#I heard we were making propoganda

[bakery-anon]

GUYS PLEASE.

i KNOW i'm not like "obligated" to read my moots' works BUT I PROMISE I'M CATCHING UP SOON I'M SO SORRY!! i have no energy whatsoever BUT i do have this single night to write and i'm feeling a little creative so i'll be cooking!! in the meantime, i was going to link this as a little teaser and then post the poll tomorrow but i thought i'd do both today as an apology :)) the link is to this mystery fic playlist!! (still in the works, i'm trying to figure out what the vibe of this fic is, but i'm definitely in love with like the first several songs and they are there to stay!!) and here is the poll <3 tagging my special people whose opinions are highly valued!!! (BECAUSE THESE ARE THEIR FAVS) and their votes i think i will count as double points!! -> @afyrian @guitarstringed-scars @bakery-anon. i'm assuming wyr and bug are voting for samu and mo is voting for kuroo BUT LMK PLEASE COMMENT IF I'M WRONG SO I CAN ADD THE DOUBLE VOTES TO THE RIGHT ONE

[kirislovelygf]

new haircut (sevika x fem! reader)

contents: you and sevika are married, takes place between acts 1-2 (season 2), you give sevika a haircut, found family trope with jinx & isha :(( fun family time :D

wrd count: 1.3k

⍣ ೋ

things have been crazy in the lanes for the past new months. i haven’t seen this many enforcers on our streets since.. actually i've never see this many.

ever since those noxians came and paid topside a visit, that kiraman girl had been on a serious power trip.

she became some kind of dictator down here and now she’s got her men flooding the streets. beating on people, putting up weord propoganda all over the city, arresting good men and women..

all in search for jinx. they're promising bullshit to anyone who turns over jinx to theauthorities but no one down here is dumb enough to do that.

sevika’s been trying to rally the undercity together for some kind of uprising but i’ve been helping jinx keep a low profile.

she’s never been good a laying low.

we’ve mostly spent these days playing in the hideout, taking naps all day, stuff like that. it’s more fun with her new little friend isha.

i’m not sure where she came from, but sevika told me she just.. fell from the sky basically. and just followed jinx around from then on.

the three of us were hanging out one night. i was playing around with my makeup on isha, who’s been begging me to use it on her.

“not too much, she’s still little.” jinx said as she was fixing a new gadget of hers at her desk.

“where you think she’s going? out to party? have some drinks? it’s just for fun.” i chuckled, raising my brush to isha’s eyes.

“close your eyes, sweetie.” i instructed. she did so with a cheeky smile. i smiled at her giddy fingers tapping the metal floor in excitement.

“we’re gonna do some glittery pink… it’ll look super pretty.” i told her.

as i continued, i heard the stomping of boots toward us.

i look over at sevika, home from another day of work.

“hi, vika.” i smiled.

“we doin’ makeovers?” she said jokingly as she walked over.

“yeah, she’s been crying for one for days.” i said. isha whines and hits my knee, making me laugh.

i look up at sevika staring at herself in the cracked mirror. she’s looking at the sides of her head and feeling the back of her head.

“what? realizing you woke up uglier than yesterday? i bet if your ask, she’ll give you your own makeover.” jinx giggled.

sevika stayed quiet before looking over at me.

“you think you can help me with something?” she asks.

“what is it?” i asked, looking for some lip gloss for isha.

“i’m not loving my hair.. it’s hard to tie it up with one arm.”

“what? i love your hair, vika. and i don’t mind doin’ it for you, i’ve said so already.” i said to her.

she chuckled. “it’s not just that. i’d like it better shorter.” she says, glancing at herself again.

jinx looks up and gasps. “can i cut it?”

“no.”

“you want it cut! you just said-“

“not by you.” she grumbled. jinx scoffs.

“i’m great tdoing hair. you think i sleep in these? every night..” she says, holding up one of her blue braids.

"and? you haven't cut your hair since you were a kid. that's literally baby hair-" sevika argued.

“it’s okay, i’ll help.. but i still think you should leave it as is.” i sighed.

“thanks. cause there’s no way i’m letting her near my head with scissors.” she said.

“no haircut is gonna make you look less like a grumpy troll under a bridge... just sayin.” jinx said before putting her goggles back on.

“hey. that’s my wife.” i snapped.

jinx mocks me before going back to fixing her gadget.

i put a bit of gloss in isha before i told her she was done and she jumped up to look at herself.

sevika laughed as isha tried jumping up to see her reflection but couldn’t reach.

she picked her up and set her on her leg so she could see herself. she smiled widely in admiration of herself.

i stand up. “okay.. now, where are the scissors?” i sighed out.

jinx giggled menacingly before going to a drawer and pulling out these sharp, deadly knives attached to each other.

isha gasps.

“oh hell no..” sevika grumbled.

“are you trying to behead her?” i laughed.

“they’re all i got.” jinx shrugged, holding them up with both hands.

i stare at her before she sighs, throwing the giant scissors aside and finding appropriately sized scissors in a drawer.

“thank you.” i said. i look at isha. “you gonna help me, kid?”

she shakes her head “no” and jumps down. i laughed softly before looking at sevika’s reflection.

i sighed out. “okay… are you sure?” i asked her.

“yeah.” she sighed out.

“hm..” i took out the hair tie from her hair and let her hair fall to the sides of her face.

“uh… okay.. jinx, come here, i don’t know shit about cutting hair.” i said.

“no!” sevika protested. i slapped her shoulder.

“stop being a baby! damn! i’m just gonna have her tell me what to do.”

sevika huffs in relief as jinx walks over to us.

“okay.. let’s see… what’s the vision? what’ll make you wanna fall in love with her all over again?” she asks me.

i shrugged. “i love her like this.” i patted my hand on her head. she looks at me with a bored face.

“okay nevermind, bitch. fuck you.” i snapped. she laughs.

jinx hums in thought. “okay.. i got it. we’re gonna go short in the back, long in the front. sound good?” she says.

“i don’t know.. are you sure?” sevika asked.

“yes, just trust me. jeez..” jinx grumbled. i laughed as sevika was getting visibly nervous.

jinx guided me to cut off sevika’s hair in a way that so that it doesn’t look like a chopped mess.

i cut off the last of hair before jinx found a razor to use.

“whoa, hey, im not tryin’ for no buzzcut.” she protested.

“it’s just for the sides, you crybaby.” jinx said. she puts it in my hand.

“i don’t know how you put up with her.” she says. i laughed. sevika grumbled.

“it was funny.” i snapped.

“anyway, just relax, baby. it doesn’t look that bad.” i said to her.

we lightly shaved the hair on her sides before i finally finished.

“okay.. let me see.” she turned to face us with her new look.

“see? not that bad. you look... less terrible.” jinx said.

“yeah, not that bad.” i nodded.

i was lying, i was so wet, holy shit. sevika looked so good with her new hair.

the bangs falling on her eyes, her neck looking clean, ugh i needed her:

she checks herself out in the mirror and isha gives her a thumbs up.

“it’s.. good. thanks.” she nodded.

i took a quick breath before looking at jinx.

“alright, well, we gotta get home.” i smiled.

“already? it’s like.. 7. you don’t usually get outta here till late.” jinx said, glancing at her junky clock on her desk.

“yeah, i’m not tryin’ to run into any enforcers talkin’ about some “curfew.” i'm a grown ass woman, i'll go home when i want." i chuckled, lying about my intentions.

she scoffs. “i get it. see ya.” she waved at us as isha did the same, but more enthusiastically.

she signs “thank you for the makeup.” and i sign back “you’re welcome.” before waving to her.

i took sevika’s hand and dragged her out of the hideout.

“you’re in a rush.” she laughed as we walked onto the street.

i pushed her into an alley and pulled her neck down to kiss her. she kissed me back in surprise but leaned into it when my hands slid up her neck and into her freshly shaven hair.

“i’m so sorry i said anything before about not cutting it. you look so fucking good-“

“yeah?”

before she continued, i kissed her again, this time, she laughed softly against my lips.

i couldn’t stop staring at her the whole way home. we’ve been married for like two years and i feel like i’m crushing on her all over again.

i spent the night our my room letting her know just how good i thought she looked.

⍣ ೋ

a/n: her bob in s2 is so RARARGDHJBGIDWODHNPIDOBUO

[milgram-tournament]

MILGRAM Best Song Tournament, Round 1, Match 2 BRING IT ON vs. AFTER PAIN

Propaganda for both options under the cut!

Propaganda for BRING IT ON:

"Reasons why Bring it On should win:

- Just by starting the song, the instrumentals are BANGER. Like his more rock style is very cool, even better than After Pain’s more mellow style - Arthur’s voice (Futa’s va) had bills due because have you HEARD his singing?? His raspier voice fits Futa so well - It feels so explosive and like a call to action in a sense, which very much matches Futa’s mentality during trial 1. He also wasn’t playing victim like a CERTAIN girl… (jk, love you mu!) - SAA HAJIMEYOU USOTSUKI KARIDA - UNDEAD HEROOOI YES SLAY KING HIS HIGH NOTE HERE IS HEAVENLY - His scream at the end. Oh my god. HE LITERALLY ATE THIS NOTE. AFTER PAIN COULD NEVER. BRING IT ON FTW 🔥🔥🔥" - His range goes WAAAAAY higher than Mu. She would end up like PHG if she even tried hitting any of his high notes in the last chorus /j

---

- The vocals are amazing, those growls are so well done - You’re able to get Fuuta’s crime and motive pretty succinctly, only based on the visuals - But it still leaves a lot up to interpretation, like how he only attacked once in the final fight scene. It lead to some cool theories. - On that note, the game aspects are so cool!! Especially when paired with him going after people online, just good synergy with awesome style! - Fuuta’s scared face after he realizes what he did. The great contrast of other foes simply being knocked out then being met with blood splatter. - The tempo of the song changing with his mood is a really good touch as well. Make the song more chaotic which highlights his character traits well

---

"propaganda for bring it on: the music FUCKS it genuinely slaps so hard listening to it. song style is incredible its perfect for fuutas personality and gamer vibes. also the way the mv frames everything as a game? the only time real blood and real gore happens being when killcheroy dies? the little details of all the usernames, the different monster designs, the generally distorted feel of everything being too lighthearted?

okay i could go on about the mv for hours but lets not. aside from that: the FEEL of the song!!! the vocals!!!! it really feels like fuuta putting his whole heart into it, into this point of view that both blows problems out of proportion and minimises them, and DEEPLY fucking up. my darling little hypocrite gamer boy twitter user. he makes his witch hunt genuinely sound like something that could sweep people up into it. also the instruments goddddd. the guitar and synth the bass and the drums the DRUMS. im relistening to it to write this propaganda and it keeps making me headbang when i should be writing. if you arent headbanging to bring it on you are LYING.

the way the lyrics are written is wonderful too!!!! they feel so brash and brave and powerful and like. cocky about it. and it fits PERFECTLY. its gets someone swept up into it and it FUCKS. vote bring it on im serious. lets go!! a victory march!! dan da dan!!"

Propaganda for AFTER PAIN:

"so here is why people should vote for AFTER PAIN !!"

Muu's vocals. Need I say more?

The bridge to it is absolutely wonderfully done, the way she softens her vocals to an almost creepy point is incredible

during the final chorus you can hear the desperation in her voice and it’s very well portrayed

The coloring in this music video were phenomenal

The overlapping vocals at the end of the song just have a really really nice effect

Its just a pure banger

In some parts of the song there’s the sound of a clock ticking in the background used as a sort of beatline… GENIUS??

Its just a banger

even with what we found out about Muu in her second trial, After Pain on its own portrayed bullying in a very realisitc and artistic way (from someone who deals with it regularly)

---

"After pain propoganda: She just girlbossed too close to the sun and happened to be holding a knife at the time"

---

"Gosh everything about After Pain... How can you NOT like it? It's literally such a good song and is very singable. The instrumentation is absolutely amazing and I've listened to it on loop so much."

[nappingpaperclip]

“People who tell you not to vote Biden are psyops trying to steal left votes” type posts are pro-government propoganda.

Last time y’all spread that bullshit around the blogs getting deleted for being “Russian spies” were black leftists.

NOT EVERYONE WHO DISAGREES WITH YOU IS A PSYOP. Get real!!

Not everyone who criticizes Biden or says they won’t be voting for a genocider and that you shouldn’t either wants you to vote for Trump or not vote!! Third party candidates exist!!! Write ins exist!!! If we actually organized instead of y’all pulling the “lesser evil” bs about a GENOCIDAL RACIST RAPIST OLD MAN we might actually see some fuckin progress!!

Did y’all forget Biden is a rapist?????

Btw is the “left” in the room with us? Where is the left? Where is the progress y’all keep claiming Biden is making?

Last time I checked Biden has not let those kids out of cages, has personally approved more huge pipelines that run through Indigenous lands and speed up climate change, has ex-BlackRock leaders (yknow, the top 10 climate change villains company who also funds most American private prisons as well as funding arms manufacturing companies, who spend millions lobbying politicians on environmental regulations, immigration and drug policy) in his cabinet, increased police and military budget, didn’t codify Roe v Wade, in fact he held it hostage for votes, hasn’t codified gay marriage or trans rights, hasn’t legalized marijuana, hasn’t raised the federal minimum wage, oh and also is DOING GENOCIDE in case y’all forgot or wanna tiptoe around the “some bad policies” y’all always talk about

Did y’all forget about his “nothing will fundamentally change” policy?

Y’all heard that and thought “left”?? Babes he’s a right leaning centrist AT BEST.

There are actually left candidates btw! Ones who care about things like Landback and reparations and free healthcare and education and sustainability! The ones y’all are telling people are throwaway votes/votes for Trump!! (Which isn’t even how the electoral college works btw)

So us telling y’all not to vote for a genocider makes us Russian psyop spies but y’all telling us not to vote for leftist third party candidates doesn’t? K.

Vote for who you want, I don’t give a fuck anymore, BUT DONT TELL HIM HE STILL HAS YOUR UNCONDITIONAL SUPPORT WHILE HES COMMITTING GENOCIDE IF YOU ACTUALLY WANT HIM TO STOP

The only way to get a politician to stop doing WAR CRIMES is to tell them you won’t vote for them or give them money or otherwise support them until they stop!

You can fucking lie if you want!!! All we’re asking is for y’all not to publicly announce Genocide Joe still has your unconditional support WHILE HES DOING GENOCIDE

His approval ratings are literally less than Trumps!

He has no one to blame but himself.

If he loses in November, I don’t want to hear y’all bitch and moan and blame black people or disillusioned voters or third party voters or “Russian spies” again like y’all did in 2016, I don’t want to see y’all blame anyone but him, BLAME BIDEN FOR HIS OWN ACTIONS. HE IS A GROWN MAN AND HAS THE MONEY AND POWER TO STOP IT IF HE ACTUALLY WANTED TO.

Y’all keep saying he’s doing his best to stop it, that he’s working behind the scenes, that he’s trying, IF HES TRYING WHY ARE WE STILL SENDING ISRAEL MONEY?

IF HE IS TRYING, WHY DID HE SEND ISRAEL MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN SMALL PAYMENTS TO AVOID NOTIFYING CONGRESS?

IF HES TRYING WHY HAVE WE NOT SANCTIONED ISRAEL?

IF HES TRYING, WHY HAVE US SOLDIERS BEEN SEEN FIGHTING ALONGSIDE THE IDF?

IF HES TRYING WHY ARE WE SENDING EXPIRED MREs AS AID? EXPIRED FOOD DROPS THAT ARE NOT ENOUGH TO FEED MILLIONS OF STARVING PEOPLE, WITH FAULTY PARACHUTES THAT KILL CHILDREN?

IF HES TRYING, WHY DID WE BUILD A PORT CUTTING THE GAZA STRIP IN HALF, A PORT THAT NETANYAHU SAID WOULD BE USED TO DEPORT PALESTINIANS?

IF HES TRYING WHY DID HE SIGN OFF $14 BILLION FUCKING DOLLARS ON TOP OF THE ANNUAL CONTRACT AND SMALL SECRET PAYMENTS TO GO TOWARDS ISRAELS BOMBS AND GUNS AND FREE HEALTHCARE WHILE IGNORING THE PEOPLE HERE WHO NEED FOOD, HOUSES, AND HEALTHCARE???

DONT MAKE UP RUSSIAN SPIES TO POINT FINGERS AT! IF HE DOESNT WANT TO LOSE HE SHOULDNT DO GENOCIDE

IF GENOCIDE JOE LOSES THE ELECTION FUCKING BLAME HIM FOR DOING A GENOCIDE!!

[sunspira]

i actually wanna be clear that i know for sure that if i grew up jewish in 2010-2015 i would have been misguided in the same way a lot of tumblr was then not realizing how much propaganda about israel had been fed to me. the people who used to have a different perspective and used to believe in a lot of zionist propaganda, genuinely believing it made sense, but changed their minds due to recent events i love and respect you so much. it's really only the people on here who were parroting zionist propaganda back then but in recent months have only since doubled down and played the victim fuck you in particular

because it IS mixed in with the truth and the elements of truth combined with a lot of programming from well meaning people and encountering that your whole life actually is a genuinely confusing process because you have to unpack the valid points from the invalid ones which will take many years. like the kind of racism that is embraced in liberal spaces can be tricky for a very young adult especially when many neo nazis are vocally anti israel just for all the wrong reasons. so it seems like you're on the right side? when there's so much fact from fiction to break apart. (like true: jewish people wanting a homeland and refuge is very understandable (many other refuge diaspora living in america can relate to this), jewish people still have a lot of personal and cultural connection to their ancestral homeland that was once israel and it makes a lot of sense to want to visit or do a pilgrimage there or even move there. to palestine. to join palestine and become a citizen. it's true that antisemitism fueled zionism that religious & ethnic minority have been incredibly persecuted in both the middle east and europe and displaced. some jewish culture and art overlaps with palestinian culture on its own naturally due to common ancestors. and false: palestinian culture is interchangeable with jewish culture and any jewish person can grab from the art and culture of the modern levant like accessories cause it's yours now / your parents claimed it during their birthright trip so that's fine and not colonialism at all, mizrahi jewish peoples cultures are basically yours to play with. israel is exactly the same as the united states and the false idea that 400 years of colonialism and ethnic cleansing should be compared as exactly the same to 70 years of it and seen as equally unreasonable and a lost hope to change now so the only reason there's a push to prevent the same extent of genocide befalling palestine while we still can is antisemitism. everyone shut it and accept the two state solution.)

basically i'm saying i know for sure i was very ignorant on many things back then too and i'm sure i would have been in the same boat spreading zionist talking points without realizing how wrong i was. i'm sure i would have not understood the complexity of all this when this very effective propoganda would have been targeting my family and community for generations i wouldve heard so many reputable people in and out of the jewish community saying the two state solution is reasonable (i'm pretty sure i heard this a lot from gentile people i trusted and my parents have always been very clueless or middle ground unoppinionated about all things israel & Palestine. i always remember my mom meeting some shopkeepers running a bath and body boutique in martha's vineyard who said they were from israel and my mom was like "omg cool my dad was from lebanon 😄" all happy like oh! a neighbor. and they frowned at her so hard until she left the store jdjfjebf and my dad had to pull her aside and be like. don't go telling people that stuff if they are from israel they don't like lebanon very much. my dads family in NJ was always more involved with the local jewish community than any italian one because personality and profession wise i think that's just where they fit in and what the chemical and computer engineering scene looked like in the 50s 60s & 70s. i always got the impression the blue collar machismo italian american family was just a very alienating and poor match for my classically nerdy granpa and he found friends in other scenes that he could relate to. this guy was always mistaken for being jewish all his life and found it to be a compliment & just funny and was a member of a jewish gym or rec center or this and that, cause he liked it there and tbh i admire his embracing of others of whatever felt good and just focusing on being a person with lack of ethnic tribalism that runs pretty deep with many southern italian families. and white middle class gentile american discourse and propoganda is very pro israel so that was my family's relationship with it jewish or not. my lebanese grandpa was a proud veteran of world war 2 and very patriotic so if america was pro-israel that's how he was going to be too. all this to say i sure as hell didn't have any guidance growing up about israel being wrong if anything passive support of it and it took time to figure out my opposition to it on my own. at 18 i was still deeply ingrained in american propoganda and passive racism and patriotism in the midst of questioning and rejecting that stuff and grappling with seeing bad things in people i love so i don't expect my peers from the same or similar background to be any different)

so if you once had views supporting israel and don't anymore i don't dislike or judge you for it i really don't. some people might and i get that but like me personally I was nearly as clueless and have no place judging your for stuff i know would have mislead me at the time. i don't dislike or judge you for having gone on a birthright trip 10 years ago when you were 18 and everything you knew about the world was telling you that's completely fine and not harmful at all! i know i would have done the same.

[darthsarcom]

The use of nukes on Japan was horrible, and everything you've ever heard justifying the use is American propoganda.

America legitimately didn't think they had another option.

Both of these statements are true. Remember, propoganda isnt always lies.

A couple factual statements:

1. The projected military loses for JUST AMERICA for operation downfall was at the lowest, 220,000 men, much likely much higher.

2. America fully expected nearly every citizen to join the fight and then commit suicide when loosing. This was based off the invasion of Okinawa, where mothers drowned their children rather than be occupied by America (because Japan told them that America was going to do all the same shit that Japan itself did to their conquered people. Seriously the rape of Nanjing was more brutal than all but the most fucked up nazi experiments and we let them get away with it)

3. Japan was trying to negotiate peace, yes, and yes, America ignored it. But heres the thing. Japan was talking to America via the USSR, assuming them to be a neutral nation. The USSR didn't exactly convey Japans intentions super well to America, because Russia was betting on the war lasting as long as possible so they could do some land grabs of their own. Perhaps if Japan actually talked to America, or if after the Soviets poorly passed along the message America tried talking directly to them, then both the nuking and invasion could have been avoided.

4. Both cities were valid military targets, and ontop of that, American intelligence believed they were critical to the Japanese war effort. When truman later learned just how many civilians were actually present, he was shocked and horrified.

5. The bombs killed at most 300,000 people. Compared to the estimated total causalities for operation downfall, being tens of millions. More people were expected to die in operation downfall than the entire damn holocaust (including everyone who was killed not just the jews).

6. If we had invaded instead, we would be saying "why didn't we just bomb them it would have saved so much time and life." Today.

7. War is messy and few actions are ever truly justifiable. There was no good answer for ending the war. Every option on the table would have been remembered poorly by history. Operation downfall, the bombs, not invading and just doing a blockade, fucking off and just letting russia deal with it, none of these were good options.

8. There is zero lasting environmental radiation at both sites. This isn't fallout, nukes don't create permanent radiated areas. Well, they can, but they have to be designed that way. Littleboy and Fatman were not dirty bombs, and were an airburst. The only long lasting damage the radiation causes is damage done to people in the immediate aftermath. Wich is yes, horrible, but the background radiation in Hiroshima since a few years after the bombs has been aligned with the global average, same with Nagasaki.

I dont make this post to justify the use of nukes, and I hope another nuke never ever is detonated even in a test. I make this post because almost every time I see people criticizing the bombings, they make their arguments with the benefit of hindsight, and they make Japan out to be a poor victim being bullied by America. Japan was not innocent. They attacked before a state of warfare was even anounced, they committed brutal atrocities to civilians and POWs. God, fuck, look up comfort stations. Im not going to into detail here but just be warned it involves the sexual abuse of women. Actually, don't look it up. With the name of the thing combined with the warning I gave, you should be able to figure out what it was. They also did it to children. Btw Japan still denies all of it, and I have no idea why we let them.

[fairymint]

🎩👠🎤

🎩 - What would your muse wear to a formal event? Do they dress more modestly, or do they go all out?

Felix would normally go low-key; While there is an event where he's worn a nice dress once, he's still a comfy sweaters guy overall. Depends on the event and temperature; he will not let himself overheat or freeze, and actually wears somewhat 'skimpy' clothing often due to the former. Realistically, he should be on fire from T making his body build new shit.

Volo is that bitch that will wear fancy garments, though. Granted, he wouldn't be interested in formal parties of his time, only more modern day.

👠 - What kind of shoes does your muse usually wear? What is most comfortable for them in regards to footwear? Can your muse walk in high heels?

if it were feasible to wear slippers everywhere like in PLA, he would. But, Felix wears the most durable and comfortable a shoe that he can get away with; they gotta be all-terrain and not slip off. Ergo, almost no shoes are comfortable enough and need to come off at home. He can walk comfortably in high heels though! Not that he'd likely wear them besides boots, due to dysphoria or phobia.

Volo's a boots kind of guy, unless he's trying to be or is god- sandals of course. In the verse where he succeeds, those sandals become high-heeled platforms just for the show of it- man turns very femme once becoming omnipresent.

🎤 - Can your muse sing well? Do they sing often? If they were to stand up in front of a crowd, would they be able to sing in front of all of those people?

Felix is shy, but I reiterate that he's a good singer. I'm too shy to say this with my chest, but i have to, because it's a myth that T ruins a tran guy's singing voice. for fuck's sake i have actually heard this, and it's not true. You don't lose any vocal training that you have, and you're temporarily dealing with puberty voice; but yes there will be cracks and weird days. It does take a few years to iron out, but you'll be overwhelmed by all the changes at this point anyways. We don't shame teenage cis boys so i don't know where this notion comes from, probably goddamn terf propoganda.

Anyways, he is simply relearning how to sing in a male voice. The muscle memory isn't there, but he's had vocal training all throughout school. He'll be fine, even if it sounds funny on occasion and cracks or screeches.

and, well, I'm just a music lover so my muses can all sing at least decently!

[tetsunabouquet]

Part 1: The historical explanation behind my upcoming worries

December is here, and as some of you might have already known, Geert Wilders (who some of you know as the Dutch Trump) has won our elections. Now, to anyone who wonders what that has to do with December, let me explain one of our holidays to you and the recent political circus surrounding it. Perhaps some of you might have heard of the holiday 'Sinterklaas'. Some people, to this day, think this is a part of Dutch Christmas celebrations but it's an entirely seperate holiday that during the colonial period got confused with Christmas and Krampus legends by English speakers because it has some similarities to those and American Christmas is actually a bastardization of Christmas and Sinterklaas. The naughty list, saint Nicholas, that's all Sinterklaas. Now, why this is controversial has to do with his servants, de zwarte Pieten (black Petes). A quick Google would show you the MODERN version, is blackface and BLM made a documentary about it. The keyword over here, is modern, because whilst the BLM claims we only started doing this since the colonial period to mock black people, that is a blatant lie. There's an entire history surrounding it that has nothing to do with black people, but the black painted skin rebranded into a blackface concept. Because Germanic tribes were less prone to write their stuff down unlike the Romans and pass it on verbally, we don't know the full details about the original tradition, but we do know some things. For one, the blackface? Actually stems from black warpaint. Look up Heilung, they are a band inspired by both Viking as well as Germanic history, wear actually historical garments and their make-up is actually accurate unlike those cringy people on TikTok who've seen American viking shows. Heilung actually often has the male band members do the original black warpaint so you can see for yourself that the original look had nothing to do with blackface. Perhaps some of you might now be confused how a holiday involving warpaint became the children's magic we know today. Any of my followers who are following me for my Shadowhunter content, are familiar with the Wild Hunt. In the Shadowhunter novels they are a band of wild Faeries, in Germanic folklore, they were the souls of those who died an unnatural/violent death who continued to wage war on the enemy after death. Its important to note that to the Germanic tribes, the Wild Hunt were either led by Wodan (Odin is his counterpart in Nordic mytholoy) who Sinterklaas was adopted after, or Holda, the mother of nature who was also our goddess of death because the Germanic people understood life and death to be a fundemental aspect of nature itself. Her Nordic counterpart is Frigg, the fairytale Frau Holle is inspired by her legend and there's also a Sinterklaas tradition that refers to older aspects of the tradition and asking her for a good harvest (23 December to January 5 was her sacred period). Long story short: It seemed like a mix of the Celtic Imbolc & Dias De Los Muertos. Which is why Saint Nicholas was probably chosen as the patron saint of the Christianized version. He's a mythical saint (the Church acknowledged they made him up), who supposedly had ressurected a dead child. See the common theme of unnatural death? It was easy to parade him around like Christianized Wodan, and the black warpaint was reframed to be about sin, and Sinterklaas' helpers used to be boogeymen scaring bad children into behaving well. Now, like I said in my earlier post about the Church, they had propoganda saying black people had their skin color because they were supposedly the descendants of Kain, and if you take into account how most Dutch citizens had never actually seen a black person before as we kept our slaves in colonies only, black people had a certain mystical element at the time. When science became more of a thing and skepticism started kicking in, black people seemed to be the perfect rebranding to the less believable boogeymen. part two: my feelings about this epic blunder and regarding the political agenda

[semi-imaginary-place]

ffxiv return to ivalice raids. ff12 spoilers

given how xenophobic gridania is it should have been an uldahn journalist.

alma's dad touched a sun cyst shard stared hearing voices, and secluded himself with his research to have conversations with himself, lol venat got another one.

the timeline has got me doing math. cid's not that old he's like 32? is he and alma's dad went to school together, how old is Ramza?? he's like mid teens at least.

he is 16. i miss rabanastre.

oh wow that raid was stressful first time. joined an all blue mage party and they only had slots left for tank and healer and i aint healing so i was blue mage tanking that raid.

irl the ones who actually believe the propoganda are the worst because they are so far removed from reality its impossible to talk to them. christian missionaries come to mind, for the price of life saving supplies you have to join their cult.

i wonder why everyone's last names are being used, "Jenomis cen Lexentale" instead of only Jenomis. ffxiv dialogue tends to identify people only by first name. this was especially noticeable during heavensward given how important house name is to ishgardians that dialogue boxes refereed to characters mostly by first name.

lol bagammin isn't just pure evil in this version

that makes job stones sooo creepy i love it.

ramza got possessed and his personality improved.

ok i official hate the thespian. every time he opens his mouth is just gets worse. excellent writing.

the tragedienne of the other hand gets it. obsessing over ethnic origins or purity leads no where.

ultima the high seraph??? so now you're tying the scholar job to whatever the allegans were doing to the ancient viera temple to the zobiac braves story. uuggggg i man connecting dots.

this is so funny playing as a viera.

oh hell yeah I'd love the kick the empire out of another region. viva la revolución

Fran!!! alternate universe Fran!!!

oh ok we're talking actual politics now. i like xiv fran. xii fran did not give a shit about anything not politics not nothing she was just along for the ride.

the racist is having a breakdown in the corner. its character growth.

"free me from my prison and I will grant you deepest desire" now where have i heard that before. totally not a bad idea /s

so alma got possessed yeah the dueling personalities trope.

i still can't tell if ramza got possessed and thats what made him the asshat we met, the removal of the aetheric interference reverted him to his original personality. or was it just teenage angst i can't tell.

og alma and orran durai fucked. a little weird that they used new alma's character model given thats she's supposed to be like 14.

so the rat scurried off, turned traitor and sold out an ancient and dangerous technological marvel to gabranth and the IVth(?). I was wondering where he went

[moonmoonthecrabking]

alright aija is winning and in other rounds i'd be fine with that but in this one it's against epic sax guy. so.

propoganda time babeyyyyy

run away has stood the test of time. it went to eurovision in 2010 and it continues to be a slap. i still hear it in the real world, which brings me to my second point: extra-eurovision acknowledgement. run away is the only eurovision song i heard on a camp playlist (and you bet your ass i was looking out) and it's been on there for several years. it's truly one of the five eurovision songs i've heard in the real world. furthermore, it embodies the spirit of eurovision. that's not to say that emotional songs don't have their place, they do, but they are not inherently superior for being emotional. salvador sobral said in his victory speech that "music is feeling, not fireworks". this rubbed me the wrong way, because music is a medium for all sorts of expressions that are more than just the extremes of human emotion. to say that the songs that are more of a show than they are feeling is to discount the feelings that aren't so deep. to claim, therefore, that aijā is better because its emotion is more visceral, is kinda bullshit. in addition, run away is camp. it's so camp. there's not only epic sax guy, but the song opens with a guy spinning on a turntable playing a partially glowing violin. olia tira is wearing bright blue eyeshadow. this spirit of eurovision has only started to return in recent years, and it is a major part of the contest which should not be overlooked.

also, and i won't make this paragraph too long because i don't like being negative, aijā was in the last eurovision. as in, one month ago. i've been in this fandom for a long time on a bunch of different platforms and recency bias tends to be excessively overpowering. would aijā have any lead if the years were reversed, or if we were voting 5 years from now?

in conclusion, make epic sax guy epic sex guy. thank you.

Propaganda under the cut

Aijā:

In my opinion it's one of the greatest non qualifiers ever. It's such a unique soulful song with huge and incredibly emotion moments and such a touching meaning. It's such a powerful song and the fact that it nqued was literally tragic. May or may not have cried for over an hour maaaaybe 2.

Ok so the song is just GOOD! I can't get it out of my head i want to scream AIJĀ all the time. It was definitely a slow burn for me and i feel that's the case for many others! That's why it didn't qualify, people didn't let it COOK! When i first heard it (with the music video) I was like "Cool! That's decent and the video bangs!" But it didn't immediately go to my top for this year. But now it's definitely up there! Can't get it out of my head.

It's a very beautiful song with an interesting rythm. It had the bad luck of being in the highly competitive first semifinal, and thus narrowly missed out on qualifying for the final.

Run Away:

I want epic sax guy to turn into epic sex guy with me

it got place 22?? are you kidding me, this is such a fun song and the saxophone guys go listen to it rn!!

EPIC SAX GUY. But aside from that, the song itself is an absolute bop.

[airplanned]

Hello.  In this Ted Talk, I will discuss how the Barbarian Armor in Breath of the Wild is problematic AF.

Let's start with the word "Barbarian."  This is a term invented by the ancient Greeks to describe anyone who didn't speak Greek or was not a Greek citizen.  It was a dichotomy: you were either Greek or a barbarian.  It seemed, to them, that every non-Greek speaker was just saying, "Bar bar bar bar."  So, it's super offensive.  I'm sure you can think of at least one modern equivalent of a term based on how a caricature of a culture speaks their native language. 

When the Roman Empire came along, they started using the term pretty specifically to mean non-Roman tribes.  Big stand outs here are the Imazighen (who you might know as the Berbers with the same root as barbarian), along with the Gauls and the Celts, all of whom gave the Romans a lot of grief.  Julius Caesar himself wrote a whole book about his war against the Barbarian Gauls.  (It's usually assigned as reading in Latin 2.)

In modern usage, the term has expanded out again to any group that is "other" or "barbaric," but it still focuses in on tribal and indigenous groups and has the connotation of being overly violent, cruel, or merciless.  It is an offensive term equating difference to cruelty.

So let's get back to this armor.  From the neck down, it's Celtic inspired.  They were known for their body paint and furs.  This tracks with the word "barbarian" used as the Romans would use it.  So just with the name and the look of two pieces, this armor is already othering an indigenous tribe with a connotation of cruelty.

The color text for the chest armor and leg wrappings reads, "once worn by the warriors of an ancient warlike tribe from the Faron region. The war paint bolsters your fighting spirit and raises your attack power."

Yiiikes.

Let's dig into why that's a yikes from me.  "An ancient warlike tribe."  1. This moves it from subtext and coding to textual.  This armor belonged to an indigenous group in Hyrule. 

2. "Warlike."  This is the start of the dehumanizing language we're going to see.  It's a common tool of oppressive, colonialist regimes.  "Warlike" implies that they are more violent than even the colonizers coming into their homeland and oppressing them.  It implies that they are more focused on battle than art and science.  It leads to "They are dangerous and need to be reigned in for the colonizer's safety," because they might kill our proper young men or assault our proper young women or steal our proper young children.  And/or "They are uncivilized and the colonizers will teach them how to better themselves."  There’s a level of implied naivete there--that they just don’t know how to do better. If we go back to our Celtic example, historically multiple oppressive groups had epic battles with them, and they were described as "warlike."  In fact, the Celts fought so hard that Caesar was pushed back, and later, after his death, Hadrian gave up and built a wall, saying that that was as far as the empire went and there was just no possible way to push further into their territory.  But now we (enlightened people of the 21st century) think of Celtic culture as having intricate art and music and language.  We know this "warlike" moniker is propoganda born of fear and frustration and propagated throughout the empire.  Think of the cultures that you've heard described as "warlike."  Do you believe they really are?  Or do you think this is a narrative constructed by an oppressor for the purpose of villainizing them?

Other examples of dehumanizing language: "feral," "primitive," "crude," "savage," "wild."  Also things like "child-like" can infantalize and deny the maturity, intelligence, and decision making skills of an adult.  This ties back to the naivete again--the idea that these children need to be guided.

3. "from the Faron region."  Now, you may recall that the three pieces of the armor set are found in the three labyrinths.  Weirdly, none of these are in Faron.  This is where we learn the name of the "warlike culture from Faron": the Zonai.  (Why is it called the Barbarian armor and not the Zonai armor?  Hmmmmmmm.) Zonai ruins are found all over the map, in all sorts of environments.  So why is Nintendo saying they're specifically from Faron?  It's because cultures who live in rainforests are typically indigenous and typically people of color.  There's a common thing here where colonizers judge forest-dwelling groups for not colonizing the forest.  Tear it down and build houses out of bricks! Tear it down and have a field of wheat!  Tear it down and have a field of cattle!  The colonizers’ idea was that if they weren’t “working” the land in the way the Europeans could identify, then they didn’t “own” the land and it was up for taking. Dove-tailing with this, we have colonizers’ constant judgements that their way of doing things is the only "proper" way, and all others ways are wrong.  So where does Nintendo say this fictional indigenous tribe is from?  Clearly, the jungle even though they have a labyrinth next to a snow field and in the middle of the sea, and they have ruins in a forest right next to the Lost Woods.  But no.  They're indigenous, and Nintendo really needs that to hit home.

Now at this point, we need to get into how the helm piece with a skull is not a Celtic thing.  And the Zonai ruins are not Celtic inspired at all.  They're inspired more by Aztec ruins.  This matches a bit better with the jungle habitat.  But now we've gained a level of problematic issues, because suddenly we're not talking about a white indigenous group and Link doing some Braveheart cosplay.  Now we're talking about people of color.  We're talking about demonizing people with the the dual identities of being indigenous and non-white.  Think of it this way: a lot of people have an easier time accepting "the Celts weren't warlike," than accepting "the Aztecs weren't warlike."  My saying this isn’t a judgement against people who struggle here.  We inhabit a colonialst society where this narrative that indigenous people deserve their oppression is pressed more heavily on non-white groups.

So let's look at the color text for the Barbarian Helm, because it's slightly different from the other two: "A helmet once worn by the warriors of an ancient warlike tribe from the Faron region. Wearing it draws out your inner animal, increasing your strength and battle prowess."

4. "Inner Animal."  (big sigh) Now we're comparing indigenous people to animals.  This tactic has been used to oppress and belittle since colonization began. Nothing is more dehumanizing than implying that someone is not a human.  To this day, you can hear groups compared to apes and monkeys.  It's absurdly offensive.

This instance is explicit. But there are subtler ways that equating an oppressed culture to an animal sneaks into language.  Words describing someone's features as ape-like or rat-like.  Words describing someone's movements as cat-like or dog-like.  Words describing the way people talk as grunting or barking or howling.

So I guess Nintendo didn't consider that indigenous people who encounter this oppressive language every day until it grinds and wears would play their game and have to hear it yet again.  I guess they didn't think about how by using this language, they were perpetuating a dehumanizing narrative that unknowing people would pick up and continue to use. 

Language has meaning.

*

Edit: I am a white dude.  I speak from no authority.  I just spend a lot of time thinking about language and connotations and hating on colonialism (and I took a lot of Latin, if you can’t tell).  It’s not my intention to talk over anyone.

[minghaocouture]

Pairing: Templar!Kim Mingyu x Elf Mage!Reader Genre: Dragon Age AU, enemies (?) to lovers, angst, established universe WC: 5k+ Warning: magical lobotomy (through branding), language

A/N: So this is for @merakiiverse job au collab! I’ve been wanting to write a Dragon Age au for like...ever, and this just gave me the push I needed. So there are some terms from the game used in the fic but I did my best to explain them without taking away from the story. Also really glad i finished this before i got sick lol. 

“Come on wake up!” You groaned, slapping away the hands of your best friend as he tried to shake you awake. You had gotten to sleep pretty late last night, having snuck into the circle library to do a bit more reading after hours so you were trying to bask in the last few minutes of sleep before your lessons today. 

You heard a loud groan from the younger male before everything seemed to turn upside down and your frame was sent tumbling to the stone floor of the Apprentice Quarters with a loud thud and a shriek. Your eyes snapping open to glare at your dear friend Chan with his hands still gripping the mattress that he had just thrown you from. 

Quickly you shoved your palms against the chilled stone flooring to push yourself up, as the male laughed hysterically and dropped the mattress back onto the simple wooden frame of your bottom bunk. 

“Chan, I want you to remember that we are trapped in this tower together for the rest of our lives. So I will be getting you back for this.” You muttered angrily as you brushed off your scratchy white sleeping robes that the circle had provided for you. Fueled by frustration, you quickly fixed up your bed so that the senior enchanters wouldn’t be angry with you for making a mess. 

“Hey come on, don’t be like that!” He quickly exclaimed, offering you some assistance with fixing your bed if only so he could get on your good side once again. It’s usually what he would do to try and get on your good side, things like taking your cleaning duties or distracting the templars so you can sneak into the libraries at night. “I woke you up for a reason!”

“And what would that be?”

“They brought in new templars, fresh new faces for us to make fun of!” He made a good point. During your extended stay in the circle Chan and you had taken to picking at the Templars that were assigned to ‘guard’ the tower, well the Templars that wouldn’t immediately attack or detain you for your teasings. You shuddered as you remembered being thrown into the cramped cell that was used for solitary confinement. 

“How many this time?” You questioned, pulling your daily robes from the chest at the foot of the bunk beds that you and Chan shared. You swiftly stripped yourself of the uncomfortable white material of your night robes and slipped on the navy blue skirt, once again curious as to why the skirts had such delicate embroidery on the hem if they were simply to be given to mages. Maybe it was something to make your people think they were in a higher position than they were, either that or a small ‘oh here are some pretty robes, we definitely consider mages people!’ kind of thing. You weren’t too sure. 

Chan took a seat on the bed as you tied the skirt to fit your waist, he wasn’t bothered by your disrobing at this point. After all, the two of you had been in this tower since you were children and it wasn’t like the tower offered much privacy for any of the apprentices. If you wanted that you would have to pass your harrowing, only then would you receive private quarters.

You struggled with your skirt for a moment, it being far too big for you, but it wasn’t like they made new robes for every apprentice; everything you owned was a hand me down from either a senior enchanter or...a tranquil. 

“There were four of them, they all looked like they came right from training too. No old farts this time,” He explained, lounging on your too thin mattress as you slipped the top piece on, the long sleeves and thick fabric felt just as suffocating as it did every day, and it also continued to show your status as a lower being in the eyes of these people. The small gold trim wasn’t as nice as it was on the human’s robes, and you were sure that was the point. It was something that looked nice, but not as nice as the human mages robes that Chan wore. It wasn’t enough that your mage abilities make you a lesser being but your elven blood as well, you were certain that the Maker had a sense of humor when he made you. 

With practiced ease you tied the laces of your sleeves around your wrists before working on the clasps of your belts. It was a constricting and suffocating outfit that made you feel quite claustrophobic at times. As if the robes were just as bad as the tower itself.

“Well, I guess let’s go check them out. Gotta let these newbies know that not all mages are just gonna let them walk over us.” You tried to seem optimistic but after being in this tower for almost 16 years, it was a little harder to force that smile sometimes. Which was why you were grateful you had Chan with you, the two of you looked out for each other no matter what happened.

He hopped off of your bed and took a firm grasp on your wrist before pulling you out of the shared apprentice chambers, ignoring the strange looks from the templars and other apprentices as the two of you dashed into the hallway on the first floor of your prison. 

The two of you peered around the corner into the entrance hall as you watched the initiates be inducted by Knight Commander Greagoir, the head of your captors, he was telling them all about their duty to the citizens of Ferelden and the Chantry, all that nonsense. It was basically just propoganda to make these people feel like they had the right to place themselves above you.

The new initiates weren’t too impressive, once again all humans of course, because the precious Chantry couldn’t trust elves such as yourself to become Templars. Most likely because elves would be more likely to opposed the confining of people just for circumstances of their birth, at least the ones who weren’t already brain washed into believing the Chantry’s inane teachings. That thought always reminded you that even if you weren’t trapped in this tower, you would simply be in an alienage in one of the many towns around Ferelden, another prison. Elves simply weren’t welcomed or free anywhere, at least not in a human society. There were surprisingly three women and only one male this time, which was abnormal because women seemed to stray more towards becoming Chantry sisters than Templars. So that was interesting, you’d have to figure out their names. The only interesting thing about the male was his ridiculous height. He looked almost tall enough to be a member of the Qunari, all he was missing was the horns, or at least you assumed since you had never seen a Qunari in real life. 

If only you knew what would follow this day.

***

“You know, you aren’t supposed to be in the library after lights out.” 

You almost screamed in surprise at the unfamiliar voice. You knew the schedule for the Templars and usually you were able to skirt around and hide whenever it was time for their rounds to reach the libraries. Apparently tonight was determined to be different. Glancing up from your book you flashed the Templar a sheepish smile, instantly recognizing this man as one of the new initiates whose name you had yet to learn. It wasn’t exactly...forbidden but initiates were definitely encouraged to not give their name to the mages or learn the names of the mages either, it was probably so they didn’t connect that you were real living beings and develop a conscience. 

“You wouldn’t believe me if I said I had an incurable illness that causes me to sleep walk around the tower, would you?” You were likely to be in deep shit because of this. Knowing how new recruits were, usually the super brown nosing type, they wanted to make superiors happy so that they could get promotions. Unfortunately for you, that usually meant getting mages into trouble.

Knowing this was probably why you were so shocked to hear the giant male snort, in an attempt to hold back a laugh. In all the years of living here, you hadn’t met a Templar who actually laughed at your jokes or smiled at you...like this male was doing right now. He glanced over his shoulder looking towards the opening in the shelves that hid the two of you from view. This library was almost perfect for hiding, the rows were like their own little hallways with bookshelves that almost reached the ceiling which was perfect for blocking the light of your candle when you were here at night. He must be checking to make sure that none of his co-workers had entered the library after him. 

Soon his attention was back to you, a small boyish smirk on his faces as he spoke. “Well I suppose I’d ask you to tell me about this terrible illness, is it contagious? I’m not sure the other mages would like it if I was roaming the halls in my sleep.” 

You were once again dumbfounded by this human. You wouldn’t expect him to think about what would and wouldn’t upset the mages, usually the Templars just did what they wished with no regard for those they were meant to be watching over. 

“No, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t like that. Lucky for you, I was born with it just like my hideous magic.” You didn’t truly believe that your magic was horrible. If everything was done by the Maker for a reason, then so were mages! People were just taking Andraste’s “Magic exists to serve man, and never to rule over him,” thing a bit too far. 

“I don’t think your magic is horrible. It’s a gift from the Maker! The Maker doesn’t give bad gifts,” He confessed, quite a controversial opinion for a Templar to have. With one more glance over his shoulder to make sure that the two of you were still alone, he pulled out the chair across from you and took a seat.

“I’m Mingyu. What’s your name?” 

***

After that fateful night in the library, Mingyu and you kept in contact but only in the dead of night and only when he was scheduled to patrol the first floor library. Tonight was one such night.

“Chan is getting suspicious, ya know?” You mentioned, laughing softly from your seat at the table the two of you frequented. He raised a brow at you and tilted his head slightly, his lips jutting out in a small pout. He honestly looked pretty adorable like that, nothing like the fearsome Templar act he had to put on during the day. 

“He thinks I’m shaking up with another apprentice and not telling him.” 

“Imagine the look on his face if he knew you were just hanging out with me.” Mingyu retorted, going to rest his cheek on his palm only to remember that he was wearing his gaudy templar armor and deciding against it. This caused him to pout more and for you to laugh, making sure to keep your volume down so you weren’t caught by anyone else patrolling the area.

A silence fell over the two of you as your laughter subsided. It was here where the two of you were illuminated only by candlelight that you felt safe. That was something you weren’t used to feeling. In the Circle, there was a constant need to watch your back and be on your guard just in case some random Templar got pissy because you ‘looked at them funny’. It was a struggle for survival.

These nights were different though. You could almost imagine that you weren’t locked inside this tower you could dream about possibly being free and in the outside world that you vaguely remembered. Hell, how long had it been since you had seen the sun?

"How long have you been in the Tower?" 

The question was innocent enough, but it definitely threw you off guard. It wasn't something you liked to think about often. It had been so many years ago and it wasn’t exactly a...pleasant memory.

"It's been...I think about 17 years almost? I developed my magic when I was around 6 years old and my mother was very devout. So she turned me into the chantry, saying that the Maker had frowned upon her and her family by giving them a Mage for a daughter." It hurt a lot thinking back on the day that your mother had abandoned you. Her pleas to the Chantry mothers, begging them to take you as she also begged for the Maker's forgiveness. Thinking she had obviously done something wrong if she had given birth to a mage. 

You watched a frown set it self onto his face, obviously not having expected to hear such a thing. Most parents went so far as to hide their children from the Chantry, making them apostates, illegal mages, so that they wouldn't lose their precious bundles of joy. Just like Chan's parents. They had fought tooth and nail to keep him when the Templars came, it even cost them their lives. Chan didn't like talking about it but you knew that he still had frequent nightmares about that horrible day.

"What about you?" You questioned, diverting the attention from your situation and onto Mingyu. "Why did you become a Templar? I'm sure being a regular knight would have been just as nice, if not easier. At least knights aren’t also stuck inside the Circle tower." It may not have been a prison to the Templars, but they were still trapped inside these halls as well. Most weren’t really able to leave either unless they were going to visit their families, and even then that was rare.

He chuckled dryly at your words and shook his head.

"Something we have in common, I suppose. My family is also very devout, very deep into the teachings of the Chantry. All the men end up becoming Templars if they can. It's in our blood. So of course, as soon as I was old enough to hold a sword I was sent off to training to try and become the best Templar the Kim line had ever seen." The look on his face was one of melancholy, one that you recognized as a look that you had seen on other mages. The look of someone trapped in their own fate.

"Guess we're...kinda in the same boat, huh?" You gently nudged his arm that rested on the table with one of your fist. It was a small gesture, but one with meaning for both of you. Reaching out he gently, or as gently as he could while wearing full plate mail, took your extended hand in his own. The cold metal was a stark contrast against your heated skin, causing you to shiver lightly. He gave a small squeeze and a tiny smile made it’s way onto his face, as if he had been comforted by your words. 

You felt your heart stutter for a moment, watching the features of his face in the candle light. It was still for a moment before he released you hand and stood from his chair. 

"I should get back to my patrols before any other the others get suspicious. I'll leave a note in our spot when we can meet up again."

You were moments away from responding but stopped short as he leaned down and pressed his lips softly against your forehead. You were stunned still and silent as you watched him pull away, smiling at you once again, before slipping off into the night. 

Your heart pounded in your chest as you stared after him in shock. Your face flushed with heat, and you knew that Kim Mingyu would be the death of you at this rate.

***

"I hope this doesn't offend you but...what is so bad about being made Tranquil?" 

You winced slightly at his words, the thoughts of the Tranquil always frightened you. Of course, being a Chantry boy, he had been told from a young age that being made Tranquil was a mercy for mages. Because if you were Tranquil then at least you were alive. It was all a lode of rubbish. Instead of just answering his question, you decided to ask one of your own.

"Do you know Owain? The Tranquil who runs the Circle stock room?" He nodded slowly, unsure of where exactly you were going. "I arrived at the tower before he was turned. He was a kind man who took me under his wing and helped me adjust to life at the tower. I was very young and so very scared, but Owain had basically turned into a father figure for me. I cared for him so much." You felt tears prick at your eyes, threatening to spill over as you recalled the man you once knew. 

"One morning, a few years after Chan had been sent here. I had to have been around 11, well we woke to find Owain standing in front of the stock room just like he does now. Only he was no longer the kind, father figure I had grown to love. He was so cold, lifeless. Being made Tranquil isn't a mercy to mages, it's taking every part of them that makes them who they are and ripping it away." You tried to keep quiet, but the more you spoke the more anger and fear bubbled in your guts. You had barely even registered that you had begun crying.

"You become a lifeless husk that holds the shape of who you used to be."

You couldn't bring yourself to look up from the table, to watch the emotions that were surely playing out on his face as he watched you cry. You were surprised at how silently he had moved, because you were soon pulled to stand and held tightly against his armored chest. It wasn't too comfortable because of the plate mail he constantly wore, the metal poking into your skin and it reminded you that while this embrace was comforting...it was also dangerous. Against your better judgement, your arms quickly wrapped around him and pulled him closer as you tried your best to keep your cries quiet. As you sobbed you heard him whisper soft nothings to you, but one stood out from the rest.

A promise that he would never let you be made Tranquil.

***

It wasn't long before those soft forehead kisses from before became kisses of passion. Soon you didn't need the candle light as your guide as you followed the curves of his body under his armor. Things changed quickly, and before you knew it two years had passed and you were hopelessly in love with Kim Mingyu. Something that should have never come to pass.

You were certain that at least First Enchanter Irving knew, he somehow knew everything that happened in the Circle Tower, and while you weren't a very religious woman, you found yourself praying to the Maker that Knight Commander Greagoir was still clueless. Unfortunately the one person you wanted to talk to about this was the person you were most determined to keep in the dark. 

Lee Chan, your best friend.

"You should tell him." Mingyu, gently caressed your cheek, his gloves had been taken off long ago as the two of you lounged in your usual spot in the library. Your meetings had gotten farther and fewer between as he rose in the ranks of the knights and you stayed a simple apprentice. 

If you were being honest you were a bit worried about that as well, but Mingyu assured you that it was nothing to be concerned about. 

“Oh sure, that’ll go well. I can picture it now. ‘Hey Chan, you know the Templars who watch our every move and are sometimes ordered to strip us of our entire sense of self, yeah I’m in love with one of them. The tall lanky one that has been trying to joke with you, yeah the one you complain about all the time that’s him’.” You chuckled to yourself as you thought about his reaction to that, and not really realizing what you had just admitted. Not until you glanced over at Mingyu and found him staring at you dumbfounded. 

“You love me?”

You froze, like a A million thoughts raced through your head, all of the best and worst possible outcomes. What if he didn’t feel the same way? What if this was just fooling around? What if he said he could never love an elf and he had just been using you? What if, what if?! Your heart thudded loudly inside your chest as you stared at him, unable to enunciate the way he made you feel.

Luckily for you all of those what ifs were cut off as his hand grasped the back of your neck and pulled you into a kiss filled with such fire that you could almost feel yourself being burned. Everything he wanted to say was trapped inside this kiss, you weren’t alone with your feelings and this kiss told you all you needed to know and more. 

After a string of long, intense kisses that you were almost certain would lead to another round of light touches and soft moans, he pulled away. His forehead pressed against your own and a large almost blinding smile was plastered on his face.

“I love you too.”

***

You stared at the small flame of your candle in silence, he was late. Usually he was exactly on time, never early and definitely never late. It was too dangerous otherwise. Your stomach was in knots at the thought of what could possibly be keeping him. That’s when you heard the sound of armor clanking against the stone flooring, almost like the person was running. Since you weren’t entirely sure it was him, you quickly blew out your candle and slid under the table to hide. 

The footsteps got closer and your heartbeat seemed to be almost as loud as the steps themselves. You only relaxed at the small call of your name. The familiar voice had you out from under the table in record time.

“You scared the daylights out of me Mingyu, I was worried something had happened.” You confessed, using a small bit of your magic to light the candle’s flame once again. The light gave way to the terrified look on his face, streaks of tears stained his cheeks, and you found yourself running to his side to wipe away the fresh batch that was threatening to spill out.

“Mingyu, baby what’s wrong?” You whispered, doing your best to comfort him by taking his hand in your free one and using the other to gently caress his cheek.

“We need to go. The Phylactery chamber, we need to find yours. I need to get you out of here.” His deep voice cracked as he tried his best to control his tears. He looked so frightened and pale even, despite his tanned skin. Your heart sunk as you thought of your Phalactery, the vial of blood that had been taken from you when you arrived and was stored inside a chamber with all of the other apprentice’s. It was the templar’s way of tracking you if you had ever escaped, and was the biggest reason you had never attempted to escape the circle.

What he was suggesting was crazy though, there was no way the two of you would be able to storm the Phalactery chamber, there were two locks and it required a fully realized enchanter to unlock one of them and you...had yet to be called for your Harrowing. So you tried to console him. 

“Baby, what are you talking about? You know we can’t do something that crazy. If we get caught you’ll be kicked out of the order or worse, sent somewhere like Aeonar. Why are you ev-”

“They want to make you tranquil.” 

Your heart stopped at his confession, eyes going wide as your blood chilled within your veins. Subconsciously you took a step away from him in disbelief, you didn’t question the legitimacy of his words because you knew for certain that he wouldn’t lie to you like that. Not when he knew your fear of being made Tranquil. You watched as he stared helplessly at you and began speaking once more.

“Knight Commander Greagoir thinks that...he thinks that you might be a blood mage. Even suggesting that you- that what we have is because of a demon’s influence.” He took a step forward to close the distance between the two of you, taking your hand back into his own. He liked holding your hand, he had said in the past, it made him feel loved so very loved.

“I know it’s not. I tried to talk to him but he...he wants me to perform the rite. Which is why we have to get you out of here!” 

Your mind seemed to be going a million miles per hour but also seemed to stop all at once. Your limbs had gone numb as you stared blankly at the floor in terror, you weren’t sure what to do. If you ran on your own then they would just send Templars to find you and with your phylactery, it would be quick work and both you and Mingyu would end up dead. If you followed Mingyu’s plan, you would most likely be caught and turned Tranquil anyway only with this route he would also be punished for his crimes. Lastly, If you stayed, you would be made tranquil at the hands of the man you loved. There was no winning in this situation, there was never a winning choice for a mage.

You pulled your hand from his grasp, causing a small pained sound to leave his lips, breaking your heart as it did so. 

“You have to do it…”

“Y/N no! We talked about this I won-”

“We don’t have any other choice!” You cursed yourself after your outburst, though at this point you weren’t sure you could get into anymore trouble. “If you got caught you would never be able to see Minseo or your parents again!” You had spoken of his family in great detail before, and you couldn’t bear to know that he would never see them again just because of his attachment to you. 

You didn’t want to be made Tranquil, but you also didn’t want anything bad to happen to him. This was the only option where at least one of you would be able to keep living freely.

Thinking about the fact that your days were now numbered scared you, the numb feeling from before seemed to linger but you couldn’t find it in yourself to cry. Not now, not when you had to seem like you were certain of your decision. He needed that from you.

So you swallowed your terror and gently cupped his cheeks in your hands.

“You have to do this Mingyu. There isn’t any way of getting out of this. Not that will actually work.” You muttered, voice soft as you kept eye contact with the male. You felt his hands reach up and rest over your own, and took solace in the fact that what the two of you felt was real. At least for a little while longer. 

“If it’s you...it’s okay.”

You had never lied to Mingyu before, but...this seemed like a good time to start.

***

The grip on your forearms was sure to form bruises, but at least after this you wouldn’t feel them. 

You stared before you as the branding rod held in Mingyu’s tight grip lingered over the open flame, making sure that the metal would be hot enough to etch itself into your skin. 

You couldn’t stop the tears that fell from your eyes, and you had sure tried. You knew that seeing you cry could cause Mingyu to hesitate, falter or even flat out refuse the order which would make this all for naught. At that moment, you felt so hopeless. Everything you had worked for, everything you had lived for would be coming to an end. All because of that simple, unassuming brand that your lover held. 

At the command of Greagoir, he moved the brand away from the flame and stepped towards you. Reciting the Chant of Light as he did so. It was supposed to bring comfort to the mages and remind them that this was the Maker’s will, you found the words mocking even coming from Mingyu’s lips.

“Magic exists to serve man, and never to rule over him.” His voice strained as he spoke the Chant of Light, it broke your heart to hear him in such pain. His grip on the haft was so tight that you were almost certain that the metal of the rod would break.

“Foul and corrupt are they who have taken his gift, and turned it against his children.” His armored footsteps echoed against the stone flooring. Tears threatening to spill as he stepped closer to you. You felt the grip on your arms tighten as his fellow templars held you in place. 

“Remember, that...that this is a mercy.” 

With those last broken words escaping him, he lifted the sunburst brand and held it above your forehead. You saw the heartbreak burning in his eyes, and he hesitated refusing to move the brand any closer to your forehead. 

Your eyes met his and watched as he desperately tried to keep his composure. You forced a small pained smile onto your face, and that seemed to be the only thing he needed. Not a second later, the metal pressed against your forehead and sparks of blue lyrium seemed to burst forth as the sunburst brand stripped away every bit of emotion you had to replace you with a husk that could no longer connect to the fade, to magic. A husk with free will but a husk nonetheless. 

“I’m sorry.”

[twowivestwoknives]

Album thing:

I want more mce onions so three cheers for sweet revenge pls

oh Hell yeah aighty here we go: Revenge, best to worst as deemed by this bitch (me)

1. Cemetery Drive

I’m completely bias as it’s one of my all time favourite MCR songs BUT i have a reason. Revenge is a song known for it’s roughness and it doesn’t do the merging of soft and hard together as well as the band grows to be able to do (see Sleep or Save Yourself later on). Cemetery Drive is really the song on the album that marries the emotional intensity and desperation the band has been known for up to this point with the utilization of musical stylings that stand out from the rest of the tracks but still sound distinctly My Chem. It’s the Halos of Revenge and I fucking adore it. Plus lyrically? Fucking poetry 2. Hang ‘Em High This Song Fucks. It’s lyrically all over the place but terrifying and you can tell Gerard believes every word in how they sing it even if he has no clue what it means. It’s all the theatrical, violent drama the band is known for, and it in my opinion epitomizes Revenge as an album. Which is a big statement especially with songs like Venom and Helena on it, but I think it touches on all of the thematic cores (rebirth, being hunted to death, dead women, catholic guilt, murder), and I think as a “scene” of a song, as the album is concept, it really frames the frenzy someone who’s rolling with the punches of coerced serial murder would be going through. Plus murder goth cowboys. Woohoo. 3. It’s Not A Fashion Statement, It’s a Fucking Deathwish One of the most impressive opening lines of any song I’ve heard in my 25 years. It earns the spot in top three just for “For what you did to me! For what I’ll do to you! You get what everyone else gets....you get a lifetime!” Way to make a lyric sound like a prayer and a threat in the same breath. From there on it’s just a banger. A drag race of an MCR song that does 3 more laps than you’d ever expected to. Really embraces the energy MCR has in it’s speed, and not afraid to use a major sound here or there. 4. Helena It’s super weird for me to put a release this high on the list but Helena holds up as one of the most beautiful songs of the mid oughts. It shows “revenge” for what it is thematically on the album, a revenge on death. That is the running theme. i saw someone say Bullets is Gerard being terrified of death, Revenge is them being pissed about it, Parade is an acceptance of it, and Danger Days is a preoccupation with after-life in the form of memorium. Helena is also musically so outfield for the band at this point that really for the innovation gets it put here. The music video is also one of the most beautiful and aesthetically pleasing videos of all time imho.

5. To The End

You gotta love an anti capitalist homoerotic murder mansion anthem. I also believe the plot of this song was based off a book of the same name? Cuz Gerard really loves their cultural references. This song is so fun and hauntingly beautiful and I would Not want to be at this houseparty. Bonus points for the explicit gay lyrics and also Ray’s harmonies. That man has a voice of gold my lord. 6. The Jetset Life Is Going to Kill You I don’t know if this will make sense outside of my own brain but Jetset is what Prison could’ve been. Like Jetset is beautiful and haunting and absolutely about things that are not PG or even PC these days to talk about, but it weaves the themes so deftly with the music that it just works. Also did anyone else see that Sims2 youtube video of Jetset where Gerard was like...a secret ghost murderer of abusive boyfriends? No? Just me and my 6th grade class that I forced to watch it for show and tell? Cool. 7. Give ‘Em Hell, Kid This song just straight up fucks. I feel like it hones a lot of what MCR’s vibe was in revenge era (though I was still a little young for them at that time, I came into the band when I was 11 so that would be 06). It really does sum up the nonsensical metaphor, the hyper-drama, the almost drag levels of camp, the violence, the viscerality. Also points for a call forward lyrically to The Sharpest Lives. 8. I Never Told You What I Do For A Living This song is here because of the chorus, firstly, and the viscerality secondly. I scared the shit outta sixth grade teachers singing this one. But it is such a fun and interesting vocal line throughout the entire song and I’m a singer so I’m bias. Plus it’s such a phenomenal song to end the album just top tier. “The kinda dirty where the water never cleans off the clothes” is also just a to-the-core line 9. Thank You For The Venom Venom is actually a really good song, and I feel weird having it so low considering I have a tattoo from it. It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just that I guess the songs above I like more? Venom is absolutely a fan favourite so it might just be a case of I’ve heard it too much. Lyrically and musically very fist-fight gut-punch. Fight with glass shards stead of knives type vibe. It’s really interesting to listen to a song critiquing substance use and forced medication because I remember back in the oughts when everyone was so anti-meds (some for fair reasons and some for not), and just seeing a song that lays prescribed medication and self medication on the same table saying “either could kill me but I wont let it” is....that’s a cultural moment right there. 10. Ghost Of You The song is beautiful and that chorus is fucking gutwrenching, I’m just so incredibly not here for war music videos. Doubly not if it traumatizes people to film them? Like...no need to give the state more propoganda boys just let the song be pretty. 11. You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison? Okay this song had so much potential, and it was pretty fucking radical at the time not gonna lie. Rape analogies ain’t it. The song was really written from how I understand it to do the kinda stage-gay MCR was known for in the oughts. Hearing them talk about it, 2004 wasn’t a time homophobes were shy in hardcore, so songs like Prison paired with the stage antics made Homophobes...not wanna be there. Which gave them more space for the actual queers in the audience (and arguably on stage) to rock out without getting hate crimed. Also lyrically a lottta critiques of the prison system but yeah, coulda thought it through a bit more. We coulda had another Jetset but alas. 12. I’m Not Okay (I Promise) This song is fun as hell and you will catch me singing every word when it comes on. It’s only down here as it is just...a little underwhelming compared to the rest of the album. It’s fun and lyrically pressing and great to headbang to, but a lot of the rest of the album is more complex or intense in ways that I’m Not Okay just fails to fill out 13. Interlude Like it’s pretty but it absolutely sounds like a “we need 13 songs cuz frank said so” song. It’s filler.

[whaq]

Fuck You, Animu (3/4) - Cells at Work! Episode 7

While still providing the edutainment expected of the series, Cells at Work!’s 7th episode overreaches for your emotions and may have you yelling in anger instead of sobbing in tears as it tackles the topic of cancer.

From the power couple that brought you the community darling Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure’s anime, Director Kenichi Suzuki and David Production’s adaptation of Cells at Work! has brought biology to the mainstream. Based on Akane Shimazu’s debut manga, the series follows a red blood cell and a white blood cell’s day-to-day in the human body where we encounter anthropomorphised versions of the little beings that live within all of us.

A notable element of the series is its effort to use tangential learning to spoon-feed us biology through cute anime girls and surprisingly violent (which is ironic given how the characters consist of literal blood) action scenes. We meet many of our body’s protectors, from the onee-sama Macrophages to the delinquent T Cells that make the biodiversity of the cast impressive. If you want a casual but oozingly creative series to serve as a dose of edutainment, then Cells at Work! is for you.

I binged this series about a year after its original run because My Anime List is as bottomless as it is a cruel reminder of your lack of dedication to it. At the time, I only had a few key thoughts: “I wonder if my little cells feel as bad as I do when I get hay fever every morning,” “Oh my God, look at the cheeks on those adorable little platelets,” and, “Wow, that cancer episode was really something.” People seemed to agree with me on that last thought. Critics like the Anime Pope himself Jared of Mother’s Basement shared in the sentiment that the series’ 7th episode was well done. It humanized something that we humans are very inclined to hate: a malignant cancer cell whose only purpose is to turn our own body against us; a daunting task that anyone who’s tried writing sympathetic villains can tell you. But, after watching the episode again on a whim, the feelings I had on my first viewing suddenly did a complete 180 as I began watching in horror in lieu of sympathy. Here’s  a hot-take: this episode is about Nazi sympathizing and here’s why:

We are taken to the scene of a previous episode where the NK cell is chasing after a suspicious cell that reveals itself to be cancerous. Cancer’s character design and subsequent animation are reminiscent of works like Akira or anything Junji Ito’s had his hands on. It’s gruesome, detailed, and overall as grotesque as it needs to be to get you to fear it. The animation of this fight consists of some decent sakuga as the Cancer cell is able to use its shape manipulation to stretch its limbs and morph them into practically anything. On the other hand, much of the episode’s, and by extension the rest of the series, animation is pretty inconsistent like when NK is seen strafing during Cancer’s speech. We see NK awkwardly slide across the screen while Cancer’s lipflaps remain static during his mini diatribe. “Begging for a Bluray cut” quality animation is the least of the episode’s problems.

Eventually, we’re given a look at Cancer’s backstory, and it is one of the series’ most emotional scenes. We see that the cancer cells are products of an error in cell division and appear with birth defects because of that. A pair of these newborn cancer cells, including our antagonist, attempt to run from the authorities that consist of the Killer Ts and Whites that we’ve grown fond of by this point of the series. In a heartbreaking dialogue, we find Cancer asking his friend if he is “-meant to die as soon as we are born?" This is nothing less than an emotional gut-punch, a nihilistic ponderance I wouldn’t have expected from a comedy. This is immediately followed by his friend being murdered by the guards while Cancer hides. The pained expression on this child that is mirrored on his present counterpart in the next scene really does pull at your heartstrings. The show effectively uses visuals and story to get you to sympathize with cancer, until it doesn’t.

It’s right before the arrival of our heroes that our antagonist is able to pour out his feelings. His people are oppressed and slaughtered for existing, something they obviously couldn’t have had a hand in, and it obviously pains him to see that. Right after this tear-jerking speech, he sprouts a pair of fleshy wings, that are grotesquely beautiful in their own way, which almost immediately have a machete tossed at them by the arrival of the other cells that begin to mercilessly murder Cancer’s people. The amount of thematic dissonance is palpable when you begin to hear the triumphant battle music that underscores the massacre of a race of cells you were just conditioned to feel bad for earlier. Upon defeating him, our other protagonist, White, is asked by Cancer why his people are targeted the way they are “We can’t save you. You violate the rules… hog nutrients and destroy healthy tissue. I can’t let you live… it’s my job.” Upon closer inspection, it’s easy enough to draw the line comparing the cancer cells to any persecuted race. What makes me think of the Jewish specifically is due to the events of the Holocaust, and its subsequent aftermath, that seems to mirror the events of the story. The cancer cells are even shown to be kept imprisoned in a cell full of green liquid, almost like the acid that served as one of the methods the Nazis used to exterminate the Jews during World War II. While Judaism is a religion, not a race, it’s intrinsically linked to people who descend from the original tribes of Israel, which is a huge group of people. It’s estimated that 1.7 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust by the infamously White-Supremacist Nazi Party that relied on propoganda that said Jews were taking all the money in the world and ruining the lives of the “superior race” of whites. Adding to that the display of a soldier just “doing their job” of assisting the genocide of an entire people. Knowing this, is it really too far-fetched to understand why I began gawking at my screen when our Jew surrogate, Cancer, is killed by an army, for the exact same reasons of being thought of as deplorables no less, made up of WHITE blood cells?!

Adding insult to injury, Cancer’s tragic death is then abruptly ended by Red comedically checking up on White as we see Cancer’s corpse desecrated by Looney Tune style black X-marks for eyes; as if his death was nothing more than a joke. As the show’s ending theme played behind scenes of the army celebrating their genocide, I could’ve sworn I heard the lyrics “it’s okay, I’m okay” in the song, that truly was the last straw for me. In a world divided between people who want to defend the defenseless and those who want to further oppress the oppressed, the meta-narrative this episode contains is down-right dangerous.

Thankfully, the rest of the series’ usually light-hearted and comedic antics can serve as a palette cleanser to wash the taste of this episode out. Continuing on from here, you’ll be met with more of the same edutainment you’ve been served so far in Cells at Work!’s last six episodes. If those episodes caught your attention, you’ll want to stick around to learn more about this corporeal incorporation.

[lumiereswig]

hey all so i just saw ‘hadestown’ and feel duty bound to tell you fools everything about it because i, too, remember what it is to be lonely and on the internet and too poor to see some snazzy broadway shit

there’s no fanfare or anything. the show opens with all the cast coming on—and obviously the audience is going buckwild, especially with amber gray. (u can tell there’s a lot of great comet fans in the audience.) only once everybody is settled does hermes really TAKE THE STAGE.

and boy does he take it. sassy lil shit knows he owns it and just stands there taking in his audience, before flipping his jacket back with dramatic flare (to show his SNAZZY-ASS SILVER THREADED VEST) and starting to sing. (cue noisy wah-wah trombone.)

the setting is p. clearly a bar; orpheus p. clearly works there. he’s like being artsy with the napkins and shit, blossoming them into roses. eurydice is a traveler; she carries with her, wrapped in brown silk, an alter candle that she lights. (after sassing hermes into giving her a match to light it with.) eurydice balances her candle with the paper rose orpheus later makes and gives to her.

orpheus is pretty childlike and dreaming in this version. (not the cocky boy from the off broadway production.) he comes off as kind of lanky and awkward and not quite there; naive is definitely a defining adjective for him. everything about him is soft and gentle and in a dreaming world.

eurydice is kind of a classic tough girl but she’s got a strand of helplessness to her. she puts on a show of not being impressed by orpheus until he sings her the song he’s working on, and manages to bring a rose into his palm.

environmental collapse is a HUGE theme thru this—bigger than i thought it would be. eurydice’s first lines are about how there’s no spring or autumn anymore; everything is winter or summer, too hot or cold to live. the fates sing of the winds—the fates sort of torment her throughout this—but climate change looms as a dread through the show. orpheus hopes his song will bring back summer, put the seasons back in tune.

anyway, everyone’s hanging out at a new orleans style bar. even hades and persephone are there, though above it all in a balcony of their own

did i mention bradley king is a god among lighting designers?

because that will come back a lot

anyway hermes is sort of an uncle figure to orpheus; he was friends with orpheus’s mother, a muse. as soon as orpheus sees eurydice he wants to talk to her, and hermes advices him not to ‘come on too strong’—

and well that plan goes immediately out the window : ‘come home with me!’ [eurydice: ’what?’]

orpheus is just intensely awkward. skinny pale child doesn’t know how to interact with the world

they have kind of an argumentative relationship from the start—they don’t face each other very often; there’s a push and pull as he longs for her and she, kneejerk tough girl, tries not to go for this. but the rose from his palm enchants her, and she holds on to it. ‘you have to finish your song.’

GODDDD AMBER GRAY IS JUST LIIIIIIIFE. her persephone is a total lush and frequently staggers through act 1. she also has a fabulous white coat that gradients to green at the sleeves. when she dances you can’t tell if she’s about to pass out or float up to the ceiling.

when orpheus gives the toast he’s just so awkward it’s appalling

(and everyone toasts except eurydice)

hades wears sunglasses when he comes to the world above to bring persephone back to the world below. he descends from his balcony to get her, and brings her to the center of the stage—and then, oh, SHIT, there’s a fucking perfect round trap door right where they’re standing, and they descend below. (amber gray looking up to the slowly disappearing sky with the face of a martyr who’s used to the gig.)

winter’s hard. eurydice has to bust back out her old ass coat (instead of the winsome black slip thing and brown vest thing she was wearing), and the Fates, bitches as they be, try to fuckin rip it off her. (and succeed. the choreography looks like wind! also chairs and tables looked like they were floating earlier but i forgot to mention that.)

eurydice is trying to get ORPHEUS’S FUCKIN ATTENTION bout the fact they got no food and, uh, three bitchy old ladies dressed all in gray just took her coat, but he’s submerged in writing his song to bring back the weather. and while this is all going on, hades and persephone are having their age-old argument about how hell is too hot and too loud and IT AIN’T RIGHT, IT AIN’T NATURAL.

because, get this, after descending to hell they descended /back up/ into it, and u can tell cuz the lighting is fuckin genius. i’ll explain later except i won’t.

orpheus is just OUT OF IT and not hearing anything at all eurydice is tryin to fuckin say. (the tune keeps going wrong.) hades is sick of persephone not being with his electric shiny no-good shittiness and lays his eyes on eurydice as easy prey.

he puts on his sunglasses again and u know it’s bad news.

he talks her over and gives her her ‘ticket’—two silver coins that she momentarily holds up over her eyes as she looks at us, letting us know that this is some death imagery. she holds both hades’ coins and orpheus’s flower—and, making up her mind, calls out orpheus’s name one last time and descends into the underworld through that same miraculous trap.

and then, fuck me, the trap comes back up but just the red flower is on it. fuuuuuck meeeeeeee i may have wept.

orpheus finishes his damn song and hermes lets him know that hE FUCKED UP HIS WHOLE DAMN LIFE SHE GONE, BITCH, and orpheus sees the flower on the trap door and then he’s weeping, too.

and then we get to ‘wait for me’ and holy shit, y’all, i never been so fully into something in my life? it was so physically intoxicating i almost wanted to throw up. like, wonder as a liquid beverage. tHE LIGHTING? ? i fuckin felt awe on this earth today, i saw god and he’s lit by bradley king.

because! hades’ workers bring on these industrial metal lamps, and they hook them to the wires in the ceiling, and they SEND THEM SWINGING OUT INTO THE FUCKIGN AUDIENCE. they fuckin—they—they they they!—they fucking did! that! sent them swinging out in perfect rhythm and time, fully lit, swinging around orpheus and into the audience. and tHEN! THE FUCKIN SET! BEGINS TO GROW!!!

remember the first time u saw the nutcracker as a child and the growing christmas tree fuckin ripped ur world apart? it’s like that except times ten thousand

like it felt like. like the fuckin world was coming apart. the bar set is slowly ripping open and golden light is just searing into your eyeballs and the golden lamps are still swinging around orpheus and it literally felt like god had opened up a cold one and was just singing something horrible into being. it was wonder. i want to see it again.

like. stagecraft, babyyy

and u think act 1 will end on that because why would it nOT but no, we get ‘why we build the wall,’ which is a sort of chilling propoganda thing where everybody is facing forward and just telling back to hades whatever he’s yelling about, and persephone is there and i’m not sure why (like does she believe this? is she the unwilling consort? what’s the deal?)

and at the end eurydice comes in, and sort of picks up on the gestures everybody is doing—in that way everyone does when they come into a room and they want to vaguely pass as with it so they try to sync in to the general vibe. ‘uhh sure everyone’s waving their hands and talkin about walls so i guess i will too’, that kind of thing

hades shows her up to his office (the balcony door) to sign the papers. as soon as he’s gone, amber gray whips round to face the audience. ‘anybody want a drink?’

it’s intermission and i’m still trying to catch up on all the gasp-crying i started during ‘wait for me’

we also get an overpriced hadestown cup cuz get while the getting’s good, right?

back in act 2 and it’s our lady of the underground, ie amber gray in her exact outfit from above except instead of lurid green it’s savage black. (and instead of a bouncy curly brown wig it’s a black sparkly snood.) she dances and pivots and rivets her way through it, introducing the band, being winsome savage bite-your-face-off-and-offer-to-share-it-with-you amber gray. she’s got a neat little ring-shaped silver flask that hangs from her hand like a purse, and i want one.

eurydice emerges from the office dressed in the same overalls as the other workers—though she looks sexy af in them, ngl—and sings ‘flowers,’ and talks about how nobody down here looks at her, and how it’s like they don’t even see her. the underworld is not what she thought it would be. she wants to go home but can’t. she can’t remember orpheus’s name.

uNTIL HE SHOWS UP! Punk ass bitch made it, somehow, and stumbles onto the stage with guitar in hand. she knows his name immediately. but she can’t leave, because she signed her soul away.

u knew all this. it’s classic myth. did i mention patrick page as hades sounds like the combined harmonics of every rumbling truck on the george washington bridge every time he decides to sing?

orpheus has A Moment™ where it’s like, if this is what the world is, if people sign their names up for shit and i can’t save them, i guess i’ll just go home. but he talks himself out of it (apparently his magic vocal cords work on him, too), and actually talks himself (and the stone workers of the underworld!) into activism.

amber gray and patrick page share a duet i’ve never heard before, and it’s fine, and i think it still needs fine tuning cuz im not sure exactly how persephone feels about hades in this bit. it’s fine. what matters is that at the end of it, hades is FUCKED because rebellion is brewing.

he gets orpheus to sing his song. and holy shit, is it a doozy. holy shit, but were we all crying. hooooolyyy shiiiiiit.

holy shit.

when hades sings the refrain at the end, amber gray looks like she’s experiencing the most visceral, exquisite, heartfelt, heartbroken pain of her life. she literally bends as if she’s felt this pain in her stomach—this pain, this anguish over the song she hasn’t heard for so long from this one man she loved so well.

and when a rose blossoms from hades’s palm, persephone is both crying and laughing. it’s like the old times have bloomed again.

and then they dance.

also, should have mentioned earlier, it’s implied it’s not an og song orpheus is singing; he’s actually stumbled on an ancient one, perhaps one hades used to sing, and THAT’S why it’s so devastating—not just his talent and voice, but the memory of it, the memories it brings back. it’s an ancient song, almost a spell, that can heal the seasons.

hades and persephone hold each other close, nuzzling almost, and eurydice faces orpheus, and for a second u think it’s going to be ok because eurydice is so joyful and persephone and hades have healed. o & e  think they’re gonna leave. they think everybody can leave.

but nope, hades can’t have that. damned if he does, damned if he don’t—so he sets the test for orpheus, but u really get the sense that he’s not doing it from a sense of cruelty any more. it almost pains him to do this shit. but the rivet of steel in his character won’t let himself become king of nothing.

hermes presents the challenge: ‘ive got good news, and bad.’ orpheus keeps asking hermes if it’s a trick; hermes keeps saying it’s a test, a trial. (it’s really a TRAGEDY.)

persephone is wooed by the fact that hades even let them try.

ugh, doubt comes in is. devastating. every single person in the audience audibly gasped—u FELT the air leave the room—when he turned around. we all genuinely believed it would end differently this time. we thought it would. i knew it was coming and i still was DEVASTATED.

eurydice is, too. she started as the doubter, and she had so much BELIEF they were gonna get out of this. ‘it’s you—it’s me—’ she says. she’s already sinking through the trap. fuckin hell, they were on the last few steps. i’m still fuckin emotional about it

orpheus just crashes to the edge of the trap, staring down into the abyss. hermes is singing, softly, about how it’s an old song—it’s an old tale—it’s a tragedy. and then he roars—in a way that cheers me up—WE’RE GONNA SING IT AGAIN.

because that’s the power of it! it happened, it was horrible, but we’re going to SING about it—and maybe change the ending this time—the way orpheus tried to, when he sang his way to hades and sang his way to the stones. it’s the singing of the event that matters, that might matter.

and eurydice is back at the bar, wanting matches—orpheus is back at the bar, seeing her for the first time across the room—and the story goes on, like the seasons .fuckin incredible. everybody in the auditiorium now is tear-stained.

APPLAUSE APPLAUSE APPLAUSE

lasted for like.....seven minutes?? it took ages and the actors were just soaking it up, looking exhausted, because DAMN it is exhausting to chart anguish and joy and victory and determination and love in two hours and 25 minutes

and then hermes shushes the house—because of course he does—and amber gray leads the final toast. it’s acoustic—it sounded to me like she wasn’t even using her microphone? it wasn’t brash at all, just raw—and a simple, honest, kind of homespun way to end the show. and it finally ended, and we cheered one last time, and then we went home sobbing and shaking and wanting to do the whole damn thing again

it was great and the stagecraft was some of the best i’ve ever seen and i’ve literally felt maybe only 3 productions like this, where this emotional shit is actually sitting in your lungs, and u should go, the end

[exjwspeaksup]

child propoganda

one of the most horrible stories i've ever read in ‘my book of bible stories’ (not sure if i translate it right, in my country it was called: ‘mijn boek met bijbelverhalen’) was the story of Dina.  to put my post in context, this book was/is made for children.  the story:

‘DO YOU see who Diʹnah is going to visit? She is going to see some of the girls who live in the land of Caʹnaan. Would her father Jacob be happy about this? To help answer this question, try to remember what Abraham and Isaac thought about the women in Caʹnaan.Did Abraham want his son Isaac to marry a girl from Caʹnaan? No, he did not. Did Isaac and Re·bekʹah want their son Jacob to marry a Caʹnaan·ite girl? No, they did not. Do you know why?It was because these people in Caʹnaan worshiped false gods. They were not good people to have as husbands and wives, and they weren’t good people to have as close friends. So we can be sure that Jacob would not be pleased that his daughter was making friends with these Caʹnaan·ite girls.Sure enough, Diʹnah got into trouble. Can you see that Caʹnaan·ite man in the picture who is looking at Diʹnah? His name is Sheʹchem. One day when Diʹnah came on a visit, Sheʹchem took Diʹnah and forced her to lie down with him. This was wrong, because only married men and women are supposed to lie down together. This bad thing that Sheʹchem did to Diʹnah led to a lot more trouble.When Diʹnah’s brothers heard about what had happened, they were very angry. Two of them, Simʹe·on and Leʹvi, were so angry that they took swords and went into the city and caught the men by surprise. They and their brothers killed Sheʹchem and all the other men. Jacob was angry because his sons did this bad thing.How did all this trouble get started? It was because Diʹnah made friends with people who did not obey God’s laws. We will not want to make such friends, will we?’

the last sentence is so suggestive. and what the fuck are they trying to say here? that is was Dina’s own fault that she was raped because she hang out with the wrong crowd?? and even worse, how would children react if they were abused or raped on a young age and then reading this story repeatedly?? sickening. 

this story was being compared to having friends outside the organisation. how twisted, and how manipulating.