7 & 9 for jace, jackal & athena 😈
let's comfort the children and then make them CRY. i tried to pick songs that i could see being in the fallout setting + characters listening to (the imagine dragons song passes bc its acoustic...)
7. a song lyric that would comfort them when they’re sad
Jace: The Little Green Valley - Marty Robbins
I hear a mockingbird down in the little green valley
He's singing out a song of welcome just for me
And someone waits by the garden gate
Down in the little green valley
When I get back again, how happy she will be
This song always makes Jace think of his home, where his mamá is waiting for his next visit with hot food and a warm hug.
Jackal: My Rifle, My Pony, and Me - Dean Martin
Purple light in the canyon
That is where I long to be
With my three good companions
Just my rifle, pony, and me
Jackal is always happiest when they're hitting their road by saddle, whistling a tune with their rifle on their back.
Athena: Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall - The Ink Spots
Into each life, some rain must fall
Too much is falling in mine
Into each heart, some tears must fall
Someday the sun will shine
Athena has a lot of grief in her life, but this song reminds her that everything passes, and she should be grateful for the good parts. Rain is, quite literally, her favorite thing about coming out of the vault. (You mean it just comes from the sky...?!)
more under the cut :)
9. a song lyric to make them cry
Jace: I'm Going That Way - Emily Cross
I know I shall meet Him at the gate, when trials are past
I know I shall meet Him face to face in glory at last
And oh, I believe that when we meet “well done” He will say
For trusting His soul-redeeming love, I’m going that way
Jace has... been through a lot. He's endured physical hardship, lost people close to him, and had his heart broken. I can absolutely see him breaking down while trying to sing this church hymn when he's going through it. The idea of eternal peace after so much hardship would almost be too much to bear.
Jackal: Release - Imagine Dragons
Petty lies to everyone
In the hopes that I could be someone
Heaven talks, but not to me
And now I wonder if it's meant to be
Desolation, tragedy
Is there nothing good in me?
I drew some sketches of Jackal inspired by this forever ago. Jackal has a lot of self-doubt and struggles with imposter syndrome, believing at the worst of times that they worthless and undeserving of people's care. All alone, watching the sun rise, believing that it might be better if it didn't... some tears might fall.
Athena: The End of the World - Skeeter Davis
Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when you said, "Goodbye"
Athena cries an awful lot throughout the duration of Fallout 3. Losing her Dad to the Enclave and later getting kicking out of the vault by the girl she's in love with... let's just say it wouldn't be good if she heard this song play on the radio.
oc ask game: song lyric edition
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i was having a chuckle to myself last night about Gristol, and how his plans are basically:
Restore Ford Cruller's memory
Find Maligula
???
Profit
but then... of course they are, right? this is Gristol we're talking about. Fatherland Follies drives home again and again that he's still operating on a child's logic, a warped and reductive version of the world that he never bothered to grow out of. both of his memory vaults center on the images of his childhood, this idealized version of the past that he clings to no matter what. and that's still how he remembers Maligula, too - as this saviour figure, who rushes in to help him when he's in trouble.
[ID: Two slides from Gristol's memory vault, Glory to Grulovia! Left: Gristol clings to Maligula's back as she summons waves to sweep away his assailants. Right: Gristol and Maligula waving from a balcony as the people cheer. Gzar Theodore brandishes a dagger in the background.]
like so much else, Maligula represents a return to this idyllic childhood - to the peace and simplicity of his youth, when he was free from worries and responsibilities. in his mind, he doesn't need to make any further plans - once Maligula's back, everything will go back to normal. Maligula will make everything better.
...is what i thought, but then i remembered this line:
[Screenshot source. ID: Gristol, in Truman's body, bows on his hands and knees in front of the newly-awaked Maligula. The caption reads: "Yes, High Priestess! I am here to correct the mistakes made by my father!"]
and that's kind of interesting, right?
to be clear: this happens directly after Maligula sees Helmut-in-Gristol's-body, and recognises him. her line before this is:
"Little Gzesaravich! Have you come to pay for your father's sins?"
my first thought was that Gristol hadn't expected to still be in Truman's body by the time he managed to find Maligula, and this was him trying to placate her and buy some time until he could explain the situation. but watching the cutscene back, that's clearly not what's happening here. Gristol is answering as himself, and his response of throwing himself to his knees before her is, as far as i can tell, genuine.
so what is going on here?
in Fatherland Follies, there's this line in the ride narration that stuck out to me:
"Why didn't the Gzar help Maligula in her time of need? No one knows, but historians agree - it is Gzar Theodore's biggest failure."
other lines mention Gzar Theodore's "mistake", and it's wording Gristol himself echoes in the screencap above. evidently, he believes that his father abandoned Maligula, leaving her to her fate at the hands of the Psychonauts, and it was that mistake that lead to them being driven out of the country - that mistake which he seeks to correct. maybe he even feels like he has a debt to repay to her for his family turning their backs on her all those years ago.
the 'High Priestess' thing, though - that's kinda weird, and threw me for a loop the first time i played the game. it took me until my second playthrough to connect the dots, and remember how the room in the Lady Luctopus - Gristol's room - was full of Delugionist scribblings and symbols.
[Screenshot source. ID: left, the walls of the hidden backroom in Gristol's hotel suite, covered in scrawlings of eyeballs and Maligula's name. Right, the pinboard from the hidden backroom. On its surface are photographs and newspaper clippings connected by pieces of string.]
i mean, look at this stuff! he had a whole conspiracy board and everything!
we learn very little about the Delugionists and their beliefs as a whole during the game, but i think drawing the connection here suggests two important things. one: that Gristol was in deep with this stuff. i don't know how he linked up with them - maybe via old family connections, or just good old-fashioned digging (we know he's skilled at worming his way into peoples' good graces, after all) - but it seems likely that he's begun to internalise their ideas, maybe even warping his own memories of events. and two: the Delugionists themselves are, if you'll pardon the pun, pretty far off the deep end.
like... i understand why PN2 didn't go heavy on the "mass-murderer cult worship" aspect of things, in the end, but man this is such a tantalising glimpse into the wider mythos around Maligula. Gristol is proud and haughty and thinks himself above everyone else; the fact that his first reaction seeing Maligula is to throw himself to the ground at her feet says so much about the way he's come to see her. he's not just trying to bring back Maligula, his childhood bodyguard. he's trying to bring back Maligula, the High Priestess of the deluge, the semi-mythical figure whose supporters believe even death couldn't stop. he doesn't even flinch at the way she confronts him, and maybe it's because he's bought in so completely to this deified figurehead, this idea of Maligula; more a living force of nature than a person. and it all comes back to the same place: an abdication of responsibility, not just to the person who protected him when he was little but to this avatar of floods and destruction. Maligula will make everything better.
i'd write more about my thoughts on the Delugionists but that'd be taking a hard turn into speculation, and this is already kind of long and rambling so i'd better end it here. but what an unexpected and evocative line, right? it's some of the only stuff we have to go off of regarding the Delugionists as a whole, but i think it does such a good job of hinting at the wider story - at teasing another layer to the mythos surrounding Maligula, one whose ripples we see throughout the game but which never quite breaches the surface.
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i know im always like "damn i used to write so good what happened" whenever i read any of my work because i just write real good every time i write. but this line is killing me. what was i cooking with
So, really, Haven mused, trying to decide between spearmint and wintermint and stalking and murder, really, there wasn’t anything that could actually stop him.
give it back. i miss dropping lines that sounded cool
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NOTE: THIS ITEM IS CURRENTLY IN PREORDER. IT WILL SHIP IN JUNE-JULY 2023. We will be printing based on preorder size, so grab one now if you want one!
More than 40 trans writers and artists have joined forces to explore the deeper meanings of the Fast & Furious franchise (and also gender). There's really no way to know why this exists, but it does, and you can own it! Suitable for F&F fans and newcomers alike. Contributions include:
- A new short story by Manhunt author Gretchen Felker-Martin
- A demolition derby driver’s perspective on 2 Fast 2 Furious’s derby scene
- An essay contemplating the queer symbolism of Cipher’s bowl cut
- The scoop on the franchise’s only canonically nonbinary character
- Instructions for an F&F-themed tabletop roleplaying game
- A contemplation of which Taylor Swift album represents each F&F character
- Plus: Bingo cards! Comics! Haiku! And, of course, hot gay erotica…
2 Trans 2 Furious is edited by Tuck Woodstock & Niko Stratis, with cover art by Mattie Lubchansky and zine design by Shay Mirk.
~
This zine is 8.5" x 5.5" and perfect-bound like a real book — fancy! Interior pages are black & white. We're guessing this baby is like 100 pages long but we'll get back to you on that.
Currently only shipping to the United States, sorry! We're hoping to at least expand to Canada soon, and also plan to add a PDF ebook option, so keep an eye out!
(that "the scoop on the franchise's only canonically nonbinary character" is the page i contributed about our one & only beloved akd-acted cam stone!! plus also if you're interested in preordering a fancy printed copy of a zine about fast & furious, which you don't have to even know about or like, with all trans contributors. including me)
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