#she did that lying down!!

[ibraesil]

Jane Sheldon singing The Galaxy Beneath Me from ANTARCTICA by Mary Finsterer at Sydney Festival 2023 with Sydney Chamber Opera & Asko|Schönberg.

[full recording]

A woman in 19th century clothing lies motionless suspended in midair on a small stage filled with fog and lit with red light. The huge proscenium fills with words from an account of a flood.

Peaceful, pensive music plays while a voice whispers and the light slowly turns blue.

The woman sings. Her voice is very clear, with little vibrato - like a Baroque or Early singer. The melody begins plainly. Besides the movement of her mouth, she remains completely motionless. "Solitude, true solitude; the night black; horizons melt sky and sea. Somewhere... solitude." A few small ornaments are added to the melody - grace notes. "Milky Way smeared over all, oh shatter of stars crashing in vastness. Far from the lights of home." A different melody without ornaments, but more movement and wide intervals. "Oh see - there is no soul awake to see the shimmer of the night sky hanging in the water; the multitude of lights swimming." Now many simple ornaments on a melody with a lot of movement. "Tumble of starlight down among us to sleep in our darkness. Solitude." Now many difficult ornaments - complex mordents and runs - turn a simple melody into an acrobatic show with a strong sense of movement. Her tone remains clear and pensive, and she is still perfectly motionless in midair. The proscenium finally fills with text. "Underfoot, underdeck, a million tiny creatures! Underspace, a galaxy beneath- beneath me."

The singer and the orchestra slowly fade out, and a pure, piercing tone rings out then fades.

All of the text on the proscenium begins to fade.

[starry-bi-sky]

do yall ever think about bruce/batman!clone danny standing in front of his bathroom mirror after finding out he was a clone and silently tracing his face. The slope of his jaw and point of his chin. The high angle of his cheekbones and the shape of his eyes, the curve of his brow bones and the shape of his nose. The volume of his hair and the way it curls and gets fluffy when it gets too long.

His hair is black the same way a crow's wing is black. His dad's hair is black the same way a black bear's fur is black. His dad's eyes are blue like the ocean is blue. Danny's eyes are blue the same way a glacier is blue.

His dad has a square jaw and straight flat hair, and he tans and gets a face full of freckles when he's out in the sun for too long. Danny burns like a lobster and his face remains untouched. Danny has a sharp jaw and tall cheekbones, and Sam says when he's not smiling there's almost something regal about him. You would never call Jack Fenton "regal" when he's not smiling.

Sam says when he's not smiling he looks scary the same way a stone statue is. Jack Fenton when he's not smiling looks scary the same way that german shepherd staring at you across the street is.

Do you ever think he grew up wondering if he was adopted. Because of course, he has black hair and blue eyes like his dad. But having the same color doesn't make you someone's child.

Or, worse, things he's heard from the other kids and the other parents and even some of his teachers growing up; that he was the product of an affair. And that his dad was just too stupid to notice. And Danny would defend his parents until the day he died, because Jack Fenton wasn't an idiot and Maddie Fenton wasn't a cheater.

But doubt comes in with fickle tongue. his parents swear up and down that he is their child when he asks about either. That Danny just had his grandparents' features, but he was their son and they loved him.

But Danny doesn't look like either of his parents. His mom's eyes are blue like an aquamarine and Jazz's too. And they burn like lobsters in the sun too, but Jazz gets freckles on her face and so does Maddie. And as Danny grows up he doesn't bulk up or get stocky like his dad did, and when he hits puberty he doesn't shoot up like a tree like Jack Fenton did.

He stays small, and they say he's a late bloomer (and he is), or that he just has his mom's height. But he's fast and has good stamina, and some days it feels like he's built entirely different from his family. That the things they went through growing up just didn't apply to him. Jack and Maddie Fenton both had acne and breakouts when they hit puberty, and Jazz inherits it and he's seen the amount of skincare products she keeps on her side of the bathroom.

And then he hits puberty and breaks out maybe once or twice, but his skin stays clear for the most part and the problems and changes his dad went through just don't happen to him.

And the truth is worse than all of the lies.

How horrifying.

[spectral-snippets-and-drabbles]

Not So Smug Now, Are Ya?

If Lois Lane had a Nickel for everytime she outed a superhero working at the Daily Planet, she'd be getting her second nickel.

She had invited one Daniel Nightingale, a junior reporter with serious potential with a serious lack of self preservation to "a smoke break" and was prepared to do exactly what she did with Clark. If her gut was right when it told her Nightingale was a hero too, the mysterious Phantom, he'd save her before she'd jump. If not, then Clark would jump in to grab her if he didn't rise to her bait.

When he finally got up there with her, she sure as hell wasn't expecting him to tell her why he shouldn't smite her soul out of existence there and now. Her blood ran cold when he told her that Clark has been "compromised", a portal opening up with a snap lf his fingers dropping an unconscious mountain of a man facefirst on the ground.

"You were supposed to die that day you jumped off this building, Ms. Lane. Did you know that?" Danny growls as a scythe made of ice, niking her neck as he has an unhinged Cheshire grin on his face "Clark was never supposed to save you that day? So... what are we going to do about this now?"

[bitternace]

(rock sass voice) they mean the world to me

[ID: a digital drawing of hayner, pence and olette from kingdom hearts. they are in their kh3 clothes, with chunky shadows. the background is light orange. They are shown from the thigh up, walking together. Hayner, on the left, looks at the others with a light smile on his face, he is holding a struggle bat over his shoulder. Pence, in the middle, smiles widely at olette, his left arm held at stomach height. Olette, on the right, lightly elbows Pence, winking with a wide smile. Pence and hayner wear earrings and studs respectively, while olette has a bridge piercing. /End ID.]

[novelconcepts]

Do you ever just lay awake at night, turning over in your head the stark difference in delivery between Hewson's Van saying--steadily, unshakably--"it's just something that's happening to you...happening to us" and Cypress' Taissa saying--imploringly, whiningly--"this was not just my dream, this was our dream"?

Do you ever just turn it over and over, how often Tai tried to scare Van away, and how it only made Van set her feet more firmly? How Taissa's first love was this person who saw a problem fall into Taissa's lap, a problem that was quite literally trapped inside Taissa's body, and decided unflinchingly: No, that's an us problem now? How she refused point-blank to walk away even with blood in her mouth, how she flatly informed Tai "I'm never gonna be scared of you", and promptly turned a moment of pain into a declaration of love? And how this would etch itself into Taissa for the rest of her life? How she'd take these things that worked with Van--with the person Van was, with the bond they shared--and try so hard to run through an identical script with Simone?

Except Simone is her own person. A completely different kind of person. A person who hasn't been offered any of the context, any of the realities going on inside Taissa. So: naturally she doesn't respond the way Van did at eighteen--and will go on to do all over again in her forties. Naturally, she hears our dream as the excuse it is, not as a plea for connection. Naturally, she is scared away when Taissa pushes, and shouts, and begs. Because there isn't blood in her mouth, not yet, but there will be. And they have a son to worry about. And she isn't eighteen and a special kind of immortal, a special kind of romanticized. She's a grown woman with responsibilities, with priorities, with an understanding that you can't fix someone just because you love them. And Tai can't just perform a revival of the play she and Van had memorized twenty-five years later with a whole new performer in the works, and expect it to shake out the same.

Of course it doesn't work. But look at Taissa trying it. Look at Taissa trying to reframe her first love through a new lens. Trying to recast it. Trying to play it through again. Van taught her love was sticking out the blood, shaking off the pain, making a you problem into an us problem. Does it ever just eat at you, how tragic it is, watching Taissa try to shape her marriage around a woman who isn't even wearing a ring?

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

Nanami frantically digging through Shoko’s pamphlets and googling “how to give the ward you just met a sex talk” after the last chapter, this poor man needs a Xanax and a 12 hour nap SO badly right now 😂😂

fantastic chapter btw!! I love love love maki and am fully prepared to be terrorized by her plan—terror for her having to deal with the Zenin and terrorized because that girl is batshit insane and can do anything she sets her mind to ❤️

(I have a sneaking suspicion that her plan involves that mysterious “Okkotsu Yuuta as the world’s most unenthusiastic honeypot” tag, and OH BOY OH BOY am I on tenterhooks to see what insanity (positive) Maki comes up with)

Hope you have a great day!!

Nanami, frantically rushing to r/Parenting for this fucking hurdle of fatherhood:

I (27M) may have discovered my newly adopted son (16M) is in a relationship of indeterminate and possibly intimate nature with his three (15F, 15M, 15M) friends. I need emergency advice.

I only met/took in my eldest a few days ago. Those days have been extremely trying, and have unfortunately placed a very stressful burden on my son. I have tried to support him in any way I can; however, the young character of our relationship makes me fear overstepping his boundaries. I do not want to rush anything which may damage any trust he may form in me in the long run.

As a result, I do not believe having “The Talk” with him would be appropriate at this juncture. However, I fear it may be necessary.

I recently approached him while he was visiting with his close friends in a private room. I knocked (from what I believed to be a respectful distance designed to preserve his privacy) and heard a series of… disconcerting noises. His friend (15M) then proceeded to claim that he could not open the door because they were indecent. The door was quickly opened, and all parties were clothed, but this and other behaviors between the group make me wonder if they have something deeper than friendship between them.

His previous parents were neglectful, and the main influence he has had in recent months is… a rather sorry role model. I believe the assumption that he has not yet learned of safe sexual practices is appropriate. I want him to be comfortable with me before we speak of such matters, but I also want him to be safe in the present.

A complicating factor is that one of his friends (15M) rather frequently wears a hyper realistic panda costume. I bear absolutely no judgment or prejudice against any of his potential partners and support him in his relationship. However, I do not actually know the specifics that should be covered in a talk given the particularities of these partners.

Another complicating factor is that one of his friends (15F) would have been better off being raised by wolves than the sorry excuses of humanity that raised her. While I fear that I may overstep boundaries by speaking with my new ward about such topics so soon, I would most certainly overstep boundaries by broaching the matter with her. At the same time, I cannot deny my suspicions that such a conversation would be desperately needed. How should I proceed?

The fucking comments:

what is wrong with you and your life

there is no way you are a real person

ThatOneGuyinthePandaCostumeTokyo.com is this them

your kid is a furry

Nothing in Nanami’s years of teen parenting prepared him for that moment. The man discovered types of panic he did not know existed. POV you’ve known this boy for three days max and you’re the person Responsible For His Wellbeing and mid crisis you have to figure out 1) if it’s too soon in your relationship to give him the safe sex talk 2) if you can even avoid the safe sex talk if what seems to be happening is happening 3) would it even be appropriate to give the safe sex talk to the people he would be potentially having sex with and 4) is he a furry.

Nanami was not prepared to be confronted with this particular challenge of parenting. Especially because Megumi gave Tsumiki the puberty talk, no one’s been brave enough to give her the sex talk, and the entire teen parenting group has Megumi as too Baby in their minds to have even contemplated giving him any talks.

You have NO IDEA how excited I am for that tag.

Thank you for your kind words! I’m glad you liked it!

[chuthulhu-reads]

[ID: five panels from Trigun Maximum. The first shows Rem looking angrt, her teeth gritted as she looks down and says, "I will never make that mistake again." The second panel shows Vash yelling furiously, his face mostly hidden under his jagged speech bubble as he screams, "are you so sure?!" He's also partially obscured by Rem yelling, "Yes I am! Don't belittle what I went through!", leading into the third panel of Rem screaming with a furious expression. The fourth panel is a quiet beat, showing Vash lying in bed, one hand clenched into a fist and grimacing as he looks up at Rem, whose expression is unseen from behind. The fifth panel shows Rem looking frustrated, rubbing the top of her own head as she says, "I never want to go through that again... being so powerless..." End ID.]

Perfect Kind Angel Rem is just SUCH a disservice to manga!Rem. She's frantic and messy and yells at her son in a moment of passion! She's grieving and furious at herself and devoted to her own atonement! I also cannot emphasize enough that "Killing Is Always Wrong" is not a thing that comes up from manga!Rem, like, ever. The spider-and-the-butterfly conversation is really good character stuff, but is 98!anime only. In the manga, Rem never really talks about violence, or Christian theology; the only person she asks Vash not to hurt is himself. The idea of the boys purposefully harming a human straight up never crosses her radar, so she never talks to them about it. I think this is a valuable choice because it means Vash's dedicated pacifism is a decision he's come to through his own experiences and values, not because he's parroting a dead woman's words. Also, I 200% believe that manga!Rem would have killed a bitch had anyone discovered the boys who wasn't as friendly as Conrad. She has this much regret over the torture and death of a child she barely got to know; I don't see this Rem as the kind of woman to just stand back and beg if anybody wanted to cut up her sons.

[happyendingsong]

STARDOM ☆ 7.28.24 ☆ SAPPORO WORLD RENDEZVOUS mayu acts as wingman to help hanan pin tam

[13reasonstoeatthatcake]

I really want to know how Lilith Sorrengail feels about trying her best to get her youngest daughter away from whatever it was that her dad supposedly found in the Archives after Brennan 'died', just to get said daughter even more involved with the tyrrish rebellion two: electric boogaloo.

[sincerely-sofie]

When Ruby was hospitalized from the wounds Merit and Constance gave her, did Opal feel guilty about not speaking up about what was happening?

Absolutely. Everyone was quick to soothe her about how Ruby was going to be okay— Twig in particular was especially intense about reassuring her that it wasn’t her fault, and what matters is that she told them at all— but she feels like, in a way, she’s responsible for Ruby’s suffering. After all, if she told someone about how Merit and Constance treated Ruby before she was injured so horribly she had a long and painful recovery that lasted almost an entire year, Ruby would have never been hurt like that, right? It’s her fault, at least halfway… Isn’t it?

Ruby, after recovering a bit, has a very different perspective of things, and feels like they worked out the best they ever could. It’s because of those injuries that she’s never going to see her abusers again. It’s because of those injuries that she was taken in by Opal’s family. It’s because of those injuries that she gets to be Opal’s sister. And it’s because of Opal speaking up when she did that Ruby was okay in the end.

Ruby would never hold it against Opal. She actually thought for a while that the timing of her speaking out was intentional because it ended up in the best circumstances she could imagine. But Opal sometimes sees the illusions that cover up Ruby’s scars waver and hates herself for being so scared of Merit and Constance when Ruby was the one who was actually in danger.

[akeedia]

if i get one more tiktok with a ttpd sound imma genuinely lose it, it sounds so bad and cringe and god pls spare me

[sqlmn]

Art I did during my break but don't wanna post on main but you know what. I like Levi and Richard (and Arienne the redhead).

Basically, Levi and Richard go to school together, Richard decides to go by the name Richard and the only person to without question go along with "I'm a boy now" is Levi who calls him Dick. And then gets into fist fights with boys that don't call him Richard. So Richard falls pretty much in love in school then his parents divorce and he moves away.

Many years later (10+) Richard meets Levi again and it's very much nothing grand. Levi overhears Richard introducing himself to someone and is like "lmao Dick? You work here now? Sucks to be you" and Richard is immediately 'I love him so much I hate myself for how easily I give up all dignity for him' but yeah. They work in different departments so Levi does more behind the scenes stuff while Richard talks to clients and is very social.

And their coworkers in both departments love Richard because he's such a nice guy and Levi's department hates Levi a lot cause he's an asshole. (then stuff happens that would require a tw blah blah blah) So after a month of Levi not being at work he returns and Richard immediately goes over to the department to check on him and he's just. Incredibly mellow. No cussing and no cockiness and worst of all, he's being called Richard which is very much not correct from Levi. So he points it out that no one else calls him Dick and if he had a problem with it he would have said something by now so hey, maybe don't suddenly change the entire friendship on your own. (So Levi texts him later to say "sorry for being a dick, Dick" and Richard is v happy and content with that turn out)

Richard is honestly tragically created out of spite for the fact I saw a name IRL and I know that the state that I live in would in fact NOT have someone that intentionally funny and trans so I have to make my own funny trans guy to fill the void.

[side-b-bumblebi]

Men who view women as their intellectual equals 😍

[petr1kov]

people are for real calling alicent stupid for not knowing that viserys was referring to aegon the conquerer and the song of ice and fire prophecy with his last words, not his son aegon, when really. how the FUCK was she supposed to know that??? viserys never told this to anyone other than rhaenyra (something that made daemon jealous enough to choke her about it when he found out last season). so of course alicent would never even think of that.

the real argument here is that alicent was very clearly lying to herself all this time, clinging to a flimsy piece of evidence that could put aegon on the throne as viserys died because she was hoping against hope that he would acknowledge all she has done for him. that the little family she was forced to make with him wasn't an afterthought; that it mattered to him. that it wasn't all for nothing. aegon being king would make it all have a point, would give her suffering meaning, purpose. so she made herself believe that, even when it was a selfish lie.

[carltonlassie]

So I'm on a Greyhound (already a bad start) and I had to give my witness statement to COPS in the middle of the journey and I was a bit shaken about the whole thing but now I feel more normal and I'm more occupied with directing my energy towards not peeing my pants, so there's a good thing

[feelingtheaster99]

Marinette Dupain-Cheng deserves like an EPISODE LENGTH apology from the whole class for not believing her about Lila

Honestly especially Alya for constantly GASLIGHTING her about Marinette’s dislike and disbelief of Lila purely stemming from jealousy when the WRITING WAS ON THE WALL