i drew some of the characters i like

#ROBERTASWEEP

ft. a joke that's only funny to like 5 people

lights, camera, action

Ambience Synesthesia 2023: Wanted Memorial Book——The Lost Tideline (Irene, Lumen, Horn, Roberta)

Credit

with the new anni rotation in effect, don't forget to bring Roberta to the Ashy Marsh so she can introduce those poor enemies to a basic skincare routine

Those two went and formed some sort of combined force

they're apparently calling it the beauty brigade

THEY ALL LOOK SO GOOD WHAT THE FUCK

Edit: YOU CAN GET THEM

Arknights skin icons this time

nah the VA probably had fun with this

Still making good decisions

Roberta - The Lost Tideline

while i've got you, here's a crosspost of the cover for chapter two!

rescue dog makeover...

otter baby

(because i guess i'm not quite done talking about roberta's oprec from my last post on fiction within fiction in ak)

spoilers for roberta's oprec. i recommend reading it btw, at least in a story reader if not in-game

when the morgue worker asks her to think about how roberta herself would like to see her friend made up, they ask her about when cynthia was at her most beautiful. and roberta, going beyond appearances, finds herself thinking about cynthia at her most passionate, and cries. because no matter how good a job she does, no matter how well-constructed the fiction, reality is reality. she can't change the ending of her friend's story, no matter how much she wanted it to be a happy one

the oprec raises some interesting questions: is roberta making her friend look happy a lie? and, lie or not... is that a bad thing?

the embalming, the makeup - who is it for? this creation of a narrative that erases suffering? it's certainly not for the dead, and the only people who ever see it or even know it was done are roberta and the morgue worker, because the cremation happens basically right after. practically speaking, this story roberta is telling, this fiction she creates, can really only be for herself. but i think it's too simplistic to conclude that it is just selfish comfort. embodied in this story is roberta's wishes that her friend's passion could have been answered by the world they lived in, instead of being betrayed by reality

but who is roberta to be telling that story, for her friend with no voice? roberta wonders about this herself, when she gets that urge to erase all her work. but then she concludes—just for now, she wants to be an embalmer. she wants to let her friend "leave this world happy, even if it's all fake". in this way, roberta claims the role of storyteller, even if no one gave her permission to—after all, there is no one left to give permission. but she does so anyway, inserting herself back into her friend's tragedy from the outside (remember, her friend never actually sent that letter).

and so roberta tells her friend's story one last time, to a stranger, letting her live for just a day longer in their hearts...