#speaking of flavor it's always good for a set to have a theme

[dravidious]

The Chainweaving mechanic seems like a neat spin on Surge. At first I thought “well why not just use surge?” but then I remembered that Adventure is in this set, so a mechanic that cares about what type of spells you cast is really cool synergy! There should probably be more cards that use Chainweaving for cost reduction, since casting 2 spells in one turn is hard, so that would be a good fit for commons.

Dedication is neat, mechanics that reward attacking help keep the game moving forward. I'm worried it's a little snowball-y/win-more, but WOTC has been printing planeswalkers for years and just made Siege cards, so I guess that's not a problem. Nice and simple, and the name definitely has good flavor!

Custom mtg mechanics jumpscare

[intimidating-fettuccine]

Fall mansion rambles

I'm just in a fall mood today so I wanted to do some fall-themed rambles because listen, listen, I feel like everyone in the mansion fucking loves fall.

They play different music year-round, and I feel like Liu as the resident jazz lover breaks out his jazz records and just plays them for everyone to hear and it sets the MOOD. The mansion feels so much cozier with the sound of Autumn jazz drifting through it, and it puts everyone at ease.

Then, the DECORATING. They go all out in the mansion for Halloween, and they do a mix of general fall decorations and Halloween decorations, everyone decorating the outside and inside of the mansion until they pretty much run out of decorations. Also, they totally have that one decoration from Target that says "I am Lewis" and he's right at the entrance of the mansion, I will not hear otherwise.

Tim and Slender really break into their fall baking, constantly making new pies and cookies for everyone to eat, and they get devoured. The two of them bake so many fucking pumpkin pies from September to the end of November that it's ridiculous, but every single one is eaten in like a day or two with how many people are in the mansion. I feel like Tim is the drink maker for everyone, and he's always making fresh hot cocoa or something that is pumpkin spice flavored for everyone to enjoy, and it just sets the mood so well. They light the fireplace and just all gather around it eating pumpkin pie and their respective hot drinks and it's the best vibe ever.

Speaking of pumpkins, by the way, DECORATING THEM! I feel like Helen helps everyone every year carve or paint their own pumpkins if they need help, and he supplies all of the tools for it. Slender takes them all to a huge pumpkin patch and lets every single creep pick out a pumpkin or two that they really want and they all have a good time running through the pumpkin fields. I can just see them all sitting together at Slender's long ass dining table, every creep making their own pumpkin. I think they would all be set out on the porch, all stacked together and placed wherever anyone wants theirs to be, and if any of them start rotting they'll make another one to replace it. I feel like Toby gets the most excited about carving and painting pumpkins and I can see him decorating at least like 10 of them by the time Halloween rolls around. If he could he'd do more than that but I feel like he tries not to go too overboard.

Then all the talk of who's dressing up for Halloween, and what everyone is going to be going as. I feel like I could see Trender stopping by and literally offering to make everyone's costumes for them like it's a yearly tradition for him to just show up randomly with a fuck ton of supplies, and I can see Jason pitching in and helping too. The two of them just spend their free time customizing everyone's costumes exactly how they want them, talking and chatting over some tea and the piles of fabric in front of them.

I don't know why specifically, but I just get the vibe that fall into winter is the happiest time of the year in the mansion as a whole, not that they don't have spring and summer joyful times, but I just feel like the vibes are so good that everyone is more relaxed. They're all calm and at peace and content, with less fighting, less sadness, just wonderfully calm cool fall times.

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

sorry but frankie being the ONLY ONE at monster high who thinks cleo is Cool will never not be my fav headcanon

cleo LOOKS like she's the popular one-

the attitude! the presence! the outfit! the ambition! the kind heart and the CONFIDENCE!! But Canonically Speaking-

frankie's the one made from various famous monsters, hanging with the ghoul kids in school. THEY'RE the one crushing hard on the local organization nerd ("self-proclaimed party princess"),

cleo, miss Number One human enthusiast, who means well but isn't always the best at reading the mood or focusing on priorities

(all of werewolf weekend) (also "clawed and clawdeen?? thank ra my parents didn't name me nefra-een! ugh~!" smiles, realizes no one else is smiling, "...right not the time cleo.")

she WANTS more fame, but mainly spends her time setting up school events, talking with her scarabs, and is starting to tag along with the popular group sometimes

result is THIS

So whatever her song says, i headcanon the vibe in school is more like....

Random Monster High Student:

Oh Cleo? Nefera's little sister, the one who always plays a tree in school plays?

Yeah, she has the funniest, most TRAGIC picture in the fearbook- I hear she has to make herself sneeze all over again whenever she wants to get something at the Coffinbean!

She's head of the dance committee, right? They did a "human themed" dance night once, because of her. And didn't she also organize the after-pep-rally eyescream this year? I think I remember her asking me what flavor I wanted...

Her friends? Um well, she's got these scarabs that are kinds cute. She tags along with Clawdeen Wolf and Draculaura sometimes, but I'm pretty sure she wasn't at that wild Nightmore party the crew had at one of Drac's mansions.

Other than that...

Oh oh wait!

I've seen pics of her hanging out with Frankie, though!

You know Frankie Stein- tall, goes by they/them, wears pretty much nothing BUT school memorabilia, falls apart a lot

I think they built a robot instead of turning in a paper one time, and blank out when remembering something from one of their famous brain bits?

They've got like, bits from almost any amazing monster you could name in the last half century! Monster models, Scareisian monsters, ballet dancers, monster scientists, lawyers. Even a bit from a king of Goreway! They're pretty clumsy but I mean, they HAVE only been alive for less than a year...

They dorm with Drac and Clawdeen- those three are pretty much always a trio, except for fearleading practice and theater stuff.

And yeah, I guess I see them with Cleo pretty often. Frankie, that is.

They sit with her at the creepateria a lot!

Huh. The brilliant franken monster and the second-in-line, dramatic, wanna be queen... I mean, don't get me wrong, Cleo's really nice! And her outfit is AMAZING... Just... I wonder what they even have to talk about...?

meanwhile, Frankie, @ Cleo:

actual canon dialogue: "Any party you're in charge of is sure to be zaptacular! You're so good at parties, and planning things, and picking things, and ah... (flustered) ..making things nicer, and..."

cleo-> decides to sneak into the family tomb. frankie -> PICK ME PICK ME PICK ME PICK M-

also frankie: laughs way too long at cleo's lame pun, tells it it's a good one anyway

also also frankie: goes to cleo for help looking good in their fearbook picture, even though cleo's last photo was a disaster and is the whole reason frankie got nervous about theirs

also also also frankie: "Anything for you, Cleo!"

also also also also frankie, after cleo holds their face and compliments them:

Me: what do they talk about? well mostly frankie just flits with her and is smitten and stuff XD

[inventors-fair]

First Pickable: Typal Winners ~

Our winners for this week are @helloijustreadyourpost, @reaperfromtheabyss and @tanknspank!

@helloijustreadyourpost — Score of a Lifetime

This one is absolutely sold for me. I assume that this is a Capenna-themed card? I mean, considering the scored, I'd say so, so as to avoid the batching that something like OTJ had. All the same, there are a LOT of Rogues there, and a lot of colors. Maybe this could've even been a Treasure, right? But regardless, having a little bit of every color get a little bit of roguishness is pretty much on the nose for what we're looking for mechanically. There was that one artifact from VOW that made a creature unblockable with a bonus for Vampires, but that wouldn't be as fought over. This card, though? I love the evasive theme that everyone would seek if there are indeed rogues, well, everywhere.

And the flavor text is pretty awesome too—which is what fully sells me on the card, because you're expressing a whole lot of possibilities here. The first is that a thief's life is short because of their field of work, but the other is that being "set for life" could just be a temporary measure, and that the rogue would squander it and impulsively go on to the next job—not for the money, but for the thrill. That's a way more esoteric read than I think is necessary, but dammit, it's speaking to me, so I'm going to roll with it. Nobody can stop me!

@reaperfromtheabyss — Sentry's Shortsword

My first thought was that this could be an excellent Kaldheim card, but then I remembered the Artificer example from the beginning of the week, and then yeah, okay, this could also be a more military-oriented card from Kaladesh. That was a really weird thought for me, especially because I remember Kaladesh's dwarves as being pilots and tinkerers, not as much soldiers. But my imagination is running ahead of me. In some ways...isn't that a good thing? Maybe I do like specificity and pounded-into-the-forge worldbuilding. With a set like this, there could be some story behind it to push it in either direction.

That's very cool. That's very cool indeed. As an equipment, this card's on the aggressive and defensive sides, and everyone who's ever played against Danitha in any form knows how much of a pain first strike and vigilance is. Perhaps I'm biased towards vigilance as a mechanic. It's equally possible that vigilance kicks ass and I'm correct and handsome and etc. Don't matter none when a dwarf is swinging at your face. I like the low-to-the-ground implication here, no pun intended, and how you linked the flavor of dwarves with the auto-equip. Like, to me that says something about how they're either readily weaponized or close to the forge? I like cards that make me prone to positive overthinking and this one gets the job done right.

@tanknspank — Sudden Swarming

As an annoying first critique, I will say that I wish the flavor text had been one sentence: "The two kings agreed to clash at dawn, but a neighboring queen arranged a temporary truce." That's about it. The image of these armies fleeing at the behest of a cloud of annoyed bugs is punny, hilarious, and a great use of an underused mechanical space, in my opinion. Does anyone love Fogs? Well, no, because they haven't made a good one in a kajillion years. Is this one of the best Fogs ever? I mean, I think so, but mostly because I'm a jerk.

And also, like, there could be one single Insect or Insect-themed card in this whole draft set, and it wouldn't have any payoff except for this one card, but this one card would be a single sideboard piece in most decks. Someone might want to start building Insects in standard and be disappointed, and/or add it to their Grist commander deck. That's what cards like this should be about, and this is both a hilarious use of the prompt and a great use of this kind of spot overall. Puns don't always get me in design, but this one sure does. A card that stands on its own merits is a card I can get behind.

Runners up 'n coming. @abelzumi

[mikeyforreal]

some random adrian chase head cannons :P

a/n: just some random thought about my favorite crime-fighting goofball :)

cw: fluff, some cussing, a few depictions of violence

miscellaneous hcs

• okay so first off, i know this isn't really a head cannon but james gunn confirmed that the visor in vig's suit is prescription and idk i just love that fact

• anyway, real head cannons now

• i'm like 99.99% sure he has a playlist for when he's on patrol and makes chris listen to it with him

• also, i think he'd have the same wired earphones from like 2014 that came with his iphone 6

• adrian's favorite candy is probably skittles or m&ms because of the fun colors (sometimes he likes to sort them if he's feeling a bit bored)

• i just know he has a collection of vhs tapes that he bought from a secondhand store/had as a kid

• speaking of collections he probably also has a bunch of cd's

• i dunno why but i feel like adrian loves star wars and has since he was little (and also has all the og trilogy movies on vhs)

• definitely has a cheap walmart lightsaber lying around somewhere

• GOLDEN RETRIEVER ENERGY !!!

• i feel like as a kid he loved finding bugs, digging for worms, ect.

• one time he tried eating one, didn't turn out good for him (he couldn't stop throwing up for like 3 days)

• since it's cannon he played/plays dnd, he'd probably play magic, the gathering as well 😭

• i also think that he'd really love the artificial grape flavor ??

• LMAO i think he'd have a little chainsaw keychain lying around somewhere

• def listens to abba, spice girls, and yung gravy

• probably good with kids? he'd set the the house on fire if he watched some but he can keep them entertained at least ?

• manchild (i will not elaborate)

• he reminds me of jake peralta from brooklyn-99

being best friends/in a relationship with adrian

• let's face it, they're practically the same thing

• i justttt know that he made like 10 secret handshakes for the two of you

• his love language is probably words of affirmation, quality time, or touch (maybe all of them, who knows)

• wants to teach you how to play mtg and dnd !!! (please let him teach you he'll be over the moon)

• def has a playlist that he wants to listen to with you

• two words: movie dates

• adrian loves watching movies with you !! even if he's seen it a few dozen times, he'd watch it again just to see your first time reactions :)

• THEMED COSTUMES !!!

• if you're down, he'd want to match with you ever year, something different and cooler than the last

• if you wear glasses, you better bet your ass that he's switching with you 24/7

• you cant go an hour without your glasses getting taken off and replaced with his

• also, i think that adrian wouldn't have the cleanest glasses 😭 you def gotta give 'em a good scrub every now and then

• dr. pepper enthusiast fs

• discounted/sometimes free food and fennel fields

• if you can work from home and go there often just to eat and work, he's definitely spending his 15 minute breaks (and longer than that) sitting with you and chatting

• he's always bringing home leftovers or breadsticks that he stole

• i think adrian has a pretty decent comic collection, and would go to shops with you for dates or hangouts

• he's probably super good friends with the owner (or at least that's what he thinks)

• when he's patrolling, he randomly facetimes you???

• like he has a guy near death and he's having a full conversation with you

• adrian has tonsss of silly and random nicknames for you !! he just calls you whatever you remind him of

• whenever he goes over to your place or vice versa, you two have a special knock that lets either of you know immediately who it is

• one of his ideal dates would probably be going to the park and feeding ducks !! (and him trying to catch them)

• he also randomly makes machine gun noises ?? what's that about ??

• the two of you'll just be chilling watching tv or something and then you hear 'CHCHCHCHC' and see him doing finger guns or whatever

• and when you ask him about it he's just like "what do you mean babe?"

• would probably beg you to get a little cat or a dog

• if you initially say no, he's gonna pull out a whole powerpoint presentation on why you should say yes (and he's wearing his fanciest clothes)

• FRIENDSHIP BRACELETS !!!

• it doesn't matter where or what they look like, if he sees some at the gas station, store, theme park, wherever, he's buying some for the two of you

• your relationship is basically that one scene in bobs burgers scene where tina makes a friendship bracelet for louise and tina's like "oh you don't have to wear it" and louise snatches it and says "no i'm gonna wear it forever, back off"

• proud malewife

• adrian is in the kitchen a lot, always fixing up snacks for you

a/n: let me know if i should make another one of these with another character !

[ac3-silvers]

Is it weird for me to be worried about my latest hyperfixation/plot bunny?

Below the cut is an explaination.

Tl/dr: added a bunch of like pagan themes and my version of “western fantasy” and found family tropes and species bending to a Xianxia/Wuxia setting (MXTX triple fusion) and I’m worried people will find it problematic if I post it. All pagan stuff is also “weird” bc it’s my flavor of it and I add more bits when I write it for stories of any kind. Main guy mostly just acts as a dad and is always running around trying to avoid people who he doesn’t want to find him unless he needs to trade for certain things like fabric because everyone is suspicious of him and it gets worse when they learn he’s an “alternate type of cultivator” and actually foreign and stuff. Like, it’s HIM being assimilated and not the other way around even if he’s sharing like a couple crafts, what he grew up speaking and writing, some recipes and stuff you’d learn if you lived in the wilds and had an arborist-holistic doctor-type for a mom figure.

Edits: added more clarification, main concern is white savior and I’m doing as much as I can to avoid that bullshit but I’m still worried as fuck bc I don’t want to seem like an asshole or something.

Like, I tend to have phases for fandoms, sure, but I also have them for tropes/concepts I like to write.

So I’m in a MXTX/Danmei phase fandom wise, and I’m in a general “fix it before the shit can go south” phase, and now I’m layering on my paganism-in-everything phase once again and writing a “what if all MXTX novels are in the same world… and a very powerful druid-witch dude happens to stumble onto our favorite red-and-black boys and a (good number of) handful(s) of other fucked over kids… which activates his horrible, horrible dad instincts and he adopts every last one of them” thing.

It’s 3 chapters deep, has a bunch of random shit ranging from discussion of languages and their quirks, basic Irish lessons (bc teaching myself off and on for YEARS), pagan/wiccan shit (obviously), handicrafts, hunting, practical foraging and ultra-sustainable farming practices, how major religions stamp out smaller or “bad” ones…

It’s basically just what I write for my Og stuff but I’m not holding back at ALL and it’s MXTX. Main plot is MDZS but Binghe and Hua Cheng are the frustratingly ridiculous older brothers of the family that the dad-character is just sick and tired of listening to them pine and suspicious as hell about who they’re going after despite not wanting to even THINK about his boys being in romantic relationships with ANYONE.

Just… goofy happy but dramatic family shit and cute kids and teens bringing a shitload of foreign mythology and pagan culture and a hefty dash of my personal style of fantasy into the Xianxia/Wuxia world.

I just worry I might get flack for like destroying the culture and setting with… what I write about for the most part outside of like the vast majority of my fics.

Am I going nuts, or is this okay?

Edit for a clarification: I’m worried, as someone mentioned, of a white savior trope problem. I’m mainly trying to get out of that corner I seem to have driven myself in, but generally how it’s going so far is:

- cultivators are suspicious of foreign guy who’s apparently not just some weird merchant, this causes issues

- OC is more just trying to keep the kids he ends up running around with from doing stupid shit like pulling stupid stunts to be with people they declare their soul mates after like one brief interaction (and he fails a lot and gets all “I’m not mad I’m just disappointed. Now eat your dinner and go take a bath, you stink and are too thin again.”)

- major difference for whole setting is just some one off things here and there being introduced and made more common in a warped timeline (mostly just like fiber arts and some recipes and minor things that aren’t as obvious right off the bat like how ginkgo trees are in the same family as poison Ivy and stuff like that)

Generally the entire fic is just very done dad yelling at stupid teenagers for being stupid teenagers and having to dodge people who don’t like the weird wild man and judging him for not being able to read Chinese well and stuff.

Yet I’m still worried about white savior issues… because they’re an issue.

[isagrimorie]

I really love House of R's breakdown of the Ahsoka show. Listening to the breakdown I like their point that maybe the reason for the gap in knowledge about Ahsoka and Sabine's relationship is that this is a mystery that both old fans and new watchers would see together.

I do think we will get flashbacks to the moments of Ahsoka first taking on Sabine as an apprentice to the end why she walked away from Sabine.

Another thing I realized about the table setting in the first two episodes is that they're setting up that Ahsoka show might be set more in the unknown regions outside of their current galaxy.

I actually like that we're getting more into different lore for Ahsoka, more alien, more mystic and that by going to the Unknown Regions we might get to avoid the oft criticism about 'always returning to Tatooine'.

But most of all, I love that we might be exploring different kinds of Force Users, and the show might end up touching on an ancient society that predates both the Night Sisters and the Jedi/Sith.

But also speaking of Lore, I love how Baylon Skoll and Shin Hati were named after the two wolves from Norse mythology.

Skoll is the name of the wolf Who follows the shining priest Into the desolate forest, And the other is Hati, Hróðvitnir’s son, Who chases the bright bride of the sky

= the Eddic poem Grímnismál

And that Morgan Elspeth is a confirmed Night Sister. Night Sisters of Dathomir are often called Witches because of how the Night Sisters utilize the Force like magic.

In the Clone Wars, Grevious massacred the Night Sisters.

Ahsoka's had dealings with a Night Sister before -- Asajj Ventress and Darth Maul and Savage Oppres were also from Dathomir.

But also, Shin seems to have some reservations about Morgan after she learns Morgan is a Night Sister.

I also love the sense that Ahsoka is more mystical and science fantasy than the other shows. This show doesn't shy away that it's about space wizards and space knights.

Sometimes I feel current Star Wars (and some fans) are ashamed that Star Wars is basically a show about sword and sorcery but in space.

I also really like that if The Mandalorian is a Space Western, Ahsoka is very much the Space Wizard Samurai and Din's aesthetic (or the Mandos in the Mandalorian) is more like Space Cowboys and Vikings, Sabine represents the Japanese-flavored aesthetic of her part of Mandalore.

But also I love that the lead character is the grumpy samurai master, usually in anime/manga we see stories more from the point of view of the student seeking the master to teach them once again.

Very much borrowing from the influences of Samurai movies. Also, Kanan has done this (in other Western media-- Zuko and Iroh from Avatar and Korra from Legend of Korra).

For both Kanan and Sabine, this signifies commitment -- Sabine has mentioned before that she kept her hair short because it helps her wear her Mandalorian helmet.

Sabine letting her hair grow long meant she has set aside her Mandalorian heritage, she's been in a holding pattern, possibly since the day Mandalore fell (again). It's possibly another reason why Sabine is so reluctant to celebrate.

Yes, she helped save Lothal but what does that matter if she couldn't even save her own homeworld?

Almost every character in this show lost their families, their home worlds, and their people.

I also like how Ahsoka the show is also about the Good guys winning the war, they've all been busy fighting the war that now there's peace what do Ahsoka, a soldier who has been fighting since she was a child, and Sabine, a child who is from a culture that reveres war and warriors, do now?

Hera is the only one with a clear idea of what she wants to do -- and that's to build a better world and tomorrow for her son.

But for Ahsoka and Sabine?

I feel like Ahsoka and Sabine's theme music is Wait for It:

Life doesn't discriminate Between the sinners and the saints It takes and it takes and it takes And we keep living anyway We rise and we fall and we break And we make our mistakes And if there's a reason I'm still alive When so many have died Then I'm willin' to— Wait for it...

[rays-of-fire-and-ice]

A Part of You

Hitsuhina Weekend - Day 2: Stars / Morning / Zanpakuto / Teamwork

Prompts: Zanpakuto, Acceptance

Rating: T for mild themes and mentions of violence.

Setting: between the end of the Arrancar arc and the beginning of the Fullbringer arc

Synopsis: Momo puts another piece of the past to rest.

AN: I’ve wanted to write this story for a while, but seeing the prompts for the Hitsuhina Weekend and for @yearoftheotpevent's challenge finally got me to do it.

If there’s one [of many] things I think needs to be expanded upon in BLEACH universe it’s zanpakuto etiquette. We've seen Shinigami characters treat their zanpakuto differently, from some seeing it as just a weapon to others having a close bond with the spirit tied to their sword. So what happens if another person touches it or shatters it? How deeply and personally do they feel when something like that happens?

I listened to music that reminded me of water for this one, including Dying Planet by Parallel Highway, A Letter by Clem Leek, The Latter Rain Patio by Will Lewis, and Belong by The Living Sleep, so I recommend any one of these songs while reading this fic if you’re interested.

Also, Momo names a few confectionery treats here:

 Siberia cake: a sponge cake with a sweet bean jelly filling.

Chinsuko: it’s like a shortbread biscuit, made form lard and flour with a mild and sweet flavor. A friend of mine brought these back from Japan as a gift once.

Kusa mochi: a sweet mixed with the leaves of the mugwort plant. 

Botamochi: a sweet mixed with red bean paste. It’s traditionally made during spring and autumn/fall.

Ichigo daifuku: a sweet with a redbean paste filling and a strawberry stuffed in the middle.

Anyhow, hope you all enjoy this one!

___________________________

Toshiro blinks down at the box full of sweets. “You…really went all out.”

Heat rushes up to Momo's face. Had she gone overboard? “Well, ever since I left the Fourth Division, I’ve wanted to get back into baking. With the Shinigami Women’s Association bake sale, I thought it’d be a good excuse to try out a few recipes I wanted to do quite some time now.”

“Don’t they make enough money off of calendars already?”

She only gives him a pointed stare in response to his snarky comment. After a beat, she names off each sweet in the box. “This is sibera, those are chinsuko, and those are some mochi. The green ones are kusa mochi, the maroon ones are botamochi, and the white ones are ichigo daifuku.”

He only reacts to the latter, and she suspects it’s due to Ichigo Kurosaki. At his otherwise lack of a response, she sighs. “Did I go overboard? Maybe I only should have made the mochi and got Rangiku-san and Nanao-san to try the other sweets.”

He quirks up a brow. “I don’t just like mochi and amanatto.”

She can’t help but smile. “Well, you do tend to gravitate towards those, so…”

He shakes his head. “It’s fine, I’ll try all of these.”

“Thank you, Shiro-chan!”

“Call me that again and I’ll give everything a bad review.”

“You can be so mean,” she half-teases.

He only grumbles, but takes up a slice of the siberia. He takes a decent bite out of it and chews. She can’t help but watch him to gauge his reaction, and he makes it a point to look away to the garden in front of them. Nothing gives away his judgement as he munches on the cake. Did it always take him this long to chew his food? Was he doing this on purpose? Or had she not cooked the cake well?

Then, he swallows and makes an approving grunt. “It’s good.”

Momo grins in relief and pushes the box towards him; it's about as high a compliment as she can typically get from Toshiro with her baking. “You like it? Feel free to have some more.”

 “You’re not going to have any?” he asks before biting into his slice again.

Momo shrugs. “I might have one of the mochi later, but I want to see what you make of everything first. I don’t think I can judge what I bake very well. Can you tell me what you like about it? Just so I know what I got right.”

Toshiro opens his mouth to speak, but he’s interrupted by a knock from the door behind them. Momo gives him a questioning tilt of her head, and his response is a deepening of his frown. He lowers the remains of sibera slice down to his lap and twisted around. “Yes?”

The door slides open to reveal Minagwa, Tenth Division’s third seat, kneeling. He bows his head. “I’m sorry to interrupt sir, but the group you sent to the seventh north district have returned. They have a debrief ready for you.”

Toshiro looks back to Momo. Seeing the glimmer of guilt in his gaze, Momo smiles. “Did you need to go speak with them?”

He nods stiffly. “It’s an investigation we’ve been waiting on for a while.”

He shoves the rest of his sibera slice into his mouth and chews quickly. She can’t help but list her head fondly to one side; it made him look oddly childish and it’s typical of him to not waste anything he’s started on.

Minagawa gives Momo an apologetic look, and is about to speak up, until Toshiro turns back to him “Where are they right now?” he asks while rising from the veranda.

The third seat follows suit and stands. “Out the front, sir.”

To Momo, Toshiro says, “I’ll be back soon.”

She waves her hand. “It’s all right, take your time. Captain Hirako ordered me to take a longer break.”

“What is it with his lax orders?” he says under his breath. However, unlike other times he criticized her captain, there's no annoyance in his tone.

Toshiro and Minagawa leave, closing the door behind them. Momo stares after them for a moment, sensing Toshiro’s reiatsu get further and further away.

Eventually, she turns back to the gardens. Tenth Division always kept such small but tidy gardens, suitable for jinzen or private conversations. This one happens to be her favourite, filled with colourful flowers and tall trees that shade most of the area. Had she ever told Toshiro this was her favourite? Is that why he often brought her here for their shared lunch breaks?

As the sun spills through the parting clouds, she munches on an ichigo daifuku, more out of boredom than hunger. Despite feeling like she can’t judge her own cooking, the daifuku turned out rather good in her opinion. Chewing on the last of the sweet, she goes for a kusa mochi.

As she does, it becomes hard to ignore the glint of Hyourinmaru’s hilt in her peripheral.

She risks swallowing with a tightened throat and winces as her food goes down. Haltingly, she lifts her gaze to the zanpakuto propped against the nearest wooden beam. Now focused on it, she senses the chill thrumming from it in slow waves, just barely brushing against the side of her leg.

She knows the blade’s cold all too well. How it burned through her chest and in her veins, as if freezing her from the inside out. She grimaces at the dull throb in her chest. A remembrance, still raw enough to make her lean away from the zanpakuto, hand clutches where it had cut through her. She closes her eyes and breathes, just like how Isane taught her to.

Unlike what she’d been instructed to do however, she keeps her eyes open, unable to look away from the zanpakuto. Toshiro sometimes went to training after their lunch breaks, it’s the only reason he brings his zanpakuto along. She never told him how unnerved seeing the blade made her at times, feeling it was something she and she alone had to deal with. Why worry him with something he can’t control?

The door slides open, startling her.

“Apologies, it was important that I…” Toshiro trails off when his eyes land on her. She isn’t sure what her expression shows, but it’s enough to make him stop mid-step.

Without meaning to, she glances at Hyourinmaru. It all comes together for her childhood friend, his eyes narrowing at his zanpakuto. Momo had a feeling he knew something was wrong this whole time. Since they started having the occasional lunch break together, he would look at her for a second in a certain way, as if assessing her to make sure she was all right. Other times he'd try to obscure Hyourinmaru from her sight somehow as they ate. Even today, he'd knelt in front of his weapon, with only the hilt visible behind his head and blocking her from the cold it emitted.

She's brought out of her thoughts when Toshiro curses under his breath. He steps out from the doorway towards Hyourinmaru. “I didn’t -”

“It’s okay,” she’s quick to reassure, throwing her hands up. “Really, it’s okay.”

He’s unconvinced, not once taking his eyes off her and he comes to stand between her and his zanpakuto. He’s putting her first, making sure she doesn’t feel unsafe.

Something that makes her chest tighten. The weapon is a manifestation of his soul, a part of him. If she’s always going to be apprehensive towards his zanpakuto, then it’s not different from being fearful of him. He shouldn’t have to shield her from a part of himself.

She wills herself to calm the faint tremors. “May I…see Hyourinmaru up close?”

Toshiro’s eyes widen with a confused grunt. “What?”

She has nothing for him, unable to believe she had spoken the request out loud.  At his continued stare and lack of response, she starts to lose her nerve. “Forget it.”

His frown returns, though now it's out of confusion. He lowers himself back to a kneel on the veranda. “Why do you want to look at Hyourinmaru?”

“It’s…It’s hard to explain. I think it’ll help somehow with coming to terms with what happened.”

“Are you sure?”

It’s rare to see him so uncertain, and she hates that this is his reaction. It’s all the more reason she needs to do this.

She lifts her legs off the edge of the veranda and folds them legs underneath to fully turn to him. Her heart races, but she schools her expression to one of calm and gives him a firm nod.

His gaze lingers for several heartbeats, searching for something within her. Whether he finds what he’s looking for or not, he still twists to Hyourinmaru and clasps his sheath with both hands. He’s slow to bring the weapon out and lay it before her, as if giving her time to back out. In response, she moves the box of sweets out of the way, a space now clear to lay the weapon down between them.

The ‘clink’ the blade makes once the sword on the floorboards is the only sound to break the tense silence. This has been the closet she’s been to zanpakuto since being in the Fake Karakura Town. She bites the inside of her mouth when the memories of that day threaten to come forward.

She focuses her attention on Hyourinmaru’s details, from the four-pointed hilt guard to the dark blue scabbard. It’s always had a certain elegance to it, though not in the traditional sense like Senbonzakura or even Sode no Shiraiyuki. It came from how ancient it felt, having been honed from one wielder down to the next. Perhaps it’s why it’s as long as it is.

There was a time where she found it a little funny the blade was too long for her childhood friend to carry on his hip. In time, she came to wonder if the sword was meant for someone older. Toshiro had unlocked his potential at such a young age, she couldn’t help but wonder once if maybe he should have waited until he was a little older.

A fresh wave of cold wafts over her. With the blade this close, the chill it emits reminds her of Toshiro’s reiatsu whenever she’s next to him. It swirls around him, as gentle as a winter breeze, settling coolly on her skin and uniform. It’s never been unpleasant to her.

So drawn in by that familiar reiatsu and as in a trance, Momo reaches for the blade. At Toshiro’s confused grunt, she stills, and then snaps her hand back to her lap. “I’m sorry! I don’t, um…”

He looks at her like she’s grown a third eye.

Before she can explain herself, he tilts his head downward. It’s imperceptible, a ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ moment, but she can tell he’s communicating with his zanpakuto. His eyes briefly take on a hazy quality, as if he’s fallen somewhere into the back of his mind deep in thought. Had her action disturbed Hyourinamru?

“I’m sorry,” she repeats. “I got ahead of myself without thinking.”

Toshiro seems to only half hear her, still stuck in his inner conversation with Hyourinmaru. She waits in nervous silence, fearful she may have offended the zanpakuto spirit or even Toshiro.

It differs from Shinigami to Shinigami, but zanpakuto wielders could get personal about another touching their weapon. Whether it was a fear that another would somehow damage it or because to touch it is to sense a part of the wielder’s soul, each Shinigami had their limitation for others touching their weapon.

Eventually, Toshiro lifts his head back to her. It’s as though he’s come to a heavy decision, one loaded with a lot of potential risk.

“Will it help you?” he asks. At her surprised blinking, he clarifies. “If it will help, you can touch Hyrouinmaru.”

Her shoulders drop in shock. He’d really allow this? Of all the Shinigami she knows, he is willing to let her touch his zanpakuto? She’s never had to touch Hyourinmaru or ever been tempted to, but she always imagined Toshiro would find it hurtful if someone tried to outside of combat or training.

She purses her lips, hating the uncertainty bubbling up within her. “I don’t know for certain. I just know that I can’t keep feeling this way towards Hyourinmaru.”

Toshiro's gaze softens. “You don’t have to push yourself.”

Momo had heard that so many times, from Shinigami in the Fourth Division and form all her friends. Shinji had told her a few times too, but it was only once he could see she was visibly upset by something that happened – usually to do with Aizen and remembering something from her past with him. She knows everyone means well when they tell her, but she doesn’t want to remain stagnant. She can handle more than she could before.

“If it’s truly all right with both of you…then please let me try. If not, then that’s okay too. Please don’t push yourself.”

He doesn’t react to his own words being said back him. “Hyourinmaru feels it’s only right that you do, after what happened.”

That shocks her even more. She’s left speechless for a moment, only able to look between Toshiro and Hyourinmaru. The zanpakuto spirit wants this too?

Trepidation jumps through her, making her heart race and her body want to freeze. She forces her hand forward.

The closer she reaches, the colder the chill becomes. Despite the quivering that comes more from anxiety than the cold, she isn’t deterred. With her heart racing and her eyes unblinking, she touches the scabbard.

She gasps at the freezing cold. It’s like her fingertips are dipped in the running water of a river just as the ice is starting to thaw. She can’t help but shiver, and she has to flash Toshiro a reassuring smile when he leans forward, ready to snatch the weapon away.

She stays with the cold, let’s her shaking calm with each breath she takes. It’s like the water has risen to surround her, but it doesn’t drown her. It doesn’t burn her either, like it had when the blade pierced through her chest. It’s like winter winds, the invisible waves of cold ice gives off, and the snowfall in the Junrinan. It’s harsh and soft at the same time. It’s only then she realises she’s closed her eyes.

Beyond the cold, there are swells of emotion. To her surprise, she senses she can go beneath the surface, tread further into the cold and discover how Toshiro feels in this moment and towards things happening his life. There are so few barriers in her way.

It strikes her again that Toshiro is allowing her to do this, to sense how he feels and what lies deep within his being. It’s more vulnerable than when one opens up with their words or actions, it’s truly getting to the heart of a person in its most raw form. To discover it may change how one sees the other, or it may break the person who allowed them to tread so far in.

And in understanding that vulnerability she doesn’t even entertain the idea of going further in; his feelings are his own, for him to express to her or not, and she will wait on the surface for whatever Hyourinmaru wants to convey her now.

Slowly, guilt floats up to her. It’s heavy, carrying the weight of two. So even after forgiving him when it wasn’t needed, Toshiro still feels responsible for what happened. On it’s tail is a wordless apology, as if a great force is bowing before her, asking for her forgiveness.

She shallows against the lump forming in her throat and blinks her eyes open.

It was nothing compared to what would’ve laid beneath he surface of Hyourinmaru’s connction to Toshiro, but she feels the need to make a confession of her own. “As I said before, it wasn’t your fault, you weren’t to know. It may take me a while to fully accept it, but I know I don’t have to be scared of you.” A small smile lifts the corners of her lips. “You’ve always been there for Hitsugaya-kun, since all the way back in the Junrinan. I knew he’d go to the Academy, one day, I could barely sense something within him, and that was you.”

In her peripheral, Toshiro straightens, but she doesn’t take her gaze from Hyourinmaru.

“I’ve seen the way you fight together,” she continues, “it’s inspiring to witness a connection like yours. It’s even inspired Tobiume and I to bond with each other when I was training to obtain my Shikai.” She bows her head to the sword. “Thank you for keeping Hitsugaya-kun safe.”

There’s a pulse, an like echo from a canyon. Gratitude, she realises with a widened smile. She only nods in response. Then, as slowly as she can, she curls her fingers away from the scabbard, and the connection fades. Her heart is at eases with the fading of the cold all around her.

She bows her head again, this time to Toshiro. “Thank you for letting me do that.”

He says nothing, doesn’t even shift. Perhaps it had been too much for him, for to even just graze a part of his inner self. She has an apology ready on her lips, but he speaks.

"Did it help?"

His voice is quiet, maybe even on the verge of quivering. It's like the day they reconciled, when he spoke in low tones and eventually lost the battle against the emotions raging through him. Unlike then, his gaze isn't tumultuous. There's worry, but also a calmness she hadn't seen in him for quite some time.

Following the same instinct that had led her to reaching out to Hyourinmaru in the first place, she takes on his hands and smiles. She can't give him a verbal answer, too overcome with what she'd experience, but she hopes this is enough to tell him.

She can’t forget the burning of the ice in her chest, just as she can’t forget that horrible day in its entirety. It will live on in her, but it’ll become an echo one day, of a time long gone and a pain long forgiven.

[contemporarybardess]

Help Wanted || Elora & Alistair

Location: The Sugar Pot

Timing: Current-ish

Parties: @deathsplaything & @contemporarybardess

Triggers: Parental death (mentioned), Partner death (mentioned)

Summary: Elora goes into The Sugar Pot wanting some tea after a rough day, leaves with far much more.

Well this was just fucking peachy. Elora had gotten a tip on a revolutionary treatment for her hand that might be able to restore function to it, and she gets fucking rejected. Something about candidates with a longer duration of disability being favored first. It wasn’t her fault she wasn’t born disabled, but a recent injury should have just as much weight as those who have been managing the burden their entire lives. 

She was upset, and she always began shaking when she was upset. She needed something to calm her nerves. While she loved a good cup of coffee, it would do nothing to relax her in this moment. As she walked down the street, she saw a sign for a new shop she hadn’t seen before. 

“The Sugar Pot”, she muttered under her breath. She could use a nice cup of hot tea to steady her nerves. 

As she entered the store, she was greeted by a man behind the counter wearing dark glasses that completely obscured his eyes. She appreciated the apothecary theme, and figured if the tea was good this might already be a new favorite spot of hers. She approached the counter, hoping to see some sort of menu that she could order off of. 

As the door opened to the shop, the bell attached to the door jingled, alerting Alastair that there was a customer. “Welcome in!” He greeted her with a customer-service-grade smile. “If yer new, the shop is set up for you to pick out some flavors, and then we mix and pack it for you. The menu is below me if you’re looking for a certain brew.” He patted the counter he stood behind. The menu was on the wall of the counter. 

The menu consisted of herbal blends sorted by white teas, green teas, black teas, oolong teas, and fruit tisanes. “We’ve got floral, citrus, fruity, sweet, and umami teas.” He explained as a woman stepped out of the curtained back door. She closed the back door rather loudly as to alert Alastair to her presence. “In front of you.” She spoke to him, which caused his attention to shift from the sound of the bell ringing on the door to directly in front of him. He didn’t quite look directly at Elora, nor did he turn his head to look at the woman who had stepped behind the counter. He looked in their general direction without looking directly at them. 

“Thank you, looks like a big selection” she said to the man behind the counter. She could tell from the dark glasses and the way he wasn’t quite looking at her to speak that he must be blind or have some sort of serious vision impairment. She saw his assistant emerge to redirect his focus so that he had a better idea of where she was. 

“I think I’ll have the ‘Pear With Me’ please!” she went to point at the sign, a strange thing to do when speaking to a blind man but it was habit for her. She forgot, as always, that pointing with her left hand was an impossibility, and she was left with more of a three fingered gesture towards the area of the sign that displayed her drink. She quickly pulled her hand back, being glad the man couldn’t see her mistake. While there was certainly no shame to an injury, she didn’t want any form of weakness to be perceived by people in this town. 

“I don’t think I’ve seen this place before. Don’t usually come to this side of town, I was just out here running errands. Do you get a lot of people over here?” 

She wasn’t familiar with Old Town yet, she didn’t have much reason to stop by until today.

Alastair smiled, nodding his head. “I like to give my customers a lot tae choose from. If you have too little, then what fun is that?” His tone was jovial but almost as if it was practiced to be that way. As Elora gestured to the sign, Melody, the assistant shopkeeper, frowned. She leaned over to Alastair and whispered into his ear. “Left hand, potential medial nerve injury.” She pulled away from the man, who had already turned around to find the correct blend, slipping his fingers along the glass jars that held the herb mixtures until he came across the one that said “Pear With Me” in bold letters. He plucked the jar off the shelf, and Melody grabbed a cup and tea bag, scoping the mixture into the bag. 

As Melody set to preparing her drink, Alastair turned around with an almost ghoulish smile that quickly drifted back to a practiced politeness. “Oh, we’ve been here for about three years now.” He spoke with a nod, his hand drifting over the old-style register and feeling the buttons before pressing down on the correct ones to ring up her total. “Busier during the mornings and weekends, get some wanderers from time to time throughout the day, though. We have enough regulars to keep the business afloat.” After he finished speaking, Melody turned around to hand the cup of hot tea over to Elora with a friendly smile. “Alastair and I opened up the shop together.” She further explained, taking over the register with ease. “Your total is 5.48.” She added. 

Alastair tapped a finger on the counter. “Tell your friends about us! Oh, and we’re hirin’ if you know someone looking for a job. We hire all kinds here!” He grinned wickedly, as if trying to let her in on something without saying it aloud.

There was a certain charm to the man’s Scottish accent. Elora had noticed the pair whispering, but couldn’t quite make out what was being said. Didn’t they know whispering was rude. Especially in front of a paying customer! 

“Well it’s good you have a steady stream of business. Nowadays it’s hard to keep a good business going. Guess I’d be considered a ‘wanderer’, eh?” she said teasingly. “Well I’m glad to hear you’ve been here for a while, means what you sell isn’t shit. So how long have you two been together” she asked, careful to gesture with her right hand as she moved it between the two of them. 

“As a matter of fact, I’ve been in the market for a good job. If you take ‘all types’, maybe I could put in an application?”

Alastair’s smile turned from friendly to genuine as Elon’s called herself a wanderer. “An’ there’s nothin’ wrong with that either. Best people I know are wanderers themselves” he gave a nod. When asked how long they’d been together, his smiley turned to a disgusted look. “Oh, I’m far too gay tae be with ‘er.” He spoke in a conspiratorial whisper towards Elora. That earned an eye roll from Melody, who knelt beneath the counter. 

“Oh ye are, are ya?” Alastair remarked, tilting his head to the side with a grin. Melody popped back up, sliding the application towards Elora with a smile. “Melody here helped me out when I lost my sight.” He explained. “Been business partners since I moved here three years ago. Anything other than that is strictly platonic. Like I said, definitely too gay for that.” He chuckled softly, shaking his head. “New to the area, then?” He asked, curious to learn more about the prospective hire. 

Since her colony’s fall, Elora had never been anything other than a wanderer. Just another soul passing through; here today and gone tomorrow. Hearing there was nothing wrong with that was certainly reassuring. 

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to assume,” she uttered, feeling herself starting to blush. She very often made assumptions about other people, and sometimes those assumptions lead to embarrassment. 

“I came here a couple months ago. I’ve uh…been off to a bit of a rough start. That goo outbreak certainly didn’t help things. Not a lot of places that are busy when half the town is completely unnavigable. But yes, I could really use some extra income. Well, any income, really.” 

She felt the inevitable follow up question of where she was before coming next, so she decided to pre-empt the man. She could tell by his manner of speech he was probably from somewhere in Scotland. 

“Grew up in South Carolina, very remote small town.” If you could even call it a town. “Decided I should try branching out a little bit. So I moved out and decided I’d try my luck up here.” She decided to leave out the tragic backstory. Not exactly appropriate for a first encounter, especially with a potential employer. 

Melody rolled her eyes and whacked Alastair in the arm. “Don’t mind him, he’s ridiculous.” She spoke as she took payment from Elora, charged the card, and handed it back to her. This earned a wide grin from the man in response, who seemed quite proud of himself. As Elora said she had a rough start to moving to Wicked’s Rest, Melody frowned, then spoke up. “Well, we are in a position where we need someone, so maybe Alastair here can talk to you about the position while I tidy up in the back.” She suggested, nudging the man so that it was less of a suggestion and more of a demand.

As the blonde passed the curtain and into the back room, the flash of something small toddled across the room as the door shut behind her. “She likes you,” Alastair told Elora with a knowing smile. “If you are rather interested, the position is for a barista. Our recent employees left because they wanted to focus on school, and we allow them to have summer jobs and over their breaks. We’re looking for someone who would be willing to work full-time. A thud came from the back, drawing Alastair’s attention toward the noise, but then he let his head drift back to the direction he last heard Elora. 

“The goo has most definitely made things harder for people to navigate to our shop, but I think that makes it the perfect opportunity to train someone who may not have prior experience.” He smiled, trying to let her know as slyly as possible that he would be interested in her working for him. “Though I do feel bad for the victims of the goo, I try to see things in a positive light when I can.” He then added, deciding it was not the best look to say he liked the goo. He didn’t. He’d been sleeping there at the tea shop because of the goo.

After all of her applications and interviews, it couldn’t be this easy, could it? Had she finally found stable and long term employment? Well, as stable as you can get in this town. The pair seemed kind enough, and she was certainly never one to look a gift horse in the mouth. 

“Really? It’d be great to work here, especially full time. I do have some barista experience too! Another small mom and pop shop back near where I grew up.” One that didn’t look too closely into validating I-9 documents like a bigger coffee chain might have done. 

“I understand what you mean” Elora said, nodding even though it served no purpose. “Gotta find the silver linings wherever you can see them”. She immediately bit her tongue in frustration at her words. Definitely not off to the best of starts, but he didn’t seem like the type to be easily offended. “So to speak, of course” she added on, hastily. 

“The goo’s been an absolute pain for me too. Most of the streets are completely unnavigable and my side of town is far away from pretty much everything. If it weren’t for my gymnastics training I wouldn’t even be able to get groceries.” 

Gymnastics training, supernatural agility, po-tay-toe po-tah-toe.

“Anyway, I’d be ready to start whenever if you’re serious about hiring me!”

Alistair stood there for a long, quiet moment as he debated whether or not to crack a joke at his own expense. “Where ye can see ‘em, nice.” He muttered with a crooked grin on his face. “Gymnastic trainin’? Bet that’s absolutely come in handy with all of it. Poor Brutus was leading me in weird patterns an’ I had no idea about the goo at first until someone kindly pointed it out to me. I thought my dog had gone rogue.” He shook his head, snapping his finger down at his hip, which caused Brutus to sit up in his bed and lazily walk over to Alistair’s side. “Y’ have a problem working with dogs?”

It wasn’t that Alastair had a bleeding heart. He didn’t. With what he did for a living, he couldn’t afford to. But when someone obviously struggling to get by in town just waltzed into his shop, he couldn’t just turn them away, now could he? So that’s how he ended up feeling bad for the woman before him. And if she said she had experience, then… well, that was just a helpful addition now, wasn’t it? 

Alastair couldn’t help but smile in amusement as she talked about seeing something. He didn’t say anything, but he was already coming up with a multitude of different responses in his head. He drummed his fingers against the counter, knowing Melody had already given him the go-ahead, meaning it was entirely up to him. He hated being the one to make decisions regarding hiring and firing. He tilted his head to the side, deep in thought. She was friendly, she was available to work full-time, and he could use a day off every once and a while. “Yeah, alright.” He finally said, letting his head turn back. “I do have a weird question, though.” He spoke, tapping his finger against the counter again, this time more in nervousness. “I need t’know what you know about the supernatural.” He spoke, gripping Brutus’s harness. “See, I heal people.” He further explained. “The methods I use are…” he trailed off, trying to find the words to use. “Different than what you’d find in a hospital.”

While Elora was a bit mortified at misspeaking, at least the man seemed to take her slip up in stride. It probably wasn’t the first inappropriate comment he had heard regarding his blindness. 

“Right, my gymnastics training. Comes in handy when you’re moving around rooftops across town. You’d be surprised how bad the goo situation is in Worm’s Row.” 

She looked over at the dog, who looked like such a good boy. But she knew better than to try and pet him, working dog and all that. 

“He seems like a very good boy doing great work. You both could’ve been swallowed up if he wasn’t on his guard!” 

She was momentarily overjoyed when she heard his very casual acceptance to allow her to work there. This quickly went away as he asked her about what she knew of the supernatural. She was a bit hesitant since they were in a public space, she never knew who could be listening in. Eventually, however, she decided to answer the man’s question. She was all too curious about his “unconventional methods”. 

“Well, I know that there are creatures that exist who aren’t exactly what they seem to be. Some friendly, others very much not. I also know that magic does exist, and can also be used to help or harm someone at the user’s discretion. Also nasty goo that turns people into statues, can’t forget about that.” 

She withheld that she was supernatural of course. Some old school apothecaries and other potion brewers still harvested siren organs for certain concoctions. She didn’t want to end up on the man’s grocery list, blind people were still dangerous after all. 

“Please, do tell about these methods of yours.”

Alistair sighed, knowing he’d have to explain it sooner rather than later. He’d much prefer if he could control the narrative before Elora found out for herself. As Melody came out of the back room, the spellcaster tugged on the harness, speaking “doras cùil,” which caused Brutus to walk toward the back door that Melody had exited. “Mind the store,” he spoke to the blond as he passed her, pulling the door open again and holding it out for Elora. 

As they entered the back room, the first thing that could be noticed (by those with sight) was the circular, emerald rug on the floor with sage green sitting cushions around in a circle. “The Law of Equivalent Exchange,” Alistair spoke after the door had closed, “means that I cannot heal without doing harm to another.” Brutus guided Alistair to the middle of the rug, then sat obediently at his side. “My family comes from a line of necromancers. Instead of raising the dead, I use it to heal people.” Brutus stood from his owner’s side and walked to the door on the far side of the room, then sat in front of it. “Beyond that door is what I use to heal those who need it or even deserve it.” 

He paused for a moment, waiting to see if she had any questions. When Elora said nothing, he continued. “The bigger the injury, the better the sacrifice must be. I can’t just use a lab rat for a sacrifice when the person has been stabbed through the chest. It has to be an exact exchange. While I, luckily, don’t deal with larger scale injuries, sometimes the sacrifice needs to be greater. People who have done harm, people that deserve punishment.” He pointed to the door again. “That’s who I keep beyond there.” 

Brutus watched Elora with a curious gaze, as if he knew more than a normal dog should. Alistair stood still, waiting for the woman to speak or run. If she ran, well, that’s what Melody in the front of the shop was for. If she didn’t, then maybe she’d stand a chance after all. “You wouldn’t deal with this,” he added on. “But you would have to deal with them coming into the store asking for me. If you decide to work here, know that when I’m not working, I live above the shop, so I’m only a phone call away to get here as soon as possible.” He tilted his head to the side and raised a brow. “So. Thoughts?”

Elora, quite frankly, didn’t know what to think. On the one hand, this man was a healer, and could do beautiful work for those who deserve it. On the other hand, someone else would need to be hurt. Elora, unlike those she grew up with, had a very firm “do no harm” stance. Still… harming those who were bad to benefit those who were good would end up as a net positive, right? She glanced down at her left hand, wondering if she herself would be considered “deserving”. 

“Who determines who’s ‘deserving’ and who’s ‘bad’?” she asked, cocking an eyebrow in spite of serving no purpose towards who she was speaking to. “Are we talking biblical, eye for an eye type of punishment? Murder a murderer, cut the hands off a thief? Or is it more cutting open someone with overdue parking tickets? I understand the concept of give and take, but I’m a bit uneasy at the concept of one man playing judge, jury and executioner. I don’t know your judgment.” She let her words hang in the air for a moment, debating if she should really allow herself to try and benefit from a clear moral gray area. 

“However, if you can prove to me that more good is done than harm, I’d be happy to help people find their way over to you. As fate would have it, I’m a bit in need of healing myself.” she said, raising her left hand up again. “Some kind of nerve damage to my left hand, at least that’s what the people at the hospital told me. Said there’s nothing they can do at the moment. The issue is, I’m a musician, so I sort of need my hands. I would love for you to help me, but only if nobody truly… undeserving gets hurt.”

This had been about the most selfish Elora had been in years. She felt as though she were making a deal with the devil. But if they were truly bad people, didn’t she deserve to have a fully functional body more than they did? 

When Alistair hadn’t heard footsteps running away from him, he was surprised. He was expecting Melody to have to wipe the poor girl’s memory of the last several minutes and have her go on her way, but she was asking follow-up questions instead. How curious. He thought about her question, mulling it over in his head, chewing on his lower lip as he tried to formulate the correct words in his head before speaking them aloud. “We’re talking more biblical, aye.” He answered, arms crossing over his chest. “I don’t go out an’ find ‘em myself, mind.” He added, pointing towards his sunglasses. “I don’t think I’d be very good at it, quite frankly. But these people, they’re killing people for fun, not survival. Living in excess at the expense of the innocents, that sort of thing.” He waved a hand, then let his arms drop back down to his sides. 

He listened as the woman tried to rationalize why she deserved to be healed, even after knowing what she knew. He was always fascinated by the mental gymnastics people had to do in order to feel better about the decisions they were trying to make. Alistair had resigned himself to being a bad person a long time ago, so the only times he truly grappled with a sacrifice was when someone was dying in front of him. Like that lady from the other day who had been stabbed in the chest. He’d felt bad about it for a little bit, but not enough to stop him from following through.

“If it’s your left medial nerve you want healed, I can do it. You need only ask.” He said with a shrug of his shoulders and a gesture with his left hand. “But there’s no going back once it’s been done. And I require payment for my services. Something valuable that isn’t money.” His face went stoic as he crossed his arms over his chest once more. “If I sacrifice something, I ask my clients to do the same.”

In her brief time here, Elora had learned that there certainly were bad people in this town who killed just for fun or personal gain. She’d honestly be doing the town a favor if she helped dispose of these types of people. 

Her blood ran cold at the mention of a sacrifice. He was already doing great harm, and possibly even killing people for his “magic” to work. What more would a sacrifice do? Is it necessary or was this just some what to get his jollies by seeing how desperate someone is to be healed? She nervously ran her right thumb over the ring her mother had given her as a teenager. She had stolen it off the body of an unfortunate human woman who had wandered too close to their colony. At least, that was what she was told at the time. 

“What do you gain from doing this? Is it out of the goodness of your own heart? I mean, if that were the case, you wouldn’t be asking for a sacrifice. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for the healing, but you seem like this isn’t your first time negotiating an equal sacrifice. Speaking of which, could you say that you’re making a sacrifice? You’re not really losing anything, just throwing some other unfortunate soul into the fire.”

Her ring was the only thing she really had left of her family back home, but she also knew it was the only real thing of value that she had with her. She had no other jewelry or clothes that cost more than $10, and she doubted a laptop would be of much use to him. Besides, she had her suspicions that he was speaking of a different kind of value anyway. After all, he sentimental items certainly did fit the theme of sacrifice much better.

Alistair’s stoic gaze soured as she questioned him. “What do I gain? I gain something important to the person. If what they need healing, and it is truly worth it to them, then that’s what it takes.” She was poking holes into his already flawed logic brought on by his own trauma. “I have sacrificed myself before.” He spoke, voice distant and far away. He pulled off his glasses, and the glamour he’d put on himself drifted away. Instead of the man's unflawed skin, a large burn scar covered his right eye and across the bridge of his nose. “I’ve sacrificed enough.” He snarled, then put the sunglasses back on, and the glamour was back up. There was no trace of the scars on his face the second he concealed his eyes. 

He blinked behind his glasses, and he saw the man sending a ball of fire right at Mikael’s head. Alistair remembered the horrible screams that accompanied the blast. He remembered having to choose between saving the man he loved or the man who tried to take Mikael away from him. He chose to save his beloved. He remembered the agonizing pain of burning flesh as he desperately attempted to reverse the damage that had been done, but it was too late. Mikael was gone, and he had failed.

He blinked, and he was back in the back room with the girl who accused him of not knowing sacrifice. “You don’t know true sacrifice. No one does.” He snarled, dropping his hold of Brutus’s harness as he paced around the room, desperate to get the visions of that night out of his head. “Either you want it or you don’t. Either you can live with the knowledge, or you can’t.” Alistair stopped pacing, shaking his head. “The people that come to me are desperate enough to make that call for themselves, deciding the exchange is worth it.” He sighed, shaking his head. “There’s no such thing as healing someone without sacrifice. The laws require that magic maintain an equilibrium. Nothing comes without a price. You either pay the price or you don’t.” He tilted his head to the side, waiting for an answer.

In asking her questions, Elora couldn’t help but notice she hit a major nerve within the man she was speaking with. While he had seemed very jovial and friendly up until this point, that demeanor completely changed as he showed her his burn scars. He had been using some type of glamor to conceal the scars before, but his eyes told her everything she needed to know. 

“I’m sorry…” she said quietly. The whole rant had really let her know that he was no stranger to sacrifice, he knew the pain of losing something very important. “I guess I assumed that you were born that way. I have a good talent at putting my foot in my mouth… a lot.”

She still contemplated her answer to the man. On the one hand, could she really knowingly cause harm to somebody else for her own personal gain? But on the other hand, the sacrifices the man speaks of can’t be chosen or taken lightly, since he clearly knew all too well what sacrifice means. His loss of sight started to make her nerve damage seem extremely minor in comparison. 

Without another word, she removed her mother’s ring from her finger and took the man’s hand to place the ring in his palm. 

“My mother’s. All I have left of her. I’m willing to pay the price. I’m willing to do what it takes. I think I’ve learned enough about you to where I can trust you now. I didn’t mean to bring up any…harsh memories for you.”

Alistair huffed indignantly, shaking his head at the girl. “Afraid not,” was all he said in response. “So it would see you do.” He noted. He took a moment to stand there and re-compose himself. He could still see Mikael in his mind, see the happy moments along with the last. It was the happiest memories that now hurt him the most, he found. 

He felt his hand touch the metal object placed within it. He closed his hand, feeling the material around until he was able to identify it as a ring. He hummed, then held it back out. “I’ll need a couple of days to prepare what’s needed.” He told her as he handed the ring back. “Hold onto it until then.” His voice was soft as if he didn’t want her to part with the ring. “Come in on Monday with your hair tied back. Melody will get you set up on training and food safety.” He spoke to her with a raise of his brow. “When you come in, I’ll see to it that your hand is fixed.” Alistair pulled on Brutus’s harness and instructed him to bring him to the door and pulled it open, ushering the woman out of the back room.

“I’ll see you Monday.” He said, then paused for a beat before adding, “Enjoy the tea.”

[erabundus]

@frozenambiguity &&. said... Rant time! Now that Ren has the opportunity to trace a new path for himself, does he still have the wish to encounter Ei in order to get closure? Or does he prefer to view his past as a finalized chapter in his story and live his life on his own terms?

it's  honestly  a  really  tricky  subject  for  him  —  because  on  some  level,  there's  a  part  of  ren  that  desperately  wants  to  be  acknowledged  by  ei.  that  has  always,  always  been  an  ongoing  theme  with  him,  regardless  of  which  flavor  of  scrunkly  we're  talking  about.  it's  really  important  to  note  he  has  NEVER  hated  her,  even  after  she  abandoned  him  —  he's  always  directed  that  frustration  he  feels  inward.  she  didn't  want  to  keep  him  because  he  was  too  fragile  —  because  as  a  god,  (  he  assumes  )  strength  was  the  only  thing  that  mattered  to  her.  this  inadvertently  warps  scara's  entire  perception  of  how  gods  are  meant  to  conduct  themselves.  a  lot  of  his  posturing  during  the  sumeru  arc  can  be  attributed  to  him  just  trying  to  follow  this  example  ei  has  unintentionally  set  through  her  actions.  he's  effectively  roleplaying  his  warped  idea  of  a  deity,  and  to  some  extent  it's  kind  of  funny  but  also  very,  very  sad.  (  see:  calling  himself  small  and  ugly.  )

scaramouche  wants  to  become  stronger,  wants  to  fulfill  the  purpose  he  believes  he  was  born  for  so  he  can  show  ei  that  she  was  wrong  to  discard  him.  he  will  resort  to  any  means  necessary  to  FORCE  HER  to  acknowledge  him  —  up  to  and  including  ascending  to  divinity  to  stand  on  equal  footing ... and it still didn't work.

suffice  to  say,  this  places  ren  in  a  very  strange  position.  he  understands  now  that  his  self-destructive  ambitions  were  foolish,  but  there's  still  a  part  of  him  that  continues  to  yearn  desperately  for  CLOSURE.  at  the  same  time,  he's  enough  of  a  realist  to  understand  it  really  isn't  possible.  even  if  they  had  the  opportunity  to  speak  face  to  face,  what  kind  of  words  could  they  possibly  exchange  to  ease  centuries  of  suffering?  he's  carried  this  pain  for  so  long  —  the  wounds  have  been  allowed  to  fester.  there  has  never  been  a  point  in  his  existence  when  he  hasn't  known  the  hurt  of  this  perceived  betrayal.  from  the  moment  he  gained  consciousness,  the  first  thing  ren  heard  was  that  he  wasn't  good  enough  to  perform  the  task  his  creator  expected  of  him.  he  has  grown  and  developed  around  this  knowledge,  this  idea  that  he's  too  fragile  and  inferior  like  an  ivy  vine  entangling  itself  in  a  fence.  at this point, even  if  ei  was  granted  full  knowledge  of  everything  he  had  endured  —  what  would  that  change?  she  could  VALIDATE  his  suffering and his strength,  but  that  would  ultimately do  little  to  ease  his  pain.

he  would  like  to  say  he  wants  nothing  to  do  with  his  mother  because  he's  done  clinging  to  the  past,  but  the  truth  is,  he  knows  it's  pointless.  he  will  never  have  closure.  he  will  ALWAYS  have  to  live  on  with  this  trauma  —  and  perhaps  there  might  come  a  day  where  he'll  be  able  to  make  it  hurt  less,  but  ei  won't  have  anything  to  do  with  it.

all  in  all,  it's  a  really  tragic  situation.  he  still  doesn't  hate  her,  but  he's  also  recognized  there's  no  chance  they'll  ever  be  able  to  establish  any  real  sort  of  bond  —  that  ship  has  sailed,  if  it  even  EXISTED  to  begin  with.

[loreholdlesbian]

Eventide Draft Booster Challenge

With every new released set, I like to make a custom booster pack of cards utilizing the themes and mechanics of the set, meant to play around with the themes and mechanics of the set, creating a pack of cards that one could reasonably expect to open in that set. You may notice that Eventide is a 15 year old set and is not quite “a new release”. I was playing around with weird -1/-1 counter designs, and that led me to some shadowmoor flavor, and I just got really enamored by the plane and decided to make a pack. (Funnily, not many of those weird -1/-1 counter designs made it into the pack, but c’est la vie.) And I had the time for it, since I’m skipping over the lord of the rings set since im not familiar enough with the material.

Rare

Sorrowsfeaster BBBBB

Creature- Elemental

Trample Sorrowsfeaster enters the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it for each symbol in the mana costs of permanents you control that isn’t a black mana symbol. (For example, if you control a permanent that costs 2B/G and one that costs 2UU, it enters with four -1/-1 counters.)

9/9

Art

Shadowmoor block had a lot of pip-heavy costs, as does black in general, so I thought a card like this would be a cool way to really make you go all in on black would be a fun riff on chroma, a mechanic in the set.

Uncommons

Embersoul 1R

Enchantment- Aura

Enchant creature you control

Chroma- Whenever enchanted creature attacks, add R for each red mana symbol in its mana cost. Until end of turn, you don’t lose this mana as steps and phases end.

Art

Speaking of chroma. I decided to use chroma in a way that encourages you to use it with high-pip cards, not just lots of cards, by caring about individual permanents. With the hindsight of devotion now existing, this seems a good direction to take the mechanic in.

Bog-Raiser Hag B/GB/GB/G

Creature- Hag

When Bog-Raiser Hag enters the battlefield, creature cards in your graveyard gain retrace until end of turn.  (You may cast a card with retrace from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying its other costs.)

3/2

All bones lost to the mud are hers to play with.

Art

This is not a card that would have existed in eventide. Only instants and sorceries had retrace (which I recently learned is because until very late in development, retrace let you cast your lands as copies of the card, and at the time only instants and sorceries could be copied.) That’s one of the big tensions with this projects; it’s based on a challenge from GDS3, so one of the big goals is to show off and do new stuff which is hard when staying bound to the set. With retrace, I erred on doing something new.

Moonlit Path

Land

Moonlit Path enters the battlefield tapped.

As Moonlit Path enters the battlefield, choose a color.

Whenever you cast a multicolored spell, if you spent only a single color to cast it, you gain 1 life.

T: Add one mana of the chosen color.

Art

This land is meant as a reward for playing a monocolor deck with a lot of hybrid spells in it. I don’t think it’s super strong, but i think it’s decent enough for draft purposes, personally.

Commons

Paranoid Brandishing W

Instant

Chroma— Target creature gets +1/+0 for each white mana symbol in its mana cost and gains first strike until end of turn.

Kithkin farm tools are always kept sharp.

Art from [[Sharpened Pitchfork]]

Here’s the last chroma card of the pack. In the theme of chroma encouraging high individual pip counts, a combat trick felt like a good common usage. If you’re able to get this on something with a triple pip it’s great, but even the bare minimum of first strike and maybe +1/+0 is fine.

Aspect of Raven 1U

Enchantment- Aura

Enchant creature

Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has flying.

Retrace (You may cast this card from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying its other costs.)

Art

Here’s a simpler, common appropriate usage of permanent retrace. I intend this to be part of a cycle of retrace auras. Auras have always had a card advantage problem, and retrace can help mitigate that.

Scavenging Selkie 1U

Creature- Merfolk Rogue

1, T: Draw a card then discard a card.

1G/UG/U, Q: Return to your hand target card in your graveyard that was put there from your hand or library this turn. (Q is the untap symbol.)

1/3

Art

Shadowmoor block used hybrid in a few ways, not just in mana costs, and I wanted to as well. This uses a weird regrowth-y effect to upgrade from looting to card draw.

Sink into the Muck 1B

Instant

Exile up to three cards from a single graveyard.

Search your library for a basic Swamp card and put it into your hand, then shuffle.

Art

This card is intended as part of a cycle of “cantrips” that search for the respective basic, to play up the monocolor theme and play into retrace later in the game. This particular card also acts as graveyard hate, to combat retrace.

Pernicious Paranoia R

Enchantment- Aura

Enchant creature

Enchanted creature attacks each combat if able.

Whenever enchanted creature deals combat damage to a player, put a -1/-1 counter on it.

Art

-1/-1 counters running willnilly around an environment tends to make things get smaller as the game goes on, when generally magic plays better if things get bigger as the game goes on, so it can come to an end. This is why we’re unlikely to see more heavy -1/-1 counter environments. This card, I hope, helps move the game along in an odd way. They have to attack with it, so even if it gets small enough that attacking isn’t worth it, tough luck. And because it hurts the creature when it hits players, you’re encouraged to let it hit you which might make the game go a bit faster. (It also means, if it’s a lil too big to kill, you can let it through and then kill it with a blocker next turn, which I think is fun)

Hostile Canopy 1G

Sorcery

Choose one-

Put a -1/-1 counter on each creature your opponents control with flying.

Creatures you control without flying get +1/+1 until end of turn.

The forest does not take kindly to those who try to escape its grasp.

Art

Green -1/-1 counter cards are tough, since it’s not supposed to be good at killing stuff, but it can kill fliers no problem, so that felt like a good place to start. I also gave it the pump effect, cause its effect felt a bit niche for a common, and this felt like a good alternate mode.

Candleshadow Eminence 1W/B

Enchantment- Aura

Enchant land

As long as enchanted land is a Plains, it has “T: Exile target card from a graveyard.”

As long as enchanted land is a Swamp, it has “T: Target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.”

Art

Here’s another card intended as part of a cycle, like the existing cycle in the set of auras that gives a reward for being color A and a different reward for color B. Same intention, but with a landier focus (and less of a reward for being multicolor, since both are tap abilities)

Noggle Smuggler 2U/RU/R

Creature- Noggle Rogue

At the beginning of combat on your turn, target creature with power 2 or less can’t be blocked this turn.

Persist (When this creature dies, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner’s control with a -1/-1 counter on it.)

3/2

Art

This is another card looking to use -1/-1 counters to make the game faster. When it dies and comes back smaller, that allows it to target itself with its effect. Definitely a bend, but one I’m okay making.

Scrappy Hobgoblin 3R/WR/W

Creature- Goblin Warrior

Scrappy Hobgoblin has double strike as long as it has a -1/-1 counter on it.

Persist (When this creature dies, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner’s control with a -1/-1 counter on it.)

3/3

Art

Second verse same as the first, another attempt to make -1/-1 counters move the game along. This started as a card I made months ago, but since eventide was strictly enemy colors, I switched it to R/W, and then I didn’t quite like that, so I changed it to the double strike ability you see here which plays quite similarly.

Bramble Blade 2

Artifact- Equipment

Whenever a green creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may attach Bramble Blade to it.

Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has trample.

Equip 2

Art

A color reward to play into the monocolor theme, you know the drill. Probably part of a cycle of Equipment.

Firebane Scarecrow 3

Artifact Creature- Scarecrow

Lifelink

Wither red (This creature deals damage to red creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters)

2/2

Its fieldsiblings fell to boggarts’ arson, but the boggarts did not laugh for long.

Art

Part of a cycle of color hate scarecrows that all wither their respective color and have a second ability that plays against that color’s strategy. I thought this limited form of wither could be a fun evolution to it, one that I could see if wither ever came back today, and color hate was the version that made the most sense with set themes.

[firefield]

*REVIEW*

David Bowie - Divine Symmetry (2022)

A Journey To Hunky Dory

The subtitle to this project is perfect, and listening through this 5+ hour set you really do get the sense of DB really going for something he's got fixed in his mind and heart - he just needs to shape and trim and mine all these great songs and find that final form. I tell you something - once you work through all this - all the roughness, the humor, the nervousness and charm; once you finally get to that 2021 new mix of Bewlay Brothers, with all its layers of complexity, intrigue and intricate skill, it's impossible not to marvel at the path he's cut through the jungle. It feels like a Fitzcarraldoian feat.

"After the struggle of The Man Who Sold The World, Hunky Dory was the album where I said yes, I understand what l've got to do now." - DB

The sequencing of this beautifully made box set is very well considered. The first CD is called "The songwriting demos plus" and it's filled with unheard and unreleased material - Haddon Hall demos with Bowie's new piano gift from the neighbor, hotel recordings in San Francisco to small groups of friends and journalists on the floor, DB jamming and improvising, and even scratchy acetate dubs that I cannot believe survived to even find their way here.

The second CD is "David Bowie and Friends" -

John Peel on the BBC, and it's a relatively nervous DB buoyed by his buddies and working out the kinks as Hunky Dory starts to take shape.

The third CD is more live work a few months later, also for the BBC; Sounds Of The 70's: Bob Harris, and then the previously well-booted Live Friars, Aylesbury from late September, '71 - all performed with new confidence and swagger.

The fourth CD is called "Alternative Mixes, singles and versions" the brings us up to the BOWPROMO mixes, all the singles, and the alternative new remixes of the final album stems.

The Blu-Ray ties it all together with the final and original mix of Hunky Dory - the 2015 remaster, in 96kHz/24bit stereo. Then the incredible Divine Symmetry version of Hunky Dory (no 5.1 DTS? boo!) - the new mix of Life On Mars in surround, and closing with the Bob Harris show in jaw-dropping quality.

So let’s get down in the weeds for anyone interested.

DISC ONE - The package opens with Tired Of My Life, a remarkable, mature and haunting composition that stands beautifully on its own, but will send the chills when you hear the chorus - recycled nearly a decade later in an entirely different context - you’ll immediately know it when you hear it. Such a fantastic choice to open with, clearly emphasizing the arching themes of Bowie’s career and the in-and-out-of-time patterns in his work. It’s interesting to me that this track and the similarly-toned Shadow Man hit the cutting room floor for a time. Make of that what you will.

How Lucky You Are follows and is a good example of the impact the piano had on DB’s compositions. It’s a nice song, and I was surprised to hear the bass and drums sounding so good for this kind of demo. The track speaks to his Brel Influences and pub hall sing-song wordless melodies he’ll continue to visit all through the glam years.

Speaking of Shadow Man, wow. Delivered at a faster tempo and a more traditionally earnest and direct fashion, it’s an arresting rear view mirror on the origins of this great song. When you hear it delivered like this it makes sense in the same soup with Quicksand and Bewlay Brothers. As I mentioned, it’s wild to me that DB needed this one to sit and marinate for awhile. I wasn’t fully aware how often DB did this until after he passed, but he always seemed comfortable leaving great songs alone to let their flavor develop until he felt it was their time to be interpreted properly. It’s like he knew the song didn’t have to seduce him, but that he needed to grow into the song and do the seducing himself to make it come alive.

And next up is a fun, very non-Arnold Corns version of Looking For A Friend that I had no idea existed. Just excellent hearing the bass so up front from Ian Ellis.

Also firmly in the “I can’t believe this exists” category is two recordings of David solo and his 12 string in a San Francisco hotel room *jamming* out a long version of Waiting For The Man - the only solo recording of it that exists - and complete with improvisations both vocally and on the guitar. Priceless. Honestly, not being a huge fan of this song and DB’s propensity to want to play it live, I think this is, in fact, my favorite version I’ve ever heard. And then the earliest recorded version we have of one of David’s finest compositions, Quicksand. Some octave differences in the vocal, but basically the version we all know. I’m reminded how grateful I am that sets like this exist if only to preserve this history. Not everyone will care to hear songs like this in their infancy, recorded on basic tape recorders, or they’ll consider it a one-and-done curio to listen to and move on, but it’s worth considering this work from a legacy perspective. Find, clean, present and preserve. It matters. I still can’t get over how young DB was writing songs like this. Extraordinary.

Next up is the incredible King Of The City, solo David in the front room of Haddon Hall. Overdubbing himself on guitar and vocals - backing and doubling himself - working the two tape machines bouncing back and forth between them as he adds new layers. Good Lord. There is a hint of early Motown soul here and it’s wonderfully confident. Finding his own way indeed.

Another David solo multitracked early version of Song For Bob Dylan with DB doing all the vocals, guitars and harmonica. Really nice. David sounds about 50 and playing his heart out for a bus ticket. Amazing.

Next up is a series of nice sounding demos recorded at Radio Luxembourg Studios in London. The relatively silly Right On Mother, a wonderful solo version of Quicksand, a very laid back almost lazy doobified preglam Queen Bitch, the always sincere Kooks, a one take solo recording of Amsterdam with David singing the second and third verses in a menacing lower register, and a super gentle version of Life On Mars, solo, with DB on piano, complete with charming clunkiness, mistakes, and endless charm.

Closing out the disc, another set of “how does this exist” tracks, Changes and Bombers recorded to - get this- 7” acetate - totally fragile, totally noisy and totally solo David on piano. Absolutely unfreaking believable and pure gold.

DISC TWO is mono and stereo presentations of the June 3rd, 1971 John Peel radio show. The band opens with Queen Bitch and Bombers, both haven’t yet found their exuberance; their *teeth* yet, and they lean toward timid and new. That’s not a criticism by the way - just part of the process. You notice an immediate change as they launch into The Supermen, Looking For A Friend, and Almost Grown - played clearly with more swagger and familiarity. Nice to hear nervous David introducing Kooks, and man, what a lovely version. The band is silent, and it’s just DB and his 12-string, singing this less from the upper nasal area, and more from his Letter To Hermione/God Knows I’m Good area of the throat. Really surprised me and sounds perfect in mono.

From here on out it’s a full band affair, multiple vocalists joining in; George Underwood, Dana Gillespie, Geoff MacCormack and Mark Pritchett all taking the lead at various times during Song For Bob Dylan, Andy Warhol and It Ain’t Easy. Other than Kooks, I prefer the stereo to the mono mixes here, but nice to have them both from a legacy/preservation perspective. David’s introduction of his friend Dana before Andy Warhol is very sweet and pretty funny actually. It must warm her heart to hear it today. For what it’s worth, she *nails* her vocal, and it’s no surprise to read he wrote it specifically for her. Another welcome surprise in this box.

DISC THREE contains two more live sets - but both of these are performed after the official Hunky Dory sessions and the confidence of David and the band is palpable. Especially David’s vocals - he makes these songs now feel lived-in. He’s letting timbre and dynamics match the lyric, and everything sounds more effortless and natural. The meticulous craftsmanship is done and now it’s all heart.

Immediately blown away by the sound quality of the Bob Ross session. Apparently a start-the-tape-and-play singular take, David and Mick alone just kill it. The mic they used for David and Mick’s voices is excellent, Bowie’s piano playing has never sounded better, and the balances are just right the whole way through the show. Absolutely loving hearing Mick Ronson’s totally joyful bass playing on Kooks. He just skips all over this thing under David’s guitar - I couldn’t stop smiling. What a talent he was and a blessing for David at this time. The actual broadcast of this performance closed with the next track, a great version of Fill Your Heart, but this box set includes the unaired Amsterdam and Andy Warhol. A note here about Amsterdam: I know this track can be divisive for many fans, but I’d encourage those nonplussed by that track to try again with this performance. It’s solo David and it’s a pretty amazing rendition.

And now the Live Friars, Aylesbury late September show. It’s immediately electric feeling. By all accounts, DB wasn’t thrilled with the small handful of gigs he’d done in ‘71 and was doubting his ability to connect with audiences. It’s one of the reasons why he poured his energy into songwriting and recording. But this show feels and is pretty historic. It starts out acoustic and gradually builds the band behind him and you can absolutely feel him win over the crowd. The story he tells about his difficulties waking up in the morning and what his mother had to do to finally wake him up is appropriately Bowie-bizarre. And then after the encore, with the audience demanding more music, the band goes with Waiting For The Man, only to finish to find demand for *more* songs and DB is tapped out. Trying to tell the crowd they literally have no more songs to play, he had to literally tell them to shut up, and then politely explain that he’s done, spent, got nothing left, but would warmly welcome the chance to write new songs and come back to play them. Beautiful.

This presentation is a tricky piece of audio engineering skill, as the original 1/4” tape suffered from some mangling, bad tape splices, dropouts, etc. Preserving the integrity and continuity of the performance required some pretty wild work done and you will hear those moments. Rather than let them jump out and annoy, see them as puzzle pieces creatively cut and fitted to allow you to take in the whole picture of that moment in time. I can tell you with confidence that the work here is extraordinary.

DISC FOUR is all post HD sessions mixes and singles from the time, along with the 2021 new mixes of select tracks from the final album stems. The disc begins with the 6 track BOWPROMO LP 2022 remaster. These are early and different mixes than ended up on Hunky Dory made for a Gem not-for-sale record that had Bowie on the A-side and Dana Gillespie’s work on the B-side. Some feature entirely different vocals and soundstaging. I suppose many might not hear the differences but they are there. Queen Bitch is wonderfully unhinged in this mix, Kooks’s bass line and strings really stand out nicely, Eight Line Poem’s new vocal, Quicksand has some alternate guitar parts, and Bombers/Andy Warhol Intro (which didn’t make the cut for Hunky Dory) sounds fantastic with that cleanly defined bass and piano. The book also notes pitch and tempo corrections for Kooks and Quicksand. I suspect there are some who don’t know these are different versions and they’ll be pleasantly surprised to hear them.

Lightning Frightening surprised me here, as I am familiar with it only from the mono bonus track on the Ryko 1990 CD of TMWSTW. Here, for the first time is the full-on chugging, twangy, down-and-dirty stereo version. Holy hell. You’ve never heard it like this. Herbie Flowers on bass, Barry Morgan drums, Mark Pritchett guitar, and David blowing lots of sax and harmonica.

Amsterdam was originally set to close Hunky Dory but was bumped for The Bewlay Brothers. It was also set to close side A of Ziggy Stardust on the first pass master tape and was dropped there too - getting it’s first official release as the B-side to the Pin Ups single “Sorrow.” This first early mix is David solo with a one-pass vocal performance and triple layered 12-string guitars. Whoa. The second mix here later on the disc is the mix used for the Sorrow B-side - the 2015 remaster from the Five Years box. Changes mono single, also from the Five Years box. And then holy smokes my favorite version of Andy Warhol I’ve ever heard. I’ve always loved the mono version of this track, and here it gets a new 2022 remaster. This is a turn-it-up-to-11 track for me. Fantastic.

Next up is the wonderful stripped back 2016 Ken Scott mix of Life On Mars made for inclusion on the David Bowie - Legacy compilation album. Most of you would have heard this, but what I didn’t know was that David and Ken discussed making this new mix as far back as 1998. During this same session on April 12, 2016, the surround sound mix was completed at Abbey Road and appears on the final Blu-Ray disc in the set.

Closing up disc 4 are the new 2021 mixes - so excited to finally wrap my ears around them. For Changes, Ken is working from the masters, take number eight here, and he notes that he heard many unheard/unused parts on that take that he wanted to bring up in the mix, including a new sax solo from David. His aim here was to give Changes a contemporary modern mix feel. Headphones recommended on all these new mixes, and if you are like me and have heard the originals countless times, you’ll notice much here to marvel at.

Life On Mars uses a blend of take 5 and take 9 and allows Ken to rebuild LOM in a way that he remembers the band absolutely *loving* but had to ultimately discard due to Mick Ronson’s cursing. He explains the story in the book and I’ll leave it to you to read and hear, but wow. What a song. This mix is faithful to the original and awesome.

This version of Quicksand. Wow. Incredibly, Ken states this take four version from very early in the HD sessions was determined to be “not good enough” but on revisiting, keyed in on David’s amazing vocal. And gosh it’s really something. He approaches it from a different place - hard to describe - but his timbre and annunciation feels genuinely weary and earnest. Always with these deep dive box sets, there is something that just makes you totally miss the guy, and this was it for me. What a humble performance.

Fill Your Heart is another big surprise - this is take ten but Ken had nothing else to work with as they’d simply recorded over previous takes to save on expensive tape costs. Again keying into David’s vocal, he wipes the orchestra out completely, leaving only Rick Wakemen’s stunning piano playing and DB’s alto and tenor sax. What this does is elevate and lay bare Bowie’s animated vocal parts draped right over your ear drums. Jaw on the floor.

Bombers gets a new mix! Another big surprise. Ken writes that he knows he did a mix of this for the BowPromo EP but can’t remember recording it or mixing it - so after 50 years, loved the challenge of sitting down with these master tape stems and getting to work nailing a mix of this unique DB composition. The song was dropped from the album because it didn’t “fit” with the other material, and although unstated in the notes, to my ear anyway, Mr. Scott brings it into the Hunky Dory universe with want he chooses to emphasize and de-emphasize. I appreciate his sensitivity to honoring the time and circumstances of its recording not going wild with it. It’s solid, balanced and fits beautifully into HD. I wish David could have heard it.

Ahhh man. Wow. People often pick my brain about “favorites” and “rankings” and such things that I generally avoid when thinking about art - and one of those questions is about what I think is “underrated.” There are certainly more than a handful of tracks that would qualify, and Song For Bob Dylan would be there I think, as I listen to this wonderful new mix. I’m not sure why many seem to see this track as a throw-away of sorts - I’ve met people that assumed DB didn’t even write it - maybe it just gets lost inside an album of outstanding tracks, but I think this version here could really grab some hearts.

…and the closing track. I admit I was pretty floored and superglued to my headphones when the new mix of The Bewlay Brothers began. Immediately I realized I had not heard this track at all, in any form, over the course of this box set. Reading Ken’s notes for this song, that’s probably because David just rolled up to him late in the sessions with the old “I have this new song I’d like to do” and f*cking genius that he is, just drops this atomic bomb of a track. So it doesn’t appear that it was demoed at all - which to me is just extraordinary because it *sounds* like a track that would have a deep life of growth, revision, alteration and struggle to find its final form. But no, apparently lightening struck, and in what will prove to be a pattern in David Bowie’s recording career, time and pressure forge a diamond that seems to arrive on a flaming chariot. I could probably blab for an hour about everything happening here, and the contrast to the original mix, but perhaps it’s best to just let that go and urge a listen. I will say the tendency to simplify is probably not always the go-to choice for an audio engineer when faced with rebuilding a complex emotional track like this, but Ken has managed to actually enhance the song’s Mariana Trench of mystery through distillation and careful consideration of each and every detail. Listening through this masterpiece after all that came before, you really do understand the subtitle of this set - “A Journey To Hunky Dory.” This is such a complex and pivotal year in David’s career. He was not glowing in confidence, he was haunted by possible one hit wonder relegation (Space Oddity) as his friend Marc Bolan was basking in well-deserved attention, TMWSTW was not selling well, he was embracing and fast-learning new instruments to compose on, and reconsidering all his possible paths he could take in his life. Things were not, actually, very Hunky Dory at all. I was struck by how, in the very cool included “student note book” containing DB’s hand written notes, lyrics, scribbles, chords, pay rates and telephone numbers, how David fretted over the spelling of the album’s title. Two “R’s?” Maybe with a “e” in there? Umm yes. No? Ugh. Hunky Dory is the story of a man both lost and found.

This is too long so I won’t get too into the weeds of the Blu-Ray disc as it essentially contains higher res versions of what we’ve heard before. A super high resolution of the original mix of Hunky Dory - the final “Divine Symmetry” mix and sequence of the 2021 version, the killer sounding Bob Harris set (also at 96kHz/24 bit stereo) and the 5.1 surround presentation of Life On Mars.

For those wondering, yes the price is high, but the quality of *everything* here is top shelf. The whole package is amazing. Essays, notes, photography, paper stock, slipcase, audio quality… really can’t be improved on. Disappointments for me are few - but the glaring one is the lack of the 2021 mix in DTS-HD or Dolby Atmos surround sound. What a waste not to take the time to do that for the Blu-Ray disc. That said, I’m still 100% happy.

This is a deep dive. If you are one of those people that get annoyed at repeated tracks over the course of multiple discs and can’t hear the difference anyway, or even care, this set is not something you’d want to dump money into. Streaming for free to sate your curiosity will do the trick while you keep your money in the bank.

But if you enjoy unheard/demo Bowie in pretty astounding quality and quantity, have a particular fascination with this record and it’s evolution, or even just enjoy curling up with a coffee table quality book to read and admire unseen photography, you won’t be disappointed.

[bibliophiliaxvignette]

Santa here again!

as a fellow Gwynriel simp I love all the wonderful things you said about them! they really do suit each other so well and your headcanons and theories are perfection (Azriel with a nose ring is unbelievably sexy (makes me wonder if he has any other piercings elsewhere😏)). also, I hope your classes went well and good luck if you have any tests/exam!

my next questions have more to do with the smutty fic that shall be in the works (my next little message to you will be about the art)!

do you like a lot of plot when reading smut fics or just jump straight into the sexy times? also, do you prefer fics to be set in canon or an AU? lastly, would you like the fic to be holiday themed?

I think that's all the questions I had about the fic for now (got to keep some of this a surprise even if I am HORRIBLE at keeping gifts a secret)!

for some more general questions because I am dying to know more about you: what got you into reading? would you say Gwynriel is your favourite out of all the ACOTAR ships? if you could live in any of the courts (ignoring who the High Lords are) which one would you choose?

-your secret santa🎅

Oh Santa, I love hearing from you! What a treat. I hope you’re having a lovely Halloween if you celebrate! My classes are going well! Ramping up for the busiest part of the semester!

(You bet your cute butt Az has got piercings in other places 😏)

I feel like I like some plot to care about the porn if you know what I mean lololol I like to have a feel for the characters and their history together and that’s what makes the smut good a lot of the time.

I do have a soft spot for AUs, especially modern AUs! But I think canon can be so sweet too! Whatever you have more fun writing, I’ll definitely have fun reading either! And I would love to have some holiday flavor in there!!

Wow, I’m having a hard time figuring out what got me into reading. I’ve always been a hopeless romantic and had a love for romance in media and the romance novel is just the purest form of entertainment for me 😂 so I’ve been reading since I was old enough to read my first romance novel I think.

Oh man it’s so hard to say. I adore Gwynriel. But I also love Feysand! And Elucien! But I do think Gwynriel speaks to me the most!

I would definitely be an autumn court girlie. To live in perpetual fall…I can imagine anything better. The colors, the food, the fashion, the vibes *chefs kiss*

[odiaremixdj]

Odia Remix DJ: The Ultimate Guide to Rocking Your Next Party

Introduction

When it comes to electrifying any event or gathering, music plays a crucial role in setting the mood. For those who love the vibrant and diverse beats of Odisha, nothing can beat the charm of Odia remix DJ tracks. Whether you're hosting a wedding, a cultural festival, or just a weekend party, Odia remix DJs bring the perfect blend of traditional and modern sounds to keep the crowd moving.

In this article, we will explore everything you need to know about Odia remix DJs, including their growing popularity, the best tracks to include in your playlist, and how to choose the right DJ for your event.

What is Odia Remix DJ?

Odia remix DJ is a genre that combines traditional Odia music with modern beats and electronic dance music (EDM). This fusion creates a unique sound that resonates with both the older generation and the youth. The remixes often include popular Odia folk songs, devotional tracks, and film hits, giving them a fresh and energetic twist.

Why Odia Remix DJ is Gaining Popularity

Cultural Connection: For Odia-speaking communities, these remixes provide a sense of cultural pride and connection. They bring a taste of home to any celebration, making them a popular choice for events within Odisha and among Odia diasporas.

Versatility: Odia remix DJs are not limited to any specific type of event. From weddings and birthday parties to college fests and corporate events, they can adapt to any occasion, offering a playlist that suits the mood.

High Energy: The combination of traditional music with high-energy beats ensures that the dance floor is always packed. The infectious rhythm and familiar tunes keep everyone engaged and entertained.

Top Odia Remix DJ Tracks You Must Have

If you're planning to hire an Odia remix DJ for your next event, here are some must-have tracks to include in your playlist:

Rangabati Remix: A modern take on the iconic Rangabati song, this track is a crowd favorite.

Namita Agrawal Devotional Remix: Perfect for events with a spiritual theme, this remix brings a new vibe to classic devotional songs.

Mu Je Eka Pagala Banjaara Remix: This romantic track with an upbeat remix is sure to win hearts on the dance floor.

Aei Jhuma Jhuma Remix: A lively track that combines traditional Odia beats with contemporary music.

Sambalpuri Folk Remixes: Incorporating traditional Sambalpuri rhythms, these remixes are perfect for adding a regional flavor to your event.

How to Choose the Right Odia Remix DJ

When selecting a DJ for your event, it's essential to consider the following factors:

Experience: Look for a DJ with experience in performing at events similar to yours. They should have a good understanding of Odia music and be able to read the crowd to keep the energy high.

Portfolio: Review their portfolio and listen to samples of their work. This will give you an idea of their style and versatility.

Equipment: Ensure that the DJ has high-quality sound and lighting equipment. Good equipment is essential for delivering a professional performance.

Reviews and Testimonials: Check online reviews and ask for references to get feedback from previous clients. A reputable DJ will have positive reviews and a solid reputation.

Customization: A good DJ should be willing to customize their playlist according to your preferences. Discuss your favorite tracks and any specific requests you have for your event.

Conclusion

Odia remix DJs are a fantastic way to infuse energy and cultural flair into any event. With the right DJ, you can ensure that your guests have an unforgettable experience, dancing the night away to the beats of Odisha's rich musical heritage. Whether you're in Odisha or part of the global Odia community, embracing the fusion of traditional and modern music through Odia remix DJs will take your celebration to the next level.

So, get ready to groove, and let the beats of Odia remix DJs make your event one to remember!

[inventors-fair]

Outstanding Charges: Crime Winners ~

Our winners this week are @corporalotherbear, @curiooftheheart and @izzet-always-r-versus-u!

@corporalotherbear — Raucous Celebrators

For a common design, this is a pretty good corner case, and once more I'm pleased with the kind of designs that Battlebond 2HG play has to offer. The ability to confer with a teammate is one of the best advantages that 2HG has over other formats, and even then, in Commander or similar formats the ability to cast two spells and get a free Shatter isn't anything to shake a stick at. Situational, yes, but necessary—in a way that probably comes up more often than not in the formats where it'd be played.

I think this is one of those cards as well where the name, flavor text, and abilities give rise to an idea of the art and mood without having to explicitly spell it out. I can quite easily see the brightly painted faces and the hooting-slash-hollering that would be taking place here. We don't need to see the sighing Sylvia or even the aftermath of the destruction; the implication of an arena already in the process of being decimated is enough. It gives a little bit of humanity to the world, in the sense of connections between our Earth's sports fans and the crowd here rushing the stands. I really love how you've got that subtle story there that's funny, flavorful, and quite polished overall. You know, it just struck me: this card can show either the joy of a winning team, OR the anger of a losing team. Great work.

@curiooftheheart — Jaywalk

I was tempted to just put "10/10 no notes" and have that be the end of the commentary. I've never laughed so hard at a submission, and I really have nothing to add that this card doesn't already demonstrate. Perfect name, perfect vibe, perfect modes, perfect flavor text. I think when I shared this in with the other judges, Florence mentioned that this pedestrian was having a really bad day if they're getting hit with every vehicle at the same time.

Maybe there's something to say about limited? I dunno, it's a removal spell in the right shell and a perfectly adequate combat trick otherwise. Perhaps there's something to be said about the "crime" aspect being, like, situational, but that's not eve what this contest was about. You demonstrated perfectly the kind of fine balance between dark humor and utility. I'll be thinking about this submission and sharing it around for quite some time.

@izzet-always-r-versus-u — Graverobbing

And today I learned about the word "fossor!" I love learning new words, and this card's pretty standard for what we're looking for in a way that elevated it with the other kinds of grave-themed submissions; there were a few this week, which I should've expected, honestly. What I like about this card in particular is the versatility of it and the simplicity that comes from the choices. You gotta have creature cards in graveyards, but maybe you only need one. Double Raise Dead ain't nothing to shake a stick at, but you need the double black pips, so there you go—and blockers slash bodies is important as well.

This one is on the higher end of complexity, but in a world where multi-paragraph commons exist (looking at you, Sticky Fingers), this one isn't the hardest to grok, in my opinion. You gotta pick creatures, yours go back to hand and your opponents' make Zombies. Ain't so bad, right? It could be an uncommon, but that would be situational with the set's gist. Flavor text here is fun, too—it's worded well and reads great. Actually, I love how the Imperial aspect speaks to the nature of the world where the political positions have their backstabbingly-oriented nature no matter where you are. That's how you speak to a greater world without massive amounts of exposition. Phenomenal job overall.

Runners coming up! @abelzumi

[wellingtonwellsdaily]

News Hour!

Good afternoon, my wonderful Wellingtons! It’s your favorite Uncle Jack here, bringing you all the latest news from our beautiful town. Have you taken your Joy today? I certainly hope so, because it’s time for News Hour, where we catch up on everything that’s happening in our delightful little world.

Let’s start off with some thrilling news from the Parade District! The much-anticipated grand reopening of the Wellington Wells Theatre is just around the corner, and everyone’s buzzing with excitement. After months of renovations, the theatre is set to open its doors next Friday with a spectacular performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The actors have been rehearsing day and night to bring this magical play to life, and it promises to be a night to remember. So, if you haven’t already, be sure to get your tickets – they’re selling fast!

In other news, the Wellington Wells Bake-Off is just a week away, and bakers across the town are kneading, mixing, and frosting to perfection. This year’s theme is ‘Flavors of Joy,’ and I can’t wait to see what delicious creations our talented bakers come up with. From cupcakes to crumpets, and everything in between, the competition is sure to be fierce. And the best part? The public is invited to sample the treats after the judging! So, mark your calendars, and come along to support our local bakers – and maybe indulge your sweet tooth a little!

Now, on to some community news. The Wellington Wells Garden Club is organizing a town-wide cleanup this Saturday, and they’re inviting everyone to pitch in. It’s a wonderful opportunity to give back to our community and keep our streets looking lovely. Participants will be provided with gloves, bags, and a little packet of Joy to keep those spirits high as you work. So why not gather your friends, head to the town square at 9 AM, and help make Wellington Wells even more beautiful? Remember, a clean town is a happy town!

Speaking of keeping things beautiful, I’m pleased to announce that the Wellington Wells Flower Show has been extended for another week due to popular demand. The gardens are bursting with color, and it’s truly a sight to behold. If you haven’t had a chance to visit yet, now’s the time! Take a stroll through the vibrant displays, breathe in the fragrant air, and maybe even pick up a few tips for your own garden at home.

And finally, a quick reminder to all citizens: The Wellington Wells Constabulary has asked everyone to be vigilant about keeping their Joy levels up. With all the excitement and activities going on, it can be easy to forget, but we all know how important it is to stay happy and content. So, if you’re feeling a bit down or out of sorts, be sure to visit one of the many Joy Refill Stations located around town. A little boost of Joy can make all the difference in the world.

Well, I'm afraid we've come to the end of our time, my dear friends. Remember, staying informed is just as important as staying joyful, so keep tuning in for all the latest updates. Until next time, keep smiling, keep taking your Joy, and always remember: happiness is a choice. Choose Joy!