#But that's kind of besides the point

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

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#poorly drawn mdzs #mdzs #wei wuxian #lan wangji #jiang cheng #While listening to the Lotus Seed extra I was like 'aw this art is so cute.' #Post The Fanfic Fiasco (re: last comic's tags) I am haunted by the green orbs. WWX has a bag of edible green orbs and I am in hell. #First draft of this comic's script has JC saying 'dude you wouldn't even share with me!' and I love his little sibling indignation. #Middle child power is knowing that you don't have to share with your siblings. The little wet eyes and weak hand slaps do NOTHING. #JC probably already ate all of his lotus seeds. That's on you dude! #Part of me wants to get deeper with the metaphor of the lotus seeds here. It is a gesture of a certain kind of affection. #JYL gives something to WWX she does not quite share with JC. And WWX in turn gives something to LWJ he does not share with JC. #Really puts JC's line 'You're always eating...eating eating' into a very different light. #There are other kinds of starving besides hunger. There are other ways to be a glutton than just food and drink. #WWX's character pre-burial mounds is heavily focused on 'Indulgence'. Be it wine or flirting or hunting or eating- #-or receiving admiration; He is always indulging in ways we never see JC do. #I think the intentional contrast was with the Lan's 'Live simple and without indulgence' lifestyle. LWJ is the abstainer to wwx's gluttony. #But it does expand to JC as well! Both are locked into the role model position to have friction against WWX's apparent freedom. #I think LWJ and JC (at this point) see WWX as something they both want (in different capacities) and someone they want to be. #Yet despite the history between them it is not JC who WWX reaches out to. It's LWJ. #The boy already has an inferiority complex! Stop making it accidently worse!

[comradekatara]

okay be honest. if someone as hot as sokka (is constantly established to be by other characters within the text) said these exact words to you, you would also fall in love with them on the spot and/or be overwhelmed with uncontrollable horniness. yue is valid

#id in alt text #sokka #yue #sokkaxyue #i am once again thinking about Them #they are sooo cute its unreal #and i will not apologize for that!!!! #also yes. i know im gay but i have many straight friends okay #or well. i have one straight friend but she's REALLY straight she is the heterosexualest woman in the world #so i know how their minds work #and besides. man or woman there is nothing hotter than an attractive person who is also an awkward dorkass nerd #it's like catnip to us (girls who probably have something wrong with them but are really good at masking it) #frankly it's the kind of thing everyone i've ever dated or ever considered dating has said to me #yes i would like to do an activity with you!! at a place!!! for some time!!!!! #anyway. my point is #people clown on sokka for this (namely; katara) #but it would work on most if not all of you #i guarantee it

[canisalbus]

Different Italian anon, but the thing with Tuscan C is that it's pronounced like a very strong H sound, which is extra weird cuz the letter H makes no sound in Italian, normally. It sounds the way Spanish pronounce the J. We say it's "aspirato". So then people from there will say things like Hoha Hola (coca cola), and it's funny. It's also extremely contagious, I got family in Florence, you spend 3 days with them you start doing it too before you even realize.

.

#that sounds really endearing actually #answered #anonymous #this is entirely beside the point but I still feel sort of bamboozled by languages that have silent letters #or when letters have multiple pronunciations that vary wildly from word to word #and when the sound and the letter don't seem to match like how J sounds very close to H in Spanish like you mentioned #I'm generalizing a little but none of these are really a thing in Finnish #in Finnish words are pretty much always pronounced the way they are written if that makes sense #I don't know the language terminology but I think phonetic spelling is what you call it #each letter represents a specific sound and you string those together #when you hear a word you can always tell how it's written and when you read a word you know how to pronounce it #even if you're encountering the word for the first time and have no idea what it means #it's comparatively direct and predictable there's practically no need for guessing or memorizing #also the stress is always on the first syllabe and it's so subtle it might as well not be there at all #which sometimes makes spoken Finnish and Finnish accent sound kind of monotonous there isn't a lot of intonation #I was extremely confused by the concept of spelling bees as a kid #anyway long tag ramble but this stuff is just interesting to me

[fiendishartist2]

smth i think ppl get wrong when writing jon is that he has to be a bitch but he cant be cruel. if you take away his bitchyness its not jon anymore, he just becomes a fanon husk of himself. but if you make him too mean, then you're forgetting the awkward politeness and humanity of jonathan sims. remember: he may be a stubborn dickhead, but he let martin stay in the archives without having to be asked, even back in season 1

#i love jon so so much and it makes me sad when ppl get him wrong #i dont think in another universe jon and martin would get along bc thats not the kind of ppl they are. they're meant to piss each other off #(and attract the other but yknow. besides the point lol) #jon is an uptight bitch and thats just who he is. sure in the later seasons he loses the stick up his ass but hes still petty and rude #bc thats what makes him jonathan sims. the ability to be a bitch who cares....... #and i think it goes the other way too. taking away his ability to care about others and show it in his weird obscure way is also inaccurate #jon doesnt say mean things bc he doesnt care he says them bc he lashes out in the situations hes put in. and also bc hes a bitch #idk man you can do whatever you want but i think the main thing you have to do to get jon right is make him a stubborn bitch #tma

[sinnbaddie]

Kakashi and Gai’s rivalry isn’t just a breath of fresh air because they aren’t pushed apart thus never genuinely connecting and being vulnerable with each other, but because it’s not made to be a joke either.

Their rivalry clearly could’ve been written one sided entirely, where Gai tries to engage Kakashi and he doesn’t entertain him, but he doesn’t. He participates and enjoys it. Kakashi is as odd and perhaps at times even odder than Gai and that’s why they work so well together imo

#kakashi hatake #might guy #kakagai #might gai #naruto #don’t even get me started on how different his rivalry w Gai is compared to his with Obito’s #his rivalry with Obito was at a time in his life where he was so cold and mean #and his developed rivalry really brought him out of his shell (besides Obito’s death and him being faced with the fact his father was right #^developed rivalry between Gai and Kakashi #idk they’re incredibly kind and pure to one another #and I think if he didn’t have Gai Kakashi would’ve died at some point #and I truly believe Gai wouldn’t be nearly as motivated if he never met Kakashi #I think they’re very dependent on each other and it could easily spiral into codependency but it never really does #because they’ve both healed separately and together and I’m doing so they have brought out their truest selves with one another

[sidetongue]

this beautiful idiot went to live with someone else and honestly, both of our QOL are much better HAHA

#she just could not vibe with a house full of other animals #her anxiety manifested in insatiably eating everything #not just food #cardboard plastic you name it #i had to lock cupboards and put books on the bin so she couldnt open it and rummage through it #she screamed for food constantly #she innappropriately toileted constantly #to the point where i bought two automatic litter trays so they were always spotless in case that was the issue #she was medicated and given daily enrichment #but nope #anyway after over a year of kind of hating our life together #i bit the bullet and rehomed her #her food obsession has disappered and besides peeing on their bathmat once #she has used the litter tray without issue #we make a commitment to our pets yall #but do not force yourself to keep them if you are both miserable #i wish i was brave enough to have done this sooner #anyway #rehoming is not the devil #and you can do it responsibly #bye ferg i'm sorry to say i don't miss you #but i'm so glad you're finally happy #fergie #the cat edition

[quatregats]

Something I've been thinking about is how Patrick O'Brian manages so skillfully to write characters whose actions contradict their beliefs, which I think is honestly a big part of why his characters feel so real. Mostly with Stephen and Jack—e.g., and perhaps most notably, Stephen has notably leftist sympathies (honestly I have no idea how to characterize his politics in period terms) who nonetheless becomes very comfortable with his rise to the landed gentry, while Jack is a card-carrying Tory who much of the time sympathizes far more with working class sailors and farmers than with the upper classes—but I'm sure he does it to a lesser degree with some of his minor characters (James Dillon, while perhaps not precisely minor, comes to mind), and I love that he's able to do that, especially the way in which he embeds it in the narrative. We see how they're all unreliable narrators of themselves; we understand how they want to be seen and how that does and doesn't coincide with the reality, but most importantly, this isn't presented as something reprehensible, just as a part of their own humanity. They are not their expectations for themselves, but they don't need to be those expectations to be beloved.

#stephen is especially guilty of this and i think it's very interesting how he thinks of himself versus how he acts #which is probably an essay on its own #but i do think that this is another point he and jack make a fun foil on #(for jack this manifests much less explicitly but i think it's definitely still there) #i can't think of other characters atm besides james dillon #(who okay. his actions don't contradict his beliefs exactly but there is a weird and complex relationship between them) #though i do suspect that there are probably more #idk i've been thinking about this a lot because o'brianizing hornblower has brought to the forefront #how different those two authors treat internal/external narratives #patrick o'brian is kind of like yeah they don't really line up but that's okay that's just what it's like to be a person #while for hornblower and cs forester it's like the internal narrative is so unbelievably unreliable and negative #but the external narrative also seems to be resoundingly positive #(which is probably why. in my humble opinion having watched two episodes of it. the tv show is much more Fun) #writing hornblower in o'brian format is just like wow there is no weirdness going on did i write him wrong #but no it's hornblower he just sounds so much more normal without the 24/7 mental gymnastics #perce rambles #aubreyad

[queer-reader-07]

got a hair cut yesterday and i realized my hair is now finally at a length that i can do a half bun again. you know, a slutty little half bun like the one crowley has in season 1? gender euphoria here i come

i love having shorter hair again i am thriving

#i also dyed it purple which is a first #but that's kind of beside the point #however for those silly enough to read my unhinged tags #i've got the under half of my hair dyed and it's been pink for 2 years #but i decided to switch it up and now it's purple and i'm kind of very extremely here for it #but! #point is #short hair and half up buns give me sm euphoria i am hyped #good omens #crowley #good omens shitpost #long hair crowley

[rghema]

Sup.

#jade claymore #a little sketch to assure you my obsession for Willow is still on point #I just realized that to be better at drawing i have to go back to drawing a lot #shocking i know #moved by some kind of spring force I've started a comics course that is making me draw even more #i even had my hair cut today and I'm not having a meltdown so the hope is high you guys #i still have a bachelorette party to organise that has been a background stress for months but beside this big hopes you guys big hopes #anyway #my stuff

[sapphorror]

Short Moderate Length List of Small(ish) Things I Appreciate About The Wettening

Dib being conspicuously absent from the opening pan of the classroom, only to cartoon-teleport into existence at Zim’s desk the second Zim starts expressing mild apprehension at the sight of unfamiliar weather. This kid spends his time just hanging around staring at Zim, waiting for him to show the slightest sign of discomfort, confusion, or unease in order to immediately taunt him about it—and the surrounding chaos, if anything, is just an opportunity to come watch even more closely. We all already knew this, but it still kills me to see it in action.

Also, he’s animated popping up from below, and like… were we meant to interpret this as him just chilling underneath Zim’s desk? No, absolutely not—but is it funny (and, to add to the hilarity, miraculously somehow not completely unbelievable within the context of the show) to imagine that he was? Yes. Yes it is.

Zim confidently walking out into a downpour he has already confirmed to be acidic just because Dib implicitly dared him to—no one’s looking, Dib hasn’t even said anything or made a claim against his humanity, Zim just can’t stand to give Dib the satisfaction of seeing him vulnerable or afraid of something (which backfires pretty spectacularly, since I’m pretty sure ‘writhing on the ground shrieking in indescribable agony’ is a significantly worse look in terms of appearing vulnerable, but all’s well that ends in Victory For Zim, I guess).

Also Zim's little baffled gesture right beforehand like he's silently asking Dib to confirm he's not hallucinating the rain dance (he does not receive an answer)

Gaz presumably seeing Zim sneaking up behind her brother, saying nothing and making no reaction that’ll tip Dib off… only to immediately be made to regret her choices when she gets caught in another splash. Shows her for trusting Zim to be at least a little bit cool about tormenting Dib (honestly, we see her exact fitting justice on Dib at the end of the episode, but I cannot imagine she wasn't still planning to do something equally petty to Zim).

The faucet drip scene and the underlying awareness that this is just what Zim and Dib do to each other during class. Every day. It is, in fact, probably one of the least disruptive forms their constant warfare takes on a routine basis. Suddenly I understand a little bit of why their entire class hates them.

Also Dib’s happy face while he's terrorizing Zim into a shell-shocked stupor is absurdly cute and heartwarming. If I cropped that picture no one would ever guess what he's smiling about. This kid? A sadist? Impossible.

“I don’t even feel good about winning this one,” and it's said with his hands clasped together, practically vibrating with glee, his expression vaguely reminiscent of a teenager in the throes of hormonal infatuation (the hypothetical object in this case not so much being Zim himself as a personified abstraction of Zim’s suffering). If someone hit him with the Return of Keef happy goo in this exact moment, I am completely certain it would kill him. His statement is only true insofar that a more accurate term for his current state of being would probably be euphoric.  I take back everything I’ve ever said about Zim being unreasonable in this episode—he was merciful.

Also this face the moment Zim gets up and starts threatening him. Zim still isn't even all that intimidating at the moment, but Dib knows he just fucked up. Maybe he's getting flashbacks to Dark Harvest.

Dib’s ridiculous water balloon device. Seriously. I feel like it gets (reasonably) overshadowed by the sheer absurdity of Zim’s entire operation, but it really is so amazingly stupid and pointless in a way that is… not dissimilar to the ultimate Irken water balloon. Not only is it really not necessary for the task it's meant to accomplish, it's actively detrimental in that it slows Dib down, blatantly telegraphs his attacks, and reduces accuracy by a significant degree. The only actual benefits I can think of would be the exponential increase in force and range and the instant accessibility of a water supply—the former of which is totally unnecessary in this scenario and the latter being possible to accomplish with a much simpler device (or even just… a water tank). To summarize, it is an incredibly impressive feat of both skill and creativity in design that is also completely and utterly useless! Which is just the perfect demonstration of what I mean when I say Dib really does share nearly all of Zim’s flaws, just to a less obviously ridiculous degree—he comes off just calm and clever enough to pass as moderately reasonable  at a glance, and in some ways, that makes him more of a potential flight risk than Zim. At least that's a lunatic you see coming. 

Irkens are collapsible, apparently

#invader zim #zim #dib #gaz #meta #just a little #my meta #iz posting #zadp #natterings #for the record i am not unaware of the irony in saying zims the lunatic you see coming #when the empire was ultimately surprised by the worst of his crimes enough times over that he was able to commit them all #and even now after impending doom 1 and the trial he is STILL consistently underestimated in the damage he can continue to do #whereas dib has spent his entire life being called crazy by literally everyone he knows (and many he doesnt) #all for ENTIRELY the wrong reasons #but hey #thats exactly the kind of counterintuitive comedy that the iz universe runs on #anyway i may or may not do this for more episodes as i rewatch with my sibling #or honestly just in general #because there is nothing i enjoy more than pointing out tiny details that are entertaining to no one besides me #i've always been especially fond of the wettening though #like literally always dating back to when i was 7 #probably earlier but my memories only go back so far #its very fun seeing how wildly the specifics of how i love this show have drifted over the years #favorite episodes. favorite characters (i mean always gaz on some level but the ones that plague me the most) #but it is sometimes even better to observe the very specific points that have remained constant #if still evolving in complexity

[dayurno]

something that always tickles my funny bone is when people mention in fanfic (or even in aftg canon itself iirc) that kevin is reading history books. books on history. what history? historical history. history of what? of the people. just the neutral entity of history. don’t worry about it. this isn’t a dig i’ve done it before it’s just really funny

#soviet history fan kevin day 2k24 i choose to believe #i think kevin would have a lovely time as a soviet history fan because its #all about correcting people and criticizing propaganda #and kevin loves correcting people and criticizing things. #he would make a fabulous ml but that’s besides the point #what i will say is that i think when people choose some random emperor from fuckwhen bc for kevin to be obsessed with #its kind of boring #i dont think kevin would be all that interested in ancient history and he wouldnt care much for ye olden empires #the way i see it at least! #txt #kevin

[nyaskitten]

I feel like season 2 had the best Overlord designs when you think about it from like the perspective of his whole purpose in the show.

The Overlord is the embodiment of evil, and he's meant to be evil and scary, and he CERTAINLY traumatized children in season 2 with the whole dragon look, and how he possessed Garmadon.

One of these will traumatize children for years to come, the other will be some kids gay awakening. The Overlord IS NOT meant to be no one's gay awakening 😭😭😭

#ftr i find his centaur form kind of hot but thats besides the point #the point is i prefer when hes actually this terrifying menace and not . Horse. #ninjago #raine's rambles #raine's shitposting #overlord ninjago #ninjago overlord

[canisalbus]

For how much Machete is described by others as off-putting, he really is a beautiful dog. Does Vasco ever tell him so? That his eyes make him look earnest, his fur the most comforting shade of white like cream, the way his ears catch light like stained glass? If someone doesn't tell him so, he'd forever think he was ugliest duckling

I think Vasco definitely tries, sincerely and often, but Machete is very reluctant to accept compliments and positive feedback. Especially if it's about something as personal and innate as his looks.

#he quietly spends a lot of time and effort trying to make himself look his best so appearances aren't a trivial thing for him #he's always very clean and neat and presentable #except on those occasions when he's soaked in blood but that's totally besides the point #white fur is kind of high maintenance any tiny bit of dirt or staining becomes an eyesore and if it dries it may be hard to remove #he bathes very frequently way more than average considering the time period #some of the outfits he wears are worth more than the combined lifetime earnings of like six generations of his family #silk was outrageously expensive and the brightest red dye came from pulverized cochineal insects that had to be imported from America #which had been colonized less than a century ago so those tiny little cactus bugs were really troublesome to get and the demand was huge #he doesn't quite have the nerve to wear perfume despite it's widespread popularity at the time #but he makes sure the smell of frankincense burned during church services sticks to his fur and clothes #in general when you spend your entire life around strict emotionally congested highly religious men #you might not end up developing a very healthy self-esteem or body image #once you've internalized that sense of inferiority it's hard to unlearn it #he's so thirsty for approval and praise but when he receives some he immediately gets uncomfortable and distrustful and vaguely angry #he absolutely struggles to compliment people back as well at least on any meaningful and personal level so there's that #answered #anonymous #Machete

[bluemauve]

voldemort didn't passionately hate harry personally, he hated what harry stood for, passionately. it has nothing to do with harry himself.

harry stood for the "power he knew not," which is the concept of love, and voldemort sees his own weakness in harry, and hates that. the fact that he lost to a toddler. he hardly sees harry as his own person. harry isn't really a formidable enemy to voldemort and never will be. canonically, love is voldemort's enemy. without it, harry would be nothing.

#i know this is a popular concept for harrymort #but i think it's kind of besides the point #someone who voldemort did hate passionately however #is DUMBLEDORE #me trying to pitch riddledore for the 10th time this month #harry potter #lord voldemort #voldemort #harry james potter

[featherbreak]

Camilla Hect's sworddaggerknives: an exhaustingly comprehensive weapons inventory

(alternate title: "In Which Tamsyn Muir Tries to Kill Cosplayers with Imaginary Weapons", or "How to Consult a Swordfighter for the Fight Scenes but Not Give Nearly As Much of a Fuck About the Implements Used")

Written in hopes that this will either spare other Cam cosplayers some misery, or bring them to the commiseration station --

Gideon The Ninth - Canaan House Cam: In Which We Meet the Weapons Nerd of the Sixth

When we first encounter Camilla Hect, she's using a somewhat traditional sword + offhand combo against Gideon:

Gideon The Ninth, chapter 12, bold emphasis mine, italics canon -

She dropped the wedge of sculpture with a clonk, drew her sword from its shabby scabbard before the wedge had bounced once, and advanced. Gideon, neurons blaring, drew her own. She slid her hand into her ebon gauntlet—the grey-cloaked girl let the flashlight fall, drew a knife with a liquid whisper from a holder across one shoulder—and their blades met high above their heads as the cavalier leapt, metal on metal ringing all around the chamber. ... Blow after lightning blow rattled her defences, each one coming down like an industrial crush press, the short offhand knife targeting the guard of Gideon’s blade. ... her opponent dropped as though shot, crouched, kicked her dagger up into her hand, and did a handspring backward down the stairs.

Anime physics aside, we have also immediately established Tamsyn Muir's love of using "dagger" and "knife" interchangeably. The sword is described as a rapier a paragraph later, at least:

Gideon was stronger; the girl’s arm was buckling—she brought up her rapier to harass Gideon’s blocking arm ...

We get a closer look at it in the duel against the Second:

Gideon The Ninth, chapter 23, emphasis mine -

The rapier looked, like Gideon’s, maybe a million years old. It was the first time she had seen it in a good light, and here it looked as though it had never been designed to take an edge blow; the blade was light and delicate as a cobweb. The offhand looked like Camilla’s whole House had gone searching down the back of the sofa for weapons. They had come up with what looked more like a long hunting or hacking knife than a duelling dagger: thick, meaty, cross-guarded, with a single sharpened edge. The whole effect was sadly amateurish.

We quickly learn that she can still deliver a drubbing with this combo. However, it is not clear whether her offhand in this duel is the same knife as the one she fought Gideon with - which is described as a "short offhand knife" compared to the "long" knife against Marta - and we can call that into question more confidently once we learn that Cam is PACKING LOTS OF STEEL:

Gideon The Ninth, chapter 27, emphasis mine -

There was no question about whether or not Camilla inhabited the horrible cot attached to the end, cavalier-style. It sagged beneath assorted weapons and tins of metal polish.

Gideon, being a weapons nerd herself, calls Cam on her setup bluff partly by elaborating on Cam's pile o' pointies:

“So, hey. What do you really use when you’re not pretending the rapier’s your main wield? Two short blades of equal length, or one blade and one baton?” Her keen eyes narrowed into black-lined slits. “How did I mess up?” she asked, eventually. “You drew your rapier and your dagger at the same time. And you’re ambidextrous. You keep cutting like both your blades are curved. Also, there’s six swords and a nightstick on your bed.” “Should’ve tidied my mess,” admitted Camilla. “Two blades. Double-edged.”

Gideon refers to Cam's offhand in the duel with the Second as a dagger here, too, despite having previously observed that it looked more like a knife. She also refers to all the blades on Cam's bed as "swords", but it's clearly a mix of blade types. Gideon is only as consistent or reliable a narrator as Tamsyn is; her terminology is equally laissez-faire.

Cam, meanwhile, is not more specific when she describes her main wields: they're just "blades." We finally meet them when shit hits the fan later on, but they are confounding:

Gideon The Ninth, chapter 32, emphasis mine -

With only the faintest liquid whisper of metal on sheath, Camilla drew her swords. Gideon had never had the opportunity to study Camilla’s two short swords before: they were more like very long daggers, slightly curved at each end, wholly utilitarian.

So Gideon's observation that Cam cuts as if the blades are curved seems to hold water, but Cam specifically only identifies her blades as double-edged - which is much less common on curved blades longer than a few inches. In the same breath, they're implied to be shorter than short swords, but remarkable enough to call "very long" for daggers, which also means they're longer than the "knife" length in which having double edges is relatively common without making tradeoffs in durability/blade structure.

(This is where my brain broke.)

To add insult to injury, for the rest of the chapter, Tamsyn calls them knives:

Gideon The Ninth, chapter 36, emphasis mine -

She crashed into her from the side, her two knives flashing like signal lamps in the sunlit hall. ... Camilla Hect off the leash was like light moving across water. She punched her knives into the Lyctor’s guard over and over and over.

Well, mostly. That would be too easy. Here's the lone exception:

Camilla slumped next to her, swords crossed over her knees.

SWORDS AGAIN?

We also see Cam with a single knife. It's unclear if it's one of her main dual wields or another one she had stashed:

Camilla, as she’d seen from above, had caught up with Cytherea the First. She had one hand in the Lyctor’s singed curls, dragging her head back. The other hand pressed a knife against the smaller woman’s throat.

Whatever it is also is well-balanced enough to throw -

Her good arm was up behind her head, holding the blade of her knife. Gideon ducked. The knife whistled over the top of Gideon’s head in a flashing blur and buried itself in Cytherea’s upper back.

- which usually implies something shorter and less medieval dagger-y. Different knife? or more Anime Physics? We don't know.

In conclusion: Canaan House establishes Cam as Very Hot and Good At Pointy Objects. Who the fuck knows what they are, though.

---

Harrow the Ninth - Random Planet Encounter Cam: Still Kickin'

At this point, Cam has been chugging along under the tender mercies of BoE, hauling her pulverised necro around, and comes face to face with a delightfully lobotomized Harrow. She's still dual wielding, although whether they're her Canaan House blades is doubtful, and they're described as knives all the way through:

Harrow The Ninth, chapter 32, emphasis mine -

... you were astonished by the speed with which Hect drew those big, balanced knives from each shoulder, and hurled herself at your skeleton like a stone from a sling. Her first sweep with the butt of a knife shattered the ribcage—it coalesced back; you now disdained skeletons not made of permanent ash. ... Camilla Hect sheathed her knives with as much speed and fury as she had unsheathed them, and she said: “No sudden moves.”

Still a badass, obviously. And "big" knives seems to imply they're still of a long-dagger/short-short-sword length as Gideon described. "Butt" instead of "hilt" or similar terminology seems to imply they're more pedestrian than daggers. What the hell does Harrow mean by calling them "balanced", though?

Who the fuck knows. That's all we get. Onward to:

---

Nona the Ninth - New Rho Cam: More Badass & More Bonkers Than Ever

Cam is living her best worst best-given-the-circumstances guerrilla fighter rebel operative life. This means she's just...armed to the teeth all the goddamn time, and it's knives all the way down:

Nona The Ninth, chapter 2 -

... Camilla looked the person deep in their eyes and casually touched the hilt of the knife she kept down the waistband of her trousers, and then the person moved to the back of the queue.

Nona The Ninth, chapter 9 -

Camilla had been crouched down, wiping her knives on one of their jackets. ... Then she had equally normally set to putting her knives away – sticking them in the bands down her thighs, inside her trousers –

Nona The Ninth, chapter 12 -

Almost all of the knives Camilla had strapped to her got taken away, but not the very hidden knife, or at least the one hidden knife Nona knew about. There were probably more.

This could be because they're actually knives, or because Nona's vocabulary only goes so far, and her narration - backed by Tamsyn's established lackadaisical approach to pointy objects - is too simple for disambiguation.

To hint at this: when upon prepping for the final mission(s) of the book, Cam empties out the hidden armory, and Nona goes so far as to compare two of her blades to kitchen or filleting knives:

Nona The Ninth, chapter 22, emphasis mine -

Pash said, “Your people... that obsession with swords.” “We are our swords,” said Camilla. She shrugged on a criss-cross halter of black plastic straps and clipped it tight across the front of her chest, and then she opened a box and took out two long, plain knives, the type of thing they used to chop up fish at the market. All of Cam’s secret knife stash, Nona thought, numb with anticipation.

Cam seems to only say "swords" to mirror Pash philosophically, not to describe her weapons, but it's worth noting.

A detail that is mentioned once and then never brought up again, though, is that she's carrying at least four blades into the fight. Earlier in that chapter:

Camilla flipped open boxes and took out a belt, which she tied around her waist, and she secured a hook to the side of the belt. To this hook she reverently attached a long plain black scabbard, then a shorter plain black scabbard, and she tested the hilts in her hands.

So: two unseen blades of possibly different lengths - described only by the hilts, but stored in scabbards of two different lengths - in addition to "two long, plain knives" that are presumably stashed in the shoulder? back? chest? "criss-cross halter" holster situation. Or something.

Say it with me: WHO THE ACTUAL FUCK KNOWS.

Nona The Ninth, chapter 23, emphasis mine -

Just for shits and giggles, Tamsyn throws in the only use of "daggers" to describe Cam's weapons in the whole goddamn book right before the final duel with Ianthe:

The two uniformed soldier zombies knelt Camilla, roughly. They squeezed her wrists until, with an agonised hiss of breath, she dropped her daggers. They clattered softly on the carpet.

Her main dual wields of choice, this time, seem to be single-edged, likely the "fish knife" pair:

She mopped a little at her chest... she was bleeding freely and messily... and she picked up, from where they had fallen, her two long, plain, one-sided knives.

Even Ianthe agrees that they're knives:

“I didn’t mean to take anything to this planet I couldn’t replace,” said the Prince. “I shouldn’t have bothered. Why two knives?” “Shock and awe,” said Camilla.

And then Paul happens and my heart broke forever that brings us to the end of Camilla Hect As We Knew Her x Bladed Weapons OTP For Life is too short and love is too long.

So what's our takeaway on accurately portraying Camilla Hect, you might ask?

tl;dr: use whatever the fuck you want. go loud, Cams.

do not be like me and spend a cumulative 15-20 hours spread out over three weeks debating how to accurately portray her weapon shape because fanart seems to mostly depict her with daggers.

---

as for me? I've finally gone with utilitarian but elegant hunting daggers (long, cross-guarded, single-edged, curved at the end) for Canaan House Cam and a scrappy pair of Bowie knives for New Rho Cam, after polling a bunch of Cam fans; votes were overwhelmingly in favor of curved blades being more important than double edges. THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN.

with the utmost thanks and apologies to the patient & best beloved folks in the Library for responding to my Cam poll, and for emphasizing & reassuring me that cosplaying On Vibes is kosher and encouraged in this fandom

#double-edged blades that curve at the end and are longer than a dagger but shorter than a short sword? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE my head hurts #tazmuir's Final Fantasy fandom pedigree is REALLY SHOWING HERE #raise your hand if you've been personally victimized by tamsyn muir's approach to weapons #listen i know that any kind of realism is kind of besides the point in this damn series but could we get some CONSISTENCY #also who's going to write Cam using the nightstick? #insert magic stick joke here please and thank you #camilla hect #tlt cosplay #tlt meta #tlt canon analysis #the locked tomb #sixth house #the sixth house #camilla the sixth #the locked tomb meta #cosplay reference #the locked tomb cosplay #tlt cosplay reference #featherbreak rambles

[saionjeans]

people always exalt juriori for being the paragon of toxic yuri and don’t get me wrong i do love that for them. but honestly, in terms of toxicity, shiori doesn’t hold a candle to touga, and juri doesn’t hold a candle to saionji. if juri and shiori are like. some bad mushrooms. then touga and saionji are like. chernobyl

#u #juri #shiori #saionji #touga #to me toxic yuri involves some form of cannibalism #like shaunajackie #and toxic yaoi involves some kind of duel to the death #like a pechorin grushnitsky situation #which is why sashanne rules so hard. but that’s besides the point