#what vi would have wanted

[revelisms]

Excerpt: You Can't Replace Her

Vi's return has Jinx floundering. Sevika sifts through the layers.

From 'heron blue,' an AU where Vi and Jinx reconnect under different terms. Slow, rocky relationship rebuilding, found family messiness, and political schemings. Full story on AO3

Sat at the table across from the kitchenette's thin galley, Jinx twists her plait about one finger—a single one, today, the weave of it adorned with scraps of bullet casings and clips—and doesn't say a word. She squeezes the cool metal of one of the casings, hard enough to sting.

"I'm not mad at you, you brat," Sevika grumbles, without sparing her a glance. "Not your fault the little shit's back from the dead. But, of the seven hells—" 

Her thick fingers spear into the creases beneath her eyes: a slow kneading. She says nothing, for a beat. Just smokes, and smokes. 

"He loves you too damned much," she growls quietly, then. She flicks the ash of her cigarette over a tray on the balcony's railing. "Your sister worth all this, to you?"

The casing between Jinx's fingers aches. 

Ever since he'd placed a meal and a plan before her—laid a quiet, terrifying choice in her hands—she'd turned the thought over, for hours, and hours. 

Do you want her near you?

She wanted her sister's presence, less than craved it—like a girl yearned for her favorite toy; like an infant wailed for their mother; like a child found comfort in the lonely walls of their room, closed off from the rest of the world.

She missed her. She was terrified of her. She longed for her. She hated her.

She hadn't been able to answer him, then. She couldn't.

The same denial sits on her tongue, now.

"I don't...I don't know," she mumbles.

"'Course you don't," Sevika snarks.

"I don't know, okay?" Jinx wrenches her head away, glaring into the yellowing paper of the wall. "She—she left me." Her nail picks and picks at her knee. "She left me, because I—I wasn't good enough, I wasn't strong enough, I was—I was weak." A crack in her voice, thin and sharp. "I was weak, and I ruined everything."

The shadow across from her chuffs, quietly. "Boss doesn't see you as weak."

Jinx curls her shoulders to her ears, pressing her cheek into one of them. "Doesn't matter."

"Like you couldn't knock me off my feet, if you tried." A steel-gray stare flicks over at her, cold points in the greenish haze that stretches beyond this small room, seeping through the open door like a sweet-soured fog. "When we took you in, you couldn't throw a punch for shit. You took to a gun like it was welded through you, though." Sevika lifts one brow, with a shrug of her shoulder. "Still need to work on your punches," she notes, dryly. "But they're better."

Mylo's voice scratches and claws through Jinx's ears.

"So what?" she spits. "I'm not—not like her. I'll never be like her."

"Why do you need to be?" Those eyes again, staring hard at her. "You can't replace her." Sevika huffs, turning back to the smog-tainted view that spills down from the balcony's edge. "If you had that in your head, with her gone—sure as hell doesn't matter, now."

The words tear at something in Jinx's bones, buried so deep into the marrow that it uproots her. She blinks. Breathes. Shakes.

"Something you Fissure brats should've learned, years ago," Sevika rumbles on, a low, muted thing. "Someone dies, you leave them dead. You don't carry around their corpse, making yourself into their image; you don't become them, to you, or to anybody else." She ticks the ash from her cigarette. "You can't."

Jinx's fingers tremble over her knee. The swallow she forces down clings like ash to her throat. "Then," she whispers, "then what do I—what do I do?"

Sevika's mouth curls at a snarl.

"You be." A final drag: the cigarette crushed into the tray, among a litter of countless others. "Whatever you need for yourself, first. Damn the rest."

Silco, in his own ways, had told her the same. Cradled her head beneath the cold drape of the Pilt's waves, with the gentlest sweep of his thumb: as though she were still only a scrappy street-cat of a girl, eleven years old and raging at the world. As though he were lowering himself back down into the place of his rebirth, where he had reforged himself, rebuilt himself. Where he'd found what he needed, to survive again.

She hadn't quite understood it all, then. 

She'd been too lost in the silence of the waves, in the strange peace she'd found floating in the blackwater, in the warmth of his hand lifting her back to the surface. Lost in her own fears of going back to the terrors gnashing on the shores. Too exhausted to move, to come back to herself. 

He'd carried her from the shallows, like he'd carried her back from the wreckage that day. They'd sat at the water's edge for hours, his coat draped over her shoulders, his eyes so faraway, and said nothing.

She thinks she might understand, now.

[jaegerbroshoe]

Rewatching the finale, Jinx is actually a lot more self-aware than people make her out to be. I find it funny how people say Silco manipulated her into becoming Jinx when she herself reveals that his words over the years weren’t what shaped her into this. She even recognizes that he projects his trauma onto her. So like… I don’t think she was manipulated. She’s not oblivious.

[absolutelyegg]

"you never bother to find out what it does to someone, being stuffed in a stone box for weeks, or months, or even years?"

i seriously hope that this wasn't just a throw-away line they put in the show except it probably was, that they make the decision to touch upon what happened to her, and that we can see her heal from it

[spacedlexi]

speaking of fucked up overly hated female twdg characters i find it Super Interesting how people will say carver was the best villain in the whole series, but when lilly is literally just a successful carver (iron fist leader of a community turning children into soldiers) suddenly shes a bad/lame villain for some reason 🤔

[haunted-xander]

Sone notes:

FFXI & FFXIV are excluded due to the nature of being MMOs- they are, quite literally, impossible to remake (And XIV is getting a graphical update anyway, so it's not like it needs one)

(FFXV & FFXVI are excluded for obvious reasons) (FFXIII/XIII-2/LR are also excluded for similar reasons)

By 'benefit from', I mean that the narrative/characters/world and general story experience would be enhanced due to modern tech/hardware and what they now do with it. For example, FFVII really benefits from the remake since there's a lot of things they can portray more subtly and delicately than they could in the OG (such as Cloud's hallucinations & memory issues and how other's react to it)

(And also for some of the older titles there are things in the writing that may have aged poorly- in a remake they could rework it to be more tasteful)

[citrusinicake]

stone sword mentality final vs wip

as can be seen in the wip it was originally gonna be drasticduo instead of starfox but the posing was way too reverent compared to how i perceived their dynamic to be so i decided to change it to starfox because... well *gestures at whatever tf they had going on in s4*

[wonder-worker]

Margaret of Anjou’s visit to Coventry [in 1456], which was part of her dower and that of her son, Edward of Lancaster, was much more elaborate. It essentially reasserted Lancastrian power. The presence of Henry and the infant Edward was recognised in the pageantry. The ceremonial route between the Bablake gate and the commercial centre was short, skirting the area controlled by the cathedral priory, but it made up for its brevity with no fewer than fourteen pageants. Since Coventry had an established cycle of mystery plays, there were presumably enough local resources and experience to mount an impressive display; but one John Wetherby was summoned from Leicester to compose verses and stage the scenes. As at Margaret’s coronation the iconography was elaborate, though it built upon earlier developments.

Starting at Bablake gate, next to the Trinity Guild church of St. Michael, Bablake, the party was welcomed with a Tree of Jesse, set up on the gate itself, with the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah explaining the symbolism. Outside St. Michael’s church the party was greeted by Edward the Confessor and St. John the Evangelist; and proceeding to Smithford Street, they found on the conduit the four Cardinal Virtues—Righteousness (Justice?), Prudence, Temperance, and Fortitude. In Cross Cheaping wine flowed freely, as in London, and angels stood on the cross, censing Margaret as she passed. Beyond the cross was pitched a series of pageants, each displaying one of the Nine Worthies, who offered to serve Margaret. Finally, the queen was shown a pageant of her patron saint, Margaret, slaying the dragon [which 'turned out to be strictly an intercessor on the queen's behalf', as Helen Maurer points out].

The meanings here are complex and have been variously interpreted. An initial reading of the programme found a message of messianic kingship: the Jesse tree equating royal genealogy with that of Christ had been used at the welcome for Henry VI on his return from Paris in 1432. A more recent, feminist view is that the symbolism is essentially Marian, and to be associated with Margaret both as queen and mother of the heir rather than Henry himself. The theme is shared sovereignty, with Margaret equal to her husband and son. Ideal kingship was symbolised by the presence of Edward the Confessor, but Margaret was the person to whom the speeches were specifically addressed and she, not Henry, was seen as the saviour of the house of Lancaster. This reading tips the balance too far the other way: the tableau of Edward the Confessor and St. John was a direct reference to the legend of the Ring and the Pilgrim, one of Henry III’s favourite stories, which was illustrated in Westminster Abbey, several of his houses, and in manuscript. It symbolised royal largesse, and its message at Coventry would certainly have encompassed the reigning king. Again, the presence of allegorical figures, first used for Henry, seems to acknowledge his presence. Yet, while the message of the Coventry pageants was directed at contemporary events it emphasised Margaret’s motherhood and duties as queen; and it was expressed as a traditional spiritual journey from the Old Testament, via the incarnation represented by the cross, to the final triumph over evil, with the help of the Virgin, allegory, and the Worthies. The only true thematic innovation was the commentary by the prophets.

[...] The messages of the pageants firmly reminded the royal women of their place as mothers and mediators, honoured but subordinate. Yet, if passive, these young women were not without significance. It is clear from the pageantry of 1392 and 1426 in London and 1456 in Coventry that when a crisis needed to be resolved, the queen (or regent’s wife) was accorded extra recognition. Her duty as mediator—or the good aspect of a misdirected man—suddenly became more than a pious wish. At Coventry, Margaret of Anjou was even presented as the rock upon which the monarchy rested. [However,] a crisis had to be sensed in order to provoke such emphasis [...]."

-Nicola Coldstream, "Roles of Women in Late Medieval Civic Pageantry," "Reassessing the Roles of Women as 'Makers' of Medieval Art and Culture"

[mantisgodsdomain]

We should make patch notes for SB au it would be funny

[worstsequence]

who else is here on this day thinking about eddie lovey dovey free with affection known dustin for not even a year uses his dying breath to tell him he loves him munson

[fideidefenswhore]

If only Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon counted in Catholic eyes, does this mean Mary wouldn't theoretically consider any of his other wives 'real' stepmothers, as such? If she did, how would she rationalise defying the Pope's will, whilst upholding the papal authority to sanction the marriage of her parents?

She probably never did, based on the wording of that Act in question. Her attitude towards papal authority during her own reign was...contradictory in other ways, however.

[astralalmighty]

I wish there were commonly used non-romantic "shipping" terms for parent-child relationships and friendships. I want to look up a term that's synonymous with motherly love between my favorite characters and not find weird incest. I want there to be a way I can look up ekko/jinx from arcane and not find romantic or sexual content. I wish there were more words for friendships, and i wish we prioritized these relationships enough to have terms

[appalachianapologies]

If you were to (theoretically) read a (theoretical) fic about Patricia Thornton, (in theory) would you prefer her name to be (theoretically) spelled "Patti," "Pati," or "Patty"? (all in theory of course, just a completely random poll that has nothing to do with my current wip)

[quietwingsinthesky]

at some point i am going to have to force even to go back and deal with donna & tentoo & rose & all and everything they ran away from. and that will probably involve them losing tentoo’s chameleon arch watch by giving it back to its rightful owner, whether she chooses to open it or not. and that is. not going to be a very fun or stable time for them.

[spacedlexi]

Do you like Vi and Clem as best friends as well? Or just as lovers? (Also, I love your art)

im assuming youre asking if im fine with either friendship or romance route, which i am!! at the very base of their relationship they are best friends regardless, its just whether or not they kiss about it (and i just think they do 😏)

either way s4 is about building a home and a family. you get to choose what that looks like :) so while i definitely go to bat for romanced vi, i can understand some people not being interested in that element and choosing to be friends instead. either way theyre partners. and vi still makes clem a gay little button about it 😭💕

(and thank you!!)

[queerbauten]

pain.png

[godofsmallthings]

oh and btw. regardless of my current belief system i will be such an annoying gaylor if and when i go to midnights tour to avenge my sixteen year old self. the full body rainbow flag cape stays ON during tour babes <3