Everyone says “A wizard did it!” And “I’m the wizard!” Is the funny bit of ch56 of hwfwm4 but how the hell did you all blow past “I’m an inter-dimensional warlock-ninja!”
I love that Nik is just Jason and Neils kid. not even a child of divorce just a he created you but i found you first. Their both equally horrible role models and amazing ones. Who takes relationship advice from a 3 yeard old. Imagining Nik going well Jason siad no, ill ask neil. Such a delightful dynamic that never really gets seen.
Cute little sketch of what I’d think Nik would look like. With some random clothes bc idfk what he’s wearing tbh. I based him off of a sable point Rex :3.
Time Travel - HWFWM - potential spoilers thru book 12
Part 1
The short of it is that Jason's abilities are a scattered mess. His interface says he's Iron rank, which is a nice surprise, but also that he's a third of the way towards reaching Diamond. That makes him stare for a solid minute until it occurs to him that Iron rank means he should have all four of his Essences.
Good news? Jason has all four Essenses.
Bad news? He has four Essences Abilities - his three familiars, thank fuck, and his aura power. Which really means he has fuckall powers given his inability to summon his familiars. And what if they're all still Gold rank? Will he have to wait to summon them until he's back to normal? How is he going to get back to normal? Many of his Awakening Stones were so luck of the draw it - no.
No.
"Nope. We are not going to panic, Nikky-bunny. No we are not." Earth clothes stuffed in his inventory from forever ago don't protest the change in rank like his underwear does. Stupid Silver rank enchantments. Great at the time, not being naked in the middle of a fight. Less great after spontaneous, unwilling time travel and rank reduction. A forgotten gift for baby-Jace provides an excellent if ill-fitting outfit for baby-Nik. A long scarf serves Nik as a carry-sling. Jason does need his hands free, after all. "Your brothers and Uncle Shade are a little out of reach right now, but we are going to go find Aunty Farrah and her friends."
It's a long walk through the hedge maze.
The first murderous rodent to leap at Nik with oversized teeth get speared through the soul with Jason's aura. That still works. The potent hamster freezes up mid screechy-growl, entire body going stiff with death, and it thuds into the grass with a sort of squishy sound. Jason wrinkles his nose at it.
Right. Lesser monsters brough about by the failed - interrupted? hijacked? double hijacked? - summoning by dear Land'o Vane. Not just the cannibals he has to worry about out here.
Then again, he is far better armed than he was last time around. A well trained aura power is better than a knife against these little bitey beasts. Jason pokes the rodent with his foot and walks away before the stench of dissolving monster can upset Nik. Nothing is going to get within scratching distance of his son.
Naturally, this is when something small and slithery darts out of the hedge at Jason's ankles. And a few steps later something with teeth darts down at them from above. Every other step is some new monster. All with teeth and claws and poison and bladed wings. Sometimes all of the above. Jason's aura is a spikey ball of death the little monsters keep ramming themselves into even as he projects stay away I'm very scary.
Lesser monsters. Not the brightest. Also, significantly more of them than last time, if he's remembering things correctly. It's been a while and his memories of before Iron rank are a little fuzzier, especially around this time, what with all the concussions and assorted head trauma.
"Do you think this is because of the double-hijacking?" Jason asks Nik. The baby blinks up at him with large dark eyes. "You're right. I've already used that one. I'll have to think of something else. Still, point stands." He loots the dead creatures littering the ground. The maze behind them is a haze of foul rainbow smoke. "This would look so much cooler if I had my cloak."
The starlight cloak fluttering in the remains of a rainbow mist as he strides majestically through the hedges is an intriguing image and almost takes his mind off the loss of that particular ability. Jason describes the scene to his sleepy looking son in great detail, making certain he sounds as heroic looking as possible.
The monologuing takes them all the way to nap time and the well. Which presents Jason with a bit of a conundrum. Because, well, infant, dubious water, crawling. This wasn't looking like the best of plans.
On one hand, Jason knows this particular entrance contains the youngest male Vane and his pet snake - both reasonably killable. Bronze rank, certainly, but Landomere will be suffering from ritual backlash and unconscious besides. The snake is more trouble, being at full strength, but a bit of aura-stun should let Jason get in a killing strike or two. Assuming his aura can't take out both of them. Being his only weapon right now, Jason is more than willing to use it to its fullest extent. After which Jason could sneak through the manor's lower levels into the cellar and free his friends. Future friends. And Anisa, the little nazi-elf. Gross. But Rufus, Gary, and Farrah won't hold to murdering their extremely irritating temporary teammate without proof that she's evil and Jason has none without his future knowledge.
Plan b does not involve dragging an infant through standing water that, upon further reflection, is probably saturated with cannibal germs. Plan b involves sneaking into the manor from ground level and avoiding detection using all his sneaky assassin ninja warlock skills (feeling if anyone is nearby with his aura - super handy that) and stealthing down to the cellar that way.
Plan b has a higher chance of getting caught. Jason really doesn't want to introduce cannibals to the concept of his baby boy's delicate rabbit flesh. Gives all sorts of ick. He also doesn't want to give Nik the gift of legionnaires disease. Choices, choices.
Choices made, once again, by Curly and Moe tracking the murder plant that, what, eats gardening tools?
Jason curses silently but vehemently as he leaps into the well, scurrying down several rungs until he's well under the ledge.
"Careful now," the first grumbles. "That mandrake is around here somewhere."
"How'd it get your trowel?" asks the second.
The first grunts. The sound of their footsteps draw closer to the well and Jason eases down another rung or two, careful not to knock Nik into the unstable ladder.
"Left it near the offal I was separating out for fertilizer. Suspect it was trying to snag something tasty and grabbed the trowel by mistake when I scared it off."
They aren't moving away and the damnable plant isn't showing up to provide a distraction either. Outnumbered and unprepared to face shovel-man and his tasteless companion while a baby sleeps haphazardly strapped to his chest, Jason quietly finishes his descent. The water the soaks into his shoes - he has shoes this time! - and starts seeping up the legs of his pants is cold and doubtless full of dead people germs.
Not the normal this is a dead body kind of germs, because lets face it, Jason has killed a lot of people and he can admit he's not the best when it comes to moral fortitude, but dead people like rotting in a pit and becoming one with the groundwater sort of germs. The second kind is grosser.
Also I spent way too long designing an adventurer outfit for Farrah just for this. I figured since she has conjured armor her normal gear could be lighter, and aimed for a red gambeson outfit with flame/volcano inspired details.
I was going to wait to post that full Farrah design when I get her obsidian armor design done and post them together, but should I just post it now?
Putting these together bc I don't like them as much - all that one time I used prompts from a daily art challenge as an excuse to draw Clive and Onslow, Jason in his Starlight Cloak and Humphrey in is Dragon Armor!
Bronze rank, when Onslow the Rune Tortoise gets the ability to float and Clive starts riding him like this!
(I am still not entirely happy about the clothes because there are very few descriptors for the characters' battle clothes other than Jason and Sophie)
Jason - If you look at his arm I gave him the faint scars from Book 3, plus second version with the special eyes from Book 4.
Humphrey - Iron/Bronze Rank, but it doesn't really change so shrug? His conjured armor is described resembling dragon scales in a sandy yellow and flecked with rainbow colors, so I went with that theme for his wings and huge dragon wing sword. Tbh the Rainbow ended up a bit more subtle and his waist a bit more skinny than I intended
The first fanart I shared online! Jason Asano in his Iron Rank Battle Robes. I remember I made them knee length with the intention of making his Bronze robes longer and fwooshier, but I haven't drawn those yet. Also right after posting the first time I realized his bandolier is described as right shoulder to left hip, but if I'm fixing that I'm redoing the entire thing lol
Jack Gerling, the man with exploding fists. Drew this as a warmup, and as I was mid book 7, I wanted to draw someone whose design isn't still evolving.
Design notes:
- Couldn't find a description of his hair/eye color (and I have a lot of sticky notes in the books) so I went with standard vague white dude dirty blonde hair and bluish eyes
- He's described like a bear but still kinda military, so I gave him a fairly clean haircut
- I realized he's basically Endeavor from My Hero Academia, just American and with a real beard
also I forgot my own "pupil shine rank color" thing on this one
NON MAGICAL (sometimes Earth exclusive) animals that remind me of some characters
Jason -> Peacock
I feel like we all know why. Also, Jason is connected to phoenixes a lot and I personally think that phoenixes should look similar to peacocks/peafowls.
Humphrey -> Draft horse (alternatively, Wolfdog)
I honestly don't know why it's these specifically. There's just something about Hump that makes me think draft horse. (Since horses don't exist on Palli I threw in something else that fit)
Clive -> BORZOI.
THIS IS ONE I WILL DIE FOR. Lanky, kinda textured fur, looks incredibly guilty and awkward.. these dogs are practically made for Clive.
Belinda -> This kind of cat. (no i don't know the breed)
I mean, come on. Just look at that cat.
Sophie -> Cobra
Speedy strikes and sass, how much more explanation do you want?
Neil -> Red Fox
To be honest I have no real reason for this. If anything, Neil is probably more of a hare. Even so.
Zara -> Hyacinth Macaw
Hurricanes are wind-related. You know what else is wind related? Birds. This is a blue bird. You know who else is blue? Zara. Boom.
Other ones I don't feel like explaining:
Emir -> Brown Lab
Constance -> Tuxedo cat
Danielle -> Praying Mantis
I'll think of more at some point, but here's all I've got so far
annaxmalina
dailybridgerton
turnnoffyourmind
gummygunk
theartofmadeline
kaledo-art
germansingergirl
