#ALL THE HEMIOLAS

[emilyhopebunny]

I made this timpani part kind of minimalist, and it made a pretty pattern :)

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Raven Stratagem + Revenant Gun

books 2 & 3 in a military-political sci-fi trilogy

space empire setting where reality & technology relies on an enforced cultural belief and calendar system

the ghost general taken over Cheris’ body and gone rogue, the rest of the hexarcate is trying to assassinate them while they try to change the oppressive systems of the hexarchate

I don’t know how else to explain things in here without spoilers (if I even could explain..)

[doctorwhoisadhd]

woah the fez and the portal is just a BUNCH of different leitmotifs

[d3f3n3str4t10n]

The Fish Tank: #5

Mossara: "Huff... s-sorry, I'm here." Habanera: "... You're late, Lieutenant." M: "I-I know, I'm sorry. Did it start?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arieair: "Don't worry Dear, we waited just for you~" Elegy: "Oh jeez, did someone mess with your alarm again?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

M: "Yeah, someone did..." A: "Oh no, that's just awful! Who could've done that?" E: "... What're you lookin' at ME for, I was getting ready for the speech all morning!" A: "Well, it is your responsibility to keep watch of Mossara, shouldn't you have been there to assure he was ready on time?" M: "... Uh..." E: "Hey, I'm not his babysitter. I figured he was responsible enough to get here on his own! Gotta teach him some independence, right?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A: "Oh dear! Well, that's quite alright, Elegy. I won't write you up for this obvious oversight of your duties. You're only human, after all!" E: "Don't remind me..." HA: "Quiet, you three... Your Captain is speaking..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hemiola: "Ahem... WE GATHER HERE TODAY, AQUARIANS AND AMPHIBIANS ALIKE, TO HONOR THE GIFT SO GRACIOUSLY BESTOWED UNTO US CENTURIES AGO! TO REMIND OURSELVES OF THE HORROR AND TREACHERY CAST DOWN UPON US BY THE PEOPLES THAT THRIVE ON OUR SUFFERING!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

M: "... Is 'peoples' a real word?" A: "... Hm? Oh, I believe so, yes." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HE: "THEY SPOIL AND POLLUTE OUR HOMES WITH THEIR HUBRIS; SULLYING WATERS WITH THE APATHY THAT LED THEIR OWN TO RUIN!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

E: "Did he stay up all night writing this again?" A & HA: "Sssssshhhh!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HE: "FOR TOO LONG, OUR KIND WAS BLINDED BY THE LIGHT. IT IS ONLY NOW, WERE WE BLESSED WITH THE GIFT OF DARKNESS! TO SEE OUR WATERS FOR WHAT THEY'VE BECOME! TO SEE WHAT'S BEEN TAKEN FROM US!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HE: "RECENTLY, AFTER THE VICTORIOUS BATTLE IN THE HEART OF THE MAINLAND, IN THE MIDST OF THE WRECKAGE, THERE WAS FOUND A TESTAMENT TO ALL LAND-DWELLING CRUELTY.

PLEASE, BARE WITNESS TO WHAT PEOPLE SUCH AS THESE HAVE CONSIDERED 'HOMELY DECOR!'" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Big Benny Bass Mount: "..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Big Benny Bass Mount: "What do you call a fish born out of wedlock?" Big Benny Bass Mount: "A bass-tard..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All: "..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

M: "Ew... what is that thing?" A: "It's horrid is what it is!" E: "Looks pretty tacky, yeah." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HE: "WHILE OUR PEOPLE WALLOW IN POISON, THEY MOCK OUR SUFFERING! WHILE OUR CRIES OUR IGNORED, OUR CULTURE IS BESMIRCHED, IN THE HOMES OF EVEN THE MOST COMMON MAN!" "THIS BELIEF HAS SEEPED INTO THE MIND OF EVERY LAND DWELLER, FOR IT IS IN THEIR NATURE. THE GODDESS ABOVE HAS GIVEN US THE GIFT OF DARKNESS, AND TO UNDERSTAND IT'S TRUE MEANING. THIS IS A SIGN, DEAR AQUARIANS. IT IS A SIGN THAT OUR TIME HAS COME! FOR JUSTICE TO BE SERVED, AND TO TAKE WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY OURS!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aquarian Crowd: Unintelligible cheering A: "He has such a way with words, doesn't he?" E: "Uh-huh." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

M: "Do... do land-dwellers really have that stuff?" E: "Yep, every single one. You hadn't heard about it before?" M: "No, I... I hadn't." A: "They're truly awful beings, aren't they?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ END Sorry I was a bit late on this one, fellas! Hopefully y'all don't skin me alive for it.

[symphonybracket]

Pärt 3

This is the symphony that, to my opinion, best represents the work of Arvo Pärt. Even though it predates the establishment of tintinnabuli it is a step in the direction that would lead to the emergence of that style. This piece means a lot to me. It is my preffered symphony and the music piece that I recommend when people dismiss post 1950's classical music.

For the longest time, I had only ever heard the symphonies of Beethoven, Shostakovich and Mahler. That was until one day when I came across the album Pärt: Tabula Rasa • Fratres • Symphony No. 3 with Gil Shaham, Adele Anthony, Gothemburg Symphony Orchestra and Neeme Järvi. I already knew of Fratres and of Tabula Rasa, but this was just when I was beginning to discover more than the usual classical composers. In the 3rd symphony I heard a beautiful composition unlike anything of Arvo Pärt that I had heard to that point. I genuinely thought that Tabula Rasa was the highlight of the album, but when it got to the 3rd symphony it captivated me. I listened to it not knowing yet how much more I would come to adore Arvo Pärt's work. From the start, to the quiet, to the punches of the drums and to its finale that I love. I love this piece with all my heart. So please, listen to it, and if it has touched you please consider voting for it!

Shostakovich 15

In my opinion, the Fifteenth is one of the most powerful and emotionally impactful symphonies ever written. The first movement is a masterful exercise in creating tension with diatonic versus chromatic features and includes some very neat hemiola effects. The second movement starts with a dark, hushed brass chorale, then transitions to one of the most sorrowful and deeply beautiful cantabile cello solos I have ever heard—it raises the hair on my arms every time I hear it. If you have ever doubted the ability of the cello to mimic the human voice, I beg you to listen to this symphony. This movement also contains the first occurrence of the "death whistle", a soft chord in the high woodwinds with a grinding dissonance. Later, it is paired with strokes from the woodblock that, to me, sound like death knocking at your door. [comment continued under the cut]

A menacing utterance of the Shostakovich's musical motto, the DSCH motif, starts off movement three, transposed down a major 2nd and doubled a 5th below (a 5th below the transposed line starting on C, not the original starting on D) in the bassoons. What ensues is a quick, scathing scherzo lead by clarinet and solo violin. Finally, the fourth movement, which I believe begins with the fate motif that Wagner uses throughout the Ring cycle. The beginning section is distinguished by a section of mostly strings where the first violins play perhaps one of the most expressive musical lines Shostakovich ever wrote. When I listen to this part of the symphony, I hear the work of a man who perhaps knows that he doesn't have much time left—before the 15th was premiered, Shostakovich had had a total of three heart attacks. This theme is full of remembrance and sounds like a bittersweet musical reflection on a difficult life. The central passage of the final movement is a passacaglia whose repeating bass line, bearing much similarity to the "invasion" theme of Shostakovich's Seventh symphony, works itself up into one of the most devastating orchestral climaxes ever written; if you enjoy loud outcries of brass against the force of Time, you will not be disappointed. The passacaglia is followed by a solemn repetition of the theme in the first violins discussed above. As for the conclusion of the symphony, I believe it is the most effective written ever by Shostakovich—the whine of the high strings against the celesta and percussion section perfectly encapsulates the feeling of slowly dying, fading into obsolescence. I would recommend this 1979 recording by Bernard Haitink and the Concertgebouw (NOT his c. 2011 remake with the same orchestra) (it is also on YouTube; I did not want to have to link four different videos though):

or the recording with Maxim Shostakovich and the Prague Radio Symphony that is part of this cycle:

I also like Neeme Järvi's recording with the Gothenburg Symphony, but not nearly as much as Haitink's.

[laurelnose]

a disorganized pile of ninefox ttrpg thoughts

it is HERE! also it was late in shipping by like, a day? or two? so android press sent me the PDF version also, which was very very nice of them. For this I will forgive them the weird jank in the PDF version’s character encoding. (Maybe like 5% of characters consistently copy-paste as different characters. I think they fucked up the font subsetting somehow. It’s fine, it’s just weird. Makes quoting it a little bit of a hassle. Might be less fine if you use a screenreader.)

So pleased with several little random details which are not at all relevant to like, gameplay or the worldbuilding at large but which I just kind of wanted to know. The calendar months! The full set of Kel rank symbols! Signifiers for Kujen and Tseya! <3 Also, an additional set of symbolism for the factions per the calendar months? If I’m reading this correctly it's Rahal/Wood (!?), Andan/Bells, and Vidona/Knives. [We basically knew the other three, which are Shuos/Eyes, Kel/Pyres, and Nirai/Stars.] As a visual artist I am contractually obliged to be hype about all my little guys getting Symbols, they make my life easy and fun.

This is a slim little volume, so it’s light on lore details that you couldn’t find either a) in the actual series or b) on Lee's dreamwidth. That said, one new bit was that it was not previously clear to me that the nominal arrangement of power in the heptarchate was explicitly unequal between the Liozh and the others — I thought the extant six turned on the Liozh as one of their fellows, not that they deposed the ruling faction. Interesting.

Disappointing: there are no mechanics for the calendar besides the ability to tag the current festival/remembrance. :( I wanted to roll dice about calendrical rituals!! Funnily enough there's a whole little caveat section where he’s like, inevitably someone will want to have space battles, which can be accommodated by keeping them character-focused bc this system is not designed for battle sim crunch. No similar apology for those who might want magic system crunch, if anyone wanted any further evidence that Lee and Jedao are the same guy, lmao.

Other than that I’m not actually that much of a crunchy rules guy myself so I like the system itself fine. I enjoy the concept of every check involving not necessarily skills but character traits. And also the commitment to sixes. You need A LOT of d6s for this game.

If you’re really committed I think it would be fun to play with a set of these (normal d6s except instead of numbers or pips they have clock faces showing hours 1-6):

Jedao’s character sheet is so funny. “Complications: I have abysmal taste in lovers.” BE NICE TO HIM LMAO

It’s not entirely clear to me under which circumstances you wind up the Hexarchate Clock. Is it actually only if Kujen is in play? Does that mean he’s literally required if you want to run a long take-down-the-whole-hxx campaign?

The prewritten scenarios are neat! I don’t have a lot to say about them. They look like they would be fun. I like “The Field of Diplomacy” and the concept of the adjacent polity a lot. Oh also the note at the end of “A Heretical Sacrifice” that is just like “if the ‘human sacrifice’ bit is too vague for you and you want to add more torture, here are some ideas!” is 1) funny and 2) appreciably graphic and wince-inducing. HXX-typical gore: delivered on!

This is a petty note, but excluding servitor PCs on the grounds that this is a game about moral complicity and thus only human faction members can be PCs sure is a Statement. I know servitors are slaves and thus the moral calculus is certainly different, but like, the complicity is the entire point of Hemiola’s arc??? And faction servitors quite obviously often consider themselves to be legitimately part of that faction? The one Shuos servitor we meet is as interested in games as any fox, the assault on Shattered Needles is made possible because the Unspoken Law’s servitors consider themselves Kel, the Aerie interlude with sin 𝑥² is about a servitor who considers itself so deeply Kel it wants to go down with the hivemind. I understand they complicate things mechanically but excluding servitors for thematic reasons is silly.

That said, I feel like a servitor hack wouldn’t be too much more mechanically complex. None of the prewritten scenarios work with an all-servitor group, but I think they could all be run with one or maaybe two servitor PCs. You’d have to do some pregaming to figure out how you’d open communication between human/servitor PCs. Lore-wise, the faction traits are clearly not meant to represent the faction exotics or the Shuos wouldn’t have one; they read more like “specialized skills developed as a consequence of picking this faction” than calendrical stuff, so faction servitors could have standard faction abilities, with the caveat that a lot of interpersonal Edges may be hard for Andan servitors to hit on account of social interaction between servitors & humans being, well, you know. Alternatively, no faction abilities for servitors, but all servitors +2d6 to anything involving grid-diving and/or mechanics. Servitors can have ranks just like human PCs, though these ranks are only relevant to other servitors (and possibly moths). Servitors can probably tag calendar traits like humans, they just can’t participate in formations or affect calendrical gradients (neither of which have explicit mechanics in this system anyways). Heresies are the same for servitors as humans.

This really made me want to dig out that calendrical cryptocurrency heist concept I had to see if I can put together a scenario. And maybe also make some cardboard game spinners for a tactile clock experience...

[pretentious-art-love]

Album Reviews #38 - On Land and In the Sea by Cardiacs

I've already mentioned how Sing to God is my all-time favorite album, but I love this band so much that I want to talk more about them. What makes Cardiacs' music so special? Cardiacs' music uses the Lydian mode, a scale with an augmented fourth note (since it has three whole steps—F-G-A-B—instead of two whole steps followed by a half step—F-G-A-B♭), and that fourth note is what gives the music a special tension, which is why I call it, the shiny note.

Cardiacs' music is happy, as happy as can be, but with the tension of that augmented fourth, it gives the music an unreal tension, making it feel even happier than it's possible to be. It also moves in whole tones with an ambiguous quality, along with other quirky elements like hemiolas, time signature changes, and rhythmic ambiguity to make the music disorienting. On paper, this might sound super technical, but when you listen to it, it hits you like a ton of bricks. They always try to confuse you with the song. Cardiacs' music is so incredibly joyful and so incredibly frantic that it feels like the pure embodiment of madness—when happiness surpasses reason and there's an overwhelming energy that is impossible to comprehend.

Cardiacs will always be my favorite band of all time. That combination of frenetic chaos, cheeky playfulness, and mischievous happiness—that joy with a sly undertone—is like a drug to me. If I could, I would inject Cardiacs' music straight into my veins!

The album On Land and in the Sea is special because it's the last album from their six-member lineup in 1989 and it has plenty of saxophone, sometimes even touching on ska here and there. If Sing to God feels like a space album, On Land and in the Sea is a perfect album for a sunny day, bursting with joy like nothing else in this world!

Musical analysis taken out of this page (https://dfan.org/blog/2010/05/09/cardiacs-musical-vocabulary/)

9/10

[templesofdelight]

Rivveran over eden

You can't have it as you liked it

Some mesopelagic fragment drifting ever downwards

Current that neither pulls you down, nor floats you upwards

Tumbling round and round at the mercy of the little pieces

Of time, swirling like eddies

Now there's no reason or rationale left

For anyone at all

Sombered by the realisation,

Sobered by the absolution

There's no meaning I can give

To any part that follows

In sequential time

The notes I'm straining to hear

Stretched out to hemiola

Figured bass that rumbles through the ancient muck

And shakes loose memories

Of antediluvian seas

Washed past the twilight of the atom

The evening of devonian splendor

Dredged from the bottom

Of the water washing past the drumlins

Through the levees

The vastness of the sonic wake

Riverrun over me

[scyllantro]

"Accompaniment," mvmt. III

Jacqueline

Let the piano lead for this next section. Layer your sound underneath its ivory keys. Steady your tempo on the eighth-note rhythms. Use the low bass notes as anchors in the waves. Then, take a breath for the piano’s A flat chord and draw the beautifully syncopated lines of music from your instrument. The accompaniment pairs so seamlessly that the floor vibrates with every harmony. A hemiola brings you to rapid sextuplets that leap animatedly across three strings. Listen for the intervals that separate your notes. Sustain your energy through the ascending scales; pause dramatically in between each one; set your bow solidly on the string to prepare for the next. As you climb the fingerboard, slow your pace. Channel all your concentration into every precious note. Know that in this moment, nothing could possibly compete for your listeners’ attention. 

Daniel

One concert flies by, then another and another. The tacit understanding Daniel and Jackie share is like nothing he’s ever experienced before. He holds immense respect for her innate musical talent, though it still baffles him how her scores are practically unmarked. For all her grace and expressiveness, she seems to rely on spontaneous instinct alone. And nothing screams spontaneous instinct like the fact that she’s just dropped several concert engagements to accompany him to Israel, his home country. War is imminent and Daniel feels duty-bound to do his part, show solidarity, anything at all to prove his worth. 

So here they are, onstage as a pair once again, one performing for his first love and one performing for her last. They’ve played for many a classical connoisseur, but here are ordinary troops and citizens, casual attire, claps in between movements. Beseeching faces stare up at the musicians as though they’re looking through stained glass. Daniel doesn’t meet their gaze; his eyes jump between the array of keys and his sheet music—always watchful of the next dynamic marking, always counting beats in his head. But Jacqueline tosses her head back languorously and executes sumptuous glissandi at will, taunting composers long since passed. With his steadfast bars holding down her flowing improvisation, they may as well have been playing ragtime, they mesh together so perfectly against all odds. Outside, border disputes threaten to tear the horizon apart, but here, two idealists do their best to repair it, bit by bit, note by note. They won’t succeed in one night, but the roar of applause reminds them that their efforts don’t go unappreciated.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New writer here! This is basically historical fanfiction about the British cellist Jacqueline du Pré and her husband, pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim. I played fast and loose with the details. :P

More movements to come + feedback welcome!

[automaticfrenchhorn]

Big celebratory piece today! For the first time in this entire project, I wasn't able to fit the entire piece onto a single page. I had come close before, but managed to squeeze it all onto one page. For today's piece however, I had no such luck.

This piece actually began as an exploration on an idea I used in the ending to study no. 97; a minor seventh from C to Bb can be a subset of two different major add9 chords, with roots on either Ab or Bb. They have a very satisfying voice leading, since the outer voices remain constant. I found some variations on this idea, such as inverting the major add9 chords to minor add4 chords instead, resulting in a minor harmony variations.

Then, I experimented with adding different bass notes. Generally, I found that changing the root to the note a 5th lower works well. Going a diatonic third lower also lets the major version sound with minor harmony, and vice versa.

The rhythmic side of this piece actually wasn't part of my original plan at all, I just found that this hemiola pattern works well with the harmony, so I built the piece around that. It eventually became this celebratory romp that I find very fitting as I approach my hundredth study for this project.

Like every day prior, right now I have no idea what tomorrow's piece will be, but I am very excited for number one hundred, and I hope to see you there tomorrow!

As always, these pieces are welcome for anyone and everyone to play! All I ask is that you share it with me, because I'd love to hear it done by live players!

[autistic-autumn]

Music Rambling No.8

The one is entirely made of music given to me. Few pieces by @aroace-poly-show, as well as a few from one of my lecturers. Lots of crazy stuff really.

Glass beach - Selection from Plastic Death - Motions; Rare Animal; and Comatose - 3, 5 and 10 minutes respectively. This is actually three pieces from a recent album Plastic Death. I decided to combine it into one longer section here, that way I can cram more into the ramble. I don't really know Glass Beach, but I have heard of them and did listen to a piece or two a few years back. I do recall from what I heard that they had lots of interesting little strange bits through their music that was really neat (change time signatures and interesting harmonies).

First one here is Motions opening drum beat is extremely cool. Something neat is going on with the time signatures in the opening, and I think the drums are maybe overlapping over multiple bars. I'm going to be honest I cannot tell what the lyrics are saying about 90% of the time. There is so many interesting rhythms and shifts in this piece. Took me a second listen listen to even try figure out what the rhythm was doing in a lot of places. It's a lot of interesting beats in 4/4 with a few extra bars with more/less beats in them to stretch the time. I personally love this as a technique and I do it all the time myself. I am also terrible at hearing rhythm and had to carefully count while listening. Very interesting and lots of think about with this.

Next up is Rare Animal. Lot of very nice harmonies in this one too. I do really like the instrumental section at the start. Lots of interesting sounds and mixing done here. The pause right before the chorus comes in extremely effective. I once again can barely understand the lyrics, and also really like the time signature changes in this. Not a lot of different things to say with this other than it is also very nice. The time signature shifts in the second half are particularly interesting to me because they are effectively just constant hemiolas. It moves into compound time briefly (or really just using triplets, they probably didn't carefully notate it). More than a hemiola really, which they also use at the end of the chorus, but still interesting nonetheless.

The final piece here is Comatose. I really feel like there isn't a lot more I can say about this. These people have a very distinct style of harmony and rhythm, and they do it well. I do like this piece is a fair bit slower and moves through it's ideas a bit slower. With all the extra time there is so much space to develop ideas and shift the texture, and they do this very well. The instrumental section around 5 minutes is particularly neat. Lot of very well done soundscape kind of stuff. The huge drawn out ending here is extremely fun to listen to. Overall there is a distinctive harmonic and rhythmic style to this band and it's very interesting. Not really at all the sort of music I tend to listen to but very cool.

Kikuo (feat. Hatsune Miku) - Sight, Noise, Life and the Earth - 38 minutes This piece is extremely fascinating to me. It's so varied and dynamic all throughout, and there is no real way to discuss any single part in depth without it turning into a 10000 word essay at minimum. The opening in immediately captivating with the singer on the simple pentatonic scale. It reminds me somewhat of a lot of gregorian chats, as well as an erhu with the vocal slides. Either way it's very cool, particularly the way it breaks the pure tonality as it fades out. The way you can hear repeating motifs and sounds constantly appearing as the piece shifts into new sections is extremely satisfying and there is so much range in what this piece achieves. It's because of this that it almost feels symphonic in nature to me, although not in the traditional sense. There are orchestral instruments used but they are all quite distinctive done in a vst anyways. There are so many fun sounds you can listen out for. Absolutely phenomenal piece and I think I need to listen to it again to really try pick apart what is going on better.

Mazzoli - Symphony for Orbiting Spheres - 10 minutes Particularly enthralled by this piece. It blends a fairly tangible harmonic world with a lot of the soundscape side of contemporary orchestration. I'm particularly fascinated by the addition of synthesizers and harmonics(?) into the orchestra. I would be very interested in seeing the score for this at some point as there is a lot I feel to study with how the orchestration here is done. Very cinematic. Not actually sure how else to describe this piece. So many nice moments of orchestration and great sounds throughout. Extremely cool though.

Ed Bennett - Accel... - 5 Minutes Another interesting minimalist piece for a mixed electro-acoustic ensemble. As you might guess with a piece of this title, the music in fact gets faster and faster over the course of the piece. There are a lot of very interesting sounds in here. The trombone and the damped concert bass drum stand out particularly to me. The trombone really steals the show with all the sounds honestly. I do feel a little bad for the violin and keyboard plays who play fast repeated notes for almost the entire piece. A nice piece with a lot of interesting sounds and good use of repetition.

[maybeasunflower]

One of things I love is the very first time you hear the famous hemiola (around 4:54), there's this sliiight hesitancy on the second part (the triplets), and then the next time the player is "I've got this" and it's all good.

The other thing is the tiny smile on Jean Butler's face at the end of her solo. She's a pro, so she's trying to keep her face impassive, so that little smile is her thinking "yup, nailed it". Professional delight in a job well done.

The very first performance of Riverdance, commissioned by RTÉ as an interval act during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. The performance led to the worldwide hit stage show and a massive revival of interest in Irish dancing.

[drarrily-we-row-along]

Day 260: Chain

There was a time, not so long ago, when Draco wouldn't have really cared about what he was doing. He'd been willing to do anything to save his own life, to save his mother's life.

And maybe that was precisely the problem.

He'd realized that decisions like that had their own consequences, and they didn't always seem better than death.

Draco paced outside of Harry room, waiting for the other boy to show up from dinner in the Great Hall. Avoiding large crowds had generally been Draco's modus operandi this year, keeping his head down, staying out of people's way; he just wanted to finish school so that he could get a job.

Maybe. If he played his cards right and people gave him a chance.

He tapped his fingers on his trousers, counting a duple pattern with his right hand and a triple pattern with his left to keep his brain occupied. Hemiola his brain supplied, and he remembered the hours spent sitting at the piano trying to get independent movement in his hands.

"Hey!" Harry said, voice bright and cheerful in a way that made Draco want to cry. How can he possibly greet Draco that way? After everything.

The other boy leaned in and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"Don't," he whispered, pulling back and looking up and down the hallway to make sure no one had seen.

Harry pressed him back against the door, caging Draco's body with his own; making him feel safe and cared for in a way that Draco knew he didn't deserve.

"Harry," he whispered. "No, stop," he begged. "Please-"

"Draco," the other boy replied softly, "shh, love." He stroked his fingers through Draco's hair and Draco closed his eyes, tears slipping out.

He pressed a kiss to Draco's forehead as he reached around him and tapped his wand against the doorknob, unlocking the door and nudging Draco through.

"I've been thinking," he said, spinning away, pulling out of Harry's arms because he certainly wasn't strong enough to do it when Harry was holding him.

"Don't do that," Harry teased softly but Draco didn't laugh.

He ran a hand through his hair, "I can't go through with this," he blurted. "What you said-" he shook his head, "What we talked about yesterday-" he bit his lip, "I can't-"

"Hey," Harry said, taking his hand and drawing him over to his bed, "Sit down," he murmured, "take a breath."

Draco sat and Harry sat down next to him, letting Harry rub his hand over his back to sooth him.

"Okay," the other man said, "It's alright. Take a breath, tell me what's wrong."

He covered his face with his hands, "I can't let you do this. I can't let you chain yourself to me, throw away-"

"Woah," Harry said, moving to kneel in front of Draco, ducking his head so they could see each other, "Stop," he murmured. "Stop." He cupped Draco's cheek in his palm. "I'm not chaining myself to you, I just want to tell people that we're in love."

"But we're not!" he protested, "You're just letting your hero complex-"

"Stop," he said softly but firmly. "Stop, baby," his thumb brushed under Draco's eye, spreading the wetness of the tears he hadn't quite kept at bay.

He took a shuddering breath, "You can't possibly love me."

"I do," Harry replied calmly, like it was the simplest thing in the world, like loving Draco wouldn't condemn him. He opened his mouth but Harry covered his lips with one finger, "I love you, Draco. And not because I want to save you, or because I think you need me to."

"Then why?" he asked petulantly.

Harry huffed a little laugh and Draco met his gaze; soft, and warm, and fond and he wanted to melt into it. "When you read, you get this little wrinkle between your eyebrows," he said, finger brushing the place in question. "When you fly, it's like the broom is an extension of your body."

"Wha-"

"You love animals," Harry continued over him. "I saw you the day that the tabby who lives with Hagrid had her kittens, cuddling them all, petting them so gently."

"Harry," he started again.

But Harry kept talking, "When you kiss me, it's like you forget that the world is happening around us. Your single-minded devotion is so fucking hot. You-"

"Harry-"

"You make this soft little sound at the back of your throat when I hold you," he continued, "somewhere between a moan and a sigh and it sets me on fire."

"That-"

"You are passionate, and smart, and kind, and petty, and possessive, and I," he shook his head, "I'm captivated by you."

He could quite wrap his head around it.

"If you don't want me to tell people, I won't," Harry said. "If you don't feel the same, that's okay," he added softly. "I-"

"If I don't feel the same?" he asked incredulously. "Of course I-" he shook his head. "But you-" he broke off. "It's not the same."

"Why not?"

He looked down, watched Harry lace his fingers through Draco's. "You have the world at your feet. Anything you want, it's yours," he said softly. "The world will not be kind to me, Harry. I am a death eater, I am a Malfoy, I got out of the sentencing I deserved. There are a thousand things they'll say."

"Do you only love me because the world wants to call me their savior?"

"Of course not," he said. "No, there are a thousand-"

"Right," he replied, cutting Draco off, "It's the same. I love you for a thousand reasons, and those reasons don't change because of bigoted idiots."

He swallowed, looked down at their hands again, "I love you enough that I don't want you to suffer because of me."

Harry hummed, "There it is."

"What?"

"The real root of why you're struggling with this," he said. "You bring me nothing but joy," he paused, then added, "And sometimes frustration because you're such a stubborn arsehole about things, but it's good. I'm not going to suffer because people know I love you." He leaned up and pressed a kiss to his cheek, "If you don't want to tell anyone, that's okay. But if you're only worried that I'll regret this, that it's more trouble than it's worth, don't be."

"What if you don't feel that way in six months?"

He frowned, "Do you want to wait six months before we tell anyone?"

He shrugged, "I want to be out of school first, I want to be out of this relatively protected bubble. I want to have our first big fight first. I want to see who we are after we've spent too many days in each other's company. I want you to-"

"See all of the worst bits first," he concluded.

He raised a shoulder, it's not how he would have said it but it was accurate enough.

"Fine," Harry agreed, climbing up onto the bed and tugging Draco back so their bodies were pressed together.

"That's it?"

Harry hummed, "Sure. If that's what it takes to prove that I'm not going anywhere, I'm happy to wait." He brushed a kiss to the top of Draco's head, "I'll always wait for you, Draco Malfoy."

And it was a promise he kept the rest of his life; waiting for him to get ready before dates, waiting for him to come to bed at night, and eventually waiting for him to walk down the aisle and join him in front of the altar to promise each other forever.

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

This one is out of order too. Sorry friends!

Read the rest of my fics here.

[asmolbirb]

Having listened to Ruin like 18 times now, here are some musical thoughts that I simply need to share with other people. Might rb with more thoughts later idk

This album feels much more “alt indie” or “alt folk” than “folk rock” at places. This is not a detriment, I quite enjoyed the softer touch to the album, but it’s a marked departure from THATW and I think that’s really neat. It’s not what I was expecting, but it showcases a range in their musical skill, and I love that

Speaking of softness…. The amount of spoken dialogue throughout the album !!! “Ah bollocks to your waves”, the whole exchange at the end of Drinking Song. There are so many tiny islands of softness amidst the ruined world they’re sketching out for us listeners and it makes me SOFT

Joey’s voice is so much more, idk the right word, intentional in Blossoms. More sibilant, more rhotic, more plosive, more enunciated. It drives me fucking nuts. Blossoms in general is incredible but Joey’s renewed intensity adds a truly indescribable layer of emotion to it. Talk about Blossoms more you cowards—

I talked about this in a previous post but the way they utilize offbeat emphasis and syncopation to throw you off kilter, and then later resolve that syncopation into rhythmic climaxes that are almost anthemic in nature, driving you forward like a marching drum— *chef’s kiss* It’s super prominent in The Calling where the first verse is totally syncopated, the first half of the second verse alternates, and the second half of the second verse is almost totally straightforward with the instrumental building up simultaneously. But there’s other moments too - “my dress is on fire” in Blossoms (hemiolas again) contrasting the 6/8 time of the rest of the song + instrumental; all of Chords, which is a slow progression from syncopation to anthemic straightforward rhythm; TOWSATGMG which does the exact opposite, actually, building up to a rhythmic climax in “you are in the earth of me” and then coming BACK to syncopation in the third part of the song, paralleling Joey’s rebirth/newfound confidence (and ferality)

Okay so in The Calling, when Madeleine is talking to the face in the water, there’s very clearly two separate sound bites in the track. Like Madeleine says “who’s this” and SEPARATELY says “who are you” in a bite that overlaps with the first, thus emphasizing that there are two people + two voices at play here. In TOWSATGMG, though, when Joey’s talking to Good Man Grace, there’s no separation between “I can’t do this” / “you can”. It’s the same sound bite. In other words, the implication here is that Joey himself is echoed within Good Man Grace, or that Good Man Grace is Joey himself

[mediareccs]

title: rhythm doctor

type: video game

genre: rhythm

warnings: flashing lights, glitching effects, hospitals, medical procedures and related themes, addiction

description from steam: “Rhythm Doctor is a rhythm game in a world where defibrillating patients' hearts in sync with their heartbeats has healing properties. Slam your spacebar in perfect time on the 7th beat, and they might just come out okay. But beware - every patient has unique illnesses based on complex music theory: polyrhythms, hemiolas, irregular time signatures...if you don't know what they mean, don't worry. Rhythm Doctor is designed to make you learn music and rhythm theory without even realising it!”

why you should play it: interesting characters, compelling storylines, killer soundtrack, and super fun yet super challenging gameplay. the game is played with only one button, which may sound easy, but rhythm doctor works in all sorts of challenges to keep you on your toes- and, yes, give you some rhythm theory knowledge in the process! plus: there is an in-game level editor that allows you to make custom levels. awesome.

platforms: PC ($15.99 on steam) and steam deck

(additional note: rhythm doctor is currently a steam early access game, and as of the time of writing this post, it is not finished. the game will hopefully be finished this year or next year, according to 7th beat games.)

[doctorwhoisadhd]

okay wait. Ive done the math with pieces of soundtrack that i remember from certain moments. and first of all, this is shockingly plausible. Second of all. If im right about this. It places the hemiola synth intro at the beginning of the shepherds boy over the doctor appearing in the teleport again (after the old doctor pulled the lever). THE FIRST TRACK HAS THAT SAME SYNTH PART OVER THE FIRST TWELVE APPEARING IN THE TELEPORT

thinking about it and you know what, heaven sent CD is 42 minutes worth of music (and 8 seconds) it might actually just be the music taken straight directly from the episode in order and everything. more testing on this is required