#AUGH. EXPLODES

[mtkanna]

while i'm here: Jakob Ingold Teeth. what's the deal with em

so. none of the narzissenkreuz documents have a specific time frame on them. the closest we get to one is the knowledge that basil elton fought elynas during or immediately after the cataclysm 500 years ago, meaning everyone from the institute was born pre-cataclysm. this also gives us an idea of when the siege of poisson took place (also pre-cataclysm.) seymour says he was dormant for approx. 493 years, so there's roughly seven years between the cataclysm and the explosion within elynas that kills mary-ann and damages seymour.

But What About The Rest. there isn't a single date or even a rough estimate of time passing, and most of the documents are from rene, who we know grew increasingly paranoid and manic as he did his research, so any timeframe he gave would be... confusing, probably.

we don't know when things happened, which is a problem. we also don't know how old anyone is, which is a problem. and it's not like we can just guess.

mary-ann, alain, jakob and rene were all younger than eighteen while they were in the narzissenkreuz institute. alain was a child prodigy and considered able enough to work in a laboratory with an assisstant; though this doesn't tell us much, as we know there are workforce shortages because of the cataclysm. rene and mary-ann are given no identifying features for their age.

But Jakob. jakob. there are a few inferences we can make for him.

at the time of the trip to the vourukasha oasis, jakob only had three adult teeth. if we're to take that at face value, that places him anywhere between eight and ten. but can we really trust that? at this point, he's already been transformed, so we can assume his physiology isn't like a regular human's. rene and jakob have the same bodily composition, and rene has all of his adult teeth. most people have lost their baby teeth by the time they're twelve, but they can last until later.

which begs the question: Do Abyssal Beings Have Teeth?

some do. kind of. one of the rewards for childe's weekly fight is a tooth; this is actually from celestial voyager, but it's abyssal and fully-developed, so even though it's a sea creature we can assume Tooth Development is possible. which means loss and pushing in of new teeth. or they could just regrow their teeth, because if i'm reading into this right jakob's body has a composition kind of similar to elynas', which is similar to durin's, and we can pick up durin's teeth every other day.

so. we can estimate rene and jakob's age, now! rene is anywhere from twelve to fourteen at most, and jakob is likely eight to ten. which is where i throw a spanner in the works--Fucked Up Teeth Genes. while it makes sense for tooth presence to be used to rationalise maturity--nobody in the institute at this point is an adult save for lyris, and rene's very wary of the other adults around him--and be seen as a measure of experience, it is also entirely possible that jakob ingold formerly baker has a family history of just Not Having Enough Teeth, and i for one think that's the funniest option for why we're doing Teeth Measurements for aging.

this doesn't change that we don't have ages for mary-ann or alain. i'd say that alain and rene are around the same age, mary-ann's a year younger than them, and jakob's the youngest of their group. but we just don't know enough to say anything for certain

[justabunchofdragons]

guys i am logging out again btw i literally just forgot how to breathe for a secondand logged in to shout about the new season OK BYE ily all

[arcanacards]

so, pokeani news. huh. i have mixed feelings

[dapper-lil-arts]

Rotating them in my mind

[nibeul]

uncle aaron in spiderverse fucks me up so badly because here is a man who has done terrible, unforgivable things, and he loves his nephew very much

[ruporas]

wolfwood redraws (ID in alt text)

[slimslamflimflam]

Currently trapped in denial that Dark lived and is okay actually

also animated doodle thang under the cut

I wanted to make the fire look as realistic as possible did it work :3

[froggychair05]

So @enden-agolor’s fic has once again made me lose my marbles in the best way

[buwheal]

the uh. Keru. :-3

[bookwyrminspiration]

If you see me violently sobbing holding my mutuals close in gently cupped hands don't worry about it

[verysmallcyborg]

ahem..... wow hi fornax. something's different (HAIR)

[dapper-lil-arts]

Thinkin bout these...

[alchemania]

“Don't you hate her?”

Furina turned, eyebrows raised in confusion. “Huh?”

“Your creator. Don't you hate her?”

The girl pondered a moment, looking unsure. “I..don't know.”

“You should,” he asserted. “All this time you had to suffer alone, for what?? People who didn't even care about the real you?? People who were ungrateful and selfish and only cared about themselves, at the end of the day??”

“Not everyone is like that,” Furina protested, shaking her head slowly. “I ..did suffer, but it all worked out in the end. Besides, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her-”

“The same could be said for my mother,” Wanderer interrupted, eyes flashing. “I came into being because of her, but that doesn't make her a good person, or a good parent. She hurt me. These two facts can coexist. Focalors created you, yes, but she also subjected you to 500 years of suffering where you couldn't confide in ANYONE or risk losing everything. Wasn't that awful?? Wasn't it a horrible time? You were all alone living on a hope and a prayer, and if it went wrong, it would have been all for nothing. You were a means to an end, and what do you have to show for it? Sure, everybody was saved and all was well, but now you're just - a person, and people hate you for what you did, people hate you for what you DIDN'T do. Was it worth it?? Are you satisfied?”

“I am,” she nodded, after a beat. “Because, this is what I was created to do. And, I'm free now. I don't know what I'm going to do, but at least my life is mine. I can do whatever I want. I can live.” Wanderer's jaw clenched, and Furina frowned, nervously. “..why are you so angry?”

“Because SOMEONE has to be!” he shouted, voice cracking. “I mean- I heard about the trial, they were gonna kill you- they lured you there because you wouldn't talk, right? And then after everything, did anyone apologize to you or- praise you, for all the hell you went through? Anything??”

“.. Neuvillette is taking care of me.”

The pain on Wanderer's face was almost palpable, at that.

“..anything else?”

“.. it's fine," she tried to appease. "It's not like I serve any purpose anymore. Like I said, I did what I was created to, so I'm not of any use and-”

“Stop.”

“..what?”

“STOP- talking like that,” Wanderer snapped, eyes suspiciously glossy. She sounded so much like him, who he used to be, and it hurt so badly.

A blank sheet of paper has infinite potential, but it is nothing as long as it is empty, he'd said, a good while ago. He'd been wrong about himself, and Furina was wrong now.

“You're not just - what you were made for. You don't - what happened to you is wrong. You're not DISPOSABLE now that everything is over.”

“It- it was for everyone's sake, compared to my suffering, it's obvious what's more important! I had to save them! It’s what I was born for! It doesn't matter -”

“It DOES,” he yelled, eyes glowing an almost neon icy blue, and she startled. “Stop acting like your suffering was something that was necessary. Stop acting like it was just for the greater good. That doesn't matter! The fact of the matter is that you suffered, and you were hurt, and you're STILL hurting! And- barely anybody is there for you..your creator, she should have been there for you, she should have protected you, but she didn't. She didn't. And you - you have every right to be angry with her, for not being there for you. For you being unable to live, until now. It was wrong, even if it was, as she claimed, for the greater good. Don't defend her.”

"She loved me-"

"And she left you, so not enough."

Just like my mother ..

“...Wanderer,” Furina ventured, worry all over her face.

“What?”

“You're crying…”

..oh. He hadn't even noticed, but his cheeks WERE wet, and he put a hand to one with a start, quickly scrubbing at his face. “Ah-” and he pulled his hat over his face, to hide it.

“..it was a lot. I often wondered when everything would end. I wanted, to tell someone so badly what was going on,” Furina admitted, and Wanderer looked up, eyes red from weeping. “There were a lot of times I didn't think I was going to make it, but. But I did, and, and everything was okay.”

“But are you?”

There was a long pause, and the two of them stared at each other until Furina slowly shook her head no, hot tears streaming down her cheeks.

“See? You're - we're both so messed up, from everything, and no one was there,” Wanderer almost whispered, looking out the window. "No one was there to help. ..You're strong as hell, I'll give you that. If I was in your shoes, I don't know if I would have made it. It seems people are stronger than I've given them credit for..”

It was something that surprised him, again and again.

“I just don't understand why you care..”

“.. I don't know why I do,” he shrugged. “Maybe because you remind me of myself, and. It hurts, looking at you and feeling like I'm looking in the mirror. But someone has to be in your corner and -”

“And you want to do that?”

A pause.

“..Well, if you don't stand up for you, no telling who will.”

“You don't have to cry over me. I'm -”

“If you say you're not worth it, I am going to bodyslam you,” Wanderer growled, eyes flashing, and Furina put up her hands.

“I wasn't going to! I was going to say that I will be okay. Not now, but. Eventually. I'm healing. I promise. There's people who care, like you.”

Wanderer fell silent then, looking away, and she reached out and squeezed his hand. “Thank you. I'm still wrestling with - with what I want to do and where I'll go but. It's nice to know that I'm valued just for existing.”

“That's all you need to be valued,” he muttered, looking to the floor. “You don't have to prove the worth of your existence. It's fine to just be.”

“..are you talking to yourself, or me?”

He looked to her then, expression unreadable, and she smiled sadly, in understanding. “Both is good. It's okay to just be. We're here, and we'll be okay.”

“Yeah,” Wanderer whispered, giving a shaky breath. “..we will."

[ruporas]

honeymoon phase! (ID in alt)

[hockeypuckk]

you should draw cale makar 🙈

here you go! :-)