#[music; symphony of a tyrant]

[cxldtyrant]

I am one step closer to having Cooler get into Earth's hard rock/heavy metal genre...

[honeybeezgobzzzzz]

☠️ Something Dread, Something Red: Chapter Twenty-Five

Something Dread, Something Red: Stuck in a proposal to a Marine Commodore, you escape minutes before your wedding in one last ditch effort to avoid getting married to a tyrant. Barely making it to the port of your town, you stumble across a ship just starting to leave and beg for passage off the island. You fail to notice that the people you beg for help, are pirates.

Warnings: Violence, Injury, Blood, *Shark Music*.

To Note: “Red Haired” Shanks x FemReader

Word Count: ~2.3k

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You step into the small classroom, a canvas tarp crumpled under your arm and a basket of paints in your hand. The children's laughter and shouts echo from the playground outside, a chaotic symphony of joy that makes you smile despite the task at hand. You set the basket down on one of the low tables, pushing aside tiny chairs to make space.

Unrolling the tarp across the floor, you can’t help but glance out the window. The children are darting about like fireflies, their bright clothes and lively movements a stark contrast to the rigid world you left behind. You’ve grown fond of this place and its simple, unrestrained happiness.

You shake your head slightly, bringing your focus back to the task. A large cardboard cutout leans against the wall—a dragon’s head for the school play. It’s a blank canvas now, but you can already envision it brought to life with vibrant scales and fierce eyes.

Pulling out brushes of varying sizes, you arrange them neatly beside the paints. Your fingers work methodically, opening jars and mixing colors on a palette until they’re just right. The smell of acrylics fills the room, a scent that has become oddly comforting. As you dip a brush into deep green paint, you hear footsteps approaching. The door creaks open slightly, and Hana peeks her head in.

"Need any help?" she asks, her eyes twinkling with warmth.

You smile at her offer but shake your head. "I've got it under control. The kids should enjoy their recess."

She nods approvingly before disappearing back into the corridor, leaving you alone with your project. You turn back to the dragon’s head and take a deep breath. The first stroke is always the hardest—transforming an empty surface into something alive.

With steady hands, you begin painting broad strokes of green across the cardboard, each swipe adding texture and depth. The rhythm is soothing, almost meditative, as you lose yourself in the creation. Time slips away unnoticed; all that matters is bringing this mythical creature to life.

The door bangs open, and you nearly drop your brush. Yumi stumbles in, tears streaming down her cheeks, clutching her arm. Behind her, Taro hovers like a worried shadow, his face a mask of panic.

"Miss Aria! Yumi fell!" Taro's voice wavers as he rushes in, trying to help but unsure how.

You set your brush down and cross the room quickly, concern etched onto your face. "Yumi, let me see," you say softly, kneeling in front of her.

She sniffles and holds out her arm. You wince on the inside, knowing how painful it had to be for such a little girl, and force yourself to stay calm.

You take Yumi’s wrist gently, your fingers brushing against her skin. Her tear-filled eyes meet yours, a silent plea for reassurance.

“What happened, Yumi?” you ask, your voice calm and soothing despite the worry gnawing at your insides.

Taro shifts nervously beside you. “She fell from the playground. She was climbing the ladder and lost her grip. She tried to catch herself, but she cut her arm on the way down.” And that was why Shanks and the others were in the process of replacing all the old and rusted equipment.

You glance back down at Yumi’s arm, examining the jagged scrape running along her forearm. Blood seeps from the wound, mixing with dirt and tears. But what really catches your attention is the way she has been cradling her arm close to her chest, avoiding any movement.

You swallow hard, forcing yourself to stay composed. “Yumi, can you try to move your fingers for me?”

She bites her lip and hesitates before attempting to wiggle them. The motion is minimal, and she winces in pain.

Your heart sinks. The thought of her arm being broken crosses your mind. You’ve seen similar injuries before—bruised and swollen, movement restricted by pain. But those had been grown men, not a little girl.

“Alright,” you say softly, giving her a reassuring smile despite the concern in your eyes. “We need to get you some help. I think your arm might be broken.”

Taro’s face pales at your words, his eyes wide and frantic. “Is she going to be okay?” he asks, his voice barely above a whisper.

You nod firmly. “Yes, but we need to get her to a doctor right away. I'm going to take Yumi into town to the doctor. I need you to go fetch Miss Hana and tell her what happened, Taro.”

You carefully lift Yumi into your arms, cradling her gently to avoid jostling her injured arm. Her small frame feels so fragile, a stark reminder of why you need to be careful. She buries her face into your shoulder, muffling her sniffles. You can feel her tears dampening your blouse.

“Hang on, Yumi,” you whisper softly, more to reassure yourself than her. "You'll be all fixed up in no time."

You stride out of the classroom, Taro trailing behind you with wide eyes. The schoolyard seems impossibly large now, the path to town stretching endlessly before you. You set a brisk pace, knowing every second counts.

“Miss Hana will know what to do,” you say to Taro over your shoulder. “Run quickly.”

Taro nods and takes off, his little legs pumping as he races back toward the school building. You focus on the path ahead, each step taking you closer to the town and the doctor who can help Yumi. The village is not far, but the journey feels like an eternity. Each step echoes with the weight of responsibility on your shoulders. You whisper comforting words to Yumi, hoping they soothe her as much as they calm your racing heart.

As you approach the edge of town, familiar faces blur past—villagers going about their daily lives. They pause, concern etching their features as they see you rushing with a crying child in your arms.

Mrs. Hoshino from the bakery steps forward, worry in her eyes. “What happened?”

“Yumi fell,” you explain hurriedly. “I think her arm might be broken.”

Mrs. Hoshino gasps but nods quickly, pointing toward the small clinic at the end of the street. “Dr. Tanaka is in today. He’ll know what to do.”

You thank her and hurry on, relief flooding through you as you spot the clinic’s sign swinging gently in the breeze. The door creaks open as you push through it, the smell of antiseptic greeting you. To your surprise, it’s empty. The small reception area is silent, the usual bustle of patients and nurses absent. Dr. Tanaka must be out on one of his house calls.

You shrug off the unease and focus on Yumi, whose tears have subsided to soft whimpers. “It’s going to be alright,” you murmur, carrying her gently to one of the examination tables.

Setting her down carefully, you look around for supplies. Your hands move swiftly, guided by instinct and necessity. You find antiseptic wipes, bandages, a needle and thread for stitching wounds, and an anesthetic. Your fingers tremble slightly as you gather what you need, but you force yourself to stay calm.

“Yumi,” you say softly, “I need to clean your arm now. It might sting a little.”

She nods bravely, her big eyes filled with trust. You take a deep breath and begin cleaning the gash on her arm. The antiseptic wipes away the dirt and blood, revealing the full extent of the wound. It’s deep but not too long—a cut that will heal with stitches and proper care. You don't, however, know the state of her bones. You would do what you could for the time being.

You take a deep breath, trying to steady your nerves. The clinic is quiet, the only sound the faint rustle of leaves outside. You glance at Yumi, her tear-streaked face watching you with wide, trusting eyes.

"Alright, Yumi," you say gently, reaching for the bottle of hand sanitizer on the counter. You pump a generous amount into your palm and rub your hands together until they’re dry and sanitized. “I am going to give you something that will numb the skin around your wound so you don’t feel the stitches, okay?”

She nods, sniffling slightly but staying brave. You grab the anesthetic and a syringe from the tray, carefully filling it. "This might pinch a little," you warn her softly as you approach.

Yumi winces as the needle pricks her skin, but she doesn't cry out. Brave little girl. You administer the numbing agent around the laceration with steady hands, watching as her arm begins to relax under its influence.

"There we go," you murmur, more to yourself than to Yumi. "Now we wait just a minute for it to take effect."

You dispose of the syringe in the small bin nearby and pick up the needle and thread. The antiseptic smell mingles with the scent of clean linen and faint floral notes from outside.

"Yumi," you say, looking into her eyes, "I'm going to stitch your wound closed so it stops bleeding. It shouldn't hurt because of the numbing medicine I gave you. If it does, tell me immediately. We’ll still need Dr. Tanaka to check your bones when he gets back."

She nods again, her little face set in determined lines. You feel a surge of pride at her courage and return your focus to the task at hand.

You thread the needle with precision, pulling it taut before leaning closer to Yumi’s arm. Your fingers move deftly, weaving in and out of her skin with practiced ease. Each stitch brings the edges of the wound closer together, forming a neat line that will soon begin to heal.

"You're doing great," you tell her softly, keeping your voice calm and soothing. "Almost done."

Yumi watches intently, her curiosity momentarily overshadowing her fear. You tie off the final stitch and snip the thread with a small pair of scissors. Then for extra precaution, you grabbed the materials to splint her arm, and did so as carefully as you could.

"There," you say with a smile, straightening up. "All done."

Yumi looks at her splinted arm in awe, then back at you with gratitude shining in her eyes. "Thank you," she whispers.

You give her a gentle pat on the head and reassuring smile. "You're welcome, but you have to give yourself credit for being so brave. I bet Miss Hana will let you finish painting all the trees green when we get back."

Yumi's face brightens up at the mention of the trees and you feel a flood of relief throughout your body. As long as you keep her calm, everything will go smoothly.

You sit beside Yumi, your fingers lightly brushing her hair as she rests her head against your shoulder. The minutes stretch, each one feeling like an eternity as you wait for Dr. Tanaka. The clinic remains eerily silent, the only sound the occasional rustle of leaves outside and Yumi's soft breathing.

A sudden commotion at the door jolts you from your thoughts. You spring to your feet, heart pounding with hope. "That must be Dr. Tanaka," you say, half to yourself, half to Yumi.

You rush toward the door, ready to greet the doctor and bring relief to Yumi’s pain. But as you pull it open, your breath catches in your throat. It’s not Dr. Tanaka.

Marines stand before you, their uniforms crisp and intimidating. Recognition instantly flashes in their eyes as they spot you, and a malicious grin spreads across the leader’s face.

"Lady Linaria Bonn," he sneers, stepping forward. "We've been searching for you everywhere. Your fiancé has been beside himself since you were kidnapped."

Panic surges through you, but you force yourself to stay calm. "I don’t know what you’re talking about," you say evenly, blocking the doorway with your body. "I left on my own volition."

The Marine leader chuckles darkly. “That’s not what the reports say and we’ve been looking for you for a long time. We’ll be taking you in. He lunges forward, grabbing your arm with a grip like iron and dragging you outside the clinic.

Instinct takes over as Shanks' teachings flash in your mind. You twist sharply, yanking free from his grasp and swinging your fist toward his face. Your knuckles connect with a satisfying crunch, and he staggers back with a grunt of pain.

But there are more of them. Another Marine grabs you from behind, locking your arms in a vice-like hold. You struggle fiercely, kicking and thrashing, but his grip is unyielding.

"Let go of me!" you shout, fury and fear mingling in your voice.

Yumi’s cries cut through the chaos. "Leave her alone!" she screams, tears streaming down her face as she watches helplessly.

The Marine leader wipes blood from his nose and glares at Yumi. "Take the brat too," he orders coldly. "We can’t have any witnesses."

"No!" Your heart sinks as another Marine moves toward Yumi, lifting her roughly into his arms despite her struggles.

"Stop! She’s just a child!" Your voice breaks with desperation as you fight against your captor’s hold.

The Marines ignore your pleas, dragging both you and Yumi out of the small courtyard. Your mind races frantically for a way out, but all paths seem blocked by their relentless strength.

As you're forced outside the sheltered courtyard and into the harsh sunlight, the village feels miles away from the sanctuary it once was. Rather than give up, you start shrieking and trying to make as much noise as possible. Someone was surely to come.

You thrash wildly in the Marine's grip, every muscle in your body straining against the iron hold. Panic surges through you as Yumi's cries echo in your ears. The Marine leader's smirk is the last thing you see before a sharp blow lands on the back of your head.

The world tilts, spinning out of control. Pain explodes behind your eyes, radiating through your skull. You try to scream once more, but your voice dies in your throat as darkness creeps in from the edges of your vision.

Your knees buckle, and you collapse into the Marine’s arms, the fight draining from your limbs. The last thing you hear is Yumi’s terrified screams mingling with the mocking laughter of the Marines before everything goes black.

Date Published: 7/8/24

Last Edit: 7/29/24

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[disney-is-mylife]

My Disney Villain Categorization because I have lost control of my life

Disclaimer: I am ONLY counting movies from the Walt Disney Animation Studios line-up. That means, no Pixar, DisneyToon, no live-action, etc etc.

If y'all ever want to know what kind of Disnerd I am..... here ya go. I don't come up with theories or headcanons. Instead, I categorize! So here's the giant list no one asked for lmao:

~~~

There are Four Major Categories:

Totalitarianism

Personal Grudge

Means to an End

Ambiguous

Each category has two sub-categories, plus sometimes an extra sub-sub-category:

Totalitarianism: The Selfish Tyrant & Imperialism

Personal Grudge: Rise to Power (Aka, Hate Your Dad) & Obsession

Means to an End: Animal/Child Cruelty & Forces of Nature

Ambiguous: Intangible & It's Complicated

Without any further ado, let's dive in!

Tier 1: Totalitarianism

The Selfish Tyrant

What it says on the tin. Already a monarch, already has power, and just abuses it for their own personal reasons.

Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland)

Prince John (Robin Hood)

King Candy/Turbo (Wreck-It Ralph)

King Magnifico (Wish)

Imperialism

Even if it's not literally imperialism, these are the villains who are interested in "spreading" their power, to subjugate others for their own selfish needs, etc.

The Horned King (The Black Cauldron)

Ratigan (The Great Mouse Detective)

Gov. Ratcliffe (Pocahontas)

Shan Yu (Mulan)

Lt. Rourke (Atlantis: The Lost Empire)

Alameda Slim (Home on the Range)

King Runeard (Frozen 2)

~~~

Tier 2: Personal Grudge

Rise to Power (aka, Hate You/Your Dad)

This formula was particularly popular during the Renaissance (almost HALF of those films employed this!)

Ursula (The Little Mermaid)

Jafar (Aladdin)

Scar (The Lion King)

Hades (Hercules)

Yzma (The Emperor's New Groove)

Dr. Facilier (The Princess and the Frog)

Hans (Frozen)

Bellwether (Zootopia)

Obsession

These are the villains who don't want or need more power, but rather are fixated on the protagonist, for one reason or another.

Revenge:

Evil Queen (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)

Captain Hook (Peter Pan)

Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty)

Shere Khan (The Jungle Book)

Amos Slade (The Fox and the Hound)

Bowler Hat Guy (Meet the Robinsons)

Callaghan (Big Hero 6)

Control:

Most of these are toxic romantic abusers, but familial ones are counted as well.

Lumpjaw (Fun & Fancy Free; the Bongo sequence)

Lady Tremaine (Cinderella)

Gaston (Beauty and the Beast)

Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

Jack-in-the-Box (Fantasia 2000; the Steadfast Tin Soldier sequence)

Mother Gothel (Tangled)

Ralph (Ralph Breaks the Internet)

~~~~~

Tier 3: Means to an End

Cruelty

These are the villains who have no real interest in "power," but are willing to use unethical methods to get what they want (usually monetary or material desires).

Animal:

Cruella DeVil (101 Dalmatians)

Edgar (The Aristocats)

Clayton (Tarzan)

Child:

Every single Pinocchio villain (besides Monstro lol)!!

Medusa (The Rescuers)

Sykes (Oliver & Company)

McCleach (The Rescuers Down Under)

Forces of Nature

What it says on the tin. These aren't really "bad guys," no matter how scary they appear. They're just Nature and a source of conflict for our heroes.

Monstro (Pinocchio)

T-Rex (Fantasia; the Rite of Spring sequence)

"Man" (Bambi)

The Wolf (Make Mine Music; Peter & the Wolf sequence)

The Rat (Lady and the Tramp)

Black Bear (The Fox and the Hound)

The Firebird (Fantasia 2000; the Firebird Suite sequence)

Carnotaurus (Dinosaur)

Te Ka (Moana)

Don't Fuck with the Fae

Same principle as Forces of Nature, only fantastical/supernatural examples, and as a result, are often more petty or cruel. But mostly, they don't actually do any harm when left alone. But if you cross their path....

Zeus (Fantasia; the Pastoral Symphony sequence)

Chernabog (Fantasia; the Night on Bald Mountain sequence)

Willy the Giant (Fun & Fancy Free; Mickey and the Beanstalk sequence)

The Headless Horseman (The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad; Sleepy Hollow sequence)

Madam Mim (The Sword in the Stone)

Tamatoa (Moana)

~~~

Tier 4: Ambiguous

Intangible

I'm just gonna list the films that have a sorta "villain"-ish, in the sense that there's a major conflict/theme that hurts the protagonists, but is mostly very.... vague or metaphorical.

Dumbo (society/prejudice)

Lady and the Tramp (classism/animal cruelty)

The Fox & the Hound (yes, I counted Amos Slade and the Bear previously, but the "true" villain is Prejudice)

Brother Bear (ironically, would fit under "Obsession/Revenge"..... if the target was more than just an ordinary bear)

Chicken Little (society/bad parents)

Bolt (reality)

Encanto (generational trauma)

Strange World (generational trauma)

It's Complicated:

Honestly, I straight up could not decide on a category for these movies because their "villains" are much more complicated than your average Disney antagonist.

Lilo & Stith

Treasure Planet

Raya and the Last Dragon

And finally!

No Villains:

Here's the handful of Disney movies with absolutely ZERO villains or major antagonists or themes that can be interpreted as the "true" villain/conflict.

(I don't count the Heffalumps and Woozles, because they only exist in Pooh's dream lol)

Saludos Amigos

The Three Cabelleros

Melody Time

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Winnie the Pooh (2011)

[perhaps-in-anotherdream]

[CN] Victor’s Sea-circle Event (Chapter 5)

⌚ This post contains detailed spoilers for content yet to be released on the global server! ⌚

✧ mum’s smile || little gentleman || art and love || mum’s companionship || endearing thoughts

【Endearing Thoughts】

By the tenth day of the study tour, children from different classes have already formed close bonds with each other. Even during the downtime of waiting for the bus, they would spiritedly chase each other and engage in playful activities. At an age when children naturally love to play, under the precondition of safety, teachers and parents allow them to freely engage in activities.

Among these lively figures, there is one small figure who appears quieter than the rest, making him stand out as particularly unique. The boy’s back is straight as a ramrod, and his shirt is neatly tucked in. His demeanor is calm and composed, resembling a little adult, without any signs of constraint. He always stands by his mum’s side throughout, not displaying any traces of impatience despite the bus being late.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈

“Vic, why don’t you come and play with KeKe and the others too?”

A parent smilingly calls out to the boy.

Upon hearing this, the boy’s mum lowers her head and strokes his hair, 

“Vic-Vic, go play with them. I’ll call you when the bus comes.”

The boy shakes his head, not saying anything to explain his refusal.

Seeing this, the enthusiastic parent walks up to the mother and son, striking up a friendly conversation with the boy’s mum.

“Out of all these children, Vic is the most obedient. He didn’t stir up any mischief throughout the journey, unlike our little tyrant who almost tore off the ceiling of the plane…”

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈

The boy’s mum smiles along with the other parent, looking at her son with a gaze filled with pride. But there appears to be an additional layer of emotions mixed in her gaze, resembling the feelings of regret and being ridden with guilt,

“He has indeed never caused me any worries since childhood.”

“But, it’s important to let him play more often. Children should be livelier and more adorable when they are young, so they can better integrate into society as they grow up. It’s not good to be too introverted. We, parents, can’t be by their side forever, can we?”

The boy’s mum smiles but doesn’t say anything, slowly lowering her eyelashes as if lost in deep thought. The boy lifts his head, and his mother’s silent demeanor is reflected in his clear eyes. After a while, he suddenly speaks.

“Mum, I want to go and play with my classmates.”

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈

The boy’s mum is taken aback for a moment, then she nudges the tip of his nose,

“Go ahead.”

As she watches the boy quickly join the children in play, faint dimples form on her cheeks.

“He... actually isn’t introverted.”

“He is very sensible and has his own ideas about things.”

The bus finally arrives after a ten-minute delay.

Today’s itinerary is quite relaxed. In the morning, they visit an art university, and at noon, they will have a group meal at a restaurant booked by the school.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈

The bright-hued family restaurant has been decorated with the utmost care, with colorful balloons and beautiful embellishments adorning every corner. The children cheerfully shuttle through the restaurant, but soon the teacher requests everyone to take their seats. 

“While we wait for the meal, the teachers have prepared a little art knowledge quiz for everyone! There are prizes for this competition~ Let the teacher reveal what the prizes are! The third prize is…”

The children clamor with excitement, enthusiastically raising their hands to sign up.

But the little grown-up boy shows no interest, because he is very hungry now and just wants to have lunch as soon as possible.

“And now, I’m thrilled to reveal the most exciting grand prize, which is–– tickets to a music concert by the celebrated French symphony orchestra!”

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈

“The tickets to this concert are very difficult to get.”

The boy’s mum suddenly exclaims in a soft voice.

The boy gazes at his mum’s glowing eyes. His little head seems to be in deep thought, and then he lifts his hand.

“I want to participate too.”

The contest wraps up swiftly.

All the questions were related to the knowledge points that the teachers had explained during the study tour, so the boy found them very simple. 

The teacher places a beautiful flower garland around the boy’s neck and puts a small crown with “No.1” written on it on his head. The boy politely expresses his thanks and solemnly accepts two tickets from the teacher. He then returns to his seat and hands them over to his mum. However, compared to the joy of receiving tickets to the concert, his mum seems to be even more proud of his performance. She opens her arms and gives him a big hug.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈

“Our Vic-Vic is number one~”

With his chin resting on his mum’s shoulder, the boy looks at the tickets in his hand, and a hint of joy quietly surfaces in his serious expression. 

The reason he took the initiative to participate in the competition was originally to win the concert tickets for his mum and make her happy. But he seems to have forgotten that his mum actually really loves to smile–– whether it’s because of his great performance, or when he and his dad debate over a difference of opinion on something, or when he achieves good grades… but most of the time, though, it seems that as long as he smiles, she would also have such a radiant smile on her face.

The reason his mum is so happy right now is probably that he not only won the concert tickets but also performed well in the competition. Perhaps, this is what they mean by “killing two birds with one stone.” As the boy thinks this to himself, the corners of his lips unconsciously curl up into a smile.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈

Before the arrival of the main course, the waiters bring some desserts for the students. The boy ponders for a moment and chooses a pudding. The plump pudding is adorned with a tantalizing drizzle of chocolate sauce on top, and the velvety whipped cream is embellished with bright red strawberries.

The boy wipes his fork meticulously and takes a bite with great anticipation, only to furrow his brows and put the fork down. The boy’s mum, who is taking pictures of the concert tickets with her Polaroid on the side, notices his reaction,

“What’s wrong?”

“I want to eat Mum’s pudding.”

The boy blurts out.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈

The mother is momentarily surprised, but when she looks up and sees the boy’s frowning little face, she can’t help but burst into laughter–– That little face, which is always mature and composed, finally reveals a rare childishness and willfulness. Even the corners of his lips and arches of his brows are adorned with liveliness and cuteness that cannot be concealed.

“Okay, Mum will definitely make it for you.”

After her words, she can’t resist reaching out and poking the boy’s cheek.

“Who says our Vic-Vic isn’t adorable?”

The boy’s eyes squint involuntarily due to his mum’s actions, and in his slightly distorted vision, his mum’s brilliant smiling face blends together with the splendid sunlight, creating a resemblance to a beautiful oil painting.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈

For a brief instant, the boy suddenly wishes to use that ability he has never told anyone about–– to pause time; so that he can preserve this smile like those beautiful oil paintings, frozen in its most radiant moment.

But this thought flashes through his mind for only a fleeting moment.

Because he couldn’t bear to let this smile come to a pause. It should be vivacious, ever-changing, and lasting for a long, very long time.

He resolves to bring a beautiful bouquet of flowers every time he sees his mum, to let her know that he is growing up well, becoming more sensible and more outstanding.

In this way, he will be able to see such a smile frequently.

───────────

💘 • Date: here!

───────────

[brave-symphonia]

I really like the comparison between the Witch King and the Twin Empresses here.

The Witch King's symphony is harsh and spectacular, trampling all else, they even said that he killed subordinates who don't keep up.

The symphony he gives is all for himself, a tyrant who only cares that his symphony is the grandest thing around, it kind of has a cold feeling to how it's described, yet imposing. Kind of like a large mountain.

But the Empresses duet isn't so tyrannical. They work together, with a more simple melody, simply acting in harmony to face off against the Witch King's music.

And I really like that the fact that they are the twin empresses is worked into their music and who they are in contrast to the Witch King, who stands alone.

[sjrouka]

General starter, if interested

It was a beautiful night. The half moon shone bright amidst the gorgeous sea of stars that accentuated the unhampered evening sky while nature hummed its tranquil symphony, carried amidst the trees and shrubbery surrounding the nearby lake by a crisp breeze. All was so serene; well, that was up until a low gutteral snarl briefly interrupted that very placidity with its discrepancy to the common hums of the surrounding creatures.

Despite the beauty surrounding her, Rouka was overly restless and growing increasingly more vexed as every peaceful moment passed. Every decision she had made in the midst of her manumission was being questioned. Her arrival on this unique planet came mere weeks prior, and yet she had yet to do much of anything of importance in her mind. Of course, she wasn't immune to the beauty that surrounded her, but why had she even bothered to come here?..

She was without a planet of her own to call home, no surviving family or friends to seek out, no retribution to seek out after the Tyrant that demolished the life she had known had already been destroyed. Logically, this was as good a place as any to at least temporarily reside. But her only reason for entering this world in the first place stemmed from the simple curiosity of the beings capable of bringing the demise of her captor. But, now that she was actually here, she was at a loss of ideas for her next moves.

It was obvious by even the veiled levels of ki some of these warriors conveyed in even their more dormant states that she would be of little match against them as she was now. Blatantly challenging them for prides sake and the chance to be acknowledged seemed rather frivolous, as enticing as the idea of the battle may be. As much as her SaiyaJin nature thrived for the challenge, she would rather not perish after finally regaining her freedom. Logic urged that she at least attempt the idea of the gratified life her loved ones would have hoped for her. So that option was out, at least for the time being. And being sociable wasn't precisely her forte either after the many years of distancing herself from her magnanimity as much as possible.

"Urgh! This is frivolous!"

She practically growled aloud, her ki spiking ever so slightly amidst her frustration while she struggled against the urge to lash out on the nearest object she scrutinized. Even her tail that was typically nestled snug around her waist thrashed violently behind her, further exemplifying her indignation. Realizing her momentary lapse in control, Rouka did her best to try to calm her vexation, albeit slowly. All she could do for the moment was close her eyes, breathing in the alluring aroma of the scenery around her while attempting to allow the music of the night to soothe her ire.

[himalayafountains]

Most Beautiful Musical Dancing Fountain Profile—-The SHENZHEN SEA WORLD Music Fountains

Shenzhen sea world music fountain is a 30 million China merchant property investment, revealing the land of the Shenzhen local tyrants' treasure land. Only such dance every day besides the Minghua ship's extremely luxurious music fountain can dance in Shenzhen Shekou sea world, Shenzhen sea world music fountain the night like a shining pearl of the world, seawater dancing with laser, The symphony of music and fountain, the unique water and fire, the changes of light and shadow, will bring an audio-visual feast to all who stop to watch!

For more information visit

[lasclfindyour]

Viva caligula in hell adult swime games

#VIVA CALIGULA IN HELL ADULT SWIME GAMES FREE#

I loved the art of the game, one of the features of the game was collecting illistrations for your gallerie and they were beautiful. When I got home I told my Nan and she rang my cousins mum, but her response was "she probably did it herself to get in trouble!" but my nan was on my side (she knew how much I loved that game) and I never had to go to their house alone ever again.ĮTA: They somewhat recently re-released the game on Nintendo DS but they re drew all the art for it, and it looked so bad. I couldn't say anything, she was older than me and her mum was evil. Then I was telling her about my game and we were about to put it on, and I opened it, and the disc was snapped in half. They had a Playstation, and when I got there, I took the game out of my bag and left it by the Playstation in her room and then just left it while we played in the garden and had dinner and all that. Anyways, I took my favourite game with me to her house, I hadn't been there for a long time and I thought maybe she's be ok, because she actually asked for me to stay. She used to say things like "ha ha, you don't have a dad/you're mum is on drugs/you're poor" just general nasty things, but considering she's about 3 years older than me, she really should have known better, she would also hit me any time she could get away with it. My cousin (STEP cousin) was always really horrible to me. I got stuck on one bit, it was really complicated, but it was because of my age, I couldn't understand what the game wanted me to do. I played it for months, compared to other games I had at the time it felt like I could do so much! I would walk the cave systems for ages, try to capture monsters to trade, I even made real life maps of the cave systems and towers, so that I wouldn't get lost in future. I picked it up and held onto it until my nan came back to get me. And the picture (this was before they started showing anime on children's channels in England) was like nothing I'd ever seen. Usually, there would be multiple copies but there was only one. We didn't go to the market often but when we did I would spend the whole time looking at the games, until time came to leave and I would pick the ones I wanted. There would always be a stall selling pirated games (we called them 'copy' games) and usually you'd get like 2 for £5, or 5 for £10. Every Saturday there was a market in this empty parking lot behind the hospital (which was like a 10 minuet walk from my house) and they sold all sorts of (usually knock-off) clothes, household items, music, jewellery, there was even a meat van selling cheap meat. Semarang report adult, Xhtml form design, Weller 8200 soldering gun manual, 2 poly warm form, Pictures high resolution.It was for original Playstation and it was an imported Japanese RPG. Help the new Emperor CaligulaĬastlevania symphony of the night strategy guide Rome has fallen into a city of Drunk, Violent and Perverse citizens. Full Repair Base 2008-2014 AllPlay Viva Caligula Hacked and Unblocked. Download or read online viva caligula weapon guide. Slaughter tortured souls with over twenty different weapons, and face down other dead tyrants viva caligula all weapons CALIGULA III - Imperator des Schreckens - deutscher Trailer - Duration: 3 viva caligula weapon guide.pdf. Caligula's reign on Earth is over, so now Hell must face his wrath. Gather 26 different weapons, destroy fellow Romans and discover the Orgy Room. Where can i find a weapon location guide for the online game viva caligula. Tiny adventures dungeons and dragons guide Want to known the locations of all the weapons in a handy map format? Click the following link! /25f20dz.png (PS: If

#VIVA CALIGULA IN HELL ADULT SWIME GAMES FREE#

Play Adult Swim's Viva Caligula, a free online flash game on. Why should Emperor Caligula have to pay for his sins? Pay them forward in Viva Caligula! In Hell! as you battle Hitler, Stalin and other evil dudes to take your Gather 26 different weapons, destroy fellow Romans and discover the Orgy Room. Best Answer: You ALREADY have the weapons! This is different from the original Viva Caligula, where you had to go around actually 'finding'

[yourlocalsewerdragon]

For the music asks, 5 and 11?

5: A song that needs to be played LOUD - SO MANY. Kill the director, Fill in the blank, Fuyunohanashi, I hear a symphony, and Jacket over hoodie over shirt just to name a few <3333

11: A song that you never get tired of - Thus always to tyrants, any ghibli soundtrack, and I hear a symphony(can u tell i like that song a lot) !!

[blackswaneuroparedux]

How I came to Compose the Ode to Napoleon [Opus 41], 1942 The League of Composers had asked me (1942) to write a piece of chamber music for their concert season. It should employ only a limited number of instruments. I had at once the idea that this piece must not ignore the agitation aroused in mankind against the crimes that provoked this war. I remembered Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, supporting repeal of the jus prime noctis, Schiller's Wilhelm Tell, Goethe's Egmont, Beethoven's Eroica and Wellington's Victory, and I knew it was the moral duty of intelligentsia to take a stand against tyranny. But this was only my secondary motive. I had long speculated about the more profound meaning of the Nazi philosophy. There was one element that puzzled me extremely: the resemblence of the valueless individual being's life in respect to the totality of the community or its representative: the Queen or the Führer. I could not see why a whole generation of bees or of Germans should live only in order to produce another generation of the same sort, which on their part should also fulfill the same task: to keep the race alive. I even surmised that bees (or ants) instinctively believe their destiny was to be successors of mankind, when this had destroyed itself in the same manner in which our predecessors, the Giants, Magicians, Lindworms [Dragons], Dinosaurs and others had destroyed themselves and their world, so that first men knew only a few isolated specimens. Their and the ants' capacity of forming states and living according to laws -- senseless and primitive, as they might look to us -- this capacity, unique among animals, had an attractive similarity to our own life; and in our imagination we could muse a story, seeing them growing to dominating power, size and shape and creating a world of their own resembling very little the original beehive. Without such a goal the life of the bees, with the killing of the drones and the thousands of offspring of the Queen seemed futile. Similarly all the sacrifices of the German Herrenvolk [Master Race] would not make sense, without a goal of world domination -- in which the single individual could vest much interest. Before I started to write this text, I consulted Maeterlinck's Life of the Bees. I hoped to find there motives supporting my attitude. But the contrary happened: Maeterlinck's poetic philosophy gilds everything which was not gold itself. And so wonderful are his explanations that one might decline refuting them, even if one knew they were mere poetry. I had to abandon this plan. I had to find another subject fitting my purpose. - Arnold Schönberg

Contrary to what some believe, Arnold Schönberg (or Shoenberg) didn’t write his famous Ode to Napoleon piece to pay homage to Napoleon Bonaparte. He did so to serve an altogether different purpose. The Ode to Napoleon required a reciter (narrator), a string quartet, and piano. It was composed during the Second World War as a protest against tyranny. Lord Byron’s poem castigating Napoleon served the composer in expressing his own feelings concerning latter-day tyrants.

The impetus for this composition was twofold: 8 December 1941, the day after Pearl Harbour was bombed, Schöenberg heard President Roosevelt’s famous “day of infamy” radio address; and in January 1942 Schönberg received a commission from the League of Composers for a short chamber work. The League celebrated its 20th anniversary by commissioning several 10- to 20-minute works. Schönberg accepted the commission and composed the work between 12 March and 12 June 1942.

However, it seems that Schönberg was not satisfied that his work would receive an adequate performance at the League of Composers’ concert, and he declined to send them the piece. He and his students searched for suitable performers and venues, but the “Ode” was not premiered publicly until 23 November 1944. Schönberg exercised great care in choosing the text; he wanted to compose something on a text by Lord Byron, for the poet’s support of Greece’s struggle for independence mirrored Schönberg’s allegiances to the Europe struggling against the tyranny of Hitler.

He eventually combined the “Marseillaise” and the motive from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony at the moment when the speaker declaims, “the earthquake voice of victory.” 

Expressions of sarcasm and scorn are depicted throughout the work by means of numerous characteristic motifs based mostly on a single chord structure (in ascending order: A, C, F, G-sharp, C-sharp, E; forming the twelve-tone set with its transposition a step higher). Thus many consonant chords are heard in the course of the piece culminating in the final tonal cadence to E-flat.

The Ode is divided into four parts (five, three, four, and seven stanzas respectively) separated by instrumental interludes and prefaced by an introduction which contains the leading motifs.

The first part, following the entrance of the Reciter, consists primarily of two themes – the “Napoleon” motifs – denouncing the tyrant. The second main part, following an instrumental interlude, treats three historical characters whose fate is contrasted with Napoleon’s.

After a second interlude, which uses elements of the Introduction, the third part is presented, interrupted by frequent recitative passages.

The final section follows a brief interlude and develops nearly all the main aspects of the poem, culminating in the reference to Washington (depicted by a four-note up-down-up motif: D, E-flat, G, B-flat) as the heroic counterpart of the tyrant. This final passage gradually settles down to a definite tonality (E-flat), which has been hinted at throughout the composition and which is made possible by the unfolding of the logical consequences of the 12-tone set itself.

Schönberg himself heard the Ode played live in its original form only at a rehearsal preceding the concert in honor of his 75th birthday (13 September 1949) in Los Angeles.

Of his decision to compose the piece, Schönberg wrote: “I knew it was the moral duty of intelligentsia to take a stand against tyranny.”

[microcosme11]

Beethoven’s Symphony #3 was written for Napoleon but Beethoven got a little angry

Beethoven originally dedicated the third symphony to Napoleon Bonaparte, who he believed embodied the democratic and anti-monarchical ideals of the French Revolution [......] the politically idealistic Beethoven titled the work "Buonaparte". Later, about the composer's response to Napoleon having proclaimed himself Emperor of the French (14 May 1804), Beethoven's secretary, Ferdinand Ries said that:

In writing this symphony, Beethoven had been thinking of Buonaparte, but Buonaparte while he was First Consul. At that time Beethoven had the highest esteem for him, and compared him to the greatest consuls of Ancient Rome. Not only I, but many of Beethoven's closer friends, saw this symphony on his table, beautifully copied in manuscript, with the word "Buonaparte" inscribed at the very top of the title-page and "Ludwig van Beethoven" at the very bottom ... I was the first to tell him the news that Buonaparte had declared himself Emperor, whereupon he broke into a rage and exclaimed, "So he is no more than a common mortal! Now, too, he will tread under foot all the rights of Man, indulge only his ambition; now he will think himself superior to all men, become a tyrant!" Beethoven went to the table, seized the top of the title-page, tore it in half and threw it on the floor. The page had to be recopied, and it was only now that the symphony received the title Sinfonia eroica.

An extant copy of the score bears two scratched-out, hand-written subtitles; [...]  Three months after retracting his initial Napoleonic dedication of the symphony, Beethoven informed his music publisher that "The title of the symphony is really Bonaparte". In 1806, the score was published under the Italian title Sinfonia Eroica ... composta per festeggiare il sovvenire di un grande Uomo ("Heroic Symphony, Composed to celebrate the memory of a great man"). 

— wikipedia

[dwordza]

Fuck it, lets be gods

Dream: God of Mystery. Controls the enigmas of the mortal realm. Ironically, has close to no power in the pantheon, and is Extremely pissed about it. Minor God of Control, Power, and Thieving. If you and/or a loved one has recently found one of your most prized possessions stolen, there’s a chance the Mystery God has found himself a new plate of meat to play with. Tread with caution, and keep your enemies close. No one likes the God of Mystery.

Schlatt: God of Secrecy. Every whisper you share, he hears. Frequently visits those having affairs, just to fuck with them. Also visits those suffering from addiction. Minor God of alcohol, drug usage, and rams. If you feel as though you’ve become something no one forgives, it’s likely the Secret God has touched your soul with bile. Be not afraid when you die, he welcomes all with a smile and a swig of whiskey.

Techno: God of Trust. Be mindful to never use those around you, he will tear you in twine. Aside from being a God, he also acts as a servant for the Angel. Minor God of loyalty, war, and revenge. The servant of blood is not to be fooled with. A savage beast born from mans greatest ailment: his own dishonesty. Do not lie to a pig, for they will never find your corpse.

Philza: God of Creation. All mountains and streams are made of the same gods tears. Those who follow the Creator are forever under his control, and even in death do they serve him. The Angel of Death, the Blood God, the destructor. Atoms cannot be destroyed or created, and you must get your building blocks from somewhere. Minor God of birds, death, and dreams. Those who hope are often imbued with the spirit of the Blood God. But do not try to escape his afterlife, he’s a firm believer in “You Only Live Once”.

Ranboo: God of Duality. The cost of silken fists is a broken memory. An eye for an eye is what the Dual God lives by, forever in a constant battle with himself. He’s haunted by apparitions of the Mystery God, cursed to have sacred hymns whispered into his psyche. Those touched by his careful hand frequently forget their names. Wrote the 3 Great Tomes, but lost 2. Minor God of memory, cats, and the Sky.

Wilbur: God of Possession. He has his things and you have yours, keep it that way. Those touched by his demanding grasp often hoard and steal. He is defiant towards the pantheon, cast out by his own Father and cursed to roam the earth as a wandering Bard. Minor God of music, explosives, and performance. Any performer or star wears a pendant of the Possessive God on their neck, for good luck. His unfinished symphony lives on in the demigods he raised, and in a siren mistress.

Tommy: Demi-god of Attachment. Before Tommy, the world was very bleak. Only the gods felt connections, and from the Creation God bore a human child capable of caring. He sent him down to be raised by his eldest son, the Possessive God, and to be brought into his godhood by age 16. This did not go as planned. The Possessive God disappeared without a trace, and the Mystery God took Tommy under his wing. Tommy has been cloaked by Mystery, and left to fend for himself with no friends in sight.

Tubbo: Demi-god of Devotion. Tubbo met a lone boy in the forest, and climbed a rickety tower to where a demigod reached for his home. Together they’ve become great soldiers and best friends, working with others to fight back against the tyrants who wish to hurt them. Visited by the Servant of Blood and brought to their knees by the Mystery God, they only wish to find peace alone with themselves. Tubbo has visions of a Secret God, a goat man who leads him to make decisions to favor the very gods he wishes to know. The God of Creation shows distance towards his children, but to Tubbo the most.

Fundy: Demi-god of Trickery. Cursed into a fox body with the brain of a genius, Fundy wanders the mortal world searching for someone who will simply listen to him. Luckily, with the help of the Dual God, Fundy found himself to be a bipedal beast with glowing eyes and great, sharp teeth. He now serves the Dual God and keeps his many tomes in pristine order. Though sometimes, when the Gods sleep and the town dreams, he stares into the sky and longs to find his lost family. Fundy has lately been seen drinking with a man people can only describe as “severely intoxicated, like really man go home.”

Quackity: Bard of Corruption. A humble butcher hellbent on murdering the Servant of Blood, Quackity uses his supernatural qualities to morph his face into another. He frequently takes the mask of the Mystery God, and finds himself the owner of much land simply because he resembles a God. He mocks the Gods, too, creating personas that dirty the Gods names and create propaganda about their intentions. Quackity is very intuitive, extremely smart, and with enough cockiness about him that he can serenade even the coldest hearts with his lovely music. He sold his butcher shop and took himself and his good friend Sapnap on a great journey to find a God willing to fund their operation. And they did.

Karl: God of Prevention. Karl has traveled through time and space trying to stop the terrible things he’s seen, and he’s failed every time he’s tried. Minor God of dance, wealth, and the arts. Karl was so close to resetting again, when a wild bard and an AWOL knight begged him for funding. He... he couldn’t turn them away. He found himself enamored with their jokes and the way they danced around his temple, chasing each other with sticks and small daggers. Karl, for the first time in his eons of living, danced. This timeline wasn’t like the others. In the others, his Bard died. In others, his Knight never left the castle. In the others, he never swung in their embrace and asked them to stay forevermore.

Sapnap: a once loyal knight turned to murder and thieving, Sapnap is a force to be reckoned with. He once dueled the Servant of Blood himself, and would’ve won had it not been for the Servants second wind. For his good fight, the Servant rewarded him with the Axe of Peace, a enchanted weapon created from the Servants very soul. Sapnap sold it to a wandering soldier boy dubbed ‘Theseus’. He followed his fellow Quackity to the temple of Suspension, where they found a lonesome God on the brink of madness. He’s now engaged to said God, along with Quackity, and ferrying him around the world, showing him everything he’s missed cooped up in that temple.

Jack Manifold: The man who escaped the labyrinth, Jack Manifold is as shifty as they come. He was slaughtered by Tommy, and hellbent on revenge he tore his way out of the Creation Gods labyrinth, and started his hunt. Cursed with a capped chain and a broken spirit, even the Servant shakes when he sees Jack Manifold. He’s recently joined the Blood Gods temple, and his triumph in his labyrinth gave him a great deal of leverage. The Blood God himself has given him protection, bidding him to find and kill his youngest son. Jack Manifold plans to do just that, and he’s not going to stop there.

Niki: Niki Nihachu is a woman of great power, protected by the Possessive God and close ally to the Servant. She left her home in ruins and burned the great tree which she had grown to hate, calling upon the Possessive Gods sacred soul to grant her the power of explosion. And grant he did. She now finds herself working with one Jack Manifold and, with the help of the Servant, she’s found the location of the Demi-god Tommy. She plans to assassinate him, becoming the true heiress to the Possessive Gods thrown in the pantheon. She’s had great success, as of late.

Note: in this AU Tommy is one of philzas children, but in a “I created you from nothing” type beat. Tommy isn’t his Blood son, but instead a ball of magic melded into human shape by the Angel. Philza then sent Tommy away to be raised by Wilbur. I came up with this AU when Tommy was still assumed to be Philzas son in canon, and it fits the story well so I’m not gonna change it. Just know: philza is not a “bad dad”, he’s a really cool god who got bored and created a funny little demigod to go and cause problems. He also respectfully bid Jack Manifold, among others, to hunt down his creation bc he’s a Girlboss in this AU lmao.

[pennypyro]

notes on re-watching V for Vendetta

-curfew...and police brutality

-the way V and Evie meet is v similar to how Gilbert and Rose meet in Sandman

-btw in the graphic novel, Evie was trying, at the beginning, to supplement her meager income by means of sex work.  She asked a guy to be her customer and he turned out to be a Fingerman

-the parallel shots between V and Evie

-oh hi Lestrade

-I suspect jazz music was banned under the Norsefire regime.  i know jazz was at the v least highly frowned upon by the Nazis bc it originated with black musicians

-Prothero seems v self-absorbed

-Salisbury...in the comic, 1 character visited Larkhill while on LSD and wandered around until he came to Stonehenge at sunrise.  it was my favorite part

-”he used to say artists use lies to tell the truth”

-”i wish i wasn’t afraid all the time but i am”

- i teared up when Evie said she wished she had the guts her parents had

-a pedo priest....Alan Moore knew what was up

-her death was the gentlest bc she showed remorse, i think

-given John Hurt’s role in 1984, his role in this movie is p ironic

-for that matter, given Hugo Weaving’s role in this movie, his role in Captain America is p ironic

-these flashbacks are reminding me of the pandemic

-well that’s gotta be triggering for Evie

-Dietrich :(

-Valerie was born the same year as me

-2015---ended up being the year of the Obergefell decision irl

-sobbing

-the guy who comes into her cell has an Irish accent

-you gonna get her an inhaler or something during her asthma attack???

-”in the former United States, civil war continues to devastate the Midwest” 

-...”the more aggressive his supporters become”

-Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, 1st movement. the rhythm of the main motif is the same as the Morse code for V

-”i felt like i could see everything that happened”  cus you were high as a kite on LSD

-people turning against the police in response to an act of brutality

-”a revolution w/o dancing is not a revolution worth having” sounds like a paraphrase of Emma Goldman

-the tyrant is getting very scared

-”the time has come for me to meet my maker and  to repay him in kind for all that he has done” has real “I will face God and walk backwards into hell” energy

-i forgot Dietrich was in the crowd at the end. and was that Valerie and Ruth?

-am i hearing Malcolm X in that song in the credits? yes, and Gloria Steinem

[dotthings]

Ode to Joy

That fun TFW 2.0 powerwalk set to Beethoven’s Ode to Joy isn’t just a die-hard shout-out and musical cookie for team-oriented fans.

That usage is loaded. Read this post about its role in Die Hard and A Clockwork Orange. A couple of points from that:

Ode to Joy was composed to go with a poem by Friedrich Schiller which talks a lot about brotherhood and friendship. Also overcoming tyrants (Michael).

it’s been used by oppressors and as a symbol of freedom. For example in 1989 Leonard Bernstein led a peformance of it to celebrate the end of the Berlin wall.

it was Beethoven’s final symphony — so this is bittersweet. TFW 2.0’s final hurrah (temporarily) before Dean’s virtual death as he is again lost and consumed by Michael

The movie usages were for violence—here SPN changes that up a bit and it’s mostly for a brotherhood of heroes, walking into a fight where they know they’re completely screwed but have to do it to save thousands of lives anyway, who do have to commit violence but not gratuitously or with joy.

I wonder who suggested it—Robert Berens who wrote the ep or spn’s composer or a showrunner. Given its layers of meaning and relevance (ironic, sad, and celebratory) for the characters in this ep I wouldn’t be surprised if it was scripted.

[antialiasis]

Hadestown

Whooops I have a new musical obsession, help.

I was actually mostly drawn to this one musically. I heard a cover of “Why We Build the Wall”, found the musical soundtrack on Spotify and listened to the whole thing out of curiosity, and was like “Hey, this is bangin’, I want to listen to this again.”

Hadestown, as a narrative, isn’t really particularly me. It’s a love story (or, more accurately, two love stories of sorts). As you will know if you’ve read any of my blog, I’m not much of a romantic when it comes to fiction, and the love ballad(s) are pretty consistently my least favorite songs in basically every musical; this is no exception.

But there’s something that appeals to me in Hadestown anyway. It’s a very liberal modernized-but-also-not semi-metaphorical reinterpretation of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice (that’s the one with the guy who wants to bring back his dead girlfriend from the underworld, and Hades lets her go with him so long as he doesn’t turn back to look at her on the way; spoilers, he does look back, and she ends up back in the underworld forever). It’s actually doing a vaguely similar kind of thing as Jesus Christ Superstar, which may be part of why I dig it: taking well-known mythology, developing the figures in it as characters and exploring their motivations, existing in and embracing this in-between space where it’s simultaneously about these ancient mythological figures and extravagantly modernized reinterpretations of them, intentionally skirting the line and never quite committing to exactly to what extent it’s literal or metaphorical or something in between.

Here, it’s Greek myth in something vaguely like the Great Depression. Orpheus, a poor musician (who in the lyrics is said to play the lyre, even though on stage he’s clearly playing the guitar), falls in love with a practical, down-to-earth girl named Eurydice. Times are hard and they are poor, and Eurydice is most concerned with food and shelter and basic needs, while Orpheus is devoted only to his art; in “Wedding Song”, she asks where they’re going to get wedding rings or a wedding bed and Orpheus insists that when he finishes the song he’s working on, the rivers and trees and birds will provide what they need. As Eurydice tries to prepare for the winter and storms and further hardship, while Orpheus just sits there working on his song, Eurydice is approached by Hades, a rich industrialist who rules the underworld, Hadestown, where no one goes hungry. He seduces her, or persuades her, or kills her - again, this musical exists in the space between the literal and metaphorical - and she comes with him to Hadestown, where Hades has the inhabitants, or the spirits of the dead, slaving away working to build a wall to keep out the poverty and misery of not having a wall to work on, and Orpheus journeys to get her back with directions from our narrator Hermes.

Intertwined with that story is the story of Hades and Persephone, who were in love a long time ago, but are now bitter and estranged from one another - Persephone (as in the myths) spends the summer months of the year happy above ground, but in the fall Hades comes for her and takes her down to Hadestown, where he’s obsessively building walls and machines and furnaces and electric grids that he wants to impress her but do just the opposite as she despises the heat and the light and the noise: It ain’t right and it ain’t natural. In Hadestown, Persephone runs a speakeasy of sorts, where she sells the miserable inhabitants the sky and moon and stars, or quite possibly they’re all just a metaphor for a lot of liquor and drugs (the word moonshine, of course, sees some use).

I find myself drawn to the story of the latter two here, somewhat predictably, because they are a couple of very fucked-up people in a very fucked-up relationship. Hades is absolutely the villain here, and a pretty chilling one at that: “Why We Build the Wall” is the backwards, rousing anthem of a sort of cult leader enslaving a population of people and persuading them that the wall they’re building will keep them free, and holy god damn can he make his voice terrifying. But there’s this sense of desperation to him as well. One of my favorite songs by now is “Chant II”, where Hades threatens Orpheus with death or imprisonment or some other sinister fate, and rants, practically frothing at the mouth, about women, and how they’re so seasonal (har har), they’ll come and they’ll leave, and you just have to keep them with you by chaining them and weighing them down with riches, and then:

Now I sing a different song One I can depend upon The simple tune, the steady beat The music of machinery Do you hear that heavy metal sound? The symphony of Hadestown And in this symphony of mine Of power chords and power lines Young man, you can strum your lyre, I have strung the world in wire Young man, you can sing your ditty I CONDUCT THE ELECTRIC CITY!

And you realize Hades has basically built this entire industrial city because machines are dependable and reliable and he can control them and they won’t leave him every six months. You can sort of see it laid out how once upon a time Hades and Persephone were happy, but as the cracks in their relationship developed, he channeled his fear of losing her into the most toxic possible path, and that’s what’s made him this possessive tyrant obsessed with industrialization and control, effectively just as trapped in this cage of his own making as his citizens. He’s terrible, but you get how he got there, in his awful fucked-up way, and that’s always a thing that I’m into.

In the end, Orpheus and Persephone melt him a little and grant him a bit of self-awareness, and as Orpheus gets his chance to try to save Eurydice, Hades and Persephone also decide to try again - which I hope also involves, y’know, freeing the slaves/souls/literal-metaphor-mixture-something, or at least no longer forcing them to imprison themselves behind a pointless wall, and Hades all in all redeeming himself and becoming a better, more compassionate person again, but given that, I’m actually rooting for them, which is impressive after the literally nearly everything that goes on between them. Persephone wants to try again and she deserves happiness, okay.

Orpheus and Eurydice have a healthier relationship (I mean, Hades and Persephone would be very hard to top), but it’s still fraught with Orpheus’ neglect of their basic needs, and eventually his giving in to his own inner demons as he finds himself unable to trust and believe that she’s truly behind him despite the promises that they made (and to be fair, Eurydice did go and get herself Hadestowned last time he left her alone). “Doubt Comes In” is another one of my belated favorite songs on the soundtrack; it gives such a good musical sense of that creeping dread as his confidence falters and he loses his nerve.

All in all, I just like listening to this soundtrack a lot and I mayyyy be feeling an uncontrollable urge to organize another trip to New York so I can slip in and see this performed help

[ivanaskye]

Okay, so, since I saw that post about bookstore employee recommendation shelves too-often being boring… I’ve had a hard time getting myself to stop thinking about what my recommendation shelf, if for some reason I ever had a chance to curate one, would look like.

So here we go: a list of The Good Stuff(™), which is not as well-known as it probably should be!

MEMORY by Linda Nagata.  This is absolutely the most obvious of these recommendations, to me, because hoo boy, this is a book that I have loved for a while that I have never seen in a bookstore since I first found it, lolsob, and which I’ve also never heard discussed online.  In fact, I literally think there were only 4 goodreads reviews the last time I checked…

Anyway, this book contains one of the weirdest and most complex spec-fic settings I’ve ever seen.  It takes place on a ring-shaped world where tides of silver mist kill and reinvent the landscape at near-random, where reincarnation is a known event and tiny mechanical beetles keep villages safe.

It’s also paced somewhat questionably, but in a way where I don’t mind, which I think is a recommendation in its own right.  Every single page seems like a gift, a chance to get more looks into this weird setting that never quite fully reveals all of its secrets.

Extra bonus points for literally the only love triangle I have ever liked.

.

AND I DARKEN by Kiersten White.  The trouble with curating lists of not well-known enough books is that you have to ask yourself, not well-known enough to who?

So yes, this is mainstream.  Yeah, you might have even heard of it.  But I’m pretty sure that people who habitually avoid YA—or, for that matter, totally non-fantasy, no-magic-involved, historical fiction—haven’t checked it out.

And they really should.

The trilogy this book starts is, hands down, the best YA I’ve ever read, using the narrowed focus on just a couple of characters so common in YA to the best possible effect.  The world is large and complex, but through our two lead characters, we care.  

And the theme!  The theme of these books is so perfectly-executed.  It’s power vs love, inherited home vs found home, and it works so well.

Also, a really good handling of religion (mostly Islam).

And if all that isn’t enough to sound good, consider this: one of the characters is GENDERBENT DRACULA.  How cool is THAT???

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THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF KASTELIR by Sam Farren.  This is also the beginning to a trilogy, and I never hear this one talked about either.

It’s about a necromancer getting swept up by a lady night and learning THINGS about DRAGONS.  And about the weird, complex history of her world.  And everything happens all the time, and there are clashing armies and evil empires and everything you might want from high fantasy.

And it also centers around an f/f/f triad.

And a story so gripping that I really, really did not like putting these books down.

Admittedly, I’m still not convinced that the last half of the third book lives up to the rest of the series, but it was alright enough, and the series is worth the ride.

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BLOODLUST by Auryn Hadley.  This is another one where I ask, well known to who?  This is the start to a reverse harem epic fantasy series that basically everyone in reverse harem circles is talking about, but which I don’t think anyone outside those circles knows about.

I’m still not caught up to the series—and it isn’t even entirely finished yet—but I’m most of the way through the fifth book, and so far, it’s good.  I’d basically describe it as liberation porn: it’s about a marginalized non-human series rising up, with the main character growing from a confused smol to a great leader, and making massive equal rights strides every two seconds.  There’s plenty of conflict and difficulty, but also a lot of “HELL YEAH, ANOTHER PERSON HAS BEEN CONVINCED THAT EVERYONE IS PEOPLE!”

The MC also builds her contingent of (male) lovers slowly, developing really good, well-thought-out relationships with each one.  People attracted to dudes will probably actually enjoy this series more than me, but I have to say, I really like especially the third guy added to the harem!

(Ignore the weird CG covers, though.)

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MEDUSA UPLOADED by Emily Devenport.  Heavy breathing, guys, this is the best SF I’ve ever read.

This is way high-tech, probably hard SF, set on an oligarchical generation ship without being depressing, somehow.  One of the keys to this intense lack of despair is the often-freeing nature of much of the technology people have access to, even when it’s the very same technology that the people in charge try to use to control their subjects.  For instance, the brain chips everyone has can be programmed to contain the entire database of music humanity has ever made on them, so the main character just listens to symphonies all the time.   But in tyrant’s hands, people can also be forcibly implanted with chips that prevent them from seeing anything the tyrants don’t want them to see… but then, those implants can be overridden by other rogue elements…

There’s just, a lot going on, all the time, and there’s real joy in this book.  The main character may have never seen a real flower in person until a particular scene midway through the book, but she can wander through mindscape gardens anytime she wants, and communicate telepathically with other people… including adorable androids.

Who send “<3” symbols to each other.

While overthrowing the government.

GODS IT’S SUCH A GOOD BOOK.

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THE NEWCOMERS by Helen Thorpe.  So, uh, I may have forgotten while I was starting this list that I’ve also read some really good nonfiction lately.  This book is among it.

This follows a single year in a high school ESL classroom mostly comprised of refugee teenagers, and holy shit, the sheer humanity in this entire book.  The complexities of learning a new language are counterpointed with information about why these students are no longer in their original homelands, what their families are going through, what the refugee resettlement process in the US is like…

And just, how much people they are.

Gods, I love people.

Honestly, this pretty much should be required reading for the current political climate, so… go get this book, and also please do shove it at your conservative relatives.  Maybe they’ll learn something.

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GOD IS NOT ONE by Stephen Prothero.  Another nonfiction, which could probably be retitled, Everything About World Religions You Wanted To Know But Were Too Afraid To Ask.  This primarily gets into the differences between religions, and is a really good read, especially if you want to break free of the ‘maybe all religions are US white Protestantism’ mindset.  (Hint: they’re not.  Like, not at all.)

Obviously, religion is a really big subject, so this book doesn’t have everything—it only covers eight religions, and I know my girlfriend can verify that it misses a few things about her branch of Buddhism, for instance.  But it’s still probably a lot more than your school ever taught you, even if you were lucky enough to take a comparative religions class.

(Also, if this sounds like your jam, go ahead and check out his other book too, which is about why people in the US know so little about the religions that are right around them.)

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So yeah, those are some recommendations!  If you want a better idea of if they apply to you, consider some of my more well-known faves: literally Brandon Sanderson’s entire body of work, NK Jemisen’s Broken Earth trilogy, LoTR, The Wicked + The Divine.