#tricky guards

[kappy321]

How to Guard Final Bowser's Lightning Blast

[devilsrecreation]

One thing I noticed about my TLG Outlander headcanons is that I gave them all some sort of job/hobby/special skill

- Jasiri has her leadership skills

- Madoa is a healer

- Janja’s the enforcer/cop. Like he said, you try to disrespect the Circle, you gotta deal with him

- Chungu serves as everyone’s emotional support

- Cheezi is a master of distractions cuz I keep imagining him being the one to cause them (think the Henry Stickman distraction dance)

- Nne sings

- Tano’s a pro dancer

- Reirei has raised a bunch of rowdy pups and one mate. She deserves to be a mentor

- Goigoi…I don’t have anything for him YET but being just “dad” is good enough for him

- Kiburi has a role as the protector of the Outlands (I like to think he works with Janja to some degree)

- Tamka is an actor (at least he’s trying to be)

- Nduli is a detective

- Neema is a music-enthused “phantom”

- Kenge’s a self-defense teacher to the kids

- Sumu was a hitman for the longest time but now that he’s retired, he’s also become a healer

- Shupavu, Njano, and the rest of the skinks are spies

- Mzingo not only has leadership skills but is also a royal advisor like Zazu

[feroluce]

Belobog was my fave main quest but a lot of it is so. Contradictory. It's like they had multiple groups doing different shit and none of them checked in with each other for consistency. And you see this so much in Gepard's profile.

So in the main quest, they made him unfailingly, unquestionably loyal to Cocolia. Gepard's character arc is him learning to question authority etc etc. And this isn't even a bad thing; that's a story worth telling! It makes good conflict between him and Serval! And I love that we got Gepard as a boss battle and I get to see him all the time in SU!

But then you look at his character stories and it's like. The complete opposite.

According to his profile, Gepard has already HAD this awakening, long before the Astral Express, and he'd already decided Cocolia sucks. Even outside of his stories, there's a pretty damning readable between him and Pela.

He even disobeyed direct orders right in front of her- he has been disobeying orders for a while now!

So I've decided I'm marrying the two different sides of this into a 1.5k fic-ish thingy, because I think there's some fun potential there with Gepard not trusting Cocolia, but still having to pretend to be a good obedient little soldier.

Anyway. I love to think of it as like. Gepard knows Cocolia has sunk into her apathy. He can see it in her eyes every time he looks at her. She doesn't care. Not about him, not about Pela, not about all his soldiers on the frontlines giving their lives to protect the citizens. And that's... It makes him bristle a bit, but ok. Gepard can deal with this. Even if Cocolia no longer cares, as long as she does her job then it's fine. Having compassion behind an action doesn't matter as much as the action itself. If Cocolia's heart is no longer swayed, then he'll just have to care twice as hard to pick up the slack. He considers it part of his duty as a captain of the guard anyway. It's fine. Gepard can deal with it.

And then, Cocolia starts coming down to the restricted zone. Issuing direct orders.

And Gepard realizes he is in way over his head.

Because Cocolia orders him to stay back and issue commands from the ramparts, away from all his comrades, away from where he can protect them.

Gepard had thought nothing could be as bad as watching a fellow guard die right next to him. But the first time he watches someone struck by a killing blow, so far away, it hurts. Every defensive scar across his arms itches, his fingers curl in want of a weapon, the cold cannot numb his hands enough as they desperately ache for his shield. It hurts.

Gepard tries to find any reason to stay. Because surely... He knows Cocolia has lost her love for her people, but surely... She wouldn't...

One day, Cocolia orders for their gunners to advance 20 yards. There are no survivors. She almost looks like she smiles.

Gepard doesn't sleep that night.

Pela brings him the report at the end of the first month; and then the month after that, and the month after that. A significant uptick in losses, and all of it started on that first day Cocolia started overriding his authority and issuing her own orders. The ends of Gepard's pens have all been nearly chewed off. Pela outright calls Cocolia an idiot, and Gepard corrects her. Cocolia isn't an idiot. Gepard had known her through Serval, knew her through all her college years and then some, and he knows how intelligent she is. It's not that she's stupid, and it's not that she's inexperienced, it's nothing of the sort.

Cocolia knows exactly what she's doing.

She must, there's no way she could make such a horrible mess of things so badly by accident. And Pela, quick as a whip, sharp as a tack, always too smart for her own good, catches onto the meaning behind Gepard's correction without any further prompting. The tent goes deathly quiet, nothing but the wind howling outside.

"...She's trying to kill us," Pela whispers, her voice swiftly suffocated by the silence.

Gepard swallows. He can't bring himself to correct her this time. There is nothing he could say that he would actually mean.

His gaze drops, back down to his desk and the reports on it. The names aren't listed, just the numbers, but Gepard knows them, knew them, and there must be something wrong, something he's missing, because why, why would she-? What could this possibly accomplish-?

“Gepard! Focus!” Something snaps right under his nose, and Gepard startles, eyes instantly honing in on Pela's irritated face as she leans over his desk. She holds his gaze for a moment before she huffs and begins to pace, wedges a knuckle between her teeth and bites like Gepard hasn't seen her do since cadet school.

Pela angrily strides from one end of his tent to the other, words hissed between her grit teeth. “What are we going to do?” In the dim lighting, Gepard can just barely see the damp spot of blood weeping under her gloves. “We need a plan.”

“A plan?”

“Wh- Yes, a plan! Unless you want more people to die!” Pela rounds on him then, all the wrath of a blizzard, winds roaring and snow sharp enough to cut.

“We don't even know-”

“What does it matter?! She killed-!!” Pela cuts off with a garbled noise when Gepard leaps up from his desk, hastily shoves his hand over her mouth. The prosthetic, not the flesh one, because he knows better than to assume Pela won't seize the opportunity to leave teeth marks in his skin.

“You're right. I'm sorry, I'm sorry; you're right. But you need to keep quiet.” Pela quirks an eyebrow at him and Gepard can read the question in her face. “Because we both saw what she did to Serval,” he hisses.

It's amazing the snow plains haven't thawed out yet, the amount of heat Pela can put behind a glare. The mere mention of Serval, and the smoking ruins Cocolia had made of her life and career, have her bristling up like a riled cat. The sudden hot breath she takes fans fog across his metal skin, and Gepard wisely keeps it in place until Pela finally sighs and reaches up, taps her fingertips against the back of his hand.

The second she's free, Pela bats him away and then her knuckle is right back between her teeth again, Gepard leaning back against his desk with his arms crossed to watch her resume her pacing. “If we spread the word, she'll have us discharged and make sure we can't even touch the frontlines,” Pela's voice seethes like an open sore. Gepard nods but keeps his silence. He knows better than to get in her way.

“And if you and I are both out of the picture, Belobog is fucked.” A little harsher than how he would have put it, but there's no denying that they're both important to the city's survival. Pela has the restricted zone running as efficiently as ever, and Gepard had become the youngest captain on record for a reason. “We need to keep this tight under wraps, at least for now… It can't leak to anyone higher up the chain.” Another nod. “Serval might know other discontents…” Another n-

Gepard's head snaps up. “No.”

“No what?”

“No. We're not involving Serval in this.”

Somehow, even the same tone that leaves entire squadrons shaking in their boots has never worked on her. “You're not deciding that for her, Gepard.”

Pela hadn't seen the worst of it, though, back when his sister had just been banned from the Architects. Serval's pride hadn't allowed it. Pela wasn't the one to find her passed out bottle still in hand, hadn't been the one to wash the sick out of her hair or carry her to bed. 

Serval still has trouble thinking clearly when it comes to Cocolia, still can't quite bring herself to be objective. And Gepard maybe doesn't want her to be purely objective- but he would worry a lot less if she thought twice before she acted more often.

“At least let me be the one to bring it up to her.”

“Whatever, fine,” Pela gestures affirmatively at him as she paces past, and Gepard sighs. Good, at least that's one thing he can help.

From there, it's a lot of hemming and hawing and frustration. Cocolia has them under her boot, and Gepard and Pela both know it. Even with the way she's been cracking down on freedoms lately, Cocolia is still, overall, liked by the people. It's unlikely anyone would believe them. They don't even have solid proof, because most people don't know Cocolia as well as they do and won't see the clues in the same light. 

The Fragmentum has been ramping up in recent years, too. Everyone is struggling just to survive as is, they can't afford a fight on two fronts. Gepard is a damn good captain, one of the best for that matter. But they're at a massive disadvantage, his experience is narrowed to fighting a defensive battle against monsters, that's all he's ever done. That's all anyone there has ever done. He has no way of finding first-hand knowledge for taking the offensive against a human opponent, and if he goes at this blind, there's no way he'll get everyone out unscathed. He's going to lose people. He's going to lose a lot of people.

He'd never thought before that Cocolia would have it in her to have someone killed. And with this new knowledge, he has no guarantee she won't go after Serval or Lynx if she decides to retaliate.

Gepard has to remind himself to breathe when he realizes this.

Pela writes down every name the two of them can come up with. Lists and lists of names and groups and anyone they can think of who might be an ally in all of this. They memorize every bit of it, make their plans of who to talk to and when. Gepard watches the sparks reflect off Pela's glasses as they burn the evidence together.

Pela finally leaves, far too late to make it home, but says she wants to stay in the restricted zone anyway to investigate. Gepard watches her make her way in the direction of Dunn's tent, watches her back until she's out of his sight and squashes down the urge to follow and keep an eye on her. His tent feels empty.

In the morning, Gepard is up before the wake up bells. He drags himself out of bed, leads his soldiers through their morning training. The same people gravitate to each other everyday. Friend groups and training partners. There's an ongoing rivalry between a few squadrons that everyone bets on. Some of them have lockets around their necks, keepsakes, mementos. Some of them wear wedding rings.

Gepard is suddenly, painfully aware of something acidic clawing at the inside of his throat, of a heavy weight low in his chest that blooms, takes up room until it threatens to spread his ribs. His mouth tastes of bile and blood.

He rearranges the schedules. Puts himself down for every open patrol into the Fragmentum, makes sure he'll be on the frontlines every single time Cocolia visits.

He only hopes that it's enough.

[kirby-the-gorb]

[thtupidity]

I missed the birthday and I think im just gonna live with that. Anyways doodle page because I was desperate to draw something

I have to live with the fact that some people have seen my ninja and miss maia art and think its ship art because they don't follow me n just see my shit on google or pintrest, so clarification the maia n ninja doodles r in fact not related maia is not blushing at her brother...

[dragonologist-phd]

Naia and Shadowheart's turn in this template!

templates here and here

[writerfae]

Since you talked a lot about Talon's family I got curious. What is the relation between kings/ queens, high lords and guards. I know guards are really respected, but I also heard you mention that Talon's his father's heir, but he is a guard and his dad's a high lord?

I hope this question makes sense

This question makes lots of sense! Let me (try to) explain.

In every court, there is one royal family. This royal family has been there since the beginning and always provides the king/queen/regent of a court.

But each court also has noble families. The leaders of those noble families are called high lords/ladies. So a high lord is simply the head of a noble family.

It’s a position you inherit, which is why one of the high lord/lady’s children gets raised as an heir. Once the current high lord/lady retires/dies, their heir takes over the family business.

Now you might wonder what a high lord/lady is there for. Except for keeping their own family running.

For that you should know that since fae courts are pretty big, they are divided into districts (usually six) and each of those districts have a noble family as their “patron”.

So basically, what a high lord/lady does is manage “their” district. Mediating neighborhood quarrels, deal with people’s requests and pass them on to the king if they see it necessary. Stuff like that.

And lastly there is the royal guard. The guard is a group of people under the regents command, whose job it is to serve the crown and the people at court.

There’s different departments but in general their task is to keep the order, help with emergencies and protect the people if necessary, among other things.

A guard is something you can train to be. Unlike the position of a high lord/lady it’s nothing you get born as or can inherit. Nowadays everyone could become guard if they make it through the start test and the training.

High lords and ladies, together with the generals of the royal guard, are part of the “inner circle” of a regent, while guards (though they are highly reputable) are a whole different instance in a court’s system.

I hope I didn’t confuse you so far. Now to apply this all to Talon’s family:

Talon was born into a noble family. (Which kinda makes him a lord, just like Halea, as the daughter of a noble family, is a lady)

His father, Cyrus, is a high lord, so the head of the family (the patriarch of you will). His “job” is to care for the family and the people of the district he patrons.

Talon actively chose the guard career, so this is his “job” now, you could say. But he’s not just a guard, he is also his father’s heir.

That means that one day he’ll most likely have to retire as a guard and take his father’s place as the head of the family and become the new high lord.

But for now he’s just a guard. Well, technically still a guard in training, but let’s not be too nitpicky xD

I hope this answers your question! ^^

[pinky-in-blankets]

Pommie in the distance: Nights! Stop bullying the new guy!

{ I feel like Nights will just tell Jax horrific things out of context and then just never elaborate. }

[cantteachanoldguardnewquotes]

[call-me-tricky]

Allspark Almanac: Leech and Brakeneck

Wanted to do some redesigns and references for my guys, so why not have some fun with it? I gave a shot at replicating the style of the pages from the Allspark Almanac.

[kamipyre]

@lovlorne sent in: let's hear aboutttt... ray :} || the paper machine's gossip session ( ft. talk about meme )

send “talk about-” and a name for my muse to talk about that person!

scorched verse:

“He needs to broaden his HORIZONS.” And she’s not just talking from one shore…for one thing, he ( @bloodxhound ) still hasn’t budged ( and probably will never ) on his cruelty towards crocs. But that’s a long-term goal- for now, she can settle with the one that gives her a bit more flexibility! “He says he doesn’t mind seaweed, which I think is more than a start!” After all, seaweed is the lettuce of the ocean…if Ray can digest that then bonito flakes are more than doable. That being said, she is getting off-topic and needs to talk about the detective himself- “…He’s weird. He’s all for wrecking stuff and making Mister Godot write reports about it, but then he’s all orderly about like, his stuff. And schedule.” Like how he drags her to the gym with him at least two times every month and unless there’s a case going on, he visits the gym almost every day. “He gives me free paper. And food! Even if his opinions there are wrong half of the time- but it’s okay! We have TIME to convince him otherwise!”

embers verse:

Eyes widen ever so slightly. Well that’s a name she hasn’t heard in a while- where did they hear that name? One that was once at the center of the biggest scandals within LAPD has now become a relic of an old era. A name that is only whispered in passing as if the owner himself has died. But really, it’s been what, a year or two since he resigned? Her fingers fold. “…He said he’d be back.” Her voice is firm, eyes steady. That’s why he gave her Paper Moozy and its city, didn’t he? Ray’s not the kind of break his promises anyway. “If he were here, we wouldn’t be dealing with half of these problems. He wouldn’t stand for it.” Of course that could be said about the others too- the ones who care more about the truth than a spotless record. If they were here, perhaps the public wouldn’t have lost faith in the LAPD either. Her fingers keep moving. “He’ll be back. I know it.” 

In her hands, there’s a paper replica of MOOZILLA.

[kappy321]

How to Guard Shadow Queen's Hand Drag

[devilsrecreation]

More TLG characters I created with piccrew (feat. @sweetheart-weeb-33 ‘s creation)

Kiburi

Neema (unnamed crocodile)

Pua

Shupavu (created by sweetheart-weeb-33)

I would do Makuu but I seriously CANNOT compete with the ones on DeviantArt

LIKE LOOK AT THESE:

Zactopus

YoungLadyArt

AND LOOK AT THIS VERSION OF KENGE

I COULD NEVER

[inevitablyuncertain]

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[lunarblazes]

NO WORRIES I WAS HONESTLY MORE WORRIED ABOUT BOTHERING YOU its simply that my partner and i have committed to writing within the hostile stars universe and we concluded we CAN make our own shit up about god politics but ALSO youre right here and i love to hear more about hs :) anyways fuck aeor every version of aeor is a litte bitch he better square up

nono you’re not bothering me at all!! i love this i’m so happy to answer any questions you have! you guys can make up whatever politics you want, though i will tell you that matral is a bit of a strange god on account of mostly taking form as a rooted tree in the mortal realm and thus its godly form is sort of wispy and incorporeal, ametri has their hesitations about being in the pantheon, naia is the most warlike of the gods, since she’s the mistress of storms, and the grimlands patron is a very big recluse. he doesn’t like to talk to others inside of the pantheon and prefers to keep his counsel inside a workshop hidden away in the grimlands. ametri is the only pantheon god to have talked to him regularly. anthea/nari is very tricky, sort of fae-like in the way she acts with questions and information on account of the mystery thing. the gods embody their domains and that comes with shortcomings and certain strengths; as long as you keep that in mind you’ll be fine :^D!!

[arundolyn]

actually wait. yall. i have a new weird interest in testing out weird blazblue shit? like in fight. unhinged science blazblue edition. ie which of the mercury family’s laser distortions beats the others (Koko > Nine > Celica, always no exceptions Ever sabre anglaise is just super fucking slow and no matter how you time it she will not win. and even not in od and not charged dreadnought destroyer is too beefy for flame punisher) 

so if yall have anything you want me to fuck around with (or want results of the stuff ive thought of at the moment i have a small list) next time i open bb (probably later today honestly) reply/reblog/ask whatever