egginfroggin · 10 months ago
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Lian and Emmet relationship (wtst).
They're fools, your honor.
Joking aside, I haven't thought too hard about it. Lian is pretty young, so Emmet would probably feel a level of protectiveness just due to how young the kid is. Maybe a little bit baffled at the fact that the Pearl Clan appointed such a young kid to be Warden to such a distant Noble, as Lian is quite, quite far from his home and family.
(Similarly, Emmet just gives Adaman the most disconcerting stare after meeting the tot that is Sabi. Like, bro, why, she is in what is arguably the most merciless part of Hisui and she's even younger than Lian.)
I do think they would get along, and could be considered friends, even though they might not interact too much, what with Lian being mostly in the Heartwood and surrounding forests while Emmet is off literally everywhere else in Hisui doing things for the Pokedex.
I do think that Emmet would enjoy listening to Lian ramble about Kleavor and all the various stones he's studied and found, though -- the kid's cute, oddly familiar, and listening to someone else talk passionately and at length puts Emmet at ease, for some reason.
Lian, similarly, likes having someone to talk to, and although Emmet doesn't say much, he is a very good listener. He's brought the boy stones before, when he's passing through -- ones from the other parts of Hisui, where Lian doesn't get the chance to rock-hunt very much, and rare elemental stones used for evolving Pokemon.
Yeah, I think they're friends. They deserve to be friends.
(There's an odd familiarity about Lian. Something about the hat and the hair, and the overall rather gruff and tough demeanor -- even though Lian is a bit too small to be a properly imposing figure, and he can get riled up easily. He is, after all, still a child)
(Fossils, Emmet thinks one day, entirely out of the blue -- the boy would probably be fascinated by fossil Pokemon)
(And there's a particular Pokemon he thinks would be helpful to Lian and his mining escapades. Small and short-furred, with big claws. It's familiar, and he thinks it gets much bigger when it evolves; regardless of what stage of life it's in, though, it is entirely capable of tunneling through earth and stone alike)
Thank you very much for the ask, Anon! I hope this answers your question, and that you have a very good day.
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maniculum · 9 months ago
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Bestiaryposting Results: Kengliwa
So, as it seems everyone made note of, this week's creature was exceptionally easy to guess. (To the point that a couple people did actually go ahead and name it, which I can't be that annoyed about because I don't think anyone missed this one.) I actually thought about not including it -- I cut a few that were particularly obvious like this one, but this entry was just so beautifully written that I didn't want to not post it. Maybe I should have done a separate post like with the dogs... live and learn, I suppose.
Anyway, previous entries and results can be found here: https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting. And the entry everybody is working from is at the link below:
Art below the cut in rough chronological order, as per usual.
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@sweetlyfez (link to post here) decided to go a bit Beatrix Potter, and produced some frankly adorable shrew-like critters. (And her own alt-text, thank you.) They're dressed in these nice black coats and bowler hats so they can look like the "black column across the fields" described in the entry. I love everything about this. Also, if you want to see a version of this without the linework, check the link above.
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@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) decided to work off of the assertion that Kengliwas prefer wheat to barley because "barley is food for beasts". Naturally this means the Kengliwa must not itself be a beast, and Silverhart reflects that by medieval definition that excludes pretty much everything but birds and fish. So here we have a very small mouse-bird (the results of this one are all very cute, I have to say). And of course it's a flightless bird, because the entry describes them as walking. I'm really struck by the general composition of this one; the tiny bird clinging to the top of a wheat stalk is so well depicted. The colors are great too.
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@cheapsweets (link to post here) followed the same "not a beast" logic as Silverhart, though they also name "serpent" and "worm" as potential non-beast categories. They also picked "bird", because the Kengliwa brings grain back to its nest, and birds have nests, so there you go. I appreciate that they've continued with that connection by having the interior of the Kengliwa burrow lined in a manner reminiscent of birds' nests. (And also that they provided alt-text, thank you.) Speaking of which, check it out, burrowing birds! With a cross-section of their burrow! Delightful. They further speculate that the symbolism attached to this one must be pretty weird given the mixed feelings the author seems to have, so I went and checked...
... there's actually not a lot of symbolism on this one. The highlights are that the divided grain supply represents the division between the Old and New Testaments, and barley represents heresy which is why it is scorned. (Pretty sure lots of people in the Middle Ages ate barley, but I suppose they preferred wheat.) The symbolism is all "things we learn from the good example of this industrious creature", and the entry quotes Proverbs 6:6 -- I'm not copying it here, because even though I'm pretty sure everyone knows what the animal is, the verse in question does name it, and we have a procedure here.
Anyway, as always, I recommend clicking on the link to CheapSweets's post to see their detailed explanation of their design decisions.
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@theforceisstronginthegirl (link to post here) has drawn some ants in their agenda book. I have to admit, I'm not fully sure whether this was meant to be an entry, but you know, there's a picture (with alt-text and everything!) and it's tagged "kengliwa", so in it goes. Honestly I think the highlight here is that they described the creatures in the picture as "scribbles with jobs" which I think is a fun way to describe bugs generally. Very dynamically drawn scribbles too; they're quite expressive.
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@pomrania (link to post here) has drawn a strange and adorable critter. It's giving... lizard-squirrel. Squizard. Particularly delighted by the fact that multiple people decided that such an industrious fellow should be wearing tiny clothing. I think the bag with one (1) grain of wheat in it is a nice touch. You just want to root for this little guy, you know? Also it's worth checking out Pomrania's linked post and associated progress post for some interesting steps in the design process for this one.
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@coolest-capybara (link to post here) continues to deliver beautifully stylized art. They note that they considered rodents, but figured medieval authors would not be nearly this positive about rodents stealing grain, so instead they're lizards. Very good lizards, too! I love the patterning on them and the expressions on their faces. The one on the left scorning the barley is particularly delightful. Coolest-capybara also wonders what the original animal is classified under, if not "beast" -- to which I must say, oddly enough, this one is in with the beasts. I think. Right after this entry is the start of the "birds" section, and right before it is are some various mammals. So either this is the end of the beast section or it's, like, a palate-cleanser in between.
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@strixcattus (link to post here) has also given their Kengliwa clothing, but for a very specific reason: as others have noted, the Kengliwa scorning barley because it's "food for beasts" implies that the Kengliwa are not beasts. Therefore, in Strixcattus's interpretation, they're people. Which is indeed the only non-"beast" category of animal that nobody else has mentioned, as far as I can figure. They're darling. Love the one on the right that appears to be chewing on a straw like your stereotypical farmer, except of course the straw is a single seed with like a bit of stalk attached. And I know I always say it, but you need to go read the linked post for this one. Maybe it's just because worldbuilding is my jam, but I'd happily read a lengthy TTRPG supplement about how Kengliwa society operates. They're like... medieval Borrowers who farm lichen and domesticate ants. I want to know everything about this.
Anyway, here's the Aberdeen Bestiary version:
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That's right, they're scribbles with jobs!
Seriously, it turns out Theforceisstronginthegirl drew basically a dead ringer for the medieval version. Compare the two; the biggest differences are the medium and the fact that the Aberdeen Bestiary includes a nest.
But yes, they're ants. We all know they're ants.
Which should, as CheapSweets alluded to, be classed in with the worms! (Remember, that's a flexible term in the medieval era... especially since this is a Latin text, so it's vermis, like Modern English vermin.) There is a section labelled De vermibus, and these guys aren't in it! It could have really used them, too; I think the Ant entry by itself is the same length as the whole "worm" section.
Anyway. Hopefully next week's will be less obvious... okay, I just checked, it's barely less obvious. But I would put money on nobody guessing the one that posts on the 19th (though that's a pretty short entry, unfortunately).
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starflungwaddledee · 10 months ago
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hello!! its me!! in your inbox again!! Ive gotta know: what kind of thought went into Starstucks design? do you have any beta designs, early sketches, or has she always been so cute?!
HELLOOoooooo yesssss quality asks from moonie!!!! i am always so excited!!! i'll pop this under a cut because it got long, but the short answer is: sadly i'm boring and predictable 😂
i am SO embarrassed to tell you that very little thought went into her design, at least on any sort of... cerebral level. the reason for this is because she is my sona, though she does now have a story of her own, and i personally have an extremely rigid set of personal iconography! both irl and online
i joked with my gf and some friends who know me beyond kirby that if you knew me outside of here you would spot me a mile off because my aesthetics for sonas or personal representation have been rock-solid consistent for almost a decade!
i'm always pink and cream and ice blue, always have star themes, always have grey-blue/pink eyes, always have freckles (often white constellations) over big pink cockatiel cheeks, and always have huge bows 😂 also often i have flower crowns but she avoided this by being All Head. i did accessorise her festive outfit though!
so really... she couldn't have looked much different to how she does. i did add the stars on the bottom of her feet (hidden stars are a typical design choice for me tho) and the heart shaped face marking after drawing her a few times on the blog! i just thought the heart shaped marking added a little interest at the time, especially above the eyes; maybe because i was used to drawing bandee who's bandana covers that top edge of his face marking!
now that some time has passed, of course parts of her design tie into her lore in fun ways ("oh she has stars on her feet!" "what makes the constellations on her cheeks move!" "wow her bow looks a bit like wi-!!"), but that was entirely unexpected when i designed her. i never intended to develop her as much as she has been because the interest from others was frankly so unexpected; but i'm having a total blast doing it!
i also chose a waddle dee rather than any of the other aliens on offer because i personally tend to just... feel pretty average! not impressive or significant enough to be a knight or a puffball or anything like that! waddle dees resonate with me, they're just easily spooked little critters with zero defensive mechanisms doing their best and i can relate to that
though i suppose that it's now rather clear that starstruck is not an average waddle dee, if one at all.. so i guess time will tell
sorry if this is a bit of a let down 😅 the unfortunate answer is that she's based on Me and how i look/feel/dress/etc irl. my hair is that shade of pink. i have an exceptionally comprehensive collection of flower crowns and comedically oversized bows. i am very small and very round. i do have intensive freckles in constellation patterns. sadly, alas, my eyes are only grey-blue. so there was only ever so many variations she'd be able to draw on from my rigid set of aesthetics haha!
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thessalian · 12 days ago
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Thess vs The Demos Strike Back
I find myself at liberty tonight and all of a sudden I have downloaded twenty new demos, plus the couple I still had left. Hopefully I'm not boring anybody. Just ... I like celebrating indie games in my own small way. The AAA games with the huge-ass budgets can take care of themselves. I will give the indie stuff the attention I feel they deserve - well, as best as I can, anyway. Sure, a lot of it is puzzle games etc, but c'mon - they're not as exciting as big flashy ARPGs or shooters, but we don't always want that! So here we go (with a break for a trip to the shops and a bath).
Tiny Tales: Hidden Object - Not much to write home about, and honestly more of a "find the difference" puzzle game than hidden object exactly, so it feels a little disingenuous, but it does more or less what it sets out to do. It's definitely worth looking at if you like that sort of thing. I'm personally more straight-up hidden object or messing-with-the-set-dressing puzzle games than find the difference, though.
Blood Bar Tycoon - bar management simulator, but with vampires. Low-priority, but still a little more interesting, particularly considering extra mechanics like ... well, frankly getting your vampire minions to feed on human customers so they don't starve to death.
PrimRows - it's kind of a sudoku thing, with a few extra rules and mechanics, and flowers instead of numbers. Randomised flowers, so it's not so much as getting the board perfect, but getting as many points as possible. Interesting, at least.
Mushroom Picnic Party - if I get sick of cats? Mushroom hidden object! It's cute, and I like it. Honestly, I kind of like those ones that are just "FIND THE THINGS" more than I do the ones that try to have a story. If I want a hidden object game, I really just want to find objects, y'know?
6-Sided Stories - Meh. It's kind of a puzzle game, but a little overly simplistic ... at least in the demo. It'll go lower on the list until I can find out whether there's more than just "flip whatever hexagons need flipping".
Fix This House - Sort of a puzzle game, sort of a house-builder. Like, very simplistic house-builder. You get pieces of a house and have to figure out how they go together. Controls are a little iffy in terms of camera settings, but something that probably belongs in a mid-position "maybe" on my list.
CraftCraft: Fantasy Merchant Simulator - This one's a merchant / crafting sim that really focuses on the crafting element. There's a lot of moving parts and mechanical tweaking, rather than just Click The Thing To Create. Which is a good thing sometimes, but not going to be a Forever Zen game, really. Still makes the list; it's amusing and interestingly, probable-hyperfocus fiddly. Though I might change my mind if they keep hiding the Quit key. (Also the dev has made a few more games and they all have demos, so playing demos is getting me more demos.)
Critter Cafe - Okay, this is another one that when the demo ended, I went, "Wait nooooooooo!" This one is another cafe simulator time management game, with puzzles and exploration and decorating and creature collector with some interesting Zen-platformer mechanics. And the character creator is adorable. I want this one.
That's probably enough for one day / evening. More tomorrow. For now, tidy up the wish list again, and start to wind it down for the night. I feel a little better, but that might have to do with having used my air fryer for the first time. It's a good one, though I will want a larger one when I have more kitchen.
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greenlodgecypher · 11 months ago
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The Skipper
A Short Story, by Gillian
Part 1
I do not often see dress clips in my investigations. Frankly, I don't see them often enough at all!
My mother doesn’t get many through her shop. It’s a bit of a pity; if I could get brooches with the right clip, I would use them on necklines and vest-edges, ties and cuffs alike.” Eliot looked aside, and I grinned at her. "They're just what they say; a clip. You stick it on wherever your garment has an edge. I don't think they date to earlier than the 20s, and by the 50s they just didn't stick around. The Coro duette, or symmetrical dress-clips with uniting mount, were a flash in the pan. "So. Imagine my surprise when Mother called me in for these." I set out the photos. The clips were triangular, with leaf-curves along their long points, and about two inches long each. The whole surface was flat, unpunched or cut, and relieved only by applied gold-work. A round gem sat on the base-side of the triangle, its intaglio carving oriented so that the whole clip would point downwards. "They're not the style you'd usually see in a dress clip. The style is that of Castellani, and I have no idea whether that shop produced any such work. I'm still waiting on a call back, but I'm not holding out hope. "It is gold; the gems were carved, too, with the skill of Castellani. But look at the design! Nothing like that ever came out of the 'archeological' style." I passed the photos around. "Is it something that was remade into a clip?" Atwood conjectured. "Very possibly," I said. "So, the piece itself is odd; but I suppose someone considered it a matter of taste. It's the gems that were bizarre to me. The intaglio gems fit the rest of the style, as far as that goes; but the subject!" I spread my hands in near-ridicule. "Look at the two of them! That thing there, that's facing the right." "It's… cute?" Eliot said. "It's got great round eyes." "It took me a week to remember where I had seen it," I said. "Here." "Dear god, you're enjoying this too much," Sayers said. "It's a telescopefish," I told her. "Deep sea critter. Doesn't it look like one?" "I suppose it could," Atwood said. "And the other…" I trailed off. "Sea star?" Eliot asked. "A plant," Atwood said. "Or a face—" "No," Sayers said. "It does look like a fossil crinoid, doesn't it?" I said, grinning at her. "I wasn't going to say face-hugger." "Nonsense. The Romans didn't know what they were," Sayers said. "Or will you say they're ghost crinoids, hn?" "Not this time," I said. "And I'm sure the ancient Romans might have seen a fossil crinoid. And the jewels could be modern. There's just no telling." "So why did they come to you, then?" Sayers asked. "That's the funny part," I said. "So I have here someone's… journeyman art project, or perhaps a nineteen-twenties fusion that was tasteless at the time and simply reads as spooky now. But this didn't come from a customer, Sayers. I inherited it." "Ohhh," Eliot said quietly, smiling. "The plot thickens." "Some of you may recall my grandfather," I said. "He was a character; he spent some of his life in his parents' native Britain, but they never forgot their Scottish heritage. I think he'd never let us forget it, either, certainly not when it came to toll roads! But he loved sailing. And this, you understand, is something he found." "Found," Sayers said. "Oh yes," I said. "Found, out on the ocean."
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noblest-roman-of-them-all · 4 years ago
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What if Remus can't summon anything "good" or "cute" like Roman can. He finds it super hard, sl the few good things he does make, he hoards. He keeps the non-living things in a box under his bed, keeps the animals in a private stretch of the Imagination he made just for them, and keeps plants in a garden
Remus is 100% Creativity just just same as Roman is. And Before we get to far into the discussion about what Remus can or cannot create, I want to remind everyone that Roman, Prince of Creativity and Lover of Disney, killed off Olaf in a fanfic. Not only did he kill of Olaf, but he did so slowly and in front of Anna.
Which is pretty dark if you ask me.
So now that we've established that Roman can get pretty dark, let's take a look at Remus.
Three instances come to mind
1. The shoe stack challenge. Which is established as not Roman, and involved touching and sniffing other people's shoes. Which is just gross, frankly, safe to say this was Remus's idea
2. "Aww. This is me electrifying my brother." Now as kids do we generally think about all that would happened were someone to be actually electrocuted? Of course not! Cartoon logic tells us they're fine. As adults we know otherwise.
3. "And hopefully not visions of your naked Aunt Patty." I know this is a Roman line, but in DWIT...
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The third point is most interesting because it really show cases the overlap of the Twins abilities.
Which is a very long and round about way to say that if Roman can kill off Olaf in a fic, and if they can cause the same intrusive thought, I'd say it's safe to say that Remus can create some beautiful things, but he chooses not to at all or else chooses not to share them.
He has the role he's been given and he'll do his best to fulfill that role. Because he understands that he is just a piece of a whole and no matter what Thomas or the others think of him, he knows he has a place and he makes Thomas just as whole as Roman does.
So he lets Roman take the spot light and sticks to the background, silently offering silly games, and lewd jokes.
(Also just as bonus, some of the most brightly and beautiful colored frogs or flowers or other critters are deathly poisonous for other animals to consume. Beauty can be deceptive and I really think that would be right up Remus's alley. He had a whole garden of the spine shooting flowers from the original Jumanji.)
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