This is my first animatic ever btw and I'm happy with how it turned out!
So, I have an "Ellone comic" music playlist. Obviously "Journey to the past" from one of my favorite movies ever is on there, like how perfect is that?
And I was thinking one day, who else was recently in a wintry snow scene with a focus on time? I laughed imagining iffy's Ulti so out of character haha... it's so good, it had to come to life!! (My favorite part is her little twirl, hehe.)
I did consider Tiamat in place of Pooka but... loool no way. 😆
Commission of a scene that is—believe it or not—canonical to Kontext. And a commission that hit me like the head chef from The Menu being asked for an old-fashioned cheeseburger. ❤
I may have gotten a little carried away, in my attention to detail. Added a few unnecessary flourishes... also the math jokes were supplied by the client via screenshots of store pages, which means you could go out and buy those! XD
Between the second and third NeoGalbadian Wars
It's heavily implied in this post and page 3-072 that Artemisia Karia went to higher education in her early twenties, between the 2nd and 3rd NG wars. New Galbadia even sponsored her enrollment in Dollet's and later Rinauld's Universities. It was a unique arrangement, and she had almost exclusively specialized classes in professors' offices with no more than four or five classmates.
However, she had no qualms about using the university library for her studies.
She had just come off of spending most of her teenaged life as a soldier serving under others, and while she was known for her role in the war, she didn't have her "Ultimecia" reputation yet. And sorceresses are rare, but not unheard of. The only distractingly unique characteristic about her was her persistent, physical wings.
(In fact, most of the mannerisms and vibe we know her for had yet to fully develop. That was all war number three.)
It was weird and awkward to be sure, and other students were often uncomfortable, but she did manage to build friendships and even relationships.
She had a lot of war trauma to deal with, but found an escape in studies and learning, so she threw herself into it—especially natural and applied sciences. (She also enjoyed architectural history, but there were no such classes, she just liked to find books and nerd out.) Her focus and intelligence wowed the faculty who worked with her, and while no official degrees were awarded, she was studying at an extremely advanced level when she left, after only several years.
She occasionally made attempts to look "more normal," such as colored eye contacts or makeup over her facial markings, but ultimately came to dislike the idea of hiding herself. And at no point did she ever entertain the idea of doing something about the wings.
(The eye contacts lasted literally twenty minutes, ending when her girlfriend showed up looking more confused than pleased.)
"Hey Art—oh! Your eyes!"
"What do you think?"
"They... look great!"
"They even have round pupils, see them?"
"Yeah!"
"You seem less than thrilled."
"No, no, it's just... was there something wrong with the red-gold color?"
"Well I thought I'd try looking more... you know..."
"Aw babe. Hey, if you like this color, then so do I."
"...I have to admit, putting them in with my claws is a little nerve-wracking."
