#Wolf. Link. Can't. Sing!

[empressgeekt]

Trolls - Accidental Knight and Lost Princess of Rock (A combo au of FoF and Reverse Rock Sibblings)

Okay. Reverse Rock Sibblings is an au by @rocksibblingsau it's basically a reverse of their main au where Branch was kidnapped by Barb as a kid and raised in the rock tribe, highly recommend this au and that everyone should go read their fic (link). The reverse au is one where Barb got trapped in Pop territory and she and Branch just end up living in the bunker together, because their both misfits in the eyes of Pop village. This post is my attempt at combinding this au with my au Field of Forgetmenots (with a little influence of my BB au), which is a Keith and Branch Brother's au, so we're about to start an adventure of a heavily Khaotic trio of adopted siBBlings.

The au begins with Barb on a supply trip with her father, it's peaceful at first, however their Angler bus accidentally disturbs a Briar Wolf den. In the chaos of the predator attack, Barb got hit from one of the wolf's paws, would be thrown to the brush, and knocked out. A very young Branch was out collecting herbs when this happened and he watches in mute horror as the Wolves rip the bus apart, the occupants screaming for their lives. He sees Barb get thrown and uses his hair to pull her away from the danger. He's a little surprised at her appearance, colors dulled and with a crazy hair cut, but he wasn't going to leave her to bleed out from the claw wound on her side. So, her drags her back to the village and asks for help. For once the adults listen to him about a wolf attack, cause well there's a bleeding teenager on the ground. Dr. Moonbloom patches Barb up and Peppy leads an expedition to see if anyone else survives. No one else was found other then Bloodstains on the ground.

Barb wakes up in the healing pod and she is thrown off by all of the color around her. She is horrified to discover that Pop trolls had kidnapped her. Though, she doesn't say anything about her panic, she would not be weak infront of Pop trolls. When the king comes to talk to her, she listens to his words and realizes...they don't recognize that she's a rock troll...Well King Peppy does but he askes her to keep it hidden, because the last thing the tribe needs is for other trolls to track them down and lead Giants to them. Barb bulldozes passed that whole thing and askes for her Dad, and is devestated when Peppy tells her that no one else survived the wolf attack. Barb half listens, as Peppy asks her age, explains they'll get her a foster family until she's grown and that she's welcome in the village as long as she doesn't tell anyone about the tribes. Barb half heartedly agrees, feeling heavy grief for her father. She doesn't tell Peppy about being the Rock princess.

Until a foster family is found Barb stays with Peppy after being released from Dr. MoonBloom's care. It's miserable experience. Baby Poppy is like adult Poppy, just hyped up on sugar and lacking any sort of social awareness. So, Barb has to deal with this little child who is just so excited to have a "Foster sister", all while Barb is mourning her father. She just wants to be left alone to be sad, but Poppy doesn't get it so is constantly trying to Cheer Barb up. Cooper (I headcanon Peppy took him in), is a little better, the younger funk troll (really didn't tell your kid this Peppy?) is excitable but not to Poppy's point, not to mention really clumsy. Barb finds little amusement in watching all of the tumbling Cooper does. However, She still can't wait for a foster family, just so she can get away from this hypocritical king and his daughter.

Things don't get much better with a foster family. They keep trying to make her "normal", act happy, wear bright colors, eat a lot of sugar. and make her sing, but they get upset at her when she sings, because her voice is too rough and raspy for most pop songs. She does manage to get her hands on a guitar, but its acoustic and way too expensive so she can't break it on a whim and expect a new one. She fights with her foster siblings, and apparently she gets in trouble for it since pop trollings don't brawl with their peers. Pretty much she can't wait until she's grown up enough to get out of the hell hole of the foster system. Until one day Peppy brings over another foster kid, with a strained smile, the one and only little Branch. Barb is a little surprised to see a dulled pop troll, but she immediately picks up on how he doesn't want to interact with the family. The parents don't notice but the other kids pick on him, and Barb can't stand it. For the first time someone stood up for the grey troll. and Barb doesn't stop there. After a few days, she notices that Branch would run off on his own for hours at a time, only coming back to the foster house for dinner and bed. Since no one else would do anything about a literal kid running off into the woods, a forest that Barb knew was full of predators, she decided to follow him one day. Found out all about the bunker, Branch's plans and decides to help.

Branch is very confused about Barb at first. In the beginning he just thought she was repaying him for finding her, and when he brought it up he's shock to learn that she had no idea that he found her. "Why do you want to help me then?" "'Cause you're the only sane person here." And she really does believe that, Branch is the only person who seems to give a crap about protecting himself, the entire village is up in the trees so predator's on the ground don't bother them as much, but it felt like no one was taking safety into account. Branch was the only one, and he was just a kid. Barb wasn't going to leave the younger trolling alone, besides, he was more like the trolls back home, a comfort to her in this strange colorful world.

Once Barb out grows the Foster system, she signs up to take Branch on as a young brother and they two of them work on the bunker and live in the woods. Barb prefers this to the village as Rock trolls burrowed rather then built pods. They grow up together as misfit brother and sister. Barb opens up to Branch about her tribe and their traditions. Branch tells Barb about his brothers and grandmother (after nightmares). There lives have ups and downs. Forest life is hard. Barb can take harder hits and heat, but she can't climb well and practically goes into a hibernate state when winter rolls around. Branch is more resourceful, and practically built for the woods, but has a hard time asking for help. They teach each other things, Branch teaches Barb about the Bergens, and Barb in turn teaches him self defenses (she was royalty no way she wasn't taught a little hand to hand).

They're adults by the time that a new player enters the picture one winter. A little mossy green trolling, who's also a little bit of an outsider, starts to follow Branch after an interaction between the two at the market. Barb finds it hilarious. It's like Branch is a mama critter with a Lil baby trailing behind him all the time. Despite his sister's support of a literal child following them into the middle of a dangerous forest, branch tries to keep keith at a distance at first...until an almost gruesome run in with a squirrel. After that he and Barb vow to teach their new little Stalker all about the forest and survival. From winter to summer they see keith almost every day and form a trio of khaos sibblings. A relationship that goes from honorary to legally after Keith dad died in a mining accident. Barb and Branch fight hard to get the trollings custody as they know keith would not have a good time in the foster system. Peppy begrudgingly allows them to keep keith.

A year passes, they all heal and bond. Barb know what it's like to loose a dad so she helps keith through his grief. The whole process is very healing for all three. Barb and Branch let go of their self blame for the deaths/abandonment of their familes (Barb her dad, and Branch his Grandmother specifically) because they don't want Keith to copy them and feel like he's responsible for his dad's death. Overall the Bunker is a full house with two adults and a trolling. Keith knows all about his new brother and sister. Barb has no need to hide what makes her different from Keith, the kid can keep a secret. The trolling stumble on to pictures of Branch's brothers, so the grey troll has to explain that whole bucket of worms.

Keith's birthday rolls around, and Barb and Branch go as far out as they can. A small slumber party with Keith's close friends. The trolling had been working on a story about a knight, so Branch plans to dress up as the character as a birthday surprise. Much to his sister amusement. "You look like a DnD character" "I don't even know what that is...."

Long story short, Branch fends off a wolf in costume and suddenly is named the new hero of the village without anyone noticing he's the grey outsider. After this Branch is panicking over this sudden attention on him as a Hero, because Princess Poppy is out feverously searching the village for his real identity. Barb and Keith think Branch is over reacting and that their brother deserves a little recognition for protecting the village all these years. So they team up and set up a meeting between Poppy and the "Forest Guardian", convincing Branch to go through with it, as this way the village might finally listen to them about the whole predator issue. This plan works infuriatingly well, and the village makes some changes for the safer and Knighting Branch, Barb and Keith gave Poppy that idea, and get the two on the dance floor during the formal after party (They both know Branch is a sucker for the Princess and will play matchmaker until successful).

When the 20th Freedom Anniversy rolls around. Keith is out playing with CJ in her pod, Branch is hunkered down in the bunker after foraging. Barb stayed out a little later wanting some cinnamon bark to cook dinner with, and while traveling home she gets too close to the party just as the Chef shows up. Being brave and stupid, she helps the others escape but is snatched up with the rest of the snack pack. Poppy and Keith meet up while running to the bunker and she tells him about Barb being grabbed.

Branch is horrofiyed when Poppy tells him everything. Clinging to Keith holding back a mountain of emotions and truama. He almost says yes when Poppy askes him to come but he stops himself, claiming that "Barb was grabbed, no troll comes back after being Grabbed." Poppy groans and grips about how Forest Guardian didn't come to save them. This does not help.

B: Poppy he was probably looking out for predators, you know the parties attract them.

P: It did! A bergen came and he didn't defend us!

B: What do you honestly expect him to do against a bergen! A bergen and a wolf are two completely different things.

Deep down, Branch wasn't going to give up on his sister. After Poppy stuffs the village in the bunker. Branch suits up and leaves through the tunnels that connect the Bunker to the rest of the territory. He bids Keith goodbye, leaving the leaf vest with the trolling. He and Poppy meet up in the forest same old same old.

Barb meanwhile is scared out of her mind, but she doesn't want to show it so she just seems angry to everyone. Cursing up a storm, it shocks everyone Bergens included. Even Chef isn't sure what's wrong with Barb, she knows the rock troll isn't Grey with how bright her hair is, but trolls were never this violent. When she tries to reach into the cage to grab Creek, Barb bites her hand. Chef slapps her into the floor before stuffing her back in, and still takes Creek.

Barb has to resist wrapping her baby brother in a hug when Branch and Poppy finally get to the cage. Branch is dressed as the guardian and she can't reveal his identy. Both Sibblings are not at all impressed with the whole "Date to get Creek back" plan. First off, their not fond of him. Branch for obvious reasons, and Barb because he treated her brothers like shit. Second, how the F*ck is this even going to work? Talk the king into his bedroom? Into his stomach? That's some freaky stuff neither of them need to see. Still, they know the only way to get home back to the Keith is to speed this up as long as they can. Branch and Barb snap Bridget out of her stupor, and they get to work. Barb is just trying not to throw up through the whole mission, cause this is worse then any cheesy rom-com.

Barb threatens to kill Creek like the scoundrel he is when he betrays them, and once in the pot she's right by Branch's side as they try to escape. Keith runs into her arms once the rest of the village is captured, and the sight of his brother and sister grey forces Branch to start singing. Hence ture color's seen, and the song, despite being pop, is the most beautiful one Barb has ever heard.

When confronting the Bergen king head on, and the Chef begins to lose it. She doesn't reach for Branch or Poppy to force feed to Gristle, she reaches for Barb. Dulled colors or not, the rock troll had been the one to piss off the Chef the most. Branch does not let her get snatched, and stabs the Chef's hand just as she was going to Grab his sister. In retalliation, the Chef swipes at Branch with her knife, severely wounding him...and putting him into a coma.

Barb is left scrambling. She's torn between the baby brother in the hospital, the baby brother at home, and all of the village finally coming to their senses and caring about Branch now. They send way too many flowers and thank you gifts. Poppy is a blessing, she's able to run point with the village so Barb can handle her family. Especially, when Branch is actually awake and needs to get used to missing an eye.

When it comes to the formation of the forest guard Barb is a drill sergeant, whipping people into shape for proper protectors, and serves as Branch's second. She'd love to teach them power chords however King Peppy bans it quietly, not wanting Rock practices in the village.

Well, that changes with in a year. With King Thrash's health in fast decline and no apparent Heir in sight, the Rock tribe start looking as possible candidates to take over, and give them trial periods before selecting someone to coronate. Val Thundershock was a strong contender and she has plan to get revenge on the Pop trolls. Its a known fact that Princess was lost in an attack on the there transport, the tribe had known for years, what the had only learned recently however was that it was in the Pop trolls territory that she was lost. There's no doubt in Val's mind they sent the wolves and killed her friend. And the WorldTour begins.

When the letter gets sent to the village Peppy has to finally come clean about the other tribes, Barb smiles through out the whole explanation, until Peppy says it was in fight that split up the tribes.

Barb: Okay, King dude I'm gonna stop you right there, it was not infighting that caused the Split. The tribes seperated because Pop turned on the others and wiped them out.

Peppy: Well Barb I'm afraid you're mistaken, that's not what our scrapbooks said.

Barb: You're scrap books are wrong. I have known this story for as long as I can remember, and it was not the meagre disagreement. It was a full on war, one that didn't end until King Axl Rose of the Rock Tribe and his army stood up to the pop tribe in a final fight, killing the king of disco, and allowing the other tribes a chance to flee.

Poppy: Barb how do you know about this?

Barb: Because I am a Rock troll.

Things escalate after that, Poppy takes it as good news, this giant party is a chance for Barb to re-connect with her people. And while she did, expect her dad and Branch to be a little cautious, she did not expect Barb to tell her that this was not a party invite. Barb tries to explain that Rock had been bitter to Pop, and some to the other tribes, due to how many losses they had in the war, and this was in no way and actual party. Poppy doesn't listen...and Barb and Branch join her on the mission, with Keith as a stoaway.

Branch picks up on something going on with his sister and askes if she's okay. Barb's conflicted through out the trip, for years she dreamed of going home to her dad (if he was still alive), but now she isn't so sure, for all of the problems they had with the village it's become home after so long. Not to mention the whole request for the string feels off to her, like why would Val want that? It's giving her ancient pop tribe vibes and she doesn't like to think her people could fall so far. Symphonyville just puts everything in perspective, the amount of damage that Rock music can cause. Poppy doesn't want to go home just yet.

On the trip to country territory, Branch asks Barb all she knows about Rock tactics and weaponry, and she does her best, she was trained in war when she was younger, but technology and practices can change over the years she's been gone. Keith wants to hear some Rock music so he'll know if he's in danger or not. That kind of breaks Barb's heart, she knows Keith didn't mean to be offensive he's just a scared kid after all, but that's still her music.

Barb and Branch plug up Poppy's attempts for a medley. "Pop-squeak, what you are doing is literally the reason the Split happened in the first place."

They talk to Delta, but they don't get anywhere in terms of help. As they leave Hickory trotts up offing them a ride to funk territory. Poppy agrees, however before Branch can objest Barb walks up and pulls on hickory's "tail" (dickory's hair) and rips the brother in the back out of the costume. "Val sent Bounty hunters after us." After some convincing, Hickory and Dickory join up, they just want to save their music, and as soon as Barb proves she is the lost princess of the Rock Tribe, their more inclined to follow her, since she doesn't want a war and is technically next in line. And from them Barb learns that her dad is still alive, but has been loosing his mind recently. Keith cuddles her that night to make her feel better, he knows what it's like to lose a dad.

Chaz does try to attack them in the middle of the night, but the smooth jazz troll doesn't get Far. Barb it quick to the draw with her guitar, acoustic or not, she gives in to her instincts for the first time in years, and a power chord blasts Chaz away. She's not losing her brothers.

Meeting Cooper at Vibe city...explains a lot...when Rock attacks Barb and Keith end up in a bubble with Hickory and Dickory, when they land the only find Poppy, having been captured by Chaz and Val. Branch is nowhere in sight, but as much as it pains Barb she can't go looking for him. Val has gotten all the strings, they need to act now. Barb is in no way the planner Branch is, but she picked up a few things, with the help of Hickory and Dickory, they sneak into Volcano Rock City and kidnap one Billy Reverb. Barb remembered his name from one of the roasters of "Upcoming Stars" Her dad used to read, as though trolls could be assists in time of war. Billy is a little tick at first (they stuffed him in a bag), but agrees, when Barb points out how if they let Val do whatever she was planning they wouldn't be any better then the ancient pop trolls, Billy agrees to help and He gets the rest of bad hair day involved, along with a troll he used to tutor named Demo. He gives Barb one of his guitars, and they crash the concert...and when did the snack pack get there?

As soon as Barb sees the glowing guitar strings, she knows that Val is planning. It was supposed to be a myth, but here she was about to witness and Ultimate power chord, that was being pointed straight at her future-sister-in-law, she's about to jump in when a book comes flying out of nowhere smacking Val in the face. Her first baby brother coming to save the day...until... he jumps...it's the chef all over again, only this time he isn't bloodied, he's completely transformed. Had Barb ever envisioned Branch as a Rock Troll? Yes, but never like this. He was still Branch, not a hollow husk. She does jump on stage after this, Val will never do that to anyone else on her watch.

Val and the crowd doesn't believe that Barb is the lost princess at first, but once she and Val get into a duel on stage, there's no questioning her skills. Billy and Bad Hair Day protect the crowd from the blasts, while Demo and Keith sneak to Poppy and set her free. Poppy runs to stop the fighting, and un the chaos the strings are broken. It all goes silent and Val tries to blame it on Pop, but Barb is having none of it, and tells the purple rock troll to shut it, before checking up on Branch who is just coming too. Just sing starts with the funk twins, and Barb joins them with a pluck of her strings and Branch starts singing....Peace is restored, however Barb does not claim the throne, she doesn't want to be queen, but Val is not given the crown, Rather Billy is the one selected, due to his bravery and leadership he presented at the concert.

Barb is reunited with her Dad, and Thrash is in a moment of clarity when this happens. It's a very tearful affair, and Barb takes the chance to introduce Branch and Keith to her dad, who is very sweet to them for as long as he can. When trollstopia is completed, Thrash is moved to a permanent care facility there, so he can be close to his children.

When Bridget and Gristle's wedding happens, Barb is in attendance, she's working major security, so Branch can focus on his Best Man duties, all of the bounty hunters (except Chaz), came to work in the guard since it's similar in nature to hunting, btu far more stable. Barb has faith in her soldiers, but somehow one John Dory manages to slip through the cracks, and no no no no, this child abandoner does not get to do this now. Barb shoots him with a trank dart, and arrests him, before he gets to far. She grabs Branch after the ceremony and takes him to deal with the intruder.

John wakes up before the Ceremony is over, and the poor bounty hunters had to deal with him throwing his status around as a Brozone member. Branch refused to take off his mask or reveal his idenity until John remember's his actual name. Only to get outed by Poppy and Keith walking into the room. Que Identy reveal and John suddenly has to deal with two very protective siblings. Though out the trip, Barb doesn't stop correcting John about Branch's name and Keith is right with her.

Vacay Island is a cool place and Barb was already planning to take a more relaxed trip there with her brothers and father when this was all over. She laughs at Bruce for mistaking Keith for Branch's son, and then gives the purple-haired troll a rather firm hand shake. And while she doesn't want to associate herself with the brothers, she is open to being an aunt to all of Bruce's hellions. She tries to not be effected by Branch slipping back into old habits during the practice performance, but some part of her can't help but worry that Branch is forgiving them to easily. She's waiting for the other shoe to drop after that.

The puttputt trolls put her on edge, cause goodness these guys need therapy. They were like baby branch on steroids and no emotional support. Clay gets on her nerves even more than John since while oblivious most of the time, the eldest wilted a little whenever she took a jab at him for leaving, and Bruce straight up looked guilty, Clay just gets defensive and argue's with her. Claiming that Barb doesn't know anything about what happened. Seemingly missing that Barb doesn't care what went down between the brothers, she wants them own up what they did to her brother.

When Viva tries to get them to stay at the golf course against their will. Branch pulls out a bow and Barb takes down the trolls trying to hold them in place, while Keith slipped away and opened the door. Everyone but poppy is shocked by their sudden violence, but they don't get to question it until they get back to Rhonda. "We work in military you babies!" Barb actually comforts Poppy, saying that she was right to leave, Being a big sister doesn't mean controlling your young sibling's life and while she feels for Viva, that was too far. Maybe later they can rebuild something, but that wasn't the way to do it. John over hears this.

Practice goes the same, though Barb steps in with the whole outfit thing, after all, they need their voices in harmony not their outfits. John doesn't back off until Barb asks if this is a kink for him and he shuts up and doesn't even try to get keith to fill in that roll. It's very hard for her to not lash out, when the tension rises after all, she and Branch agreed their would be no Scream fighting infront of Keith, so she's cradling the trolling, when she screams at them to shut up, exclaiming no wonder you broke up, "Ya'll don't give a Sh*t about each other!" To which Clay responsed, "Oh what Like you know how we should treat each other? You're not even real family!"

And Branch snaps. Yell at him, it hurts, and he should stand up for himself more, but no one screams at his big sister and baby brother. Branch starts ranting about everything he had to go through because of them, and he's done paying for their dreams with his deep love for them! Ripping off his mask to show them the eye he gave up for family...but not for them...for someone who appreciated it everyday, because Barb begged for him to live, not sing for her, live as he is. "Barb and Keith are more family then any of you!"

They all leave (Barb Keith, Branch and Poppy), and at first they don't even want to go save Floyd. The other three hadn't changed what was the point of getting the liar out of trouble. However, Keith doesn't think Hero's leave behind people in trouble, and the forest guardian is his hero. The little trolling's faith is the thing that gets them moving. However they would not trust the perfect family harmony to save them. Poppy calls in Cooper for back up as the Funk Trolls 100% have a way to cut gemstones.

Barb holds off on her jabs with Floyd only because this man looks bad. Like half dead vibes, it makes her father look like a spring daisy. Doesn't mean she's sunshine and rainbows to him though. Branch isn't either, with his nerves shot from the experience with the other three. When they see that Velvet and Veneer have captured the other brothers, Barb, Keith and Branch just shared exhausted sighs. Because of course this had to happen. They free Rhonda and confront the Twins, que car chase.

Barb is at the wheel since she has the most experience with driving, and she is far more aggressive with Tiny catching up to the Twins' ride much faster then expected. Keith holds them steady, as Barb climbs onto RHonda's roof, and starts to pelt the twins with power chord, trying to keep them distracted, while Branch tries to sneakily free his bothersome family. It doesn't work, and Keith loses control, sending Rhonda flying off of the road. The armadillo Bus is thankfully caught by Bridget and gristle, while Barb is saved by a locks of golden hair. Viva catches her and pulls her back to safety. Both groups of sibling reunite with hugs on board of Rhonda. Barb gives Viva a proud smile to see how much the pink blonde had grown in terms of older sibling hood.

Through out all of this John Dory is a mess. Ever since the fight, where Branch rightfully so, ripped them to shreds. He has been replaying all the words his baby brother screamed, and what he had over heard Barb say to poppy earlier. New perspective in mind, he knows he has to apologize for being just like that to his younger brothers, but first he has to make it out of this. Watching as Branch and the others battled the twins (which was crazy! taking on two giants hand to hand), until eventually he, bruce, and clay were free was just another nail in the coffin of how much Branch had grown up. Floyd is on his death bed, and he just breaks down in the group as Velvet announces an encore. His apology is bluppered and not put together well but the feeling is there, "It's a long story, everything that happened, and I'm sorry that hurt all of you. But please, just for a minute can we all put everything aside for the sake of our brother who needs us. I don't need us to be perfect, i just need us to try, cause if we don't..."

Barb surprisingly is the first to step forward with the harmony, playing a melody on her guitar, an old lullaby that her dad used to sing, and that she in turn sung to Branch and Keith. The piece predates the split, and never really belonged to any tribe, so the brothers recognize it. By some miracle, the PFH is pulled off and the Twins are arrested, by then the funk trolls show up and they are pulled into the ship and Floyd is brought to the hospital wing.

The rest of the au is basically, the brothers having to deal with Floyd's recovery and trying to bond with Branch, plus Keith and Barb, since the three are a complete package. Eventually ending at Keith's ninth birthday party where differences are settled and the family is united, with a fresh start.

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Once more this au, was inspired by the Reverse Rock Sibblings is an au by @rocksibblingsau, please support them! as all rights to that au belong to them. FOF is my own work.

[vickyvicarious]

Today's entry is full of Lucy/Jonathan parallels. It's so many throughout... I can't possibly quote every single one, but here are a few big things.

I write this and leave it to be seen, so that no one may by any chance get into trouble through me. This is an exact record of what took place to-night. I feel I am dying of weakness, and have barely strength to write, but it must be done if I die in the doing.

vs

If this book should ever reach Mina before I do, let it bring my good-bye. (5 May)

+

These may be the last words I ever write in this diary. I slept till just before the dawn, and when I woke threw myself on my knees, for I determined that if Death came he should find me ready. (30 July)

Lucy is writing with the specific intent of keeping anyone else from getting into trouble through her - in other words, so none of the maids or her doctors or whoever will be blamed for her murder if she dies before the night is through. The first quote from Jonathan is not really a direct match to this sentiment, of course. But while I couldn't remember a perfect quote to compare, we see hints throughout his journal that Jonathan is writing in the hopes that someone else might someday see it. Perhaps Mina, perhaps some other guest to the castle... he hopes that the explanation of what happened to him, and detailing of what Dracula is, will prove useful. Perhaps it will help someone else protect themself - just like Lucy hopes here. (This is of course not his only reason for writing. Another major reason why is how it helps to keep him sane and helps him plan escapes. Still, it is one of his reasons.) And certainly, the sentiment that the record is important to keep even at risk to oneself, is a shared link between them. Both of them also show a determination to face their death directly.

This line is also an echo of the various times Jonathan (and, more recently, Jack) experienced something seemingly impossibly horrific, and made a big point that they were writing things down exactly as they happened.

The time did not seem long, but very, very awful, till I recovered consciousness again. Somewhere near, a passing bell was tolling; the dogs all round the neighbourhood were howling; and in our shrubbery, seemingly just outside, a nightingale was singing.

vs

Something made me start up, a low, piteous howling of dogs somewhere far below in the valley, which was hidden from my sight. Louder it seemed to ring in my ears, and the floating motes of dust to take new shapes to the sound as they danced in the moonlight. I felt myself struggling to awake to some call of my instincts; nay, my very soul was struggling, and my half-remembered sensibilities were striving to answer the call. I was becoming hypnotised! (24 June)

Lucy awakens after the first attack of the night to the sound of dogs howling (amongst other things). Jonathan too has been saved from a trance by this noise, though in his case it was a close call. Dracula certainly seems to have successfully hypnotized her and most likely did drink from her between his arrival in the room (the dust swirling in) and the maids'.

What am I to do? what am I to do? I am back in the room with mother. I cannot leave her, and I am alone, save for the sleeping servants, whom some one has drugged. Alone with the dead! I dare not go out, for I can hear the low howl of the wolf through the broken window.

vs

I fear I am myself the only living soul within the place. (8 May)

+

What shall I do? what can I do? How can I escape from this dreadful thing of night and gloom and fear? (24 June)

+

Suddenly it struck me that this might be the moment and means of my doom; I was to be given to the wolves, and at my own instigation. There was a diabolical wickedness in the idea great enough for the Count, and as a last chance I cried out:— "Shut the door; I shall wait till morning!" and covered my face with my hands to hide my tears of bitter disappointment. (29 June)

These are only a few of the lines that Lucy's quote reminds me of. This is the big one, there's so much to connect in it.

Like Jonathan, Lucy is alone with the dead. Dracula has sabotaged her only chance of reaching out to other people for aid (drugged maids = workers in the yard, people who saw Dracula dressed as Jonathan). She also feels duty-bound to stay by her mother's side, in a way which reminds me of Jonathan's feeling of obligation towards Mr. Hawkins (all the more as Mina's letter today emphasizes how familial their relationship has become). Like Jonathan, Lucy cannot see any options to escape from the living nightmare she is experiencing.

Like Jonathan, Lucy cannot leave because if she does, she fears a wolf will get her. (Much like Jonathan, she is earlier in her memorandum able to distinguish a wolf howl from a dog's, despite never hearing one before.) Even though she does not really expect to live through the night, she cannot make the choice to go out and face almost certain death. She's even recently seen the wolf kill a mother, to really drive the comparison with Jonathan's experiences home. (A contrast between the two is, of course, the mother he saw die was trying to rescue/avenge her dead child, but was too late. Mrs. Westenra seeks comfort from her daughter tonight, and as she dies unwittingly steals away Lucy's protection (garlic), thus holding true to her role of accidentally endangering her further.)

The air seems full of specks, floating and circling in the draught from the window, and the lights burn blue and dim. What am I to do? God shield me from harm this night! I shall hide this paper in my breast, where they shall find it when they come to lay me out. My dear mother gone! It is time that I go too. Good-bye, dear Arthur, if I should not survive this night. God keep you, dear, and God help me!

vs

Then I began to notice that there were some quaint little specks floating in the rays of the moonlight. They were like the tiniest grains of dust, and they whirled round and gathered in clusters in a nebulous sort of way. (24 June)

+

God help me in my task! Good-bye, Mina, if I fail; good-bye, my faithful friend and second father; good-bye, all, and last of all Mina! (25 June)

(I've run out of new colors and am recycling. These aren't meant to match to the above instances of these colors.)

Like Jonathan described his experience being hypnotized by the vampire ladies, Lucy too sees Dracula's form as circling specks (twice, in fact, the other quote being above). The lights going blue and dim are also reminiscent of the various times Jonathan describes moonlight at the Castle. I especially think of just before he meets the vampire women, when he muses about the powers that modernity cannot defeat, and his modern lighting is contrasted to the moonlit room. Here, Lucy's modern lighting is going out as the supernatural invades her bedroom.

Lucy bids her final farewells to her mother and her fiance. In the quote I gave, Jonathan does the same for his father figure and his fiancee. Both of them invoke God for help. Both of them end their entries with this thinking of the one they love most. Jonathan of course does this multiple times, but I'm only quoting this one instance as it feels like the closest match overall.

And once again, we also see multiple comparisons beyond what I directly quoted. Lucy reiterates her expectation of death as in the quote at the top, and even chooses to hide her memorandum in her clothes, much as Jonathan hid his diary on his person at all times. (The difference being, he wanted to hide it from Dracula; she wants to ensure hers is seen by someone.)

[drawing-way-outside-the-lines]

Davian Thompson D'Angelo.

Voice Claim: (

Partner(s): Faye Lupei McKinney Parents: Evan Thompson and Jackall D'Angelo. Kids: None. Siblings: Many, I can't keep linking all these supernatural kids, it takes days!! XD Age: Translates into mid-late 20's Birthday: April 3rd Height: 187 cm 6.1 ft Body type: Muscular but slim Eye color: Brown around iris, green/gray further out Classification: Wolf Shifter and Copycat/watcher ~ The ability to learn other peoples powers simply by observing them long enough.

About: ~ Adventurous, Determined, Ambitious, Charismatic, Energetic, Shy, Awkward, Adaptable, Calm, Fair, Approachable, Kind, Talented, Charming, Ellegant, Intelligent, Caring, Helpful, Flirtatious, Deep, Authentic, Easy-going, Honest, Melancholic, Gracious, Passionate, Creative, Spontaneous, Open and Innovative. ~ Musician/Performer. ~ Sexuality Pansexual. ~ Has half long Dark brown, almost black hair. ~ Has tattoos on most parts of his body. ~ On stage he can be quite flamboyant, but in real life he's calm and down to earth. ~ Is a deep thinker. ~ Pierced ears. ~ Known for being 'too pretty to exist' which only makes him chuckle shyly. ~ Can play piano really well. ~ Writes his own songs. ~ Loves to cuddle up in front of his large garden projector and watch movies for hours. ~ Is not a fan of people calling his name on the street, but if you walk up to him quietly and ask for an autograph, he will even chat with you for a while. ~ Is very into fashion and often changes his style. ~ Smells like expensive Patchouli or Sandalwood. ~ Loves kids, and would love to have a kid of his own some day. ~ Would like to learn to play guitar. ~ Dabbles a bit in witch craft. ~ Very devoted to his girlfriend Faye, but they are in an open relationship. ~ Terrified of spiders and any kind of beetle.

About: ~ Adventurous, Determined, Ambitious, Charismatic, Energetic, Shy, Awkward, Adaptable, Calm, Fair, Approachable, Kind, Talented, Charming, Ellegant, Intelligent, Caring, Helpful, Flirtatious, Deep, Authentic, Easy-going, Honest, Melancholic, Gracious, Passionate, Creative, Spontaneous, Open and Innovative. ~ Musician/Performer. ~ Sexuality Pansexual. ~ Has half long Dark brown, almost black hair. ~ Has tattoos on most parts of his body. ~ On stage he can be quite flamboyant, but in real life he's calm and down to earth. ~ Is a deep thinker. ~ Pierced ears. ~ Known for being 'too pretty to exist' which only makes him chuckle shyly. ~ Can play piano really well. ~ Writes his own songs. ~ Loves to cuddle up in front of his large garden projector and watch movies for hours. ~ Is not a fan of people calling his name on the street, but if you walk up to him quietly and ask for an autograph, he will even chat with you for a while. ~ Is very into fashion and often changes his style. ~ Smells like expensive Patchouli or Sandalwood. ~ Loves kids, and would love to have a kid of his own some day. ~ Would like to learn to play guitar. ~ Dabbles a bit in witch craft. ~ Very devoted to his girlfriend Faye, but they are in an open relationship. ~ Terrified of spiders and any kind of beetle. ~ Incredible singing voice. ~ A bit of a dreamer, often gets lost in his inner world. ~ Is pretty good at cooking. ~ Spends a lot of time in his living room, reading, watching the sea. ~ Will always prefer to walk from place to place, as long as it is in reasonable walking distance, reasonable to Davian means somewhere within 25 km. ~ Often feels like an outsider, or an alien. ~ Doesn't like supermarkets. ~ He once broke a finger by slamming his fingers down on the piano at a concert. ~ Loves old dusty books, Faye, his family, cats (but Faye is allergic), Herbal teas, green apples, living by the sea, taking care of plants in his garden, sunshine, music, touring, starry nights, moonlight, Wine, Italian food, art, cinema, the smell of the sea, swimming, dancing, romance, reading and a certain Saint Greer mechanic. ~ Dislikes Gossip. ~ Dresses in whatever he finds in the latest fashion magazine. ~ Losely inspired by Damiano David, the leadsinger of Måneskin. Davian's tag Davian's house/home Davian’s moodboard Handwriting/ask answer pic:

One Gif to describe him:

One song to describe him: Damiano David - Born With A Broken Heart

Personal play list: 1. Kaleo - Backbone 2. Artic Monkeys - I wanna Be Yours 3. Cyril - Stumblin' in 4. Kaleo - Lonely Cowboy 5. Hozier - Too Sweet 6. David Bowie - As The World Slows Down 7. The Cure - Just Like Heaven 8. Hans Zimmer - Time (live) 9. Hooverphonic - Eden (Live at Koningin Elisabethzaal) 10. Mazzy Star - Fade Into You 11. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Red Right Hand 12. Clann - I Hold You 13. Damien Rice - Cheers Darlin' 14. Haevn - Promise 15. Kaleo - Break My Baby (Stripped back) 16. Lou Reed - Satellite Of Love 17. Hozier - Do I Wanna Know Cover 18. Alliance - Consciousness Awakens 19. Aurora - Running With The Wolves 20. John Mayer - Slow Dancing In A Burning Room 21. Roxy Music - Avalon 22. Manchester Orchestra - The Way 23. Simply Falling - Lyeoka 24. Röyksopp - What Else Is There ? 25. Elderbrook & Rudimental - Something About You 

[mareastrorum]

Nein Again music for Episode 13: Lost & Found below the cut!

During the introduction, Matt was playing an unreleased track from Witcher III DLC: Blood and Wine. While the vocalist for that DLC is very distinctive, I couldn't be sure of the exact track. I believe it's the ambience for Syanna's Dream, which is linked below. A similar song is What Lies Unseen.

From then on, we get a lovely tour of various Witcher III combat songs once the fight begins against the Kryn Echo Knight. Most of the songs in this post are from that initial fight.

At about 10:00, Matt switches to Like a Wounded Animal.

Forged in Fire follows immediately afterwards.

After a song I couldn't ID, Eyes of the Wolf kicks up at about 14:35. It's the one with the very angry vocalist and dramatic strings.

Next is Blood on the Cobblestones. It's got great energy IMO.

Right at 20:00, we get ...Steel for Humans. It's the "banana tiger" song.

I am trying to find the one with ongoing singing (it's definitely from Witcher III). I'll update if I find it.

At about 28:40, Igni starts up.

At about 33:30, we get At War!

Much later, once Caleb makes his move to steal the Beacon from Crownsguard, Emhyr var Emreis begins at about 1:22:30. Matt seems to like using the Nilfgaardian themes for Empire scenes.

Following that, Matt plays Shattrath themes from World of Warcraft as the theft attempt continues.

I can't include more videos in the body, so the rest are links!

At about 1:53:50, while they're discussing how to hide the Beacon in the basement, Matt plays Family Matters. This song has both Nilfgaardian motifs (the Empire themes) and the haunting strings from the Crookbag Bog themes. It plays again at about 2:03:40.

At about 2:22:50, Matt plays A Nearly Peaceful Place from the Witcher 2 soundtrack while Nott licks Jester's new safe.

At about 2:41:10, When No Man Has Gone Before starts during Nott's conversation with the others about trust.

At about 3:04:10, for Caleb's solo scene with the Beacon, Matt plays In The Giant's Shadow from Witcher III. It's a very slow, ominous piece. It gets interrupted about a minute and a half later, and I believe the more romantic song is from Skyrim.

At about 3:17:00, I'm about 80% sure it's Dwarven Stone Upon Dwarven Stone from Witcher 2 or a variation of that song. There's very few Witcher songs that are 7.5 minutes long, but the one in the stream had softer sounding strings. I'll update if I find the exact version.

At 3:38:30, Kaer Morhen starts up right as Nott requests her neverending flask of alcohol.

At 4:00:42, just after Jester uses the wand of smiles on Beau, Yes, I Do... begins.

At 4:06:35, as the group announces they'll head to the Evening Nip, Matt starts The Vagabond.

[melonthesprigatito]

Recently started a new playthrough of Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom so I'm back on my Rito hyperfixation again 👍

I dug up an old OC I drew back when Echoes of Wisdom was announced (because I just assumed they'd be in the game so I wanted to predict what they would look like in the Link's Awakening/Echoes of Wisdom art style) and spent the last two days redrawing her and rethinking her lore to fit in the Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom version of Hyrule instead.

THE LORE:

She lost her parents at a young age due to a disease that spread in the village, so she grew up without a family.

She idolised the Rito Champion Revali since she was a fledgling and spent years dreaming that she would become a master archer like him. She often got in trouble when she was younger because she'd skip singing practice to watch the warriors train at the Flight Range and copy their techniques.

Unfortunately, because of Rito cultural values only Rito men were allowed to train as warriors, while Rito women were railroaded into more domestic roles like learning their traditional songs, making clothing and arrows or working as merchants etc. She absolutely refused to settle down and rejected any attempt by the Rito Elder (Kaneli) to set her up with a suitor.

She spent her entire life secretly teaching herself archery out of spite while shirking her responsibilities and was basically the village outcast for a while She faced mockery at best and ostracism at worst for refusing to take part in their traditions. She pretends not to care, reasoning that Revali was also a lone wolf. If he could become a legendary warrior by himself, so can she.

Eventually, she ran away from home to become a travelling merchant. Or at least, that's what she wants Kaneli to believe. While she does OCCASIONALLY do actual merchant stuff, most of her time is taken up by moonlighting as a monster slayer.

By hiding her identity, she's free to use her archery skills in combat by raiding monster camps and stealing their supplies, which she then sells in her merchant job. Her favourite monster is the Frost Talus, because she can defeat them by raining fiery arrow hell and swipe the gems and ores left behind to sell for profit.

She's also somewhat of a minor annoyance to the Yiga Clan because she's very good at noticing when somebody is pretending to be an unassuming traveller. Because she's also a skilled fighter pretending to be an unassuming traveller. Which then results in her ambushing their ambush and kicking their asses because it's very easy to win a fight when you can fly and your opponent can't.

She has some minor wind control abilities, and while she's not nearly as proficient at it as Tulin or Revali, she can just about manage a weaker version of Revali's Gale and some tiny tornadoes.

She's maybe just a liiiiittle teeny tiny bit jealous of Tulin becoming the Sage of Wind and owning the Great Eagle Bow, but she also knows that beefing with a literal child is a bit silly.

She has an intense rivalry with another travelling merchant: Beedle. She thinks he's annoying, he thinks she's sketchy.

She likes hanging around in Gerudo Town because unlike Rito Village, they're totally cool with women warriors and they like sparring with her. She had a heart attack when she stumbled across Frita (that one Rito who was looking for poultry in the market) because she thought she'd snitch on her, but Frita was surprisingly fine with it and promised not to say a word, because whatever happens in Gerudo Town, stays in Gerudo Town.

When she found out that Link and Princess Zelda were alive at the time of the Calamity and knew Revali in person, she had a complete fangirl attack and booked it straight to Hateno Village to ask them all about him. She didn't get anything from Link, because you know, amnesia. And he doesn't talk much. But Zelda was happy to share what little she knew about him. They talked for hours and it was the best day of Rubee's life.

She's definitely bumped into Kass a couple of times and lowkey considers him to be her opposite. He abandoned his warrior training to become a bard. She abandoned her singing lessons to take up archery.

On the flip side, she's TERRIFIED of bumping into Penn and avoids the Lucky Clover Gazette like the plague. She's paranoid that he'll discover what she's doing and blab all about it in the latest issue of the papers and spread them all over Hyrule.

During the Upheaval's blizzard, she begrudgingly returned to Rito Village to help out with scavenging for food and supplies. She may have disliked all those stuffy traditionalists, but she didn't want anyone to starve to death either, especially because she also lost her parents to a lack of lifesaving medicine that couldn't be delivered in time. She had to fight the urge to hunt with her bow because it would blow her cover, so she resorted to searching for firewood instead.

While the previous Rito Elder thought she had finally given up on that silly warrior dream and got a respectable job as a merchant, unfortunately Teba isn't stupid. He was fully aware that Rubee frequently snuck into the Flight Range to practice at night and is now going out and about firing arrows everywhere but he doesn't really know what to do about it. He's a little more open minded and has decided to look the other way for now because plot twist; his beloved wife Saki also practiced archery (enough that he gives her BOMB ARROWS to defend their home with! Actually canon!) but gave up on it years aho to take care of their newly hatched son.

[gamerbot-22]

Honkai Star Rail Ficlet Series Collection Post

Just a collection post of all the stories written for my daily-ish challenge of writing a little narrative around HSR characters. Character names are put on a wheel and spun, and then a prompt is generated from a drabble prompt generator to serve as a jumping off point. Originally the idea was to write a story in 200 words or less, but by Sushang I made the executive decision to write until the single scene felt "done."

The Ao3 Series version of this collection post can be found here! A link to the custom dividers I use from Day 3 on can be found here!

Day 1 - Silver Wolf and Ice Cream, Intense Focus and the Consequences Thereof

Day 2 - Sushang and Painting, Subject on an Empty Stomach

Day 3 - March 7th and Socks, Astral Express Regional Floor Skating Try-Outs

Day 4 - Asta and Dinner, Working Up an Appetite

Day 5 - Tingyun and Singing, The Girl from the Luofu Went Walking

Day 6 - Acheron and a Scarf, Calm Before Lightning Strikes

Day 7 - Himeko and Breakfast, The Most Important Meal of the Day!

Day 8 - Mr. Welt Yang and Candy, Just a Spoonful of Sugar...

Day 9 - Clara and Piercing, Rite of Passage

Day 10 - Jing Yuan and Grass, Just a Bit of Fun in the Meantime

Day 11 - Kafka and Pajamas, Slipping Into Something More Comfortable

Day 12 - Blade and Nightmares, Wakey-Wakey

Day 13 - Gallagher and Chores, Closing Time

Day 14 - Luocha and Singing, Let the Spirit Move You

Week 1 and 2 Postmortem

Day 15 - Arlan and Ghosts, Lifting Spirits

Day 16 - Yunli and a Camera, Fiery Warrior vs. The Light of a Thousand Suns!

Day 17 - Argenti and a Houseplant, A Rose Gazing Starward

Day 18 - Bailu and Pizza, A Slice of Freedom

Day 19 - Sampo and a Cat, Bad Luck

Day 20 - Sunday and a Couch, How Temporary is Temporary?

Day 21 - Xueyi and Knitting, Bored Near to Rust

Week 3 Postmortem

Day 22 - Pela and Bicycling, Back to the Drawing Board

Day 23 - Guinaifen and a Dog, Sit! Stay! Subscribe!

Day 24 - Ruan Mei and a Sweater, Labor of...

Day 25 - Dan Heng and Hot Chocolate, I Don't Wanna Talk About Anything

Day 26 - Hanya and a Bracelet, The One Thing You Can't Replace

Day 27 - Yanqing and a Poem, Right on the Tip of my Tongue...

Day 28 - Sparkle and a Surprise, Pop! Goes the Masked Fool!~♫

Week 4 Postmortem

Day 29 - Serval and a Clock, Personal Best

Day 30 - Hook and Gardening, One Man's Trash is Another Mole's Treasure

Day 31 - Yukong and Lunch, Lunch Break

Day 32 - Stelle and a Hat, Hat Trick!

Day 33 - Aventurine and Letters, Unclaimed Item(s) #514v3 - Personal Letters from IPC Stoneheart, Aventurine. Unsent.

Day 34 - Huohuo and Tea, Who're You Callin' a Tea Pet?!

Day 35 - Herta and a Uniform, Made to Order

Week 5 Postmortem

Day 36 - Jade and Takeout, Taste of Luxury

Day 37 - Dr. Ratio and Strawberries, Something Sweet for Someone... Sweet?

Day 38 - Fu Xuan and Sleepwalking, Slacking Off

Day 39 - Firefly and a Blanket, Cocooned

Day 40 - Caelus and Sick, Burning Up and Cooling Down

Day 41 - Jiaoqiu and Apple Picking, A New Normal

Day 42 - Robin and Headphones, Demo Version

Week 6 Postmortem

March 3-4th Break. Will return on the 5th!

Day 43 - Rappa and Hair, Dazzling Ninja and Silvergun Shura in: Crash Bang Boom! Flashy New Hairstyle!

Day 44 - Gepard and Ice Skating, Teaching a Good Dog New Tricks

Day 45 - Qingque and Snacks, False Start

Day 46- Feixiao and an Accident, The Importance of Proper Form

Day 47 - Luka and Rest, Laid Up

Week 7 Postmortem

Day 48 - Lynx and Soup, Olm Soup for the Soul

Day 49 - Moze and a Tree, Looking Out For You

Day 50 - Jingliu and a Gift, To the Stars Above

Day 51 - Black Swan and Mind-Reading, Read Between the Lines

Break Again! Will be back on either March 18th or 19th!

Week 8 Postmortem

Day 52 - Natasha and Sleeping, A Taste of Your Own Medicine

Day 53 - Lingsha and Rabbits, A Girl and Her Rabbit

Day 54 - Topaz & Numby and a Voicemail, Healthy Anxiety

Day 55 - Seele and Roller Skating, Making Up

Day 56 - Misha and Chores, Hey, Diddle, Diddle

Day 57 - Bronya and Cake, Treat Yourself

Day 58 - Boothill and Dancing, Blinding Lights

Week 9 Postmortem

To be continued! ⋆｡°✩

Dividers in this post were made by @/saradika-graphics ☆

© All rights reserved by miHoYo

[iiamityii]

Ok so I've kinda got a little obsessed with Amity and I kind of made my own oc Lyry and I thought I'd share them with you, since these were really just for fun anyway so. I'd include images but I can't draw worth shit so descriptions will have to do.

Lyry: Lumoth Archetype: Imagination (The Dreamer) Title: The Starborne Moth Form: A ethereal moth with shimmering, cosmic-patterned wings. Abilities: Can lull people into lucid dreams, where they create freely. Spreads "Dream Dust" that allows artists to visualize their ideas. Can phase in and out of reality. Temperament: Gentle, elusive, and mysterious—only appears to those who dream big.

Lyry: Serapheis Archetype: Emotion (The Empath) Title: The Weeping Swan Form: A pure white swan with black tears that turn into ink when they fall. Abilities: Can amplify emotions, making people deeply feel their art. Its ink tears can write poetry and stories on their own. Can cry memories into existence. Temperament: Deeply emotional and caring but disappears when emotions are ignored.

Lyry: Chorava Archetype: Resonance (The Connector) Title: The Echoing Wolf Form: A wolf with iridescent fur that sings in multiple harmonies at once. Abilities: Strengthens collaboration by linking people's thoughts and emotions. Can create sound illusions, making voices or music echo eternally. Temperament: Loyal, playful, and thrives in groups—vanishes when left alone.

WAIIITT THIS IS SO COOOOLLL

[ferronite]

Well, I'm about to go to sleep, so keep in mind that I'll only see your answer when I wake up—

Which LobCorp Abnos your 7 little beings match best?

And an extra question just to make you a little unhappy :]

Which of my characters do you think each of your 7 would get along with best? Considering what you've read from my posts and such.

good luck. two long questions. sorry.

Oo good questions! (Also why would the second make us unhappy?)

Anyway, for the first one:

Jean: mmm. Silent Orchestra, Queen of Hatred and Old Lady. SO mostly due to their desire for others to see their work (and also belief that others are simply "unable to handle it), QoH because of their desire to be better than others then leading to them breaking down when they lose faith in themselves and can't find anyone "lesser", and Old Lady... being essentially what they fear becoming. Someone who creates art for an uncaring, actively dismissive audience.

Maria: there's a lot that could work, but... Burrowing Heaven, Schadenfreude, Snow White's Apple. Heaven is pretty obvious - it's her desire for attention, to be seen by all, whilst Schadenfreude is her fear of being truly perceived. She doesn't want people to see the raw self beneath the image she's created. And then the Apple follows on from that - her jealousy for people who can be themselves with no consequence, her fears of abandonment, and her worry that people will find out that she's "rotten" (even though that's not true!!!)

Kaylen: hm. Singing Machine, Yin, and... Dimensional Refraction Variant. Singing Machine is just for the vibes honestly, I mean... music and mind control! It's what he do - and also kinda represents people's fears abt him. (...hi there S.) Yin is again mostly linked to people's views of them as being a "curse" really, and DRF is a similar thing; the fears of something that can't be seen, and also his worries abt being left alone due to these things.

Danny: Knight of Despair, Little Red Riding Hooded Mercenary, and Queen Bee. Most of his are linked to his feelings towards others - KoD is his desire to protect/defend those he cares about (even if they're capable of looking out for themselves), Little Red is mostly vibes ngl but also his more "vengeful" side; he can hold a grudge for a long time. Queen Bee... I'd link him more to the workers than anything considering his loyalty thing, but in a way it links to his past. It's the Vibes again really lol.

Sel: again, a lot that would fit them, but... Der Freischütz, Mountain of Smiling Bodies and Clouded Monk. Der Frei since they push people away (and did kill the people they cared for in the past) and try to avoid connections for fear of them getting in the way/getting people they care about hurt (the aberration lines up better with this but shhhh), and also ig their view of themselves as a weapon. MoSB is because of... well, their Creations mostly but also on some level their knowledge that eventually their actions will return to haunt them, and Clouded Monk is because they do wish to help/protect people and have their specific set of morals, but also view themselves as being "imperfect" or "corrupted" (note: not Corrupted with a capital lmao)

Basil: Meat Lantern, Big and Will be Bad Wolf, and Beauty and the Beast. Lantern is cuz he's normally the one to bring everyone together, which will generally end in tragedy, with Beauty being linked to how his death was what resulted in the "curse". Wolf is mostly because, whilst he fights against it, in many iterations he is assumed to be destined to be the "bad guy", even if he doesn't end up being the "villlain" in that life... he also, upon learning abt the cycle, considers it to be his fault.

Liv: All-Around Helper, Snow Queen, Big Bird. Helper is her desire to... well, help others, and how it ended up causing more problems. Snow Queen is more vague but it's about how she got everyone stuck in the cycles instead of allowing them to move on ("freezing" them together/in place in a way.) And Big Bird is, again, how her intent to help people with a "better" solution only resulted in this situation.

Note: I also associate both of the siblings with WhiteNight due to them drawing everyone together, only to end up causing their ruin.

As for the second question...

Jean: realistically probably none of them (or maybe mehi?), I reckon all of your guys would find them a bit annoying, but I do like the image of them helping Tracy with her drawings, so I'll say that :) they have a bit of a soft spot for kids anyway.

Maria: hmm. Probably Tracy again, she'd definitely want to help her with her confidence, but if we want different answers for everyone... Ada would probably hate her slightly less than they hate everyone else. Not because of any personality things, and they wouldn't like her, but cuz they can tell shes putting on a front and hiding some stuff so... they'd probably end up considering her some kind of puzzle to be solved.

Kaylen: Luna, probably. I can imagine them both teaming up to try convince Mehi to do Human Things lmao.

Danny: Avery. They just... they'd mesh quite well. Similar personalities (kinda!), similar things with protecting people/revenge, even similar favourite colours (I mean, magenta's pretty close to pink!) They'd be quite the force to be reckoned with.

Sel: considering their matching vibes I would say Mehi but honestly I don't think they'd like each other much (sel would remind him of his past, mehi would probably just piss them off) so... Noah perhaps? They'd get along well but dear God they'd be absolutely insufferable together for everyone else lmaooooo.

Basil: Mehiel. He might not share Mehi's "I am only my purpose" thing, but he can certainly understand the sentiment, as well as the desire to protect people. I reckon they'd be pretty chill.

Liv: Maple. Zero surprises on that one! They have such similar vibes, they'd get along brilliantly I reckon.

[songhunter]

trans allegory in mystic fragrance and forbidden rain

aka: the essay no one asked for

Content warnings for: Discussions of homophobia and transphobia, and brief mentions of suicide.

If you guys have any other comments on this topic (especially KnightsPs, I'm an UNDEADP so I'm less familiar with their lore) please comment or rb or drop an ask or anything! I love talking. It's also been a hot minute (3 or 4 years) since I last took an English class so my analysis is a little rusty.

Part 1: UNDEAD's "Monster" and Queerness

Every UNDEAD song (with one exception) has the same premise — the singers are the impure, immoral monsters who are singing to a pure, human audience. There are two genres of UNDEAD song:

“I’m a monster seducing you into the darkness, give into your desires because I know that secretly you want it too” — Immoral World, Savage Love Affair, etc.

“I’m a monster and I’m so badass” — Darkness 4, Nightless World, etc.

Darkness 4 lyrics, translation by Shirayukin on Fandom wiki.

The “monster” in UNDEAD’s music is shorthand for anyone that exists outside of a pure society. By joining the monsters, you become tainted and can't return to society, but that’s the only way you can possibly live as your authentic self. In this way, the "darkness" is a safe space that these monsters have created for themselves.

This is, of course, a reference to Rei and how he feels ostracized from society -- the whole reason why Koga began UNDEAD was as a message to Rei that if Rei felt like a monster, he shouldn't roll over and die, but live with them as an undead. However, the concept of the queer monster is incredibly applicable imo. Historically, lots of villains in horror media were queer-coded as a way of eliciting disgust or a fear response, as a way of making its villain seem strange and, well, queer. (Oh, no! Look at all these horrible people ruining life for the law-abiding families!) The link between queerness and horror has been analyzed to death.

But queer people also love the misunderstood monster who's shunned by "proper" society. The gothic novels that originated the horror genre in the 1800s, like Dracula or the Picture of Dorian Grey, were written by queer authors and/or contained scores of queer themes. Do I need to go into why werewolves, shapeshifters who had to go deep into the woods to hide their wolf form, can be read as queer? Do I need to go into why Frankenstein, someone abandoned by his own creator and shunned by society by the nature of his existence alone (something out of his control), can be read as queer? Do I really need to go into why the modern-day vampire is queer? Vampires? Of course queer people will love these monsters, because they see themselves in the monsters, more so than the victims. (Also, nothing more in line with the queer experience than seeing a monster and going “ngl they're kinda hot actually.”)

In summary: It's very easy to read UNDEAD songs and UNDEAD's conceptualization of the "monster" through a queer lens. The monster is queer, and the monster welcomes you into the darkness and invites you to also give into your desire to live freely.

Immoral World lyrics, translation by Mandy on Fandom wiki.

Also, shout out the love you tried to hide, huh? Show me your truth? Show me your pride?

Dude.

Dude.

Sidenote: The one exception to this “monster” theme is of course the elephant in the room, Sustain Memories. I think it plays well into UNDEAD’s image — at least in !-era, Rei, Adonis, and Koga have always been the monsters, while Kaoru is the human that joined them (see: their Halloween costumes in !-era). So Kaoru doesn’t sing of monsters, he sings of a human love. There's also something to be said about Kaoru being the one member of UNDEAD who tried so desperately to appear cishet and experience a "normal" love in !-era. But also, it's a wedding song because the anime boys look cute when they sing about weddings.

Part 2: What about Forbidden Rain?

Here's the thing about UNDEAD's other monster songs -- they're always proud of being monsters. They're not ashamed, and they want the audience to join them in their freedom.

Forbidden Rain lyrics, translation by @/snaketaper on Twitter.

On the other hand, the singer in Forbidden Rain sees themselves as a "beast" who can never be forgiven, someone who's slowly poisoning their pure lover. They love them so much that they apparently have to let go of them, for their own sake. It's the first song that actually contains references to genuine love (usually UNDEAD is just horny).

The song remains sort of ambiguous about the nature of the relationship between the singer and the audience. It's clear that the audience does actually care for the singer, since they do reach out a "gentle hand" that the singer can't take. But the singer says, "Let's end this thing that never even began" -- are they even together in the first place? Maybe it never began because they were scared of the "beast." Or maybe it never truly began because the relationship was built on a lie. They sing about a beast inside them that they have to hide, and says that their current self -- the one they show to the audience -- is a fake. And this is something that cannot be forgiven.

It's not hard to read this in the context of queerness. Maybe it's about a gay singer who doesn't want to reveal their feelings and tarnish a platonic relationship. Or maybe it's a trans singer who's wracked with guilt at keeping their identity under wraps and hasn't come out to their heterosexual lover, so they want to break off things before they come out and taint their previous relationship.

In Love & Beast, the "source material" behind Forbidden Rain, Inogari (Adonis' character) is soft-spoken, protective, and kind. He saves the main police character in the very first scene. He's an ambassador and a respected enough member of society that he's part of the Sakurayama (Rei's character) social club. He uses "watashi," which is even more polite than Adonis' "ore." He literally faints at the sight of blood. He's the picture of innocence and goodness and all that society approves of. But in a Jekyll and Hyde-like twist, he ends up secretly being the killer Beast. In the end, the Beast is finally caught when Inogari realizes the truth and chains himself to a wall so he can be caught by the police in an act of sacrifice.

Inogari is the picture of propriety, but he keeps the Beast repressed, and eventually this Beast destroys him. Even if you try your best to act as part of proper society, you'll never really fit in.

Silent Oath lyrics, translation by royalquintet on Fandom wiki.

Another note: Forbidden Rain has a lot of the same themes of self-sacrifice, repression, and pure, romantic love that Knights songs do. Knights, in game, is a much more traditional idol unit than UNDEAD is. Forbidden Rain thus attempts to align itself more closely with the socially acceptable Knights, but it's still an UNDEAD song at its core. The monster is inescapable.

Part 3: Mystic Fragrance and Trans Allegory

This thread by @/pretty5P on twitter (https://x.com/pretty5p/status/1625958198623539200?s=46&t=lm_x5Uw5f8pKXHUoLzYksw) is a really cool analysis on the perfume symbolism in the song and how it relates to Arashi's gender identity (go read it!!), but if you don’t want to give Elon Musk ad revenue, the gist of it is this: Odette is her "masculine" initial impression, the impression others have of her, and the impression that fades most quickly. Odile is her lasting "feminine" self and the true self that remains when the top notes fade away.

Over the course of the song, the singer (Odette/Odile) grows more and more tainted, going from a pure white dress to a multicolored rainbow dress to a pitch black dress. The final perfume note is desire, the desire to live as themselves, the desire to be with the person they love.

Mystic Fragrance lyrics, translation by KYM2020 on Fandom wiki.

While the song does focus on a pure romantic love, just like Knight's songs, the symbolism of wanting to be Odile is far more similar to UNDEAD's monster. The idea of a "hidden desire" lying in wait beneath pure feelings is explored in almost every song, as is the symbolism of a dress that gets tainted by desire:

Savage Love Affair lyrics, translation by Nina on Fandom wiki.

And just like UNDEAD songs, the "tainting" of the pure is never presented as a bad thing. Note the references to the moon in both -- it's only in the dead of night, in a midnight ballroom, that one can "spread their wings" and reveal their true self. The darkness, the space of monsters, is a safe space, and in the light of the truth-seeking moon the singer of Mystic Fragrance says that their audience is beautiful.

In the original Swan Lake ballet, Odette is a beautiful woman who falls in love with Prince Siegfried. She's cursed to transform into a swan in the daytime, a curse that can only be broken if someone who has never sworn their love to anyone swears their love to her (in other words, someone untainted). Unfortunately, the evil sorcerer who cursed her turns his daughter into Odile, the black swan who looks identical to Odette, and Siegfried mistakenly confesses his love to her. Knowing that the curse can never be broken, Odette throws herself into the lake rather than live the rest of her life as a swan, and Siegfried joins her.

Mystic Fragrance isn't tragic, however.

Part 4: Living your truth

The endings of Forbidden Rain and Mystic Fragrance are where they differ. Both of their source endings are tragic — Inogari is unable to control the Beast and shackles himself to a wall, waiting to be arrested. Odette and Siegfried leap into a lake and drown themselves, because the only way they can be together is in death. Forbidden Rain ends with the singer holding their loved one close to them one last time in the rain before they leave.

But Arashi rejects her source material because she chooses to embrace the monster. She becomes Odile. She decides to live her truth, and as the top notes and heart notes fade away, all that lingers is her true self. That's why Mystic Fragrance has a happy ending.

There's a lot of symbolism in the Mystic Fragrance music video with respect to the person who loved Arashi during the war era and who killed themselves. She spreads her arms like the wings of an angel and sings in front of a setpiece that looks like the cenotaph. Her outfit contains anemones, symbols of a lost love and grief (and, coincidentally, the flower that Adonis in greek myth turned into when he died). Her greatest regret was that that person couldn't love themselves the way Arashi now tries to love herself. In this way, Mystic Fragrance is like a message to that person -- live your truth.

[m-ayo-o]

Hiii, this is my first time making a request lol. So my sign is Leo and my pronouns are she/her, they/them. Uh I am abnormally tall (184 cm) for girls my age which is kinda dumb to be insecure about but I've been looking for a fanfic with gojo and tall reader fluff or smut and also because he's a Sagittarius and our zodiac match :D the scenario is that once they find out and look through their zodiacs, gojo gets disgustingly flirty lmao. But previously, reader was very insecure abt smtg (preferably the tall height but your wish) and gojo flirting with them kinda makes the reader feel better. And while they're reading about their zodiac signs (I've read that Leo and Sagittarius have a really steamy dynamic), it somehow leads to some bedroom action :D

i t s ⋆ w r i t t e n ⋆ i n ⋆ t h e ⋆ s t a r s ⋆

zodiac event

♌︎ TALL GIRL LEO reader x SAGITTARIUS SATORU GOJO ♐︎

genre: cute / suggestive <3 wc: 1.7k note: abnormally *beautifully tall. love this rq!! apart from this one, no physical traits :p stsg ship mention, kinda college au :) 18+

*knock knock knock knock knock*

The incessant and rapid knocking at your door indicates that there could be only one person standing outside.

*knock knock knock* *ding, ding, ding*

Your phone chimes along with the barrage.

"Jesus-! I'm coming!!"

You yell through the door.

"I just had a shower, can you wait a second!!"

"I don't care~~ open up!"

He sings back and you end up caving, stepping towards the source of the noise with your hair dripping wet in nothing but a tiny towel.

You pull the handle and open the door, being greeted by him. A wolf whistle sounds from his lips and he steps into your apartment.

He does this sometimes.

Just shows up. Unannounced. Uninvited.

But who lets him in every time?

You can't help it. You can't deny he's addicting to be around.

"Party tonight at Suguru's. You're coming."

He tells you, striding through your home and making himself comfortable, slouching on your sofa and kicking his feet up on the coffee table.

"Are you going to get dressed?"

He asks, taking off his black glasses and raising an eyebrow in your direction.

You huff and roll your eyes in return.

"I mean, I don't mind~" he adds with a wink. You stick a finger up his direction and turn back to your room to get ready.

You close the door, feeling a little anxious all of a sudden. Sure, you like parties. But you've been feeling kind of insecure lately, and you're not sure if all the crowds of people will really help. You can just imagine all of those wide eyes looking up at you and asking the most stupid questions... how tall are you, and is it difficult to date at your height, being some of your least favourites.

Then it comes to picking your outfit.

It took you ages to find this perfect dress... for your body. The cutest dresses just never fit. They're awkward on the legs, barely covering you or leaving your panties on show, the torso, the shoulders, the waist. Just nothing is in the right place. It gets infuriating. Saddening. The amount of times you've looked in the mirror in a goddamn fitting room and welled up with tears is starting to stack up.

But you feel more comfortable today. At ease, even.

You look in the mirror in this pretty, perfectly fitting dress and you smile. It looks so fucking cute. You look cute.

And you have to admit... he helps.

He helps you to no end. And you don't even thank him for it? He makes you feel comfortable in your own body.

When you enter a room with him you can feel totally confident. All the attention is on him. His legs are longer, he's bigger... he stands out more. And he thrives on it. There's such an aura of power and confidence about him that makes you feel so relaxed. He can handle anything.

He works his magic, his charm, making you feel totally... beautiful. He comforts you without even trying, his arm linked with yours, dragging you around. But you can keep up, since your legs are nearly as long and your laughter is nearly as loud. Which is all you ever do with him; laugh, smile, banter, often crossing the glassy boundary into flirting.

You step out of your bedroom to find Satoru waiting impatiently on your sofa, fiddling with his black shades.

When his eyes catch your frame he almost drops them and you swear you hear a little gasp escape his mouth.

You ask him what he thinks and when you only receive a gaping mouth in reply you giggle and step back into your room.

"I'll just be a minute, going to do my makeup," you explain, but he rises from the sofa and follows like he's tethered to you.

He steps in and starts rifling through your things; picking up trinkets and teddies, telling you which colour lipstick looks best on you and finding the bookshelf in the corner of your room.

It's tall and fully stacked, but he has no problem reaching the top shelf and picking out a sparkly book that caught his eye.

"THE MYSTERIES OF ZODIAC: EXPLAINED"

"Hm," he hasn't really thought about any of this before, but flicking through the pages sure makes him curious.

"Your birthday's _____ right? Which makes you..."

"A Leo." You finish for him, while applying your mascara.

"Huh, ok, makes sense." He gives your page a once over then looks for his own.

"December... 7th..."

He skims the pages, finding the centaur with his bow and arrow.

"Haha, nice, he's nearly as ripped as me!"

Sagittarius. Of course.

He reads through the personality section, which only points out the obvious, then flops on your bed and turns the page.

"Oh."

You finish up with your makeup and perch next to him, looking down at where the book is spread open.

"Romantically, Sagittarius are best paired with another fire sign," he gives you a cheeky smile before continuing, "such as Aries or... Leo."

He pauses for a moment, finding the love chart under the text.

"Oh- oh my god!"

He almost shouts with excitement and drags you down on the bed to take a closer look.

"Why did you never tell me this!!??"

"Tell you- what? Satoru! It's not like I've read this thing cover to cover!"

You didn't even know his sign.

"Look..."

You see his expression turn from curious to excited in seconds. His eyes open wide and his smile grows till you can see his pointy canines gleaming.

"Satoru, they're just our star signs!" You moan, not wanting him to put too much stock in this.

"Surely you must believe some of this stuff, though, right? You're the one with the book."

He gives you a glance before he points at the row of your sign.

You admit it's kind of shocking.

He reads further into it, and you're getting a little invested now, hearing how your signs are apparantly so perfectly paired in friendship and romance.

"It's a fact. We're meant to be together!"

He proclaims and goes to shut the book, as if the case is closed and no further investigation is required.

"Um," but you stop him, slipping your fingers between the pages and pointing to the compatibility chart, "what about this sign; aquarius."

"Ugh- a water sign! How lame!"

"Aquarius is an air sign, dummy! You have a near perfect match with them, and I happen to know a certain someone whose birthday is..." you flick to the aquarius sign, "February 3rd!"

"Yes, I know that's when his birthday is. But ours is perfect."

You know it's true. Him and Suguru didn't work out.

"And here.. look," he flicks back to his page, finding the romance section under the leo and sagittarius pairing title. His long finger skims over a few sentences that make your cheeks heat up.

"The best thing about their sex life is probably the passion and intensity that they share. Heat radiates from both of them which results in a steamy sexual experience. While one ignites the fire, the other fiercely fans it to expand the fire making their sexual experiences a dance in the realm of fiery pleasure. Leo and Sagittarius sexual compatibility can be considered as one of the best out there."

When you finish reading you suddenly realise how close you are to your Sagittarius man. He sits up next to you, invading your personal space completely with a curious smile on his face.

"Maybe we should test it out?"

"Satoru!" You chide, as if the suggestion is totally ridiculous. But you know it's not. You like how he makes you feel. Everything just slots into place with him and it feels so natural.

"We should at least kiss... just to, you know, see if this star sign stuff is actually true or not."

"Like an experiment?" You cock an eyebrow, not shying away from his intense closeness.

"Uh huh," he nods and nudges his nose against yours.

You focus on his lips, pink and plump, resting in that perfect smile, with his crystal irises uncovered, his hair tousled, looking beautiful as ever. How could you refuse?

"Yeah, we should try it," you agree and his snowy lashes bat with excitement as he leans into you.

"Mm-" he presses his warm, soft lips to yours and you feel him smiling, with the book slipping from his fingers and landing somewhere on your carpeted floor.

The way he kisses is hot and... tender, giving you undeniable butterflies when he sucks on your lip.

"S- Satoru, my lipstick-"

"I don't care," he husks and wraps a hand around the back of your neck, getting as close to you as physically possible before claiming your lips again.

"Satoru -" you don't want him to stop but you need to breathe.

"It felt amazing, didn't it? Let me have one more."

He insists and kisses you till your lipstick is smeared all over his mouth. You giggle and wipe his face clean with your thumb.

"Come here," but he keeps going, pulling you into him and opening your mouth with his tongue, until your soft giggles turn into little moans.

"That sounds good, fuck, you sound so good-"

You silence him with another hot kiss.

"Don't stop then," you tell him, making him bite his lip and push you down on the bed.

He gets between your legs and presses your hands above your head, lacing his longer fingers between yours. He holds you there, kissing you deep, getting you hot in all the right places. You start moving your hips and his hands move down your body, dipping under the hem of your dress to feel your legs.

Your hands find his hair and you pull him closer, and just as the book said, it's getting intense. His fingers are starting to tease at your panties, tugging them down, until a noise makes you both jump-

"Ah-!"

"Fuck-" you were so wrapped up in each other that you didn't realise the time.

"It's Suguru." You sigh and look at your phone.

You daren't answer. You know you're in for a telling off now.

Your white haired Sagittarius steals a few more fiery kisses and lifts you off the bed. He watches you reapply your lipstick that he's going to kiss off again later, and takes you to Suguru's with his hand in yours.

"You think the book was right then?" He asks with a cheeky smile as you head inside.

You don't answer, but you're sure you'll tell him later when you get him to yourself again.

satoru | m.list | zodiac event

paraphrased quotes from Astrotalk !

[skyloftian-nutcase]

Wolf Link: *grumbling* Gerudo Link: Why is the dog making those noises? Mystery Link: It's called singing. Some breeds do it. But that isn't a dog. Rusl, smirking: He's just upset because he's getting a bath. Shadow Link, sneezing dust and cobwebs off himself: Lucky him Wild, looking Shadow over and noticing his threadbare pants and burial shawl: You too, huh? Shadow: M-me... too??? Wolf Link: *howling, flopping himself on his side* Friend: *ears perking up, getting excited* Mystery: Stop being so dramatic, it's just a bath, you baby. Rusl: Well... he can't get a bath until someone focuses. Me, glaring blearily through my headache and exhaustion: OH SHUT UP I'M GETTING THERE

...Anyway, what do y'all think of me making the Ordon Fam a series on AO3? I have enough stories for it.

[gryphonlover]

Which Link is most likely to go to band camp?

So first of all this is a delightful question. Second of all I am about to put way too much thought into this because I was a music kid myself.

Putting up a read more because this is... long. 😅

Wind -- Honestly, I feel like he wouldn't be in band in the first place. So no band camp for him. However, I do think he'd be in orchestra or choir, probably spending most of his time conducting because, you know, he's the Wind Waker guy and can't play any instruments. The closet he'd get to that is music theory.

Spirit -- Don't question why he's here, I love him too much to leave him on the sidelines. He's got the spirit flute, which is a woodwind because it's a pan flute. Which is, unfortunately, not really useful in a band. It's too quiet and no one plays the pan flute these days. I think he likes playing since he tried it, but the spirit flute is a tool, and he's not really interested in seriously studying music. He keeps it to himself and doesn't play for anyone else because he's shy about it.

Warriors -- There is technically an ocarina in his game, but I kind of doubt he can play more than a single scale on it. He really doesn't seem like the type to pick up an instrument on purpose. He knows how to not break things, but that's it. He's the token non-musician friend in the group.

Twilight -- The only instruments in his game are the "horse calls" which I'm assuming are just carved versions of horse grass. Anyway, he obviously can play that thing, and since he's a farm kid it's likely that singing solo and in a choir is the most common form of music in the area. And even though some instruments would be accessible in his area, I don't think he'd be the kind of guy to be in a band. Plus, he's a wolf half the time so I think he'd be better suited to choir.

Time -- So first of all, there is no way this man can read sheet music. You cannot convince me otherwise. He plays everything by ear and no one knows if it's because he has perfect pitch or because he's just been playing for so long. Obviously, he plays the ocarina but I think he probably picked up the woodblock and xylophone as a kid. He's most proficient in woodwinds and percussion, but has tried literally every instrument he has seen and is enamored with Legend's collection. He plays as a hobby, but in a modern AU I can see him being a camp counselor who's not technically supposed to be teaching the kids but will behind the instructor's backs just because he can and the kids love playing the music from Star Wars and Mission Impossible.

Wild -- He is 100% in love with maracas. It's a problem. He takes them everywhere and is ready to play at a moment's notice. Every time someone asks if he can play music he says yes and shows off his maracas. He enables Sky and the two of them are the problem kids.

Legend -- You name it, he probably has it in his basement. He's that kid who either is a music prodigy or has musician parents. Everyone knows he has perfect pitch despite his best efforts to keep it a secret. I doubt he'd willingly go to band camp, but ends up going anyway because Ravio needs the emotional support and it's not like it's hard for him since he's been playing for a long time. He's been in bands, orchestras, trios, duets, and solos so this'll be a piece of cake.

Sky -- He has devoted himself to the harp after Sun got him hooked. People have tried to get him to play "something more reasonable" more than once but he continues to insist on lugging his harp around. He is absolutely incorrigible and no band director wants him because harps don't belong in bands. He prefers playing solo or as accompaniment anyway.

Four -- He can obviously play the instruments in his games, duh, but I'm ignoring that because he is literally a quartet-in-a-trenchcoat. Vio would be the type to play the viola and shoots death glares at anyone who dislikes the viola. Green would be the cellist and is silently suffering as a result but loves his instrument anyway. Red and Blue are both violinists, but Blue would also be a good option for the double bass if he was taller. Red likes to play anything, but prefers to carry the violin harmony and has a strong vibrato. Blue plays lots of very complicated parts with quick tempos and grace notes. None of them like playing solo, but they can't keep the beat with anyone else so they'd be awful in band or orchestra and know it.

Hyrule -- He can play the flute (poorly) and takes lessons with Dawn and Aurora who double as his accompaniment and tutors. He's not proficient enough to go to band camp, but he tries his hardest to play with anyone who wants to play with him. He usually plays with Sky or Wild. No one has the heart to tell him he's bad at sight reading because he tries his hardest.

[yourgrantaire]

im rewatching the smosh liveshow and i wanted to keep track of my favorite moments so they are below the cut

angela's tippy tappy toes of joy at amanda's new jersey voice

amanda's "LOOK IT UP" for increasingly unrealistic things, and ending it with "are you at peace are you at peace are you at peace hello areyouatpeaceareyouatpeaceareyouatpeace anthony areyouatpeace DON'T GOOGLE ME"

tommy's "only a tragic life could lead to looking like if a motorcycle was gay ... i can say that, i'm a motorcycle" and him saying the meaning of anthony's tattoos was so that he could fuck goth girls. oh and how could i forget describing angela as an "amber alert on rollerblades"

the cool ass music when the guests came on, made by tommy bowe i think? i honestly would listen to the music from the show all on its own

brandon rogers' "let's. eat. anthony!" and then making a very emphatic pitch as to why it would be a great idea

THE HALF-TIME SHOW OF COURSE. i know that they mostly won't post the show on youtube but i really really hope they post the half-time show

also a detail i just noticed is josh playing that escalating carnival "do do do do!" when chanse and keith got iced

dan and phil's extremely explicit video message with dan's repeated references to jerking off onto anthony's sexy calendar

courtney as bikini girl while still wearing doc martins. and there's something about the rhythm of "get you a girl who can do both two things two one time! :D" that is so funny, as well as "women are so scawwy ooohh!! what's under your blouse, two perfectly round GUNS? OHH!!"

rhett and link showing up standing menacingly in the doorway, and their tag line being "A Jesus and a Lesbian Woman"

the multiple "ian loves drinking breast milk" jokes

the chosen: "you're probably wondering why i look so badass right now. its because we are on the cusp of the greatest battle in the entire history of the universe.

and also i got queso on my three wolf moon shirt.

and i fell off my razor scooter on the way here."

i am glad that even though they made him look cool as fuck, shayne still emphasized that the chosen is not nearly as cool as he thinks he is.

"worst of all, anthony padilla HAD SEX!" and then quoting the star wars prequels lmao

also shayne singing without any self consciousness was very funny to me, but i can't put my finger on what the song was

ian saying i love you but having to say it in a silly voice (and in the after show anthony saying he can say i love you back to ian because unlike ian, he's actually said it before)

anthony's joke about how he expected everyone to roast him about his "dick piercing" and the entire audience going "wait wait, go back to that, what did you just say" and him moving on with no further comment

anthony to shayne: "i won't talk about how you were once known for your promising tv career and now you're known for wearing a t-shirt with limes on it''

chanse just full on horror movie screaming when anthony said arasha was in an ad for a republican dating app. also arasha's faces for everything were so great

keith full on responding whenever someone addresses him (and sometimes reacts out loud just because), he did this in the other funerals as well but it delights me every time

anthony saying chanse slides into his dms all the time, and chanse immediately replying "you respond, bitch!" (and then later anthony saying that chanse can go with mythical and he "can call link daddy now" but "watch out, [chanse] dms")

i loved anthony's reference to tommy's show serving cunt

anthony to amanda: "you're like if jessica rabbit drove a mini van"

anthony to ian: "one thing we all know about ian is he might have some trouble showing emotions" ian proceeds to stare deadpan into the camera. it was fun watching ian's reactions because often he wouldn't react to a lot of it or he would react as part of the bit, i've already forgotten the one thing that he really reacted to, fuck so i might have to rewatch it again

and then my favorite part of the aftershow was amanda and tommy continuously leaning in to make out and then saying "no save it for the parking lot, save it for the parking lot", and no they were not going to go anywhere, they were going to stay in the parking lot at smosh and make out in the car

[imperialkatwala]

i think.... i think way too hard about wolfie..... THSI IS A TRUE STATEMENT BUT ALSO. THE WIP

I think way too hard about Wolfie all the time always

Listen. Listen. Twilight immediately post-adventure who can't stop sometimes being a wolf. Twilight who doesn't know how to be wolf and also Hylian and keeps trying to shove himself back into the mold he left and driving himself further and further down a spiral of why can't I be normal why can't I go back to how things were why can't I be small and safe and nonthreatening

I just love him okay. Squeezes him like a squeaky toy

The howling kept going. And going. And going. It hummed in his veins, pulsing with the rapid beating of his heart. The memory of a golden wolf sang, and something in Link ached to sing back.

When he couldn't stand it anymore, he pushed back his blankets and stood up, pacing around his house in an attempt to settle himself. This was enough, this had to be enough.

It wasn't. Of course it wasn't. He needed to run, to sing, to feel the wind in his fur and grass under his paws.

Except he didn't have fur or paws right now, he reminded himself harshly. He hadn't had fur or paws for a week, and the village was just starting to calm down about the blue-eyed wolf that kept showing up. He was doing so well.

Link curled into a little ball in the corner, burying his face in his knees and trying to just breathe. Keep breathing long enough and the howling would go away.

(Right?)

The list of wips

[skyward-floored]

8 9 10 11 23 25 26 29 and 30 for Lost? 🥺

sorry if this is too many 😅

- hero-of-the-wolf

*rubs hands excitedly* it’s not too many at all :D

8) What hobbies does your OC have? What do they do to unwind?

Aside from hanging out with Epona... he honestly doesn’t have very many lol. If he has any downtime he’s either with Epona, Zelda, or his father, and he kind of just goes along with whatever they’re doing at the time. He pets Epona and goes on rides with her, he listens to Zelda’s excited talks about astronomy and magic, and just kinda hangs out with his dad.

After... everything, though, I could see him taking up poetry, weirdly enough. It’s a way to work through everything.

9) How does your OC handle their physical health? Do they take care of themselves?

Lost keeps himself pretty in shape, since he’s a knight and all he’s gotta stay fit for that 💪 He’s bad at taking care of himself apart from that though LOL, he’s kind of a workaholic, and Zelda often has to go order him to go away and get some rest (or his dad has to come and drag him off to bed haha)

10) How does your OC handle their mental health? Do they take care of themselves?

Before everything? Lost’s mental health is alright, he’s got a pretty stable life all things considered. There’s the workaholic thing of course, and he has some trouble making friends since he’s so quiet, but things are still generally fine.

After everything? ...He’s an utter disaster. He’s not really processing anything very well, and the guilt of everything is like physical weight around his neck. Basically depression land for him.

11) What was your inspiration for your OC?

One day several years ago, my younger siblings were talking about how it would cool if there was a Zelda game where Link was the one captured instead and Zelda was who you played as. My sister drew a picture of Link in a cage, and she said the game would be called “The Missing Link” and I went “hey yeah that would be pretty cool” and here we are today lol. It’s actually changed a lot from the first basic story I started with!

23) Is your OC reliable? Can I call them up at two in the morning if I have a flat tire?

Oh yeah, for sure. If it was modern then he’d already be getting in his car to come assist you by the time you finished asking him for help XD

25) Are they the kind of person who can't resist a good song? Can I catch your OC singing to themselves while they do the dishes?

Hm, I’d say he likes music a lot, but he’s terribly shy about it and much prefers to listen rather than sing himself. He’s got a nice voice though, if he ever used it.

26) What flower do you associate your OC with?

Good question... maybe crocuses? Specifically either the blue ones or the really dark purple ones :)

29) Imagine a mood board for your OC! What's on it? (Make it if you want!)

Hmmm I’m not good at moodboards sdjdbdbdgshd. Probably a lot of landscapes since that’s what I like. Ones where the lighting is golden but there’s darkness around as well. Landscapes where it’s sunny where you are, but you can see a storm approaching with such heavy rain you can see it falling. Those pictures of snow at night where everything is glowing in a weirdly comforting way. Stuff like that I suppose.

A bit like these pictures I’ve taken I think:

30) My OC and your OC are friends. This isn't a question. I'm not asking. (How do they respond?)

Wait YOU HAVE AN OC?? OCS??? HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS they’re definitely friends for sure absolutely <3

[chaos0pikachu]

Hi Pika, I don't know if you've been following gmmtv's take over of wabi sabi, I just want to ask you: given that so many companies are part of TBLC which is like a Thai BL content association, do you have any idea why gmmtv isn't a part of it? BOC, DMD, Star Hunter, Copy A Bangkok, Channel 3 are all part of it, I'm just wondering why gmmtv isn't even thought it's the biggest bl company? Wabi Sabi was/is a part of it. (idk exactly)

I can't emphasize enough that I am NOT an expert on this snaps lmao so anything I say that isn't like a direct link to an article or further reading source is speculation on my part. You're a sweetheart Anon but I just wanna let you know that like if you wanna know about the American publishing or entertainment industry but I don't wanna present myself as like ~an expert~ when my ass ain't ya know?

So my short answer is fuck if I know lol I hadn't even heard of the TBLC till this ask

For folks interested in it, here's the livestream they hosted for it (it's 45ish minutes) and it doesn't have subs though. But it seems to be connected to Thailand's soft power committee, here's an article on that:

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, who chairs the committee, tasked deputy chairwoman Paetongtarn Shinawatra with leading two national initiatives: One Family One Soft Power (OFOS) and the Thailand Creative Content Agency (THACCA). The goal of the initiatives is skills training to create 20 million jobs that will generate annual income of 4 trillion baht. OFOS and THACCA will be implemented in three phases: First, to boost human resources, 20 million children, adults, and seniors in under village and community funds will get free training in fields such as food, Muay Thai, arts, performance, singing, design, fashion, e-sports, and more, free of charge.

For folks who may not know, soft power is a term coined by political scientist Joseph S. Nye Jr. in his article Soft Power published by Foreign Policy magazine.

"In the 1980s, political scientist Joseph Nye Jr. coined the term soft power, defining it as a country’s ability to influence others without resorting to coercive pressure. In practice, that process entails countries projecting their values, ideals, and culture across borders to foster goodwill and strengthen partnerships." (source)

Soft power is a form of governmental influence internationally, and works conjunction with "hard power".

Examples of "soft power" are the American space program, athletes performing at the Olympics, and on the media side, military propaganda films like Captain Marvel, (yes I consider Captain Marvel a military propaganda film the film opens with a freaking air force ad lmao).

You see other countries using similar tactics as well, for every Top Gun there's China's Wolf Warrior 2 or Hidden Blade. For South Korea, BTS and k-pop is most definitely used as a source of soft power. This is just something governments do.

Okay so like, gmmtv and BL we've been hearing for a minute now that BL and GL are part of the Thai governments plans for soft power.

Mile and Apo have spoken about this specifically when promoting Man Suang and here's a recent video of them working in conjunction with the government on Shine:

(source)

Even Mew's talked about Thailand's soft power in interviews before (context, Mew was the first Thai musician to break into the American Billboard charts):

(source)

It's not just BL either, Idol Factory's Freen and Becky of The Gap fame got in on this too:

So like, it sounds like this meeting/committee in general is just an extension of the Thai governments plans for expanding their soft power which includes how to better support this now highly in demand industry (BL/GL shows) b/c the government sees its international value.

I can only assume that like, gmmtv feels it doesn't need~ government support as a production company? They're the biggest BL studio in the game and have an annoying stranglehold on territories like America and Latin America already. It doesn't really matter what the quality of the shows even are, gmmtv have that sweet parasocial grip on audiences.

[my forever frustrations with gmmtv and how they sell idols and parasocial relationships not BL/GL shows is a totally different post so lemme stop]

Other companies don't really have that same hold on international audiences. At least not consistently? And the biggest concern is funding.

I think anyone with eyeballs can see Kinnporsche is the best well produced BL that's come out of Thailand (argue with the wall) in terms of overall technical quality. But that level of quality is expensive, the CGI in The Sign is freaking expensive, The Next Prince's pilot is so obviously pricey as all fuck you can tell the studio is banking on it selling.

Which is why studios like Idol Factory, Domandi or BOC only come out with a one or two shows a year in comparison to gmmtv's like 16. They need funding, not just for filming the show but also marketing. Filmmaking is hella expensive.

[I'm not talking about whether y'all liked this show or that show, I'm talking about technical quality, shows like Kinnporsche, The Sign, Pit Babe are all better on a technical level than stuff like 1000 Stars, Only Friends or Cooking Crush.]

Why didn't gmmtv attend the event or participate, baby I legit do not know. I can't answer that with any sort of certainty only their execs could answer that, I can only guess.

And my best guess is b/c the company feels confident they're fine on their own. They don't need funding assistance, nor assistance reaching an international market (tho maybe some assistance in getting their contracts straight hope Ossan's Love doesn't face the same distribution issues as Cherry Magic lmao).

For more information on the event itself I really liked this post on reddit that I felt broke everything down very well.

Anyway sorry this got so long Anon but I hope it at least provided some interesting information!