#and also scheherezade and also others

[companioncrow]

very cozy morning today. relaxing in the living room, playing and listening to music, taking care of myself. i've got a weekend to myself, and even though i'm working in the evenings, i'm filling this house with music and love and comfort while i'm here alone.

[lesbianfakir]

Fakir's theme (Beethoven's Coriolan Overture) always struck me as funny because it stands apart from the other character's themes. Mytho has the delicate Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Rue the somber Gymnopedie No 1, Duck the cheerful Nutcracker Oveture etc... while Fakir's theme is well... LOUD.

It characterizes his most aggressive moments, mainly playing in scenes where he antagonizes Mytho and Duck.

This always sat a little weird with me as it is a very surface-level character theme for such a complex character. In contrast, Rue's theme tells us something about her motivations under the Kraehe persona. Fakir's on the other hand tells us that he's mean and aggressive... something any viewer who's gotten to a scene where the song plays already knows.

On one of my rewatches, though, I noticed that he has another song that functions as a sort of secondary theme: an excerpt from Scheherazade.

This song plays most notably throughout most of episode 12, while he is bonding with Duck. It shows up a few times later in season 2, mainly in scenes concerning Fakir's struggle to write. As such, I view it as a complementary theme to the Coriolan Overture.

Listening to the song, it feels much more in line with Fakir we've come to know him. The song can be a little delicate and a little sad with gentle wind solos that lead into loud, grand orchestral sections. The repetitiveness, tempo, and use of dramatic brass and strings give these louder sections a gallant, almost desperate tone. It's super fitting that this is the song that plays throughout the episode where we get the best sense of Fakir's natural personality when he isn't putting on the cold persona.

I don't really have a deeper analysis here I just think it's really fun that as his character develops he gets an additional theme. If you think about it the music in Tutu functions as a sort of jukebox musical--the world and characters are built around the songs. Once we start to get to know who Fakir really is, the music that represents him changes to reflect him better.

[scotchiegirl]

You know, it always gets to me the sheer number of conversations on Leverage we just... Never see.

Like Nate saying "I told you not to call it Parker" to Hardison in The Carnival Job or "You said it yourself he was the best option" about Hardison to Sophie in The Scheherezade Job. When we just... Never saw it. Or Eliot's "like I taught you"s or Sophie's "remember when we talked about-" spiels. And we just... Never see those conversations.

And it totally makes sense! They have a limited run time! They can't put everything in there! But just knowing that there are conversations that we don't see makes me wonder about all the things that we don't even know that we don't see.

But also, the fact that they do take a lot of time out to have little conversations and continuations of inside jokes and things makes it so that the skills they've talked about or picked up from each other don't seem like deus ex machinas. It makes total sense that Sophie knows how to throw a punch from Eliot in The Hot Potato Job, because we know from all the way back in The Tap-Out Job that Eliot's already taught Parker how to fight, so why wouldn't he teach Sophie? We don't need to see Sophie being taught because it's consistent with both her and Eliot's characters.

And bringing it back to Nate saying "I told you not to call it Parker," we don't need to see Hardison and Nate having that conversation because we already know that Nate talks with Hardison about Parker. It's established from a throw-away moment in S 1 ep 2 where Parker is "stealing a law" and Hardison is cheering her on enthusiastically and Nate tells him to cool it but in an encouraging 'I got your back' kind of way.

And the number of conversations Nate must have with Sophie about their kids coworkers for her to not notice the hypnosis conversation until afterward he's hypnotized Hardison and she only then thinks to ask.

Gosh, I just... I want to live with them, you know? Just be a fly on the wall and here all several millions of the little daily conversations they have *sighs dreamily*

[desceros]

hi sam!! kind of a different request, but would you list as many of your favorite orchestral pieces as you can? association with turtles v welcome but also optional! i have trouble doing my coursework because i can't listen to anything in the background while doing it (shows, music with lyrics), but i listened to scheherazade because of you and really loved it, plus got some work done to boot!! i'm not sure where to start in looking for more music like that so i thought i'd ask you. :)

oohhhh what a FUN ask, thank you so much!! i promise i am going to TRY to be REASONABLE with how much i talk about this. if i really did mention "as many as i could" i think i'd find out if tumblr has a character limit in text posts, hahaha!

so my favorite symphony of ALL TIME is symphony 9 by dvorak. absolute must-listen. my favorite moment of the entire piece (which you HAVE to listen to the entire thing to get REALLY feral about) is the last huge chord progression in the fourth movement that takes the db major brass chords from the second movement and puts it to the BOMBASTIC TYMPANI EB MINOR EXTRAVAGANZA from the first movement and makes me want to CHEW THROUGH BEDROCK, RAHHH

aside from that, here are a few that i love a lot and totes recommend:

all of scheherezade is, of course, absolutely stunning. it's one of my favorite pieces of all time. if you haven't listened to the other movements, i highly recommend! in this same vein is you liked that are pieces like the stepps by borodin, the polovstian dances (also borodin), marche slav by tchaikovsky, and to some extent saint-saens piano concerto no. 5 has some similar themes, particularly in the absolutely DELICIOUS second movement. it's called "orientalism" and while the, uh, intent has a history of. to say generously. problematic undertones. the pieces themselves are lovely.

russian easter overture by rimsky korsakov. i played this one in high school and man. it's just so FUN and PRETTY.

symphonie fantastique by hector berlioz. it's the story of this dude having a really bad acid trip. no i'm not kidding. also the fifth movement has the dies irie in my favorite iteration ever. eat your heart out, mozart.

...actually just literally anything by tchaikovsky. gun to my head, i'd say he's my favorite classical composer. i'm partial to his ballet work because that's what i played a lot of personally, but his overtures and concertos are quite fun. his romeo and juliet overture is extremely famous (though i personally vastly prefer the opening part over the latter, more famous part). every violinist you ever meet will be traumatized by him, though. so do be careful.

speaking of concertos: my favorite (ugh. i'm a traitor) is probably the barber violin concerto. it just has this. cinematic vibe to it that makes me think of something magical.

(....though the elgar cello concerto and the grieg piano concerto may have something to say about this.)

the planets suite by holst is very fun. you've probably heard mars, and you may recall the romance theme from jupiter if you've seen the movie braveheart. it's one of those mainstream pieces most people have heard. my particular favorite movement is uranus. it's so bouncy and fun!!! classical headbanger music here

beethoven is quite fun to listen to. for his orchestral work, i'm partial to symphony no. 5 since that was the first one i played and the drama of it is enthralling. (yes. i think it's better than nine. sue me.). that said, between you and me, i like the egmont overture better than his symphonies. that low open c on the viola is just so god damned juicy—[door bangs open] OH NO. IT'S THE PRETENTIOUS POLICE. THEY FOUND ME

i'll stop there. these are a few symphonic pieces, since you asked for those specifically. i also really love chamber music (which is just the strings section, sans the woodwinds/brass/percussion/etc), but i find those amazing to listen to as well! anywho i hope you enjoy some slash all of these and good luck with your studies!!

[iguessitsjustme]

Jack o' Frost Ep 3 & 4 Thoughts

See the thing is. I am not happy about the amnesia. I am not happy about the lies. But I gotta know how this plays out. So I still got my snacks and I am going to just dive in to episode 3 and pray that this show can handle this well or I’ll simply cry. Anygay. Time for episode 3 of amnesia boy and his lying ex:

The music in this episode is astounding. Truly. Starts so strong I love it.

Literally all of the flashbacks we’re shown makes me think Ritsu was fine. He was just busy. And Mr. Lyingface felt neglected but never said anything about it because Ritsu was supposed to magically know? Now he’s happy Ritsu is giving him his full attention again but that cannot and will not last. He needs to be able to say things. Start by telling Ritsu the truth about your relationship and go from there. No good relationship can be built on lies and deceit. Well not between the people involved in the relationship. Conspiring together is fine though. Lie to the world if you must. But never lie to each other.

Did he leave the fire unattended to go get Ritsu? He’s on my shitlist for sure.

Oh I didn’t have much to say. I’m just so angry at the lies. Or I guess the refusing to tell Ritsu anything.

I need a break. I’m gonna go get coffee I think. I need coffee before I start episode 4. That will save this show definitely.

COFFEE ACQUIRED and I only got leered at by one old man. I’m choosing to believe it’s because my hair is so spectacular in its subtle purpleness

Also before I start episode four I need to say that Scheherezade came on shuffle as I was walking home from the cafe and I never talk about it but I need it noted SOMEWHERE that I LOVE this piece. It is up there with some of my favorite music of all time. If you never listen to any other song I talk about, please listen to this one.

Okay. Starting episode four now. In a much better and more forgiving mood cause I have coffee and flatbread from the cafe

I need to stop talking about Not The Show but my god why does every car that stops outside my apartment have squeaky breaks? And now also sirens? The sirens in my city are…none sound the same but some sound like cats.

Real tired of Ritsu clearly falling in love with Mr. Lyingface again and Mr. Lyingface not telling him anything. Just fucking..say you were dating. You can even wait to mention the breakup. But at this point it’s just hurtful to not tell Ritsu anything. Like it’s hurtful to begin with but now that he likes you a second time, it’s just cruel to keep it from him.

Their little domesticity at the beginning here would be so cute if it wasn’t BUILT ON LIES. Sorry I’m sorry. I’m done screaming *rages at the wall and chews on my blinds like a feral little rabbit*

As it turns out the coffee did not put me in a better mood. Or it did but it didn’t help this show at all. Oh well.

God this music is gorgeous though. The best use of strings.

Now who is this dude?

Tomoko is gorgeous and her boyfriend better fucking appreciate her. Look at her all dressed up.

Me: Why are you jealous. WHY ARE YOU JEALOUS. You haven-MMMMMM. Oh wait I should be typing. I’m liveblogging right. No one can hear me say these things. I must type them. BUT WHY ARE YOU JEALOUS. HE DOESN’T KNOW YOU WERE TOGETHER. I need some water or something I need to calm down.

“You knew I liked guys?” HE SURE DID HONEY. YOU TWO HAVE FUCKED BEFORE. HE’S JUST HIDING IT *gnaws on some olives*

I BEG your finest pardon. What the fuck is this shit. Go eat some rocks or something.

At least he apologized but my god what WAS that?

Of course he didn’t make sure Ritsu could actually hear his apology. He will somehow make that Ritsu’s fault. I can just tell.

Whelp. That’s episode 4 done. I cannot say I’m enjoying this show but damn is it pretty. The music and the camera work. I hate everything about the plot but the visual and auditory elements are good at least.

[bitbybitwrites]

Fanfic Ask Game ♡: 👀📥💻🍰

Thanks @datshitrandom for the ask!

👀 Do you have any WIPs that you would never let see the light of day? If yes, what are they about?

1.) There is a time traveler Klaine fic that I'm not sure will go anywhere, mainly because i have no idea how that story idea would develop. The idea seemed interesting at the time - someone had commented on a random post I found about Blaine being a time traveler from the past ( which explained his dated wardrobe 😂) meeting Kurt who was from the very distant future. I'd REALLY have to sit and think on that one. I love Doctor Who and the idea of time travel - but I don't think I'd make it a crossover fic with that or anything. There are a couple of others that might never see the light of day because I'm not quite sure I could do them justice at this moment. Mainly because they are . . um, PWP . . or maybe more like porn with minimal plot? 😂😂😂. Seriously though, I have no problem reading smut or erotica. I very much admire folks who can write it and do it well. I don't know if I'm that good at it yet. 😂

But since you're curious . . .and you asked . . . (and watch me blush as I type this)

2.) One PWP fic is shamelessly ripped off of - well as Kurt would say - one of those movies.

But my twist on it would involve:

College AU

Blaine and Sebastian as upperclassmen in an already established relationship

a baby penguin freshman Kurt eager to step out of his comfort zone and timidly asking his new gay friends ( or maybe they'll be roommates) to shall we say show him how its done

a very sturdy leather couch

some interesting coordination on said couch

fun, steamy times as a threesome

possible polyamory relationship in the end

3.)The other not exactly PWP fic features:

A One Thousand and One Nights/ Shaherazade sort of AU

Kurt as a traveler/poet/bard, captured and forced to become a sex slave

rescued by a stranger (Blaine) ,( who is the ruler/prince of the country ) for his own personal harem

Kurt learns he is to prove his worth by telling and maybe also re-enacting all sorts of mini smutty fictlets ( much like how Scheherezade had to tell a story every evening to save herself from being killed in the source story)

could be an interesting thing to do with other writers - farm out the smut ficlets and me writing the main thread that ties everything together

Well . . maybe I shouldn't say NEVER about those last two. Let's just say I wouldn't be jumping on writing them any time soon - but it's a possible but a BIG maybe for the future? I think I'd have to get more writing under my belt before attacking those ideas - even if they'd interest anyone to read 😂.

📥 What is your fave fic to receive comments/messages on?

I am a comment whore - seriously would love anyone to comment on anything! Though some of my faves so far have been Trick or Treat (since it was my very first story), My Under the Cover of Darkness series and my current one, If I Can Make Your Heart My Home.

💻 Do you do research for your fics? What’s the deepest dive you’ve done?

Yes! I love research - I think it's partially why I write so slow - I love researching little tidbits for my headcanon about stories. Superhero powers, french pastries, New York landmarks - I've loved doing research since I was in school writing papers. I might be a bit self indulgent shoving that knowledge into my stories, but I guess I'd love for the reader to get as weirdly excited as I do about things. 😂 Deepest dive to date is currently for my first non-Klaine fic ( don't hate me folks, but I am a fan of many things) - I may be dipping my toe into the Red White and Royal Blue fandom just once. The research is currently involving quite a bit of history of a couple countries which aren't my own and some of their writers and it is really fascinating. I've 3 chapters outlined so far for this story and won't get to it for awhile, but if nothing else, the research - that's the part I'm loving!

🍰 Name one of your fave comfort fics (doesn’t have to be your all time fave).

Hands down, Klaine wise it's Solid Gold by @heartsmadeofbooks It's got everything I love in a story: drama, angst, beautiful lovemaking, an adorable family. Characters struggling to grow within themselves and with each other. I cry like a baby at parts - its so beautiful. Psst . . I'm going to cheat here and toss in a second one that I read very recently that felt really special - a RWRB fic I really recommend that also gave me similar deep feels : Deep Blue by @myheartalivewrites

OK, thanks again for the ask! If anyone else wants to join in the fun or reblog it for yourself, here's the original post. 🥰

[misc-obeyme]

Lol me and star anon are really here for the reapers aren’t we (hello!)?

I think it was one of your posts (?) that said that reapers can give birth to more reapers? Maybe not? The thought of it makes me laugh though. Imagine, like “Oh, little Jimmy reaped his first soul! Come to the office break room, we’re celebrating with ice cream,” kind of situation.

And OMG thank you for liking Pandora, my little baby girl. She’s really similar to Satan in that her two main personality traits are her curiosity and her tendency for disobedience, which I think go along with the original Pandora’s tale well. NB Pandora starts off as a nepo-baby intern type where shes not totally deluded to think that she deserves the special treatment she gets, but still grates on her fellow reaper’s nerves. She gets better though, especially after getting Scheherezade-ed into sparing a human’s life against CR’s orders, but that’s neither here nor there. By the time MC comes into the picture, I’d like to think she’d get along swimmingly with Satan (but only after a very dramatic series of misunderstandings).

I wish there was more interaction between characters in-game. They keep Thirteen so separated. I want to know what the brothers think of reapers, if they had any interactions with them in the past, good or bad. Imagine the reaper that reaped human Lilth’s soul. I would think Lucifer would have had that poor thing hunted down or something. -🪿honk

I love it, I'm always up for reaper discussions! Especially since it's all whatever we think considering how little they give us in game!

Yes, that was me lol. I had to explain why Thirteen had a sister, so I was like well I guess reapers can have babies. Now I'm just thinking of cute lil reaper kids d'awww! And a bunch of adult reapers in black robes and scythes gathered around a water cooler like "Really? Good for Jimmy! Break out that ice cream!" dsalkffdkjlf Just imagine child sized scythes...

Oh I love that her personality fits with her namesake's story, that's excellent! Also excuse me Scheherezade-ed into sparing a human's life??? That definitely sounds HERE to me lol! I like the idea that the other reapers find her annoying, though, that just makes me like her more. Does she get along well with MC, too?

I also wish there was more interaction between the characters. It's all very focused on each character's interactions with MC specifically, especially with Thirteen. The others tend to at least interact with the other characters that they live with and Mephisto is often reacting to Diavolo and Lucifer, but Thirteen? She had that one brief moment with Barbatos and a few where she's trying to get Solomon, but that's about it. I'm curious about how the brothers feel about her, too.

Due to the fact that Lucifer loses his mind whenever it comes to anything that might harm his family, I too wouldn't be surprised if he decided to just take out the reaper that took Lilith's soul, even if they were just doing their job. That guy needs to chill out lol.

[mishkakagehishka]

What is A3! ???

It is a mobage!!! It has an anime adaptation and a lotta musicals, too, but it's mainly a game :) sadly, the english server shut down last year (rip, and the trans+localisation was SO good too).

The protag/player character is Izumi Tachibana (though you can change her first name), who acts as the director of a theatre company ^_^ the theatre company was nearing bankrupcy at the start of the game and only had the incompetent manager (who is such a dear) and one actor. Two, technically, but the other one was a bird. The bird was more skilled, also. Basically the play they put on stunk and it was their last chance to get some money to get their debts in order, our protag was the only person who saw it, though. But she was very inspired by it, and when the (stay with me) yakuza guys came round to bulldoze the theatre, she essentially said she'll improve the company and pay back the debt. (She has no experience as a director.)

Anyway. The story is separated into seasons, with each one following one troupe, but with a general overarching storyline that ties them together (getting the Fleur award, making the company survive the year, and so on). It's really fun, it's all about found family and striving towards your dreams and the characters growing as people and growing their relationships, it's really such a good story, I love it with all my heart.

Spring, summer, autumn and winter troupes in left-right, top-bottom order :] actually i wanna go into detail gimmie a second

So, as I said, there's the four troupes: spring focuses on traditional fairy-tales and fantasy plays, summer on slapstick comedy, autumn is all about action and winter about soft and subtle serious plays. For example, their debut plays were

Spring: a Romeo and Juliet where RomiJuli were actually besties, and also Juliet was Julius because none of them could play girls

Summer: a 1001 nights adaptation where Scheherezade was telling the story to Ali Baba, but when she had to leave to be wed to the king, he used the genie to wish it away. It was actually really funny, i should rewatch it sometimes

(Digression but the plays were like. You do rehearsals and then unlock the play which is a lil 5min video of their chibis walking on the stage with props and animations and speech bubbles, it's cute)

Autumn: mafiosi have to team up despite their horrid relationship to eachother and in the process learn to work together (which perfectly parallels the way the leads actually evolved their relationship off the stage)

Winter: a story about an angel falling in love with a dying human </3

In the spring troupe you have Sakuya, the leader who loves acting and the Original Actor who Izumi saw on stage. He was bad, but really loved it, and that's what made her want to help. Masumi is like a teen heartthrob in his school, but he's apathetic and doesn't really care about anything, except for Izumi who he has a massive crush on. With time, you figure out he's just projecting his lack of parental attention on her. Tsuzuru is their scriptwriter, who is the straight man to Citron's boke, he's a college student who begs to do scriptwriting for the company, but he hyperfocuses on them, writes until he literally drops and worries everyone. Speaking of Citron, he's a foreigner from a country called Citronia, he says he's an exchange student. I think the truth is revealed in winter year 2, but i didn't finish autumn year 2 before the server ended so </3 Itaru is the king of gap, he's a businessman by day, and hardcore gamer by night. Chikage is the year 2 newcomer, can't say much about him, but I'll say more when I get to "the story: the details". Again, I wanna make this detailed :) for Year 1 Spring, the theme was acting, none of them except Sakuya (and Citron?) wanted to act. Tsuzuru wanted to write scripts, Masumi was just following Izumi, Itaru wanted free board, and that made their acting suck because they were all out of sync. Their story follows the characters finding their passion and learning to work together.

Summer's leader is Tenma, who is a famous TV actor, but terrible on-stage because he gets stage-fright. Yuki is the company's costume designer and maker, foul-mouthed, but hiding a sensitive side. Muku is a sweetheart who's very shy and self-depreciative, but wants to be "a prince" (he loves shoujo manga) (when Tsuzuru gave them their script, he said he went to read 1001 nights and called it "just like shoujo"). Misumi fucking LOVES triangles. His name is written as 三角 which means triangle. I can't figure him out, though, he seems like a cheerful and naive young man, but there's a sadness in him, it gets explored in later stories. Kazunari, love of my life, is a college student who is very cheery and happy-go-lucky and super extroverted. And it's an act. He runs the company website. Kumon is also a Year 2 character, so I don't know much about him, but he seems a sweetheart. Idolises his brother (Juza from Autumn). Summer troupe could NOT work together at first. Yuki and Tenma were at eachother's throats all the time. They still are, but less maliciously now. Their story follows them learning to work together, and bounce off eachother, and overcoming their insecurities.

Autumn troupe are my faves. Their leader is Banri, and the "second" guy is Juza. (Now, I forgot to mention, but in Year 1 the main two leads were the leader and "second" guy, which is to say the two whose relationships were the most fucked and needed the most work - in spring this was Sakuya and Masumi, and in Summer it was Tenma and Yuki). I cannot explain one without the other. Juza looks like a delinquent, he's scary, he does get into fights,,,, but mostly in self-defence as beating his ass is seen as a status symbol and he doesn't wanna fight. He wants to act, but he's really bad at it. Banri wants to kick his ass so fucking bad he trails him to the auditions, auditions with him and then decides he'll kick his ass at acting if he can't fight him with fists. Banri is a prodigy, he's good at every fucking thing. I can't say anything on Taichi so as to not spoil. Autumn is a bit dramatic. There's a rival company that we find out about in this season. He needs a hug, though, poor thing could never get an acting gig despite wanting to act so bad. Now, remember when I mentioned the yakuza? Sakyo is the guy they owe money to. He is now working on their finances. Scary old man. Azami is a year 2 character, I haven't finished reading Autumn, so I know nothing, but he's Sakyo's boss' (yes) kid, i hear. And their make-up artist. Omi is the mother hen, but he had a dramatic past as a biker before changing his ways. Malewife central, I love him so much. Autumn's deal was coming to terms with their pasts, accepting themselves and for some it was also about personal growth.

Winter's got the SocietyTM themes. The main two are Tsumugi and Tasuku. Tasuku is an athlete!! A fitness nut!!!!! He used to act for the rival company. Tsumugi is the leader, who works as a tutor :] and loves flower language. They are childhood friends, also. Homare is a poet who is vvvvvvv autistic-coded, he has low (or no?) empathy and can't read people. He talks about feeling like an alien or robot often, but it's not treated as something that needs fixing, even though he's sad about it. Hisoka is the Sleepy CharacterTM who also has amnesia. I will have to tell you more about him in story: the details, tho it will have spoilers. Azuma is the elegant, mature adult TM TM TM TM and he is so.... i can't even describe him. Ethereal. He is looked down upon for his job. I can't remember if saying what it is was a spoiler or not, I think he hid it tho. And about Guy, the newcomer, i know NOTHING. He is also from Citronia (and why Citron's truth is revealed in year 2 winter), but I don't know anything about it. I don't know how to describe what Winter was about. Interpersonal relationships and having understanding for one another. There was a time loop.

And then a bit more on the details of the story!!! Listen.

Listen.

You start playing A3! and, sure, it's a bit out there with the yakuza and the debt and acting parrot. But it's not that unrealistic. It's just goofy. Spring has a normal story, it's two high schoolers with absent family, a college kid, a salaryman/gamer and a foreign guy who speaks with a thick accent unless he's acting. It's goofy, but it's down-to-earth. They fight and can't figure out how to act normally bc half of them don't care and they all have terrible chemistry. One of them sleeps on the stage. They have an impromptu sleepover. They bond. It's so cute and it works and their play was a success and now they have people wanting to join!!

Summer troupe is also very normal, very goofy. A TV star (high schooler) getting called a hammy hack-actor and a loser by a middle schooler, a guy who loves shoujo manga so bad, a college kid who's always hitting on every girl he sees and a guy who collects triangles and also has been living in the dorms without anybody knowing for years. Weird on the triangle guy, but sure. They fight, they go camping, they bare themselves to eachother, they figure out how to work together. The play is a success, more people want to join!!

Autumn!!! A buncha bad boys with bad pasts, some with bad presents. Banri and Juza get handcuffed together. They have to be roomies. Juza snores so fucking loudly.

- SPOILER -

They get betrayed by one of their own?!?!?! But he regrets it and he feels so bad because he realised this company cares more about him than the one that sent him. He doesn't wanna go back. And they accept him

- SPOILER END -

And they write essays about their pasts and learn to see eachother as people and they bond and their play is a success and more people want to join <3

And then Winter. I don't remember much of it. Tsumugi and Tasuku have a tense relationship because they were friends, but Tsumugi gave up on acting. In order to fix this, the universe sticks them in a time loop that only they are aware of, until they talk it the fuck out. Homare wishes he could read people's emotions better so he finds an emotions loupe. It lets him read people's minds and it helps solve a very huge dilemma in the troupe's interpersonal conflicts. He then promptly puts it away and ends hoping he'll one day be able to read people without it, too. I think there's also something about a secret locked room but~~~ i forgot that. Anyway. This is the one where they go against their ultra-powerful rival company. And the play is a success, and the company is saved from bankrupcy!!!!! By just a bit. They're on a zero. Sakyo is still cinching their belts.

And then it gets extra fucked up. Hisoka's amnesia. Is connected to Chikage in year 2. Now this is straight up SPOILERS for this and the paragraph below so feel free to skip this, but it's like. Wahooo funny actors lovely. And then there's the assassin subplot. Chikage and Hisoka were in the same assassin group. Hisoka was presumed dead. Chikage, I think, was there to finish the job. He kidnaps Izumi at some point and threatens her life.

DESPITE IT ALL. A3! the found family ICON. Accept him as one of their own and tell him he, too, has a place in their company, he, too, can find a better life. Just because the usual improvement was "My family is negligent" to "Now my friends are my family" or "i'm gonna kick your ass" to "oh this acting shit kinda goes hard", doesn't mean his can't be "i will literally kill everyone because i am an assassin" to "oh, okay, acting"

Anyway, I love A3!. Yaycupcake has translations for the main story to Act 12 (so, three years) as well as event, side, and conversation stories. The animation in the anime is eh, but it's worth watching. There's a cute manga. They have a strip where Izumi has to work at a girls' company for a bit and Muku's shoujo-inspired thoughts are "omg what if she gets swept off her feet by a masculine knight girl and they fall in love <3333" and absolutely ruins Masumi's life (who thought his ""relationship"" with her will be safe because there are no men there)

[sayakxmi]

[Magi reread] Night 11: Necropolis

Look at my boy. He's so smart :3 But that's what I meant. He figured out Jamil sucks at Torran & tricked him.

More skillz.

Careful.

That he did >:)

Nightmare.

Kinda wild to look at it knowing about Alma Toran. Just, man.

Character development.

ALIBABA WILL BE THE MAYOR, AND ALADDIN WILL BE THE VICE-MAYOR!!!!!

Also kinda funny given how Alibaba would overhaul a monarchy, and turn his country into a republic over becoming a king, but here he's like Imma be a mayor.

Ok, that's actually so sweet of Alibaba. He knows how much Ugo means to Aladdin :(

Ugo is, indeed, very good-looking.

You know, I've had this strange realization that Alibaba was NEVER introduced to Ugo, not until literally the Final Arc. He'd seen him several times, but they were never like formally introduced to each other or anything. Morgiana met Ugo, Scheherezade met Ugo, Titus met Ugo, but Alibaba? Nope. Damn, boy, you always miss out on EVERYTHING.

[olreid]

Question regarding Neverafter: how much do you think Brennan is trying to do horror? The players and the format are working against him, but what do you think of the world he’s created? I honestly can’t tell how much he wants them to commit or not.

yeah i guess at this point it sort of feels like he's let the horror go lol. it seems like he's been pulling his punches a lot; the biggest example is letting pinnochio be his own warlock patron but also giving tim the power to put people in the book without confronting him with the ethics of it and even going so far as to be like. sure, they're happy in there :) there's also just a constant undercurrent of like. letting players give help actions and have advantage, or not imposing disadvantage even when the roleplay calls for it. this is EASILY incorporated into the horror -- the realization that the story prioritizes your life over that of minor characters and so contact with you is often fatal for them is terrifying -- but it's reflexive rather than intentional and so it's left unremarked upon and works against the tone of the season rather than for it. most recently when they got to the tundra and had levels of exhaustion and then he just FAST FORWARDED THROUGH IT... ill tell you right now if that was a naddpod episode someone would have died of exposure and rightfully so.

a lot of the horror seems to happen offscreen (elody: i found your body in the other world) or in character backstories that the players often don't take the time to explore; overall it seems like the horror at this point is largely confined to combat which is like. just how any normal season of d20 works. like there are always scary villains.... its not enough to have an extra scary boss if theyre just going to beat it in 3 or 4 rounds... AND he keeps putting in these like. cheat codes into the fights so that they dont even have to BEAT the bosses they just have to like. break the wolf's chains or outlast the dogfish or whatever. THE PARTY HAS ONLY DIED ONCE and even then they all died together so there was no like. player that had to face death alone OR player that was the only one left alive and had to go on living alone... there is no reason that we haven't had another death by now! acoc showed that if he wants to kill a party member he absolutely can.

i also agree with others who have said that there's just too many moving parts for things to really feel tight and well-executed. the stepmother and the fairies who were omnipresent threats at the season's start are now apparently unable to reach the party for basically no reason at all which removes a lot of the fear. you're not supposed to say the authors' names or there will be grievous consequences but nothing has happened even though they've slipped up multiple times. they destroyed a wing of the lines between and there was no effect on their dimension. they also left npcs in there e.g. little miss muffett and it was apparently just fine. we haven't heard from scheherezade or aesop or any other dimensions in weeks. i appreciate that brennan wanted to give the party options and build a fleshed-out world AND that with improv some level of discontinuity comes with the territory but it really just lowers the stakes when villains or horrors only exist if they're on the party's mind and fade to the background as soon as the party becomes interested in something else. what's horrifying about a world where you have to actively seek out the horror?

he was saying in the last adventuring party like 'oh i created all these factions and had no idea what you all would gravitate towards in the season.' so it seems like most of the 'horror' was in the design of the world and the backstories of the characters etc and then he just let players loose within that framework to do whatever they want rather than intentionally injecting horror into the rhythms of play, game mechanics, plot structure, etc. we have all said over and over again that this is largely what comes of insisting on using d&d no matter the genre or season concept, despite the fact that there are tons of indie ttrpgs out there specifically designed to facilitate horror.

i'll be really interested to see how the season wraps up because there is absolutely still room for a horrifying ending but it's feeling less and less likely and more and more like the party is going to be allowed to just fully win and fix everything. we shall see!

[carnivorousfog]

when u realize the song is called "fathers & sons" because like pearl and rose, the father (played in that song by dave malloy) and the son (played by brent) have a generational spiral thing going on. the son is alluded to be brent usher because in "usher, pt. 3" father usher says "our son had fled to new york city with his cello", just like the son promises to do in F&S ("i'm gonna play cello / in a rock'n'roll band"). which makes the father also dad usher - which tracks, because of what roxie said about their parents drinking all the time in "family meeting".

but in "four friends", dave's character sings about his own father, "sitting in the easy chair / he'd rip open your wax and pour a finger or two / and then he'd sit in the dark and just stare". and in "bad men" shah zaman (brent's character) says that when scheherezade dies he'll "keep drinking / for 42 years / and old old man / all alone in his chair". and we know that shah zaman is the man in iran talked about in "the astronomer": "he hasn't spoken to anyone alive in 42 years / he turns his mind off every day / and stares at the wall". THUS, if the man in iran = shah zaman, and the man in iran = the father in "four friends", THEN dave's father in four friends is shah zaman, who is played by brent.

so just like rose and pearl being both each other's mother and daughter at some point, brent and dave play both each other's father and son in different stories, which is why the title of F&S is plural.

[chungledown-bimothy]

I haven’t actually been watching D20, I don’t have the attention span for it. Can you recap this season up to the latest episode for me?

oof. um. this isn't gonna be a great recap, but here we go. (this is all from memory god help me i'm sure i'm forgetting things and having to leave out really funny and great bits for length)

sleeping beauty, the frog prince, mother goose, little red riding hood, pinocchio, and puss in boots all met on a caravan to shoeberg. (Destiny's Children is the group name)

shit's Bad and most of them are looking for people they care about and/or answers as to why things are So Bad And So Wrong. but puss in boots and pinocchio are best friends and conning rich people. simply vibing, we love it for them.

mother goose has a magic book (that he got from making wishes with The Gander who is a Force Of Evil trying to resurrect his dead son and he's got one more wish but it'd kill him to make it) that seems to be the key to this whole thing and it can suck people into it and record their stories, and he gets sick new spells when that happens

things go to shit on the caravan, they all end up together and needing to go find a shard of glass that's in cinderella's fairy godmother's chest.

first combat happens, total party kill. they all fucking die. but the frog prince gets the shard, so it's not all bad. they learn that it's a multiverse situation and they all get thrown into a new timeline where things are Worse but they remember each other and what needs to be done. they get red beads and brennan gives NO explanation

well, pinocchio doesn't restart like the others. his stepmom (the stepmom, she's all the stepmoms) is his fuckin warlock patron and instead of him dying and being in a second story he replaces that universe's pinocchio.

they all meet up again and compare notes, turns out a bunch of princesses (including cinderella, snow white, rapunzel, and the beast) are aware of the multiverse thing and how it sucks that they're stuck in stories where they have no agency. plus things are getting So Much Worse. it's unclear what their plan is, but they want to fix how bad everything is (they need seven princesses, including sleeping beauty), whereas the fairies (there are 8 of them) are more or less fine with how things are and want them to stay that way.

they learn that the stepmother is a horrific eldritch being who eats mothers. pinocchio cuts his strings, she's not his patron anymore. (uh-oh, she might hurt his dad about that)

mother goose gets a text on his book from scheherezade, turns out there are other people with books in different universes and they can communicate through it. scheherezade and her companions are stuck and somehow destiny's children fighting a huge fucking spider would help her out? idk i'm arachnophobic i had to skip all that

they go through the book (?) and end up in The Lines Between, which is sick as fuck and sort of... the central hub for the multiverse? it's super fucking cool. they meet scheherezade and aesop (who also has a book).

ally nails a nat 20 and learns that there's Special Ink used by The Authors (shhh don't say that out loud it'll bring Trouble) to write all of everyone's stories.

there are cutbacks and something Really Bad is going on with it all.

they leave scheherezade and aesop and go to explore more, oops the stepmother is here and pissed that they're trying to put things back to normal (she... eats stories? definitely eats mothers)

puss in boots nails a sick nat 20 and pinocchio's patron is now his own story and the concept of destiny itself.

the stepmother yeets them the fuck out of the lines between, they do some sick backstory stuff, learn that the baba yaga's HUGELY powerful and is why the stepmother is as powerful as she is.

they land in a heavily industrialized city. they go find the person in charge, the baron of bricks, and they lean he's got the big bad wolf, who is Death incarnate, chained up because military industrial complex, i guess?

they free the wolf, who says he can get them to the baba yaga, but they decide that first they want to go find snow white. snow white seems chill, says they need more princesses to save the multiverse. so she yeets them the fuck to toy island where they meet the little mermaid

but oops sleeping beauty accidentally triggered a spell that was looking for the little mermaid (princess detector) and fight what was initially him but ended up really being against the terrible dogfish from pinocchio's story. but they beat it, get the little mermaid's voice back, and make their way back to snow white.

they all get there, and the princesses, including the frog prince's estranged wife, reveal that they actually want to fully destroy the entire multiverse. blow it all up to shit using the ink and mother goose's book.

they tried to fuck up their apocalyptic plans by putting cinderella in the book, but it fails. so they have to fucking haul ass out of there, just a little bit of combat almost killed sleeping beauty and the frog prince.

they get out of there, leaving the little mermaid behind, but only then do they realize rapuzel and her freaky ass hair stole mother goose's book. so they're kinda fucked. but they keep running and end up in the land of giants but hey they're the giants

after a really cool combat, they find and free The Golden Goose, the gander's counterpart, and after they also get back mother goose's husband and some of puss in boots' old friends, the goose, because she and mother goose are one and the same in many versions of their stories, makes the third wish and dies in order to get mother goose his book back.

they learn that the princesses have gotten to scheherezade and have her with them and she's also technically a princess, so they now have enough princesses to end everything.

so destiny's children track down the baba yaga to try to get her help. miraculously, pinocchio nat 20s the persuasion check. they all have to give things up to get her help, and it's heart breaking and beautiful and watch The Trials of Baba Yaga.

baba yaga gets them to the lines between, murph rolls TERRIBLY and gives the princesses a head start for the apocalypse. taking us to the most recent episode.

combat with cinderella, snow white, rapunzel, elody (frog prince's estranged wife), the little mermaid, the beast, and scheherezade begins. snow white is doing magic with the ink and it's all about to go to shit.

they talk the little mermaid and elody into being on their side, dispel the magic that was making scheherezade cooperate, and kill the beast, rapunzel, and snow white. leaving just cinderella.

the baba yaga so far has helped destiny's children, but said she's the only one who's gonna survive all this, so. that's ominous.

the episode ends with the fairies showing up in the room. round two is going to begin in the finale next week.

and that's what you missed on glee!

[ryunumber]

How useful is the Bookworm Adventures duology to the Ryu Number cause? It's got Erlang Shen, Sun Wukong, Wong Feihung, Queen Scheherezade/Shahrazad, Dracula, Frankenstein AND his monster, a variety of Greek myth characters, the Cheshire Cat, and Lex himself who cameos in some other PopCap games. Some of those have to be useful in shortening something, right? What's, say, Professor Codex's Ryu Number? There's no way it isn't 2.

Professor Codex has a Ryu Number of 2.

(answer below)

As of the time of this post, I've already used Bookworm Adventures once, so there's that. Certainly, the pulls can be a bit more out there than other games, but as for how much it shortens routes, it's a bit hard to say. My gut is to say that any game that shares Bookworm Adventures's deeper cuts is also likely to have the more expected cast of characters, but in general, it's a bit difficult to gauge the effect any game has on Ryu Numbers if it doesn't directly involve Ryu.

[sergeifyodorov]

begging you...absolutely begging you to write a dstrome fic. all of these narratives and thoughts you post...I cannot get enough. big fan of scheherezade and the brief but gut punching moments he had in that story!

on one hand i did draft like. a page and a half of a fic whose summary is "Dylan Skips Work, Goes On A Road Trip, and Discovers He's Into Cryptic And Annoying Russian DILFs". (strome/ovechkin 100k slow burn dylan's generational talent complex.) it is not good and will never see the light of day and also i have abandoned it, no follow up questions

on the other hand i find it very hard to write about dylan directly? like in scheherazade he's the only member of the four 2015ers who never gets any actual screen time, including mitch. he has a "conversation" with auston in the dream sequence but it's not real like anyone else is. this is on purpose -- because dylan isn't, like, a star like the other three and got banished to arizona right from the beginning, part of me feels like the important part of his narrative is not Him, but the way the legacy of him affects everyone else (even in alternate universes.) if hockey is a ghost story he's the ghost!

time will tell though! will keep u all posted

[bitbybitwrites]

7, 10, 22 xoxo MJ/kiwiana-writes

7. How many ideas for fics do you have right now?

If we are talking ideas that I haven't started working on yet? ( like nothing written or outlined yet). I have about five or so of those: - While You Were Sleeping!AU (Klaine) - Enemies to Lovers/ celebrity chefs (Klaine) - Cursed magical tattoo/ fantasy!AU (RWRB) - Feudal Japan!AU ( based on the novel The Tokaido Road) (Klaine) - Scheherezade/ 1001 Arabian Nights!AU (Klaine or RWRB) I'm great with coming up with new ideas - its just the time to flesh them out that is always my issue. I'm also a slow writer - so it may take me awhile to get to these because I have some stuff partially written I should finish first. I've got like 8 other ideas that are partially written and/ or outlined already. I really should tackle those first! 😂

*****

10. Is there a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

If I Can Make Your Heart My Home ( current WIP) surprised me only by the amount of response it has gotten. Quite honestly, I feel like I fly under the radar and most of my writing usually gets just a handful of kudos/comments and I'm grateful for that and expected the same with this one. But that wasn't the case - and I'm still surprised with how readers like it. I've also gotten some very passionate comments for that fic - which was a first for me as well. There's one particular character that a lot of folks have threatened bodily harm to and it makes me chuckle that I can get that kind of reaction out of people. I must be doing something right. Oh and for a shits and giggles I had written a RWRB drabble for smutsgiving and thought that would fly under the radar. Nope. 😂 Defintely a lot more hits on that little fic than most of my other fics previously written!

I was curious and checked the stats on A03 and these two are my 1st and 2nd highest hit fics out of everything I've published so far.

22. Do you know how your fic will end before you start writing?

I like to do a rough outline of how the story will play out, but I do try to be flexible for things to change as things go along. Most of the time, though, the fic ends the way I had thought it would.

Thanks again for the ask, @kiwiana-writes

If you want to play . . . .

[supercantaloupe]

lying face down on the floor

didn't get my internship. autism swag too strong for the kennedy center i guess i mean why else would i be rejected from three separate internship positions already. they couldn't handle me (<- trying to act cool about losing an opportunity in her dream job/field)

but it does mean i can go to spain this summer. which. i mean. spain is cool. excited to go back. and i love getting to travel and play. even if i do have to pay for the trip (on a scholarship, but still) myself instead of doing a job and getting paid for it.

although it is technically a mission trip with a korean church group's youth orchestra so i have no idea if i'll like. have anyone to hang out with or relate to. idk i guess i'll just bring a book to read while everyone's in bible study or whatever. not like i've had much luck in the past making friends with anyone whilst traveling even when they're my peers...except when i went to italy with my own youth orchestra in high school...i always get along better with other music people but like. idk. i don't see myself getting super buddy buddy with a bunch of kids and i have no idea who there'll be in terms of other adults to associate with either. idk. i'll enjoy the scenery and food at least

i need to look for a new job for the summer now tho. probably retail or food service. which. will probably be soul sucking. but. i need something to do and some way to earn cash. and it's just until the end of august...at least i have the fellowship lined up for next fall thank fucking gd. if i didn't. idk. i'd just melt into a puddle of goo or something

oh and i have to cancel my gig with another local orchestra too. i was supposed to play EH on scheherezade for a concert in june with them but it's during the spain trip so. i feel bad about cancelling on them but at least it's with a month and a half of warning. plus i offered to lend/rent them my instrument cause i don't need it for my trip. that way at least they can have someone cover the part without me and maybe i can make a little bit of money from it...not much tho i don't have the heart to charge a lot

well i went over to see the apartment again and got a few more things sorted out there. i'll be switching to the smallest room rather than the biggest now which is fine cause i don't need a big bedroom and the rent is cheaper and very reasonable for this city. i get extra storage and desk space in the basement too since i have the smallest bedroom. and i'm buying a bunch of furniture from an outgoing tenant including bed desk chair and dresser for relatively cheap too so i don't need to get or move any big pieces like that myself, convenient. i'll probably move in first week of may and boy am i looking forward to it. i want undergrad to be over already i am so tired of being here

oh also dan texted today to tell me he's sick! fucking wonderful! he said he got someone from the conservatory to cover which i think he means for tonight's rehearsal? honestly i don't even care at this point if he's out for the concert tomorrow i or his backup contact will cover the first parts for him but i will go literally fucking insane if he's still out of it by sunday. he says it's just something he ate and he should be fine by tomorrow but You Can Imagine Why I'm Not The Most Confident. i mean fucking hell i haven't even met the second player he got for my trio yet...we're supposed to rehearse tomorrow afternoon for my recital sunday morning. and brother i feel like an e string about to snap