Pope Leo XIV wrote 42.3K words on human dignity in the age of AI.
(But Ellipsus has written over 65K words on the topic since 2023. 💪)
Solidarity is a weird thing… all of a sudden you’re seeing the Pope on your dash and the tea is… piping hot? (To offset the Vatican.va link, here's a tl;dr from The Onion.)
... Look at him go!
(Disagreements with his Holiness aside, it’s great to see a powerful figure power taking the side of the people.)
... EDIT: Wake up babe, a new Inquisition just dropped:
Finally managed to put this into paper ~ man, love Saint Seiya's armors but they're a pain to draw (and design)
Part one of my KnY x SS AU! I've just grown way too fond of the water trio, they deserve more fun AUs being able to stick together.
For this AU, it will probably be subjected to further changes, but so far the core idea is that the Hashira (+ some other characters) after the final battle get tossed to the SS universe to act as extra backup for Athena and her bronze saints.
I think some cloths don't have a canon rank, since in some iterations they're silver cloths while in others they're bronze, so I'm taking a ton of creative liberties.
Makomo got the Vulpecula (Fox) cloth, Giyuu got the Cetus (Whale) cloth and Sabito got the Lepus (Hare) cloth! I struggled really hard to find some decent references for the Fox and Hare cloths since they've been mostly used by background characters, so I ultimately took plenty of creative liberties for them, mostly for Makomo, considering most of the Amazons (female saints) armors usually have less elements. For the Whale cloth I made some smaller changes on the kneecaps and headwear to make it less clunky.
In an unusual instance (and probably due to Kagaya's influence after his arrival there), these three have managed to stick and train together to gain the right to wear their cloths. They might not wield swords here, but it doesn't mean they can't adapt their breathing techniques and forms to be used with the aid of cosmos and their cloths.
Since they probably earned their cloths some years before Seiya and the other bronze saints got into the tournament, I'd guess Makomo and other female slayers had to use the masks that female saints usually wear by tradition. As the story progresses they probably find some loophole to get rid of them :P
do fic readers know that their comments actually influence the course of the story sometimes? i don't mean in a "you need to write it this way because i say so 😡" type of comment, i mean when people are asking questions or really engaging with the plot and the themes in the comments they sometimes bring up things that i didn't even think of, or dig into parts of the story that i've overlooked, or get really interested/fixated on something i was going to just kind of glance over--and it has me going 'oh wait that's actually really interesting, that's a good point' and fully adding or tweaking or changing things about the story going forward. i'm literally adding an entire additional chapter to something right now because someone's comment had me like "oh i didn't dig into that as much as i could have." you have impact!
Byelingual moment while writing IT Chapter 56. It just made me giggle how the more I reread it, the worse it seems to me LMAO
Kind of reminded me of that post (can't remember if it was on Tumblr or X) about how when you're bilingual sometimes your brain sort of thinks about numbers in your native language so in your mind you can be like "Ah yeah, she's diecisiete (17) years old"
(IT Spoilers for the upcoming chapter, I guess, the dialogue has already been edited)
Wasn't sure what to draw for this chapter so... have a Tanjiro reading Haganezuka's letters. (I sometimes still need to remind me he has long hair in this AU ^^U)
Going back to my AUs rambling post, another one that has been living rent-free in my mind for the last week or so has been a Saint Seiya x KnY AU. SS was the very first shonen I watched and though I'm not that involved with all the spin-offs I keep it very close to my heart.
Problem is the power scale is crazy imbalanced between series LMAO. My current solution is some transmigration shenanigans where the Hashira (+ Kanae, Sabito and Makomo because I grew attached to them being alive) somehow get tossed to the SS universe as saints and might or might not have a side plot going on in parallel to the og story? Like I'm also doing some research on the cloths that exist within the universe to see which could fit them. So far I feel most would be silver saints (though I giggle at the thought of Sanemi and/or Obanai being a little salty if they're bronze saints and they find out Giyuu is a silver saint lol).
Might need to binge watch Saint Seiya again to get a better idea of what to do on better detail but so far I think I might be onto something.
-aggresively tosses this AU to their pile of ever growing AUs-
The last post turned to be pretty lengthy, and I felt it was unfair to leave thse two at the very bottom. Although they don't have such a polished lore as the burdeon trio, I have a soft spot for them.
Same disclaimer and broader notes from this post.
For Zazil and Tonalli I didn't have a clear theme, so their designs and approach have been a little messier.
Zazil was considered to be a mildly well-known fighter and quite popular whenever she participated in the tournaments. She'd be an anemo claymore user. Meanwhile, Tonalli would be a scholar, he probably helps with the logistic with each big event held in the arena; he'd be a dendro catalyst user and his attacks would be cempasúchitl-themed. Both take inspiration from some descriptions and references of how some prehispanic warriors and scholars would dress like (mostly shown on Zazil's arms and legs, and Tonalli's face paint and both's jewelry).
They probably come from Iansan's or Kinich's tribe. Though Tonalli used to admire his big sister and Zazil used to care a lot about her baby brother, their duties have made them grow distant, which can sort of be reflected by how their elements don't work that well together in-game, as they don't have an elemental reaction.
Plot-wise, Paimon and the Traveler would meet them when they accompanied Kachina and Mualani to the arena. Zazil would be participating on her own, while Tonalli would get dragged to (reluctantly) team up with Dimas and Tonatiuh, both of whom were looking for a buddy who could participate with them.
During the Abyss invation, Tonalli would be helping working overtime with the logistics. He probably ended up pretty shaken by the death toll. Zazil nearly died, but she was lucky to survive. The aftermath would be the start of them bonding back.
I had a small sketch trying to give Tonalli a more streetwear-inspired look, but uh... I think I lost the sketchbook where I drew that :c
I actually think Zazil's design could work fairly well if I tweaked some minor details, she's actually very pretty I like her.
I've been feeling like sharing some insight about some OCs I have kept mostly to myself. Though I really enjoy creating characters, I'm actually rather shy when it's about fandom OCs, idk why. So, although my hype for Genshin Impact has been decreasing over the past year or so, I like the effort I put to plan these characters, and it'd be a shame to keep them locked in my metaphorical basement. So here we go.
Small disclaimer, most of the information explored below comes from a rather surface-level insight at times, and although I was born and have lived all my life in Mexico, be aware not every people's experience can be applied to everyone, moreso in such a big and diverse country.
First and foremost, these OCs were first planned before the Natlan leaks and we had practically no point of reference as to which creative direction would the game have for the nation. I might not be an expert, but I do know Natlan's name stems from nahuatl, a language that is spoken in some parts of Mexico by certain communities. From that I could guess Mexico would be one of the main places from which hoyoverse might take inspiration from. So yeah, most of my Natlan OCs are heavily influences by Mexican culture.
These three are Dimas, Meztli and Tonatiuh (I'm leaving their names the same even if they've been used in-game for lore stuff).
Since before the Natlan trailer we only knew it was going to be the nation of war, my first thought (and fear) was that hoyoverse would make it some edgy nation only focused on fighting; and since I wanted a core concept to create some characters, I thought it would be pretty interesting to design a group of characters inspired by traditional dances. That's how I came up with the base background that the three of them are members from a small dance troupe.
I also hoped we could get more dark-skinned playable characters in this nation, but I felt it shouldn't be overlooked that some mestizaje could have occured. So that's the reason why Dimas and Meztli are paler, they're also cousins, btw.
My first idea for their lore was that both Dimas and Meztli have Fontaine heritage, with the difference that Dimas was born in Natlan while Meztli was born in Fontaine but due to the "curse" she had to move back to her father's homeland to live with her cousin's family. Tonatiuh is their childhood friend and the three have always been more interested in dancing than fighting, so they made the dance troupe.
After the Natlan release, honestly, I grew a little disheartened and my hype deflated, but that's a topic that could get its own post. I also guess I had been hyping the nation for too long that once it came up I was like that final scene from Finding Nemo with the fish in the plastic bags like "Now what?"
Anyway, after the release and more insight of how the nation was structured, I kind of tweaked the trio's lore. They still had the dance troupe, but instead of stubbornly sticking to it because they don't want to fight, I decided that they'd focus on preserving traditional dances instead of wanting to lean towards the more modern style that seems to be common in Natlan (as a personal note, this actually resonated a lot with me, it's very common to see some older traditions in risk of being forgotten for the sake of modernity, not sure if it's only a latam thing).
As a small side effect, this allowed me to make the joke of broke humanities students having to do odd-jobs to sustain their true passion project.
With the introduction of the ancient names in the lore, and for a likely way to introduce the trio to the lore, I considered giving them ancient names. So Dimas and Tonatiuh have ancient names, and at the beginning of the AQ the dance troupe could have met Paimon and the Traveler when they accompanied Kachina and Mualani to the arena. Their big problem would be that, although they don't like fighting that much, as ancient name bearers they're required to participate in the tournament. Meztli can't join them because, since she was born in Fontaine, she isn't connected to the ley lines in Natlan so she couldn't be brought back to life if she were to fall in battle.
Once Natlan's Archon Quest finished and the inhabitants could leave the nation, those three would probably become travelers, wanting to both share some of Natlan's culture with others as well as learn about other nations.
That's basically what I managed to imagine for their lore. Now, let's dive deeper into their designs!
I'm starting with Dimas because I liked making his fullbody the most.
He's a pyro polearm user. His vision would be located at the back of his hat.
Following the core common theme of traditional dances, his design is heavily inspired by the chinelos/danza de los chinelos; this is mostly depicted with his hat and the upper part of his outfit. I recall the chinelos that would often come to my home town would flail huge flags when they performed, so I made Dimas a polearm user, and one of his movesets would turn the polearm into a pyro-infused flag.
Following with Tonatiuh.
He's a hydro catalyst user and his vision is located in the front part of his hat.
His whole design is heavily inspired in the danza de los viejitos; this is mostly shown in his hat with colorful ribbons and the cane that he'd use for his moves (I'm pretty sure I designed him before Neuvillete came out because back then I thought a hydro catalyst user with a cane was a pretty original idea, lol). At first I considered him making from the same tribe as Mualani, considering that's the hydro tribe, but considering his background involves him coming from a family of healers/chamans, I think he'd fit Citlali's and Ororon's tribe better.
Last but not least, Meztli! She's probably the one I've made the most changes design-wise, lol.
She's a dendro sword user, her vision is embed in a fingerless glove that she wears on the right hand.
She's probably the one with the least clear inspiration. Her dress was originally inspired by the long skirts used in most folkloric dances all across the country, but considering how most characters are modeled, I gave her a smaller version. Still, some of her elemental attacks would have her dress morphed into a huge skirt that applies dendro with each attack. I also considered some of her moves would have her using dual swords as a small hint at the danza de los machetes.
When Natlan was released I was rather disheartened at seeing most characters were wearing more urban inspired fashion. So after nearly three years of creating these guys, I finally sketched a sort of updated version of their designs.
I tried to give Meztli a more asymetrical lower half, and her hair is now combed in twin braids with colorful ribbons. I also changed some elements on Dimas and Tonatiuh, as well. I was slightly inspired by the "Meximalism" (it's a fashion trend that has been blossoming in Mexico and tries to embrace the loudest and most colorful parts of our culture, it's pretty cool!)
So uh... i might try to make most of these posts as I declutter my folders. This was actually rather fun to do! :D
Like... I'm still figuring out how could I expand the KnY x HnK AU, I have more or less some ideas settled regarding how gems/slayers and lunarians/demons would be structured but I still need to polish some details.
But I've also been having this Funger AU(s) in mind (mostly as an excuse to draw some of the characters as monsters cuz I love the moonscorched designs from the second game).
Also the ol' classic Swap AU, I have a one shot still in WIP status and other ideas drafted (in my mind)
Also also, the Merging Currents oneshots, I have some ideas of what I want to explore from the alternate timelines in oneshots. Plus there's this very fun AU with the youngest Kamado siblings as the survivors that we came up with in the IT Fluxer server.
Also also also! There's this everybody lives AU I have in mind where all of Urokodaki's students survived and they're a powerhouse of a clan within the corps and they all proudly wear their kitsune masks to conceal their identities (somehow that AU spiraled and we have the Kamado family surviving and joining the corps too, Tanjuro became a pillar and Muzan got deleted from the server way earlier but for plot shenanigans demons still exist)
Might arrange a masterlist of AUs sometime later, some are very random and others I'd love to make fics or create some visual material -implodes-
Uh... at last, Chapter 54 is ready! I struggled to decide what to draw for this chapter's end notes so here.
I like to imagine Tanjiro was pleasantly surprised when he saw Tamae working in the Water Estate, even if they probably didn't interact much in the Entertainment District, he's happy she seems happy! Momoe feels rather intrigued about him, tho, since she's mostly heard from the water triad about his role in the fight but never imagined he'd look so... young.
Also! have some doodles from some of the children who attended Senjuro's Final Selection (yeah, I'll keep recycling my OCs to use as background characters, it's actually very fun!)
Ft. Freminet (+Pers!), Baizhu, the Cryo boys and the team that made me finish the 11th level of the Abyss (the farthest I've reached in my lifetime lol)
janainaart
kaledo-art
romaincrisis
areudirty
discoholicmusic
blakekathryn
theartofmadeline
