#notes on ballistics

[inkedcryptid]

So I rewatched Nimona and I don't remember if anyone pointed this out when the movie first came out, but I absolutely love that Ballister didn't go for the old "this isn't you" speech at the end.

Nimona had never looked more like a monster and it would've been so easy to say something along the lines of "this isn't you", or "this isn't what you want".

Bal understands how angry and heartbroken she is. He also understands that all Nimona wants is to be seen and accepted as who she is; and that includes the "monster", as well the girl and all her other forms.

[loverboybrightsideghost]

ballister has those huge sad wet puppy eyes but let’s be honest that man is not pathetic. in fact i think he’s really cool and smart and capable.

[queer-poc-otd]

ballister boldheart

ballister is shown to be gay early on into the film nimona (2023) and his relationship is important throughout the film. although ballister's race is never specified (probably due to the fantasy setting), his appearance resembles his voice actor riz ahmed, who is british pakistani.

[pianokantzart]

Hey, please please PLEASE don't delete this ask I really want to hear your point on it. If in the mario movie 2 luigi and mario have to fight bowser but it's like a mini fight to what's coming, and bowser straight up destroyed luigi (as in really hurt him. He gets up fine after but you get it) how do you think Mario's gonna react to this?

Not quite sure what you mean by "mini fight to what's coming." I guess you're asking what if Mario and Luigi fought Bowser before the story's climax, and in that fight Luigi got badly injured?

If that was the case, I think that would be a good setup for Mario to actually go after Bowser for a one on one, both out of wanting to ensure nobody else got hurt, and wanting to see to it personally he didn't get away with doing what he did to Luigi.

We know from the first movie that nothing injects a stupid level of determination directly into Mario's adrenal glands like thinking about his brother...

... so it wouldn't be out of character for Mario to get sicko mode unlocked by seeing Luigi get obliterated right in front of him.

[rebelcracker-s]

as much as i love the legendborn fandom sometimes it really sucks to be a selnickbree shipper in here. sometimes you cannot talk about selnickbree without people popping into your notes like "omg no selbree/nickbree needs to be endgame" LIKE I GET IT. YOU DON'T LIKE SELNICKBREE. like you're allowed to dislike the ship but that doesn't mean you have to fight tooth and nail to defend yourself the second it's mentioned. like i think selnickbree is endgame and i don't particularly like selbree but if someone disagrees with me i leave them be! bc that's how it works! there is so much more to this series than what's going to be endgame so why is everyone always beefing over ships???

honestly i'm worried about march because if we do get selnick/selnickbree some of yall are not going to take it well. but like this is tracy deonn we're talking about. let her cook and if you don't like what she's cooking? maybe this series isn't for you.

anyways this isn't directed at anyone in particular i just wanted to yap for a bit

[cranberrie07]

I love how nimona is just two disaster gay men and a chaotic pink she child

[renatogpadilla]

Light-Bleed.

It was supposed to be another patrol.

Lux and her Illuminators were supposed to be the scouts. That was the point of the name! Illuminate where the threat was and then Garen's men would take care of it. To the Demacian commoner, they were a charitable order of pious men and women who gave charity to the poor and downtrodden, but they could hold their own if push came to shove. Of course, that was only until backup arrived... At least without Lux outing herself.

So when they realized the little mage camp they were supposed to scout out was the current acting base of the Sylas of Dregbourne, saying they were in over their head was the understatement of the century.

Care to imagine what happens when you send a closeted Demacian mage-noble to a camp with a guy whose main superpower is to literally detect and absorb magic...?

What happens, as Garen Crownguard would discover that day, was a massacre.

When the Mageseekers arrived, there weren't many enemies left to fight. Just the marks of a long pair of magical chains, lining the split remains of the members of his sister's squadron.

If you're an older sibling, you might be able to imagine a fraction of the fear that Garen felt. All these bodies, of Mages and Illuminators alike... They could have all been killed, but they'd fought to the last man... They'd actually forced a retreat from Sylas from his own base. For all intents and purposes, they'd won the day!

But they weren't here to celebrate. They weren't here to cheer and rejoice that that monster had one less foothold in their home... They were dead. Splintered. Chained to death.

And his sister was nowhere in sight.

There was never a more panicked man than Garen Crownguard as he was in that moment. His men could handle the stragglers. He immediately started looking for survivors, but the big brother in him really only looked for one.

He caught the little flash of light out of the corner of his eye. Dim as death, but it was there. And he started digging under a small mound of bodies, once men and women of the Shield, like himself. And below the remains of about ten dead Illuminators, barely clinging to life, with a cracked breastplate, and a bleeding out of her side, her hands aglow, agonizing, but alive, was his sister Lux.

He picked her up as gently as he could in the state she was in. She'd hidden under the bodies to live. Or had they hidden her in the end, even knowing what she was? Gods, she would hate herself for this forever... He would make sure every single one of them had a hero's burial. He tucked her hands close to his chest so nobody could see, and his men understood. They took one look at him and told him to go. Normally, he would be the one staying above everyone else... Since when do his men give him orders? But this was Lux, and if there was one thing that had been abundantly clear since he day Garen had become a member of the Dauntless Vanguard and of the Mageseekers, and all of the men and women under him knew it, was the unshakeable faith and insurmountable love the Lord Commander felt for his little sister, and her for him. The few people that knew them personally would swear upon the Spirits that Lux was the only real weakness Garen had. The only thing that could cause him true damage.

And now his sister was dying.

The Mageseekers knew two things for sure as they saw him carry his sister away, running to where he knew she would have leashed her horse, Starfire, to a tree far enough away from danger: The first was that the pain he was going through right now was the most broken they would ever see him.

The second was that the reckoning that would befall the man that had dared lay hands on his little sister would be so righteously terrible, so incredibly brutal and visceral, that the Protector herself would look away in disgust.

But right now, Garen was running... and he was panicking. His sister winced in pain and her hands lit up brighter. She was glowing! He couldn't take her back to the Garrison! They'd know! He couldn't-!

"B-brother..." She could barely form the word. "Star..."

"I know, Lux, I know! I'll get her! I'll get you! You're going to be fine, I swear!" He rounded the corner and indeed, there was Starfire, whining like crazy. There had to be someone he could take her to...! All the healers were under the Crown, and everyone that wasn't was not going to keep their mouth shut about a Mage noble! Who else, who else...?!

He got close to the horse and his sister put a weak, glowing hand to her nozzle and whispered a name between whimpers.

"Isha..."

The horse got it immediately. As soon as she was free and Garen and Lux were on top, she bolted faster than Garen had ever seen her. Isha...? Garen hadn't seen her since the talk they'd had on the balcony a few months back... But she and Lux were close. She already knew... Whether she could help...

He'd trust his sister.

If she thought Isha could save her, he'd put his faith in her too. He let Starfire guide him to the woods next to a little town he'd never heard of before. Into the woods she galloped, fast as lightning, and dodged what Garen would later know were small metal plates on the ground. Traps, for intruders that got too close. Star knew the pattern by heart now.

His sister's whole skin was glowing. No. Not glowing... Flickering. In and out and dimmer every time.

The mare stopped in front of a ramshackle hut in the middle of the woods. Garen didn't have time to appreciate the decor. He patted Star on the head and carried his sister off.

"ISHA!!!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. "ISHA, SHE NEEDS YOU!"

He didn't hear the door unlock over his own heartbeat. The girl with the blue hair basically pushed the door down, her hand clutching something on her thigh.

"Garen? How did you-?" She managed. Then she saw her... Lux bleeding in her brother's arms, her glow wild and uncontrollable, barely clinging to life.

Her world came crumbling down all at once.

"Please..." Garen barely managed it.

That snapped her out of it. "Get her inside." She whispered, almost to herself, and then louder. "GET HER INSIDE, NOW!"

Whatever was on the main table was thrown to the side before Garen could lumber through the door. He put his sister there, in the middle of the room and gave Isha some space. At once, the raggedy woman started patching her up, taking whatever supplies she had on hand. And cleaning up the wounds.

"There's a lot of blood... I can't... There's gotta be SOMETHING!" She'd dressed the wounds and cleaned them up. She'd tried every ointment she could think of that would be safe and even removed pieces of metal from her wounds, but now Jinx was fully panicking. Lux was twitching on the table... What the hell could she do?! She'd not seen wounds this bad since... since...

"Stay awake, baby, stay with me!" The girl said, repeating it to both his sister and herself. Her hands moved so fast Garen couldn't keep track... He thought he saw a flash of purple as she moved from time to time, but that was probably him hallucinating out of stress. Little by little, a bunch of bandages and rags got tinted red...

Too red... Too much...! She could fix the lesser injuries but...

Oh. That's what she could do. What she and nobody else could.

She leaned over Lux's face. "Lux? I need you to listen to me... There's something I can do. And I don't know if it'll work, but if it does, it's going to hurt like hell. It's risky but it's all I've got, okay, love?"

Lux managed to lock eyes with her and Garen saw a softness - a love - he'd never seen in his sister before, even through the pain. She nodded. "Trust y-you..."

That was all Jinx needed to hear.

"I love you. Whatever happens, I love you, Luxanna." She kissed her like there was no tomorrow, and for a fraction of a second she was afraid there wouldn't be... "Garen, get her on the bed!" She said, and she ran to her workbench.

Garen didn't have to be told twice.

"I have you sister! I'm here, we're both here! We're not going anywhere!" He carried her to the room in the back and laid her on a comfy thatch bed. "What now?!"

Isha came into the room, rubbing a wet cotton furiously on her arm. "Now, you hold her down. This is going to be bad."

Then she pulled out a syringe and started drawing her own blood without a second of hesitation.

"What are you-?"

"My blood's not all normal. There's a drug in there that saved my life before. I'm hoping it saves her's too."

"Hoping?!"

"I'VE GOT NOTHING ELSE! YOU WANT HER TO LIVE OR NOT?!?!"

As she said it Garen could barely notice her eyes glowing, a small flash of purple, and then a brighter glow, not from her eyes, but from the syringe. A mix of crimson and neon purple that Garen could feel went against everything he once believed in... Blood Magic, in the most literal sense.

Isha got closer. "Okay, Lux, here goes. Whatever you see, it's not real. We love you!"

She stuck the syringe in the biggest wound she could find and pressed, trying for the life of her to focus on her job and not on Lux's screams of agony as the Shimmer entered her system.

Garen held her down on the bed as much as he could...

And then the lights went crazy.

One moment, her skin glowed like she was about to burst, a mix of gold and purple as gorgeous as it was terrifying. Her eyes, her hair, everything in the room changing colors wildly. The daytime seemed to turn off at one point. The sun outside looked blue, the shadows on the corners of the room felt brighter than any torch and the mirror reflected nothing but a black void where the light should have hit.

All throughout, Luxanna writhed in pain, and all throughout Jinx and Garen held her. And at some point, Jinx put a hand on Garen's shoulder, and he returned the gesture...

One last, massive scream of agony, Lux, lurching forward with almost enough force to push Garen off, and Jinx could swear she lifted a few feet off the bed, the light of her and Garen's own bodies dancing haywire as the Bright Lady fully lost control... and then...

Darkness. Pitch black darkness.

And little by little, the colors returned to the room. The right colors. Dimmer than before, but slowly returning regardless... Like the saturation was coming back to an old photograph.

Lux didn't move. Garen didn't move. He just held her, like a broken ragdoll he couldn't - he wouldn't - live without.

Isha didn't let go of Lux's hand as she sprawled herself and put her ear to her chest... Jinx had never prayed honestly in her life until now.

Nothing.

Nothing...!

Terrible, unreal nothing...!

.....

And then, faintly, weakly, almost imperceptibly, but there...

A heartbeat.

And now Jinx let the tears out.

"Oh, Lux!" She held her so tight she might've crushed her if she wasn't careful. "Oh, love, you really had us going there, honey! You'll be okay, you'll be okay...!"

She was alive. Garen looked at the gaping wound in her side and... He couldn't believe it. It was a small change, but the wound wasn't bleeding anymore! In fact it was... closing. Not super fast, but fast enough to notice.

His sister would live.

He finally allowed himself to breathe as he dropped on the corner of the room.

And very faintly, because his voice was still gone, he laughed. A nervous cry-laugh, like only a big brother could. And his tears began to dance in his eyes and off as well...

*****

It took a few minutes for them to catch their breath and Garen left the room to let Lux recover. He had taken off his armor. It had felt heavy for the first ever time today.

He sat on the couch outside the room in his slacks as Isha came out of the room, pacing.

"She's stable." She said. "Might not wake up for a while, but she'll live..." She had something folded over her shoulder...

She went over to her workbench and picked up a huge backpack and dragged it to the door. Then she sat on the floor, leaning on it.

Garen finally found his tongue.

"You saved her life." Whatever else he had to say would have to wait. That mattered the most. "Thank you."

She just gave him a look... He knew where she lived now. She thought that might be less of a problem than she might imagine, but time would tell...

"Who?" That's all she said. And from the venom in her voice, Garen knew exactly who she meant.

"Sylas of Dregbourne. I take it my sister told you who he is?" He didn't give a singular shit about protocol right now. Isha deserved to know.

"She's mentioned him." She'd done a hell of a lot more than mention him. Somedays, when they weren't... active at night, Lux would wake up in a cold sweat from a nightmare the memory of 'Sylas the Unshackled' had caused. "Where?"

"Near the Hinterlands. The border between them and Demacian civilization proper... Just a forward camp, though."

"It's enough." She got up and stormed into her room. She leaned down over the bed and gave Lux a soft kiss before turning to her nightstand and leaving a little contraption there. A tiny toy monkey with a pair of cymbals in its hands and a crank in its back.

She looked at her. Her Light. Her Lux. Barely alive, having survived an agony few but Jinx herself would ever know...

"What are you doing?" Garen asked as she left the room in a huff.

"When she wakes up, she's going to need you." She said. She was in a place she hadn't felt herself in in a long time. "When this happened to me, I started hallucinating. I lashed out. Couldn't think straight. God knows what that means for a girl with Magic at her fingertips. You might have to restrain her."

Garen didn't think she could be mad enough to try what he thought she was going to try.

"And where are you going?"

"Hunting." She answered, and she took out a giant... Godesses, what was that thing? It took Garen a minute to comprehend it. Eight metal tubes strapped together to a massive chamber with a handle and a trigger. Scattered paint littered its surface in intricate patterns. She opened the bag with one hand and fed a bunch of scrap metal where she kept the back of the contraption open with the other. An absolute metal abomination of a weapon. "He went too far. Never again. Stay with Lux. Don't go anywhere. More importantly, don't let her go anywhere. If it's anything like what happened to me, she'll try to leave. Hard."

"You can't just take on Sylas by yourself! He's got gods know how many mages guarding him at all times, and even if you could find him, he did that to Lux! Lux had Magic!" Garen was one to talk... Like he didn't want to go himself! But she had just saved Lux's life. He wasn't going to let her throw her own away!

"Exactly. Magic he would steal. Magic he could use. He's so used to fighting your way... He won't be ready for me." Another weapon left the backpack. A single tube this time, thick as hell, almost as long as Isha herself. A metal shark head adorned what Garen assumed to be the nozzle, painted in blue, pink and gold. "Nobody ever is."

He couldn't stop himself. He got up and grabbed her by the shoulders. "And when he kills you? When Lux wakes up and you're dead? What then?! Why save her life if you're just going to make living it miserable?!"

That actually gave her some pause. Good, some common sense! Finally!

"You got somebody, G?" She sounded different... Darker. She was hurting just as much as him. "Somebody you love? Not like you love your sister... Someone you would die for if it meant they got to be free for a day at least... Someone like that?"

"I do. She... Disappeared during the first revolt Sylas started. I haven't seen her since." Garen had to stop himself from wondering the worst.

"What's her name...?"

"Katarina."

"Sounds pretty." And Jinx got the tiniest smile from the Lord Commander. "If it was her on that bed, and I wasn't here to save her... If you knew who did it. Would you stay your hand?"

The thought alone made him sick to his core. "I KNOW who did it! And going at him like this is not the play! He knows how this works!"

"Sylas knows how you work, Garen. He'll be expecting Mageseekers and Illuminators. A grand show of force, scorched earth, the works. That's why I can do this and you can't. Because I don't need Mageseekers and Illuminators to burn everything to the ground. Because he can't plan for me."

"I won't let you." And he meant that shit. He admired the hell out of her now, but he would not let her be killed by that monster too.

"Lord Commander." She said as that purple glow came to her eyes brighter than ever. Those eyes that were like daggers. Bright, glowing daggers that stabbed deep into Garen's soul. There was a rage in those eyes he had never seen on a human before. "With all due respect... You don't have a choice."

And then she pushed him. Harder than he'd ever been pushed in his life. He'd fought the trolls of the Freljord one on one and he'd not been pushed that hard! He flew over the table and landed back on the couch, pure shock in his face.

He saw her in full now. Her veins glowed purple for a second, her eyes a rabid animal's. She unfolded the thing on her shoulder at last, a dusty, dark green hoodie with fangs at the rim, the inside lined with so many toothy grenades Garen couldn't count them all. She readjusted that contraption strapped to her thigh (because of course that was a weapon too) and lifted both of those insane machinations of hers in one hand each as she turned to face the door.

Still in shock, Garen could only form one question.

"Isha... Who are you?"

The girl at least graced him with an answer.

"Not Isha." She said as she pulled the toothy hood over her head. And she sounded like a demon. Garen would know. He'd fought demons. "My name is Jinx of Zaun. When Lux wakes up, ask her who that is."

And in a flash of purple, she was gone.

*****

Jinx unstrapped Starfire from her tree. The mare didn't whine or step back. She knew what time it was too.

"Take me there."

And Starfire did. She carried the Witch of the Woods, weapons and all, like it was nothing. Almost flying through meadows and forests, ever onwards towards the Hinterlands. Towards their prey. She thought of the kind of monster she was hunting....

And a voice in the back of her mind said "Kill", and Jinx didn't have to be told twice.

[variouspolltournaments]

Propaganda

Dennis Reynolds: No Propaganda Submitted

Ballister Blackheart: No Propaganda Submitted

Cryptosporidium-137: An alien invader out to destroy all humans. After rampaging through America, he kills and impersonates the president, blames the destruction he caused on communists, and starts harvesting human brains in bulk.

Light Yagami: No Propaganda Submitted

[alpacahat67]

bal and nimona are like that one off-broadway hamilton clip where hamilton is getting way too into it and washington is audibly very confused

[cloversplace]

shoutout to THE homies ever:

@natur3sf1rstgr33n @sonnysimagination @dairyfairyy @colequette 

ily guys <3

(All of u guys r awesome, these r js the ppl I’ve talked to/interacted with the most)

[a-dumb-sarcastic-bisexual]

I don't think I'll ever run out of Nimona headcanons

So I feel like it’s kind of obvious that both Ambrosius and Bal had to play the part of the perfect obedient little soldier as they were growing up 

And I feel like they both had different ways of dealing with those expectations 

There are still moments when they have to hold their tongues and put on a smile

And Nimona has witnessed most of those moments 

One day she asked them both “How do y’all not bite someone’s head off or like burn a small village to the ground?”

And they decided to show her 

Bal very politely asked her to fly them to the top of the institute 

And he was like okay weird but I’m not gonna question it

His resolve is really tested when he hears Ambrosius ask if the surveillance cameras are turned off

And when Bal gets the slightest hint of a yes does he scream absolute bloody murder 

Sometimes it’s small phrases sometimes it's words but most of the time it’s just screaming 

But he doesn’t stop until he’s blue in the face and his voice is almost gone 

When he’s done Ambrosius ushers them all home 

Nimona doesn’t start asking him questions until Bal is relaxing in the room with a big cup of tea

And all Ambrosius says is “Eh it helps him so I don’t question it” 

And then he asks them to fly him to his families property

And he doesn’t tell them to stop until they get to this tiny dilapidated shack 

Nimona voices that they’re surprised his family would let such an eyesore exist 

To which Ambrosius makes an off comment while looking for something about it being too far out for them to notice 

And she was about to ask what he was looking for and until he pulls out a bat 

And a couple of his failed ceramic projects 

Before he could ask when they got here

Ambrosius was hitting it against one of the walls and then wordlessly offered the bat to Nimona

They didn’t go home until every plate vase and cup was absolutely obliterated 

When they did get home they found Bal sitting in the living room

All Nimona said was “Your man has anger issues and I like it!” 

To which Bal responds with an expression that says “You think I didn’t know?”

While the trio loves watching movies together they can’t finish a single show 

Nimona never waits for the boys and always goes ahead

And half the time when they watch it again all together she spoils it for the boys 

Bal often gets too caught up in the show and starts questioning everything 

And if Ambrosius doesn’t like the show he’ll stop paying attention and then ask a million questions 

All in all they drive each other crazy and decided just to watch the show separately and talk about it when they’re done 

For some reason this doesn’t qualify for trashy reality tv

No one gets bored and there are too many twists and turns for anyone to think about talking over the show

[amarioe]

Nimona!

I messed the eyes up, so sorry best girl :(

I felt so bad i edited the image in Ibispaint X lol(the real reason was that the eye was REALLY REALLY REALLY bugging me and i can't fix it irl)

Atleast a Nimona character finally won, lol? And wow, picking between adding Nya or Lloyd is hard--

[nonbinary-morro]

ok so im currently rewatching nimona in the hindi dub (thank you @sir-ballister-boldheart-boldheart for the link! everyone should check out their great posts about it too btw)

and right of off the bat, im kinda obsessed with this line change:

in the OG, Nimonas quip/joke is "The one armed club is about to get some new members"

but in the Hindi dub its changed to "Agar inmisay kisi ka basu pasand ai toh bata'dayna" (sorry if my hinglish isnt the best i dont do this kinda thing often XO)

(which translates to: "if you find a liking to any of these arms tell me")

which is not only equally as hilarious but also soso cute cause the implication shes ready to chop of any arm he wants as a fucked up kinda karma/compensation or as a replacement is just, so good. violent and in character but also establishes a side of care for him early on which is really cool.

[sunshine-zenith]

Inevitable

[robadniks]

thinking about my movie!metal. i think the biggest genuine threat to its development would be being shown kindness. by anyone, whether it be those that should be its enemies, or people like stone or robotnik -- for the simple reason that he's still learning what behaviors are and aren't acceptable. by all means, he's still a killer robot ;; but if kindness is something metal is regularly exposed to, it's something he'll be more prone to mimic.

furthermore, i think in situations where sonic isn't present, metal isn't generally hostile. SONIC is his target. when he isn't around, it goes into a more docile state. of course, he's willing and able to threaten, maim, destroy, or defend itself ;; but only if the situation calls for it. because he's a robot! he isn't nearly as emotionally impulsive as main timeline metal because it hasn't developed "emotion" yet!

tldr be nice to he

[wtrclrsndrunknpstls]

Who would I be if I didn’t fill my notes app with little finger doodles of him when my brain is screaming bc of touching certain things

Still wondering: how to art when you want to but have sensory issues, are gloves a good idea 😭