#( it was fun i love folklore but goddamn

[recklessfiction]

Writing Inspiration - Horror Movies -

The Thing (1982)

The Thing kills it with creature design and captures the vibe of horrors beyond our own rational understanding. I love Kurt Russell also, he's very capable and attractive and has fabulous hair.

The Wicker Man (1973)

The original Wicker Man is very much a christianity vs the "old ways" story. A fish out of water story, a warning to the christian about getting in too deep. It's really good, the kind of religious clashing I personally love to see.

The Lighthouse (2019)

What can I even say about this movie? It's weird, it folkloric, its otherwordly. It does what I love which is show a dull staple in mythology, in this case the mermaid/sea god, and made it weird again, made it strange and unsettling. It's made the sea and what is in the sea something to fear. Its my vibe but certainly not everyone's.

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

GDT doesn't miss. I love when people make fairy tales frightening, and the creatures in them are weird and strange. I love fairy tales that are horror because that's what they've always been, warnings and something to scare children, and Pan's Labyrinth kills it!

Curse of the Demon (1957)

This is really just a comfort movie for me but it's very good and you should watch it.

Mad God (2021)

Mad God is something else. Not everyone's cup of tea, gross, horribly violent, uncomfortable, and odd. But I think it's wonderful in its wild creativity and strangeness. I like that it's more of a dream, shooting in wild directions with no real story line. It's a journey that you're just a part of and can't escape from, a nightmare.

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000)

Beautiful movie. Gorgeous. Love that the vampires are strange looking but still beautiful and dignified, it speaks to the level of artistry and creativity that Yoshitaka Amano has.

Suspiria (1977)

This movie something you need to watch to understand. It's not just images, its the soundtrack, the colours, the shots and cuts. Its an entire sensory experience with music by Goblin.

Hellraiser (1987)

A classic. Again, the designs rock and the atmosphere is wonderful. Sex and death and blood and meat, man. Lust and unfinished bodies but its still sexy even though your goddamn muscle juices are dripping onto the floor. It's great.

Evil Dead 2 (1987) & Army of Darkness (1992)

The king of horror comedy, I wish I had as much charisma and jokes as Ash Williams. A great time in general.

The Horror of Dracula (1958)

I enjoy the Hammer horror films over Universal simply because of the life that's in them. They're funny and have a lot of action and are seductive while the Universal versions, while wonderful in their own right, are more dramatic, and lowkey. I love the Horror of Dracula with all my heart, Peter Cushing is so dignified even as he's jumping onto tables and running around constantly, and it's just a lot more fun!

Annihilation (2018)

When I first saw this movie, my first thought was that the characters were entering a fairy ring. The otherworldlyness of The Shimmer, it's beauty even in the horrific parts of itself, in the alligator and the other body horror elements, is something I love. Making decay and and death and horror beautiful, so much so that you start to question whether or not you should be afraid (the answer is of course yes you should be.)

[talesfrommedinastation]

The Knight is Crowned King

“I am saying it is time to put aside the trooper, the CT number, the clone who served under a sergeant in a Republic that no longer exists. It is time for you to become the captain that we– your people –need you to be.”

Tech stood up straight. “Then, if that is the case, Camina, I have a request.”

“Say it.”

“Get me a tattoo gun. Now.”

-Camina Drummer and Tech, Far Past the Ring

————————-

I really can’t thank @cloned-eyes enough for this wonderful piece that they did. She she taki taki!

It is Camina Drummer giving Tech the infamous 'collar' tattoo of The Belt in her presidential office, LDS mural still behind her.

For me, this culminates the spirit of Far Past the Ring, especially for canon characters Camina Drummer and Tech.

The story was initially conceived as a fun little romp for Clone Force 99, where Tech would meet a Belter engineer, they’d chat, maybe have a short romance, and move on with their lives.

This was February 2023.

But after Plan 99 aired a month later…well, we all went a little nuts. I did, too. Blame the Wellbutrin.

Also, blame me taking folklore classes at Berkeley as an undergrad. I decided the short story was going to become something bigger, and Tech was taking center stage.

On that note, I was so angry for Tech.

I was angry for all of his potential as a character, thrown down the mountain on Eriadu.

So, I decided to whip out the ol’ English 251 notes I had from years ago, and chart out Tech’s own Hero’s Journey, through the world of The Expanse meeting the world of Star Wars.

But I did not want Tech merely limping off into the sun into a simple, happy ending. No.

I wanted him to face challenges, fight, win alliances, and be received as the goddamned hero that he is.

To quote Campbell himself from The Hero with a Thousand Faces:

“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”

And who better to bestow this mighty power and crown unto Tech then Camina motherfuckin’ Drummer.

If you haven’t seen The Expanse, know that Camina Drummer goes through the Hero’s Journey of Hero’s Journeys herself. She rose from an orphan working the docks on Ceres, to a foot soldier for Anderson Dawes, a director under Fred Johnson, the first commanding officer of the largest vessel in human history (The OPAS Behemoth, later Medina Station), and then, the first president of the Transport Union, arguably the most powerful person in the universe.

It isn't an easy journey: she's shot, beaten, breaks her spine, loses the love of her life, watches loved ones get murdered in front of her, and is abandoned by those who professed to love her.

But Camina Drummer never gives up. She fights to the end to make things right. Girlfriend is rewarded....and now she passes that onto Tech.

After all, Camina’s people, the Belters, adorn themselves through tattoos. They live their lives in space, in the vacuum, where jewelry can be lost, damaged or hurt the owner. So they tattoo.

Years ago, cheap suits were supplied by Inners for Belters under their governance. They demanded Belters to work and extract resources from the Kuiper Belt and other outer planets in order to make them rich. The helmet connections ot the suit would often burn the wearer's neck, as seen below on Anderson Dawes.

In many ways, it is also a symbol of the yoke of slavery, of a chain around one’s neck.

Although younger Belters now wear better vacsuits, they still wear the tattoos to remind them of what their ancestors went through, seen on Naomi Nagata below.

A symbol of pain is now a symbol of what Belters are fighting for–freedom. Which they earn.

So, by getting that tattoo, done by Camina Drummer, the hero and president of the Belt, is our Tech getting crowned.

It’s right after Camina makes him their Chief Systems Engineer as well as a commander. He bled and fought for his chosen people, and he is rewarded as such.

It's him saying I'm here, I'm one of you, and your leader is the one putting it on me.

Oh, and in true fairy tale hero’s journey mode, Tech also gets a beautiful Belter ‘princess’...Sjael Drummer, Camina’s cousin.

Once again, something that originally wasn’t in the cards last year, but I wanted a full Hero’s Journey and I was damned if Tech wasn’t going to get it!

Tagging those that have commented and enjoyed the story: @eyecandyeoz @perfectlywingedcrusade @megmca @skellymom @cdblake1565 @thecoffeelorian @supremechancellorrex @that-salmonberry-punk @autistic-artistech @deezlees @littlefeatherr @nahoney22 @freesia-writes @eelfuneral @yeehawgeek @isthereanechoinhere96 @sued134

[shellem15]

Finally decided to just compile a list of my headcanons for cr gods here, because their insane dynamics have infected my brain and made it physically impossible for me to get any of my own worldbuilding/writing stuff done. This is for the gods in general, I'm doing a separate post for just my favorite trio (Asmodeus/Sarenrae/Pelor) later.

So the Raven Queen's predecessor helping her succeed him and them being in love has been made canon, but I'm just gonna say here that that was basically my theory beforehand and I made an entire goddamn post about it (before downfall even aired, mind you) then deleted it because I thought it was dumb. Anyways. Just getting that off my chest.

On that topic, I think that the Old God of Death (whom I will, from here on, refer to as OGOD) had a very "pagan-woods deity" vibe going on before he was axed. I think it contrasts nicely with the Raven Queen being a god "of wizards" and of mortals in general. It could also explain why he was seen as a "tyrant", cause maybe he had a big "no resurrection. Ever." policy, which drove wizards to necromancy as a loophole. As an extension, I think he would have had some strong wolf symbolism, cause wolves = death is a tale as old as time (Again complimenting the Matron's Ravens). Think Neverafter's Big Bad Wolf and Puss in Boots 2's Wolf/Death. I also imagine OGOD was very close with the Wildmother and the Crawling King (before the betrayers got locked up).

OGOD, as the god of fate, knew ahead of time that the mortal who became the Raven Queen would seek him out and, eventually, be his demise.

The Moonweaver, as the goddess of love and protector of lovers' trysts, on some level knew about their relationship and what was to come. She's never told anyone this.

The Changebringer and the Stormlord are best friends. Freedom and challenge, storms and the wind, they come hand in hand. Bet they would rock up to a protest in sick leather jackets waving flags and punching cops in the face.

The Changebringer and the Everlight are very, very close. Avandra was the one to find her after Asmodeus' betrayal. Something something the unbreakable bond between freedom and redemption. In addition to Kord they form their own little trio.

The Changebringer has a plethora of myths and folklore about her, a lot about her screwing over Asmodeus' plots (and just being a trickster god in general).

I imagine that they were rivals while in Tengar, but it was more a playful, childish thing than any true animosity. This changes, obviously.

Speaking of screwing, she and Asmodeus have definitely hate-fuck3d before. Both of them refuse to acknowledge it, but it totally haunts him at night.

On this note, Avandra's vestige "the Kiss of the Changebringer" (canonically stolen from her by the Lord of the Hells), was given that name because he distracted her with a kiss while stealing it. She beat his ass for that later.

Avandra couch-hops in the other gods domains. They tolerate this to varying degrees.

Upon Vordo the fateshaper's death (or whoever Ihana, the Weaver of Time became but my theory is Vordo), Ioun (Knowing Mistress) became the eldest of the gods, followed by the Scaled Tyrant (Tiamat) and the Platinum Dragon (Bahamut). They are old and act like it. Meemaws and peepaw.

Ioun, being the eldest of the gods, has witnessed most of her (surviving) siblings' original spawning into existence within Tengar. I wonder if they were "born" from the trees in the Orchard of Possibility?

The Ruiner (aka Gruumsh aka Shosti) is younger than Ioun, Tiamat, and Bahamut, but older than most of the other gods. He gives older brother vibes not gonna lie.

The Ruiner and the Stormlord were bros before the Schism. They definitely got into huge battles with each other and had a lot of fun. Gym bro energy.

The Ruiner didn’t join the Betrayer's side out of malice for mortals, he just thought destroying Exandria would be a fun time.

The Ruiner really likes breaking the All-Hammer (Moradin)'s stuff. Actively goes out of his way to do so.

The Crawling King (Torog) is disliked by most of the gods. The Betrayers especially hate him. He's a living reminder of their pain and all they have lost.

The Lawbearer and the Strife Emperor were close before the Schism, but afterwords became bitter enemies.

The Platinum Dragon and the Scaled Tyrant are basically an old divorced couple. The bickering and shade throwing is a sight to behold. Especially since they're dragons.

Tiamat is basically an over-glorified guard dog for the gates of Hell in Avernus. This her way of paying rent to Asmodeus for technically living within the Nine Hells. She hates this, and they tend to avoid each other.

The Moonweaver, the Archheart, and the Spider Queen were a polycule before the Schism. Lolth has definitely tried to eat them before, to little success.

They're all super into weaving, for obvious reasons. And all can play string instruments.

Lolth and Zehir are in constant competition to murder as much of each other's followers as possible. (This isn't even headcanon its literally just true)

All the Betrayer Gods (minus Asmodeus and vecna) have a group-chat where they just trash their brother. Just pure complaining.

The betrayer gods are constantly ragging on Asmo for fumbling the Primoridal bag. Whenever they bring it up he gets so mad.

 All the Betrayers bully Vecna. He is not invited to the Betrayer God lunch table. They give him swirlies in the bathroom whenever they catch him.

Prime Deities have a group chat where they trash the Dawnfather. The Everlight isn't on it because it'd upset her. Asmodeus has absolutely infiltrated the group chat.

Primes can recite the Dawnfather's spiels word by word. They lip-sync it when he's not looking.

The Betrayers do this exact same thing with Asmodeus' rants.

A big celebration was thrown for the Wildmother and the Lawbearer's wedding. Corellon decorated and was super bridezilla about it (despite not being the bride).

Can't decide whether its pre-schism for the fluff or post-schism for the angst. If its pre-schism then torog walked melora down the aisle (or whatever the equivalent is) and cried about it.

It was a super awkward moment for everyone else.

Either way the wedding quickly descended into godly revelry and then lots of unspeakable violence.

Corellon definitely hosted a lot of orgies. Both pre and post schism. And just parties in general. They also tended to end in a lot of violence. 

That's it. I can't think of anything else. Feel free to add on to this list if you want.

[ryttu3k]

Thoughts on Space Babies and The Devil's Chord, in no particular order:

So we agree that the overarching storyline for this season is stories becoming real, yeah? Starts with invoking folklore at the end of the universe, is solidified with the Toymaker and his rules of play, used heavily in The Church on Ruby Road, and now children's fairytales and musicals? Fascinated to see where this is going!

Generally ridiculously camp and bonkers and you know what, I goddamn missed that. It had whimsy. It had space babies and musical battles! It was fun and ridiculous and just. Felt good, man.

And it also had far-future dystopias and reproductive horror and slow starvation and suffocation and refugees and a timeline of depression and nuclear winter simply to create the universe's biggest aeolian harp so, you know. Doctor Who is back, baby!

Space Babies

Okay the episode was pretty fun and, at times, sweet (they saved the monster!) but oy the CGI/voice acting for the babies was… not great XD;;

Rani reference!

RTD detractors: "Ew, fart jokes with the Slitheen, so immature." RTD, writing an elaborate snot joke that ends with a colossal projectile shart: "Watch this :D"

Okay yes the projectile shart to get the space station moving is one thing, but, uh. How is it going to stop? XD;;

The nanny filter made me giggle each time.

I actually had to go back and check because I was squinting at the readout trying to work out what's weird and somehow failed a spot check and missed the fact that it had started snowing. Good observational skills, self. Anyway, the snow is definitely a Message. (Is it snow? Like I agree that it's connected with the day Ruby was born, but is what's falling in the church scene snow to begin with?)

Do you. Do you think the butterfly can regenerate now.

The Devil's Chord

Oooh, a Pantheon! Love a Pantheon. There's mention of the One Who Waits, speculation on whether 'the Oldest One' was there the day Ruby was born, we already have the Toymaker -> Maestro line, so maybe we'll be getting others? Also, the way Maestro phrased something earlier was fascinating too - "the Lord Temporal who sealed my father in salt". The Lord Temporal. There's been a lot of references to how the Doctor isn't just a Time Lord, maybe they're part of the Pantheon too, as the personification of time? Regeneration and Time Lord society all coming from this base primordial being?

Anyway I goddamn adore Maestro.

I wonder if we'll get Susan at the end of this season? (See: last link of this section!)

July 2024? So that's a good six months of travelling unaccounted for! Big Finish just going 👀

Semi-related but Ruby saying she was born in 2004 gave me a Crisis. Rose was 19 in 2005 and born the same year as me. Yeah okay I am good with that! Martha born in either 1986 or 1984, yep, fine, all checks out. But now there's a companion who was born when I was already an adult how is that legal.

"He ripped my soul in two." Oof.

The sonic actually did something sonic!

"I thought it was non-diegetic!!" I have so many questions. The walls are getting thin. Yeah, especially the fourth! (Random thought: Doctor Who official ARG?)

Lennon-McCartney saves the world! (I still like Harrison's stuff better.)

Apparently Murray Gold had a cameo but I have no idea what he looks like so it went completely over my head lmao

Missed opportunity to play The Devil Went Down To Georgia or The Devil's Trill, although we did get Danse Macabre and Rhapsody in Blue (which I put on as soon as the episode finished)!

Fun fact about Danse Macabre: "The solo violin enters playing the tritone, which was known as the diabolus in musica ("the Devil in music") during the Medieval and Baroque eras, consisting of an A and an E♭—in an example of scordatura tuning, the violinist's E string has actually been tuned down to an E♭ to create the dissonant tritone." (People hated it when it premiered. It made them feel anxious. Which is... kind of appropriate.)

There's always a twist at the end~ (I thought it was little H.Arbringer, but who knows?)

[daisyswift3]

The Alcott Analysis

So now that The Alcott has officially been released I wanted to do an analysis of some of the lyrics and how I think they might relate to Taylor. Disclaimer: I know Aaron said Matt wrote the main parts of the song and Taylor only added the dialogue parts so many of these connections might be a coincidence, but I also think it’s possible Taylor could have had more input on the song than they’re letting on since there are so many themes and motifs that perfectly relate back to Taylor’s music. This is just meant to be a fun clown theory

Like many others pointed out, the whole first verse is very “Help I’m still at the restaurant, still sitting in a corner I haunt, cross legged in the dim light, they say ‘what a sad sight’” and seems like the opposite pov of RWYLM

“It’s the last thing you/I wanted, it’s the first thing I/you do, I tell you that I think I’m falling back in love w/ you��� // “I love you ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard” // “Uh oh I’m falling in love, oh no I’m falling in love again”

“I had to do something to break into your golden thinking” // “Lost in the labyrinth of my mind…you would break your back to make me break a smile”— this is directly related to the following ⬇️

“And there you are sitting as usual w/ your golden notebook, writing something about someone who used to be me…I sit there silently waiting for you to look up” // “Did you ever hear about the girl who got frozen, time moved on for everybody else, she won’t know it, she’s still 23 inside her fantasy, how it was supposed to be…and you’re sitting in front of me” -> Taylor is stuck in her own head reminiscing and writing about the past (the golden age) and this person sitting in front of her is trying to break her out of this nostalgic escapist mindset. I think this may be a direct reference to the film Midnight in Paris which is all about nostalgia and escapism--much like the song Paris on the Midnights 3am edition--and specifically to golden age thinking, a phrase used in that film. Here are some tidbits that I think are worth noting

@chickawah23​ made a really great post about the possible Midnight in Paris connections. Here’s a screenshot from that post that does a good job summarizing the important parallels

There definitely seems to be a connection between Midnights, the stories of 13 sleepless nights, and the folklore chapters that were released in Aug 2020, specifically the sleepless nights and escapism chapters. I think it’s interesting that exile is the last track of the first chapter and first track of the second chapter--almost like the second chapter is a direct continuation of the first which again links Midnights to this escapism theme. And there’s been a lot of exile references lately (exile ends, doors, 8/3, etc)

Even though the back and forth dialogue between Taylor and Matt at first sounds argumentative, I think it could also be read in a positive way. This person is going to ruin and wreck Taylor’s plans and Taylor is going to gladly let them. She welcomes the curse on their house. “I’m begging for you to take my hand wreck my plans that’s my man” // “For you I would ruin myself a million little times” // “I wish to know the fatal flaw that makes you long to be magnificently cursed...He’s gonna burn this house to the ground...So yeah it’s a fire it’s a goddamn blaze in the dark and you started it” // “Dear reader, burn all the files, desert all your past lives” // Taylor is the one that chooses to burn the lover house down. She’s the one holding the lighter on the Midnights album cover and striking the match in the lavender haze mv (here’s a really great post about what that might signify). Furthermore, the willow performance and description make me think that the curse on Taylor’s house was actually her own doing--she’s not only letting this person wreck her plans but is helping them do so. So the burning, wrecking, ruining, cursing/spell casting are all metaphors for the same thing—destroying Taylor’s closet and possibly her career as a result of that

Honorable mention: The beat almost sounds like a heartbeat no? Wildest Dreams??

[edwinspaynes]

evermore songs as tlh characters/ships

I saw someone do this for Folklore and Evermore's my favourite album, so...

sorry nbnc isn't included i just had no idea what to do with it lol

willow -> thomas @ alastair

Wait for the signal and I'll meet you after dark Show me the places where the others gave you scars Now this is an open-shut case Guess I should've known from the look on your face Every bait and switch was a work of art

champagne problems -> james @ cordelia + matthew

[He'll] patch up your tapestry that I shred And hold your hand while dancing Never leave you standing Crestfallen on the landing With champagne problems

gold rush -> matthew

What must it be like To grow up that beautiful? With your hair falling into place like dominoes My mind turns your life into folklore I can't dare to dream about you anymore At dinner parties Won't call you out on your contrarian shit And the coastal town We never found will never See a love as pure as it

tis the damn season -> anna @ ari

Sleep in half the day just for old times' sake I won't ask you to wait if you don't ask me to stay So I'll go back to L.A. and the so-called friends Who'll write books about me, if I ever make it And wonder about the only soul who can tell which smiles I'm fakin' And the heart I know I'm breakin' is my own

tolerate it -> alastair @ charles

honestly this one is too fitting it was so hard to choose a quote but--

I greet you with a battle hero's welcome I take your indiscretions all in good fun I sit and listen, I polish plates until they gleam and glisten You're so much older and wiser and I...

happiness -> matthew @ cordelia

After giving you the best I had Tell me what to give after that All you want from me now is the green light of forgiveness You haven't met the new me yet And I think [he'll] give you that

dorothea -> ari @ anna

It's never too late To come back to my side The stars in your eyes Shined brighter in Tupelo And if you're ever tired of being known For who you know You know, you'll always know me

coney island -> james @ cordelia

Did I close my fist around something delicate? Did I shatter you? And I'm sitting on a bench in Coney Island Wondering, "Where did my baby go?" The fast times, the bright lights, the merry-go Sorry for not making you my centerfold

ivy -> alastair @ thomas while in paris

Oh, goddamn My pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand Taking mine, but it's been promised to another Oh, I can't Stop you putting roots in my dreamland My house of stone, your ivy grows And now I'm covered in you

cowboy like me -> ari @ anna

And the skeletons in both our closets Plotted hard to mess this up And the old men that I've swindled Really did believe I was the one And the ladies lunching have their stories about When you passed through town But that was all before I locked it down

long story short -> matthew

I always felt I must look better in the rear view Missing me At the golden gates they once held the keys to When I dropped my sword I threw it in the bushes and knocked on your door And we live in peace But if someone comes at us This time, I'm ready

marjorie -> grace @ christopher (😭)

I should've asked you questions I should've asked you how to be Asked you to write it down for me Should've kept every grocery store receipt 'Cause every scrap of you would be taken from me Watched as you signed your name Marjorie All your closets of backlogged dreams And how you left them all to me

closure -> alastair @ charles after the end of chog

Yes, I got your letter Yes, I'm doing better It cut deep to know ya Right to the bone Yes, I got your letter Yes, I'm doing better I know that it's over I don't need your closure

evermore -> cordelia @ james

And I was catching my breath Floors of a cabin creaking under my step And I couldn't be sure I had a feeling so peculiar This pain wouldn't be for Evermore

right where you left me -> grace

I stayed there Dust collected on my pinned-up hair They expected me to find somewhere Some perspective, but I sat and stared

it's time to go -> matthew at the end of chot

Sometimes giving up is the strong thing Sometimes to run is the brave thing Sometimes walking out is the one thing That will find you the right thing That will find you the right thing And you know in your soul And you know in your soul When it's time to go

[livvyofthelake]

shadowhunter chronicles characters and whether i think they would be swifties, a post: (obviously i am excluding all characters who are from the past and died before taylor swift even existed because frankly i don't care to debate whether mattew fairchild would be a swiftie. he's dead <3 peace and love)

clary- not at all. she listens to freak weirdo music. also she stopped keeping tabs on pop culture in 2008 so what would she even know about taylor swift unless one of her shadowhunter friends makes her listen to her. i think it's possible that in like 2014 she heard a 1989 song and loved it but didn't find out it was taylor swift until 6 months later when simon had to inform her

simon- again, weirdo freak music. he'd be the guy who only starts liking her because of folklore but unfortunately cassanda's timeline only goes to like, 2013 rn and will only go to 2015 for twp so. we'll never see that. i think he has nothing against her music because he is a Music Appreciator but he is probably a huge asshole about her as a person becuase he has a haters soul <3

jace- well i don't think jace listens to modern music <3 however i think in his post 2008 life he has more appreciation for human world art and he would eventually come across a vinyl of red or something (he's totally the type of annoying to have a record player do not dispute me on this) and i think from there he would like her, this is how clary is introduced to her music btw

alec- i literally don't think alec listens to music. other people listen to music around him, and he does NOT have a haters soul so he is NOT an asshole about any of said music.

izzy- yeah <3 and i think her and simon have had fights about it <3 it's not that deep to her though she only fights with him about taylor swift for fun and then they have crazy sex

magnus- well yeah. of course. he would love how swifties behave like a cult he would think that's soooo funny... he would love the glamour he would love her showmanship he would go to all her tours and have the time of his life. duh.

emma- yeah why not... she's a girls girl and she has an obsession with being just like jace. she is listening to taylor swift...

jules- he is listening to taylor swift with his beautiful girlfriend...

dru- dru is crucially a weirdo freak emo girl, i just know that when she puts on music it is an assult on the ears and no one likes it and ty wants to kill her about it. and also at the same time emma is functionally her big sister she looks up to and therefore she must appreciate taylor on emma's behalf

cristina- no because she's not american she doesn't have to give a shit about taylor swift

mark- if you asked mark blackthorn what his favorite song was he'd say some bullshit like "the sound of the river flowing at sunrise when the birds are chirping" so. like yeah he'd mostly be saying that just to fuck with you but goddamn that is annoying. anyway

helen- she's a gaylor. to ME

aline- the wife of a gaylor. but she thinks shake it off is the most annoying fucking song she has ever heard in her life <3

livvy- much like dru, she has to defer to emma with this, so yes she likes taylor swift, however i know in my heart of hearts that livvy is a pop music girlie and the fact that taylor was mostly country pre-livvy dying would piss her off soooo bad. she'd have to find put about 1989 from kit it would be a whole thing she'd make ty play it for her because she's a ghost who only has two friends it's terrible...

ty- it's complex. no. but also yes. but also crucially no. but yes. don't worry about it.

tessa- tessa would love ipods i know she does... girl from the victorian era living to the invention of the ipod touch.... dude. do i think she's listening to taylor on her ipod? maybe a little. but i think magnus probably made her a playlist of all the greatest songs from the last several decades that she missed while in the spiral labyrinth and she is just trying to catch up in her free time... obviously all too well is on that playlist though.

jem- man i just think he's thrilled to be alive. i think that guy likes everything, especially if tessa likes it. guy who is constantly overcome with the beauty of life fr

kit- i think he would make fun of jace for liking red so much and then he'd go home and listen to it and cry. he pretends to have the haters soul for clout but he doesn't and he never will and it makes him look fucking pathetic <3

[droids-in-disguise]

Favorite Books I've Read in 2023 (so far)

So fun fact I read a lot, here are my top 10 books that I’ve read so far this year, in the order I read them. Never really posted this sort of thing on tumblr before but I thought I’d give it a try.

Book details and some of my thoughts under the cut.

A Thousand Steps Into Night by Traci Chee (2022)

YA Fantasy

A Thousand Steps Into Night is a book I 100% picked up because of the cover and because it was super cheap. I hadn’t ever heard anything about the book or author. The best way I can describe this novel is that reading it conjured up the same feelings that I get from watching a Ghibli film. Our protagonist Miuko is an ordinary girl from a small village until one day she is cursed and slowly begins transforming into a demon. Hoping to find a way to break the curse, she begins to travel the land meeting lots of colorful characters, gods, and mythic figures along the way. It’s a very atmospheric and wonderfully written book that pulls a lot of inspiration from Japanese mythology and folklore

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske (2022)

Romance/Fantasy

This is the second book in the Last Binding trilogy. I feel like you could probably get away with skipping the first book if you wanted to since both books are somewhat self-contained, but why would you? The first book (A Marvellous Light) is awesome. Our story takes place in an alternate-Edwardian England where magic is real and certain people can practice it, unbeknownst to the rest of the non-magical population. Maud Blyth, a non-magical person who has the privilege of knowing about magic, is working with members of the magical community as well as her brother (the protagonist from the first book) to prevent a dangerous magical contract form falling into the wrong hands. She is travelling on an ocean liner when the old woman in her care ends up dead. Cue the murder mystery shenanigans and sapphic romance!

Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun (2022)

Romance

I actually read this book twice this year, once by myself and once for my book club. It has what is quite possibly one of the most bonkers rom-com plots I’ve ever seen and I love how ridiculous it is. Basically, our main character Ellie meets a women in Powell’s books and they have a magical, Christmas one-night-stand. Fast forward almost one year later, Ellie is having a difficult time out here in good-old Portland, OR after getting fired from her dream job and having to instead rough it as a barista. In a last-ditch effort to not lose her apartment, she agrees to marry her job’s landlord so he can get his inheritance and Ellie gets a percentage in exchange. However, it turns out that her one-night-stand from last year is her new fake-fiancé’s sister. GASP! The only place this book loses points for me is that there’s too many goddamn Taylor Swift references.

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer (2021)

YA Sci-Fi

If I had to pick a favorite out of all these books it would be this one. Reading this book felt like getting hit by a bus. Our POV character is Ambrose Cusk, an astronaut aboard the Coordinated Endeavor who has been sent on a mission into deep space to rescue his sister. His only companion is another boy named Kodiak who comes from a rival nation (think Cold War-ear space race). As they slowly start to interact with one another it becomes clear that for some reason neither one of them have any memory of the ship’s launch. The only knowledge they have of what’s going on comes from the ship’s internal computer and infrequent communications from Earth. As they begin to investigate, they discover a lot more than they bargained for. The first half of this book is like your typical gay space adventures and then at like the 50% mark onwards the rug gets pulled out from under you and you just have to go WHAT THE FUCK and then when you finish the book you just have to pretend like you’re fine and can move on with your life (you can’t). My only complaint is that this book should not have been YA, like there’s absolutely 0 reason for it to be.

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley (2021)

YA Thriller

This book was unexpected for me. I have a habit of just reading books I know absolutely nothing about because someone, somewhere said it was good and because I think the cover is pretty. For some reason I assumed this would be a fantasy book but it’s actually a thriller/mystery novel, which is not at all a genre I typically go for. Our main character, Daunis Fontaine, is a biracial Ojibwe girl who loves hockey and her community. Her status as an unenrolled member of her tribe has her stuck with a foot in each world. After a family tragedy, circumstances push her to agree to work undercover with the FBI in order to find the source of a dangerous substance that has infiltrated her community and threatens the lives of those she cares about. I found Daunis to be an extremely compelling character with a strong narrative voice. Watching all the layers of the mystery getting peeled away through her investigation was extremely satisfying. She uses mainstream scientific knowledge in tandem with more tribal specific knowledge of botany and medicine in order to figure things out, which I thought was super cool. This is another book where I feel like it could’ve gotten away with not being YA, but I don’t feel as strongly about it as I do in regards to The Darkness Outside Us.

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune (2023)

Sci-fi

Where to even begin this one… Have you ever wanted a book that was partly a story about a robot found family on post-apocalyptic Earth and partly a Pinocchio retelling? Yeah me either, but I’m so glad I got it. Victor Lawson is a human raised by robots. He has a peaceful existence with his android father and other mechanical friends until his curiosity unknowingly alerts robots from his father’s former life to their existence. Vic’s father is captured and it’s up to the rest of the family to rescue him. Victor is also asexual and how he describes and navigates his asexuality was so similar to my own it was like looking in a mirror.

Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H. (2023)

Memoir

This was a wonderful memoir about a queer Muslim as she reconciles those two pieces of her identity, and the struggles she faces finding community. Growing up religious, there were a lot of experiences in this memoir that I personally related to. Something I really enjoyed is how the author retold stories from the Quran and used them to frame her own queer experiences. There was a lot about this book that was very comforting to me, and I feel like it was written in a way that was accessible and easy to understand.

Black Sun (and by extension it’s sequel, Fevered Star) by Rebecca Roanhorse (2020/2022)

Fantasy

Black Sun is the first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, an epic fantasy series with a world inspired by pre-colonial American civilizations. This series has such a large and complex cast of characters, with chapters from multiple POVs, so it’s impossible to say if there is really any one protagonist. Essentially, the upcoming solar eclipse foretells the return of the crow god and the unbalancing of the status quo that has previously been maintained by an order of priests. Some characters are working to make sure this comes to pass, some hope to prevent it, and some aren’t quite sure where their loyalties lie. By the end of the first chapter I already knew I was in for a wild ride (the book opens on a mother sewing her 12-year old son’s eyes shut, ew). This series also features a queernormative world, where non-binary characters and same-gender relationships are commonplace.

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron (2021)

YA Fantasy

This book was so cool and really had a lot going for it. Briseis Greene has the uncanny ability to grow and control plants. She and her two moms live in Brooklyn where they run a flower shop. One day, a visitor arrives to tell Bri that she has inherited an old country estate in upstate NY from her birth family. Bri wonders if this house could be the answer to her family’s financial woes and so they travel upstate where Bri begins to learn more about her abilities and her family’s history. Every answered question leads to dozens more unanswered and between strange individuals wandering the estate, townspeople who seem to know secrets, and increasing instances of violence and vandalism, Bri begins ask herself if staying here is worth it if it means her family might be in danger. This book is a queer, mythology inspired, part urban fantasy, part thriller/haunted house story, of a modern fairytale. Truly something in it for everyone.

[theravenkin]

this is gonna be me projecting (and also losing my FUCKING MIND over finishing greywaren five minutes ago) but is it just me or was everyone in that goddamn book autistic

first of all: the declan childhood flashbacks...that boy is autistic as SHIT. i'm giving maggie the benefit of the doubt here and telling myself that she was implying that and not just making a joke about "haha guy is uptight and no fun as an adult he only sorted things and enforced rules and structure as a kid cus that's funny" because oh my god?? also as an adult he has "declanisms"- phrases he uses for certain situations like categories...scripting... declan baby. he is the most autistic babygirl i have ever seen holy shit oh my g

i've also always related to ronan and a big part of that is because i've always read him as autistic. i mean i've always read all the original trc characters as autistic, to be fair. but i mean? are t they? (yes, they are, because i said so. it's my special interest, i get to assign the autism)

now i understand that the larger metaphor is about chronic illness, and i'm in love with that. i don't think autism is the main thing there. but i don't think it's not there, just as depression and bpd (imo but thats another post) aren't not there. (it's art, it's literature, it's open for interpretation.) but what i keep thinking about: chronic illnesses like epilepsy, hypermobility disorders, mitochondrial disorders, and several others mt end to be comorbid with autism. and as someone who is both autistic and deals with chronic illness/chronic pain (and who has several friends who are in the same boat), autism and chronic illness often seem intertwined to me. idk, just thoughts

ALSO. y'all heard people comparing being autistic/neurodivergent to speaking a different "language" than allistic/neurotypical people? THE WHOLE THINF ABOUT THE DREAM WORLD SPEAKING A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE THAT COULDNT BE TRANSLATED INTO ANY HUMAN UNDERSTANDING. thinking also about how autistic people so often feel like (and are compared to) aliens or otherworldly beings. how changeling children in folklore were probably just autistic kids but were etched in canon as erdrich creatures. how sometimes i wanna become that eldritch creature that others seem to think i am...

also, also: the theme of masks and "other selves" running throughout the entire series, even in trc. declan is the most obvious masker as an adult; he has to create a persona and STICK TO A SCRIPT OF THW SAME WORDS ALL THE TIME in order to feel like he's functioning and got his shit together. and then hennessey and jordan--hennessey creates a version of herself that she feels is more palatable, more socially acceptable, and that's who does all the soft skills of their operation early on. adam creates a false version of himself. ronan lies to himself about who and what he really is. matthew discovers that he's just been acting like who others want him to act like all along--that he's been suppressing his emotions and wants and needs in order to make others happy. and i know that this whole theme can translate into a lot of things, but what i've read it as since cdth is masking with autism/neurodivergence.

anyway. this has been my greywaren manifesto. i am sorry. (i'll be back later.)

[maluinks]

I only know taylor swift as someone who sucks ass at writing lyrics, what are the banger lyrics im missing??

lmao i totally get that. I think it will always be a bit of a personal preference thing, just like some ppl love some writing styles which others cant stand, same with lyrics.

I personally love the lyric writing that tells a good story i can see in my head, and the song creates an atmosphere which you can touch and even smell. I think Taylor's strength is in her storytelling, which shines through especially in folklore and evermore. I personally love "seven" ("Please picture me/In the weeds/Before I learned civility/I used to scream ferociously"), august ("To live for the hope of it all/Cancel plans just in case you'd call"), peace ("Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?"), "illicit affairs" ("Leave the perfume on the shelf/That you picked out just for him/So you leave no trace behind/Like you don't even exist"), "champagne problems" ("Sometimes you just don't know the answer/'Til someone's on their knees and asks you"), "cowboy like me" ("Perched in the dark/Telling all the rich folks anything they wanna hear/Like it could be love/I could be the way forward/Only if they pay for it"), "'tis the damn season" ("We could call it even/You could call me babe for the weekend/'Tis the damn season, write this down/I'm stayin' at my parents' house/And the road not taken looks real good now"), "ivy" ("Oh, goddamn/My pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand/Taking mine, but it's been promised to another/Oh, I can't/Stop you putting roots in my dreamland/My house of stone, your ivy grows/And now I'm covered in you").

Now every album she releases has its misses and its hits. I don't love "Lover" that much bc it's a bit too happy poppy for me, though the song "Lover" itself tells a very palpable feeling. Other songs I like are "All Too Well" ("And you call me up again just to break me like a promise/So casually cruel in the name of being honest"), "Dear John" ("Long were the nights when/My days once revolved around you/Counting my footsteps/Praying the floor won't fall through again"), "Back to December" ("It turns out freedom ain't nothin' but missin' you/Wishin' I'd realized what I had when you were mine"), "The Story of Us" ("I'd tell you I miss you, but I don't know how/I never heard silence quite this loud"), "Clean" ("Ten months sober, I must admit/Just because you're clean don't mean you don't miss it"), "Begin Again" ("And you throw your head back laughing like a little kid/I think it's strange that you think I'm funny 'cause he never did"), "Don't Blame Me" ("Don't blame me, love made me crazy/If it doesn't, you ain't doin' it right/Lord, save me, my drug is my baby/I'll be usin' for the rest of my life"), "Delicate" ("We can't make any promises/Now can we, babe?/But you can make me a drink").

Now many people have been dissing the latest album's cringey lyrics for a while, and while I hate them too (god the vigilante one is such a skip its unreal), i actually like some songs with cringey lyrics. "Anti-hero" really grew on me bc it's Taylor self-analising and talking about how she is her own worst critic, which is something we all experience, and I think she made it in a fun self-deprecating way in the song that still delivers the message. other songs in the album which i love and dont have those kinds of cringe lines are "you're on your own, kid" ("'Cause there were pages turned with the bridges burned/Everything you lose is a step you take"), "Lavander Haze" ("The only kind of girl they see (only kind of girl they see)/Is a one-night or a wife"), "High Infidelity" ("Do you really want to know where I was April 29th?/Do I really have to chart the constellations in his eyes?"), "Would've, Could've, Should've" ("If I was some paint, did it splatter/On a promising grown man?/And if I was a child, did it matter/If you got to wash your hands?") (tbh I love all the lyrics in this song it's my fave atm).

Sorry for the long post! I really feel like Taylor's best lyrics are hidden away in her albums many times, but I do get how she gets called a good lyricist, because she is good at telling stories in them. I believe many people look at her stuff from a biased perspective most of the time bc of the way the media has portrayed her in part, and also bc she got a lot of hate from misogynists when she was young and it stayed around as mindless hate/disregard. She isnt the greatest ever but she's earned her reputation as a lyricist imo.

[zakkorama]

"But Daddy I Love Him!" Is Taylor Swift's life retold as her breakout hit "Love Story"

The song opens with a single guitar tuning, then silence then delicately finger-picking.

This is Debut/Fearless. Every verse is an era.

It progresses to Speak Now/Red, then we get to the chorus and 1989's giant crunchy synths arrive.

Then she would rather burn her entire life down than cater to these vipers. What era could that be?

Erupt into Lover's glittering synths. Then down to the spare folklore/evermore. Even the storytelling changes to match every era.

Another big explosion into MIdnight's synths but all the eras are here. Antonoff's synths are losing their goddamned minds and a dude with a fiddle is going off.

We get vocal production riffs from "This Love" and "Wildest Dreams."

The outro is a victory lap and Taylor is having FUN.

This isn't about a guy. It's about 14 years of Taylor Swift's life sonically and lyrically evolving. If you have to make it about a guy, just say "all of them" because Taylor is the only player that matters here.

What if "But Daddy I Love Him!" is, sonically, lyrically, structurally, the best thing Taylor Swift has ever done?

What if "But Daddy I Love Him!" is, sonically, lyrically, structurally, the best pop song ever written?

I randomly remember she is going to perform this live and I forget to breathe for a minute.

[silent-partner-412]

Two of my big interests at the moment intersected in a not so great way recently on Twitter and I want to talk about it.

So, I was on a plane the other day and I decided to bring along the book One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston to read on the plane. I read this author’s last book Red, White, And Royal Blue when I was in high school, and I loved it! It’s remained one of my favorite books since then and I’ve been meaning to read their next one ever since then. So, I read One Last Stop on the plane and over the course of the next handful of days, and I finally finished it two nights ago, and it was absolutely goddamn delightful. The story was interesting and creative, the two main girls were charming and fun and had great chemistry, it was every bit as good of a romance as RWRB, and it also had elements of found family, finding your place in the world, and even mystery that I loved. It was also very queer in the best way, the whole goddamn LGBT acronym was represented and they were all weird and cool and the kinda people I try to surround myself with in my own life. Just a wonderful book and I’m still thinking about it even now.

Coincidentally, the movie for RWRB came out on Friday and everybody’s talking about it. I also watched it and loved it, it was a bit corny but I think that was on purpose, and the main actors had great chemistry and were more or less how I imagined them to be in the book. This is important, cuz now suddenly Casey McQuiston is in the public eye cuz everybody is talking about this movie that their book was based on.

Here’s the thing, and this might seem unrelated but it certainly was to me. Apparently, a lot of Swifties have been using Taylor Swift songs to make edits of the main boys in the RWRB movie. Which like, yeah, that makes sense. The movie was very romantic, Taylor has a lot of romantic songs, all is well and good here, I have no issues with any of that. The author was also posting a bunch of cute little playlists of songs to represent the RWRB boys, and Taylor Swift was one of the artists included, in addition to Carly Rae Jepsen, boygenius, The National, and a few others. I see this and think huh, they’re also a fan it seems! That’s cool and I like that. I even listened to the Taylor Swift playlist and I thought that a decent amount of thought went into which songs represented the boys in the movie. Love love love, all is fine and good here.

So, turns out, some Twitter Swifties hate Casey McQuiston for posting all kinds of mean tweets about Taylor Swift years ago. It was stuff ranging from just petty “she’s everywhere and I can’t stand that” to “she’s probably a Trump supporter” to apparently mocking her sexual assault trial in 2018. And, to give some credit, yeah, these were all pretty nasty things to tweet! As a fan of Taylor Swift, I really don’t condone anything that Casey tweeted about her, and I truly wish they hadn’t tweeted those tweets cuz it just makes them look pretty bad, especially in hindsight.

Here’s the thing though. None of the tweets shown dated past 2017. The sexual assault trial was in 2018. A lot of people who were previously not into Taylor Swift changed their minds about her recently thanks to albums like Folklore and Evermore and also just generally realizing she’s awesome and always has been awesome. I truly don’t think it’s unrealistic to imagine an author like Casey changing their opinion over the course of five years, especially the five years in particular between 2018 and 2023. Of course, to that a lot of Swifties say they could just be chasing clout, but there’s literally no way to prove that unless you literally scan Casey’s fucking brain, so I’m really not convinced by this argument.

This whole thing is just exhausting to me, and is everything wrong with the culture of online Swifties in my opinion. Taylor Swift is not only a grown ass woman, but she’s also probably one of the most powerful woman in the goddamn world. She does not need your defending from a random author who you probably didn’t even know about until a couple days ago at most. Also, this author is non binary and writes high quality, very queer stories with representation all across the board, and I think it’s kind of a bad look for fans of incredibly straight and white Taylor Swift to be going after this author for tweets from five years ago at the latest. I get that it’s frustrating seeing people discredit Taylor for unjustified reasons, but also she’s bigger and cooler now than she ever has been. She doesn’t need your defending!

The saddest part about all this? I was on a plane reading One Last Stop in the first place because I was flying to LA to attend the Era’s tour. And every Swiftie I met there was unbelievably nice and kind, one of the most inviting and accepting crowds I’ve ever experienced in live music. It’s so disappointing to see that energy can’t be extended online.

[nagdabbit]

What season of Dimension 20 should a noob start with I want to understand what the FUCK you're talking about

oooooooo yes, welcome, come on in, were all fucking weird here!

get ready to have Extreme Feelings about one (1) loud, white man

but also, you can kinda start wherever you want? i haven't even watch every single season, anyway. here's the seasons, out of airing order, probably

fantasy high - the original, the og. teens in fantasy high school, having hijinks and saving the world. honestly, if there's like an established place to start, this is it. there's a second season, and a couple of live shows that are so fucking fun. griffin mcelroy's live ep is fucking WILD, i love ficus

pirates of leviathan - fantasy high adjacent, post fh season 2. i didn't actually finish this one. i dont remember why. i dont super have a strong attachment to fh season 2, so the setting for this one just didn't interest me, but it's pirates having hijinks on a floating pirate city

unsleeping city 1 & 2 - urban fantasy weirdness, urban fantasy fun times. the magical world that lives beneath and alongside the new york we all know. like fables, maybe, but more fantasy archetypes than folklore. really fun, really enjoyable, i have no memory of season two but i know i watched it

the seven - another fh spinoff, but a little more tied into the first season. a fantasy party of all the people they spent season one trying to save. it is SO FUCKING FUNNY, and SO FUCKING GAMEPLAY CRUNCHY, and I CRIED SO FUCKING HARD. need some emotional healing? exquisite. i miiiight suggest watching fh first, just to understand who they are, but also you don't *need* to

tiny heist - borrowers and fairies and thug bugs and living toys, trying to run a heist. so goddamn fun. highly, highly recommend. i love a fuckin heist. its the mcelroy family season, so if you like them you can look forward to that. just mcelroy is just. he's fucking batshit.

a crown of candy - game of thrones ass campaign, but the characters and kingdoms are all based on the different food groups. for real and honest, this season didn't hit me and i didn't finish it. but i do enjoy compilations of it on youtube

the ravening war - crown of candy spin off. i also didn't watch this at all, but it has cr's matt mercer as the guest gm, and im sure he's a great guy and all, but i just don't vibe with his dm style. deffo the least amount of levity of all the seasons, i think

mice & murder - a sherlock holmes, agatha christie ass murder mystery where everyone is in the house trying to solve the murder. also everyone is woodland creatures. another highly recommend if you're into murder mysteries like that

escape from the bloodkeep - what if lotr was told from the baddies pov. it's so stupid, so silly, so much fun. highly recommend

shriek week - monsters on their final week of college. despite my love of guest gm, gabe hicks, this season just Did Not Hit Me. not even ify nwadiwe could hold me

misfits and magic - hogwarts ass magic school for little wizards, but without the transphobia and racism. need some kids upsetting an unjust society based on classism? this for you. so, so good! guest gm aabria iyengar, she fucking knocks it out of the park. there's also a christmas episodes and a live show with a different cast

a starstruck odyssey - did you know that brennan lee mulligans mom elaine wrote the comic starstruck? this season is based on the comic and its very fucking fun! scifi shenanigans out the ass

neverafter - horror themed season, about macabre fairytale characters and the enduring nature of stories. it took me a bit to get into this season, but it's so good! you gotta like horror, tho. that's important to remember. it's a dark season

coffin run - draculas followers try to get an injured dracula back to the castle before his enemies catch up. sooooooo so so fucking funny, one of my favorite seasons. guest gm jasmine bhullar kills it. absolutely unfuckinghinged season

a court of fey and flowers - EASILY my favorite, second favorite season. aabria is back, the fey are having a party, someone is trying to do something terrible, they need to navigate jane austen era ass court politics to figure it out. so, so fucking stupid and fun

dungeons & drag queens - i havent finished this season, cuz i got Depressed As Shit earlier this year and just couldn't, but im about to jump back in. honestly, the plot doesn't matter, it's monet x change, alaska thunderfuck, jujubee and bob the drag queen. do you need to know anything else? no, you don't

mentopolis - the current season. a good place to start it you don't want to binge anything, as only one episode is out. it's a noir detective mystery taking place within the brain of a scientist and is already climbing the ranks of my favorite seasons

godspeed, you little nerd. go forth and have fun

[penname-artist]

Excuse me while I vomit fantasy AU plans I can literally never commit to because [redacted redacted redacted redacted re]

Living in a world overrun with fantasy creatures, but that's just normal. There's no clear segregation and there's no clear war of discrimination (yet or that we know of) but there just. Are creatures. Everywhere. Support your local centaur blacksmith today.

(No but seriously I am fucking wholistically obsessed with centaurs and if given the chance I will run rampant with them, don't bring them near me I WILL start gnawing on horse person AU plans specifically-)

Modern fantasy??? Like we still have royalty and knights and castles and shit but ALSO it's the 21st century and nobody goes to war anymore this is all just for pagentry because the internet loves aesthetics (and the royal family is usually just a bunch of fame-hungry streamers, let's be honest with ourselves)

Nick. As royalty. Fucking sends me. Fuck you I will have my foolish horny rich prince however I want. He spends all day thinking about how pretty he is, he has no alternative thoughts, except maybe looking at other pretty people and going "I would fuck that" or "I would let that fuck me" etc etc

WORLD OF CARS ROYALTY AU THOUGH????????? LIKE- a royal family made up of helicopters. Castles designed for all manor of vehicles. Shipyards and harbors become commonplace for large gatherings. Fancy clothing translated as detailed liveries. VEHICLE KNIGHTS. WHY ARE WE FUCKING SLEEPING ON THIS IDEA GUYS, WE COULD RULE THE WORLD WITH THIS SHIT

Magic is very fun, imo, and we need more of it. But not like more normal magic, I want like cool weird magic. I want magic rules that haven't been used a hundred million times over. Maybe some people can wander through wormholes. Maybe some people can, idk. Burn bread. I'm rambling but the point is magic

Apollo totally needs to be a naga / snake person in a fantasy AU at all times. He would have some Kaa or Cheshire Cat vibes (let's not connect the dots to that with some of the fics I've written in the past) but also he would just be extremely sassy and fashionable like that.

Help I accidentally made a whole folklore story about two gods that exist and rule (indirectly) over a fantasy realm and now this idea lives in my head rent free and I literally can't get it out. Every time I grab it Nick goes "think again bitch!" and starts skipping around and laughing evilly while evading my every attempt to WordsTM

Funny story I've attempted to tie together a WoC universe fantasy AU THREE TIMES NOW and - again - it lives in my head rent-free and evading authorities. I will smite this bastard, you watch. it's going to happen. I will force it to sit in a chair and exist to spite itself.

Other combo-deal AUs I have slept on if not slightly dabbled with: royalty AU but they're mermaids and shit; royalty AU but they're bird people and shit; royalty AU but it's an excuse to write another sappy Blade/Nick story because fuck you I said so and shit

Windlifter being royalty also but in secret but also we kinda always knew (it's totally canon you guys)

I will not be questioned on this, Cabbie is a goddamn centaur, period. No refunds. He grumpy he sleppy HE TAKE BIG STEPPY. (excuse for the Smokejumpers to ride in a wagon behind him and do The Skyrim BitTM on the regular) Also Dipper because...because.

Dusty gives me "normal guy on the surface, absolutely cursed monster demon spawn entity trying to be silenced" vibes

Maru = Eda the Owl Lady. Fuck your society I will be a witch however I please!!

Hi do you accept pirates because that guy in the grey with the 81 over there, yeah that's a pirate now and he's supposed to be getting his own Our Flag Means Death crossover ONE OF THESE FUCKING DAYS

I don't care what Blade is as long as it's aesthetically pleasing. A king, a prince, a knight in shining armor, an outcast sorcerer, a cursed deity, literally a plot device I DON'T CARE MAKE HIM LOOK SEXY IN ARMOR AND WE'RE GOOD

I think I'm done for now thank you for listening to my rant, these will never be finished unless they are when I stop psyching myself out of doing it because it's always a big project, have a good one

[jabberwockprince]

unfiltered re1999 oc rambles and train of thought under the cut because i need to sort out my brain for a second!

inhales

venison's theme is cannibalism (bones, flesh) and deer/stag, the shocking effect of having a herbivore eat meat -> prey becomes predator -> cute thing is scary now, simplified

i made them specifically to parallel pavia in many aspects, so they do share themes certain themes while also being on entirely opposite ends, especially when it comes to freedom/individuality - what with pavia being a lone wolf and an individual who rejects society and lives outside of it, while venison is a very codependent and social individual who will gladly allow others to use them in exchange of that feeling of "belonging". and the two are still hypocrites, because wolves live in close tight knit packs, theres no real lone wolves. and venison ultimately lives for their own selfish whims, because being codependent is just a means to an end, and arent as subservient and submissive as they paint themself

then theres the subject of venison's historical themes

their undimo is a white, glowing and magical stag made out of bones which is based on the lampong - a creature from filipino myths and folklore, a dwarf shepherd that is said to protect other deer by turning into one

the psychube assigned specifically to them is called "the stag hunt" which alludes to that one painting - the stag hunt of frederick iii, elector of saxony by lucas cranach. which is just a fun connection to venison's backstory, but has no fucking ties whatsoever with frederick iii nor lucas cranach. so hm. hmmmm. tying themes of religious imagery and blind devotion through frederick iii's might be a reach. unsure. UNCLEAR. gotta look into it later

the psychube is also just called "Stag Hunt" which instead alludes to the trust dilemma by the same name, two hunters must choose between hunting down a hare or a stag, independently and without knowing the other's choice. but to hunt down a stag they must do it together. so its like the prisoners dilemma but in the stag hunt someone always ends up winning regardless of the combination of choices. something something, venison's opportunistic (and parasitic) behaviour and that same vibe that junko enoshima and jobu tupaki had going on of always, always coming out on top no matter what even if they're the ones suffering bc the end goal was always suffering

venison is also a mineral arcanist bc mineral arcanists seem to be aligned with. themes of death? cristallo, obvious deteriorating health. bette, metaphorical death of the self since she's treated as a cheap replacement within the industry. eternity, she just. doesnt die, doomed to be eternal. horrorpedia, death and horror, obviously. mondlicht, her whole village is in constant danger of dying bc of wolves, kids are raised as hunters. ms moissan's life being affected by war ("but what about click then? click is a spirit arcanist by virtue of being a DEAD GHOST GUY, bc supernatural themes and stuff being the ticket to spirit arcanists). necrologist. yeah pretty obvious.

but thats also just a superficial observation bc i havent dissected afflatus influence yet. mineral arcanum could be something related to being stagnant, stuck, an inmovable object. things that are assured, sure as death. it would align better with some characters like sonetto too

still, venison's connection to being a mineral arcanists, within this context and with this current explanation, is easy bc they're - at heart - a scavenger animal, they thrive in death and are surrounded by it. the association of cannibalism = love and protection and care in their brain means that they're constantly trying to prove or show their love thru violence, they eat those they love bc nothing will bring people closer than death and digestion, basically

but venison is also a goddamn awful person with a very unstable and volatile mind, so this association has just become an excuse to justify their cannibalism. this is why they "fall in love" with all of their targets, why they write love letters and why theyre so delusional, creating one-sided relationships that they fully believe in

OK OK OK BRAIN IS WORKING AGAIN I CAN WORK PROPERLY

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More success that she deserves

I got back from university today. It was crazy and a lot of negative emotions (no details necessary). I found a new kind of way to cope though. I mean I have always just loved listening to music, my mother says I have “an eclectic taste,” which I think she means as a positive. Right now I’m just listening to Taylor’s songs on repeat though. She is honestly the best artist for me to listen to because she has such amazing range. She does all types of genres so I can be crazy dancing to 22 from Red or Shake it off from 1989, and then go to listening to folklore. It’s crazy. But I love it 1000%. I was just binge watching her music videos because they make me smile :) Also, I dance in my chair like a crazy person which other people would probably think is weird but I just find it fun. She is basically everywhere right now because of her Eras Tour, which has to be the biggest tour she has ever done, I mean she is doing songs from each Taylor Swift era, every album. She really never stops working, it is very admirable. I think this a lot when I see that she puts out albums with like 23 songs on compared to albums by other artists e.g. Beyonce, who put out 13 songs. She really did not need to be working that hard and making 10 more songs. It really is insane how dedicated she is, but we are grateful. She also puts in more work with the music videos and easter eggs! I mean she literally types up documents of everything she wants to put in that may help fans figure things out about what she is going to do next, that takes a ton of work too. This girl must never stop, or sleep. She honestly deserves all the fame and success in the world for how much effort she goes to for her fans. Even though she already has reached such a large number of people, she needs more, because there are so many people out there that really deserve to hear her music. Most people know songs like Shake it off and 22 and I knew you were trouble, because they are really iconic and timeless and were hugely massive hits. But she has so many goddamn songs that were also hits that too many people don’t know. They need to know!!!