Day 3 - Forgiveness

Day 3 - Forgiveness

Elise is really one of the kindest characters in this story. She just doesn't want to lose her only brother, so she can get a bit testy when Ashe comes by after nearly getting his head bitten off by some nasty creature.

And she's not wrong about how much time he spends watching Darr when he should be concentrating on his work.

(Ismaire here:) ~6 hr speed-paint, + 1.5 hrs to tweak for the second version.

I love Resident Evil. I won't go through my whole personal fan history or journey, but it's my favorite franchise. I've loved the Resi Remakes too. And like it seems a lot of people did, I absolutely loved the new Separate Ways.

And this is just a personal opinion, I'm not saying that anyone needs to agree - but I adore Lily Gao as Ada Wong.

Every actress who portrayed Ada before has their place in Resi history and I'm grateful for the work they did in the franchise, but I think Lily Gao did such a perfect, snappy, subtly multi-layered version of the mysterious mercenary I was familiar with.

I always loved Ada, so I say this with love and appreciation:

She's taken Ada from femme fatale spy stereotype to a fleshed-out individual, from an archetype to a complex woman who has her own ideals, feelings and struggles, and has to juggle them with the decisions that got her where she is now. Obviously the writing was great too, which played a huge part in setting up Lily Gao's acting to absolutely sing (at least to me).

She's a different Ada, for sure. Was I caught off-guard by her voice at first? You bet. She doesn't have the airy, playful, motherly (sometimes kind of condescending?) tone about her anymore - she's got things to do. She's as sharp and cunning as she is quietly compassionate. She's willing to cut off Albert Wesker mid-sentence, but she's just as willing to call Leon and tell him where to find Ashley. She feels like a merc who's had it rough and made her way by sheer hard work, not a model who gets out of bad spots by blowing kisses and tossing a perfectly timed grenade.

Now, I love over the top badassery, and I love how that was rehashed and still fit back into Ada's character. But she felt like a human first, and like those "glorious moments of awesome" came out of painstakingly honed skill, not absurdly sturdy plot armor.

What I stated here applies to a lot of things about the Resi remakes, of course - not just Ada. So much has been tweaked, amped, remixed, and so on. Ada is just maybe one of the most prominent parts of the remakes that made me really pause and go "oh my God, I can't believe how much I love this!"

I don't have a problem with the originals - I loved them (camp and all), grew up with them, etc. As a whole package, the series is just my jam and it would be hard to lose me as a fan. I even got used to first-person play so I could enjoy 7 and Village - they were awesome. (Bless you who already love first-person games. I... don't, haha.)

But back to Ada - I just thought this was the most well-rounded performance her character has ever gotten. Anyone else can read her any way they want to. She's fictional, let's all remember. But Lily Gao is not, and she now has my heart and my vote as a fan!

Here's our companion piece to the trio's costume pic :) There were some hiccups getting the full picture uploaded... At least we can show off almost half 😅

The full uncropped version is available for free on our patreon page along with other goodies by following the linktree on our blog. Hope everyone is enjoying the fall season!

Day 1 - Tender

His hands are oh, oh so tender Providing sweet protection While around you shadows render Shapes of wild, toothy nightmares

Your name on his breath a reminder Of his unbridled, fearsome power To throw your heart into the grinder But the want outweighs the fear

Sensual and fond, he raises you Above the doubts you drown in But praising whispers melt into Warnings of the coming fall

Your soul bows in brief surrender Before your body catches on Because this new master is tender Unlike all who held your leash before

-- poetry by Ismaire

Boy, Ashe has a lot of contenders for Darr's... heart. Yeah.

Day 14 - New Environment

A glimpse into MyungJin and Agome's past when they first crossed paths.

MyungJin had cut their hair rather short at the time, really out of spite and frustration more than style, but they liked it. It made it easier to leave behind a past where everyone compared her to a mother she hardly remembered.

Of course, MyungJin couldn't just stop at a hasty haircut done over a bathroom sink. She had to start making bad decisions: like drinking alone at an exotic lounge. Thank goodness of all the spirits they could've caught attention from that it would be a jorogumo looking for an easy prey...

Day 15 - Let's Party

Giuliano loves any excuse to flex his foxfire... especially when the party crasher is pretty and feisty.