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hae-yeon · 3 days ago

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326.Black Dragon's Heart (1)

흑룡의 심장 (1)

The Young Chaos. Although the moniker may have been unbefitting of his current appearance; a pure white blade was held in his grip. I could hazily make out the black dragon’s body crouching down. Despite being impressively tall, with broad shoulders and a strong back, Chaos still appeared diminutive compared to the dragon that towered over him. Beyond being seen as slight, to the point of almost seeming fragile. But even then, it didn’t feel as though he felt hard-pressed by his opponent at all.

Rather, the reverse appeared to be the case. The black dragon staggered backwards, seemingly repelled by an invisible force that overpowered even its own oppressive aura. Meanwhile, Chaos stood relaxed, as leisurely as though he had simply stepped outside for a walk, with no trace of nervousness to be found in his stance.

“...Yoohyun-ah.”

I turned my body slightly, shifting out of the protective embrace I’d caged my dongsaeng in. So that Yoohyunie would be able to witness the sight unfolding before us.

“Make sure you get a good look.”

“...hyung.”

“If it’s difficult for your eyes to focus, then concentrate your mind instead, and engrave it into your memory through your body. The power of a being beyond this world, unshackled from any restraints.”

A threshold that Yoohyunie should one day be able to cross, unlike me. Simply being able to experience that power should prove useful to him, though he might be far away from achieving it yet. Whether it was because it could serve as a blueprint, or that it worked to spark his aspirations. Of course, there was the possibility that it might simply cause him to feel cowed instead; but my dongsaeng wasn’t that weak. And even in the case that it did make him flinch back, I just had to help him up again. Over and over, as many times as he required.

Supported by my body, Yoohyunie managed to prop himself up from where he’d been leaning against me. The color in his face has almost returned back to normal as well. All this, when he didn’t even have Fear Resistance the way I did; he really was truly commendable.

“Hyung, are you alright?”

“What d’you think.”

Even if my condition had improved slightly, it still felt as though I had a noose pulling tight around my throat. Because of the knowledge that, with a single slip, I might lose my dongsaeng once again, above all. The only thing driving me to grit my teeth and hold fast was the understanding that, if I were to let my fear consume me at this juncture and give up, it actually would be the end.

- Krrrrrrr.

A threatening growl reverberated out as the dragon’s maw opened. Unconsciously, I tightened my grip on Yoohyunie again. Beyond a row of teeth and tongue, the endless black pit of its throat became exposed.

Gales of wind rushed together, and coalesced into a dense ball within the canal; then, in a single breath–was expelled in a single breath.

콰과과과–!!

The waters of the lake, once filled to the brim, evaporated in a flash. An instantaneous vaporization, that didn’t even permit steam to form. Despite not having been touched by that power, my entire being trembled. It was an attack that neither of us would have been able to withstand for even a moment, without the shadow of a doubt.

But it had no effect on the man standing before it at all.

스르륵, in the face of a dragon’s breath that obliterated everything in its path, a hand wielding a snow-white sword shifted. Gravity drew the draped sleeve back. In the same manner one might use a rod to playfully toy with a kitten–gently, lightly, the flourish of a blade rose to meet a blast of heat bearing dreadful, tremendous force.

구구궁–

A thunderous sound filled the air, like the heavy percussion of thousands of drums. My chest squeezed, stifling my ability to breathe. Fighting against the intense urge to block both my ears and eyes, I forced myself to look straight ahead.

How could it possibly be described as a simple ‘wielding of magical energy,’ what had just transpired. The pure white blade, which had initially appeared to be a simple ‘shield’ brought up against the torrential wave of pitch black energy rushing forward, had somehow transformed into a towering mountain that came crashing down. With a single sweep of the blade, the ruined landscape surrounding us had been petrified completely, the molten carnage now frozen in place.

Following the movement of his arm, the sleeve of his garment slipped back down past his wrist as the snow-white blade completed its circuit. A faint light traversed across the length of the naked edge.

“I recall you gave me quite some trouble, back then.”

Chaos spoke as he walked forward, footsteps as light as though engaged in a dance.

“Mind, it’s worth noting I’d been a callow youth yet. And ‘twas a sweltering land, where both ground and sky boiled over with heat.”

But at present, well. Although I was unable to see his face to verify it myself, he continued on in a voice that clearly conveyed a smile.

“You certainly resemble a common lizard.”

Chaos’s form vanished. But it didn’t seem to be the work of a Skill. My eyes were simply incapable of keeping up with the speed at which he’d moved. Then, suddenly–a black shape reappeared in my disoriented field of view. The enormous head, which had loomed so high above that it seemed it might graze the sun, 쿵!, abruptly crashed down to the ground. A shattered horn was flung away, broken off in the commotion of movement, and was buried deep in the earth.

Without any ado, the dragon had summarily been beheaded.

Yet, the dragon’s body still showed signs of movement. As though engaging in a last-ditch struggle, vast wings unfurled, kicking up buffeting winds that extended to even where we were.

“Ugk!”

I hastily wrapped myself around Yoohyunie and threw up a shield, but it was about as effective as holding up a leaf. As my shield was shattered into tiny pieces, Yoohyunie swiftly enveloped us in his Coat to protect me in turn. But even the Coat, which was reinforced with multiple overlapping defensive properties, was unable to withstand even the gusts that had been generated as a byproduct. As though we’d been dealt a powerful blow, the two of us slid across the ground, our limbs entangling together; I urgently cast a healing Skill on my dongsaeng.

“Ugh… Yoohyun-ah, are you alri–”

콰르르릉!

Before we could even pick our bodies back up, the ground shook once again. The sky lit up with the flash of ten thousand lightning strikes, then began to dim. Just a moment before, the sun had been high up in the sky; yet now, the heavens had turned pitch black. The acrid scent of smoke saturated the air, as did the metallic tang of blood. It felt as though we were weaponless civilians that had been dropped in the middle of a battlefield, while bombs went off all around us.

Engulfed in a veritable tempest that we could barely hope to withstand, my dongsaeng hauled us upright, propping me up with his own body. The hem of his Coat fluttered violently as the storm continued to rage around us. Blood and dirt covered us from head to toe, and our hair was as disarrayed as could be. It wouldn’t have been a stretch to say that we resembled refugees; but already, Yoohyunie had recovered the same level of composure he normally displayed.

Steady eyes gazed out at the landscape that had been gorged open and savaged by molten flames. After a pause to bite down on his lip, he spoke.

“It’s terrifying to behold, after all.”

“Yoohyun-ah.”

“It’s impossible for me to keep hyung safe, in the face of an adversary like that.”

But even as he made such an objective assessment, there was no hint of resignation to be found in his voice. He was acutely aware of how powerless he was at present; but even then, I instinctively sensed that my dongsaeng wouldn’t hesitate to step forward to protect me from harm, to the bitter end.

“...I’m saying this just in case, don’t ever think that it’s because you’re lacking. It’s the result of a gap created by time, and the experience it brings. You’re absolutely strong in your own right, and you’ll even become powerful enough to stand on level ground with those beings. One day.”

Yoohyunie gave a small nod. But though I had reassured him out loud, a sense of hopelessness did pervade me. Not regarding Yoohyunie, but around my own affairs. Chatterbox might not have been able to barge in unchecked with his original strength, but goddammit. He was really playing dirty, setting up this sort of extreme ‘lightweight versus heavyweight’ scenario in a bid at revenge.

The ground trembled once more, and the sky thrashed wildly, as though it meant to collapse. And the ‘earthquake’ was far from being an ordinary one; it shook the very fabric of the dimension we were in, causing us to lose our footing and pitching us back to the ground. A thick murderous intent washed over us, cloying enough to cause my skin to prickle in pain, and then–.

It became quiet.

Light dawned in the sky, like the heavens had been washed anew; and from somewhere far off, the clear, sweet sound of running water could be heard. The wicked pressure that had been pressing on us from all sides, as well as the magical power that had tossed both sky and earth into turmoil, had suddenly disappeared.

Did it mean that the encounter was over, then. As I finally let out a ragged breath, having struggled to breathe all the while, I sensed a presence approaching. Making an easy leap over a jutting section of earth, someone strode over to where we were. Naturally, I expected to be greeted by the Young Chaos, but.

“Huh?”

It was a young child. His previous appearance nowhere to be seen; and instead, this form was swimming in the sleeves of a loose robe clutched tight, just like the first time I’d met him. And in the same way as before, his features bore an uncanny similarity to Yoohyunie’s face from when he had been younger.

“...that person.”

Having caught sight of the Young Chaos’s appearance, Yoohyunie gaze swung back towards me.

“Hyung’s still really attached to how I looked as a child, huh.”

Yoohyunie observed, his tone clearly implying that ‘he must appear that way as a result of my influence, of course.’

“That’s not, I mean.”

I was pretty attached to it, yes, but… Objectively speaking, he really was adorable, though, in truth. Shouldn’t it be stranger if I didn’t feel that way, right. While I was preoccupied, the Young Chaos had almost reached us with rapid steps. When I opened my mouth to convey my thanks, before anything else–

“Ack!”

A tiny hand snatched up my ear in a vice grip. And then, it gave my ear a sharp twist.

“Hyung!”

“Hurts! It hurts! Please, sir, let g–, ack!”

All he had done was give my ear a little tweak, but it still smarted enough to cause tears well up in my eyes. Instinctively, I tugged at Chaos’s arm to try and pry him away, but I couldn’t get him to budge even an inch. It was like trying to tear apart a lump of iron. Flustered, Yoohyunie reached out a hand to try and rescue me. But even before he could get close, 툭, the white sword, still inside its scabbard, smacked Yoohyunie’s hand away.

Eyes narrowed in a glare, the Young Chaos looked at me and snapped.

“Eager to throw your life away, are you.”

“That’s, ack!”

“Hyung! Ugk!”

This time, as Yoohyunie attempted to intervene again, the white scabbard jabbed sharply into my dongsaeng’s side. On the surface, it seemed as though the ‘attack’ would have barely left a bruise; yet, it caused Yoohyunie to double over immediately, his body dropping to the floor.

“How dare you, ugh, lay your hands on someone else’s dongsaeng! Ack, I said that it hurts!”

“Here you are, throwing around Skills you hardly even grasp how to use, for someone who’s supposedly protecting his dongsaeng.”

“That’s not, ugh, hold on……!”

It hurt, it really hurt! Real tears spilled down my face. And even when I went to try and use my Skills, for whatever reason, my magical energy refused to respond. All I could do was struggle ineffectually while stooped over, forced to hunker down by an adversary much shorter than myself.

“...hyuh-, hyung!”

As though he had been struck with a paralyzing agent, Yoohyunie watched helplessly with distress clear in his face, barely managing to hold his head upright. My dongsaeng shouted at him to let me go, but the Young Chaos didn’t even pretend to have heard him.

“That thing would not have been allowed in here, had you not drawn my blade.”

“Ngk, it was my fau–, guh, I was the, ack! Ah, ah!”

“As it appears you cannot be trusted to refrain from using such artifacts, discard any objects of similarly dubious origin.”

“U-understood, sir!”

My ear was finally released after several more heartfelt entreaties of repentance. When I fell to the ground, a hand wrapped around my poor throbbing ear, Yoohyunie rushed over to pull me into his arms and glared at the Young Chaos.

“Are you alright? Does it hurt a lot?”

“I’m oka..y. Ugh… Just what exactly did you do, sir, to make it so that having an ear twisted feels even more painful than being stuck with a knife?”

I liked to think I had a fairly high pain tolerance, but it really had been no joke. And it was a different sort of pain than the kind that made you feel as though your life was at risk. It almost felt like the idea that ‘you’re in pain’ was being forcefully crammed into your head. Like I’d been put under a kind of hypnosis that had put me in a state where ‘all that’s happening is that your ear is being twisted, but it’ll feel like you’re experiencing an excruciating amount of pain.’

“...in any case, thank you, sir. For your assistance.”

I eventually said, roughly wiping away my tears. Additionally, I endeavored to pacify Yoohyunie, who was still incredibly upset, as well.

“This is the gentleman who provided me with your sword, okay. You can’t fight him. And he just saved us too, besides.”

And even if you tried, you probably wouldn’t be able to lift a finger against him right now, anyway. My ear, which had been aching fit to fall right off, presently returned to normal. Climbing back to my feet, I looked at the youth who resembled Yoohyunie.

“You were an adult just a little while ago, sir, so I’m curious as to why you seem to have reverted back to this form.”

“It is a curse, of a sort.”

“Even so–there’s little reason for you to take on my dongsaeng’s appearance, I should think, sir. Particularly when we’re not even in the real world.”

Hearing my words, the Young Chaos hiked up his brows.

“This is my own appearance.”

“...come again, sir?”

“It is your own prejudice coloring your perception, biased as you are as a result of the mind dimension Skill. Look closely once more.”

Inwardly repeating ‘the Young Chaos doesn’t look like my dongsaeng’ like a mantra, I closed my eyes then opened them again. Hmm… He still looked awfully similar to him, though. His eyes had always been crimson, but the locks of his hair were a smidge less curlier. A slight difference in the overall structure of their faces; and was he maybe a little bit shorter? Though in his adult form, he had appeared to be taller than Yoohyunie.

“I don’t seem to see a huge difference, though, sir. Do you happen to take after my dongsaeng, perhaps?”

“It is your dongsaeng who takes after me.”

Saying so, he looked at Yoohyunie.

“Though I’m more handsome, of course.”

The hell. After observing Yoohyunie for a moment, Chaos tilted his head. Because he resembled Yoohyunie all the same, the gesture looked adorable, despite myself.

“How curious.”

“What–”

Chaos’s form disappeared. Nearly simultaneously, I heard Yoohyunie let out a low cry. When I frantically whipped my head around, I witnessed the youth brusquely grab Yoohyunie by the neck and then slam him down to the ground.

“What do you think you’re doing!”

This fake-young old geezer! Blinded by urgency, I lunged at him with just my bare hands. But before I could even properly move, 찰싹, the belt of his robe whipped out to strike my hand. Just like before, the pain was intense enough to wring out a cry from me. Fighting against the way my body instinctively moved to curl in on itself, I reached out to grab hold of the belt. Chaos, who had been gazing down at Yoohyunie where he was pinned prone, turned to glance back at me.

“Ho, this young punk.”

He smiled, for some inscrutable reason; then, in a flash, he had wrapped his belt around my wrists. Making two or so loops before I could even think about struggling, I suddenly found that my hands had been tightly bound together. I couldn’t even begin to process what had just happened.

“I’ve no intention of harming your hyung.”

Releasing Yoohyunie from his grip, the Young Chaos rose up and casually nudged me. As I sat down heavily on the ground, unable to keep my balance, he instructed me to ‘stay put’ and turned his gaze back towards Yoohyunie. Pushing himself up, Yoohyunie met his eyes. I could see the clear imprints of a hand left on my dongsaeng’s throat.

“Just as I’d thought.”

With that brief remark, the youth lunged. Moving at a speed that was still impossible to follow, he swung his longsword, still sheathed in its scabbard. Yoohyunie’s arm shot out just in time to narrowly block the blade aimed at his heart, but.

Slam!

“Yoohyun-ah!”

Despite the guard he’d put up, Yoohyunie’s body was thrown directly airborne; he was flung a good ten or so meters away before he crashed down into the ground, hitting the floor heavily.

“Hey! Cut that shit out!”

What did this senile old fart think he was doing to someone else’s kid! Clumsily, I used a teleportation Skill while still sitting on the ground. The moment I appeared at Yoohyunie’s side, though, Chaos was already aiming a kick my way. In terms of force, it was more of a love tap, rather than a full-on attack; but with that being said, how the hell had he managed to maneuver even faster than teleportation.

As I was sent rolling across the ground, suddenly–스르릉, the hair-raising sound of a sword scraping against its scabbard reached my ears. He’d unsheathed his blade. S-shit, this crazy fucker, just what was he planning on doing!

“You deranged bastard! If anything happens to my dongsaeng, just know you’ll be killing me too!”

“Watch your tongue.”

Tsk, with the sound of a tongue clicking, the rope belt binding my wrists together was cleanly sliced away. When I hurriedly pushed myself upright, I could see Yoohyunie sitting on the ground. He didn’t seem to have sustained any major injuries, but there was a bright crimson line drawn against his neck. The traces of a blade wound. Rushing over to my dongsaeng, I planted myself in front of him.

“Let’s talk this out instead, sir, alright! What exactly is the issue here!”

“Rather than there being an issue.”

Returning his sword to his waist, the Young Chaos glanced up at me.

“I’m quite curious as to how you’ve managed to compel something that isn’t human to play at being so.”

“...sir?”

“I mean that dongsaeng of yours, of course.”

…reflexively, my face twisted into a deep sneer. So you weren’t even going to pretend to consider another person’s precious dongsaeng as being human now, huh.

- - - - -

+(Q&A)

Q) in the webtoon, the scenario is portrayed that, in that D-rank Dungeon at the beginning, following a fairly harsh verbal altercation, han yoojin decides he would rather be the one to die to the lauchitas; in the original text, the scene that the first chapter opens on, han yoohyun’s death pov–would it be alright to ask after what you thought that meeting between the brothers would’ve been like, in the Dungeon? is it similar to what happened in the webtoon? A) it’s similar ^^ in the novel, he never attempted to die, but if han yoojin at that time thought that han yoohyun might be safe so long as he wasn’t there, he probably wouldn’t have hesitated to kill himself. the han yoojin pre-regression is a character that tried to stay alive no matter what, but because the biggest reason for that was han yoohyun, so long as his dongsaeng’s life was at stake, he probably would’ve given up all that more easily.

+(Q&A)

Q) how did the elder come to be called not simply <chaos>, but specifically <‘young’ chaos>? A) chaos was unbridled from the first, when he became a transcendent, and ran unchecked. he was a terrifying newcomer, in a number of ways^^ it is both a reference to how he was the youngest of the transcendents at the time, as well as commentary on his ‘youthful impudence,’ re:how, even after rising to the rank of a transcendent, he never hesitated to raise his blade to meet any who challenged him, regardless of their position relative to him in the hierarchy. yet–in the end, the young chaos ultimately became one of the few Transcendents who models what a proper adult should be like, and displays an insightful capacity for true wisdom.

+(Q&A)

Q) when yoohyunie was young–perhaps, because of his lovely appearance, was he ever stopped on the streets by a modeling/talent scout (street casting)? A) they noticed him from afar and began to approach him, but upon observing him from a closer distance, experienced an uneasy feeling that caused them to turn back around. even then, he did receive several offers, but han yoojin turned all of them down. if han yoohyun wanted to go into the entertainment industry, then it would be better to do so after he graduated high school, he said. of course, han yoohyun had zero interest ^^

+(Q&A)

Q) i’m aware that he takes after the young chaos due to the primordial fire’s influence, but does that mean han yoohyun doesn’t outwardly resemble his parents or other relatives? A) because the ones who made the physical vessel for him do exert some influence, it can be thought of as ‘young chaos + han brothers’ parents,’ roughly speaking. when han yoohyun had just been born, he resembled the parents a bit more; but as he grew and his fire attribute became stronger, he began to resemble the primordial fire and the young chaos further. however, the parents’ influence does remain, so that’s why he still hears things like how he’s ‘different from han yoojin, but still bears some similarities, as befitting of brothers’ ^^ part of it can be attributed to the fact that, as the young chaos’s race bears close similarities to east asians, he ended up growing to resembling him even more. if the species or race had been completely different, then he probably wouldn’t have resembled the young chaos as much as he does at present.

+(Q&A)

Q) irinie mentioned that fire shouldn’t be stifled, because it transforms when it’s suppressed; since the 24y.o. yoohyunie in the dungeon had not only changed from a black flame (흑염) to a black blood flame (흑혈염), but also became instilled with poison, even after reconciling with yoojinie, would he be able to recover his blue fire (청염) still? A) as drawing forth one’s own natural affinity is a difficult task in itself, no matter which han yoohyun, so long as a han yoojin with a caretaker title is not by his side, even after rising to the rank of a transcendent, he would only be able to earn his blue fire after a very long period of development. however, as the flame would have died out before long without han yoojin becoming his world, consequently, that outcome is effectively an impossibility ^^ the reason the primordial fire was incapable of finding a fire to succeed it for that long period of time, was for a similar reason. the closer it is to being a ‘pure’ flame, the more likely it is to be snuffed out before properly maturing. as the han yoohyun(24) within the dungeon has han yoojin(29) by his side, he is capable of fostering blue flames. however, as the han yoojin within the dungeon has the lesser ‘caretaker’ title, the effect is far more diminished than that of han yoojin(25)’s, so it won’t be an easy task. because of that, rather than forfeiting the black blood fire to revert to a blue fire, there’s a higher likelihood that they(2429) will choose to develop the black blood fire further instead.

+(Q&A)

Q) what were some of the things that you thought were important, when writing an entity that’s far from being human? A) (about han yoohyun) only, as han yoohyun isn’t ‘a lifeform concerned about continued survival(self-preservation),’ he’s an outlier even among the non-human entities ^^ in polar opposite to the ones mentioned above, his natural disposition is to completely disregard the surrounding environment. the sole exception for that flame was han yoojin, and accordingly, han yoohyun only experiences change through han yoojin. no other environmental factors or beings are capable of influencing him.

+(Q&A)

Q) considering that, aside from han yoojin, seok shimyoung was at han yoohyun’s side for a very long time–then, does he have an understanding re:han yoohyun’s original nature, to an extent? A) seok shimyoung considers han yoohyun to be an entity beyond comprehension. from when they had first met, he’d quickly picked up on the fact that han yoohyun’s social sensibilities were less ‘human’, and closer to being a different ‘sort’ altogether; and having judged that, rather than attempting to teach and change han yoohyun, it would be more efficient to leverage that point instead, he structured haeyeon guild to follow after its guild leader. though he does not understand han yoohyun’s true nature, he registers him as a being with the prerogative to move differently from ordinary humans. of course, had han yoohyun attempted to incinerate everything the way his original nature had dictated, then seok shimyoung, too, would have rejected him, and viewed him as a threat; but, as han yoohyun was able to at least mimic basic social conventions through han yoojin’s influence, seok shimyoung thought that that much would suffice. as he’s the kind of person who puts little stock in the true nature of humans, even–rather than a human who would make a blunder of things, it’s his opinion that the intelligent monster who knows how to pretend to be human is the better alternative ^^ only, due to this, he misjudged the weight of the value that han yoojin’s existence holds to han yoohyun. if seok shimyoung had been able to understand han yoohyun a little better, then things would probably have been considerably different, whether for good or ill.

+(Q&A)

(han yoohyun) sung hyunjae feels no emotions or interest towards han yoohyun. this is because he has gleaned the truth of han yoohyun’s special constitution(특성)–that the human charade he puts on is realized solely through han yoojin. as han yoohyun without han yoojin is simply an ‘organism’, the need to pay him any mind disappeared entirely. that is why, after the first half, he doesn’t even bother to antagonize(provoke) han yoohyun. as he doesn’t view han yoohyun as an independent entity, and considers han yoojin to be his master, when sung hyunjae initiates a conversation, etc., with han yoohyun, his conduct is no different from if he were interacting with han yoojin himself. in the beginning, he supposed that han yoojin ought to let go of han yoohyun so that he could return to being a ‘flame’; but at present, he’s now of the mind that han yoohyun is necessary for han yoojin’s mental stability. however, the kind of change of heart he might still show is uncertain.

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sleeptaken · 3 months ago

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@elkkiel

II in Drumeo.. meow

#ITS UR PERCUSSION KITTEN!!#ii #lovely art <3

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dustedmagazine · 6 days ago

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The Innocence Mission — Midwinter Swimmers (Bella Union/Thérèse)

Karen Peris sings in a piercing way that is also very soft. She draws you in with whispered confidences, the kind of intimate communication that stirs the little hairs in your ears. She mouths the words with a little slur, a slide, a lisp, so that you think of little children singing for joy, but the words themselves are complex and elusive, adult meditations couched in girlish simplicity. You’ll hear and connect with her voice first when you listen to the Innocence Mission, before you strain for the lyrics, before you catch on to the 1960s pop rock sway of the instrumentals. The voice comes first because it is so unusual, curling up like a kitten, fluttering away like a fledgling bird.

The Innocence Mission has been around for three decades. Formed around a couple — the now long married Karen and Don Peris — the band had a big major label start, recording their first three records on A&M. As the 1990s wore on, prospects for commercial dominance dimmed, but the band kept making music, on indies and self-release labels; Peris even recorded a charming children’s record in 2021, A Song Is Above the Lawn. This one is Innocence Mission’s 13th full-length, and it is a beauty, full of wistful dream pop arrangements and insurgent melodies that seem slight until you try to stop humming them.

Consider, the opener, “Thread Is a Green Street.” It’s a 1960s-style girl ballad that might remind you of Vashti Bunyan’s Andrew Loog Oldham dalliance “Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind.” Both frame fragile, girlish voices in expansive settings, Vashti’s hemmed in by thumping percussion and brass, Peris’ by slow strummed guitars, slack tambourines and lots of echo. Peris is vulnerable and tender, a luminous spirit in cavernous space, yet when the light comes in near the end, in a billowing crescendo, she continues to outshine her surroundings.

The music has the same baroque pop lilt as the Clientele, a light touch but not exactly simple. Every element is sharp and distinct, the clatter of drums, the radiance of keyboards, the gentle buoyance of guitar, and yet they jostle together softly, a tipsy balance of exactitude and blurry grace. You might also draw parallels to Jessica Pratt’s urbane songcraft, though there’s a wide-eyed wonder in these songs that’s very different from Pratt’s knowing sophistication. Indeed, after half a lifetime in the music business, the Innocence Mission delivers its tunes with an uncalculated freshness, still innocent, even now.

Jennifer Kelly

#the innocence mission #midwinter swimmers #bella union #Thérèse #jennifer kelly #albumreview #dusted magazine #dream pop #karen peris #vashti bunyan #the clientele #jessica pratt

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eddsworld-the-masquerade · 2 years ago

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New theme song! With vocals AND lyrics :D

This one was largely inspired by Massive Attack and their album "Mezzanine" which I listened to on loop while working on backgrounds for VN. Very different vibes compared to the old theme XD I might make a tamer version for the actual main menu.

Lyrics and some of my ramblings about the song under the cut! ALSO, headphones recommended for full experience (there's a lot of panning and phasing)

So as was with the old theme, the guys are each represented by instruments.

Edd is the lead synth (Cat is another synth that supports him), percussion/drums and all the SFX and weird noises on the background. He's got the most presence overall cuz it's his world. He's the glue that ties it all together.

Tom is the bass. He's mostly on the back but he's nearly ever present with the richest widest sound and can be heard most when others shut up lol.

Matt is the keys. He's got his own solo part, in the bridge. In the chorus him and Edd play the same notes one after the other, as if trying to get the upper hand. Most noticeable when each of their parts are playing louder.

Tord is the guitar playing the bass notes, in the chorus. This wasn't exactly intentional but his instrument chiming in only in the chorus is almost a reference to him not doing much talking. Also, in the first half, it's playing relatively normal, but in the second half, there's a lot more legatos and sliding up and down, as if he's letting himself get a bit more lose, dropping his usual class pres persona

Overall with this song I wanted something extremely textured, like a dozen of kittens purring into the ears XD I don't know why but textured songs with lots of sounds are becoming my jam lately.

It's less reliant on Eddsworld's jingle now, able to stand on its own. Though I couldn't help myself and sneaked a reference to it in the verse, the last four notes playing by the lead.

And now, the lyrics!

(I wrote them in like an hour, and I'm no poet, so forgive me if these sound too corny)

No rest for me Under the undying moonlight. A silent plea Echoing through the dark of night. (Come set me free) Heartbeat gone null, Body's numb and vision turned blurred white. No wish but one - For you to come and hold me tight. No future, No time. No meaning, No rhyme. No senses, No feelings. No life in These beings. No rest for the wicked (Come set me free) No rest for the wicked (Come set me free)

#eddsworld vtm au #eddsworld au #music #mod art #written in fl studio before any of you ask XD

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scibot9000 · 1 year ago

Text

top discovered albums this year. as in, top albums from not-2023 but that I found in 2023. i dont have spotify so i gotta do this manually.

rankings approximate. links and thoughts under the cut

hizmi - Soak (2021)

sometimes it's the technicalities that blow my mind. this is…… unmodified X68000 music????

Yeah listening to this has expanded my mind on what's possible with old FM chips. None of this sounds like the artist found any restriction with any aspect of the system.

"Rivulet" blows my mind every time. It's just an ilkae song. Like cmon.

---

SDEM - ZNS (2020)

After AE_LIVE 2022, I went on a little bender, looking for anything else ae-esque.

I pretty much immediately struck gold. I had been digging through SDEM stuff anyway but man this is another level.

"dysp 0m" in particular is one of the tracks of all time. I keep coming back to it. it's HEAVY on headphones.

---

Ssaladd - Ssaladd (2020)

This is a funny selection to land on a TOP8 because it's so understated. It even kinda feels distant.

But damnit that's why it stuck with me.

The use of wow and flutter is crazy good here!

It feels like carefully applied vibrato, an application of the expression MIDI CC. But completely unlike any other vibrato I've heard.

It feels like a pioneering mix of techniques. And I can't stop thinking about it.

---

Cryptovolans - Passenger (2022)

Is it possible to have a wall of sound in MIDI?

No, not Black MIDI. Something prog.

I keep coming back to "Board Room" in particular because it's so... weird? Slightly beyond just SC, but not by much. Heavyweight album.

---

Kid606 - GQ on the EQ++ (2000)

The textures on this absolutely blew me away.

"My Kitten Went To London" sounds insanely fresh. I can't believe it's pushing 23 years old!

That and "Dandy" really stuck wth me. The latter sounds a bit more era-appropriate somehow (maybe because of oval?), but still vibes really good.

This was actually me revisiting the album. I initially listened to it about a decade ago and didn't like it. Crazy to think I turned away from such gold back then.

---

nagz - Good (2020)

nagz has been a longtime favorite and inspiration of mine. He's been making music from the future for years and years. Blowing my mind since 2006 or so.

One of his earlier releases, hringur, stuck with me for years. It had an atmosphere that I had never heard before or since.

…until now.

It's not actually a sequel, but it's got a flavor that I just. Don't know where else you can find.

If I were to highlight a single track: "I Like You But Not Too Much" hits astoundingly hard. It's what I imagine Earthbound music might be like if it were made today.

---

DJ Technorch & 九十九音夢 – Strong Anthropic Principle (2016)

An absolutely mind melting early (found in January) favorite. Hard, hardcore, and psychedelic. And a bit silly.

"猫の気持ち〜Cat's Mind〜 (Masayoshi Iimori Remix)" and "解熱鎮痛一撃必殺〜Critical Arts〜" in particular stuck with me as great experiences.

I really really like the preview video, too. (nsfw warning?) (flashing lights warning?). It truly captures the vibe.

---

AE_LIVE / elseq 6-10 / onesix

I had already listened to some of these, but around march, I found fanmade CUE sheets, and that brought a whole new level of love for this release.

And then I found fan edits with another set of fan titles. Two names for all of my favorite bits? Sure!

"ceramic / clipcon" i love that percussion! the ringmod in "(drunk) / probat emp2" is some of my fav ae work ever. having splits made me fall in love with the density of "sentinel / sinistrail casual"

and then I discovered the onesix sets and fan-cuts, giving a more ambient dive which I'll only mention briefly here. But man, "reflected / seven of twelve" is one I revisit OFTEN.

#wrapped

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jules-has-notes · 6 months ago

Text

2018 VoicePlay winter wrap-up — conclusions, adventures, and fortifications

The guys started the year by recharging from the rush of the holiday season, releasing more of the previous year's music, and working on some personal projects before they hit the road again.

Hot and cold

First up was J.None's feature on ATK's single "Guilty" on New Year's Day, followed the next day by VoicePlay's "Waving Through A Window" collaboration with Kurt Hugo Schneider that they'd filmed in October, and a fun animated version of "Happy Birthday" for their fans a couple days after that. J also completed filming for his nephew's first music video with some help from family and friends.

Amid the celebrations, though, they also lamented that Florida was experiencing some actual winter weather that their homes weren't built for.

Luckily, they had an escape planned, in the form of a quick cruise to the Bahamas aboard the familiar Disney Dream. J.None livestreamed part of their drive to the ship, and recorded a short Instagram video in the port.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by J.None 🧈🎶 🎙📝🎬🎹🎸📽🤣 (@itsjnone)

instagram

Business and pleasure

Once they were back home, they announced the release of their "Look What You Made Me Do" video with pocket.watch, then headed even farther north for their annual trip to the Association of Performing Arts Professionals conference in NYC. During a day of showcase concerts, they spent some backstage time with the Plain White T's and singer/songwriter Eric Hutchinson. Once they were done, they met up with their fellow Floridians in Vox Audio and The Edge Effect for some hang time.

The conference seems to have paid off in interesting ways, since it led to this vague Twitter conversation:

Mouse-apallooza

While the other guys tended to things at home, J.None headed to Los Angeles as part of the workshop week for Disney's new touring group DCappella, under the musical direction of Deke Sharon.

The first wave cast that emerged from this process was Morgan (soprano), Shelley (mezzo), Sojourner (alto), RJ (tenor), Orlando (baritone), Joe (bass), and Antonio (percussion). That lineup was featured in music videos and live shows.

J.None was chosen to sing baritone in the second wave cast, which ultimately didn't end up touring, but those members were still featured on some of the group's audio recordings, and some later cycled into the touring cast as the original members retired.

Meanwhile, Layne and Tony finished up PattyCake's long awaited "Grande Mermaid" video and released it into the wild, then got to work filming their next project, "The Disney Showman".

Hey there, cats and kittens

Once J.None was back on the East Coast, VoicePlay spent a Saturday morning entertaining animal medicine professionals as part of the opening day of the annual Vetinary Meeting & Expo. They even met fellow animal lover Michael J. Fox, who spoke about the emotional benefits of pets to his quality of life as a disabled person.

It's unclear whether the guys got to spend any time with the animals that were on site for hands-on educational sessions, or the pets attendees had brought with them to participate in a 5K fundraiser fun-run. At least most of them got to go home to their own furry friends afterward.

Southwest adventures

The next weekend, VoicePlay headed west. Their show in Oakland, CA was cancelled due to a scheduling conflict at the venue, but they still had a grand time in Tempe, AZ and Las Vegas. Especially since they got to see several Patreon patrons in person. (And some fans continued the tradition of gifting them with snacks.)

Back to the grind

The following weekend was bookended by business time. After facing disappointment at a restaurant on Friday, they played it safe for their weekly planning meeting on Monday by gathering at Casa Lucci.

Positive vibes

J.None spent the Presidents' Day holiday filming an anti-bullying music video with Alexis Taylor Kritsky, his big sister and nephew, a local activist, and a group of volunteers.

The next day, DCINY announced the featured singers for their annual Total Vocal a cappella concert, including VoicePlay.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by VoicePlay (@thevoiceplay)

instagram

While that was happening, the PattyCake guys teamed up with their old friends at Entertainment Central Productions to film a fun video for their grown-up girl group, 4Eva29.

Oh no, Mister Bill Earl!

February ended with a little more excitement than expected when Earl wound up in the hospital for an emergency appendectomy. But through a combination of his otherwise good health, stubbornness, and the wonders of modern surgical techniques, he was back on his feet in just a couple days. The guys didn't even need to postpone their shows at the beginning of March.

Midwest trip

With their tenor on the mend, VoicePlay headed toward the Great Lakes for a loop through central Indiana, western Ohio, and eastern Illinois.

Thursday — Culver, IN

photos by Mary D. Fox

Friday — Cincinnati, OH

The guys discovered a tiny, creepy attic door in their accommodations for the night.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Layne Stein (@laynestein)

instagram

Saturday — Crystal Lake, IL

photos by Sarah Kay

They returned there a year and a half later as part of their 2019 Warm Up holiday tour.

Sing for me!

The PattyCake guys started the next week by filming a Greatest Showman / Phantom of the Opera mashup video with classical singer Fernando Varela. They recruited Leah Lowman from their rotating "Unexpected Musicals" cast to play Christine, and Tony dusted off his mask and cape to cameo as the lurking Phantom.

A couple days later, Layne lent a hand — and his home studio's equipment — to one of his girls and her friends to record a song for a video project they entered into a student film contest at their school. (And they won!)

When the weekend rolled around, VoicePlay headed over to the Gulf Coast for a show in Tarpon Springs.

In the middle of the week, the guys gathered at Rayne's Room to get nostagic with a new "Aca Top 10" countdown featuring the cartoon themes of their childhoods.

They spent the next day performing at a private outdoor event in Palm Beach (and communing with some of the local wildlife).

Big Apple time

In advance of the Total Vocal show, Layne and Cyndi took their older girls and Layne's parents to NYC for a couple days of spring break family time, seeing the sights and a couple Broadway shows.

The rest of VoicePlay flew up on Friday to rehearse for the concert on Saturday and perform on Sunday. A grand time was had by all as they reunited with Deke Sharon and other aca-friends from DCappella and Vocalosity, and met new friends from Pentatonix and the Pitch Perfect movies.

Work, work

After flying home and getting a little rest, it was time to get back to business, planning their video projects for the coming months.

From four to five once more

VoicePlay capped off the season by finally formally welcoming J.None to their permanent ranks.

Since J had started appearing at concerts even before Tony officially left, had guested in four music videos before they stopped crediting him as a featured singer, and was included as a member of the group on the liner notes for their new holiday album, this was more of a confirmation than an announcement, but it was a very welcome one.

#VoicePlay #traveling musicians #behind the scenes #long post #link-o-rama

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stereopticons · 11 months ago

Note

If you get this, answer with three random facts about yourself and send it to the last seven blogs in your notifications - anon or not, doesn’t matter. Let’s get to know the person behind the blog!

1. I can play at least one instrument from every family except for brass (or percussion, if you don’t consider piano to be a percussion instrument, which it technically isn’t, it’s a chordophone but for the purposes of this fact, I’m putting it in there lol)

2. In fifth grade, I wrote a story called Flashback in which they built a new Titanic that was “really unsinkable this time!” and me and my friends were on it and it (naturally) sank again.

3. My sister and I once named a litter of kittens after all the syllables in supercalifragilisticexpialadocious.

#get to know you

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elkkiel · 4 days ago

Note

do you have time to talk about the standard paradiddle?

did somebody say standard paradiddle

#i am a big fan of the standard paradiddle. i use it as a chop starter often as I feel it's an organic way to prepare the listener for a slig #htly busier section meaning the drums themselves. i am a big fan of the standard paradiddle. i use it as a chop starter often as i feel it's #an organic way to prepare the listener for a slightly busier section meaning the drums themselves. i am a big fan of the standard paradiddle #. i use it as a chop starter often as i feel it's an organic way to prepare the listener for a slightly busier section meaning the drums the #mselves. i am a big fan of the standard paradiddle. i use it as a chop starter often as i feel it's an organic way to prepare the listener f #<- i could type this shit out all day. but this time i shan't #askkiel #anon.ask #sleep token ii #percussion kitten

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allhailthephoenix · 8 months ago

Text

i've posted a LOT of babymetal stuffs (with some ghost, but pretty sure it's mostly been babymetal because they're currently my hyperfixation and i have nobody to rant about them to🤞🏾) so i decided to make an appreciation post for my other interests because they also deserve love

this post will contain A LOT of infodumping (average autistic activities + around 2.5k words), so be ready for a long post (pictures included, because who doesn't love pictures?)

ps: there may be some spoilers in the movies/tv and video games section

music

~atarashii gakko!~

• atarashii gakko (新しい学校のリーダーズ!) translates to new school leaders

• their main uniform is a sailor uniform that was commonly worn by female japanese students in the 70s and 80s; they also have a stylized gakuran (male japanese students) that they wear with their original uniform to represent the aspects of both males and females

• the red armband they wear is to signify their leadership and representatives of the youth of japan

• they made their debut with a song called kamu-to-funyan with a music video that features a 360° camera view/angles

• their genres include j-pop, j-rock, jazz, and more

• original fans only knew their birthdays until 2020 where their ages were revealed

• kanon/カユン(かゆん): kanon is the youngest at 22 years old (january 18, 2002); one of her hobbies include baking and eating sweets (her favs are cookies); she is physically the strongest due to always carrying suzuka on her shoulders; she is trained in ballet; she is the graceful one of the group

• rin/リン(りん): she is the same age as suzuka, but a few months older (september 11, 2001); she sometimes does freestyle dance; one of her hobbies include being a dj; she likes to change her hairstyle a lot and experiment, atm she has permed hair; she is the nice and funky one of the group

• suzuka/スズカ(すずか): she is the same age as kanon, but a few months older (november 29, 2001); her glasses are fake as they have no actual lenses in them; she has a very unique art style and even has a separate instagram account for her art; she is the tallest out of all 4 of them at 5'6"; she is from osaka, japan, causing her to have a different dialect than the other 3; she is the wild card of the group

• mizyu: she is the oldest of the group at 25 (december 22, 1998); her hair is very important to her and reportedly cuts her own bangs every 10 days (she has done an entire instagram live of just her touching up her bangs and no talking); she's known for her pigtail helicopters; mizyu is just a nickname, her real name is mizuki/水木(みずき); she is the kawaii but fierce one or the sleeping kitten of the group (as she always gets compared to looking like a cat, she loves cats, and she loves sleeping)

~maximum the hormone~

• maximum the hormone (マキシマムザホルモン) is a japanese heavy metal/hardcore punk band

• their genres include nu metal, hardcore punk, metal core, alternative, metal, and funk metal

• they started in 1998 and their lineup until later that same year was daisuke-han (vocalist), key-yan (guitarist), and nao (drums)

• their lineup since 1999 has been daisuke-han (vocalist), nao (drummer), maximum the ryo-kun (guitarist), and ue-chang (bassist)

• daisuke-han/ダイスケはん (だいすけはんくん): screaming vocals, rapping, additional drums, percussion, and keyboard

• nao/ナヲ (なお): drums, percussion, and clean vocals

• maximum the ryo-kun/マキシマムザ利用 (まきしまむざりよう): guitar, clean vocals, and harsh vocals

• ue-chang/上ちゃん (うえちゃん): bass, backing vocals

• most, if not all of their songs have each member doing lead vocals (sometimes multiple switches between them within one song) with the exception of ue-chang who does backing vocals almost exclusively

• nao is the older sister of maximum the ryo-kun

• maximum the ryo-kun joined in january of 1999 and ue-chang completed the lineup later that same year in september

• in 2006, their song koi no mega lover reached number 9 on oricon charts

• that same year, they had 3 songs across 2 different animes: what's up, people?! and zetsubō billy (both for death note) and akagi for the anime of the same name

• in 2009, they had to take a small hiatus because daisuke needed corrective surgery on his throat, but after that, they went on to headline at multiple shows with help from bring me the horizon and blessed by a broken heart

• that same year, they won the award for best rock music video for their previously released single tsume, tsume, tsume

• on november 19, 2009, it was revealed on their official website that nao was pregnant

• nao had decided to continue with the shows the band was currently doing, but on november 3, 2010 she had fallen ill and was transported to a hospital, leading the band to go on a second hiatus as doctors told her it wouldn't be safe or healthy for her to continue

• on may 6, 2010, it was revealed that nao had a healthy baby girl :)

• their album yoshū fukushū was released in 2013 (their first album in 6 years) and was their first album to reach 1 on oricon charts

• on june 2, they released their music video for the song a-l-i-e-n but it was placed on a randomly relocating url as a prank

• the band had gone on a third hiatus in 2015 as nao wanted to try for another child (which was born in may of 2016) and they went back to action in 2017

• they have recently done two more songs for the anime chainsaw man (hawatari nioku centi and kamigami) in 2021-2022

~hanabie.~

• hanbie (花冷え。) initially started between 4 high school friends because of their shared admiration for maximum the hormone

• they started as a cover band of maximum the hormone, but went into writing their own music with their first self-produced singles in 2016 (crash over and sweet killer)

• they are a japanese metalcore band from tokyo with the self description of harajuku-core

• they combine metalcore, hardcore punk, and nu metal with a mix of hip hop and electronica

• their name comes from the fact that hettsu, matsuri, and kaede (their original drummer) were all born in the winter and yukina was born in the spring: 花冷え。means chilly spring weather, which is a japanese word for the spring day in which winter returns

• kaede/カエデ (かえで): original member, withdrew in december of 2016, drums

• boa/��ア (ぼあ): joined in july of 2017, withdrew september of 2018, drums

• sae/サエ (さえ): joined of september 2020, withdrew april 20, 2023, member color was emerald green/sage green

• yukina/ユキナ (ゆきな): original member, harsh and clean vocals, member color is dark pink/cherry blossom pink

• mattsuri/マツリ (まつり): original member, guitar and clean vocals, member color is metallic blue/baby blue

• hettsu/ヘッツ (へっつ): original member, bass and backing vocals, member color is electric purple/wisteria

• chika/チカ (ちか): joined may 27, 2023, drums, member color is green

movies/tv shows

~studio ghibli~

• studio ghibli was founded by hayao miyazaki, isao takahata, and toshio suzuki on june 15, 1985

• my favorite ghibli movies: spirited away (comfort movie), my neighbor totoro, howl's moving castle, and ponyo

• spirited away (2001): every name has a meaning (the soot spirits are called susuwatari which translates to wandering soot, kamaji means boiler geezer, yubaba means bathhouse witch, zeniba means money witch, chihiro means a thousand questions which later gets reduced to just sen meaning a thousand by yubaba)

• spirited away (2001): the soot spirits first appeared in my neighbor totoro and jiji from kiki's delivery service is on a pillow in boh's room

• spirited away (2001): for haku's movement in his dragon form, multiple real life animals were used as reference (a geko's gait when he climbed a wall, a snake's movement as he fell to the floor, and a dog's mouth for when chihiro gave him the medicine but since none of the animators owned a dog, miyazaki made them go to a vet clinic and video a golden retriever's mouth as reference)

• my neighbor totoro (1988): it initially premiered in 1988 alongside another ghibli movie, grave of the fireflies, but my neighbor totoro didn't get a commercial success until it reached japanese television

• my neighbor totoro (1988): totoro is the mispronunciation of the japanese word for troll, tororu, which makes sense considering that mei, the 4 year old, gives the totoro that name

• my neighbor totoro (1988): the names of the sisters are similar in meaning (satsuki is an old japanese word for the month of may and mei is pronounced as may)

• howl's moving castle (2004): when calcifer starts to lose his fire, he actually turns into the form of a beating heart kept alive by a small blue flame before howl brings him back

• howl's moving castle (2004): the war subplot was added to the movie as a criticism of america due to their invasion of iraq; miyazaki knew he would get backlash but still decided to add it in to show war as a senseless act (calcifer's flame is also a parallel to the flames of war; calcifer is a warm and kind character that rarely ever hurts anybody and is keeping the castle alive, but the fires seen during the war are used to hurt people, showing the audience that a home fire can be something monster-like when used by the wrong people)

• howl's moving castle (2004): the city that sophie is from and lives in is modeled after colmar, france

• ponyo (2008): ponyo's birthname is brunhildle and ponyo means soft or squishy

• ponyo: it was inspired by hans christian andersen's little mermaid (love, sacrifice, and the desire to be part of a different world)

• ponyo (2008): it is the last ghibli movie and last anime to be released on vhs only in japan on july 3, 2009

~adventure time~

• jake isn't full dog (obviously), he's part dog, part transdimentional shape shifter

• jake's grandson, gibbon, is the leader of an entire kingdom made up of descendants of jake and lady

• lady rainicorn and bmo have the same voice actress

• gibbon is 1,000 years old: this is because he stole a gem from the ice thing which led to him having pink powers and he also erases the powers of new pups when they are born, although he didn't take beth's powers and she's now an enemy of the kingdom

• the first real forshadowing of bubbeline was when marcy failed to sing "i'm just your problem" to open up the door because she was lying to herself

• the episodes bmo noir and princess potluck happened on the same day, but the episodes themselves aren't back to back

~murder drones~

• the arm that uzi slapped n with is a left arm

• imma be honest, i don't have a lot of fun facts about this one, but i do love this show for both it's storyline and because my bestie was the one who had recommended it to me

• but a fun fact about me and the most recent episode: i watched the entire episode in german without realizing it until i had finished it. pls don't ask how because i have no idea

video games

~sky: children of the light~

• even though i haven't finished it yet, as i still need to go to eye of eden (it looks scary), it's still going in this section

• the whale light creatures pick you up for a ride and take you to the temple in daylight prairie if you get close enough to them

• with every event, the icon of the game changes to match with the event

• the original soundtrack is available for listening to outside of the game along with aurora's soundtrack from season of aurora

• aurora's spirit along with the guardian spirits that surround her are still available in the coliseum in the valley of triumph

• isle of dawn is the only realm with no social space at the beginning

• the dog that you're able to ride after doing the group butterfly call in daylight prairie is based off the co-founder's dog named oreo

• there is a fairy ring in the daylight prairie village section that is available every 10 minutes per hour

• the developers were very indecisive about the real names: isle of dawn used to be just dawn, then changed to isle of dawn, then shortened to isle, then back to isle of dawn; daylight prairie used to be cloudy day, then changed to plains of day, changed again to daylight prairie, shortened to just prairie, and then back to daylight prairie; hidden forest was originally called rain, changed to weeping forest, shortened to just forest, and then it was finally named hidden forest; valley of triumph used to be called sunset, changed to valley of triumph, then it was changed to valley of mountains, then changed back to valley of triumph; vault of knowledge was originally called night and also referred to as library or the tower

• it is thought that each floor of the vault of knowledge represents each previous realm

• the 4 guardians of aurora are still playable: mindful miner is in the hidden forest and is the only one not named after it's respective song (all is soft inside from infections of a different kind (step I)); running wayfarer is in isle of dawn (runaway (all my demons greeting me as a friend)); seed of hope is in the golden wasteland (the seed (a different kind of human (step II)); and the warrior of love is in the valley of triumph (warrior (all my demons greeting me as a friend))

~little misfortune~

• little misfortune is set in the same world as fran bow

• morgo (mr. voice) is from a "6th" realm that was created as a byproduct from the ultra war

• the game is set in sweden in 1993, with the date being october 11

• misfortune's japanese ghost friend, hiro, is asking where the fog is because misfortune can see him and probably because he's trying to get to senersedee so that he can finally rest, but his own morgo keeps pulling him back away

• misfortune is very obviously different from the other kids that morgo or benji has seen: she can see and hear them, which they are both surprised at; she can see the other children that have gone missing (hiro being the most notable); she can see the ultra reality (hiro getting pulled back away from her); she can also read the language of the second reality

honorable mentions

~sally face~

• i haven't finished playing the game, but i love this game so much

• but here's a few of my favorite things from the game:

1. sal's guitar: i'm at the part where you play for the deadstone and of course i did the demon, too; i love playing the guitar and it looks cool

2. my favorite character is lowkey gizmo

3. sal being short, i love that for him, it reminds me of my friend lol (you know who you are)

~ghost~

• you guys imma be honest: i have posted quite a bit about them, but i'm not caught up on the lore, i still have a little bit to go on babymetal's lore

• also: i still can't tell the ghouls or ghoulletes apart

• what i DO know tho is that i love all of them so much and copia is lowkey my lil princess and i can't wait to see the ghovie

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seancamerons · 1 year ago

Note

Talk about Paige singing "Poor Thing" to Dean

“You'll never believe the nightmares, you'll never know the pain you caused.🎶

Let’s talk about 2.08 Shout part 2 mainly the moment Paige sings a poor thing to Dean requested lovingly by ashton (maya-matlin)!

So before the episode, our protagonist Paige was a different kind of girl, to say the least. We set the stage and mood. Paige was forever changed practically overnight for better and for worse this marks the rise of Paige.

Ashley’s poem 'poor thing' awoke something in Paige. It made her feel seen and felt. Despite being about something different it felt relatable and somewhat comforting. She resonated and played a big role in Ash’s pain. Earlier, Ashley had humiliated Paige (and let's be real: her own damn self) at the party in jagged little pill (1.15) by mid-season s2 in shout 1 and 2, they weren't best friends anymore and distant from one another. Ashley was far off on the outskirts with a new best friend Ellie and a new look to boot. Before long the cathartic poem Ashley had penned took on a whole new meaning.

As for PMS (Paige Michalchuk and the sex kittens), the lineup included Terri, Hazel (Spice), Paige, and Ashley. It was a miracle they made it happen between friction between Terri and Paige at rehearsals, tone-deaf Hazel’s surprise case of polyps, the lyrics debacle, and other mishaps the new and improved PMS finally took the stage.

PMS led by Ashley who was prepped on keyboards and ready for the solo, what could possibly go wrong? Enter Dean. Paige freezes and turns to Ashley for support, and lets her know she can't perform and that he is here watching the concert. Ashley is initially surprised when Paige starts acapella, by speaking the first words of the poem and eventually turns to face the audience and her perp with a strum of the guitar. She was going to destroy him.

Paige was also supported by Terri on background vocals and bass and Hazel on tambourine. I guess no one was on drums. (Just wanted to point out, Ellie 'suddenly' had a talent for percussion in season 5 'playing for her whole life' My ass! Obviously, her secret drum talent only exists bc of Craig 🙄 just kidding. However, when PMS rebranded as hell hath no fury in rock and roll high school a year later, she took on the bass. I'll be chalking it up to writers with selective memory, a retcon, and plot convenience. or some unfortunate continuity error. Missed opportunity.)

Important to note, she is singing directly at Dean, and it's satisfying to the audience and most likely Paige herself. I believe she was empowered by this, it was closure and her way of triumphing over him and what he had done to her and she used Ashley's lyrics which she had fought so hard to change. It was the best possible outcome of a power play. I couldn't be more proud of Paige and her ability to wield her power and influence. It is up Paige’s alley to do such a thing, but she used her powers this time for good as opposed to petty influence towards Hazel and Terri, and even Ashley at times. This marks a new era for Ms. Michalchuk, and we love to see it. This drives her to significantly grow and experience some major character development. It is awesome. This definitely holds up, it becomes cathartic and so pretty genius props to the writers for this. Embarrassed and humiliated publicly, the 'strong' 'emotionally challenged' Dean cowardly leaves like a dog, defeated with his tail between his legs. I spy the blind lady on the judge's panel she really seemed to enjoy the performance. Two men were seen rocking out beside her. I guess Big Bad bully Dean wasn't made of stone. He displays a semblance of blank and possible regret. He likely thought his presence would intimidate Paige but it only proved to empower her.

Ellie was a spectator to this performance and later offered her support to Paige at school. Although Poor Thing was cited as an honorable mention, she thought PMS was robbed. They were, let’s be real. Now I take this time to note, it's unclear why Ellie the next season wasn't so keen or nice to Paige such as in s3 a whisper to a scream when they were 100% rivals. It is nice and refreshing to see Ellie and Paige being cordial and not exchanging petty blows, cheap shots, and snide remarks like they typically do. While they won't be caught dead braiding each other's hair or going for mani-pedis, their relationship is at best conditionally chummy, with the occasional hints and moments of friendship scattered through. I'm not sure how they handled being roommates later on in life. Poor Marco was likely the mediator and peacemaker between the frenemies. He was a saint, God bless! Although sometimes Ellie and Paige surprised us as an audience such as with the bacon-y kiss in s7 and some heart-to-hearts when it counted. They had come so far in their evershifting dynamics.

Ashley deserves a medal for not being well, typical Ash, and making things about herself and instead stepping out from the spotlight for Paige to shine center stage. She also displayed genuine compassion for Paige as she embraced her and consoled her by the lockers when she told her what had happened, and why she felt so strongly about the lyrics in so many words. Sometimes they're too alike in their stubborn and hard-headed ways, unable to back down even when they’re dead wrong. However, despite what had happened between her and Paige over the last few months she didn't hold it against her and they buried the hatchet and even became friends again.

As Paige makes her way to Sauve's office she seems optimistic and ready to talk. </cue freeze frame. 👏 👏 👏

The end. Thank you for the ask. 💌

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luciferkirk · 9 months ago

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im on the toilet im fostering a kitten and shes sweet but likes to hide and is scared (i think she might be traumatized) and im playing music and im looking up music that cats like and it said they don't like percussive music or dissonance and ive just put blond on the record player and nikes has this constant drum and frank sounds great but its very dissonent and ive just learned kittens dont like that but im on the toilet and that bathroom door is open and i can see she dosent like it but its a record player and i cant do anything.

#whyntcatslikefrankocean #Howdoiteachacattoturnoffarecordplayerwithoutbeingscared

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dullahandyke · 1 year ago

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Also I'm gonna try making one liveblog post again ‼ heres case 2 part 2

Was prompted to go into nikolina's cabin but I paused for a sec and sighed and panned to the right and there sholmes was hanging off of a desk bug like. It took several moments for me to gather the strength to engage with him

Sidenote I hate the new names for the Russian characters... pavlova? For real? What were their og names I'm gonna Google it

Ok borchevic isnt that much better but it's not fuckin pavlova!! So

Also I love the susato sprite where shes turned to look at something in the background with u... all the sprites of characters turning towards things of interest r so nice it rlly makes the space feel real. Adds on to the killer cinematography in here

Also also I need to get more like sholmes. This is a bad thing but at least he is not masking (I also dont do a lot of masking but I could do less of it)

DHHWJWJAK HIS FALLING ANIMATIOM IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED BY HIS BOXING ANIMATION.... he is so comical and animated I love it. Need that to be me

Hes so real for that tho. Singing is so fun if u keep me from singing I'll kill u dead

Also I love his little cap flip animation. A bit stupid but that's fine

(I already have plans to add a sholmes sticker to my laptop once I finish this game)

Everyone has headaches 🤨 I personally blame a gas leak. Those r always happening on old shit arent they

Nikolina has dresses n shit in her wardrobe she didnt before... what did she unpack or something ? Maybe the cat did it. So helpful

Also the bookshelf being in the cabin is so cool the way it's set into the wall like that... dream house feature. Fuck a pool I want a book hole

I like the solution to the locked room being the ship tilting that's nice and fun

'Isnt there anyone who can help me out of this mess' ryuu calls. Deep breath. Pan left. Sholmes is hanging off the coat rack

Love sholmes w the tiara... u just know iris has So much fun doing dress up w him and he is equally as delighted

IRELEVANT SNAKE???

Btw the logic and reason spectacular continues to fuck

Asougi on the floor during the spectacular.... :(

Also poor nikolina she seems so scared

Love how susato knows Facts and Knowledge... RIP girlie you would have loved pub quizzes

Ryunosuke naruhodou objectum ally... 'well if the teapot is her friend that's fine, we're all different' ryuu I trust u w my life

LOVE IT WHEN RYUU DOES THE SPECTACULARS hes getting in the facking groove!!!!!

Also love how smooth all the sprites r... the mocap so awesome

We need to get ryuu and susato some kittens.... they would love Cute Kitten Video Compilation

Sidenote I love asougi's shin things. Cunt-tastic

I have to say this is rhe first aa game that I'm not watching a playthru of or cheesing with a walkthru and I'm having fun yippee!!!

I do wonder how long the case is gonna be tho

The percussion in all this music is so awesome

Wait hold on a sec. If ryuu was being framed then that means there was someone else who knew ryuu was stowing away

Sidenote but I've been wondering, what did ryuu tell his family about him going to London? Becauss it seems like literally only he and asougi knew if they weren't even letting susato in on it. Did he tell them he was going somewhere totally different? Did he just disappear? Is he now on the missing persons list? I mean I Guess he could be an orphan but theres that whole ryutarou thing and I'd imagine he would need at least one additional family member to pull that off

We need to get susato access to wikipedia I think she would love it

We also need to get sholmes access to a fidget cube

Ryuu? We can get him access to a nice hearty meal. He deserves it

Ryuu getting distracted by strogenov's beefy arms... 🤐🏳️‍🌈

Nikolina... she looks like a small sad kitten

Wahhhhhh asougiiiiii... so niceys to nikolina...

Whenverr they show asougi I get so sad.. . RIP gayboy I loved u

The final deduction of the wardrobe.... :(

The music is fucking w me too...

I know she killed asougi but cant we let nikolina go.... everyone is being so hard on her she is 15

OH NOOOO SUSATO SAD.... :(((

SUSATO SMIIIIILE YAY :)

SUSATO SHOWING HER THROWS TO SHOLMES... :) friends

Case over.... AAAAAAA!!!! now I am hungry but bubbles is atop me so ig I'll just answer texts... if shes still not up by the time I'm done then we'll see about starting case 3 but doubtful

#the gaelic athletic attorney

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kariachi · 1 year ago

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Okay, some New Year stuffs for some species, because fuck it I want to

Erinaens

We're starting off with the fuckers who are weird because there is not a single calendar on Eri that lines up with the planet's orbit around it's sun, or even comes close

The one most people are familiar with is the Imperial Calendar, or Business Calendar more appropriately, which takes up 171 days of their 244 day solar cycle (why yes that is only 70% of a solar cycle, keen eye) and is one of those standardizations that was come up with when the rest of the galaxy came knocking, mostly, as the secondary name implies, used for business dealing on Eri

It's also used as the homeworld calendar for Erinaens living off of Eri, mostly because colonies tend to end up heavily mixed and since every region of the planet has a slightly different calendar (though around the same length and such, because these fuckers have been dealing with globalization for about 2000-3000 years) and it's just easier to point at the Business Calendar and call it good

Fun Fact: The Imperial/Business Calendar marks time from when First Contact was made, while local calendars all reach far further back, up to a few thousand years depending on the continent

Thankfully as part of the 'it's always a different season' thing New Years traditions all tend to be things you could do anywhen- music, stories, indoor-friendly games and contests, things of that nature

For instance, while Erinaen music tends to be heavy on percussions, strings, the occasional aerophone, etc (they're not really built for horns and flutes and the like) and some of these can be comparatively large or take up space to use, New Year celebrations typically involve rather small instruments that can be used en masse in small spaces without risking discomfort, and New Year songs will be designed for them more often than not

A lot of stories are recountings of the past year, or 'oh you weren't here for the year this happened', things like that, though a lot also are folkloric tales

Songs on the other hand often fall into two main categories- 1) 'the past was a fucking cunt and we're glad to be gone of it', or 2) 'here's the great shit we hope to experience in the new year'

Games are generally board, card, or dice style, and competitions are generally of crafts or singing or such

In colonies that have a more worshipful bent to the whole 'spirits' thing then this is generally the time they get a load of gifts and prayers and such from people with high hopes for the coming year, and even in colonies that don't this is one of those times where necromancers go out and make sure the local spirits are up to date on things and know what to expect coming up

In Geilla Bohln in particular the Erinaen residents lean heavily into the story telling, including a few folktales from various home regions such as one about the moon vanishing one time and another about 'there was once an absolute unit of a dragon and we put out yellow things because yellow scared it off'

Why yes that group in particular does have a lot of yellow decor out that time of year, though you don't normally see specific decor for the New Year aside from maybe some colorful cloth garlanding, or little tidbits hidden away as part of a finding game for the kittens

Due to the relatively nice weather all year round, they've started having some more athletic competitions, but traditionally that's more late-spring/early-summer fare

Perison

Like the Erinaens there's a lot of options as far as calendars, like the Erinaens there is a 'planet-wide' calendar that gets used for big important shit, unlike the Erinaens we do have a single region we can focus on because there's only one Perison we give a shit about

Fun Fact: The planetary calendar's start date is in the northern half of the planet's early summer purely because after a lot of backing and forthing and arguing about when it should be somebody went 'today is the first day of the year fight me on it' and nobody wanted to physically fight her so that was that

So, New Year in Kwarrel's hometown, let's do it

While the planet-wide calendar put the new year in early summer/winter depending on which hemisphere you're in, the local calendar says early spring, everything is new at once

Religiously it's regarded as sort've 'the return of the Sun', like she's been coming back since the big 'gotta cure the Sun's depression' holiday but now that spring has arrived she is Back

If you've been paying attention to my stuff about these fuckers you can already guess that there's a lot of music and a lot of dancing- understand, the dominant religion holds that shit like this is why people were made in the first place and that a lack of the arts goes against the purpose of the species, there's music and dancing for everything

Among Settled Herds, the eldest woman able to join in stands for the Sun in big group dances with the other women of the herd, generally starting early in the morning with her own daughters and granddaughters and gathering up other members as they make their way through the streets

In big cities where a herd may not have fields or orchards this parade ends in the main square of the herd's neighborhood, while for herds with fields and orchards it will end in the center of one of them. Either way for the entire dance the old woman will have been wearing a dark cloak embroidered with snowflakes, and at the end will shed it to reveal an outfit of bright gold and deep blue

Similarities can be seen here to tradition for the announcement of pregnancies and the garb of pregnant individuals- a pregnancy is normally formally announced by hanging a dark curtain embroidered with sprouts, saplings, and baby animals in a downstairs window, which will be used as a blanket for the newborn, and it's considered good luck for a pregnant individual to wear deep blue, as tradition says it encourages healthy growth

You'll see several more dances, some traditional, some because a fitting song played, some because somebody got caught up in the excitement and couldn't stop their feet, and one other major group dance where the members of a young marriage will dance together. There's a superstition attached to it that if the dance goes off perfectly there'll be a new baby in the coming year, and sometimes you'll see people purposefully fuck it up as a result

There's a wide range of songs that are sung here, some nostalgic ballads about years passed and the future ahead, some religious praising the Sun and her get, some casual welcoming her back home, some rousing songs of plenty that wouldn't be out of place in a bar, ballads of love found or to come soon, and a choral number by the elder women of the herd from the pov of the Sun giving her gratitude for those beneath her that love her

There's a couple of long held household traditions as well to go with everything else, such as washing when the day turns over so you get the last of the old year off and are fresh for the new, and writing your hopes for the new year down and then burning the paper

Generally the local religious leaders will go around and bless, pretty much everything in the area on the New Year. Everything will be blessed again on appropriate holy days and fields and new orchards will be blessed the day of planting, but just a general 'bless this [blank]' to start the year off on the right foot

On New Year's Eve, people with orchards will go out and hang a bottle of wine from one of the trees. You could not get why out of them with torture

But wait, that's all Settle Herds, what about Bachelor Herds in the area? What do the fuckers without wives get up to?

For one thing women and elderly women are in rather short supply in Bachelor Herds, so while you get a lot of similar dances going on the main big deal ones are different, much more bombastic and aimed more at putting on a spectacle for the Sun's amusement than anything

Wearing dark tones is traditional and boys will be gifted dark clothes on their first New Year with the herd- if you're an adult and new then you're expected to have your own, but someone will probably lend you a coat or something anyway

These tones are pretty much always countered with bright embroidery though, often in abstract patterns

A lot of the songs are very similar, but Bachelor herds sing more from the perspective of the Travelers than anything else and the exact themes of songs will be different. After all plenty and success looks different for them, and of course their love songs more often involve finding beautiful women than a handsome man, though you do get a lot more gay shit in Bachelor Herds

A general blessing gets done over the whole of the herd and it's animals, start the year off right

The ones in charge of the animals will typically dress the breeding-age females in deep blue accessories, and if any animals have already been born it's traditional to drape them in gold and carry them around to see the blessings go on

Cloud iridescence, if seen on the New Year, can indicate luck, though what kind depends on the dominant colors. More blues or reds indicates a good year ahead, but greens and yellows signify a bad time coming, and purples give uncertain odds.

Osmosians

The Imperial Osmosian New Year is celebrated over two days that also mark the end of the war in which the species officially gained their freedom and acknowledgement as a sapient species and the beginning of the Empire. Osmosians who are not part of the Empire just celebrate the first day, not the second, and it has nothing to do with new years.

To put it mildly, this is The Big Celebration for Imperial Ossys and A Big Celebration for non-Imperial Ossys, but we're gonna focus on the first group because that's the topic we're on

The Imperial New Year is smack dab in the middle of autumn in the northern hemisphere and spring in the southern, which is really handy since it means it's smack in the middle of the growing season

Fun Fact: Winters on Osmos V get cold and dark enough that plants grow less and less efficiently, most outside of the equator region going dormant over the season, while summers are hot enough that a lot of plants also go dormant then, especially around the equator. As a result for most of the planet spring and autumn are both for growing crops, while for the equatorial areas this is done from mid-autumn to mid-spring

New Years celebrations, for Imperial Osmosians, are loud, bombastic, colorful, high energy affairs involving so much music, so much food, so much activity

Most Osmosian holidays have colors associated with them that change depending on where you are since they're tied to local weather and ecology, but not these ones, these are just straight rainbow, if it is a color you can get your hands on it is a color on display in the form of garlands and strings of bells inside the dens and in chimes, windsocks, pinwheels, and more outside

If you have the supplies to spare to make a bonfire, you do, and you throw shit in there to make it change colors

This is a couple days where you wear your clan's colors in every way you can, and decorate your animals if possible

Yes the music is back and constant, to the degree that constructing large wind organs (have you seen a sea organ? similar concept but taking advantage of Osmos V's constant winds) is a big part of preparations and they'll be arranged around the main outdoor area of the pack so that the music changes with the wind, otherwise wind instruments aren't common but percussion and electronic instruments are

You know how some people hook plants and fungi up to machines that convert their electric currents into sound? Imagine if you could control electric currents directly and put them through that machine. As soon as Ossys had the tech people were taking it to new heights

There will always be somebody singing something- on the last day of the year/anniversary of the war ending it'll be war songs, generally of victory but sometimes more somber shit especially early in the day, on the second day/new year/anniversary of the Empire it'll be upbeat tunes, often a mix of popular, patriotic, and and just random shit that just become tradition in your area

The start of a lot of holidays is marked with the ringing of one or more standing bells within and outside the dens, but there's a specific melody that gets played at the start of the new year, and nobody remembers where it came from anymore- it's believed it may be from before The Hunting, which would make it an over 5000 year old tune in Earth time, but more likely it was developed sometime during The Hunting

There are a lot of athletic competitions in the afternoon of the first day of the celebration, from running to climbing, wrestling to spearplay and other weapon usage, dancing to gymnastics, parkour in some places

The winners of the competitions get decked out in full rainbow regalia and get to flaunt it all through the celebrations, though it gets returned to storage once everything is done

The second day has competitions in the morning but the ones there are are mostly in more artistic venues like music and art, the winners of which also get their own rainbow regalia

There is feasting. There is so much feasting. The two big feasting holidays are this shit and the winter solstice. There's a reason all the athletics are on day one, they'd have to roll people onto the field and into the audience.

The tables will typically be lined with masses of meat, fat, and organs, whole large bones and piles of fresh produce, alongside 'special occasion' fare involving alcohol and imported foodstuffs, sometimes as simple as fish and seaweeds from the nearer sea, other times as exotic as food from outside the Empire, very much an occasion of plenty

You'll find a lot of historical stories in various formats being shown as well, generally inside the dens. If you're restricted to the dens for any reason, you are learning your history, and don't think the storytellers and actors and filmmakers aren't going to pray for bad weather over the holiday just to make sure you see this shit

#i don't have enough for lenopan yet to do them #perison #erinaens #osmosians

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