#streetlights pointed in an arrowhead

[lauronk]

so a year ago today i stress-sweated and had heart palpitations while pushing publish on ao3 on my first last of us fanfic

and the response to it was beyond literally anything i could have imagined, and it's given me an incredible community and friends and so much joy.

so i wrote a bonus chapter of the millers on family vacation, hope you enjoy 💗

[yudgefudge]

died. cause of death: cornelia street by taylor swift

[bettyrightnow]

thinking about how taylor has talked about light or the lack thereof in the past couple of years .. how it began as "something happened for the first time in the darkest little paradise, shaking, pacing, i just need you" -> "you should think about the consequence of you touching my hand in the darkened room" -> "i'd kiss you as the lights went out" -> "starry eyes sparking up my darkest nights" -> "we could follow the sparks" -> "the streetlights pointed in an arrowhead leading us home" -> "meet me in the afterglow" -> "this ultraviolet morning light below tells me this love is worth the fight" -> "i've been sleeping so long in a 20-year dark night, and now i see daylight". and then it turned into "my eclipsed sun, this has broken me down" -> "across our great divide there is a glorious sunrise" -> "i'm sitting on a bench in coney island wonder 'where did my baby go?' the fast times, the bright lights, the merry-go" -> "it gets colder and colder when the sun goes down" -> "remember looking at this room, we loved it cause of the light. now i just sit in the dark and wonder if it's time" -> "half moonshine, full eclipse". how initially he was a force that pulled her from the darkness and brought her light, the light was a safe place from them to stay. then it became something that he was taking from her, not letting her shine as brightly as she felt they once did. it was something that she could only reminisce on from the dark that she had been re-delivered to. and how the beginning of the resolution of the arc, which i'm sure will be discussed in much further detail in ttpd, can be found in bejeweled: "i miss sparkling" "i'm still bejeweled, when i walk in the room, i can still make the whole place shimmer" "what's a girl gonna do? a diamond's gotta shine"

[petruchio]

do the girls back home touch you like i do? i'll make myself at home and he'll want me to stay. as if the streetlights pointed in an arrowhead leading us home. they say home is where the heart is, but that's not where mine lives. and he feels like home. i found myself running home to your sweet nothings. little did you know your home's really only a town you're just a guest in.

and he can be my jailer. gold cage hostage to my feelings. but we were dancing with our hands tied. put you in jail for something you didn't do. handcuffed to the spell i was under. this cage was once just fine. little did you know your home's really only the town you'll get arrested.

[screamingiminlovewithyou]

The actual prophecy is the lyric “as if the streetlights pointed in an arrowhead leading us home” and I get chills every time I hear it in retrospect

[pankowkisses]

Juby week day 1 @kraekat29

Corneila street

Ruby’s P.O.V

We were the back seat drunk on something stronger than the drinks at the bar, I rented a place on corneila street, i say casually in the car we were a fresh page filling in the blanks as we go, as if the streetlights pointed in the arrowhead leading us home, I hope I never lose, I hope it never ends, hope it never ends I’d never walk Cornelia street again, your love leaving autumn leaves in your wake , I never walk corneila street again , I hope I never lose this, I hope it never ends autumn air, your jacket round my shoulders your hand intertwined with mine , that smile pasted on our faces the love shining bright in our eyes, baby I’m so terrified of it if you walk away I hope I never lose you I hope it never ends , I’d never walk Cornelia street again, you hold my hand on the street walk me back to that apartment, the dances in the kitchen, how this city screams your name, I’d be so terrified if you ever walked away,

Picnics in the park hands on our hearts , rain kisses lingering between the shadows of us walking back to that apartment on Cornelia street again, love shining eyes staring into yours, I hope I never lose this hope it never ends.

[torturedpoetsapartmentcomplex]

Little did you know your homes really only the town you’ll get arrested // and he feels like home // I can go anywhere I want just not home // when we get all alone I’ll make myself at home // you’re not my homeland anymore // as if the streetlights pointed in an arrowhead leading us home // take me home // a town you’re just a guest in

[kazzle-dazzles-side-eyes]

Hope TayTay has ever seen all these invisible strings with Trav, because “as if the streetlights pointed in an arrowhead, leading us home” and “I’ll be 87 and you’ll be 89” are just fcking insane!! I love it!!

[falseren]

as if the streetlights pointed in an arrowhead leading us home 🩵💙💜

[corneliaavenue]

THE STREETLIGHTS WERE POINTING IN AN ARROWHEAD LEADING US HOME ❤️💛❤💛

[lauronk]

hi @freetobeyouandmichi-me love, thanks for the ask!

in my happy little streetlights world, by the time ellie miller is 18 and they’re celebrating christmas, they’ve got four years of figuring out traditions and they’ve got it pretty settled by now:

they do Christmas Eve dinner with tommy and maria and open their gifts to each other

maria (lovingly) coerces everyone into pajama sets for a picture. She got ellie’s size wrong the first year - she got the correct size but ellie likes them a size bigger for extra coziness - but has made sure to get it right every year since

(this is the year maria is pregnant with TJ, which they’d shared before Thanksgiving)

Christmas morning is just ellie and joel. He drinks coffee and she drinks cocoa (with an absurd amount of marshmallows), even when it’s 75 degrees out, because texas y’all

they do stockings first, just little knickknacks and funny gifts (one time they gave each other pet rocks, which they each still have). joel gives ellie scratch offs and then tries to claim a “purchasing fee” when she wins more than $5

The first Christmas joel went a little nuts on gifts (it’s a big deal, their first Christmas, sue him) but it made ellie a little uncomfortable because a) she only had like two things for him, both of which were homemade and b) she’s never really been on the receiving end of so much positive attention at the holidays. So joel makes sure to tone it down in subsequent years even when his brain is screaming at him to spoil the fuck out of her

they do just a couple gifts for each other now. this year it’s just little useful, thoughtful things: guitar strings and good quality art pencils and silly socks.

joel gives ellie the full charcoal art set she mentioned offhand one time over the phone, and ellie gives joel a new toolbox to replace the one that finally bit the dust (and she puts some silly mushroom stickers she found on Etsy on it)

after presents, it’s movie time

ellie gave up two years ago on arguing that Die Hard isn’t a Christmas movie and now she watches it without complaint (and loves it, not that she can tell him that)

joel is more tired than he can say of the first two Home Alone movies but those are ellie’s picks, so they watch and he always finds himself laughing when the Wet Bandits step on ornaments and get hit with paint cans

(he says “why the hell’d you take your shoes off?” to ellie a lot and she automatically responds with “why the hell are you dressed like a chicken?”)

they stay in their pajamas all day, the ones maria got them this year, and eat leftovers from yesterdays dinner plus whatever candy they’ve accumulated

ellie always falls asleep by the end of Muppet Christmas Carol, like clockwork, head on a pillow on joel’s lap

ellie’s on break from school till the new year, and joel takes Christmas through New Year’s Day off so he and his employees can have a break. So it’s a week of lazy pajama days, visiting other friends, just enjoying occupying the same space before life starts up in earnest again and it goes back to quick hellos and goodbyes in the morning

anyway I just had a couple thoughts about it 😅

[worldofkaeos]

A really heartfelt piece 🥲

Disclaimer: I do not own this fanfic!!

Summary: Locklyle (Hollow boy - empty grave)

“But… but, why Lucy?” He asks and oh, she is going to slam her head into the table. “Because of a few hiccups on a few jobs?”

“I almost got us all killed at Aickmere’s!”

“Oh come off it.” Warm fingers wrap around her wrists, pulling her hands away from her face and leaving her blinking under the harsh fluorescent lights of the café. “I’ve almost got us all killed hundreds of times. Combe Carey? The bet with Kipps? That time George was under the weather so I made dinner and gave us both food poisoning?”

He’s thrown the last one in to try make her smile; she stares back at him stonily.

---------

[sleepless-crows]

Kanej in SoC 3 as Cornelia Street

this was so long, i finally shortened it

this feels like a fanfiction for some reason

we were in the backseat drunk on something stronger than the drinks in the bar

i want kaz to be drunk on inej's laugh the first moment she steps into ketterdam

"i rent a place on cornelia street" i say casually in the car

i want kaz and inej to walk around ketterdam or kaz escort inej to the slat when she comes back

we were a fresh page on the desk, filling in the blanks as we go

i want that when inej comes back, they feel as if they're ready to try harder for each other now. that everything is a blank slate and the time they've spent apart paved the way for this fresh page

as if the streetlights pointed in an arrowhead leading us home

as if walking around ketterdam, these old familiar streets, with inej beside kaz, just like old times, but different because of the times he walked those streets while she was sailing the seas elsewhere, feels like home once again

and i hope i never lose you, hope it never ends. i'd never walk cornelia street again

i want kaz to be scared of losing her. i want him to think that every street, every alleyway, every dark little corner or bustling club would not be the same without her. i want him to fear losing her more than anything else in the world

that's the kind of heartbreak time could never mend. i'd never walk cornelia street again.

i want it to be the thing kaz fights for the most because he knows it will be the thing he will never recover from

and baby, i get mystified by how this city screams your name. and baby, i'm so terrified of if you ever walk away. i'd never walk cornelia street again

before inej comes back, i want kaz walking in ketterdam, seeing her in every thing and every place and have her name echo through his mind. and now that she's with him, he doesn't want to think of a time when she leaves forever and be taunted by all those thoughts knowing she won't ever return

windows swung right open, autumn air, jacket 'round my shoulders is yours.

i want kaz to bring inej to his room in the slat. i want him to lend inej his jacket (because not only is it a romantic gesture, but it symbolizes how kaz is taking off piece-by-piece his armor for inej)

we bless the rains on cornelia street, memorize the creaks in the floors

in the lying, thieving world of ketterdam, they bless it with the pure and true love that they have for each other. and every moment they try and memorize because in the back of their heads, they know inej will have to leave

back when we were card sharks playing games, i thought you were leading me on

i want them to remember the time before inej left and how different it was then from how it is now, and how scary it is to navigate not seeing each other for so long (it could be 2 years, we don't know)

i packed my bags, left cornelia street, before you even knew i was gone. but then you called, showed your hand. i turned around before i hit the tunnel.

i want inej/kaz doubting them once inej comes back because although they know that they love the other, there will inevitably be an uncertainty because of how long they spent away from each other. then those doubts being proved wrong

sat on the roof, you and i.

i want them to be side by side on a rooftop. or anywhere in ketterdam. being like how they were before whenever they camped out for jobs or kept a lookout on a target. but this time, it's just to be beside each other when they couldn't be for so long

you hold my hand on the street

even though they've already held hands. them doing it again after being separate would still be special and impactful. and we'd get to see how kaz, especially, tried to heal after all those months/years. and proof that they *are* trying

walk me back to that apartment

years ago, we were just inside.

barefoot in the kitchen

domestic kanej

sacred new beginnings, that became religion

i want everything to feel new and scary to them but knowing that all the time they spent apart was for this sacred new beginning where they come back better for each other, healed more for each other. and no saint ever watched over me, not like you have. because inej is the reason kaz tries to get better, his saint that's always looked out and cared for him. and now he looks upon her as his reason, his faith, the only thing he truly believes in that could have ever changed him

in conclusion,

[petruchio]

not to beat a dead horse but honestly the most annoying thing about lover is that there really is a great album in there if you look for it.

like first there’s the progression of light in the album. how we move from artificial with the “glow of the vending machine” and “the christmas lights (in) january” until all the light disappears while “i wake in the night/i pace like a ghost" and "i whisper in the dark." but somehow, light still manages to creep in even during the night: “the moon is high/like your friends were the night that we first met," until “the morning comes and you’re not my baby." still, the speaker holds out hope that the morning can bring the lover back, saying that “this ultraviolet morning light below tells me this love is worth the fight” so we end up in the daylight. in some ways, the whole album is an expansion of the single line "starry eyes sparking up my darkest night" from reputation. we see that line spiral out in real time as lover progresses.

and then there's everything that happens in cars (im drunk in the back of the car/we were in the backseat drunk on something stronger than the drinks in the bar/we can follow the sparks i’ll drive/cut the headlights, summers a knife/i want to drive away with you/show me a gray sky, a rainy cab ride) which in itself is revisiting something that occupies of so much of taylor's early work. so much of debut and fearless take place in cars (just a boy in a chevy truck/i was riding shotgun with my hair undone/in the passenger seat you put your eyes on me) because cars are one of the few places where a teenager can be afforded privacy. in some ways, extreme and isolating fame is a form of ongoing childhood (i never grew up, it's getting so old) (there's this thing people say about celebrities, that they get frozen at the age they got famous) and it's against this background that cars again take on that same significance as they did in adolescence.

and then there's all the repeated imagery of city streets and traffic lights (i’d never walk cornelia street again/i ask the traffic lights if it’ll be alright/he got my heartbeat skipping down sixteenth avenue/i'm new york city/you're the west village/as if the streetlights pointed in an arrowhead leading us home) because lover is a story about a person becoming a city and a city becoming a lover. welcome to new york -- but we are no longer talking about the city itself, because new york has become one with the object of lover's affection. so it's no wonder that the dead center of the album is cornelia street and dbatc. side a ends with cornelia street and side b begins with dbatc, because they're two sides of the same coin: it's the story of a physical place becoming so wrapped up with another person that the speaker realizes that if that person were to leave them, they could never experience in that place the same way again. "windows flung right open" turn into "i look through the windows of this love, even though we boarded them up." "we were a fresh page on the desk" turns into "if the story's over, why am i still writing pages?" the streetlights that once "pointed us home" now cannot even tell us if it's going to be alright anymore. while the speaker can "get mystified by how this city screams your name," they could just as easily "see you everywhere" because if it ends, "the only thing we share is this small town." if the lover leaves, the entire city will be ruined.

and that's the fear on which the whole album is centered. lover is not an album on love, but on anxiety. what do you do after you've realized that one person has the power to truly break you? that if they ever left you, the very city that once welcomed you, waited for you, and taught you "a new soundtrack" would be ruined forever by the mere memory of them? that's where we begin to understand lover: that anxiety. we start with so many questions: "i love you, ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?" "who could ever leave me darling? but who could stay?" in this context, "can i go where you go? can we always be this close?" is not just romantic, it's an indication of this same terror. the speaker isn't confident enough to know that they can be together -- they still feel the need to ask. lover being placed so early on the tracklist indicates that it's a song that still comes from a place of anxiety.

at some point, we find a false confidence: i think he knows and paper rings lay out a vision of love that sounds almost simplistic again. we don't need anyone but each other, "i ain't gotta tell him i think he knows" and "i like shiny things but i'd marry you with paper rings." the speaker tries to let go of the anxieties of cruel summer and the archer, but too soon, that cornelia street fear creeps in again. and so the speaker decides that the love must hold something false in it: "we might just get away with it" but "it's a false god." and eventually, inevitably, everything falls apart. and the speaker, so angry with themself for letting it happen again, returns to the questions we found earlier on the album: "why'd i have to break what i love so much?" there's an apology, and an acceptance that there has to be a stable friendship in order to make this work: "it's nice to have a friend" to have someone to "call my bluff," to admit that "you've been stressed out lately, yeah, me too." the lovers are able to be honest with each other here, to apologize, because they've built up a foundation of friendship underneath all the drama and anxiety and intensity of feeling we saw earlier in the album.

so after all this, when we finally reach the end, the realization is not that the love or the lover themselves is grand or beautiful or anything really. the realization is that the anxiety itself is what will ruin things: that's why the album ends with the lines "you gotta step into the daylight and let it go. just let it go." because after all this anxiety and stress and questioning, the only answer is to simply let it go. for the speaker to accept that the love is more important than the fear: "i want to be defined by the things that i love, not the things that i'm afraid of." and so the album ends, not with a statement of love for another person, but with a declaration about the self: i just think that you are what you love.

[screamingiminlovewithyou]

“As if the streetlights pointed in an arrowhead leading us home” is actually a super prophetic lyric

[andfrozenswims]

peace and love i still don’t understand “the streetlights pointed in an arrowhead leading us home” like i think i get what she’s trying to say but the imagery doesn’t make sense