Liketwoswansinbalance - LikeTwoSwansInBalance - Tumblr Blog

I think I'm speaking for all of us in saying that we're happy you're impatient since we got this great work of art out of it!

Let's see—my interpretation is that this is TLEA "Rafal" because of the cravat, how his hair seems better coiffed than usual, the black swan being unambiguously Evil, and how his hand is positioned like he's about to grab someone by the shoulders, like that one moment in which Sophie screams, and Rafal quips, "Glad to know I'm still scary" from behind.

Alternatively, I could interpret this Rafal as Fall Rafal attempting to intimidate Midas.

spooky

its up to interpretation which rafal this is

What color is your hair??

A very dark brown. Visually, it depends on the lighting.

I love this take and the warm/cold juxtaposition. It reminds of some interpretation I once read elsewhere, that when he raised his hand to Sophie at the end of TLEA during his death scene, possibly to kill Sophie out of spite, it could've also been so he wouldn't be alone in death, implying that he wanted to take her down with him, so they'd be united again.

(Also, have you read Fall, or do you just like the old view of canon/continuity better like I oftentimes do?)

Anyway, Sophie and Rafal's TLEA dynamic always reminds me of a very particular genre of painting: "Death and the Maiden." (I have a WIP AU for this concept actually. Even Rhian and other characters have roles too.) Thus, the concept can easily be assigned to their dynamic, considering Rafal's physical coldness in TLEA and elsewhere, and yet, in some cases, Rafal is not in Death's role, like you said, due to his fear, which is interesting in itself, that he can be both.

Inspired by @wisteriaum's "dance with death" piece.

I'd love to hear the explanations or thought processes behind your answers.

And yeah, I guess I'm romanticizing/satirizing all this. What about it? /j

I invite you to comment your reasoning, if you want?

For a corollary to the last poll:

Sorry about how weird this question is, but I want to know:

*Basically, I want to know if he’d be hotter with a personality transplant or worse, as a vegetable (like, if he took an ice pick to the frontal lobe without it marring his face), or if what people like most about him is his all-around contempt, cleverness, malice, etc.

Personally, I usually try to keep him in character because his personality is already appealing and interestingly messed-up as it was written. Thoughts?

Inspired by @wisteriaum's "dance with death" piece.

I'd love to hear the explanations or thought processes behind your answers.

And yeah, I guess I'm romanticizing/satirizing all this. What about it? /j

JAW-DROPPING. It's so dynamic, and I love how his hair sweeps back like that. Also, it looks like he's in the follower position rather than the leader one. Interesting, considering death does claim him by the end of the prequels.

And, idk why, the first thought I had was TLEA necromancer Rafal—probably because he's dressed in black here. Even if it would be a bit out of character, I could see him putting on a musical number to fluster Sophie with because she likes musical theater. And he could use force to get the Old villains to cooperate and perform with him.

wisteria posts sge art???!!1!1!1!?1?! (NOT CLICKBAIT) (REAL!!!!)

so like right before i went on hiatus (to be clear im not fully back yet but i would like to be a little more active) i was working on this and never found the motivation to finish it because i kept finding mistakes and things i had to fix so i just eventually gave up😭 i also don’t want this to just sit in my unfinished wips collecting dust so i felt like i should post it for yall‼️

Do you take alot of pictures?

Yes, but not of usual subjects. The majority of photos I take are screenshots of Google search results, book titles for my tbr list, or art.

Sometimes, my camera roll looks like this if I’m reading an e-book and keeping track of certain parts:

Yes, thanks, I'll join in!

Send asks anyone! (And perhaps specify if you want something Halloween-related, something random, or something SGE-related?)

please can we do inbox trick-or-treating this year. can we make that a thing on tumblr. please please please please please

Rafal do you think you could fit in a jar

~[☆]

Rafal: Of course I could. I simply have no need to.

⸻

I was on the fence about this one since we've only seen magic shrink characters in the context of it happening involuntarily, or as magic responding to identity or another source of magic. So, canonically, I have no idea if Rafal could shrink at will.

Thus, you could interpret his response here as lying to save face—if you wanted to.

The other option is picturing a sorcerer-sized jar.

Yes, I finally did one of these things. The prompt was too intriguing to pass up, so thanks @spirit-of-the-hollow.

Not surprised that this quiz thinks I'm boring. Even I think I'm boring. Yet, I do think it's giving me more credit than I'm due. I don't believe in ghosts, but if there were a killer, I bet I'd freeze or run and hyperventilate (I used to have asthma) and then get caught...

(Also, hmm, should I get sword earrings like the ones in picrew? Then, I'd have a complete set of succession crisis pieces since I already have a small ring shaped like a crown, haha.)

@discjude

@anobody277642

@wisteriaum

@therealrhian

@hyperfixating-chic

@fandomcavalier

@iamverynormalaboutsge

@bellatrixnightshade

@asinine-aspen

@joeykeehl256

@nothing-to-see-hi

@secretly-a-catamount

@heya-there-friends

@clockthing

@luannie

@starryskiesahead

@harmonyverendez

@wheretheoceanglows

If I forgot anyone and left you out, or you would like your tag removed, you can let me know.

Alright time for that uquiz I promised (I spent a lot of time on this so y'all better appreciate it). It's just assigning you a horror protagonist trope. Some are a little mean, but it's all in good fun :). Anyway use the little picrew, add your results and tag your mutuals!!

So here's the quiz and here's the picrew. and here's mine:

@justanotherenbyhere, @helinedmightbehere @namelessgodblr-blog @murderandcoffee @rapidlydecayingcorpse @crying-pan420 @sernhuh people I'll probably add later, and anyone else who wants to join!!

Fine, that’s fair. I’ll take it!

@discjude

@anobody277642

@wisteriaum

@therealrhian

@hyperfixating-chic

@fandomcavalier

@iamverynormalaboutsge

@bellatrixnightshade

@asinine-aspen

@joeykeehl256

@nothing-to-see-hi

@secretly-a-catamount

@heya-there-friends

@clockthing

@luannie

@starryskiesahead

@harmonyverendez

@wheretheoceanglows

If I forgot anyone and left you out, or you would like your tag removed, you can let me know.

Okay since we're on the topic of ur hair

How do you make it so shiny 😭

Magic? Storian? Conditioner? PLEASE TELL ME-

~ [☆]

Rafal: [deadpan] Ah. Of all the questions you could've asked, this is the one you chose? How telling. [His eyes glint with schadenfreude.] A magician never reveals his secrets.

I agree with the anon that said they want to study Rafal

He is rather peculiar lmao

(Rafal do you hear that)

I agree with you and the anon.

⸻

Rafal: [wonderingly to himself] ...I don't resent that designation.

Rhian: No murderous ideation?

Rafal: [confirms,] No murderous ideation.

Rhian: For once then. You are peculiar.

Rafal: What does that mean from you?

Rhian: [to his audience] And there we have it. What exactly? An enigma? We'll never know.

Marialena is boring

And your hair is shiny

So ye

Rafal i choose you

~ [star here (ipads don’t have the star symbol 😭! I hate using tumblr on diff devices)]

[Horror of all horrors. You've evidently fed into his superiority complex and he knows it:]

Rafal: [suppresses a smirk.] No comment.

How do you think Rafal would behave/talk in a highly feverish/delirious physical state?

I have a WIP with this concept in it, but I’m not sure I’ll ever finish it. So, for now, I’ll answer: I think he’d be about the same, but turn more irrational and have a lower tolerance for everything, like a hair-trigger temper, and maybe, not be at his best as far as comprehension or coherency of speech go.

Perhaps, like this:

Rafal: Rhian. The noise down there. Get my students to shut up. I can’t take it. The first person who contributes to my migraine should have their tongue cut out… and be drawn and quartered to a discordant orchestra, so I can’t hear their screams above the music. Usually, I like the screams, but not now. Can’t now. It’s all too harsh. Grates on my nerves. Even without tongues, they’ll sound guttural. [with palpable disgust] But inhuman noise is better—easier to ignore and a reminder that I don’t have to be surrounded by live people.

Rhian: [sighs quietly.]

Rafal: Shame. Didn’t think it’d be you. Hmm, we can use Stymphs instead for your execution, yes? But set it up yourself. I can’t move. And bring me opera glasses. I have to watch, to make sure you do it p- [hacks out a cough] properly. Wake me up when you’re ready to start. And don’t get it wrong—

Rafal, i want to study you like a bug

Like you know those butterfly collections

But less destructive

Put you in a jar maybe

Study your face °^°

~ [☆]

Rafal: [he shuts his eyes for a moment and inhales] This is the exact codswallop I tell Rhian I have to deal with everyday. [He stares forbiddingly.] I will be as unambiguous as possible, so I don’t have to repeat myself. Listen, once, or you’ll rue your existence: I have no interest in indulging that desire of yours. Do not bother me. Study Marialena instead. Squander away your life on something else, for all I care.

[He stalks away, musing to himself.] Never thought I’d see the day Rhian was proven right. I should get a “Keep Out” sign to tap, or perhaps one better: “TRESPASSERS WILL BE KILLED”—wasting my breath on gawkers. Pah.

fern, maybe a little bit of space lmao

You sound so intelligent that I'm intimidated

Thanks. Though, when I write, it's usually more formal than what I'd say in real life. So, don't be intimidated, haha.

And relatedly—I will say, that, I am probably capable of saying a lot of nothing and wording it well enough, so I seem credible. Yet, I'm not an expert on nearly everything I mention, so don't take everything I say as the objective truth.

For example, I could claim:

***FALSE OUTDATED INFORMATION AHEAD***

Heliotropism can easily be disproven and I'm fain to do it, as, by common sense, you'd know that our egocentric view of the universe and ourselves is right, even if modern day scientists argue against geocentrism. Clearly, our perceptions contradict the model they posit, as, if you were to flatten yourself against a wall outside, you would most definitely see the neither the ground nor the building move. Instead, the sun, as it changes position throughout the day, revolves around us. Therefore, I (don't!) submit geocentrism as fact.

How do you keep track of everything??

On tumblr, I have a tagging system.

For real life, I use lists.

Thanks—glad it was accurate to you.

Do you have any nationality headcanons for Rafal or others? Mine is vaguely Finnish, purely because I associate its renowned education system and high literacy rate with him although Rafal himself is a terrible educator a lot of the time. Also, the white hair fits.

Slightly niche Modern AU Rafal headcanon (Does anyone agree or have a different take?):

I had a random association and now, I'm almost certain Rafal would enjoy Russian doomer music, even solely for its vibes (assuming he is the fantasy equivalent of a Westerner who only speaks a Germanic language because most fairy tales in SGE are the Germanic ones. Honestly, one thing I wonder about, even if we have evidence of Spanish and other accents' existence, is how the Woods as we've seen them are rather monolingual, probably for plot convenience, but that depiction just strikes me as a little strange, like, too deeply suspect that their world is that unified, all by itself—unless the Storian is to blame as usual—maybe we're not meant to allot it any critical thought...), although I've looked up some English translations of this genre's lyrics and they are rather dark, so that fits him fairly well—unless being silent with his thoughts would be preferable.

Yet, one clarification to make: Even if the music might resonate with him, I think he wouldn't be a fatalist until much later in whatever character progression he'd have. Instead, I see him as a doomsday prepper, in probably a more I-will-live-against-all-odds, Western, literally every-man-for-himself, individualist sense as that might be more in line with his character in canon. He'd be obsessed with survivalism and TEOTWAWKI (The End of the World as We Know It) as a concept.

Here is an example of the music I found—I'm not sure if this is actually representative of the whole and I don't know much about it or the historical context though.

Also, here are some English lyrics from various songs under the cut that I just happened to like:

Again the spring has come, And warming rays of sun Are looking in my cell through window-panes Again the heart will ache The feelings will awake And memory recalls auld days

Those days will come to me And I shall feel and see The girl whom I loved so long ago That girl came and left That girl I can’t forget Her image’s always in my soul.

Vladimir prison-house Сold northern wind My transport came from Tver And all my evil deeds Lie on my heart like heavy weights

⸻

Stab me with that stare as i walk by It's like poison in my blood It trips me up just like a stone I'm just sick of people, and they're sick of everything

⸻

My ship is sailing straight ahead, avoiding the land The captain drunk and stubborn He'll protect it till the end Drowning to the right, drowning to the left Not enough lifeboats, there isn't help for everyone Swimming away, I'm swimming away somewhere straight, somewhere away

What's your reason for becoming an English Major??

I have a love for stories and meaning, and I couldn't see myself doing much else. Going into academia is seemingly the only appealing vocation to me because it seems to be the most ideas-based and the least "repetitive," in the sense that, of course, all jobs have structure and routine, but at least I will still be stimulated and continue to learn or research as time goes on. There is no dead end that I can see. Aside from that, so many other majors end with a set career. Many people go to school for just an end goal of becoming a lawyer or a doctor, to attain something tangible or to benefit the world directly, but with academia, you go to learn and to play with the ideas. In fact, so far, I have begun to see that not everyone appreciates ideas for their own sake. Language and literature never stagnate, and I don't think humanity will ever run out of debates and discoveries. The other interesting aspect to it, is that you can devote your life's work to even just one niche and still never be "finished" with it, or so I've heard. And while I wouldn't say there are new developments emerging every day, most discourse (probably) never dies or is outdated/discarded completely. And, unlike other fields, we can use papers from decades ago because it's literature/literary theory/interpretations, not science!

Fan of card games??

No, although I can't say for sure since I haven't played many of them.

How do you think the twins (like all of them in SGE) would act in real life?

I'm not sure if I'm interpreting your question correctly, so you can correct me if I'm wrong! I will take the ask to mean that you'd like to know how I think they would they adjust to our modern world, not necessarily them in a Modern AU. (Also, would you like me to include Castor and Pollux? I'm not sure if I'd have an immediate response for them, but I'll try to think of something, if you'd like me to.)

Sophie and Rise Rhian would probably embrace modern conveniences, and Rhian would likely exhibit more fear than Sophie would, in response to them, or he'd conceptualize things like electricity, for instance, as a just another form of sorcery. They would both appreciate modern cosmetics and technology, and Sophie would probably never want to return to old, backward ways when the future is so pristine and sanitary. Rhian, however, would mourn the great architectural feats of our past and our obsession with pragmatism and designs purely focused on utility. Unfortunately, I could see them being prone to believing absurd, medical/political conspiracy theories, and their germophobia becoming worse.

Agatha, Rafal, TCY Rhian, and Japeth would be more skeptical about modernity, at first, I think. Agatha would probably grow used to it, but continue to live by her old ways and values, in many cases. She might get into environmentalism, humanitarian causes, or antiwar efforts, etc. If either Rafal, Rhian, or Japeth saw a use or benefit to modern technology and ways of life, they would likely adapt, especially if it could get them something they desperately wanted. Rhian would probably use some form of broadcasting or social media frequently—and eventually get cancelled. I could also see Rafal or Japeth trying to radically change or impact the modern world if it provoked them. Japeth could go down the activism route (if it's in regards to his being gay), but I can't see him being that selfless about others' rights, others who have nothing to do with him, and I can't come up with any modern objects or activities that might appeal to him. Maybe, he'd even disavow modern technology, if it proved it weren't a means to getting Aric back. In addition, I could also see Rafal being incredibly rude in commanding voice-operated devices, and refusing to entertain the trivial, human-like gestures machines are programmed to recite, like greetings, and he would rarely use "please" and "thank you" in his commands. He'd have no patience for small talk or manufactured, repetitive, pleasantness because it's just a machine, and he'd be damned if a machine expected more respect from him than any human subordinate ever would! And, he'd get irrationally offended by certain output before he realized why things did what they were preprogrammed to do, such as give simple-minded answers that could appear to be an insult to his intelligence and common sense, as, a machine couldn't know his identity. After all, machines aren't capable of being hostile like Adela Sader was. So, eventually, he'd learn. Also, getting automated or human directions from the bodiless voices of intercom systems, at self-checkout lines, or on public transportation would probably infuriate him because he's so used to being the greatest authority at all times. Why abide the law when you can keep above it?