#Kyrie ballad brothers

[courfeyracs-swordcane]

Alonzo does NOT get fucking paid enough to still be seeing the billboards of his deadbeat older sister four years after she quit

[theawkwardanglophile]

TheAwkwardAnglophile's Top 25 Favorite '80s Songs

I've been wanting to do this for a while, ranking my fave songs from the '80s, which is also my fave decade. I am a child of the '80s, so I did take nostalgia into account when deciding. It took forever to narrow everything down, and quite honestly, there are a ton of songs that could easily have made this list, but this is where it stands for now, and I'm posting it before I change my mind again. Enjoy!

25. All I Need- Jack Wagner: Just a perfect '80s pop song, really.

24. The Way You Make Me Feel- Michael Jackson: The way this song makes me feel is completely happy, plus it reminds me of Center Stage.

23. Get On Your Feet- Gloria Estefan: It's such a cheery bop and a true fave from childhood. Plus it reminds me of Parks and Rec (IYKYK).

22. Take On Me- A-ha: This one probably should be higher, but it doesn't have the childhood nostalgia attached to it. Still a great song!

21. Girl Can't Help It- Journey: I didn't discover this one until I was much older, but my love for it grows and grows, mainly because the last minute or so of it is LIIIIFE.

20. Can't Fight This Feeling- REO Speedwagon: GEEZ, this song is so good. I've applied it to many of my ships before because the feels are so strong.

19. Kyrie- Mr. Mister: I mean, how can you not love this one?

18. Magic- Olivia Newton-John: Is it cheesy? Sure. But I don't care. It is pure gold. It feels like childhood, and I never skip it when it comes up on a playlist.

17. Cool Night- Paul Davis: Another one deeply entrenched in childhood. When I hear this, I feel like I'm in the town I lived in until I was 5.

16. Shattered Dreams- Johnny Hates Jazz: Another perfectly crafted pop song.

15. Human Nature- Michael Jackson: Look, I love Billie Jean, Thriller, Beat It, etc. But I've heard them SO MUCH. This one never gets old for me. It's so smooth.

14. Walk Like an Egyptian- The Bangles: Just ridiculously fun.

13. Careless Whisper- Wham!/George Michael: What an epic '80s ballad. It's incredible.

12. True- Spandau Ballet: I feel if you asked a group of people to quickly name an '80s song, this would be one of the first ones to pop up. It's so classic.

11. Kokomo- The Beach Boys: Ok, this one is really special to me. It's super nostalgic. When this came out, my brother and I instantly gravitated to it, and not long after, we stayed at Caribbean Beach Resort at Disney World, and made up our own chorus to this song using the different places represented at the resort. We were dorks.

10. Cruising For Bruising- Basia: We made it to the top 10! Basia is highly underrated. I fell in love with this song when it first came out, and it's still wonderful to listen to.

9. Time After Time- Cyndi Lauper: Confession time. I'm actually not a huge Cyndi Lauper fan in general, but THIS song is just amazing. It's unique and insanely memorable.

8. (I've Had) The Time of My Life- Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes: I mean, yeah, it makes me think of Dirty Dancing, sure. But it ALSO makes me think of New Girl, which is more important to me. But before all of that, it was a childhood staple, and I still love it, maybe even more.

7. Never Gonna Give You Up- Rick Astley: Not going to rick-roll you here. I have truly loved this song ever since it came out. All of his stuff is great. Rick Astley is a gem.

6. Heart and Soul- T'Pau: I cannot get enough of this song. I crank it up so high. It's fabulous. And the band named themselves after a Vulcan on Star Trek? Yes, please.

5. Something About You- Level 42: This one just grabs me. I love its sound.

4. Everybody Wants To Rule the World- Tears For Fears: What an absolute gem of a song. Seriously. It's so good. Quintessential '80s.

3. Don't You (Forget About Me)- Simple Minds: This song is ICONIC. It's not one I heard as much when I was a kid, but I love it so much now. It's so big and sweeping and just DEFINES the '80s.

2. Africa- Toto: Is there anyone that hates this song? It's ok if you do. It just feels beloved by all. It never gets old to me, and just has a perfect '80s sound to it.

1. The Power of Love- Huey Lewis & the News: This will forever be my fave '80s song. It's perfect. I've always loved it, and when I'd hear it as a kid, it hit differently than any other song, like it had this larger-than-life quality to it. And it's also connected to my favorite '80s movie, Back To the Future.

And there you have it! Is your favorite on here? Do you completely disagree with the list and need to tell me? What would you have put on here? Let me know!

[cardest]

New Orleans playlist

Hungry for some po boys? Feeling the Mardi Gras vibes for this weekend? This is the ultimate NOLA playlist, right here. Play the songs here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-iHPcxymC182dTlE-Gii6ZOO5ZrN1Z1T

Louisiana and New Orleans, all in the one awesome playlist. If there are songs I left out, let me know and I can add those. Or come meet me at Le Bon Temps Roulé  and we’ll listen to this NOLA playlist together with drinks.

LOUISIANA & NEW ORLEANS

001 Bob James - Take Me To The Mardi Gras 002 Earl King - Ain’t no city like New Orleans 003 John Lee Hooker - goin’ to Louisiana 004 Crowbar -  Wrath Of Time By Judgment 005 True Detective - Theme (The Handsome Family - Far From Any Road) 006 EyeHateGod - New Orleans Is The New Vietnam 007 The The Meters -  Chicken Strut 008 Paul McCartney - Live And Let Die (from Live And Let Die) 009 The Rolling Stones - Brown Sugar 010 Lucinda Williams - Crescent City 011 King Hobo -  New Or-Sa-Leans 012 Concrete Blonde - Bloodletting 013 Down - Underneath Everything 014 True Blood Theme Song (Jace Everett - Bad Things) 015 Corrosion of Conformity -  Broken Man 016 The New Orleans Jazz Vipers - I Hope Your Comin' Back To New Orleans 017 Willy DeVille - Jump City 018 Left Side - Gold In New Orleans 017 Necrophagia -  Reborn through Black Mass 018 Johnny Horton -  The Battle Of New Orleans 019 Dr John - Litanie des Saints 020 Foo Fighters - In the Clear 021 Redbone - The Witch Queen Of New Orleans 022 Jucifer - Lautrichienne 023 Danzig - It's a long way back from hell 024 Harry Connick, Jr. -  Oh, My Nola 025 The Gaturs - Gator Bait 026 Jon Bon Jovi - Queen Of New Orleans 027 Cyril Neville -  Gossip 028 Carlos Santana - Black Magic Woman 029 Gentleman June Gardner - It's Gonna Rain 030 Eddy G. Giles - Soul Feeling (Part 1) 031 Tool - Swamp Song 032 Beasts of Bourbon -  Psycho 033 Seratones - Gotta Get To Know Ya 034 Chuck Berry -  You Never Can Tell 035 Grateful Dead - Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleoo 036 Pale Misery - Hope is a Mistake 037 Exhorder - Homicide 038 King James & the Special Men - Special Man Boogie 039 Chuck Carbo -  Can I Be Your Squeeze 040 Amebix - Axeman 041 Tomahawk - Captain Midnight 042 Waylon Jennings - Jambalaya 043 Heavy Lids - Deviate 044 Red Hot Chili Peppers -  Apache Rose Peacock 045 Necrophagia -  Rue Morgue Disciple 046 Johnny Cash -  Big River 047 Albert King -  Laundromat Blues 048 Meklit Feat Preservation Hall Horns - You Are My Luck 049 Le Winston Band  - En haut de la montagne 050 Dr. john - I Thought I Heard New Orleans Say 051 Down -  New Orleans is a dying whore 052 Samhain -  To Walk The Night 053 Creedence Clearwater Revival -  Green River 054 Southern Culture on the Skids -  Voodoo Cadillac 055 Bonnie, Sheila -  You Keep Me Hanging On 056 Warren Lee -  Funky Bell 057 Elf - Annie New Orleans 058 Cannonball Adderley - New Orleans Strut 059 Doug Kershaw - Louisiana Man - New Orleans Version 060 Willy deVille  - Voodoo Charm 061 The Animals -  The House of the Rising Sun 062 Porgy Jones -  The Dapp 063 Lost Bayou Ramblers - Sabine Turnaround 064 IDRIS MUHAMMAD - New Orleans 065 John Lee Hooker - Boogie Chillen No. 2 066 Hank 3 - Hillbilly Joker 067 Nine Inch Nails -  Heresy 068 Talking Heads - Swamp 069 Irma Thomas - I'd Rather Go Blind 070 Mississippi Fred McDowell -  I'm Going Down the River 071 Dee Dee Bridgewater   - Big Chief 072 Dr. John  - Creole Moon 073 Agents of Oblivion -  Slave Riot 074 Steve Vai - Voodoo Acid 075 Saviours -  Slave To The Hex 076 Kris  Kristofferson -  Casey's Last Ride 077 JJ Cale - Louisiana Women 078 Cher - Dark Lady of New Orleans 079 LE ROUX - Take A Ride On A Riverboat 080 The Melvins -  A History Of Bad Men 081 Floodgate - Through My Days Into My Nights 082 Opprobium - voices from the grave 083 Quintron & Miss Pussycat - Swamp Buggy Badass 084 Child Bite - ancestral ooze 085 Sammi Smith - The City Of New Orleans 086 The Explosions - Garden Of Four Trees 087 Bobby Boyd - straight ahead 088 Bobby Charles - Street People 089 Wall of Voodoo -  Far Side of Crazy 090 Rhiannon Giddens - Freedom Highway (feat. Bhi Bhiman) 091 Elton John - Honky Cat 092 Serge Gainsbourg - Bonnie and Clyde 093 Fats Domino - I'm Walking To New Orleans 094 Cruel Sea - Orleans Stomp 095 Down -  On March The Saints 096 Danzig -  Ju Ju Bone 097 The Neville Brothers ~ Voodoo 098 Megadeth -  The Conjuring 099 Miles Davis - Miles runs the voodoo down 100 Elvis Presley - King Creole 101 Led Zeppelin - Royal Orleans 102 The Lime Spiders -  Slave Girl 103 BIG BILL BROONZY  -'Mississippi River Blues'   104 Kreeps - Bad Voodoo 105 Dirty Dozen Brass Band -  Caravan 106 Kirk Windstein -  Dream In Motion 107 Eletric Prunes - Kyrie Eleison - Mardi Gras 108 Merle Haggard - The Legend Of Bonnie And Clyde 109 Corrosion of Conformity -  River of Stone 110 THE ADVENTURES OF HUCK FINN (MAIN TITLE) 111 Zigaboo Modeliste - Guns 112 ReBirth Brass Band - Let's Go Get 'Em 113 Inell Young -  What Do You See In Her? 114 Jimi Hendrix - If 6 as 9 (Studio Version) Easy Rider Soundtrack 115 Deep Purple -  Speed King 116 Exhorder - The Law 117 Crowbar -  The Cemetery Angels 118 A Streetcar Named Desire OST - Main Title 119 WOORMS - Take His Fucking Leg 120 steely dan - pearl of the quarter 121 Tabby Thomas - Hoodoo Party 122 Black Label Society -  Parade of the Dead 123 Dwight James & The Royals - Need Your Loving 124 Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (2012) The Rampant Hunter (Soundtrack OST) 125 PanterA - The Great Southern Trendkill 126 Ween - WHO DAT? 127 Earl King - Street Parade 128 Ernie K-Doe - Here Come The Girls 129 Dejan's Olympia Brass Band ~ Mardi Gras In New Orleans 130 Body Count -  KKK Bitch 131 Goatwhore - Apocalyptic Havoc 132 C.C. Adcock - Y'all d Think She Be Good To Me (from True Blood S01E01) 133 The Meters - Fire On The Bayou 134 Dr. John - I Walk On Guilded Splinters 135 Balfa Brothers - J'ai Passe Devant ta Porte 136 Ween - Voodoo Lady 137 King Diamond -  'LOA' House 138 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Born On The Bayou 139 Dax Riggs -  See You All In Hell Or New Orleans 140 Professor Longhair - Go to the Mardi Gras 141 Dixie Witch -  Shoot The Moon 142 Ramones - The KKK Took My Baby Away 143 Fats Waller -  There's Going To Be The Devil To Pay 144 Mississippi Fred McDowell -  When the Train Comes Along with Sidney Carter & Rose Hemphill 145 Treme Song (Main Title Version) 146 Tony Joe White - Even Trolls Love Rock and Roll 147 Nine Inch Nails -  Sin 148 Exodus -  Cajun Hell 149 NEIL DIAMOND - New Orleans 150 James Brown - Call Me Super Bad 151 Jimi Hendrix -  Voodoo Child ( Slight Return ) 152 Allen Toussaint - Chokin Kind 153 Dash Rip Rock  - Meet Me at the River 154 Hawg Jaw- 4 Lo 155 Hot 8 Brass Band - Keepin It Funky 156 Hank Williams III - Rebel Within 157 Dejan's Original Olympia Brass Band - Shake It And Break It 158 Jelly Roll Morton -  Finger Buster 159 The Royal Pendletons - (Im a) Sore Loser 160 Little Bob & The Lollipops - Nobody But You 161 Gregg Allman - Floating Bridge (True Detective Soundtrack) 162 Michael Doucel with Beausoleil - Valse de Grand Meche 163 Dolly Parton - My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy 164 Othar Turner & the Afrossippi Allstars – Shimmy She Wobble 165 Jucifer - Fleur De Lis 166 Soilent Green -  Leaves Of Three 167 Ides Of Gemini -  Queen of New Orleans 168 Betty Harris -  Trouble with My Lover 169 Lead Belly - Pick A Bale Of Cotton 170 Candyman Opening Theme 171 Goatwhore - When Steel and Bone Meet 172 Acid Bath - Bleed Me An Ocean 173 Pere Ubu - Louisiana Train Wreck 174 Walter -Wolfman- Washington - You Can Stay But the Noise Must Go 175 Alice in Chains -  Hate To Feel 176 Body Count -  Voodoo 177 Live and Let Die - Jazz Funeral 178 Smoky Babe -  Cotton Field Blues 179 Professor Longhair - Big Chief Part 2 180 Lewis Boogie - Walk the Line 181 James Black - Theres a Storm in the Gulf 182 The Balfa Brothers - Parlez Nous A Boire 183 The Jambalaya Cajun Band - Bayou Teche Two Step 184 The Deacons -  Fagged Out 185 Thou - The Changeling Prince 186 Black Sabbath -  Voodoo 187 King Diamond -  Louisiana Darkness 188 Doyle -  Cemeterysexxx 189 KINGDOM OF SORROW - Grieve a Lifetime 190 Hank Williams III - Louisiana Stripes 191 FORMING THE VOID - On We Sail 192 BUCK BILOXI AND THE FUCKS - fuck you 193 Down in New Orleans - The Princess and the Frog Soundtrack 194 Trombone Shorty & James Andrews  - oh Poo Pah Doo 195 Whitesnake -  Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City 196 The Dirty Dozen Brass band - Voodoo 197 Joe Simon - The Chokin' Kind 198 Down -  Ghosts along the Mississippi 199 AEROSMITH  - Voodoo Medicine Man 200 Nine Inch Nails -  The Perfect Drug 201 The Byrds - [Sanctuary III] Ballad Of Easy Rider 202 The Iguauas - Boom Boom Boom 203 PJ Harvey - Down By The Water 204 Louis Armstrong - Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans 205 Dr John - Right Place Wrong Time 206 ESTHER ROSE - handyman 207 Lightnin Slim - It's Mighty Crazy 208 Slim Harpo - Blues Hangover 209 Irma Thomas - Ruler Of My Heart 210 WEATHER WARLOCK - Fukk the Plan-0 211 Superjoint Ritual - The Alcoholik (Use Once And Destroy) 212 Stressball - dust 213 Trampoline Team - Kill You On The Streetcar 214 Xander Harris - Where’s your Villain? 215 Dukes of Dixieland - When The Saints Go Marching In 216 Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds - Su Su 217 Danzig - I'm the one 218 EyeHatteGod - Pigs 219 Hank Williams Jr - Amos Moses 220 The Cramps - Alligator Stomp 221 Crowbar - The Serpent Only Lies 222 Shr��m - drip 223 Thou  - The Only Law 224 DR. JOHN - Babylon   225 Garth Brooks - Callin' Baton Rouge 226 Wild Magnolias - All On A Mardi Gras Day 227 NCIS New Orleans TV Show theme 228 Skull Duggery - Big Easy 229 Harry Connick Jr. - City beaneath the sea 230 Elvis Presley - Dixieland Rock 231 Tom Waits - I Wish I Was In New Orleans (In The Ninth Ward) 232 Neil Young - Everybody's Rockin 233 Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals - Delinquent 234 CORROSION OF CONFORMITY - Wolf Named Crow 235 Widespread Panic - Fishwater 236 Lillian Boutté - Why Don't You Go Down to New Orleans 237 Bryan Ferry - Limbo 238 Scream - Mardi Gras 239 EyeHateGod - Shoplift 240 Better Than Ezra - good 241 Duke Ellington - Perdido (1960 Version) 242 Bob Dylan - Rambling, Gambling Willie 243 Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - sAve my soul 244 Le Roux - So Fired Up 245 Concrete Blonde - The Vampire song 246 Boozoo Chavis - Zydeco Mardi Gras 247 Idris Muhammad  - Piece of mind 248 Les Hooper - Back in Blue Orleans 249 Doug Kershaw - Cajun stripper 250 DOWN  - Witchtripper 251 Soilent Green - So hatred 252 Professional Longhair - Big chief 253 Willie Nelson - City Of New Orleans 254 Tom Waits - Whistlin' Past The Graveyard 255 Brian Fallon - sleepwalkers 256 Patsy - Count It On Down 257 Into the Moat - The Siege Of Orleans 258 Bruce Cockburn - Down To The Delta 259 Jello Biafra · the Raunch and Soul All-Stars - Fannie Mae 260 Exhorder - Asunder 261 Cane Hill - Too Far Gone 262 The Slackers - peculiar 263 Crowbar  - A Breed Apart   264 COC - Wiseblood 265 Necrophagia - Embalmed Yet I Breathe 266 EYEHATEGOD - Fake What's Yours 333 Alan Vega - Bye Bye Bayou 666 DOWN  - Stone the crow

I don’t beads by the way! Hit play here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-iHPcxymC182dTlE-Gii6ZOO5ZrN1Z1T

[eurovision-del]

It took a while, but I made it through all the songs for Selecția Națională and managed to sort them out into a ranking:

Andrea Stocchino – Avere paura

Petra – Ireligios

Eliza G – The Other Half Of Me

Aris – Do Svidaniya

WRS – Llámame

Vanu – Never Give Up

Dora Gaitanovici – Ana

Alex Parker & Bastien – All This Love

Leyah – I’ll Be Fine

Eugenia Nicolae feat. Cazanoi Brothers – Doina

Ciro De Luca – Imperdonabile

Møise – Guilty

E-an-na – Malere

Sophia – Beautiful Lies

Cream, Minodora & Diana Bucşă – România mea

Jessie – Regret

Vizi – Sparrow

Carmen Trandafir – Măşti

Letiţia Moisescu – Mirunica

Roberta-Maria Popa – Indigo

Seeya – Save Me

Ivel – Neverending

Ayona – Let Me Come To You

Outflow – Running in Circles

Alina Amon – Without You

Alexa – Hoodies and Cold Nights

Oana Tăbultoc – Utopia

Kyrie Mendél – Hurricane

Miryam – Top Of The Rainbow

Forţele de muncă – Hai afară, frate!

Othello – You’re Worthy

Aldo Blaga – Embers

Bogdan Dumitraş – Sign

Stelian – Remember

Fabi – That Way

Andrei Petruş – Take me

Ana – Youngster

Cezar Ouatu – For Everyone

Gabriel Basco – One Night

Barbara – Hypnotized

Mălina – Prisoner

Olivia Miheţ – Fragile

Romeo Zaharia – Until The Fight Is Over

Andra Oproiu – Younique

Dan Helciug – 241

Giulia-Georgia – Find Your Way

I’m definitely not alone in feeling that Romania doesn’t have enough songs of a good enough quality to justify a selection this long – it was a slog to get through, and my ranking gets pretty arbitrary in the mid-lower part. I only enjoy less than half of these songs, most songs I’m indifferent to or straight up dislike. However, there are a few gems here.

Avere Paura was the song that stuck with me most after first listen. A powerful rock ballad, I really like the strings in this, soft in the verses and frantic in the chorus. I also like how it slows down the phrases right before the chorus before letting loose there. Except for that moment, it is a little formulaic, it proceeds exactly how you’d expect, but I think it’s overall a good song, I get swept up in it.

Ireligios was my standout ballad of the selection, I love the jazzy rhythm in the chorus and the harmonies from the backing singers. However, The Other Half Of Me came close, it’s a very competent ballad, probably the most slick and polished of the lot. It’s got the all the drama and emotional intensity I’d expect from a song like this.

I enjoy Do Svidaniya a lot, it’s a basic pop track, but it’s a bop, that chorus gets stuck in your head and the drop is also catchy. Then there’s Llamame, which I like the sound of, it’s well produced and sounds modern and fresh – I’m very interested to see how it comes across live, it feels to me more like the sort of song you listen to than you watch be performed, but the song itself is catchy, and if the vibe it creates can be matched on stage it could be something special.

If any of my top 5 manage to win I’ll be happy. A national final with just one great song amongst a lot of duds is better for Eurovision than one with a lot of decent songs but no standouts – I don’t know if Romania quite have that great song, but they’ve definitely got songs that should be good enough to make the final. I can see Do Svidaniya, The Other Half Of Me, and Llamame if staged right doing really well. Even though Avere paura is my favourite of them, I think it’d be the least likely to succeed out of my top 5, so I’m not too fussed about it winning.

[residentraccoon]

Selectia Nationala thoughts below!!

• Aldo Blaga - just nice but I kind of prefer the other Embers with the trupets.

• Alex Parker & Bastien - this is literally Blinding Lights lmaoooooo

• Alexa - this one was pretty but nothing special. Idk why I expected something like Nordlyset (MGP 2021)

• Alina Amon - good ballad but that's about it

• ANA - wow stock mall music i'm sorry

• Andra Oproiu - meh

• Andrea Stocchino - this one was good

• Andrei Petruş - reminds me of Vasil

• ARIS - I like it, but a bit too commercial for Eurovision ig

• Ayona - good but again, too commercial

• Barbara Tesija - wow pretty good

• Bogdan Dumitraş - Australia 2015 but weaker and 1985

• Carmen Trandafir - tries to be artistic but is cheap

• Cezar Ouatu - ah dissapoint 😂😂 though the last minute is kinda good I suppose. With a meme-ish staging this could do well...? not sure

• Ciro de Luca - idk feels cheap

• Cream, Minodora, Diana - idek if this is bad or good but judging the quality level of this nf it's definitely among the best 😂

• Dan Helciug - what is this

• Dora Gaitanovici - i feel it lacks something but I love the rock sound

• E-an-na - It's literally the only one so far that has a great potential, it gets your attention from the first note. But as I know the juries of my beloved native country this will 99% won't win.

• Eliza G - just good

• Eugenia Nicolae & Cazanoi Brothers - wow I like it, a bit linear but good!

• FABI - meh

• Forțele de muncă - what the fuck

• Gabriel Basco - reminds me of perfect

• Giulia Georgia - no

• Ivel - I love this

• Jessie - good but commercial

• Kyrie Mendel - coffee shop music

• Letiția Moisescu - FAV!! I really love this, it just needs a bit more oomph 💗

• Leyah - emotional but flat

• Mălina - pretty good

• Myriam - holy fuck this is great

• Møise - another nice song

• Oana Tăbultoc - nice scandipop

• Olivia Miheț - see Leyah

• Othello - wow ok

• Outflow - not bad

• PETRA - ahh it's good!!

• Roberta Maria Popa - good ballad

• Romeo Zaharia - nah

• Seeya - solid but whiney

• Sophia - pretty good too

• Stelian - another good ballad

• VANU - Uku is that you? pretty good

• Vizi - nice

• WRS - oh shit I like this, reminds me of Mirud last year

Who should qualify (alphabetical order)

1. Alina Amon

2. Andrea Stocchino

3. ARIS

4. Cezar Ouatu

5. Cream Minodora Diana

6. Dora Gaitanovici

7. E-an-na

8. Eugenia Nicolae & Cazanoi Brothers

9. Ivel

10. Jessie

11. Letitia Moisescu

12. Myriam

13. Moise

14. Outflow

15. Petra

16. Sophia

17. Vanu

18. Vizi

19. WRS

My top

1. Letitia Moisescu

2. E-an-na

3. Myriam

4. PETRA

5. Ivel

6. WRS

7. ARIS

8. Sophia

9. Vanu

10. Eugenia Nicolae & Cazanoi Brothers

11. Jessie

12. Cream, Minodora, Diana

13. Alina Amon

14. Dora Gaitanovici

15. Cezar Ouatu

[courfeyracs-swordcane]

Who are the ballad brothers I have seen you tag them on a variety of posts and I am intrigued

THREE MONTHS LATE BUT HERE WE GO!!! I also did a post about this ages ago which I’ll link HERE but! There’s been a lot of development since then!!!

This is going to get long. Sorry in advance. (Also I’m keeping it to just the Ballad Brothers themselves (and co) but lmk if you also want to know about the saints! They’re not at all relevant to the main plot (two and a half exceptions) but they live rent free in my head)

TLDR. Little guys took up residence in my head when I listened to music in the car and it’s become a whole scifantasy worldbuilding exercise.

Anyway!

KYRIE ALEIDIS BALLAD

- she/her

- 29 years old

- 5’11 (and a half)

- Massive Fucking Tech Sword

- Enneagram 8w7 if you’re an enneagram guy

- she is YOUNG she’s FANTASTIC she’s GOD’S FAVORITE and she’s NEVER GOING TO DIE

- The main character!

- She is the city (symbolic) and her name is god

- Former sword-for-hire/star player/golden girl/mascot/diversity hire (whatever you want to call it) for evil organization(tm) Rekah’s Finest

- (named after St Rekah of the Guard)(think somewhere between the CIA and the Pinkertons)(National guard type of thing that staged a very quiet coup/government takeover about a decade before Kyrie was born and is gradually got to the point where they’re running the city-state where this all takes place as a police state)

- current renegade and aspiring vigilante

- she fucked off the minute she turned 18 to join the metaphorical army/become a cop (same difference)(except there’s also regular cops and they kind of suck shit) and very quickly became very good at it!

- wound up as essentially the Special Little Guy they have as the face of the organization doing a lot of like. Public outreach and shit. Also doing a lot of assassinations inside and outside of the city

- A few years before the story starts she Realized Some Things about how her and Alonzo were orphaned and quit her job EXTREMELY publicly and extremely dramatically and left with nothing but her Massive Fucking Tech Sword and the clothes on her back and fucked off to go hide/live in a massive tower monument at the center of town

- It’s… legally difficult to get her out of there due to the historical site preservation regulations so she’s just been kind of vibing there ever since

- Theoretically. She’s trying to take down the RF and get them Out Of Her Damn City

- In practice she’s one singular burnout and has no idea how the hell to go about doing that so she’s mostly just hanging out in the tower and evading arrest

- She’s a fuck boy dirt bag piece of shit (etc etc etc) and I love her for it

- She gets no bitches despite being a local celebrity with one of The Fanbases Ever (she would do numbers on scifantasy Twitter) bc She’s So Sucks <3

- (no bitches except she does have a weird homoerotic thing going w her roommate/childhood best friend who’s kind of a reincarnation of St Ely who built the city and lives in the tower)(she’s not looking at it)(she’s got bigger problems called Avoiding Confronting Any Emotion bc if she looks at any of them she’ll have to process all of the Guilt she has irt. Pretty much abandoning her baby brother on the streets to go be a hero and then Never Contacting Him Again)

ALONZO BALLAD

- he/him

- 25

- 5’4

- two regular guns

- Kyrie’s aforementioned baby brother!

- Enneagram 3w4 which if you were friends w me 2019-2021 you’ll know exactly how much that says everything you need to know about this guy (derogatory)

- Most repressed mfer on the planet and a neurotic little freak

- Considers himself to be the only guy in this found family with a braincell. (Untrue, even if you don’t count An)

- His first instinct in a lot of situations is Improv Theater. (Seeing his sister for the first time in more than ten years? Better wear a hood and prepare a whole dramatic reveal about it. Ran into the guy he kissed at the office holiday party while trying to get his expense account wrangled for an upcoming assignment? Time to launch into an extended bit about how he’s so sad and poor and he’s gonna starve and freeze to death all alone on the street and Only They have the power to help him. please.)(they think it’s hilarious but jfc what’s wrong with him)

- The main issue with him is that he gets his apartment and all of his necessities directly from his employer, so his first priority at all times is Preserve His Job At All Costs

- He thinks of the way he lives as self care. I think of it as masochism.

- His main idea of a Life Plan from the ages of 15-his early 20s was Look At What His Older Sister Did And Then Do It Too

- (his main idea of a life plan from the ages of 3-20 was Don’t Get In Trouble Ever or They Will Come And Kill You To Death)(these are not especially compatible philosophies.)

- So he’s a sword-for-hire (gun for hire. And not even a fancy tech one. They’re not trusting any more Ballad brothers with any more expensive technology.)

- This is not working out well for him. he’s not overwhelmingly good at the job. He doesn’t find any purpose in killing people. He doesn’t even like blood.

- He is, however, very good at following orders. But only when he wants to.

- He’s also very good at Lying To His Boss’s Boss

- They keep sending him to try and assassinate Kyrie as like. Kind of a power move? Trying to show her that they’ve got her only family at their beck and call and they can make him do whatever they want

- Unfortunately Alonzo has no interest in killing her so those missions pretty much just wind up with him going to hang out in the tower and shoot shit for a couple days and then going back and turning on the big sad wet eyes for his report to tell them that he did his best he really did but she’s always been stronger and he just couldn’t take her— but he’ll do better next time he promises 🥺🥺🥺

- Kyrie had been their best guy for several years and Alonzo is, in all other regards, the perfect employee (turns in all his paperwork ahead of time, does every other mission very efficiently and never gets caught, goes to all the company mixers even though everyone can tell he’s exhausted, always has his uniform meticulously clean and pressed) so this is plausible, and they go “aww okay better luck next time :) go get some rest :)”

- Also he’s lowkey a hostage here. What are they gonna do? Fire him? No they need him for leverage

- It drives his immediate supervisor who knows EXACTLY what’s going on up the fucking wall. We will get to them.

- Gets Fucking Shot With A Cheater Bullet (very small timed action grenade) on an assignment midway through the story and his first instinct (instead of going back to the office where they have like. Actual doctors and medical equipment to deal with that) is to head to St Ely’s tower, where they have his sister and his kind of boyfriend and also his sister’s roommate who can sew and his childhood buddy Jonesie down the street who knows first aid

- He’s not thinking especially straight due to the Panic and also the Blood Loss from the Bullet In His Ribcage and he’s got a whole emotional thing about how he wants to die at home w his people— and then it goes off and he Fucking Dies. Whoops!

- He gets better his boyfriend (for real now lmao) is an aspiring necromancer and God’s Pet Freak (there’s a lot. Behind that. more later) and he very pointedly doesn’t believe in magic or saints or anything but also his chest cavity did very much get exploded and he’s fine now (besides the lingering Effects) so like.

- He deals with this by 1. Contacting his supervisor who lets the higher ups know there’s been An Incident. 2. Going back to work as soon as they’ll let him (like three days later). and 3. Getting himself transferred to the security division and becoming Ari’s dad’s bodyguard so he doesn’t have an excuse to go hang out at the tower anymore and he doesn’t have to look at any of those emotions he can just Focus on his Work <3

- Obviously that does not go well for him.

SENECA “ARI” FINCH

- they/them/any

- 25

- 5’2

- Enneagram 5w6

- Mad scientist

- Nepo baby

- Front desk intern for the RF financial department

- Aspiring necromancer

- God’s Pet Freak

- If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you raise a child in one of those beige instagrammable influencer houses. It’s this.

- Their dad is the puppet city governor for the RF (Kyrie wants him dead so goddamn bad)(he’s kind of a useless twink but he’s an easy guy to blame for all this shit)

- Their mom died when they were like 8 of something pretty regular and they have since dedicated pretty much their entire life to Bringing Her Back

- (No they were not especially close or anything why do you ask?)

- TECHNICALLY their dad, knowing their passion for Science (and not much else about them) got them a cushy RF job developing biotech to make the cool individualized tech weapons

- In practice, they got their funding and their fancy work lab and immediately proceeded to squirrel just about everything useful from it downstairs to their own personal lab in the basement (not on the floor plan) where they don’t have to worry about things like “supervision” “safety regulations” “proper ventilation” “their job” etc

- They are still doing their job but they’re getting it done in like. Two days out of the month and spending literally all the rest of their time on the necromancy

- It’s gotten to the point where they’re not even clocking in upstairs anymore so they made them take a couple shifts a week at the front desk of the financial department just so they have something on record to pay them for

- They’re okay with this! it’s fun to switch it up and there’s snacks in the breakroom

- I cannot emphasize enough how much they Do Not Leave the horrifying unventilated unethical science basement. there’s a couch in the corner and a sink and an employee bathroom in the stairwell what more could they need.

- One of the early plotlines is centered around Getting Them To Go Outside (really outside, not just to the regular parts of the RF building) and like. Idk. Maybe seeing a leaf or smth would be good for them)

- where they also wind up meeting and hanging out w Kyrie and El, doing some upkeep on Kyrie’s fancy sword, and being Absolutely Fascinated by St Ely’s Tower (there’s some generally buried Magic Shit that perks up when them and El are in the room together)

- BECAUSE!!! (And this is why they haven’t succumbed to the Fumes in the horrifying unventilated unethical science basement, or the gas leak in there from the pipe main running through the middle of it that they’ve been siphoning off of, or any of the experiments they do on themself bc they can’t get any other test subjects and also bc they wouldn’t trust anyone else’s testimony as to What It’s Like) the magic, which is how Ely built the city (and how all of the other saints Did Their Things as well but that’s a whole other can of worms) is a vapor that lives underground and speaks no human language but saw this little freak trying to defy the laws of nature from their hole in the ground and took a liking to them

- It can’t bring their mom back bc she’s been dead for fifteen years and it never met her so it wouldn’t even know where to start

- But it likes them! It follows them around and keeps them alive and helps with their experiments :)

- (they remind it of Saint Ely, who was a similarly tiny passionate freak, but that’s also a whole other can of worms)

- Ari is not aware of this in the slightest.

- Their second arc is getting Disappeared from legal existence (very easy. They live in a basement and barely ever leave it and don’t really talk to people), realizing that they are in fact mortal and could potentially die someday, and trying to contact their dad to make sure he knows they’re okay. (Doesn’t work. They’ve been disappeared and are no longer allowed past the front desk.)

- Their third arc (during the communal breakdown era. Kyrie’s abandoned by god arc where she decides to run away from her problems in a literal sense and Alonzo’s evil arc where stops speaking to everybody and dives headfirst into his job at the war crimes factory) is deciding that the same thing happened to their mom and the necromancy isn’t working because she’s NOT actually dead which means she’s out there somewhere and they can find her! :)

- That is not even a little bit true. :(

EL (no last name)

- he/him (woman)

- Doesn’t really have an age. They don’t really exist in time in the usual sense

- 5’0

- Enneagram 9w1

- Lives in the tower

- Just kind of showed up there one day as a kid and has been living there ever since

- There’s a nearby convent of some kind that fed and clothed them growing up (same place that looked after Kyrie and Alonzo after they were orphaned)

- Kind of a reincarnation of Saint Ely. not in so many steps bc again. Out of time and who knows how long he’s been there but like. He’s back for more but he’s a lady with an ounce of common sense this time. It’s unclear how much he’s aware of this part of it. He knows the tower is important, and he knows restoring the murals inside of it is important. I don’t think he knows why.

- only guy in this found family who’s even remotely capable of coping with the idea of death (he already did that)(kind of psychopomp coded about it)

- Kyrie’s best friend and second in command so much as she has a command. Weird homoerotic gay thing going on there. I assume there’s some of the traditional St Ely brand of devotion but like

- (And by traditional I mean I don’t think that’s a widely known thing about Ely the Saint but it is one of the more prominent things about Ely the Guy)

- Spends most of his time restoring the tower and the murals inside that nobody has seen in years

- (That’s a whole thing)(different can of worms)

- This is @nosongunsung11’s guy so I’ll tap them in for the details but I think that’s the basics!!

AN “PUNK” JANG

- they/them (lesbian)(in gender moreso than practice)

- 35 but they’re lying about it. actually 33

- 5’5

- Enneagram 1w2 😬

- Twin fancy tech rapiers

- The previous Special Little Guy/Mascot/face of the RF

- Ran away from home, changed their name, and lied about their age to join up when they were 16 and they’ve just kind of been going off that ever since

- Went by Punk for a while towards the beginning of their career bc they were 16/17 and it Sounded Cool and it would up becoming almost like their callsign (that’s what Alonzo calls them bc he was very much an enjoyer when he was a kid. They were like Spider-Man to him. Blorbo from the news.)(and he continues to call them that bc he’s a little shit.)

- (They wound up naming themselves after Saint Anjane of Strength not because they believe in any saints but because they desperately wish they did and this way at least they can pretend they know what it might feel like to have that kind of faith.)(in a fun and funky coincidence, they’re actually very very similar to Saint Anjane herself. El has some Complicated Emotions about this.)(long story. It’s Saint Ely’s Monument but it’s also the closest thing he has to a grave— he pulled it out of the ground so he could be alone w/ Anje’s body after he got to her execution too late to talk her out of it)

- Got shunted when Kyrie showed up and was infinitely more personable due to her heroics in SciFantasy 9/11 (long story. Building exploded.) and general bright-eyed and bushy tailed unjaded Disposition

- And by shunted I mean promoted to middle management in the Murder Department

- They’re fine with this it’s significantly less work on their end

- They do make sure after that to have everything they need for basic living separated from the job though

- Only guy in this found family with their own actual apartment. And basic cooking skills. And healthy sleep schedule.

- When Alonzo gets into the Murder Department they wind up as his immediate supervisor!

- Exciting prospect at first! He’s a high profile assignment (hostage) and also an easy assignment (does all of his paperwork on time, completes his missions Quietly and Efficiently, doesn’t really do anything interesting at all)

- Less exciting prospect once they actually work with him. He’s a little shit and a motherfucker and he knows exactly what he’s doing

- They can’t stop covering for him at this point without doing a hell of a lot of paperwork and jeopardizing their own job so they’re stuck now

- Also. unfortunately. they got attached. They’re not the step-older sibling, they’re the older sibling who stepped up.

- They’re the one who arrests Kyrie at the beginning of the story and kick off the whole first half of the plot, but they also wind up putting in their two weeks after Alonzo Gets Fucking Killed and then immediately goes back to work

- They do it significantly better than Kyrie tho they keep their apartment and their bank account and return most of their uniforms so the rf doesn’t have any reason to come after them besides Aiding and Abetting (and also trespassing. On the protected historical site that is St Ely’s monument. But that’s the least of anyone’s worries here.)

- They wind up kind of taking charge of the. whatever the hell these guys are doing. during the Communal Breakdowns arc. they would really prefer not to be doing this but somebody has to. So.

- Also during that arc they wind up facing off with Alonzo and boy howdy is there a reason they got assigned as the rf’s Special Little Guy and he didn’t, bc he doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell even with them holding back

AND THAT’S THE MAIN CAST! Thank you for coming to my ted talk! (Get it?) I’ve hit the image limit on mobile so I’ll come back and add the before/after pictures in a reblog bc I had fun making those

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OKAY inspired by that other poll that went around (would you vote your blorbo for president) and the fact that these guys have to rebuild their city government at the end of the story. Uh.

(and by my ocs. I mean two of them are @nosongunsung11’s and two of them are @wildfandom’s)

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ONE voiceclaim courtesy of @nosongunsung11 and an edit from @dale-aficionado-blueberry and I’m THIS far from going back to my roots

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Welcome to the stupidest shit I’ve ever made <3

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Top ten images that turned the comment section of scifantasy Twitter user @kyrie-ballads-ass absolutely nuclear

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New horrific torment for Bentley Ford just dropped. Being Friends With Younger Kyrie Ballad At Military Police Training.

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Jokes that are funny bc El is kind of sort of a reincarnation of the city’s main saint. Details unclear. he’s back for more.

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@nosongunsung11’s Ambrose Finch-Fletcher diagnosed with Sells Bad Weed and Causes Problems as one of the top four guys who Absolutely Cannot Cope with mortality in this city

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Kyrie Aleidis Ballad

She/her, 29, 6’, former face of the RF (left) turned renegade (right), symbolically representative of the city itself.

More information here. Pros and cons beneath the cut!

Pros:

The clout lmao— that’s Kyrie Fucking Ballad, local celebrity/hero/notorious outlaw, depending on who you ask (her theoretical scifantasy Twitter fandom is batshit)

Uh. She’s hot and fun and might buy you a drink?

Cons:

She’s a fuck boy dirt bag piece of shit

It would kind of suck ass ngl and she will not hang out with you

(Cop era exclusive) she’s a fucking cop

(Tower era exclusive) she lives in a tower that was NOT meant to be lived in that doesn’t really have rooms or furniture or insulation and it’s also a federal offense to be there

(Tower era exclusive) she’s got a weird gay thing going on with her roommate that she is refusing to acknowledge but he will also be there

Picrew linked here!

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The thing is that literally everybody in the main cast would use Kyrie’s mugshot as a reaction image. Including Kyrie. But An’s the one who arrested her, so. Something something initial antagonist joins the team but doesn’t really change any of their ways (which in this case. Mostly exhausted supervision. But there’s also the rapiers,)

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For the ask game: Kyrie, 1, 6, and 17 (I forgot the numbers highkey. The last one is whatever one the grudges question is. I think it’s 17)

1. How did you choose their name?

Oh WORM let me get you the screenshots— it was a Process (1, 2, and 3 are Kyrie, Alonzo, and Ari respectively)

(I did NOT actually know that the Kyrie part of kyrie elision meant god at the time but I AM a massive enjoyer of the “she’s the city and her name is god” bit)(the hunchback of notre dame reference is on purpose tho her ass literally lives there)(St Ely’s tower in the modern end of things is like if you combined the functions of the Notre Dame and the Space Needle into a guy who looks more like Coit Tower SF)

6. What attribute of them (some facet of their personality, their history, their look, or whatever etc) would you find most important to somehow preserve if they were transplanted to an AU fanfic?

USED TO BE A COP but QUIT really dramatically (there’s a modern au that takes place in like 2010 where half of the saints work at a Verizon store and Kyrie was a first responder at 9/11 but walked out a couple years later and now she lives on a couch in El’s basement)(being a fuck boy dirt bag piece of shit is also an important component. She sucks so much (affectionate))

17. Is your character holding any grudges? Are they likely to stop?

OH BOY HOWDY DOES SHE!! A lot of them against herself but also notably she does spend a significant amount of time trying to assassinate Ari’s dad (city governor/RF puppet) theoretically for being a puppet for the RF and letting the city be a police state but mostly actually for the fact that he was the one who promoted her from foot soldier #7284 to the RF’s special little mascot guy so she views him as a guy with a LOT more power than he actually has (also. Even if he did have the kind of sway she thinks he does. He’s a useless aging twink of a nepo baby who got this job when he was like 22 specifically bc he’s easy to push around. His ass wouldn’t really do shit even if he could.)