#bax twiford

[the-lemonaut]

Finished playing this small turn-based RPG recently, it was a good time :]c It's got some useful accessibility settings and lots of queer characters. Also the art is appealing and i can't stop obsessing over the OST 😭✨

It's kind of a bit of everything: fighting, story and character development. You might notice i have some favorites lol. These two side characters snuck into my heart and are there to stay for the next who-knows-how-long

[cityofgraveyards]

i have two wolves in my head. one says to play literally any game in my endless library. the other says to replay ikenfell.

[marshvlovestv]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Ikenfell (Video Game) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Ibn Oxley/Bax Twiford Characters: Ibn Oxley, Bax Twiford, Petronella (Ikenfell) Additional Tags: Fluffuary 2024, Fluff and Angst, Post-Canon, Chronic Illness, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Found Family, Making Out, Being Walked In On Series: Part 8 of Indie Game Fluffuary 2024 Summary:

Fluffuary 2024 Day 8: Laughing Together

A darkness has fallen over Ibn and Bax’s lives after the events at Ikenfell. Surprisingly, it’s Bax who makes an effort to search for the bright side.

[maroonian]

i love these gay mages with all my heart. theyre the ideal combination. the floofy, eccentric jock and his edgy goth bf. idyllic. immaculate. all i ever want out of life.

[pangurbanthewhite]

Bax and Ibn from Ikenfell, 39 (if you're still doing that)

I actually happened to stumble across the meme I'm pretty sure this is referring to and with everyone talking about Ikenfell again, I sure am still doing that.

39. Who initiated the relationship? Who kissed who first?  When did they realize they were in love?

I think Bax gets the credit for initiating the relationship by being the first to state his feelings plainly. I think he was always going to be the one who had to take the first step - even after everything Ibn did out of grief over his apparent death, I don't think Ibn would have said or done anything to acknowledge how deeply his feelings ran if he'd been brought back to himself some other way.

You could make the argument that Bax confessing his love was the only thing that could have brought Ibn back. I think that's very possible. But if it had happened another way, I think Ibn would have been too overcome with guilt over what he'd nearly done to ever try and initiate a romance with Bax afterwards. I think guilt over who he is and what he's capable of are a huge part of why he never did anything beyond casual flirting beforehand.

I would have sworn up, down, and sideways that they kissed on top of the tower after that confession, but I just rewatched the ending and it doesn't look like they did! Their spritework during their epilogue slide after its revealed that Nella finds a way to help Ibn control his powers definitely looks more like a kiss, but I think their first kiss would have been earlier than that - probably the next time there was a near miss, probably the next time Ibn almost lost control or Bax almost got seriously hurt but they managed to get away in the end. I think the relief would have gotten to them both and made them bold enough to take that step before even consciously realizing it.

It's implied that they're fairly constant companions and have been for a while. So I don't think the realization that they were in love came to them suddenly or dramatically, even if I think they were both well aware of it before the game's events.

I literally think there probably just came a point where Bax noticed that he was starting to hate waking up in the mornings less than he used to, wondered why, stumbled to the breakfast table with Ibn, and realized that it was because he had someone he looked forward to seeing every day. And then he took the step to the logical conclusion from there.

Meanwhile, Ibn probably grew to take Bax's presence for granted after a while - hell, Bax might not even have been the first handler he was assigned by the Coven. But there probably came a point where Bax had to be away a little longer than usual, maybe making a report to the senior leadership or similar, and Ibn realized that he was missing Bax's presence more than he'd expected, that he was missing his company and not just the safety he provided. And, again, he took the step to the logical conclusion from there.

I think Bax accepted the realization pretty stoicly, maybe with some resignation, weighted with the idea that he could never act on those feelings because they would mean getting too close to Ibn and compromising their arrangement.

Ibn was firmly in the Oh. Oh no. category of realization, probably terrified of taking on more responsibility or obligation to the world when he's so preoccupied with not exploding into ghosts on a regular basis.

Then he saw what the alternative almost was. So.

[thanotosomega]

Maritte: I’m Cold. (Pertisia sits on her lap and cuddles up to her)

Ibn: I’m Cold! (Bax blushes and drapes and arm and his cloak over them)

Ifig: I’m Cold. (Aeldra pulls out a knife and screams in rage and stabs the air for making her girlfriend cold)

[jess-the-vampire]

few more bonus draws for ikenfell

[magnhild]

A Happy Review (kind of) of Ikenfell

Having ADHD means that I have a lot of trouble getting into new media if I’m hyperfixating on something else. As any follower of mine is no doubt aware, my current one is RWBY, and has been for a while. But with the show’s mid-volume hiatus underway, I ended up left in a void with nothing to fill it.

Two days ago, I had a friend reccomened to me a little indie RPG called Ikenfell. I’d never heard of it, but I was told it has a great number of LGBT+ characters, options to make gameplay easier, content warnings, and music composed by the great  Aivi & Surasshu, who you might know as the composers of Steven Universe. This grabbed my interest, but I found myself sketpical that it could be that good, and that the representation, in particular, was largely exaggerated and probably just mild implication. 

Nevertheless, I started the game the next day, intending to play for an hour or so before putting it down again, warning my friend that I was unlikely to get too invested in it.

Almost exactly 12 hours later, I found myself watching the epilogue play out with misty eyes, having finished the game and having gotten deeply pulled into it.

This game was everything it was promised to me and so much more. Between the representation, the accessibility options, and the overall charm of the game, Ikenfell ended up being laregly enjoyable and something truly special; a hidden gem in the plethora of video games released in 2020.

The game follows Maritte Hildegaard, a non-magical teenage girl, on the search for her yes-magical sister Safina, a witch attending the school of Ikenfell. A basic premise on the surface, but the story itself has a lot of neat little twists and turns that all come together for a satisfying story worthy of being animated someday. It probably won’t be, but hey, I can’t dream, right?

To begin with, I didn’t find myself too fond of the battle system, not because I found it flawed, but simply because I personally struggle with video game battles and they can also cause me a great deal of pain due to my connective tissue disorder and chronic shoulder pain. I was getting way too frustrated, even agaisnt smaller enemies, and was ready to put the game down after yet another failure agaisnt the same single boss. Tied alongside the fact you cannot see your enemy’s HP, making strategixing more difficult, I was ready to say that I wasn’t a huge fan of the game.

That is, until I found out about instant victory, an option in the settings that allows you to be given the chance to instantly skip literally any battle in the game, with no negative conequences and all of the rewards. For more avoid gamers, it might be tempting to mark this as a flaw that makes the game ‘too easy’, but is very much optional, and anyone who wants the challenge can play without it if they wish. But for disabled people like me, who also get easily stressed, it was an absolute Godsend that allowed me to focus more on the story and characters, which was what I really cared about.

On the note of characters, the representaion mentioned earlier is certianly no exxageration, with just about every named character being explicily LGBT+ in a way that I’ve never seen before in officially published media. I’m not just talking wlw and mlm characters, though there were plenty. No, the characters aren’t only diverse in sexuality, but in gender as well. Of the six playable characters, three- an entire half- of them are nonbinary. Several human nonbinary characters. And it goes even further- only one of these characters uses they/them pronouns. Why is that good? Because not all nonbinary people do. And that’s something that is severely overlooked by those with binary genders. One of them uses he/him pronouns, and the other uses ze/zir pronouns. You read that right. A main character in a video game, in media at all, that uses neopronouns. Now, I am fully aware that neopronouns have been used in media before; my own set were coined by a book, in fact. But in all of these cases that I’m aware of, they are used exclusively for non-human characters; aliens, bringing an implcation that neopronouns are nonhuman. This case, as far as I’m aware, is the first case that they are used to reflect and represent real human beings, and it is absolutely incredible. The LGBT+ representation in this game is amazing, but there is something very special and signifigant about a black, human, adult character, using neopronouns.

Even better yet is that this is all in the game completely casually, with no fanfare, no dramatic coming-out plotlines, no treatment as if it is anything but normal. Even the one instance of a character accidentally misgender another comes with a quick apology and correction with no big deal. Better yet is that terms like ‘gay’ and ‘nonbinary’ are explicitly used in-text as well, rather than avoiding the use of them as many other instances of LGBT+ characters in media do.

Aside from individual LGBT+ characters, the game also boasts five LGBT+ couples over the course of the story, though one is only sen in flashbacks and another is only mentioned between scenes. Nevertheless, it’s easy to become invested in the slight romantic aspects of the story.

SPOILERS AHEAD

One of these romances is between Ibn Oxley and Bax Twiford, and it’s the first one we see hinted at in the game. During the stoy’s climax, Bax is fatally wounded and I felt a heavy weight in the pit of my stomach, even tweeting an out-of-context ‘OH NO’ to confused and concerened followers. MLM couples in media are all-too-often doomed to fail, usually by way of having one half of the couple be killed off. I feared this would be the same case here, to the only MLM couple in the game, and resigned to it with a hevay heart.

Except, the game surprised me again, and saved Bax before he died, allowing for both characters to get their happy ending. In fact, all of the characters get at least somewhat of a happy ending, a refreshing detail for a sap like me. I was espeically pleased when I sat through the credits, praying for an epilogue that would confirm soemthing I was hoping for, being sure I wouldn’t get it, and then i got it. Every writing choice made felt like one of my own, albiet excuted better, with far more professionalism. It felt so utterly refreshing to have everything turn out the way I wanted it to.

Even decisons made outside of representaion satisified me, like Safina not being forgiven by Maritte after everything she’d done, including keeping Maritte’s entire existance from her friends. In many instances these days, it’s all-too-common for a character to do terrible things, only to be forgiven by everyone the moment they apologie, and it can be a bit frustrating if you’re someone who knows that nobody should ever feel obligated to forgive someone who hurt them, and that an apology is more than just saying ‘sorry’. It was yet another case of the story going exactly as I’d wanted it to.

END SPOILER WARNING

Ikenfell feels just like a fanfiction, and I mean that in the best possible way. Not because it’s exceedingly trope-y, or because it feels amature in any way, but because it doesn’t feel like something that was written for pleasing the (cishet and white) masses when it comes to its representation. The large majority of creators looking to publish their work will avoid going all-out with representation in fear of the classic ‘it’s not realistic’ critisism, with only fanfiction authors usually having the guts to make all of their characters LGBT+, because they’re writing for themselves and a small audience of people who enjoy the same things as them. Ikenfell has this same feel; it wasn’t created to be a huge, wildly popular, chart-topping game, it was created to be something that the people it represented could enjoy. It is the purest kind of video game, not one made for profit or attention, but simply because the creators wanted to create it. The fanfiction vibe also makes a lot of sense, considering the fact that was inspired by them- which may explain why I, laregly a fanfiction writer, agree with so much of its choices.

The game may not be everyone’s thing, but if you’re disabled, LGBT+, a POC, of even just someone who ejoys cute fantasy RPGs, I implore you to buy and play the game, because even my words can’t fully capture what an incredible game it is. There’s stuff I haven’t even mentioned, like the beuatiful music, the great visuals, and the many, many cats, so please, go and check it out for yourself.

Thank you for reading, and thank you to every single person who worked on Ikenfell for crafting such a lovely and inclusive game.

[pangurbanthewhite]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Ikenfell (Video Game) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Ibn Oxley/Bax Twiford Characters: Ibn Oxley, Bax Twiford Additional Tags: Post-Game(s), Introspection, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Developing Relationship, Boys In Love, Kissing, Nightmares, Night Terrors, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Panic Attacks, Headcanon, Boys Kissing, Hugs, Cuddling & Snuggling, Communication, Healthy Relationships, Near Death Experiences, Dark Magic, Sharing a Bed, Bathing/Washing, Hair Washing, Tenderness, Hallucinations Summary:

A look at Ibn and Bax, immediately after the final battle on top of the Spelltower.

Somehow, after everything, they still have to figure out where they're going to sleep that night.

As the night wears on to the dawning of a new season, they each find themselves consumed with thoughts of the past and worries for the future. But whatever their future holds, they remain resolved to be there for each other and to take care of each other, no matter what else might try to tear them apart.

[pangurbanthewhite]

“Ibn, Bax, and Safina all fight the Echoes boss fight as a way to work out some of their lingering issues from the end of the game” is a galaxy brain take if I do say so myself but the downside of it is that now I have to figure out how to a.) write a fight scene and b.) write a fight scene for a gimmick-based bonus boss fight.

[thanotosomega]

this is what happened at the summerstone and i can't be convinced otherwise

Ibn: Prepare for trouble!

Bax: Make it double!

Ibn: To protect the word from devastation!

Bax: To unite all peoples within our nation!

Ibn: To denounce the evils of truth and love!

Bax: To extend our reach to the stars above!

Ibn: Ibn!

Bax: Bax!

Ibn: Team coven blast off at the speed of light!

Bax: Surrender now or prepare to fight!

Gilda(sliding in and dabbing): Meowth that’s right!

[pangurbanthewhite]

your fave paring at the moment, 65~?

Considering 65 as a prompt, there was really only one pairing this could apply to in my brain right now.

(Spoilers for Chapter 8)

“I didn’t tell you that I love you because I wanted to hear it back. I told you because I needed you to know.”

The top of the Spelltower wasn't the last time that Ibn lost control, though it would prove to be the worst time, and there would prove to be a "last time" in their futures.

This time was almost normal. It was almost everything Bax had seen before, everything he'd initially been hired to prevent. The rifts in the air were relatively small, too small for anything but shadows and distant, eldritch screams to escape through. Ibn was still in a mostly human shape.

Their enemies had been reduced to nothing more than a crater but...well, that was almost normal, too.

And yet, Bax couldn't escape the knowledge that maybe this might not have happened without their argument that morning. That was a stupid and dangerous way to think - they couldn't have a relationship like that, if they based Ibn's very humanity on the idea of the two of them always getting along. And yet, the idea weighed heavily on his mind nonetheless as he strode over to where Ibn stood, faceless and panting, at the edge of the battlefield.

Bax had arrived on the scene when the fight was nearing its end, and so he was quite unscathed, still strong enough to reach out with his own powers and start carefully sealing the rifts closed. He had an affinity with shadows, with darkness, and darkness was everpresent in the ghost realm - that affinity was part of why he'd been assigned as Ibn's handler in the first place.

Ibn didn't so much as twitch. Ibn just kept staring towards him, breathing hard and shaking like a leaf.

He didn't flinch when Bax reached out, so Bax went further and drew him into a hug, gently guiding Ibn's face against his shoulder. He felt his partner shudder bodily in response - and then, slowly, his breathing started to even out.

"I know that words are hard for you," Bax continued, waiting patiently and holding him close as Ibn slowly remembered he was human. "Especially...especially when you want to mean them. I understand that. And I know you're trying. That means a lot. I thought you knew I felt that way. But I should have made sure. I'm sorry."

Slowly, he felt arms come around him. For just the briefest instant, he felt claws against his back, dimpling his skin through his cloak - but by the time they clenched tight, they were already fading back into fingers.

"I'm sorry, too," Ibn whispered at last.

He still didn't say "I love you" in that moment, or even on that day. It wouldn't have been the right time. But he would find the strength some day. Bax had faith in him, even when Ibn couldn't have faith in himself.

[pangurbanthewhite]

Ibn, 1, 12, 24~?

/SLAMS HANDS ON TABLE

(Spoilers for Chapter 4 and onwards)

1. Something this character is truly proud of

I think there’s some interesting meta to be written about the degree to which Ibn is or is not honestly proud of his high status in the Coven, which he does seem to have primarily by virtue of the strength his powers give him. I think he enjoys being a celebrity, but I’m not sure if he’s proud of it.

In particular, I think it’s interesting to note that he seems to be well aware of and also to accept the fact that he’s potentially more of a hindrance than a help in a bad situation, that he is at his most effective with Bax - so when Bax sends him away, Ibn actually does try to stay out of things until this spellquakes start tearing up the landscapes and he gets too worried about his partner.

That said, I think he is honestly proud of his alchemy talents and how they serve as a stopgap to allow him to still be useful in a fight with minimal risk to the surrounding area! In his second boss fight where he’s presumably actually trying to subdue you, he can cause real problems with his poisoning abilities! Granted, he’s still leagues behind Petronella - he probably has a lot to learn from them, when they join the Coven, but alchemy still seems to be something he’s enthusiastic about and invested in.

12. How they sleep

Ibn is an extremely restless and fitful sleeper, which I headcanon is because sleep puts his mind on a wavelength naturally more attuned to the ghost realm. If he’s recently had to go full bore on his powers, I think night terrors become pretty much a guarantee for that night and a couple of nights, but his dreams always tend to be very heavy and strange even under normal circumstances. He’s either up and working at 4 a.m. or he sleeps until noon and is groggy for the rest of the day.

24. What they wish they could change about themselves

I think there’s a lot that he does truly like about himself. He definitely wants to be able to better control his powers - but Petronella helps him find a way to do that in the epilogue, so that’s a wish that comes true in decently short order.

I think he wants to be a better and more supportive partner to Bax, and also to be a more honest and communicative person - he never actually says “I love you” over the course of the game! Bax says it for them both. I think it maybe takes him a while to actually string the words together on his own, but he wants to reach that point and be better about his feelings.