#hans zimmer never misses

[w1ld-wr1t3r]

Carlando 26 ❤️🧡

Hmm . . . okay. This is an interesting one! This song is from the soundtrack for "The Creator" (great sci-fi movie, highly recommend it) and I have, admittedly, lightly toyed with the idea of an AU based on it. I've never done anything with it because I've never been able to decide which people should fill which roles and what kind of story arc I want for everyone, but every now and then I think about it again. I'll consider this a little trial run of sorts. :)

All referenced lore comes from the movie. The only term I throw around that might not make sense without context is "simulant," which is a term in the movie for an AI individual who has a human appearance and human emotions. This scene also directly mirrors a scene from the movie.

26. A Place In The Sky by Hans Zimmer

Carlos never thought he'd be here, stuck in the middle of pro-AI territory all on his own and with probably half the military after him. He also never thought he'd willingly share company with another AI, not after the last time he was here. He had worked for the anti-AI movement his whole life. He thought he'd left this godforsaken place behind a long time ago.

But he'd just had to let himself get talked into this mission, hadn't he?

And now here he was, stuck with some simulant that for some reason was the most important bot in the whole world, tasked with getting them out of the country so that his bosses or his bosses' bosses could pick it apart and learn what kind of advantage it was supposed to have.

This bot was some sort of kid . . . somehow. It was a simulant but a kid. That wasn't supposed to be possible. And what was a kid supposed to do to turn the tide of the war? Drive the enemy crazy with incessant questions? It was already doing that to him.

Well. Okay. Maybe it was more innocent than incessant.

But he wasn't going to admit that out loud.

"If people aren't made like robots are," the child - man, he really should give it a name already - asked softly, "then how are they made?"

Carlos didn't look at the kid, watching the trees pass by outside the bus instead. But he did answer. "They're made by two people who are in love."

The kid absorbed that before asking another question. "What's it like to be in love?"

"It's like . . ." Carlos started, trying to find words that a nonhuman kid could understand. "It's finding happiness in someone else. Like finding a missing piece of yourself."

The kid looked at him innocently. "Do you love someone?"

Carlos paused, shifting his jaw. He didn't know why he was entertaining this topic. But . . . "Yes. I do. I did."

Lando. The one he'd been tasked to follow and study, all those years ago. His target. A person of interest. Connected to a key pro-AI figure. Supposed to be the enemy.

The only man he'd ever loved.

It was unprecedented for them - an AI supporter, and an AI fighter - to fall in love. But they did. They'd found the keys to each other's hearts. They'd made a life for themselves. They were going to have a family.

But then it had all been ripped away.

Their home. Their unborn child. Lando himself.

All because of a goddamn botched raid.

He would never forgive himself for lying to Lando about who he really was. Seeing the betrayal in his eyes as he caught Carlos trying in vain to call off the raid, finding out he hadn't truly abandoned the side of anti-AI. It had made Carlos want to go back in time and slap himself, scream at himself for hiding it from Lando, for not just giving up everything for him. Because before he'd lost everything anyway, he was afraid he'd lost Lando's love, too.

He would never forgive himself for that.

"Off," he finally choked out, using a term that the kid could understand. "He's . . . off."

The child absorbed this solemnly. "Where do people go when they're off?"

Carlos tried not to get choked up as he watched the scenery pass by. "Heaven," he said. "It's a peaceful place in the sky."

"Are you going to heaven, too?" the child asked.

A tear finally rolled out of his eye. "No," he whispered. "You . . . you have to be a good person to get into heaven."

The child was silent for a long time. Then they finally spoke again. "Then . . . we're the same."

Carlos finally turned to look at them in confusion, meeting the eyes that had reminded him uncannily of Lando from the very start. It was part of the reason why he didn't look at the kid any more than he had to.

The kid looked at him serenely, yet sadly. "Neither of us can go to heaven," they explained simply. They looked down at their hands. "Because you're not good. And . . . I'm not a person."

Something about the way the child said it . . . the emotion in their voice . . . it stirred something in Carlos.

Maybe the kid wasn't so inhuman after all.

Gently, he lifted his arm so that the kid could lean against his side, snuggling closer and getting comfy for the long ride they still had ahead. As they finally lapsed into silence, Carlos returned his gaze to the window, thinking about bright laughs and whispered words of fondness in a home he had once shared with the person he loved.

He didn't dare hope that they might be reunited one day. But maybe . . . maybe, he could still make Lando proud somehow.

[chericheribaby]

A place among the stars

“How did you know I was going to come back?” Harry asks, still not believing this is real.

“Because you promised me,” Draco says and Harry can see that same determination in those grey eyes, the same fire they had when Harry left, all those years ago. “My Harry promised me.”

Harry's bottom lip trembles. “The library, the books on the shelf trying to communicate with you; Draco, you were right, it— it wasn’t dark magic, it was—”

“It was you,” Draco squeezes his hand lightly, “You were my ghost, Harry, you were with me even before you left but,” he searches Harry’s face, eyes softening at him, “You never really truly did, did you?”

Harry shakes his head lightly, kissing Draco’s knuckles.

“Never.”

[honeycaksy]

Alphie and his favorite person in the whole world.

He may be a wild and troublemaker child, but he never misses a chance to read with Uncle Remus. They even have a little book club too.

AU where Regulus' karma is having a son who happens to be the carbon copy of Sirius.

p.1 | p.2 | p.3 | p.4 | p.5 | p.6 | p.7 | p.8 | p.9 | p.10

[ohcorny]

Mr Taylor can you share your hb Playlist links please

thank you for asking ❤️ yes

DO NOT click through and listen to these if you have not read the book. these playlists are meant to convey the characters' full arcs throughout the story and could spoil the experience of it. yes, you can in fact be spoiled by a vibe. and also the album art. the album art is very spoilers.

We Could Have Been Happy Anywhere

“Red Hook Stoop” by Tin Hat Trio “the first step” by jung jaeil “Searching” by Miguel d’Oliveira “Rich (feat. Andrea Vargas)” by Cosmo Sheldrake “Dirty Imbecile” by The Happy Fits “Foolishly Wrong” by Autoheart “Evelyn Evelyn” by Evelyn Evelyn “Done For The Night” by Theodore Shapiro (from Severance) “Shango” by The Stargazer’s Assistant “As The World Falls Down” by David Bowie (from Labyrinth) “Never Love an Anchor” by The Crane Wives “Fortuna Impromptu” by Chelsea Norman “La Revacholiere” by Sea Power (from Disco Elysium) “Lover // I’m Waiting” by Kriti B. “Last Train Home” by Pat Metheny Group

You Won't Get That Anywhere Else

“Fisherman’s Friend” by Útidúr “Hip To Be Square” by Huey Lewis & The News “Birdhouse in Your Soul” by They Might Be Giants “Come Sail Away” by Styx “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” by The Beach Boys “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” by Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, Sara Niemietz “Sh-Boom” by The Chords “Love Me” by Dudley Moore, Dudley Moore Trio (from Bedazzled) “Psycho Killer” by Talking Heads “Mi Capitán” by Kiltro “Stalker’s Tango” by Autoheart “Blood and Sword” by jung jaeil (from Parasite) “The Longest Night” by Tin Hat Trio “Hearts A Mess” by Gotye “Beneath the Brine” by The Family Crest

I'm Not A Dog

“Main Title” by Dudley Moore Trio (from Bedazzled) “A Good Song Never Dies” by Saint Motel “Supermassive Black Hole” by Muse “Rats” by Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird “The Man Who Sold the World (2015 Remaster)” by David Bowie “A Street That Rhymes at 6am” by Norma Tanega “Is It Poison, Nanny?” by Hans Zimmer (from Sherlock Holmes) “Macguffin” by Atticus Ross, Leopold Ross & Claudia Sarne “Goodbye Sun” by I Monster “I Am a Rock” by Simon & Garfunkel “Creep” by Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, Haley Reinhart “Vampire on My Fridge” by Low Roar “Want To Be Free” by Sea Power “Wrong Black Mare” by Brown Bird “Adore” by Savages

A Perfect Spiral of Consumption

“Capitalism (1988 Boingo Alive Version)” by Oingo Boingo “Smiling Faces Sometimes” by The Undisputed Truth “Sympathy For The Devil” by The Rolling Stones “Puttin’ On The Ritz” by Bing Crosby “Toxic Love” by Tim Curry (from FernGully) “Soup is Good Food” by Dead Kennedys “Gallows Pole” by Led Zeppelin “Parasites” by Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird “Paint It Black” by London Symphony Orchestra “Volk” by Thom Yorke “Waltz to the Death” by Danny Elfman (from Batman) “Sighs” by Goblin (from Suspiria) “Note To Self” by Theodore Shapiro (from Severance) “Empire” by David Byrne “The Hell Of It” by Paul Williams (from Phantom of the Paradise)

[l1ghtfromthecloset]

Some funny/wholesome headcanons I have for some of the YGO DM characters:

Yugi: Can never find anything. Like ever. Yami used to help him find missing things and now that he's gone, anytime Yugi can't find something, it ends up on his bed exactly 20 minutes later magically. Every. time.

Joey: Is amazing at braiding hair. He used to do it for Serenity all the time.

Téa: Despite being amazing at dancing, she's not that great at singing. But she's also really good at lip syncing so it makes up for it.

Tristan: opposite to Téa, he is severely uncoordinated when it comes to dancing, but pretty good at singing. He also owns a guitar in his closet.

Mokuba: He likes to eat straight up coffee beans. Like, just the beans. Straight from the bag. Seto walked in on this one morning and now he is forever secretly terrified of his little brother in the morning.

Seto: He listens to lofi and Hans Zimmer when he works. He listens to metal when he builds decks, and he listens to "You're not me" on repeat regularly. (I made an entire Spotify playlist based on this).

Seto and Mokuba: they combat train together. It's how they bond. And Mokuba somehow beats Seto every time.

Bakura: despite being the Bri'ish little fella we know and love, he hates tea. Especially black tea. Even if it's sweetened. He prefers coffee over anything.

Marik: used to love tea but stopped drinking it once he found out that Bakura hates it. Now he drinks coffee, despite not liking it that much.

Rebecca: she secretly still sleeps with her teddy. She also reads a quantum mechanics book before she sleeps. 💀

Duke: He has a small side hustle in making resin dice. He has a pretty creative and crafty side.

That's all I can think of for now :p

Lemme know if y'all want more. You're free to add on your own to this if you'd like :)

[darthgloris]

Our Padawan III

Pairing: Anakin Skywalker x fem!Jedi!reader

Warnings: death, heartbreak, angst, grief, sad Ani, traumatized Ahsoka

Summary: After the chaos in the gorge, Ahsoka and Anakin descend the cliffs to look for Y/N. The young girl finds her sprawled out on the ground and hopelessly tries to get her to wake up. When Anakin finds his Padawan trying to make her get up, his heart crumbles. As he grieves the love of his life, Ahsoka guilts herself into believing it was her fault.

A/N: and here comes the saddest one of them all! A moment of silence for Mufasa and Y/N. I promise that after this one I'm publishing lots of fluff!

Song: Mufasa Dies - Hans Zimmer

Our Padawan // Our Padawan II

☆☆☆

Ahsoka hopped down from the rocks and the thump of her feet echoed through the dead-silent gorge.

She tried to look for her Master through the clouds of sand and dirt. She caught sight of a silhouette under the broken tree and her heart clenched as she walks towards it. She takes slow, careful steps as she inspects the unmoving figure.

Y/N was on her side, hand curled on the floor by her face, hair tousled up and drooping over her forehead. She looked peaceful, almost asleep, except something felt different... she didn't have that spark of life.

No.

She has to be okay.

"Master?" Ahsoka looked at her, desperate for a sign of life. "Y/N, come on."

She walked closer and pulled on her arm, "You gotta get up." Completely still and a bit cold, her arm flopped back into place.

"Y/N..?" She whimpered. "We gotta go home..."

The young girl moved to stand near her head and tried to shake her awake.

But she wasn't moving.

"Help!" She called, her hopeless yell echoing through the gorge, now fallen onto deaf ears. "Anakin!"

Ahsoka walked back and forth through the gorge, screaming for anyone to respond. "Rex! R2..!"

Her shoulders slumped in defeat, but she still refused to admit her Master was gone. Forever. "Help..." her breath shook as tears filled her eyes, but she didn't let them spill. Instead, she walked over to Y/N's still figure and knelt down next to her, resting her head in her lap. "Come on, I know you're still there... you have to be..."

Footsteps echoed through the silence and her head snapped up, looking for the person. "Snips?"

"Master!" She said and rushed to hug him.

Anakin's heart crumbled and seemed to never be able to be put back together again.

The love of his life, his angel, his Y/N... lifeless on the floor like an animal.

He dropped to his knees beside her, defeated, devastated, destroyed.

Every moment they ever spent together flashed before his eyes like a movie: all the secret meetings and the kisses and the nights spent together... all gone. It was all gone.

His eyes filled with tears as Ahsoka tried to grab onto his arms and pull him towards her. "Master, help, please... I can't get her to get up..."

"Snips..." he couldn't even put the words together. He couldn't. "She's... she's not going to get up..."

The girl seemed to get lost in herself for a moment, and Anakin pulled his favourite person's dead body onto his lap, holding her close for the last time. He held her cold, peaceful face over his chest, right where she would rest after a long day. He started sobbing uncontrollably as he clutched onto her for dear life. He couldn't bring himself to let her go.

"I'm sorry, Master..." Ahsoka spoke up, her voice heavy with tears.

"Snips, don't do this, please..." Anakin begged. "You have nothing to apologise for."

"It's... it's my fault..." She said as she looked at her broken lightsabers in the distance.

"No, it's not, Snips, don't say that..." he denied without missing a beat.

"She'd... she'd still be alive..." she thought out loud, trembling as she took a few steps back. "I can't, I'm sorry..."

"Ahsoka, wait!" Anakin called, but she had already taken off running. His breathing quickened as his eyes flickered from the dust his Padawan kicked up to Y/N's pale and tranquil face. He couldn't take it anymore.

He let out a blood curdling wail of grief. And then he kept screaming. He screamed until his throat ripped raw, until he felt his voice dying into his trachea.

Anakin felt numb. He felt as if he lost the sense of time, place and touch. He couldn't get up, he couldn't pull his skin away from hers. He just couldn't. Because he knew that if he let go, he'd never touch her again. If he walked away from her, he'd see her once more at her grave and then never again.

...

Ahsoka's step faltered as she heard someone speaking and a response by commlink.

"Did you do it?"

"I did. She's dead."

She gasped silently as she poked her face out from the wall of stone. Dooku was on the line with someone... with Palpatine?

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. Skywalker's screaming over his loss and the little girl felt so guilty about it that she ran away."

"So what are you waiting for? Go find her and kill her!"

As if on cue, the Sith turned around and caught the girl spying. She yelped and stumbled away, rushing back to look for Anakin.

She reached the broken tree and saw the ship waiting for Anakin to get inside. "Master!"

"Snips! You're all right!" He said, relieved, as she threw her arms around him again. He held her tightly as he felt a sudden wave of affection for her. He was going to protect her with all he had, at the cost of his life. His last attempt to keep a part of Y/N alive.

"Go on, go back to the ship." He said and she obliged wordlessly.

As he picked her up bridal style and walked inside the ship, he felt like it was the longest walk he ever took. With the love of his life still limp in his arms, he pressed a button to send a message to Obi-Wan.

"Y/N's gone, Obi-Wan. Alert the Council."

[foreststarflaime]

I did my part today in The Bad Class, it was me in the trenches with one other guy defending stories told in mediums other than books against the world (the entire rest of the class) 🫡 (things I used below the cut)

It saddens me that the academic community is so biased towards anything other than published books. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a writer myself and I adore books, but they’re missing out on so many good stories that hit so much harder in mediums other than words on a page!!! ✨Stories of all kinds are equally precious✨ pass it on

Defending movies: Inception!!! If you’ve not seen it, it deals a lot with dreams and layers of dreaming, and thinking about reality. In it, there’s a gimmick where you have a certain ‘totem’ (item) that you can use to determine if you’re in a dream or awake, and the main character’s is a top—if he’s in a dream, it will never stop spinning, but if it’s reality, the top will eventually be stopped by gravity. (Spoiler alert) At the end of the movie, the mc finally gets home to his kids like he’s been trying to the whole movie, and as he embraces them in the background a little out of focus, you see his top on the table, spinning—and right before you could expect it to start to wobble, the soundtrack peaks (thank you Hans Zimmer you master) and cuts off and the screen goes black, leaving you to your own conclusions. It’s such an effective moment and it really would not be the same in a book!

Defending video games: Crisis Core lmao. I love how it uses game mechanics to characterize Zack in such a unique and creative way!!! The DMW is the main thing that comes to mind here, in particular in the final battle, but over the whole game and how it gets you used to it as well. You get a new thing every time Zack gets a new friend, and that’s the source of your strongest attacks throughout the game, a thing you’re constantly thinking about and relying on—which is such a cool way to characterize Zack, because then you realize your thought process has basically been turned into his! He loves his friends, they’re everything to him, and they’re the source of his strength! Which makes the final battle so so devastating when they’re fading away and you get to see, nay experience, his last thoughts as they’re happening. It’s so devastating in a way I’ve rarely been devastated before, and it would not be the same in words. Also there’s the funny haha that this adhd puppy’s brain runs on gambling because he has to get extremely lucky to be able to focus on anything lmaooo

Defending comic books: Loki Agent of Asgard!!!! My beloved! So this is the comic book run where Loki becomes the god of stories, and everything about how it was done here is just. SO so genius. When I say these comic books were a formative experience for me I mean it. But I’ll focus on the things that were great specifically because of the medium here, otherwise I’d be gushing for hours. Yknow how comic books generally have little narrator text bubbles telling you what you need words to describe? And then maybe have a different one for the thoughts of the character? Well this had that, and the narrator bubbles were styled like little scrolls. When you get towards the end of the run, after Loki has realized his power as the god of stories, you get to a part where he’s facing the gods of the gods, telling them a story—and then the little narrator scrolls have the speech bubble thing drawn off from them, to Loki. It’s been him as the god of stories narrating his own story the entire time, writing his own destiny. Such a powerful moment, blew my mind—you could do something similar in a normal book I guess, but it was just so impactful here that I think it wouldn’t be exactly the same. And also, earlier (I think in the second volume), a different future version of Loki is time travelling using his story god powers to write the past to his own ends (you don’t know his connection to story yet, so this is an example of such good foreshadowing), and to do this he reaches out of the panel and jumps into the margins to travel around the story!!! Mind-blowing stunning 1000/10

The strength of books: I just realized why I like my specific imagery-laden style of writing so much in the middle of class while I was explaining this. So in On Fairy Stories (the book the discussion was about for the day), Tolkien talks about how the invention of the adjective was the most important thing for the invention of fantasy, because it helps you change things—for example you can say things like the red sky or the green sun, and people can imagine that. There’s a linguistic concept called mental models which explores how we think in metaphors to understand more abstract concepts—for example, a lot of people tend to view how electricity works in terms of the flow of water. In fantasy, we can take our words and especially our adjectives and metaphors, and we can craft new mental models that wouldn’t work in the real world, and create our own worlds doing that to great effect. I find myself doing this SO much now that I think about it! And that’s something you can do really really well with words that doesn’t lend itself as well to adaptations in other mediums.

And that’s the thing, really—you can do things to amazing effect if you write them using the strengths of the medium you choose! That’s why adaptations rarely work I think, people just don’t play to the strengths.

[glitteredbubbles]

The best movie scores of all time (in my humble opinion; not a comprehensive list):

Her (2013) by Arcade Fire. Had to list this first since it was like my gateway drug for movie scores. The music in this film is easily one of the best parts; it’s be totally devoid without it in my eyes. Listen to Photograph and thank me later.

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) by Philip Glass. He’s one of my fav composers of all time, so he’ll probably show up multiple times. MISHIMA/Closing fills me with the saddest emotion known to man (Bob’s Burgers also used it in their Christmas episode!)

Little Miss Sunshine (2006) by DeVotchKa and Mychael Danna. Everyone knows The Winner Is (rightfully so) but the horns and guitar on No One Gets Left Behind are so perfect for me.

The Last Black Man in San Fransisco (2019) by Emile Mosseri. He’s also one of my fav composers ever so he may show up multiple times on this list too. Please listen to Rock Fight and you’ll understand.

Kung Fu Panda (2008) by Hans Zimmer and John Powell. Okay hear me out, but I think this may unironically be the most beautiful film score ever. Between Oogway Ascends and Sacred Pool of Tears?? Yeah it takes the cake for me.

Synecdoche, New York (2008) by Jon Brion. This one took a while to grow on me but now takes up so much of my playlist. I recommend either Ok or Transposition.

You Were Never Really Here (2017) by Jonny Greenwood. He’s another one of my favs, and this score is so perfect. Listening to Tree Strings while staring at the ceiling is mandatory.

Little Fish (2020) by Keegan DeWitt. Holy shit this score is so beautiful and heartbreaking; you don’t even need to watch the super sad movie for that to be abundantly clear (watching the film is still recommended though). Anyway you should listen to All the Little Pieces from this!

Koyaanisqatsi (1982) by Philip Glass. This is one of the few which I recommend not listening to until you’ve seen the film; the whole point is how the score pairs with the visuals, so listening to a beautiful song like The Grid without context dampens the experience.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) by Son Lux. I listened to them before they ever did this score, so it was like a proud mother moment hearing it in theaters. This Is How I Fight makes me cry just knowing the context.

Kajillionaire (2020) by Emile Mosseri. I love weird lesbians falling in love set to weird music. Mosseri is so versatile and it’s really apparent here; just compare his other work to Infinite Love and it’s staggering.

Strawberry Mansion (2021) by Dan Deacon. This movie was so wonderfully weird and perfect (one of my favs niche directors collabed with one of my fav niche composers, so it was basically made for me). Walking to the Credits is so beautiful and a perfect way to end the film.

Mad God (2021) by Dan Wool. This movie is honestly too gross and gruesome to have such a beautiful and emotional score. The motif which can be found throughout the music guts me; Long Way Down is so good.

Bones and All (2022) by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. It may be controversial, but I think this is the best score they’ve done. It’s so lush and gorgeous; it really shows you their range when comparing it to others of theirs like Challengers. The Great Wide Open (Reprise) changed my life.

Fantastic Planet (1973) by Alain Goraguer. Holy shit this soundtrack is so perfectly groovy and 70s, and it contrasts interestingly from the rather disturbing film. The guitar licks on Maquillage de Tiwa should be enough to convince you that it’s perfect.

Sing Sing (2023) by Bryce Dessner. This film is so beautiful and poignant, and the score matches it perfectly! I think my fav from this is Auditions.

Minari (2020) by Emile Mosseri. I told you guys he was one of my favs. I know everyone knows Jacob and the Stone, but what they didn’t tell you is that every song on the score hits just as hard if not harder. Sometimes I just walk around listening to Outro and feel like a ghost haunting my own narrative.

The Brutalist (2024) by Daniel Blumberg. I kind of hate to admit it because I disliked this film, but the score was so good and definitely deserved the Oscar (under the pretenses that Challengers wasn’t nominated). The motif throughout is already insane, so the way he makes it practically decay in Heroin?? Crazy.

Poor Things (2023) by Jerskin Fendrix. I’m not sure how I feel about this film, but the score was so gorgeous and fun. The bagpipes in London alone make me feel such sorrow somehow.

Luca (2021) by Dan Romer. God I love this movie, and the score is so beautiful along with it. That’s the Dream especially pairs with the film so well and I almost tear up listening to it.

Marcel The Shell With Shoes On (2021) by Disasterpiece. I love this film, and this calm and gorgeous score pairs with it so nicely. Paper Lanterns is so nice to study to.

Honey Boy (2019) by Alex Somers. Okay so I know this movie is controversial, but the score is too good and poignant to not make this list. You’re A Fucking Star makes me catatonic like actually.

Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005) by Michael Andrews. This film was pretty odd and the soundtrack pairs with it nicely since it’s quirky and cute! Almost sounds like something out of an indie game; I recommend Heaven in five.

Tux and Fanny (2019) by Albert Birney. Such an odd and wonderfully endearing movie, and you know the score is good if the director is making it himself. All songs are pretty bite-sized, but I love Hot Chocolate!

Blue Jean (2022) by Chris Roe, Solem Quartet, and Amy Green. I’m honestly surprised this indie lesbian movie has such a gorgeous score, but Viv’s Motorbike is next level for me.

Spencer (2021) by Jonny Greenwood. This film really shows Greenwood’s range because he makes the score so stressful and chaotic yet cohesive, perfect for capturing how Diana must have felt in the royal family. Partita In Five For Two Organs is probably my favorite.

The Andy Warhol Diaries (2022) by Brad Oberhofer. I don’t care that this is actually a miniseries, this score has too many bangers for me not to include it. Listening to Eulogy on repeat as I just stare at my ceiling makes me so sad but I will never stop I fear.

Okay now speed round of films with mainly one good song on the score:

Orlando (1992) by David Motion and Sally Potter. The one song I’m including this for is one of the best instrumental songs ever. Please just listen to The Maze and you’ll understand; it truly feels like running through a maze dramatically.

The Menu (2022) by Colin Stetson. Stetson is one of my fav composers ever so I had to include so I had to include this. Just listen to All Aboard and you’ll understand.

Asteroid City (2023) by Alexandre Desplat. I didn’t really care for this film, but I love the subtle yet swelling score even though a lot of the songs sound the same. WXYZ-TV Channel 8 is my fav.

Paris, Texas (1984) by Ry Cooder. Okay so this film doesn’t have much of a score, but the rattling guitar plucking is so perfect for this movie, and Cooder is a master in his own right. Houston in Two Seconds sounds just like wandering through the desert.

Sound of Metal (2019) by Abraham Marder and Nicolas Becker. Kind of odd for me to say this considering the content of the film, but man, “Rejoice, Beelzebub!” gives me chills every time so I had to mention it.

Hereditary (2018) by Colin Stetson. This whole score is great and unsettling, which is perfect for the film, but Reborn is the real highlight here.

La La Land (2016) by Justin Hurwitz. The theme for Mia and Sebastian is so good, especially how it’s a repeated motif, but that’s why it’s on this part of the list since the songs kind of blend together. Anyway Epilogue is heavenly!

Oppenheimer (2023) by Ludwig Göransson. Usually Nolan has Zimmer compose for his films, but I’m really glad he was busy with Dune because Can You Hear The Music is INSANE like physically and sonically. I went home and listened to this song on repeat for the rest of the night after first watching this film.

Midsommar (2019) by Bobby Krlic. The score on this film is pretty sparse, but god is it beautiful when it wants to be. I adore The House that Hårga Built and the twinkly sounds in it, so stunning!

Phantom Thread (2017) by Jonny Greenwood. Mainly putting this here since I haven’t seen the film yet but House of Woodcock is one of my fav instrumental songs ever. I listened to it on a train ride across Scotland and I felt complete.

Under the Skin (2013) by Mica Levi. This movie is so oddly futuristic and the song Love from the score captures that feeling so beautifully.

Where the Wild Things Are (2009) by Karen O and The Kids. I can hardly remember watching this movie as a kid, but man the song Food Is Still Hot makes me so instantly sad when it plays. The humming is lethal with the guitar and gentle harmonica.

Nosferatu (2024) by Robin Carolan. This film is exactly what I was hoping for a Nosferatu adaptation, and Daybreak is just such a perfect ending song.

Petite Maman (2021) by Para One. There’s hardly no score for this film which makes the music just that much more impactful. The delightful, synth heavy track that is La Musique du Futur closes the movie perfectly!

[agentnico]

Gladiator II (2024) review

Been there done that.

Plot: Years after witnessing the death of Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius must enter the Colosseum after the powerful emperors of Rome conquer his home. With rage in his heart and the future of the empire at stake, he looks to the past to find the strength and honor needed to return the glory of Rome to its people.

So me and my wife only recently rediscovered the first Gladiator film and having previously only watched it once when I was a child I evidently did not appreciate the grandiose mastery at play, as that first Gladiator movie is fantastic. From the powerful performances to the epic action to the high spectacle set pieces to Hans Zimmer’s incredible emotional music score…. makes me think of that meme with Homelander proclaiming “it was perfect!”. Truly me and my wife would both now say that Gladiator has sky-rocketed to the top of our favourite films of all time, and also makes me appreciate how great of a director Ridley Scott once was. He still makes some decent projects now such as The Martian and The Last Duel, however he’s very much a hit and miss director at the moment. But back in the day with the likes of Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise and the aforementioned Gladiator, the guy can like REALLY make a movie! As such having grown a new appreciation for his Roman epic, I was really looking forward to but also sceptical over the upcoming sequel. For one due to so much time passing since the original, and also lack of Russell Crowe for obvious reasons and the trailers suggesting that this new one is essentially a copy of the original. The latter aspect especially was a concern, for the original film was a multiple Academy Award winning motion picture, so trying to recapture that same flame would be silly. So my hope was that Scott and the team would try and do something new and different whilst still in-keeping the world created by the original film. Question is, was it worth all this wait, and more importantly, was I entertained??

Look, I don’t one to be one of those snobs who compares a sequel to its original, but it’s difficult not to (so seems like I’ll be snobbing it today!) due to the reputation of the first one, as well as the fact that Gladiator 2 (or II if you’re into your Roman numerals) is in essence a repackaged version of the first movie. Well, part of it is. The whole plot line involving Paul Mescal’s Lucius going on his revenge quest into the Colosseum is that rehash, and unfortunately it is the primary storyline of the film. The issue with this is it naturally ends up living in the shadow of its predecessor. The other more interesting narrative is one that involves acting legend Denzel Washington (spawning a lovely American accent in Rome but the man is so entertaining to watch you cannot help but forgive him his transgressions) where he tries to take over Rome by weaselling his way to the top of Rome’s political hierarchy. That stuff is actually great, and him manipulating the two emperors and causing their eventual downfall was really intriguing to witness. Shame that this story beat only really came to full effect in the last 30 mins of the movie.

As for the performances, as this one boasts a stacked cast. I’m sorry to Paul Mescal fans, but he’s really stale and bland in the main role of Lucius, or more-so Maximus 2.0. It doesn’t help that the script by David Scarpa lacks any depth or character development that made the original Gladiator so compelling, but even on the basics of acting Mescal doesn’t do much with his role. Like his wife dies and I never really felt like he gave that much of a crap. Or whenever he had to deliver any level of emotion, I never felt it. In the original Russell Crowe manages to portray so much through his eyes. The versatility of his face with watching him switch from emotion to emotion was actually incredible. For example when Commodus tried to goad him into attacking him, and you can physically see this breaking Maximus’ mind and then taking every ounce of being to hold his composure and pulling himself back together and then saying “I will kill you but not right now” or something along those lines….like guys that was pure cinema! So yep, Paul Mescal has none of that. He delivers what is supposed to be an inspirational monologue at the end of the film about strengths and honour and I did not give a single dollop of a turd.

Pedro Pascal was in this film less than I expected. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Pedro, but here for the few scenes he’s in he spends moping about wishing for a better Rome, which was all good and sound only that that was his only character trait! Like seriously I cannot underline how weak of a script this movie has! Take the two tyrannical emperors for example. Joseph Quinn (aka Eddie from Stranger Things) to be fair as Emperor Geta was quite watchable, but his brother Emperor Caracalla played by Fred Hechinger was a straight up knock off of Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus from the first film. Except that the brat that was Commodus was given the necessary build-up, as you could tell from the beginning of the movie that his dad (played by the late Richard Harris) was probably a terrible father who spent too much time wanting to build up the empire by endlessly invading everywhere rather than spend time with his children. As such Commodus is raised to be a wuss, so his actions in the film have sense. In Gladiator 2 though Caracalla literally is an unstable prick and that’s it. So again I cannot necessarily blame Hechinger as his performance was based on the limited info that was given to him, but this doesn’t result for a compelling character. Connie Nielsen is one of the only returning characters (aside from Derek Jacobi) from the first film, and I’ll give her props, she seemed to be acting her ass off, so much so that when she shared scenes with Mescal even he showed glimmers of emotion. Finally we have Denzel Washington, who to be fair from the trailers I expected a much more extravagant and absurd performance from, but nevertheless he seems to be having a lot of fun in this role, and to be fair the movie really turns up a notch every time he appeared. Also did not expect by the end of 2024 to be shipping Denzel with Tim McInnerny from Blackadder yet here we are.

The direction from Ridley Scott is strong to be fair, and the impressive set piece of the Colosseum and the tense blockbuster-level action fights in the arena were great to watch, now with the added flavour of baboons and sharks (yes, sharks). Costumes and make-up are all great and there was something nice about seeing a true historical epic at the movies. I give Scott props, he’s the only major filmmaker currently still trying to keep that genre alive, with his recent other releases being Napoleon and The Last Duel.

The music though by Harry Gregson-Williams is a very generic historical epic score, and very much a downgrade from Hans Zimmer’s masterclass work in the original. That’s the thing with Gladiator 2 - basically everything about it was done better by the original, and it really feels like it too. I’m still happy that this movie will be seen in the cinemas though (my screening was absolutely packed and most of the screening for the film on the day were sold out too) as it allows for the genre of historical epics to still live on. That being said though, I am not entertained.

Overall score: 4/10

[lostfirefly]

Life Must Have It's Mysteries (Ch.8)

Hey. hey!! I hope you missed this couple! English is not my native language, errors may occur. As always, feel free to share your thoughts :) Masterlist is here.

Description: Buggy and Catherine (OC from my “You’ve Got the Same Dream as Me” series) collected all parts of the scepter.

Warnings: Fun, fluff, arguing, sadness, adventure, swearing (as always). Shitty shit again:)

Words: 4224 (Yay!)

Taglist: @gingernut1314, @operationroots, @hey-august, @rorywritesjunk, @yujo-nishimura (I hope you still like it!)

The title is taken from “Life Must Have It's Mysteries” by Hans Zimmer (OST Inferno).

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

“Cotton candy, what are you doing? Stop!”

“No, I won't. I love playing with your hair. They are so long, blue, and beautiful. Do you want a crown braid? A regular braid? Or something else?” They both sat on the sand. Catherine knelt behind Buggy and ran a comb through his hair.

“I don't want anything, Catherine. Leave my hair alone.” He carefully removed her hands. “I'll curl my ponytail later.”

“So it’s gonna be the crown braid!” She kissed him on the cheek, hearing his groan, and took a small strand of hair in her hands. 

“Geeez!” Buggy rolled his eyes.

Smack. “Oh! Let me make you a bun out of your hair. Two braids and the bun!” Catherine said happily and continued braiding his hair.

“Little shit! Can you even hear me? Why are you doing this to me?” Buggy removed her hands again, stood up, muttering something under his breath, and walked towards the car.

“Buggy Bear, what's wrong?” 

He looked at her silently.

“You know, I think you should give me a schedule of your moods.” Catherine crossed her arms and looked at him instantly. “One day you are silent when I touch your hair or kiss your nose, now you are unhappy. And I don't even talk about the fact that I’ve lost count of how many times a day your mood changes. You never say anything, you just get angry, get up and leave. I don't get it. Did I hurt you? You know perfectly that I will never do that. I just love playing with your hair. I’m sorry.”

“I just…” Buggy watched as Catherine became sad and began to move her hand along the sand. He sighed, walked back to her and sat down with his back to her. “Don’t like it sometimes.”

Catherine started stroking his head and asked softly. “Did something bad happen to you before? Did someone hurt you this way?” 

Buggy looked at her, showing with his eyes that he didn't want to talk about it, and moved his back closer to her.

She knelt down and hugged him from behind. “Who did all this to you? What have they done?”

Buggy was silent, but Catherine felt that he became more relaxed in her embrace. 

“Do you want to continue? Can I touch your hair?” She gently placed her hand on his shoulder. 

“Fine!” He said quietly. 

“Buggy Bear, you can trust me.” Smack. Catherine carefully took a strand of his hair and started braiding it. “Gosh! The color is amazing, love it and love you.”

“I don't understand why I let you braid my hair. It's not love, Cathie-pie. Admit, you just adore mocking me, right?” Buggy smiled and poked her in the side with his finger. “By the way, I'm hungry, when are we going to eat?”

“You're unbelievable. When it comes to food, drink or sex, you're instantly cheerful.” She looked at the fire where the sausages were being roasted. “Soon. I think another 10 minutes.” Catherine gently took another strand of hair and, humming softly, began to braid it. She noticed a slight smile on his face. “I wonder if you were offered food or sex with me, what would you choose?” She gently ran her finger through the braid. “Buggy?! You didn’t answer.” 

“Wait, I’m thinking.” He got lost in thought. 

“Fucking clown! I can't believe you're choosing between me and food.” Catherine sniggered. 

“Because you ask difficult questions, baby. Food is very important to me.”

“I'll remind you of this the next time you start pestering me.” Catherine made a bun, took a bobby pin out of her hair and stuck it in his hair. She made a crown braid on top. She took a picture on her phone and showed him the photo. “Look! Shouldn't you walk around like this at home?” 

“No way! It's disgusting.” Buggy responded with a laugh. “What did you do to me, red-haired shit?”

Catherine hugged him from behind by the neck, standing on her knees, and pressed her cheek to his cheek. He placed his hand on her wrist.

“Cotton candy, I…”

“Shush, clown! Don't spoil the moment.” She sat there for another five minutes in silence. “You're unshaven and prickly.” Catherine gently ran her fingertips over his stubble. “I love it and… you!” She suddenly squealed joyfully, smacking his cheek. 

“Fuck! My ears!!” Buggy covered his ear with one hand. “I lo~...” He sniffed. "What smells?"

“Shit! Sausages!!” Catherine jumped and ran towards the fire. “Good new, it doesn’t seem like they were burned.” She took a bite. “No, they are fine. Go have breakfast, my blue-haired love!” 

Buggy looked at her carefully.

“Why are you looking at me? Come here. Breakfast is ready.” She put food on disposable plates.

“I’m coming!”

Catherine watched as Buggy split into parts, flew to her and assembled himself piece by piece. She looked at him in surprise. “What was that?” 

“Meh, I was too lazy to go.” He shrugged his shoulders. 

“You're such a fool! So. We have hot dogs, donuts and warmed up pancakes. What do you want?” 

“I want everything!” Buggy poured Catherine coffee and kissed her temple. “Here. Fresh coffee for my Egyptian girl.”

“Thank you!”

Catherine made him three hot dogs and put some pancakes on the plate. She watched as Buggy happily took a bite of the hot dog and started stroking his head. “Tasty?” 

“Delicious!” He said with his mouth full and narrowed his eyes joyfully. 

“Chew first, Buggy.” Catherine took the mug in her hands and took a sip of coffee. She blushed when she noticed his gaze on her. “Stop looking at me like you love me.” 

He swallowed the food and said quietly. “But I lo~.. I.. I just.. I don’t understand how I got you. You take care of me. Come on, you're cooking me sausages in the middle of the desert. Of course, you sometimes squeal like an ultrasound, but.. Why are you with me?”

Catherine put the mug on the sand, crawled up to him on her knees, hugged him, kissed him on the cheek and felt how he place his hand on her back. “I thought you had long ago gotten used to all this,” She stroked his head. “Okay. Then I'll say it more often. Do you want me to say it more often? I love, love, love you! And even though I'm tired of constantly wiping your lipstick traces off of me, I still love you. And when I become a decrepit toothless old woman with a saggy ass, I will still love you.”

“You'll never have a saggy ass, cotton candy.” 

“I will, if you keep grabbing it. Stop doing it right now, Buggy!” She hit him on the arm. “Okay! Eat your breakfast. I’ll bring my notes and the scepter.”

Catherine got up from the ground. “Hey, clown! I let you look at my ass! Watch me walk to the car.” She moved her buttocks left and right several times, and joyfully began jumping from one foot to the other towards the car.

“You're amazing, Cathie-pie!” Buggy said loudly, chewing the hot dog.

Catherine grabbed things from the car and ran back joyfully, slightly squealing. She plopped down on the sand next to Buggy, grabbed a pancake and, chewing, pulled out three pieces of the scepter. These were small pieces of gold, clearly once decorated with stones. Catherine twirled each piece in her hands for a long time. 

“I think if we don’t find anything and this fucking thing doesn’t fall apart in my hands, we can sell it too and get some good money.” She heard him laugh. “What are you laughing at, clown.” 

“Me? I'm just wondering where my honest, decent girl went.” Buggy started imitating her. “We can sell it too.” 

“Oh, fuck you!” Catherine raised a piece of the scepter to the sun and squinted one eye. “Look. There are inscriptions on all three parts.” 

He moved his face closer to see the scepter, chewing the food. “And what do they mean?” 

“I don’t know yet. There is a mixture of languages ​​here. A little archaic ancient Egyptian, which was in the pre-dynastic period, and ancient Egyptian, which was in the time of the pharaohs.” Catherine looked in the notebook and started writing all the symbols down. 

“Anything?” Buggy looked over her shoulder.

“Shush! Don't distract me!” She moved her pen over the paper, periodically muttered something under her breath, then put the pen in her mouth and fell silent.

“Cotton candy? Cotton candy!” Buggy snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Catherine?! Do you hear me?”

Catherine poked her pen at the letters and symbols on the sheets, glancing at Buggy periodically, then wrote something down again. 

“It's written that this scepter belonged to the one who could cut mountains, breakthrough springs.”  She began to assemble the pieces of the scepter until she heard a click on each connected piece. “Look. It's beautiful, isn't it?” Catherine raised the assembled scepter into the sun. “And here are the coordinates on the edges. See?” She pointed her little finger at the small numbers. “Let's see where they point.” 

They both bent over the map. Catherine compared the numbers on the scepter and on the map. “My blue-haired love, we need to get this place.” She pointed her finger at a point on the map.

⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭

Catherine sat on the hood of the car and looked at the pyramid with a flat roof and sloped sides, with six layers, one built on top of the other. There was a smile on her face, her eyes were wide open. 

“Cotton candy, you surprised me.” Buggy closed the car door and walked up to her. “You’re silent.” 

She didn't take her eyes off the pyramid. “Do not tease me, clown.” 

He leaned his back against the hood. “Come on, squeal.” 

“Can I?” She looked at him. 

“Of course you can.” He made a gesture with his hand. 

Catherine jumped off the hood, clenched her hands into fists and began jumping around, squealing. 

“Well, where are we now?” Buggy asked, glancing at her. 

“My love! You’re looking at the very first pyramid in the world. Djoser’s pyramid. It was built almost 5,000 years ago.” She joyfully pointed to the structure. “Just fuck me! The ancient pyramid may contain what we're looking for.”

Catherine grabbed her head, turned to Buggy and broke into a smile. He exhaled, spread his arms, inviting her to jump on him. She threw herself on his neck with a squeal. “Love.” Smack. “Love.” Smack. “Love, love, love you!” Smack. Smack. Smack. 

He wrapped his arms around her waist. “I’m happy you're happy.” 

“You know, this pyramid was built by the very first Egyptian architect.” Catherine turned around, pressed her back against his chest and took his hand. “It is believed that the steps carry some symbolism - along them the pharaoh was supposed to pass to the kingdom of the dead. According to the notes that I have and what is indicated in the map, we will need to find the king's eyes peeking out through a hole. And we need to be more careful. This pyramid is also included in the tourist route. But it also has fake paths. I don't know what's in them. Traps or attempted tunnels. Be careful, please.” She stroked his palm with her fingers. 

“Why are you telling me this?” Buggy asked in surprise.

“You almost got stuck in some hole when you pulled out the third part of the scepter, clown. I don’t want to lose you ahead of time.” Catherine reached out her hand and laid it on his head. “Okay, let’s go and try to find this fucking diamond.”

They collected their things and headed towards the entrance. As they walked towards the pyramid, Catherine told Buggy that it was all considered a vast complex, including courtyards, sanctuaries, temples, and dwellings for the priests. They reached the pyramid, which made of six-tiered “stepped” layers of stone and clay. Buggy listened to her with interest. They bought entrance tickets and, together with a group of tourists, went inside the pyramid. 

“Oh my God! We are now inside the very first pyramid in the world. Can you imagine?” Catherine pulled Buggy's hand and turned her head, trying to look at everything as best as possible. “Awesome, huh?”

“Not bad.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“Not bad.” Catherine rolled her eyes at him. 

They stood in a small room between columns. It was the central courtyard, from which eleven different tunnels branched off in different directions. 

“Look.” Catherine took out a notepad. “We are in the central passage now. It was built above the sarcophagus of the pharaoh. The sarcophagus itself is located at the bottom of a very deep vertical shaft, which is covered with a dome. In addition, the tomb contains 11 carved burial rooms for members of the pharaoh's family. But there are also a lot of tunnels that lead to a dead end. The pyramid has not been fully studied, so the data may be incomplete.”

“Yeah-yeah, I remember.” He started imitating her, walking away to look at the wall. “Be careful. Buggy. You're such an idiot that you can go down the wrong corridor.”

Catherine exhaled, walked up behind him, buried her head in his back and took his hand. “You're my idiot. Just be careful. Okay?”

“Fine.” He squeezed her hand and replied with a smile on his face. “Where are we gonna go, my Egyptian girl?” 

“We need to go to the southern part of the pyramid.” She took the map out of her bag. “It's this way.” 

They walked along a corridor decorated with ornaments and paintings. Some walls were covered with blue tiles, reminiscent of a reed mat, and were also decorated with reliefs depicting the pharaoh performing various rituals.

“You know, it was previously believed that these corridors and the rooms next to them were used for burial. But do you see these drawings? They simply describe the life of the pharaoh and his family. There is no trace of the ritual nature of these rooms. They clearly look like they were once residential.” Catherine walked from wall to wall and carefully moved her hands over the drawings. “That’s amazing.” 

They walked through several corridors, went down a few steps and found themselves in a part of the pyramid with narrow passages. 

“Wait.” Catherine looked around. “Where is everyone? We followed the notes and the map, but I don’t see a single tourist now.” She took out her notepad and map again. “See? We went this way, this way. Then we turned here.”

“Maybe we took a wrong turn?” Buggy looked at her notes.  

“No, no, impossible. We walked clearly along the corridors that were indicated on the sheets.” Catherine tapped her finger on the notes in her notebook. 

Buggy scratched his neck. “Is there any possibility that this corridor where we are now is not intended for tourists? As I understand it, these Egyptian guys of yours were very fond of such things.”

“Perhaps. But everything indicates that we need to get through this narrow passage.” Catherine squatted down and looked around the small tunnel. “There's some light further down there.” She pulled out a flashlight from her bag. "See?"

Buggy sat down next to her and squinted. “Yeah. And what do your scribbles say?”

“It's not a scribble. Stop making fun of my handwriting.” She poked him in the shoulder and checked the notes once again. “They say we need to crawl there.” Catherine pointed with a flashlight at the tunnel. 

“As a true gentleman, I will allow you to crawl first.” Buggy chuckled idiotically and nodded towards the tunnel with his head.

“You're not a gentleman. You just want to look at my ass!” Catherine rolled her eyes.

“I can't deny that, cotton candy!” He lightly spanked her buttocks.

“You're disgusting!” Catherine slapped his hands. “I hate you!” 

“Lord, a blow to the heart!” Buggy rolled his eyes theatrically. “How can I live now?”

“Oh, shut up, please, clown. You like pissing me off, right?” She slapped him on the head. 

“My baby gets angry. Love it!” 

“Go fuck yourself, Buggy! Seriously, be focused!” Catherine looked at him angrily and then stroked his head. “So what? Shall we go back or shall we go forward?”

“You and I didn’t come this far just to go back, right?” Buggy shrugged. “If your notes say that we should go this way, we have no choice.” 

“Okay!” Catherine put the notebook and map in her bag, stuck the flashlight between her teeth, got down on all fours and climbed into the tunnel.

“Fuck, yeah! My favorite view of you” Buggy grinned happily, rubbed his hands and also climbed after her. 

“Shtp! I’ll pnch u!” She mumbled through the teeth. 

They crawled along a narrow passage and found themselves in a large room, the walls of which were made of pale yellow slabs of granite mixed with limestone. In the middle of the wall, everything was decorated with drawings and inscriptions in the form of intricate carvings. 

“Where are we?” Buggy asked, looking at Catherine. 

“I have no idea. Wait.” She took out all her notes again. “So. You and I walked past the hall with the cobras, past the visitation with the double columns. Then we went down through the side passage. And if we walked correctly, then we are now in the southern passage under the underground galleries. Remember, I told you that the pyramid is not fully explored? We are diffenetly now on those paths that are not listed in the boring guide for boring tourists.” 

Buggy took out a second flashlight from her bag and shined it on the walls, “Cotton candy, there are some people drawn there again.” He pointed the light at the walls. 

Catherine came closer and began muttering something under her breath. 

“Cathie-pie?” Buggy came closer to her

“It says “Hathor and Amset will lead you through the gate. But you cannot go straight..  Start where Amset defeated the enemy”. This is some kind of nonsense.” 

“Cotton candy, there’s some kind of lady painted on this wall.” Buggy pointed at the wall with a flashlight. 

“Where? Where?” Catherine jumped happily and ran towards the drawings, pushing him aside. 

“Geeez, woman!” Buggy walked closer to the wall. “Who is this?” 

“This is Hathor. She is Horus's wife and was responsible for strength, love, beauty and was revered by women.” Catherine studied the drawing carefully. 

Buggy tapped her on the shoulder. “Listen, is it normal that a piece of the ceiling is lighter than all the other slabs?” 

Catherine shone her flashlight at the ceiling and looked at it. “No. Wait.” She looked at the drawing for a long time and muttered something under her breath. “These are not just light spots on the ceiling. This is.. the Milky Way?!”

“What?” 

“Well, of course! The ancient Egyptians believed that Hathor's milk was the Milky Way. So we need to find the stars there. Remember, in the last pyramid I told you about Amset and the fact that he is associated with the stars.” 

“Cotton candy, we had wild sex that day. Believe me, I remember you naked, loudly moaning my name, my tongue between your legs and not some mythical guy in heaven.” Buggy guffawed idiotically. “I bet if we did this in his pyramid, he would look at us from his Egyptian clouds and be jealous.”

“Seriously, clown?!” Catherine waved her hands. “You said this in front of the face of an Egyptian goddess?”

“Oh, come on!” Buggy came closer to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “What will she do to me? Will she crawl out of the drawing and gore me with her horns?”

“You're disgusting.” Catherine shone the flashlight on the floor. “Look! There are stars on the slabs here. And you see, on each slab they are drawn only along the edges. Wait! Amset are the stars. Start where he defeated the enemy. Exactly!” She snapped her fingers. “It was believed that Amset defeated the enemy on the right side. So, we need to start from the right side. See? The Milky Way is like a curved line.” Catherine ran her finger in the air, the second drawing is on the ceiling. “We just need to step on those stars that the pictures above point to.” 

“This is very exciting. But may I ask a question?” Buggy asked with interest in his voice. 

“Sure!” 

“Why is this woman... Hat.. What's her name? With horns. Why is she drawn with only one leg?” 

“And look. The pattern of stars matches on these plates.” Catherine pointed to the right side.  “And on those slabs that are closer to you.” She pointed to the left side. 

“The distances between the plates are not the smallest. Sorry, baby, I don’t know how to stretch myself. I ate only one devil fruit.” 

“This riddle is not for one. This riddle is for two.” Catherine whispered. 

“What?” Buggy asked in surprise and widened his eyes

“These slabs are for two people. Hathor with one leg. And do you see? There are more drawings of her further down, and she is also on one leg. But look, in the next pictures she changes her supporting leg. She pushes off with different legs. So we need to do the same and just jump on the stars. Nothing complicated.” Catherine smirked. 

“Nothing complicated? Am I an acrobat or something?” 

“You run the circus! Stop whining. Stand on the slab on the right on the left side, I'll stand on the ones on the right.” 

“Maybe I should try to split up? Well... One leg here, the other there.” Buggy scratched his head. 

“I don't think this will work, to be honest. I don’t see any different option. Let's try! Stand on the left side!” 

They went to different sides and stood at the first slabs. 

“Are you ready?” Catherine asked. 

“I have not the foggiest idea.” 

“Stop whining, Buggy! We stand on one leg and jump on the count of three. Ready? One, two.. three!”

Jump.

They both took a leap and looked around. 

“So. Since nothing is going anywhere, that means it’s already good.” Buggy heard a nervous chuckle in Catherine's voice. “Now the next slab. Jump to those stars in the upper left corner. Okay?” 

“Ok.” 

“One. Two. Three.” 

Jump. 

“Great! Just to keep your balance!” Catherine spread her arms out to the side for balance. “I haven’t done this since school. I look like a seagull! Wooohoo!” She made seagull sounds.

“Stop talking and making fun. Where to next?” Buggy tried to keep the balance. “It’s not easy.” 

“You're so boring now! Top corner on the right. Ready? One, two... three!” 

Jump. 

“I even started to like it!”

Buggy heard a note of joy in Catherine's voice.  “I'm glad you're happy, my lovely seagull. But where to next?” There was irritation in his voice. 

“Upper left corner again. One. Two. Three.” 

Jump. 

“Shit! Stand still, Catherine! Stand still! Damn it!” Catherine staggered and put her other foot down on the slab. She looked around. “Nothing seems to be happening, right?” 

“I think that far wall is moving.” Buggy pointed to the direction they came from. 

“What?” Catherine squealed.

“The wall is moving! Congrats, Catherine! You grumble at me most of all, but hello! You’ve just launched some kind of ancient Egyptian crap!” He put his foot down and clapped his hands. 

“Enough of the theatrics!" She imitated his clapping. "So, what should we do?” 

“Fuck!!” Buggy ran up to Catherine, threw her over her shoulder and ran to the other side of the hall. 

“What about the stars?!” 

“Are you kidding me? Better think where to run!” 

“Look for the horns! This is the sign of Hathor!” 

“I see something ahead! It looks like horns!” 

“Faster, Buggy! I think the wall is moving faster.” 

“Fuck!!” He ran faster and carried her to the other end of the hall. “Here are the horns!” He pointed to the drawing. 

“It's a door! Try to open it!” Catherine started tapping his shoulder. “Faster! This fucking wall is getting closer!” 

“Does not work!!” Buggy tried to push the door. 

“Faster, please! Otherwise, we'll get crushed!” 

“And who is to blame for this?!” He said with a grunt in his voice, trying to push the door with the pattern in the other direction.

Catherine began to examine the wall. “There is a passage here! Quickly!” She grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the passage. 

They crawled into a small tunnel when they heard a rumble behind them. 

“Fucking Egyptian traps!” Catherine muttered as she crawled out of the tunnel. “Buggy?” 

“I'm coming!” He followed her out of the tunnel. “Are you okay, cotton candy?” 

“Yes! Thank you! You saved my life again, my blue-haired hero!” She hugged him and rested her chin on his chest. 

“Always at your service!” Buggy wrapped his arms around her shoulders.  “So. Now where are we?” 

“I don’t know. Look, there's something here!” Catherine walked into a small recess in the wall and ran her hand over the drawings. 

At that moment, a rumble was heard, and the grate came down, locking her inside the room. 

Catherine looked at Buggy through the bars. “It seems like I'm an idiot now, yeah? Damn!”

[serenityfails]

early stage DATV thoughts

okay well first off here's my sweet baby angel Rin

smooch smooch smooch smooch smooch i love you little bouncing baby elf

kissy kissy mwah mwah mwah

baby.

i failed to get screens of bren before i left the cc because i was hitting the wrong screencap button. i deserve only death.

okay now the rest of the game.

i truly am withholding judgment until i get further in because i know i am in the very early part of the game. i've only gotten harding, neve, bellara, and lucanis so far. i can sense that they are keeping you pretty tightly on the rails and slowly drip-feeding tutorial shit throughout until you get everyone. that's fine, sure.

howeveerrrrr i am not a huge fan of the feel of this on-the-rails section. it feels............ mobile game-y. and i think part of that is the art style in varric's narration sections? they're trying to riff on nick thornborrow's very distinct art style that we saw previously in the games and of which i am a big fan and the replacement art style is like.... murder mystery match 3. i don't like it.

i'm trying to unclench and lean into minrathous being more futuristic and like, ye olde cyberpunke, but i'm not quite used to the slickness of it all yet. it doesn't feel dragon agey. this is something i might get over in time, or i might not. i'll wait and see.

i also don't find the music very distinctive but hans zimmer is imo a deeply boring composer. i miss u inquisition ost...

so far all the dialogue and characters also feel very flat. i am also hoping this is just because i am still stuck in the world's longest tutorial section and that they'll start to ease into being people instead of exposition dispensers soon. i know there's always the section at the beginning where they have to act like people regularly explain known facts about the world to everyone. it just feels particularly glaring here for some reason. like how many times is harding gonna bark something completely obvious at me. i heard you the first five times and also the tone indicators on the screen seem to think i'm an idiot robot who doesn't understand dialogue and feels the need to summarize every cutscene for me.

that aspect is really sticking in my craw bc the thing i LIKE about dragon age is that it lets you draw your own conclusions about what the characters say and what they're trying to convey to you when they say it, i don't want some fucking subtitle being like BY THE WAY HERE'S THE SUBTEXT OF THIS SCENE, shut the fuck uUUuuup

neve is hot but her affect is very flat and i haven't found the hook for her character that's made me interested in her yet. i like lucanis more than i thought i would, but i did just meet him. bellara gets on my nerves but i'm trying to give her time to cook. harding never struck me as an "interested in dwarven lore" person so i am also waiting to see where that goes.

so far the character i like most is.... my Rook. lmao

i sound like a negative nancy rn but i do like the mage combat gameplay despite being bad at video game combat. it's really fun. dagger and orb forever. also the game is reeeeeally pretty. i think the faces don't always look great in motion and the lip flaps seem mushy delivering the dialogue but you know what it still looks better than like any of the other games so whatever. the hair is so whooshy. can't believe they finally did it, the absolute madlads

all right i should probably sleep or something. will continue to Ponder as i play

[captainaurora]

Salmonids totally have Gladiator-esque rituals that are a remnant of humanity’s thirst for blood sports in their ancient times. Considering their fearlessness of death, considerable desire to eat one another, or pass on their nutrients through their destruction, etc., it’d make sense that (in the same way they have bands for Salmonid encounters) they’d have tournaments to harden and test certain classes. Perhaps it’s how they’re able to be given the roll they desire, or how they choose who gets to be in the Griller. Iirc, they consider the greatest honor to be smushed into that thing. If it’s such a great honor, they may as well fight for the right of it.

Occasionally, a lost who didn’t get on the chopper may get roped into it. Even if they come back, they probably would have nobody believe them. Grizzco would pass it off as propaganda to protect his image. All that. Agent 4 being sorely missing makes me headcanon them as someone who grew up getting bit into studying different species and their culture/past. Perhaps, they’re not present because they’re on a self recon mission attempt to engross themselves in what Salmonids do, or at least observe. Inkadia’s Champion, the underdog that the crowd never gets enough of, just like a lot of true stories. Oh, sorry, I must’ve been listening to “Gotham’s Reckoning” by Hans Zimmer again while doing rotations on Bonerattle Arena.

Like this is totally bullshit idea spewing because it sounds cool but if the devs one day were like “here’s new Salmonid for Splatoon 4 and here’s a human looking one that you never saw because they were busy fighting in contests as morale for their people” I wouldn’t be surprised.

[unlicensedmortician]

welcome to bad movies with j&j, the segment where @ghostcasket and i watch bad movies while alex is gone. this time it’s divergent.

- i’ve never read any of the books or watched any of the movies before. btw

- oh this is gonna be terrible

- OH THIS IS GONNA BE TERRIBLE. THE EXPOSITION.

- they’re color coded,,,,,

- “there’s everyone else and then there’s dauntless who are cool hot sexy cops” jesus

- wow she doesn’t fit in,,, who could have seen this coming

- that is the most Blonde White Girl i’ve ever seen

- THIS IS SO STUPID. THIS IS SOOOO STUPID.

- they can’t look at mirrors for too long,,,,

- and they’re fucking color coded

- there are literally five personality traits and that is a real explicit part of this media

- better lock into one of those personality traits miss white girl protagonist. wonder what it will possibly be

- i can’t believe their social organization system is literally just “so we’re gonna put every teenager on an acid trip and see what happens”

- white girl discovers she has multiple personality traits, is incredibly distressed

- what’s up with how this movie treats homeless people.

- i want to claw my eyeballs out

- wow this dialogue isn’t even stilted at all

- she picked 12yo boys in gym class. obviously

- hey is run boy run by wood kid ruined forever now

- yes girl climb that piece of infrastructure. is this a big moment for you or

- why pick the doing stupid shit option if you don’t wanna do stupid shit i guess

- i shrieked out loud when i saw the love interest. why he fugly

- it’s the pit 👍

- THIS IS SO FUCKING STUPID

- this is fucking crazy

- plot point: she’s too frail and delicate and skinny 🙁

- that tattoo is so stupid and also ugly

- she’s a threat to society because she is so so special and good at everything. i fucking guess

- ok. sure. training montage. i guess.

- he just looks so much older than her that this is unsettling

- so ur saying that u have to be fucking stupid to be a part of the cool hot people class. great.

- i cannot believe it’s real and a key plot point that the biggest threat to their society is people with multiple personality traits

- of course she’s getting on the train anyway. whatever.

- people actually thought this was good??

- imagine if christina and tris had been the main couple. it wouldn’t have solved anything but it would have been cool for me personally

- girl you are about to get so hazed. oh nvm it’s a zip line

- this romance plot makes me want to start killing and im being serious

-OH MY FUCKING GOD. SHES NEURODIVERGENT. AND THEY JUST TOOK THE NEURO OFF OF THAT AND WENT YEAH THATS THE TITLE. IM LOSING IT

- o shit her mother defected. lmao

- that’s not even a little bit how any of this works at all. fear serum? kill me

- this is so fucking stupiddddd

- this is just. crazy insane contrived.

- like what do you MEAN one personality type is leading the whole government. that’s crazy. i’m gonna start hitting people with cars. i’m gonna take up smoking.

- yeah of course this mf shows up to save her. as opposed to literally any cooler option. more points to the incredibly contrived romance plot.

- jesus fucking christ????

- hey i know u just showed me all of your worst fears. can u strip

- oh okay they’re. making out now?

- smart people evil. i guess.

- she’s just tooooo special.

- the only good thing about this movie is the soundtrack thank you hans zimmer

- oh my god one of her worst fears is boning

- hello what the shit is happening. oh my god they fucking shot him. damn this is crazy.

- gasp he’s divergent too who could’ve seen this coming except for literally anyone ever.

- of course they killed her fucking mom

- oh And her dad? equal opportunity parent killing!

- ok well. that movie happened. and made so much money. thank god it’s over. i’d like to be financially compensated

[meonlyred]

Finally got around to look into DAV, all I say I don't want to step foot into the tag again. DA fandom, never change

Braving than any US marine. I will never go into the tags. I get enough that leaks into my dash as it is.

I have blocked more DA fans in the past month than I have tumblr bots. I knew this was coming. I was joking with my friends on discord that I couldn't wait to block most of the DA fans. That the 17 of us on that server are the DA fandom to me.

I am going to use this opportunity to rant a bit. Sorry. I have been very good at trying to keep it all contained to private conversations. I deserve to take people to task as a treat. (And threat.)

I am trying to be as light one spoilers as I can. This also ended up being a fucking shit load longer than I meant. I just have a lot of bitching to say.

I have criticism for the DAV but they really come down to very personal tastes. For example, I miss DAI's tinting station for armor. I miss the Golden Nug so I can just have all the armor looks I want right off the bat. (But that was added in later DAI patches. I can't recall if the tinting station was too. It been too long. There might be hope for that.) I was also upset at how long the bug that kept resetting my Rook's appearance took to get fixed. That really sucked.

Besides that, there is nothing that takes substantially away from my enjoyment of DAV. It was another Bioware game that did that to me.

I thought the pacing at the beginning of DAV was way too quick but then I remembered how Bioware games usually go. Ostagar, Haven, the Citadel, and the Nexus is what I liked to call my Bioware graveyards. Its where all of my new characters go to die. The plot comes to a screeching halt at these areas. Bioware has always does good with their openings; action, intrigue! Let's go! But once you get through the flash opening... now wander around for a few hours picking up fetch quests and talking to 30 people all with so much dialogue to dump on you. Some of it is not bad dialogue but some of it is wholly unnecessary or way too much in one go. Like Varric's 10 minutes of "remember what you did in the last game?" Its bad when I dread talking to Varric of all people or just skip through his dialogue.

I appreciate the quick pacing much more on subsequent play throughs. It keeps me moving until well after recruiting Lucanis. By then its even out into a steady pace that keeps me engaged.

As for the fandom, which I hesitate to even call them that, because I don't think they even like Bioware games, has some of the most bizarre criticism. Again, I excepted it going in, but the subjects of their ire has me so confused and disappointed.

I have seen people saying that Hans fucking Zimmer's soundtrack for the game is bad. Which?????? No???????? Its not?

This song playing while fighting dragons with Taash has me so pumped. I want it in my veins.

The romance theme (that also plays at other moments) is beautiful and heart aching. Which fits the tone of the scene when it plays. The saddest banging ever.

And those Inquisition leitmotifs really got me good. Never thought DAI nostalgia would hit me so hard but here we are.

I have also seen people mad about the ending credits song. And I can't say that I'm not EXTREMELY fucking suspicious as to why they don't like the ending credits song. Is it because its R&B performed by a black woman and not sad indie white woman????

(But thanks Bioware for introducing me to another amazing artist to add to my collection.)

Another thing that sticks out to me is the polarizing topic of Mary Kirby writing Lucanis with the intent for him to be pansexual/demisexual. Which she didn't need to say that for me to pick up on it when I was playing through his romance. One of my most beloved OCs is demi. (And I kind of think I might be too. But labeling my own sexuality is something I really don't bother with.) Detractors seem to bad for ????? I don't understand know why. Because demi doesn't mean his romance with Rook or Neve is a chaste, no sex/little sex, relationship. They clearly fucked in the romance scene. The best way I can explain demisexuality is sexual attraction might not happen until a strong emotional bond it formed. Which is exactly how it plays out for his romance. It also explains why he won't romance Rook if a certain game choice is made. I know demisexual falls under the ace umbrella but I know a lot of people who have been wanting a strictly no sexual ace romance. So when the dev said there wasn't an ace romances, I think they weren't lying.

However, I also despise are the people who were asking Mary Kirby if Lucanis was a virgin. And I am seeing "Virgin Lucanis" tags on Ao3. And let me preface this by saying I visceral hate anything concerning the virginity of characters or people. Because I have never not seen it used as a way the track someone's purity or as a way to disparage them. Making them out to be a naive clown. Virginity such an arbitrary thing, a made up concept that people hang a lot of hats on. It triggers an immediate flight or fight instinct in me.

In my experience and the experience of other queer people I know, your journey to understanding yourself is not always a clear defined path. You experiment, you do things that you realize afterwards don't fit with who you are. Sometimes you know from the beginning, and yay, good for you. I am sure you are very proud you got it in one.

But sometimes you aren't sure you're a lesbian until you have sex with a guy and realize nope, definitely lesbian. Sometimes you think you are cis and try to live that way and realize you hate it. And sometimes you are ace and had sex and realized it wasn't for you. These journeys are just as valid an any other and there are myriad of reasons you make decisions that you do. My point being Lucanis can be demi but also not a virgin. It doesn't fucking matter. Running to his writer on Bluesky to have her tell you point blank that he is a virgin is weird and inappropriate. Stop it.

The handing out of "good stars" pisses me off. It screams the same kind of homophobia I got when people found out I dated a bisexual guy and "ew, aren't you disgusted he sucked dick before? Aren't you afraid he'll cheat on you with a guy?" This being said to my face when in the back of my mind I was thinking "I like guys and girls too. But you will never know that about me because now I know I can't trust you."

So why does anyone care if an ace/demi character had sex before? Why do you really care? Hm?? All I hear with people asking if Lucanis is a virgin is "ew, he hasn't had SEX before, right?! I don't want to touch him if he has!!"

This is an extremely sore topic for me because I additionally I grew up being told that my worth was directly tied to me not having sex. Spoiled goods and all that.

Virginity is not a real thing, fuck off about it.

And then also that Lucanis and Neve can start a relationship if Rook doesn't romance either of them. I have see the most vile shit about Neve because of it. She isn't stealing your man. No, Lucanis does in fact care for Neve as much as he does Rook if they are in a relationship. There is no such things as soulmates, there is no such things as people being "meant" for each other. Rook and Lucanis' relationship is different than Neve and Lucanis' relationship because shock/horror they are different characters.

As much as I do ship some BG3 together, this is exactly why I am glad Larian didn't do this. Not because I don't like companion entering relationships together. I love when they do actually. I just knew people could not be fucking normal about it.

Speaking of Neve, I never unfollowed and blocked someone faster than "Bioware is wrong Neve only likes women." Queer characters in media are only barely starting to catch up with varying levels of blink and you'll miss them quality. Neve is already a queer woman, she already is queer representation in media. This fandom is just so fucking mask off biphobic.

As for romances being "too short" in general. I know I am ruined forever by BG3's romances. I knew I would be, I curved my expectation accordingly. It also helped that I went back and replayed DAI right before DAV's launch. Replaying, I remember just how short the romances were. DA2 more so. DAO, y'all don't remember DAO's unmodded romances.

Okay I am being unfair with the DAO dig. The talking part of the DAO romances were nice. Just those cutscenes, oof. ME1 came out just 2 years before DAO and it's romance scene wasn't this rough. More fade to black was the right call actually. Bioware you need to hire Larian's intimacy coordinators please.

But it is true we have had 10 to 15 years to make up in our heads how these romances played out. Years of art and fanfiction to make us make it more than it was.

I was privately streaming my DAI with some friends. We got to the part in DAI where Morrigan reveals herself to the Inquisitor. One of my friends who was watching is younger than us. He was too young to play DAI when it first came out and made fun of who jerky the animation of Morrigan descending the stairs was. Another friend and I explained about how rewatching it now, we were both caught off-guard by it too. Because in our heads we remember Morrigan floating gracefully down the stairs. When in reality that wasn't the case and it was all in our heads. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

Continuing, I have seen some people mad about a character from the books who is in the game. A character who is corrupted by the Blight. Who does bad things. People are mad they "did this character dirty." You mean the character corrupted by the evil Blight does things that are corrupted and evil?! Did they expect being horrifically Blighted would make them good????????? Man, DAO/DAA ruined Tamlen and the Mother too, huh?

And this is super fucking controversial, I think having only 3 imported choices was the right call. I would have like maybe a couple more choices carrying over but that is neither here nor there. The choices in Dragon Age Keep were so fucking bloated is was not funny.

Quick without looking her up: who was Ginnis and why was there a flag option in for whether or not she was alive? Who was Ghyslain and why did it matter if he was told his wife was dead or not? Why was blackmailing Ser Thrask a thing? Has getting Cammen and Gheyna together ever come up? What about Athras' wife? What about Zerlinda and her kid? I don't see anyone upset that Ignacio didn't show up in the DAV Crow story line. Why were any of these flags there in the first place? Did the writers think it was ever going to be brought up again if you feed the prisoner the guard's lunch? Even looking at Dragon Age Keep and the wiki I barely remember these characters. There was no reason to have these flags at all.

Speaking of killing your darlings. No we were not robbed when we saw the concept art. Its concept. Putting all of it in DAV would have been bad. Sometimes you have to leave things on the cutting room floor because including is not worth it in the end. And use as players will never know why it didn't work out. Use the concept art the same way as the devs did. Its there for inspiration. Now go draw it or write fanfiction about it.

People like to say that choices in DA used to matter, no they did not and never did. How was DAI actually different if Hawke chose to support the Mages over the Templars? You know, the crowning choice in DA2? Was the mages stronger in DAI? No, Fiona tells you that they are losing the war. The mages didn't have bigger numbers. You don't get any kind of stat or narrative boost. All choices in all the games are a net zero gain. Aside for some dialogue flare. The world state does not change crossing from game to game.

I do like that call back as much as anyone. I liked Hawke talking about their love interest in DAI. But if I wanted to truly experience that romance I have to go back to DA2 and play it again.

I have also seen people bitching about Taash's gender journey realizing they are non-binary. I am sorry I have a hard time caring about stranger's negative opinions about it, when I have loved non-binary friends talking about how they were deep touched and got emotional over Taash's story. Maybe Taash's story isn't your story but it is someone's.

We don't have the token trans character this time. We have three non-binary character. One a companion, one an ally healer, and one who turns out to be a bad guy. Which is in fact okay to have villain queer characters when you have many more queer good guys. We also have two trans characters who play more than passing roles.

Speaking of "trans" is "too modern" of a term. Trans is a Latin word. Tevinter speaks pseudo Latin. Next.

I just do not understand. If year after year you get so fucking upset about Bioware games, please just stop playing them. You don't have to buy them, you don't have to buy them at full price. Just go do literally anything else.

There are games I was going to play this year then saw something I didn't like about them and went, I'll pass. I didn't make hating that game my entirely personality.

Edit: Oh I forgot "DAV isn't dark fantasy like the others." No you are thinking about DAI. DAI was pretty much high fantasy with a couple kind of dark parts. DAV has too much body horror and bio horror to not be horror. Giant cysts and boils of blight organic matter that infects people and turns them into corrupted zombie like creatures. How much corrupted tentacles, human centipede trees, people getting ripped apart, eye teeth, and literal bloodbaths do you need until "dark fantasy"?

[lady-phasma]

Nine people I'd like to know better

"I have never felt so loved!" - same @thought--bubble 💕 And thank you for the tag, both you and @schniiipsel (maybe another one I missed?)

Nine people I'd like to know better

Last song I listened to: A Time of Quiet Between the Storms - Hans Zimmer, Dune Part 2 Soundtrack.

Currently watching: rewatching Hemlock Grove this week, Ripley (OMG Andrew Scott is fantastic in this), and finishing Masters of the Air this weekend

Sweet / savory / spicy: I got really specific the last time I did this one so I'll just say savory here LoL

Relationship status: aromantic/arospec so I don't really know how to answer that

Current obsession: Alright, I don't want to hear "I told you so" from the peanut gallery! I have two or three current obsessions and I just added Austin Butler to the list. Happy now?? 😉😂

No pressure tags (I'm sure some of you have already been tagged and sorry if I tagged main/side incorrectly LoL): @sansaorgana @aemondstark @viiisenyas @immortan-valkyrie @marthawrites @vhagar-balerion-meraxes @alexagirlie @theothermaidoftarth @jennathearcher

[mistressemmedi]

That being said, I will be 🏴‍☠️ the soundtrack because Hans Zimmer never misses