#elegy of a forgotten heir

[saficswrites]

To quote your fic: "that fight it wasn’t enough for me… were it not for Rafiel I may have just… made… you… mine." I wonder what Petrine/Nailah could have been in the right circumstances

“Anon just wanted Nailah and Petrine making out sloppy style and you wrote them an essay” 

-my gf.

Yeah no, not only did this get pretty long (so I’ll place it beneath a cut, but I also responded to it as a fan of their characters rather than by writing a fic.)

I’m really sorry for any disappointment if that’s what you were asking for, but I was worried that biting off something I knew would spiral so beautifully out of control would slow down my progress on the next chapter of Elegy of a Forgotten Heir even more.

(It’s completely on me that the mostly done next chapter isn’t up yet by the way. I need to get off my ass and do that.)

Hopefully some little behind the scenes stuff here can help make up for it. 🙏

Full disclosure, I am incredibly attracted to both Petrine and Nailah, and really enjoy the prospect of them being paired together, so that may influence my answers ever so slightly.

(I am only human, a very very lesbian human.)

Petrine in Elegy of a Forgotten Heir, is incredibly intertwined with Micaiah by the point she meets Nailah, so part of the circumstances being right will be shifting quite a few background things in a way I really won’t get into here.

In the very earliest stages of working on EoaFH it was conceptualized as a three-chapter yuri fic, that first chapter with Petrine’s mother, Riven Bridge as the second chapter, and then a third chapter with Petrine during the events of Radiant Dawn romancing… someone.

I settled on Micaiah pretty quickly, in no small part due to me still being somewhat uncomfortable with Petrine’s character at that point (having only written her in self-indulgent smut), so in my mind a relationship with Micaiah was the easiest way to explain why she joined the Dawn Brigade.

Of course in retrospect the desire to see Daein freed probably would’ve been enough for her, but I’m still happy with and incredibly proud of the way things turned out so I don’t regret that decision to place such a heavy focus on their relationship.

The reason that I mention this is because I really do enjoy talking about things I’ve written, I won’t pretend that’s not the main reason, but also because I considered both Almedha and Nailah as potential love interests.

And uh, that shows lol.

There’s definitely an incredibly strong (and questionably platonic) love there between Petrine and Almedha, and immense sexual tension with Nailah.

But back to Nailah specifically, I think that in the absence of both her and Petrine already being spoken for they have a lot of potential.

The comparisons between what Petrine sees in Nailah and her own idealized image of Ashnard do show that at Nailah’s core she is someone Petrine is willing to follow.

But where Ashnard was a man Nailah is an incredibly attractive woman who is very into Petrine.

Additionally, the main “wedge” so to speak between them actually getting closer, stemmed from Petrine’s discomfort with Nailah’s forwardness *because* of her own relationship with Micaiah.

If that were not a factor things would have gone completely differently, and if that fight had still happened it would have definitely ended in sex.

The current setup with Petrine, following in Volke’s footsteps, donning the scarf and really embracing that element of her background would likely still happen as well, albeit with much more loyalty to Nailah herself.

Though even in the fics current canon Petrine is decently subservient to her.

There is absolutely zero question in my mind over who tops lol.

I think looking beyond part one of Radiant Dawn there is AMAZING untapped potential of Petrine being torn between Nailah’s path and Daein’s future, and Nailah likewise spending more time among the brigade after the end of part one because of the same reasons.

The potential angst going on there is crazy, but both of these ladies are so powerful you know they’d get their happy ending eventually.

(Assuming their ties to their respective kingdoms don’t tragically tear them apart in the end.)

Uh to finish, I owe you a fic anon, two fics actually, maybe even three. There is a lot of PetrinexNailah I want to write and at least one of those will be very plotless and uh… indulgent.

And I promise I will write them in dedication to you one day, I just couldn’t do it right now because I knew it would end up 15k minimum, probably 50+.

Really sorry for any disappointment and thank you for understanding, also thank you so much for the ask, I had fun writing this up!

[saficswrites]

Thank you so much to @theeeveetamer for the format, and to my cowriter Red for the amazing art!

Rinnen character sheer, every day she becomes more real. Also official Rinnen character art! Please excuse any image inconsistencies, they were certainly on my end, I am not very good at mspaint.

I got bored and I didn't like the OC template a mutual sent me so I made my own

Omegaverse and non-omegaverse versions on the big long one, plus a bonus Fire Emblem OC specific one (Example and completely blank versions)

Edit: if you saw the version of this without bows, no you didn't

[ricedonuts]

couple of art i made for @saficswrites ! the first one is based on the redesign of petrine in her fic "Elegy of a Forgotten Heir" !....no explanation for the second one

[naysaltysalmon]

I'm trying to write the most NieYao-centric content on AO3

Will be updated as I go

Elegy of the Night : 8.1K, NR (childhood trauma, violence, verbal abuse)

While staying in Qinghe, Nie Mingjue learns that Meng Yao once played the qin.

Adolesco aeternum : 63K, E, RuoYao, bkgd NieYao (attempted r*pe/noncon, blood/gore, torture)

“Meng Yao, tell me, why should I trust the word of a traitorous dog?” Meng Yao steadies himself. “Because Clan Leader Nie and Clan Leader Jin humiliated me. And I sense His Excellency to be a man of a—different, higher caliber.” He isn’t so sure whether his words are lies anymore. “I can be of great service to you,” he says in earnest, lifting his face. -- Meng Yao is Wen Ruohan’s right-hand man; his head torturer; his confidante; and something… more. He fears it will end the same way: cast out and forgotten, broken and used, should his intentions ever be discovered. As it stands, Wen Ruohan is the keeper of his heart, his shining sun—his savior. And as the war rages on, Meng Yao becomes more unsure of where his true loyalties lie.

With my heart in the palm of your hand : 6.5K, E (bdsm/kink, sexual content, trauma)

Curious about the appeal of being a submissive, Nie Mingjue asks Meng Yao to take control during sex. Meng Yao unveils more than he bargained for.

The ocean's face : 83K, E (r*pe/noncon, blood/torture, graphic violence, sexual content)

If Huaisang gives himself away now, Meng Yao thought, Clan Leader Nie will never forgive me. “You must be Wen Xu,” he forced himself to utter. His throat was parched, drier than the landscape, but from that strain he shook an accent deeper, defiant enough to be a young master of the Nie household. Wen Xu smiled at him coolly, walking closer. “Indeed I am,” the Wen heir confessed. “The same that laid waste to Cloud Recesses all those years ago.” He crouched down to be level with Meng Yao on the ground, an elbow on one knee, and smiled at him patronizingly. “All the good Clan Leader Nie’s intervention did to stop it. By which of course, I mean, none.” Meng Yao lurched forward threateningly. He did not have to feign the rage in his heart to solidify his attackers’ false deductions. -- Mistaken for Nie Huaisang, Meng Yao is kidnapped by the Wen. Nie Mingjue and Huaisang must justify going after him, though there are many in Qinghe and Qishan who believe Meng Yao is unworthy and replaceable. Nie Mingjue is determined to bring him home – but will Meng Yao be the same when he returns?

Bathtime : 6.7K, M (fluff, smut, slow-burn)

Meng Yao is eager to please his new superior. Nie Mingjue is the one who promoted him to his current position to be able to afford such luxuries, after all. When Clan Leader Nie makes it a habit for them to share a weekly bath, however, Meng Yao hesitates over the man’s true intentions all along.

Tracing the Bounds of Your Flames : 63K, E (dubcon, mild noncon, graphic violence)

Demonic cultivation demands a heavy toll from the heartiest souls. None recover, even when trained to combat its malefic influence since their youth. Nie Mingjue knows this well, yet Meng Yao can only see him as the enigmatic clan leader, the man with an exterior so cold he has no idea why Nie Mingjue saved his life at all. Ensnared in a discipline and authority that threatens to devour them both, will Meng Yao be able to let go of his past, or will he destroy everything he holds dear in the process of trying to gain control?

Within these Walls : 1.7K, E (dubcon)

Nie Mingjue gave Meng Yao his home, his life, his bed. But it wasn’t meant to last. He went too far – a mistake he would pay for the rest of his life.

Other MDZS:

Devotion : SongXueXiao, XueXiao & SongXiao focus, 2.8K, M

Song Lan and Xue Yang killed each other in Yi City. So Xiao Xingchen ventures into the underworld to find them.

Painting You : SangCheng, background NieYao, 10.7K, M

“What’s so stupid about it?” Huaisang snaps. “Every sect leader needs someone to help them run things, even my…” Even my brother, once. Jiang Cheng rounds on him. “Oh yeah? Then what about you? Now that you’re Sect Leader Nie, you’ll need to find yourself a wife.” Huaisang laughs. “Jiang-xiong, you should know I could never marry. Not a woman, at least.” He says it lightly, half expecting Jiang Cheng to laugh along with him, but Jiang Cheng’s back goes stiff as a rod. He leans visibly away. “What? You mean you’re a… a cut-sleeve?!” Huaisang guffaws, hoarse and loud. He bats his eyelashes, crested with tears, and rolls one shoulder toward Jiang Cheng as he snatches up his fan. “Why of course, Jiang-xiong. Surely, you already knew.” Apparently, Jiang Cheng did not already know.

Droplets on your qin : NieLan, 5.2K, M

It’s been a long time since Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue were able to catch up. They make the most of their time while they can.

I weep & say goodnight : SongXueXiao, SongXue focus, 4.6K, M

The world is ending, and Xue Yang is offered to the heavens as a sacrificial lamb. In his final moments, will he be able to live out his fantasy of sharing in death with his two most intimate adversaries, or will they all fade into nothing in the face of total annihilation?

[vellatra]

Skrunkly FE ArtScuffle attack on @saficswrites ! Featuring Petrine from her AO3 fic, Elegy of a Forgotten Heir... Hope you like it!

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

yall got any fanfic recs???

Go check out @saficswrites Radiant Dawn au! It also has Rinnen!

[jezabelofthenorth]

New and Forthcoming Tudor Releases

Late 2017 and the 2018 year

Black Tudors: The Untold Story by Miranda Kaufman (U.K October 5th North America November 7th): From long-forgotten records, remarkable characters emerge. They were baptized, married and buried by the Church of England. They were paid wages like any other Tudors. Their stories, brought viscerally to life by Kaufmann, provide unprecedented insights into how Africans came to be in Tudor England, what they did there and how they were treated. A ground-breaking, seminal work, Black Tudors challenges the accepted narrative that racial slavery was all but inevitable and forces us to re-examine the seventeenth century to determine what caused perceptions to change so radically.

Four Queens and a Countess: Mary Queens of Scots, Elizabeth I, Mary I, Lady Jane Grey and Bess of Hardwick: The Struggle for the Crown by Kill Armitage (U.K December 15th North America May 1st 2018) Four Queens and a Countess delves deep into the relationships of these women with their insurmountable differences, the way they tried to accommodate them and the lasting legacy this has left. The clash of personalities and its deadly political background have never been examined in detail before.

The Brothers York: An English Tragedy by Thomas Penn (September 27th 2018) Brothers York is the story of three remarkable brothers, two of whom were crowned kings of England and the other an heir presumptive, whose antagonism was fuelled by the mistrust and vendettas of the age that brought their family to power. The house of York should have been the dynasty that the Tudors became. Its tragedy was that it devoured itself.

Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe by John Julius Norwich (U.K July 13th North America April 13th 2017) From the Field of the Cloth of Gold, a pageant of jousting, feasting and general carousing so lavish that it nearly bankrupted both France and England, to Suleiman's celebratory pyramid of 2,000 human heads (including those of seven Hungarian bishops) after the battle of Mohács; from Anne Boleyn's six-fingered hand (a potential sign of witchcraft) that had the pious nervously crossing themselves to the real story of the Maltese falcon, Four Princes is history at its vivid, entertaining best. Among the Wolves of Court: The Untold Story of Thomas and George Boleyn by Lauren MacKay (U.K April 30th 2018 North America June 30th 2018) In this ground-breaking new book, Lauren Mackay reveals this untold story of Tudor England, bringing into the light two pivotal characters whose part in the rise and swift fall of Anne Boleyn has so far remained cloaked in shadow. Tudor Roses: From Margaret Beaufort to Elizabeth I by Amy Licence (U.K May 15th 2018) Without exception, these were strong women, wielding remarkable power, whether that was behind the scenes or on the international stage. Their contribution took England from the medieval era into the modern. It is time for a new narrative of the Tudor women: one that prioritises their experiences and their voices. Emotion in the Tudor Court: Literature, History, and Early Modern Feeling by Bradley J. Irish (January 15th 2018) Spanning the sixteenth century, Emotion in the Tudor Court explores Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and Henrician satire; Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, and elegy; Sir Philip Sidney and Elizabethan pageantry; and Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, and factional literature. It demonstrates how the dynamics of disgust,envy, rejection, and dread, as they are understood in the modern affective sciences, can be seen to guide literary production in the early modern court.By combining Renaissance concepts of emotion with modern research in the social and natural sciences, Emotion in the Tudor Court takes a transdisciplinary approach to yield fascinating and robust ways to illuminate both literary studies and cultural history. The King is Dead: The Last Will and Testament of Henry VIII by Suzannah Lipscomb (January 9th 2018) Henry's will is one of the most intriguing and contested documents in British history. Historians have disagreed over its intended meaning, its authenticity and validity, and the circumstances of its creation. As well as examining the background to the drafting of the will and describing Henry's last days, Suzannah Lipscomb offers her own illuminating interpretation of one of the most significant constitutional documents of the Tudor period Illustrated with portraits of the key figures at Henry's court.   La Reine Blanche: Mary Tudor, A Life in Letters by Sarah Bryson (U.K February 15 2018 North America June 1 2018) Author Sarah Bryson has returned to primary sources, state papers and letters, to unearth the truth about this intelligent and passionate woman. This is the story of Mary Tudor, told through her own words for the first time.

[postrock-instrumental]

Post-rock Listeners’ Choice 2017: Best Releases of the Year & Best New Acts | FULL LIST OF NOMINEES

At the end of each year, we ask post-rock listeners to share their favorite releases and new acts with us. Today we’re excited to announce the sixth edition of our year-end polls:  Post-rock Listeners’ Choice: Best Releases of the Year & Best New Acts

To be nominated for the “Best Releases of the Year”, an artist must have released music between December 13, 2016 and December 12, 2017. Albums coming out after December 12, 2017 will be considered for nomination in next year’s awards.

In order for a band or musician to be nominated for the “Best New Acts”, they must have released their debut during this past year.

This year’s polls will open on Tuesday, December 12. Voting will end on Sunday, December 17.

The link to the polls will be shared on Post-rock Facebook page and its related network: facebook.com/postrock.instrumental twitter.com/postrock_music instagram.com/postrock.instrumental postrock-instrumental.tumblr.com

You will be able to select up to 20 choices for the best releases, and 5 for the best new acts.

As in last two years, the results will be published in a list format on Arctic Drones blog in late December (The 50 Best Releases Of 2017 and The 10 Best New Acts Of 2017, as voted by you).

Check out the following links from last year to see what poll results will look like: arcticdrones.com/staff-picks/post-rock-50-best-releases-2016 arcticdrones.com/staff-picks/post-rock-10-best-new-acts-2016

Listed below are the nominees this year for both categories. BEST RELEASES OF THE YEAR | Nominees 1. 30 Fathom Grave – Aurora 2. 3:56 Am – On The Moon 3. 7nightsatsea – Terra Firma 4. A Collective Subconscious – Sanskara 5. A Light In The Dark – A Long Journey Home 6. Adore//Repel – Empty Orchestra 7. Aelita Red – Aelita Red 8. ÆRIS – Æ 9. ÆRIS – Astra 10. Aesthesys – Marea 11. Aetos – Two Son 12. Afformance – Pop Nihilism 13. Airships On The Water – Beneath A Thousand Branches 14. Akusma – Land Of The Red Suns 15. Alderaan – Infinite Paths 16. Allan Hills – EP 17. Allochiria – Throes 18. Allora Mis – Allora Mis 19. All We Expected – Hatar 20. Alter – Pendulum 21. Am Fost La Munte Și Mi-A Plăcut – S-A Rezolvat. Nu Se Poate. 22. Amenra – Mass VI 23. Amniac – Matriarch 24. And So I Watch You From Afar – The Endless Shimmering 25. ...And Upstairs, Nurses – Linear A 26. Antethic – Ghost Shirt Society 27. Aphasia – Known Rocks 28. Apocryphal Throne – The Day Of Our Demise 29. Appalaches – Cycles 30. Archaique Smile – Elegy 31. Archivist – Construct 32. Arms Of Tripoli – Daughters 33. Astralia – Solstice   34. Aswekeepsearching – Zia 35. Audiolepsia – Muses 36. Autism – Film Noir 37. Awaken The Echoes – Southcrest 38. Ayden – Identity 39. Babel Fish – Babel Fish EP 40. Balmorhea – Clear Language 41. Balloons Kill Babies – Prodromal 42. Bandina Ie – Synekdoke 43. Barrows – Obsidion 44. Battlestations – Vixit 45. Before And After Science – Relics & Cycles 46. Behind The Shadow Drops – Harmonic 47. BIG|BRAVE – Ardor 48. Black Flak And The Nightmare Fighters – Once We Knew The World Well 49. Black Sails For Red Seas – Wave: II 50. Black Tundra – Black Tundra 51. BLAK – Between Darkness And Light 52. Blanket – Our Brief Encounters 53. BOLGA – From Such A Cloud Of Fire Came Earth / 1 54. [ B O L T ] – ( 0 4 ) 55. Boris – Dear 56. Breag Naofa – Cearo 57. Breag Naofa – II 58. BRIQUEVILLE – II 59. Brother James – Beyond The Pines 60. Bruecken – Ep 61. Buensuceso – Analogy: The Sun | Divided Line 62. Capture The Sun – Terra Ignota 63. Cascades – Cascades 64. Cathedral Ring – A Decade Alone On The Alps 65. Cave Paint – Ways Away 66. Cendres – Le Grand Oeuvre 67. Cerf Boiteux – Alternative Au Silence 68. Chalk Hands – Burrows & Other Hideouts EP 69. Chancellors – Watch The Colors Change 70. Chêne – /Ʃɛn/ 71. CHRIST – Cinder 72. Cian –  Ciudades Invisibles 73. Ciempies – [3:33] Interior 74. Cinema Within – Silhouettes 75. Cirrus Minor/The Fourth Is Bearded Split 76. City Of Dawn – Under Our Quiet Stars 77. City Of The Lost – Bridges To Nothing 78. City Of The Lost – Beings Of Light 79. Cloud Shelter – Cloud Shelter 80. Codeia – "Don't Be Afraid", She Whispered And Disappeared 81. Codices – Illuminations 82. Collapse – The Sleep In Me 83. Collapse Under The Empire – The Fallen Ones 84. Colourway – Lost Voices, Found Selves 85. Cosmos In Collision – Glide 86. Cranial – Dark Towers / Bright Lights 87. Da Voile – Memoria EP 88. Da Voile – Heitt Hjortu 89. Dan Caine – Transitions 90. Dan Caine – Journey Through An Open Mind EP 91. Dayluta Means Kindness – When You're Young You're Invincible 92. DDENT – آكتئاب 93. De Osos – Todo El Ruido Entre Nosotros 94. Dead Sea Apes – Sixth Side Of The Pentagon 95. Deer Park Ranger – Everything All The Time 96. Dialects – Because Your Path Is Unlike Any Other 97. Diary Of My Misanthropy – Leviathan 98. Distant Dream – It All Starts From Pieces 99. Do Make Say Think – Stubborn Persistent Illusions 100. Dore Mear Beon – A Commending Paean For The Forgotten Henrietta Swan Leavitt 101. Driftless – Still 102. Duct Hearts – Feathers 103. Dûrga – Venjança 104. Dye By The Sword – Bats 105. Dystopian Future Movies – Time 106. Echoes – Cornerstone 107. Echoes And Signals – Monodrama 108. Echotide – Into The Half Light 109. Edwin Hubble – When I Was Older 110. Emphasis – Black.Mother.Earth 111. Emprier – Slipping Into Another Deeper Kind 112. Ending Satellites – The Lost Tapes | Vol. B 113. Enoch – Bog 114. Eslam Salem – Yours Truly, Atoms 115. Esmerine – Mechanics Of Dominion 116. Eugene Hammond's Ramshackle Black Packard – Wearing August Down In The End 117. Even Gods Can Die – Last Day Of Aries 118. Everyone Dies In The End – The Space Between Spaces 119. Everything Flows – Aphelion 120. Eyes To Argus – Veer 121. EYOT – Innate 122. False Hope For The Savage – II 123. False Horizon – Transition 124. Far Behind The Sun – Story Of Collapsing Galaxies 125. Féroces – Victor 126. Flicker Rate – Reframe Ep 127. Flyingdeadman – 56 Seasons 128. Fragments Of An Empire – Exil 129. From Borealis/If Only – Split 130. From Oceans To Autumns – Ether/Return To Earth 131. From Skin Inward – Miles Contadas 132. Fox Capture Plan – Untitled 133. Fugu Quartet – Sisyphus 134. Fura – Mutandis 135. Gallanthorn – Mostly Stories 136. Gazelle(S) – There's No One New Around You 137. Gallops – Bronze Mystic 138. George Will – Dawn 139. Ghost Island – Assimilation 140. Glacier – Though Your Sins Be As Scarlet, They Shall Be White As Snow; Though They Be Red Like Crimson, They Shall Be As Wool. 141. Glaston – Inhale / Exhale 142. Glerakur – The Mountains Are Beautiful Now 143. Glories – There Is No Stillness 144. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Luciferian Towers 145. Good Weather For An Airstrike – Little Steps 146. Grails – Chalice Hymnal 147. Grün – Manyana 148. Gullwing – Gullwing 149. Gustaf Fjelstrom – The Peripheral Arc : Volume I 150. Haikus – S/T 151. Hallowed – His Sound Still Rose 152. Hammock – Columbus 153. Hammock – Mysterium 154. He Must Be Asleep – He Must Be Asleep 155. Heaven In Her Arms – White Halo 156. Herod – Herod Plays Kraftwerk 157. Heron – You Are Here Now 158. Hope The Flowers – I Miss You 159. Hypertoad – Homeland 160. Hiboux – Command The Earth To Swallow Me Up 161. Himmelrum – Himmelrum 162. HKY  –  Omega 163. Holographic Human Element – Philophobia 164. Howling Embers – Howling Embers 165. Hubris – Apocryphal Gravity 166. I Am Sonic Rain – Hidden 167. Icor – Icor 168. Iiah – Distances 169. If Anything Happens To The Cat – Mangata 170. Illuminine – #2 171. Ilydaen – Veil 172. In Lights – This Is How We Exist 173. Inspirative – Mainland EP 174. Inward Oceans – Weather The Storm 175. Into Orbit – Unearthing 176. I/O – Anyone, Anywhere 177. Ire Wolves – Heirs 178. I Will Kill Chita – Hladikarna 179. Jerkagram – Room For Dessert 180. Japanese But Goodies – Cold Spot 181. Jizue – Grassroots 182. Julie's Haircut – Invocation And Ritual Dance Of My Demon Twin 183. Junius – Eternal Rituals For The Accretion Of Light 184. JUNODEF – Ocean 185. JYOCHO – Days In The Bluish House 186. Kafka – 0 187. Kairon; Irse! – Ruination 188. Kalouv – Elã 189. Kauan – Kaiho 190. Kenoma – The Tides Will Prevail 191. King Sigh – One Might Wonder 192. Kultika – Pursuance 193. Kusanagi – Aeon 194. Kynesis – Pandora 195. Last Builders Of Empire – ΆͅΔης | Hades 196. L'effondras – Les Flavescences 197. Le Knevett – Le Knevett EP 198. Lempicka (렘피카) – Dool 199. Les Discrets – Prédateurs 200. Leviathan Owl – Everything Will Be Fine 201. Lights & Motion – Dear Avalanche 202. Lightspace – Levias 203. Lion With The Head Of A Man – Urplatter 204. Liongeist – Departure EP 205. Long Hallways – The Way Home 206. Loud Exit – Grand City Smokes 207. Lowercase Noise – The Swiss Illness 208. Luxferre – Luxferre 209. LVMEN – Mitgefangen Mitgehangen 210. Mahùt – Your Violin Is Still Playing 211. Magma Waves – ...And Who Will Take Care Of You Now 212. Marmore – Cars Were Supposed To Fly By Now 213. Mental Architects – Ascend 214. Mesozoic – We Create Because All Will End 215. Mi Otro Laberinto – Orígenes 216. MMTH – Paternoster 217. MNHM – Of Empires Past 218. Mogwai – Every Country’s Sun 219. Monobody & Pyramid Scheme – Split 220. Most Bodacious – Great Animal 221. Mountaineer – Sirens & Slumber 222. Mouse On The Keys – Out Of Body 223. Musicformessier – Constellations I. 224. My Beloved – Echoes Over Voices 225. My Education – Schiphol 226. Nihiling – Batteri 227. Nohoï – Maelström 228. Nordic Giants – Amplify Human Vibration 229. Norma Cluster – Harmonices Mundi 230. North End – Alpha State 231. Northway – Small Things, True Love 232. November Might Be Fine – South 233. Nyctalgia – A Hint Of Eternity 234. NYOS – Navigation 235. Oceans Are Zeroes – Oceans Are Zeroes 236. Odd – Memories & Monuments EP 237. Of Decay And Sublime / Sequoian Aequison Split 238. Oiseaux-Tempête – Al-'An! 239. Old Seas / Young Mountains – Seasons 240. Onj. – Alone 241. Only Echoes Remain – The Exigent 242. Oruko – Frctl 243. Our Ceasing Voice – Free Like Tonight 244. Out Of Sight – The End Of Apathy EP 245. Outlander – Downtime b/w Plans 246. Outrun The Sunlight – Red Bird 247. OVUM – In My Sanctuary 248. Oxbow – Thin Black Duke 249. Paleons – Hyperborean 250. Palmer – Surrounding The Void 251. Pandelic – Escapade 252. Paraphon Tree – Impressio Marcato 253. Permanence – Primordial EP   254. Piece Of Sky–Native Expectation – Regret 255. Pijn – Floodlit 256. Pillars – Of Salt And Sea 257. Planetariet – S/T 258. Postvorta – Carmentis 259. Prawn – Run 260. Quadra – Quadra 261. Ranges – The Ascensionist 262. Red Forest – Icarus Fall 263. Red Light Skyscaper – Still The Echo 264. Rega – Rega 265. RIFFT – The Never Nowhere 266. Rosetta – Utopioid 267. Robin Foster – Empyrean 268. Rumori Di Scena – Lentamente 269. Ry – Ry 270. Sannhet – So Numb 271. Sarin – Darker Lakes 272. Satori Ray – Victories 273. Seanné – Seanné 274. Searchlights – Phototrophic 275. Seas Of Years – Three Horizons Away 276. Seeress – Great Void 277. Set And Setting – Reflectionless 278. Seyfert – Horizonte De Eventos 279. Shadow Universe – The Unspeakable World 280. Shipwrecks – Shipwrecks 281. Ships Fly Up – Journey To Ranucan 282. Shunyata – Enso 283. Shy – Shy 284. Shy, Low – Burning Day Ep 285. Silent Island – Fall Of Oceans 286. Silent Whale Becomes A Dream – Requiem 287. Sky Flying By – Miscellany 288. Sleepmakeswaves – Made Of Breath Only 289. Sleep Maps – No More Good Dreams 290. Slowrun – Passage 291. Snöhamn – Kom, Vi Startar En Kult 292. Sollunar – Ii: Collisions 293. Songes – Prologue 294. Sonic Black Holes – Disclosure 295. Sound Architects – In Time Of Need 296. SOONAGO – Nephele 297. Sounds Like The End Of The World – Stories 298. Soup – Remedies 299. Sparhawks – The Quiet Hour 300. Species At Risk – Species At Risk 301. Spook The Horses – People Used To Live Here 302. Spotlights – Seismic 303. Spring.Fall.Sea – The Seedless Fruit 304. Square Peg Round Hole – Five Years 305. Stafrænn Hákon – Hausi 306. Stay The Sea – Shimmer 307. Stories From The Lost – Exoplanet 308. Stranger Things Have Happened – It's The Self Titled Ep 309. Sunrot – Sunnata 310. Sunset Images – Obscure Daze 311. Sunset Nebula – Sunset Nebula 312. Sunset Wrecks – Salvaged 313. Suntrigger – Interstellar 314. Synopsys – Le Temps Du Rêve 315. TATRAN – No Sides 316. Te' – Kai 317. Tear Me Apart – ...And For A Moment, We Felt Free 318. Tempus – Hymn For The Courageous 319. Tephrosis – Clouded Minds 320. Terraformer – Mineral 321. The Bedroom Cloud – Rings Around The Sun 322. The Bedroom Cloud – Tree EP 323. The Chapel Of Exquises Ardents Pears – Torquemadra 324. The Chasing Monster – Tales 325. The Cities We Light – Man Down 326. The Death Of Money – Ghost Pains 327. The Echelon Effect – Signals 328. The Gleam Of Last Light – Into The Ever Nothingness 329. The Great Stone – Killers And Lovers 330. Thehappymask & A Light In The Dark & Olhava – Estrangement, Love, Remembrance (Split) 331. The Kraken Quartet – Separate | Migrate 332. The Last Sighs Of The Wind – We Are Trees 333. The Physics House Band – Mercury Fountain 334. The Polar Dream – Viva México 335. The Mighty Missoula – Au Nord 336. The Random Monsters – Going Home 337. The Singer Is Dead – \\ 338. The Sky Is – Télépathie 339. The Swan Thief – Ii 340. The Throne – Frail Threads 341. The Werg – The Werg 342. Thera Roya – Stone & Skin 343. Theta – Obernuvshis' 344. Thin Blue Line – Memory + Geometry 345. Third Meridian – Polarity 346. This Makes Us Human – This Makes Us Human 347. This Patch Of Sky – These Small Spaces 348. Those Who Dream By Day – Ep 2017 349. Threefifty – Gently Among The Coals 350. Through A Glass, Darkly – Through A Glass, Darkly 351. Tigerrosa – Slow Motion Underwater Psychedelia And Other Tasty Treats 352. To Destroy A City – Go Mirage 353. Toiwo – Isolation 354. Total-Empty – Towards The Moon 355. Trans Am – California Hotel 356. TOTS – Transmigration Of The Soul 357. Tuber – Out Of The Blue 358. Ulan Bator – Stereolith 359. UMBRA – Aries 360. Underhand – Roman Numeral One 361. Unjustly Labeled – Desolation 362. Unwed Sailor – Take A Minute 363. URSA – Nulla 364. Valerian Swing – Nights 365. Vasudeva – No Clearance 366. VESTA – Vesta 367. Via Luna – Wilt 368. Vik – With The Coming Of Dawn 369. Voltar – Ven El Mundo Arder 370. Vultures At Arms Reach – Wake 371. Vyder – Elephant 372. Wander – Glass 373. Warrior Pope – Anchorite 374. Watered / Terraformer – Split 375. Way Of Abyss – Parallels 376. We All Die! What A Circus! – We All Die! What A Circus! 377. We Came From The North — Faded Giant 378. We Deserve This – Smile 379. We Shine Every Night – All Shall Rise, All Shall Prosper 380. We Stood Like Kings – Usa 1982 381. When Icarus Falls – Resilience 382. When The Light Dies (WTLD) – Wailing Of The Leonids 383. Whyoceans – Inmost Dens Of Emilie 384. Widek – Hidden Dimensions 385. Winterthieves. – The Human You 386. Wozniak – Courage Reels 387. Wren – Auburn Rule 388. X Suns – Strawberry Mansion/Twelve Hours 389. Yang – The Failure Of Words 390. Yeahyeahabsolutelynoway! – Ah.. 391. Yet To See A Yeti – Yeti Utopia 392. You Break, You Buy – Don’t Join The Circus 393. ZAIUS – Of Adoration --- BEST NEW ACTS | Nominees 1. 3:56 AM: 356am.bandcamp.com 2. Aelita Red: aelitared.bandcamp.com 3. ÆRIS: aerisband.bandcamp.com 4. Alderaan: alderaaan.bandcamp.com 5. Allan Hills: allanhills.bandcamp.com 6. Apocryphal Throne: apocryphalthrone.bandcamp.com 7. Ayden: weareayden.bandcamp.com 8. Babel Fish: babelfishofficial.bandcamp.com 9. Bandina ie: bandinaie.bandcamp.com 10. Behind The Shadow Drops: behindtheshadowdrops.bandcamp.com 11. Black Flak and the Nightmare Fighters: blackflakslc.bandcamp.com 12. Black Tundra: blacktundra.bandcamp.com 13. BLAK: thisisblak.bandcamp.com 14. Blanket: blanketsounds.bandcamp.com 15. Bruecken: bruecken.bandcamp.com 16. Cascades: cascades-au.bandcamp.com 17. Cave Paint: cavepaint.bandcamp.com 18. Cendres: cendreslegroupe.bandcamp.com 19. Cerf Boiteux: cerfboiteux.bandcamp.com 20. Chalk Hands: chalkhands.bandcamp.com 21. Chêne: chene.bandcamp.com 22. Cian: cianmelodias.bandcamp.com 23. Cloud Shelter: cloudshelter.bandcamp.com 24. Codeia: codeia.bandcamp.com 25. Codices: codices.bandcamp.com 26. Colourway: colourway.bandcamp.com 27. Distant Dream: distantdream.bandcamp.com 28. DDENT: ddentmusic.bandcamp.com 29. Deer Park Ranger: deer-park-ranger.bandcamp.com 30. Driftless: driftless.bandcamp.com 31. Dûrga: durgaband.bandcamp.com 32. Emprier: emprier.bandcamp.com 33. Eslam Salem: eslamsalem.bandcamp.com 34. Everything Flows: band-everything-flows.bandcamp.com 35. Eyes to Argus: eyestoargus.bandcamp.com 36. False Horizon: soundcloud.com/false-horizon/sets/transition 37. Fugu Quartet: fuguquartet.bandcamp.com 38. GallantHorn: gallanthorn.bandcamp.com 39. Gazelle(s): gazelle-s.bandcamp.com 40. George Will: george-will.bandcamp.com 41. Gullwing: gullwing.bandcamp.com 42. Haikus: haikusbanda.bandcamp.com 43. Hallowed: wearehallowed.bandcamp.com 44. He Must Be Asleep: hemustbeasleep.bandcamp.com 45. Heron: heronband.bandcamp.com 46. Himmelrum: himmelrum.bandcamp.com 47. 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The Mighty Missoula: mightymissoula.bandcamp.com 93. The Werg: thewerg.bandcamp.com 94. Third Meridian: third-meridian.bandcamp.com   95. This Makes Us Human: this-makes-us-human.bandcamp.com 96. Those Who Dream By Day: thosewhodreambyday.bandcamp.com 97. Through a Glass, Darkly: throughaglassdarklytx.bandcamp.com 98. Tigerrosa: tigerrosa.bandcamp.com 99. Toiwo: toiwo.bandcamp.com 100. TOTS: transmigrationofthesoul.bandcamp.com 101. Underhand: underhand.bandcamp.com 102. URSA: ursaprogressive.bandcamp.com 103. VESTA: 4vesta.bandcamp.com 104. Vik: vikjpn.bandcamp.com 105. We Shine Every Night: weshineeverynight.bandcamp.com 106. WinterThieves.: winterthieves.bandcamp.com 107. Yeahyeahabsolutelynoway!: yeahyeahabsolutelynoway.bandcamp.com --- CONNECT WITH US AT THE FOLLOWING: facebook.com/postrock.instrumental twitter.com/postrock_music open.spotify.com/user/postrock.instrumental instagram.com/postrock.instrumental youtube.com/c/GZTapes youtube.com/user/lightsandsounds10 postrock-instrumental.tumblr.com 

[allyourbaserbelong2us-blog]

A Poem About Omnicide

Somewhere beneath, somewhere that cannot be placed nor displaced

     That which has never surfaced, remains still

     Outside and within, never seen, nor touched

     Neither asleep nor imprisoned – undefined by definition

     That which should never surface

           Remains still

A gilded wave may crash against an unknown shore, a mark of territory, dominance

     Can you not see its greatness? Can you not believe its power?

     A gilded wave may claim that which has no master

     A gilded wave may shine through its fluid corrosion

     And upon its summit, a gilded wave musters the reflective palms

           See as they grasp that which cannot be held

Listen to their song as it falls through eager fingers

           Revere that which cannot amend the ebb of such a tide

           That which stains pitiable teeth with the ink of fallen tyrants

     Pour these dead men into the stomachs of the starved and name them nourished

     Such is the gilded wave; such is the Mirror astride the apex

     The Mirror which snakes its reflective fingers through the eyes of the willing

           May they be turned, may their paper castles immolate

           May their insatiable lust drown them with oaths of the lavish

           May their golden reveries corrode beneath their uniform soles

Somewhere beneath, that which never sleeps

     Now stirs

So many faces proclaim their bearing as truth

     Callous, unwavering and resolute

A singular course through which pages of times best discarded, prevail

Their silken oaths saturated by fevers, adorned in thorns and flies

The pitiless waters from sacred cups bathe the brittle in iron

           So easily stripped, their raw nakedness only a curtain away

The fulcrum upon which The mirror rests its friable hip

     The fulcrum which decayed pages transmute to anvils

     Can they not see the rain of nails that springs from the mouths of faces uncounted?

     Did they not hear their mirrors shatter?

     Did they not feel the shards be appropriated by the same faces that mislead?

           Could a mirror be so opaque, that its very shape can be twisted?

                 Should such a multitude of faces remain unmarred?

Somewhere beneath, that which should never surface

     Now writhes

A light from a dark place surges with the voice of a fractured mirror

Each glistening piece reflecting, refracting, distorting

     A simple verity made into sludge – a new disease infecting the superficial

     Each glistening piece either praising or condemning

     Each reflective shard now grinding a certainty into pitiable grains

     Each splinter convoluting the miserable specs of a plague into purity

           When the dust of what was once light settles

           What is left but the countless sands of a ruptured certainty?

           Where can such a thing as sincerity find the foundation of itself?

Somewhere beneath, that which was never named

     Awakens

As a fissure may split the thresholds of lesser houses

That which has now been roused from beneath,

Surfaces and scorns the portrait of the repugnant Mirror

To clear away the debris of sick – of falseness – of ineptitude

     To call upon the black for a final exculpation of a worthless being

     To scour the gilded wave

     To gore the many faces

     To dampen the broken light

To wear the flame that has never been sought

To claim the right of ruin

To assume this visage, that it may –

     That I may

Begin this sojourn into the welcome and volatile fathomage of the black

     To claim its wings, to wear its crown

     To transcend what is imperceptible to the pawns of the faces

and waves

and sands

     To become the black at the end of all

The grip – the Clutch of an ageless talon upon the raven pinion

A Hand the same, the heir derives; horns set to smolder

           I see between the fingers; revealed, in time, to they who desiccate

           Sentience remains veiled, a twinkle of the eyes behind the gossamer ether

           A flutter among the threads, a shadow through the stitches

Upon this ground I lay to rest what makes me like glass

     I banish it to forgotten depths

     That it may establish the greatest sepulcher

     To lay with it, the rest of its likeness

The shattered mirror – the other – the frail – the fickle

     Seek a fragrance of splendor through their fallacy – a dog at my heels

Its hounds are fierce upon my scent; they know my reflection – my facade

           See their stunted teeth, hear their whimpering call;

           Bastards of an ill begotten archetype

I lead and – as children – they follow, pawing at the scraps of my axiom            

But I am a leaf upon the wind of distortion; watch as I tip the scale

Trail of tears so gleefully carved, cracked through the mediocre jewels of sand

           There is more to be had than the stones of my path;

           Yet the other remains fixated on the pebble – proclaiming it righteous

           And still they do not see my tomb, my grave – the deep

           That which the petulant will inhabit; the elegy of my task

May thee who seek the crown of fire, do so with silence

           For the black will sing – will stare – will haunt

           As it conducts the drums of doubt to the beat of your weakest heart

           The tempo of a fragile self – a recreant form

           Ever echoing within the pallid masses of indentured servitude        

A mantle of chains, this river of faces and sands and waves bestows

       A burden placed heavily upon my shoulders

     Knowing what these faces limn, what these sands mask, what these waves demean    

And i traverse this great force with mirth

Rush on, endless waters, rush on

For I will not be stopped

The other bequeathed into a chalice of pain, see my steel be wetted

           Goblet ‘neath my silver face, it is witness to the descent

           Raised in reverence, raised in pride; my lips this sacred brew shall pass

           My lips, this tainted oath, shall speak:

                       “I relieve you of this burden”

Ever empty the wick of my once vibrant soul, depleted by my enterprise

           No grief can melt away – no rage can destroy – no cheer can vanquish

           Cursed as the fallen to drift among the winds, to consume of the ash

           To breathe the putrescence of this broken place

The mantle I carried has been cast aside, my shoulders bare of impunity

My posture square, my stance set – straight, unhindered

           Heed the tongues of the others, for upon them I dance:

‘The wings have been taken; I hold them, they have unfurled their ebon expanses

           They carry me through the endless plagues and flames of ages past

           I wear the smoldering horns, the blessed curse

My brow graced with the crown legions have sought but have never seen

I have scarred the world with my trail; I have carved it well

           Set foot, I bid thee, into the gorge of my plight

There await the hounds of your pitiful empires, there they simper

My grave, my tomb is deep – is dark – is ancient – is hungry

Its earthen depths filled with those pieces of me that I have left behind

           Forever it sits and waits, the epic tragedy of your fear;

           All shall live within your own sorrow, beneath your veil’

I – the black - have sung across the stars and below the dark, I know my chorus well

           Forever heard through the fathoms of leagues my voyage has carried me

           The lyric of my forgotten soul, my lifeless eyes, my mirthless dance

           The anthem of my endeavors, my hunt, my hate

           May those who dwell within and among the mirror hear this and be warned:

                      “My grave is deep, my grave is deep”

[saficswrites]

Elegy of a Forgotten Heir

We’re getting a new masterpost because the previous one was getting prohibitively long, like ten chapters and over 100,000 words after reaching Radiant Dawn we are at… Raise the Standard (ch 1-6).

This fic is so fucking long, and has a metric ton of content warnings, if you’re new here please look at the previous masterposts for more detailed content warnings per chapter:

(https://www.tumblr.com/saficswrites/740178733734019072/the-prologue-is-done-we-did-it-chapter-8-is?source=share)

(https://www.tumblr.com/saficswrites/748204812852658176/chapter-21-ticking-towards-midnight-is-up-it?source=share)

Chapter 22, Tempered Flames, was actually uploaded last night but I was so tired afterwards I didn’t get around to linking it until today. It is around 10,000 words of almost exclusively people standing around and talking (my favorite type of chapter to write ngl).

I really really hope you enjoy this chapter, and want to thank you all for sticking with it so long, but without further ado detailed warnings for this chapter below the cut:

Anti-Laguz sentiment among the Liberation army is a major focus in this chapter and as such themes of racism, discrimination and race motivated violence are all addressed to varying degrees, there also is a generic non graphic violence warning for a few scenes, explicit references to coercion into marriage, and use of civilians as human shields.

It is possible I missed something and if I did please let me know.

[adventk-blog]

                                             — ARE YOU WHO YOU WANT TO BE, 

       introducing KIM JONGIN, a MUTANT, under the moniker of PLAGUE — and currently a believer of SEPARATION. age ( twenty-four ) and gifted with the ability of CONTAGION EMBODIMENT, they are currently working as an HEIR.

WE ARE SO MUCH MORE THAN STORIES,

this is a story where a boy eats himself and never spits the flesh out. shrapnel bones and papier-mâché skin against your palate: hemorrhage painting your insides with the color of unrest, carving a private death in the confines of your own ribcage.

the corpses of your sanity taste like copper in your lonely mouth.

licks your lips clean from the residue of your nightmares—                                                            sanity never comes away in a bang.

you partake in the game played between mortals made serpents. your unholy intents, their forked tongues. it’s an all-night dance. the music is an overture of reprised elegies. hands on hips, hands on shoulder blades, hands on throats.

              you come out alive.                             but not intact. never intact.

turn the clockwork around, however, and clasp the zeroes between your teeth.

             o.

your body is a husk, containing the hollow echo of your scream.

              i.

she is the baby’s breath in his summer, counting filaments of the sky through the rim of her sun-kissed dress. when she threads her fingers between his, heat. pooled at the stomach, rusting on his cheeks. some of those afternoons smell like forgotten nightmares, sunk in the collarbones of his daydreams. some of those evenings haze his thoughts in the stained glass of emotions, cracking through his visions. he brings her home and locks his monsters in their caskets.

how the nights end: arched spines, tiptoeing whispers. she washes his mouth with her wine. he is afraid of diluting her insides with acid.

she maps poetries into his skin and he traces the constellation of her teeth. she is made of soft carnage and he, the victim. he doesn’t mind the casualty, cutting his ribcage to let her fingers curl around his heart. she pulses red and he breathes in her dust.

knees to the floor, mouth colored with wishes. there is something different about the way her tongue wraps around the simple word.

darkness descends. you consume her.

              ii.

                                  maybe more than you should have.

she holds the small of your fingers. a smile splinters the pale of her lips. he isn’t smiling. he reads between the lines, catching implications between his trembling teeth. she holds the small of your fingers. he caresses the brittle of her skin.

the silence echoes. her tongue wraps around three syllables, tasting more than a whisper. the silence blossoms and suffocates the room. except for the static noises, always the static noises. it’s a uniform sound that punctures his ears they bleed shards.

you make her a martyr, and him, a fallen soldier.

              iii.

he fills you with his ruins.

her residue. his empty daydreams. somehow the color of the summer sky resembles blood more than sorrow. he keeps bleeding; there’s no scar tissue, just open wounds. he decorates the jutting bones of his knuckles with ire. catharsis comes in the beauty of bruised roses. sometimes when he laughs, you think he’s angry.

              he lathers his mouth with her ashes.

you have her eyes. sometimes he looks into them, looking past you. he stares at them for the longest time.

              iv.

he says you learned fast, breaking sentences into slivers, smearing fingertips with ink. what you failed to learn: your shadows sometimes flicker.

              you fear darkness but it fears you more.

the black is serrated, teeth razor sharp against your jugular. your moments between sleep are painted with ragged breaths and unspoken pleas. there is something moving in the dark.

he believes it’s her, keeping you company.

monsters don’t live in the absence of lights, he says. they live in your bones, gnawing at your sinews. you were born with them inside you.

             v.

what you were born with besides the monstrosity: demise, spelled another way.

                                        you were architected to carry an empire in you.

            vi.

she is a ticking clock at the back of your head. she spells morse code that sinks into your flesh, splitting you open, red and raw.

on good days, messages become concave like braille and you will trace the letters that perforate your skin, thinking that it is how it feels to have a mother. on good days, the kids that wear cheshire grins and early claw marks will leave you alone, at the corner of the room, so that you can speak with her.

                                              she is beautiful.

              ( they call her imaginary. )

you are six when you draw your first carnage: your knuckles against their teeth. then, your knife into their pets’ guts.

              vii.

the architecture of your nights is made of skyscrapers colored in questions:

a. ) he takes you for a walk. your shadows are elongated, and sometimes they shiver. you swear they falter when they are not trying to smother. their crooked smiles become the shade of your existence. how do you tell your father that you are haunted?

b. ) she is a background noise, static. when you’re awake past midnight and staring at the blank space, she’s there. you can feel that she’s withering, her ashes becoming more and more prominent on your fingertips. how do you hold onto your mother when she fades?

c. ) god feels like a dream at the back of your head. you cover your knees with dust and fold your hands in prayers. you close your eyes to see god, but instead, you see flickers of faces. how do you whisper to god and ask him to save you without them listening?

              viii.

the moon speaks in various languages. it is, they say, a polyglot.

                              first:

acid corrodes the corners of your mouth. you smile too much, too wide. he is proud of you when you do, not seeing the globules of red that form on your lips. sometimes, you trade them with an ashen mouth: say you’re older than you actually are, pretend you’re smarter than you actually are. he is proud when you do, not seeing that it’s a forked tongue that grows underneath your palate. they will laugh with you, at you. the kids with cheshire grins and early claw marks are no longer present. instead, it’s the grown-up kids with christened lust and empty decadence that won’t leave you alone, even on good days.

                              second:

you are a hollow blue shell when it’s three in the morning. fold your legs against the bare of your chest. water, streaming. warmth, engulfing. it’s so cold outside, inside. what brews within: the purpling heartbeat of a growing child, trapped in the illusion of adolescence. it is hard, harder when you are in the company of the darkness that stutters on your collapsing hands. unanswered questions, engraved on your bones — except that it’s too late to ask, too late to pass it as another excuse for a childhood disturbance. there is no such thing as an imaginary friend when you’re twelve.

                              third:

ask the god in your sleep if you’re dreaming. ask him if you’re sleeping with your eyes open. primal desires embed themselves on the lines of your arms. he is a stark contrast against the skin of your thighs. maybe it’s because you have her eyes. maybe it’s because she lives inside your bones. you don’t know, don’t care. he tastes like stale cigarettes and too much alcohol against your spine, stubborn and inebriating.

              ix.

he slips bloodshed into your lullabies.

bruises embody his detonations. he looks tired, but alive for once. you don’t speak when his knuckles rupture the fragility in the dying war. you don’t move when his weary limbs pretend that they aren’t weighted by the lingering ghosts.

it’s a cyclical catastrophe, your feigned innocence. how the nights end: you, collecting his pieces and trying to reassemble his bones.

but they have been too dislocated.

yet you talk to him, talk talk talk until your mouth blooms poppies, trying to keep him alive.

              x.

there is a pool of moonburst in your head, carving craters and dents to soak them in liquid destructions.

there was a part of you littered with everything soft. you’d like to think of these: bird-bones, tender skin. think of gentleness. think of baby’s breath.

there was a part of you littered with everything soft. what’s left: splinters. these days fill themselves to the neck with digging your nails into your skin. you are a cathedral of burning, tendrils of black billowing from your crevasses. you are a pair of tangled feet on the brim of apocalypse, waiting for darkness to swallow you whole.

when it does, it never spits you out.

              xi.

you are pronounced dead on your sweet sixteenth; a detonation within the ribcage in the company of an unpinned grenade. the pin: between your teeth, clasped so tightly you shudder. and in here, where you buried your corpse without an open-casket ceremony. nails burrowed in your flesh instead of the coffin. in here, where you decayed your insides in the process of atrophies. talents illuminated a number of necrosis instead.

you don’t know which to sacrifice: your mind, or your body.

                                                       ( or both. )

              xii.

how does it feel, being a stranger to your own body? you imagine that your fingers aren’t yours, standing under the shower for hours hoping to shed your skin off your flesh. the sight of the red and blue can’t be more fascinating.

                                                                      a dissected mind.

you breathe in decay until your lungs shiver. you wear the rust until your knuckles turn gaunt.

           xiii.

they saw: how your shadows flicker. they saw: how your darkness enshrouds.

              somebody tells you to run, run, run. from yourself.

last time you did, you broke a bone and handed the pieces to them. last time you did, you bruised your mind and the capillaries are still severed.

                              ( but this isn’t a compromise, this isn’t a discussion. )

              xiv.

you bite the pomegranate of chaos and swallow the seeds, the flowers blooming in your stomach.

                                              question:

              do you run from the beasts in your reality,                    or do you run from the monsters your invented in your head?

and this is it — the run, run, run. in your fisted palm is a lungful of blood, drained from others’ veins. they call it a sacrifice. they call it an escape. what they actually call it: an exodus. what you actually call it: your carnages. how do you tell bloodshed apart from your fractured facts?

              ( you don’t. )

summary + developments:

000. born to a mother that passed during the labor, he was raised by a single father who was never quite there, often found mourning over the death of his wife. seemingly blamed his son for it, although jongin inherited some of his mother’s looks, which caused his father to pay occasional attention towards him, in the most distanced ways possible.

001. he started developing a sense of hallucination, seeing his mother as an imaginary friend, which was scratched off as something typical of a child. this worsened to the point where he fought his peers over being called out for hallucinating his mother. untreated, he eventually started resorting to venting his anger on pets and strays. this apathetic tendency never reached his father until it was too late, in a sense, and that was the beginning of the fracture in his sanity.

002. his ability began to manifest at the age of eight, and the first time was how fresh flowers wilted under his touch. he blamed it on the darkness that surrounded him, thinking that he was haunted. paranoia infected him, and his father disregarded the fact that his son grew even less and less coherent by day, making him pretend he was normal whenever guests came around. being an heir to a multibillion company, he was turned into a puppet on strings for his father’s convenience, left in the backstage whenever the limelight was over.

003. hallucination continued, and abilities blossomed as he grew up. it took him years to comprehend the mechanism of his own powers, experimenting through touch onto the beggars that he seemed to pity. when the beggars died of mysterious diseases, he started to understand, and he thought he was doing them a favor, for there was no use living such pitiful lives. and that was when he realized how his mind had disintegrated, alongside the hallucination and paranoia.

004. when he was thirteen, he began to deviate, forming atypical moralities. he differentiated himself from the rest of his friends, experiencing the pit of his illnesses to the point where he eventually broke. this tipping point was when he became unfeeling, and started pretending. when he was brought to a therapist, it was too late. he never attended the next sessions, hiding behind fake smiles and false truths.

005. sixteen, and he basically transformed into a full-fledged malice. he still battled with himself, trying to salvage what little was left from his humanity, but the violence streaks simply triumphed over the smidgens of his morality. this was when he started terrorizing people without them realizing, spreading diseases unprompted. the idea of becoming “plague” didn’t develop until he was around twenty, however.

006. and a year later, he started donning the plague doctor attire whenever he needed his “release”, walking around the city to spread unnecessary terrors. at this point, his powers have developed so much that he didn’t need direct touch to spread diseases anymore, although certain physiologies still required it. now, twenty-four, he’s still doing his round as “plague” while harnessing his powers, as well as scopes of self-defense that his powers do not cover. he knows, nevertheless, that his powers corrode his mind, and he doesn’t truly let the fact perturb him.

THERE IS FLESH AND BLOOD BEHIND THESE TALES,

living up to his alias, kim jongin is a plagued mind through and through. the state of his mental and moral is currently questioned, even by himself, and the truths about his own abilities do not help but faltering his own beliefs in regards to his sanity. this, however, bothers him less and less by day, and it’s indubitable that he’s over halfway to succumbing towards this instability. amoral, apathetic, atrophic.

he relishes in schadenfreude, liking the facts that he can make other people suffer, although on the front he would be anything but. charming to the point where some would think he’s genuinely a kind soul, he is twisted with a lot of lies spilled easily from his mouth. a complex personality, he’s often seen as a friend by many, an enemy by some. as “plague”, he’s fully disguised in the plague doctor attire, that many do not seem to know his true identity.

also a cunning intellectual, he’s made of a lot of tricks to sate his violent mentalities. he is not above simple blackmailing, disguising it as various kindness, although the motives behind it are anything but. he enjoys moments with fellow intellectuals, talking about anything and everything. has an open view of the world, although he’s certainly opinionated, although he doesn’t push his opinions on others.

overall, a danger to most, but a danger undetected regardless.

AND EVEN MONSTERS CAN LEARN TO WEEP.

mutation: contagion embodiment.

applications:

000. he has the ability to become the embodiment of contagion, meaning that he can spread influences accordingly. his state of abilities is dependent on his current mental as well as physical status, although at the peak he can infect up to one kilometre radius, or even more considering the complexities of the influence being spread. his influences include, but not limited to, diseases and insanity, as well as appeal to negative emotions. when it comes to emotions, he finds it easier to amplify than inflict from zero, although the latter is far from impossible. negative influences in the mind are usually formed through the similar systematics of killing serotonin, and sometimes, in more severe cases, inducing necrosis. he’s most educated in terms of disease manipulation, however, compared to the other aspects of his powers.

001. he can generate, induce, and manipulate diseases — also called disease manipulation in terms of power. while this application greatly varies, it’s highly based on his own knowledge in regards to these illnesses. he cannot inflict what he doesn’t know, and while he can create the diseases, he needs to comprehend the systematic of the diseases: how it affects the immune system, how it affects the body, etc. his understandings about diseases when it comes to this ability are vastly different from that of medical knowledge, and it cannot simply be explained in words. he can also accelerate and suppress diseases, although healing is a far-fetched idea that he has yet to apply a lot. thus, curing is an aspect least touched upon, rendering it almost obsolete in his deposit. other applications of this are: infection empowerment ( ability to become empowered by the presence of diseases ), pathogen manipulation ( transferral, mimicry, elimination, hypnotic ), cellular disintegration ( to destroy cells by inflicting diseases ), healing factor nullification, as well as mutation inducement, although this one is extremely limited to what might be received by the victim’s dna. poison manipulation — which includes all scopes of poison, including toxin and venom, is also within his reach considering the similar systematics to disease manipulation.

002. he also possesses a fragment of parasite physiology and virus mimicry, although this is the least harnessed out of the other powers. through his parasitic characteristics, he’s able to tap into genetic memories, and upon touch, replicate an extent of knowledge, despite not much. it’s typically only on the surface, enveloping the conscious. through this, he can read the minds, be they memories or understandings, although this doesn’t last long after the contact is cut off. in a sense, he’s also bestowed with regenerative healing factor by absorbing someone else’s health, also through direct contact. as for the virus mimicry, while he’s unable to perform anything that alters his solid form, he’s able to execute some of the applications in it, such as rupturing internal organs, although in order to do that he needs to have the victim remaining still — for it takes time. he can also perform cellular disintegration, which relates back to regenerative healing factor nullification, in which he can overpower cellular regeneration.

limitations:

001. he is, by no means, immune to his own powers, and therefore anyone who mimics this power can hit him at his point of vulnerability. he has no superhuman immunity, albeit slightly more enhanced in a way that he doesn’t fall sick as easily, but he’s definitely still able to contract diseases that he himself can spread onto others. the only way to cure himself is by applying his own healing power, which is far from polished. another way to lessen this effect would be through empowerment, although not all diseases can be empowered, and may weaken and eventually kill him instead.

002. emotional influences are limited to negative scopes only, with the spectrum lying at the corner of fear and madness, and he cannot spread other types of emotions apart from these. it also limits the amplification of emotional states for those around him, where he can only magnify the negative ones as opposed to the positives.

003. also, in terms of mental stability, he’s slowly decaying considering his powers consume a lot of him. they feed off his sanity, in a way that his emotional responses towards his own influences cause a decline. these powers also rely heavily on his imagination, and most of the time, he feels the imaginary pain of the emotions and diseases before being able to transfer them.

004. the spectrum of illnesses that he can spread highly depends on the amount of knowledge that he has on said specimens. it’s easier for him to inflict diseases on humans, knowing their specifics of immune system and whatnot, rather than vigils and mutants considering that they vary highly. with the variants, he needs to gauge a measurement as to how much influence is needed to affect them at all.

005. his power is mostly affective towards those around him as opposed to himself, meaning that while he’s able to apply some of them onto his own benefits, most of it is actually an output. his powers rely on offensive instead of defensive manner, in which if someone manages to replicate and outpower him, he’d be unable to form a defence mechanism. his mimicry might bring some powers inward, but as they’re not as trained as the rest of the powers, they do not work as effectively either.

006. being mentally unstable also takes a toll on his powers, seeing that they’re reliant on his stability to perform the tasks. it turns into a paradox where his abilities make him unstable; it formulates a never-ending ring of fire, which he knows will eventually consume him mentally. while he can regenerate his own brain cells by the various techniques that he can apply, be it through absorption or empowerment, he cannot fix what’s broken from the sanity for it’s intangible, leaving him with a rotting mind. and unfortunately, his ability to affect emotions are also increasing the volatility of his mental state, further worsening his conditions.

007. knowledge replication through parasitic tendencies can only be acquired through direct contact, skin on skin without any hindering fabrics and the likes. upon having the contact terminated, knowledge that isn’t obtained in his understandings ( e.g. adoptive muscle memories, as well as other types of knowledge which systematic is foreign to him ) would dissipate as soon as it comes. this doesn’t mean that he can replicate powers either, unless it has something to do with the mind. he can only read memories and thoughts superficially, and although some might be retained depending on how long the contact remains, the majority of it is

THREAT LEVEL TWO.                           04+ BRWN, 04+ RSLNC, 06+ INTLCT, 02+ WLLPWR, 04+ FGHTNG, 04+ SPD

[saficswrites]

So this is something a bit different, I’ve played around with the idea of posting different Elegy of a Forgotten Heir scenes in isolation before (next chapter will be out soon hopefully btw, sorry about the monthlong wait), but never really went through with it besides the Rinnen stuff.

It’s Pride though so I wanted to post a queer scene but then encountered the problem of, genuinely what scene in this really long angsty ass depressing fic do I post?

Laura’s Jill induced bisexual awakening is incredibly short, Sothe and Petrine kinda bonding over both being queer is immediately undercut by her starting a fight to try and push him away, most of the Petrine and Micaiah scenes are well… the way they are.

(There’s actually a Petrine x Micaiah scene that would be perfect for this were it not part of the next chapter draft 😭)

Even the incredibly deep platonic love Petrine and Almedha have going on suffers a bit from happening in the background during plot important scenes and by extension don’t really work in isolation.

So uh with all that said the best and least bittersweet snippet I could think of was Petrine seeing Micaiah’s brand for the first time.

Micaiah’s golden eyes widened, almost seeming to shake slightly as she stared up at Petrine. Her bottom lip quivered slightly but no sound came out.

“You have the right hand.” She finally whispered.

Petrine ghosted her fingers up Micaiah’s arm, reaching the white collar just above the swell of her lean bicep and pausing.

“May I?” She rasped, the lump in her throat beginning to burn.

“Yes.” Micaiah murmured.

Petrine deftly undid the buckle obscured beneath the collar’s fabric before slowly peeling the glove back from the smaller woman’s skin.

The speed she moved made the process agonizing but she wanted to, no, needed to, give Micaiah every chance possible to back out if she changed her mind.

This was about trust, pulling it off in an instant would prove nothing.

Slowly but surely more pale skin was exposed until finally the beginnings of a mark began to show. Petrine paused, waiting in silence and listening to their shared breath until Micaiah nodded shakily.

She moved slightly faster now, finally removing the covering so she could see the back of the smaller woman’s hand in its entirety.

The brand was beautiful, its intricate lines almost seeming to resemble an elegant bird in different poses depending on the angle which she viewed it from.

It suited her.

Petrine took Micaiah’s hand back into her own, delicately tracing the marked skin with her thumb as she brought it to her lips, kissing it.

“Thank you.” She murmured into the smaller woman’s hand, staring up at her through half lidded eyes.

Micaiah was crying, tears running down her face as a light, but obvious blush dusted her cheeks. How long had it been since she’d opened up to someone like this, much less done so and been met with affection?

She would never let her go without it again.

[saficswrites]

So progress on the next chapter is going smoothly, this is good!

But it’s almost 5,000 words of small little character moments, and while that is in no way a bad thing I can't crutch on stealing Radiant Dawn chapter names if it ends up 8-15,000 words of people saying words and feeling feelings without direct main plot progression.

Like you guys need to march all the way across Daein before we can even start getting to the next game chapter but I’m writing about Edward trying to pet Jill’s wyvern and Petrine... I guess being sad and anxious is the best description for what she’s got going on.

Rinnen will make her glorious return though so that’s definitely something.

But yeah anyway, send help I'll have no clue what the hell to title this and it'll prolly end up something dumb (said lovingly).

[saficswrites]

So I did this for the fanfic Im currently working on because well I’ve always wanted to make one of these, but also because I figured this chart alone might be able to adequately display how dysfunctional these two are.

Also please don’t ask me how many hours straight of mspaint it took to make this I’m begging you, it condensed the layers when I saved it so I had to just insert Micaiah’s sexuality awkwardly 😭

I do not actively partake in ship stuff really besides writing fics so hopefully it came out good enough, I ended up axing two metrics that didn't really apply and I couldn't think of a replacement for.

(Also I hope I tagged this right, fingers crossed)

[saficswrites]

Hey guys, quick post, not proofread (sorry for any mistakes). I’ve been so strained lately that I *somehow* forgot to announce that I had released two new Elegy of a Forgotten Heir chapters. Deciding to make and begin managing a fledgling bluesky account that needs a bit of extra attention now of all times was probably a bad decision on my part 😭.

The chapters are up though, and I really hope you guys enjoy them ❤️

[saficswrites]

Kinda update, I never know what to call these

Writing Jill and Petrine interacting is an absolute fucking joy, theres such a huge pile of drama and baggage between them to unpack after Radiant Dawn. To such an insane degree Jill was actually one of the first characters we planned dynamics and expanded storylines for.

And you better believe there are plans for her moving forward, some actually reaching well past the games ending and even epilogue.

So far they've only briefly interacted in one scene for the current chapter draft, and I’m sure you can guess how that interaction went. It might be a chapter or two before we really get to see the animosity between them really explored because of the huge shift in main plot and basically doubling the size of the cast shaped elephant in the room that is Radiant Dawn 1-5, but it's really exciting prospects nonetheless.

The now kind of starting to chill out and develop Petrine meeting a woman who could probably take the title of ‘Angriest woman in Tellius’ from her old self is a really neat character exploration on both sides. Jill’s encounter with Ashnard in PoR provided very little in terms of closure for her father’s death and now she gets to set her sights on the woman who gave the order?

Angst is back on the menu, not that it was ever off tbh.