#leonard echowatcher

This cutscene is another "project thats been in my head for x years" thing. I was there in person when they revealed the icebrood Saga, and this particular cutscene was one of the things they showed...So Ive always (in my mind palace) Imagined Leo right next to Crecia, weighing on Rytlock's impulses and conscience.

Sorry buddy, in my canon you don't just have one ex-wife watching your every move with a judgmental gaze, you got two.

I guess Leo is a little less of one seeing as theyre still "together." Or as "Together" as a loveless marriage can be. It's fun thinking about How Leo and Crecia both have their own problems with Rytlock in a past and present way. Crecia knew a version Rytlock before Destiny's Edge, Leo only knows the after. And despite what differences exist in their troubles with Rytlock, Sohothin and Rytlock's dependence on it is at the center of both.

Man we also get to see how Truly Small Leo is for a Charr...and him hunched! He's never hunched! The only exception is in the presence of an Imperator, the only higher ranking charr that would exist for him since hes also a Tribune. <- his size is the core reason why he is always upright.

Why am I phrasing this like this is canon and im dissecting it....I guess it is canon...in a way....bc its my canon... ANYWHO.

It was fun to pump this one out. Im trying to spend less time drawing and therefore making worse art and im not kidding!!! Im a really slow artist so maybe by doing this ill force myself to speed up...I was actually considering inking this until I realized Id have to draw crecia's feathers.DON'T get me wrong, im a slut for detailed lines, I just don't got time for that. My rendered pieces will happen when I need them to.

Lore + art musings:

It's really odd having had this small comic in my head since A Bug In The System dropped! If you don't already know: im a gw2 returner, I played during PoF and dropped off at the beginning of IBS. So this has been in my head for. So. So long! I didnt have the art skill I do now, so its like almost cathartic being able to turn this into something.

At this point in the story, Leo and Rytlock are a year into their breakup (leo exploded at him during The Sacrifice when he learned Rytlock was responsible for freeing Balthazar.) The thing is. Leo is an exceptionally lonely person, and as time went on and especially having an existential crisis over the Olmakhan even existing, it gets a lot worse. Leo is a charr who is attempting to change the legions from within, but he is a guy who, in his very soul, is not meant to be a fighter. For as long as he continues to force himself down the path he has set in place he will always feel uncomfortable in his own life, like somethings always wrong. His relationship with rytlock was almost respite from that...until it blew up. So now Leo is met with continue to be lonely, or accept intimacy with Rytlock back into his life even if its devoid of love (on leo's side. Rytlock will always love him.) He chooses the facade of love over the absence in it...