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thedaytheworldburned · 1 year ago

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'Chasing That Feeling' MV First Reactions

Guys, I'm reacting. The blog isn't dead. I'm just also going to the Wild Kpop Fest in Sydney, so had to get ready for that. It was fun and I enjoyed seeing all three groups, but especially New (ahem, bias altert, ahem).

But let's have a look.

First, this MV pretty obviously follows on from 'Good Boy Gone Bad,' 'Sugar Rush Ride' and so on. It also has what I interpret as some nice Magic Island references, but I may be completely wrong (as always). So let's get into it!

I feel like this ray of light depositing TXT on Earth is a pretty obvious representation of them being expelled from Magic Island. It shows how violently they have been expelled after abusing their power, and it conveys how they, like Gfriend and unlike BTS, were born on the island, as such, and thus are basically supernatural non-human beings.

Also, the rubble and water are reminiscent of 'GBGB' and the Japanese MV for 'Sugar Rush Ride' - instantly visually connecting this storyline to the heartbreak and insanity one which those MVs discussed.

And, of course, we have the continuation of the star and the number 5 - there are 5 tunnels leading out of this hole, 5 colours in the light, 5 lights they chase, 5 points on the star, and so on.

There's also a nice contrast with the idea of angels coming down from the sky, and TXT being dressed in black - reminiscent of when they went crazy and were decidedly not angellic, despite being supernatural.

This is also emphasised by the fact that they are styled with tattoos.

Also, as always, TXT's choreographies are great.

Don't ask me to colour analyse the colours of light each membr chases - it would take far more time and research than I have today to do that in depth, and is thus better suited for a proper MV analysis. The most I can say so far is - Kai is gold - since he is the 'angel', Gyu has been associated with green before, especially in the webtoon through plants, and Yeonjun gets the other side of the cat - blue and green, thus he gets green.

A lot of this MV is them further abusing their powers, since they clearly didn't learn their lesson. Also - note that there are a lot of cars featured in this MV - cars being something we have seen in Magic Island arcs before, and which is generally a symbol of transit - as TXT are continuing their journey.

Interestingly, only Gyu, Yeonjun, and Taehyun seem to actually attain their power in this MV - Kai and Soobin are just constantly chasing it. We know Kai is in an internal battle, so it makes sense why he chases. Soobin is also being held back by doubts and the glass box the cat put him in. Yeonjun, Taehyun, and Gyu are all very firm in their beliefs - whatever those might be, and whether they're good or evil - so they can grab that power and feeling since they know how.

Trains are back - another way to get to Magic Island. They also emphasise the sense of danger in this MV.

Also, are you wondering why no one - except for the people Yeonjun LITERALLY RAN INTO are reacting to them in this MV? I'll discuss that more later.

I also think this scene is the best visual representation of the longing and desire they feel in the MV - Soobin reaching forward for power, for love, for literally everything he could ever want, but forced ackwards by the momentum of the train and his own doubts.

Like, look at this face!

Also - note that the tattoos on his neck look a little like the branches/veins V had on his neck during 'ON' era - a coincidence? Idk, but it's interesting.

So here we see that Taehyun has his power, and, like the rest of them, he is wonderfully misusing it.

Same with Gyu - although in a far more dangerous way.

Yeonjun too.

I'm not entirely sure if this is supposed to be Kai having his power or just grabbing a lift to try and catch up to it - but since there's no golden light, I'll assume he doesn't have the power.

I don't think this has any point other than to show how he's cool, how he's using his power, and possibly associating him with Gyu considering the light is green.

Star time again!

They've unified - making them more powerful, as expected. But interestingly, in this explosion, I only really see the red and blue, and, by proxy, purple. Was there a reason for this? Soobin, Taehyun, Yeonjun - generally but not always portrayed as good - vs Gyu (who smothered Taehyun) and Kai (who has a demon inside him)? Maybe I'm completely wrong.

So the Dr Strange stuff going on here is interesting because it shows that their abuse of their powers is literally breaking the universe/breaking reality. It also made me think that they were moving between dimensions - you know, since it's the mirror dimension. Which brings me back to people ignoring them and the light falling from the sky - it's possible that they have been shoved into another dimension, either by their own volition or because of the harm they did to Magic Island. This is a nice use of visual shortcut and also offers a potential explanation for why they are suddenly in some random city in America or England - I thought it was London but my knowledge of these places is almost nonexistent so please forgive me for not knowing.

I also find it interesting that they suddenly snap back to reality.

And also an odd shot to end on. The only thing we would think we would get from this is seeing the boys leave, but we also see the cars, the people walking, and the buildings. I have no doubt there is hidden meaning or are hidden detailsl, but the only thing I can really point to is that it reminds me of 'My Fair Lady,' and that the steam rising up could be considered the damage left over from the world knitting itself back together after going all mirror-dimension.

So that's the end of the MV!

I love the choreography, as always, but that is best analysed in a different video. Interestingly, I think it does little (compared to their other choreos) to tell the story, and instead is just cool and portrays the mood of the song.

Let's talk about the lyrics for a moment.

We've of course got the mandatory mentions of the night and moonlight, and of the highs of being in a 'loving' relationship.

The 'thief that keeps on stealing' is interesting, because there's the obvious meaning of 'stealing my heart,' but also the implied meaning of stealing power etc.

Then of course, the idea of miracles. Lightning is also often associated with a dangerous form of love (See Romeo and Juliet for what is probably the oldest example of that). And the kalidescope and butterflies are of course related to the butterfly effect and the fracturing of the world through the mirror univserse/dimension.

And that's pretty much it. A nice simple set of lyrics for a short little song.

Conclusions

It follows on from the previous MVs and storyline. Although slightly different themes are explored in each MV, they seem to be very obsessed with the 'high' phase of the relationship, rather than, you know, the fallout and the healing from it. Maybe they're serially dating toxic people. Psychologically that would make sense. Storyline-wise? Not so much.

That said, they probably like keeping the romance for the title tracks since that sells well, and keeping the funky mind-bending curse stuff for award shows and bside MVs, since the fans love that, and it makes jaws drop in award show season. In fact, they released this basically just in time for award show season - was that for a reason? Or is that a conspiracy theory of mine?

As a matter of interest, this (generic title tracks and crazy bsides) is something that exists in the whole industry but ESPECIALLY in HYBE.

#txt #tomorrow x together #txt theories #mv analysis #the name chapter #tnc #the name chapter: freefall #chasing that feeling

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canyouhearthevoices · 2 years ago

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BOUNCY MV First Reactions

COWBOY COMEBACK!

Thank you KQ for releasing this in the middle of my work day... :/

I have to say, I love that they used a different aspect ratio for the MV - it’s another example of ATEEZ’s unique use of the screen itself (another one being when the robot arms come out of the video in WONDERLAND).

I’m in love with the MV. For starters, Gothic pirate cowboys. And then we have blue-hair Hongjoong making a return. And then we have the funky vibes of the song itself. And, of course, epic ATEEZ choreo. And then there’s the use of film grain, and the increased budget they have, and how they integrate elements from previous MVs (like they always do), and in general, each comeback reminds me of why I ult ATEEZ. This is the kind of stuff I’m into.

And I hope you’re into it too, if you’re on this blog.

Oh by the way? You know how ATEEZ were talking about bringing anarchy onto the world in HALAZIA and Guerrilla? Well, now they’ve literally brought anarchy onto the world through one of the world’s (hah) best-known representations of anarchy - the American Wild West. Whoever made this choice is a genius because it’s amazing shorthand for the anarchy and passion they’ve actually created, and brings an expressive world for them to put their music out into.

Also - fire. Ahem, the fire Hongjoong destroys things with? Don’t forget that Don’t Stop was one of our first teasers of THE WORLD.

Now, I will say that I don’t condone (and hopefully ATEEZ don’t either) the dangerous and/or illegal activities in this MV (no-rules boxing, driving motorbikes without a helmet, murder, owning illegal weapons, drug dealing). That said, they did make me laugh a lot in this MV. Idols are supposed to have a perfect image and ATEEZ are happily breaking the law everyday. And I found some specific moments oddly quirky and funny which I will dsicuss later.

But let’s talk about the MV. Full discussion below the line.

Lyrics

Well, they’re what I’d expect from a cowboy ATEEZ comeback. They have the common motifs of bouncing/dancing, playing music, being the coolest, and so on. They also include the mandatory ATEEZ references to burning up, exploding, and so on. And they include the mandatory THE WORLD references to raising your microphone and making your own voice and music in the face of... well, a world that prohibits those things.

But that’s, as I said, to be expected of ATEEZ. Let’s talk about the actual MV.

MV Analysis

So it starts the same way the opening sequence did, but in snapshots - since they know that we’ve already seen it. I do think it’s interesting that they cut out the Wanted posters, since they have been a pretty integral motif for the past few years.

I’d just like to say that this is the perfect shot to open this MV on. It’s got the warm colours, gritty tone, and fire that are important to this era (THE WORLD), and seen in ATEEZ mvs in general (FEVER). It’s got the fire - another important motif, it establishes the setting which I’ve already mentioned is a representation of anarchy, and thus establishes the tone of the song and comeback. But it also has an interesting camera angle - one which places the audience in a position inferior to ATEEZ, but ATEEZ inferior to the remnants of the government/other institution that has power in this world.

It’s also a very pretty set, which is always a bonus.

This is a great followup shot since it again shows how powerful Mingi is - although we don’t know it’s Mingi yet. It also shows that this world isn’t quite as gritty and old-fashioned as we thought - there are electric lights and the floor is actually relatively clean.

Nice context for the actual face reveal, and, since it plays into Western tropes, it gives us a hint of what will come - a face reveal, dramatics, and a shootout.

I am a massive fan of black wing eyeliner Mingi.

Crazy Hongjoong is back.

Ahh yes goats - the symbol of the Wild West.

Not entirely sure what the red lines are supposed to mean here - other than ATEEZ and lights being big, and red and HALATEEZ.

Ahh yes, best set is the drug-dealing den disguised as a reputable establishment. This also further shows that the Wild West setting of the story doesn’t apply to everything - for instance, it is quite different (yet also surprisingly similar) to this underworld cyberpunk city.

SAAAAAAAAN. And here is our third setting - the boxing arena. All of these settings have the motif of anarchy and conflict, but the Wild West, grungy neon city, and boxing arena do so in different ways - guns, crime, and punches.

I love the grainy effect here - another visual symbol of ‘the old days’which are seen as being more like anarchy, and, in lots of cases, like a better time.

I also love how this MV practically made Woosan canon.

This is definitely the heist Wooyoung from Don’t Stop.

CG motorbiking ATEEZ do not condone riding your motorbike without helmets. Protect your brain - it’s important.

Turbulence tunnel?

Love how he’s doing nothing and is far back but is still subtly checking on San.

Dude wants his money and a husband.

Very convincing police disguises...

This shot is great because it is way easier to notice the steampunk aspect of the bar and the world.

JOOOOOOOONG AND HIS SHIPPPPPP.

Mandatory pirate reference.

10/10 choreo - groovy and slightly threatening, but also relates to the story since they cut the chillis in half to reveal the bullets they’re hiding. I f eel like it wouldn’t be a very good way to store bullets but good on them - whatever works to take down the 1984 government.

A fascinating shot and scene - the ornate architecture paints them as gods of some description, while the red is of course, scary, and the glass it’s encliosed in reminds us of the cube in Say My Name. The chandelier is also a motif in their MVs.

There’s also the contrast of blue and red, and of the grunge of the motorbikes and ornate room around them.

I hope they have a bigger chilli farm than just this one box, because this one ain’t gonna produce a lot.

Yes try to kill Mingi - I’m sure it’ll work out for you.

CHILLLLLLLI.

Moral of the story - Mingi’s on drugs. Maybe this whole MV and era - or even all of ATEEZ’s storyline from the start - was just Mingi on drugs.

I love the choreo and cinematography of this scene - it’s another example of ATEEZ’s unique use of the camera and alternating jerky and still camera angles. And, of course, it’s used to tell a story and to create hype.

CG Seonghwa says you should keep your hands on the wheel/handlebars when driving.

Where to KQ get these extras? They’re great!

This is when I started laughing. It was the canon Woosan, how the water just dribbled out of San’s mouth, how dramatic they were being in an MV, and how serious they seemed when I know the director said çut’and someone rushed over to put more blood on San.

Unsubtle storytelling is here.

Clearly the only reason San was losing was because he was boxing, not using his martial arts skills.

I love the freeze frame when he kicks his opponent for emphasis.

Lmao. Literally smoking the money. Wooyoung has great facial expressions.

Great combination of lyrics and video to tell a story and to subvert my expectations of what the lyrics would mean (I was thinking of WONDERLAND’s start of a race).

This was another shot that made me laugh. It was the funky camera angles, the weird dance moves, them all being in a line, and how serious Hongjoong was while doing it all.

My respect for him and his performance grows every day.

I mean the choreo is pretty snazzy, it just shouldn’t be painted in such a serious light, I think.

Literal canon Woosan literally being on top of the boxing world.

ATEEZ the gods of the chilli pepper.

On a more serious note - the shift to white is a bit unusual, but it leads us into the final verse and to the reveal that comes later.

OMG NOW WE KNOW WHY THEY’VE BEEN DRUG DEALING CHILLIS.

haha

Hello High Noon Jhin from League of Legends.

Okay, bruv.

Why would you destroy your chilli crop?

Okay, it’s probably a different scene, but still.

That is one nasty bullet. That won’t do any more damage than a regular bullet unless it explodes on impact.

Please imagine that I gasped so hard that I fell off my chair, my jaw detatched, my soul left my body and I revived and became a god.

My question then is - did this bullet actually kill the Guardian? Was that why it was weird? Is it possible to kill the Guardians?

And by the way this is the ‘white’reveal that I was talking about. Believe it or not - the white earlier probably made it easier for the audience to process this split-second reveal.

I love the transition from fire to fireworks to champagne/water/whatever it is - it helps the audience understand, makes sense in the given scenes, and is HYPE.

Hey Don’t Stop ~

I love how this is like an old Western poster - and also how it includes buildings we are more familiar with from Guerrilla and HALAZIA - which connect it to the previous albums.

According to the subtitles, this says ‘so freaking persistent,’which may or may not be censored.

To which I assume he means the Wanted posters - but which could be the mark on them. Am I unobservant, or have we not seen this mark before? I doubt ATEEZ made it. Did the Guardians make it?

I also find it interesting that Mingi is kind of the main character of this MV. He’s a great choice for it, especially with the Wild West and intimidating theme of the MV, but I wonder if there is also a storyline reason for it.

And that’s it! That’s the end of the MV! It pretty nicely continues the story from the previous releases, and shows how the world has progressed in the period between albums. They picked some super clever imagery to express this, which is all in service of the storyline and communicating the story as easily as possible in such a short time frame. I heard that some people think that it’s sad that ATEEZ are so dedicated to their storyline, since it means that they create less ballads - something that lots of people like. But not only am I not a fan of ballads, I love how dedicated they are to the storyline because it’s so unique to be this dedicated, and because the story itself is their identity and a key part of their success. They’ve showed dedication to artistry and storytelling over popularity, and that’s great. Not that prioritising popularity is bad - just that I admire ATEZ’s dedication.

Conclusions

Woosan is now canon, ATEEZ’s directors, set designers, creative directors and so forth are geniuses, their extras are hilarious, and ATEEZ have amazing performances which I want to see more of. The cowboy theme is amazing here - andI probably love it even more since it reminds me of Face The Sun by SEVENTEEN - another stellar comeback and album.

#ateez #atiny #ateez theories #bouncy #outlaw #the world #the world ep 2 #the world ep 2: outlaw #mv analysis

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ashadowofburnedoutstardust · 4 months ago

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Ok so I got bored and tried a rabbit hole about the star Sirius for this one because I can see it year round and its one of the few stars I can pick out. I've had a particular fascination with it since I saw a weird thing in the sky near the constellation back in 2018 near where the tail is located in Canis Major

Apparently Sirius was used to discern the beginning of the new year in an Egyptian calendar at some point which even more weirdly just happened on August 6 2024, even more annoying thats a life path day for me 🤦‍♀️ (24/01/1986 - yes I really was born the day that weird scientology founder dude died)

Apparently Sirius was used as the new year symbol but it also symbolised the upcoming annual flooding of the Nile river

If I were to guess at any reference to eyes? I dunno eye of Horus is an egyptian thing? Supposed to mean Protection, Health, and healing, its a popular tattoo. Theres a whole story about Horus losing his eye and it being restored

All I can day is my brain weirds me the fuck out.....but yeah I got distracted by this lol

I found these: one is called the Rosette Nebula, the other is known as the Cone nebula. I can't look at these next to each other and keep a straight face because apparently I'm 12 but.....

*ahem* Anyway......

I was reading about how Sirius is part of some kind of asterism triangle and signifies the beginning of the year in an ancient egyptian calendar when I came across a constellation called Monoceros or "The Unicorn" which is apparently where these two Nebulae are located. If I had a decent enough telescope I could look up at them from here right now

You can imagine why the word "Unicorn" would get my attention.....

I have no idea what this has to do with my dreams that tend to predict things - my brain could be processing things but I've never heard of these before so I'm still trying to figure out how I see the patterns of things before I see them 🤷‍♀️ or however this is supposed to work but the blue and pink tinges of colour from my dream just struck me when I saw these images

Again I'm not always able to discern things until after something has happened but sometimes its just nice to try and keep track of things for the fun of it as well

Also when I stumble across these things it does my head in a little and I need to put it somewhere

And since y'all decided to come along for the ride....feel free to be weirded out with me

I have absolutely no fucking idea what the message is here 🤷‍♀️

I'm going to allocate last nights dream to my own processing of the world around me but you never know with me, even I don't always know with me - so I'm going to write it down:

I would have to say the intensity that was felt throughout the dream was more than likely a side effect of consuming an entire tub of ice cream but honestly I'm on my way to bed again and its still got hold of mind nearly a day later

The Cosmic Eye

The colours were extraordinarily vivid throughout

There's really only three parts I remember clearly

I'm in the middle of a city by the harbour, the wharf I'm standing is almost flush with the surface of the water.

The surface of the water is smooth and I can see the reflection of the buildings in the water

My daughter runs along the wharf - she's much younger than she is now - and jumps into the water but it's a little too deep so I pull her out and carry her under my arm back towards land

The next thing I know I'm looking at pictures of various medical scans of eyes on a board, why eyes I'm not entirely certain but it tied a little bit into the next part of the dream

Im in the house I grew up in and I glance out the window looking up at the sky

There is a great expanse of clouds covering one half, and heavily populated great cosmic sea of stars on the other

Imagine if you could see all of the stars in the night sky from everywhere in our universe clearly no matter there distance

My mind can't shake the image of it even now while I'm awake........

I can see a nebula, it reminds me of the cats eye nebula except there are many more stars in it and the colouring more pinkish red

It's like staring into the eye of the consciousness of the universe itself........

I try to grab my camera to take a photo of it but the clouds begin to move across the sky like a curtain turning the sky an evening blue before I can

I look up again and see sirius in the sky above me as a lone shining star and a feeling of calm comes over me

#fireangelsdreams #angelstardust #nebula #monoceros #the rosette nebula #the cone nebula

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watching-pictures-move · 2 years ago

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Movie Review | Desert Fury (Allen, 1947)

I’ve been watching some of the movies in the Noir in Color series on the Criterion Channel, and it’s been interesting to see how the use of colour (yes, I’m putting the “u” back in, leaving it out earlier was a great source of shame for me as a Canadian) has, ahem, coloured the proceedings. (And by watching, I mean sweatily binging titles before they leave at the end of the month, something I normally do later in the month, but the next few weeks are gonna be busy, so no time like the present.) In The River’s Edge and Inferno, they emphasized the survivalist aspects of their largely outdoor narratives. (The latter was also originally intended to be shown in 3-D, something that becomes apparent in the two-fisted visuals in the last act. I suppose it could have worked in black and white, but I’m not sure it would have had the same sense of spectacle. I should point out that both movies highlight how striking red hair looks in Technicolor, that’s a peripheral perk of the format.) In A Kiss Before Dying, the overly bright look of the movie forces a certain subtlety and sense of deliberation on the proceedings in a way that anticipates Purple Noon. (The other key takeaway seeing it now is that the casting of Robert Wagner is really on the nose and more effective than it likely would have been on its original release.)

Compared to those movies, this has a more classic Technicolor look, where even muted, earthier tones have depth and richness and practically pop off the screen. Where flesh tones, even in the dark, seem flushed, as blood rises to the skin and emotions come to a boil. There’s a resulting melodramatic quality that nicely accentuates the psychosexual charge of the proceedings. I’m gonna throw in a disclaimer that I’m going to attempt a semi-queer reading of the movie that will likely be dumbassed coming from a straight man, so apologies in advance. But you look at the central relationship of the movie, which isn’t just the attraction between Lizabeth Scott and John Hodiak, and not even a love triangle between those two and the blatantly heterosexual Burt Lancaster, but the tug of war between Lizabeth Scott, Hodiak in the middle, and his servant Wendell Corey, whose response to the situation feels somewhere between gay jealousy and a neglected submissive. Now, as I wrote this sentence, I did some googling on the movie and see that Foster Hirsch characterized the Hodiak-Corey relationship similarly in The Dark Side of the Screen (a book I enjoyed years ago but forgot the particulars of), so my reading is less dumbassed than I initially feared. He also frames the relationship between Scott and her mother Mary Astor as a lesbian one. I’m not sure I got the exact same feeling, although Astor is comparatively masculine and the fact that Scott refers to her by her first name is foregrounded. But there’s some psychosexual spillover into Lancaster’s character, who seems like the classic upright hero, yet has a certain faded quality and bristles when interacting with Astor, expressing indignation at her proposal that he essentially prostitute himself.

Lancaster nails all the shades of the role, from the superficial heroism to the resentment to the queasy misuse of his authority as a cop when he applies a heavy hand to Hodiak. I can see a version of the movie from his perspective, but in light of the previous paragraph, it would probably be less interesting. Actually, almost all the casting is quite good, with Corey’s beady little venomous eyes, Astor’s archness, Scott’s marble-like blue eyes shining with unique luminosity in Technicolor. The only one I take some issue with is Hodiak. Scott is supposed to be attracted to his character because of his disreputable, criminal quality, but Hodiak is initially too flat to pull this off. Imagine someone like Cary Grant in this role, who could bring the necesssary edge and sex appeal to sell this attraction. Yet when he gets his hair mussed, his blood pressure raised and his indignitation worked up, you can understand what Scott sees in him. Basically, the movie doesn’t quite sell why she would fall for him, but it does sell why she’d stay with him even as the situation goes south. And when you get the climactic car chase (which does not capture the raw power of the automobiles as chases Bullitt and onward would do, but is lent excitement by the frantic scoring), and the movie keeps cutting back and forth between them and the distinct way their eyebrows arch down to their eyes, well...I don’t know if it means anything, but it’s a striking series of images.

#film #movie review #desert fury #lewis allen

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khaleesiofalicante · 3 years ago

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LBAF - Deleted Scene #1

Here you go, you heathens.

This scene happens a few weeks after Max and David start dating.

David walked up the stairs, carrying the magazines in one hand and a box of donuts in the other. There was a little skip in his step, he noticed. He was excited to see his boyfriend. It felt weird to call Max that.

Boyfriend.

David giggled to himself and hoped no one saw that.

Also, the Consul wasn’t home apparently. So, that was nice.

Once he made it into the apartment, he gave Max the box of donuts and a kiss on the lips.

“Double glazed,” Max made an appreciative noise as he shoved one into his mouth. “David, you really know how to make a man moan.”

David’s cheeks reddened. Someone cleared their throat.

“Ahem.”

David turned around and almost dropped the magazines. He whirled around and glared – or did his best impression of it – at Max.

“You said he wasn’t home!”

“You wouldn’t have come if I had told you he was home,” Max shrugged.

“Max!” David groaned.

“Are you wearing my sweater?” the Consul demanded incredulously.

David looked down at the pale blue oversized sweater and then looked at Max. By the Angel!

“I didn’t know!” he said quickly. “Max was wearing it last week and then he left it in my room and-”

“He left it in your room?”

“Relax, dad!” Max rolled his eyes. “I just spilled some sauce on it. We didn’t even do anything that day!”

“So, you’ve been doing things on other days then???” the Consul inquired.

David was contemplating whether he should jump out of the window and run back to the institute when the high warlock walked out of the bedroom, tying an orange robe around him.

“David is here!” the man in orange said cheerfully. “Wonderful! Just in time for breakfast!”

“Oh, I don’t have to stay,” David said quickly.

“You heard him,” the Consul repeated. “He doesn’t have to stay.”

“Alexander, hush!” the warlock said and kissed the Consul on the cheek. The Consul shut up and went to the kitchen to make coffee.

David wished he could make portals too so he could get out of here. It’s not that he didn’t like the Lightwood-Banes. He loved them in fact.

But their energy was too much for him sometimes.

He felt something rub against his leg and looked down. He picked up the cat with one hand gave him a kiss.

“Bonjour, mon cheri,” David whispered at the cat.

The little creature purred in his palm and tried to sneak inside his sweater.

“You know, David. I was worried about Max dating at first,” the high warlock said, pouring himself some tea. “But now my heart can rest easy. Chairman Meow is an excellent judge of character.”

“Yeah, if Chairman likes you then it means you are simply amazing,” Max smiled as the cat ran up to the warlock boy.

“Chairman likes anyone who feeds him tuna,” the Consul mumbled. “He is just a cat.”

“Dad!” Max covered the cat’s ears.

The high warlock gasped. “Alec Lightwood! You take that back!”

“You know I was worried about Max dating too,” Rafael said.

“Awww,” Max cooed.

“I mean I was worried about the person you were dating,” Rafael pointed out.

“Eat ichor,” Max flipped him off.

“Rafael,” David said and held out the magazines. “Here you go.”

The older boy, who was sitting on the dining table and staring at his laptop, looked up. There were dark circles under his eyes, and he looked utterly tired.

He took the magazines from David and glanced through them.

“David,” the boy said emotionally. “You are my emotional support bro.”

Rafael was studying for his finals. David had promised to help him out with some of the resources he needed.

“Hey!” Max complained. “That’s not cool. I got you cookies from Levain last night!”

Levain was one of the most famous bakeries in New York. Max had taken David there one day as a surprise so he could meet the head chef and learn his recipe for their infamous chocolate chip walnut cookie.

David didn’t know what Max had to do to pull that off, but he was sure there were some bribes – or possible threats – involved.

“You summoned them by snapping your fingers,” Rafael corrected now. “And you didn’t even pay for them!”

“Max!” the older warlock gasped. “How could you?”

“That’s right!” the Consul didn’t look pleased. “We are disappointed with you, Max.”

“You ordered from Levain when I wasn’t home?” the high warlock sounded hurt.

“Okay, we are disappointed about different things apparently,” the Consul rolled his eyes. “Max, you are not supposed to summon things without paying for them.”

“Because it’s unethical?” Max asked, eating his breakfast with no sign of remorse.

“And because it’s illegal,” the Consul corrected. “It’s not okay to steal!”

“But Levain is a big brand!” Max complained. “It’s okay to steal from the rich, dad!”

“We are the rich!” the Consul replied incredulously.

“Dad is right. You are basically contributing to the monopolization of resources by the 1%,” Rafael explained, tapping one of his massive textbooks.

“Nobody asked you, Rafe!” Max groaned, mouthful of cereal. “Show off!”

“No more stealing things,” the Consul said – in his Consul Voice. “Not even from the rich.”

“Not even cookies?” Max pouted.

“I can make you cookies, Max,” David interjected carefully.

“Aww,” the warlock cooed. “There you go, my little robin hood. Problem solved.”

“Guess I’ll take down capitalism in another century,” Max rolled his eyes.

David smiled at that. Max was going to do great many things during his long, long life. David wished he could see them all.

“What’s that then?” the Consul asked from the kitchen, pointing at the stack of magazines.

“Porn magazines,” Max snickered.

“What!?!” the Consul choked on his coffee and glared at David.

“By the angel, Max!” David groaned and then looked at the Consul. “There are just regular magazines and journals, sir.”

“I asked him to find stuff for me from the New York Library,” Rafael mercifully explained. “They are references for my final essay.”

“Why do they ask you to use references anyway?” the high warlock demanded, eating a piece of fruit.

“It’s to validate the claims, Magnus,” the Consul pointed out, sitting down next to him.

“My son doesn’t need to validate anything,” the older warlock huffed. “They should just take his word for it.”

“Oh, Bapak!” Rafael sighed dramatically. “How I wish you were a professor at Columbia.”

“It’s a nice place actually,” the high warlock hummed appreciatively.

“You’re just saying that because literally every one of Rafael’s friends flirted with you when we went for that parents event,” the Consul grumbled.

“They weren’t flirting, Alexander,” the warlock corrected. “They were just giving me compliments.”

The Consul rolled his eyes at that.

Max picked up one of the magazines and flipped through it. “Dad, did you really think these were porn magazines?”

“No, I didn't!”

“Nobody even reads porn magazines anymore,” Max pointed out and then giggled. “Oh my god, is that what you used during your time?”

The Consul went red in the face. “During my time??”

“That’s very presumptuous, blueberry,” the high warlock shook his head. “Pornography is not just for young people!”

David was just quietly standing there and taking in all the banter. He wondered if breakfast in their apartment was colourful like this every single day.

“Well, young people don’t read magazines,” Max huffed. “We use the internet like normal people!”

“We??” the Consul demanded. “You watch porn?”

“Everyone watches porn,” Rafael pointed out, eyes on his books.

“Yeah even David watches porn!” Max grinned.

“Excuse me?” the Consul said.

“I don’t!” David almost yelled. “I don’t even know what that is!”

“You don’t know what porn is?” the Consul asked suspiciously.

“I mean, I do know,” David said - no, blabbered. “But just like the normal stuff. No weird stuff!”

“What exactly do you mean by weird stuff, David?” Rafael giggled.

David was sweating now. The window wasn't that high, right? He could just jump out and run off.

“That’s enough,” the high warlock said. “There will be no kink shaming under my roof!”

“Yeah, just because I looked up tentacle porn does not mean I am a weirdo,” Max pointed out, glaring at Rafael.”

“Tentacle porn?” the Consul blanched.

“It looked very tricky to be honest,” Max sighed. “Not my thing.”

“It’s not that tricky,” the high warlock said, putting jam on his toast. “The key is to-”

“Okay, we are done here,” the Consul clapped his hands.

Max picked up the box of donuts and took David’s hand. “Cool. We are going to my room.”

“Door open!” the Consul yelled after them.

#what even was this ejhfksjhfsj #but they are such cutooooooes #lightwood bane family #david beauchamp #lbaf #my writing

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januaryisnotanartist · 3 years ago

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So, funny you mention this.

In the more Sci-fi side of the AU’s in my brain I actually have the literal crackiest sci-fi AU, which is actually an actor AU. (like, it could work as a straight up space AU, but the way it happened in my head, it was as the actor AU) I know it’s not really related but I’mma tell you all anyway.

(Don’t worry, I won’t also drop the “bullshit science” Jiaoren concept... today...)

Liu Sang is the sound guy/general behind the scenes stuff idk, for a pretty popular star trek type show, which stars the Iron triangle in the main roles.

The show they play is basically Lost Tomb, but, you know, In Space. They go around finding lost colonies and civilizations and *ahem* preserving the antiquities as best as they can despite the cults and alarming amount of defunct tech that tries to kill Wu Xie’s character every time.

The show itself has a surprisingly heavy ad-lib script, (like, there’s a proper script, but the actors are allowed and encouraged to adjust the lines and stuff on the fly based on their understanding of their own characters) so set technicians hang out in ‘uniform’ in case they need to fix something on set, they can just ~blend~ with the background extras.

During one take of a bridge scene in which Wu Xie’s character (the captain of the space ship) is supposed to be doing a thing on the computer, he hits the wrong button because the programs used for the ship’s systems has been updated and Wu Xie didn’t read the memo and now the prop screen is beeping incessantly.

Sound/tech guy Liu Sang, who normally hangs out as a comm. tech extra (communication technician, like Uhura and Hoshi sato) during bridge scenes, slides over and turns off the annoying beeping, gives Wu Xie the bitchiest of faces, and says “and this is why we read about the system updates when the ship receives upgrades.” Then shows Wu Xie how to use the new user interface for the scene he’s supposed to be filming.

No one breaks character.

The cameras don’t stop rolling, and what should have been a blooper becomes the actual scene, and Liu Sang’s accidental cameo comm. tech becomes a surprise fan favourite.

So Liu Sang, despite not being an actor, keeps getting cameos, and then he winds up being actually involved in plot lines.

And then finally, his character (referred to only as “Jinx” because of Liu Sang’s on set nickname which Pangzi used during the first cameo) dies in an explosion saving the rest of the crew.

end of season.

the fans go livid.

Then they begin the conspiracies, or maybe the conspiracies had already started by then, because comm. tech Jinx wasn’t actually Liu Sang’s first cameo on the show.

He’d previously played space assassin Wang Can, a minor character during a cult arc, and he’d also played a hacker friend of a friend of Xiazi’s known only as Geist, since the character had a small scene but the actual actor had dropped out last minute and they didn’t have time for a recast for what was essentially a blurry profile shot in front of a computer.

All three characters had been played at different stages of Liu Sang’s hair journey, but speculation abounds on how the three might be related.

There are, of course those who think the trio are unrelated and just happened to be played by the same actor.

The cast and writers of the show listen to the fans and in the end it comes down to Liu Sang’s choice, since he was the one who’d asked to kill off Jinx because he’d failed to realise how much the audience loved his accidental character, and he’d wanted to go back to his normal job.

Liu Sang relents, and they come up with a way to bring him back. They listen to the fan theories, and craft their response, pulling on lore that they’d only skimmed in the show.

A few episodes into the next season, fans are outraged at the lack of mourning for Jinx, but there’s fans who pull apart a few strange turns of phrase from the main crew.

Then several episodes in, it happens.

The ship takes a detour to pick up the ‘new’ comm. tech to fill Jinx’s role.

*unknown planet - system (the one Wu Xie just had the ship set a course to)*

In front of a computer monitor, a familiar silhouette resolves into Geist, (aka, Liu Sang with the floppy black hair (from the time he fought a haunted paint can)) as a notice pops up on his screen:

J-1-NX : Restoration 100%

Geist wanders down through a series of hallways until he comes to a room in which is a large pod/tub like structure. Geist calls out “gege, are you awake now?”, and the top of the pod opens to reveal a pool of funky coloured liquid from which our regularly scheduled Liu Sang Jinx emerges. wet and naked

Over the next few episodes Jinx’s backstory and connection to both Geist and Wang Can are revealed: They’re members of a clone army that were made for a war centuries ago, equipped with neural downloading so the folks in charge didn’t have to retrain a new replacement every time one was killed (think Cylons from the Galactica reboot) and so secret, hard earned information wasn’t lost. But most batches never saw the field because the war finished before they were needed, and they were put into long term storage.

And then they were forgotten.

And then a few systems malfunctioned and several (dozen?) clones were released from stasis.

Wang Can is back in perma-stasis after going crazy and joining a galactic death cult, but Jinx, Geist (G-31-ST) and several other clones (not all of the same physical model) are running around the galaxy.

J Series were espionage units, designed to have heightened hearing and linguistic comprehension. 1 is actually 001, first of his batch, NX, which were the first batch capable of doing what they were designed to do, with out suffering overstimulation/audio overload every ten minutes.

G series were designed to be good with computer programming. (hackers.)

Wang Can is from a front line series, one with a habit of going homicidal even without repeatedly dying.

#liu sang #dmbj #lost tomb reboot #reunion: the sound of the providence #does this count as crack fic?#liu sang au plot bunny farm?#this U so A it doesn't even know who canon is #I don't know if I owe people an apology for this?

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annaraebananawriter · 4 years ago

Note

(Did anyone send any of these in yet?) How about...4, 15, and/or 16, in the hug category, with Techno and Dream? (You know, considering...*ahem* recent events.)

Oh, right. The recent events. The recent events from Techno's stream, the recent events especially about Dream and Techno, those recent events.

(Please get this reference, it popped into my head and it was too good to ignore--)

But thank you for the ask! I love it, and people have sent a couple in, but I just didn't have the motivation to answer them yet. I plan to, if all goes well, get them done this weekend, though.

ALSO! Thank you again, but this time for being the first person to give me inspiration to start writing the Dream SMP!

Because this is my first time writing these characters, things might be off and out of character, but I like it, so I think you will too. Just let me know things to keep in mind for the future, if you want to.

~oOo~

Techno had been in the prison for almost a week now.

The first day had been the worst. Dream had seen his last chance at escaping just waltz right into hell without a care in the world. The damned hybrid had been smiling, like all this was just a vacation for him and he was so happy to have some time off. It was infuriating and Dream had been fuming in fury for the rest of the day, stubbornly refusing to interact with Techno at all.

Not that it stopped Techno from trying, of course.

The next day was lighter. Dream caught himself smiling more, rolling his eyes at certain comments from his new companion. He even laughed for the first time since Quackity started coming. It wasn't even to that funny of a joke!

But he fell asleep that night with a spark of warmth in his heart that he hadn't felt in years--since before exile with Tommy.

And it stayed for the rest of the days. He wasn't sure how, but Techno had managed to make Dream feel the happiest he'd been since the start of the SMP. Since before then, even.

It might just be the stupidity of someone the server feared so much, rambling about myths and legends and talking about this little group he's created, in prison of all places, or something else, Dream wasn't sure.

He didn't care either.

He wanted to enjoy this for as long as he could.

Please let this last forever.

But all good things come to an end. Before either of them knew it, a week had gone by and it was time for Quackity to come back.

Dream realized this first when they heard the clicking of the lava being drained away. He couldn't do anything other than freeze, hand wrapped tightly around a quill. They had been in the middle of a hangman game. Dream only got one letter so far and he had one try left. He was supposed to lose. Techno was supposed to laugh. He was supposed to grumble and pout. Techno was supposed to make him try again.

They were supposed to be playing a fun game, not a painful one.

Dream didn't remember what happened after the lava drained away enough to see Quackity. All he could recall was his malicious smirk and the spark of hunger in his eyes. Then nothing but a blur of a mixture of black and orange colours and the sound of a loud ringing in his ears that sounded too much like screams to be just in his head.

The world came back when the lava clicked again and was coming down, Quackity thankfully back on the other side. Away from Dream. Away from Techno.

Techno.

And now, Dream sat curled up against the chest, his unconscious friend rival held to his chest. His grip was tight and, though despite what he might say, he knew that if Techno were awake, he'd be gripping back just as tight, if not tighter. It was a one-sided hug right now, unfortunately.

Dream exhaled shakily and hunched over, curling over Techno, either to comfort himself or the other, he didn't know.

He couldn't let this happen again. He couldn't. Techno didn't deserve this, he did. Techno shouldn't even be here, but he is, because he's an idiot who cares about people, even though people have a history of hurting him. It was Dream's fault he was here. Techno was here for him because of him. And he was now paying Dream's punishment.

Dream's not going to let that happen again.

He's not going to let hope get broken down like he was, trapped in his own mind sometimes out of fear of being hurt.

He won't let hope go again.

(next time it would be Techno holding Dream to his chest, and their positions would keep alternating every night--Quackity had two victims, after all, and he liked to switch things up every day as a treat for the allowing good one.

Good prisoners deserved treats.

Bad prisoners deserved punishments.)

#my writing #ask #touches ask prompts #fanfic #drabble #prompt #technoblade #dreamwastaken #dream #techno #mentioned quackity #mentioned tommyinnit #rivalstwt #tw implied torture #tw torture #hey new fandom pog #let me know if there are any more tags I should use #dream smp #dsmp

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twstales · 4 years ago

Text

Ahem, yes. I am not very good with word plays. This tale has gotten me a little bit flustered. I’ve done the utmost I can. Hopefully, it suits your tastes~

Ahh, this was quite hard to write. Malleus ended up soft though, I tried to expand the character’s personality with what was given. I hope it doesn’t differ too far. Now excuse me as I hide under the desk and never come out ;;

—————

“Tonight I have another tale to share with you. One of a thousand tales that capture the imagination”

The VIP lounge was silent aside from the quiet clicking of Azul’s pen. You were sitting in one of the sofas, waiting for him to finish his work for the day. You’d visit mostro from time to time after school, Azul doesn’t really mind your presence so you often welcomed yourself inside his lounge. Hearing the sound of pen againsts the table you looked towards the male. It seems like he’s finally finished with whatever documents he was writing.

‘Oh his tie looks a little loose’ you smiled at the thought, that was when a smal idea hits you “Hey, Azul.” The later turned his attention towards you “does something seem to be a problem, (Y/n)?” You smiled and approached him, doing few small gestures to fix his bow tie. “It looked a little loose.” A small laugh left your lips. Azul let out a nervous cough “Thank you I suppose.” Your actions had caught him off guard. Furthermore the close gap between the two of you did not help.

“You know, that uniform always looks good on you.” You giggled and placed your hands on each of his shoulders, leaning in you whispered “But I think it’s even better if we replace that uniform, ...with me” you bit your bottom lip, trying to contain yourself from letting out a satisfied laugh. Azul has known you long enough to get used to your flirty nature. He might’ve always been able to one up your pick up lines, but you know how physical contact affects him. Poor man is probably having an inner mental breakdown right now, or so you thought.

You were caught by surprise when he placed a hand on your back, pressing your bodies closer. “And I think yours would look better on my floor, don’t you agree.” He chuckled, his usual mischievous tone present. You were stoned and he was more than satisfied at your reaction. “Page 36 of 1001 pick up lines, I saw you carrying that book the other day.” He finally pulled away. Oh how much you wanted to punch that smug look off his face.

“Ah, silence? Are you perhaps disappointed?” He was taunting you. The colour of your face at that moment could’ve matches Riddle’s hair both out of embarrassment and annoyance. Your inner voice was telling you to back down but your pride says otherwise. There’s no way you’d let him win you over. Although your steps were shaky, you managed to approach him once more. Your next moves were blurry. Somehow you were now pushed up against the wall, arms around his neck and lips meeting for the umpteenth time. His glasses, long forgotten so as the various clothing that littered the floor. His next words were barely above a whisper but it served as a reminder for you,

“Finish what you started”

Jamil sighed as he looked at the amount of empty pages in your book. You’d asked him to help you with your homework earlier today. Thus you are now sitting next to him in Scarabia’s lounge. However he wasn’t expecting your homework to be completely empty.

“(Y/n)..” had he expected too much from you? You laughed nervously in response “You know I usually do my tasks, it’s just that this time, it completely slipped my mind....” you trailed off, normally you would’ve tried to get it done by yourself but the deadline was less than 12 hours away. You needed to get this done and he just happened to be available.

Jamil sighed once again, he looked defeated. Seeing him made you feel a little more than guilty. You blurted out the first thing that came into your mind. “Hey, don’t look so upset. I might not do my homework but I can do you.” You smiled, eyes fluttering upon saying the words. It was your attempt at cheering him up.

“What?”

“What.”

He had gotten used to your flirty nature, you thought a pick up line could cheer him up. Apparently it seems like he wasn’t in the mood for that. “Jamil? I’m kh-“ your words were cut short. Suddenly, you were lying against the red carpet, Jamil’s hand on either side of your head pining you down. “Wanna try and say that again?” He asked, lips curving up into a smirk.

“Yeah... Let’s do homework.” A nervous laugh left your lips. “Why are you so eager to do your homework now that you’re supposed to be doing something else?” He didn’t buy your answer, if you wanted to tease him then you should be prepared to deal with the consequences. “S-something else?” You quivered under his gaze. His hand brushed your hair back, The proximity between the two of you were almost non-existent at that point. “you’re lucky we’re in the lounge” his whispered, though you heard him clear.

He sighed letting you go. Closing the few books on the table, he stacked them up neatly before standing up carrying them with him. “W-where are you going?” You were still struck by the incident just minutes before. “To my room,” He answered your question like it was obvious “you still need help with these don’t you?” He referred to the books in his hand though the small smirk on his lips tells you otherwise. “Huh? Oh yeah.” You quickly gathered yourself before following him. Whether there was any actual homework done that night, we’ll have to see.

Malleus was always amazed by your rather... straight forward nature. You always seem to have no problem throwing him jokes and brushing them aside right after. He often sees humans jest around with each other, he thought it was the human’s way of communication. Alas he was eager to study these ‘jokes’ of yours unknowing that they were actually risqué pick up lines. Asking lilia was just another one of his mistakes.

“I'd hide every chair in the world just so you'd have to sit on my face.”

He only repeated what Lilia had told him to say. “H-“ you blinked once, twice, making sure you had heard him right. You were speechless, unable to responses to his words. The dimly lit living room did little to hide your flustered expression. He didn’t know why you looked so embarrassed. “Child of man, are you alright?” Did he perhaps offend you? Did he do something wrong?

“You want me to sit on what now?” You asked again, half of you hoping you had misheard him. Did he actually know what that means? “I believe I told you I’d have you sit on my face” he said it with such a straight face it was painful to watch. “Does the joke not suit you? I see you use them often I thought I’d learn about them as well.” He added.

“D-do you even know what that means?” You can’t believe all this time he had been mistaking your dirty pick up lines as some form of human communication. Well- it is, but he really shouldn’t be going around saying things like that. “I suppose it does have a rather erogenous meaning but I was also told they were not to be taken literally?” He was now deep in thought. It was more than distressing to see him take these things so seriously.

“Well, I can’t say they’re completely untrue...” You trailed off, still averting his gaze. “how so?” He was now curious at your statement. You spent a good 5 minutes explaining to him about pick up lines, all the while still trying to hide your embarrassment. It’s quite ironic, considering how much you use it on him.

“.........” he seems to be deep in thought for the umpteenth time that night. You could only sit there in shame as flashbacks of every single flirty encounter your had with him ran through your mind. “So, all this time you actually meant your words?” He broke the silence. “No.., yes” you let out an awkward cough. Hoping the ground could just swallow you whole.

“I apologize” he placed a hand on yours “I’m not very good at reading people’s hearts. Perhaps, tell me if you’d like something next time.” A soft smile gracing his features though it didn’t last long and was soon replaced by a mischievous smirk

“Though if you insist on teasing me, I do not mind teaching you a lesson.”

#malleus draconia #jamil viper #azul ashengrotto #twisted wonderland #twst #twisted wonderland headcanons #malleus x reader #twst headcanons #twst x reader #twisted wonderland jamil #twst jamil #twst malleus #twst azul #azul x reader

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post-nuclear-sweetheart · 3 years ago

Text

Oops another preview because author is super sick and chronic pain is kicking her ass.

The Wind - Chapter 7

“I presume you’ll both be taking your leave?”

“Soon.” You said. “I’d like a proper cleaning, and although the stables provide the bucket method, I’ve grown accustomed to the bathtub life.”

You paused when a spectacular orange vision caught your eye. It was Ta’viti, brushing past both you and Revali, never sparing you a single glance. Revali saw that your stare shifted to follow something, and when he made the connection as to who you were watching, he let out a chuckle.

“It’s not often a Rito is born with such a vibrant colour palette. Gorgeous, no?” Revali commented. It was clear he found your enthralled look to be amusing, but you could only frown at his remark.

“We were supposed to go on a date,” you said, “but I stood her up for the mission.”

Revali’s eyes widened, startled. “She and her wife-to-be are preparing for a clutch.”

You winced and smacked yourself on the forehead. “Engaged and set to be a mother? Hylia above, I’m the biggest idiot in Hyrule.” Heat rose to your cheeks when you heard Revali laugh at you. His taunting laughter really didn’t help the humiliation you felt.

“So what if we were supposed to go on a date?” You snapped. “Is the idea of me having a girlfriend amusing?”

“The idea of a Hylian thinking a Rito would genuinely date them is.” He quipped. You scoffed and made your way into the Inn. Unfortunately, Revali followed, clearly not done mocking you.

“Inter-species dating is a thing.” You grabbed for your bag that lay half open at the foot of your rented bed, and began to roughly shove your leather satchel into it. “Look at- um-“ you stuttered. Not a single couple came to mind.

Goddess, am I really that weird?

“Let me help you out with that,” Revali reached for your satchel, folded in the leather straps to make it fit easier. “since you’re so hell bent on justifying your attraction to an obviously radiant people. I believe the, ahem, ‘couple’ you should be referring to is the Zora and Hylian Champions.”

“Zora and-“ you paused, and gave Revali a stunned look that evolved into a smile of disbelief. “No way! Are you serious?”

“As the days are long, I’m afraid. It seems to be something of a persistent, unofficial tradition spawning thousands of years back. The tender looks Mipha would give at our coronation were almost… enviable.”

“Enviable?” You raised a brow, then reached for other such loose items scattered around your bed and storage space. “Revali, you’re a Champion. On top of that, you’re Hyrule’s greatest archer. Surely you’d have your pick of partners.”

You could see Revali cross his wings from the corner of your vision, and see his shoulders drop. “Not exactly. Not when the village raises you alongside their own biological kin, and suddenly everyone in the village is your cousin, or parental figure of some sort.”

You halted your packing to give him a funny look, until what he told you earlier clicked. “Oh, so that’s what you meant about the whole orphan thing. You know,” you returned to packing, “I read about groups of Rito setting out and forming their own smaller tribes scattered throughout Hyrule. Why not court someone from the outside tribes?”

“They’re less prevalent these days.” He said. “In the past decade, its grown far too dangerous for smaller groups of Rito to live on their own, what with Ganon’s resurgence. Besides,” he gave a half-hearted shrug, “protecting my people and attending the Princess’ formal gatherings have taken up the majority of my time that I simply have no opportunities to venture out and encounter new people.”

“I suppose you would be stuck seeing the same people daily, huh?” It was then that something peculiar became apparent to you. You placed the last of your items and pulled on the drawstring bag, closing it, before turning to Revali and giving him a knowing grin. “Is that why you’ve been pestering Tirus and I outside of the mission?”

“Pestering?” He gave you a mocking laugh. “I’ve spoiled you with verbal enrichment!”

“You’ve mocked us both for being Hylian, despite us having actual bone density, and gave my bodyguard alcohol to make him like you.” You brushed past him to the spiral wooden walkway of the towering village, and gave him a small nod to follow you. “Absolutely stimulating.”

#botw #revali #reader x revali #revali x oc #revali x reader #the wind #Cyntax_Error #ao3 #fanfiction

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adapembroke · 4 years ago

Text

Icelandic Sagas and Norse Culture: A Conversation with Jared Juckiewicz

There are some people who are so interesting and knowledgeable about a fascinating subject that I wish it was culturally acceptable to hand them a lectern and microphone in social settings and ask them to give an impromptu lecture. My friend Jared Juckiewicz is one of those people.

Jared’s knowledge of Norse history and culture is legendary in our circle, and it was a privilege to have the opportunity to chat with him about the Icelandic Sagas, Jared's class on the Sagas for Nameless Academy, and why you shouldn't carry a magical banner with a raven on it into battle if you value your life.

Ada: For those who are new to the subject, what are the Sagas?

Jared: So Merriam-Webster defines a saga as “a prose narrative recorded in Iceland in the 12th and 13th centuries of historic or legendary figures and events of the heroic age of Norway and Iceland” which is actually bang on for my definition of the historical Icelandic sagas. (I’d class things like Beowulf and the Nibelungenlied as sagas as well, but epic sagas rather than historical ones.) Most of them are attributed to one writer, an Icelandic gentleman by the name of Snorri Sturlisson, who took advantage of his position in the Icelandic Diocese to record as much of Iceland’s Oral History as he could. Each one is basically the history of one of the important families in Iceland at the time, typically going back a generation or two or three before the settlement of Iceland.

Ada: I’m surprised that the dictionary defines “saga” as Icelandic specifically. I always thought “saga” was a synonym for “very long poem.” I’m learning something already!

Was there something about the settlement of Iceland that inspired the Icelanders to write down all of these stories, or is it more that more of the oral tradition survived than it otherwise would have because of Snorri?

Jared: I mean, I would definitely quibble with the definition being specific to Iceland myself. But then again, I don’t work for Merriam-Webster, so you know. Not my say.

So, it’s definitely a case that more of the oral tradition survived thanks to Snorri than it otherwise would have. Admittedly, he did impart a lot of his biases to them, given that he was Christian, in fact being heavily involved in Iceland’s organised Church, and a lot of his subject matter predates the Christianisation of Iceland. But it’s less of an issue in the historical sagas than in things like the Eddas. I suspect a part of his motivation is that the 13th Century was around the time we start to see the emergence of true national identities in northern europe, and a recorded history tends to be a large part of those.

Ada: What sorts of challenges do readers have to be aware of accounting for Snorri’s biases, and why are those biases less of an issue with the sagas?

Jared: So the sagas are more of a historical account than the Eddas, which are a record of the icelandic forms of Norse myth. Being a historical account, there’s less room for interpretation, whereas most scholars agree that Snorris Eddas were revised, by him, to make them more palatable to the Church. So when reading the Eddas, it helps to be aware that the person recording them was a Christian, had been raised Christian, and so had certain views regarding morality and cosmology that may have (Read almost certainly did) differ significantly from how the Norse viewed things. Less of an issue with the historical sagas because history is less open to interpretation. His biases may have coloured his description of people’s motivations, but the events are likely accurate, as are the depictions of things like cultural mores and the like.

Ada: What is your story with the sagas? How did you get interested, and what fascinates you about them?

Jared: So, I’ve always had a bit of a fascination with history. When I was at University, a friend dragged me along to a meeting of what became our local Historical Reenactment Society by dint of showing up to class with a wooden shield on his arm and a wooden sword in his belt.

Ada: Best. Marketing. Ever.

Jared: I was hooked. Still am. Anyway, I’m like, 5’7” and am lucky if I weigh more than 120lbs. To be effective on the field of battle, I have to go for a mix of speed, savagery and complete disregard for my own personal safety. Four years of getting referred to as ‘The littlest Berserker that could’ lead to finding out everything I could about said Berserkers, which lead to the Icelandic sagas. They’re great stories. Dry reads, cause, you know, the 13th Century wasn’t known for popular fiction. But they’re very… human. Stories. Like you read them and it’s like “I can understand why that person would respond that way.” The culture is at enough of a remove that it feels fantastical, but because we’re talking about real people, and their emotions and their triumphs and their failings, it’s easy to emphasize with them, I find.

Ada: How did you get from berserkers to the sagas?

Jared: There are a number of sagas where major characters are berserkers, or berserkers are mentioned. Viga-Glums Saga mentions a Berserker who made a living challenging farmers to Holmgangr (a sort of duel where the victor took the losers property. Given they were generally to the death, the loser didn’t tend to object). The eponymous Egil Skallagrimsson is also described as being a Berserker in some translations. As well as a Skald (poet), Sorceror, and what passed for Nobility in his period of Iceland. Part of it is also a dearth of other sources. You have some mention in the Anglo-Saxon chronicle and in similar Scots and Irish records from the time, but they mostly complain about the Norse being evil pagans come to destroy the Christians (When they aren’t complaining that the Vikings only bathe so they can get laid). There’s Adam of Bremen, but he didn’t talk much about the military side of things, which is where berserkers come in, and there’s Ibn Fadhlan, but until recently translations of his manuscripts were a bugger to get a hold of.

Ada: What is it about the sagas that feels fantastical to you?

Jared: Everything is so much… MORE. If that makes sense? Like, there’s an account of a trial in Njall’s Saga where the defense witness perjures himself by libeling one of the victims, and the prosecuting attorney (Who happened to be related to said victim. No conflict of interest, it’s how things were done at the time) responded by impaling the witness, fatally, with a spear throw. And got away with it. They solve their disputes, when talk fails, with broadswords and battle axes.

Ada: It’s like they actually do the things we’re all imagining doing when someone does something that’s completely out of line.

Jared: Certainly the things I imagine doing. Although, I now realise I could explain it easier. Tolkien was a scholar of the Norse Sagas, and drew heavily on some of Snorri’s other works (particularly the Eddas) for the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. So part of why they feel fantastical is that the definitive work for High Fantasy is based on them.

Ada: Other than weapons, what Tolkienesque things can readers find in the sagas?

Jared: So the sagas are maybe less of an influence on his works than the Eddas, but he drew heavily on the mythology, and there are bits where that crops up in the sagas. There are also references to things like rune-carving as a means of casting spells, and at least one instance of a magic banner. Bear in mind that this was back when magic was an accepted fact of life (in fact at the time, the Catholic Church was heavily involved in magical research. There are guides on things like alchemy and necromancy and rune magic that were written in monasteries at the time). Poetry, I suppose. The Norse were big on poetry.

Ada: I would love to dive into the intersection between history and mythology with you, but I’ll restrain myself. What’s an example of the intersection of history and myth in the sagas?

Jared: The above mentioned magic banner, actually. It crops up in Njall’s Saga and the Orkneyinga Saga, and belonged to the Jarl of Orkney. Jarl Sigurd of Orkney, to be precise. It was a Raven Banner, sewn by his mother, who was reputed to be a Volva, which was a Norse term for a female magic practitioner, particularly one who practiced fibre magics. It was, reputedly, enchanted to draw the attention of Odin and his aid, and whatever army carried it into battle would have victory, but the bearer of the banner would be slain. Well, the Battle of Clontarf in 1014 was particularly hard fought, and after he’d gone through several standard-bearers, none of Sigurd’s companions was willing to pick it up. He informed them that by spurning Odin’s gift, the battle was lost, tied it round his waist like a belt, and led his final charge. Sigurd’s side lost the battle, and the few of his immediate companions were hunted down shortly thereafter by Kari Solmundsson (admittedly for unrelated reasons).

Ada: One of the reasons I wanted to have this conversation with you is because you are going to be teaching a class on the sagas at the Nameless Academy in February.

I’m really excited to have the chance to sit in on your class because you are a person who I regularly want to hand a lectern and microphone because you have so much knowledge and so many stories.

What is this class, and what will you be teaching?

Jared: So the class is called Íslendingasögur 101: Norse Polytheism and Medieval Culture in Icelandic Sagas.It’s a mouthful I know. Really, it’s just an introduction to pre-Christian Iceland. There’s a lot of misinformation floating about regarding the Norse. I’m not going to name any names. *Cough* Wagner *Cough* Victorian England *Cough*

Ahem. Don’t worry, it’s not Covid, I promise.

But no, there’s a lot of misinformation about the Norse out there, and it’s only in the past five or six decades that we’ve started to undo that. The thing is, the corrections started in Academia, and it took three or four decades before accurate information began to be easily available to the general public. So while we’re doing away with the popular image in peoples heads of the ravening barbarian with the horned helmet, it’s slow going.

I’m hoping in future semesters to do guided self-study of some of the Icelandic studies, but because I do not want to spend all my time correcting common misconceptions, I decided to teach this first, so that anyone looking into the sagas themselves, either under the aegis of the Nameless Academy, or by themselves, is doing so with at least a basic understanding of the culture those sagas concern.

Ada: Other than the horned helmet ridiculousness, what is a common misconception that tends to trip up newbies to the sagas?

Law. The Norse had the greatest respect for their Laws, even if they didn’t always follow them. Because of how sparsely settled Iceland was, and given the lack of urbanisation, they didn’t have permanent courthouses like you find nowadays. Instead they all met up at regular intervals at what was known as a ‘Thing’. No that is not a typo, it was actually called a Thing. The big one in Iceland was held at Thingvellir or “Place of the Thing”. “Field of the Thing”? I do not (yet) speak Old Norse and I’ve seen multiple translations. It was sort of a combination of court and county fair, that was opened by a member of the community, the Lawspeaker, reciting a portion of the legal code to all assembled. It was a great honour to be chosen as the Lawspeaker, even if it also meant moderating all the suits.

One of the most famous Sagas (and my personal favourite) actually focuses heavily on the Laws and Legal matters. In fact, more attention is paid in most sagas to legal nitty-gritty than to pitched battles.

Ada: Other than an interest in history, why might people want to take your class?

Jared: Perspective. People don’t change, even if the places and laws and the cultures do. It’s also a conversation piece. I mean, you can back me up on this. I can relate almost anything to the Sagas.

Ada: That is absolutely true. I feel sometimes when you're talking like they're stories that are happening now.

If people wanted to read the Sagas, where do you suggest they start?

Jared: So, if you prefer Dead Tree Editions, most of my hardcopies were released by either Penguin Classics or Oxford University Press. They tend to be older translations, but still very good, and I’ve never had a problem finding them at good second-hand bookstores or my local library. Well. Never had a major problem. And in this time of Covid, if you don’t want to go out or have someone bring a copy to your door. 13th Century is pretty much Public Domain now, so there are a few of the sagas available as ebooks through Project Gutenberg. Alternately, there’s an Icelandic Non-Profit that hosts a website, sagadb.org which hosts all the extant Icelandic sagas in a variety of languages and formats (although not all of them are available in English). If I do manage to lead some guided self-study it’s likely to be the SagaDB translations I use. Amongst other things, they’re free.

Ada: Thank you so much for talking with me, Jared.

How can people who are interested in learning more about you and your class find you?

Jared: So I’m on Tumblr. At present I’m A-Krogan-Skald-And-Bearsark, and if that changes, only the article and the first identifier will change. Admittedly, I don’t curate my Tumblr AT ALL. So there’s a bit of everything on it.

I’m also on Discord, and you can reach me there on the Nameless Academy server as Jared, or on Polytheists or Diviners Anonymous as JehanCriec. Mind you, my internet access can be sporadic, so if you don’t hear back from me right away, don’t take it as a slight, I’m just on a boat and will respond as soon as I get a chance.

#norse #norse pagan #witchblr

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hjazysol · 3 years ago

Text

Chapter 8: Pain of Creation

_____

As more of the Kamijiru's secrets uncover. The Clown starts the show up above. The rejected students make their first big move.

_____

7 Years Ago

Hero Fabrication 1st Update

"So then. My first test. Candy. Shall begin. Now I'd first like to explain my Quirk called. God's Hand. I personally never chose the name but it stuck with the masses so I can create any living thing from a non living thing and vice versa. Though for me to make a living being from a dead object. I'd need a blood sample. This blood sample can come from any person whether it be from me or a volunteer... Though for this experiment I ended up exploiting a friend Im more than positive it will be worth it."

Brimming with confidence the professor dragged over a board. Opening a marker pen with his teeth gripping onto the now open pen. He drew a cube with a smiley face on it and legs. "So.. This is Quenton Birch. Quite bizarrely this boy has the ability to use Cartoon Physics. And so now I want to use him as a base. So not too long ago I asked a friend to retrieve a blood sample. From him."

"Now I suppose you're wondering why I don't use my own blood. But this is part of the test. Ok." The black haired man reached out for the blood sample. Taking about a syringe full out from it. Then gathered up a piece of cotton candy from a bag. "Now if you've been paying attention then I'm certain you'll know what I'll do with this right?"

Akira hovered his hand over the sweet, dropping the syringe's contents on it as he did. Shortly after the pink fluff of sugar grew larger. Filling up the already restricted space on his desk. Slowly the colour became more similar to human skin in looks and in texture. And then a few minutes later. A human body lay presented to him on the table.

"PERFECT! IT WENT WELL! As far as I can see there are no imperfections here." Akira began going all over the body taking measurements. "Kaaaah. Though I'm a lot filthier than I thought. They're around 12 Years Old right now... ...Have I really had some candy lying around for that long? That's a good bit of my life that is. But either way... ...The test worked! Test 1 Candy is a success...After all the research. It took a long time but my idea of artificial human beings is starting off great. I'll record again. Erm... Once they've begun moving."

___

Hero Fabrication Update 2

"Hurk. H-Hello. I'm back again. Urk!?" The doctor was getting his face pulled at by a pair of stretching arms. "Hey now relax don't go pulling at peoples faces. It's rude. Ahem anyway. I'd like to tell you all that from now on I'll officially be doing work on this project from now on. Though...I won't really be giving anyone these tapes til after its all over... ...In case it gets shut do-"

Crunching glass and spilling water were going everywhere. Test tubes and flasks flung from above. Another voice came in from afar. "Professor! She's messing up the equipment again!"

"They don't like it if you refer to them that way. Did you forget again? Apologise and they'll stop. Sigh.... W-Well that's one way to let you know that I've got new staff working with me. This once again will be kept on the low until I try my best to ease the idea onto the government. So we all hide our identities using codes. Well. Besides me. I am responsible for the worst outcome at the end of the day."

Gasping ferociously hard Akira's assistants were all chasing after the first little creation made by Akira. They clung to Akira's leg, sheepishly hiding behind him. "Hey now... You need to go back already." Reaching his hands upon the head of the little creation the professor patted at their head gently.

"I know you don't like that water but without it I can't keep all of you together. You'll fall apart since you technically aren't complete. Come now."

"Professor Kamijiru? These barcodes on their necks? Are these their names?"

"Oh yes. You're one of the newer members. I marked them with a stamp in the creation process."

"Well. Who're they. When they to your side?"

"This is the first of my creations. As with the now other 20 I have made. They only got the one power from the dna of Quenton. The ability to stretch out their body and proportions to match any need at the time."

"Ohh? Well what's this ones name Akira?"

"Well they came from a piece of sweet, cotton candy. And as a result they smell really sweet. Especially, their hair. So I decided to name them. Okashi." Present day and a hammer came crashing down onto the tape playing the recorded message from Akira's past.

"Finally that voice can be put to silence for once. I'll never have to hear that false voice ever again." Okashi was removing her glasses, her hair shrinking slowly closer to her head. "At last." Digging her fingers deep into her face the black haired girl started pulling away at her face stretching it out and mangling it around before landing on a different look.

"I'll finally get to hear the real thing in person once again." The same face as the clown person stuck underground. "Yeah. I'll finally get to hear that voice gargling for air as I wring out your damn neck. Yeah. That'll be nice." On their way out the hole above them. They were attatching stuff they came across to their tool belt. Finally stretching her arm over to the table containing her own fully functional Quirk contracting & Quirk cancelling solutions. 3 of the latter lodged in the necks of unconscious heroes. Bandana Dee, Taranza & Dedede.

"Well then...Let's get this invasion started."

____

"Hrmm. Oi Honoka?" The stone cocooned girl turned her head over to Hokori startled by how invasivly close he was to her face. "Wh- What do you want!?"

"Do you want to join us?"

"Join you?"

"Yeah."

"... No way."

"Aww. Why not?"

"I refuse to be acknowledged by the world as some delinquent. I'm different from you I'm important for the future of this hero's society. To save those two weak to save themselves. That's my purpose. Those are the intentions I was made with. Until I've achieved that and more I won't bother trying anything else. I've never played a single game never stopped studying only. And never stopped practicing. I will become a hero that outshines even the world's greatest. That's how I am. So it will happen."

"Well just be a hero with us."

"Kotawaru. Doing anything that's against the basic laws of quirk usage in public. Why that would just bring about shame to my father's name of course my existence brought him enough hate as it is way in the past."

Her malleable face was stretched out suddenly by Hokori who had an impatient expression on his face. "Well make up your mind already do you want to be a hero or not? The past is the past why let it decide what you do now?"

"SHUT UP I SAID NO!"

"Hm?" Takaishi raised his head cautiously his face was twitching about. "I think something big's coming this way?"

"Really? How far?" Prodding his soft index finger at the blind boys head Kageyama decided to taunt him. "Or are you lying just so that you can get us all scared and rattled. Heheh!"

"WHAT NO! IT'S SOME BIG THING ON WHEELS!"

"How far though dreads?"

"I don't know!? Like about 6 Kilometres back the way we came?"

"Oh wow? I bet you can hear the angels singing from heaven from here to huh." He remarked sarcastically circling a halo round his head using his Quirk.

"I'M TELLING YOU! SOMETHING BIG IS COMING! If it wasn't this massive I wouldn't be able to hear it at all! We should use that as an opportunity to escape and- ...H-Hokori?"

The alleged leader had wandered off somewhere, Shebi carrying Honoka was gone to. "AAH! He vanished!"

"Honestly he could at least spare the detail on where he goes. Anyway it should be fine. He's got Medusa with him...Hm? What's this?" A distinct red speck of dust fell infront of Kageyama, catching it on his finger. "Hmm. Powder?"

"Hey look more of its coming down!" Shuri pointed up to the the sky several small particles akin to mist came soaring down and about the placement. "I don't trust this. You. Shrinker."

"Shuri!"

"Whatever! Just... Are those clothes made to stretch out with you aswell as return to normal?"

"Yep yep! But why do you want to know now?"

The ground chipped barely, Kageyama had stuck a wall of popes into the ground on both sides working as a wall. "Alright now I want you to grow out that jacket and throw it over the cage."

"Hey but..Won't it just come through the now bigger seams?" Takaishi asked. "Yeah that's what an idiot would assume." Kageyama replied smirking at Takaishi in particular. "During the short fight I had with her in training I noticed her clothes aren't like usual giant quirk users where they're just really stretchy. Aside from those guards on her body. All her clothes have a whole different layer of unused threads."

"So when she stretches out her limbs to grow bigger and when the seams are forced to expand that secondary layer comes up and gets tied up together with the previous threads. So in other words. Her clothes can never be too loose or too tight. They'll always be just right. Now hurry up. Grow big and strip. We can throw it over a cage I make. Then it'll be a shield."

Yatsua piped up in embarrassment at the comment. "Hey! You don't just ask someone to strip it's rude! Especially a gi- OI OI OI!" Shuri was already mid way taking off a her top in bigger form. "It's fine I've got something underneath Yatsu." This was a normal giant quirk top but was still ripping at the back.

"IT'S STILL RIPPING IDIOT!"

_____

As that Quartet of teens kept doing their thing above. Hokori & Shebi had wandered off elsewhere in a different building. The building had an underground. "Woah. This a long tunnel huh Shebi?"

"Yeah... Honoka fell asleep... ...She's drooling. Somehow."

"Hm... ...Shebi. You lied to her back then didn't you?" Rightfully confused Shebi squinted harshly at Hokori. "What about?"

"Your Quirk... She never looked you in your eyes. She was busy watching your coat..."

"Oh so you did notice that then... Well. Sometimes a lie like that is necessary for surviving. Revealing a Quirk right away is like automatically signing your way to die. And even if you've called me out I still won't say what it really is."

"You had a move like that and never said a thing? Haha! Badass."

"You don't even know what it is yet. Maybe I'll share another time."

The bandana tied redhead pouted his lips huffing loudly. "Tch. Okay." Hokori continued making small talk. "You know when we got to my house their was no one surrounding like usual...Did you scare them off or something?"

"Errr. I kicked one big guy. With the Tajma-Hell. The rest ran scared. Your sisters the only one who fought me without much restraint."

"What's a Tajma-Hell?"

"That's one of my attacks. It's an axe kick but well... ...Worse..."

"... Ah I get it. It's a bad move."

"Your damn right it is....Hey. I can see some light finally" They kept going forwards. The lines of light revealing the insides of a run down building, leaving Hokori & Shebi in awe. "Damn. This is incredible...They just have stuff like this idly standing by underground like this? Then again it doesn't look like it's that valuable to anybody now."

"Hey Shebi! I found something cool come check it out. Look look." Giant glass containers were checkered about messily all over. Broken glass stabbed in and all over the place. Both the two of them were fascinated by everything they came by. Machinery that was fairly new and polished. And robot like things stood tal in the corner. A mixture of mess and neatness.

And then something frigid, wet and slippery slid off along from Shebi's neck and arms. This caused her to shiver and look over her shoulder a confused but sickened expression scrunched up her face. "What...The. Honoka..." Honoka began waking up. Crying and quivering. "Erm Hey. Honoka? Are you alri-?"

Before Shebi could even finish her sentence Honoka started wailing louder than multiple fire alarms, thrashing about her cocoon violently. "NO NO NO. LEAVE ME ALONE! NO NOT HERE AGAIN! I'LL KILL YOU FOR THIS!"

"Erm. Hok- HE'S GONE!?!?"

The bandana wearer had found himself zoned out looking at the screen for a TV further down within the cofines of the room. "Cameras? It looks like there's alot of them around. Hey this ones in a first person view. Is it some sort of video game?... Ah? AH WAIT!? I KNOW WHERE THAT IS! THAT'S WHERE WE WERE JUST! Hrng. I'm not gonna pretend I know anything about computers. So I guess it's some surveillance system."

In search of someone who might've perhaps installed such a high tech system within the underground chamber they found themselves in. To the right of him was just a tunnel that was blocked off completely by debris. "Well no matter what's going on now. While there's some cool stuff down here. This place is just a huge wreck." Hokori said knocking the desk at his side.

The table broke and collapsed and small device fell from its bits and pieces garnering Hokori's attention. "Oh? A Voice recorder?... ...Well its not rude if no one remembered it." He pressed play. The familiar voice of Professor Kamijiru came from inside it, noticeably agitated by something.

_______

"What do you mean you made. More?" The professor was met with silence.

"And without my authorisation? Have you even been raising them properly." Once again he was met with silence.

"D-Do you even care!? I asked for your help for this part of the project because I knew you could cover all my expenses! I didn't share my work with you just so you could throw it all away!" Again. Silence.

"IS EVEN ONE OF YOU BASTARDS LISTENING TO ME!?" Finally, after moments of elongated silence a smooth yet gruff voice replied to him. "... ...We're a gang. Dr. 'Godhand'. You didn't actually think our family was just going to, I don't know, ignore a prime catch like this? You hired us with that knowledge. That we were a gang that is. That was the moment you should've known what a mistake you'd made. Even our little brither wouldn't fuck up this bad."

"I-...You won't do any more of this. Understand."

"Hmph. Since we've just been following demands on making heroes I see no reason for why we should cease our own experimentation. But of course. I promise you no more creations outside of your own.... ....Though. Something worth pointing out though. Dear Kamijiru. You speak of raising these things by your side?"

"Well yes. Is that something that bothers you people?" The Professor asked, suspiciously. A massive amount of unsureness in his eyes as he spoke with his 'ally.'

"Hmm. Well Dr. Professor man thing. Usually with weapons we use them. They wear down. And in a more humane term. Are disposed of. Nobody wants a broken tool left lying around right. The only thing special about these creatures is their power outside of that. All they are to me are weapons and if it dies then its not my problem. It was just to weak to live on."

"Anyone should be given a chance to live freely. People who would abuse that freedom to behave awfully, like yourselves, shouldn't be allowed to have it."

"Well personally we could care less of your ideals. We're Yakuza. This is just buisness. In fact. I would like to play a little game. The 20 of your creations. Fighting the 20 copies. They can fight for their freedom. Not so much of a new concept for mankind. Freedom has never once been obtainable without causing issue for somebody else."

"I'M NOT GOING TO PARTICIPATE IN YOUR TWISTED EXCERCISE! EACH ONE OF MY CREATIONS IS AS IMPORTANT TO ME AS IF THEY WERE MY OWN CHILD. THEY AREN'T JUST TOYS FOR YOU TO PLAY WITH."

" Hmm. See I'd agree but the quiet kids love playing with guns all the time. So come on don't be a buzzkill Professor. Let's play!" The voice through the tape raised loud and confident elated by his very own proposal.

"... Show me them. I'm taking them away from you. You don't deserve to take care of a another life. I'm done taking money from you fools."

"... ...Tahahahah! Fine we scratch the fight. One! We'll show you one! One is all you need to see. We've done the same to all ours. We got sick of those human sized tubes, so we thrashed them. If they couldn't stay together well. Maybe you should've prioritised how stable they would be rather than making sure they are treated well. A gun doesn't need to talk. Only kill."

"Well then I'd very much like to know how you managed this without my suspicions growing further."

"The process really was simple. See you hired all these people you thought you could trust. Outside of ourselves of course. But there were a few or so who gave into our 'persuasions'. While on their own the process of Cloning would never be complete. I made my own investment."

"Hm. So what could those bastards have possibly offered you."

"Well... I was faced with a truly beautiful specimen. A true weapon. No personality. No out of line behavior. No voice. No soul. No mind. Exactly what my family was looking for."

Stuttering aggressively over and over. Kamijiru couldn't even muster a reaction. Leaving Hokori confused for a bit. "Y-You! WH-WH-WHAT IS THIS!? Those. Those symbols!? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THAT CHILD!?"

"...We...Fixed her. Meet our blooming flower. Honoka." The gang leader softly giggled to himself the the recorder began to muffled and buzz. Then silence.

"Honoka?" Hokori had accidentally crushed the recorder at the sound of that girls name. "Someone's hurt her? Huh?" His attention shortly after drifted over to another desk on it were familiar pairs of syringe. One group red. Another green. But too stunned to stay fixed on them.

Hurtling as fast as a bullet a table fired back from where Shebi was, right to Hokori. In response he punched it in two the second it reached him.

"I'd hoped I could just come down here mind my buisness have some fun on a short trip." Shebi was cornered by a berserk Honoka, she was bleeding and bruised in several places. "But now look." She plucked a strand of hair from her bangs watching it droop as she held it up.

"You've gone and messed up my hair. Your a girl Honoka you should know I can't let this go. It's always a contest on who looks best. And I agree beauty is perfection with it you can attention...However-" Honoka interupted her, blitzing forwards to attack. Shebi was falling to the floor face first seemingly.

Instead though. Her palm had struck the floor first, hoisting her up from the ground. Kicking out one leg over into Honoka's face, leaving a dent on her gelatinous face. Switching to her other hand Shebi swung herself round the ground sweeping her off from her feet. Finally she stood herself up after a jump from her hand, landing a devastating axe kick down on her chest.

"It's just as important that you're able to stand up for yourself in the heat of the moment." Filling out her body's dents Honoka shakily stood back up, no words were uttered from her mouth. "...Jeez. You can still stand up after that? I guess being a jelly girl has its perks-"

Soon after saying that, the blooming bio weapon stretched out her right arm and finger noticeably they looked sharp and hardened. "Oh? So you can get hard so what. Though. For a girl that's not usually something we can experience."

Honoka's hand morphed again. The after result, several sharp blades in a circular shape that began spinning and picking up speed every passing second. "W-Woah... ...No way. Seriously? A buzzsaw. This could be bad... ...I shouldn't need my Quirk right now though. You're nothing special. So I'll just have fun with you. I thought your only Quirk was shape-shifting. What a joke."

The enraged girl ran at Shebi with the whirring blade, literally in her hand, swinging for Shebi's face. Grazing a small bit of hair once again amidst the several rapid swings "Hey! Seriously! Watch the hair!" Shebi did a spinning roundhouse kick downing the girl yet again. The stone princess smiled "I still want to look great once I've beat your ass."

Honoka reached into herself directly on the symbol on her chest, with the precision of a surgeon she pulled out a black spear. "Oh so your Quirk isn't just Malleability. That symbol on your chest is like a pocket. Hm. I guess I could use it now then. This fight going on any longer could end bad. I don't want to risk bot using it now. She could have a grenade in there or something. Parthenon- Huh."

Her adversary didn't hesitate, and let Shebi to so much as think to do something and so she lunged at Shebi with the Spear & swinging her buzzing arm around narrowly missing the arms and legs. "SHIT!" Shebi kicked off of her chest to gain some distance. A loud bang heard in doing so."

"HUH!? Wait! Is that symbol really a Quirk?" Honoka didn't let up her attack pushing forward piercing debris while Shebi dodged swiftly, not once turning her back as she did, soon returning a bone shattering kick of her own. "This'll put you down! No hard feelings!"

Casually taking advantage of her body's capabilities, Honoka stretched her head right out the way of harm, and although no contact was made an echoing pop like noise came nearby. "GYRAH!!!" The near miss had caused Shebi to hyper extend her right leg. "Sh-Shit. I've dislocated it!"

The out of control Honoka took that opportunity to hurl her saw hand to the fallen Shebi. "Well damn. I guess I'll use it. I don't have time to fix this normally...So Parthenon Pillar-" The rubble beneath them shot upwards like a rocket, acting as a foot hold for her while the edge uppercutted Honoka skywards.

"Now this'll hurt but...LONGSTONE SMASH!" She stomped down onto her airborne foe with her injured leg. Crashing her back to the ground. "THERE IT IS!" Though her bone managed to pop back into place. "Phew." As if she were a predator Shebi peered over the edge of the makeshift cliff, down on Honka. She was still conscious, but pinned down to the floor by rocks. Each time she tried breaking free more rock pinned her down.

"...Hmm. Sorry their Honoka. Im sorry I can't see more of your 'Quirks' but I want to leave already. Hokori's probably getting up to trouble. But lucky you!" The stone pillar rose her up even higher to the cieling. "Here's the baddest move I have in my disposal so far." From the sickening height she was at. Shebi jumped off her right leg extended. Then like a top, she began to spin, getting faster and faster each time. Until. "TAJMAH HELL!" Her devastating spinning weighty axe kick landed on Honoka's face. Denting the girl down about 8 inches into the ground.

"... ...Well clearly you weren't listening to me. Earlier, you were to busy focusing on how you looked. Cool. But I told you, being able to kick ass should be put ahead of that. I'm not some damsel. Fool."

~Shebi Ishikawa. Quirk: Stone. Can manipulate any type of Earth or Stone.

About 10 minutes had passed since Shebi knocked Honoka unconscious. Staying put not wanting to get lost, in an attempt to find Hokori.

"SHEBI-SAN!"

"Hmmm. Oh. Hokori. You're back finally a- What's with all that stuff your carrying. Oof. Hey." Hokori pressed several blueprints and notes against Shebi's chest. He wasn't smiling.

"....Huh!?" And shortly after skimming through. She became angry. "Where?"

"Right above us."

"...Then we'll take care of it right."

"Yeah. This. This is all torture not greatness." The same straight look was on their faces coming from the mysterious building. As they were walking out Shebi changed the structure of the territory below the surface. It collapsed behind them. And the building crumbled away. "I'll let them decide what they want to be."

"So Hokori. This will be our first big move?"

"...Yeah." Hokori puffed up inhaling deep. "GUYS!" Kageyama and the others were staring upwards having been left out earlier. "Yo Hokori." Kageyama casually called back. "Things got crazy while you were gone."

"It's fine. I have enough stuff to know what needs to happen now." A giant machine with a large platform at the surface was propped in between the buildings of Eusha, small bangs were coming from their to. Someone was fighting. Hokori cracked his fingers and smiled. "Let's go!"

#my writing #bnha #bnha au #boku no hero academia #mha #mha au

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thedaytheworldburned · 9 months ago

Text

'Deja Vu' First Rections - Part 2

Part 2! Thoughts below the line. Part 1 HERE

Taehyun is... looking at old memories? I guess? Looking at memories of Gyu? Since yellow is associated with Gyu in this MV...

...and the next shot we get is Gyu crying the same odd magic that Taehyun did. I hope those are tears of regret for murdering Taehyun.

This is also the first shot we get of Gyu where he ISN'T glowing all MV - tying him as an opposite to Taehyun who was in the dark/grey all MV.

... He's... trapped in the mirror? Probably not - it's probably more of a 'mirror leads to the magical world' thing. Interestingly, the tears in the mirror are BEHIND Taehyun's head - really showing how trippy all of this is. And suggesting a complete blurring between the real and magical worlds, which is also, fun fact, a motif in TXT's story.

Taehyun's office/room looks like it's from the 90s or something, so we have; Yeonjun in the 30s, Kai in the 40s-ish, Soobin in the 70s or something, Taehyun in the 90s-ish, and Beomgyu being the mandatory dead member for this MV.

A bus - a symbol of transit, and also a way to get to Magic Island if needed. Also very reminiscent of the Eternity/Drama concept images, where Gyu was indeed the main character.

Also, he's in Yeonjun's world.

Yet, inside the bus, he is in a magical world - as expected. And also asleep. As expected.

Soobin, wtf are those shoes? If they're not supposed to be a stand-in for Gyu, I don't know what to say to you, man.

Speaking of, we now get Gyu's tears falling in Soobin's room - or, magic bleeding into the real world, which it only seems able to do via suffering (ahem, CROWN, ahem).

HE'S AWAKEEEEEEE. In a room that seems like a hospital or something - cold and no personality - and in a blue room, which means now we have Gyu, Soobin, Yeonjun, and Kai all associated with blue in this MV.

But Gyu and Taehyun are still connected (as always) through the blue sky, and seem to be having some joint experience.

I mean, Gyu was in a sky with clouds.

Is Gyu... the girl from Eternally who hugged Soobin....?

Also I only just realised that Kai is on a bridge thing, not a boat. My time/period judgement still stands, though.

Well, we all know that gravity only goes funny when you start messing with time and magic, don't we, Yeonjun? Hmm, who burnt down Magic Island, Yeonjun? 'Tis all your fault, Yeonjun.

Anyway, at least he gets to dance his feelings out in this pseudo dream world while he loses grip of whoever he was holding onto in that hand shot.

TXT's storyline? More like sad-Yeonjuncore.

Colour has come back to his world, but I don't think he's happy about it.

Anyway, Kai is running after Yeonjun now too. He's got his hands full looking after everyone.

And Yeonjun is still sad, and Gyu still glows.

See?

I just realised I've been assuming this is Gyu the whole time because of the hair extensions. Pretty sure it is him, but still.

Doesn't that look nice and peaceful?

Anyway, somehow Yeonjun managed to do the impossible and bring Gyu back. Unsure why how or what is going on but it's a nice moment I guess, and probably a reversal - chances are, Gyu slipped from Yeonjun's hand before, and now Yeonjun has to fall so Gyu can save him.

And now the colour is back and everyone is together and happy, right?

Right?!?!!?

Yeah wait until the next album lol I bet.

And that's it for the MV! But we still have the lyrics, and before we have a look, let me just say that I am validated in my music opinions - I can see many people saying in the comments that this feels like a 2nd or 3rd gen song, and like a SHINee song. I'd also like to add Infinite to my original judgement.

Alright, time for -

The Lyrics.

Well, I'm a happy camper. There's a LOT, and I mean A LOT of references to Dream Chapter themes in these lyrics (A RETURN TO THE DREAM CHAPTER IS COMING EVERYONE BOW DOWN FOR THE QUEENS OF TXT ALBUMS).

For instance;

Dreams

Names

Crown

More code

Promises

Nostalgia

Stars and starlight

Memories and friendship

Running to leave things behind

Fate

Beginnings vs the future - past vs present vs future

Rain vs fire

Eternity

Togetherness and friendship

Becoming beautiful BY each other/sorrow becoming beautiful through togetherness

Soulmates

The desolate outside world

Repetition/time/repeats

Light

Yes, a lot of these things have appeared in later comebacks, but they were ALL cemented/introduced as concepts in THE DREAM CHAPTERRRRRRRRR!!!! YEAH.

So yeah, the song feels like it's entirely a reference to TDC. They even brought back Morse code to title one of their songs on this album.

Now, in this song Kai uses the word 'anomoia,' which is basically just a kind of nostalgia - for a place or time you've never known - aka, a Utopia, or some other dream-like, magical place. Very on-brand and fitting for both the DREAM chapter, and this song.

Conclusions

As I said, I am a happy camper. This is, as I predicted and hoped, a return to/reference to The Dream Chapter - in concept, in story, in music, in lyricism, and more.

I suppose you could say, it evokes Deja Vu of The Dream Chapter?

#txt #tomorrow x together #moa #minisode 3: tomorrow #deja vu

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