#misty breaths

[shiningdesignersreflections]

Mercury: Misty Breaths

Designer's Reflection: Misty Breaths

Obtained: top-up for Tides and Flames event

Rarity: SSR

Attribute: Gold/Elegant

Awakened Suit: Dark Contracts

Story - transcripts from Designer's Reflection

Chapter 1 - Beneath the Ice

Chapter 2 - Spirit in the Lake

Chapter 3 - Forgotten Sagas

Chapter 4 - Black Tide Rising

Story - summarized

Mercury and his group finally found the Altar of Arionus, located at the bottom of Lake Bovaly. With the assistance of the Water Elf King's gem, he followed the path into the lake and down a dark passage.

And there, still preserved after all this time, was the stone altar. A misty wraith guarded it, emitting shrieks and screams. But Mercury was not deterred. Instead, he approached the spirit and declared himself a friend of the Water Elves.

The dark mist revealed itself to be Flo, one of the earliest and most devout followers of Arionus. He was there to witness the scorn of the other Elf Gods, as well as how Hephaes led to his great god's demise. Indignant and vindictive, Flo would do anything to restore the great God of Water.

Mercury announced that he had a plan to awaken the long-lost god, but he needed help revitalizing the New Moon gem. Flo readily agreed, and the last of his ghost faded into vapor as he transferred power into the gem.

Now, Mercury could uphold his end of the deal struck with the Water Elf King: he would awaken Arionus, break the oath binding the Water Elves to the deep sea, and assist in the downfall of Pigeon Kingdom and the Light Elves.

But he wouldn't do this for altruism. All he wanted was a glimpse of the power of the Abyss, and he needed Arionus back to do that.

Connections

-Mercury made a deal with the Water Elf King in Startide Dream. Now, he's fulfilling that deal by triggering the events of the Tides and Flames hell event.

-While Mercury craves the power of the Abyss, he still knew the risk of the Goddess of Desire's presence in Miraland and worked alongside the rest of the Shining Nikki cast during the Angel and Demon hell event. He provided resources to the other three factions.

-Flo has met Hephaes, but in Arionus' Reflection for Lost Tides, Flo didn't trust Hephaes one bit, and the moment the other Elf Gods ambushed Arionus, Flo was quick to pin the blame on Hephaes as a betrayal.

-This is not the first time Mercury wasn't the narrator of his own story: the first half of Startide Dream, the full story for Nightmist Aria, Daybreak Overture, Snow Song, and Reminiscence of Flower (to name a few) either feature another character narrating the story or none at all.

Fun Facts

-Even though we've seen Mercury make the deal with the Water Elf King before, this is the first time a mark or emblem has been mentioned.

-This Reflection is a prologue to the hell event, even to the Moon Memories.

-It's never clear if the New Moon gem is the same blue gem the Water Elf King gave to Mercury the day the young boy left the Pigeon palace. But it fits the description.

-While Mercury knows that gods exist, he doesn't worship any and sees them merely as pawns, like the mortals he meets.

[uwhe-arts]

. . . | uwhe-arts

[hangsawoman]

this is the funniest scene in all history of scenes

[novelconcepts]

In watching more interviews with Liv about Van and the escalation of Van's pragmatism to such dark degrees, I find myself genuinely baffled that anyone could ever think Van the bad guy. I mean, I'm perplexed at finding ANY of these girls The Bad Guy. The bad guy is the situation. It's being lost. It's freezing. It's starving. It's being scraped down to the barest bone of being alive. They make choices that might be snippy, or cruel, or hard-headed, sure--Shauna refusing to just hash it out with Jackie; Jackie being too stubborn to come inside; Taissa refusing to discuss her situation plainly; etc--but by the time we reach the end of season 2, it doesn't even matter. Petty bullshit doesn't matter. Jealousy doesn't matter. Those things are still going to be present and complicated, because--for all their choices, for all the distancing they're trying to do--these kids ARE still human beings. But it isn't the point.

The point is survival. Plain, simple, straightforward. Van's pragmatism is survival. It is the difference between living another day with blood on your teeth or dying pretty. It is the difference between fighting forward through the fire and the snow and the hell of it all, and laying down to die. Van knowing, in watching the ritual violence of Shauna beating Lottie nearly the death, that they will be killing and eating one another soon. Van coming up with the cards for the hunt. Van not blinking when the moment comes, Van choosing a weapon that doubles as a tool to bring the body back, Van refusing to apologize for staying alive--it's not evil. It's not Bad Guy behavior. It's purely about survival, because there is nothing else left to her--or to any of them. They can play the pretty little Sweet Angel Girl game and die, or they can get dirty, bloody, horrific and fight. Van chooses the fight. Van chooses to fight for herself, for her lover, for her team, even knowing not everyone is going to make it out...because the alternate path there is that no one makes it out. Van knew the baby wouldn't live. Van knows the rest of them won't, either. Not unless they start making the hard choices.

And, honestly, the fact that Van sees this narrative coming. Comes up with this plan. Brings out the cards. To me, that is the opposite of Bad Behavior. That is as close to justice as anyone can find in the wilderness. If someone else came up with an idea, maybe it would have come down to voting--but that would have had such a human element to it, with bitterness or hostility or whatever ultimately petty shit always comes of humans selecting who to Other. The cards don't leave room for that. It isn't fair, because the situation isn't fair, because Man vs. Nature isn't fair, but it's as close to a just system as they could possibly find. It's the kindest solution to an unwinnable game. Not to bring it back to American Gods again, but all I can think is "it's easy, there's a trick to it: you do it, or you die." Van gave them that.

[the-lonelyshepherd]

Can you draw something like Lottie holding the lamb but instead of a lamb, it's Misty Quigley?

i’m so genuinely sorry i just didn’t know how to react to this ask it initiated my fight or flight response

[xayspancakeee]

omnipotent perception - rafayel, shy baby fishy

he’s just so gorgeous. a true work of art.

bonus - fishy out of breath (someone’s excited):

[omnicom]

Pokeshipping Week 2023

Day 3: Romantic Gestures

Wanted to draw something in-line with the last season of Ash's Journey (How to be a Master), and thought this would be cute~

Since Misty had to give up her hair tie to make Baynette happy (HTBM EP8), in part due to Ash's request, I was like, "what if Ash wanted to make up for it but couldn't find an exact copy of the original hair tie?" Instead, he buys her a hairpin that's made to look like Baby's Breath. Pikachu takes full credit that it was his idea to go with that, by the way. He knew it'd be perfect, no doubt!

Art © Crumpled-Hakui

Like what you see? Want art like this of your own? Check out my art commission post here and send me an email or private message! Thanks for stopping by!

[mitsybubbles]

I was watching X files, blacked out and I ended up with this

Bonus:

[sunswallowedsky]

I flew through a power unbound in 3 days while unable to think about anything else in my free time and now I’m devastated that it’s done

family that’s been found and formed from weird little jagged pieces of people who’ve grown to care for each other so much…………… weeping forever

[elizabeth-mitchells]

literally best screenshot i've taken from the show. nothing beats this scene

[shiningdesignersreflections]

Mercury: Dark Contracts

Awakened Suit: Dark Contracts

You can find the original suit here.

Bonus:

The motion pose Brilliant Ideas! (There wasn't a second motion pose for Arionus' suit, so I chose a regular one that fit the attitude of the Reflection.)

[uwhe-arts]

. . . | uwhe-arts

[honeycrispjamz]

JAMZ every time i scavenge for mistynat on here i'm brought back to you so PLEASE i need to hear more of the catholic mistynat from your last post 🙇‍♀️

Yes yes yes,,, the communion post isn’t specifically just Catholic thoughts but more cult thoughts like,,, Nat decked out in her white robes/antler queen get up, caressing Misty’s cheek as she guides her bloody fingers into Misty’s mouth, feeding Misty her own blood so they can be interconnected 😵‍💫😵‍💫 feeling Misty’s teeth under her fingertips, how her canines seem pointer than the other girls, how Natalie wants to feel them dig into her flesh like please,,,

But even from that aspect I do like to think that Natalie draws from her Catholic upbringing, this idea of sacrificing part of yourself to feed the meek, the sinful,,, I also can’t stop thinking about Misty sitting on the floor next to Natalie’s throne/place in the circle, head resting against her calf,,, Misty crawling up under her robes to sit between her legs and just rest her head on Natalie’s bare thigh, the fabric draped over her like sunshine beaming through church windows,,, Natalie stroking her head through the robe, feeling Misty’s curls tickle her skin,,,

like just this intimacy of Natalie being Misty’s safe place to come one to one with the wilderness, while Misty is Natalie’s safe place to come one to one with the parts of herself she hates,,, do you understand how delicious this is to me,,

AND AND AND let’s not even get started on the amount of ritualistic head that’s going on during all this like please,,, Misty instinctively nudging Natalie’s legs apart when she’s under her robe so she can split her open,,,decades later Misty can still taste Natalie on her breath, like they never stopped in the first place,,,

[starshineandbooks]

Urbosa Sonia, Zelda's bio mom, and Rarru in the afterlife form a club called 'Zelda's real parents'. Roham is not invited.

[lottieurl]

do you ever think about them having trouble sleeping on their soft mattresses after rescue? about them sleeping on the floor with their windows open? do you think after rescue they have to keep convincing themselves that this is better? this is better. nothing can happen to me here. this is better. but it doesn't feel better. or real. do you think sleep feels like losing control for tai? do you think she's afraid of it? even years after her last sleepwalking incident? sleeping next to simone who doesn't KNOW and tai won't tell her because how could anyone who wasn't there understand. but this is better. it's better to have a wife sleeping next to you peacefully than a girlfriend using rope to tie herself to you. this is better. it's better to sleep alone than worried you'll miss the moment your girlfriend starts sleepwalking again and won't be there in time to catch her. so van leaves the tv on at night because she's not out there anymore but sometimes she still wakes up forgetting. and when the nightmares wake her up she puts her hand to her cheek half expecting to touch her teeth. and miles away (and they shouldn't be so far away but this is better) nat runs and drowns in her dreams. is getting by on an average of four hours of sleep. wakes up in cold sweat from nightmares where she's dying and feels no relief when she opens her eyes so she drinks to make it stop. lottie makes it stop by taking pills. so afraid of her dreams she would do anything not to remember them when she wakes up. this is better. but what if she could have stopped something awful if she only remembered? if only she understood? so lottie cries and apologizes to laura lee over and over again until sleep claims her. and miles away shauna wakes up in panic wanting to run out and save jackie from the snow

[balluprojects]

Misty Breath, 2022

can one become a cloud? slow motion studies turned into mystic thoughts have a mystical march**