another pair of cards, this time for the twin sisters, Mintaka/Delta (left) (V - La Papesse des Épées) , and Alnitaka/Zeta (right) (XI - l'Ermite des Deniers) !
these two were initially conceived for a different book I wanted to write in the same world as ATTWDC, which would have been following their experiences training under Death / Life respectively, and then realized that I like them a lot more as fully-grown adults, who have complex personal histories but are primarily in supporting roles. and also I had no central conflict for that book to make it a real story lmao
extended notes below the cut
V - La Papesse des Épées
[i.e. the Pope of Swords]
inspired by: The Hierophant / The Pope (V) + the Queen of Swords
meanings: A figure defined by intellect, but also servitude. Strength of mind; sacred hierarchy and orthodoxy; power, but also a state of captivity. A guarded mentality built upon a history of sorrow.
I wanted to draw Delta here in her role as a teacher, especially to reflect how her power largely comes from her relationship to others and is not of her own. Plus, since the Pope is typically depicted with two priests at his feet, I thought it'd be fun to include Oscar (left) and Triste (right) as her students, with the differences in how she taught them (slash their differing values) reflected in her holding a sword in the hand over Triste's head and the sign of benediction over Oscar's. [also for some fun left-hand / right-hand path symbolism :') ]. Furthering this, I gave her earrings depicting a black heart and a throne decorated with bones, reflecting her relationship with Death and her implicit reliance on being his representative as the source of her seat of power.
on the other hand, I like the Queen of Swords for her because while its meanings reinforce all this as a figure of guidance, the queen also has her own history, reflected in her posing. the changes in Delta's personal and pedagogical approaches between Triste and Oscar have been very influenced by getting older and realizing she Really Doesn't Like how Triste turned out moving from being optimistic and ideologically-driven to being pessimistic and survival-driven, which is in turn because, well, seeing the outcomes of war and loss firsthand gave her some stronger opinions on leaders who send soldiers off to their deaths! surprise!
all she wants now is to keep her last remaining family alive and see the war end. Peace, even if it supports the status quo. Supporting status quo, if it will bring peace.
XI - l'Ermite des Deniers
[i.e. the Hermit of Coins]
inspirations: the Hermit (XI) + the 8 of Coins
meanings: A reclusive artisan and duplicitous figure. Knowledge and circumspection; skilled employment; patience; but also and strongly indicating treason, corruption. The Hermit's lantern is one of Truth, and the 8 of Coins bears good services, but both hold a sour note, or perhaps a rogue one.
When I showed this to friends, I described Zeta here as "a skilled doctor with a mercenary ethic," and that's still the best way I can describe her. She bears a rod of Aesculapius, marking her as a healer by trade, but the product she's actually selling here is chains [these will return, in use, in another card :^) ]. now what is that about! girl you're going to get in trouble with Life, stop putting that golden lantern of safety behind you, your sister is worried sick!!! Delta can't take another heartbreak!!
on a compositional note, I made six of the coins the symbols of the four elemental nations + Earth and the Moon, to represent both her prestige and how her decisions ultimately play a pivotal role in shaping the turn of the war/revolution, and the novel as a whole. I think in the traditional 8 of Coins, the coins are supposed to wares (and indeed one of them is, here -- the chains), but, whatever. it's fine. In this card, and in her role in the narrative, it's really Zeta's personal beliefs and non-medical practice (i.e., not her trade per se) that are being highlighted, so.
My goal for both of these is to highlight their differences as people, one which Delta reflects upon in the book: while Delta is more principled, and tries to actively heed her mother's warnings about not getting lost in the wider world (imagine "Stay Alive" playing here...), Zeta is the one who, precisely because she is not principled, ends up actually rejecting the system and heeding their mother's deeper advice to not trust the gods, no matter what they say.
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[ picture ID: a passage labeled as being from chapter 19 of ATTWDC, bolded in the post body below the ID. superimposed behind the text is two repeating phrases: “can’t go” in dark red, and “home” in faded blue. end ID ]
excerpt:
“Triste must have arranged quite the entourage, if he’s willing to give away so much of his plan,” Death observed.
“Either that or going for the most villain points possible,” Karyn grimaced.
“Don’t take any perceived symbolism personally,” Death consoled. “This type of jail cell and others like it are usually used for captured winged soldiers from Avalon.”
“Something something double duty,” she muttered, eyes returning to the cage. “I guess this means we’re going pretty soon then.”
“Not before tonight. Or at least, not until tomorrow morning, if we’re lucky.”
“I can go,” she said pointedly.
Death raised an eyebrow. “And go where, exactly?” he asked dryly. “Life won’t have you.”
“I can always go—“ She stopped. Four letters clogged themselves in her throat.
“Take your time.”
As far as her parents knew, she was dead, or at least long missing. Even if she didn’t have much physical evidence bar the ring and clothing to show the change, it wasn’t as if they would believe her if she explained where she had been for four months. Something flickered, her gaze moved back towards the cage. “If this isn’t the end of it, I at least want to visit somewhere familiar.”
“Planning that can wait until the future arrives. Until then, we can only wait.”
An edit of a scene which has remained mostly unscathed between drafts 5 and 6 of All the Tears We Didn’t Cry! I had made this back when this chapter was number 14 instead of number 19, but I still like it a lot.
shameless plug: ATTWDC is going into its first round of beta reading! check out my sideblog @attwdc for more details!
going to post a ton of cards now that I've finished the "main set" and am moving on to more event-specific / inspired (rather than ones that are focused on character arcs / symbolism)
this pair: la Soldat et l'Ange aux Épées (left) for Karyn's [birth] parents, and the Storm of Swords / the Wake of Cups (right) for Diana's !
will put extended notes below the cut, but both of these have two sort of different cards / meanings that are working in tandem, aligned to the people depicted, that I think come together into holistic images.
la Soldat et l'Ange aux Épées
[i.e., the Soldier of and the Angel upon Swords]
inspired by: the Page of Swords + 9 and 10 of Swords
meanings: The nightmare and the relief from it. Fatigue and injury; fear and worry. the Page represents levelheadedness in danger, the ability to conceal; the ten indicating divorce; however, both figures are impaled on the swords, unable to escape the dream. A mutually assured end.
Karyn's birth mom [Diem] is so interesting to me (actually both of them are. uh. Characters) and I wanted to invoke the scene from an earlier draft of their admittedly pretty gory shared deaths, while also implying that on her end there might be a betrayal aspect at play. Yale [Karyn's dad] wants to leave the fighting behind, and literally pulls both of them free from the battle, but Diem is maybe not so personally committed to walking away and never looking back. though tbf, she is not known to be big on commitment in general. as soon as her relationship with Yale starts to have Consequences (read: surprise pregnancy, followed by a very unpleasant surprise visit from Death), she's going to start looking for a better roof to stay under, because the thing that brings her and Yale together (the desire to Get Out) might be what makes her leave if staying together is starting to itself feel like a threat...
unfortunately for her (and them both, in the end), trying to stand under the protective umbrella of Helike brings its own threats, and, well, when Death wants to send a message, and you are an easy target, the reward for standing under the umbrella might be a lot of stab wounds.
the Storm of Swords / the Wake of Cups
inspired by: the King of Swords + the King of Cups
meanings: Excessive judgment and decisive action rewarded with grief and loss. the king of Swords is imposing and rules by intellect, but war leads to death; meanwhile the king of Cups represents rule by diplomacy, but also withdrawal. together, the balance between a closed fist and an open hand, and especially the pitfalls of each.
my exact thought that led to this card was the phrase "the storm and the wake," inspired by the overlapping meanings of "wake" as a nautical / oceanic term and a funerary rite. Ouch!!! what more is there to say! Diana's mom [Anne] had cultivated her control over water in a way that gave her the reputation of a storm-bearer, heralding Aquarius's military with rain clouds. and of course, Diana's father, Abayan, ended up as prince regnant because, well, Anne was murdered during the war. Due to the war? Due to her unwillingness to bend, to stand down--or, well, it depends on who you ask.
meanwhile, Abayan was a diplomat by study and position before he married into royalty, and also, sometimes grief pushes you to just call it quits and sign whatever agreements are necessary to stop the fighting. Doesn't mean it's the best. But at least people stop dying. And, well, it's much harder to stomach sending others into battle while grieving your own losses...yay......(?)............
OC pride drawing 1/X, ft. Diana (left, bi flag) and Karyn (right, pan flag) :’]
Karyn’s earring is the aperiodic regular tile which was discovered earlier this year, because it wouldn’t be a true pride drawing if I didn’t also flaunt the fact that she’s a nerd and also I happen to think it’s a very pleasant shape
(crying cat image) send help this scene is murdering me in cold blood
“Hey, I put up with you spending ten million years gossiping with everyone we’ve stayed with these last few months,” Karyn replied indignantly. “Plus, I’m the one who’s going to be eating whatever we buy, not you.” When his expression didn’t change, she added flatly: “Fine, I was joking about the convenience store thing. Obviously I’m not a baby, I can wait until morning. But I’m not joking about tagging along. I’m bored out of my mind here, and it’ll be nice to see where we’re at.”
A long moment passed in which Death remained silent, and then just said, “I don’t think that’s wise.”
(bold is what I had written before; included for context)
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you got it! in which Karyn and Death have a mostly mundane conversation about being hungry at 12AM.
A kitchen which, Karyn quickly realized, was devoid of things to eat. Aside from a tin of looseleaf chrysanthemum tea and a random assortment of dried spices, the kitchen was empty; with a small frown Karyn exited the kitchen once more and trundled down the hall toward where Death still reclined in the living room. She peeked her head around the corner with a raised eyebrow and spoke with faux levity. “Hey. Quick question.”
“Hm?”
“There’s like nothing to eat in this apartment?”
“No, there isn’t.” Death grimaced. “And as I had no intention of leaving you alone while also asleep to rectify the issue, it wasn’t possible to fix that before night fell. Tomorrow if it suits you then I can go out and see for such things.”
“I can come with you. My feet and legs are mostly fine, and I’ll be awake,” Karyn said dryly. “Anyway, we could just go now. Where are we, anyway? There’s got to be a convenience store or something open.”
finished the reference for my eternal yearning son, Oscar :') he is more of a supporting cast character than main cast but I love him so much I had to finish his first in the lineup
OC pride illustration 2/?, this one ft. Karyn (left, pan) and Death (right, pan/ace & nonbinary) ! because it's ridiculous to me that I have never drawn them together for pride month! talking about sexuality stuff (in a friend way) is a very significant part of their canon relationship !!
