#not detailed shape wise but like pattern wise

[thewrittingpan]

Random Head cannons:

Lilia

I firmly believe that he would have a Mountian Dew addiction- sure I think other sodas are possible too like Dr. Pepper but there’s this “dad clock” that has haunted every divorced father I’ve met and it’s a Mountain Dew clock and it always hangs on the wall where the kitchen meets the dinning table. Don’t ask me why it’s a trend in my life that’s between me and my therapist but I feel that Lilia would probably own one in his gamer room.

Speaking of which he’s got a damn gammer room. I’ve admittedly been out of the loop event and plot wise since the release of ignihide’s chapter (I can not spell forgive my dyslexic ass), but it doesn’t matter if it’s just his bedroom, a whole separate room, a streaming room or not. It has a fancy custom built pc, one that lights up and the whole room is themed to match. It’s very well put together and could probably pay my college tuition with the merchandise he may collect.

I personally think that since Lilia is so old, he tends to hoard things. It obviously snuck into my fic Ring of Mushrooms with just the whole house being a cluttered mess of history. Some of it is me trying not to be a hoarder myself but living nicknack because I am just a bird in a human shape, but he just has a lot of things he forgets about.

Call it time blindness, forgetfulness, or sentimentality but he just keeps pictures, books, gifts, random things his sons have drug into the house or stuffed into their pockets. He has jars of buttons that Malleus collected as a toddler, the shiny rocks Silver picked up by the stream, he’s the type of guy to have a full box of the same pencil because it’s his favorite and there was a rumor it was being discontinued.

I also think that he has a soft spot for pinks and pastels especially when the boys were young. Mint/sage greens were a common choice for blankets, hats, and mittens. He also probably color coded the boys. It doesn’t matter if they were the same age or not just for ease and avoiding fights he totally did.

Lilia probably has a bunch of abandoned hobbies. Things he did long enough to have a humans level of decent but not great. if he were to “relearn” it he would appear to be a savant to a real beginner. Some of these hobbies include: Calligraphy, Crochet, Knitting, Fish lure making, Astronomy, Woodworking

Hobbies he would be bad at:

Drawing/Painting, he has a bad understanding of color but a great eye for depth and detail. The forms are always very off putting though.

He tried birdwatching he isn’t bad at it per se, but he often gets interrupted or caught up in something that is not the birds.

He wanted to do quilting and scapbooking, it’s not that he can’t do them either but he always forgets the projects. The scrapbooks mostly the quilts he has a lot more practice with as baby shower gifts for neighbors and for his own kids. Yet his stiches can be sloppy same with the binding.

He has a fondness for spinel gems he likes the wide array of colors like most gems but he likes a lot of the vibrant pinks they come in

Malleus

I think malleus would have a habit of forgetting to eat if not reminded or brought food. I cannot explain why I think this I just have a hunch.

I think Malleus is great at word puzzles and puzzles in general, it’s not inherently that he’s super smart but he just knows patterns more often than not. However he is quite horrible at pop culture references and trivia. For example he is good at Wordle, Sudoku, crosswords, and connections, but since crosswords and connections often have pop culture references those are the ones he struggles with most.

When he was young he collected things. I mean a lot of things, buttons, pins, rocks, pinecones, leaves, he pressed and dried flowers, half of his room was just wall-to-wall collections. This continued on until now but it’s just gotten more mild, though it flares up during stressful times.

He’s very good at quilting if I had to assign a good trade themed hobby. I’m open to other needle crafts like embroidery or cross-stitch but I think quilting is something that gets done during school breaks and he often sews in former button collections to them.

I think he has an aversion to some kind of food, whether it be things like a texture like he doesn’t like the feeling of bananas or the taste of pees makes him nauseous. I don’t think it’s an allergy or anything just something that physically makes him feel like death is the only solution to the minor inconvenience.

He’s a peridot guy sure emeralds work too but if he’s being honest the peridots are cuter

Silver

One time he had a talking to about throwing sand. He was only three at the time but it had to be revisited after an incident with an ant hill when he was four.

He sleeps in a funeral-showing sort of way. His hands clasped on his chest while he lays on his back. He rarely moves in his sleep, but cheese can cause him to sleep walk.

Speaking of which he has a mild lactose intolerance. He doesn’t care to actively avoid dairy but he often forgets he has it. On many occasions he has eaten too much dairy and was genuinely confused by the way he was having tummy troubles.

He cries at weddings.

He doesn’t cry at funerals.

Silver has this hobby of wanting to bird hunt but falls asleep too often. He does however have some half okay drawing skills. Enough to have an upper hand in Pictionary maybe but a good hand on proportions and the details are messy but it works.

He has a fondness for pearls it’s the type of jewelry he thinks is the most beautiful.

[neptunianlovers]

ℍ𝕠𝕨 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕘𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕓𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕥𝕠 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕤𝕖𝕝𝕗?

hi everyone! welcome back :)

i hope you're having a wonderful day wherever you are. it's raining and snowing where i am and i'm hoping it just turns to snow at some point. i started working out today for the first time in a few months and wow, i was humbled. lol. i am a little out of shape but that's okay. i'm taking baby steps to get back into it and it feels good right now. i'm back to give you all a reading and without further ado, here are your piles. please take a moment to meditate on the question and pick the pile that draws you in the most. i hope you enjoy the reading :)

𝓟𝓲𝓵𝓮 1

Overall energy is the king of cups and your spread: 4 of swords, queen of swords, page of cups

immediately, i am getting a creative energy from this pile. the first thing that comes to mind is something with fashion and texture. i think you might enjoy thrifting/shopping and putting outfits together. or putting outfits together like in a mood board arrangement with color coordination. you might also have an eye for thrifting and seeing something in clothes that others might now. for example, you might be the type to see an outdated shirt that doesn't really follow the trends pattern and cut wise but you play around with it and make it fit. you make it fit for you and make it look good. you bring it back to life. it feels very detailed and tailored but very beautiful as well. also very venusian. like it has to be aesthetically pleasing. there's something different about the way you do things creatively that stands out but i'm getting you might not see it that way. you might be hard on yourself for the way you do things because it doesn't follow the way of everyone else. it doesn't fit in with the trends. i'm getting that you're quirks are unique to you. just as you might not do things the way someone else does it, they won't be able to do things the way you do it. we're all born different and come ingrained with our own set of experiences, skills, and strengths. don't be afraid of letting yours shine.

i think the way you can give yourself love might be to embrace your individuality within your creations more. there is nothing wrong with the way you make your art and you'll attract the people that appreciate it just as you do when you embrace it as well. i'm also seeing something about the outdoors as well? perhaps your body and soul loves the outdoors more than you think it does and would love to go out in the sun, play in the water, or go out for hikes and walks. something along those lines. i think the earth and outdoors can provide more healing and replenishment for us more than we think and even just a 15 minute walk a day would be healthy and loving <3

𝓟𝓲𝓵𝓮 2

overall energy is the 10 of wands and your spread: king of wands, 5 of swords, 2 of pentacles

are you being totally honest with yourself about something? i'm getting that you're not. the energy here is that you're very off balance and tired i would say. overburdened with work and the responsibilities of life and i dont think you know when to say enough. i see deep down that you're harboring a lot of resentment towards whatever the source of this is but you're good at keeping your cool. you keep it reserved and don't let it out which, yes, in some cases might be a good thing but, in the long run won't be so good for you lovey.

i understand that it's difficult to press pause on our responsibilities such as work and bills. but i think the way you can give back to yourself is to start constructing some more boundaries for yourself between work and your personal life. you need more personal time for yourself. time to relax and rejuvenate. if that's not possible, i see writing is also on the table as well. i think you should try this regardless and discuss how you're feeling each day, describe what your day was like, describe how you would like your day to go etc. i enjoy writing and just letting my entire thoughts write themselves on the paper without too much thought. it helps me to see everything clearly and understand how i am feeling. i also find that i will feel better after writing like this too and it might benefit you as well. i also think you need to be honest with yourself about what you can and cannot handle. don't take on projects and extra work because you're worried about what people might think if you say no. screw that. you matter more. your self preservation matters more. prioritize yourself. there is nothing wrong with that at the end of the day and if all you can do is the bare minimum. do that. you're doing your best and that's all that matters <3

𝓟𝓲𝓵𝓮 3

overall energy is the 10 of wands and the spread: the sun, king of cups, 6 of pentacles, 9 of wands

pile 3, i'm getting similar energy from pile 2 here. your energy is overburdened and heavy but i think for different reasons. i feel that you might not celebrate your individuality and kindness enough. you might be the kind of person that is more than willing to give kindness and love to others. you're always celebrating other people but perhaps don't match that energy with yourself. and i think the way you can give back love to yourself is shower yourself with love and let yourself shine more! i'm getting some venusian energy here for you and i think you may need to embody that more. i think you could do well with romanticizing your routine. some things that i am seeing for you is giving yourself more baths and perhaps adorning them with flowers such as roses, oils, salts etc. maybe lighting some warm scented candels while you're in the bath as well would be nice. i think you could also benefit from some loving affirmations to yourself and mirror work. saying affirmations to yourself before bed or saying them to yourself in the mirror. i don't know if you're the type to do your makeup at all but if that's something you enjoy, i think you should use that to your advantage and play with it more everyday. it's fun to be expressive through makeup and maybe this is something that would help bring you out of your shell.

i will be honest pile 3, your energy is difficult to read. it's reminding me of the hermit energy a little bit so i am surprised that this card didn't come out in your spread. but i do see you hiding yourself quite a bit and you're on guard with your personality. but you have a vibrant one lovey. you're not meant to hide. its hard to constantly hide who you truly are and i have to emphasize that it will hurt you in the long run. don't be hard on yourself and know that you're loved and will continue to find people who love you wherever you may go. you bring unique things to the group that others may not possess.

[witchofthesouls]

Man, I keep going back to The Donor Clause AU because I really like the Camien nurse's voice, and now I just really want to delve into Caminus culture-wise.

Caminus is deeply religious and seems to be modeled as a theocracy since they completely venerate the Primes as true gods, especially Solus.

That has to have a major influence in their entire society, if not the most important one. Not just policies, but even shaping their communities, mannerisms, and behaviors.

And with additional details of their planet being resource poor and a dormant Titan that was Solus', we need more spirituality and religious shaping/imagery.

Cityspeakers being seen as minor celebrities or living patrons as those sparks are able to commune far deeper with a dreaming Caminus.

More cooperative and charity/social work. A necessity due to lack of resources and a spiritual one as Solus was a blacksmith deity - she didn't just forge weaponry but tools for the community as well. Can be linked to forge imagery, too, as it can take form as a hearth of a home. It would act both as a glue to bind every citizen and a warden to keep people in check.

Canon-wise, Camiens deeply support the arts to the point that each citizen should at least make attempts to fulfill some sort of performance. So what do they write and muse over? What are the themes, allusions, and tropes that grasp their souls? Do they emphasize the process or the result? Is their a difference?

The roles of faith healers and blacksmiths among them. Like, what if full-fledged medics on Caminus undergo rituals and processes to enhance compatibility with their Titan's systems to tap into his energy to channel into patients? Cityspeakers have the right to draw Caminus' facial patterns, but medics reserve the right to wear additional kibble to mimic Camimus' helm. Were blacksmiths considered holy sparks with their ability to shape newsparks to their true form?

Caminus didn't have Functionism, so what if citizens had to fulfill multiple roles or had far easier access to move across different fields?

How is death viewed and regulated? Do they recycle by splitting parts during prayer or use ceremony to send frames into a smelter? Is it assigned to Megatronus, who once courted Solus and was her killer? Are those assigned to care to the dead are viewed as tainted by Megatronus or Unicron?

[cookieeks-art]

Here’s a little project I worked on last year, but kinda, forgot to post? It’s a fake Red shoes art book spread for Edda! The composition, and art styles used, is mainly based on Snow White first page, and Arthur's second page from the actual art book, including of course the artist featured in them (aka Jeon Mi-jin (전미진) who drew the art that the art on the first page and the drawing to the top right on the second page is based on, Kim Sang-jin (김상진) aka Jin Kim who drew the art that the first drawing and the four lower drawings in the second page are based on, and Choi Minjeong (최민정) who drew the the art that the top middle drawing on the second page is based on.) (I had to use Google translate to get the names in the Latin alphabet, so I apologise if there’s any mistakes, I tried to keep the Korean name order for all the names, with the exception of Jin Kim.) [EDIT: I took a closer look Arthur’s first page today and realised that it served as a bigger inspiration for the first page that I drew then I remembered when first posting this, so shout out to that page as well which have two drawings made by Jeon Mi-jin and Choi Minjeong respectively.]

If you’ve been around for a bit you might also notice that two of the drawings on the second page are redraws of older sketches, which I mostly did as a fun treat for myself, since I find redrawing old art pretty fun. I also took this opportunity to give Harriet’s clothes a small makeover, taking some inspiration from Snow herself, a bit from the shapes of Drottning Kristinas gowns (like the drape around her shoulders and how puffy their arms are, and the general shape of the collar), and most likely from looking at details of other dresses I can’t recall at the moment (I do specifically remember looking up images of historical lace collars to get an idea of how they could look, but I don’t remember if I looked at a specific site or what sites I could have looked at in that case). I tried to keep it relatively simple with some spots for details, but looking at it now I’m not entirely sure how well it would fit the movies vine fashion wise (both Regina’s and Snow’s dresses both feel pretty modern to my amateur eyes looking at the cuts and shapes), then again I guess I can always say that the fashion is different kingdom to kingdom I suppose.

Also small shout out to Kay @the-moonlightknight who was someone who helped years ago to actually put words to Eddas personality back when I had to make a reference sheet for a discords event, which is the reference I went back to and used small parts of when writing the text for the first page.

(ID in alt and under the cut)

[ID:

Two fake Red shoes art-book pages depicting my oc Edda and Harriet (A pale chubby woman, with deep eyebags, brown hair and grey eyes).

The first shows Harriet, dressed in a blue dress with lace and snowflake themed embroidery, wearing a crown and matching necklace, with her hair up in a ponytail, is looking forlornly at the viewer, her hands held before her. Edda, dressed in her casual while fluffy shirt, dark muddy red skirt and bodice, and brown leather boots, is looking to the side with a lopsided smile and holding out her knife. Cookieek is written under both of them. Behind them is a wavy dark red graphic with a pattern of thin leaves. In the bottom right corner is two patterns running side by side, one of simple tight stitches, and a more detailed snowflake inspired embroidery pattern. To the upper right of the page is a block of text titled “Edda & Harriet”, and reading: “Edda is a wise woman in the woods that Arthur stumbles upon after entering Frode kingdom to search for it’s missing princess. Edda is also the identity taken on by said missing Princess Harriet after she was able to leave the castle behind. Her life as a mistreated princess has left her jaded and with a distain for nobility and royalty, but her escape has given her hope for a better life. In leaving the identity as Harriet Edda has made a big change in her way of dress, as well as letting the mask she’d been forced into as a royal slip. She’s determined, eccentric, and considerate, with a hunger for magic knowledge. At first she doesn’t realise she’s falling for Arthur, taken in by his ridiculous yet sensitive personality and his way of smiling, but when she does she’s sure she can’t tell him at risk of making things uncomfortable between them. She doesn’t realise that a lot of the ridiculous things Arthur has done has been to show love for her, and that they are both just as willing to sacrifice themselves for the other.”

The second is a page with drawings of Edda and Harriet. The first is a grey scale drawing Harriet looking mentally exhausted, with a thousand yard stare in a profile view. Second is a head shot of Harriet crying in a blue frilly nightgown as pale hands with long nails grip the sides of her face, tips of light brown hair hovering above her. Third is a drawing of Edda sitting and talking to someone while smiling as if she’s about to laugh. Fourth is a collection of greyscale drawings of Edda making a few expressions, such as: 1, looking intrigued while grinning sinisterly with a shadow over her eyes as she holds her chin, 2, looking in awe of something with shine in her eyes, her hands hovering in front of her, 3, looking embarrassed and startled, a blush across her face and her fist held to her chest, 4, scowling deeply with a dark shadow over her eyes. Cookieek is written under all of the images.

End of ID]

[shannonsketches]

I have a headcanon I'm curious about your opinion on if you don't mind, as I've seen many differing opinions on this.

In BotW, Urbosa brings up Nabooru by name, even stating her to be the namesake of Divine Beast Vah Naboris. The Divine Beasts are also believed to be based off of the masks once worn by the ancient Sages, and to me the way the avatars wear the old sage helms when you put on the Divine Helms all but confirms it.

The Nabooru we know and love, I am not sure how likely it is her name alone survived all the way to Hyrule, especially having the ancient part of TotK being over 10,000 years before the Era of the Wilds, and OoT being even further before that (at least as I headcanon it. Hyrule has been destroyed and refounded before. Why couldn't it have happened again?)

That being said, I believe that while the tale of the Sage of Spirit may not have made it to the creation of the Divine Beasts, her name did, often being a beautiful and strong name for young Gerudo. Eventually this name landed upon the young girl who would eventually grow up to harness the very power of the skies, gaining the graces of the newborn kingdom of Hyrule and fighting against her people's corrupted, demonic king, donning a mask that would inspire a machine that embraced her power and then mothering a bloodline of strong matriarchs who would carry her command over lightning in their blood.

Therefore: I believe that the Sage of Lighting from the Era of Myth is named Nabooru, likely unknowingly sharing the name of another great Gerudo hero from a time long forgotten.

That's a great headcanon, and it works well within your framing! And I agree that there's probably been thousands of children named after the original sages. It sounds solid to me!

I haven't read much on the differing headcanons, so I'm in no place to really compare them opinion-wise, as I personally don't place the Wilds Era with the other timelines. It feels to me like a retcon/consolidation of all the games, so I don't try to place it in concurrence, but I salute those of you who do! It's hard work!

This isn't intended to debunk anyone's theory, I'm just gonna ramble about neat things in Game Design real quick lol

I do think there are very distinct and intentional design pulls from Nabooru in the SoL's design that are not (as far as I know) consistent with other Gerudo design, including Riju and Urbosa. Though her design is Completely Different from Nabooru in OoT, there are a lot of very subtle detail references:

Credit to @/sidonisms for the model pull

The most obvious to me is the color of her secret stone: Despite the color for lightning stones in both BotW and TotK being topaz (Ganondorf's favored gem and pre-triforce ability in OoT) and it becoming more of a gold on Riju, this sage's stone is specifically the color of the Spirit token from Ocarina of Time (shown more clearly below). It's also the same shape, but I've dismissed that since they're all the same shape.

She also appears to be one of the few if not the only?? Gerudo with a vertical earring, where most of them wear hoops (also true in OoT! The other Gerudo wear studs like Ganondorf did pre-timeskip -- fun fact, Ganondorf wears hoops in TotK).

While most Gerudo wear an arm band or two, most of them are solid bands. The Sage's, I suspect, is intentionally complex (albeit much more simplified than OoT's) to be reminiscent of Nabooru's. The placement and shape language in her necklace, the placement and stone pattern of her belt, the golden leg braces that only resemble Ganondorf's also imply references to me (only Nabooru and Ganondorf wore the star shaped crests in OoT), and her neon lip color! Which I take to be a reference to Nabooru's original Ganguro Girl design influence.

ALTHOUGH,

It's also very possible that they split Nabooru's aspects into two separate characters; As this woman's high ponytail in a golden cuff, distinctly shaped/colored necklace, and apparent status as Ganondorf's right hand also appear to be direct references to Nabooru:

Maybe it's like Majin Buu and they split her into Nabu and Ru.

Or OOOOH MAYBE it's the SAME character, and it IS a direct reference to OoT Nabooru, since they both have the same eyes and lips and skin tone (and nail polish!), and she just changed her look when she started doubting Ganondorf. I think I just gave myself a new hc, haha, thank you for making me think about this.

ANYWAY!!

For me and my headcanons I feel exactly the same way about the Sage of Lightning that I do about TotK Ganondorf in that -- Yep, that's Nabooru. Also, it's not Nabooru at all. It both is and isn't. It's Naboo-AU-ru.

But my personal hcs aside, I think yours work very well within your framing and make a lot of sense! My opinion is "Yes, Good."

[eyes-inthe-dark]

Hi Hello I actually make things sometimes

I don't know if anyone who follows me is interested in this stuff bc I very rarely post things from my own life, but I decided to be a little more active on here besides reblogging funny shit regarding my current hyperfixation.

So, here is the (incomplete) crafting diary of a neurodivergent trans person surviving christmas with the family and the dark and dreadful times (winter) in general by making shit! with my hands!

First: fiber stuff

I picked up tablet weaving over the last few months of 2023 and made my first pair of somewhat mistake-free shoelaces over the holidays! Only got the pattern completely right on the second try with the red but both laces now get to add a fun little detail to my shoes.

Next I tried a more complicated pattern and experimented a lot, hence the irregular pattern and troubleshooting at the start of the band. I'm now repurposing it as a camera strap and I learned a lot from it tho.

My current setup is basic cardboard tablets (I had to make extra ones so I had enough for the last band with 30 cards), tying the warp to something sturdy like a bookshelf, and sitting down with a backstrap belt on the other side of the room. I used thin wool yarn for this, which stuck to itself quite a lot, but not too much to be unmanagable, and I really like how the finished product feels.

If anyone's interested, I could make a longer post on how I made the shoelaces, I think it's a very beginner friendly project.

I managed to get my hands on a drop spindle and gave that a try, but I ran out of wool after making a very small amount of very chunky yarn and am currently working out where to best get sth local. It was fun tho!

I also finally finished the knitted scarf that has been in my wip pile for... approximately three years? I started it when I was still in school, feels like an eternity ago. It's just a simple (although very long) red wool scarf, but it keeps me nice and warm in this cold, harsh- *checks weather* ...5°C and neverending rain.

Next up: woodworking!

Noodled around with my grandpa's old dremel that we still had lying around, which resulted in this truly terrifying weapon:

Behold! I named it Toothling. It's great for poking friends and family when they least expect it.

This was more of a test run to see if it all still works and to try out doing small scale work with wood, now I gotta think of something fun to make. (I say, as if I didn't already have 50 different ideas)

Before that fuckery, I made this magnetic dice box/rolling tray for my lovely partner's birthday.

Though I don't feel like I can take credit for working the CNC magic on this, I did all the hands-on work with the sanding, assembling the magnets, shellac coating, and whatnot. I'm pretty sure wood is some sort of fruit tree, since it smells strongly of what I suspect might be plum or cherry.

Last but sure as fuck not least: embroidery

This I actually get professional instruction for at uni. I've kinda lost patience for it atm, but mostly because I cannot resist making unnecessarily complicated pieces with tiny little stitches and then am forced to finish it because I do actually kinda need to pass this class. My lecturer keeps telling me not to go so detailed, yet I have proven resistant to her good advice. But, I figured if I have to make two full pieces of embroidery to be graded on and put hours of work into, I might as well choose designs that I can turn into patches for my jacket:

Catha and Ruidus! I love me some big moon little moon imagery. The prompt was to incorporate most of the techniques/stitches we've learned so far. Added the little gold chain stitch around ruidus for the arcane latticework. It came out a little wonky shape wise, but I love it nonetheless.

And my most recent wip, a stained glass window design with the Ninth House skull and Gideon's sword behind it, to feed my current Locked Tomb obsession.

And that's it!

[soulren]

There's bad places in the world, you know. I heard an old man tell me this, through a migraine aura so bad I felt like the sun was coming straight towards me and me alone. There are bad people in the world, he said, but those were simple. Thoughts and bad ideas, childhood shit that was never worked out curled like uncut fingernails into harm. Bad places are dramatically different. Somewhere you feel short of breath, for no reason at all. Somewhere a detail sticks out, unnerves you where it really shouldn't. Your feet crunch heavy in the snow beneath a bridge where someone spray-painted the words "daddy longlegs" into the wall. The second "l" is faded. The paint is thin, black. Too thin. They must've done it from afar, or had a lot of control. Thinking about those details helps you. You can almost pretend the cold on your skin is the only sensation the darker and damper parts of your brain is sending. Does it remind you of the attic? Most kids have an attic. Not their own, not their attic or your attic. The attic. The one they went up into with a friend or all alone, at a house that might've been their parents or someone else's. Back when every shadow and around every corner was a place that imagination flooded and grew like mold-filled maple syrup. The attic where one might race down, swearing that they heard something stir, that they saw a shape. The details are embellished later. And when something bad finally happens in that place, no matter how small, even if just a feeling, some small part of you blamed the attic. Blamed the bad place. Where nothing quite sat right, for a reason you just couldn't place. A place where you'd feel uncomfortable breaking the silence, or fixing the noise. The man I mentioned at the start didn't tell me all of this. He didn't have too. Just a bit. Enough to get the mind rolling. Now I'm saying just a bit more. Pushing the ball down the hill. Into the thicket where you worry you'll see eyes. Past that one tree that feels wrong to stare at in the field, even during the day. Away from that alley you'd rather not cut across even though you're big and grown now. Through that one spot on the train station where you imagine someone once got into a fight, surely. That'd explain that feeling. We like to imagine we'd recognize the supernatural. That we'd be able to point it out, to articulate it. That somewhere there's a big book that'll give you the locations of impossible places, people in busy hats and creatures with strange patterns in their fur. But for something to be wrong, to defy the natural, it would have to be outside our perception. When we look up into the sky our eyes do not affix onto dark matter. They see the stars. We love their beauty, are terrified by how they die, and use them to navigate. We don't see into the black holes, the pockets of nothing. We often like to imagine that in times before there were people who wielded magic, waved their hands or used what we now know to be science to solve things. But there were most certainly others. The tunnel rats. The ones who ran off, who stayed close, who noticed just a bit more, thought about things in just a bit of an odd way. Who noticed the bad places, felt unsettled by them. The truly wise to the unknown of the world aren't those who peer with magnifying glasses, or those who shake sticks in the desert, or anything in between. It's the ones who keep their mouths shut, absorb and shake at odd feelings they get up high on planes or in front of a row of pines stretching back deep into the mountains. Or above a grate between two apartments with a grey stain on one wall. The ones who, every time they get a feeling they haven't found in any dictionary yet, even the ones passed down by grandparents far more into the esoteric than them, despite a quiet and tentative desperation, silently hope that this isn't it. That this isn't the time when it happens, when it comes. When they see. When they realize. The ones who have no idea what "it" is. The ones who, though they may keep looking at them from afar, avoid the bad places.

[feengoid]

do you have any advice for making fancherubs😨😨😨i must consult the cherub master…..

cherub master..?! well, i dont know about that.. i think i can name a few people that are better fitted cherub masters.. but, um..

i dont really follow a general rule of making characters, especially for cherubs (i do for trolls most of the time, but those are just super nitpicks, being an mspa art enthusiast and all), and im also really bad at giving advice, but sure i can try to give some tips.

one that i think is somewhat crucial is defining the dualities and personalities of your cherubs. its not really big design-wise, but knowing how each personality is like can help on that, along just being nice to see what contrasts well or not. calliope and caliborn i see as the de-facto cherubs, one being morally good and the other morally bad and stuff, i think they had a bit more going on but it isnt worthy going into details, but you can do the duality about anything almost, as long as it fits (though its still good to stick to that main principle of good/bad, its a pretty good base). my big main ocs, calabraz and callunia, follow the duality of one being about truths and obsession, while the other is about lies and compulsion.

another one can be about their enviroment and living situations. this one ties a lot more to design when really envisioning it, because it directly affects how much pizazz you can really put into the clothing (or not, if you just dont really care). like, caliborn and callipe had nice clothes and all because they lived in a meteor station, with outside influenc from gamzee nonetheless. if your cherub doesnt have as many resources as that, which it will probably not have seeing that most cherubs are born on dead or dying planets, it will probably have a hard time getting to that same degree of fancyness ! but that still should not stop you from giving it your all on the design. be it robes, tribal wear, space suits, you name it, really try your best to make it stand out and unique to the cherub. bonus points if the outfits can change between personalities, like one part using an extra, removeable piece that the other doesnt, or even some mystical aspects like color changing jujus and the like. go wild, but mindful.

now for actual physical properties of cherubs? i dont really know what to say. if you feel like going for a standard cherub with not much going on, go ahead and just follow the same principles as the cherubs in homestuck, be it caliborn and calliope, lord english, or even their parents (you can study a lot about how cherubs look from that ! just following patterns you see in their scenes on how theyre drawn and other tidbits is really useful). BUT ! i think that you can also just go absolutely insane with the designs, thats something i really want to see a lot in more cherub ocs. different skull shapes, extra limbs, unusual appendages and forms, even different types of skeletal animals, that stuff is always good. just experiment! see what fits and doesnt. id just say to try and still make it "cherub-y", if that makes sense. get their feel first.

if you want any resources on cherub stuff, i do have a google doc and fan cherub subtypes that are totally free to look at and use for things.

id also suggest looking at other artists that do it well ! not evne on the fancherub department but just cherubs in general. my main inspo for a lot of years were sketchoodles, lystheni, imac and quite a few others (and they still are ! really good artists that are worthy checking out). but keeping in mind to not just outright steal from them. referencing in moderation is key, always.

and thats it ! at least what i can type out. i hope this isnt too much, or too nonsensical even, i feel like other people can give better advice on this probably. but its what i can do ! so i hope it helps <:)

[maystea]

The house of cards: the beginning.

Is it new for The Devil Judge to put the whole plotline into small details? No, it’s not. And while we’re always paying attention to such things as emotions or misleads in dialogues, today I want to talk about... cards. And to be exact, about their meaning and how they’re used in the show.

There will be three posts, and the main one is the third one. But before we get to it, we need to understand the meaning and the impact that cards have on the plot. Take a cup of tea because it’s going to be a veeeery long story.

　

— The first building.

The first time we see a house of cards is in ep.10, Yo-Han putting two last cards on the top of the house of cards right after Doh Young-Chung was caught. After a few more shots, we're introduced to more angles of the building, every of which has a special meaning.

1: The whole thing consists of four floors: Spades — Clubs and one Diamond — two Diamonds and one Heart — one Diamond and one Heart — the top.

The first floor, according to this site, "... it symbolizes a shovel used to dig a grave, and when it is matched with the minor arcana cards of the tarot card , it corresponds to 'swords' because it looks like a sword . ... a pattern with a strong feeling of symbolizing death and destruction , such as symbolizing the shape of the devil 's spear ."

Diamonds "... is also known to symbolize merchants or capitalists" which is obviously about money and wealth; Clubs "...symbolizes farmers and means wisdom" while also having a theory that "if it corresponds to the Minor Arcana cards of the Tarot Corresponds to 'wands'" and "that it originated from the whip of a slave". Hearts mean... hearts? "It is a pattern that is always used in events related to love" but it also "corresponds to 'cups' when it corresponds to the Minor Arcana cards of the Tarot " because of the theory that "the origin is a cup (or Holy Grail), it originated from Jipae, a Chinese game".

So in conclusion: fighting —> being wise (with a little bit of money) money —> having money (and a bit of love) —> money and love.

2: The left part of the top. Now we’re entering my favorite topic here. I hope you all know the card named Joker? It’s a card that can be every suit and every number, and sometimes there may be two Jokers of the same color, but in the deck which Yo-Han uses there is "Black Joker" and "Red Joker". Here, it's the strongest card since it can create a pair with any card.

And because we have the deck right here, we can see that the only two cards that have no mirror images on two sides of them are both Jokers, we can assume that the card we see on the top is "Red Joker".

3: The second card on the top is the Ace of Spades, and now we will move on to one of the most intriguing part of this post.

　

— The two cards that play the main roles.

Do you remember the symbolism of the suit of Spades? “Devil’s spear” is not mentioned here just because, but because of the scene right after Yo-Han destroys the building. He takes into his hand one (truly random?) card, and turns out it’s Ace of Spades — the most powerful (in decks without Joker) card of the trump card (you can read the story behind it, it’s pretty interesting).

The most valuable scene here is not Yo-Han looking at it and having it in his hands, but rather the next shot we see of Ga-On’s face. Ga-On’s the Ace of Spades in Yo-Han’s hands, and he's the devil’s spear Yo-Han uses it the best way he can...

by throwing it right into the faces of his enemies. Now, I suggest talking about something more subtle and something hidden pretty well, but still present.

　

— Ga-On’s card.

We just got to know that Ga-On’s the Ace of Spades, so what now? Oh... it’s nothing but a game of numbers. If we look into Ga-On’s birthdate and what card he is based on it (you can check it here), we’ll discover him being a 6 of Hearts.

If you want to read more, it’d be amazing! There’s a lot to write, but let's try to summarize.

Six of Hearts represents the Law of The Love, they are emotionally intense yet affectionate, and having home for them is essential.

Well, describes him pretty well, but unfortunately, it’s not something I wanted to note. In my mother language, there’s a saying: "бути шестіркою,” and in translation, it means “being someone’s pawn/running dog.” But if we translate it word by word, we’ll get “being someone’s sixth.” A puppet, whose only work is to do whatever is told and not ask any questions.

And... that’s the purpose of Ga-On at the beginning of the whole show: being a marionette that will find information about Yo-Han and nothing, nothing more. But as it usually ends, Ga-On’s much more than just someone’s plan in destroying Yo-Han.

He may not know yet—what kind of suit and card in total he is, and we see it on his sweatshirt in the same episode: on his back, he has a card back. He’s a hidden card, and everybody can read him however they want, but what matters here is that he’s in hands of someone for whom he’s the Ace of Spades,

and for someone who respects him and his abilities. He's in the hands of someone who doesn't think of him as just a “pawn.”

[adobe-outdesign]

Can you tell us your thoughts on the new scarvi mon if you haven’t already?

(Note: This is a special-edition review in honor of the recent reveals. Reviews after this will follow the usual earliest-first release.)

Fidough is a fun concept. We haven't really had any bread Pokemon before, so that's a unique niche for it to fill—even if, admittedly, I'm a little burnt-out on dog Pokemon due to their abundance.

It also seems to be based off of ensaïmada, a type of Spanish pastry. Assuming this was the intent, it makes for a nice little cultural reference that's still easy to understand for people who don't know what ensaïmadas are.

Also, that pun name is to die for.

Visually, I like the simple yellow and cream color scheme, the little "hair buns" that are literally buns as well as ears, and the little ruff around the neck. For a creature made of dough (or maybe it just looks like it's dough? it's not entirely clear yet), it feels fairly organic.

Evolution-wise, I agree with the consensus that it should become fully baked bread; it would be especially fun if it had to be given a fire stone or something to evolve, or to get hit with a fire-type move as a baking reference. Hopefully it would stick to some kind of Spanish baked good to fit the region, but I don't know enough about Spanish breads to offer any opinions.

Also, I like the bit of lore that it's been considered a valuable Pokemon because its breath contains yeast that can be used for cooking. It's a nice bit of worldbuilding.

Cetitan is definitely a stand-out for me. It's been a hot minute since we had a traditional "Pokemon-that-looks-like-an-animal-but-is-also-an-abstact-monster" kind of look, and a whale that has legs and walks around on land is perfect for that. The concept is probably based off of how whales are descended from land dwelling animals:

Though it's also possible it's a reference to the ningen, a modern-day Japanese yokai that's basically a white whale with arms and legs. Regardless, it's a very cool and very monster-y design.

Visually, I like how the pink adds some nice pops of color, and I adore this thing's mouth; three horns in a V shape, with an incredibly messed up mouth that isn't even immediately visible:

This is what defiantly makes the design for me. A land-whale Pokemon is already cool, but slap that mouth on it and it's an instant 8/10 for me.

I say 8 out of ten because there are some very minor things that bug me about the design, though they're mostly nitpicks. The random grey spots under the arms aren't needed, I would've rather seen one of the horns be pink instead of the flippers, and I don't get the pattern under the stomach. It just feels a bit over-detailed when it would look fine with just spots (as in, without all those little connecting lines everywhere), and I don't really get what it's trying to accomplish. Overall, however, this is a great design.

Side note: if I had to wager, Cetitan is either non-evolving, or likely has a pre-evo. And if it has a pre-evo... is it possible it would be the famed dolphin Pokemon everyone's been waiting on, seeing as they're both part of the Cetacea infraorder (and, you know, that's where the English name comes from)?

And Paldean Wooper is just ideal, as far as I'm concerned. It changes up as much as it can from the original design—front markings, colors, mouth size, and gills—while still remaining clearly recognizable. I wouldn't have minded a little something done with the tail, just because it's the only big element that remains the same (maybe just make it a pinch smaller or something minor like that), but otherwise it has a good balance of new vs old elements.

The big thing that makes the design however is the gills: this new Wooper is poison/ground instead of water/ground, so the gills have been changed to make the entire head a skull and crossbones. That is an absolutely brilliant design choice, and whoever came up with it deserves a raise. It also helps give the design a specific concept that keeps the changes from feeling too bland or arbitrary.

I am curious about the evolution. Is it going to become a regional Quagsire, or more get a new regional evolution? I do love Quagsire, but it might be more interesting to get a more axolotl-ish Pokemon, maybe taking elements from the Iberian ribbed newt that P. Wooper here seems to be based on, in all its rib-breaking glory.

So as a whole, all three of the designs are a very strong showing from Scarlet and Violet. Fidough has a fun concept, Cetitan is a great "monster" Pokemon, and P. Wooper has a brilliant design and is everything you could want from a regional. Here's hoping all of the new 'mons are this good.

[paradimeart]

How do you manage to do the human versions of the Autobots so well!!???

Is it something with the details or body forms???

Just trying to say that I love your humanformers portrayals.

AAAAAAA ur so sweet!! my main thing is i try to keep the silhouettes the same or similar, and translate details using facial hair, hats, clothing patterns, scars, etc. for example translating bulkheads helmet shape into a short mohawk, with two shaved lines meant to evoke the two black lines going down the front

i also try to think of what they do and how that would translate to my specific au. for example ratchet is a medic, but a medic for car people so most of his medical tools are like, wrenches and pliers, plus he also canonically works on old (non sentient) cars in his spare time. In my human au, he runs an auto repair shop and has a toolbelt, which visually mimics the tires on hips too.

animated designs also sometimes look like, clothes if that makes sense. prowl is the best example he looks like a CHiP, so that's really easy to translate into biker gear even though my human prowl is not a cop. i also very heavily based my prowl design on kanan jarrus from rebels lol

their alts informed the design choices too like optimus dressing like an off duty firefighter bc he;s a firetruck

my style is not so exaggerated proportions wise as the show but the general shapes are the same. tfa has very strong silhouettes and shape language that I tried to keep intact when translating them to my superhero au. other stuff was trying to keep colors in generally the same place (the clips on op's suspenders and the tongues on his boots being yellow to evoke the placement of the lights, the gold zippers on prowl meant to be the gold detailing. bumblebee i just ripped off human error though

[candy-red-river]

My thoughts on the amazing digital circus

its kinda "meh". Not bad by any means and good enough for me to watch later episodes but it's portrayal of mental/psychological horror is pretty shallow.

Ohhhh noooo, character that we haven't gotten to know before they entered is stuck in a McDonald's play place while all of their needs are met, whatever shall we doooooo!!!!!

Like there's no other threat than obstruction which is pretty easy to avoid since there isn't any obvious thing that would make them go crazy in the first place (besides jax) and how the "crazy" characters are portrayed doesn't seem crazy at all, not realistically or even cartoony.

There's not much to be negative about and I wish that either the environment was more dangerous or the characters start out more happy but get messed up later as the system falls apart.

I kinda like the humor (nothing with jax) and it was better than what I thought. I like the idea of ai generated and digital horror and I think the writers should lean more into that.

I like the aesthetics but sometimes their a bit too same-y or unparticular for me to feel for them.

When the teaser came out I honestly had no interest due to the character design. I've watched other gooseworx stuff and compared to tadc I prefer the character design a lot more. I think it's caine, ragatha, and pomni that didn't really do much for me.

They don't look very distinct design wise but their animation is REALLY expressive and I wish their designs fit both their personalities as well as variations of the toys that inspired them. A lot of kids stuff had patches, spots and swirls on them but it's probably too late for me to suggest design stuff.

Anyways here's my thoughts on the characters:

Jax: my least favorite, is an asshole for no reason in a supposed "dire" situation. I have to deal with and avoid these kinds of disrespect and needlessly rude people irl constantly. He has 0 redeeming qualities that make him funny or loveable besides his design.

I'd like to see him a bit more unhinged or nonchalant about what he does, but that's just how I personally like mean spirited humor.

gangle: a bit forgettable but a sweetheart overall, maybe a bit more mood shifts or dramaticness needed. As for her design (hypothetical I know it won't be changed this late into production) I'd like to see a bit more detail, as pocelain dolls, old Greek play masks, and even masquerades had more detail. Doesn't need to be too complicated. Maybe black ribbon as well?

Zooble: the best character and is just done with everything. I feel like I'd like Jax more if their traits were mix but this isn't about him.

I like her design especially because of the variety of shapes and colors.

Pomni: her personality is anxiety. That's it. I think her design is pretty meh as she doesn't resemble Jack in the box jesters or even toy jesters you see for sale. No makeup, no funny nose, even her costume seems kinda empty, and the patterns kinda blur together.

I don't get why people simp for her so much.

ragatha: also not too interesting. I kinda like her personality but her gestures feel hallow as well. If there's nothing bad going on she'd probably just be normal happy instead of fake happy or maybe even concerned for her abstracted friends, but the lack of a threat (other than abstraction) makes her backhanded feel weird and unneeded, like is she trying to make people paranoid????

Also she looks really plasticy. I know that it's supposed to take place in a video game but I feel like she'd at least have more textures to indicate what she is. I'd also recommend adding some flowers or more soft items for her, since it'd compliment her personality more.

Kinger: best boi but I feel like there could be more done with him. He just seems like a normal guy with ADHD and anxiety rather than someone who's gone through so much that he's lost himself or a cartoonist crazy person. But honestly that's not much of a problem for me, the surprise was a welcome one.

His design is neat and is something that I haven't seen done before.

Caine: I like that he's not obviously sinister and is just a confused robot trying to meet the needs of the players but fails in one way or another. I kinda wish he gave of more of the blank vibes(??) Of being a robot and that his design maybe had some different colors or even was a different kind of suit/outfit but overall he's pretty good.

Bubble: the the the they the the the the thetyetgeht the the the

Wawawawawwa wa wawawawawwa aw

Overall I'd give this show a 6/10 or a 7/10, not too bad but more could be done.

[connecting-the-stars]

Children of the Gods: Beacon Hills’ Demigods

Scott McCall - Child of Apollo

Being the son of a wise, stubborn, and golden hearted mother, Melissa McCall has raised her son in her values. Always being the first to intercept danger from be falling another, a steady hand which has mastered the art of healing, and shines his warm, protective presence upon his friends. He’s more like his father than he’ll ever know, being the blood of healing, light, and an unyielding shield for the young.

The Mom Friend. His job is to pack everyone’s lunches and hold his friends drinks at parties.

Stiles Stilinski - Child of Athena

What he lacks for in social elegance and all around sure steps, Stiles makes up for with his sharp tongue and determined beyond measure mind. If there is a way, the demigod will whittle his crafty hand through to achieve it. What many assume to be as clumsy as he is in his daily routine, his enemies soon find a stiletto posed against their jugular. Monsters have to scrap their bull headed approach if they want a chance of killing this son of Athena.

He’ll trip over air but he will use a pencil to disarm you. His job is comedic relief and Shiny Knife.

Lydia Martian - Child of Aphrodite

Is she the crimson apple of every classmate’s eye? Yes. Does she have the highest GPA among every single one of her courses. Also yes. Whether it’s tutoring her friends through their trigonometry and calculus assignments, or handing out advice on how to turn guys down, Lydia is a woman as adaptive as a promising Athena child could be. Though, she is keenly aware of how effective pleasure and beauty can be when wielded with a charming smile.

She’s so Barbie. High Achiever. Speaks Facts.

Malia Tate - Child of Ares

She can and will kick your teeth in. Why? Maybe you insulted Stiles’ fast paced and ranting speech patterns, or cut Kira in line for stupid cafeteria mashed potatoes. Or maybe you just smiled wrong when she revealed her score on the latest exam, ending with some blood getting on the crumpled stack of papers, somehow. With a unrelenting and one track mind, Malia’s bloodline isn’t that hard to track, especially when she catches even a whisper of the latest monster attack. She’ll be out the door of her algebra class before the doors have swung close.

“You don’t get to bully them, that’s my job” Friend. Tried to teach Liam how to fight - he’s nearly died twice. Barbie if Barbie was feral and had an axe.

Kira Yukimura - Child of Hephaestus

Daughter of the Greek god of artisans, metalworking, and fire, Kira is a shining prodigy among the her siblings. Taken with the art of metal work as she shapes searing metal into beautiful, deadly effective tools. Her fondest achievements becoming her versatile supply of weapons, gleaming obsidian, shurikens as well as her steady sword. If her arm is decorated with three bracelets of various blinding reds, five detailed rings across her hands of neon yellow and her ears have one too many cuffs that are definitely about to fall off, she’ll tell you she’s just really into jewelry right now.

Doesn’t choose sides in a debate friend. Will do your homework if you let her. Show Off but Subtle. Metalwork Barbie who can and will talk to you about all her weapons.

[yamayuandadu]

Oh thank god I'm not the only one who thinks that there's no real evidence for any Aphrodite-Ishtar connection and that what evidence does exist is tenuous at best.

I'll preface this with stating that I do not question possible external influence on Greek mythology where the evidence is solid - ex. I do think it's more than plausible that both Athena's birth and much of Kronos' character do go back to some half remembered iron age leftover of Kumarbi cycle. I'm even semi-optimistic about the possibility Hecate really was in some capacity an Anatolian import. I also think some of the opposition to these theories is bad faith (including here on tumblr). This being said, yeah, it's a theory that I just do not think has much merit. It boils down to hammering things from various locations and time periods into a vaguely Aphrodite-like shape - from Old Babylonian school texts to Christian polemics - even though the similarities are negligible. Tbh Ishara or Nanaya would be closer character-wise to Aphrodite given bigger focus on love and marriage, but ultimately I really do think this is effectively just a leftover of orientalist 19th century theories in which some deities were deemed unlikely to have pristinely Greek origin because they didn't fit an idealized image of Greece. I think these theories were cast into oblivion where they belong in the case of Dionysus but they still linger here and also wrt Ares but Ares is a whole other can of worms that I plan to eventually write a short post on. It does not really help that people who preach this ignore that Greeks would be most likely to come into contact with ANE deities on Cyprus or in Cilicia - areas which... aren't known for their association with Ishtar. for And when you look at the evidence from the time when Aphrodite plausibly came to be, ie. late Bronze Age, neither coastal Ashtart in Ugarit (who had nothing to do with love and really if we have to make Greek comparisons would be much closer to Artemis) let alone Shaushka inland in Anatolia offer a close parallel.

I also think most authors involved in this do not actually care about Inanna/Ishtar(s). They basically just use literary texts, and not even recent critical editions. They are stuck with an early orientalist image which hasn't been updated since the 1880s and which just lumps together 90% goddesses from anywhere between Istanbul and Tehran regardless of historical context. I think it's a part of a broader pattern which ultimately has presenting Greek religion as more ancient than it actually was, tbh. It's not about acknowledging influence of Mesopotamia or any other cultural sphere (note that the influence would most likely be coming chiefly from Anatolian contemporaries like Lycians and Lydians - in whose case we do have a solid grasp of the transfer - or from earlier petty neo-Hittite kingdoms or early Phoenician statelets, not from Mesopotamia, but I guess these are not worthy of impacting The Classics) on Greece, it's about making a few handpicked details into a demo version of Greece.

[neotriobrainrot-reborn]

I had this idea for an AU where people epithets had like, a spiritual form and they can talk to their inscribed (based on the spirits of the comic paranatural), here are some ideas:

Molly "Dumb": It is a big bear (obviously) but more in shape that in substance, it's body seem to be made of the same energy Molly makes, rippling and pulsing slowly and quietly, touching it is barely different to touching air. Doesn't talk much but it's always to conform Molly in silence.

Lorelai "Augment": The base form of this one is that of a featureless mannequin type figure but with chaotic and ever shifting color patterns over it's body, but it is always changing its form and surroundings either for fun or to add emphasis to whatever it is saying. Only want Lori to be happy but think the best way to do it is to never stop playing with her. Been felling she resenting them lately.

Giovanni "Soup": At first glance this one look like a giant water golem made of scalding hot broth but this is merely a little disguise for the sake of showmanship, it's true form is lower, a little turtle with a pot instead of shell from which the golem pour up. (It also have a chef hat). Adores it's inscribed and support him in all of his "evil" endeavors.

Zora "Sundial": Take the form of a giant Falcon with intense bright eyes with the same markings Zora have, and a sundial looking pattern in its pupils. It is constantly advancing and reversing it's life stages from a golden egg to it's decrepit death bed but this doesn't changes it's mind one bit and seen to cause him any pain. Like to sound wise but it's actually pretty quick to anger and he and Zora hasn't been on the best terms.

Rick "Soulmates": Takes the form of a giant beating black heart with a single white eye at it's center, spawning from her are the strings connecting Rick to his friends. Surprisingly kind, tries to advise Rick on how to make friends better but she is just as bad as him.

Percy "Paraphet": A giant knight made entirely of pieces of a castle, but it's been trying to add mode modern looking details lately. Very chivalrous and passionate but unlike Percy, it's very loud and expressive all the time.

And that's all I have! Tell if you like it.

This looks really good! I like how much details you added to everything, such as Giovanni's summon being more bark than bite, Rick having a literal extra heart, and Zora's summon constantly shifting from stages of an egg!

[crows-home]

Agh, I feel bad that the next chapter of You are at your lowest, I am rising higher is taking me longer than I want, so here’s a 2k sneak peak of when everyone first gets word of Sonic’s death :’))

.

There’s an analogue clock on Amy’s wall.

It’s hung just above her fireplace, in her living room, black hands displaying the time- 10:35 P.M. At least, Silver thinks it’s somewhere around 10:35? Reading those things are difficult and he has little practice with them.

It’s old, Silver thinks, even for this time period. It’s a clock he’s only ever seen in ancient books and torn pictures unearthed in rubble. It’s shaped like a box, but crafted to look… fancy. A fancy box. Red paint peeling and chipping away to reveal the brown wood underneath.

It’s nice. Silver can admire the details and the fancy swooshes at the corners and the bronze swinging thing in the middle behind a glass barrier. Blaze would have better words to describe it; she’s always been the more knowledgeable about these types of things. Too bad she’s handling responsibilities in her own world right now.

Tick tick tick.

When he walks through the threshold, it’s the first thing his eyes go to. A nice clock, really, Silver isn’t one to criticize his friends’ furniture and home- but he could do without the subtle noise that it makes every second. Each second, the thin red hand moves, ticking and ticking in a way that gets under his skin after too long.

Silver cringes as he sits down on Amy’s couch, next to Knuckles. The scrapes on his elbows hurt and the back of his hands burn like they always do whenever he overexerts his powers.

[Amy’s called a meeting with everyone at her home at the edge of town. Knuckles, The Chaotix, Silver, even Sticks.

Well, almost everyone. Rouge and Omega have already been contacted, and Tails and Sonic are nowhere to be found. It’s deathly quiet when she sits them all down in her living room and passes out the first aid supplies. She hangs her head low, and Knuckles thinks the battle must have shaken her up more than usual.

She looks like she’s been crying.]

Silver hisses while applying an ice pack to his bruised leg.

“Have all the evacuees made it out of town?” Espio asks. Silver turns to look at him. He’s to the right, sitting down in front of the pink loveseat where Charmy and Vector are. Right in front of the fireplace, right below the clock.

Amy nods, putting the first aid kit on the coffee table in the middle of the room. She takes a seat in front of them, in a peach chair that looks like it needs serious upholstering.

“Good, we should focus on our next move,” Espio dabs antiseptic onto a scrape on Charmy’s knee. The bee whines. “Eggman’s not wasting any time.”

“Yeah,” Vector gripes. Silver sees him flinch when he presses an ice pack to a bump on his head. His headphones and gold chain have been tossed to the side. “And he’s got a real bad team with him this time. I mean, did you guys see that masked guy?”

They did. It was fast. Silver couldn’t get a hit in no matter how hard he tried, couldn’t even keep him still with his telekinesis. He’s still sour about that. He glares at the floor like Amy’s cream carpet will give him forgiveness.

Tick tick tick

Besides Silver, Knuckles removes his gloves roughly. Silver wisely chooses to tilt away from Knuckles before he elbows him without thinking. “Chaos was there,” Knuckles says while applying a heart patterned band-aid on his palm. He frowns ruefully at them. “But I don’t get how or why. He’s supposed to be on Angel Island.”

“What the heck was Zavok doing here, too?” Sticks calls from the floor somewhere to Silver’s left. “I thought Sonic took care of him and his goons months ago!”

Zavok isn’t someone Silver has any real personal experience with, but he was a formidable opponent.

“Metal Sonic was mean…” Charmy whines.

The ice pack he’s pressing on his knee doubles as a balm to his aching hand. It’s white and nothing much, but Silver frowns at it all the same.

Metal Sonic was his usual fast and unflinching robotic self. Was that other guy, the one with the mask, a robot too? They shared similar traits…

“…We saw Shadow as well,” Espio mumbles.

There’s a pause in the air- a tense silence that hangs and goes on for too long- almost overpowering.

Tick tick tick tick

Silver chances a glance around the room and sees that everyone else is looking at the floor, at the walls, at their own hands, like that will give them any sort of answer. No one really knows what to say about their friend who turned enemy again.

[Knuckles knows what he would say, but he’s been told he can’t say those words around Charmy.]

When Shadow had first teleported beside him in the middle of battle, Silver had expected assistance. He hadn’t even considered the possibility of Shadow being a threat! That’s why he was completely caught off guard when Shadow grabbed him by the quills and flung him meters away.

This isn’t his time period, he’s so out of his element again, he doesn’t know. It’s frustrating that he doesn’t. Frustrating that he hesitated before engaging in battle against a former ally. He would fist his hands in anger if they weren’t aching so much.

Silver flinches when Knuckles balls his fists and growls. The hearts on his palm bunch up and wrinkle.

“Forget this!” Knuckles says. “We don’t have time to wonder why Shadow’s bad again or why so many of our enemies are back. Whatever’s going on, it’s nothing some good old-fashioned force and teamwork can’t fix. I mean, how strong can they be? We’ve beaten them once already!”

[That has them lifting their heads a little bit. Knuckles sees Vector smile, and Silver sit up just a bit straighter. Good.]

Silver feels himself smile, despite everything. Right. They just need some time to reorganize, is all. Even after that rough battle and loss, Knuckles still looks tough; ready for the next fight. He’s a good person, Silver thinks. He’s grateful he has these people now. Grateful he has someone like Knuckles to rely on.

Tick tick tick.

[Amy still seems down though. Hm.]

Probably feeling bold, Knuckles smirks and raises a fist. “So they got the upper hand today. Big deal! Just some luck on their part that we’re a little rusty. I, for one, can’t wait to head back out there and show them that no matter how much muscle they bring, we’ll always be stronger.”

Sticks sits up. “Knuckles is right-”

[Heh, as always.]

“-for once-”

[Wait what?]

Sticks [rudely] ignores Knuckles’ indignant growls, and Silver has to hide his laugh behind a cough. Charmy doesn’t hide his at all. “-But we’re gonna hafta decide on a plan fast, because with Shadow on his team, there’s no telling how much time we’ve got! That guy will cover so much ground like nobody’s business!”

Speaking of fast…

Switching the ice pack from one hand to another, Silver looks at Amy, who’s sitting on her armchair and staring resolutely at her hands folded in her lap. “Were you able to track down Sonic and Tails?”

Amy’s muzzle moves with a thick swallow.

“I-” she begins, and then glances to one corner of the room. “I- found Tails. He’s, um- he’s in my room right now. Resting.”

Tick tick tick tick

Had Tails been a part of the battle without them realizing? Silver feels a pang of worry go through him thinking about young Tails, going into battle against such powerful foes, completely unprepared. At least Amy’s taken care of him now.

[She keeps blinking. She’s trying to keep her eyes from watering. Knuckles stops paying attention to everyone else in the room, focusses solely on her. His own heartbeat is loud in his ears.]

“What about Sonic?” Charmy’s high voice pipes up.

They need Sonic. Silver frowns and thinks. Where was Sonic during the battle? Taking care of Tails? He’s always been pretty protective of him.

Once they get Sonic and the rest of the team here, they can figure something out. Like Knuckles said. Nothing they haven’t done before. Silver lets himself feel a little bit of hope, lets the ball of anxiety in his chest turn into anticipation.

Keep a cool, level head. Just like Knuckles, who’s not saying anything and is looking at Amy. Looking for the next step.

[Knuckles doesn’t think anyone else is watching Amy as intently as he is, he feels like he’s the only one who sees how unnaturally stiff she’s become. Sees how she fiddles with the tassels of her throw pillow.]

“We didn’t see him anywhere!”

[Knuckles is suddenly struck with a familiar sensation. A stomach-dropping, time stopping one. He’s been here before.

Why? Why does he feel like this? Amy hasn’t even said anything, but he already feels like- like she’s told them-]

“He’s… Sonic is-”

Is what? Is he hurt? Silver blinks and tilts his head forward. Amy cares a lot about Sonic’s well-being. That must be what’s gotten her so bad.

Tick tick tick tick

[Amy takes in short, quivering breaths. Like she’s trying to keep herself together- like she’s seconds from falling apart.

Knuckles knows immediately where she’s going.]

Everyone’s looking at Amy now. No doubt wondering what’s got her pausing and why she looks so tense. Amy takes a deep breath brings her gaze up- not looking at anyone specifically, Silver thinks. She’s looking but- she’s not? How is that even possible?

[It’s familiar. It reminds Knuckles of the day he realized his tribe wasn’t coming back.

…Is that what it is? Maybe it’s something else entirely.]

What’s this déjà vu? Silver is struck by an image- fuzzy and almost a memory- that flashes in front of him. For a second, he thinks he sees Sonic. On the ground and surrounded by- by- something. Someone? A purple and black sky overhead, twisting and distorting, as he and his friends surround- something-

It’s gone. The memory- memory?- is gone a moment later, barely a whisper of a thought left when Silver tries to prod at it.

Amy sniffs, and Silver zeroes in again.

“Sonic is no longer with us.”

Tick.

What?

“…What?” He hears someone- Vector- ask.

Amy closes her eyes, and now Silver can see her clearly. Her jaw is stiff, her hands are shaking, and her back is so straight he thinks she must be in pain.

“What do you mean?”

Is it just him, or is everyone’s eyes too dry all of a sudden?

A ringing in his ear, sharp and growing, almost drowns out everyone’s words. Except for Amy’s. Amy’s words as she explains that- that Sonic was there. He was there before everyone else, along with Tails.

“…Tails saw it happen… -one with the mask- ended his life right in front of him-” Amy is saying, but Silver’s not really hearing. “Early this morning-”

Tick tick tick

He can’t hear because- because of the ringing in his ear. Subtle, but still there. And- and the clock. And- Has the light always been that bright? Have his lips always been this chapped? The room was warm before. A nice place to be during a cold night. Now it’s suffocating. His fur is uncomfortable. And blinking- it’s such a weird motion, isn’t it. He’s never thought about that before.

Amy’s still talking. “…found Tails in his room- scared- … neck was snapped-”

Breathing- breathing is weird too. He’s never noticed. He’s hyper aware of every breath and the way it fills his lungs because it will never fill Sonic’s ever again.

Tick tick tick

Has the clock always been that loud?

[There’s a strange air in the room. Like all of this is not quite real, but Knuckles is hyper-aware of every one of his senses. The bruises on his arms and legs and the way the bandages hug his injuries. The way his heart is thumping in his chest.

He’s aware of the way Silver’s become deathly still beside him. How Charmy’s cries sound and the shuffling noise Vector makes when he goes to hug the kid.

He doesn’t turn to look at any of them, but he can feel.]