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For Watcher Wednesday, have some more of these awesome picrew arts with Watcher Violet and her family & friends! Well, friend. I mean Anselm’s a friend most of the time, and family eventually, one way or another...
Anyway, have some adorable Itzlis and a Coatl! Because if you find a picrew that has decent orlan ears you gotta make all the orlans you can. And I have a lot of orlans.
Character Interview: Violet
I’ve lost track of who else tagged me for this but today’s interview is with Watcher Vi! Her adorable chibi art is by @artpigeons.
name ➔ Violet Itzli
are you single ➔ [Soul&Shield-verse] For a brief time, I was, but not anymore. I suppose we make an odd pair but he’s just what I needed. [Letters to Anselm-verse] Quite unexpectedly the opposite. And…quite unexpectedly, I’m glad.
are you happy ➔ [S&S] I am. So many things have happened since I left home, but I’ve come to terms with that, and it’s nice to be with my family again. [LtA, post-Deadfire] I am…very tired. But not alone.
are you angry ➔ I try to do what I can about the things making me angry, to improve the situation.
are your parents still married ➔ Yes…well, if Mama makes it through this sickness.
NINE FACTS
birth place ➔ Citlatl, in the Ixamitl Plains
hair colour ➔ Golden blonde
eye colour ➔ I was named for my eye color, if you will.
birthday ➔
mood ➔ Weary. Determined. Hopeful.
color scheme ➔ I’m most fond of the bright colors woven in Citlatl – purples, oranges, blues. Difficult to find anything like that in the Dyrwood.
gender ➔ Female.
summer or winter ➔ Summer. Or an Ixamitl winter, which is nothing to compare to a Dyrwoodan winter.
morning or afternoon ➔ Morning. It’s a habit one gets into in my priesthood.
EIGHT THINGS ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE
are you in love ➔ I am, more than I ever thought I’d be. [applies to both verses ;-D]
do you believe in love at first sight ➔ No, perhaps there can be an initial connection where you know you’ll get along well with the other person – or won’t – but love takes time to develop.
who ended your last relationship ➔ I did. [LtA addendum] And surprisingly, I seem to have renewed it as well.
have you ever broken someone’s heart ➔ For a while I didn’t think Anselm had a heart, but he cared more for me than I realized when we were that young, so I think I probably did.
are you afraid of commitments ➔ Not if I make them by my own choice.
have you hugged someone within the last week? ➔ Of course! Sometimes I have no words to fix what a loved one is going through, but I can at least offer a hug.
have you ever had a secret admirer ➔ Nothing of note, though being in a position of authority like the Watcher of Caed Nua does tend to attract such things from time to time.
have you ever broken your own heart? ➔ I…don’t think so?
SIX CHOICES
love or lust ➔ Love.
lemonade or iced tea ➔ Lemonade. Tea is best served hot.
cats or dogs ➔ Cats. Yaotl is all right though.
a few best friends or many regular friends ➔ A few best friends. I already have a dozen siblings; I don’t need to make an effort to surround myself with more crowds.
wild night out or romantic night in ➔ In.
day or night ➔ Day.
FIVE HAVE YOU EVERS
been caught sneaking out ➔ I’ve never tried to sneak out without someone knowing – I mean, when I left Citlatl on my pilgrimage, I managed to be away before Anselm found out, and that was for the best, but my uncle and Audie and others helped me to do that, so I don’t know that I would call it sneaking out.
fallen down/up the stairs ➔ So many stairs in the Dyrwood are not quite orlan sized, so of course I have!
wanted something/someone so badly it hurt? ➔ Oh, yes.
wanted to disappear ➔ Oh, yes.
been involved in a fight you thought you couldn’t win ➔ There have been some that looked very daunting at first, but I am certain there’s little faith cannot accomplish.
FOUR PREFERENCES
smile or eyes ➔ I don’t have much preference one way or the other, I suppose.
shorter or taller ➔ [S&S] Taller is much more challenging than I would have guessed… [LtA] Anselm’s nearly as tall as me, which makes him tall for the males of our species, you know.
intelligence or attraction ➔ There’s much more to it than either. It’s a matter of…walking the same direction, you know?
hook-up or relationship ➔ Relationship.
FAMILY
do you and your family get along ➔ Generally! Mind you, there are a lot of us, so there is always room for some friction, but I do try to smooth things over when that happens.
would you say you have a “messed up life” ➔ Well, it has been a lot lately. I had a comfortable, happy childhood, apart from the betrothal. But now, this whole Watcher thing…I am making the best of it.
have you ever ran away from home ➔ That’s not exactly what my pilgrimage was, but perhaps there was a bit of this in it.
have you ever gotten kicked out ➔ Oh, no.
FRIENDS
do you secretly hate one of your friends ➔ No, of course not.
do you consider all of your friends good friends ➔ Some are far better than others. I’ve met far more people in my recent travels than I normally surround myself with, so…some are better than others.
who is your best friend ➔ Aloth. And – always – my sister Audie.
who knows everything about you ➔ Audie. (We’ve even talked about…Sun in Shadow, and I haven’t told anyone else about that who wasn’t there with me.)
I made Vi and Audie, Best Sisters Forever, in this picrew! (which, like all picrews pretty much, lacks respectable orlan ears, but it’s fine. Vi’s braids sort of make up for it. XD)
1, 10, 22, 28, 32 for the headcanon asks?
Thank you!
1. Light sleeper: Lenni, accustomed to having to bealert when on the run.
10. Looks like they will murder you but is a sweetheart: Maaaybe a little bit Audie? I’mnot sure she could legitimately be called a sweetheart, but she’s definitely gota nurturing big (middle) sister side. Anselm could possibly fit in this category too.
22. Likes dragons: Hm…Lenni probably thinks they’re neat. Also Ianthina,who after all had Thaos as a mentor/father figure, no doubt has a softer spotfor wurms at least than she’d like to admit. XD
28. Gets lost easily: Definitely Dal, with all of myfailed rolls trying to get her to read a map. XD
32. Likes socks: Hm…well, Xipil knits? Lottieprobably wears the socks he makes though. :-D
Send Me a Headcanon and I’ll Tell What OC I Associate It With
Hug prompts: #2. Sleepy hug for anyone
Sleepy sibling hug time! Also on AO3.
Bedtime Story
“...Three,four, five,” Audie counted heads as the younger Itzli girls scattered to theirbedrooms amidst groans of bedtime protest. She reached the end of her count atthe door to the hall, through which her oldest sister was just entering, “andVioletty makes...six?” She frowned. “Should be seven. Who’s missing?”
“Oh, dear,” Violet said, earslowered as she peeked back out into the hall. “I thought I sent them all upahead of me.”
A quick round of peeking into therooms clustered around the common room solved the mystery: Lottie’s tower roomwas empty, with no sign of her in bed or hiding behind bookcases, and noresponse when they hollered to see if she’d climbed up into the attic. Theolder sisters exchanged a calculating glance.
“I’ll check the attic,” Audievolunteered with a smirk. “Don’t want you getting all that dust in your hairnow that it’s growing back out finally.”
“It’s not too long to wash,you know,” Violet protested, but she accepted Audie’s division of labornonetheless and headed back downstairs to scour the manor for her missingsister.
Reading in the parlor? No, thatroom was empty. Still at the dining table, lost in the book she’d been readingthrough most of dinner? No sign there of Lottie or the book. Nor was she in thekitchen for a late-night snack. Violet made her way through the chapel, theschoolroom (where Lottie and her twin were now the eldest of the family-taughtItzlis, due to go off to calpulli school with their older siblings the nextseason), the library, but all was silent.
The hall ended at the door toPapa’s study. Violet hesitated. Her parents were away for the weekend -- thusher return from the temple housing to look after the younger children in theirabsence. She had envisioned a fun time, catching up with her siblings, savoringAudie’s cooking and maybe trying to throw together some of those berry muffinsthe cooks at the temple had been making lately. Misplacing a sister wasn’t inthe plans.
Papa’s study wasn’t reallyoff-limits, but the children seldom found reason to intrude there anyway.Still, she had to keep looking till every sibling was safely accounted for, soViolet quietly eased the door open.
Lottie had made a nest for herselfthere on the rug in front of the cold fireplace. Books surrounded her, more ofthem open than those that were closed and stacked up. Ink smudged her cheekwhere she had fallen asleep right on top of the parchment she was apparentlytaking notes on. Violet smiled and crept in, bending to scoop the little girlup as gently as she could.
Lottie awakened only enough tomurmur, “Mrrrnviiiioly?” or something to that effect as Violet eased a fragileold tome out of her small fist and tucked her sister against her shoulder.
“Yes, it’s Violy,” Violet whisperedback. “How long have you been in here? Goodness, Lottie, did you leave any ofPapa’s books on the shelves?”
Lottie’s reply was no morecomprehensible than her greeting, so Violet left the books where they were, aproblem for the morning, and headed back toward the stairs. Half-asleep, hersister continued mumbling, apparently a summary of her evening’s research, butViolet couldn’t make sense of the least part of it. So she made encouragingnoises in response till they reached the girls’ common room. Audie, combingcobwebs out of her hair, grinned to see the prodigal returned. “She forgotwhere she sleeps, huh?”
“Wore herself out over research,apparently,” Violet said.
“Wouldn’t be the first time.”
“I’m sure it won’t be the last.Just wait till she starts school.”
She reached Lottie’s tower at lastand tucked her into bed. Stirred by the shift, Lottie blinked up at her for amoment and muttered something that definitely ended in “...book?”
“We’ll put them away in themorning,” Violet began, but Lottie looked so stricken, she glanced around theroom and grabbed the first book she saw -- a compendium of Aedyran fables,apparently. “Surely you’re too tired to read any more now, though,” she said,starting to worry she’d have a cranky, sleep-deprived sister to deal with atbreakfast. But Lottie, still more than half asleep, only snatched the book fromher with a smile, hugging it to her chest; and then she reached for Violet,pulling her into a hug as well, awkward with the book sandwiched between them.In a moment, she was asleep again, curled up around the book.
“Well,” came Audie’s voice softlyfrom the doorway. “Don’t think that’s how bedtime stories are supposed to work,but it’s good enough for me.”
OCtober day 2: Offering
Today’s Rannatober piece is again prompted by @grumpy-jedi from beyond the Tumblrverse: From the platonic prompts list, one giving the other a makeover for Vi and Audie. And apparently the Vi/Anselm breakup era is all I want to write about now, because post-breakup is always a great time for an impulse makeover, right? So this ficlet is shortly after yesterday’s; Vi is about 13-14 and Audie is 10-11, and Vi is preparing to leave calpulli school (15 is when they graduate and enter a trade) and start training earlier than usual at the temple, due to the breakup situation and all.
Also on AO3.
---
The feral grin with which Audie twirled the scissors didn’t help. Violet knew her sister was only showing off, hoping to make her laugh. She appreciated the gesture: laughter had been in short supply lately, and it really would help ease the transition. Nor did she worry that Audie would let the scissors slip, as uncanny as her skills with sharp things were, even just a couple of years into calpulli school.
But did she have to look so very gleeful about this?
Audie, ever perceptive and protective of Violet’s moods, somehow noticed this one -- perhaps she’d winced -- and held the scissors still again. “You sure about this, Violetty?” she asked.
Violet nodded, not before giving it another moment’s thought. “It’s just hair, Audie.”
Audie laid the scissors on the bedside table and picked up a brush. “A lot of hair,” she clarified, beginning to work through Violet’s curls. “Which you’ve always been so proud of.”
Violet’s fur ruffled, but the stroke of the brush was calming. “Too proud, probably. Best not to bring all that with me into temple training.” A moment’s silence acknowledged how much more than hair was implied in all that. “Besides, I think Anselm was always prouder of it than I was. Especially the fancy updos. Saints, I am so tired of all that time spent making it look just right.”
Audie nodded, and though the brush strokes grew neither faster nor harder, there was something more deliberate about them for a moment. “There’s always the option of simpler braids. No need for scissors.”
Violet shook her head, making Audie’s brush pause briefly. “No. Maybe after a while, when it grows back. But right now, I just want it gone.”
“Gone it is, then,” Audie grinned, collecting the scissors again and exchanging the brush for a wide comb. “A sacrifice on Eothas’ altar, golden as the sunlight itself, his new acolyte exchanging her beauty for the glory of the sun.”
“Someone’s been paying attention in poetry lessons,” Violet giggled.
“Yeah, maybe.” Audie combed out a length of hair, so near Violet’s scalp she fancied she could feel the warmth of her sister’s palm hovering there. “Really I think it’s just from Lottie going around reading from that new book of hers at everyone. Vailian sonnets? Really, what was Cousin Adi thinking? They’re all so formal and repetitive, you can’t help but get it stuck in your head.” With a trio of snips, the first locks fell to the floor. Violet’s throat constricted -- but then relaxed. It was, after all, just hair. She would leave it behind along with the years of growing it out -- years that had no place on the road that lay before her now.
Which oc is the bravest?
Probably Audie, who is never one to back down from a challenge and is also very protective of her siblings! Also she’s a scout in the Citlatl militia - most of the kids serve some time in the militia after calpulli school, in one capacity or another; Audie’s continued with it the longest of them though. (What does she fear, then, since bravery isn’t fearlessness but courage to face fears, right? I think probably - a cage, Eowyn-style; being relegated to a too-ordinary, boring life - losing her autonomy. Losing the loved ones she’s so protective of, too. She fights pretty hard against both those fates.)
Fill in the Blank Superlatives
8, 12, 29 and 33 for the headcanon meme?
Thank you!
8. Can kill you with a pencil: Audie! Lenni could probablyfigure out a way to do that too, and actually has higher odds of havingactually done it before than Audie does, I guess. Actually - Ianthina probably has done that, well with the Inquisition-era equivalent of a pencil, on one of those occasions when Berath called on her to correct someone’s life course a bit, Berathian style…
12. Wants to run away from everything: Well, Dal sort of is…awayfrom some things and toward other things, anyway, which would have been theresult no matter how her choices went. She didn’t exactly want tothough. Hm…I’m not sure I have any who really want to!
29. Likes to work out: In Simlatl it’s Sim Audie but Idon’t think that’s Citlatl canon. XD Uh…probably the second Itzli child,Corbus!
33. Can’t sleep without something special: Several of them probably haddolls or something like that as kids that were a must at bedtime, but I don’t’think it applies to any of them now…
Send Me a Headcanon and I’ll Tell What OC I Associate It With
