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Official artwork of Lalum in her KFC outfit with her own Duel Disk from Very Extra Incorrect Fire Emblem GBA Quotes™ (circa 2017)

Here you go VEIFEGBAQ!

#look at her again

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people think they have to come swinging out of the gate with blockbuster AAA work to "matter" when all you really need to be able to do is successfully convey an idea to the audience. some ideas benefit from a lack of polish or professional touches. those tiny projects with small audience are the source of big waves

#see I'm pertinent and relevant

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As promised, here is an in-depth brief overview of the circumstances surrounding Melady becoming Lalum's legal guardian

Got it out technically before the year end, and it goes under a read more so I don't fill your dash with a whole lotta words (1240 words to be precise) because I have some sense of courtesy. Hope you enjoy it!

It had, at least initially, been purely a matter of logistics. A child required housing, of those with space and time available, one said the other was the much better option. Echidna made very clear that her house full of weapons was not suitable for a kid, so said kid became Melady’s problem. The situation was even more awkward than is typical, due to its atypical circumstances. The child in question was, in one way or another, related to Sigune. So of course, information about her was impossible to find or never existed. They knew her name was Lalum, that her parents were dead, and that she was related to Sigune. They couldn’t even be certain she was a child. They were considering her as one, and Sigune said she was ‘underage’.

And Sigune never lies.

The child was both inoffensive and offensive. She took up little space, made little noise, occupied little time. She kept to the basement that had been made her room, emerged to eat, barely spoke and when she did it was quietly. Except when she started fires. And broke windows. And made graffiti. And started more fires. And ruined things. And threw knives. Every time, Melady would either reign her in mid-crime or haul her back home post-crime. Every time, Melady would ask the child why she had done this, and be told she didn’t know why, and she was sorry, and she wouldn’t do it again. Every time, she sounded honest, regretful, sad and scared and weak. Every time, she would do it again. What frustrated Melady wasn’t the behavior in and of itself, it was how inexplicable it was, how it came from nothing and vanished before it could be seen. Melady was told that the child was loud, insulting, dismissive, chaotic and insufferable. She only saw a quiet, fragile, empty person. A child seemingly too afraid of the consequences to ever make a noise or express a want.

It bothered Melady, that the child she was in charge of, that she cared for, was lying to her. Not by saying  she wouldn’t do this again, but by trying to hide whatever part of her it was that longed for chaos and relished in humor derived from starting fires and annoying people. That hiding, that refusal to show the wholeness of herself, was a lie, as offensive as any. And it wasn’t one she could make the child stop telling. She couldn’t force her to expose that side of her. Her only option was to make the child willing to be honest with herself and with Melady. She had to make herself into someone who could accept that honesty. And she set herself to that goal.

It was not an easy thing to do, offering acceptance to someone who offers nothing to accept. She did all in her power to be kind and understanding every time she had to question the child after one of her outbursts, despite Melady’s longstanding opinions on the value of militarily instilled discipline. But she valued honesty more. She mentally noted every bit of information about the child she could get from their brief conversations during meals, and followed those scant leads as best she could. Regardless of if it involved watching over 200 episodes of Dragon Ball Z or playing through Earthbound.

It was a delicate thing though. She couldn’t treat this like she was pursuing a quarry. She was researching an artwork, reading information about the artist to derive more from the work. She couldn’t just open conversation at dinner with “I watched DBZ so I could know you better”, that was an incredibly bizarre thing to do. She mirrored the child, making the occasional remark regarding the works.

She could see the results, as the remarks became more frequent, blossomed into brief discussions. She saw life and energy in the child that she never saw elsewhere, passion and opinions and humanity. It was often fleeting, something the child reigned in. But it was there, she was drawing it out. It took over a year for the approach to truly work, for it to create a real relationship that was not purely a matter of logistics. Melady saw that it took great effort, great courage on the part of the child to make her move, to acknowledge the bridge Melady had been building between them. To be honest with herself and her guardian.

“I’m going to play Radiant Silvergun. You can come watch if you want.”, said quickly, dismissively, by someone who left before she could receive the no she expected. Melady waited a minute before walking down to the basement. The child was visibly surprised, having already accepted that connection with her wasn’t wanted.

“So, tell me about Radiant Silvergun.” stated simply. It made the child pause, stunned. Then, for a brief moment, Lalum showed an incredibly earnest, honest smile. It was then quickly replaced by an expression of dismissive confidence.

“So it’s an old shmup that’s mad weird in a fascinating way. The gameplay kicks ass of course, but what really keeps me coming back is the way the story works. The stages are numbered chronologically but not played chronologically, so you start on stage 3 and then go to 2, then 4. It rules. Then there’s the story itself, which was sort of added in the saturn port, since the game didn’t have cutscenes in the original arcade version. So a bunch of kids took home a copy of their favourite shmup and then like 3 minutes after booting it up on their saturn they’re told all life on earth got killed by a tetrahedron.” 

Lalum continued rambling, going on about weapon types and The Stone-Like and BE ATTITUDE FOR GAINS. It was, at best, mildly interesting to a layperson, which Melady was. But the happiness and confidence expressed by someone she’d barely heard speak, let alone emote, was truly engaging. It had been worth the effort, she decided. It was worth further effort, she decided. She asked about what scenarios the ‘thunder beam’ was useful in just to hear Lalum keep speaking.

After that event, Lalum became significantly worse as far as most were concerned. She had been quiet before now, but suddenly she was overconfident, more annoying and her crimes increased in severity. As far as Melady was concerned, Lalum was finally alive and it was as beautiful as it was infuriating. Disagreements between child and legal guardian increased in frequency, but now it wasn’t a series of questions answered with quiet platitudes. Lalum would push back, would explain what vague whims and arbitrary standards drove her to act, and would make a very obviously false apology. This was a marked improvement in Melady’s eyes.

As far as Lalum was concerned, this adult that had been forced to take care of her had met her emotionless, people-pleasing facade head on, and as such now had to deal with the ‘real’ Lalum. If pressed, she’d admit Melady could be fun to talk to and the way she expressed actual interest in whatever weird garbage Lalum rambled about made her feel weird and vulnerable and something better than tolerated. But she figured Melady would crack eventually and get sick of her, like everyone else did. It was just taking a REALLY long time. Hopefully it’d take forever and things could stay like this, just don’t quote her on that because it sounds lame.

#hey remember this one! Look at it again as I charge up set making ki

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See I could do a character takeover as an April fools day thing but I didn't have the time to set that up and that's sort of always happening, since you can just ask any VEI character anything at any time. So uh. Ask em stuff I guess. It's funny day.

#tactician

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#happy trans day

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once again shoutouts to @veryextraincorrectfegbaquotes for making these two a lovely pair even when in canon they never ever spoke a single word to each other

also made them blink because i thought it would be cute

#hey look at this again

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Happy birthday Lalum! Hopefully you like your gifts!

Also say hi to Sigune for me! :D

It's sick shit, she's gonna be pissed AND jealous, I never get to make her pissed and jealous It's gonna rule

#Lalum

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It is now LALUM'S BIRTHDAY (also mime but whatever)

Feel free to send her any birthday messages or gifts using the ask/submit box

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YOOOO HAPPY BIRTHDAY LALUM (and boss man!!!!)

I'm getting older, she remains 'nebulously underage'

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It is now LALUM'S BIRTHDAY (also mime but whatever)

Feel free to send her any birthday messages or gifts using the ask/submit box

#tactician

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Oh hey it's Lalum's birthday tomorrow

#tactician

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I was suddenly gripped by the vision of a VEI rp blog. What if there was someone else on here writing Goop Lyn. What if we disagreed on how she would behave...

#thinking about this again #envisioning someone using the like little RP pics of character face and its official Lyn art coloured purple

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Official artwork of Lalum in her KFC outfit with her own Duel Disk from Very Extra Incorrect Fire Emblem GBA Quotes™ (circa 2017)

Here you go VEIFEGBAQ!

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Cannot stop envisioning myself looking at someone's Goop Lyn RP post and wondering "Is that accurate?" While looking like this

I was suddenly gripped by the vision of a VEI rp blog. What if there was someone else on here writing Goop Lyn. What if we disagreed on how she would behave...

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Legitimately I would be so torn if there was a Goop Lyn RP blog and it did something I consider too far out of character. Like, am I supposed to just reblog the post and go "You missed that one, try another!"? Do I just leave it be because art exists to be interpreted? Much to ponder about a hypothetical that will not come to pass because this comic is too niche to get an RP blog.

I was suddenly gripped by the vision of a VEI rp blog. What if there was someone else on here writing Goop Lyn. What if we disagreed on how she would behave...

#Ironically a Goop Lyn rp blog would probably be the best shill this comic could get

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I was suddenly gripped by the vision of a VEI rp blog. What if there was someone else on here writing Goop Lyn. What if we disagreed on how she would behave...

#tactician

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Official artwork of Lalum in her KFC outfit with her own Duel Disk from Very Extra Incorrect Fire Emblem GBA Quotes™ (circa 2017)

Here you go VEIFEGBAQ!