#inescapable cycle

[bogos-bint3d]

Why is it that when I try to sleep I am absolutely plagued with thoughts yet the moment I try to visualise said thoughts I have nothing

[hatsternator]

This was so rushed (not ship art)

[cursedwerewolf]

the fact that blue was always scared for gansey when it rained bc she knew he'd die with damp shoulders and then it didn't even rain. they'd just been in a cave. augh

[allenwalkerbitch]

It's a small detail amidst the craziness that is the rest of 252, but I'm losing my absolute mind at the fact that Past Allen was apparently soldier.

We just had it confirmed that our protagonist, our child soldier protagonist, had a whole previous life that he lived and completely forgot about. He had a whole first life where, until he was at least an older teenager, he had nothing to do with the inescapable holy war that's taken over his existence the second time around. He was just some kid with no connection to the battle between the Noah and the Black Order.

But what was he instead? Was he free to actually have a childhood in this other life?

Nope! He was just a normal soldier in some non-spiritual, completely mundane war, and he would have died in battle if Nea hadn't swept in and drafted him into the holy war instead. There is no life in which the young Allen is not a soldier.

[vampyreambrosia]

I love the difference between Benson being quite comfortable with physically touching people and Randy not. How Benson's trauma, as we're led to believe, may have happened through touch, while Randy's did not. Randy hurt someone from a distance and now continues to do that, denying connection. Benson was hurt by touch and now he does the same to others, even when he's trying to comfort.

[wwillywonka]

SILCO & JINX: CYCLES

[oltammefru]

Some dots to connect:

[burinazar]

I've been giving some thought to "what is the best way for a person in 2024 to get into/get back into Sound Horizon" as I reconnect with it myself (the more I do so the more I realize how massively and almost ridiculously influential it was to what i like in storytelling...)

I'd like to post more about some options now and then. Lately I've enjoyed these Youtube uploads by QueenoftheHorizon of the album Elysion, which are bundled with not only translations but tons of additional notes and information.

Elysion is, like certain others of Sound Horizon's albums, a series of interconnected stories with tragic thematic elements in common and a general framing device in the form of one story that connects them; in this case the framing story is that of a father and daughter -- an assassin and his sickly albino child El, both of whom pass away in the events of the first song. The child hopes they will somehow reunite someday in Paradise. After death, the father's soul begins to wander, seeking a person conceptualized as 'Elys' (representing the longing for his lost daughter), and we see the tragic stories of various other girls that his soul perceives, wondering if they are the one he seeks...

Elysion was probably the first Sound Horizon album I heard (i'm 70% sure a stage show video of "Ark" was my actual intro to Sound Horizon; since it was like 15 years ago and I rapidly watched as much as I could of them in the ensuing hours and days the memory is unclear haha.) This channel and playlist first went up in 2010 so, and thus wouldn't have been around when I first got into Sanhora in idk ~2008, which is a pity, because they're a wonderful entry point for a canon that can be inaccessible to those who speak little or no Japanese -- in addition to the English translations themselves in each video, the uploader has packed the video notes with explanation and analysis of each song's associated story.

If you are interested in "Elysion" as an entry point to Sound Horizon, I highly recommend watching the videos on this playlist and reading both the video descriptions and the pinned comment for each list, for both translations and a wonderfully detailed explanation and further analysis of each story. For example, the one for Ark elaborately lists out not just the events that are likely to have transpired within the song but also alternative explanations to the common fandom interpretation as well as highlights of extra material (ex. a two-chapter special manga release) that support the ambiguity of interpretation.

Also, definitely check both the video notes and the top comment, where the uploader put translator notes. Here are some of the uploader's translation notes for "Baroque" -- they really are amazingly thorough and interesting, and are a can't miss if you are a language learner yourself who wants to connect with and understand the original wording as much as possible:

Elysion also has music videos and stage shows (ex., Ark stage, Stardust stage, El no Rakuen MV. 'Probably-scary doll' warning for that last one-- in fact the use of BJDs in their shows and videos is how I first heard of Sound Horizon lol, they were being discussed on Den of Angels.) This is material that I think is wonderful and, as mentioned, this kind of thing is the way I personally first experienced the tales; anyone who enjoys these uploads will hopefully go on to look them up. However, the stage shows and MVs are targeted at existing fans and often assume the audience already knows the story (or at the very least speaks Japanese!), so for anyone who doesn't speak fluent Japanese and wants to get the meaning of the songs, their plot and theme and characters, this is really an unbeatable way to enjoy the music for the first time.

[alwaysbethewest]

idk if it's because my birthday's coming up or that i've spent this month being sick and not sleeping well or just the change of seasons but i keep looking in the mirror lately and finding myself looking... haggard

[rainydayscore]

chainsaw man was crazy good this week

[solesfalloutstuff]

How getting back into Fallout 4 is going:

I made this graph of the process instead of working on my mod list.

1. Just a few mods really increased the stability and playability!

2. More mods for more content and variability!

3. I'll just patch these mods myself to make them play nice.

4. Modding is easy as long as you follow a few rules and put the list together methodically!

5. After weeks of searching out mods and carefully patching them together, my mod list is complete and stable! Days worth of new content, retooled damage formulas, item scarcity improvements, new enemies, the aluminum trays yield aluminum instead of steel!

6. Maybe I can just trim out the incompatible mods - but then I'll need to rebalance and patch what's left.

7. Fuck it let's go back to basics.

8. Okay the game is stable and more playable again, see what other mods I can add....

[6okuto]

writes something "this is the worst thing i've ever written" writes something "this is the worst thing i've ever written" writes something "this is the worst thing i've ever written" writes something "this is the worst thing i've ever written" wri

[rottenwhimsy]

what is the hole theory? :0

AAA there’s ppl who’ve explained it better than me but it’s how nothingness proves existence (you can’t have a grave without the ground surrounding it, you can’t have a wound without a body, etc),,, and everything is about trying to fill holes/fill nothingness with something (food filling the hole to your stomach, air filling the hole to your lungs, the holes of your pupils filling with light, sex and pleasure, etc)

you come from nothing, live trying to fill the nothing, and will return to nothing :)

black holes also sum it up pretty well,, with enough something (too much matter) it becomes nothing (a black hole) and will continuously fill itself with everything it can but it’ll never become whole, only expand into an even bigger nothing

the more there is the less there is, everything and nothing are the same just collapsed in on each other, you’ll never get rid of the hunger, the more you pack the wound the more it bleeds, absence proves existence :D

[constehlla]

Missing eternalduo, mourning what could have been

They were so cool and for what

[noknowshame]

[johnny-chaos]

every day I go "wouldnt it be fucked up if there was a hlvr utena crossover" and I have to beat my imagination back with a stick and yell at it so it leaves me alone