#✮ || verse / hope used to shine within the stars // star wars.

[harpy-of-the-storm]

A Rambling Post about the way Lyrical Music is used in Phantasy Star Online

Cool let's get started.

When you start a new character, or if you wait on the title screen, this will play.

It's a song that swells with hope for...well, a whole new world. That's the general plot of Phantasy Star Online, which starts the After Unification War timeline. We've messed up our home planet, Earth Coral and we're sailing the sea of stars to find a new one.

However, I wouldn't say that The Whole New World only represents the planet Ragol as a hope for continued human civilization in-setting. I'd argue that it also represents Phantasy Star Online's bold push to bring online multiplayer gameplay to the living room, albeit this is perhaps a retrospective view that would not have been as visible at the time.

The lyrics are definitely compact - just two verses of four lines each.

Innumerable stars Won't tell us where to go It's a long, long run To the palace in the sun

With hopes and dreams Our ship will cross the sea To the whole new world Shining like a pearl The whole new world

Which is itself an interesting comparison to the ending theme of Episode 1, Can Still See the Light. This theme has a few variants - one in which the lyrics are replaced with "la-la-la" vocalizations, an instrumental piano, and later a wind orchestra variant.

However, I'd like to talk about the lyrical one.

Contrasting The Whole New World in a few ways, Can Still See the Light has a lot to say. Take, for instance, the opening two verses.

Wish for peace Wish for dreams Wish for love You are gone Without saying goodbye

Starry sky I can still see the light You've saved And I think of you tonight Soon the dawn will come again What have I got What has it cost me

...So we've clearly moved on from the hopeful ship that set sail from Coral. This talks about the wishes that are held, or perhaps were once held...and begins talking about the sacrifices that were made in order to make them real.

It talks about those innumerable stars. How they're still visible, and how the singer thinks of the person who made that possible for her. But, she questions the price of seeing another day.

I can feel you are near Within me, outer space Here and there Tell me please How much we have to bleed When we'll get the land of dreams After lonely bitter days

Here, she's saying she knows she hasn't lost this person she's singing about - not entirely, she still feels the subject of the song is with her; yet she begs an answer, which I'd argue it seems she doesn't believe she'll get. How long? How much? What do we have to give to make it all the way?

Why must I do it alone?

It's really the "after lonely bitter days" line that makes me think...she knows she's talking to empty air.

Lastly, the song closes with a somber refrain of the questions above; about the price of a new day. Except on the final refrain, the singer asks it directly.

Why can I still see the light You've saved Though you are now out of sight Soon the dawn will come again But what have I got What has it cost me

With this one word changed, from now to why, we change the entire framing of the verse. She no longer seems happy - if indeed she ever was - that she can see the light of a new dawn. Instead, she's asking a hopeless question.

Why is she still here?

Phantasy Star Online's second episode doesn't get a new opening theme - it reuses The Whole New World, which admittedly does hint at a deeper level of the plot. As we move in to and finish Episode 2, however, we are awarded a new ending theme to chain things together - World With Me.

This song pleads. Gently. Softly. Entreating the listener to stay and weather the storm together.

It opens with verses saying how the singer understands your feelings of unease, how you feel overwhelmed. And understands answers where a prospective listener to the song is saying it's too much, too hard - they can't let it go.

And she assures you, gently, that you have to. Nothing lasts forever. Nothing's going to remain the same. So all we can do is believe, and choose to keep living, right?

The entire understanding of World With Me is that, you are someone's forever. You are someone's want. You are something to someone.

It's fairly generically 2000s, I think, as far as the song itself goes as a standalone. Telling you not to give up, to believe in love, that nothing is permanent so you have to keep holding on. It's pretty standard feel-good-and-stay-motivated talk, right?

I think, though, that it's important in the context it's provided in. Phantasy Star Online is not a game with a lot of hope. You save the world but kill the girl. You have to overthrow the government just a little bit. All of your heroes are dead and a solid quarter to a third of the monsters you've been fighting were once people who are now horribly mutated by the ancient evil that was sealed on the planet the game takes place on. You're trapped in a time loop that will ultimately end in your failure and the ravaging of the universe.

And you are being asked to hold on and keep fighting. To believe that help is on the way - that it is possible to be saved as you stand alone against all of this.

Lastly, I am going to double back a bit for one more "lyrical track" that does a great job at being what it is.

This is the theme of the final boss of Episode 1. It does not have recognizable lyrics. There is a sound in the background that is representing lyrics which starts about 70 seconds in. However, it is not strictly legible as anything other than some sort of background choir.

You are not meant to know what this is, or what it is saying. You are facing an unstoppable, soul-devouring, reality-warping force of destruction that has you in its own personal arena that it designed just to fight and kill you.

Everything about this fight is meant to unsettle you, but the addition of uncanny valley not-quite-lyrics?

I did have to throw this in as an honorable mention.

[queer-goddess-of-the-hunt]

Raeda: An Owl House Playlist

Spotify Link

This playlist is a combination of songs that suite the ship and the characters as individuals. I love these two so much.

As always, I will probably continue to update this playlist over time, feel free to send me suggestions.

List of songs and quotes/explanations under the cut :)

Your Song from Moulin Rouge! The Musical “And you can tell everybody this is your song; It may be quite simple but now that it's done; I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind; That I put down in words; How wonderful life is while you're in the world” I specifically chose this version because it uses strings instead of piano.

 Eda’s Requiem and Raine’s Rhapsody - Epic Orchestral Cover by Kāru It is literally their song, I had to.

Thank You For The Music by ABBA “What would life be? Without a song or a dance, what are we? So I say thank you for the music; For giving it to me” This song is very close to me as a singer, so as a Raine kinnie, I had to.

Love Of My Life by Queen “You will remember when this is blown over; And everything's all by the way; When I grow older, I will be there at your side; To remind you how I still love you (I still love you)” Ouch, here’s the first bit of angst. The part that I quoted in particular I think applies heavily to these two. Also, pretty string in the beginning.

I Hear a Symphony by Cody Fry “I used to hear a simple song; That was until you came along; Now in it's place is something new; I hear it when I look at you” This is an absolutely stunning piece (as is every single song by Cody Fry) and the lyrics fit so well with Raeda.

Bird Set Free by Sia “And I don't care if I sing off key; I find myself in my melodies; I sing for love, I sing for me; I shout it out like a bird set free”

Witch Hunt by VISTA “I'm running like the whole damn world's on a witch hunt; Throwing stones and blaming; Secrets in the closet, send demons on the run; With bloodlust, bloodlust; How am I to know who to trust, who to trust?” I think this song just fits the BATS/CATS really well in general.

Never Love an Anchor by The Crane Wives “There are times when I still wonder about you; You are someone I have loved, but never known; And you'll never see the reasons I had; For keeping my claws away when they were close enough to hurt you” This entire song fits well, with Eda hiding her curse from Raine causing them to break up in the first place. I also blame this animatic for this song being in this playlist.

My Love, My Life by ABBA “I've watched you look away; Tell me, is it really so hard to say? Oh, this has been my longest day; Sitting here close to you; Knowing that maybe tonight we're through” This part is clearly the moment Raine broke up with Eda. “You are still my love and my life; Still my one and only” Yet after all this time, they still love each other.

Songbird by Fleetwood Mac “ And the songbirds are singing, Like they know the score; And I love you, I love you, I love you; Like never before”

In Our Bedroom After The War by Stars “Listen, the birds sing, listen, the bells ring; All the living are dead, and the dead are all living; The war is over and we are beginning”  New beginnings.

Six Pieces, Op, 51, TH 143: VI. Valse sentimentale. Tempo di Valse by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Gorgeous piece by Tchaikovsky, one of my favorites, and it’s a violin version. Valse sentimentale translates to Sentimental Waltz. Take from that what you will.

I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston I think the song title speaks for itself honestly.

I Write the Songs by Barry Manilow “My home lies deep within you; And I've got my own place in your soul; Now when I look out through your eyes; I'm young again, even though I'm very old” As I was making this playlist, I was trying to thing of any music related songs and this came to mind. This particular verse works well.

City Of Stars from La La Land “City of stars; Are you shining just for me? City of stars; There's so much that I can't see”

trust by Christina Perri “Words that hurt the ones you're lovin’; Hatred for who you’re becomin’; I knew better than, yes; I knew better than; To trust myself; To trust someone else” Eda was so determined to hide the truth from Raine.

Take Flight by Lindsey Stirling Another beautiful violin piece. I mostly chose this one for the title, but it in an amazing piece.

Paper Rings by Taylor Swift “I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings; Uh huh, that's right; Darling, you're the one I want, and I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this; Uh huh, that's right; Darling, you're the one I want” Eda loves shiny things and Raine, what else can I say?

Francis Forever by Mitski “On sunny days I go out walking; I end up on a tree-lined street; I look up at the gaps of sunlight; I miss you more than anything” They really miss each other after the breakup.

Stormy Weather by Etta James “ Don't know why; There's no sun up in the sky; Stormy weather; Since my man and I ain't together; Keeps raining all of the time”

We’ll Meet Again by She & Him “ We'll meet again; Don't know where; Don't know when; But I know we'll meet again some sunny day”

My Heart Is Buried In Venice by Ricky Montgomery “ Now my heart is buried in Venice; Waiting for someone to take it home” “Say, say what you mean; Tell me the truth or tell me you're through”

Ready Now by dodie “Feet firm on the ground; We stood hand in hand; And I told the world; That I have a plan; Together, we sang; "I'm ready, now"”

Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper “After my picture fades and darkness has; Turned to gray; Watching through windows; You're wondering if I'm okay”

Bad Reputation by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts “I don't give a damn 'bout my reputation; Living in the past, it's a new generation; A girl can do what she wants to do and that's what I'm gonna do” This is fully an Eda song.

Right Back Where We Started From by Maxine Nightingale “Do you remember that day (that sunny day); When you first came my way? I said no one could take your place; And if you get hurt (if you get hurt); By the little things I say; I can put that smile back on your face” This is a much more upbeat one, they deserve to be happy after everything.

Demons by Imagine Dragons “ I wanna hide the truth; I wanna shelter you; But with the beast inside; There's nowhere we can hide” The owl beast.

Boys Wanna Be Her by Peaches ��The way you rock, don't stop; Girl, you got the chops; Flip-flop, she bops, self-taught; You look so hot” Honestly, who wouldn’t want to be the owl lady?

Cherry Bomb by The Runaways “Can't stay at home, can't stay at school; Old folks say, "You poor little fool"; Down the streets I'm the girl next door; I'm the fox you've been waiting for” Young Eda? Young Eda.

This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) by Natalie Cole “I'm so glad, you found me in time; And I'm so glad that you've rectified my mind; This will be, an everlasting love for me” They get a second chance!

Mary On A Cross by Ghost “You go down just like Holy Mary; Mary on a, Mary on a cross; Your beauty never ever scared me; Mary on a, Mary on a cross”

W.I.T.C.H. by Devon Cole “ She don't wanna be anybody else; She's a woman in total control of herself; It's such a wonder to be under her spell; What a woman, in total control of herself” Honestly, I’m such an Eda simp, I’m not ashamed to say it.

I Put A Spell On You by Nina Simone “I put a spell on you; Because you're mine” I had to include it (I stand by the fact that the Nina version is the superior version.)

Venus Fly Trap by MARINA “ Don't underestimate me; 'Cause one day you're gonna see you're in a losing battle; Babe, you'll never stop me being me; I got the beauty, got the brains; Got the power, hold the reins; I should be motherfuckin' crazy; Nothing in this world could change me” Hell yes, Eda, keep being you.

Roundtable Rival by Lindsey Stirling Violin! It’s my favorite instrument to listen to, I’m so glad Raine plays violin. Also, this song is just really cool.

Thus Always To Tyrants by The Oh Hellos “Let me die, let me drown, lay my bones in the ground; I will still come around when the time for sleep is through; Over hill, over dale, through the valley and vale; Do not weep, do not wail, I am coming home to you”  I love the title of this song.

ilomilo by Billie Eilish “ I tried not to upset you; Let you, rescue, me the day I met you; I just wanted to protect you; But now I'll never get to”

Seven Nation Army by 2CELLOS

Still into You by Paramore “ I should be over all the butterflies; But I'm into you (I'm into you); And baby even on our worst nights; I'm into you (I'm into you); Let 'em wonder how we got this far; 'Cause I don't really need to wonder at all; Yeah, after all this time, I'm still into you”

Dream Sweet in Sea Major by Miracle Musical “She knows you heard her; Staging music murder; In line before the show began; To be where I am; Children born of one emotion; Our devotion's deepest ocean; No division reasoned we'll be free”  This is less to do with the lyrics and more to do with it being an epic piece with lots of strings.

You Found Me by The Fray “In the end, everyone ends up alone; Losin' her, the only one who's ever known; Who I am, who I'm not, and who I wanna be; No way to know how long she will be next to me”

Soldier, Poet, King by The Oh Hellos The lyrics are irrelevant, I just think this is a fun song that they would play and dance to.

Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) by Journey “ Someday love will find you; True love won't desert you; You know I still love you; Though we touched and went our separate ways”

When We Were Young by Adele “Let me photograph you in this light; In case it is the last time; That we might be exactly like we were; Before we realized; We were scared of getting old; It made us restless; It was just like a movie; It was just like a song”

[fellsilver]

Laeral Silverhand's Explorer's Kit contains twenty-one art cards with accompanying text on the back written from Laeral's perspective. I'm transcribing the text from them for my own ease of reference.

SIDE OF THE BOX.

The path to Faerûn's wonders is endless and fraught with danger, but one you'll never walk alone.

INTRO CARD.

Today's Faerûn, our vast and varied world, is but the latest verse of a song sung through generations. Its choruses resound through the vaults of time, each a variation on people, wishes, mysteries, and myths we'll never know — yet that define everything we are. Those who listen long enough might here the refrains of lost civilizations and forgotten magic, of wars between giants and dragons, of the wizards of Netheril, and of the high magic of the elves. They are the echoes of verses long sung, but indelible parts of our ongoing song.

To understand Faerûn, train yourself to listen to the present and the past. Only fools deafen themselves to the song around them — the serenade of new wonders, the clangor of war and worse. Although I don't have the perspective to sing you Faerûn's entire song, I'm happy to share a few of my favorite verses.

Hopefully they'll help you distinguish a greater melody, so, when it comes your time to sing, you'll better understand the harmony that's waited so long for your voice.

LAERAL SILVERHAND.

My name is Anamanué Laeral Silverhand. I was the fifth born of seven sisters to the goddess Mystra. When my mother died, I was taken under the wing of the wizard Elminster who taught me about the world and the Weave of magic. Since then, I have ruled a kingdom, led adventurers on many quests, freed myself from the depths of evil, and known a love beyond death.

Now I serve the city of Waterdeep. I had retired from the world and thought my days of adventuring over when the Masked Lords of Waterdeep called on me. They had ousted their corrupt Open Lord, Dagult Neverember, and asked me if I would serve as the new Open Lord of Waterdeep — in the hopes of bringing stability and honor back to their city. Knowing the strategic and symbolic importance of Waterdeep as a beacon of hope and a demonstration of what is possible for the people of Faerûn, I accepted.

Waterdeep is the hub of the Sword Coast, a shining star of civilization, and a grand experiment in co-existence. It is a place that cannot be allowed to fall to evil and corruption. In the centuries that I have walked the lands of Toril, I have sough a place where all people could find rest. To this end, I've sworn to use my power to make sure that Waterdeep and her citizens remain safe.

HARPERS.

The Harpers and their mission are dear to my heart. The organization dedicates itself to many nobles things, but above all its members work to maintain the balance of magic in the world. To do this, the Harpers secretly keep checks on ambitious wizards, hold back the tides of extraplanar threats, and make sure that items of great power don't fall into the wrong hands.

The magic that most of us see in the world is but the visible tip of the iceberg hidden from out eyes within the infinite vastness of the Weave, the tapestry of magic that runs throughout out world. Only archmages and the wizards of fallen Netheril have experienced the full intoxicating majesty of the Weave, but I know too well how its unbridled energy can corrupt the best of us. Heeding dire warnings from the elves of Myth Drannor, Elminster Aumar, and those such as myself who understand the disastrous potential of unchecked high magic, the Harpers have dedicated themselves to protecting the world from this power.

ZHENTARIM.

I've seen the Zhentarim shift and change endlessly over the decades, consuming itself again and again, retching forth and ever more bilious incarnation each time. Manipulated by nefarious forces, like the evil wizard Manshoon or the foul gods Bane and Cyric, the Zhentarim often dance to whatever tune their mad leader pipes.

Recently, though, the Black Network has shown signs that it could rewrite its history and free itself from the clutches of evil to build a new company of merchants and mercenaries open for business. I know the weakness of mortals all too well, though. While the Zhentarim have presented themselves as a group that wishes to join society and embrace a new future, I can't help but suspect that the hand of Manshoon still manipulates the Zhentarim from the shadows.

How long will it take before I can sit with the Zhentarim and not suspect treachery? I doubt even I will live long enough to see that day.

CULTS OF THE DEAD THREE.

The cults of the Dead Three began as most cults do, their frightened members lured to depravity by confidence and hollow promises. In this case, the fanatics flocked to the intoxicating power of the fallen gods Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul.

The cults of the Dead Three predominantly flourish within the city of Baldur's Gate, and I see them as a test of the city's health. The cults raise their heads in proportion to the instability of the city and the corruptibility of its leaders. When Baldur's Gate experiences a time of plenty under the protection of a strong leader, the fanatics slink into their gutters to fester and plot. However, when the symbol of Bhaal appears in broad daylight, and cultists openly preach fear and divisiveness on the streets, then it's a clear sign that the leadership of Baldur's Gate has grown weak.

When the cauldron of hatred spills over to harm the public good, Baldur's Gate is in need of new heroes to defend the innocent and cleanse the city of evil once more.

DURNAN.

Ah, Durnan. A man of simple tastes and few words. I'm always refreshed when I meet someone who doesn't mince words with flattery, and to this effect, Durnan comes across like a cool breeze on a humid day.

Durnan's story is also the story of Waterdeep. It was Durnan who, with the help of that incorrigible rogue, Mirt, when into the Undermountain (from which no one had ever returned) and emerged not just alive, but laden with gold and magical treasures. Using his newfound fortune, Durnan built an inn around Undermountain's entrance and turned a deathtrap into a business, now known as the Yawning Portal. For the cost of a single coin, you can descend into the dungeon — Durnan's advice and rental equipment costing extra. If you return (and still have a coin to pay your way up) you'll receive a hero's welcome. If you don't return . . . well, don't expect the tavern's regulars to come looking.

Over time, traders and fortune seekers from up and down the Sword Coast settled around the Yawning Portal. The tavern became synonymous with possibility and prosperity, prospects that came to be shared by the city that grew around it: Waterdeep, the City of Splendors.

GRAND DUKE ULDER RAVENGARD.

I always admire those who put aside their comforts for the greater good. Ulder Ravengard has no love of dealing with the conniving scum that flourishes in the high halls of Baldur's Gate, yet he sacrificed a comfortable retirement as a former leader of the Flaming Fist mercenaries for a life in politics, all for the good of Baldur's Gate and its citizens.

Ulder is a warrior, used to life where direct action and immediate results define the difference between life and death. I can only imagine the frustration he must be experiencing dealing with the hand-wringing patriars and dawdling dukes that manipulate fortunes in Baldur's Gate. Without him, the city surely would have fallen even further into the corruption that has plagued it since its founding as a freebooter's stop along the Chionthar River.

Squabbling dandies aren't the only ones Ulder must contend with. More serious threats, such as the Dead Three and their foul cultists, endlessly gnaw at the heart of the city, plotting dooms beyond any sane mind.

Baldur's Gate is a powder keg, and who can say how long Ulder Ravengard can keep it from igniting?

HALASTER BLACKCLOAK.

Beyond depravity, beyond mental illnesses, Halaster Blackcloak, the Mad Mage, is a singular danger even among those who flaunt the laws of magic. His most infamous creation, Undermountain, is a chaotic maze of deathtraps filled with his personal menagerie of monsters and half-finished arcane experiments. There, unmoored from reason and morals, he obsesses over meaningless audacities. Reluctantly I let him and his creations fester, so long as they remain locked away within their twisted labyrinth. If any of his depravities leak onto Waterdeep's streets, though, then we shall have more than words.

While Undermountain has a reputation for extraordinary danger it's also famed for containing fabulous treasures — be they rarities from the depths of the Underdakr or strange wonders collected by Halaster himself. Over the years, those with more ambition than sense have ventured into Undermountain in search of gold and glory. This deadly attraction has had a significant role in making Durnan's inn, the Yawning Portal — and, indeed, all of Waterdeep — what it is today. I doubt that even the Mad Mages' bizarre genius could ever have predicted that his dungeon's greatest side effect would be encouraging the rise of Waterdeep itself.

JARLAXLE BAENRE.

While Jarlaxle Baenre selfishly serves his own hedonistic fancies, his formation of the Bregan D'aerthe has provided a place for drow outcasts of all stripes — himself included — to find sanctuary and purpose far from the awful conditions of dark elf society. While he's certainly a pompous dandy, frills and a dashing smile hide his most scandalous secret: that he actually has what might pass as a heart. This saving grace is why I don't immediately fire upon him whenever his ship sails into Waterdeep's harbor.

I don't for a second underestimate Jarlaxle, though. He's always scheming, with dozens of machinations in the works at any given time. Any dealings with him involve untangling his web of half-truths and lies to figure out what game he's playing. If he would just tell the truth up front, he might discover that I'm not always opposed to his schemes, and I rather enjoy the dash of originality he brings to a world all-too-often lacking in style — not that I'd ever tell him that, mind you.

LORD DAGULT NEVEREMBER.

Many desire power with the intention of doing the right thing once they have it. Sadly, such dreams rarely come to fruition, as other factors all too often corrupt the purity of the idealist who sets out to change the world. This is what happened with Dagult Neverember when he became the Open Lord of Waterdeep. He was filled with confidence, even arrogance, though I believe he did initially care for the city.

Over time the rot of power and wealth turned Dagult's youthful idealism into the pettiness of a man who lives in lack. He dishonored Waterdeep and its people by trying to turn the city into a revenue stream for himself and his cronies. It took a considerable amount of time, but eventually things turned bad enough that Waterdeep's citizens demanded change and the Masked Lords expelled Dagult from their ranks.

Now Dagult has gone off to Neverwinter and is actually helping that city recover following the devastating eruption of Mount Hotenow. I only hope he continues his good work, as Neverwinter's people are far less forgiving than the residents of Waterdeep. Should he indulge his greed, Dagult is apt to find himself cast out again — this time on a pike to freeze at Neverwinter's edge.

DRIZZT DO'URDEN.

My sister, Alustriel, enjoys a closer friendship with him than I, but I can say that Drizzt Do'urden is one of those people who creates paths where none existed before. Before Drizzt, most would have said that the drow were innately evil and beyond redemption. To be born into a culture, endure its relentless brainwashing, and somehow still find a way to break free is a testament to Drizzt's strength of character. Even when eh fled his home, the vicious city of Menzoberranzan, he wasn't escaping into an ideal world. Drizzt knew prejudice against the drow was rampant aboveground. He knew the road would be hard, he knew he would have to fig hgt to break the suspicions of the surface world, and he did it anyway.

People like Drizzt are myth breakers, creating new realities from nothing, remaking the world's assumptions into what they and future generations deserve. Because of his actions, we now see more drow breaking free from their cultural trauma. At the time, Drizzt might have thought he blazed his path to the surface for himself alone. Only today are we beginning to realize what hopeful droves followed on his heels.

VAJRA SAFAHR.

Vjara Safahr has talent, and is growing into her role as Blackstaff, Archmage of Waterdeep. While I still can't see the Blackstaff — the companion of my beloved, departed husband, Khelben — without distractingly dear memories flashing to mind, I'm coming to accept Vajra as a worthy wielder and able ally. While her magical skill is undeniable, I can't help but think of her as another of Khelben's students, one of this generation's worthiest magical minds, and the one luckiest to be guided by the Blackstaff and the dear soul it harbors.

Vajra is committed to her post and the defense of Waterdeep, as she must be to face the number of threats that rise to test her; the defenses of her home, Blackstaff Tower; and the City of Splendors at large. Our city's greatest defneses and most ancient magics stand ready to heed her command, such as the titanic Walking Statues of Waterdeep. Yet, for all Vajra's prospects, wisdom comes not with potential, but with experience. The Blackstaff and I will do all we can to guide the archmage, but ultimately Vajra's fate will be of her own choosing — and the fortunes of the City of Splendors hang in the balance.

MIRT.

Mirt. What can I say about Mirt? he's a scoundrel, a scallywag, and a rogue, but underneath it all, Mirt is a stalwart defender of good who has the heart of a hero. In this world of villains, having someone you can unconditionally trust is worth all the gold in Waterdeep.

Even though Mirt has lived a magically extended life, it's still impressive how much he's accomplished. He has been a trader, a thief, and an adventurer during his early days, where he made several fortunes. Like many of us, though, he eventually found that the sparkle of jewels fade. When that happened, he retired from adventuring to search for a more meaningful existence and settled in Waterdeep.

Don't get me wrong, though. Mirt did not lose a step in his legendary gadding about, becoming one of the city's premier revelers and information brokers. It seems that no amount of self-reflection can entirely tidy up his character. But a keen eye for what other people value — be it a kind word or some other treasure — is what makes Mirt, Mirt.

THE XANATHAR.

I have only had to deal with one Xanathar — the title of a procession of beholder crime bosses who mastermind Waterdeep's most notorious thieves' guild — on my watch as Open Lord of Waterdeep. As far as beholders go, this one hasn't been exceedingly monstrous. Perhaps it is due to my dearth of experience dealing with megalomaniacs, Underdark tyrants, and depraved wizards, but beholders are fairly easy to contend with once you uncover their particular paranoia.

This guild leader has attached itself to a fish named Sylgar, which it lavishes affection on and derives a sense of security from. It's just one idiosyncrasy in an encyclopedia of strange beholder behaviors that leaves me puzzled. Regardless, I've used this carp to my advantage and have worked with the Xanathar's lackeys to keep Sylgar alive. It certainly wouldn't serve me to comment on rumors that I've secretly provided now Sylgars when old ones perish. However, I will say that I've learned much of Delimbiyr carp in recent years, particularly their sensitivity to temperature and how frustratingly long it takes to safely introduce them into new bowls.

BALDUR'S GATE.

With its place at the center of the travel and trade in this region, Baldur's Gate is critical to the stability of the Sword Coast. This makes the city's notorious corruption and numerous near collapses all the more unnerving. Somehow, though, the city finds a way to thrive despite the meddling of gods, devils, and criminal conspiracies. such also makes Baldur's Gate a crucible of heroes, who regularly rise to face those endless waves of evil. Among such heroes are Minsc and his valorous hamster companion, Boo, two unlikely heroes who — along with their companions Delina, Shandie, Krydle, and Nerys — have become reliable defenders of Baldur's Gate. Six champions aligned against all the disparate evils that set their designs upon the city hardly seems like fair — or sustainable — odds, though. Now more than ever Baldur's Gate needs heroes, those who will defend the city that is and write the tale of the city yet to be.

CANDLEKEEP.

Oh, dear. Now that we're discussing the great library of Candlekeep, it reminds me that I have several books in need of returning before the First Reader sends scowling monks to hound my steps.

Among the greatest libraries in the Realms, Candlekeep is a bastion of magical and mundane scholarship in all its myriad forms. Only true scholars are permitted access to the citadel-library, a state Candlekeep's monks test by demanding a particular price: a tome not already present in the library's vast collection. If you can barter your way inside, the burden of knowledge within bears upon visitors like a physical weight. Nearly any question one might think to ask has its answer in Candlekeep, but of greater interest are the innumerable secrets that sleep amid the stacks, question — wondrous and terrible — few mortals ever thought to ask.

NEVERWINTER.

Neverwinter has seen its fair share of misfortune over the last century, everything from orc attacks to infernal corruption, from volcanic explosions to chasms swallowing up whole urban districts. Yet, somehow, the city has survived, emerging from the ashes to thrive and grow.

Speaking as the Open Lord of Waterdeep, I see Neverwinter as one of our two greatest partners, they in the north and Baldur's Fate to the south. Because of these cities' positions along the Sword Coast, they serve as protectors and allies in Waterdhavian interests, contributing to the stability that we enjoy today. Because of this relationship, Neverwinter, Baldur's Gate, and Waterdeep number among the most prosperous cities in all Faerûn. Our communities live in symbiosis, our differences paling in the face of our peoples' common needs for safety and prosperity. We depend on one another to grow and to survive fate's challenges. Let us all seek to remember the strength we share, particularly in the face of short-sighted charlatanry and grasping tyrants.

PORT NYANZARU.

Port Nyanzaru rises upon the wild shores of distant Chult, a colony of Amn that grew into a city like no other. I was there when Port Nyanzaru was still merely an outpost, a fortification run by the Flaming Fist with the sole purpose of looting the jungle of its countless riches. The wood-paneled offices and gem-encrusted circlets of many Amnian nobles arose as products of this wanton pillaging.

All that ended when the merchant princes of Chult proclaimed their independence from Amn, retook control of their home,a nd declared it a sovereign nation of their own. Many feared this separation would bear a bloody price, but deals were made and treaties signed with only limited violence.

Today, Port Nyanzaru is a bustling, cosmopolitan city, a gateway to Chult, guarded by its people.

WATERDEEP.

Waterdeep is a grand experiment. All cultures and ideologies mix here, endlessly working and realigning to make the city their home. Walking Waterdeep's streets is like striding across the nations of Faerûn. In a single day you might encounter clothing, food, and works of art form a hundred nations. Waterdeep is about expanding horizons and broadening experiences. To visit Waterdeep is to be forever changed by its people — their knowledge, stories, music, and hospitality.

Waterdeep is far from a paradise, though. There are always sinister forces at work in the city, those jealous of our prosperity or who prioritize their own greed over their neighbors' needs. That is where my role as the city's open lord comes in. Although I often take time to enjoy the city's simple pleasures, I work with many groups — the Harpers, the Lords' Alliance, the Emerald Enclave, and others — to keep informed of what's happening within, under, and around the city. Many threads I contend with directly. Others, though, call for an indirect touch. In such cases, I find myself in endless need of committed heroes willing to stand in defense of the City of Splendors.

ICEWIND DALE.

Like one of Icewind Dale's most famous residents, Drizzt Do'urden, many who travel to the frigid North are outcasts in search of a place where they can make a new home for themselves. some go to Icewind Dale determined to make their fortunes, lured by the promises of gold, gems and magical remnants of lost Netheril. Others go seeking solitude, or to escape unfortunate pasts — or laws — in the cities of the south.

Today, most residents of Ten Towns — the region's predominant settlements — dwell there because they were born in Icewind Dale. The people are mostly fishers, loggers, miners, hunters, trappers, furriers, and traders accustomed to the harsh climate, the slow pace, and the isolation. Like the hardy reindeer of the tundra, residents of Icewind Dale endure, doing what's necessary to survive.

[winterbranded]

[ ✮ ]  ——   ICY HUES ARE STRICTLY SET FORWARD.   footsteps in sync with the small battalion of stormtroopers that followed.  all blasters neatly in gloved and armored hands.  all faceless with black visors and white helmets.   his own personal weapon is held firmly between droid and flesh digits.  the heat of the flames and waft of smoke no longer deters his gaze.  nor does the sound of frightened and shrieking bystanders.  as his steps pause, so does the lines of troopers.   carefully, his gaze scans across the disarrayed village.   this was the place.   a hand raises briefly.  motioning the troopers to advance.  they know what they were here to look for.   survivors.  anything that was worth the time of reporting.  the lines of troopers walk past him,  all easily branching off into sectioned teams.  he is left   alone   once again.  through the rubble and dust, he advances with silent steps.  senses on high alert as he keeps his long ranged blaster rifle at the ready.   the white armored soldiers disappearing into the smoke and mist.  they had to be here.   he knew that.   for the asset’s tracking was  never  wrong.  

[dayseternal-blog]

Hello hellooooo! I'm so excited for this sooo I'm gonna send you a request please hehehehe😆

Can you write something out of this song (It's Only Me by Kaleb J) but from Hinata's POV?

The verses (both the first and second) kinda describes Hinata pre-The Last, how she loves Naruto and being there for him even though he is still oblivious of her feelings. I can't find the English translation of the verses unfortunately, but you can directly go to the chorus because it's sung in English.

Thank you thank youuu for opening something so exciting! I'll definitely love anything you write 💖💖💖

Hello your-internetfriend!!! I was NOT expecting how personal this song would feel! I was shot back to high school with the major R&B vibes, like I was shocked to see that this song came out last year. This song sounds like the love songs of the 2000s, I was hit with such nostalgia. Who even makes music like this anymore? (apparently Kaleb J.)

So with that said, I'm going to try to make everyone feel this on a (perhaps uncomfortably) personal level haha. I just had such a strong need to write this like an honest prayer, or like a kind of worship. It's a short concept fic again. Stream-of-consciousness style, first person pov.

Concept: After the war, Hinata vows to be the one to stand beside Naruto.

Rating: G

"It's Only Me"

He’s vibrant.

Life sings in his steps.

Summer earth, richly hued in his voice.

Blessed by the stars when he turns to me, and the village hushes dazzlingly quiet, expectant.

I’ve never known breathless warmth that compares to this, how it puffs softly in my chest for the light of his smile.

How he smiles, a million days of sunrises, infinitely him, he’s never more himself than when joy suffuses his soul, and I pay witness to how he burns in golds and sapphires, from somewhere deep within where the gods poured wines and oils of the highest heavens.

And yet, he is only human.

Human in all the ways that matter, human in his failure and his pride, human in his shadows and faults. Human in his freedom, how his spirit belongs to no one but himself, and how he flies, untethered and reckless.

Wishing for his momentum, wishing to catch just the tail ends of his flight, wishing to never slow him down, certainly my prayer is one among many.

It’s only me, me in my own love and admiration, me with all that I have, all my strength, all my dedication, hope, and joy.

Is it too much to whisper this in my heart? To be by his side, to keep his fire strong. I’ll do what I can. As I always have, and as I always will.

Is it too much to promise this to him? To reach out, to comfort. I’ll be there for him. As I always dreamed of, and as I always will.

He doesn’t hear me, he can’t, I have yet to let out my voice.

For now, let the powers above have the patience to give us time, let me grow along with him so that one day I may have my secret heard, let him feel my truth first so that one day he may accept it.

It’s only me, but with him, I feel like so much more, I’ll lift him up the way he does for me, and maybe one day, he’ll pray the way I do for him.

So let me love and love and love.

I’ll sing it with his smile, I’ll live it in his laugh. I’ll give thanks when he turns and looks my way.

So one day, please let him shine for me, only me.

Let him be here for me, only me.

And I’ll promise with everything I am to love him, only him.

[ask-the-crimson-king]

Music Shill of the Day: "JUDAS" by Lord of the Lost

PART 2 of 2: "SALVATION"

Welcome back to part 2 of me shilling the fuck out of Judas and telling you, the lucky reader, of why it's so great. If you didn't see part 1, here's a link. Beware, it's long as fuck. LINKS TO ALL SONGS WILL BE PROVIDED. All songs will be rated on a scale of 1-10; 1 - garbage. Horrible. Why did you let this leave the studio. 5 - average. Meh. Not horrible, but not impressive. 10 - fantastic. Thank you for this existing. I love this too much. I will make a final post about my overall thoughts separately as well as give the top 5 songs of the album. BUT FOR NOW, we venture ever onwards. STARTING WITH--

13. "The Gospel of Judas" - 9/10

Starting off EXTREMELY strong with a very excellent piece with a brilliant message.

These lads said "happy last day of Pride, please take this video and this song" and I say thank you because. Watch the video. Careful with some people malding over them becoming "political" by adding a pride flag in the comments (but there are plenty of responses shutting them down since LOTL has regularly been supportive of the LGBT+ community and very vocal about that support).

This song is meant for those who are outcasts in society for being who they are, whether it be from gender-based, sexuality-based, race-based, whatever. Great intention and a great message.

The song itself, I find myself liking the choruses more than the verses. I'm not a huge fan of the "Judas, Judas" parts, but it works well enough for the song. Not quite an absolute banger of a song, but still really fucking good.

14. "Viva Vendetta" - 9/10

This song is fascinating for two reasons. The first; it features a full 386 person choir. The second; its instrumental was given to 32 different artists, with no title attached, to see what they'd do with it. That's really fucking cool.

As for the actual piece, it has a very nice, flowy, bouncy beat all throughout. I like it. It's something to vibe to, most certainly. It has almost a bit of an 80s feel to it.

The instrumentals are very neat, with the guitars making a very nice sounding bassy groove. Though there does seem to be acoustics used throughout as well, and the occasional synth. Overall? Dope as fuck song. It's genuinely awesome. It slaps.

But. As much as it slaps. A challenger approaches. A song I had been anticipating for over 3 weeks since I heard the "Track by Track" 30s preview.

15. "Argent" - 11/10

Okay. Okay. I know. Priest? Slaps. Born with a Broken Heart? Beautiful. Death is Just a Kiss Away? Love the strings. But.

But, dear reader. Allow me to enlighten you as to why this is, in my humble opinion, the best song on the album.

Let us start with the wonderful, Arabian-sounding vocals to open it. And then the introduction of the piano, it begins to build. And build. And then the guitars and the drums kick in, along with that industrial sound in the back.

It keeps growing and growing, then it begins to cool for the verse. Everything is still there, just waiting. Slowly, everything keeps growing in intensity. It builds and builds along with the vocals of the first verse.

Then we transition to a pre-chorus for a small calm...

Are you out there? Are you out there? I suffer... Your thirteenth suffers!

And then...

IT GOES OFF!

ARE YOU OUT THERE? I'M CLINGING TO THE DARK! ARE YOU OUT THERE? MY FALLEN COUNTERPART! BETRAYAL BURNS, LIKE THE SILVER IN MY HEART! ARE YOU OUT THERE? THE ERROR OF THE STARS!

The best chorus of the album. Without a doubt. There is so much raw emotion here barely simmering at the surface. As my friend @hoholupercal-adopts said;

"It captures ethereal rage, suppressing emotions, sorrow, bliss, and a love and need for hope."

And he is so spot on with that. It is beautiful. It is intense. It's amazing.

And then we come right back to a verse. And we start again, and after the second chorus we enter a small break of calm.

As the bridge starts up, the vocals from the beginning return, along with Chris' wonderful and soft yet gravelly voice with the slowly building instrumentals behind him...

The error of the stars... The error of the stars... A searing oath on the circles of the heart, Are you out there?

The error of the stars...

A brief pause, and then it smashes itself right back into that insane chorus.

This entire song is so powerful. Its so... so raw. So full of just a mix of emotions that it almost feels overwhelming. I just. I love this song so much.

If there is any song you listen to off "Judas", please make it be this. I cannot stress enough how fantastic this piece of incredible artistry is. It is, apparently, "Globalization in practice" according to Chris Harms himself. It is so beautiful. Please listen to it. Do yourself a favor.

16. "The Heartbeat of the Devil" - 8/10

This song has a great groove to it. I like the choice for using electronic drums. It has a very 80s feel about it. Very nice opening, with very open sounding verses and then a very nice chorus.

The piano also works as a nice accompaniment, as per usual at this point. The song is a fine song indeed, it really is grand. However its missing a few things that keep it from a 9/10 or a 10/10. Not entirely sure how to pinpoint what they are, but they're there.

Overall, a grand song, as most of these songs have been. Also this is a song for the Emperor of Mankind and it's funny cause it's number 16, which is Horus' number. But you wanna know what else else? It isn't the only ironic incident of this happening.

17. "And it Was Night" - 10/10

This song took me a bit. Off its intro with the synths, I wasn't vibing with it too much. With the introduction of the guitar and drums, I started to get into it. For the verse, I was still uncertain. That kinda odd synth was back. But it still sounded fine, I supposed.

However. The chorus is, ironically enough, where it shines the most.

It sounds beautiful. There, everything reconverges after the break in the verse, along with the backing choir, and it is simply...

It sounds ethereal. It sounds dreamlike. It sounds perfect for a song entitled "And it Was Night".

Everything afterward sounds great. The elements used in the intro and the chorus are used a bit more in the following verse, and the chorus just hard carries this song to a 10/10. It is fucking fantastic. It has some raw emotion within it, similar to Argent, but instead on a more... dreamlike, hopeful level. Kind of like childlike hope and wonder.

Also I've had 2 people tell me it's a Lorgar song and I agree wholeheartedly. Plus its #17. So ha.

18. "My Constellation" - 6/10

The vocals are fine, and they remind me of a song I can't really put my finger on. But this song just doesn't really do it for me. It has plenty of nice emotion and power with it, but the instrumentals feel kind of... weird. They fit, somehow, but they feel like they shouldn't.

It's still a very above-average song for the musicality of it alone, and the very pretty lyrics. Plus the vocals of the chorus are also nice. But it's still just missing things. It's not that great, but it's definitely an above-average song. One of the weaker entries on this album, but that's not saying a lot since this album is still fucking amazing as a whole.

19. "The Ashes of Flowers" - 8/10

The synths in the back of the intro with the piano sounded kind of odd at first. This is a song that doesn't have much buildup, it just goes along for about a minute and then BAM, intense instrumentals.

I do appreciate such songs as much as I do those that build. Those that slap you in the face will usually, indeed, slap. And this song does, for the most part. There are some bits that sound a bit janky to me, but it is a good song. Very strong entry on the list. At times it shares in that "these don't feel like they should fit together" vibes as its predecessor, but it only happens twice at most. Very gospel-sounding song, especially with how it sounds around the 3:30 mark, with the choir and Chris singing.

20. "Iskarioth" - 9/10

Now we got that more classic sounding heavy metal on the album. I grew up listening to stuff with this sort of style. But of course, the song has some newer elements added in. I love the riffs, though. They sound great. Love that classic sounding over-overdrive on the guitars. Love how it carries into the second verse. The beat and rhythm have that classic metal feel to them as well.

The chorus is, as most on the album thus far, very powerful and clean. The heavy riffs from the intro and breaks between chorus and verse are absent, leaving room for Chris and the backing choir to shine alongside the beautiful piano.

The break for the bridge that slowly builds to the final chorus is very nicely done, and I like how the guitars were added back in. An extremely strong song. Very well done. Love it.

21. "A War Within" - 9/10

Strings are back. I'm a bitch for strings. I love them when they're used in metal. I love them when combined with an organ and piano. I love them also when combined with great vocals. The opening verse leading to the pre-chorus, the repetition, the build to that powerful chorus, it's wonderful. The piano, as always, twining beautifully with the vocals.

The fucking cello solo with the leitmotif is fucking amazing. Favorite part of the song. It's so beautiful.

Very, very excellent piece of music. This song is a 9 for sure. Not quite a 10 since, while the chorus is nice, it could've used a bit more intensity. The pre-choruses where the rhythm picks up and everything feels more urgent is where the song shines for sure. Without a doubt.

22. "A World where We Belong" - 8/10

An interesting somber song that blends the heavier and intense pieces with this overall feeling of melancholy, yet hope. This song doesn't have an instrumental intro. Instead, Chris just starts right off singing. This song definitely feels like a sort of cheesy church song. But it does have a nice message to be found within the lyrics, and it's a nice and slow song too.

Good pacing. Good vocals. A good song.

23. "Apokatastasis" - 10/10

So. Um.

This song is an instrumental that's basically entirely strings.

The name means "the restoration of equilibrium after the apocalypse", and it serves as a respite for the album. A breath of fresh air, similar to Be Still and Know.

However, where Be Still and Know had the various members of the band show up, this one has them quieting down. It features the leitmotif once more, and it definitely has that feeling of peace and quiet. The album, until now, has been a bit chaotic. There's been a lot of emotion, power, and just... feeling.

This is a beautiful piece. It truly is.

10/10, easily.

Now let's wrap up the album.

24. "Work of Salvation" - 9/10

Soft, gravelly vocals greet the listener after that beautiful respite, paired with a lovely choir and piano as well.

Slowly, we get that buildup again. The organ comes back. The song feels very much like "The Death of All Colours", only this time with instrumentals backing instead of just vocals. A nice callback after this long journey.

This song works as a great ending to the album, a very nice catharsis. It isn't overbearingly powerful, but it isn't too soft either. It matches the mood of its predecessor and of that of the album wonderfully.

I'll talk about that in the post after this, but wonderful song.

It even ends with a beautiful, and almost sad rendition of that leitmotif on piano. As if lamenting that the journey is over. A beautiful end to a wonderfully amazing album.

[lo-55]

Revel Ch. 6

Factitious First Impressions                     

Tori was as good as her word. That night, when they went for bed, she drew the curtains and he snuffed the lights, leaving the pair of them in pitch and utter darkness. Tori climbed into her part of the bed and Katakuri his. There was space enough for another full grown man in the bed between them, and though she would have welcomed some contact Tori was smart enough to know that Katakuri, in his shyness, might panic.

So she kept her hands to herself and when the morning came she rose without him. She dressed herself in a simple lace robe over her long nightdress and left the room. No one would expect her to be in finery for breakfast.

She shut the door quietly, leaving Katakuri sleeping in their shared room, and made her way down the long hallway. The ancient floor was worn soft and cold under her thin slippers, and sunlight streamed in from skylights above her head. She walked into the Silver Hall with a halo of light floating across her sea-dark hair.

The Silver room was home to three long tables equipped with benches. One was for the staff, who had already had their breakfast, another for the soldier girls, who would eat later, and the third was reserved for the nobility.

For Tori and the other rich, high ranking women she had grown up with.

She was one of the last to arrive. She took her seat amongst the others, already chattering. It was all idle, easy gossip, nothing that would make its way into court or true intrigues. This was a place for eating, not a place for doing business.

Tori piled her plate with fruits, took a bowl for yogurt and a pair of hard boiled eggs. Most of the others were eating pastries. Someone handed her a cappuccino.

Tori joined the idle chatter. She alone did not stop when the door opened once more and Brulee walked in, sticking out like a sore thumb. Her clothes were plain, her face was scarred and her hair was a mess. Tori adored her.

“Everyone,” she spoke, “ I would like to introduce my sister-by-law, the Lady Charlotte Brulee.”

Brulee’s smile was somehow both awkward and unnerving. She took an empty seat, and started piling her plate without saying much to anyone.

“If that’s a Lady, I’m a cat,” Seline muttered, loud enough to be heard by everyone from Selbo to Tori herself. Brulee’s shoulders lifted and drew together and her smile spread wider and tensed.  Tori stood up abruptly. She walked around the table, grabbing a bowl and a pitcher of milk. A strange anger possessed her, pushing her forwards.

She brought it over to set it in front of Seline, pushing her plate away.

“You,” she said as she poured milk into the bowl, “Are Seline Butelli. Your father is a duke, and you are not even a duchess, when you marry your brother with inherit and you will hope for the best . I  , am Victoria di Imperia, crown princess and your future queen. And if I say that my friend is a lady  well .”

She set the pitcher aside and nudged the bowl of milk towards a stunned Seline, “You had best start lapping  kitty .”

Dead silence descended upon the women in the room. Tori had never been so aggressive, so uncivilized.

Yet now she stood, throwing her rank around in defense of a stranger who even Tori barely knew. But she would not tolerate it. She would not.

Satisfied with the mortified and red face Seline, and knowing that some form of retribution would come her way, Tori returned to her seat and continued on like nothing had happened to begin with.

Tori sucked in her stomach while Madelle laced up the back of her dress, pulling it taught. It pushed her tits up and gave her the illusion of not having organs. On top of the underdress and its laces draped a long length of blue as dark as magpie wings across her, falling straight down to the floor. On top of that she dropped a shorter length of imperial purple that fell only to Tori’s upper thighs. The edges were carefully embroidered in patterns, inlaid with fine, miniscule diamonds that shone when she moved like stars in the sky. It clasped at her shoulders with silver fibula adorned with a diamond skull. Rather grim, but befitting her new status.

“Beautiful, as always,” Madelle told her. She pulled her hair and piled it in tight ringlets atop Tori’s head before binding it with a thick ribbon encrusted with constellations.

“Of course,” Tori said absently, looking at herself in the mirror. She was a vision. She was beautiful and beloved by her people. It felt false. More so now than it had in a long, long time.

Tori slipped on her soft silk slippers. The sun was burning in the west, dipping towards the cradle of the sea.

Her mother lullaby came back to her again. She had learned it first in the Green Tongue, the one spoken in the forests.

  Roll forth Ocean mother

  Carry you children far  

  Shine bright moon hung o’er  

  Watch over their tepid flight  

  Bring with you, Great mother  

  The silver crashing mist  

  Protect your sons and daughters  

  Great Oars push to safety  

  The tide shall guard the night

  Lift high sea walls honor  

  Shine under sunstones bright  

  Stand tall, brother-sister  

  Guard each truth and steel  

  Cradle those, earth protector,  

  Crowned in stone from their ordeal

  Senten them moon sister  

  The sorrow of the earth  

Tori hummed softly. She knew there were more verses, but Dolce had never shared the full song with her. She told her that the sorrow of the earth was too sad for a child, but when she grew up she would sing it to her.

She never got the chance.

After Gemma was born, Dolce got sick. A post partum depression, she stopped sleeping, didn’t eat as much as she used to, and she was left open to infection.

It had been common, in the first days of Imperia as its own nation, shortly after the Novara civil war eight hundred years ago. A disease that swept through the vulnerable, cultivated by dying on the battlefield it was given free reign, passed through blood and sweat and tears. Or perhaps the air, no one had known and still no one did. It killed within twenty four hours.

The dark spots appeared, and the children were taken away. Dolce was quanteened, and she died. Followed by five servants, all four her handmaidens, and three doctors that tried to help her. They were blessed than the disease had stopped there, and hadn’t destroyed the entire city. Blessed, people said, but Tori and Lucien had lost their mother and Gemma had never even gotten to see her.

Now, Tori was a grown woman, married already, and Dolce would never see it. Would never know the woman that she had grown to be. Beautiful, and the daughter-by-law of an empress. One day, as the eldest child, she would be queen.

Dolce would not see that either.

Lapa finished with her hair, spreading a silver net encrusted in diamonds across it while Varinia lay her lips on. At last, she was ready.

Tori turned to the door.

“Let’s get this party started,” she joked lightly. Madelle, dressed in fine sapphire, skirts, nodded her assent swiftly. Lapa and Varinia took their places beside her. Aelia and Daria were hidden in the walls, in identical dresses to switch places with her if need be.

The gaggle of girls walked out of the room and into the hall. Katakuri had been shooed away some time ago, to dress himself properly. If he showed up in anything other than leather, Tori would be privately amazed.

They turned down the hallway and descended the stairs, meeting up with Brulee as they reached the bottom. She was flanked by the rest of Tori’s handmaidens, who had dressed her up in fine a lavender gown the color of her hair that draped across her long body well, bordered in pale blue. They had painted her lips and sculpted her face, tamed her hair and braided it into a crown adorned with blue roses.

Tori offered Brulee, who was closer to her size but still taller by a good head, her arm. Brulee took it, looking at her with a new light and together the pair walked into the atrium. Long vines dripped down from the ceiling, covered in wisteria, bougainvillea, and honeysuckle. The impluvium was filled with false lilies that held candles in the center and glowed faintly as they floated.

Tori took Brulee to the edge of the water and sat with her while her handmaidens scattered. they had their own duties to attend to.

Tori could see her sister, dressed in her uniform, standing off near the door with her captains. Her brother was talking to a judge near the spread table of fruits, cheeses, and wine. Nothing that Tori couldn't eat, but with Katakuri expected to be in attendance she couldn't either way.

Unfortunate, but she’d eaten before hand. Tori was no fool.

She chatted idly with Brulee until the attention in the room moved to the staircase once more. She turned with the rest of the room to find Katakuri standing at the top. He was wearing an actual shirt that fit him well, dark and bordered in red to match his scarf. His pants were still leather and his boots were spiked, but he was missing the knee pads.

Tori stood and glided towards the stairs. A silence fell across the room, or perhaps she simply wasn’t paying attention. His eyes were on her, and for the first time in a long time she felt a longing pressing against her ribs.

For someone so large he walked with a shocking amount of grace. He descended the marble staircase and when Tori offered him her hand he took it in his. A smile pulled at her lips, threatening the false one layered over top with silver glitter.

Katakuri kept his eyes on her and she her eyes on him as she guided him to his sister. He sat, crossing his legs, and Tori stood at his side, tucking her arm in his.

The band started playing soft strings, a low hum that build beneath her bones. Tori let herself stand close to Katakuri, for once taller than him, but true to her word, she didn’t try to sneak a peek. His arm was strong and warm beneath her hand and she felt that heat in her ribs once more.

While they sat, she talked, pointing out courtesans, officials, and visitors scattered around the room.

“That one,” she said, gesturing to a man in the corner that dressed in what appeared to be plain street clothes, no more than a tunic and leggings “is Orso Orseolo. He is a long trusted friend of my brother, sister and I but he won’t take any lands we offer and so he’s not a real nobleman at all. He says titles give him hives,” she smiled like she was sharing a conspiracy, “because he’s not got a title or lands but still has our backing and speaks with our voice, the rest of the court is terrified of him.”

She moved on. “The woman in the green dress is Arcielda Severan. She has quite the scandal about her divorcing Pietro, the one with the red boots and the frown lines. Still, she’s a good person, reliable and loyal to a fault. Once stabbed Chealsea Pruili with a fork and proposed Oblivion for her and hers when she tried to imply that disfigured babies shouldn’t be kept. Chealsea is the one in the brown gown with the bear bracelet.“

“How do you keep track of all of these people?” Brulee asked her, peering up at Tori with her same eerie smile.

Tori shrugged. “It’s not very hard. I just do.”

She was surprised when Katakuri’s low voice reached her.

“You said that flowers mean things. Do those?” he looked towards the flowers that dripped down the walls in long lines of white, purple, and pink. Tori felt her heart lighten at the interest Katakuri paid, and perhaps a bit at the attention in general.

“Bougainvillea, the pink ones, are for ‘peace and free trade’. We have ambassadors from the other Novara islands here. The Honeysuckle is for affection, fraternal and devoted. Wisteria, the purple, is for love, sensuality, support, sensitivity, bliss and tenderness. They’re for us.”

She felt his pulse under her fingers. Felt his shoulders draw together.

She drew a slow circle across a silver scar that crossed his arm, soothing.

“What’s oblivion?” Brulee asked next. Tori’s eyes darted again to Arcielda, speaking quietly to Alton Izard.

“Oblivion is the greatest disgrace for an Imperian,” she told them quietly. “It’s to have your entire existence erased. From the hearts of men and the Hall of Records. Your name will never be spoken again and you will be lost to the sands of time. Made into nothing and no body.”

Tori’s voice grew soft as silk and quiet as the grave. She was well aware of the attention that the two foreigners were paying her, rapt in her words.

Arcielda broke away from Alton and came over to them as the music picked up. She took Brulee’s hand and tugged her to her feet, sweeping her away to dance. Tori was left with Katakuri, who didn’t seem the type to waltz.

Brûlée was about as graceful as a colt, new and ungainly on its long, long legs. Bit Arcielda didn’t seem to mind. Her son wasn’t present, still just a child, and in any case he hated crowds.

Without really thinking about it Tori traced the strong lines of Katakuri’s arm. She kept talking him, telling him about the people around them. Where they came from. The positions they held. Their influence. Their temperments, histories, old grudges and new ones.

“Some of them are like me,” she told him. “Charlotte Victoria di Imperia. The ‘di’ is just a place holder. It means ‘of’. If they have that in their name, they are as old as the island. If their family name is all their claim, they’re newer blood. There aren’t many ‘di’s left to us. It’s been too long. Mostly, it’s my family.”

His voice was low and deep beside her when he spoke.

“Your family is very small.”

Tori smiled. Small, showing now teeth. A grin was threatening a rude. “Yours is very large. And new, isn’t it?”

“Mama is the first,” he confirmed, but Tori already knew that. She hummed softly, her voice a quiet melody. The band picked a quicker tune and she watched Arcielda lead Brulee through a clumsy spin across the floor. Arcielda was a sweet woman, and a complete lesbian.

“And you are the second. Third?”

“Second son, third child.”

“That must be a lot of presure,” Tori mused. Katakuri shot her a look.

“You’re a  princess .”

Tori smiled again, almost wide enough to split her false lips. “But I don’t have to work for that. My whole life has been presented on a silver plate. I don’t need to choose anything to get my future.”

Katakuri’s head tilted ever so slightly. Once more Tori found she couldn’t read the look in his eyes. She wanted, suddenly, impulsively, to steal him away. Drag him out into the gardens and sit him in the grass and unravel his scarf so she could  see .

But Tori was more well behaved than that. She let herself lean against his shoulder instead. Arcielda dipped Brulee low, until her hair almost touched the floor before pulling her back to her feet. Katakuri never looked away from them.

“You’re very protective of her,” Tori commented idly. He stiffened minutely under her fingers. Tori repressed a wince of guilt. That was right. Brulee’s scar.

“She’s my sister,” he said simply. Tori didn’t respond. Her own relationship with Gemma was much less… good. Gemma was a fighter, a general, hungry for power and stubborn. She was vicious and able. Tori was none of those things. She wanted no power, she fought for nothing. She was no vicious, so long as she could help it. She had been an honors student, she had competed in S.T.E.M., she had won academic decathlons almost single handed.

She wanted none of those victories again. She had no ambition. She coudln’t. Ambitious people drew too much attention, had too many expectations placed upon her and here-

No one expected her to be anything but pretty here.

“She told me what you did this morning.”

Tori looked at him, brows pinching minutely. She’d almost forgotten what she’d done. “Oh. Seline? She’s never been a kind person…”

“You didn’t have to stick up for her,” Katakuri said. There was a note of suspicion in his voice that pained Tori.

“You forget,” she said quietly. “She is my sister now too.”

She patted his arm and released him, the magic broken, to go find Orso. Her friend caught her hand when she appeared at his side and kissed each cheek. Familiar, kind, with a hint of concern in his soft brown eyes. He talked to her about nothing. Court gossips, hail storms, his sister. The pair of them walked to find others that Tori had grown up with, just as painted and false as she was.

There were three genuine people in the room. She was not one of them.

[fireflywonder]

Rose Tyler Fanfic Rec

Fanfics where Rose Tyler is the main focus. A lot of them will also feature Rose being awesome and not some damsel in distress or a sidekick.

Ninth Doctor x Rose

Get Out Of My Dreams (And Into My TARDIS) by mayaspice

Rated: General

Usually, humans jump at the opportunity to travel with him. So, he's puzzled as to why Rose Tyler doesn't. If she were any other human, he'd be on his merry way, but there's something about Rose that makes him believe the universe (and maybe he) needs her. He takes it upon himself to find out why she's apprehensive about being his companion, and tries to convince her otherwise.

My Comments: This fanfic doesn’t really feel like a romance fanfic even though it’s tagged as one, but it’s brilliant. It’s so easy to get sucked into it which just shows how amazing the writing is. I won’t spoil, but I absolutely love Rose’s reasons for being hesitant and how the Doctor is forced to come to terms with it. You’ll probably end up re-reading this fanfic multiple times.

A Drop of Magic by dimensionhoppingrose

Rated: General

Their first meeting wasn't in the halls of the great castle, but in a dusty, forgotten corner of Flourish and Blotts. “Are you bored too?” He asked, and when she nodded he took her hand and said one word: “Run."

My Comments: A Harry Potter au that’s absolutely brilliant. There’s realistic struggles and the writing is amazing. I also love the friendship between Rose and Martha and the Doctor.

Tenth Doctor x Rose

Mr Smith and The Dinner Lady by lauraxtennant

Rated: General

Set during School Reunion - the Doctor has to contend with his class gossiping and asking inappropriate questions about the nature of his and Rose's relationship.

My Comments: I love this fanfic just for how intimidated the Doctor is by a bunch of teenagers. It also gives a nice glimpse into what the Doctor thinks of Rose who is just absolutely cheeky throughout the entire thing. It’s part of a series, but this is my favorite fic within it.

A Rose By Any Other Name by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel

Rated: Teen-Mature

In which Rose Tyler opens a fob watch, and discovers that she's the Master.

My Comments: Even when Rose Tyler turns out to be the Master there’s still a bit of Rose Tyler in them which makes it so much more interesting. It’s hilarious and the Doctor can never catch a break.

Generation 5000 by ofstormsandwolves

Rated: General

A changed Rose lands on a strange planet while trying to find her way back to the Doctor, and finds herself being 'processed' by a group of soldiers who want help winning a war. Is it just a distraction, or will it help lead her back to the Doctor?

My Comments: Bad wolf and dimension hopping Rose makes an appearance! I love how Rose’s powers are different than standard ones people give her. I don’t want to give much more away, but I love the dynamics between the Doctor and Rose and their progenation machine children.

Rubbish As A Human by HalfASlug

Rated: Teen

With the Family of Blood after him, the Doctor has no choice but to become human and hide himself in Edwardian Britain. Fortunately, Rose and Donna are there to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid. Unfortunately, there is no one to stop them doing anything stupid.

My Comments: Donna is absolutely amazing in this and I love her friendship with Rose. Those two have to put up with so much in this fanfic and they’re just utterly done with John Smith (aka chameleon arch! Doctor). It’s a hilarious fanfic and it’s definitely different than the usual ‘Family of Blood’ fanfics.

Feeling Electric by ProfessorSpork

Rated: Fiction K

She walks into the comic book store, and everything changes. An AU story. / "No!" she insists, but she's grinning and bumping his shoulder and he has never, ever talked to anyone like this before.

My Comments: The author has the real world connect so neatly to the tv show which I absolutely love. There’s an explanation for everything from why the Doctor wears a pin striped suit to the hindrance caused by Madame de Pompadour. It’s all done in such a brilliant way. Also, the way the Doctor and Rose fall in love is just perfect and fits them so well. There is slight smut though so you have been warned.

Heavy on the Build Up by cereal

Rated: Teen

"I don’t think I’ll be seducing Queen Elizabeth at all," he said. "Do you? Don’t you fancy a bit of running instead? Maybe I could make a speech, tug on my earlobe a bit? I could use the sonic, too." 50th spoiler fix-it.

My Comments: The Doctor thinks he’s so suave, but in reality, not so much. The Doctor’s thought process in regards to Rose is hilarious and so him. Such a fun read.

Rose Stays by l-ouresdeLuna (facemyJam) (WIP)

Rated: Not Rated

When Rose saves the Earth from the Christmas Star Invasion, she unknowingly becomes The Defender of Earth. It sets her on a path not unlike the one the Doctor took, but without the vast knowledge of the Doctor, she's forced to seek alternate endings.

My Comments: Rose is so very human in this series and I love it. She isn’t given any power ups or anything. Rose only has her brain, her companions, and her gadgets to rely on. We get to see Rose truly shine while still holding onto her kindness. This is such a welcome change from the typical route writers take in regards to this trope.

Eleventh Doctor x Rose

More than words by Teekalin (WIP)

Rated: Teen

In the middle of rebooting the universe, the Doctor gets a brilliant idea. A mad but brilliant idea. He has found a way to bring Rose back to him. Now all he need to do is create a second Big Bang and everything should work. He can only hope she will recognise him in his new body.

My Comments: Be prepared for the slow burn, because wow. The Doctor does that and still doesn’t do anything? But the author does a good job of incorporating Rose into the story. Definitely worth reading.

the definition of 'forever' by everythingyouever

Rated: Teen

Amelia Pond looks on in wonder at the blue, smoking police-box that’s smashed her shed. She’s even more amazed when the doors are thrown open, and a blonde woman emerges in a halo of yellow-orange light.

The stranger grimly surveys her surroundings and the state of the box, before shouting back down, “You landed us better the last time you did this!”

My Comments: A nice little fix-it where nothing bad ever happens to Melody Pond, the Doctor was only a year late, and Donna still has her memory plus a bunch of other things. Also, Rose and the Doctor are still traveling together and making people wonder if they’re together. Should definitely read.

Doctor x Rose x Jack

The Wolf at the Door by surrexi

Rated: Teen

Bilis Manger's manipulation of the Cardiff rift allowed Rose Tyler to slip through a tiny hole in the universe and she was reunited with Captain Jack. Cardiff is safe and the Torchwood hub is quiet. But what happens when the Doctor and Martha make a pit stop?

My Comments: This is the second book in a series, but it’s way better than the first one. You can read the sequel without being lost, so you don’t need to bother with the first book. It features an adorable reunion between the Tenth Doctor and Rose along with Bad Wolf! Rose saving the day. Also, Doctor and Jack and Rose working through their relationship issues (but mainly the boys).

Something Fantastic by Haely_Potter

Rated: Not Rated

River meant to send the message to the Eleventh Doctor. We know what happened when the Tenth Doctor received it. But what if it went further back, to the Ninth Doctor? Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead with Ninth Doctor, Rose and Jack.

My Comments: River Song keeps hinting at the future and Ninth is not having it. All her attempts fall flat. This fanfic also has Jack and the Doctor being protective over Rose, but she still manages to get into trouble and help save the day. I mainly love this fanfic just for the relationship dynamics between Jack, Rose, and the Doctor. They’re absolutely great together.

Multi-Doctor x Rose

Bending the Universe by Haely_Potter (WIP)

Rated: Teen

Separate AU one shots in Doctor Who 'verse

My Comments: It’s basically a series on all the different ways Rose could still exist within the Doctor’s life. They’re all very varied which makes it interesting and they show how the Doctor will always love Rose.

Ten and Rose elope and Eleven never marries River, but it's still canon-compliant. by TsukiKabanoki (WIP)

Rated: General

Yeah, I had this idea. I like angst, so most of it is probaby just the Doctor missing Rose or people finding out about her and all that.

My Comments: It’s a series that starts off with the Doctor finally telling Rose how he feels in ‘The Idiot’s Lantern’ and continues how it would in canon. Which makes everything so much more heartbreaking. But I absolutely love the raw emotions in the fanfics and how the Doctor could never stop loving Rose.

Things Change by wanderlust_and_rainbows

Rated: General

Post Parting of Ways, Rose Tyler becomes a little less human.

My Comments: Nothing is ever simple or easy in this fanfic, but the writing is absolutely stunning so you’ll keep reading even if it gets your heart broken. There is just so much depth and nothing is rushed when it comes to Rose. She gets so much character development and I absolutely recommend it. Just the dialogue and the realistic portrayal of relationships pulls you in. You’ll want to read it all in one sitting. Also, Jack is the best friend anyone could have in this.

Time Lines Diverge by valiantstorm

Rated: Teen

"I am the Bad Wolf, and I save Melody Pond."

Melody Pond isn't the only Pond who's met the Bad Wolf. Melody Pond, growing up like she should have, just add the big bad wolf and an immortal man. Oh, and don't forget the daft alien we all love.

My Comments: This is more Eleven x Rose than anything, but towards the end the Twelfth Doctor appears so there’s that. Rose gets to do some saving in this fanfic and travels with an immortal man and a young Pond she regularly kidnaps. Melody Pond is surprisingly likable and there’s just so much sass in her which makes you like her even more. Also, none of the past companions are forgotten which is all Rose’s doing. 

The Catastrophic History of You and Me by I Took the One Less Travelled

Rated: Teen

Every time she saved him, she dissolved into nothing and disappeared. It just got harder after he knew who she was. AU in which Rose scattered herself as Bad Wolf across the Doctor's timeline and saved his life hundreds of times before he even met her.

My Comments: During the time Rose Tyler held the vortex she saved the Doctor so many times. It’s basically a fix-it during the time the Tenth Doctor is without Rose, but I totally approve of the changes. Also, I love the amount of emotion the author has the Doctor show in regards to Rose. It makes it all so much more intense.

Certain Dark Things by ABadPlanWellExecuted (WIP)

Rated: Teen-Explicit

A collection of stories about Rose as she dimension-hops her way back to the Doctor. Not in any particular order, except the order in which they fall out of my head.

My Comments: This series dives into the things Rose had to endure while in the search for the Doctor and it’s so interesting. There are so many great moments in this story and I honestly can’t say anymore without spoiling.

Prolonging the Inevitable by Aeolist

Rated: Teen

She's with him everyday. He's with her once a week. -- "Fifty more years… That's eighteen thousand, two hundred and fifty days. It sounds like a lot, put that way. It's not. Not for me. But if I space it out, if I wait a week in between every one of your days, I could keep you for three hundred and fifty more years in my own timeline."

My Comments: This fanfiction actually explores the idea of Rose growing old with the Doctor which I rarely see. It’s so heartbreaking, but I still love it. It’s primarily focused on the Tenth Doctor and Rose, but the Eleventh Doctor does make an appearance.

Has Someone Been Peeking At My Christmas List? by Vampiyaa

Rated: General

Eleven/Rose sort of; Twelve/Rose; Part Eight of the Who Holidays series. When the Eleventh Doctor takes Rory and Amy home to Leadworth, they stumble upon a future version of the Doctor holding hands with a very pregnant Rose Tyler. Apparently, somebody has most definitely been peeking at his Christmas list. Set just after A Town Called Mercy.

My comments: Definitely a fluffy story, but it has a dash of angst. Definitely an enjoyable story to read.

No Rose Without a Thorn by morningsound15

Rose goes to sleep one night next to her husband, John Smith, the man she has loved for going on three years now, and wakes up the next morning face-to-face with a complete stranger.

She just about falls straight out of bed.

**

Or: Whenever the Doctor regenerates, his human double over in Pete’s World does, too.

They all try to deal with whatever that might mean.

My Comments: This was such an interesting read, because it’s a struggle on both parties. The Metacrisis is forced to change without warning and figure themselves out all over again. Rose on the other hand has to relearn them all over again. Neither can run away from this. I love the way the author explores all of this and it’s done in such a realistic way.

[unclefungusthegoat]

Will The Circle Be Unbroken? - Far Cry 5 Week (Day 6): Music

Hello all! So in all honesty, I wrote most of this an entire year ago hahaha, for the Hope County Gothic Festival but got really shy about posting it. But I figured I could use it for the Far Cry 5 Week, for the Music day! It’s a songfic, featuring a song that I really wish had been in the game - Will The Circle Be Unbroken and it’s FUNERAL FIC HOOORAAAAY. 

Here is the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F1l6xXLSI0

Get ready for some ALTERNATIVE EULOGIES too, because sadness is fun.

This can be read on AO3: HERE

All my FC5 Week fics can be read: HERE

Trigger Warnings: Canonical Major Character Deaths, Mentions of Child Abuse, Mentions of Drowning, Decomposition, Fire and Funeral Pyres

The ceasefire was fragile.

Undefined.

No flag upon ramparts, or ink marked on a page. Just an agreement, whispered, gestured and silently promised, that a single night would be set apart for retrieval and burial of the dead. Sundown until sunrise. Not a shot to be fired, confession to be heard, building to be bombed, or heretic strung up. Just stillness and rest. A new Sabbath, of sorts. And for the people of Hope County who spent vast swathes of the day clinging to their lives, it seemed nothing short of a miracle.

It was on this night, on a dusty road through the dead farmland, that a procession of faithful came marching. Their faces were turned to the darkened sky. Eyes burning with sorrow, searing vibrantly like stardust. Alight with fury. Dampened with grief. And with their gaze, they spared no glance for the heretics who lined the path. No care for the vengeful, who bit their tongues and held in their spittle, and sought a glance of the dead to ease their blood lust. Not even a thought for the sinner who had taken so much, challenged their holy purpose. Given them this weight upon their shoulders.

The Father led with faltering step.

His eyes were hazy behind tinted glass. His fingers trembled. His scars, his sins, seemed to burn. But his voice was resolute, the melody echoing through the dark:

There are loved ones in the glory, Whose dear forms you often miss; When you close your earthly story, Will you join them in their bliss?

Carried aloft upon the faithful’s shoulders, upon beds made from velvet, slept the Heralds of Eden. Stilled into a long awaited peace, punctures incarnadine between their ribs a stark reminder of how they had suffered.

Each lay daubed in their own decay.

Will the circle be unbroken By and by, Lord, by and by. There's a better home awaiting In the sky, Lord, in the sky.

It was a song they had always known.

And though it was his flock that called the hymn forth, Joseph could only hear Jacob's low timbre, humming it to ease him into sleep when the belt marks on his back cut too deep. After Old Mad Seed had bellowed Bible verses in his ears, and torn heathen drawings from where they were pinned proudly on the bedroom wall. On the school bus after another endless night hearing Mother scream.

Then slowly he heard his own voice, tinged with a weariness too antiquated for how young he had been. He heard it reverberate through the orphanage halls, the eve before John had been taken away. He'd stroked his brother's hair and caught his tears with his thumbs, and sang until the sun rose:

In the joyous days of childhood, Oft they told of wondrous love, Pointed to the dying Saviour; Now they dwell with Him above.

The lyrics had been worn down by their use when he had been alone. Comforting. Protective. Like an old pair of boots too reliable to cast aside, or a threadbare blanket that still smells of home.

Or the memory of a brother stood boldly in the fire’s glow.

“Jacob...”

Dog tags now around his own neck, metal scraping with every step.

A blood soaked rabbit’s foot.

“You sought purpose. You were lost. I showed you who you once were, and opened your eyes to the Garden you were born to protect. And you cast aside your weakness- the weariness wrought deep within your soul by governments and generals who sought to use your compassion for their selfish ideals. You became strong, brother. You sheltered our Eden with a heart forged in battle. You asked nothing but brotherhood in return. You embraced your family with the strength of gods. And you carried that strength until the end.”

The Soldier, freshly slain, lay proud, like a Viking martyr. Knife threaded between his fingers, the ancient burns that speckled him like rust on the armour he still seemed to bear. His Judges crowned the mountain ledges, howling to the night sky. In the torchlight, his fiery hair shimmered like copper wire; a fleeting glance might think it a halo encircling his skull. His mind, once full of the horrors of war, now quieted. His mouth, that knew the taste of man, free to taste the soil.

Will the circle be unbroken By and by, Lord, by and by. There's a better home awaiting In the sky, Lord, in the sky.

“Faith...”

He had yet to choose another.

None else had her heart, her spirit, her devotion.

“There were some who thought you cruel. Calculating. Jezebel incarnate. They did not understand that you were a mother, and with the burden of motherhood comes a heavy hand. I chose you because you did not shy away from the lessons children must learn. You took the lost and gave them wings. You took the despairing and gave them hope. You took the sick of soul and gave them peace. You took the name of Seed and let it’s glory shine through you. Rest well, my sister. Sleep well, my Faith.”

The Siren once wielded beauty. Now her face was swollen and pallid, bloated where the water had filled her pores and the creatures of the lake had begun to strip her skin away. Yet how sweetly she was scented by the flowers in her flaxen hair! It mingled with the fresh smell of the trees and the distant tang of smoke, heightened in the darkness, when the senses are keen. Even in death, she seduced onlookers with her song. A song composed of silence, of hope and dreams now lost, underscored with the cries of those who mourned.

You remember songs of heaven Which you sang with childish voice, Do you love the hymns they taught you, Or are songs of earth your choice?

Will the circle be unbroken By and by, Lord, by and by. There's a better home awaiting In the sky, Lord, in the sky.

“John...”

He’d finally reached the sky.

Feathered his wings.

Joseph’s heart was fracturing. Oh, the things he wished to say...

“I carry your sin upon my shoulder, that same shoulder three times you felt bitten by wrath. It is a sin of neglect. Neglect of your faith and your body, and by that, God, for we are made in his image. You saw a god every time you glanced in a mirror. A cruel world made you vain and selfish, and the child who had suffered so greatly thought you invincible. You drowned in your pride, as I drown in my regret that I could not save you. I pray that you know my disappointment, John, and I beg mercy for your soul. In all my prayers, and my dreams of eternity together, I ask only that God sees how very hard you tried.”

The Baptist had rotted where he had fallen, swallowed by the damp earth. Shards of dirt had claimed the sorrows inked upon his flesh, the stories he’d wanted to the world to know. His palms were frayed by rope. His lungs were lined with lead. But now he lay in the starlight, arisen from nature’s oesophagus to be cleansed and laid to rest with honour. The bones of his collapsing face seemed testament to how he’d be forgotten. But oh, how they cried his name! A saint, redeemed. A sinner, saved.

You can picture happy gath'rings 'Round the fireside long ago, And you think of tearful partings, When they left you here below.

Will the circle be unbroken By and by, Lord, by and by. There's a better home awaiting In the sky, Lord, in the sky.

In the distance, he could see the pyres silhouetted by the moonlight. Though their bodies were cold, his Heralds would soon feel warmth again, and the embers that rose from the flames would carry their souls to the stars.

It would be a sight remembered for an age; the first flames of a Collapse long awaited.

And soon, all would burn-

-------------------------------------------------------------

Joseph’s eyes flickered open, and the fuchsia tinge of this new world’s morning mist settled into view. He sat lost in the blossoming forest, somewhere near the old compound. Sweet nectar scented the air. Damp grass and sodden earth cocooned his feet. He shivered slightly, his naked chest baptized by the dew.

Before him lay a single grave, shallow and solitary. Dirt was unceremoniously cast across it, and a rusted iron crucifix of Eden’s Gate, now New Eden, stood guard.

No flowers.

No velvet.

No choir of lamenting brothers and sisters.

Not even their names.

His body had whined under the strain of shovelling. Age and years of almost starving had weakened his arms, but when the Judge had offered to accompany him, to put to rest the overwhelming guilt that had consumed them, and to move the dirt for him, he gently refused. He owed it to his family to do it himself. It had taken him days to hike across the county, alone with only his memories, to collect their remains. What little remained of them after all those years.

He had had not the strength, or enough of them left, to dig three.

But they were reunited now, in eternal embrace. No ceremony. No procession. No pomp and martyrdom, as he had dreamed. Their resting place was the picture of modesty. Humility. A grave for the truly devoted. Their bones would turn to chalk and clay, and they would feed the insects and the reawakened soil.

Watch the new Eden grow.

Someday he’d be buried there with them.

Together forever.

And he thought, as he rested beside them to finish their song:

What more had they ever wanted?

One by one their seats were emptied, One by one they went away; Now the family is parted, Will it be complete one day?

Will the circle be unbroken By and by, Lord, by and by. There's a better home awaiting In the sky, Lord, in the sky.

[phemonoi]

tarot cards as foster the people lyrics 🌿✨

*based on the waite tarot deck

I've wanted to do this to better understand the relation of the cards with one another and I thought it'd be a good idea to post it here!

i. aces, the magician & justice

—houdini

“rise above, gonna start the war!” / “well, and eye for an eye, and an ‘f’ for a fight” / “well, you got what you want and what you never knew, perfect gift from me to you” / “focus on your ability, then they can’t get what they want to steal”

the aces have an aura of beginning, the spark of an idea, oportunity, birth. however, the magician is the “trigger” of that change, he controls it, activates it. he’s the architect and alchemist that has the ability to make use of each suit as he pleases. with justice, as we see, this power comes with a responsability. you get back what you give. and because the magician is also an illusionist, a liar and a thief, justice needs to be there as a reminder of what happens when you abuse magic. 

ii. twos, high priestess & the hanged man

—shc

“you’re a secret, that’s worth keeping, and now i’m keeping my mouth shut” / “well, i’ve been sleeping waiting for something, but to feel nothing at all, avoid the call” / “when i’m alone, there’s a ghost the keeps talking, and i know there’s gotta be more, for sure”

the twos are a symbol of alchemy, and this can be clearly seen in the cups with the caduceus of hermes on the background. the high priestess is the master of occult knowledge, she channels cosmic knowledge through intuition, thus creating a bond, an exchange of energy within her and the universe. the hanged man needs meditation and contemplation in order to decide what’s next, what’s real from what’s an illusion. he urges stillness in order to recover, much like the two of swords.

iii. threes, the empress & death

—fire escape

“my spine is made of iron, my heart pumps out old red paint” / “I see the seasons change, all the young faces come and replace the dying ones” / “i’ve watched the dreamers find their legs, and i’ve seen the ones that come get reduced to bones and rags”

this procesion of cards illustrates the importance of cycles. the threes combine pain, sorrow (swords) with recovery, harmony (cups), planning (pentacles) with action (wands), conveying the message that one simply can’t exist without the other, for the presence of the other is what gives one its importance, its core definition. they’re light and shadow, much like birth (empress) and death. 

iv. fours, the emperor & temperance

—coming of age

“you know i try to live without regrets, i’m always moving forward and not looking back, but i tend to leave a trail of dead while moving ahead” / “just like an animal, i protect my pride, when i’m too bruised to fight, and even when i’m wrong i tend to think i’m right. well, i’m bored of the game, and too tired to rage”

the emperor is the giver of stability, as we can see in four of pentacles and four of wands. he provides a stable foundation to build a home, he’s a father. meanwhile, the four of cups and four of swords portray temperance; they’re about patience, balance, and meditation. the emperor, as a leader, needs to balance the responsability of his power out with temperance, or else he will become a tyrant, ruled by fire.

v. fives, the hierophant & the devil 

—pay the man

“say what you love, it’s alright don’t be afraid to find your light, embrace the day, at night we’re here to fight, we all go wild again” / “climbing up my own tree, hoping it can hold all the things i’ve seen but i’ve chosen to ignore. well, i said, well i believe i’ve been well fed but the wolf’s not dead” / “lift up your name, seasons change, you know that it'll never be the same, we'll see the sun again, and before it fades, i just wanna say that i love you”

this procesion is very deep. it speaks of the spirit on a level that no other procesion of cards does in the entire deck. because the hierophant is combined with the devil, i feel like it unites opposite religious concepts: heaven with hell, purity with dirt, wisdom with madness. this alchemy of the soul is pretty much a product of dionysos, and that’s why he’s often identified with both major arcanas. the fives, now, are the middle point of each suit; they mark a transcendental point in the path of the fool. they speak of poverty, sadness, confusion and conflict. this is the event that leads to the tower; the failure, the longing for illumination, the unmasking of the lies and illusions that have ruled one’s life until now. the unity of darkness and light, the highest power, thrice-born and divine, with the lowest impulses of nature, the satyrs and maenads that lure you into their orgy. the devil here demands to be payed back, he wants retribuition, while the hierophant presents himself as the saviour, the guide, that happens to also be incredibly biased. i think it’s very useful to view this procesion as a representation of dionysos, he who initiates us into the journey of self-discovery through mysteries and shadows. 

vi. sixes, the lovers & the tower 

—the truth

“well i’ve been trying to relearn my name, it feels like a thousand years that i’ve been out of frame and i surrender, the truth is what it’s what i’ve needed from you, cause i’ve been floating within your walls of opinion, and i’m tired. i only want the truth” / “a blinding call to prayer has touched my feet, like the call of the prophets, a purpose is needed before you know that you know, to never wonder what you are, and not forget where you’ve come from” / “is it really love you’ve been speaking of?”

the lovers and the tower have a closer relation than what i thought at first, and the verses of this song really show it. the lovers is, finally, the resolution of the devil and the hierophant: it is the unification of duality, the yin and yang, and its lust is still present in the devil; the impetus and dichotomy of human emotion. but the tower and the hierophant are both events of immense spiritual enlightment. they represent freedom. the sixes are about charity, change, escape, and victory. 

vii. sevens, the chariot & the star 

—doing it for the money

“just close your eyes, we’re gonna run this blind, we live our lives, we’re not wasting time, maybe we lost our minds, we’re gonna get what we can” / “i said it doesn’t matter where i go, i am calling all the poets into battle, i am shouting to the world let them know that we won’t be afraid to step into the fight when we can’t see the light” / “there’s no retreat and no escape if we keep dreaming while we’re wide awake”

dreams, hope, courage and art. this is a creative procesion of cards. after the breakdown of the sixth procesion, the seventh brings bravery forthward. there’s no time to waste and we’re now purified, convinced of our worth and what we need to do in order to achieve what is needed. we’ve accepted the situation, the nature of our uncontrolling emotions and the will of fate. the sevens take action, a bit impulsively, but still they trigger a necessary change after the depression seen with the lovers and the tower. 

viii. eights, strength & the moon

—a beginner’s guide to destroying the moon

“and now i’m staring at the moon wondering why the bottom fell out, been searching for answers and there’s questions i’ve found” / “we’ve been crying for a leader to speak like the old prophets, the blood of the forgotten wasn’t spilled without a purpose, or was it?” / “you’ll never be whole until you lose control, and think freely to smash the wall of apathy, stop your self-importance and lift the weight off somebody else”

there’s a very pretty picture on the eight of cups in the ethereal visions illuminated tarot deck, because the moon is full, shining enormously over a deep blue landscape, and that perfectly illustrates the relation of this card to the major arcana of the moon. this procesion for me is about confidence. change is never easy, even when we’ve finally surrendered to the fate of circumstances, even when we were the ones to trigger it. eight of swords and eight of cups are not easy cards to gaze at, but we must remember that the moon is a mother, it is nurturing, it reminds us of the quality of nature to be cyclical, that things are always moving and flowing, and emotions don’t last forever. it’s also a card of illusions; it yells at us to remove the blindfold from our eyes and rediscover our worth. strength is about taming the beast, keeping on working, effort and struggle. so this tells me; no matter how much it hurts, keep going, be a leader, be the lion, make the blood you shed worth it. 

xix. nines, the hermit & the sun

—pseudologia fantastica

“don’t be afraid of the knife, sometimes you gotta cut the limb to survive” / “you got to love the madness of the feeling, don’t have to rush the freshness of beginning, you got to get back up and face your demons, don’t ever be afraid of starting over”

the nines follow the archetype of the hermit and continue their path through the sun. when we’ve worked hard enough, when we’ve compromised to facing our shadow self, when we’ve retired to truly know ourselves, admiting what we’ve done, what we’re worth, and retreated into silence, then there’s a comeback filled with joy, music, light. the nine of swords is a necessary dark night of the soul leading to a definitive awakening. 

xx. the tens, wheel of fortune & judgement 

—iii

“and i wont be afraid, it’s true we’ll never know, when the night will come and take us home, and people change, we fade from youth, and evolve into eternal life” / “wake the sleeping from their dreaming, we all want more, we all want more saints will sing and hearts are beating, saying we all want more, we all want more”

there’s still much to learn in the ten of swords already, but because life is an ouroboros and our purpose is to return to having full control of all the suits and making use of that power faithfully and wisely, it doesn’t matter. in the tens, we admit that we can affect certain situations but there’s always something that escapes our sight; fortune acts alone. wheels turn again, endlessly, for eternity. we want more; the ten of cups portrays a couple with kids new life, new paths, a new story that is, again, yet to be unfold. ten of pentacles passes down its knowledge and experience to the youth; ten of wands continues with its struggle, in the conviction that the nine will come back. ten of swords, however, looks defeated. it ain’t. it’s finally the death of the past self. ten of swords is, actually, the scene of the moment the knight defeated his adversaries. it is a card of victory; but the knight is yet to become a king. 

[ansu-gurleht]

on the starlit architecture of the ayleids

by telene petren, noted ayleid scholar and architect

the first thing one notices when visiting various ancient ayleid sites is the bright whitish stone from which they are built. while the ayleids are known to have utilized aetherial fragments such as meteoric iron and meteoric glass, there were also various other heaven-fallen materials they used. we’ll specifically discuss the material known as “meteoric marble” here.

meteoric marble, as its name suggests, is marble stones or boulders that fell from aetherius. in the days of the merethic (or mythic) era, it was a rather frequent occurrence that things would fall from the sky. one may ask why these events have declined to severe scarcity in the fourth era. the answer, at least to those versed in their mythic history, is rather simple: in their flight from our world, the star orphans of magnus broke holes in the sky into aetherius, which in turn dislodged divine material from the heavens.

the ayleids, obsessed with the stars and their light, venerated anything derived from aetherius as powerful and mystical objects. it is widely known, even to laymen and -mer, that they fashioned strange magical wells around the heartlands from the meteoric iron, and stored magicka in gems now called “welkynd stones.” 

however, they also collected aetherial artifacts seemingly mundane - strange, marble-like stone fragments that shine in the light of the stars like nirnroot. these stones were not as ordinary as most nirn-born rocks. they could be used not to gather the star-magic of aetherius, like the aetherial iron, nor to store it, like aetherial glass - but instead they could reflect it upon an area, like a mirror focusing light. 

our knowledge of the strange stone and its use by the ayleids has been a mystery for thousands of years. it is only recently, with the devastation wrought by the great war in cyrodiil, that old sites have been freshly unearthed, and their secrets uncovered.

aetherial marble, as i have dubbed it for its characteristic physical characteristics, never fell from aetherius in quantities enough to satisfy the amount of known structures of its make. however, the ayleids discovered that by placing these small fragments, or “seeds,” within normal stone, the nirn-born stone would, over time, transmogrify into more aetherial marble. the wild elves seemed to have formulated a method for accelerating the process using alteration magic, but the formulae of this industry have not yet been discovered.

however, my team are hard at work in translating these newly found texts and seeking out more undiscovered ruins. we hope to not only shed light on this fabulous material, but perhaps to revive its production for modern use. i urge you to check with your local bookseller so that you may preorder any of my books on the subject in the future.

[satyrykal]

Departure Chapter 2 - Back from Hiatus!

Title: Departure

Author: Satyrykal

Pairing: Natsu x Lucy

Genre: Romance/Fantasy

Rating: M

Spoiler Warning: Not in the canon-verse, but pays homage to ideas in the Alvarez arc.

Summary: Natsu has been by her side for years - her faithful guard and the man she was never supposed to fall in love with. Lucy is bound by duty and custom, promised to another - yearning for freedom outside the confines of her grandfather’s court. So when the drums of war throw the kingdom into disarray, they make their move – consequences be damned.

Read the story here, or preview the excerpt below!

Running Chapter Timeline:

1 - 2nd July, X494: Lucy 23, Natsu 25

2 - 2nd July, X484: Lucy 13, Natsu 15

CHAPTER 2 Excerpt – The Beginning

"Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering." – Nicole Krauss, 2005

2nd July, X484

Once upon a time – not yours or mine – lived a girl spun from stars and sunshine.

This is her story.

The sun beat down from overhead as she raced across the field, wind pulling her hair free from its braid in strands of gold. Meadows of summer daisies and lupines passed by, shaded by the thick canopy above as the King's Wood gave way the high grass of the garden green. Her hands were tight and sweaty against the reins as she leaned forward, fingers digging into the fine leather as she urged the gray spotted mare onward.

"Come on Nikora, it's you and me now. Till the end." She whispered, her thighs straddling the horse, savoring the familiar burn in her quads as they galloped faster. She was answered by a thunder of hoofbeats as clots of dirt flew behind them as they tore through the tree line.

Lucy gave a whoop of laughter and charged past the crop of ancient oaks that hid the castle from view. Her eyes flashed amber as she took in the grand turrets, the palace's marbled façade imposing as it loomed ahead.

The gates grew closer as she sped through its arch, giggling at the calls of the sentries that greeted her as her pace slowed to a canter – still fast enough that some raised their voices in warning. Still, it wasn't until the stables were in sight that she reared the mare.

"Slow girl, gentle." She coaxed, lightening her hold until Nikora had geared to a trot, a gentle double beat as she wove her way past the other evening riders.

Smiling softly at the passersby, Lucy kissed her horse's mane – brushing the coarse white strands through her gloved fingers. She breathed deeply, taking in the earthen scent of grain feed and wood before wrinkling her nose at hint of manure that hit her last.

As they came up the walkway, a handler met her to lead her to the mount's stall.

"I've got it Igneel, I can get her ready and comb her down on my own." She told the older man, trying and failing to keep the reins away from him when he reached them.

Igneel cut a tall figure, with broad shoulders that stretched the leather of his jerkin. His hair was pulled sharply back, cascading down his back like liquid wildfire. Lucy had always thought the older man was handsome, though the long scar through his right eye and cheek below it gave him a menacing aura. It had taken some time for her to warm up to the former warrior.

She'd met him shortly after he'd taken over as the royal beastmaster half a decade ago, gaining his attention when the young royal continuously snuck out to the stables when she should have been minding her lessons. However, instead of returning her to her governess as was expected, he'd simply boom with laughter – allowing her to bob between the various stalls as she played hide-and-seek with some poor, harried palace guard on her protection detail.

He'd always had a soft spot for the princess, indulging her love for riding and the measure of freedom it afforded her.

When she continued to whine and fight his grip on the horse's lead, he just grinned shaking his head at her, a piece of hay anchored between his teeth.

"Off you go then Princess, not worth my time to convince you otherwise." He chuckled, patting her leg as he went back to his tack, wiping dirty hands on his stained smock. It wasn't his job to act as a common stable hand, but he'd always doted on the girl.

She beamed at his idle dismissal; teeth white and lips pulled wide as she dismounted – directing her horse back to the corner stall. Grabbing a bucket, she placed it by Nikora who dipped her muzzle into the water immediately, long tongue slurping as she drank greedily.

A few minutes later, Lucy heard a rattle on the path outside as another couple of mounts came into view.

In front was a young girl of about thirteen with a head of smooth blue locks, tied back neatly though a few wisps brushed her pale cheeks. Her legs were looped through the horn of her side saddle, covered by the folds of her sapphire skirts. The newcomer frowned, scanning the space until her gaze landed on a pair of guilty brown eyes peeking out above the corner booth.

"Lucy you promised you would stay with us this time!" The blunette called out, glaring at her friend.

The blonde smiled sheepishly when she was caught, gesturing to her mare.

"I meant to, but Nikora wanted to go faster, and I couldn't tell her no. She's wind-blown." Lucy answered, placing a sugar cube under the horse's mouth. The mare licked it up unhurriedly, tickling the girl's palm.

"Don't yell Juvia, we're already here." The third rider scolded as she too, came to a stop – expression exasperated.

The girls blushed slightly at reproach in the older woman's voice, her own aqua locks held back by a laurel braid that started at her temples, nostrils flared slightly as she peered down at her errant charges.

"Sorry Aquarius, I will keep that in mind." Juvia apologized bobbing her chin down once in respect before dismounting with a nearby page's help. Unlike her friend, she followed decorum as befit her station. She thanked the boy absently, not noticing his stuttered reply as she walked over to the young royal, lifting her skirts up so they did not drag across the mud.

"We saw you riding astride, you know your father would be upset if he found out." Juvia told the princess quietly when she reached her, resting her chin on the wooden divider of the stall as she watched her. Lucy shrugged, still brushing her horse down in broad strokes.

She found the action calming, loving the warmth radiating under her palms.

"Then don't tell him. Beside, I only ever do it on castle grounds – never when it really counts. I just love being able to fly over the hills. The whole world just blurs into colours." She breathed softly, dreamily. She fumbled with her gloves monetarily before yanking them off so she could feel Nikora's coat beneath her fingers.

Juvia nodded once, shoulders slumping.

She had expected as much. Like Igneel, she knew little changed the blonde's mind when it was set.

"You know I never do. I'm going to go back to my rooms to clean up. The representatives of the Mermaid Heel Corps will be arriving by supper. The king says we're to join them at the table." The blunette trailed off, hoping to entice the other girl to come with her.

Her words had the intended effect.

Lucy's ears perked up; her dark irises bright in the light streaming in through the rafters.

The Corps were warrior priestesses of the faith. They had guarded the Temple of Nirvana – deep within the Woodsea – for millennia. Though women were scarcely allowed to join in battle ranks within the borders of her own nation, sacred rights kept them outside the scope of the king's jurisdiction.

"I'll finish up quickly too then." Lucy promised, her cedar eyes shining as her hands indeed flew through Nikora's fur with renewed vigor.

Growing up, she adored hearing about the holy maidens – their exploits transcending fact to legend. They were named for the Nirvana of the Sea who had sent her daughters above on land, changeling sprites who created the first temple order.

Lady Aquarius, her governess, had grown up north of the great Eastern Forest in a township marking where the Clover River spilled into the ocean. When her village had been slaughtered in a raid, the priestesses had taken the older woman in until reinforcements arrived from the capital.

A childhood friend of the late duchess, the stoic blunette had shifted to the palace a decade prior, quickly settling into the role of guardian for the motherless princess. Sometimes when her charge begged, she would display some of the fighting forms she had learned whilst living in the Grand Temple for the little girl.

Lucy was torn from her musings when Juvia waved a manicured hand in front of her face, catching her attention. Eyes crinkling in laughter, the blunette twiddled her fingers in farewell before turning, petticoats still lifted carefully to keep them from the dirt. She sped up the hill to the main castle, Aquarius following at a more sedate pace.

Across the stable, some groomsmen were feeding their horses and putting away the ladies' gear – they movements practiced. Lucy preferred to do it herself, she liked the smell of the hay and the shine of her mare's coat when she was properly brushed down. She liked how this corner of the palace ground made it seem as if she were beyond its towering walls.

As she finished, she wiped her hands on a washcloth a squire had offered her, smoothing flyaways on her head the best she could – her appearance bedraggled. Still, she wasn't too worried, knowing she would be required to change her clothing once she returned to her chambers prior to dinner.

She was latching the mare's gate when she heard neighing coming from a stall near the exit.

Until recently it had been empty.

Curious, she patted Nikora's velvet nose before making her way to the noise. Inside was a tall, beautiful creature with a rick black hide, a single white stripe dabbed its nose and pooled at its feet. Sensing her, the stallion snorted jerking its muzzle in a circle.

Lucy paced back. She pressed her lips together, rocking on the soles of her boots before shifting closer step by step.

"What a gorgeous fellow you are." She breathed, stretching out her palm so he could sniff her. He whinnied loudly in response, as if unsure whether to trust the stranger in front of him. When he didn't bite however, the girl tried to reach further, stepping up on an old crate in order to lean over the railing.

His reaction was immediate.

The stallion reared its head and pawed the ground at her approach, gnashing its teeth. Startled, she lost her footing slightly, catching her riding gear on the lumber and throwing her balance. She grabbed for the side wall, only to miss, her palms grazing the splintering wood in vain.

For a moment, it was as if time stopped.

End of Excerpt

Read the rest at Fanfiction.net!

Chapter 1, 2

[opiaismarchive]

why were you drawn to each one of your characters?

⊱asks for muns with a multimuse or more than one muse⊰ // accepting

great question !! I’ll start off with a timeline; fyi this got long lolginny weasley is actually one of my first muses ever, I probably first rped her about 10 years ago. I really liked her spunk, how she survived a very traumatic event and grew from it in a way that didn’t make her a martyr or victim of circumstances. I went back to her because I missed her, and I enjoy now discovering the more adult / mature parts of her life. I also happen to think ginny is my most compassionate muse, and it’s fun to think of when she can indeed be every cruel at times. for pelleas, I am all here for a true knight with a heart of gold who has a very dark side + I believe in characters, especially males, who can be soft and still be powerful, so that’s what drew me to him. plus arthurian legend and his devotion to the cause, plus his devotion to love is so fascinating to me. he prays to God but if he was honest to himself, he’d pray to the Goddess of Love because that’s his true religion.for zelda, I really wanted to explore a badass woman who is smart and powerful but also not your typical hero? zelda is very unique among my muses because she’s a no shit taker, but her moral compass doesn’t always point north and she is okay with that. she’s level-headed and calculative and innovative, but she’s also a kind of i don’t want to deal with this so I won’t kind of person. plus, slayer skills - always fun.for father jeremiah, I have this fascination with the catholic church ngl and the idea of rising shining star within the ranks of the church tempted by love and lust is never a boring idea. to me, jeremiah represents the modern age of the church - he is intuned socially and emotionally with his surroundings, he truly believes in God and the bible, and in making reformations to truly be a church for everyone. he is that cool new priests everyone adores and who speaks out against multiple injustices, but he’s also so very flawed and naive at times, it’s fun lol for cesare, I adore my prince ! not only do I love the borgias, but his actual history is so damn fascinating!! and fun!! like, this guy was absolutely going to rule over all of Italy - he built an empire for himself through both being loved and feared, through hard work and ambition and brilliant strategies. (honestly, dany targeryan could never) he is one of the best minds of the renaissance, Machiavelli and Da Vinci were like bffs with him. but he’s also so raw and human and he tries so hard in everything he does? I love my problematic boo, what can I say.for jemma, she came actually out of a plotline with michelle ( @toujoursfleure ) and quickly grew into one of my most dynamic characters. she is so tender and kind in the way she deals with people, but she’s also super reserved and logical in the way she handles herself. when I write for her, I feel like I’m floating in a cold lake and just allowing her to flow through me. AND that sounds like a lot of bs but she’s gone through a lot, so I really have to get myself in a place of tranquility to understand how she’s able to deal with it all and that’s what drew me to her. for andromeda, what drew me most to her is this idea of a young woman from an influential family who absolutely gave up everything because she stood true to her values, and herself. i refuse to believe she simply fell in love (in canon) and that was it. in the way I write her, andromeda was always born to fight with claws and teeth. she tries so hard to not get lost in the storm of wars and division and expectations and to truly, fully, be herself. plus, she’s also on the darker side of my muses and that’s always fun since fanon tends to think of her as this very nice and sweet girl and dismiss the fact that she is very much, still, a Black.for james, I’ve rped already james sirius and lily luna for years, so at first it was a fun idea to think of what I could bring from his family to his role but he took a true and unique form in my mind. he is the true definition of a gryffindor, but what i love most about him is that he’s really surprising to everyone - including myself. unpopular opinion, I think people idolize him and villanize him fairly quickly, and what i love about james is how very human he is, how flawed he can be but how much he is willing to learn.for amara, I think this is one of those I want a female character who people demonize and give her some humanity. mrs zabini is infamous in the wizarding world for killing seven of her husbands and being filthy rich, but no one gets there without a damn good reason. what draws me to her is this idea of a very collected and calculative person who is hurt and hurts others - but can anyone really blame her? I really think people dismissed her as a child, underestimated her as a young adult, and she absolutely used people’s assumptions of her to her advantage. 

while i haven’t played mary magdalene, what most calls me to her is the potential of a matriarch vatican city. honestly, i would still be full catholic if her ideas had reigned over the church vs peter’s. there’s also a lot of sexist issues with her portrayal within the church, which makes me think that they were really scared of her. so to place her in a historical verse where she can push people to what it truly means to follow the messiah she knew is like and spark revolutions, well that is always fun lol

and while i haven’t rped guinevere, I think it goes in the same lines to mary. guinevere is pictured in extremes in literature - she is either meek and submissive catholic fanatic who destroyed arthur’s hopes for a united kingdom, or she is a calculative and evil seductress who also destroyed arthur’s hopes for a united kingdom, almost always due to her relationship with lancelot. why can’t she be both? why can’t she be a capable and clever queen who tried her hardest to navigate her feelings and her religion? 

this got long, my bad lol

[that-shamrock-vibe]

2018 Round-Up: My Favourite Movies of 2018

Disclaimer: 2018 has been another feast for movie goers all year round, so with the new year just around the corner I have decided to disclose my favourite movies of the year. Careful for spoilers for movies that have recently come out as a couple are on this list.

#10. Love, Simon

As I mentioned in my review, I enjoyed this movie. I still think it accurately captures a teenage coming out story, not THE teenage coming out story because everyone has their own story and the endings aren’t always good but this one definitely showed the good without over-fantasizing it.

I mean okay, I still think this movie doesn’t do enough to show the dangers of emailing virtual strangers outside of the fact that you get your private information shared but again that balances out with the fact it is only a school-centric forum so I give the movie a pass on that. Also I do feel bad for saying there are “better” ways to come out because as I did follow immediately up with saying, everyone has their own story.

But overall I do really think this is a great movie and an underrated one at that. The characters are all likeable and relatable, Nick Robinson surprisingly proves himself as a leading man and Keiynan Lonsdale gives his best performance.

#9. Venom

I always had in mind that Venom would make my favourites list. Not only is Tom Hardy finally getting the chance to shine in a superhero role, but I finally get to see one of my favourite anti-heroes brought to life in the right way on the silver screen. I loved this movie, I thought this was a great spin-off in the Spider-Verse and a great start to Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters.

I know for a fact this movie has problems, Riot as a villain isn’t the most compelling, the movie does play like it’s set within the 90s Spider-Man Animated Series and that Carnage tease was a let down in the casting department. However, this movie gives us Venom and allows him to be Venom. Yes the comedy is slightly damp at times but Tom Hardy sells himself as an action hero, comedy star and stunt performer. I do hope this movie gets a sequel because I really want to see more.

#8. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

I am in the minority of people that enjoy this movie, but am in the majority of people that feel the end reveal was completely nonsensical. However I am giving J.K. and the team a pass on this movie and that is why it takes the #10 slot.

It is a great movie visually, it has all the traditional sceneries and locales that you would expect from a Wizarding World movie, the world building of exploring not just the British but also the French Ministries of Magic was a fun addition, Grindelwald shrouding Paris as a way of summoning his followers was visually appealing and of course seeing Hogwarts again brings back all the nostalgic feels a Potter fan could ask for.

I will continue to defend Johnny Depp in the role of Grindelwald as I feel he is very well suited to the role and that he was one of the better things about this movie. Like I said in my reviews he kind of book-ended this movie with two great scenes first when he escaped captivity and then when he addressed his followers, both were well acted, well shot and largely counted of Depp’s performance which he mastered.

My biggest complaint with the movie is that I did expect more of a mythos built movie than the focus being on characters we already said goodbye to in the first one, but that’s not to say what I did get was bad it was just not how I would have taken the story going forward.

Eddie Redmeyne and the cast from the first movie are all still charming and have more character development to carry them through to the next movie, while Jude Law and Zoe Kravitz are both really great additions.

I will wait and see what the third installment in this franchise has in store before deciding my final opinion on the movies as a whole but I do think J.K. has some work to do to keep people on board.

#7. Christopher Robin

This was a complete nostalgia trip for me, I really had a good time watching this movie. Not only did it really hit at the emotional core of anyone who grew up with Winnie the Pooh but it was just so charming, so quaint and made me feel like a kid again.

Ewan McGregor as an adult Christopher Robin was very well cast, not only did he go through the arc that apparently every working adult goes through in losing his child-like wonder only to be reminded of it and realizing what is truly important in life, but Ewan is an actor who can do it with such charm that a tired old story like this seems fresh.

Also this story is made fresh by the fact that it does centre on the characters of  Winnie the Pooh. The visual effects used to bring these characters to life are so well done. I loved the behind the scenes knowledge of knowing that they created toy replicas of these characters and then digitally animated them throughout the movie. It just adds a sense of realism to the movie and makes it more enjoyable.

Mary Poppins Returns did a similar story arc with Michael as they did with Christopher but in my opinion this story is told a lot more organically. I’m happy with the movie and glad I now own it.

#6. Incredibles 2

14 years in the making and still worth the wait. I had a blast watching this movie. Not only was it a direct follow-up to the first one but I felt the story managed to progress our favourite characters in an organic way that still kept in theme with this being a superhero family franchise.

I thought the focus being on Elastigirl being the focal superhero as opposed to Mr. Incredible this time around was a fun change of pace and didn’t feel like a cry for feminism as other movies and TV shows do.

Meanwhile having Mr. Incredible being the stay-at-home dad learning to cope with his teenage daughter’s drama and super-baby discovering his powers was a lot of fun and led to some very comedic moments.

Also the hilarious moments in the first movie were still here in this one from Frozone and his wife to Edna Mode. The whole movie just felt that, even though it had been over a decade since the first movie, it just felt like coming home it was so inviting.

The main problem is the reveal of the villain because anyone with half a brain would be able to tell that while they tried the red herring of Win Deavor being the evil Screenslaver, the fact it was Evelyn Deavor wasn’t a shock. Evelyn Deavor...Evil Endeavor...it was obvious.

But overall a really enjoyable movie and hopefully we won’t have to wait another 14 years for the threequel.

#5. Avengers: Infinity War

The movie event of the year but that doesn’t mean it was the movie of the year. This was such a spectacle and celebration of 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that I could not get enough of it.

Everything worked well in this movie, all the characters we’ve seen throughout the last ten years working together was such a treat and a promise that only Kevin Feige’s MCU could deliver on.

There are so many things right about this movie, I thought the plot for the movie really brought a genuine threat and splender to the MCU that managed to almost fix the MCU’s villain problem, Thanos was a genuine threat despite the fact that he had not been shown as formidable in any of the previous movies, then there’s the Black Order who present both a brilliant and fun henchmen group.

The heroes all coming together for the first time isn’t as big of a deal as made out because aside from the Guardians teaming up with Iron Man, Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, everyone else who teams up has teamed up before aside from a brief interaction between Shuri and Bruce Banner.

Regardless, this was such a fun movie, a slight complete deviation from the comics event as the key characters aren’t in play for the MCU just yet. However, this was very much the movie of the summer and definitely an event everyone was talking about. I loved it and roll on Avengers: Endgame.

#4. Bohemian Rhapsody

I love Queen, I love everything about the band and more to the point I love Freddie Mercury. I love everything that he stands for and everything that makes him an icon for the LGBT community. Throw in Rami Malik and you have everything I am looking for in a movie like this.

A Star Is Born did not make my list and in fact almost falls into my Least Favourite Movies list because I just didn’t really like it as a movie and the two movies are often compared. But while A Star Is Born had okay songs and an okay story, Bohemian Rhapsody had fantastic songs and a fantastic story because they all came from a raw and talented source.

I get there is some controversy with the movie as the remaining members of Queen tried to make it more of a Queen origin story than a Freddie Mercury biopic but the best thing about this movie is it is a perfect blend of both stories because you can’t have one without the other.

Also, the movie recreated Live Aid in such a mirrored way that it was almost like a straight-up recording with the actors in place of the actual people. This movie should definitely garner praise and accolades for that alone.

It’s just such a fantastic movie and provides such a potent love-note to all Freddie fans, I can’t say enough good things about it.

#3. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Best Spider-Man movie ever! This is a statement I found myself saying throughout this movie and a couple of days after seeing it I still think it, this is the best Spider-Man movie ever created. I’m not including Venom in that because it’s from the same material but is more of a spin-off from the mainstream Spidey movies than what has come featuring the red and blue webslinger.

But yes, I had reservations about this movie. Not only do I not know Miles Morales that well but I genuinely thought they were going to go down the Spider-Man origin route again and to be honest I don’t think I can sit through another retelling of that. Now this movie has one trope that goes in line with the traditional Spider-Man story which doesn’t exactly damage the movie but doesn’t seem necessary for the movie.

Also this is an all-age animated movie, that is very hard to do without pandering more to one age demographic and traditionally if they go down the adult animation route it’s often offensive and vulgar whereas this had none of that. Instead it dealt with several mature themes, mixed with some brilliant action sequences and quite hardcore violence. I mean it, Kingpin goes all out here.

In terms of the overall movie, there is a disclaimer right at the start before the opening credits that is specific to this movie saying “Do not copyright”...In the first 4 minutes you understand why. This movie is choc-full of twists, spoilers and treats for any Spidey fan and I personally guarantee there is something for everyone to enjoy.

Furthermore, because it is an animated movie, the entire story plays out like a comic-book practically like a live motion comic partially because of the use of captions used just they are in comics. The movement of the characters and the artistic scenery adds to what makes this movie so unique and so special.

Voice talent wise, Chris Pine makes a surprising vocal appearance as the Peter Parker of Miles’ Earth who dies towards the start, but then you have Jake Johnson, Nicholas Cage, Liev Schreiber, Hailee Steinfeld and Mahershala Ali all providing great support to Shameik Moore who himself is brilliant.

All in all, as everyone has said, this is the best Spider-Man movie to be released, I am very much looking forward to seeing where this movie takes the universe in the future.

#2. Aquaman

This movie came so close to being my #1 because I genuinely believe it is the best movie of the year, however #1 is my favourite and that’s what this list is about.

If someone had told me Aquaman would be DC’s best movie since The Dark Knight I would have laughed in their face. I cannot believe how much I enjoyed this movie. Visually stunning, there is not a lot more I can say about how gorgeous this movie is that everyone else has not said.

Jason Momoa takes to this role like Gal Gadot takes to Wonder Woman and Hugh Jackman took to Wolverine. He has so much joy in this movie and you can tell he, Amber Heard and the other cast members love being part of this world.

I will reiterate what I said in my non-spoiler review, this movie essentially showed us the scenary of a live-action Little Mermaid complete with Ariel in Amber Heard’s Mera and yet we are still looking forward to Disney’s live-action version of the movie. I guarantee you there will be a lot of comparisons between these movies, even if Zendaya gets cast because she will be compared to both Mera and Aquaman as both the lead and lead female.

This movie does what Wonder Woman could not and that is nail the final act and the climactic battle sequence. Oh my god it was like watching Lord of the Rings underwater it was so magnificent.

What they set up for a hopeful sequel is very juicy, you have Nicole Kidman as Aquaman’s mother still alive, you have Aquaman and Mera finally together, you have Orm still alive so there’s potential for either redemption like Loki or a return to form in a future movie. Also Black Manta will hopefully become more formidable in a future movie considering he was essentially a side-villain in this movie.

I want a sequel, I want a sequel for Aquaman more than I want any other DC Movie coming out. I cannot wait.

#1. Black Panther

Without question this movie outshines most movies in any genre. I still think Aquaman is the best movie because it is solidly brilliant from beginning to end, but Black Panther is miraculous in terms of visuals, music and the representation of African culture.

It is in some ways an origin movie because it’s how T’Challa adapted to becoming king of Wakanda, however because we already met T’Challa during Civil War, much like Spider-Man it wasn’t a question of needing to know their origins it was more about exploring them as individuals and what makes them superheroes.

However, surprisingly, Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther was not the most compelling part of this movie. Don’t get me wrong he’s still a brilliant actor and an integral part of the movie, but the way Ryan Coogler accurately portrays African culture, from the tribal combat tradition of earning the mantle of king, to the styling of each tribe to make them distinct, even with what the inclusion of the superhero angle brings with Wakanda being a technologically advanced nation and the visuals that they bring.

Just like Aquaman, this movie had a great main villain but a somewhat weak side-villain. Both Orm and Killmonger were brilliant but Killmonger outshines Orm because what he stands for divided audiences and even created a social media storm with the hashtag #Killmongerwasright. Yes Ocean Master also had a sense of righteousness because of what he stood for with believing the surface world to be the sea inhabitants enemies which sparks an environmental debate but Killmonger struck a core with African history. His final line of “Bury me in the ocean, with my ancestors that jumped from the ships, because they knew death was better than bondage.” is still probably the best line in any superhero movie for the power of the message it gets across.

Also T’Challa has been often critiqued for being outshined by his female supporting characters Shuri, Okoye, Nakia and Ramonda. I personally agree with this critique but again it’s not to the detroment of T’Challa or the movie because if anything it makes the movie that much better for having strong female characters who aren’t just “the love interest” or “the family” because yes that is what they essentially are but they’re celebrated for that.

Also, Letitia Wright is the breakout star of this movie, I would say Danai Gurira but she has The Walking Dead under her belt. Shuri is not the stereotypical princess character as not only is she 18 and head of the science and technology division of Wakanda but she has the personality and drive to easily take over the Black Panther mantle as she did in the comics.

Overall, this is not quite a perfect movie but it is definitely one of the best movies of the year, century and MCU in total. Not only is it a cultural milestone in terms of movie representation but also it is a movie that has earned numerous award nods and deserves to win all of them.

So that’s my list of my favourite movies of 2018, as I said it was a truly brilliant year for movies and I cannot wait to see what the new year has in store for us. In the mean time you can check out more Movie Reviews and other posts.

Happy New Year to all!

[meetmeatthestart]

Skye Rocket lyric collection

A selection of lyrics from Skye Rocket songs, including ones from their time as Rocket Ship Resort. Perfect to use for thread titles, ship tags, verse names, blog quotes, etc. Feel free to get creative.

A better place I'd never find

A cool breeze sweeps through the silver dust

A dance of misfits

A date with a time trial showdown

A different air waits for us

A ferris wheel tune

A fighter with a nature of gold

A glimmer on a winding trail

A glimpse of the night

A handful of fire

A lighthouse of love

A lonely flare in the dark 

A lullaby along the moon

A map to get back home

A smile among the storm

A snowball deep in hell

A window straight to the deep

Across all that reaches land

Adrift in the sighs

Ain't a chance we go outta style

Air that presses my lungs to paper

All the salty wit of an old drunk

All the ships eclipsing the ocean

Alone through the dark part of life

Among every storm and spark

An old wish, a dusty sign

And it cuts like a knife 

And the wound's getting bigger 

And when the sun goes down

And when you see its colors

Astray in the sky

At least we're adventure

Autumn blaze

Ballrooms and bridges

Bandanas and black boots

Be the might to my light shows

Bet I'll make ya light up like July

Boiled with blood pent

Born of the sunlight's dust

Bound down to a life on the free way

Break apart old cautions retold

Break the glass of every old impasse

Break us into the sky

Breathe deep into me

Breathing electric starlight

Burdened with gorgeous nature

Buried, wounded to the core

Burn as bright as you can

But you won't turn me

C'mon out to the edge of the world

Can we have a home everlasting

Cause there's vodka in the water

Chasin' disaster

Chasin' disaster; goin' faster

Chemicals of catastrophe

Come and stay with me

Come with me to race all the crumbling walls

Comfort within her chaos

Could you go if you had to?

Cry out to silence

Deep through beauty, treachery, and howling hail

Determined to be deflaters

Devoid of the morning daybreaks

Did a glow catch your heart?

Distant days of crescent moons

Do you find your way worthwhile?

Do you wanna run far away?

Do you want to run away?

Dogma's yearly tradition

Dream something new

Dressing up with dyed roots

Drifting on a cloud blanket

Escaping my tired mind

Every chip is a chilling climb

Eyes of ice in the sunshine

Fall white for another night

Falling through the snow

Far beyond the tallest trees

Fighting what the kings say 

Follow the trails in the air 

For life, for naught

Free your aurora

From atop the trees, reaching out so free

From high off the flowers

From the venom here

Fuck your war, I'm here for the starlight 

Ghost pepper voodoo

Give me a taste of oxygen

Give me all your pieces

Greetings, my glider

Growing up so fast

Hanging on the dawn

Hard times have you now, but you'll be alright

Harness it, make your mark

Heaven knows where we will go

Her gust is givin' you your flight

Hidden beneath the worries

Hits like a rocket

Home is where fires unite

Homesick for vistas new

I bet I'll make it light up like your eyes

I can taste the race in your heartbeat

I don't know how long this road goes out

I feel each step so slow

I held those words as law

I know the way, let's head there

I lack the blood to suck tonight

I lost you at the bay

I will save you every night

I wish I could take you sailing

I wouldn't hold your breath

I'd never believed in slowing down

I'd rather sweep a breeze under those old ashes

I'll be chasing the moon

I'll be rage on all fours

I'll be unleashed

I'll hold onto you as long as you hold onto me

I'll see you over the moon

I'll take a shot of what she's havin'

I'll take the heart break

I'll take the heart break before I slow

I'll wake up real soon

I'm fading fast

I'm seein' stars, the way you're flashin'

I've been here before

I've got a lot in my view but no one else that I can see

Ice upon the river

If summer had a daughter

If you chase the same chill in your weathered bones

If you're still awake by chance

In a dash we'll crash down the party

In a love story, where beauty is might

In the air we'll dance like we used to

In the grass like a landmine

In the july heat

In time the smoke will leave here

Invisible to the stars

It matters not what's outside

It's time to bring it all out now

Just lift your head aloft and wave

Just to cut me down to you

Just what this world needs

Kicked to the frost

Kicking rocks on a turnpike

Kiss the earth, let's disappear

Left here with life

Lend me the sight giants behold

Let me lead your breath home

Let me see your eyes 

Let your heartache down with your hair

Let's be lost, let's be heroes

Let's carve out our open view

Light a thousand streets

Like a backdrop for the moon

Like a lantern in the dark

Like a lightning strike in your heart

Like a phone hardwired

Like a secret in the dark

Like a whisper in a glance 

Like an earthy rust

Like the heaven's snow

Like you woke in the ocean

Listen close, my rogue

Lunar endeavors

Made of fireflies

May the guiding wind adorn us

Mistress magic

Movin' with mischief

My words are with you

Numbness is living on a loss

Of the demons in my thoughts

Oh will our hearts endure

On blankets of rockets and trees

One last ride up above the night 

Our wind in the sails

Out in search of truth

Out on the great wide blue

Please come down from your window

Please just give me one last dance

Poets long for words like your dreams

Princess Red Rum

Problem number one

Racing meteors

Rain on the river

Rainfall resistance

Reachin' up to the moonlight

Relentless, your scars open up wide

Remember how it sounds

Reminiscent of wings, you went

Ride on, shooting star

Ring your light through the dark

Rogues among the stars

Run like the rain

Running circles

Rushing like Niagara Falls

Scars that are far and gone

Scrapbooks and reflections

Seas and passions

Seashore at the door

See the sun surround you

Shadows shaped by gryphon stars

Shining soul, in the shade

Shooting for the stars

Show the way through the wild miles

Silver relics on the shore

Singing like a lonely ghost

Sky blue: it suits you!

Smile, you're wild inside

Snow dives by so quietly

Souls fade white

Specter on the bay

Standing in the night

Stars that look like you

Starstruck, a deep blue

Stay aloft for me

Stay awake, I plea

Still standing here years later 

Storm like the sea

Submerged neck deep

Sunrays and lattes

Swept along with a grip so sure

Tempest route

The air here is of your soul

The blood runs like a river 

The buildings glow

The clouds made their own way

The dance of the wind and waves

The ghost had a bouquet

The hope that you'd been saving

The horizon, it runs forever

The howling crowd's alive

The last time I felt alive

The meltdown ain't gonna thaw

The midnight streets

The midnight streets are empty without you

The night covers the earth

The night in front of you

The prettiest cold air

The rustic gears of establishment

The silent sky

The unruly, truly quite bizzare

The walls are your protection

The yell of a young punk

Theme park in the dark

There's magic in disguise

There's no need for frights, it's a show of lights

These gloves play love like guitar

Throttle it out

Through all the heartaches

Through nights into dreams

Through that disguise

Through the ballroom hall 

Through the land and night

Through the lights and heights of the compass caches

Through the time each night recalls

Through thunder's embrace

Till I stop the show

To the lands out somewhere far

Tonight we are aloft

Too heavy for words

Trace my touch all through here

Treasure maps and shaky floorboards

Triumph, scandal, all her name lends

Try to stay a little while

Trying to escape a whirlwind 

Tumbling sunbeams

Turn all the lights down

Under the moon and snow

Under the show of chaos

Up late, darin' fate, just to know

Waiting on a faint light

Wanted for love crimes

Watch the rockets reply

Watch the sands blow to wherever you are

Watch the sinking silver

Watch the stars swim through this ocean of air

Wave to the stars

We are like fire

We are momentum

We are the doomed ones

We are the stars hangin' up free

We can ride a road everwinding

We still share the same moon

We'll be the backbone

We're blowing the hurricanes down

We're pioneers

We're tearin' down mountain sides

We're the heat, we're the guns

We've been marked

When are ya waving my way, baby?

When the gates make way

When the leaves leave us

When the riots meet

When the sea grabbed me ahold

When the wind came a-knockin' 

When time just won't wait 

When your heart has been so bold

While the sparks danced up

While the sun follows you

Wield your wings for your own rhythm

Wisdom and a smile with a saber

With a touch of grace 

With the tidal burst

With the wrath of the red

Wolves among the shadow

Years and years of fighting here

You and me and the seven seas

You are a renegade

You can find me where the clouds part

You can plunge in anxiety so grim

You can survive on caution and foresight

You don't have a single flaw

You lived on with them, now they live on with you

You sing with the sounds of the seas sincere

You swore to win the war? I withdraw

You think you're a king

You think you're justice

You think you're the light

You're a bottle of lightning

You're dissolvin' the last straw

You're givin' me a little mania

You're not your demons

You've got a story 

You've got a window

You've got a window of time and air

Your heart beats so rhythmic and pure

Your leap won't lend you much leeway

Your lonely cell is waiting

Your silhouette sings profanity

Your soul is a bird

[smokeybrand]

Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen

The rise of streaming has changed the entire landscape of movie making and i kind of love it. I wrote about how Netflix fundamentally shifted how films are made and distributed a while back so, if your curious on my take about that, you can search for that within this blog. This one isn’t about how the barrier to entry for film has been dramatically lowered but more about how these services have the ridiculous potential to right the wrongs forced upon fans and creators alike, by disingenuous studios. The Snyder Cut is a perfect example of this contradiction. For years, Warner Bros. refused to even entertain the idea of releasing Snyder’s cut of the film because Justice league was a financial flop. The ridiculous ting about that is the fact it failed because Warner made it fail.

In their hurry to compete with the MCU, they mandated the dark tone of Superman because Batman is their cash cow. We had just come of Nolan’s epic Dark Knight trilogy and, instead of understanding why that narrative tone fit for that character and finding one that aligns with Superman, they decided to just make an entire universe of brooding, violent, edgelord, nonsense and hired the guy who bright the most cynical comic book, ever, to the big screen, to do it. The Snyderverse exists because Batman made billions of dollars. lost in the hubris of “Why so serious” money, they turned Superman into Bat, Batman in to the f*cking Punisher, Wonder Woman into Girl Batman, though, that was rectified a little bit in 84 to abysmal results, Aquaman into Dude-Bro Wet Batman, Cyborg into Metal Emo Batman, and Flash into Speedster Spider-man. Warner chose to chase the superficial aesthetic in hope to cash in on that Nolan-adjacent tone, instead of actually building a world and it has crippled the DCEU to this day. That is until ATT came through with the biggest of dick energy.

ATT bought out Warner Media and HBO in an effort to compete with the juggernaut that is Disney and immediately forced the studio to release Snyder’s version of League. There has been an overwhelming amount of fan support for this clusterf*ck of a cinematic universe and, while i don’t particularly care for it because i don’t like how Snyder make’s movies, i recognize that there is a pretty large audience for this stuff. ATT recognized this, too, and since they needed content for their fledgling HBOmax streaming service, they basically forced WB to let Snyder have is due. This flew in the face of everything Warner was trying to do because they had already decided that the Snyderverse was a bust, even though they made it a point to craft the Snyderverse that way in the first place, to standout from the overly kiddy, overly commercial, laughably successful, MCU. They fired Snyder for doing the exact job they hired him to do and then gotbutt0hurt it didn’t work they way they wanted it to. That wasn’t Snyders fault. He delivered exactly what he pitched. Every film Zack Snyder has made, is some semblance of Watchmen. That’s the only movie he knows how to make. You can’t be mad that a man who noodles for catfish, comes home with a Gooch, even though halfway through you decided you wanted trout. ATT understood this, saw the potential duckets to be had, and let Snyder play in his edgelord, emo, universe to his heart’s content on WB’s dime and it paid off.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League is four hours of bloated, unwieldy, brain-dead, spectacle, slathered in the worst kind of superficial pretension and grandiose self-indulgence. It’s so far up it’s own ass and i wouldn’t have it any other way. Zack Snyder was right. This thing’s ridiculous numbers prove that. This is his victory and and he deserves all of the shine. Now, i personally think that Zack Snyder is an awful filmmaker, but i am glad the Snyder Cut exists and i even more supportive of #RestoretheSnyderverse. I don’t care for his take on these characters but dude has a story he wants to tell and he deserves to tell it, especially after how dirty Warner did him him the first place. Listen, i cannot stress enough how much i think Snyder was the wrong choice to bring these characters to life but he had a plan and the studios wrecked it before throwing hum under the bus. Dude knew what he was doing and this version for the film proves that. Proof that Warner hates. They’ve already gone into over time distancing themselves from the project, the president of Warner Media going so far as to say this will be it for the Snyder verse. Nah. Not when it’s doing the numbers it is and ATT is running out of room to horde that cash. On the same day Warner released that statement about the Snyderverse being dead was released, someone leaked that ATT is trying to use HBOmax as an outlet to restore that laughably profitable Snyderverse. If these rumors are true, then the fact that HBOmax exists is how this version of the DCEU continues in direct competition with the Hamadaverse of films. Warner is, effectively, competing with itself at this point and i kind of love it, all thanks to streaming.

I love director’s cuts of films. They almost always come off better than the original, theatrical, release. Studios often butcher and rend a creator’s vision in order to maximize profits by fitting in the most viewing at a theater or alter key elements of a narrative that doesn’t jive with generic test audiences. I understand that the movie industry is a business but this is what happens when you monetize art. It’s absurd. This is why we have seven different versions of Blade Runner and three version of Highlander II. This is why Alien 3 is so f*cking garbage but the Assembly Cut is head-and-shoulder better. Kingdom of Heaven is a perfect example of how the corporate hatchet can ruin a film. Ridley Scott’s initial vision for that movie is three hours and some change long. There’s no way theaters can show enough screenings for that to turn a profit so Warner cut it down to two and a half hours with credits. If you have close to three and a half hours of storytelling but cut out a whole f*cking hour of it, your narrative isn’t going to make any f*cking sense but Warner didn’t care. They made the executive decision to ruin this movie and, for years, i hated this film. But then i saw the director’s cut, that three hour version. Kingdom of Heaven is f*cking brilliant when it’s told the way it was intended to be told. We had to wait for the home media release of the film to see that though because the business of film hobbled the artistic value of the vision. Streaming changes all of that.

Disney has a four hour, re-cut, version for Rise of Skywalker in the works to air exclusively on Disney+. That film is supposed to fix a lot of what Kathleen Kennedy broke with her abject disdain for the Star Wars universe and her ludicrously bloated ego. This wouldn’t have been a thing if not for Disney+, if not for streaming. Four hour epics can turn a profit if the audience is there and you aren’t beholden to the studio-theater system that has gimped film creators for decades. If Netflix was around when i was a kid, maybe Anderson’s intended version of Event Horizon could have been released there after the theatrical version had it’s run, instead of just being lost to time. Event Horizon is an example of how the wrong test audience can solicit a knee jerk hatchet to your film because suburban moms don’t care for satanic visuals and over-the-top gore. If Netflix was around, maybe Jennifer’s Body could have been a hit instead of a cult classic. Maybe the studio could have marketed the film like the director wanted instead of running on the notions that “Megan Fox hot” and selling her sex appeal to teenage boys, only for them to be disappointed when it’s more a nuanced tale of female relationships with underlying tones of feminist lesbianism. Jennifer’s Body was already one of my favorite films but when i saw the director’s cut, i was incensed. They massacred my girl because horny teenagers didn’t like the test screenings. The studios promised these dickbutt horndogs a film that didn’t exist and then got mad when the profits didn’t materialize. Dropping that sh*t on Netflix would have gone a long way to recoup some of them losses.

Now, not all studios are terrible. A24 and Neon are really great at letting their creators, create what they want, but they lack the level of major studio resources to do it. The same joint that brought you Ex Machina can’t afford to deliver the next Avatar or Marvel film but there’s no way Paramount releases something as risky as Under the Skin. Now that streaming exists, you can bypass all of that. Studios can make their more indie or experimental sh*t and drop it directly to the consumer, instead of trying to run it on a money pit imprint like Fox Searchlight. To take it a step further, you can go directly to a joint like Netflix or Amazon Studios, and bypass the bullsh*t studio system as a whole. Hell, you can even leverage that into getting your own sh*t, like the Avatar cats did to Nickelodeon. Paramount needs content for their streaming service, Avatar was shafted by Nickelodeon forcing them to take a run at Netflix but that proved to be a not so ideal partnership, so Paramount came back with a peace offering and now these cats have an entire studio to themselves, just to make more Aang stuff. I am absolutely in love with the leverage these streaming services have over the film industry now. It feels like we can get back to the Nineties where sh*t that might be more risky financially or alienating to large audiences, can still see the light of day. Creators can make the sh*t they want and still get their vision to the audience, even if the studios ruin their flick for theatrical profits.