#also cc's face in the last gif | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

aspoonofsugar · 1 year

Text

Life, Death And Rust

The Parfait Predicament is that the Parfait is the least important thing that happens this episode :P

Here are some thoughts on what we got this week.

THE CYCLE OF LIFE AND DEATH

When we break or wear out or simply finish what we were made to do we are called back (...) I know, I know. Wehre you come from, things die, but we are not like you at all. We ascend. Herb will have his purpose again.

The CC's speech and Ever After's creatures not dying, but "ascending" ties into 2 themes dear to RWBY and Ruby:

Grief

Creation and Destruction

Both ideas come together in The Cycle of Life and Death, which is illustrated (or at least hinted at) in the character of the mysterious Blacksmith:

The Blacksmith's role seems to be collecting lost weapons and to use their metal to forge something new. When it comes to this, she is similar to Jinxy:

Jinxy takes things that are lost, changes their shapes and gives people the chance to get them back, if they are willing to pay the price. It is possible that what is left unsold is then given to the Blacksmith, who gives new life to it.

Two details have interested me of the Blacksmith's introduction:

She is made of gold and her workplace is all gold

She is forging a butterfly

Both are important symbols in the series.

Gold is the perfect metal and the objective of alchemy. The characters are going through the scale of metals and getting more and more refined, so that they can become gold. Pyrrha is gold to begin with and is the first one to become a true Huntress and to end her arc. Penny dies surrounded by a golden cloud because she goes from copper (her metal) to gold and reaches perfection. (This also ties with Pinocchio's fairy tale btw). In short, gold is important and the Blacksmith being covered in it frames her as an alchemist. Someone who starts reactions and transforms things.

Butterflies are symbols of transformation, of death and rebirth. So, it is important the Blacksmith is forging this specific animal. It may hint to how she is some kind of God in the Ever After. Or at least, that her role is God-Like. People who lose themselves in the Ever After come to her in the form of weapons and metals. She reworks them and gives them new life. The Butterfly might even be a reference to Herb, who "ascended" and is now being "fixed up".

So, what does all of it has to do with Ruby?

RUBY RIDING HOOD

(I have yet to write a full analysis of Ruby's allusion, I only have snippets of it for now. However, the imagery this episode was rather strong)

Ruby's meeting with the Blacksmith develops 2 ideas already present in the previous episode:

Her Journey Through Grief

Her Loss of Identity

So far, each episode has explored a specific stage of grief. Let's review:

Episode 1 > Denial

Episode 2 > Bargaining

Episode 3 > Anger

Episode 4 > Depression

Last week I identified episode 4 as Acceptance, but now I think it was depression (both Ruby and Herb are depressed). What is true is that it ends with the concept of Acceptance, which is fully developed this episode. The CC's speech and the appearance of the Blacksmith hint to this idea. Ruby, however, is still far away from fully reaching this stage.

Still, she is slowly getting closer to fully facing her ghosts, even if it is difficult to say if this is a good or bad thing right now:

The Blacksmith's weapons give Ruby 3 different mirror images:

Penny

Alyx

Summer

Why is that so? @lintuwaterfall shared a theory where they could represent Id, Ego and Superego (these are their words):

Penny - Id - Desire - She has deep feelings about her friend

Alyx - Ego - Reality - Doing what one can to survive in the world

Summer - Super-Ego - The ideal set out by a Parent

I quite like this idea and whatever the case, it is clear Penny, Alyx and Summer represent 3 parts of Ruby. In particular, they could once again allude to past, present and future (just like Neo's allusion while Ruby is falling may):

Penny is a lot like Ruby's past idealistic self. They became friends precisely because they were so similar. This is also why when Penny came back it is as if Ruby could find her childhood and innocent self once again.

Alyx went through a journey very similar to Ruby to the point they are often paralleled and juxtaposed. Alyx is described as a girl running from herself and she probably lost herself eventually.

Summer is set up to be Ruby's future. She is who Ruby has always wanted to be. An ideal she has been chasing after. She is the self Ruby has always wanted to become. Until recently, at least.

In short, the Blacksmith's scene is just Ruby going through the exact same pattern she did last episode with Herb. There she meets her past self, who asks her who she wants to become and suggests she may meet the same fate as Summer. Here, those unsolved and repressed feelings manifest themselves in a more subtle ways through the weapons.

This may also be why Ruby goes from Penny's beautiful sword:

To Alyx's humble and small knife:

From an ideal:

Ruby: Not just a powerful warrior, the most powerful to ever lived. She was touched by magic, and she gave her life for thousands. She took a message of hope to the stars, and she saw the world through better eyes. Take us to the royal birthday, and allow us to present this most precious gift.

To reality, which is much less beautiful and impressive:

The Blacksmith: What are you? Are you lost?

Ruby starts as beautiful as Penny's sword, a precious gem (rubies and jades), but has right now turned into a smaller knife. The question is... who will she become? Which weapon will she choose to wield?

Blacksmith: If you change your mind, you may choose anyone of these you like.

As for now, she seems to be willing to let go of her past self to a degree that is almost dangerous and destructive:

Ruby: Here, I'll give you this! It carries a mother's promise!

A moment after seeing a glimpse of Summer in herself, she immediately bargains away a reminder of her. Just like she gives up Penny's sword after getting it in order to meet the Red Prince. Ruby has just gone through the stages of grief when it comes to Penny. However, Penny's death has now forced her to go even deeper and to face Summer's. She is probably going through the stages once again, so that she can deal with Summer. Only then she will be able to accept both her friend (her inner child) and her mother (her future ideal self)'s deaths. And change.

RUSTED JAUNE

It is too soon to say for sure, but so far Jaune seems a foil to Ruby when it comes to dealing with grief and identity.

It is implied Ruby wishes to forget:

Ruby: When Herbs come back... will he remember anything?

And she is willing to let go of herself completely. To self-destroy:

Young Ruby: You can do whatever you want! Be whoever you want! You don't even have to be Ruby Rose.

The first glimpse we get of Jaune instead suggests he wants to remember:

He calls his new friend Juniper

He chooses to live in an acre called "garden" and full of flowers (Nora) and leaves (Pyrrha)

The leaves have a rainbow pattern, which calls back to both his teamd and name

His house is a giant lotus (Ren)

He wears a red bow to remember Pyrrha:

He seems to have been in the Ever After for years, but he has apparently failed to change. He is still wearing his old armor or at least a similar one and his weapon is still broken:

In short, if Ruby's reaction to grief is to refuse it, to forget it and to self-destroy, Jaune's reaction seems to be not to let go when he should. Both characters clearly have to change and evolve, but Ruby only sees the relief of self-destruction, while Jaune only sees the importance of moving forward. Interesting considering they reacted in opposite ways when it comes to Pyrrha and Beacon. In general, the 2 of them seem to also have exchanged places since the beginning of the series. There Ruby was an already experienced Huntress in theory and very effective in combat. Jaune was instead unsure of his role and was often the load. In this week's episode instead we see how Ruby seems helpless when it comes to fighting, while Jaune rushes to the battlefield and basically takes Ruby's role as the 4th of her team. (This is a superficial note btw... I think the point is simply Ruby doesn't know where to fit right now, which reflects on her fighting style and willingness to fight - see the chess fight).

Basically, Ruby and Jaune explore 2 opposite and extreme reactions to grief. It is probable them both will be forced to revisit them. Ruby might have to accept her own pain, while Jaune might be asked to let go of an already consumed persona.

Obviously, Jaune's appearance might be misleading and he might have already been remade into something new. In this case, his own attachment to the past and knight persona might be an illusion to hide how broken his own identity is (the shattered sword).

Whatever the case, it is probable Jaune will be forced to change and to be remade into his true self. So, that he can finally evolve.

JAUNE AND NEO - RUSTED KNIGHT VS JABBERWALKER

We have reached the midway of the season. So, all the main characters and ingredients for the story have gathered. This means that both Jaune in the form of the Rusted Knight and Neo in the form of her illusory Jabberwalker have joined the fray and interacted with RWBY.

This gives us space for a meta commentary (this partly repeats last week's post):

Ruby is the protagonist - she even more so than the others has 2 animals guides there to help her out. Still, she is thinking of refusing her role and wants to lose herself and to be remade.

Neo is the antagonist - she multiplies the Jabber Walker aka the only antagonistic forse in the Ever After > the only thing able to kill. Symbolically, she is spreading her grief in a world which knows no death. However, she might seem to want more than just a role and is using her semblance to add new characters and potentially change the story (only 1 Jabberwalker was supposed to exist).

Jaune is the side character- he has completely fused with the story to the point the protagonists know his character even before they meet him. It is as if Jaune is running from his role of main character in RWBY to be content with an easier role in another story.

At the same time:

Ruby processes grief through wishing to destroy herself (she internilizes)

Neo processes grief through wishing to destroy others and the world (she externalizes)

Jaune processes grief through refusing destruction altogether, so he doesn't let go of his mementos and protects others even in this strange world.

We'll see where we go from there. That said, it is interesting the Rusted Knight is introduced fighting the Jabberwalker because these 2 characters are juxtaposed in the opening:

And there is clearly something going on with the Jabberwalker... are they a person trapped in the Ever After? What is their deal?

The wonderful Chatterbox's song seems to suggest there might be a problem with communication:

youtube

I don't think the Jabberwalker is evil. Rather I think they have a problem, but since they are scary, dangerous and impossible to understand people have made them be the villain. Which leads us to the final thematic highlight of this week.

CREATION AND DESTRUCTION

Weiss: It's impossible. Things have to die someday, right? CC: Goodness no! Although, I suppose there is a creature...No, no. That's not the sort of thing you talk about while in polite company.

The CC may insist there is no death in the Ever After, but there actually is in the form of the Jabberwalker. Whatever form this death takes is left to be seen. (When is it that stories die? I would say when they are forgotten or their meaning is lost... so maybe the jabberwalker not being able to articulate things might be the reason behind it?). What is sure is that the Jabberwalker is a creature of Destruction, while the Ever After is the world of Creation. And yet, Destruction and Creation can't be divided:

Weiss: I am so tired of leaving places in ashes.

So, very poignantly the Ever After is compared to Atlas. Both are Kingdoms of Creation where the inhabitants live happily and think they are untouchable. And yet, Destruction arrives and changes things.

I don't think this is the only similarity between Atlas and the Ever After, though. First of all, the 2 places appear as incredibly rich and wonderful, but both ignore their shadows:

Atlas ignores Mantle and the Ever After ignores whatever place the Jabberwalker comes from. Not only that, but both places are in the end run through control and manipulation and roles.

Each character has a role and is dismissed the moment they are not able to fulfill it anymore? Doesn't it remind you of something? Like a very utilitarian and strict military state?

Maybe this is why the CC's power seems at the same time extremely kind and extremely dangerous. Atlas explores trust, but shows how it can degenerate in control. The Ever After might introduce the theme of empathy and how it can be used for manipulation:

CC: I gave him something new to do for the moment...

MISCELLANIA- A CAT AND A MOUSE

Blacksmith: Are you her guide, little one?

Little being recognized by the Blacksmith as Ruby's guide makes me wonder... is it possible Alyx too had a guide? And if yes, could that guy have been the CC? Did they fail their role as guide and this is why they are so interested in RWBY and Ruby especially? To the point they are ready to challenge the Red Prince, to have Herb ascend, to sacrifice a Poor Bird and to risk their own life, just to protect Ruby?

It seems a little bit too much investment for character introduced as minding their own business and acting on a whim.

If so, then this take on Alice In Wonderland is a retelling where Alice fails to get home and The Cat wants to make sure the story doesn't repeat itself? And yet, the CC is not Ruby's guide. Little is. Interesting the juxtaposition between a naive little mouse (heart) and an experienced tricky cat (mind).

Finally, this week's song rocked! I am enjoying the new songs, I must say! Also, this volume's soundtrack so far seems to be about Ever After Characters. Both the Red Prince and the Jabberwalker have now their own song. Interested to see if this continues or if our titular RWBY characters will get new songs as well.

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 9 #ruby rose #jaune arc #neopolitan #rusted knight #jabberwalker #blacksmith #rwby meta #my meta

297 notes · View notes

meimi-haneoka · 9 months

Text

Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Chapter 76: Comments + JP-ENG translation differences

Ooooh CCS fans, welcome back to our monthly appointment!! Which, apparently, will go on a little longer than previously expected because (I'm sure you've heard of it in the last month, but in case you didn't) CLAMP/Kodansha did what I thought they wouldn't dare doing: they extended the Clear Card serialization a little bit more, announcing the last volume will be the 16th one, instead of the 15th one as previously stated! Volume 16 will be released on April 1st 2024, while they also delayed the release of volume 15 to November 13th (this made me suspicious, is it to accomodate more chapters in it? Or what else happened there, to delay it?) I have no idea how many more chapters we'll get at this point (or if the 16th volume was born because it will accomodate some after-story extra chapters), but I have to say that after the initial shock, I've took the news quite well and I just can't deny that the story really seemed to need a bit more room to develop the conclusion properly, so I'd daresay the announcement ultimately made me sigh in relief. And this chapter definitely proved to me that things are steadily proceeding, but taking care in depicting carefully and without haste an heroic moment that will turn out to be more complex than what probably Sakura & co. expected. I'm gonna need a bit more patience to see how all of this ends, but I prefer for the end to not be rushed and not have regrets in the future! Also, this looks like it might tie in with the beginning of season 2 of the anime? We'll see!

Well, after this preamble to update everyone on the situation of the serialization, we'll proceed under the cut to talk about the actual chapter, which unfortunately this month is stained by several translation mistakes, omissions and inaccuracies. They really deceived me, doing a good job on the past 2 chapters...*sigh* I'm still quite mad because of course WHO gets affected the most, among those translation mistakes? I feel like coming at this point I don't even have to state it. *another sigh* Before diving into my ramblings, let's give a look to the gif of this month! I chose this one because I feel like I need to lighten the mood a little bit, since between the end of this one and -I'm sure- the next chapter, I'm afraid there won't be anything to laugh about.

Under the cut!

The Color Page

Anyone following this blog since some time, or who knows me well, probably doesn't need to be told that I completely loved the color page of this month! 🥰After 11 chapters, Akiho comes back to grace the opening page of a chapter of Clear Card. It's very simple, but in its simplicity I could feel all of Akiho's essence, while appreciating the usual symbolism of some elements of the color page. First and foremost, Akiho is smiling, and that wasn't a given for a color page appearing at the end of this story. We've seen Sakura making plenty of wistful faces lately, so it feels like we can't really take for granted to see our characters smiling. But her beautiful smile in combination with the nice shade of green Mokona-sensei chose for her elegant dress (which is totally in tune with what Akiho would wear) is really giving a kind of hopeful vibe to the whole color page. And I feel that for this chapter, we really needed that. Green is kind of an unusual color to associate Akiho with, but there's more to it. Together with the shade of yellow that sensei used to create a gradient on the skirt, this green is a clear callback to the color scheme of the lilies that Akiho is holding and wearing among her curls. And as we all know, lilies in this arc are primarily a symbol of the character who literally bears their name: Akiho's mother, Lilie (German for "lily"). As soon as I saw the presence of lilies in this color page with her, I went all "awwww" because I couldn't help but think "this is a sign her mother is watching over her and is always with her, right?" And inevitably, seeing Akiho gently holding those flowers made me wish even more that she could know something, anything about her mother. I also noticed that Mokona-sensei slightly changed the shading of Akiho's hair again, removing the yellowish undertone that was present in the most recent color pages that Akiho appeared in, making me sigh because I'll have to modify my color palette for my fanarts once again 😩it still looks lighter than her mother's, at least, and it's still very much ash blonde. The editorial text in JP on the color page is what Sakura told her at the end of chapter 73: "Let's get them back. The one you didn't want to lose".

Collapsing Time

Aaaaand this chapter for me started with a "I KNEW IT!" equipped with a loud laughter, because ever since chapter 75 ended I've really been wondering "will the group at home be able to follow their journey inside the fake moon, or will the connection be conveniently cut off?" OF COURSE IT'S THE LATTER, what else could've been? 😆 Tomoyo rationally wonders if the signal simply doesn't reach in the space inside the fake moon, but Eriol from the other end of the videocall tells everyone that these are rather some more specific, particular circumstances: he was able to see what was inside the fake moon for a split second before the connection was cut off, and what he saw is an environment where time isn't simply stopped, is actually collapsing. I want to start my long list of complaints about the translation in English of this chapter, with this mild inaccuracy: the ENG makes Eriol consistently sound unsure of what he's affirming above, using verbs like I suppose, while the JP text doesn't leave any trace of doubt - Eriol isn't supposing, he knows that time is breaking down in that environment.

Back to Sakura and Syaoran, our little heroes start to feel the effects of this powerful magic that is permeating the interior of the fake moon, with Syaoran noticing that the clock parts fluctuating aren't really deformed like they're seeing, but only appear so due to the strong pressure of the magic spell inside that environment. And here we have to stop once again, because this is another straight up mistake of the ENG translation:

ENG: "There's nothing wrong with the watch itself. The spell's placed too much pressure on it. It only looks broken"

JP: "It's not like the components of the clocks are really deformed...They only look like that because the pressure of the magic spell is too strong"

As you can see, skipping the translation of the word 部品 (components) made them completely misunderstand Syaoran's line and make it about the pocket watch in their hands, instead of the fluctuating clock parts! And it's like they wanted to give an explanation to why the pocket watch looks broken (hello??? The pocket watch gradually broke when Kaito was still active in the un-rewritten world!!), despite the adjective used in JP is deformed, not broken. But let's go on.

Sakura starts to feel that pressure on her head, in fact she points out that her head is hurting to a worried Syaoran (JP, lit.: "My head is..."). He answers that it's only normal, because the spell is so powerful that it's affecting them physically, and he can feel those effects too (he's only better at dissimulating it, apparently). (I'm just worried if it's clear in the ENG translation, by how they're phrasing things, that the spell Syaoran is referring to is the one that's active on the whole place, not the one he used to trace the owner of the pocket watch). Syaoran continues saying that it's happening the same to the interior of the "fake moon", basically everything is so warped and deformed (due to the strong pressure) that if the pocket watch didn't show them the way, they would've lost both their sense of orientation and even the "target" they were tracking with that compass. So while the readers might have thought that if Sakura and Syaoran got there successfully it was only thanks to the compass, CLAMP went out of their way to specify that it wasn't exactly like that: it seems like the pocket watch actively guided them through the magic beam that originated from the compass, preventing them from getting lost. I guess without the watch's intervention, the compass might have still shot that beam in search for Kaito, but it might have gotten all of them lost, because the magic spell at work inside that environment is so strong that it warps everything, beam included. Again, I wonder if this concept above is clear enough from how they phrased it in the ENG translation.

And if that wasn't enough, Sakura's sweet smiling face says that Akiho guided them there. Evidently she thinks that the pocket watch is not only permeated by that mysterious moon magic that they still don't know who it belongs to, but also by Akiho's strong will to look for and to find the person she never wanted to lose. Akiho is always with them, spirit tightly connected to that pocket watch, and I couldn't help but being so moved by how considerate and sweet Sakura is. Akiho is evidently at the center of her thoughts even now, after all, she departed for this mission precisely for her sake.

Syaoran says that the beam is pointing at this dragon that is sleeping in front of them, but then actually starts doubting it and says "wait, is this really a dragon...?". The mere fact that he had a second thought about it might already be a sign that there might be more than meets the eyes, behind this creature that we're seeing now. Sakura just needs to look at it for a moment to remember immediately: she met this dragon before, in a dream. Of course, she can remember about this only thanks to the "film strips of memories" that the Record Card supplied her with some chapters ago, since it's all stuff that comes from the "un-rewritten world". Then, Sakura takes charge of the pocket watch and thanks Syaoran for his help with the compass: it's clear that she wants to talk to the dragon, now. Clutching the pocket watch tightly and looking at the sleeping creature in an intense way, she gets closer to it.

The dragon finally opens its eyes and wakes up.

Sakura is such a sweet and well mannered girl, so I couldn't help smiling when she said this: (JP, lit.) "Please allow me to address you with "you" (anata), since I don't know your name". Yes, because Sakura's usual speech pattern includes calling people by their name, rather than using a direct "anata". Even with Syaoran, some pages ago, she didn't use a direct "you", but simply repeated his name instead. Her usual way to talk to people always sounds very soft, well mannered and warm to me, while probably using "anata" even with her closest people feels too "blunt" to her. Or, maybe, "impersonal". In this case, she really doesn't have any other choice, though. Alas, this was something that was hardly translatable in a literal way in the ENG version, and I think the way they chose works pretty well anyway.

And so, Sakura continues. (JP, but ENG is equally fine as well:) "I can feel 'something' coming from you, which is the same that I can feel coming from this watch as well. I guess Syaoran-kun would call it 'magical power'. Do you know the owner of this watch? Or.....is this watch YOURS?" How cute, this really shows clearly that Sakura's relationship with magic is not made of technicalities and such, and she still feels a newbie about it, so she is capable of feeling distinctly the magical aura coming off the dragon and the pocket watch, but she isn't still used to use technical terms like "magical power", "aura" and such. Syaoran is the expert for those things, and she seems to admire and respect him a lot for that! 😆

Sakura asks something to Syaoran to get a certain confirmation. I have the impression that she could feel it herself, but wanted the confirmation from her expert husband boyfriend. She asks him if the magical power that is permeating the environment of the fake moon is the same moon power that comes from the pocket watch. Syaoran confirms they're different (again, an inaccuracy of the ENG translation, which makes Syaoran say "something is different". There's no "something" in the JP, he was just plainly stating that the two sources of power are different).

I want to point out how cool Syaoran looks in his pose of this scene, his hand gripping the handle of his sword the whole time, ready to unleash it at the minimum sight of danger on Sakura. I really love it because Sakura doesn't really know the intentions of the dragon yet, so what she's doing is pretty risky in itself, but Syaoran didn't stop her, he trusted her and let free to do what she wanted to do. He's just, you know, going to stay in the background with his hand on his sword, ready for any scenario, just in case. 😂 Protective boyfriend (but not suffocating one) strikes again! This is what I mean when I say they came a long way ever since chapter 1.

I Know Your Eyes

Sakura can feel that even the magic coming from the "cage" (she uses a term in JP that sounds more like fence than the harsher cage, though) is different from the one the pocket watch is giving off, and this is all she needs to have the confirmation she was looking for: just putting 2 and 2 together from the difference in powers, she concludes that the dragon is there against its will, and someone else locked it up in there. Sakura asks the dragon if she's right, but it simply......stares at her, in silence.

Sakura watches those eyes....and they're all she needs to see. Because she realizes she knows those eyes.

And here, unfortunately, I have to prepare you for another translation mistake, an actual omission that irritated me quite a lot because I consider this a very important scene for a certain character's depiction and development. And you probably don't even need to ask who he is, because he's been bastardized this whole time by the ENG translation.

ENG: "I know you. I know your eyes...And not just because I've seen them in a dream. With your eyes, you watched over Akiho-chan. Somehow, that memory's still inside of me"

JP: "I know...your eyes. And not because I've seen them in a dream. Those eyes used to look at Akiho-chan with great care/affection. (That feeling) remained inside of me"

*draws a deep breath* Okay. I'll go with my grievances with the translation first and then I'll talk about my own reaction to this scene.

When Sakura is talking about the way Kaito used to look at Akiho (because it's clear as hell we're talking about him here, even if she doesn't remember who he is, yet), the JP text includes a very important adverb, 大切に (taisetsu ni, lit. "carefully, giving importance, cherishing something). And Sakura doubles down on it by preceding it with another adverb, とても (totemo, "very"). It is absolutely, unmistakably clear that Kaito used to look at Akiho with lots of affectionate feelings. That 大切に indicates how much he cherished her...how much she was important to him...and he never said it aloud, probably not even realizing it himself, but his eyes spoke for him. And Sakura saw it all.

The ENG translation completely omitted and skipped the translation of the adverb とても大切に, indicating only that Kaito "watched over" Akiho. Completely stripping the action of looking at her of any emotional involvement. To me, that is intolerable. Why?

Because this is the first time that a character, any character, clearly spells out how Kaito considers Akiho. And of course they gave the honor of pointing out the elephant in the room (gosh, this really looks like that situation) to the protagonist, our Sakura. I mean, we came to this point in the story precisely because nobody was able to say for sure what the hell Kaito thought of Akiho. Not even the person concerned himself! I've seen countless of theories along the years, and a worringly big amount thought that Kaito only wanted to use Akiho for his own selfish goal. I kept seeing speculations of that kind even after all he did in chapter 70. And that was particularly strong in the western side of the fandom, because of how the translation portrayed Kaito all these years. Now that we finally get a spoken, spelled out confirmation that he considered Akiho so important, he cherished her so much, and those sweet feelings seeped through his eyes and couldn't escape Sakura's attentive stare, what do they do? They remove any sign of it. They make Sakura say that he only "watched over her" like a regular watch dog, without touching any of the emotional involvement that was indicated in the JP original text. I remind you that 大切(な) is also the core adjective of the famous 一番大切なひと, "the most important person". If this will be connected to an eventual statement later on, this omission is even worse.

Of course, I cannot be anything else than dismayed at this perpetrated character assassination that this translation is operating on Kaito. Leaving aside all my bias for my two favorite characters, this omission penalizes Sakura's characterization too. The fact the she could recognize Kaito (without knowing it's Kaito) through the Dragon's eyes is a testament to how extraordinarily empathetic she is, and how her empathy is literally saving this story. Her empathy made her understand that Kaito couldn't be a bad person, deep down, because of how he looked at Akiho and how Akiho was so happy with him, leading her to make the decision of not confronting them openly, back in the un-rewritten world. Her empathy is what guided her here and what now is telling her "yes, this IS Akiho's most important person. And that person cherished her too". And how she was able to recognize that? Not because Kaito used to just "watch over" Akiho, what made that gaze special were the feelings that Sakura could see inside of it. All of this story is held up by the feelings between its characters. I think it's a huge mistake to not give the right importance to them, to ALL OF THEM.

I think I complained enough about this translation, so let's get talking about happier things. Because of course, in its original form, this scene became my favorite one from the entire chapter and moved me to tears. I was amazed by how Sakura was capable of recognizing Kaito's soul, his essence, only looking at the dragon's eyes. And you know, although being similar (they are some kind of tsurime too), they're not exactly the same as Kaito's, so it seems clear to me that Sakura recognized them basing on sensations and feelings alone. Eyes are, after all, a window to somebody's soul. And even though we could never really get into Kaito's head, or only partially did towards the end of the "un-rewritten world", I really have to say that his eyes spoke volumes of what he was feeling for the entirety of the manga. And for that, we can only praise Mokona-sensei's wonderful skills. I always loved Kaito's eyes, how they could be mischievous, happy, surprised, sweet, sad, tragic. The fact that I could be sure that he loved Akiho in any capacity till now, was also thanks to how he looked at her. So I was really glad to see the element "eyes" being used in this scene to make Sakura recognize him. And there's more to it. I delved into the use of the word 瞳 (hitomi, lit. "pupils") with the furigana "me" next to it (which is the pronounciation of another kanji used to indicate eyes, 目), and I found out/re-confirmed that 瞳 indeed literally means "pupils", but in manga, songs, novels and such it is a trope used to indicate the eyes when there's an emotional nuance attached to it. It is used to make things sound more "romantic" or drip with emotion. "Your eyes...looked at her with so much affection"... ...You can now understand even better why I am so peeved at the omission of the ENG translation for this part. All the other languages did their job and included the nuance correctly. CLAMP were trying to be very straightforward with their composition of Sakura's line, everything was indicating that this was a very important and emotional moment. Akiho, all alone in Sakura's memories of the double date, is at the center of the entire page, as if to indicate that she was at the center of Kaito's eyes too (because that's what Sakura is talking about in the bubbles). But we can see a "spotlight" beside her, an empty one: that was certainly where Kaito used to be when Sakura met them at the botanical garden.

The Escape

Okay, Sakura found what she was looking for. Or, rather, WHO she was looking for. And it doesn't matter if it's a huge, dark dragon trapped inside a cage. I found this almost hilarious, how she doesn't question even for a second that Akiho's most important person is actually a dragon! But I could quickly realize that it's all because in this manga, external appearances don't matter. What matters is who you are. These are all souls, loving other souls. Everything in between holds no meaning. And so if there's one thing that Sakura knows with all her heart, is that this dragon cannot stay here. So she tells him (yeah, I can finally say "him") to come along with them. But it's in that moment that a danger arises: the clock particles start attacking Sakura and Syaoran at great speed, so much that Syaoran has to turn around very quickly to realize it (I loved the effect in his eyes to indicate the speed). With a swift move, Syaoran summons his famous "Raitei Shourai" and his powerful thunderbolt repels and destroys the clockwork that was about to attack them.

We go back for a moment to Yukito's home, where everyone is staring intently at the tablet to see if Sakura and Syaoran give any sign. A worried Touya (and Yukito, too) turns his attention to Akiho, though, who is the quintessence of tension right now. Hard stare to the screen, she looks as if she's ready to fight anyone at any moment. And here, unfortunately, another translation mistake drops.

ENG: "We need to be sure we're ready to go...In case Sakura-chan calls for us" JP: "I have to be fully prepared...for when Sakura-san will call me"

First thing first, you probably caught it yourself, Akiho calls Sakura "Sakura-chan" in the ENG version, and that's a mistake. She hasn't suddenly changed speech tone in the JP, she hasn't dropped keigo, she still calls her "Sakura-san", as usual. And despite here there isn't a subject (again, a typical thing Ohkawa-sensei does in her scripts), it's pretty understandable that she's talking about herself and not the whole group, because of the imperative tense she's using. Moreover, Sakura told the rest of the group that MAYBE she would've called them if she ended up needing any help, but for Akiho she was SURE she was going to call her, so Akiho really does have to be ready to be called at any moment. Akiho in JP uses a particular word to indicate the concept of "be fully prepared, all set, take all possible measures": 準備万全 (junbi banzen) and when I looked for its complete meaning on the internet, to understand the context better, I found out that this is also the name of a skill in the game of the "Uma Musume" series. That made me laugh because coincidentally, Akiho's voice actress Minori Suzuki is famous for voicing one of the characters of Uma Musume, "Agnes Digital" and I know for a fact that CLAMP are fans of Uma Musume. Was Ohkawa-sensei trying to make a fun reference or an Easter egg, here? 😉 Anyways, Akiho's determined face here is really beautiful, I'd daresay there isn't only determination in those eyes, but also a tiny touch of...irritation? I've probably said it before, on other social media, that I hope Akiho will be the one giving an earful to Kaito, and yell all her feelings in his face while angrily crying 🤪if this is building up to that, I cannot be happier than this!

Everyone proudly looks at our little warrior getting ready, and unfortunately due to the misunderstanding above, Yukito's line is mistaken too, in the ENG version: they make him say "I'm glad we have eachother" while in JP he simply commented "You're so confident/reliable!", which is totally coherent with the face she was making before. The adjective he uses, 頼もしい (tanomoshii) indicates someone who's dependable, reliable, confident or even "sure-footed".

Needless to say, I was very happy to: 1) See an interaction with Akiho coming from Yukito, this is the first time and with this comment he acted like another お兄ちゃん to her (the more, the better); 2) See him defining her "confident and reliable", I've seen a JP fan I follow on Twitter making an interesting interpretation of his line, coming from a character that was always worried over not knowing what to do to help the people he loves, and seeing another magic-less character standing tall and facing this ordeal courageously might have prompted him to understand Akiho's position more than we could imagine; 3) Acknowledge that it really seems as if CLAMP are trying to establish new and more connections between the old cast and Akiho, probably because these connections will stay even after the end.

Back to the situation inside the fake moon, Syaoran yells to Sakura that he's sure he won't be able to break that cage only with his spells, so he urges her to find a way to free and get that dragon out of there while he fends off all the incoming attacks. Sakura immediately complies, and this back and forth between them was already awarded the title of "husband and wife interaction" from the JP fandom. 😂 Sakura remembers what Momo told her about the remaining Cards that are waiting for her call...and sadly I have to point out another translation mistake: while the JP was always vague about the number of Cards awaiting for her to call them, the ENG this time around traced back its steps and made Momo say that "There is one more Card that was left behind", despite in chapter 73 correctly translating Momo's words as a general "There are other Cards that haven't disappeared". So, not only they haven't even checked what they translated just 3 chapters ago and are unable to keep coherence with it, but they didn't even consider that the Card we're about to see isn't even the last one that is waiting to make an appearance ever since the Clockland Play happened. Therefore, it's NOT true that there's just one left.

But the inaccuracies aren't over, because in the next line, Sakura looks at Kaito's pocket watch, and this is the association that she makes with it:

ENG: "This is my mother's watch...and that card looked just like it. I don't remember creating it...but..." JP: "My mother's watch....I created a Card that looked like it, and I never found out when that happened"

Always thanks to Record, Sakura got also back the memories of Nadeshiko's pendant watch, how she got it, and that she found herself with a Card that looked like it but didn't know when she created it (hint: it was because Kaito rewound time, but the Card survived).

It's the moment for Sakura to call the Card: TIME!! And finally, this Card that many awaited in trepidation gets activated for the first time. In a very poignant moment, no less! Sakura, full of gratitude, thinks about her mother and how they made this Card "together", and she finally realizes that Nadeshiko's pendant watch found its way to her through great-grandpa Masaki precisely for this. To be used in this moment. And so she does. She orders to the Card to "activate" the time of the cage, so that she can "open" it, and Nadeshiko's watch goes to position itself precisely over what I think is "the lock" of the cage. I think this might suggest why the watch was changed into a key in the anime: it would make even more sense that it's a key the one that will open the lock. The lock, together with the cage, successfully dissolves, freeing Kaito/the Dragon. The Dragon seemingly "stretches" himself (poor thing, having to stay all crouched for god knows how long!!), destroying all the remaining clockwork in the process. Sakura gets her Card back and doesn't waste time, urging everyone to get out of there. Syaoran notices the opening they had "sliced" into the fake moon earlier, and says to go through that to get outside. I think the opening is appearing here in front of them so immediately because the spell that was warping and making that space so tortuous and convoluted is now broken. Sakura and Syaoran fly towards the opening, successfully getting out of it, but once outside Sakura notices something and looks back in dismay: the Dragon is not moving. She asks frantically why. But Syaoran yells to Sakura to pay attention: she turns around, in time to see a big group of arrows pointing at them, in full attack.

Aaaaand this is where the chapter ends, once again with a big cliffhanger!! Where is this attack coming from???

I'll give you a hint......

Remember a nice afternoon tea, interrupted by a clan of ass*oles allied with an Association of criminals, back in chapter 33? Yeah, Kaito sure remembers well. Lord knows how many of these attacks he had to repel over the months that passed from when he was excommunicated from the Association, officially starting "the war" between him and those bastards. Kaito back then easily fended off the attack by stopping time, again at the expense of his life, but I wonder what will happen now. It's clear it's something that's coming from them. However, I'm still not sure they're concretely sending the attack right now. It might be a "trap" they've left in place in case anybody tried to free Kaito, so maybe Sakura won't confront them directly. I still don't believe this is where it's going. But we'll see what will happen and what direction CLAMP decided to give to this.

My biggest concern is also the Dragon. It became apparent, in this chapter, that the creature is Kaito himself, in some capacity. I say "in some capacity" because we don't know if he was transformed, if this is the form the Seal of D forced on him, or if it's the effect of taking all that magic from the artifact that he got from Akiho. I am pretty sure this isn't his true form or anything like that, he was a human being to begin with.

We don't even know if he's conscious of what's happening right now, what he remembers from "before", from the un-rewritten world. If he remembers about Akiho at all. Unfortunately, he didn't give any signs of even understanding what Sakura was telling him. I have to say it pains me to see Kaito like that, and this is a possibility that I had been preparing myself for since long time, so that surely "cushioned" the blow.

However....

There is a theory going around, about why the Dragon won't move at the end of the chapter. I've seen it both from JP fans and from my mutuals too. And I have to say....it's pretty in-character. It's very convincing. The Dragon/Kaito doesn't move because he doesn't want to. Because he thinks he doesn't deserve to go out there and be saved. And it's to be noted that what Syaoran says is indeed 動かない (doesn't move), not 動けない (can't move). If we have to take those words literally, then we should exclude that there's anything "external" preventing him from moving. The reason is somewhere else.

If it's really Kaito being unsure/not willing to go with them because he doesn't think he deserves to, then that would also mean his memories are intact. Add agony over agony. If his consciousness is intact, I wonder what he thought when he saw Sakura and Syaoran? Was he surprised? I really think this could be the perfect spot where Akiho could finally spring into action. Because THAT is something only SHE can do anything about. If that's really the reason why he's not moving, then he needs to hear the full story. And he needs to hear it from the person his plan affected the most, the one he saved, yes, but also the one he's hurt the most with his blind "excess of love". But before that, Sakura needs to understand where the problem lies. I really hope she'll have the chance to talk to the Dragon again, and with her exceptional empathy, understand that Akiho needs to talk to him.

Next chapter, the 77th one, is going to be published on August 30th on CLAMP's Youtube channel, less than a month away! And by this release date, I can infer it'll go on sale with Nakayoshi on September 1st. At this point it doesn't even feel so "special" to announce it, but the next issue of Nakayoshi will see Sakura once again on the cover, and once again featured in the furoku! At the time of writing this post, no leaks have appeared regarding how/what the furoku will be.

Well! Sorry again for an endless post full of complaints about the translation, but this time around they really messed up. I thought something changed in the translation process in the past 2 chapters and they paid more attention/checked multiple times before giving the OK, but apparently this time that was not the case. As usual, I'll await any question/topic you want to discuss about in my ask box! See you at the end of this month for chapter 77!!

#cardcaptor sakura #card captor sakura #clear card arc #ccsakura #ccs spoilers #translation differences #sakura card captor #sakura kinomoto #syaoran li #yuna d. kaito #akiho shinomoto #chapter 76

108 notes · View notes

knightprincess · 3 months

Text

Scars (Commander Wolffe x Jedi Reader) - Prologue

Words: 1.1k Synopsis: Time doesn't heal all wounds, sometimes, there's too much hurt, too much pain to forget. Sometimes, scars are left behind. Scars that remind us the past is real. Everyone knows Love is the death of Duty. Pronouns Used: She/Her - (Y/N) also used Also On: Wattpad, Quotev, AO3 and Inkitt

The Clone Wars were a cruel, tragic, and devastating event that affected countless lives. Many lost their homes, their loved ones, their faith, and even their lives. Both the Clones and the Jedi fought and sacrificed selflessly in a war that they didn't choose to be a part of. They did everything they could to protect strangers across the galaxy, who would never even bother to learn their names or show any gratitude for their heroic actions. During the war, both the Clones and the Jedi faced many restrictions. The Clones were not allowed to enjoy even the simplest of pleasures and were treated as nothing more than mere products instead of the brave soldiers they truly were. They had fewer rights than even the convicts in the Republic prisons. The Jedi, on the other hand, were bound by their code, prohibiting them from forming any human attachments or loving anyone. They were not allowed to express basic human emotions for fear of falling to the dark side.

Despite that, though, love still somehow flourished. Clones managed to find a semblance of peace away from the battlefield in the arms of another, even if it was only for a few short hours. If they were lucky, it lasted longer. The Jedi found solace in the arms of the troopers they fought side by side with on the never-ending rotation of merciless battlefields and warzones.

Most Clones and Jedi, in some sort of relationship, had a tendency to keep them secret, if only to avoid the scrutiny of their peers and the judgment of those who would so quickly look down upon them for wanting the simple pleasures of life. Most, if not all, of them, hid their devotion out of fear of what would happen if discovered. None of them wanted to imagine the horrors that awaited. Nor the idea of being ripped away from each other for the simple crime of wanting to love someone, of wanting to be loved, of wanting to feel more than being a warrior meant to die on the battlefield. A prisoner without chains.

CC-3636 was one of the most respected Clone Commanders, gifted with a strategic mind and brothers he could count on for anything. Preferring to be called Wolffe, he was looked upon as a role model by many cadets. Close with his Jedi General Plo Koon, but haunted by the traumas of the war, scared even to get close to someone outside those apart of the famed Wolf pack, for fear he would lose them. He feared the Malevolence nightmare repeating with others he let himself care for. Despite that, he cares deeply for his brothers and respects Plo above all others. Many times, Wolffe had been faced with a cruel decision, forced to choose between the lives of his brothers; every time, he'd save as many as he could and never forgot the names of those he lost.

After losing his eye to Ventress, he gained a new coldness, especially to the children of Dathamir. Although he'd admit they were few and far between, it didn't prevent his distrust in them. His distrust tainted even the purest of intentions, making him suspicious of even the gentlest acts of kindness.

One of the most known Jedi Generals was (Y/N) Black, commonly referred to as a Princess General by many clones or simply Princess by several of her fellow Jedi. She was Dathomirian, a Night Sister similar to Asajj Ventress. Strong in the force with a talent for breaking or bending the rules, a friend to everyone, and one of the biggest supporters of Clone Rights. As a General, she was battle-tested, clever, and always had plans and backups in case anything went wrong. If one of her bright ideas was risky, the only life in danger was her own. She trusted her men, respected them, and valued their lives above her own. There was never a time when she'd called a trooper by their identification number. Instead, she called them by their chosen names, friends, or, in some cases, affection nicknames in various languages.

Everything had been selectively normal or as close to normal as the war could get. (Y/N) had returned to Coruscant with her legion 916th Battalion. Their last assignment to the outer rim had been a particularly nasty one, even more so upon the discovery that the republic information had been detrimentally wrong. The locals had been caught in the crossfire, many injured and killed, and in the end, they were forced to retreat, the droid reinforcements being too much for one lone Jedi and batallion to handle.

Although (Y/N) hated admitting defeat with a passion, she did what was best for her troopers; once again, she had put them before the often pointless and corrupt demands of the Jedi Council and Senate. Upon returning to Coruscant, she wished her troopers a fond farewell before leaving for the Temple, mourning the loss of those who hadn't made it and wishing a speedy recovery for those who had been injured. As usual, she gave her normal line of "Stay out of trouble."

As per usual (Y/N)'s arrival at the temple was expected. As soon as she entered the city-sized structure, she was swept to the communications center to be debriefed and hounded with questions that only served to wear down her already thin patients further, as well as question the overall intelligence of the council members interrogating her. Despite her desire to speak her mind, she kept her snide comments and obvious frustrations to herself, at least until she made it back to the safety of her quarters, where she could release her pent-up anger and frustration in privacy. Or that would have been the plan had she not been informed of a request by Master Plo. He asked for her assistance in the mid-rim.

"I will inform my troopers," commented (Y/N), already feeling down about having to spoil the well-earned shore leave break.

"Not your men, Black, just you," quickly corrected Mace Windu, seeing her uncertainty; no doubt she still remembered what happened the last time another took control of her boys. The inexperienced Jedi knight had become lousy with the power and all but played god with the trooper's lives, cost so much all because he refused to listen to the advice of Trip, the clone captain who served as (Y/N)'s second.

"I will leave on the marrow," replied (Y/N) before leaving to return to her quarters, exhaustion seemingly jumping her the moment she passed the threshold, her mind turning lousy too, as if it was already in shutdown mode to prepare her for the horrors that waited for her. Upon completing her normal routine, she soon got comfortable, drifting off slowly, at least before the intruding thoughts began to bug her.

Working with her Master again would bring its own challenges. With Master Plo came Commander Wolffe, the battle-worn trooper with a known hatred of her kind. As (Y/N) tried to drift off, her thoughts turned to the struggles both would face. She was used to being judged with fear by strangers. She was used to being called a witch even when she wasn't one. But being hated because of the actions of another wasn't something she was used to; it was a challenge in and of itself, as would be working with the commander in question. After all, in his mind, she was no different than Ventress; she was the enemy, too.

Series Masterlist

#star wars #reader insert #the clone wars #reader interactive #jedi reader #commander wolffe #star wars fanfiction #commander wolffe x reader #prologue #cross posted to wattpad #cross posted to quotev #cross posted to ao3 #cross posted to inkitt #plo koon #jedi order #clone wars

27 notes · View notes

kimtaegis · 4 months

Text

gifmaker / cc wrapped ✦ every month of 2023

thank you so much to my favourites @raplinenthusiasts, @jkvjimin, @starcatching, @cordiallyfuturedwight, @sevencoloredstar, @rjshope, @hyunsung, @loversmore & @ye-xiu for wanting me to look back at my creations from last year, I love you!!

January 🌙 most popular: fluffy haired jungkook comp 🤍 my favourite: jimin x satellite gfx for my sweet mona; one of my most favourite things I've ever created, actually! I love how the textures turned out, and how I visualised the lyrics

February 🌙 most popular: yoongi-centric ot7 comp (😔😔😔) 🤍 my favourite: gradient taekook comp; the PLANNING that went into this agdhhj I was super proud of how this looked in the end! plus I love making gifts for others <3

March 🌙 most popular: yoongi's signature smirk comp 🤍 my favourite: jimin FACE gfx; I don't even know what had gotten into me, I made that so comparably fast?? I was just obsessed with the water theme and the new effects I used - the fact that I made a moving water reflection? hell yeah

April 🌙 most popular: Road to D-Day comp (my most popular from this whole year, actually) 🤍 my favourite: gradient jimin FACE era comp; probably my favourite set from this whole year, I'm beyond proud of how this looks, so vibrant and prettyyy lmao also Jimin and FACE were definitely the highlight of my year, I was so happy while making this)

May 🌙 most popular: jinminkook comp 🤍 my favourite: I love all three comps I made that month, but I think it's still gonna be awi's birthday jimin gfx, simply because I love her so much and the middle panel had my back in PAIN lmao, I love animating doodles even if it's a lot of work

June 🌙 most popular: the tannies being bad at sports comp 🤍 my favourite: they connect to 7G comp; unfortunately I had no ideas for a festa post this year, but I still made these two sets to celebrate them a little bit. I just love comps that have me smiling the whole time while making them!

July 🌙 most popular: jctpmwsmlastilmmtu pt. 1 (mimi series) 🤍 my favourite: yeah it's this one too :((( I love jimin so much y'all and that comp series is so self-indulgent and comforting and healing it literally. makes. me. tear. up. just look at him oh my god

August 🌙 most popular: jungkook for calvin klein 🤍 my favourite: yoongi's final concert; broke my heart into a million pieces, but his smiles glued it somewhat back together. I will forever be sad and miserable about this tour so let's not talk about it

September 🌙 most popular: jctpmwsmlastilmmtu pt. 2 (mimi series) 🤍 my favourite: ...yeah that one again :( but I also made so many nice taehyung layover gifs <33

October 🌙 most popular: the tannies sweeping yoongi off his feet comp, but the threemin suchwita comp literally just has one note less lol 🤍 my favourite: that one's tough... it was mimi month and so much good stuff got released + vicnic... ah I'll just go with blond jimin in his fluffy green sweater 💚

November 🌙 most popular: my sweet boiled dumpling pouty yoongi :((( 🤍 my favourite: the sweet boiled dumpling running excitingly; it was missing yoongi and the tannies month (still ongoing)

December 🌙 most popular: jimin backstage in his purple Filter outfit (while y'all saw the gender demon I saw my slayful colouring...and the gender demon) 🤍 my favourite: moon/ the astronaut seokjin gfx for my love kayla; it was nice to make an edit without time pressure for once, and I love the references I put in, also the colours and textures!

I'm tagging @avizou, @agustd3, @magicshop, @dasisugarun, @jung-koook, @jinstronaut and @taetheists, have fun!! 🤍

#tag game #*gifs #t'was a good year! so many comps lol #am also pretty happy with my more graphic-y creations #the jimin gif's colouring looks so different on mobile? I don't get it

28 notes · View notes

amuhav · 10 months

Text

Get to Know Me - Sims Style

tagged by @dandylion240 (if anyone else did too I’m sorry, I’m not seeming to get notifs for tags rn???)

tagging @keibea because we need more TS3 rep in tag games like this tbh.

What’s your favorite Sims death?

Old age. Because it means my sim actually made it that far and I just love seeing their life play out. Some of the more quirky, simsy ones are great though. Death by Jellybean or Cowplant come to mind lol.

Alpha CC or MaxisMatch?

I... really don’t like the TS4 MM aesthetic 😅 I really don’t like the clay hair look for my own sims, though think some people do wonderful things with it, and I do like certain Maxis Mix styles, good skin details with clay hair, certain stylised MM styles etc. but the default TS4 clay look is literally why I never moved over to TS4 in the first place, and it took too long for the Alpha scene to really take off in the beginning, so by the time there was enough CC for me to feel I would ever want to jump in, it felt too overwhelming to even try moving to essentially a new medium.

For TS3... I also am not a huge fan of the straight “MM” look either, though I think the distinction is less prominent as it is in TS4. You can easily make most “MM” stuff fit in an “alpha” game simply because they aren’t usually full-on clay the way TS4 MM is, they’re just not quite as detailed as full “alpha” CC. Whereas the other way around isn’t quite as true, intricately detailed alpha stuff might look out of place if most of your other content is vanilla or MM. So I think as well as preferring the aesthetic, I like the flexibility a more “alpha” leaning style can bring.

Do you cheat your sims weight?

Storywise, characters are obviously whatever size I make them lol.

Uh. I don’t know about weight, because I don’t think any of my sims have put on a lot of weight during gameplay. I have definitely cheated muscle levels though. Traumatic flashbacks to Loch suddenly getting BULKED whilst I was letting him run free during Riv’s BC. Absolutely not you little twink.

Do you move objects?

For gameplay, I used to try to minimise doing so just cos it breaks so much routing and stuff. Now I don’t play so I go nuts with MOO. Who needs working doors or stairs or beds anyway?

Favourite Mod?

So many mods for TS3 are kinda essential to even be able to run the game lol, like almost the entire NRAAS suite. I think I’ll have to go with the Remove Stencil mod though, cos being able to undo EA’s weird obsession with shiny clothes by removing the specular is honestly so lifechanging LOL. no more shiny wool jumpers or oil slick jeans 🥰

First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack?

My first TS3 expansion was Ambitions, because I skipped World Adventures, in fact, I think it was one of the last expansions I bought lol.

Believe it or not, I do actually own one EP, one GP, and one SP for TS4 lmao, back when I thought maybe, just MAYBE. the game might get better, and I was still trying so damn fuckin hard to force myself to enjoy the actual gameplay. So I have Get to Work, but don’t even ask me what the other two are because I haven’t a fuckin’ clueeeee.

Do you pronounce live mode like aLIVE or LIVing?

...It just occurred to me maybe it is meant to be “LIV” mode because it’s... like. Living mode. Like, Alive Mode doesn’t make sense. But my brain won’t accept it. doesn’t sound right. Always been “LIVE” mod to me lol.

Who’s your favourite sim that you’ve made?

Oh, jeez. Uhhh, I can’t *really* claim most of my current legacy sims because I didn’t make them, they were born in-game, even if I have tweaked the hell out of them in recent years. So if we’re going for physical appearance, I wanna say actually maybe Sylvie for my TS3 sims? She took so long to get just right, especially because TS3 doesn’t really do curvier sims quite as well as TS4, especially not without a fuck ton of sliders, and I had a really specific look to her face in mind that took forever to get right, had to blend her a custom skin etc. But I am finally super happy with her cute lil sassy round face 🥰 Close runners up are probably Qu or Edge.

God, I’m gonna get so fucking shot for this but here goes. Physically, my fave TS4 sims I’ve made are actually both of Tay’s brothers, Ethryon and Ailos, and also probably father, Qariel. I think because I had a little more experience with using TS4 CAS by the time I got to them, more sliders, more skin details, just generally a fuck ton more CAS CC by then, and more time to tweak them etc. As much as Tay will always be my favourite sim OVERALL... yeah. plznoonekillmebye

Have you made a simself?

Ye. I used to update her like. all the timeee too, whenever I got a new haircut etc. And, ofc, Havoc was my alter ego so she’s like. simself adjacent lol.

Which is your favorite EA hair color?

God I hate EA’s hair colours in TS3. their blondes are so yellow, the highlights don’t blend well etc. always make my own. TS4 hair colours make me want to actually die, but then again, I hate the clay hair and cartoony colours of vanilla TS4 anyway, so.

Favourite EA hair?

Favourite life stage?

Young Adult, with Teens a close second. You can do the most with the YA age, but the chaos of teenage years are real fun too lol.

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

I literally can’t play lmao. I have too much CC in TS3 for it to run well enough to play, and TS4... is it even possible to play TS4? joking joking... mostly. I’m in it for the story.

Are you a CC creator?

No. Never. I do not have a CC page I abandoned whatsoever no idea what you’re talking about goodbye. 💀

Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad?

RBSB represent.

No I hate everyone equally.

@lazysunjade and @thesimperiuscurse have no choice but to be talked at by me every day. I’m inescapable.

Do you have any sims merch?

I actually had the TS3 Collectors edition that came with the Plumbob USB and I was devastated when it got broken. Like legitimately heart broken lol.

Miss her so much I just want her back

Do you have a YouTube for sims?

Ew.

How has your “Sims style” changed throughout your years of playing?

I used to try so hard to stick to whatever gameplay threw at me, following the actual legacy rules, not editing sims etc, all to the detriment of my actual enjoyment of storytelling. Now I care maybe a little too much about how posts look that I get into a rut of not posting oops bye 💀

What’s your origin id?

Probably the same as my username here lol, but I avoid origin at all costs so couldn’t tell you for sure tbh.

Who’s your favorite CC creator?

Oh, way too many to choose. For sims 3 CAS stuff, the still active converters like @rollo-rolls, @vmsims23, @simtanico etc. for build and clutter stuff @kerriganhouse, and @martassimsbookcc for conversions. Honestly, I’m kinda out of the loop atm, but there’s just way too many good creators.

How long have you had simblr?

uh. since 2015, I think? let’s not dwell on it 💀

How do you edit your pictures?

Dunno how to answer this? Photoshop, I guess lol?

What expansion/ gamepack is your favorite?

It used to be pets, cos I loved having animals in the game. Now I always forget they exist oop lol. Probably Supernatural.

#tag game #saviourhide #tagged #dandylion240 #this is so long I almost don't want to post it now ugh #delete later

49 notes · View notes

noki-is-soup · 2 years

Text

DTKQ as Dads

Warnings: Fluff, a bit of angst

Pairings: cc!Dream, cc!Sapnap, cc!George, cc!Karl, cc!Quackity (All romantically)

———————

Dream- One of the best partners you could ask for. He would turn this kid into an athlete as soon as he could. Almost any time you look outside, you can see them running around. Dream would purposely miss shots just so your guys’ kid could win. As they grew up, Dream would slowly up his skill, just so it starts becoming a real competition every time they play. When you two are watching their games, he would keep his arm around your waist and your head on his shoulder. The only place he struggles is dressing the poor child.

“Surprise! New clothes!” Dream walks into your guys’ bedroom with your child dressed in flashy clothes that don’t match.

“Oh, angel. What did Daddy do to you? Come here.”

Sapnap- Sapnap is another very sporty partner, but he mostly focuses on basketball. By the time your kid is ten, they can probably shoot three-pointers with decent accuracy. Sapnap would definitely try to convince you to play with them, especially with the adorable smile they both shared. Anytime you and Sapnap got into a fight, he would try to cook you something for forgiveness. When it failed horribly, he tried to jokingly blame it on the toddler. Now, this child was obviously half his DNA, because they started arguing with him instantly.

One day, when you were all watching a movie, your baby started wheezing. Obviously, both of you were concerned. Later on, you realized they were just laughing. Sapnap’s face suddenly dropped, concerning you greatly.

“That child… is mine, right? Not, um, Dream’s?”

“No, you are my one and only, don’t worry. I think we just need to go have a chat with Uncle Dream about how much time he’s spending with our baby,” you jokingly replied.

George- The type of dad to let his kids climb all over him and do his make up, FOR SURE. His kids could ask for the moon and he would give it to them. George would also be the one to go take care of the baby when it cried at night while you slept. He wouldn’t want to wake you, and he probably wouldn’t ever tell you that he woke up, just so you don’t feel bad.

“Did [child’s name] wake up last night?” You looked at him with a small smile on your face.

“Nope. Slept like a log,” George lied, kissing your forehead.

Karl- He wouldn’t be able to give up that child for a second. Dropping then off at daycare, even just putting them down for a nap or to go to bed would force tears into his eyes. He hated leaving his child. But, if he was sad, you got cuddles, so it wasn’t the worse thing in the world. Karl would make sure he could show up to all of his child’s events, no matter how busy he is. He would definitely want more than one kid, having too much love to give to just you and one child.

“Karl? Come to bed. They’ll be okay,” you say from the doorway. He looks at you with tired eyes and one of his children in his arms.

“But. What if they have a nightmare? Who’s going to comfort them?” He looked down at them. His eyes were bloodshot and he had bags around his eyes.

“They’ll be okay, baby. Please just come to bed. You’ll see them in the morning.” You grab the child in his hands and put them in the crib. You grab his hands and pull him up.

Quackity- The sweetest dad ever. The type of dad to carry their child to bed when they fall asleep in the car. On family nights, he would always pick games he played in his childhood and would always try to throw some Spanish in here and there, hopefully helping them learn another language. He’s very close with his family, so he would always take them to his parents’ house so they can see their grandparents. Since he loves driving, he always takes the kids on a drive so they will fall asleep.

“They won’t stop crying, and I don’t know what to do,” you cried, exhausted from not sleeping. You held your child in your hands and cried. You felt like a terrible parent.

“Go to sleep, mi amor. I’ll take them for a drive.” He took them from your arms and kissed you softly. You watched as the child flailed in his arms as he took them out of the room. You passed out almost instantly.

1K notes · View notes

herwrittenuniverse · 7 months

Text

Happy 1 Year AO3 Anniversary to me!

Yes, I'm that weirdo that remembers the one year anniversary of joining AO3. 23, however, is my favorite number, and it was also the beginning of the school year - I think that's why it's so distinct!

Last year, I was looking to do more things that I love, so I said "fuck it" and decided to post a chapter to a fic I hadn't updated in years and years on a different fanfiction website. A longtime reader/ fanfic author @butterflydreaming-writes-fic contacted me and basically said, "Girl, you gotta get on AO3. It's where it's at!" And one year later, here we are!

Here are some totals for you...

Of course, I know some other authors have higher stats then me, and that's okay. I'm proud that in just a year, I've accumulated over 1000 kudos, over 200 bookmarks, and over 21,000 hits. It's very gratifying.

I have 23 stories in total, but not all of them of new. Some are old ones that I reposted from a different website. Out of those 23, 9 are Cardcaptor Sakura, 2 are Final Fantasy VII, and a whopping 12 are of The Dragon Prince (with more to come on the way! I'm in the groove now.)

My most popular story based on hits is Lunation, my interpretation of the reconciliation between Rayla and Callum. I worked the hardest on this fic and am happy to see it still remains at my most popular piece. (Although, some of the shorter, sillier ones from S5 are quickly approaching its numbers, and I admit I will be kind of sad if it's no longer at the top! 😂) On the other end, my least popular is Red Lite, Green Lite, which is a silly little fic about Vincent Valentine going about Midgar trying to get a cigarette. It's quite funny.

The first not-reposted original story was Promises, Promises - a take on Callum's fatal promise to Rayla. ("You have to kill me.") I've never written such an action-packed piece and I am pretty proud of it. Even when rereading it, I still feel the urgent tone that carries itself throughout the story.

My most underrated fic is definitely To Those Who Crossed Over, a weirdly experimental story about how Touya from CCS - a naturally gifted clairvoyant - comes face-to-face with another medium, causing some interesting in-depth insight about Yue. While it's not the norm, it definitely is an interesting read.

In the next year, I would love to post some other fandoms (like RWBY, for example) and perhaps continue/expand on the CCS fic To Love Another. It's a story about Touya coming to terms with who Yukito/Yue are as a person. It is definitely the most quietly popular fic, with no comments but 96 kudos and 18 bookmarks.

Also, I want to simply continue to write. I put a lot of pressure on myself when it comes to fanfiction. Character and canon accuracy are important to me, but I am slowly realizing that fanfiction can be whatever you want it to be. And that's the beauty of it.

Remember, fanfiction writers do it for nothing except the love of our fandom. We take time out of our days to pour our hearts into stories for you to read. I'm so grateful to AO3, as the website allows us a safe space to do that. (I always donate when the time comes, and if you read or write on AO3, you should too!)

In the past year, I rebranded and created my online personal as HerWrittenUniverse because I felt like I was entering another era of fandom. In addition, fanfiction has personally opened up so many door for me. It's giving me a healthy way to express my love for a fandom, challenged me to increase my writing skills, and opened up doors to friendships that I never though possible. So thank you to Cris for kicking my butt and getting me on AO3, thank you to my fellow fandom friends for supporting me (and everyone else!), and thank you to the readers. Fanfiction writers create for themselves - but the support is always nice, too!

Cheers to another year on AO3!

#fanfiction #fanfic #ao3 fanfic #ao3 writer #ao3 #archive of our own #fandoms #my writing #personal post #the dragon prince #cardcaptor sakura #art #writing #support content creators #support fanfic writers

25 notes · View notes

ciramaris · 1 month

Text

Glory

Chapter 3

Wordcount: ca. 1'800

Pairings: Commander Cody x fem!Reader

Summary: You are a Republic Naval Captain (Rank just below Admiral Block) and are rather new to the Negotiator. It has been two weeks since you arrived. Your fellow Bridge Crew betrayed you, now the Admiral and you try to bring the Negotiator back to Coruscant.

Autors Note: Chat *** Official GAR Report ***

⚠️Warnings ⚠️ canon typical violence ⚔ ambigious♨️

Tell me, if I forgot something

Blitz sighed while he starred at the Officers behind the ray shield. They were rowdy - understandably. But he hated prisoners who were loud.

Cody sighed too and starred at him. ,,Slick?”

Blitz nodded. ,,Yeah, I told her 'Slick' means Traitors. Here she used it as. ,We need to get out of here because of traitors.’ I knew when I saw her face, something was wrong.”

Cody nodded thoughtful. ,,And you really think Y/N and I could have something similar?”

Blitz smirked. ,,Kote, I’ve seen the way she looks at you. I’m sure you can have something similar, but made just for the two of you.” He sighed and grimaced. ,,And about me? She will pair me with her Medic Friend of the 31ft.”

Cody smirked. ,,Well, is she beautiful?”

Blitz grin. ,,Yeah, Cecilia is beautiful. I spoke with her fellow Medics. She is also smart and thinks outside the box a lot. Crowder was worried, when she first started with them but now he is not worried any more. She once patched their General up with only Bactasolution and Tape. The I.V. Solution. She created some kind of tape-foil bubble and injected the Bacta in it. Because they were out of Bacta patches and Gel. It healed properly.”

Cody nodded. ,,Sounds like this woman is just as Advanced and self reliant as you, Vod.”

Blitz smirked. ,,Yeah, I got that feeling. But I don’t want to make it too easy for Y/N to set us up.”

Cody laughed. ,,Yeah, I guess she would hold it over your head for a long time.”

Blitz grin snd was just about to reply, when his Datapad chimed, he frowned and looked at it. Then his eyes widened. ,,She did it again.”

Kote frowned. ,,Who?”

,,Cecilia. She went out after their MIA." (Missing In Action) He read further and sighed. ,,I’m beginning to think Y/N wants to pair Cecilia and me, so I can bring her home, qfter the recklessstunts she pulls...” He shook his head. ,,Look what that crazy woman did.” He held his Datapad out for Kote.

Kote frowned and took it.

***

15:45 Coruscant Time| Local time 23:45|

Sergeant Medic CC- 1209-67 {Crowder} reports:

《 Cecilia Hart MIA 》

Situation:

Medic Hart Reported several times to Captain CC-3408 {Chain} ,I know they are out there and alive, we have to get them back! No one is left behind.”

After several Regional Life scans, which resulted in no signs. Captain CC-3408 {Chain} ordered Medic Hart to her Quarters to cool off.

Medic Hart did retreat to her Quarters but unbeknownst to Captain CC-3408 {Chain} , she exited the Base perimeters and is now reported as MIA, since there was no live signs of her for 52h. Regional Scans have also showed no results in finding the Civilian Medic Cecilia Hart.

***

Cody shook his head. ,,What do you think happened? She found them or what ?”

Blitz shrugged. ,,I don’t know, Kote. But as soon as we are on Coruscant I’ll fly to her and find her.”

Kote frowned. ,,If you have the order.”

Blitz smirked. ,,Cecilia is the adoptive Sister of one of the Senators. It is vital for the Republic to get her back.”

Kote laughed. ,,Really?”

Blitz nodded. ,,Yeah, Senator Amidala’s adoptive Sister. She never took Naberrie as her last name, also to keep herself safe, since Amidala run for Queen quite early in her life.”

Kote clapped his Vod on his Pauldron. ,,Lucky Bastard.”

Blitz laughed. ,,I’ll get our Girl back, one way or another. I just hope, she is stuck somewhere in a cave and not in Separatist Hands.”

Kote nodded thoughtful. ,,Hope is always good, Vod. It keeps ya going.”

Blitz nodded. He frowned. ,,Did we just exit Hyperspace?”

Kote frowned and called Block.

,,The Admiral?”

,,Cody here, did we just drop out of Hyperspace?”

,,Yes, we did, we made some alternate calculations and we are above Coruscant. We will begin landing sequences soon.”

Cody frowned. ,,Good, Admiral.” And shut the comm off.

Blitz frowned. ,,It is a 8h trip to Coruscant. How did we do it in 4h?”

Kote shrugged. ,,You’ll go ask your Sister.”

Blitz nodded and left for the bridge.

He saw Block on the Comm Console with Yularen and spotted you in front of the viewport.

,,Y/N? How did you do it in 4h?”

You turned and grin. ,,Mathematics, Blitz. We let the Reactor core work double and cut the energy on several places, for example the hangar and the lifts, and we dimmed the lights on several decks, others we shut down completely.”

He frowned. ,,You want to tell me, we just traveled double light speed?”

You laughed. ,,No, not double but just as fast as light. You see light speed in not actual light speed it is the speed of the slowest lights but now we traveled with the fastest lights. Usually hyperspace is blue and dark blue and sometimes white with it. Now it was just white. Blindingly so even.”

He nodded. ,,Alright and now?”

You shrugged. ,,Now we set everything back to normal.”

Blitz nodded. ,,I need to leave I have another assignment. It starts as soon as I sit in my ARC 170.”

You nodded. ,,I’ll miss you. Be careful and come back home safely.” You hugged him.

Blitz grin. ,,I love you too, Y/N. Go out with Kote to 79’s.”

You laughed. ,,Matchmaker.”

He grin and kissed the top of your head. ,,See ya.”

You nodded. ,,Ret’urcye mhi” (Maybe we’ll meet again/ Goodbye)

Blitz grin and laughed. ,,Ret’urcye mhi, Vod’ika.”

You looked after him. When he walked out of the bridge you turned back to the Viewport. In ftojt of you, you saw the two massive blast doors of the main hangar open and a in comparison tiny ARC 170 leave to Coruscant. A moment later you saw a Gunship approach and your Comm chimed. ,,Yes?”

,,Would you be so kind as to open your Hangar for us, Y/N?”

You grin. ,,Already open, Admiral.”

Moments later Yularen and his Deck Officers were on your Bridge. ,,My dear. What have you been up to, this time?”

You grin. ,,Nothing much really. I just wanted to go home while they wanted to go to Ryndellia.”

He frowned. ,,Where the Medical Station is?”

You nodded. ,,Yes, I didn’t ask them. I’ll leave the questioning to the Jedi. They are much more persuasive than I am.”

He smirked. ,,Yes they are. Alright.” He louder said. ,,On your positions!”

You smirked, when you saw his new naval Commander. The last three he had were thrown out because of their incompetence. This one was with him for 4 months. Yularen glared at the rookie but you knew, his glare was better than being ignored. If Yularen glared, then you were doing it right but just too slow. If he ignored you, you were not needed and thus incompetent.

He sighed. ,,Would you mind showing him how it is done, dear?”

You smiled, nodded and helped the rookie.

------×--------×----------×-----------×----------

Cody sighed, he was tired and felt drained after all this, first the Campaign on Geonosis, then the Queen and now his Ships crew were traitors. He sighed and wondered if Y/N was busy. He opted to go up to the Bridge but remembered he needed to round up his men to get them ready. He sighed and ordered his men to pack their things and clean up the messes they made. While he was once again stuck behind his Datapad writing reports.

He sat down in the Messhall and sipped Coffee while he wrote reports and read reports from his Medics and Captains.

He was curious about Blitz, he looked up his Mission log but was blocked due to non ARC Status. The only thing he saw, was:

{On duty}

He sighed. Was he supposed to tell you, your best friends were both in danger out there somewhere? He hoped not. He got the feeling if he knew and didn’t tell you, you would feel betrayed and if he told you - you were worried. He sighed and focused back on his reports.

The next ting he knew, was you were bugging him to get up. He groaned. ,,No.”

You sighed. ,,Kote, come on, we’re home. Get up, or I’ll push you off the bench.”

He lifted his head and blinked sleepy. ,,What?”

You chuckled. ,,We landed and are on Coruscant.”

He sighed and stretched. His shoulders popped as well as his back from being in this weird hunched over position. He looked at you and smiled gently. ,,You would really push me off the bench?”

You nodded. ,,Absolutely. I want to get out of here.”

He sighed and stood up. He clipped his Datapad to his Utility belt and stood next to you. ,,So, you wanted to push me off the bench, while I was sleeping?” he asked determined.

You cocked your head. And hesitated to answer him, when he looked at you, like you were his prey. ,,Yeah… I told you….I wanted to get out… of here.” You studied him warily.

He smirked. ,,Well, you should better run then.” He flexed his Fingers.

Your eyes widened, your turned and run out of the Messhall as fast as you could.

Cody laughed, amused. You really thought you could escape him? There was a reason why Jango named him Glory.

You run through the hallway, dodging all his brothers and even the crates while you run towards the hangar.

Cody was hot on your heels.

When you finally arrived at the Hangar you glanced around and didn’t see him, your run to your Z-95 Headhunter and then out of nowhere he grabbed your waist and tickled you. You went to the floor laughing and giggling.

,,You really thought you could outrun me?”

You nodded while you laughed.

He grin. ,,Still think that?”

You shook your head and kept on laughing.

He smirked and let your breath for two seconds, then tickled your again.

,,I’m-“ you laughed. ,,-sorry.”

He grin. ,,What for Mesh’la?”

He let you breath again. ,,For saying I’d push you off the bench.”

He nodded. ,,Aha.”

You grin. ,,I just said it, so you would wake up faster.”

He raised his brows. ,,Is that so?”

You nodded. ,,Yes.”

He pursed his lips and tickled you again. ,,Alright, Blitz told me to go out with you tonight. You coming with me?”

You smirked . ,,Want me to wear gold?”

He gazed at you softly . ,,You shouldn’t.” Then he grin. ,,Captain Gold may think you actually like him.”

You laughed. ,,On no, thank you. No-thank you.”

He chuckled. ,,But I’m not telling you what to wear. Surprise me with something nice.”

You nodded. ,,Alright. What do you wear? Armor or Uniform?”

He smirked. ,,Uniform? No thank you.” He knocked on his chest. ,,This is more comfortable.”

You nodded. ,,Good.”

He helped you up. ,,Fly safely.”

You nodded. ,,See you later, Glory boy.”

He laughed, surprised at you nickname. Then he smirked. ,,Yeah, I know I am Glorious, maybe you’ll find out someday just how glorious.” He winked.

You blushed and hid your head inside your pilot helmet.

Cody chuckled triumphant.

Previous🔸️ Next 🔸️ Glory — Masterlist 🔸️ My Masterlist

@fordo-wifey

@imabeautifulbutterfly

@carodealmeida

7 notes · View notes

postbadbadassqueen · 1 year

Text

Lelouch last Flashback in Original Anime and in AU Movies

This is Lelouch's last Flashback from the Anime; This one led to a lot of talk during the anime airing cause those were seemingly a best of of Lelouch's memories, from his most recent to his first;

Notice how despite those being chronological, Shirley's memory happens at the very beginning, out of chronological order while this scene happenned a while ago. Notice as well how there are three pauses (yeah, they were even minuted through video program lol ) in Lelouch's wave of memories before his final memory of happiness that was his childhood with Nunnally and Suzaku ?

Shirley and her smile, Kallen's kiss, and a moment with Rollo. While it pissed some people (Kallen and Rollo I mean) I always thought it was pretty telling (and the fact the pause were minuted and that even some notorious LuluC shippers acknowledged them (while refusing to give a meaning to them lmao) Lelouch ended up considering Rollo as his brother, despite everything which happenned, despite him killing Shirley he acknowledged that the moments they shared were real, and him pausing on this within his huge ammount of memories is quite telling.

For Kallen's kiss, we got a pause as well (while one of C.C.'s kiss and Shirley's kisses are also within this flashback, but have no pause), and just like with Rollo, I think that's pretty telling, If I wanted to push the analysis I'd say (especially given all of the side stuff that came out about this kiss being mutual, about Kallen understanding his feelings and seemingly ascerting within her side material that he spared her because their feelings matched) If we go by those pause we have his deepest regret, Shirley's loss, the loss of a friend/star crossed lover, first of his last memories because of how much this impacted him, a romantic moment with a woman he loved, a brotherly moment with his little brother and of course his childhood with Nunnally and Suzaku.

Had they wanted to show Kallen differently, as a subordinate, or a friend, they had plenty of stuff to show, but not only did they show her kiss, but they paused on it, unlike the other kisses.

(Keep in mind this flashback is really not much aside to her side material, but it's already nice for her fans, I think. Always a +)

Now if we look at the Alternate movie version (daily reminder that the Movie AU cut most of Lelouch's relationship with Kallen and Shirley, changed C.C.'s character so that she could become this one dimensional being orbitating around Lelouch and being Moe about that, changed some character fates, and to summarize it by Taniguchi's words, changed characters motivations and relationship (that's why for example, in the epilogue, Kallen who went from a main character to a supportive one, doesn't have any picture of Lelouch's face on her board, just a picture of his back lol. Even her feelings for him were altered when it was such a big part of her in the original.)

Anyway if you want to summarize the change in Code Geass, just share both flashback gifs. In the canon one you have a meaning, with important moments (being rushed but still being there) and meaningful pauses; While in the AU one...

There is just much more green, everything is rushed and even super rushed), no more chronological order, no pauses, nothing. Even though they went to Moe CC route on this one I thought it was super disappointing to not have at least a good editing for what was supposed to be Lelouch's last thoughts; Even if they had done it and replaced others pause with C.C. eating pizza pause, or C.C. being jealous pause, that would have been much better but this one can't even be analyzed lol it's just a bunch of fast forward moment, with C.C.'s kiss and Lelouch killing Euphemia being more present.

And of course since Shirley is alive, she totally disappeared from Lelouch's last thoughts lmao (same as all of his ashford friends, who were there in the previous one.)

Disappointing.

Anyway I think those two flashback gifs are a fast way to summarize the difference between the Original anime canon and the AU version.

134 notes · View notes

kabii-sims · 11 months

Text

The Big CC Dump I'd Said I'd Do

Hey! Its me again. Hi.

Since I didn't understand all of the ins and outs and bips and bops of dropbox despite it being VERY very similar to Google Drive, I've decided to just make a Google Drive folder instead since i have an alt n'whatnot.

The Drive contains six folders and a changelog. Five of the folders are reserved for the characters above while the last one is more of a "miscellaneous" folder.

Contents of each folder include, but are not limited to Hair, Accessories, and little finger tints. all of which are of a somewhat decent quality. if not bad.

Most of these mods I've kept to myself for a bit, but haven't gotten around to sprucing up and such (most of these do NOT have a custom thumbnail yet), so as a result I might not remember where some of the accessories (namely for Sean) lie. So if, lets say, a hat is not in the hat category, check earrings instead. (i'll update this post in the future with more reliable instructions i swear.)

And you may note that there's JUUST a few idol related things within this bundle, and some may require the original mesh in order to use them. They'll be linked on this post too, so don't worry. (if I did the recoloring process wrong PLEASE let me know so I can quickly make that fix out of the respect of the original cc creators because I still don't know what i'm doing, tbh.)

Drive Bundle Link: Google Drive

Original Meshes For all Teeth Recolors (daffodilyilysims.): Inkling/Octoling | Off The Hook

And, although it isn't required i recommend downloading these eye modifers: Eye Size | Monoeye (Required if you care about your Murch Sim being accurate.)

I would also recommend the "no nose" modifier but tbh I don't think it does a good enough job to remove the nose, and make noseless characters look... off. as a result

NOTE: All Eyes that contain glowing (Spyke and Murch) Require the vampires pack to work. The "Aristotle's Lantern" Teeth may require Island Living in order to work.

All of these mods contain textures that are directly from, are inspired by, or are modified from their original textures from Splatoons 1-3. More will be added over time, and things will definitely be cleaned up in the future.

All eyebrow related mods are under face paint.

NONE OF THE HAIRS IN THIS BUNDLE ARE HAT FRIENDLY.

Teeth/idol face paints are are Under Cut

Marina, Frye, And Callie are not included in the demonstration but trust me they're there they're there trust m

#splatoon sims #sims 4 #sims 4 cc #sims 4 mesh converts #sims splatoon #sims #simblr #splatoon #splatoon 2 #splatoon 3

23 notes · View notes

hamsterbellbelle · 4 months

Text

The upcoming CCs will be a set call "Miniature Space Hamster Set" xD As in that Miniature Giant Space Hamster from Baldur's Gate ⬇️

A little something about the set:

Most doors and windows are gonna come in "clean" and "dirty" swatches, and are in separated packages. The windows-dirty.pacakes are gonna be huge cause I made 2 variations so that not all dirty windows look the same...

The set contains build and buy mode items, BUT mostly build mode. I wanted to make a whole new kitchen set, bedroom, living room, because - mostly because - I want objects with a shinny surface (not wood...) and with lightmaps _(:з」∠)_ but I got tired and lazy with making all those doors and windows and I really miss my games...I want to say I'll make those set in the future...? But you know what I'm gonna add: no promises...

I thought about streaming the creating process, but it was mostly just a few minutes on the mesh then hours on the texture i.e. adjusting the colors, drawing the patterns...the irregular shaped windows really was a big challenge for me because I don't do stuff with cutouts often, and there ain't much tutorial about non-square non-circle cutouts out there...

if anyone wants a mini tutorial on how to make cutouts for these I can make one, but honestly I'm not sure either whether I'm doing it right...it works, but probably not the right way😅In fact I made a pic as a reminder on how I made the cutouts...:

There's nothing hamster about the set...xD It is called "Miniature Space Hamster Set" because it's kinda about space and I am Hamster-bellbelle (=ω=)

Also I don't do sets often. I make what I need what I want, therefore CCs usually comes as single items...but I do appreciates the suggestions :) and I feel guilty for always saying "I'll make them but no promises..." (I still remember the deco-cyberware body parts, the matching deco-doors for the open arch gates...I promise I will get to them...eventually..._(:з」∠)_ ) but hope for understanding that the CCs are mostly made because I needed them...

Last: the 3D sim hologram was originally meant to be included in this set but I really really wanted it to be - if not perfect - nice ( •̀ ω •́ )✧ the basic of making an animated sim is quite straight forward, but...remember those HUGE holographic dancers in all those futuristic/cyberpunk movies? I want to make those ( •̀ ω •́ )✧ Resizable, with light, and looks glitchy!! I want a skyscraper-sized ballerina dancing down San Myshuno...can someone please make those?...*face palm by my own laziness...*

#journal

11 notes · View notes

aspoonofsugar · 1 year

Text

Happily Ever After

Probably obvious, but it only hit me yesterday that the latest episode explains why the Ever After is called, well, ever after:

When we break or wear out or simply finish what we were made to do we are called back (...) I know, I know. Where you come from, things die, but we are not like you at all. We ascend. Herb will have his purpose again.

People don't die in the Ever After... it is really happily ever after here...

The whole point of fairy tales (well, one of their many many points) is that they end with a happy ending where the evil characters die and the good characters live. Perfectly content. Forever.

If on were to look at them logically, obviously the protagonists are often bound to die after they live their perfect lives. However, this isn't part of the story usually. It is left out.

Well, the Ever After is built on this idea... How can a fairy tale world really work like a fairy tale? And you have the Ever After's system, which confirms this universe as the product of Creation alone (at least superficially).

So, it is really no surprise it appeals miss Ruby Rose so much:

Ruby: The world isn't like a fairy tale.

But it could absolutely be if Ruby chooses to stay, to be changed and to be reborn...

What I'd give in exchange To be happy without trying

Ruby who fears death and even more so grief more than anything else is given the chance not to engage with these difficult concepts anymore.

Except... things aren't really that simple...

CC: While the Prince may not remember Alix's deceptions after ascending, the heart very rarely forgets.

Fairy tales might be simpler than real life, but they are made to help people deal with reality in a better, wiser way. Not to run from it. So, in this strange realm, where Ruby could easily run away and disappear... she is also challenged to face her interiority in ways she never was in Remnant.

All in all, it is really a great commentary of stories and their roles in our lives. It also ties with the themes of:

Grief

Identity

Clearly the 2 main ideas at the centre of this volume. Their juxtaposition in itself is rather original and deep. It suggests that when we lose people, we also lose and grieve parts of ourselves and of our past. And yet, grief can also mold us and only if we deal with it we can be changed without being undone.

I would also say, I am enjoying the meta-digs CRWBY is doing at their own story and writing in general. Last ep we had CC representing the fandom. This ep they ended up:

Calling out exposition after a whole scene dedicated to exposition

CC: Of course not! The exposition was terribly boring. As this conversation was, on the whole, rather tedious!

Explaining why not all characters can have positive development in a story and that the value of a character doesn't lie in them becoming a better person

Ruby: Fixed up? The Prince was worse! CC: The Prince isn't supposed to be nice. He's meant to play the games and win.

All in all pretty funny stuff :''')

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 9 #rwby meta #ever after #my meta

52 notes · View notes

wingedblooms · 2 years

Text

Forbidden secrets

This theory was written in honor of @elriel-month and combines prompts from weeks 1-3. Okay, so week 3 might be a stretch but gardening on a grander scale is proposed and I think it counts. Spoilers for other Sarah J. Maas series, including TOG and CC.

Two Secret-Keepers

Sarah has talked about planting secrets for the next ACOTAR book, so naturally my mind turns to our notorious secret-keepers: Azriel, the spymaster, and Elain, the seer. Both are, as Sarah explicitly points out for us, skilled in the art of uncovering and keeping secrets.

Feyre smiled. “Elain was the only one who guessed. She caught me vomiting two mornings in a row.” She nodded toward Azriel. “I think she’s got you beat for secret-keeping.” (acosf)

Azriel’s got no shortage of lovers, though, don’t worry. He’s better at keeping them secret than we are, but … he has them.” (acomaf)

On a Forbidden Adventure

Not only are both matched in secrecy, but they are also forbidden from doing what they want.

“Then go off on adventures,” Nesta said. “Go drink and fuck strangers. But stay away from the Cauldron.” (acosf)

Rhys bared his teeth. “So you will leave Elain alone. If you need to fuck someone, go to the pleasure hall and pay for it, but stay away from her.” (Azriel’s bonus chapter)

But, you see, they have a tendency to challenge commands (even if that is a more recent development for Elain, I think it’s here to stay):

Elain remained in the doorway, her face pale but her expression harder than Nesta had ever seen it. “You do not decide what I can and cannot do, Nesta.” (acosf)

“You can’t order me to do that.” (Azriel’s bonus chapter)

I believe these parallels are designed to set up an adventure for Azriel and Elain that involve the sacred sister peaks. Both Feyre and Nesta have overcome challenges in these mountains, so it would make sense for our spymaster and seer to continue this trend with a different kind of mission that suits their powers: together, they can explore and unearth the forbidden secrets that lie beneath the sacred peaks.

Mapping the Secrets of the Sister Peaks

In ACOSF, Sarah refers to the sacred mountains—barren sister peaks, at odds with those around them—in a way that reminds us of the Archerons and sacred trio (Mother, Fate, and Cauldron, or Urd as I have theorized elsewhere).

Eris was waiting for Nesta and Cassian when they arrived in a forest clearing nestled in the Middle. But Nesta didn’t bother to do more than glance at the High Lord’s son—not with the sight rising above the trees. The sacred mountain—the mountain under which Feyre, Rhys, and all the other High Lords had been trapped by Amarantha. It rose like a wave on the horizon, bleak and barren and somehow thrumming with presence.

Sound familiar? It should. Sarah has been planting this water imagery since at least ACOMAF, starting with Elain’s emergence from the Cauldron:

And as if it had been tipped by invisible hands, the Cauldron turned on its side. More water than seemed possible dumped out in a cascade. Black, smoke-coated water. And Elain, as if she’d been thrown by a wave, washed onto the stones facedown. Her legs were so pale—so delicate. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen them bare. […] Elain sucked in a breath, her fine-boned back rising, her wet nightgown nearly sheer. And as she rose from the ground onto her elbows, the gag in place, as she twisted to look at me—Nesta began roaring again. Pale skin started to glow. Her face had somehow become more beautiful—infinitely beautiful, and her ears … Elain’s ears were now pointed beneath her sodden hair. (acomaf)

And then when Nesta makes her bargain with the Cauldron:

And as it faded, dark ink splashed upon Nesta’s back, visible through her half-shredded shirt, as if it were a wave crashing upon the shore. A bargain. With the Cauldron itself. Yet Cassian could have sworn a luminescent, gentle hand prevented the light from leaving her body altogether. (acosf)

To Cassian’s chagrin, we learn more about these sacred peaks from Eris:

Eris shrugged, and Nesta knew Cassian monitored his every breath. “There are three of them, you know. Sister peaks. This one, the mountain called the Prison, and the one the Illyrian brutes call Ramiel. All bald, barren mountains at odds with those around them.”

“We don’t know why they exist, but do you not find it strange that two out of the three have underground palaces carved into them?” […] Eris gave him a mocking smile, but continued, “Unsurprisingly, the Illyrians were never curious enough to see what secrets lie beneath Ramiel. If it, too, was carved up like the others by ancient hands.”

“I thought Amarantha made the court Under the Mountain herself,” Nesta said. “Oh, she decorated it and made us act like a sorry imitation of your Court of Nightmares, but the tunnels and halls were carved long before. By who, we don’t know.” (acosf)

There are palaces buried deep under these sacred mountains, or at least two out of three that have been confirmed. Ramiel remains a mystery. These underground palaces seem to be linked in unexpected ways, and lead all the way back to the Middle—a place with its own forbidden secrets.

The Middle

“Oorid was once a sacred place,” Amren said. “Warriors were laid to rest in its night-black waters. But Oorid changed to a place of darkness—don’t give me that look, Rhysand, you know what I mean—a long time ago. Filled with such evil that no one will venture there, and only the worst of the faeries are drawn to it. They say the water there flows to Under the Mountain, and the creatures who live in the bog have long used its underground waterways to travel through the Middle, even into the mountains of the surrounding courts.”

Feyre frowned. “It can’t be more specific, though?” She asked Rhys, “Do we have a detailed map of the Middle?”

Rhys shook his head. “It’s forbidden to map the Middle beyond vague landmarks.” He pointed to the sacred mountain in its center, where he’d been held for nearly fifty years. “The Mountain, the woods, the bog … All can be seen from land and air. But its secrets, those discovered on foot—those are forbidden.”

Feyre’s frown didn’t lighten. “By whom?”

“An ancient council of the High Lords. The Middle is a place where wild magic still dwells and thrives and feeds. We respect it as its own entity, and do not wish to provoke its wrath by revealing its mysteries.” (acosf)

When they travel to Oorid in the Middle, the darkness Amren spoke of is readily apparent. It seems to be in a death-like slumber, and evokes imagery connected to the sacred trio and Elain in surprising ways:

But then gray, watery light hit her. And the air—the air was heavy, full of slow-running water and mold and loamy earth. No wind moved around them; not even a breeze. […] Oorid stretched before them. She had never seen a place so dead.

The oppressive air muffled even the sound of their wings, like Oorid would abide no sound disturbing its ancient slumber. […] Islands of grass dotted the expanse, some so crowded with brambles that he could find no safe place to land. The tangles of thorns were a mockery of what might have been—as if Oorid had ever produced roses. Not a single flower bloomed.

He screamed, but it was soundless. Just as the dead were soundless, surging from the murky bottom, some in marching formation, and converging on him. […] “Mother save us,” Azriel whispered, and it was undiluted terror, not awe, hushing his voice as the dead rose from Oorid’s depths. (acosf)

As an aside, we know that Nesta raised the dead in Oorid with the Mask. And it’s likely that she will, indeed, need to call upon thousands to help defeat an ancient enemy in the future:

Thousands and thousands of bodies. But she would not call thousands. Not yet. Her blood was a cold song, the Mask a slithering echo to it, whispering of all she might do. Home, it seemed to sigh. Home. (acosf)

From the information we are given in the text, it seems like Oorid—which is corrupted and lacks life—is the source of the water flowing deep within the earth, into the sacred peaks, and even other courts. Is it possible that, if the Daglan were indeed related to the Asteri, they used this source as a way to drink power from the land like wine? And did they take too much, causing its sacred places to become bleak and barren?

Rhys lifted a hand, and a book of legends from a shelf behind him floated to his fingers. He laid it upon the desk. He flipped it open to a page, revealing an image of a group of tall, strange-looking beings with crowns atop their heads. “The Fae were not the first masters of this world. According to our oldest legends, most now forgotten, we were created by beings who were near-gods—and monsters. The Daglan. They ruled for millennia, and enslaved us and the humans. They were petty and cruel and drank the magic of the land like wine.” (acosf)

Ramiel and the Illyrian Mountains

Ramiel is also described as ancient and barren, and it is connected by a network of water-carved caves.

Ramiel. The sacred mountain. The heart of not only Illyria, but the entirety of the Night Court. None were permitted on its barren, rocky slopes—save for the Illyrians, and only once a year at that. During the Blood Rite. (acofas)

But Cassian paused before a landscape painting of a towering, barren mountain, void of life yet somehow thrumming with presence. Snow and pines crusted the smaller peaks around it, but this strange, bald mountain … Only a black stone jutted from its top. A monolith, Nesta realized, stepping closer. […] The sacred mountain from the Blood Rite. Indeed, three stars faintly glowed in the twilight skies above the peak. It was a near-perfect, real-life rendering of the Night Court’s insignia. (acosf)

Like the sacred peak in the Middle, Ramiel is also surrounded by water imagery:

Ramiel might as well have been across an ocean. It loomed straight ahead, with two mountains and a sea of forest and the gods knew what else between her and its barren slopes. It looked identical to Feyre’s painting.

Around a river, she’d learned on her hike with Cassian, cave systems were often carved out by the water. (acosf)

Even before the spin-offs, Elain stared at the barren ground when they entered the Illyrian war camp for the first time. I can’t help but wonder if the sight of it made her hands itch to make something—anything—grow there. If she looked at it and saw its potential, like she did with her family’s cottage.

Warriors and females laboring around the fires silently monitored us. Nesta stared them all down. Elain kept her focus on the dry, rocky ground.

But Elain wrapped her own blue cloak around herself, averting her eyes from all of those towering, muscled warriors, the army camp bustling toward the horizon … She was a rose bloom in a mud field. Filled with galloping horses. […] If Elain was a blooming flower in this army camp, then Nesta … she was a freshly forged sword, waiting to draw blood. (acowar)

The language Sarah uses in this scene has already proven to be foreshadowing for Nesta (who is compared to a freshly forged sword; she then forges swords in ACOSF with her magic). Elain is a rose bloom in a mud field, a place that is bleak and barren, preparing for death. Is it possible she might map the secrets of the land with her powers, and help it bloom in earnest again? Her powers—which seem to involve tracking and mapping like the mystics in CC—may allow her to uncover secrets that were either lost or forbidden before even setting foot in these places. This would provide a significant advantage to missions that require any recovery of important objects on foot. And the mysteries buried within the earth may lead her to those above:

Emerie’s eyes shone. “Long ago—so long ago they don’t even have a precise date for it—a great war was fought between the Fae and the ancient beings who oppressed them. One of its key battles was here, in these mountains. Our forces were battered and outnumbered, and for some reason, the enemy was desperate to reach the stone at the top of Ramiel. We were never taught the reason why; I think it’s been forgotten. […] This Rite is all to honor him. So much of the history has been lost, but the memory of his bravery remains.” (acosf)

Why, exactly, were the ancient enemies (who I believe were the Daglan and related to the Asteri in CC) so desperate to get to the top of the mountain? Is it possible the obsidian stone—that heals and transports—is one of the Made items that was forgotten after this epic battle?

Amren’s eyes glowed with a remnant of her power. “The Cauldron Made many objects of power, long ago, forging weapons of unrivaled might. Most were lost to history and war, and when I went into the Prison, only three remained. At the time, some claimed there were four, or that the fourth had been Unmade, but today’s legends only tell of three.”

Rhys threw her a frown. “Those who possessed them grew careless. They were lost in ancient wars, or to treachery, or simply because they were misplaced and forgotten.”

“Made objects tend to not wish to be found by just anyone,” Amren cautioned. “That they have faded from memory, that even I didn’t think of them immediately in the fight against Hybern, suggests that perhaps they willed it that way. Wanted to stay hidden. True things of power have such gifts.” […] “They were Made in a time when wild magic still roamed the earth, and the Fae were not masters of all. Made objects back then tended to gain their own self-awareness and desires. It was not a good thing.” Amren’s face clouded with memory, and a chill whispered over Nesta’s spine.

Rhys mused, “Just as I’m able to alter a mind to forget, perhaps they have a similar gift.”

“When Briallyn was Made, it likely removed from her the Dread Trove’s glamour, for lack of a better term. Recognized her as kin. Where she might have glanced over a mention of the items before and never thought twice, now it stuck. Or perhaps called to her, presented itself in a dream.” All of them, all at once, looked at Nesta. “You,” Amren said quietly, “are the same. So is Elain.” (acosf)

Is it possible that the Illyrians can’t remember why their enemy was desperate to reach the top of Ramiel, where the stone remains, because it is Made and willed it that way? True things of power have such gifts. Is that why Elain has already been forgotten in the narrative of the most recent war, as @sleepylivart has theorized before?

“I …” Nesta blinked. “Do you not know who I am?”

“I know you are the High Lady’s sister. That you slew the King of Hybern.” Gwyn’s face grew solemn, haunted. “That you, like Lady Feyre, were once mortal. Human.”

Nesta sank into the chair beside Gwyn’s. “I’m not a warrior.”

“You slew the King of Hybern,” Gwyn repeated. “With the shadowsinger’s knife.”

“Luck and rage,” Nesta admitted. “And I had made a promise to kill him for what he did to me and my sister.” (acosf)

Did she, like Rhysand and Made objects, will it that way?

Elain fell into step beside me, peering at Lucien. He noticed it. “I heard you made the killing blow,” he said.

Elain studied the trees ahead. “Nesta did. I just stabbed him.” (acowar)

Would the stone recognize Elain as kin, like the Trove objects’ response to Nesta? What might she be able to heal, or explore, with that stone? This special kinship may be one reason why Elain, with her sisters, is Starborn. It allows her to find and wield Made objects unlike other fae. It sets them apart—at odds with those around them like the sister peaks. And as @offtorivendell, @silverlinedeyes, and I have discussed before, if others use these objects without that connection, there are consequences. Helion’s reaction to the Mask is a stark contrast to Nesta’s kinship and use of it; he is repelled by it, and wonders if the consequences of its past use were written in his very blood. Could those consequences involve the betrayal and death of Fionn?

Helion whirled to Nesta, all sensuality vanished. “You truly wore this and lived?” It wasn’t a question meant to be answered. “Cover it again, please. I can’t stand it.” […] “Doesn’t it rake its cold claws down your senses?” Helion asked.

Helion shuddered, and Nesta threw the cloth over the Mask. As if the cloth somehow blinded it to their presence. “Perhaps an ancestor of mine once used it, and the warning of its cost is imprinted upon my blood.”

Rhys’s eyes flicked to Ataraxia, then to Cassian. “Some strains of the mythology claim that one of the Fae heroes who rose up to overthrow them was Fionn, who was given the great sword Gwydion by the High Priestess Oleanna, who had dipped it into the Cauldron itself. Fionn and Gwydion overthrew the Daglan. A millennium of peace followed, and the lands were divided into rough territories that were the precursors to the courts—but at the end of those thousand years, they were at each other’s throats, on the brink of war.” His face tightened. “Fionn unified them and set himself above them as High King. The first and only High King this land has ever had.” (acosf)

The Prison

The sacred mountain on the prison island is barren, and it can no longer sustain the wild creatures that once lived there.

Helion’s most beloved pair—this black stallion, Meallan, and his mate—hadn’t produced offspring in three hundred years, and that last foal hadn’t made it out of weaning before he’d succumbed to an illness no healer could remedy. According to legend, the pegasuses had come from the island the Prison sat upon—had once fed in fair meadows that had long given way to moss and mist. Perhaps that was part of the decline: their homeland had vanished, and whatever had sustained them there was no longer. (acosf)

We are told that Clotho discovered ancient songs in the lower levels of the cavernous Night Court library. These songs are a wave of sound and function like a dream that transports Nesta to the Prison. She even flows into the mountain, like she might if she were traveling through an underground waterway.

“Some of the songs you’ll hear are so ancient they predate the written word. Some of them are so old we didn’t even have them in Sangravah. Clotho found them in books shelved below Level Seven. Hana—she’ll be the one who plays the lute—figured out how to read the music.”

As that seventh bell finished pealing, music erupted. Not from any instruments, but from all around. As if they were one voice, the priestesses began to sing, a wave of sparkling sound. […] It was like a braid, the song—a plait of seven voices, weaving in and out, individual strands that together formed a pattern. […] She’d never heard such music. Like a spell, a dream given form. The entire room sang, each voice resonating through the stone.

The music took form behind Nesta’s eyes as the priestesses sang lyrics in languages so old, no one voiced them anymore. She saw what the song spoke of: mossy earth and golden sun, clear rivers and the deep shadows of an ancient forest. The harp strummed, and mountains rolled ahead, as if a veil had been cleared with the stroke of those strings, and she was flying toward it—toward a massive, mist-veiled mountain, the land barren save for moss and stones and a gray, stormy sea around it. The mountain itself held two peaks at its very top, and the stones jutting from its sides were carved in strange, ancient symbols, as old as the song itself.

Nesta’s body melted away, her bones and the stones of the cavern a distant memory as she flowed into the mountain, beheld towering, carved gates, and passed through them into a darkness so complete it was primordial; darkness that was full of living things, terrible things.

So Nesta drifted down and down, the harp and the voices pulsing and guiding, until she stopped before a rock. She laid a hand on it to find it was only an illusion, and she passed through it, down another long hall, beneath the mountain itself, and then she stood in a cavern, almost the twin to the one the priestesses sang in, as if they were linked in song and dreaming. (acosf)

Is it possible that these mountains are not only linked physically, but magically? If so, this makes it even more likely that Elain might use her murky realm of dreams, which I believe is connected to the sacred trio and the waters of the Cauldron, to navigate the magical waterways that may exist between the peaks. And who knows what she might find…or even wake in the womb of these sacred mountains?

Healing the Womb of the Earth

The language Sarah uses to describe the sacred sister peaks and their cavernous depths is not exclusive to Prythian. Healers in TOG use a sacred underground cave called Silba’s Womb. Silba was believed to be the goddess of healing and she was associated with owls, purple, and water.

Candles had been tucked into natural alcoves, or had been clumped at either end of each sunken tub, gilding the sulfurous steam and setting the owls carved into every wall and slick pillar in flickering relief.

A plush cloth cushioning her head against the unforgiving stone lip of the tub, Yrene breathed in the Womb’s thick air, watching it rise and vanish into the clear, crisp darkness squatting far overhead.

Some ancient architect had discovered the hot springs far beneath the Torre and constructed a network of tubs built into the floor so that the water flowed between them, a constant stream of warmth and movement. Yrene held her hand against one of the vents in the side of the tub, letting the water ripple through her fingers on its way to the vent on the other end, to pass back into the stream itself—and into the slumbering heart of the earth.

An acolyte had been waiting with a lightweight robe of lavender—Silba’s color—for Yrene to wear into the Womb proper, where she’d discarded it beside the pool and stepped in, naked save for her mother’s ring.

Water—Silba’s element. To bathe in the sacred waters here, untouched by the world above, was to enter Silba’s very lifeblood. Yrene knew she was not the only healer who had taken the waters and felt as if she were indeed nestled in the warmth of Silba’s womb. As if this space had been made for them alone.

The darkness above her was that of creation, of rest, of unformed thought. […] Yrene stared into it, into the womb of Silba herself. And could have sworn she felt something staring back. Listening, while she thought through all Lord Westfall had told her. (tod)

It is perhaps no coincidence that Elain is inspired by Blodeuwedd, who was transformed into an owl, and has begun to glow with health while wearing the color…purple. Her emergence from the Cauldron even evoked the water imagery most associated with the power of the sacred trio, which includes the Mother. Silba’s healing waters are compared to a womb. And like a womb, it is calming and creative, and allows the healer to emerge renewed. We learn of another dark womb from Nesta in the acotar series:

There was night, and there was the darkness of extinguishing a candle, and then there was this. Not only the true absence of light, but … a womb. The womb from which all life had come and would return, neither good nor evil, only dark, dark, dark. […] Her name drifted to her as if rising from the depths of some black ocean. […] The darkness pulsed, beckoning. (acosf)

This language reminds me again of the sacred trio, especially the Mother, who is believed to be a primal goddess associated with creation and wild magic:

Her gaze shifted to the carved wooden rose she’d placed upon the mantel, half-hidden in the shadows beside a figurine of a supple-bodied female, her upraised arms clasping a full moon between them. Some sort of primal goddess—perhaps even the Mother herself. Nesta hadn’t let herself dwell on why she’d felt the need to set the rose there. Why she hadn’t just thrown it in a drawer. (acosf)

For whatever reason, Nesta placed Elain’s carved rose—a symbol of love and beauty and color in the bleakness of winter—next to the Mother. It is half-hidden in shadows, like Elain herself. There are many symbolic meanings for roses, including (1) love and beauty, (2) strength through silence, (3) healing, and (4) divination and secrecy (more on how those apply to Elain here). Like the Mother, Elain is also elusive and associated with symbols of rest and renewal.

The gates to her mind…solid iron, covered in vines of flowers—or it would have been. The blossoms were all sealed, sleeping buds tucked into tangles of leaves and thorns. (acowar)

The Faelights gilded Elain’s unbound hair, making her glow like the sun at dawn. (Azriel’s bonus chapter)

Her sister’s delicate scent of jasmine and honey lingered in the red-stoned hall like a promise of spring, a sparkling river that she followed to the open doors of the chamber. Elain stood at the wall of windows, clad in a lilac gown whose close-fitting bodice showed how well her sister had filled out since those initial days in the Night Court. Gone were the sharp angles, replaced by softness and elegant curves. […] Her sister turned toward her, glowing with health. Elain’s smile was as bright as the setting sun beyond the windows. (acosf)

And as though the Mother is indeed next to her, Azriel mentions her as a witness to their secret, forbidden encounter:

But he could have this. The one moment, and maybe a taste, and that would be it. “Yes,” Elain breathed, like she read the decision. Just this taste in the dead of the longest night of the year, where only the Mother might witness them. (acosf)

Could these two secret, forbidden lovers merge their powers of sight and sound to find the source of the corruption in the Middle? It will likely involve unearthing events of the past that were lost, including—potentially—the actions of Theia’s forgotten daughter. And the secrets they uncover as they navigate time and space might help Elain, like a rose bloom in the mud, clear the corruption at the root and heal the wild magic that once bloomed and thrived throughout the land. Together, Azriel and Elain could create a thing of secret, lovely beauty, showing the Spymaster that he can help heal rather than torture, and finally—finally—feel hopeful about his future with Elain at his side.

#elriel #elrielmonth #forbidden secrets #sister peaks #cc acotar tog crossover theories #forbidden lovers #azriel and elain #seer elain #azriel #shadowsinger #elrielmonth22 #maasverse theories

182 notes · View notes