#songs from within birdcages

[nettlestingsoup]

fic intro time again! i've been working on this one almost non-stop since september, and i'm really happy to have it done! it's a little different to anything i've written before in that it works off an already established relationship, but i hope that people enjoy it anyway. first chapter goes up sometime next week!

songs from within birdcages

chanjin, 56.3k

science fiction, adventure-romance

The freighter, Chan can’t help but think, is moving too slowly.

It always seems to this close to the end of the journey; the hours grow longer as the vast swathe of space between the cargo ship and the wonderful, tangled mess of the Rinan Cluster begins to fall away, the darkness of space outside the windows beginning to brighten with faint hints of electric lilac and artificial green. As they draw closer still, individual lights appear, signposts hung in space that flicker and flutter and mark the way. Home, they say. Sanctuary.

That’s what rinan means, apparently, in a language Chan doesn’t know the name of. Home. Felix had explained it to him once, the two of them bathed in the soft glow of one of the newer ships on the outskirts of the Cluster as they’d tried to find some peace and quiet. Over a century ago, he’d said, a wandering species had slowed their ships here, sheltered in the edges of a nebula, for repairs; they hadn’t intended to stay long, seeking out a planet to build a more permanent home, but other ships had found them and stopped for conversation or exchange of resources, and a little community of sorts had been formed. Friendships and families had bloomed beneath the dim lilac glow of the dust clouds and bridges had been built, connecting hull to hull and airlock to airlock to form a communal space where anyone could wander between ships at will. More travellers had come across them eventually, of course, and some had stayed, adding their ships to the comfortable little facsimile of a town. Others had chosen to leave and return again, bringing in resources and fuel and friends, and docking ports had been built to accommodate their travels more easily. As the decades and generations passed, the structure had grown and grown into something almost unrecognisable, an intricate mass of ships and species too varied for Chan to comprehend. A hundred cities combined into one. A mechanical planet, growing all the time, the original ships at the centre covered and built over and lost to time.

It’s a beautiful place, lit up in lavender and aurora-green, but Chan hasn’t explored as much of it as he should.

He spends a good deal of his time on one particular ship, after all.

[moonriselabyrinth]

My top 10 Brackwood songs & why each qualifies

War of Hearts by Ruelle: “I can’t help but love you even though I try not to” pretty much sums up the one scene we got between them, it was the tension and undertone we all picked up on. It’s what Davos was thinking as his hand turned just slightly towards Aeron’s even as he approached him heatedly.

Daylight by David Kushner: the expression of religious guilt surrounding sex/a relationship, the lines like “telling myself, I won’t go there” and “telling myself it’s the last time”, the idea that this expression of sexuality must be concealed and only allowed to live at night, I could go on forever probably.

Once More to See You by Mitski: the sweet melancholy of this song while being about loving someone dearly but being forced to keep it secret and living for seeing them just one more time fits Aeron and Davos devastatingly well.

Love and War by Fleurie: to keep it simple the line “lover, hunter, friend and enemy, you will always be every one of these” alone makes it perfect for them.

Rule #34 by Fish in a Birdcage: The elegance of this song that’s talking about kinky sex is so impressive and lovely to listen to in the first place and I think that fits Aeron and Davos very well. They want to tear each other apart in a tender sort of way. And the singer expressing possessiveness within those moments is, again, very fitting.

Six Feet Under By Billie Eilish: this song is about a love that is already doomed but having hope that with a little care and effort it would flourish even if you know deep down it can’t, you need that hope.

I Bet on Losing Dogs by Mitski: they are each others losing dogs. “Where I’ll be looking in their eyes when they’re down”, “I’m losing by their side”, “someone to watch me die”.

My Love Mine All Mine by Mitski: Davos and Aeron can’t have much of their own. They live in a time, a place, and within a system that takes everything from them as individuals. They are a Bracken and a Blackwood not Davos and Aeron. They are the sons of highborn men, they are river men, they should be knights and fighters, good at riding horses and killing and hunting, they are to marry a woman and have children and continue on their line. The only thing that truly belongs to them is personal thoughts and feelings. The only thing they can keep for themselves is loving each other.

Doomsday by Lizzy McAlpine: this one might not fit quite as well as some of the others on my list but I really like it for them all the same. I feel they could both easily come into the mindset that one of them feels more than the other because they would each always be putting up fronts and struggling not to show their true feelings so I think the lines like “you'll sit and stare like a goddamn machine” and “I'd like to plan out my part in this but you're such a narcissist” can fit pretty well. But the lines that really bring me back to this song for them are these ones: “The death of me was so quiet, no friends and family allowed, only my murderer, you and the priest who told you to go to hell” also “and the funny thing is I would've married you, if you'd have stuck around” and finally, tragically, “I feel more free than I have in years, six feet in the ground”

Somewhere Only We Know by Keane: this song is less obvious most likely but I like the idea of each of them being tired of the family obligations, the work of everyday life, the façade they have to put up about hating each other so they just daydream about being alone together somewhere know one else even knows about. Perhaps it’s where they go in their minds when life is overwhelming.

Anyway, feel free to share your own or discuss my picks in the replies 😌

[project-sekai-facts]

The 2DMV for Twilight Light contains various references to previous 25-ji, Nightcord de. media, as well as lots of imagery connecting to the members.

To begin with, each member is associated with an object or two that which appears frequently in the background of the 2DMV.

"of the box that gently resounds"

Kanade's item is a music box, a nod to the music box her father made for her mother. This music box played a significant role in Kanade's first unit event, Carnation Recollection, helping her to realise why her songs weren't reaching Mafuyu.

"of the sealed up cocoon"

Mafuyu's items are a birdcage and chains. This is likely a reference to the marionette doll from Mafuyu's first event, Captive Marionette, that was kept in a similar-looking cage. This doll was what started Mafuyu's arc of rediscovering her true self and realising her mother was hurting her, which culmintated in N25's second arc ender.

The lyric that accompanies this is likely a reference to Kanade's trained Determination Ignited 4* card, which contains a purple butterfly (representing Mafuyu) locked in a glass lantern.

"Inside of the picture frame that keeps chasing"

Ena's items are a picture frame and a tin of paint. The tin of paint is likely a nod to the Unsatisfied Pale Color event and Ena's trained I Don't Want to Give Up 4* card. The picture frame is a reference to the Portray Yourself set that accompanied Ena's 3rd unit event, Someday, This Wish Will Transcend the Morning Sky.

"Inside of the abandoned mirror"

Mizuki's items are a mirror and ribbons. This is a reference to the IDSMILE 2DMV, the 2DMV for Mizuki's first unit event. Both that song and Twilight Light were produced by toa.

Because of the shared producer, there are also some similar lyrics in both songs, such as "The boundaries have begun to blur, the future uncertain" from IDSMILE, and "The boundary lines where disharmonies resound with each other" from Twilight Light.

There are also a few references to N25's second arc ender, Saying Goodbye to My Masked Self, most notably there being a glitch effect when Miku sings the lines "I still can't hear you, not yet" and "I still can't see you, not yet". When she appears on a phone screen in the second chorus during the line "I'm right here", she also appears glitched. In the event, Mafuyu's phone was damaged, causing the Virtual Singers to appear glitched when their holograms appeared. Miku couldn't contact Mafuyu for a while before the phone was able to turn on again, hence the lyrics.

Miku projecting out of the phone is also a nod to how she usually manifests herself to Mafuyu.

These images appear over the following lyrics:

The melodies that we create, The words that we pull in, The colors that intertwine together, And the scenes that are stitched together,

Once again they contain the items associated with the members in this MV, but the lyrics and on-screen text reference the members' respective roles within N25: composer, lyricist, artist, and editor.

Before the final chorus, the members of N25 are shown with picture frames behind them, another reference to the Portray Yourself set.

This part of the song contains multiple other references too, including:

The heart-shaped apple gem that originated as a charm on the costumes from the Snow White in Oblivion set, and later appeared as it does in this MV in some of the cards from the Where is ♡? set. Ena's card from the latter set also contains the birdcage associated with Mafuyu in this MV.

The apple is significant to Mafuyu as it was the food her mother would feed her when she was sick as a child. It was this care her mother showed her that caused her to want to become a nurse, the very dream her mother shattered. Those apples might also be Mafuyu's favorite food.

The blue butterflies that appear during this part and also at the start of the final chorus, which are a reference to the Samsa single jacket, and the Poisonous Fangs and Peeking Shadows set which had butterflies as a motif, particularly noticeable in Kanade's Determination Ignited 4* shown earlier in this post.

The phone underwater, which is actually a reference to three things. Firstly, this is a direct callback to the in-game jacket for Lower, Mizuki's second event commission.

However the phone falling in the water also links to a plot point from Saying Goodbye to My Maked Self, when Mafuyu's phone fell in her fishtank during a fight with her mother.

The throbber (loading wheel) on the screen is possibly a reference to the arc ender animation that plays after chapter 8 of the aforementioned event, which can be further backed up by the "Chasing your light, at 25:00" text that appears during that animation appearing in the 2DMV about 15 seconds after the phone is shown.

This part of the MV being underwater also connects to the Searching for a Reflection Beneath the Waters event, which introduced a lake to the Empty SEKAI.

The Heart in Water set from that event takes place underwater because of the new location, which in turn might be a nod to Mafuyu's trained Dive Into Me 4* fes card.

[ukyou-kuonji]

Recently I've been thinking a lot about "The Cowbell of Happiness" episode of Revolutionary Girl Utena, and specifically the background song Donna Donna. I actually grew up singing and hearing the English song a lot (which afaik predates the Japanese version but isn't itself the original language?), and thus had an assumed interpretation of the lyrics' application to the shows themes, which I've been changing my interpretation of. However it has been about eight years since I saw the show, so feel free to disagree with me or correct my interpretation! I put a cut in due to the length, sorry it got a bit away from me haha.

I always saw the farmer's mockery of the calf in the second verse "Stop complaining says the Farmer/Who told you a calf to be/Why don't you have wings to fly with/Like the swallow so proud and free," to be an ironic statement. The calf was born a calf, and cannot change it's species more than a person can control the circumstances of their birth. Therefore the third verse, which states "Calves are easily bound and slaughtered/Never knowing the reason why/But whomever treasures freedom/Like the swallow must learn to fly," drives home the impossible truth. You don't want to be exploited? Simply don't be born within an exploited group. The calf's fate is unavoidable, because of his inherent and unchangeable identity and the way society perceives and reacts to it. It is incapable of learning to fly by it's very nature.

This relates to the themes of the show by paralleling Nanami (or later, through extended metaphors and parallels, both Anthy and Utena, among others) to the calf. These characters cannot help being teenage girls navigating the patriarchy, and cannot escape their exploitation. The world within which they exist (Ohtori) does not permit them an alternative existence. This interpretation is very bleak, I know.

But I think this interpretation only engages with one half of the story it sets up, and completely ignores the swallow. This feels particularly erroneous due to the show's bird imagery (the name Ohtori, the prominence of the dead sparrows associated with Kozue and Shiori, the school archways shaped like birdcages to give a few examples, all of which associate students with egg, chick, or bird visual metaphors). Mostly, I thought of the infamous egg speech appropriated from Demian by Hermann Hesse. As Touga and others state in the Revolutionary Girl Utena reconstruction of the original text "If the egg's shell does not break, the chick will die without being born. We are the chick; the egg is the world. If the world's shell does not break, we will die without being born. Break the world's shell!"

Through this, the swallow seems directly implicated as a viable alternative for the calf, or for characters such as Nanami, Utena, and Anthy. The only way for them to avoid being exploited as women within Ohtori or "slaughtered as calves on the farm," to use the language of the song, is for them to self actualize or reject the reality presented to them and move beyond the limitations placed on them through the label of "woman" in a heteronormative and patriarchal system. They must defy the very conditions that determine their condition. Or rather, they must break the world's (Ohtori's) shell, be born as the chick, and take flight as birds. This is what Utena attempts to do in the finale, and what Anthy does do by stepping away from Ohtori and Akio's influence.

The song that seemed to condemn Nanami to life as livestock in episode 16 also promises hope and foreshadows Anthy's choice episode 39. She, like the swallow, has learned to fly, and the other characters have the potential to do so also, provided they value freedom and develop the wings to leave.

[homestuck-fanauthor-coalition]

Nothing Lasts

Nothing Lasts (6799 words) by Rose_Icosahedron Chapters: 2/2 Fandom: Homestuck, Ancient Greek Religion & Lore Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Major Character Death Relationships: Auto-Responder | Lil Hal & Dave Strider, Aradia Megido & Dave Strider, Joey Claire & Jude Harley, Jane Crocker/Jake English, Rose Lalonde & Dave Strider Characters: Dave Strider, Jane Crocker, Aradia Megido, Rose Lalonde, Auto-Responder | Lil Hal, Dirk Strider, Joey Claire, Roxy Lalonde, Jake English Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Dave and Rose are twins, Dave and Rose are the children of Jake and Dirk, Speaking of that. Implied male pregnacy, Musical Format, I dont know how to explain it better aside from i wrote this as the summary of a musical, Jane Crocker is evil, Jake English is also evil, more tags to be added when I have more time, Alternate Universe - Divinity, someone gets trapped in a birdcage, Rose is Athena, Jake is Zeus, Jane is Hera, Dirk is Metis Summary: In which Dave Strider is fated to overthrow his father. For the sake of my English class(which this is written for). One of the Greek myths that has caught my imagination the most is the absence of a myth. Specifically, the overthrowing of Zeus. In Greek mythology, Gaia gives a prophecy to Zeus, saying that he will be overthrown by a son that he has with Metis. Zeus avoids this prophecy by swallowing Metis, and then she ends up giving birth to Athena, a daughter, who does not fill the prophecy. This is one of the only examples in Greek myth where a prophecy is circumvented—all other prophecies end up coming true, often because someone is trying to avoid them. So, this is an imagination of that story following the pattern of self-fulfilling prophecy where yet another prophecy comes true due to someone trying to avoid it. There are, however, two twists to my interpretation of this story. The first being that because of all of the amazing Greek myth musicals I have seen recently (Stray Gods and Hadestown), the plot structure of this will be reminiscent of a musical, and there will be references to song types and musical motifs within this text. The other twist is Homestuck.

@rose-icosahedron wrote this! you should check it out!

[msmargaretmurry]

rules: tag 9 people you want to get to know better or who are just your friends who you always tag on these things wait who said that. i was tagged by @vivathewilddog

last song: "the absence of god" by rilo kiley. when i was at a wonder years show last month, "it's a hit" came on one of the between-sets playlists, which obviously made me want to listen to the entirety of more adventurous, which i then went home and did, and then my favorite tracks from the album migrated over to my metro playlist, which i was listening to on shuffle on my way home from work today and that was the last song that played before i got back to my apartment.

last show: i am going to interpret this as last music show, since there's a tv question right below this, and concerts are more interesting. i saw vienna teng at a tiny coffeeshop this past weekend! it was lovely! she's so good!!! also last month i went to two wonder years shows in a row and lost my voice for several days. they're also so good!!!

currently watching: i'm watching 911, abbott elementary, and bob's burgers loosely as they air (usually within a few days of the new episode dropping), and i'm watching ted lasso but i'm a few episodes behind, because apple tv logged me out of tasha's account and it's a pain in the ass to log back in. i am very slowly working my way through succession and just finished season one. also, because sometimes you need to put on a gimmicky procedural from the mid-late '00s and let it totally smooth out your brain, i've been watching the mentalist to unwind before bed. it is such a stupid little copaganda show and it makes my brain feel so smooth.

currently reading: i just finished the member of the wedding by carson mccullers, which is the book for this weekend's book club meeting and i'm excited to discuss it with my pals! and i just started the dead romantics by ashley poston, which i can tell is going to grate on me a little, stylistically, but i'm soldiering on because i'm trying to give more contemporary romances a shot. i am also still slowly working my way through the home team: fathers, sons, and hockey by roy macgregor — i read a chapter every week or so, it usually makes me cry, etc etc.

current obsession: god i guess it's still. fuckin rat boy. ratthew. tkachuckles cheese himself. and his big dumb german boyfrienemy. also i know it's been over half a year but i'm still obsessed with the hum goes on forever. also obsessed with playing old jimmy eat world songs on the guitar, with making silly little beverages with the office keurig as afternoon treats, and with maggie’s and my current main chatfic, which will never leave the gchats but sustains me nonetheless. OH also obsessed with that one cidery, iykyk, i wanna go baaaaaaaaack

i'm tagging @hopetorun @bropunzeling @leapyeap @drysdaales @birdcage @thecroissantgirl @bakingblues @slightly @devantesmithpelly if y'all want to! 💖

[piratealt]

enemies to lovers

The promised end to something of a running joke.

song list —

Brittle Bones — The Family Crest

Hollow Moon — The Crane Wives

In Our Talons — Bowerbirds

Me and Mine — The Brothers Bright

Fight for Me — AlicebanD

Insincerely Yours — Shayfer James

Right to Die — AlicebanD

Stronger — Dirt Poor Robins

The Louisville Shuffle (RIP) — Sarah and the Safe Word

Good Intentions — Coyote Kid

Monsters — Charming Disaster

Fire With Fire — AlicebanD

It Tore Your Heart Out — Dirt Poor Robins

Villainous Thing — Shayfer James

Look Away — The Dear Hunter

Rule #1 - Magic — Fish in a Birdcage

Howl — The Family Crest

Destroyer of Worlds — Coyote Kid

The Weight — Amigo the Devil

Cold, Cold, Cold — The Family Crest

Original asks: one, two

Additional notes:

The intended point of view is not static; bouncing between both points of view felt necessary to offer more complete progression. Some are meant to include both points of view at once.

I purposefully avoided songs that, to me, insinuated that the second half of this pair was a student. There is a small mention of education in one song, but otherwise, I tried to keep this out of the narrative. Regardless of a presence within the classroom, the player (or myself, in this case) would be required to learn as a product of being in a completely new environment, thus the inclusion.

The general premise from the asks linked above entails an enemies to lovers dynamic that is, most notably, one-sided. I don’t see a way to write this that comes across as entirely equal, thus the playlist admits to some of these aspects. 

[bulletflips]

*It's you!

[Yaoiverse roleplay blog managed by @patorucho]

[Admin only knows English/Tagalog, but will try to provide a Spanish translation]

Things to know about y!Juanaflippa:

She uses she/her pronouns, she proudly talks about being transgender

She goes by Juanaflippa, Flippa, and Juana, but she only accepts nicknames from her parents and close siblings

She's 8 years old! She's one of the tallest and eldest of the eggs

She's Columbian-Filipino, with the Admin being Filipino and wanting to have a reason to speak their native language and isms

She has a stutter and she also uses an inhaler

She's the embodiment of an Undertale fan from 2016

She's home!

Tags used:

#talkshots - text posts

#letters to someone - asks

#something for me - submissions

#revived trial + #ooc - ooc (out of character)

#signed casings - written roleplay

#empty gun - end of thread

#pulled petals - flashbacks

#reblog rounds - in character reblogs

#yaoiverse - general tag for all of yaoiverse

#yuriverse - general tag for noncanon yv events

#straightverse - general angst tag

Tags used when talking to family friends:

@elbackflipo - #my papa slime (slimecicle)

@elwifeguy - #mi mama mariana (mariana)

@duckduckquackity - #best friend's father (quackity)

@tilinsfather - #where had you gone (luzu)

[url not made] - #left with the dead (wilbur/robin)

@maximum-father - #enough for him (maximus)

@thediamondmodcart - #i know you tried (dan)

@crows-father - #deranged old man upstairs (philza)

@cringefailskeledad - #old man's wife (missa)

@builderfreak - #used to be mama's (foolish)

@constructor777 - #with the bombshelled (vegetta)

@catboyarg - #saviour within (cellbit)

@packedtazer - #fish alongside his cage (pac)

@tazeredmike - #his brother used to sing him songs (mike)

@felpsederation - #buried but found (felps)

@birdcage-island - #mother from another brother (jaiden)

@psicologoier - #you didn't have to cry (roier)

@daddestboyhalo - #soul full of kindness (badboyhalo)

@spawnradio - #late evening comfort (fit)

@cringefailabsentdad - #gone and nearly forgotten (spreen)

@humanwithfourheads - #the best of interest (antoine)

@tueur-de-donjon - #what would you fight for (etoiles)

@theducklady - #open arms open wings (baghera)

@shitfactory-official - #just enough for her (pierre)

@frenchsasuke - #similar escapism (kameto)

Tags used when talking to my siblings:

@bulletflipped - #to live and to breathe

@witheredlilacs - #my best friend (tilin)

@yaaay-propellerhat - #here for you always here for you now (trump)

@bobby-el-mas-chingon - #grew up for us (bobby)

@explorar-curiosity-e-opportunity - #rival kicker (richarlyson)

@cha-cha-cha-chayanne - #better than his old man (chayanne)

@autismbeamsyou - #playdate soon (dapper)

@music-among-the-amapolas - #mini musician (tallulah)

@carmalized-apples - #candied wings (pomme)

@goo-amalgamation - #good for you (gegg)

@egg-a1 - #welcome to the family (a1)

Tags used when talking to the island:

@thecensusbureau - #census captivity (cucurucho)

@quesadillaislandofficial - #stuck with us (duckling/jeremy)

@thefederation - #behind the strings (federation)

@jesusyaoi - #i should've seen you there (lil j)

@theyaoidevil - #i would've seen you there (lil s)

*Despite everything it's still you.

[talesofmetalandmagic]

Once his indenture is paid and his imprisonment is passed, Azir has reached the other extreme: from being proud and haughty, he’s now so humbled he thinks he’s not worth a dime.

Even when he reconnects with his entourage, and gets greeted warmly, slithering bands of trauma remain within.

Everyone can see he’s not coping well, but especially Nasus, who knows him so well and can see he’s not the same Azir he raised and taught.

Now, when he was imprisoned, Azir had had a somewhat lusty fantasy where someone would sing him to sleep, pet his feathers and pull the covers on him. Since Xerath would force him to sleep cramped up in a birdcage, hands and ankles fettered, beak nailed shut, tightly hooded so no sound or light can reach him, sometimes bound inside a too-tight, nailed belt when he “misbehaved”, having a gentle sleep is the best he can fantasize about.

But the one who realizes such a fantasy isn’t an attractive sex worker, but his loyal teacher and stern comforter, who holds him into his arms and drags him away from the crowd when even the mere activity of singing songs by the fire and drinking beer and wine becomes too busy for his tired little head.

And just as he’d imagined he lays him into bed, covers him with the warmest sheets they have, and hums a melody they both loved as he pets his neck and head.

-You’re not alone, my lord.-

Such gentility is too much for the mortified Azir, who wasn’t always very nice to Nasus himself. Soft sobs quake his delicate bones, tears fall down his eyes and dampen the feathers. He does in fact look like a little hurt bird.

-I d-deserve nothing.-

-You do, my lord. You’ve been through too much.- he dabs at his eyes and covers him above the beak, so his tears may stay hidden.

-I ruined everything… Xerath is right. I’m stupid, and foolish, and I shouldn’t be the e…-

-But this brought you here, my lord. To make it right once more.- Nasus smiles patiently at him. He’s heard him say I’m stupid in the past, he knows it’s not him. -But you cannot make it right without a good sleep, can’t you? So rest, and let the night soothe your worries.-

Azir mumbles a yes and, despite his previous objections, happily burrows underneath the sheets. And then… the unthinkable happens.

-Thank you, Nasus.-

For a moment the scholar has no idea what to even say. Azir saying thank you? Such absurdity, it’s quite unthinkable.

But then he gives him a smile and pets his head feathers in a soothing motion. Where once ticks and lice feasted upon imperial blood, now only scars are a memorial of what has occurred.

-Rest, my lord. I’ll sing you to sleep.-

[nettlestingsoup]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/45965770/chapters/117793564

and we’re done! thank you to everyone who read this and told me they liked it <3

[sealer-of-wenkamui]

Tag 9 people you want to get to know better

Tagged by @iinsectaa! Doing this before I forget like I always do with these things

Three ships: Infel/Nenesha, Ciaran/Artorias, Mohg/Miquella (but specifically in a one-sided non-consensual way)

First ship: Uhhhhh the first I can think of that I was really invested in is Seishiro/Subaru from Tokyo Babylon/X, which yeah. That checks out.

Last song: この狭い鳥籠の中で (Within this Tiny Birdcage) by Sound Horizon

Last movie: Uhhh I can’t remember, I don’t watch things very often

Currently reading: Nothing actively, pretty much any mohgmiq noncon fic that pops up on ao3 I guess? (special shoutout to divine spectacle I would die for that fic) And I’ve also been meaning to start the Locked Tomb series as well, since at least two separate people have recommended it to me, and I own the first book now, but I haven’t started (because work eats up all my time and I spend what I do have drawing usually)

Currently watching: Nothing, I don’t watch stuff much, not even video essays or anything else, I prefer written stuff

Currently consuming: I had hot chocolate not too long ago

Currently craving: More time, always 😭

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I’ll tag @arytha​ @medi-melancholy​ @neophasia​ @yuukawhy​ and anyone else that thinks it looks fun, I’m sure I’m forgetting people I’d like to tag. Do it if it sounds fun I guess?

[awritingcaitlin]

Rinnie:

Happy - P!nk

Hunting the Future - Escape the Clouds

Boat Song - Woodkid

U - English Version - millenium parade

The Kintsugi Kid - Fall Out Boy

We Don't Have to Dance - Andy Black

Pathfinder - Kubbi

Killian:

You're Gonna Go Far Kid - The Offspring

The Red - Chevelle

Traveler's Song - Aviators

Lone Digger - Caravan Palace

A Praise Chorus - Jimmy Eat World

Ship to Shore - The Stanfields

Synergetics - Ronald Jeenkees

Thea:

Liar - The Arcadian Wild

Gone - Beth Crowley

Night 13 - Auri

Devil Devil - MILCK

Devil I Know - Allie X

Throne - Bring Me the Horizon

Ignite - Starling Glow

Ciara:

This is Our War - Halocene

Ghost Town - Shiny Toy Guns

Don't Know How to Stop - Halestorm

The Blood of Cu Chulainn - Mychael & Jeff Danna

One Million Voices - Thomas Bergersen

Wargirl - Sybrid

Rubicon - James Paget

Riela:

Jackrabbit - San Fermin

Stand My Ground - Within Temptation

Fighting For - Hawk Nelson

Pompeii - Bastille

Renegades - X Ambassadors

Where Do We Go - Lindsey Stirling

Superhero - Johnny Hollow

Cass:

The Circle - Blackmore's Night

The Dirty Glass - Dropkick Murphys

Past Lives - Borns

Pretty Lavinia - American Murder Song

Hymn of the High Seas - Antti Martikainen

Forever - CHVRCHES

Second Chances - Imagine Dragons

Ilani:

Hell or High Water - The Rescues

Middle of the Night - Joel Sunny

Rule #9 - Child of the Stars - Fish in a Birdcage

The Air Race - Escape the Clouds

Iris - The Goo Goo Dolls

Song of the Caged Bird - Lindsey Stirling

Skyfall - Adele

Cami:

Warpaint - Manicanparty

Bust Your Kneecaps - Pomplamoose

Voices - Hidden Citizens

The Girl and the Clockwork Dragon - The Cog is Dead

A Favor House Atlantic - Coheed and Cambria

Gun - CHVRCHES

One Foot in Front of the Other - Emilie Autumn

Cael:

Battle Cry - The Family Crest

The Chemical Worker's Song - Great Big Sea

Last of Us - Arion

Feed the Machine - Poor Man's Poison

Thistle & Weeds - Mumford & Sons

Stabat Mater - Woodkid

God's Plan - CHVRCHES

Miera:

Blood in the Wine - Aurora

Graffiti - CHVRCHES

Castle - Halsey

Massacre - Kim Petras

Farewell Wanderlust - The Amazing Devil

Villains, Pt 1 - Emma Blackery

Throne - Saint Mesa

Taryn:

Shut Up and Dance - WALK THE MOON

Fight Song - Rachel Platten

Clarity - Zedd

Towards the Light - Jacoo

Clearest Blue - CHVRCHES

From where You Are - Lifehouse

Tikal - E.S. Posthumus

Mica:

The Alchemist - Mikolai Stroinski

No Light, No Light - Florence + the Machine

Empty Threat - CHVRCHES

Back in the Lab - Beoga

Adventure of a Lifetime - Thomas Bergersen

Crazy = Genius - Panic! at the Disco

Medieval Anthem - Peter Crowley

character playlists always should have the following:

song that is pretty accurate to the character’s story

song that doesn’t fit the character at all but i was thinking about them while listening to it on loop

song that has one or two lines accurate to the character’s story

song that just kind of is the character’s vibe

song that i desperately wish they would listen to because i personally like it

song that fits the character so well that it’s scary

unsure why this song is in the playlist but it’s so ingrained in my mind as 'part of the playlist' that it would feel weird to remove it

[dfroza]

A Summer ‘bird’

A song for the Summer solstice

the 9th track on the 2009 album Bomb in a Birdcage by A Fine Frenzy

(it’s a beautiful song and album)

these words have been on a patient search of garden earth…

seeking someone to befriend.

having crossed paths with some, but not all recriprocate

(to see and come to feel the same)

have you noticed my silent ‘bird of thought’? have you found and read the pages of my book that seek to make an honest “connection” with your heart?

(deep in spirit)

that you would take its words (and spirit) to heart and become a living “voice” to them from your body of garden earth that was made by our beautiful mysteruous Creator

“In the beginning…”

God spoke Light and the heavens and earth into existence from nothing, yet remains largely silent to us now (just like the heavens, just like the starry night sky…)

yet our heavenly Father who resides in Heaven with the Son sent His Heart and thought-life to earth as the silent and invisible Spirit just as a Bird who seeks to dwell within other human spirits who are receptive

(welcoming the entrance)

and my dream intentionally has become a “mirroring” of this in the way the silent “calling” of a book has formed, to be read and befriended at first deep in thought

(my thoughts are seen here clearly displayed on an illuminated screen)

it was our Creator as the Author of life who planted so many seeds of life that each reproduce and “branch out” according to their own kind

life on garden earth begins as a “seed” by our Creator’s design, in the way male & female form as “One” body to create new life

A set of photos shared by John Parsons on Facebook:

This is the daddy Cardinal who faithfully fed his chicks..

My friend Mr. Cardinal, a new father of three lovely chicks...

These Cardinal chicks were born in a nest that was made inside a wreath that hung just next to the backdoor of my house... We watched them come out from their eggs and turn into fledglings before they finally were nudged out of the nest by their parents...

Here is Manny, helping me pick out some things to plant in the garden

My son Manny out for a drive...

glowering skies over the city

my fretless..

6.19.24 • Facebook

6.20.24 • Facebook

[azures-grace]

Hi!! I see you’re requesting pokes to get out of a current Lord Huron fixation (relatable) - would you please share some songs you associate with any of your Elder Scrolls OCs/favorite NPCs? The public would love to know since you clearly have immaculate music taste 🙏

.....

*stares at two whole TES playlists, one of which is ancient (from last year)*

I have zero songs associated with any of the people, none at all.

Before I had the Ancient Names Morrowind animatic idea, I wanted to do a similar one with Dear Wormwood, but it would have probably be from Voryn's point of view, as he realized that the Nerevarine (Alexi) wasn't Nerevar.

Anyway, OCs and NPCs

I have a whole playlist of 62 songs half focused on that one AU with the 3 Dragonborns (aka the canon for 4 of my characters) and I love it very much

some of the highlights include:

-Lina: Turn the Lights Off by Tally Hall, The Great Divide by Breaking Benjamin, Look at the Sky and Something Comforting by Porter Robinson, and The Night We Met (yk, along with Martin)

-Alexi: Ancient Names (I and II) by Lord Huron (clearly, with all the stuff I've been saying abt that animatic for the future), Stand Up by The Cab, Neverland by Crywolf, Rule 33- Pyre by Fish in a Birdcage, The Yawning Grave by Lord Huron, and Farewell Wanderlust by The Amazing Devil

-Luna: Sweet Tooth by Scott Helmen, Only One by The Score, Curses by the Crane Wives, Hell's Comin' With Me by Poor Man's Poison, A Demon's Fate by Within Temptation, and probably Gallows by The Score

-Armina(canon): not enough songs ;-;. Not enough off the top of my head. I love her very much, and the only ones I can think of rn are Wet Wild World by Cosmo Sheldrake and The Champion by The Score

-Ancie: Amsterdam by Gregory Alan Isakov, Icarus & Apollo by Ripto, The Old Witch Sleep and the Good Man Grace and Blossoms by The Amazing Devil, Twenty Long Years by Lord Huron, fineshrine by Purity Ring, Cupid by Jack Stauber, and The Balancer's Eye by Lord Huron

-Iriae: When The Night Is Over by Lord Huron, Linger a While by Cosmo Sheldrake, Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men, Meet Me In The Woods by Lord Huron, Gilded Lily by Cults, and Whoreson Prison Blues from the Witcher Netflix soundrack.

there are more, but I also want to draw some things too, and i can't think of any others rn, BUT i will be rb'ing this with more songs later

[anec-reads]

So I wrote this think last night and I'm not sure why, but I did. It was improvised/stream of consciousness, so the vibes definitely change like halfway through oops.

Here lies my heart

Between two lungs, spine behind and bone before

She beats like a drum, or ticks like a clock, or what have you. At least that’s what the rule book says

But mine doesn’t.

Still she stands. Blood pours through her like sands through an hourglass.

Rivers run within me, cold and sometimes clear, but more often than not the muck at the bottom has been stirred by someone’s hand brushing the surface or a foot stuck deep within and she runs brown and cloudy.

Sometimes I see within me a tall cage of black metal with a little door to the front.

There was a bird there, long ago, but she has gone for the winter, and the winter has lasted a while.

Red ribbons run from her all around me, over my skin and between my ribs, and they make stops wherever they can.

In my hands I feel it, that prickling feel of static, and when I touch them to someone else’s there’s a shock, but the same shock comes when I pick up a book or put pen to paper, maybe it’s not the people but the touching that makes the spark.

My feet hold me firmly to the ground, like a tree and her thick roots grasping at the dirt, drinking in water, absorbing minerals and other foods, taking it up like Candy. Taking it all in, that’s me.

My leaves gather into thick, heavy boughs that hang low, almost brushing to the floor, and the autumn has come far too soon and my leaves show a beautiful symphony of oranges and reds, yellows and purples, but they soon will dry and turn brown only to fall to the ground leaving proof that they were there, until they weren’t. And then they will rot and there will be no such proof, only my memory and the sugar they made for me to eat.

This metaphor has gotten hazy, so I choose another.

Within me, deep in my stomach, perhaps, is a pond, no, a sea, with a sunken ship to the bottom.

And her decks are clean and her sails are up and if you could see her yourself you’d be surprised at her condition considering she’s on the sea floor being visited by squid and anglerfish and lobsters and shrimp that, I bet, would have French accents if they spoke.

And high above my ocean, up past my rivers and my birdcage we find my brain, a library of books and magazines and movies and poems and memories of the time I spent reading, the time I spent eating toast, the time I spent masturbating, my high school graduation, my 6th grade academic banquet, my parents deaths. All tagged and archived and catalogued and I could see them all in perfect detail if I could just remember what I titled them.

And then we get to the workspace, working memory, the internal consciousness.

It’s an outdoor theater facing the woods. Creatures gather to sit on stumps: deer, raccoons, regrets, aspirations, caterpillars, tax collectors, and when someone has something worth sharing, they take stage and my eyes open and I wake up and go about my day, and they switch places and share ideas and develop story lines.

And there are copies of other people in there: my grandmother, my best friends, that guy from high school that I never got to kiss, a stranger I saw at a gas station in Indiana, characters from books I’ve read, just whomever I guess.

And if you look to your left, you’ll see my ears, and beside them a shelf of CD’s, Cassette tapes, flash drives with my favorite songs: Rapture, Blue Bayou, Alone Again, Wheels on the Bus, a couple commercial jingles, and all of Peter and the Wolf. I choose some background noise for the rest of the tour, soft rain or cicadas chirping or something else.

We step on the elevator and go back down a few levels to my throat. We bob and weave between my vocal chords, which are actually more like folds, but I’m kind of going for a certain image, and we get caught up in the shuffle and get sung out and here we are in the air between the version of me reading this prose and the version of you pretending to listen. And I know that I only have a few more lines before I say “Thank You for Listening” and go sit down, so I leave you with this.

No matter what metaphor you use, no matter what lines you write, no matter whether the poem actually gets written, it doesn’t matter, I bet it’s already out there.

Sometimes I step outside a little too close to dusk or dawn and I hear the loud roar of cicadas and crickets, or the singing of birds, or the soft rumble of heat lightening, and I want to burn everything I’ve ever written because it’s been done for me before.

Thank You For Listening

[ofscribesandmen]

This is gonna get weird alright let's get into creating a new OC the 2 songs

Happy Face by Jagwar Twin and Natural by Imagine Dragons

With this combination, we get someone specifically unhinged and morally grey perhaps very morally grey.

The character: Lucy, a master of disguise who once saw the brighter side in life before she went through situations that have left her very cold, jaded, and cynical, she was once a hero but no longer subscribes to that way of thinking and has become more of a unhinged anti-hero who is one step away from crossing the line if she doesn't keep herself in check. A woman with ruthless ambition and the skills to put on as many masks as she needs to in order to accomplish her goals.

Their Lover is represented by the songs...

What You Gonna Do About It By Flux Pavillion (cheeky aren't we), and Rule #21 - Momento Mori by Fish In A Birdcage.

I am going to say with this combination we are dealing with a Vampire who currently gives zero crap about most things.

So their lover is a Vampire by the name of Bixley, an Englishman or previous Englishman who once perhaps had a fear of death but, after coming to terms with his own death, has come to live life day by day doing whatever he pleases within his own limits of reason, a cheeky, sarcastic sort of fellow who has terrified many by well never actually sleeping for the most part and will often be found at a cafe under the noonday sun intentionally dressed like a Vampire from Hollywood b movies mostly because he finds it amusing, after all what are they gonna do about it?

The song on how they meet is shown by the song The Mystic by Adam Jensen.

In the process of dumping a body into the river, he is floating by pretending to be a corpse and the moment she dumps the body he comes alive freaking her out before saying something like "Don't know why you wanted to drown the man he's already dead."

What happens in the end is represented by The Invisible Girl by Parov Stelar.

The tune is upbeat, energetic, fun, good vibes soooooo I am thinking...

Lucy has come to enjoy life more and doesn't feel to put on so many masks anymore in order to go about her life, and Bixley is well... still Bixley, but maybe he's come to terms with his past finally. I'm thinking a dance scene or a cool fun walk away/drive away from a successful job well done, maybe it's a heist, maybe there's explosions, maybe there's police sirens, or maybe it's just another normal night seemingly to the public but little do they know something epic has gone down the scene, what happened doesn't matter so much. What does matter in this case is that they're having fun together and not taking life so seriously anymore.

Using Spotify Wrapped

Your #1 and #10 songs represent your next OC. Your #25 and #50 songs represent their lover. Your #75 song represents how they meet. Your #100 song represents what happens in the end.

What are the song titles?

(If you don't want to make new OCs or plots, what OCs are all of the song titles for?)