#lyrebirds-writes

[lyrebirdswrites]

Picture itafushi hiking Shibuya’s concrete remains on their way to visit Hakari. City torn asunder, sky apocalyptic, offering a hand to help each other through the rubble. Yuuji puts himself back together piece by piece, one foot in front of the other, eyes fixed on Megumi’s back.

[bunnakit]

The Lyrebird King - Chapter 1

He never knew that night would change his life but hindsight always was crystal clear, wasn’t it? 

The hooded figure on the outskirts of the crowd quickly collected his winnings before making a wide berth around the myriad of fighters featured in the ring throughout the night and toward the man that had added some extra heft to his purse. 

“You fought well,” Caius greeted, for lack of anything better to begin with, while ensuring his steps were clunky and audible as he approached. “But then again, I knew you would.”

The fighter glanced up from beneath his tousled auburn fringe, verdant gaze narrowed into a glare as he spat a mix of blood and saliva onto the dirt beside him. 

“Oi, thanks for that by the way - put a fucking target right on my head with that hefty bet.” He snarled, and the blood on his pearly white teeth sent an unbidden thrill down Caius' spine.

“And yet your winnings are all the greater for it,” Caius replied and placed an additional pouch of coin on the weathered crate beneath him. “You fought as if it was for your very survival, I watched you stretch and wrap your hands before the match even began. I think you’ll find the risk I took was calculated, and I happen to be quite skilled at arithmetic.” 

“Hmph,” Aries, the event crier had called him, snorted and snatched the pouch away. Still, it seemed the monetary apology was well received as he crossed his legs and leaned further back on his wooden perch rather than escape the encounter. “Calculated or luck, doesn’t matter to me, but I’m happy to take the coin from you.” He licked over his teeth as his eyes roamed over the lithe form in front of him, the cloaked figure a monument to androgyny and obscured gender boundaries. 

“Do you participate in these fights often?” Caius wondered, lowering his hood and instead peering from beneath inky black, swooping bangs. 

“Now and then.” Aries met his gaze as if making a challenge or a threat, and Caius could only commend him for being the cautious sort. 

“Perhaps I’ll have to stop by more often, though I’d loathe becoming a regular patron of this sort of entertainment.” He didn’t quite curl his lip in disgust but the message was clear nevertheless. 

“If it’s not something you enjoy then why did you place a bet in the first place?” Aries wondered, thumb swiping back and forth over the bunched-up sleeve at his elbow. 

“Curiosity; my reason for doing most things,” Caius confessed with a slight smirk as he lifted himself to sit on a crate parallel to Aries. “I wanted to see if my instincts were correct - It was as much a test for myself as it was for you, though perhaps to a less physically damaging extent.” 

“S’pose it’s better than most of the puffed-up nobles that deign to grace us with their presence,” Aries’ words were laced with disdain and malice, and if he hadn’t already had Caius’ full attention that certainly would have done it. “The extra coin doesn’t hurt either.” he chucked a thumb over his shoulder towards the gifted purse he’d stashed away. 

“Oh? Do many nobles come to this sort of thing? I wouldn't think they'd want to get their shoes dirty.” Caius gestured to the scattered puddles of mud, the smatterings of blood, and the general filth that came with an illegal fighting ring in the back alleys of Larkfield. 

“You’d be surprised,” Aries snorted and finally began gathering all his things into a large pack, “But I should clear out of here, too much lingering is always bound to draw the guard.” 

“Why don’t I buy you a drink and we can continue this conversation?” Caius proposed as he crossed one leg over the other and leaned forward just slightly, a charming smile curling across his lips and a mirthful crinkle in the corner of his eyes. 

Aries turned to face him and when his eyes trailed along Caius’ perched form the latter knew he’d caught him in his web. 

“Yeah, alright. Not from Wounded Wyrm, though. Fuckin’ bastard that runs the place waters down his drink and thinks no one notices.” This wasn’t news to Caius but it wasn’t widely known information, most were just happy for a cheap drink. It piqued his interest in Aries all the more for it. 

“Lucky Gryphon it is, then.” Caius hopped down from the crate before turning and making his way through the labyrinthine alleyways with all the confidence of someone who knew the town almost as if they’d lived here their entire life. He didn’t look back to see if Aries was following, the swishing sounds of fabric and plodding footsteps behind him were enough to confirm his company for the evening. 

It didn’t take long for Aries to fall into step beside him, long legs and confident stride quickly eliminating the distance. Silence lingered between them as they made the short jaunt to the tavern and yet the quiet did not feel oppressive to Caius in the way it did with most people, and that alone had him tugging his cloak tighter around himself. He could just hear the inhale of Aries readying to speak as they rounded a corner, the tavern door thankfully just in front of them now and silencing any unspoken words. 

“After you,” Caius held open the door with the toe of his boot, observing the curious way Aries’ head tilted before passing into the muted murmurings of the pub. He followed like a shadow, nearly molded to his back without touching before passing by and gesturing to a table in the corner of the room – secluded, but within sight of the stairs leading to the upper floor as well as a clear view of the doorway. 

“Why don’t you grab us some drinks and I’ll hold down the table?” Caius offered, already pulling out a chair and falling into it, limbs spread in a facade of comfort and luxury. He pretended he didn’t hear Aries’ grunt as he set down his bag and stalked to the bartop. 

Caius kept his eyes on Aries’ broad back throughout the entire interaction, gaze trailing down to his hands and watching every slight twitch and turn as he handled their tankards and brought them back to the table with a ‘thump!’ and a drizzle of foam. 

“Here you are.” He nearly growled as he sat in his own chair across from Caius and crossed his feet at the ankles, “Now, you gonna tell me where someone like you gets that kind of coin to blow?” He questioned as he took a sip of his own mug, licking away the foam mustache that lingered behind. 

Caius paused a minute before lifting his own to his lips and drawing in a long contemplative sip. Almost silently, he set the tankard down before he crossed his arms over the tabletop, leaning forward and speaking in hushed tones. 

“You see, I’m actually an exiled prince on the run.” He whispered, eyes narrowed and mouth pinched in a serious expression. 

“Seriously?” There was a hint of disbelief in Aries’ tone, but more there was awe and a bit of… hope? 

“Absolutely not, I’m just someone with a lot of skills that isn’t afraid to take an odd job here or there.” It was vague enough to not be a lie but it also revealed nothing, damning or otherwise. 

“Fuck you, man,” Aries kicked his ankle beneath the table, causing Caius to sit back with a chuckle and shake of his head. “Still, good for you.” 

Caius was quiet a moment, brow drawn up in surprise. This was usually the part where someone asked for money, for a job, or whatever he was willing to give. He gave it a moment but when it seemed no such request was forthcoming he spoke again. 

“I suppose it is. Took me quite a few years to get here, but here I am nevertheless.” he smiled and took another long gulp of his drink. “What is it you do? Besides the fighting, of course.” 

He waited patiently as Aries took his own time to mull over his answer, which only made Caius more eager to hear it. 

“S’pose I’m between jobs at the moment, just doing what I can to get by.” He averted his gaze to stare down into the amber liquid in his barely-touched tankard. There was clearly more to what he was saying, but Caius knew better than to prod at a festering wound. 

“Fair enough. You mentioned nobles attend the fights. You have any interesting stories about them?” He wondered, setting his elbow on the table and propping his chin in his hand. This was what he was here for, this was the only reason he’d bothered to indulge a stranger in a drink at the late hour. 

Aries hummed and finally took a long swig of his ale before setting it down with another clunk, drawing a slight wince to the corner of Caius’ eyes. 

“Hmm… There was one a few weeks back, Lord Pendleton, some local Duke or something – Real fucking prick,” Aries began and Caius nodded for him to continue. “Shows up with some puffed-up bodyguard he calls his ‘champion’ and says he can’t wait to take home everyone’s coin. His ‘champion’ only lasts three rounds and once he’s out cold Pendleton starts shouting that he’s going to have the ring shut down and have all of us arrested. Real fuckin’ stupid thing to say when his bodyguard is busy holding down the gravel.” 

“What an ass. I have to wonder though, if he’s a Duke why was he so desperate to make money in an underground fighting ring?” 

“Who knows? Every once in a while we get some jackass that thinks they’re better than everyone and they come and drop a ton of coin and spit in our faces afterward. Or they lose and threaten us or slink away to lick their wounds. In my experience, all nobles are the fuckin’ same.” Again, his gaze dropped and this time traced the wood grain of the table. 

They sat in silence for a moment and once again where it should have been awkward and stilted, it was instead comfortable and calm. Caius shifted his gaze to peer around the tavern, taking in the low sound of conversation, the pattering of rain he could hear just beginning to tap at the windows, and the clinking of tankards and glasses. It was almost soothing in its predictability. 

“So has Lord Pendleton been the worst encounter you’ve had?” He wondered, looping back around to the information he was most interested in.

“No, not by a long shot. It was probably my second week attending when Sir Reinald showed up, one of the guards stationed out here, Knight Captain I think,” Aries paused to drain the remainder of his drink. “Damn near won the whole thing, but he was cruel about it. Had to scoop fella’s out of the ring before he killed them. Suppose it makes sense, with the rumors.” 

“Rumors?” Caius wondered, taking a perfunctory sip for something to do with his hands, and in an attempt to make his inquiry seem more like casual questioning and curiosity. 

“Aye. Rumors float around that he’s involved in human trafficking. Don’t know much more than that, that’s the nature of rumors after all.” Aries hummed as he flicked the rim of his mug and watched it teeter and wobble before settling again. 

Well, that had Caius sitting up straight and paying full attention. Aries may have brushed them off as rumors, something idle gossips participated in while shopping in the market or at a dinner party, but he knew rumors of this severity didn’t sprout without some inkling of truth or suspicion. 

“That’s awful. Was that the only night he attended?” Caius wondered as he stretched his legs beneath the table, his ankle pressed gently to Aries’. He watched as he raised his eyebrows before answering.

“Mm, as far as I know. I can’t make it every night but I’m sure it would’ve come up.” Caius smirked when he felt Aries press against him in return. 

He took a moment to drain the remainder of his own mug before setting it aside and standing. He took measured steps towards Aries, trailing his fingers along the fighter’s broad shoulders as he circled around him and eventually took his hand. 

“Enough of this talk. It seems the rain has picked up outside, so why don’t we get a room and learn a bit more about one another?” Caius purred, back arched as he leaned down so his lips were just a hair’s breadth from Aries’ ear. He savored the thrill of watching a shiver travel down his spine. 

“Lead the way.” Aries answered and Caius stepped back to allow him out of his chair. 

One small detour to the front counter and an exchange of coins for a key was all it took for the pair to disappear behind a heavy oaken door on the upper floor. The soft mutterings of the tavern faded into obscurity and in their place rose soft panted breaths and gasping moans, accented by the soothing sounds of the pouring rain outside. 

When Aries woke the next morning, Caius was gone – the only trace he’d ever existed being the heavy purse in Aries’ belongings and the ring of impassioned bruises along the column of his neck. 

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘𓅪∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

It would be nearly an entire month later before Aries would be faced with a chilling reminder of that evening. 

“Did you hear?” One of the fighters whispered to another, huddled together as they prepared for the upcoming fights. 

“What are you on about?” 

“Sir Reinald’s dead,” Aries’ spine straightened, but he was careful not to turn his head towards the conversation. “found against the fountain in the plaza, a stack of papers pinned to his chest detailing all his slave trade dealings. Fuckin’ scum.” 

“Can’t say I’m broken-hearted over it. Men that abuse their positions like that deserve what comes to them. May the Stars shine on whoever did it.” 

Aries was no fool, despite what he’d been told the majority of his life. He needed to find that cloaked man again and he only hoped he hadn’t fled town just yet. 

[elegancemademessy]

The Lyre

I want to be noticed. I want my words to be sung in songs, to be quoted in wedding vows. I want to be in the diaries of broken souls, used as a dedication in a soft eulogy for a person with too much love. I want to be etched in a tombstone, onto tree bark and then faded away by the weather. Whether my words are forgotten or because they are returning to where they came from; I want to be known. By the soil and the grass and the fungi who will eventually find sustenance from my corpse. I want to be noticed. And then I want to disappear.

[freewriterevangeline]

I thought of including a bird in a cage, which would be symbolic. Also show the luxury -- some sort of exotic bird. The 1st thing that sprang to mind was a lyrebird. Something most ppl donr have. But I left it at that last night, the overhang to be continued today. This morning I looked up lyrebirds to see if it would be feasible to include. And then was reminded how good mimics they are!

This also adds to the story. It can imitate sounds it has heard in the Core.

[howaboutarainbowcaravan]

[padfootagain]

Love in Verses (V)

Chapter 5 : ‘But here comes the lyrebird passing through the sky’

Hi, everyone!!! Here we go with the fifth chapter! Introducing new characters, and spending some time at Trinity for this one…

Also, chose a French poem for this one because it fit the theme very well, but I couldn’t find a decent translation, so I translated the poem myself… it isn’t particularly good, sorry about that, but it’s not worse than the other translations I’ve found, sadly…

I hope you like this new chapter! Tell me what you think!

****

Pairing: Hozier x fem!reader (professor!AU)

Warnings: slow burn, angst, hurt, hurt/comfort, tooth-rotting fluff in later chapters, some scenes in later chapters will have heavy sexual themes even if it’s not explicit nsfw description, so minors here

Summary: Your life seems perfect. You're engaged, your career is thriving as you become an assistant professor at Trinity College, and this Andrew Hozier-Byrne you're sharing an office with seems to be a nice guy you hope to call a friend soon. Life seems to be smiling at you... until everything goes sour. When your fiancé breaks up with you, your perfect world shatters. And when your colleague also gets his heart broken soon after, your shared office seems to be a curse rather than a blessing. But Andrew seems determined to mend your broken hearts... Will things finally go according to plan?

Word Count: 2110

Masterlist for the series – Hozier’s masterlist – Main masterlist

Writing Page

Two and two four Four and four eight Eight and eight make sixteen…

Repeat! Says the teacher

Two and two four Four and four eight Eight and eight make sixteen…

But here comes the lyrebird Passing through the sky The child sees it The child hears it The child calls it

Save me Play with me Bird!

So the bird descends And plays with the child

Two and two four…

Repeat! Says the teacher

And the child plays And the bird plays with him…

Four and four eight Eight and eight make sixteen And sixteen and sixteen what do they make? They don’t make anything sixteen and sixteen And especially not thirty-two Anyway And they go away.

And the child has hidden the bird Inside his desk And all the children Hear its song And all the children Hear the music

And eight and eight leave as well And four and four and two and two In turn go away And one and one don’t linger once nor twice One by one they leave too

And the lyrebird plays And the child sings And the teacher cries :

When you are done fooling around!

But all the other children Listen to the music And the walls of the classroom Peacefully crumble.

And the windows turn back into sand The ink turns back into water The desks turn back into trees The chalk turns back into a cliff The quill turns back into a bird.

Jacques Prévert, Paroles, 1946 – original title : “Page d’écriture”

September was grey and rainy, or rather, it withheld the doom of a storm within its dark clouds. The ground was drenched, making the curb darker than usual, the earth smelling sweet and rich with water and life, the leaves glistening in darker shades of green. As Saoirse finally entered the grounds of Trinity College, her steps echoed louder than usual on the glistening pavement.

Finally. Finally, Saoirse was a college student, independent and entering adulthood. That was how she felt, anyway. Even though she still lived with her parents on the outskirts of Dublin, was still a student… at 18 she felt like entering university was the beginning of womanhood, of adulthood, and she was excited about it. Excited, and terrified.

If she knew a few people on the campus, she was the only one studying English, and the loneliness that came with the new experience of university was adding to her anxiety. She looked around, a little lost but trying to look like she knew where she was going. She was trying to reach her first meeting, this first day being dedicated to integration, an introduction to the life on campus and a quick presentation of the classes they would follow this year. The classes themselves were only starting the following week. This orientation week was focused on the ways of university, on clubs and other useful information for students.

But Saoirse had been on campus for less than ten minutes and she was already feeling overwhelmed, with the small white tents along the lawns that presented clubs for students to join in, with the crowd and its loud chatter pulling her attention in all directions…

All of a sudden, there was another undergraduate student staring down at her, an amused smile on her lips.

“You look lost! Want some help?”

She was wearing a badge from a theatre club, a tired look on her face and an hyper-active glimmer in the eyes that revealed she drank too much caffeine.

“Erm… I’m fine, I just…”

“That’s alright! It’s your first day, you’re allowed to be lost. Let me help! Where is it you’re going?”

“Erm… the English department…”

“Ha, no worries, I’ve got you! I’m an English major too! Come on!”

Before Saoirse could speak another word, this stranger had turned on her heels and was making a bee-line through the crowd. Saoirse followed her the best she could, bumping into students and apologising profusely in the process, until they had reached a second yard that was much calmer. She hurried after her guide, almost running to catch up with her.

“There is the library,” the stranger said, pointing at a large building, a sculpted globe decorating the space before its door. “Note where it is, you’ll spend most of your time there while studying here. And no matter what you do, avoid the tourist attraction around the Book of Kells. Busiest place on campus, and some real chaos over there. This side isn’t as fancy, it’s more concrete and metallic shelves than beautiful wood and carvings, but it’s quiet and withholds all the information you’ll need for your classes. We often see some of our teachers hanging around there too. Who is it you’re gonna have this year?”

“Erm… I’m not quite sure…”

“You should have your schedule during the week. If you can, avoid Mahon and Patterson. They’re not bad teachers, but they are terrible human beings. Proper gobshites the two of them. I heard H-B is teaching about Yeats this year; if you can, take this class, and avoid Mahon’s lecture about science-fiction. Trust me. On paper, it sounds that poetry is harder and more boring, but Mahon is going to reap you apart, when H-B is probably the sweetest teacher at Trinity.”

“H-B?” Saoirse asked, trying to keep up with both the fast pace of her guide and her precious information that she delivered at a relentless speed.

“Hozier-Byrne. Everybody calls him H-B around here, name’s too long. Or just Hozier. Anyway, he’s a sweetheart. He’ll actually care about whether or not you pass his class. Also, he’s got the prettiest mug on campus, so it doesn’t hurt to see him once or twice a week,” she laughed, throwing her head back like a child.

The two girls kept on chatting while they were waiting in the corridor for the meeting to start, and Saoirse tried to get as much information in as she could.

Before leaving, her guide had one last advice.

“Come to the S2S mentoring program this afternoon. I’m part of the mentors, we’ll give you a full tour and help you register for your classes. Also, we’ll help you to find your tutor among the academic staff, to get into a club or society… stuff like that. Oh, the name’s Gabi, by the way! I’m one of the mentors for the English department, so if you want, you can come and find me at the meeting.”

“Thank you so much,” grinned Saoirse.

“Hey, no worries! I used to be a lost freshwoman too, back in the days! You should go in for the boring meeting, General Session… Tomorrow’s meeting about your classes will be more interesting.”

With one last thank you, Saoirse finally entered the room, found a seat, remained silent, not daring to speak with the students around her.

She looked at the blackboard, the desk and chair and microphone for the absent professor.

Fucking hell, she was starting university…

Saoirse listened to Gabi’s advice, looked for the S2S Mentoring meeting, scheduled for 2:30 pm. It was easy to spot the exuberant student, as she laughed with her friends, and she greeted Saoirse with a grin. She followed Gabi’s group for the full tour of the campus, along with a small group of freshmen. She chatted with a couple of them, especially Donal, whose colourful nails and vibrant make-up matched his buoyant personality. They then settled in a large classroom, scattered into small groups and each mentor helped their students with registering for their classes, gave them advices and a little bit of gossip.

Gabi helped Saoirse log into the orientation website and access the right page for her to register to her classes.

“You can change the classes you’ve selected up to the 23rd,” explained Gabi, “and after tomorrow’s meeting with your tutor and the presentation organised by the department, you’ll have a clearer view of what to choose. But you can still take a look now. Also, pay attention to the schedule. You can’t select classes that are happening at the same time. You can select a few classes now already if you want, just to be sure you’ll have a spot.”

Saoirse nodded, went through the list of classes.

On the schedule, the classes about Yeats’s poetry and science-fiction were clashing. She hurried to select the class about poetry, following her mentor’s advice.

She also selected a class about modernism taught by the same Hozier-Byrne, trusting Gabi that it was worth skipping a class about Shakespeare, not that she held much regret about avoiding that class, to be fair. She registered for a class about ‘the use of gender-normative language and patriarchal norms in modern literature’, excited about this class already.

“Erm… sorry…”

She turned towards the student by her side.

“Can you show me how to get into the schedule? I didn’t understand where I should click…”

He looked a little lost, a little overwhelmed, like most people in the room, and certainly as she felt herself. Dark hair, brown eyes. An attempt at a stubble colouring parts of his cheeks.

“Sure!”

She showed him how to log into the schedule, he thanked her, a little shy.

“I’m Sean, by the way.”

She grinned.

“Saoirse.”

He seemed nice, they kept chatting for the rest of the day. She hoped they would have classes in common…

Y/N Y/L/N.

Saoirse read and re-read the name of her tutor. There was a small group of students in the classroom, ready to meet the member of the academic staff who would be in charge of their well-being for the year. Sean was part of the group too, and they sat together on the third row. Donall was there too, he joined them as soon as he spotted Saoirse.

Y/L/N. Saoirse had recognised the name immediately, belonging to the teacher in charge of what seemed to be a very feminist class.

And indeed, when you entered the room, looking tired but benevolent, Saoirse liked you immediately. There was something in the way you spoke that was gentle, patient, that sounded like you actually cared, that you were happy to meet your students, too.

You gave your students some extra-information about their classes, gave them advices depending on the majors they wanted to select for the rest of their degree. You helped them register, you answered their questions. The meeting took longer than expected, but you didn’t seem to mind.

You smiled when you noticed Saoirse had already selected your class.

“Looks like we’ll see each other every week for a couple of months!” you smiled at her and Saoirse was even more excited about your class now.

“Yeah… the class seems very interesting.”

“I’ll do my best to make my babbling interesting, indeed,” you joked, before moving to Sean’s computer to check that he was managing.

And Saoirse had such a good feeling about this year. Things would turn out great, she was certain of it.

You let yourself fall into your office chair, letting out a tired groan. You heard Andrew’s chuckle, but chose not to acknowledge it. His meeting with the students had been a little briefer, he was already in the office when you had come in.

“You’re alright?” he asked, checking on you with an amused smile still tugging at the corners of his lips.

“Exhausted.”

“It was to be expected…”

“Aren’t you exhausted too?”

“I’m on my fifth coffee of the day.”

You laughed at that.

“Hmm… looks like professors are as addicted to coffee as students.”

“It’s standard sleep-deprived diet.”

You looked over at him, and you exchanged a smile.

You weren’t friends, per say. Your break-up had made you more distant, and Andrew’s reaction to his own heartbreak had been to close in on himself. But you still got along, even though you weren’t close. A shame, you kind of regretted that. You could have been closer already, if it weren’t for your pain. Still, you chatted, and he helped you get used to Trinity, and you discussed your classes and his. You simply weren’t more than colleagues, and for now, it was fine. You couldn’t handle getting your heart broken and finding friendship at the same time. Your life was too messy for that. It was easier to build professional boundaries, and Andrew seemed to be in silent agreement. You hadn’t discussed much about your two separations, both preferring for that part of your lives to remain private, and outside the walls of Trinity.

The Heartbreak Department. You had joked about renaming your shared office that way, and Andrew had had no choice but to agree, it was quite on point. Perhaps it was this office, indeed. Maybe it was bringing bad luck, to both of you, when it came to love…

“I can’t wait for the weekend,” Andrew heaved a sigh, rubbing at his eyes before he would readjust his glasses.

“My weekend will be busy, though…”

Indeed, you had agreed to attend a party that Frank was hosting on Saturday night. He said that he had a big announcement to make, and you wondered what he meant by that. Also, his new girlfriend would be there. You hadn’t asked her name, weren’t interested in knowing anything about her, but you wanted to meet her, to see who had stolen your life away. Because that was what you had lost when Frank had left. It wasn’t just a break-up, it wasn’t a simple heartbreak… you had lost a wedding, a life you had planned and thought you would get to live. If you could have forgiven the pain of getting your heart broken, you couldn’t forgive the life that you felt had been stolen from you.

So, you were curious. Also, you were desperate, addicted, and wanted to see Frank, no matter why, where, or when…

“Mine is busy too, but orientation week is a lot.”

“It is, indeed.”

You closed your eyes for a moment, your head thrown back towards the ceiling.

You pictured Frank’s face against your eyelids, and couldn’t imagine that it had been over a month already that he had shattered your whole world…

[lyingbard]

Why Nothing Sounds Quite Like LyreBird

Fans of RTVS may remember Joshua, beautiful baby boy of wayneradiotv. If you're like me, you might be wondering why Joshua stayed dead after LyreBird shut down. Why couldn't he be brought back with a different TTS? The fact is that LyreBird was a product of a very specific time in AI TTS. In March 2017, Google released a paper on Tacotron [1], one of the first AI TTS's with real success. In April 2017, LyreBird began showing off their TTS buisness [2]. As AI bros are wont to do they took that shit. LyreBird is a version of Tacotron. It incorporates technologies that would be published in the next few Tacotron papers [3] including multi-speaker, prosody encoding, and prosody prediction. And in February 2018, Tacotron 2 came out [4].

Tacotron 2 is better in every way. It's faster, better at imitation, and simpler. This makes it much more economical to run and fine-tune on a specific speaker, so every subsequent AI TTS is based off of Tacotron 2.

If you read the paper, Tacotron 1 has a lot of arbitrary and untested choices. It's clear that they published it in a hurry to prove that it could be done, but they hadn't refined it to cut the unnecessary fluff.

This brings me to why I'm writing this. I hope it's clear that I did a lot of research for this. That's because I did my best to recreate LyreBird, named LyingBard, and I've put it up for you to play with here.

You may notice though that it's not quite right. The main reason is that I had to go with a low quality version (reduction factor 5 for those who read the paper). A high quality version would take too long to train with my current set up and I'm almost certain that's what they used.

If I got about $100 in donations, I'm pretty sure I could get a high quality version trained in about a month. It still wouldn't sound exactly the same. Due to the chaotic nature of training a neural network, anything short of getting the actual files off LyreBird (now Descript's) servers won't make it sound exactly the same.

Regardless, LyingBard is here to stay. It's hosted on a free server so I have no reason to take it down. I'll be posting about updates here on this blog. I'm working towards getting custom voices ready at the moment and I've got some ideas for new features and fun toys for the future.

Thanks for reading!

Here's some sources if you wanna learn more about stuff I mentioned:

[1] https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.10135

[2] https://www.pcmag.com/news/lyrebird-can-listen-and-copy-any-voice-in-one-minute

[3] https://google.github.io/tacotron/

[4] https://arxiv.org/abs/1712.05884

[sunsetcougar]

Lyrebird AU time~ This is a fun one :)

By that I mean I made myself cry writing it

Vaggie wishes she could say it was an easy decision. She wishes she could look back and say she stepped off that road filled with confidence that she was doing the right thing and she wouldn’t regret it. But that would be a lie. She froze, every muscle in her body protesting against what she was about to do.

She froze, and then Foxglove was there, maybe a dozen paces away and looking terrified. “Vaggie, sweetheart, y-you don’t have to do this. Please don’t do this.”

Vaggie doesn’t know what to say to that. What to do. She feels trapped, torn, strangled by chains and silk from above and below. Charlie and a realm who hates her existence, Foxglove and a realm who views her as a traitor.

(Why her? Why did she have to be torn between worlds by love and hate and fear? Shes not strong enough for this)

“Come on darling, whatever is wrong we can fix it. Just talk to me, I’ll listen, I promise.” Foxglove sounds so earnest, so desperate, so scared. Their eyes well with matching tears. “Please come back to me.”

She almost cracks. Almost runs back to her mom and hides in her wings like a new nestling hiding from the scary world outside the nest.

She misses her Mommas nest. Misses being small and chasing insects before her hands were stained with blood that she will never be able to wash off.

Vaggie shuffles one foot towards Foxglove, sees her Momma’s face turn the tiniest bit hopeful as she takes a step towards her daughter.

Then she sees Lute coming over the gate like a specter of death, she jerks back,

and

she

slips.

The last thing Vaggie sees of Heaven is Lute and Foxglove at the edge of the road.

Lute is glaring, expression cold as frost laced stone. Shes holding Foxglove by the scruff of her uniform, keeping the other woman from following her daughter into the abyss.

Her mom looks… broken. Completely and utterly broken as her daughter slips through her fingers once again, this time for eternity. Vaggie thinks she’s screaming but she feels like she’s gone deaf to everything but her own splintered heart’s pounding.

Vaggie regrets, in a sharp, painful, crushing way. She reaches for her mom, feels fear consuming her as Hell pulls her into its clutches, tangles through her feathers, hair, soul, dragging her down and down and down into its sick, sick aura and away from the light and peace of Heaven. She feels like a little fledgling falling from a tree, small and helpless with wings she doesn’t know how to use. But this time there are no arms wrapping around her before she can hit the ground, no kind voice soothing her adrenaline and assuring her, “it’s okay, we can try again. You did so well, sweetheart.”

Vaggie regrets as pain blinds everything.

[brian-in-finance]

… to @bcacstuff and her Anon who said

Looks like Cait is on an interesting path in HW not just as member of The Academy of Motion Pictures and actress but also making things work in this industry from BTS.

ACADEMY REVEALS 2024 NICHOLL SCREENWRITING FELLOWS

Posted: Monday, September 30, 2024

LOS ANGELES, CA – Four individuals and one writing team have been selected as recipients of the 2024 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. Each individual and writing team will receive a $35,000 prize and mentorship from an Academy member throughout their fellowship year. They also will participate in a week of virtual seminars, a virtual meet and greet with the Nicholl Fellowships committee, and in-person networking events, including a celebration in Beverly Hills on October 29. The Nicholl Fellowships were established in 1985 through the support of Gee Nicholl in memory of her husband, Don Nicholl.

The 2024 Nicholl Fellows are (listed alphabetically by author):

Alysha Chan and David Zarif (Los Angeles, CA), “Miss Chinatown”

Jackie Yee follows in her mother’s footsteps on her quest to win the Los Angeles Miss Chinatown pageant.

Colton Childs (Waco, TX), “Fake-A-Wish”

Despite their forty-year age gap, and the cancer treatment confining them to their small Texas town, two gay men embark on a road trip to San Francisco to grant themselves the Make-A-Wish they’re too old to receive.

Charmaine Colina (Los Angeles, CA), “Gunslinger Bride”

With a bounty on her head, a young Chinese-American gunslinger poses as a mail order bride to hide from the law and seek revenge for her murdered family.

Ward Kamel (Brooklyn, NY), “If I Die in America”

After the sudden death of his immigrant husband, an American man’s tenuous relationship with his Muslim in-laws reaches a breaking point as he tries to fit into the funeral they’ve arranged in the Middle East. Adapted from the SXSW® Grand Jury-nominated short film of the same name.

H (West Chester, PA), “The Superb Lyrebird & Other Creatures”

A neurodivergent teen who envisions people as animated creatures, battles an entitled rival for a life-changing art scholarship, while her sister unwisely crosses the line to help.

A total of 5,500 scripts, from 80 countries, were submitted for the 2024 competition.

The 2024 finalists are (listed alphabetically by author):

Kelly Beck-Byrnes, “Where the Boxelders Grow”

Tate Hamilton, “Delivery Girl”

Jamie Murphy, “Lights over Idaho”

Adele Smaill, “No Ghosts Tonight”

Justine Suh, “Deep”

The five fellowships are awarded with the understanding that recipients will complete feature-length screenplays during their fellowship year. The Academy acquires no rights to the works of Nicholl fellows and does not involve itself commercially in any way with their completed scripts.

The Academy Nicholl Fellowships Committee is chaired by Julie Lynn (Producers Branch). The members of the committee are Aldis Hodge and Caitríona Balfe (Actors Branch); Julien Thuan (Artist Representatives); Susan Shopmaker and Academy governor Kim Taylor-Coleman (Casting Directors Branch); Andrzej Bartkowiak (Cinematographers Branch); Allison Anders (Directors Branch); Bruce Hendricks and Marcus Hu (Executives Branch); Blaise Noto (Marketing and Public Relations Branch); Jason Michael Berman, Susan Cartsonis, Julia Chasman and Linda Reisman (Producers Branch); Sue Chan (Production Design Branch); Bobbi Banks (Sound Branch); and Destin Daniel Cretton, Susannah Grant, Ehren Kruger, Adele Lim, Justin Marks, Zak Penn and Katie Silberman (Writers Branch).

The global competition, which aims to identify and encourage talented new screenwriters, has awarded 186 fellowships since 1986. In 2024, several past Nicholl fellows added to their feature film and television credits:

Aaron Chung is a staff writer on Apple+’s “WondLa.”

Elizabeth Chomko directed the docuseries “Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints.”

Eric Nazarian wrote and directed “Die like a Man.”

“Holy Irresistible” is from Andrew Shearer and Nicholas Sherman’s 2007 Nicholl-winning script.

“Interstate” is from Anthony Jaswinski’s 1997 Nicholl-winning script.

Jason Micallef is an executive producer and writer on Disney+’s “The Acolyte.”

R.J. Daniel Hanna wrote and directed two features: “Succubus” and “Hard Miles,” which he co-wrote.

For more information about the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, visit oscars.org/nicholl.

Oscars Press

Brian 29 June 2022

Remember Caitríona’s latest Academy role?

[lyrebirdgore]

⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢

꒷꒦ ˖ ° 🪓 ⋆ ｡ About me!! ⁃⁃✎⌗ ꒦꒷🫀⋆ ˖°

꒷꒦ 🥩⎨Name: Lyre, Bird, Hikaru, or Spawn !!

꒷꒦ 🥩⎨Pros: It/It’s ~ Any space/void neos !!

꒷꒦ 🥩⎨Gender: Pangender ~ Genderfluid

꒷꒦ 🥩 ⎨Nationality: American

꒷꒦ 🥩 ⎨Race: African American

꒷꒦ 🥩⎨ Sexuality: Pansexual ~ Polyamorous

꒷꒦ 🥩 ⎨Age: 16 !!

⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣

—-------------------------------------꒷꒦꒷🪓🥩🫀꒷꒦꒷

⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢

Favorite–

꒷꒦ 🥩 ⎨Favorite Game(s): Any Pokèmon game, BOTW, Obey Me, The Arcana, TWST, WuWa, Genshin Impact, Danganronpa

꒷꒦ 🥩 ⎨Show(s)/anime(s): Nanbaka, Land of the Lustrous, Pokèmon, TAWOG, OPM, BSD, Danganronpa, Steven Universe, Black Butler, Litchi Hikari Club, The Summer Hikaru Died

꒷꒦ 🥩 ⎨Movie(s): The Collector, The Collection

꒷꒦ 🥩 ⎨Animal(s): Lyrebirds, Crows, Ravens, Water Bears

꒷꒦ 🥩 ⎨Hates: Summer heat, Bitter Foods, Loud Spaces

꒷꒦ 🥩 ⎨Loves: Candy-Sour Candy, Winter, Gothic, Ouji//Lolita fashion, Horror//Psychological Manga, Salty Chips, Slashers, Bugs, Birds, Writing, Drawing

⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣

—-------------------------------------꒷꒦꒷🫀🥩🪓꒷꒦꒷

⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢

Extra!!

꒷꒦ 🥩 ⎨ Yandere Types!:

Yandere Emmeagram: 369 - The Attached

Yandere MBTI: RAHL

Yandere Type: LSML

Soft Yandere: CSRI

Big Five: OCDAR

꒷꒦ 🥩 ⎨ Disorders!: Smiling Depression ~ Anxiety ~ Hypersexual

꒷꒦ 🥩 ⎨ DNI!:

All general DNI (Pedo ~ TERF ~ ENDO ~ Nazi, etc)

꒷꒦ 🥩 ⎨ Relationship Status!:

Other(s):

𝑀𝓎 𝒹𝑒𝒶𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝓅𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑒𝓃𝓉,, — .🩸💉°☆

𝑀𝓎 𝐹𝒶𝓋𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝒮𝑜𝓊𝓁,, — ♥️🔪.°☆

Partner(s):

𝑀𝓎 𝒟𝒶𝓇𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒜𝒸𝑜𝓁𝓎𝓉𝑒,, — ✝️🖤.°☆

Open to other partners!!

꒷꒦ 🥩 ⎨Asks & DM’s!: Open!!

꒷꒦ 🥩 ⎨Anons!: 🫀, Kidnap, 🪡, 🏹, Stalker

꒷꒦ 🥩 ⎨Description!:

I’m probably not going to be active 100% of the time bu my DM’s and ask box will always be open!! Will be rants and vents so tread carefully!! I’ll try to tag properly!! I like tagging things :3

꒷꒦ 🥩 ⎨Tags!:

♯🦷💉🥩🪚⊹˙•⛓️〰︎ “𝐵𝓊𝓉 𝐼 𝒞𝒶𝓃’𝓉 𝐻𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝐿𝒾𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒴𝑜𝓊 !!!” - Normal Posts

♯🦷💉🥩🪚⊹˙•⛓️〰︎ “𝐼𝓉’𝓈 𝒷𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝒶 𝓌𝒽𝒾𝓁𝑒 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝐼 𝒻𝑒𝓁𝓉 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓁𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝒾𝓃𝓈𝒾𝒹𝑒 𝓂𝑒…” - Reblogs

♯🦷💉🥩🪚⊹˙•⛓️〰︎ “𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝒶𝓇𝑒𝓃’𝓉 𝐻𝒾𝓀𝒶𝓇𝓊…” - Vents

♯🦷💉🥩🪚⊹˙•⛓️〰︎ “𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝒸𝑒 𝐼 𝒷𝑒𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝒶𝓂𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊.” - Obsession Posts

♯🦷💉🥩🪚⊹˙•⛓️〰︎ “𝐵𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒾𝓈 𝓂𝓎 𝒻𝒾𝓇𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓉𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒾𝓉.” - Asks

♯🦷💉🥩🪚⊹˙•⛓️〰︎ “𝐵𝓊𝓉 𝐼 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒𝒹 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝓂𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝐼 𝓈𝓅𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓎𝑜𝓊..!” - Anon asks

♯🦷💉🥩🪚⊹˙•⛓️〰︎ “𝒲𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓇𝒾𝑒𝒹 ‘𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓈𝓃’𝓉 𝒶𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹?” - Beloved posts :3

♯🦷💉🥩🪚⊹˙•⛓️〰︎ “𝐼𝓉’𝓈 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝒶𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓁’ 𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓉𝓊𝓇𝑒 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝒽𝒾𝓂.” - Moots

⌣ ⌣ ⌣ ⌣ ⌣ ⌣ ⌣ ⌣ ⌣ ⌣ ⌣ ⌣ ⌣

(Banner overlays & PFP overlays by @revivalrequiem !!)

[stormbreaker101]

Music(ology) headcanons! Part 2

My friend @klaraflamez and I have been writing a shared story based upon the wizard101 AUs we made independently. Things go somewhat off the rails, and so these headcanons that we made for Music absolutely do not work for canon, which is part of why I'm making this post separate.

An overview of our AUs:

In both Corrupted Spiral (my AU) and the Cleaved AU (Klara's), the Spiral learned so heavily on its dependency upon its Wizard that it led to the Wizards' demises. In CS, before Arc 4 could properly begin, Nora lashed out in fury, sick of being Nothing but a title and weapon, and abandons the Spiral. In Cleaved, Scarlet was killed in the final fight of Lemuria, a 1v8, abandoned and alone because the Spiral assumed she would have handled it.

The main characters of the next generation after the two Wizards (~0-5 years after Nora's departure and 25 years after Scarlet's death) each realize that even though they're not The Wizard, they still have a duty to serve the good of the Spiral.

Overall there's a major theme of destiny and responsibility not falling on just one person's shoulders. The Wizard is not the only Paradox, and the primordial magics of Light, Shadow, and Music are no longer reserved for the Wizard and the gods. They become proper schools, integrated with the other ten (7 playable schools + 3 Astrals).

I've written and come up with spells for the Music school, as one of the characters I'm writing ends up as the Scion of Music, while Klara's writing the revamped Shadow and Light schools because her OCs become the Scions for those.

More details on Music as its own school in CCSAU (both lorewise and mechanicswise because i am gamerpilled), and all the spells themselves plus their explanations (where I derived inspiration from) are under the cut!

Music is the magic of creation. 'Outgoing' mechanics are the name of the game. It is a major hitter like Fire and Storm, but also has access to heals like the more defensive Life magic that came from the Song of Creation. Music's greatest weakness is that it is a major glass cannon, with no spells in its repertoire able to mitigate incoming damage.

The reason Music is tied to Fire and Storm alongside Life lorewise is because the Scion of Music first studied Fire and Storm magic alongside Musicology, before Music was its own school. Our Scion shaped Music as much as Music shaped him.

Now onto the spells themselves!

MAINLINE (primarily ATTACKING) SPELLS:

1 pip - Lyrebird - 90-130 damage. Based on the lyre instrument, and also a nod to Lyra, the fanon Music school tree in the Cleaved AU.

2 pip - Trombun - 220-260 damage. A pun on trombone and bunny.

3 pip - Earworm - 500 damage over 3 turns. Colloquially, earworms are catchy bits of song that just stay in your head and WON'T GET OUT, which is the inspiration for making this spell a pesky overtime. Also, taken from the Earworm/Brainworm mobs in Empyrea.

4 pip - Melodeer -  465-525, + 20% heal OR damage blade to self. Melody + deer. Here we begin to see some utility and niche poke its way into spells so that they're not plain and pure damage. Also, just to balance Music against the other 'hitter' schools a little bit more, it doesn't get a 4-pip AoE.

5 pip - Volta Bracken - 400 damage AND 400 health to self. A reference to volta brackets (an element in musical notation), with language nodding at Storm and Life magic (volt as in electricity, bracken as in a kind of plant). Yes this spell is an objectively better version of Beary Surprise. I hate Beary Surprise so much why is the bear both anthro and nude. why does he fucking smile like that. why can i see the whites of his eyes. WHY THE HUG?

6 pip - Resonance - 525-610 damage + remove all blades on 1 target. A single-target version of Myth's dreaded Earthquake.

7 pip - Horschestra - 700 damage to all enemies. Your classic 7-pip AOE. Horse + Orchestra, taken from a song in the Homestuck OST because it made me laugh tbh.

8 pip - Revivace - 1200 Heal to all allies. Name derived from Revive (synonym of Rebirth) and Vivace (musical mood). Meant to be a parallel to Life’s Rebirth spell, since Bartleby is the closest thing to a Music school tree in CS. However Rebirth gives an absorb-shield, which counts as temporary HP even if the spell heals someone to full, while Revivace has no extra defense.

9 pip - Crescendo! -  100 damage turn 1, then a DoT for 200, 300, then 400 damage, to all enemies. Crescendo is a musical term for "get gradually louder"

10 pip (Azteca) - Ceramic Drake - 1000 damage to 1 target, then 625 damage to all enemies over 3 rounds. The first of Music's spells that take on aesthetics derived from the world they're learned in. It takes inspiration from the tlapitzalli, an Aztec flute-like instrument made of ceramic.

5 pip + Shadow (Darkmoor) - Rehubution - 810 damage + 25% Music trap to all enemies. The spell's name comes from the word Retribution and the rehu, an instrument made by the Māori of Aotearoa. All of the canon Darkmoor spells are actually Khrysalis themed, and @chrono101 (now deactivated) made a really cool post about how the Hoppers had Aotearoan references that I remembered while coming up with this post. The effect in combat is derived from Fire from Above before it was nerfed and then slaughtered.

6 pip + Shadow (Polaris) - Luphilymn - 1260 damage, +1 turn to Damage over Times (DoTs) on enemy and +1 turn to Heal over Times (HoTs) on self. Luphilim + Hymn.

4 pip + Shadow (Mirage) - Spirit of the Groove - 900 damage, divided between targets (like all other Mirage spells). This spell is less a reference to something Miragian, and more a nod to a character who had a major impact on the Scion of Music's development. Ceramic Drake, Luphilhymn, and the upcoming spells of Ramalong and Jungle Drum Jam also are nods to characters that the Scion of Music was greatly supported by.

X-pip + Shadow (Karamelle) - Ramalong - 220 damage per pip. A blend of sing-along and the candy rams. This spell is an X-pip because there are a handful of songs/lullabies about counting sheep. Count your pips up!

6 pip + Shadow (Lemuria) - Jungle Drum Jam - 850 damage to all enemies, +40% Music blade AND +40% heal blade to self. Taken from this once-off moment in Lemuria where Bantam says that he and the Koolakamba just casually use advanced musicology for the sake of boogieing.

The effect is taken DIRECTLY from the far superior path of the Life Lemuria spell, Lord of the Jungle, before KI nerfed it to bits. I am so fucking mad about the nerf. I fucking liked having a decent shadow AoE on my Life and now it's useless again. <- had to get my gamer rage out sorry.

1 pip + Fire pip + Storm pip (Novus) - Tempo Inferno - 800 damage, gambit 1 blade into a DoT for 500 over 4 turns, gambit 1 trap into a HoT for 500 HP over 4 turns. Tempo refers to the speed of a musical piece, and both pieces of this spell's name are nods to Storm and Fire as well (Temp- for tempest, Storm's most iconic spell, Inferno for fire). This spell would also hold visual reference to that one sidequest about how clocks don't work on Novus.

1 pip + Death pip + Myth pip (Wallaru) - Crab Grave - 575 damage to all enemies. A reference to the extinct Juggernaut crabs of Wallaru, the still living Tasmanian giant crab, and the legendary Crab Rave meme. Given that all of the Wallaru spells' archmastery pips are the ones backwards from the Novus spells' pips, it made sense to make Crab Grave's pips the roshambo opposite to Tempo Inferno's. Myth is the roshambo opposite of Storm, and Death is the roshambo opposite of Fire. Don't believe me on Death and Fire? Look at how Balance's Novus gear has 3 variants that pair Ice-Life, Storm-Myth, and Fire-Death as its archschools. No I don't know why the Balance Wallaru spell is Death-Storm instead of Death-Fire I don't get it <- gamer raging again.

UTILITY SPELLS:

There are some utility spells that every school gets access to, simply changed per school: the basic Blade and Trap and Shield are simply named Music Blade, Music Trap, and Music Shield, because they're standardized for all the schools (Except Ice Shield, which is actually Snow Shield, for whatever reason?). Though, to put a wrinkle into things and keep with Music's theming as hyper-outgoing, Music Trap is the only ward spell (a spell that affects incoming damage rather than outgoing) that Music gets permanent access to. Music Shield would be TC only. Traps get special treatment because of Maulwurf von Trap existing. I like the guy don't @ me.

Then there's the utility spells that are just about the same for each school but with unique names. These include:

the 2 pip damage bubble - Circle of Fifths, after an important element in music theory. +25% damage to all outgoing Music spells AND +25% to all outgoing Music heals (the boost to healing alongside damage is unique to Music. Life gets Circle of Thorns (+25% damage) and Sanctuary (+60% healing) as two different bubbles.)

the 4-pip critical and pierce bubble - Acoustic Arena, +15% Music critical and +20% Music pierce.

the dispel - Mute

the Taunt/Pacify - Soloist, Taunts the enemy for 2 turns, making you the only target they can hit. Yes, having a glass cannon school gain taunt is a bit poor in game design, typically you want your glass cannons to have some form of Pacify so that they're not killed as quickly, but thematically Music becoming a loud center of attention makes more sense to me.

the complementary triad shield - Eclipse Shield, -70% incoming Light and Shadow damage. The parallel to Storm's Thermic Shield (-70% Fire and Ice) or Death's Dream Shield (-70% Life and Myth). Like Music Shield, because this spell is both a staple piece of utility that every school should have access to and a defensive ward that goes against Music's school identity, it would only exist as a treasure card.

The level 75 minion from The Professor - Baronness Webberfeld - 5 pips, summon a minion of Music. She is a reference to Baronness Elberfeld, a minor character from the Sound of Music. Because I had to get a reference to that in. Because I am normal about Maulwurf von Trap and his source media.

And then we get to the unique utility spells, the gimmicks that gives Music its identity in-game or give it thematic support.

Tune Up - 0 pips, +20% accuracy to the next outgoing Music spell. A parallel to Storm's Lightning Strike (which back in my day only gave +10% accuracy, not +25%). Music spells have a base accuracy of 70% like Storm, so the accuracy buff would be greatly needed at lower levels.

Bangsnap! - 2 pips, Confuse or stun each enemy for 1 turn.

Gurdy-hurdy - 3 pips, Confuse or stun each enemy for 2 turns.

Bangsnap and Gurdyhurdy go together, I'm thinking of them being from the Grizzleheim and Wintertusk spell quests at level 35 and 55. Bang snaps are small explosives that only release a loud sound but do no damage. Gurdy-hurdy is a reference to another in-game moment.

(The hurdy-gurdy, un-reversed, is a kind of musical instrument.)

And, yep! Myth is no longer the only school with the Confusion mechanic! Yippee! (I can hear the gamerbro players scream.) This is because before Music became a standalone school in CCSAU, Klara had the idea that, the way some Wizard101 spells are musicological despite not being in the school of Music, some Pirate101 abilities are inherently musicological as well, namely Blast of Discord.

And this is an ability that our Scion of Music was able to learn before Music became an independent school, so rather than take that ability away from him, we decided to incorporate it into Music's entire repertoire.

Leitmotif - 2 pips, 305 HP to 1 target, then 305 more HP 3 turns later. A leitmotif is a snippet of a musical melody that comes back later in a piece or in another piece (Toby Fox, one of my favorite composers, uses leitmotifs to the MAX.)

Sonatyr - 4 pip, 650 Health + 30% Healing Blade to all. Satyr + Sonata. Does less health than Life's Satyr because I don't want to completely upstage Life, but giving an extra blade to everyone is useful. It buffs every healer, and would count for any blade-based gambits/secondary effects.

Adagio - 1 pip, +1 turn to a HoT on an ally or to a DoT on an enemy. Adagio means for a piece of music to slow down.

Allegro - 1 pip, -1 turn to a HoT on an enemy or to a DoT on an ally. Allegro means for a piece of music to speed up.

Adagio and Allegro are spells that go together. If they were to be implemented in-game, I'd have them be learned at the same time. Having a spell that does different things depending on whether it's on an ally or enemy is really interesting to me, though it would be a pain in the ass to code.

Encore - 5 pips, force your target to cast the same spell for the next 2 turns. Encore, of course, means "to play again". Taken directly from Pokemon because why not?

Baton Pass - X pips, give your blades to an ally, universal and at half-value, (1 pip per blade). Also derived from Pokemon because why not? The half-value gimmick comes from Bantam's cheat of "I'll be taking that, thanks!" Where he replaces a blade you cast on someone else with a universal blade of half value. The devs intended that cheat to be annoying and discourage buffing one player to the max, but it's actually a REALLY HANDY mechanic when used correctly. The half-value blade would count as a unique blade that therefore stacks with whatever other blades your ally has.

Perfect Pitch - 1 pip, +20% accuracy to all allies. Perfect pitch is defined as the ability to tell exactly what note(s) a sound is without any reference. This spell would be copy-pasted over from Life, and also derived from the Pirate101 abilities Call to Arms and Esprit de Corps, which both boost your team's accuracy. (Esprit also gives dodge, a stat that I cannot find any way to translate into Wizard101 that wouldn't be a defensive ward, which Music does not do). The animations for those two powers feature musical instruments (a drum and a trumpet), which makes it feel very musicological to me and therefore fitting for Music itself.

Fortissimo! - 2 pips, +15% Critical chance to all allies. Fortissimo is music speak for "BE FUCKING LOUD!" This spell is derived from the Pirate101 abilities Discipline and Enduring Discipline, which (are supposed to) give +5% and +10% critical chance to all allies. (I have heard that the abilities that purely increase critical chance rather than another stat simply don't work because Pirate101's code is made out of silly string, but that's besides the point). There are very few spells that affect critical, so it's a niche that Music could fill in if it wanted to.

This probably isn't even enough utility, Wizard101 has a SURPRISING amount of spells it throws at you. It's such an in-depth game. I love it. I am normal about Wizard101.

Also, Klara was absolutely AMAZING and drew some of the spells!

[lyrebirdswrites]

Sometimes you pick up your favourite novel just to check one page and then you read that page and the next page and suddenly you realise you’re on track to finish the whole book and it reminds you why you dedicate your life to writing prose

[bunnakit]

The Lyrebird King Masterpost

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

(Cover by Cameron McCafferty)

[justrainandcoffee]

Oc asks!

Thanks for the tag @capnmachete ❤️❤️.

I'm going with my last OCs Hannah and James (different fandoms and worlds), because it helps me to create a better personality for them. And because I did others similar for Rose during this time, so...

Answers and blank questions below the cut

Do they have any pet peeves:

James: Probably people chewing loudly.

Hannah: Unpunctuality. If the meeting is at 10am, then don't arrive at 10:15, it's fucking rude.

What uncommon fears/ phobias do they have:

James: I don't think he has one. Or at least I can't think one now.

Hannah: Small animals. Mice and rats, especially. It's more fear than phobia.

What do they notice first in people:

James: mmh... People's height maybe? He's tall so he's used to see people from above 😂. It couldn't work with Aveline because shes taller than him 🤭

Hannah: Hands! She's a professional pianist so inevitably, her eyes always go to people's hands (and that's why she loves Tom's hands)

What is their pain tolerance on a scale from 1 to 10:

James: 9 or 10. Really high. He's not just a gangster but also his father was incredible cruel, so, he learnt to tolerate pain.

Hannah: Her level of tolerance is moderate, sometimes low ... Probably 4 or 5. She's suffers from chronic pain and sometimes she can't ignore it. But learnt to live with it

Do they go into fight or flight mode under pressure:

James: Fight! 100%.

Hannah: Fight, too. Around 85% maybe. Quite high.

What animal represents them best:

James: Difficult. But maybe a cheetah.

Hannah: A lyrebird.

What is a smell they dislike and like:

James: Likes the smell of the sea. Dislikes the smell of the cities.

Hannah: Likes the smell of rain. Dislikes the artificial smell of coconut.

Have they broken any bones:

James: No.

Hannah: Eeeehhh... Something like that.

How would a stranger describe them:

James: Tall, good-looking and less intimidating that he really is.

Hannah: Dark haired woman with some imperfections. Honestly I can't say a lot without spoiling but there's something about her that's impossible to ignore.

What is a flavor they hate and a flavor they love:

James: He loves oranges or any other citric and hates extra spicy food.

Hannah: loves strawberry jelly and hates onions.

Do they have any favorite hobbies:

James: photography!

Hannah: writing new songs.

Boom! Surprise birthday party! How do they react to surprises:

James: not very fan of surprises, but he's not an asshole, so he'd very glad to celebrate and spent time with his brothers and friends.

Hannah: she'd be very happy!! Hannah craves love, so if her friends remember her birthday that could be awesome!

Do they have neat or messy handwriting:

James: something in between messy and neat.

Hannah: Neat.

Do they have any Favorite Fabric:

James: Cotton, maybe. Also silk.

Hannah: Cotton. And those woollen sweaters Tom have.

What kind of accent do they have:

I know nothing about English accents, I can't separate one from another but because I'm not an English speaker. So, he's from Dublin and she's a Londoner and hopefully they don't sound the same 😂.

No pressure tag

@call-sign-shark @evita-shelby @mischievouslittlecreature @cillmequick @peakyswritings @lunarubra

Here you have the questions:

Do they have any pet peeves:

What uncommon fears/ phobias do they have:

What do they notice first in people:

What is their pain tolerance on a scale from 1 to 10:

Do they go into fight or flight mode under pressure:

What animal represents them best:

What is a smell they dislike and like:

Have they broken any bones:

How would a stranger describe them:

What is a flavor they hate and a flavor they love:

Do they have any favorite hobbies:

Boom! Surprise birthday party! How do they react to surprises:

Do they have neat or messy handwriting:

Do they have any Favorite Fabric:

What kind of accent do they have:

[pocket-watcher]

If it wasn't a joke and you really wanted an infodump, then here you go. This does not apply to hypnosis, but it is interesting nonetheless:

There is a beautiful bird with a long tail in Australia - the lyrebird. The most amazing thing about them is that they parody sounds much better than parrots. The accuracy of their onomatopoeia reaches 80 percent! They can even imitate the singing of other birds, which can be confusing. Crying babies, a chainsaw or a ringtone - they will torment us with any sounds! The videos with them are funny. Usually, as expected, males sing more often than females, especially during the breeding season. The mating song of males is a mixture of their own singing and the singing of other birds. And the females parody the sounds of predators in order to protect the nest! Amazing! It's awesome! Unfortunately, due to forest fires in 2020, some species of this bird are now at risk of extinction. Okay, I'll give you a hypnotic supplement: the lyrebird imitates the singing of sirens.

-HypnoticBird

I never joke about infodumping. This is so interesting!!

Also the whole bird thing feels very on brand for you considering your name aha

Pocketing this idea for future writing if you don’t mind :D

[idkfitememate]

Harry Bastard Potter OC

Name: Eden “Crow” Alaister

Age: Sixteen

Nationality: American

Ethnicity: African-American

Year: 6th

House: Slytherin

Standing: Half Muggle/Wizard

Appearance: A black person with curly hair that falls around the waist and covers the eyes - which are deep brown, rounded glasses with dangling chains that wrap around the shoulders. Sharpened teeth and a longer tongue, a couple of piercings, and nails usually painted black. On the taller side, around 6 ft and 1 in (182 cm) and thinner side. Has a sleeper build.

Gender: No one knows. Anyone who asks gets a stupid answer. (I.e. “Wanna check my pants?” “Which would you prefer?” “How ya wanna take it in bed later?~”)

Backstory: Raised in a Mafia, Eden was born with high expectations on their shoulders, especially with being the bosses kid. All their life has been surrounded by violence and bloodshed, never getting close to another. Hand to hand, gun, knives, wrenches, they can do it all. But one day, their Mother - the boss - pulled them aside and revealed the truth of their father, the fact that he was a wizard. They had magic in their veins and suddenly their world of pain and murder was flipped on its head when a letter was relieved to their doorstep. Now they’ve got to navigate this new world, and… wait a second. WHAT DOYA MEAN THEY CAN TURN INTO AN ANIMAL?!-

Pet: Technically two. Snuck in a regular ass chameleon and was gifted a ‘magical’ bird. It was a White Bellbird. Loud ass motherfucker-

Animagus: Lyrebird. Why? Even they don’t know. But now even in human form they’re pretty damn good at copying noises and voices. Like Michael Leslie Winslow in all the Police Academy films as Larvell Jones. Look it up it’s amazing I promise.

Random Shit:

They can pick a lock

They have killed before and will do it again

DARK HUMOR DARK HUMOR DARK HUMOR DARK HUMOR DARK HUMOR DARK HUMOR DARK HUMOR DARK H-

If you really wanna get to know this bitch you’re gonna have to PRY-

They bring roller skates to Hogwarts and rollerblade around but always keep them under their cloak, so people just think their fast as fuck boiiii

Favorite colors are the blood of those who wronged them and their friends and teal :3

Can and will tell you how to disassemble any gun imaginable and perfectly rebuild it from memory but will struggle with basic grammar

They have a classic mobster accent because the watched to much TV as a kid

Can swim, due to assassination attempts. Can also taste/smell many types of poisons, same reason

They smoke, not cigarettes though, full ass custom made cigars

They like to practice mixology every now and then, and make killer margaritas

(Any questions please ask I’ll probably write a more cohesive backstory later I’m tired lololol. Questions are more than welcome tho I did make this bitch on a whim!!!)

@libraryraccoon dis 4 u :3

(Yeah ima re-write this later with more shit I promise hehe but have this base for now :D)