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Im & Aer

CoutelierCoutelier Member Posts: 1,282
Im & Aer, is a new blog featuring art, stories, and chat, presented by the hostesses, Imoen Winthrop, and her best friend and sidekick, the wingless wonder, Aerie.

Basically just an excuse for me to repost a load of my old stories and pictures, as well as be silly with Immy hosting a radio show talking about all sorts of topics with Aerie, and in future have other characters come in as guests to talk about specialist subjects. There'll be more Baldur's Gate themed stuff featuring more other characters on my main blog as well. And most of my pictures and stuff are also on DeviantArt.

Anyway, here's a little intro:

Aerie

The Rule of Three

Imoen: C’mon, Aerrers. It’ll be fun!

Aerie: No.

Imoen: Seriously; I don’t get what you’re worried about. It’ll just be you, me, your bestest friend who’ll never let anything bad happen to you, and maybe one or two other… just talking about stuff.

Aerie: No. W-what’s the point?

Imoen: I don’t know; some people might be interested in what you have to say. And I’ll make sure you don’t get asked somethink totally buffleheaded.

Aerie: I… I don’t want to. W-why can’t you just accept it and leave me alone?

Imoen: Because, kid, whenever you’re in a room and there’s anyone else besides me, you can sort of… clam up. Get all anxious, worried and nervous. But when we’re alone, you relax and you’re smart, sweet, and even very funny, sometimes… and I want more people to see the real you like that.

Aerie: I… I-I’ll hardly be relaxed, will I? N-not if I know there are hundreds of people watching…

Imoen: Oh, I doubt there’ll be hundreds. There’ll be about fifty, maybe… if we’re lucky. But they’ll be your fans, so they’ll be ultra-nerdy, I expect. The kinda guys who ain’t interested in just looking at someone’s cleavage, although that’s nice sometimes as well… but they really just wanna be around a nice girl who will look after them when they’re not feeling well, and help them glue the nacelles on their model Enterprise…

Aerie: I-I… no! A-absolutely not. I am not doing it.

Imoen: You won’t see any of ‘em, thank the gods. And we’ll get to talking ‘bout stuff you’re really interested in, like science, and art, and philosophy. It’ll just be us at first, but we’ll get others involved and the it’ll be like a brainy version of The View, and I’ll be like a younger, less terrifying Joy Behar.

Aerie: Right… a-and, who am I in your little role-play?

Imoen: Well… you’re blonde haired, and pretty…

Aerie: No, no, thrice no! I-I would actually rather you backstabbed me and then garrotted me with my own intestine, than be compared to that… thing.

Imoen: (snortles) No… that… that is shocking, Aerie. Coming from you, too. Imagine she somehow read this? You could have really hurt her feelings.

Aerie: There’s no way she reads.

Imoen: Well… what about her family? You don’t wanna upset them, do you?

Aerie: No… look, I-I’m sorry. I just… I don’t want to have people gawking at me.

Imoen: It won’t be like that. It won’t be a sideshow… no one’ll be prodding you with a stick. And, it’ll be a chance for you to prove wrong the people who misjudge you and give you all them labels.

Aerie: I just… I-I don’t want to do it. And that’s that.

Imoen: Do you need a hug? I’ll give you a hug if you do it.

Aerie: No.

Imoen: And some cookies?

Aerie: No.

Imoen: And a box of chocolates… mmm?

Aerie: I-I… oh, all right. I’ll do it.

Comments

  • CoutelierCoutelier Member Posts: 1,282
    edited January 2013
    Imoen and Aerie talk a little bit about role-play, and how they found it. Although, they digress a bit; it's to be expected from Imoen; she not as bad as Jan, but still, sometimes she seems like she has the attention span of a toddler.

    Safana did show up as well, but she sort of had the wrong idea:

    Role-Play

    Role-Play

    Imoen: So, I thought we’d play a game. Not just any game though. Because, y’know, it’s funny; none of us have ever played a role playing game before.

    Aerie: It’s… not that funny, really. We just don’t have time. We’re too busy fighting real monsters.

    Imoen:Yer right… we don’t have time. After we played a game yesterday, I’m not sure who does, to be honest. Whose lives are so empty, so devoid of any meaningful kind of contact, that they can just spend all day in doors with the curtains drawn rolling dice, making up dumb rhymes like ‘black is the sky, and green is thy hue. The night is mine, and you are too…’ I mean, what kind of pitiful, basement dwelling, sub-human troll can just sit on their arse all day and come up with that kind of nonsense?

    Aerie: Well… y-you did. Just now.

    Imoen: Well, it was boring though, wasn’t it? Half the day had gone before we could even start playing. It was the dullest thing I’ve ever done. And I’ve sat through one of Garrick’s poems. It was boring.

    Aerie: Maybe if we dressed up, y-you might have gotten more into it?

    Imoen: It’s just any excuse for you. But… what would be point? It weren’t like we were in a play. We were all just sat around doing nothing, really. Just wasting time.

    Aerie: But, i-if people didn’t waste time like that, w-e might not exist…

    Imoen: Hee… yeah; the fans are gonna love all this, right? But, y’know, it wasn’t me. I’m an active person. I like to actually be doing stuff.

    Aerie: But you do spend a lot of time reading and studying spells, s-so it’s not like you’re bouncing up and down all the time and just can’t sit still.

    Imoen: Yeah, but that’s different. There, I’m actually learning stuff that’s useful. Like how to shrink Anomen’s underpants while he’s still wearing them. Important stuff like that. You did like it though, a little bit?

    Aerie: Well, I think the problem was, you didn’t really do much role play. I mean, t-the character you made was… just you, really. But with pointy shoes, and a hat.

    Imoen: Yeah, so? I like me. Why wouldn’t I want to me? I’m brilliant.

    Aerie: mmm… s-sometimes I worry that you’re becoming a tiny bit narcissistic…

    Imoen: Yer just jealous. And what about you? You wanted to be a chaotic evil barbarian warrioress…

    Aerie: I-I thought the point was to see what it would be like to be someone completely different from yourself…

    Imoen: But you didn’t. I mean, you didn’t see it through. When the assassins asked you to help them poison the village, you decided to conk them all on the head and save everyone instead. And from then on you were just helping every character you met.

    Aerie: I didn’t want to be that evil. I mean, t-there were children in that village that I spoke to…

    Imoen: No there weren’t. It was just me speaking in an even more high pitched voice.

    Aerie: But, t-they all seemed so sweet and adorable…

    Imoen: Obviously. But they weren’t real. And, y’know, I told you at the start that would happen. ‘Cos I know you, and you’re the same when you’re reading a book; you just get too involved in the world and the characters. There was no way you could play anyone evil and heartless.

    Aerie: But, e-even if I was someone totally unscrupulous who had no empathy… I-I don’t see what I’d gain by poisoning and killing every person who looks at me the wrong way. E-even if you’re a psychopath, I think you’d work out intellectually that that doesn’t benefit you in the long run… I mean, you were wanting to march into barracks and just slaughter an entire battalion of armed knights. That would have been stupid.

    Imoen:Not at our level. We could have taken ‘em easily.

    Aerie: In the game, maybe… b-but real people don’t have levels or hit points. You could be the greatest warrior ever to live; it still only have to take one hit, o-or even just a scratch, sometimes, to kill you…

    Imoen: It’s just a game, Aerie… you don’t have to worry about it. It’s liberating yourself and doing things that you couldn’t do in real life… I thought that was the point.

    Aerie: But you didn’t enjoy it, much, did you?. A-and, I just think, if you don’t really immerse yourself in the world and the characters, then of course it’s not going to be much fun.

    Imoen: Maybe yer right. But my point was, if you want to see what it’s like to be evil, then you have to detach yourself a little more and stop caring about fake, pretend people so much.

    Aerie: It… it was a mistake to try being evil. Y-you’re right, I couldn’t enjoy it, because, well… it wasn’t me, I suppose. But, I did like conking a lot of people on the head. Bad people, that is.

    Imoen: Sure; it’s alright if they’re bad people. But, it’s gotten me worried, Aerie. Do… do you not like yourself? Are you not happy with who you her? ‘Cos, you know I like you, right?

    Aerie: Um… thank you. But, I-I am happy with who I am.

    Imoen: You’re sure? There’s nothing you want to change about yourself?

    Aerie: I’m sure. W-why do you keep asking?

    Imoen: I just find it… interesting, I suppose, that you’re character was a warrior as well. One who is easily the equal of any man in physical strength, whose legendary fighting prowess is feared by all enemies who tremble in sight of her towering presence… your words.

    Aerie: Well, I-I… believe me, I am very attached to my body. But, obviously, sometimes… o-only sometimes… I-I wish I was taller. And stronger. And more confident. That’s not strange, is it? I mean… you’re hardly much bigger than me. There must have been times in your life when you’ve wished you could just… knock someone’s teeth out.

    Imoen: Yeah, I s’pose. What I learned to do was just humiliate them instead. Bit of laxative in their drinks, putting lizards in their drawers… classic pranks like that.

    Aerie: But, you’d still be in a lot of trouble if they caught you?

    Imoen: I could run really fast, and I’m pretty good at climbing too.

    Aerie: Well, I-I’m not a fast runner. I used to be, when I was younger, but not anymore.

    Imoen:So, who is it you’d like to knock out? Viconia?

    Aerie: No. I mean, all she really does is call you names. And, you told me, i-if you ignore her she gets bored. Eventually. Although, s-she did say some creepy thing about how I wasn’t so entertaining to her anymore… but, anyway, I think I’ve actually met worse people than her. Like Tira.

    Imoen: That’s not Tira from Soul Calibur.

    Aerie: No. Although, I-I don’t like her much either. She keeps trying to make me hold her sword…

    Imoen: Yeah, it… sounds even more creepy when you say it like that. But the Tira you’re talking about was someone who used to bully you when you were up and about and actually working in the circus, right?

    Aerie: Uh-huh. I-I don’t know why she didn’t like me, because I never said anything around her at all. At least, not before she started tripping me all the time as I was trying to work. Then kicking me, throwing dirt in my face while her friends held me down. A-and that was the most frustrating thing; she was never alone, so it was never a fair fight. So, yes; I wished I was a six foot tall barbarian warrior so I could smash her face in. A-and not feel guilty about it later. But… e-even if I was six foot tall and had… muscle… I-I suspect I would feel guilty, so I’d be hurting myself again anyway. That’s frustrating too. That’s why I thought it would be good to role play as someone not inhibited by their conscience, o-or restrained by any ethics.

    Imoen:That’s horrible! But, y’know, I know you pretty well, but it does seem like when I talk to you that there hasn’t been a single time in your life when there hasn’t been someone making you suffer. It is amazing that you don’t snap more often.

    Aerie: No. Well… I-I don’t know. I guess I’m lucky because, e-even when things have been at their worst for me, there’s always been someone around who has been good and kind. So, that helps offset all the badness. And anyway; why should I change who I am because of a few clowns?

    Imoen: You’re right. And, this chat reminds me of when I was very young and I was bullied.

    Aerie: You were?

    Imoen: I know; you find it hard to believe that anyone could be mean enough to want to hurt someone so cute and adorable, right?

    Aerie: Hee… not really.

    Imoen: Well, regardless of that, I was bullied by some bigger girl who was like a hundred pounds of muscle powered by a brain the size of a walnut. So, I asked ol’Puffguts what to do, and he said that I’ve gotta stand up to ‘em. He told me, next time they start picking on me, I should just turn round and give ‘em a big ol’slap across the cheek. So, that’s exactly what I did.

    Aerie: What happened?

    Imoen: Well, before I lost consciousness, I remember cursing Winthrop for giving me the worst advice ever. I think one slap was about all I got in. But, to be fair, I was left alone after that. I think once she realised I was prepared to fight back, even if not very well, she then decided I wasn’t worth the trouble. I lost my eyesight for a few days, but it worked out in the end, I guess.

    Aerie: (laughs) But, I think we have strayed a bit off topic.

    Imoen: Yeah, so role playing. I did ask Safana if she wanted to join us too, but she got the wrong idea and showed up in some kind of maid outfit. I don’t know why she thought I would be interested in that sort of role-play, with her, but… anyhow, I guess I thought the game was okay. It was just a bit too long and slow for me, really.

    Aerie: I-it was enjoyable… but I prefer fighting games.

    Imoen: Well, there ya go. What we’ve learnt is that role playing, but Aerrers really just enjoys smashing in faces… it’s always the quiet ones, I guess. But y’know, we could set that up…

    Aerie: Set what up?

    Imoen: You and Tira… You said you were frustrated by it not being a fair fight before. But now we can do what we want, so we could set up a ring and you could duke it out.

    Aerie: No… I’m okay.

    Imoen: I reckon you could take her one on one. I’ve seen her; she’s not that tough looking. And you’ve had a lot more experience than her by now…

    Aerie: No, I’ve got nothing to prove. There’s no reason for me to fight her.

    Imoen: What if we sold tickets and gave the money to a charity? So it was for a good cause… would you fight her then?

    Aerie: W-why are you so keen to see me boxing someone? I would expect it from Coran, but…

    Imoen: Didn’t say it had to be boxing. I just thought it would be good for you to let out all your frustration… and buy a new roof for the orphanage. But y’know, if you don’t wanna help…

    Aerie: Well then, s-surely they’d pay more to see me fight you?

    Imoen: Nah. See, I was trying to set you up in a match you actually had a chance of winning. Thought it might boost your confidence. But it was just a thought. Forget it.

    Aerie: I could take you. Although of course, y-you would have to cheat. You’d be all ‘no, no, you can’t hit me! I-I’m weak and I have a heart condition! Look, is that Jane Austen?’

    Imoen: Now, there’s someone you really don’t want to get into a fight with.

    Aerie: Yes. S-she does swear a lot more than I thought she would.

    Imoen: A lot more. I wasn’t expecting so many tattoos either.

    Aerie: O-or for her to be a man named Rory.

    Imoen: Yeah. Well, that’s about all we’ve got time for folks. Join us next time when Aerie’ll be telling us all about some woman who did something with mushrooms. I’ve no idea, but look forward to it anyway. G’night.
    Post edited by Coutelier on
  • CoutelierCoutelier Member Posts: 1,282
    Viconia:

    Viconia

    Aerie & Viconia

    They never used to get on... and still don't, to be honest. Like many people on Faerun, Aerie had grown up with stories of the drow as sort of 'boogeymen' who just came out at night to conquer, destroy and enslave. Viccy was the first drow she ever actually met, and unless her life is threatened she never really does much to dissuade anyone from that point of view. Indeed, she seems to enjoy playing up to the stereotype and revels in the reactions she gets... she especially enjoyed Aerie being afraid of her:

    Viconia Intimidates

    Things have changed a bit nowadays. Having actually been to and survived the Underdark, and met other drow who make an effort not to be evil, open-minded Aerie has changed her view and now believes that evil drow are a product of a wicked society, rather than being innately evil themselves. And that Viconia is certainly not a boogeyman; she's just a bitch.

    Unless she can't avoid it, Aerie has always tried to stay out of Viccy's way in any case. There was, however, one time when they did actually come to blows:

    Catfight

    It was over who got the last tub of ice cream.

    The fight ended when Edwin made the mistake of thinking this was a PPV, pulled up a chair, and started eating the ice cream. Big mistake. Eddie has many fetishes, but masochism isn’t one of them.
  • CoutelierCoutelier Member Posts: 1,282
    Chick Geek of the Week - Beatrix Potter

    Potter

    Imoen: Now, apart from the chocolates and cookies and a hug, Aerie did have one other condition I had to agree to before she would let our conversation be recorded.

    Aerie: I didn’t want it to just be silly. I-I thought we could be educational and informative.

    Imoen: Right. See, little Aerrers here, she might look like she stepped out of an anime with her big almond eyes, but what people may not know is that actually, you’re… you’re something of a natural philosopher, aintcha?

    Aerie: If… i-if you say so…

    Imoen: I mean, you’re like a true, blue skies, science-y type. You’re not interested in trying to change the whole world at once. You just want to know why the world is what it is now… you’re fascinated by discovering how things work and how they all connect and relate to each other. And you’re a real polymath as well, ‘cos you’re into everything.

    Aerie: Whereas, y-you’re only interested in things if they go ‘pop’, or make Anomen itch, or my tongue change colour…

    Imoen: I’m more practical, sure. But anyway, you’ve been reading a lot of history and literature lately, and you want to tell us about some people who have stood out to you. Like heroes.

    Aerie: Well… I-I think they’re worthy of respect, yes.

    Imoen: Out of interest, who are your heroes? Supergirl, maybe? She can fly, right?

    Aerie: Er… n-no. I don’t like Supergirl.

    Imoen: You don’t? Why not?

    Aerie: Is it important? I-I think we should just…

    Imoen: Well, I think we should sort it out, ‘cos she might be listening. You know what she’s like; soon as she hears her name mentioned she’ll start homing in…

    Aerie: I-I’ve nothing against her as a person. I’m not saying she should be banned, or anything like that. I-I just preferred the Batgirl comics. I think all those ‘super’-people are just too powerful.

    Imoen: You want your heroes to be underdogs, then. People who have to really struggle to overcome obstacles and foes, ‘cos that’s you find relatable.

    Aerie: Is that a problem?

    Imoen: Nope. I mean, I’m with you; I don’t really like heroes who are just the strongest and best at everything, or who only ever get into fights if they’re choreographed. What I like more is heroes who are smart and use their wits.

    Aerie: Right. Well, t-the people I want to talk about didn’t get into that many fights, I don’t think… but they were smart.

    Imoen: They’re all women, aren’t they? Women who have contributed to civilization and society, but who you think don’t always get the credit they deserve. Women you think should be… I don’t know, feminist icons? You think they deserve that more than say, Wonder Woman, whose main contribution has been running around with a whip in a leotard.

    Aerie: I-I think it’s a lasso…

    Imoen: Doesn’t matter; she can’t hear us. The women you wanna talk about are not necessarily every man’s fantasy, but are nevertheless pretty wonderful, right?

    Aerie: Right.

    Imoen: Right, so, we’ve decided to call this ‘Chick Geek of the Week.’

    Aerie: Well… y-you decided to call it that. I was against it…

    Imoen: So, Aerrers, who is chick geek of the week this week?

    Aerie: Oh… i-it’s Beatrix Potter.

    Imoen: She’s already quite famous, though. Mainly for her work with rabbits… but, there has been a film made about her, and everything.

    Aerie: Right. B-but, I was disappointed that the film didn’t really go much into her interest in mycology.

    Imoen: Which is?

    Aerie: T-the… the study of fungi.

    Imoen: Mushrooms. You… you think that would have made a much better film?

    Aerie: I… I-I don’t know, but… i-it was a big part of her life. I-it was what she wanted to do before writing stories… s-she was fascinated by science and nature, and that’s what helped feed her imagination…

    Imoen: Maybe if we’d eaten mushrooms before watching it?

    Aerie: (snickers) I… I-I don’t know. But, be-before she started drawing rabbits in blue coats, s-she spent a lot of time studying fungi under a microscope and drawing those. She was actually very interested in almost every science, but in particular in botany and shrooms, yes.

    Imoen: So she was very eclectic. Bit like you. Wasn’t there somethink ‘bout her being the first to realise that lichens were made up of two separate organisms?

    Aerie: Fungi and algae… b-but that isn’t true. I mean, it is, but she didn’t discover it. O-or she might have done, but it had already been discovered by someone else…

    Imoen: Aerie, take a breath… slow down and say what you mean.

    Aerie: She… she did come up with her own theories on the germination of fungal spores, which she had to submit to the royal society via her uncle, because women weren’t allowed in. But then, w-we don’t know why, but she later withdrew her paper.

    Imoen: Was it that no-one would take her seriously?

    Aerie: Maybe. O-or maybe she just felt it needed more work. I don’t know. But it was the problem she had. She was very clever and talented, doing all these amazing, really detailed illustrations of fungi and what she saw under the microscope… b-but because she was a woman, she couldn’t get access to the scientific institutions and to all the other people doing research as well.

    Imoen: So, how did she become interested in shrooms?

    Aerie: W-well, like most other Victorian women of her… h-her class, she was privately educated and became interested in art and science, and her parents never discouraged her. She… s-she kept a diary from when she was fourteen, w-which she wrote… something I might think about doing…

    Imoen: Yeah, go ahead; I like a challenge.

    Aerie: A… a-anyway, lots of Victorians were interested in botany and nature. Beatrix was, l-like you said, eclectic. She collected fossils, and did some archaeology, and looked at insects… b-but, she was drawn to fungi because she liked the colours and their… evanescence. Then, when she was on holiday, she met a man who was a naturalist…

    Imoen: Ewww… what, in Victorian England? Wouldn’t she have run away screaming? And he’ll have been locked up and everything he touched burned?

    Aerie: A… a naturalist, Imoen. Not a nudist. Anyway, he taught her more and she became more interested, and she went away and started developing her own theories.

    Imoen: So he got her hooked on mushrooms, I guess just ‘cos he was such a fun guy to be with, right?

    Aerie: uhhhg… that’s… t-that’s awful…

    Imoen: But the mushroom stuff sort of fell through. But, luckily, she had a fall back career, right?

    Aerie: Yes. She started writing, a-and illustrating, children’s stories. Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny.

    Imoen: And the rabbit drawings, for reasons we cannot begin to fathom, became more popular than the mushroom drawings?

    Aerie: Y-yes… I-in fact, I found out that Peter Rabbit was the first character ever to be licensed and have his own… h-his own brand of toys and other merchandise.

    Imoen: Shocking. It sounds like, though, you really just like her because she’s a bit like you; eclectic, interested in all sorts of stuff, and likes fluffy things as well. Your children’s hasn’t reached the public yet… but you are working on it?

    Aerie: I-I don’t know. I don’t think I could come up with anything that compares to Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter… underneath the big fir-tree.

    Imoen: Sure, that’s… that’s genius. Forget Shakespeare.

    Aerie: Well, y-you’d have probably stayed awake through his plays if they’d been acted out by animals.

    Imoen: Yeah… imagine if Hamlet had been a pig?

    Aerie: (grins) T-the play could have been called ‘Danish Bacon’.

    Imoen: (snortles) Anyway… that wraps it up for this week I reckon. Beatrix Potter; a possible genius who was denied by the prejudice of society… but who got her own back by inflicting fluffiness on the world. G’night.

    __

    notes: For the pic, I obviously wanted to show the pair surrounded by shrooms and bunnies... unfortunately, I discovered I didn't actually have any models of bunnies. A quick search only revealed toon and plushie doll type things.

    Luckily, I remembered I still had Minsc and Yoshimo dressed in their easter bunny outfits.
  • CoutelierCoutelier Member Posts: 1,282
    edited January 2013
    Imoen and Aerie share a few thoughts about each other. Imoen is a great big Aerie fangirl. Aerie is also a fangirl of Imoen, but is less wordy than her friend, and pretty much just wants to get the whole interview done quick, but the quirks she describes are really part of the reason Aerie likes her. And Imoen does tend to digress a bit when she's chatting away.

    AerieImoen

    Imoen: Okay, so, the big headed fella’ere is sticking some kind of wand in my face n’telling me to say what I think ‘bout Aerrers… Aerie. Right… sheesh, they knew who I meant… I mean the clues in the picture, right? N’what’s wrong with the way I speak, ya’ blunderhead? I get enough of that carp from that gripey termagant Nalia… I ain’t taking none of it from yous too… I am speaking common!

    Fine.

    So, what do I like most about Aerie?

    Well, I guess I quite like how she can heal me when I’ve got a runny nose. And she’s real, really, cuddly as well… it’s hard to choose which one is best. I guess the cuddles, ‘cos you can do that whenever and it cheers us both up. I also like how her cheeks go really red when she’s embarrassed or angry. It’s real cute.

    But as a person… she is very nice, and kind, and all that. Even when she’s mad at me, she still makes a fuss and worries if I’m hurt. It’s strange though, ‘cos she doesn’t really like being around people, like in a crowded inn or whatever, but she always wants to help them if she can. I mean, she is very interested in people. Whenever she can, she pesters everyone with questions about what they’re thinking, doing, why do they think that… I think she wouldn’t mind being a novelist, since she want’s to know everything about everyone’s character. It’s just a lot people in once place makes her nervous, so acting was never really gonna happen.

    But anyway, she doesn’t like people being bullied, abused or trapped, in any way whatsoever; that really riles her feathers… it’s alright; she’s gotten used to all that.

    I think she’s braver than me, too. So, if she sees any of that stuff going on, she’ll jump right in to stop it, putting herself in harm’s way. I know, that’s kinda what got her stuck in a cage, but… she hasn’t let all that change her that much, really… she still cares. She’s a lot tougher than I think most folk can understand… ‘cos, you know, getting all nasty and cynical ‘bout the world, that’s the very easy way. Being nice in spite of all the crappy badness life throws at ‘ya; that’s real difficult. But that’s who she is… she stumbles and falls down a lot, but she gets up and keeps trying her best and won’t let anything defeat her.

    Oh… and she’s smart too. Real smart. I mean, most mages, like me and Nals and Eddie, we’re really good at reading a scroll, remembering it, and repeating it again and again. And we can do numbers and stuff in her heads… but, I don’t think that’s real intelligence. Like on your world, you’ve got your little blinking boxes that can do all that… ‘puters, right? But they ain’t smart, ‘cos you gotta tell them how to do everything or they start bleeping and stop working, then when you push the button again, they’ve got the damn cheek to tell you it was your fault ‘cos you didn’t shut down properly, or saink… I dropped the one I was given out a window for being too damn cocky all the time…

    But yeah, anyway… Aerie’s got that extra something. Don’t know what it is. Intuition, maybe? I don’t know. She can do numbers and remember and all that as well, put… she can see patterns where other people can’t, and she can sometimes put things together that no-one else had thought of putting like that before. And she’s really good at lateral thinking puzzles, too. Maybe it’s just that she sees the world a little differently, and she’s more amazed by stuff and looks at it more closely.

    Any bad points?

    She doesn’t really whine. I know some buffleheads say she does, but no… she’s quiet around most people and just gets on with stuff. Sometimes she talks to me about her problems, but we’re friends, so that’s alright. And she worries about me just as much… it’s just, well… see I’m not very good at talking about, well, y’know… feelings and stuff. So I tend to just make a joke of it, and she can take it the wrong way. She can be very sensitive; that’s number one. Not all the time; she jokes around sometimes as well, but, yeah…

    She doesn’t get really angry very often, but when does… boy. It’s like a fireball going off… not literally; she doesn’t try to physically hurt any of us. Very rarely she does, anyway. But she can get real nasty. But at least, when she calms down, she always tries to make up for it. Like, when she had that spat with Jaheira, when it had all settled down, Aerrers spent the next tenday bringing her breakfast, polishing her shield, cleaning her boots, even offered to do her hair… I think that all actually annoyed Jae more. They get on now; Aerie kinda looks up to her, and Jae actually likes being yelled at sometimes.

    And the other thing is, she’s convinced she can beat me. Sparring, racing, chess, buckaroo… you name it. Doesn’t matter how many times I thrash her at all those things, she still thinks she’s close, and the next time’ll be different. She thinks I cheat, but she hasn’t been able to prove nothing… heh; she never quits though. And obviously I can’t let her win, ‘cos she would know and would never forgive me, and I think it’s good for her to have a goal… even if it is way out of her reach. She’ll keep trying and getting better. And so will I, see?

    --

    Aerie: Y-you… you want me to talk into… i-into this? But, I-I don’t really know what to say… I’m not really much of a public speaker. I-I don’t even sing when I’m alone in the bath… o-okay… I’ll try my best.

    What do I like about Imoen?

    That’s… that’s a good question. C-can I have some time to think about it? No? Oh.

    W-well, then, I suppose… she’s quite funny, sometimes. She enjoys being her own person and doesn’t seem to care too much what other people think… s-she’s just so carefree, and enjoys life, and doesn’t seem to want to waste a moment of it. I-I guess she reminds me a little of me, when I was her age.

    And, s-she doesn’t talk down to me like some others do. I mean, s-she does call me kid sometimes, even though I’m older… but then she says you’re only as old as you feel, w-which I know is a cliché but I guess is sort of true. And she does jump on me, sometimes, a-and tweak my nose and my ears, pinches things, steals my diary… but, she doesn’t treat me differently to anyone else.

    No; she doesn’t bully me. I mean, i-it’s nice of you to be concerned but, honestly, I-I’m not the pushover people think I am. If I really didn’t like, or thought she was doing any of those things to be nasty, I-I wouldn’t put up with them. And she never hurts me, or anything like that, so…

    Yes… anyway. Imoen is kind. Usually, if she sees me or anyone looking sad, s-she’ll tell a joke or tell a game to take your mind off it. She says I think too much, sometimes, a-and make myself all anxious and sad, so she’s always trying to distract me. Although I think she does it as much to distract herself as me.

    Of course, she does get sad, sometimes, yes. A-and I think sometimes she feels very lonely, e-even with all her siblings around. Because, s-she’s always trying to be cheerful and make it so that they don’t worry about her… but really, she’s gets very scared and confused sometimes, a-and I don’t think she knows how to tell anybody. And that’s why she does dumb things. She’s not good at talking about any feelings; like, w-when a young man, who I knew she liked, tried to kiss her once, she just blew a raspberry and ran away with his wallet.

    She’s very childish. I-I guess we sometimes all think she should grow up, but then… i-its part of her charm, I suppose. And s-she is clever, she just doesn’t take things seriously or always a-apply herself as much as she should… i-if she did, she would be dazzling, and I’d have no chance of ever catching her…

    Bad points?

    Well, l-like I said; she’s childish. Sometimes, she can a bit inconsiderate, a-and doesn’t always realize that even though something is fun for her, it might be ruining the fun for other people. And she doesn’t understand concepts like property or privacy… y-you just get used to that.

    Honestly, she just doesn’t think much beyond what’s happening around her, or consider that there might be negative consequences for people far away or in the future. Like she lives in her own world that’s shielded and separate from the other world outside…

    But, I-I don’t know. I guess I like being part of Imoen’s World, sometimes… it’s fun and there’s nothing there is ever malicious.
    Post edited by Coutelier on
  • ReadingRamboReadingRambo Member Posts: 598
    edited January 2013
    I really like the art in these; just how I picture Imoen and aerie, two of mm most used npcs in my bg 2 parties. I especially like Imoens outfit; looks very fitting for a roguish arch mage
  • CoutelierCoutelier Member Posts: 1,282

    I really like the art in these; just how I picture Imoen and aerie, two of mm most used npcs in my bg 2 parties. I especially like Imoens outfit; looks very fitting for a roguish arch mage

    I like it too; although the skirt part does cause problems in some poses. But I do find it fun sometimes to dress the characters up and put them in more surreal situations.

  • ajwzajwz Member Posts: 4,122
    The only thing I dont like (and this is likely a limitation of the software rather than anything else) is how *thin* a lot of the clothing looks. Even the clothing that is supposed to be skimpy, I still have difficulty believing its not so flimsy it would just fall off.
  • CoutelierCoutelier Member Posts: 1,282
    ajwz said:

    The only thing I dont like (and this is likely a limitation of the software rather than anything else) is how *thin* a lot of the clothing looks. Even the clothing that is supposed to be skimpy, I still have difficulty believing its not so flimsy it would just fall off.

    Maybe, although I sometimes find the opposite as well, as sometimes there's a gap between the clothing and the skin which makes the clothing look bigger than it should (it wasn't until I did the summer/bikini stuff that I noticed how thin of lot the characters arms were). But armor is the most troublesome thing... well, you might have noticed in some of the pictures I put up of Minsc, the way it conforms to him and bends in a way that armor really shouldn't. There are ways around that, so I'll have to try and keep an eye on it more in future.

    There's also a way to drape clothing; the software runs a simulation that makes clothing fall more naturally over the figure, whatever pose they're in. It just takes longer than I usually have time for, and it probably wouldn't do much about clothing being thin. I'll have to look into it more some time though.
  • Kitteh_On_A_CloudKitteh_On_A_Cloud Member Posts: 1,629
    I LOVE the way you characterize both Imoen and Aerie. It's just perfect, like how I imagined them all along. Imoen with her little 'Winthrop quirks' is especially excellent. More, please? :)
  • CoutelierCoutelier Member Posts: 1,282

    I LOVE the way you characterize both Imoen and Aerie. It's just perfect, like how I imagined them all along. Imoen with her little 'Winthrop quirks' is especially excellent. More, please? :)

    There will be more, almost definitely; it is just a script that gives me an excuse to do silly pictures as well. :)

    I've been thinking on the format; they talk a bit about some random subject, with another NPC as a guest 'expert'. Skie would be history, Nalia would be society and politics, Jaheira/Cernd/Faldorn would be biology and the environment... then Aerie names a Chick Geek of the Week...

    I'm wondering whether to give other characters their own 'slots' though.
  • LadyRhianLadyRhian Member Posts: 14,694
    @Couteller Try Cute Overload.com They have tons of bunny pictures (Today is "Bunday", and yesterday was "Caturday". You can also search "Bunny" or "Rabbit" on DeviantArt. Some are drawn cartoons, but you also find pics like this: image and image or image
  • Kitteh_On_A_CloudKitteh_On_A_Cloud Member Posts: 1,629
    @LadyRhian: Excellent pictures (and super cute!), but I think the OP is talking about modelling packages you use in modelling software. You see, certain accessories such as dresses, furniture and animals you have to buy seperately to implement in your basic modelling program. Think of it as some kind of DLC. I agree, it can get a bit expensive in the long run. :/
    Maybe you can try your hand at painting software such as Photoshop, @Coutelier?
  • CoutelierCoutelier Member Posts: 1,282

    @LadyRhian: Excellent pictures (and super cute!), but I think the OP is talking about modelling packages you use in modelling software. You see, certain accessories such as dresses, furniture and animals you have to buy seperately to implement in your basic modelling program. Think of it as some kind of DLC. I agree, it can get a bit expensive in the long run. :/
    Maybe you can try your hand at painting software such as Photoshop, @Coutelier?

    In theory, I could cut out the photos and add them in Photoshop... the tricky part would be trying to make the lighting in Poser match the photos.

    If you've got the skill, you could always model everything in some other program yourself, and then import them. Cute, fluffy mammals are way beyond my abilities though. I can do a spaceship, but that's about it:

    TC

  • LadyRhianLadyRhian Member Posts: 14,694
    That's a pity. Poser people... well, that's the rub right there. "Poseur People". Uncanny valley for a lot of people. I've seen Poser people that wouldn't seem out of place in a nightmare... or the freak show. ;)
  • CoutelierCoutelier Member Posts: 1,282
    LadyRhian said:

    That's a pity. Poser people... well, that's the rub right there. "Poseur People". Uncanny valley for a lot of people. I've seen Poser people that wouldn't seem out of place in a nightmare... or the freak show. ;)

    Uncanny valley seems hard to avoid, even if you don't really try to make it look real. Posers sort of a cross between playing with dolls and photography... it's the later part that a lot of people struggle with. Understanding that the focal length on the 'camera' makes a huge difference, for example. Too low and you end up with huge noses sticking out of the screen at you.
  • LadyRhianLadyRhian Member Posts: 14,694
    A Romance novel company, Ellora's Cave, uses Poser to make their covers, and it's all plastic-bodied people with unrealistically shiny skin.
  • CoutelierCoutelier Member Posts: 1,282
    LadyRhian said:

    A Romance novel company, Ellora's Cave, uses Poser to make their covers, and it's all plastic-bodied people with unrealistically shiny skin.

    I had to look them up. What annoys me, is that I had no idea I could actually make money doing any of this sort of thing... I mean, some of those covers I reckon I could pump out very quickly if I wanted.

    The last one of Aerie is the one I did the most post work on in Photoshop; mainly just a lens flare and some other lighting effects. But I'm sure there are people who use Poser that spend a lot of time getting all the poses and the lighting and the textures just right for the render, and then do a lot of work on it afterwards.
  • Kitteh_On_A_CloudKitteh_On_A_Cloud Member Posts: 1,629
    The thing is that I think most modelling programs still don't seem to offer realistic looking models. But then it's hard to make a model really look 'alive', I imagine.
  • CoutelierCoutelier Member Posts: 1,282

    The thing is that I think most modelling programs still don't seem to offer realistic looking models. But then it's hard to make a model really look 'alive', I imagine.

    I think they're getting better, but some things are still difficult. Like expressions; real humans use a lot of different muscles to make expressions. Modelling programs like Poser use morphs, but they're the same morphs regardless of the shape of the face. And of course all over our bodies we have skin and fat and muscle and hair and a huge number of things that wobble about when we move, which is hard to simulate accurately. Robots and even dinosaurs are very easy in comparison; far fewer expressions and moving parts.
  • Kitteh_On_A_CloudKitteh_On_A_Cloud Member Posts: 1,629
    edited January 2013
    @Coutelier: Yup. even modern-day games like Mass Effect and Skyrim still don't get it fully right.

    I mean, how about these epic smiles? XD

    http://i54.tinypic.com/344sidv.jpg

    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/Cat_Assasin_of_Linx/miranda_sheploo_smile.jpg

    http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/268/1265581992968.jpg/
  • CoutelierCoutelier Member Posts: 1,282

    @Coutelier: Yup. even modern-day games like Mass Effect and Skyrim still don't get it fully right.

    I mean, how about these epic smiles? XD

    The first one just looks irritated to me; like someone at a party who doesn't really want her picture taken.

    The second one is the kind of thing I learned early on to try and avoid; the more extreme the expression, the more freakish and unnatural it looks. So I work on a 'less is more' philosophy, and try to only use slight expressions.

    The third one... that's sort of what I meant before. It's just his mouth that's smiling... just his lips, really. Whereas a real smile involves the whole face, wrinkling the nose and around the eyes, cheeks etc. And his teeth being clenched together again just makes him look more irritated.

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