Naomi, with her brother's sword, Verbanner, with some lore, some "making of", and some optional "spoilers".
Verbanner
The Hunters sword of Trevor vos Cruz.
Hunters swords are usually already massive things. They are often oversized, unwieldy blades, meant for slaying giant monsters rather than people. Even among these weapons, Verbanner is among the largest.
Wanting to protect his son and heir, Verbanner was commissioned at great expensive by Duke Edwin vos Cruz. It was cold forged from a single, giant raw hunk of naturally magic iron. Such a large single piece is both rare and expensive, but gives the sword an intrinsic astral presence, making it both near indestructible, and able to banish astral entities.
Heiliger Verbanner der DΓ€monen
Holy Banisher of Demons
Β« ππ¦π§ ππ§π³ππ§π€ ππ€π©π³ππ§π― π©π³ππ£ Β»
"Die Teufel glauben auch"
"The Devils also believe"
The sword is engraved in German, as there is some belief in the inherent magical power of old dead languages. The characters themselves written in Shavian script. Shorthand scripts, and easily scribed 'runes', are often used to save on engraving materials and while that isn't a important for a giant magic-iron weapon like Verbanner, the nature of that use also creates an inherently magical association.
The top line refers to the name of the sword, Verbanner, or Banisher, and the bottom line is a section from James 2:19, which reads:
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well. The devils also believe β and tremble
While meant in a way to imply the sword carries the power of God, a power that demons acknowledge and fear, it unintentionally mirrors the true strength of a magic weapon. By having a reputation for being a powerful demon slaying sword, that power becomes real. You know this sword is Verbanner, Banisher of Demons... and so it is true.
Trevor's faith isn't the strongest, and likely this line was not chosen by him, but it resonates with him when he's trying really hard, in the heat of the moment, to believe and not have fear.
Making the Picture
I've been having a lot of fun using the wrong tools to make nice looking pictures. I feel like I finally hit a groove with Koikatsu where I can get results I want that don't look like moe potato blobs. Also a whole lot of blender and photoshop. The drawovers and clipping fixes I feel like do a lot for the pictures. Like even if my draw over or re color is sometimes worse or clumsy, that clumsiness adds to the picture. I was posting some material on the Bluesky thread for this picture.
I ended up modeling Verbanner and doing cloth sims, which was a lot of fun (okay no cloth sims suck and are frustrating ane never behave but WHATEVER).
I also did some *blendshape crimes to get Naomi's boots to match the style I wanted. Doing this with blendshapes is a pain because you can't directly add or remove geometry, so you kinda just gotta... massage things into position.
I posted a pan around from the Koikatsu scene to show how I composed things. You can see and laugh at how fake the watercolor floor is, but I've been trying to get this 'picture on a white watercolor paper page' ever since I did the Antonella picture and this was essential to grounding that aesthetic.
Honestly even the original could stand on its own I feel like, and some parts of my redraw look worse (the goofy boot shading, the loincloth coloring), but those worse elements kinda pull it together cohesively. Or so I tell myself.
The Spoilers Lore
I feel comfortable letting you read any of this because you'll almost certainly forget when the time comes... and also I don't value surprise, but if you care about that stuff you can skip all this.
Spoilers
At some point, Trevor dies. I won't say when -- is it BEP, is it a game I'll never get to making? is it just in RP? -- but at some point he dies. He has to die, and his whole existence is, ultimately, to die, for Naomi's narrative development. Poor dude was dead before I even had an actual character for him.
When he dies, a lot of responsibilities fall on Naomi. She's the heir (with no spares), she too has her faith broken, and she too realizes she's gay. Sure that last one is more 'unlucky timing', but its thematically intentional. She basically inherits all of Trevor's burden, but with the chance to do things differently. She has to carry the weight that was once on Trevor's shoulders.
Verbanner symbolizes a lot of this. It is the literal manifestation of the weight of his burden, handed to him by their father. When Naomi first tries to use it, in rage, she fails. It's too cumbersome. She can't even keep a hold on it, eventually losing it to the abyss.
When she finds it again, with more conviction and purpose, she begins wielding it more effectively. Eventually what Trevor used two hands for, she does with one. She learns to manage the weight, and use it to her advantage, rather than simply trying to endure it.
Verbanner was originally meant to be a bit smaller. Thick, but not nearly as thick and long. Karami (who I usually trust to ground me if I'm being excessive) encouraged me to make it larger, finding a size that looked like it was large, but made for Trevor, but was oversized for Naomi. I don't want to decide on an exact size for the sword, as I feel like its size is whatever is artistically important at the time. It should be smaller when Trevor wields it. Naomi perceives him and what he does as effortless. When she tries it, it should be crushing.
So here is Naomi, finally experienced in using the blade, having a bittersweet moment as she unwraps it from storage. The sword of her brother, who was metaphorically crushed by trying to bear too much burden on his own.