#but I want to Rhine design……

[monards]

oh my god I swear I wasn’t this sleepy in June. Why can I not stay up IMMGOVIN INSANE

#I literally. only got a screw taken out #this is what bad diets do to you kids #APPARENTLY surviving off vitamin water and one of those mini Chex mix boxes don’t count as a ‘balanced diet’ :/ #Electra’s gonna come for my ass don’t let her see this post #EUGHHHHHH #soooo sleepy…… #but I want to Rhine design…… #being underweight fucks a girl up #in multiple ways #but being sleepy. was not a way I expected #body stop taking my proteins to fix yourself I need those #to work!!!!

[lanymme]

Think about how Saria spent years in betrayal and anger, driven for justice, searching out all of Rhine Lab’s wrongdoings, developing her philosophy on what science is for, all to right the course of the thing she build together with Kristen, who she dedicated her life to.

Kristen, the child of her idols. Kristen, her first love. Kristen, who she promised to protect.

Kristen, who betrayed her.

Kristen, who took advantage of her devotion.

Kristen, who designed a weapon against her, against the formula they came up with together.

Kristen, who is harming the very people they set out together to serve.

Kristen, who she’ll judge and bring back to the right path.

Kristen, who she never fully understood.

Kristen, whose plans she needs to stop. Kristen, who might bring the whole world tumbling down as she achieves her dream.

Kristen, who she slowly realizes is going to die in pursuit of her dream, just like her parents.

She tanks an anti-tank weapon to the head. She fights against an ancient caster and warrior. She fights the very people she trained, the knights that protect and serve Kristen. She saves her kid, finally. She learns to rely on others, to communicate. She reconciles with her partner. She flies a plane up, up into the upper atmosphere (just like the Wrights), through a combat zone, and docks it on a moving station. She learns to let go of her careful control of her every move, to act spontaneously, decisively.

All this to reach Kristen. To stop her.

But when she finally meets her… That’s her childhood friend. Her first love.

She fights her, endures her power, one last time, taking step by painful step toward her. She tells her she’s wrong about science, shares the philosophy and perspective she’s built over the years to stop her from harming people, to fight the culture that birthed them.

But really, she’s trying to talk Kristen down. You were wrong to do this. Give it up. Your dream is beautiful. Come with me. You finally achieved your parents’ dream. We can still survive this. I don’t doubt that this will affect the entire world. Watch it with me. I can still save you. The escape pods are gone? I’ll calcify us together—use the arts we developed together—and we’ll fall together; maybe we’ll survive, maybe we won’t. I’ll do everything I can, even if it’s doomed. Let me save you. Please. Please let me protect you.

And Kristen, who never lost faith in her, who knew Saria would reach her, who always wanted to share the truth, her moment of triumph, the fate she had chosen for herself with the woman she loves, who knew Saria would never leave her by choice and installed a trapdoor in her dreamer’s space pod so that she could live on… presses the button.

And Saria, after her long, long climb, falls. The final stage of the rocket to Kristen’s dream, falling away.

What must it be like, as she fell, to realize she spent her whole life helping Kristen assemble her space program? That when Kristen used to look up at the stars, she was not just seeing the past, her parents’ deaths, the legacy she has to uphold; she was seeing this future she had always planned for herself. That this was always the wish that Saria devoted herself to protecting.

And she kept her promise.

#i’ve been crying for like 18 hours now #and I’m not sure what I’m more worried about. #the possibility that I won’t stop. #or the possibility that I will. #i don’t know what to do with these feelings. #arknights #lone trail #kristen wright #saria

[mstormcloud]

More fankids!! Both because they are genuinely fun to make and give lore to but also because I made Mirai and then wanted to make sure she had friends!

Aster is designed by my friend Duetland!! (The last art is by them!!) They aren’t on tumblr but you can find him on Instagram @duetland :)

Lore for each of them under the cut! (LONG POST WARNING!!!!)

Gold and Aster:

Shadow and Sonics kids. They’re twins (with Aster being older). Both were babysat by Tails a lot and ended up picking up a lot of stuff from him as well as their parents. Gold became more responsible and significantly more polite (far more than either of his parents lmao) meanwhile Aster became interested in robotics. Specifically those related to space like rockets or planet rovers.

When the two were born there was immediate concern about their power imbalance. Aster was born with no powers at all, meanwhile Gold’s chaos energy was so high Shadow feared he would burn himself up unless something was done. Due to them being twins, it essentially ended up where instead of two moderately powerful hedgehogs - Gold got enough power for two while Aster has none. This leads Aster to resent Gold, less because she actually wants superpowers but more because Sonic and Shadow are always fussing over Gold (to make sure his powers aren’t harming him) and she feels like her parents don’t care for her. Causing her to push them out even more. She listens to Shadow more than Sonic, but they don’t end up talking through all this properly until Espio gets involved since unlike Sonic and Shadow who had powers all their lives - Espio had to teach himself his abilities and is able to empathize with Aster more.

3. Rhine

Rouge and Knuckles’ child. I’ve thought about her way less WHOOPS but!! Despite not being an echidna he looks up to his father a lot and promises to be the best guardian of the master emerald he can possibly be. Has a habit of just picking up shiny things like a magpie and will turn them into jewelry. Is blunt and gullible like her father but likes thinking things through before she moves. Uses the shovel claws more as weapons than actual shovels - he’s a bit of a neat freak.

Mirai and Gummy:

Mirais story is on my previous post! Not much has been added since then other than that I’ve decided she’s a bit of a troublemaker and very energetic, sarcastic, silly and kinda stupid. As for Gummy he’s about 7 years younger than Mirai, and I haven’t quite figured out what he’d be interested in yet haha

Eli and Anchor:

These two are half siblings! Eli’s parents are Amy and Metal. While investigating the ruins of a disaster, Amy and Metal find a child who who had been incredibly injured. They happen to be closer to Eggmans new hideout (where he has retired and is just kinda pouting by himself forever) than anywhere else - the two break in and force Eggman to help them save the child. Since the current Metal is Amy’s size, there were several smaller models for when he was “younger” - Eggman uses one of these scrapped smaller Metals to give the child cybernetic parts and saves their life. Amy and Metal then take the child back to their house and raise it as their own, with Eggman forcing them to bring Eli over frequently so he can see his grandchild.

Anchor is the child of Blaze and Amy! I’m just letting Amy be poly I think she has a lot of love in her heart and now she has two wifes. Anchor lives the Sol kingdom, and takes after her aunt Marine quite a bit with her love for adventure and especially sailing! When she was young, much like Blaze, she was brought before the Sol emeralds and blessed with a power. I feel like she’d be able to control / harness winds rather than fire though - to help with her sailing.

If you read all of this - thanks!! You didn’t have to but it was very nice of you!

#sth #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #sonadow #sonadow fankid #gold the hedgehog #aster the hedgehog #silver the hedgehog #espio the chameleon #espilver #espilver fankid #sonic fankid #Mirai the marten #gummy the chameleon #rouge the bat #knuckles the echidna #knuxouge #knuxouge fankid #rhine the bat #metal sonic #amy rose #metamy #Metamy fankid #Eli the hedgehog #blaze the cat #blazamy #Blazamy fankid #Anchor the cat #sonic fanart #long post

[alearicci]

“she looks like a devil” – CL16

pairings: charles leclerc x oc!ann rhine

note: tysm for 35 readers, I'm very VERY happy and I am sure that this is just the beginning

part two?

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ♡ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆

Ann Rhine stood in front of a full-length mirror in her lavishly appointed dressing room located in her penthouse. Before her exit to the car waiting for her downstairs, there was very little time left, and she took it to take one last look in the mirror and make sure that she looked good. And she looked really gorgeous.

Her long, loose brown locks were styled in elegant waves that fell easily over her shoulders. The light from the chandeliers above reflected off her perfectly manicured nails, which perfectly matched the ruby red shade of her lipstick and outfit. Her deep brown eyes, accentuated by smoky shadows, shone with anticipation of the upcoming evening.

Having changed her position, Ann could not help but appreciate her choice of evening attire. The dress was a real work of art, carefully selected from her personal collection of designer clothes. It clung to the curves of her perfect body in all the right places, emphasizing her slender figure and radiating sophistication. The dress had a deep neckline that effectively showed off her cleavage area, adding a touch of charm and passion to her image as a whole.

To complete her look, Ann chose a pair of sparkling diamond earrings that gracefully hung from her earlobes. The expensive diamonds were brilliantly cut, reflecting the light and casting a soft glow on her sharp collarbones. Her wrists were decorated with matching diamond bracelets, each of which reflected the light and added an additional touch to her overall image.

She couldn't help but feel excited and anxious as she prepared for the large-scale evening that awaited her today. It wasn't just a party; it was a special event, a charity event where celebrities from many walks of life graced the place to raise money from their visit for a good cause. The organizer was one of the most influential people in the world, which is why Ann's expectations were high. She was especially eager to see the Formula 1 drivers, because their names were also on the guest list.

Ann has attended races more than once because of sponsorship with one of the teams. Her father's company, which passed to her after his death, signed a large contract with AMG Mercedes, which is why she could often be seen in the paddock of this team. Especially, the journalists clung to the fact that she liked to spend time in the company of Lewis Hamilton. There were all kinds of headlines, they were credited with an affair, a fictitious marriage, divorce and many different things, but no one talked about the true reason. Lewis and Ann were very good friends.

And it was Lewis who instilled in her a love of racing. Of course, he very brazenly provided her with a cap with his racing number, which made the rumors grow even stronger around them, but not about that now. Ann really liked the atmosphere of racing, this adrenaline flowing through her veins, this riding at high speeds. She herself dreamed of getting behind the wheel of a car to feel this drive, but doing business did not give her the opportunity to live a little for herself.

When she received an invitation to attend this evening, she initially wanted to refuse, she has no time to attend such events, in principle, she is not a frequent guest of various parties. The duties of the director have other plans for her account. Her assistant convinced her to change her mind, because attending this event would be a good sign in the future PR company of Ann's organization. Therefore, I had to adjust the already tight schedule a little in order to smile and talk with the cream of society for several hours.

Shaking her head, dismissing the sudden thoughts that she might still write that she was ill and not go, Ann picked up her purse, turned off the light and hurriedly left the dressing room, heels clicking on the floor. After warning the housekeeper that she would arrive soon, the girl hurriedly headed for the luxury car.

The personal driver who saw her approach immediately got out of the car and opened the door for her to get in. She threw him a quiet "thank you" to which he nodded seriously and closed the door, returning to the driver's seat.

The whole trip passed in silence. Ann looked out the window and wondered if everyone invited would come. Their number exceeded fifty people, which could not surprise and terrify at the same time.

There were actors, singers, and many other celebrities. Ann wasn't supposed to be there at all, but Toto insisted that she be among the guests. After all, part of their team and part of their budget.

The car stopped in front of a majestic mansion. The red carpet was laid, there were too many photographers and journalists. There was already another car in front of them, which, as Ann realized, belonged to Pierre Gasly, the Alpine F1 team racer. His girlfriend Kika came with him and together they looked very cute and harmonious. The crowd immediately greeted them with enthusiastic sighs, and the photographers did not know how to touch each other in order to be closer to the Frenchman and make the best shots with him and his beloved.

Finally, it was Ann's turn to come out. James, her driver and bodyguard in one person, again helpfully helped her out and she, a little embarrassed, gracefully waved her fingers to everyone present. James offered her an elbow, which she accepted and they went inside.

"Miss, you look just fine. I'm sorry to break our contract of silence, but I couldn't help but say it."

"Thank you, James." Ann smiled gently and continued. "I'll leave you to have fun while I go say hello to the right people."

"Okay, miss, I'm here, remember that."

When they were inside the mansion, the energy in the room changed. The conversations subsided, heads turned, and all eyes were riveted on her exit. No one expected Ann Rhine to be there.

She herself did not expect this and smiled at everyone with the most affected smile in her life.

After examining those at the party, Ann noticed a lot of both familiar and completely unfamiliar faces. The look immediately found Lewis, as always, as if he had stepped off the cover of a fashion magazine, who, surprisingly, stood alone a little apart from everyone. Deciding to join an old acquaintance, Ann takes a glass of champagne and goes to Hamilton.

"Who do I see..."

"Oh my God, Ann!" Lewis exclaimed happily and hurried to hug his girlfriend. She kissed him lightly on the cheek, but did not touch it, so as not to stain it with red lipstick.

"Yes, it's me. I've missed you so much, champ."

***

Two more racers were standing not far from them. The two drivers of the Scuderia Ferrari are Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. They had a relaxed and friendly conversation while the main celebration had not yet begun.

While Charles was talking to his close friend in the middle of a glamorous evening, his attention couldn't help but be drawn to Ann Rhine. His gaze involuntarily wandered in her direction, captivated by her undeniable beauty and charismatic presence.

When Carlos began to talk about the recent race, Charles found that his thoughts were moving again and again to Ann. He admired how easily she seemed to attract attention, and her aura seemed to radiate confidence and grace. Her every movement was graceful and refined, attracting the attention of everyone around her. He couldn't help but be intrigued by her attractive personality, a unique trait of many celebrities he met.

"It seems to me that if I had stormed later then, everything would have turned out differently."

"Or you would have met your favorite gravel," Charles finally replied and grinned, sipped some champagne from his glass.

"Buddy, don't make me throw the contents of this glass in your face... What do you think about the new updates?"

"I think they're... Mmm... Quite good"

While Charles continued to listen to his friend, his attention remained distracted. He couldn't help but glance at Ann, admiring how easily she blended in with the other guests, making an indelible impression on every person she talked to. Her alluring presence was mesmerizing, drawing people to her like a moth to a fire.

"Wait, who are you looking at so intently and why not at me?" Carlos turned around to look at the one his partner couldn't take his eyes off. "Aah... Ann Rhine. I didn't expect to see her here. Are you surprised too, since you can't take your eyes off her?"

The more Charles watched her from afar, the more his curiosity grew. He wondered what it would be like to share a deeper connection with someone as radiant as Ann. Her sincere smile combined with her intelligent conversation awakened the desire for meaningful communication among the whirlwind of the celebrity world.

"She's absolutely amazing, isn't she? I had the pleasure of talking to her earlier. She is not only beautiful, but also incredibly smart and witty. It's really nice to see her here."

"Really? What was it like talking to her?"

"To be honest, it was quite amazing and short-lived, as she had to return to her duties. Did you hear that a few years ago she had to take responsibility and continue her father's work? We had a great conversation about her work and life in general. I was genuinely impressed by its depth and authenticity."

"She seems to be older than you?"

"Yes, she's 29. Don't ask me how I know that."

"Oh. And she looks younger."

"I agree. But she's an insanely spectacular girl."

"I support it."

"So will you approach her? Or can I get ahead of you and spend the evening in her company?"

"You'll do fine, man. See, she's talking to Lewis."

"I see I have good eyesight. Well, you keep burning her with your eyes, and I'll go to the Lando. Haven't seen him for a long time." Carlos said and, clinking glasses with his friend, hurried to Norris.

Charles had no choice but to temporarily occupy himself with looking at either Ann or the champagne bubbles in his glass.

Finally, fortunately for him, Ann was left alone.

She noticed his eyes on her and winked at him. then, she casually adjusted the hem of her dress, exposing her thigh. Charles swallowed noisily and hurriedly turned away to straighten his trousers carefully.

This was his chance.

But he was quickly overtaken by another man, forcing Monegasque to swear under his breath.

Something had to be done urgently.

#charles leclerc #charles leclerc x oc #cl16 #cl16 imagine #f1 imagine #oneshot #f1 fandom #f1 fanfic #f1 2023 #formula one #drabble #ferrari #forza ferrari #essere ferrari #monaco #charles leclerc x reader

[probablyasocialecologist]

“Calling some landscapes ‘natural’ and others ‘artificial’ or ‘cultural’ ignores the fact that landscapes are never wholly one or the other,” observes landscape architect Anne Whiston Spirn. In my interviews with Dutch water experts, I often asked them to explain what they meant when they talked about nature. The question typically provoked laughs, then hedging. The Netherlands, they tried to explain, “doesn’t have nature.” As Evers put it: So we call our floodplains and rivers natural but of course, it’s all managed. And it’s all mapped out and it’s all needs to be within the boundaries. So the line on the map, which shows where we can have a bush or a tree, and the line where it needs to go into grasslands. That’s actually something that they maintain all throughout the floodplains. So, yeah, it’s quite controlled.  Many preferred to use the word as an adjective. One designer said, “So I think …when we talk about nature, what we really mostly talk about are different natural processes and characteristics and qualities that we want to protect, improve, enhance.”  By that logic, any project more green than a concrete dike can be justified as natural, from floodplain expansion to grazing pastures to beach nourishment. These are all “nature-based solutions” in the Dutch delta.

#climate change #climate adaptation #netherlands #flooding #sea level rise

[trainsinanime]

The shapes of railway networks

A while ago @ariadsishereagain asked me about countries that have no railway networks, and what I think of them. That's a fascinating question that has been in my mind ever since, because the truth is you can tell a lot about a country and in particular it's history during the 19th and early 20th century by its railway network. So let's do that. And the best way to do that is by looking at the incredibly detailed open-source world railway map OpenRailwayMap, a part of the OpenStreetMap project. I really recommend it! And let's start with one of my favorite examples of how railway networks differ:

At this zoom level the site sadly only shows incomprehensible internal abbreviations rather than city names, so let me explain: What we have here are France and Germany, along with some of the UK and Italy, some of various neighbouring countries and all of Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg.

France and Germany are the ones that I find the most interesting, because the shapes of their networks are so different. Not only is the german one much more dense, but you can see completely different patterns.

In France, the job of railroads is to bring people to Paris (PLY, short for Paris Gare de Lyon) The lines stretch out into every part of the country, but almost all of them converge onto mainlines going into Paris. You can see some lines along the coasts and the borders, and there is a medium distances circle around Paris (passing MZ, DN, TO, short for Metz, Dijon, Tours). This whole pattern is known as the Legrande Star, after Baptiste Alexis Victor Legrande, the french government official who designed it. His goal was to provide great access to Paris, the nation's undisputed political, cultural and economical centre. A couple of decades later, Charles de Freycinet added plans to connect all departments to the railway network, but he still followed the idea that the ultimate goal of almost every rail line was Paris. And so it was, and largely remained. Even the high speed lines, in red, follow this pattern to this day.

A result is that you will have to go to Paris whether you want to or not. Lille-Strasbourg? You're going through Paris. Bordeaux-Dijon?

You're going through Paris, and get to make your own way from Gare Montparnasse to Gare de Lyon on the Metro (and it isn't even a direct metro, you have to change trains). It's a massive detour but it's not like you have a choice.

Even if there is a direct TGV or a connection outside the main stations of Paris, you're still ending up very much near Paris; the difference is just that you're not going via the city centre, but rather via Disneyland. Legrande wanted to bring people to Paris; he was less concerned about connecting other places with each other.

Now compare Germany, and you will see a network that is more dense, but most importantly, utterly chaotic. You can see hints of a France-like star around Berlin (BSPD, short for Berlin Spandau, which isn't the most important station but what can you do), but it's really only dominating its immediate surroundings, the region of Brandenburg. You can see vague hints of a similar star around Hamburg (AH; don't ask) or Munich (MH), but also a massive tangle around the Rhine-Ruhr industrial area (around KD), or around the Frankfurt am Main area (FF). Red high speed lines are essentially random. Some of them do go to Berlin, sure. But many, like the one from Cologne to Frankfurt (KD to FF) or the one from Hanover (HH) south, do not.

And that really reflects the history. Germany wasn't a unified country when railroad construction began, and even though it did unify shortly thereafter, there's no hiding that its different parts developed separately, with no central planning, ever since the middle ages. Germany doesn't have a single central city like France. Berlin is the biggest and most important city, but not by far. Hamburg has huge cultural and industrial influence, Frankfurt is the most important financial centre and airport, Munich is huge, and there are agglomerations like the Rhine-Ruhr region that used to beat all of them in terms of industry. And the rail network, with no single central focus point, reflects that.

That doesn't mean Germany doesn't have its own blind spots. Due to being split in two, the east-west links aren't great. Getting e.g. from Cologne (near KD) to Dresden (DH) is pretty painful. Ironically, Berlin is one of the places that really suffers from this. There are plenty of trains to it from Cologne but they take forever, and you can see why: A lot of the route isn't high speed, it's just more or less upgraded normal lines. If you have a single destination, then it's easy to build all the lines there. If you want high-speed connections between everything, that's more difficult. (Also, our government isn't investing anywhere near enough into the rail network, both compared internationally and on its own terms, but that's a different issue)

Other countries in Europe tend to be somewhere between the extremes. Spain is fairly centralised around Madrid.

The UK is just as focused on London as France is on Paris, but it has strong regional networks around Leeds and Sheffield, and the weirdness in Scotland (four different lines between Glasgow and Edinburgh and counting!).

Italy, especially south of the Po valley, almost looks like a ladder: Lines are either on the one side of the Apennines or the other, with a few brave ones crossing through.

This works overseas as well. Describing the continental US as "like Germany" is certainly going to raise some eyebrows, but the map doesn't lie:

It's all on a completely different scale, but it's also a federal country with no one single clear centre. Yes, New York and Los Angeles are big and important, but neither is an all-powerful centre of the nation. What's fun about the US is that it's almost gradient-like: The more west you go, the fewer the railroads get. You can also nicely see the Alleghenies by the shadow they cast: Just a few brave rail lines managed to make their way through or around. Other characteristic items are the huge tangle that is Chicago, the closest thing the US has to a railroad capital; and the many places where lines are almost duplicated (just count how many different ways you can get from Chicago to Memphis, or Chicago to Cleveland), thanks to different competing railway companies that all hated (and sometimes still hate) each other's guts.

So that's what's mostly considered the "western world" or "industrialised world". I skipped Japan, China and India because the post is going to get too long no matter what, but they're all fascinating as well.

But if we go away from there look at countries where the colonialism was less settlers and more exploit mostly from afar, we see another very odd pattern emerge, like here in sub-saharan Africa:

The selection is somewhat arbitrary because you can find the same pattern everywhere south of the Sahara, and in one case (Mauretania) even in the Sahara: A railroad that goes straight to the coast. (The isolated sections inland are due to issues with the map software, they're all connected to one of the lines to the coast)

This kind of railroad is designed to extract a country's resources, and not much else. In Mauretania (not in this picture), that's iron ore. Elsewhere it might have been other ores, precious metals, gemstones, but also very often agricultural products, spices, dyes. The railway line exists to take these things, and bring them to a port. The line is not designed to actually help the nation grow economically. Think about it: All things being equal, you're probably just as likely to want to go parallel to the coast as perpendicular to it.

Also, each of these lines were built because there's something interesting at the end of it, or at least someone suspected there might be. If you wanted to develop the area, it would make sense to trade the interesting stuff in Togo with the interesting stuff in Benin. But the railway lines are not set up for that at all. The goal is to get the interesting stuff to a ship, and occasionally soldiers to the place where the interesting stuff comes from.

These days, the area that I screenshotted here is actually massive, full of people. The city of Abidjan has more than four million inhabitants (more than Berlin), Lomé has 1.7 million, Cotonou and Porto-Novo come close to a million if taken together, and nobody's quite sure about Lagos, but it's at least 14 million, and the metropolitan region might be 24 million. This is a band of cities that researchers think might, in the next few decodes, become on par with Washington-Philadelphia-New York-Boston in the US, or the Tokyo-Osaka in Japan.

And the rail connections in this region do not reflect this at all. A high speed passenger line and/or a heavy duty freight line could allow all these places to do business with each other, allow people to move to or visit each other, and just spur a lot of economic development. But the powers that built the lines, the colonial powers, were not interested. They had their harbour, and the region behind it, and they just wanted to extract whatever was there.

To be clear, that does not mean the railroads are evil now. Selling natural resources is still better than bringing no money into the country. And there are a lot of places where railroad junctions and depots became the point where cities were founded, so in some countries these lines do end up connecting the most important cities, more or less by accident. It's just that other lines or more lines are sorely missing.

A simple example for how this could look like is provided by Australia, where the colonists were settlers and did want to develop the land economically:

You have the lines from the coast inland, and sometimes quite a lot of them. But you can also see a line along the east coast, connecting the cities, and you can see that someone said "we need to build a railroad across the entire continent. No, two actually". That is not to say that Australia does everything right with railroads, they have a lot of weirdness there. But you can see that the railroads had more jobs than to just move resources to ships.

(The big exception is the Pilbara region, in the north west, with its odd tangle of lines. Those are all just resource extraction lines, where the world's heaviest freight trains haul iron ore from various mines to various ports. The mines and ports are owned by different mining companies that don't like each other, so everybody has their own line from their own harbour to their own mine, even if a different line would have been shorter. That's why you get the tangle there.)

So, that's basically it. The railroad map of a country shows you a lot about how a country works, and more specifically how it worked during the late 19th and early 20th century, when most railroads were built. Where they lead to and where they don't reflects what planners thought of as important, and in turn, it has shaped the way these countries developed. And personally, I always find this endlessly fascinating.

#railroads #maps #i suppose you could take the 6 to bercy and walk from there but it's still not exactly convenient

[fishing-lesbian-catgirl]

I feel like you've talked a lot about Asbestos, but how do you feel about Magallan?

Kind of a funny ask when my pfp was Magallan a few days ago and my pinned is of her. I love Magallan! To me, Asbestos’s schtick of being an asshole who wants to be alone and doesn’t like anyone is improved so so much by the existence of Magallan as the one person who is an exception, even if Asbestos won’t ever admit that to anyone but Mags. She’s a loner who has no friends, except this mostly cheery Penguin girl who is a genius scientist. They have extremely different personalities and that makes their dynamic much better.

But aside from her relationship to Asbestos, I think she’s an interesting character. She’s a Rhine Lab girl, but she’s not actually connected to most Rhine Lab stuff, although she’s apparently friends enough lots of the other girls to have nicknames for some of them. She’s positive and ambitious and has a goal to survey the arctic that, in Arknights, remains largely unknown and very dangerous. Her operator file hints that she may have connections to some sinister stuff occurring in the arctic, like her being aware od the black snow, or like her apparently modifying her drones to have a 4th unofficial configuration that is seemingly like redacted or something in her file(?). Of course the nature of her exploring a remote part of the world, largely alone except for when Asbestos joins her sometimes, means that she isn’t really present in anything until something happens in said remote arctic.

I like her design, I like that she’s an opposite to Asbestos in personality that gives them a very fun dynamic, I like that she’s taller than Asbestos even though Asbestos calls her “Shrimpy”. I don’t have quite as much to say about her because most of my interest in her admittedly comes from her being close to Asbestos, but I do quite like the penguin girl

#arknights #Magallan #asbestos #magbestos

[torgawl]

instead of just cross eyes and star eyes distinguishing dynasties in khaenri'ah, why do some khaenri'ahns cover one eye specifically? there’s many things that seem interconnected regarding the lore:

crimson moon turning around to look like an eye; irmin the one-eyed king; the unknown god’s cubes containing eyes in their design (same ones present in the cataclysm as well as the crimson moon), her glitching looking like arlecchino’s, and the four pointed star pattern that appeared when she showed up to the twins; forbidden knowledge and nibelung’s influence; fischl's auge der verurteilung aka eye of condemnation (crimson eye) and her skin's description "o holiest of sovereigns, high princess of immernachtreich (kingdom of evernight)!".

kaeya's note about the alberich saying "i saved this one memento from the fire 'father' made while he wasn’t paying attention. this was in violation of our principles. our clan's affairs should never be recorded" and "though we could not restore khaenri'ah to life, we of the alberich clan should lead lives as those who blaze like fire, rather than those who wallow in the embers [small piece of burning or glowing coal or wood in a dying fire]", father being in quotation marks and references to fire and ashes; the orphanage in khaenri'ah that wanted to house children from destroyed worlds and non-threats that leaked into the kingdom, in hopes of finding beings from beyond the sky who could transcend the gods; perinheri's first memory being transversing something like a chimney, filled with ash and being asked if he wasn't dead just for him to see the eye (crimson moon) and being told he was reborn; dust and the blood of of dragons (or dragon-like beings like durin and elynas) being connected to rhinedottir and the art of khemia; fire as rebirth and life but also, the balemoon blood specifically being connected to loss of memories and loss of memory being equivalent to death (not physical);  despite the orphanage never being able to find that transcendal person, it had many unusual individuals who became knights of the kingdom.

irmin as the first divine halberd (that once pierced the axis mundi [cosmic/world axis, world pillar, center of the world, world tree, etc.] and connected the nine worlds), the prinzessin der verurteilungas (fischl) as the last one; fischl and kaeya comparing themselves to one another and their parallels to irmin and odin; der ring des nibelungen, in which the dwarf (or nibelung) alberich creates a ring capable of controlling the world, using gold he stole from the rhinemaidens (or rheintöchter "rhine-daughters"). the conflict that arises over the ownership of this ring eventually leads to the destruction of the gods and their home, valhalla.

irminsul (irmin + sul) meaning great pillar and being a reference to the yggdrasil, the tree that supports the universe; the description of the item silver twig – collected in the center of the world - talking about a sage that hanged himself upside down in the irminsul tree to gain knowledge of the runes and the cosmos, then going into a secret kingdom down its roots [also a reference to hanged man in tarot that symbolizes wisdom, divination, sacrifice, prophecy, etc.]; odin who hung himself upside down from the sacred world tree, yggdrasil, for nine days and nights sacrificing his eye and throwing himself on his spear (gungir) as a ritual sacrifice in order to obtain secret wisdom; memories, fire and crimson moon hand in hand with the irminsul, king irmin and the concept of fate; the fake sky, the stars and being able to see fate but also fate being a means of the heavenly principles to control the world (neuvillette calling it puppet strings); khaenri'ah, a supposed godless nation but the crimson moon dynasty revering the moon (and hilichurls worshiping istaroth); the crimson moon having an eye on humanity and always being present associated with punishment and destruction (fall of gurabad, remuria and the catclysm).

crimson moon's semblance (arlecchino’s weapon) implying the crimson moon sought vengeance (“few survived the utter destruction of their kind, hiding in the shadows where the sun did not shine, longing for the crimson moon to decree their desire for vengeance be repaid”); the design of the weapon and arlecchino’s boss attacks resembling the double helix present in deathly statuette material dropped by abyss heralds, abyss lectors and shadowy husks, which has a single red eye. it apparently whispers "see, my child. all that lies under the throne of heaven shall be destroyed by upheaval. the eternal peace of the pitch-dark void shall embrace us all.” as you gaze at it.

the abyss order being founded by chlothar alberich and pierro being the first harbinger; the "sinner" – the crystal in chains from the chasm, protected by an abyss herald - not being a god but still worshipped by the abyss order. the voice stating to chlothar and the traveler’s twin that he "[knows their] fate well" and urged them to become a "transcendent one" saying he would "shed a tear at the end of time... as i gaze back upon your life". he also imbued chlothar with the power of the abyss, which alleviated his worsening conditions. the “sinner” refered to chlothar as “dear creature”; dainsleif, pierro and kaeya being examples of khaenriahns who hide their right eye; dainsleif being called “bough keeper”, bough is a branch of a tree, but also his constellation being a snake ring like ouroboros – representing the eternal renewal cycle of life, death and rebirth; the loom of fate being an operation of the abyss order first encountered during "a herald without adherents" quest.

“the threads of your fate lie in my hands” a quote by fischl connecting to the weaves of fate; fischl stating that if she does not obtain the divine halberd “...this world and everything in it is going to burn in hellfire” (legend of the shattered halberd vol. ii). some other excerpts of the book also include: “but unbeknownst to him, this was the greatest cursed sword of all, that had once burned the entire world to cinders: laevatain [in norse mythology, a weapon crafted by loki and the only capable of defeating the cockerel viðofnir, inhabiting the top of yggdrasil], the sword had extinguished after the world was burned, but... it burned bright once more. ‘the whole world... destroyed again...’ weiyang [fischl] fell unconscious as she spoke” (vol. iv), and, "the world is beyond repair. it shall be born anew from the ashes of the last” (vol. vi); dainsleif saying “none will escape the flames. see for yourself” but also neuvillette’s character story including “the puppet strings glossed as "divine rules" would one day be burned away by the fires of judgment” when talking about constellations; burning away the old world, project stuzha by the fatui and the image of dottore burning the irminsul; nahida saying fontaine's prophecy was engraved in the irminsul, implying the tree also contains the history of the future; sibylla, a prophetess who guarded the irminsul in an ancient city located in what later became the high seas (referred to as abyssal depths). she sacrificed her life for the sake of creating phobos, remus' grand symphony, but her lack of a will ultimately caused the project to fail, as her vague desire to "grant happiness to all in the world who are called humans" caused phobos to attempt to satisfy everyone's desires — including destructive and selfish ones — and set remuria towards the course of its self-destruction (possibly tying concepts of will and fate together); thinking of dottore's plan, it would make sense to burn the tree that holds memories with a fire able to erase them (arlecchino's balemoon powers) so that the world can be born anew breaking away from the shackles of fate.

there’s also the improvisation kaeya does during the play in his hangouts. "do you believe in fate? if fate decreed your life was to end in tragedy, what would you do?". he then throws a prop and we interact, choosing if we would face our fate bravely or challenge it and rise above it. kaeya then goes on saying "then so must it be! yes, so must it be! i shall discard this intaglio and rid myself of the shackles of fate", "fate means to send the machinations of war to every corner of the land to fan the flames of conflict till they ungulf the entire world… fate would see my sword tainted with the blood of innocents, that the bright banner of my homeland might fly in every nation known to mankind. but i shall not bow to the will of fate i am no pawn in heaven’s plan. i, qubad, will spend the rest of my days in a foreign land, 'till i breathe my last in a place far from home" and finishes the play with "but i must walk this path, or freedom dies by my hand. goodbye, my tribe and kin. farewell, sweet land of my birth". the prop we get from kaeya, the intaglio, symbolizes the noble origins of prince qubad in the play and the blood-red jewel (blood, red... funny, uh?) is said to be a crystallization of the question kaeya asked us about destiny. furthermore, an intaglio can be a type of engraved gem or metal signet ring.

#random post with thoughts and connections because my brain is all over the place and my brains is about to explode gsdfasjg #but yeah idk something about fischl's eye of condemation an eye that can see all threads of fate and all truth. considering the parallels i #don't think it's crazy that it could be the reason they all hide their right eye. the red eye in the statuette dropped by abyss heralds is #also the right one. also the alberich's not being noble family... idk. this game loves implying kaeya is a prince lol but i'm also keen on #the art of khemia the orphanage and the whole thing with rebirth!!! i forgot to talk about alchemy maybe another day. #guess it kind of depends what being noble blooded also means because arlecchino's noble blood gives her some pretty unique powers #(also forgot to say arlecchino's afterimages are like sinshades in enkanomiya which are ley line anomalies!!! remnants thoughts leaving #shades of the past. nether realms. it could also connect to istaroth but anyways irminsul again!!!) #the ring of nibelung also seems important and kaeya's prop from the hangouts despite not being a ring directly can very much symbolise one #there's also the khaneri'ah ruin machines power source!!! i forgot but whatever this goes deeeeeep #i'm tired so i'll end here with the yapping bye #genshin thoughts #< just to save it somewhere because i will forget points i want to research better some other time

[dlartistanon]

I have to be honest, after everything I heard I went into Lone Trail anticipating Muelsyse character assassination-- nay, *annihilation*, for the sake of Doctor-sexual fanservice and I was ready to be disappointed. But having finished reading Lone Trail myself now... What? Her homescreen lines are utter horseshit, I completely agree, but her actual character writing in Lone Trail fits that really good analysis post by meeblo so accurately that I can't believe meeblo didn't read LT before writing

"The more I think about Lone Trail the less I like how they executed the story."

So, let me preface this with with preemptive TL;DR: If you are a fan of Silence as a character, you probably really enjoy Lone Trail.

If you are a fan of any other character, especially Muelsyse, and ESPECIALLY if you don't like or don't care for self-insert pandering, you're likely disappointed and/or frustrated with Lone Trail. I am the latter.

Let me just copypaste what my friend has to say (plus my own replies and commentary) since they can articulate the feeling better than I can:

I'm sorry. I just can't imagine a world where Saria, who means so much to Muelsyse, is nearly assassinated and in awful shape, and *she knows that* and is like "wassup doctor, heard Saria's in trouble but lets hang out"

Me: Exactly. This does not make sense with what we know of their relationship. Especially since she's later worried sick/almost breaks down at the thought of losing Saria for real

I'm just going through the story and so much of it doesn't make sense to me. And it's (I'm not done but getting there) just *so depressing* how much of the event is eaten up with kind of pointless/uninteresting doctor babysitting? She should be front & center in all of this. There's so much to work with and play with but so much of it does not make *any sense*. Muelsyse did not need to be hobbled by this. Hell, so far as I've read, Doctor didn't need to be there or could have done it on their own. Fucking frustrating.

Me: I'm not that familiar with Guide Ahead, but I can't help but imagine how much better/more concise Lone Trail could've been had they handled Samuelsten in a similar way to GA's central trio. Don't shove Muelsyse to the side, make her an active agent in the story, with the people who matter to her

I mean I’ve made it to CW-7 and as someone who’s in the middle of all of this (often by design) I’m puzzled that she’s one of the least interesting parts of the event? Kristen, HoHo, Nasti, Jara are great. We know why it matters to her but she’s on the fringes the entire time. This should have been done like guide ahead but guide ahead was much better and leaner by virtue of not needing to dedicate half the fucking event to talk about how great and interesting the doctor is. There’s no reason doctor couldn’t have been with Kal’tsit the entire time. That would actually make sense. But nope.

"It's Saria you want to see, It's Kristen who you're looking for" but why don't we just stick you with Doctor the entire fucking event and you can act like you're just on a little adventure. Cannot believe I have to rely on the furniture to give what the event should have.

This might be a controversial take, but I wish all this giant lore dump with Doctor, Priestess and Kal'tsit had been relegated to another vignette or main chapter with just mentions of Kirsten/Kristen and Rhine Lab. It's taking up much too much of Rhine Lab's event. Instead of *way too many flashbacks* with Doctor/Kal'tsit/ whoever, we could have had this building up Saria/ Kirsten/Muelsyse with their past instead of the one 3 second glimpse we got. I am so mad at this stupid fucking decision. Rhine Lab Event: featuring Rhine Lab as glorified cameos

Reply: Yeah its so annoying. It takes up sooo much god damn space and for what? And for what ? It doesn’t belong. I swear to god i wish we focused on, idk, the main relationship between saria and kirsten (and mumu but my faith is lost) instead of kirsten only showing up at the very end

Yeah, I'm sure glad FERDINAND got the most screen time out of all Rhine Lab. Just *what*. But the lore dump, while *fine* is just fucking egregious and does not belong here. This could have been referenced elsewhere and they could have fleshed out everyone else.

I have finished Lone Trail! Cumulatively, I love about two chapters worth of it! I definitely had high expectations but even if I'd had mediocre expectations I would have been let down. Not enough of the Rhine Lab founders, needless lore dump that could have gone elsewhere. It felt fragmented and like a hodge podge of things. Saria, Muelsyse and Kirsten felt like cameos in the entire event. And I'm sure the intention of this was to elevate just how goddamn special the doctor is, but the way it was written, it felt like no one at Rhine Lab gives a single solitary fuck about Muelsyse in any real capacity. These are the people she's had and adores. Yes, her loneliness was a sort of focus of the event, but the way it plays out does make it feel like "yeah, you're right to be lonely. Thank god for doctor!"

So much of my irritation is not only was she reduced to a love interest for Doctor, treated poorly by everyone at RL, she had zero agency in the whole event. She really was just floating passively for the most part. Muelsyse in Lone Trail: 1. Looks for Kirsten/ doesn't find Kirsten/ abandoned & not said goodbye to by Kirsten. 2. Looks for Saria (eventually) stopped by Saria. Saves Saria, doesn't talk to her again/ is not acknowledged by Saria. 3. Nasti tells her she's a crybaby & to get lost I mean, it really is no wonder she wanted to off herself. She built Rhine Lab with them from the beginning and this is how the event chooses for all these people to treat her? It's unbelievable.

Me: All that to make Doctor look better in comparison, right? It's jarring bc it's such a far cry from the brief concern Saria showed towards her in DV and doesn't even follow up with her claim to want to save Muelsyse in LT. Where's the consistency? She remembers that Mumu is fragile, but we don't even get a scene or mention of checking up on her after crashing back down to earth?

At least in Kristen's case, she remembered Muelsyse exists afterwards with the plantlife onboard, but it's not even presented as wrong or a character flaw how Saria ignores Muelsyse in the end, even though she literally saved her life. Just... nothing. This is the defender who protects others? The one that she fell for?

Yeah “when you’re emotional you forget that you’re fragile” & okay this is a devastating day for her so fuck her very much! No need to check on how she’s doing losing a long time friend and colleague, how she was in a thing that literally crashed but she saved *her*. And this isn’t even about Samuels in particular! This is how she was treated by the people with an established history that matter to her. Obviously the game is pandering, but given how literally everyone in the game, from the actions she can see, treats her like she is disposable trash. It’s no fucking wonder she’d be like “oh wow doctor!” Because at least they treat her like a human being who has feelings and who hurts? The fact that Saria doesn’t even reach out, that she has treated her like a stranger for the most part doesn’t track. Why did they make Muelsyse the “hero/ star” of the event banner? She’s forgotten and mistreated by everyone, gets almost zero game content, her file and voice lines are a mess and she doesn’t influence the story in any way at all. This event as a Rhine Lab story was trash.

Me: It felt so much more like a "Silence" story with Rhine Lab as window dressing. They clearly didn't have any editors around because how can you SAY that these people matter to Muelsyse but then not PROVE it? The lack of care, the disrespect towards her and other characters in relation to her is just astonishing

I like Silence a lot but wtf was she leading this? The whole thing is the conflict with Sarsten w/ Muelsyse in the middle. She got a new outfit, talked to Parvis, rehashed a conversation w Saria for the 10th time? This should have been all Muelsyse / Saria/ Kirsten but they barely existed in the event. And who the fuck polled whoever else to decide that Ferdinand and the creep Josh should get the rest of the time!Why so much build up with Jara / her closeness to Kirsten to not have any interaction with them? WTF were they doing.

I could probably write an essay about all the things I felt didn't work as a Rhine Lab event. This might have worked better as a vignette just to keep it tidy. But I think the other thing for me is that… hrm this event almost assumes that all you've seen of Silence is the manhua and thus wow! Growth! She loses the glasses and gets a new style to show that off. But the Silence of this event is the Silence we've had in the game since day one. The one in Mansfield and in Dorothy's Vision who is kind of certain about what is wrong and what is right and will stand up for that. So to me there wasn't any growth there. Because we'd already seen that growth/ that was the person we've known since the start of the game. A lot of this event kind of relies on… either not having read the manhua or exclusively having read the manhua. Because if not for the manhua you don't know/ understand why there's that Kirsten/Saria divide and how much it means. It's all very weird.

And kind of to add to my little rant… DV and the manhua allude to Muelsyse being extremely close to Kirsten and being her sidekick. But in neither the manhua or any of the events do we see any of that. Instead we get Nasti (who I like a lot) in that role and--- I just don't get it. You'll be less disappointed if you don't read the manhua. lol A ton of Muelsyse's character development and her relationship with Saria is highlighted there and this event just kind of decides to burn all of that to the ground. But if you want to see why the final chapter matters/ is special/ yes, read it.

Me: Nasti's in the role bc we had to have our self-insert fix with the hot new playable op :/

yeah. with the same motivations. but all of that should have rightfully been hers I really do think they just gave Muelsyse's role to Nasti And the cherry on top of all of it was at the end when Muelsyse is like "Huh did the three of us actually dance together or did I make all of that up?" I just can't with that final slap in the face to Muelsyse and all of them. Like her talk about loneliness is fine and well done and the little history but so much left a lot of questions.

Me: yeah… it's just. wow. there were nuggets and seeds planted that had potential, but they didn't bother to actually cultivate and develop those relationships and dynamics at which point why even include them at all

Yeah, I’ll include that in my rant, but my last point on that end is Saria’s “I would do it over again” doesn’t make sense if you haven’t read the manhua— and just doesn’t jive with what is presented in the events with her that is much more clinical. And I’ve said this about multiple things— but a story should be able to stand on its own without having needed to read a manhua for additional context— and especially when having read the manhua you’re left with ??????

#dltext #anonymous #lone trail is disappointing; to put it mildly #especially for someone who loves muelsyse as a character #again: she deserves so much better #dl talks ak #what does it say when the freaking FURNITURE DESCRIPTIONS are arguably more respectful to mumu than the event itself

[aftokrator-official]

hi I can't remember if I asked you this before (I don't think I did but maybe?), is there any good way that you know of to get into the arknights story & characters without having to play the actual games?? like is there an organized database of all the little cutscenes and whatever that I can page through or something..... I like a lot of the character designs and would love to have enough baseline knowledge to potentially get into shipping some girls together (I tend to need a lot of canon familiarity before I can get invested 😔) but I hate phone games and I hate gacha and I don't want to actually play the game >_>

Yes there is! This site has all of the story content archived, including all the images and bgm/sfx, I highly recommend it (and use it a lot myself, because sometimes I just want to read a storyline all at once without playing tower defense stages in between, or vice versa.) The cutscenes aren't voiced and are presented in visual novel format, so there's not really any downside to reading them this way. And the wiki has all the operator files and a lot of nice writeups on lore and background info.

There's also some official manga that's online - I highly recommend the Rhine Lab manga in particular, it's fantastic, and shouldn't be missed especially if you're here for the yuri. Honestly if you read nothing else, read the Rhine Lab storylines, they're that good.

Oh, there's also an anime adaptation that covers the first few chapters of the main story, I thought it was pretty good. I watched it with my best friend who hasn't played the game and she thought it was great, so should be accessible even if you don't know the story. Personally I think the early main story chapters have some of the weakest writing in the game, so I think the anime makes a good alternative, but ymmv.

Aside from the main story, the event stories (Vignette and Side Story in the story reader site) can be grouped into several different story arcs that work best chronologically, but you can read them in any order really and there's no harm in skipping ones you're not feeling.

vague suggested reading order for the different story arcs below the cut cause this is getting too long lmao

anything not mentioned here is standalone. that, or I just forgot about it lol.

Main story: ch0-3/anime season 1 -> ch4-6/anime season 2 -> ch7-8 -> ch9-12 - A Walk in Dust, Darknights Memoir, and Vigilo are good to read before chapter 9 - What the Firelight Casts is best read after chapter 9

Rhine Lab: Rhine Lab manga -> Mansfield Break -> Dorothy's Vision -> Lone Trail

Kazimierz: Maria Nearl -> Pinus Silvestris -> Near Light -> Obscure Wanderer

Abyssal Hunters: Grani and the Knights' Treasure -> Under Tides -> Stultifera Navis

Laterano: Guide Ahead -> Hortus de Escapismo

Acahualla: The Great Chief Returns -> Ideal City: Endless Carnival

Yan/Sui siblings: Ancient Forge -> Who is Real -> Invitation to Wine -> Where Vernal Winds Will Never Blow -> A Death in Chunfen

Siesta: Heart of Surging Flame -> So Long, Adele

#omfg this got really long i'm sorry #arknights lore is complicated and hard to get into but i love it a lot

[monards]

timely rhinealice headcanons by yours truly;

It's a VERY clear point in Rhinedottir's character that she chases perfection right?? So inherently, all her creations (or atleast the the intentional ones; sorry riftwolves.) should be designed as aesthetically perfect too; right?

the issue is that brings into question albedo's appearance. Because no hate to anyone who believes it; but I really doubt Rhine looks much like Albedo. Maybe they have the same eyes; but that's probably where the line is drawn.

So then that begs the question of; well, if he's perfect- where is that perfection derived from???

Now who does Albedo most closely resemble in game? Klee. But I'm 99% sure the last time rhine saw klee canonically was when she was a tiny little fetus thing. But who’s klee’s mother who’s she’s noted to resemble? Alice.

Alice, out of mostly all the characters in genshin; is one of the most by definition 'human'-- which is what she wants Albedo to be. Alice is still flawed; whether it be having an innate interest in bombs, not thinking much of the consequence before acting, or just overall being considered a 'bad' person by many definitions. But she's also good. She loves her daughter so much and one of the only thing she wants is to make her happy and safe; she's skilled in dozens of different topics & fields; she's loving to a point it's almost sickening.

Rhinedottir is almost none of these things; she's cruel, very much not a good mother, and doesn't seem to be the all knowing entitythat Alice is. And that's why Albedo is based off of her.

Because Alice is Rhinedottir's perfect vision of 'perfection'.

#part one of rhinealice rambles from yours truly #(I’m so sick in the head dear god.) #a certain somebody already had to hear this rant #and to that #I’m so sorry. #albedo genshin impact #rhinedottir genshin impact #alice genshin impact #rhinealice #genshin impact

[shuttershocky]

why is the rhine lab manga so fucking good, this chapter alone with saria leaving the feather, the TWO SEPRATE PANELS of 1. Silence seeing saria about to stab ifrit and 2. Silence cradling ifrit and looking at saria with pure fear and contempt in her eyes, SARIA CASUALLY PUNCHING A PILLAR SO HARD IT FALLS, AND THEN WHEN KIRSTEN COUNTERS HER CALCIFICATION SHE JUST BAREHANDED PUCNHES HER BARRIER UNTIL IT BREAKS. SHUTTERS IT MEANS EVERYTHING TO ME

It speaks to the strength of the writing where even if the translation can be stiff with its wording and has common errors (I have yet to see one correct use of the word 'knew' when it should have been 'known', still grateful for the effort of the fans though!), every single emotional moment is hitting at maximum capacity.

There is SO much dedication to showing us Saria and Silence's feelings, SO much complexity in the relationships these women have, SO many words left unspoken and reading between the lines to be done I am fucking feasting.

It's fucking crazy that Saria and Kirsten's conversation before their fight includes NOTHING about the emotional reason they are now in conflict and yet it is still every bit as obvious as their ideological conflict about the place of ethics in science. Saria's anger with Kisten is both her righteous fury with her and a deflection of the guilt she feels herself.

They were partners since college, best friends. They opened Rhine Labs together after Kirsten's parents died, with Saria vowing to protect her and her dream of science unbound by the politics of the scientific community. Then they grew apart as Kirsten started using Saria more and more as muscle for coverups for Rhine's possible scandals while never even seeing her. THEN when Saria finally thought she found happiness with another person, her own failure to protect her new family from the consequences of Kirsten getting into bed with the Columbian Department of Defense led to them being just as afraid and hateful of Saria as everyone else is.

BUT WE'RE NOT EVEN GONNA STOP THERE. When they fight and Saria realizes that Kirsten has rigged her office with the defensive measures they very likely came up with together (as Saria is the one who signs off for the designs of weaponry), when they fight and Saria realizes Kirsten modified the invention to fight her specific powers, as if Kirsten believed they were always going to come to blows one day...

There was love between them once, perhaps not romantic, but there was the kind of love that would have Kirsten coming with Saria to the gym to watch her box, admiring her form and even using it as inspiration to build a combat exoskeleton (as seen in Saria's module in-game). Once, there was love to the point of invention, and now that same person used those same hands to rig her own office with designs meant to beat her own muse.

Ooouugghhh the angst. The DRAMA. The way Saria answers this last betrayal by using her own unprotected human hands instead, bloodying her fists on Kirsten's forcefield until she breaks it with her raw strength. The way she stops just before hitting Kirsten, close enough that the blood on her hands forms a tear on Kirsten's cheek that we get a close look at when Saria declares she's leaving Rhine, I am spoiled. I am so spoiled.

I also want to point out that for maximum pain the same chapter has a very funny joke page of Muelsyse being genuinely terrified from Saria joking that she'd simply bury Mumu somewhere if the Eco director turned out fishy, and then at the end Saria sees Silence look at her with the same fear in the latter's eyes, making Saria realize that in the very end, everyone, her coworkers, her fellow Directors, and now Silence, who was once the only person in Rhine unafraid and open to her, just sees her as Kirsten's thug.

And she might as well be, having let this all happen.

#Arknights

[icy-prism]

The picture below is NOT my post! It’s a screenshot of my friend’s post! Look below the picture for the real post! :)

If you remember this post my dear friend made a while ago and my reblog, you would know that these are my ocs! I don't know if anyone's interested, but at last I'm gonna share some info about them!

So you know how each Splatoon idol group has a different style of music right? Well, Jellri Tears's style of music is K-pop! You may or may not have recognized it through the clothes lol.

Here are their character bios:

Rhine-

Age: 20

Species: Inkling

Birthday: May 7th

A very passionate singer and dancer, Rhine wants to revolutionize K-pop in the Splatoon world. She's been best friends with Jenna since childhood, and they've both shared the same goal growing up. Though not looking like it, she is the more chill member of the duo. She also is the one responsible for writing the music and lyrics.

Jenna-

Species: Octoling

Age: 20

Birthday: November 1st

The younger one of the duo, Jenna is way more energetic than Rhine (and is also kind of an airhead). She found out about K-pop through Rhine, and loved the genre so much since hearing of it she's probably more of a fan than Rhine by now. Jenna is responsible for making and designing their stage outfits, and she was also the one who came up with the duo name: "Jellri Tears"

That’s all I have for now, byeee!! Again, drawing credits go to @allimocha 🩷

#splatoon #splatoon oc #my ocs

[otaku553]

Hi! I'm dropping in to say I really really love your art! It's all so pretty and elegant!

Who is your favorite Genshin character(s) and Kirby character(s)? What do you like about them?

Please have a great day! You're awesome!

I’ve already answered the genshin favs, but I want to talk more about why I like them :D

For kazuha, beyond his design being imo the best in the game, I also really like the duality in his character where he is nice and gentle and writes poems but knows how to be lethal and ruthless when he needs to be. I think it’s definitely something that must come from his experience as a traveler and as being a wanted fugitive and being on the run. His character is such a good buildup of his personal experiences- the contrast between his formal politeness and brutality mirrors the contrast between his noble upbringing and his time as a vagrant wanderer running from the law :) I think a lot of people mischaracterize him as a soft boy which I don’t complain too much about but I really enjoy seeing the less nice side of him!

As for albedo, man. He has so much lore. He’s so formal and isolated but he so clearly enjoys the presence of friend and people, since he probably lacked those before in the strict guidance of Rhine. I think he’s just somehow a really relatable character when it comes to his social interactions- in that he distances himself from them but still loves them, in that he’s content just sitting aside listening to conversation. Not to mention the way he gains and loses interest in things and is an artist!

Homuncular nature is pretty much my love letter to albedo’s character lmao

As for Kirby. I’m gonna be basic and say it’s Kirby and Meta Knight.

Meta Knight definitely came first! I actually got into Kirby from trying out some smash fics and those brought up often Meta Knight being banned from brawl tournaments, and. Well. Who doesn’t like an overpowered character, yknow. Add on that this character seems deathly afraid of showing his very cute face and takes a mentor-like position to Kirby and boom, you’ve got a character archetype I really enjoy! (Characters with cuter appearances than they try to maintain who are powerful and wish not to be underestimated due to appearance)

As for Kirby it’s just really difficult not to like them. They’re very uplifting! At first it was just the way that they faced gods head on with a smile on their face, and then in my own interpretations they became someone with the responsibility of the universe on their impossibly small shoulders, who tries their best and must succeed.

I specifically enjoy these two characters together because in any configuration, they’re both usually good for each other and help the other heal. Kirby gives Meta Knight hope after all the devastating losses he’s faced, and Meta knight gives Kirby much needed training to hone and control their abilities, and supports them when they need it most. Anyways meta dad meta dad

#whoops this turned into a long post #I am Procrastinating :)

[burstfoot]

Arknights, 2 and 13

2 because i'm curious

13 because of the ask i got :)

Thank you for the prompts annie!!! 2. Oh jeez to pick from three??? To pick from three??? I guess if I had to pick (and this isnt from most to least fav just an arbitrary order) Goldenglow is one of my all time favourites, I love her design sooo much its so cute I stockpiled emotes and used her as an icon even before I actually started playing the game, and then when I actually got to Light Sparks in Darkness I was glued to the event the whole time... her story about trying to give the Infected and poor of Caladon dignity and having such a simple dream crushed by the greed of the rich in the area hit really close to home... I don't think people talk about the scene where Haze talks her down from committing suicide enough, that scene is REALLY good and one of the standout moments in Arknights for me. Also s3 carries me through every boss thank u susie <3

I probably have to choose between Silence and Ptilopsis cuz they're so intertwined so it would be sort of pointless to just do both of them for 2 and 3. I'll go with Silence cuz she has way more screentime even though I do love Joyce a whole whole bunch Unlike GG I had 0 clue about her before I started playing and sort of experienced her story out of order, I read Dorothy's Vision and was like "yeah she's cool :)" and then didn't think about her that much and then I finally got convinced into reading the manwha and it transformed my mind forever... the complexity of her story and relationship with Ifrit and Saria and Rhine Lab, how selfless & passionate she is to make up for the things she did wrong... ;-; < 3333. The underdog story of all of these great minds in columbia being unfolded by a tired, dedicated 5 nothing owl mom is so good. I also really love her design and Nori might be my favourite AK artist so every piece of art he does of her I love seeing. (also i really like guardians of gahoole as a kid so im obssessed with owls)

^ the bubo bubo For my third I could go with like, Specter or Muelsyse or Flametail or any other character within my favs who actually has lore to base my love upon them on but I wont. Pudding

Pudding :) Shes so cute. Let me get straight to the point. I have seal 13. I don't want to be too negative on my account hashtag peace and love... BUT... Related to earlier mentions... I kind of can't get behind Redblade/GG anymore. It's not necessarily that I hate the idea of them together, but it feels like "red miraculously showing up to save GG from problems" is pretty much the weakest storytelling aspect of Light Sparks in Darkness that exists just to move the plot along and as a whole the pairing almost always feels like it severely downplays the depths of her character in favor of STRONG MAN protect CUTE GIRL. It's a very stereotypical M/F pairing I'm much more interested in her relationship with Quercus or Haze, both of who have seen Susie at her lowest points and reached out to support her, as opposed to Red who pretty much just like. is nice to her and saves her from goons Also every single male doc / female operator pairing kinda grosses me out, it's pandering that reduces the characters to one note caricatures of themselves. If you read doc as male all of his actual in-universe relationships are made less interesting by being romantic or you are inventing a sex god chad that does not exist to magically seduce operators that do not interact with him in the story. I was going to call it self-insert garbage but the male!doc/female operator fan content i have seen is an insult to self-insert garbage.

[I don't hate m/f pairings btw mr nothing kroos nation. Men getting pegged. Mountain and domma and/or robin is cute too]

P.S. I like wracked my brain to find a yuri pairing i didnt like becasue i dont think being like. straight people are NOT COOL is going to be controversial at all on tumblr dot gov but i legitimately could not think of a popular one that i couldn't at least slightly get behind. even the worst yuri mischaracterization is fine to me ive seen the horrors of gachabro fancomics

#arknights #goldenglow #pudding #silence #its pretty late here and im pretty tired LOL so this is pretty rambly... thank you for the ask!! #suicide mention

[bentosandbox]

More sporadic Lone Trail ramblings/TLs

prev one here this time more about the saria/kirsten/mumu trio and fanservice and the CGs in general spoiler warning etc etc

1

(From 4-END) Silence asks Saria if she's incapable of standing against Rhine Lab because deep inside she's the same as them and when she finally answers she's like

......I'm sorry, Silence. I did think about it thoroughly, but I can't give you a definitive answer. If Kirsten's experiment does touch a law that should not have been, then I will stop her, just like all the mistakes Rhine Lab has committed over the years-- they ought to be corrected, for I have always believed, the more power one holds, the less they should act recklessly. But if I were to go back in time, to the moment where Kirsten and I first met, when everything had yet to transpire...I would not have stopped her then, nor the birth of Rhine Lab. Yes, even if I knew that Rhine Lab would create this many Catastrophes, even if I could have predicted that Kirsten, Parvis and Ferdinand would eventually grow out of control-- I would still have stood together with them as I did.

(From 5-END) Mumu:

Did you know? Back then, Saria and I even picked out Kirsten's clothes. Yup, Saria cares about fashion more than she does! (Control truly only has 1[or 2 lol] things in her brain)

Yara (HR and the one responsible for Silence2's outfit) is basically kind of a parent figure to Kirsten 🥹 (so I guess they're a parallel to Silence and Iffy...)

uhm what else. the 3 of them used to go stargazing together and in a flashback mumu picks up a (shiny) rock

Mumu: Kirsten, see that rock on the ground? What does it look like? Kirsten: ...... Mumu: It's like Saria, right? It's so hard(like, firm) and yet it shines so 'perfectly'! Kirsten: ...Like the stars.

idk how global is going to do this part but in CN (and in JP?) Rhine Lab is literally 'Rhine Life' and mumu asks if Kirsten really wants to name it that instead of something like 'Rhine Physics' since she 'just wants to fly to the sky' and she says no, RL is good, because

I want to know what exactly are the stars we see. I want to know what lies beyond the barrier wrapping around us. I want to know...to see just what kind of land do we live in, if I can really take a look while standing among the stars.......Most of the answers I want are about 'us'.

oh one last one quote out of context for you fic writers Saria (to mumu): You're the same as always. The moment you get a little nervous, you forget just how frail your body is.

2

Love the idea of mumu being doc's bestie/oomfie but her and hol's lines/whatever else have irreparably damaged the AK ecosystem fr tbqhwyf and i thought skadol was bad lol. Now we'll have triple the NTR jokes great amazing wonderful (i launch myself into space)

'But its rationalized they're all the last of their kind!!!!' Justification doesn't fucking matter the damage has been done to their (perceived) characters i want my insane morally fucked up scientists not some generic lonely gf that steals the mc from other girls or some harem bullshit forgot what the term was and i dont want to know

Imagine getting a generic ass cg of 'pov mumu is so sad and helpless and needs your help to rescue her!!' (this happens after and not getting one for the extremely kino saria and mumu fight where you find out more about just how inter-connected the 3 of them were (are…?) and saria is first overwhelmed by all the water and she remarks how shes has never seen water(from mm) this turbulent before but within the waves she cant find the elf and all she finds is are sad eyes and tears…I can only feel pity for Mumu fans who don't give a damn about shipping themselves for her. speaking of CGs...

3

AK is clearly inspired and references a lot of IRL media and it shows with their graphic design work (UI, motion graphics etc) here's a link to a Lone Trail analysis but....for some reason the story CGs are quite bereft of the same energy (dare i say passion even lol) imo

ofc CGs are to immerse you in the story etc etc and they're really pretty but

how immersive is a fucking practically copypasted photobashed kirsten (the CG is very beautiful otherwise I love aZling4's rendering style sm.. probably my second favourite CG after the depressing 2nd lobby one you get post-ST4 where......shes also in the same pose.........motherfuckers)

Like man could you not have posed him any other way than hand in pocket with average cosplayer photoshoot lighting

this CG of hol almost getting rekt by saria is pretty weak imo that grip is non-existent nothing much to say (atm) about hol but that i love fanart where she looks/acts like a freak instead of (90% of fanart)

saria literally just fell from almost space back to earth and she looks almost unscathed lol mumu's water can't possibly be that rejuvenating

Maybe it's meant to be kind of incomprehensible but uh when the story went tonight the truth is finally glimpsed by humans for the first time or something I was like ....what is even happening in this picture lol

idk like doing partitioned CGs like how limbus does it would be so good tbh sometimes all they just show is a face and its like ? all that space? I'm guessing the artists have to do the concept/compositions themselves and some just have fresher ideas than others or time constraints etc basically i would just love to see CGs that are references to kino movie shots or something, they love movies so much right??? what about some good cinematography????

Dont want to sound like im flexing my useless veterans card or whatever but like. im a day 0 fan, i played their OBT, i started my acc on day 1, i remember being so excited about this game being so different from the other mobages, i didn't like how GFL was becoming way way more fanservicey then so AK was like a literal noah's ark with a whole bunch of artists ive revered from my touhou days, and now seeing it (inevitably!) slide towards GFL and the average mobage has me like 'well im glad limbus exists they let their women wear pants and be irredeemably insane(looking at you talulah 🥲)'

regardless of all that complaining this might beat italiano perros for favourite event because i was one of those kids with a space phase and something about the trio's dynamic.... (brain chugging) something about water unable to move unshakeable earth (but it can soften though...) that in turn can never reach the sky you know you know just like how a tiger can never be on the same level as a dragon 'real' animal vs mythical

#arknights #bentotexto #Lone Trail