#also castle got a bit of a redesign as well !! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

superthatguy62 · 9 months

Text

Overthinking Final Fantasy III Royalty Part 1: Symbols

Between the original, the Pixel Remaster and the remake, Final Fantasy III has undergone various aesthetical changes. Some of the more intriguing ones relate to the three kingdoms across the game.

Here's some thoughts about them! Starting with the emblems all around:

When it comes to royal iconography, there is a sort of science behind it known as heraldry. There is a surprising amount of thought that goes into the various symbols and creatures depicted on, say, a coat of arms. It's not specific to royalty: Stuff like governments, academies, religions etc all use it. It's something to keep in mind also keep in mind that I'm not at all an expert in this stuff, I just think it's neat.

Famicom FF3

Final Fantasy III was the first game in the series to give the nations emblems with charges on them. It would be far from the last, as later games would toy around with the concept, such as Final Fantasy 4 giving each of the regions their own emblem (with the 3D remake redesigning them).

As that last sentence implies, the nations of Final Fantasy III all shared the same emblem: That of a bird (possibly an eagle, one of the two most common charges) in the Displayed attitude (although it lacks legs).

The practical answer would be something such as time constraints, or simplicity for the sprite artists.

But what if we overthink it?

That brings us to two possibilities:

There is a mythological creature that all three kingdoms based their sigils on. This is possible, although we don't have much to go off of in III itself

The Ancients, between their airships and the Floating Continent, seemed to be interested in living in the sky. Thus, the emblems are remnants of the Ancients' era.

But, those are just theories.

GAME THEO-

Remake FF3

In the 3D remake of Final Fantasy III, a lot of elements were retooled or reinterpreted. When it came to the kingdoms' sigils, an interesting thing happened: Sasune and Argus kept the original "bird" charge (now with gold for Sasune and bronze for Argus)

But Saronia got a new lion charge.

The beast is in a tradition "rampant" attitude, with the front legs up and the tail pointed upwards.

Lions are not new to charges in Final Fantasy. Most notably, Final Fantasy Tactics had the War of the Lions, with both the Northern and Southern sky Orders having lions of their own (it's implied via Gafgarion's description that each of the cardinal directions have their own order, as a Western Sky order is mentioned). As Wikipedia explains:

It traditionally symbolises courage, nobility, royalty, strength, stateliness and valour, because historically the lion has been regarded as the "king of beasts".

The 3D remake alludes to Saronia's history as a military power a bit more than the Famicom version via quotes.

(This was back when SE broke the text of the Steam version, my apologies)

So it's not too surprising that they went that route for the 3D remake.

Another change of interest are the carpets around the kingdoms. In the original FFIII, Castle Argus has a table with a unique sun-like pattern on it.

In the remake (as you're probably already noticed) the patterns can be seen on the carpets on each castle as well.

The remake places heightened emphasis on the sun compared to the original: Xande's flood of darkness is said to have severed the link between the earth and the sun, Desch says that the continent would be flung away from the sun if the reactor fails, in unused text Doga states that the sun used to revolve around the earth but now the earth revolves around the sun...

(Does this mean that castles in the World of Darkness would have either the Moon or the Earth for their logos)?

Pixel Remaster FF3

While the Pixel Remaster borrows from the remake in some places, it sticks to the original in others.

However, sometimes, it diverges even against the original. In the castle of the three kingdoms, the big change is to their charges: All of them now use the bird charge, but they are now differentiated in different ways:

Sasune keeps the traditional Displayed attitude, in both the original colors and white thanks to the new red banners all about (matching the colors of the Red Mage)

However Argus now has the Bird in the Volant attitude, as it is now flying sideways. There are also banners that seemingly depict a crown and a moon.

Meanwhile, Saronia has a variant similar to the Sasune one, but with some differences. You can just make out the bird's feet underneath the body and the wings, rather than being spread out to the sides, are now pointed upward. This appears to be more of an Issuant attitude. I don't remember think Saronia has banners like Sasune and Argus do.

And that's all for this segment. Next time, I think I'll discuss the legendary arms of each kingdom: The Wightslayer, the Royal Sword and... Gungir? The other lances Saronia has?

#final fantasy 3 #Final Fantasy III #FF3 #FFIII #Sasune #Argus #Saronia #Heraldry #world building #(Kinda)#Kingdoms #Castles

13 notes · View notes

helluva-world-innit · 11 months

Text

So...they are far from perfect, but they have taken me months and I finally have these two as close to what I see in my head as I'm going to get them for now. I will just hope I improve as I draw them more or something. Digital art is also something I'm still adjusting to so...yeah. Anyway, say hey to our protags (reimagined)! Buckle up, this post got looooooong.

Charlie is the only child sired by Lucifer himself even if it's in a most unconventional way. He's essentially her father and her mother. No Lilith here, folks, sorry. I'm not Jewish and I don't feel comfortable adding her considering what Jewish folks have said about her inclusion in modern works so she's just...not appearing in this comic. A lot of this will be based on my Protestant upbringing with my Hellenic Polytheist sensibilities thrown in, just fyi.

Now, about the redesign...

I don't actually hate the redesign of Charlie in the show. Her hair is fun, her being masc-presenting is interesting, and red is actually my favorite color. However, I completely redid the Rings and like the idea of Charlie trying to unify Hell with her cause instead of just Pride Ring. She kept some of her red because Lucifer has blond/red hair in my version, depending on how much of his angelic persona drops. There's also red in her coat of many colors which is a Biblical reference as well as an extension of Charlie's ideas about Hell and how the "rainbow" of the Rings should be working together to rehabilitate Sinners instead of just torturing them and making them worse. She even made it herself from scraps of the Ringmasters' clothes, Belphagor's fleece, and an old sewing machine. Her dad hates it because it makes her look poor. They are locked in constant battle over him trying to discreetly destroy it and her salvaging it last minute. She also wears spats on her shoes. They're tap shoes because ofc they are. I let her keep her love of theater because it's cute. Lucifer secretly loves that his daughter is just as much of a showboat as he is.

JC is also Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Comic, but at least we have Charlie.

Now, some of you are probably noticing that I made Charlie darker...that's not an accident. Charlie, by the method of her birth here, has black skin. She has her father's eyes and hair. As I get better at drawing and rendering black hair, we will see it in other styles because I love some of the things black folks with more textured hair than myself do with it. I just really like the bubble braid too. It suggests thickness not a lot of people have in their hair. Charlie has had to learn how to style her hair herself a lot since Luci can barely manage some puff buns. Doesn't help that It seems to grow back as fast as it's cut so Charlie mostly trims the ends and moisturizes the hell out of it.

I think it's fitting for Charlie to have a bit extra vibrancy with demon and angelic features because she isn't mortal. At least not completely. She does have a more horrifying form with horns and eyes and wings but she hardly ever has to use it. She also has a natural charm to her she gets from her dad that makes it very hard to turn down what she suggests. Not impossible, just very unappealing. Hoping I can get to a point where her eyes aren't so scary looking but she does have cat pupils so, we'll...see.

Funny thing about Charlie is she is a bit like Elsa. Born with powers beyond comprehension, lives in an icy castle in the mountainside of the remote (only) city in her country, and was kept away from most of her citizens until her 200th birthday.

Okay, it's not a complete 1:1 here. Yes, Lucifer kept Charlie under wraps for about 200, well 50 years from his family, the other Ringmasters. The other denizens of Hell had no idea they had a princess until the events of the comic. They really aren't sure what to make of it either. Some Hellborn think they'll be able to marry into Lucifer's good graces (Sinners cannot legally marry anyone), others consider ransoming Charlie when she ventures out to start the rehab hotel (they are so painfully mistaken; everyone from her dad to her aunt Bel has taught her how to fight viciously even if it's not her preferred method of conflict resolution. to say nothing of the protective friends she gathers quickly). It also makes Charlie a little...well, naive about just how well her plans to rehab Hell are going to go. Most of what she knows about interacting with others come from pop media and her loving and protective family. It's an eye-opening experience when she strikes out on her own.

Debating on adding more black fleece to the bottom hem of her coat too. Thots? The background is just a deserted little corner of Pride Ring which is covered in snow (yes, Pride Ring is cold like in the Divine Comedy here). The orange trees in the background are courtesy of @holoanarchy for giving me the idea when I asked "what's a good color for the leaves of Hell trees?". I'll talk more about those when I post that Ring up, though.

Okay, let's talk about this lovable asshole now.

Blitz Wire has had to struggle and fight for most of the things he has in life. From the very beginning, things have been...tough for him. Imps are not the very bottom of the social ladder in my version of circus Hell, but they still make up the majority of the working class. If you've never been working class, take it from me, it sucks rocks. Sucks even more when neither of your parents were ever really successful or good with money either, as is the case with the Wires. Blitz's parents met when they were young and idealistic in Greed Ring and shortly married after a brief courtship. Beatriz (this is what I named his mom to keep with the 'B' theme), worked in a factory where they painted figurines of Mammon and the gold paint she huffed developed into Imphysema over time. She stayed sickly throughout Blitz, Barbie, and Fizz's childhood while Buckzo took over the family carnival to help put food on the table. When Beatriz could no longer work, he put the kids to it. They were happy to help and work to get noticed by Mammon so they could rake in some dough to get better medical treatment for their mother, despite the Ringmaster being the very reason she was sick in the first place (capitalism, baby!).

Blitz, as in the canon...is not very funny. Despite having a range of acrobatic tricks and being able to think and react very quickly, he just never had a knack for nor got a grasp of how to hold people's interest and make them laugh. Is what it is. Fizz was always the star of their little sideshow attraction. Barbie came as a close second with her death-defying knife acts and torture plays. Blitz just never stood out as an entertainer as the maladjusted middle child. Over time, that became a resentment. Coupled with Buckzo's disregard for him as his son, Blitz started pushing the envelope with the acts he performed.

Finally, when he was sixteen, Blitz decided he was ready to run a giant obstacle course straight out of Hell. It went about as bad as you would expect. Fizz got the brunt of the damage when he pulled his surrogate brother out of the jaws of certain death. While he was still recovering from being scalded by holy water, Blitz was fired and kicked out of the only home he'd ever known by his father. Barbie and Beatriz kept in touch, despite Buckzo's "banning" it, but Blitz spent the remainder of his teenage years on the streets of Hell, urban foraging and doing odd jobs to save up for a place away from Greed and the posters of Fizz's face as his fame grew.

I didn't really want to change much about Blitz's clothing choices since it makes sense for him to want to look professional, but also be comfortable while slicing throats and blowing people up. Also, blue and gold comes from him being from Greed and Asmo being his company's sponsor. Took away the boots and gave him proper hooves, though. Now, I didn't base the imps' lower halves on any specific ungulates, but Blitz's top half is defs based on an iguana. I want them to be more reptilian since Wrath is pretty desert-oriented and Satan is lizard-like herself. I could probs get away with making his tail a little shorter, but I'm happy with how his horns and spines turned out. He smokes this shitty brand of cigs called Blak'N'Bluz. They aren't called that because of the black filter and blue of the Hellfire they burn on, though. It's said they actually make one's lungs black and blue with one drag because they're so caustic. They're the easiest to steal as a result and the one Blitz started with so he always comes back to them.

I wanted him and Barbie to look more twin-like and I really don't care for OG Blitz's horns. As far as the pendant he's wearing goes, it never made sense to me that his mom only left him something and never left anything for her other kids (which could not be the case but we just don't know because...well, we're never given this info). Blitz and Barbie split their mother's necklace down the middle and each of them wears a piece of it. No idea what to give Fizz from her yet.

I changed Blitz's facial scars and I'll tell you why. Forget who pointed it out in the critical tag, but the type of face scar OG Blitz has would likely leave him blind, with low vision, or with no eyelid in the eye covered in that scar tissue. No matter how you slice it, his sight would be compromised. Given that I gave that particular trait to Loona and Vaggie also has an eye patch, I decided to vary him up. He's still disabled though. As another person pointed out on a totally unrelated to HB/HH post, burn scars can impact everything from self-esteem to physical movement depending on what caused them and how they heal. Due to the majority of Blitz's scarring being on his right and back, his tail and right side usually suffer some debilitating pain flares when he overworks himself. Also, migraines and trouble extending his limbs fully. Basically, he carries a bottle of percocet around (it's like demon ibuprophen; it's fine). His pain is part of why Blitz is such a cussy grump. Hard to be pleasant when you're poor, traumatized, AND hurting all the time.

I.M.P. is still a thing in this rewrite (still debating the name), but Blitz got the idea for it when he was dating Verosika (yup, that's still a thing too). She's the one who got him an in with her boss, Asmodeus. So, he has access to Asmodean crystals since the Ringmaster also liked the idea for snatching extra wicked souls early (they're a power source and, therefore, far more valuable then someone committing tax fraud or whatever) They parted on okay terms, but Blitz adopted Loona shortly after entering his 30s. Kid's gotta eat, so he expanded the business from an imp with a knife to two imps with a van full of guns. Hiring on Moxxie from his old stomping grounds of Greed, they were able to take on more clients. That led to meeting and hiring Millie. Loona comes on hunts now that she's old enough too and they all have a blast. The rest, they say, is history.

The other side of his face for ref:

Gave him a tear-shaped scar because why not? Also a horntip cap. That one is damaged and his trying to keep it from getting worse and breaking the whole tip off.

#jack is wording again #helluva redesign #hazbin redesign #blitz wire #charlie morningstar #helluva boss critical #hazbin hotel critical

16 notes · View notes

nya-dragonaxi · 11 months

Text

Part 2 of the old Nya art yippie

With also a bunch of text because CONTEXT is important

___

Dix

Fucking jumpscare of my CH phase

Do not talk to me about it, look at the Bismuth censoring my old user name tho !! That's cool !!

___

Double 1

Entering the UT RP era

Fate!Ralsei, created specifically for Rp, the original idea was that he fell into the Card castle's dark fountain and ended up in the void with Gaster

They have a complicated relationship

Then he became friend with X!Susie after she opened the bunker and got him out of the void

___

1+2

Scene from the Rp

TW for a bit of blood

I used Asriel from Negatale, kind of lost interest in the AU so I don't remember everything about him

The scene represents Az who was following Echotale Chara around (rplayed by one of my friend). Echo!Chara was in elevator and it broke so Az tried to save them. Just so yk he succeeded but I was listening to sad music and damn that scene hurt

___

Friday

FNAF OC !!!!! COOKED HARD !!!!!

HELL YEAH

Backstory is that she's an animatronic who melted while protecting a child, was thrown in back of the pizzaria and the only use it had after that was for the souls of 2 children who where murdered, they were siblings too

I don't remember their name but I had a mechanic for the animatronic based on who was controlling it. If it was the girl, it was mostly passive and her eyes glowed white, if it was the boy, it was more aggressive

___

4teen

Entering... The sun and moon AU...

I'm not going to explain in details what sun and moon is about because it is more than an UT/DR AU it's mishmash of literally every show, game, book me and my friend we will call Azu liked

So here's Sun, my character

Yes it's a cat, context ? It was Chi's sweet home rp that turned into the most confusing thing that ever existed with generational curse, demons, elemental powers and soooooo much more random ass stuff

But it was fun, I even have a favorite character who was called Night

So how does UT/DR affect that world ? Well... Timeline monster corrupting everything and there is this one desert in a timeline that exist to protect everyone. It has a giant shield too, I don't have the plan but I know I had made one so in case I find it I'll let y'all know

___

¹5

Starting the UT/DR with metatton EX

He only has this form at the end when the corruption monster was gone

But before that...

___

Six plus ten

METTATON NEO WOOHOO

I think I had started a redesign and then forgot about it

The shield is my favorite part it looks so cool

___

S e v e n t e e n

Flowey + Mad mew mew/mad dummy

Y'all when I was a kid I thought mad mew mew and mad dummy were two different characters 💀💀💀

___

Tbc...

2 notes · View notes

drinkrust · 2 years

Text

heaven knows you postmortem

hi! i’m drinkrust. i made a kinetic novel called heaven knows you back in july together with my dear friend Enzo. it was the first time i ever made a game, even if some don’t consider a visual novel with no choices a game (i kinda do). now that i’m a few months removed from the process of making it, i feel like i can better look back at my experience with the project.

heaven knows you was made in 15 days for VN Cup, which was a yuri game jam that had some people from team cpu behind it. it was because of them that i ended up hearing about it. i love archangel:nemesis and instantly got interested when i saw the jam announcement. even better: it seemed like something feasible. i was surprised to see a bunch of artists i really admire were also going to make a VN for it, so the pressure started to build up. it was especially frightening since our artstyle was pretty different from the other projects in there. it's kinda traditionally cartooney with thick lineart and angular faces. even though i was nervous, i think it made me more compelled to actually finish the game.

VN Cup had few restrictions: the VN had to be less than an hour long, have no choices and be yuri as hell. that was it. for someone with absolutely 0 programming experience, it was also helpful to know that the engine we’d be using was ren’py, which is made for babies like me to understand without much trouble. that was it. why not make my first game there? my main problem was that i was a completely awful artist. like, really, i’ll show a few of my pieces in a few paragraphs. so i talked to my friend Enzu which is an extremely talented artist with many cool potential artstyles and he agreed to help out. during the 15 days we had to develop hny, he had work and college and i had some freelancing stuff to work on and also college, so we had less than ideal free time.

still, we managed to pull on with only one or two days of crunch!! i mean, that could’ve probably been avoided, but i personally did not know what the hell i was doing most of the time… so i can prolly avoid it in the future if i can help it. Enzo had a lot of work to do as well: multiple backgrounds and 7 character sprites, three detailed ones and four silhouettes, all with a full range of expressions. he also did the logos and part of the graphic design.

i got a bit ahead of myself. what is heaven knows you?? well, it’s the final manifestation of an idea that had been floating around my head for a long while. it’s first draft in my head was that of a first person dungeon crawler where you played as an adventurer that got stuck in a castle with witches that were waiting hundreds of years to seal a person there to execute a spell to open one’s mind. so, basically the same idea that ended up on the final game. but the tone was drastically different, and it was going to be more of an adventure-puzzle dungeon crawler thingy. the witches were going to be unhelpful and barely talk, and there was *probably* not going to have any romance.

so i started thinking about ways to make it work as a yuri VN, and it kinda just wrote itself. one of the witches is Selena, and she even had some sprites already done that i could use for inspiration for the eventual redesign. in the original dungeon crawler version she was going to be a mysterious character that forgot how to comunicate properly with humans because she was stuck in the upper section of the castle without talking to the rest of her coven. brace yourself for her icon below.

her hair was supposed to look withered and her face scary and pale because of how recluse she was. a perfect fit for the love interest of my newly conceptualized VN! Enzo redesigned her with his style while inspired by Deep Sea Prisoner’s games and my insane references, which gave her a more welcoming and charming look. i think her design in hny makes her come off as clumsy as well which is nice.

as for the protagonist, Inno, i wanted her to be androgynous and represent the culture and look of the people of the fictional city she came from, Calandria. her and Tara’s outfit were inspired by the weirdo retrofuturistic take on clothing from the early Phantasy Star games.

i wanted Inno to be a little annoying at first. someone who’s ghosted her friends and justified to herself that abandoning most of her connections in order to forge a path alone was worth it. one of the themes is making her realize that, you know, that was a mistake and all. she’s that kind of simple and curious protagonist that works well for this kind of story, but with a little dumb edge that (in my mind at least) makes her a bit more active in the plot.

her and Selena are kinda similar in how they aren’t thaat great at talking, but each have their own quirks. writing their interactions was pretty easy because of their dynamic. but then there’s the rest of the coven, which is made of extremely ambitious witches that dealt with their situation stuck at the castle way better than Selena, and started to bully her.

they were all completely created by Enzo, and i like their presence in the story! they’re mean out of boredom, mostly, and i tried to make the way they teased Selena to not be completely awful. they’re not bad guys, but they do fuel some conflict throughout the plot. i wish i had written more for them…

then there’s Tara, a character that i won’t really talk about much because she only shows up near the end. she’s a weird one.

writing the whole thing was an extremely fun endeavor, but damn it was tiring. there are many pieces which i constantly altered up until the last day before the deadline, and i cut a bunch of stuff out to streamline it a bit. if i had known more ren’py before starting, i would’ve done some fancier tricks to shake up the visuals, but i had already spent a couple days just trying to figure character portraits out, so that was probably way out of reach.

honestly, i’m extremely happy that i could get one of my stories out there. i have a bunch just lying on my mind, and i wish to make them all one day. in my mind, heaven knows you was a great success. more than 60 people downloaded it!! like, getting people to take time out of their day to download my game was something i was straight up not expecting. i’ve made a bunch of art in different disciplines over the last eight years or so, and never before had this much attention to one of my first projects on it. it’s crazy.

now i really feel like digging deeper into the development side of videogames and making more stuff. first of all, i’ll update heaven knows you. there aren’t that many songs on it, so i’ll add a couple more. also, maybe better programming on some of the particularly barren sections. maybe more art as well? i wanna make a “post-jam” edition so that it becomes a more polished experience.

after that’s done, i’ll get deep into work on my next game project, which is a unity thing. i also wanna do a sequel to heaven knows you. it’s already mapped out, so maybe i’ll work on it before the unity project? oh no, this postmortem is turning into a diary. thanks for reading. bye!!! here’s an extra Selena artwork i did on my own weirdo artstyle a few months back!!!

#gamedev #indiegamedev #indie #visual novel #kinetic novel #postmortem

2 notes · View notes

viridianstarlight · 7 months

Text

I've been making a ton of progress on the castle recently. got the entrance section of the walls mostly finished up, and a few little things as well. I did try sketching out an idea for an entrance in to one of the towers (left of the gate in the second pic), but I'm not happy with it and need to redesign it

I'm definitely expecting to log on one day and find that server mates have added eyes to the tops of the towers, where the light blue sections are. It wouldn't be the first time parts of my base have been bumbo-ified.

I've also been playing with the shaders off recently, just for a fun change.

You can see it in the first pic, but I also did another custom cherry tree, just outside the main gate. Doesn't make much sense to be here in terms of defense, but I think it was a good spot for a tree visually.

I also figured out a rough design for the stairwells inside the gate towers to get to the tops of the walls. Still needs a bit more interior detail, but as a first pass I'm really happy with it.

Great view from the walls too.

I've been watching a lot of Hermitcraft lately, with the new season starting, and all of the fishing lead to me wanting to just casually fish a bit while listening to podcasts or watching Youtube or whatever, so I added a small boat to the dock by what will become the fishing shack. I think the boat needs a slight redesign, but for now I'm happy with it.

And here's an updated pic of the map.

#to speak of kings and stars #the lucent highlands

0 notes

jewelpit · 8 months

Text

[WIP] The Jester and the Prince

Here's a silly little one-shot I threw together in a few hours and ran for my wife and a friend last weekend. I might clean it up a bit and put it on my blog (once I finish the site redesign that goes with my migration to my new URL), but I figured I might as well toss it up here in case anyone wants to noodle on it.

The stats given are for Ikaros, my fantasy game, but they should be pretty easy to translate to other games.

Background

400 years ago

Leonoro, the prince of the Desert Kingdom was betrothed to Princess Jenevelle of the Kingdom of the Gate (which guards The Pit, an open entrance into Hell). The prince, however, had fallen in love with his jester, Athyed, and wrote a letter to Jenevelle telling her that he wanted to call off the betrothal (he was going to tell his parents after he got Jenevelle's blessing).

Jenevelle and her parents were, uh, not cool about it though. Unbeknownst to Jenevelle, her parents used their knowledge of devil magic to place a curse on the castle and surrounding castle town, killing everyone inside and trapping them in a demiplane, and fragmenting the Desert Kingdom into a handful of warring states.

Adventurers start trying to plunder the castle during the one day a year it's visible, but none ever return.

370 years ago

Princess Jenevelle, now in her forties, has spent her life studying curses and cursebreaking after finding out that her parents are the ones who destroyed their allied kingdom. When they die, Jenevelle abdicates the throne to her younger sister, and heads out to the capitol of the Desert Kingdom to infiltrate the castle and free the people there, including Prince Leonoro and Athyed (both of whom she has long since forgiven).

She enters the castle.

365 years ago

After five days in the castle (castle time), Jenevelle manages to pull out the curse demon into physical form, but it's too strong for her. It grievously injures her using its demon claws (a wound that doesn't heal until the curse is lifted), then vanishes back into the curse. Desperately injured and running out of food and water with no way to leave, Jenevelle is forced to survive by drinking from the magic Spring of Souls that the castle is built on top of, which nourishes her body and keeps her alive for the next year of castle time until the players arrive, at the cost of slowly sapping her of her memories. By the time the players arrive, she'll no longer know who she is, why she's in the castle, or what gave her the demon wound.

Today

The players arrive.

Clues

The prince is magically kept inside the throne room, where he will attack anyone who enters while doing a mummy mumble of "aaiiiiiooooeeeeeee" ("I'm sorry")

The jester is magically kept outside of the throne room, where he will wander the halls, attacking any livings while also doing the mummy mumble of "I'm sorry"

The prince's room has a desk with a prominently displayed note saying "My heart, my love, I cannot wait until we are married. Yours, J." The "J" stands for "Jester" 😉

The corpses of the king and queen will be sitting in their chairs in their bedroom, and any player who fills a basin with water from the Spring of Souls will be able to see and converse with their ghosts in the reflection of the water. Their ghosts are bound to always be within twenty feet of their bodies, so they don't really know much about what's actually going on (although they know that "that intruder woman" has been here for about a year, and that she's the only intruder who has managed to stay alive for more than a week)

They'll also comment, when asked, that Prince Leonoro "spends too much time hanging out with that damn jester, and not enough time studying his duties!"

The castle library has every book on healing, curses, and necromancy pulled out and leafed through, along with scattered notes that become increasingly incoherent. The notes are obviously written in a different hand than the letter in the prince's bedroom (for one thing, Jenevelle is left-handed)

End conditions

Social: If the players find out the prince and jester were lovers and convince the parents to give their blessing (the parent ghosts don't know it's been 400 years, they think it's only been one and that they can still salvage the marriage deal), the curse demon will be summoned.

Mental: If the players can decode Jenevelle's notes in the library, they can bring forth the curse demon.

Physical: If the players lure the jester to the Spring of Souls and immerse him in its waters, the curse demon will come forth in a rage ("you cannot take his memories! He's supposed to suffer!").

In all cases, killing the curse demon after it's summoned will break the curse. The prince and jester can act freely while the curse demon is out, but if it's not defeated the terms of the curse are re-asserted.

The curse demon knows Jenevelle, and will refer to her by name when summoned. This won't restore her memories, unfortunately. Memory loss from water of the Spring of Souls is permanent. Her demon wound will heal when the demon is killed, though.

The castle

The castle gates are barred shut, and the only way in is by climbing up to the rooftop gardens, then either going through its gate or going through the broken hole in the ceiling that drops down into the temple room on the southeastern side of the castle. Once the players enter the castle, they're magically prevented from leaving.

The castle is also managed using an Underclock, where the first 3 the players roll will reveal Jenevelle, and every roll less than 0 will bring the jester. For searching rooms, roll a d4 underdie if the test passed, or a d8 underdie if the test failed. Either way, the players find what they were searching for.

First floor

Temple

The temple on the first floor is one of two main entrances into the castle, through a hole in the ceiling in the rooftop garden\ (the rooftop garden into the upper hallway is the other entrance).

A previous adventuring party piled up all the pews to form a hasty barricade between them and the throne room, with 3 corpses still behind them, showing signs of blunt force trauma over their entire bodies. The corpses are loaded with treasure, but if the players try to steal any of it the bodies will animate into zombies that attack on site and follow the players until destroyed, attempting to get their treasure back.

Exits

North to the library

Northwest to the throne room (TN 10 Athletics to clear)

Southwest to foyer

Up to rooftop garden

Foyer

The main entrance to the castle, or at least it would be, if the front gate wasn't magically barred shut. Dusty, with a good view of the throne room.

Exits

West to the mingling room

North to the throne room

East to the temple

Mingling room

The main room where guests would hang out while staying at the castle, and the largest room where the royals would meet for official business. The chairs in here are covered in a layer of dust, and the nose is immediately greeted by a bit of a funk from some rotting food.

This room has been fairly obviously ransacked by previous adventuring teams, with a large bloodstain in the middle of the room that looks several months old with bloody footprints coming from the dining hall.

Exits

North to the dining hall

East to the foyer

Dining hall

The main dining hall where people ate. The curse struck after dinner, so this room actually smells less funky than the mingling room to the south (where people were eating post-dinner snacks). Some silverware is still set out, as well as silver candleholders, all of which are conspicuously un-fucked-with. The west and east walls are covered with tapestries, suits of armor, statuary, and various other assorted trappings of wealth. Bloody footprints lead from the southern end of the room into the mingling room to the south.

The walls are flanked by suits of armor, two of which are possessed by the ghosts of knights of the castle. The suits of armor will only animate if people try to fight the jester or steal the silverware and candleholders, at which point they will tirelessly follow them through the entire castle to get it back.

Behind one of the cupboards is a secret hallway that leads directly to the library, bypassing the kitchen and back hallway. It's unlit and the jester does know about it.

Exits

North to the kitchen

Secret: northeast to the library

East to the throne room

South to the mingling room

Kitchen

The kitchen! It smells absolutely atrocious in here from all of the rotting food (after all, only 400 days have passed inside the castle). There's a servant's entrance to the west, but like the main entrance it's currently held fast by the magic of the curse.

A large clay stove is to the northeast, with a half dozen broken down chairs in front of it that had obviously been used for burning. This room initially looks like a good place to rest, but making a fire will cause the spirits of the chefs in here to start becoming agitated and moaning, increasing the size of the underclock die by one step as long as the fire is lit.

Exits

East to the back hallway

South to the dining hall

Back hallway

This back hallway joins the kitchen, servant quarters, stairs, and library together. Blood spatters and halting bloody footsteps come out of the western servant quarters and into the hallway, before stopping about halfway through and being replaced by a long trail of blood smears from a body being dragged.

Lighting in this hallway is exceedingly poor, with only one window that leads directly to the outside on the far east end. There's some light if the servant quarters and kitchen doors are open, but it's still not great.

A disgusting, rotting smell is coming from the western servant quarters exit.

Exits

West to kitchen

North to servant quarters (western)

North to servant quarters (center)

North to stairs (eastern)

Servants' quarters

Where the servants stayed! Of all the rooms that have been ransacked by previous adventuring parties, these ones (the west and east quarters) have been ransacked the most. Clothes are strewn about, trunks are torn open, the whole nine yards.

A dead adventurer in the western room is sitting on the floor underneath the message "NO ESCAPE" written in blood. The body looks to be several days old, and absolutely reeks to the point that it can be smelled from adjacent rooms. Approaching the body takes a TN 11 Willpower or TN 12 Might check to get through the stench. Searching the body reveals a notebook with handwritten notes about past adventures, with only the last used page pertaining to this castle and having a single note: "the jester and the prince don't seem to be able to be in the same room together." A TN 10 Lore check will reveal that this body has been dead about as long as those of the zombies in the temple (and in fact, they're all from the same adventuring party! The note-taker died first, then the temple barricaders died a few hours later).

Exits

South to back hallway

East/west to each other

Stairs

Everyone knows what stairs are.

Exits

South to back hallway

Up to upper stairs

Down to lower stairs

Library

The castle library where Jenevelle did her research before succumbing to the memory loss. The smell of paper is overwhelming here, and there are both tables and armchairs. Every book on healing, curses, and necromancy has been pulled off the shelves and left on the tables, chairs, and floors. There are also notes everywhere, written in a neat and confident hand on multiple different kinds of paper (including some on pages that have been torn out from other, less relevant books), which start off coherent but rapidly lose any sense of structure.

Collating the notes together is a TN 12 Lore check (+2 advantage if the character making the check is a sorcerer), which will reveal the ritual to draw out the curse into physical form. Material components for the ritual include water from the Spring of Souls and a personal item from someone who cast the curse, or one of their relatives (in this instance, anything of Jenevelle's).

One of the shelves on the western wall hides a secret tunnel to the dining hall

Exits

North to the back hallway

South to the temple

Secret: west to the dining hall

Throne room

The room where the prince's mummified corpse is cursed to stay, the only room the jester cannot enter, and the room where the curse will have to be drawn out (meaning that performing the ritual will also involve holding off the prince!). Soft yellow lighting streams in from the skylights, and there's a stillness in this room that goes even beyond the rest of the castle. The ground in front of the throne dais is littered with the corpses of a dozen adventurers, although something in the magic in this room is stopping them from decaying.

When not active, the prince sits on his throne, two-handed sword in hand. When any living creatures enter the throne room, the prince will animate and begin to attack, swinging his two-handed sword in powerful, well-trained strokes while trying to say "I'm sorry!" through his mummified mouth.

The floor in the center of the room is heavily burnt, along with any chairs near or on the burn mark.

Exits

West to the dining hall

East to the temple (barricaded)

South to the foyer

Second floor

Stairs down

Everyone still knows what stairs are.

Exits

South to the upper hallway

Upper hallway

The upper counterpart to the back hallway. Unlike the back hallway, this one is much better lit, with windows on the west end, east end, and much of the southern end where the rooftop garden is. An absolutely nasty smell comes from the dovecot.

Exits

North (central) to the king and queen's room

North (eastern) to stairs down

South (eastern) to dovecot

South (central) to rooftop garden

South (western) to the prince's room

King and queen's room

The king and queen's room, with their mummified corpses still sitting in their chairs! Their mummies aren't animate, but their souls are in this room, and can be spoken to using water from the spring of souls. The room is fancy, although everything of value has been taken from it.

Exits

South to the upper hallway

Prince's room

This is the prince's room! His desk has a note on it with "My heart, my love, I cannot wait until we are married. Yours, J." written on it in a thin, looping, spidery hand. Below that is written "I'm so, so sorry. I wish this could have gone differently" in a neat, confident hand (Jenevell's handwriting). Below that is written "GET A ROOM YOU FUCKING LOSERS" in a rough hand (random dead adventurer's handwriting).

A TN 12 Noticing check will reveal the prince's diary, with entries talking about his betrothal to the Princess Jenevelle, his love for Athyed, and how he would be writing Princess Jenevelle to float breaking off their marriage to free him up to marry Athyed instead. The twelve days of entries after the one talking about the letter to Princess Jenevelle are just talking about normal day-to-day activities and how nervous he is about how the princess will take it.

Exits

North to the upper hallway.

Dovecot

This dovecot is where the messenger pigeons the castle bred were kept. The smell in here is atrocious, with a 50% mix of bird shit and 50% rotting flesh. This room has pretty bad vibes, and anyone attempting to search it will be attacked by a flock of zombie pigeons.

Rough.

Exits

North to upper hallway

West to rooftop garden

Rooftop garden

This formerly gorgeous rooftop garden was the jewel of the castle, visible from the entire grounds. Between the curse and the lack of irrigation (and the kingdom only making it to the real world one day a year, and in the middle of dry season too!), all of the plants here, including the cacti, are dead. The air is dry enough that they aren't rotting too much, but it definitely smells pretty ripe up here when the wind dies down.

The center of the rooftop garden is an A-frame glass skylight, which looks directly down onto the throne room. All of the glass panels are fixed in place, but several of them have been broken by prior adventuring groups that wanted to try dropping fire on the prince (it didn't work).

Exits

North to upper hallway

East to dovecot

Lower floor

Stairs up

Guess what. Everyone still knows what stairs are. There's a secret door in here behind some movable stones that goes to the spring of souls. TN 13 to find the door (and it'll be pretty obvious there is one, since there'd be no reason to have the stairs otherwise!).

Spring of souls

Sitting under the castle, the spring of souls bubbles up all of the soul energy that seeps into the ground for miles around. The water here gently glows with its own light, and possesses magic properties that provide healing while taking memories.

Drinking from the waters counts as an immediate major rest (including food), but the every drink from the water results in the permanent loss of one memory.

Ending the game

When the curse is lifted, the entire castle shakes and an impossibly loud thunderclap sounds from the throne room. The curse demon will appear, freeing the prince and jester's memories. If the players are there when the curse demon appears, then they can team up with the prince and fight it. If the players aren't there (for example, if they got the parents' blessing or took the jester to the spring), the curse demon will defeat the prince in their absence, taking some damage in the process.

Defeating the curse demon in physical combat will end the curse.

Stats

Zombie adventurer

As skeleton.

Animated armor

As gargoyle.

The jester

Major NPC

Trait: mummified jester forced to kill. Skills: Fighting +3, Athletics +2, Might +2 Talents: Combat Momentum, NPC Talent: Tough Exterior (x2), NPC Talent: Monstrous Resilience Resilience: 20 Armor: 4 (mummified body) Weapons: jinglebell staff (1d3+1 / 2d3+1)

The prince

Major NPC

Trait: mummified prince forced to kill. Skills: Fighting +3, Athletics +2, Might +2 Talents: Mighty Blow, NPC Talent: Tough Exterior (x2), NPC Talent: Monstrous Resilience Resilience: 20 Armor: 4 (mummified body) Weapons: greatsword (1d3+2 / 2d3+3, AR 1)

Jenevelle

Major NPC

Trait: amnesiac cursebreaker living with a demon wound for the last year. Skills: Lore +3, Stealth +2, Noticing +1 Talents: Helping Hands Resilience: 12 Armor: 2 Weapons: throwing axe (1d2 / 1d3+1)

Curse demon

Monster

Trait: Demonic manifestation of a curse. Skills: Willpower +5, Might +4, Fighting or Shooting +4, Lore +3, Sorcery +3, Shooting or Fighting +3, Athletics +2, Noticing +2, Stealth +2 Talents: NPC Talent: Tough Exterior (x2), Flurry Resilience: 31 Armor: 4 (divine aura) Weapons: claws (1d3+2 / 2d3+2), flame breath (1d3+1 / 2d3+1, attacks using sorcery, hits all targets in room, recharges on 6, deals 1 damage on miss)

Zombie pigeon swarm

Whole swarm acts as a pair of funeral bats.

#cloudtender #ttrpg #ikaros rpg #tabletop roleplaying

0 notes

mythandlaur · 2 years

Text

Epithet Erased Week - Day 7

I had a hard time picking an AU for this but once I did holy crap. Uh. This may have gotten a bit out of hand, and some parts may be a bit extraneous, but I'm determined to keep all of them. It might also be a bit incoherent because I spat it out in a two hour sitting and didn't edit it it just kind of showed up???

This is set in the Psychonauts AU I posted about a while ago since people seemed to like it??? I guess we'll test that now.

Because one part in this nonsense might make people think it, I do not ship Molly and Sylvie. Sylvie's just being a good therapist/friend in a scene partially inspired by something I'd like to write in the future but am not sure I'll ever get around to because it's part of a whole plot I'd like to write and I don't know the details of that entire plot.

Reminder that because day 8 (redesign) is impossible to do in writing I'll be skipping straight to day 9! Holy god am I actually going to finish one of these

Warning for written potential thalassophobia triggers

"Well," Sylvie says dryly, watching the group of tiny, googly-eyed, brightly-colored octopi marching along the sand in front of him carrying a 2x4 like a colony of ants carrying a corn flake. "I don't know what I expected."

The sun beats down from some unseen point in the clear blue sky overhead, warming their faces. Molly's already opted to tie her bear hoodie around her neck by the arms rather than wear it, and Sylvie's considering following her lead with his own jacket, though Percy seems more than comfortable in her trenchcoat. The island they'd arrived on is spacious but sparse, mostly covered in palm trees with purple leaves. The only denizens are the octopi in various sizes and colors, who appear to be building a cabin at the treeline--at least, the ones who aren't goofing off on the beach.

"...Hmph." Percy rests a hand on her hip, watching the builder octopi with narrowed eyes. "Howie would throw a fit if he saw this."

"Um...doesn't he hate psychics," Molly asks tentatively, raising a hand.

"Oh, yes, in a sense. But also I highly doubt these building conditions are OSHA compliant. Not a single piece of safety equipment to be seen anywhere."

"Ugh." Sylvie begins to pace along the shore, cupping his chin in one hand and holding his elbow with the other. "This doesn't make any sense."

"I agree," Percy says with a sage nod. "Even in a mental world, safety is important."

"What--no! Not that." Sylvie shakes his head, gesturing with one hand. "This can't be all there is here. That's not how memories work."

Molly rocks on her feet, hands clasped in front of her. "You said you talked to him yesterday, right?"

"I interviewed him, yes." Sylvie wiggles his finger in a spiral pattern in the air to illustrate his point. "I've been able to get suppressed memories that way before, and we got pretty deep into his subconscious, but then he just...hit a wall. It was almost like it hurt him."

"Hurt him?" Molly frowns. "Should we really be doing this, then?"

"No, no--he was still trying to remember, he wanted to, he just...couldn't for some reason."

"May I suggest we check around the perimeter," Percy says. "There may be something here we're missing."

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Molly?"

"Okay."

"And do be careful." Percy squints suspiciously at a group of octopi building an elaborate sand castle nearby. "Despite the cheerful setting, we don't know what might be lurking behind those adorable googly eyes."

Sylvie, Molly, and one of the builder octopi stare at Percy in utter bewilderment, before Sylvie tugs on Molly's arm and they start walking.

There really isn't that much more to see along the rest of the shoreline, which Sylvie supposes makes sense. Molly, Phoenica, and Trixie had only brought the mysterious and enthusiastic "Rick Shades" back to the training facility about a week ago, and he'd been all but a babbling mess for the first few hours due to starvation and dehydration. After that, he'd claimed to be suffering nearly all-consuming retrograde amnesia, though this certainly hadn't stopped him from immediately trying to make friends with absolutely everyone in the building. He had an odd way of going about things and very little social sense, but he'd proven a rather capable psychic when it came to the more physical abilities, and did not hesitate to share his bizarre techniques with anyone who would listen (and some who wouldn't).

Sylvie had tried his own brand of hypnotherapy on him, but it had gone poorly, ending up with Rick facedown on the floor apologizing for ten minutes. So, with Rick's permission, they'd decided to try to find the problem at its source. Neither Sylvie nor Molly could be dissuaded from the opportunity--Sylvie for the potential learning experience, and Molly to help in lieu of Phoenica, who had become extremely attached to Rick and extremely invested in his well-being--and, considering it was supposed to be relatively safe, had been allowed to as long as Percy supervised.

Their scouting is uneventful (aside from a brief glimpse of some censors chasing some octopi around in a circle, both parties letting out constant high-pitched screaming), and eventually Sylvie sits down in the sand with a huff, putting his face in his hands.

"There shouldn't be so little here!" He cracks one eye open to stare off into the distance, where all that can be seen is an infinite expanse of crystal blue water. "No vaults, no baggage, not even figments. Memories don't just disappear, they've got to be somewhere in here!"

"Um..." Molly sits down next to him, awkwardly patting his arm. "...It's okay if we don't find anything. He seems pretty happy."

"But I have to figure this out now."

"You really don't." Molly smiles, a little strained. "We can just go! It's fine."

"Ms. Blyndeff is correct." Percy inclines her head. "It's possible there may be something in the trees, but I'm beginning to get a bad feeling about this place."

"You don't get it, just--let me think."

Molly's face falls, and her gaze drops to the sand as she scoots away from him, eventually getting back up to do some pacing of her own. Really, it's not her fault, it's no one's fault, but--Sylvie considers himself an expert at interpreting things like dreams and mental worlds, it's the thing he's good at even compared to the adults. It's the thing people have to take seriously about him, and if he fails to figure out the first slightly unorthodox mind he comes across, then...!

"Sylvie!"

Sylvie's head snaps up. "What?"

Molly's standing ankle-deep in the water with her back to him, pointing. Sylvie pulls himself to his feet, walking over to stand next to her with Percy close behind.

"I thought I saw something in the water--a light?"

"A light?" Sylvie steps forward, until he's waist-deep, trying not to think about his soggy jacket--it's technically not real water and he isn't actually wet, but it sure feels like it. After a moment of hesitation, Sylvie pulls off his glasses, hooks them on his collar, and dunks his head to get a less distorted view.

The island's shore drops off sharply a little ways in front of them, leaving what looks to be empty, dark water extending to a dizzying depth below. As his eyes adjust slightly, Sylvie can make out vague shapes moving underneath, and--

Lights. Colorful lights, like neon signs, blinking somewhere far, far below.

Sylvie stands up straight, head breaking the water with a splash. He's sure his hair looks very pitiful, flat and soggy around his shoulders, but for once he doesn't care. "Of course!" He smacks the heel of his hand into his forehead. "Stupid Sylvester, stupid."

Percy and Molly wade forward to join him, though Molly has to stop as the water reaches her neck, looking both resigned and vaguely annoyed by her own height. "You see something?" Percy asks.

"Molly's right--there's lights, and I see some other stuff. Of course it's all down there!"

"That's great," Molly chirps, though her face is quick to fall again. "But...how do we get down there?"

Sylvie's face twists in disgust. "I guess we're swimming." He hates swimming.

"...How?"

Sylvie turns to her. "Do you not know how to swim?"

"Oh, no, I do, I taught myself!" Sylvie opens his mouth to question that, but not for the first time decides it's really not worth it. "I just figure we're gonna have an issue with...uh...air?"

"Heh." Sylvie reaches up to push up his glasses dramatically, though he forgets they're still on his collar and instead just pokes the bridge of his nose awkwardly. He pretends he meant to do that. "Oh, Molly. You're really gonna need to open your mind a little if you want to get stronger."

Molly gives him a flat look. "Uh-huh. So...you have a way around that, or...?"

"We all do!" Sylvie gestures out into the water. "Essentially, we're in something very much like a dream right now, and dreams don't always have to follow the rules of physics. The same goes for mental worlds. We can't exactly change somebody else's like you could change your dreams, but we can do enough to make a place for ourselves in it."

"You're saying we can breathe underwater?"

"Exactly! If we will it."

Molly tilts her head down slightly, though isn't able to look too far down given the fact that her chin is barely above water. "...I don't know."

"Mr. Ashling is right," Percy says with a nod. "It's been well-documented."

"I'm probably not gonna be able to do it," Molly says, backing up towards the shore.

Sylvie frowns, expression softening somewhat as he matches her steps. Molly always seems...pretty self-deprecating about her own powers. It'd been that way since he'd met her all those months ago, and he can't for the life of him figure out why, aside from the bizarre family issues she's vaguely alluded to. But she's certainly capable. The one time they'd dueled, she'd managed to completely cut off his senses of sight and sound, and blocked his attempts at clairvoyance to get at least some idea of what he was doing. He'd never been beaten before!

"...Molly, I may be a genius, but you're just as capable as everyone else." Somewhere in the back of his mind, Beefton lets him know that came out a bit underhanded. Too late now. He shakes his head. "Here, let's try something."

Sylvie steps forward, holding out both hands. Molly hesitates, but takes them, putting on his best therapist voice.

"Close your eyes. I'm gonna start walking backwards with you, and you're just gonna focus on my hands, and your breathing. Not on the water. It's pretty mild in temperature, it's basically not even here. And you're gonna keep breathing. If you have any trouble with it, we'll get you out, and we'll leave. Okay?"

Molly nods. Sylvie glances to Percy, who nods as well and moves to stand behind Molly, arms held out. Sylvie begins walking backwards, trying to make as little noise as possible as Molly's hands grip his tighter.

Her head goes underwater before his does, and he can't help but tense a bit, but she doesn't even seem to notice. Sylvie grins at Percy, who gives him a faint smile back. Man, he's good.

Another large step backwards, and Sylvie's underwater as well. It's a bit strange to keep breathing when his mind is trying to tell him he's underwater, but he gets the hang of it after a couple seconds. He keeps stepping them back until they reach the dropoff.

"Okay." His voice is maybe a bit muffled, but at least not too terribly distorted. "You can open your eyes now."

Molly does--and gasps, then clamps a hand over her mouth. Sylvie holds onto her other hand, and for a moment it looks like she's going to panic...before she smiles.

"...Feenie's gonna be really jealous," she says. "She can't swim at all. Oh! And this might help with Lori's stuff!"

Sylvie nods, though he's still not sure what that means, exactly. Molly lets go of his hand and does a messy breaststroke forward, looking down.

"And that's the light I saw!"

"It's quite a ways down," Percy says, now underwater with them with her arms staunchly at her sides as she kicks her legs like a mermaid. Sylvie can't imagine it's effective, but she looks as deadly serious as always. "Shall we get going?"

"We shall," Sylvie replies, extremely pleased with himself. Everything's suddenly coming up aces for him--and figuring out the mystery of this mental world will be the icing on the proverbial cake.

Percy's method of swimming isn't really effective--until she summons a psionic pair of flippers in translucent periwinkle around her feet, and a levitation orb to hold like a motor. Sylvie kicks himself for not thinking of it, but lets her swim ahead while he and Molly work out how to at least do the levball trick, though neither of them are quite as good at it. The glow at least helps as the water grows darker.

Sure enough, everything is under the surface. They pass some figments early on (Molly points out ones that look like her, Phoenica, and Trixie), then some surreal-looking sea life including a quite literal sea horse, then some aquatic variants of common mental denizens (there's something about a censor in a full business suit with a very sparkly mermaid tail that Sylvie finds almost unreasonably funny, though the quantity of regrets taking the form of oozy jellyfish are somewhat concerning).

Thankfully, pressure appears to be as much of a non-issue as air, though as they travel further down, the lights in the distance don't seem to get any closer. Strange shapes begin to form in the shadows cast by their levballs, and Percy bids the two to stay back as she investigates. Molly presses a finger to her temple, a green glow signaling her attempting to boost Percy's sense of sight, and Sylvie closes his eyes, mentally reaching out until he can see through Percy's eyes.

In the pale blue glow of her orb, the shape glints like metal, though it's dark as obsidian and covered in spikes. Sylvie can sense Percy's sudden spike of concern from behind her eyes, and quickly snaps back to himself, swimming backwards with Molly following after.

"Stay put," Percy says, swimming a ways back as well--before shooting a blast of blue psionic energy at the shape.

The white flash as it explodes only serves to contrast the black lightning it produces, reaching out hungry tendrils into the water around it like a living thing. There's a couple of other explosions from nearby mines, and as the ringing in his ears fades, Sylvie can hear what sounds like a very large group of censors approaching at speed.

"Go," Percy demands, and the kids don't have to be told twice. The trio speed downwards, and when Sylvie glances over his shoulder, though he can't see the lightning against the dark water, he can faintly make out the shapes of large censors beating at it--and disintegrating.

"...Judging by the speed of the reaction, these things definitely represent a major concern," Sylvie says.

"They're everywhere," Molly breathes, turning her green orb this way and that to shine its faint light on more obsidian mines.

Percy turns to Sylvie, frowning deeply. "Any thoughts, Mr. Ashling?"

"I...can't be sure if this is what's causing the problem, but it might be a sign pointing towards it. It's likely representing a desire to keep something away from this part of the mental world, but I can't tell by looking if they're artificial or not."

"Perhaps we should retreat for the moment."

"No!" Sylvie's eyes practically glint in his own orange light as he points downwards. "We're definitely getting closer now. We just need to be careful and--"

Something cuts him off.

It's a groan like a creaking ship mixed with a crooning whale, far away and yet loud enough to rattle all of their ribcages and set the water around them vibrating. Percy quickly darts out in front of them, dispelling her flippers and levball in favor of a cutlass made out of pure psionic energy, her signature weapon. Sylvie pulls Molly back by the shoulders, casting about with his mind for the sound's source.

He does find a presence, but it's a bit like turning on your headphones only to find you left the volume on all the way up, and it almost physically blasts him backwards. He only realizes he'd started sputtering when Molly shakes his shoulders.

"Are you okay?!"

"I--yes--it--very loud--"

The sound comes again, though this time with a note of anger. Something rises up before them, effortlessly pushing aside the mines. In the faint light of Percy's sword, they can make out a round, bulbous shape in a mottled, sickly blue color. As it moves up and up and up, the light shines off sunken googly eyes, over a very, very large mass of tentacles that stretch into the darkness below. The whole thing looks like a mix of the worker octopi, the aquatic variety of regrets, and Cthulhu itself, and though not all of it is visible, Sylvie guesses it's at least the size of a house.

("BEEFTON CANNOT SWIM,") Sylvie's archetype loudly reminds him in his head.

At the same time, Percy dismisses her sword and grabs them both in large psionic hands. "Retreat!"

Percy shoots upwards like a rocket just as the creature swings a tentacle at her, dragging the kids along behind with her constructs. Molly practically clings to Sylvie's arm as Sylvie looks down, trying to get a better look at the creature, but the darkness is quick to claim it. It wails again, very loud, too loud, but it doesn't sound like it's following them.

Percy maneuvers them deftly through the minefield into comparatively shallower waters, and they're high enough to find a school of regrets before she dares to stop.

They're all gasping for air despite being underwater, hearts pounding. Molly only extricates herself from Sylvie after a solid minute, wrapping her arms around herself instead. "What. Was that."

"I don't know," Sylvie admits, too frazzled to think up an excuse or explanation. "Clearly whatever it is he doesn't know it's there or I feel like he would've said something!"

"Clearly, we should leave," Percy says, already digging in her pocket for her salts. "Mr. Shades needs to be made aware of this immediately."

"W-wait!" Molly waves her hands. "S-should we really tell him about this? I feel like it'll freak him out. I mean...it was only after we got past the big do not enter mines that it showed up, right?"

"Only after we got close to the lights..." Sylvie's brows furrow. "Maybe it's...protecting whatever's down there? It didn't seem benign, but it didn't follow us, either..." Sylvie shakes his head. "You might be right, Molly. Maybe we should think about this a little more."

"I am a mere security officer here to ensure your safety," Percy says, hand solemnly over her chest. "I will defer to your judgment."

"Thank you." Though it's just Percy being Percy, he does appreciate that she's always treated him like an adult, exactly the same way she'd treat everyone else. He's never felt looked down on by her, which is why he'd been willing to have her along.

And he supposes she had saved their rears just now...Sylvie doesn't really have much combat ability outside of his aspect, and he knows Molly doesn't either--or at least, none she's willing to use, if the faint hints she's dropped to a pyrokinetic ability are correct. If either of them have a problem, they think and trick their way out of it. Something about the sheer noise of that construct's mind makes Sylvie think outsmarting it probably wouldn't have been possible.

Sylvie takes a deep breath, and lets it out in a long sigh, hand traveling to his own pocket. "Okay. Yeah. I think we're done here. Molly?"

"Fine by me." She fumbles around in the hoodie still tied around her shoulders like a cape. "But I think I'm gonna have to tell Trixie and Giovanni about the squid."

"You're--!"

But Molly's already gone. He gives Percy a sort of desperate, frustrated look, only getting her usual flat expression in reply. Sylvie huffs, and braces himself.

Sylvie's chin drops forward before he jolts upright and alert, coughing violently into his sleeve. He always thinks this time he'll be prepared for the smell, but it never gets any better--though he supposes that's the point. Doesn't make it any less unpleasant, and it sticks in his nose for what feels like forever.

"Oh! Hello!"

He looks up from his hacking fit to see Rick, sitting in the dentist's-office-looking chair where they'd left him nose-deep in a comic book. He's grinning, as usual.

"That was very strange to watch!"

Sylvie swipes at his nose with his jacket sleeve. "Mhm." He takes a moment to get his bearings, then stands, glancing over to find Molly and Percy already on their feet, Molly pulling a face (presumably also at the salts).

Rick puts the comic book facedown on the table next to him and hops to his feet, clapping his hands together eagerly. "So! Did you find anything?"

Percy bows her head grimly. "I regret to inform you that your mind appears to be full of cephalopods."

Rick continues grinning. "I fail to see the issue!"

"No, we didn't really find anything," Molly says, playing with the fur on the sleeves of her hoodie, "I'm sorry."

"Oh." Rick's smile lessens slightly in intensity, and there's a flicker of disappointment behind his sunglasses--but it's gone so quick Sylvie can't be sure he'd actually seen it. "That's fine."

"Really?"

"Certainly!" Rick puts a hand over the heart patch on his jacket, which is on the wrong side. His face turns stony as if he's giving a soliloquy. "I may not have my memories, but I do have something far more important."

"Oh boy," Sylvie mutters.

Rick's eyes go impossibly wide, and his smile shows more teeth than it's supposed to. "FRRRRRIENDSHIP!!!"

He says it like it's a be-all end-all and also probably a curse, leaning towards Sylvie. Sylvie quickly leans away. Rick's friendship sights had been seemingly really set on him recently for whatever reason. It was weird enough that Molly was willing to hang around with him.

"Now, we are BONDED," Rick bellows, throwing a fist to the sky. "The four of us are closer than EVER BEFORE! You cannot hope to escape the ties of our camaraderie!"

"Uh-huh," Sylvie grumbles.

"We might not have found your memory, but on the bright side we saw tiny octopi in the first stages of forming a society!" Molly beams. "You know, before the inevitable corruption sets in."

Rick clasps his hands together. "Oh, lovely!"

"They were quite adept builders," Percy agrees. "Howie would be proud, assuming I left out all the safety violations."

"Howie? Who is this Howie?"

"You'll know him when you see him." Percy waves a dismissive hand, turning towards the door. "Now, I believe it's time for some sustenance following our Sisyphean exertions."

Molly laughs nervously. "From...the cafeteria, right?"

"Yes, I am afraid I have not gathered any pinecone treats recently."

Molly sighs in relief. Rick raises a hand. "What is a pine cone?"

"I'll have to show you when I get some more," Percy says with a warm smile. Molly shakes her head very aggressively behind her. "They make a delightful healthy snack."

"We should go," Sylvie says, and thankfully the others agree without any further protest.

The four of them leave for the cafeteria together, Molly lagging behind. Sylvie slows down to walk with her, and she looks up at him with a grateful nod. Though it was destined to remain a secret, Rick's talk about bonding might not have been too far off the mark--they have a mystery to solve now, together.

#epithet erased #epithet week #sylvester ashling #molly blyndeff #percival king #rick shades #my writing

40 notes · View notes

drops-of-moonlights · 3 years

Photo

The Winx’s parents in the AU, re-redrawn! Because their old art was very crusty and I re-redesigned a couple transformations since so they were outdated anyways. Copypasted information below!

Michael “Mike” Peters and Vanessa María Florinda-Peters: Vanessa’s Mexican-American and works as a florist, managing her shop and making arrangements for events and parties. Mike has worked as a firefighter since he was 20 and has always made sure Bloom knew the dangers of fire, which ended up helping when it turns out she has fire magic. After the whole Princess deal gets discovered Bloom resorts to spending her winters with Mike and Vanessa (who she always considers her “parents parents”), and the springs at the Domino Castle. Bloom teaches them both the most basic of spells whenever she visits, and it has helped in their respective jobs.

Oritel Silvanus Ferreaum-Drazul, Marion Celosia Drazul, and the late Linus Xavier Lissen-Drazul: Linus’s Daphne’s dad and Marion’s original husband, who were an arranged marriage. They got along incredibly well and they were best friends, but it was never a full-blown love. Linus died during an avalanche when Daphne was 11, and 5 years later Marion married Oritel, who she met as a member of the Company of Light. After 4 years of marriage they had Nina (Bloom), and were shortly after imprisoned in Obsidia as statues. Marion is the Queen Regent, Oritel and Linus were/are consorts. Bloom is still awkward around them, and sticks to calling them Mother and Father. Oritel ends up kind of a mess at seeing his daughter being a young adult when they properly meet and Marion has to somewhat reign him in sometimes. Marion is an Altheix Sorceress, her title being the Sorceress of the Dragon’s Roar (Source of Sound with auxiliary Wind), while Oritel acts as the head of the military, hence the armor details in his formal king outfit. He has a Metal Source, while Linus had an Earth Source but was never formally trained in magic.

Anthonius Lixtro-Smith and Audra Smith: Original names were Electronio and Magnethia, changed to be a bit more human. They both work as freelance industrial designers and engineers, usually working for the bigger companies and are very well off as a result. Tecna takes most of her looks from her dad but her natural hair color - her original dye attempt was green, but her spell failed and got pink instead, and liked it enough that she kept it. Both of them know a bit more magic than the average non-Caster, but it’s not enough for them to go get a proper license and as such they skate by technicalities.

Alyssa Benedetta-Robledos and Rodolfo Ernesto Robledos: Rodolfo’s original name was Rhodos, changed for personal reasons. They work at the Lynphean Magiwolf Sanctuary, with Alyssa acting as the ranger and Rodolfo the veterinarian. Rodolfo is the Fairy of Wolves, and uses his Silvestrix magic to enhance his medical training when tending their patients. They homeschooled both Flora and Miele until they were 11 and 8 respectively, and teached them both ways to defend and heal themselves if they ever got in trouble. Amarok acts as both pet and help, acting as “ambassador” for any wolf that enters the sanctuary to help them acclimate to the place. Alyssa also assists via potion-making, and has a passive Poison Source.

Lu Huan (formerly Xun Huan) and Lu Marina: Ho-Boe and Matlin/Wa-Nin were terrible racist puns I am disposing of them they fucking suck okay? okay. Marina worked as a singer for private and public events and Huan helped her with instruments, as well as running an instrument shop on the side. They met by accident during one of Marina’s events and started dating shortly after. They had two kids, a boy named Jian and five years later, Musa. They never were rich but they had enough to live happily with some frivolities sprinkled in once in a while, and they always got to play music together. Marina died when Musa was 14 of a magic-resistant virus, who ate away her Aura and made her inmune system fully collapse, her own magic unable to sustain her. Her death threw the family in dissaray, and while Jian got a job shortly after to make ends meet, they went through some rocky years. They managed to stay afloat, and started to stabilize shortly before Musa left for Alfea. Huan and Marina loved each other very much, and while he knows she would encourage him to seek out love again, he doesn’t feel ready. Marina was an Enchantress, the Enchantress of Music, and wore her sash in her casual attire as a belt often. Musa carries her title as a Fairy in her honor.

Teredor Bahari van Amstel and Niobe Saran van Amstel (née Citrone): Aisha’s parents, they’re very strict and stick to the Androsian traditions, which ends up as an accidental source of strife for their daughter. Niobe is more lenient with her, but does want her to be married to Nabu as fast as possible and has a hard time when both Aisha and Nabu reject the arrangement. Teredor is far more strict, but mellows out after Aisha comes back from the Siege of Alfea, and starts trying to understand her daughter better. Teredor is Ligea’s twin brother, and is a Caster, more specifically the Druid of the Coast, with powers over sand and wind, shown in his formal King attire.

Radius Solaris Oriol and Luna Azura Argentis: Their marriage was arranged by their parents, and while they were in a similar situation to Marion and Linus, their friendship turned into spite as the years went by. They divorced when Stella was 14, and remained single for a few years. Luna still acts as the Queen of Solaria, per their arrangements, and even if Radius remarries they will only act as supportive consort. Luna starts dating Allan Damarte around the time Stella starts her original first year at Alfea, and they have been a stable couple since. Count Alessandro Mirthos of Vespero, in contrast, had been secretly courting Radius a few months after the divorce, originally just Radius’s rebound before it developed into love. When Stella’s Princess Ball arrives, they announce their engagement, and will end up marrying in a few years. Alessandro has a daughter from a previous marriage, a somewhat spoiled girl called Carmilla, nicknamed Chimera. Luna is the Cosmix Witch of the Winter Moon with power over ice, while Radius is the Cosmix Fairy of the Summer Sun with power over fire. Alessandro is also a Caster, shown through his sash, and his title is Caster of Relaxation, focusing on potion-making aided by his Healing Source.

99 notes · View notes

darkficsyouneveraskedfor · 3 years

Text

Fully Completely 1

Warnings: non-consent sex and rape (series), attempted violence, mutual irritation.

This is dark!Loki x reader and explicit. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Series Synopsis: There’s a new face in Birch and he’s come to haunt your door.

Sister series to Smalltown Bringdown, When the Weight Comes Down, and Little Bones

Note: I did not plan to get the first part done so soon. I will probably be setting time aside as I write this to also work on some original stuff. When it comes to that, I’d love if y’all might let me know what you think would be a better medium to release it? Kindle, Patreon, etc. I’m really not sure but if it was Patreon it would like be two series running at once with a chapter of each a month + Q&A and maybe some bonus materials? I am a noob at this shit and it wouldn’t be for a while yet.

Anyways, I’m rambling...

Thanks to everyone for their patience and feedback. :)

I really hope you enjoy. 💋

<3 Let me know what you think with a like or reblog or reply or an ask! Love ya!

Chapter 1: She simply slammed the door

💀💀💀

The garage smelled like oil and snow. The cold air seeped under the closed metal door as you sat on the low stool and affixed the new headlight to the propped up Harley. It was only the start of an impractical rebuild; your brother wanted everything metal replaced with chrome. You thought it was obnoxious but the parts were paid for and you could never complain for money.

You were funded exclusively by the town’s club, your garage not far from The Asp where the members hung out and revved the engines you found yourself looking at more often than you liked. You were good at what you did though and privileged for it. You had the protection of the club without having to devote yourself truly to its bounds.

You checked the wiring and rolled away from the bike to change the station as the radio crackled. The snow kept setting the speaker to static and the noise was driving you mad. You flipped the switch to play the cassette stuck in the drawer, the old stereo beaten up and filthy. Springsteen’s gristled tones filled the shop and you wheeled back to your brother’s ride.

With the storm would no doubt come more work. Your fingerless gloves itched more than they kept you warm. Your fingertips were numb as you touched the frigid metal and the sweat of your palms made the fabric uncomfortable. You were used to it, rather tolerant as your task kept you distracted.

You were interrupted as you bent to look under the tank and get a good look at the exhaust and the rest of the beast’s entrails. You had the new pieces still wrapped and didn’t intend to do it all at once. Jerome could wait for his tacky redesign.

A loud banging came at the metal door and you glanced over in irritation. Anyone in Birch knew to come in the painted door to the left and not hit the large one. You huffed and stood with a groan, your hips sore from the low stool.

You fixed the front of your fleece-lined denim jacket and pulled the tail of your plaid shirt from inside your jean pocket. You’d been hunched over so long you were all wrinkled. You went past the large door and into the small entryway off the left of the garage and opened it with a tinkle of the rusty old bell above.

You stuck your head out into the gales as the snow continued to fall and squinted at the man in his thin jacket. He stood beside the long luxury car as another man with wild orange hair remained in the driver’s seat and blew into his hands. They were out of place in the small town and you could tell by the way the man scowled at the door that he knew it.

“Hey,” you called to them, “there’s a place down the street. I don’t do walk-ins.”

“Oh, hello, Miss…” he let his voice trail off as he neared and you stared at him rather than provide your name. His accent, his attire, the curl of his lip, it was clear what he thought of you and the bodunk town, “actually I was referred by an acquaintance. One, James Barnes.”

“Bucky?” you furrowed your brow.

“Mm, yes, that one,” he said, “my car will need detailing. We had some difficulties on the motorway.”

“Right,” you tried not to scowl, “well, if he sent you, I guess I can help.”

You left him and the door clattered behind you. He followed a few steps after as you went to the switch and pushed it to raise the wide door of the garage. You waved in the driver of the car and he carefully pulled in beside your brother’s bike.

He got out and you were surprised by his size, he was taller even then his companion and wider; neither could be described as short. You lowered the door as the thinner man walked along the shelves and the long table along the other side of the garage. The bigger man stood by the car and tucked his hands in his pockets.

“Not much better in here than out there,” the dark-haired man turned back to you, “you have heat in here?”

“You need a better coat,” you said as you rounded the back of the car, “and some boots.”

You glanced pointedly at his leather shoes and bent to reach under the table. You pulled out the space heater and plugged it in as you set on the wood. You cranked it up and smiled at him tritely.

“So, what’s the damage?” you asked as you looked to the other man.

“Headlight, maybe,” he said in a peculiar accent, “some scratches. We had a bit off a run-in.”

You neared and bent to examine the front of the car. You sighed as you tilted your head and clicked your tongue. It was easy enough to beat out the dents and buff out the scratches with a quick refinish. The headlight would need to be replaced and you knew they didn’t carry anything for that model in town. No one there was pretentious enough to drive it.

“If you want the headlight done before you leave town, it’ll take some time to get the replacement,” you warned.

“Oh, and how do you know I’m leaving?” he taunted coyly.

“Well, I know you’re definitely not sticking around,” you scoffed.

“Why wouldn’t I? A quaint place like this, I’m sure there is so much to explore,” he said dryly.

You had no delusions of what Birch was but it wasn’t the part of outsiders to deride the dead end. You stood straight and put your hands on your hips.

“You can go back to your castle, my lord, but you will have to wait out the storm,” you sneered. “Two days for the scratches. If you want to take it back after that and wait for the headlight to arrive, that’s fine with me.”

“Two days for the scratches? Surely you could do it before the morning,” the black-haired man insisted.

“I could but I have other work to do,” you replied, “so you can be patient and take your turn in line after all the hicks who live here.”

You went back to the table and grabbed your phone from where you tossed it earlier. You unlocked it and searched the model of his car and scrolled through the parts list.

“You’re Bucky’s guest so I’ll send the bill to him?” you asked, “though you do look to be able to afford it yourself.”

“You can invoice him directly,” he assured, “so you’re one of them?”

“One of them?” you repeated as you focused on checking out. The damn internet kept cutting in and out.

“My brother, those men in this town, I never knew a woman--”

“I’m not a biker. My brother is in the club,” you assured him, “so that big blond dope, he’s your brother?”

“Regrettably, yes,” he slithered, “Loki Odinson,” he introduced himself as he rubbed together his hands, the leather gloves doing little to protect his fingers, “my driver is Korg, and you’ve yet to tell me with whom I am trusting my property.”

“Again, there is a shop down the street. Prices aren’t bad,” you finished up your purchase and tucked your phone in your jacket pocket.

He met your eyes as you turned to him and he looked down his nose. You kept on and brushed past him as you went back around the car and sat by your brother’s bike.

“Sorry about the boss,” the other man, Korg, intoned, “he can be a bit--”

“Don’t apologise for me,” Loki snipped, “I needn’t atone to her.”

You rolled your eyes and wheeled around the side of the bike, “if that’s everything, you two can head back out. I’ll let you know when the car’s ready.”

“We might wait for the snow to calm,” Loki suggested.

“I close in an hour, you’re not staying here all night,” you sniffed.

“Trust me, I have no special desire to spend more time with you than necessary,” he retorted, “I don’t think I’ve ever met a woman so volatile as you, dear, and I’ve only just met you. I never expected you people to have very many manners but perhaps what I did presume was too much.”

You bared your teeth but kept at your work. You would worry about kicking him out when you finished the wiring.

“To be fair, had you not spoken first, I might’ve assumed you were a man,” he added.

You paused and glanced down at the open tool box. You weren’t unused to the comments, you weren’t girly in any way but it wasn’t like you were trying to be a man. You wore what was comfortable and in your work, practicality prevailed over aesthetic. Yet, your years of ridicule as a kid made you less tolerant of the comments and those had stopped long ago because you made sure they did.

“Oh, darling, have I upset you?”

“Don’t call me that,” you said as you reached into the toolbox.

“Well, you’ve not given your name and I’d hate call you what I truly think of you--”

The wrench flew from your hand as you stood and spun to him. It barely missed his head and bounced off the wall and plunked onto the table beside the heater. His eyes rounded and the other man looked at him. There was a thick silence as you glared at him.

“If you weren’t a friend of Bucky’s, I wouldn’t’ve missed,” you hissed, “now I will kindly, before I reach for a bigger wrench, ask you to leave.”

He pushed his shoulders back and tilted his head as his lips thinned dangerously. He swallowed and beckoned the other man with two fingers. His cheek twitched as if he would grin and he nodded subtly.

“Well, darling, how amusing you are. These brutes must adore you,” he snarled, “the exterior does indeed say it all.”

You bent and reached for another tool blindly. He blinked and quickly dodged as you flung the next wrench and he followed his henchman to the entryway. Your temper was a match for many men. It kept you safe.

“Barnes did not say his mechanic was a madwoman,” Loki called back as the bell rang.

“What, are you going to tattle on me?” You stormed towards the doorway, “you precious little princess?”

“Princess?” he met you in the doorway as Korg behind him held the door open and the snow blustered in, “I know Barnes will do me no other favours, but do you think he’ll do you any?”

“Get out,” you spat and shoved him, “I don’t need men to take care of me and I have no problem in proving that.”

He bit the inside of his lip in a crooked smirk and winked before he turned away and strutted out into the snow, shielding his face from the wild winds. Korg trailed behind him and the door sprang back into the frame. You crossed your arms and glared at the peeling paint.

You were tempted to tow his car out and let it weather the storm but you were smarter than that. If he was doing business with Bucky, you would be a fool to get in the way of it.

💀

The snow dwindled to a lazy dusting, the ground thick and treacherous. That day, you started early and around noon, you headed across the street to the diner for your usual lunch of a club sandwich and black coffee. You didn’t have to order as all the waitresses knew what to expect. You weren’t unfriendly but your association made many standoffish.

You tapped on the lip of your mug with your thumb, fingers hooked through the handle. The sleepy town felt dead in the winter. You were used to the dullness of Birch but tolerance was hardly happiness. It was home, where you’d grown up and you had no certain desire to get out, but you wouldn’t mind a little more than what was expected.

You yawned and gulped down the last of your coffee. It was bitter and left a few grounds on your tongue. You leaned back and grabbed the monthly newsletter from between the salt and pepper shakers. You read through the fun facts which weren’t very fun or even new. They were copy and pasted out Guinness and Reader’s Digest.

You looked up as you sensed someone approach your table but it wasn’t the waitress. The man from the day before slid coolly onto the seat across from you at the booth and smirked over the table. You raised the newsletter again and folded it backwards to read about the weekly knitting circle down at the rec center that was also the library.

“Good afternoon to you too,” Loki said, “it must be fortune I ran into you, I was hoping to inquire after my car--”

“I told you, two days,” you said tersely as you continued onto your horoscope …‘a new force will bring change’... You hated this tripe. You swore, every month they just switched the blurbs under each sign and hit print.

“So be it,” he cleared his throat and you lowered the paper as he shrugged out of his jacket.

“What are you doing? I eat my lunch alone,” you said.

“Well, to be frank, I was pointed here on the promise of some famous cabbage soup,” he explained as he folded his jacket over the seat next to him, “you looked like you needed company.”

“I don’t,” you assured him.

Kimmie came over and set down your sandwich. She greeted Loki and you saw the way she eyed his tailored suit. He stuck out in the town of flannels and denim.

“Hello, sir, can I get you something to drink?” she asked.

“Tea, English breakfast,” he ordered smoothly.

“Oh, sorry, we only have um, um, sorry, peppermint, earl grey, ginger lemon, and green,” she listed off as she tried to remember them all.

“Earl grey,” he sighed, “and a menu.”

“No, no menu,” you insisted, “and you can take his tea to another table.”

“And when we’re through, I’ll take the cheque,” he ignored you and snickered under his breath.

“Kimmie, can I get a to go box?” you asked as you shimmied off the seat and snatched up your coat, “I have to get back to work.” You took out your wallet and counted out the usual amount plus a tip, “thanks.”

“Of course,” she smiled awkwardly and glanced between you and Loki.

She scooped your sandwich back up and scurried away with it. You felt him watching you as you walked away and went to stand by the till as you watched Nora flit into the kitchen. She packed up your food and returned with the box. You took it and headed for the door, ignoring the arrogant out-of-towner on your way.

“Wait,” Kimmie called out your name and you turned back as she held up your keys, “you dropped these.”

You met her halfway and took them from her with a mutter. Again, he was watching you… or still watching you. She spun and promised she’d have his tea shortly.

“Hmm,” he hummed and you head to the door again, “interesting, I never would have put the name to the face.”

You pushed out into the snow and gritted your teeth. You thought of getting the work on his car out of the way quickly so he would leave you alone but your spite made you want to put it off entirely. Whatever. He’d be gone soon enough.

#loki #dark loki #dark!loki #loki x reader #birch #fully completely #series #sequel #dark fic #fic #dark!fic #thor #mcu #marvel #au #biker!au #biker au #biker boys of birch #bucky barnes #korg

575 notes · View notes

seasonalsummers · 2 years

Photo

Misery Vex Redesign! I’ve been wandering around the DP Fanfic Discord and read about her, so i decided to redesign her because the concept atleast seemed fun. it took way longer than i thought it would be to design her because i got obsessed with researching.

-Ramblings about her design under the cut + Sketches-

when i read about her concept, i immediately thought about Fae and Fairies in folklore and how they were known to basically steal children or replace children for varying reasons, so i tried to make her seem friendly, despite her appearance, as some Fae are seen as beautiful or humanlike to the point that humans are more inclined to trust them and get tricked. Fae kidnap children for a varying of reasons, to turn them into a servant, into a soldier, to raise them as one of their own, to turn them into witches, etc. etc.

Alongside the Fae inspiration, i was also inspired by the Jorogumo yokai in Japanese folklore, mainly cause of the abundance of spider stuff in the original design. in Folklore, a Jorogumo is a yokai who transforms into a human woman to trick her victims into trusting her, i knew a bit about them thanks to Rottmnt so it was fun to research. the spider I’m basing her off is the Nephila spider, which is one of the species that Jorogumo can refer to, and they’re most well known for their golden silk. i tried to incorporate bright gold in her design but went with Bronzer gold and red webs instead. might sketch a more spider based form for her who knows

Finally in connection to both, i got inspired by the Snow Queen, especially after looking through concept art for the original plans for Elsa and also reading abit of the original story, nothing really ice based about her but i just reminded because of the Snow Queen abducting the boy and keeping him in her castle. so she has a similar attitude, that being that she isnt exactly a bad person however that doesnt mean she isnt a good person either. i also made her have a more regal look than the superhero/villain look of the original design since the era Pariah Dark seemed to have been active was around the Dark ages or earlier

I kept her as an Ancient, since i liked the concept and wanted to explore them more. instead of gloved hands, her hands are exposed and both of her arms contrasts against the rest of her body. she probably was more skeletal in the past but needed to look more human to be able to sneak past in the human realm. the cracks in her hands are from the battle in containing Pariah Dark, since he’s The Ghost King i’d think that he found a way to permanently scar other ghosts.

The Ancients probably dont have a true form, being beings shrouded in mystery, but they are able to transform their forms into what they want and how they see fit depending on what their duty is

Anyways enough rambling, have some sketches!

#I placed way more time and effort into this than i thought i would-#Misery Vex #danny phantom #character redesign #seasonalarts #danny phantom fanart #DP

18 notes · View notes

weirdmarioenemies · 3 years

Photo

Name: Podoboo

Debut: Super Mario Bros.

Before I start this post, I’d like to clear something up. Podoboo? Yes, Podoboo! I’m well aware these enemies are often called Lava Bubbles and that’s the name Nintendo has been trying to make standardised these days, but you know what? You can’t make me! Podoboo is a lot cuter, plus its the name I grew up with and changes in society scare me and cause me to lash out! Maybe Lava Bubble is closer to the Japanese name of just “Bubble”, but since when has that been a factor in any of the localised names? Do you really want to refer as Lakitu as “Jugemu”, huh? I’ll have you know one of my civil rights as a citizen of Wet Dry World is to refer to Mario enemies with whichever official name I please. Like it or leave it!

So this is a post about Podoboo. Do you like Podoboo? I certainly Podo-do! They are perhaps the most generic design you could give to a Mario enemy, a visibly Dangerous Thing with two eyes, but they have always charmed me! It’s the little things, like their distinct shape and the fact their pupils are somewhat wider than most obstacles like this. They bring me comfort in dire times. No matter what happens, I know Podoboo will be there, jumping at a set height in a particular spot of lava! Without them I would be nothing!

So simple is their design, isn’t it weird to think they started off as even simpler? The Podoboos in the first SMB game are completely blind, and with no eyes they may as well not be creatures at all! Of course, I’m very glad they are creatures, and their iconic behaviour was there from the start! They love to jump, of course! There is nothing they would rather be doing!

Awaken! As of Super Mario World, they have been gifted sight and are no longer blind to the sins of this world! Hurray! What do you think they see as they jump up and down? I’m surprised it doesn’t make them dizzy!

You’ll be glad to hear Podoboos have had an expansive career ever since, now with their new trademark eyes! After all, they are THE lava enemy! Anywhere you’ve got that tasty hot fire juice, these guys are soon to follow! Here they are in Super Mario RPG, called Sparkies here because they couldn’t make up their minds on a localized name and probably because they confused them with Li’l Sparkies. In Yoshi’s Story they even called them Spark Spooks! Geez, I’ll even take the name Lava Bubble over this! But doesn’t this render look nice and juicy?

Though any great career has its flops, and I have to say... I am usually the first to campaign for the unique designs from the first three Paper Marios, but I do not really like this Lava Bubble! This takes away from their distinct Mario-y charm and makes them look like a Fire Enemy you could find in any other game! Though in the RPGs they are able to float around without needing any lava, the ones in Super Paper Mario act just like the platformer ones, jumping around despite not looking like they should be doing that! Ok!

The Podoboo from New Super Mario Bros. DS just wasn’t trying very hard at all. Come on! They could’ve it a bit more justice than this!

Ah, there we go! The Podoboos in New Super Mario Bros. Wii decided to finally stop messing about and go back to what everyone loved from them in Super Mario World. I encourage experimenting with your identity, of course, but it’s good to be back, and now they are more mortal than ever! A single shot from an Ice Flower is enough to instantly vaporize a Podoboo in a puff of smoke, which is a bit scary! Are they really just pure fireballs that can be put out just like that? What a frightening life to live!

And in Super Mario Galaxy 2, they... hey, wait!! You took away their eyes again! Now you are just being inconsiderate. This outraged me as a kid! One of my most vivid memories of playing this game with my brother involved chanting “Podoboo rights! They deserve eyes!” because this upset me so much. Maybe my past as an activist is why I am so passionate about Mario enemies these days... I think I was 100 percent correct in hindsight, and now you know some of my backstory, too!

What relief it gave me to find out they were back to their usual selves in 3D Land! And they have been ever since, of course getting redesigned for the modern Paper Mario games and everything.

What’s this? Blue Podoboos! Podo-blues, even...! They show up in 3D World, in its incredibly cool-looking blue lava levels! It’s a well known fact that blue fire is objectively cooler than red fire, and it seems even the Podoboos wanted in on the action! Blue Lava is an actual phenomenon I’ve just learnt, though it’s a sulfuric fire rather than lava. Could it be that Podoboos, being made entirely of lava, adapt to their environment? I’m not sure...

As an aside, the blue Lava Bubbles aren’t to be confused with Lava Bubble (Blue), which are from Mario Galaxy and show up during King Kaliente’s fight! They hop around on the ground and have square-ish eyes, which is enough to make them different I guess!

The Podoboo’s next big appearance, in Super Mario Odyssey, was in Soup! Yes you heard me- Soup! Some delightfully pepto-bismol pink coloured soup, no less. This is why I wasn’t too sure about Podoboo’s being able to adapt to their environment earlier- the Luncheon Kingdom is a big soup volcano after all, but the fact these Lava Bubbles are able to live in it is very interesting!

There is simply no way I would talk about Odyssey here without talking about possibly its greatest achievement, the best game design decision ever made! After decades of begging from fans, they finally did the impossible- they made Podoboo playable! Now it is Podo-you! It is quite unlike the other captures in the game, since it keeps the Podoboo’s simple-looking eyes and simply adds onto it a nose and a mustache! You may very well be the world’s first Podoboo with a sense of smell! I wonder if that is a benefit or not. The constant smell of soup might be a bit overpowering.

Not only is this delightful, but it gives us more insight into the life of the humble Podoboo. First of all is the fact that they can swim around in lava, not just jump in one spot! Do you think they do this when we aren’t looking? I really hope so! Imagine a school of Podoboos swimming through molten lava in a castle’s moat. How delightful!

The Luncheon Kingdom is also home to a number of Lava cannons, marked with a Podoboo’s lovely face. These are cannons for only for Podoboos to launch themselves across the kingdom, from one body of lava to another! My question is whether this was technology made by Podoboos themselves or whether it was made by some generous Podoboo lovers as some lava equivalent to the Fish Tube. I think I would take either explanation!

And last I have a Podoboo appearance that even I, the world’s biggest Podoboo fan, didn’t know about! Paper Mario Color Splash has a Big Lava Bubble boss which speaks with you through a Shy Guy translator! It is quite upset that you barged into its volcano and decided to change the temperature. Mario, of course, kills it anyway, and also the Shy Guy translator without a second thought.

Still, just take a look at this sprite sheet! How cute! A little disappointing that they thinned out the eyes, but wow! They more than make up for it with this range of expressions! An angry Podoboo! A sad Podoboo! And my personal favorite is of course the shocked Podoboo with its assymetrical dot eyes, which might be one of the best things I’ve ever seen.

To be honest, I could talk about Podoboo forever! If you didn’t stop me, I would go on all day about their every appearance, but I kind of had to limit myself to some of the most relevant ones. I just think they’re neat! And cute! And silly! Besides, I’m Mod F Boy, so I’m basically obliged to talk about fireballs with eyes! But for now I must bid you Pod-adieu!

...Not! What, did you really believe me? Well you clicked the Keep Reading button, so you only have yourself to blame for this. Here I am talking about more Lava Bubbles from all over, because Lava Bubble’s career has taken it BEYOND the Mario series! Wow!

Podoboo’s had quite a few appearance in the Zelda series, appearing in Link’s Awakening, both the Oracle games, and even Cadence of Hyrule! Their Zelda wiki page is still called Podoboo instead of Lava Bubble, which means those Zelda fans have it better than we do. But wow, this is a pretty angry looking Podoboo! I wouldn’t mess with them!

Both the Oracle games even had a Podoboo Tower! Amazing! They look quite a lot like a Fire Snake, but they are simply a tower of Podoboos! Why don’t they do this more often?

Hm... The Cadence of Hyrule one doesn’t have any eyes. Come on guys! It’s 2019! Podoboos having eyes should be standard! Though they still made the conscious decision to call them “Podoboos” in 2019, so I can’t be too mad.

And they have even spread to Minecraft! In the Mario Mash-up Pack, they replace the Magma Cube enemies, and really there was no better choice for this. And now we have a Podoboo Cube! What more could possibly be left for Podoboo?

The answer is obvious- Podoboo in real life! Thanks to a certain Lego Mario set, Podoboo is now real and can be in your home for the small price of 19,99 US dollars. Please give a Podoboo a home today! Just make sure you don’t own anything flammable.

#mario #mario enemies #podoboo #lava bubble #mod f boy

269 notes · View notes