#lucca draws things

[monsoonxskies]

He’ll be okay. I think. Hopefully.

…

Idk he’s survived it before, he should be good right-

Trying to mess around with different poses woooo- I’m happy with how this one turned out! I might try to digitalize it at some point 👀

[shiroinekosart]

DONE! 🥳💙

Surprise for my best friend, ArmeliaStrife, who had also done the cosplay for Lucca Comics, invading my house with a giant head 💀 If you're curious you can find some photos by looking through her profile! 🫶🏻

I'm never satisfied with my drawings: when I look at them afterwards I think about what I could have done better or what I would change but I really like this one! I actually had a little moment of uncertainty with this but I love how it turned out in the end. Among the right colors to choose, not coloring for a long time, I was very afraid but it was actually simple. I started with the background because it was the part that worried me the most: by coloring it first I wouldn't have been afraid of "throwing away a guy" who might have come out very cute. Too bad that after I colored the background I was afraid of ruining it by coloring him badly 🙃 That head was strangely the part that pissed me off the most: I hate coloring white on this type of paper. I was also afraid, with the similar and/or identical colors, everything would get mixed up and not be distinguishable... perhaps the background in this sense didn't come out very well 😔

I'm not sure what to do now. I have chosen and already made a lineart but looking through my old things I found several drawings that were started and never finished, perhaps I could complete those first 👀😆

[emerald9d]

Ricka

No ask prompted this, this time. I just need to talk about her because she's, like, the other main OC of mine, right up there with Shelly. I just... don't draw her as much as I should.

The art here is in no particular order and the last two are actually Allie, a "version" of her I used for a tabletop campaign where the setting was different enough (Princess: The Hopeful, for those who are wondering) that she needed a new background and name. She basically looks and acts the same though. Also ignore that other guy for now lol.

This is going to be more rambly than when I described Shelly.

So yeah. Her full name is Ricka Rene Fuyu. She lives on Earth... or, well, "Earth." It's called that, and it even resembles our current-day world. But, there's a bunch of people with pointed ears, and most everyone can learn telekinesis. (though it's difficult and not THAT useful to most people, sorta like martial arts. guess what there's a lot of martial artists in my stories)

Also the ladmasses are (roughly) the same but everything else is different! Ricka lives in "The Triad," a collection of three closely located cities situated around the location of current-day Moscow. Ricka lives in Trifol, the "poorest" of the three cities. The other two are Slayton, a more froufrou college town, and Elaros, the capital of the country.

The tech is very "30 minutes into the future." There's fancy prosthetics and crazy computers and power armor, but most people can't afford them, and see them infrequently. I hesitate to call it cyberpunk, but its in that ballpark for sure. (Half of Ricka's design is "wannabe Matrix character") The most noteworthy development is "biotech drones," however, mindless attack-and-defense robo-creatures have started filling out military and police forces worldwide, courtesy of a subsidiary of Unity, a massive corporate conglomerate with its sites on controlling basically every major industry in the world. The only thing they haven't broken into fully, however, is the energy industry...

Anyway, Ricka couldn't be more different than Shelly, at least outwardly. She's quiet and reserved, and slow to react emotionally. (dissociative, really) But she's quite technically intelligent, and has a rich inner world, which she will show off when she lets herself relax and open up. This girl has opinions. And memes. And blorbos. She's basically the equivalent of a seasoned lefty Tumblr user. She's kind of my answer to the Rei Ayanami type of character, though her influences are myriad. Many years ago she started off by being a ripoff of Lucca from Chrono trigger. How far she's come.

Llife for Ricka started off promising enough. But, when both her parents died when she was 8, (one from a workplace accident, the other from cancer) only her grandfather and older brother were left to take care of her. (or take care of the older brother, for that matter)

For the next several years the family struggled with poverty, and mental illness. Ricka in particular barely hung on through the course of middle school, before succumbing to a massive breakdown at the beginning of highschool. Though, if there's a silver lining, is that she grew close to a former friend of her parents, who she sees as an uncle of sorts. Some particular interests of his, like boxing and motorcycles, rubbed off on her. (I know she's doing karate stuff in that one pic, but I changed my mind on that later)

After her breakdown, even her somewhat conservative grandfather had to admit her struggles needed to be taken seriously. Thankfully, around that time the family's finances improved somewhat. Since then, she's had a therapist and homeschooling, while pursuing her various technical interests as best she can.

The story begins with her starting university at 19. A rather big step for her considering her history of social anxiety, she's confident she can handle it. And she does! Especially with the help of a friend of hers from online, who also happens to be attending the same university as a transfer student.

However, despite making some irl friends, the future still presents a struggle. Corporate interests rule higher education to the point that they outright dictate what majors are available to matriculate into. It's hard to be an engineer when the powers that be decide that there's currently enough engineers.

Being around attentive friends who aren't used to her quirks reveals just how odd some of those quirks are. Which then leads to a discovery both illuminating and somewhat upsetting. See, I said telekinetic powers exist, but not telepathic. So mind-to-physical influence, but no mind-to-mind interaction.

Well, it turns out Ricka is unnaturally good at knowing what people are feeling, and where they are, and what they're about to do. To the point that it becomes clear she's got some special, unheard of mental abilities. And that, furthermore, she's had these powers, unknowingly, for most of her life. It becomes clear that it was actually a major source of her social anxiety, as the feelings of those around her overwhelmed her to a supernatural degree. However, Ricka's conditions are still quite real. Knowing the reason (or, at least, a reason) for her issues does not make them go away overnight.

While grappling with that, some strange things start happening to people around campus, which leads her and her newfound friends into unwittingly becoming a group of amateur sleuths. Ricka's empathic powers, naturally, become very useful for this task, making her into the functional core of the group. This then leads them into stumbling across things that they weren't supposed to know, and... well, the plot had to start at some point. What happens from there is a conspiracy thriller of unreasonable proportions.

Because, you see, those empathic powers didn't come from nowhere. And where they did come from...

...

One more thing. A somewhat more recent development is that she lost her left forearm when she was young. Or, hell, maybe she was born without it. Either way, she wears a prosthetic a lot. Normally... well, I'll let Ricka herself explain, in a block of narration I wrote randomly a little while ago:

My prosthetic could be covered by insurance. Well, kind of. The school health insurance will get you a part, but only within a certain price range. And, really, that’s not unreasonable. A fully articulated human-like hand is a bit much for the everyday, especially for your typical student. I’m not your typical student. And I don’t like being told what to do by an insurance company. No, the only thing that’s covering this hand is a leather glove.

You can see that leather glove in the pic where she's princess carrying that guy. And the prosthetic itself, uh, coming apart in that one doodle.

She also wears a simpler hook/pincer sort of prosthetic half the time. But she got that more advanced one at a young age, and has basically been learning how to maintain and adjust it herself for years. It's kind of her pride and joy. If it wasn't clear already that she's a big smarty pants.

So, yeah. That's Ricka. I find her a harder to think about because she's less upfront than Shelly by a long shot. Her presence doesn't come with the same bombastic instant gratification. It does however come with an internal narration that would feel at home in a hard boiled detective mystery novel. So, that's something.

[archduchessofnowhere]

So I was looking for pictures of archduchess Sophie in Wikimedia, as one does, and I stumbled with the portrait in the left. This portrait immediately seemed VERY familiar to me - and it didn't took me long to realize why: it's a different version of a portrait of Ludovika of Bavaria, Empress Elisabeth's mother.

Although it's in Sophie's Wikimedia page, this portrait was first posted in weber-gesamtausgabe.de, a website about composer Carl Maria von Weber, as a portrait Princess Maria Luisa Carlota of Bourbon-Parma, daughter of King Luis I of Etruria and Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain, who later married Prince Maximilian of Saxony.

The first thing that I thought is that the Weber website simply misidentified the sitter, but I decided to keep looking further. The website sourced the image as coming from Fürsten-Bildnisse aus dem Hause Wettin, by Jean Louis Sponsel, published in Dresden in 1906. I crossed my fingers, googled it and guess what: the whole book is available for free in the Saxon State and University Library.

It didn't took me long to find the picture in question:

The text reads as it follows:

Luise, second wife of Prince Max, 1802-1857. daughter of King Louis of Etruria, Duke of Lucca, married, 1825.

Carl Vogel von Vogelstein? c. 1535 [a typo, the author likely meant 1835]

Half-length portrait without hands from the front, head and gaze turned a little to the right, in front of a light grey background. The cherry-red dress is cut to the shoulders. The neckline is gathered in several cross folds in the middle and at the shoulders, the sleeves are widely puffed out, the narrow waist is held in place by a wide belt band with a long rectangular silver buckle. A narrow lace insert at the neckline. In the centre a jewel decorated with rubies and hanging pearls, around the bare neck a three-row pearl necklace, in the ears diamond earrings with hanging pearls. The regular, red-cheeked, youthful face has been given a special adornment by the thick chestnut-brown hair, which is puffed up above the ears in short ringlets and over the middle of the head is laid together in dense braids to form a crown. Broad forehead, large deep-set eyes, narrow lips, short chin, narrow slightly flushed cheeks. A drawing by Carl Vogel von Vogelstein depicting the princess in approximately the same manner bears the date 1835. A life-size marble bust by F. Pozzi made in Rome in 1826 in the City Museum.

The colors described match with the Ludovika portrait, so to me at least there is almost no doubt of it being the same. But that left with a bigger question: who is the sitter then?

Short answer, I have no idea. I'm no art historian, and I can't go to the Schloss Dresden to check if they still have this portrait somewhere in their collection. What I can do is speculate with the little information that I have, so I decided to do just that.

Here we have a close up of an engraving of Luisa Carlota with no date (left), the Dresden portrait with the mysterious sitter (middle), and a close up of a painting of Luisa Carlota by Vogel - likely the one referenced in Sponsel's book, I couldn't find any other -, dated 1834 (right):

And here we have a close up of a miniature of Ludovika (left), the Dresden portrait (middle), and a close up of Ludovika's engagement portrait by Stieler (right):

Perhaps I'm being biased, but I can see a strong resemblance between the Dresden portrait and the two portraits of Ludovika. I can't really see much similarities with the two images of Luisa (though to be fair, the engraving and the Vogel portrait don't look super similar either, and both are confirmed pictures of her). To me, the detail that makes me think that the Dresden portrait is indeed Ludovika is the eye color. Luisa seems to have brown eyes in the Vogel portrait. Ludovika has blue eyes in both of her portraits. The same eye color that the woman in the red dress identified as Ludovika has - which is likely also the eye color of the Dresden portrait's sitter.

Lastly, here is a picture of the portrait with the frame, in which the inscription identifying Ludovika can be seen:

This is all I could find on the subject. If I learn anything more I'll tell you!

[ascendancy-echoes]

Interlude: Memories

Upon returning home, Janus went straight to the bedroom to hide the sketchbook once more. As he went to hide it in a new place under the bed, he spied the box that Lucca had made for him to hold other treasures from his past. Setting the sketchbook on the bed, he pulled out the box and opened it. Inside was the Gate Key pendant he created, his bracer, and the silver charm Schala had given him all those years ago. Picking up the charm, Janus closed the box and nudged it under the bed with his foot as he sat down. He sighed as he ran his fingers over the charm’s engravings, wondering how his sister had truly fared in his absence. Had she understood his reasons for leaving? Was her life a good one in the past?

“Daddy’s happy?”

Janus looked up from the silver charm in his hands. Zarya had crawled onto the bed and across to his side. She leaned against him and repeated her question.

“I’m okay,” Janus replied softly. He didn’t feel happy that Zarya had snuck into their room and taken his sketchbook to the castle but he couldn’t be mad at her. She hadn’t meant any harm by her actions.

“Daddy’s necklace?”

“Oh this?” Janus looked back at the charm. Oren’s question about the drawings in the sketchbook made him realize he had been denying Zarya the chance to know her heritage. A heritage that he had tried to deny since returning to Lucca, but maybe it was time to face the past. After all, Zarya was getting older and she understood far more than one would assume. 

“This is a special magic charm from my big sister… your Aunt Schala,” Janus explained.

“Aunt Schala.” Zarya echoed quietly.

Janus nodded. He and Zarya sat in silence for a few minutes as Janus held the charm in his hands. Suddenly, he offered the charm to Zarya.

Zarya happily took the charm into her hands and rubbed its smooth silver surface. She looked up from it as Janus opened the sketchbook that had caused everyone to get upset.

“I’m sorry.” she murmured.

“You don’t need to apologize, Zarya,” Janus said softly. “I should be the one saying sorry. I was afraid to show you this for a long time but I realize now that you’re old enough to be told some things.”

He turned to the page with the drawings of his family. His expression softened as he pointed to each face and named them. Zarya did her best to repeat her grandparents’ names but even Janus had to admit his parents’ names were rather long and hard to say. He explained to Zarya that his family all lived a long time ago but they were gone now. The kingdom they lived in was long gone too.

“Daddy’s a prince?”

“Not anymore, no,” Janus sighed. “And that’s okay. I wasn’t happy then but I’m happy with you and your mom here.”

Another moment of silence passed between father and daughter before Janus said, “I promise I’ll tell you more stories about your grandmother and your aunt… and maybe it’s time to show you something special but it’s a secret that stays at home. Okay?”

“Okay!”

Janus smiled. He traced a rune in the air, soft white light forming a swirling symbol, and whispered, “Svet.”

Zarya’s eyes went wide with glee as a sphere of light floated in Janus’s palm. She reached out to touch it. It was warm, like sunshine and tickled her fingertips.

“Light!”

“That’s right,” Janus grinned. “A floating light. See?”

He lifted the orb into the air and it bounced softly out of his hand and floated around like a soap bubble but it did not pop or vanish. Zarya squealed and giggled. 

Janus felt oddly nostalgic as he waved his hand around to move the light about, watching Zarya slide off the bed and try to catch the light. It felt good to use magic for something besides looking for threats. Janus thought, maybe someday, he could teach Zarya some magic too. As much as the ability had caused him so much grief in Zeal, magic was still a part of who he was and a way to connect to Zarya.

[ksera-sera]

🤡 🛒 🛠🙋‍♀️ 💖 🎉 for the fic emoji asks!

🤡 What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh? From the chapter "The Chrono Trigger"

There was the sound of heavy fabric hitting the stone floor of the plaza. Everyone looked up to see Ayla with her back to the group, changing her clothes in full view of everyone.

“Ayla! What do you think you’re doing?!” Glenn exclaimed. Ayla turned to face him, causing Glenn to turn Janus around so he and the young prince could avoid seeing Ayla in her current state. Marle and Lucca likewise turned around to avoid staring at the young cavewoman.

Flustered and keeping his gaze away from Ayla, Glenn snapped, “Ayla! You can’t do that in front of others! Changing your clothes is something done in private!”

“What is ‘private’?” Ayla asked as she pulled the linen dress Marle had bought her over her body. Robo, unbothered by the fiasco before him, beeped and said, “’Private’ means alone with no one watching. I’m fairly certain it’s been a custom for eons.”

“Seem silly but okay,” Ayla replied as she adjusted the dress. “There. Now we all go get doll and rescue Cro.”

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

Neurodiversity and the impact of trauma and how having the right people at the right time can help immensely. (I also take a LOT of inspiration from random shows and characters when getting a vibe I want to get a cross for a character)

🛠What tools/programs/apps do you use to write? Some call me crazy but 99% of Zeal Ascendancy was written on the notepad app of my phone. Its sequel is about 50-50 notepad app and Google Docs (mainly via my phone) 🙋‍♀️ Do any irl people know you write fanfic? My husband, my sister and my cousin know that I write fanfics. 💖 What made you start writing? I've always had stories I wanted to tell here and there throughout my life. Zeal Ascendancy and my newfound zest for fanfics about Chrono Trigger was born from my renewed love of the game and its lore after I tried to show my five year old son the game. 🎉 What leads you to consider a fic a success? The fact I'm getting these asks and I am making so many new friends who share my love of writing, drawing and being creative. I don't stress about the likes and reblogs (although those are nice).

[duonotte]

omg i'm back after a long time

It's 2024 and i'm no longer 17... actually i'm 20 now and many things have changed. i'm not obessessed with MK anymore but I still like k-pop and I got new hobbies such as reading, writing and drawing.

I became a teacher! yea, a teacher. well, at least for me It was really surprising.

my name is still Lucca but I changed my pronouns to any pronouns and I found out that besides non-binary, I'm also a lesbian! I'm so happy now that I know exactly who I am

and I'm so glad to be back (even though I'm back just because twitter had ended lol

[monsoonxskies]

Weeee another transformation doodle- Decided to try a new victim and go for Emil >: )

I’m aware his appearance is EXTREMELY simplified and blatantly incorrect in some places! I didn’t feel like pulling up a ref and I have my own simple design for him in my mind

[1800duckhotline]

hi.. i really really like adona, your design and the way you draw her is absolutely gorgeous!! can you tell more about her? if you want of course

hello there!!! im so happy you like her she's one of the ocs i've had the longest (i think i've had her since 2015...?) and she underwent some fun changes even tho her basis never really shifted much :-)

ummm since her backstory is a little convoluted (and admittedly i need to rework it a bit bc of some facts i want to change), i'll tell you a bit about her interests and her personality! i'm gonna talk about her in her standard universe (in which she's salice's flatmate in a story set in 1997).

adona was born in lucca, italy (in tuscany). Due to circumstances unknown she was soon an orphan, and was adopted by an elderly witch [temporarily named ilphra] that resided not too far from the outer confines of the city.

adona used to be a witch. used to. she does not like to talk about it as an adult. as a fact, however, she used to be a mistress of plague (aka a witch that studies and practices magic revolving bacteria, viruses and illnesses).

due to an accident caused by those powers, she gave up magic very fast after that event causing her to abhor and resent any usage of it for the rest of her life.

moved to the uk in hopes to find some kind of fortune after her guardian passed away from old age.

became a barista full time, and part time she loves to dabble in stand-up comedy. she is frankly very good at both.

has a strong affinity and affection towards corvids. she used to be around them all the time when younger and still likes to socialize with them.

adona is trans and has come out as such since when young - ilphra was supporting of her identity and was an eccentric type herself, meaning she held little to no prejudices towards the matter. adona takes hormones as an adult, did voice training but speaks usually in her natural voice, and is almost entirely hairless on her body due to genetics.

adona is also bisexual but keeps her horizons extremely broad, she tends not to have particular preferences but appreciates more partners that are shorter than her and has a mild preference towards more masc, butch & androgynous folks. she likes yappers and people who also cant' shut the fuck up like her

she shaves her eyebrows. it started as a youthful mistake and it just stuck with her. it became a signature look for her.

she is 193 cm tall and likes to be SO fucking braggy about it (good for her. i envy her.)

she has a few tattoos i need to jot down eventually, but to explain quickly she has the scientific schemes of alchemical elements from shoulder to shoulder and a rose with thorns tramp stamp.

adona can play the acoustic guitar and does it from time to time as a hobby or during stand-up routines.

she enjoys heist movies and trashy b-movies that suck so bad they're good. she also enjoys horror as a genre in general (ranging from the serious ones to the less than deep ones). she also enjoys the fantasy genre more or less

honestly very likely she enjoys ttrpgs and rpgs in general, she's a gal that loves to act and play roles.

became salice's flatmate 5 years prior to the story necrologio out of pure coincidence; she saw salice had put up a newspaper announcement in search for a roommate and going off the name she decided to apply as she thought rooming with another italian would've been convenient... which it ended up being... for the most part...

this is most things i can think of off the top of my head!!! if you want to know more about her you can definitely always ask ! <3

since she technically lives in 1997 this is also something that used to be a fact but i've retconned since then, but when i initially made her i used to have the career of a gaming twitch streamer.

[kwon91]

A manhwa artist has been invited into a Church to draw own work in Lucca Comics&Games. Even if I am atheist... I wish when things will get fixed, anything will go back in own place. And sacred place get respected.

[crackspinewornpages]

War and Peace 10/198 -Leo Tolstoy

(the Princess Alexandra translation)

PART FIRST 

1 

1805, war in Europe has been on and off for thirteen years, now there is uneasy peace. European monarchs that overthrew the Bourbon king had no success against Napoleon, Britain is at war with France, Russia and Austria withdrew. Napoleon executed the Bourbon heir, Due d’Enghien and crowned himself emperor, while royal courts scoffed, he expanded his empire, annexes the republics of Liguria and Lucca and prepares to invade England. “The European powers, fearful of losing their own territories, think once more of war.”p.1 (the Princess Alexandra translation gives a brief summary of what’s going on time wise and I thank her for the slight context I might not be well versed in European history but it’s nice to have an inkling of what’s politically going on) 

A warning that if they aren’t warned they will be at war, if they still condone all of the atrocities of the antichrist Napoleon, they will de disowned, now tell about it. Anna Pavlovna Scherer greeted Prince Vasili Kuragin as he arrived at the reception. (it’s like a little get together) Vasili greeted Anna and asked her how her cough was, Anna asked how one can be well these days. Vasili can't stay as the English ambassador’s reception wasn’t cancelled, he says if they’d knew, they would have cancelled it for her. (Anna Pavlovna is like a celebrity socialite) She predicts the Viscount de Montemort connected to the Montmorencys and profound Abbe Morio will arrive. 

Vasili asked the chief object of his visit, if the dowager empress wants Baron Funke to be first secretary of Vienna, in his opinion he is wretched and he wants his own son to have it. Anna says Funke was recommended by the dowager empresses' sister. Anna was devoted to the empresses and would slap Vasili to speak ill of someone even connected to her. She changes the subject to his daughter, how unfair good things in life are distributed, like his children, he calls both his sons imbeciles, Ippolit an idiot and Anatol a nuisance. Anna suggests a wife, princess Bolkonsky, Vasili bemoans all the money he spends on Anatol and asks if the princess is rich, her father is stingy, but he can talk to her brother later this evening. Vasili asks for her to arrange it and he’ll be her faithful slave. (right out the gate with political monetary match making) 

2 

The higher society of Petersburg filled Anna’s drawing room, “people most widely differing in age and in character, but alike in that they all belonged to the same class of society.”p.4 Vasili’s daughter, Helene, was there and Ippolit, Montermort and Abbe Morio were also there and Princess Lisa Bolkonsky. After Lisa Bolkonsky arrived then came the illegitimate son of Count Bezukhof, and this was his first appearance in society, Pierre had yet to enter the service. The conversation picked up and Anna watched Pierre who watched the crowd, looking for something intellectual, “He stood waiting a chance to air his opinions, as young men are fond of doing.”p.5 (this has not changed) 

Montemort’s circle was discussing Duc d’Enghien’s murder, Anna asked for his account and calls over Helene who was admired for her beauty. (Prince Derek: “What else is there?”) Montemort gave his anecdotes that upon running into Duc d’ Enghien he threw a fit and avenged himself for it by having the duke killed. Prince Andrei Bolkonsky entered and found everyone in the room a bore, especially his wife. (douche) Anna asks if he’s getting ready for war, General Kutuzof wants him as his aide-de-camp and Lisa will go to the country. (she’s pregnant) Lisa tried to get his attention, but he turned away and took Pierre by the arm and will go to supper with him, as they attempt to leave, they catch sight of Helene. Vasili told Anna to train Pierre for him, he’s been living at his house for a month, this is his first time in society, and nothing will be more advantageous for a young man than a clever woman. (if only there was one at the party) 

3 

An elderly woman caught up to Vasili and asks about her son Boris, she can't stay in Petersburg. Vasili reluctantly listens to her, she will pay to have him put in the Guards, he says it will be hard to appeal to the emperor, try Prince Galitsin Sar Rumyontsof. The old woman was Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskoy, but she was poor and lost connections. (these are really the only things of value in high society your money and the friends you have because of it) He tells Vasili she never asked anything of him before but now begs in God’s name for him to do this Galitsin already refused. “Now influence in society is a capital which has to be economized lest it be exhausted.”p.8 Vasili knew that if he asked favors for everybody he’d have none left for himself, but Princess Drubetskoy’s appeal made him feel a pang of conscience, he owed her father for his career advancement and felt she was one of these women who got an idea in their heads and wouldn’t let it rest until their desires were met. He relents and will have her son admitted to the Guards, she also wants her son to be aide-de-camp to Kutuzof, he can't do that, so Princess Drubetskoy returned to the party.  

Viscount says if Napoleon remains on the throne another year French society will be destroyed. Pierre has heard that nearly all nobility has sided with him, the Viscount denies it after he murdered the duke, Pierre thinks it was a necessity. Pierre continues that since the Bourbons left the people are prey to anarchy, Napoleon is the only one to conquer it, he preserved the good and gained power for it. Viscount says if he used that power to restore the king he’d call him a great man. Pierre says his power was given by the people the Viscount believed the young man to be foolish, (well he’s not wrong there) after the revolution the people wanted freedom, Napoleon destroyed it. Anna Pavlovna was appalled at Pierre’s talk and asked how can a great man have someone executed without trial, Pierre smiled. Ippolit changed the conversation and told a story in broken Russian, it was incomprehensible why he told it but everyone was grateful for the clever way of stopping Pierre and the room broke up in other conversations. (yeah you’ll notice people have their Russian name and their French name and speak French because it’s fashionable at this time but political tensions are getting high between Russia and France) 

4 

The guests began to leave and congratulate Anna on her little party, Pierre was awkward, not knowing how to enter or leave a drawing room and his absentmindedness caused him to take someone else's hat but it was forgiven for his general simplistic goodness. (ok so Pierre is a simple socially awkward young man who’s easily influenced) Anna hoped to see him again and for him to change his opinions. “Opinions are opinions, and you can see what a good and noble young man I am.”p.12 Anna reminded Lisa about the potential match up of Anatol and her sister-in-law. She and Prince Ippolit, who wrapped a shawl around her as pretext for embracing her said it was a lovely evening and Ippolit waited for the Viscount who said the little Princess Lisa was charming. 

Pierre went to Andrei’s room, making himself at home, after being schooled in an abbe for ten years his father told him to make his choice but he still hadn’t found a career. He tells Andrei there is war against Napoleon, if the war was for freedom he would join but it’s not good to go against the greatest man in the world. Andrei dismisses it as childish talk. “If all men made war only for their convictions there would be no war,”p.14 It would be splendid but will never be, he doesn’t know why he’s going to war besides his life here not being to his taste. (so you’re that bored of your high class rich lifestyle and you beautiful pregnant wife you’d rather go off to war just to feel something) 

5 

Andrei’s wife Lisa joins them wondering why Anna Pavlovna never married and calls the men stupid for not doing so, they don’t know how to talk to women. Pierre says he can't understand why Andrei wants to go to war, she doesn’t either, why men can't live without war, women don’t want it or need it, she doesn’t want to hear of it and dreads it all. The men are selfish to desert her and expect her not to be afraid. Then she demands to know why Andrie’s changed towards her, she keeps pressing and starts to cry, Pierre makes to leave but Andrei stops him saying Lisa wouldn't deny his pleasure of company, Lisa accuses him of only thinking of his own pleasure and leaves them. (I wanna smack some sense into Andrei) 

They went to have supper on new dinnerware, Andrei tells him to never get married, at least until he sees the woman for what she is, or it will be a mistake, wait until he's old or everything good about him will be thrown away, wasted in a drawing room. (remember this) His wife is lovely but he wishes he wasn’t married, he only tells Pierre this because he loves him. (if only you could show some love to your pregnant wife) He talked of Napoleon, he has a goal, nothing will stand between it, but tie yourself to a woman you are a prisoner, tormented with regrets in drawing rooms, women are nothing, so don’t marry. (you sound like the man version of I’m a strong independent woman and don’t need no man then get caught in crippling loneliness by forty) Pierre wondered how he could speak like this, he is everything Pierre is not, Andrei tries to change the subject to Pierre, but what is there, Pierre is a bastard without a name or money. (yeah Andrei literally has everything Pierre doesn’t yet he doesn’t appreciate any of it and is telling his friend it’s all shit) Andrei gives him advice, to stop going to Kuragins, living that life he doesn’t understand it, women and wine. (so they’re like hedonists) Pierre was living with Vasili Kuragin, seeing his son Anatol’s dissipated life and all this time living this life he hasn’t come to any decision, but this evening decided not to go and promises not to again. (we’ll see how long this lasts) 

6 

At two in the morning Pierre thought it would be fun to go to Kuragins and gamble, but he gave Andrei his word, he wanted to have one last taste, he made two promises and reasoned pledges were conditional, consider you might be dead the next day, so he went to Kuragins. The party was mostly over, deeper in the house he heard voices and a bear. They invited Pierre in and got him drunk Dolokhof and Stevens were making a wager, Dolokhof won almost every game he was in, but he lost his head when drunk. Anatol broke a window and had Pierre pull out the frame. Dolokhof wagers he can drink a whole bottle of rum in one go sitting in the window if someone joins him he’ll double it to a hundred sovereigns but he pulls away as an officer worried for Dolokhof. After half an hour he swayed backwards then swung the empty bottle at the Englishman. As they congratulate him Pierre says he’ll do it without a bet and they call him crazy and pull him from the window. Anatol announces he’ll deceive, him he’ll make a wager tomorrow and Pierre follows the party outside with the bear. (is this just what Russians do get drunk and party with a random bear)  

7 

Vasili fulfilled the promise to Anna Drubetskoy and Boris entered the Semeonovsky regiment as an ensign, but wasn’t made an aide to Kutuzof. After Anna Pavlovna’s party Anna Drubetskoy went to rich relatives, the Rostofs, who were celebrating Saints day. The Count welcomed people and invited them to dinner, Countess Rostof was tired of it all and declared the last would be Marya Karagina and her daughter. The conversation turned to the sick old Count Bezukhof and his illegitimate son Pierre whose made bad friends of Vasili’s son after taking a bear to the house of an actress. The gang was to be arrested but they tied an officer to the bear and threw them into the Moika river. Bezukhof has many bastards, but Pierre is his favorite, but as Vasili is the immediate heir on his wife's side the fortune could go to either one. There was a commotion in the drawing room and a thirteen-year-old girl ran out hiding something and a bunch of youths stood at the door. Natasha embraced her parents and showed them her doll Mimi, the older boy Boris offered to call his mother a carriage and fetch Natasha who ran off laughing. 

8 

Only Nikolai and their cousin Sonya remained in the room and the conversation turns to the potential war, Boris is following his friend into it but Nikolai says it's not friendship he’s just drawn to war, he’s not good for anything else then they talk of Napoleon. “How much suffering, how much trouble, must we experience before we can have some joy in them! And even now! Truly there's more sorrow than joy. One is always filled with anxiety, always on the alert! This is the age when there are so many perils both for young girls and for boys.”p.30 (damn if you don’t feel this now) At least the Countess has a good relationship with her children, Natasha even tells her of her time with Boris and admits she spoils her while being strict with her eldest Vera. 

9 

Natasha waited for Boris to follow her and hid and watched as Nikolai ran into a crying Sonya, he kissed her when they left she called for Boris and asked him to kiss her. He called her absurd but couldn’t make up his mind, she went to do it, but he said to wait five years to marry at sixteen. (pay attention to this) The Countess was tired of receiving guests and ordered no more wanting to speak to her old friend, Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskoy and has her daughter Vera leave. She passes the two young couples and scolds her siblings, her brother for taking her inkpot and sister for running into the middle of a party. Natasha asks what does she have to worry about of their relationship, they don’t meddle between her and Berg, what does she know, she’s never loved anyone. (middle school girls are merciless) Vera threatens to tell their mother of her and Boris and the couples had enough and leave for the nursery, calling her Madame de Genlis. (she was a French noblewoman writer and educator I don’t see how this is an insult) 

The Countess told Anna her life isn’t rose colored even the country isn't restful, how can she manage it all alone in Moscow and Petersburg. Anna hopes she doesn’t know what it's like as a window without a protector. The Countess asks who she appealed to for Boris, Vasili ,same as he’s always been but it’s all she can do as her unlucky lawsuit ate up her money and doesn’t know how she can get his uniform, she hopes Count Bezukhof will help his godson. The Countess says he may leave him something, Anna says rich men are selfish, but she has to see him, her son’s fate depends on it. The Count says that it’s better to ask Pierre to come over. 

10 

In the carriage Anna tells her son to be considerate, be nice as he can, he only expects humiliation, but he’ll try for her sake. The doorman noticed their shabby clothes (how shabby could they be they aren’t threadbare are they if anything they’re last year’s style) and told them Count Bezukhof couldn’t take visitors, Anna pleaded that she is a relative, the doorman calls the footman to lead them. Vasili dismisses the doctor and greets them and Boris answers his questions without resentment. The Count’s prognosis has little hope, Anna tried to reassure him she's not a rival for inheritance and he knew he would have difficulty getting rid of her and tells her to wait until evening when the doctors expect a crisis, she can't wait. A sour faced niece enters and says it's not good, with a victorious attitude Anna tells Boris while she sees the Count go find Pierre and invite him to the Rostofs and Vasili is only too happy to have him off his hands as the Count hasn’t once asked for him.

NEXT

[zip-zap-lucca-here]

Aight! Let’s get this blog going with some art, shall we?

First is a self-portrait!

Next are some sketchy headshots: First one is @sora-the-dutchie ‘s OC, Ryker (I like giving her serotonin every once in awhile!), second is uh... Angsty stuff that Sora usually draws, but I thought I’d try my hand at it, and the third one is a doodle of an alternate version of Aesop (that I forgot I drew???)

And then, finally, we’ve got some doodles of Demon! Luca (Sora’s idea originally, but we’ve been building on it together) in cat poses!

[the-luckiest-wolf]

Uhh... Let’s start with some art!

Self-portrait— Went a little crazy with shading and stuff, but it came out pretty nice, I think.

(Just for fun, here’s the original sketch I started with)

Uhh... Next are some doodles of my fursona (which is a lynx)

And then finally, a doodle of @sora-the-dutchie ‘s favorite little OC— her jolleraptor named Hawk!

[ascendancy-echoes]

Chapter 10: Magic

8th of Eighthmoon, 1016 AG

A few days had passed since the children had learned the truth of their parents’ adventures. Janus had thought about the situation the whole time and came to the conclusion that since the children were aware of what had happened to him and the others, he and the others should talk to the children about how they had magic like them. He knew that Zarya would continue to comment about everyone’s magic, so it was a matter of time before Oren or Liz asked questions. After talking to Lucca about his concerns, they both agreed to talk to Crono and Marle about the matter.

While Lucca took Zarya to visit with Liz and Oren, Janus went to speak to Crono and Marle in private. They were surprised he wanted to tell them the truth about their magic after they had all agreed to avoid the matter until the kids were much older.

“The truth is mostly out as it is thanks to Zarya… ‘borrowing’ my sketchbook,” Janus replied. “We may as well come clean about a few things.”

Crono and Marle exchanged glances. They knew Janus was right.

“There is one more thing I wanted to tell you guys,” Janus added. “I told Zarya about Schala and about Zeal… not what exactly happened but that I was once a prince and that Zeal has been gone for a long time.”

Seeing his friends’ surprised expressions, he continued, “I thought about it after Oren’s question to me…  We can omit details like what exactly happened in Zeal and the fact I forced my way back with magic but I realize that I should be somewhat honest with him and Liz about my past.”

“After you left, we did give Oren and Liz the short version of our adventure but we didn’t say that you were from Antiquity,” Marle admitted.

“We also mentioned Spekkio,” Crono added.

Janus nodded. “All the more reason for us to tell them something. Given that Zarya can’t keep a secret very well, they have to be suspecting something by now.”

“I still don’t know,” Crono sighed. “Oren won’t say it, but I know the last year has been hard on him. He resents all these rules and if we tell him he has magic but he can’t use it openly, our answers might not satisfy him.”

“He’s a smart kid,” Janus remarked. “I think they’ll understand why it’s been a secret.”

~o~O~o~

Meanwhile, Lucca left Zarya with Liz and Oren so she could join Janus and see what Crono’s and Marle’s answer was. She promised the children she’d be right back.

Zarya smiled and told her mom goodbye before turning her attention to her messenger bag. She overheard Oren and Liz talk about what the adults possibly need to talk about in private this time. Oren guessed they were deciding if they could tell them more about their adventures. Zarya reminded herself to tell Oren and Liz that her dad was a prince after all.

Speaking of her dad, Zarya had found another treasure of his. It was in a box on his desk in his and her mom’s room. She had been looking for more paper to draw on when she found it. Remembering the treasure, Zarya dug around her bag and pulled it out to admire it.

Liz looked at Zarya and the strange leather bracelet sitting in her cousin’s hands. She asked “What do you have there, Zarya?”

Zarya offered the bracelet to Liz. “It’s so pretty.”

Liz took the bracer and looked it over. The blue cabochon gemstone inlaid in iron immediately reminded Liz of her mom’s necklace. She rubbed her thumb across the gem’s polished, smooth surface. It felt warm, kind of tingly. 

A swirl of sky blue light, cold as a winter day, erupted from the stone. Liz let out a gasp and dropped the bracer. The swirl of light, which had briefly formed the shape of a large disc, vanished as the bracer left her hands.

“What the heck?” Liz exclaimed.

Oren picked up the bracelet off the ground. He carefully looked it over. He noticed the resemblance to his mom’s necklace too. Part of him thought it looked more like armor rather than a bracelet. He slipped it over his wrist but it was too loose, obviously meant for someone bigger than him or Liz. Like his sister he rubbed the gemstone, curious if her touch had been what triggered the strange phenomenon. A burst of deep blue light and water swirled from the stone and formed a swirling disc like a small shield.

“What is this thing?” Oren breathed as he touched the shield. Against all logic, the water was solid. He began to feel a bit light-headed as the swirling shield of water remained.

“It’s raining!” Zarya giggled. She looked at the shield. “Cool water.”

Liz pointed at the strange disc and said, “It looks like a shield made of blue lights and water.”

Oren looked at Zarya. “Zarya, where d-”

The door to the library opened and Liz and Oren looked up to see their parents entering. 

“Kids, there’s something your father and I-“ Marle stopped mid-sentence. Her eyes fell upon the shield her son he created.

No one spoke for what felt like forever before Janus finally shouted out, “Damnit Zarya, you know you aren’t allowed in our room alone! We talked about this!”

He stormed over to the children. Oren quickly slipped the bracer off and handed it to Janus. The watery shield dissipated as soon as the bracer was in Janus’s hands.

“Sorry, dad….” Zarya sighed.

“Oren, sit down and take some deep breaths. The feeling will pass in a moment,” Janus instructed, seeing the fatigued look on the young boy’s face. Turning to Lucca, he added, “I told you we needed a lock on our bedroom door.”

“Dad’s happy?!” Zarya cried out.

Janus’s expression softened. “I’m sorry I yelled at you, sweetie. It’s just frustrating that you keep sneaking into our room and taking things without asking. It’s not safe, Zarya.”

“What is that thing,” asked Liz, pointing at the bracer in Janus’s hands.

The grownups looked amongst themselves.

“Kids… you remember how we said we learned to use magic, right?” Marle asked.

Oren nodded. Before he could ask what his mother was getting at, Liz shouted out, “Wait… Do we have magic too?!”

Janus looked at Oren and Liz. He asked if they recalled any times that Zarya mentioned rain or snow around them despite what the weather actually was.

“Rain or snow,” Zarya echoed. She looked at Oren and smiled, “It’s raining.”

“So what does Zarya talking about the weather have to do with magic?” asked Oren.

“Zarya and I have a special ability,” Janus explained. “We can see the magic around your parents… and around you. It takes a lot of effort for me to perceive everyone’s magic but Zarya seems to see it all the time with no effort.”

“We all have an element that our magic is connected to… Zarya sees everyone’s innate elements. That’s why she says those things,” Lucca explained. “My element is fire, your parents are lightning and ice.

“Zarya can see that you have ice magic like your mother, Liz,” Janus added. “And that you have water magic, Oren, like Glenn did.”

“What about you?” asked Oren as he looked towards Janus. “And what’s Zarya’s?”

“I haven’t been able to discern Zarya’s magic and she hasn’t been able to tell us clearly yet. Mine is a rare kind,” Janus replied after a moment. “Most in my homeland would have called it shadow magic.”

He rubbed the gemstone, activating the shield. Oren and Liz looked on in awe at the disc of iridescent black mist. Janus explained that he had made the shield to protect himself during their adventure.

“You said your homeland…. Is there a country where people can use magic? Why haven’t we heard about it before?” asked Oren.

Janus sighed. Even after all these years, the memories of Zeal and its fall were still very vivid to him. In many ways, it felt like just yesterday that he had met Lucca in Kajar’s library and his life changed forever.

“I am from a kingdom called Zeal that existed in Antiquity.” Janus finally said after a long pause. “Many millennia ago it was the center of magic in this world and I was its prince.”

Janus explained to Liz and Oren that the world was once divided into those who could use magic and those who could not. The Earthbound and the Enlightened. It was the way of things for countless generations. Then one day, disaster struck Zeal as Lavos, the source of magic, destroyed the kingdom and sent it falling into the ocean. He and a small number of Enlightened survived the disaster.

“Had I not met your parents or your aunt, I wouldn’t have survived my kingdom’s fall,” Janus said, keeping his gaze low.

“Wait, isn’t Lavos the thing you guys fought?” Liz asked.

“My people had no idea what Lavos was other than a source of immense energy that allowed us to have magic,” Janus replied. “After Zeal fell, I joined your parents’ fight against Lavos and saved the future.”

Oren recalled his parents' account of the events, how they hadn’t mentioned Janus’s origins. He thought it was weird they hadn’t told them the truth when such a detail seemed important. It also contradicted the part of the tale when his parents had told Liz and him that everyone had to return to their own times to make sure history would go on as normal.

“Wait… Why didn’t you go back?” Oren asked. “Mom and dad said Glenn and the others left. Why didn’t you?”

Janus looked genuinely surprised at Oren’s question. He hadn’t thought of what to say if confronted with the fact he was living in an era he wasn’t from. Before he could reply, Lucca stepped in.

“You both know how Zarya is different… Your uncle and I are the same way,” Lucca explained. “Your uncle stayed with us because his people didn’t understand that difference. He was shunned in his time for who he is.”

“But… he’s their prince,” Liz stated. “Couldn’t he just tell them to be nice?”

“I wasn’t first in line and even my own mother and sister expected me to fit in,” Janus sighed. “Everyone tolerated my… quirks but your parents and aunt were the first to treat me with genuine kindness and acceptance.”

“Besides…. After Zeal’s fall, my older sister denied the suggestion that we continue as we had in Zeal,” Janus added. “She insisted on a council of Earthbound and former Enlightened to decide things in the village that formed from the survivors of the disaster. My voice would not have been heard.”

“Daddy magic?”  Zarya chimed. “Dad shows Zarya magic? Svet??”

Zarya’s request to see magic reminded Janus of the whole point of this talk. He smiled at her and said, “I’ll show you in just a moment.”

“Dad, svet??” Zarya asked, her voice edging on sounding frantic. “Make lights?”

“In a moment,” Janus assured.

“Svet?!” Zarya almost shouted. She pulled at Janus’s sleeve and let out a loud, lamenting whine. “Svet, pleeaaase?!”

Janus smiled softly at Zarya and assured her that he would summon some lights in a second. Oren and Liz watched as Janus traced a symbol in the air, a glowing trail of light following his finger before he repeated the strange word that Zarya had kept saying.

A small sphere of light appeared in Janus’s hand. He explained to Liz and Oren that it was a simple light spell that he had learned in his youth.

“While my innate magic is shadow, I have the unique ability to cast spells from any element,” Janus explained. 

“Can we learn some magic?” Liz asked excitedly. “I mean, we have it so-”

“We’ll have to think about it,” Crono interjected. “We didn’t tell you two about your magic because it’s a big secret that we have it. Your Granny, the Ashtears, and the senior staff that worked for your grandfather know about us, but we are the only humans in the entire world that have magic… It might cause some problems if the public knew.”

Oren sighed. More secrets, but maybe he could get some answers. He looked at his parents and asked, “How long have you known? Since we were babies?”

“No,” Marle answered. “We’ve known about it for about four years… Zarya revealed she could see our magic and noticed you two walking by one day. Like your father said, we’ve kept our magic a secret for years. We didn’t want you to worry about it either.”

“While people as a whole don’t hate Mystics anymore and they keep to themselves, there is still a wariness about them and their ability to use magic,” Crono added. “I hope you understand.”

Liz and Oren nodded. As annoyed as Oren was at the fact he had to keep a part of himself secret, he knew that his parents were right to worry. He and Liz had just started learning about the war that their ancestors had fought in. While their uncle spared them the details, Oren had snuck a peek at many of the history books. He knew what horrible things the Mystics had done to Choras and its surrounding towns and villages. And he knew what the humans had done in return.

“Why don’t you two go play with Zarya?” Lucca suggested, changing the subject. “Zarya, let your dad and I see what’s in your bag before you run off and play with your cousins.”

Zarya clutched her bag and protested until Janus stepped forward and insisted. She laughed nervously as she handed over her bag, all the while asking for it back. A quick search by Janus revealed she had absconded with her mother’s Poyozo plush and several cookies from the kitchen, but otherwise it was all her own toys and books.

“You can keep Mr. Baa, but you should have asked first,” Lucca sighed, taking the bag of cookies from Janus who handed them to her. “You’re okay now.”

Zarya took her bag back from Janus and chirped out a thanks before turning and running off to follow Oren and Liz who had waited by the door. Liz cheerfully suggested they go to the garden. Oren let out a sigh and agreed reluctantly.

Crono walked over to the door and watched his children lead Zarya down the hall. Satisfied they were out of hearing range, he shut the door and turned back to Lucca and Janus.

“We can’t teach them to use their magic.”

“Why not?” Janus asked. “I know plenty of non-combative spells. It wouldn’t be too hard to show them-”

“They don’t need it,” Crono replied sternly. “What point is there?”

“It’s not that we aren’t against the idea,” Marle said, giving Crono a look. “But Crono is right, what good would it do? There’s no reason for them to learn magic when the rest of the world doesn’t have it and we have no need for it ourselves..”

“What if the Mystics try something again?” replied Janus. “We still don’t know why those three were poking around even after all this time. They might come back.”

Crono and Marle exchanged glances and sighed. Janus was right. A thorough search of the castle had turned up nothing stolen or planted by the Mystics, but Crono and Marle knew that there had to have been a reason for their infiltration. Still, the years of silence left them wondering if the Mystics had given up.

“I’m not suggesting we prepare the children to fight,” Janus continued. “You both know I would never do something to endanger any of them.  I can teach them protection spells and healing… It will be fine, I promise.”

Crono frowned slightly, but he felt Marle reach over and squeeze his hand reassuringly. He sighed and said, “I hope you’re right, Janus...”

[lunafaeris-archive]

          /deep diving back into black rock shooter content just reminds me that i haven’t updated luna or lucca’s full demon forms in four to five years.

[chibigaia-art]

Post to uh attempt to explain what's going on with me but basically, a lot of stuff is piling up rn? Between class starting again and consequential hw, a family emergency, zine deadlines + work for my comic / attending conventions as author, this month has been kind of hell - half fun, but still did a number on my brain; anyway bit of future plans under the cut

I DO have some stuff backlogged to post, + one more finished zine piece, so there's that at least! I just need to remember to post lmao

Anyway, I'm gonna update Patreon for both tiers either today or tomorrow + I'll make a post with early previews of future merch for 5€+ patreons! I'm still not done with all the designs I want to make but part of it is done;

in terms of future plans:

next preorders are still a mystery for when they'll start, because there's, you know, a lot of stuff going on, and not just with me

Tenmiko comic update might be a near possibility, I just need to find the time to sit and draw it

I was thinking of making a tier on Patreon for a monthly sticker club, maybe??? I can mail stickers via envelope, they require less time at the post office and I could still make at least some merch while waiting to do the big preorder thing. I'll probably make a Google form to see if enough people are interested in that in the future

I still want to make either a third “and they were roommate” comic or just. a small kiibouruma zine idk. i miss them. this isnt a future plan its mostly me sighing and looking out the window

+ se andate a lucca comics a fine mese e volete comprare qualcosa dallo shop, mandatemi un dm così ci accordiamo per un drop off dato che sarò in fiera