#there was a period of time where the eras tour was the only thing keeping me going and i thought i was out of that period but

[kurthorton-moving]

me spending weeks going "and i probably cant afford the eras tour and thats okay i just have to deal with it" during my breakdowns vs. eras not even coming here and only doing 5 shows in australia so probably being impossible to get tickets to

[misskattylashes]

This essay is so big, it needs two parts!

The EYCTE cycle

Part 1

From ‘I Just wanted to be one of the Strokes’ to ‘I’m scared of love’ and why I don’t think we will get TLSP 3 any time soon.

There is no doubt that Planet Milex is a different place to where it was in 2015. Back then, they hung out in LA, treated girlfriends like third wheels, were pictured cuddling and behaving like a couple outside The Kills gig, and then went onto record Everything You’ve Come to Expect.

Planet Milex 2024 seems like a desert. No official pictures of them together, the only indication they are still in each other’s lives being Miles frequently mentioning in interviews about hanging out with Alex, still sharing clothes, a picture of them walking the streets of Shoreditch, a sneaky photo at a Scott Walker tribute concert (which interestingly was taken down immediately). Then ultimately, Alex wanting his beloved to be the support act for the final days of the tour, when it was clear at times Alex felt a little overwhelmed by it all, and of course, Miles was there to hold his hand and bring him back down to earth.

‘Maybe I was a little too wild in the seventies’

It’s interesting out of all the Monkey’s songs, it is I Wanna Be Yours that Alex then merged with Star Treatment (often adding ‘I just wanted a jet ski for the moat’ – more of that later), which kind of confirms who I Wanna Be Yours is about – I have no idea why no none has ever questioned the addition of ‘secrets I have held in my heart’.

I think the EYCTE period was one where feelings deepened and promises were made. The one to watch is Miles. At the beginning of the promotional period, Alex looks like an adoring boyfriend, but Miles is quite composed and whilst flirty with Alex, it’s no more than he ever was before, during the SIAS and AM eras. By the end, in the days of Sziget and Rock en Seine. Miles is looking like a soppy puppy with eyes full of love (pretty much how Alex has looked at him since 2008!). But judging by the lyrics of Star Treatment (which Alex started writing during EYCTE), Alex was aware their little bubble couldn’t last ‘here ain’t no place for dolls like you and me’, but Miles, having fallen hard thought they could keep it going.

Alex went off to France to record TBHC leaving Miles stranded in LA, friendless and a bit lost, meanwhile Alex went through a period of self-reflection and justifying to himself why he had let Miles down. Not all the songs on TBHC are related to Milex, Alex was influenced by a whole variety of things, but songs like Star Treatment, Golden Trunks, Batphone and The Ultracheese address their situation. The Ultracheese even ends ‘I done some things that I shouldn’t have done, but I haven’t stopped loving you once’. I see TBHC as Alex’s ‘excuse album’. Sorry I let you down Miles, but look what a big superstar I am with all these big responsibilities, but know I love you’

Miles on the other hand was angry and hurt and wanted to lash out. Coup de Grace is full of angst with thinly veiled digs at Alex (of course during the official promotion, Miles said it was about Hannah his ex but I do think mentioning Alex’s personal information in Killing the Joke is kind of telling). Wrong Side of Life is possibly one of the saddest and most desperate songs I have ever heard. And on Silverscreen, how do you explain Two Faced Johnny as being a woman?! The only hint at self-blame is on Too Little Too Late, with the lines ‘I’m too fickle set in my ways, I’m too little too late’ – which has echoes of Troubled Son. Personally, I think one of the reasons Alex possibly wanted to go back to how they were prior to EYCTE was because Miles had never committed before (see most of AM!) and it was a case of do the hurting before being hurt. But CDG ends with Shavambacu, which in an interview Miles said was about an ex and they used to call each other Shavambacu as a silly little name (cue footage of Miles calling Alex Shavambacu on stage). And the last line is ‘oh honey I love you’. Like TBHC, CDG ends with a declaration of love.

In between CDG and CTS we have the night at La Cigale (which I will write about in a different post) where I think their fall out came to a head, because not long after that, we have grainy footage of them hanging out in East London. At the same time Miles is writing Change The Show, and whilst the songs are still a bit angsty, there is a lot more pragmatism. See Ya When I See Ya stands out, and we have the ‘Johnny’ character again, but instead of being angry with Alex for his double life and secrets, Miles has resigned to himself he’ll always be there for him and keep his secrets for him. I think because they had reconciled to a degree, Miles realised they weren’t going anywhere, but it didn’t mean Alex didn’t annoy him. Final track Adios ta ra ta ra indicates exasperation at their constant battles, but there is still an air of resignation.

Part two tomorrow

[midnightsslut]

okay wait i want to dispute some things from the imgonnagetyouback anon:

“I’m an Aston Martin that you steered straight into a ditch, then ran and hid" - talking about him running after the mess last summer, agreed

“Say you got somebody, I’ll say I got someone too” - I actually think this is a reference to Joe, because I think they started to reconnect when she was working on Midnights, didn't they?

“we broke all the pieces but still want to play the game. Told my friends I hate you but I love you just the same” - confessing she stills loves him even after everything, agreed, but I don't think this is indicative of how she feels NOW, this just shows how she was feeling at the time that they were "playing games" with each other.

“bygones will be bygone eras faded into grey” - talking about trying again once the tour ends - hard disagree with this. "bygones" are past things, a "bygone era" is a period of time in the past. I take the "faded into gray" to mean that she's letting it STAY in the past. Also, it's a play on words, because to "let bygones be bygones" means to forgive or move on from something.

and ends with “I’m gonna get you back" - which is also a play on words because it could mean she wants him back romantically, or it could mean "I'll get you back for what you did."

she has moved on from MH since TTPD was completed.

that’s an interesting analysis, and I could definitely see it. I’m still inclined to think it’s about joe, though, simply because the tone feels different to me than the songs about getting back together with joe. it’s playful and sexy, but it’s also vengeful. she had no reason to want to smash up matty’s bike, you know? to me, it’s a song about the time they basically broke up (hits different + ‘there was a litany of reasons why we could’ve played for keeps *this time* in mbobhft), and she got him back. she’s talking to someone who acted like he didn’t want her, but she says she knows better. we see that she feels unwanted by joe a lot on ttpd.

to me, the first six songs on the anthology basically tell a chronological story where the relationship on the main album doesn’t happen.

- she breaks up with joe and is absolutely devastated because she feels like he doesn’t miss her (the black dog)

- she gets back together with him because he did, in fact, miss her (imgonnagetyouback)

- discusses the implications of being with someone as famous as her—which we know was a point of contention in their relationship—and promises to protect her lover (the albatross)

- she confesses to wondering about an old flame but lets it stay buried because reconnecting is only ‘cooler in theory’ anyway (chloe et al)

- her relationship with joe ends and she’s bereaved (how did it end)

- she finds someone who makes her feel young and happy instead of idk insane (so high school)

on track 7, she confesses that she’s been daydreaming about an alternate reality this entire time because she feels like she might die otherwise (I hate it here). from that point on, she starts to discuss her present reality (I look in people’s windows, the prophecy) and goes backwards in time to figure out how she got to where she is.

[foxes-that-run]

Ready for it?

Ready for it? is about a magnetic damaged relationship Taylor won't let go of, wondering if her lover dreams of her, it references a relationship plagued by the media. The title, "Ready for it?" is referenced in one of the TS Parody Tabloids, referring to this awful real piece of journalism about Haylor. Harry has also referred to the song in To Be So Lonely with "Wasn't ready for it all"

When was it written

In the HBO Bad blood documentary Taylor’s PA said it was written on her plane during the 1989 tour, which is May - December 2015. The footage they show is from Taylor arriving in LA from China on 13 November 2015, but not necessarily when it was written. It refers to Two Ghosts, Stockholm Syndrome and Perfect which are from then.

Live performances

Ready for it opened the Reputation stadium tour and the Reputation set of the Eras tour where the screens are reminiscent of the 1989: ones"

Lyrics

Knew he was a killer first time that I saw him Wonder how many girls he had loved and left haunted But if he's a ghost, then I can be a phantom

I knew you were trouble: I knew you were trouble when you walked in / So shame on me now / Flew me to places I'd never been, yeah Now I'm lyin' on the cold hard ground

Haunted is a theme in Taylors work and in Harry's also. After Haunted on Speak Now, this is the next haunted and all others refer back to Two Ghosts or Harry. Here Taylor responds to Two Ghosts, which was also written in 2015 and ups her role to a Phantom, both models of Rolls Royce cars. As a luxury car enthusiast car references are generally to Harry.

Two Ghosts: (We're just two ghosts standing in the place of you and me / Trying to remember how it feels to have a heartbeat)

Holdin' him for ransom

Stockholm Syndrome: "Who's that shadow holding me hostage? / I've been here for days / Who's this whisper telling me that I'm never gonna get away?"

Some, some boys are tryin' too hard He don't try at all, though Younger than my exes but he act like such a man, so I see nothing better, I keep him forever Like a vendetta-ta

Harry remains is the youngest of Taylor's exes, and he did act like such a man.

"Keep him forever" is also a reference to Stockholm Syndrome which Harry wrote while dating Taylor, released a few weeks after 1989 and added to the One Direction Setlist during the period Taylor wrote this.

I, I, I see how this is gon' go Touch me and you'll never be alone I-Island breeze and lights down low No one has to know

The impact Taylors fame has on a relationship (touch me and you''ll never be alone) is explored extensively in 1989, especially,

I Know Places, Wonderland and Slut! explore this. Harry Styles Kiwi and Sign of the Times also refer to this.

This line reminds me of Perfects "And if you like cameras flashin' every time we go out"

Island Breeze also reminds me of IKYWT "Flew me to places I'd never been, yeah" and the Blue dress on a boat. It may also refer to her Rhode Island home, she purchased in May 2013.

In the middle of the night, in my dreams You should see the things we do, baby In the middle of the night, in my dreams I know I'm gonna be with you, so I take my time Are you ready for it?

Wildest Dreams "Even if it's just in your wildest dreams, ah-ah, ha (ha-ah, ha) / Wildest dreams, ah-ah, ha / You'll see me in hindsight / Tangled up with you all night"

Little Freak also references this line with references to blue light (adult film) dreams and wet dreams dangling. Little Freak also references "starry eyes, crystal ball" from the Ready for it video.

Knew I was a robber first time that he saw me Stealing hearts and running off and never sayin' sorry But if I'm a thief, then he can join the heist, and

IKYWT: No apologies / He'll never see you cry / Pretends he doesn't know

Stand up (One Direction) also has a similar refrain: "You can call me a thief (I'm a thief, I'm a thief) But you should know your part (I'm a thief, I'm a thief) I'm only here (I'm a thief, I'm a thief) Because you stole my heart"

See more on the Haylor theme of robbers and thieves.

We'll move to an island, and And he can be my jailer, Burton to this Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton had a long, magnetic, tumultuous relationship over years with infidelities between two A-listers. Taylor made the same likeness in the Wildest Dreams video, which was released in the time this was written. During that period, Taylor liked a series of posts that likened her and the Wildest Dreams muse to old hollywood couples and celebrities including James Dean and Marilyn Monroe.

Every love I've known in comparison is a failure I forget their names now, I'm so very tame now Never be the same now, now

In Question...? Taylor describes a similar comparison to other loves: (Does it feel like everything's just like second-best after that Meteor strike?)

(Baby, let the games begin Let the games begin x 2)x2

Games are also a Haylor theme, this line:

State of Grace - Love is a ruthless game, unless you play it good and right

Blank Space - Love's a game, wanna play?

Boyfriends - And you know the game's never ending

Music Video

the costumes are reminiscent of Taylor's 2014 VS show, which HS and she were friendly then left the afterparty 5 mins apart from.

Keep Driving refers to "Kiss her and don't tells, Wine glass, puff pass, tea with cyborgs, Riot America, ..." is the tea with cyborgs referring to TS in this video?

So although Joe's birth year appears in the start of the Video, the song was written more than a year before Taylor met Joe. In the Behind the Scenes of the video Taylor is quite sassy, saying "there are other numbers of significance, "89 and 91 next to each other" with a laugh, at the end she also says the boys in the video are not really humans. This is trolling H. These numbers don't mean the song is about Joe, the overall Reputation narrative was that love songs were about Joe to shut down discussion of other muses, though multiple songs including this one were written in the 1989 and 1989 tour time period.

The unreleased Two Ghosts video also has blue electricity spheres that look like the ones at 1:56.

The lyric video for the all you had to do was Stay is reminiscent of the Ready for it video freeze frame:

Taymoji

Ready for it has a taymoji set that includes a moon heart, the description is 'partial eclipse of the heart' Total Eclipse of the Heart was a One Direction X-Factor competition song, it also has an anatomical heart, which Harry got a tattoo of in 2014 after Style was written and a red flower. The flowers description is 'roses are red, this flower is also red..' possibly the same reference as in Maroon, "Carnations you had thought were roses." The flags also look like "took off faster than a green light go" in Holy Ground.

[mobiused]

as much as i agree with your analysis and the fact that ctdenm seems to be treating the girls better, a part of me can’t help but worry that similar things are happening behind the scenes, much like how bbc seemed to be a relatively healthy and positive working environment early on

The myth that bbc was healthy and positive early on simply isn't true, sadly. Even recently, Vivi talked on the radio show she did about predebut stories, about how she learnt Korean quickly by arguing with staff so she could eat what she wanted amongst fighting for her other rights - and this would've been back in late 2015 early 2016. When trainee line (Basically oec, 1/3 and yeojin) were in the company before joining loona officially, that was when they were on the infamous 1 apple 1 egg a day diet. Even though yyxy were the most open about their mistreatment, that it was the worst during love4eva filming, and bad during hi high era and butterfly era, it was still bad before yyxy girls joined - the other girls are just far less open about it. This might be because the yyxy girls had such a short trainee period and therefore weren't as adjusted/indoctrinated into the trainee lifestyle to accept strict dieting and verbal abuse, or it might be because it's simply not in their temperament to talk about these issues, or whatever reasons they might have to want to share less in comparison to the yyxy girls, though yeojin and vivi have been opening up more about the past. I'm curious, did you have a specific time period where you thought BBC was a healthy working environment for the girls in mind?

If youre thinking about old loona TVs, BBC has always had staff that were very kind to the girls, that the girls loved and treated them well. The current CTD CEO, Yoon Doyeon is an example, as well as Lee Jonghyun, their old Project Manager and current Superbell CEO. At the same time they had to endure verbal abuse from certain other staff (this doesn't mean Jaden, there were other staff who were horrible or even worse than him), strict dieting and torturous schedules amongst other mistreatment that went beyond ordinary idol strictness. The loona TVs always made a deceptive effort to show the girls eating well early on, laughing and having fun etc, but we know it's a complete misrepresentation compared to what was happening behind the scenes.

When we have the girls transparently telling us via Fromm and Fab that CTD do not control or care what they eat, that they are 100% deciding for themselves, that exercise is up to them, that CTD's CEO paid for almost everything in Hyunjin's new apartment including a super expensive humidifier just because she asked for one, that CTD involved them in the album despite how quickly the album needed to be turned out because CEO cares about their creative input, it inspires a lot more trust.

I genuinely believe Doyeon is a good man who wants to take care of our girls. He gave up his job and started a company to become CEO in a role he had never tried before solely to give the 5 members a place where they would be safe and happy with someone they trusted (instead of risking getting taken advantage of again at another company) and could continue their careers, and has been listening to everything both the members and fans have been asking of him. I know Hyeju has said that this album prep era has been her favourite of her career, and I believe her. Right now the girls are actually enjoying their time in the US, eating whatever they like, having enough time for rest, actually seeing the sights of America this time. It's only the first stop but hopefully they can keep this up and have this experience knock the previous tour out of the water.

We can't trust a company 100% of the time without being there and witnessing exactly what's happening, but compared to Modhaus where we had Jaden lie to us about Jinsoul being involved in production in literally their first interview, exercises and diets being enforced, and OEC being marketed to NFT bros and military men, I just feel so much more confident about CTD's ability to treat the girls right.

[hellboundwrites]

Ghouls ships and how they love

Ifrit and Zephyr : Burning Love

Their love is, to this day, the warmest.

Ifrit and Zephyr started as friends, just bandmates being put together in an exclusive project that would link all five of the ghouls together for the rest of their existence. But when they hit the road on that tour together... Oh, things changed forever.

In the beginning, they all enjoyed nice evenings as a band, smoking and chatting on hotel balconies until a contagious yawn would spread around the group. But Ifrit and Zephyr could both feel a pull between them that pushed them to linger there after everyone went to sleep.

Those nights, when they'd found themselves alone, they'd talk until the wind outside would turn cold and they inevitably had to get closer for comfort. They'd share a cigarette - Ifrit pointing a flame on his index towards where it would lie between Zephyr's lips.

They were both older, mature ghouls - Zephyr a little bit more than Ifrit. They had had their fair share of experiences in the past. There was no mystery with what was happening between them. But they both had had enough fun before to want to be serious this time around. For only a few weeks they danced like this around each other, waiting to see who'd be the first to fall.

And Zephyr did. He was often in pain, and Ifrit's fire had soothed his body many times before on these late and cold evenings. He owed it to him to make the first move, a simple slow kiss that quickly turned into a frenetic rush to his hotel room.

They kept it private. Not that it was a secret, but they were the oldest among the rest of the band, and they were over being glued to each other like young lovers. They had no time to disperse (as it would be expected from them).

However, pretending to be focused and mature about it made it all the more fun.

They cannot recount how many times their eyes burnt at the sight of the other, waiting and waiting for the show to end, for the night to finally come.

The only times when Zephyr's muscles weren't tight and screaming for rest were when he was in Ifrit's arms or Ifrit was in his. They'd slide into the other's room in the middle of the night, crashing into each other's mouth, with just the right amount of force to push the other against a wall, tearing their clothes away to find dark skin and greying hair to touch.

Even after months like this, after playing the same game over and over, they did not lose their flame. The tour came to its end eventually, and they each expected some change to happen between them with the slower schedule and the monotonous environment of the abbey. But they were yearning just the same, if not more with all the additional time on their hands.

What was supposed to be just a pause between eras and tours turned into a long period of discovery. Ifrit wanted to find every way he could break the tension in Zephyr's body, and Zephyr was just amazed by how much Ifrit knew and how strategically gentle he could be even with his stature.

Their love wasn't just pure desire. It was complicity, and a mutual sense of perfect timing. There was so much that could be said in looks and touches. They could breathe each other's air and still not get relief from how much they longed and wanted. After an existence of ordinary partners, they had finally found one that shared the same pace.

A bit before all the papacy trouble at the abbey, they decided, despite still being on the program with Aether, Mountain and Dew, that the Project could continue without them.

Don't ask where they are now. Retired, somewhere in Hell. In a little space of their own, where there's no distraction from each other.

Because love sometimes is learning to appreciate the simpler things.

There's no necessity in chasing glory when all you need is someone by your side to keep you warm.

Part 1. Rain and Dewdrop

Part 2. Cirrus and Cumulus

Part 3. Mountain and Swiss

Find me on AO3

[earlgreytea68]

re: the hiatus i do think some of what you’ve said is true but i also always go back to that quote where pete talked about how when you’re in a band it’s like toy story where their lives and friendship continued without the band and points out that during the hiatus he was the best man at patrick’s wedding. i don’t think they ever stopped being close friends, but i do think they had to adjust to a new way of being close when they weren’t on top of each other 24/7 and it wasn’t intwined with their career

YES. This is an excellent point because that detail always stood out to me about the hiatus era and I totally forgot about it and thank you for the reminder. But when I was educating myself about this band there was all this stuff in the Wikipedia where Pete made it sound like they hadn't talked in ages, etc., etc., but then at a later point in time there was some casual mention of Pete having been best man at Patrick's wedding which...happened during the hiatus. And I also feel like at some point during the hiatus there was something about Patrick having gone to Pete's house for Easter dinner, or something super random like that that also gave me pause.

So maybe some of the hiatus lore is just Pete being dramatic (shocking development, I know!).

BUT I also think that what you say is so wise and true and also so simple and straightforward that of course it doesn't get said, but friendships can evolve. And these two lived in each other's pockets for almost a decade and then stopped. And maybe they always still talked to each other and were friendly and yes, Patrick couldn't think of anyone else he would want more than Pete to be best man, and Pete would say publicly that he could never replace Patrick, but maybe it did nonetheless feel a little bit like a friendship death, to actually live apart from each other, and find lives outside of each other. You get older and your friends get married and have kids and suddenly you don't talk as much and you don't want to be a burden on their new life and everything is always fine, you still love each other, but these are two people whose relationship is always at a fever-pitch intensity, no matter how much they're separated, and so it makes sense that they would experience this transitional period more keenly and sharply than people with less intertwined relationships do.

If that makes any sense at all.

But then they relocated their equilibrium with each other and I think probably grew comfortable with "they are always each other's person, no matter what else around them changes." They live in each other's pockets while out on tour, or they live in separate states and just text every so often. It doesn't matter: They've settled they're each other's person. And sure, maybe it seems like Patrick had to coax Pete a little bit to remember that and write this album with him, but what do we know about Pete? He's got so much love he feels like he has to keep to himself. I bet Patrick is always just like, "He's trying not to bother me, I'll bother him instead," whenever there's a bit of a gap now lol

But also, of course, because we are on the outside looking in, and only they know their own lives, and we're making everything up, the truth is the hiatus can be all things at once to us, because there is no definition around it, it's all ambiguity, and we're not writing an encyclopedia entry anyway.

[my-reality-my-rules]

Ok, can you tell me details of tour warring state shift? I ask this becauae Ibwanrnto shift for that. How is Madara and Izuna like? And The insides and family dynamics of the Uchihas? Maybe Hashirama and Mito If you interacted with them? And any other curiosity of that time period?

[thanks for this ask!]

alright, disclaimer first: my warring states DR might not exactly be the best thing to freely talk about, especially with what's currently happening on other platforms regarding shifting.

there's a lot of things regarding this era in general that would be looked down upon—and i won't be making excuses for not scripting them out, because i wanted the full experience of shifting to naruto. i just wanted to put that out there.

so, with that out of the way, let's talk about my DR itself.

[you can also find a few more detailed explanations in a google doc i keep; some of my other shenanigans are written there].

- - -

(1) MADARA AND IZUNA

i have to admit that, while I'm generally fine with Madara, i have some mixed thoughts on Izuna. overall, they're both not bad as family. i would go so far as to say that the elder is one of my closest friends, surpassed only by Hikaku. he's kind, and very indulgent with my whims. Madara likes to look out for everyone even when they don't want nor need it, is a bit obsessed with taking his duties seriously, and likely suffers from some form of burnout. thinking of him does make a bit sad, though. Tajima's still alive, and the man's been grilling him on finding a bride. problem is, HashiMada was a thing in my DR :'DDD and I'm currently the guinea pig having to deal with Madara's sulking fits. i am, frankly, honoured to be someone he trusted with that secret, but i am not equipped to deal with romance. as for Izuna? call me any day—i am down and ready to throw hands. I'm kidding (not really). where Madara's the prime elder brother material many people would probably want, Izuna's that babied brat of a cousin who spells trouble just because he can. he's not a bad person—i don't hate him. chances are, I'd actually team up with him for both stupid arguments and serious fights if it suited me. but it doesn't make him less of a nuisance to deal with. Izuna gets very sexist and classist from time to time, and...well, xenophobic (i don't even know if that's the right word, but you get what i mean). he's also very pushy and arrogant.

- - -

(2) MITO AND HASHIRAMA

to be honest, i have more experience dealing with Tobirama more than either Hashirama or Mito. hell, even my interactions with Tōka are more significant compared to the couple. for the most part, my contacts with the elder brother happen only because of my (pseudo?) acquaintanceship with the younger. Tobirama and I often use the same routes when travelling between smaller villages, especially on solo missions and in neutral spaces. here's the thing: while I've met and talked with Hashirama in passing, all of those times happened only during times I've scripted, but not shifted for. these are events where we're required to interact with each other. think of: the daimyō's clan rep summons, battlefield warfare, semi-joint missions, and the like. he's very open and friendly, and almost always willing to compromise—there's no doubt about that. but I'm also very wary of him. listen, he's a nice person, but I'll just be honest and say this: i don't trust him, not the slightest bit. my opinion on Mito isn't any more different. it's not that i dislike her, but neither do i actively like her. it's a neutral feeling, i suppose. I've seen her more than I do Hashirama [ok wait short break—by every god that exists, she's actually really fucking gorgeous]—but, like Hashirama, i don't know her enough to formulate any substantial thoughts about her. just that she's associated with the senju, and her clan is allied with them, so that makes her a threat by nature. i won't lie—the time I've spent with the uchiha has influenced me by a large margin. it's not going away anytime soon. and even then, a part of me already acknowledged that both aren't people i want to fully deal with. with tobirama, it's easier, because we have this mutual regard for one another. i interact with the man from time to time, and we're at least familiar. his family is a different story.

- - -

(3) OTHER CURIOSITIES

hmm...there's actually a lot of things I'm interested in, in my DR. i suppose by 'curiosities', you meant some kind of non-canon aspect of it? I'm trying to keep this entry short, so I'll just list two things here. I'll just add more details to the DR journal later on. well, there's this group called the Soldiers in White. i wouldn't go so far as to call them vigilantes, although they skid near that boundary. they're an organisation made of clan defectors; and, as far as I'm aware, their main objective is to promote the intermingling of the average clan members with 'common blood', and it's done in an act of science. they're a pretty radical group in my DR, so they're catching a lot of controversy. there's also the bi-annual clan rep summons, announced at the daimyō's convenience. there's no set date for it. it's basically this nationwide (and by that i mean only Fire Country) gathering for all clans, and it's done so His Royal Highness gets an update on what's been going on with his vassals. i don't attend the actual bureaucratic meetings, but there's an open festival available for three days straight. it's a fun event, and I've gone to it twice while shifting.

- - -

that's it, so far.

most of what I've written down about my Naruto DR is actually in the journal itself, so, if you're interested, just check that out. i listed some more intricate details there; like my schedule, or how I met my cousins for the first time (aka the canon characters), mission anecdotes, clan dynamics, and the like.

also, yeah, i definitely recommend shifting for the founders! i haven't seen much others going there, just the usual konoha 12. it'd be nice to chat about it with someone :DDD

[hollysoda]

On a bit of a tier list kick and realised “goddamn I’ve played a lot of different Mario Kart games recently” so decided to rank them :D

Notes below:

Idc what anyone says Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the most fun I’ve had playing any of these. “But it’s so much easier” “but the booster course is just a cash grab” I don’t care!! I enjoy it!! There so many tracks to choose from and all of their soundtracks are so goddamn good!! Plus the booster course is slowly improving the character roster which is amazing!! I know it’s the old “new=good” thing but this time it’s true I’m sorry

On the other hand, Mario Kart Wii. I’m nostalgic I’m sorry but can you really blame me when this game literally ruled my childhood from ages 5-10? So many cool and iconic nitro tracks and the best character roster in the whole series. I’d love to play it again if my wii remotes weren’t broken

Okay so I didn’t remember all that much about Mario Kart DS. I knew I had it when I was a kid but other than a few courses I had mostly forgotten about the game, but I bought it second hand the other day and omg. This game slaps. It’s so fucking fun and I can’t believe I forgot about it. Straight to top A tier

Mario Kart 7 is also probably a nostalgia based pick tbh but it was the game that actually made me play Mario Kart properly. I learned to drift in MK7 and overall appreciated the competitive side of the series a lot more. Also it has my all time favourite track, Melody Motorway :) (or Music Park for Americans)

Honestly the only reason I enjoyed Mario Kart 64 as much as I did was because it’s so fucking chaotic and brutal to the point where it’s funny. Drifted too far? Approached the jump awkwardly? Oops you’re now facing backwards and in last place! Some of the courses are ridiculously long *cough* Rainbow Road which lowers it

Probably a bit controversial but I do enjoy Tour. I haven’t played in over a year but late 2021 - mid 2022 I played it to DEATH because one of my irls got me back into it and coincidentally this was a pretty rough period in my life, so I do owe it one for keeping me stable. Kinda sucked that they got rid of the gatcha feature though :(

Mario Kart Super Circuit is really tricky for me but I really like the graphics. That’s probably it’s only saving grace lmao. Maybe I just find the GBA era of pixel graphics to be endearing idk. It has the same level of brutality as N64 but nowhere near as fun

I have played the arcade game a few times in amusements and it is fun :) that’s it. I don’t play it enough to actually have a proper opinion.

Og Mario Kart is very annoying and the tracks and boring. If I see their asses as a retro track I am not happy >:(

Never owned a Wii U so I never played the og Mario Kart 8 but all I know is that MK8D vastly improved on a lot of its flaws over the years so ultimately it is just better. Also I desperately want to play Double Dash (please add GameCube games to the switch Nintendo holy shit) and I would rank it high because all the tracks that have been turned into retro tracks are so so fun.

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

I think what's happening with Taylor and her fanbase is most interesting for what it says about her marketing strategy more broadly and its consequences, even more broadly. I think part of the reason that Taylor Swift has such an intensely parasocial fanbase is because she's encouraged it throughout her career. Franchesca Ramsey has an interesting tiktok about it (that I don't totally agree with, but I think makes the point well). Taylor has always done things to blur boundaries with her fans, like the secret sessions she used to do where she invited them to her home, her team (and even her mom) would choose fans at shows to bring to the VIP box or to meet her backstage (though admittedly I don't know if she's doing that at Eras tour, she's done it in the past), she will periodically like and comment on random tiktoks about her, she jokes on stage that she knows what fans/fandom are saying and references her own fandom jokes. It has obviously served her well in terms of making her career massively successful, but it also clearly has some weird and not great impacts on her fanbase. There's an almost panopticon-like sense that at any given moment Taylor might be watching, and so if fans perform fanhood well enough, they might be "chosen" by her or get her attention. Which is unsettling enough on its own for the ways that it makes what's ultimately a one-sided parasocial relationship feel like it might at any moment actually be two-sided, but I think it also helps explain why her fans are out here putting out statements about her dating Matty Healy, because I think it leads fans to think their random tweet or tiktok might actually reach or impact Taylor, the way it might've if they'd posted an Eras tour outfit that she liked.

Obviously none of that justifies fan behavior or makes it any less troubling. I agree with you that I think if people behave this way parasocially, it suggests something about the way they behave in their actual social lives, and I think it also contributes to the ways that celebrities have a difficult time just existing as people in ways that are undeniably harmful to them as humans (like the crowds following Taylor around NYC). But there's something troubling to me about the asymmetry of it - boundary blurring good when it's for financial benefit, bad when it's strangers having public takes on a celeb's dating life. I think the asymmetry is in part natural, because of course fans can only control their own behavior and response and not the way that Taylor chooses to market her music, but I still just feel pretty icky about it, especially because it's largely operating on an unconscious level. I don't think a fan sees Taylor Swift comment on another random fan's concert video and goes, oh, this is a marketing tactic designed to boost engagement with the artist and encourage the creation of Eras tour content to keep it viral. I think a random fan, especially a young person, sees that and goes, oh, that could've been my tiktok, that could be me, Taylor might notice me and think I'm cute or funny or whatever. There are obviously a lot of differences, but it does in some ways remind me of the conversations around the impact of algorithmic content and its unconscious impact on our brains, like whether even people who are intellectually aware that they're being served more content that makes them feel angry, because that gets the most engagement, are still impacted by seeing that content. I don't think it necessarily lends itself to an actual answer, but I do think it's extra unsettling as more artists use similar marketing tactics to engage their fanbase on social media.

I've seen this argument before and while I think there might be points that are worth considering - I completely and utterly reject the idea that it has any relevance to fans response to Taylor being in a relationship. In fact the idea that Taylor's engagement with fans might be relevant to the fact that fans engage her relationships to me crosses boundaries.

To me the key question is: Do you think that everyone who you invite to your house gets a say on your relationships? (Or even more precisely - do you think everyone who you invited to your house 4 years ago gets a say on your relationships now?) I sure hope the answer is no - and if the answer is no for you - then what the fuck could the fact that some fans were invited to Taylor's house have to do that some fans (probably not the same people) think they have a say on her relationship.

There is an argument that the fact that Taylor responds to social media content and sometimes references internet communications contributes to people's belief that they can communicate to her through internet content like an open letter. But my problem with the open letter is not that people are trying to communicate with Taylor. It's that the letter shows a belief that fans get a say over Taylor's life.

I also want to push back a bit at your idea that there's an asymmetry in how boundaries being blurred are being judged. Your model seems to be that there is a set of boundaries that should exist an artist and a fan and that any depature from that from either side is crossing boundaries.

That's not how I think boundaries work. I don't think Taylor was crossing any boundaries when she invited people to her house four years ago. Anymore than I was crossing boundaries when I invited someone to my house today. That's the whole point of boundaries - we get to decide who comes to our personal space.

Likewise "strangers having public takes on a celeb's dating life" isn't a problem and has nothing to do with boundaries. Having opinions publicly about someone doesn't cross any boundaries - we're not entitled to control what everyone says about us. There's a huge difference between having opinions about someone in public - and making those opinions the person's problem. Fans are entitled to say whatever they like about Taylor's relationship - and change their behaviour in any way. But to make demands about what she should do about fans feelings - that's very different.

I do think there are useful and interesting conversations that can be had about Taylor's actions towards her fans - the personal element, the marketing element, and the impact on her fandom. I just don't think boundaries is a useful model for that discussion, or that it has any place in the discussion of fans' entitlement over Taylor's relationships.

[lunaslogs]

My Take On The Attention of Taylor Swift

Swifties, please do not attack me for this. This is specifically MY OPINION and I want to shed some light on something.

My friend and my boyfriend were talking earlier and I mentioned how everything for the past almost year has been all about Taylor Swift and how everyone loves her. As someone who grew up listening to her "1989" and "Reputation" albums from elementary to middle school, those specific eras to me are tied with special memories from my childhood.

However, I want to note that before the Eras tour, she wasn't getting NEARLY as much traction or talked about in comparison to her Rep era (2017-2018). The only people who really paid attention in between those years of 2019-2022 were the hardcore Swifties.

We see this happen a lot in music where a certain artist will be absolutely loved by fans, talked about in media, and stays in the minds of the people. But once they ride that wave, after a while, it dies down.

This is in no way shape or form me trying to downplay or slander any of Taylor's success. I'm actually very happy that she's been able to keep such a loyal fanbase for so long, almost 20 years. That's pretty impressive. Her music is good, there are some that aren't exactly my favorites but it's good for the most part.

But I want to use Katy Perry as an example (NOT A COMPARISON). She had hit after hit after hit for a good couple of years and even went on to be a judge for American Idol and still is! But after a while, her music wasn't charting like it used to. Media outlets weren't covering Katy. Her fanbase died down.

There weren't NEARLY as much attention on Taylor before the Eras tour came out. There were a few trends on social media using her songs, but that was pretty much it.

Popularity isn't forever and I won't be surprised if people start trying to take Taylor down from this pedestal that everyone and their mother has put her on. Not that I want that to happen but because that's what social media does. They popularize a thing or a person (in this case, Taylor Swift) and then, people get annoyed and pissed off when suddenly, this subject becomes the talk of the town and the hottest topic around. Eventually, it gets to a point where people get so tired of hearing about this thing or this person that they want to immediately remove that same popularity THEY GAVE THEM in any way they can. Whether that's through cancel culture or rumors or whatever B.S the internet can conjure up.

Ultimately, the point I'm trying to make here is that there is nothing wrong with looking up to an artist, idolizing them, and being a fan. There is nothing wrong with being supportive. But I want people to remember that the hype Taylor has now, all the attention she's getting from her music and the media and her fans, that's eventually going to change. I don't see her being erased from the industry at all, she's not disappearing any time soon. But I can definitely see some periods in the future where we have another 3-4 year gap where people don't really talk about her, people don't listen to her as much, and she isn't the center of attention.

This is Luna, logging off!

[theparanormalperiodical]

A Brief History Of Horror - From Ancient Texts To Like, Right Now

Most horror films certainly wouldn’t be labelled with the term “art”.

Forced plots, boring characters and CGI-monsters rarely make for enjoyable viewing. But the content spewed out by struggling production companies trying to make a quick buck is yet another chapter in horror’s long, winding history.

The filming techniques, the technology generating the monsters and the stories they tell have all evolved alongside society. After all, as history moves onwards, our fears do, as well. The genre is always finding new ways to freak us out, tapping into the events and concerns of each generation. From the humble ghost stories shared amongst common folk to the latest blockbuster films, how we frighten audiences has changed dramatically.

It’s time we talked about it.

Today, we’re taking a whistle-spot tour of the horror genre, from early AD to this year’s releases.

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear”

Edgar Allen Poe

The history of the horror genre starts in the 15th century. But since humans were first able to talk and communicate, spooky stories would’ve been shared.

Our folklore is rooted in ancient traditions and beliefs. Even our most significant religious texts like the Bible and Quran contain reference to evil supernatural beings and mysterious spirits. This folklore didn’t just have a religious element to keep worshippers in check, but also had the aim of warding children from going near dangerous areas such as dark woods and deep lakes.

Scary stories were probably told as a part of the mythology that tried to make sense of the world.

But modern horror can directly be traced back to the works of the Ancient Greeks and Romans.

One of Pliny the Younger’s most iconic works tells the story of a haunted house in Athens (a man buys a suspicious cheap new house only to be greeted by a strange figure in chains - they then dig up the garden and find an unmarked grave), and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was influenced by the story of Hippolytus (where a man is punished by being kept alive to ruminate on the fact he killed his son).

By the turn of the first millennium, the scene was set for the beginnings of horror literature.

Communities had developed their own unique affinity for certain supernatural beings and created their own custom backstories for them. For example, the French had a thing for werewolves which was set in stone by their literature around the 13th century.

15th century

In the 1400s, book production expanded and became cheaper. That meant it was not only the elites that were reading the latest literature. This is when the horror genre finally emerges from the shadows of shared folklore.

The most notable pieces of fiction included the Malleus Maleficarum (it explained that witches were causing a ruckus in society and therefore needed to be hunted down for their crimes) and a series of plays that weaved in disturbing and gruesome scenes.

For example, Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth both involved murder, death and existential crises.

Interestingly enough, however, during this same stretch of time, certain historical figures came to the fore and would go on to inspire the horror fiction of the future. Yes, even the earliest horror icons were based on all-too-true stories.

In the 15th century, Prince of Wallachia Vlad III - or Vlad the Impaler - was employing cruel tactics to scare off his enemies before impaling their corpses on stakes, and Elizabeth Bathory (considered the original inspiration for the Bloody Mary urban legend) was bathing in the blood of young women.

18th century

300 years later and cultural movements such as Romanticism swells. Drawing upon themes of the medieval era and the literature created during that period of time, the horror genre in its infancy took on a Gothic style (that is, it blended horror, death and romance).

One of the most notable themes was the role of women in writing and reading the horror fiction. Often the plots would follow a resourceful woman that was being menaced by all form of sombre beings in a dark, historic castle.

But before Buffy’s predecessors first hit the shelves, a large majority of literature was set in the medieval era. Often described as reactionary and anarchistic, it echoed criticisms not unlike those levelled today. Books like The Italian and The Monk were both set during the middle ages’ Inquisition, confirming that religious themes have been and will always be at the heart of horror.

Twisted religious figures and sinful actions inspire the plots and cast a spell over the audience. In a post-Inquisition Europe, horror focused on fear of irreligious actions and deviants to the status quo. If you fell into either of these categories, you would be ensnared and punished/put to death for your crimes.

19th century

This is when the Gothic tradition really took hold. Horror staples such as Frankenstein, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dracula and the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - to name just a few - entered the scene.

Classic horror introduced Gothic trends to modern literature and film, laying the foreground for both romance and terror to clash in later pieces of work.

Amongst these strong stirrings in the genre arose a new medium: cinema.

In the late 1890s, the supernatural took to the scene. French, American and Japanese film makers immediately came to the fore. With simple stories and even simpler special effects, it still had an immense effect on the audience.

For example, just years after x-rays were invented, one horror-comedy showed skeletons courting each other. This would have been rather frightful for the audiences who weren’t familiar seeing skeletons the way we do today.

The topics early cinema covered were not far from the topics covered today: paranormal investigations, haunted hotels and giant spiders all feature in the earliest cinematography of the era.

20th century

As we entered the 1900s, horror films began to serve an influence in the genre.

Let’s start with the literature:

Cheap periodicals playing upon horrifying themes spread the genre amongs the masses. This is even where The Phantom of the Opera earned his fame before the magazine was turned into a book. There were even magazines crammed full of different horror stories, such as the All-Story Magazine.

These magazines introduced a new concept in horror: madness.

Cosmic horror also took off with HP Lovecraft being credited with making the unknowable and the incomprehensible truly terrifying. Fear of science, religion and superstition converged in an era of innovation and took supernatural horror to a new level.

In the mid 20th century, the serial killer was also sensationalised, from Jack the Ripper to Ed Gein in a range of mediums. Books like the Silence of the Lambs went on to create the slasher sub-genre in cinema. Horror films in turn then went on to then inspire how horror literature would unfold. In a cyclical manner, the books The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby inspired other novels.

This paved the way for one of modern horror’s most essential authors in the 1970s: Stephen King.

The films really took off in the 1970s and assumed literature’s pole position.

In the early years of the 20th century, optical illusions and camera tricks entered the fore. At the same time, adaptations of literature, such as the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, broke tradition in the genre.

Georges Méliès can be credited with many innovations in this era. In one film, he attempted to take the viewer on a ‘tour of hell’, using pyrotechnics, splices, superimpositions and stage machinery to create a new viewing experience. This prompted a shift towards making films that were unsettling.

You’ll see that a lot of features of early horror films are still reflected in modern takes on the genre.

In the 1910s, more films based on literature adaptions emerged. And in 1916, the longest horror film was produced: Les Vampires was originally split into 10 parts but together is over 7 hours long.

Another theme was ‘trick films’ - films that used illusions and magic tricks to create innovative special effects without the help of today’s green screens or CGI. Many of these illusions were discovered by accident, such as when Méliès jammed his camera on a street in Paris and realised the scene he filmed suddenly cut to a later moment, creating the effect of people transforming into something else entirely.

The most profound innovation, however, has to be German Expressionism.

Distorted backdrops, misshapen walls and playful use of lights and shadow helped create an entirely different world for viewers. It even made The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari the first cult film.

This artistic style created film noir and innovated the concept of a ‘twist ending’.

Nosferatu used this expressionist style to great effect, such as the iconic creeping, shadow scene. The idea was it distorted reality and the human psyche to create the immersive horror experience we know and love today.

Universal Pictures then came onto the stage, releasing monster movies thick and fast. Based on gothic horror literature, it took iconic monsters, such the Phantom of the Opera, to much higher levels of cinematic fame.

The 1930s generated horror classics - images of which will have already been seared into your mind, such as Frankenstein and the subsequent movie, the Bride of Frankenstein - in alignment with cinema’s Golden Age.

By the 1950s, 3D technology had been developed and made frightening the viewers that much easier. The House of Wax was given this opportunity to use this new technology and used it tactically to get viewers back into the theatres. In the 1950s, TVs became commonplace and going to the cinema lost its novelty. They needed to step it up for the competition.

Another way of bringing audiences back into cinemas was with theatre gimmicks. Remember the urban legend that during screenings of The Human Centipede paramedics has to be in the cinema? During the Lost Missile, you had to wear ‘shock tags’ to monitor their vitals. If you got shocked into a coma, you’d get a free ride home in a limo!

Macabre also employed a similar idea with fake nurses standing outside cinemas before screenings.

During the 1950s, the Cold War began to infiltrate horror. Monster flicks rocketed in popularity, with threat of foreign invasion by a terrifying beast extremely common. Often the abnormally large beast would be as a result of radiation or an experiment gone wrong, both of which featured before and during the CW.

Humanity was also called into question with films such as The Fly and Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.

At the same time, horror also moved away from the cinema and onto the TV screens. Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone were TV series that rivalled theatric spectacles.

The 1970s marked a transition from classic horror flicks to modern, psychological and artistic portrayals of dark themes. European filmmakers were usurped by Americans who introduced everyday settings to create more unsettling stories. Counterculture also played a role in creating films that recalled historic moments and challenged the establishment.

The Hills Have Eyes took on consumerism and nuclear weaponry. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was a new take on the Vietnam War. And The Rocky Horror Picture Show was one of the many horror-comedy hits that stretched the genre’s narrow limits.

Most notably, the 70s ushered in the era of the slasher. Halloween sparked the shift and was cherished by cinema-goers through the 1980s. This later created a sub-genre of slasher b-movies, expanding the range of films to take ones fancy.

By the 1990s, TV was once again winning the war on cinema and horror movies were thrown out in favour of safer, less-traumatic content. The films were all still slashers, so a rather meta approach was taken by filmmakers: ‘twas the era of the parody. They were ironic and challenged horror, i.e. Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer.

21st century

As we move closer to our current era, horror has remained reflective. With a number of remakes constantly spat out by production companies, horror in itself has become a trusted, expansive genre with different sub-genres clustering within it.

The most notable themes include psychology, plot twists and films based on true stories. Other genres such as documentaries, thrillers and arthouse films have begun to bleed into horror.

As YouTube opens up new opportunities for filmmakers, low-budget B-movies and - by sharp contrast - artist short films have created a varied, wide landscape for the future of horror.

But the essence of the genre stays true: make ‘em scared.

If you liked this blogpost, make sure you like and reblog it. And while you’re down there, hit follow to read something spooky every weekend!

[phantomato]

Five Tom Riddle Crossover Fics to Read

Tom Riddle is a difficult character to ship. For those of us who want to see pairings beyond the Big Two (Tomarry and Tomione), canonical options peter out relatively quickly. Sure, we can invent our own pairings by fleshing out side characters, but sometimes, the itch is best scratched by borrowing from another canon.

And it makes sense for Tom more than nearly anyone else in HP. Tom was born into an era that is the subject of so much literature, so it’s easy to find another person kicking around postwar Europe if that’s your goal. He’s an archetypal character, the villain seeking immortality, and can be matched against other villains with the same aims. Hell, even his quest to recover lost artifacts turns into the basis for two of these works—Tom Riddle has the perfect combination of a recognizable context and character model, plus the ambiguity of his canon timeline, to slot him alongside so many other fictional figures.

I want to pause on some of these themes for a second. Immortality or relationship to age, for one, is something that comes up in three of these pairings: the Darkling and Koschei the Deathless are both immortal characters in their own canons, and Edmund Pevensie is not immortal but has aged and de-aged repeatedly in his travels to and from Narnia. The HP series doesn’t give us nearly this wealth of different perspectives on age and immortality, which is fair—HP makes it clear that immortality is unnatural and undesirable, and Flamel is notably a ‘good person’ because of his willingness to accept his own death—but for a character as obsessed with the idea as Tom, some emotions can only be explored when you match him with another character who has a complicated relationship to aging. Even someone like Indiana Jones, not immortal and not trying to be, has an interesting perspective to bring to a story because he has seen so many other quests for power gone terribly awry.

Of course, the other thing we get from crossover pairings is the ability to match Tom with a villainous character. And whether you’re a fan of conflict at the start of a relationship or not, I think there’s something to be found in putting two villains together: moral arguments, when they exist, are rarely about whether death is necessary but about what kinds of death are best used when; the entire concept of either a redemption arc or a breaking bad arc can be thrown out a window. It’s a space wherein our two villains are allowed to be themselves, and the reveal of the extent of each character’s villainy becomes a strange form of celebration. This is challenging to achieve if one sticks to HP canon alone, whereas crossovers are a fruitful space.

My selection methodology was to read every crossover fic with a clear focus on Tom Riddle or Voldemort on AO3. I found crossover pairings by visiting the meta pages for the Tom Riddle, Voldemort, and Tom Riddle | Voldemort tags—I may have missed some pairings for Tom Riddle, as the character has over 300 child relationship tags and AO3 cuts off at 300 displayed. If you know of any ships I missed and should check out, do tell! I’ll also make a note here that one of these fics is my own—if self-recs bother you, skip Bluebird.

The following five fics are ordered by wordcount. Let me know what you think!

Neurotic Virtuosi, by skazka

Crossover: Hannibal Rising (movie version). The wizarding world exists, and Tom and Hannibal encounter each other in non-magical Eastern Europe.

Summary: Tom and Hannibal ride the same train when Tom is hunting down the diadem. Tom shares an apple and thinks about keeping Hannibal.

Mature, <1k, Graphic Torture Fantasies

Why?: This is one of those pairings that I wouldn’t have thought to do when the characters were both young, but it’s so much better for that choice! The length of this fic means we only get a taste of their interactions, but what a taste it is. Tom’s internal fantasies are horrifying and described in a very erotic way, which fits both characters.

This also serves as an interesting vision of what Tom might have experienced during his world tour to find the diadem, a period we rarely get to see. I particularly like that the author chose to write it as frustrating and mostly fruitless; a Tom who is stymied and unsuccessful is a particular weakness of mine.

Two Sides of the Same Coin, by Anonymous

Crossover: Chronicles of Narnia. Both Hogwarts and Narnia are real, and the characters meet in Britain. The magic isn’t the same, but there’s mutual recognition.

Summary: Tom tries to use sex to seduce secrets out of Edmund. Edmund sees something reminiscent of his younger self, the version of him who could join the White Witch, in Tom Riddle.

Explicit, 2k

Why?: Edmund and Tom are a pairing made in crossover heaven, both boys of a similar age born into war in the same country and whose discoveries of magical worlds help them escape it. Both lust for power and make poor choices; Edmund canonically recovers and finds redemption from his actions, and Tom does not.

This fic wears the hat of something pure smut, starting in the middle of a sex scene and tagged with top/bottom roles, etc., and it is that and does that well. But give it a shot for Edmund’s reflection at the end, his hopeful musings that he can apply the lessons learned from Aslan to help Tom before Tom’s utterly lost. It’s a crossover ship with unbelievable potential for both characters, and this fic makes me want so much more.

Shedding Skin, by electric_typewriter

Crossover: Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente. Both the wizarding world and the magic of Deathless exist.

Summary: Tom meets Koschei before splitting his soul. They keep meeting, and Tom keeps attempting to match Koschei’s immortality.

Not Rated, 2k

Why?: Immortality via relocation or storage of souls is an idea that easily predates Harry Potter as a series, and seeing two different versions of the some core idea interacting with one another is precisely what crossovers exist to enable. Koschei as an immortal being that found his immortality in a way he considers superior is a fascinating concept, because it creates a power imbalance between them that leaves Tom always running to catch up. And Tom, poor Tom, feels like a desperate man, finding sensation only when he’s around Koschei and feeling nothing at any other time.

This reads a bit like you’re dissociating. The author uses descriptive language to keep the reader a little distant from the grounded reality of the events happening, which has the effect of keeping you focused on the metaphysical question of what it means to have part of a soul.

Bluebird, by Phantomato

Crossover: Shadow and Bone. S&B summoning powers instead of HP magic, set in the real world, with characters’ histories preserved.

Summary: Tom is the second sun summoner to exist, born long after the first gave up her powers and lived out her natural life. He tracks down the Darkling, the shadow summoner who never really died.

Explicit, 17k

Why?: Tom is an immortal being for at least part of his life, and his character arc is about pursuit of immortality, but he is fundamentally a young immortal, and is killed before he can graduate to old immortality. Aleksander, the Darkling, is canonically an old immortal, and his character arc is about the burden of living with the knowledge that you will likely always be alone. That loneliness sets the scene for the relationship between Tom and Aleksander, driving Aleksander’s behavior—he fundamentally believes he will always be alone, even an immortal like Tom passes through his life.

There is a high proportion of smut in this, serving in place of the emotional honesty that neither character can muster, and I recommend it for that. But the story also relies on investment in quiet everyday moments shared between the characters. It’s a fic told through behavior because both men are so cautious around one another, where they nevertheless manage to find sympathy for the other.

Riddles of the Dead, by Maeglin_Yedi

Crossover: Indiana Jones. Blends together the wizarding world and the mysticism present in Indiana Jones films.

Summary: Tom Riddle hires an expert archaeologist and gentleman adventurer, Dr. Indiana Jones, to help him pursue an artifact that might grant him immortality. There’s fucking, fighting, magic, snakes, and some difficult choices in store for our leading men.

Explicit, 18k, Angst

Why?: Maeglin Yedi has been a mainstay of the Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort ficspace for nearly two decades, but an old crossover like this can unfortunately slip through the cracks. It shouldn’t! With an original publishing date in early 2005, this predates the concept of horcruxes, the knowledge of Tom’s early years at Wool’s orphanage, and, well, so much of what we would eventually learn about Tom Riddle as a person. It’s a testament to the author that the story manages to capture Tom’s character in such a way that he’s still fully recognizable to a current-day reader, despite working with so much less canon.

This fic is fun. It’s an adventure, featuring hazards and traps and assassination attempts that you would expect from an Indiana Jones film, but the magic and mystery never overwhelms the relationship at the core of this story. It’s set up beautifully, with a mirrored structure between the front and back halves of the fic that foreshadows the inevitable end of the story. Watching older, confident Indy seduce young, hungry Tom is a delight. One (possible) mark of a great Tom-centric fic, imo, is to be able to portray Tom enjoying the exchange of power, giving it to someone as well as taking it from them, and this Tom is able to revel in giving up some perceived power as he practices being vulnerable with Indy. The romance is quite sweet, especially considering that ‘angst’ tag at the top of the fic!

[artxyra]

How about Damian being a part of Ms Buster's class when he was on a League mission and the class basically becoming a mini cult. They do all sorts of crazy stuff like make go-carts powered by karaoke machines, not leaving the builing when fires start because smores duh, and so much more.When his mission is over there are many tears and the cult disassembles. Years later the class gets a trip to Gotham and the city QUAKES when the cult reforms.Many chaotic shenanigans & crying at the reunion.

Marinette was only eight when her primary school life changed for the better. On that faithful day in Mlle. Gilbertine class, a new student was introduced under the precedent of a transfer from another country. His name was Damian, no last name was given to the teacher nor the students within the classroom. To her, Nino, Chloe, Nathaniel, and Kim, he was an odd boy as Damian stressed for no social relations with anyone. In fact, Marinette had caught several times engaging in lonesome activities when they were all together messing in the field. It was after that, Marinette made it her life’s mission to befriend the emotionless kid.

It was hard at first trying to trick the young man into dance battles, hopscotch, and simple games like red light, green light. He was very much against the idea until one day, Marinette decided on a shooting game with water guns and makeshift go-carts out of bike parts. It was the creation of that game that changed the young group’s lives forever.

Soon newer and crazier games began to take over the classroom of Mlle. Gilbertine. Nino would bring in his CD player and the moment music boomed out of the speakers everyone knew what was about to happen.

One day, when they were in the school pool area pretending to be sea monsters and attacking one another we kickboards and pool noodles, the group was then dubbed the “Premier Chaotique” cult as they were youthful and the stuff they come up with was chaotic than anything the future Hawkmoth could ever come up with.

Marinette and Damian were deemed the leaders as they were able to control and come up with the plans. Chloe, due to her father being in politics, was the person who decided on the locations and what would be the most chaotic method. The rest were their follower who cared much about Marinette.

Mlle. Gilbertine was determined to get the Premier Chaotique cult under control but they were slick and made plans at random, she remembers the day when tons of ice cup somehow managed to cover every one of her student desk and the odd appearance of snow sleds. It is rumored that the mini cult managed to keep their own little snow resort just using ice cream. It was a pain to clean up.

Marinette remembers the days where the mini cult would paint the city red with flowers and chaotic goodness. It is a miracle that the cops never brought their parents into the investigation. Then again with a child as pure as Marinette in the lead, people would fall over when they see her smile.

Their biggest achievement was when the school’s kitchen managed to catch on fire during a lunch period. While everyone else was being evacuated, the group somehow managed to slip through the adults and back into the cafeteria. Kim had brought marshmallows that day and when the firefighters enter to put out the flames, they were greeted with the sight of children with wood sticks eating smores and telling scary stories. It was their greatest achievement and the worst nightmare because only a day later, Damian had to go back to his home country.

Marinette fell into depression along with the others. After a month without Damian, they vowed to never speak of the best year of their life unless they ever meet Damian again. It was no secret that Marinette had a crush on the foreign boy, so the cult disassembles and never mentions Damian ever again.

Years past since that day, Chloe took it upon herself to bully Marinette as those who knew them in their younger days forget that they were ever friends. Marinette took on art along with Nathanial, but she went in the direction of fashion designing while he goes in direction of comic book styles. Nino stayed friends with all but Chloe and found his calling in music production. The name that used to strike fear in the hearts of the Paris citizens, faded away into a false memory.

Little did anyone know, the spirit of the Premier Chaotique cult lives on and would be awoken in just under two decades.

A sixteen-year-old Marinette works her butt off to make this trip a reality. It was not for the approval of her classmates, it was for her sanity. Three years of being Ladybug has put a toll on her and she plans to take advantage of the lack of akuma attacks going on. When the acceptance letter landed in her hands, her parents swear they saw a bolder be lifted off their daughter. She was smiling more and appeared less stressed than she ever been since finding out the school board decided to move teachers with their students as a handful of teachers left Paris, some even left France altogether.

Her closet allies were the first to know about the trip to Gotham before Mlle. Bustier was given the information. They cheered happily before anything bad could happen, dismantling everything Marinette has ever done.

After giving the proper miraculous to Luka and Kagami and convincing Kaalki to come with her to Gotham only to be used as an emergency, Marinette was set to leave Paris France and head to Gotham, New Jersey.

Upon entering the streets of Gotham, a cold chill runs down everyone’s spine aside from the former mini cult members. Too Mlle. Bustier, the chill was all too familiar bringing up memories of those kids that terrorized the streets before Hawkmoth. She looks around to see nothing out of place before promptly calling out her students so they could make it to the hotel.

Everyone who felt that chill had a right to be warry.

For the first day, everything seemed fine, but when you leave the original members of Premier Chaotique alone for a moment, well chaos was sure to happen. Chloe and Marinette had put aside their difference during the Lila era of the class reign took over and managed to stay friends after the liar’s reign ended. Plans were made but not yet enforced, it did not feel right, and they knew why– it was the lack of their leader Damian.

“Dams?” Marinette calls out when she saw the familiar sighting of the boy that was her first love. He hadn’t changed by much; he was still taller than her.

“Mars?” That nickname sent the French-Asian teen running into the arms of the Ice King himself. Time froze in that café for several reasons but the main one was definitely because they just witnessed Damian Wayne hugging someone willing.

“You look nice,” Marinette sways before a mischievous smirk tugs on her lips, “The others are here too.”

This time it was Damian who smirks bringing Marinette closer to him. “Mm, shall be bring Gotham to its knees?”

They share a smirk that was soon ended by an explosion.

Thus, the Premier Chaotique cult was reformed. They decided to meet that night. Dinosaur inflatable suits of various colors were brought. Music blared in the streets of Gotham nears hotel the class was staying out. The members of Premier Chaotique all strutting down in the middle of the streets dancing as Nino holds a boombox over his shoulder.

Jam Jams @crazyforbatsDid anyone else wake up to music and dancing dinos last night?

Kay @gokaykaer [A one-minute video of flashlights and six dinosaurs doing the Cha-Cha-Slide] I swear I just saw @thebloodwayne for a split second.

Twitter was blowing up the next morning with various videos and gifs of the events that happened the night before. The only people who weren’t affected by the popularity was the group who were apart of it.

Marinette and Damian spent the remains of that talking choosing which plan to do next. It would consist of bikes and a zip line from the tallest building to the smallest building possible.

Going to the Wayne household, Bruce could already feel a migraine coming as Dick and Jason plays the video over again in the main room. Damian shames his family members while the oldest complaints about why they haven’t thought of that for a family outing. It’s all about class, Dick, it all about class. Alfred mentally takes notice of the lack of emotions from Damian and the recent purchase from the teens account at a party store.

The next night, began the fears that every Parisian feared would happen.

Nino and Kim were able to find the buildings needed to hook the zip line to while Chloe set up the equipment with the help of Nathanial. Damian had to ditch his family members, and Marinette had to keep the class and others from finding out what they are doing. Once everything was ready, the Premier Chaotique enters their playground wearing hooded leotards (or bodysuits) with a latex match stretched their eyes. Kim went first down the zip line as Damian race down the streets on the bike. Originally, they were going to use the bikes as their way down, but the zip line could hold the bike and the person on it, so they turned it into a race instead.

Their fun ends when someone called the cops and sirens echoed loudly against their music. Gotham’s twitter users weren’t too happy that someone had called the cops on the bravest of things to ever surface on Gotham streets since Batman.

It was during the tour of Wayne Enterprise, that the Premier Chaotique learned Damian’s last name. He was an effing Wayne which then lead to some confusion. Marinette had asked Damian what his last name when they were eight and he replied with something along the lines of not being a Wayne until he was ten.

His brothers, in shock from seeing him interact with teens his age, begged Bruce to invite them over to the manor. This needs to go into the record books.

While it was a momentous occasion for Damian’s brothers, it was reality check for Mlle. Bustier. Her screams echo against the halls of WE as memories of the chaos are awoken. She stares at Marinette in denial, there was no way her prize student was about the cult that did so much damage all those years ago. Then on top of that having the entire crew in her classroom, Caline was beginning to feel faint.

Bruce, unknowingly, invited even more chaos into his household that night. Chloe and Marinette were able to convince Mlle. Bustier to let the five of them stay with Mr. Wayne for the night in hopes of “catching up” with Damian. After getting the approval from Mr. Wayne, she agreed secretly ecstatic that they wouldn’t be in her care for the next several hours.

“I’m bored, let’s play a prank?” Kim randomly shouts when they were all staring out the TV waiting for something good to come on.

“What do you have in mind?” Marinette asks as Damian pushes her off him knowing that she’ll use him as a throne.

“Hey Dams, do you own go-carts are something of a familiar nature?”

Damian thinks about it for a minute, “Tt, father wouldn’t dare let those things in the house. We can prank my brothers though. Scaring them shitless would bring me joy.”

“Well I have a few ideas, we can use.” Chloe states pulling out the book of mischief.

Let’s just say that prank will forever rule the day the Batfamily ever found out about the Premier Chaotique.

Permanent Tag List: @vixen-uchiha | @i-is-mysterious | @kuroko26 | @maribat-is-lifeblood | @marinettepotterandplagg | @loveswifi | @ladybug-182 | @novaloptr |

Unspecific Tag List: @g-arya | @jardimazul | @jeminiikrystal | @zalladane | @bluerosette23 | @dast218 |

[kyprioth-rising-against]

@riseagainstmemes and I transcribed Tim's speech from the looping video Rise Against posted. Here's the full thing!

----------------------

"This last year was incredibly transformative for Rise Against, as we've generally spent the last 20 years traveling from show to show.

Overnight, our tours ended.

No more meeting fans,

no more one night hotel stays,

no more thrusting my fist to thousands packed into stadiums.

Sweat drenched t-shirts and amped up audiences were traded for family dinners and quiet time while writing and recording our ninth album.

Albums need a central theme that encapsulate an artist's worldview, and 2020 offered a myriad of topics to choose from. As I puttered around, I noticed my daughters spending time with their friends, ordering food from their phones, their excitement as hot fudge sundaes were delivered straight to the house magically. There was a stark difference to the interactions that I had with my friends decades ago. As I searched for that theme, something beyond the pandemic and politics kept gnawing at me, and finally it hit me - generations. Over the years, I sat on the sidelines for one too many jokes about the younger generations and their lack of responsibility, their self importance, and inability to thrive. This narrative seemed too reductive to describe the people I was interacting with, at our concerts around the world. Young people alive today were born shortly after a period of relative economic and political stability. There was an expectation that the next generation would be better off than the one that had come before. Instead, their era has been defined by mass instability

while they're looking for something, somewhere,

and ending up nowhere, fast.

The Nowhere Generation.

For as long as I can remember, the motto sold to the masses has been to put their nose to the grind and burn the candle at both ends, like previous generations did. But for the Nowhere Generation, they keep finding the light snuffed out at the end of the tunnel. The world economy demands that they acquire expensive, advanced degrees for dwindling jobs with fewer benefits. They are asked to keep up with impossible lifestyles promoted on social media, endless self-care remedies, and no real solution to the roots of their depression or anxiety. All of this to make them more efficient cogs in the machined world not designed for their lives.

We are the kids that no one wants.

This machine, this shareholder primacy continues to outsource jobs to the lowest bidder, reaping the benefits of human-rights abuses to subsidize the low cost of consumer products. Meanwhile the Nowhere Generation has been told to monetize their hobby into a second job, that has been given a glamorous title - the side hustle. As the idea of an equitable system is replaced by one designed to benefit the few, the Nowhere Generation will either drift away from civil society or demand that these algorithms of discontent are disrupted by any means necessary. Across the world, we have seen uprisings beginning to demand the change necessary to make that equitable system a reality.

We are a credible threat to the rules you set,

a cause to be alarmed.

The questions I asked on our ninth album have to do with how we are seeding the future,

how much our success or failure have to do with one’s agency,

and how much have to do with the structure of the institutions we’re all corralled into every day.

Our world will only be as successful as our efforts to make it a more equitable place

with as many possible outcomes for success.

If we want the nowhere generation to invest in the institutions that make a functioning society, then they need to be a part of the future we plan to build. As I watched my daughters this past year, I realized it is not my job to dictate the terms of their futures, rather to provide them with the tools to thrive on their own. That thought process comes with an understanding that the challenges I faced were not the same as the ones they will face, that the solutions to my problems will not solve theirs.

We are the nowhere generation

We are the kids that no one wants

We are a credible threat to the rules you set

A cause to be alarmed

We are not the names that we’ve been given

We speak a language you don’t know

We are at a crossroads where generational divide and technological advancement and class warfare are pulling society apart at the seams. And while all hope can easily be lost, I have been lucky enough to have a front row seat to the front row seats, to see the incredible, vibrant people that make up the Nowhere Generation. Their energy and enthusiasm are undeniable. They are smart, nimble, and ready to right the wrongs with an eye on the future. They’ve inspired me in my most cynical moments, and convinced me that there is a reason to hope. They are the light at the end of the tunnel, burning gently, and instead of trying to douse them out, we should be feeding their flames."

[sevenkittensinatrenchcoat]

Those Six Mistos: Old Deuteronomy

Vienna:

Vienna-based productions have a longer version of Old Deuteronomy that starts with different music. It’s the music that opens act two, instead of Old Deut’s theme. Versions that use Old Deut’s theme here have a very specific timing for “Old Deuteronomy?”, so this different version is weird and distracting.

With that out of the way, Misto goes to the front of the stage, followed by Coricopat and Tantomile. He listens, he looks, then he points and smiles. Coricopat and Tantomile figure out that he’s seen Old Deuteronomy approaching and he nods to confirm.

Munkustrap sends Misto to go get Old D. Misto does his Most Gentlemanly Bow before he leaves, taking his mission very seriously.

Misto leads Old D with both hands up onto the stage, giving Munkustrap a chance to greet him before getting a hug for himself. He leads Old D to the tire and stands with him, Munk, and Tugger and the end of the number.

Paris:

This version starts the same as the Vienna one does, though it’s not in close-up, so Misto’s body language isn’t quite as clear. Misto’s Most Gentlemanly Bow is a bit more awkward than the Vienna version.

Once Misto returns with Old D, the lighting makes him disappear into the void for a while, but we eventually see that he never left Old D’s side. They walk up to the tire arm-in-arm. Munk and Tugger are vaguely visible in the dark void. Old D sits down and Misto crawls into his lap for more cuddles.

Zurich:

Once again, we open with Misto and the Psychic Twins, and I’m not quite sure of this. Tantomile says “Old Deuteronomy?” very quietly, so a male voice stands out, but it doesn’t sound like it’s coming from Coricopat, so Misto might’ve just spoken a single line in this production. There’s also no moment where Misto nods to the twins to confirm that he too sensed Old D’s presence, so it plays out as if he’d just spoken. However, listening to Coricopat’s line in the opening, it sounds like that could be the same voice, so this might just be the result of bootleg audio making Coricopat sound so much louder than Tantomile that it seems like a single male voice is speaking. Since Misto is otherwise mute in this version, the “bootleg audio did a thing” explanation is more likely.  

So, Misto senses Old D and there is much dramatic gesturing. He eagerly runs to Munkustrap, getting his permission to go get Old D. It’s not Munk’s idea in this version, possibly because this Munk doesn’t have much respect for Misto. While Vienna and Paris Mistos walked slowly away as if in a trance, Zurich Misto rushes off. He is just bursting with excitement.

Misto stands back while Old D greets everyone else and then follows him up to the tire. He sits down next to him, with Munk and Tugger nearby, as in the previous two productions.

Now, this all happens after the song is technically over, but it’s worth pointing out:

Old D reaches towards Misto and Tugger stops him. Misto then dives into Old D’s lap for hugs and pets. Despite being a bully before, Tugger seems to be trying to keep Old D from overwhelming Misto by hugging him when he wasn’t ready for it, letting him initiate the physical contact himself. Artful and knowing Tugger understands Misto better than he previously let on.

So, Zurich Misto finally gets the hug he’s needed throughout this entire act.

 Also, when Munk says “Jellicle Choice”, Misto points to himself, implying that he wants to be chosen. According to some interpretations of this play, that applies to everyone anyway and it’s not surprising. But, if you interpret the show as being mainly about the celebration of the Jellicle Ball, with only a handful of older cats actually interested in being chosen, this is really sad. Misto probably feels like, despite his magical powers, he has nothing to contribute to the tribe, so moving on to his next life in a big celebration is the best thing he could possibly do. His next incarnation might also be magical, and the tribe might like that one better.

I highly doubt this moment was meant to be that depressing, but everyone’s spent the forty minutes being a dick to Misto, which puts this in a darker context than it was probably supposed to.

Anyway, one of the kittens pokes Misto in the chest and he scratches his head in what really looks like a prototype of 1998 Misto’s stress scratch. This is why Tugger stopped Old D from touching Misto and let him initiate.

So, Misto is still sad, but at least he got a few cuddles.

Buenos Aires:

Buenos Aires and Troika Mistos are interesting in that they are not mute, but they’re also not not mute. In these productions, Munkustrap sings the Invitation to the Jellicle Ball, but Misto still has a few lines in crowd songs and sings in the chorus, so he’s not mute, just really quiet, closer to how Victoria is in these productions.

Coricopat turns around a second before Tantomile and Misto do, which is weird because Cori and Tanto usually move together while doing psychic things, but that’s not important. It’s also no important that there’s no background music here, because the audio in this version has a habit of shorting out for brief periods of time and this is just one of those times.

Anyway, Misto is definitely the one who says “Old Deuteronomy?” this time. Munkustrap gets the “I believe it is Old Deuteronomy” bit, so instead of having the other psychics confirm, either Munk can sense Old D as well, or he has complete faith in Misto’s intuition.

Misto crawls off on his own, not waiting for any signal from Munkustrap. That’s because he’s not actually going anywhere. This is one of a handful of productions where Munk sends Skimble to get Old D, because Skimble is already important or something. This doesn’t have the emotional weight of young Misto being rewarding for his intuition by being entrusted with a very important job, but that’s what we’re going with here. Maybe it’s to even out the Bustopher feud. Misto won Bustopher’s attention, so Skimble gets to retrieve Old Deuteronomy.

Misto lays down in front of the pipe and cleans himself up. Misto’s usual role in the rest of the number is taken by Skimble. Like in most productions that aren’t Vienna-based, Munk and Tugger are the cats who stand next to Old D on the tire. Skimble sits down with the rest of the crowd after getting Old D to the tire.

1998

This version takes advantage of the fact that it was made to be filmed, able to get a close-up on Misto’s movements. While most Mistos just walk to the front of the stage, 1998 Misto crawls, but in a way that goes in time with the music. He acts like he’s tracking, as if he can pick up on Old D’s scent, which is a very feline way of portraying supernatural powers: picking up a specific scent from a great distance.

Anyway, other cats gather around, with Jellylorum seeming freaked out and slightly offended, perhaps not knowing that this is something Misto can do. Munkustrap knows that this is something Misto can do, but he’s still figuring his powers out, so Munk turns to the twins to confirm, which they do.

After giving Electra some cuddles, Munk turns to Misto, giving him the important assignment of retrieving Old Deuteronomy. Jellylorum is cautiously optimistic. Misto is thrilled.

Misto leads Old D up onto the stage and bows like the grown-ups are doing, instead of tackling like the kittens are doing, because he’s a big boy. He then goes to sit with the crowd, sitting in the back despite having done an important thing. He doesn’t lead Old D all the way to the tire, mostly letting Munkustrap handle things.

Troika

Misto crawls to the front of the stage and paces around on all fours for a bit, similar to 1998, but simplified. Since Coricopat and Tantomile don’t exist during US Tours from this era, Demeter gets their line. She’s often played as being very sensitive, just not supernaturally so, so this makes sense as a replacement.

This is another production where Skimble fetches Old D, Munkustrap going to him instead of Misto. Perhaps this was a thing that Broadway did for a while. Meanwhile, Misto stares out into space. He joins the others and nothing interesting occurs.

Misto is one of the first in line to greet Old D, who stops to give him a Formal Hand Touch, possibly aware of Misto’s role at the beginning of the number.