#no pictures of that because we haven't put on wings yet

[magistralucis]

Miniature Painting Retrospective (2023)

2023 has been a hell of a year, but it had one upside to it, namely that this was the year I got into miniature painting. The downsides are money spent on plastics and paints and my ever-increasing piles of shame, but what mini lover doesn't deal with that 🤣

I'm a relatively new painter. I began painting in the second quarter of this year, and I haven't exactly done it every day or even every week, though I think I've improved greatly nonetheless. This is a retrospective post with some examples I've painted this year, what I learned, what I'd do better, and goals for the future.

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April 2023

Despite the many pages of ramblings on my blog, I did not actually get into miniatures because of Warhammer 40K, it was Dark Souls that got me to pull the trigger 😂 I love, love, love Dark Souls, when I realized there was a boardgame and people painted the plastic figures that came with them I had to get me some of that. I've actually posted these before on my DS sideblog, so if you've seen them around somewhere else 'twas I who was responsible, but these are the very first minis I've ever painted.

Siegward of Catarina was painted almost entirely with contrasts and metallics. I wanted to give him the really rusted look like Catarina Armour has in DS3. Solaire was painted similarly, except I didn't really get how to 'paint white' or 'paint yellow' or to use ink to fill in the sunface, so his chest is woefully incomplete. I thought of stripping him to start over, but have since decided against it; what I'll likely do is to get another Solaire and do the better job with that one. It's good to see where you began. Gives perspective.

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May 2023

I began properly looking up painting tutorials around this time. Coincidentally, this was the first time I began to really feel like I knew what I was doing 🤣

Eygon of Carim was painted almost entirely with drybrushing, save for the brown cloth, which was my first attempt at wet blending + adding wear and tear and scratches to simulate realism. He was drybrushed with a gunmetal grey then tinted with Black Templar for the majority of his dark armour, then drybrushed with silver to highlight the edges. His shield and mace followed the same procedure, except they were sponged with bronze later.

All of the models so far remain unbased to this day... I am not very good at remembering to base my models

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June 2023

Got into 6mm historicals (Anglo-Saxon/Vikings) during this period, which I don't have a picture of as those are currently in a storage box we stashed away for the Christmas holidays (guests staying over 😖).

Had another go at painting an Onion Knight, however, this time of Catarina Armour than Siegward specifically. Siegward has a longer Zweihander and a more detailed look. I wanted to give this version a clean look, and he was painted in a much more traditional style, following the base + shading + highlights + edge highlights method. No contrasts nor drybrushing, though the shield was mildly sponged with black. I'm proud of this one.

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July 2023

Got into Warhammer during this period. Had a break from painting as I tried to read and digest WH40K necron lores/novels, then became attracted to some of the full-size models, as well as building an army for Epic Armageddon. Shown above are some 6mm necron warriors, Immortals, Flayed Ones, and pariahs I painted as an example at this time. They are very, very small and very delicate and I love them your honour

I'm especially happy with the Flayed Ones. I'm actually using those to make a small Twice-Dead King diorama atm, I'll get some more made for the actual army. The pariah models have that warscythe design with a hole (?) in the middle but I... don't??? like the hole??? so I just filled them in with milliput and painted them up similarly to glaives instead

I also obtained a larger Dancer of the Boreal Valley model. She is in the pile of shame. I am afraid to begin painting her now that I've been staring at her for so long 😖😖😖

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August - September 2023

I............. ghghgghgghggg

The pile grows. At least I gave Orikan his green marble interior design???

Started doing 28mm historicals in early Sep. When it comes to the actual gaming aspect of this hobby, I have played way more historicals than I've ever played Warhammer or the Dark Souls Boardgame; I play SAGA with my sig. other, and he got me into Chain of Command, though I'm playing solely with the models he painted for that one (since he has been in this hobby for many, many more years than I). Here's a berserkr I painted and based up. NMM chainmail and glazed fur detail, the rock/ground based with cork.

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September 2023

Still doing historicals. My Viking warlord, rock based with foam, need to add some grass on there or something. Otherwise very very happy with how he turned out. I keep going back and forth between giving him a shield, since I love painting shields, but I also don't want to obscure the main details of his body. All metallic details are NMM.

Note the scabbard and the glint of his sword. I'm not super good at NMM yet, but I can do tiny glints and details like these.

An example of general warriors, huscarls, etc. I have about 50 men in varying states of completion. These are all Victrix models. Every one of those shields are freehanded. They make for very good practice because they're a nice, well-defined flat surface. I'm really proud of those.

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October - November 2023

My beloved Tea Space Marine brothers 😂☕ I've posted about those before (x, x, x) - the Arizona Tea dude is not yet done because I actually need to give him a banner and paint up his base, and during December I was too occupied with other creative activities to work on him. They are the first Space Marines I've ever painted and tbh I don't find them the easiest to paint (???) but they're some of the best fun I've had so far!

I want to make a whole series of those, not just of Space Marines or even the Imperium. I might do more porcelain, they're really fun to pose next to tea-things. The teacup Marine was painted a gloss white (after being primed not-white 😨) then freehanded with royal blue, with Retributor Armour being the gold. The Arizona Tea Marine was painted emerald with pink edges, tinted in places with Magos Purple, then freehanded with various shades of plum blossom-esque colours. Still wondering what design his banner ought to be.

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That's it for 2023. Next year I want to do the following things.

Finish up the Epic Armageddon necron army, complete with vehicles (300-400 points).

Finish the Dancer of the Boreal Valley statuette (because that's what she is at that scale, she's the biggest model I have, it's part of why I got intimidated lmao).

Get better at NMM.

Apply aforementioned NMM techniques to necrons on the pile of shame that are not painted.

Learn how to airbrush.

Obtain at least 6 points' worth of guys for a SAGA Viking army, then paint them up and base them properly.

Base my minis properly, full stop 🥴

Looking forward to some fun painting sessions next year!!! 💖

[styrmwb]

References to Previous Final Fantasies in Dawntrail

Or, how 9 + 11 + 6 = 14, somehow. (SPOILERS, OBVIOUSLY)

I've played every mainline FF, plus a few others, so one of my favorite things about playing XIV is seeing what they do with previous FFs, and how they incorporate it into the world/story. Dawntrail very very much did this, to the point that I could literally predict plot points before they happened. (THIS IS NOT A COMPLAINT I LOVED THIS)

So I figured I would put down my fanboying in text form, for people to read the insanity of a madman who has played too many JRPGs from a single series.

Note: I have not completed every single side quest, but I have done the entire MSQ, every dungeon, and 3/5 of the role quests. This isn't a complete collection, just what I noticed :)

V

Krile's "real name" is Maya. The original Krile in FFV was Krile Meyer Baldesion. (XIV might also have the middle name but I don't remember! I'm gonna put it here regardless!)

VI

Valigarmanda is the first Esper you encounter in VI, right at the start of the game. Its summon attack is Tri-Disaster. I really liked how they kept it frozen in ice, just like the original, and because Tri-Disaster is a SMN ability, they changed it to Tulidisaster to fit the Tural location.

Pictomancer was first in VI as well, being Relm's job. She even got to be in XIV as well, being credited as the Archon who created the art (HA). Shoutouts to the Relm reborn joke it needed to happen

IX

One of the two most important games in this expansion. There is A Lot here.

The preorder bonus/deluxe edition had a Wind-Up Zidane and Garnet, the two main protagonists of FFIX.

Alexandria is lifted directly from IX. The name, the style of the buildings, and even the castle with the crystal popping out of the top, shown in the dungeon and in Yesterland in Living Memory.

(This is the Dissidia NT version, but I wanted a picture that showed the castle and the roof architecture)

Solution Nine is named after one of Zidane's Dyne abilities. While not direct, Living Memory, the final zone, is very reminiscent of Memoria, the final dungeon of IX. I wonder if you can get a special sword by completing the entire MSQ in under 2 hours?

Living Memory also features quite a few locations from IX. The Canal Town looks very similar to Treno, and features a location called the Daguerreo Medical Collection, named after the city as well. Underneath Proto Alexandria in Yesterland, where the data terminal lies, looks very similar to the part of Alexandria Castle where Steiner can grind to level 99 (I don't know how else to describe it if you know you know). In the Windspath Gardens lies the Cleyra Museum of Nature, also named after the IX city.

Some quest text in Living Memory tells you about other locations in the Unlost World. Lindblum, the city that holds hunts and is very technologically advanced; Conde Petie, where the Dwarves are from (mentioned by a Milalla who said he was from there), and the Iifa Tree. There might even be more here, that I either missed or haven't done yet.

Another quest has you go on a treasure hunt for a password. This password? "I Want to Be Your Canary", the play from FFIX.

Solution Nine has a couple buildings with monsters from IX as signs. One building features a Mu (Which is also mentioned in Living Memory), and another building features Yans, both friendly and not friendly.

Another monster that I noticed a reference to was the Gimme Cat, which is featured on the popcorn in Living Memory. It's also mentioned as an energy drink, but called a "Gimme Bat" instead? I guess it does have bat wings.

While XIV doesn't have any direct plot important characters from IX, the ones we do have are very reminiscent of its cast, and clearly are done like that on purpose.

Otis is Steiner (with maybe a little tiny bit of Beatrix depending on how you look at it). Captain of the Knights of Alexandria, he speaks in an older fashion, similar to Steiner, and is very loyal to his princess.

Sphene is an interesting mix. The most obvious one is Garnet, both being Queens of Alexandria, being named after stones, and loving their people. The other one, which might be argued isn't intended, is Garland.

(No, not those guys. The other one.)

Garland in IX is an artificial being whose purpose is to continue his world's life. To do this, he would try to fuse Terra (his planet), with Gaia (the main planet), and control Gaian souls for Terra instead. What did Sphene do? Try to fuse her reflection with the Source, to use their souls for her own people. I personally think this is a very clear similarity.

In general, because of this similarity, the latter half of Dawntrail shares very similar themes with IX's plots, dealing with death and souls. I also think it's pretty funny that both start out pretty happy and cartoony, and end fairly depressing and existential.

Another plot point used in the MSQ is the play sequence. While IX's is based off love, and XIV's is the history of Alexandria, both feature a sword fight scene. (99 out of 100 nobles approve).

Finally, several songs from IX are used in Dawntrail. In the above mentioned play, Swords of Fury plays, just like the original. And a few scenes later, Vamo'alla Flamenco (previously used for the DNC quests) plays, though it should have been during the sword fight!! Prima Vista Orchestra and Fleeting Life are used in several scenes, usually involving Sphene. Something to Protect also appears, but in a scene I can't recall. Finally, the Court Jesters' theme gets a remix as the main song in the Strayborough Deadwalk.

X

There is a singular joke in Heritage Found made about dodging lightning bolts right before the flash so they don't hit you. The person who wrote this line wanted to induce PTSD in as many people as they could with only a single line of dialogue.

XI

The other most important game in the expansion. In a way, Dawntrail FEELS like it could have been an XI expansion in another lifetime. I might be looking too much into it, but I feel as though this was foreshadowed back in the first patch of Endwalker, as Dawntrail takes A LOT from the Treasures of Aht Urhgan expansion.

In Endwalker, the Alzadaal's Legacy dungeon was based off of the Alzadaal Underwater Ruins in Aht Urhgan. The dungeon used many models from XI, such as the Rampart, the Xzomit (hell yes!), and the Acrolith. The dungeon had a visual similarity, as well as the areas in the dungeon being named after zones in Aht Urhgan (Bhaflau Thickets, Arrapago Reef, and Mount Zhayolm). I know this is Endwalker and not Dawntrail but trust me it's important for the foreshadowing.

Gulool Ja Ja was a boss in the Besieged mode of ToAU, leading the Mamool Ja Savages to assault Al Zahbi. Both incarnations of this character are VERY different from each other.

Similarly, Gurfurlur was also a boss in Besieged, leading the Troll Mercenaries. It's very funny to me that both of these warmongers became such nice people in Tural.

The Yok Huy as a whole are actually Trolls from XI. The different name I assume coming from the fact that Trolls are already an enemy in XIV, in Labyrinthos.

While this isn't direct, and is probably unintentional, the fact that the final boss in Vanguard was a naga/lamia like entity only makes me wonder if it was somehow a callback to Medusa and the Undead Swarm, the last remaining Besieged invaders.

Zoraal Ja is a Notorious Monster in the areas around Aht Urhgan.

To continue on with Mamool Ja facts, Mamook is an area in ToAU. They don't look very similar, but they do both share the title of Autarch as their ruler. Mamool Ja in general come from XI, so it's no surprise that in the expansion that well, expands on them, it uses XI for inspiration.

This next one might be a little insane. The general plot of Treasures of Aht Urhgan, is that after killing Promathia, a god that wishes to end all life, the Adventurer goes to a completely different area to have a relatively calmer adventure. Here, they meet a female member of royalty named Aphmau. Her brother, Razfahd, unable to rule over the country, has a conquering nature, and uses an Automaton body to control Alexander for his goals. This... can't be a coincidence, right?? We kill the Endsinger, who wanted to end all life, go to a completely different area to have a relatively calmer adventure with our female member of royalty, Wuk Lamat, and we fight against Zoraal Ja, her war hungry brother that is unable to rule, so he uses the power of Alexandria (a mech suit) for his goals. You... you see what I'm cooking here right??? RIGHT!?!?!

To piggyback off of this, Wuk Lamat very much fits the role of the XI heroine. A girl who is very clearly the main character of the story, and hangs around you more than anyone else.

Edit: one last thing that I forgot to put down before posting, one of the hunts uses the Magic Pot model from XI. We love Magic Pot.

I THINK that should be everything I found? I know for a fact we're going to get more since the Alliance Raids are based of off XI (I'm so excited)

XIII

A couple enemy models were used from XIII.

The Silver Lobos in Urqopacha use the XIII model. I'm fairly sure they've never been used in XIV yet, but I could be wrong.

Similarly, the Strayborough Deadwalk uses the Gremlin/Ahriman enemies. I do not think they've been used before this, feel free to yell at me if I'm wrong :)

Type-0

While not like, direct, the concept of erasing the memories of anyone who has died (especially seen as a blessing) was a major plot point of Type-0's world.

I think that's everything? My memory isn't the greatest, so I'm sure there's something I noticed that I missed, and again; I haven't done everything, so there might be even more out there that I've yet to find!

Please, feel free to comment anything else that you may have noticed, and hopefully you enjoyed reading :)

[wileys-russo]

childhood sweethearts (9) II a.russo x reader

playlist one two three four five six seven eight

childhood sweethearts (9) II a.russo x reader

"-don't you have your own clothes?" you smiled in amusement, laid down on your bed as your best friend rummaged through your wardrobe, tossing things aside and mumbling to herself.

"yes but i have nothing to wear! like i told you before i came over here, keep up!" rory turned around and clapped at you making your eyes roll as you sat up and sipped at your drink.

"you my dear however are wearing this!" a few items of clothing hit you in the face as rory tossed them over her shoulder. "i thought we were just going to dinner?" you sighed as you peeled them off, the clothes in question a short black dress and an oversized black blazer for over the top.

"we are! but if we maybe end up somewhere else afterwards...we need to be dressed to show we're open to that." rory grinned with a wink as you only shook your head, having known her long enough to know there wasn't any point in arguing with the hard headed girl.

"so i saw that alessia followed you on instagram." rory mentioned casually, continuing her furious hunt through your clothing as you started to neatly fold everything she'd tossed aside in doing so.

"why are you stalking people again on social media? i thought we had this conversation ro!" you tutted, the girl notoriously known for a deep dive.

"i wasn't stalking! i just so happened to be looking for that picture of us when i visited you in australia and went to the beach which i know you posted. then i saw that our mutual followers had gained one and it was her." rory tried to defend, glancing at you over her shoulder as you fixed her with a look making her eyes roll.

"thought you two hadn't spoke in years?" "our mums reconnected, been to a few family dinners, we're talking again." "thats all i get?" "thats all you get because thats all it is!" you smacked her in the face with a tank top before putting it away, rory finally pulling a dress out she deemed acceptable and making a noise of happiness.

"well thats nice. it always was a shame you guys drifted and stopped speaking, you were inseparable growing up its always been super weird being friends with you both when you're not friends with each other." rory admitted, not ever having a clue you and alessia dated as most of your mutual friends had never known, grabbing your favourite brown leather jacket as you grabbed her wrist.

"you can wear this ro but i swear to god if you drop even a crumb of food on it we will no longer be friends."

~

"this feels illegal! it's a sunday!" you laughed, head buzzing and slightly tipsy as you and rory skipped through town hand in hand, off to your third bar of the evening.

"but you don't have work tomorrow so really it's more like a saturday!" rory grinned, london seeming to agree as the night life was no lesser on a sunday than it was any other night of the weekend, bars all packed out with drunkenly happy patrons.

"where are we even going?" you laughed as you stumbled, rory catching you and slinging an arm around your shoulders as she marched you both on with seemingly a clear destination and purpose.

"okay don't hate me, but we're going to test my skills as a wing woman." rory grinned, squeezing your cheeks together in her hand as she yanked you around a corner and into the line for yet another bar.

"no! no we are not." you shook your head firmly, trying to leave as her hands planted themselves on your shoulders, pushing you forward and toward the door.

"yes we are! you haven't slept with anyone since that horrid cow in australia and i love you so much but you're so fucking tense. you need a shag!" she kissed your cheek, the bouncer looking the two of you over and nodding for you to go inside.

"and just how do you know that! you don't know the ins and outs of my sex life rory." you scowled as she continued to push you toward the bar, the small venue cramped with people, majority crowded around the darts area on the other side of the room.

"what sex life?" rory teased, waving over the bartender as you scoffed and punched her arm. "can't believe you invited me out just to pimp me out, some friend!" you accused somewhat playfully.

"okay so you don't have to sleep with someone but what's wrong with a cheeky kiss? let your hair down baby! you're young, sexy and single." rory purred, shaking her shoulders suggestively and making you shake your head with undeniable amusement at her horrid dance skills.

"four jager bombs please." and with those buzzing through your head, you allowed yourself to be pulled onto the dance floor.

~

"ro you are the worst wing woman ever. that guy was like fifty and balding and that girl had a wedding ring on!" you managed to get out an hour later, now bordering on drunk as you clutched your stomach which was aching from how hard you were laughing.

"well i obviously didn't know that, i thought it was just a ring! queer woman love their rings." rory laughed, collapsing into you as the two of you huddled together on a table in the smokers area.

"see!" she held up your hands and pointed to the five rings scattered about your fingers. "hey if we're using that logic." you moved to grab her hands, pointing to her rings which only made the two of you laugh harder as rory extinguished her cigarette and the two of you returned inside.

"okay. what about him?" "no! balding again." "her?" "definitely straight." "him?" "definitely gay."

"her?" you glanced to the girl at the bar rory was obnoxiously pointing at, smacking down her hand with a laugh, though the sound died in your throat as the girl in question turned around and you recognized the blonde who was with her her right away.

"is that alessia?" rory gasped, already practically running over to the girl as you tried to grab her but it was too late. "rory!" you hissed, having no choice but to follow after her.

"less!" the blonde looked up, just having a second to put her drink down on the table and stand to her feet before rory launched at her. "oh my god! hi?" alessia beamed at her school friend, embracing her in a tight hug as you awkwardly hovered a few feet away.

you couldn't hear what else was said between them but you knew you'd been mentioned the moment alessia's head shot up, looking around until she saw you, rory already stumbling over and grabbing your hand.

"rory no i really don't think-" you started to quietly disagree but before you could finish your sentence you were at their table, multiple pairs of eyes boring up at you as you felt the back of your neck prickle uncomfortably.

rory introduced you both as you forced a smile and gave the group of girls a wave, only recognizing a few of them from when alessia played in the youth groups. "we went to school with alessia." rory explained, subtly pinching you as you still remained silent, nodding along with her words.

"well friends of less's are friends of ours, especially locals!" a girl you'd not met beamed, inviting the two of you to join them. "oh i'm sure they have their own plans!" alessia tried to save you, catching your eye and immediately noticing you were uncomfortable.

"oh we did but they backfired tremendously, turns out i am a terrible wing woman!" rory joked, pinching your cheek and yanking you down into a seat as you forced a laugh. one by one the girls introduced themselves as rory settled right in, joking around as if she'd known them for years.

"well well well, aren't ya a sight for sore eyes y/l/n!" you settled a little as you realised the body squishing in beside you was one you at least knew, ella pulling you into a hug. "all grown up now though!" the brunette joked, bumping her shoulder into yours as the two of you fell into conversation.

you could feel alessia's eyes bore into you from across the table where she sat, constantly glancing over to make sure you were okay. which is why it came to no surprise when you excused yourself to get another drink that she followed.

"i'm really really sorry, i genuinely had no idea you'd come here." the blonde apologized right away, eyes wide as the two of you hovered in a corner by the bar away from prying eyes. seeing the obvious guilt written on her face and not wanting to ruin her night you placed a hand on her arm.

"i don't own the night life in london less, you're more than entitled to go out wherever you want with your friends. i won't lie and say it didn't take me off guard a little though." you admitted with a somewhat awkward smile which the taller girl returned.

"i appreciate that you tried to redivert though. but we both know rorys quite the social butterfly!" you were quick to assure, having appreciated her attempt to let you leave and enjoy your own night.

"is this weird? because i can make some sort of excuse or distraction or something so we leave." the blonde worried, biting down on her bottom lip.

"no! no no please don't feel you have to do that, you deserve to enjoy your night with your friends. look it is a little bit awkward but friends do run into one another on nights out." you shook your head, nodding for the two of you to get a drink.

"don't even try it, i warned you next time i was paying." you joked in an attempt to lighten the somewhat tense energy between the two of you as were quick to pay for her drink,

"wouldn't have thought you were a gin girl." alessia smiled, nodding to the g&t in your hand. "rory's had me on jager and red wine all night, the gins a very welcome reprise." you sighed, the both of you sharing a small chuckle before someone pressed in between you.

"well hello there miss y/l/n." leah grinned at you, your cheeks going bright red at the obvious catching out. "failed to mention you two knew each other when you helped with the football sessions at the school less. care to explain?" she questioned, fixing the younger girl with a pointed look before ordering her own drink.

"we went to school together leah, there isn't anything to explain!" alessia shoved her playfully. "mm i think the lies call for a make up shot of apology." leah grinned wickedly, nodding to the three tequila shots in front of her.

you and alessia sharing a look leah wasted no time doing her own, gesturing for the two of you to hurry up as you sighed but placed your drink down, grabbing the shot in one hand and a lime wedge in the other.

"jesus christ!" you wheezed as the alcohol burnt its way down your throat. "leah no!" alessia groaned as the blonde ordered another round, her arm slinging over your shoulder as she grinned. "ah come on mate, live a little." she teased the striker beside her.

"was she this much of a drip in school?" leah whispered to you, purposefully loud as alessia shot her a glare. "no she's just never been able to hold her alcohol." you smiled, your head spinning from the first shot as leah let out a loud laugh and the two of you threw back the second, alessia following suit with a grimace.

"i like you." leah winked, smacking you on the back as the three of you returned to the table. your previous seat now occupied you found yourself sat beside alessia, pulled into a conversation with a couple of her other friends.

the alcohol flowing and all the girls incredibly welcoming your previous apprehension melted away and you found yourself much more settled. though really you could probably attribute that to the copious amounts of drinks bought for you.

which is how you now found yourself on the dance floor, singing along and dancing with rory as leah, ella and another two of their friends chloe and jess all joined in, some of alessia's group having called it a night and heading off having early flights.

"careful, you're looking a bit green there less." lotte mumbled to the blonde, whose eyes were fixated on you dancing now with chloe, in what could only be described as quite an intimate way. "what?" the striker frowned in confusion at the older girls words, though catching on her cheeks heated up a little and she smacked her leg.

"i told you lotte, we're friends and i'm grateful she's even allowed that. she can do whatever she wants." alessia shrugged, lying to herself and lotte who only hummed, turning back to her conversation with beth.

though as you slipped on your footing and went tumbling to the floor she was right to her feet, hovering for a moment as she watched ella and leah help you up.

"come on russo don't be a stick in the mud!" rory suddenly popped into her line of sight, grabbing alessia's hands as she swiveled her hips with a wink, dragging her onto the dance floor.

alessia shrunk a little in disappointment seeing you were no longer with the group, instead engaged in a conversation with a tall tattooed brunette a few metres away. "maybe not such a shit wing woman after all!" rory joked making a w with her fingers and gesturing to you as alessia forced a smile and a nod.

her eyes never left you as the brunette leaned in closer, the music loud as you giggled at whatever she said, her hands finding your hips and swaying the two of you back and forth.

alessia's stomach lurched at the way you grinned up at her, your eyes locked with hers and seemingly hanging off of her every word, nodding along as the brunette seemed to dominate the conversation.

the same way you used to look up at her, laughing at her jokes and hanging off of her every word. as alessia would stare right back down at you as if you were the only person in the room, because to her you'd always be the only one that ever mattered.

suddenly feeling a wave of nausea came washing over her she mumbled an excuse and darted off to the bathroom, ducking down and dabbing her cheeks with cold water, closing her eyes for a moment as the room spun.

"hey less you alright?" the striker jumped a half foot in the air at the voice of her captain, not having heard anyone follow after her. "yeah fine, just needed a sec to cool off." alessia smiled, trying to leave as leah grabbed her wrist, giving her a knowing look.

"hey, tell me whats happened."

~

having spent the last twenty minutes explaining everything to leah alessia almost welcomed the sticky atmosphere of the dance floor, a welcome distraction from the uncomfortable intimacy of pouring her heart out to her friend in the tiny bathroom.

leah wandering back to the table alessia tried to follow but ella pulled her back in to dance with them, pulling the puppy dog eyes and the excuse she flew back to manchester tomorrow and alessia owed her at least a few more dances.

and as much as she'd missed her boisterous best friend, it was you that her mind routinely drifted to, eyes flickering to where you now sat with the brunette from before, who still seemed to be talking your ear off.

everything seemed fine, and alessia began to try and accept that she soon would have to swallow her pride and watch you likely leave with this girl, no right or room to make any move to stop you.

but as the hours ticked away and the glasses on your table began to pile up, she wasn't the only one watching you cautiously as it appeared you could now hardly hold your head up, rory making her way over to interevene.

"hey, nearly ready to go?" you looked up through hooded eyes at your best friend who seemed to have grown a second head. "ro ro!" you slurred out with a grin, your head slumping to the shoulder of the gorgeous brunette beside you whose name seemed to escape you.

"she's fine, you and your friends should go." the girl smiled, though it didn't seem all that friendly as rory hummed, knowing you were far too drunk to be consenting to anything right now. "we will, but she's coming with us." rory spoke somewhat forcefully, you only giggling as your head lulled back and the room span.

alessia watched the whole interaction carefully, humming every now and then as ella rambled on beside her. she was content to let rory take the lead, however as the girl tried to help you up and the brunette beside her shoved her away, your head suddenly flying forward and crashing onto the table, she could no longer be a bystander.

"she can hardly keep her eyes open, she's leaving with us. so fuck off!" rory warned firmly, alessia squatting down and gently pulling you up to sit again, her hands shoved away by the brunette who you collapsed into with a laugh.

"do you want to leave with them love? aren't we having fun?" the girl asked you as you mumbled something incoherent.

"don't fucking touch her! she's practically passed out and she can't even say her own name let alone yes or no to your advances you creep. so unless you'd like us to call over security i suggest you walk away while you still can." alessia warned protectively, standing up tall and glowering over the brunette as rory slipped in to gently help you to your feet.

"whatever. she's not even worth it anyway!" the brunette scoffed, standing and walking away as alessia balled her fists, withholding the urge to run after her and knock some sense and respect into her, a feeling she'd not had in years, not even when she was pushed around on the football pitch.

"shit!" alessia hurried to grab you as rory tripped over her footing, also having had one too many drinks as noble as her intentions were as the two of you almost went crashing to the ground. "stay here for a second, i'll be right back." alessia helped you sit back down, leaning into rory who sat beside you and nodded.

"everything alright?" leah asked with a concerned gaze over her shoulder toward you. "they've both had way too much to drink and i can't let them get in a taxi like that alone." alessia smiled apologetically as she grabbed her bag, leah, lotte and beth all nodding in agreement.

exchanging hugs with her remaining friends and promising a stroppy ella that she would come and see her and mary in manchester the next weekend she could she hurried back to the two of you, leah following behind to help her get the two of you out the front.

"thank you leah, really." alessia hugged the older girl tightly once the two of you were safely sat in a taxi. "remember what i said yeah? right person, wrong time. if its meant to be, it'll be. if it's not, cherish what you had." leah reminded softly, kissing the strikers cheek and returning inside.

"where's your place less?" rory managed to get out, somehow having given the driver her own address as alessia gave the same. "i can't remember where she lives." rory winced, nodding to you who was now passed out entirely, face smushed against the cold window pane of the taxi, body curled into itself.

"i live a few streets away, she can stay at mine. i'm a bit worried leaving her by herself if she falls down and hits her head or something." alessia bit down on her bottom lip as rory could only nod, hardly able to keep her eyes open.

"you could stay too if you wanted?" alessia offered, reaching forward to tap her shoulder as the driver pulled away. "s'fine. my boyfriends home!" rory slurred with a shrug, alessia nodding and settling into her seat, glancing to you every now and then.

"we needa do breakfast or dinner or something!" rory stumbled out of the taxi as it arrived to her place, blowing alessia a kiss and making her way up the driveway, alessia requesting the driver wait till she got inside before driving off, nodding for him to go once she had.

the drive to her own house a little further away from town alessia's eyes fluttered closed as she crossed her arms over her chest, exhaustion starting to sink in as the time neared one thirty in the morning.

she jolted a little in surprise as something came crashing into her, but she relaxed seeing it was only you, your head resting on her arm as alessia carefully lifted your head and stretched out, allowing you to lean into her much more comfortably as her eyes slipped closed again.

she blinked tiredly as she felt the car come to a stop, rubbing her cheek and leaning forward, clumsily tapping her phone to pay for the ride, not even bothering to look how much it was.

"okay." she sighed looking down at you, popping her door open and carefully sliding out, propping you to lean back into the seat as she did. leaning in she unbuckled you, cradling your head in one arm as the other helped you out, balancing your shorter form which crumbled into her side as she kicked the door closed and walked toward her front door.

the stairs proving much too difficult she mumbled a soft apology well aware you had no idea what was going on, lifting you up and into her arms as she carried you up and to her doorstep as you mumbled incoherently.

setting you back down and rummaging through her bag she grabbed her keys, helping you inside and setting you to sit on her lounge. "lessi!" you managed out with a lopsided smile, eyes opening a little more as your head tilted to the side and you squinted up at her.

"yeah, its me." she smiled back, unable to resist as she ran a hand through your hair affectionately, moving your flyaways out of your face. but snapping out of it she snatched her hand back as if it had been burned, hurrying to lock her front door.

"okay, come on. bedtime!" alessia sighed, hauling you up and helping you to the spare bedroom, grateful she only lived in a single story apartment which meant no stairs. "we can't go to bed! we're not dating anymore silly." you slurred, poking her cheek.

ignoring your remark she sat you down, smiling a little as you laid down with a thump, star fishing in the bed as alessia wrestled your boots off. "okay. theres no way you can consent to this, how do we get you dressed?" alessia mumbled to herself chewing on her bottom lip, tapping her foot as your eyes slipped closed again.

noticing your dress was strapless an idea came to mind as she left you for a moment to pop to her own room, grabbing you some clothes to sleep in. "hey, we gotta get you changed." the blonde whispered softly, squatting down and tapping your leg, your eyes fluttering open as you nodded and forced yourself to sit up.

even though it was hours away alessia was already dreading the moment you'd wake up, knowing all too well the feelings of regret and embarassment which would likely flood your body. only selfishly she hoped unlike her you'd not run away before she woke up.

carefully slipping a large shirt on over you alessia helped you stand for a moment, tugging the strapless dress down and quickly helping you to step into a pair of shorts, leaving your bra and underwear on.

knowing the worst way to wake up was hungover with a face full of makeup it was to the ensuit she gently guided you to next, sitting you down on the lid of the toilet as she grabbed out the makeup wipes which always sat in here for when her friends stayed over.

"lessi!" you managed out again as she squatted down between your legs, gently holding your chin in one hand and wiping away your makeup with the other. "thats me." she promised with a smile as you hummed, closing your eyes as she wiped away your mascara, trying to be as soft as she could.

"missed you." you giggled, kicking her lightly as alessias smile turned a little more pained, knowing it was only the alcohol talking. "i missed you too." she still spoke quietly, popping the dirty wipes in the bin and sighing, her heart aching at the sight of you sat before her in her clothes, in her house, yet you were as far away from hers as you possibly could be.

helping you up and into bed she flicked off the main light, leaving the lamp on in case you tried to go to the bathroom later, pulling the duvet up to cover you in the dimly lit room.

"hey! stay." your hand shot out and grabbed hers as she turned to leave, eyes widening as yours remained squinted toward her. "you need to sleep." she forced another pained smile, gently pulling her hand out of your grip.

"stay lessi. please!" you whined now, rolling over and repeatedly patting the empty space beside you, looking up at her with a drunken pout. "i can't. you'd hate me if i did." she smiled sadly, running another hand through your hair, forehead warm to the touch.

"no. stay." you demanded again, though a little more tiredly as you patted the empty bed, eyes half closed as alessia hesitated, her entire body screaming for her to just walk away, and she should have, she knew that.

but, she didn't.

still dressed in the suit pants and vest alessia had gone out in she slipped in beside you, body tensing as you were quick to cuddle into her, tucking your face into her neck. "night lessi." you slurred out, hardly legible as you hugged her tightly, alessia slowly moving her arms to wrap around your midsection, doing her best to ignore the little voice in the back of her head screaming at her to get up and go.

but selfishly, she would take what she could.

your body eventually slumped into bed, breathing evening out as you finally fell back to sleep, alessia ever so gently prying your arms off of her, slipping back out of the bed.

if you noticed you didn't even stir, stretching out in bed with a deep exhale, mouth slightly ajar as you breathed soundly in and out. and if you'd have cracked your eyes open even just a few centimeters you'd have met alessia's hopelessly lovesick gaze bearing down on you.

or if you weren't so drunk you might have felt her lips press an affectionate kiss to your clammy forehead, lingering for a moment as she squatted beside you, other hand tangled in your hair as she inhaled deeply.

wrenching herself away she hurried out of the room, feet refusing to stop until she'd closed her door so quickly you'd think she was being chased and shutting out an intruder, her heart absolutely pounding in her chest as she slowly sank down, back pressed against the door as realization sank in.

alessia was still very much so head over heels, undeniably and most certainly problematically....in love with you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

chapter ten

[visualnovellover]

AIGHT JUST HAD THE TIME TO MAKE THIS POST BUT ANYWAYYYYYY-

from my previous post I talked about how IW is talking about a Third, which a lot speculated as Sydney being the Third - which is understandable due to IW having unique text about Sydney (which is a lot compared to the other LI). If you don't know, here's what IW say in reference to Sydney (taken from the game's code in github)

But in the same code the Third text can only be triggered with an Awareness of 900, along with other texts that have vague mentions of the two entities (Auriga : trail (as one of Auriga's title is blazing chariot that's probably what it meant) & Virgo : six (six arms, six wings, you get the gist))

With that in mind, Sydney is definitely out of the question for being the Third, and the curious presence from the prayer room is in!

You're probably asking who tf is that- well it's something you can encounter in the prayer room once you're a member of the temple! It's a very low chance, but there's a designated necklace for it to gain 10% to meet it - which is still low but still! Here's the scene once you meet it!

Now moving forward, the reason why I truly believe that the curious presence is the Third IW mentions because whenever there's mentions of Auriga and Virgo there would also be a mention of the curious presence! Two examples for this is the prayer room and looking at the sky from the telescope at GH's tower. Here's Auriga and Virgo! (there's a change in text if your soft world corruption is above 50 or more! and i unfortunately have a shit ton)

Unfortunately I don't have a picture for the third scene but i did copy the text in the game's code so here!

You spot a shape you aren't familiar with. It doesn't match any constellations you know, but there's unmistakably a pattern present. It feels as though someone has made a horrible mistake, and something has been moved from its intended position. You feel dizzy, yet warm. When you try to focus again, the pattern is gone.

And all of this scenes can be triggered by wearing the designated necklace which are: holy, dark and stone pendant. The pictures are courtesy to the wiki.

And I'm sure you can already guess which entities the necklaces triggers. It also has some dialogue from Sydney if you're wearing it when talking to them in the library! (nothing to special! dark pendant has Sydney spacing out, holy pendant ofc has syndey saying how safe they feel wearing it, while the stone pendant has sydney who looks interested at the necklace and mentions how they've seen it before <- all of this is from pure/neutral sydney! i have no idea what the difference will be except corrupt syd will say that they still wear their holy pendant despite everything iirc)

Here's also a screenshot from Purityguy which is really solidifying my claim.

Also if you guys didn't connect the dots already, Auriga and Virgo is a real life constellations. And Purityguy said that we can find out what the curious presence's name is from the screenshot above.

Basing on the screenshots and lore in game the third/curious presence is a forgotten being from a really old religion. There isn't any more details we can get except the fact that IW might have some knowledge due to it being old as fuck and the only scenes (that i know of) is in the prayer room and the telescope.

After all this, it really makes sense why IW says the Third remains unfound. The two entities having followers/worshippers while the other one has been forgotten about as time passes.

I still haven't figured out what IW meant by the 'Until the Sands run dry' text but it's probably referring to the third/curious presence atp.

That's all I managed to brainstormed. Honestly, I put too much effort in dissecting the lore then I do in anything.... god

[lu-is-not-ok]

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but I have a theory about Hong Lu I haven't seen discussed so I was curious of your opinion on it.

As you're aware, there are a few identities where Hong Lu winds up in different jobs bc his grandmother nepo-babied him into different situations (like in the K Corp Class 3 Staff identity) and Hong Lu seems like a generally passive person that moreso allows to let the world happen around him as he rolls with whatever direction the tide takes him (terrible gloom pun intended, sorry).

Maybe I'm wrong, but with what we currently know about him I can't think of a wish that would be important enough for him to go into this whole job with the sinners and abandon his family and life so I've been theorizing his grandmother has a conservatorship or something similar over him and she signed his contract for a wish the family had instead.

Do you have any thoughts, critiques, or corrections for this? You're my favourite limbus blog, so I'm a bit excited to finally have a reason to send an ask in. :)

Thanks!

It's not unlikely for his family to be somehow involved in his employment at Limbus Company, but it is a little bit vague at the moment.

I'm gonna elaborate under a read more cause I got rambly. Also, spoilers from everything up to and including Intervallo 6.5.

We know from the recent Timekilling Time event that the reason Hong Lu isn't with his family right now is because he was told by his elders to explore and learn as much as possible. The way he describes it makes it fairly clear that him leaving his family home wasn't exactly his own choice, but rather something he's doing because he was told to.

This is however where things get a bit less clear. It's possible that his family sent him directly to Limbus Company, knowing that it would lead to him gathering a lot of experience. It's also possible that they just sent him out to do this on his own without much guidance, and when he came across Limbus Company it was his own wish for them to help him achieve the goal the family set out for him.

Identity-wise, it's important to note that the only Hong Lu identities that directly reference being put into the job by his family are once where he is working for Wings, that being K Corp and W Corp.

His Liu Identity also references his family, but doesn't make a direct connection between his spot at Liu and the influence of his elders, rather simply implying that he's unable to escape their influence in his position.

None of his Syndicate Identities really mention his family, which makes sense considering they're the least likely position that his elders would want him to have, but interestingly enough his other Association Identity, Dieci, doesn't reference his family either.

I think it's notable, since arguably his Dieci Identity would be the one where he's able to satiate his curiosity the most, and yet does not reference the idea of his family wanting that out of him at all. That could be potentially explained through the whole Dieci thing of removing their knowledge when they use it in exchange for combat prowess, especially since Hong Lu as a Key seems to be a lot more affected by that exchange, outright losing memories of where he is and why he's there upon spending his knowledge. It's not unlikely that this exchange might have led him to just. Forgetting about his family. Which would be fucking hilarious honestly.

Anyway, all that being said - Hong Lu's family is only ever directly involved when the position he ends up in has some form of... let's call it prestige attached to it, like that of a Wing's feather or an Association Fixer. On the other hand, they seem to be completely out of the picture when the position he ends up in is undesireable, like a Syndicate or low-grade Fixer Office.

This is where we have to consider the nature of Limbus Company as an entity. We know it's a large enough company to have considerable financial backing, sponsors, and be able to absorb other corporate entities like Moses' Fixer Office into itself. At the same time though, it is still almost entirely unknown to the wider world of the City, often not being taken seriously in the slightest by almost everyone.

Would Limbus Company be considered prestigious enough for Hong Lu's family to care to directly involve themselves in getting him the position? Or is it such a small scale entity that they don't care as long as Hong Lu is fulfilling the goal they gave him on his own?

Either way, his family and the orders they gave him are still likely to be his main reason for joining Limbus Company, it's just the matter of how deep their involvement actually goes.

[ms--lobotomy]

How do you think the other primarchs would react to say konrad, mortarion, or peterturabo getting a significant other before everyone else

Hi! I did a poll to decide who to write for, and Konrad won fair and square! I'll write Mothman someday I promise Here's your food.

Summary: Horus and Fulgrim come into contact with Konrad's new partner.

Content Warnings: Fulgrim existing except Horus is more annoying because I like to write him as kind of a dick, uncomfortable social situation, Konrad is also a bit of a silly billy because I am unwell

Image Credit: @squishyowl

You'd been wandering the Imperial Palace for hours now. You'd tried to backtrack a few times, but it had never worked. This wing was a lot more refined than what you were used to, with gold tastefully added in where it accentuated a particular piece. You reached out your hand to touch one of the ornate picture frames, you couldn't help yourself. The metal was smooth underneath your fingers, cold to the touch.

You heard their footsteps before you heard anything else, a pair of them. They were far too heavy to be that of baseline humans, or even space marines. You ran towards the noise, ignoring their idle chatter. If Konrad wasn't in the mix, they could at least give you directions back to his wing of the palace.

"Hello?" you asked, dashing around the corner.

You recognized the violet armor of the one on your left first. Fulgrim. You took a step back without thinking about it. You knew he was closer with Konrad than many of the others, but there was something about his presence that was unnerving. Almost as if he was too perfect. To the right was none other than Horus Lupercal, arguably the most important of his brothers with his fancy Warmaster title. He sported clean teal armor and stood slightly taller than his brother.

Fulgrim spoke up first. "Ah... you're my brother's partner," he remarked. He stepped up slightly closer to you, and you backed away.

"It's strange," said Horus. "I never expected him to be the first of us to get a partner, but here we are. How is he treating you?" He stepped up to come side-to-side with his brother again.

"Oh," you said, shuffling your feet. "I mean, I think it's pretty nice?" you asked. "He's--"

Horus cut you off with a chuckle. "Imagine that," he said, turning to his brother. "What do you think, Fulgrim?"

"I think..." he said, putting a finger to his lips and looking down. "I think that we should let the little one get a word in, don't you think?"

Little one? "Sure thing," said Horus. He looked down at you expectantly.

"I..." you started. Sure, they were around twice your size, but did that give them the right to... it was too much effort to contest it. It was probably best to just head back on your own. "I guess he sometimes just pops up out of nowhere, uh... I just wanted to know how to get back to his wing, honestly." You turned around to retrace your steps yet again.

Horus stepped in front of you. You looked behind you, and Fulgrim had that pleasant smile on his face that almost never left.

"We haven't seen you in person yet," remarked Horus. "Why don't you stay and talk for a little? I'm quite curious to know how our brother is as a partner," he said.

"Uhm..." you started, looking to the side. I can tell, you thought to yourself, though you wouldn't dare vocalize it. "I... he..." you started, sinking back into yourself. You felt your face go warm, and you fiddled with your hands. Horus looked down at you expectantly, a dickish smirk on his face.

You heard your name from a familiar voice. You snapped your head around to see none other than Konrad, hastily adjusting his armor. "You got lost," he said. You nodded, closing your eyes. "I see you've met my brothers?"

"Your partner is a delight to talk to," said Horus. "They should stay on Terra a while, I'd like to get to know them."

"I think they'd like to go," he said curtly. Horus stepped out of the way, and Konrad grabbed your wrist. You felt Fulgrim's stare at the back of your head, slightly bemused. "Isn't that right?"

"Very well," said Horus. "Talk to you later, I should hope?"

[darkmagicmirror]

The Dark Magic Symbol and Alchemy

I've been wanting to make this post since before S5 and never got around to it, and I decided hey, might as well try to get it out before S6, at least. SO here it is. I know S6 came out today, but I haven't seen it yet, so shh, this still counts.

So in a Reddit AMA back in 2020, Aaron and Justin answered a question confirming that they drew inspiration for the dark magic symbol from the Rod of Asclepius and the Caduceus.

Just because of Tumblr image limits, I put the screenshot and symbols (linked in the comment) in the same picture, but you can follow the link to the AMA comment and look at the image there if you need a bigger version.

SO I got curious and started looking up some more info...

Here are just the first couple paragraphs of the Wikipedia pages for the Caduceus and Rod of Asclepius.

So at first glance, just like the comment in the original question says, the Caduceus is associated mostly with Hermes, and the Rod of Asclepius is associated with health care and medicine.

But a little further down the Wikipedia page, we get:

Although the Rod of Asclepius, which has only one snake and no wings, is the traditional and more widely used symbol of medicine, the Caduceus is sometimes used by healthcare organizations.

And it turns out that there's an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to the Caduceus as a symbol of medicine. So, already, upon finding this, I found it fascinating that the dark magic symbol is inspired by not just one, but two symbols seen as medical symbols.

Onto the article focusing on the Caduceus as a symbol of medicine, I go on to find this:

I have to come back to the Quicksilver thing, but first off, the being a symbol of alchemy is interesting to me. (Partially because I definitely think of Fullmetal Alchemist and the whole equivalent exchange concept there and the questions about whether people should be messing with life and death and how everything has a price -- all pretty relevant to TDP, but I digress.)

I looked at the article linked in footnote 16, which is titled The earliest medical use of the caduceus, and I found this fascinating image!

Most importantly, this has a single snake with two heads. Which sounds familiar!

I do think it's worth noting that the very first time an example of dark magic is discussed on screen, it's with the discussion of the two-headed snake, being held by Viren's staff. The spell isn't actually done, obviously, but it's the first impression we get of dark magic in the series!

Also I just find it interesting that the article mentions that:

Hermes had some medical roles in that he did assist in conducting the dead to the underworld and also received some credit for relieving plagues and epidemics in Asia Minor.

Another article linked on Wikipedia, called Snake and staff symbolism in healing, brings up the same point, saying:

The caduceus was indeed a magical wand, a gift from Apollo which protected Hermes and enabled him to guide departed souls along unknown pathways to the Underworld, and to awaken the sleeping. The latter aspect was sometimes associated with powers of resurrection — of awakening the dead, and also of curing the severely ill (Schouten 1967:119; Van Rooyen 1982:731-5).

So I just think it's interesting that it all ties into dark magic very well, especially considering that Claudia uses dark magic to resurrect Viren, and dark magic has been shown to be used for healing purposes (such as healing Soren -- both before and during show-canon).

The last mentioned article also goes on to mention the quicksilver thing, so I just wanted to say that I also find that particular point interesting considering that many people theorize that the different types of primal magic may have one underlying magical source that powers all of them, which to me reminds me of quicksilver being considered the basis of all matter.

But wait! There's more!

When I looked at the Wikipedia page for Alchemy, I found this interesting snippet:

An important example of alchemy's roots in Greek philosophy, originated by Empedocles and developed by Aristotle, was that all things in the universe were formed from only four elements: earth, air, water, and fire. According to Aristotle, each element had a sphere to which it belonged and to which it would return if left undisturbed.

This especially reminds me of the primal sources. Also spheres? Really? Funny how the primal stones are shaped that way,

The beginning part of the Wikipedia article also mentions how one of alchemy's aims was to create panaceas to cure diseases, and also that it played a role in the development of chemistry and medicine, which is fascinating!

And then I did decide to look at the Rod of Asclepius page as well, and it talks about how the snake and rod/staff were originally separate symbols.

Both the Oxford Illustrated Companion to Medicine and The New Medicine and the Old Ethics (links are to Google Books) talk about the snake/serpent as symbols of renewal/restoration of health because of how snakes shed their skin. The latter also has this snippet, which I think makes snakes sound like a great dark magic symbol as well:

Back on the Wikipedia page, it also says:

The ambiguity of the serpent as a symbol, and the contradictions it is thought to represent, reflect the ambiguity of the use of drugs,[8] which can help or harm, as reflected in the meaning of the term pharmakon, which meant "drug", "medicine", and "poison" in ancient Greek.[11] However the word may become less ambiguous when "medicine" is understood as something that heals the one taking it because it poisons that which afflicts it, meaning medicine is designed to kill or drive away something and any healing happens as a result of that thing being gone, not as a direct effect of "medicine".

I looked at the source A History of Medicine as well, and this was where it talked about pharmakon:

So it literally talks about magic there, which is really interesting to me.

Anyway!

TL;DR: All that to say that while the dark magic symbol obviously has influence from the caduceus and Rod of Asclepius, I think that the concept of dark magic in general also draws some inspiration from the meaning/history behind both symbols, especially with regards to the connection to alchemy, two-headed snake, and also the connection to healing/medicine.

Which all just contributes to my opinion that I hope the canon universe in the series doesn't eliminate dark magic use in the end but instead puts limitations on dark magic use so it can still be used for the healing purposes as well. And if alchemy ended up contributing to medicine, then... who knows?

... also that's without even getting into how the series refers to Sir Sparklepuff as a homonculus, which:

And the page goes on to mention the "Arcanum of human blood" so... yeah.

Lots to think about!

[ladykailitha]

Wiggly Wednesday 🧠🪱

Since I can't do WIP Wednesday today, this will be fun, created by @just-my-latest-hyperfixation and tagged by @gloomysoup, post a brain worm that's been in your head all week, but haven't written (I hope I got that right?)

I probably won't do anything with it because I mainly do steddie and I don't like Nancy and this is a bit far off that beaten path. So if anyone wants it, have at thee!

But we know that at one point Nancy Wheeler played D&D, and not only did she play but she dressed up in wizard's clothes to do it, (she gave them to Will when she stopped playing.)

So picture this if you will, a tiny freshman Nancy, still awkward and hasn't got her steely spine yet.

And she runs afoul some of the mean girls, think Carol, Nicole, and Tina. Only for junior Eddie to sweep and take her under his wing. Brings her to Hellfire and they love her.

Her wizard is so well put together that Eddie's a little worried she might be OP (over powered) but he's up for the challenge.

Things go well that year and Eddie is excited to have her back the next year. Only she doesn't want to anymore.

She wants to pursue Steve Harrington, be popular, go to parties.

Eddie is gutted. He blames Steve for her throwing in the wizarding robes absolutely.

It isn't until he meets Mike that he learned she had stopped playing with them LONG before she started dated Steve. And while her wanting to date him is why she gave it up. He wasn't the evil king locking her in the tower like he thought he was.

Then he sees the guy in action and he is an absolute dork. Yup. Fucked up on that one. Could make it steddie I suppose, but it feels more Edancy or just gen to me if I'm honest.

[the-voldsoy]

My current thoughts about Remnants (pod), as of ep10

(a disjointed list of theories, thoughts and opinions that have been bouncing around in my head and need to put down somewhere. A lot of this will likely be disproven when e11 comes out.)

(under the cut because there's a lot)

First of all, Sir. I don't think he knows what he's supposed to be doing, really, either. Or rather, he knows the what but not the why. He might be afraid, and that might be for a lot of reasons. It might be for what they're doing together, it might be for A. It might be something else entirely.

I also have half a theory working right now that Sir was either made with the First And Last Place[which I will be calling TFALP from now] (has always been there, doesn't remember anything from before or why), or was a previous Apprentice. In this case, he could be lying to the Apprentice so that he doesn't try to replace Sir in turn.

Sir is not human, we know that. He might have been, once, but he's not anymore. He seems to have some sort of magic(?) that can make A forget things, and possibly has wings (flapping noise in e6). He also may-or-may-not be something of a biblical angel, in the sense that his true form cannot be comprehended by A without his mind exploding.

The Apprentice. He is there to give (unbiased?) judgement about something he doesn't understand. That is his purpose. His memory is wiped every time he gets too close to understanding what TFALP actually is, although it is unclear whether it is because Sir has an ulterior motive or just because A's mind can't handle it all. I'm leaning more towards the "understanding TFALP causes eldritch madness" idea though, it makes more sense with the evidence we have.

It is possible that neither Sir nor A are actual people, but rather constructs made by a larger force, or simply just concepts given bodies

The code of capitalised letters from the episode captions so far is: HE IA M OR EOR LESS MST HAS ILTOT [spaces separate episodes]. The only clue we have been given is a picture of 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioner from Eira. I think this means that it will be able to decode/be separated into words in multiple ways, rather than the words themselves having double meanings, but I have no confirmation for this.

However, I also think it's multiple different codes(?), being separated by every time A is "reset". (look, just hear me out).

The "HEIAMOREORLESS" part came ep1-6, and the "new" A is shown in e7. If we take this as a separation point in the code, then this part reads "He I AMore Or Less" (Am, more). This would make sense in the context of the show itself and other clues we've been given.

But the next part (ep7-10) can't be put into any obvious words (yet). "MSTHASILTOT". This needs to be decoded differently, possibly with an actual cipher.

I don't know, we don't have the whole code yet so it shouldn't make any sense yet so I'm probably completely wrong but you see my point I hope?

So far the morse code reads: Apprentice / reshelve or discard / the question / is not what / it may / first / / appear to / be if indeed / it appears / to be /

I reckon the next parts will say "anything at all". Not a huge theory or anything, I just wanted to guess. However, this does tell us that there is more about "Reshelve or discard" than is immediately obvious. I have so many thoughts about that though, it needs its own post.

The TL;DR of what I think right now is that yes, it is reincarnation, but it's not clear which option makes the person in the Remnant reincarnated -- I think it's the discard option, because reshelve implies that the ones on the shelf can always be moved around but the discarded ones are gone (living a life?).

I am not confident in that though

But if that is the case, then which is worse?

I haven't thought about it very much yet, but all of these Remnants are going to be connected in some way, I just haven't figured out why. It could just be that the show is more fun (on a meta level) when you have to break out the red string, but the fact that Sir seemed to have some sort of investment with e6 makes me think it's more than that.

Or, rather, what was so important about e6? Why did he care so much that A read it? Did it reveal too much too soon, or did Sir have some sort of emotional investment or involvement with it?

If Sir has an involvement with some of the Remnants implies...I don't know what it implies to be honest. That he was a person once? That he does, in fact, feel emotions? That he has read the Remnants? We already know he seen all the Remnants, he's told us that outright, and he says he doesn't remember "the way that you [A] do" (e10). Is Sir God?

That sounds like a joke but I am making faint connections in my mind ok I'll explain that when they're clear enough to see

I think it would be kind of cute if Sir just sort of...went to a jumble sale and bought a bunch of trinkets, and that's why they're all related

Someone in the Discord said those dust-sprite-things might be discarded Remnants also. That doesn't help my theory at all I just wanted to mention it because those Dust Sprites and the letters from e6 and TFALP itself all mean something but I don't know what

When I was reading through the e6 transcript, I forgot that A says he thinks there's something else in there with them. Not sure if he meant the Dust, or TFALP itself, or the Remnants, or something else entirely, but it does intrigue me.

If it is something else, it could be an antagonist of a sort. There seems to be something working against Sir, creating the "paper trails" and showing A e6, which Sir was not happy about. But why was Sir not aware of it happening? He acts as though he should have seen it?? Could it have been left there by A previously, as a clue so that he could try and remember and find answers again?

Why does Sir care so much about A? He apparently has to regularly erase his memories, would it not be easier to get a different random person each time? The fact that it's always the same person makes me think that A was created for specifically this purpose, but he also seems more...human? than Sir, understanding sarcasm and jokes and empathy and that sort of thing. Is A supposed to be a representation of all of humanity? So that he can be a fair judge? Sir does say that A always has the job (e7)

And Sir says that "Things will not change, not until I see fit" in that episode. This implies that he has some level of control over TFALP and the Remnants and how it all works. So the question is, why? Why can he control it, why is it how it is?

Or maybe Sir cares about him because of familiarity, he's gotten used to and fond of A being around, he doesn't want to have to replace him. But that then raises the question of why he kept him around to start, before he got used to him, and it circles back round. Maybe they were both human, once, and they knew each other, and now only Sir remembers for whatever reason.

[monstrousfemale]

Steve comes crashing into Eddie's place one day. Looks right at home in the ripped-from-a-catalogue environment of the pre-furnished, government-provided place. All that meticulously put together hair, his fancy clothes, the perfect line of his nose. It only takes a greeting and a "come in" for Steve to land heavy on Eddie's couch. And it only takes a glance to see Steve is in tatters.

So Eddie pushes away his mean thoughts, and sits by Steve's side. Allows him to talk, and Steve mumbles a few disconnected ideas that paint a picture of hurt and repression.

Eddie touches his hand, and Steve melts into his side. They're a jumbled mess of limbs and careful whispers. Eddie forces his need for constant motion to calm down, bites his lips and the inside of his cheeks to keep from bouncing his legs, from gesticulating wildly.

Steve stops talking, halfway through some random biting thoughts on his father, some jumbled frustrations about his mother, some broken up feelings about how everyone seems to see him.

Eddie is quiet with him. Tries not to be mean and says, "Everyone is just figuring it out, babe."

Steve stiffens, squeezes Eddie's hand. He always reacts almost coy to these little nicknames, to Eddie's open affections. He doesn't always do it back, sometimes he snaps. Other times he just folds into himself, small, an origami crane. Wings present and accounted for, but never ready to fly.

Today, he squeezes Eddie's hand. Looks up at him. His tears haven't spilled over, but his brown eyes are shiny and seem larger than usual. Eddie smiles at him, a crooked thing. Offers a movie, offers going out to buy copious amounts of candy. Offers company. Steve shakes his head, but he leans up, kisses Eddie's cheek. Lets his lips wander, stick. Brands Eddie's skin with a trail of warmth he hadn't even known he could feel, from his cheek to his jaw to his neck, stops below his ear.

Eddie wonders if Steve's mark will be visible for all to see, a soft pink line the color of his plump bottom lip.

Steve sighs, breathes him in. Eddie thinks that if Steve inhales deep enough, he might suck up all of his essence. Wouldn't that be something? Steve's brand on his skin, Eddie's soul making a home behind Steve's ribs.

He reaches up, touches Steve's face. Looks him in the eye, because he doesn't like playing games. His fingers might shake, his palms might be clammy. But he wants this enough to gamble for it.

Steve gives him the sweetest grin, like he's been caught. He's never a flight risk though.

Steve kisses him first, because Eddie probably would never cross that gap. He's braver, but he's not this brave.

He just kisses him back, wild and sloppy and free, because it's the only way Eddie knows how.

When Steve pulls back, Eddie realizes he doesn't fit in this house at all. Steve shines brighter, he's destined for bigger things.

Eddie intertwines their fingers, tells him, "We'll make it out of here, you know."

"I know," Steve says, like it's easy. His breath smells of toothpaste and menthol cigarettes.

Eddie is pretty sure they both mean it, and isn't that the wildest of things.

"Soon?" Eddie's hopeful.

"As soon as we can," Steve nods.

There's an oppressive weight to staying in one's tinny tiny home town. When Steve and Eddie leave, the weight lifts. It's not ever fucking simple, but fuck if they were gonna stick around to see what else would come of it.

When they move into their new shitty apartment in Seattle, Eddie leaves a paper crane on Steve's pillow. If he unfolds it, he'll find three words Eddie has yet to find the courage to say. If he doesn't, Eddie might just chin up, get things under control. Be braver.

[spinningbagel]

can I have some more of the hero au? I just really want more of the story and relationship of shooter, sheriff, and brutux. Have a wonderful day/night! :)

You most definitely can!!!! My under appreciated baby fr....

So, Sheriff, Shooter & Brutux's relationship kind of depends on where they are and who they're acting as. See, outside their respective vigilante/villainy work, they all work together in a supermarket, going as Jim, Max & Alex/Alexander and they get along decently enough. Though Sheriff & Shooter have definitely given Brutux an aneurism by simply existing. They do get along quite well and together they make quite the trio (Jim refers to them as his "highly dysfunctional family" to the amusement of no one). Together they stock shelves, scan items, almost kill your average entitled woman and constantly wonder why they're always working together. They're like siblings, kinda. Yk?

OUTSIDE of that work and in their respective "second jobs" it's a bit different? I mean, Brutux runs a black market and is one of the largest weapons dealers in the city. He's not a man to be messed with and Sheriff & Shooter are aware...they just ignore that part. Because they're dumbasses. Are we surprised? Anyways. They completely ignore that and annoy the fuck out of the guy, sure he's sketchy in everything he does but he hasn't tried killing them yet so why would they wanna get rid of their buddy? (Note: Brutux ABSOLUTELY doesn't want to be here). He tolerates them, similarly, they haven't tried stopping his operations in any way so he has no reason to remove them from the picture. Though, he might if they suddenly decide to become a little too goody two shoes for his liking.

And, as for the story it's not all figured out yet, frankly I haven't touched this au in a hot minute so forgive me. But, I believe that the gist of it is that Vegan decides to do a bit of undercover work, either wanting to arrest or bring into the hero's group Sheriff & Shooter and the two are none the wiser, easily taking her under their wing and showing anything and everything that they can, thinking that's she's just some rookie vigilante. She's not and ends up detaining them (yk how in that one episode the white family is in the glass cell thing? Yeah they get put in one of those.) something or another happens and look at that they're free again!! Chaos ensures.

I have not worked out how Wart and that whole group will fit into this, I don't want to have it like how I've got it in the Cyber!au with him being an evil scientist and all. Like I said, I have not touched this au in quite a bit. I should, it's not half bad.

Nevertheless, I hope this answers your questions to some degree and any/all further questions about anything, specific to this au or not are most certainly welcomed and encouraged 🧡

[breannasfluff]

I do not care if we are repeating ourselves I'd like like a posted list to go back to!

Who all has what roles at the Ravioli bird wedding. Pls feel free to share any funny tidbits about their experience!

Ravio x Link Wedding:

Warriors sews the dresses Courtesy of your amazing art:

Four does the metalworking/chains, jewelry (see photo)

Wild does the catering

Wild may have never baked a wedding cake before, but he has pictures of recipes from the royal library. He practices leading up to the wedding which means the flock is rather tired of eating cake haha.

When practicing, Four drops some dead bugs in when he's not looking. Warriors ends up trying the cake and crunching on a bug. He throws a huge screeching fit and zeroes in on Four. Some say he's still flying to this day.

Wild makes red and blue candy rupees as well.

Wind takes photos, as does Twi, who’s been put in charge of Wild’s slate for the evening.

Wild will get Purah to print them out the next time they hit his era since Legend’s time doesn’t have the technology for it. They are going to have so many pictures. Not just posed, but lots of candid shots. Twilight has an eye for balance in photos and subject framing.

Wind takes selfies with the flock and small group photos or couple pictures. His pictobox is a little more limited at square photos. He's having a blast, though

Time ordains the wedding

Something something that couples mask you mentioned uhh I haven't thought much about this.

Hyrule does decorations

Lots of flowers, red and blues. Four helps because he’s got a good eye for color combos.

Hyrule recruits fairies to join in later in the evening. They join the aerial dancing.

I feel like I had another idea I forgot again lol

Sky on flower petal duty

Okay, see the flower petals in the pic below? Imagine something like that, a whole bunch of them laid down. Sky has the biggest wings, so his job is to flap his wings and send all the flower petals swirling up like a storm and then they will float down, signaling the start of the wedding.

Jewelry: Sky and Wild help Ravio; Hyrule and Four help Legend. As discussed, Four is, ah, short, and liable to be swallowed by Ledge's dress. Little wings fluttering a mile a minute trying to get free.

Hyrule hasn’t really been to many (any?) weddings. His Era doesn’t go all out like some of the others. Four is there to help directing the jewelry for the wings because of that.

Wild volunteers to help Ravio, easy! Then he’s staring at these chains and jewelry and there’s no muscle memory of how to put it on. He panics and grabs Sky to help direct.

Between Legend and Ravio? One is a blushing mess and the other looks calm, but is screaming internally while getting ready. Which is which is open to interpretation.

First Flight: I'm not explaining this yet, but Sky and Time are involved.

[josnhoes]

Not sure if my request went through but I’ll ask anyways. Can I request a vigilante!reader? I honestly don’t care about the gender. The reader is younger than Tim but older than Damian. They’re super smart and do tons of martial arts and just a total badass. the batfam has been trying to catch them for a couple of months since the reader been stealing their missions. So one day when the reader is stopping a drug deal and was about to leave. Night wing and robin (Damian) jump in front of them. They have a fight and Damian manages to knock them out. They take the reader back to the bat cave and put them in a cell or something, and like interrogate them. So they find out that the reader is a kid, orphan and knows their secret identities because like I said, they’re super smart. Bruce sees the potential and gives them a option. Ether be adopted by him or go to jail. Reader and Damian are against the idea but the reader has no choice but to agree?

Kinda got rid of the no choice thing. Since this is non-yandere, Batman isn't the type to force this or actually have reader arrested.

Content warnings: none aside mentions of canon style violence and crimes.

You never thought the Bat would stoop so low. Threatening you with jail time as if *he* and his not so little brood didn't do the same things you did. Vigilantism was a crime but yet there were sanctioned heros too! What you were doing wasn't any different from them. Would he have superman arrested if it was the same situation?

"This is bullshit Bruce." You glared. "Why have me arrested when I've been fucking *helping* you?" Normally you didn't curse so much but you were angry and handcuffed so you couldn't exactly lash out any other way.

He knew you knew who he and his brood were. You'd made that known as soon as you woke up threatening to release the information with proof if he didn't let you go. Which just made him want to help you more. As angry as you were, you were just a kid. A teen with no family who had so much potential, "It's because you were helping that I haven't turned you in yet."

Damien knew his father was bluffing. Bruce was not the type to get someone arrested over this behaivor. No he was more likely to have you leave Gotham or send you to work with a group to learn. "Father let us be done with this. Send them on their way. We don't *need* anyone else on the team nor in the manner. And *clearly* they don't wish to be here." Really Damien didn't want someone taking his place on the team. He was the blood son and the rightful Robin!

"Listen to him, I don't know what crawled up your batty butt; but this isn't fucking cool." You glare felt impressive but the two watching you could only picture a feral kitten hissing.

Bruce relented uncuffing you, "You have potential. If you change your mind and want a place to be taught and call home you know where I am." The fact it had been a bluff now painfully obvious to you.

"Don't count on it old man. I... I won't actually leak you and your family's identities." The second sentence was quieter as you left the cave.

Damien glared at your back as you left, "Father are you certain about this? They're a liability."

"No Damien I don't think they are." Brice hoped eventually you'd join him and the family until then he'd have the team looking after you where he could. Maybe you'd do better with Jason? Regardless he had work to do and was choosing to ignore the way his son was pouting....he meant glaring.

[reversemoon255]

Flame Toys Go! Kara Kuri Power Rangers Dino Megazord

So much to say. Firstly, we've known about this toy since January of 2021. I remember being very excited at the initial reveal, because while it was the Dino Megazord, it was so hyper stylized and cool looking, that I would definitely own a second one for something like that. (Look at the pictures, then think about that statement for a second...)

But it wasn't until August of 2022 that it actually went up for order. And y'know what went up for order shortly before it? The ZAP Megazord. Good job communicating with your third party developers Hasbro. But I was still way more interested in this one. I even had $300 set aside to buy it. But when it went up for order, it was over $400, and I realized that I could be both the ZAP Megazord and the newly unveiled ZAP Dragonzord for less than it combined, which is how I ended up owning them... And then I caved and preordered it anyway.

But we're not done, because this thing was originally supposed to release in June of 2023. But it got delayed. And again. And again. It had multiple production delays that set it back until the last day of February 2024 (thank goodness it was a leap year). And the whole thing just got me feeling a little... jaded. I just felt like I had waited for so long, and that it had been delayed so many times, that I just didn't think it was ever going to come out.

But when I finally got that email saying it had shipped, I let out an audible gasp. The next two days we me antsily waiting for it to get here. And when it did, everything was, like, "they did that?" "Wait, they thought of that?" "That transforms, too?" It was a magical experience I haven't felt since Glacialord. So let's get to why this toy makes me feel like that:

The Good: Where to start? The T-Rex, I suppose. It puts the other three I have to shame. It GaoGaiGar's the legs, so they're able to have more articulation than the others, which fold the legs up onto the back of the thigh. It has pretty decent ankles, fully posable arms, the robot's waist, and a tail with a ton of universal joints in it (not balls, like ZAP Dragonzord). The tail can even expand and compress at every joint. Its only part with subpar articulation is the head, but that's only due to all the transforming it has to do, and even then it's still a great, unique sculpt.

If you've handled the ZAP or Lucky Cat mastodons, you'll understand what they tried to do with this interpretation, but it's just a bit more and feels a bit better. Like, it can balance on its back legs, its front toes can articulate, the trunk has a ton of joints. Its definitely the most brickish of the set, but I can't imagine giving it, say, a neck joint without encumbering it. And speaking of neck, the new head position gives it such a great identity that sets it apart from its predecessors.

The triceratops has legs! But if that's not your thing, they can flip around to reveal those usual treads. Those tiny legs are also very strong, and quite posable. Definitely the second-most brickish, but that's saying a lot considering how many poses you can get it into with what it has.

I find it really hard to get good looking quadruped articulation, but the saber-tooth tiger nails it. Pounce pose, run pose, (I haven't tried sit pose yet) any pose you can put it in looks great. It also has a really emotive neck, which helps a lot.

And the pterodactyl has the biggest glow-up. It has an actual neck like an actual pteranodon! And that head on top is very articulated, giving it a lot of emotiveness. Those wings are also very articulated, and having the hip skirt serve as actual feet makes it feel like such a better package than even the Lucky Cat's version, with the double ptera that mostly ends up as a backpack.

And onto the transformation, it's not actually that complicated. Its big thing is it has a lot of locks all over the toy to prevent certain joints from moving in different modes, but it doesn't take long to realize "if it doesn't move, look for a lock." And there are so many weird and cool transformation bits, like how the head assembles, the T-Rex's nose compressing, the mastodon toes becoming the elbow guards, the shield actually transforming, etc. It's fun.

Now, before we get to the main attraction, lets pivot and talk about the tank mode real quick. There's quite a bit of dedicated engineering for just this mode, with there being a slide in the legs, cuts in the hips, dedicated parts in the T-Rex chest and mastodon head, etc. Also, credit to this one over the others, the pterodactyl really brings it together.

And the actual Megazord is so well engineered. When combined, it feels like a solid piece; I'm not really worried about it falling apart, or untransforming as I play with it. All those locks really do make a ton of difference. And it's incredibly posable. I never had any trouble getting it into the pose I wanted; wings were super smooth to work with, arms never fought me to do anything, ankles are good, tail caused a few problems but only because I was trying not to poke my monitor. And that's the most amazing thing about this toy; that it is a toy. This isn't just some big display piece, it's playable, it's fun, and that's what probably surprised me the most about the whole experience. I was expecting to be scared that I'd shatter this thing if I looked at it funny, but it's just a super solid toy.

And everything is very self-contained, like the original. There's no extra hands, no adapters, no weird super-complex dismantling going on. The guns don't store (from what I've found), but apart from them, there are no spare parts. Heck, even the sword stores away. The sword. It's exceedingly impressive what this accomplishes.

The Bad: Two things. One, some of my glue didn't set? The front of the T-Rex pelvis, and the back of one of my hands both pop off. These aren't super important, load bearing areas or anything; I can glue them myself and they'll be right-as-rain, but I worry about other people where maybe more important areas didn't set right? Hopefully this is a rare issue and never on anywhere important.

And second it the saber-tooth tiger bit me, and it drew blood. Like, it's the next day and I can still see the mark. I also tried to set him on my lap, and his tail poked me right in the ouch. Very spiky, very pointy, be aware.

The Next: When this went up for preorder, they did also show off their grey prototype for a Go! Kara Kuri Dragonzord. And I think the only other time they've mentioned it was when that same proto showed up at a toy show. I follow them on The Twiblies, and they talk about this line maybe once a year, if that, so my hopes are not high that we'll ever get it. But after handling this, I do hope it eventually comes out. Heck, with how much work I've been putting into redesigning Titanus, this feels like the company that might actually do something interesting with it, besides the mono-boot.

Overall, I cannot sing enough high praises about this release. It's a beautiful, well engineered, very playable toy. It is incredibly expensive, though. I just hope that if you walk away from this review with anything, it's that if you do bite the bullet, you'll be getting your money's worth.

[starguardianniom]

New profile pic again

Hoping this one will last at least until 2025. XD

Now it's this lady.

From those who've seen the trailer of Zenless Zone Zero, yeah she's one of the seven heroes of the past, one of the Void Hunters.

Hoping to one day see them being playable, cause I wish to pull for her badly, her and Sword Master. ^^

Also she has wings! Angel wings!

Which annoys me because I haven't seen anyone else in the game with wings yet, maybe people looking like demons but with wings, nope.

The ones with wings seems to be the upcoming Idol Faction group, and from the art I would say these wings are fakes.

Meanwhile this woman seems to have real wings.

Either she was unique or said race died, or just not in New Eridu, I do wish to see another winged one.

I think she is Colonel Vike? Given she is front and center. Maybe.

Anyway I just think she looks neat so. I didn't stumble on the video just now, I had seen it a while ago but now it came to haunt me again so now I must put her face as my profile pic because she possessed me too.

Yeah funny story my profile pic will not be Billy, though I could always change the background picture to show how much Mastery of him I have, and will only change it when I get him again in pulls.

I just think she looks amazing, like a little gothic lolita angel soldier and I love her for it. ^^

Edit: Just learned that Colonel Vike is the human lady with the long purple ponytail so this means the pink haired woman's name is unknown. She's also the Leader of the Falkenhayn Mercenary Troupe. To be honest she doesn't look like the leader of a mercenary group but ok she is cooler than she looks (she looks like a cute little angel lolita who seems the nicest and most innocent looking out of the 7 heroes but looks can be deceiving and Zenless Zone Zero just love giving different personalities to characters simply because the opposite of what they look is funnier/better.

Also the big guy is Lieutenant Colonel Dan, of Guard of Staves.

Neato.

I just wish we get a chapter in the past playing them all hopefully. Would be so cool.

[natdrinkstea]

Zelda 3 - L + un

so this one isn't writing as much as it is a little thought exercise @haijinks and I use to keep each other occupied and it is What Would Our Perfect BOTW/TOTK follow-up look like?

putting this under a cut :) it's long :)

our basic premise so far (Nintendo you can pay us $10000000 to use this) is that it's about five (maybe ten?) ish years post totk and link is visibly older! late 20s, early 30s, less boyish and more of a Real Adult. He's still getting used to having Both Arms Again, but in general everything is Normal now? Rebuilding after the Calamity is near finished, Tulin and Riju are all grown up (😭), and in general everything is chill. until! inciting incident! don't freak out, but Ganon's once again trying come back. BOO! but in my vision his soul or whatever is a sort of shooting star, a meteorite slowly falling from the sky directly towards Hyrule castle. (Imagine a huge ball of white-red light hovering above the castle throughout the game. UGH. isn't that COOL).

Guess Link is back at it again!

Because I miss them, Link has to go on a little cross-country journey, Zelda in tow, to attempt to convince the Sages/Champions to- you guessed it- BRING THE DIVINE BEASTS BACK! and he has a little quest in each region similar to botw where we get to reprogram each divine beast to aim its laser towards the Ganon Meteor. in these little quests we get to see how the last fifteenish years have really impacted the people of this world- two world-ending catastrophes that close together have got to leave a mark. how did Tulin and Riju manage growing up in Revali and Urbosa's footsteps, and having to save the world so young? Is Yunobo cool again? Is Sidon still hot?

our idea for the Gerudo/Naboris quest specifically was that just before the time this takes place, word got out about the existence of a young gerudo who (gasp!) is a boy. this isn't necessarily bad, but after ganondorf everyone's a bit on edge. so, zelda and link go to check it out, and learn that this kid's totally normal, just a bit desperate to prove his worth after being Hidden In Shame for so long. it'd be sad and about generational trauma or whatever

other things of note:

-> ZELDA DOESN'T DISAPPEAR IN THIS ONE! She actually travels with Link for some of the more plot-heavy portions of the game! I think she maybe provides some cool mechanic or something, like the memories in BOTW but if they weren't pictures. Maybe she's just a walking sheikah slate/purah pad lmao. AMD SHE CAN BE HELPFUL IN COMBAT. somehow. we haven't figured it out. can you summon her like the Sages? who knows

-> similarly, Zelda was fucked up big time by the Dragon-ing and I think another main quest has something to do with the fallout of that. maybe her cool powers are fucking up, or she has scary nightmares about being a dragon again, or visions or smth. idk man. wouldn't it be cool though.

-> link gets a third set of cool new superpowers. no ideas for what those would be

-> you can sit down whenever you want in this one

-> MY BIGGEST NEW ADDITION: because totk introduced the sky islands and the depths as new areas, we have ... drumroll.... two new divine beasts!! that's right, in the last few years people have made these areas hospitable and that means they need a giant robot animal too. to fit in. In my heart the depths beast is a snake, with the mechanic being that it's coiled around a huge stalagmite and you can rotate it up or down from the map. the sky one is a dragonfly!!!!!! and maybe it flaps its wings in a fun way! who knows!

-> you can decorate Link's house in Hateno however you want. just because I want to

-> nothing about shrines yet! I'm thinking maybe a weird mixture of the botw and totk ones? but we're not totally sure.

-> At the beginning of the game Link decides he is Retired and puts the Master Sword back!!! By the Deku Tree! so you have to get it back! but it's different this time somehow. somehow. we don't know everything.

send ideas if u have them!!! this is basically fanfiction