#dirge of the desert

[emmasmoke8]

I was deleting photos from my camera roll when I found this one, and I feel like nobody is talking about this nearly enough. I can’t remember which quest this is exactly, but it’s one of the Jeht world quests. An earlier one, I believe, when we hadn’t found the oasis yet

[coneheadseekers]

omg a conehead-focused account, am I dreaming??

I was STARVING through Tumblr searching for content of my fav little conical blue guy who can't catch a break and then, out of nowhere, I see this account, and I'm dazzled- Are you even real? Please tell me you are and confirm the existence of conehead enjoyers.

Believe it or not, fellow conefan, you're not dreaming. You've simply left behind the unconely transformer rabble and entered into...

✈🍧The Cone Zone 🍧✈

Please enjoy your stay.

[dreadranger]

@eraba-reta-unmei asked: 『 ❝ should i even grieve? ❞ 』 with red hands. | accepting.

“Depends on why yer askin’, sweetheart.” He isn’t really one for giving advice, not when it comes to something he's so intimately familiar with. The reasons he's being asked don’t matter as much as the fact that he has been asked. Loss is a universal experience, it seems. Everyone has their reasons to grieve. Virgil has several compelling ones of his own.

He pulls his hat down, obscuring his face more than it already is, his one eye still observing the young lady before him. Everyone has their own stories. All living creatures possess their reasons to live, their reasons to die. He may not be privy to hers, but given the nature of the question, the weight carried is a burdensome one. 

“Grieve or don't. In yer heart, I reckon y' already know what y’ wanna do.”

[stygiansauce]

OKAY. It's time to yap about Dealing In Dispair. This is my Ranchers Wild west Au that I've been cooking since I read Dirges in The Dark back in January.

Jimmy is the sheriff of a small town. He loves this town. He cares for this town. It's only standing because he's put his entire heart and soul into the this town.

A man comes. He infects the town with a sickness of some kind. Jimmy very quickly blames himself for letting the man stay because whatever he had is making people crazy.

They start killing eachother. He can't stop them. Something is incredibly wrong with his people, his home, and they won't stop killing. It's like the devil himself has crested the canyon and brought hell to the earth.

it ends with the school house burning.

Jimmy stands over the remains of his town, the last remaining resident. and he swears, he promises He's going to find the man that started this sickness, and he's going to kill him.

A bloodlust itches under his skin. Nothing seems to quench it.

Tango is a bandit.

he wasn't always a bandit, He used to be ranger actually.

While he and his crew tracked a man with a bounty, they learned quickly why the bounty had been placed.

A boogey man. A curse that can only be lifted by another curse.

his crew dies. Tango finds himself infected. Cursed to pass this sickness onto the next town, or die of withering rot.

Tango doesn't really like the idea of dying, and he certainly isn't in the business of killing innocents either. So he takes the logical step, and finds a cross roads.

After a quick deal with the devil, Tango now bares a mark like cain. He will kill the man of sickness, or the devil can have his soul.

It's almost funny when he finds a sheriff in a similar predicament.

"I know the path you're on, it ain't a pretty one." "You don't know anything." "you'd be surprised Sheriff. Now, about this guy we're after." "we?"

Jimmy hates the bandit he's stuck with, but it's been too long since he's been in the open desert and it only makes sense they team up, consdering they're after the same man.

But he swears, if this red-eyed son of a gun does't shut up the crawling under his skin is gonna pop out, and he'll kill this bandit in his sleep.

He's never killed anyone before, why is he suddenly daydreaming about it?

It doesn't matter. He has more things to worry about, like how they both want to kill one man and there is obviously a problem with that considering two people cant claim the same kill, not according to Tango's contract.

oh and the time limit, because the longer they take the more this mysterious rot starts to take over his body.

Enemies to lovees wild west au where they hate each other and reguarly try to kill eachother because if they don't kill this freaking guy then one of them is gonna die (If jimmy would just spread the sickness to the next town he'd be fine but of course he won't do that). It's gonna be so funny I promise. it's gonna be great to play the "I'll kill you" "not if I kill you first" (then they kiss) game :D yes this is named after a Billy Strings song....

[drearydaffodil]

A Desert Dirge

Ground down now to dust

A desert & a graveyard

With tombstones for eyes

Fare thee well, I'll tumble on

The bright sun stinging my back

[bracketsoffear]

Slaughter Music Tournament Round 1

Army Dreamers vs. I Can't Decide

Angry People vs. Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm Of The War Drums

Peacemaker vs. Dirty Harry

Three-Five-Zero-Zero vs. Hell Broke Luce

Boots vs. Apollo' (For What It's Worth)

Murder! Murder! vs. Hayloft II

Reapers vs. Welcome to Horrorwood

Pumped Up Kicks vs. The Funerary Dirge Of A Violinist

Ballroom Blitz vs. Another One Bites the Dust

Bullets vs. Ready to Die

The Cruel Wars vs. Desert Song

Werewolf Gimmick vs. Riot

War Pigs vs. Would Be Killer

Trigger Happy vs. Bonehead

I Come With Knives vs. Break Stuff

Slaughterhouse vs. little girl gone

[applepixls]

hey guys. have you heard of hadestown.

(its a musical that meshes the myths of orpheus & eurydice and hades & persephone)

orpheus is a naive (sorta sheltered?) bard who acts on his whims while eurydice is a realistic and tough girl who's doing all she can to survive

hades is king of the underworld and keeps persephone there a lot of the year meaning there's a lot of winter up above

now hear me out.

3rd life.

scar as orpheus, grian as eurydice.

wedding song as scar proposing they take over the desert, the second verse being grian suggesting they take the dark oak. now, imagine all I've ever known as a dark night dancing in the desert not to mention, "its a sad tale, its a tragedy" (bonus: in a gathering storm eurydice calls for orpheus and he isn't there because he's off writing his song, narratively similar to grian calling for scar in double life when everyone was digging around for their sugar cane while scar was off accidentally lighting the place on fire and petting the jellie pandas)

extra bonus ideas:

persephone sounds like bdubs? like, listen to livin' it up on top. the gritty voice/singing and all her attitude (/pos) and some of the lyrics "who makes the summer sun shine bright?/thats right! persephone!" (he was the esmp2 sun god!) she sort of reminds me of the vibe bdubs gave off when he was ren the king's guy in s9 (my impression was he was kinda frantically running around at ren's whim, its not at all the same with hades and persephone but there's the sort of obeying a king thing)

leading me to my next thought of ren as hades. someone i was listening with said "winter has come" which made me think of "red winter is coming" dfhj

but another thought is just the last life ethubs divorce? seems very relevant with bdubs persephone parallels

also in hey little song bird hades refers to eurydice as a canary and we all know whos a canary

hermes (conductor of the train on the road to hell) and the fates play a narrator type role except hermes is more explicit while the fates are the humming in the back of your head they weave the path of how everything goes and you cant defy them

martyn throughout all the series is a sort of nomadic no solid home kinda guy and always self aware (he makes the lore-) which connects him to hermes for me but at the same time the fates are very much watcher/listener things so like bigb and martyn? (i don't know the lore sorry lol) i'd also say that somehow impulse's littlefinger flip floppy triple double agent character in third life gives a vibe like he knows whats going on in all the groups also connecting him to them for me

(i will say scar could fit hermes as well in being a sort of travelling sales person in last life and a bit in double life? also I've read dirges in the dark which means i see him and the devil and making deals with complicated clauses as very interconnected)

my final note (and being a devils advocate)

scar could also parallel hades.

if you watch his perspective he's very happygolucky and doesn't seem to get the real weight of the situation and such but from other perspectives his and grians deal seems kinda like he's had grian sign away his soul or he's kidnapped grian and there's some stockholm syndrome happening (its actually grians guilt but i digress)

hades convinces eurydice (scar is a silver tongued man) to sign away her soul to him and also the story of hades and persephone is that he kidnaps her and she eats some pomegranite and has to stay in the underworld for part of the year

sooo yeah. paralells between hadestown and 3rd life/life series. enjoy.

[arisewanekosuki]

Traveler's little helper -Extra-: Aether x Fem!Reader

[Small spoiler from World Quest Series The Dirge of Bilqis.]

… - “Mmm... The scent of unknown spices from afar... A servant girl of the desert-kin, and a flying pet... You must be a Prince in exile, are you not?” the Jinn said, ‘looking’ at Aether, then she turned to you. You were ready to be called a servant too by her. -“And you must be then the Prince’s lover!” you didn’t respond from the shock,  Aether was the one to reply with a smile on his face. -“You’re right with that.” After that you come back to your senses and lightly slapped his arm. -“It’s not time to joke like that! And no, I’m not his lover! We all friends with each other!” you said to Jinn, not noticing the pout on Aether's face. Jeht and Paimon were standing there wondering, why you were called something better than servant and pet… and how you still didn’t notice Aether's feelings towards you.

[joffyworld]

JOFFYYYY ur shamura lore is so interesting 👀 so theyre like descended from some sort of sun deity? ALSO what does "Šamaš" mean? thank u for always sending my wig into orbit 🌌

DIRGE HIIIII

Okay so,

Šamaš is the name of an ancient Akkadian God and that's where the name "Shamura" actually comes from. I did a slight etymological dive into it before but Šamaš was then the root for words like "Shams" (Arabic for Sun). Interestingly, Šamaš was both the God of Sun, but also the God of Justice, and was known to have many siblings (sound familiar)

So, as the lore kind of implies, Shamura and Šamaš here are the same person! Šamaš mentions in their reflections that "nobody remembers One (Shamura)" because they were the oldest. They were left to die in the desert by whatever family they had and left to die under the sun that "seeps into their skin"

Šamaš is Shamura, one is pre-deal with whatever figure extended their hand at the end of that stanza, and Shamura is who they become. They go from the Shunned Son of the Sun (Šamaš) to being They of War and Knowledge (Shamura).

I wanted to tie in some irl references to how the Devs came up with the names, hence why the poems are all in the native languages those names derive from (Heket's Egyptian, Leshy is Russian, Kallamar was Greek and Narinder was Indian but he's an exception as per usual).

Thanks for the ask Dirge, hope you like whatever comes next when it's all ready. Time for me to start actually writing all the lore in my brainhole so it makes sense because from here is the tough bit <3

[dreadranger]

tag dump - char & verses

[sillyguysss]

thinking about post dirge of Cerberus Genesis again and ughhhhghh. By the time this man wakes up the entire world has changed, most of everyone he was close with is dead and Shinra isn't even really anymore. How do you even start to connect back to society? Because I can't imagine Genesis would be okay with just existing at the edge of society, he isn't like Vincent or even maybe Sephiroth in that way. In my mind Genesis needs people, sure his time in his cave™ gave him time to think and reflect and maybe learn his hunger for fame isn't healthy, but he still would need people. And there's also the guilt! This man has probably marinated in his guilt for years and now needs to live with the fact he's the only one who survived, despite being the one who, arguably, started to whole mess with his desertion.

Just imagine him travelling to the place where Banora was and Nibelheim, thinking about the people he lost and mistakes he made. Think about him looking at the ruins of Midgar and playing a thousand what if's in his head where they could've been happy.

[focsle]

Re-recording! Tho...idk how I feel about this mic. Whatever.

Poem written by Henry Glover, a former schoolmate of Samuel Comstock who orchestrated the mutiny on the whaleship Globe in 1824. And I put it TO MUSIC because I’m partial to bloody boat songs.

Stanzas under readmore.

His sun rose unclouded and brightly it shone In the pride of the morning and promised a noon Of glory and gladness; it sank to the flood In blackness and blindness, and tarnished by blood. Disowned and dishonored its last gloomy glare Was shed on the grave of young mutineer

Tho’ beardless his cheek, yet his was a soul That knew not a master, that brooked no control; Tho’ beardless his cheeks, yet his was a hand Acquainted with daggers; a voice to command, An eye that wept, a heart without fear, Were the pride and the boast of the young mutineer.

He lies on the beach of a lone desert isle, His dirge the green billows are chanting the while, As they in wild tumult, roll over his head, And wash the high rock, that marks out his wet bed; There lies with a heart that ne’er knew a fear, The mangled remains of the young mutineer.

He lies on the beach, the cold waters beside, And dreadful and dark was the death that he died No mother mourns o’er him, no fond fair one weeps Where far from the land of his father he sleeps. But the rude swelling waves, and the sea birds career On the wet sandy grave of the young mutineer.

He lies on the beach by a comrade in guilt, His forehead was cloven, his best blood spilt. The cries of his victims have risen to God, And their wailings were quenched in the murderer’s blood. He fell without mourners, for none dropped a tear O’er the mangled remains of the young mutineer.

He lies on the beach, where the weeds and the shells, Mark the bounds of the sea, where in tumult it swells They scooped him a grave, and there laid him at rest And heaped the wet sand on his bare, bloody breast. And they rolled a huge rock and planted it there To mark the lone grave of the young mutineer.

In the years that are coming the seamen will tell Of murders and murdered, and murderer’s yells. The tale, the lone watch of night will beguile When they sail by the shores of that desolate isle. And their beacon shall be, as they thitherward steer, The black rock on the grave of the young mutineer.

[randomwriteronline]

One night, when all is over, when all can rest; when Kiina sleeps listening to the waves, Berix nursing the newest still unfinished project, Gresh not having any new scars to count, Click barely batting a wing; Ackar hears the voice of Mata Nui smile with such infinite love, and wakes up.

He sits up and listens again: if he strains his ears, if he forces himself to shut down the frantic beating of his heart, he thinks he can hear that voice again. He could swear he is talking, maybe humming, so close and yet so impossibly far away, even further than the resting place of the Ignika but somehow right next to him, tone filled with mournful joy, with an affection that brings one to tears.

Someone is out there, outside.

Someone is singing, outside.

He leaves.

One night, when all is over, Ackar forces himself to stumble out of town and into the cold, into the slowly receding desert which is giving way to life once more; he follows beneath the starlit sky barren of blue or green moons the sound, the song, the voice, an enthralled sleepwalker chasing desperately after a lucid dream he knows cannot be and yet so desperately wants to find, a spellbound seaman bewitched by a cannibal siren's serenade dragging his ship against the jagged cliffs upon which the object of his desire perches with monstrous arms outstretched so lovingly towards him.

He chases after the sound, the song, the voice: he could swear it's the same, the same deep and comforting sound upon whom he once laid his hand on to call 'friend'; he could swear it's the same, so sweet and so heartbroken, and his throat twists tight into a knot as he knows he will not see what he wants, yet he wants so badly.

He chases after the sound, the song, the voice: it splits but does not shatter. Like the hairs of a braid its pieces join together, tangle gently, form a harmony that no mouth can replicate.

He stops.

He looks.

One night, when all is over, Ackar watches and listens.

He knows them, he recognizes them: the twelve of them arranged in two concentric circles, only six of them singing, only six of them silent, their language so far beyond what his anatomy could comprehend or hope to produce, and yet he understands.

He understands from the inner circle's tight fists, their shaking shoulders, their shuddering chests as they struggle to breathe. He understands from the outer circle's solemn pronounciation, the anguish in their shining eyes, their longing and trembling voices.

He understands and hushes, and listens to their mourning song.

One night, when all is over, the Toa Mata mourn who they were fated to protect and instead failed.

One night, when all is over, the Toa Mahri mourn who they could not hold back from the choice of fate.

One night, when all is over, Toa Takanuva mourns all who he will never accept he could not die in the stead of.

Six voices raise, six lights like an aurora across the sky - two figures, mighty and wise and yet so powerless, dancing in their dirge with bodies composed of mourning songs harmonizing together - warriors burying a king, a peer, a friend, a stranger. Six more join, louder to the point of wailing, no composure, burning stars bursting as violently as their destructive end allows, children crying inconsolable the death of a hero, a peer, a friend, a sibling.

The Toa howl like wild hounds into the empty desert night in which no bloody star shines, in the heartbroken artificial language of their manufactured living people.

One night, when all is over, Ackar looks and listens.

In their twelve voices he hears yet another, at once earth and sky, enormously strong yet as light as the birdsong.

In their thirteen voices he hears Mata Nui.

In their thirteen voices Mata Nui smiles.

He smiles with such infinite love.

One night, when all is over, Ackar whispers: I love you.

One night, when all is over, the Toa scream: I love you.

One night, when all is over, Matoro booms: I love you.

One night, when all is over, Mata Nui smiles: I love you.

Ackar cries.

[asthmaticbee]

WIP Title Game

Rules: In a new post, post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it!

Tagged by @theliteraryluggage!

Published WIPs

and i come full circle; a leviathan reborn; palingenesis made flesh

when all my debts are paid and the score's been all tallied up

aria of pride and deceit

where daylight shatters and worthy perish (you alone endure the night)

The Truth Will Out (and you will pay your dues)

Death Eater Edward Elric, Spy Extraordinare, at your service

gloria of rubies and gold

vermillion dawns the day (of remembrance bittersweet)

and you crashed into my life (please won't you stay by my side)

dirge for the innocence lost

A Flame in the Flood

Published but on Hiatus/Discontinued

You wanted a nail? You get a whole fucking hardware store!

Dark Nebula

the blood of the covenant

Unpublished WIPs and Ideas

moving on from this liminal world

The Butterflywasp Effect

Pyrpolanthropy

and i will sail the savage seas to find you

moonlight pale; a speckle of sunlight

Ed and Sirius Azkaban Prison Break

spider lillies' serenade

oh death, dearest mine, will ye spare me yet again?

EdWin kids are classmates with the Golden Trio

Men in Black AU

Ed is Zuko's impulse control

For the Dancing and the Dreaming (and all life's sorrows and delights

so we step into war with blood on our hands

How Todoroki Became a Quirkless Rights Activist

follow me into the dark (to stand before the gates of hell)

of rivers and crossroads

threnody of a lost wanderer

hymn to alkahestry

ode to the desert sands

Pride takes over Ed the day before the finale

The Once and Future Morgen

TodoDeku childhood friends

Shouto's Diaries

A Day Early and Two Kids Short

Ageswap AU

you've seen the worst of me (and yet none of it matters to you)

Atlantis AU

Vampire RomCom

Soulmates AU

The other soulmates AU

a dead man's war report

golden lights and wild hunts

[bracketsoffear]

Slaughter Music Playlist

The full list of submissions for the Slaughter Music bracket. Bold titles are ones which were accepted to appear in the bracket.

1812 Overture, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 20 Dollar Nose Bleed, Fall Out Boy

A Million Ways to Die, Dark Matter American Skin (41 Shots), Bruce Springsteen Angry People, Lemon Demon Another One Bites the Dust, Queen Apollo' (For What It's Worth), Think Up Anger Army Dreamers, Kate Bush Assassinations, Stateless Atrocity, Inkubus Sukkubus

Ballroom Blitz, Sweet Beauty of Annihilation, Elena Siegman Black and White, The Dreadnoughts Black Ops, They Might Be Giants Bodies, Drowning Pool Bonehead, Naked City "Boots" Epic Trailer Version Music, Taylor Holmes (28 YEARS LATER Version) Boots, Christopher Ake Born in the U.S.A., Bruce Springsteen Break Stuff, Limp Bizkit Bullets, Archive Bulls on Parade, Rage Against the Machine Bust Your Kneecaps, Pomplamoose

Cliffs of Gallipoli, Sabaton Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm Of The War Drums, A Perfect Circle Courage Knows No Bounds, Heather Alexander Culling of the Fold, The Decemberists

Desert Song, Kissing the Pink Dirty Harry, Gorillaz feat. Bootie Brown

Electric Los Angeles Sunset, Al Stewart Epiphany, Josh Groban

Feast or Famine, Team Starkid Fisticuffs, Primus For What It's Worth, Buffalo Springfield For Whom The Bell Tolls, Metallica

Goodnight Saigon, Billy Joel Gunpowder Tim vs. The Moon Kaiser, The Mechanisms Guns and Drums/Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye, Traditional, performed by Santiano

Hammerhead, The Offspring Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire, Traditional, performed by Chumbawamba Hatchet Town, Starkid Hayloft II, Mother Mother Heads will roll, Yeah yeah yeahs Hell Broke Luce, Tom Waits

I am gonna claw (out your eyes then drown you to death), Scylla and the Sirens I Can't Decide, Scissor Sisters I Come With Knives, IAMX I Don't Like Mondays, The Boomtown Rats I'm Impressed, They Might Be Giants In the House, In a Heartbeat, John Murphy It Makes A Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier, Tom Lehrer

Kids with Guns, Gorillaz Kill Everyone, Hollywood Undead

Life During Wartime, Talking Heads little girl gone, Chinchilla

Mama, My Chemical Romance Mars, the Bringer of War, Gustav Holst Murder on the dancefloor, Sophie Ellis-bextor Murder, Murder!, American Murder Song My Son John, Traditional, performed by Smokey Bastard

Peacemaker, The Mechanisms Pencil Rain, They Might Be Giants Poisoning Pigeons in the Park, Tom Lehrer Psycho, Muse Psycho Killer, Talking Heads Pumped Up Kicks, Foster The People Ready to Die, Andrew WK Reapers, Muse Recruiting Sergeant, Great Big Sea Riot, Three Days Grace

Sarcasm, Get Scared Seven Nation Army, The White Stripes Shankill Butchers, The Decemberists Slaughterhouse, A. P. Clarke Soldier's Poem, Muse Songs of Kipling: Boots, Leonard Warren Splatter Splatter, Moxy Früvous Stagger Lee, Ike and Tina Turner Swords of a Thousand Men, Tenpole Tudor

Tantrum, Spin Doctors Tarkus, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer The Ballad of Sara Berry, Ryan Scott Oliver The Cruel Wars, The Dreadnoughts The Funerary Dirge Of A Violinist, Carach Angren The Irish Ballad, Tom Lehrer The Trooper, Iron Maiden This Is America, Childish Gambino This Is Why We Fight, The Decemberists Three-Five-Zero-Zero, Hair Toy Soldiers, Martika Trigger Happy, Weird Al Yankovic

Up the Wolves, The Mountain Goats

Violent Games, POLIÇA Viva Discordia, That Handsome Devil War Crimes (The Crime Remains the Same), The Specials War Pigs, Black Sabbath War Without Reason Heaven Pierce Her, (ULTRAKILL Soundtrack) We Want War, These New Puritans We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions, Queen Welcome to Horrorwood, Ice Nine Kills Werewolf Gimmick, The Mountain Goats Would Be Killer, Gnarls Barkley

You Can't Be Born a Soldier, (Солдатами не рождаются) Гражданская оборона

Zombie, The Cranberries

[whalefalllibrary]

Journey Seeker

Tomorrow the sun will shine for all to see. It's not magic. Observe the camel's behaviour for a moment. How does a Lemurian like me know? When a person lives long enough, they're bound to notice these kinds of things. Are you requesting to hear a Lemurian myth? …I don't remember anything related to one. You-! Drop the sand. Alright, alright. However, when I finish the story, you will have to return to the palace.

O winding path, where dirges lie, Plundered treasures bring tears, anguished and wry.

when islands in the sea turn to deserts of sand, Divine fishtails turn to stumbling legs by chance.

Gales replace the waves and erase the Traveler's traces, The follower's gaze weighs heavier than iron braces.

Yet the Traveler's heart's weight is lighter than sand, Where to find, Where to divine? O Great Blue Sea The price that is paid, only the Traveler can say...

… What? Your Highness made a request.

As golden sands recede by Tempest's might, Songs of the Sea blanket the Land's desperate plight.

Azure waves caress each fin, Children of the Sea rejoice, spirits akin.

The Traveler… The Traveler's…

One's journey ends at the shore.

I told Your Highness I barely recall it.

Stand up. It's time we head back.

Not a single word has left Your Highness' mouth. Hm? Did… Has the Traveler found his heart? … [in Lemurian] That heart is right in front of him.