#lovette was their name in the dream

[imbadatnicknames1]

OC i made today (technically yesterday cuz it's midnight but you know) based on a dream i had last night

I feel like they look a little bit too much like Grell from Black Butler so I'll probably tweak that in later drawings XD

[cawthorntales]

Second attempt for Blake bc

You can read the entire story to learn more about Blake from the beginning here https://cawthorntales.tumblr.com/tagged/grim%20adventures%20of%20blake/chrono

~

Producer: Ready when you are Mr. Lovett.

"Thank you. Hi everyone my name is Blake Lovett. I recently let go of some past issues and am learning to move forward with my life. I want love, a life and a family with the man of my dreams. When I saw casting for this show I felt it'd be the perfect chance to open me up to different types of men in the hopes of finding my soulmate.

I have two dogs Pineapple and Mango they both mean the world to me. I love winter. I enjoy video games, reading, writing, cooking, working out and gardening. Blue and black are my favorite colors. I'm a writer in the fantasy genre.

I look forward to meeting you all."

~

Information

Deadline for signups TBD.

Must be male

CC is fine. Just no defaults.

I own Cottage Living, Werewolves, Cats and Dogs, Romantic Garden Stuff, Seasons, Life and Death.

Must have a bio and picture.

You can make a guy from scratch. Rehash a former contestant for this or make over one of the following townies to use with a new bio: Malcolm Landgrabb(Claimed by weisskralle). Don Lothario. (claimed by ravingsockmonkey)

~

Slots

Muscle bear: 30+, broad/ heavier build (drinks protein shake), hairy. Often with facial hair. claimed @weisskralle

Punk @ravingsockmonkey

Farmer

Punk @riverofjazzsims

Gaymer: a gay man who is into gaming Claimed @simstagramsomeone

Himbo: a very attractive kind and considerate man who is not very intelligent. Claimed @invisiblequeen

[shiftingwithmars]

Stage Names for your DR

Okay some of these might be a little weird BUT HEAR ME OUT OKAY

Female

Vendetta

Kiss/Kissed

Bambi

Dior

Paris

Rio

Mirage

Jade

Jinx

Vixen

Circus

Faye

Lovette

Valentine

Siren

Charisma

Petal

Storm

Lila

Dream

Venus

[cherryshh]

♡　　　.　　ROMEO & CINDERELLA npt ‘ s ( @scythidol req )

⠀ ︶⠀ NAMES ⠀ juliette , cinderelle , cinderelita , rosalita, amoretta/amorette, amore(y), lovette, lovelle , lovelita , princella , amara , rosaline , cendrillon , valentin , aria

⠀ ︶⠀ PRONOUNS ⠀ lo / love , sin / sing , song / songs , ro / romance , rose / roses , cin / cinderella , dream / dreams , ye / yearns , amour / amours , adore / adores , blu / blush , che / cherish

⠀ ︶⠀ TITLES ⠀ The romantic chanteuse , she who wants to run away , her forbidden love , she who is deeply in love , she who dreams of love , one who yearns for love

+ the use of the pronouns she / her can be replaced , they are merely a placeholder

[thrifty-swiftie]

wonka gate: an examination of the parallels between wonka (2023) and sweeney todd (2007)

i saw wonka (2023) approximately 10 hours ago and since then i have been plauged by the film's nearly exact parallels to sweeney todd. over the past 10 hours, i have employed the help of my friend @orfisheus and we have successfully deconstructed every similarity between wonka and sweeney todd, though this post will specifically focus on the 2007 tim burton adaptation.

**SPOILER ALERT FOR BOTH FILMS. DO NOT READ AHEAD IF YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS!**

the simplest place to start is to introduce whom each of the wonka characters is trying to replicate. in my opinion, the most recognizable of these characters are mrs. scrubbit, portrayed by olivia colman, and mr. bleacher, portrayed by tom davis. these two are obviously trying to replicate sweeney todd/benjamin barker and his counterpart mrs. lovett. these two are recognizable by name alone, with "scrubbit" sounding extremely similar to "lovett" and "bleacher" sounding similar to "barker." however, the personalities of scrubbit and bleacher are nearly exact replicas of lovett's and sweeney's personalities. both sets of characters run "shops" that aim to harm the people coming in. one character, lovett in sweeney todd and bleacher in wonka, lures their victims in while the other, sweeney and scrubbit, do the actual harming. even from a non-theatre fan standpoint, the similarities between these characters is undeniably recognizable.

now, you may be asking "if scrubbit and bleacher are meant to represent the main characters from the original source material, why aren't they the main characters of wonka?" to that, i propose that we look at wonka as if it's the story of sweeney todd told by another character: anthony. timothée chalamet's wonka is almost a 1:1 copy of sweeney todd's anthony. both characters are dreamers and see the world in the best light possible despite all of the tragedy surrounding them. if you choose to view wonka as a story told through an anthony-esque character's perspective, the fun, colorful atmosphere of wonka feels less out of place than it did upon my initial viewing of the film. in a society where law enforcement and religion is corrupted by corporate greed, willy wonka still chooses to see the good in the world and the people in it, hence the film's upbeat and colorful atmosphere.

no anthony can be complete without a johanna, which willy wonka finds in noodle, the film's female lead played by calah lane. noodle, a supposed orphan (although, like with sweeney's johanna, the viewer finds out the true parentage of noodle later in the film), was taken in by the film's antagonists and is literally caged in by said antagonist. this directly mirrors johanna being trapped by turpin, sweeney todd's antagonist.

though the characters do not take a romantic interest in each other (which, let's be real, would be illegal) wonka and noodle form the same kind of bond that anthony and johanna did in sweeney todd. wonka rescues noodle from her cages multiple times throughout the film, just like anthony freed johanna. the duos care more about the wellbeing of their partner rather than the rest of the world and at the end of both films, the two sets characters both have happy endings.

in terms of minor characters, i would consider wonka's trio of chocolateers to be an extension of judge turpin, while keegan michael key's police chief character takes on the role of beadle.

as for plot parallels, the two films share many similar vital plot points, including quite literally opening in the exact same way. tim burton's sweeney todd film begins with anthony singing on a boat, while paul king's wonka opens with willy wonka singing on a boat. both sing about similar topics too, with wonka singing "after seven years of life upon the ocean... the city i've pinned seven years of hopes on lies just over the horizon... i've got twelve silver sovereigns in my pocket and a hatful of dreams" and anthony singing "i've sailed the world, beheld it's wonders... but there's no place like london." right off the bat, the viewer is exposed to the dreamer's perspective before the rest of society is shown.

not long after, wonka is brought to the shop of mrs. scrubbit and bleacher, where bleacher then attempts to club wonka. this could potentially serve as a callback to sweeney and his razors.

we meet noodle right after this. although noodle is most definitely the johanna stand-in of wonka, an argument could also be made for her representation of sweeney todd's toby. in the 2007 film, mrs. lovett takes toby in both out of usefulness and emotional attachment and she puts him to work in her shop as an assistant. like toby, noodle is taken in by mrs. scrubbit and put to work. however, mrs. scrubbit feels no emotional attachment at all towards noodle, hence why her name is scrubbit, a pun regarding her profession, rather than lovett, a name that professes why the character takes toby in.

as the wonka film progresses, we see more and more parallels with burton's sweeney todd. firstly, bleacher lies about his identity for a large portion of the film, just like sweeney does, and in both films the audience is made aware of these lies before the other characters find out. another parallel can be drawn between sweeney and wonka as both characters go "underground" to escape arrest, although wonka literally uses the underground sewer system while sweeney conceals his identity from the people who used to know him as benjamin barker. additionally, both wonka and sweeney utilize their stores to evade police capture.

at the very end of the film, we see our last two similar plot points. first, noodle is reunited with her mother. johanna meets her own mother at the end of the film, but while noodle is able to obtain a happy ending and live the rest of her life with family, johanna doesn’t realize it’s her mother, and is unable to reach that same fulfillment. johanna’s ending is much more tragic than noodle’s, however wonka is a children's movie, so what can you really expect? finally, in the post credits scene, we see justice delved out to mrs. scrubbit and bleacher as they are arrested for their wrong doing, similar to how mrs. lovett and sweeney die at the end of their film. once again, they're not killing people in a children's film, so this is the best we can get in terms of a parallel ending.

after breaking these similarities down with @orfisheus, i am completely convinced that wonka is a cleverly concealed parody of sweeney todd, but in the end, the movie represents a genre that is critically underappreciated in today's society. musical theatre should not have to be concealed to be enjoyed by all and theatre should not be relegated to the stereotypical shakespeare dramas. at the end of the day, who can really say if wonka is secretly a replica of sweeney todd? all that truly matters is the knowledge that allows us to appreciate wonka's worth. more than just a children’s film, it builds off of the foundation of two great works to become something that both pays tribute to and evolves the stories of willy wonka and sweeney todd.

[ethies]

Hello dazed goddess ,, may the digital goddess request names related to digitality && love ( ++ dreams if possible , but no need !! ) , thank you kindly .. ໒꒰ྀི´ ˘ ` ꒱ྀིა

of course ...! the Knight Of space hopes the Doll sent from Above enjoys these names ... feel Free to request more If they Are not up to your liking ( or if you would just like More ...! )

𓇼 . . digitality / internet : nano , mp4 / mp3 , byte , bytelle , synthette , rom , zip , nett , chroma , glitchy , webz , pixette , digita , cybelle , vyrus , virette , digi , qwerty , datalia , kizzy , note , medley , chroma , exa / exe , gigi / giga , glitchette

𓇼 . . love / softness : lovette , adore , kisses , cherish , darling , valentine , velvet , crush , kissette , blissy , desirette , doe , ribbon , dovette , lovebug , chu , beauty , lucille , cotton , dollita , softie , damsielle , angelina , seraphim , luvsick , roselle , lovie , sugar , nectar

𓇼 . . dreams / sleepy themes : lucette / lucid , drowsielle , slumberette , bubble , reverie , reve , celeste , celestelle , lumina , luminette , zzz , dusk , nocturne , lunelle , stelle , célestine , lullaby , cham / chamomile , lumi , cloudie , corvus

this Lovesick being hopes these names will Be Cherished ... Schy hopes the Unusual angel enjoys them ...! this Is the pure Of Heart ' s first ever request ^u^ enjoy !

[grilledcheezy92]

also pls tell us abt ur ocs!!!!

Aah I'm actually attempting to draw my listener oc's so I'll wait to actually talk about them physically BUT

Aubrey "Angel" Samson Shaw (she/they) Operations/Logistics Manager at Vesta, basically their dream job. Moved to Dahlia on a mandatory transfer for the promotion. Pack Karaoke Champion

Baylee "Baaabe" Graham Talbot (they/she) App Designer and Social Media Manager for the Dahlia branch of Vesta. Has had top surgery, plays guitar

Rogue "Sweetheart" Roberts (she/they) doesn't have a great relationship with their parents, they think they're incredibly lucky that Milo's parents approve. Their other ride is a motorcycle

Bellatrix "Darlin" Lovett-Hunt (they/she/he) has a full sibling 16 years younger, their first shift broke covert in a big way (towards the end of last year of middle school) which is why their family moved to Dahlia in the first place. Also Pack Karaoke Champion

Lena "Lovely" Sebert (she/they) was an independent/freelance journalist with a community college degree prior to meeting Vincent. Was raised by a single father

Elijah "Freelancer/Deviant" Samson (he/they transmasc) parents are still paying for their T shots, he's still on their insurance but gets no allowance or funds from them. They tried to ship him off to live with his and Angel's grandparents because they couldn't deal with the accidental magic anymore. They're exploring their femininity again thanks to Dear.

Nova "Starlight" Rice (she/they) Full-Cert, Professor at DAMN idk what they teach yet

Rigel Aspidiske "Warden" Stellar-formed, Congruent of Rak'Xit, bound in his Madrigal. (they/them) named for a star in the Orion constellation, their horns form a circlet across their brow, with the release of the D(a)emon quiz, they have been renamed for one of the brightest stars in the Carina constellation as a nod to kinship with Avior

Nell "Cutie" Hanson (they/them, sometimes she/her) was a cheerleader at DAMN. Parents are both telepaths so while their powers didn't manifest until puberty, they did not grow up with the privacy of their own mind at home. Coupled with a string of both empowered and unempowered relationships that left them with trust issues, Geordi was so open and honest with his thoughts it was such a comfort just being able to hear him, he's the best thing that's ever happened to them.

Brook "Dear" Yasuda (she/they transfemme) Sailor Mercury vibes. (I was also maybe inspired by this one specific fanart of a masc!Dear in a yukata that I first saw on twitter) Loves the beach. Has, in fact, learned all the waterbending moves from ATLA and TLOK.

Sunshine (Luci, she/they) and Honey (Beam, they/any) I'm still working on quite a bit with them.

Shaw Pack next gens below the cut (take 'em or leave 'em)

All shifters, age order

Benjamin "Benji" Talbot (he/him) eldest by a year. has his dad's smile and eyes but Baaabe's nose

Hallow Greer (he/they) is the best at non-shifting magic

Lilith "Lily" Shaw (she/her) future Alpha, has been a menace since the day she was born. Frank says she looks a lot like David's mom.

Joy Talbot (she/her) has vitiligo like her dad, hotly debated among pack elders whether she or her brother will be future Beta but she and Lilith were born just two months apart

Gabriel Shaw (he/him) basically Fooliverse!David, youngest by two years

Lily knows Benji is her mate, he hasn't quite figured it out yet but he's loved her forever. (Mary's Song is their love story)

Everyone thought Angel and David would be the first to have a kid.

It took some time on Sweetheart's part to convince Milo he'd be a good dad but it wasn't until he held Benji the first time that he believed it.

[thenightling]

I liked the movie Wonka and there are a LOT of subtle and not-so-subtle references to other musicals through it. Here are a list of the ones I recognized. 1. Wonka's hopeful arrival in the big city is like an inverted version of "No place like London" from Sweeney Todd in that it's joyous and hopeful despite people waiting to cheat him. It's a bit like Fun City from the never released Man who fell to Earth musical but sung by the would-be target. 2. Mrs. Scrubbit's name is a punny play on Mrs. Lovett from Sweeney Toodd. 3. Mrs. Scrubbit and Bleacher are very easily equatable to the Thenardiers from Les Miserables, especially when you see how they trump up how much Wonka owes them. 4. Noodle is a cross between Cosette from Les Miserables and Little Orphan Annie. 5. When Wonka gets bribed with money to free his friends from indentured servitude after his shop is wrecked this is very similar to Jack being bribed in Newsies. 6. Wonka showing up at the window to break out Noodle was similar to Jack wanting to rescue Crutchie in Newsies. 7. Wonka going back after the bribe to save his friends is also like Jack from Les Miserables. 8. The indentured servitude contracts remind me of the one from Pirates of Penzance in how ridiculously long they are. 9. The "Scrub Scrub" song is a lot like A Hard Knock Life from Annie. 10. The Oompa Loompa Song and Pure Imagination (Though with different words) are from the 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. 11. Noodle's book obsession could be a little nod to Belle in Beauty and the Beast. 12. Noodle's dream of her mother is a lot like Cosette's Castle on a Cloud only about a mother in a home full of books. 13. The Tango of "Do you have a Sweet Tooth?" is very similar to the modified version of Roxanne for Moulin Rouge in that it's persuading a character and done to the tune of a catchy tango. 14. Bonus: All the names are blunt references to what the characters actually are. Noodle is the smart girl. Abacus Crunch is an accountant (an abacus is an ancient adding device and crunching the numbers is a term for doing taxes and figuring out what's owed or what you can keep). A woman named "Bell" worked as a telephone operator, and Scrubbit and Bleacher own a laundry cleaning service. There are many other blunt as a hammer name clues. That isn't quite a musical thing but that is a thing from J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter franchise. That's why I put that in as a bonus.

[thewickedbohemian]

Dream Animated Movie Musical Tournament Round 3 Match 4

Sweeney Todd

Why this deserves to be an animated movie musical: no matter your feelings on Johnny Depp otherwise a lot of people can agree the movie version we got with him and Helena Bonham Carter left a lot to be desired so this could wash that taste out of people's mouths (and the recent revival brought this show back to the popular consciousness)

Notes/dream-casting: this would be another thing that'd be a cool Laika project in my mind and as for the casting once my brain remembered that just because the characters are British doesn't mean the actors have to be (idk many British actors outside of musical theater or Doctor Who) some of the names that floated to mind as potential dream-voice-casts for certain roles are Gaten Matarazzo reprising his role, Dove Cameron as Johanna and maybe Rachel Bloom as Mrs. Lovett (if she wouldn't be too young and a Jew playing that part wouldn't get problematic-connotationed given both blood libel stuff and how Mrs. Lovett dies (as Mrs. Lovett wouldn't have to be Jewish just because the actress is) as Mrs. Lovett may be the most demanding Sondheim role but I think she's up to the challenge esp. if she wouldn't have to play it physically). This is just me spitballing, feel free to suggest your own picks if you have better ones (just don't insult mine) or if you have any idea of an actor who'd be good voicing Sweeney Todd himself

Seussical

Why this deserves to be an animated movie musical: because that's the only freaking way it can be a movie musical because didn't the Seuss estate say all future adaptations of his work had to be animated after witnessing the live-action Cat In The Hat. Also there's already been a Horton Hears A Who movie so even if it doesn't maintain actor consistency with that (as this would be different universe of that story) it could at least be made by the same people and maintain visual consistency

Notes/dream-casting: of these, Seussical is actually the one that I have the most complete dream-cast for (but if you think someone else would be better for a given role feel free to offer a suggestion as long as you don't slight my pick in doing so); Neil Patrick Harris as The Cat In The Hat (the other trickster figure I mentioned that made me afraid to dream-cast him as Willy Wonka too), Jonathan Groff as Horton, Kate Micucci as Gertrude, Alex Newell as the Sour Kangaroo and Camila Cabello as Mayzie. If you're wondering about JoJo that'd probably be an unknown-kid-actor...but one with "low-support autism"/what some people still call Aspergers as darned if JoJo isn't really freakishly coded that way

[ohbutwheresyourheart]

all right gang buckle up it's time to talk wonka

I give Wonka (2023) a 4.5/10. While the movie was visually stunning and I broadly liked Willy, Noodle, the chocolate cartel, and a couple of the better-developed side characters, overall it lacked substance.

I will say up front that one thing I genuinely really loved about the movie was how it leaned into the actual magic of Willy's inventions. They don't just taste good, they have actual magical effects on the people who eat them. That was cool! Very inventive.

I also loved Noodle's character far more than I thought I would. She was a great contrast to Willy's idealism, and it was particularly enjoyable for the younger character to be the more cynical one. Noodle was actually one of my favourite parts of the movie.

Willy's grief for his mother was very touching and was in my opinion probably the best-realised emotional beat of the movie. The reveal that he hoped she would somehow be there when he opened his shop, his disappointment when it didn't happen despite logically knowing it couldn't... It hit home, and reinforced that Willy here is still a young man, little more than a kid, and still refusing to let adult real world logic puncture his dreams, for better or worse.

Now for... everything else.

So the first thing that annoyed me is Willy's characterisation in this movie: he has been "sailing the seven seas for seven years", i.e. has been fending for himself in a vaguely 1800s world across continents with nobody to look out for him, and he is... so blisteringly naive!

I get that he couldn't start out cynical (nor would I want him to) because that leaves no room for character growth between the prequel and the original movie, but it completely shatters my disbelief that a kid could be roaming the world alone for seven years and never before encounter anyone who deceives or takes advantage of him so that he is left so entirely at the mercy of Mrs Scrubbit.

(also lmfao Mrs Scrubbit herself is like... just say you wanted to spoof Mrs Lovett. The name. The attitude. The child assitant. The romance with the surly violent man.)

Even if he was still a little naive... there is no forgiving him handing Lofty the frying pan to hit him over the head with. I watched that scene torn between absolutely bewilderment that they expected me to believe Willy was that stupid, and a reluctant admiration for Lofty, who I can only imagine was astonished and delighted that his stupid plan worked so flawlessly.

That said, I actually really loved the reveal that Willy couldn't read. That felt very logical with his backstory presented in-universe (raised poor in a historical time period by a mother more focused on keeping them both alive and fed in their transitory lifestyle). While it seems Willy's mother was literate (the 'Wonka' on the chocolate bar wrapper), I can buy that Willy just Would Not Learn because he didn't see the point, and his mother either didn't see the need to fight the battle, or thought she'd have longer to teach him but died before she was able to.

The worldbuilding fell apart in other areas, however, such as the supposedly indentured servants running around town without consequence? I get that Willy's laundry invention was doing the actual work for them, but early in the movie there's a huge point made of how they all have to be present for roll call at least once a day, and then this just... kind of gets forgotten about. And then also somehow Mrs Scrubbit is able to just get into the chocolate stores and poison them all without anyone knowing, and also without taking any more direct action like making sure they're all locked up and can't leave? And where the hell was Willy storing all of the chocolates he was making to have enough to totally fill that shop?

Speaking of the indentured servants... okay, you can make a case for most of them. Abacus and Piper actually kind of grew on me. But I am convinced the comedian only exists because they thought of the scene where Willy shares his mother's last chocolate bar and realised they needed six characters to split the pieces between. He does nothing! Absolutely nothing! He is there for a few brief moments of appalling cringe comedy and nothing more! His supposed talent he brings to the team is one throwaway line where he pretends he's talking to a fucking octopus!

And it's infuriating because they could have done something with this guy! What if he actually was a good comedian with a great stage presence who fell on hard times because he made fun of the chocolate cartel in one of his shows and they got him blacklisted? What if he was the one who helped Willy develop his showmanship to sell his chocolates? Wouldn't that have made far more sense, and made him far more integral to the plot, than a few off-colour "hurr durr hate muh wife" jokes???

Controversial opinion on side characters: I loved Hugh Grant the Oompa Loompa. I was expecting to hate him, but he charmed me. I did raise my eyebrows at the fucking speedboat yacht what the hell, but eh, fine, it was one brief shot, I can live with it. I honestly feel like Lofty and Noodle carried this movie on their tiny sarcastic shoulders. What did annoy me was the ending sequences of the movie, where the writers seemed to abruptly realise they had strayed too far from the bounds of 'explicit prequel to the Wilder movie' and tried to fix this by having Lofty spout off a number of Wonka's most memorable lines in quick succession, as if to scream SEE, SEE, IT'S A PREQUEL, HE'S SAYING THE THING, IT'S A PREQUEL---

I think the point could have been hammered home far more effectively by having a last interaction between Slugworth and Willy before the Slugworth's arrest, where Slugworth says something to the effect of "I'll be back, and I'll stop at nothing to ruin you". Cliche? Sure. But at least it would create an actual bridge between the two movies. As it stands, there's little to no actual setup for the spying and conflict because... the chocolate cartel are being sent to prison (indefinitely?). Again, maybe have Slugworth or one of the others point out that fraud isn't a life sentence, and they will be back.

(Actually, I would have given anything for Slugworth to try to talk Noodle around to his side - offer her the money, books, clothes, etc., tell her she's his niece, play it as if he's so glad to have found her, tell her she'll be his heir - give us a dark mirror of Wonka's eventual relationship with Charlie, and a hint of Willy having to face what betrayal by those he trusts looks like.)

I also felt like the movie's attitude towards chocolate itself was bizarrely conflicted. One the one hand: it's the most amazing and delicious and incredible thing ever! Everyone should be able to buy chocolate! On the other: hahaahaha look at the stupid fat police chief and hohohohohoo look at the stupid corrupt chocaholic monks. Yeah, yeah, you can handwave it as a question of degree, but it hits on the same sour note as Augustus Gloop in the original: why is it a bad thing to enjoy chocolate, and even (gasp! shock! horror!) be fat?

Other minor grumbles that probably bother nobody but me:

Sovereigns aren't fucking silver, they're explicitly gold, they've always been gold, they are literally one of the highest denomination of historical British coinage. Hearing characters treat single sovereigns as essentially small change set my teeth on edge from the start. If the writers wanted to use a historical-sounding coin, why not shilling? Actually, shillings would have fit in much better with the in-universe value attributed to silver sovereigns. I've got twelve silver shillings in my pocket even has the same cadence!

I don't like Timothee's singing and did not find any of the songs to be particularly affecting or memorable. The movie did not need to be a musical. I particularly disliked the cover of Pure Imagination, which was juuuuust enough off from the original that it put my back up. I don't know if I feel like this because I was so done with everything else in the movie that annoyed me by that point, but I just... felt like so many of the songs sounded the same? Not sure if that was because of an intention by the composer or a limitation from Timothee's vocal range, or both, but the only song that I even kind of liked was the villain song, and frankly that might just be due to the vague homoeroticism winding its way through that scene.

Why is he milking a giraffe. Mammals don't... they don't just constantly... was the giraffe pregnant??? Have any of the writers ever set foot on a farm ever. Do they think cows just Do That. Please get these people a book on basic biology.

[ladysisyphus]

So maybe the most important thing you need to know about this mix is that we've been adding to it since 2002.

The original, CD-length version of it (in 2005!) was a mix based on the beats of the anime, which then got separated into Vash and Wolfwood mixes. Then those got rejoined into a single mix and reshuffled to fit the beats of the manga, and then got expanded upon. I think its last major revision was ... 2011? Sure, that sounds about right. The biggest change in recent memory was when we moved it over to Spotify and lost all the songs that aren't on Spotify (including the song the title comes from, though the title remains).

Which means the second most important thing you need to know about this mix is that it's a collaboration, put together by two queer people who were best friends when its creation started, and now have been married for fourteen years.

Tracklist beneath the cut, but you can draw your own conclusions.

Eric Weissberg & Steve Mandell - Dueling Banjos

Los Fabulosos Cadillacs - El Matador Matador, te están buscando / Matador te están matando

Tom Waits - Way Down In The Hole When you walk through the garden / You gotta watch your back

The Wallflowers - Bleeders Gotta keep this together / Maybe next time is never

Greg Brown - Lord I Have Made You A Place In My Heart And I hope that you leave it alone

Ha Ha Tonka - What Shepherds Of These Hills!? We know that history will be the harshest judge

Our Lady Peace - Supersatellite And nothing dazzles me, I am in his dreams / And nothing is shocking, transparent human being

Electric President - Elegant Disasters Now we know what you look like / We know your facade is cracking

Bush - Little Things I'd die in your arms, if you were dead too

Cloud Cult - The Tornado Lessons You got your finger on the trigger / Though you never wanna fight / Put your belly up and aim / For the sky, sky, sky, sky

Cowboy Junkies - Highway Kind Then I'll meet the ones between us, be thinkin' 'bout you / And all the places I have seen and why you were not there

Bruce Cockburn - Use Me While You Can Bullet in a sandstorm / Looking for a place to land

Sting - It's Probably Me You search the city / For your only friend / No-one would you see

Paul Simon - Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard Goodbye to Rosie, the queen of Corona

Stealers Wheel - Stuck In The Middle With You Well I don't know why I came here tonight / I've got the feeling that something ain't right

Ha Ha Tonka - Giant Strides Chomping at a bit I can't spit out / Some people just need to let it go

Lyle Lovett - Promises If God is my witness / Then God is my savior / But if you are my judge / Then I'm already damned

Bush - 40 Miles from the Sun I need to lose to make it right / I'll confront the stars tonight / I will babble, I will bite

Okkervil River - For the Enemy They'll tie us down / With those fine thin threads / And run their knives / Up and down our skin

Toad The Wet Sprocket - Whatever I Fear Did we expect these things to change / By waking up and suddenly there they are

Radiohead - Sit Down. Stand Up. Walk into the jaws of Hell

Matchbox Twenty - Bed of Lies I know that it's weak, but God help me, I need this

Indigo Girls - Starkville If you were here in Starkville / Well the local girls they wouldn't have a prayer

Emmylou Harris - I Don't Wanna Talk About It Now I wanna go down

The Mountain Goats - Have To Explode You name one thing about us two, anyone could love

Johnny Cash - God's Gonna Cut You Down But as sure as God made black and white / What's down in the dark will be brought to the light

Bush - Machinehead If I had it all again I'd change it all

Counting Crows - Cowboys Oh, I, I will make you look at me / Or I am not anything

Ha Ha Tonka - Dead Man's Hand All around me are wasted plans / Everywhere you look no matter where you stand

Bob Dylan - Not Dark Yet But it's getting there

Wilco - Via Chicago I dreamed about killing you again last night / And it felt all right to me

Matthew Good - Non Populus You know we could have stayed / Instead of crawling off into the wilderness

Psalmships - Heart Carries Blame I'm full of shit but I mean it

W.G. Snuffy Walden - Project Blue

O'Death - Ourselves Alone dear, I know where I'm leaving / Dried up, into the storm

Radiohead - Idioteque We're not scaremongering / This is really happening

Soul Coughing - $300 I need to feel it when the drug starts coming on / I know you lord are a jealous lord

The National - You Were a Kindness There wasn't any way for anyone to settle in / You made a slow disaster out of me

O'Death - Don't Come Back

Radical Face - Ghost Towns But all this time, I been chasin' down a lie / And I know it for what it is / But it beats the alternatives / So I'll take the lie

Joe Pug - I Do My Father's Drugs If you see me with a rifle / Don't ask me what it's for / I fight my father's war

Drew Bunting - Gin I meet him / Half-delivered / But he calls me brother, joy and lover

Dave Matthews Band - Bartender If I go, before I'm old / Oh brother of mine, please don't forget me if I go

Nina Simone - I Think It's Going to Rain Today Broken windows and empty hallways / A pale dead moon in the sky streaked with gray

Okkervil River - The Velocity of Saul at the Time of his Conversion But enough of “the fight,” enough “you and I” / Enough of “prevail” or “walk in the light”

The Flaming Lips - The Ego's Last Stand A man holds a gun / There's no explanation / Oh, he shoots at the sun

The Mountain Goats - High Hawk Season I saw the streets fill up with people that I knew / People who looked like you

Explosions In The Sky - Catastrophe and the Cure (Four Tet Mix)

Jonathan Coulton & Suzanne Vega - Now I Am an Arsonist Touch the sun, my eyes wide open unbelieving / Catch a breath, the only one who's left is leaving

William Elliott Whitmore - Rest His Soul We were living proof of a dying dream / The truth is no one saw us coming / There's always one more song left to sing

[trashpidgeon48]

Sweeney Todd PJO AU

The two wolves fighting for dominance in my brain right now are Sweeney Todd and Percy Jackson. So I have a Sweeney Todd PJO AU that's been cooking in my brain for a while. I'm gonna share some of the basics of the AU cause the actual plot isn't plotting in my brain.

Benjamin Barker, son of Hades, comes to Camp Half-Blood. He basically gets slotted into Percy's place.

Lucy, daughter of Aphrodite, gets slotted into Annabeth's place. In this AU Luke and Thalia and most of the secondary characters are still the same but Pirelli takes Clarisse's place.

Eleanor Lovett (I don't care that Lovett is her married name we're just leaving it), daughter of Hermes, gets put in Grover's place but some stuff gets shifted around because she's not a satyr. She wasn't directly searching for Ben, she goes to Yancy when not at camp half-blood and a lot of other things from the other books that I have some ideas about. But the AU really doesn't take place during the actual book timeline so ignore it.

The other big thing is imagine the HOO books didn't happen, Camp Half-Blood and Jupiter have a tenuous relationship but don't really interact and have even more of a hella rivalry. Big effects on the world-building but I don't have the energy to re-read the books and world build. So this will not affect the plot.

Anyway, these three are the saviours of Camp Half-Blood but the camp is especially fond of Lucy and Ben. They fall in love and make the gods pay their child support. Camp Half-Blood is so much safer because of them, demigods actually live to adulthood and shit. So they live long enough to have Johanna. But these two are still questing demi-gods so one day Lucy and Ben get sent on a quest. But they don't come back. Leaving Nellie and the camp to effectively raise Johanna.

Johanna becomes a badass second generation demi-god while Nellie helps work the camp, its her full time job at this point, at some point she dreamed of traveling or working in the regular world but she couldn't leave without Lucy and Ben. Toby is also a child of Hermes but he's an orphan whose parents got killed in a monster attack so he is full-time and treats Nellie like a mom.

But one day Anthony, a child of Poseidon, comes to camp. After a series of really fucked dreams he ends up stumbling onto the oracle and gets assigned a quest to find Ben and Lucy who are apparently alive despite being deemed dead for 15 years. Johanna and Toby end up going with Anthony along with Nellie as an assigned chaperone, because camp is safer now and minors can't go on quests by themselves.

That's where I have it right now, I have a couple more ideas but that's the gist. I know that Judge and the Beadle are probably primordial monsters who are behind their disappearance. But I'm bad at plotting especially with such heavy world-building and mythology research needed to make a quest.

If anyone has any ideas please share!

[joemuggs]

Albums of 2023 part 4

RIGHT where were we? Continuing from part 3... Let's get through this before January is out shall we? Last stretch... Listening to this 10/10 LP I realised that the only real peer Kristin Hersh has is J Mascis: always different but always the same, always tapped into the eternal flow of weird, sad, America, always writing, playing and singing brilliantly year-in-year-out.

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭you can hear Ryuichi Sakamoto breathing on this 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Talking of always different always the same, Slowdive were built to age gracefully weren't they? Even so, though, it's pretty startling how they continue to do work right up there with their very best all these years later. Proper safety blanket of an LP this.

In a golden age for soul/R&B, Mahalia is royalty. She just keeps growing as an artist and this is easily her best album yet - perfectly hits that sweet spot between R&B, neo-soul and pop and just sounds *classic* from head to toe. World class.

I would watch the absolute shit out of the Tarkovskyan meditation on scale and emptiness that this amazing instrumental album by Vince Clarke would be the soundtrack for. The void staring back at you! ⚫️👀⚫️

Kerfuffle aside, Róisín was firing on all cylinders here. This doesn't have the deadly focus of Róisín Machine (what could?) - rather, like Hairless Toys and Take Her up to Monto, it takes time to unpack - but it's a sprawling wonderland of a record, brilliantly structured, and a fine addition to her immense discography. Interviewed her (pre kerfuffle) for the Substack...

It baffles me how consistently Loraine James is able to sonically express complex emotions that don't have names - and how she's able to use all the tropes of "cerebral" music, but smash the ivory tower and make it feel like it has purpose out in the world and is just a natural way to communicate.

Before, on her EPs, Yaeji built her tunes on house, hip hop or other recognisable grooves - but on her debut album, it's an explosion of everything. The confidence to transcend the myriad influences and create something so pop, so weird, and so singular is incredible.

Here's a weird one I only just came across as the year was ending. Mary Lovett, straight outta Norfolk, makes more unique, grown-up electropop: but this is mystical, insinuating, mischievous and very peculiar indeed. Feels like a subversive cabaret of the mind.

While we're on peculiar, grown-up, mystical Norfolk electropop - ah ok maybe more gothy postpunk with a bit of rave thrown in - Maria Uzor smashed it out the park with this. Makes me want to do really jerky interpretive dance in a room full of misfits - and made us want to shoot/interview her for the Substack!

Another artist who just grows with each release - Nabihah Iqbal hit new levels here. It's so deluxe, so poetic, so morning after the rave, really tapped into deep historical streams of New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Slowdive and co, but resolutely not retro...

I have listened to this Yazmin Lacey record SO MANY TIMES, it's just vibes upon vibes upon vibes, also I keep playing fantasy football with dream remixers for each song, also she radiated charisma and wit on stage at We Out Here. A star.

Amazing voice, amazing poetry, witty af ("dickhead blues!") yet stab you in the heart serious, ancient yet modern, lo-fi yet lavish, INCREDIBLE arrangements, absolutely staggering stuff from Kara Jackson.

This is both a deep, literate, endlessly fascinating songwriter LP that you can pore over endlessly, and taps into the very purest essences of house music - what more could you want? Interesting political / environmental / regional backstory too. AMCA absolutely rule.

In a year of phoned-in, arbitrarily-sequenced rap albums, CasIsDead's Famous Last Words stood out like a skinned thumb: this is an A-L-B-U-M album - with narrative, leitmotifs, a view on life that's the definition of "unflinching", gorgeous music, wordplay for days, and a finale that'll make your heart fall out... just stunning.

Almost forgot this was 2023 as Tuulikki gave me the LP at a festival in Oct 2022 - and I’ve had it on rotation ever since including in DJ sets. Modernist folk-classical composition for accordion +++ - really special and gets under your skin.

In a year riddled with great grown-up electropop / dance pop albums, Hifi Sean and David McAlmont were kings. This is what bittersweet accumulated life experience sounds like and it's WONDERFUL. Proud to have interviewed them both - Sean here / David here - for the Substack about it, and both were amazing value.

TWO stunning meditative records from Beirut coming up, both epitomes of Soft Music for Hard Times. First Mayssa Jallad on the new Six Of Swords label with an amazing dark but weightless singer-songwriter album - imagine a Lebanese Windy & Carl? A real experience of taking a step into someone else's dream record, this.

And then puppeteer (!!) Yara Asmar with mostly instrumental soundscapes which like the Jallad album exist in an isolationist dream space and are impossibly sad and lovely with glimmers of forlorn hope, laments for a broken world etc etc, just wonderful stuff. Also the THIRD appearance for Brighton's Hive Mind label in this list.

Another very grown up record! Ever-thoughtful Scrimshire was clearly in brooding mode in the studio, lots of darkness to this - but it's gorgeous too, and you know what, it's up there with Yussef Dayes as far as UK jazz versatility and ambition goes!

AND FINALLY!!!! 32 minutes of - yes - PURE PLEASURE. So so good, and so needed in bleak times, to hear Janelle Monae cutting loose with total fun and confidence like this, I just LOVE it.

That's it... 95 records. All have given me joy in the last year, and I hope some of them do you too.

[mariasparrow]

Travel Through the Darkness FilipaMariaKecharitomene

Having just completed his second quest to awaken the Sleeping Princess, Link is now faced with the task of escorting her to the Castle. Charmed by her rescuer, the Princess herself isn't so sure home is even there anymore. Meanwhile, monsters are hunting the Hero's blood, and a Chain of Eight men are looking for him... Or in other words...the Chain meets Hyrule.

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

“A literary mystery, a damsel in distress, and his rival deposed.

If that doesn’t get him here then he’s not much of a knight in shining armor.” ~ Charlie Lovett

In the cold vault that was her bedroom, the arched windows still contained panels of blood red stain glass. Shimmering and timeless, thanks to the wizard's spell.

The one that both imprisoned and preserved.

Locked within this endless sleep, Zelda Zaranitsa of Hyrule, daughter of a King, niece of a King, sister of a King, could only recall hazy glimpses of a long dream.

Just one. Only one. Never truly beginning. Never truly ending as she lay upon her embroidered cushions, hands upon her stomach. Her shoulder-length hair had not grown an inch in her sleep; fresh and dark red as a never-bloomed rose.

Just a dream. And not a very clear one at that.

Behind her closed eyes, visions splashed against her mind like raindrops. Warping the landscape in a grim blur of death and malice. Over time it bloomed with colors. First there was only red, spilled in rivers across a dying land, painting the fires that consume it. The monsters that roamed it. The color of poisoned skies that spill acid rain upon crops.

Screaming people, desperate, hopeless.

The Sleeping Princess would weep, if she could.

Then, suddenly...almost inconsequentially...there is a speck of green amidst the destruction. Unfurling, growing, dispute the lack of sun, the lack of rain, the lack of help.

He is small at first, so small.

A green-shoot of stubborn life. Yet he grew. And all he touched grew green in his wake. Waking with hope, with faith, with endurance.

With courage.

Oh, he stumbled at times. He hurt and he bled red, oh so much red, until the cursed earth he walked on was sanctified with it. In her dreams, she gasped whenever his foes dealt him a wound, wanting to cower and hide her eyes as much as she wanted to reach out and bind the red flow, to stop it.

She can never get a good look at his face. She doesn’t know his name. Eventually though, the worse of the red, the cause and cancer of this land, yields to him at the end of his sword. The monster is sealed away within him, within his blood. It is the first time she tried to cheer within her dream, within the spell. Even outside the spell, her lips twitch in the faintest hint of a smile.

If that had been all, it would have been enough. She could’ve rested in peace, for the remainder of eternity.

Such was not her fate.

Four more seasons past with feel of old friends. They are her only companions after-all, in her frozen cocoon of time. She knows them well, favoring spring and summer the most, but still fondly remembering the other two. These brief flashes of the changing years that swept her mind though the magic is painful in its unteachableness.

Her glimpses are tangled with her memories of how things once were. It was hard to separate what was from what she longed to be. She does not grow, does not age. A horrible, awe-filled thing. The only company are the Shiekah who make pilgrimage to her, bringing the currents heirs to the throne to remind them of the past. 

She is so lonely.

Each time the Door creaked open, that fragile, stubborn hope fluttered, only to have its wings cruelly pluck once again. She slumbers on within the sleeping death, a frost upon the gentlest flower.

But not everything is frozen in time.

Out in the world...things are changing, old magic is stirring. Whispering "Its time."

There was an old song from her era. It was once declared that time made one bolder…that children grew older. The Princess’s young green-shoot…he grew older, too.  Grew strong and daring. As giving as an apple tree in autumn.

What else could explain the decision he made? When he accepted the quest to wake her?

Had the Princess been able to stand, even in her dreams, she would have fallen to her knees.

She never realized hope could hurt so much.

So much that it was nearly dyed red in color, with every dropped spilled by moblins and achmans and every other unclean thing. She fretted. So terribly, terribly afraid. It seemed an unequal thing, that someone should risk his life when it truly wasn’t a pressing thing. Her sleeping or not was not a matter of saving the kingdom, or the world.

No.

He was doing this solely to save her. That was the only prize waiting for him, should he survive the ordeal of collecting the Shards of Courage that she had shattered. It seemed like a meager thing, a Hero’s life for one girl out-of-time.

An unnecessary, unneeded, forgotten Princess.  

He had so much more to offer than her.

Don’t, she thought, pleaded, somewhere in the shifting murk of her mind, watching him. Watching him struggle, fight, bleed, die -honest to goodness die, dear Hylia. Die more than a few times, cheating Death only with spells and craftiness and strange little dolls.

Please don’t do this for me, it’s not worth it.

Of course, nobody can hear her. So deep is she within her dream, she doesn’t the footsteps echo through the North Palace’s abandoned halls, their owner exhausted and filthy and dizzy with triumphant. Doesn’t hear the door -the one Which-Does-Not-Open- swing wide, letting in the Hero she had been watching for...waiting for.

*~*

She doesn't hear the short puffs of his breath, his lungs unable to get enough air, aching as they were against his bruised ribs.

That last battle with his own shadow was one he will not soon forget. It had been a growling, savage version of himself, all his fierce will to live warped and twisted into something so dark and selfish, it had struck him as much as his enemy's sword.  He hadn't said much as they exchanged blows. But what the shadow had said, he wouldn't ever forget.

"I won't let you wake her!" the dark image had spat. "She's mine!"

Link had to admit, there had been particular venom when he drove his sword home for the final time, satisfaction when he watched the shadows hissing, cursing form vanish. He doesn't see his steps grow softer, more reverent, as he approached the blood red steps leading up to her alter. Gazing upon her figure, he was struck, once again, by the crashing wave of kinship he felt with this young maiden. Royalty or not, he knew something of the unfairness of being under a curse. Having it dominate your every hour.

Waking or asleep, he considered, before he straightened up determinedly.

He might be powerless to stop his own curse from chasing him for the remainder of his days, but such would not be her fate. Her fate he could change. He could give her life back to her. If she lived a good one, maybe she could live it for the both of them. It would be worth it, then. Every cut and bruise, every stab his shadow gave him. It would be worth it.

Setting his jaw, he squared his shoulders under their coverings of brown and green and leather and stood beside the Sleeping Princess, the precursor to the Legend of Zelda which bears her name.

Since he already knew a Zelda, he had taken to calling this royal maid Aurora, after a fairy tale told among the campfires of his youth. It had been his favorite, fascinating him with the story of the Princess as beautiful as the morning, preserved in time.

The stories never described what the maiden looked like, saying only that she was fair, but this Princess is more than lovely enough to fill in the gaps. She’s so small, white-skinned and delicate seeming. Like the summer lilies that the other Zelda, Crown Princess of Hyrule, had managed to coax from the recovering soiling in the royal gardens.

Her rich hair the dark red of certain kinds of woods. The ones that make good homes. It tumbled to her shoulders, matching the red tunic-gown which swaths her figure.

Not for the first time, Link wondered what the color of her eyes were.

Are.

He has visited her many times during this second quest of his. But Link has never touched her. It just seemed wrong, when she had no awareness of it. Or worse, if she had aware of it and didn't like it. What Princess would want to be touched by him?

An accursed forest rat, who broke more things than he fixed.

This time though, he couldn't help himself, the clever fingers of his right hand pushing the moss-soft tresses from her face, though he quickly stopped. His hands were stained with dirt and monster blood and gods-only-know-what. Normally that wouldn't bother him, but it was just so apparent in contrast to her fair skin.

He has no business touching her, ever. Raising his left hand before he could make a greater fool of himself, Link curled a fist, the golden might of the gods shimmering to life.

"Would you lend me your power?" he murmured; head humbly bowed. He made his wish. And the entire room filled with light.

*~*

The first thing she is aware of is light. White hot and blinding, it pulses gold against the blackness holding her captive. In her dream world she gasped, the shock to her soul paralyzing, burning, as the bonds holding her within the Eternal Sleep are broken with a breath of divinity. Then there is a voice, indistinct at first, but pressing in on her conscience, raspy as if unused, but growing louder. Growing firmer. Until -

“Your Highness.”

She felt her eyes flutter open of their own accord.

This is what an infant feels, the thought occurred to her, when flushed from blank nothingness out into the unknown.

She murmured, whined, muscles moving for the first time in unknown centuries. The light was too much, burning and all-consuming and never ending. It burned through more than the curse, it burned through her: her mind, her memories, her self –

“Princess,” came once again, more insistent now. There was warmth on her cheek, a stroking motion running in a line from her ear to her jaw. Up and down, repeating. She turned to it instinctively, lost in a sea of gold.

“Please wake up.”

It was a gentle command, but the power behind it was the final battering force that broke the hissing hold the curse still had on her. With a scream of rage, the spell shattered.

And Zelda Aurora woke up with a short gasp and a shock wave of magic that shatters the glass in the windows, shards of it slicing the bindings on the curtains so that they flapped freely.

Shocked with awareness, her eyes, deep blue as pure water, roll frantically in her head as she tried to take in everything. Gosh, was this what seeing things was truly like?

Everything was so clear! Vivid with defined features, making one thing from another–

Tall marble columns held up the arched roof, the torchlight casting flickering shadows around the room’s edges, the clipped tiles of mosaics and tattered tapestries hung from the walls –

“Thank Hylia,” she heard the raspy voice breath out, sounding like autumn leaves.  

Blinking, her raindrop eyes flickered towards its source.

It was a boy.

Well no, that wasn't right, not quite a boy, but not a man yet either. He had wide hazel eyes in a light tan face, his unruly brown curls coated with ash and blood. He stood at her side, looking at her, pale under a layer of grime. 

“W-who?” she asked, whispered, brow furrowed as she tried to recall, to think. She gasped in more air, greedily, the need of anything other than steady qualities foreign to her. She struggled to sit up, and the warmth on her cheek was suddenly at her middle back, helping her.

“I’m Link,” he told her, still wide eyed. Almost wild-eyed. “I was tasked with waking you from your slumber, my lady.”

“My…my slumber?” she repeated, parrot like, enunciating the word carefully. Viciously aware of every speck of dust and the location of every shadow, she kept glancing nervously about the room, expecting something foul to be lingering in the corners.

She found herself reaching for the young man’s – Link’s – hand. Holding on to it tight, when he willingly gave it, helping her to her feet. “How…how long was I sleeping? Where am I?”

She felt a flinch run though his body as he leaned back, shock evident on his slightly Fae features.

"You... don't known?" he fumbled.

She bit her lip, gaze dropping to focus on her hands, his were larger than her own, strong as tree branches, fingertips calloused from holding the many weapons dangling from his belt and pack.

"I know something..." she murmured carefully, hazy memory wafting around her, memories of what happened. "I remember the wizard. My brother. I remember refusing them the Power they sought."

Her vision stung as she recalled it: her older brother warped beyond from all recognition, shouting, cursing -

"Where is it?!"

"I d-don't know! I don't k-know!"

"Liar! He gave it to you! I know he did! Where. Is. It."

She swallowed the memories painfully, before it can consume her.

"I remember enough I know I must thank you," she gasped out, shoulders shaking under the red silk of her ancient bliaut. "T-thank you, H-Hero."

"Hey, no, no," her savior -Link- insisted, shaking his head. Hesitantly, he reached up and brushed away the tears rolling off her white cheeks, the golden triangles still shimmering on his hand. "I'm no Hero. I only did my duty, Princess."

"You saved me," she corrected softly, stepping closer, even as his eyes widen once again.

A gust of dry wind fluttered the curtains around them like the whisper of fairies. She came closer, limpid, soften all the more when his gaze darted away, swallowing.

"You are a real hero."

Determined to sink the message home, she placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned forward to kiss his cheek. At the last moment, Link moved his head to face hers, more denial ready on his lips when they ended up meeting her own.

Oh.

Oh.

He tasted like earth and sweat and smoke. And some other strange, boyish thing she couldn’t name. Yet, for all the awkward meeting of teeth, she couldn't say it was bad, for a very first kiss. They still pulled back rather quickly, stunned faces mirroring each other in the swaddling flaps of blue.

"We...we need to leave," Link finally said, voice raspier than before. He swallowed. "We...we need to get you home."

"Home?" she repeated, head tilting in such a way, it almost made him do something stupid. Like kiss her again.

"To the castle -the new castle to the south," Link explained, hurriedly. "Where the royal family live now. Its... your home, Princess. Its where you belong."

"Home," she said again, this time understanding the word, eyes lighting up like campfires with bright, timid hope. She reached out, willingly sliding her hand in his, liking it there. "Yes...please. I want to go home."

*~*

Unbeknownst to either the Awakened Princess or her Hero, the shock wave of magic didn't end within the North Palace, it echoed though the land itself, calling out the location of the Blood to every monster cultist with the means to hear it and the bloodlust to seek it.

So basically all, the tall man reflected lazily. He was a slender figure, his diet of dark magic insuring that his limbs never gain anything resembling flesh. His elongated fingers tapped a calculating pattern on the alter besides him, chains waiting to be fashioned to sacrificial limbs. He peered out from the uppermost level of his tower, the dry wind that proclaimed the Sleeping Princess' release billowing his black robes with divine purpose.

Shuddering with the enticement of a neophyte, he fingered the sharpest of his holy instruments, the one that he would use bleed the young Hero dry. Ah, the lad had proven a worth quarry, in the four years since he cast down Lord Ganon. He had dodged capture and destiny with a nimbleness that spoke of a fierce will to live. A refusal to surrender. 

It was commendable, one had to admit. And the High Priest of Ganon fully intended to reward the youth with a memorable death.

[halonicheart]

Endymion Nightbough hails from the Black Shroud and loathes Gridania with nearly his entire being. The sad irony of the matter is he often is required to be in said place for extended periods of time. It was his own fault really, he knew exactly what he was going to have to deal with upon joining the Lancer's Guild. It wasn't a choice he made on a whim, mind you. Despite the foul taste Gridania left in his mouth, he wished for change or at the very least encourage others to take the neccesary steps for a better city-state. Endymion was no fool, he is not under the impression that his deeds alone can make a substantial dent. Regardless, it's one he is willing to work towards.

Endymion joined the guild with the intent of one day become it's leader. The guild was already terribly scarce of other Duskwights, the numbers thinning by the day. He can't say he blames any one of them for leaving, were he not dedicated to his cause he may have up and left himself. His sense of duty was both a vice and a virtue. Truth be told, he really isn’t fond of his guild mates. The kind enough ones kept him at a polite distance and the rest… well, they certainly had a lot to say about his stiff demeanor when they thought he couldn’t hear them. Worse yet, the same lot that spit in on his name seemed hellsbent on trying to monopolize his spare time under the claim of bonding. He humors it, even when he really shouldn’t. When push comes to shove and tragedy strikes, Endymion ultimately resigns from the guild. He sets out on a journey, to think over what he truly wants in life.

Prior to quitting the guild, Ywain had bestowed him a mission to assist an Ishgardian friend by the name of Alberic. Endymion was never one to truly abandon a task, but as he no longer felt fit for the role- he could not in good conscience go through with assisting Ser Alberic. “Fret not, I have no intentions to leave you high and dry. I have someone more than capable of the job… if you are willing to listen.” He knew well that Lovette Vairemont wanted to see Ishgard, and this may be a necessary step closer to that dream. While Ywain was more than willing to entrust the matter to her, he trusted Endymion’s judgment as well as his work ethic, Lovette herself was reluctant. She wasn’t a true member of the guild, but with some gentler encouragement from Endymion, she agrees. “You’re terribly kind behind that glare of yours!” She had told him.

Despite Endymion’s standoffish nature, once he has warmed up he’s a staunch ally to have in your court. As per his Duskwight heritage, found family is just as important- if not more important than blood family. Even if all odds seemed to be stacked against you, Endymion is the type of man who would still vouch for you. Time and time again he did as much for the likes of Dorian Netherfell, who took far too much pleasure in running with the wild rumors surrounding his mysterious origin. Odd as he is, Endymion knows he’s a good man at the end of the day. Unfortunately for him, Dorian has taken a liking to playfully annoying him any chance he gets… it could be worse, he supposes.

Despite not being a “Warrior of Light” as well being most certainly echoless, Endymion’s part in the heroes journey is nothing to scoff at. The very first of his deeds ends up crossing paths with some familiar faces amongst Saint Coinach’s Find. Were you to tell him that would be entering the Crystal Tower with old and new friends alike, he would not believe you.

[raetreaderarts]

If you need a pretty pastry or a classy confection to spice up your gathering, you’ve come to the right woman! Sweeney puts her heart and soul into every delectable creation she produces, making sure the quality matches the price in terms of both looks and taste. After all, what’s the point of buying a cake if it just tastes like fondant?

More info about her under the read more

This is my NSR oc, Sweeney Tart. She’s a pastry chef who owns a cake shop in the Dream Fever district called The Cube. She’s also an opera singer, but that’s more of a fun little hobby rather than a career for her. There’s hardly a moment where she’s sitting still since she always has the compulsive need to walk around and do things. Even in the middle of conversations she’s bouncing her leg or tapping her finger. She also tends to talk quickly since she has a lot of thoughts she needs to get out of her brain all at once.

There’s a running gag with her where she gets red dye/fondant/icing/something else on her clothes so people theorize that she murders people and bakes them into her cakes, y’know cause Sweeney Todd n all that. But she is genuinely just a sweet gal surrounded by unfortunate circumstances lmao. She also has a big ass rat named Mrs. Lovett who I should draw sometimes.

and yes I do ship her with Tatiana thanks for asking