#This song does such things to me

[fuctacles]

Soulmate identifying words but the first words *meant* for you count, so Steve knows the lyrics of Corroded Coffin's first hit song before ever hearing it on the radio. It's written in chicken scratch on his thigh.

Eddie wrote this song about his stupid crush from stupid Hawkins High that never fully went away.

[thatone-highlighter]

I love you albums. I love you songs connected by similar themes. I love you listening to songs in a specific order picked by the artist. I love you reoccurring motifs throughout the same album. I love you album covers. I love you albums with extended editions. I love you songs that reference each other.

[tinartss]

clandestine meetings and stolen stares

[hollowtones]

Having an awful brain blast moment tonight. I remember fucking none of "The Emperor's New Groove" from when I saw it as a youngun. Rewatched it tonight. Realized that, as a kid, I assumed Pacha and Kronk were supposed to be the same guy in different clothes. If you assume this is true it makes the plot kind of hard for a child to follow.

[javierduffy]

different.

[wazzi2ya]

Art for the portraits in Sinsmas by jigokuhana89

[casualavocados]

What about me? Here we go again. You are so annoying. Could you please just get over it? It was only a one-night thing.

KISEKI: DEAR TO ME Ep. 10 / Ep. 09

[psychopomp-namine]

the way everyone has a dislike in their profile that actually says something integral about their character. lu guang doesn't like plans getting messed up, cheng xiaoshi dislikes loneliness, xia fei with owing favors, vein with lying...

and then you have liu xiao, who dislikes... cilantro. and fish mint.

(shakes fist) (putting him in a glass jar and shaking vigorously) learn to be vulnerable!! tell me something about yourself!! I guess him liking movies lines up with the theater metaphors, and there's him liking chess, but that. doesn't count methinks

[sysig]

You're still standing off to the side. Somehow, center stage has shifted from under your feet without you realizing, and you're standing in the wings, performing to no one.

Starring Role (Patreon)

[s0fter-sin]

what up i’ve been obsessed with would you fall in love with me again like every other person on the planet and i can’t stop thinking about penelope’s final verse

she’s so angry; angry that odysseus would dare to suggest that her love for him has faltered or his actions were enough to destroy it. she’s been waiting, working her fingers raw unweaving her shroud every night, not sleeping as the suitors camp inside her home; every day a threat to her and her son, to her kingdom if an unworthy man - and they are all unworthy - should take the throne. she knew they wouldn’t wait forever, that at some point her deception would be realised; her dedication to her husband means she is at constant risk and the first thing odysseus does when he sees her - if this even is him - is question her love for him?

the very first thing he says (other than her name) is, “i am not the man you fell in love with.” penelope asks him if it’s really him standing there or if she’s “dreaming once more”. once more. she’s felt the cruelty of hope before; has looked at her doorway and seen odysseus the same as when he left (which is probably partly why she’s so shocked by how he actually looks) and felt unfathomable pain when her hopes were dashed over and over again. she asks if he is really her odysseus and he says no

yes, in his mind, odysseus can’t see how he can deserve her love after everything he’s done - the atrocities he’s committed, to himself he isn’t the same man, “i see a man who gets to make it home alive, but it’s no longer you” - but all penelope hears is her husband, the man she loves and waited for, doubts the strength of her love

penelope asks what kind of things he’s done and it must be shocking to hear; his actions so different from the man who left her behind even if he did them in name of returning to her. but when she asks him to move the bed, it’s as much a challenge as it is a test. she’s asking him to prove that he is the monster he claims to be; that if he’s changed so much and become so heartless, he should have no qualms about ripping the symbol of their love from its roots. and it’s also her only way of actually determining if this man who claims to be her husband yet doesn’t take her in his arms, is actually him

“just a moment of labour would bring me some peace” - if he does what she asks, then she will know either he’s changed so much that he’s no longer her odysseus or he’s another fake and was never hers to begin with; that her husband didn’t just stand in front of her and claim she can’t love him as he is. but she’s done. she was already willing to die when she stood behind the twelve axes she challenged the suitors to shoot through. she’s so tired. she just wants it all to be over

“only my husband knew that, so i guess that makes him you” - i guess. even after telling her something only odysseus and her knew, penelope’s still not convinced that it’s truly him. how many men came to her door claiming to be her long lost husband, banking on time and distance to dull memory of his face and voice, on her longing and desperation for odysseus to blind her into believing them?

but if this is her husband? if the man she’s loved through decades of absence has finally returned to her?

“i will fall in love with you over and over again” - an exhausted promise, the core of who penelope is and how she feels; assuaging his doubts and his own clear pain

but

“no matter how long it’s been, you’re mine. don’t tell me you’re not the same person, you’re always my husband” - penelope is screaming at him; how dare odysseus say this to her? dismiss her love and her suffering? he saw the men outside, he’s smart enough to know what they were here for and instead of apologising for being gone for so long, instead of begging for forgiveness for inadvertently putting her and their son at risk, instead of embracing her and putting an end to her torment, odysseus doubts her

“and i’ve been waiting, waiting” - the tone shift of penelope screaming at him to lamenting how long she’s been waiting is heartbreaking; it’s quieter as she gets lost in the pain of her grief, her anger failing as she recalls the memories of her long years of solitude. odysseus tries to call her back with his gentle “penelope” - such a contrast to his own exhausted anger at being asked to destroy their marital bed now that he understands why she asked that of him - but she can’t hear him; she’s too trapped in the memories. he tries again, still gentle but more insistent, and this time she does hear him and her anger comes rushing back along with her grief. her “waiting, waiting,” becomes almost accusatory; she’s been alone for so long and it’s bc of him, bc he wasn’t there, bc he left her waiting

that abrupt “oh” at the end of the verse isn’t just a vocalisation; in that moment, she’s realising that she has realised that he truly is odysseus. she knew it was him before she even processed it. she wouldn’t be this angry if he were anyone else; love and grief and anger coalescing in one single divine moment where penelope finally believes her odysseus has returned to her

“for you” - she’s been waiting and waiting, years turning to dust, her sleepless nights and days spent living in fear and preemptive grief- and it was all for him. odysseus is actually here. which means her waiting is over

“how long has it been?”

“20 years”

“i- i love you”

[marlynnofmany]

Fools, Fauna, and Music Appreciation

“I don’t like this place,” Paint said over the wind. “I feel like the bushes are yelling at me.”

 “Are they?” I asked from my position at the other hoversled. The blueish shrubs on either side of the footpath were making a staticky kind of rustling, but I’d assumed that was just the leaves brushing together.

 “It’s fauna,” said Blip, pushing my sled.

 “Small fauna,” added Blop, pushing the other.

 “Bugs in the bushes, then,” I said. “Makes sense. As long as they’re not yelling because they’re going to jump out at us.”

 Paint scrutinized the bushes as we passed, her lizardy face intent. “I’d like to think that there would be a warning at the spaceport about that.”

 “Probably,” Blip said.

 “Probably,” Blop agreed. “Though this site is pretty new.”

 “I saw at least two roving safety patrols,” I pointed out. “I think they’d notice if there was that kind of hazard right outside.”

 “Probably.”

 “Probably.”

 Paint was still looking around. “I got the impression that they were searching for something.”

 “Well, it probably wasn’t the yelling bushes,” I said. A corner was coming up, so I steered us a little closer to the center of the path. Bugs or no bugs, I didn’t want to end up in the shrubbery. The sleds were full of expensive batteries (airbus size), and neither delays nor a coating of alien cicadas would have reflected well on us.

 “The yelling just sounds so hostile,” Paint insisted.

 “I guess,” I said. “It kind of reminds me of the crowd at a rock concert.”

 “A what concert?” asked Paint.

 At the same time, Blip asked, “Your rocks sing?”

 “No, that’s just the name for a kind of music,” I explained.

 Blip asked, “One made with rocks for percussion?”

 “No, it’s — I don’t think that translates well,” I said. “I probably used the wrong word. In my original language, we use the same word for the hard things from the ground as for the side-to-side motion.” I tried to rock back and forth while I walked.

 Paint cocked her head. “So, swaying music, not stone music?”

 “Eh, kind of? Swaying sounds too calm. This is loud and fast.”

 Blip nodded. “Like beating rocks together.”

 “Sure. Like that. Though nobody does that to my knowledge,” I said. “But it could make for an interesting background rhythm if someone wanted to try.”

 It was at that point that we rounded the corner, and discovered what the safety patrols had been looking for.

 Two honest-to-goodness bandits on horseback.

 One pointed an energy sword at us, his blue frills flapping in the wind. “Step away from the goods, and we’ll let you live.”

 The other one was silent, aiming a vibro-knife at Paint. It looked like the kind that could launch and regrow the blades a few times. Paint was already retreating, not wanting to find out how many blades were left.

 I stepped back too, but Blip and Blop weren’t eager to admit defeat. They shoved the sleds aside and stomped forward, yelling and flaring both frills and muscles. Their outfits today were the tight-fitting kind, so those muscles were easy to see. The clothes offered zero protection from blades, though. That didn’t stop them.

 “Cowards, trying to be tall! Using little food-toasters instead of fists!”

 “Weaklings! That’s no way to fight!”

 It wasn’t really working, since the bandits were simply holding their ground and shouting back. Nobody had launched any blades, though. Maybe the weapons were just for show. But that sword looked dangerous enough.

 I scrambled for ideas, moving out of stabbing range. There were no rocks on the ground for throwing, and no easily grabbed branches in the shrubs. A handful of whatever alien bugs were making the noise might have startled the bandits or their mounts, but I wasn’t about to go digging for those.

 The mounts, though. They looked uneasy. They weren’t Earth-style horses at a second glance, though the similarities were there. Brown, four legs (paws, not hooves), and long heads with eyes on the side in classic prey animal fashion. The way they were turning their heads to keep Blip and Blop in view, flinching at abrupt motions, told me that they might be the weak link in this hold-up.

 I crouched behind the hoversled, thinking furiously while Blip taunted the one with the sword. Paint was whispering urgently into her communicator. I didn’t expect those safety patrols to get here quickly enough, but it was worth a shot. In the meantime, I’d just had a brilliant idea.

 My hair had been getting pretty long, and I kept it tied back in my usual braid. I undid that now, finger-combing it loose and flowing, and tucking the hair ties into my pocket.

 Then I dashed forward to where the horses could see me, and headbanged for all I was worth.

 The alien horses reared and stumbled back, dumping their riders in what was probably a glorious sight to see. I was busy whipping my head back and forth, so I had to imagine it. When the horses thundered off down the path, I stopped.

 Yup, there were the two failed bandits, groaning in the dirt and getting their weapons kicked out of their hands none too gently. The sword guy had already dropped his, but Blip kicked him anyway. Then she picked up the hilt, made sure the energy blade was turned off, and kicked him again for good measure.

 Blop claimed the vibro-knife. “This doesn’t even launch. You absolute failfish.”

 Paint called over the sleds, “Is it safe?”

 “Sure is!” Blip told her. “These idiots are going to stay very still, right?” 

 Two pained groans were answer enough.

 “Great; the safety crew are on their way.”

 I put a fist in the air, and my other hand on my neck, which was already sore. “Woo! Go team!”

 “Nice work with the animals,” Blip told me. “I did not know your head fur could do that.”

 “Right??” Blop added. “That’s a threat display I’ve never seen before.”

 “Not a threat,” I said, fishing out a hair tie. “Music appreciation.”

 “What?”

 “From those rock concerts.”

 The Frillians exchanged looks. “Of course it is.”

 I made a ponytail, then began braiding it. “Some music is meant to be appreciated quietly, and some with vigor. See, even the bushes are cheering.”

~~~

These are the ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book.

Shared early on Patreon! There’s even a free tier to get them on the same day as the rest of the world.

The sequel novel is in progress (and will include characters from these stories. I hadn’t thought all of them up when I wrote the first book, but they’re too much fun to leave out of the second).

[brainworms-all-night-long]

> BAD APPLE!! || METAL COVER by RichaadEB ft. Cristina Vee

This time you're not hurting me, this time I will take a stand All the hatered in my eyes building up an evil plan Standing lonely in the night, with the darkness by my side Looking deep inside myself and revealing only fright

[maximura]

[forbiddentaako]

Fall out boy putting me in a fallenwings mood again

Lute's version:

[hiding-under-the-willow]

44 <3

And when I finally kissed him The whole world began to ring

Song that makes me draw ship art for the first time since February apparently?