Another absolutely self-indulgent RP blog, AU of Shadow Milk Cookie so don't expect him to be as in character, he's had different experiences that fundamentally changed him.
Mod is 18+ and would prefer to have their roleplay partners to be of the same age or higher.
Other blogs affiliated:
@thruthe-grapevine
@drowned-in-caffeine
< Know The Playwright | {Main Script} | The Plays >
☽ Read The Script below before watching the play ☾
‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ 𝑀𝐴𝐼𝑁 𝑆𝐶𝑅𝐼𝑃𝑇 ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙
[OOC]: First and foremost, this role play blog is self indulgent and just for fun! Mod is pretty busy but they're always up for interaction :]
[OOC]: This isn't strict to canon Shadow Milk, there's not that much content of him (lore wise, his information is second hand, I'M SHAKING HIM) so we're taking creative liberties, so please keep that in mind!
[OOC]: Minor RP blogs will be either turned away or blocked depending on their insistence to interact. This blog is meant for relaxing and Mod will not be able to do so when having to mind their swearing or actions around underage roleplayers.
[OOC]: That said, this blog is still public so anything deeper will only be implied and won't be explicit! Down to explore Dark or More Mature Topics in DMs
Credits to fandom wiki for most of the source images, others are from ingame screenshots :)
Looking at SM's skill icon and this Fount CG side by side, they feel very similar pose- and framing-wise:
Majority remainder of yap below the cut, beware of long post :p
In most in-game depictions of SM, the artists tend to put his hair at a 3/4 angle, even when he's meant to be facing forward like in the character menu or a cutscene. Idk how to explain it with words, but basically they always put his hair off to the side like so:
This is probably just to make sure his silhouette remains consistent across all depictions of him, since the Asymmetrical Hair is one of the most distinctive parts of his design. But! This makes it even more interesting that they chose to make him (or at least his hair shape) very Round and Symmetric in his skill icon? When the (iirc) only other time he's been drawn symmetrically in official art is as the Fount?
Another note about his skill icon: the way they positioned SM's collar thing(? don't know what it's called) and his arms makes it look a lot like Fount's accessory:
I would not be surprised if this was intentional as well :p
All this considered, it feels like SM hasn't completely moved on from his time as the Fount. Not to say he wants to become the Fount again, but that he hasn't been able to sever his current identity from his past one. Some of the Fount's mannerisms still live on in him after all this time. This point comes back in his dialogue in Ep2 and Ep7-8 where he constantly questions and debates with the protagonists, something that would come naturally to a scholar/academic (There's more evidence supporting this idea, might make a post compiling those someday)
Another angle worth approaching, though, is- what if this wasn't meant to depict SM retaining traits from the Fount, but rather the transitional period between his identity as the Fount and the Master of Deceit?
(Puts on tinfoil hat) Back to the skill icon and CG comparison, SM's icon is missing a lot of the traits you can see in his normal design, such as the white right sleeve and his hair color split into blue on top/dark bottom. These *could* be shortcuts taken for the sake of simplifying the icon, but when they went to the effort of including his sleeve stripes and exact shape of the Souljam (despite it being half hidden by the larger eye icon in front) and also the ten million eyes in the background, I'm not sure if they know what the word "simplify" means (read this in a joking, light-hearted tone, with a slight hint of concern for the artists' wrist health)
The exclusion of the special sleeve color makes him look much more symmetrical overall, & the removal of his normal hair color now makes his icon hair look a lot more like the Fount's. Despite the design in his icon being more similar to current SM than Fount overall, there are still some missing design elements that suggest he hasn't fully become the Master of Deceit at this point in time.
If SM's icon is meant to depict a half-corrupted Fount, it makes the parallels between it and the CG even more interesting though. Both versions of Fount have their eyes closed, head tilted up slightly, smiling, but the circumstances couldn't have been more different. CG Fount looks wise, tranquil, trustworthy; generally just a fairly put together guy. Rays of light emanating from him as he presents the light of knowledge to the world: but the light rays in the CG look false, metallic, as if there's already Something Wrong hiding beneath the Fount's peaceful facade. Skill Icon Fount looks happy. He's plunged the world around him into darkness with nothing but his own power. The eyes surrounding him in the background, representing his countless lies? The eyes on his hair making eye contact with them, attempting to form an illusion of companionship?
The lighting of the icon still presents him as the only source of light in a darkened world, but it feels more like a spotlight now, focused on his face and himself alone, rather than radiating out from him onto the receiving audience of knowledge-seekers. Maybe his conjured Other Realm eyes are his audience now. He doesn't need anyone else but himself (or at least that's what he wants to believe)
