@rosellemoon I Meant To Respond To Your Other Post, But I Think I Missed My Chance. No Need To Apologize

@rosellemoon I meant to respond to your other post, but I think I missed my chance. No need to apologize for the second reblog! I appreciate reblogs! And you always have something insightful to say.

I love viewing Rhian as a victim of circumstance and I agree with your view on how the Pen lacks humanity.

And, huh, I am not that surprised that Rhian’s restlessness started the rot, but I don’t blame him. You’re right. I wonder if he went stir-crazy? I mean, no outside relationships, no vacations at all, etc, etc. It sounds like a lonely, miserable life despite all the prestige he gets, as if he were a high-profile prisoner. No wonder he used to be so clingy and so attached to Rafal. More so as a child, of course, but he did miss Rafal, originally, when Rafal left.

Also, that the restlessness came before Aladdin—I wonder if the Pen was getting bored too, and wanted to jumpstart the (artificial) switch for some excitement/its own entertainment? Maybe, it could have been less malicious at the start, or did it always intend to tear down the brothers?

But, that makes sense, if Rhian's restlessness was Evil, and Evil Attacks/always gets the privilege of striking first, like the opening move to a chess match (that's sort of how I picture it, even if war is messier than that) it only is reasonable that he'd be first one to fall victim to the rot.

"...wicked twinkle." - Ok, now this really seems deliberate on the Pen's part. More than ever. I can't believe it revels in Rhian's suffering! Then again, now I can.

And, I think the Pen "transferred" its "wicked twinkle" to Rhian's eyes as I'm fairly sure that book 1 kidnapper shadow "Rafal's" eyes had a mischievous twinkle or gleam to them.

what if the storian was homophobic

On the occasion of the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year, I thought it would be an appropriate time to post some of my old Raphie aesthetics that I'd stored away. I think nearly all of them predate Rise, so yeah, I'm contradicting canon. What about it?

Also, as usual, none of the photos are mine, and I drew inspiration from other edits I've seen. The only things I can claim are the editing done to some of the images and the dialogue in the first image.

It's a well-known fact by this point that Rafal is often the more mature of the brothers, but actually, something interesting I took note of is how this characterization can also be observed symbolically.

Vulcan calls Rhian "duckling." Rhian also wears a swan feather doublet when he attempts to stand up to Vulcan, yet fails, flounders in his role, and doesn't live up to the image of "swan."

And what sort of creature emerges from Rafal's chest as Fala? What at first appears to be a dark, furry duckling, but actually, it matures, and it turns out Rafal's soul has borne a swan.

Then again, Rafal is also somewhat emotionally immature, so it evens out.

A simple, pink-toned sketch of Sophie. 💃 🖤 🥀