*CRACKS KNUCKLES* also spoiler for the recent chapters !!
the title is By Candlelight and the yellow tones (as well as cessa's eyes shining through the darkness) has some sort of meaning to it. i had a vision where in one of the nights cessa stayed at schlatt's she finds him hunched over paperwork and he beckons her, half-drunk and she reluctantly lets him lean onto her with his eyes closed
speaking of; guess who is alive and guess who is dead in the canon plotline of augtbi in the way whose eyes are open and whose isn't :))
as mentioned, yellow in color symbolism is depicted as something of a double -edged sword. the color is associated with warmth, vitality, and joy in several cases. this chimes in with cessa's advantages in her seerdom as she holds the power to the future, and has the ability to make or unmake it to her whims
however, cessa is not one of those types of seer archetypes that change the future for good; she isn't a deux ex machina that can make everything better with a snap of a finger. she messes up, she mistimes her moves, and she is human. with such a power, it can mean danger if went unsupervised or misused.
other than cassandra of troy, the yellow is a nod to wifies' SFAWTDE and DAWTDE fictional character; hastur (well, i don't need to tell you how it correlates to her, other than the fact that That Thing is evil and cessa isn't)
look at cessa's hands half-clenched into a fist and half-clinging onto schlatt's sleeve that wraps around the limb that loosely holds a vodka bottle. three fingers (pinky, ring, and middle finger) are closed while her thumb and pointer finger pinches at his sleeves, as if wordlessly and subconsciously telling him to stop drinking his life away
her complexity as a character here shows with her internal turmoil about saving or letting fate do its work to him. it involves her psyche to the implication of the trolley problem but worse; where she had to fight thoughts of either saving a villain or letting it all go down from the canon plot that she knows back in her old world, as well as thoughts of being 'real' and existentially scarred from thinking about a fictional world that is not-so fictional anymore
look at schlatt's peaceful face when he leans on his "daughter"; too peaceful and too still, as if he had died within the arms (or vicinity) of a loved one. his hair is mussed up and messier, a nod to his turbulent and chaotic life before succumbing to both grief and alcohol poisoning.
but what matters if he is near his daughter? what matters that he gets to see her again, despite being in a war? despite seeing her so small, so vulnerable?
in the canon plot, he died surrounded by enemies. in this life, he dies with his daughter's traumatized face as his last memory.
look at cessa's face as she turns away, her visage filled to the brim with guilt, duty, and paranoia. the world is settled on her shoulders with visions shackled to her eyes and mind. look at the way her shoulders (although too dark to see and hidden beneath her hair) square, as if bracing for something. bracing for the emminent future where she has to watch him die.
all depictions of reader in augtbi is beautiful because i have never seen an ugly woman ever. i purposely made her look like a doll, like a toy because in a way; she is a tool and a pawn in dream's game and i intended to make her seem like a doll in doing so
look closer at cessa's hands clutching desperately on the orb (the 'ear' of the chair) as a way to ground herself. the spherical object can also be alluded to two things; an orb that monarchs use in their coronation and the physical representation of the world.
the monarchial, ceremonial orb is a nod to both schlatt and cessa (although unofficially) being part of the imperial family (you can put quackity in there too, but things went south, lets just say) ,, you could even say that this is an actual portrait of the imperial family, albeit in a more personal, informal light
now that i think about it, the mace is a scepter that can also be a representation of her hold and power (literally and metaphorically) in the smp but i didnt draw that there, because im an idiot
the 'orb as a world as we know it' symbolism is alluded to cessa's knowledge and immense power of fate over the entire smp because she knows what comes next, why the future happened and how it will happen. even without the mace, she is arguably one of the most powerful due to her knowledge. and if used properly, she COULD become the most terrifying of all players existing there
but that wont be happening because cessa is human. she forgets, she fucks up, she makes mistakes, and she doesnt act like someone to be feared. she is meek and her plans are unpredictably either going well or going to shit. but thats her humanity in all of this; or at least the humanity she has left since being transported here.
they make me sick they make me SICK im going to draw them happy and silly !! kels i will throw you Another Brick about SAEL (affectionate) ily ily dont ever stop being you <3
OH MHY GOD UNKISSED BRICKS EVERYWHERE THIS IS SO???BEAUTIFUL OH MY GOSH???? THE THOUGHT PUT INTO IT IM SO SICK IM SO SICK AND I JUST WOKE UP💔💔💔💔💔 AGHHHHH. VEEEEUUUEUEUEUUEUEU
IM SO SICK RIGHT NOW IM ACTUALLY SPEECHLESS THE. TGHGE M LOOK AT THEM OHHHH🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁 WAIT WAIT AND THE MACE THING GAHHHHH I WAS THINKING ABT THAT GGHGGHGGH LOOK AT THEM
The yellow ogh my gosh I'M SICK I LOVE HOW HER EYES ALWAYS STAND OUT GAHHHH🔥🔥🔥🔥 not intentional but it has a green hue that reminds meof Dream and it makes me SICK
AND THE LAST DRAWING HELPPPP he's like Ohgod that FREAK is gonna take my daughter away I can feel it and he's absolutely right
