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literallys-illiteracy · 3 months ago

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Distortion Report 1A, A Party Everlasting.

Wonderlab Spoilers below the cut but its not like you can legally read it anyways

The way that these are going to be strutured is one in-universe post and one normal analysis post for most distortions, mostly because i want to practice my non analytical writing somewhat.

“A Party Everlasting” is a distortion manifested immediately following the events of the white nights and dark days within the O-5681 Branch facility of Lobotomy Corporation.

The primary body is a quadrupedal entity, possessing 4 humanoid legs, wearing white socks and black shoes, akin to those worn by “The Road Home”, an abnormality held in the same facility. Descending from a torso appearing similar to a teacup placed on its lip. Extending from this body is an appendage akin to a neck, creating an unknown pink substance from the base; the neck possesses blonde hair, and a large black bow; The entity appears to possess eyes obscured behind this hair.

The secondary body of the entity takes the form of small toy rabbit, lacking limbs, having pale pink ribbons in place of arms. This secondary entity possesses red eyes and a similarly coloured protrusion, appearing similar to a scarf or adjacent article of clothing. On this entity’s torso is a black insignia of a heart — The same image is present upon the torso of the primary entity.

The distortion in collective will be referred to as “The Party” or “Catt”. The individual entities will be referred to as the “Teacup” and “Rabbit” respectively.

The party is capable of communication through the rabbit, which possesses capability to speak. The party seems to be led by the rabbit’s commands.

The following document is a transcript recorded in the facility branch preceding Catt’s distortion:

Transcript taken from the Branch facility O-5681 of Lobotomy Corporation:

Give me a heart. Give me a strong hearted will. But what is a strong heart, a strong will? I believed that I became stronger by abandoning my heart. I couldn't abandon anything. I couldn't become stronger. What is the answer for us, what did you wish for? … This should have been done a long time ago. I am doing it now. ... Toss away, and pick up, Pass away, and be born, Toss away, and be born, Pass away, and pick up. … … … On the way up here, I wished our deaths and sorrows would yield a better result of some kind. I wished there’d be something done by the human heart. The heart was doomed to whither, it was doomed to twist and distort. … … Your Voice is so beautiful, its like Sunshine… …

In footage collected from the facility branch following this event, it appears that the party was accompanied by several abnormalities contained within the facility, the first of which to join this party were: The Red Queen; The Penitent Girl; The Road Home; and Scaredy Cat.

All breaching abnormalities gathered to the distortion after a period.

An agent of the facility, “Taii”, who had previousley worked in the same department as Catt, approached the distortion and appeared to converse with it before confronting it in combat. Following this encounter, an opening appeared in the floor, which Catt would then descend into. It appears that the rabbit, before following the descent, spoke to Taii.

The location opened by the distortion has been termed “Wonderland”

Taii, currently employed as a fixer of “Bloom Office”, has denied all further interviews regarding this topic.

#project moon #Wonderlab #Lobotomy Corporation #Distortion Report #projmoon #essays i wrote primarily while half asleep #Catt wonderlab #Carmen Lc #Carmen #Taii Wonderlab

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dustedmagazine · 10 months ago

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Vince Clarke — Songs of Silence (Mute)

Photo by Eugene Richards

Vince Clarke has certainly been in some storied synth bands. He wrote “Just Can’t Get Enough” (and eight other songs) for Depeche Mode’s 1981 debut, Speak & Spell, before leaving that band over creative differences. From there, he headed to Yazoo with Alison Moyet and The Assembly with Eric Radcliffe, and finally to the boppiest, poppiest synth outfit of them all, Erasure, where he played stoically as all manner of frivolity unfolded around him. If you grew up in the 1980s or 1990s and watched any MTV at all, Clarke’s songs are burned into your cortex, and quite possibly unwelcomely, but there’s no denying he was in the thick of a certain kind of dance-y, celebratory, machine-age pop.

The critical thing to understand is that Songs of Silence is nothing at all like that.

This brooding, looming suite of songs was recorded during COVID and reflects Clarke’s sorrow and isolation as friends fell ill. He channels a haunted vibe through modular synth, building each track around a single sustained tone that runs from beginning to end. Lots of things happen around those tones, fluttery arpeggios, slashes of stringed instruments, even, in one instance, a sepulchral folk tune about a “black legged miner.” Still, these tunes are constructed around static, meditational sonic atmospheres that fluctuate in volume and timbre but do not fundamentally change. There’s a sense of the eternal in them, even when as in “Scarper” they twitch into propulsion with percolating electronic rhythms.

Consider the opening “Cathedral” with its crescendoing drones, its altered, inhuman voice sounds, its cavernous sonic space. It unfolds in one long blast of sound after another, a rumbling fog horn, a tremulous string vibration, an unearthly space voyaging organ. You can’t really participate. There’s no melody to hum, no rhythm to tap, and so the best way to experience it is through stillness. You allow it to surround you, to envelop you, to subsume you, like a mystical experience.

These cuts are mostly solitary endeavors, but Clarke invites in a few collaborators to fill out his visions. Caroline Shaw’s pristine soprano arcs through interleaved shimmers of synthesized tones in “Passage,” sounding like the dream of a dream of a dream of an angel. Cellist Reed Hays scrawls a wild, passionate signature over the hushed immanence of “The Lamentations of Jeremiah.” Warmth and anguish flare from his instrument, spilling something baroque and organic into Clarke’s ominous atmospheres.

The disc’s most affecting cut is its oddest. “Blackleg Miner” sets a old labor protest song in a desolate post-industrial landscape. The air hums and trembles around the song’s brutal simplicity, surging to obscure it, at intervals, with sounds like bells shivering in sympathetic vibration. It’s a folk song launched into deep space, hurting through black voids, carrying a faint futile message about what it meant to be human.

Jennifer Kelly

#vince clarke #songs of silence #mute #jennifer kelly #modular synth #albumreview #dusted magazine #depeche mode #erasure #caroline shaw #reed hays

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dalekofchaos · 4 months ago

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Things I would change about Life Is Strange True Colors

So after multiple replays of True Colors, I've finally come up with a list of changes.

My other LIS changes

LIS

LIS:BTS

LIS 2

First change would be the logo. This was the original logo and game menu. Just keep the True Colors logo and keep the record in the title and it's perfect.

Compare that to the bland logo we got, it really works better

To help make the game longer, I would've added a prologue chapter where it's about Alex's final days in Helping Hands. We get to interact with Alex's friend Chelsea, see what happened between Alex and Mari, see the reason why Alex wants to keep her power bottled up and tries to get away from strong emotions, get the call from Gabe and end with that final session with Dr Lynn.

In general, I feel like there should've been more consequences to Alex's powers. All we get is Alex beating the shit out of Mac and taking Charlotte's anger away from her turns Charlotte into a husk of a person, and Alex pisses Steph off and of course not telling Eleanor the truth causes her to turn against you. The trailers showed Alex has the tendency to be consumed by powerful emotions and Alex constantly talked about her power like it was a curse. There should've been more build up to Alex learning to control her empathy. High Empathy leading to good choices and good ending while low empathy leads to her friends turning on Alex.

I initially thought there would be more drama like helping Charlotte forgive Ethan. Her pain towards Ethan feels understandable when your loved one's death is indirectly caused by someone who's also dearest most.

Whether Riley and Mac continue their relationship or not, it doesn't feel if there's any impact in it.

Apparently there was SUPPOSED to be consequence for taking away Pike's fear.

"if Alex took Pike’s fear away, when she was down in the mines (apparently in this draft she wouldn’t have been shot by Jed but instead would have found an entrance to the mine another way) Pike would become this “weird emotionless serial killer” and would start chasing Alex around in the mines in order to protect Diane. If it isn’t clear to you by now, the game seemed to have a much darker tone than what we ended up getting in the final game. I’ll leave it up to you to decide if that’s a good thing or not."

Honestly more consequences to Alex's powers depending on our high or low empathy should've happened in general.

I feel like more time should've been spent with Steph and Ryan. To me neither of these relationships are believable. The difference between Alex's relationship with Steph and Max's relationship with Chloe is that we spent a good chunk of the game with Chloe.

And as little time as Max gets with Warren, there is at least some substance with those scenes Max has with Warren. Warren starts up the plot of the game by getting the flashdrive, Warren helps Max against Nathan, Warren offers Max to take mind off things by asking her out on a date, Max can help Warren with his science experiment, Warren helps Max make a bomb, Warren saves Max and Chloe from Nathan, Warren takes the picture that helps Max get back and Warren is supportive no matter what choice Max makes.

Yes Ryan helps Alex in the record store, patches up Gabe, helps find Ethan and we have Ryan dealing with his grief and sorrow of losing Gabe. But that's it. Everything else is obligatory detective work or talking about trails and birds. Ryan is boring.

What we know of Warren

He's a geek like Max

He's into sci-fi, horror and a lot of obscure media

He loves science

He's helpful

a kind and sensitive nature

very shy and insecure and struggles to express and deal with his feelings, so he tries to hide that underneath humor and bad jokes

He's dealt with bullying in the background "knows how to be invisible"

He will ride or die for his friends

What we know of Ryan

He loves Gabe and his friends

He loves his dad to a fault and has good memories of his mother

He protects people

He loves birds n trails

*Cricket chirps*

I'm about to compare screen time between Chloe and Steph. I replayed both games and I counted up all the scenes in their respective games where the player is forced to have an extensive dialogue with them, this discounts optional conversations and interactions that are made of a single choice. I am counting the bare minimum number of times each game forces the player to somewhat meaningfully interact with them. Let's start with Chloe.

The truck scene

The scene talking about Rachel

The conversation after Max attempts to fix her camera, Chloe gives Max William's old camera and they reconnect

The Lighthouse conversation

Reconnecting at the diner

Funtime at American Rust

Train track walk n talk

The Chaos Theory talk in Chloe's truck

"Scary Punk Ghost"/Blackwell Ninjas

Pool

The aftermath of finding out about Rachel

Alternative reality Chloe at the beach

Alternate reality at Chloe's home

Returning to Chloe via Warren's picture

There are a total of 14 meaningful scenes with Chloe not counting optional interactions

With Steph.

Black Lantern conversation

Foosball

The LARP

The investigation after the festival

4 meaningful scenes. That's it. There's just a total lack of content regarding our two romantic options in True Colors, now sure the number of times we interact with a character doesn't necessarily dictate how much we grow to like or sympathize with said character, but it's glaring just how few meaningful interactions are had with Steph or Ryan.

Also, really? Steph and Ryan are really willing to run away with Alex so quickly in the amount of time they've known her? "I wanna spend the rest of my life with you" you knew each other for an entire month, calm down.

And I feel like there could've been more time and substance in regards to Steph & Ryan if the game were longer and were developed as an episodic game in terms of being developed like LIS 1 & 2 were. I felt like they just got all the superficial aspects of a young adult relationship, slapped it all together and called it a day. So yeah more time with Steph and Ryan is definitely needed.

In regards to the Jed & Mr Chen Twist. I felt like it was unnecessary.

Jed as a pawn for Typhon works. The whole Mr Chen being one of the miners left behind and emotion guiding Alex was so contrived and convoluted. Also it changed from Typhon to being an evil and soulless corporation to Jed being the guilty party and I strongly hate the notion of changing the perceived big bad to a lame twist from someone you trust. In LIS 1 it was Nathan and his father as the perceived villains but what a twist! It was Jefferson all along! Now it was Jed. Stop. Doing. That!

And boooy don't get me started on how impractical Alex surviving being shot and thrown down a mine shaft is.

Like if Alex can survive all that, Chloe can survive Nathan's gunshot in the bathroom.

So an easy fix would be Jed and Alex going down the mine together and Jed shooting Alex and leaving her for dead.

Just keep to the "Jed doing "Typhon's work for the devil" Add a subplot that Typhon was responsible for the death of Ann Lucan via lead poisoning or some other heinous crime. Jed and Pike were working together to bring them down. But the mining & Gabe's accidents happened. Typhon gave Jed a choice. Either he goes down with them or he gives him and Ryan a chance to live. He's a puppet, but he's being blackmailed into doing Typhon's dirty work instead of being the only guilty party of being judged. Like Pike, you should've been able to turn Jed up against Typhon in the end despite what he did to us. Honestly instead of Jed, Alex's judgement should've been reserved for Diana's boss Lena.

However, the bit I mentioned about Pike being turned into an emotionless serial killer, What we can do is have Pike purposefully screw up his and Jed's investigation and when the mine accident happened, Pike made everything go away and Typhon gave Jed the deal. Pike takes Jed's place as the hands-on villain, where he was always on Diane's side (because ACAB), and Alex thinks she's taking his fear of Diane, but in actuality, she takes his fear of everything coming to light, so that's what sparks him to take Alex to the mines, then chase her through them to try and kill her. Lena the big bad. Diane was a reluctant party and now Pike just doesn't care and wants to kill Alex to save Diane. Also because ACAB

As for the endings. This reddit post sums up what could've been.

After finishing True Colors for the first time, it felt wonderful. But after I finish the game for the second time, I don't bother to play it again as the outcome is pretty much the same. True Colors' endings don't affect me much emotionally compared to LIS1 & LIS2 endings.

Whether you choose to forgive or condemn Jed, he just broke down into tears in similar way. Unlike LIS2, you can spare Lisbeth's life and let her witness her downfall or have your revenge by killing her; you can spare the vigilantes by breaking them out of custody or let them remain locked or even killed them.

Outside LIS franchise, there're other games (e.g Bioshock 1 & 2, Dishonored 1 & 2, etc) that also gave different endings based on how the players play. Kind merciful gameplay -> optimistic endings; Harsh brutal gameplay -> darker twisted endings.

In LIS2, you can actually transform Daniel into a law-abiding citizen or a career criminal based on your morality choices. Your treatment towards your little brother will also affect the brotherhood.

Tell Me Why is another worthy mention because it's a choice-based game developed by DONTNOD. Despite it's not a LIS game, it's still able to capture similar energy with LIS1 and your choices do matter. Since the game focuses on twin siblings reunited after many years of separation, good choices will strengthen their bond; bad choices will strain their relationships -> their conversations become less compassionate but more awkward.

Since True Colors is about empathy, they should give us different endings depend on how Alex treat people around her in Haven Springs.

High Empathy rewards happier endings like we have in game. Every council members sided with Alex for showing kindness to them. Empathy also increased by forgiving Jed, calming Mac down that earn his respect, helping other people in Haven (e.g a guy who lost his dog, telling two people that they were in love with each other, etc). In the end, Alex would use her power to help people in need, also being kind, merciful and show forgiveness.

The worst ending is nobody believed Alex in the final confrontation, Jed & Typhon got away and Alex was forced to leave Haven and go back to foster care. Harsh reality, some bad people do get away (e.g Chad & Mike in LIS2 EP4; if you chose to hit Hank & steal the camping gear, Hank would be labelled as a 'local hero' in the newspaper in LIS2 EP2). Low empathy would cause Alex abuse her powers to manipulate others, make others look worse like how Alex chose not to calm Mac down.

Second-worst ending is low empathy with nobody believed Alex except Pike. Alex hard-exposed Jed & Typhon that they had to face their crimes in the end. The whole town resent Alex as they were still in denial how their local hero turned up to be a liar, miners losing their jobs in Haven.

Neutral ending is half of the town believed Alex. Jed & Typhon were exposed and the town initially was in denial but eventually accept it. Alex would use her powers to help good people, but manipulate others who are bad (I'll show you kindness if you're kind, I'll give you asshole treatment if you're being an asshole). Neutral may be achieved like Alex calmed Mac down, but condemned Jed.

What bugs me is there are absolutely no consequences for the actions you take in the game. In LiS 1&2, and BTS you can get people killed if you do the wrong thing, you can ruin lives and end relationships if you commit to the wrong choices. There is absolutely no consequences in this game in the end. No matter what you do it ends the exact same way and you get to choose your own happy ending it feels so unearned.

So yeah big things I would've changed.

Helping hands Prologue chapter

Episodes are longer lengths, episodically releases and more development for the game in general.

More negative consequences to Alex's powers

Actual development with Alex's relationship to Steph and Ryan

Keep Typhon as the villain with Jed as a blackmailed pawn

Actual consequences to our choices and endings

#Life Is Strange #Life Is Strange True Colors #Chenrich #Luchen #Alex Chen #Steph Gingrich #Ryan Lucan #Jed Lucan #Chloe Price #Warren Graham #My Changes

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tertiaryapocalypse · 3 months ago

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[id: a meet the artist featuring hal, a wasian guy with antennae, buggy eyes, and a power cord tail. he has shoulder length brown hair with a blond highlight and square framed glasses pushed upon his head. he wears a deltarune shirt under a blue flannel, with dark cargo pants and black combat boots. he has a carabiner with a library card, wrench, and swiss army knife. he looks at the viewer somewhat neutrally and holds a disposable cup of coffee. he is a computer science major, and to the right is a collage of a UFO, horse, salmon, a nick cage mug reading "you're my national treasure", a windows computer icon, and a patch for the out of breath hiking society. his library includes do androids dream of electric sheep, house of leaves, paper girls, homestuck, 17776, incredible doom, the apple ii age, and the dictionary of obscure sorrows. he likes to listen to mike krol, pinkshift, art sorority, car seat headrest, tame impala, the smashing pumpkins, and raccoon tour. the lower right is a collage of a record player, headphones, and memes. end id]

i dont know that ive posted any of my annual meet the artists on tumblr but im trying to migrate over here a bit since insta is a shitshow so hi!

#meet the artist #i guess

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love-on-mars · 1 year ago

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Hi! I was wondering if you could do a angst fic abt mick (80s,90s era) literally could be about anything i just never see anyone base a angst fic around him and its always based around the reader so i was wondering if you could write one around mick! Sorry if this request kinda sounds weird ☠️

Hiiii! I’m so sorry if this one is kinda short, it’s also more of hurt/comfort so I hope that’s ok. I set this in the 90s when Mick was having it rough in the band, therefore; angst! Enjoy!

Warings: swearing: talk of chronic illness, sad Mick, angst

Worthless (Mick Mars x Reader)

You heard to front door swing open followed with a grunt and a sigh. Immediately you went over to see your husband of 10 years treading in, looking just as defeated as he has the last few weeks.

Neither of you had to say anything, it was almost funny how intuitive you bother were to each other. It was like you could read each other’s mind, knowing if something was wrong. You looked up at him as you helped him take his coat off, he looked at you with sad, tired eyes. He looked like a kicked puppy.

You pulled him further into your shared home and brougham him upstairs, hearing some soft grunts as he walked up. It broke your heart to hear him in pain, and you knew the AS was getting worse than ever. The worst thing about it is there’s nothing either of you can do to help him.

You offered him some food but he shook his head, opting to take a shower. You offered to help but he said no, he’s always insisted he can care for himself. You know this of course, but offer anyways like how he helps you.

As he came out he got dressed and lays down, a disgruntled sigh escaping his lips. He looked over at you, knowing you wouldn’t sleep until he told you about his once again terrible day in the studio.

“What did they say this time?” You softly asked him, wanting to be as gentle as possible. Recording Generation Swine was hell for him, the producer Scott Humphrey was a real piece of work. Never satisfied with what Mick had to offer, and turning the guys against him. He even said Tommy was a better guitarist than him, Mick had never been so crestfallen during his time in the band.

“What do you think?” He spat, “all I heard today was no, no, no and no. Nothing I contribute to this damn album is good enough for those assholes! Nikki seems to think I can’t play anymore, and said that I’ve always been terrible! They want to use John Corabi on guitar, but what about me?! Don’t I matter?! I’m the guitarist! If this is how they’re gonna be then I might as well just quit!”

You stared at Mick sadly as he ranted, unsure of how to help him. Mick has never been a particularly emotional man, the only time you’ve ever seen him cry was when he shed a tear at your wedding. As he vented you that tears had begun to form in his eyes, and as he finished he sobbed. He didn’t want to quit, he worked too hard to accumulate his fame and fortune. If he quit he would fade into obscurity based on the direction music was taking.

“My damn back doesn’t help. It’s so hard to turn, just putting my guitar strap on is hell. The guys don’t give a shit. They never have.” He sighs. He pauses before looking back at you, “why the hell are you even with me? Im worthless! What do you want from me? Money? Fame? I can’t imagine what else I have to offer you at this point…”

You straddled him and took his face into your hands, wiping away the tears he had shed in his sorrow. “Mick. I could never and will never use you like that, You know that. I married you because I love YOU, Everything that comes with you is just a bonus. You always make me feel happy and loved, no matter what. You’ve proven to be loyal and committed, no matter how tempted you were on tour. You’ve always treated me like the most precious thing on earth, and you listen to me. You aren’t worthless Mick, not to me.”

As he looked up at you more tears fell from his eyes, despite feeling relief about your relationship he couldn’t shake the feelings of inadequacy in terms of the band. The damage the producer and his bandmates were causing was too much. All he wanted was to feel he was still capable as a musician and a member of Motley Crue.

“I feel and look so old though…so worn…” he sighs, placing his hands on yours as he leans into your touch. “I don’t know what to do. All I know is I can’t take this anymore.”

“I know you hate confrontation, but if they are pushing you to tears then you need to say something. If you don’t go down there and speak up I will. I refuse to let them keep abusing you like this, you’re hurting enough as it is.” You say as you kiss away the remaining tears on his face. He chuckles at your bravery, but shakes his head.

“No need for that, Love. I’ll figure this out, somehow.” He gives you a small smile, he’s been through worse. He’ll get through it.

You nod and turn out the lights before laying down next to him and getting under the covers. You lay your arm across Micks torso to hold him close, he wraps an arm around you pull you into him. “Thank you baby. I don’t know what I would do without you in my life. I love you.”

“I love you too, Mick. Everything will be ok.”

#mick mars #motley crue #mick mars imagine #mick mars x reader #motley crue x reader #1313 #team mick #nikki sixx #tommy lee #vince neil

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princesscolumbia · 8 months ago

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Ānzhuōniichuan - Chapter 1: That Butterfly Died a Long Time Ago

Thankfully, this particular idea is not a megawork waiting to happen, just a novel's worth of ideas and arcs that came to me while I was putting the finishing touches on Double Isekai ch. 9.

Summary:

Thousands of years ago, long before anyone keeping records even knew of the place, Jusenkyo created one of the more exotic pools in its repertoire. This pool would go unnoticed and undiscovered...until an idiot hauls his son through China under the guise of a martial arts training trip.

Notes:

As of the time of posting, all Romanized Chinese is provided via Google Translate, which we all know sucks. If you know enough Chinese to spot and make corrections, please do so in the notes and I'll make the adjustments as I get the chance. Note about pronouns: Kickin' it old-school with this one; When Ranma's (and others with gender-related curses) in male form, male pronouns will be used. Similar for female form and pronouns. There's simply going to be too much going on at various points in this to provide the necessary cues via narrative at all the places to show which body they're in without breaking the flow. (Plus, and this is a teeny spoiler for something that comes up later in this fic, Ranma is gender-fluid and bi for this one) (...I know, I'm writing a Ranma that's not a purely Sapphic transwoman? Me?! Who'd have thought?) Oh, one more thing; this has a single change to the established Ranma 1/2 canon timeline. Yup, just one. Good ol' butterfly effect means that this one change means a LOT of little differences crop up over time, and the change happening thousands of years prior means that there's a LOT of these little oddities. If you're reading and say, "Wait, that didn't happen that way..." it's specifically because of the one alteration cascading through time. ...claiming full credit and ownership of the OC, though. 😎

Preview under the cut:

"Pops, get yer furry ass BACK HERE!" shouted the now cute, short, and girly martial artist. Not cute! Rough and tough and manly, damnit! The ground they were running across was shifting, which made sense. The entire valley was littered with spring pools, it wasn't surprising that the soil would be loose. That said, she and her currently panda father were far too skilled as martial artists to let some loose topsoil hinder them.

Surprise human male to the face...not so much.

Ranma's one real thought as she took a human person's mass to her torso and head was, Hey, he looks familiar! just before he impacted with her. She felt them both slam into the weak soil and the entire surface started to shift. Thinking quickly, she grabbed first a handful of grasses, then a handful of the shirt the other boy was wearing and held on as what turned out to be the embankment of a bluff, not quite a cliff but close to it, that overlooked a section of the Pools of Sorrow. She felt her shoulders nearly yank out of their sockets as gravity hauled the boy down into the valley. Remembering the abject terror she experienced not minutes before as she surfaced from the source of her own life-altering change, she was not going to let that happen to anyone else if she could help it. "Grab on!" she shouted, "Hold on to something!"

The boy (Why does he look so familiar?!) shook his head to clear it and looked around before looking up at her, "It's fine, I'm a martial artist. Just drop me, I'll land in that water down there."

"Nononono!!! You do NOT want to land in that water!" she felt more than heard the grass she was gripping in her other hand starting to tear. She may have a fairly sizeable handful and her grip was trained by no fewer than four obscure martial arts her old man had dragged her to over the years that focused on weirdly specific stuff like that, but grass was grass was grass and this wasn't going to hold up under their combined weights. "Trust me," she practically shouted, "Falling in this water is very bad!" She glanced around herself, trying to find anything that would give her purchase to keep them from taking another dunk. Unfortunately, when the ground beneath them gave way, not only did it break off some of the bluff and take them down with it, the remaining earth, an almost wet clay from what she could tell, was angled away from her. She was basically being held aloft by tearing grasses and her wrist as she held the training ground's next apparent victim over what looked like a fairly out-of-the-way pool. Right over it. As in, even if she managed to swing him somehow, she wouldn't be able to get him far enough out to avoid landing in the water.

"I can swim, it's okay, really! Don't hurt yourself on my account, miss!"

"I'm not a 'miss,' you idiot!" At his baffled expression, she started getting a little frantic and it was coming out in her voice, cracking an octave higher than she liked, "I woke up with a dick and no boobs this morning!"

He seemed to get it, at least enough to react the way she intended him to, eyes going wide. Unfortunately, just as he was raising his hands to grab onto her wrist, his shirt tore. In Ranma's defense, it looked like it was an older shirt that had seen one too many days on the road.

Ranma felt like time was going in slow motion as the boy fell to the water. This particular pool didn't have a shoot of bamboo sticking out of it, so that potential fall hazard was, thankfully, not there. On the other hand, if he was a martial artist like he said he coulda grabbed the pole...not like it matters now... As the splash pattered to the ground and surface of the pool, she realized that this particular pool wasn't as deep as the one she had fallen into...not that it made any difference in the end result. Huh...I guess there's two girl springs...? she thought absently. The freshly minted girl made her way slowly to her feet, water coming up to about her thighs. The torn shirt was substantially more filled out in the chest than it had been previously, and the girl's previously black hair was now a shockingly pretty green color that somehow looked right on her and made the black and yellow bandana on her head stand out in a very cute and attractive way. Well, at least the springs make some real lookers, she thought. "Oh, jeeze!" she hollered down, "I'm so sorry!"

The girl looked up and Ranma could swear her eyes kinda flashed at her, but that was probably a trick of the light.

Just then, the guide managed to run down the path between the springs. "Mister customer...! Oh, another customer! Not need run so much! Was going to..." the man clearly wasn't nearly up to Ranma's fitness level as he stopped and huddled down, hands on his knees as he struggled to catch his breath.

As though everything else that happened weren't enough, she heard the sound of the grass tearing further and had just enough time to say, "Oh fu~!!!" before she felt gravity get its revenge and yank her down. She managed, by sheer dint of the training her father had put her through, to reflexively grab onto the one thing between her and the pool, which was the other teen's backpack. She found herself practically wrapping around it like a particularly affectionate vine, not wanting to test what happens when you fall into two pools on the same day.

Which was, apparently, a valid concern. "Aiyah!" gasped the guide, "Mister customer be very careful! If fall into two pools the..."

...which was exactly when the straps on the backpack, sized for the brick of muscle and bone the other girl had been not five minutes before and not the willowy (if well endowed) form the other teen had now, chose that moment to fall off her shoulders and drop Ranma in the fairly shallow water.

As she surfaced (not hard to do, she merely had to sit up...though that task was made a little harder by the surprisingly heavy pack that planted her firmly on the spring's floor), she heard the guide say with a very disheartened voice, "...curses mix..."

"Oh, gosh, I'm sorry!" came a voice that sounded light and willowy as a hand reached down and hefted the pack from Ranma's body. This freed up her hands so she could rub the water out of her eyes and she looked up and saw the new face of the other teen...and found herself oddly transfixed, even if just for a moment. It wasn't quite like when she saw a pretty girl and her heart skipped a beat, or at least it was different enough from that feeling that she could identify it as different, but it wasn't anything she could remember feeling with anything or anyone else before.

"'S'okay, it aint like I didn't already take a dunk. Guess I'm just now double-girl or something." She took the other new girl's offered hand and together they waded their way to the dry bank.

"Very strange, not sure what spring customers fall in..." the guide's words trailed off as he scratched his head.

Ranma looked back to the pool and then at the guide again, "Aint it just another girl spring or somethin'?"

The guide shook his head, "Customer no understand; only one of any type of spring in all valley." He pointed at the spring right next to the one they had fallen into, "That Spring of Drowned Pig, tragic story of pig who fall into spring and drown over 400 year ago." Both Ranma and the other girl looked at the still water with alarm and very deliberately moved to stand over next to the guide, "No be another Spring of Drowned Pig until this one dry up or get buried and another pig drown in different, fresh spring. Mister Customer," he indicated Ranma, "Already fall in Spring of Drowned Girl, but I not see this spring before," he pointed at the still rippling waters, "Look like bluff fall, uncover spring, I think? Not happen often, but surprised spring not buried when bluff fell."

"Well, whatever," she sighed, "I...need pants. Can you get me back to my pack? And, I dunno, maybe help us find a cure or somethin'? We're both supposed t'be guys."

"Ah, yes! Mister Customer and other customer run away before I could explain; curse only part time. You always be cursed, but get normal body back with hot water." The two girls blinked owlishly at him, so he clarified, "Cold water now turn you into cursed form," he waved up and down at their new bodies, "Hot water turn back into mans. I have kettle at home, will change you back."

They both heaved a sigh of relief, "Well," said the new girl, "It aint a cure, but it's not as bad as it could be."

"Oh, gods!" exclaimed Ranma, "I thought I was stuck like this forever! Lead the way, sir, I need pants!"

(Read the rest at AO3)

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eorziapple · 1 year ago

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FFXIV Write 2023: Prompt 8: Shed

(CW: body morphing/Sin Eater transformation/medical style injections/injuries, Character: Apple Silverberg, Setting: GA Apple, Expansion: Vague Shadowbringers spoilers)

Apple winced as she connected the final port, this one on the back of her wrist. She gave her body a check, straining not to move much as the other twenty seven connectors caused a good deal of pain if she shifted too intensely.

It was drastic, she knew, but... what else could she do? The Aetheric computations conducted here on chimeras were powerful enough to remove both the intense Light and Dark magics roiling through her body, and once that was done, she could try to pick up the shattered pieces of her life.

"input procedure 1-Alpha-Delta-Alpha-2-0-4." she instructed the Operating Node, and it wordlessly began to process her instructions.

She took a deep breath, preparing herself as the cords began to light up in vibrant colors, each corresponding the the requisite aether drained from the atmosphere surrounding Azys Lla. At first she was concerned the process wasn't initializing, but then the familiar feelings of aether sickness had her head and stomach both churning.

She did her best to stay still, not wanting to break any of the connectors. The process, thankfully only took five minutes, and as the node chirped, indicating completion, she took a look over at the readouts. "Huh, perfect synchronicity, almost exactly the equilibrium before the First..." she took little notes in her head.

A beep. An acceleration of Light aether. She frowned, checking it again. Rising levels, fast, too fast. She became lightheaded, her vision began to blur. "No! Nonononono!" she wailed, was it a feedback? The aether suppressed the entire time by Death, constantly? It couldn't be, could it?

She felt violently ill coughing up... white bile. Her panic came out in a wailing sob, she could feel a substance draining from her eyes and nose, and then painful cracking and.

The monitor nodes of the chimeric induction lab captured the sight of a woman morphing and shifting into a winged, gangly creature, the connectors violently ejected from her former body as the Light aether ejected from the wounds. The beast had a young woman's face in, tears of white pouring down its face as it took its first awkward steps, wailing in an unspoken agony.

And from that face, a curved blade erupted through, a black, clawed arm at the end of it gripped the torn hole and with shocking might tore it open, emerging from the creature as a levitating humanoid figure, wreathed in shadow, and large, tattered robes billowing in the aertheric magics flowing about it. The creature's head was obscured by a hood, eyes glowing a deep, piercing red that illuminated the face of a young woman, several rotating sickle blades dancing about the air around her.

The being looked over at the monitor node, and the last image it managed to record was the creature shifting away into shadows, and then a cold, sorrowful face as the being crushed it.

#ffxiv write 2023 #death the summon #Apple Silverberg #summoner

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froody · 1 year ago

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I love Robert Johnson so much. He was such a fantastic lyricist, of course, his guitar playing skills are what he was mainly known for and those are extraordinary as well. But listening to his songs, really listening to the words? Wow. The meaning of the prominent imagery surrounding hell and the Devil is often obscured by the urban legend that he sold his soul for his guitar playing skills. The devil he sings about is not the literal, physical entity. Like in much of the blues genre, the devil acts as metaphor for misdeeds, a looming lurking temptation, a cloud of misery and sorrow, a reminder that it is often easier to be bad than be good. Crossroad Blues is a cry for help, he’s asking anyone to get him away from this liminal space between good and evil, any temptation towards good, something like a woman or a friend. Me and the Devil Blues is about the seemingly random temptation to mistreat a woman and the evilness of it, if life made forfeit by needless cruelty.

My favorite Robert Johnson song, Dead Shrimp Blues, is a little more lighthearted but written with such bawdy penmanship that it makes me wonder what he wrote that didn’t get put to song or recorded and what he would have written had he more time and resources.

#domestic abuse /#domestic abuse

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mywifeleftme · 1 year ago

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231: The Pogues // If I Should Fall from Grace with God

If I Should Fall from Grace with God The Pogues 1988, Stiff

Take my hand, and dry your tears babe Take my hand, forget your fears babe There’s no pain, there’s no more sorrow They’re all gone, gone in the years babe

Ah Shane, another man surely claimed by the number one cause of death in Ireland: Irishness. Sometimes it felt like you had to take your finger and fish around in his horrible mouth for all the poetry you’d been told was in there, but if you kept at it you’d always pull out some slurred gem eventually. Like a lot of men of my genre, to me the Pogues personified down-but-not-out romance, the sort of music for cavorting and resisting but also for sliding your heavy boots along some dusted wood floor, with your hands around a woman’s waist and your exhausted nose in her good-smelling hair. They made masculine music, certainly, but in that manner that admits tears and tenderness among men, the way enough beer can blur the stiff boundary between straight dudes and whiskey can burn right through it by the end of a night. And they made smart music too, cognizant of history, ever on the side of the common person, but with a maniac zest for bloody myths and black-humoured political sloganeering.

MacGowan loved doomed poets like Federico Garcia Lorca and Brendan Behan, and it seemed that in his understanding there was no separating the doom from the poetry. Certainly he was avid in his commitment to both. In his lyrics and in his stage presence, he presented the figure of a tattered, drunken tramp, whose low state gives him vision, reckless freedom, and the right to broad sentimentality. It’s a pose that’s existed about as long as literature itself has, and there’s plenty of Irish and English folk songs that lean into the trope—what MacGowan, via his punk roots, brings to the table is that he sounds like that character when he sings. It’s moving when a ruinous drunk opens their gob and a high pure “Danny Boy” voice emerges. But with MacGowan, you feel like you’re right there in the bar or the prison cell or the ghostly pirate ship where the action is happening.

Of course, the Pogues were always more than just Shane, and it’s not unlikely he’d be a very obscure figure today if he hadn’t joined forces with such a formidable crew of instrumentalists. Though I’m partial to the MacGowan-dominated Rum Sodomy & the Lash, their most successful record, If I Should Fall from Grace with God, is the moment the band and their brilliant frontman achieved equilibrium. Many of the album’s finest songs are co-writes between MacGowan and banjo player Jem Finer, while new additions (and actual Irishmen) Terry Woods and Philip Chevron (himself passed away in 2013) each contribute moving originals. The band is every bit as put-together as Shane is not, but the record finds them as always shifting gracefully between hellraising punk, rare old dewy folk, and honest-to-God Christmas music without once seeming out of their element. On the better than respectable (though less than classic) albums that followed, they would effectively take up the slack left by their decreasingly functional singer. Even when Shane was often little more than a reeking stage prop, they remained a force in concert.

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I own the first three Pogues records (and the Poguetry in Motion EP), and prior to today I hadn’t decided which I would write about. But when I heard the news, I knew immediately it would be Grace’s “The Broad Majestic Shannon” that would be the song to make me weep; and that decided it. Lesser known than the similarly swinging “Fairytale of New York,” but no less special to my heart, it tells in plain speech of the pain and relief in time’s passing. As MacGowan told it, “Shannon” is “a song about an Irishman returning to his hometown in County Tipperary after many years of living in London, and finding that everything about the place he grew up in has changed or disappeared.” He remembers a last drink with friends and a lover, a pensive moment sat at a crossroads where he took the place in a final time before pushing off. Sometime later, he returns to a wall where that crossroads once stood and stands by it a while, pushing around some old rubbish with his foot before shaking his head wryly at himself for being so sentimental about it. Threading those two moments in time there’s the chorus I quoted at the top of this piece, this rich, tender, accepting thing. On the first pass through, it could be the speaker comforting his loved ones on the eve of his departure; on the second, it seems the memory of his own words gently chides and comforts him. “The Broad Majestic Shannon” makes the iron, inescapable fact that all people and things must pass away sound like a blessing, and that coming to accept this fact is the requirement that makes truly living possible. Poets tend to be denied the benefits of their own insights, but they say even in his ruin Shane was content with his lot. He loved and was loved. And now he’s gone where there are no tears or cops or dentists, and we have our time together before we go too.

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231/365

#shane macgowan #the pogues #celtic rock #folk punk #'80s music #fairytale of new york #broad majestic shannon #tribute #music review #vinyl record #dentistry #whiskey

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brokethedrawer · 9 months ago

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Ran into this while browsing through some older sites--an article/interview from 2004, mostly about Everybody Loves a Happy Ending. I especially love what Charlton says about "Size of Sorrow."

In case the Wayback Machine link ever stops working, here's a copy:

INTERNAL CONFLICTS ARE PRACTICALLY a requisite for every pop duo, the in-fighting associated with Simon & Garfunkel, Oasis and The Everly Brothers almost as well-known as the songs they produced.

Up until recently, Tears for Fears had sustained an impressive impasse of their own, with one half of the pair, Curt Smith, abandoning the synth group for more than a decade. What was thought to be a permanent vacation, however, is snapped on April 6 with the release of Everybody Loves a Happy Ending (Arista), the first CD by the original British duo since 1989’s Top 10 album The Seeds of Love.

The full track list: "Everybody Loves a Happy Ending," "Closest Thing to Heaven" (first single), "Call Me Mellow," "Size of Sorrow," "Who Killed Tangerine?," "Quiet Ones," "Who You Are," "The Devil," "Secret World," "Killing with Kindness," "Ladybird" and "Last Days on Earth."

Smith and partner Roland Orzabal grew up as childhood friends in Bath, England, devoting many years to the cultivation of Tears for Fears (and Graduate, prior to that) before breaking though with The Hurting in 1983.

The band ruled the airwaves in ’85, tallying two singles that topped the charts for a combined five weeks: "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and "Shout." But despite the mega-success of Songs from the Big Chair that year (five-times platinum) and the strong reception garnered by its follow-up, The Seeds of Love, four years later, the union eventually proved ill-fated. Smith exited in 1992.

Orzabal upheld the Tears for Fears moniker despite Smith’s absence throughout the ’90s, but the amount of material he created was minimal: Elemental in 1993 and Raoul and the Kings of Spain two years later. In the meantime, Smith periodically issued obscure solo discs, including 2000’s Aeroplane.

"About two-and-a-half years ago, they started talking again," newly recruited guitarist Charlton Pettus, who also played on Aeroplane, tells ICE. "I think they had both arrived at similar places musically, and whatever personal stuff there was, it was long ago enough that no one cared anymore. Their dynamic partnership is one that they didn’t fully appreciate until they didn’t have it. When they got back into it, they just kept going."

Once the reunion became official, the band devoted winter 2002-’03 to writing and laying down demos. The bulk of the recording took place in Los Angeles starting in February, and lasted through the summer.

"We took about four trips between Roland’s house in England and [L.A.] before we really started recording," says Pettus, who co-produced the album with the band. "So it was a gradual, get-back-into-the-water thing at first."

Whereas Orzabal traditionally performs guitar and keyboards and Smith the bass, the members occasionally swapped duties during this recording. Pettus filled all three roles when needed, and Orzabal even stepped behind the drum kit for "Closest Thing to Heaven." The album is also infused with B3 organ, Wurlitzer, acoustic piano, Mellotron, clarinet and other instruments.

While Pettus claims the recording was slow-moving, "Ladybird," the first song the duo attempted, "went fairly quickly and naturally," he says. "There was no conscious effort to sound like Tears for Fears… they just do."

Despite the long gap of time between recordings, the group only looked to the past for one Everybody selection, "Size of Sorrow"; the rest were all written specifically for the new album.

The Orzabal-penned "Size of Sorrow," at least seven years old, was casually recalled during the recording sessions, eventually winding up on the album. "It was from the period right after they broke up, so hearing Curt sing it was kind of an epiphany," Pettus states. "When we were going through songs midway through the process, there was a song of Roland’s that he’d never recorded a version of which he liked. Me and Curt thought it was a beautiful song… we messed around with it for awhile and loved it."

Pettus says that the majority of initial tracks were preserved for the final versions of the songs.

"More than half the tracks on there are first-take quickies," he says. "A lot of the guitar solos are first-take noodles that we got attached to. It’s a demo/record hybrid — nothing was erased."

He points to the title track specifically: "The middle part of that song is Roland singing and playing acoustic guitar together on one mike. He did just one take as a reference, so we could lay out the song structure. We thought there was something magical about the take, so that was it."

The studio residency resulted in roughly 12 leftover tracks, some of which will surface as B-sides and others that will not be finished. Pettus hints at one track in particular, "Out of Control," as being an especially beloved remainder.

Once the recordings were finished, the pair inked a deal with Arista — the first time they had ever been involved with the label. "[Arista president] L.A. Reid has always been a big fan," VP of Marketing Adam Lowenberg tells ICE. "Everyone at Arista is so excited about this… there’s nothing else like it on our roster."

#tff #tears for fears #roland orzabal #curt smith #charlton pettus #tff interviews #everybody loves a happy ending

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catty-words · 1 year ago

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Since everyone else is doing it... Astoria by MT for Benvi: "Whatever doesn't make me stronger kills me, But it's gonna be a long year, Til the hospital can find hope in me" = Devi during her wheelchair days; "A fevered blur through names obscured, And speech is slurred, What's another bridge burned? I'm on my own, you came alone, All dressed up in bad news. I know you can hurt too, This would be the wrong move, Maybe we should leave soon" = Benvi in general, "You can lay with me while you think of him, Drown our sorrows deep in each other's skin, I touch your face while I think of her, I won't raise my lips to the way we were, Bite my neck while you say his name, I will scratch your back to forget her face, Our regret tastes sweet through a soft liqueur, We can raise our lips to the way we were" = not about just each other but their various relationships/fantasies and how they use them to find self-worth or distract from their problems; "On a good day I'm the bad news For the wrong girl with the right wounds" - about Ben and his penchant for being an a**hole but also Devi and herself esp her self sabotage; "Hey, let's all say f- it, I'm gonna make my mother so proud of it" = DEVI MAKING NALINI PROUD

alright well. this anon has my number. PANDERING.

once upon a time, i believe 'astoria' was in my general d/b playlist, but then i said to myself, "self," i said. "you cannot make literally every marianas trench song about ben and devi, you have got to be more discerning, sis." and this one did not make the second cut. HOWEVER. and if i ever get around to finishing my non-exhaustive list of things i love about this album you'll see me elaborate, but! i love this album as an overview of the band's lore. every distinct era influences astoria (2015). and since one of the through lines in the band's music is a love that's formative and deeply influential on the self, even when the speaker and the love aren't actively in a relationship and that's EXACTLY how i conceptualize d/b pre-series and beyond... literally every marianas trench song is about ben and devi and that includes this song amen.

though, for the record, "wildfire" and "this means war" and "while we're young" are the astoria (2015) songs that remain in my d/b playlist.

#also. congratulations!#i am already insane for the 'on a good day i'm the bad news / for the wrong girl with the right wounds' refrain #and you have heightened my insanity by the power of two!#anon #replies #marianas trench #astoria (2015)#devi x ben

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unchataparis · 1 year ago

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A Review of Passion

The episode with the long-awaited returned of Lady Noire and Mister Bug. This could be great fan-service and plot continuation all in one.

Alya doesn’t believe that Marinette is in love with Chat Noir. I don’t either. It just feels like she’s trying to avoid her feelings by fixating on completely irrelevant targets.

“Marinette, you find yourself a new, unavailable crush just when Adrien seems interested in you. Aren’t you running away from your feelings a little?”

The animation of Marinette looking down but lifting up her eyes to look at Alya was so smooth. So personable.

I don’t like Adrien’s sudden change of heart either. The way he’s speaking Marinette’s name around the house paints his love as a hyper-obsession rather than any genuine feelings. Yes, Adrien could just feel very strongly, he is a person who like to feel things at 200%. But this is such as whiplash change after four seasons of the same old thing.

Both Adrien and Marinette woke up really early. I wonder what’s the symbolism of this.

Adrien being completely blind to the tension might be the funniest thing this episode. Love how they’re both fighting for the right to take care of him. 'Bout time people are fighting to love him rather than abandon him.

And here, we remember Nathalie has martial art training.

Again, Nathalie reminds the audience that whatever ‘pure’ intentions Gabriel had to start out as Papillon has ended with the madness he now dons Monarque’s cowl with. I can’t remember everything from Season 3’s Stormy Weather 2 episode, but Nathalie mentioned feeling deep affection for Adrien, Gabriel, and heavy sorrow for Emilie, which inspired her desire to gain Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous. Now, it seems that any affection she has for Gabriel has disappeared. Nathalie capitalises on the fact that she’s here for one thing and one thing only: Adrien’s safety. Nice. I would definitely be concerned about Adrien’s safety as well. And it’s time Adrien has someone on his side.

It’s debatable if they’re both wearing Miraculous, because Gabriel has experience but Nathalie has been out in the field, but in hand-to-hand combat, with only their bare fists in civilian forms, Nathalie would win, even with paralyses legs.

Gabriel hits back with the argument that “Everything I do is for Adrien’s happiness” and Nathalie responds the blunt truth, that all Adrien needs to have for his happiness is an available father. Adrien has no idea both Gabriel and Nathalie are still tangled up in the very-present issue of Emilie. Adrien appears to have moved on and completely accepted Emilie’s death/disappearance, he made inferences that he’s okay with Gabriel pursuing Nathalie in both Stormy Weather 2 and this episode. To bring Emilie back now would be to traumatise him.

And now Emilie has left recordings. Which were conveniently absent for the first four seasons.

Oh, dang.

Yeah, he’s dying.

And this gives Nathalie plausible reason to want to continue helping Gabriel. Because he’s right, Nathalie can’t be saved, maybe Emilie won't be saved, and now Gabriel is dying too. Adrien will be left alone if Gabriel kicks the bucket.

It’s great that Adrien is immediately making plans on confessing to Marinette. Moved faster in a quarter of an episode than Marinette did in five seasons.

They keep adding new lore? In Season 1, Emilie was guessed to be in a coma due to some illness, in Season 2 and 3, hints of Peafowl-related mayhem were bought up, in Season 4, the issues of Sentibeings became available, and now they were all on a safari together? What is going on? I cannot piece all these broken parts together.

I’m going the assume the latest version of the lore is the one the writers are now following.

So Gabriel, Emilie, and Nathalie has all been searching for the Miraculous for sometime. None of their reasons are clear yet, but Nathalie’s is especially obscure, seeing that she’s not part of the family. But Emilie has wanted Gabriel to stop searching for them long before all this catastrophe happened. She knew she was going to die, or be out-of-commission of some sorts, which was why she recorded her videos. But Gabriel never honoured his wife's wishes, his Miraculous-obtaining goals simply switched targets from the original aim to saving Emilie.

Aw. That’s so innocent, Adrien going to a parental figure for advice on love.

These stills are so awkward, the lightning doesn’t match up and the heads looks superimposed on. This looks like those bad fan-made edits. Nathalie literally looks like her head was pasted on a stock-image body. Why does the clothes have so many wrinkles.

“No, it will be okay. Don’t worry about me, Adrien”, Nathalie says. Lying to Children 101.

“Emilie, I’m so confused. I don’t know what to do anymore.” Do what’s right. When you don’t know what to do, do what’s kind and what is good.

Love Tikki’s absolutely zero faith in Marinette.

Huh, this is the first time Monarque was spoken to by a Champion he personally knows. Both Lila and Chloé has called to Papillon before, made offers, demanded powers, but Nathalie is the first person to explain his own feelings back to him.

And it’s a Mega-Akuma this time, Monarque is placing a lot of faith on him.

Giving Nathalie the power to create her own ability. I’m excited to see what she comes up with.

This is a weirdly well-rendered box.

Ohh, she’s created her own weapons kit!

Safari looks really good, making it onto the list of best-dressed villains alongside Style Queen and Chat Blanc.

It’s never referred to, as they can’t waste a single moment, but I wonder if Nathalie felt relief and awe at being able to move so freely and easily again.

Pretty much the entire class has Alliance rings. The only people that don’t are Adrien and Marinette, self-explanatory, and Ivan and Mylène, as a protest against technology? That Akuma alert is very useful. Parisians get to know immediately.

Everyone in Paris picking up an Alliance rings seems like a Chekov's gun.

What are they learning, that is not collège-level maths.

Love this tiny detail that Marinette’s stall-door is the only one that's locked.

Safari’s powers are cool, but I am so confused about the power scale now. Is Monarque bearing the weight or is Safari just able to handle six Miraculous powers on her own?

Both Manipula and Safari used Miraculous powers as part of their inventory. I guess the writers really want to emphasis how the ball is now in the other field, what once belonged to Ladybug is now being fired back at her.

This scene made me gasp, that was really cool. This is the best way Chat Noir has used Cataclysm in some time.

And it’s Ladybug out of commission for once.

That was a really good chase scene. Hasn’t seen action like that since Season 1.

I love how Chat Noir will trash-talk even an arrow.

Ladybug has all the brains but Chat Noir has all the confidence. These two need to realise they’re still separate people, they don’t need the other to function.

“I’m sorry. Without you, I fail.” No. Terrible message to send, horrendous message.

This was pretty clever. For most episodes of Miraculous, I can still spy another route the hero could’ve taken, some way they could've gotten out and the only reason why they didn't is to adhere to the plot. But, here, Chat Noir really was pushed into a corner.

There you go, baby. You’re thinking.

Season 2 finale vibes. Love that the first thing Marinette notices is the absence of her Earrings. Her instincts always goes towards protecting those.

Adrien actually proposes the possibility of using a Wish. But Marinette is right. Not only would wishing for something mean nothing, there'll be a terrible price to pay.

Oh, they did not waste time.

“My suit has a really weird influence on you.” Lmao.

“There’s nothing else to destroy. All that’s left is her suit.” Rip her suit off.

They would not have been able to defeat Safari if Adrien didn’t realise that was Nathalie.

For some reason, Mister Bug keeps getting items of extreme convenience. He wants a mirror? He gets a mirror. He needs an excuse to go to the Agreste Mansion? Ta-dah! Must be his straightforward way of thinking influencing the Miraculous.

That’s right, assert yourself, baby boy.

I just happened to be walking by and decided to help.

Animation error, Tikki’s eyes are brown.

This episode explains why Nathalie can't help out anymore, she gave her all in one last push. And the episode gives an opportunity for Lady Noire and Mister Bug to shine once more.

#miraculous #passion #marinette dupain-cheng #ladybug #adrien agreste #chat noir #tikki #alya césaire #gabriel agreste #nathalie sancœur #review #season 5

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ryttu3k · 2 years ago

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The 2022 playlist, favourite albums, and thoughts on Pink Floyd!

Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Fanfare for the Common Man

Hot Chocolate - Every 1's a Winner

The Whitlams - Cambridge Three

The Whitlams - Man About A Dog

The Whitlams - Sancho In Love

Florence + the Machine - King

Florence + the Machine - My Love

Florence + the Machine - Daffodil

Zdob și Zdub and Frații Advahov - Trenulețul

Sweet - Ballroom Blitz

Pink Floyd - Echoes

Electric Light Orchestra - Eldorado Overture & Can't Get It Out Of My Head

Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond

Pink Floyd - Sheep

Queen - Face It Alone

Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb

Måneskin - La Fine

Favourite album releases: The Whitlams - Sancho; Florence + the Machine - Dance Fever

Favourite old albums: Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here; Animals

...Godspeed You! Black Emperor did have a 'new' album release when their very first album came out. It, um, was not good, haha. Another new release, single this time, Face It Alone by Queen, which was recorded for The Miracle but never released at the time. Gives me definite emotions. For Måneskin, three singles, Supermodel, The Loneliest, and La Fine. Supermodel is a bop, The Loneliest is absolute angst, but none hit me like La Fine did. New album out in a month!

But really, this year has belonged to Pink Floyd, much how last year belonged to Måneskin (as a new favourite), and GY!BE and Queen (listening to their whole discography). More similar to GY!BE, in that I heard both Lift Your Skinny Fists and Dark Side Of The Moon at roughly the same time and they both instantly rocketed to the top of my 'favourite albums of all time' list.

Here are some thoughts!

Rating all the albums, and notable favourites/now in my regular rotation:

The Dark Side of the Moon: 9.5/10 (all of it it's flawless. But if I have to pick, Brain Damage/Eclipse, Us & Them, Time, The Great Gig in the Sky, and Breathe (In The Air). Yes I realise that’s more than half the album)

Wish You Were Here: 9/10 (Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Welcome To The Machine)

Animals: 9/10 (Sheep, Dogs)

Meddle: 8.5/10 (Echoes, One Of These Days)

The Wall: 8.5/10 (Comfortably Numb, Hey You)

The Endless River: 8.5/10 (all of it as a unit tbh)

A Momentary Lapse of Reason: 8.5/10 (Signs of Life, Sorrow, Yet Another Movie)

The Division Bell: 8.5/10 (Cluster One, High Hopes)

Ummagumma (live section): 8.5/10

A Saucerful of Secrets: 8/10 (Let There Be More Light)

Obscured By Clouds: 7.5/10 (Obscured By Clouds)

The Final Cut: 7.5/10

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn: 7/10

More: 7/10 (Cymbaline)

Atom Heart Mother: 6.5/10

Ummagumma (studio section): 5.5/10

Top five tracks in approximate order: Shine On You Crazy Diamond, all of Dark Side of the Moon, Comfortably Numb, Echoes, Sheep.

(Also watched the Pulse concert, no thoughts only brain keyboardsmash, and listened to the orchestrated Us & Them tribute thing. Next on the list is Delicate Sound of Thunder, Waters’ The Wall, and the Echoes album.)

So like. As a general rule, not quite as high ratings as something like GY!BE, which I all rated super high (although in fairness, Pink Floyd has a lot more albums). It also feels kind of odd rating, say, The Wall 9/10, but I only regularly listen to Comfortably Numb (and The Wall part 2, which is the only track I had heard prior to listening). I guess because the whole thing works as a singular unit? I'm not sure, honestly.

Definitely most attached to the 70s era, almost straight through (starting from Meddle in 1971, Atom Heart Mother didn't super grab me). Which makes sense! The first album, the one that got me into them, was Dark Side of the Moon, so it was that classic 70s prog rock sound I was most drawn to. The earlier stuff is still... I guess developing towards that? I was listening chronologically, and Echoes, from Meddle, was the first time I really went, "...oh yeah, that is absolutely the Pink Floyd of DSotM."

I did really enjoy Division Bell, although there were definite 'this was made in the 90s' moments, and The Endless River tends to get panned but I actually super enjoyed it. Kind of gave me a Songs of Distant Earth-era Mike Oldfield vibe (that's not an insult, I love Mike Oldfield). Actually, yeah, the later Gilmour-led stuff did hit the spot, more than the earlier content and Final Cut did.

Been a rad experience, and they're absolutely getting added to 'favourite band' status (along with GY!BE, Florence + the Machine, Queen, Måneskin, and the Whitlams. What is my music taste? We just don't know).

And now to listen to Wish You Were Here for the zillionth time because Shine On You Crazy Diamond owns my entire soul <3

#music #pink floyd #year in review

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bylrndgm · 1 year ago

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ok hi —

so, this is the most embarrassing thing i've ever done in a while, lol. i'm kinda back from my three days hiatus. i know no one noticed because i literally didn't want to yk post about it, cause a fuss, aaaand it would've made me look too much of an attention seeker so i just blended into the bg.

i thought it was getting bad again, turns out i was just overstimulated and in a bad mood. which is completely normal (idk if it is, but for me it is) and as i always do when i hate it in my head, i run away from things and hide until it gets better (just for instance, i hid in my bedroom for a week or so some years ago because of [redacted]).

and you know, a tiny drop of sadness causes a black ocean and my sky turned pitch black and i felt the earth opening wide beneath my feet and i was like uh oh am i gonna fall again? and from a tiny thing i started feeling sad about like everything and last night was my last straw because ugh.

did you ever had someone you loved but you were too heartbroken to? like you loved them deep inside of you, but you wouldn't dare to love them consciously because god forbid if you were to feel love or happiness when you were supposed to feel sorrow and despair? it's like you have these two forces and i, years ago, i succumbed to sorrow and lost that one person. lost in the sense that we were on our different ways and moved on, and i was left to wonder what could've been.

today i woke up fine (kinda, still thinking abt that person lol). like all the clouds were gone, a bright sky in my mind and i was like, yeah you're acting childish by leaving your friends on read or leaving your silly online blog because of one bad day. so dramatic of me. 🙄 so yeah, kinda back? i gotta fix up my blog graphic all over again but yeah, guess i'll be fully back in the next upcoming days. till then, sorry for the mess 👹

three days hiatus update: i fell into a reddit rabbit hole i.e., the most mysterious song on the internet rabbit hole and i wanted to ask my dad if he recognized the song because who knows (my dad, grew up in this tiny ass town in the mountains, of course he knows about an obscure 80s song from Germany /sarcastic) but he's been in a mood too. maybe this weekend will do! then um, nothing much else. uh, well, guts came out today and i gave it 2 listens and i love it - might head to the local record store to see if they have it ;)

k bye, gotta go, glad to be back ig? and can't wait to rb all the posts i liked these past few days (not many, like 3 but💀)

#elz's chit chats #just me being stupid on main whatever #hi again tell me guys how have you been

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