#but also technically mine IS a canon lyric

[knuckles-bloody-for-me]

What counts as a canon url to you? My ego is curious

THIS POLL IS ABOUT TAYLOR SWIFT. OP IS A SWIFTIE. IF YOU DON'T LIKE TAYLOR SWIFT SCROLL ON.

[manawari]

Girl, girl, we assumed "Wildest Dreams" to be Jinhae's anthem, but what about other ships? 👀 Any thoughts on which songs would fit them?

Hey! Do you know there's another song that can be Jinhae's anthem? Not Letting Go — You caught me at the end of all my rope. Show me all the light I'd never known. And I'm not letting, not letting go. Every wall I built for years you broke. Black and white world, you're a whole rainbow. And I'm not letting, not letting go~

And for other ships? Hmm, I have some ideas—

Choibaek:

"Strawberries And Cigarettes" by Troye Sivan → this is just a personal choice of mine. Particularly because of the "cigarettes" part which is associated with Jong-in a lot. And also, part of this song is a fic I will never get to write 😅. Plus, it's the whole ✨ vibe ✨ — Yoon-ho smelling strawberries and cigarettes in his suit after being in a car alone with Jong-in to release some pent up stress from work. Them realizing that they're more than just rivals, yet don't know how to act on it until they almost kiss, leaving Yoon-ho pray to give his heart a holiday. Plus, I'm a firm believer of Choibaek pining over each other intensely:>

"Taste" by Stray Kids → I BLAME STORM ON THIS ONE. She posted a video for the Solo Leveling Boyband AU, and since then, I can't imagine Choibaek having the same tension as this song has. Jong-in is literally a fire mage, don't you think he can make anything he touches hot?

"Don't let me love you" by Stray Kids → Storm sent me this when we were brainrotting about the Choibaek exes AU. I can imagine both Jong-in and Yoon-ho being in denial of their feelings because they're still stuck in the mindset of their rivalry and how much they hate each other.

Minlee:

"Enchanted" by Taylor Swift → this is technically my go-to Minlee anthem. Minlee is what I call "beautiful what-if" — two souls with shattered pasts had been brought together and healers who learned to heal each other. Romance between hunters is amazing and cool and breathtaking, but a romance between healers? It's like you're stepping into a shrine and you hear a distant echo of someone singing. I forever live with the fact that both Ju-hee and Byung-gyu will feel "enchanted" of meeting each other — can you imagine meeting someone who mirrors your soul and understands the pain you've gone through? Someone who won't let you break down again? Someone who won't make you worry?

Woozhi:

"Taste" by Stray Kids → need me to elaborate?

"Midnight Rain" by Taylor Swift → ZHIGANG IS SUNSHINE JIN-CHUL IS MIDNIGHT RAIN—

Sungyoo:

I can't remember a lot of songs that share the same vibe as Jin-ho and Jin-ah. Though, I imagine songs that are similar to "Paper Rings" — cute, sweet, fit for youthful romances like Jin-ah and Jin-ho.

Sungpark:

"Betelgeuse" by Yuuri → I'm not going to place the entire translated lyrics, otherwise the post would be too long than it should haha! Anyways, one of the stanzas that fit Ill-hwan and Kyung-hye: "we found each other, pulled towards each other, under the same sky. When we shine, we'll do it together, so we promised. Far and away, a never-ending Betelgeuse. Magic that connects one to another." — I don't think this needs to be elaborated either:')

Heeseok:

Yes. I can't get enough of this couple now! The more I think of Eun-seok, the more canon he feels. He's not some forgotten SL character to me anymore. Pairing him with Hee-jin just came out of the blue, but it's not like I'll be sorry when they already stole my heart from brainrots!

"Can't Stop Loving You" by Toya Takase (ft. Emi Noda) → fun fact: this is the song I used for inspiration in my 1st Heeseok fic under the same title. It gives me the idea that regardless of whatever Eun-seok is, Hee-jin can't bring herself to stop loving him, especially when he's still that cute gentle and kind hunter in spite of his flaws. You might not understand the whole lyrics, but you can feel the main point of the song, as well in the title:).

[blysse-and-blunder]

In lieu of a long weekend

sunday, may 19, 2024 ~ 11:30pm

technically tomorrow is a day off but the nice thing about grad school is that means essentially nothing for me, and tonight still feels like a sunday night—but it was a beautiful, mostly work-free weekend up until now

reading i forget now whether i mentioned this in my last ilcb, but last month i listened to the audiobook of jenn lyons’ the ruin of kings, which means that now it’s time for the sequel! started these huge fantasy epics on the recommendation of @booksmithereens, who has yet to steer me wrong—but i will say that upon first getting started, I didn’t especially follow (or care) all that much about most of the world building, especially since trok starts in with a lot of slavery and physical / sexual violence. upon second read-through, because i did go back with the ebook as soon as i finished listening to trok the first time, i think i was able to take more pleasure from the characters’ dialogue—there are very funny moments—and from the originality of certain features of the series’ take on deities and magic. i’m 28% through the audio book of the second novel, the name of all things, and i adore that we’ve got a new snarky editor leaving footnotes and editorializing comments, and that we have a new female pov character who really adds to the (intentionally) one-dimensional view of her we were given in the first one. these are good companion books for when i’m toiling in the hollow knight mines (have i explained how i have hacked boss fights for myself by turning off the game sound and instead relaxing, listening to an audiobook, and just getting to focus on the visuals—the flow state this induces can last for. hours. and has yet to get old), and they are another worthy entry in the dragons/magic/demons/swords/prophecy type fantasy canon.

watching finally finished (screaming, cringing, laughing, etc) season one of the white lotus with g and @hematiterings. all things considered, an easier ending than i feared, weirdly? i lost count of full-body cringe reactions (from sheer gut-churning dialogue, not the way kids use ‘cringe’ these days) at like 10, and then we started season two (which we’ve all seen the first few episodes of) and the counter had to start over at the beginning. still fun though. still fun.

also watched the first three-four episodes of dungeon meshi! which i thought were excellent, but i now have just enough context to be really actually affected by casual spoilers, so i may have to blacklist it here on the blue hellsite for now, and watched episode 4 of house of the dragon this evening whilst folding my laundry. i am holding out for when this show introduces the new lead actresses because I have seen their interview in gifs going around and i would like to see it. so far though, i’m distressed by the politics and bored by the action, as is to be expected from a game of thrones show.

listening hmmm chappelle roan Hot to Go has been stuck in my head for a while now so let’s go with that. initially I thought the lyrics to most of her new album really didn’t live up to pink ping club (see my 2021?2? Ilcb where i went on at *length* about how good that song is) but you know what, we’re capable of admitting when we’re wrong and this is one of those times. H! O! T! T! O! G-O!

playing i got the sharp shadow charm in hollow knight today! Nosk and the enraged guardian have been kicking my ass by turns. i had so much geo I had been carefully carrying around and reclaiming every time i died because millibelle had her career pivot and closed my account 😝 and i finally lost it today. Alas. but since there was nothing i could buy at any of the three vendors i visited, it was all going to end up in the fountain anyway.

making this was a little while ago now, but i finally did it, i made a recipe following a b. dylan hollis video! the coffee loaf from 1959– surprisingly, i had all of the ingredients on hand (including powdered milk?!) and i was so excited by this that I didn’t stop to ask whether i *should* make this caffeinated baked good. recipe worked well, the consistency was great and all, but a single square inch of it and i feel like i’ve single-handedly drunk a pot of strong coffee. this is a me problem, i’ll grant you, but it is amusing to me that i’ve made a cake I physically cannot eat too much of in a single sitting. it is drying out in the fridge as we speak. heart palpitations aside, i am proud of it though.

working on it occurred to me today to look back at the timeline i made for myself at the beginning of the month, and i’m four days past the first deadline on it without having even really touched the chapter itself. blargh. sent two emails yesterday, and two that had been worrying me the day before, and worked a bit on the newsletter today. chipping away at things.

[elizabethshaw]

20 questions for writers

i was tagged by @riversofmars (thank you!!)... feel like a little bit of a fraud doing this as i've had major writer's block for nearly two years now and have written virtually nothing during that time, but i'm gonna give it a go anyway 😅

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

14 :))

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

46,344

3. What fandoms do you write for?

doctor who! mostly leaning towards dweu/big finish stuff but i've written some new who fic as well in the past. (i've also been wanting to write something for the pleasant green universe audio series for a while now but as my major fixations on it have all coincided with the aforementioned writer's block that... hasn't happened lmao)

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Wy' ti'n dal i weld cysgodion yn y nos? (67 kudos)

in it together (23 kudos)

The Security Guard, The Scholar, And The Giant Stone Cube (22 kudos)

I Lie Awake And Watch It All (19 kudos)

og um vitt aldrin síggjast meir (18 kudos)

predictably, this includes all of the new who fics i've written, and (bar the third) almost none of the fics i'm actually most proud of lol 😅

(also feel a need to clarify here that the foreign-language titled fics are not actually in those languages, i just use song lyrics as titles a lot and for various reasons over half the music i listen to at any given moment is Not In English, hence the titles being as they are)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i try to! sometimes i'm a bit delayed with it (i know there's a couple i need to get around to answering rn but before today i hadn't been on my ao3 for... half a year at least?? so i'm a bit behind oops), but i like to get back to everyone who leaves a comment, just to say thanks :)

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

probably hver fer sinn veg - it's set during "the war doctor begins", it was never going to be a happy one lol

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

gei di weld y byd mewn lliw, i think :)

8. Do you get hate on fic?

thankfully no! i've been lucky enough that my experience with fic writing/sharing has been very positive so far <3

9. Do you write smut?

no, it's not really my thing. smut is very honestly just kinda there to me, i don't have strong feelings about it either way, and so it's not something i've ever felt compelled to write yknow??

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

nope! i mainly prefer playing around with canon/canon-adjacent stuff tbh, i've got a couple of unfinished aus hanging around that will probably never see the light of day, but no crossovers that i can think of

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not as far as i'm aware. though to be fair, i don't venture onto fic websites other than ao3 so i'll never know for certain. i doubt it though

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

again, not as far as i know! i'd probably be chill with it though if anyone wanted to translate a fic of mine, provided they asked beforehand and it was one i was comfortable with being translated :)

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

nope! the closest i've got is participating in an event run by a discord server i used to be mildly active in and am technically still part of, which was a lot of fun :D

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

i don't know if i really have an "all-time" favourite as such, but i've written a fair bit for liv and helen from the 8das, and really love their dynamic. i'm also a big fan of leela/romana, but for whatever reason i've never been quite able to make writing them work :/

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t?

there's a fair few 😅 the main one I can think of atm is the eldritch helen fic i vaguely remember being asked about on here a couple of years back, it's a concept that i still have a lot of interest in and love for, but i've never quite been able to get the fic itself to work and i fear it may be doomed to the wip pit for eternity :((

i've also got quite a few unfinished pieces of varying lengths with the war-veklin-albert tardis team from "the war doctor begins" hanging around my drive that i'd a) love to finish and b) probably won't; their dynamic and their whole deal as a team whose story takes place mostly off-screen and which we only see the ending of fascinates me. maybe one day i'll manage to do something with it

16. What are your writing strengths?

description :) this is the one thing i am ever consistently happy with in my writing (i am my own harshest critic <3), and i've got a couple of nice comments about it before. so!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

dialogue - even with characters i know well and whose voices i have clear in my head, i do find it difficult to make dialogue feel really authentic, and it's definitely something i tend to overly fixate on when i'm writing because i'm so conscious of wanting to get it right

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

i'm totally fine with it! as long as it has a reason for being in the story, and isn't like. getting in the way of readers understanding what's going on, i don't see the problem.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

doctor who :)

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

it's probably a tie between The Security Guard, The Scholar, And The Giant Stone Cube (a fic i wrote back in 2021 based on this post about rory and helen theoretically being able to meet each other at the national museum during the pandorica arc, which i loved writing and am still really happy with nearly 3 years later), and mae cuddio dagrau yn fy ngwaed (a bit of a weirder/darker dreamscape-type story; it took a lot of puzzling things out to piece all the different parts together to make something that was cohesive but still felt strange or off in the way dreams do, but i was really pleased with the end result!)

can't think of anyone to tag off the top of my head who hasn't been tagged already, so i'll leave this free for anyone to take part if they want to! :)

[iztopher]

🎵 and one for me!: qp royai

HEHE YES this took me. a while because royai is So Specific and in a full mix i'd definitely try more to encapsulate (gestures) the Everything but for a few quick songs:

Easy Silence - The Chicks

Canary in a Coal Mine - The Crane Wives

Run - Daughter

One Foot in Front of the Other - Emilie Autumn

explanations / lyrics under the cut!

Easy Silence - The Chicks

"Children lose their youth too soon / watching war made us immune / and I've got all the world to lose / but I just want to hold on to / the easy silence that you make for me / it's okay when there's nothing more to say to me / the peaceful quiet you create for me / and the way you keep the world at bay for me"

on one side of things this feels like a cop-out because Easy Silence is kind of my go-to QPR song but on the other side of things the way these two have their own fucking language that doesn't even need to include code words all the time. Yeah

Canary in a Coal Mine - The Crane Wives

"You and I are friends of empty graves / black air and black, black lungs / am I the only thing that keeps you safe when the light is gone?"

song about supporting someone through your shared/similar trauma even to the detriment of your own well-being, even when you're worried that support is all you're good for in your relationship! while I definitely think Roy and Riza's relationship is more solid for that, they're both colossally fucked up about what they've done and what they've been through and that's definitely a layer of the codependency going on.

Run - Daughter

"And we will step outside, checking that the coast is clear on both sides / Cause we don't want to be seen, now, this is suicide / But you can't see the ropes"

According to Genius lyrics the original intention of this song is about an impending breakup. But to me, it's always given across this sense of planning something with someone, something dangerous where you don't have all the steps in place yet and it could hurt one or the both of you, but you have to move forward and do it and - well, yeah.

One Foot in Front of the Other - Emilie Autumn

"We never will forget, and no, we will not forgive / We fought hard not to die, yet we don't know how to live / How do we change our world to what we want it to be? / How do we move beyond all of this misery? / One foot in front of the other foot / In front of the one foot in front of the other foot"

This song is technically very heavy and somber and it's also the most optimistic, encouraging song I know. Since canon ends with them on the next step of their plan, but not there yet, I really like it as an ending song on a hypothetical mix.

[nanase-haru]

{A.M.V.} Free!! x Uta no Prince-sama / Mamoru Miyano (Inspired): “Canon” (Second opening theme of Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love 2000%) {In that series, Miyano voices “Tokiya Ichinose”. This is not sung by “Tokiya” technically, but might give Tokiya’s image.} I used Miyano’s inspiration to make a Free!! A.M.V.! {It is my very first for this fandom, though I watched as it aired!}

Series: Free!! (C) Kyo-Ani “Canon” (C) Broccoli-Games / ELEMENTSGARDEN {Note: This is a FAN-work}

Characters/Pairs Featured: - RinHaru {Rin x Haru} - Rintori / NitoRin / RinAi {Rin x Aiichirou Nitori} - Ai x Rin x Haru as poly-ship or open relationships; (implied by the end) Feel free to view your preference!

My Commentary:

I would like to propose a Concept - Haru, Rin and Ai all have MULTIPLE HANDS. (This A.M.V. showcases the dynamics / story progression of all three; each of Haru and Ai with Rin, briefly, all acknowledging each other) Contains spoilers for: Free!! Seasons 1 & 2; {Rin; Haru; Ai scenes} “The Final Stroke” Part 2 start; but nothing specific from Final Stroke’s ending {Yet?}. (TFS Part 1 shows only in ‘scenic’ scene.) Others appear as support.

(Though I admit I am personally biased towards RinAi fandom-wise, I’ve also enjoyed the canon dynamic between Rin and Haru.) However, this work was partly made / inspired by an old mutual; this mutual really loved Rin+Haru dynamic too, so this is made in support! {They also like everyone as friends, as do I.} I’m not able to make much for this fandom usually (in the past, I did briefly rp {role-play} Ai, but do not actively write fic or anything much outside rp) but for the most part, this A.M.V. was very fun to make! Happy 10~ years anniversary to Free!! Time Spent: - About an hour and 30 min on the 1st verse + chorus. - Almost 4 and a half hours / a whole evening on the rest. - I am not even kidding when I say this thing must have crashed my editor (Windows Movie Maker... it’s an older version, sigh) at least x30+~50 times while attempting to finish Nitori’s scenes timing and the ending. As a result, this is technically a “first draft” (I know ending’s bit rushed, but I tried!) until I can go back and add in more timings and scene cuts! (Someday!...) - My editor tends to crash pretty frequently if I attempt 50+ clips; sometmes even after 20~ clips or so. This one has just about 40 clips, with bonus KyoAni’s own timings helping to smooth out the rest! - Sub-titles cannot be included at this time; I apologize! (However, lyric{s} below the ‘read more’!) It is recommended you view them in full (or in sections) before watching! - If you watch, I’d really love to hear your thoughts; I put a lot of effort in!

Summary:

“I only swim FREE!.” - Haru

... DO YOU?

“I feel so useless.” - Ai

“A sight you’ve never seen before...”

{Lyric[s] Preview!}:

Distant feelings on a {‘SILENT’} hill, … all of my love… (Get ready!)

“Do not tremble in this cruel world…” Through the kiss of a song, better than thousands of words

We can give something up ({I} swear to you) Just to live in this moment (Hold my hand) For your sake and for mine, we’re ready to take off now…together!

“SO, let’s GO!”

Your beloved voice becomes a powerful impulse That makes dreams reality As our heartbeats synchronize… Ah, exceeding even miracles, (Feel your song!) Up among the stars, (Feel my song!) Until that dream Reaches the unseeable FUTURE, I’ll PLAY this song! {“Free”}

I was scared of truth’s LIGHT…

(Lyric{s} via Uta-pri Wikia!)

“Canon” (description via Wiki): {no, not the fandom term.} In music, a canon is a contrapuntal (counterpoint-based) compositional technique that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration (e.g., quarter rest, one measure, etc.). The initial melody is called the leader (or dux), while the imitative melody, which is played in a different voice, is called the follower (or comes). The follower must imitate the leader, either as an exact replication of its rhythms Rand intervals or some transformation thereof. Repeating canons in which all voices are musically identical are called rounds. (For the meaning behind the title / theme!) {In the A.M.V., I semi-relate (if vaguely) this theme to all three characters; plus, more directly, make the comparison to Haru + Free!! AND Relay Medleys.} (There is vague inspiration from the original Uta-pri as well, but not intended directly comparable.)

The final chorus of the A.M.V. is one I had in mind ever since first hearing this song way back around Apr 2k13, when the second part of Uta-pri aired. It may be slightly more modified in a “final” version, but for the most part!...

Lyric[s]:

Distant {“Haruka”} feelings on a silent hill, all of my love… (Get ready!) [Haru <-> Rin] (+Haru; specifically...) “Do not tremble in this cruel world…” Through the kiss of a “song”, better than thousands of words We can give something up (I swear to you) Just to live in this moment (Hold my hand) For your sake and for mine, we’re ready to take off now…together! “So, let’s go!” Your beloved voice becomes a powerful impulse That makes dreams reality As our heartbeats synchronize… Ah, exceeding even miracles, (Feel your song!) Up among the stars, (Feel my song!) Until that dream Reaches the unseeable future, I’ll play this song! I was scared of truth’s light... [Ai -> Rin] Even at this great a DISTANCE, it’s too DAZZLING An unspeakable LONELINESS (No more crying) Thirsting for an impossible cure (Save my heart) [Ai <-> Rin] Since I met you, I’ve sworn to start living! The overlapping melodies of your voice seem to scorch my heart Resonating dreams echoing for eternity Like a sense of déjà vu, I knew today (Feel your love) A bloom of hope (Feel my love) An infinite rainbow Now our feelings are merging as we become one [Ai <-> Rin <-> Haru] The stars are waiting for the sky, they want to become a dream(?) The day will come when they bloom like a flower, and a rainbow awaits us on that day We’re ready to take off now…together! “So, let’s go!” Your beloved voice becomes a powerful impulse That makes dreams reality As our heartbeats synchronize… Ah, exceeding even miracles, (Feel your song!) Up among the stars, (Feel my song!) Until that dream Reaches the unseeable future, I’ll play this song! Feelings tied together on a shining hill…

[romanarose]

Call to tag

Revenge and Regret

Han Solo x fem!OC, Ty

Summary: several years before the events of The Force Awakens, Han is on his own again, occasionally with company of chewie, when he finds a stowaway on the falcon. Dirty, sunburned, a disaster, with two large scars on either cheek, Ty presents a mystery to Han, and allows her a space on the falcon as a hired hand. Sexual tension brews, as does Ty’s need to destroy the man who did this to her and Hans guilt over his feelings of Ty while technically married still.

Over the course of several months, we meet poe, Leia, Lando, Kylo Ren, and many Star Wars favorites as Han’s guilt eats at him and Ty’s need for revenge consumes her.

Warnings: it’s a romana fic ofc oc has sexual trauma, massive age gap (50 years, Han is a GILF), canon typical violence, cheating (every chapter starts with a song lyric and let’s just says there’s a lot of Fleetwood Mac). Everyone is cheating on each other bc they are not healthy adults. This story is not meant to frame Han nor Ty as good people, but rather explore what trauma can do to people. No happy ending.

Lemme preface this by saying I already know this isn’t going to go anyway bc 1. Han isn’t a popping character 2. Oc fics always get less interaction 3. This blog is mostly Oscar/Pedro content so that’s where my followrs come from

However, 3 years ago I started writing this, my first serious attempt at fanfiction other than half hearted doctor who fics in 2012 and completely scrapped it once, but ended up writing like 25 chapters in 2022. Thar fit defrauded when I started writing Sunshine Starlight Sweetheart Brightside, my moon knight series

Anyway, this Han Solo series is kinda bad, melodramatic and long but I though hey, maybe someone out there is just gonna really fucking like it. It’s sitting in my google docs so why not? I’ll start editing and publishing what I’ve written and slowly start writing the new chapters needed. I think this will be helpful for me wanting to put out new content but I’m so busy rn.

Fir the second, I don’t feel like this is my best work. When I says it’s melodramatic I mean it

But deleting would be a waste and I think there’s a lot of good within it, and a important look at a oc who is just falling apart bc unlike in other stories of mine, she is not getting help

Also for you Oscar girlies, yes there is gonna be Poe smut bc it’s me

Even before I saw moon knight and got converted to be an Oscar whore I loved him as Poe

Lmk if you want to be tagged!

[becauseanders]

Character Songs tag

so technically i wasn't actually tagged in this but @sillyliterature did say "and anyone else who wants to do this" in her post so i'm taking it, lol

Game Rules: Choose one of your characters and list songs that fit them.

and i am going to also copy sillyliterature again by choosing anders in basically any variation of my canons/writings (so also always involving a romance with a female hawke, and of course also with some major focus on circle abuse and trauma), because that's the current mood, and i will also follow suit by putting it under a cut with lyrical excerpts!

and i will tag @dismalzelenka, @little--abyss, @faith-less-one, @magicalelvenjedicat, @fthechantry (and of course only if you want to!)

✨"Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" by David Bowie Oh no, love, you're not alone You're watching yourself, but you're too unfair You got your head all tangled up But if I could only make you care

Oh no, love, you're not alone No matter what or who you've been No matter when or where you've seen All the knives seem to lacerate your brain I've had my share, I'll help you with the pain You're not alone

Just turn on with me, and you're not alone Let's turn on and be not alone Gimme your hands, 'cause you're wonderful Gimme your hands, 'cause you're wonderful Oh, gimme your hands

✨"Marian" by The Sisters of Mercy In a sea of faces, in a sea of doubt In this cruel place your voice above the maelstrom In the wake of this ship of fools I'm falling further down If you can see me, Marian, reach out and take me home

I hear you calling ,Marian Across the water, across the wave I hear you calling, Marian Can you hear me calling you to Save me, save me, save me from the grave Marian

Marian, there's a weight above me And the pressure is all too strong To breathe deep Breathe long and hard To take the water down and go to sleep To sink still further Beneath the fatal wave Marian, I think I'm drowning This sea is killing me

✨"Do You Doubt Me Traitor" by Lingua Ignota I don't eat I don't sleep I don't eat I let it consume me

How do I break you Before you break me?

[…]

My friends all wear your colors Your flag flies above every door But bitch, I smell you bleeding And I know where you sleep

Do you doubt me, traitor? Throw your body in the fucking river I'm the cuntkiller

And I don't eat, I don't sleep I don't eat, I don't sleep

✨"Anhedonia" by Chelsea Wolfe and Emma Ruth Rundle Take an eye for an eye Take me down with you Take it all away

I know it all comes back times three That human, that demon showed me How it ends when you treat your friends like foes So don't come looking for me I've got my walls up now Protect myself like a fortress And I'm on my own now

No, I can't sleep, baby And waking up is just a dream My sadness has lost its cause And I'm suffocating So don't come looking for me I've got no joy to lend Protect myself like a fortress Isolating, bridge withdrawing Isolated, I can't take it

Anhedonia Anhedonia I'll be your silent witness I'll be your borderline I'll keep you safe and sacred Just keep your heart close to mine

✨"It Took the Night to Believe" by Sunn O))) A perfect silhouette What is destroyed by fire The withering egg Dialates full Unnourished In salutations of crescent eye Cry yourself to ash

A perfect silhouette The beacon lingers Cry yourself to ash The beacon lingers Cry yourself to ash A perfect silhouette It took the night to believe

…and i could go on for far longer so i am going to stop but shoutout as well to "Woe to All (On the Day of My Wrath)" by Lingua Ignota for being a spectacular chantry boom song!

[coffee-or-murder]

5, 9, 23, and 25 for Lemon :>

5. How far is your OC willing to go to get what they want?

Honestly it depends on the thing! She’s not a particularly materialistic person, and she’s pretty sure that with her set of skills (healing magic, arcane/nature knowledge, and baking/cooking) she shouldn’t have to resort to stealing from innocent folks to get by. Lemon also has a problem of putting others' needs/wants before hers, up to and including sacrificing her own comfort for their needs/wants, for people she cares about. We’ve talked OOC about how another person’s heart is an acceptable substitute for a diamond for a revivify spell, so under the very specific circumstances of “during combat person kills a person I love, person is clearly the aggressor and is in their right mind, I have no diamonds to bring back the person I love” Lemon would kill the other person in fear/rage to bring the person she loves back to life which with some team members might be a major point of contention between them. 

The most in canon thing she’s done to pursue a “material want” was when the team was clearing out the Tower, and she and Nick found a set of very fancy kitchen knives. Lemon pocketed those with a little nudging, but the party also technically owned everything in the Tower at that point, so I wouldn’t count it as stealing. The most she’s done “emotional want” wise is run away from home to avoid delay her arranged marriage, but even that was orchestrated by her family and not totally her choice. They were always going to get her out of the shires, but whether she hid at a distant family friend's home or joined up with LEAGUE was the only choice she got to make.

9. Do you have a specific lyric or quote which you associate with your OC?

So Lemon’s playlist is now up to…..160 songs so there’s a whooooole bunch I associate with her. Here’s a selection~ ;D   

“Make it easy/ Make it clever, craft it into pieces/ Make it sweet/ Crimp the edges/ We'll make it sour and serve with lemon wedges/ Even doubt/ Can be delicious/ And it washes off of all the dirty dishes/ When it's done/ I can smile/ It's on someone else's plate for a while/ I'll place it on display/ And then I'll slice and serve my worries away”

“Sometimes I find myself shaking / In the middle of the night / And then it hits me and I can't / Even believe this is my life / But people have problems that are worse than mine / I don't want you to think I'm complaining all the time / And I wish that everyone would go and shut their mouths / I'm not strong enough to deal with it / I am slowly falling apart”

“I'm happy for you, I'm smiling for you / I'd do anything for you, for you / It's always for you and never for me / And I need it to stop so let me tell you, please / I'm always sad and I'm always lonely / But I can't tell you that I'm breaking slowly / Closed doors, locked in, no keys / Keeping my feelings hidden, there is no ease / I need it to stop and I want to be able to open up / But my feelings are fatal, my feelings are fatal”

23. What emotion is the hardest for your OC to process? How about express?

She has trouble processing anything to do with guilt/shame, which unfortunately is also deeply entangled with her perceptions of love and her own self image. Lemon is so full of shame over her own wants and needs because of her mothers emotional abuse, and even with the support and love of the rest of her friends/family she hasn’t managed to unlearn those feelings. She openly and repeatedly offers love/comfort/help to others, but has a lot of trouble admitting her own need for it out of fear/shame of being a burden to the team and losing the little bit of love she’s found with them. 

Lemon has the most trouble with expressing negative emotions in general to the people she cares about! She’ll get mad and sass back at rude people or a stranger who ignores her boundaries or is mean to her friend, but if her loved ones toe the line of her comfort she just ignores it. She tries very very hard to only let her friends see her be happy/supportive/comforting out of fear of them leaving her behind, because why else would they want her around if she isn’t providing a service? She’s a bit of a crybaby, but has smothered that response the best she can so no one gets annoyed by her crying when she’s stressed/angry. Everytime she has a disagreement with a friend she tends to panic and immediately back down, though she’s been getting a bit better about realizing that one disagreement isn’t the end of everything! It’s slow going, and only made worse because of how isolated and untethered she feels being away from home and cut off from the only support she felt she could trust. 

25. What is your favorite thing about your OC?

Her hair and freckles are so much fun to draw lol. Something about trying to maintain a loose heart shape with her hair and getting to dot her freckles is just a lot of fun. I also enjoy how I set up how her magic feels to her! It’s fun coming up with various ways she feels the hearth fire/boiling pot in her gut and how it can react to outside stimuli. Also the dice seem to always know when I’m rolling to see if Lemon got flustered by someone and she rolls so low everytime. It’s hilarious lol. 

[randomsloredrops]

Random's Lore Drops - Thee Who Munches Thy Chocolate

wow i'm writing this at 11:41 pm and NOT three in the fucking morning REAALALLLLAllALaL?!/1/ anyways yeah so basically this is the last MAJOR character, and i'll explain why I always refer to them as 'The First Fallen Human' instead of the name that's basically become canon at this point. yup, that's right, we're talking about a canon character whose name starts with C and has so much importance yet so little at the same time due to not being in the story for basically all of the neutral, until the end of Geno, and only in recordings in true lab in paci.

oh damn this image is a lot bigger than i thought it was. oh well idgaf. anyways this is uhhhh according to the wiki 'Chara', or according to the tarot cards, 'Fallen' but like REALLY distorted. anyways cue cut off

aw yeah this is happening. anyways, since i'm more awake, had a hot chocolate, and am now blaring a megalo strike back remix into my ears (and occasionally the recently released MOTI's lyrical cover of A Mother's Love just cause it's a banger). anyways, this is the first fallen. YES I WILL KEEP REFERRING TO THEM AS THE FALLEN HUMAN, THE FALLEN, OR THE FIRST FALLEN STFU I HAVE A REASON YOU'LL FIND OUT. anyways, i'm sure that yall know this one kid. if you only know them as the evil something something, uh... Cowabummer! Anyways, time to use proper capitalization. The Fallen Human is the human we see in the introduction sequence, who runs up the mountain and falls in. As it's probably known, they get adopted by King Asgore, Queen Toriel, and Asriel (it doesn't fit to call him Prince Asriel for me for some reason), and become the first human to ever fall into the underground. If you didn't play Undertale and you're reading this, uh... get spoiled lmao you came here you get this. The Fallen has a super similar style to the 'eighth fallen', Frisk, who ACTUALLY HAS A CANON NAME. Their SOUL is IDENTICAL to the player's, or rather, Frisk's, and their coffin (yes THEIR coffin, not Frisk's) is empty, seeing as the body was taken elsewhere (despite being taken back into the Underground by Asriel, leaving only one person to do so). The Fallen is, 'not exactly the greatest person', a misanthrope, my source being that Asriel literally confirms that they HATE humanity, canonically capable of making scary face, and, uhhhhh lemme see... right i have to make another paragraph, too many words. Anyways, apparently really secretive, and persuasive (wiki's words, not mines), never stating their plans on camera. There's SOME evidence that proves that the Fallen does occasionally narrate the story, but aren't always red (technically hinting to the narrachara (or rather, narrafallen) hypothesis (i dont say theory just yet)). I'm sure you know, but (uhhh tw ig??) the Fallen had poisoned themselves to die so that Asriel could take the SOUL, cross the barrier, and... well... kill a bunch of humans. Apparently control is split between the SOUL and the Monster (i assume the human has more control than the Monster when SOUL absorbed) and uhh Asriel went and nuh uh-ed Chara, leading to the double kill of Chara's SOUL and asri dremr. Now, before we continue, just to let you know, the Fallen only got the name Chara because of the fact that, all the files for the character sprites (including unused) are called Chara, with the Fallen's being called TrueChara, and the pick-a-name saying that Chara is the true name (as a supposed-to-be reference to the sprite names), and is also the replacement name when the files have the player name erased (once again proving it was just a placeholder name/name to the sprites, not the fallen's name) now then onto geno In Genocide, we actually get to MEET the Fallen in person, who takes the name that you typed in at the beginning of the game. They reveal that Frisk's SOUL and Determination are what brought them back from the dead (yes Frisk's SOUL not ours). They state that they are the 'embodiment' of the feeling gained when LV (read STATS) increases, before saying to just erase the world and move onto the next. You get the chance to say Yah or Nah, but either way, it leads to Chara going byebye to the world and you and decking you in the schnoz with a knife. Fun fact! There's code in the game that actually reveals that Toby Fox intended to make the application erase itself once the geno route finished, but it never worked, leading to just the application closing. Afterwards, opening the game and waiting TEN FUCKING MINUTES. TEN. GODDAMN. MINUTES. will lead to the Fallen getting the confusion and choosing to make a deal. Frisk's SOUL, for the world back. ya say nah? they dip. literally. you have to OPEN the game again and wait another 10 minutes. ya say yah? well, the world gets restored, but paci route changes.

[elvensorceress]

2021 fic year in review

Tagged by the Lovely and Incomparable @reallysmartladymariecurie thank you, darling! 💕

Total Number Of Completed Works: 14 (is what we’ll call it even though I have a few WIP series)

Total Word Count: ~335,000 (side note how in tf)

Fandoms I’ve Written In: 911 and a teensy bit MCU

Looking Back, Did You Write More Fic Than You Thought You Would This Year, Less, Or About What You’d Expected?: Waaaaay way way more. I have never ever written this much for anything. And given as I had never seen an episode of 911 before May of this year, didn’t exactly expect that at all. (but omg how I love them 😭)

What’s Your Own Favorite Story Of The Year?: So hard to pick because they’re all pretty different? My Heart series was a complete labor of love and an unintentionally massive love letter to all of Buddie fandom (and their story up through s4) because the sniper incident was what got me into the fandom. So of course this story is very special. I am still not sure how I wrote 137K in four months. still over here going hOOWWW????? I am also very very fond of The Aftermath of Liberation and Love Confessions. Who doesn’t love sassy petty Eddie? 

Did You Take Any Writing Risks This Year?: idk just writing in general and pushing myself to stay with it? Which isn’t really a “risk” per se but putting anything out there kind of is? I also like to play around with prose in general. I think it’s fun, especially in moments where a character is completely out of it or blindsided by something, to make the narration more poetic or lyrical? With repetitive lines or lack of punctuation and things like that.

Do You Have Any Fanfic Or Profic Goals For The New Year?: I do have a few series to finish. I was going to work on my alternate canon s2 Buddie series during hiatus but then I got started with a post 5a fic of pain (I’m fixing them I promise we’re working on ittttt) that I’m really enjoying and I’m really excited about what’s coming up in the next chapter.  Also, I have to finish Bannerella at some point because I’ve been working on it off and on for almost 10 years and it’s just ridiculous at this point. 

Most Popular Story Of The Year?: Technically? Based on kudos, it’s Plus or Minus, which I sort of figured might be the case? It was an idea that a lot of people seemed to theorize about (T*yKay gets a job offer and asks Buck to go with her) but I hadn’t seen any fics about it where that was the whole premise? (Totally could have missed them. So sorry if I did!) So I think it got quite a bit of traction just because people wanted to see that play out. But if we’re being honest, I think it’s one of if not my weakest piece. I do love the two scenes with Eddie (and Christopher) and the whole Eddie stress cleaning because it’s apparently A Thing lol. But overall, I’m still pretty meh about it. *insert shrug emoji*  However, if we go by some responses and reactions that I received, I’d say Aftermath (and even my What I Did for Love fic) seem more popular to me. Though if we go by number of bookmarks, it’s my Heart series.

Story Of Mine Most Under-Appreciated By The Universe, In My Opinion: Okay, I’m going to ramble here because I think I either didn’t summarize this one very well or I posted it too late and people were over Halloween, but I really really loved, In the Darkest Time of Year, and I swear basically no one read it. It’s kind of like Aftermath in that it’s sort of a holiday fic? But not really? It’s also an Eddie POV story in which we are tormented by repression and go through a whole Halloween shift of spookiness and emotions to get Eddie to confess his feelings. The goal was to really break him down and threaten him with losing Buck forever if he didn’t come to terms with everything he’s been holding in. 

There are sweet scenes with Eddie and Hen working together and being friends! (and I wanted them to have that whole sexuality conversation without being super straightforward about it?) and there’s mutual pining and longing with Buck, and not one but TWO scenes of Eddie vs T*ylor ethical conflict snarky fighting showdowns (including one right in front of Buck 👀) plus it all has this maybe magical realism, maybe mental breakdown hallucination sort of things that I thought gave it an interesting twist. Also has the tragic gay cheerleaders 😭 and I had a lot of fun hinting at these mythological figures and giving them personalities. Oh plus??? I somehow got into making it a kind of Orpheus/Eurydice type story only the twist is that Eddie is Eurydice because Buck pulled him from death, but they’re both still stuck in that moment of the sniper shooting so Eddie worries that he will be trapped in death and the underworld.

Anyway! I would love you forever and ever if you went and checked it out! 

Most Fun Story To Write: Hands down. Aftermath of Liberation and Love Confessions. Snarky sassy petty Eddie! Buck getting roasted for the lame T*yKay love confession! Ravi being adorable! A couple super fun OCs who were inspired/based on my late grandparents. Oh, and let me tell you that Buddie kiss? Was one of my favorites to write. Also, I didn’t get to do this for a couple of fics where I think it needed it? But I got to slow down the ending for this and give them some time to figure things out. Which meant you got to see them be cute and together after their big confessions and I really liked that. 

Most Unintentionally Telling Story: Also, Aftermath. Eddie’s whole confusion about defining his sexuality and his coming out scene. I feel that so hard. demisexual!Eddie my beloved 😭 Plus, obviously the two OCs (Larry and Patricia) are very special to me. It was fun bringing them back to life in a sweet, ridiculous, silly way. All the love confessions, too, and having everyone essentially tell their own love stories hit very close to home because every single one is inspired by my own wife and how much I love her and how important she is to me. 

Biggest Disappointment: I think I already rambled too much about that lol. But In the Darkest Time of Year

Biggest Surprise: Writing this much at all? Falling so hard for this pairing and their little family and weirdly identifying so much with both of them but in different ways? Also, I am still surprised by the reaction I received to Aftermath. I wasn’t sure people would like it! But it was so much fun to write and I loved it so so much. So, if anything, I’m very grateful people loved it :) 

My Favorite Part Of Fandom This Year: Oh gosh. I’ve been enjoying all the amazing writers and meta-ers and gif makers and artists! You are all so incredible and so talented and I adore all of you. Also, I have to agree with @reallysmartladymariecurie because I joined the fandom between 4x13 and 4x14 and omgggggg was that wild. I’ve met such kind and wonderful people who just amaze me every day with their friendliness and enthusiasm and I just really love all of you. It’s been a long time since I was so excited about a fandom and it’s largely because of all of you. 💕💕💕💕💕 Giant hugs and love for you all! 🤗💕

I’m going to add a few here, too because they just need to be mentioned!

Most Memorable Scene to Write: There are some scenes from Heart of Flowers/Heart of Gold that I just really lovelovelove and feel they had to have happened in canon in some form but we just didn’t get to see them. But the one that really sticks out to me is basically a 4x04 addition where Buck goes to Eddie and Christopher’s after the “love me anyway” dinner with his parents and has a breakdown in the key of, “what did I do wrong/why can’t anyone love me.” And his boys smush him in a hug and snuggle him. It’s still one of my all time faves. Also? When Eddie’s parents call and not only does he get to tell them off but he has to argue that he (and Christopher) deserve love? Oh, that was fun. 

Favorite Kiss: The overall story is still in progress, but I think the beginning can still be a standalone. So, if you want to know my all time favorite Buddie kiss that was just the most fun? It’s from Reset the Clock. Also the love scene near the end of Heart of Flowers/Heart of Gold is 👀👀👀👀 just saying. 

tagging: anyone who wants to do this! I am not sure who has already been tagged but I want EVERYONE to do this pleasseeeee

@ashavahishta @swiftiediaz @evcndiaz @finduilasclln @mansikkaomenabanaani @oatflatwhite @morganofthefairies @adamsparirsh @fleurdebeton @hmslusitania @oldsouldreamer85 @capseycartwright @kitkatpancakestack @matan4il

[morporkian-cryptid]

Lupin III - The Castle of Cagliostro, and its extremely gay and romantic title scene

Hello everyone, this is your new installment of “Elliott rambles about her fandoms”!

Today I am going to be talking (well, mostly yelling) about the opening credits of Lupin III - The Castle of Cagliostro.

Because I’ve rewatched that movie almost two weeks ago, and I’m still going into a fit of hysterics every time I so much as think about it.

[Image description: Lupin and Jigen sitting in front of the Fiat, with a small nomad cooking space set up. It is night, Lupin is reading a map and Jigen is holding a pan above a small gas stove. The lighting is dim and comes only for the stove. The subtitles of the song lyrics read “My love for you burns”]

https://twitter.com/spacequeenemily/status/1118274079662977025?lang=en

This Twitter link is the only video of the title scene I could find online; the image quality is a bit low but at least it’s the full scene. Please watch it, I promise you won’t regret it.

Fair warning: long post with much capslock, very swearing.

Okay, so.

The lyrics of this song, Fire Treasure, go more or less like this (from the subtitles of the movie, which I assume are the official translation) :

I want to go with you, searching for happiness / No matter how hard the road or how the night may grow cold / I just want to wander on with you

Who else is there to comfort and hold / This lonely traveler when their heart grows cold? / Who else but you can make all my dreams come true?

Like a raging fire my love for you burns / All I want is for you to know how I feel / Make me your prisoner and never let go

(additional lyrics which are on the wiki but not in the title sequence)

You, who wander the wasteland  / I want to let you sleep / The shooting star is for you

I want only you to understand / This love of mine that blazes with flames / I'll clear away the enigmatic mist

You can find the official japanese lyrics here on the Lupin III fandom wiki.

Now this is a pretty basic love song, and we know most of the theme songs in this series are love songs and it doesn’t always mean anything (looking at you, Red Jacket opening theme). The music itself (without the lyrics) is used several times during the movie, especially in scenes with Lupin and Clarisse; and reused later in several movies involving similar dynamics.

But the only time the whole song, with lyrics, plays in The Castle of Cagliostro, it’s during the opening credits / title sequence. Aka, Lupin and Jigen’s road trip.

Yeah. This longing, yearning love song about a lonely traveler and the person who silently loves them and wants to follow them through all the troubles of the road and look for happiness by their side... Is played along with of a video of Jigen and Lupin traveling together.

And oh, if only it was just that...

It could have been two guys being bros, two friends having a fun road trip together. They could have shown the banter and playful fights between them that we see in the rest of the movie. But NO. THIS is what they gave us instead:

[The silhouettes of Jigen and Lupin sitting on and leaning against the Fiat, with a boat in the background and an orange sunset-like sky]

[the Fiat driving on a narrow bridge in the middle of an expanse of water glistening and reflecting the pink and purple sky]

[Lupin lying on his back in the grass, and Jigen sitting near him and cooking in front of a small portable gas stove, the Fiat parked next to them. It is night, and the gaz stove gives a soft glow, the only source of light in the picture.]

[Lupin sitting on the roof of the Fiat and Jigen standing left of it. They are waiting for a train with wooden wagons to pass. There are white flowers in the foreground on the right of the screen.]

[Night time, on a backdrop of dark blue sky with white stars. Lupin is sitting on the roof of the Fiat, lighting a cigarette (the Fiat itself isn’t in the frame). Jigen is standing near him, smoking a cigarette, with only his head visible. The subtitles of the song lyrics write “Make me your prisoner and never let go”.]

[The same scene from a different angle, the Fiat is now visible, with grass in the foreground, Lupin is seen from the back and Jigen from head to feet. The dark blue sky is fading into white at the bottom, suggesting sunrise.]

They could have given us a fun, “straight pals being bros” road trip. Instead, they decided to give us a soft, nostalgic ambiance, with orange and pink sunsets, the boys wistfully looking into the distance under a starry night sky, smoking cigarettes together in silence, with the soft glow of a shared meal around a campfire. THEY MADE THE CHOICE TO MAKE THIS AS FUCKING ROMANTIC AS POSSIBLE. THEY WILLINGLY MADE THAT DECISION.

We all know that this franchise’s subtext is not exactly subtle in establishing, to name just one obvious example, Jigen’s orientation (hum hum kabuki-related slang, hum hum bootleg playboy magazine, hum hum shameless flirting with burly soldiers).

But THIS. This isn’t a “I hate women” joke. This isn’t a two-second frame showing a bootleg gay pinup magazine. This isn’t a subtle parallel between Lupin’s relationships with Fujiko and with Jigen. This is the most OBVIOUS and EXPLICIT bit of subtext I have ever seen in this goddamn subtext-packed series. This is A FUCKING LOVE SONG, WITH THE WORDS “MY LOVE FOR YOU BURNS” EXPLICITLY IN IT, PLAYED ON A VIDEO OF JIGEN AND LUPIN ON A ROAD TRIP WITH THE MOST ROMANTIC AND SOFT VISUALS POSSIBLE. ONE MINUTE AND FIFTY FIVE SECONDS OF TYPICAL ROMANTIC SCENE WITH TYPICAL ROMANTIC VISUALS AND A FUCKING LOVE SONG.

This can’t be an accident. You can’t accidentally make a scene like this. I mean come on, “Like a raging fire my love for you burns, I just want you to know how I feel” with a panning shot of a starry night sky and Lupin and Jigen silently sharing a smoke? HOW DO THEY THINK WE ARE GOING TO INTERPRET THIS? IS THERE ANY OTHER POSSIBLE FUCKING INTERPRETATION THAN “JIGEN IS MADLY IN LOVE WITH LUPIN?“ NO THERE ISN’T. THERE FUCKING ISN’T.

They go and try to tell us that Lupin and Jigen are just friends, they give Jigen barely believable female love interests whom he has little to no chemistry with, they write Jigen getting angry when he thinks Lupin might be gay, and then they turn around and make THIS. FUCKING. TITLE SEQUENCE.

It kills me because IT’S CANON but also it’s not! They’re not stating that Jigen loves Lupin, they’re not confirming that they’re a couple, at no point in the 50 years of existence of this damn franchise has either of them explicitly declared that they were in love with the other, and that is most likely never going to happen. But this fucking scene exists. This fucking scene is CANON, and it’s technically still subtext, but it is the most OBVIOUS and IN YOUR GODDAMN FACE subtext EVER.

Disclaimer: I agree that most of the anime and movies’ (still relatively un-subtle) subtext can be disregarded or interpreted as platonic if you want, and I absolutely respect anyone’s desire to interpret them as platonic friends. All visions and interpretations can coexist. That being said, I’m sorry but for this specific scene I will not, ever, budge from the position that it is a fucking romantic love scene and that there is no other possible interpretation, I’m sorry but just FUCKING LOOK AT IT. LOOK AT IT AND TELL ME THIS ISN’T MEANT TO BE ROMANTIC. I DARE YOU.

This scene is just at the VERY LIMIT of explicitly stating Jigen and Lupin’s love. But it’s STILL NOT EXPLICIT. The song says “I love you” but neither Jigen nor Lupin does. The song on its own could relate to any number of characters (and in the rest of the movie it relates mostly to Clarisse, and more generally to all the girls Lupin leaves behind). The video without the music, while being very sweet and having a romantic vibe, could still be interpreted as a road trip between friends. And yet. AND YET. They made the conscious decision to put THAT SONG with THESE IMAGES. And to then “leave it to our interpretation”.

The Castle of Cagliostro was the second movie of the Lupin III franchise. It came out in 1979, not even ten years after the first episode of the anime aired. This is one of the establishing movies of the franchise, the one that propelled Lupin III on the international scene, the door through which generations of fans have been introduced to the series. A now iconic and unmissable pillar of the pop culture myth that Lupin III has become, a jewel of hand-drawn animation, produced by one of Japan’s most internationally well known animated movie director, future founder of one of its most iconic studios.

This isn’t a “blink and you’ll miss it” nudge in an largely forgettable TV special with weird chara designs and a plot created by writers seemingly on crack. This isn’t a subtle nod to long time fans and shippers like Part 5 did in 2018. This is the FUCKING TITLE SEQUENCE of the CASTLE OF MOTHERFUCKING CAGLIOSTRO by HAYAO GODDAMN MIYAZAKI. AND IT’S A LOVE STORY.

It’s been a week and a half, guys. And I still want to scream. I will never be free. Lupin and Jigen are in love and the world needs to know.

[pumpkinpaix]

Hello! Feel free not to answer this question if it is in any way too much, but I've been wondering about something concerning the "western" mdzs fandom. Lately, i have seen multiple pieces of fanart that use what is clearly Christian symbolism and sometimes downright iconography in depicting the characters. I'm a european fan, but it still makes me vaguely uneasy. I know that these things are rarely easy to judge. I'm definitely not qualified to do so and was wondering if you have an opinion

Hi there! thank you for your patience and for the interesting question! I’ve been thinking about this since i received this ask because it?? idk, it’s difficult to answer, but it also touches on a a few things that I find really interesting.

the short answer: it’s complicated, and I also don’t know what I feel!

the longer answer:

i think that this question is particularly difficult to answer because of how deeply christianity is tied to the western art and literary canon. so much of what is considered great european art is christian art! If you just take a quick glance at wiki’s page on european art, you can see how inextricable christianity is, and how integral christian iconography has been in the history of european art. If you study western art history, you must study christian imagery and christian canon because it’s just impossible to engage with a lot of the work in a meaningful way without it. that’s just the reality of it.

Christianity, of course, also has a strong presence in european colonial and imperialist history and has been used as a tool of oppression against many peoples and nations, including China. I would be lying if I said I had a good relationship with Christianity--I have always faced it with a deep suspicion because I think it did some very, very real damage, not just to chinese people, but to many cultures and peoples around the world, and that’s not a trauma that can be easily brushed aside or reconciled with.

here is what is also true: my maternal grandmother was devoutly christian. my aunt is devoutly christian. my uncle’s family is devoutly christian. my favorite cousin is devoutly christian. when I attended my cousin’s wedding, he had both a traditional chinese ceremony (tea-serving, bride-fetching, ABSURDLY long reception), and also a christian ceremony in a church. christianity is a really important part of his life, just as it’s important to my uncle’s family, and as it was important to my grandmother. I don’t think it’s my right or place to label them as simply victims of a colonialist past--they’re real people with real agency and choice and beliefs. I think it would be disrespectful to act otherwise.

that doesn’t negate the harm that christianity has done--but it does complicate things. is it inherently a bad thing that they’re christian, due to the political history of the religion and their heritage? that’s... not a question I’m really interested in debating. the fact remains that they are christian, that they are chinese, and that they chose their religion.

so! now here we are with mdzs, a chinese piece of media that is clearly Not christian, but is quickly gaining popularity in euroamerican spaces. people are making fanart! people are making A LOT of fanart! and art is, by nature, intertextual. a lot of the most interesting art (imo) makes deliberate use of that! for example (cyan art nerdery time let’s go), Nikolai Ge’s What is Truth?

I love this painting! it’s notable for its unusual depiction of christ: shabby, unkempt, slouched, in shadow. if you look for other paintings of this scene, christ is usually dignified, elegant, beautiful, melancholy -- there’s something very humanizing and humbling about this depiction, specifically because of the way it contrasts the standard. it’s powerful because we as the audience are expected to be familiar with the iconography of this scene, the story behind it, and its place in the christian canon.

you can make similar comments about Gentileschi’s Judith vs Caravaggio’s, or Manet’s Olympia vs Ingres’ Grande Odalisque -- all of these paintings exist in relation to one another and also to the larger canon (i’m simplifying: you can’t just compare one to another directly in isolation etc etc.) Gauguin’s Jacob Wrestling the Angel is also especially interesting because of how its portrayal of its content contrasts to its predecessors!

or! because i’m really In It now, one of my favorite paintings in the world, Joan of Arc by Bastien-Lepage:

I just!!! gosh, idk, what’s most interesting to me in this painting is the way it seems to hover between movements: the hyperrealistic, neoclassical-esque take on the figure, but the impressionistic brushstrokes of the background AAA gosh i love it so much. it’s really beautiful if you ever get a chance to see it in person at the Met. i’m putting this here both because i personally just really like it and also as an example of how intertextuality isn’t just about content, but also about visual elements.

anyways, sorry most of this is 19thc, that was what i studied the most lol.

(a final note: if you want to read about a really interesting painting that sits in the midst of just a Lot of different works, check out the wiki page on Géricault’s Raft of the Medusa, specifically under “Interpretation and Legacy”)

this is all a really long-winded way of getting to this point: if you want to make allusory fanart of mdzs with regards to western art canon, you kind of have to go out of your way to avoid christian imagery/iconography, especially when that’s the lens through which a lot of really intensely emotional art was created. many of my favorite paintings are christian: Vrubel’s Demon, Seated, Perov’s Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, Ge’s Conscience, Judas, Bastien-Lepage’s Joan of Arc, as shown above. that’s not to say there ISN’T plenty of non-christian art -- but christian art is very prominent and impossible to ignore.

so here are a few pieces of fanwork that I’ve seen that are very clearly making allusions to christian imagery:

1. this beautiful pietà nielan by tinynarwhals on twitter

2. a lovely jiang yanli as our lady of tears by @satuwilhelmiina

3. my second gif in this set here, which I will also show below:

i’m only going to talk about mine in depth because well, i know exactly what i was thinking when I put this gif together while I can’t speak for anyone else.

first: the two lines of the song that I wanted to use for lan xichen were “baby, I’m a fighter//in the robes of a saint” because i felt that they fit him very well. of course, just the word “saint” evokes catholicism, even if it’s become so entwined in the english language that it’s taken on a secular meaning as well.

second: when I saw this scene, my immediate thought was just “PIETÀ!!” because LOOK at that composition! lan xichen’s lap! nie mingjue lying perpendicular to it! the light blue/white/silver of lan xichen in contrast to the darker robes of both nie mingjue and meng yao! not just that, but the very cool triangular structure of the image is intensely striking, and Yes, i Do love that it simultaneously ALSO evokes deposition of christ vibes. (baxia as the cross.... god..... is that not the Tightest Shit) does this make meng yao joseph of arimathea? does it make him john the evangelist? both options are equally interesting, I think when viewed in relation to his roles in the story: as a spy in qishan and as nmj’s deputy. maybe he’s both.

anyways, did I do this intentionally? yes, though a lot of it is happy accident/discovered after the fact since I’m relying on CQL to have provided the image. i wanted to draw attention to all of that by superimposing that line over that image! (to be clear: I didn’t expect it to all come through because like. that’s ridiculous. the layers you’d have to go through to get from “pretty lxc gifset” --> “if we cast nie mingjue as a christ figure, what is the interesting commentary we could do on meng yao by casting him as either joseph of arimathea or john the evangelist” are like. ok ur gonna need to work a little harder than slapping a song lyric over an image to achieve an effect like that.)

the point of this is: yes, it’s intentionally christian, yes I did this, yes I am casting these very much non-christian characters into christian roles for this specific visual work -- is this okay?

I obviously thought it was because I made it. but would I feel the same about a work that was written doing something similar? probably not. I think that would make me quite uncomfortable in most situations. but there’s something about visual art that makes it slightly different that I have trouble articulating -- something about how the visual often seeks to illustrate parallels or ideas, whereas writing characters as a different religion can fundamentally change who those characters are, the world they inhabit, etc. in a more... invasive?? way. that’s still not quite right, but I genuinely am not sure how to explain what i mean! I hope the general idea comes across. ><

something else to think about is like, what are pieces I find acceptable and why?

what makes the pieces above that reference christian imagery different than this stunning nieyao piece by @cyandemise after klimt’s kiss? (warnings for like, dead bodies and vague body horror) like i ADORE this piece (PLEASE click for fullview it’s worth it for the quality). it’s incredibly beautiful and evocative and very obviously references a piece of european art. I have no problem with it. why? because it isn’t explicitly christian? it’s still deeply entrenched in western canon. klimt certainly made other pieces that were explicit christian references.

another piece I’d like to invite you all to consider is this incredible naruto fanart of sakura and ino beheading sasuke after caravaggio’s judith. (warnings for beheading, blood, etc. you know.) i also adore this piece! i think it’s very good both technically and conceptually. the reference that it makes has a real power when viewed in relation to the roles of the characters in their original story -- seeing the women that sasuke fucked over and treated so disrespectfully collaborating in his demise Says Something. this is also!! an explicitly christian reference made with non-christian japanese characters. is this okay? does it evoke the same discomfort as seeing mdzs characters being drawn with christian iconography? why or why not?

the point is, I don’t think there’s a neat answer, but I do think there are a lot of interesting issues surrounding cultural erasure/hegemony that are raised by this question. i don’t think there are easy resolutions to any of them either, but I think that it’s a good opportunity to reexamine our own discomfort and try and see where it comes from. all emotions are valid but not all are justified etc. so I try to ask, is it fair? do i apply my criticisms and standards equally? why or why not? does it do real harm, or do i just not like it? what makes one work okay and another not?

i’ve felt that there’s a real danger with the kind of like, deep moral scrutiny of recent years in quashing interesting work in the name of fear. this morality tends to be expressed in black and white, good and bad dichotomies that i really do think stymies meaningful conversation and progress. you’ll often see angry takes that boil down to things like, “POC good, queer people good, white people bad, christianity bad” etc. without a serious critical examination of the actual issues at hand. I feel that these are extraordinarily harmful simplifications that can lead to an increased insularity that isn’t necessarily good for anyone. there’s a fine line between asking people to stay in their lane and cultural gatekeeping sometimes, and I think that it’s something we should be mindful of when we’re engaging in conversations about cultural erasure, appropriation etc.

PERHAPS IT IS OBVIOUS that I have no idea where that line falls LMAO since after all that rambling I have given you basically nothing. but! I hope that you found it interesting at least, and that it gives you a bit more material to think on while you figure out where you stand ahaha.

was this just an excuse to show off cool (fan)art i like? maybe ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(ko-fi)

[tuiyla]

In the spirit of obsessing even more over Mine, I can’t help but parallel the parent/father lyrics in the song with what Santana sings in At The Ballet. Yes, I am absolutely reading too much into it, and am certain Glee probably did this by accident, but that’s two songs now where Santana paints a not-so-nice picture of her father in song. Then on top of that, we have:

Santana mentioning during Lights Out that her being a tomboy as a kid really pissed her Dad off.

The general impression that he’s an absent Father, given Santana seems to have spent a lot of time with her Abuela growing up.

The Pezberry bathroom scene in 5x13 where Rachel offers Santana the lead in 10 FG shows as a peace offering. She says something like “your Mom can come, or your Abuela.” Why not “your parents?” Rachel lived with Santana for months. Does she know something we don’t?

His absence from the wedding (definitely a casting issue, but also technically canon, so…)

I’m adding two and two together and coming up with twenty eight here, but that’s pretty much what all of us do when it comes to Glee, so I don’t care. The pieces kind of fit together to indicate quite a rocky childhood for Santana, and her Dad maybe being the cause of a lot of that? He clearly accepted her sexuality when she came out though, so I don’t think he was evil or anything. Just maybe a little careless, (to borrow from Taylor lol)?

Honestly, this isn’t even an ask I just ended up rambling haha. But if you have any thoughts on how Mine might relate to Santana’s family life at all (which I suspect you do), I’d enjoy reading them, as always.

Tumblr just deleted half my answer which... this hellsite underestimates my willingness to go on and on about Santana Lopez, I shall not be stopped. So here we go again!

Mr/Dr Lopez is an interesting case because Glee never cared to actually give him anything but there's much to speculate. I think, we had to choose, I'd read more in At the Ballet just on the basis of diegesis but at the same time there isn't a single second in the Mine scene I'm not obsessed with so of course we can also take that into consideration.

There's no reason we couldn't put two and two together and come up with twenty eight. Based on what canon gives us, Santana's relationship with her dad could easily be quite strained and distant. I think his absence from the wedding is something I can't quite, like, take at face value, just because his only(? lmao) daughter's wedding is such a huge thing to miss when even his homophobic mother was there and he's supposedly cool with the lesbian daughter thing. So I think just for me personally I'll elect to ignore the fact that he was nowhere to be seen the same way that I don't accept the absence of Quinn. We could make it work logically but every variation makes me sad lol.

When it comes to Mine, there are two bits that are relevant here: “careless man’s careful daughter”, of course, and this:

You learn my secrets and you figure out why I'm guarded You say we'll never make my parents' mistakes

I love this first line from a Brittana perspective (and the way Naya sings it, forever sobbing) but Brittana aside, “parents’ mistakes” implies a lot here. If we put it into the context of the implied cheating in At the Ballet and what Santana says right after singing Mine, there’s a case to be made here. Based on everything, it’s not wild to assume Dr. Lopez cheated on Maribel and they might still be married and technically together because that’s how they roll but not actually a couple anymore. I think Santana’s breakup speech substantiates that, what with her letting Brittany go only to prevent an even bigger heartbreak “when someone eventually cheats” - telling words here. And yes, we can also contextualize this within the episode because she’s talking about long-distance relationships here and possibly talking about the other two breakups but the Mine and At the Ballet lyrics both support this.

Not to turn this into a “Santana’s complicated relationship with the concept of cheating” post (which I’ll inevitably write anyway as soon as someone reminds me to) but her mature decision in Mine could easily be interpreted as a lesson she learned from her parents’ mistakes. So she breaks both her and Brittany’s hearts now in order to protect themselves from an even bigger potential pain in the future, perhaps one she experienced as a kid when Dr. Lopez cheated. Honestly this would just add yet another layer to the Mine scene which I already adore every second of. It fits with careless man’s careful daughter, too, because like you say maybe Dr. Lopez isn’t evil or anything but careless with how his actions affected his family and so Santana grew to become careful in the sense that she keeps her heart guarded. And affected her own attitudes towards cheating but, another post. I’ve also read interpretations where Mine is a narrative switcharoo and it’s actually referring to Brittany and Pierce, him being the careless man. But that’s just a btw and a whole other interpretation.

So the thing is, I fully went into this post wanting to say that there is a reading of Mine (and everything else) where Dr. Lopez cheated but stating that I personally choose not to look at it that way. But then I wrote all this down twice so now I’m like, maybe I convinced myself? Him being sorta distant but also trying and not actually a bad guy has always been reading of Dr. Lopez and even in the At the Ballet post I said that the cheating could just be an emotional truth rather than what actually happened. But now that you made me think about Mine I’m gonna run with yeah, he probably had an affair or two and it caused him to have a strained relationship with both Maribel and, inevitably, Santana. But I still maintain that in her young adult years/twenties they reconnect and find a way to make their dynamic work because Dr. Lopez might be a careless man in some ways but, and this really is just a HC, I think he’d learn to make an effort with his daughter. They stay together with Maribel and he as well as Alma do a lot of growing.

The main reason I believe he was fundamentally trying with Santana and would make an effort is because of, all things, IKAG (derogatory) and that one line about both of Santana’s parents being okay with her sexuality. It’s not much but after the implications of him having disliked her tomboy phase, I think it implies that he does actually accept her but has his own growing to do. But maybe that’s just me not wanting Santana to have much more baggage than she already does.

[kiisaes]

Min. Min-san please explain. WHO are the original "broke bitches"? Is this a show? A movie? A book? And most importantly: WHY ARE THEY LIKE BKDK?

oh anon u're in for a ride

the "broke bitches" originate from this music video below

the song is called "broke bitch" and it's by TMG, aka "tiny meat gang", a rap/comedy duo comprised of youtubers cody ko and noel miller. both of them, on their own accounts, are primarily commentary youtubers who also run a podcast and do other activities together. yes. it is these guys, the funny men of the internet

so no, the broke bitches don't come from a show or a movie or a book, but from a single music video. there is no other lore to them. they don't have a canon backstory or any follow up material. they're simply a one-time-thing with zero context, except from what you can pull from the lyrics and the music video itself. which, if you're feeling particularly creative, means you could technically fabricate whatever story you want for them

...but i didn't LOL because i'm lazy. instead i just drew a single frame from the music video and called it a day

the reason why i connected them to bkdk is mostly because i'm insane and at this point in my fixation, i'll connect anything to bkdk. u see those two random plants over there? yea. those guys are bkdk. i have two water bottles on my desk and believe it or not, those guys are bkdk too (and if u could see them u'd agree with me if ur brainrot was as bad as mine). so if a song sounds like a bkdk song to me with a banger music video to boot, my desire to redraw it as bkdk is very strong. unavoidable, almost

if u watch the music video and are in general a fan of TMG, u'll notice that cody and noel have very distinct personalities that set them apart. i once heard someone say that if u were to put them into hogwarts houses, cody (yellow jumpsuit) would be a hufflepuff and noel (green jumpsuit) would be a slytherin. and i know bkdk don't have to be those houses if u don't want them to be but the general vibe is there. u'll see what i mean pretty quick once u familiarize urself with their work

at the end of the day it's just a silly redraw and nothing more. i didn't really plan on connecting bkdk to cody and noel any further than what was shown in the music video, but it's always a little fun to make these ridiculous connections anyway. i think i made a mistake by calling it an au because technically it's not even that, it's way too low effort to be an au LOL but i'm really grateful to see people pick it up anyway and find merit in it!

if u want to make an au out of my drawing then by all means go for it, i'd be honored :')

[marzipanandminutiae]

tagged by @marypsue; thank you!

Name: Marzi; ScatteredWords on AO3

Fandoms: I’ve dabbled a great deal, but most of my posted stuff is for Carmilla. Currently lost in the Crimson Peak sauce.

Two-shot: Death And The Maiden, a Carmilla story wherein Laura becomes a vampire. I’m still really proud of this one.

Most popular multi-chapter: Based on hits, Imagine Your OTP. A Carmilla real-world AU loosely based on a weird period in my life where I kept meeting attractive girls in fanfic-worthy circumstances only to always have something go wrong. It’s a pity, though, because I’ve utterly lost any shreds of inspiration to keep going with this one. Sorry, folks.

Actual worst part of writing: “Connective tissue” bits in stories that are boring but indispensable. So many projects have petered out because I didn’t want to write the dull stuff in between vivid, bright, shiny images that sprang full-grown into my mind.

How you choose your titles: Honestly, all the usual ways and more. Quotes, song lyrics, relevant single words, jokes...the title of one recent, very serious work comes from a meme. No joke.

Do you outline: Nope. Living that pantser life, babey.

Ideas you probably won’t get around to but wouldn’t it be nice: Oh man, there’s a whole list.

Oops The Sharpe Incest Baby Was Actually Born Fine And Enola Spirited Her Away To A Woman In The Village Whose Baby Was Dying And Swapped Them And BIG OOPS The Resulting Incredibly Naive 25-Year-Old Woman Just Got Hired As Famed Author Edith Cushing’s Secretary For A Trip To Check On Her Mining Interests In England WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG

CPeak AU where Edith is Thomas’ and Lucille’s younger sister- or so it seems

Modern CPeak AU where Edith and Lucille are exes who just drunkenly slept together and now have to deal with the fact that, fuck, they really do still love each other

Rewrite of Carmilla the novel, but make the gay explicitly canon and also endgame. Is that technically fanfic since I could theoretically publish it? You decide.

Callouts @ yourself: GIRL. FINISH SOMETHING LONGER THAN TWO CHAPTERS. I AM BEGGING YOU. REMEMBER COLLEGE, WHEN YOU HAD OTHER THINGS TO BE WRITING AND THEREFORE BANGED OUT FUCKING NOVELLAS FOR THE TWO-PERSON ADDAMS FAMILY MUSICAL FANDOM? MORE OF THAT ENERGY PLEASE.

Best writing traits: Per friends’ comments- good characterization; excellent at weaving in period details organically but in an educational manner. Thanks, friends!

Spicy tangential opinion: More characters in modern/real-world AUs who enjoy niche interests and aesthetics, please! Why does everyone have to be 100% average and mainstream when that’s not even true IRL? Make the characters you’re plopping in our world into DnD, or vintage fashion, or playing bagpipes, or ANYTHING beyond the absolute most Normal and Regular things. Seriously.

No pressure tagging: @margridarnauds, @anxietylord