#it’s between the Ballad of Jane Doe

[mossyclaw]

School starts soon so I’ll be posting less💔

Also I have a bunch of theater things stating up so I’ll be double busy💔💔

[sonny-boiiii]

Just finished my Tbojd song analysis :))

[recovering-vamp]

[nelkey]

list 5 songs you like to listen to, then publish this and send this ask to the last 5 people in your notifs <3

Okay, I honestly can't decide between two kinds of songs, so I'm making two lists (sorrynotsorry), first is my fave songs from my orv playlist:

Francesca (Hozier)

1000 Times (Sara Bareilles)

Rokutousei no yoru (Aimer)

Say Uncle (Vienna Teng)

Youth (Daughter)

And the second is my latest practice playlist (I sing them in this order so after an initial warm up I still work my way up to the difficult songs, and I broke the rules again because it's 6 not 5, lol)

We raise our cups (Hadestown)

No longer you (Epic)

Flowers (Hadestown)

Anyway the wind blows (Hadestown)

And I am telling you I'm not going (Showgirls)

The Ballad of Jane Doe (Ride the Cyclone)

(The last one is one I'm practicing for an audition on Thursday, wish me luck!)

[bethanydelleman]

Ranking Jane Austen heroines/women on how good of a mother they’d be?

As with the men, I think they would all be good mothers, though in different ways.

Elizabeth Bennet: Soccer mom, she wasn't given the opportunity to have a structured education herself, it will be different for her kids. She's hiring the best governess she can find (after Darcy does a full background check), she's encouraging her kids to do extracurriculars, they will speak six languages that she doesn't understand or else! Has a minor panic attack if she says anything that sounds even remotely like something either of her parents would say.

Jane Bennet: Gentle mom, she cannot imagine punishing her children, she just has a killer disappointed face (she is unaware of this). Encourages her children to always try to understand both sides of the story. Will eventually fall for a lie one of her children tells and be devastated when she figures out the truth.

Anne Elliot: Perfect mother, there is indeed no one so proper, so capable as Anne. She has also watched her sister do everything wrong and she knows exactly how to do it right.

Emma Woodhouse: Scatterbrained mom, makes a resolution to teach her daughter fancy work but then gets distracted and the sampler is left half finished. Promised to read with her son but they only make it halfway through the novel. Good thing she hired an excellent "Miss Taylor" to pick up the slack! And despite her occasional screw-ups, her kids love her to pieces. They just better be on guard when they hit 18 and she starts trying to marry them off.

Marianne Dashwood: Crunchy mom, or whatever the Regency period equivalent would be. She wants her kids to feel the dead leaves between their toes, she encourages them to write poetry and play moving ballads. Otherwise, a lot like her own mother (they have very similar personalities)

Elinor Dashwood: I-Say-I-Love-You-With-Food Mom, she may not be exactly emotionally available, but she orders her daughter's favourite meal when she's sad and there are tiny hearts in the stiches of her son's clothes. She makes sure her kids are provided for, educated, and healthy. When she asks if they are hungry, they know she's saying, "I love you."

Fanny Price: Nurturing mom, she will be everything for those children that Edmund and William were to her, but nothing like Sir Thomas, Lady Bertram, Mrs. Norris or her own parents. She has a good deal of experience from nursing her own siblings so it's a pretty smooth beginning.

Catherine Morland: Overconfident mom, Catherine has been there and done that, she has six younger brothers and sisters after all, she's READY! This will be easy! All you have to do is make sure the baby is fed, washed, changed, and napped... oh... it's a lot harder to do this when you have only slept for 2.5 hours last night... (I know she would have servants, but still, being a new mother is tough!)

Bonus: Jane Fairfax tries to keep Frank from spoiling the kids, but it is literally impossible. He keeps buying them huge presents and then she would be the bad guy for saying no. Also, she knows that Frank lost their child in Kensington Gardens (twice), that's why she always insists he take a footman now.

Bonus bonus: Harriet Smith has a special box where she keeps all the 'treasures' her kids collect. It is her most precious possession.

[jane-john-doe-tournament]

Jane Doe (Ride the Cyclone) Propaganda:

Great singing, also she’s literally wearing a doll‘s head bc she lost hers

do they have their soul or is it rotting somewhere with their head?

BALLAD OF JANE DOE IS SO SAD AND SHE IS GREAT AND I ONLY WATCH RTC ONCE BUT SHES NY FAVE OK

cool asf

She forgets her name after her death and has no story told in the production

She's so sweet and deserves the world. Her song (The Ballad of Jane Doe) is great.

the song goes so hard just listen to her song guys please

she literally died and her head was cut off so nobody could tell who she was PLEASE let her take one (1) W

BECAUSE SHE IS AMAZING. First she already won the tournament in the musical to regain life, as she won them over with her sad wet cat energy because she did not have a head and feared that she lost her soul. Second, she died on a roller coaster and lost her head, but stole her doll's head and thats very gender. Third, throughout the musical she is used as a vessel for religious allegory, she is an angel, she is jesus, she is a demon, she is forsaken but she is purity itself. Fourthly, she is is given the identity of Savannah with the greenest eyes after the other characters who died with her hold her a birthday party, and I think thats sweet because its probably some kind of meaning I cant see but auughfhfhh shes so cool

i mean her name isn't TECHNICALLY jane doe but we refer to her as such. she's so silly!! autism powers! i don't have a lot of propaganda tbh. i would've just been surprised had she NOT been submitted

She lost her head literally when the rollercoaster derailed. She wasn't able to be identified apart from the school uniform she was wearing.

Her name is forgotten, and so is everything about her. So she’s called Jane Doe. She’s very sweet and very creepy, but she doesn’t mean it

and im asking WHYYYYY LORRRRRDDD

I LOVE HER! she died in a roller coaster accident and was decapitated, her body not being found. in the show, her head is actually just her doll’s head. the coroners couldn’t identify her, so she was dubbed a jane doe. in the game to be alive again, she ends up being voted, her name being revealed to be penny lamb. anyways she’s a little creepy and also quite silly and she does her funny little waddle like a porcelain doll (or corpse).

She deserves it! She lost her head she shouldn't lose this too.

Not convinced you didn’t start this tournament just for her tbh

They have a great song and a true air of mystery to them. They also have arguably the best song in the musical, The Ballad of Jane Doe! I would definitely recommend listening to it >:)

—She LOST her HEAD and had it replaced with a PORCELAIN DOLL —In all seriousness her story is really poignant. No one could identify her body so she arrives in the afterlife not knowing her identity and she spends the show vacillating between depressed and angry at her situation, leading to… —“The Ballad of Jane Doe”, specifically Emily Rohm’s version, might be the most haunting solo in musical theatre history.

John Doe (Malevolent) Propaganda:

Spooky gay eldritch disaster (am I doing this right?)

Could have chosen any name for himself and picked John because a kind person called him that :)

fractured piece of an eldritch god that shares a body with a private eye after being fractured. chooses the name John Doe after said private eye goes into a coma

Because he’s an eldritch god who wants to feel human and who overcame a lot of obstacles and dangers!!! He sincerely cares about the main character!!! And he chose a name himself! Isn’t he cute??? He lost his body, he almost lost his memory, he fought for his right to exist, he loves animals, he loves his friend Arthur and I love him!

Being an ass, friendship, spooky supernatural stuff, he’s got it all

My man heard the name John Doe, realized he didn’t actually have a name, and just. Took it for himself.

I LOVE HIM. MY SON. HE’S TRYING TO CHANGE AND BE BETTER AND :(((( He’s a fragment of the soul of the King in Yellow (god of trickery and suffering iirc??) that gets trapped in a book in our realm while the rest of the King stayed in his own separate realm. When a human named Arthur Lester opens the book they get linked and John gains control of Arthur’s eyes & kills his partner (oops!). They proceed to go on a quest to find a way of separating them because neither likes the situation, and at first John (or The Entity, which is what he’s called at first) just wants to trick and use Arthur, and control his entire body (through the first season he also gets a hand & a foot) even though he doesn’t remember being The King In Yellow at the time, but Arthur makes him change and become more human. His turning point is when Arthur is shot and falls into a coma for a month. They get treated at a hospital and while John waits for Arthur to wake up so they can carry on, the body itself still gets taken care of. The time John spends alone, contemplating on humanity & everything he’s seeing and learning from Arthur, as well as the way a certain nurse speaks to him every day (specifically, she greets him good morning and good night, despite the body being unresponsive, John still hears because he is an entity linked to the body) and calls him John (they didn’t have ID on when they were found so they were classified as John Doe), changes his outlook and plans for good, and he asks Arthur to call him John; from this point on he admits he cares for Arthur, looks for his wellbeing too, and in general attempts to be a better person and to live for himself. The rest of the podcast (ongoing!!) explores Arthur & John’s relationship, struggle to survive, adventures in the eldritch… All while tackling each of their issues with themselves and each other and watching them both grow. John in specific learns to be the person he wants to be, how sometimes you’ll take a step forward and two backwards; he can be cruel and manipulative sometimes but he still tries. Personally I love his journey, it’s very realistic and you can see he is trying his best, and how he wants to be better than he was as the King In Yellow, and how much Arthur has changed him and how much he cares about him because of that; and how he’s slowly growing into being his own person :) if it ends badly ill cry so hard but!!! he’s John Doe because that’s the name he was being addressed as, and he’s made it his, and being John means he’s no longer the King and that he wants to be different, and John can fail or make mistakes but it’s part of who he is now, and that’s what matters. I am So Normal About Him

JOHN DOE (Malevolent) SWEEP

OH MY GOD JOHN DOE MY BELOVED 💛💛 (watch me just not clarify that would be so funny ahah) John doe (Malevolent) 💛💛💛 my silly He's so funny he makes Arthur bump his head into a dock because he didn't say duck in time and then laughs at him 💛💛

[thewalrusespublicist]

I’d love it if you could give your thoughts on john getting married a week after paul. do you think it was just a matter of outdoing paul and having ppl talk about his wedding instead or something entirely different. thx!

That moment John realises he's going to have to commit to the bit…

Nah I'm joking, but also a little bit not.

I mean the more you think about the question of why the hell John did that, the more complex it gets (and why it’s taken me so long to reply lol). Trying to boil it down to three essential points from least to most important though, I’d say it was the commitment to the ‘ballad of John and Yoko’ plotline, drug fuelled competition and then the fundamental reason underpinning it all which was the overwhelming fear of abandonment/‘thwarted love’ between John and Paul.

So let’s start of with the simple one - the ballad of John and Yoko. Part of John and Yoko’s entire brand was that they were the most in love couple in the history of love and that their love story was the symbol of progressive society and the activist movement in the late 60s. That type of brand and the undercurrent of superiority complex and fragile narcissism underpinning it can’t do with a competing love story pulling focus. Therefore, John and Yoko would have to quickly correct that by getting married as soon as possible to draw focus away from them.

Then there’s the competition. John and Paul were famously competitive with each other, but somewhere towards the late 60s, this starts to shift a lot more into the personal than it had before, probably partially due to heroin. In this landscape of drug use and high competitiveness, everything including personal happiness is a competition to win. This would be especially true when it came to dating women due to its ties to concepts of masculinity and Johns insecurity about Paul’s looks. In John’s mind, I think he partially believed Paul getting married was a strategic one-up move that John had to outdo.

But to me, the real root of the transition into personal competitiveness is actually what I believe this was all about this entire time: abandonment.

(Some of this will be similar to the breakup podcast series but I heavily agree with them so it can't be helped.)

Now competition is par the course for John's creative partnerships, but he does have a specific pattern when he feels his partners are becoming too independent. Whilst you need a lot of salt for Dakota Days, John Green/Charlie Swan does occassionally say some very insightful things which ring true, one being John's behaviour toward Yoko:

John did have a long-established pattern of early support followed by sudden withdrawal. What he required above all was Yoko's undivided attention. So long as her ideas kept her focused on him, he would support them. But as soon as she started off on her own, John would withdraw his energy, knowing that this would force her back to him.

It's not a 1-1 situation and other factors are at play with the John and Yoko dynamic but similar behaviour was present with Paul around Yesterday. Coming back to the late 60s, John was in a similar predicament. According to Pete Shotton, John was feeling isolated in 67' with George and Paul developing their own lives. Then came the engagement to Jane Asher and the arrival of Linda. It's quite notable to me that John remains so salty and annoyed about Linda and not in a 'god why did Linda pick him not me' but in a 'why did he pick Linda??' way. Add to Paul coming into his own musically to the point John has to 'swallow his jealousy' and you have a huge mess for John psychologically.

This is a view shared by many on here but the shift to personal is to me part one of the two pronged withdraw and burn strategy. Fearing that he was going to be abandoned, John withdrew emotionally from his dynamic with Paul and tried to individuate himself. As highlighted by later statements by both of them, their construction of their own identities did not allow for severance from each other. Having no option in his mind to separate from Paul and spurned on by his paranoia, his belief system morphed into a karmic yin-yang in which only one of them could be strong and successful.

The second part of the strategy (that still bleeds in with the first) is to burn and humiliate, in this instance to a new partner, and rip apart everything they had built. My big question with John is how much does he believe in what Yoko and he are doing? I think somewhat, but I'm not convinced that at least part of it is to smash apart the Beatles brand and everything he and Paul had built apart (the dead rat story especially made me really reevaluate some things). I'm not saying that John and Yoko weren't madly in love and that some of John and Yoko's own weirdness didnt factor into her being there all the time, but the constant 'Yoko has to be here, has to talk for me, 'I'd sacrifice all of you for her' feels partially performative and intentionally provocative (especially the last one, why say that when no one is really attacking them other than to make your friends feel like shit?). Paul reactive response in kind reflects that this strategy worked. It's crucial to remember that Paul brought Francie Schwartz into the studio first. This isn't about 'being too in love' to be apart, it's about getting back at each other and as Lina put it, ''playing these games' in escalating ways.

In this environment the marriage is the flipped table on the chessboard. Paul isn't playing and they can't take this back. He is now a married man whose first priority will be his wife and the children John knows he's always craved. Considering his responses to his imagined abandonment by Paul, there's no way John is jinxing his relationship with Yoko nor getting left alone at one altar as it were when there was another ready and waiting to go.

[ratsvoid]

I'm just positively ranting about Majestic Rep's RTC

I could go on and on and on about how much I appreciate and love the majestic rep's production of ride the cyclone. Not only do they seem like lovely people, but they make the characters so much more lovable.

Ray Winters is the only mischa ever (sorry not sorry). there is so much depth to explore in mishca's character. The fact that you can see the connections between every character is so beautiful. ALSO the little choices that ray makes when playing mischa just makes him so much more real and well-rounded. He really did mischa justice <3

And I'll say this again, the way the cast looks out for each other is so nice. I've had so many bad experiences with castmates who are just awful for some unexplainable reason; and I've had times where something goes wrong and someone gets hurt or almost gets badly injured. Just seeing that there are other people in the theatre community that care for their cast mates like i do makes me so happy.

ALSO ALSO Ricky has quickly become a favorite of mine, especially in the majestic rep production. the costume???? the acting???? THE COOL ASS LADDER??? like that was the best performance of SABM I have ever seen. completely memorized.

JANE???????? SPACEDOLLS BEING CANON??????? weeps. absolutely weeping rn. the dynamic between Jane and ricky in this production was just so fricken cute.

Jane's costume, voice, just overall presence, was so beautiful and compelling. the tone of the ballad of Jane doe had my jaw to the floor.

omg there is so much more to say. not enough words to express how much I love this production.

this is my favorite production of ride the cyclone and I don't think that will ever change <3

[mimicmockingbirds]

OK, but hear me out

Say Ride the Cyclone were to be adapted into a film; imagine how much fun it would be to see it animated.

Because for the main plot, like the intro song and the mostly dialogue scenes in limbo, you could easily do a stylistic, but still grounded in realism style that a lot of modern animated projects are doing right now (think Arcane or Into the Spider Verse). But once each of the kids go into their respective songs/fantasies for what their life could have been? What if those were done in completely different styles?? Imagine the additional, visual storytelling that would tell about who they are as characters?

Like say, for Ocean's number, WTWN, everything became more simplified, and the characters (especially Ocean herself) turned into a more rounded, chibi-like style to enhance just how cutesy and likeable she's trying to portray herself throughout that number.

Or for Noel's Lament, everything goes black and white, and the characters become even more 2D stylized, and the film scales down to a smaller millimeter frame, more reminiscent of cartoons from the early 20's, when animation was just starting out, to enhance his idealization of "the olden days" (as Ocean puts it).

Mischa's song, This Song is Awesome could be animated with a more choppy frame rate, and the character designs turn a little more jagged around the edges, kind of like animated music videos (I'm thinking a Gorillaz band vibe). But as he transitions into singing about Talia, the colors start to bleed out over their lineart, and become more paint-like and Talia herself moves like a rotoscoped character (think Loving, Vincent that came out a few years ago) to enhance the sense that she's somewhere between a real person and a fantasy Mischa's built in his mind.

Ricky's song would, of course, be stylized after those sci-fi cartoons from the 90's, like X-Men or Captain Planet.

For the Ballad of Jane Doe, I would love to see something like what Wolfwalkers did back in 2020, where most of the characters (in this case, the other kids) are for the most part, animated like traditional, 2D characters with very clean lines and neat movements, whereas Jane herself stands out for having messier, sketchy line art, and looks more and more unfinished in her animation as the song goes on, because she can feel more and more of her own identity being lost.

Constance's Sugar Cloud I could see done in the classic 2D Disney style (i.e., the Renaissance era of Disney, like the Lion King or Little Mermaid days) because not only is it really smooth and colorful and just all around nice to look at, but it reminds the average moviegoer of their childhood growing up with those movies (among others, obviously), which ties in nicely with Constance's preceding monologue about remembering her own life, and the good that came with the bad.

I'm even tempted to envision the first half of the finale song in a different style, when the stage production would show a quick projection of Jane/Penny's life after she returned to the world of the living. Imagine watching this animated film, and for that segment alone, it becomes that really hyper-realistic, almost uncanny valley CGI animation style, to show that she really has joined the world of the living, i.e. our world, among us, the living breathing movie goers watching this, and watching the other kids still in limbo fade back to that main art style for the final number.

I don't know; it just feels like something that would be so engaging to see from an already compelling storyline and characters. Especially with more experimental animation projects on the rise right now

[kaleidoscopiccc]

the ballad of jane doe but in the first half she’s at a funeral with the rest of the kids dressed in black as mourners/a priest trying to get them to notice her and in the pause between the two parts she falls into the casket with her arms crossed like a vampire and the the second half she gets out, trying to escape from it as the mourners try to pull her back in

[lore-gore]

@astral--horrorshow @krowsindulgences @parasolyaa @savannahwiththegreeneteyes

List of Ride The Cyclone cut songs and fan songs that I think would be cool to feature in the rp:

Tragic Fact except it's a Noel solo and the choir backs. Just him getting angry at having to haunt a dead end town. Also let's be honest Tragic Fact is such a Noel title.

My edited version of Play To Win. (Made to fit current Ocean and get rid of the ableism.) Basically Ocean is reflecting on her life and having a crisis.

Cookies cookies and some lemonade/Celebration. The choir finds some food and decides to throw a party. Someone worries about the food being likely expired while another answers that it doesn't matter because they're dead. Misha brings out alcohol, which could spark a conversation something like this:

Ocean: Is that alcohol?!?

Misha: What, it's a celebration!

Ocean: I thought that was a sacred tradition for birthdays?!?

Misha: Oh yeah, I lied to get you off my dick.

Ocean: What.

Misha: Well, exaggeration. In Ukraine it is normal to let a kid drink every once and a while with family. Usually at celebrations, like birthdays.

Ocean: How many other things have you lied about?!?

Misha: Oh, many things. You are very gullible.

Ocean: *Exaggerated shocked face.*

Ballad of Jane Doe Reprise. This would happen after Jane finds an old discarded newspaper with the choir's obituaries on it. Jane sees that she has none, and asks for some time to mourn herself since no one else did. This scene is probably what puts an end to the party.

The Ballad of Penny Lamb could be turned into a duet. Perhaps by the name Duet of Death? Anyways Ocean apologizes to Jane and expresses their regret that Jane wasn't able to come back and that she shouldn't have wasted time, to which Jane responds with how she couldn't have known, and that deep down she knew it was too good to be true because death is final. But Ocean says it isn't final because here they are. It would be split up like this:

Jane (Ocean backing)

So far it's been a life of the struggles

I survived

Ocean (Jane backing)

Of doing everything I can

So that I'm worthy of life again

Jane (Ocean backing)

Yet I float and spin around so lonely

Ocean (Jane backing)

Alone, for one wish

Not to love, again

For love is loss

And loss is pain

Jane (Ocean backing)

I weep and mourn

Where no one can see

Ocean (Jane backing)

Yes, the sunrise is the sign of another day

Jane (Ocean backing)

Of spinning round in the dream of life

Both

I wish you could spin around with me

Jane (Ocean backing)

If only for one day

Ocean pulls up Jane and they start dancing

Jane

(Descending high note as Ocean dips her.)

Ocean (Jane backing)

Why can't you return?

Return?

Turn with me, return!

They tenderly kiss

La La Love. Noel and Misha centered song. Maybe Noel sees the relationship blooming between Ocean and Jane and wishes that he could have that, to which Misha takes the opportunity to ask him out. Noel asks what about his fiance, and Misha tells him that him and Talia are polyamorous. The song is like a recalling of the song Talia, showing that Misha has room in his heart for both of them.

Space Age Batchelor Man 2018. The choir is bored and someone asks for Ricky to tell another one of their stories.

A World Inside. This song screams trans joy. Newly out Savannah asks Constance for advice. If I had footage of USC's Sugar Cloud it would have been perfect to make an edit to with this song. She had this gorgeous purple skirt covered with stuffed animals and a matching jacket and some of the choir members took the train and billowed it behind her, and then she got on the rollercoaster cart and ribbons were pulled out of the dress and they danced around her while making the cart spin.

Mentaly Insane. One of Misha's songs on his YouTube channel. Misha shouldn't even sing this, he should just play it on his phone. And then afterwards Ocean tells him it sucks. Might end up editing this song.

And of course these are just Ride The Cyclone songs! But any song you feel fits your character you can use!!! (Please share with me please please please.) I wanted to feature songs in the roleplay since it's a musical.

Had an idea that in the roleplay when someone does a solo they are able to sorta possess the other choir members, like before, except it's less strong and there's no Karnak giving them this power. Rather their emotions simply influence the choir, pulling them in. It's happens either on accident, as is the case when this first happens as well as Jane's song, or they willingly allow them to do it order to offer support. Like "let me be your vessel babygirl." Super short songs and group songs don't really have this effect. Except for obviously You Drop!, but they were all more of in a trance.

Speaking of You Drop!, I've mentioned this before but the og video got deleted. I ended up posting a few parts of a cover of the song to you and the creator responded!!!! She said he was doing a recover, and just needs to edit it. (I bet by the time I release my edited version, she will release his video.) I will reblog parasolyaa with the video once it releases along with a response from Jane. (Her laughing weirdly). Because might as well.

Also, to clear up any confusion, yes, you are allowed to go more than once. Sometimes characters will have convos with each other. I just said to put that you are going next in the comments so we don't reblog at the same time and can take our time to respond. Other than that it works like a normal roleplay. Add on when you feel your character should. (Even if it's just an action.)

Currently trying to keep the roleplay alive while everyone (including myself) is busy. Once winter break begins we should try to get back into the swing of things!!!

Edit: Seeing people outside of the roleplay liking this post, so I wanted to add a link to the rp!

Here's a link to the latest addition:

And the character sheets:

[thewritersofdeceased]

A JOHN/JANE DOE? - THE GHOST BOYS + FINNEY BLAKE

GENDER NEUTRAL PRONOUNS / THEY/THEM PRONOUNS

INSPIRED BY "THE BALLAD OF JANE DOE"

It's pitch black. Everything is. It's cold. Wherever the hell they were, it was cold. They stood with their eyes closed at first, a couple voices speaking up. One stuck out in particular. It sounded like a young boy.. at least an eleven or twelve year old.. "They don't look like anyone we know.. Do they..?" He seemed to question, but.. who was he talking to? The new ghost didn't know. They felt warmth on their face. A warm liquid. Their eyes remained closed as they tried figuring out what was happening. They felt a poke to their side. Another person was here with them..? This time, the figure seemed a little bit further away. "No. We don't know them, Griffin." This voice was annoyed. Seemed it at least. 

"Be nice, Vance." A voice warned. This seemed to be a boy around the same age as this.. Vance boy.. Slowly, but surely, the new figure opened their eyes, looking between what seemed to be five or six boys.  A blonde, a light brunette, two dark brunettes, and what seemed to be two ravenette's. They stared between the six, confused on who they were, and what the hell had happened here. Taking a step back from the group, the new figure spoke with a confused tone of voice. "Who are you all." Well.. it didn't sound like a question at all. They looked around at each boy, taking in their features. As if they'd never seen either of them before. But they had. They just didn't know..

The first one was a boy with dirty blonde, or light brunette hair. He stood at 5'3. He appeared to be around thirteen. He was pretty short. The unnamed ghost tried to figure out who he was, but the boy spoke up himself. "Billy.. Showalter.. Or.. the town's paperboy." He introduced himself,  holding a hand out to the newcomer. Who only stared at him with a confused look.  

The next boy seemed to be blonde. An actual.. blonde.  The unnamed ghost stared at him. The boy had a denim jean vest, gambling pieces on the shoulders, a white shirt with blood splattered on it. His nose had blood trailing down, alongside with his lip. And head..  and neck... Now that the unnamed ghost looked between all the boys, they had begun to realize every single one of these boys look like they'd been murdered. Billy had spoken up, seeming as if the blonde didn't seem like he was going to. "That's Vance.. Pinball.. Vance Hopper.." 

Vance only seemed to stare at them with an annoyed look before two boys slightly nudged him away. The two boys were both brunettes with curly hair. One curlier than the other.  The unnamed ghost looked between them both, silent at first. The smaller young wore a grey  shirt, black shorts, what seemed to be long socks and white or grey shoes. His neck appeared to be slit. He had blood all down his shirt. He went to speak, looking at the unnamed figure. There was hesitation in his voice. "I'm.. Griffin. I was the first victim.." He mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck and hissing out softly.

"Careful." The other brunette had said softly. He was wearing a blue and white shirt, jeans and sneakers. He didn't look very bloody, but bruised to the max, Maybe this boy wasn't a ghost? They reached towards the brunette, their hand going through him. It only led the brunette to let a little laugh out. "We'll explain everything afterwards." He spoke, shaking his head before smiling towards the newcomer. "I'm Finney Blake." He introduced himself.

There was two more.  A boy in green, and a boy with a bandana. Both boys had blood on them. These must've been the latest two victims..? The boy with the bandana spoke first. "I'm Robin. And lastly, the one who told Vance to be nice, is Bruce." He introduced the two of them, his arms crossing as he looked around. "Now.. how do we explain... where you are.. without knowing who you are..?" He questioned, beginning to walk around the unnamed figure.

"I.. I do not.. know. How I can answer your question." The unnamed figure spoke, turning to look at Robin as he walked around them. Their white eyes went to every single boys eyes. Making quick eye contact before looking away. They took a couple steps back, at least until they stumbled over the mattress that seemed to be in this stupid, stupid basement. They stared at each boy, trying to figure something out in their head. Before finally, they spoke.

"Isn't there anyone to tell me who I am?" 

[randy-jester]

My Imaginary Ride The Cyclone Hybrid Live-Action and Animation Feature Film that only exists in my head: Part 2

Here's the link to Part 1!

Apologies for splitting it into 2 parts. Tumblr literally wouldn't let me post it as one big chunk. 😭

Continuing on:

To refresh: This would be a hybrid film that combines both live action and animated segments. The majority of the movie would be shot in live-action under a sepia filter, but all of the choir member's songs would be animated with different art styles. "What The World Needs" is in CGI Disney style, "Noel's Lament" is black-and-white 2D animation, "This Song is Awesome" is stylized graffiti, and "Talia" is in watercolor.

Of course, "Space Age Bachelor Man" will use an art style resembling Silver Age comics (which, fun fact, is around the time Silver Surfer was introduced). The song sequence will actually show most of the events Ricky details in his fantasies (ie., him getting abducted to Planet Zolar, laying with the sexy cat women, stopping the war between K-9 and Zolar, etc.).

Side Note: We don't actually see Ricky get freaky on screen. But we do see him and the kitties in snippets of suggestive action accompanied by on-screen sound bubbles every time Ricky says "Meow!". (This movie is already getting an R-rating for every time Noel says "Fucked Up Girl".)

Another side note: I know that in the 2018 version of RTC, Constance plays the "Zolarian Queen". But because this is MY movie concept, I get to do what I want. And I say Jane Doe is the Zolarian Queen instead (SpaceDolls 4 Ever! <3).

"Ballad of Jane Doe" will be in stop motion (either using paper or puppets). In the first half, we see her recount the accident. She looks like how she does now (with the doll head). She hits the ground right before "And from the ground beneath my feet", and her head falls off. We see her laying headless on the ground for a some time while other carnival patrons are screaming and getting away from her. On "Just John and Me" she stumbles back to her feet. And on "Forever Eternally Jane Doe" she screws her head back on.

In the next verse, we see Jane try to reach out to the other carnival goers, essentially trying to identify her family and friends. When she finds none, Jane boards the rollercoaster again on "Time eats all his children in the end"

Essentially, the idea is that because it's her only memory, Jane is forced re-live the accident over and over again through her song sequence. She desperately wants to find out who she is and what her past was. But the only memory she has to dig through is that of the accident.

She falls to the ground again on "Forever Eternally Jane Doe". Then gets dragged onto the ride a third time by carnies. She looks tired like she doesn't even want to do this anymore. On "Like John I'll be eternally a forgotten name, some lost refrain" we see her fly and float through the air (like how the other choir kids did during Uranium suite). But this time she never hits the ground. Instead, at the end of the song, she just reappears in the warehouse.

Constance's song, "Sugar Cloud", is the only individual segment that isn't animated. Instead, it's shot in live-action, but in full technicolor! Think like how vibrant Barbieland looked in the Barbie movie. Like that. The reason why "Sugar Cloud" is in live-action is because Constance is romanticizing her life as it was, rather than what it could have been.

Constance begins her first verses, still in sepia, at the warehouse. But when she goes "Let me take you away", she struts forward and the scenery changes behind her to that bright technicolor look. And instead of being at the warehouse, they're back at the carnival. But everything is bright and sunny and idealistic.

During Constance's recorder solo, the choir gets new outfits that reflect each of their personalities. The outfits magically poof on out of thin air. The choir members keep these new outfits for the duration of the song, then go back to their school uniforms after the sequence is over.

When Jane Doe is chosen to live again, her body fades away, leaving behind a roll of film. Ricky slides this film into a projector, and the choir watches the reel of Penny Lamb’s life together.

After Karnak’s death, we see the sepia filter lift off from the film. Along with it, we finally get to see how much decay and disrepair has taken over the warehouse. The choir members have a spiritual glow around their bodies.

The choir members perform the last song, “It’s Not A Game/It’s Just a Ride” inside the warehouse. As the sun rises, their bodies fade away.

Title card rolls at the sound of crashing metal.

[pennysperfectpolls]

Penny Poll round 1 match 1

Penny Lamb/Jane doe (Ride the cyclone/legoland)

Penny Luckstone (Dimension 20)

Propaganda under the cut

Penny Lamb/ Jane Doe (Ride the cyclone/legoland) Propaganda

girlfailure to end all girlfailures. shes Not Like Other Girls and also literally built different (survives decapitation). she sells drugs and horribly maims a pop star and gets away w it. probably a lesbian but if you call her that she will bite you. love her.

———

Penny Lamb is very joyous and whimsical!!! There's a BUNCH of different interpretations of her in the fandom, and they're all so unique... Also she faked seizures in Walmart with her canonically neurodivergent brother VOTE PENNY LAMB!!!

——

PENNY IS SOOOOOSILY AND I LOVE HER AND I LOVE JANE BUT HSHSHSHSHS VOTE PENNY LAMB!!!

——

she doesn't have a head anymore. died in a rollercoaster accident and came back to life because she was chosen by one of her classmates as being the most worthy to live. something clearly wrong with her

——

SHE IS SO INCREDIBLY SILLY???????????? WE LOVE AND CHERISH HER IN THIS HOSUE OKAY

——

This propaganda is only for her appearance in Ride The Cyclone musical but if someone else wants to submit lore from Legoland (which is the sort of prequel to Ride The Cyclone) please do so! Penny Lamb is hidden name of the girl who was beheaded in the St. Cassian Choir Cyclone Roller Coaster Incident. Because she lost her head, she had no memories of her name or family, so she assumed the name Jane Doe and uses a doll's head as a replacement for her own decapitated head. She sings The Ballad of Jane Doe which is so sad and haunting that she is chosen to come back to life as Penny Lamb. Super cool concept for a character and very neat song!

——

She's pretty neat 👍 also her design is cool

Penny Luckstone (Dimension 20) Propaganda

Imagine a perky type a sweet girl whom is the oldest of a mountain of siblings and just takes care of people on reflex and is overall just the nicest girl in the world.

Now imagine she's the deadliest member of her fantasy adventuring party. As a halfling rogue one would think she'd fall into a stereotype easily, but Penny spends most of her time on screen trying to pick between her career as a rogue and her place with her friends and family.

She didn't like that the rogues guild was going to make her choose between he friends/family and her career so she ousted them to the world so they had no choice but to let everyone get in contact with their families again, she also convinced a guy to give her a foot rub and then did the do with him within the same day what a legend

[thesparklingwriter]

𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒊𝒄𝒆

tags: zhongli x gn!reader, fluff, angst, reader is the sibling of guizhong, themes of loss (please lmk if I've missed any important tags)

word count: 1.6k

notes: before you read, i recommend taking a quick look at the ask this request came from! i may have possibly missed out some scene setting as a result of assuming every knows the context. I had so much fun doing this :) don't tell anyone but i actually shed one or two tears, but i was listening to the ballad of jane doe as i wrote it so can i truly be blamed? @cheezybell , i hope this lives up to your expectations <3 if there's anything formatting-wise that I've forgotten about tell me tomorrow cause it's now past midnight and i'm going to bed :)

Masterlist | taglist form

The world had been silent since you died. The god of war was accustomed to loss, but none had worn on him so heavily but yours. Of course, you weren't his only acquaintance, but the uncertainty of your well-being weighed heavily on him. The others were lost to the winds, their memories infused into fields of lilies and violent sunrises, all of which he observes with a detached melancholy.

To protect yourself after sustaining an almost fatal blow, you'd employed a tactic Morax himself had taught you—a tactic that had a 50 per cent success rate, a tactic for a worst-case scenario, a tactic shared with you because he couldn't bear the thought of you leaving him forever. If he'd have known that he'd be here now, seated beside your lifeless body, quietly begging someone, something, to save you, his friend, his companion, his… It doesn't matter now.

He wouldn't indulge himself in such thoughts. It was selfish. You'd tried to protect yourself for his sake, and here he was, wishing that you'd died so he would have had the chance to find your reincarnated soul in the faces of those in the harbour. You'd sworn you'd always be with him, regardless of the circumstances, irrespective of the fact that you loved him and he didn't–couldn't ever know. You'd watch him from a distance, how he brought smiles to people's faces and how the people of Liyue worshipped the ground he walked on. What would he want with you? The forgotten kin of a well-known adeptus—adept at nothing much but fading into the mist. What could you offer him that thousands of being on Teyvat couldn't?

"If I'm the reason why you aren't returning," Morax says softly, his voice permeating the silence of the cave he hides you in. "Please rest assured that I expect nothing of you upon your return. Simply focus on yourself. That's all I ask."

As long as he knew you were alive, Morax would accept being apart from you. But until he was aware of your recovery, he'd keep visiting.

And so he did.

Millenia go by before there's even a slight change in your appearance. He visits you at the end of every era he finds himself in—the end of the archon war, Liyue's sudden economic boost, his 'death' at the hands of the Fatui… He keeps you up to speed on it all. Of course, if you want to survive in this world once you awaken, you have to know what's going on, do you not?

This time, when he sits beside you to tell you about how Liyue no longer has an archon and the new life he hopes to pursue, his heart swells with hope. In the dim light of the almost freezing cave, Morax is almost convinced that he spies the condensation of your breath in the air. But simultaneously, the years of hoping and praying for your return have hardened his heart to hope. It's a selfish emotion, one he should know better than to entertain. But though there's a voice in the back of his head, telling him that he's hoping and praying and waiting for nothing, it's you he's waiting for. The one who always made him laugh, listened to him as he mused aloud about the wonders of Teyvat, and helped him mediate arguments between Cloud Retainer and Guizhong. He can't let you go.

"Change is constant in this world," He says to you, noting the slight colour in your cheeks and the flicker of your eyelids. "But I will continue to wait for you, to cultivate your memory such that nothing can dull its shine."

It was a promise to a friend, a declaration of love, an acceptance of defeat. He strokes your hair lightly, an intimate gesture he always longed for when you were alive, one he indulges himself in, in case it wakes you up. And the contact shocks you. You can feel it and hear him, but you can't reach out. You can't hold him in your arms and tell him that it's okay, that you loved him then, and you love him now, and nothing he could ever say or do could ever change that.

But you never had the will to do so when you were awake, and now, as you cling onto his voice to drag yourself back into reality, your resolve is too much for your body to bear, and you explode into fine mist, impossible to catch or hold, or trap. Morax realises that, and though his heart disappeared with you, he accepts his fate—forever longing for a being he might never see again.

✧

Finding yourself in Liyue after the years passed is nothing short of a learning curve. You learn early on that Morax was killed by the Fatui in an act of cold cruelty, a discovery that leaves you fuelled with rage. But casting your mind back to past conversations with Morax himself reminds you of a hypothetical game you and Guizhong used to play with him to pass the hours. Morax always had a fascination with the idea of faking his demise if it was what was necessary for Liyue's survival. Or course, that kind of morbid practicality makes Morax who he is, and you struggle to believe that he'd leave Liyue without a fight. He'd waited millennia for your return, but you're supposed to believe that he'd abandon his nation without so much as a second thought? Impossible.

So you set to finding him. Regardless of what form he's taken on or the lies he's employed to stay under the radar, you will find him. It starts with assimilating into Liyue's society, working hard to establish yourself as an upstanding member of the harbour, always found helping with a smile on your face. You'd smile innocently when asked what you charged for your help and services. "I'm something of a history buff," you'd say. "I'm researching Morax's death—undoubtedly this is an important date in the history of Liyue and i'd like to hear more about it from those who experienced it."

Of course, locals were more than happy to help—to share stories of their valiant archon, who left too soon, but left his nation in such good stead for the future. Most, if not all, the leads you were given were dead ends, an impressive mix of decorated truths and half lies. That was, until a passing traveller mentioned a certain Zhongli of the Wangsheng funeral parlour. According to them, he was the man for any kind of Liyuean history, regardless of the era.

You wasted no time hurrying to the funeral parlour with newfound hope. Would this Zhongli know where Morax is? Would he know of you, Guizhong or any other Adepti that were lost to the brutality of the war? Or would he send you away, accusing you of insanity or espionage?

You didn't know, and frankly, you didn't care. When you arrive at the parlour, you're met by a young woman who greets you with a melancholy smile. "How may I help you?"

"I was hoping to speak with a Mr Zhongli? If that's possible, that is."

The woman's expression changes, relaxing from its state of melancholy. "Of course. I can get him for you. Feel free to take a seat."

The seconds seem to drag by as you sit and wait for this man to arrive. Is this yet another dead end? Your mind begins to wander before the woman returns, asking you to follow her to his office. She seems slightly surprised by the words coming out of her mouth—admitting that this isn't something the man often does. The walk to his office is almost stifling. You're silent, your heart pounding helplessly in your chest as you walk.

The woman opens a heavy mahogany door, smiling encouragingly at you as you walk in.

The man before you nods at the woman before turning his attention to you, and you're surprised by his reaction. Years of analysing Morax's stoic face have taught you to pick up on micro reactions like the one Zhongli displays as he looks at you.

His eyes soften as he stands up, bracing himself on the desk as he rises. "I'm afraid I didn't catch your name," he says slowly. You tell him your name, and he chuckles lightly to himself. Of course, you'd find him. Or course you would. You look the same as the day you fell asleep, your eyes wide and excited, a gentle smile playing on your lips despite the absurdity of the situation you find yourself in. He extends his hand to you, and you shake it firmly, muttering the necessary pleasantries.

Zhongli can't believe it. You're real, not a figment of his desperate imagination. You're real, and perfect, and standing right in front of him on your own two feet. Do you know who he is? Is this some cruel joke Celestia is playing on him as punishment for going through with the Fatui's plan? His eyes are familiar to you—they shine with gold as you stare at him, your mind trying to grasp where you remember him from.

"How can I help you?" Zhongli asks. He can't bear to look away from you, the one he's loved since before he could quantify the feeling. The one who listened to him with such care and kindness. The one who made the millennia of duties and solitude worth it. It's you. You've returned to him. And regardless of whether you remember him or not, he swears that he'll express his love for you. He won't make the same mistake twice.

© 2023, thesparklingwriter. please do not copy, edit, repost, or translate.

taglist: @ainescribe

[i-eat-homeless-people]

Silly six- rtc parallel

ok hi! this isn't anything big, i just kind of wanted to scream into the void about this parallel i found between six (the musical) and ride the cyclone. enjoy!!! <3

(the comparisons will be pretty loose so just stick with me)

so first, the premises are rather similar, six dead people battling through song in a competition- like fashion. in this case, the "judges" are different (in six, it's the audience, and in rtc it's karnak, so they think), but karnak is the only one to speak directly to the audience, so they both have some connection to the outside of the fourth wall.

onto characters!!! (i'm analyzing them in the order that they go)

ocean o'connell rosenberg/catherine of aragon

very confident in themselves and their ability to win

has a sibling- rivalry type dynamic with the next person, but loves them despite their constant rivalry

noel gruber/anne boleyn

i don't really have a lot for this one

beef with the previous person

france 🇫🇷 🥖

likes men (i'm running out of ideas)

mischa bachinski/jane seymore

(i'm not counting MLIA as his song for this 😔)

their songs are both love ballads (ish)

definitely their songs are where the show slows down

the babygirls of the fandom

HAUS OF HOLBEIN - MY LIFE IS AWESOME PARALLEL APPRECIATION POST

(best song)

(sunglasses)

ricky potts/anna of cleves

they are the wildcard of the group

dont fit in with everyone else and have stopped trying atp

the fact that their songs are totally different is just hilarious and proves my first point even further

they both don't care about the competition (ricky straight up dropping out; anna singing about how her life is awesome) (mischa reference???😱)

both have the best costume change in the middle of their songs

jane doe/katherine howard

BEHEADED BABES🥰🥰🥰

either don't remember their life or don't want to

their songs are both laments (yes, the BALLAD of jane doe is actually a lament)

(while i'm at it, noel's lament is actually a ballad)

constance blackwood/catherine parr

BEST CHARACTER (in my opinion)

super underrated (also in my opinion)

song starts out sad, picks up the pace

cast's favorite song to perform

their song brings everyone together

both characters are relatively quiet throughout the show

that's it!!! i hope you guys liked it!! :)