, at the same time as Obi-Wan; the difference between them is that he tried. Shaak would have covered up his tracks so that it was harder to find him, had she been crazy enough, but even if, all records of him were wiped clean. Whether it was the Mandalorian’s shaming him or it was the Republic forgetting his existence, all of it was gone.  

It seemed the only person who knew Jango was Shaak. But even Obi-Wan found him quicker than she did. Maybe she knew nothing about him at all.  

Time seemed to have stopped the moment Kenobi unveiled the secret of Jango. Shaak was given little time to prepare herself for the war ahead. Kenbobi was going after him in the hopes of catching him and bringing him to the Jedi Temple for questioning. If he could be brought here, she could keep him safe and close. 

Before leaving, the silver box caught her eye, tucked away on a desk in her room, practically calling her name. Shaak figured this was what Jango meant by “right time." She ran her hand down the front of the carved box one last time, recalling every sweet memory of Jango. When she opened it, she was greeted with a Togruta-Mandalorian-styled headdress. It was a beautifully carved piece of gold that was adorned with beads and different wrapped metals, with two strings that hung down on either side. The circle sat in the middle of her forehead, circled with small blue crystals. The top was lined with teeth from a beast she killed long ago, keeping its teeth as a trophy as per Togruta tradition, but... she had thought she lost those teeth a long time ago.  

The blue was to represent Jango; she knew that much about the cocky man that he was.  

It was beautiful. A true piece of art. A mix of both their cultures. 

Maybe it was a symbol of what could have been, but Shaak didn't dwell on it now; she left the contents of the note he left behind in the box—far far in the back of her mind. For now, she had to forget about him and focus on going with Master Yoda to assess the mess he left behind. 

—

Kamino was filled with thousands upon thousands of boys and men who looked exactly like Jango. Suddenly, Shaak understood why Boba looked the way he did.  

They all looked like him, save for some DNA mutations, but even then, they were still noticeable. It was a horrific scene. The past years all made sense now; Jango must have gone crazy here. Shaak could only imagine the mental perils it put him through. Her poor boy...  

The Prime Minister, Lama Su, told Master Yoda that they were an army. Specially made, bred for combat, and more docile and gentle than Jango could ever be after all the horrors he’d seen. But they weren't spared from that. They weren't men; they were children being bred for a battlefield; they were all the possibilities that could have been... Now Jango had put their heads on the chopping block—the same way he had been. Shaak’s lower stomach began to hurt. She looked at all their faces, looking straight back at her. Every version of Jango was staring her dead in the face, searching for some sort of kind hand. Searching for a father or a mother.  

This is what mothers felt when they watched their sons be sent off to war. She understood why parents were so fearful and sad about giving up their children to be raised by the Jedi. She understood what Jango had felt at that moment, looking at the picture of Boba.  

It wasn't fair. None of it. From the moment Jango’s life was ripped apart to the moment he sentenced his children to die, Children will always die in war, and Jango chose not to break that cycle. Instead, he left the responsibility of thousands of children—children that could have been theirs—and cursed her to watch them file out and die. To never come home. For their bodies to be littered around the galaxy. 

Shaak’s body cramped, her hand gripping her stomach, but still she stood tall. 

“Hello!” A small voice piped up behind her, causing her to turn away from the balcony that overlooked the clones. Now starting to file in at Master Yoda’s order.  

She turned only to see a small girl with a mass of blond, curly hair. Now Shaak understood why Jango looked so tormented. Arla had come back to haunt him.  

“My name’s Omega,” she waved awkwardly, giving a small wave. “I heard you're a Jedi and that you’ve come to start working with my brothers.”

Shaak’s throat clenched, and she choked back a sob. The girl, Omega, brought Shaak to her knees, her eyes and heart growing softer and more forgiving. She must have been the same age as Boba, perhaps a twin. Shaak could only sigh and try not to cry. 

“My name is Jedi Master Shaak Ti, and you are the correct little one. The Jedi have arrived.” Shaak tried her best to sound calm and noble, but there was nothing noble about the act to follow.  

She turned around to face the large crowd of sons; there had to be at least millions in this facility alone, and more being made.  This was her responsibility; this is what Jango had meant; it was why he had to be cryptic. He’s created an army, and he’s made sure that his face haunts the galaxy long after his death. A curse she also shares now. Shaak watched as they marched, saluted, gathered their armor, and filed away for war. There was an ominous feeling in the air—something heavy and evil, but just on the outside of it all. Either way, these are her children now. They shared a common sadness as well; Jango abandoned her too. 

Now it was time to confront him. 

—

Shaak landed as soon as the fighting started. They hadn’t even touched the sandy ground, and her squad of clones were already fiercely loyal, maybe... It was just something in their blood.  

From the moment she stepped out of the gunship, Shaak was closed off from her feelings. There was only the force. This was the first battle, and the clones were bred for this battle. Not only by the Kaminoans, but she made it known to them that they were Mandalorians, humans, and warriors. Not science experiments, not clones. 

“You have the blood of conquerors in your veins; even if you can’t be proud of Jango, be proud of the Fett name.”  

War speech couldn’t stop the first son from falling or the second, but they continued to move. Like true Mandalorians. They deserved every title and every ownership of their culture; Shaak would make sure of it. It inspired Shaak enough to move through the battle droids like they were nothing, but even zoning in on battle could not stop her eyes from locking in on Mace Windu’s lightsaber. The purple was visa versa from across the battlefield.  

It was obvious that Mace Windu should be the one to do it; Shaak couldn’t. She would not be able to even raise her lightsaber to him, never mind strike him down. Mace would be the one to do it; that way, Jango would die for good.  

Shaak heard his jetpack over his head; the roar of it was loud and sent a shiver down Shaak’s back. She knew what was to come. Mace is going to kill him. Mace is going to kill Jango, and Shaak can do nothing about it.

‘I know he deserves it, but please, save the boy that was... please give him a break.’ Shaak lay on her knees, her forehead pressed against the floor, tears pooling on the marble below her. She’s been praying to the Force for so long that she doesn't even know if it's worth it anymore.  

‘He’s not lost yet; I know it; he’s just confused... He’s fought for too long; he’s seen too much to forgive... Just give him to me; I will keep him in one place, please.”

She watched one blaster bullet go, then the next. He always thought he could face Jedi head-on alone. 

“Shaak, 

I don’t write letters. I thought you knew that. But I know physical means more to you, and after this, maybe you would want a copy of my writing. One last keepsake. 

I know you’ll be mad at me about the clones, but you’ll understand. Soon. You’re the only one who will, and you are the only one who can justify my actions. That is, if you can forgive me. When the end nears, remember how I taught you to survive. 

I know what you thought when I told you about Boba. But, in truth, I don’t think I could have done it with anyone else. Not anyone but you. I’d make a joke about weird alien children, but you never liked those. You never liked a lot of my jokes, but I guess I was a jackass back then. Please watch over Boba. If he’s anything like me, he’s going to be so angry that you won’t be able to get through to him. Please don’t hold it against them; he’s a sweet boy. 

The clones are yours now. I expect you adopted them the moment you saw them. I’m sorry. 

I love you. In my own twisted way, I wanted to. I was scared. I’ve never been scared. I don’t know if we’ll be in the same afterlife, but I will find you. Over and over again, I will show up. 

You always talked about a normal world. Where you would be, there would be no one, and I’d still be a prince. I still would have found you.

You would have made a fair queen.

With Love,

Jango”

He died quickly.  

Shaak watched Mace raise his saber and slice his head right off. 

Jango always thought he could defeat them head-on.  

“You’re so stupid... you stupid kid.”  

Shaak buried his body with Boba. She held his strong hand one last time, laid her head on his chest, and listened for a heartbeat that wasn't there. She still denied the fact that his head was no longer attached to his body.  

She couldn't look at his face.  

His once handsome face, now stone cold, has been sunken in with death. It didn't look good on him, Shaak cried. He was meant to be in the sun; he was meant to be back on his farm—a King of Mandalore—anything but this. Everything he was, every experience he fought so hard to love through, ended with a quick lightsaber to the neck. Everything Shaak had loved was gone in mere seconds.  

Their time together flashed through her eyes as she lay there with her head on his still chest, crying. He had saved her, and she had done everything in her power to always be there to save him—but not this time. She knew he was up for the slaughter this time and did nothing. She watched. Shaak could feel her heart dying. If this is what love was, if this is what the Jedi meant, then she did not want it. The man who had cursed her to forever watch her sons die in war has died himself.  

The two buried him, an unofficial mother and son, burying the father. It was over. The storm has calmed, and his rage is over. 

“Boba–” Shaak tried to embrace the boy, but he only smacked her hands away.  

He ran. Angry, tears in his eyes, Boba ran. Just like his father.

[kyndaris]

Memoirs of a Blogger

After the rain-heavy day that was Tuesday, the 12th of March, the sun was quick to come out on Wednesday, the 13th. And what a glorious day it was! Bleachpanda and I enjoyed another breakfast of grilled cheese toasties at the bakery at our hotel before venturing to Shinjuku station in order to take the train to Skytree. Though we had to transfer once, the ride was fairly smooth and we arrived at Oshiage station shortly after 10 AM.

As we ascended up to the department store to the Skytree counter, I did get distracted by the Kirby cafe, the Pokemon Centre and a ton of other shops including Doraemon and a pop-up store for Poppy Playtime. Not that I play Poppy Playtime but I've definitely been exposed to some of the lore from watching Game Theory on YouTube (it still feels oh so very raw with Matthew Patrick leaving but I think Tom is a suitable replacement). In fact, there was also Poppy Playtime and other indie mascot horror game merchandise in South Korea too.

Once we secured our tickets to go up, bleachpanda and I waited for our allotted time to head up to the observation deck. Once there, it felt like all of Tokyo was laid out beneath our feet. But what was more amazing was the sight of Mount Fuji in the distance.

I'd originally planned to head out to Kawaguchiko to take some scenic shots of the infamous volcano but given how long it would take to get there, I was happy I could cross out seeing Mount Fuji right in the heart of Tokyo.

Still, I wouldn't be opposed to visiting Kawaguchiko or Hakone if I were to head to Japan again. There's something about being surrounded by nature and snapping a shot of an iconic landmark that calls to me. Of course, Mount Fuji is also known for being notoriously elusive even on good days because of cloud cover or fog. So, it was a rare sight indeed for me to glimpse it. Both at the normal observatory and also up high at the Tembo Galleria.

Heck, we even took a photo too! And got mini versions of the tower through the gacha machine. Mine would turn yellow, which, according to the various descriptions of the lighting for Tokyo Skytree is considered a sign of good luck, with its illumination emphasising liveliness.

To commemorate the event of sighting Mount Fuji from on high, bleachpanda and I enjoyed a parfait each at the Sky Tree cafe as we soaked in the sight. After all, we were here on holiday and we didn't have an intense itinerary to hit every stop. And honestly, it works out well. There isn't too much stress and we can go at our own pace to see what we want without feeling the pressure of missing out on something important.

It helped, too, that bleachpanda and I had already visited Japan in the past and felt that some of the sights didn't need another visit.

After we enjoyed our snack at 345 metres above sea level, we returned back down to Earth and tried some shrimp prawn broth ramen before heading to Asakusa.

Asakusa is a historic neighbourhood located in Tokyo and it's a popular tourist destination because of its unique blend of traditional and modern cultures. This was prevalent with the number of street-food stalls, traditional craft shops and rickshaws in the region. It also, more importantly, had areas to rent a kimono.

Since bleachpanda and I had the good fortune to rent a hanbok while we were in South Korea, I couldn't resist the idea of trying on a kimono while here and taking them out for a spin. I went with a tasteful purple kimono with a yellow/ gold obi while bleachpanda wore a multicoloured one with shades of blue, yellow and pink. Once attired, we headed down to Senso-ji temple, visiting the shops and stalls as we did so.

We even, to my surprise, had someone ask if they could take a photo with us. So, if you ever see two Asian ladies and a Latina woman in the heart of Asakusa on social media, it might be the two of us. Indeed, we later spotted the mother and son duo (the son took the photo) as we headed down Nakamise-dori street towards Senso-ji temple.

So, yes, here's ANOTHER photo of the back of my head:

Unfortunately, we weren't able to stay in our kimonos for long and after almost two hours, we had to return to the shop: Silk in order to return them before 5 PM. Afterwards, we were joined by my two Australian friends, who had just missed out on seeing me and bleachpanda rocking our kimonos (although I did send them photos). They were meant to be our professional photographers for the day but alas had got caught up in their own touristy itinerary they had meticulously planned to get the most out of their trip.

And after another wander around Senso-ji temple, the four of us went for dinner at a local restaurant. Full on Italian pizza and pasta, bleachpanda and I called it a night and returned to our hotel. My other two friends would be heading to Hakone the next day and be continuing on their Japan adventure as bleachpanda and mine's was drawing to a close.

Still, the morrow was full of promises to be just as action-packed. And after nearly three weeks overseas, bleachpanda and I would need to dig deep into our energy reserves to keep the momentum going before our inevitable return back home.

A fact which saddened me as I went to bed for the night.

Yokohama, here we come!

[mythawolf]

My pitch for a Zelda Game - Part 1

A few hours before I wrote this sentence, I read the ‘Legend of Zelda: Clockwork Empire' by Dresden Codak. Now I give you my pitch for a game.

Disclaimer: I have only played Breath of the Wild and a little bit of Ocarina of Time (and OOT was a few years ago, mind). Plus, I’m not the biggest expert on Zelda lore (I know a little bit but that’s it) so bear with me if you please. Also, i don't own BOTW, this is just ideas.

To my knowledge, a Zelda game is always in a mediaeval setting. There’s nothing wrong with that, but why not fast-forward a little? How far, you ask? Not as far as the 21st century. I’m talking about the Early Modern period, something like the late 1700s-early 1800s mixed with the mediaeval vibe and setting we are so used to.

We open with a cutscene. A slow look around Zelda’s room )similar to the start of Spider-man PS4) at Hyrule Castle. Pictures and paintings of her father, her mother and her nerdy interests. Scientific Journals, stuff like that.

Suddenly, King Rhoam is shaking her to wake up. He tells her that the soldiers of the Ganon Empire (who they have been at war with) are inside the walls and that she must leave at once. She protests, but he insists.

The first part of the gameplay tutorial begins. Rhoam gives her a dagger and tells her to run. Zelda is at first accompanied by guards who are immediately cut down by soldiers who look a lot like this but with different colours, no fancy wigs maybe a bit more armour and perhaps a smidge of dark magic empowerment:

If the player tries to fight the highly trained soldiers while playing as a fairly trained (I mean, Zelda is a Princess. She’s got to have had at least a little training, but still) 17 and ½ year-old wearing a nightdress who doesn’t get out much, they will die, because guns. As they run to the stables, they see a soldier ruthlessly shoot a pleading child. This is where the melee fighting tutorial begins.

Yeah, the tone is pretty heavy to start with.

The stable master runs up, saying ‘That poor boy! Princess, you must run!’ then they give brief instructions on how to ride a horse (which is pretty much the same as BOTW). The player can go back for instructions at any time.

As they ride out, the camera shifts to see the rest of the castle on fire and Rhoam fighting for his life.

With little choice, Zelda rides away into the nearby Kokori forest. 

CUTSCENE TIME!!

Zelda gets off her horse and takes a breather to find that some Bokoblins are heading towards her.

She draws her knife and attempts to fight back, but one of them wacks her with its bat and knocks her to the floor. After a quick shot of her seeing double, she puts up her hand to protect herself and suddenly a golden light glows from it, before sputtering and promptly dying. 

She notices some arrows being fried at the creatures before everything turns black and her head hits the ground.

She wakes up in circular, wooden room. She exits the curtain door to finds herself in a Kokori City, a large village of tree-homes, walkways and bridges.

She’s told by a guard waiting outside the hut to go to Elder’s hut, which is basically the largest building. The Village Elders grill her on what happened (perhaps here we have the opportunity to use some elements from a Telltale game in her replies that affect the game later). 

The conversation between the Elders about what to do quickly descends into petty bickering (because politicians).

Suddenly, Link appears behind her, startling Zelda. More telltale-game dialogue choice ensues, to every question Link either doesn’t say much or says nothing at all (I know not speaking is pretty much part of his character but he can canonically talk so let’s just make it so he doesn’t talk that much?) and then says ‘Come’.

Link’s basically like ‘I believe you. Ganondorf’s Army will soon take over the rest of the Kingdom. He must be stopped, but the Elders are mindless fools.’  He says that he will try and sway them, proceeding to refuse to elaborate and leave.

Then in comes Saria, who introduces herself as a childhood friend of link. She apologises for his refusal to elaborate, as he doesn’t talk much. She explains that she and Link rescued Zelda from the bokoblins and that golden light was magic. She advises her to head to the Sheikah to learn magic, as they were the last to be able to use magic. She leads Zelda to the training area and teaches her the basics of combat (more tutorial time) before giving Zelda a map of some of Hyrule (with the location on in the form of an ‘X’. can’t go wrong with the classics), a recipe book, a bow, some arrows and a Kokori sword. She then wishes her on her way, telling her she needs to convince the people of the village.

The player can now take the opportunity to explore the village. It’s shops, training area and stuff like that. 

I’ll leave the story there for now. The gameplay is basically the same as BOTW (like the controls, combat, and living off the land) apart from a few major differences (magic instead of a Sheikah slate, and the ‘Sheikah Slate Ability Select Button’ can later be used to select a spell). Zelda can use weapons, having had some training. 

Guns (flintlock muskets) can be picked up and used. They do massive amounts of damage but they take ages to reload and possibly have a chance to misfire. You can also switch to stabby mode or shooty mode. And different types of handheld bladed weapons like swords have different fighting styles (cutlass, rapier, broadsword, etc). Plus, there is also the idea for leading armies or small platoons of troops (which I may elaborate on in the next one).

A quick note: Guardians are buried all around the kingdom (and in some towns and villages are used as local decorations). Does this mean something?

Finally, I would like to point out the books given to Zelda are in the ‘Books’ section of your inventory. Something that’s in it from the start is ‘Zelda’s journal’. It essentially details the last few months. It goes like: 

‘Father got me some books today. A brand-new thesis on why the Sheikah went into hiding. I heard some of the war Generals say that some far-off Empire has suddenly invaded our neighbours.’ 

A couple days later ‘The Invaders arrived at our borders. Fleeing refugees say they have advanced weaponry, and powerful magicians. Father has sent diplomats and some of the army to try and resolve this, but I worry - most of the army is stretched out across the kingdom, fighting monsters like Bokoblins.’

‘The diplomats have returned - or at least, their heads have. It’s war.’

‘Father’s already greying hair has turned completely white. The Generals say that the troops are terrified of the enemy’s magic, and the weapons they use (which are apparently called ‘guns’). If only the Sheikah hadn’t taken their secrets after the magic purge. Then we might stand a better chance. Still, we’ll beat them… right?’

‘The enemy is already at our gates after only three months. Father would have sent me away sooner, but I have been gravely ill until yesterday. Our castle is protected by ancient enchantments, but many fear that isn’t enough. Even I fear we may lose.’

I hope you all enjoyed this! I plan to do more of these (with more research done and actual planning). This is all just a bunch of ideas mashed together in a few hours. Farewell!

[somehowmags]

i NEED to grip and shake you like a salt and pepper shaker tumblr user somehowmags cause im so insane about rook i need to talk about him I MISS HIM SO MUCH RHAHSHSGSGDYSHSHAHSHH but this cookie hits so im not gonna talk about him now. also im really hyped for the possibility of a book 8 wherein there's a grim overblot and they explore yuu's arc and their role in twisted wonderland, their backstory, mickeys involvement, and what lies ahead for them. i just can't grasp that twisted wonderland might end after book 7 because you can't do that to me. you can't end my mental illness :/ drop more lore like it's a pumpkin in MY enclosure. i intended for my twst mc to be based off alice liddell in American McGee's Alice but canon yuu takes such a big backseat in the overall story i have to think my thunk so much about my own mc's respective role in the lore and ongoing story and it hurts. the curse of needing to have a girlboss mc

WAUBLBLGLGLBLBGLGBL <- me being shaken like a salt and pepper shaker

HONESTLY I DON'T THINK THEY'LL END IT AFTER BOOK 7!!! they've set up rsa and that upcoming tournament between the two schools already, and we still don't know what the monster in the beginning that looks like grim is, and we still don't know what mickey's deal is! (everytime i remember that mickey mouse is in this game i have to sit down and put my head in my hands for a lil bit. what the fuck man. it feels more jarring than him being in kingdom hearts for some reason asdkljhjalsdf) storywise, there's still a lot to get to! also, i get the feeling that they'll want to show the twst versions of the disney princesses as well which i personally would be very excited to see and also maybe even the fourth year students!

and on the cynical side of things...gacha games are really popular right now, and i think disney will milk the cash cow for all its worth for as long as they can. sure, twst isn't as popular as, like, genshin impact, but its still fairly popular in its own right, and im sure theyre making a pretty penny off of it. and what keeps people coming back is story and character. (granted, im sure it would get more popular and therefore more profitable if they'd just fucking release it in more regions but. well. im not being paid to advise disney on shit lmao. if i was we would already be able to buy those 60 dollar jumbo plushies in the us and i would have a gazillion of them) but also story heavy mobile games tend to run for a long time anyways- like, fire emblem heroes came out in 2017 (holy shit that came out in 2017????) and it's STILL releasing its story. basically do not underestimate corporate greed

but in the interest of not being a total hater i also trust in yana toboso's writing here. for the problems that i have with her (and by problems i mean whatever criticisms i had from the last time i read black butler in like 2018 aklsjdffhalksdhldfhk) she is a good writer and black butler has been continually published since. holy shit i just checked wikipedia its literally been published since 2006 LMAO THAT'S WILD so i don't think the story will be running out for a while!

[blackwaxidol]

"after ifinished talking" addendum. for some reason this is just a very very very lengthy diatribe of recalling my day. my head has cleared up. i think i had a weird panic attack and too much medication which i am understanding tends to mess with my head. my body doesn't feel /great/ but it is better than it was.

whatever it is fine. we talked about lore for a while, regarding the Traveler and such. she told me the Witness was running a Pyramid scheme, quite literally. she complains a lot about the gamers on twitter who bemoan the "lack of things to do" when they have ran the game into the dirt without a piss break. we looked around the Veil Containment scenery for a while. she concurs that Neomuna is a fairly deep map, which is true. i did the last two missions for her and we discussed Strand for a while. we have a fairly lengthy discussion about the Cloud Striders. we also discuss the Traveler, the Witness, the fact that the doppelgänger in the Beyond cutscene steepled their fingers in the exact same way the Witness does. we talked about Savathûn and her attempt to contain the Traveler, how it would be "safe". we stared at the strange portal bored into the Traveler and discussed our Guardian's choices for a while. it is obvious why a Guardian would stop Savathûn, but the ambiguous possibility of having sealed the Traveler's fate because of it is interesting to consider.

for a while i make my vendetta against Poukas known, having dubbed them "rip-off merchants" (previously we joked that we were funding Ikora's yacht with her subclass glimmer prices). i congratulate her for her impressive 1,300 Strand Meditations because i know she is about to lose them all. she is introduced to the Pouka's obscene Strand pricetags, i pick out some more "passive" Fragments for her because i know her playstyle (she does not take in global chat—buffs, debuffs, etc—very well, so i choose things that do not rely heavily on that information). we joke about the "suspend" effect of Strand for a while, she is familiar with Valin (i refer to him as "my boy") and correctly suggests that he would enjoy the suspend effect in. other ways. i gripe about the Poukas again and say that Valin would turn them (their fins) into a coat. she also points out that the Warlock's Strand ball in the subclass background looks like a mozzarella ball.

"do you want the bondage grenade?" is a word arrangement i wasn't aware i would say. she did, so it is now part of her Strand loadout. i have given her a Suspend-heavy loadout. i have not tried Suspend myself, but after getting around to reading the fragements and such i imagine i would get more use out of Strand if i trained with it. it's also too in-character for Valin for me to pass up.

she is using some loadouts i suggested for her and she has gotten much better at playing which i am genuinely happy to see. she uses glaive shields properly (today she told me that it saved her from being killed by a Vex deletion wall which. i did not know it could do) so she is dying far less. she rips through bosses with the Xenophage i got for her, it is far superior to pissing about with a rocket launcher. i am encouraging her to be more adventurous with her loadouts and techniques and to pay attention to weapon perks. i often explain what i am doing when i am doing something like using a relic, i explain what enemies are doing and how they function if they are doing some weird shit.

her biggest pitfall is that she has some inability on a a neurological level to map out where she is, in the same way i cannot ever remember a face. i forget the term. i know when something will cause her to get turned around so i often tell her to look in the direction of an exit before she finishes a sentence, so that she does not get lost after she finishes talking. "getting lost" can quite literally be "walking slightly into a corner".

last night i scrawled a message to my clan leader asking him to please accept my mother's request to join because she's been clanless for like a week. (it might as well be a year, utter engramless sinking ship of an old clan).

i always default to matching sociolect (i will never talk "like this" to randoms) so my message to him was informed by me scrolling through clan chat to get an idea of how he talks. a "hey", some abbreviations, a third person they instead of she (because i don't trust gamer men to be normal), an "👁👁👍" at the end... the invite is accepted. whee. what a social butterfly i am.

[cherryrollarts]

Von Kaiser Headcanon Post

Been wanting to share all my Kaiser headcanons and also just kinda wanted a place to put them so I could look at them when needed. However, here is somewhat of a masterpost for all my Kaiser headcanons, and the backstory I wrote for him.

I should explain that my canon for the Punch-Out!! lore is the timeline being in somewhat modern day but with the early 2000s/late 90s aesthetic.

Putting a TW bc there are some heavy topics, as well as I'll be putting everything under a cut because there's a lot, enjoy!

TW: mentions of abuse, war, alcohol, and violence

So, firstly, I'd like to put down that I do have a Punch-Out!! oc who is one of Kaiser's closest friends, however, I will most likely not talk abt him in this post, as this is just pertaining to Kaiser only.

Anyways, lets start with his backstory that I have written up!

-Kaiser was an only child born from a somewhat uneasy marriage. Kaiser was raised fairly strictly by both his father and mother and never really got along too well with others, he has always been a bit rowdy and overly confident which was most likely his way of dealing with the beatings and verbal harassment he received from, primarily, his father. He was taught this was to build character and make him stronger and become a good man in the future. However, this has pretty obviously done the opposite. Von Kaiser was fairly young when his father entered the war and soon after he was forced to do all the jobs his father had done at home. The war lasted about 5 years and by the end of it, his mother and him had received the news that Kaiser's father had died. His mother became incredibly strict and even more aggressive and careless than his father had been. He was trained to become a passionate soldier of a person. To value serving others, to respect authority and be willing to take punishment and pain for the good of the country, for the good of his family. Kaiser was about 17 when he had gotten a job and realized how little his social skills had improved. He had an incredibly hard time completing tasks and talking to others and oftentimes came off as rude, loud, brass and aggressive. No matter how hard he tried he never managed to make many friends. As he began his early 20s Germany had gotten into another war and he was expected to serve. He was proud to be of use to his country and was hungry to be on the battlefield. But as we all know, war isn't playful and is hardly ever fair. Kaiser was returned home, one of the lucky ones, but he was not the same man as before. He struggled more than ever to keep conversations, make connections and complete basic social tasks. His eyes had gone foggy, his body beyond tired and his mind more than clouded. Even so he powered on. He was incredibly grateful to be alive, he shouldn't have been acting so immature and childish, what is this worry that fogged his mind? It’s simply cowardice, it was pathetic for a man like him to be behaving in such a way. Disgusting even. All these horribly damaging ideas rang in his head, he had been told them from strangers, from acquaintances and especially from his mother. A man cannot cope like this, so he turned to alcohol to numb his thoughts. Although it had never grown into addiction, he still drank heavily during this time. 10 years of this pain, of this mental anguish poisoning not only his emotions toward himself but toward his mother. Even so, he could never stand up to that woman. She had the power to make him collapse and beg for forgiveness, cry for hours and endure the beatings she’d give him. This furthered his ptsd, he hadn’t ever been diagnosed until much later but it was clear he was suffering. As years went on, he managed to find work and was fairly well off. A former soldier had pointed him toward the military academy and suggested he work as a boxing instructor for the children at the base. He agreed, eager to help children become as disciplined and well taught as him! He was an encouraging teacher, though fairly strict. He found joy in his work for once, and was happy to do this for years. Soon after, his own skills were noticed by many and he was frequently told to try out for the WVBA. Kaiser was excited and cocky, ready to show off his skills and ride to the top. However, despite his training he only managed to secure a spot as #2 in the Minor Circuit. This initially bothered him, but he soon realized it gave him the ability to continue teaching the boxing course at the academy. He moved to Berlin shortly before joining the WVBA and has grown distant from his mother. -

There it is! I have more headcanons going into this, but I wanna explain a few points in his backstory.

-Kaiser's real name is Hans Braun.

-His mother and father had married fairly early in their lives, early 20s, and had Kaiser a year after that. Although Kaiser is in his 40s, his mother is only in her 60s.

-Kaiser was diagnosed with PTSD far into his life, I'd say when he was in his mid/late 30s. He has learned many healthy coping mechanisms, but sometimes he struggles, of course.

-Really doesn't mind being in the rank he is now. he's happy for doing all he can and is excited that this gives him more time to teach his students. He loves finding purpose in teaching these children about self defense than his professional career.

-Due to his personality and such, it was a bit hard for him to make friends in the WVBA, though Soda and Disco Kid/the rest of the Minor Circuit have always been very kind to him, moreso Soda.

Now onto other headcanons that don't have a place in his backstory.

-Kaiser is autistic. He was diagnosed after his PTSD diagnosis and he struggled at first with learning and coming to terms with it, but now he's relatively okay with it. Still learning.

-Some art illustrating his stimming traits and such, most are based off in-game animations from his Wii appearence. His special interests are wwii russian and german tanks, as well as, combat boots. (reminder to not infantalize him by calling his stimming 'cute' hes a grown man after all)

-Kaiser is Aro/Ace. Uses he/him pronouns. He has never really shown any interest in romantic or sexual relationships with anyone, and prefers to keep it that way. He likes training a fair bit more.

-Genuinely cares for all of his boxing students and will happily pay out of pocket for any supplies or tools needed for classes. He understands students could be dealign with anything and is understanding to all's trials. Is very accomodating.

-He can cook. Barely. Same goes for singing. His cooking ability was stoked by his students, so now he makes them fresh soups in the winter and refreshing salads in the summer. Though he can sing fairly okay in some instances, he doesn't ever really enjoy it.

-Reads a quite a lot, loves literature especially historical nonfiction. Enjoys information based texts rather than personal accounts.

-Isn't good at using the internet, but has a good grasp on using his dinky little phone, isn't too active on social media or anything.

This should be it for now, I will add anything that I find interesting to add or talk about, feel free to ask questions abt all this too!! Thank you for reading I know I wrote a lot, I'm hoping to do something like this for other boxers I love!!

[doodlesfromthebird]

(1/3) Previous question-asker here! Thx for giving such a detailed answer - I’ll refer back to this post when I get stuck. Im a lil baby writer - my art skills r more developed, but when it comes 2 making characters, theyre usually for stories I wanna write. Someday. Writing's hard. & I think it’s cool that one of the tips you gave was to interview your characters - my current fav OC group are all in a band, and when I first came up with them I pretended to interview them for a music magazine X)

(2/3) Plot’s a struggle for me too - tbh, the reason I started developing my OCs/worlds more was bc I tried to write a story plot-first, & ran into a brick wall bc I didn’t know the characters or setting that well. With that in mind, how do u know when ur done? When is a character or setting complete enough to write about? Theoretically you could just keep going forever, but do u have any markers you use 2 figure out when an aspect of character creation or worldbuilding is “finished”?

(3/3) [srry for sending so many asks omg, the character limit is ramble-phobic] but thank you for including those worldbuilding prompts!! They're exactly what I needed. You’ve inspired me to make a little guide for myself on character/design, trope and setting stuff that I think is cool, so that I can go back to it when I need new ideas. Thanks again, happy late birthday and good luck with whatever you decide to do with the Spiral universe! No need to apologize at all! I really enjoy the discussion!

I've always been character first, handwave plot for a few years until it puzzle pieces together into...something. Nothing water tight, but something I can at least give a semi in-depth synopsis of *most* of the things that go on in the story lol

I think its SO COOL that you gave your band-members a little interview for a music magazine -- that's exactly what I'm talkin about! And so fun, too!! And it sounds like it'd be something that would end up in the world itself, which is perfect.

"When is a character complete enough to write about?" I definitely recommend keeping an eye out on advice from your fellow writers, but... I personally think you can go on as much as you'd like to! As long as it hasn't become an excuse to delay in actually sitting down and writing for them in your story. (like ME lmao) Because sometimes smaller details just end up filling themselves in as you go along. I think you're fairly set if you have a good grasp on their personality, how they would react in a varying level of situations, what their goals, wants and fears are (and what have they experienced to have those develop) You may even want to write a character-focused little one-shot separate from the story that would help feel things out, while also establishing a mundane or significant moment in their lives, independently from everything else. This goes for multiple characters who are like a package deal. Like a pairing or a close-knit team that influence each others lives. Maybe even to convince you that the character is who you say they are. Like, it's one thing to say a character's charming, it's another to write about a moment where they're interacting with others in a way you actually find endearing and likable to back that up in your own head. Even while I was writing a rough script for a scene in a potential web-comic idea for Damian and Rio (the merman and vampire) a lot of small things started falling into place about the characters and world-building just started to SPRING FORTH, and I only had a general idea on how the scene would have gone, with key moments. From writing dialogue and character actions on the fly, I discovered: more about both characters body language, vampire lore and more how vampires function, a solid example of what an emotionally heavy conversation looks between the two of them, and more examples that convinced me of the chemistry between the two of them, in ways that I wanted.

Sometimes you get caught up in a creative current and suddenly you've blasted through like 3 pages of ideas. This goes for world-building too because characters are so frequently affected by the world around them in various ways. World-building is often something I overthink and I end up a fretting over about a lot of things that probably would be cumbersome to list in grand detail about anyway, but sometimes its fun to just think about, y'know? and if you're having fun then that's all that really matters. I'd say a general knowledge of what a general day of living in this world would look like, and maybe how it would affect the people living there long-term. What really sets the stage and how does it change over time, if at all. What makes waves and changes what was normal in either the world at large or for your characters.

The thing that personally always stumps me is structures of power and politics, and those are often times the real gear grinders of stories.

BAH I'M RAMBLING, MYSELF. I honestly wish you the best of luck with your characters and worldbuilding and I truly can't wait for you to fall in love with them. More than anything, try to be easy on yourself and the process and start with what brings you the most joy. Everything else will follow. Thank you so much for the birthday wishes!! :3

[viridiave]

Daylight Prairie- Creatures of the Light (lore dump)

I've had a couple of theories and headcanons stirring around my head regarding Prairie for a while now- so right here we're gonna tie some of them together cuz I haven't lored in a good long while XD

Note- btw I'm not part of beta so this is purely just me- a crackhead- putting together a crackpot narrative. SOME spoilers for Eden are present.

<THE CEREMONIAL WORSHIPPERS>

okay these guys drive me fucking nuts

We barely know anything about these guys- and what little we do know is derived purely from their closed off uh... Worshipping space. Look at this freaking thing.

In the middle of nowhere. Surrounded by clouds for miles. Fairly advanced diamond technology. Altars with graves decked out in gold and candles. The mechanism for the entrance to the elevator to begin with is fairly complex as well- activated by butterflies and the butterflies don't even die in the process. And to top everything off, this place has a portal that leads directly to the Prairie Temple.

If this isn't sus I don't know what is- but I think I have an explanation.

There are six spaces for six more people that we are not aware of. The only people we DO know of is one bald person in the short garb and another bald person in the long garb. I propose that these six missing people are the Whisperers.

Which is... pretty out there, I know. Counting the 'voices' that we get in game, (including the ones from previous Seasons like Lightseekers and Sanctuary) we have one for Birds, Whales, Mantas, Memories, Crabs, and Jellyfish. For now, we're not counting either Butterflies or Krill- and I'll explain why in a bit.

As for the initial proposition that these Whisperers are the missing six, first we need to ask ourselves what exactly it was that the Worshippers were... worshipping. There is a possible god of which we see in game, and the name of this god is the Megabird.

Megabird here was heavily present in concepts, and in the final product we only ever get to see traces of her and heck to this day we're not sure if she's a canon entity in the final game at all. Megabird as an entity in the concepts is basically the god overseeing the world of Sky and is comprised entirely of light. It's unclear whether or not the Ancestors were aware of her existence after or even before the King rose to power. The Elders themselves are likely privy to this information, but somehow I doubt that it's something anyone wanting to assert control over their people would encourage.

There's certainly the possibility that these Worshippers were a religious sect dedicated to the Elders themselves- but since I'm here trying to propose that they're worshipping something tangential to the possible actual god, we're going to assume this isn't the case. On that note-

<THE WORSHIPPERS WERE DEVOUT TO LIGHT ITSELF>

I propose that the Ceremonial Worshippers valued the Light above all else- and this worship was extended towards the light creatures themselves.

'Oi. Vir. Crabs are DARK Creatures.'

Not all of them. Heck, a dark crab might not have been the norm back then, but that's a stretch and besides- the fact is that these crabs on the far end of Sanctuary are docile.

Keep in mind that these followers were stationed in Prairie, of all places. You know what else is in Prairie? Sanctuary Isles- home to several kinds of manta, butterflies, jellyfish, and even the elusive Elder Manta (yes that's what the big chonky boi that looks like a light krill is called- it's not a whale.).  Daylight Prairie is in no shortage of light creatures- and at the center of it all is its Elder.

Prairie Elder is implied to have responsibilities toward the light creatures as presented in the SkyShop poem featuring them:

'Fields of harvest, prairies of joy.

Farmer and fauna as one.

The Elder protects the creatures of light,

For darkened days to come.

Fly up, fly away,

For the Children of Light in need.

We shall recall our days of wonder,

And feel its air once more.'

-SkyShop Poem (Prairie Elder Pin)

In the greater context of the story, Daylight Prairie is the primary source of light energy in the form of the light creatures- it makes sense that the Elder of that realm would oversee the flow of light creatures from one realm to the other, and that the Ancestors in their domain would have a greater respect for the creatures than others. They're the ones working with them, and they're the ones that know them best.

Enter the Worshippers- who were likely serving directly under the Prairie Elder. I'm not confident that the Prairie Elder could have shared information about the Megabird- or if they even know the god existed. 'The Light itself' is pretty vague for something to be worshipped, and it's possible that the Prairie Elder instead encouraged people that the Light manifested itself into the various light creatures that we see.

In this world however- industrialization marches on, and eventually these light creatures became things to be harvested rather than worshipped. It's speculated that light creatures were used in the production of diamonds- we see signs of this scattered throughout Forest, and Wasteland by proxy. The mural under the bridge in Forest and the doors to the Temple seem to suggest as much at least. Eventually, this industrialization will grow out of hand. I have a few theories on what the Prairie Elder might have done to passively rebel against this.

<PRAIRIE ELDER AND THE BUTTERFLIES>

We learn in the Prairie Elder's cutscene that they are able to form- not summon- butterflies from fire. I'm not proposing that the Prairie Elder is single-handedly responsible for the existence of butterflies- rather I'm proposing through the Prairie Elder's abilities that light is able to be manipulated in such a way that one can create light creatures, should they know how.

It could just be the butterflies, honestly. And really it could just be the Prairie Elder that's capable of such a feat- and because of these holes in this theory it's the first to go.

And yes this is the reason why the Butterflies don't count. I think. That has holes too and I can make a case for the Butterfly Charmer technically being part of this... But I digress.

<SANCTUARY ISLES>

Sanctuary Islands could be a literal Sanctuary for the light creatures- there is an impressive variety of them present. It's also very out of the way, tucked away in a corner of Bird's Nest. The theory I'm proposing here is that the Prairie Elder and the Sanctuary Guide worked together to keep this place hidden from the rest of the Kingdom- and that it was the Sanctuary Guide that broke the bells that would have granted the Ancestors access to the light creatures.

<THE WORSHIPPERS DISBANDED>

This is... probably improbable, but my whole post was leading up to this so we're doing this. The missing six Worshippers are the Whisperers that we've encountered throughout the game- leaving in order to either develop their relationship with or protect their creatures of choice.

The Bird Whisperer stayed close and remained in Prairie- and is probably the reason why Bird's Nest exists at all. The Jellyfish Whisperer remained as well, opting to stay in Sanctuary- the natural habitat of the jellyfish.

The Whale Whisperer ventured to Forest- where there probably once was a small population of Whales, given the corpse we see in the Bridge Area and the live Whale in the Underground Cavern.

The Manta Whisperer went to Valley- I'm guessing to see how mantas were being used for labor and competitions? And Valley is right next to Wasteland so I might be reaching but they could have been monitoring that too.

The Crab Whisperer is a tricky one because we see them travelling with the Lightseekers, and yes I am proposing that this lady was formerly a Worshipper. But because we're dealing with a creature that we now know is more dark than light, maybe the Crab Whisperer joined the Lightseekers in order to observe that phenomenon more closely? Because she does refer to the crabs as friends in her SkyShop poem. Wasteland wasn't always a... wasteland, after all. Things could have been different, and the crabs could have been adapting in a time where they would be relatively dangerous but not so much that an Ancestor couldn't approach them.

And then there's the Memory Whisperer. For this one, I don't think a spirit manta actually exists- at least, not as an organic creature and moreso just an interactive holograph courtesy of the machinations of Vault. I'm actually not too sure on what this person could have been doing, but they have a call- and my best guess is that the Memory Whisperer is one who listens to the last vestiges of light leftover by a creature- because we do see skeletons in Vault, and one is of a creature that looks like an amalgamation of several spirit mantas.

<WHY DON'T THE KRILL COUNT?>

As far back as Prophecy, Krill don't appear to be aligned with the light. They aren't depicted as former light creatures, nor a corrupted variant of an elder manta or whale- they are presented as thenselves in that Prophecy mural. Though I'm sure we'll get a Krill call later on, I'm not going to count them until then.

<CONCLUSION...?>

This huge post is... full of holes and heavy speculation, I'm aware. Mostly I just wanted to dump a bunch of shower thoughts and leftover lore I came up in the Discord lore chat. Go check it out sometime, I've derived a few points in this from interacting with people there. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this matter, by the way- it's fun theorizing! I haven't done this seriously in a long while.