#so i had to add the text as well for clarity. also played around with the color to get a little closer to what i envisioned lol

[echeveriia]

Holding the hand that holds me down

The Crane Wives, The Garden // Edvard Munch, On the Waves of Love // Digital Daggers, Out of the Fire // Indigo De Souza, Kill Me // Jean-Paul Sartre's "No Exit": A BBC Adaptation (1964), color edited by me // The Mountain Goats, No Children // Miles Johnston, Burning Embrace // Jean-Paul Sartre, No Exit // Breaking Benjamin, Without You

[lady-harrowhark]

hello, can you explain to me in more clarity your “waxen” theory regarding Ianthe? I’m not picking up on what this implies but it’s making my brain itch.

Sort of! Totally fair question, I just don't have a lot of clarity myself in that I don't have a fully formed theory lol. There's definitely some links and parallels in verbiage that are pinging on my radar, so I do think something's funky, but I wouldn't say I'm fully on board with this yet. I'm just playing in the sandbox Tamsyn has provided us, tossing out ideas and thinking out loud. But I can go into some more detail, and add some more thoughts that have occurred to me since I posted that last night.

(Here's a link to the post in question, for context)

Anyway! So let's first lay out all the times we get someone described as some type of wax. At various points in HtN, we get the descriptions "a shoddy wax cast of some more beautiful sculpture," a "wax figure in a pink dolly dress," a "wax figure in pale purple chiffon," and "waxen face" for Ianthe. We also see that descriptor used a few other times for other people throughout the series. In GtN, Harrow's parents' bodies are called "waxy" and the first introduction of Protesilaus (as the beguiling corpse) says he was "waxen looking in the sunlight." In NtN, Kiriona's skin is said to have a "weird, waxy quality," then Naberius's skin is called "waxen" when they first meet up with Ianthe, and again a few pages later it again references the "waxen, handsome face". What I'm getting at here is that every time this sort of description is deployed, it's in reference to a dead body that's been preserved, manipulated, and is essentially masquerading as a living person... except for Ianthe.

We also know there are a multitude of times that she's described as looking like a poor copy of Coronabeth. There's that "shoddy wax cast of some more beautiful sculpture" line, her first introduction calls her a "starved shadow" of her sister ("or the first an illuminated reflection [of Ianthe]," and actually, off the top of my head I don't know that we ever see their descriptions framed that way again... I'd have to investigate this more later, but this might be the only time that Corona is described as a "better" version of Ianthe, rather than Ianthe being a "worse" version of Corona, which is interesting), there's a point where it says "The second twin was as though the first had been taken to pieces and put back together without any genius. She wore a robe of the same cloth and colour, but on her it was a beautiful shroud on a mummy," etc etc etc. I know there's more, but I'm too lazy to go pull the rest of the quotes and you get the picture by this point I'm sure. So nearly all of these situate her, at least visually, as a copy or approximation of Coronabeth, and one that doesn't quite live up to original at that.

So now let's pick apart this snippet of conversation we overhear between Silas and Ianthe at Magnus and Abigail's dinner party a bit. Ianthe says she was born via "surgical means," which I'm assuming is referring to a C-section delivery (or whatever the necromantic equivalent is) and notes that Corona is a few minutes older. Silas seems surprised (or perhaps concerned?) that they "risked intervention" and Ianthe says Corona had "removed [her] source of oxygen". At this point Silas says, "A wasted opportunity, I'd think." I had always taken this for him just being a dick and implying he wished she'd died in the womb, but coming back to it with this new angle... well. She says "Corona's birth put my survivability somewhere around definite nil." And I'm wondering if that doesn't tie to Harrow's comment about infant deaths generating "enough thanergy to take out the entire planet." Basically, could Silas have been implying that the Tridentarii's parents wasted an opportunity to use the thanergy from baby Ianthe's death to power up Corona?

Harrow says that twins are an ill omen, but the text hasn't come back to that as of yet. Given the difficulty necromancers experience with pregnancy, I'd imagine twins would could be especially dangerous and that in and of itself could be considered an ill omen. Ianthe's comments certainly suggest that their mother carried the pregnancy, although I don't think we know for certain whether she was a necromancer. I am so intensely curious about the Tridentarii's childhood and their parents; we get so many gestures towards some really twisted family dynamics, but very little in the way of concrete explanations. Particularly relevant here, I'd love to know more about their father wanting a "matched set" and how that came about. Did they intentionally plan for twins from the start? Was it only once they knew they were having twins that that became a factor? What's the significance there?

Outside of those "waxy" descriptors, Ianthe tends to be described as much more sickly looking than even other necromancers. We know that necromancers on the whole tend towards a phenotype of physical weakness, but even still, there's an emphasis on this with Ianthe beyond that. This might be due in part to narrator bias (coughGideoncough) or the direct juxtaposition between her and Coronabeth's vivaciousness, but what really jumps out at me as contributing to this effect is how frequently she's described as being colorless, pale, washed out, bloodless, pallid, anemic, etc etc etc. It very much makes me think of the way the color drains away from Colum (and even the rest of the room and the others in it) when Silas is siphoning. Silas himself is also often described as colorless ("mayonnaise uncle," "milk man") but not so much in a way that implies frailty as much as I read it as implying a stark coldness, in line with the very black-and-white moral authority he presumes to wield, a purported "purity", much different than Ianthe's colorlessness. With Ianthe, you get a sense that her palette ought to have been or perhaps was closer to Corona's, but the color's been drained away; where Corona's hair is described as golden, Ianthe's is "canned butter", for example. Almost like the life's been siphoned out, one might say.

So to kind of circle back around, do I actually think Ianthe is dead or a corpse like the other "wax" figures we've seen? Nah. Between Harrow and Palamedes, and especially Palamedes's medical necromancy, I think we would have heard about it by now if that were the case. But I do think it's entirely plausible that she's had a bit of a brush with death and that perhaps she's never quite fully come back from, and I do think she's being intentionally positioned as somewhat adjacent to death. If their parents were wanting twins from the outset, perhaps they used necromantic means to encourage the conception. Or if the pregnancy was as high-risk as I suspect it was, perhaps she'd died or nearly died at birth and been resuscitated. Their parents may have gone to extremes to keep her alive, to maintain their matched set. Given the themes of this series, I do feel it's necessary to draw a distinction between "resuscitation" and "resurrection" although they are curiously adjacent to one another. For all the text has grappled with dying and staying dead, dying and coming back, dying and choosing whether or not to return... we haven't touched on what something like a "near death experience" would look like. I'd imagine having that sort of experience, even at an incredibly young age, might lead one to be fascinated with, to use Ianthe's own words, "the place between death and life... the place between release and disappearance."

[mica-dmss]

Blog Post - 06

Transmedia and Synergy: The Never-Ending Plot

When we are asked about the most iconic fictional characters, most people would probably answer with Superman, Batman, or of the sorts; whatever notable character there is from a well-known series. It may not be specific to comics, but characters from any popular title can also be examples. Media products deemed as 'famous' overtime will urge in new consumers, even if their origins are dated from way back.

People become familiarised with notable stories and grow up alongside consuming similar plots of which are eventually popularised, with the potential to be reintroduced or elaborated upon further to a new audience for more exposure, be it sequel or prequel. Thus, a community of fans will be formed, sharing common interests, theories and ideal execution of their favourite stories. This in turn leads to a continuation of a product, now regarded 'famous' enough to be considered iconic within media.

In the practice of Media, this process is referred to as commercial intertextuality, which is "the production and interlinking" of main texts such as blockbuster films or TV series, with para-texts of other mediums like spin-offs, promos, online media, books, games, and merchandise." (Hardy, 2015, p. 327) When one generation gets to experience a phenomenal product, another reinvigorates it after in order to keep it relevant within the media. Thus, this method of popularising products leads to an accumulation of branch narratives, which could extend to other possibilities, thus making a product not just any product, but a cultural phenomenon.

While examining the theory of intertextuality, I will be referring to the famous franchise of Spider-Man. With his first debut in Marvel's comic, Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962), the character Spider-Man had become a big hit and has since grown to be a famous feature within Marvel's universe. Over many decades, the creation of this character has spawned many products across various media; films, games, television series and merchandise had arise as the story of Peter Parker grew overtime. To this day, many theories and reviews revolving around Spider-Man are produced and shared by his massive fanbase on social media, as well as memes and fanfictions revolving around his narrative still remain relevant for comedy and relatability, further reinforcing the mass' affinity of Spider-Man and his world. (Figure 1)

Figure 1

In what makes a product of intertextuality, professor Sara Gwenllian-Jones (2003) wrote about the qualification of its properties by describing its overall function to be 'centripetal', in a way that its references branch out many possible meanings towards a single text (Gwenllian-Jones, 2003, p.186), which explains the extension of references like memes and parodies from online in relation to Spider-Man scenes or concepts. Gwenllian-Jones also referred to media scholar John Fiske's (1987) analyses of intertextuality, which he explains that intertextual knowledges "pre-orient the reader to exploit polysemy by activating the text in certain ways, that is, by making some meanings rather than others."" (Fiske, 1987, cited in Gwenllian-Jones, 2003, p.186). The key word being 'reorient' describes the relationship between small products and the bigger narrative; what loopholes are there in its plot? What else could be uncovered from the story provided to us viewers who might want more from a sequel? Maybe a prequel? Or perhaps something more alternative?

Products that are popularised to the point of continuing plots deemed as unnecessary could branch outwards, in order to explore more of the universe of its concept rather than its character, which leads to the idea of transmedia. So, in theory, what is transmedia?

Through the works of media scholar Henry Jenkins (2011), transmedia refers to a by-product of "a radically intertextual story" played out across different media; with each new text further adds to the clarity of a story "as a whole" (Wall, 2019, p.2) In other words, following the impact of an original media, this content 'moves' into future textural structures within a similar medium. This can explain existence of remakes, sequels and prequels based on the original source. However, this does not inherently make a product a transmedia. Rather, it is also the dependence on multimodality that results in transmedia, being that the content's 'movement' would involve having separate representations distinguished from the original plot.

One profound example we can take of transmedia is Sony Pictures' Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), which explores a new reality of character Miles Morales following the death of the initial Spiderman, Peter Parker. The plot within this film series is separate to the narrative explored within the comic series, of which both of Miles face different relationships and fates. However, the unravelling plot within the film's sequel ties in both of these products, by revealing that a dimension paradox is what caused Miles to become Spiderman. At the beginning of the film, the spider that bit Miles Morales (Earth-1610) originated from a different dimension (Earth-42). This point is clarified through a cliff-hanger ending, where a brand new character is introduced. This character was none other than Miles Morales, but from a Spiderman-less reality, had instead adopted the alias Prowler (Figure 2 and 3).

Figure 2

Figure 3

This expansion on Miles' story arc had been highly appraised by long-term critics and reviewers of the Marvel's products, as well as became a hit in the Box Office regarding its recent release in theatres, grossing $690.5 million at the worldwide box office (Wikipedia, 2023). The reason could likely be that this narrative addition to Miles' story adds further sophistication to the Spiderman timeline, of which the original comics failed to represent in the past.

In the context of comics alone, Miles' narrative was initially a minor concept that delved into an alternative reality of Spiderman's fate. Marvel's Ultimate Comics was essentially a product to explore 'reimagined' versions of their different characters, leading to Miles' very first appearance in Ultimate Fallout (2011) #4 (Figure 4).

Figure 4

Furthermore, this representation of Spiderman could be what has led to an open interpretation for Miles' purpose in the entirety of Spiderman's arc, thus leading to potential plots yet to be discovered. The film adaptation was brought with this notion in investigating what Miles could truly contribute to the Spiderman franchise.

While the extensive exploration into Spider-Man alone could last someone a while of catching up to date with the current theories revolving around the story, such a feat in media could never be possible without the prospect of capitalism. How is the success of Marvel's work possible in the world of capitalism, and what business does it have in the lives of its consumers? In Gender, Race and Class in Media: A Critical Reader (2015), Jonathan Hardy elaborates on the current media fanbase's obsession with brands like Marvel. He describes the formation of supporters in the setting that nurtures it as "consumer culture", where we fixate on an environment that is "saturated with advertising imagery urging us to buy and consume products as a path to future happiness and self-transformation" (Hardy, 2015, p. 241). As result, fans buy a product and indulge in it until they grow bored and request for a new an improved piece. The entertainment industry takes advantage of this and formulate a means to produce further profit off successful releases. However, is it so bad when people genuinely enjoy the products they purchase?

In conclusion, we are a generation that has the capability to take products we admire and further develop them to create something new. Within this time of media, we can look back many works over the last few decades and pick out aspects that could reinvigorate them, or maybe even invent the next best thing in media, as creators of our own 'consumer culture'. For as long as the entertainment industry manages the distributions that feed the cost of productions, do we get to savour the memories of our favourite stories and characters once more.

Sources:

Brooker, W. and Jermyn, D. (2003) The audience studies reader. London: Routledge.

Dines, G. and Humez, J.M. (2015) Gender, race, and class in media: a critical reader. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.

Reddit (2022) Available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/memes/comments/ytmjse/spiderman/ (Accessed: 7 January 2024).

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) Directed by J. Dos Santos [Feature film]. Culver City, LA: Sony Pictures Releasing.

'Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse' (2024) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man:_Across_the_Spider-Verse (Accessed: 7 January 2024).

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) Directed by J. Dos Santos [Feature film]. Culver City, LA: Sony Pictures Releasing.

[andstilliam]

living up to my tumblr bio, i wrote the occasional brooding essay this morning and published it, but then deleted it because it’s too melodramatic with the long text and it’s severely depressing.

i slept 8h last night which was nice but still woke up feeling kind of run down, which isn’t too surprising since i burned nearly 1k calories yesterday, so i won’t be moving today lol. i still had a full breakfast which i didn’t really want because i woke up a bit backed up but i figured the fullness would do me well. i consider oatmeal and waffles to be my full breakfasts because they keep me satiated for a while. 

i did not finish the biology lab last night. it was stressing me out too much because i was not able to reduce file size and improve clarity simultaneously and because i started too late, like i was just not able to do the coding for it. the info felt way too scattered. it’s not the same as CS labs because they tell you what to do step by step and they give you resources, they’re very well crafted so it really isn’t too difficult to get started and follow along. anyway, i really don’t like the biol labs so far because they’re so poorly documented. it’s on microsoft word and it’s just so terribly done, it’s impossible to read through. so i really don’t like them. but anyway, i was not going to finish this one, so i figured i’d take the loss because i still need to complete the quiz and the lab  this week. the exam is next week. today i have to finish the quiz and lesson 5, and do chem pre class questions.

it’s cool seeing familiar science terminology in all of my classes because the overlap helps with learning but i definitely miss taking CS courses this term. it’s really fun, first of all. secondly, when given an assignment, we usually have a lot longer to complete it because of the amount of planning it takes and yet you can still code a website the night it’s due. you can play around with labs and alter the code however you want, as long as you get the gist of it. it’s just not the same with science and the rote memorization required. the workload is 100x more intense. CS is intense but it’s all application based, so it’s really just about doing it, aside from the theoretical aspects you need to know. 

i’m just trying to keep myself from spiralling too much mentally because it just doesn’t need to happen. i have to shut my brain off. my body has adapted to this intake and i’m considering altering it further but honestly i don’t think that needs to happen. i’d say that i’m eating low enough as it is and I’m still having normal bowel movements (which I don’t want to fuck up), like it’s gonna work in terms of weight loss; is working. i don’t want to do anything that would sabotage the restriction long term just for some temporary relief. i think bad days/ weeks are normal and i shouldn’t risk binge eating later because i wanted to be more numb on one particular day. a lot of times, like i’m not really hungry especially because everyday i have to shit lol i’m not empty in there at all, so that just adds to the fullness i’ve been experiencing for well over a year now…. Like this morning I woke up mildly bloated because I had to shit after not going very well yesterday and so I did but that also meant I wasn’t that hungry initially. But I had my oatmeal anyway.  

the picture my mom took of me at my highest weight around my birthday in 2023, we were at Ruth Chris steakhouse, my fav ever. that particular night, i felt so ill, could barely keep my eyes open, i was so extremely bloated and lethargic and contrary to what’s pictured, i did not even finish my petit filet mignon and that, like, never happens! so i was really not feeling well, retaining mass fluid, like i could barely eat. 

this is a repeated phase that i go through in particular after exercise has halted for a long time after a period of overexercise. my body stops working. i have zero energy to get up and out of bed. i feel super ill. my portions decrease and yet my body weight and size increases. it happens every time and the fix is to stop overexercising so that the quantity of food remains perpetually low at all times and this in turn creates more consistent low impact exercise which still keeps the metabolism and GI system moving. it’s all interconnected. i’m telling you that when i get fat, i get really sick. And it’s proof that my body works best like this. I burned 955 calories yesterday and I only ran 2km in addition to walking. if i were running even 5-10km on top of that, i would be dead in 6 mos. my body is just no longer suitable for excess endurance exercise and i learned that the hard way. plus that’s not how you become an enduring anorexic anyway. my long walks and very short runs are more than good enough and if i’m deadbeat on this somedays, just imagine the damage that would be done on more to not only my entire system but how that affects my GI system and appetite regulation long term. look, i am not getting fat one year from now. sure, the weight loss seems slower, but baby, i’m killing myself here, not going for a photoshoot. i’m aiming for progressive weight loss and with this plan in place, it’s going to happen. 

i mean, i believe that i’m always ill unfortunately with my chronic conditions but i am consistently not okay at a high weight (overweight+) at a rate that far exceeds anything else, from my personal experience. 

that’s why i don’t overexercise currently or rather exercise smarter, i don’t overeat or eat large portions, and i take a water pill daily and ensuring i drink lots of fluids. it seems to be working quite well. It’s just crazy ridiculous how low the intake is compared to what’s considered to be average and required for healthy, average functioning. I don’t think that reality rings true for people with chronic illness because there’s nothing healthy or average about being chronically ill and before the age of 30 nonetheless. 

but yeah, i think i’m nearing 95-100lbs soon without weighing in. my breasts are still quite big and they are feeling disproprtionate to my body at this point, but that also means i can expect further weight loss soon. they’ll shrink soon enough and when they do shrink to a specific size, then i’ll be able to gauge that i’m likely between 90-100lbs. i’m definitely over 100lbs currently, i just don’t know how much over. but once i’m back in the 90s, underweight isn’t far away at all. it should definitely happen this semester. i’d be surprised if i’m not 90lbs by december. january-april, i will definitely be underweight. should maintain the 80s by then followed by an additional 10-15lb weight loss over 8 mos before 2026 and thennnnn i can maintain a bmi of 14. 

[cosmicmote]

Brotherhood and Spirited Gabriels

I awoke this morning and

after falling asleep a couple more times

feeling blessed I got out of bed

some minutes later

after holding some clarity

I was reminded of the last time

I had phone sex, back in the late 90's

although it may have been early 00's

or 01, not that it wasn't memorable, or

noteworthy, as it was

and most enjoyable, yes

she was a beauty, and still is I feel

wherever she is, up above or whatever form

her health wasn't the best but whose is now

she had muscular dystrophy as I recall

though I feel inclined to mention here that

we're all chair assisted some days more than others but

earlier stages and her son was around

her home some to help and

I had met her in a text based chat room

and one night a group of friends mutual were gathered

wanting to play truth or dare and I'm not sure

if it was originally her idea or whose suggestion but

I got pulled in and

she was angling, and our friends were colluding,

she was a witch after all, by her own admissions

and a great one I'd say, then and now

I don't remember her name, or her face so much

I don't think she shared the latter at the time but photos of other parts

well winged and thick, looking like a rosary

her angelicacy, it was the whole of her and her body

her being,

was always something beautiful, seen or unseen and

mutually shared, I realize

there was a diagram this morning concerning prayer and Gabriel

after and during returning

remindances, it was stormy that night for most of us

but we ended up on the phone together laying

down comfortably somewhat afar and close, I was using and working with a mala then and

the sun is shining so brightly today, my eyes need curtains and blinds

but we were on the phone together and talking as it was great

to hear her voice, I'm unsure if it was the first instance there although

it probably was and the sounds together we talked, and did our somethings

together, it was quite beautiful and meaningful and

copulative, sensitively life sized and not huge

and these later days are more openly conjunctive and no less

enkindling and arousing, provoking emotionally and mentally but not so much

physically, I felt I had to fake it to finish it though I was in not so much a rush for that either on and on and

the finishings, repeatedly and if there were such things but afterwards still on phone

she said it was the best she ever had, repeatedly and undoubtedly

we both were feeling and today it all comes flooding back sustained

these rivers and seas flowing, obstructions and toxins and such removed

to an extent, a great one too, with and without hindsight

and revelations, they are given a bad name by kooks and ilk and

we are kept in cages, in so many ways not just physically

and they get to be support systems to be relied on and

I want to type rather than each other but so many cage walls & bars

wind up overlapping too, it is war and

so many peoples needs are met and

so many peoples needs are not

with seeming endless resources, cornucupias and dystopias

and maltopias all of them so many

and there are so many names for the ill, not just diagnoses

as those are largely untreated especially when recognized;

kooks are a surname but of some of those others presumably repeatable here

there's neurotics and schizos and

schizi's and paranoids and

freaks and aspies and

lunatics and incels and

spastics and dementeds and

braindeads and mads and

imbeciles and moronics and

nuts and psychos and

I thought I had that last one listed

but on and on it goes and

I could also add dumb and

the physical illnesses too, like aids,

in the time that has passed

cancer gets nearly us all, increasingly

and that's so often repeated too;

I awoke this morning feeling blessed and I am

and still am and there have been many rendezvous' and

experiences and

glimpses and inklings too along the revelations

the roads that are weaved, for us and some of us by

alarmalarmalarm alarm alarm my potato has finished baking

and ok and - the sun is still shining glowing, radiating and

not quite always will but back here we are

we could say changes are coming but

changes always occur maybe not quite always

in any case we're inhabiting a world where so many

peoples needs are met and

so many peoples needs are not and

not just the humans either, above and below

it says a lot about who's peoples needs are met

which peoples and why's

in such unholy worlds and related states

aren't built for everyone's comforts but those that are fitting

it isn't just the material world, here

we see, we see, and we figure for

it is war

it is war

may we keep it holy

we may keep it holy

we may

'til come may

in peace, the answers wholly lie

we see we see and it comes through, half hear

with every systems failures and successes entwined,

lifetimes and forms not alike

do you lie wholly, a liar

you do, and here

so non-aspirational

it's not just the rhetoric of failure

and here

go back and have some flowers

the communications and

how can we miss what we still feel the touch of,

what is still here and what we still have

singing singing somethings through an invisible sun

in an emulation world and

through emulation peoples and

through emulations you live and pray and

the angels sometimes get through anyways

they struggle, unlike the microtoxins in every thing

macro too, today above and below trumpets sound and

what here we're held to spins and flows in to

unseen lights in the much perceived darkness

a few, into a state

where we can perceive it all

Charlie was there too, he had picked up gonorrhea

when he slipped outside the bars awhile

a little while, and there was a Wilson brother there with him

not halfheartedly

alongside singing, singing shining into the beaches

but who cares, the trumpets blare again

it is war, it is war

see nothing, say nothing

how it all turns and

carries on too long,

a sting sings 'bout too much information

and now blaring synthesizations

driving everything, insane

carries on too long

one hour and eleven minutes but

those dialed-in numbers came later and

they came and they came and

still do but at times it all feels so misleading

and untrustworthy but then and

more than just swapping,

maybe that is what the gabriel flowers are for

the usual painting with happy endings and beginnings, using Corel Painter and life, with photographs layered in and those are life too

graphic and words ©spacetree 2024

[madamedevien]

Infernal Heat

Hey! It’s been a while - I really miss you guys.  Anyway, I know that a lot of you were keeping up to date with my Mammon x GN! Reader fic...while I’m updating it regularly on my AO3, I thought that I’d post the chapters that I’ve got here as well. I’m planning for it to be a 4 chapter fic, but let’s see how that goes! Warnings in tags (both here and AO3) - monster fucking comes into play much more come Chapter 3 and 4. The biggest thanks to @mawwart for their inspiration and @popcherrypop for reading over what I had all those months ago and actually helping me find direction. I’ve got a bigger/cheesier spiel on AO3, but anyway. Fingers crossed that the ‘Keep Reading’ line shows up here...

Chapter 1: Embers

The Great Mammon had woken up in a mood. He'd felt this creeping up for days now and he wished that it would just come and go already. It was hella distracting to have a constant tug of warmth and want in your gut, y'know? And it was annoying to feel the incessant need to primp and to add to the nest of pillows, blankets, sentimental and decorative items that now overtook most of his bed. But he was due a heat cycle. Annoyingly, he felt that it was probably going to settle in properly on that particular day and he'd been wrangled into going shopping by you. And for whatever reason he'd agreed. Not because he had a crush on you or anything. Damn, he couldn't even remember what you two were meant to be shopping for, that's how addled his mind was. Mammon really just wanted to stay put and perfect his nest. Maybe show it off to you. Although he wasn't sure if you'd appreciate the fact that he'd stolen a few items of yours while on laundry duty to tuck into said nest. Or that he wanted to maybe do something kind of nasty to a piece of your clothing. If not you. 

But would you want to? To see his nest? To lay in it, lay with him, to mate with him? He wanted you to. So very, very badly. He didn’t feel like he deserved you but, oh, to say that he wanted you was a vast understatement. Fuck. 

He groaned and threw one of his tanned arms over his eyes. The silveret realised that he was going to have to partially dislodge his beautiful nest to pull out Goldie (he couldn't go shopping without her - the very thought was offensive!) and that he was going to have to get rid of his raging boner before he faced you. 

So into a cold shower he trudged, loudly cursing the whole time.

---

Longest shopping trip in fucking history. 

It seemed like you were in need of freakin' everything imaginable. He wasn't to know that you were actually just taking your time because it'd been a while since the two of you had some time to yourselves. The demon had been acting strangely around you the past few days, although he was completely oblivious to just how weird it’d been for you.

And today, the Avatar of Greed just wasn't engaging. Questions went unanswered, as if he hadn't heard even when clearly looking at you, no boasting or sulking occurred, no bets or harebrained schemes hatched...he didn't even take you up on your offer of Hell Sauce Noodles! The demon was completely disinterested in all of this - the only thing he was interested in was you. He was also trying very very hard not to let his thoughts slip into anything inappropriate. Which was probably the single most difficult thing he’d had to do in all of his many years. Mammon wanted to take your hand and lace your fingers together; to shamelessly nuzzle your cheek in front of everyone on Silent Avenue. The thought made his heart swell. Better yet, if you were mated, he could kiss you in front of the whole crowd before publicly mounting you and-

Damn, it was hard to keep lewd thoughts at bay. He could feel his cheeks burning and looked away when your concerned expression turned to him. 

On the trek home (finally!), he fell into a lazy pace behind you and Mammon couldn’t help it as you walked together. His cerulean gaze raked over the beautiful curve in your neck - the space was perfect. In his mind, he could see how perfectly his head would fit and how the mark he could leave there would only accentuate the beauty of your skin. It’d be a gorgeous brand that would loudly proclaim to all, ‘I am mated to THE Great Mammon, the Avatar of Greed and Second of the Seven; don’t you dare even think to touch me’. The very notion only caused the flush of heat over his skin to worsen and his breath to hitch; he wanted to tear into his flesh to relieve himself of the insufferable and fiery itch.

The same thoughts washed over his brain again and again like some cruel tide, even once you'd passed through the doors of the House of Lamentation.

It took only a scant moment. He didn’t even think. The silver haired demon was aware that he was losing his mind due to his damned biology, but he didn’t realise that he was so far gone that he would do something so stupid. It was only your screech that alerted him to the fact that he had pulled you tight to his chest, that he was actually in the process of sinking sharp fangs into your supple skin. The sudden realisation made him tear off of you in surprise. 

Beel had been the first to burst through a doorway and into the corridor. The redhead stopped dead in his tracks and stared wide-eyed at the two of you; you with your hand clamped over the section of your neck that had been bitten, and Mammon an arm’s length away from with a look of abject horror painted over his handsome features. Stupid Mammon, indeed. The next to burst in was Lucifer, who looked ready for a proper melee. The sound that had come from you had genuinely startled the older brother, not that he’d admit that if asked. As his garnet gaze took in the scene before him, his mouth twisted unpleasantly. “Mammon…” Lucifer’s voice was dangerously low. Mammon shook his head urgently in response, “Nonono, Luci, it didn’t - I mean, yeah, it is what it looks like an’ I didn’t mean ta, but it...it’s not deep enough. Y’know?” The second brother sounded desperate. Mammon anxiously twisted his rings around his tanned fingers and had to fight back the tears that threatened the edges of his vision. He could have hurt you. “Oh, I think you’ll find that it’s more than deep enough.” Lucifer stalked toward you and put his hand on top of the one you were using to cover your wound. “Let me see how much damage the fool inflicted on you”. Mammon could see the frown that pulled at your mouth as you revealed the bite mark to his brother. No proper damage - the indents might linger, but no blood had been drawn; no skin had been broken. 

“It was more from the surprise than pain, Lucifer. I just wasn’t expecting someone to bite me, you know? That’s the kind of thing that I’d expect more from a very hungry Beel.” Your attempt to lighten the mood only made the Avatar of Pride’s expression sour further - but Beel muttered a small, “Fair”. Lucifer sounded positively glacial when he spoke again. “Beelzebub, please take our brother to his room." The Avatar of Gluttony nodded solemnly, gently taking the second eldest’s shoulder. Mammon stared miserably at the floor, guilt clearly written on his flushed face although he couldn’t bring himself to say anything. He didn’t trust himself to. Not after such a stupid stunt. As the other two made their way up the stairs, Lucifer pinched the bridge of his nose. 

This wouldn’t be pleasant.

--

It was no surprise to Mammon that Lucifer texted him shortly after the whole ordeal. He was just thankful that Lucifer hadn’t decided to come up to his room and literally tear into him after biting you. Of all the people to bite in the entire Devildom, it just had to be you didn’t it? Lucifer: Mammon. I have strictly instructed the household that you are not to be disturbed until I have given the all clear. You will stay in your room and I will bring you provisions at regular intervals. If you need anything, you will let me know. Are we clear? Mammon: Yes. Lucifer: Good. He waited, hopeful that Lucifer would provide an update on you. After an eon of waiting (which was actually all of seven minutes) he decided to ask. Mammon: Are they okay?

Lucifer: They are. And they will continue to be so long as you stay in your room and do not venture out. Ensure that you lock your door and remember to take your pheromone blockers as well or the whole house will reek of your mating scent. What were brothers for, if not a good motivational speech? --- Chapter 2: Flames Even with Lucifer’s reminder, Mammon had forgotten to take the pheromone blockers and to lock the door. He’d been far too distracted; worrying about your state of health, whether he’d damaged your relationship beyond repair, still trying to keep the lewd thoughts at bay, his instincts fretting over the piece of nest that had been dismantled earlier… It was a lot to be preoccupied with, okay? Without the pheromone blockers, the corridor outside of Mammon’s room was thick with the sweet perfume of a demonic male in heat. It was rich and cloying, the kind of scent that would cling to one’s clothes much to the annoyance of the other residents (Asmodeus excluded).  Mammon, however, didn’t care. He was too busy now attempting to cool the heat in the pit of his stomach and to regain some clarity of mind. An attempt at sleep had been made once his nest had been repaired and Goldie tucked into her rightful place, the lights turned down low and his clothes discarded to some far corner so that he could crawl into the nest in a comfortable state...but how could he sleep when obscene images of you kept popping into his head?  At first, he had tried to keep some semblance of his mind. The demon didn’t like to lose control during his heats. If he could keep his mind, he would keep to his more humanoid forms - and that was what he wanted. Because if you did, by chance, happen upon him...well. He didn’t want to scare you. Before he allowed himself to spiral into the anxiety of your imagined reaction, he reached for his ridiculously large bottle of lube. If he was going to dwell on the thought of anything, it was going to be how good he knew you’d feel… --- Mammon wouldn’t have been able to say how much time had passed. He had brought himself to orgasm more times than he could count - but it only seemed to just take off the edge. A demon’s heat was never an easy thing, but why was this time around so damn difficult?  Satan would have been able to answer that with ease, the smug bastard; if a demon chooses a mate they will, naturally, be most inclined to couple with said mate for optimal breeding. To not couple with a chosen mate could make a heat worse - but to withhold coupling at all? Well, it would be a foolish endeavour.  The Avatar of Greed hadn’t realised just how he was slipping ; wings and horns had appeared without him even registering and his fangs had dropped to a predatory length (which he only noticed when he had apparently attempted to put a mating mark on a pillow covered in one of your stolen shirts that he’d been desperately rutting against, much to his embarrassment).  His breathing was rough. Mammon was equal parts exhausted and invigorated. He wanted nothing more than to let his knees fall out from under him so that sleep would hopefully take him - he wanted to stalk down the hall and into your room and fuck you senseless. And if Lucifer found out? Well, Mammon would love to see him try to pry you from his arms.  The very thought made him snarl, his grip on his cock tightening. It was enraging to even think that his brother would dare, a thought that had him so preoccupied that he didn’t hear the door click open.  His blue eyes slipped over to you and the wet sound of him furiously fucking his fist stopped abruptly. It was impossible to tell which one of you was redder. This was not what he had been expecting. “Uh-” A rasp of your name interrupted you. “Didn’t Lucifer tell you not to come?” He watched as you nodded dumbly, “Yes”. Heavy breath was the only noise to pass between you several beats. The demon in front of you was wondering whether this was fate; you weren’t running, you looked interested and, fuck, you smelled so good. You smelled aroused and it made him growl; “C’mere then”. The way that you slammed the door and scampered toward him practically had him preening in pleasure. Just as eager, Mammon scrambled over to meet you, flustered yet excited, and hauled you up close to him. He bumped your foreheads together. From here it was easy to see how incredibly blown his pupils were, to feel how desperately ragged his breathing was. You were dangerously close. “Now, see here, I'm gonna give ya one chance to go. ‘Cause if I kiss ya, I’m not gonna be able to stop. I won’t be able to let ya go. You’ll be stuck with me for the whole fuckin’ ride, ya hear?” Holy shit, his voice was so strained. “Then kiss me, you dummy.” No repeat was necessary. Mammon threaded his fingers into your hair, hesitating for only the briefest moment before pressing his lips to yours. When you responded in kind his fervour, his deep rooted greed, quickly followed. He’d wanted to kiss you from day one and not a moment had gone by since  without him imagining it. This felt so incredibly right. But he couldn’t ignore the heat curling in his gut. He needed you, wanted you. And as far as he could tell, despite the dark whispers in the back of his mind saying otherwise, you seemed to feel the same.The way that you returned his greedy kisses, how your fingers had twisted sharply in his hair, how you didn’t seem to mind the messy clicking of his elongated fangs against your blunt teeth as he tried to figure out how best to navigate your mouth in this form - how could he deny that he was wanted?  Mammon's only regret when looking back on this evening with you would be not savouring your body laid bare for him for the first time. His mind was too heat-addled to appreciate it; he was unable to slowly peel off your layers and to have the sentiment returned in kind as he had previously fantasised about. In his mind’s eye, he had a whole big romantic gesture planned if you had decided to sleep with him. Previously, he had imagined how he would make love to you and treasure every moment of it...but alas… Your clothes were quickly stripped from you, sharp fangs nipping at new skin as it was exposed. There was no delicate treatment here and he paid no heed to the sound of torn material. When he next plundered your mouth, it was far smoother than the first time - he was a fast learner, after all.  The only complaint that he had about kissing you was that it muffled those beautiful noises of yours. When he broke the seal of your mouths it was to gently toss you back toward the top of the bed, deeper into his nest and into the comfort of a ridiculous amount of pillows - to properly secure you into his nest. To see you like that felt...good. It felt right. It was clear that was exactly where you belonged. The very image had him growling in satisfaction as he took the opportunity to crawl over your body, his fingers gripping at the meat of your thighs and hips as if ensuring that you were truly there with him. Thankfully, his nails had not yet turned into talons or they would have pierced through you with ease at the way that he handled your flesh.  Mammon had to take a deep breath when he looked at you this time. He needed to make sure that he didn’t hurt you while doing this - it was the last thing in the world that he wanted. It was unusual for the Avatar of Greed to put the needs of others before his own...but you weren’t just some ‘other’. You were you. His very own treasure, his very own mate. Reluctantly, a hand left your body to fish for something buried within the nest. “You’re fuckin’ gorgeous,” He coated his fingers generously in lube, desperate to ensure that he would cause as little pain as possible, “Just fuckin’ perfect”. Two fingers slipped into you as Mammon spoke, his tone low and hoarse. Never had he imagined just how difficult it would be to hold himself back like this, nor could he have been prepared for just how much desire he felt in that moment. The sensation of your hot core wrapped around his fingers had him shamelessly rutting against your thigh, a poor attempt at taking the edge off of his lust.  A human really had no business wrecking him like this. His heat cycles were normally pretty boring - desperate rutting for a day or two and then back to normal life. You had no right to set his skin aflame like this, no right to have him feel like he could cum just from the noise you made once he had three fingers fucking into your heat. The way his blood was rushing in his ears was deafening...and he wanted more. It didn’t take too long for it all to get too much. Even all of the dark hickies that he had furiously littered your neck, chest and shoulders with weren’t enough to distract him from the wet sound of his fingers preparing you or the stunning sounds he managed to pull from you when he got the angle of his hand just right.  Mammon would never admit it, but he kind of missed his target. The point of removing his hand from you had been to slip himself right in. Instead, as he kissed you he rolled his slick cock against your sex...which, to be fair, had felt better than your thigh. And if the sound that you’d made in response was anything to go by, you thought so too.  He liked that noise. A lot. So he rolled his hips against you again, groaning in response to you. Ever eager to please, the greedy demon found a rhythm that you both seemed to enjoy in the interim. “Ya like that, huh?” Mammon wasn’t sure where the cockiness in his tone was coming from when internally he felt so nervous. It was those very nerves that quickly had his hand moving to guide his cock to your entrance and thrusting into you before you could retort. Mammon didn’t realise it would silence both of you.  By no means was he a virgin. The Great Mammon would have it known that he was a proper Casanova type, thank you very much. He just didn’t realise how different it would feel coupling with someone that he truly and deeply loved. The heat causing that deep need to breed the closest thing with a pulse didn’t help things, of course.  It was...incredible, for lack of a better word. Divine. Mammon choked on an Infernal curse once seated completely in you and had to literally bite his tongue to keep an anchor on his self-control.  All of that hard earned control was thrown out the window when his name passed your lips.  There was no hesitation in how his hips pistoned, fucking into you relentlessly. His hands manoeuvred to cradle the back of your knees and he pushed your legs back to allow him more access to your body, his fingers gripping hard enough to bruise. The noises that left him were snaps and snarls of Infernal praise, not that he realised. The only thought on Mammon’s mind was his primal objective of breeding you until neither of you could move ; it didn’t matter whether you could actually fall pregnant or not. No logic or worry clouded his mind with these thoughts. All he could focus on was filling you with his seed until he couldn’t any more, the thought of your stomach tender and round because of his affections toward his mate... Mammon’s first orgasm came with an embarrassing quickness. When he spilled inside of you, his teeth sinking into the tender flesh of your chest, he was quickly filled with a relief and warmth that he hadn’t felt in ages. For the first time since his heat had set in, there was true clarity in his mind. While his natural instincts weren’t completely quelled, it was enough for him to actually think with something other than his adamantly pulsing dick. His relief quickly fell to mortification, the shadows of which were clear on his features when he pulled back to look at you. His cheeks were tinted red both from exertion and embarrassment ; he hadn’t paid enough attention to get you to climax. He was quick to stutter out your name, mouth tripping on the words that were trying to get out of his mouth as his sluggishly content brain tried to supply words just beyond reach. “What, isn’t The Great Mammon going to make me cum?” Your sass fanned the flames in his loins. A playful snarl was made in response, “Oh sweetheart. I’m going to make you cum so fuckin’ hard you black out. You won’t be able to feel your legs by the time I’m done with you”. And so The Great Mammon set to work. --- Mammon hummed contentedly as you lazily played with the hair at the nape of his neck hours later. This was perfection. Strong fingers stroked your thighs as he enjoyed the sensation of you wrapped around his hips, the pleasure of you sat on his lap while cuddled up together in your nest. The demon toyed with the thought of pushing his hips up just to make you gasp from the overstimulation, but decided against it. Although he was loath to admit it, you needed rest - because Mammon had been good to his word, ensuring that you both had more than your fair share of orgasms.  But this was good. The fire in his gut had died down to crackling embers, although he knew it would flare up again soon - but you would be there to help ease him through it. And you even seemed to like helping him out. What was the phrase… ‘mutually beneficial’? Somethin’ like that. His eyes fluttered open when he heard your chuckle. He couldn’t help but wonder if you knew how freakin’ stunning you were when you smiled like that. “What?” When your eyes met his, he was pouting frowning. The laugh that you let out only made his brow furrow more, “I said what. What’s got ya laughin’ like that, huh? You should be out like a freakin’ light by now”. It wasn’t until you replied that he realised how obvious it was, “I didn’t know that demons could purr”. Mammon squawked loudly and attempted to divert your attention - he sounded like a damn motor! It wasn’t fair! He wasn’t even able to control the way he was going off… It was embarrassing. “Well, yeah, y’know, sometimes. We’re incredible ‘n mysterious creatures us demons, y’know! Demons are capable of things that your human mind couldn’t even comprehend! Anyway, ’s not like ’s all the time or anythin’ like that…” He tried to occupy himself and forget about the heat radiating from his face by playing with your hair - but he could feel you smiling against the crook of his neck. “Yeah?” “Yeah.” The incredible and mysterious demon sounded more like a petulant child (well, a purring and petulant child). “So, when do you normally purr?” “I dunno. When we’re happy, I guess?” “Does that mean I haven’t made you happy before?” The way that he spluttered was definitely worth teasing him. “Who said that ya haven’t made me happy?! ‘N besides, this is different!” Even Mammon couldn’t deny that he was now pouting, but he tried to focus on the feeling of your fingers running along his shoulders. It was nice; soothing, even. Until he felt a sharp tug on the back of his neck.  “Ouch! You gotta be more gentle than that!” The look of surprise on your face made him want to curl in on himself. “Mammon - are those feathers?” “Phffft,” The greedy demon rolled his eyes and tried to deflect your query, “Shaddap. You dunno what you’re talking ‘bout”.  When your mouth opened again, he did take the opportunity to thrust sharply into you. At the gasp, he lurched forward with a passionate kiss. Simply to shut you up, of course. No hidden agenda. His pleased purring melted into a deep rumbling, the fire in his belly stoking itself back to life. It was impossible for him not to roll you over to allow him to bask in more of your shared passion. The laughter that ensued, laughter that he was sure was aimed at him, only made his heart swell as much as his cock.

[path-of-my-childhood]

CABIN FEVER - Aaron Dessner: Producing folklore and evermore

Sound On Sound Magazine // March 2021 issue // By Tom Doyle

The pandemic gave Taylor Swift a chance to explore new musical paths, with two lockdown albums co-written and produced by the National's Aaron Dessner.

Few artists during the pandemic have been as prolific as Taylor Swift. In July 2020, she surprise-released folklore, a double-length album recorded entirely remotely and in isolation. It went on to become the biggest global seller of the year, with four million sales and counting. Then, in December, she repeated the trick with the 15-song evermore, which quickly became Swift's eighth consecutive US number one.

In contrast to her country-music roots and the shiny synth-pop that made her a superstar, both folklore and evermore showcased a very different Taylor Swift sound: one veering more towards atmospheric indie and folk. The former album was part-produced by Swift and her regular co-producer Jack Antonoff (St Vincent, Lana Del Rey), while the other half of the tracks were overseen by a new studio collaborator, Aaron Dessner of the National. For evermore, aside from one Antonoff-assisted song, Dessner took full control of production.

Good Timing

Although his band are hugely popular and even won a Grammy for their 2017 album Sleep Well Beast, Aaron Dessner admits that it initially felt strange for an indie-rock guitarist and keyboard player to be pulled into such a mainstream project. Swift had already declared herself a fan of the National, and first met the band back in 2014. Nonetheless, Dessner was still surprised when the singer sent him a text "out of the blue" last spring. "I mean, I didn't think it was a hoax," he laughs. "But it was very exciting and a moment where you think it's like serendipity or something, especially in the middle of the pandemic. When she asked if I would ever consider writing with her, I just happened to have a lot of music that I had worked really hard on. So, the timing was sort of lucky. It opened up this crazy period of collaboration. It was a pretty wild ride."

Since 2016, Aaron Dessner has been based at his self-built rural facility, Long Pond Studio, in the Hudson Valley, upstate New York. The only major change to the studio since SOS last spoke to Dessner in October 2017 has been the addition of a vintage WSW Siemens console built in 1965. "It had been refurbished by someone," he says, "and I think there's only three of them in the United States. I heard it was for sale from our friend [and the National producer/mixer] Peter Katis. That's a huge improvement here."

Although the National made Sleep Well Beast and its 2019 successor I Am Easy To Find at Long Pond, the band members are scattered around the US and Europe, meaning Dessner is no stranger to remote working and file sharing. This proved to be invaluable for his work with Swift. Dessner spent the first six weeks of lockdown writing music that he believed to be for Big Red Machine, his project with Bon Iver's Justin Vernon. Instead, many of these work-in-progress tracks would end up on folklore. Their first collaboration (and the album's first single), 'cardigan', for instance, emerged from an idea Dessner had been working on backstage during the National's European arena tour of Winter 2019.

"I sent her a folder and in the middle of the night she sent me that song," Dessner explains. "So, the next morning I was just listening to it, like, `Woah, OK, this is crazy."

On The Move

As work progressed, it quickly became apparent that Swift and Dessner were very much in tune as a songwriting and producing unit. There was very little Dessner had to do, he says, in terms of chopping vocals around to shape the top lines. "I think it's because I'm so used to structuring things like a song, with verses and choruses and bridges," he reckons. "In most cases, she sort of kept the form. If she had a different idea, she would tell me when she was writing and I would chop it up for her and send it to her. But, mostly, things kind of stayed in the form that we had."

Dessner and Swift were working intensively and at high speed throughout 2020, so much so that on one occasion the producer sent the singer a track and went out for a run in the countryside around Long Pond. By the time he got back, Swift had already written 'the last great american dynasty' and it was waiting for him in his inbox. "That was a crazy moment," he laughs. "One of the astonishing things about Taylor is what a brilliant songwriter she is and the clarity of her ideas and, when she has a story to tell, the way she can tell it. I think she's just been doing it for so long, she has a facility that makes you feel like you could never do what she's capable of. But we were a good pair because I think the music was inspiring to her in such a way that the stories were coming."

Swift's contributions to folklore were recorded in a makeshift studio in her Los Angeles home. Laura Sisk engineered the sessions as the singer recorded her vocals, using a Neumann U47, in a neighbouring bedroom. Live contact between Swift, Sisk, Dessner and Long Pond engineer Jonathan Low was done through real-time online collaboration platform Audiomovers.

"We would listen in remotely and kind of go back and forth," says Dessner. "We used Audiomovers and then we would have Zoom as a backup. But mainly we were just using Audiomovers, so we could actually be in her headphones. It's powerful, it's great. I've used it a lot with people during this time. Then, later on, when we recorded evermore, a lot of the vocals were done here at the studio actually when Taylor was visiting when we did the [Disney+ documentary] Long Pond Sessions. But Taylor's vocals for folklore were all done remotely."

Keeping Secrets

Given the huge international interest in Swift, the team had to work with an elaborate file-sharing arrangement to ensure that the tracks didn't leak online. Understandably, Dessner won't be drawn on the specifics. "Yeah, I mean we had to be very careful, so everything was very secretive," he says. "There were passwords on both ends and we communicated in a specific way when sharing mixes and everything. There was a high level of confidentiality and data encryption. It was sort of a learning curve.

"I'm not used to that," he adds, "'cause usually we're just letting files kind of fly all over the Internet [laughs]. But I think with someone like her, there's just so many people that are paying attention to every move that she makes, which can be a little, I think, oppressive for her. We tried to make it as comfortable as possible and we got used to how to get things to her and back to us. It worked pretty well."

Drums & Guitars

For the generally minimalist beat programming on the records, Dessner would sometimes turn to his more expensive new analogue drum generators - Vermona's DRM1 and Dave Smith's Tempest - but more often used the Synthetic Bits iOS app FunkBox. "There's just a lot of great vintage drum machine sounds in there, and they sound pretty cool, especially if you overdrive it," he says. "Often I send that through an amplifier, or through effects into an amplifier. Then I have a [Roland) TR-8 and a TR-8S that I use a lot. I also use the drum machine in the [Teenage Engineering] OP-1. So, a song like 'willow', that's just me tapping the OP-1."

Elsewhere, Dessner's guitar work appears on the tracks, with the intricate melodic layering on 'the last great american dynasty' from folklore having been inspired by Radiohead's In Rainbows. "Almost all of the electric guitar on Taylor's records is played direct through a REDDI DI into the Siemens board," he says. "It's usually just my 1971 Telecaster played direct and it just sounds great. Oftentimes I just put a little spring reverb on it and sometimes I'll overdrive the board like it's an amplifier, 'cause it breaks up really beautifully.

"I have a 1965 [Gibson] Firebird that I play usually through this 1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb. So, if I am playing into an amp, that's what it is. But on 'the last great american dynasty', those little pointillistic guitars, that's just played direct with the Telecaster through the board."

Elsewhere, Aaron Dessner took Taylor Swift even further out of her sonic comfort zone. A key track on folklore, the Cocteau Twins-styled 'epiphany', features her voice amid a wash of ambient textures, created by Dessner slowing down and reversing various instrumental parts in Pro Tools. "I created a drone using the Mellotron [MD4000D] and the Prophet and the OP-1 and all kinds of synth pads," he says. "Then I duplicated all the tracks, and some of them I reversed and some of them I dropped an octave. All manner of using varispeed and Polyphonic Elastic Audio and changing where they were sitting. Just to create like this Icelandic glacier of sounds was my idea. Then I wrote the chord progression against that.

"The [Pro Tools] session was not happy," he adds with a chuckle. "It kept crashing. Eventually I had to print the drone but I printed it by myself and there was some crackle in it. It was distorting. And then I couldn't recreate it so Jon Low, who was helping me, was kind of mad at me 'cause he was like, 'You can't do that.' And I was like, 'Well, I was working quickly. I didn't know it'd become a song."

Orchestra Of Nowhere

Meanwhile, the orchestrations that appear on several of the tracks were scored by Aaron's twin brother and National bandmate, Bryce Dessner, who is located in France. "I would just make him chord charts of the songs and send them to him in France," Aaron says. "Then he would orchestrate things in Sibelius and send the parts to me. I would send the parts and the instrumental tracks to different players remotely and they would record them literally in their bedrooms or in their attics. None of it was done as a group, it was all done separately. But that's how we've always worked in the National so it's quite natural."

On folklore standout track 'exile', Justin Vernon of Bon Iver delivered his stirring vocal for the duet remotely from his home in Eaux Claires, Wisconsin. "He's renovating his studio, so he has a little home studio in his garage," says Dessner. "It was Taylor's idea to approach him. I sent him Taylor's voice memo of her singing both parts, and he got really excited and loved the song and then he wrote the extra part in the bridge.

"I do a lot of work remotely with Justin also, so it was easy to send him tracks and he would track to it and send back his vocals. I was sending him stems, so usually it's just a vocal stem of Taylor and an instrumental stem and then if he wants something deeper, I'll give him more stems. But generally, he's just working with the vocal layers and an instrumental."

Vernon also provided the grainy beat that kicks off 'closure', one of two tracks on evermore that started life as a sketch for the second Big Red Machine album. "It was this little loop that Justin had given me in this folder of 'Starters', he calls them. I had heard that and been playing the piano to it. But I was hearing it in 5/4, although it's not in 5/4. 'Closure' really opened everything up further. There were no real limits to where we were gonna try to write songs."

Given the number of remote players, Dessner says there were surprisingly few problems with the file swapping and that it was a fairly painless technical process. "It was pretty smooth, but there were issues," he admits. "Sometimes sample-rate issues, or if I happened to give someone an instrumental that was an MP3, that sometimes lines up differently than if you send them an actual WAV that's bounced on the grid. So, sometimes I'd have to kinda eyeball things.

"If there was trouble it started to be because of track counts. I probably only used 20 percent of what was actually recorded, 'cause we would try a lot of things, y'know. So, eventually the sessions got kinda crazy and you'd have to deactivate a lot of things and print things. But we got used to that."

Soft Piano

Aaron Dessner's characteristic dampened upright piano sound, familiar from the National's albums, is much in evidence throughout both folklore and evermore. "The upright is a Yamaha U1 that I've had for more than a decade. Usually, I play it with the soft pedal down and that's the sound of 'hoax' or 'seven' or 'cardigan', y'know, that felted sound. It kind of almost sounds like an electric piano.

"I always mic it the same way, just with two [AKG] 414s, and they're always the same distance off the wall. I had a studio in Brooklyn for 10 years and then when I moved here, I copied the same [wooden] pattern on the wall. And the reason I did that is 'cause of how much I love how this piano sounds bouncing off that wall. It just does something really special for the harmonics."

When on other folklore songs, such as 'exile' or 'the 1', where the piano was the main sonic feature of the track, Dessner played his Steinway grand. "A lot of times we use a pair of Coles [4038s] on the Steinway, just cause it's darker. But sometimes we'll have the 414s there as well and choose."

Keeping Warm

On both folklore and evermore, Taylor Swift's voice is very much front and center and high in the mix, and generally sounds fairly dry. "I think the main thing was I wanted her vocals to have a more full range than maybe you typically hear," Dessner explains. "'Cause I think a lot of the more pop-oriented records are mixed a certain way and they take some of the warmth out of the vocal, so that it's very bright and it kinda cuts really well on the radio. But she has this wonderful lower warmth frequency in her voice which is particularly important on a song like `seven'. If you carved out that mud, y'know, it wouldn't hit you the same way. Or, like, `cardigan', I think it needs that warmth, the kind of fuller feeling to it. It makes it darker, but to me that's where a lot of emotion is."

Effects-wise, almost all of the treatments were done in the box. "There's no outboard reverbs printed," says Dessner. "The only things that we did print would be like an [Eventide] H3000 or sometimes the [WEM] CopiCat tape delay for just a really subtle slap. But generally, it's just different reverbs in the box that Jon was using. He uses the Valhalla stuff quite a bit and some other UAD reverbs, like the [Capitol] Chambers. I often just use Valhalla VintageVerb and the [Avid] Black Spring and simple things."

In some instances, the final mix ended up being the never-bettered rough mix, while other songs took far more work. "'cardigan' is basically the rough, as is `seven'. So, like the early, early mixes, when we didn't even know we were mixing, we never were able to make it better. Like if you make it sound 'good', it might not be as good 'cause it loses some of its weird magic, y'know. But songs like `the last great american dynasty' or 'mad woman', those songs were a little harder to create the dynamics the way you want them, and the pay-off without going too far, and with also just keeping in the kind of aesthetic that we were in. Those were harder, I would say.

"On evermore, I would say 'willow' was probably the hardest one to finish just because there were so many ways it could've gone. Eventually we settled back almost to the point where it began. So, there's a lot of stuff that was left out of 'willow', just because the simplicity of the idea I think was in a way the strongest."

The subject of this month's Inside Track article, 'willow' was the first song written for evermore, immediately following the release of folklore. "It almost felt like a dare or something," Dessner laughs. "We were writing, recording and mixing all in one kind of work stream and we went from one record to the other almost immediately. We were just sort off to the races. We didn't really ever stop since April."

Rubber & Vinyl

Sometimes, Dessner and Swift drew inspiration from unlikely sources; `no body, no crime', for instance, started when he gave her a 'rubber bridge' guitar made by Reuben Cox of the Old Style Guitar Shop in LA. "He's my very old friend," says Dessner of Cox. "He buys undervalued vintage guitars. Stuff that was made in the '50s and '60s as sort of learner guitars, like old Silvertones and Kays and Harmonys. These kinds of guitars which now are quite special, but they're still not valued the same way that vintage Fenders or Gibsons are valued. Then, he customizes them.

"Recently he started retrofitting these guitars with a rubber bridge and flatwound strings. He'll take, like, an acoustic Silvertone from 1958 and put a bridge on it that's covered in this kind of rubber that deadens the strings, so it really has this kind of dead thrum to it. And he puts two pickups in there, one that's more distorted and one that's cleaner. They're just incredible guitars. I thought Taylor would enjoy having one 'cause she loves the sound. So, I had Reuben make one for her and she used it to write `no body, no crime'."

Another friend of Dessner's, Ryan Olsen, has developed a piece of software called the Allovers Hi-Hat Generator which helped create the unusual harmonic loops that feature on `marjorie'. "It's not available on the market," Dessner says of the software. "It's just something that he uses personally, but I think hopefully eventually it'll come out. I wouldn't say it's artificial intelligence software but there's something very intelligent about it [laughs]. It basically analyses audio information and is able to separate audio into identifiable samples and then put them into a database. You then can design parameters for it to spit out sequences that are incredibly musical.

"When Ryan comes here, he'll just take all kinds of things that I give him and run it through there and then it'll spit out, like, three hours of stuff. Then I go through it and find the layers that I love, then I loop them. You can hear it also on the song 'happiness', the drumming in the background. It's not actually played. That's drums that have been sampled and then re-analyzed and re-sequenced out of this Allovers Hi-Hat Generator."

The song `marjorie' is named after Swift's opera-singer grandmother and so, fittingly, her voice can be heard flitting in and out of the mix at the end of the track. "Taylor's family gave us a bunch of recordings of her grandmother," Dessner explains. "But they were from old, very scratchy, noisy vinyl. So, we had to denoise it all using [iZotope's] RX and then I went in and I found some parts that I thought might work. I pitch-shifted them into the key and then placed them. It took a while to find the right ones, but it's really beautiful to be able to hear her. It's just an incredibly special thing, I think."

Meet At The Pond

Taylor Swift finally managed to get together with Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff in September 2020 for the filming of folklore: the long pond studio sessions, featuring the trio live-performing the album. It also provided an opportunity for Swift to add her vocals to some of the evermore tracks.

"It did allow us to have more fun, I think," says Dessner. "Y'know, drink more wine and just kinda be in the same place and have the feeling of blasting the music here and dancing around and just enjoying ourselves. She's really a lovely person to hang out with, so in that sense I'm glad that we had that chance to work together in person.

"We were using a [Telefunken] U47 to record Taylor here," he adds. "Either we were using one of the Siemens preamps on the board, which are amazing. Or I have Neve 1064s [preamps/EQs] and we use a Lisson Grove [AR-i] tube compressor generally."

One entirely new song, `tis the damn season', came out of this face-to-face approach, which Swift wrote in the middle of the night after the team had stayed up late drinking. "We had a bunch of wine actually," Dessner laughs, "and then everybody went to sleep, I thought. But I think she must have had this idea swimming around in her head, 'cause the next morning when she arrived, she sang 'Us the damn season' for me in my kitchen. It's maybe my favourite song we've written together. Then she sang it at dinner for me and my wife Stine and we were all crying. It’s just that kind of a song, so it was quite special.”

National Unity

One key track on evermore, 'coney island', features all of the members of the National and sees Swift duetting with their singer Matt Berninger. "My brother [Bryce] actually originated that song," says Aaron Dessner. "I sent him a reference at one point - I can't remember what it was - and then he was sort of inspired to write that chord progression. Then we worked together to sort of develop it and I wrote a bunch of parts and we structured it.

"Taylor and William Bowery [the songwriting pseudonym of Swift's boyfriend, actor Joe Alwyn] wrote 'coney island' and she sang a beautiful version. It felt kind of done, actually. But then I think we all collectively thought, Taylor and myself and Bryce, like this was the closest to a National song."

Dessner then asked the brothers who make up the National's rhythm section, drummer Bryan and bassist Scott Devendorf, to play on 'coney island'. Matt Berninger, as he often does with the band's own tracks, recorded his vocal at home in Los Angeles. "It was never in the same place, it was done remotely," says Dessner, "except Bryan was here at Long Pond when he played. It was great to collaborate as a band with Taylor."

No Compromise

folklore and evermore have been both enormous critical and commercial successes for Taylor Swift. Aaron Dessner reckons that making these anti-pop records has freed the singer up for the future. "I think it was very liberating for her," he says. "I think that's the thing that's been probably the biggest change for her has just been being able to make songs without compromise and then release them without the promotional requirements that she's used to from the past. Obviously, it comes at this time when we're all in lockdown and nobody can tour or go on talk shows or anything. But I think for her probably it will impact what she does in the future.

"But I also think she can shapeshift again," he concludes. "Who knows where she'll go? She's had many celebrated albums from the past, but to release two albums of this quality in such a short time, it really did shine a light on her songwriting talent and her storytelling ability and also just her willingness to experiment and collaborate. Somehow, I ended up in the middle of all that and I'm very grateful."

INSIDE TRACK - Jonathan Low: Secrets of the Mix Engineers

Sound On Sound Magazine // March 2021 issue // By Paul Tingen

From sketches to final mixes, engineer Jonathan Low spent 2020 overseeing Taylor Swift’s hit lockdown albums folklore and evermore.

“I think the theme of a lot of my work nowadays, and especially with these two records, is that everything is getting mixed all the time. I always try to get the songs to sound as finalised as they can be. Obviously that’s hard when you’re not sure yet what all the elements will be. Tracks morph all the time, and yet everything is always moving forwards towards completion in some way. Everything should sound fun and inspiring to listen to all the time.”

Speaking is Jonathan Low, and the two records he refers to are, of course, Taylor Swift’s 2020 albums folklore and evermore, both of which reached number one in the UK and the US. Swift’s main producer and co‑writer on the two albums was the National’s Aaron Dessner, also interviewed in this issue. Low is the engineer, mixer and general right‑hand man at Long Pond Studios in upstate New York, where he and Dessner spent most of 2020 working on folklore and evermore, with Swift in Los Angeles for much of the time.

“In the beginning it did not feel real,” recalls Low. “There was this brand‑new collaboration, and it was amazing how quickly Aaron made these instrumental sketches and Taylor wrote lyrics and melodies to them, which she initially sent to us as iPhone voice memos. During our nightly family dinners in lockdown, Aaron would regularly pull up his phone and say, ‘Listen to this!’ and there would be another voice memo from Taylor with this beautiful song that she had written over a sketch of Aaron’s in a matter of hours. The rate at which it was happening was mind‑blowing. There was constant elevation, inspiration and just wanting to continue the momentum.

“We put her voice memos straight into Pro Tools. They had tons of character, because of the weird phone compression and cutting midrange quality you just would not get when you put someone in front of a pristine recording chain. Plus there was all this bleed. It’s interesting how that dictates the attitude of the vocal and of the song. Even though none of the original voice memos ended up on the albums, they often gave us unexpected hints. These voice memos were such on‑a‑whim things, they were really telling. Taylor had certain phrasings and inflections that we often returned to later on. They became our reference points.”

Pond Life

The making of the National’s 2017 album Sleep Well Beast and the setup at Long Pond were covered in SOS October 2017; today the studio remains pretty much the same, with the exception of a new desk. “The main space is really big, and the console sits in the middle,” says Low. “In 2019, I installed a 1965 WSW/Siemens, which has 24 line‑in and microphone channels and another 24 line channels. WSW is the Austrian branch of Siemens usually built for broadcast. It’s loaded with 811510B channels. The build quality is insane, the switches and pots feel like they were made yesterday. To me it hints at the warm haze of a Class‑A Neve channel but sits further forward in the speakers. The midrange band on the passive EQ is a huge part of its charm, it really does feel like you’re changing the tone of the actual source rather than the recording. Most microphones go through the desk on their way into Pro Tools, though we sometimes use outboard Neve 1064 mic pres. Occasionally I use the Siemens to sum a mix.

“We have a pair of ATC SCM45 monitors, which sound very clear in the large room. The ceiling is very high, and the front wall is about 25 feet behind the monitors. There are diffusers on the sidewalls and the back walls are absorbing, so there are very few reflections. Aaron and I will be listening in tons of different ways. I’ll listen in my home studio with similar ATC SCM20 monitors or on my ‘70s Marantz hi‑fi setup. Aaron is always checking things in his car, and if there’s something that is bugging him, I’ll join him in his car to find out what he hears.”

Low works at Long Pond and with Dessner most of the time, though he does find time to do other projects, among hem this last year the War On Drugs, Waxahatchee and Nap Eyes. When lockdown started in Spring 2020, Low tacked up on supplies and "had a bunch f mixes lined up". Meanwhile, on the Eest Coast, Swift had seen her Lover Fest our cancelled. With help from engineer aura Sisk, she set up a makeshift studio which she dubbed Kitty Committee in bedroom in her Los Angeles home, and began working with long-term producer nd co-writer Jack Antonoff. At the end of April, however, Swift also started working with Dessner, which took the project in different direction. The impressionistic, atmospheric, electro-folk instrumentals Dessner sent her were mostly composed nd recorded by him at Long Pond, assisted by Low.

Sketching Sessions

The instrumental sketches Aaron makes come into being in different ways," elaborates Low. "Sometimes they are more fleshed-out ideas, sometimes they are less formed. But normally Aaron will set himself up in the studio, surrounded by instruments and synths, and he'll construct a track. Once he feels it makes some kind of sense I'll come in and take a listen and then we together develop what's there.

"I don't call his sketches demos, because while many instruments are added and replaced later on, most of the original parts end up in the final version of the song. We end up in the final version of the song. We try to get the sketches to a place where they are already very engaging as instrumental are already very engaging as instrumental tracks. Aaron and I are always obsessively listening, because we constantly want to hear things that feel inspiring and musical, not just a bed of music in the background. It takes longer to create, but in this case also gave Taylor more to latch onto, both emotionally and in terms of musical inspiration. Hearing melodies woven in the music triggered new melodies."

Not long after Dessner and Low sent each sketch to Swift, they would receive her voice memos in return, and they'd load them into the Pro Tools session of the sketch in question. Dessner and Low then continued to develop the songs, in close collaboration with Swift. "Taylor's voice memos often came with suggestions for how to edit the sketches: maybe throw in a bridge somewhere, shorten a section, change the chords or arrangement somewhere, and so on. Aaron would have similar ideas, and he then developed the arrangements, often with his brother Bryce, adding or replacing instruments. This happened fast, and became very interactive between us and Taylor, even though we were working remotely. When we added instruments, we were reacting to the way my rough mixes felt at the very beginning. Of course, it was also dictated by how Taylor wrote and sang to the tracks."

Dessner supplied sketches for nine and produced 10 of folklore's 16 songs, playing many different types of guitars, keyboards and synths as well as percussion and programmed drums. Instruments that were added later include live strings, drums, trombone, accordion, clarinet, harpsichord and more, with his brother Bryce doing many of the orchestrations. Most overdubs by other musicians were done remotely as well. Throughout, Low was keeping an overview of everything that was going on and mixing the material, so it was as presentable and inspiring as possible.

Mixing folklore

Although Dessner has called folklore an "anti-pop album", the world's number-one pop mixer Serban Ghenea was drafted in to mix seven tracks, while Low did the remainder.

"It was exciting to have Serban involved," explains Low, "because he did things I'd never do or be able to do. The way the vocal sits always at the forefront, along with the clarity he gets in his mixes, is remarkable. A great example of this is on the song 'epiphany'. There is so much beautiful space and the vocal feels effortlessly placed. It was really interesting to hear where he took things, because we were so close to the entire process in every way. Hearing a totally new perspective was eye-opening and refreshing.

"Throughout the entire process we were trying to maintain the original feel. Sometimes this was hard, because that initial rawness would get lost in large arrangements and additional layering. With revisions of folklore in particular we sometimes were losing the emotional weight from earlier more casual mixes. Because I was always mixing, there was also always the danger of over-mixing.

"We were trying to get the best of each mix version, and sometimes that meant stepping backwards, and grabbing a piano chain from an earlier mix, or going three versions back to before we added orchestration. There were definitely moments of thinking, 'Is this going to compete sonically? Is this loud enough?' We knew we loved the way the songs sounded as we were building them, so we stuck with what we knew. There were times where I tried to keep pushing a mix forward but it didn't improve the song — 'cardigan' is an example of a song where we ended up choosing a very early mix."

The Low Down

"I'm originally from Philadelphia," says Jonathan Low, "and played piano, alto saxophone and guitar when growing up. My dad is an electrical engineer and audiophile hobbyist, and I learned a lot about circuit design and how to repair things. I then started building guitar pedals and guitar amps, and recorded bands at my high school using a minidisc player and some binaural microphones. After that I did a music industry programme at Drexel University, and spent a lot of time working at the recording facilities there.

"This led to me meeting Brian McTear, a producer and owner of Miner Street Studios, which became my home base from 2009 to 2014. I learned a lot from him, from developing an interest in creating sounds in untraditional ways, to how to see a record through to completion. The studio has a two-inch 16-track Ampex MM1200 tape machine and a beautiful MCI 400 console which very quickly shaped the way I think about routing and signal flow. I'm lucky to have learned this way, because a computer environment is like the Wild West: there are no rules in terms of how to get from point A to point B. This flexibility is incredible, but sometimes there are simply too many options.

"l met Aaron [Dessned] because singer-songwriter Sharon van Etten recorded her second album, Epic [2010] at Miner Street, with Brian producing. Her third album, Tramp [2012] was produced by Aaron. They came to Philly to record drums and I ended up mixing a bunch of that record. After that I would occasionally go to work in Aaron's garage studio in Brooklyn, and this became more and more a regular collaboration. I then moved from Philly up to the Hudson Valley to help Aaron build Long Pond. We first used the studio in the spring of 2016, when beginning to record the National's album Sleep Well Beast."

Onward & Upward

folklore was finished and released in July 2020. In a normal world everyone might have gone on to do other things, but without the option of touring, they simply continued writing songs, with Low holding the fort. In September, many of the musicians who played on the album gathered at Long Pond for the shooting of a making-of documentary, folklore: the long pond studio sessions, which is streamed on Disney+.

The temporary presence of Swift at Long Pond changed the working methods somewhat, as she could work with Dessner in the room, and Low was able record her vocals. After Swift left again, sessions continued until December, when evermore was released, with Dessner producing or co-producing all tracks, apart from 'gold rush' which was co-written and co-produced by Swift and Antonoff. Low recorded many of Swift's vocals for evermore, and mixed the entire album. The lead single 'willow' became the biggest hit from the album, reaching number one in the US and number three in the UK.

"Before Taylor came to Long Pond," remembers Low, "she had always recorded her vocals for folklore remotely in Los Angeles or Nashville. When I recorded, I used a modern Telefunken U47, which is our go-to vocal mic — we record all the National stuff with that — going straight into the Siemens desk, and then into a Lisson Grove AR-1 tube compressor, and via a Burl A-D converter into Pro Tools. Taylor creates and lays down her vocal arrangements very quickly, and it sounds like a finished record in very few takes."

Devils In The Detail

In his mixes, Low wanted listeners to share his own initial response to these vocal performances. "The element that draws me in is always Taylor's vocals. The first time I received files with her properly recorded but premixed vocals I was just floored. They sounded great, even with minimal EQ and compression. They were not the way I'm used to hearing her voice in her pop songs, with the vocal soaring and sitting at the very front edge of the soundscape. In these raw performances, I heard so much more intimacy and interaction with the music. It was wonderful to hear her voice with tons of detail and nuances in place: her phrasing, her tonality, her pitch, all very deliberate. We wanted to maintain that. It's more emotional, and it sounds so much more personal to me. Then there was the music..."

The arrangements on evermore are even more 'chamber pop' than on folklore, with instruments like glockenspiel, crotales, flute, French horn, celeste and harmonium in evidence. "As listeners of the National may know, Aaron's and Bryce's arrangements can be quite dense. They love lush orchestration, all sorts of percussion, synths and other electronic sounds. The challenge was trying to get them to speak, without getting in the way of the vocals. I want a casual listener to be drawn in by the vocal, but sense that something special is happening in the music as well. At the same time, someone who really is digging in can fully immerse themselves and take in all the beauty deeper in the details of the sound and arrangement. Finding the balance between presenting all the musical elements that were happening in the arrangement and this really beautiful, upfront, real-sounding vocal was the ticket."

A particular challenge is that a lot of the detail that Aaron gravitates towards happens in the low mids, which is a very warm part of our hearing spectrum that can quickly become too muddy or too woolly. A lot of the tonal and musical information lives in the low mids, and then the vocal sits more in the midrange and high mids. There's not too much in the higher frequency range, except the top of the guitars, and some elements like a shaker and the higher buzzy parts of the synths. Maintaining clarity and separation in those often complex arrangements was a major challenge."

In & Out The Box

According to Low, the final mix stage for evermore was "very short. There was a moment in the final week or so leading up to the release where the songs were developed far enough for me to sit down and try to make something very cohesive and final, finalising vocal volume, overall volume, and the vibe. There's a point in every mix where the moves get really small. When a volume ride of 0.1dB makes a difference, you're really close to being done. Earlier on, those little adjustments don't really matter.

"I often try to mix at the console, with some outboard on the two-bus, but folklore was mixed all in the box, because we were working so fast, plus initially the plan was for the mixes to be done elsewhere. I ran a couple of mixes for evermore through the console, and `closure' was the only one that stuck. It was summed through the Siemens, with an API 2500 compressor and a Thermionic Culture Phoenix and then back into Pro Tools via the Burl A-D. I will use hardware when mixing in the box, though mainly just two units: the Eventide H3000, because I have not found any plug-ins that do the same thing, and the [Thermionic] Culture Vulture, for its very broad tone shaping and distortion properties.

"The writing and the production happened closely in conjunction with the engineering and mixing, and the arrangements were dense, making many of the sessions super hefty and actually quite messy. Sounds would constantly change roles in the arrangement and sometimes plug-ins would just stack up. So final mixing involved cleaning up the sessions and stemming large groups down."

Across The Rubber Bridge

The Pro Tools mix session of 'willow' has close to 100 tracks, though there's none of the elaborate bussing that's the hallmark of some modern sessions. At the top are six drum machine tracks in green from the Teenage Engineering OP-1, an instrument that was used extensively on the album. Below that are five live percussion tracks (blue), three bass tracks (pink), and an `AUX Drums' programming track. There's a 'rubber bridge' guitar folder and aux, OP-1 synth tracks, piano tracks, 'Dream Machine' (Josh Kaufman's guitar) and E-bow tracks, Yamaha, Sequential Prophet X, Moog and Roland Juno synth tracks, and Strings and Horns aux stem tracks.

"Most of the drum tracks were performed on the OP-1 by Aaron. These are not programmed tracks. Bryan Devendorf, drummer of the National, programmed some beats on a Roland TR-8S. I ran those though the Fender Rumble bass amp, which adds some woofiness, like an acoustic kit room mic. There's an acoustic shaker, and there's an OP-1 backbeat that's subtle in the beginning, and then gets stronger towards the end of the song. I grouped all the drum elements and the bass, and sent those out to a hardware insert with the Culture Vulture, for saturation, so it got louder and more and more harmonically rich. There is this subtle growing and crescendo of intensity of the rhythm section by the end.

"The 'rubber bridge' guitars were the main anchor in the instruments. These guitars have a wooden bridge wrapped in rubber, and sound a bit like a nylon-string guitar, or a light palm mute. They're very percussive and sound best when recorded on our Neumann U47 and a DI. On many of those DI tracks I have a [SPL] Transient Designer to lower the sustain and keep them punchy, especially in the low end. There's a folder with five takes of 'rubber bridge' guitar in this session, creating this wall of unique guitar sound.

"I treated the 'rubber bridge' guitars quite extensively. There's a FabFilter Pro-Q3 cutting some midrange frequencies and some air around 10kHz. These guitars can splash out in the high end and have a boominess that's in the same range as the low end of Taylor's vocal, so I had to keep these things under control. Then I used a SoundToys Tremolator, with a quarter-note tremolo that makes the accents in the playing a bit more apparent. I like to get the acoustic guitars a little bit out of the way for the less important beats, so I have the Massey CT5 compressor side-chained to the kick drum. I also used the UAD Precision K-Stereo to make the guitars a bit wider. The iZotope Ozone Exciter adds some high mids and high-end harmonic saturation sparkly stuff, and the SoundToys EchoBoy delay is automated, with it only coming on in the bridge, where I wanted more ambience."

Growing Pains

"Once we had figured out how to sit the 'rubber bridge' guitars in the mix, the next challenge was to work out the end of the song, after the bridge. Taylor actually goes down an octave with her voice in the last chorus, and at the same time the music continues to push and grow. That meant using a lot of automation and Clip Gain adjustment to make sure the vocal always stayed on top. There also are ambient pianos playing counter-melodies, and balancing the vocals, guitars and pianos was the main focus on this song. We spent a lot of time balancing this, particularly as the track grows towards the end.

"The vocal tracks share many of the same plug-ins and settings. On the main lead vocal track I added the UAD Pultec EQP-1A, with a little bit of a cut in the low end at 30Hz, and a boost at 8kHz, which adds some modern air. The second plug-in is the Oeksound Soothe, which is just touching the vocal, and it helps with any harsh resonance stuff in the high mids, and a little in the lower mids. Next is the UAD 1176AE, and then the FabFilter Pro-Q3, doing some notches at 200Hz, 1kHz, 4kHz and close to 10kHz. I tend to do subtractive EQ on the Q3, and use more analogue-sounding plug-ins, like the Pultec or the Maag, to boost. After that is the FabFilter Pro-DS [de-esser], taking off a couple of decibels, followed by the FabFilter Saturn 2 [saturation processor], on a warm tape setting.

"Below the vocal tracks are three aux effects tracks, for the vocals. 'Long Delay' has a stereo EchoBoy going into an Altiverb with a spring reverb, for effect throws in the choruses. 'Chamber' is the UAD Capitol Chamber, which gives the vocal a nice density and size, without it being a long reverb. The 'Plate' aux is the UAD EMT140, for the longer tail. These two reverbs work in conjunction, with the chamber for the upfront space, determining where the vocal sits in the mix, and the plate more for the depth behind that.

"At the bottom of the session is a two-bus aux, which mimics the way I do the two-bus on the desk. The plug-ins are the UAD Massive Passive EQ, UAD API 2500 compressor, and the UAD Ampex ATR102. Depending on the song, I will choose 15ips or 30ips. In this case it was set to 15ips, half-inch GP9. That has a nice, aggressive, midrange push, and the GP9 bottom end goes that little bit lower. There's also a PSP Vintage Warmer, a Sonnox Oxford Inflator, plus a FabFilter Pro-L2 [limiter]. None of these things are doing very much on their own, but in conjunction give me the interaction I expect from an analogue mix chain."

[wolf-and-bard]

The Geraskier (and Lambden) H2O: Just Add Water AU of my dreams (bc Mermay is almost over and I haven’t done a thing for it and putting Geraskier into my favourite teenage shows is too much fun; this got long and messy):

-Geralt, Eskel, and Lambert grew up on the coast of Australia on an estate that is very big and private with its own sectioned-off part of the beach; among all their surfer kid school friends they are definitely the outcasts; they keep to themselves a lot and everyone thinks it’s because of their overprotective father who keeps them from throwing the best parties and also doesn't want them to go out into the ocean or have swimming lessons

-Vesemir is overprotective, but not for the reason everyone thinks; whenever he and/or his boys come into contact with water, they turn into mer-boys, complete with shimmering golden tails; he hoped this genetic oddity would pass them by, but it didn’t and so he taught them to be very careful for fear of them getting hurt

-they all cope with this in different manners: Geralt and Eskel mostly use their ability to do good; they protect little turtles from falling prey to predators, they collect trash from the bottom of the ocean; they also wrestle in the water a lot; Lambert tries to forget this is a thing and stays as far away form any body of water as he can; he spends most of his time secluded in his room, listening to edgy grunge music; sometimes his brothers can lure him out for a round of waterball in their private pool

-Jaskier is one of the popular kids one grade below Geralt (together with Lambert). He always gets the lead role in theatre, he has dozens of friends and a cool band and his outfits are outrageously fashionable; he vlogs a lot, he vlogs so much that anyone who has half a mind to get invested in his life will know everything from his morning routine to the night cream he uses; his favourite cafeteria lunch, the name of his teddy bear and his least favourite cousin

-Jaskier is also determined to befriend Geralt and his bros; he grew up in the same street as them and ever since he discovered Instagram, he’s been dying to take some shots in that house; he’s been over once, when Vesemir made the mistake of inviting a few kids Lambert’s age to his birthday party which ended up in a cake-throwing disaster; little Jaskier thought it was a great idea to tow the garden hose in and clean everything which ruined Vesemir’s favourite rug and had Geralt turn into a mer-boy on the spot; needless to say, Jaskier attributes this memory to a fever dream

-So, Jaskier starts following Geralt and Eskel around (he knows he’ll have no luck with Lambert) and they brush him off every opportunity they get

-What Jaskier doesn’t realize is that Geralt is hardcore in love with him, like so much so that his poor teenage mind cannot stop producing hormones on overload; he spends a lot of time out in the depths to distract himself from this

-What Jaskier also doesn’t realize is that he is falling for Geralt; it’s only for the sake of the 'gram, he tells himself, and because his followers seem to love the chunky mysterious senior with his strangely white hair

-Jaskier’s followers figure it out, the whole school figures it out, Lambert and Eskel figure it out (Geralt lets the guy sit at their lunch table, of course they’re in love) and eventually, even Geralt figures it out. Only Jaskier doesn’t and Geralt has a big-ass secret to keep anyway

-and so, to get rid of his pent-up frustration, he dives deeper and deeper; Eskel starts to worry, Vesemir says it’s just a phase, Lambert plainly doesn’t care

-Speaking of: Aiden is the snarky rich kid / bully that spends way too much time obsessing over uncovering their secret (bc he thinks he’s smart and always thought something about Vesemir was weird and he doesn’t like how they make such a fuss over their privacy). when he invities the three to one of his pool parties, he tries everything to make them reveal what they have going on, but Geralt doesn’t even show and Eskel keeps disappearing to play with Aiden’s dog and so Aiden is stuck with Lambert whom he definitely has a crush on, but won’t ever admit it. they’re enemies, okay? there’s a lot of tension and they end up drunkenly making out behind garden shed, something they both regret in the morning; Lambert doesn’t leave his room for a week straight and feigns a flu so he doesn’t have to meet Aiden at school; Aiden and Jaskier are friends ofc

-one day at school Geralt and Jaskier hang out on the lunch break alone because Eskel’s on a zoo trip with his class and Lambert is avoiding Aiden so he spends all his time holed up beneath the seats of the football field writing angry poems; Jaskier’s forgotten to charge his camera battery so it’s just them, stealing fries off each other’s plates, actually talking for once and Geralt’s sweating because Jaskier sits so close their knees bump and he looks ridiculously cute in his pastel dungarees and there’s this spot of ketchup on his nose that Geralt’s just itching to reach out and wipe away

-Jaskier isn’t all that hungry and he watches Geralt devour a third slice of pizza when he remembers his stupid childhood fever dream; he tells Geralt all about it, the cake fight, the ensuing mess and how he distinctly remembers Geralt growing a fish-tail and flopping around on the living room floor while Vesemir was screaming at them all to get out. “Funny, isn’t it? What your brain can make up?”; Geralt turns chalk-white and splutters a fake laugh

-he isn’t at school the next day and neither are Eskel or Lambert

-nor the next

-they are all a bit afraid, cautious and they just need to spend a few days, just the four of them, throwing themselves into the waves and being free of the shackles of their secrets; they chase each other around, they play some water ball and Vesemir makes them hot cocoa and rubs them dry the way he used to when they were younger and still unable to handle their transformation well

-as he does this, Vesemir thinks about moving somewhere more secure where there are less people, but he can’t take the boys’ life away; Geralt is clearly happy with Jaskier, Lambert’s coming around to opening up to someone, even if that someone is a giant asshole, and Eskel’s too easily unsettled to move elsewhere

-by the third day the boys don’t appear at school - and answer none of his texts - Jaskier gets unsettled; his followers urge him to just go and visit Geralt (they also finally enlighten Jaskier about his own feelings) and Jaskier does. thankfully, his camera is still uncharged and he forgot his phone at home or he would have filmed what he saw as he climbed their garden fence very ungracefully (no one opened the door)

-Geralt went too far out, too deep and got caught in the undertow of some massive waves, then was pulled under and cut himself on some rocks; Jaskier just about catches Eskel and Lambert dragging their brother ashore, his tail flopping helplessly; there’s blood washing away in the waves; Geralt’s eyes are closed and Jaskier understands with rare clarity that somehow this is his fault

-he hurtles towards Geralt, kicking up mud, so afraid that Geralt is going to die and as he does so he calls for Geralt, ignores Lambert’s curses and Eskel’s glower. They gently lower Geralt to the sand where the other two are out of reach of the hungry waves and Lambert runs for Vesemir, Eskel crouches down by Geralt’s tail, inspecting his wounds; meanwhile Jaskier is completely unfazed by the mer-boy thing, he simply drags Geralt’s head onto his lap and strokes his hair, apologizing over and over

-once Geralt is transformed back into human form, his wounds are patched up and Vesemir has given him a thorough lecture, he and Jaskier cuddle on the back porch couch and Jaskier keeps altering between laughing and crying; it’s ridiculous, Geralt is a mer-boy, but also he looked so fragile being hauled out of the water and Jaskier just loves him so fucking much

-and Geralt loves him back. and that’s how a spot of angst orchestrates their happily ever after

-meanwhile Aiden finds out when he has Lambert over for some making out one day and thinks it’s a funny idea to deposit his not-boyfriend in the pool mid-kiss; Lambert just floats in the pool, arms crossed, tail beating, waiting for Aiden to call the cops on him, but Aiden is super turned on and jumps in the pool with him and there’s more making out

THE END

[sincerelystranger]

Nie Huaisang is having the most perfect year of his life.

He’s passing all his classes (first time since primary school!)

His older brother is away in college so he can’t bother Huaisang as much as usual.

And…

And Huaisang has a sex friend…!!

Not just any sex friend either.

His sex friend is the hottest and sexiest man Huaisang has ever seen with the best (admittedly only) dick Huaisang has had the pleasure to… well to please and be pleased by!

So Huaisang is having the best year of his life.

“Hey, A-Cheng,” he smiles, lifting his arms to wrap them around Jiang Cheng’s neck. It’s almost a reflex by now. He’s already hard in his pants because Jiang Cheng never – never – let’s Huaisang do anything dirty while they’re at school.

This is such a treat!

Jiang Cheng just looks down at him as coldly as ever – but Huaisang knows better than to be fooled by his face. Jiang Cheng is probably hard too. Hard enough to text Huaisang to meet him in one of the unused classrooms!!

Huaisang goes on his tip-toes to lock his lips with Jiang Cheng but just as he’s about to make contact, Jiang Cheng grabs Huaisang’s arms and pulls them off from around his neck. He takes a couple of steps away from Huaisang once he’s free.

Huaisang just looks at him, blinking slowly in confusion.

“What…?” he asks stupidly, “Is something wrong, A-Cheng?”

Jiang Cheng huffs a little and almost rolls his eyes as if Huaisang has asked something particularly stupid. “I don’t want to sleep with you anymore,” Jiang Cheng says.

No.

No, no, no! This is supposed to be the most perfect year of Huaisang’s life! His sex friend can’t just stop now! Huaisang is already used to a steady diet of mind-blowing sex. He can’t give this up. He can’t!

“W-W-Why?” Huaisang stammers. He brings his fan out of his back pocket and waves it nervously. “Did I do something you didn’t like? I mean you can just tell me, A-Cheng… Was it the leather? You didn’t like the leather, huh?”

“It’s not the fucking leather,” Jiang Cheng growls. He runs his fingers through his bangs a little and actually sighs this time. 

“I’m in love with you,” he says plainly, as if he’s talking about the weather. “I don’t want to be your sex friend anymore.”

What?

Love.

Love!?

“Um…” Huaisang hums nervously. He doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t even know if he heard correctly! Jiang Cheng can’t be in love with him… can he?

Jiang Cheng just barely tolerates him most days!

He can’t…

Not love…

Jiang Cheng just looks at him with his dark eyes for a long moment before he moves to walk past Huaisang. “Stay away from me for a while,” he says as he walks past. “I need some time to… well you know.” And he’s out the door before Huaisang can so much as nod or shake his head or move.

Huaisang doesn’t know, actually.

He has no fucking idea.

---

“— and he just left!” Huaisang explains exasperatedly.

Wei Wuxian is slouched against the wall, drinking the coffee milk that Huaisang had bribed him with and playing a game on Huaisang’s phone because Huaisang can’t beat this one level and Wei Wuxian is the god of all phone games.

“Uh huh,” Wei Wuxian hums absently, his fingers tapping furiously away on Huaisang’s phone.

“Don’t you think it’s unfair, Xian-ge?” Huaisang complains piteously, “I mean, A-Cheng has the most perfect dick in all of the world. To bestow that gift upon me and then cruelly take it away… It’s… it’s inhumane!”

Wei Wuxian doesn’t look away from the phone. “If you talk about Jiang Cheng’s dick to me one more time, I’m going to throw you off of the roof,” he says monotonously.

Huaisang doesn’t think Wei Wuxian would really do that, but he does scoot a little closer to the wall. “Well, I just think it’s unfair,” he pouts, “I don’t even think he’s really in love with me anyway… It’s probably just an excuse to stop sleeping with me… He’s probably gone and got himself a girlfriend or something – does he have a girlfriend? Do you know, Xian-ge?”

“He doesn’t have a girlfriend,” Wei Wuxian answers, but his tone is so flippant that it doesn’t give Huaisang any confidence at all.

“It might be a secret girlfriend,” Huaisang needles.

“Jiang Cheng doesn’t have a girlfriend – he likes you,” Wei Wuxian says. He takes a sip from the coffee milk can and crushes the empty can in his hand. “Give me another one and I’ll beat a couple more levels for you.”

Huaisang obediently opens another can and hands it to Wei Wuxian.

“Are you sure he likes me?” Huaisang asks, “He said it so… robotically. Like he didn’t mean it… Or like he didn’t even care!” Huaisang stands a glares down at Wei Wuxian like Jiang Cheng had glared at him in the classroom. “I like you or whatever. I don’t want to sleep with you or see you again. Bye,” he reenacts Jiang Cheng’s cold words.

“He said it just like that!” Huaisang explains to Wei Wuxian, “It’s an excuse right? It has to be an excuse! Who confesses to someone like that?”

“Jiang Cheng,” Wei Wuxian answers, snickering a little.

Huaisang sits back down beside Wei Wuxian. He feels increasingly more upset with Wei Wuxian’s answers. He had thought talking to Wei Wuxian – Jiang Cheng’s adopted brother – would give him more clarity! But it’s given him nothing! Just more confusion! He almost wants to steal his precious coffee milk back from Wei Wuxian.

“He can’t really like me,” Huaisang says petulantly, “He must have some other reason…”

Wei Wuxian finally looks at him from the corner of his eye. He looks up and down at Huaisang appraisingly. “Well you are his type,” he says finally, turning his eyes back onto the phone screen. “And Jiang Cheng was never the type to casually fuck someone anyway – I always thought that was more suspicious.”

Jiang Cheng’s type?

“What’s his type?” Huaisang asks slowly, careful not to sound too eager. Was he really Jiang Cheng’s type? He had thought Jiang Cheng had only agreed to this sex friend thing because it was convenient… but of course maybe Jiang Cheng might have found Huaisang physically agreeable as well… right?

“You’re like weak and generally agreeable and you don’t talk too much,” Wei Wuxian says absently.

Huaisang feels himself wilt a little at those traits. Weak. Agreeable. Not too chatty.

Well Jiang Cheng’s type could be worse…

“Oh, and you’re pretty,” Wei Wuxian adds, “He’s always liked little delicate things.”

Pretty? Delicate?

“Xian-ge, I’m a man,” he says (admittedly weakly).

“Definitely a man,” Wei Wuxian nods.

Huaisang doesn’t know what to say anymore so he just fans himself a little bit and watches Wei Wuxian crush level after level. Truly the god of phone games.

Just as he’s about to open his mouth and ask Wei Wuxian more about the utterly confusing Jiang Cheng, Lan Wangji walks over to them.

The “Lan Wangji effect” as Huaisang has so coined is immediate.

“Ah, Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian smiles, handing Huaisang’s phone back to him, “Is your lesson over already?”

Wangji just nods.

Wei Wuxian smiles even wider and gets up without so much as a bye to Huaisang.

Huaisang looks down at his phone – Wei Wuxian hasn’t even beaten this level for him yet!

Stupid brothers. Stupid, stupid –

“Oh, Huaisang!” Wei Wuxian calls suddenly.

Huaisang looks up at him, quickly putting an innocent expression on his face.

“This isn’t a threat, but if you don’t feel the same way, then you better leave Jiang Cheng alone – okay?”

Wei Wuxian doesn’t even wait for Huaisang to reply before he turns and leaves the rooftop with Lan Wangji.

Not a threat, huh?

Then why does Huaisang feel so fucking nervous!?

---

Leaving Jiang Cheng alone is easier than expected.

Mostly because Jiang Cheng turns and walks away whenever Huaisang is within even shouting distance.

It’s… aggravating.

Huaisang hasn’t even been able to masturbate because he’s so stressed about this current situation.

His whole goal in life is pleasure! Pure pleasure! And he hasn’t even been able to participate in his favorite activity because of Jiang Cheng!!

Stupid Jiang Cheng!

Why did he have to…

Sex friends was so easy! So convenient! No risk of hurt feelings or painful breakups or any of the un-pleasurable things that came with relationships!

Sex friends was the best!

Why did Jiang Cheng want to ruin that?

Huaisang lasts two days of Jiang Cheng’s ice cold, inhumane, silent treatment before he bribes Wei Wuxian again for a meeting on the rooftop.

“I just don’t understand, Xian-ge,” he says, fanning himself nervously, “If he likes me, shouldn’t he want to keep being sex friends?”

“He doesn’t want to be sex friends,” Wei Wuxian says, his eyes glued to the screen. “He wants to be your boyfriend.”

“But being sex friends is so much better than being boyfriends!” Huaisang explains patiently – because Wei Wuxian obviously doesn’t get it. “If we become boyfriends we might also have to break up someday! And then I’ll be heartbroken and lonely and I won’t be able to move on because Jiang Cheng is obviously the hottest and sexiest man in the world and I won’t be able to find anyone to replace him and I’ll die alone.”

“You’re lucky you’re cute because you’re a fucking idiot,” Wei Wuxian says taking an absent sip of his coffee milk that Huaisang so kindly gave (bribed) him.

“I’m not an idiot,” Huaisang pouts, “There’s just so many more feelings involved in being boyfriends… sex friends is… much simpler.”

“Well you guys were just sex friends but Jiang Cheng sort of broke up with you anyway, yeah?” Wei Wuxian says – ice cold facts that are too cruel in Huaisang’s opinion.

“But… we’ll be friends again in time,” Huaisang says slowly. “If we broke up after being boyfriends… Well. We probably would never become friends again.”

And…

Losing Jiang Cheng as a sex friend was pretty terrible… but totally losing Jiang Cheng from his life?

That was… unacceptable.

If Huaisang lost Jiang Cheng… then who would grumble and complain but still do everything Huaisang asked?

Who would begrudgingly protect Huaisang from his brother’s anger?

Who would Huaisang go bird watching with?

Who would call Huaisang “an unforgiveable airhead” and pat Huaisang on his air filled head and look at him with so much fondness that Huaisang would feel his heart beat faster?

Who?

Who?

Who!??

“… aren’t you afraid of ever breaking up with Wangji-ge?” Huaisang asks carefully.

Wei Wuxian puffs up his cheeks, apparently considering Huaisang’s question – even as his eyes stay glued to the phone screen.

“I’m afraid,” Wei Wuxian says after some time, “but I think it’s reasonable to be afraid of losing something precious. The more precious it is, the more you’ll be afraid of losing it.”

Huaisang feels his heart drop.

“When Lan Zhan and I were just friends, I was afraid then too. Afraid that maybe Lan Zhan would get a boyfriend or girlfriend and then I’d have to deal with the pain of watching someone become more important to Lan Zhan than me,” Wei Wuxian continues.

Huaisang feels nauseous. The thought of Jiang Cheng with someone else... 

Wei Wuxian’s eyes stay glued to the phone screen. What’s with these brothers and saying things that change Huaisang’s world so nonchalantly?

“Now I know what it feels like to be Lan Zhan’s most important person… and even though the thought of losing that one day scares me, it’s worth it. It’s worth it to me.”  

Almost as if summoned by Wei Wuxian’s voice saying his name, Lan Wangji walks up to them.

The “Lan Wangji effect” immediately takes place and Wei Wuxian basically throws Huaisang’s phone back at him.

“So you have to decide, Huaisang,” Wei Wuxian says as he stands, “The greater the risk, the greater the reward – but you have to decide how much you’re willing to risk.”

Huaisang watches Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji as they walk away.

He’s never seen Lan Wangji look at anyone the way he looks at Wei Wuxian. He wonders if anyone would look at him that way…

Risk.

If Huaisang just let Jiang Cheng go – if he let Jiang Cheng fall out of love with him…

Would they go back to how they were before?

They were just… friends.

Normal friends.

Jiang Cheng didn’t touch him as much then. He didn’t pat Huaisang’s head and make sure that Huaisang wore a scarf on cold days. He didn’t steady Huaisang when he tripped. He didn’t brush Huaisang’s hair out of his face. He didn’t say sweet things like, “You look cute when you try to do math.”

They were… normal.

Risk…

Risk.

Huaisang doesn’t want normal.

---

Huaisang catches Jiang Cheng before Jiang Cheng can run away and he drags him by his arm to the empty classroom that Jiang Cheng had nonchalantly confessed to Huaisang in.

He pushes Jiang Cheng into the classroom and stands at the door so Jiang Cheng can’t run away.

“I told you I need some time,” Jiang Cheng says with an exasperated eye roll.

Is he really in love with Huaisang?

He doesn’t seem in love at all!

“Well I’ve had enough time,” Huaisang says, and he sounds braver than he feels. His hands are shaking. He feels light headed.

Oh… bravery so doesn’t suit him.

Damn Jiang Cheng! Damn him! Damn him for making Huaisang do this!

“A-Cheng,” Huaisang says with a deep breath, “Why do you like me?”

Jiang Cheng stares at him in an almost-shocked silence.

Huaisang feels so embarrassed he could die, but he just stares back.

After a moment or two, Jiang Cheng clears his throat and looks away…. Shyly!!!

Shyly!!

It’s so cute that Huaisang wants to run over and kiss him!

“You’re such a fucking narcissist,” Jiang Cheng mumbles.

“Tell me!” Huaisang urges.

“Uh… You’re agreeable and you don’t talk too much,” Jiang Cheng says.

Ugh.

Fuck Jiang Cheng.

The worst.

Huaisang is going to enter the monkhood and live alone in the mountains with his birds.

“And you know you’re… pretty,” Jiang Cheng continues after a little while, his eyes still averted from Huaisang, “And… well… you know when you got Su She expelled when he tried to frame your brother for breaking all the windows on the third floor? You complain and you’re normally lazy as shit but… But you’d go to the ends of the earth for your brother and… Well that’s good.”

Huaisang feels like his heart is beating in his ears.

His cheeks feel so hot that he knows he must be as red as a tomato.

“And you’re bossy in bed… I like that too,” Jiang Cheng says finally.

Huaisang knew Jiang Cheng liked that!! He knew it!

He’s pulled from his internal celebration by Jiang Cheng clearing his throat.

“Well if you’re done feeding your ego, I have to go now,” Jiang Cheng says and he walks purposefully towards Huaisang, pushing him aside to open the door.

“No, no, no!” Huaisang says, pushing Jiang Cheng back in the room and closing the door again.

Jiang Cheng scowls at him. “If you want to hear more compliments, go find Mengyao or someone.” He crosses his arms and blows at his bangs in irritation. “Of course I’d fall in love with one of the most annoying brats on the planet.”

In love.

Jiang Cheng was still in love with him.

Thank god! Thank all the gods!

“I like your face,” Huaisang says hurriedly. “I’ve always thought you had the most perfect face. I like the way your eyes can go from kind to mass murderer in less than a second.”

Jiang Cheng’s scowl lessens a little as he stares at Huaisang in confusion.

“I like how you have a bad attitude about almost everything, but you’re also the most diligent person I’ve ever met. I never had fun doing homework until I started doing homework with you. I like how you’re so patient with me when you explain things.”

Jiang Cheng’s scowl is almost gone entirely. He looks…

Well it sort of break’s Huaisang’s heart how open and vulnerable he looks.

“I like you, A-Cheng,” Huaisang says, and his voice shakes and he thinks his whole body is shaking but he can’t help himself now. He’s already said it so he has to finish it.

“When I said I wanted us to be sex friends, it was because I was scared of asking you to be my boyfriend. I thought that if you said “no” at least I could play sex friends off as a joke.”

Huaisang can’t even look at Jiang Cheng any longer. He doesn’t know why he’s so terrified, but he is. He feels so vulnerable that he might explode.

“I was… happy when we became sex friends.”

It had felt like a dream.

To be able to kiss Jiang Cheng. To touch him. To hold and be held by him.

“I’m scared of breaking up,” Huaisang says. “I’m scared of you getting tired of me. I’m… scared.”

He feels more than hears Jiang Cheng step towards him.

He gathers his courage and looks up at Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng’s face is so soft… his eyes are so kind that Huaisang feels his eyes sting.

Who knew Jiang Cheng could look at someone like that?

Who knew Jiang Cheng could look at Huaisang like that?

“But Xian-ge said that the greater the risk the greater the reward,” he says, blinking back his tears. “So… Can I be your boyfriend, A-Cheng? Like you said, I’m lazy and I’m weak and I’m not really brave and I’m really scared right now… But… can I?”

Jiang Cheng wraps his arms around Huaisang’s shoulders and brings him into his chest.

Huaisang can hear Jiang Cheng’s heart beat and it’s so loud that Huaisang can almost feel it.

He can feel it.

“Idiot,” Jiang Cheng says, pressing a kiss to the top of Huaisang’s forehead, “What are you scared for? You’ve always had me. You’ll always have me.”

Huaisang really can’t stop his tears then.

Stupid brothers.

Stupid Jiang Cheng.

This is the best year of Huaisang’s life.

[trentsleatherboots]

Carach Angren, interview translation Dutch > English

Published in the magazine Rock Tribune, edition June 2020, nr. 192.

Text by Morbid Geert. Fotos: Stefan Heileman.

WILL THE REAL FRANKENSTEIN STAND UP NOW?

At the end of last year you could already read about how we kept close watch on Carach Angren. Back when they were still heavy in the production process, on Halloween Day we went over to Ardeks homebase and studio to see the first glimpse of their new work and later Rock Tribune got invited to listen to the album in Germany. Now it's almost time for 'Franckensteina Strataemontanus' to be shown to the world and that's why we wanted to take an even deeper look. Weaponed with an oil lamp and shovel we went onwards towards the graveyard to uncover the soul stirrings of Ardek. (Text: Morbid Geert)

---

Ardek, the last time I talked to you the songs were still in a very early stage and what we heard was more of a pre production. Did you tinker more afterwards to come to an end result or did you purposely keep your hands off to avoid overproduction?

"In terms of song structures and lyrics not much changed on the premature songs that you heard. What followed however was another production-finish, where especially the mix and mastering made a big change. That last stadia really lifted it all to another plane and you can really hear that."

A FRESH LOOK.

As far as I knew, Patrick Damiani was still fully onboard working on the songs at Tidal Wave Studio in Germany. How important was it for you to pull an extra producer into the process? After all, you are very much at home with that as well? Or maybe not as much as you'd like?

"Back then he worked on drumediting and played the basslines, but his role is way bigger than that. We've worked together a lot and now we're doing something for L'Âme Immortelle, where we vibe together perfectly and know exactly how to handle such a project.  When he takes on production for Carach Angren however, I notice how much better he controls it. He has so much knowledge about drum sounds, mixing,... and he's really specialised in it. It is nice to add that knowledge, it brings a lot of added value. These days a lot of bands record at home and that all makes it a lot cheaper, but a good producer brings a lot of experience and equipment, it ends up with a whole different result. Besides, we left the mix and mastering to Robert Carranza."

That last one is a pretty big name, who among others worked with Marilyn Manson. I can imagine that has a big impact on your budget, but was it worth it?

"I think so. When I listened to 'Killing Strangers' by Marilyn Manson on headphones and heard the bassline, it went so deep that it turned me upside down. Apparently Robert Carranza mixed that album.  Furthermore he does a lot of different things such as make latin music and win grammy's, but in the extreme metal scene he is totally unknown.  However, he wanted to help himself to our record and yes, the price was steep, but I managed to convince both the band and the label… even though that wasn't without some doubts, since all eyes were on me for a bit. I had a good feeling about it and shared it, with the result being having a record now that doesn't sound like the others.  He had a fresh look on our work and thus we could avoid the recognisability of the average metal producer.  There are too many records that when you hear them you know exactly who had their hands on them and in which studio they were recorded.  Contrary to what you might think, there was constant contact with him (Robert) and a lot of talking about how we wanted it to sound. In particular the clarity of the sound is massive and gives it a bit more of a cinematic effect. There was no compression applied where everything sounds constantly loud and where as a listener you'd get easily tired, but the dynamics were preserved."

DIDN'T FEEL LIKE IT ANYMORE.

To refer back to Patrick Damiani: if he does so much and even plays the basslines, do you see him as sort of a 4th band member or is that just a bit too much credit?

"That's not how we see him. He's an amazing producer and musician, who gives us his opinion and helps us out. On the other hand he is not part of the creative process and he isn't on stage with us… but it is a relationship that's been going on for 12 years and something we get a lot out of."

Now I'm saying '4th band member', but after the recordings of your new record ended, your brother and drummer Namtar left the band. Can I ask what happened and if you saw this coming, or whether it was a bolt from the blue?

“In November he recorded his drum tracks and back then everything went fine, but then there came an offer to play at '70000TONS OF METAL'. Since we always looked at the financial side of the band together, we talked about the offer and he was immediately against it.  I thought that was strange and to me it seemed better to sit around the table with three to talk about it. Then it became apparent that he'd been wrestling with it for sometime and in brief didn't feel like it anymore.  We offered him to take a break of a few months instead of just throwing away what we've worked for the last 20 years, but that wasn't a solution.  It wasn't an easy decision, but afterwards we saw it had been an issue for a long time and at that point you rather put a stop to it.  That hit us hard, but you can never force somebody to stay in a band.  To keep our motivation high we played '70000TONS OF METAL' after all with Michiel van der Plicht of God Dethroned as replacement. That pleased us all and he's willing to help us out in the future."

Michiel van der Plicht in indeed an amazing drummer. Are there any plans to keep him in the band permanently or is this an emergency solution and is there an offer still standing?

"I discussed that extensively with Seregor, but together the two of us stay the core of the band. We already have an extra guitarist live and in the studio we will definitely have those people join again, but all decisions will be made by us two in the end.  We want to avoid that other people leave a mark on the band, causing us to lose our individuality (personality). It's about so much more than just making music: the stage decor, our own stage outfits,... for us it is very clear and it's going well, so we only need help to fill in with the music in the studio and during lives."

MILKED OUT?

Let's get to the core of business. At the end of this month is the release of your 6th album, 'Franckensteina Strataemontanus'. Now lends the Frankenstein story itself perfectly for a horror metal band, but I wondered if the story isn't too milked out by other bands… unless you do it with a completely new vision. After all, that's what you did with 'This Is No Fairytale', where Hans and Gretel were transported to the now and the horror became bigger than ever. 

"When we started, I had the same feelings about the Frankenstein story, but there's a twist to it. Everything started for me as a dream, where I flew through an old house. There, I heard dissonant piano tunes and I got sucked into a room where a portrait of an old man hung on the wall. Later I made a drawing of that portrait and it got stuck in my head. When I began doing research for the album months later and even read Mary Shelley's amazing book 'Frankenstein', I found out that there is a theory that when she wrote her book she was influenced by Johann Konrad Dippel, an 18th century alchemist.  Then when I looked him up, he turned out to look like what I had seen in my dream, which personally motivated me to dig deeper. Dippel is an unknown figure for the masses and that's why it seemed fascinating to us to do something with it.  There is fiction and truth mixed in our story. By the way, Dippel lived in Frankenstein Castle near Darmstadt, where he was looking for the elixir to eternal life. He was also a theologist, but he clashed with the church and was therefore cast away. Because he also did experiments on cadavers and sought life extending resources, he would've inspired Mary Shelley for her story. What we did was make a concept around the source of her story instead of following the clichés.  That monster with screws in his head, we've seen it already before…"

Yet it doesn't seem like a concept album, because I notice that you address very diverse subjects.

"It is definitely a concept, since all stories are connected to one another, even if it's not noticeable. 'Operation Compass' is about the North-African desert war between the Brits and Italians. In official documents the Brits were ordered that if there were to be a fallback, to make all sources unusable for the enemy with 'Dippel's oil' (a nasty substance that made water undrinkable but did not poison it, so it was in battle with the Geneva protocols).  In our story it leads to a demonic outburst that went towards the soldiers. So you see, Dippel comes back throughout different moments in history. 'Der Vampir von Nürnberg' is about a real figure that is still alive. He committed necrophilia, killed people and drank their blood, … but is now at large. In our story he lost his ways after reading Dippel's books, which once again links it with the core story. 'Here In German Woodland.', the opening song, is about a boy that gets lost and dies in the forest surrounding Darmstadt, but later comes back and eats his parents. In the closing song 'Like A Conscious Parasite I Roam' it all comes full circle: Dippels life elixir only works for his soul, and his body rots away, so he searches for a guest body and his spirit creeps into that little boy." 

In a few songs, some German lyrics show up. Is that besides the concept also because of the grim sound of the language or is it simply because you live so close to Germany and it has a certain impact? 

"The subject lends itself to it of course and Seregor speaks German very well, which made things easier. And yes, the sound does play a certain role. 'Der Vampir von Nürnberg' sounds way better than the English translation, it immediately sets the right tone."

Some of these stories are the result of reality, but are often at least as gruesome as many fantasy stories: such is the bonus song 'Frederick's Experiments' about the sick science experiments of emperor Frederick II, a man who apparently was not inferior to the Nazi doctors?

"Yes, you can say that he set a good example! Seregor came with the idea and somewhere the story did fit within the total picture, even though we couldn't fit it into the big story. Our label Season Of Mist however asked for a bonus track and that's how we managed to include the song after all."

CROSS-POLLINATION.

What I noticed with the first sneak preview, but what has become clear now, is that Carach Angren this time worked very innovative musically.  Watch out, it is immediately clear that it is from Carach Angren, since you already have your own sound, but at the same time there are noticable things we haven't heard from you before. The title track has a considerable industrial touch and we also hear something from Laibach in it, just like 'Monster'. Is that something you've only recently been getting into or have you maybe secretly been an industrial fan for years?

"It is more recent, even though I've always been appreciative of it. By also collaborating with Till Lindemann for his project Lindemann, I also came into contact with it more and started taking it up unconsciously. Afterwards I got to experiment with it for my solo project and that's how I came up with the song 'Monster'. Seregor tested some things out for singing for that song and it just made sense.  It was very cool to experiment like that, which you should when you're making a record based on Frankenstein…"

It became a musical experiment instead of scientific experiment, but you do create a parallel, yes.

"Inside Carach Angren we like to put a lot of variety in the songs and if you can also give that a different look, then that is something you should try. We ourselves are absolutely crazy about it! Some fans will have to swallow when they hear those songs, but for them there are plenty of old school songs on it."

To come back to Lindemann: he and Peter Tägtgren got you involved since you are so good with classical orchestras and arrangements, but in the end it seems to have become two-way traffic, doesn't it? Have you learned a lot from it and developed other visions? 

"We worked together in a very awesome way and you do learn a lot from that. You grow as a componist, as musician and as producer. It made me compose more compactly and I sometimes pursue slightly less complex songs, like the two more industrial based songs. Always great to be able to take a different approach."

Both those songs have an easier buildup, but in the other songs you go back to the complexity that you left out purposefully 'Dance And Laugh Amongst The Rotten'. Is it a way to generate more contrast?

"In some ways yes, but it depends on how it works out in a song. We tried to make the title track a bit longer, but then the effect fell away and it didn't feel right anymore. But strangely enough I write a complex song like 'Der Vampir von Nürnberg' easier than a less complex piece like 'Monster'.  With less arrangements it quickly becomes hard to keep it exciting(engaging), but seeing as you want to keep the concept to level, you need to have enough variation. The industrial songs sound a bit less complex, but there is a lot happening in the background and they are full of tiny details that make the difference."

MIXING COLOURS.

With the new approach you have opened some doors to maybe do more experimenting in the future. Is that actually your goal or is there nothing reasoned behind it and do such new influences pop up sooner when they seem to be able to improve the song?

"It all almost comes down to what the concept of the album requires. Back when we wrote 'Death Came Through A Phantom Ship' we added swirling waves and custom/adapted sounds to it. With the new record the 'marching' of the pulsing industrial beat seemed to work the best with our Frankenstein theme. You have to see it like a painter who is mixing colours to make a new colour to fit his vision. We don't do any different and we would love to experiment more in the future. If we see what we've already tried with singing now … in the long run we were completely out of control trying to do crazy things."

The singing is indeed a very remarkable part of 'Franckensteina Strataemontanus'. We always thought Seregor had a good black metal voice, but we were very impressed by the way he twisted his voice this time around and helped set the mood.

"We are very happy about that ourselves. He delivered an excellent job and we really pushed everything to get to that point. We actually took several weeks to make sure my home studio was in perfect condition and sometimes Seregor had to redo a certain part up to 10 times to get the result we wanted, but he did it without struggling. A lot of singers that ask so much from their vocal chords are dead on their feet after an hour, but then there is Seregor who gets through the day without complaining, even while screaming his lungs out.  While recording 'Operation Compass' we did however find out it is better to record a deep grunt in the early morning, since your voice is still a bit slow and heavier from sleep.”

MUSIC AS A BOOST.

The whole corona crisis made it so that as a band it is way more difficult to promote an album now, since all concerts got cancelled. Did that have a big impact on Carach Angren or can you make it?

"I myself am very concerned with the people who are really affected by the disease and that is why I can partially ignore the inconveniences for ourselves. Nevertheless, it has a serious effect on the music industry, although that is secondary to me. We are dealing with a pandemic, people are dying and we all have to work to keep everything under control. In addition, it is strange to release an album in a full crisis, but we decided to go for it anyway. It's a cool record and we already started the promotion, so we just keep going. For now, tours are not planned, but that does not mean that we will now stream all kinds of performances to attract attention. We are not that type of band… what is a shame is that our plans for a very cool video clip are now also being abandoned. We had to go to Germany and there are also the social distancing rules, which make such a recording impossible.  But should we really want that and turn it into drama? Of course it sucks to have to promote the release like this, but the whole world is just not what it was a few months ago."

Do you have any alternative ideas to bridge that gap? I know that you guys always have enough visual ideas and there already is a lyric video for 'Monster', but I can imagine that there is more to come.

"We are working on that yes, because last month we made one for 'Der Vampir von Nürnberg' and next month we might take another song in hand. We will keep doing those sorts of things together with some 'making of-' videos that we recorded in the studio, that way we can give the album some extra promotion.  Nothing for us to worry about so… by the way, there is something about releasing a record in times like these. The people have been stuck at home for months and have nothing to do, so if we can give them a new piece of music to listen to to get through the day, then that is awesome too. It would be disappointing for the fans if we just put our new work on the shelf because of this pandemic. Every band should do what they think is best, but we had already started our press campaign anyway and we would also be a lot less driven if we only had to arrive 'with old stuff' within six months or later."

Carach Angren already has a few beautiful video clips which are build up with a real story and don't only have something musical to offer. In addition, there are also the lyric videos, where certainly those for the complete album 'This Is No Fairytale' with comic images by Costin Chioreanu stand out from the crowd. Have you never thought of bundling everything on a DVD?

"We've honestly never thought about that, but that's actually a really great idea! I think it would be nice to bundle everything together and that way we immediately remove some (away) from youtube. That can always be a good idea for the future."

LEARNING SCHOOL.

As songwriter of Carach Angren you may have previously absorbed a lot of influences that shaped you into the musician and songwriter you are today. Can you list the five most essential records or artists that shaped you personally and what exactly were their interests?

"That is a good question that doesn't let itself be answered very easily. In the classical field and orchestras I think Tchaikovsky and Stravinski are very important. They both had a lot of influence on me as a componist. Another important inspiration to me in that respect is John Williams (modern componist famous for his film scores for Star Wars, Jaws, Jurassic Park..) They helped shape me even more when it comes to layered composing, although I don't come close to what they do. As a child I followed keyboard lessons for 8 years, I did a year of conservatory and studied a year of music and media, as well as cinematic orchestration. Those last two were online, but on a serious level and you really had to write pieces for an orchestra. I learned a lot there, but ever since then I kept learning by actually doing it myself, looking through books and analyzing musical pieces.  But if I hadn't gotten the theoretical basis I had as a child, I would've never been able to do this today. On production level I have to mention Nine Inch Nails and, something you'd might find strange, Michael Jackson! If you see how well their albums are produced, and how many layers are incorporated, it's amazingly well done! You can say about Michael Jackson's music what you want, but the way the songs are built up and how much dynamics are in there thanks to the arrangements by Quincy Jones, it is absolutely astounding.  There is no lack of bells and whistles and sometimes, for example, the snare drum comes in in four layers, something you don't hear so loudly even in extreme metal. I mainly listen to those albums as an audiophile to analyze them and see what I can get out of it as a producer. Last week I checked the solo record of Roger Waters, in which I heard effects that seemed to be situated outside the loudspeaker field. Then I want to know how that is done and whether I can integrate it with Carach Angren. That kind of thing is the reverse of the compression they use too often today and you wonder why we don't all go in that direction anymore."

---

Translated by Jeordie/Trentsfishnets.

(For the record, if this interview already exists in English, I will just see this as translating practice C:)

[syubub]

2021 Reading for BTS and the collective!!

Wow wow wow! I didn't disappear or get dragged away by a demon. No no, I just got thrust into unexpected shadow work and I now have an unhealthy obsession with sea shanties and a love of pasta.

I had this idea planned to be early in January but that didn't pan out so I'm doing it now. I have another yoongi reading in the works and another fun thing coming soon as well!!

I promise I won't bore you to death any longer but I hope you've all been doing well!!

Disclaimer: This is for entertainment purposes only and not to be taken as fact.

If this message doesn't apply, let it fly!

Cool cool cool.

Let's get it.

💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Oki. I first want to say that this I gonna be long lol. I did a meditation and gathered some little pieces of things y'all might need to hear and then I pulled cards for every month. The fountain tarot deck is the cards for us, the collective, and the rider-waite cards are for bts. It'll make more sense when I add picks and stuff. I did a little extra card pull for yoongi for the month of May too :) I'll make sure to type out all the cards in text so you know what they are (the pics are kinda wack.) I also used my pendulum to ask if there was a bts related event for every month and that's at the bottom. It's just to take in the possible energy for the month and something that could result from that energy!

LETTUCE BEGIN (hehe)

Starting with the section for the channeled messages. I want to reiterate that this was collective so if it doesn't resonate with you, the message might not be for you! Use your intuition.

(Enough talking. Damn)

So. As I said this was through meditation and connecting to the big column tree thing (I told my cousin about the tree/pillar and they were like,, "so basically a big energy dildo in the æther?" .... I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT. h e l p m e) and asking if there was any messages or advice that needed to be delivered and it was... intresting?

Things came fragmented. So there was little messages like, "Its gonna be okay" and "things are changing for everyone" and "open your eyes if you want to see" (that's sassy.) There was one particular thing that was confusing me though. Straight up it was just "flower" on repeat and like a really bad picture of a flower? Like you could tell what it was but it was bad quality. Anyway, I was like "okay. Kindly shut the fuck up. Pls." And I wrote down flower, pink flower and rose. Sooo.... idk but there you go.

More messages were things like, "the block isn't in your head", "try calling forth that which you seek" and... February. Possibly there is specific (very very very loose) connection to the 10th-19th? I'm not to sure what or why but I'd say maybe look out for opportunities on these days and also maybe external events.

Continuing with dates. In the last this 21 and January 21 came up. It came up again but with 2 messages. So first, either 21st is a day where something is put into motion (possibly private or public) or announced and the second was "add them together dumbass" that's not very kind but 3. Again this has been discussed too but but but... maybe a signal of a third mixtape 👀 (not necessarily on the 21st per say but possibly in March? I'm really not sure).

Oki. I got side tracked like I always do and started thinking about tattoos and stuff and I really want koo to have a peony tattoo. I feel it in my BONES. It would suit him so well. and as I was thinking about tattoos I heard, "don't be surprised if yoongi gets/shows a tattoo this year" ??? What the fuck? I think maybe they messing with me but now I have hopes and I don't want them to be crushed and thrown to the wind :(

Back to normal stuff, "the theme is growth" I think that fits very well with the reading. "Blue might be a lucky color" self explanatory. It might be lucky. "Start practicing grounding and centering" this was LOUD. This will help you in how you react to events in the future. Really do practice this if you haven't.

This is where it gets a little weird. So, I got a message that said "start living as if you never existed." I am not a 100% sure what this means but I think I have a pretty good guess. I hate to make it sound weird like this but by sort of focusing on something that is so hard to comprehend (because our brains can't comprehend not existing very well) you kinda break the 4th wall? Like in Deadpool when he addresses the audience and is aware that he is a character played by Ryan Reynolds? anyway, focusing on something that seemingly impossible you kind of accidentally open up the floodgates for a lot of other things. I would say if you are not in the right headspace to do this don't do it but it can be a powerful way to break up the monotony of reality. The theory that everything happens simultaneously bc time isn't a linear progression events blah blah we are energy blah blah the multiverse blah blah.. Theres so so so so so so so so so much about this and how it applies to things that I could probably write you 10+ dictionaries worth of material but for the sake of simplicity and not wanting to write a novel right now, I will continue. The main lesson is to start challenging your perception of the world around you. Ask why and why and why and why. Essentially seeing cracks in the matrix. Pulling your head out of your cosmic ass, realizing that rose you're smelling is actually daffodil ect. It's not supposed to bring you fear but just kinda encouraging you to question all the things that you perceive as given truths.

I tried to make that sound cohesive but really it's such a big concept that I can't really wrap it up all nice and neat.

Oki. May and March are also important times.

Listen to your intuition and try not to take everything so seriously. I'm not saying to check out and go squat in the Himalayas but it's important to find joy in the now. Life is already tough enough so don't forget to watch a silly show that you like or change your hair to a style you've never tried, wear makeup in a very loud way. Just have fun and don't worry so much about things that you can't control. Listen to yourself and your intuition.

Well that was all over the place. Let's get on to the actual tarot part now.

For the record, the pictures are right to left.

January for the collective

We have the empress, the sun, 7 of swords and a fortune that says "act well your part; there the honor lies"

Hmm. Ngl I was a little confused to see the empress and the sun for January... I mean it hasn't been great. So I pulled clarity card 7 of swords. The 7 of swords is all about betrayal. It's about the deception and and actively getting away with things. This is people lying, cheating, sneaking and the works.

This makes much more sense!! The Sun card is usually about joy and success and happiness but in this case I see it as illuminating the betrayal. It's shining light on the deception and keeps the spotlight there. Its also an energetic card so I think that shows passion for uncovering the truth.

With the empress card too I think January is all about getting creative in all forms. Creative ways to protest, to mourn, to celebrate, to connect. Also taking in the abundance that we DO have. The beauty that surrounds us. I like to think of aphrodite energy for this. Its not just love and passion and creativity but is also asserting yourself and having strong passion for what you love and fighting for it. Did you know aphrodite was also called upon in ancient Greece in times of war? She was honored as a goddess of war but still a goddess of love, the sea, fertility ect. What I'm trying to say is that being a creative and "feminine" energy is in no way weak. Sometimes the most powerful things come from this energy. Love aggressively with good intentions. The point is that you should take whatever you're feeling and translate it into something creative or something you care about. The fact that covid is still a thing really sucks but take any rage, hurt, sadness, joy, love whatever and use that shit to make something amazing. Bake bread and punch the fuck out of it, paint your frustration, play hopscotch in higheels while you listen to heavy metal. You get the point.

Now January for BTS!!

We have the death card. (I only pulled one card bc I have things planned from this)

January has been... strange? To say the least.

This card can be a lot of things for them. I think this points to more maturity in their music? Like they've finally ditched the "shiny kpop boy band" label and are being taken seriously in the west. I also think that they're going through a musical/concept transformation~ I think it also signified the change in plans bc of the Grammys perhaps they had things planned an that fell through so they were forced to rapidly change plan/course.

For January: possible mixtape or announcement.

February for the collective

We have 8 of coins reverse and hanged man reverse.

The 8 of pentacles reverse talks a lot about self improvement. Doing that good good inner work and self care. Working on developing parts of you that you've maybe neglected. It's also learning how to work with how you are instead of wishing you weren't the way you are. If you have a therapist its a great time to maybe ask for any extra tips that you can practice daily to help you even more. Maybe exploring more into insecurities relating to finance or jobs or your passions. If you don't have a therapist but you have the means to get one I always highly recommend. You don't have to have "problems" to see a therapist. Everyone could use a non biased point of view that is literally trained to help you be you best self. If you can't get therapy, I get it. Shits tough rn but there's still things we can do to better ourselves like Journaling and reading therapy blogs or self help books (not the taky shit) or trying a hobby you fell out of touch with. There's also a lot of places where you can get therapy promise on the internet. Most importantly, better yourself in the way that you need. Take time in February to take notice of what you want to improve upon. The 8 of coins reversed does come with the warning not to get stuck in perfectionism. Go easy on yourself and if you find yourself getting frustrated when working on projects, try to take a step back and practice whatever it is in a fun way and then come back to it later

Hanged man reverse talks about knowing that you need to chill but you don't. You'll need too. Maybe you'll find yourself swept up in work and tasks and you're over whelmed and know you need to stop and catch your breath but you resist. Why? Well, perhaps you're trying to ignore reality by filling the empty spaces with things and stuff so you don't have to face what's bothering you. Not wise. Take time for yourself. There's also the flips side where people are just kinda stuck.. creative block. Maybe you want something to turn out one way and it just isn't, so your stuck and frustrated and can't move past it. Let go of your expectation of how it should be and let it be what it is. Go with the flow and maybe you'll see a new way to overcome your problem. You'll eventually get that break through that you need! The theme of February is about self improvement. Listen to yourself.

February for BTS

We have judgment.

Hehe yeah. This card is about rebirth and the inner calling. Letting go of the old to step into the new version of you. This is also a very spiritual card lol. This can talk about a new decision that you have to trust your gut on. This is a very significant card that screams comeback to me. It also can talk about sharing your struggles with a group of people and that to me sounds comeback ish. Maybe this will be an announcement in February, maybe they'll be working on it idk but this is ultimate comeback energy so I hope they utilize this for a big group project!!

February: possible BTS comeback (even my pendulum knows)

March for the collective

The chariot and justice

This plays directly off of February! With the chariot you're taking the self improvement that you've done and putting it to action! Now is the time to act on the dreams and passions that you have don't wait and hope for the best. March is about action and standing in your power.

Justice card is cause and effect and truth. What you do will have consequences good or bad. Not doing anything also has consequences. Cease the moment and make the best of it. You'll be taking responsibility for what you do. You start a business? Now you have the responsibility of running it and you get the credit. Stuff like that. Stand by your decisions with conviction and trust yourself.

There's also the side of justice that talks about bringing justice. If you've been wronged, you'll be brought justice if you stand up for yourself.

We also carry the continuous lesson of learning what we truly believe and challenge those beliefs!

March for BTS

Oki we have the hermit and the 6 of pentacles reverse.

Well... let's start with the 6 of pentacles reverse. This can really talk about being so generous and giving to everyone else that you forget about yourself. I think that maybe they might be over exerting themselves and giving so much that they're exhausted physically and emotionally as well. I think too, they take on so much of our pain like its their own? Idk but this would be a good time to do a large scale fan project to show them a little extra love!

With the hermit card it talks about a self introspection so they could be looking inward as a team and kinda evaluating their bond.

I also see this as maybe being alone as in they maybe can't physically go to the grammys? Or maybe they had been planning the rescheduled concerts and they had to be pushed back even further? Things like that. Regardless this signals re thinking/reevaluating the goals that they have and considering what direction to go in!

March: possible mixtape or solo project?

April for the collective

We have 6 of coins and 3 of cups reverse.

Let's start with the 6 of coins. It's about sharing. It can be about charity so sharing money via donation but also giving time, effort, energy to people as well. Giving knowledge is good too! It's an all round exchange. Maybe someone lends you money or you lend money to someone. It's give and take. It's a two way street. It's also a card of balanced finance. So money stuff should be looking promising around this time (for you U.S people this could point to more stimulus help as well)

And for the 3 of cups reversed... I see this as reopening of places and people struggling to find the balance. So think people who've been in lockdown celebrating by throwing a big party... yikes. This card reminds that we should be mindful of the long-term consequences that come with our actions.. maybe also people that are experiencing fear of being in public places now. This is only one facet though. Bc I think this also means in general, missing being with friends and having a renewed relationship because you've really realized how important it is to have these people that mean so much to you in your life. Don't forget that you have people that love you and want the best for you. Call them when you feel alone.

April for BTS

The heirophant

Mhmm. This one kinda gives me vibes that they'll be mentoring people? Idk but I see them more as the heirophant teaching what they've learned/ know to help guide others. HOWEVER this could also be them taking a new task under their belt. Learning something new. Since this is as a group reading I assume that this talks about the group as a whole. This card is also very tradition oriented so maybe they are taking lessons that are connected to traditional Korean culture? Maybe its for RUN or maybe its to incorporate into music and preformance. Think bts mma preformance but all of them learning together? Idk, it's just a thought (maybe wishful thinking). It also talks about seeking counseling so maybe they'll do yoongis idea from the most recent RUN.

This can also be them embracing this kind of leadership/ status.

April: I got nothing. It does feel like something though

May for the collective

Five of cups and queen of cups reversed

Five of cups is disappointment, regret and self pity. Now honestly this to me looks like possibly a tightening of restrictions yet again. Regardless of the situation that this is talking about, the best thing you can do is not wallow in the bullshit. You scrape yourself off the pavement and move foward. You'll need forgiveness of yourself and others and that if shit isn't going your way, you need to pull your head out of your ass and look around bc there's options out there. It's like drowning in a kiddie pool. Just stand up, dude. The water is like 5 inches.

Queen of cups reversed talks about self love and self care. It's more of that look inwards energy. Think about really taking care of yourself. May might be emotionally draining so you need to be ready to take care of you! Part of self care is making sure that your boundaries are well enforced.

Be on the look out for codependent behaviors. Check in with yourself.

The queen of cups is very intuitive and having it in reverse can talk about you not taking enough time to listen to it. Make an effort to meditate for like 5 minutes a day at least. Do something to let yourself connect to your intuition and higher self.

May for BTS

9 of pentacles

This about enjoying the fruits of your labor and absolute abundance and luxury. This could talk about them rolling in the dough after signing a new partnership or having a concert or something if the sort. This could also be a time where we see them buying new things like houses, cars and rings (lol) but also this could be them doing a very high production value project! Also namjoon and his bonsai army are thriving in this time!

May: possible concert or scheduled concert event. Activity of some kind.

Yoongi interlude

I asked for one card to give me an idea of what the mystical May 13th really is. I got: the star, 2 of cups, 4 of wands, the world and the sun.

Guys. I can't with this. 2 of cups is a card of union, romance, soulmate. 4 of wands is celebration, joy, homecoming, bliss. The world is completion and the sun is happiness, joy, marriage, enlightenment.

I've said it a billion times but that's some soulmate shit. So soft so cute and May will be eventful for his personal life.

June for the collective

Death and the heirophant reversed.

Wow wow wow death is transformation and a new chapter so a new way of life and something new/ different that changes how we see things. Again this could be relating to new covid things and new policies and stuff like that but also new as in new to all of us. Groundbreaking perhaps?

The heirophant reversed talks about teaching yourself. Being your own teacher and making your own path. This might be spiritual or otherwise. Challange what the world wants from you and instead listen to what you truly want bc you don't need anyone's approval. Continue to ask questions about why things are the way that they are.

June for BTS

Page of pentacles

Oki oki page of pentacles means a new creative venture and manifestation. Maybe something that they've been wanting for a while finally comes to fruition. This might be the start of a new project that they haven't done before or something cross genre? Idk but its a really good sign of being motivated for a new endeavor and manifesting any projects that they've ever wanted to do. Love this promising energy!!

June: idk

July for the collective

10 of swords and 9 of cups reversed.

10 of swords signals a painful ending. Also deceit. Its a necessary end to a long battle. The only thing you can do is control how you react in these situations. You just kinda gotta surrender into the pain and know that it's temporary. Take time to reflect on what happened and why and how it will help you grow.

The 9 of cups reversed talks about valuing stuff and material things over emotions and spiritual things. This can be talking about society in general, that we are becoming more aware to the fact that there is often more value placed on ephemeral items rather than humanity as a whole. This also can be talking about coming to the realization that we've been working so hard towards... something we don't really care about simply because we were told that it's what you do.

If you want something different to happen you have to put in effort. You can't be sitting in front of a water fountain being like, "damn. I'm thirsty. I really really want water so why isn't it in my mouth yet?" Like?? Hello? You have to take the first step, my dude.

Certainly don't try to do anything that would cost you finatial security or health.

You have the potential to find happiness within yourself. So try looking inside instead of looking outward.

July for BTS

4 of swords.

This is about rest and relaxation!

Taking time to meditate and take some time to look at what you've done objectively. Ots like the hermit in a way but much more focused on resting and relaxing so you can come back stronger and with better direction. Maybe they'll take a break for a couple days but I really see it as them reassessing options. Especially if July goes how I think it will. Maybe they'll film something like In The Soop again? Maybe we'll see bon voyage type thing? Idk. But it could be something kinda out of the spotlight? Maybe something more healing?

July: maybe something?? I'm not sure but it seems like something might be in store.

August for the collective

5 of coins and the wheel of fortune

Well let's see. 5 of pentacles talks about isolation and a negative mindset. This talks about falling on hard times but its a temporary set back. This energy can be talking about falling on hard times emotionally as well. In the card it shows a woman outside of a church shivering and cold but she's too busy thinking about all that she's lost that she doesn't notice the warm church that she could step into for shelter.

But then with he wheel of fortune that talks about fate/destiny, opportunity and luck so maybe this is a necessary loss so that a new door can open. This does kinda tie in with July as well. The end of something is painful but it's often a necessary thing. Might be a bit uncomfy but that's how things change. Again I see this maybe hinting more towards society but none the less it's definitely a theme for August to have doors closing and new ones opening so be on the lookout for that.

August for BTS

The devil.

Now don't fret. The devil talks a lot about choice. Most notably the choice between instant gratification and and something more substantial and the devil leans towards indulgence. It also has a lot to do with the shadow side. This could talk about ~scandal~ sure, but I think its more of a time where you become aware of negative patterns and you shine a light on that part you've ignored. On a much lighter note this card talks also about an incredible bond between people. It can be unhealthy if not given space or boundaries. Listen to pied piper and come back to me.

I also REALLY REALLY REALLY hope that this card points to this: sexuality. The boys have always been pretty pg when it comes to the topic of sex and embracing sexuality so I really do hope to see something more daring and grown up and exploring a tastefully sexy concept. On the same vain as sexuality this card also talks about kinks and stuff like that so don't be surprised if we get more outfits like fake love Era bondage harnesses.

August: ???

September for the collective

We have the world and 10 of wands reversed.

The 10 of wands reversed talks about carrying burden. Doing extra work and taking on more responsibility. Doing everything by yourself and carrying this heavy load alone will get you burnt out quicker than anything. You might be taking on too much and you'll need to prioritize what you really need to focus on. I also think there will just be a lot happening in September for a lot of people. It's a lot of working hard because you know it's good work or because it's what's right. This could be social responsibility that's placed on you or work responsibility. For whatever reason this burden isn't something you want to share with others because you think its yours alone to deal with. It's not though bc you'll figure out eventually that if it hurts so much you'll find a way to lessen the burden. 10 in tarot is all about the completion of a cycle and going through the wands cycle is hard work because for anything to be made of passion, you need to put the work behind it. The burden isn't forever, the heavy work load will lighten but this is you seeing things out. It's a good thing!

Especially considering this is paired with with world. The world is all about completion and that's what you're doing here is finding completion. You are seeing things out until the end but you just need to learn to give up some responsibility, lessen your burden.

This also talks about hard work being put into wider social spheres as well. Things like the vaccines becoming more widespread through the whole globe or at least better planing and infrastructures not related to covid. Things are looking up!

September for BTS

Knight of swords reverse

This bad boi is restless energy. It's being so pent up that you're ready to burst and you really want to take action but you can't because something is keeping you from taking that action. Again I do think this is kinda covid related in regards to touring bc if they do tour in 2021 its gonna look a lot different. This energy can be a bit impulsive and directionless so I think maybe they'll channel this into album material something? I'm not really sure tbh. I'm suprised this energy didn't show up earlier because it almost seems inevitable.

September: no clue

October for the collective

Ten of coins and the star reverse.

Welp let's start with the 10 of coins. Its about wealth, financial security, and long term success so this is a pretty prosperous time. This talks about the obvious monetary wealth and material wealth but also an abundance of opportunities. So this is definitely a good time to enjoy whatever consistency you have. This energy is really really abundant in the career space as well. So October could be very prosperous in the job field and you'll have likely found what it is you really want and could be successful at. This could be the actual act or just the idea. This is could also talk about investing in something for your future, this could be time or money.

With the star reversed it can talk about a loss of faith and a disconnection. This often points to feeling like you've just been forgotten or left out. Like the universe doesn't give a shit about you and left you out to die. Things might seem unfair but always try to look for the lesson that you can take from the experience. Seeing the 10 of coins and the star makes me think that a lot of people have kinda lost faith in their manifestations and also just in the concept of not living in a state of need. Especially if you see other people doing well and you've been trying so fucking hard but you haven't gotten a break. I know we hate to hear it but this can serve as a test of faith. Or rather an opportunity to get your shit in line and take a second to breath. Do something good for yourself and then continue on. This star in reverse serves to show you what no longer sparks joy and helps you find what does and what that initial spark was in the first place. Helps you get back to the original vision/ spark.

October for BTS

5 of pentacles reverse.

This signals the end of difficult times and getting that groove back. The last month was restless energy with no where to go but this month that energy is certainly put to good use. They might be figuring out what has been missing In their lives and starting to rectify that. They are definitely reminded that material wealth doesn't bring spiritual or emotional wealth. Might be also feeling a bit alienated too.

October: something is likely but idk

November for collective

Six of swords reversed and the moon.

Transition and change is prevalent. The 6 of swords is about leaving behind the familiar. Maune this is leaving a job, a new change in the status quo, leaving a relationship ect. The thing you have to keep in mind is just how amazing this is in terms of what it will do. It will alow growth!! And bring clarity!! Thos can also be societal as well, something being left behind in favor of something new. It's letting go and reflecting so that you can move foward.

This is strengthened by the moon card. The moon card is the subconscious and all the things that come with it. The anxiety, the illusion, the uncertainty. You'll want to deal with whatever emotions come up. The moon can signify a confusing time where things aren't what they seem to be. That's the illusions so you'll have rely more on intuition at a time like this. Your dreams might hold significance in this time as well. Listen to your guides and your own guidance because it will help you understand more than you did before this journey began. Using moon cycles to your advantage in November might really help you!!

November for BTS

7 of wands

Challenge and competition. People are envious of bts. We know this. But people will be challenging them for what they've gained: music industry domination. This might co.e in the way that people will spread vicious rumors in attempt to disenfanchise or possibly it will be a fair fight. It could also be a challenge/ battle for some other aspect that involves legal matters.

My best guess though is good old competition. Bts has proven again and again that they will continue to do what they do how they do but they will not be trampled over. In the best way this could renew some of that spirit in friendly competition. They will tear eachothers throats out for a pack of ramen so maybe a bit of competition will be good for them. It keeps life intresting.

November: nothin

December for the collective

Two of cups and the emperor!

Let's start off with the emperor card talks about stability and order. It can also signify being the "breadwinner" so its a good sign that you'll kinda be on top of your shit. The emperor is also an amazing leader so you might find yourself taking on a leadership role too! This is very organized energy that works very smoothly!

two of cups is such a lovely way to end out the year! It's love and partnership and attraction so if you aren't in a relationship by this time you might meet someone who strikes your fancy!! On a none romantic relationship note though, this card is also great for business partnership bc it signifies that you're on the same page and have the same goals in mind!

It's harmonious relationships and trust between them!! Love love love this energy so much! Cups are the suit of emotions and this card is so promising.

If you are in a relationship, this can talk about "falling in love all over again" like you're just reminded of how good they are.

December for BTS

Queen of cups

Intuition, creativity and emotional stability. They're using intuition to guide their moves foward with emotional maturity. They are in a place of knowing what they want and why. This would be a good time to work on an album or a book or to release them. The queen of cups is like the friend that you can tell absolutely anything and somehow they have a helpful answer. This card is really calm and it can also talk about subconscious thoughts.

I think that bts is maybe making more of a conscious effort to make sure that what they do is just as emotionally fulfilling for them as it is for us! They might be kinda pondering the future at this time and considering if this is what fills their emotional cup!

December: possibly a thing?

Now these cards are the vibe of the year and some advice.

For the collective (on the left)

Three of swords and judgment reverse.

The fortune says "accept the challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory"

The 3 of swords is about disappointment and hurt and heartbreak. It's about the emotional release that we all need when shit gets tough. Don't pretend to be strong. If you need to cry, fucking cry. This year is about letting go of expectations and do what you have to do to release so you can move foward and not have these things pile up.

You have to make an effort to not let yourself take on what other people think of you. You aren't defined by what some asshole says. You define yourself.

Judgment reverse is about self doubt and ignoring your path. It's being stagnant and being harsh on yourself. This year has a focus on building yourself up and noticing when you are not. Bring light to the things that are holding you back without harsh judgment for yourself. You can't beat yourself up. If you make a bad decision you know not to make it again. Take accountability and move on.

The oracle card is inner temple.

Seriously all the focus of this year is in self improvement and dear god, please take time to work on yourself spiritually!!! Everything you want to know is there if you take the time to listen. This should be a place where you feel safe and welcome. It definitely should not feel like something you HAVE to do.

For BTS

10 of swords and page of swords

The fortune says "you create your own stage. The audience is waiting" (how tje fuck?? This is the perfect fortune)

The 10 of swords is a painful but necessary end. This is accepting the current situation. They maintain focus for 2021 for them is adapting and keeping their spirits up.

With the page of swords it talks about new ideas and that kind of creativity. It's also a lot about communication so I really think that they'll be figuring out new ways to connect and new projects that will be prosperous.

The oracle card is Pleiades

This is what we talk about all the time. Bts has helped so many people want to be better and do better. They are uplifting humanity and giving people a sense if belonging. Bts finds you when you need them most 💜💜💜

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wow I had to write this up over 2 days bc this was so fucking long. I need a nap. Idk if I'll proof read this before I post it so don't hate me for the mistakes (honestly, there's like 10,000 spelling and grammar mistakes in my other posts too 🙃)

I hope you guys enjoyed it and maybe this will be helpful to to have a forecast of some possible energy for you to look out for!!

Also bts bc I love them. I have another bts 2021 reading I'll do soon too!

Hope you guys are happy and well 💜

[bearpillowmonster]

Neo: The World Ends With You

I'm invested in the original game and its characters, I'm invested in this game and its characters. I've had a lot of time for the original game to marinate and I can say that I enjoy pretty much every character and their arc and while I don't exactly feel the same with this one, that's not disappointing to me and this was my most anticipated game of 2021 so I mean that. This is a sequel, I expected as much and it didn't let me down, it's even better than I thought.

This is a NONSPOILER review because I think it's best experienced by actually experiencing it so I'll keep a lot of character, story, and even gameplay details out other than how the very VERY beginning of the game starts out with Rindo and Fret.

Let me give credit where credit is due, Rindo is voiced by Paul Castro Jr. who is a new voice actor and I was honestly impressed by his voice more than anyone else in the game, I love his voice and while Rindo has some pretty big shoes to fill as the main, I think he does it. Rindo seems to act pretty accordingly to the situation he's put in. He's not as edgy as Neku but he has enough push to him to where he would be considered the "negative" of the group but I would rather call it "rational" because he brings up some valid points, stuff that I myself was asking. Putting yourself in his shoes, that seems pretty accurate.

Fret on the other hand is a bit of the opposite, an optimist if you will. He's not really a "bad" character, just in comparison to the others, he's not my favorite. I think that there needs to be someone in his position who tries to uplift the team, but he's just a little annoying about it sometimes. Also get ready to hear "Galaxy Brain, ACTIVATE!!" literally hundreds of times, as much as he talks, you'd think he'd add more variety.

IMPROVEMENTS:

I'm not going to complain about certain gameplay elements or limitations that carried over from the last game except one. The camera. It's fixed to where you have no control over it in the city areas and therefore can't get a proper look at everything, whether that works in its favor, I'm not sure because you get used to it but it's just a small peeve you start out with.

The combat is pretty loyal to the first game which is surprising. I personally didn't like the original gameplay because it was so limited on the DS, a lot of room for error, but having it on console expands the system and lets you use buttons rather than mashing a touch screen, improving on almost, if not all, gameplay fronts. However, because it's based on a game from 2007, the system may seem a little outdated to some, it's really up to you, it made a fan out of me, making it more fun.

I played the original in bites, not because of lack of enjoyment but because I felt like it was a game I could only get into for so long at a time but with this game it's the complete opposite. Maybe it was the DS hardware that hampered the original but I say it's a decent success on this game's part. I also felt that Persona 5 seemed a bit formulaic in its story context and gameplay layout with each castle but this game, while having patterns, it changes before you get the chance to really catch on. I could predict P5 but I couldn't predict this, each day was a mystery, I knew you'd fight people but I didn't always know who or when which is crazy considering that P5 had all the choices!

A small improvement that I'll suggest for combat is having short rhythm based moves or even QTEs, like how in the original Shiki had the directional pad moves which were annoying but still varied from the rest of the gameplay. There are definitely new things that you can do, but there are a few aspects worth complaining about. You can unlock certain abilities and once you enable them, you can't disable them. The only one that it personally applies with is the ability to enable individual health bars for enemies, rather than an overall one. Which sounds good but-

I personally don't like that it's always floating above their heads, if it was on the side screen, that'd be one thing but constantly above their heads? No deal. I actually had to go back and load up an old save to get rid of it. But with unlocking certain abilities comes with quality of life aspects so if you're not in love with the gameplay at first, give it a little bit because you might be able to unlock whatever piece you're missing.

There's also "soundsurfing" that adds to your groove meter that you can use when running around and it said that you press (in my case "X" on PS4) to the beat of the song which is a cool concept but it really isn't clear how to use it because I try matching the beat and I get nothing and have more success just button mashing. The groove meter can drop when it's not supposed to, like when you literally can't attack during the buffering of a special or switching between battles in a chain (The "Get Ready" screen) And if you're in a proper boss battle, you HAVE to fight, it's like a trainer battle in Pokémon which is especially annoying when you accidentally press "retry". It has no reason to be there when I already know that I'm not prepared for the boss and can't back out.

Do the trailers spoil it?

Originally, I only saw the first and or second trailer and knew I wanted it so there was no reason to see any more but it was kind of overwhelming with all the characters they were showing off in just a single trailer. I don't think they needed to go that far but I understand why they did. I understand why they showed a lot of things that they did but I think it's a bit easier to SWALLOW when it's introduced in-game. I even found myself doing all the side-quests and being engaged in the side-stuff in-game. But I knew about people pointing out spoilers so after I finished it, I went back and looked at the other trailers and OH BOY. The final trailer shows some stuff and I'm SO glad I didn't watch it. They straight up show some out of context death scenes as well as different alliances and betrayals, not to mention parts of the freaking ending. The launch trailer is no better, it's just like that trailer but cut down. You may not have context but you can draw some hefty conclusions and that alone makes me question, why? I'm not sure if there are many reveals that they DIDN'T tease, it's like they went out of their way to hit every single one. Whether it's Square or Nintendo, they need to figure out how to cut a trailer, heck, hire me, I at least have the editing skills and know what's interesting enough to show and what's too spoilery not to show, come on!

Is it newcomer friendly?

I heard a lot of things like "it drops you in without mercy so pay very close attention" (in terms of story, that is) so only people who played the original game will be able to get it. But I beg to differ, I think it does a pretty good job of filling you in while putting you in the shoes of a new player (both in the game and out) AND keeping the mystery of whatever happened since the last game coming in small pieces. Most of the dialogue text boxes are voice acted so it's not really a slog to read. To prove my point further, the premise starts out very similar so it should be easy to clue in what exactly happened in the last game. Of course you're going to get more enjoyment out of it if you played the original but I don't think you'd be totally lost if you started with this one and played to right before the ending because then it kinda has to do stuff without preface, so you're going to be confused by much of the emotional weight that it carries. But it still gives you plenty of time to catch up on the original, whether through the game, videos, or lore, this game has you ask the questions, so fill in the blank. It has a nice length to it so you'll have until the ending to figure it out. Also, Final Remix teased stuff that this game makes clarity on but I wouldn't call FR mandatory. (Except maybe no numbers on the hand? Maybe even I missed something there.)

[hayjeon]

Tips on creating fun fanfic headers!

i had so much fun writing the fanfic writing tips yesterday and i got a few more questions about header-making, and so i decided to make one more of these! i hope these tips help somebody out there! hope you enjoy :) 

p.s. these tips won’t require any hard editing skills or photoshop skills, nor any expensive tablets/apps! 

typically i spend around ~5-10 min creating one header, and that’s either after i think of/finish a fic. i have so much fun doing it and sharing it with you that i figured i’d share how i do it! 

why headers? 

as I talked about in my fic tips, one of the most eye-catching things about fics are headers. when i’m scrolling through a rec page, my home page, a tag, or even someone’s masterlist, i’m immediately drawn to well-made headers. that’s what captures my attention, and then i’m more drawn in by the content. so, you can say that headers is your own version of an ad for your own fic, or an extension of it (like the cover of a novel!) 

if you were writing your own book, imagine how much time you’d spend figuring out what you wanted your cover to look like. i try to have as much fun and invest as much time making my own headers because it’s just the cherry on top to my finished product :) 

disclaimer: BUT HEADERS ARE NOT NECESSARY/DO OR DIE! if you don’t feel like you want to do this, then keep writing! its ok! this is just a suggestion. i’ve seen plenty of well-written fics without headers at all, so don’t beat yourself up over not having one/not wanting to do one. this is truly just a fun, extra kind of thing, and only keep reading if you want to learn how i do it! :) 

tips for people who don’t want to make headers: if you still want something to make your fic stand out, use gifs! i use them in my drabbles a lot! this will at least give ur fic a lil boost! 

how to find pictures

I typically use unsplash, which is a free website in which photographers upload their HQ pics for free use. the pics are really high quality, typically stock photos, and don’t have any logos on them like other ones on google. unfortunately, you won’t find any pics of the members or anything, but you’ll find beautiful stock photos of typical scenes like “ocean scene” or “desert scene.” I found the stock photo for cut me open (shown below) on that site by just looking up “medical” or “doctor”. 

i used to use google a lot and just use keywords like “desert scene HQ” and edit the search settings to deliver HQ pics, and a minimum # of pixels, but unplash is definitely better in terms of quality, more aesthetic photos, and no logos/watermarks. 

on some occasions, i will screenshot some scenes of youtube videos, turning up the quality to 1080p or 4k and zooming in so that the pixelation is as crisp as possible, and then editing it later to look good (which i’ll explain in a second!) 

the above photo was a scene from the specific characters from the drama, “100 Days My Prince” that I screenshotted from a youtube video that TvN uploaded, recapping the drama. I cropped it just right so that their faces were left out, which i’ll also mention soon! 

things to look for when picking pictures: 

you want the picture to reflect a specific motif/theme from your fic! if its a moody fic, then try to find a moody scene that you can edit with filters/lighting to look even moodier; or if the characters’ jobs are a big portion of the fic (like cut me open/doctor theme) try to look for stock photos with that shown very clearly!

make sure its high quality: tumblr really dumbs down the quality of the photo when uploading it, so try your best to find something with a lot of pixels in it so that when you start editing, you don’t sacrifice too much of the quality already

try to look for something simple/clean: a picture with too much subject (ie. people in the background, or too much detail) may end up taking away from the main point of your header, which is your title. so find pics without too much clutter! 

try to make sure its landscape: which will help during editing to save some of the quality better. 

editing your pictures

now that you have a specific photo you want to use, now its time to edit! I use VSCO CAM (free app) and my own apple photos cropping tool for faster crops. 

crop/adjust: if your picture is too large/wide, crop it to at least a 16:9 ratio. i’d say aim for skinnier if you can, so that you don’t take up too much space (especially if you’re planning to add headers to your masterlist). also crop out any faces, any clutter, any unnecessary details, so you have a nice, clean slate to work on when adding text. 

contrast/sharpen/clarity/white balance/etc.: i’m not gonna give you a lesson on photography, but i’ll tell you I learned like 80% of everything that i know just by fiddling with it on VSCO! So just try it out and play with the app, see what you can make of it. i’d say a rule of thumb to follow is that you want happier fics with a brighter tone, and moodier/angsty fics with a darker tone so that it can reflect the nature of the fic further, without saying anything! 

if you wanna be extra af like me, then go a step further and photoshop your pics. this one is a good example; when i screenshotted this scene from another youtube video for my fic One Year My Love part 2, i was specifically looking for a scene that would showcase the ornate/regal details of their clothing/environment in contrast to part 1′s modest clothing/scene (the first header in this post). 

i found this scene, but actually, this scene portrays the Crown Prince and the Princess, not y/n. So, the actors weren’t smiling at all! They were actually frowning at eachother in this scene, to portray the tension between the two characters and their marriage. 

So, I took the extra step, adjusting the pic with VSCO so that their shoulders/chins were at the same level, cropped off their faces up until their lips, and then used the adobe photoshop free app to photoshop their lips to be SMILING at eachother!!!! subtle, but important! 

call me crazy for taking that much time but i’m so proud of how it turned out and i loved every second of making this one. that way, this scene makes it portray the happy ending for Jungkook and y/n! 

adding text to your header

you can use any app out there, but i really like Font Candy! I actually ended up buying the 2$ version of this and never regretted it, but you can actually find a lot of their basic fonts on the free version; I tend to use the fonts: OSTRICH SANS, BEBAS, TREND, and INTRO the most! these are pretty clean-looking, block letters that look good whenever i put them as my titles. 

I love this app too cause you can easily control the spacing between letters to make them take up more space, add shadows, or even make them contrast their background using the overlay feature; like this one i made for wildest dreams (see how the text changes depending on what part of the photo its on? amazing! it’s literally with a click of a button!!)

And i’ll always add “written by HAYJEON” or “by HAYEJON”, space it out, and add it somewhere underneath as my own branding.

orrrrrr 

if you want to be more creative, you can even go a step further and use whatever you have on hand to enhance whatever you’re trying to portray. 

for this one, i ended up finding this amazing photo on unsplash and i thought it would do a create job of portraying the “movie-set” quality of what wildest dreams is going to be about. this stock photo had someone else’s names on it, so i used my ipad, and used instagram to just erase the existing writing with the color of the background, and then wrote in my own title and url with my own handwriting/apple pen!!! 

i thought this was pretty cool because it’s like wildest dreams is its own movie/has its own movie set, which, once it’s out, you guys will see that it’s supposed to be! 

saving/uploading

this is pretty easy/obvious, but i figured i’d mention it. all the apps i mentioned are available on the appstore, and they will save directly to your photos. after doing that, i’ll just upload them into a special folder i have on my google drive so that when i’m finished writing a fic on tumblr using my laptop, i can easily download the photos without sacrificing quality. easy! 

and that way, i can save them forever; even if i have to delete them from my computer, i can always redownload them! 

side note: making text separators

i just recently started doing this, but ever since tumblr took down their text separators, i’ve just been cropping the bottom like 5-10 pixels of the header to use as my text separators! (with my laptop)

i saw some other writer doing it and thought that it looked better than what i had used previously (a cropped photo of a random line i found on google); i found that doing this tied my fics together a little better and just looked better aesthetically; 

so there it is! hope you enjoyed! :) i would love to see what other tips you guys have been using, feel free to send me an ask or reply to this post; and if you end up using any of my tips, please let me know! I love to hear from you guys all the time <3 

lots of love, especially during these times, 

hay <3 

[calypsoff]

Fifteen. Part 6

Blowing out air as I pushed my hair down, that was unimaginable, I say that because I wouldn’t have thought this would have happened in my wildest dreams. I saw Lebron James, rubbing the top of my eyebrow, I am shook in a good way “that is it now, you are my bitch. The whole world knows now” looking over at Robyn smirking “how you feeling? I mean I kind of put you in the deep end with it but was it all ok? Did you enjoy your birthday treat, the first part?” nodding my head smiling “so much has happened and the best part of that was sharing the day with you, you made it even better. Just seeing you on the Jumbotron, seeing us on there just made me smile for all the right reasons. I loved the whole thing, you did more then enough but to spend the day with you, just goofing around and laughing, you were very intent with making sure I was ok. I felt it, with every touch, every hold. When I felt a little nervous you were there and it went better then I assumed, but being with you, it really made me happy. Thank you” Robyn placed her hand over her heart, she cooed out “I was expecting you to say how much you enjoyed the game itself, like forget me” shaking my head “you make me feel a lot, you made the day even better. Just seeing you on the screen, seeing us. It made me nervous but to see you’re all mine, I just. Thinking now, you are really my happiness. I just realised that yes you did that for me, but it was being there, to experience this with you. Through all the emotions I felt and the nervousness of the day, this isn’t just a run. You are really the one, like I mean it” Robyn shook her head “you’re going to make me cry, you were always like this with me. You were always feelings to me. Is my Chris there” I am making Robyn emotional “it was more clarity than anything, like I was never going to hurt you in that way. But we were just vibing, I wasn’t worried about cameras like I assumed, only when we left I was like y’all getting too close, but we were us, I just felt like us, just laughing” Robyn held her hand out, placing my hand in hers “I love you Chris, you don’t know how much this means to me. I came here not to make you feel this way, but I knew you would enjoy it” smiling at Robyn lightly.

Why is she like this, she has her own food but is eating mine “doesn’t make sense this?” I frowned “what doesn’t?” she is confused but is eating my food “you’re eating my chicken nuggets babe? You have your own fries also?” Robyn stared at me and grabbed another, is she real “yours tastes better” my mouth fell open “are you serious!? Get the fuck outta here, mine tastes better. It’s like me doing this” leaning over and biting her burger “hey!” she shouted in anger, moving back chewing the contents staring at her “not nice is it?” she looks so offended “but I wanted yours? That is mine, now I am missing parts of my burger Chris” shaking my head, she ain’t about to have my burger that is all I know “but I am missing it Chris?” now why do I feel bad “fine, you can have mine? Better? Just next time get nuggets if you wanted that” I wanted Robyn to decline but she didn’t, she took my burger and gave me her half eaten one “is this what women are like? To be with, they take everything” Robyn eventually smiled, happy and content with the fact I gave up my whole burger, she just wanted what I had.

I feel content, like I didn’t think I would feel the way I do because I assumed it would have gone terrible but no, I feel more in love. I don’t know if that is even a word, but I feel deeper for her and I love that for me, I think it’s the fact I had those feelings rush back to the time when she would watch me play basketball and then we would sit and laugh about random shit, just like now when we were just acting like fools “you not checked your phone yet?” Robyn moved off of me as we arrived back at the home “nope, I don’t really care. I am still smiling about everything, like I really think I just had a moment. A moment of contemplation, a moment where I realised that you are you and that will never change, I am happy. I am happy I been to my first game but also that it made me feel more things, I felt like I did when we would be talking in school after my games and I just feel giddy inside” I laughed, I am a whole goof “you’re making me so emotional; I have wanted you to see me as me always. I never changed, just because I am Rihanna that doesn’t mean a thing at all. I love you Chris and that will never change” sighing out “shall I check? My phone that is, niggas just going to be wilding out, I know them” Robyn nodded her head.

As expected, my phone is wild but also it has attracted people that stopped fucking with me. Like why is my cousin that doesn’t even care for me, hated what I did is now texting me “people are funny” I mumbled, I feel bad we are sat here, and the driver is just stood around “why?” Robyn questioned “because I don’t even talk to this cousin anymore, he came to see me once when I came out and I got his number, but he texts me saying you dating Rihanna? Cool cousin, the fuck does cool cousin mean?” Robyn let out an oh “Chris, these people will try and come back to you, they will try and get to you, but I am going to need you to be aware of fake people, of course they are going to try and come back. I don’t want you to get in any trouble like with what was happening in Virginia, stay away from people that wasn’t cheering you on before this, be careful” nodding my head tapping on Instagram “and if a bitch messages you on there you better tell them you are taken, and you tell me” she pointed, I chuckled tapping on my profile “holy shit, I am ten k followers!?” I spat “I am not shocked, fans were already following you but then add on the fact people will now be searching you, they will want to follow you to see me and be nosey, welcome to my world” that is crazy, Robyn pressed a kiss to my cheek.

The driver took a picture of Robyn and I; we haven’t even gone inside yet; we are just being two fools outside “you finally admitting it is warm outside?” Robyn wrapped her arms around my torso “I am a little cold actually” she scoffed “then why you unbuttoned your shirt, you’re being a show off huh” I grinned feeling a little shy, she is right. I am showing off because I got Robyn, I am super proud that I am with her. She hooked her finger onto my chain, lowering my head, I ran my tongue along her bottom lips, and she opened quickly. My tongue found hers and I moaned into her mouth. We both smiled against our lips, pressing a kiss to her lips again before moving back “you just post the picture” Robyn stepped back “can I?” Robyn furrowed her eyebrows “baby you can post anything but just in reason” that is dope, I can finally post Robyn, but I don’t want to flaunt it, I am not no clout chaser “I will post because we look cool as fuck, not going to lie” unlocking my phone, the picture is already there showing “yeah we look dope as hell” exiting out of my photos and tapping on Instagram, my Instagram is wild as fuck right now. Adding the picture of Robyn and I, adding the caption ‘Thug Life’ I can actually tag Robyn in this too, this is great.

Robyn’ family are funny as fuck, they are literally dancing “official baby, you both were so fucking cute though. Like you didn’t look nervous at all, were you?” I nodded my head “a little but Robyn made me feel so comfortable that I really didn’t feel it, also we was just vibing just like we did when we was kids. As you can see” they all want to know “can tell, you both were giggling so much on TV, nice to see my sister so happy about everything, lets celebrate” Mel held out the bottle of wine, she is dancing around with wine in hand “you can get used to this, every day is a party in this home” taking my jacket off smiling “TT, bitch you seem busy” watching Robyn walk off to Tina “do you want this back?” I asked Mel, he looked at me confused but Mel’ loud self-came over to me “baby no, this is yours, you keep it. You will get used to this life, I promise” she placed her arm around me walking off “aye, you want to go to the club tomorrow?” I swear I am just trying to keep up, now Rajad is asking me this “really?” I said confused “yeah, come. It will be fun, show you around” he patted my shoulder, that will dope “here is he, you got Barbados calling us like who is this man with our Robyn” I chuckled, I guess everyone is going to be asking that.

Putting my hand on Robyn’ torso and picked her up, placing her on the countertop. Standing in-between her legs watching Mel and Leandra act a complete mess, poor Tina she doesn’t know what to do but stand there. Rajad and Monica both went to sleep, Nicolette just stood with us watching them, they are actually funny. Robyn raked her nails over my head lightly and then wrapped her arms around my neck “they are crazy” Robyn started to nibble on my ear “girl, boo. You are just acting good now” Leandra waved her off, I grinned knowing damn well that Robyn probably did act out here and there “shall we go bed?” Robyn whispered in my ear “yeah, I am tired” I mumbled “shut the fuck up!” I snorted laughing, moving away from Robyn “come on baby, get on my back. We are going to bed, I put on the fire” Robyn hit my shoulder scoffing, we going to sleep and I am not even joking “nigga, why the fuck do you sleep so early?” I shrugged as Robyn wrapped her legs and arms around me “there we go” she nestled her face into my neck, she inhaled me “hold tight spider monkey” I laughed “no!” Robyn shouted “look at the love birds going to bed” turning my back to Leandra, she is recording “how old are you Chris! Going to bed so early” Mel is laughing, turning around to her “spider fucking monkey, I love it. Nah, y’all just cute. Please be blessed and go” Robyn put a middle finger up “fuck all of you, and Leandra. Come on Chris let’s go” holding Robyn’ legs laughing, she pressed kisses on the back of my neck “mhmm distracting me” feeling her grin against my neck and kissed my neck softly “you had to say spider monkey in front of them, Mel stopped breathing” I shrugged not caring “other stairs poppa” letting out on oh, I will never get used to this “yes” Robyn is really just relaxing while I carry her.

Sticking my tongue out as I balanced opening the door and Robyn “nearly there” Robyn said, she is no use “thank god” I breathed out, it opened. Kicking the door lightly open “and we arrive in the bedroom my Barbadian cherry, is Leandra going to post that?” I asked, not sure what she is like “oh yes, now it’s out she will. She posts everything, she is a whole bitch with that” turning away from the bed “and this is where you let me go before I shake you off” Robyn let me go “ok I am putting the fire on” Robyn gripped my arm “put that on, I swear I will get someone to remove this tomorrow. It’s fucking warm here!” she shouted “why are you this way, I like it. It makes me sleepy” Robyn doesn’t want to hear it, she is unbuttoning my top “oh your brother said he is taking me to a club tomorrow” she dragged her eyes up “the hell he ain’t, not yet. Just need to settle into your surroundings, we will be discussing things. Ignore Rajad” Robyn pressed kisses to my chest “I will have sex with you if I can put the fire on?” I am doing it mostly because I know it annoys her but I like it on, reminds me of home when I was younger and I would sleep in front of the fire, good times “you’re using your fingers” she rolled her eyes, I won.

[edwinmuch]

overachiever ✧ {zion}

summary: in which straight A student riley takes a break from her procrastinating to help pretty boy zion with more than just his homework

author’s note: @softhottie‘s submission for @temperaryheart‘s 700 follower challenge! literally posting on the last day but better late than never, right? (haven’t written for leisure in a while so fair warning)

prompt: prettymuch lyric (bolded)

warnings: mention of drugs, smut (oral, daddy kink, overstimulation, edging)

word count: 3.5k

No on-campus college experience is complete without the following things: sleepless coffee-driven nights, at least one blackout drunk party experience, and a casual hookup or two. Third year Sociology major Zion could definitely say he’s checked off all of the above (several times, he might add). He was especially well-versed in the collegiate sport of hooking up. In fact, he would probably be considered something of an MVP. He’s had his fair share of players in his game. But like with any sport, it takes strategy. There was a secret artform to finding the most opportune times for intimacy when in college. Shared rooms and thin walls don’t exactly allow for privacy, especially when the room in question is shared with a nosy Italian business major named Nick.

This is why Zion decided to make every second count when he discovered his best friend and roommate Nick would be out of their dorm room for a few hours. According to Nick, his abnormal psychology midterm was “going to be the death of him.” It was his last exam before finals week, and he knew he couldn’t afford to fail so he announced that he would be spending that entire Thursday evening in the library studying for it. Zion tried to hide his excitement at his friend’s departure.

“Damn bro, that sucks. Happy studying though,” he managed to utter on Nick’s way out, feigning concern.

When the door finally shut, it took him all of 30 seconds to dial up his favorite girl as of late: Riley Williams, this fiery Women’s and Gender Studies major who resided in his building on the floor above his. They had met in his 10AM sociology class about two and a half months ago. She was hard not to notice when her hand shot up for almost every question, portraying herself as someone who obviously reads over the required text after class. But unlike others, Zion actually paid more attention to her cute tendency to absentmindedly let her pen linger between her glossy lips when she found herself concentrating deeply and her seemingly never-ending collection of flattering outfits. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t notice the way her curves looked in one of her cropped cardigan and plaid mini skirt ensembles or the hypnotizing glint of her signature “B-A-B-Y” silver link necklace that adorned her collarbones so well. Despite her engagement in class and endearing mannerisms, she still came off as standoffish, working alone during paired in-class assignments and rolling her eyes at less than intelligent answers from other students in response to the professor’s questions. But, after the fourth lecture of her sitting in her unassigned assigned seat next to his, he decided to take a chance and strike up a conversation, relieved to be met with her dimpled, wide tooth smile; the rest was history.

He doesn’t really know how their current arrangement really came to be. It started off as occasional study sessions in Zion’s room since she obviously knew her material. Then, it had quickly become invitations to binge-watch Bojack Horseman, a show Riley prided herself on introducing to him, or to share a blunt with him and Nick at the end of a particularly stressful school week. But eventually, a few lines had blurred when an innocent smoke sesh (sans Nick) had a salacious end involving her on all fours and her clothes long discarded on his bedroom floor. With this new dynamic between them, he’s made a habit of calling or texting her when late night thoughts of her became too enticing to resist. He hadn’t been hitting her line lately though, the stress of studying for exams and completing assignments keeping them apart. But with midterm season coming to a close and Nick finally being out of his hair, the eager boy was aching to finally invite his favorite girl over once again.

“Hey Z. What’s up?” Riley answered on the second ring, the mellifluous sound of her voice already getting him worked up.

“Hey beautiful. So, Nick is out of the room for tonight,” Zion boasted, the smirk on his face apparent even through the phone.

She waited for him to continue, thinking there was more, but he never did.

“…Okay, and? What’s that gotta do with me? Why should I drop everything to help you get a nut? I’m in the middle of writing a paper, you know,” she replied as she flicked through Netflix titles. He didn’t need to know that her “paper writing” actually equated to television streaming. Her point still stands.

“Babyyy come on, stop playin’,” he whined, “You know, I’m never selfish. Besides, the post-nut clarity of an orgasm or two will help you focus on your paper. Just gimme an hour, please?”

“Ugh I don’t know.” Although the specificities of their current relationship (or situationship, rather) had never been fully discussed, Riley must admit his sweet delivery of “baby” really made her insides scramble. At this point, she was ready to be laid up in Zion’s bed (preferably under him), especially since she wasn’t actually doing anything productive anyway, but she was also ready to hear him beg for it.

“Please baby, it’s been weeks since I’ve had you to myself. I’ll make it worth your while. Nick’s probably gonna be gone most of the night too so when you show up, m’gonna put this time to use,” the insatiable boy persuaded, the seductive rasp of his voice prominent in his last few words.

“Welllll, when you put it like that,” she began, smiling to herself as she was almost able to hear Zion’s excitement through the phone, “I’ll be there in 20.”

~~~

Riley stepped off the elevator and trodded down the RA-decorated hallway in her pink fuzzy slides to Zion’s dorm room door where she placed a soft knock. She barely had time to collect herself before the door swung open revealing a shirtless Zion leaning against the doorframe, his platinum-dyed dreads braided back into two cornrows and his dark gray cotton sweatpants hanging low enough to reveal almost the entirety of his happy trail. He wasted no time pulling her into the room. She couldn’t help the smile that crept onto her face at her observation of the atmosphere Zion had created for her. His Himalayan salt lamp lit the room up in a sensuous coral hue while Next Town Down’s Lovers Theme (Interlude) played in the background.

“Next Town Down, huh?” she teased with a quirk of her lips, knowing she put him on to the musical group.

Zion smiled down at her with a set of dimples to match her own. “Yeah I know you like them. Thought it might help put you in the mood,” he shrugged smugly with his devilish smile still present on his face.

“Oh please! I know you bump them when I’m not around,” she giggled, poking him in his chest as she made her point.

“Yeah whatever,” he chuckled, his hands falling to her hips. He slowly backed them up towards his plush loveseat in the corner of the room. Once the back of his calves touched the suede material of the couch, he plopped onto the cushion. Riley followed suit, climbing onto his lap with her knees digging into the cushion on either side of him and her freshly manicured hands finding their way wrapped behind his head.

Zion made sure the dainty girl was comfortable in his lap before his large hands snaked up her luscious thighs, rubbing her up and down before finding their place on her derrière with a squeeze.

“Mmm I missed you baby.”

“Oh really? How much?” she whispered in his ear, sending chills up his spine.

“Don’t worry, imma show you.” And with that, he started his determined campaign on her neck, kissing up the area of exposed flesh even going as far as to flick his tongue out as he reached her jawline. She pulled away for a moment to slip her cropped sweatshirt over her head, fluffing out the resultant curls of her day old twist out once it passed over her head. She was left with nothing covering her upper half as she had made the deliberate decision not to wear bra to come over.

She couldn’t contain the soft moans and content sighs that escaped her lips. As he sponged wet kisses to the sensitive spot under her earlobe and his nimble fingers worked her hardening nipples, she instinctively ground her hips into his for some added friction between them.

“Need these off you too ma,” Zion whispered, snapping the waistband of her sweat shorts. And with no hesitation she complied, getting up briefly to slide them down her supple legs. She silently thanked herself for her lingerie selection; the pink and navy blue lace of her panties graciously highlighted the warm bronze undertones of her golden brown skin as well as the generous curve of her ass.

She sunk back down onto his lap, hands carefully placed on his shoulders as she returned to grinding against Zion’s ever hardening member with a little more fervor. Before the boy could utter another word, Riley pressed her lips against his in a feverish kiss.

Zion reciprocated with the same amount of enthusiasm, accepting every sloppy collision of their tongues and sensuous bite of his bottom lip with a gratified squeeze of her thigh with one hand and a rub of her lower back with the other. She quickly began her descent down his neck. Nipping, licking, sucking from his jawline to his collarbone.

A lazy smile crept upon Zion’s face as a chuckle passed his lips. “For someone who ain’t even wanna come over here, you sure are eager, huh?”

“Shut up,” she smiled against his skin, “Listen, you promised me ‘an orgasm or two’ and I intend on getting it.”

“And I’m a man of my word baby girl.” And with that challenge, Zion hooked his strong hands under Riley’s thick thighs and hoisted her from the couch, allowing her to lock her legs around his torso. Without pulling their lips away from each other, Zion walked them to his extra large twin sized bed.

He lowered her onto the bed so that her legs dangled off the end. He slinked between her legs before dropping to his knees in front of her. Riley rose off the bed slightly to lean back on her elbows; she watched as he ran his soft hands up her awaiting thighs, never losing eye contact as he did so. His nimble fingers stopped at the elastic waistband of her panties. He smirked as he mentally took note of the ever-growing wet spot in its crotch area before deftly slipping the cloth barrier down her legs and onto the carpeted floor.

“Mmm so wet for me baby,” he wasted no time hooking her legs onto his shoulders.

“Just for you,” she breathed out as a shuddered moan while Zion left lingering kisses up her inner thigh until he reached her throbbing center. He hovered there for a bit, blowing lightly against her folds. She hissed at the sudden cold air hitting her soaking cunt.

“God Zion, do something,” she whined, absentmindedly pushing his head further toward the area she needed him most.

Her wish was his command as he kissed and sucked on her folds before dipping his tongue in between them to lick a stripe at her opening. He took this time to admire her and take note of how cute she looked laying there with her bottom lip drawn between her teeth. That’s when his eager tongue found her sensitive bundle of nerves, flicking figure eights into it before sucking.

“Ahh feels so good,” Riley moaned in a whisper, grabbing at his blond locs as he lapped at her bud. Her hips began instinctively lifting slightly off the mattress as she was nearing her peak. Zion’s large hands took hold of them to anchor her and continue his gluttonous feast.

It wasn’t long before she was met with the all too familiar feeling in the pit of her stomach as she gushed into Zion’s awaiting mouth. Her eyes screwed shut and her mouth fell open allowing a loud stream of obscenities to flow from it.

Once her thighs stopped trembling, Zion released their hold from around his neck and rose from his place on his knees. Riley backed up toward the headboard so her entire body could spread across the bed and she could watch Zion’s every move. In two swift motions, Zion’s sweats were removed from his body to reveal that he was wearing nothing else underneath. He crawled on top of her and placed a wet, needy kiss to her lips. He licked into her mouth sloppily, allowing her to taste herself on his tongue.  

“What next baby?” he uttered breathily between messy kisses. She placed her hand on his chest to signal for him to pull away for a moment. He complied looking down at her flushed face and swollen lips.

“Can I sit on it?” she said softly in the most innocent tone possible. The sight of her plump lips pulled into a pout and her doe eyes peering up at him through her cascading lashes were enough to make his dick twitch.

“Course baby,” he punctuated his confirmation with a kiss to her lips before climbing off of her and landing on his back. He laid comfortably against his pillow, waiting for her to make her next move.

Riley sat up and swung her leg over his body. She hovered over his length before Zion helped her sink down onto it. She winced at the initial stretch but released a satisfied sigh once she finally bottomed out.

After taking a moment to adjust to his size, she began to rock her hips back and forth. Once she found her rhythm, Zion got comfortable, hands clasped behind his head watching her titties bounce as she moved above him. She placed her palms on his chest to steady herself and give herself more leverage to bounce on him more quickly.

“Fuck Daddy, you feel so good,” she drawled out with each swivel of her hips. She praised herself internally at the coy slip of the pet name, knowing how much it riled him up during their last rendezvous. As she expected, the sweet phrase flicked a switch for the boy whose large hands found themselves grabbing at her sides hungrily. It was always a surprise to him when she was vulgar during sex as she was usually prim and proper in any other scenario, but his surprise was most certainly not a complaint.

“Say that shit again,” he growled, beginning to thrust up into her.

“You f-feel so good insi-ide me, Daddy,” she moaned, falling forward in response to a particularly forceful slap to her ass. Zion took this opportunity to capture one of her breasts in his mouth, sucking and swirling his tongue around her erect little bud.

Riley began to fall apart above him, the sinful sound of their skin slapping against each other and the full feeling of him thrusting into her so deeply were taking their toll on her. She could barely form a coherent sentence through her incessant whimpers.

“So cl- close,” she stuttered, digging her nails into his shoulders as she prepared herself for a second orgasm, the buildup much more intense than the last. She loudly cried out a chant of “Yes daddy”s, uncontrollably clenching around him while he continued to rail into her from below. She rode out her high, the longest she’d had in a while. Before long, she fell forward onto her lover’s chest in exhaustion with a drawn-out exaggerated sigh.

Just as she was ready to roll off of him and call it a night, Zion reached up and grabbed her by the throat, whispering in her ear, “You ready for number 3 baby?”

Her eyes widened as she weakly replied, catching her breath, “You said one or two. I already came twice.”

With a mischievous smirk, Zion eyed her naked body with the same hunger he had when she first walked through the door. “Yeah well I also said I’d make it worth your while. What can I say? I’m an overachiever,” he chuckled darkly, easing her off of his length. She winced at the newfound emptiness.

“All fours for me baby,” he rasped, sitting up and allowing her to spread out on her hands and knees in front of him.

“Yes daddy,” she did as she was told. Her glistening core and the remarkable roundedness of her rump on full display. He palmed a large handful of her ass, earning a sharp inhale from her.

“So good for me baby,” Zion whispered, palming more of her flesh into his hand before winding it back for another good slap across her right buttcheek. She moaned loudly in response, falling forward on her elbows from the impact.

He lined himself up, teasing her entrance. The tickle of his squishy head rubbing against her opening was becoming unbearable as she was aching to be filled up for a second time. At the sound of Riley whimpering with her bottom lip caught between her teeth, Zion pushed into her slowly, egged on by her surprised gasp. Just as he was about to fill her to her hilt, he took a moment to admire how he seemed to fit inside her so perfectly, almost as if he was the sword to her sheath.

He started off slow to allow Riley to adjust and to ensure that he didn’t bust immediately. He’d been holding off from his release to make sure his girl had gotten multiple. So, needless to say, he was at risk of busting very soon.

His slow thrusts eventually stilled to a complete halt. Before she could open her mouth to complain, his hand came down to spank her bottom once again. He kneaded the area he just slapped as he grumbled to her, “Throw that shit back for me, mama.” And without skipping a beat, Riley began to rock herself back and forth, allowing her ass to crash against him continuously. The sound of her cheeks clapping against his front and her strangled moans at the feeling of getting herself off on him was like music to his ears.  

“Who’s making you feel this good baby?” Zion questioned with yet another smack to her rear.

“You daddy, only you,” she drawled on, speeding up slightly out of an eagerness to please him.

He was so blown away by her ability to take him so well. But he was not surprised when her movements eventually lost their rhythm, knowing she was probably close to her peak. So in an attempt to regain control, he roughly locked his hands at her hips before ramming into her at a relentless pace.

“Oh my god Zion!” she shouted, leaving her mouth hanging wide open. Her strained cries became louder with every snap of his hips.

If this assault on her insides wasn’t enough, not only did Zion dig his knees further into the sheets, allowing himself to lean back and pound into her at a deliciously pleasurable new angle, but he also skimmed his fingers down her front to ferociously rub circles into her pearl. The sensation was almost too much to bear, especially considering the two orgasms she already had under her belt. Her eyes flew shut as she hit her forearm against the bed repeatedly in a motion that most wrestlers would recognize as a “tap out.”

“Ah fuck, m’not gonna last daddy!” she screamed, legs beginning to quiver.

“Me either baby,” he grunted shortly before she pulsed around him so deliciously, milking him for every hot spurt he had in him.

They languidly rode out their climaxes together until Zion gently pulled out of Riley allowing them both to lay back against his satin pillowcases. She clung to his side nuzzling her face into his chest, appreciative of the post-orgasm high he provided her.

“Okay, ‘Mr. Overachiever’,” Riley sighed, still a bit out of breath as she looked up at him with her bright eyes and lazy smile.

“Mmm, I like the sound of that,” he hummed, smacking an obnoxious smooch to her cheek, “Where’s your phone? I’m changing my name in your contacts to that right now.”

He eyed her brightly colored, flower pressed phone case from across the room and attempted to climb off the bed to retrieve the girl’s smartphone from the couch where, until that moment, it had been forgotten.

“No, stoppp,” she giggled, slinging her leg across his torso and pushing his shoulders into the mattress before he could even make a move. He playfully grabbed at her waist, tickling her sides to try to overpower her. She squirmed under his grasp.

“Nah, I’m changing that shit. Maybe people will see it and think I’m tutoring you for once. Whatchu think?” he joked, his hearty laugh combining with her pleading giggles.

Their tickle fight continued until it devolved into a soft, comfortably silent cuddle between them, thoughts of paper deadlines or interfering roommates being long forgotten, and Zion wouldn’t have it any other way.

[inventors-fair]

Weird Commentary: Thanks

I would call this one of our most successful contests. Not every card was a gold standard, not every card made me squeal with glee, but every single one had love, thought, and heart put into them. I’m even more impressed with the fact that over 2/3 of contestants actually made their own art! As a not-artist myself, I understand how challenging that can be sometimes. I’m just having a moment where I’m proud of everyone.

Also, for this commentary, I’m trying something a little different. Tell me if you like it!

@3smuth​ — Burrow-Wing Amalgam

What I like: Besides the gorgeous art (look at the curve of the moon behind the wing!), the wording is great, and the abilities are well-rounded for an uncommon. I like how the flavor text builds up the “character” of the creature, making it seem more alive, and tying in to the abilities as well. That’s hard to do!

What we can improve: I find that the first ability giving it two mono-black abilities a little jarring. There are only two BG fliers in black-border canon, and that’s not to say that this couldn’t be added to that list, but it’s mildly off-putting; I kept thinking that this could be an Abzan card, maybe with G/W hybrid in the cost? But that’s entirely dependent on the environment. It’s hard to visualize one in which BG has an uncommon pseudo-flying beater, but it’s not to say that it’s impossible — just a hard sell.

Allison — Salheim, The Twisted Storm

What I like: This feels like a fun commander who would also be good in draft. A cheap body means that your spells can be small bodies that return at the start and huge potential bodies later. I like how it limits it to the first spell, so you can’t go infinite for less than ten mana with some other combo pieces. Honestly, this is a fantastic mechanical card.

What we can improve: There are a few grammatical mistakes to clean up, small pieces of Magic wording. “The” in the name should be lowercase, as should “Blue” and “Red” in the text box. “spells” should have a possessive apostrophe, and “it’s” shouldn’t. Don’t forget a period at the end before the quotation mark! I would also shorten the trigger: “...you may pay (X) [symbol], where X is that spell’s converted mana cost.”

@ceta-maelstrom​ — Camouflage Krasis

What I like: “Cat fish” is an awesome creature combo! Your art brings that across really well. With the new-ish arrival of Cat tribal and the rise in the creature type, I think that this is a welcome addition. I like the hexproof clause. It gives it a flavor of “as long as I’m small, I can’t be seen.”

What we can improve: Metamorph is a little hard to parse. Because of the “if” in the middle breaking up the sentence, I thought “it” referred to the creature entering the battlefield, and that that creature would get two counters. My mistake. Hm, how to reword it... “Whenever another nontoken creature enters the battlefield under your control, put two +1/+1 counters on this creature if it has no +1/+1 counters on it.” No, that’s a little awkward too... There can be a little more clarity. I think the mechanic is worth playing around with.

@dancepatternalpha​ — The Rat King

What I like: Simple, easy to understand, cool synergistic potential. I think this would be a fun build-around-me card. You mentioned something about Innistrad not having a rat king; would you believe they had one mechanically, in the form of Dark Imposter? I actually thought it was potential inspiration, different flavor.

What we can improve: Like Dark Imposter, I believe that the “all activated abilities” should be a separate line. When it comes to that, the similarities are a little stark, but I think the King distinguishes itself from the Imposter by its legendary status and the fact that it exiles your own creatures. I’m not getting a strong sense of either “ooze” or “construct,” though. “Ooze,” I would honestly just take off altogether. “Construct,” in Magic history, implies an artifact creature, something built by something else, and I’m not getting a sense of that either. “Noble” might be fun, if a little on the nose.

@dimestoretajic​ — Cryptizub, Steel Abomination

What I like: It’s certainly a limited beater, something that reminds me of Scuttling Doom Engine from back in the day. It can be incredibly powerful in the late game and can fit into any slot. Oof, give it lifelink? And you’re in good shape.

What we can improve: The first thing I got from this card that’s iffy is the name; it sounds like a legendary creature. “Steel Abomination” would be just fine. For the activated ability, I believe going off of Banshee’s oracle text, that you need to say “~ damage equal to its power to target creature, and damage equal to its power to you.” Not an absolute, but it’s one possibility. Don’t forget to italicize Threshold. The flavor text is a little on the nose. I would either shorten it or just leave it off. The card carries a world by itself as a magic beatstick.

@gollumni​ — Severed Stone-Seer

What I like: This is a card that would definitely get you a-head of the curve!..... Ahem. I think this card successfully fits into the world of Theros, with a little jank. The flavor text is really great. It’s a powerful card with a big butt. I can imagine this taking over games of limited quite easily.

What we can improve: Five toughness might be too powerful. A 3-mana 2/4 with deathtouch is pretty nasty as-is; at five toughness, stuff becomes a lot harder to remove. As much as I do like what you wrote here, I’m still having trouble fitting “Gorgon Hydra” into my mind as something reasonable, considering that the two have such distinct qualities already. “Gorgon Head” could be fine, maybe even “Hydra Head.” Both have great mythological flavor. Small note that I’m unsure of: would it be “create a token copy of” or “create a token that’s a copy of”?

@grornt​ — Carnivorous Multitusker

What I like: Yup, that’s a mutant boar hydra all right! It’s big, it’s bad, it’s green, it takes over games, and it’s a great bomb. This feels like a quintessential green creature right here, with the exception of the weird types. Maybe the Simic and the Gruul could come together to make something like this, yeah? I’d love to open this in a pack and/or add it to a starter deck. Wish it was powerful enough for Standard. Maybe it is, who knows? I like how your added aspects of both boars and hydras from Magic’s past.

What we can improve: This is a pedantic point, but I’d like to see “Mutant” at the end rather than the beginning. Aside from that, I think the flavor text, smirk-worthy as it is, doesn’t really add to the card or to the world. I’d rather see something like on Protean Hulk, a little more expanse. 

@i-am-the-one-who-wololoes​ — Apex of Evolution

What I like: Wow, you really went all-out with the creature types, huh? I think that you used the mechanics pretty well to get the feeling of “a creature that grows from your experience and also eats other creatures to gain their strength.” It’s a build-around-me card that’s fun if you can beef it up.

What we can improve: Firstly, the flavor text pushes the card from “wordy” into “too much.” I love adding it where needed, but with this much text, and with this strong a mechanical focus, you don’t really need it. I feel that in this instance especially it doesn’t add anything that the card doesn’t already have. For the second ability, it should be a full if-clause: “If a creature dealt damage by ~ would die, exile it instead.” And the game already knows that those cards are imprinted “with it” so you don’t need to add that. For the last ability... That’s way too many clauses. “Apex of Evolution has all abilities of cards exiled with it.” It does add some baggage, yes, but most creatures won’t have those negative effects, and, well, that’s a risk of combat to take. This creature already makes combat complicated.

@ignorantturtlegaming​ — Fabled Fox

What I like: Cool art, and cool combo! I think that two creature types works well here; it’s a Fox, and it’s a Dragon, and that’s that. This seems like a card that, when it hits, can really get you ahead in a game. I like how the last ability implies a world with Fox tribal; that’s grokable.

What we can improve: There are a few things that this card has that it doesn’t necessarily need. The mana cost has no reason not to be 3WRG; why the doubling-up? I don’t really understand the blue restriction. Is this card a bomb, or a hate-card? I don’t feel that it needs to be both. In the Cycling part, don’t forget to add the cycling cost inside the reminder text and add a colon. I believe the last ability could be — and be mindful of the punctuation — “When you cycle ~, you may search your library for a Fox or Dragon card, reveal that card, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.” See Krosan Tusker. Small note: I believe the way that abilities go, it should be worded “Flying, lifelink, haste” in that order.

@industrialsalad​ — The Origin of Oddities

What I like: I find it a little hard to take seriously, but you went ham with the types here, and I love reading “Elder Vampire Sponge.” It’s an interesting take on fossils as a concept. I think that with the advent of ability word counters, this card could be a fun little build-around me. I also like how it can steal counters from your opponents’ permanents!

What we can improve: This card does not feel legendary. I understand that it’s “the origin,” but I mean more in terms of how Magic’s other legends feel, what this card brings to that set of established unspoken rules. Maybe some flavor text could have amended that, and it could definitely explain the Vampire type, which feels distinctly out of place, especially for a colorless artifact. Small grammatical notes: “Oddities’s” doesn’t need “’s,” and it should be “fewer than five” spelled out. 

@ishouldgetatumbler​ — Ash, Hydromorph Shaman

What I like: This is a distinct Simic feel! An elf shaman who becomes a hydra, who morphs themself into a mutant. Very nice. This is indeed a powerful card, and I think this is one of those legends that would be great in limited and in the other 99 in a commander deck. Or you could build around putting it into your hand! Fun stuff!

What we could improve: Not a lot to make better here. Firstly, though, this could be a rare in this day and age. It only brings it to hand, and you need to commit a fair amount for it to matter heavily. Small grammar notes: “counters on it” for the first ability, “its power” instead of “its,” and...that’s about it! Save it for a cube!

@jsands84​ — Dandylion

What I like: This was really close to being a runner-up. I love the types and how they come together, the use of a powerful hybrid card and the pushing of it to uncommon without it feeling OP, the use of spore counters, the aggressive P/T for limited, and man, there’s flavor in the fact that it doesn’t fog itself. It’s like, Everyone has allergies except for me! It’s super cool. Shoutout to @iguanamouth​.

What we can improve: Small notes. I think the name is a little cutesy for Magi, but that’s not a biggie, more of a personal quirk. I feel that “Cat Plant” parses better than “Plant Cat,” and maybe there’s alphabetical justification, idk. “Three” should be spelled out instead of “3.” I’d love to see flavor text here, just a line or so. Other than that, radical cat-ical!

@lyxine​ — Ahrizhel, the Wanderer

What I like: Now that’s a combo! It’s a bomb in limited to be sure, a great token-maker and legend to be reckoned with. I’ve always been a fan of Lure effects in green, even if they don’t always work out for me. Giving it to any creature you want is pretty neat.

What we can improve: My main concern is green fliers. I know that for dragons it’s an okay bend, but making more fliers as well? I think that’s too much of a bend; Hornet Queen is almost a break as-is, despite the massive cost. And the fact that this one can create 4-5 of them the turn after it hits the battlefield? That by itself is far too powerful. I would unfortunately call this one a break. Wording notes: “deathtouch” shouldn’t be capitalized, and there should be commas after the green mana symbols. The flavor text could use a little pizzaz, some more specific poetic words.

@mistershinyobject​ — Ludevic’s Familiar

What I like: That is indeed a weird zombie dog. The unique mechanical approach you took here is fascinating and experimental. It’s strange enough to warrant questions if it’s playable in certain formats. Modern Dog Mayhem? Hey, who knows. 

What we can improve: This is a weird targeting system, and I don’t know if it’s in the good way. The fact that you can pay BB for a redirect effect is potentially a break, but it makes sense otherwise. (B)(U/R) could have worked, perhaps? I’m not entirely sure why the hybrid was chosen in this way here. It’s probably for the best, honestly, but it’s still a little iffy for me. I like the flavor text in a memetic way, but a) I don’t think I can see Ludevic saying this and b) it really toes the line. I think it would be best not to have it, or to have more wordplay and not a quote. I would also put the types as “Dog Zombie Weird” personally, but there’s probably not precedent for it.

@nine-effing-hells​ — Chalkyri Resplendent

What I like: Bonus points for having me learn a new word and new creature type. I had no idea the name was an actual thing! It’s useful for getting something like this, I suppose, and you did an amazing job with the art and flavor text. This does indeed seem like an awesome angel serpent thing.

What we can improve: My main concern is giving the permanents hexproof. It works for white, but not RW multicolor, in my opinions. Seems a little too powerful, despite the flavor work-in. I’m 65% sure the wording should be “it’s not your turn” instead of “it isn’t your turn,” but don’t quote me on that. See oracle text on Angry Mob. Aside from that, this is a fine beat-worthy beast.

@real-aspen-hours​ — Octothreat

What I like: Octopuses and spiders go hand in hand in hand in — etc. This is a huge limited card that reminds me of Pelakka Wurm from Rise of the Eldrazi when it first came out: big beefy boy. I think that it would be an interesting card for sealed, a huge blowout, and a great body. Very powerful card. Oh man, blinking it? Lordy.

What we can improve: Most of what we can improve are minute wording things for presentation. Keep in mind that if you do a text submission, your wording is copied exactly. The types should be capitalized, there doesn’t need to be a period after “Trample,” and there should be a period at the end of “step.” Mechanically, the text should say “up to eight target creatures.”

@shakeszx — Wyrveplasm

What I like: A big oozy boy! This feels appropriately like a drake and appropriately like an ooze. It’s a complicated card that works just as well on its own as it would in a deck centered around it. And I think that mythic is the right choice here, honestly. This thing can run away with games.

What we can improve: ...except for the death loop. If it had no counters on it when it dies, then it creates a 0/0 who dies and creates a 0/0, ad infinitum. Infinite death triggers on a single card, well, that’s a no-no. So how do we fix it? Change the last ability: “When ~ dies, if it had any +1/+1 counters on it, create a token that’s a copy of it, except that token’s base power and toughness are equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on ~ when it died.” ... Okay, it’s not perfect, but the token wording is right and the “base” is there. Modern Magic, woo.

@snugz​ — Chronocular Bivalve

What I like: Chronocular is a brilliant word. This card was super close to being a runner-up/winner as well. This is a control card for limited to the max. It’s powerful, it’s super complicated, and it exists in a world of theoretical phasing that’s, well — I might not want to play in it, but I know people that would. Super cool.

What we can improve: Not much to improve here. “Non” shouldn’t be capitalized, and I’m not entirely sure what the point of that second ability is, but that’s just about it. Sorry there’s not a lot to say here, but you did a fine job and the card speaks for itself.

@starch255​ — Roving Squidtaur

What I like: It’s strong! It’s tentacled! It’s...got nipples? Squipples? Right, before I get any more sexually confused, let’s talk about the card. This is a world of sentient half-squid monstrosities. And I kind of love it. I think that mechanically you did some really neat things with this card. You included all aspects of the colors together, and they make for a three-colored beater that’s just plain good in the formats it would see play in.

What we can improve: I’m super bugged by vigilance in a way I shouldn’t be. Yes, I know it’s green, but it just feels...off?? Like, why is a berserker vigilant? I always got the impression that they would be more tramply, that they wouldn’t be as keen-eyed or direct. But that’s just me being weird. There’s nothing “””wrong””” with it. This one could definitely 10/10 have used some flavor text, though. I want to know more about this roving squid-person!

@tmstage​ — Bandicooze

What I like: Whoa! Yep, that’s a five-mana 3/3, but it’s a fine limited beater for its cost. Instant counters in the right deck and it’s good to go! I’ve only tangentially been connected with Crash games, but I get exactly how you tied it together nicely. This card just makes me smile.

What we can improve: I might make it a 4/3, or give it trample or haste or something. Aside from that... It’s a meme, and memes get what they deserve: a nice chuckle.

@whuh-oh​ — Arctic Narwhuck

What I like: The simple two-type “Whale Bird” aspect fits pretty well here. Other people did a diving/burrowing theme, and I think yours works well here. Four mana for a 3/2 flier with potential upside is pretty great in limited for an uncommon!

What we can improve: Islandwalk and landwalk in general hasn’t been in the game for a while, and I don’t know if this card needs that throwback. I get how it works flavorfully, and I like that part a lot. It’s just that modern sensibilities would let it just have hexproof. See Canopy Dragon’s oracle text as well; I think it gains things before it loses things. The flavor text is fine, but very vague, and doesn’t necessarily add to the card.

@woman-of-the-fen​ — Goldenhump Camelsaurus

What I like: Naya dinosaurs are always welcome! I also like the way you tied camels and deserts together to make a hybrid. The ape and rampage go together, I assume, and you conveyed that well in the art. 

What can be improved: Rampage, well, hasn’t been around for a while, just like landwalk, and for good reason. It’s simply not a great mechanic. I can see it working as a one-off in a Horizons set, but it’s still not the aspect I would have chosen. The first ability creates an infinite loop that lasts until the Camelsaurus dies; you fight, get dealt damage, then fight again, etc. Give it indestructible and it’s a boardwipe. Wait, and it creates an infinite loop; if it survives, then it’s forced to target itself. “Enrage — Whenever ~ is dealt damage, you may have it fight target creature you don’t control.” Still doesn’t fix the board-wipe issue. Might need to take this one back to the drawing board. For the flavor text, don’t forget that if you’re quoting someone, their name belongs on a separate line.

@wpandp​ — Apaprik Muster

What I like: Gosh darnit. Deviled eggs. C’mon man... I do love it, though. I like the concept of an egg filled with demonic creatures, imps and whatnot. It’s a scary thought! I like how you played around with mutate here. I personally don’t like mutate as a mechanic, but it’s not a huge issue. You used it well.

What can be improved: I’m still a little uncertain as to what world this card is inhabiting and what the name is implying. Why are devils and demons mutating? Why is “Muster,” an abstract noun, being used as the naming convention for an egg? Why does it have the food ability? I mean, I know, it’s all part of the play that this card is making, but it doesn’t really make mechanical sense.

~

Thank you all for your entries! Get ready to make cards for tomorrow.