#''it's a sad song / but we sing it anyway / cause here's the thing / to know how it ends / and still begin to sing it again

[rosykims]

thought abt solas as eurydice again

[devil-meow-cry]

i’ve never seen a star wars movie before but revenge of the sith was back in theatres and my friend wanted to watch it and NO ONE WARNS YOU that watching revenge of the sith for the first time feels like watching hadestown for the first time

[iwasneon]

if you quote hadestown in the tags of timeloop posts i love you. but also i hate you. but also we might be soulmates do you want to get trapped in a timeloop together

[alllgator-blood]

'FOGGY STREETS AND CHRISTMAS LIGHTS'

(part 3/3)

I'm gonna infodump about the backstory of this comic, don't feel obligated to read it because it's not cotl related it's just personal stuff, I just want to be able to write about it somewhere cause I can't really talk to anyone about it.

As always, thanks for reading this far, sorry my stuff has been such a bummer so consistently. This comic goes out to all my "christmas induced depression" homies, I left my house maybe like ~5 times all month and it was NOT pleasant hearing "IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!!" on the radio when I'm so ready for it to be over. Gonna take it reaaaaal easy til the year ends, you guys take it easy too!! Got some asks I have to respond to when I'm more stable but probably no new comic pages til january

Alright uhhh so this part of the comic is pretty much taken directly from the last time I saw my great-grandma alive, a few days before christmas. She didn't remember me, but at the nursing home there was a piano, and I sat down and played some stuff because I didn't know what to say. I was really into lisa the painful rpg at the time, and I played that "I've got the joy" song that the villain sings without realizing it was an old christian campfire song. She didn't really say much or move that whole night, just kind of gave me a polite blank smile, but started singing the words when I played the notes to that song.

I kinda stopped in shock, my dad frantically asked me to keep playing, so I did. While the comic I made is way more sappy than the actual moment was, I wish I'd cherished the moment longer. I didn't know it was the last time I'd see her alive. Every family christmas was held at her house when she was around, so it's been weird the past few years. I actually lost another dementia-addled grandma to cancer on christmas eve in 2009, so the holiday was already kind of weird for me on top of everything else that makes me sad this time of year. That's what part 2 was about, I'll spare the details but I wrote leshy to act out how I felt back then. Why are we all sad? This is supposed to be a happy time, all the decorations are up and we're almost all here, so why is everyone smiling yet everything feels so wrong? I feel like since leshy's canonically the most ignorant one to things lurking below the surface, he'd be the one to try and make everyone feel better but not quite understand why everyone is so miserable. My first memory of having self injurious behavior came from then, hence why I had leshy pull his leaves off in the last comic. It was confusing and frustrating and I was just old enough to comprehend something was wrong, but not old enough to understand the depth of it, it DEFINITELY didn't help that nobody helped me back then so I made leshy's siblings actually come in clutch instead of grabbing him/yelling at him.

That night with the piano was something that's stuck with me the few years she's been gone, but I felt kind of strange when I asked my dad and my sister about it and neither of them remembered it. The room we were in was completely empty so nobody else witnessed it but us three. I myself have a history of head trauma and memory loss (plus, native americans are disproportionately more likely to develop dementia... lucky us) so if I ever forgot about that moment, there'd be nobody left to remember it. Sometimes when I do comics, it's my way of going "this happened at some point, and the only evidence it ever happened was me witnessing it, so if something happens to me I want the memory to stay alive in some form."

Anyway. The autistic urge to overshare, am I right? Idk what my religious ass great-grandma would think of me drawing demonic comics about my last memory of her, she'd probably think it's funny though cause she raised my dad whose interests have always been "death metal and devil worship". I'm not sure if anyone read this far, I just hope my dumb comics can convey the things I can't say with my voice and struggle to say through text. None of this was supposed to be "feel bad for me!! Woe is me!!", it was supposed to me more like...cathartic? Healing? I almost didn't post this comic because it felt kinda weird, but seeing people connect with it made it worth it imo. Thank you

[hyperions-light]

Davrin Week 2025 Day 2: Eyes of an Eagle, Roar of a Lion, Heart of a Halla

I would say this is VERY loosely based on the last part of the prompt lol. This starts off silly and then turns into something else.

I am not a songwriter, so those lyrics are from the World of Thedas Vol. 1

***

Sometimes Davrin regrets having taken Rook to meet Eldrin.

"I knew you were hiding a soft side," they had declared, with gleeful mischief. "I can't wait to tell everyone."

They had, but not everyone could quite bring themselves to believe Eldrin's anecdote about singing to the halla. At the time, Davrin had thought that fortunate— until Rook had made it their mission to prove it.

"Davrin!" they'd cried dramatically, bursting into the dining hall with Lace in their arms. "It's horrible! Harding has a splinter! Quick— you have to sing to her to make it better!"

That attempt had ended in the both of them laughing helplessly while Davrin feigned stern disapproval, but Rook had not been deterred.

"Davrin!" they'd called out as he walked through the courtyard. "Come quick! Assan is so sad, look!"

He had, finding Assan the same as always, until Rook nudged him in the side, queuing him to droop his ears and look up at Davrin in a way that was clearly supposed to be pathetic.

"Uh-huh," he'd said, crossing his arms. "And what do you want me to do about it?"

"You have to sing to him, obviously."

That attempt had ended about as successfully as the first, although Assan had at least benefited from the truffles Rook bribed him with.

"Davrin!" they'd groaned, leaning against the door to open it, the skull of Johanna Hezenkoss tucked under their arm. "Hezenkoss won't shut up. Can you fix it?"

"And how would I do that?" Davrin had asked over her immediate, shrill tirade about Rook's intelligence (or lack thereof).

"Well, I was thinking she'd probably calm down if she could hear your beautiful singing voice," Rook had said, with false sweetness.

He'd thrown a spare chunk of wood in their general direction which sent them out the door, cackling and arguing with Hezenkoss.

"Davrin! Hurry! Lucanis' souffle won't rise, and your singing is the only thing that can fix it!"

"Davrin! Bellara's mechanical frog isn't working— come sing to it! We haven't tried that yet."

"Davrin, Lace and Emmrich were wondering if you'd try singing to the fade garden? It might grow faster, that way."

He'd refused them each time, amused and mildly exasperated by their antics.

Now, he almost wishes he hadn't.

Maybe Lace would have actually liked to hear him.

It's raining in the Hinterlands. The remnants of the Blight still mar the land, but even now the stubborn shoots of elfroot and deathroot are beginning to push out of the earth.

There was no body to burn, but they brought Lace's things to her mother.

It's something.

They lit a pyre, anyway. The Mother of the local chantry came and read rites.

It's been hours. There is only ash, and silence.

They should go inside. But they don't.

He knows she did it proudly, resolutely. With a resolve to match that of any Warden. She wouldn't want them to be stuck here, like this. She wouldn't have wanted to be the cause of so much pain.

Rook is standing right next to the remains of the fire, staring at it. They keep biting their lower lip savagely; inhaling shaky breaths.

Taash is on their left, and Lace's mother to their right. The rest of them arrayed in a loose semi-circle behind the three; unsure.

Davrin looks at the team. At Bellara, still crying, half-buried in Neve's shoulder; at Emmrich, standing patiently at Taash's back, waiting; at Lucanis, staring helplessly at Rook. All of them soaked by the rain; exhausted by heartache.

He steps closer to Rook, Assan following in his wake.

He hopes Lace wouldn't mind something in Elven. He's rusty, and the simple familiarity of songs from his childhood is easiest.

He hums the first few bars and watches Rook' tense even further. He was hoping they might know it.

"Melava inan enansal ir su aravel tu elvaral u na emma abelas," he sings softly, putting out a hand to rest on Rook's shoulder.

"in elgar sa vir mana in tu setheneran din emma na."

As he finishes the stanza Rook starts to join him, quiet and broken. He feels someone else at his side and finds Bellara.

"lath sulevin lath araval ena arla ven tu vir mahvir melana ‘nehn enasal ir sa lethalin," the three of them finish, together, Rook and Bellara's voices weaving with his own. In the silence following is uncertain, fragile.

And then Taash surprises them, picking up with something slow and melancholy in Qunlat. By the third stanza Davrin remembers enough of the tune to add his voice to it, though he stumbles through the syllables.

The remaining members of the Veilguard press closer, tentatively adding voices, suggesting songs; stringing music of their disparate cultures together in a fragmented chain.

"I didn't know you all had such lovely voices," Lace's mother remarks, a smile crinkling the crow's feet at the corners of her eyes. "We should sing some of Lace's favorites."

Gradually, the keys shift, the lyrics become brighter— of course, Lace wouldn't have been wandering around singing dirges all the time. There are walking songs and planting songs; songs for remembering things and keeping time. A song from the Inquisition they haphazardly compose a tune for, none of them having heard it before. As the day draws to a close, Lace's mother leads them back toward the house with a lively marching song; voice slightly off-key.

Rook hangs back near the end of the motley parade with Davrin. Bumps his shoulder with theirs.

"Finally got to hear you sing," they say, voice still a little rough, tired. But some of that wryness has returned, so he counts it as a win.

"You needed it," he says. "We all did."

They frown a little. Look away from him.

But they nod, after a moment.

"Ma serannas, lethallan," they mutter. "It was beautiful. The halla were lucky. We are, too."

[natgoodmans]

it's a sad song, but we sing it anyway cause here's the thing, to know how it ends, and still begin to sing it again, as if it might turn out this time.

[jupiterlandings]

“It's a sad song,

It's a sad tale,

It's a tragedy.

It's a sad song,

But we sing it anyway.

'Cause here’s the thing:

To know how it ends

And still begin to sing it again-

As if it might turn out this time;

I learned that from a friend of mine”

Novel Aesthetics:

Dracula by Bram Stoker

[melpomenewoes]

It’s a sad song, but we sing it anyway.

Sunrise on the Reaping accomplishes one of my favorite tools an author can utilize—the audience knows the ending, but remains enthralled and devastated.

A great example of this is the musical Hadestown. Those familiar with the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice know how it will end. Those who’s aren’t—well, the opening number told them point blank that it’s a “sad song.” Still, it pulls the audience in and makes them hope that maybe this time it will be different. Then it isn’t, but it made the audience hope.

Sunrise on the Reaping’s ending was never meant to be a plot twist.

(Spoilers below)

To anyone familiar with the books or movies knew Haymitch’s family and love would die, even if the reader didn’t remember the details laid out in the books, everyone remembers we find Haymitch a lonely bitter drunk in the original trilogy. He wasn’t going to have a happy ending, but Collins makes us believe it’s possible.

Haymitch could have been the spark that caught fire; the book makes the audience believe he just might be despite our knowledge of the future. The reader roots so desperately for him, for his fellow tributes that we know won’t survive, and for those he leaves behind in false security. Still, eventually the pieces have to fit together, but when an author can write a prequel (especially one whose narrative risks being repetitive) and manages to make the audience weep and seethe despite knowing it was inevitable—it’s gut-wrenching and it’s masterful.

Furthermore, this prequel makes its companion books even more rereadable because now the audience knows what Haymitch is seeing when he sees Katniss, the chariots—even his relationship to alcohol is set in an entirely new lens.

I knew how the book was going to end, but I remained enthralled as hope sparked, but remained doomed.

And in the words of Hadestown:

“Don’t ask why, brother, don’t ask how

He could have come so close

The song was written long ago

And that is how it goes

It’s a sad song

It’s a sad tale

It’s a tragedy

It’s a sad song

But we sing it anyway

‘Cause here’s the thing

To know how it ends

And still begin to sing it again”

[cynthia39100]

It's a sad song It's a sad tale It's a tragedy But we sing it anyway Cause here's the thing To know how it ends And still begin to sing it again As if it might turn out this time

Hadestown x Merlin

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

Talk to me about False God/‘this the damn season

‘Tis the damn season is one where I relate to it on such a personal level that I have trouble understanding it in the context of Taylor 😂

“This is why everyone loves Canadians” so true blondie 🫶😂

First of all: my condolences for the deep personal connection to the song, I think 😂

The theme is: Activities 👀😏

LOL looking at my blog on that night, I called it the “when all else fails we still have sex to delude ourselves into thinking we’re fine” mashup 😂

I think it can be summed up by: We’d still worship this love, even if it’s a false god, cause we could call it even, ‘tis the damn season.

I think listening to it now, I think it’s less “when all else fails we still have sex,” but more about returning to someone over and over again in spite of maybe knowing why you won’t work, because the pull and the familiarity and even love is so strong. It’s like the pipeline between “we were crazy to think that this could work” to “we could call it even, you could call me ‘babe’ for the weekend” to “the only heart I know I’m breaking is my own, to leave the warmest bed I’ve ever known— but we might just get away with it.”

I actually find the transition between, “I can’t talk to you when you’re like this […] I still do it for you babe […] we’d still worship this love” to “if I wanted to know who you were hanging with while I was gone, I would have asked you” suuuuuuuuuuuper interesting narratively. (Almost like… coming back together after a break. Or something. Never mind.)

I wonder if one read of the mashup is romanticizing this ill-fated, long-lost love from your youth, if you take TTDS as the core and False God as the context. Like, you keep getting drawn back to them when you’re thrust back into your childhood home, when you’re a totally different person than the cynic you are back in LA, and when you’re in this bubble, you let yourself believe that this is the real deal, that actually, this is where you’re meant to be and you can totally see yourself here forever, because in the moment this feels right. Then of course, the holidays are over and you have to go back to your real life and you realize that, no, you won’t get away with it, because it’s a moment in time— or is it?

But then a sort of related but slightly different read I have on the mashup story is what I alluded to earlier: being drawn to someone over and over again, in spite of all the reasons telling you you shouldn’t be because this won’t work. That’s kind of if you take False God as the core, and TTDS as the “why” that fills it out. Like, you’re crazy for thinking this will work, yet you’re trying anyway. We were stupid to jump into the ocean separating us, remember how I’d fly to you? And I keep doing that because you’re the warmest bed I’ve ever known. And even when I leave, everything always leads me back to you. They’re kind of two sides of the same story.

Also, it strikes me that “I won’t ask you to leave if you don’t ask me to stay” is kiiiiiiiiind of the same vibe as the pre-chorus of False God— I can’t talk to you when you’re like this, staring out the window like I’m not your favourite town/And you can’t talk to me when I’m like this, daring you to leave me just so I can try and scare you [which to be fair, she didn’t include in the mashup, but it’s an interesting addition haha]. Like, two people who just can’t fully communicate what they really want with each other so they let the sex do the talking for them.

As an aside, it’s really funny again that this could be a really sad/fraught mashup, and she’s singing the whole thing with a big smile on her face haha. She was just having a lot of fun! “The road not taken looks real good now,” indeed!

Did that help at all 😂

[just-sand]

It's a sad tale / It's a tragedy / It's a sad song / But we sing it anyway

'Cause here’s the thing / To know how it ends / And still begin to sing it again

As if it might turn out this time

A story is true. A story is untrue. As time extends, it matters less and less. The stories we want to believe, those are the ones that survive, despite upheaval and transition and progress. Those are the stories that shape history

(To the world we dream about.

And, the one we live in now.)

[ashkav]

Rainy, her baby, and the Laughing Samurai theory

So Shioli Kutsuna's character has been revealed! Rainy, a pregnant woman on the crew of the Magellan who has the ability to cause rain fall (Shioli said this during the Tokyo Games show, though I can't find the relevant clip.)

several very interesting things are said during this cutscene, and when combined with what else we know from the promo materials and also from DS1, I think they can be combined to form some ideas. And boy, do I have Ideas about Rainy.

First, the foundation, all (very few) info from previous media that I think is relevant to Rainy.

a) The Songs:

We have so far had three songs about babies/ children in the promo material. Lou's lullaby twice, both connected to Higgs, on the electric guitar and then again with Troy Baker singing it very ominously. And then the broken down rock-a-bye baby tune right at the very end of the state of play announcement trailer during the credits. Obviously, songs to do with children that are usually happy or peaceful now inverted from comforting to something scary and unsettling = Bad Things are going to happen to the kids.

But Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head is not a song that has been made sad or unsettling - yet.

I absolutely feel this song is going to be called back to at a climatic moment in the story, possibly at Rainy's own death, possibly as the last thing she says to her baby. The song itself seems like a bad omen to sing to a fetus, what with Rainy's name being what it is and the lyrics being about perseverence through hardship - difficult not to instinctually think Rainy and her baby are about to suffer some pretty awful trauma that ends with one or both of them 'falling' to the Beach.

Raindrops keep falling seems very likely to continue the same pattern of a comforting song for children introduced at a peaceful time only to warp into horrifying due to a climatic moment - the only reason it hasn't already been warped is because the audience has to hear it the first way first and it didn't exist in the last game to be set up the same way, unlike the other two.

b) 'I just can't wait.'

This is a pretty innoccuos statement for a pregnant woman to say irl, but within the game verse, Rainy is literally the second woman we've ever seen who has expressed an actual desire to have children.

Let's very quickly run through the list of female characters who have children in DS1:

Lucy, Sam's wife who killed herself because the visions she was getting from Sam's DOOMS afflicted baby were so horrible she couldn't continue living.

Lisa Strand, Sam's bio mother who became brain dead early on in her pregnancy due to a car accident and who we never hear from, even in supplementals, and is shot in the head by Sam's dad.

Bridget Strand, Sam's adoptive mother who revived him after accidentally killing him and kept him to raise out of guilt, traumatising Sam so badly throughout his life that he suppresses his memories of her and doesn't really want to speak to her even as she lays dying of cancer in front of him.

A whole host of unnamed still-mothers, impregnated after brain-death and farmed for the BBs they produce.

and finally, Lockne, who actually wanted a baby not because of the baby itself, but because she wanted some part of her lover to live on even after his death. Due to issues with her uterus, she is incapable of becoming pregnant, and even when her twin agrees to surrogate, the baby and Mama both die in a terrorist bombing at the hospital.

(for the purposes of this list I am not counting the mountaineering couple, since they don't matter except to create stakes for that one timed mission.)

There's a pretty clear trend here - almost no one wants children, and those that have them are in incredible danger of losing the child or themselves. This makes sense in a world where hospitals no longer exist and the very act of childbirth is incredibly dangerous and mostly everyone is pretty much asexual anyway, so it's a massive outlier that Rainy expresseses wanting the baby, even if it would be a normal thing to say in our world.

Maybe this is a stretch, but I can't help but feel there's some thematic parrellel here between Rainy, who wants her baby to be born very much, and still-mothers, who are made pregnant but never truly give birth and who cannot ever consent - not that they don't consent, but that they are incapable of consent in the first place. All their children, except three (Sam, Lou, and the BB Coffin managed to save), die in the womb. They're always bridges and never babies, never born, never really living or dead. They are nearly unanimously incompatible with the concept of life, or growth, just the same as their still-mothers are incompatible with the idea of wanting them.

More on this later.

C) The Samurai

The Samurai is visibly pregnant. There is only one pregnant character in the cast (so far). There HAS to be a connection here.

This is not the first time we've seen a visibly pregant character do crazy insane shit - Sam, for instance, is 'pregnant' with Lou's glass womb for the whole first game and probably the second too, and he does some intense stuff.

The circumstances with Rainy are different though. For one, her womb is made out of the squishy human stuff, not bulletproof glass, and she can't take it off. Rainy doesn't seem particularly athletic either: in her and Tomorrow's intro, where they're stacking boxes into a shelf, she moves slowly and with effort, not to mention that the Samurai is taller than even Higgs (Troy Baker is 6'3), where Rainy is shorter than Sam (Norman Reedus is 5'10, and Shioli Kutsuna is 5'3). Plus, the Samurai suit has no way to see out of it, so even if somehow it augmented her height, strength and speed, she still wouldn't be able to see what she was doing.

It is very, very unlikely that she is the one inside the mech suit. No, instead, I think it's her baby in there.

Sounds insane, but listen: we've already seen Higgs' robots have some connection to BT's, floating like they do and having visible strands leading up like they do and potentially being vessels for them. Dollman is explicitly stated to have been a normal adult human person who used his medium powers to possess the doll and got stuck there when his human body died. Even Lou seems to have the ability to haunt her old pod, with the ghostly winged BT form and tentacles. The technology and precedent for soul-to-machine connection exist, the Samurai makes baby noises, it looks pregnant. And thematically...

Remember that earlier section, where I was talking about Rainy wanting the baby vs still-mothers who cannot want and produce babies who cannot live? Also remember how parents with DOOMs very often pass the trait onto their children, and that an adult with DOOMs (Sam) and a BB with DOOMs (Lou) connected through the umbilical made some very strange things happen?

I think that Rainy's desire for a child interacting with both of their DOOMs will produce something very strange. I have two major theories about what could happen to get the baby in the machine:

The baby and mother cannot both be on the same plane at the same time. Rainy's baby suffers some strange accident while Rainy is giving birth (maybe she gives birth as the Magellan is travelling through the Beach?), and the connection between them becomes like a still-mother and BB, but only in some aspects. The connection between the living and dead is swapped constantly between mother and fetus instead of mother alone tethering to the world of the dead. Metaphorically, you could compare this to a Drawbridge, evolving out of the previous Bridge-style that BRIDGES created with the still-mothers. With Rainy and her baby, either side can be 'drawn up', and the burden is shared between them. The tragedy of this is that even though both Rainy and her baby survive, they can never truly meet or meaningfully interact, as one must always be on the Beach when the other is in the living world. Possibly this could be made more extreme, where instead of being seperated in mind only they are also unable to interact physically - one must physically be in the Beach if the other is in the land of the living. We know it's possible to live on the Beach because Tomorrow confirmed it, even if Sam described it 'like hell', so maybe they build the baby a suit that it's pod can slot into to help it survive the time it has to spend on the Beach - we know BBs are quite smart and have an abnormal amount of dexterity and also increased senses that allow them to see BTs, so it could be possible that the BB became skilled at piloting the suit because it was literallly fighting for it's life on the Beach. This would thematically mirror Bridget/Amelie, or at least the lie that Bridget/Amelie told the world - that Amelie was Bridget's daughter who couldn't be removed from the Beach.

The baby is psychic pre-birth. The baby is believed to have died inside Rainy because it stops moving and scans show that it's funtionally brain dead - plot twist being that the baby is alive, but has just accidentally astral projected into a machine. The Samurai is an upgraded version of Higgs' BT robots that either Higgs built or Drawbridge built after they'd studied some of his work, and the pregnancy bump is an unconcious change that the baby makes to the robot, like how Dollman can minorly alter his appearance when he's mad.

I think this would give Dollman an interesting double - adult in a small, powerless puppet vs baby in a big, deadly, hypermobile machine. Brain vs brawn, thought vs impulse. It even fulfills Jester vs Sage if we want to get Jung's archetypes in here, what with the Samurai laughing and Dollman being an expository friend you carry with you, like Mimir from God of War.

The second one is the one I feel is most likely - it ties in so neatly and honestly I'm not too sure that Rainy would survive her time swapped out on the Beach if whatever the baby samurai was fighting was strong enough to make it so skilled against Higgs, even if there does seem to be a community there to help her.

Whatever ends up being the case, Rainy absolutely definitely is not going to have a 'normal' baby. There is no such thing as a normal baby in Kojima land.

[tragicvampireromanceisland]

some snippets from the current joyness fic i've been hammering away at 🤭!! i'm expecting the entire thing to clock in between 16 to 18k words so i am sharing just a few bits on account of I Am Impatient. chose ones that are probably the easiest to read out of context lol. alt text under the cut 👍🏾

Snippet 1:

"Well, I just...I was thinking...Joy, do we even deserve to go to Dream Productions?"

Joy's smile shrinks a bit at that. Oh. She didn't like Dream Productions? Well—given how many night shifts they'd shared together (Yep! Anxiety had said. According to the numbers, Sadness only ever shares Dream Duty with you. Uhh...what did you need this for again, Joy?), she figured Sadness would be just as excited...well, maybe everyone else complaining just got to her or something, that's fine, Joy could fix that—

"—Aw, Sadness, look—I promise the vibe's gonna change as soon as we get there! Sure, everyone's been a little crabby, but the car's just a little crammed and the road's just a liiittle bumpy from all the new puberty construction projects—they just need that to wear off a bit! Pluuus, the song's already been helping a lot—here, do you wanna sing along? Eighty-three mem—"

"—No, Joy, like...do we deserve it?"­­

And when Joy frowns at her, confused, she places her hand on top of the one Joy's been restlessly drumming against the seat this whole ride, and goes

"Us?"

Now it's Joy's turn for her face to heat up, apparently. "Wha—" she chokes on that, then shakes her head. "Uh." She looks down at their hands. "Haah?"

Wait—did Sadness actually find out why Joy chose Dream Productions? Well, other than the whole spiel of Yeah, sorry, guys, I did call Imagination Land, and yeah, turns out they're just not letting any visitors in right now—which, aghhh, dagnabit, you know? I'm just as heartbroken as you are that we can't see— eugh—Mount Crushmore, but make do with what you can, right?

"Oh! Uh—welll," she tries again, hoping to play it smooth, "why wouldn't...weeee?" she stretches the word out and winks.

"Um." Sadness just stares blankly back at her. "Well, 'cause we made such a mess last time..."

Snippet 2:

"Whaaat? It's not like I need some big plan! It's—come on, it's Sadness! I spend a lot of time with her already! And besides, it's not like I haven't been patient so far! Like—I know she likes me! She just gets real shy about it! And, well—heheheh, iiiit's kinda cute, you know—? But—" she shakes her head, cheeks growing hot as Disgust raises an eyebrow at that. —Anyways, she just...needs the right moment to be comfortable with it! You know?"

When Disgust frowns this time as she considers that, it looks a bit less judgy than usual. Well—sure, it's still kind of judgy—come on, it's Disgust—but she looks more confused than anything.

"Uhhh, what, so you're telling me that you're—" she points at Joy for emphasis, "—being patient?"And then her face twists into a smirk again."Joy, it’s been months since you told me something was up. I've never seen you be this patient about anything in your life."

"Wha—not true!" Joy shoots back, even though she knows Disgust is just riling her up on purpose at this point. As much as Joy loved teasing her (come on, easy target. All Joy had to do was mention broccoli or boogers and s­he'd all but completely lose it), she was always the one emotion who'd actually, on rare occasions, tease Joy back. And she always managed to say just the right things to get under Joy's skin when she did. Which—well, she guesses it's sweet or something, that they're good enough friends for Disgust to do that, but excuse her if it's a bit hard to get fond over that while her good friend is busy snickering at her.

"Ugh. Whatever," she grumbles. And that only seems to fuel Disgust's satisfaction further, so Joy shakes her head and goes back to smiling. "Okay, fine, yeah! Maybe I'm being a little bit more patient than usual. But that's 'cause Sadness...needs that, you know? And besides, all that dancing around each other's gonna end tonight! Wiiith all of this!" Joy spreads her arms out. "A little change of setting, something special! And, well, considering we're probably the only two out of any of us who actually like Dream Duty, I obviously chose the right place—"

"—So you did lie to us about Imagination Land."

"Uh—" Joy stops short, then chuckles nervously. "Welllll, I know how much you love keeping secrets, so maybeee if you just kept that fun little one between you and me—"

Snippet 3:

Joy reaches back to yank Sadness right up to the front of the door with her. She manages to peer in and catch a glimpse of the rest of her friends watching one of the sets get dressed—but then she gets the door slammed shut on her. She groans.

"Okay, but—there's no way that we're banned! Everyone else got in just fine!"

"Well, frankly, I don't know who thought it was okay for them to get a tour, either. Serves me right for letting the new hires work the call desks. You emotions just think you're all that, huh?" Joy blinks, bewildered, as the Mind Worker jabs a finger at her chest and narrows her eyes. "That orange one's already on thin ice. The sheer level of entitlement to give me her stupid notebook about how she thinks I should run my studio—and now she's trying to spread those pages around to everyone else in there like it's some manifesto—"

"—Ahhh, yeah—Anxiety's...Anxiety's like that," Joy mutters, "buuuut just let us in, and we'll fix that right up!"

Joy winks at Sadness and splits into a grin as the Mind Worker smiles back at the both of them—and then it falters halfway through as she hears the sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"Ohh, sure, right away! Since you two are so great at fixing things, huh? Yep, okay—lemme just pop right over to Administration and toss out your charges for trespassing, disorderly conduct, breaking and entering, destruction of studio property, deliberate dream interference, unlawful release of Subconscious wildlife, and reckless endangerment by clown!" She gulps in a breath of air after running through all of those at once and then scowls. "That last one's new, you know—we had to come up with an entirely new charge just because you two decided to screw up in a way no one's ever screwed up before!"

Joy winces as she feels Sadness shuffle to hide behind her and whimper. She's not taking too kindly to being yelled at. Joy grimaces.

"Umm, so what you're basically saying iiiis, we're special?"

"Out."

Snippet 4:

The world doesn't quite fade away this time; Joy's still painfully aware of the unintelligible chatter flooding through the halls, the bitter smell of coffee wafting past as drink trays get rushed back and forth. The way the crate is leaned up against the wall, the dream posters look like they're looming right over them when Joy looks up, gigantic and skewed. And when she feels Sadness rest her hand lightly on her arm, Joy feels both giddy and a little smug. Of course this was working! All Sadness needed was a little push—Disgust should've never doubted her. So Joy smiles to herself—then smiles down at Sadness, leans in, and—

"Oh, Joy, this is so sad..."

Joy reels back as Sadness pats her on the arm. "Uh. What?"

"Well, all the dreams are changing..." She sighs and looks back at the wall. The red light from the COMING SOON sign flashing right above the newer posters seems to find its way down to them, somehow. Joy watches as it glints against Sadness' glasses. "And they've torn down your favorite one already..."

Joy slumps a little at that and sighs. Leave it to Sadness to find a problem that wasn't even hers to get miserable over. She rolls her eyes as she nudges Sadness on the shoulder.

"Alright, maybe it's a bit of a bummer, but so what? Pfff, it's not like you liked Fairy Dream Adventure that much," she says with a snort. "You don't have to cry about it."

Sadness rubs at her eyes, the beginnings of her tears falling down her cheeks. "But...but you did...and you cared about it, so...so, if you care about it, then I care about it, and if it makes you sad, it makes me sad..."

"O—Oh," Joy says softly, heat flooding her face. She actually has to look away for a minute at that, stare down at her feet dangling over the crate's edge. Leave it to Sadness to just say the sweetest thing in the world to her like it's nothing.

[caelipassionated]

Why leonetta is, has always been, and will forever be my favorite?

Even after watching the show for the x time, I cannot dislike the ship. I know a lot of people said they were toxic, but here I explain you why they were not. (PS: actually the most toxic thing in the show was Jade’s obsession with German).

Now Leonetta. I realized a lot of things when watching the show again as an adult.

In the beginning of their relationship, it was pretty obvious that Leon fell first, and was very in love with this girl who knew nothing about love. Fair enough, she has never been into a relationship before, nor in real contact with men outside her home.

What she felt for Tomas wasn’t love. How could she know it was love when she never experienced it nor interacted with a man before? What she felt for Tomas was crush, the first crush. He was nice to her, so she crushed on him. That first crush implied a lot of first feelings. The first time a man wanted to talk and hang out with her. She was excited because she never experienced something like that, and she couldn’t tell exactly what was she feeling. My point is, despite all what they wanted to show us, Tomas wasn’t her first love, he was her first crush.

Now Leon. Leon fell for her the first time he saw her. Now he approached a girl who was clearly into another guy. So he chose the friendship but not the friendzone. In this friendship where he never hidden his feelings for her, he taught her to be his confident, while always being by her side, even when she thought and spoke about Tomas. But remember also that he helped her a lot: he taught her how to bike, how to sing in public for the first time…and it was really cute. Slowly, she was growing by his side, far from the little girl we saw at the beginning. Let alone the comfort he always offered her. Whenever she was angry or sad, he hugged her to calm her, and she got that habit forever (in S3 when she interrupted their recording when she discovered the Alex/Clement story). So in other words, he showed her that he could be the perfect fit for her, only if she could look at him differently, and he waited patiently his time.

Then they dated. He always treated her gently, and it leads to their first kiss. I think in S1 is where they dated for the longest of the three seasons. But anyway, they broke up. And it was then that she actually fell for him. As the saying goes “you can’t value something unless you lose it”. And she felt it very hard, cause it was a challenge to win him back. And they broke again. Undoubtedly, the Podemos scene showed us how they were meant to be. She never dreamt of a song with another guy, not Tomas, not Diego, but only Leon. It showed that they shared a special link, that nothing could break. And this is how she actually learned to love. And the same goes for Leon, as his relationship with Ludmila is completely different, him too.

By the end she decided to be alone, but it’s fair cause it was the first time she experienced something like that. For a girl at this age, you can’t expect her to chose the guy of her life. But there are always be signs that Leon was the chosen one: in Habla Si Puedes, Leon is the first one to appear and to disappear, meaning that he is her first and last choice.

Now skip to S2. While S1 could be titled “He fell first”, S2 is “She is felling hard”.

One thing I always disliked about this girl was her stubbornness. I never saw someone that stubborn. What we could learn in S2, they have to learn how to live far from each other, but on good terms. At the beginning it was atrocious. They fought every time they got, this is why many people thought one was toxic to another. But they cared for each other, a lot. And they have to go through this, for me these fights were necessary (not the violent words though). It was necessary for them to learn how to love each other in any form, in any step of their relationship. From friends to lovers, from enemies to lovers. They have to see if being far from each other, or being with another will really break what it’s between them. Of course, that’s not fair for their partners, but that was how the show was written.

In S2, there were other people of course, that intentionally distracted the real purpose of their separation. But here they really learned to be friends (during the dance duo) without hating each other (when in fact I don’t think they ever hated each other). Their friendship era was a test to learn how to love without being toxic.

Now S3, that I titled “She fell harder than the ground”. That season was to teach them how to respect each other decision, while keeping on trust, care and respect. A lot hated the Roxy plot, but I think it’s just showed how hard she fell for him, and how hard it was to see him far from her. If her S1 her could see her S3 version, she wouldn’t believe it.

It was another big step in their relationship. Of course the fights were unnecessary, but that’s their label. In this new step, where they have been together (break up or not) for so long, they are so used to one another, they have to distinguish boundaries and personal decisions. It’s another important lesson, and still, remember that we have young, teenage characters there. I think they were quite mature for the characters, cause living all of this in 2-3 years, that’s huge. And even after that, they survived it.

For me, the only flaw in their relationship was how hard they communicated when fighting. Other than that, they weren’t worst than anyone. We could learn a lot from this ship, and this is why I wanted to share from my analysis.

Vive Leonetta.

[fallloverfic]

Thoughts on To Be Hero X Episode 9: Loss and Gain

That was a fun episode!

The good news is that Luo's not dead (yet)! He did nearly die, but Dean didn't kill him. Just, you know, traumatized him a lot. So... yeah.

Luo and Cyan's relationship is really sweet. They just care about each other so much. And they try to protect each other T-T

It's interesting to learn that Dean was a hero before all this went down, which again, especially based on his whole using the orphanage to raise heroes thing, makes me still think he caused the plane crash somehow, sort of like Mr. Glass in Unbreakable, maybe hoping to cause the creation of a hero from a disaster. A guy with wind powers like that causing a plane to crash is, well...

Conversely, Luo's parents were on the plane, and Dean needed to kill them for some reason, and got lucky that Cyan came out of it and fell into his clutches. It'd be interesting if the first time Luo got the name "Calamity" was after his parents died in a plane crash. Or at least that's related to my theory about what the Dean whispered to him: that Cyan is the only survivor of the crash where Luo's parents/guardian(s) died, and/or she's responsible for the crash somehow. Could be something entirely different (based on what I've seen in comments on official vids on YouTube already, other folks are also having an idea like that).

The song she sings while she busks is up: Wishing by DAIKI (AWSM.):

Apparently folks are saying X was the guy who gave her the first coin? It's a funny idea anyway XD

Can't find My Color anywhere yet, though there's a clip of it:

Some of this making me think of Ranka Lee performing in Macross Frontier. Sad greenish-haired girls singing for their tragic artistic guy friends, with the hope of the world on their shoulders, with haunting songs.

The blonde guy at I assume DOS looks like the secretary(?) for Old E-Soul (and hey, he doesn't wear pink all the time, maybe!). Liu Zhen having a second boyfriend? Good for him. Dean kind of sucks, so he could use more options. Maybe more shitty options, given most everything we know of the hero system, but it's not like Liu Zhen is a saint anyway (after he, you know, contracted his underage child out for something).

Ken still reminds me of Athena Cykes from Ace Attorney mixed with Sonia from Pokemon lol Did DOS actually try to find Luo? Are they just leading Cyan along that they're doing it to make her work with them? Did Dean lie that Luo is dead to make them stop looking? Lot of questions. I'm also curious what heroing exactly Cyan is doing. Is her concert money getting donated to charity? Or is it just more religious luck raising with a more corporate twist?

Poor Luo, trapped in that tiny room (though it's nice they bandaged his injuries and gave him a window, I guess; small blessings). And dealing with whatever dreck Dean told him. Now the question is if he caused the zombie(?) infection thing or if Dean did it. Is he controlling Dean or is Dean controlling him?

I hope Cyan helps save him and they're just free.

Great episode! Looking forward to Episode 10! Looks like Liu Zhen and blonde guy are flirting some more, Luo(?) uses his power more, and Cyan gets some transformation archery skills. Hope she doesn't kill Luo. Though rewatching her character PV, I am not confident. If nothing else, doesn't seem like he survives this.

More thoughts:

Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9 (You are here)

[todays-just-a-daydream]

oasis/gallagher dream arc

the town where we're living has made you a man and all of your dreams have washed away in the sand... it's funny how your dreams change as you're growing old you don't wanna be no spaceman, you just wanted gold all the dream stealers are lying in wait but if you wanna be a spaceman, it's still not too late (oasis - d'yer wanna be a spaceman)

while we're living the dreams we have as children fade away... dream it while you can maybe someday i'll make you understand (oasis - fade away)

in my mind my dreams are real (oasis - rock n roll star)

dream of you and all the things you say wonder where you are now... dream of you and we talk of growing old but you say please don't (oasis - slide away)

all your dreams are made when you’re chained to a mirror and a razorblade (oasis - morning glory)

you can't give me the dreams that are mine anyway (oasis - half the world away)

all your dreams are made of strawberry lemonade and you make sure i eat today (oasis - talk tonight)

wake up the dawn and ask her why a dreamer dreams she never dies (oasis - champagne supernova)

today’s just a daydream tomorrow will be cast away (oasis - fade in/out)

maybe the songs that we sing are wrong maybe the dreams that we dream are gone (oasis - it's getting better man)

they are sleeping while they dream but never want to be adored (oasis - magic pie)

until you repaid for the dreams that you bought with your lies you'll be cast away alone on the stormy skies (oasis - where did it all go wrong)

you're an idler's dream and you're singing Shangri-La (oasis - idler's dream)

we dream our dreams alone with no resistance... we gave you everything you ever dreamed of (oasis - little by little)

do you think it’s all a dream because that's what it seems (oasis - shout it out loud)

i hope the weather is calm as you sail up your heavenly stream suspended clear in the sky are the words that we sing in our dreams (oasis - let there be love)

i'm no stranger to this place where real life and dreams collide and even though i fall from grace i will keep the dream alive (oasis - keep the dream alive)

my dreams are bound to come true somehow (oasis - boy with the blues)

you gotta keep dreaming in the bed you made and if it tastes like shit well it beats sleeping rough on the floor (oasis - lord don't slow me down)

we open the door and let out the sound all that we heard was a dream rebound (beady eye - kill for a dream)

yours is the messiah mine is the dream and it won't be long (oasis - the turning)

dream on is that songbird singing shout it out for me... dream on cause it's got no meaning shout it out for me (nghfb - dream on)

we live a dying dream if you know what i mean (oasis - falling down)

dream of all the love you made it's there in your kaleidoscope eyes (nghfb - a simple game of genius)

bye bye my friend I'm leaving i'm gonna feast on the stars in the sky while i'll be gone don't stop dreaming and don't be sad and don't cry (oasis - don't stop...)

give you back a dream and show you now what might have been if all the tears you cried would fade away (nghfb - if i had a gun)

won’t let your dreams run away in the dark (nghfb - alone on a rope)

i’ll see you in my dreams... i’m never giving up til the dream is real (beady eye - for anyone)

it may be your dream but it tastes like poison (nghfb - AKA...what a life!)

and if I die in a dream then let me live my life... she died in a dream so i can live my life (nghfb - AKA...broken arrow)

maybe the dream that we had is gone (nghfb - do the damage)

if that's the time then i guess i must be leaving gone are the days and the dreams we screamed out loud (nghfb - you know we can't go back)

but now the dream is over the day is done (nghfb - a dream is all i need to get by)

all the hopes and dreams you had are left behind and taken by the storm (nghfb - sail on)

i'll help you fix your broken dreams (liam gallagher - universal gleam)

and i know you're smilin' it's me you're dreaming of (nghfb - here's a candle for your birthday cake)

be careful what you dream they'll let you sing your songs son but they'll never hear you scream (nghfb - be careful what you wish for)

but i'm a dreamer by design and i know in time we’ll put this behind (liam gallagher - for what it's worth)

in another dream, i catch you falling from the sky... all of the dreams you’ve had i’ve had them too (nghfb - wandering star)

will i meet you down on the corner  where our hopes and dreams were sold? (nghfb - blue moon rising)

it's true what they say that the dream is borrowed you give it back tomorrow minus the sorrow (liam gallagher - once)

you were living the dream but when the morning comes you’re gonna meet your maker good luck in the afterlife (nghfb - we're on our way now)

what are you dreaming of? is it the kind of love that will be there when the world is at its worst (liam gallagher - all you're dreaming of)

remember the dream that you're keeping alive... tonight tonight gonna let that dream take flight and when the morning comes will you wake up by my side? love real love is all i'm dreaming thinking of give it half a chance and the world might find a way (nghfb - we're gonna get there in the end)

tell me what do you love? would it let it kill you? with a head full of dreams at night sorrows written the story of life (liam gallagher - everything's electric)

you got the dreams of children... I'll make your dreams come true (nghfb - pretty boy)

i can lend you a dream til we meet again (nghfb - dead to the world)

alright dream it if you wanna all night down by the river (nghfb - open the door see what you find)

i'll give you what's left of my dreams in the morning (nghfb - love is a rich man)

she'll sell you a dream but she's tryin' to rule the world (nghfb - think of a number)