#listen the atalanta is fun and weird

[revenancy]

midnight thoughts: my next impossible fires post will probably be a bit more worldbuilding -- the question is, do I want to go broad strokes, or do I want to talk about the bred-for-selected-traits "specialist" classes of society

[camping-with-monsters]

When Robin Hood and Snow White were ushered to the dungeon for that pep talk that would embark them on their unlikely quest, it was the warden, named Atalanta Rancoreed, who stayed put, listening in, taking in every word the King said…

Atalanta’s job is simple. To tend to the cellars, to deal with the rough prisoners, to guard Lord Whistlegrimm when he steps into this dark ended place. Atalanta takes this job with pride. It’s a surprisingly perfect fit for a strong-willed guard who’d usually not be fit for a war. Atalanta loves the work. Practically lives for it too. To serve the king with your life is admirable to this warden, even if the job is as quaint as standing by the king should he enter the depths of the dungeon. But it’s still very much an important role. And after having to escort these two idiots and their pet bird down so Lord could give them the scoop, it was just another day.

But that day… Atalanta’s world suddenly changed. When your job is to stand guard to the king while he speaks down here, you just know you’re going to be overhearing a lot. And listen thoroughly to Lord’s words did Atalanta do so well! So much so that the words suddenly got to her head… a tincture that could rise the dead. How curious! You’d think she’d be smarter than to consider what she did, but that strange concoction that Robin and Snow would have to be questing to create sounded awful tempting. But it would be foolish to leave her post like this, especially if the King caught wind of it. But it’s far too promising for her. It’s the stuff of her dreams. And so, enlisting some help from her own brethren, the woman soured by greed snuck away, seeking out the very thing Lord recalled, wishing to claim the cure for her own reasoning. Reasoning she deems much more important than someone as simple as a gardener…

And so Atalanta will be a reoccurring obstacle, hoping to get her hands on what is not her’s to begin with for personal gain. This will be the first time she may resort to villainy to prove her perspective…

——

A MASSIVE thanks to @pazam for being a huge help with this design!

I’ve been super excited to show this one off! She’s got a lot going for her in terms of her character and has some twists with her motives. Needless to say though, these are technically still the reference rough drafts and I promise I’m working on her official reference!

A cool thing to note is that the reason I went with an apple theme is because of some iterations of Robin Hood being presented with shooting an arrow into an apple, and the poison apple of Snow White! This was… actually an unintentional coincidence I did NOT think about until I started thinking more about what kind of villain BMB would have! So Atalanta’s character is kinda an unintentional coincidence!

…as is with a lot of DDG and BMB. I have this weird habit of making spontaneous choices and then those seemingly random choices having meaning later. Pfft.

Fun details here: Atalanta has an arrow shaped tattoo/scar (I haven’t decided yet actually) on her eye to reference Robin Hood (or other iterations of Robin Hood since it’s not strictly to the original story) and the red parts of her face are vaguely shaped like a skull to reference the poison apple! She’s a golden apple though since not only are those common, but also a focus on the original Greek mythology story of Atalanta, who she’s truly named and based after! Rancoreed is a last name I made up with a surprising amount of depth to that I’ll get into later.

[harryissuchalittleshit]

Also Romione with their grandbabies

As always, in birth order:

Hermes Hugo Malfoy:

He’s the oldest

He is very close to all four of his grandparents, but especially his Nana Hermione and Grandad Ron!!

He reminds them soooo much of Hugo when he was little and it’s so cute

Hermione likes to play with him, and it’s just such a fun and stress free time

Ron likes to read to him, usually whatever Auror novel he’s currently reading or the Quidditch section of the Prophet

Ron also teaches him chess, but Hermes is quite bad at it

When he gets older, they buy him his first broom and take him to his first Quidditch game

The Chudley Cannons lose, and Hermione knits the whole time, and Hermes fell asleep in the last half hour of the game

But he will always say that was the best game he had ever gone too

They come to all of his Little League Quidditch games and cheer him on!

They also eagerly await his letters from Hogwarts after games and always go to watch him play in the school finals

When he starts writing, they keep every clipping they can

Athena Hermione Malfoy:

She is a mini Hermione and Ron is so in love with her!!

He helps teach her her letters when she’s two and they also like to cook together

He teaches her how to play chess, and she’s good, but still not a match for Ron

Hermione is her favorite person in the whole world!!

She wants to be her when she grows up and never strays to hard from that

Hermione will take her along to work with her just as she used to do with Hugo and Rose

She listens so much and just is in awe with how easily Hermione shuts downs her emotions and speaks to the court

Probably a little too much as she starts to bottle in her emotions to seem calm

She accepts an internship her final year of school to work in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement with Hermione , and then finds out she’s pregnant

Benjamin is the one to tell her that she doesn’t need to give up her dreams to raise Olivia (and the rest of their kids when they have them), he is more than happy to be a stay-at-home father

He reminds her that his job is a lot more flexible than her dreams

And she goes to the Ministry in full force and doesn’t slow down (even if her colleagues make comments about her frequent pregnancies and the time it takes her away from the Ministry)

Hermione is so proud of her when Athena becomes head of the legal team!!

Hephaestus Ronald Malfoy:

This boy loves his cuddles, his Grandad Ron, and being the smartest person in the room

Hermione adores him because of this

He will find Ron in any room and just sit on his lap and refuse to leave

Ron will refuse to give him up

Also he finally has a match in his grandchildren when it comes to chess

Ron, Hugo, and Hephaestus will play together and it’s always a real challenge

(Athena and Hephaestus will always find each other to play a game whenever it’s raining, even at Hogwarts)

He picks up football like Hugo, and even though he doesn’t know the rules still, Ron is there every week to cheer him on

So is Hermione, patiently ready to explain the rules again

Hephaestus doesn’t write home often, but he does write to Ron and Hermione every week

Hephaestus being a Slytherin is a bit hard for him to take in at first, but then he gets Hephaestus’ next letter and it’s addressed just to him, and asking him all of these questions about the war and Ron realizes that this little boy is going to hear a lot of things that might not be true and it’s his responsibility to make sure that he’s educated and safe and okay

Green and silver are just colors, his grandson needs him

Artemis Astoria Malfoy:

She’s so shy and introverted that it takes her a while to open up

But once she knows someone, once she loves someone, there is no going back

Ugh, they love this little girl so much!!

Afternoons making a mess in the kitchen with Ron because she doesn’t like the violence of chess?? Hell yes!

Mornings curled up in Hermione’s lap listening to Hermione reread her unicorn book while teaching her to knit?? Hell yes!

Playing with Crookshanks in the sunlight and feeling like a giant cat herself while her grandparents watched after her?? Hell yes!

Her favorite day of the week is Tuesday, because that is her day at nana and grandad’s house and that never changes

Even when she starts at primary, she’s allowed to floo by herself to see nana and grandad on Tuesday, daddy will pick her up before bedtime

Her first Tuesday at Hogwarts she cries herself to sleep because it just doesn’t feel right

So on Tuesdays she starts to write to them

She had three daughters, Abigail Hermione, Allyson Ronda, and Anna-Maria BillieJean

She just loves the quiet and alone time they gave her, and the life skills they instilled in her

Apollo Draco Malfoy:

If Artemis is the quiet introvert he is the loud extrovert

He gets taken to the Ministry with them

He likes the Auror offices because it’s always exciting and he has a ready audience

On Fridays he floos to the Ministry and goes to the Auror offices

Seeing pictures of body parts and the other things that happen to bodies is what gets him interested in healing

After starting at Hogwarts, he comes back a bit more subdue and pulls back a bit from everyone

Hermione is really worried and brings him to court and it sounds ridiculous, but it’s the first time he sees a performance that actually sways people’s emotions

Hermione is the first person to find out that he’s bisexual and how hard it was for him to keep it inside

But Ron is the one who gives him the confidence to come out to his family!

Friday’s go back to normal after that

Aphrodite Lyla Malfoy:

She is such a baby, and loves it when Ron and Hermione treat her that way

She spends a lot of time with them doing errnings and going to the Ministry and just being passed off between the two

She’s very witty and shares Ron’s sense of humor, they are very kindred spirits

But she is also very close to her other grandparents and doesn’t understand how her Grandad Ron and Grandpa Draco can’t get along because she loves them both sooo much

She’s a lot like both of them, cunning and funny and a bit of a flare for dramatics and very loyal to the people she loves

Like her Uncle Hugo, she loves to hide under Hermione’s desk and listen to all the conversations that happen above her

Hermione teaches her to knit and she loves it, she always wants to be doing something with her hands and creating something

One year she makes everyone hats and Ron finds it hilarious and Hermione is so proud of her

While Ron got the letter about the war from Hephaestus, Hermione got one from Aphrodite, and she didn’t realize how uneducated a lot of children are about the war going into Hogwarts

It inspires her to write a book, and Aphrodite helps her by doing the illustrations

It’s the first time that she ever felt confident in her art

Years later, Aphrodite recreate their wedding portrait for their anniversary

Evan Perseus Weasley-Zabini:

Finally a baby from Hugo and Lyla!! They had been waiting over ten years! (They honestly expected Hugo to have a baby before Rose)

He’s almost exactly a year younger than Aphrodite and she doesn’t understand that she isn’t the baby anymore

But she adores this little boy

Okay, so Ron and Hermione are so excited for Hugo and Lyla to just have this little boy!! They can’t believe that they’re grandparents again so quickly

Because Hugo is more in touch with their Latin roots, Hermione is Abeula to his kids

It does cause a bit of confusion to Aphrodite so she calls her both nana and Abeula

Evan is just soooo much like Hugo! If Hermes was like Hugo, then Evan is Hugo

Ron is the one to realize that Evan has dyslexia like him and Hugo

He works really hard with Evan to teach him how to read, using the same therapies that he learned with Hugo

Because Evan doesn’t also have ADHD it’s a little easier

Ron and Hermione help out a lot when Lyla gets pregnant again, as it’s harder on her and Hugo than they expected

He likes the Auror offices, but loves the courtrooms and the drama of it all

When he’s about eight and Lyla gets pregnant again, they find out he has anxiety and he refuses to talk to anyone except Ron and Lyla about it

When Evan’s about to go to Hogwarts, he’s really anxious but Ron has gotten good at pep talks

He reminds him that he and Hermione will always be there for him and so will his parents

He writes often to Ron and Hermione and it’s really good for his anxiety

He graduates top of his class and Ron and Hermione are so proud of him!

Hector Draco Weasley-Zabini:

He’s very quiet and studious and holds himself to a very high standard

But because Ron and Hermione have zero expectations for him (other than to be happy) he gets to just be goofy and weird and a kid

He will always be the little five year old boy who was worried about his mummy being sick and how to be a big brother to a little sister

Ron teaches him chess and it’s like a duck to water, he is sooo good that Hugo stops playing with him and only Ron will play with him

(Hugo just knows that he doesn’t challenge him like Ron does)

Hermione reads to him and helps him with his homework and always brings him along to the Ministry with her

Hector and Athena have the same dreams and are very similar, and both look up to Hermione soooo much

Ron and Hermione are the first people he comes out to when he’s twelve, and he’s just happy that they accept him for who he is

When Hector’s older he takes an internship and learns how to sway the court to his favor

Hermione is the one to introduce him to his future husband and they name their first daughter after her, Hermione Atalanta

Roslyn “Ro” Psyche Weasley-Zabini:

Now this is who Aphrodite is jealous of, even if there is a nine year age difference between them

But Roslyn or “Ro” adores her older cousin

Ro is so cute and loves her Abeula and grandad so much!

Ron and her play in the kitchen and bake and try new recipes with each other

Hermione teaches her to knit and they always do the Sunday morning crossword together

She is so smart, but so distracted all the time

She likes to write and she creates little stories with cute little illustrations for everyone

Hermione gives her a diary for her birthday the year before she starts at Hogwarts, and Ro isn’t much for it until she’s at school

When she starts dating, she asks Hermione for some advice and it’s a little awkward, but so is Ro so it works out

Her boyfriend is also a writer, but he’s more interested in writing about Quidditch

For graduation Ron and Hermione take all of the little stories and illustrations she made them and get them bound into a book

It inspires Ro and she starts writing children’s books with her on illustrations and she dedicates the first one published to Ron and Hermione

She names her only son after Ron and her first daughter after Hermione, Ronald Asher and Arianna Jean

Christopher Odysseus “Odie” Weasley-Zabini:

The absolute baby of the family

Athena has three kids herself and Hephaestus is about to have his first son when Odie’s born

Hector gave him his nickname the day he was born (Evan gave Ro her nickname)

He is such a sweet baby and adores his grandparents

It makes Ron and Hermione feel better about being great-grandparents by still having such a young grandson

He’s totted along everywhere with whoever has him

He loves both Quidditch and football and plays both, Ron and Hermione support him at all of his games

He has ADHD and while Ron and Hermione aren’t as young as they used to be, they do have a lot of fun with him

He won’t be a chess champion, but Ron doesn’t feel bad letting him win a few games

It does surprise him the one time he wasn’t going easy and Odie beat him with no trouble

Hermione takes Odie with her to the library as she used to with Hugo and they have so much fun together

Odie reads like crazy and anything he can get his hands on

When he’s older and at school he makes sure to write to Ron and Hermione, he always talks about Quidditch and what he’s reading and never much about his classes or friends

He struggles with deciding what he wants to do after graduating from Hogwarts and just goes from job to job before he meets Ellie

A Junior Auror who’s funny and kind and seems to get into a little too much trouble for her own good

They’re married with a baby on the way less than a year later, and Odie is starting his training

Their daughter is named Billie Jean in honor of Ron and Hermione

[fuwafuwamedb]

Soulmates AU

What the hell?

Gudako rubbed at her hand, frowning at the mark that was there.

It was a little weird, seeing new symbols on her hands. It was kind of like Solomon’s tattoos now that she was looking a little closer.

How funny was that?

She moved into the lounge area, settling onto one of the couches and scratching at the mark.

Her phone buzzed quietly, making her pause to listen.

“Gudako!” Mash was on the other end of the line, “We’ve got a problem!”

“Oh yeah? Did Spartacus escape again?”

She’d told the man that he needed to stay in his area of Chaldea. He was too prone to trying to harass the kids. He wanted to play, but he was a bit violent. Kingprotea had been a blessing for that reason. Her and Bunyan.

“No, it’s one of the workers here. They got dumped.”

“Yeah? How does that equate to a problem?”

What the hell was this mark made of, she thought. Gudako licked her finger, rubbing at the mark now.

“The man did a spell with Merlin’s staff to make all soulmates share markings.”

Oh.

Well.

“That’s awkward.”

“It is.”

“Out of curiosity, what’s your mark look like?”

“Gudako, let’s not worry about th-“

“OH MY GOD!” Gudako sat up, grinning. “This means that Hakuno and the others will have marks too!”

She was hanging up now. She needed to see this.

It was obvious that Hakuno and Gilgamesh were either meant for one another or were a nightmare of circumstances to be bound together.

She had to-

“What do you mean they look the same?”

“They look the same.”

Gudako paused, watching Ishtar, the Cus, and Emiya stare at their palms. The same sun shaped mark was on their palms. They looked at one another, Ishtar gasping as she looked over them all.

“Wait… I get all of you?!”

“Or there were too many Cu Chulainns that fate couldn’t figure out what was going on and just gave him a few soulmates.” Emiya rolled his eyes. “What a stupid concept.”

“So upset,” Caster was pulling off his jacket, moving in closer to the man. “Don’t tell me you’ve never had a Celt before.”

Oh boy.

Gudako quickened her pace.

“What is this?”

“What’s going on?”

Servants were leaving their rooms. Atalanta and Achilles were staring at their hands together.

“You have soulmate marks, everyone!” Gudako moved down the hall, telling them all on the way. “If you find someone with the mark here, please don’t be surprised-“

“I will not,” Ozymandias told her simply.

“Hmm?”

“Only my Nefertari would have the mark.” He turned to go back into his room.

The other servants were complaining that soulmates weren’t existing. They were arguing with her, but not the pharaoh.

The wise man was heading into his room, picking up one of the sphinxes as he went.

Bless someone having rationale.

“Hakuno!”

Gudako pounded on Archer’s bedroom door, sliding it open only to find the woman sitting next to Archer. Their arms were side by side.

The red markings that were over Gil’s person were running down his arm. They were also running along Hakuno’s person now.

“Gudako? What are you doing here?”

She was trying to cover herself up, the red marks along her body matching Gilgamesh’s to the letter.

Gudako laughed. “I knew it.”

“Knew what?”

“Do you know something about these markings?” Gilgamesh growled.

“Soulmate markings. One of the faculty members was dumped and decided to test fate by making fate reveal soulmates. We’ve been uncovering soulmates in Chaldea,” Gudako told them proudly.

“Soulmates?”

“The one you’re meant to be with?” Gudako raised a brow at him. “You know, like someone that is meant to be your other half, the one that makes you happiest and that you love whether or not you can help it?”

Gilgamesh stared at her, scowling.

Hakuno held Gil’s shirt tighter around herself, glancing over at him.

“You’re sure he didn’t just do-“

“It’s been too obvious,” Gudako argued. “I wanted to see who would be meant for Hakuno. After all, she’s been so helpful all this time. She’s been so great about helping and doing her part and being so nice to all the-“

“Gudako?” Hakuno looked over at her, “Can you give Gil and I a minute?”

“Ah, sure.”

She motioned for them to continue.

“Alone?”

“Fine, fine.” Gudako moved to the hall, snapping her fingers at one of the casters nearby. The made the wall a one way mirror and removed the soundproofing.

She had to see.

Hakuno was pressing a hand to her face, blushing hard.

“There’s no such thing as soulmates,” Gilgamesh told her.

“Gil-“

“Hakuno, why wouldn’t you have been born in my time if that was true?”

“You had Ishtar tell you that there was no woman for you in your time, didn’t you?”

Gilgamesh paused, frowning.

“…The others on the Moon Cell said that I shouldn’t have been able to summon you either.”

“Hakuno-“

“What do I even do with a soulmate?” She looked over at him, frowning.

“…We don’t need to do anything.”

“Gil, I’m stuck with marks over my whole body that say that I’m yours.”

Oh, but he liked that. Gudako could feel her hand going to her mouth at that. A few of the other servants were bringing seats and popcorn over.

Yeah. Classic drama from Gilgamesh.

Merlin sat next to her, sipping at a drink as they watched in a group.

“You were already walking around with every indication of being mine,” Gilgamesh told her. “Plain and average as you are-“

“Don’t go into that right now, Gil. I don’t want to hear it.”

“I am telling you my thoughts. Do not interrupt!”

“And I’m telling you that I’m not sure what to think of the universe calling me your soulmate.”

“Are you ashamed of that fact?”

“He sounds mad,” Merlin whispered.

“Yeah he does,” Gudako whispered back, taking another handful of popcorn.

Hakuno groaned, moving to stand up. They got a nice few of her ass as she turned to face him.

“I’m not ashamed of the fact, I just know that you don’t settle. You prefer blondes, Gil. I’ve seen it. I know better than to think-“

“Do not think to know my preferences!”

“I don’t have to! It’s obvious!”

“Hakuno,” he was almost hissing.

She turned to head for the door, but the man yanked her in closer.

Oh, but he slammed his mouth to hers. The woman mewled in his arms, faltering.The black button up was drowning her, but they saw one of his hands slipping down to pull it from her shoulders.

She was shrugging it off as their lips parted, a soft, hesitant look on her face said that they were in a moment. They were in one hell of a private moment.

The wall fogged back up into his original state. The sound from the other room was gone.

“Okay!” Merlin clapped his hands. “Let’s not get killed by the king of heroes today. I’m going to go find the kid that stole my staff and get it back. That was fun, everyone.”

“Do you think I can find my soulmate before you do that,” Gudako asked.

“Why? It’s obvious who it is, don’t you think?”

The magician winked at her before turning away.

[miscletoe]

Rise of the Argonauts' Cutting Room Floor, Part 2

Far from everything but I wanted this...somewhere.

GENERAL:

• The gods’ dialogue alignments were more unique. For example, on the docks of Mycenae when the mercenary insulted Jason only the Ares option meant punching him in the face. Apollo’s boiled down to “It’d be rude of me to brawl on another king’s land, but you, Hercules, have no allegiance and I can apologize for”

• The gods and Chiron had trials for Jason before he left Iolcus, like Hermes’ concerned psych tornadoes and Athena’s waterfalls, teleporting, and lightning

• A mini-map, first person mode, ability to freaken zoom out the camera

• Equippable things to Jason’s torso, waist, arms, legs, hands, feet, and head. Items including consumables and gold. The Argo was customizable, though purpose, extent, and method is lost to Cronus

• The game's ending is as abrupt as headbutting a wall. Well, a last hurrah banquet was planned for the credits. Pan drunk off his hooves, Achilles hiring a scribe to tally kill counts, Alceme supporting another excuse to drink, so on...subtitles are still there, dialogue's still there

COMBAT:

• Stats, which are in the final game to some degree. What isn’t is the gods modifying equipment stats based on Favor, beneficially, harmfully, or both. Skills which seemed different from Stats and each aligned with a god aside from generic, like Athena was associated with god powers and damage and Apollo health, resistance, and passive abilities. About the passives, a list mentions items and warm fuzzy names like BloodFrenzy and ConcussiveAttacks. Earlier I thought ‘at least Apollo and Ares don’t work together’ and welp. Speaking of Apollo, his more unique aspects were scrapped, like corrosion, sandstorms...Prophetic Spirit let Jason “avoid enemies using prophetic powers.” Hermes’, too - interruptions, parrying, teleporting, whatever Trickster’s Circle was, so on

• The Miracles and Torments system. Earlier the gods were more like the myths, with random acts of spite and charity, and if, say, Ares’ anger level was above 0 Jason could be rooted in place during combat and an enemy’d target him for 20-30 seconds depending on the torment tier. Fun hell. After tormenting the deity’d chill out for a bit, though unclear what affected anger levels. Some standouts are Athena’s bolt torment having warning sparkles, knocking down all enemies in range, and only differing from the miracle in whom it targets. Hermes’ Spectral Army miracle, too, which summoned, among others, archers with favor-dependent accuracy tiers

• The Argonauts calling for help or vice versa, various battle comments, like Achilles calling Pan goat-shanks and if Hercules asks Atalanta for help she said, “Cover you? I can barely see past you!” There were Heroism points and Valor and the Argonauts got upgrades through personal sidequests and apparently had customizable roles. Alas, not rolls

• Daedalus collecting materials and offering to customize weapons and armor. A centaur offering unique upgrades. Small decisions, like whom to sacrifice the black lamb to, had tangible impact (one option - to Ares, I presume - revealed bracers in the ash)

• More utility especially for the shield. Flipping which included an option to impale, dashing, rushing in which Jason became a bulldozer and sent people flying, so on...other weapon weird shit like this:

“JasonGroundStabSwordEvent const DISPLACEMENT_THRESHOLD = 0.5f; const MOVE_JASON_FORWARD_TIME = 0.2f; const MOVE_JASON_FORWARD_SPEED = 15.0f; MinTransitionDistance=50000.0”

• Truly trophy-worthy combat deeds. Kill opponents with counters. Kill opponents in one attack with each weapon, kill opponents in less than a minute with a spear throw, kill 10 foes without taking damage and that was level 2, etc... Less bloodily, listen to Pandora's EFTJ quiz and passively block attacks. Apollo, generous? No kidding

• The Mycenae arena with centaurs and automatons. Fun for the whole psyche. Also, cut lines like this:

"Nef kita! Purata!" - Satyr "He's starting to sound like Achilles…" - Patroclus. And yes, he can speak satyr

• Dryads had a shield, shark teeth, turned invisible and if someone had enough Artemis favor to see them even then only four could be seen at a time in moonlight, dash, dodge, hide in trees, heal there and teleport to other trees, spore clouds that did blunt damage, entangled people in vines/roots that broke legs and if a character cut or ripped an entanglement it turned into whips, if one of their four arms were ripped off they could reattach, spat in faces, what the hell are moonflies, attacks that overpowered others did a fourth of the damage, and pounce is understating the mauling of a hunter whose body became a blood fountain

STORY:

• Saria's plot used to focus way more on Lykas' and Hermes' relationship. The change of the Nisyros seeing Hep'naje - then the Emerald Hunter - as Hermes' divine punishment instead of the final game’s ‘idk it’s just here we guess’ had a lot of ripple effects. Some details were just better, like the Argonauts letting Atalanta land the final blow on the Hunter, and retroactively awkward, like Jason strategizing a hunt with Nessus, who killed Pelagia instead of the final game’s random manticores. Fun, as well, that an immortal god and 1,000+ year-old centaur agree 20 years a long time to not chat. Also, Atalanta unsure if she really belonged with the Nisyros and Hermes chiseling ‘Atalanta, of tribe Nisyros’ on Jason’s herm.

Some standout dialogue:

“No, you're not of my tribe. But what you seek to do could lead to more suffering for my people. I won't allow that. There's only one thing the Nisyros fear - the displeasure of Hermes. The manticores, the satyrs...even the outlaw wild centaurs, these we deal with. These we overcome. But the wrath of our god is a terrible thing, and your death will only anger him further. You don't know what you ask of us, Jason. But it's more than we can risk.” - Lykas “It gives me a great excuse when Lykas scolds me for sneaking out to hunt. He can't stay mad for long when he sees the herbs I bring back. Not to mention his pipe weed…” - Atalanta “You keep blowing smoke up my ass, it's gonna get awful hard to see in here.” - Nessus (What would we do without you?) “Live sad and despondent lives, most likely.” - Atalanta “Sad tales are best told alone.” - Achilles (Lykas? Of the bloodline of Hermes?) “Of course, all centaurs are. You must learn to pay attention, Jason.” - Hermes

• On wooded Varonas, sunset and Moon seen, Artemis’s island, did Orion keen. “Well shit she doesn’t love me I guess we’ll go around slaying Ares’ children for this dark Titan chick and stuff.” He and Adonis murder bro’d around as Blacktongues but disagreed about killing baby Alceme and had a bad breakup. Skipping the rest as it’s probably outlined on that IGN dev walkthrough. There seemed to be split storylines depending if Orion lived or not and Odysseus was involved. Dialogue, because some’s there and Artemis is INTENSE:

“My side's torn itself open... Give me some time Jason, I will be fine in a moment.” - Orion “That's the second most beautiful woman I've ever seen fall from a tree.” - Odysseus “It is quite clear what occurred here: the dryads were performing one of their peculiar little rituals to Artemis, and in the process they lost control of themselves. As a result, their festivities degraded into a torrent of violence and debauchery. It is unfortunate they were not joined by the jovial Achilles, as he is no stranger to either.” - Achilles “Your quest is a noble one, King. I would hate to see your arrogance kill you before it is finished.” - Artemis “And what if it was your wife they ravaged, King Jason of Iolcus?” - Artemis “Perhaps the old shall learn from the young what it means to hunt honorably.” - Artemis “You surprise me, King Jason. I was certain you would die today.” - Artemis “And you, bearer of the Fleece, you stand before me, at my shrine, with the blood of my daughters on your hands.” - Artemis

• The Argonauts with their own side quests/character arcs. Hercules was considering reconciling with Hera (forced him to kill his wife and kids and in an earlier concept art he wore said wife’s necklace) and I think he’s the one being referenced by the narrator:

“With Artemis appeased and the hunter Orion at last aboard the Argo, the brave Argonauts set out to continue scouring the world for the location of the Golden Fleece. Inspired by the audience with her goddess, one Argonaut eagerly prepares to face her trials, longing to one day take Orion's place as Artemis's most favored... Meanwhile, shaken by the horrors discovered on Varonas, another Argonaut gazes out upon the endless sea, haunted by the memories of his past...”

• Alexandria was Apollo’s sacred place cuz library/nerd and where Atalanta was once from. It, Crete, Sparta, and more were booted into the cutting room

• Minor characters had quests/storylines. A standout is Senator Anaxagoras’s daughter Crice being killed by Thankallos and Jason finding her Hecate locket in his cell. Heart-shaped, I’m sure

• Dialogue with more character, especially of Alceme. That she had a talent working with falcons and liked to swim but was a shoddy singer vs the final game's "Strong. Beautiful. Smart. Kind."

• Options like ratting out Daedalus to Damon and removing Medea’s wards - Hecate seemed wonderfully hammy. At one point Hermes didn’t take back his eyes so Jason’d probably die wishing he invented sunglasses. ...Actually, Jason was to gain an ability from every island which would "unlock events and side quests on all the other islands in the game"

MISCELLANEOUS:

• The models for Orion, his hunters, and a dryad remain in the game files, as are wounded centaur models and animations so everyone wasn’t meant to massively hallucinate in the Saria medic lodge. Less significantly, a ton of ambient dialogue was cut especially from the market of Mycenae. And...not sure what this actually means, but at some point the player was "able to change the course of the curse" on Kythra and got "to repair it"

• Certain objects reacted depending on Jason’s standing with a god, like Ares favor made braziers flare or extinguish

• Descriptions:

“The Royal Armor of the Kings of Iolcus, this suit of armor has heretofore been worn only on the most important occasions of state—coronations, weddings, funerals, and the Presentation of Heirs to Chiron in the Grove of Zeus. Crafted primarily for its ornamental appearance, it has little to offer in the way of defense.” “Hercules is a dichotomy of unrivaled strength and restrained emotion. His prowess in combat is obvious, reflecting his divine strength, courage, and resilience.” “Achilles is fiery and confident. His abilities in combat are unmatched, the unorthodox deceptive and explosive nature of his attacks make him a dangerous foe to contend with.” “Atalanta is a determined hunter of great skill, and great intrigue. She is quite focused and aloof, and appears to be ready to act, move, and fire in the blink of an eye.” “Perseus is eager and determined, but relatively inexperienced. He is something of a little brother figure, needing to be protected, but ever-ready to stand on his own.”

• The more Artemis favor Jason had the closer he could get to creatures and a golden stag would buff him. He could also kill animals on a whim, via a god power if you wanted to sacrifice in style:

“Special case sheep dismemberment goodness.”

• Customizable subtitle and user interface styles, some themed after the gods or maybe islands

• More. Didn’t want to overlap

IMAGES: Early title screen:

Loading screen?

Athena's temple. Bonus of early Achilles design:

Map of Iolcus. Much larger than final game:

Map of Varonas:

Iolcan UI style example:

Same for Ares:

And Apollo, with bonus scrapped god powers:

Another style for an enemy portrait:

Combat blah:

Hecate dialogue choice with zero context:

Earlier version of god skill trees:

As the player increased favor the statues got shiny and stuff, part 1:

Part 2:

Cheerily titled Mausoleum Sacrifice Screen, with Artemis and early god designs:

Shame we lost a way more sensible design for Athena. Am laughing imagining gamer bros shrieking at Hermes being nude except a magic crotch banner.

Wall on Iolcus I don't remember:

Dryad model:

[joneswilliam72]

The 405 Meets Rina Mushonga: On crafting her brilliant new album, life in Zimbabwe, Star Wars, her love of Paul Simon & so much more

Rina Mushonga is an artist of the world. Having grown up in Zimbabwe, lived in India, Holland, and more, she's come call London home to her musical endeavors. Yet, she carries influences from all her experiences across the globe, making her presence something of an antidote to our seemingly shrinking world. As fear and isolation encroach around us, Mushonga represents a beacon of positivity and warmth in a time where such vibes are desperately needed.

Her sophomore album, In a Galaxy, indebted to Afropop and more European shades of electronic alike, doesn't sound quite like anything else around, and is a true pleasure to consume. I was pleased to link up with Mushonga for a chat, which only proved to be more insightful and breezy than I'd dared hope. Read on below.

Also, be sure to catch her headlining live at The Shacklewell come the 19th of March if you happen to enjoy a good time.

*****

So, in the press release it says this record was 4 years in the making: is that referring to the time it took to find the various inspirations that inform the record / the period of time from which your drew experiences that spoke to the music, or were you writing/recording these songs across 4 years?

I think from writing and recording the first sketches, developing the demos and then final recording and post-production it was probably about 4 years of which the majority was writing and sketching really.

I started recording the first few 'demos' just before I moved to London and they just didn't come out right. We recorded in a friends studio and it was this amazing space but somehow it didn't quite come together or sound the way I had an inkling it should sound. I kept listening to my original sketches and preferring those to the end studio recording. After that I kinda pressed pause for a while on writing and recording. There was a lot going on with the move and existentially just a lot to process, leaving my band ...yeah it was tough. Once in Peckham I just took the time to settle myself a bit, to observe and experience. I dunno if I'd say 'finding inspiration' persé cause that sounds so intentional but yeah -- it was revitalizing being out of Amsterdam and in this new vibrant and indeed inspirational setting. I ruptured my Achilles heal which sort of forced me to finally just write everything down and re-start the whole process and it just poured out of me. I would take these sketches to Frans' (Verburg (co-producer)) and we'd develop the demos in his basement studio in Rotterdam -- no real pressure, just making tunes -- which was such a wholesome feeling. In 2016 I dropped an EP "Bullet" with the first inklings of the sound and vibe I built on for the rest of the album. I met Brett Shaw the summer of 2017 and over the course of about a year and a half the three of us put the record down.

So, going off that: I often think of albums as capturing a snapshot in artist’s life, but, of course, some albums are recorded over years and years, I’ve always thought that’d give an odd feeling for the person recording them: some material will speak to years gone by, while some other songs will possibly be very recent, was it like that for you? If yes, how is listening to the album like for you as an experience, does it feel like a “moment” or does it take you to different places and times within each song?

The songs on this record definitely span across time. Nothing's really of one time or even one place. A lot of the songs are hybrids even of present and past moments, songs, experiences. I think that amalgamated vibe sort of speaks through the album on different levels. When writing a lot of the songs it was definitely a time to take stock for me, looking back to look forward I guess. The last few years in Holland had been pretty frustrating and brought me a lot of anxiety and self doubt about making music. When I got to London and started writing for the album more intentionally a lot of anger and insecurity about that resurfaced that I wasn't fully aware of how much it had been this dead weight in my life. But listening back to the album is sort of like looking at a map of the past 10 - 15 years of my life in a way -- different songs speak to different times in my life, different places I've lived and communities I've been a part of, it addresses what community means to me, home, identity, the need for representation.

Having lived all across America, Scotland, and South Korea myself, I understand the feeling of drifting between home nations (at least somewhat!): did your experiences in each country radically differ from each other, or did you feel a common human thread between places? Have you had a favorite home?

The experiences were all definitely quite distinct and different. I guess having lived and grown up in these vividly different parts of the world also makes you acutely aware of preconceived notions about certain places. I went to high school in Zimbabwe in the 90s and I reckon my experiences as a teenager in Zim in many ways weren't all that different from kids in Amsterdam or London. I partied with friends listening to Morcheeba and Nirvana and Arrested Development, maybe mixed in with a bit more Bhundu Boys and Oliver Mutukudzi ... but still.

But then again experiencing Zim in my teens was very different to experiencing it in my 20s and 30s.

What's more in your face and hugely confronting is the inequality and massive divide between rich and poor which is a lot to process for a 16yr old who's also coming to terms with her sexuality and all that fun stuff. And this will sound wild but we moved back to Zimbabwe in my teens after having lived in Amsterdam and London for quite a while -- it was also just a jolt to be somewhere where the presumed dominant population, government, everything really, wasn't white. That first feeling really stuck with me. How, if we don't step outside our 'bubbles' or look beyond where we live or come from, we can get a very warped view of what the global 'norm' is. And always, always, always that representation matters -- how impactful it is to see yourself reflected back in your surroundings.

Living in Holland was different in the sense that it's where I actively started pursuing a career in making music I guess. But Holland's quite homogenous in many ways and I grew evermore painfully aware as a woman of colour how un(der)represent people of colour are which was further compounded by an upsurge in racism and a disturbing unwillingness to confront its problems with institutionalised racism. It all just made me feel less and less at home and was part of the reason we left in the end...new horizons and wanting to live somewhere that felt more inclusive and looked more like the world I knew was out there.

But Zimbabwe in particular holds my heart -- I feel creatively rejuvenated whenever I visit, there is in many ways still a world of opportunity there to make things new, and despite the hardship a hunger to create and express and thrive.

How precisely did Metamorphoses inform the album? Do characters factor as voices in at all, or all of the songs reflections of self?

I think I was drawn by the theme of transformation. I was reading at a time that I was experiencing a lot of transformation in my life and these magical tales of people turning into swans and trees and the layers of meaning just resonated with me. It's all very Midsummer Nights' Dreamish I guess -- the mythical madness of it all and I wanted to bring some of this magical, almost sort of luxurious, tropical vibe I experienced reading it into the album. Of course 'AtalantA' was directly inspired by the story of AtalantA the huntress who I loved using as this symbol of female power and perseverance, this guardian female warrior who'd kick any #metoo #timesup asshole in the nuts. And 'Narcisc0' is a subtle nod to Narcissus and his unfortunate obsession with his own reflection. So there's bits n pieces all over in various forms. But it's not a concept album or anything -- 'Tropix' was inspired by The Great Gatsby for example, so I had no qualms deviating from the script as it were. ;-)

Was Star Wars truly an inspiration for the title? Were you thinking of Joseph Conrad or more just a fan of the movies?

Yeah, for sure. I mean I'm no Star Wars nut by any means, but I grew up watching those films and that opening reel of course ... it sort of popped up when writing 'In A Galaxy' the title track --- that came first really and for the album title I was searching for something all encompassing, something that could convey the geographical scope of the album as well as all of these global human connections I was thinking and writing about.

The concept of Earth as part of a galaxy and how that sort of breaks down all these bullshit borders and barriers we put up to distance ourselves from each other and feel superior to each other, really spoke to me. Also I love those scenes where they're in some alien intergalactic bar and you've got all these wild looking alien species walking around sipping weird luminescent drinks and the humans in that set up always felt very much like the odd ones out which I loved.

What have you been listening to of late?

The glorious new Sharon van Etten album has been on repeat for sure. Also I'm absolutely in love with ROSALÍA -- her album is mesmerisingly beautiful. Beatenberg (South African band) , Kelsey Lu, Noname, BEA1994, Serpent with Feet.

What was (were) the last great thing(s) you read?

Mythos and Heroes both by Stephen Fry I've devoured. They lay out the origins and chronology of Greek Mythology through his awesome retelling of a hell of a lot of the great stories. It's charming and smart and funny and accessible. It helped revise a lot of Ovid's Metamorphosis and explain a huge chunk of stuff I just didn't get.

Is there a genre or artist you love that would surprise people? (K-pop stan here, shalln’t lie)

Ha. I'm not sure how surprising it is... but when I'm on holiday and want to truly disconnect from the outside world I love listening to old country and folk and Americana. Like Dolly Parton and the McGarrigle sisters, EmmyLou Harris ... all that good stuff is totally my musical comfort food.

What were your electronic influences coming into recording? Was it an area you’d already personally been interested in, or something collaborators began to sell you on?

I've always loved and listened to 80s Pop and Afropop / Afrobeats... I was pretty late to the game re HipHop but that's also been a growing influence these past few years especially how genre-redefining it's become.

But mainly it's been through working closely with Frans Verburg. He played keys in my band since my first album. I call him the synth whisperer and besides being a phenomenal pianist he also brings a lot of technical savvy but mainly synthesiser enthusiasm to the table. Frans and I also share a common love for Afrobeat and a common drive to produce something new and fresh sounding, so it was easy to develop a sort of short-hand with him and communicate what I was going for. He's been really...ehm...instrumental in helping me develop my new sound and interpreting and translating all my wild ideas with the warmth and depth and creative capacity synthesisers and electronica bring with them.

Developing the album we were listening to a lot of Afrobeat, but also stuff like John Wizards, this great South African artist who also has this cool way of fusing 'traditional' African textures with contemporary electronica and beats in a way that isn't contrived and that felt really fresh to us.

I really love Francis Bebey too and his weird and wonderful combination of the traditional and the electronic. But yeah, Frans has been key to this whole development and it's been such a joy and honour working with him on this.

Fully realizing it’s early days yet, would you expect to look towards literature for inspiration for your next record, or do you imagine you’ll find the music in entirely different places?

Absolutely. I think literature will always feature heavily in the music I write. I majored in English Lit at Uni, partly because I thought it'd help me with my writing. Also cause I felt literature in a way was like simultaneously studying sociology and psychology and history. But yeah, the stories are all there and writing about how I connect with them or using them as references to communicate personal processes and experiences has always felt very natural. But it's definitely not an exclusive source by any means ... I get a lot of 'material' inspiration from watching bad tv for example, there's a lot of telenovelas and sci-fi werewolf vampire angst in there too ... haha.

It seems you had a bit of a Rear Window experience (minus the witnessing a murder bit, I’d hope) after your injury - can you tell a bit of that story for readers unfamiliar with it, and perhaps if there were any particularly inspiring or memorable experiences from watching the outside world go by?

Haha whoops...I shamefully had to youtube the trailer for this --- aargh. But yeah I get what you mean now ;-)

Yes, the summer after I arrived in London I ruptured my achilles tendon playing football. We were still crashing at a friends place in Peckham and just having a great time being in London. I was pretty gutted cause it was a glorious summer and everything was happening, Peckham was vibrant and just popping and I was stuck inside. But it forced me to stop procrastinating with writing the album for sure. I had a mini set-up in the living room, mic, midiplayer, guitar, laptop and my foot in a cast perched up on the couch. I could hear Peckham outside my living room window which was glazed so I couldn't see much...but that weirdly also helped. I could hear people arguing and laughing and kids coming home from school and people going into town and I'd often hold the mic up to the window to record snippets of conversation or laughter and work those into the tracks. Some of those samples made it to the album, but all definitely helped set a tone. As I got a bit more crutch savvy and could hop into Peckham I started recording more of the sounds on the highstreet, west African hair salon ladies shouting at me from across the street if they could please just sort out my mad hair or just traffic, passing conversations, African churches... I did a lot of lurching outside windows with my phone held up in the air.

Was Paul Simon a direct influence on In a Galaxy or were you more simply comparing the vibes / storytelling?

I think I mean the fusion of Afro/Western Pop vibes more. Paul Simon was a musical staple in my family, and Johnny Clegg too -- they both combined western Pop with AfroPop to create something truly phenomenal. I think that's always stuck with me cause I identified with that on a personal level of course-- like, this music is how I feel, straddling two worlds as it were. It's also always been a challenge figuring out how to create something that's balanced, contemporary and represents all these parts of my musical heritage.

How would you describe the sound of the album? The Afropop angle is certainly evident, but I hear plenty of other things going on~ would love them in your own words~ we just journalists tend to be (partly from necessity, to be fair, gotta sell the reader) so reductive.

I think I called it 'Paul Simon in a sweaty African dancehall club' somewhere. But to be honest I find it excrutiating to really pin it down because in a way we've tried really hard to create something you haven't quite heard before, which granted is rediculously ambitious if not impossible...but yeah. I mean I had a long Yeasayer on repeat phase and discovering them really instilled more confidence to combine Pop with freakier more unusual elements. My song structures tend to be all over the place generally cause I hate repeating anything...which is very un-Pop -- Brett Shaw helped steer things in that department with ' why don't you bring that back again it's really good and I want to hear it again' ... I mean compliments will get you everywhere.

Vampire Weekend, Blood Orange, Santigold, TuneYards, Dirty Projectors, Arcade Fire. All that sort of off kilter synth pop with afropop flourishes really speaks to me and has undeniably helped me push that vibe on the record.

I read that Charlottesville informed ‘Glory’ (which I think might be my favorite track, but tough call!), would you say the Trump era / encroaching bitterness and terror of the world at large influenced the record in other ways? (Or you can simply speak on ‘Glory’, I can always edit questions to fit the answers you give later :) ) I came home from Korea, who had just ousted a corrupt President, and put a (reasonably) forward-thinking, good man into office, it gave such a feeling of hope to witness, and returning to Trump...it was truly soulsucking.

Yes I feel you on that. And coming from Zimbabwe where we've just gone from one nutso tyrant to the next has been equally soul sucking. I think what I mentioned earlier about living in Holland and experience this upsurge in racism and xenophobia played a huge part in the anger I was feeling writing this and 'Narcisc0' too. It feels so personal, my father (who's Zimbabwean) literally left Holland cause he felt so undermined and belittled, a professor in business studies and governance until you go to the job centre , there they immediately suggested he try and do some work as a janitor or cleaning office buildings. I could see him grow tired and angry and sad...every time he flew anywhere with my Mum (who's Dutch) he'd be the one singled out and stopped to search -- like my parents told me this almost as an afterthought because they got so used to this they kinda felt it was normal -- and it just enraged me --- I mean fuck-- all these nations built on the backs of the peoples and countries they're trying to keep at arms length --- the injustice, arrogance and inhumanity of it just makes enrages me. Seeing those people en masse chanting and marching the streets with tiki torches and brazenly out in the open as if they had nothing to be ashamed of -- it just set me off --- that feeling of being violently hurled back in time, as if all that struggle amounted to nothing --- that's that sentence ' and backwards we won't go' ... and then have a 'president' so jaded and corrupt not call it out and condemn it in no uncertain terms...that's just brutal...but yeah...stick it in a song n carry on I guess 🙄

I see and hear your remarks about white male fragility so clearly. (admittedly speaking as a white male) It’s so draining seeing these vital movements being twisted...like the recent stuff with people boycotting Captain Marvel simply because Brie Larson said something entirely harmless...I imagine it’s just the patriarchy having been comfortable for so long the slightest jolt to their power frightens them...I didn’t so much ask a question here but I’d love to hear any thoughts you have on the subject. Go off, if you like.

Ah -- yes -- it's just so sadly predictable and yet I still somehow find myself in a constant state of shock. I think it's the hijacking of the narrative...the blatant disregard of what's being said and just bulldozing back with 'not all men' or 'that's reverse sexism/racism' --- that bugs me the most --- that people can be so unwilling to look passed themselves to try and comprehend or empathise with someone else's propagated, state sponsored subjugation and feelings of exclusion and inequality that are like embedded in the fabric of our society.

Anyways, I think what's powerful about what Brie Larson's doing here --- when POC or any women call this shit out most of the time it'll be eye-rolling -- 'oh you're pulling the race card or the gender card again' type responses -- but I'm like...Hello !! Pull that fucking card and wave it in the air till your arm drops off and if you're white or straight or male then help call it out all the more -- be aware -- look around and think what am I contributing to this narrative...is this the space and time for my interjection, or am I hijacking someone else's narrative cause I love the sound of my own voice. Lord believe me I know it's tiring --- but think of how exhausting it is being on the receiving end of this for a kazillion years n then come at me.

So, how did you break into the music industry itself? I imagine it’s been a journey. Were you playing and recording while in India or Zimbabwe or so on? (I don’t know how young you were in either place, my bad if you were 5 or something haha)

Haha no worries -- I was born in India and left when I was 2yrs old -- so no studio time in India. It has been a long journey and honestly I still feel like I'm breaking in but yeah... I started performing in Harare at a joint we all hung out at on Thursday nights called The Book Café. It was thé spot where we could try out material but also jam with each other --- a bunch of culturally intrigued teenagers being all hoity-toity and artsy haha. It was pretty awesome though and I learnt a lot. I met Chiwoniso Mareira there around those early days -- she was one of the up and coming greats in Zim and we became good friends. She, again, blended traditional textures, played the Mbira but wrote songs with these contemporary Pop structures. We became fast friends and I learned a lot from her. She's the first person to deconstruct 'Strange Fruit' for me (the Nina Simone cut). I left soon after high school to study in Europe. I put my music on hold to focus on my studies...but the moment I graduated I was like --- right -- this is the thing I want to do most. I went back to Zimbabwe to reconnect with my music there I guess, I craved somewhere I could just try shit out and jam, no pressure or expectations and learn from local musicians and see where my sound would land and fit.

A friend put up some bucks for me to record an EP. It got picked up by an agency in NL and I moved there soon after and things kind of picked up from there. I landed a deal quite quickly after that and recorded my first album etc etc. And then a whole other crazy journey started haha.

How did you go about finding collaborators you felt at home with? Whether Brett Shaw or Frans Verburg, or so on? I see Verburg is referred to as a bestie, how did you originally link up, there a fun story there?

I met Frans when he joined my band in Holland playing keys. I love his musical choices and his style of playing and it was obvious from the start that he had a lot of great ideas to contribute and I dunno, I just trusted him quite quickly. Working together just sort of developed quite naturally. It's kinda like working with family really --- like we can cut through the bullshit and say stuff like 'I really hate that sound you're making!" or "that sounds like balls" and it not be a whole personal drama thing and I think that was really important for me going into making the second album, feeling safe enough to fully take charge and ownership of my ideas without feeling guilty or embarrassed. He never co-opted or sidelined my opinions and ideas -- and you'd think that was a normal thing considering we're working on my record...but being in a studio with mainly men can all too often become all about their feelings and their ideas and I wanted to stay well clear of that...I needed to in order to make this album and not look back and think damn, if only I'd stood up for myself more.

We initially went into the studio with Brett and recorded 'AtalantA' to just get a feel for each other and see if it'd work. Brett's personality is very different to mine and Frans'. Frans is like super Dutch as in pretty blunt or direct haha. Together we're also quite nitpicky about stuff plus we already had this shorthand working with each other -- but Brett brought this quiet steady force, gently guiding us here and there, always respectful of the ideas we brought with us into the studio. Frans and I had done a lot of the preproduction already and sometimes it's hard to let go of those ideas -- demo-itis ... but Brett was always just able to steer us to impliment small, smart changes here and there that had a huge impact on the overall outcome. Haha, reading that back Frans and I sound like a nightmare to work with...but we're darlings I promise ;-)

So the recording process was mainly just the three of us in the studio -- which is what I wanted -- a small intimate team -- to shut out all the noise and opinions and be better able to tune into my own thoughts and gut instinct without interference.

What are your hopes and aspirations moving forward?

I mean, I obviously hope that the album helps create more and better opportunities to create, perform and collaborate. I mean I think it sounds pretty straightforward -- but it's some serious hustling just to make music and tour and all the fucking hurdles you have to jump through to get ahead --- the bills --- the industry, and all the noise and logistics --- it really makes making music pretty hard sometimes.

I've always really admired Justin Vernon and how he works on all these different projects, musically, but also creating these great platforms and festivals. I love that idea of project based work cause it'd give me room to make music that sits in different genres and not make me feel trapped into having to only produce this one type of sound.

So basically make more amazing music and work with brilliant people preferably in beautiful places haha --- and I'd like to do more music for theatre and film. I wrote the score for a friend's documentary last year (Big Wata) and I really enjoyed that process.

But yeah -- I just want the good life really --- making music and travelling and exploring all the new creative possibilities that come my way.

If you could hypothetically record your next album anywhere on Earth, where would that be? No constraints from reality, in the ruins of Pompeii, anywhere!

I'd love to just take a small team of good people and record somewhere beautiful like Mozambique or Brazil or Jamaica -- somewhere warm and gorgeous with lots of rum and a beach nearby and ... hang on... this is sounding more like I just want to go on holiday with my friends -- hahaha ...which, to be fair, ain't no lie!!

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