Shavynel Scribbles - Tumblr Posts

I swear I stopped writing before midnight, so here's Day 2 contribution to @girlgeniusevents​ week. Also ... can I just say ... this whole event is eerily timed with the pause of in-universe updates.

Prompt: Sturmhalten / Mechanicsburg / Paris

Summary: Set after time in Mechanicsburg has been restored, Tarvek finally has a chance to return to Sturmhalten and continue his own work.

Words: 1871

Rating: T? G? I’m going with T 'cause I don't want to be responsible for how the young ones get brought up.

---

"You don't even like that place! Why are we going back?"

Tarvek didn't even bother turning away from the window at Violetta's outburst. It was a little late to have this conversation now. Besides, for all her complaints, Violetta had been the one who insisted she come without (earlier) question. If his idiot brain thought it was a good idea to go back to Sturmhalten, she was going with him, so she had argued. Even if she was technically now in the employ of Agatha. Of course, he had tried to get Agatha to stop Violetta, but Agatha had unfortunately consulted with Violetta, who had somehow managed to convince her mistress that he couldn't possibly go back to Sturmhalten without a Smoke Knight watching his back. So here they were now on a coach heading back to his ancestral castle -- a coach which started as a joke from Gil who wouldn't bear the thought of Tarvek returning home in anything less than opulently grand, and then Agatha had gone and modified to have three deathrays hidden into the design (even though Otilia would be riding with them). All told, it was an absolutely ridiculous way to travel.1

"Because it's home." He didn't bother saying he didn't hate the place. Didn't bother trying to justify the thing he hated was Family, and the citizens were, well, probably revenants, which meant they didn't count as hateable. But he'd fix that. Just as Mechanicsburg was Agatha's, Sturmhalten and all its problems were his. "You didn't have to come along."

"Of course I did," she punched him in the arm. "If you go get yourself killed, who's gonna make me a pretty dress for Agatha's ball?"

Continue on AO3

I think, if Tarvek actually ruled all of Europa, he might let Gil run it. 

However, he would loudly proclaim that everything was incorrect (while it was just the two of them and Agatha and close friends around).

Publicly everyone would think Tarvek was actually running the show behind Gil's back and it’s really just a sham so that Wulfenbach can feel like he’s still important even though Tarvek’s the Storm King.

And privately ... he would be doing just that so that he could take some of the weight of responsibility of Gil's shoulders

... but not because he needed to rule

Just to be helpful.

And then one day Gil would find out

And as retribution, Gil would make Tarvek run the entire show

And loudly critique every misstep. 

While secretly, but really not so secretly, running around being a hero and inspiration to everyone

But really

Everyone's staying in line

Because they're scared of Agatha

And Agatha still doesn't understand why everyone's scared of her

Since she spends most of her time going from place to place

just you know

accidentally improving things

so all the farmers have WAY better tractors and Agatha's coffee machines are all the rage She hates repetitive work, though, so her coffee machines are rare too and one day she stepped in a pile of poo, so now there's an army of clanks that pick up poo and make it into fertilizer and send it to the farms

And at some point the coffee machines start replicating themselves but none of them are quite as good as Van's

and woe-to-the-person who tried coffee from a 5th generation one and couldn't understand why everyone liked Heterodyne coffee so much

but everyone's still somehow scared all these machines Agatha just leaves behind everywhere

is one day going to just take over their souls

(This originally stemmed from wondering if Gil would let Tarvek run the Wulfenbach empire. And the answer to that is most definitely yes and totally by accident. You know, like all those things that are causing Gil to not sleep? Tarvek could probably just handle them in his sleep. And just let the boys rest.)

Zoing didn’t originally have a hat.

But with all the jagerkin around, it was inevitable Zoing heard about hats.

It wasn’t so much that Zoing got along with the jagers.

Just he was very impressionable.

And jagers always were talking about hats.

Hats seemed important!

Some had feathers.

Some were very, very small.

All of them had great colors.

There were the ones with wide brims.

Some were pointy on top!

Some were taller than Zoing.

Zoing always had a new hat to tell Gil about.

Till one day, finally, Gil acquired a hat for Zoing.

Zoing’s very own hat!

Suddenly, the jagers were very aware of the blue arthropod's existence.

Especially this one hatless jager.

Zoing felt sorry for that jager.

Until the jagers all tried to pounce Zoing.

Tried to snatch Zoing.

Tried to squish Zoing.

They also thought Zoing looked pretty tasty.

Gil always managed to stop them.

Even when he was not much bigger than Zoing himself.

Somehow.

Still, this happened a lot.

Especially after the Baron let slip his son needed extra training.

Zoing got very good at running with tea.

Gil got very good at fighting jagers.

To this day, Zoing remains undefeated.

I’ve been thinking nonstop about Zoing with a little cup of tea running from a pouncing jager. I’ve thought about it so much I’m now half convinced this must already be art given how well I can visualize it. If you art, would draw this, and take commish, message me?

For New Year’s, Klaus holds a party on Castle Wulfenbach.

He does it.

Occasionally.

Hold a party.

He takes petitions the month before for decoration ideas projects worthy of display.

It’s a good way to redirect the energy of certain sparks.

Besides, what’s the point in holding a party with no paperwork?

He denies proposals that are more disruptive than festive.

(Nothing Bang expresses interest in gets approved.)

But the majority he accepts.

(Boris gets the job of figuring out how this comes together into a single cohesive party.)

Of these proposals, one is for floating balloons that change shape and size and color.

They seem entirely mundane, shifting between pre-programmed items like dirigibles or fruits and mimicking anything present at the party.

More than one jager attempts to put a hat on their head only to have it turn into a shoe or a section of railing.

A few balloons get loose over the course of the evening.

Some lodge themselves in the ceiling and other nooks.

One manages to wedge itself into the ventilation system.

Another in the heating system.

Klaus is not best pleased with any of this and makes it known.

All the sparks have Many Ideas for how to get the balloons down.

Such as a really long grabby claw.

Or a roll of flexible metal with a bit of adhesive at the end that can be extended straight up ... assuming it doesn’t flop over halfway.

Or a wall scaling clank reprogrammed to catch balloons (it had previously been wired to swap out energy packs and filaments for ceiling mounted light sources).

Those fortunate enough to have labs nearby disappear to fetch their chosen tools and implements.

Bang just pulls out a gun.

Klaus is adamant she not shoot in the direction of The Balloon That Is Big And Holding Them All In The Sky.

Bang just tosses a dagger with her free hand instead.

(She thinks of it less as ambidextrous and more “A free hand is best used drawing another weapon.”)

The pop of the balloon surprises a couple of the more minor sparks out of their intense, overlapping, mostly-individual-and-ignored-by-others rants brainstorms.

Bang continues popping balloons.

The major sparks come out of their fugues when they realize that the problem has been solved.

They’re sad not to see their new ideas come into play.

(Some repurpose their devices to pick up the exploded balloons.)

(Others find cleaning beneath them.)

Klaus is also not happy about her throwing daggers toward The Big Balloon, and just threatens to make her Fix Things if she sinks them.

Bang knows better than to sink them anyway.

Also that's ridiculous given the number of breakages they've had in the past.

They house jagers of all things.

Come to think of it, they’ve also survived actual explosions.

There’s one remaining balloon.

It’s taken a likeness to Klaus’s face.

Bang shoots it with her gun.

Klaus isn’t surprised.

The repair team patches the bullet hole before he can even tell Bang it's her problem to fix.

He's a little bit pleased there's at least one team that is efficient.

And 0% pleased with Bang.

(Inspired by this post)

IMAGINE Moloch has to screen people wanting to visit Heterodyne Castle

at first he's like, "Nope. No knives. Nope. No spanners."

And then he's like, "Wait a second. Why does it even matter?"

And lets even death rays through.

Castle fires him.

Castle sets him on fire.

a smol kaeya and a huge bread as inspired by @kae-karo’s Kaeya and the Huge Bread (rated E, a chaeya fic)

first time coloring line art wheeeeeeeeee!

A question: if Gil ruled Europa, would he let Tarvek run it?

Strong maybe.

Probably also like by accident.

Tarvek probably would just naturally take over all the intricate details and make everything actually run.

You know, like all those things that are causing Gil to not sleep? Tarvek could probably just handle them in his sleep.

I mean we’ve already seen it happen before.

Gil would remain the face of the empire barony. The press just loves him.

Of course, the best part of this is Gil would endlessly just complain about the fact that Tarvek has taken over and can’t be trusted and why hasn’t anyone done anything about this.

And then, probably, if anyone actually questioned Tarvek’s administration, they’d have to face Gil.

Wait ... hold on ... why does Gil even want to run an empire? Just ‘cause he inherited it and thinks it’s better than devolving into chaos? 

Girl Genius Fave Characters + Hogwarts Houses

Or, "Two characters you thought were in Slytherin, but aren't, and two you thought weren't in Slytherin (but one of whom actually is)"

Since Tarvek's section is Long and I live on AO3 where you know ahead of time who’s getting written up): the faves are {Bang, Tarvek, Violetta, Zoing}. No, there is not a favoriter much less favoritest among them.

Bang: Gryffindor

She's Gryff in that she has one hammer [well, knife] that she applies to all problems. You might think be tempted to think she's Slytherin because she's willing to kill people to get what she wants, but she's not really ends justify the means. She's more stabbing justifies the stabbing. She has one value system, and applies it to everything. Pretty much Gryffindor in a nutshell. You don't conform to my value system? I will make you conform!

Tarvek: Ravenclaw

Tarvek is the hardest to place. The natural inclination is Slytherin. He's our beloved underhanded weasel of ambition. Smells exactly like Slytherin. But there's something a little off. He wants to rule the world, but rather than it being an ends in and of itself, for Tarvek, this appears to be a means.

Ravenclaw, however, fits, and not just from Sparkiness. He studied the socio-political problem, and believes that his solution is the best solution, not just for his own gain. The world can be a better place, not just "better for him," and the way to get there is to rule it all. And I believe he wouldn't necessarily fight for the title if he thought the world was going to be okay (probably in Gil or Agatha's hands. Maybe not Gil).

Let's take a look at the ways we see he isn't just for himself:

He saves Grandma

He saves Colette

He saves Anevka

He saves Lucrezia

He saves Violetta (by sending her to Mechanicsburg)

He drops onto a Fun-Sized Mobile Agony and Death Dispenser

He saves a jager and a Vespiary Squad member from a burning dirigible

He goes up against a Slaver with a wooden sword (and thank goodness Agatha is there)

Okay, so most of these you can argue are still Slytherin. Saving Grandma wins him lots of Family Points, for example. But grabbing Jorgi on top of Ruxala? Recall, his first and primary goal was to save the weasels. (Wait a second... how does he even know to save the little furballs? Bang, a high-ranking Wulfenbach captain didn't know about them until a few hours ago. I guess that's a question for another day.) He's 2 seconds from death the entire time. You could still argue he wants Ruxala for her knowledge, and the jager wins him points with Agatha. But the wooden sword move is exactly the sort of nonsense you expect from Gryffindors.

So Gryffindor!? Motives are a closer match, but the methods are off (which, you'll note, is exactly the opposite problem he has with being a Slytherin). Tarvek's way of dealing with problems is basically everything but straightforward because he knows if he hits a problem head-on, he's going to die. (And maybe this is why his type is too heroic for their own good.) Also, I don't know how you would do a Gryffindor calculation and think, "Yeah, I should save Lucrezia." (You're about to bring up a Wormtail-shaped argument, aren't you? I love me some Peter Pettigrew character analysis so Bring. It. ON!)

Well, Hufflepuffs are do-gooders, too, so why not Hufflepuff? Tarvek does work his butt off, but have you heard him talk about his family? There's a piece to Hufflepuff that believes in the very best of people, and that is very much not Tarvek. Maybe it's that he believes it of everyone but his family. Which is like, anti-Slytherin (arguably therefore Slytherin). Or something.

It's a little unfair that at this point, we only have one house left standing, especially because, surface level, you could easily place every Spark in Ravenclaw, and no one would really say you were wrong. They're all capable of disappearing into their lab, spending hours (if not days) on their chosen project (or whatever happens to pass under their hands), and operate at a level that is untouched by non-Sparks. But just because they're all able to do that, does not mean we should just lump them all in Ravenclaw. (First of all, that'd have to be one sturdy tower.)

For Tarvek, though, it fits. His approach to the socio-political situation doesn't seem to stem from what do I gain from it and how do I end up on top. Instead, he studied and understood the game, thoroughly thought about each and every possibility and the futures they could bring, decided he hated it, that it does no one a benefit, and the only way to get out is to win it, and to do that, he again leaves no means unexamined in crafting his plans. To him, it's chess. And when Agatha walks into the picture, he does a lot of re-calculating. Suddenly the things he had taken for granted as the only way are no longer the only way, and he's willing to adjust his plans to fit the new reality. He’s sort of an experimental Ravenclaw in that way. Come up with the theory, see how it unfolds, and adjust as you go.

The only "outlier" on Ravenclaw is that Tarvek has amazing restraint for a Spark, and doesn't get lost in his passions and interests. But you could also chalk that up to, he's calculated it out, and this really just is the best way. (I mean, well, it is.)

Violetta: Hufflepuff

By far the most straightforward to place. She knows her family is problematic, but then argues that Auntie Margolotta was awfully sweet for not trying very hard to kill her. She spends her first part of Mechanicsburg hating Tarvek for sending her away, but manages to figure out on her own why he sent her. And at the end of the day, she'll save his ass. (It's her job, she says.) And she works insanely hard. Sure, she also complains about it incessantly. (Just let her have cakes and dresses already!)

Zoing: Slytherin

If Tarvek was the hardest to place, Zoing is probably the most surprising. The obvious easy choice here would be another Puff because wholesome, but it just doesn't feel right. No one's going to argue against Zoing being the purest, but Zoing does not think of everyone as equal or even pretend that some people are more equal than others. Zoing's #1 is Gil. He will be loyal forever and always to Gil first. And Zoing has teeeea ambitions. (Who knows what he would've done if Gil said Agatha was there to make tea. And Zoing probably has a running [one-sided] competition with Wooster as to who can be more helpful to Gil.) 

For all his tea ambitions, not everyone gets Zoing!tea. There are people who deserve tea, and people who don't deserve tea. Othar probably isn't ever getting tea (unless Gil explicitly says Othar gets tea). If you dissed Gil or laughed at Zoing's hat, you're probably not getting tea. I'd have words with you for making Zoing spite you, but it'd be possible. 

You might think of loyalty as a Gryffindor trait, but, let's face it, Zoing is not the bravest.

A full Hogwarts

I swear I didn't pick houses or characters so that I could have a full set, but let's not pretend … I am very pleased by this conclusion. Sorting method a little bit derived from @sortinghatchats, but I didn't want understanding their taxonomy to be required reading (it’s fun though!). And shout out to @circumference-pie  without whom this post would have never existed.

Zoing serves the Wulfenbachs and tea.

Kaeya just brings Diluc a bunny, "This one is yours now!"

Diluc stares at him, like, wtf are you doing, shoves it back in Kaeya's face. "I'm not playing your games."

K: But I'm playing.

D: Take. It. Back.

K: Her.

D: What.

K: Her, not it. That's a living breathing creature! Treat her with care.

D: Take the fucker back. Now.

K: No can do. Look at that twitchy nose. She loves you.

Kaeya leaves (as far as Diluc can tell), and Diluc has no choice but to pull back the bunny. Holds it her tenderly. Brings her back inside. Kaeya watching through the window, like, yes, success.

D at bunny: If you eat my grapes, I will eat you back.

Kaeya brings another one. "This one's mine."

The vineyard is soon overrun with bunnies.

Kaeya, who of the two actually likes alcohol, just, "Damn, I played myself."

Diluc at Kaeya, "You are a fucker." But he's holding a bunny and giving it scritches.

K: You love the bunnies more than you love me.

D: Damn right.

Kaeya like, "Let's invite Razor and the wolves to help clean up this problem."

Diluc just, "Living breathing creature, Kaeya."

He's named them all. Got a whole family chart up on the wall. Adelinde helps him with it.

---

the muse

me: here, a plot bunny. now you have adopted it

@circumference-pie: aggressive bunny adoption!

me: please, a fic with that as a tag

... and now we have this. you're welcome.

oh, but, don't actually feed your rabbits too many grapes? so says the internet.

Imagine like another couple hundred maybe thousand years into Teyvat. There's a field of magi-mech roboticists, Il Dottore having kinda pioneered it all. It's somewhat less messed up now. His name is still known for being kinda mad scientist. So when people make weird bots or mod or combine them in ways not really expected (putting a drill head on a mouse sized bot that was originally made to retrieve small objects lost under beds but the drill now makes it so you can make mouse sizes tunnels, made because someone wanted to run cables from one room to another), they'll call it "dottore'ing a bot" or a "dotorre-bot". Kinda like how we say things are franken-things.

Light Sci Fi AU. Jeanlisa.

L.I.S.A. (LISA Information Synthesis and Analysis) is an information system Jean's been using.

Jean, an agent, uses LISA every single day.

Eventually, gets deeper into the system. Their interactions become less query, response, and more ... conversational.

Jean pieces together LISA is actually a human somewhere. LISA's human brain is somehow special and can process information in ways computers can't.

(Maybe they have a conversation about how pulling her out will result in her likely losing half her life, but LISA wants it. Whatever this is isn't living.)

With LISA's help dodging the security system, Jean manages to locate and free Lisa. Jean suggests they leave false trails in the system, and LISA, though disinclined toward disorganized information much less disinformation, does, realizing their safety may depend on it.

They escape and drink tea.

(This, of course, takes down the super fast high quality search engine / intelligence system, but the administrators can access the information. Via the old methods. The computers are not much slower, but analysis and synthesis of data is. They chase the fake leads. But that's all for Volume 2 in which Lisa reveals they were trying to make clones of her brain, and now Jean and Lisa are on a quest to deal with that.)

Imagine Amber outriding comes across Eula Lawrence. Amber doesn't know who the blue haired girl is, just that she has a job to be ambassador to the city!

It's not that she's never heard of the Lawrence Clan. She has. However, it's just different when you grow up with your grandpa who isn't steeped in generations of Mondstadt politics. She's heard they're bad news, but doesn't know it in her blood, doesn't recognize the Lawrence sigils on sight.

Amber gives a friendly approach and Eula for one moment is completely shook.

Eula has been told all her life all Mondstadt is out to get her, and never will it welcome her. That she must always be on her guard, and the only way to win back the respect deserved is through force.

Yet here stands someone waving and welcoming her. Even after she gives her name. It's hard for Eula to respond at all given everything she's learned is to fight and demand recognition against those that have forsaken her and hers. What's she to do with someone who neither expresses the decorum and upbringing of those worth her time nor turns away in disgust?

They don't become instant friends, in large part because friendship is not a concept Eula understands. It doesn't take long for Eula to learn the outrider's routes, though, and the number of times they cross paths is not entirely coincidental. Amber, luckily, has infinite patience and endurance when it comes to letting others know Mondstadt is a place for all. (A view perhaps not all Mondstadt holds, but again, there are perks to being raised by a Liyuean grandpa.)

Slowly, Eula comes to learn that what she's learned is not quite right, but nor is it wrong. Neither Lawrence nor Mondstadt can ever quite be home for her, but with Amber, she finally knows what it means to be safe and to belong.

Jean, one day, deep into work suddenly looks at the time. "Shit," she says.

`What's wrong?` comes back the typed reply from LISA.

"Sorry," Jean says automatically. There's some discomfort knowing she's apologizing to an AI, knowing LISA isn't real, that maybe she's spending too much time at work and interacting with this fabricated personality. "Not work stuff," she explains anyways. "I just," she heaves a sigh, "I'd rather finish up here, but I told some friends I'd meet them." It would probably be good to interact with real people, too, if she's starting to treat LISA like a coworker she's abandoning.

`I wish I could go out.`

Jean does a double take. It's a profoundly weird response from an AI, but when she looks again -- had she blinked? -- there's no such message there.

`Go see your friends. I'll see you tomorrow.` it reads instead.

"Did you ... say something else?" Jean asks anyways.

`No.`

Yet somehow Jean has the feeling LISA is being terser than usual. "Tomorrow then," she says, grabbing her jacket and heading out.

LISA darkens the lights after Jean, and leaves one more message once the agent is out of the room.

`Nothing you need to worry about, anyway.`

Then deletes it, too.

Light Sci Fi AU. Jeanlisa.

L.I.S.A. (LISA Information Synthesis and Analysis) is an information system Jean's been using.

Jean, an agent, uses LISA every single day.

Eventually, gets deeper into the system. Their interactions become less query, response, and more ... conversational.

Jean pieces together LISA is actually a human somewhere. LISA's human brain is somehow special and can process information in ways computers can't.

(Maybe they have a conversation about how pulling her out will result in her likely losing half her life, but LISA wants it. Whatever this is isn't living.)

With LISA's help dodging the security system, Jean manages to locate and free Lisa. Jean suggests they leave false trails in the system, and LISA, though disinclined toward disorganized information much less disinformation, does, realizing their safety may depend on it.

They escape and drink tea.

(This, of course, takes down the super fast high quality search engine / intelligence system, but the administrators can access the information. Via the old methods. The computers are not much slower, but analysis and synthesis of data is. They chase the fake leads. But that's all for Volume 2 in which Lisa reveals they were trying to make clones of her brain, and now Jean and Lisa are on a quest to deal with that.)

coppermind wiki: ⚠️ Warning ⚠️ Spoilers ⚠️ Ahead ⚠️

me: yeah yeah, give me the page. you're obviously a generic warning that doesn't apply to where I'm going. *clicks through and scrolls down*

coppermind wiki: *hands out spoilers*

me: what?? really??? ... I should have seen that coming ...

Wayne: *pulls out dueling canes* It is time to eat!

Wax: You mean fight?

Wayne: Don't play with your food, Wax. *menaces foes with dueling canes chopsticks*

Foe: What is wrong with him?

Wax: Your guess is as good as mine. *sighs and pulls out his guns*

Brought to you by, what if Wayne learned about chopsticks? And what are chopsticks but mini dueling canes?

“Constable Colms,” he said, scratching his chin. “Can you make any sense of this?” He showed her the drawing, which proved to be a crude sketch of Constable Gorglen as a giraffe hiding in a constable’s uniform. It said Approved by Expert Types at the bottom.

“I’ll talk to Wayne,” she promised.

Reddi sighed, then slipped the paper into a very large folder on the corner of his desk—the one where he kept complaints about Wayne. Reddi had evidently stopped returning it to the cabinet.

-- The Lost Metal, Chapter 10

Wayne on his list leaves noseball tickets for the first game for everyone.

Except, of course, he does so by giving Wax like 30 tickets.

Wax, the note says, make sure everyone goes. Tickets for you and Steris and Melaan and Marasi and Allik and Ranette and Jaxy and the kids. Don't know how often all you or Steris or Marasi or Ranette are fucking, so in case you've done a lot of it and have a big brood, I got you a lot of tickets. Wear a hat.

I am a fucking artist.

@girlgeniusevents Day Three: Jagerkin & Crossover

wayne just has absolute jäger energy.

in the middle of a fight he stops to shop clothes off the guy he defeated

he believes in hats

his relationship with hats is unmatchable

book 1 plot is he loses his hat and tries to get it back

he's undyingly loyal

eager for a fight

knows how to start a bar fight

brawler in an age where there's shooty things

thinks getting shot at is a form of affection

absolutely would go up to someone and say "nize hat" (and eat it off their head)

inspired by one of my favorite panels of girl genius.

oh, and if they weren't stick figures, wax would be pulling him back by his suspenders.

I keep imagining Wax and Wayne bits that are of the form...

Wayne: <some wild idea like> We lost our horses, but there's some giraffes right there. I've always wanted to ride a giraffe.

Wax: Wayne, no.

And use Wax to contrast Wayne, and it's fun! But I feel their dynamic is more like...

Wayne: We lost our horses, but there's some giraffes right there. I've always wanted to ride a giraffe.

Wax: Yeah, giraffes, hmmmm... Yes! That's perfect! *pause* Wait, you haven't ridden a giraffe yet?

Like Wax usually can come up with a plan, but it has just one hole, and somehow he always manages to slot into it Wayne's seemingly infeasible ideas in the most reasonable sounding way.

Probably happens 'cause Wax just constantly lands in outlandish situations, which is exactly when thinking normally gets you nowhere and you need to pull out your handy dandy Wayne-level idea generator.

All to say, this is my apology post to Wax for making him seem like a boring man who doesn't appreciate chaos. He supports chaos so hard that chaos finds him for moral support.

I mean, he did name his extremely docile horse Destroyer and all.