#post second genesis wave

[sunnylighter]

Then Sonic arrived at the scene of the attack.

The first thing he saw was the target of the attack, and any good feelings he had from dinner were erased and anger took its place when he saw a bruised Uncle Chuck crouching protectively over his apprentice, Muttski.

Then… he saw who was attacking them…

In all the ways Sonic thought he'd see his father's face again, this was the one out of his very worst nightmares.

"Dad!" Sonic said breathlessly.

The splitting image of Jules loomed above Uncle Chuck on the attack until Sonic arrived on the scene. He turned to face the blue hedgehog, and if his actions weren't proof enough, this was not Sonic's father in control, the long-hated utterance of, "Priority One: Hedgehog!" being spoken in his father's voice made it clear.

I drew a scene from my fic, Sunken Treasure, from the Lost in the Waves series. I'm trying to go back and add art to all of them. Link to the fic is below.

[altocat]

Silver Elite headcanons anything that you think was revealed that Sephiroth never wanted public ever

It's also interesting recalling the official guidebooks have all his personal information just with question marks meanwhile you have hojo basically screwing around with all of Sephiroth's personal information and that is insane to me

Things that have been dumped on Silver Elite:

Sephiroth baby pictures

Babyroth pics post-surgery. Hojo likes to add cute little captions like "Sephiroth had to have a tooth extraction today, ouch!" Or "Uh oh! Sephiroth looks a little sad after his stomach got pumped :)" pretending like it's all standard medical care and not him fucking with Sephiroth's body for fun.

An entire list of foods Sephiroth was caught eating over the course of the week.

On the heels of that, speculation posts on whenever Sephiroth has gained/lost weight.

Pics of Sephiroth while he's asleep.

Pics of Sephiroth at his desk.

Pics of Sephiroth on the battlefield, his expression empty, borderline lethargic.

Sephiroth's gala speeches, awards, and accolades.

A sus picture of a sealed laboratory container, no elaboration.

Sephiroth on the beach at Costa, staring wistfully out at the waves.

An entire lock of Sephiroth's hair.

Awkward photos of Sephiroth during puberty.

Discarded clothes Sephiroth used to wear.

Speculation posts about Sephiroth every time he's around a female coworker. "Is this Sephiroth's newest item????" They are conveniently never good enough to meet Charwoman H's approval.

Recipes on Sephiroth's favorite "snacks" (all distasteful lab-sludge that no one but his most ardent fans would eat).

Nail clippings.

A private note Sephiroth passed to Genesis about where to meet up later.

Fuzzy pics of Sephiroth's apartment.

Nudes (This was retracted IMMEDIATELY by the Shinra executives because even they knew this was pushing things too far. Lazard shut that shit down the second he heard about it. They managed to scrub a great deal from public platforms but the Internet is forever. They're still floating around out there somewhere).

Miscellaneous horrors relating to casual lab visits/medical data.

A bandage Sephiroth supposedly had one his wrist last Tuesday.

Every Miniroth propaganda ad.

Sephiroth's embarrassing cameo on the Stamp TV show.

[frenchkanna1808]

So after being in school alone with my thought, i wondered the question no one dared to ask, what is my friends daily account activity? Do they really hold up as dailies? How much dailies account even in there? Did brody cause 9/11? All those questions went trough my brain like wildfire, and after a very long 15 seconds of thinking i too the harduous task of finding every single daily accounts and using the power of MATH to see their overall activity.

so follow me on my little rambling as i see the RISE and FALL of the yttd daily community

So lets say some ground rule, when i mean activity i mean that the blog has posted adn actual daily blog post and not just talked or respounded to asks, so for example brocoli respounds to asks but he didn't post a daily since a certain time. Rule understood, okay okay.

First part of this task was to fin every single daily blogs and look their last posts, and this was the longest part for sure.

forget my very bad typos this was written in a moment of euphoria. What we can see from this is that there is 1 billion blogs actually but also that a ton of those blogs are in fact desactivated. THose which are classified as today are actually yesterday post i just was very lazy to change it.

Second phase was to put them all in different categories on a exel sheet to see the overal proportions and see the average of month since a last daily was posted.

as we can see there is no joke 53 FUCKING DAILY ACCOUNTS. But more importrantly about 16 of those accounts are either gone and dissapeared out of the face of the earth or they are simply stated as inactive by the daily in question. The second largest numbers are didn't post in 8 months and 4 months.

third part was to make a graphical illustration of my point, so i made a camembert.

so yeah i'm not gonna do a big study but its pretty clear that if we only consider daily accounts who posted today or this month as actual dailies then we can consider all the others as inactive dailies.

What was the point of this you might say? Well i wanted to prove my theories, first off most of those daily accounts were in fact born from the brody genesis, so when brody created his daily keiji account. It became a popular idea and everyone impulsively created accounts. The thing is that having a daily account is not some funny bussiness its extremely tiring and extremly difficult, and since most of the yttd community on tumblr are teens to young adults, we mostly have school to deal with. So keeping up with pace is pretty much impossible. Second my guess was that honestly all daily accounts would burn out in two months, and i was kinda right. Yes the graph seems to show that they lasted longuer, but actually, this doesnt count the time of inactivity in betwens or the long breaks. Most account burned out after 1 or 2 months which is pretty logical. LIke dailyshinai/rune burned out in two month for example.

I think the overral if we did a competion winners would be @rekofan101 who posted for a year straight and just terminated being a daily on their own account and janice/ @daily-dose-of-bucket who despite longs breaks are still posting. The dailies had an immense rise at one point but the fall was even harder slowly has the accounts and trend started to burn out. As someone who is on a dailies account i will say out of the maybe 30 blogs on it only lik 8 are actually active and only 1 post regularly.

This is isnt' at all a judgement or anything but its an interresting depictions of how waves of trends affect certains populations.

Tho if i had to give advices to make a daily account it would be:

-make it a weekly, more time better results last longuer

-don't do it alone perhaps do it with a friend and alternate betwen one another

-if you have adhd, a job, memory issues or overall issues that will make it evn more difficult for you to make an account a daily, i would consider not doing it, instead perhaps just do a regular fan account like me

But anyway thank for reading my useless unemployed friend rambling and keep doing what you love!

[starfallforest]

Stop putting 'Too Sweet' by Hozier in your Sylus playlists

I am sorry—this was clickbait. I don’t actually care what you do with your life. But I need you to hear me out for just a second, okay? I am extremely not neurotypical about two things: Love and Deepspace, and Andrew John Hozier-Byrne. And I have seen more than one person in the tags talk about "Too Sweet" by Hozier being a perfect song for Sylus and MC. My only discourse about this is that Too Sweet is a song about a man who makes continuous self-sabotaging life decisions being incompatible with a partner who has her life put together. In my humble opinion, both Sylus and MC are hot messes of people in completely different ways. Anyway, it’s a good song so I don’t blame you for putting it in every playlist ever. In fact, you should. But if you're into this song, I want to show you a couple more pls pls pls 🙏​

I might just be autistic, but both Hozier's music and Love and Deepspace have something extremely important in common… and that’s BEAUTIFUL MEN YEARNING!!!1 And that’s not even to mention the haunting, raw sexuality we can project onto the stories that each of these things feeds to us. That's why I needed to make this post on the 1% chance that someone might hop on this brainrot train with me. So let me present, for just a moment of your time (if you're willing): other Hozier songs that fit Sylus so well I want to combust about it.

De Selby (Parts 1 & 2):

“At last, when all of the world is asleep You take in the blackness of air The likes of a darkness so deep That God—at the start—couldn't bear.” [azlyrics] [gaelic translation]

Imagine just casually writing THE love song that so beautifully says, “Before you were in my life, I kinda understood how God felt before he created the universe.” Excuse me? Andrew just dropped this stanza on us without so much as a cw: fuck you. And if that sickening portrait of gnawing loneliness isn’t enough, we have all the Genesis God references. Since all the LIs in the game are at some point likened to gods or rivaling gods with their power, then add the reverberating instrumentals and chillingly slow vocals in this 2-minute killer, tell me how this song does not fit Sylus. Not only that, but we also have imagery of his lover descending upon him like the night (which is invoked during Part 1 in the Gaelic verse), and I know that’s on the nose for Sylus but come on. I need you guys writing smut to have an orgasm during De Selby (at least Part 2) because it might change ur brain chemistry I'm just saying.

“When you fall on me like night—I wanna kill the lights.” [azlyrics]

This song still rules irt its playing with darkness symbolism, but it also refers to the darkness in the singer’s lover—which in Sylus’ case is MC and we all were there when she shot the guy in the heart like his freaky eye was telling her: “And your heart, love, has such darkness—I feel it in the corners of the room…” my goddddddd stop right there I can’t handle the METAPHORrrr. You think Sylus gives a flying fuck about MC’s frivolous morality bullshit? No he wants her to embrace her own darkness, sit under the blankies with him and cuddle after doing crimes and a beat poetry session. This is some fucking Hannibal Lecter beyond-dark-romance shit. I’m not even trying to write a dissertation here (and yet…)

Talk (from Wasteland, Baby!):

“I'd be the sweet feeling of release mankind now dreams of, That's found in the last witness before the wave hits, marveling at God… Imagine being loved by me.” [azlyrics]

Not only does this song utilize insane Greek mythology metaphor and Biblical comparison but the overall meaning of it is, “I want you so bad, I need to speak poetically to hide how down bad I am for you.” That sounds kinda like Old World Sylus and all his pretty nicknames to me.

NFWMB:

“If I was born as a black thorn tree, I'd wanna be felled by you, held by you, Fuel the pyre of your enemies… Ain't it warming you, the world going up in flames?” [azlyrics]

This whole song just some hard, deep and steady yearning for 4 and a half minutes. Are you kidding? The acronym in the title stands for Nothing Fucks With My Baby, which is sung in the chorus like some quietly violent war chant—soft, dark, and powerful. Anyway don’t tell me Mr. Sylus “Give me a list and then go to bed. I’ll take care of it” Loveanddeepspace wouldn’t scorch the earth for the love of his life—or do one better and stand by her side while she scorches the earth herself; here’s the protective/supportive mans anthem you ordered babes.

It Will Come Back:

“I know who I am when I'm alone—I'm something else when I see you. You don't understand, you should never know How easy you are to need.” [azlyrics]

This song has repeated imagery that warns of the dangers of taking care of a feral animal, and then compares the feral animal to the singer as a lover. Like fuck off, that’s sexy and haunted. And we know that not only does Sylus love animals more than people, but he’s pretty animalistic himself if we are to believe that maybe he’s secretly a demon or something.

Arsonist’s Lullaby:

“Don't you ever tame your demons, but always keep them on a leash.” [azlyrics]

Remember in Lost Oasis when MC goes on some tangent wondering what Sylus' past was like? Well it was this song. It's about troubled youth and learning to grow in your darkness. Also how cool is that imagery of demons? Hey Sylus, what do you have to say about demons? I'll wait. In the meantime I'm tattooing this shit on my clavicle

BONUS ROUND Through Me:

“Everytime I’d burn through the world, I’d see that the world—it burns through me.”

We got a man and we got some fire allusions so there ya go.

Blood Upon the Snow:

“To all things housed in her silence, Nature offers a violence.”

Blood upon the snow—it's red and white! Red!! And white!!! Also kind of a Sylus x Zayne anthem lbr

Ok I hope you found another song that inspires you to make Sylus art or fanfic with!! And before you ask, yes I've already assigned Hozier songs to every other love interest in the game. Ok thanks for reading!!! 🏃‍♀️​💨​

[zofi-persson-quotes]

TSC

So, I finally have the guts to publish this.

Basically, it's the lore around my version of Second.

The rest is under the cut. Not interested? Don't read.

As I said some time ago in this and this post, Abner had a child called Seran.

They were the first and only Demigod, born out of Abner’s wish for a child of his own.

Seran lived as the Crown Prince of the Kingdom and was loved by the people due to their habit of interacting with everyone they met. Je had a personal guard, a young half-dragon-half-Overlord called Liji, the two being incredibly close, to the point where Liji had become Seran's blessed.

Seran was born some months before the Devourer came to the Outernet and started to capture the other Deities, with a cult-like organisation forming around It, its leader unknown in identity but notably devoted to that entity.

The war went one for years, until only Abner and Seran, now 12 years old, were the only Deities left.

Then, one day, Abner was getting ready for battle: the Primordial God had just recently succeeded in creating a very powerful sealing spell that would've allowed him to trap the Devourer, allowing him to free the other Deities safely. Seran was worried though, as they had a bad feeling about it, but his father had reassured them.

And so, the Primordial departed, alongside his court, leaving Seran in Liji and the palace guards' care.

But he would never return from the battle.

Abner was able to seal away the Devourer, his Divine Artefacts still on his person, but the action had exhausted him to the point that he hadn't noticed the five individuals sneaking up on him until he had been pinned down. His eyes went wide in shock when he recognised that four of his best soldiers were holding him down, while one of his Captains of the Royal Guards, Silver, was standing over him, an Ichor-infused blade in his hands and a maniacal smile on his face.

And so, the truth was revealed: Silver had been the Devourer's second in command and a traitor all along, with the double objective of aiding the Devourer and becoming a God themselves, the second objective possible if Silver managed to get their hands on Abner’s Artefacts:

The Crown of Genesis, a very powerful focus of Divine Magic.

The Aegis Catalyst, used by Abner as a focus for the more complex spells and that contained infinite power.

The Creator's Codex, a book with infinite pages on which Abner had written every single thing that had been created.

It was also revealed that the other members of the Royal Court had been sealed inside Abner’s temple, unable to do a single thing.

And so, the Ichor-infused blade put an end to Abner’s life, leaving behind only his armour, sword, and personal effects.

But, things didn'tgo to plan. When Abner died, he managed to make his Artefacts disappear, pissing off Silver to no end, their angered screams echoing in the wasteland created by the Devourer's sealing.

Unfortunately, they knew that Seran was the only one alive who knew where the Artefacts were, as the young Demigod was the only one Abner trusted enough to reveal where they were stored.

Silver had actually planned to kill the young Demigod, but now killing them wasn't an option anymore, unless they wanted to say goodbye to their ambitions. Instead, Silver and their cronies went to the Palace and, after killing all the guards and Liji, they took Seran as a prisoner, with Silver making sure everyone else either forgot that he existed due to a powerful spell or, in case of Abner’s trapped court, was told that he died.

Silver... "interrogated" them regarding the missing Artefacts for the 100 years they ruled Tir na nOg, every single day. Seran was chained inside a secret room under the Throne Room, unable to do anything as the chains were heavily enchanted. The day before Silver's fall, Seran managed to wound Silver by biting their index finger off after they waved it a bit too close to their mouth. Obviously, Silver didn't like that, and used seven treasures to seal Seran as a punishment. It should've been only for a week, but the next day Silver was defeated and lost their body, as we all know, so Seran was left there for the remaining 1900 years.

All seemed lost for the Demigod, but Silver had made a fatal mistake, failing to fully restrain their power: Seran used a spell he was taught by one of the other Deities, one to separate my soul from my body. Originally, the plan was to gather enough energy to do so, create a temporary body and then recover their original one, but he miscalculated and couldn't create said temporary vessel, so they had to search for a body to use. Said body was an incomplete animation, full of potential to live, and only lacking a soul, a name, to live. But, sadly, during the process the little power Seran managed to keep was sealed, alongside their memories, while most of his power and Divinity were left in their original body.

And so, Seran became The Second Coming, forgetting their past and true nature, only remembering it briefly after their Awakening during what will be dubbed as the "Showdown". They'll fully recover their memories, and later on body and Divinity, after stumbling upon the Hidden Temple after finding a map inside the old Royal Palace that they had explored alongside their friends and beloved, Liji, who will regain his memories of his past life alongside Second

Second's biology will also change:

He can be wounded by mortal weapons/potions/spells but heals a lot faster than normal, both due to their regeneration powers and due to God biology

They can be killed only by specifically made spells, by other Gods, or by Ichor infused weapons (their Ichor doesn't work to create these weapons, as it's tainted by mortal blood)

They're slightly taller than average in mortal form, but he's still the shortest God in their godly form (they pout every single time they recall that)

His mortal form is their original one, while their God form is their secondary one. They don't possess any Original form like the other Deities

Only has their lower pair of eyes as an unnatural trait in mortal form (their tail and wings are due to his Overlord biology), but has an additional pair of arms and a third pair of eyes on their wings in their God form, and his mouth is fully black (lips, gums, tongue and insides) with sharp teeth with pronounced upper and lower fangs, and said teeth are green and glowing. The mouth can disappear completely

His Ichor is "tained" with mortal blood, appearing mostly gold but with red speckled in it. Their Ichor ia useless to create Ichor anything that pure Ichor can make, but can be used for other things: 1, it can be used for some pretty powerful enchantments, mostly protective and strengthening ones. 2, it's perfect to write sigils and glyphs. 3, it can make potions slightly more effective if mixed in, especially if the potions are with a positive effect, or it can be used to create new potions.

They possess few organs (stomach, small intestines, lungs, brain), plus their core.

Their skeletal structure is made of solidified energy, and for that, it can do pretty inhumane things, like bend when it shouldn't. Second loves to freak out people by doing pretty uncanny things

They can change small things of their body at will (like making their wings, secondary eyes, and tail appear or disappear, change their hair length and other small things).

They need food, water, and sleep, but much less than mortals, and can't die from thirst or hunger, but their body will get very weak. Food is fully processed into energy without leaving anything behind

Unlike normal Gods, he's not eldritch, but only eldritch-adjacent and very uncanny in God form, and still slightly uncanny in mortal form (only when pissed off enough, making their Godly side bleed into their mortal one)

[rottenpumpkin13]

Hope no one minds if I drop an angst prompt here?

So I was rereading the three pieces where Genesis realizes Angeal & Sephiroth think his voice is annoying and shuts down emotionally and tries to change his entire self bc the realization hurts him so bad, and Zack becomes basically the only person he feels safe around, right

And I got to thinking.

Idk where I first read it, but a lot of stories seem to paint Genesis as being generally quite liked by SOLDIER. So in this whole situation, where somehow only Zack picks up on Genesis’ pain, I think at least a few other 2nd/3rd classes also seem to notice, and Kunsel makes the connection between Genesis’ shutdown and his extremely changed behaviour around Angeal and Sephiroth, and consults with Zack for answers… and then discreetly lets the rest of SOLDIER know and they all close ranks around Genesis and like. Shield him from Sephiroth & Angeal a little

Like… I’m not that much a sucker for angst on most days but this image wouldn’t leave me… where instead of telling his superiors off in that discussion Zack bites his tongue and closes off from them too, and Angeal and Sephiroth have to figure out from themselves just why their whole department seems to have gotten so much colder with them recently, and why Genesis seems quieter and less around, and why Zack isn’t so bouncy anymore… more clipped and unhappy… and seems to get angrier with them everytime Angeal tries to help.

(Because damn, apparently Zack’s mood is his top concern, a kid he’s known for maybe a couple of years at most now, meanwhile his childhood friend that he grew up with doesn’t seem to rate with the same priority despite the frankly obvious pain.)

Meanwhile Genesis finds himself with a lot more company from the seconds and thirds than he’s had before, and discovers that more than a few of them like mystery novels just like he does, and a couple even know LOVELESS with the same love as him, and hey! This young man has read the same novel Genesis just finished, wasn’t that twist at the end a surprise? And slowly mealtimes kinda evolve into a SOLDIER book club (slash Secret Genesis Support Group) as Genesis slowly mellows out and finds his spark again, surrounded by like-minded individuals who not only respect him but seem to actually like him.

It’s nice. Genesis… is less lonely these days.

Are there three parts to it? I can only find Part 1 and Part 2. I swear I need to re-write it chronologically and post it as a proper fic someday. I'm surprised people bring it up from time to time ^^

-

Angeal sensed that something was off first, not because of the sharp glances that sliced past him like knives as he walked through the base. He wasn't oblivious to the silent hostility that clung to the atmosphere at SOLDIER—operatives who once greeted him with cheery waves, who he made it a point to befriend, were now avoiding eye contact, offering cold shoulders.

It was subtle at first, a missed "good morning" here, averted gazes there, but Angeal had prided himself on his keen awareness of the people around him. He valued camaraderie, not just with his fellow SOLDIERs but with anyone who kept the place running. He'd spent years building alliances, and now those connections seemed to be fraying, and he couldn't put his finger on why.

It wasn't even Genesis' absence that made him question things, although Gaia knew his best friend was tempestuous. Genesis had a way of shutting people out when the mood struck him, sometimes for hours at a time, but never like this. One day, they'd be sparring partners, the next, Genesis would disappear into his head.

But that wasn't the case this time.

No, what truly made Angeal's blood run cold was seeing Zack and Genesis together in the lounge. Shoulder to shoulder, laughing. Talking. Giggling, even. As though they were old friends. Which they weren't.

The sight was jarring, uncanny in a way Angeal couldn't immediately put into words. He knew Genesis' thoughts on Zack, had heard them whispered in passing, dripping with disdain. To Genesis, Zack was no more than a puppy—an overeager, naive child, a burden Angeal had taken under his wing. Genesis had always mocked the younger SOLDIER, never failing to throw a cutting remark his way whenever the boy's chipper greetings came his way. Yet here they were, sharing a closeness that felt….natural, which made it unnatural in its own sense.

And then there was Sephiroth, whose realization came like a slap to the face—almost literally. He passed Zack in the hallway.

Sephiroth had never been one for small talk, but always recognized Angeal's student with a curt nod, even mustering a slight smile. He expected, at the very least, a polite return gesture. But Zack rolled his eyes and turned away, as though Sephiroth wasn't even worth acknowledging.

Sephiroth had actually stopped mid-stride, confused. Had he done something to offend Zack? Was there something he had missed? For a moment he just stood there, watching Zack's back as he walked away, the sting of rejection unfamiliar and unwelcome.

It was more than just a bad mood. It was more than just Genesis going through one of his bouts of creative isolation. Sephiroth and Angeal shared that same coiling dread in their stomachs, that sense of something being broken and irreparable. They'd tried reaching out—both of them. They had knocked on Genesis' door, called his phone, but every time they got close, something, someone intervened. A Second, or even a Third Class SOLDIER, would always swoop in, whisking Genesis away before they could speak.

And the numbers… Gaia, the numbers. The Seconds and Thirds came in packs now, always flanking Genesis wherever he went. Always three or five of them, hanging on his every word, giving him attention, wanting his attention.

The popularity which had already been impressive seemed to have ballooned overnight. He was adored. While Angeal and Sephiroth were left untouched and unwelcome.

They'd never cared much for being liked, and neither of them needed the validation of the ranks. But it wasn't about that. It was about the absence, the hollow space Genesis had once filled between them. His voice was now missing from their lives—his laughter, the dramatic readings of Loveless, the playful teasing about Angeal's choice of shirts or Sephiroth's ridiculous wet hair after the showers. He was their friend, their third piece, and now he was gone.

And then came the breaking point. Zack refused to train with Angeal, refused to even follow orders from Sephiroth. That was when they cornered Kunsel, one of the few who never failed to have an ear to the ground, always knew what was going on and would never refuse intel.

But the answer they received wasn't what they were expecting.

"Why do you care?" Kunsel had asked, voice casual, like it was the most ridiculous question in the world. "Don't you find him annoying?"

It hit Angeal and Sephiroth like a slap to the face they needed.

[hermithermithermit]

Why do they never say this?

I'm not usually one to make posts like this, but I've recently started reading the Bible (both the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition and the King James Bible, for purposes of literary and translation comparison, and I saw something that made me pause. I want to preface this by saying I'm no sort of theology authority or even a Christian, I am merely a nerdy queer agnostic peeking around the corner.

In Genesis, there's the commonly cited passage by sexist men (and women) about man being first and woman being created to serve man:

GENESIS 2 20;The man gave names to all cattle and to the birds of the air and to every animal of the field, but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. 21;So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22;And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. [NRSVUE]

And Christian MAGA and right-wing and sexist people always point to it to be like "See! See! Women aren't on the same level as men!"

But what they never discuss is that this is the SECOND story of Genesis.

Early on in Genesis 2, it seems that a shift of authors occurs, or a different oral tradition is included, because the entire tone of the text changes drastically. God is never called the Lord until this change occurs, and the digital NRSVUE on Bible Gateway notes this shift explicitly.

The thing is, in the first chapter of Genesis, which details the six days of Earthly creation, there is a direct opposition to man and woman being uneven.

GENESIS 1 27;So God created humans in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Male AND Female. At the same time. Neither subservient to the other, neither greater or lesser. And this is a single chapter behind the cited passage. What's more, both man and woman are in the image of God, meaning that God has both male and female aspects, and separated humans accordingly (possibly arbitrarily) for an unknown reason.

Y'all. God canonically has boobs and a dick.

What's more: Why do we refer to God as a he? Why would he care? Did gendered pronouns even exist in his language before we assigned them to him? WHY WON'T "CHRISTIANS" WHO CITE THE BIBLE FOR EVERYTHING ACKNOWLEDGE THIS??

Ugh I just needed to get my thoughts in writing. Casually waving to the two people who might reblog this. 👍 See ya next time I have weird deep thoughts!

[miirshroom]

Elden Ring - Thoughts about the Blood Star

For the question "What is the Blood Star?" I find that there is a simple answer and a complicated answer.

Simple answer: Mars, the red planet. Wandering stars = "outer" gods. In the sense of literal outer space.

Complicated answer: 2112. With its minimalist album cover featuring a red star emblem.

There's a subtext to Bloodborne and Elden Ring that "blood" is equated with "sound". Blood "echoes", blood sings sweetly, upcoming game Nightreign has that Recluse ability "Song of the Blood Soul". Bloody Fingers are thematically like an intrusive thought invading your world - like a song that you can't get out of your head.

It's frankly farcical to re-contextualize the blood faction as "fanatics dedicated to music and pop-rock references" and I expect it's a perspective that's not for everyone. But to further examine the concept I've written longer examinations of some of these musical references in Elden Ring and Bloodborne.

The purpose of this post is to layout a rationale for the exact point in real world history when FromSoftware first solidified their homage to the Rush album 2112: Armored Core 4 (2006)

Establishing the Meta-Narrative

In my opinion, FromSoftware has been curating a musical meta-narrative since at least 1997. They have been doing this in a very odd way: through the calendar dates on which their games release.

For most of their early games this doesn't pay off immediately - more like a seed planted to harvest later when FromSoft moved into an era of "eating it's own tail" and digging things up from this early history for design inspiration. I have lists of specific examples of places where the long-running musical meta-narrative is drawn upon to inspire parts of the actual narrative of Elden Ring, for bands including The Beatles, The Scorpions, Dream Theatre, Genesis, The Smashing Pumpkins, Heart, etc. For a non-music example, it's like in Dark Souls where black dragon Kalameet and Seath the Scaleless are loosely based on dragons Guyra and Seath from King's Field.        

At the time of AC 4 Rush had released 17 studio albums with the most recent being Vapor Trails (2002). In my opinion, that was the Rush album that caught the interest of FromSoftware, with Test for Echo (1996) being a close second. Or else it was the juxtaposition of the two, as the lyrics from Test for Echo were inspired by pop psuedo-psychology and lyrics for Vapor Trails were from a place of experiencing true grief, introspection and psychological healing (I won't get into the history - read up on lyricist Neil Peart's biography from this time period to understand why).

It can be inferred that FromSoft was considering a new direction for their creative output around 2002-2004 - as seen by the way that they discontinued every pre-2005 game franchise that they owned, aside from the recently acquired Tenchu IP. Even AC 4 was a hard reboot of its franchise.

In hindsight from an examination of Elden Ring the later years of Rush circa 2002-2012 is very close to what FromSoft wanted to build towards: poetic introspection on humanity and finding the will to keep going after your worldview is shattered. The start point of Rush is where they are in 2004: best known for either dystopian sci-fi or high fantasy stories, with a scattering of entries on other topics. So my impression is that in a "rush" FromSoft laid the groundwork to start their pivot in direction by anchoring at 2112. And also hired a social scientist who showed up knocking on their door (that being Hidetaka Miyazaki).      

I mention this in the Bloodborne post, but cross comparing calendar dates there are 3 matches for the anniversary of Rush albums within a 4 month period of time: Kings's Field Mobile on January 14, 2004 (7th album "Permanent Waves", 1980), Armored Core Nexus on March 18, 2004 (1st album "Rush", 1974), Kuon on April 1st, 2004 (4th album "2112"...allegedly, 1976). 2112 is in a odd place where its actual release date is not remembered but the band themselves acknowledge it as April 1st. Although another comment that I would add about Kuon is that it also has a blood theme - doors are unlocked with scraps of cloth that are named for the planets of the solar system and splattered with bloodstains that increase in quantity with the planet's distance from the sun.        

Kuon Sacred Cloths for Earth and Mars

Examination of Armored Core 4

So with all of that background, the first point that ties AC4 to Rush is the release date. The album release date is uncertain, but the FromSoftware website is explicit that the first release of AC4 was on December 21, 2006 - a date that can be written as 2112.       

Secondly, the setting of AC4. The background for the story is that a company based on Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada was responsible for developing a next-gen technology that powers the AC units - called "Kojima particles" - in the years before the  current events of the game. Rush is a Canadian band, and the album artwork for Test for Echo was inspired by an inukshuk seen by Neil Peart on a trip to the Northwest Territories.       

Thirdly, the themes. FromSoftware has a tendency not to copy directly, but to take bits and pieces. Armored Core 4 was going to be themed around the sun regardless of a music tie-in - that was non-negotiable because of a totally different pattern where all Armored Core games are themed around astrology in sequence (they show their hand on that with the "Zodiac" faction in AC 5). AC 4 happened to align with "Leo" which has the planet ruler of the sun.

The story of 2112 is about a future where the planets of the solar system have been colonized, the last war several years ago led to the rise of a faction of religious zealots who outlawed music and established The Solar Federation, and in the present a rediscovery of music leads to a rebellion with an ending ambiguous as to whether the rebels or the ruling faction won. The FromSoft twist on this concept is that they actually relocate their setting to a near-future Earth in contrast to previous games that took place on Mars or blasted post-apocalypses....but EVERY faction is themed around the sun. So the peoples of Earth are collectively a Solar (sun-themed) Federation (set of groups with individual autonomy).       

As it goes in the lyrics of song "Entre Nous" from Permanent Waves (album previously mentioned): "We are planets to each other / Drifting in our orbits / To a brief eclipse / Each of us a world apart". In the more pessimistic context of AC4: who needs some fantasy space war when we already live on a single planet together where many nations/corporations act recklessly to tear each other apart as if they have a back-up planet on the sidelines to retreat to when this one gets trashed?

Perhaps also consider each faction as a planet who has a different and incompatible ideological position on "what is the sun to us?" A real life example: the Earth with its moon perfectly sized and located to produce total solar eclipses would experience the sun differently compared to Pluto from which the sun is 1/900th of the brightness and seems to be a very bright star, or compared to Mars which has two moons so small that a person standing on the planet's surface wouldn't even notice if they crossed the sun.      

  from sketchplanations

And that is altogether how I believe FromSoft to have been partly inspired by progressive rock band Rush starting with references in Armored Core 4.

What does it mean to be Lord of Blood?

There's something more to be said about what the Blood Star means to Mohg - a return to an idealized past. Similarly, while it's tempting to look to the past with rose-tinted glasses, there are some notable criticisms of 2112.

The album includes in its liner notes an acknowledgement of the writing of Ayn Rand - who developed the personal philosophy of Objectivism, which would go on to influence the right wing politics of Libertarianism in the United States. The issues here are multiple - firstly that the specific part of Rand's work that the band found attractive was her views on personal artistic expression - hence the themes of the song itself - but there is a tendency for people to mistake them as agreeing with ALL of Rand's controversial body of work. Secondly, that for the rest of their careers the members of Rush would end up explaining time and time again that they had moved on - they went through a Rand phase from about 1976-1980, and then continued to absorb other influences as happens with many young people.

With a wider view of context, the reason why Rush in 1976 would resonate so strongly with themes of artistic freedom becomes clearer. Their third album leaned into long narrative driven dark fantasy-themed songs and was a flop, with the prevailing mood on the following tour being that this might be the end. With the fourth album there was pressure to become more commercially appealing - write songs that would get radio play. Instead they doubled down on the kind of long-form compositions that they were passionate about and wrote 2112, of which the first half of the album is the eponymous 20-minute long song. The album was a commercial success, and the rest is history. It was later when they were well established with their 7th album Permanent Waves (1980) that Rush gravitated to writing shorter radio friendly songs more on their own terms.

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Consider how many of these same factors were repeated with the rise of videogames as a medium through the 1990's and 2000's. There's pressure from investors to make commercially successful games - it's a struggle between making good art and making art that delivers on time, under budget, and focus tested to capture as much of the market as possible. While thematic story elements can be drawn between Armored Core 4 and 2112, from a real world perspective it is the success story of Demon's Souls (2009) that more closely parallels evolution of Rush as a band. It doesn't get mentioned much, but Miyazaki's directorial debuts with Armored Core 4 and 4A weren't exactly considered stellar - with the games both receiving mixed or average reviews. Demon's Souls was during its development considered to be an unfocused and floundering project. So it was a pairing of a director who had yet to really distinguish himself and a dark fantasy setting that he was both passionate about developing and given the creative freedom to implement novel ideas.

In the mythology around Demon's Souls, one of the greatest reasons for its critical success was that it dared to be different in offering brutal difficulty during a time frame when games were trending towards low skill ceilings to chase higher completion rates for wider audiences. Dark Souls (2011) proved that the success of Demon's Souls wasn't a fluke, and once again the rest is history.

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In his 2023 auto-biography lead singer of Rush - Geddy Lee - makes it a point to address some controversy around the song "Freewill" from Permanent Waves:

"I sang it every night with confidence and pride, offering it to audiences as a contribution to the time-honoured discussion about existentialism, determinism and faith. It was, in fact, indeterminism that I believe was at the heart of it - the idea that our lives are not predetermined - and I hoped that would come across; but in the four decades since, I've seen people play fast and loose with the interpretation of the last lines of the chorus: 'I will choose a path that's clear I will choose free will' To my dismay, those words have been cited without regard for the song's overall message and used as a catch-all, a license for some to do whatever they want. It makes me want to scream. Taken out of context, if becomes an oversimplified idea of free will, narrow and naïve, not taking into consideration that even the strongest individual must, to some extent, bow to the needs of a responsible society. During the Covid pandemic, I saw this first-hand. When I posted a picture on Instagram of myself wearing a mask, loudmouths were quick to throw 'Free will!' back at me, as if those two words alone constitute permission to act without regard for the well-being of others, to ignore science and to rid ourselves of the responsibility for the consequences of our actions."

I find that a similar phenomena of playing fast and loose with interpretation happens with Elden Ring. In support of Bloodborne in 2015, Miyazaki gave an interview that I often see people clinging to as support for the idea that the stories of the soulsborne games are unsolvable and ultimately up to the individual to imagine:

"When Hidetaka Miyazaki was a child, he was a keen reader, though not a talented one. Often he’d reach passages of text he couldn’t understand, and so would allow his imagination to fill in the blanks, using the accompanying illustrations. In this way, he felt he was co-writing the fiction alongside its original author." - The Guardian, 2015

There is of course a core truth in here: a work of art is not complete until the observer participates with the original author as co-creator. This was part of the philosophy of the anti-art artist Marcel Duchamp, as I discussed in relation to Elden Ring previously. However, the way that I see this quote misused is to assume that Miyazaki's games are to be interpreted as a child would interpret: heavily warped by imagination and wishful thinking. As I've demonstrated in this post, I don't believe that to be the case. Media literacy is something that goes beyond reading words and filling in the blanks with imagination, but also involves ability to identify patterns and themes, compare and contrast topics that are superficially similar, acknowledge when something can be researched to find more context, etc.

So there are a few levels on which to approach the concept that Mohg yearns for an idealized past:

Mohg is like a child or an amateur artist, inspired by the aesthetics that he encounters and using imagination to substitute for true understanding of the thing that he is emulating. For example: Miquella. There are 2 Miquella's in Elden Ring. One is Miquella, twin of Malenia. The God Miquella in the Shadowlands is Mohg's shallow impression of Miquella that has been carved down to a flattened characterization - the Shadowlands is best understood as a landscape formed of Mohg's psyche. It's a surreal dream.

Mohg was enchanted by the idea of regressing to childish simplicity, where the key to success is to "throw blood at everything". As it says in the description of the Cursed-Blood Pot: "Throw at enemies to douse them in accursed blood, causing summoned spirits to assail them with a rabid fervor. A childhood memory of the Lord of Blood." Mohg soaks the cocoon with blood because that's all that he knows how to do that gets results. Like I alluded to at the top of this post - I've barely scratched the surface of the musical references.

Based on cross-referencing, this idea of childhood memories ties back to Kuon (2004). The setting of Kuon is a manor estate and central to the plot are two Mulberry trees which birth silkworms that weave cocoons around the dead and resurrect them. The dead are resurrected through merging with living beings and after this ritual is repeated enough times a special child is born. The protagonists include two women, one of whom is absorbed as part of the ritual and the other who manages to burn down one of the trees and escape with the ritual child. Traces of this plotline can be found in Elden Ring with the Haligtree where albinaurics are being cocooned in silk, in the nearby Consecrated Snowfields there is a setpiece about reuniting two sisters (the Jellyfishes), and then Miquella in his cocoon is made to absorb people via their blood.

This is reflected also in design elements. See below for the Neptune cloth from Kuon, compared to the Lord of Blood's Favor from Elden Ring - in both cases a piece of cloth thoroughly saturated with blood.

Added to this that Mohg carries a trident which is a symbol associated with Neptune, and that one of the myths featuring Neptune involves the time that he sexually assaulted the mortal woman Medusa at Athena's temple, after which Medusa was cursed by Athena to have snakes with petrifying gaze in place of her hair. One of the few depictions of St. Trina from before the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC can be found on St. Trina's torch where her hair twists like snakes.

Mohg wanted to possess Miquella not as a person, but as an ideal that he can project onto. Mohg is a caricature of a nihilist - thus the emphatic shout of "nihil!". When one follows the philosophy that nothing in the world has a real existence then it follows that anyone can be be miscast in any role. Irrational evaluation based on feelings rather than the learned criteria that rational people use to evaluate the soundness of their understandings. Mohg's childhood is a distant memory, and time has smoothed away distinctions and led to the delusion where he sees Miquella as a younger version of himself.

Mohg is the Lord of Blood, and thus that makes him the Lord of Song - and I would further guess that his worldview is constructed from anything and everything that would have been popular enough to achieve hit single status on the radio. Which turns out to be a LOT of facets of human existence. People sing about love, money, sex, war, peace, politics, pop culture philosophies, Jesus, etc. This ties into the nihilism theme - in many cases a single song removed from the context of its album lacks the full information needed to interpret the artistic intent. Mohg has no strategy for evaluating whether any given messaging that he fanatically latches onto is helpful or harmful for a responsible society.

Closing Thoughts

Some words of warning to aspiring artists from a third song off the previously mentioned 7th Rush album:

"One likes to believe in the freedom of music But glittering prizes and endless compromises Shatter the illusion of integrity, yeah... For the words of the profits Were written on the studio walls And Concert halls And echoes with the sound of salesmen" - Spirit of Radio, hit single from Permanent Waves (1980) by Rush

All artists must be motivated by profits upon reaching the scale of it being a full-time job - it is simply necessary for survival. Throughout the 1900's there was the rise of the superstar in music as first radio and then recording media became more widely available and put voices in front of more people. But the mechanism for getting onto that mass physical media is controlled by people less interested in free thought and more interested in profit. Profit does not need to be mutually exclusive with making thoughtful art, but it is like a juggling act for artists to weigh what they can afford to compromise on in the race to establish a like-minded audience before start-up funding runs out.

"Integrity" is defined as "firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values". A pledge to maintain integrity is a sort of assurance that the way something is now is the way that it will continue to be. This goes two ways. On the one hand, integrity is understood as anti-corruption. Ability to reject tactics that improve marketability to a new group at the expense of the original loyal base. On the other hand, a failure to compromise leads to inflexibility or stagnation. What if your initial values perpetuate harm - do you continue to cater to the original fanbase or seek to reconcile with the groups being harmed? Society around you never stops changing and making scientific advancements - do you plug your ears to new information and retreat into personal power fantasies, or do you continue to actively learn and adapt with the change?

[suna1suna1]

Day 2, Gift

My second drawing for @sonicrarepairweek2024

Okay so my style has done a mega shift in the past couple months since I haven't actually been drawing Sonic until literally yesterday and here's the result lol

Honestly, I like it. And I've definitely come a long way from my last drawing of these two (which I can't remember if I've posted so here lol)

^^^ This one's from January of 2023, and I think it was the first time I'd drawn a kiss like this. I worked for so long on it I got grossed out and sick of looking at it XD

Now, in terms of my headcanons, I think they would just... they're just cute. I have no other real reasons. I think they're cute.

I love their chemistry in Archie (post-genesis wave, bc I'm in the minority that prefers the canon after the reset). Like, they just vibe so well together and I love watching them, but like, Mighty's actually really soft most of the time. Like, he's such a gentle giant, and I mean, I know the way I tend to portray Sonic is a little ooc when it comes to game/comic canon (I tend to prefer movie Sonic). But like, put these two together and it's just... So cute.

[girls-are-weird]

MASTER LIST: One Fic for Each Fandom [J-Z]

continued from this post. please read that one first for a detailed explanation of how this list came about and just why in the seven hells i've spent so many (many, MANY) hours of my life compiling it.

back in the day, i had hoped this format could catch on as a meme type of thing, so that other people could take it as a template and make their own fandom recs lists. so i'd love to see yours! be sure to tag me if you decide to do this. :)

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[ FANDOMS J-Z BELOW, A-I HERE ]

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JOAN OF ARCADIA

after an afternoon, by angelgazing.

joan doesn't get it.

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JONNY QUEST: TRA

jealousy (and sequels!), by debbie kluge.

the story that started it all. a new acquaintance causes jonny quest and jessie bannon to re-evaluate their relationship.

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LITTLE WOMEN / PLUMFIELD SERIES

and i didn't like the ending, by readdyfreddie (M).

as soon as the post box came into view, she saw him there, reading the letter. and then, as if sensing her presence, he looked up, and jo knew nothing would ever be the same again.

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NARUTO

on the symbiotic relationship, by hundredacresky (M).

somehow they ended up doing everything backwards.

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NEON GENESIS EVANGELION

a glass of wine rebuilt, by toasterman.

shinji and asuka learn about themselves and fall in love, causing massive ramifications. a remake of the late 94saturn's quintessential shinjixasuka story, it is part tribute and part experiment, taking the structure and plot of the original wacky shipping story while attempting to maintain series-true characterization.

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PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS/RIORDANVERSE

if you need, come build your home in me (and side stories!) by yrbeecharmer / @yrbeecharmer (T).

even though the world keeps falling down around him, will solace can't seem to help but keep growing up.

(a series rewrite starting with the events of titan's curse)

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PITCH PERFECT

hooking up with jesse by catswandsandwalkers / @catswandsandwalkers (M).

when aubrey said to beca, "your attitude sucks, you're a grade-A pain in my ass, and i know you're hooking up with jesse," she was actually correct. slightly AU where jesse and beca are secretly friends with benefits throughout the movie. follows canon otherwise.

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POKEMON

destiny, by nova.

carla says: this is a fic i read a long time ago, loved, and then lost track of. the plot is rather similar to the plot of the… second? third? movie (the lugia one!), but it was written pre-movie and the author takes it a whole different way. the characters are grown up and more mature (errrr… except gary and jazelle, maybe), and the story's AU (they all have different backgrounds) but it's very good, filled with action and adrenaline, and even some funny and romantic moments. good read. sadly, now i can't find it anywhere else in the 'net so i wonder if it's been finished since then. if anyone knows, please tell me.

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THE PRINCESS DIARIES

me and you (is my refrain), by naladot / @naladot (T).

when he finally gets to the restaurant to meet his friends for a birthday dinner, the television mounted to the wall has the news on, and there’s mia disembarking from her plane, waving to the press with a practiced smile. he hasn’t seen her in five years—no, it’s got to be six, now—but he can still read the exhaustion written across her picture-perfect face.

years later, michael reunites with the love of his life. future-fic for first movie canon.

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PSYCH

against all odds (take a look at me now) by shuuuliet (G).

ever since they broke up, shawn and juliet have done their best to keep their distance from one another. but now, one of their old cases has been blown wide open. a criminal that evaded arrest is back…and he’s targeting them specifically. can they make it out of this case alive? and can they find their way back to each other along the way?

(set during season 7, a few weeks after "deez nups".)

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PSYCHO-PASS

beasts of all kinds by aroguegambit17 (E).

wolf and shepherd are ancient enemies, opposed in nature and design. a wolf breaks into folds a shepherd guards; a shepherd is duty-bound to fight and perhaps kill a wolf for what the beast cannot help but do to survive. but what is a shepherd without sheep, a wolf without a pack?

free, of course. what a terrifying proposition.

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RANMA 1/2

ranma .05, by darren demaine.

carla says: ranma smut, and believable at that. lots and lots of story before the sex, so it's not plotless at all. and the characters are very in-character-- and that's a lot to say if he can have ranma and akane sleep together and still be in-character!

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RUROUNI KENSHIN

christmas and chaos, by nooziewoozie (M).

his shirt opened down his front, showing golden skin like some kind of blue-collar wet dream come to life—he was brown even in the middle of winter and he smelled like motor oil and had hair that spiked out from his head, bushy and unruly and ridiculous. he radiated heat. some idiot part of her hindbrain wanted to soak it up. -megumi, sano; family, christmas, and sex on couches.

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SAILOR MOON

adventures of the chibi-scouts, by "tuxedo" will wolfshohl.

many wish to be young again but how will the girls handle it when they get that wish?

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SAINT SEIYA

la batalla de los doce tresors (aka el MEGAFIC), by marijose diaz.

carla says: sorry that it's in spanish, guys, but it really is THE best saint seiya fic EVER. written pre-hades saga, but they fight against hades-- just in a completely different way. the cycle has ended, and it's time for athena to die. only hades doesn't want to let her, and it's time for the saints to… save her? so she can die? i LOVE this fic. seriously, i've read it a thousand times, and that's a lot to say because it's HUGE! (it's not called the MEGAfic for nothing!). she manages to put in most of my favorite couples, which is quite rare, and well-- i was reading it a while back and this was actually what made me start this whole list. lol.

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SAMURAI CHAMPLOO

nenju, by 3jane.

where do happiness and ever after intersect? post series, complete. fuumugenjin.

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SEX EDUCATION

these are the days of their lives by howardtduck48 (M).

maeve wiley deserves to be happy. if only she can give someone a chance to explain.

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SHADOWHUNTER CHRONICLES

i know you wanna go higher by orphan_account (M).

the first thing simon lewis saw when he arrived idris high school was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. however, he later discovered that if he wanted to date her, he would need to get a date for his grumpy brother, alec. and that's where magnus bane appears.

the 10 things i hate about you AU that every fandom needs. simon is new and pining for isabelle, and then he has the worst idea of his life. somehow, things work out. kind of.

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SHAMAN KING

hygge, by fruitysmell / @fruitysmellz (G).

hygge. a danish word used for a special feeling of coziness and contentment, whether with friends or alone and at home or out.

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SKY HIGH (2005)

the language of flowers by evergreeen / @everrgrreeen (T).

“i think he deserves to sweat about it for a while,” magenta said, reclining back in her chair. “maybe if he thinks that another guy is interested in you, he’ll come to his senses and see what’s right in front of him.”

layla’s head snapped up to look at her shapeshifting friend.

“magenta, that’s it!”

“what’s it?”

“i’m going to make will jealous… by pretending to date warren peace.”

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THE SOCIETY

you don't scare me anymore by misschatelle / @misschatelle (M).

chief holbrook calmly held her glare for a few seconds. “do you mean to say that you have no memories of the past eight months?”

allie shrugged. “maybe it was all a dream.”

“can you tell me what happened in that dream?”

“why does it matter now?”

“because some of you never returned. and we’d like to understand why. We have parents who, for a second, were given hope, only for that to get brutally taken away. they’ve seen all the other families reunite with their lost children, and they didn’t get to do that. they want answers, and i don’t have them. i’m hoping you can help me.”

(four teenagers never made it back to west ham. emily warner. cassandra pressman. greg dewey. campbell eliot.)

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STRANGER THINGS

be brave and kiss the girl by fatechica / @fatechica (T).

el hopper: beautiful, sweet, and instantly one of the most popular girls in the hawkins’ high junior class when she moves there after her dad takes the job of police chief for the small town. mike wheeler: king of the nerds, A/V club president, and completely invisible to girls.

naturally, mike notices the new girl - how can he not when she’s the most beautiful girl he's ever seen in his entire short life? but she’s so far out of his league, it’s not even worth dreaming about. so it’s completely and utterly confusing to him when el takes a lot more than a polite interest in him.

el, for her part, is instantly smitten with the cute nerd with gorgeous eyes, adorable freckles, and the most beautiful smile she’s ever seen. no one understands when she decides to pursue him, especially not the popular kids, but it’s harder than she bargained for to get mike to trust her, to let her into his heart. guess it’s a good thing she’s as persistent as she is popular, isn’t it?

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TANGLED

her everything by fabulist / @thatfabulist (M).

being the part-time boyfriend, part-time babysitter of the princess isn't all it's cracked up to be, but eugene fitzherbert is up for the challenge. besides, he loves her. now rated M for extra sauciness.

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VERONICA MARS

the orion protocol by annie174 (M).

in the immediate aftermath of the final bomb, veronica finds out things are not as they appear. a fix-it for the veronica mars season 4 final. spoilers for season 4.

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X-MEN

kissing friends, by pirate turner (PG).

friends surprise each other under the mistletoe. kurtty.

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X-MEN: EVOLUTION

playing with fire, by taekwondodo (M).

kurt (nightcrawler) and kitty (shadowcat) managed to get things worked out between them - mostly - but things have taken a decided turn for the worse and are only going to go downhill from here.

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YOUNG ROYALS

and each slow dusk, by loyaulte_me_lie / @if-fortunate (M).

“he wishes for a time machine to turn back the clock, back to a world where his mother wasn’t on the end of the phone, saying grimly, “wilhelm, you need to come home. it’s starting.””

two months after wille’s arrival at hillerska, war breaks out. when his and erik's last-ditch attempt to leave the country goes badly wrong, he ends up stuck in bjarstad - with simon.

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[ FANDOMS A-I HERE ]

[sorry-moots]

Inversion of Genesis

if this seems familiar it's because i originally posted it on my main blog oh also it's in scaramouche's POV characters featured: scaramouche cws: reader is sensitive to noise wc: 837

prev | masterlist | next

Chapter Seven

Two weeks have passed since the fleet had embarked on their journey to Sumeru. In that time, the soldiers aboard the vessel had become acquainted with each other, become friends with each other, and, eventually, become drinking buddies.

Their favorite time to drink and dance was late in the night, when all of the higher ranking officers had retired to their private quarters and there was no one to reprimand them for their roughhousing. Or so they thought.

Scaramouche lay awake in bed, staring at the ceiling. He didn't need to sleep much but he wouldn't have much to do on the three month trip so he figured he may as well. If he could, that is, with all the racket his soldiers were making.

"You would think they would run out of drinking games to play every night," he mused to himself, "or at least players with the way they like to get wasted." As he scowled in the darkness, the harbinger's attention was briefly wrenched from the soldier's cheering as they wrestled on the deck nearby. Scaramouche had been distracted by a high pitched noise that did not resemble a man's voice.

He followed the sound—he could hear it every few seconds— to its source and arrived at the door of his assistant, [Y/n]. Without so much as a light knock, he threw open the door and glared at [Y/n] with a forced look of disdain.

Wait, is she crying?

[Y/n] quickly sat up in her bed and cleared her throat. "Was there something you needed, my lord?" she asked as she wiped her face. Her voice was thick with the tears she had shed.

The scowl he had leveled at her faltered, but he regained his composure immediately. "Why are you crying," he deadpanned without preface. "I could hear you crying from my room."

Still wiping her face, [Y/n] started to apologize. "I'm so sorry, my lord, I didn't mean to keep you awake, I just haven't been sleeping well, I'm not used to sleeping in such a loud environment and the soldiers are so loud, it keeps me up at night no matter how tightly I hold my pillow over my head and—"

By then, [Y/n] was out of breath and Scaramouche could clearly tell she was about to start crying again. "Wait here" was all he said before stepping out of the room.

The harbinger's fists tightened at the broken little "okay" he heard as he shut the door.

Scaramouche's strides were fast and fluid as he made his way to the deck. His cadence alone would have been an obvious indicator of his ire, had the soldiers not drunken themselves to stupidity.

He cleared his throat loudly. No one heard him over the ruckus they were making. He climbed the steps to where the ship's captain stood at the helm. There, he raised his voice over the crowd. "Soldiers! I have an announcement for you."

Once he was sure they were all listening, he began. "From here on out, the deck will be off limits from 12am to 6am. Now, if you check your watches," he says, sneering as he mimes checking a watch, "Archons, would you look at that! You're all violating the new curfew!"

The soldiers below began to grumble, causing Scaramouche's expression to harden. "What part of 'curfew' do you miserable worms not understand?" he questioned. The malice in his voice quieted the majority of the soldiers. "Shut up and go to sleep before I put you to sleep. Permanently."

At this, a hush spread over the deck and the only sounds to be heard were that of retreating footsteps, creaky floorboards, and waves hitting the side of the ship.

Finally, some peace and quiet, the harbinger thought to himself as he sighed exasperatedly into the night. As he approached [Y/n]'s door on the way to his quarters, he debated entering once more but ultimately decided against it.

Just before he shut the door to his room, he heard a gentle voice call out to him and turned to face you.

"Thank you, Lord Scaramouche. You didn't have to go through the trouble," you murmured, not quite meeting his eyes.

He waited a beat. "Hmph. I didn't silence them for your benefit, I silenced them so you would stop wailing like an infant." You didn't say anything but Scaramouche heard you scoff and knew you were rolling your eyes at him. He does this sort of thing all the time.

"Well, then," he started as he turned to finally face you. "If you have nothing else to say, go to bed. You have two weeks' worth of rest to catch up on."

You smile gratefully. "As you wish, my lord."

As tired as you are, your smile is still full of warmth and he freezes momentarily. Upon recovery, he mutters a quick "whatever" and shuts himself in his room, where he tries in vain to cool the blush in his cheeks.

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tag(s): @lacunaanonymoused

[sunnylighter]

Clean up after the fight was subdued, with no one really knowing what to say.

The Jules-shaped robot was taken to Tails' lab to be chained up and examined from every possible angle short of reactivating him. Tails, Rotor, and Nichole were thorough in their examinations, fixing the damage and deactivating the weapons. At the moment they were busy purging any form of connection to the EggNet and attack protocols from the bot's systems, removing any form of control Dr. Eggman had with it.

But… they still hadn't turned it on.

It was unanimously and silently decided that turning the robotic hedgehog back on would be Sonic's call, and Sonic still wasn't sure how to feel about that.

The injury to his leg had turned out to be mostly superficial. A cut that, while deep, hadn't needed stitches and would heal in a few days so long as he kept it bandaged and didn't push himself.

For once the doctor didn't need to worry about that. Sonic had been practically haunting Tails' lab since the fight, just staring at the machine.

The robot that might not just look like his dad, but actually be his dad.

I drew a scene from my fic, Sunken Treasure, from the Lost in the Waves series. I’m trying to go back and add art to all of them. Link to the fic is below.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/62857219

[serenepalingenesis]

✧༺HARMONY༻∞

hello. we have completed the second subliminal for our honkai: star rail path series. this entry is quite straightforward: the subliminal revolves around group shifting. instead of “i” affirmations, this subliminal uses “we” and “our” affirmations to embody the concept of the harmony path. along with group shifting affirmations, there are also affirmations about feeling motivated to shift when witnessing other people shift, feeling safe within the shifting community, and harnessing the shifting capabilities of all shifters (no matter what reality they’re from).

(There's alt versions of the sub in the description including a Rain, Theta waves, and Fireplace version -🌊)

listen to this subliminal with whoever you want to shift with in any way that makes you feel connected to them, whether it be within the same room or simply listening to it while thinking about them. genesis will also be writing a post about group shifting soon, so please stay tuned for that.

- 🪷

[ybetzarts]

❗Contains a bit of spoiler from the Archie comics❗

When i got into the sth fandom, for the second time, i was surprised to discover that it had a comic by archie, so i got into that. Also because i was looking for more knuckles content lol. Did some research and found some really interesting and weird, almost hilarious(?) stuff..knuckles turned green, at one point he died??? that kinda stuff...like, why?? Dug dipper still, then i discovered the controversies, K.P. and the lawsuit, etc.

[Read more below]

I heard parts of the comics were a mess, but i gotta start somewhere. Stumbled upon an article where it mentioned bout the post genesis wave arc, which seemed to be the comic series' reset point or something, with a new writing direction. It kinda confused me at first, coz there was this sonic universe too (It confused me, why do certain scenes had to be separated from the main series? anyway..), and then there was the Boom series as well. I read those. Got some good Knuckles content in there. Then i went and read the IDW, good stuff. (Am taking a break from reading the idw. Will come back to it someday) Lotta things happened in between my Archie comic research. Gosh, i read through several articles and even watched videos bout some of the controversies, those echidna comics(not the archie ones, more like KP's own comic, iykyk hngg). My first impression was that the dude's crazy, with the way people described him. Am not sure bout now. Anyways, good times. Its so funny looking back at the things that i did to sorta, even for just a little bit, catch up on sth. Didnt have the luxury to play the games, but i always knew of Sonic T. Hedgehog the fast blue hedgehog as a kid. Hmmm...i wonder how things coulda gone if i were given the chance to play the games as a kid. When i revived my interest in sth, it felt like it was meant to be, i dunno. Ok thats enough talk XDD

[sparklyhyperbole]

WIP Title Game

Rules: Make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs

Thank you so much for the tag, @mistresslrigtar !

There are four.

So you're going to hear about them ALL and if anybody wants to hear more I will junk up your brain with even MORE.

#1 Of Trust and Trickery [Ongoing]

A BotW AU as a passing wave at my Middle Eastern Studies degree. Inspired by the edition of Arabian Nights my toddler was teething on. ✊😓

So picture this: 100 years ago Link was the captain of the guards assigned to the oldest temple to Hylia, located in Gerudo.

The Sheikah and the Gerudo shared in its upkeep, with Hyrule's military providing support.

In a sweeping response to fear mongers, the King of Hyrule cut off the Sheikah's access to power based technology - prompting the genesis of the Yiga. Oh no!

But that's not all.

Their first move is to ambush the remote temple and make it their head quarters!

It gets worse!

The Yiga use Spirit Orbs to turn each guard into a compliant source of spirit power— Djinn!

Thus my genie AU was born.

🧞‍♂️🧞‍♀️🧞‍♂️🧞‍♀️

100 years later, Zelda accidentally comes across our angry blue 100 year old cat bachelor. (There's a cat, btw, because animal companions are always a plus)

Tldr; local girl discovers fox caught in fox trap, wants to help. Maybe if he can stop biting her and trying to chew his leg off for 10 seconds, she'll help him. Maybe.

#2 Taming Wild Horses / Colosseum / Arena / ????  [3 of ?? Chapters written]

Close your eyes and imagine it—

Link is a colosseum fighter and reigning champion. His whole life is dedicated to it, except in the off season.

In the off season, he's contracted out as a mercernary wherever he pleases.

SCENARIOS OCCUR and both the King & Princess experience close calls with assassins. As a temporary assignment, Link is contracted out to personally bodyguard Zelda.

Zelda, avid botanist and reportedly the most powerful Zelda in 100 years is not a lover of the colosseum, and consequently completely unimpressed with Link.

In the background, Sheikah are mysteriously vanishing, so are dead bodies, and they might be warding off a famine.

There is grief! Injury! There will be betrayal! Pining!

Tldr; A cat and a dog have to fix EVERYTHING themselves. But it's not the fixing that's the issue, it's that the other person won't just GO AWA—waitcomeback. 🥺

#3 Swept Up Botw Prince Link AU Heavy Jinshi x Maomao vibes (Apothecary Diaries) but also this is about power dynamics and FUNGUS.

Here's the setting: There has been a coup! Hyrule's royal family were all murdered! Baby girl princess survived! (Shhhh.)

But like 20 years have passed and everyone says new King Ganon is decent.

Shrug it off. Coups happen. He lets us vote about some stuff.

Link is his youngest son. Being low in the line of succession, he's never at home in the castle.

Instead, he spends most of his time fighting the war that kicked up with Hyrule's neighbors after the coup.

There's something so personal about swinging a sword, you know? You know.

His right hand man and personal secretary is Sheik, a secret intelligence officer whose *actual* job is to ferret out the princess.

But guess who raised Baby girl princess?!

Our trio of sibling Sheikah researchers: Impa, Purah, and Robbie.

Zelda's personality is more like Impa's in this. She works as a castle maid, but she knows exactly who she really is.

Tldr; standoffish pretty boy who *suffers* as a lifestyle falls for the stray cat with the broom who is having none of this. Sheik is referee.

#4 Divinity in Excelsus

So this blurb below may or may not be my only written content for this WIP.

Ahaha it IS. WE ARE LAUGHING.

This will be a Chrno Crusade LoZ AU. *Weeps openly*

Link and Zelda are exorcists from separate orders belonging to the Holy Order of Hylia.

Enemies to lovers with bullets and Urbosa and Rhoam as rival heads of the order.

All the champions are in this because I NEED them and I cannot express how much I want to write Daruk as a Holy Father during the roaring twenties and Revali as munitions assistant to Robbie, inventor of all demon-killing weaponry.

Tldr; Zelda and Link in the roaring twenties, with exorcist guns blazing and a different kind of Calamity to stop.

Sooooooo.....ooo... *throws tags like confetti*

@abbyzwrites, @needfantasticstories, @aegon-targaryen, @airplanned

No pressure to play!

[omegaremix]

Cold Cave / Black Marble / Choir Boy @ Warsaw, N.Y.C.; June 14, 2018.

Hello, Warsaw. We meet again. It’s been seven months since I first visited the Polish powerhouse on Driggs Avenue in Greenpoint, one of my all-time favorite places to visit. That was when I attended Hospital Productions 20th Anniversary showcase and it became an unforgettable experience. This time, it’s a shorter affair featuring only three acts: Choir Boy, Black Marble, and headliner Cold Cave. The ritual is the same as last time and every time. Wait on the platform, take the train, hop on the subway line, and arrive in the neighborhood none more blacker where you stand against the venue’s wall. It was all clear out. Thursday’s warm air and blue skies was not symbolic of the night’s wicked-black climax. I called my sis- to tell her how euphoric I was feeling, experiencing these days and moments I normally don’t but should more often. For every time I waited entry at Warsaw, there was always someone from Stony Brook who I would randomly spot. Last time it was WUSB’s Cornflower zipping past on his bike. Now it’s Marcel, my queer friend from The Stony Brook Press whom I took a quick two seconds to be sure it was him. I was right. We hugged each other and then my anxiety shot up because I haven’t seen him since The Press’ 35th and the venue was ready to open its’ doors. He had to leave anyway for Ru Paul’s Drag Race, the diet of queer champions, but promised him we’d resume catching up down the road.

The line now entered Warsaw. Unlike Hospital’s instant get-go, we waited almost an hour for the opening act to go. Salt Lake City’s Choir Boy was first up, self-proclaimed Mormons (kidding or not) currently signed to Dais Records. They’re a spot-on bullseye of Eighties-aesthetic synthpop, new wave, and light goth-rock that was pleasing and lush. Never abrasive but gentle, breezy, and aurally sentimental. Adam Klopp’s vocals make the outfit’s namesake (he has sung in church choirs), hitting high notes just floating above the collective’s perfect dream world. Their synths, guitars, beats, and riffs and basslines fall right into my current Eighties kick, keeping the vibe alive. And note Kyle Hooper’s dangling earring when he’s right behind synths…

Black Marble was one of two reasons why I chose to be there. WUSB’s Nightmare Aquarium is responsible for making me a fan of theirs during a summer’s transition to Lindenhurst. Their output has been nothing but good to me. To this day, their sound is one I have yet to figure out and that’s a great thing. Chris Stewart / Black Marble got a great standing ovation revisiting his Brooklyn hometown as a new Los Angeles resident. It didn’t change the total mood or quality of his music if ever the slightest. Still a two-man two-guitar outfit without Ty Kube and a drum machine, Black Marble got right to it filling the vastness with said guitars and drum machines upfront as Stewart’s vocals receded far away and above into the open space. Even if there’s a cold, distant, low-fidelity quality in Black Marble, things somehow sound upbeat for its rays of sunshine. A clean perfect set all the way through.

Cold Cave finally take the stage. It can be said (and said again many times here) that they were one of the essential summer sparks igniting my personal revitalization of sorts during the post-economic crash. From then on, their songs continuously watermarked some of the better key moments in my life without fail, so it’s why I paid a visit to see them live as a thank-you. Wes Eisold made his entrance along with wife Amy Lee (guitars, synths), Ryan McMahon (drums), and Nils Blue (guitars) to open the set with songs from You & Me & Infinity. The New Order-inspired “Glory” really got the crowd going. Soon, New York City got a special treat only for themselves: an appearance by Genesis P-Orridge to perform “Comprehension”, her 2015 collaboration with Cold Cave and Black Rain. It’s her residency, so why not have Cold Cave make the most of their visit? Then the blinding “Heaven Was Full” and later on their marquee hit “Confetti”, which to me was the entire night.

Then, flashing solid colors went wild as Cold Cave went into “Rainbow Girls” mode, the only time the show went color. What did we win? A visit by author Max G. Morton of Eisold’s Heartworm Press, who came on-stage to deliver “Heavenly Metals” before Cold Cave’s ultimate closeout. Morton was decked in all black just like their set, standing tall and no doubt couldn’t be fucked with as he spewed his brand of cold despotic mean testimony. A few more songs and the night was history. Cold Cave delivered one of the most powerful performances I ever felt. McMahon’s drums hit hard, loud and clear through Eisold, Lee, and Blue’s blasting synths and guitars. Most of their setlist and songs I hoped they’d play was more I could ever ask for. “Confetti” was the start of a new era for me when all was almost lost. “Comprehension” has become one of my all-time favorite songs of this decade, if not, ever. “Glory” followed suit to become a new memorable winter favorite of mine. The string of favorables still keeps coming from them. With a new American Nightmare record out, it’s Eisold’s winning year. No bullshit, no moshing, no shoving; save for the guy standing next to me (and it had to be him) who was furiously stomping the venue floor to the point of near-collapse, and almost tearing the venue’s front rail off. Someone was a little into himself at the show, no?

My second visit to Warsaw in as many months was just like the first. Randomly encounters with friends from Stony Brook, amazing line-ups in an amazing venue, and another day in Greenpoint where the fever pitch comes from being in a great place in a great time and having the right ties with specific people. It’s not every day I experience it, but when I do, I feel like with all the motherfuckers and fishnet-wearing witches around me in Boy Harsher, Joy Division, Cat Power, and D.S.-13 shirts, I hit the jackpot.