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cramberry24 · 3 months ago

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I Am No Mother, I Am No Bride, I Am King

BACK ON SCHEDULE hope ppl reading this enjoy long, looooong fics bc this babey is gonna be huge

Chapter 13: Feed Me Promises, Keep My Heart Well, I'll Sing You Songs Until The Darkness Does Recede

Pairing: Robert Zussman/OFC

Tags: 18+ Minors DNI, Explicit Language, Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, Period Typical Attitudes, Historical References, Historical Inaccuracy, War, Slow Burn, Friends to Lovers, Medical Inaccuracies, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Fluff, Friendship, Period-Typical Sexism, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, Period-Typical Racism, Period-Typical Homophobia, Feminist Themes, Queer Themes, Survivor Guilt, Self-Esteem Issues, Blood and Gore, Graphic Description of Corpses, Protective Robert Zussman, Trauma, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Choking, Buried Alive, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Denial of Feelings, Misunderstandings, Yearning, Mutual Pining, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, no beta we die like, well you know, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Panic Attacks, Anxiety Attacks

Summary: Eve is superstitious. First platoon meets an oddball. Dellucci experiences karma. Pierson is...nice? With special guest Boris Karloff!

Snippet as always under the cut!

The next few days are just travelling, patrolling, and exploring. They run into a few platoons of Germans early on, getting stuck in those pesky hedgerows, but the attack doesn’t last very long and there’s practically no casualties. The city is far behind them now, and instead there’s more and more farmlands, fields, forests. Some of the land has been scorched, destroyed as the Germans left, but some of it is untouched. The rolling green fields are a breath of fresh air - literally - but Eve loves the forests the most. Unfortunately, they stick to the farmlands and fields, which is better, she supposes, and everyone settles into the monotony of their travels.

Eve is just starting to settle, finally letting go of the stress of the city, when she hears it. It’s late at night, actually early in the morning, during the witching hours, and Eve’s on watch while everyone else sleeps. Lowe is the only other person awake, on the other side of their little camp. She can’t see or hear him, not unless he yells, and so she’s practically by herself. The rest of the men are sleeping close by, and mist swirls around their still bodies, Eve’s boots, nearby tree stumps. She hums under her breath, tapping her foot softly as her eyes lazily scan their surroundings.

She may be bored, but she’s still alert, but only for any signs of German soldiers. As such, when the demonic, grieving, screeching wail cuts through the air, Eve’s heart just about gives out right then and there. She jumps, lifting her rifle up and putting her finger on the trigger as she staggers a few steps forward, the rabbit thumping hard in her ribcage with every thundering beat of her heart. The shriek rises in pitch and Eve blinks in the inky darkness, her shoulders tense and mouth thick and dry with terror. Then, abruptly as it started, the keening cry vanishes, leaving only the rustling of the men and trees and the pounding of her heart.

No man could make that sound, Eve’s certain. She’s heard men scream, in fear, desperation, pain, grief, and she knows there is no way on Earth that a man could scream like that, with such volume and horror.

A woman, maybe? Had a woman just been attacked? No, no, that scream was not made by a person. It had been too…not of this world.

Foxes make unholy noises. Maybe a fox? There had been that time when she was a kid, clinging to her momma and listening in horror to two foxes shrieking and fighting over a kill. But as unholy as those foxes had sounded, they were still nothing compared to this wail, now. A chill runs up her spine, and she spins to see if anyone else has heard the terrifying scream, becoming more unsettled when she sees no one has stirred. How has no one reacted, woken up? It had been so loud, left her ears ringing. She checks with Lowe, but he just gives her an odd look, and she sinks into her thoughts, unease swirling in her gut.

It’s Zuss she goes to a day later, when she’s checked that no one else had heard it, when she’s had time to think about it. She’s convinced, stubborn in her belief, and Zuss watches her with an amused expression on her face as they tramp through more fields.

“It was the goddamn Hag of the Mist.”

Robbie huffs out a laugh. “Who?” he asks. “Listen, if it was as loud as you say it was, why didn’t anyone else hear it? Or her?”

“That’s why it’s the Bean-Sidhe !”

Zuss blinks, frowning in confusion, and stumbles as he trips over a hidden dip in the ground. He mutters a curse under his breath and Eve smiles fondly. The tables have turned, now. In the city, Eve had felt off-kilter and Zuss had been perfectly at ease, but now, out in nature with not a single building in sight and nothing but land, it’s Eve who’s sure-footed and Robbie who’s unsteady.

“What did you just say?”

“It’s Irish,” Eve explains. “A banshee!”

“I thought you said it was a hag?”

A groan and a roll of her eyes. “The banshee is the Hag of the Mist! My mam told me about them, from back in Ireland.”

Zuss’s forehead is still creased as he frowns.

“A banshee is a Faerie Woman,” Eve continues. “She comes at night, and she lets out the most unholy wail you could possibly imagine. She screams as a warning, or an omen, or something. My momma told me that the banshee waits outside a family’s home and screams to let them know a loved one is about to die.”

Zuss hums. “Have you ever heard a banshee before?”

“No. My mom hadn’t either, but she said her mother heard one the night before her brother died.”

Zuss cracks a small grin. “So it’s not real. Just a made up scary story, then.”

“It’s not made up! I heard it that night, I swear!”

“I thought you said it appears outside people’s houses?”

She purses her lips. “Well, I don’t exactly have a house right now, do I? But I’ve heard people scream, I’ve heard animals cry, and I know that was something not of this world.”

Zuss outright laughs at that, and Eve flushes with embarassment.

“Fuck you!” she snaps, but she’s not really mad, even though she does stretch out her stride to move ahead of him.

“Oh, c’mon, angel!” He’s still grinning as he hurries to catch up with her again. “I just didn’t think you believed in all that kinda stuff!”

“What kinda stuff?”

Robbie waves a hand in the air in front of them. “I don’t know, all that stuff! Ghosts, and goblins. Should I warn you the next time I see a black cat?”

“Shut up, will you? So what if I’m superstitious? Ugh, you’re just like Nora.”

“Oh, Nora doesn’t believe in all that either? Consider me shocked .”

Eve snorts, turning her face away and lifting a hand, pretending to itch at her nose to hide her smile.

“It was probably just someone screaming. Maybe artillery?”

“I’ve heard more artillery than you, I’d recognize it in my sleep.”

“Maybe you actually fell asleep standing up-?”

“It was a Bean-Sidhe, I know it! If you’re just gonna make fun of me, I’ll go back to my own squad.”

“Oh, come on, angel!” Zuss bumps her shoulder. “I won’t laugh anymore. I swear. Cross my heart.” And he does, pulling his face into a somber expression, lips turned down and eyes wide.

“Whatever.”

He drops it, back to casual. “So, why’d you say they scream again? A warning? Coulda used that before the train, I’ll tell you that-”

Eve’s lips twitch as she fights a grin. “No, it’s not that kind of warning. It’s an omen, that someone in your family is gonna…”

She trails off, chewing on the inside of her cheek. She tries to be optimistic, especially about Emma. She’s heard rumours that the Airborne have gone back to England, have a break before they have to go back into combat again. So she should be fine. As far as she knows, everyone else in her family is doing well, except her grandfather.

She hasn’t gotten any letters from home since her stay in the hospital.

“Could it be, like, any of the soldiers? Since it appeared here?”

Robbie’s voice is softer than before, and she appreciates it.

Eve considers his words for a few seconds. “I don’t think so. It’s always a family member who passes.” Her fingers flex on her rifle and she takes a shaky breath in. “I mean, my grandfather is sick, and Emma…”

She doesn’t want to think about that. Her father’s been having those back issues again - what if they got worse, or something went wrong?

“Hey, I’m sure everything’s fine. Besides, maybe banshees aren’t right all the time. You know, like those near death experiences! You said she’s supposed to show up outside a house, but she didn’t here. So maybe there’s some give and take here, some room for interpretation, if you will.”

Eve hums, but she doesn’t say anything, worrying her lip. Would she get a telegram if Emma was killed in action? Or would she have to wait for her parents to receive it and then send a letter to her?

“So, you didn’t see her at all?”

He’s trying to distract her from thinking about death and instead focus back on this creature, and she takes the bait easily.

“No. I don’t think you’re supposed to. All you hear is the scream.” She shudders again, the wail echoing in her mind. “The caoine .”

“Damn.”

There’s still a tingling in the back of her mind, a worry and dread that someone she loves is dead and she’s just left in a state of unawareness.

“Well, what do you think she looks like? I’m picturing some old, hunched over old woman, covered in warts! She’s mean, and she’s got ugly, gnarled teeth-”

Robbie bumps her again as he holds up a hand as if to show gnarled teeth, grinning at her, and she shakes her head with a smile.

“No, no, I think she’s tall, and young, and-”

“No, she has to be short-”

“You’d never even heard of her until five minutes ago!"

#i am king #cod ww2 #cod fanfic #robert zussman/ofc #cramberry's compositions #cod wwii #this was like a few chapters of character development #and non game plot #and the next chapters will be like ALL game plot #exciting!

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miirshroom · 7 months ago

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Enya Geil and Finger Reader Enia - Unpacking a deep cut influence on Elden Ring

There is a character from the manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure named "Enya Geil" or "Enya the Hag", who shares both naming phonetics and some design similarities with Finger Reader Enia of Elden Ring.

In a separate post I went over the Elden Ring tarot timeline in depth. In another post I cautiously floated the idea that maybe certain parts of Elden Ring are taking inspiration from the song titles and lyrics of at least one rock band (and I have data collection on several others in progress). In yet another I noted that the Egyptian god "Ra" seems to have a lot of significance for multiple characters.

Basically, what I want to explore is that Elden Ring's Finger Reader Enia is well positioned to demonstrate a likely inspiration for all of those elements in FromSoft's own 30-year body of work: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Background Info from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a manga series started on January 1, 1987, and still ongoing with Part 9 as of late 2024. It is considered one of the most successful manga series, and its most popular era was Part 3: Stardust Crusaders (1989-1992), which introduced the concept of "Stands". Stands are entities psychically generated by their user and in this debut arc tended to be named after one of two concepts: Tarot and Egyptian Gods. On the other hand, the users of the stands would be named after musical artists, which was a trend started in Part 1 and Part 2 ("Vanilla Ice", "Oingo" and "Boingo", "Nena", "Enya", etc). In future parts the tarot and Egyptian themes would be dropped and instead basically all Stands would be musical references that put JJBA as a series into copyright/localization hell ("Foo Fighters", "Metallica", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Achtung Baby", etc).

Enya Geil in JJBA is an old hag with the Stand "Justice" as named after the 11th tarot. She is an antagonist subordinate to vampire DIO (whose stand is 21st tarot "The World"), and had a son named J. Geil - a serial rapist and murderer whose stand was "The Hanged Man". Enya was also responsible for creating new Stand users with the use of 5 golden arrows that were uncovered by archaeologists in Egypt and had been forged from a meteorite that carried a virus that gives people supernatural abilities.

The first power of Enya's Stand is puppetry - it is a mist that can take control of people by entering their bodies through open wounds. For this reason, Enya's weapon was a pair of scissors which she would use to create wounds ("the formless mother craves wounds"). The second power of the stand is illusions, both for illusory people and places. With these two powers combined, the Stand is capable of manipulating vast hoards of undead through piercing holes in the bones of skeletons and manipulating them as if they were alive while also projecting incredibly realistic (but warped) features of human beings.

The puppetry angle is one of the specific pointers to the Enia of Elden Ring. She communes with the Two Fingers - envoys of the Greater Will who direct ("puppet") the actions of the Golden Order faithful. The Elden Beast is one example of this theme that even the gods of the Lands Between are the puppets of something greater - its nervous system is made of amber starlight such as was brewed in the potion that Seluvis attempted to give to Ranni. Something to point out now is that Elden Ring's Enia does not need to secretly have the same personality and background as Enya Geil of JJBA - no more than either of them are the same person as the real life Irish folk singer Eithne "Enya" Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin. As far as the Lands Between is concerned these are timeline clues more than characterization clues. It's a different story with Enia's counterpart in the Shadowlands.

Also, an important to note here is that I did not personally identify the connection between "Enia" and "Enya" of JJBA. JoJoWiki has a list of identified references in other media:

References were also noticed in Dark Souls, including another involving Enya:

Enia's position on the Timeline

Enia is styled similar to the Twin Maiden Husks, telegraphing that she also is an ancient mummified creature. Judging by her grandmotherly voice and that all other finger readers are called "crones" it would follow that Enia is also a kind of crone. When I put together the musical timeline of the Round Table Hold previously I had not acknowledged that there may be additional significance to the doorway to the Two Fingers chamber being in between Sagittarius and Capricorn.

Looking at it now, I suspect that this is intended to be the timeline marker for the earliest concept of the Two Fingers. Based on the calibration offered in Armored Core V (in 2012, the year of "The Hanged Man" tarot...), Armored Core (1997) is associated with the zodiac Capricorn.

Like clockwork the general plotline and theming of every following Armored Core entry syncs up with zodiac sequentially, so 1997 is generally what I identify as being the start of the Capricorn zone. Now I would guess that Shadow Tower represents the decision to commit to a zodiac theme in upcoming years as well as sundering of the timeline into two tracks. On the first track there is Armored Core being associated with the "Sun" Tarot after counting backwards from "The Fool" in 2000. On the second tarot track there is "Shadow Tower" (1998) representing "The Tower" tarot.

So that could be what the "Two Fingers" conceptually represent at their most basic layer before being piled with other symbolism. They began as the interweaving of the Armored Core series as the mainline (i.e. "the sun") with all other games being associated with the shadow, which may be characterized as two tarot tracks.

But still, the connection between Enya and Enia is not complete, as the "Justice" tarot is not immediately apparent in these early years. Counting backwards on the Shadow Fate line lands it too early in 1993. I think that there are two keys here: 1) retroactive continuity, and 2) the creation of a third tarot track as prompted by a specific circumstance.

All this time we're talking and sharing our rational view A billion other voices are spreading other news All this time we're living and trying to understand Why a billion other choices are making their demands Talk of a peaceable kingdom Talk of a time without fear The ones we wish would listen Never going to hear Justice against the Hanged Man Knight of Wands against the hour Swords against the kingdom Time against the Tower All this time we're shuffling and laying out all our cards While a billion other dealers are slipping past our guards All this time we're hoping and praying we all might learn While a billion other teachers are teaching them how to burn - from "Peaceable Kingdom" from Vapor Trails (2002) by Rush

The lyrics to the above song were written as a direct response to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre on 9/11/2001. Meaning that "The Tower" in the lyrics refers to a very real event. Look into music and movies/tv of that era and numerous artists made art responding to that event. Another notable one that I've stumbled across is progressive rock band Dream Theatre, who had the misfortune of releasing an album on September 11, 2001 showing the NYC skyline on fire (which was swiftly retracted and replaced) and later created the song "Sacrificed Sons" on the 2005 album "Octavarium" in response to the event.

So by the power of retroactive continuity and introduction of the three fingers it is possible to count backwards from "The Tower" in 2001 and arrive at "Justice" in 1996. The twist to this is that it isn't actually Enia who has the greatest narrative similarity to Enya the Hag. It's a third character who exists in the Shadow of the Shadow: Hornsent Grandam.

Hornsent Grandam as the Shadow of Finger Reader Enia

For a brief period of time upon the Shadow of the Erdtree release, the "Hornsent" Grandam was called "Empyrean" Grandam. Empyreans each have their own two fingers that give them instructions. Enia has a pair of Two Fingers giving her instructions. In the Jungian sense, the Shadow is the part of the psyche where undesired qualities are suppressed - like a dark doppelganger. So while Finger Reader Enia's resemblance to a JJBA character is superficial at best, Hornsent Grandam is what results from making a much deeper reference that manages to fly under the radar simply by avoiding any word association with her name.

Hornsent Grandam brings in a few elements that are similar to JJBA's Enya. Hornsent Grandam is more belligerent than Enia, and her face is flanked by two braids that echo the design of Enya the Hag who has two pigtails, she calls herself "this old hag" and she speaks of singing which goes all the way back to the singer Enya. She presides over the puppet show of the Dancing Lion and has a son who she is supportive of, which both have parallels in the JJBA Enya. Hornsent Grandam's son is either deceased (if it is implied that the "Watchful Spirit" is her son, as she hands that over in the same conversation), or is literally the Hornsent who is one of Miquella's followers (as he is actually summonable to the Messmer fight). She wishes vengeance against Messmer who has betrayed her, similar to how JJBA Enya was betrayed by DIO who implanted a flesh bud in her brain that activated when she was captured and it erupted from her face and eyeballs in wormlike strings (chapter link here). The flesh bud thing is one of DIO's vampire abilities, and Messmer "The Impaler" has that vampire allusion to him. Compare this to the wormy looking horns protruding from the eyes and forehead area of Hornsent Grandam.

And then lastly, to tie the Hornsent Grandam back to the dawn of history there is the scorpion stew connection. Scorpions are found in Belurat and they are found in Rauh.

Armored Core: Project Phantasma is a prequel as verified by the story taking place in the year ED 0156, which is two years before the timeframe of Armored Core (1997) in ED 0158. Three context clues place it as zodiac Scorpio:

1) As previously noted, the Armored Core zodiac starts on Capricorn. Two years before = two signs before = Scorpio.

2) The enemy type with a body plan of a Scorpion (it shoots projectile attacks from its tail)

3) German hard rock band, "the Scorpions" released album "Taken by Force" on December 4, 1977, which was the same calendar day as the release of Armored Core: Project Phantasma (December 4, 1997). Something particularly attractive about this album release date is that the number "4" or "shi" in Japanese has associations with death, and so does the cover of the album. Of the Scorpions 18 other albums, there are 3 others that match dates with various FromSoftware games (which is a story for another day).

For 8 years before King's Field, FromSoftware was a company developing business productivity tools for PC. As the Scorpions are eaten, that 8 years of expertise was cannibalized and redirected into forging a new identity as a videogame developer. I think that's more or less what Rauh represents - an era of relative benign, peaceful and productive existence before being stepping into the drama that is the videogame development cycle. In the Japanese phonetics for "Rauh" it is spelled "Raufu", which is a Swahili word borrowed from the Arabic "Rauf". It means "gentle" or "kind".

Conclusion

"Mine eyes are oft apt to glaze over — the years are toking their toll, 'tis plain to see. Even telling dream from reality…is a task increasingly beyond me…" - Final dialogue of Hornsent Grandam

One of the main themes of the DLC is that dreams are taking over reality. In a meta sense this is exactly what is experienced when playing the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC - previous knowledge is being overwritten by the new information revealed in the DLC. This is deceptive, as the reality inside the mindscape of the cocoon is a heavily doctored version of the reality of the Lands Between. It's biased towards pessimistic and paranoia-tinged/emotion-driven interpretations.

In a way, it is demonstrating trope overdose. Characters in the story are reduced to mythological references like Freyja and Ymir, or to manga references like Enia's surface comparison to JJBA's Enya. Comparisons were made between Miquella and Griffith based on not much more than the aesthetic of a fair haired effeminate male character with a hint of sinister manipulation and association with an eclipse - the DLC complied by presenting a version of Miquella that is suddenly Griffith levels of megalomania with none of the on-screen character development. An observation that I have seen made about the Frenzy Flame and the Three Fingers is that they remove the ability to see differences. Forming a theory that a certain character was inspired by another character based on superficial similarity cannot be the end of interpretation - characters need to be evaluated on their own unique psychology as developed in their own context.

The trouble with relying too heavily on references to previous literary canon is that all of the missteps of previous generations are implied to be inherited as well. It is in fact not a societal good to be propagating the tropes that women in positions of power and men who don't meet restrictive standards of masculinity are untrustworthy. A trope so deeply ingrained that someone like Ranni gets accused of being sinister and manipulative despite being one of the most blunt, forthcoming, and rational characters in the game.

Telling the difference between what is true and not true is complicated by the Lands Between being itself a fictional universe. And yet, this is also a phenomena seen in the real world, where fictional media - from movies to comics to books to music - reinforces cultural stereotypes and misinformation that people propagate uncritically. Even historical fiction elevates individuals to the positions of "hero" and "villain" as a flattening of real-life people which has the effect of creating the false impression that society is built on the efforts of magically successful individuals. Rather than the reality where improvements to quality of life are a collective effort and require both constant maintenance and a working understanding of all of the interconnected processes that allow our current civilization to function.

Regardless, the only viable answer in both the Lands Between and in real life for the question of how to sort fact and fiction is to make a personal effort to understand the rules of the universe. In the real world, this would be gaining knowledge of physics, plant biology, ecosystems, how various types of complex objects are manufactured from base elemental components, etc. In the Lands Between, this is through gaining knowledge of all of the above in addition to the magic systems and narrative rules that underlie characters' perceptions of their own history: tarot/alchemy, astrology, chakras, music and poetry, pseudo-archaeology, mythology, etc.

#elden ring #analysis of art design #elden ring lore #media analysis #fromsoftware metanarrative #“we are all stardust - STARDUST CRUSADERS”#Thinking about Surprise Round's “Cheer Up!” the JJBA fan game where Rush themed stands had a major plot point #Everything I know about JJBA is second hand knowledge - and I'm quite sure that I would hate it #It sounds like non-stop mystery box writing with Stands being so unpredictable that it's impossible to guess anything before it happens

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