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lynaiss · 4 years ago

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My contribution for the Autumn Season of @tgtw-project with the Trostenwald dark ales!

There's a few CR C2 easter eggs peppered all over the piece, can you spot them? 😀

Notes about my process for this are under the cut!

I've been learning a bit about how to make my process more manageable and helpful to me, so I thought I should share! This post isn't so much a walkthrough as it is just some general ideas and techniques that work for me. Hopefully some of it gives you ideas for your own workflow too or an insight into how I approach things.

So lets start off with getting the prompt for Trostenwald ale (part of Critical Role Campaign 2 setting lore) while working on a fan project. The first thing I did was go on wiki and read up on Trostenwald in more detail to figure out what vibe and props should go into the piece. I'm mostly looking for "what" and "why" to build a scene around.

After doing so I came up with a rough mental checklist of things I wanted in the piece: barrels (because beer is a common produce), a fish and grains based dish (also a common produce), bottles representing the three named breweries (it is directly linked to the prompt) and a warm golden hour-like atmosphere (to convey the cozy tavern vibe I was aiming for).

Before I started on a sketch I looked at images of beer ads to get a sense of how they arrange things composition-wise and what are common props.

As I made a rough sketch I was largely concerned with the color palette and light, and some general shapes and elements of the composition, like the barrels framing some of the bottles and foam of the drinks creating a fun pattern that guides the eye to the palest bottle. I wasn't concerned with details or prop design, just getting my idea down quickly while using all the ideas I got from my beer ad research. Note that I forgot to add a third bottle for the last brewery that we know of by name from the show. Whoops.

After having the sketch down, I realized I had no idea what kind of shadows this type of lighting would cast or what angle would be best to show the scene, so I mocked it up in Blender. This was the first time I fully did it and it helped so much with lighting and perspective! Cycles render takes a bit to render but all the reflections and shadows it shows are very handy for realistic lighting.

3D is such a great tool and it can truly help tackling complex lighting scenarios and unusual perspectives. It's okay to not know everything; that is what reference is there for!

The Sketchfab plugin was insanely helpful in this because I could just import models other people made and adjust them - as someone who doesn't know how to model and texture things from scratch effectively yet that saved me so much time because I only had to nudge things around. I arranged everything as close to my original sketch as possible and rotated the camera to find the best angle. During this I realized some things (like the barrels) would work better composition-wise in a different position so I just moved them until I got something I liked. The tankard was rotated as well because the shape its handle was creating in the sketch was overly confusing and made the eye focus on it too much.

(and I also remembered that there should be three bottles rather than two!)

With the 3D model there to guide me and my collection of refs ever expanding, I made a much tighter sketch. I even traced some parts of the render with slight adjustments because I was content with where they were. There is actual item design now and lighting is more firmly defined. I finally added in the third bottle and figured if Trostenwald is also known for fishing to include some fishing net decor in there.

This is where the idea of adding some easter eggs as clutter started to form. I knew I needed more stuff in there to make it feel less staged and adding something fun seemed, well, fun. Spaces in real life are rarely perfectly orderly, there is always some clutter or things are at odd angles. In pieces like this finding balance between clutter and readable composition is something that can make it work as a piece and sell the atmosphere!

(yes, I forgot to add foam in the tankard...)

After this majority of planning is done and there is pretty much some 10% of work left to do but time-wise this step takes the longest because there is a lot of fine work to do. Rendering is where a good piece can become a fantastic piece if important things are touched up properly and less important ones are touched up just enough that they do not seem "unfinished".

I have very mixed feelings about rendering because on one hand I enjoy capturing very fine detail of various materials but on the other, a lot of the time it feels like you are making very little progress and you're working on the piece for hours on end. It does end up worth it in the end, though!

During this stage I made some small changes like finally adding foam to the tankard, and flipping the candle so it points the eye into the piece rather than out, along with a lot of detail work. I also finally tackled designing the beer labels. Graphic design is absolutely not my area of expertise but it was a fun challenge.

And some 15 hours later we end up with this! I'm sure that would've been a much lower number if I could've worked on the piece more consistently but instead all progress was stretched over several weeks so I often struggled with getting back into the swing of it and wasted a lot of time.

I'm fairly happy with how it turned out and it made me really push texture work, but one thing I realized I should definitely improve on is where I put detail and how much of it. Quite a ways into painting the background I realized it had a ton of visual information and was competing a lot with the focal points (the bottles and glasses), and then when I reduced the contrast a lot of the detail I spent hours working on got lost - wasted. I easily could've been looser and avoided the entire issue to begin with. Finishing this piece provided me with a roadmap to further improvement and I don't think I would've spotted my weakness if I haven't completed the work on this.

A note that I didn't know where to put - through the entire painting process I kept adding more references because there are always things that I need more visual info on and know that I won't do my best off the top of my head. No matter how many times I draw something, I only retain 20% of the actual information and need refs to get it right.

By the end of it, I ended up with a reference board that looked something like this. I often keep several images for items or materials that are important so I can spot as many features of it as possible.

If someone got this far and is still reading, here is some technical info: I probably spent around 25 hours working on this piece, not counting putting together a Blender scene. That one probably took another 8 because I'm still very slow at using the program. I did all of my painting with Wacom Intuos graphics tablet, in Clip Studio Paint, with 2 custom brushes.

#tgtw #tgtw project #critical role #critical role fanart #Illustration #my art #lynart

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ammocharis · 4 years ago

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Dragon Age OC as a companion

I saw the “OC as a companion” trend started by @little-lightning-lavellan and I really wanted to hop on with my Avvar girl, Vatna, who is normally the Inquisitor and the protagonist of my fic, Watch the Skies. So here it goes! (Heads up - it got pretty long!)

Vatna (born 9:23 Dragon) is an Avvar mage and a potential companion in Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Title: Sky Watcher’s apprentice

Race: Human

Gender: Female

Class: Mage

Affiliation: Avvar, Inquisition (conditional)

Family: Einar (father), Selke (mother), Hirka (sister)

Background

Vatna Einarsdotten Selkesdotten was born in an Avvar settlement called Two Falcon Hold, where she lived until adulthood. Two Falcon Hold is located in the highest part of the Frostback Mountains. It is largely isolated from the outside world; the news arrives through dwarven merchants and Avvar pathfinders, which resulted in Vatna not having any first-hand experience of the Lowlands.

As a seven year old child, Vatna manifested magical ability, and thus she was linked to a spirit, as is customary among the Avvar. The spirit began teaching Vatna how to control her gift. She received lessons in healing, casting barriers, glyph-making, and other types of skills, but she specialized in offensive magic. She displayed an aptitude for elemental magic, particularly the spells associated with cold.

Several years later, with the basic part of her training complete, Vatna peacefully separated from her spirit teacher. Proving herself as a talented mage, she was chosen to become the next Sky Watcher in her hold, and so she continued studying diligently under the augur’s tutelage.

Vatna also underwent a warrior’s training, combining the skillset of a mage with that of a melee fighter. Her weapon of choice is an axe instead of a staff, though she is proficient at using either. After her appointment as the Sky Watcher’s apprentice, Vatna commissioned a battle axe with a lyrium core from the dwarves of Orzammar.

In 9:41 Dragon, a few weeks before the Conclave, Vatna ventured outside of her hold, travelling through the Lowlands for the first time in her life. Her only companion was a falcon called Himnar.

Involvement

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Once the Inquisitor returns from the Hinterlands, a new portion of the Haven map opens up. Vatna can be found on a mountain range located south-east of the Temple of Sacred Ashes. She is fighting demons that are pouring from a large rift. Once the Herald closes the rift, Vatna voices her astonishment at their ability to mend the Veil. In the following conversation, the Avvar mage explains that she was on the way to Haven when the Breach opened. She claims that she’s been trying to fix the situation on her own, with little success. She is accompanied by a peregrine falcon that appears to be exceptionally well-trained. The Herald can ask some additional questions about her background and learn that she’s a Sky Watcher’s apprentice. Vatna says that she wishes to save the Lady of the Skies and help the gods. At the end of this conversation, the Herald can recruit Vatna into the Inquisition right away, tell her that they might consider it (after which she will relocate to the village of Haven), or force her to leave.

Note: Vatna must be recruited before “In Your Heart Shall Burn”. After the fall of Haven, she is no longer available.

If the player chooses to recruit Vatna, she starts following them on their travels. In Haven, she stays by the lake, next to the training grounds of the Inquisition’s soldiers. In Skyhold, she dwells on the battlements by the Herald’s Rest, overlooking the valley below. The peregrine falcon is always seen nearby. Conversations with Vatna focus on magic, spirits, the Frostback Mountains, and the Avvar lore.

After the Herald seals the Breach, Vatna expresses her gratitude about them repairing the Veil (to which she refers as “the Lady’s Veil”). She says that she intends to stay until the one who opened it is defeated. In the following battle of Haven, she can be seen using her ice magic to kill or stagger the attacking forces. On the way to Skyhold, Vatna and her falcon help the Herald scout the path ahead, though she warns that she had heard awful tales about the fortress and the powers that permeate it.

Some time after the Inquisition reaches Skyhold, Vatna might ask for the Inquisitor’s assistance in helping the Avvar. As it turns out, she received the news from Two Falcon Hold that her people, as well as several neighbouring tribes, have been troubled by either the Venatori or the Red Templars. The Inquisitor can complete a war table mission that informs them about further evidence of Corypheus’ forces attempting to establish some kind of a covert operation in the Frostback Mountains, far from the eyes of sovereign nations like Ferelden and Orlais.

If the Inquisitor decides to investigate the lead, they and Vatna travel to the central part of the Frostback Mountains. At their destination, they are told that some Avvar have been injured or killed in skirmishes with Corypheus’ forces, and more people are missing without a trace, Vatna’s younger sister among them. Following the points of evidence to the source reveals that a member of the Venatori has been conducting research on the effect of high altitudes on blood magic potency (as hematocrit increases in an environment with lower oxygen supply). Once all the enemies are defeated, and the kidnapped Avvar are rescued, the Inquisitor may return to Two Falcon Hold with Vatna and speak with the members of the hold to learn more about their situation, and also about their relations with Vatna.

At the end of the mission, if Vatna’s approval is high enough, she approaches the Inquisitor and invites them to climb with her to a nearby mountain peak, where she confesses that she hadn’t shared full truth about herself, but now that the Inquisitor proven trustworthy, she wants them to know something - the falcon she travels with, Himnar, is actually a host to one of the spirits who have lived with her hold for many generations. Vatna and the spirit share a magical bond that allows them to communicate mentally. Moreover, Vatna is a Dreamer, and during her nightly visits in the “Land of Dreams”, she tries to decipher the omens sent by the gods. The reason she travelled into the Lowlands was that she had foreseen a possible catastrophe, but she didn’t know what exactly would happen. As a result, she arrived too late to do anything. At the end of the conversation, Vatna reiterates her wish to protect her people and spirits from dangers, known and unknown.

Afterwards, the Inquisitor and Vatna return to Skyhold. A contingent of the Inquisition’s soldiers is stationed in the Frostback Mountains to deal with the enemies that might still be lurking there.

Once Corypheus is defeated, Vatna expresses her thanks to the Inquisitor for using their power to thwart the Magister’s plans. She says that she intends to help with the remaining tasks, such as closing the rifts and getting rid of Corypheus’ forces thoroughly, but as soon as that’s finished, she has to return to her hold and take on the duties of a Sky Watcher, since her mentor is growing too old to handle everything himself. She invites the Inquisitor to visit her hold sometime in the future and stay as long as they wish.

Trespasser

If the Inquisitor is friends with Vatna:

Two years after Corypheus’ defeat, Vatna unexpectedly arrives in the Winter Palace - as always, with a falcon at her side. The Inquisitor may express their confusion at her visit, to which Vatna replies that the gods urged her to go, even if it meant leaving her people again. She adds that “there’s a disturbance in the Land of Dreams, and the Lady’s Veil is still weak at the seams.” She voices a profound concern about the state of the Inquisitor's Anchor.

While travelling through the Crossroads, she notes that she’s aware the sky is different, though she “could never see it with her own eyes”. If the Inquisitor is an elf, she asks them if they would want to live in a place like that. If the Inquisitor is not an elf, Vatna offers to cast a spell that could alleviate the tiredness that affects all non-elven races in the Crossroads.

If Cole is in the party, he and Vatna engage in a cryptic conversation about dreams.

As the Anchor becomes more volatile, Vatna attempts to stabilize it, but she’s unsuccessful.

In the end, Vatna is shown to have returned to her hold, but it’s hinted that she might be doing something in the Fade to lessen the turmoil among its denizens.

If the Inquisitor is not friends with Vatna:

A letter addressed to the Inquisitor arrives from the Frostback Mountains, signed by Sky Watcher Vatna of Two Falcon Hold. The Avvar mage writes that she and the Inquisitor may not have agreed much, but it’s not going to matter if the world is set on fire. She gives a warning about “travelling the lonely path”. The package that was delivered alongside the letter contains a clear crystal wrapped in a wolf pelt, with a description claiming that the crystal “lessens the headache of watching the other sky through the eyes that weren’t meant to gaze upon it”.

Quests

Made in Mountains (recruitment)

Times of Trouble (war table)

Fraught with Fury (personal)

Strong from Struggle (personal - very high approval)

Spoken Soft (romance)

Approval

Vatna approves of helping spirits and learning about various sources of magic. She appreciates when the Inquisitor regards her beliefs with respect. She favors a direct approach to solving problems.

If a quest involves spirits, the changes in Vatna’s approval occur even if she’s not in the active party.

Approval Gained

Main quests:

Allying with the rebel mages at the end of “In Hushed Whispers” - Approves.

Saying “Corypheus must be stopped” when accepting the title of Inquisitor - Greatly Approves.

Killing Florianne de Chalons during “Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts” - Approves.

Letting Celene execute Gaspard at the end of “Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts” - Approves.

Allowing the Grey Wardens to join the Inquisition at the end of “Here Lies the Abyss” - Slightly Approves.

Siding with Abelas at the Temple of Mythal during “What Pride Had Wrought” - Approves.

Drinking from the Well of Sorrows - Approves.

Allowing Morrigan to drink from the Well of Sorrows - Slightly Approves.

Side quests:

Discovering the landmarks associated with “Saga of Tyrdda Bright-Axe, Avvar-Mother” in the Hinterlands - Slightly Approves at each one.

Equipping her with Tyrdda’s Staff - Greatly Approves (this initiates a special cutscene).

Completing “Ballad of Lord Woolsley” in the Hinterlands by returning the ram to One Eyed Jim - Slightly Approves.

Completing “Trouble with Wolves” in the Hinterlands - Approves.

Destroying the summoning stones in Solas’ personal quest “All New, Faded for Her” - Greatly Approves.

Defeating Hand of Korth during “Lost Souls” in Fallow Mire - Greatly Approves.

Recruiting Amund into the Inquisition - Approves.

Completing “Burdens of Command” in Crestwood by fulfilling the request of the Spirit of Command - Approves.

Investigating Chateau d'Onterre in the Emerald Graves and killing the Arcane Horror that lurks there - Approves.

Completing “Call Me Imshael” in Emprise du Lion by killing Imshael - Approves.

Making Erimond tranquil in his judgement - Approves.

Completing “Fears of the Dreamers” in the Fade section of “Here Lies the Abyss” - Approves.

Jaws of Hakkon DLC:

Killing Hakkon’s dragon host - Greatly Approves.

Defeating Gurd Harofsen - Greatly Approves.

Rescuing Storvacker - Greatly Approves.

Accepting Runa's offer to be included in her prayer at the end of "Up and Away" - Approves.

Completing "The Loss of a Friend" by killing Grandin - Approves.

Telling Sigrid to talk to the augur at the end of “In Exile” - Greatly Approves.

Recruiting Sigrid into the Inquisition at the end of "In Exile" - Approves.

Speaking to Telana’s spirit: “You can rest now.” - Approves.

Completing “Hakkon’s Trials” - Slightly Approves.

Saying “Renewal?” when asked by the augur about the purpose of the rituals during “It Remains to be Seen”, showing that you understood it - Approves.

Giving the offering to the Master of the Hunt at the end of “A Father’s Name” - Approves.

Giving the offering to Finn at the end of “A Father’s Name” - Slightly Approves.

Saying “I am honored.” when accepting the legend-mark - Approves.

Approval Lost

Main quests:

Allying with the Templars at the end of “Champions of the Just” - Disapproves.

Saying “I’ll do it for my own power” when accepting the title of Inquisitor - Greatly Disapproves.

Arresting Florianne de Chalons during “Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts” instead of killing her - Slightly Disapproves.

Making Gaspard the sole ruler of Orlais - Greatly Disapproves.

Banishing the Grey Wardens at the end of “Here Lies the Abyss” - Disapproves.

Refusing to side with Abelas at the Temple of Mythal during “What Pride Had Wrought” - Disapproves.

Suggesting that the Well of Sorrows should be destroyed during “What Pride Had Wrought” - Disapproves.

Side quests:

Attacking Lord Woolsley during “Ballad of Lord Woolsley”, which causes him to transform into a Rage Demon - Greatly Disapproves.

Killing the Pride Demon in “All New, Faded for Her” without attempting to destroy the summoning stones - Greatly Disapproves.

Accepting any of Imshael’s offers in “Call me Imshael” - Greatly Disapproves.

Refusing to complete the request of the Spirit of Command during “Burdens of Command” in Crestwood - Disapproves.

Jaws of Hakkon DLC:

Refusing Runa's offer to be included in her prayer at the end of "Up and Away" - Disapproves.

Completing "The Loss of a Friend" by allowing Grandin to live - Greatly Disapproves.

Speaking to Telana’s spirit - “Leave, or be destroyed.” - Disapproves (If Cole or Solas are in the party, there’s an additional approval loss.)

Saying “I didn’t understand it.” or “Just tell me.” when asked by the augur about the purpose of the rituals during “It Remains to be Seen” - Disapproves.

If the player has killed any benevolent spirit, or Cole was expelled from the Inquisition, a special cutscene triggers upon the next return to Skyhold, in which Vatna threatens to leave the organization. She can be convinced to stay if her personal quest was initiated, or cast out right there and then.

If Vatna’s approval gets critically low, a cutscene will be initiated on the Skyhold battlements, where Vatna confronts the Inquisitor about their choices. She voices her regret about ever joining the Inquisition, saying that she would have fared better if she was on her own. The player can try to change her mind or tell her to leave, either way, the final result stays the same, with Vatna storming out of Skyhold, cursing the Inquisitor’s name.

Romance

Vatna is a potential love interest for male Inquisitors only.

The romance can be initiated after winning Vatna’s approval and completing her personal questline, including the approval-dependent conversation at the end of “Strong from Struggle”. Beforehand, there are several flirtatious dialogue options that can be chosen during conversations with Vatna, but she always swiftly changes the topic to something else, both in the case of male and female Inquisitors. Picking the flirtatious options doesn’t garner either approval or disapproval from Vatna, aside from a flirt line that can occur after rescuing the Avvar during “Fraught with Fury”, which results in “Disapproves” and a harsher reply.

Should the Inquisitor continue flirting with Vatna after her personal quest, she will eventually approach them in their quarters and express her intention to speak about the nature of their relationship. She and the Inquisitor go on a walk in the mountains surrounding Skyhold.

If the Inquisitor is female, Vatna gently tells her that she is not romantically interested in women, but she hopes to remain friends. She wishes the female Inquisitor good luck in her future pursuits. The Inquisitor may voice their dissatisfaction, to which Vatna will take offence, saying that she never hinted she was interested in the Inquisitor. Otherwise, they part on friendly terms.

If the Inquisitor is male, Vatna informs him that she indeed feels a connection between them, something more than friendship, but that she fears it might not be enough for him. Hesitating, she explains that she doesn’t experience sexual attraction, not towards the Inquisitor, nor anyone else she ever met in her life. In the past, she was romantically attracted to a man, someone she knew very well and cared for dearly, but in the end, the relationship didn’t work out, and she felt it was her fault. After sharing her point of view, Vatna asks the Inquisitor about their thoughts, saying she prefers to end it there and then if he finds such a situation an insurmountable obstacle.

At this point, the Inquisitor may disengage from the conversation, which ends the romance path, and depending on the dialogue option chosen, results in no approval change (and they part on friendly terms) or “Greatly Disapproves” from Vatna (if she was told she is “cold-hearted”).

However, if the Inquisitor decides to pursue the relationship, he and Vatna return to Skyhold together.

The party banter and ambient comments suggest that Vatna and the Inquisitor spend a lot of time together, which causes many rumours, especially among the Orlesian nobility visiting Skyhold. The companions may remark about the relationship and try to elicit a response from either Vatna or the Inquisitor, but Vatna always cuts them off.

One night, Vatna suddenly wakes up the Inquisitor, asking him if he remembers anything unusual from his recent dreams. If a mage, the Inquisitor may describe his dreams in more detail, if a non-mage, he may say that he vaguely recalls some dream (there are several options to choose from, including humorous options), either way, Vatna replies this is not what she meant. She explains that suspects a spirit is observing both her and the Inquisitor, but the being always hides away when she or her falcon try to approach it. She wishes to learn what the spirit wants and ask the Inquisitor for aid. If the Inquisitor agrees to her request, Vatna performs a ritual to send their minds into the Fade. Vatna and the Inquisitor investigate the magical landscape together, and eventually they manage to track down the spirit, which turns out to be a young Spirit of Love that became fascinated with the various types of relationships that formed in Skyhold and took particular interest in the bond between Vatna and the Inquisitor. Vatna encourages the spirit to cultivate its interest in love, as its kind is small in numbers.

After the final battle with Corypheus, Vatna shares a hug with the Inquisitor. Once the Inquisitor leaves the feast, she follows him upstairs, and they watch the sunrise together.

In Trespasser, Vatna reunites with the Inquisitor. Unlike in the non-romanced scenario, she is fully expected to arrive in the Winter Palace, and she exchanges warm greetings with the Inquisitor. As the Anchor grows more volatile, she actually succeeds in calming it, though only temporarily. Before the Inquisitor steps through the eluvian to meet Solas, Vatna makes him swear an oath that he will come back alive.

The epilogue shows that Vatna and the Inquisitor live in the Frostback Mountains.

Quotes

“The messengers of the Lady of the Skies led me here.”

“My mentor said that Fate is not written in stone.”

(To Cole) “You alone should choose which path you’ll follow.”

Trivia

All titles of quests that involve Vatna are taken from the Saga of Tyrdda Bright-Axe, Avvar-Mother.

In the promotional materials. Vatna is referred to as “The Forecaster”.

She is accompanied by a peregrine falcon and has a couple of its feathers attached to her clothes.

Vatna is classified as a mage, but she can be equipped both with staffs and melee weapons. Her skills are similar to that of Amund from Dragon Age: Inquisition Multiplayer.

Vatna acts friendly towards Cole, Solas, and Varric from the beginning. Over the consecutive banters, she warms up towards Cassandra, Iron Bull, and Blackwall.

In her location-specific remarks, she often comments on the weather and the behaviour of local birds.

If a quest involves spirits, the changes in Vatna’s approval occur even if she’s not in the active party, similar to how Cole’s approval can change in a number of quests without him being present.

She is the only companion that doesn’t have an approval change in Trespasser when the Inquisitor declares their intent about either saving or hunting down Solas.

#dragon age #dragon age inquisition #oc as companion #avvar inquisitor #avvar #vatna #watch the skies #long post

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ahgaseda · 5 years ago

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phoenix | two

I’ll be the phoenix, leave it to me, we be flying, spread your wings behind your back, they call us phoenix, ride or die, ride or die...

summary : the clock is ticking as you recount your passionate affair with Jackson, the most wanted man in Shanghai, to the people trying desperately to catch him, but no one - including you - knows if he will risk his life to save yours.

warnings : strong profanity, explicit dialogue, mentions of blood and violence, references to drug and alcohol use, graphic sexual content, self-destructive themes, potentially triggering elements involving kidnapping, arson, etc.

miniseries chapters : one / two / three / four / five / six / seven

Hour seven of captivity had come and gone. Leaning against the cold wall, you peered through the small slit of a window at the rain steadily pouring, streaming down the glass. Arms folded tightly across your chest, you heaved a sigh.

As much as you resisted, your mind drifted to Jackson. Where was he? Was he thinking of a plan to help you escape? Or was he cutting his losses and going underground?

You fell into memory after memory, trying to put the pieces together. Of only one thing you were assured - your feelings for Jackson were very real. They were all-encompassing.

Love, you told yourself with a shake of your head. Just admit it. You’re in love with him, but that doesn’t mean he’s in love with you.

Being with Jackson came with many risks and you blindly accepted them all. You were an addict in love with your high, desperate for a fix whenever you could take one. You ignored the danger, ignored how vulnerable you made yourself to be with him.

Now, you were paying for it.

Jinyoung twirled the pen between his fingers, eyes on your back. Thus far, you had been quite forthcoming and that made him suspicious. It implied you were steering his attention. There was a chance you were feeding him only what you wanted him to know or what you had been instructed to divulge.

He would have to press you, see if he could make you slip up. There was something he needed to know. He needed you to think your value was minimal, though it was anything but. His presence in this damned tiny box was two-fold like a double-edged sword.

“When did he show you his fire?”

You could catch the faintest glimpse of your own reflection in the glass. After a pause, where you pondered whether or not to answer, you replied, “Our first night together.”

“Romantic,” Jinyoung retorted dryly.

“Honest,” you countered, eyes narrowing.

Jackson had always been honest. It was part of the fabric that made him who he was. And yet another trait that made you reckless with abandon in your feelings for him.

“You are a hopelessly genuine person in a horribly fake world,” you once told him.

That night, he had shown you every part of him, down to each corner of his soul, and his fire had been no exception. You had taken him inside you, let him have you in every way possible. Never had you been so intimate, more than any other man that came before him.

Something was different - the gravity between you and Jackson.

You had been on your back with Jackson buried between your legs when his irises turned redder than the fires of Hell itself. You lay there enraptured, wondering if you had just given yourself to the Devil incarnate.

Jackson had seen the awe on your face and the glistening in your eyes, relieved to see no sign of terror or even horror. And he rewarded you by moving deep within you again, smoother than silk. You moaned his name for all to hear and arched your body to meet him.

You didn’t question the crimson of his eyes then. Not when he brought you to ecstasy over and over. You cried out no man’s name the way you did Jackson’s and by how intensely he made love to you, he knew that too.

The night was endless. He licked and sucked every inch of you, especially at the apex of your thighs. You raked your nails through his hair as he unraveled you yet again with his mouth, kneading your hips in his broad hands.

Between rounds, you kissed up his spine, tracing your fingers over the Phoenix inked in his back. The firebird stared back at you, undaunted in its flames, and you marveled the intricacy of its wings and the fierceness of its eyes.

Then, the moment you recovered some of your energy, Jackson was on you again, impaling you on his hard length and making the headboard slam loudly against the wall.

For a night you were tangled with him in every sense of the word. When you slipped out from under the sheets to catch your breath, he dragged you back under. He was insatiable, unquenchable, and your body sang for him and obeyed his every command.

But morning came and the haze of lust was pushed away by clarity. You inevitably had to confront who - or what - the man was that had taken you to bed.

You sat in the window of the hotel suite and looked out at the city of Paris in its early morning glory, clad only in a sheet wrapped snugly around your torso. The sun shone warmly across your skin and you basked in the light of dawn. Every inch of you ached, but it was a soreness you would long for when it faded.

Jackson fastened his pants and came behind you, hands gliding across your hips. His breath was hot on your neck, his lips tickling your ear. His voice was low and tender when he asked, “Will you tell me what’s on your mind?”

You shook your head in reluctance.

“I need to know,” he insisted, wrapping his arms around your waist like a snare. “Are you afraid of me now?”

The only fear was his. You could hear it in his words. He was scared you would leave him.

Jackson clambered onto the windowsill to join you, molding himself to your back. You watched his legs stretch on the outside of yours. His arms were taut around you. He wanted no space between you and him.

“Baby…,” he started again. Your silence was killing him.

“What are you?” you asked quietly. “Is it magic? How can you…”

“I…,” Jackson sighed in defeat. “I can’t tell you.”

You lowered your head. That was exactly what you had expected him to say.

“I’m not a hero,” he whispered darkly, lips gracing the top of your shoulder, desperate for a taste of your skin again.

With a roll of your eyes, you grumbled, “I was never looking for a hero, Jackson.”

Jackson cupped your jaw, turning your head until you had no choice but to meet his eyes. “I will never hurt you,” he vowed firmly.

“I know that.”

Jackson leaned his forehead against yours and asked, “Then, for now, can that be enough?”

Of course, it could. You knew you were head over heels, even though you had yet to voice it. The night of passion only solidified your feelings for him.

You reached for his hand on your waist and brought it forward, running your fingers over his knuckles, tracing the lines of his palm. You met his eyes again and whispered, “Show me.”

Jackson didn’t hesitate to let fire gather in his hand. You gazed into the flames, watching them flicker as they never strayed from his palm. You could feel the heat on your skin.

“One day, tell me,” you said, lingering your attention on the bold red of his irises.

Jackson nodded and nuzzled your cheek before burying his face in the crook of your neck. “One day, I’ll have to.”

Jinyoung watched you from his seat, eyes drifting to your hand where you spun the ring on your finger as you recounted the memory. Jackson had shown you his fire, but told you nothing of its origin. Jinyoung was vaguely impressed and caught off guard. Jackson wasn’t known for his restraint.

Returning from your reverie, you finally ambled away from the window, taking the seat across from Jinyoung again. You felt emotional, longing for Jackson in the pit of your chest.

We can’t end this way, you thought to yourself sadly.

You stiffened, deciding to deflect. Having the spotlight on you so intently was beginning to burn. Glancing at the notes Jinyoung had scribbled on his pad, you spoke levelly, “Tell me about yourself, Jinyoung.”

Jinyoung stopped mid-word in his writing and looked up at you through hair falling in his eyes. His voice came out rough, laden with skepticism. “And why would you want to know anything about me?”

You scoffed, feeling your request was perfectly reasonable. “I’m telling you the most intimate parts of my life,” you explained, perturbed. “I know what you’re after and I’m trying to be a good little captive. Indulge me.”

Jinyoung stayed gruff and droned, “I have a role to play. Same as you.”

You were annoyed that he wouldn’t give an inch, despite how cooperative you had been. “And why do you have such a hard on for my man?”

Jinyoung took your remark in stride and answered coolly, “I’ve been assigned to him for many years. It’s my job to know what he does, when and where he does it.”

You leaned back in your chair and folded your arms in defiance. “Then, why do you need me to find him? Shouldn’t you have some idea by now?”

Jinyoung almost ran out of patience. He met your eyes and glared back.

I need you to draw him out. I need to see just how far he’s willing to go to have you. We need to know if you’re a problem or a threat.

At his silence, you nodded in realization. “I’m the bait.”

“Perhaps,” said Jinyoung with a shrug. “We don’t know yet if you’re the queen or just another one of his many pawns.”

That stung, but you did well in hiding it.

Jinyoung sensed you were wounded and leapt at the opportunity to play on your hesitation. He set down his pen, laced his fingers together, and questioned, “What if I told you what he is?”

“I know what he is,” you replied without missing a beat.

Jinyoung snorted, disdainful. “You don’t even know the half of it.”

You were quick to smart, “I know he’s an animal in the bedroom and a gentleman everywhere else. Beyond that, I don’t give a shit.”

Bristling, Jinyoung snapped, “Do you really think you’re going to be rewarded for this level of blind loyalty?”

You said nothing. His raised voice unnerved you.

Jinyoung pressed, “He knows you’re in here and he has done nothing to get you out.”

Your lip quivered and your response was weak, lacking conviction, “He’s biding his time.”

Jinyoung softened his tone, negotiating, “If you start telling me how I can find him - how I can catch him - I can make sure you have full immunity. You can walk away from this.”

You shook your head and answered truthfully, “I don’t know where to find him. He made sure I never knew.”

Jinyoung clenched his fists, calming his irritation. It did him no favors in losing his patience with you, but he was on a deadline. He felt a vibration in his lap and peeked down at his phone, opening a new text that read, He called it off.

Having lost his attention and quite fed up with being interrogated, you rose and moved back to the window. You had tried to play along as Jackson had taught you, but you were running low on energy and denial. You could feel yourself shutting down, doubt trickling inside you like the raindrops streaming down the window.

Jinyoung rubbed a finger across his lips and lingered his gaze on your figure. He could see what Jackson saw in you. You carried fire of a different kind, but you could match his fervor. Maybe Jackson had finally found someone to live in the flames and chaos at his side.

Perhaps you weren’t the pawn after all.

Your mind drifted again. Thoughts of Jackson were all that could console you.

Jackson stared vacantly into the distance. You giggled and combed your fingers through his hair, trying to make the strands lay flat from their current disheveled positions.

“I can’t believe you talked me into that,” he groaned, face pale.

You giggled. “I thought you said you were an adrenaline junkie?”

“That was before I…,” Jackson trailed, puffing out his cheeks like he may empty his stomach at any moment. “Rode that evil thing.”

The rollercoaster had certainly given your brave and tough boyfriend a run for his money. You had never heard such a high-pitched wail leave his mouth like that before. It went without saying you spent the entire time laughing at his misfortune.

“You did well,” you crooned, smoothing down the last patch of hair sticking upright.

Jackson grabbed the glass of water before the waitress could set it down on the table before him and retorted, “I did it because you said you would show me your boobs.”

You chortled, leaning against his arm, and teased, “Like you haven’t seen them a million times already.”

Jackson clocked a glance at your cleavage and murmured, “I like the twins a lot.”

You laughed again. “You know, you’re the first significant other that hasn’t made me cover them up when we’re out in public.”

“My ego and self-esteem aren’t that fickle.”

You snuggled up closer to him and purred in his ear, “That’s because you’re an alpha male.”

Jackson swept an arm around you, tucking you even closer to him, and whispered, “Am I?”

You grinned.

The waitress appeared with plates in hand, breaking the spell.

The sight of Jackson grubbing always put a smile on your face. He devoured his burger and you struggled to keep up. It was a full time job wiping his lips and chin with a napkin.

It went without saying you enjoyed fancy Jackson with his candlelit dinners and well-tailored suits, but messy Jackson just stoked your fire differently.

“Jacks, this is so delicious,” you hummed, going in for another bite.

“It’s fucking holy is what it is,” he growled back.

“Mm,” was all you could manage as you stuffed your face.

Now it was Jackson’s turn to take a pause and watch you. Everything you did was attractive to him. It almost made him insane. He licked his lips and flirted, “I love a girl that knows how to eat.”

You wiggled your eyebrows, dunking a curly fry in cheese sauce and plopping it into your mouth. “I love a boy that knows how to talk,” you replied devilishly.

He cocked a brow. “Oh, yeah?”

You smirked.

Jackson draped his arm over the back of your chair, fingers coming to brush up and down your bare arm. He slipped a digit in the strap of your bikini top and let it snap back on your skin. “Don’t bother drying off too much, baby. You’re gonna be wet for hours.”

You batted your lashes, peering up at him coyly. “Come on, Daddy. Don’t you know by now? I stay wet for you.”

Jackson rumbled in his throat, tucking his face against your neck and pressing a kiss or two beneath your ear. “It’s been a long day,” he mused, having thoroughly enjoyed his time with you at the water park. “You sure you can handle me tearing that ass up at the hotel tonight?”

You reached across and grabbed his thigh, making sure he felt the bite of your fingernails, and spoke under your breath, “Bold of you to assume I can wait that long.”

Jackson pulled back, eyes widening and a grin tugging at his lips. “I’m crazy about you. You know that?”

You nuzzled his nose with your own and said, “Kiss me then.”

Jackson never shied away from public displays of affection. And he never did it to assert his territory. He just couldn’t stop kissing you day or night.

Blinking rapidly, you turned from the window and looked at Jinyoung, noticing his eyes had been on you. Your brow furrowed. His gaze was intrusive, like he could read your thoughts, and you bristled. The memories were yours to keep. Some were not meant to be shared.

Something sent shivers up your spine and your chest filled with heat. Stepping back to the table, your words were sharp, “You think I’m a fool.”

Jinyoung deadpanned, “Very much so.”

You lowered into the chair and asked delicately, “Have you ever been in love, Jinyoung?”

Jinyoung narrowed his eyes. The notion alone disgusted him. “I have not.”

You pressed, “Not even once?”

Jinyoung shook his head.

You whispered, almost more so to yourself, “It makes a fool out of all of us.”

Jinyoung believed that. He had seen it firsthand and refused to suffer the same fate. “To the point you would let the world burn for him?”

“Who cares?” you replied with a shrug, trying to appear passive. “The world is already on fire. Haven’t you noticed?”

“Rather selfish of you,” said Jinyoung, condescending. “To put you and your lover above everyone else.”

A fleeting glimpse of a memory flashed across your mind. Of you in Jackson’s lap as you poured over a novel. His hand danced aimlessly across your naked thigh while you read.

“All the gods, all the heavens, all the hells, are within you,” you read aloud.

Jackson opened his eyes, lifting his head from the back of the couch. “I like that,” he murmured, kissing your brow.

“It means we made it all. We created heaven and hell. It’s all a figment of our imagination,” you continued, turning the page.

Jackson watched you in wonder, the concentration on your face. He didn’t have the heart to tell you otherwise and settled for a parting kiss on your cheek before leaning his head back and closing his eyes once more.

The memory and Jinyoung’s words collided and you felt another shiver up your back. “Is Jackson meant to burn the world?”

Jinyoung swallowed, having inadvertently put himself in a precarious position. “You think too highly of him,” he sneered.

“Why shouldn’t I?”

“Pride cometh before the fall,” Jinyoung taunted.

You shook your head and sighed, “I have no pride.”

“Everyone has pride,” Jinyoung said, almost in scolding. “Did you know it’s the sin God hates more than all the others?”

Your brow stitched. He sounded amused. God had never been much of a factor in your life, but you were an avid reader and offered a rebuttal, “You’re wrong. The deepest, lowest circle of Hell is reserved for betrayal.”

Jinyoung leaned back in his chair, smirking for a reason unbeknownst to you. “And you’ll never betray him, will you?”

“Never.”

Jinyoung cocked his head. “Even if he leaves you in here to die?”

“I’m not afraid of dying.”

“What are you afraid of?”

You stared into his face, searching for reason. Would this man ever understand what you and Jackson had?

“Lies,” you finally admitted.

“I’m surprised he chose you,” Jinyoung chuckled. “You seem nearly as defiant as he is. I’m assuming there were plenty of clashes in the relationship?”

“Nothing we couldn’t handle,” you answered in a small voice.

Jackson followed you swiftly from the kitchen to the bedroom, his cheeks were blazing red.

“You knew I had a career when you met me,” you spat, shuddering at the realization you were having your first big fight with Jackson.

“I’m not asking you to give up your career,” he snapped back, reprimanding. “I just expect you to be where you said you would be when you said you would be there!”

You threw up your hands and groaned, “I didn’t do it on purpose!”

Jackson barely let you finish the sentence before he rounded on you. “Are you sure about that? Because you were very punctual up until we started sleeping together.”

“Fuck you, Jackson,” you shouted at him, vitriolic. “You don’t own me!”

Though you stomped back into the living room, trying desperately to avoid him, Jackson was hot on your heels, yelling, “You think I don’t notice how you’re distancing yourself from me? You’re waiting for the other shoe to drop when they’re both still on my fucking feet!”

Deflecting was what you did best, but he was too fiery, too unafraid to call you out. And he could see right through you.

You barked, “I’m late a couple times and that means I’m trying to sabotage the relationship?”

Jackson folded his arms and glared at you venomously. “I said it and you didn’t deny it.”

You shook with wrath, balling your hands into fists. “Take that manipulative bullshit and shove it up your ass! I should have known this would happen.”

Jackson gawked, though the expression of shock quickly devolved into seething rage. “Should have known?” he echoed back at you.

You wavered where you stood.

Jackson loosened his tie before ripping it from his collar entirely and roared, “You think you’re the only one with a temper, huh?”

“Yell at me,” you screamed, planting your feet. “See if I give a shit!"

“I have been nothing but good to you,” said Jackson, leveling a pointed finger at your face. “I still want you just as much as I did when I met you. You’re the one getting cold feet!”

Adrenaline was finally taking its toll. Tears were burning behind your eyes. “Oh my god, fine! Is that what you want to hear? I’m scared to death of how I feel about you. I’m head over fucking heels!”

Jackson calmed only a little when he pressed, “And what? You’ve decided that this relationship is one-sided?”

A tear escaped and rolled down your cheek. You quickly wiped away the evidence with a rough hand and cried, “You’re too good to be true.”

With that, you turned tail and ran, scurrying toward the front door of his apartment.

Jackson watched you go, still etching your words into his mind forever, and called after you, “Where are you going?”

“I’m not crying in front of you, Jackson,” you yelled at the top of your lungs, slamming the door behind you.

Jackson stood there, rooted in place. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, inhaling a deep, steadying breath.

You couldn’t make it down the hall. You felt like an idiot. Never had you been in so deep and it scared you shitless. Leaning back against the wall just outside his door, you sank to the floor and wrapped your arms around your knees, crying behind them.

Only a moment later, the door opened and Jackson charged out, giving chase. He slid to a stop and sighed heavily at the sight of you.

You didn’t bother to look at him and you weren’t the least surprised when he slipped his arms under yours and hoisted you up. In one all too easy swoop, he lifted you into the air and popped your legs around his waist.

It was your body’s natural reflex to lock your ankles behind his back, to overlap your hands behind his shoulders and to rest your cheek against his neck, hiding your face.

In the bedroom, Jackson leaned his head against yours and whispered, “I’m gonna silence these doubts the best way I know how.”

Jackson unzipped your jacket and stripped you down to your underwear, but before you could register the cold on your bare skin, he pulled one of his white t-shirts over your head.

You whimpered when he pushed you on the bed. The mattress bounced slightly beneath you. On your stomach, you gripped the blanket in your hands and listened to the rapid thumping of your racing heart as he crawled over you.

Jackson pushed the shirt up, just enough to expose your ass, and made room for himself between your legs. He draped himself over you, combing your hair with his fingers until he could press his lips to your neck.

“And I’m gonna break these walls down, brick by fucking brick,” he whispered in your ear.

You lifted your head and your mouth parted wide with a moan when he penetrated you slowly.

“You’re mine,” Jackson growled, biting down on your shoulder.

You turned to Jinyoung and frowned, unshed tears welling in your eyes. In that moment, you realized you were nothing more than a prisoner - someone who had no rights and potentially no chance of salvation.

“If you let me go,” you began softly, almost pleading. “You would follow me right to him. Wouldn’t you?”

Jinyoung’s reply was blunt, cold. “You’re more valuable in here.”

You bit your lip, staving off the tears with every ounce of your strength. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye,” you spoke under your breath.

Jinyoung looked up from the file abruptly, surprised. “Are you leaving him?”

You looked away, staring into nothing, and said, “He’s leaving me.”

“You know that?”

You bobbed your head and muttered, “When I found out loving him was… dangerous, I didn’t stop. I didn’t leave when I had the chance. I decided that he was worth it. I’m culpable in this.”

Jinyoung felt he finally had you on the ropes and came in for the kill. He approached you and you instinctively pressed your back against the wall. His close proximity was unwelcome, intimidating.

“What if I told you he’s planning something big? Something that will set off a chain reaction that could change life as we know it,” Jinyoung began, hushed like he spoke a deadly secret.

“Don’t tell him that,” you grumbled. “He’s arrogant enough as it is.”

Jinyoung’s eyes flickered, incredulous. “Have you always been this cynical?”

There wasn't enough time to explain it to him. “You don’t understand. And you never will.”

Jinyoung braced his hand on the wall beside your head and taunted, “Try me.”

You exhaled loudly and confessed, “All my foolish feelings aside, he taught me how to live again. I had decided my life was no longer worth living and he changed my mind.”

Jinyoung knew he couldn’t argue with that. Jackson had given you something to fight for and that was a powerful thing. After a pause, he sneered, “If I tell you what he really is, you may not feel that way.”

You shrugged, appearing nonchalant, but you knew Jinyoung was pulling at a thread, one that could unravel your seams. You stayed brave and replied, “I only know what he made me feel. What you say will never change that.”

“He’s not human.”

Those words echoed in your mind, like a scream ricocheting off the walls of your metal cell. You stared into Jinyoung’s eyes, trying to understand what was lingering in his gaze, what he had to gain from dismantling you entirely.

“I know that,” you finally revealed.

It wasn’t a hard conclusion to come to, frankly speaking. Jackson’s eyes could turn from lustrous brown to scorching crimson. Fire could appear in his hands. He could vanish without a trace in the blink of an eye.

Of course, he wasn’t human. He was an entity. Beyond that, you knew nothing else.

Jinyoung frowned, his brow stitching. This was a problem.

You breathed easier when he finally moved away from you and watched him give you a glance over before returning to his seat.

Jinyoung scribbled on his notepad and pulled out his phone. Without looking up, he asked blithely, “What if I let you call him?”

The offer made your heart spin in your chest. Hope bubbled up in the well of your body. The mere thought of hearing Jackson’s voice was enough to bring warmth back to your cheeks. But you quickly lowered your voice to a growl and spat, “Why - so you can try to get a trace?”

Jinyoung sent off a text unbeknownst to you and replied, “I want to know if your feelings are one-sided.”

Seated at a table, alone and shrouded in the dark, Jackson felt a vibration in his pocket. He opened his phone and the four words glared at him, setting his body aflame.

She knows too much.

Faster than he thought possible, Jackson leapt to his feet and flipped the table over. It tumbled to the ground, glasses splintering into thousands of shards across the floor.

Meanwhile, the two agents returned to the room under Jinyoung’s watchful gaze. They ushered you back to the table and fastened your cuffs once again to the bolt in the center. All the while, you scowled at Jinyoung.

Jinyoung held your phone in his hand, swiping to Jackson’s number and dialing without a second thought. He was careful of the cables attached to the nearby computer.

Jackson answered on the second ring, speaking through gritted teeth, “To whom am I speaking?”

“Jackson,” you started, chest clenching.

He paused. “Hi, baby.”

You looked between the phone and Jinyoung, and said, “There’s a man here. He’s going to tell me what you are.”

Another pause. This one much longer than the last. Jackson swallowed the lump in his throat and finally told you, “Don’t believe him.”

Your eyes burned. “Am I…,” you hesitated, voice trembling. “Ever going to see you again?”

Jackson could hear the longing, the sadness. He imagined your big, beautiful eyes staring up at him when he held you in his arms. He had taken you for granted and now there was a hole where his heart used to be.

“If not again in this life, then definitely in the next.”

Your lips tugged in the faintest of smiles, comforted. Another memory of Jackson flashed in your mind, a time when he said something similar and you knew he hadn’t given up.

The expression on Jinyoung’s face flipped on a dime. He pulled the phone away, before you could say another word, and jeered, “Hello, Jackson.”

“Jinyoung…,” Jackson started, fire racing up his spine.

“I got you,” Jinyoung laughed, hanging up.

You rose abruptly, jarring the chair beneath you and making your chains rattle. “You bastard!”

“I hope this has all been worth it,” said Jinyoung, gathering his things.

You wanted to dive across the table and claw his eyes out. Anger was filling you from the soles of your feet to the crown of your head, and at any minute you were bound to explode.

“I will never help you hurt him.”

“Too late,” Jinyoung whispered darkly.

You overflowed and resorted to threatening, “I will kill you if you touch him.”

Jinyoung turned to you slowly, not taking the threat in kind. His eyes bore into yours and the single light overhead began to flicker. Suddenly, he reached out and grasped you by the jaw, forcing you to lean toward him over the table.

“Careful,” he whispered with vehemence. “That mouth is going to get you into trouble.”

Fear tickled across your skin. And in that moment, something told you Jinyoung was not what he seemed.

He kept you in his grasp for a few more seconds, simply to assert his dominance, and then released you. You staggered, regaining your balance and bracing both hands on the table to steady yourself.

Jinyoung exited the only door, slamming it shut behind him.

You were left alone with your rage.

Hands shaking, you yanked at the cuffs still anchoring you to the table. No matter how much you pulled, even with every bit of your body weight, the table was nailed to the floor and didn’t budge.

But even if you broke out of your binds, there was only a locked door and a narrow window to freedom.

“Let me out of here,” you screamed at the top of your lungs.

“Put her on lockdown,” Jinyoung told the guard, your shouts muffled by the thick walls. “No one in or out, but me. We can’t let him get her back.”

“Understood, sir.”

“Good,” said Jinyoung, striding away and putting the phone to his lips. “We play our cards right and our boy will be back on track.”

“This damned mortal girl,” replied the man on the other line. “I don’t know what kind of magic is between her thighs, but she bought the world a little more time with it.”

Jinyoung chuckled at that.

“I shifted his focus,” added the caller, at ease. “He’s looking for me now. Do your worst.”

“With pleasure,” Jinyoung retorted, hanging up the phone and sauntering down the hallway.

Jackson stared down at his phone, reading the text from an unknown number over and over again.

You made me do this.

Jackson had lost yet another battle. Though the war was still to be won. He knew the odds were not stacking in his favor, but subverting expectations was his specialty.

He had exposed his own fatal flaw - you. But as much as Jackson wanted you back in his arms, he knew you were safe. He had to keep them convinced you were more valuable alive. They wouldn’t harm a hair on your head, not whilst they needed something from you.

At least, that was what Jackson told himself.

They wanted him angry. They wanted his bloodlust to consume and destroy. It was his purpose and he had abandoned it. You tempered him. Your voice was saccharine, like aloe smoothed on a burn.

The seed was planted. Jackson could be steered by any chain around your neck. It was a risky move, what he had done. By making them think you were leverage, you were safe for the moment, but the time would come when they would try to use you against him for the same reason.

Jackson knew if he made one wrong move he would lose you forever.

“He’s here,” said the driver, making his boss jolt.

“Finally,” Jackson groaned, slipping out of the backseat of his tinted SUV.

A figure approached from the other side of the alley, clad in a loose hoodie and even baggier pants. The two constant rivals, but occasional allies exchanged terse greetings.

“Jaebeom.”

“Jackson.”

Jackson went straight to the point, seething with impatience. It helped mask his fear. “Where is he?”

Jaebeom formed his lips into a hard line and replied, “I don’t know.” The answer was sincere. Jaebeom wasn’t invested enough to lie.

“He’s involved in this,” Jackson pressed, voice lowering like he didn’t want to risk being overheard. “There’s no doubt in my mind.”

Jaebeom did not seem the least bothered or concerned or even interested. In fact, his face was devoid of any expression. “Involved in what?”

“They took something from me,” Jackson confessed, regretting it immediately. He knew exactly the reaction he would get.

Something danced in Jaebeom’s eyes then. He quickly chided, “If they took her, it’s only because you made her worth something of value to you. That was your mistake.”

Jackson clenched his jaw. His suspicions mounted. If Jaebeom knew about you, then someone close must have told him.

Hands in his pockets, Jaebeom ambled closer, shaking his head in combination amusement and disappointment. “You are so predictable,” he reproached. “I should have bet money that you would be the one to screw up our entire plan because you got distracted by a piece of ass.”

“What can I say?” Jackson replied with a shrug, cloaking his wrath. “I am true to my name.”

“And I’m true to mine,” Jaebeom hissed, unflinching as lighting cracked overhead with his warning. “Don’t fuck this up.”

“Jaebeom, please,” Jackson stammered, changing his tactic. “You are the closest thing we have to a leader in this hell on earth. You are the only one that can make him stop.”

Jaebeom turned to leave and said, “You drew the line in the sand. You should have known it would be lonely on the other side.”

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love-bokumono-fics · 4 years ago

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WIP Wednesday

With no game feature this week, let's look at some of the recent WIPs that haven't gotten a chance to be featured yet on the blog. These are the works that haven't been updated since I started the blog, so they haven't been included in the weekly Fresh Crops, or haven't been included in other feature posts yet.

Here's hoping you find a great new story to keep up with and await updates with bated breath!

(Have a WIP fic of your own that you'd like featured? Drop a link in the submission box! We'd love to see them!)

Edmond Route - by Mysterious_Prologue_Guy; WIP, 37/?, 54k

Rating: Mature; Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings; Category: F/M

Fandoms: Light of Hope, Skytree Village

Relationship: Edmond/Light the farmer; Characters: Edmond, Farmer, Gareth, Tabitha, Harvest Goddess

Additional Tags: Harvest Moon a Light of Hope, Harvest Moon, Harvest moon Skytree Village

Summary: Contains spoilers. Meeting of Edmond and heart events.

Barriers - by krose13; WIP, 21/?, 148k

Rating: Mature; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: F/M

Fandoms: Friends of Mineral Town, Harvest Moon DS Cute

Relationships: Claire the Farmer/Gray, Ann the Innkeeper | Ran/Cliff; Characters: Claire, Gray, Ann the Innkeeper | Ran, Cliff, Kai, Karen, Popuri, Mary the Librarian, Rick, Basically the whole Mineral Town cast, plus Forget-Me-Not Valley

Additional Tags: Drama & Romance, Complicated Relationships, Sexual Content, Slow Burn, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Not for the kiddos, Fluff and Angst, Jealousy, Unplanned Pregnancy, trying to fit a realistic pregnancy in hm time is a challenge but we doin it, POV First Person, Mutual Pining, Drug Use, Dreams and Nightmares, Drowning, I’ll probably have to add more tags as we go along but

Summary: Unlike everyone else in town, Gray wants nothing to do with the new farmer. He can't stand Claire, despite all her attempts to befriend him. But when one small mistake leads to an even bigger problem, he might be seeing a lot more of her than they both had planned.

Watered-Down Ideals - by LemWrites; WIP, 4/?, 4k

Rating: Not Rated; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Categories: M/M, Multi

Fandoms: Trio of Towns

Relationships: Farmer/Ludus; Characters: Original Male Character, Frank, Megan, Hector, Colin, Noel | Noelle

Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Self-Esteem Issues, Slow Burn, Fluff, Self Confidence Issues, ADHD, I gave a farmer adhd and anxiety, this may have more projection then intended

Summary: Join Steve, the newly appointed farmer in the Trio of Towns world, on a journey full of; useless gay pinning, being a disaster, self hatred and more!

The Language of Flowers - by spoopybat; WIP, 68/?, 158k

Rating: Explicit; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: F/M

Fandoms: The Tale of Two Towns

Additional Tags: Tags Contain Spoilers, POV Alternating, Background Relationships, Starting Over, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Friendship, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Minor Character Death, Background Character Death, Minor Violence, Minor Injuries, Physical Abuse, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Socially Awkward Characters, Cliche, Mutual Pining, Awkwardness, Awkward Flirting, Emotional Baggage, References to Depression, Dorks in Love, Dysfunctional Family, Melodrama, Family Drama, First Love, First Relationship, Sharing a Bed, Making Out, Loss of Virginity, First Time, Morning After, Morning Cuddles, Christmas, Domestic Fluff, Unplanned Pregnancy, Pregnancy, Morning Sickness, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Constipation, Arguing, Medical Conditions, Medical inaccuracies but I'm gonna do my best, Panic Attacks, Engagement, Wedding Planning, Wedding Fluff, Weddings, Honeymoon, Body Worship, Making Love, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Mental Anguish, Spa Treatments, Fights, Making Up, Mental Health Issues, Depression, Language of Flowers, Emotional reunion [Some tags removed to keep post sfw]

Summary: Lillian, a young woman from the Sunshine Islands, left her home and moved to Bluebell. In hopes that moving to this rural farm town to escape her troubled past and find the happy life she had always wanted.

Finding You - by HarukazeRen; WIP, 4/?, 3k

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings; Category: F/M

Fandoms: Harvest Moon 64

Relationship: Karen/Pete | Jack; Characters: Karen, Pete | Jack

Additional Tags: Harvest Moon 64, Tsundere Karen, Flashbacks, Slow Romance, Handsome Pete, Karen's hearts event, Some of Gray/Popuri and Ann/Cliff

Summary: Whenever he meets her, some memories of his childhood flash in his mind. A little girl who was playing with him and made his heart skipped a beat. He tries to trace the shadow of her because he wants to make sure, why does he keep thinking of her.

Earth and Rebirth - by TheBeckster; WIP, 17/?, 66k

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Categories: Multi, Gen

Fandoms: Trio of Towns

Characters: Holly, Frank, Marlena, Wayne, Ford, Lisette, Brad, Carrie, everyone

Additional Tags: Undecided Relationship(s), Additional Tags to Be Added, lots of headcanons, Minor Character Death, Eventual Friends to Lovers, I'm not going to tag every single character, but they will all have a part in the story, Grief/Mourning, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn, Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, New friends and found family, world building, Angst with a Happy Ending, Holly is an extrovert, endgame ship tbd, Cover Art

Summary: Holly considered herself fortunate to be living about as close to the dream as any young twenty-something could. A great family, a loving husband, and well, she'd admit their apartment was awful, but they'd be moving onto bigger and better things soon enough. She truthfully couldn't wish for more. But when an accident rips it all away from her, Holly finds herself seeking a change of scenery. Her Uncle's farm out in the middle of nowhere is the perfect place for her to hide to mourn. A familiar story with a twist or two.

Fire and Dew - by Juliko; WIP, 9/26, 73k

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings; Category: F/M

Fandoms: Trio of Towns

Relationship: Yuzuki/Original Character; Characters: Original Female Character(s) of Color, Original Characters, Yuzuki, Sumomo, Lisette, Colin, Wayne, Brad, Carrie, Shizu, Yaichi, Tatsumi, Omiyo, Umekichi, Lynn, Marlena, Daryl | Darius, Ittetsu, Moriya

Additional Tags: Harvest Moon, story of seasons, farming, Slice of Life, Drama, Family Drama, Family Issues, Autism, Autism Spectrum, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Original Character(s), Major Original Character(s), Female Character of Color, Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, Friendship/Love, Past Child Abuse, Child Abuse, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Eventual Romance, Romance, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Humor, Eventual Happy Ending, Comedy, Friends to Lovers, Adoption, Sick Character, Lulukoko characters won't appear in this fic, Falling In Love, Dorks, Ableism, Happy Ending, Romantic Fluff, Break Up, Past Relationship, Cows, Chickens, Sheep, Rabbits, Flowers, Stimming, Family Fluff, Bisexual Female Character, Pansexual Character, Lesbian Character, Children, Childhood Memories, Childhood Trauma

Summary: For as long as she could remember, Harper Leigh Maxwell's dream has always been to become a farmer, but her father's job makes it hard to do so, since it involves lots of moving. After graduating from college, she finally decides to take a chance and get her own farm. She's determined to make the most of this opportunity and do what she's wanted. In the process, she makes new friends, learns many new things, and faces many hardships. One of the friends she makes is Yuzuki Fujiwara, a mellow, sweet natured man from the town of Tsuyukusa who doesn't have the best constitution. The two of them form a strong connection that may even end up blossoming into love. But Harper's past might make things complicated, and when it threatens to catch up with her, she may find herself facing the demons from her pre-adoption early childhood. This is the story of two different people, with different interests, passions, and paths in life, walking the same dirt road every day...

Finding the Way Forward - by AccidentallyTheWholeFanfic; WIP, 5/?, 35k

Rating: Mature; Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings; Categories: F/M, M/M, Multi

Fandoms: Story of Seasons (2014)

Relationship: Johnny/Fritz; Characters: Johnny, Fritz, Elise, Oak Tree Town, OCs

Additional Tags: Romance, Drama, Slice of Life, Friendship, Family, Heavy Subject Matter, Humor, If Reina Pops Up Here I Will Refuse to Refer to Her as Licorice

Summary: Three youths move to Oak Tree Town on the verge of adulthood - each one an outsider in their own way, setting out on their own paths in life under their own circumstances. When those paths begin to cross over and influence each other, they all find that they might have some growing up to do if they want to find their way forward in life. Slash, M later. Heavy themes present.

Bring On The Wonder - by UrzaHemlock; WIP, 1/?, 2k

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: F/M

Fandoms: Animal Parade, Tree of Tranquility

Relationships: Molly | Hikari/Toby | Tao, Candace | Kotomi/Luke the Carpenter; Characters: Toby | Tao, Luke the Carpenter, Candace, Harvest Goddess, Finn, Molly/Hikari is Corina

Additional Tags: Rating May Change, Slow Burn, Original Character(s), Family Issues, Plot of the game but with fleshed out magic and trials, Mostly Animal Parade but with some elements from Tree of Tranquility mixed in, more tags to come, Possible change to Mature down the road

Summary: When Corina agreed to help Finn the harvest sprite save the Goddess Tree, it seemed the perfect chance to start over. After all, how hard could ringing some bells be? But magic isn't that simple, and Corina quickly discovers that there is more to being a savior. She'll have to throw all of herself into saving Castanet, body, mind, and even soul. She'll have to endure physical trials and emotional turmoil and even confront the things she wants to run from... ...but with the help of some new friends and a rather sleepy fisherman, she might just pull through.

Trial & Error - by KuramaBabe; WIP, 3/?, 3k

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: F/F

Fandoms: Back To Nature, Save the Homeland, Magical Melody

Relationships: Gwen/Original Female Character, Gray & Original Female Character, Popuri & Original Female Character, Karen & Original Female Character, Cliff & Original Female Character, Ray & Original Female Character; Characters: Karen, Gray, Cliff, Popuri, Saibara, Harvest Goddess, Harvest Goddess Mariel, Gwen, Joe, Ray, Mary the Librarian, Original Female Character(s), Dog, Original Child Character(s), Original Male Character(s)

Additional Tags: Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sexuality, High School, Graduation, Party, Family Issues, Dysfunctional Family, Family Drama, Families of Choice, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Name Changes, Dead name, Makeover, Hair, Injury, Slow To Update, Strangers to Lovers, Starting Over, Road Trips, a capella, Fishing, failure - Freeform, Homophobia, Lesbian Character, My First Work in This Fandom, Coming Out, Cynophobia, Minor Karen/Rick, Minor Gray/Mary | Marie, Abuse

Summary: Maribelle has known for a long time she's different. But when she finally comes to accept it, her home life turns into something ugly. With the help of a friend, she changes her identity and moves to Sugar Valley. However, she has no idea she's moving into a construction zone and most of the inhabitants have already left...

#wip wednesday #harvest moon #story of seasons #light of hope #skytree village #friends of mineral town #trio of towns #hm ds cute #tale of two towns #hm 64 #back to nature #save the homeland #magical melody #animal parade #tree of tranquility

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im-the-punk-who · 4 years ago

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@rnmmarchformeta Day 1: Tonight’s theme is: Themes

Malex and Music: Tracing a relationship through music used in the show - Part 1

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Given that both Michael and Alex have a personal connection to music, I wanted to go over some of the intricacies of what the music choices and lyrics/stories behind the songs used might tell us about Malex. The music choices in Roswell New Mexico are deliberate and often incredibly pointed. Particularly in the case of Michael and Alex there are elements of their relationship that are not so much underlined as written about only in the lyrical choices that play under their scenes. This choice for me made rewatching the series a lot of fun because as I discovered the lyrics to some of the more obscure song choices I kept discovering new intricacies and motivations for each of their decisions. Below the cut for length.

(Author’s note circa 2007: (rawr xD) I’m focusing specifically on the parts of these songs that play over or in direct correlation to scenes where Michael and Alex are both present. I would love to explore this theme in the wider context of the whole show and how their interactions with other characters might change some of these but...this is already like 6k and that’s just how the peas and carrots cooked. That said I will be referencing other characters and relationships as relevant, particularly, I will be talking at some length about Milexa and the airstream scenes in 2x06. I personally have a favorable reading of the scenes and what they mean for Michael and Alex. I also talk briefly about Milexa in a few other spots - they’ve been marked as ‘Milexa’ or ‘Miluca’ if you wish to skip them, although I don’t know if this will make sense as a whole without them. But, should you wish. Proceed accordingly. <3)

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Posted on AO3 here.

Sedona - Houndstooth (1x01)

The first song we hear in relation to Malex is ‘Sedona’ by Houndstooth. The song plays during the reunion as we see Alex confront Michael about the chemicals found around his airstream. The verse that plays underneath the scene references how, due to its scenic beauty, the town of Sedona was once a highly sought after filming location but had fallen into obscurity when cowboy movies went out of style in the late 70′s.

Similarly, Alex tells Michael that he is ‘wasting his life.’

“Does the macho cowboy swagger thing ever get old for you?”

“Did it get old for you?”

For me, this scene is as much an introduction to the past between these two as their present. Gone but not forgotten, their interactions are a ‘script’ that the two of them play off of. In other words, Michael and Alex don’t so much interact as play off of what the other expects from the other. This becomes especially clear when in 2x05 we learn that Alex has at least once before warned Michael about ‘wasting his life.’

When The Truth Hunts You Down - Sam Tinnesz (1x01)

The next scene is this one, in which we see Alex contemplating an old picture of himself. We then see Michael watching him.

Later, the last line is overlaid with Jesse telling Kyle about the existence of aliens.

The truth about Michael’s alienness is quiet literally hunting them, but so is something about Alex’s past. As we get to know him, we learn just how much his father is interconnected with all of the worst moments in his life and everrything he has buried and tried to run from in order to avoid it. Michael, Roswell itself - Alex ran halfway across the world to try to run away from the trauma of his youth, and yet here he is.

“Nostalgia’s a bitch, huh?”

“You know I thought when I got back from Iraq you would be long gone.”

“Is that what you want?”

“We’re not kids anymore. What I want doesn't matter.”

We also find out something of the nature of his and Michael’s relationship and that there are clearly still feelings between them - no matter how much Alex is trying to deny it.

Give Me The Night - Des Rocs (1x02)

This is one of my personal faves from the Malex soundtracks. It just *slaps* okay?

Aside from the obvious nod to Michael’s alienness, this song underscores the divide still between Michael and Alex despite the passionate kiss they shared at the reunion. Michael is initially flirtatious and full of swagger - until Alex shuts him down.

The fallacy of Alex’s rebuke and his dismissal of the feelings behind the kiss are underscored by his refusal to even look Michael in the eye as they talk. Even if he tries to deny them, the truth of his feelings hunts and haunts him because he feels he can never act on his own desires. And in turn when presented with the about face, Michael turns bitter as the push-pull is reinitiated. Michael falls back to the script they’ve been rehashing to save his feelings - ‘puts on a show’ as it were, and Alex falls for it hook, line, and sinker. He is still unwilling or unable to see the truth that lies beneath the surface.

“Isn’t there some law about building on a historical site?”

“A historical - oh you mean because the UFO crashed here? Yeah, we’re not supposed to build on Santa’s workshop either.”

For Michael, who at least to me was obviously hoping things would change this time around, this must feel like a bucket of cold water, especially in the face of Liz Ortecho’s knowledge and seeming easy acceptance of the aliens’ existence. While Max might get his happy ending, Michael is left to keep hiding from the person he loves, never being seen and wondering if Alex’s feelings are even real.

Two Princes - Spin Doctors (1x02) (Miluca)

In rapid fire we have the next three songs as Michael and Alex spend some time at the Wild Pony. This verse plays under the interaction when Alex comes in the bar and spots Michael.

“Though he got kinda hot. In a ‘sex in a truck, smells like a river, never introduce him to your mama’ kind of way.”

“I hadn’t noticed.”

My boy. My child. My bluntest instrument in the tool kit. Has no one ever told Alex Manes that saying you hadn’t noticed an objectively hot guy is hot is basically code for ‘I haven’t stopped staring at him since I walked in and my brain is not functioning at a high enough level to mask that fact’? Son, please, this is a drunk Wendy’s.

(Also this is huge foreshadowing for Miluca - Michael and Maria don’t have sex *in* a truck but it’s pretty close, we find out later that Michael/the aliens smell like rain, and she tells him he’s not meeting her mother at one point. The angle of this shot is also, for me at least, a hint that Michael is going to become the object of these two ‘princes’ affections, at some point.)

Anyway this is basically poking fun at Alex Manes, repressed disaster, for having no clue what love is and trying to express his affection through like, everything except anything anyone would understand as romantic love. (And we will see this in the flashbacks as well as present day - that Alex mostly uses his station or advantages as a way to show the people he loves he loves them, rather than using words. When he offers Michael the shed, brings him the guitar, uses his military connections to find out about Michel’s mom, hacks into Maria’s computer...listen I got more.) But that isn’t enough, as we’re learning. If only there were some way Alex could also learn that lesson.

And seriously, “This one said he wants to buy you rockets?”

How’s It Going To Be? - Stephen Edwards (1x02)

“Is there really nobody in this world that you wouldn’t risk everything to save? Sad.”

Oh Isobel, if only you knew.

So, aside from returning the kiss Michael initiated at the reunion, Alex has soundly rejected every advance Michael has made for a relationship. Despite that Michael seems to have been harboring some hope that things might be different not that Alex is back more permanently. But now with Isobel bringing into question what he’s willing to sacrifice, I think he might be realizing that toll has been extremely steep already.

(Also truly obsessed with how both Alex and Michael have positioned themselves so that they can casually glance over at each other without arousing suspicion. *Boys*. It’s not that complicated what is this middle school?)

We know that Michael doesn’t like having to keep secrets, and again I have to wonder if he’s regretting not telling Alex he’s an alien, or wondering how that conversation would have gone.

From the previous scenes we can tell something in their relationship is coming to a head - maybe Michael is hoping it’s that he can finally stop keeping secrets from Alex and show Alex who he really is - that Alex will stop misreading him. That Alex will change.

But there is also the expectation that if that happens, Alex will likely leave again. Not just because that’s what Alex’s trauma makes him do, but also because that is how Michael frames all of his relationships. As ‘until you leaves’. He is shown to have a habit of catastrophizing because he doesn’t believe himself to ‘belong’ anywhere(HA) and this is one of those times we’re shown that.

Come With Me - Gold Star (1x02)

“Home can be a person.”

And here we have Alex “thinking about who he was” as Maria closes up the bar. Given where this scene leads with him and Michael, I think the rest of the lyrics to the song are incredibly poignant.

Tell me what were you dreaming? Tell me who were you trying to reach? Gimme something real to believe in Or gimme a reason to leave So i left her standing under shining stars in the Silver moonlight by old Borough Hall - whoever you are

We know that after this evening Alex attempts to rekindle his relationship with Michael, still thinking about who he was, and maybe for the first time trying not to run from what he wants. He’ll be unsuccessful this time, but it’s the first clue that Alex is attempting to break a pattern that has held him in place for ten years.

While he may have been misreading Michael’s stunted growth, we’re starting to see Alex contemplate change in himself. This is the start of Alex’s two season long journey to break out of the fortress he’s built around himself. To ‘put his weapons down’ in an effort to be with Michael.

(She lets her guard down on her way back//to close her eyes and fall asleep - “It was late....I was tired.”)

God of Wine - Third Eye Blind

So clearly the writers were like ‘how can we hurt Milo specifically’ because these lyrics are *so good* as we hear malex talk about the way they view their relationship for the first time in the show.

The music starts just as Michael picks up the old photographs, first of the pod squad, then of himself and Alex playing guitars in the desert. As he packs up the airstream to move it off Foster’s Ranch, Michael is also thinking about the past.

Throughout the series, we’re given a bunch of musical lines about how Michael and Alex can’t go back to what they were, that they have to move forward. And it’s true - as we’ll see over and over again the dynamic they’ve had has been incredibly unhealthy for both of them. But they also cannot avoid the other’s orbit. And when Alex comes to talk to Michael it’s the first time we see him actually decide to initiate - to try and take what he himself wants, rather than waiting or hiding from it. But it is also very much Alex falling back into the ‘madness that holds a truth he can’t erase’ of Michael’s really, very, super, incredibly obvious feelings for him. Our boy is not subtle.

But Alex is still hunted by the past - before we know his history we assume that when Alex references ‘who he was before he went to war’ he means Iraq. But Alex’s war is his father. As much as combat can absolutely be a traumatizing experience, for Alex I never really read that as his main source. As he’ll tell Forrest later - “My PTSD triggers are a little more complicated”.

And so when he tells Michael he’s been thinking about who he was “before he went to war” for me that’s more a callback to who he was before Jesse found the two of them in the toolshed. “When this started.”

As Michael tells him “From where I stand nothing’s changed” the words “I know, I know, I know” repeat in the background because WE KNOW. We all know, except Alex.

“And that’s a problem for me, Guerin.”

And the siren’s song that is your madness

“Because every time you look at me, I’m seventeen all over again.”

holds a truth I can’t erase

“- and I forget that the last ten years even happened. And then you look away and I remember all over again. And it almost kills me every time.”

All alone on your face

“I never look away. Not really.”

For Michael this is basically confirmation of what he’s been realizing over the last few days - that Alex has been totally misreading him and that yes, Michael, you’re going to have to use your words on this one.

To which we see Alex’s brain 404-blue-screen for a minute as he realizes what Michael means. Which I personally really appreciate.

And especially since we’ve just learned that a lyric of this song was written on Rosa’s hand the night she died, I can’t believe it’s a coincidence in this being the song that plays underneath this scene - where Alex says he was thinking about who he was before. Everything changed that day for everyone - including Michael and Alex. Michael had gained a terrible secret he couldn’t share, that meant he changed his whole life and started needing to hide and lie and act out, and Alex - not knowing the truth - assumed that it was Michael’s way of trying to push him away and end the relationship. Which leads to the decades long miscommunication of Alex seeing Michael do that over and over again.

For the last ten years, Alex has been seeing Michael as the boy who looks away, then looks back. A Michael whose focus shifts to and away from him and who he sees as wasting his life; directionless and aimless. But as he realizes what Michael is saying he has to recalibrate everything he’s thought their relationship is.

This is possibly the first time Alex has realized that his view of Michael has been wrong. That he really doesn’t know Michael at all.

And we know this interaction has a profound impact on Alex in terms of how he views their relationship. I feel like this is one of those things that becomes a mantra for Alex, later down the line. He repeats it to Michael at Caulfield, and in his song as well, “You never looked away, now I won’t look away” to express his commitment to breaking down the walls he has built up for himself.

Even though we know the relationship is doomed at this point, it’s the first time a stone falls from the walls Alex has built around himself in a decade.

Here - Chance Peña - 1x03 (Alternate title: “Home”)

Okay I would like to petition to make it illegal to have unreleased songs in episodes, Chance Peña help a bitch out. I had to watch a *fish show* to hear the full lyrics because they’re edited in the show! ( I will also note the next lyric is ‘goodbye, my dear’ which. rude.)

Anyway, we’re given these lyrics as Michael wakes up to seeing Alex has stayed the night. I took the editing, with the previous song choices, to be a reaffirmation of this being something new to Alex, but not necessarily to Michael. Michael knows what he wants from a relationship with Alex - even if he’s put the hope aside from time to time the want is always clear.

For Alex though, a relationship with Michael is something that scares him because of his fear that it can be taken away. (”I just thought that I could be happy, and not be afraid that if I loved anything my dad would destroy it.”) He is trying to make it work - “drawing near” to Michael - but he knows that in order to do that he is going to need to be uncomfortable. To face the fears that have held him back and kept him in comfortable limbo for so long.

I’m also going to flail about how, while RNM has the song listed as ‘Here’, the producer of the other show(Battlefish) identified the song as ‘Home’. I hope I don’t have to yell at y’all, other Roswell New Mexico fans, about how often that word has snuck up on me and knifed me in the back regarding malex. Especially since Alex *is* currently - well, here. With his home. Kill me please it would be kinder.

But then of course we see the old insecurities pop up again as Isobel arrives. Even if he is trying - Alex is nowhere near ready to jump out of the closet yet.

Fast Aint Good Enough - Inkwell Echo (1x06)

I debated adding this one because it’s a little bit reachy, but I thought it was significant in that even when they were seventeen, the thing Alex is ‘afraid of’ is his feelings for Michael - not necessarily of being gay but of what people like Kyle and his father do with information like that.

Wish I’d found the words when we were seventeen-

Kyle asks

“What are you so afraid of?”

-just as Alex catches sight of Michael.

(“I wanted to be the kind of person who won battles. It felt good.”)

Aside from Alex’s general need to protect Michael in any and all situations, I feel like the lyrics of this song - about the singer’s attempt to leave an abusive relationship - underscore that even before the toolshed, Alex was fighting. Even before the toolshed, he has been fighting to this cycle he is trapped in.

While he and Michael build their relationship he starts thinking seriously about leaving and not just surviving but he will ultimately choose to trap himself for years in order to hide his love for Michael.

Like so many gay kids, Alex is fighting a system that deems him guilty of sin - and takes his fighting back as a sign of his guilt. And in order to actually be able to love Michael, he is going to have to figure out how to put down the weapons and the hurt and break the cycle.

First Day Of My Life - Bright Eyes (1x06)

Are they serious right now I swear to god.

So obviously, we’ve got the origins for everything we’re told about Michael and Alex’s lives changing based on their feelings for each other in like two and a half verses of song. Forget the entire second season we have everything we need right here.

“It was the first time I liked our hometown, though.”

“Alex made me believe there was a place for me here.”

We know that for both of them this is really a moment of self discovery as much as it is a discovery about each other.

For Michael in particular, who doesn’t know why he’s here or who he really is, and who previously had no plans besides leaving the planet, this is the moment that he realizes what he wants - to be with Alex.

And for Alex, to me, this moment is a brief glimpse into what his life could be like. We don’t have any confirmation if Michael is his first kiss with a boy or not, but we do know that this moment is significant in that it’s the first that makes Roswell feel like a place he enjoys being.

And as he is realizing that, the lyrics echo it -

But I realized that I need you // And I wondered if I could come home

(Screeching from the background: WOULD YOU COME HOME)

But of course, as the song says, these things take forever because...well....

(It’s because Alex is dumb. My poor dumb emotionally stunted child. Please go to therapy.)

In essence, this is the moment that sets Michael and Alex on their entwined path. The path that Alex will have to fight to get back to - the path Michael will lose faith in before he later starts to regain the hope that it exists. I also like to think about the link between the last lines:

Remember the time you drove all night // Just to meet me in the morning?

and the line from ‘Would You Come Home’

Would you meet me in the middle // Could we both stop keeping score?

I like to think about the parallel here, about meeting people where they’re at, and the love and care and effort it takes to be willing to drive all night to meet someone. Listen a bitch is soft and gay don’t look at me.

You Can’t Love Me - Novi & Tyler Blackburn (1x12)

(*Whispers and rocks back and forth* this is fine it’s all fine)

Once again we have a song whose lyrics give us a tailor made road map to Malex, and will pop up later in ‘Would You Come Home’. We’ve already seen the implosion of the way Michael and Alex have been orbiting each other for a decade, but now that Alex knows the truth, he actually has the ability to understand Michael in ways he hasn’t been able to before. (Something we’ll see later in Season 2 when he talks with Maria.)

And because of that, we see the true beginning of the journey of Michael and Alex back to one another in a healthier way.

But part of that journey is going to be realizing that what they’ve been doing and the way they have loved each other in the past isn’t sustainable - and maybe isn’t even the way they want to love each other.

“They’re my family, Alex!”

“Alright, maybe! But you are mine. I don’t look away, Guerin.”

“No. We’ve been holding onto this thing. And it’s gotten us nowhere. Just let it go.”

Even though the words are said in anger, there is some truth to what Michael says. Their relationship so far hasn’t been a good one. Where Alex is trying to repeat the words that Michael said to him that made such an impact on him, Michael is (well, a, trying to save his dumb boyfriend from getting flambayed) using the opportunity to reveal how little faith he has in their relationship. To say that no, this doesn’t feel like love.

But as much as the song lyrics are about loving someone who isn’t good for you, they’re also about changing and growing, and about a commitment to be better.

(Sound familiar? Brb, I’m gonna go jump off a cliff.)

Love is messy, and especially for Michael and Alex, love has always been something that hurts. “Home is where the hurt is” - and a really important part of their journey is realizing that, and realizing there is a different way of loving each other.

Additionally for Alex, this is when he starts to realize the full extent of his family’s involvement in hunting and hurting Michael’s family. It isn’t just his dad - his entire family line has been involved in this since before Alex was born. And still is. This is really where he starts realizing the roots of the guilt and shame he’s going to have to deal with in order to be anything to Michael - not even a partner but a friend.

This is the first step in that journey. Not just the commitment that yes - I want to build a home for you - but that first, I don’t know, maybe I need to put down these weapons and pick up a different set of tools?

ON TO SEASON TWO

#rnmmarchformeta2021 #roswellmarchformeta2021 #rnm meta #Alex/Michael #alex manes #michael guerin #maria deluca #sort of? shes mentioned #1x01 #1x02 #1x03 #all episodes #Day 1 Themes #meta #malex #tw ptsd #tw injury #tw queerbashing #tw flashbacks

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chibifoxwrites · 4 years ago

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Since someone showed interest

During my rewrite for Cyber Heroine, it was originally going to be 100% based on the manga for Megaman NT Warrior with some occasional details from the anime and games thrown in. Some of the stuff stayed for the current, other stuff did not. Here were some ideas I had drafted:

The main cast were high school age, not elementary school.

Netto and her friends had drifted away come middle school but would get back together as friends during high school.

Netto was a loner and would spend her free time coding food, clothes, and toys for Net Navi’s, which is how she got income on the side. She is an unofficial intern at Sci-Labs since they double check her work.

The link was already in place thanks to X. Netto and Rockman have a betting pool as to when Yuuichiro was going to tell Netto that she used to have a twin.

70% of the twins using the mental link is just to share bud puns, jokes, and memes.

Many of Netto’s classmates thought that her parents were divorced since Yuuichiro was never seen at home for more than a day or so.

It was known amongst Netto’s friends and peers that Rockman was modeled after Saito.

Netto and Rockman operated under the aliases of Aile and Vent, a famous hacker duo who operated like the Leverage team. Most of their crimes were giving back data stolen by major corporations to their rightful developers.

Multiple civilian Net Battlers actually fought against WWW if they were registered as B-rank or above, but only if they were near the attack site.

Many of the WWW attacks were actually targeting Netto, with those specifically being arranged by the Professor. Wily did not want anyone killed but hurt was fine.

To keep her cover, Netto had a wardrobe for her regular outfits and one for her Aile outfits.

Enzan and “Aile” had a Batman/Catwoman kind of relationship, where Enzan’s nickname was Mr. Official.

Rockman already had Style Change but had to undergo a trial for Saito Style.

Enzan was not their heir to a major corporation but the heir to a very old family involved in law enforcement, hence his involvement in police work at such a young age.

Enzan was jealous that another teenager, one that had better scores than him, was brought onto the force.

Netto and Enzan’s relationship was like that of Sakura and Syaoran.

When Rockman was first deleted, Blues would come over and watch Studio Ghibli and Disney films with Netto to just be there for her.

Mamoru was still the same age as when he first appeared in canon and raised by his aunt Tamako. He lived with her in the countryside when he wasn’t in the hospital. Netto would bring him books and games to keep him occupied. When Netto wasn’t around, he played with Serenade.

Serenade was VERY protective of Mamoru and would do anything to help Netto since she could make their NetOp laugh even when he was having a bad day.

Much of Rockman and Forte’s drama/rivalry was due to Netto. Forte wanted Netto to forsake humanity and be his friend/partner like when she was a kid, but Netto wanted to stay with Rockman and wouldn't turn against humanity.

Despite rejecting his offer, Forte would still come to Netto’s defense if she and Rockman were attacked.

Arcadia existed as a civilization of programs before it was attacked by a splinter cell in Sci-Labs led by Regal. Neo Arcadia was built by the remnants of the first attack.

The Four Guardians (Harpuia, Fefnir, Leviathan, Phantom) were condensed into small files and turned into the Element Programs, which Netto and Rockman stole back.

While operating as Aile in real life, Netto would use the Guardians.

Blues was made from data stolen from Arcadia and was created to be a prototype independent Net Navi that was the perfect soldier aka a Forte that only followed orders.

Laika and Netto were penpals as Laika stayed with the Hikari family when he was younger due to Sharro’s economy and his mother’s declining health. Yuuichiro and Laika’s mother were colleagues, so Laika stayed in Electopia until the economy got better and a permanent home could be found for him.

When the Cyber World and Real Worlds temporarily merged, Alia and Haruka had a girl’s day out.

Saito Style going out of control was due to repressed anger form both Netto and Rockman.

Netto has access to pop culture that didn't come about as planned because of the universe reboot so every once in a while, she makes a reference that nobody understands.

The cover for the illegal Net Battles was movie night, using movie from before the timeline reboot, hence Code 80s Dance Party.

When Double Soul activated, Netto got to keep chips of it like in the anime and people volunteered to try it with Rockman.

Dark Rockman was one of the multiple attempts of Yuuichiro trying to bring back Saito but deemed it a failure when it would not activate. He became a Darkloid due to the anger of being thrown away and abandoned.

Dark Rockman tried to force Netto to go Perfect Synchro with him. When she refused, he tried to kill Netto himself instead of having Shademan do it.

Netto was revealed as Aile during the Netopia Arc but was never formally arrested due to X being involved plus many people lobbying for her release.

Netto also had an identity crisis as to if she was really Hikari Netto or Aile Light due to past life memories.

The Netopia Arc had some real repercussions since the military technically abducted a citizen of another country under false pretenses, which is how X got properly introduced in person.

X, Zero, and Axl were merely mentioned until the Netopia Arc, where they actually showed up. Up until then, the only action they took was smiting opponents they knew ordinary Net Navis could not defeat.

Data Ghosts of the original Classic Robot Masters appeared to stop Nebula Grey.

There were only 3 Cyber Elves and they were larger than most Net Navis.

Cyber Elves had their own language and Netto would slip into it at times of high stress.

Forte was caught because he came to movie night and many were put under arrest for not reporting Forte’s whereabouts, including Blues, Searchman, and Tomohawkman.

X fist fought Duo to save the planet when it was found out that Slur rigged the entire trial.

Rockman got both of Gregar and Falzar’s data, not just Gregar.

Cache found a way to absorb the world like in the anime, not the Cybeasts like in the manga.

Trill was a prototype Net Navi for a Sci-Labs program that would allow Net Navis to have children of their own. He was created during the one year that Rockman was missing.

In the workshopped Ryuusei no Rockman spin-off of the series, Trill grew up to be the King of the Net Navis that fled Earth with the help of Duo when they became completely obsolete outside of basic functions and even helped Subaru return to Earth because it was what his older brother Rockman would want.

Subaru and Misora were main characters who came to the past to help stop Cache and were able to travel back in time thanks to Trill.

By the time Ryuusei no Rockman comes about, there is entire semester dedicated to the ‘Cyber Wars’ aka Netto and friends fighting crime. Subaru is an expert, has all the documentaries, and even fought Gonta for a replica of her headband.

Each college has at least one history degree path that covers history from before the universe reboot and is dedicated to finding the data and traces of it. Sharro has the leading university in the world concerning this subject and a statue of General Laika is in the lobby of the main building.

Cities, buildings, and other landmarks are named after Netto and her friends.

#cyber heroine #plot ideas

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lunelantern · 5 years ago

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Naruto Manga is complex

~ Understanding Naruto Manga ~

🧠🏯📖🔦🕯️💡✏️✒️🖊️

[Phylisophy and interpretation🕯️ >>>>> than punches🥊]

... Such an infinitesimal and superficial leafing through the Manga infuriates me🤬

Naruto Manga broaches so many interesting and unique topics and far TOO MANY people still waste time into arguing whose character is stronger than the other and whose punches are stronger *sigh* 😩 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♀️

List of Naruto Manga themes and subjects:

1. Camaraderie - - as per particularly studied on soldiers, the bond of camaraderie between war soldiers is so strong that it stands on par with family bonds and even goes beyond; warriors are ready to die for each other and to save a friend. Same feelings and bond that's used as liaison to concept the dynamics between Ninja 3 man cells (Team 7, Team 10...);

2. Cosmogony - - the origins of the universe as imagined and depicted by the author in Naruto Universe, based on the Yin-yang dichotomy (the skeleton of the manga is constructed on the Yin and Yang parallelism - - Naruto and Sasuke);

3. Feminism and women empowerment - - the pioneers of the feminism in Naruto Manga (who also made an insidious and questionable disappearence in the parenting guide new Boruto Series 🤔 - - Tsunade and Ten Ten are a welcomed addagio in a deeply rooted patriarchal society, which should have been caresses and developed more, in addition to approaching and pulverizing the discrimination of childfreeness (see Kakashi, Gai sensei, Tsunade, Ten Ten...);

4. Politics - - needless to say that Naruto manga offers an ample introspection into politics and studies of security in a complex and intricate manner. The repertoire explores tyranny, communism, totalitarianism, democracy, anarchy, as well as the role of secret services and Intelligence (Itachi, Danzo, Uchiha, The Root), supported by illustrative characters;

5. Phylisophy and classic literature - - these avant-garde elements are a fresh dive first into the inner coordinates of every characters and highlight the author's superb analytical skills coupled wirh vast, deep savviness and knowledge of classic literature and phylisophy. Arthur Schopenhauer's nihilism, negativism and Antinatalism, Nietzche and Machiavelli's "The Prince" are just few notable examples of how the Manga's smart construction intertwines with classic notes, nuanced and valences. The entire construction and phylisophy of the Uchiha Clan is constructed based in phylisophy.

Uchiha Itachi's famous quotes paraphrase excerpts from Machiavelli's "The Prince" : "Men will not look at things as they really are, but as they wish them to be - and are ruined" (his words to Sasuke prior to their battle finale - - "all men like with false preconceptions that they call reality")

"I'm not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it" (Niccolo Machiavelli) ~~ "The current system created THIS problem... I will execute the Five Kage in the Infinite Tsukuoymi... I want to become Hokage and change the world... What I want is... REVOLUTION!" (Uchiha Sasuke 😎)

"Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are." (Machiavelli) ~ "All of you, without measuring your own capacities... Had no idea of mine" and "How far are you able to see with THAT Sharingan of yours, Sasuke?" (Uchiha Itachi)

And probably the most iconic catchphrase that became the definition of the HOKAGE in the Manga "IT'S NOT TITLES THAT HONOR MEN, BUT MEN THAT HONOR TITLES" (Niccolo Machiavelli) ~~~ "You don't become Hokage to be acknowledge by everyone. The one who is acknowledged by everyone becomes the Hokage" (Uchiha Itachi).

... And examples are teeming.

You can't not love this mange, for it's abounding in brainy elements and phylosophic concepts, about the propose of life.

6. Bildungsroman - - as the German concept refers to a prose that portrays the development of a character form childhood to adulthood. Needles to say that Naruto manga is picture frame perfect definition of this principle of construction for we follow the main characters from childhood to adulthood in all the splendor of their complexity, dynamics and inner emotions.

7. Religion - - I'm always delightfully amazed at the author's genius to perfectly and objectively carry us on a journey through the phylisophy and dogmas of the Main World Religions. The elements of Buddhism and Hinduism perfectly blend with Christian notes (the Biblical reference of Eve and the original Sin are the foundation of Kaguya Otsutsuki the chakra progenitor aka Eve the first woman , Black Zetsu aka the Serpent and the Chakra Fruit aka the Apple of knowledge).

8. Love - - even though the Manga is an action oriented shonen manga, love is the antagonist feeling of pain that preserve and supports the tryumph of goodness, light, democracy and hope, as it produces the effect of catharsis or purification through Art. We have the grandios story of Sasuke and Sakura written in a sumptuous realistic romance and Naruto and Hinata as the complacent, peaceful and comfortable homey cohabitation as illustrative for an idealized family picture.

Love "come in many forms" (thank you, Uzumaki Karin) in Naruto Manga as the ultimate bond between shinobi.

9. Art and the Genius - - Deidra and Sasori are two unique, refresh and polivalent interesting characters, for they explore two themes that are rare in modern literature, namely the condition of the genius and the torment and inner demons of an artist. Their anthitetical plylosophy about the concept and the purpose of art as healing, everlasting and cathartic is brilliant. Sasori suggests that art encaptures the soul and emotions and the very "heart❤️" of the artist into a creation that preserved and defies time - art is supposed to encapute eternal beauty, art never dies, never grows old, art remains forever. While Deidra suggests that wet is a transient moment of shock, of pure visual impact that engages all the senses into a devastating "blast💣💫💥" that's irresistible and no one can escape it's fulminant powers.

The torment of the GENIUS, the hallucinating pain of a brilliant, introspective superior mind that's perceived as encompassing as harrowing and irresistible is perfectly limned through the evolution of the Manga Geniuses; all undergo tremendous physical and psychological torment that rams deep and consummate their very souls to the point where they borderline insanity and madness - Sasuke, Madara, Danzo, Itachi, Orochimaru.

10. Discrimination - - this is one of the Manga's laitmotif; nearly all the Manga conflicts stem from a form of discrimination, from the discrimination and ostracization of the Uchiha Clan and Naruto as the natural fear of the strongest from the weaker average men, to the discrimination of poor. And also we have some nuances of the discrimination of black people but the author does a great job into emphasizing their qualities (The Land of Lighting - - A, Killer B...) (I love the Rap references as the usage of art and music to voice their feelings and pain as a retort to discrimination and long-term oppression and white supremacy).

11. Paleo astronomy and ancient aliens - - that's definitely a bold, brave and new approach from the Master Masashi Kishimoto - sensei, which I can't help but applaud 👏👏👏 paleo-astronomy and ancient aliens link our terrestrial human life to extraterrestrial forms of life which dwleve deep into the origins of our hystory, existence, origins and evolution. Some claim that vestiges of their interference can be found in lost ancient temples, as well as irrefutable evidence of extraterrestrial and UFO contact with our ancestors (the Great Pyramid, the hierogliphs, the Nazca Lines, the Mayans and Inca temples, Stonehange...).

Boruto Manga revolves around the idea that Naruto Manga tossed in its closure; that aliens are in close contact with terrestrial beings. Otsutsuki Clan brought the chakra from the space and offered it to humans / Otsutsuki use the chakra to feed on themselves / Hagoromo's brother eloped to the moon and life evolved since then keeping portals on earth that connect the two planets.

And more recently, Sasuke is tracing Kaguya and the Otsutsuki while searching for ancient temples and hystorical vestiges from the Otsutsuki aliens (Kaguya's castles and ruins), just like a veritable paleo-astronomer.

Hats off for the author's avant-garde approach and vast knowledge 🎩

12. Pitagora's theorem, Euclid, the Tree of Life and Immortality - - Orochimaru in a nutshell. Orochimaru is the genius scientist who craves to defy death, obtain eternal life and endless knowledge. The basis of Pitagora's theorem has deep implications into unlocking the secrets of eternal life, as well as his geometry and Euclid's theorem; it's no coincidence that the theorem fits the construction of the Great Pyramid. And we have the Tree of the Chakra Fruit as the symbol of the Tree of Life that represents immortality and knowledge.

This list is nowhere near exhaustive, for the complexity of Naruto Manga spans further that my modest understanding of its concepts.

#Naruto manga #Naruto Manga interpretation #Naruto symbols #Naruto Manga is complex #Naruto interpretation #Naruto Manga analysis

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the-gunslock · 5 years ago

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HIVER 8 - BALLET TONNERRE

Hiver and Amanda cuddle in the bed in a cloudy morning, the former staring blankly at the ceiling thinking about her next course of action, and the latter inspecting her lover’s face and ethereal eyes for any trace of emotion. They have been talking for around an hour now, no rush to put their clothes on since their first time together.

“...Think ya should look for the Techeuns on that.” Amanda says, rubbing her fingertip up and down on Hiver’s sternum. “Heard that Awoken dreams usually have a deeper meaning, might help you find somethin’ ‘bout yourself, darlin’.”

“Sure, that’s a good idea. Huh…” Hiver props herself on her elbows, thinking and turning to Amanda. “Honey, can you do a drawing for me?”

“What of?”

“An outfit. I’m going to the Dreaming City.”

“Ally-oop!” The shipwright says, bouncing on the bed and straddling the Warlock, holding her wrists in place and moving her face close to hers, causing her to struggle playfully. “Who said you could?”

“NOOOOOO!” Hiver half-shouts, barely containing her laughter.

She plants a deep kiss on her girlfriend’s mouth, moving her hands from her wrists and intertwining her fingers with hers. As Hiver relaxes her body and closes her eyes, Amanda moves close to her ear.

“I’ll let you in on a little secret.” She whispers.

“What is it?”

Amanda sits back up on Hiver’s lap, pulling her into a forehead kiss.

“You’ll always be the one I love, no matter who you were before. What matters is who you are now. ‘Kay?”

Hiver moves in to touch her forehead with her own. “Okay.” The blonde woman smiles.

“Can we never leave this bed?”

In response, Hiver holds her and lifts her by her bottom, causing her to entangle her arms and human leg around her body, like a sloth holding on to its favorite branch. “Guess that’s a no. How’re you so strong for someone so tiny?” She asks as Hiver kisses her neck and opens her bathroom door.

“It’s just a ten centimeter difference,” the Warlock answers, putting her girlfriend on top of a vacant section of the sink. “I’m not that shorter than you. I’ll run the bath for us.”

“You’re the perfect height.” They chit chat as the bath goes full, with Hiver asking Trinity to send her details of how the outfit needs to look, down to color and texture. Soon they are fully geared, riding Hiver’s Bronco to the Tower, Amanda saving a page on her industrial-model-and-doodle-filled sketchbook.

Hiver went to orbit to trace a course for the Dreaming City. While on her workstation, Amanda quickly makes a croquis of a person (With Hiver’s hair for guidance) and starts trying to delve into the mental image of her lover’s visions.

As she went, it was evident that is was some sort of modified, dark purple ball gown that an asymmetrical cascading skirt, sprinkled with a sparkly, golden star-like gradient fading from the hip. The top part has a wide neckline that is semi-disconnected from the dress’s ¾ sleeves, both of their hems lined with black fur. The back of the dress - as she had also sketched - was deeply cut out, exposing the user’s entire back.

As a final touch, it has a silk, glittering sash over the waistband, secured with a little brimstone brooch shaped like an eight pointed star. After signing her name and scribbling some notes about the fabric and the texture, Amanda cracks her fingers, hoping it would be enough for Hiver to begin a search.

“Wait a minute…” Amanda narrows her eyes at her drawing while stretching her wrist. She is missing something that feels very obvious, and she bites her lip as she tries to figure out what it is.

Nevertheless, she sends the image of her sketch to Trinity, going back to seeing about ships and waiting for Hiver to respond. Soon, her tablet notifies her about an incoming audio message.

“Yes, yes! It’s perfect. I hope Petra or the Techeuns have something to say about this. Thanks, babe, I love you infinity ♥”

“Anytime, darling. Love you infinity times infinity ♥” Amanda replies with a cheeky grin on her face.

“Whatcha smiling at?” A voice calls from above. She doesn’t even need to turn around to know who it is, just rolling her eyes at the sound.

“Hey, Luna.” She greets, putting her tablet away and turning back to the ship engine that needs repairing. “Did a drawing from Hiver’s dream, now she’s seeing if she can find anything ‘bout it. Dunno if it’s any lead, but one can dream.”

“Can we see it?” Luna’s Ghost, Frost, asks, ever curious.

“Notebook’s on my desk.”

Luna picks up the notebook, looking over the messy, albeit practical strokes of Amanda’s drawing of the gown. She had a talent for this, and Luna made a mental note to remind her not to waste it.

“Interesting. You draw very well!” The Hunter says, closing the notebook. “Where did she go?”

“Thanks. Dreaming City. Talk to Petra.”

The Hunter makes a flustered expression remembering her Queen’s Wrath crush, and for a second she considers going there just to see her for some time.

“Not saying that goin’ there is a bad idea, but I’m totally sayin’ goin’ there’s a bad idea. Hiver’s dead set on this and she might kill you if you try to interrupt.” Amanda says, not turning her head from the engine.

Luna and her Ghost trade shocked looks. “What can be so important that she might kill me of all people over?”

“Herself. Leave her do her thing, Petra ain’t dying anytime soon.” Amanda reassures, leaving the “I think” part of the sentence in her thoughts.

“...Sure. Good luck, you two.” The Nightstalker says before walking away.

“Likewise.”

Hiver’s ship flies through the skies and crisp marble-like towers of Rheasilvia, spotting the Queenswrath on radar and transmatting near her position, as she aims her scout rifle at the Taken below.

“Petra!” She calls out with a plastic case and tumbler in hand, making the woman turn around. “I need your help, and come bearing a peace offering.”

“What for, cousin? We aren’t enemies.”

“All the more reason why you should enjoy it.” She hands Petra the case, containing many still hot triangle sandwiches filled with ham and various vegetables. Her eye glistens and her stomach growls when she smells the Warlock’s gift of a fresh meal.

“Surely, you have my attention.”

“So…” Petra says, sipping from the tea that Hiver brought to her. “you see yourself dance in this garment, and you believe that it may be connected to your past life?”

“Exactly.”

“I think it would be useful to see this dance you refer to, Guardian. With your measurements, in a couple days, we can get this dress done.”

Trinity starts scanning Hiver’s body to conveniently get her measurements and send them to Petra. “What do we owe you all?”

“How about a favor? You help me clean this section’s buildings, ridding it of the Taken, and in exchange you use it to show us your… mysterious dance. I don’t know why, they just -- keep coming back. Argh. Filthy demons.”

Hiver pulls out her Ace of Spades and twirls it in her hand. “Then we just gotta keep killing them.”

With her cannon and her cheery attitude, Petra remembers Cayde for a moment before coming back to reality.

“We got incoming.” Trinity states to the women, who go alert as a Blight materializes in front of them.

“Petra, have this.” Hiver passes her Le Monarque bow and its arrows to Petra, certain that she would be on her best element if she used it, her grin being a good enough confirmation. Together, they jump off the perch and run on towards the Rheasilvia temples, firing at the many Taken units and Blights that block their path.

After a while of dynamic and surprisingly fluid combat (Given they had barely worked together before) they manage to secure the temples and rooms needed for the Dreaming City’s Corsairs and Techeuns to resume work. One of them has a very large, circular space in the middle, almost like some sort of theater. Seems like it would be the spot.

“I’ll stay in this area for a while, so the Corsairs can set up a base of operations. Once your dress is done, I’ll call you ASAP.”

Hiver extends a hand to the Queenswrath, who shakes it vigorously while looking at each other’s eyes.

“Cousin, I’m sorry. What was your name again?” Petra asks for reminder, making sure she knew who to call once the dress was ready.

“It’s Hiver.”

“Of course. What does it mean?”

“An Earth language word. Means “Winter.” Until next time, Petra. I’m just a message away.”

Petra eyes the intricate black and red weapon in her hand, almost forgetting she held it. “Hiver, your bow!”

“Oh. It’s called Le Monarque, after a type of butterfly.” Hiver says, pulling out Trinity in order to be transmatted into her ship, ready to join her Fireteam. “You can have it for now, Petra. Take good care of it.”

With that, the Guardian vanishes, leaving Petra puzzled. She narrows her eye in thought.

“...What is a butterfly?”

Regardless, the Queenswrath is interested in the capabilities of this new heirloom. She decides to do some field-testing with it, grabbing another glowing arrow off its quiver and stepping outdoors once more, pulling back the string.

“What’d ya get?”

“Not much yet. Petra is working to get the dress done. In the meanwhile, I’ll just… go about my days.” The Warlock says, lying in boredom atop her girlfriend’s workstation. “Hey, you need any help?”

“Sorry babe, I’m good.”

Hiver groans. Nothing piqued her interest yet since she was so invested in finding out what she was seeing. Amanda would love to help, but as always, she was shackled to her work schedule and couldn’t do much else except talk and give her the occasional kiss or nuzzle.

“Darlin’?” Amanda says, sitting straight in her desk, looking at a circuit board she was tinkering with.

“Yes?”

“Can ya run some Arc through this? Wanna see if it works.”

Hiver jumps down to the workshop, quickly locating the electrical parts of the circuit, and powering it just enough for it to display an image on a screen Amanda had it connected to.

“Whew, fixed. Thank you, Hiver.”

Hiver gives a happy smile for being useful, ready to go back to the roof.

“So… How ‘bout we put a smile on that face?” Amanda says, putting her work gloves back on and turning to her. “Did I tell ya I managed to sell my place?”

The Awoken’s blue eyes widen.

“You’re moving in with me?” Hiver yelps excitedly, drawing more attention than she would like from the Hangar workers. She didn’t care. Her eyes were shining, (More than usual) with anticipation and glee.

“Ahaha, YEAH!” The shipwright adorably bounces in place. She has been waiting for this, and it felt very comforting to finally break it to her girlfriend. They hug intensely while giggling.

“I’ll need to negotiate a day off to move my stuff to your apartment. That’s gonna be fun.”

“I can contact my clan, see if they can help us do it. Everyone needs to put their backs into something.”

Soon after they returned to their spots, Hiver starting to message her friends to get assistance on remaking her girlfriend’s new home.

Two days after, Hiver returns to the Dreaming City due to receiving a call from Petra, containing a picture of the dress she had asked for, perfectly replicated down to the last detail. The Awoken were nothing if not meticulous in their craft, no matter what it was. Hence, the Guardian was eager to try it out and dance, even having warmed up and practiced it that morning. It felt weaved into her soul, even more than the Light.

She doesn’t know why.

As her ship soars over the spot she helped secure days before, Petra waved at her, with the dress being levitated by her side. Touching down, Hiver runs up excitedly to give her fellow Awoken a warm hug, and observe the dress.

It dazzled in the sunlight, the colors being brought out by the flawlessly crisp fabric, the perfectly combed black fur and the jeweled brooch holding up a sash that appeared to be made out of pure nebula. It looked just like she dreamed, and as such she wasted no time putting it on herself. Fit like a glove, and matched her gold pointe shoes perfectly.

Once everyone was watching, she was ready to begin. Trinity put on an ancient serene, orchestral music so Hiver could get started. The Warlock closed her eyes, and, when she opened them, the building, Petra, the three Techeuns, the City, all was gone.

What she saw was a black, starry sky, blending in with a vast, calm ocean on the horizon, a moonlight-like glow coating her skin. She danced fluidly, with passion and grace, treading a path on the water, as if the ocean’s surface tension would break if she made a single misstep. Every touch of her toes was mere ripple, a reflection of delicacy and image. Sometimes she spun, sometimes she fell, in the end everything was part of a choreography she knew like the back of her hand, but didn’t comprehend.

As the song comes to an end, she sat on the ground on her knees, a hand raised, and closed her eyes once more. When they opened, she was back at her previous scenery, and the Awoken women stared, interested but intrigued. From their faces, Hiver could tell something struck a chord, but she could not tell if it was a good or bad one. No one said a word save for whispering among themselves, and after a while she had her answer.

“Cousin,” Petra called her attention, “we are going to run an archive query. Your performance is not unfamiliar, but neither of us was able to recall it immediately.”

Hiver could only nod and hope that she wasn’t wasting everyone’s time. She had already put in so much effort into finding the results, it had to be here somewhere.

Right?

Commander Zavala’s Ghost notifies him of an incoming video message, sent with utmost urgency to the Vanguard channel. Calmly, he turns around on his viewpoint on the Tower and nods at Ghost to put it through.

“Commander Zavala.” The woman with the eyepatch addressed in the recording.

“This is Acting Regent-Commander Petra Venj of the Reef. Recently one of your Awoken Guardians, a Warlock by the name of ‘Hiver’, has had a inadverted run-in with Awoken history, and the Techeuns request that she and her wife, Chief Shipwright Amanda Holliday, get permission to leave their post and come to the Dreaming City as soon as they can. Thank you for your attention, Commander Zavala. Petra out.”

Zavala furrows his brows. It was curious, for rarely did the Awoken need to contact Earth’s citizens for anything since their Queen was gone — much less a non-Guardian.

He relays the message to Holliday, asking that she reach out to her ‘wife’, and warning that she has permission to leave for the day as long as necessary. He trusts this has nothing to do with City affairs, but he is still on alert. After about fifteen minutes, he spots Amanda’s Cerulean Flash jumpship leaving the Hangar, towards the Reef’s ghost city.

KA-CLINK. Thud.

Every bullet of the flamboyant Hunter’s black and gold Tatara Gaze sniper rifle was one more Scorn aberration down on the ground. The patrol she has been doing for the Corsairs had been rewarding, and in time she would be ready for whatever bigger threat the Dreaming City brought upon her.

“Luna, heads up.” Her little drone says.

“What is it, Frost?” She asks, standing up in the moundtop of Divallian Mists.

“I detected two of your most contacted frequencies approaching the Dreaming City.” Frost states, spinning.

“The Gunslock and?” Luna says sarcastically.

“Heh. Her girlfriend.”

“Amanda? What is she doing out here?! If something gets her, it’s over!”

“Pretty sure Hiver will look out for her. Still, want to go see what they’re doing? I reckon they’ll speak to Petra.”

Summoning her Harbinger’s Echo Sparrow, she launches it on the ground and speeds towards Rheasilvia.

“Hey girl.” Amanda greets the Regent-Commander after getting out of transmat.

“Hello, Petra. Got any news for me?” Hiver says with a smile, hiding her concern for being called so urgently.

Petra silently motions for them to sit on the ground, where laid a picnic towel-like object with circular patterns, holding a book and a Reefmade data pad in her hand. She had some food with her, a retribution for Hiver’s “peace offering” days before.

“I do have news.”

Sitting with the Earth women, Petra pulls up a page on her book. Hiver and Amanda look at each other nervously, wondering what the big deal was.

“Cousin.”

“Yes?” She answers, startled.

“Do you remember when you first arrived here?”

“We activated the Oracle Engine. Found out Mara is alive. Now the Guardians freed Sedia, Shuro Chi and Kalli, and we’re trying to contain the curse.”

“Your Ghost.” Petra motions to Trinity. “She spoke to me, and asked about the Dreaming City. I told her about how the Awoken have built hidden cities, scattered throughout the Reef, not unlike this one.”

“I remember that.” Trinity mentions.

Petra hands the ragged book to the women as they eat. It apparently speaks of these Cities — some lost to time, some unseen, most unheard of to Guardians. It’s written partly in English, and part in other languages they don’t seem to understand.

“In some, we live and raise kids, in others you make weapons. Here, you meditate and learn…” Trinity continues. Luna, having just arrived, perches herself in a nearby rock, where she can hear the women talking.

“And in some specific ones, we develop our art. Artistry is a must for any civilization that develops critical thought and self-expression. You, Hiver…” She motions to the Warlock. “And you, Amanda…” She motions to the human. “Have seen it in our tapestry. Our tailoring. Our blacksmithing...”

“Your sculpture, architecture…” Hiver continues. Amanda widens her eyes in disbelief.

“Your dance.” Amanda spouts. Hiver is left mute, and Petra nods.

“Our dances… art made to celebrate our bodies. Our Queen. Our energy, and the fact that we breathe. And, may I add…” Petra says, ominously leaning closer.

“Like everything else you haven’t been allowed to see, they are very well-guarded secrets. Family and teacher heirlooms, in a way.”

Hiver and Amanda nervously trade looks.

“Hiver, listen to me, and listen well to what I am about to tell you.”

Hiver is breathing heavily through her teeth, trying to contain her ever-growing anxiety. Petra puts both hands on her shoulders, staring at her face seriously.

“You are Reefborn.”

#destiny 2 #destiny oc #destiny warlock #destiny fic #oc x canon #hiver the gunslock #amanda holliday #petra venj

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majahu · 6 years ago

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Advice to digital beginners:

All of my art is done on my phone using free art apps and I’ve gone through so much trial and error to get to where I am now so I thought I’d make a little post about it.

//Also: If you guys want a tutorial of anything please send me a request!!!

I’m not saying I’m some amazing artist or anything but I’m at a point with my art where I’m seeing such rapid improvement and honestly I’m attributing it to letting go of safety nets. I used to rely so heavily on photo references that I’d literally draw over top of them (not trace them exactly but same idea) and that stunted my growth as an artist so much!!! It wasn’t until recently acrually that I decided enough was enough and I was going to stop using tracing as a crutch. Honestly it was a little hard at first and I still have no idea how the fuck to draw bodies but I’m improving! I am so so happy with how my art has been turning out and it’s nice to know I didn’t have to rely on crutches like I used to.

I posted a tutorial on how to draw using references a while back, about when I stopping relying on tracing super heavily and since then my art has improved a ton. I stated experimenting more with different brushes and coloring techniques and being more kind to myself as an artist.

Just some things to remember:

- Art is a process. Developing your style is a process. Just because you aren’t happy with your work right now doesn’t mean you won’t get better, it takes time. Styles change.

- Give yourself some time to get used to your program. I used to use Autodesk sketchbook but it had an update I didn’t like so I switched to MediBang. It took a while to get used to the new tools but now I love it and my art has improved so much because of it!

- Get advice from artists you admire. I used to try and copy stylistic elements that I liked in other artists work but I’d end up feeling like I couldn’t develop my own style. It wasn’t until I started experimenting on my own and stopped looking so heavily at other artists’ work that I was able to develop my style. Sometimes when I was in a slump I’d reach out to artists I looked up to and ask their advice- most of the time they were more than happy to help!

- Using crutches (like tracing) will only stunt your growth. Don’t be afraid to break free of them for a while and explore your art style. You might have to make a bunch of drawings you aren’t happy with before you make one you like and that is ok.

- Recognize when you’re having a bad day. Some days I can’t create content to save my life, everything I draw turns out bad. Take a little break on those days, you can always come back to your work, you don’t have to finish it in one go. Sometimes it helps me to work with another medium for a bit or work on some traditional sketches. In my spare time I try to work on portrait studies and it’s helped so much with how I draw faces. (I really should work on bodies more lol).

-Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself.

//To be clear: when I said “tracing” I was talking about tracing reference photos, not other artists’ art. That is art theft and it is not okay! Tracing photos isn’t necessarily bad and it can help you learn how the body works but it’s better to have your photo on the side and draw next to it.

#long post #text post #advice #tips #art tips #advice to beginner artists

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kusunogatari · 6 years ago

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[ Frozen Flames and Shadowed Lights || Chapter Six ] [ @yukaikokoro @abyssaldespair ] [ Hatake Kakashi, Kottakawa Kumiko ] [ Blood, gore, animal death ] [ Verse: Divine Light ] [ Previous || Next ]

After a night of fitful rest, Kakashi rises with the sun - even after a few months off from his life on the road, old habits die hard. With the same efficiency and care, he repacks his few removed belongings into his saddlebags, ready to haul them down from the inn room to the stable beyond. Today, it seems, his real journey begins. With Kumiko now joining him, and the first landmark left behind...the rest seems to loom before him, the trail she traced upon the map fresh in his mind.

Once Kumiko rises and does the same, they take their leave, thanks given to the innkeep as they cross to the stalls. Drawing up the cinch on his gelding, Kakashi can’t help a perked brow at his companion’s mount. “Quite the beast you’ve got,” he notes.

Glancing over, Kumiko gives a soft snort. “He’s rather fancy, isn’t he? It comes with the rank...and he’s the horse I’ve come to trust most. He bore me down here...so I’m sure he can make the return trip, and then some. The horses from the north are just as tough as everything else born above the snow lines.”

“I don’t doubt it. He’s a magnificent animal.”

“Thank you.” Kumiko nods to his own. “Something tells me you’ve quite the bond with yours as well.”

“Aye. I’d probably keel over if someone could tell me the miles we’ve covered together.” He gives the gelding a pat on the neck. “There’s few places he hasn’t taken me across the continent. He’s even helped with a few contracts.”

“Oh really?”

“Let’s just say he’s a lot less skittish than most equines you’d meet.”

Small talk over, the pair mount up, carefully navigating through the streets as not to trample anyone. Already the main roads are bustling, and it takes longer than Kakashi expected to finally make it back out onto the open road.

“So,” Kumiko then begins, reins held loosely in one hand. “Seeing as we’re to spend at least a few weeks together, is there anything I should know about the infamous vom berech?”

“...before I answer that, mind telling me what that means?” Berech he’s heard before, and he...vaguely knows the term’s meaning. “Suigin called me the same.”

“It’s, well…” A pause to think how to explain. “Berech is a bit of a catch-all term for those who are both el’tahl, and el’ven. Typically it’s attributed to halfbloods or quarterbloods, but the more literal translation from old tongue is ‘between’. Not much of the first language remains - when the lands were divided and cultures began to branch out, it was lost and splintered. Then Common was made of a mish-mash of many languages. But you can still find bits and pieces.”

“And the ‘vom’? What’s that mean?”

“It, er…” A hesitation. “It sort of means…‘something created from nothing’…? Or perhaps ‘created’ is enough. I think Suigin was referring to the fact that your ven comes from something originally outside your body.”

“Ah...that makes sense.” Kakashi heaves a small sigh. “...well, I suppose that ties into your question, so maybe I’ll loop back around to it, eh?”

“I don’t mean to pry - don’t think I’ll wrestle from you what you won’t want to tell.”

At that, he gives a dry smile. “Even if you tried, I’d doubt you’d succeed,” he assures her. Still, he lapses into silence, thinking where to begin. “...I was born in a large city in the old Igni lands. Both of my parents, to my knowledge, were simple el’tahl folks. My mother died when I was very young - I remember little of her. And my father was part of the city guard. He raised me for a few years, but took his own life after an incident that brought shame to the family.”

Kumiko’s eyes widen. “...I’m sorry.”

“...it was a long time ago. From there, I was taken into the barracks early and started training to follow his career. When I was young, I made a few el’ven friends. Rin was one, and...Obito was the other. The one who gave me this,” he adds, gesturing to his vermillion eye. “Rin’s family is mostly terra mages, but she branched out into flora, and worked in an apothecary shop raising plants and making medicines. Obito was berech igni, an orphan from a large clan that was like the ruling class of the city. The three of us were always running around, sticking our noses into trouble. And then, of course...there was the time it finally went wrong.

“We were outside the city a ways, looking for new specimens of plant for Rin to start cultivating, and then there was a ruckus nearby. Rin insisted we go look, and we found a group of mage hunters attacking a lux mage. Rin know what she was in a moment, and insisted we help. Where Rin went, Obito followed, so...we joined the fray. It was a fairly even struggle, but I got clipped in the eye by a blade. Things started going downhill, and then suddenly...they all vanished. Rin later theorized the mage used the rest of her strength to send them through time portals. But...she’d acted a little too late.”

Pain shadows Kakashi’s face, and Kumiko glances aside. “...Obito had been run through just as they disappeared. And with so little ven left, the lux mage couldn’t save him. So instead...she asked if he’d give me an eye to replace the one I’d lost. Obito agreed, and she managed to perform the transplant before she…” A fade to silence. “...Obito passed not long after. We buried her, having no idea what funeral rites lux mages’ culture entails. But we knew Obito’s clan would want him back.

“Before she died, the mage told us to take a ‘treasure’ she had hidden in the hollowed tree at the edge of the clearing. And that treasure...turned out to be Ryū.”

“What?! So...that woman was…?”

“Her mother. Rin and I took her with us...Rin reported Obito’s death to the igni mages, and they went to fetch him, cremate him as is their way. But I was afraid to stay in the city. I thought they’d see my eye, and assume I’d killed Obito to take it. After all...there were no hunter bodies - they’d all disappeared. All that was left was his corpse, and the signs of a struggle. And Rin had concerns about the igni clan getting their hands on Ryū. So...we fled. For a while we stuck to the road, and it was while traveling we found out Obito’s eye changed me enough to let me use some igni ven. It scared me, at first...so when Rin found a little village to hide Ryū in, I decided to leave. I didn’t want to bring them trouble, or hurt them on accident before I trained how to use my new power. Instead, I started doing contracts. Mostly killing pests...which led to beasts. I was making a decent living, and then...a few months ago, Rin found me and told me all Ryū was up to, trying to remake the Summit. So I came back, let her wrangle me into being her advisor, and...now, here we are. And here she’s not…”

“...we’re going to get her back,” Kumiko affirms, tone sure. “...I guess now I know why you were so distraught. She means more to you than I realized, like family...I’m sorry if I came across as aloof to that fact.”

Kakashi waves a hand. “No harm done.” A pause, and then a glance. “...so? What about you, lady Kumiko?”

Snorting at the title, Kumiko thinks for a moment. “I was born an only child to the main family within my clan: Tamotsu and Yuka Kottakawa. As ours is the strongest, we were chosen to act as leaders within the realm of Glaciris. That mantle fell to my father from his, and to me when the time came. But, while he has trained and groomed me to be his successor...he and I have vastly different ideals for our lands, and our people.”

There’s a light sigh. “...my father agrees with the old ways. Of being cold, and cut off from the rest of the continent. His pride holds us to a different standard, and insists we tend to our own affairs, and our affairs only. While he is content to rule at a distance...I cannot keep myself so far from my people.” A warm smile blooms across her face. “More than once, I snuck from the manor and wandered the city. I wanted to see the people and places I would come to lead. And that was...when…”

Kumiko’s features darken. “...when Nori was assigned to me. When my father realized there was no holding me back, he instead insisted I be protected when I went. But I would not stand for that. Instead, I had Nori train me how to fight...how to survive. While I had been trained in the beginnings of channeling ven, I wanted to know how to wield a blade. What if my element was taken from me? I had to have another skill to rely on. All of that, as I walked the streets of my city, made me realize...I would never be as my father is. As he wants me to be. He holds himself far and away from our people, but that is not a road I can take. I want to warm them to me, as I seek to warm them to the world. I want to inspire unity both within our lands, and beyond them. El’tahl and el’ven alike...I want them to trust me. To have faith in me. When they began approaching me on our walks, I knew it was my destiny.

“So, I doubled down on my studies. Threw myself into learning all I would need to know, and becoming embroiled in the politics of the north. And it was that dedication that saw me chosen as the representative of Glaciris for the new Summit.”

Kakashi watches as Kumiko smiles to herself - it’s more than clear her words are fully backed by actions and intentions. “...my people have much to learn, and far to go...but I will not give up on them. I will lead them to a brighter future.”

The hunter gives a curl of his own lips, chuckling. “It’s quite the sight to imagine, you learning your swordplay and butting heads with your father. True, a leader cannot be everywhere, cannot know everyone...but I think I prefer your method to his.” A thoughtful pause. “...I’ve never known anyone from the north well, so I’ve no judgment to make. But if your actions are half so strong as your words, I’ll wager you meet your goals.”

“I hope so, Kakashi.”

From there, their journey fades into a companionable silence broken by random quips. But with so many miles and hours to go, most pass with little interruption. The plains of the heartland soon overrun with trees, and the path lines with dense forest, shaded as the afternoon ages. For a time, the ride is pleasant...but the pair’s keen senses soon realize something is...amiss.

It’s quiet.

Too quiet.

Glancing to one another in a silent bid to be on guard, they both startle as a ruckus sounds a ways down the road. Both horses jolt, dancing in the dirt as their riders work to soothe them.

“Easy,” Kakashi murmurs, calming the gelding to a snorting standstill. Something sounded like...snapping wood? Almost as if a tree had fallen, but...there’s no wind. Nor any wagon tracks to suggest someone out to fell them.

“What do you suppose that was?” Kumiko asks quietly, reassuring her stallion as he huffs a breath.

“I can’t say for sure...but it stinks of trouble,” he replies, brow furrowing. “For now, I think it’s best we get off the road. Circle around to the other side and keep our eyes peeled.”

“Agreed.”

Dismounting, they instead lead their hoses to the left, abandoning the path and carefully stalking through the trees. The tall trunks and broad canopies mean little light for undergrowth. Nice in that it makes it easier to see...but also to be seen.

A few minutes of silence eventually give way to growing noise. Another silent agreement, the pair tethering their horses in a thicket before creeping onward alone. Peering around a turn in the road from behind a fallen log, they both tense at what they see.

A wagon, goods splayed all over the road, is completely overturned. Nearby, an ox lies dead, neck clearly broken. The other is still tethered to the cart...and atop it, tearing into flesh with a wicked beak...is a gryphon.

“Twelve above,” Kumiko whispers.

“Guess that explains the noise we heard…what in the hells is it doing so close to town…?”

“...wait…” Patting Kakashi’s arm, she points. “...look!”

Cowering under the splintered wreckage of his cart, the driver is somehow still alive, currently unnoticed as the beast occupies itself with his livestock.

“...well I’ll be damned.”

“We have to do something!”

Sighing curtly, Kakashi nods. “...all right...can you create an ice wall?”

“A small one, probably. There should be enough moisture for me to draw from.”

“Good...when I give the signal, make a wall between the gryph and the cart. Use that to get him out of there, and back here into the trees. With those wings and that bulk, the gryphon won’t want to follow. I’ll be a distraction.”

“Will you kill it?”

Kakashi considers the wreckage. “...the cart’s not worth saving, and the oxen will spoil before they can be used. I doubt much of his merchandise is whole, either. I could just leave it to finish up the mess, but…” He drags a hand down his face. “...it’s too close to town. And now that it knows it can find easy prey on the road, it’ll just strike again.”

“...can you kill it?”

“Only one way to find out.” Before she can argue, he vaults over the log and heads toward the road, posture crouched and pace quick.

Swearing lightly under her breath, Kumiko follows, remaining hidden behind a trunk and awaiting Kakashi’s signal.

Making it to the cart, Kakashi taps the driver, who flinches with a yelp. Slapping a hand over his face, the hunter makes a curt gesture for silence.

Above them, the creature pauses...and then returns to its feast.

“My companion will come for you,” Kakashi whispers. “When she does, follow her back into the trees, and stay down. I’ll take care of the beast.”

“Oh, Twelve bless you sir - bless you!”

Sighing at the unnecessary noise, Kakashi peeks around, then waves back to Kumiko.

In a sprint, she gestures to the path before her. Water condenses from the air and the nearby forest, cooling at her urging and forming an icy barricade.

Squawking, the gryphon flutters in surprise as Kakashi runs out the other side.

“Oi! This way, bird brain!” he calls, sending a stream of fire from a palm into the creature’s face.

A shrill shriek cuts through the air, rattling Kakashi’s brain with the sound. Teeth grit, he watches Kumiko reach the cart, dragging out the driver and dashing back for cover.

Okay, good…

Summoning more ven, he directs dual jets to the wagon, the dried wood catching like tinder. Smoke billows up from the wreckage, and the beast shies from it with an angry cry.

Drawing his sword with a twirl, Kakashi squares off against his new quarry. Seems to be a young male, juvenile...not as big or strong as an adult, but more limber, and faster. No wonder he took an easy meal where he could. Odds are, he’s been having trouble hunting regular prey on his own. Also why he’s so close to town: likely driven out of any other established territories.

“Sorry friend, but you’re too dangerous to leave here,” Kakashi murmurs, watching as the beast crouches with a hiss. Bird talons dig into the dirt for a steadying grip...and then with a lunge, it leaps across the gap, beak wide open.

Tucking and rolling to one side, Kakashi makes to loose more flames...but the element sparks and flickers. What?! Out already?! But I -?

A screech gives him just enough warning to dodge again, trying to land a hit with his flailing blade. It grazes along a rear leg, blood arcing as the gryphon screams. Hardly deadly, but...it might slow it down.

Beyond the treeline, Kumiko settles the cart driver in their previous hiding place. “Stay here, don’t move, and don’t make any sound.” Accepting his shaking nod, she turns on a heel and sprints back to the road, watching as Kakashi dances with his foe. The cart is aflame, belching black smoke as the pair strike and dodge. Assessing the situation, her eyes narrow as she notices Kakashi seem to lag.

...he didn’t instruct for her to interfere, but…

Determined, she closes some of the distance before kneeling, palms planted to the ground. Ven bleeds into the earth, looking for something…

Aha!

With a growing roar, she struggles to drag up the water from beneath the ground, the liquid seeping up and following her command. As the gryphon moves her way, she begins firing shards of ice. The sharp projectiles earn a shriek as they cut through feathers and into flesh, garnering the beast’s attention to her, instead.

“Kumiko!” Kakashi shouts in warning.

Unphased, she slides under as the monster pounces, water shadowing her arms and rippling. Almost as if time slows, she raises her limbs as the hybrid’s underbelly glides over her...and with a thrust of energy, the element strikes forward, hardening into condensed ice that spears through into its abdomen.

A strangled cry of pain sounds, the beast landing in a heap as Kumiko comes to a stop. Panting, she struggles back to her feet...but it’s clear the fight is over.

Kakashi stares with widened, mismatched eyes.

...he...was not expecting that.

“...we should end its misery,” she then murmurs, wiping the sweat from her brow.

“...aye.” Closing the gap, Kakashi - wary of the talons - drives his blade up behind a foreleg, and into the beast’s heart. It gives a dying bleat of pain...and then goes limp.

Silence...save for the crackling of cart wood.

Withdrawing his sword, Kakashi cleans the gore from it before sheathing it, looking to the beast somberly. “Well...a life for a life, I suppose.”

“You were right - it’s far too close to town. Just a matter of time before a human fell prey,” Kumiko agrees, a hand upon his shoulder. “But...what shall we do with the driver? He has no way to the next city without his wagon.”

“And we’ve no time to backtrack,” the hunter muses. “I’d rather not take him with us for a week to the town beyond, either.”

“My...my good sir? And lady?”

The pair turn, and Kumiko’s expression flattens. “I told you to remain where I left you!”

Flinching, the salesman replies, “I...yes - I-I know. But I heard things go quiet, so…?”

“It’s dead,” Kakashi confirms, sensing his question. “You’re safe...though your goods are forfeit.”

“That’s no matter in the face of my life! You have my eternal thanks, good people. I...I have no coin on my person, but -?”

Kakashi shakes his head, raising a hand. “I wasn’t hired. There’s no price. Besides...it needed to be done.”

“Please, may...may I have your names?”

“Kakashi Hatake. And the lady is Kumiko Kottakawa.”

Bowing and bowing, the man finally dares to step into the road, skirting the carcass nervously. “Please, I hail from the town just south. If you should ever pass by again, seek out the Oakheart Trader! I’ll gladly settle the debt then! I insist!”

“It will be some weeks before we head that direction again,” Kumiko warns. “But your honor is appreciated. I’m afraid we’ve pressing business - we cannot take you back to town…?”

“Oh, fret not! I passed a patrol on my way out - they will surely soon about-face and find me, for I doubt the smoke will go unnoticed for long. I’m certain there will be help before sundown! You have done more than enough, kind sir and lady. Thank you, thank you!”

A bit unnerved at the praise, Kakashi just gives an awkward nod...then reaches to his side, unbuckling the dagger he took from the Luxerian armory. “Here. It may not save you from a beast of this ilk, but...I’ll not leave you undefended. And it should sell for some to help amend for your losses.”

Eyes wide at the pristine dagger, the man only becomes all the more reverent. “Your generosity, sir...it knows no bounds…!”

Trying to wave him off, Kakashi offers, “Stay in the treeline, and with your back to a tree. Wait for that patrol, and be sure to report all you saw.”

“I will, thank you! Safe travels, lord and lady!”

As the pair move to retrieve their horses, Kumiko gives a small snicker. “I think you’ve an adoring fan, Kakashi. Something tells me if you ever enter that shop, he’ll never let you leave!”

“Best leave that to you, then...after all, you were the one to strike the deciding blow.”

She waves the sentiment aside. “We worked together. Call it even.”

“As you wish.”

Aaand with that, we officially enter non-thread territory! We started this scene, but Kakashi bailed on me and blog stuff changed before it finished. I am...NOT the best at fight scenes, obviously xD Tbh it feels a little short, but...oh well. It’s mostly just a filler fight and an event for these two to bond a bit more!

#yukaikokoro #abyssaldespair #hatake kakashi #kottakawa kumiko #blood //#gore //#animal death //#divine light [ au ]

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roxannarambles · 6 years ago

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Deltarune Dark World Questions

This is where I spend lots of time asking questions and speculating about Deltarune. It’s unlikely any of us will really be able to work the full story out from what we have so far, but it’s still fun to try.

1.) Why are there two castles in the Dark World -- one in Castle Town and one in the east, the Card Castle? How do the two relate?

There are two distinct regions we know of in the Dark World:

-The first is the region you first come across when you enter the Dark World, a very dark and creepy place. This is likely based off the ‘closet’ in the Light World. It is seemingly empty of all inhabitants, except for Ralsei, who has lived alone in Castle Town.

-The second region, in the east, is the region of the Card Castle. This is based off the empty classroom in the Light World.

-These regions are seperated by a great door that is normally kept closed.

When you meet Ralsei, he says:

Welcome. I am the Prince of this Kingdom . . . the Kingdom of Darkness.

This seems to imply his castle and his kingdom was the central, original kingdom of the Dark World. It also is implied the castle in Castle Town is home to the original Dark Fountain, since only recently a new Fountain appeared by Card Castle.

Still, the question remains: Why are there two castles in the Dark World? How do they relate to each other? I can see three basic possibilities:

1.) Ralsei’s Castle was the original and central kingdom to all of the Dark World, ruled by an alpha King. The Card Castle was ruled by Lesser Kings, who reported to the central kingdom in Castle Town. (aka, the Card Kings were akin to Marqueses)

2.) There are multiple castles (perhaps more than two-- ones we have yet to see), each in seperate regions, and they are all ruled by kings equally in a confederation. Ralsei’s castle was perhaps seen as the most powerful, as it was home to the original Dark Fountain, causing tension between the Kings.

3.) Ralsei’s Castle and the Card Castle were not politically allied in any way. They rule seperate kingdoms in the Dark World. Ralsei’s kingdom was perhaps the most powerful, as it was home to the original Dark Fountain.

2.) Why is Castle Town now empty?

The place appears entirely abandoned, except for Ralsei. Something happened to cause the inhabitants to vanish. Whatever happened did not cause a lot of destruction to the buildings. Why would everyone abandon this place? What happened?

There seems two major categories--

1.) Everyone moved away in a mass exodus.

2.) Everyone died off suddenly. If it was from a battle of some kind, that battle left no obvious traces.

In any case, Ralsei has isolated himself here and lived here all his life waiting for the Heroes to appear. He knows who Lancer is, so he at least occasionally had contact with the Darkners that live in the Card Castle region, but he apparently mostly kept to himself here -- and kept the Great Door closed.

The reason for this isolation is not explicitly given, although we could assume because Ralsei believed this was the place the Heroes would appear (at WORLDS’ edge-- and that ended up being true), and thus he needed to remain here to keep constant vigil. Ralsei says:

Kris, I'm a PRINCE, but... I, um, currently don't have any subjects. I've been waiting alone here...um... My whole life for you two to arrive.

This seems the easiest explanation. However, we do not know this for certain. Perhaps the other Darkners shunned Ralsei. Perhaps Ralsei had some other motive for staying in a long-dead kingdom.

3.) How did the past conflict between the Lightners and Darkners end up going down? Why does Seam say that the Lightners locked the Darkners away in “this prison”?

There is very little information about this piece of history. We have this text from Seam:

Long ago, the Darkners lived in harmony with the Lightners. They were like Gods to us. Our protectors. Our creators. Those who gave us purpose . . . Then, one day we were all locked away in this prison . . . And the Lightners never returned.

Embittered, the King took up arms, and aims to take revenge upon the Lightners that left us behind. 'Course, even among his troops, some still distantly hope the lightners will return . . .

What I find most strange about his story is that he seems to refer to the Dark World as “this prison.” (Unless, of course, he is referring to a specific region within the Dark World.) This is odd because surely the Dark World wouldn’t be a prison to Seam -- surely it’s his home and the land he was born in and is native to? Why else would he be called a Darkner?

Also, consider the Dark Fountain. Ralsei calls the Fountain “that which gives the Dark World form." Additionally, in the images for Ralsei’s manual (which were cut for the final game, but can still be found in the game’s files), Ralsei dedicates his manual to “the unending pillar of darkness that gives my body form.” The Darkners seem dependent on the Fountain for their corporeal existence. Indeed, if they tried to pass into the Light World, they may simply fade away, too far from their Fountain. If so, it doesn’t make any sense to consider their world a prison, if it’s the very place that gives them life.

So why does Seam call it a prison?

This is my tentative idea: Seam says Lightners and Darkners used to live together in harmony. My question is, where? I think the place they used to live was a realm very different then the current realms. It was a place of both day and night.

However, the Lightners got arrogant. They saw themselves as superior to the Darkners. They decided they wanted to lock them away in a seperate realm and never see them again. Thus, the Light World and the Dark World were born, during that moment when the two elements were seperated.

4.) What is the Angel’s Heaven? Who is the Angel?

Perhaps the biggest question of them all. The Prophecy says:

Only they can seal the fountains

And banish the ANGEL'S HEAVEN.

Only then will balance be restored,

And the WORLD saved from destruction.

This particular question relates to the Delta Rune itself:

There is a prophecy tied to this rune in Undertale, of course. However, the prophecy in the game Deltarune is likely rather different. In this game, the three triangles are likely the three Heroes that will appear to save the WORLD. And the Angel . . . well, if the three triangles are Heroes, it seems likely this is no friendly Angel. Especially considering that we’re banishing its Heaven. That may cast the Angel as a villian in this tale, a harbinger of destruction.

So is Angel’s Heaven the Light World? It’s a simple enough conclusion: the Darkners were abandoned by their creators and Gods, the Lightners, and so now they must turn against their evil Gods and banish them forever. But when you think about it, it’s a strange thing to say. If the Darkners feel as though they are imprisoned in the Dark World, why banish the Light World? Wouldn’t they want to escape to Heaven instead? And furthermore, why would sealing the Fountains have the effect of banishing the Light World? If anything, it would save the Light World by restoring balance and preventing the Dark World from consuming everything. Thus, I really doubt Angel’s Heaven is the Light World.

Fine, then. Let’s ask the opposite question. Is Angel’s Heaven the Dark World? You might think that’s a silly question to ask. Why would the Darkners want to banish their own realm? And why refer to it as a Heaven?

Yet there is also a certain logic here. If the Heroes did indeed seal the Fountains-- all of them-- the Dark World would presumably cease to exist. It would be banished. The prophecy really does seem to imply the WAY to banish Angel’s Heaven is to seal the fountains. And notice it says “fountains” plural. Also consider that the Darkners may feel like the Dark World is, in fact, a prison, not their native home they want to stay in.

Perhaps by sealing off all the Fountains, they will restore order by making things the way they used to be before the Lightner/Darkner conflict-- letting both the Dark and Light worlds to merge again into a single realm. Perhaps the Dark World is called Angel’s Heaven because the Darkners were tricked into going into this realm-- the Lightners calling it a Heaven-- and were sealed there as prisoners.

In fact, in particular, perhaps it was the Angel who created the Dark World, this prison, and tricked the Darkners into going there. Or perhaps did not trick, but instead convinced, because the Angel thought it for the best for Darkners.

Who is the Angel, then? I have two possibilities in mind.

1.) Ralsei/Asriel

or,

2.) the mysterious Knight

If it’s Ralsei, then he’s been waiting there to prevent the Heroes from sealing the Fountains (and Lancer is the true Prince of Darkness in the Prophecy). This may be out of malice, but it also may be what Ralsei truly believes is for the best.

If it’s the Knight, then, well, that would make sense too. After all, the Knight is the one creating the Dark Fountains and driving the plan to expand the Dark World and seek revenge on the Light realm.

In either case, it’s very tempting to say the Angel is the final “boss” of the game, the one pulling the strings. But maybe that’s too predictable? Who knows.

#deltarune #spoilers #speculation #mystuff

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popculturespiritwow · 6 years ago

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THE WICKED + THE DIVINE: 1923 AD AKA A WORK OF ART(IFICE)

This issue is the Peakiest of Peak Gillen -- Gillen to the Power of Peak to the Power of Peak, if you will, #MathisCool. It’s a comic book masterpiece of research, reference and storytelling and I’ve been so daunted at attempting to comment on that it’s taken me months to make the attempt. You only climb Everest once, people! (Shut your mouth, Nat Geo.)

WAGNER VERSUS WARHOL, FIGHT!

In format the issue involves a back and forth conversation/rap battle between high and low art. On the one hand, we have novelistic chapters rich with description. “The island looked like a threat, a fist of rock that had forced its way through the waves.” The island and Ananke both...

Then we cut to what at first glance seems like your standard comic book, but in fact is actually a riff on the early days of film, complete with title cards (which themselves get so silly the font might as well be comic sans #IllBeHereAllWeek) and everything shot in a wash of black, white and brown, except for the splashes of red at the scenes of death—victims’ blood, Lucifer’s apple, and my favorite, the red seaweed around Neptune.

Love that red seaweed.

The heart of the plot follows a similar back and forth, as the elitist “classic” artists, the TS Eliot/Ezra Pounds and Ginny Woolf-ish-types of the Pantheon, want to kill the more popular art types, the Shirley Temples and Buster Keatons and Robert Johnstons, to initiate a nightmare scenario that will supposedly give them control over the zeitgeist of the future. It’s an incredibly disturbing take on some of the giants of the early 20th century -- and one Gillen found based in fact.

It’s fascinating, too, for as much as the real object of venom is the truly popular artists, the movie star types with their simplistic narratives and opium for the masses, the elitists focus on killing figures who from our perspective sit far closer to them – Lucifer (F. Scott Fitzgerald), Poseidon (Ernest Hemingway), Dionysius (Pablo Picasso) and the Morrigan (James Joyce). I wonder if it’s something about the chaos those specific figures represent, the way that their particular forms of art end up undermining not only the structures but internal belief system of the modern world. If Baal-Et-Al’s idea is to work with Joe Goebbels to coopt pop culture for their own We Will Keep Control project, in a sense a Picasso or Joyce was doing the reverse, presenting in the formats of the elites only to deconstruct their validity. (Gillen’s notes on the Morrigan point in this direction. Also, his description of Set as coming off “a little like Tahani from The Good Place made me laugh out loud.)

In the end our good guys will stop the bad using their own popular media, film from a train, which was in real life the very first motion picture, and terrified people back in the day for exactly the reason that they feared the train was real and was going to leap off the screen and kill them all.

Writing perfection.

HISTORY IN REPETITION AND RHYME

As we’ve seen throughout these specials, we get lots of echoes between periods here. Lucifer is once again the first one killed, the Morrigan is once again a character all about voice and drama (I love his self-narration so much, please sir can I have a spin-off?), the Norns are still trying to figure everything out, Susanoo=Dandy Baphomet, complete with his own complicated dating relationship (those rings made out of light, though, such a pristine beauty of a moment that Baph never gets), and Woden is once again a gross racist hack misogynist -- that submarine has got to be phallic, right? -- who has stolen his tech powers from someone else to produce content that is entirely derivative while secretly playing the gods and being used by Ananke.

There is also another mechanical creature, “Little Brother”, which we see only for a few panels, and that is not nearly enough because it is an adorable looking flying squid. (SCREW YOU BABY SHARK, BABY FLYING SQUID IS EVERYTHING.) Ananke also works from her standard playbook here, the Prometheus Gambit – you can gain some life if you kill others, which Baal et al will then use for bat#!% crazy purposes, which of course is also part of her plan.

And Minerva is also once again a child who seems maybe to be working with Ananke. It’s clear right from the start that the whole Shirley Temple schtick, lots of Yays and Gollys, is just an act, part of her “character”. And we get a glimpse of the real her again at the end.

That doesn’t have to mean she’s in league with Ananke. (Just read the next arc; she’s totally in league with Ananke.) But she also comes to know what happened to Verdandi, when she wasn’t with the group that discovered him. (Dude: She’s totally in league with Ananke.) And it gives her an excuse to leave Morrigan at precisely the right moment for him to get murdered by Ananke. (Yes, exactly, because she’s in league with Ananke.) And she will kill Set herself without a second thought; it’s all still just hint and innuendo (UGH NO IT’S NOT STOP), but given what we’ve just learned in the present day that’s all we need for now.

Meanwhile Baal is in some ways the opposite of ours, a racist white elitist who dismisses James Baldwin-type Amon-Re as incapable of being an artist given his “nature”, and Set is her own thing too, a snobby name-dropping Virginia Woolf. Most intriguingly, the Norns have internal divisions that break them down, which make me worry a little bit for Cassandra and her friends.

Best take care of your family, Cassie. Remember, in #WicDiv no one is just a sidekick…

CREATURE(S) IN EBONY This is the second special where the Fall of the Gods involves the introduction of a new being created by the gods by way of a classic Ananke “Definitely Don’t Do This (wink wink)”. In 1831, Lucifer and Morrigan resurrect Hades to create an energy vampire that after killing them merged with Woden Shelley to create Steam Punk Elsa. This time the being – again a woman – is described as “looking like some ancient ancestor of the Metropolitans, but made of living poetry and bleak lightning rather than simple metal.” Which sounds an awful like the 1831 Creature.

She also emerged from “an ebony luminescence with streaks of blue beyond blue”, which again, sounds a lot like Mary Shelley Elsa Frankenstein.

Almost 92 years later we’ve heard nothing from her. But Kieron never forgets anything, INCLUDING YOUR BIRTHDAY, SO WATCH OUT. What could this all possibly mean…

ANANKIERON CHRISTIE

For me the most interesting element of 1923, though, is everything to do with Ananke. We come into the special, like the last two, knowing she is our Big Bad (probably, I don’t know you guys, I think in the next arc Kieron’s going to make me feel bad for her and I don’t want to). (No worries, he didn’t, or did he, wait, there are two Anankes now, I don’t know, what?)

But here for the first time we enter into the story alongside her. In fact, in that very first shot it almost seems like she’s looking right at us.

Time’s running out, she’s got to get to the murder-y and behead-yness stat, and this time we get to watch her do it. Awesome!

It’s almost like we’re partners in the exercise, even; right before they’re about to go in for dinner and discover Lucifer Ananke seems to stop and look at us again.

Us and the millennia-old serial killer of children--High fives all around!

For the last 30+ issues I’ve been asking why Ananke is she always wearing a mask, and now finally I get it: just like the Pantheon, she is an actor giving a performance.

Here specifically she presents herself as a classic Agatha Christie protagonist, finding herself along with everyone else in the Remote Place version of a locked room murder mystery and slowly working to uncover the truth of what’s going on while others continue to die. And Then There Was Fun!

Except in fact Ananke is not The Marple but Christie herself, author of the entire series of events that happen, which makes this to my mind pretty much the greatest Christie story ever, and also reinforces the belief of All of Us that Jessica Beatrice Fletcher is the Greatest Fictional Serial Killer that Ever Lived.

But wait, though. Doesn’t that make Ananke basically…a writer? Like um, this guy…?

But that’s crazy. We’ve spent the last five years with him. He’s fine.

I mean yes, both he and Ananke fashion fictional Big Bads (Note: this issue has absolutely no trace nor mention of a Great Darkness, despite the fact that this entire Pantheon has been around almost to their Use By) and also Ways to Save the World which motivate the characters down paths which lead to their eventual destructions.

And okay, true, in this issue Kieron does spotlight/ridicule parts of the storytelling mechanic, the machines characters are always trying to find/build/repair as nonsense.

Such rituals are actually simple. It is about will and art. The machines…in my experience, they are little more than props. All that matters is your action and intent. They killed so the world would die. You die so the world can live.

But still, if we were to accept that Ananke is Just Kieron’s, er, Mask, then it’s like this whole time he’s been the one doing terrible things to all these characters, including the characters that he made me want to love.

And then this question which I’ve been chewing on since 455 AD, whether the characters can ever be free of the roles they’ve been assigned, in a sense becomes a question about whether they can ever escape not Her but Him…

Or what about us? The Audience. The ones that Jamie and Kieron and the others are creating this for.

This isn’t And Then There Were None, is it? No, this is Temple of Doom. Kieron may be Mola Ram, but I’m the Ever-Hungry, Never-Satisfied G--D-- Kali.

All along, Kieron has thrown in these moments where we get glimpses of the broader world, the way it feeds on the Pantheon. And I can get to the end of 1923 AD and say there’s a fascinating battle going on here about the ethics and/or violence of being a writer. But maybe there are also deeper questions being asked of me as a reader.

Maybe the issue begins with Ananke looking at me like that for a reason.

STOP IT, ANANKE. YOU’RE MAKING ME UNCOMFORTABLE. LOOK AWAY.

WORLD WARS, IRL AND URL A last point: 1923 AD is unusual for the degree to which it is haunted by something external, aka war. Even as the story takes place in the effervescent champagne bubble oasis of the Roaring 20s, both the nightmare that was World War I and the possibility of another war which is somehow impossibly much much worse than it hangs over the characters. That’s an insightful take on the period, but also an awe-full twist on the sense of doom that we’ve witnessed in the 21st century Pantheon, their own personal oncoming catastrophes expanded to the scale of disaster for the whole world.

It makes me wonder whether the last act of The Wicked + The Divine will involve something of a similar scale, whether the underlying momentum of the book has not always been toward the culture of celebrity, insofar as it engenders adoration, mob-think and a lack of fundamental care for and curiosity in one another, as sign of our own massive social crisis. (See: Brexit. Trump. The Fights My Dad Gets in on Facebook.)

Are we doomed? Do I still have time to tweet a thread about it? I really think it could make a difference, you guys.

#WicDiv #kieron gillen #peak peak #Kalibunga #aud koch

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frederator-studios · 7 years ago

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Tiya Zhong: The Frederator Interview

vimeo

Tiya Zhong, known to the interweb as Addictiya, is an animator, illustrator, designer and doll artist still brushing off glitter from her graduation just a few weeks ago. Her final film as a student of Sheridan College’s Animation program, “Lost, Stolen, Dropped,” is an autobiography of her daily struggle. It is also among the most relatable, inspired and squishy 2 minutes of animation I’ve seen in a good long while. Enjoy the short above, then read on for Tiya’s journey from schoolgirl doodling in her textbooks to professional artist!

Did you always want to be an animator or artist?

I discovered my passion for drawing when I was 4 years old, and I have always loved doodling figures on my textbooks, reading comics, and watching animation. When I was little, I never thought about becoming an artist - I just thought it would be fun if I could draw forever. In high school, I wanted to be a comic artist, but I became fascinated with making characters come to life. Animation was even more vivid than comics, which is why I chose to major in it.

How did you decide to move from China to Canada to attend Sheridan?

I grew up in China, so at first I planned to attend a university in Beijing that features the best animation program in China. In an extra-curricular art school where I was studying to pass the university’s entrance exam, I met a substitute teacher who'd studied abroad. Talking with him made me realize how many opportunities and great artists are out there. That’s when I started to research animation schools in North America, and got to know Sheridan.

What did you like best about studying at Sheridan?

I learned a lot at Sheridan. The school has great, experienced teachers. But I learned the most from my peers, who are all amazing artists. Being in that group gave me no choice but to improve. What I enjoyed most is how free the environment is, compared to the one I’d been in. I also had a lot more resources at my disposal. Being at Sheridan really helped me discover my own art style.

Did you work any jobs during your time in college?

Since high school, I have always worked on stuff for conventions: things like zines, charms, and commissions. During college I actively kept my eyes on the industry and started to take freelance jobs. I’ve done character illustrations for games, art for a published illustration tutorial, design work, and more commissions, mostly with Chinese companies. I think it’s really important for artists to have at least some experience working with partners or employers before finishing school.

What are your favorite techniques, considering you've worked in both 2d and stop-motion? And those are just the two I know for sure!

Yes, I’ve done a little bit of 3D for assignments, but so far I’ve only worked in 2D and stop motion. I love both techniques equally! They are two different forms of art and each has stunning aspects. I love how free 2D can be, and how much you can play with crazy distortions, squash and stretch. I also love the process of crafting puppets and sets and being able to hold them in my hand.

What inspires you and your work the most?

Japanese anime definitely influences my work. They are my childhood and what made me keep the pencil in my hand! In the process of creating, I also look for references in many forms: live action movies, fashion, short films, photography. Anything related to art.

Is there anything that comes up in your work over and over?

I built my interest in life drawing while studying at Sheridan. Now, emphasizing the beauty and curls of human bodies has become a core part of my drawings.

How was the experience of creating "Quarters" in a team of 9 animators?

Creating “Quarters” with 8 other amazing artists was a really great experience! It was our first try, but there were no conflicts and everything went smoothly. Everyone pitched an idea for the film and we voted for the ‘four neighbors’ idea, which became “Quarters”. I worked on layout designs, prop and sets fabrication, shooting area setups, animation, and some post-production color corrections. We spread the work pretty much equally to everyone, so that we could all gain experience in every stage of creating a stop motion film.

vimeo

What inspired you to create "Lost, Stolen, Dropped"?

I had two other ideas for my final film before “Lost, Stolen, Dropped,” but they didn’t feel authentic to me. Personally, I prefer telling stories on subjects that I’m knowledgeable about, or have experienced myself. So one month into my 4th year, I gave up my first idea and all the storyboards I’d done for it. I thought, “What subject am I really familiar with? Is there anything that I know better than anyone else?” At the same time, I lost my brand new Cintiq pro pen. Not long before then I had lost my wallet. Aaaand my portable hard drive. My roommate commented that losing things is my everyday life. That’s what inspired me - I am really good at losing things! So I decided to make a film about that.

Love it. Do you often pull from your own life in your stories?

Actually, I can trace it back all the way to primary school! I used to draw comics as my diaries. With four panels comics, I’d record anything that happened in my life that I found fun. By the end of grade 7, I had a whole sketchbook of my personal life. I only showed it to my closest friends.

What were the biggest changes you made to "Lost, Stolen, Dropped" while working on the film? What were the biggest challenges?

I made a big change in the story. At the end of the first version, I made lots of copies of the main character, which came from all the different scenarios or timelines. They all appeared in her messy room, staring at her and guiding her to find her phone. That ending had a very dark and absurd feeling to it. The problem was, in order to explain that story and deliver the right feeling, the film would need to be a lot longer. And so, too much work for me. In the end, I changed lots of things and compressed the storyboard so I could finish it.

What do you plan to do now that you've graduated? Sorry to ask that question, I know it's the worst for new grads, haha.

Haha, I was so lost on this before, but now I kind of have a blueprint! The very first thing I want to do is find a job that I like, start saving, and get my PR (permanent residency) here in Canada, which is very realistic. I'll use my savings to go to grad school or take online classes: anything to improve my skills and broaden my perspective. Eventually, I want to work on personal projects without having to worry about financial issues.

Do you have a favorite cartoon, film, or artist?

Different films have been my favorite at different times in my life... I just love work that has great stories or strong emotions. I can’t really pick one film as my favorite, but Masaaki Yuasa is definitely one of my favorite directors! What I admire most about his films is how the abstract parts serve the expressive storytelling, and the drawings are always loose. That’s what I need to learn!

What's your biggest dream?

My biggest dream used to be becoming a zoologist! That was when I was 8. Now, my dream is to connect with great artists and studios over the world. To learn from them, work on fun projects, live a happy, healthy life, and occasionally go on vacations so that I can work on my other hobbies!

What are your hobbies outside of animation?

I’m interested in a wide range of things! Biking, gym exercise, photography, choreography, sculpting, sewing, leathercraft. But my greatest interest, outside of animation, is dolls and puppets! I love all kinds of dolls and toys. Different doll artists always make dolls with different characteristics, and that self-expression element is what appeals to me. I want to be able to create my own porcelain or resin doll one day. I am working hard toward that goal! ❀

Follow Addictiya on Instagram

Thank you for the interview Tiya! Love your work and am so looking forward to seeing what you do next. Enjoy home and your summer vacation pre-Adulting, you’ve earned the heck out of it!

- Cooper ❀

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megatentious · 7 years ago

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My lengthy defense of the most hated Persona game

Here’s my grand defense for the most hated game in the series: Persona 1, AKA Revelations: Persona. I know it’s too late to try and rehabilitate the game’s reputation on the internet, but I’m hoping that by rambling in modestly structured form for a bit, at least some folks might be able to look at Persona with a fresh perspective. It would be cool if everyone could try to understand what the game did so well and why it resonated so strongly with me and 2 or so other people. If you are the kind of person that thinks games age and become archaic, then I probably don’t have any hope of reaching you, but still, try to put yourself in the right mindset and approach the game on its own terms, and maybe you’ll discover something quite special.

So, Persona. Persona does very interesting things with choice. As the first Megaten rpg released in America, the negotiation system was a revelation (har har), providing the choice to talk your way out of battles and into rewards is a natural D&D element that never got a foothold in countless videogame conversions of the game, and in the first Persona these elements are at their peak. With every demon having four moods, four series of animation and four sets of voiced sound effects, the expanded options really let you get into the headspace of the demons you’re conversing with, unlike traditional SMT’s more spare binary system. Getting into the thick of things with complex sets of reactions (Joy + Interest, that’s what’s up) makes for a fun simulation.

The theme of choice is also really built into the game’s fabric, it’s the reason why in old usenet postings, Persona was recommended to folks who were fans of Gold Box games, during a time when RPG labels were more porous and that sneaky “J” hadn’t yet latched itself omnipresently to the term. Choice here also extends to the fifth character in your party, a friendly way to promote replay value without new game plus, and certain choices locking you out of giant chunks of the game, an unfriendly way of getting you through the game again. In a world though where developers are desperate to ensure that gamers experience all content (so many buzzwords!), the chutzpah of Persona being willing to lock you out of huge swathes of the game is something I actually admire.

It’s easy to underestimate the impact of the modern day setting in a post Persona 3/TWEWY/Alpha Protocol world, but dungeons that were hospitals and police stations and high school students snarling “EAT THIS” with MIGs in pitched street battles felt revelatory. Exploring the comically low-rent polygonal city (is this another reference to the abstracted icons of SMT1 and 2 world maps?) was actually fun, as ridiculous as waiting for traffic to pass might seem. There are also many complaints about the first person perspective dungeons, even though the rest of the game is third person, but the setting variety is nice and many of the wall patterns are quite evocative (Deva Yuga looks like Persepolis!)

The game also does PSX-era philosophizing in a tasteful and generally thoughtful way, while contemporaries were drawing from Evangelion, Persona looked to Zhuangzi and Jung. Not very high-falutin, true, but at least middle brow enough such that my 14 year old Sophie’s World reading self was entranced. The game has something neat to say about loneliness and identity and the way we construct the world around ourselves (all hinted at in the moody intro. The story is very nice and very Kaneko, even if he’s overestimating the literary quality in this interview, I’m very fond of it and it is my franchise favorite.

Here’s where I alienate the remaining people who might have been on board with me so far: if you ignore the loss of the Snow Queen Quest, a 20 hour alternate version of the story that takes place in a series of SMT:If... like towers, Revelations: Persona is actually the superior game. “Lunarvale,” a hodgepodge of America and Japan cobbled together by localizers attempting to mask the game’s origins, is actually more weird and interesting than the Mikage-cho that appears in Persona PSP. This bizarre mashup, combined with a nonsense translation attempt, somehow manages to better fit the lurid dreamscape vibe the original developers were going for. I can’t undersell how one-of-a-kind and wonderfully unsettling the game’s atmosphere is in the PSX version, and this is helped along of course by the sound.

Here are excerpts from some things I wrote on the music in this game:

Revelations: Persona has the best soundtrack in the franchise, possibly the best soundtrack ever made. In raw quantitative terms it's ridiculous, 113 songs and 3 hours of music without being looped, and all without doing Persona 2's trick of repeated (but still awesome!) remixes. Two majorly sweet leitmotifs for the two major quests, employed creatively and thoughtfully, four fantastic composers on four discs, cohesive and thematically coherent when by all rights it should feel disjointed as fuck, this is a generous OST!

Hidehito Aoki (R.I.P.) composed the dungeon music, which is exquisite. Lengthy songs that are moody, elegant, just plain beautiful and get you PUMPED! The iconic Deva Yuga Monochrome: School Revisited Dream-like, synthy, catchy, beautiful, quintessential Persona sound. Pandora's Den (Deepmost Area): The climax at 1:12! Ice Castle/Black Snow The twists and turns in this one, so effing good. Sebek Music, Karma Palace 90's music is the best!!! Misaki Okibe's range is ridiculous, she composed some of the most memorable, interesting tracks in the whole game. Reverse Dream World: You think you have this song figured out in the first few seconds, but stick around to see where it suddenly veers off to around :30, hilarious and awesome. Theme of Nemurin's Love: The intro! The power of a simple lovely melody, a little Uematsu-esque. Augustia's Wood: The save music, so memorable, I love the grumbling. City 2 Accident: Do you remember wandering the streets in the town, disoriented, listening to this gorgeousness, thinking about how Lunarvale suddenly seemed so scary, like an unsettling dream? Bar Attacked by Harem Queen: A bit of jazzy beauty. And most important of all of course, Misaki Okibe is the composer of the Pharmacy Music, featuring vocals by one Hidehito Aoki of all people. Satomi Tadashi Drugstore Song In our heads forever, teaching us about item use since 1996.

More alienating for readers who have gotten this far: the “whitewashing” character designs were all improvements, Kazuma Kaneko redrew everything himself and it’s easy to tell that a lot of thought was put into the redesigns. Finally, Mark is also >>>> Masao, everyone’s always yelling about the jive-talking but to me he came across as quite smart and savvy. I dunno, maybe this is just a Flavor of Love/Outsourced minorities just wanna see themselves effect operating here, leave me alone you guys! So yes, the franchise’s current fanbase might not be fond of them, but the cast is comprised of characters that are meant to be iconic and not friends you wish you had in real life, a cast that, FFVI-like, is meant to evoke broader themes and not follow the typical arcs of many RPGs these days. Check out the classiness of Yuki’s design, and allow me to quote some more stuff on how Tsuchiya, master of the character theme, nails it for each party member.

The sign of a good character theme is when you can extrapolate from instrument choice and melody to personality. Here Tsuchiya is the man, no one does it better this side of Uematsu. I hear these songs and I've got a perfect picture in my mind of each cast member. It's what I think of when I think of "videogame music" ha, here are my personal favorites, I could listen to these endlessly. Mary/Maki: Cheerful, just a hint of melancholy in the notes, love that slap bass. Yuki: Starts a bit slow, but soon we learn that Yuki's cool but determined. Alana: The song tells me she's brassy, energetic, fun. Chris/Reiji: Dangerous, exciting, a bad-ass delinquent. Ellen/Elly: Classy, elegant, confident.

Some also rag on the dungeon design, but it seems unfair to expect centerpiece labyrinths along the lines of Strange Journey or Etrian Odyssey in a game going for something completely different. Nevertheless, you’ve got tricky mazes with dead ends that test resource allocation skills and provide a sense of accomplishment. Encounters are tough and require thought, careful consideration of when to flee and negotiate is imperative for dungeon survival. This is something that gets lost a bit in the PSP remake as the encounter rate is increased but battles are a bit easier. Exploiting elemental weaknesses isn’t as elegant as in later games, but with a ludicrously high 14 damage types breadth supersedes depth. And there’s even a positioning system to consider that the developers decided to drop from later games rather than refine. In the end, surviving the dungeon and beating the boss is an RPG staple that just plain works, although yes you will probably grit your teeth at some of the loading times.

And finally, you don’t have to take my random word for it. Parish really liked it too! How’s that for an appeal to authority?

For series buffs, it’s fun to trace this game’s historical lineage, as one of the earlier spinoffs of Shin Megami Tensei, it's easy to spot the mainline series influence: the occultism of the opening ritual, the hospital as first dungeon, the first person perspective for dungeon travel, BLUE POINTER MAN, and the omnipresent danger of demons in town and dungeon alike. Revelations: Persona is drawing from a rich and storied history, but manages to recast SMT traditions in interesting new directions. Again, the atmosphere is really unbelievable and something I haven’t come across in other games. It’s more than a simple curiosity and it doesn’t deserve dumb dismissal or sneering derision for its flaws. Revelations: Persona is a real marvel, modern games ought to draw more inspiration from its lessons, and the game belongs in the RPG canon, there I said it!

#persona #revelations persona #persona 1 #unjustly maligned

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