#Legend has it he will sing an entire song one day

[vanitas-vanitatum-mortis]

If I had a nickel for every time that Alastor looked like that and wasn't able to finish his song I'd have two nickels.

Which isn't a lot, but it's funny he was interrupted twice like that.

[starfishstark]

MOONLIGHT

SYNOPSIS The moment tribals heard of a rumor of an outsider inhabiting their planet, Kaibre volunteered to find this man, see if he was a threat to their people or if coexistence was viable. With their blooming friendship, will they become more or will Kaibre find out about his dark origins...

PAIRING qimir x tribal! reader, reader uses the name Kaibre (i cannot write using y/n sorry chat!), reader uses she/her pronouns, the reader has a kid (rhysin my beloved)

WARNINGS 4.7K words, fluff so far, very mild descriptions of violence

pt 1

There’s someone else on the beach…

Word spreads ridiculously fast on Bal'demnic. Even between the coastal tribe to the river tribe, and even back to the mountain tribe driven in solitude with their forever warm underground pools filled with steam and the sound of laughter and prayers all night long. Even more from a single rumor, everything is exposed.

Kaibre assumes, sure, it’s easier, when a single rumor about a crush becomes a marriage proposal in the course of a week. Why bother hiding attraction? Just propose, and if they say no, go sing melancholy songs to the moons above, and sit in your corner of the lagoon for while till you no longer feel so worrisome over something so trivial. If they say yes, grin like a madman and get married that night in front of the black sands, a cortosis thread tied around their neck, and the high moons. On Bal'demnic, when word spreads, it spreads fast. 

When the morning scouts went on their early rounds, they noticed the disturbance in the waves. It was a little irk in the back of their heads, making them tread lightly until one of the boys caught sight of another person on the beach. An outsider!! On their little planet?!

Within the nightfall of the second day, everyone in the tribe harbored anxious thoughts about what to do next. As the closest tribe to the outsider, the stranger, on their lands, they were expected to take care of it. Word had started to reach the other tribes, and the coastal tribe would soon need to find out whether this stranger was here to harm them or not. The little kids of course thought nothing but another face to play along with, and maybe a stranger with no responsibilities would have more time to toss them up into the air while they giggled their little hearts out. 

“Tell me again, what did you see…”

Everytime, the story was the same. There was the stranger in one of the lagoons further north, he limped into the pool, and he had a bag of belongings with him. In the distance, one of those space ships rested peacefully on a small island off the coast. 

And everyone wanted to hear the story. Of course, when words spread, it’s not always true. 

“He had scars littering his body. He’s taller than the anyone in the entire tribe! He was bleeding out his side, limping for relief to the warm lagoon, like someone had maimed him! Bested him, even! Perhaps he’s in exile, all for killing little naughty children who don’t listen to their mothers…!”

Once the sun had set, and the moons started to align again in the lunar solstice of every night, the warriors and workers of the tribe alike gathered around the central fire. Whispers of the stranger slaughtered the silence, he was a myth and legend all the same. There has been no outsider in Bal’demnic for generations.

“Silence!” Icar swished his long robe in a singular motion, letting the quiet settle throughout the crowd around the fire. Their northern coastal tribe was small, many opting to move to the south for the plentiful resources, but the ones still here remained for the sand rich in cortosis, the metal their ancestors settled here for. Powerful to the breathing heart of this planet. That said, there weren’t all that many workers and warriors around the fire, but enough that the instant silence spoke measures to how much respect Icar wielded in the tribe. “I assume we all know of the situation at hand. I am not to waste time, but we must send someone to actually see this stranger on our planet…on our beaches…”

Icar looked up expectantly from his stare at the fire. There was a wash of agreements from the people around, some people automatically raising their hands and volunteering. 

“No, no warriors, we cannot seem as a threat before we know how powerful this stranger is. He could have more with him. No, no we cannot send a stranger immediately, our safest option is someone more…flexible. Unassuming. We need to show the tolerance for co-existence if they come in peace. Able to collect information, and for the worst path…someone our tribe is mendable to be without. I’m sorry, but we cannot afford to lose a head warrior if this is a legitimate threat.”

Instant groans and protests sounded from the head warriors seated next to Kaibre, one of them even getting up and ready to argue with Icar before Icar shot him a hot look. 

“I can do it.” 

The head warriors turned to look at Kaibre with a curious look, like they didn’t even notice her at the meetings.

Icar looked at her with a pained expression, shaking his head, “Kaibre, you have a son.”

“The- the people will watch over him.” Not gonna lie, Kaibre forgot about that for a moment she volunteered. But she didn’t feel like this stranger was going to kill her, and people like Kaibre have knack for getting things like this right. “No child goes without here.”

It takes a village to raise a child, that much was true. If Kaibre was to drop dead the next second, her son would not go without being taken care of. Without being fed, without a roof over his head, even if he might be alone in the hut Kaibre built by herself, 3 months pregnant with him. But even then, the children will come and go in their hut, he will stay with the people, and he will find his place among them. 

“But you have just had a son, it’s been barely 4 cycles.” Icar reminded her, watching her carefully. 

“I…don’t believe this stranger will kill me.”

The tribals went silent again, holding their breaths. 

Kaibre was sensitive to the air, the kids used to say. She could always tell if one of them was lying about where they all really were. Even when she was a kid, she could tell when one of her friends would become sick the next day. She would always give her food away for the hunter and warriors who went hungry too soon too fast, like she could tell that night they would be bountiful in their hunt and bring back the food she had given away tenfold. 

And even now, everyone held their breath to the girl who could feel what was wrong in the air. Their attention made her squirm in her seat, trying to focus on Icar, who was looking at her with furrowed eyebrows, but resolved in his decision. 

“Are you sure? Rhysin only has one mother. One guardian.”

Her eyes focused in on the movement of the fire, swallowing her fear and trying to commit herself to this. When her eyes met Icars’ again, he knew her answer. 

“You will leave one rotation from now, when the sun sets, take a cortosis blade with you for protection, and a bag of warm supper for amity.”

Kaibre nods, barely able to keep in her excitement of going out of the village again. She hadn’t been out like this in 4 cycles. 

The next day goes by in a hurry, with Kaibre prepping her eyes with the dark ashes in a clay pot for seeing in the night, strapping a cortosis blade flat to her thigh, hidden by the ruffles of a white skirt. Her black drape lays artfully on her, even earning her a “Pretty Ammi!” from Rhysin when she sees her getting ready. She laughs, picking up her little boy and kissing both his cheeks, before telling him to run off to Lysa’s house for the night, her close friend. 

She sees Icar one last time where he hands her a bag full of food, enough to feed two and a clear sign of appeasement. Giving her one last nod, he sends her off before the moons align that night. 

The trek to the northern lagoons is not difficult usually, but with her watching every step in the darkness, and carrying all that food, it takes the breath from her just a little. However, the energy returns to her the second she sees the trail of smoke coming from an opening in the nearby cave system adjacent to the lagoons. Her breath catches, and she carefully treads on the rocks leading her to the cave opening. 

She hears the whirs and revs of machinery, oh she hasn’t seen any her entire life, and peers from behind a rock wall to see the stranger…

They were right, he bleeding out his side. How did Lysa even come up with a lie that clever and accurate? Even from where she was standing, she could see the slight way he preferred to his left side, with the hint of bandages under his loose shirt. 

Wow, he’s wearing a shirt…

She hasn’t seen a shirt except one time she dreamt of one, and once when she saw it in a what they call a magazine in the mountain tribe from years ago. 

He had skin paler than those in the tribe, almost like someone washed him in milk compared to her own wood toned skin. His hair covered the back of his neck, hanging low in front of his face, covering it from his view, but she picked up on hooded eyes narrowed in on what he was melding. 

She looked around the room, staying behind that wall keeping her from his view. It didn’t look like that of someone aggressive. 

“You know, you don’t have to hide behind that wall.”

Kriff…

She leaned from the edge of the wall again, peering at the stranger all over again. He was relaxed, and open with his posture. Hunched just a little in his seat, with his lips tugging at an easy going smile. 

“Do you speak Aurebesh?” He asked patiently while Kaibre stepped completely out of the shadows, standing with arm against the rock wall.

She nodded, unsure what to say after being caught so blatantly, and not more than a minute she had been there. Was she losing her touch?

“I apologize for disturbing your planet…It was recorded as uninhabited and uninhabitable. It wasn’t until I landed that I realized how ridiculously outdated that was.”

Kaibre nods unsurely, slowly - towards him and stands closer to him. “Why are you here?”

“I- uhm,” He looks taken back by the question, unsure what to answer. “Refuge. I’m, uh, searching for somewhere safe. To live, away from…all that out there.” He gestured vaguely to the stars, visible in the openings of the cave. Awful cave to be in really, absolutely useless in the rain season. “I don’t plan on hurting anyone.” To emphasize his point, he raises his open palms as a pseudo-surrender. 

She relaxes, getting closer to him curiously, dropping her bag carefully before taking another step and lurching forward to cup his face with both hands.

“You look like the mountain people…” She trailed off, rubbing her thumb on his cheekbone inquisitively, as if she thought it would wipe off. Her fingers touched his hair, wondering how it was so straight on him. 

It was a common greetings between tribes meeting once in a decade of rotations, just to see how different the people looked between tribes, but Kaibre was unaware how sudden it seemed to him. 

“Uh….what are you doing?” He asked quietly, watching her attentively but taken off guard with how curious she was. He didn’t move her off though, a small piece of him enjoying the innocent curious touch as opposed to the violent, brash, and fleeting touch he’d escaped. Her hands were warm against his cool face, and he looked right at her, trying to meet her eyes. He breathed out softly, “What’s your name?”

“I’m Kaibre from the northern coast tribe.” She tilted her head in the same way his was tilted, her lips turning into a smile when she saw the way he started to chuckle at the same time. Kaibre noticed his hands slowly covered her own on his face. “What are you called?”

“Qimir,” he answered immediately. “I promise I’m no threat to your people…So long as they don’t hurt me…”

“Where are you from…?”

“Coruscant,” He answered in the same quiet voice, like being too loud would scare her away. Quimir squinted at her, taking in the embellishments on her ears, like little bells. Really, how did she manage to be that quiet with those on her? Her hair was pulled back into a complex braid, leaving stray hairs on the nape of neck and at the edges of her hairline. 

Kaibre nodded, feeling satisfied with the way she scrutinized him as a person, and stepped back, slipping her hands from under his. She picked up the bag from the ground, holding it out to him like an offering. “A gift. We did not know if you were able to catch any food.”

He smile turned lazy, looking at her in sincere gratitude. “Oh, you have no idea how much I’ve missed good food…”

They sat on the ground next to each other, with Qimir asking what each food was called and nothing less than melting at each bite he took in his right hand. After the first two times Kaibre slapped away his left hand when he went to go grab something new, he quickly learned he had to eat with the right hand or nothing else. 

Kaibre still noticed how he preferred his left side. “What happened?” If he was attacked, he could be tracked, and if he was tracked, he could lead trouble right to her little planet.

“I got in a mixup with some spice traders. Not to worry, they won’t follow me here if that’s what you’re worried about.”

That’s…exactly what she was worried about. How did he know that?

She nodded slowly, pulling out the grain drink from inside the bag, handing it over to him. Qimir squinted at first, looking at her with apprehension with the first time, eyes flickering between the weird substance and her expecting face. 

“Uh…what is that?”

“It’s sathu, drink up, you’ll heal fast.”

“I can heal with some bacta, really, it’s fine—”

“Sathu is refined and prepared for hours, you know how much work goes into this?”

He looked at it again, his face betraying his thoughts. “Do I have to?”

She looked at him expectantly, nudging it forward again. Kaibre, single mother of a toddler, nailed down the ‘don’t make me ask twice’ look ages ago. Qimir stood no chance. 

He sighed, taking it from her hands, smelling it questionably, and took a sip. However, catching the window she had, she held her hand under the cup, pushing and pushing till he finished the whole drink. 

Once he finished, he shot her a grumpy look, maybe aiming for angry, but all she could see was the little brown sathu stache that clung to his actual stache. She nodded, happy that he finished the whole drink without spilling any. “Good, good boy, you finished the whole thing.” 

Qimir looked like he might have choked on something, nodding again, and looked at the wrapped up food. He hesitantly looked out the cave. “Is it really ok for you to walk back alone?”

“You came to the forest, I was raised in it,” Kaibre smiled proudly, gathering the leaves and putting them in the bag again. 

“Will you come by again?” He asked casually, eyes averted as he stands up. 

She thought about it. “It depends on what the people decide on. We might negotiate terms for coexistence, maybe even cooperation between us.”

Qimir just smiled. 

__

Qimir thought about the strange woman he met. She came just up to his collarbone, with long hair swept up into a intricate braid, and dark lining around her round eyes, making them stand out when she studied him those few long minutes. The way her hands felt cupping his face and rubbing against his skin like the color might scrub off if she did it too hard. 

And then the food she shared with him. No one told the tribals to do that, but they took it upon themselves. Now Qimir is no fool, they’re trying to prevent animosity in the future for sure, and he felt no aggression coming from the womans’ ridiculously untrained force signature. 

He felt her energy from a hundred feet away, his face perking up at it. At first, he thought it was a group of many people traveling together, maybe for a battle. It was only when she got closer that Qimir realized it was one person. One force sensitive person. Incredible. Really, how did the Jedi not detect her?

He could almost feel tendrils of the force nudge against his mental walls, trying to poke and prod a guess of what he was like. Of course, she wasn’t even aware that’s what she was doing. He had to have her, had to teach her, he could feel the urge tugging at him the second she left. 

She’ll be back… Qimir reassured himself. He could still remember the second she stepped from behind the wall, white ruffled skirt, and a black shawl draping as a top, leaving her shoulders exposed and a sliver of her hip. 

Kaibre, hm? Bal’demnic, oh what a perfect place for refuge…

__

As the rotations flew by, Qimir became a friend to the Bal’demnic people. Kaibre communicated rules to him, and he accepted, more than happy that they were willing to share the space with them. Kaibre made the walk up to his caves more than once a week, to either bring food, or at his request to help with carving out the space in his caves. In return for the food, he would trade the village for some of the things he brought from outside the planet. He would leave maybe once a month to go run for supplies, and in that time he would return with dozens of pelts and waterskins, and sometimes gifts he saved to trade with later for. 

But she would lying if she said she only went up there as often to trade. She found solstice in the quiet companionship beyond the village, given the little artificial light he had set up around the cave, technology she had never seen before. They could take forever in front of the false sun, until the moons had long aligned and she realized she had to head back to Rhysin before morning. She realized that Qimir preferred her company as well, asking if she would return everytime she left. 

“Qimir?” Kaibre called out, carrying millets and grain in her bag. She looked around the cave, setting down the bag in it’s usual spot. “Where did you go?”

He could be in the lagoon maybe, but it was unusual at this time. After the sun set? Likely not. 

Today was another day she came with no plan in mind, expecting no trade at the time. She came to talk with him, like they often did. He had this sharp tea that he poured to the both of them, sipping at the edge of the cave where the grass met the sand met the hard rock. They talked about the stars, what they would call each on Bal’demnic, and the rest of the galaxy. 

They talked about themselves. Sitting across the archway from each other, plenty of space between them, but when they started talking about their pasts, it seemed like that space shrunk to feel much more bearable. 

Qimir came from a tribe called Jedi. He tried correcting her that it was simply an organization of sorts, of people unable to love and live like the rest do, but with a name like that, they would be a sick tribe. He described how he couldn’t handle staying with the Jedi, and she was curious why they weren’t allowed to love, but he brushed it off and she didn’t pick it up again.

He felt like he didn’t belong. So Kaibre confessed how the people would say Kaibre was sensitive to the air. His demeanor changed, getting up to sit next to her against the wall instead, nodding and heeding her confession like it was a prayer.

Kaibre told him how it felt sometimes like she didn’t belong in that tribe, where everyone was just a little wary of the truth about her, and he held her hand like she was an altar. 

She looked around the corner again, raising an eyebrow when she didn’t see him. She could clearly smell the sharp tea he was brewing in the corner, so he couldn’t have stepped out for long. 

“I’m over here!” He called out, walking in with a new pelt in his hand. He was wearing these hamaka pants, as he told to her once, dark along with a crossed wrap top. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you wait Kaibre- woah! Whoa, whoa, whoa, pause. Who is that?”

His eyes were narrowed in on someone behind her, and she, confused, turned to see no one. “Who?”

“Behind- Behind the wall??”

Kaibre reached her hand up the slit in her skirt, pulling out her cortosis blade with ease, as Qimir hurried to grab her shoulder and steady her. “Wait, it was just a little kid.”

“Come out,” She said steadily, watching the edge of the wall carefully. And out padded little ol’ Rhysin in all his glory. “Rhysin?!”

Kaibre sounded undignified, sheathing her blade back into it’s place, walking over to Rhysin with the intention to dragging him by the ear back to the village. Rhysin, sensing her intentions from a mile away, ran at his window and right to Qimir, grabbing onto the hamaka pants and tugging at them. By reflex, Qimir picked him up and turned him away from Kaibre. 

“Rhysin, hm? What brings you all the way here? With Kaibre?”

“He was supposed to be sleeping!” Kaibre emphasized. “Do you know how dangerous that was? What if you tripped on something? What if you got stuck in a hunter trap? Hm? I almost threw my blade at you!”

“Ok, ok, it’s not his fault he’s just a little curious. I know someone else that was just as curious as him too,” Qimir spoke easy to her, breaking down the tension and anxiety she had from seeing Rhysin here. The way he adjusted his grip to bounce Rhysin up and down to comfort him at the same time didn’t go unnoticed to Kaibre. He was a natural. “Besides, you’ve been hiding me from the rest of your tribe, isn’t it around time I saw some new faces?”

“Rhysin when we get back to the tribe, you are in big trouble,” Kaibre wanted, narrowing her eyes onto him. 

“Hey! Be nice to him.” Qimir all but pouted along side the three year old. “Who is this little adorable little monster anyways-”

Kaibre sighed, rubbing her forehead. “Rhysin, meet Qimir, the outsider and my friend. Qimir, meet my son, Rhysin.”

Qimir’s entire body stiffened up, looking appalled, shocked, and nervous at the same time. “Son?” He choked out, still bouncing Rhysin up and down. “I-I didn’t know you had a son.”

“It…didn’t come up…” Kaibre answered. Actually, she preferred that he didn’t know she had a son with no father, just appearing one day in her womb. Where was she going to start explaining that one?

Qimir hummed, and then just smiled at Rhysin. “Well, I don’t suppose you guys can make the trek back this late. Especially with this little one, and the pelt at the same time…”

Kaibre sighed, looking regretful. “Rhy, baby, why?”

“I wanted to see him too.” Then he had the audacity to pout. 

Qimir practically melted, pouting back and then at Kaibre, “Oh please, Kaibre, one night won’t harm anyone.”

“Qimir, you have a tiny bed. And I’m not sleeping on the floor because someone decided to play explorer tonight!”

“Actually, I have a new pelt,” Qimir pointed out, “And this little guy wouldn’t mind sharing now, would he?”

Kaibre pinches the edge of her nose. It’s alright, yes, but the fact her son would be this reckless…ah, what was she thinking? He was her son after all. Hers, and unpredictabilitys’. She couldn’t get too mad at him, but at the same time she had half the mind to chase him down the coastline all the way to the village the next morning. 

“C’monnnn.” Woah. When did he move that close to her? Qimir tugged at her shawl lightly, mindful of the way it would fall off her if he wasn’t careful. He and Rhys gave her matching pouting faces, but she was a little preoccupied with the fact she could count the strands of hair falling in front of Qimirs’ face right now, and the little laugh he did when he realized her staring. “The pelt is really really soft, promise.”

She sighed, nodding while Qimir and Rhysin both giggled in glee and celebrated in their own separate world. Rhysin was not going to getting off Qimir any time soon.   

When Qimir finally set him down, Kaibre practically flew at her chance to get her hands on Rhysin, by holding him upside down by the ankles. She emphasized her point while Rhysin giggled at her antics, and agreed he would never do it again (lies). They ate dinner in less tension after that, Qimir exuding off a strange energy. He seemed at unease, but acting completely fine otherwise. She gave him weird looks, ones that he couldn’t have not noticed, but he ignored them outright. It’s fine, she’ll confront him about it next him she sees him, without Rhysin here. 

“See? The pelt is pretty great, right?” Qimir laid it down in a carved out corner, perfectly fit for it. She supposes he’s been planning for a while after the initial discomfort of his ratty mattress dissolved. She told him good pelts were found further north, where the thick fur was essential in cold seasons. He even knitted a large blanket to match it. After securing down the pelt onto the bed and moving the pillows back, and placing the blanket on top, he stepped back to show it off in a “ta-da!” motion. 

Kaibre shrugged, picking up Rhysin and laying on one side with him, while Qimir laid on the other side. 

It was fine, it was incredibly warm and comforting on the pelt, and even the blanket insulated heat inside. Just the one night…

__

“Ammi, ammi, ammi, get up, get up, get up-”

Kaibre whines quietly, feeling warmer than she has any morning in a long time. She batted away his hand tugging at her arm, moving closer into the warm corner she was against, “Rhy, go catch rabbits, let me sleep…”

Rhy ran off, she rolled her eyes, leaning further into the wall— that wrapped back around her?

Kriffkriffkriffkriff, that was not a wall, that was mister ‘wall-of-muscle’ Qimir. 

But dank farrik, he was so warm. 

Her eyes fluttered just a little open, noticing that she was currently laying on his bicep (perfect pillow, wow) with his other arm pulling on her waist, fingers splayed around and over the rolls of her stomach where she was curled up. She sighed, content with the soft fur under her, the droning sound of Qimir’s breathing on her neck, and the warm vibrating off his chest. Rhys would be fine, no forest animal came near these caves…Kaibre could indulge in a while, just until Qimir woke up and realized what he had done accidentally in his sleep. 

She could hear a soft groan coming from him, probably the rising sun getting into his eyes before he was ready to leave sleep. She quickly closed her eyes. No need to let him think she was letting him hold her like that… 

But she didn't say anything when his breathing changed every so slightly from his sleep, and his arms furrowing deeper into his hold on her.

[stellar-skyy]

PRECIOUS THINGS - Kazuha, Itto, Heizou, Kokomi & reader

i. SUMMARY: What kind of things would they give as a gift? ii. CONTENT WARNINGS: None! iii. NOTES: Can be read as platonic or romantic, fluff, gn!reader, 0.7k words. iv. A/N: it's actually my birthday soon! this was a little early present for myself hehe. i hope you enjoy!

KAZUHA

Kazuha doesn’t care much for material things. He’s a vagrant, there’s no room for too many unnecessary belongings when one is travelling with the wind. Sentimentality only slows him down.

Because of that, he keeps his gifts limited to something intangible. He’ll take you out for the day, show you the most peaceful places of Inazuma and bring you down to the beach to watch the sunset.  

As the sun dips low in the sky, he'll let you rest your head against his shoulder or in his lap if you're tired. But make sure you don’t fall asleep too quickly, or you’ll miss the beautiful view.

If Beidou allows it, you might even be treated to a stay on the Alcor, where Kazuha will help you up into the crow’s nest so you can observe the sea from the sky.

Perhaps the most precious thing he gives you is a haiku, written just for you. He’ll recite it while you’re relaxing on the ship, spinning words as elegantly as the waves flowing below you.

“Did you enjoy it? Well, perhaps we’ll have to spend some more time together when the winds lead us to each other again.”

ITTO

Ah, Itto.

Itto is the king of making your birthday a big deal.

The Arataki Gang will make sure to wake you up at the crack of dawn to start the celebrations early. First comes a homemade (and… debatably edible) cake, followed by an off-key singing of Happy Birthday with some beatboxing from Itto to accompany the song.

Then, once Itto has shooed the rest of the gang away to ‘let you have some peace and quiet’ he’ll present you with the gifts he’s picked out.

It’s all things he is interested in—onikabutos, trading cards. There’s nothing Itto loves more than sharing the things he’s fond of with the people he’s fond of, so he worked hard to find the finest of those things. You deserve the best, so that’s exactly what he’ll give you.

“Heh, good birthday, huh? Well of course it is, I couldn’t just leave my favourite honorary gang member without a proper celebration, could I?”

HEIZOU

Heizou! Heizou loves to share his interests with you, one of which being riddles and brainteasers.

On your birthday, he’ll present you with a locked box, covered in various puzzles. Once solved, the inside reveals a riddle that leads to a mysterious location tucked away in one of the chilly corners of Inazuma.

He’ll be waiting for you there, sitting cross-legged on the corner of a picnic blanket. Draped across is an arrangement of foods, a mix of both your favourites. Fried radish balls, Sakura tempura, and Taiyaki are some of his selections, but there is of course a variety of food picked out for you too.

Heizou has a gift as well, something that is exactly what you wanted. You never needed to tell him what it was—as Inazuma’s finest detective, he already figured it out.

“So, partner? Would you say your birthday lived up to your expectations?

KOKOMI

Kokomi wants your present to be perfect. You’re special to her, and special people deserve the best gifts.

Giving gifts is one of her favourite ways to show the people in her life that she loves them, so it must be something personal and related to you specifically; she doesn’t allow for half-thought out presents!

If you’re a fan of books, she’ll gift you a copy of The Legend of The Sword—her favourite book—and shyly ask for your opinion on it.

She will also make time in her schedule to spend time together, which is a gift in itself. She puts her work over everything, so for something else to become a priority is a rare sight.

During the day she’ll take you everywhere: across the scenic beaches of Watatsumi, diving in the depths of the ocean, before finally retreating back to her home to give you a homemade cake. The entire day is planned out (as expected of a grand strategist) and rest assured, she’ll make sure not a moment is wasted.

“So, did you have a good day? I hope so—happy birthday, (Name)!”

reblogs and comments are appreciated! ♡

[st0rmyskies]

I spent the day sweating my ass off at a smaller hometown theme park, so here's a list of how the boys enjoy their day trip to a fun park.

Twilight - He’ll go on any ride with anyone no matter how fast or scary, nor how slow or mundane. Although the teacups and other rides that spin you a lot tend to make him dizzy, and he's not a big fan of the haunted house. But our big soft-hearted country boy is partial to the antique carousel and needs to go on it just once. Come on, guys, anybody…? (Spoiler: They all go on it with him.)

Wild - It’s a wonder he’s going to survive any of the rides because this boy is all about the food. Funnel cake? Candy floss?? Potato pancakes??? Fudge????? Dippin’ Dots!!????!?!? He has his hands full of treats while they’re waiting in every line, and on any ride he can sneak them on to successfully, too. His favorite ride is the music-coaster-thing, and he’ll sing along at the top of his voice to every damn song.

Champion - Not too thrilled by rides, but he will go on them to be a sport. Except those rides with a sheer drop, tower-of-terror style. NO fucking thanks. Where he really slays, though, are the shooting games, with special bonus points if one of the other boys challenges him to a round. You bet your ass Champion is casually lugging around a stuffed Wolfie half the size of his body for most of the day.

Legend - He’ll get on some of the coasters and the crazier rides, but not all of them. He’s not a big fan of screaming his head off all day long, gives him a headache. He gets uppity with the fortune telling machine giving him the same negative reading over and over again no matter how many quarters he jams in the damn thing. And his fortune ends up coming true, too: he gets banned from the bumper cars after a vulgar road-rage incident.

Hyrule - Goes on one, maybe two coasters, and promptly pukes. He’s then the designated Bag Handler for the rest of the day. Which actually works out well, all up until the mid-afternoon when he wanders off to find himself some coffee and promptly gets lost, necessitating a rather embarrassing announcement over the PA system.

Warriors - He stressed out about his outfit for two weeks beforehand and STILL managed to choose the wrong thing to wear. Yes, those linen pants with the front crease are supposed to be breezy, Wars, but they’re meant for something like a wedding, not a fucking amusement park. He gets cranky when he’s too fucking hot and his hair is damp against the back of his neck. Eventually, one of the other boys — probably Legend or Sky — has to shoo him away from the group for a bit. When they turn up 20 minutes later Wars has an icy drink, a pair of novelty swim trunks from the souvenir shop, a headband for his hair, and a brand new “fuck it, we ball” attitude.

Sky - Loves all the roller coasters, LOVES THEM, and gets sad if he doesn’t get to sit in the front seat on every single one. He wants to go on the biggest, tallest, fastest, most OSHA-violating coaster no less than three times, and he’ll hop off of it just to turn around and get right back in line. Least likely to remember to hydrate and reapply sunscreen. You know he’s passed the fuck out that entire drive home. 

Four - He quite enjoys observing the inner workings of the mechanics that go along with the rides, then makes ominous comments about the engineering to his seat-mate as they’re being hauled up the incline for that first drop of a coaster. He also spends an inordinate amount of time in the air conditioned arcade winning as many tickets as he can to obtain some silly prize like an obscure toy from the 80’s or something similar. May not be tall enough to ride every ride.

Wind - Water rides are his JAM. His hair and clothes and shoes are soaked through well before halfway through their day, and he gets the cutest waves in his hair because of it. Although he also smells like chlorine all day, then. Also has way too much ice cream and cold treats during the day, so he’s nursing a hell of a stomach ache on the drive home.

Time - Bet you thought he wouldn’t be in attendance or would wait in the car or some shit, didn’t you? Time allows the boys to cajole him onto every coaster, every water ride, the carousel, into the haunted house, you name it. He’ll sit in the first row of the rides that take your photo, too, and he just. Deadpans it. Zero facial reaction, no screaming on coasters, ALL day. Flawless commitment to the bit. He does secretly enjoy all of this; Time didn’t get to do this sort of stuff when he was their age, so better late than never.

[jess-ence]

Cloud & Aerith are Orpheus & Eurydice

An Analysis:

Hello! I wanted to share my analysis on how Cloud & Aerith represent the Ancient Greek legend of Orpheus & Eurydice, one of the most well known tragic love stories. I love this game and I love this legend and after seeing connections I wanted to share it with others. This is my opinion. if you disagree, you can keep scrolling, and have a nice day <3

There have been many different variations of this story from Hadestown to Moulin Rouge. I will reference the broadway show Hadestown a lot, because I’m a huge fan of the show and it represents Orpheus & Eurydice’s story very well. With this analysis, I’m going in with the belief that Hollow and No Promises to Keep are Cloud and Aerith’s songs that are about each other, who those songs are about is a whole different argument, but to ME, it’s obvious who they’re about and I’m using them to push this analysis further.

In the Greek legend, Orpheus & Eurydice fell in love, and one day Eurydice died from the bite of a viper. Orpheus was so ruined by grief that he traveled to the underworld itself to find Eurydice and bring her back. Orpheus sang about his love for Eurydice to Hades and Persephone, who were so moved by it that Hades gave him the opportunity to bring Eurydice out of the underworld, he just has to take the long walk out of the underworld with Eurydice behind him, and he cannot look back at her the entire walk until they are out of the underworld, or else she will be sent back down. Towards the end of their walk, Orpheus is worried that Hades had tricked him because he could not hear Eurydice behind him. He loves her so much that he is driven mad by the fear and doubt that enter his mind. So much so that he ends up looking back at her, and she is sent back to the underworld.

Now for the comparison to Cloud and Aerith.

Obviously, much like Orpheus and Eurydice, we see their relationship become a precious and cherished thing, until Aerith is suddenly killed. If you really wanna get into details, guess who has eyes like a viper, Sephiroth. The one who kills Aerith.

Now Cloud is not a singer or a poet, but he does have a theme song called Hollow in the Remake. This song is heavily theorized to be about Aerith, and makes the most sense to be about her. It describes how lost and hollow he feels without her, which is so unbelievably Orpheus of him. In the lines;

“Bloody and bruised, Brought to my knees

When beaten down, When broken up

You would appear, Reach out to me,

Heal every wound, And make me whole”

It makes me think of a scene in Hadestown, where Orpheus gets beaten up while in the underworld trying to get Eurydice back. Persephone is inspired by Orpheus’ determination to get Eurydice back, his love for her and determination to get her back keeps him going even when he’s beaten down.

Throughout Hollow, he says a lot of words like “Guide me to you” “I’ll never let you go”. He still wants to find her somehow after feeling so empty from her death. Again, very Orpheus.

Let’s look at the lyrics for Wait for me that Orpheus sings in Hadestown;

“Wait for me, I’m coming

Wait, I’m coming with you

Wait for me, I’m coming too

I’m coming too”

Before Aerith even dies, she is kidnapped by Shinra, and Cloud makes it his personal mission to go get her back. After she is kidnapped in Remake, he has a vision of her, where he tells her,

“I’m coming for you”

In Rebirth, after she “dies” he tells her “I’ve got this” in English, but in the Japanese version, guess what he really says?

Wait for me.

There’s also a play called Loveless in FF7 Rebirth, where Cloud and Aerith play Alphreid and Rosa, whose story is very reminiscent of their real story. (I’m aware of how Rosa’s part can also be played by Tifa and Yuffie, but the story of this play fits Cloud and Aerith’s real story the most, as well as Rosa’s character fits Aerith the most. So I wanted to include it)

There is a line that Alphreid tells Rosa;

“You needn’t promise that you’ll wait. For I know that I will find you here”

Key words: Wait and Find

In Hadestown, Eurydice sings a song called Flowers. And guess who in FF7 is a flower girl? Aerith.

The song talks about how Eurydice regrets becoming a worker for Hades (in this version she is very poor and hungry, and Hades convinced her to sell her soul for the safety of it all) but she misses the world above and remembers Orpheus and her happiness with him in the fields of flowers.

Aside from the obvious flower connection, this almost makes me think of how while Aerith had a responsibility in dying and saving the world, she may have regrets since all she wants is to be happy with Cloud (we see her wishes on her dream date with him, spending time with him is how she wishes her life would be without the burden) and in the Advent Children script, when Cloud rides his motorcycle by a field of flowers where her ghost is standing and watching over him, it describes her feeling lonely.

Another thing to note, in Hadestown, a flower is used as a symbol for the whole show. Most notably for this analysis, Orpheus uses it as a reminder of her as he travels to the underworld and tries to give it back when they reunite. And guess what happens when Cloud and Aerith meet? She gives him a flower that represents the reunion of lovers.

In Aerith’s song, No Promises to Keep, Aerith describes this burden she has of being the last Cetra while also saying lines like,

“Till the day that we meet again

Where or when?

I wish I could say

But believe know that you'll find me“

Also:

“Still I hope someday you'll come and find me“

This just screams Eurydice waiting for Orpheus in the underworld, knowing he’ll come find her. Shes saying, come and find me, while he’s saying, guide me to you. Pair that with how Cloud keeps saying Orpheus lines like “Wait for me” and “I’m coming for you” Hollow and No Promises to Keep are such Orpheus and Eurydice anthems, even without the context of FF7 or Cloud and Aerith, those songs fit Orpheus and Eurydice so well. A man feeling hollow without his love, a woman trusting the man to come find her. *chefs kiss*

In the original FF7, Cloud gets a glimpse of Aerith after the final battle, and that’s when he says:

“the Promised Land...

I think I can meet her...there.”

Now we don’t have a clear answer as to what exactly the Promised Land is. Since Aerith is dead at this point when Cloud says this, it makes you wonder if it’s related to where you go when you die, or maybe just where Aerith goes since she is a Cetra. Regardless, she is still dead and Cloud still wants to find her, much like Orpheus when Eurydice dies.

In the Advent Children film that takes place two years after Aerith dies, Cloud himself is dying from geostigma, and sadly enough, is pushing away his friends, accepting death rather than fighting it, seemingly searching for Aerith amongst it all with how he sleeps in her church. Orpheus was known to have never been the same after Eurydice died, completely swallowed up with grief until he had the idea to see her again in the underworld.

Another interesting detail in AC, when he has visions of her, Cloud cannot look at Aerith because of his guilt until the very end where he decides to keep living on.

In the FF7 Remake, it takes a little different approach than the original FF7 did. There are multiversal aspects that have made people question if Aerith’s fate is final this time. Since we don’t know how Part 3 of the trilogy will play out, some of this is theorizing. But what I believe is that there was a new timeline where Cloud saved Aerith, it’s not the current timeline that Cloud and the rest of the party are in, but Cloud knows of this other timeline where Aerith is alive because he is the only one that can see into that timeline.

No Promises to Keep plays when they part at the very end of the game, the same song that talks about how she wants him to come and find her, just like he did when she was kidnapped by Shinra. This makes me wonder if maybe he will try to cross between different worlds (much like Orpheus with the underworld) to try and get her back. If this will be successful or not, we will see, he is Orpheus after all.

There’s another song in Hadestown called Road to Hell, about how even though Orpheus and Eurydice’s story ends in tragedy, the people in the musical keep singing it over and over hoping that one day the story will change and that one day they’ll be reunited.

“It's a sad song

But we sing it anyway

'Cause here’s the thing

To know how it ends

And still begin to sing it again

As if it might turn out this time”

A common theme with the Remake project is defying fate, repeatedly saying it’s not set in stone, that maybe it can be changed, so we’ll have to see if it’ll turn out this time.

I am one that does not mind either way if Aerith lives or dies by the end of this new trilogy. Simply because the tragedy of their romance was already great, it would be emphasized even more with this hope that maybe we can get her back. Both we and Cloud actually see a possibility of her being alive with these parallel worlds. There’s a chance he can get her back. And if he in fact still does not get her back, it would hammer in their original idea of this tragedy even more, making it more tragic. And if he does get her back, I feel like It the original idea would still be there (since we DID still see her die) but it would transcend both OG and remake that after all this time he finally found her, and maybe he’d finally be happy for it, I know people would be mad and say that it cheapens the purpose of her death or whatever but personally it would be beautiful to me. Getting that hope then getting the same result is very reminiscent of Orpheus and Eurydice. But I will say I am hopeful that Cloud can defy fate and get his Eurydice back, I would love to see them happy together by the end.

[hexotoner]

So, I made a short story based in certain song.

I hope you enjoy!

Come Little children...

Each kind of monster has a story to explain their origin, the wise have come to the conclusion that the great colossals brought their creativity to our creation, however, among the true and legends of others there are our own, ignored by others, for us a reality that remains after generations like bedtime stories for our monsterlings; like several stories it has changed, at this point we do not know how the real story was, even so the most popular and accurate version is always told. One thing is certain, in every story, in every legend something never changes, the song which it all began.

Before the great Dawn of fire, when the colossals gave life to a home for all. The celestials, the protectors of these elements, dedicated themselves to guiding and protecting the creations, however, among so much joy one of them made himself heard; The colossals had forgotten his element, they forgot to create life for the shadow and darkness. Even his pleas were not heard because the element was seen as useless and weak, especially in the face of the power of the fire, so powerful and brilliant. The jealousy was expected...

That celestial, immersed in humiliation and rejection, devised a plan

One night, peace reigned among the natural monsters; After a long time of incubation, the hatching season had begun, so many monsterlings had just hatched along with their brothers from years past. A night of calm between parents and children who sleep next to them.

Suddenly, as the moon rose high, Shadowed Glare shone; A sweet and deep voice began to sing along with the music of a piano, a song that we remember to this day:

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

"Come Little children

I'll Take Thee Away, Into A Land

Of Enchantment

Come Little Children

The Time's Come To Play

Here In My Garden

Of Shadows"

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

The memories are vague, hypnotized by the sweet sound of his song. Every monsterling, newborn and young, was called to follow that voice across the continent. Each monster of earth, cold, water, plant, air or fire; each little one was called. They were guided to the highest and nearest cliff, where the celestial awaited them.

One by one, under the light of the moon and the control of the shadows, they fell from the cliff. Fear covered some who feared a fatal destiny... Then, the celestial raising his hand called to the fallen, they began to fly. Young monsters as dark as the night opened their wings and took flight towards the moon, the other little ones then realized that under the protection of darkness nothing would happen to them. It continued like this all night.

His sweet song, so hypnotizing and beautiful, came to an end, on the other side of the sky the great and dazzling sun was present, its light woke up the unsuspecting parents giving them the news that their little ones have disappeared. Meanwhile, that celestial, giving his last verse, lowered the immense and elegant moon to its ancestral rest; The few monsterlings that remained were quick to fall and fly towards that beauty and brilliant.

A little tweedle did not want to fly, cursed with the lack of its wing at birth, it approached to the celestial, afraid of falling. When he saw it, he smiled, taking it in his hands and covering its wing. The sun approaches, the parents scream and run guided by the sun toward the dark end of their little ones. That celestial threw the tweedle off the cliff... And it flew, the last monster of the shadows took flight accompanied by the celestial who guided it to the Moon, which has already hidden.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

"Come Little Children

The Time's Come To Play

Here In My Garden

Of Shadows"

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

It was the last thing that was heard in the echo of that cliff

The next day the continent was silent, an entire generation had disappeared into the darkness. For years the monsters refused to sing until the story was forgotten and ignored...

What happened to that celestial? Every day he smiled, looking at those who could not do anything, at the fire celestial that could not illuminate the night and now his people were in despair and silence.

"This is a story that I like to remember, there is nothing physical to prove it, the original grumpyres have perished naturally, their descendants vaguely remember the story. However, I know what I once saw, the memory of what I lived. No matter how much time passes, my wing has never felt better. Still, I miss the purple of my old feathers."

[litsetaure]

So…one of my favourite headcanons is that the Potter family are Indian. (Those of you who’ve read my Grindeldore/Wolfstar dancer fic might recall that Fleamont Potter, James’ father and the UK Prime Minister, is Indian in that. Funnily enough, our real life Prime Minister is a British Indian Hindu who became PM last year. On Diwali. Yeah, that was an…interesting day in the family. Still not entirely sure how I feel about it.)

Anyway - here are some headcanons about James Potter being Indian, some of which are based around how I actually grew up. (Note: there will probably be more as I think of them!):

When Holi comes around, James wakes the others up by pelting them with coloured powder. He does it every year and every year they fall for it. They also pelt everyone with coloured powder throughout the holiday. It took weeks for the paint to be cleaned fully. (Some people suspected Dumbledore deliberately let it stay like that because he liked the colours.)

Sirius got really angry the first time he heard someone call James a Paki. He doesn’t know what it means, but he never wants to see that look on James’ face again. He absolutely lost it when James told him what it meant. (For those of you who don’t know what it means, it’s an incredibly racist slur towards south Asians; along similar lines of using the n-word to a black person. This is also why James gets so angry whenever anyone uses the word Mudblood - because he knows how that shit feels.)

Sirius helps James create magical rangoli patterns during Diwali. They also take over the kitchen for an evening trying to make Indian sweets. The results are mixed-looking, but they all taste good, and the house elves get some great new dishes.

Every time a festival falls on a full moon, they always celebrate a few days after so Remus can join in. (He hugely appreciates the sweets.)

James initially wasn’t thrilled that his Animagus form is a stag, since a deer is the form one of the bad guys took in the Ramayana when he triggered the events that led to Rama’s wife being kidnapped.

When James’ father died, he had a traditional Hindu funeral. Traditionally, the eldest son leads the proceedings, but when James broke down, Sirius stepped in to continue. In that moment, James loved Sirius more than he could put into words.

James also taught the Marauders some Hindi so they could talk privately, as well as some Indian magic.

James, Lily and Sirius actually go to india for their wedding outfits. Lily also has magical mendhi patterns done by James’ aunts and cousins. James also had to gently explain to Lily that wearing white is associated with funerals.

Petunia showed up to James and Lily’s wedding in a white dress to try and upstage the bride. She’s very confused to realise a) Lily is not wearing white, and b) a lot of James’ relatives are looking at her weirdly, because she’s wearing a funeral colour.

At James and Lily’s engagement party, James’ aunties kept trying to set Sirius up with their daughters and teasing him about getting married. They shut up when Sirius snogged Remus in front of everyone. James wasn’t even mad that his engagement was briefly upstaged.

James has a book of Indian tales and legends passed down from his father. He read them to Harry at bedtime. Lily would smile and watch from the doorway. He also taught his friends some classic Indian songs to sing to Harry.

Every year on Raksha Bandhan, James ties a rakhi on Sirius’ wrist and charms them so they’ll never come undone. One night, Sirius noticed the threads of one of them coming loose. That night was October 31st, 1981.

[neengareadynaaready]

Salaar Part 1 (FULL SPOILER-Y REVIEW)

I finally saw Salaar on Netflix, and as promised, I am going insane over the guys Varadeva.

MUSIC

Music is by Ravi Basrur, same guy who did the scoring of KGF. Let me start by saying that I absolutely loved the songs of KGF. They were high-energy songs perfect for getting yourself hyped up for something. I went into watching Salaar expecting the same thing, but I was proven wrong.

The songs in Salaar are actually more varied. The children in the school singing, "Prathi Gaadhalo" gave me goosebumps. I applaud the fact that Ravi Basrur has such range and versatility in the music he composes and arranges but you can still see his signature in his creations.

KGF & SALAAR?

Speaking of signatures... The visuals are beautiful. Obviously, Prashanth Neel's style is coming through in KGF and now Salaar. Also, there was something in the way the story is told to Shruti Haasan's character, just like how Rocky's story is narrated in KGF.

90% (or more) of mass action films have a flashback portion where the hero's backstory is revealed. In most cases, it's to clarify the hero's motivation or to show us his heroism/what he suffered/his traumas, etc.

In Salaar and KGF, the flashbacks are the entire story. In KGF, it's through an interview for things that happened in the past. In Salaar, the present and the past are more connected. It reminded me of Baahubali Part 1 where the present-day events make up the first half before we then dive into the entire backstory of Amarendra Baahubali. Mahendra's/Shiva's story in the present only really starts in the 2nd movie.

So this is where my ramblings lead to: we all know SS Rajamouli is thinking on a bigger scale. He's thinking epics. With KGF and Salaar, it feels like Prashanth Neel is gearing up for that, too. A lot of the people who dismissed KGF said it was because it was style over substance, which I'm fine with, to be honest, because what PN was trying to do in that movie was obvious, from the storyline to the music especially. He was trying to create a legend, the Legend of Rocky Bhai. Even if the story is not that unique and/or cringe, the fact is Rocky Bhai will now go down in history as one of the most unforgettable mass action characters of Indian cinema.

Here, in Salaar, we get a new world. It is in Khansaar where our epic unfolds.... (At least that was the vibe I was getting while watching.) I mean, Prithviraj said Salaar had Game of Thrones vibes. I'm a sucker for court politics in an interesting new world, so I was hooked. Also, that revelation of Deva being the rightful heir to the throne? C'mon, it's obvious, but it's a classic for a reason. It's such good angst and how Varadha and Deva navigate this revelation when it's revealed to everyone in Part 2 is gonna be amazing.

VARADHA and DEVA

In general, I think most of the characters are very interesting. Not gonna lie, I lost track of some of them midway through the movie. I was consumed by Varadeva every time they were both on screen.

Look, I kinda wished Ranga was still alive so there's that one character that has it out for Varadha and Deva would have to come to his rescue again in Part 2. Anyway, he was an interesting character because he spiraled so fast, and he was always clinging to Rudra's arm and going "I have never asked you for anything since childhood. I want Varadha." and then he was bawling his eyes out, like what a certifiably insane character.

Prabhas and Prithviraj's interactions were really very interesting and fun. I wish we had more. They bantered while fighting, and you can feel they're the type to make fun of each other and have fun. But you can also see how much they truly care for each other that time when Naarang was wielding his sword. They're like, "No, kill me, spare him." DUUUUUUDE. I loved that.

And when Varadha made up his mind, Deva was ready to support him. Who knows what's gonna happen in Part 2.

Action is okay. Was very nice to see them fight side by side.

OVERALL

The cast of characters, the story, the premise, the subplots going around... I'm excited for Part 2!

[talas-first-lady]

Legends of Tomorrow: the Musical Episode

Brought to you by my obsession with tumblr polls

Note about suspension of disbelief: this is way too many songs to fit into an hour and we are pretending that all cast members are great singers and dancers (but Amy and Tala are still better than the rest of them, obviously).

Last week on Legends of Tomorrow:

The Darhks kidnapped Ray, who made some annoyingly good points about how maybe turning Nora into a vessel for a demon was not the best idea ever. He also sang the entire Singin in the Rain soundtrack. Several times.

The last lost totem of Zambesi was located on Elvis' guitar: the Music Totem. Damien Darhk seized it and realized that this was his chance to fix things with Nora and get the Legends off his back and maybe torture them just a tiny bit but, like, gently.

Episode 3x1???

Ray Palmer wakes up and begins enthusiastically singing about his morning. Seems in character so we aren't really that surprised. Until he heads out of his room and we discover that all the rest of the Legends are also singing and dancing enthusiastically. They sing about how happy they are now that Captain Darhk and Nora are running the ship. Gideon manifests herself in human form so that she can also dance. Both Sara and Zari say "Look, it's hot Gideon!" at different points.

Rip and Ava portal in from the Time Bureau (Rip is also happy to see hot Gideon) with important time business that promptly gets forgotten about because musical numbers!

Things are super awkward between Sara and Ava since they've recently broken up like 3 times about how neither of them believes she deserves to be happy. Everybody's sick of it.

The other Legends invent some nonsense task for them to do to force them to be alone together and talk about things. They sing about things instead. It is an upbeat and ridiculously cute number that involves a lot of dancing. Everyone is happy.

Well, except Amaya, who has forgotten all about Mallus and the totems but is still thinking about what she's learned about her own future. She sings through the big choice she has to make in the library.

Over in the lab, Zari is chatting with Gideon about how they haven't been able to find any loopholes to let her save her family. Gideon leaves, and Zari picks up with the second verse of the song. Both Zari and Amaya duet the last part of the song from their separate parts of the ship.

Mick dozes off in his room. A lifesize Beebo comes to him in his dreams and they perform an elaborate ballet. It's beautiful. He wakes up, grunts, and goes to get another beer.

We check in with Damien and Nora. Damien is clearly very pleased with himself about how everything is going. Nora is feeling a general state of annoyance but isn't sure why.

Rip and Gideon cross paths on the bridge. Rip starts talking to her like no time has passed, and while Gideon is briefly tempted to go along with it, she can't help thinking about how much better things have been under Captain Darhk. He's never flown her into the sun or into an atomic bomb. He's never turned her into a training simulator. She sings, basically verbatim, "Get Out and Stay Out" from 9 to 5 because Amy Pemberton deserves nothing less.

Rip slinks off to the galley, heartbroken. The guys are all hanging out there already. They manage to get the truth out of him and instantly rally around him: Wally talks about his girlfriend going back to a different earth, Nate talks about Amaya leaving on his birthday, Ray brings out his laundry list of failed engagements. Mick is just there to get a beer. Wally reminds Rip of how healing karaoke was for him just a few days ago. They all join forces for a 90s boy band-inspired number about things getting better in the future and trying again. At one point, Rip pulls a saxophone out of the food fabricator and performs the solo from "Careless Whisper."

Ray leaves, feeling pumped about the idea of finding love again, and immediately crashes into Nora.

Zari is starting to get the nagging feeling that something is wrong. She keeps seeing weird flashes of the timeline where Damien and Nora are evil but she doesn't really know what to make of them.

Ray starts singing about how he's been feeling different about Nora ever since their adventure together. Nora is also kind of feeling something but not really ready to admit it. They sing a funny duet with Nora very annoyed with Ray at first but gradually wearing down a bit.

Zari goes to Nate since he was helpful the last time she got stuck in a weird TV trope, but he just thinks she's trying to prank him because what she's saying is completely ridiculous. She goes to Sara next. Ava is also in Sara's room and they have clearly been in there ever since their song finished earlier. Zari explains and Ava is first to believe her since something has also felt off to her. Between the two of them, they manage to pull Sara out of the delusion as well. They split up to talk to everyone else with varying degrees of success.

Damien notices that there are whispered conversations going on around the ship and intervenes, calling everyone for a team meeting. Sara calls him out in front of everyone. He admits the truth in a jazzy villain song. At the end, Nora confronts him and demands that he hand over the Music Totem and stop standing in her way. He reluctantly gives it back and with that, the spell is broken.

The only thing nobody can explain is how Mick ended up with a Beebo in his room.

[oliverreedmasterass]

Starcatchers 1x4 - Fate of the Faithful

Synopsis: It's media day for the GVF guys! What could go wrong? (everything) Danny struggles to hold back the truth, Jake takes advice from a higher up, and Sam and Josh can't stop saying the wrong thing. Their manager has never been more stressed.

Words: 5.8k

Warnings: mentions of physical harm (brief), caffeine addiction, Keith Richards

Notes: Thank you, as always, to @feelslikejakey for the original concept, and @jmkho for literally writing the ending for me because my writer's block was so unbelievably bad AND making the incredible title/gif!! 🫶🫶🫶

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jake, Josh, and Sam are in an old-fashioned diner, eating breakfast and sipping on tall mugs of black coffee. Sam sets down his fork with a clatter and leans closer to his brothers so he can conspire. 

SAM: Something’s different with Daniel. 

JAKE: (raising an eyebrow, mouth full of bacon) How so? 

SAM: It’s like he’s more gullible or something. Usually he’s the most headstrong one in the band, but I’ve been messing with him a lot more recently, and he’s falling for it. 

JOSH: You might be onto something, I convinced him that Genovia is a real country yesterday and he didn’t even Google it to double check. 

JAKE: I can’t see that happening. I bet he’s the one screwing with you both. 

SAM: No, trust me, watch this. 

Danny comes back to the table from the bathroom, wiping his wet hands on his jeans. 

DANNY: Some guy was styling his hair with the hand dryer. Can you believe that? 

SAM: (ignoring Danny’s interesting story) Daniel, did you know that it gets so hot in the summer because the sun doubles in size between June and September?

DANNY: I guess that kind of makes sense. 

Jake and Josh exchange amused looks. This is gonna be fun. 

JOSH: Well, I read yesterday that pisces can read people’s minds. 

DANNY: Really? That’s kind of spooky. 

JAKE: The pyramids were built from the top down. 

DANNY: I knew it. (beat) You guys are throwing a lot of information at me. It’s kinda making my head spin a bit. Not gonna lie, I’ve been all over the place since I stopped drinking caffeine. Like, I really can’t think straight. 

SAM: (obviously not feeling bad at all) Oh no, that’s horrible! 

Sam, Jake, and Josh share malicious grins. Danny is entirely oblivious. 

SAM: (to the camera) I can tell this fool whatever I want. 

Starcatchers Theme/Opening Titles

[acoustic theme song with a harmonica] 

From the fires we emerged anew, 

Singing, playing rock and roll, 

Reviving a genre just for you. 

Across the globe we traveled far

Recruiting an army of peace, 

Enchanting crowds with our guitar. 

A battle ensued at the Gardens Gate

And we preserved the gift of nature, 

Standing up against a culture of hate.  

We are the Starcatchers, reaching for the sky, 

Discovering words of wisdom to live by. 

We deliver a message from the heavens above:

Live your legend through the intelligence of love. 

[end theme] 

Jake, Josh, Sam, and Danny sit in their manager’s office. Danny is balancing a pen on his forehead while Sam times him with a watch that looks like it came from a Happy Meal. Jake and Josh try to focus on their manager, but it’s pretty hard with all the commotion Sam and Danny are making. 

SAM: Twenty seconds away from the world record! 

DANNY: Wooooo! 

MANAGER: (trying to talk over Sam and Danny’s shouts) Today is a big press day. We’ve got a calendar full of interviews for you to get through. I know it’s going to be exhausting work, but we really need to start spreading the word about your upcoming single, ‘Meeting the Master.’ 

JOSH: We’re more than happy to talk with some kind journalists, right guys? 

Danny sneezes and sends the pen flying across the room so it hits their manager square in the face. 

SAM: Shoot! You were two seconds away! 

Danny struggles to find a kleenex to wipe his nose, so he opts for a piece of paper sitting on the manager’s desk instead. 

DANNY: Ugh, this tissue feels awful. 

Danny crumples the snot-covered printer paper and discards it out the window. 

MANAGER: (nodding towards Danny) What’s up with him? He’s usually the sane one. 

JAKE: Caffeine withdrawals. 

MANAGER: Say no more. (shudders) Been there. 

JOSH: So, who do we get to chat with today? Rolling Stone? The New York Times Art and Culture columnist? Kelly Clarkson? 

MANAGER: 98 Rock outside of Clearwater, Florida. 

JAKE: Oh, come on. 

MANAGER: And a few others. Sam and Josh, you’ll pair off and take this schedule. (hands Josh a sheet of paper) Danny, since you just blew your nose on your schedule and chucked it out the window, you and Jake are gonna have to figure things out. I don’t feel like printing another one. 

Manager then slams a gavel down on his desk, making the guys jump. 

MANAGER: Let’s get marketing! 

The manager rushes out of the room, whooping and jumping around like he’s about to take the field for the Super Bowl. Jake, Josh, Sam, and Danny slowly follow behind him, unenthusiastically. 

SAM: (falling in line with Danny) I need to tell you something. 

DANNY: What’s up? 

SAM: (obviously lying) I put truth serum in your water this morning at breakfast. 

DANNY: Now why’d you do that? 

Sam shrugs. 

SAM: A guy sold it to me on the street. I wanted to see if it was the real deal or not. 

Danny nods like he understands where Sam is coming from. Then he stops. 

DANNY: I think you might have been scammed, Sam. It’s not like I’ve been spilling a bunch of secrets left and right. 

Sam pretends to look disappointed. 

SAM: There’s five bucks I’ll never get back. 

Danny stops in his tracks. Sam stops with him. Danny turns to face Sam and puts his hands on his shoulders, looking deep into his eyes. 

DANNY: I was the one who spread the rumor in third grade that you wore a wig. 

Sam gapes at Danny. 

SAM: DANIEL! 

Danny looks horrified that he shared this information with Sam. His mouth hangs open in shock and, after taking in Sam’s progressively angrier face, he snaps back to life to do some major damage control. 

DANNY: I don’t know why I said that, I’m so sorry, Sam. I was young then, I thought it was a funny joke, I didn’t mean for it to get out of hand. 

SAM: Kids called me Mr. Clean for years, Daniel. Years. I had to grow my hair long to prove a point, but they just kept telling me that I had a nice weave. 

Danny doesn’t know what to say. In a silent panic, he runs away from Sam. Sam watches him flail down the hallway and then shakes his head. As he does this, Josh retreats back to Sam’s side and places a hand on his shoulder, not noticing Danny running away. 

JOSH: I was instructed to relay the message that we need to be on our best behavior today in front of the press. Management threatened to subtract twenty bucks from our upcoming paycheck every time we make ourselves look bad. 

SAM: (focusing on Josh) How can they fairly keep track of that? It’s an entirely subjective thing. 

JOSH: I don’t think this is something we can negotiate. 

Sam shakes his head with discontent. 

SAM: I can’t help that I enjoy riffing. 

JOSH: I’m right there with you, bro, but it’s a challenge we’re gonna have to overcome. 

Josh guides Sam past Jake, who is waiting outside a door labeled “105.4 KSCR: The Singles” where he and Danny are expected to take their first interview. Jake is pacing back and forth in front of the door, practicing his lines. 

JAKE: Hi, I’m Jake Kiszka from Greta Van Fleet and I’m here to promote our new single, Meeting the Master. No, not quite it. Hey guys! This is Jake from Greta Van Fleet, spreading the word about our new single! Gross. What’s crackalackin my bros? I’m excited about my new single! 

A deep and booming voice reminiscent of Samuel Pack Elliott appears from seemingly nowhere. 

MYSTERIOUS VOICE: Become one with the essence of your being.

Jake suddenly stops in his tracks and spins in a tight circle, searching for the source of the mysterious voice. 

JAKE: Huh? Dad? 

MYSTERIOUS OVERHEAD VOICE: Soar above the constraints of possibility. 

JAKE: Is this a prank? Because we already covered that in the pilot episode. 

MYSTERIOUS VOICE: Your destiny lies in standing apart from the rest.

Jake’s face scrunches as he finally begins to consider what the voice is telling him. He looks back at the sign on the door. The words “The Singles” especially stand out to him, and he’s staring at the words while whispering “single” under his breath. Danny approaches Jake, looking turned around, and Jake stops whispering to himself, straightening up when he sees his bandmate. 

JAKE: Daniel, I wanna fly solo with the interviews today. Why don’t you go somewhere else? 

DANNY: I mean, I guess I can do that? 

Danny turns back on his heel and wanders away back down the hallway, accidentally bumping into stuff left and right. He finds a door and slips into the room, leaving Jake back on his own. Jake sighs a breath of relief, like he’s off to a fresh start, and lets himself into the KSCR room. 

The perspective of Jake entering the room swaps to a shot of Danny entering into a room of his own, which is entirely dark except for a single light. Danny gazes around and finally spots the interviewer, who is a woman around his age, giving him an eerie smile from the shadows. As he moves closer to her, it becomes clear that she’s using a screenshot of the Pixar lamp on her phone with the brightness turned all the way up as a substitute for an interrogation lamp. 

INTERVIEWER: You’re early. 

DANNY: My bandmate ditched me and told me to take some interviews on my own. I don’t like talking to people I don’t know, especially when there’s a camera around, but I am getting paid for this, so I might as well get it over with. 

INTERVIEWER: Your honesty is refreshing. 

DANNY: I’m so sorry, that was rude to say. I have no filter. 

INTERVIEWER: Like a geriatric patient. Excellent. 

DANNY: What’s with the dark room? I feel like I’m on the set of Hot Ones. 

INTERVIEWER: I like my interview space free of distractions, so I can focus on only you, and you can only focus on me. 

Danny points to the photo of the Pixar lamp that she’s still holding up. 

DANNY: That’s pretty distracting. 

INTERVIEWER: (adamant) The lamp stays. 

DANNY: You’re making my spine tingle. That’s what happens when I’m around people who intimidate me. 

INTERVIEWER: That’s exactly what I was going for. Now, shall we get started? 

DANNY: (still evidently uncomfortable) I feel like I have to. (beat) I really hope I don’t talk about how I stole Dave Grohl’s drum sticks that one time we played at the same festival or how I used them afterwards to build a piece of IKEA furniture because I lost my hammer. 

INTERVIEWER: Hold on, say that again after I start the camera. 

Danny’s face pales with worry. 

The interview room transitions into the room where Josh and Sam are currently on a Zoom call with a couple of cheesy DJs wearing Led Zeppelin band tees. 

DJ 1: So I have written here in front of me that your band name has an interesting story behind it.  

JOSH: Oh yeah, we actually came up with the name as an homage to our 3 main inspirations. 

SAM: Greta Thunberg. 

JOSH: Vanderpump Rules. 

SAM: And Adele! 

Josh flashes Sam a disappointed look. 

DJ 2: How fascinating. I could have sworn I read somewhere that the name came from a town elder in your hometown of Frankenmuth. 

SAM: If you knew that, then why did you ask the question? 

Josh’s phone pings, he looks down at it, and immediately frowns. 

JOSH: (to Sam) That’s a $20 deduction for both of us. 

SAM, DANNY: Darn it! 

Back in the darkened room with the interviewer, Danny is heard yelling the same thing as Sam, holding his head in his hands. The interviewer is flipping through her notes. 

INTERVIEWER: So, in the past five minutes, you’ve shared your social security number, list of allergies, all of your phobias, your home address, how you’re oddly attracted to the pink Stitch, that you think you’re better at guitar than Jake, and, just now, your iCloud username and password. Can I include all of that in my article? 

DANNY: (still into his hands) Please don’t. 

INTERVIEWER: My interrogation - uh, I mean - my interviewing skills have really improved since I did my blood oath - I mean - my Masterclass course on journalism. I didn’t even prompt you to tell me any of that stuff. You offered it all on your own.

DANNY: (groaning) That stupid truth serum. I’m gonna kill Sam. 

The interviewer is intrigued by this. She leans closer to Danny. 

INTERVIEWER: Truth serum, huh? I didn’t know that stuff worked. 

DANNY: Well, here’s all the evidence you need. Sam bought it off some guy on the street for, like, five bucks. It seems kinda cheap for something like that, though. I wonder if he had a coupon. 

The interviewer is on her feet now, looking energized. 

INTERVIEWER: Where’s Sam now? This could be my shot to finally get one of those big Hollywood hotshots to fess up to the existence of the Illuminati. It’s my time to expose those lizard people. 

DANNY: I thought the lizard people and Illuminati were two separate groups? 

It’s no matter, because the interviewer is already gone. Danny sighs and starts to play with the microphone that the interviewer left in front of him. Across the hallway Jake is sitting with the KSCR interviewer, a kind woman who looks like she’s got years of experience under her belt. 

KSCR INTERVIEWER: It said on the call sheet that your drummer, Danny, was going to be joining us today. 

JAKE: I’m flying solo today, hun. You see, Greta Van Fleet has been around for quite some time now. We’re veterans in the field, you could say, which means it’s time for us to explore new avenues. One of those avenues, as you can see, is that I get to take some interviews by myself. You know, test the waters a bit to feel what it’s like to be on my own, running the show. 

KSCR INTERVIEWER: Are you implying that you’re going to leave the band? 

JAKE: I’d be lying if I said the idea didn’t pique my interest. I keep seeing signs, like a higher power is pointing me in the right direction. Have you ever felt like you’ve been trapped in a cage your entire life? Don’t answer that; it’s a rhetorical question. What I crave is so much bigger than the confines of this little rock group. I want to move mountains with my song, to travel the world as a nomad, to become my own master. (without missing a beat) Speaking of which, our newest single, ‘Meeting the Master,’ will be available to stream on April 7th. 

KSCR INTERVIEWER: This is frankly shocking to hear from you, Jake. A lot of people would argue that Greta Van Fleet is in their prime now. You’ve found your sound, gained your following, and are dominating the rock world. Why would you want to walk away from that?

JAKE: The loner’s path calls me. 

Jake pulls a steel guitar out of nowhere and starts to play a tune that sounds similar to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly theme. The KSCR interviewer gives Jake a blank stare. That blank stare is shared by Josh and Sam, who are sitting in a room with their manager, who looks like he’s on the brink of exploding. 

MANAGER: You know how much money we’re deducting from your paychecks? 

SAM: I dunno, like 17 bucks? We’ve been on our very best behavior today.  

MANAGER: $10,680! Each! 

Sam and JOSH both wince at his words. 

MANAGER: (continued) You’ve only done three interviews. It’s like you’re trying to make yourselves look bad or something. 

JOSH: It’s just our personalities, I promise. We aren’t being deliberate about this. 

MANAGER: It seemed pretty deliberate when Sam screamed that he was going to strangle the next artist that used a drum machine. 

SAM: That came from the heart. I thought you told us to be authentic and likable. 

MANAGER: What’s likable about that? 

JOSH: Sam’s statement resonated very deeply with me, personally. He has my vote. I mean, he’s the kinda guy I could sit down and drink a beer with. 

Sam and Josh fist bump. Manager stares between the brothers, his eye twitching, obviously contemplating if he should rip out all of his hair in a blind rage and run through a wall. By some miracle, he swallows his strong emotions and the storm in his face disperses. 

MANAGER: GQ’s up next to shoot your 10 Things I Can’t Live Without interview. Please, I beg of you, don’t blow this. 

JOSH: I can’t live without Cheez-Its. 

MANAGER: Perfect, be sure to say that in front of the camera. 

Manager leaves the room and slams the door shut. In a match cut, Danny closes the door behind him as he enters the Buzzfeed media room. 

BUZZFEED INTERVIEWER: Danny! How’s it going?

DANNY: I can’t believe I have to chat with the stinking Millennial Disney Adult Top 10 List Toxic Work Environment Buzzfeed.  

BUZZFEED INTERVIEWER: Thank you? Uh, why don’t you take a seat right there, yeah, cool. 

DANNY: Please, for the love of all things holy, tell me you aren’t gonna make me take one of your pointless quizzes. 

Buzzfeed interviewer gives an apologetic smile as he hands over a Buzzfeed laptop. 

BUZZFEED INTERVIEWER: It’s ten questions, it should go by fast. Just make sure to share commentary and, if you can, include some good sound bytes that we can use for social media. 

DANNY: The only commentary I’ll have is how much your stupid quiz sucks. 

Danny sighs and turns his attention to the laptop to complete the quiz, Which Greta Van Fleet Member Are You? The first question, of course, is the classic: What’s your favorite color? Danny studies the options, shuts the laptop, and gives the interviewer an exhausted look. 

DANNY: I’m Daniel Wagner. I don’t have to take a quiz to tell you that. Plus anyways, there’s no way a set of ten questions could possibly define who I am as a person, and how I distinguish myself from my bandmates. I’m an excruciatingly complex man with a deep history like you’ve never seen before. You’d need 6 seasons and a movie to even nip at the tip of my iceberg, sir. (beat) I think what I’m trying to say is my favorite color is mauve, which wasn’t an option. 

BUZZFEED INTERVIEWER: Now that’s what I call a sound byte! 

A commotion can be heard through the wall. The camera pans over to investigate, and we learn that Jake is in the next room at a table, leaning in close to the camera with a look so intense, it’s a miracle the lens hasn’t combusted. 

JAKE: (on the brink of hysterics) Do you know how many songs I wrote for our last album? Enough to make Sir Paul McCartney poop his pants! And what did my bandmates do? They looked over my songs and were like, “wow, Jake, these are really good, but I don’t see where a song called ‘Walk the Plank Me Hearties’ would fit in our album’s tracklist.” Can you believe that? Turning down a banger like ‘Walk the Plank Me Hearties’? And it had a 38 minute long guitar solo too, perfect for radio. It’s like they’re digging their own grave in real time. What a joke. What an absolute joke. See how hard I’m laughing, guys? See the tears streaming down my face, pals? 

AMELIA DIMOLDENBERG: I just asked if you liked ketchup with your tendies. 

Camera zooms out to show that Jake is on a Chicken Shop Date with Amanda Dimoldenberg. Jake’s face is red from his rant, and he takes a break to shove a chicken tender in his mouth. 

JAKE: (somehow managing to chew really loudly on chicken tenders) Now, if you were in my shoes, you would leave the band, right? 

AMELIA DIMOLDENBERG: Absolutely not. 

JAKE: I don’t think this is going to work out. 

Jake takes three more chicken tenders and crams them all in his mouth before standing from the table and powering towards the door. Before he leaves, he turns back to face Amelia. 

JAKE: This chicken is delicious, by the way. 

AMELIA: Thanks, I didn’t make it. 

Jake leaves the room and hustles down the hallway, past a door where Sam and Josh are sitting with some people from NPR. 

PETER SAGAL: Welcome to Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! This is Peter Sagal, live here with a couple of members from the rock group, Greta Van Fleet. 

JOSH: Hiya, Peter. 

SAM: What’s hangin’, DJ Swaggin? 

PETER SAGAL: As you may know, this is a show that covers current events. Now, usually when we have guest stars, we take the majority of our time to discuss your career and craft. However, a story recently broke in the news that I would love to discuss with you. 

SAM: By all means. Is this about the soaring gas prices? 

JOSH: War? 

PETER SAGAL: Your brother, Jake. 

SAM: Oh god, what did he do this time? 

PETER SAGAL: Take a listen, guys. 

JOSH: I’ll bet you anything he turned into Oliver Reed and started threatening the people at Apple Music again for putting that U2 album on his phone. 

PETER SAGAL plays an audio clip that Jake recorded recently. 

JAKE: You know what? From here on out, Greta Van Fleet is a trio for all I care. I’m breaking free, baby, just like Troy and Gabriella. I don’t need them, I’m as single as a Pringle. (beat) By the way, our new single, ‘Meeting the Master,’ is available to stream on April 7th. 

Sam and Josh are having trouble hiding their shock. Sam looks to Josh for a cue, trying to figure out how he should react to this news in a way that won’t cost them more money from their paycheck. Josh clears his throat and stands from his seat. 

JOSH: It’s been a pleasure speaking with you, but I need to attend a very important meeting. About, uh, drum machines. 

SAM: (attempting to follow Josh’s lead) Yeah, we like to strangle people who use them. 

Josh and Sam both rush out of the room. Just as quickly as they leave the NPR room, they enter the room where Jake is currently sitting with a reporter from MSNBC, for some reason. 

JAKE: (to the reporter, oblivious to Sam and Josh’s recent entrance) All the greats go solo. Art Garfunkel, Michelle Williams, Liam Payne. 

JOSH: Jake! 

Jake turns around and stands to face his brothers. While he at first looks shocked and afraid to see them, he quickly masks his emotions with a smug smile. 

JAKE: Come to negotiate keeping me in your shackles? 

SAM: Dude, what’s gotten into you? You’re seriously killing the vibe. 

JAKE: I got a whiff of the sweet smell of independence, boys. I’m afraid I’ve gotten hooked. 

JOSH: The only thing I smell in here is your BO. And french fries. Hey wait - did you get Mickey D’s without me? 

JAKE: That’s the perk of going solo. 

Sam looks like he’s starting to consider leaving the band as well. 

JOSH: This is insane, Jake. You can’t leave Greta Van Fleet. 

The mysterious deep voice returns again. It’s apparent that only Jake can hear it. 

MYSTERIOUS VOICE: Challenge the non-believers. 

JAKE: I’ll show you insane. God just told me to challenge Josh to a duel. 

SAM: (shock) Oh my god! (confusion)Oh my god? (realization) Oh my god??

JOSH: (cutting Sam off) You’ve got yourself a deal, pal. 

SAM: No! 

JAKE: High noon, bud. 

SAM: It’s 3:07. 

JOSH: It’s high noon somewhere. 

SAM: I don’t think it is? 

JAKE: Parking lot. 

JOSH: Right. 

The twins exit the room in a silent rage, leaving Sam behind with the MSNBC reporter. 

SAM: So, how about that economy, huh? What are stocks and why am I so afraid of them? 

The scene shifts to the parking lot, at not-really high noon. An instrumental version of ‘Fate of the Faithful’ plays in the background. Jake and Josh step into frame. Jake looks like Woody from Toy Story while Josh wears a cowboy suit with inflatable horse legs. Sam stands in the middle, dressed like a NASCAR flagman in a checkered suit, holding the starting flag up. 

SAM: Please don’t make me do this! 

JAKE: Wave the stinkin flag, Samuel! It’s a direct order from God!

JOSH: I bet he’ll smite you if you don’t. All that’ll be left is the memory of how annoying you were. 

Sam squeezes his eyes shut in fear as he holds the flag up, and Jake and Josh curl and unfurl their fists, preparing to grab for their weapons (plastic cups filled with boba). Sam slowly starts to move the flag downwards as the instrumental music crescendos. The camera zooms into Jake and Josh’s eyes to show just how serious they are about this whole boba shootout. Sam lowers the flag in full, his eyes still shut. As the twins stick their straws in their mouths and prepare to fire the boba at one another, Danny suddenly wanders past Sam, blocking Jake and Josh from each other. Danny appears dazed and confused, and gazes around with a sleepy look on his face. 

DANNY: Which interview is this? Why didn’t I get a fun costume? 

JAKE: Oy! Checker boy! Move your curly friend out of the way so I can pelt my brother with these tapioca pearls! 

SAM: (to Danny) Now’s really not a good time to be here, buddy. Why don’t you lay down and drink an ice water? You look awful. 

DANNY: (speaking to no one in particular) I said so many things on our no-no list. But I couldn’t stop myself. The words melted from my mouth like butter fresh out of the microwave. 

Jake and Josh are now standing upright, dumbfounded and trying to decipher what the heck Danny is talking about. 

DANNY: (continued) They know that I used a night light until I was 16. And that Josh has an irrational fear of George Costanza. And that Jake stole one of Chicago Music Exchange’s most expensive guitars back in 2019 and blamed it on Keith Richards. 

JAKE: Bollocks! 

DANNY: And I can’t speak a lick of Spanish. And Sam lied about being vegetarian during the pandemic. 

SAM: Oh no, my brand! 

DANNY: And Josh has a crush on Dev Patel…

JOSH: I’m actually okay with that one. Maybe he’ll hit me up? 

DANNY: (continued) …and a young Rasputin. 

JOSH: How do you know about that!?

JAKE: Okay, change in plans. I don’t need to duel Josh anymore. Let’s circle the traitor! 

JOSH: Yar! 

DANNY: (continuing) That truth serum Sam gave me is seriously strong. Like, it’s kinda freaking me out how powerful the stuff is. I told a poor reporter with Spin that I haven’t had a bowel movement in 4 days and he referred me to a fiber specialist. 

Jake and Josh turn to look at each other. It’s mutually understood that Danny is not the cause of this mess; Sam is. Sam has already caught onto this, as made apparent by the fact that he is already halfway across the parking lot, booking it as fast as he can from harm’s way. 

A steel guitar theme plays in the background as old-timey title cards flash across the screen, reading: Samuel Francis Kiszka was forced to go through robust media training as penance for his tomfoolery and despicable interview responses. Daniel Robert Wagner was given a doppio espresso with 20 shots of espresso and 10 pumps of white mocha to cure his caffeine withdrawals. He was back to normal within seconds. As for the twins, Jacob and Joshua…

Camera shows Jake and Josh. They are sitting across from each other in the room where Josh and Sam did their GQ 10 Things I Can’t Live Without interview. A box of Cheez-Its, toe nail clippers, a trucker cap that reads I’M NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS I’M WORSE, a ping pong paddle, and The Communist Manifesto are sprawled across the table. It can be assumed that all of Sam’s submissions were non-tangible. 

JOSH: I can’t believe Sam has to go through the same media training program that Disney Channel child actors do. 

JAKE: You and I both know it’s what the kid deserves. 

SAM: (voice calling from down the hall) WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN’T THREATEN PEOPLE IN FRONT OF THE CAMERAS? THAT’S MY BIT! 

Josh looks like he’s mulling over whether he should mention something or not. He starts to play with the toenail clippers, but then stops himself. 

JOSH: You know how you were talking about leaving the band? 

Jake seems uncomfortable that Josh is bringing this up. 

JAKE: Hmm? Oh yeah, that. (beat) Between you and me, I think Sam must have slipped me some “Tendency to Learn Towards Breaking Up” serum earlier today. Man, that stuff got me good. 

Now Jake is the one nervously playing with The Communist Manifesto, trying to read it upside down. 

JOSH: Is any of that serum still in your system? 

Jake mulls Josh’s question over. 

JAKE: I think it must have cleared out. I mean, I haven’t heard from God in a hot minute. 

JOSH: I am curious, what does God sound like? 

JAKE: Like the most darn tootin’ cowboy you’ve ever heard in your life. 

JOSH: Huh. 

JAKE: It is a little strange though, I swear I’ve heard his voice before. Maybe he regularly checks in on me. 

Jake shifts around a bit in his seat. 

MYSTERIOUS VOICE: Our duty is to build trucks.  

Jake jumps out of his seat with a shout. 

JOSH: What?! 

JAKE: He just came back to me! He said it’s our duty to build trucks?  

JOSH: Are you sure he didn’t say ‘trust’? 

MYSTERIOUS VOICE: It takes the new 2025 Ram 1500 to move Heaven and Earth. 

JAKE: Huh? 

JOSH: What is it, brother?

MYSTERIOUS VOICE: Guts. Glory. Ram. 

JAKE: I think God just recited a Ram Truck commercial to me. 

JOSH: You said he sounds like a cowboy? 

JAKE: Mmm hmm. 

Josh looks at Jake closer. Although his hair is covering his ears, Josh spots something. He reaches forward, brushes Jake’s hair out of the way, grabs something, and holds an AirPod out to Jake to see. 

JOSH: Do you think this was maybe where the “Voice of God” was coming from? 

JAKE: Did you pull that out of my ear? I didn’t realize you knew how to do magic tricks. 

Josh inserts the AirPod into his own ear and takes a pause to listen. 

JOSH: Your “God” is telling me about Dairy Queen’s 2 for $5 deal right now. 

JAKE: Sellout. 

JOSH: You’re playing ads on your phone, dude. 

Jake pulls out his phone and studies it. 

JAKE: So I am. Perhaps I’m not important enough for divine intervention. 

JOSH: (cautiously) You know, sometimes we apply meaning to things based on our subconscious without even realizing it. 

Jake doesn’t seem to be following what Josh is hinting at. With a sigh, Josh continues. 

JOSH: (continued) All of today you believed you were following the word of God. But, in actuality, I think you were doing what you wanted. 

JAKE: I was doing what Ram Trucks wanted. 

JOSH: Jake, I want to know if we’re okay. You know, as a band. 

JAKE: Oh yeah. Saying we’re A-okay isn’t even accurate. We’re more like A+ okay. 

Jake lets out a small cough, rubs his nose on the bottom of his dress shirt, hocks a loogie into Josh’s box of Cheez-Its, and stands. 

JAKE: I’m gonna grab some more chicken tenders from that British lady. Those made my stomach happy. 

Jake leaves the room, whistling the “Cha Cha Slide” to himself. 

JOSH: (to himself) I wish I had some of Sam’s truth serum to crack into that chestnut of a brain. 

The episode ends with a flashing series of national headlines that were produced as a result of the media day, like Greta Van Fleeing: Jake Kiszka on the Move? and 192 Secrets Daniel Wagner Probably Should Have Kept to Himself. The camera shifts to show that the members of Greta Van Fleet are doing more media, chatting with a couple of DJs over a Zoom call.  

DJ 1: You boys really took the world by storm last week with your, let’s call it, buzzworthy press. We’re glad to have you here with us today to shed some light on what happened, and why you’re currently at the top of the news cycle for every major outlet. 

DANNY: A word to the wise, don’t go off the bean. 

DJ 2: Noted. 

SAM: We’re so thrilled to be speaking with you both today. To answer your question, I went into the Disney Channel building and I sat down with the president of Disney Channel, and I said, ‘I wanna make history,’ and that’s what this is. 

DJ 2: Not the answer we were expecting, but very informative, Samuel. 

JOSH: You should congratulate him, he’s been taking his media training very seriously. 

Danny takes a break from chugging his venti coffee to chime in. 

DANNY: We’re a band who obviously doesn’t take ourselves too seriously. What happened last week was unprofessional, I will admit that, but it was a way to capture your attention so we can spread the word far and wide about the first single off our upcoming album, Starcatcher. 

SAM: Create a playlist with ‘Meeting the Master’ on repeat and stream it. Don’t mute it! Play it at a low volume and let it play while you sleep. 

DJ 1: Should we even be anticipating a new album from you guys if Jake’s so dead-set on quitting the band? 

SAM: I am not contractually allowed to speak on that matter. No comment. 

JAKE: That was an accident. False alarm. I was taking advice from Ram Trucks. 

DJ 2: How does that happen? 

JAKE: You forget to watch your back. 

DJ 2: I want to steer the conversation back to Danny about a certain someone that he expressed romantic feelings for last week. 

Everyone stares at Danny with concern. Danny looks mortified. 

DJ 2: Anything to say about Pink Stitch? 

JAKE: Oh, I bet he does. 

JOSH: (to Jake) You know who has something to say about you? 

Josh retrieves his phone from his pocket and opens a voice note. 

VOICE OF KEITH RICHARDS: Ello, this is Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. I have a message for a kid named Jake who screwed me over at the Chicago Music Exchange. Now, IF I SEE DAT BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP I’M GONNA BLEEP BLEEP THE GODDAMN BASEBALL BAT BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP ZEBRA CROSSING BLEEP BLEEP ICE CREAM BLEEP BLEEP FRENCH WINDOWS BLEEP - 

JAKE: (trying to call over the continued voice note of Keith Richards cussing him out to no end) MEETING THE MASTER. STREAM IT NOW, STREAM IT FOREVER. 

END OF EPISODE.

[everydayzefron]

Some facts about Zac Which you may or may not know!:

1. He turned down a big record deal.

Jesse McCartney said Zac turned down a record deal, with six zeros attached to the end of it (huge $ offer) Due to his preference for acting. The deal wanted him to put out a solo album. Not sure how many offers he got, but it is known Simon Cowell of all people wanted to sign Zac.

Additionally it was Zac’s love for singing that opened the door for him into the acting world.

———

2. He knows how to play the piano.

Growing up Zac has mentioned a few times very briefly that he knows how to play the piano extremely well. He took piano lessons as a kid, and it was his piano teacher who took notice of how talented he was and helped aspire his parents to get him involved in auditioning for roles.

——-

3. Taylor Swift herself taught him how to play guitar.

Even though he knew how to play piano quite well, Zac said he struggled with learning how to play the guitar. He stated his previous attempts have all been failures and nobody could teach him. Up until Taylor Swift of all people (who he calls a legend) volunteered to teach him. Since being taught by Taylor, Zac continued working on his guitar skills and has said he knows how to play almost every song with the four chords Taylor taught him. One of his go to songs he learned to play is Santeria. All thanks to Taylor Swift for being an incredible guitar teacher, according to Zac.

—-

4. He has frog hands.

Picture is self explanatory!

5. He’s into song writing! Says he wants to write his own album one day or even a musical!

One thing a lot of people don’t know about Zac is his interest in songwriting, or rapping. While working on his comedy film, ‘Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates’ Zac wrote (and is credited on) for writing ‘Stang Life’ which is an offical sound track song for the film. Zac additionally raps on the track. The lyrics are understandable if you watch the film, as it’s film-based inspired lyrics. Zac also co-wrote his collaboration parody duet with Taylor Swift and wrote Vanessa Hudgens a song for her birthday.

——

—

6. He likes to write poems, and loves to paint & draw which he does really well.

A Zac fact that most people don’t know but something he mentions often is his love for poetry & painting/drawing which he is good at.

His (now removed, or faded) feather tattoo on his bicep was actually designed (drawn) by entirely him. Which he once mentioned in an interview.

Quote: “I actually designed it (tattoo). I like to sketch - it’s my favourite medium. I’ve done drawings and paintings for girls, but mostly I do comic books. Sometimes it’s just nice to put thought.”

—-

7. He is super nerdy which was a big shock to Zendaya.

In an interview while doing press for The Greatest Showman, Zendaya shared her first impressions on Zac. She never expected that Zac would be what she calls a “super nerd” since he’d go on telling her about Stranger Things, which he’d passionately deep dive about. Growing up, Zac wasn’t the popular kid in school, and sometimes bullied. Although he did community theatre which was an escape for him. His teacher once described him as “shy and quiet” and spoke about his passion and determination for acting.

—-

8. He did extremely well in school growing up, with high grades and never slacked off. Leading him to be accepted into the University of Southern California (USC) & University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)

Pretty self explanatory. Zefron is very smart, especially since USC has a very low acceptance rate. Always has been. Zac not only was a top performer in arts but also academically. Friends of his past said he would take studying very seriously since he doesn’t slack off anything he does.

—-

9. He is a huge animal lover! Who grew up with his Siamese cat Simon, and two dogs, Dreamer and Puppy.

This one is a more obvious fact! Since there are plenty of interactions with animals, since he is a big time animal lover. One of the very first pets he owned was a kitten he called ‘Cucko Kitty’ it was a kitten Zac found as a stray & rescued.

——

10. He played on a baseball team while growing up and has a signed baseball from Dusky Baker.

Before he got into theatre, and singing & dancing. Baseball was one of the sports Zac would play growing up! Dusky Baker is also one of the players who signed his ball when Zac was only a kid. Promising after 35 minutes he’d return from church to sign it, which he did.

—

11. He had a very large gap between his teeth while growing up, and has a whole lot of freckles!

His gap may be fixed nowadays! But time to time when he doesn’t wear his retainers his signature gap between his teeth makes a small comeback! Other than the bright eyes and gap, Zac also has a freckles all over his nose and freckles on his cheeks too.

[jeannahas]

To be American - Is to be Fragmented

I have lamented - often, and too long, the fact that I have no culture, no home to call my own.

I was raised in lands that were taken, among crimson cliffs, orange craigs, tracing carvings that predated my ancestors by generations, their meanings long lost to the cruel sands of time and desert winds. I was raised on stories of gods of foreign lands - tales of Thor, and Mjyonlir, mixing and twining with those of Zeus, Hades, Amateseru, Kokopeli, and Coyote.

I was raised fearing the Skinwalker, and was taught how a Skinwalker is vastly different from a Werewolf, and was taught Asian Ki-Gong medicine, and listening closely as the Navajo told us of their fears, showed and shared with us their dances, as friends.

I miss those days. The drum, the singing - the mesmerising spread of hoops during the eagle dance - if that's what it was called.

I saw the terror in the eyes of my first crush - a Navajo girl, as she explained that her family was moving away because they saw the shadow that laughed in the flames as their house burned to the ground, and I legitimately beleived them, felt sorry for them. I learned from them always to erase whatever you drew in the dirt, and I still do to this day.

I had an ancestor die in the Alamo, he knew Daniel Boone. Texas rangers, mountain men, the members of the LDS church who settled massive tracks of the west, who mixed and mingled with the native tribes, often in friendship, while others warred. I was told when I was younger, that there was Native american blood in me, but that what it was- from where it came - has been lost. Who even told me this>? I certainly can't remember, and don't have any proof. What tribe? What family? Where do I call home? What legends are truly mine to posess, to pass on? The Shoshoe? Ute? Paiute? One of the many tribes from Northern California?

I don't know. Do I really descend from any of them?

We learned in 2017 that my direct family line, that of my Father, hailed from clan McLeod, from Scotland, and through them, the vikings, who claimed descendance from norse gods - but are these legends mine? Are the legends of the Tuatha d'Danan now mine as well? The legends of Scottish heroes, of Scathach, who dwelt upon the Isle of Skye? The great feats of clan-cheifs proof of my line's draw to combat and war? Could I lay claim to and learn Gaelic, and not be rejected by those who still speak it as their birthright, and could I bear the seal of Clan McLeod? I can - I have a pin that marks us as descendants of the family, and we know exactly which of our ancestors branched off, changed his last name - but it still feels strange, after so long not having any connection.

My first ancestors on this land came on later voyages of the mayflower, we learned. They were here for the Revolutionary war, 1812, they were here for the civil war. We came through the younger brother- he fought for the Union, and in stories called the family slave brother, and helped to free him.

His actually older brother fought for the south - he died.

My grandfather, while in northern california, was gifted an Eagle feather. How? From Whome? Why? Am I crazy? Did this not actually happen?

I don't know.

I am an American - I was born in Ohio. I grew up at the base of and within the Rockies, and it is the tales of the miners and settlers that describe the arrival of my kin. I was raised in southern Utah, brought up on native American legends and taboos, among Hoodos, Petroglyphs, and remnants of the Ancient Pueblo, called the Anasazi still in my youth, and my mother had an entire library dedicated to the stories, the songs, the myths and taboos of many different Tribes, and I still recall the legends about the staining of the stones, of the White buffalo, and I held a healthy respect for the legends of Coyote the Trickster, of the fact that the people of this land credited him as the one who cursed those who became Bryce Canyon. Are these legends mine? Are these songs mine to tell? Can I tell people the fact that seeing the patterns of native american pottery actually puts me at ease, makes me feel at home, in ways that other things... don't? That I yearned to enter the cities of the Pueblo left behind at Mesa Verde, that they called to me, and I could not enter, could only speculate at the lives once lived there?

I don't know.

Native tribes probbably wouldn't accept me among them. I cannot claim one as my ancestors. I can't even declare with certainty I have any Native American Ancestors.

I grew up learning martial arts, a Korean Style called Tang Soo Do, passed down from my father, who learned it at great expense. I learned to love the sword, to learn many fragments of the Korean Language, and always seek to know more, and have adopted many aspects of martial arts culture. I bow reflexively in respect to others, be it a small nod of the head, or an accidental full bow in times of exhaustion. I have accidentally bowed while crossign the threshold of my home, or while entering a gymnasium, or while entering my bedroom. I shake hands with my left arm tucked under my right elbow- a habit engrained through years of shaking the hands of other martial artists in greeting, and I accept things offered to me with both hands - a custom I have learned is prevelant in Asia.

I cry when I watch the end of elemental - they have the Big Bow- what do we have here in America? In India, they have ways to show maximum respect to their fathers, to their elders, to show their gratitude, great gestures to save for those of Import. What do I have? I yearn to show this level of respect for my own parents, to share with them a gesture that is filled with such meaning, and I am left feeling that I have NOTHING save to invite them to the events which are of greatest significance. Do I make something, a masterwork weapon to gift to my father, to echo the many training weapons he made and gave to me? What could possibly convey this?

Our culture has nothing. We have to borrow from others around us.

I learned that there are Ties within our style to Shotokon, in Japan, to Shaolin Boxing, in China, and to a dozen other styles around the world. Are any of these tales and stories mine to tell? Can I truly claim legacy with the Hwa'Rang'Dan? Can I claim sincerely descendance through training, through legacy of instructor and teacher, back to the Silla Dynasty in 57 BC? My martial arts legacy is 3 steps away from Chuck Norris, and 3 steps away from Grandmaster Jae Chul Shin - does that matter?

I don't know - some will tell me yes - many will tell me no.

Lastly. I came to live in another country, to learn the legacy of Artigas, of San Martin and Belgrano - of their fight against the Spanyards, and I learned of the battle of Tucumán, and felt great pride for the fact that the Gouchos fought like demons. I came to speak Spanish, Castellano specifically, and to take to the language so well I had to take a couple months to learn english again when I returned, and months more to remember what a "Watermellon" was called. I began to feel most comfortable with an Aguayo sash around my waist, a knife tucked in the wraps, and my favorite way to keep warm in winter mornings to this day is to Don my Poncho in the colors of Salta, and remember the cable cars, the climb down the hill, the sights and crisp mornings that always greeted me, the briliant golden light of the main Plaza of Salta or Monteros during the day, or the sight of the night sky as I looked at a moon that seemed to Wax and Wane in reverse.

I am not from there- but still, to this day - Castellano leaps to my lips, and the Chacarerra brings me comfort. I'm sad I lost my hat - I actually thought I looked good in that one.

And I miss Gaseosa Secco.

oh forgotten gods of all my ancestors - Secco is fantastic, and if you are in Santiago del Estero for some reason - you need to try some.

I think, one of the defining traits of life as an american... is the hollowness. We do not really have a food to call our own. We do not really have legends beyond our founding, save those our ancestors brought with them, and shared to their kids. Many are immigrants- they have the stories of their homelands, and they claim them as theirs. People say that our legacy as Americans is that we posess all legacies- but that's not really the case. Cultures do not readily share, do not readily welcome outsiders, and we are not really part and pacel of any culture, not really. There is a void there that used to be filled with patriotism, but as despotism, fascism, curruption, and inumerable other ills cause our nation to crumble from within, as corporations dictate the whims of law, and cause those of use who are simply trying to live life to flail, to flounder, to scream and rage futily against a system too megalithic for us even to understand....

We are left with nothing.

Maybe that Is why we hold to our guns - the only stories we have left are of the revolution - stories of hunters who drove off an empire. Perhaps this is why we are so violent- for stories of violence are the only stories we can truly call our own.

I want to claim the stories of my clansmen - for I feel this claim the most direct.

But... I was not raised on those legends.

I was raised playing with my brothers, pretending Loki, Hermes, and Coyote were names for one crazy individual - I was raised reading about all these other cultures, with their names and customs, and dreaming I might see a white buffalo someday, or that I might track and kill an Elk the traditional way - I almost hunted one with a Katana directly drawn from the sheath - that action might describe this clash of cultures best. An american descended from the English, the Scottish, and who knows what else, wearing a krorean do-bohk and nearly hunting one of the most American Animals possible with a Japanese weapon, and then cursing in Spanish when I missed.

I am so deeply American it almost hurts. In the continental sense, not in the national sense. We were on this continent before the USA, and we come from and have been to countries all over these two continents.

I meet people daily from Israel, and wonder if the Geneology that ties me back to the Tribe of Ephraim lets me claim kinship with them, who come from the Tribe of Judah. I meet people from Ethiopia, and am in awe at the beauty of their language. I meet people from spain, Cambodia, the Philipenes, California, Wyoming, New York City, Mexico, China, Vietnamn, and Ukraine - and all of them are equally foreign, equally similar to myself. I teach them, and we all have legends to share - stories to pass around. I have heard legends from other cultures, and in turn have taught them the tale of Achiles.

As was said by Hugh Laurie - "America is too big to [even] know itself."

My soul wails, for it does not have a people, and I search for them constantly. I search for friends, I try to live in whatever culture remains to us- but what is that? Is it the DnD which many of us have fled to as our means of telling stories, of gathering around the fire? Is it the dying breed of the cowboy, who used to be common when I was growing up, herding their sheep and horses, fighting mountain lions in my lifetime, and hunting deer with bows and arrows? Is it our culture that we learn to make things that originally hailed from so many other cultures? Is it the Martial Arts family that I have truly come to love and cherish in a way similar- although not as critical or tight- as the ties I feel to my blood-kin?

My father hand-makes recurve bows, and fletches his own arrows, and taught us to do the same- We learn to make and repair swords, and each have affinities for swords of different legacies. Weapons hailing from different countries. We learned how to bind books, like the europeans did, and like the Maya did once upon a time, before the Conquista, and practiced writing on rice and slats of wood, inspired by the Chinese and Japanese.

I want to scream, I want to cry out and unify the threads of my identity -

But.... around what?

what can I claim to be?

I don't Know.

[lovelytsunoda]

cuts like a knife // daniel ricciardo (country singer!au)

summary: he's a local legend in perth, and she's just the girl that works at the dive bar. ( for all intents and purposes, every song that he sings is by bryan adams. )

the bar has been in her family for generations, started up by her great grandfather on her mothers side

neon signs covering every inch of the walls, wedding pictures hanging above the bar

the oldest is great grandpa jack and his wife nichola and the newest is y/n and daniel, cowboy hats on their heads adorned in cheap lettering that read bride and groom

the bar is packed, a buzz in the air about the hometown show, for that bar was where daniel ricciardo, now known professionally as big ricc, got discovered

it was where he played his first show at fifteen years old, where he me y/n for the first time. where they fell in love, where he got his first record deal

he’s been on tour continuously for two months now, in support of his new album and she’s just glad that he’s coming home

the back door to the bar swings open, and daniel comes in, followed by his touring band: lando on guitar, max on the drums and nico on bass

“hey mama ricc!” lando shouts, parking himself at the bar as the crowd cheers for the band

“hey!” y/n shouts, making her way back over to where the band has settled themselves “you can’t call me that until the baby gets here!”

she's standing behind the group, playfully smacking lando in the back of the head before turning to her husband

"welcome back, handsome." she says, kissing him slowly. "i've missed you."

"you could come with me if you sold the bar."

he said it every time but he knew y/n would never seel the bar. the bar was her entire livelihood. she could never do that to her family, she had too many memories associated with it and she loved working there too much

"you know i can't. so much of my childhood was spent here. i used to do math homework at this very bar, and one day, our little girl will as well."

she casually slipped it in there. when danny left for tour, the baby was too small for the doctors to determine a gender. she went for the scan while he was touring, and hadn't told him yet

"a little girl?" the singer's eyes go wide. "we're having a baby girl?"

while the members of the touring band congratulated him and clapped him on the back, y/n circled around to the other side of the bar, extracting the ultrasound picture from a drawer underneath the cash register, passing it over to daniel with a bright smile on her face

she was wearing a tight denim skirt and a white cropped tank top, an oversized flannel over the entire ensemble, but the days of tight skirts and cowboy boots would be over soon, once her baby bump started to show

"that's our daughter. our little girl." daniel said softly, reaching over the bar for his wife's hand, bringing it up to his lips to press a kiss on her knuckles.

"why don't you boys go and get ready to play, i'll run back into the kitchen and get chuck to whip you up some steaks?"

"sounds as good an idea as any!" nico clapped rubbing his hands together

"go get 'em, boys." she turned to danny. "love you, handsome."

"love you more, mamas." danny grins before jogging over to the stage

he opens the show with ‘cuts like a knife’, a local favourite as the entire bar begins to sing a long, clapping in time and waving their lights in the air

y/n is behind the bar, nursing a club soda and singing quietly under her breath

‘who is he baby? who is he and tell me what he means to you’

one hand on her stomach, eyes on the stage

"look, baby. that's your dad. and he loves you so much. we can't wait to meet you.”

danny looks over at her from the stage with pure adoration in his eyes

“this next song is one that I wrote with my wife when we were twenty years old, in this very dive bar. we weren’t together at the time, and she was scared she’d never fall in love. oh how wrong she was. and I’d like her to come over here and sing it with me.”

“dan..” she says with a smile, reluctant to take to the stage

“this one is called it’s only love.”

Lando starts the guitar work, and y/n gives in, bounding over to the stage and taking the extra microphone from nico

“when your heart has been broken, hard words have been spoken. it ain’t easy, cuz it’s only love .”

she has a beautiful voice, one that daniel fell in love with instantly

but this is the first time she’s sung in front of a crowd

and when the song is over?

he kisses her on the stage in front of the entire town, the bar erupting into cheers.

“I love you, daniel ricciardo.”

[thevulpinehero1]

GWatch -- Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 Ep 1

Since Armoured Core came out and everyone's in a mecha mood, I figured I would talk about an entirely different mecha series instead. The plan is to watch one episode a day, talk about it, and include one (or more) screenshots to facilitate enhanced rambling. I want to start with the original series since I've watched it before, see if I can get through it all, and then maybe move onto some other Gundams if I have the spirit.

Beware! Spoilers for a 40 year old anime inbound, as well as possible misreporting since I probably am not going to fact check too well. Gundam nerds may feel free to correct me and dispense wisdom where appropriate. Also, I'm just going to go with whatever name spelling is on the subtitles I have at the time. Sorry, not sorry.

The first thing I have to talk about is the theme song, which honestly gives me emotions. Nowadays, we all have this image of Gundam as basically the show that invented the real robot subgenre, but you would absolutely never get that impression from the theme song or OP. Honestly, go find it and listen to it -- it's actually amazing how widely it misses the tone of the series, with lyrics like "Bring to bear the rage of justice!" and "If you are still burning with furious rage, you must fight the towering foe!" It sounds much, much more like a Super Robot theme song for like Daitarn 3 or Raideen or something, than something you would see associated with a classic "war is hell" series like Gundam.

And this was probably completely intentional. I remember hearing that even as far back as its initial run, the series had to fight the sponsors/toymakers in order to carve out its own identity, and part of that was projecting a surface level impression of a more palatable Super Robot style show. (Some things never change, I guess...)

To me, it adds a lot to the charm, because the singer is obviously going in and doing their best, singing an ode to a giant metal hero of justice who doesn't really exist outside of the fertile imagination of an advertising/toy exec who has been thoroughly mislead. I love that. I just want to go and tell them, hey, I appreciate you, you are singing your heart out on this theme song for an entirely different and imaginary series than the one they've actually made, and you're killing it. You are fighting the good fight, and you may be one of the reasons the series even got off the ground in the first place because you were part of this obfuscation.

This is Amuro Ray. His shadow looms large over every Gundam protagonist that will follow him; many of them either use him as a blueprint for their personality, or are meant as a study in contrast to it. He kills a lot of people. He eats a lot of sandwiches. There are long and intricate scenes of Amuro eating sandwiches, and they are among my favourite scenes in the whole series, and, in fact, any Gundam show I've ever watched. I'm not kidding.

I picked this screenshot not just because it shows a stone-cold, unrepentant sandwich-murderer in his natural habitat, but because it also showcases another thing I love about the show: the goofy animation. This was not a show with a huge budget. There is something weird or goofy happening in every episode, almost every scene, and the first episode -- traditionally one of the best funded in most series -- is no exception. Amuro eats like a turtle. Hayato's hand is an amorphous, misshapen blob. I think it honestly adds to the charm; the series is scuffed, and probably knows it's scuffed, but it's doing its best to tell a story in spite of that.

For now, Amuro is not the pilot of legend. He sits around the house doing science in his underwear, his neighbours don't like him enough to tell him about an actual military evacuation that he's supposed to be undertaking, and without the aid of his childhood friend Fraw Bow (who he mostly summarily ignores), he wouldn't bother to evacuate at all and would likely die at home. He's a scrunkly kind of dude. Maybe even a scrunklemeister. Your boy probably smells like a scratch and sniff card if you rubbed off all the panels and tried snorting them all at once.

The show is surprisingly quick at characterising him, too. Within a minute or two, we know all the above, plus that he seems to have a certain amount of tension with his father, who his neighbours blame for bringing the military to their peaceful colony. His father, Tem Ray, loves him at least enough to put a picture of him on his desk, and makes vaguely prophetic statements about how kids as young as Amuro are already joining the war as guerrilla fighters. Foreshadowing hit different in the eighties.

One scene I didn't actually remember, but really should have in retrospect, is the part where Amuro confronts his father ("Do you care more about Mobile Suits than humans?" is the absolute first thing Amuro says to him), and the death of Fraw Bow's mother and grandfather, both of which expose a more sensitive core to the scrunklebeast within. It's very convenient/poetic (delete as appropriate) that Fraw Bow was herself very nearly caught in the explosion that killed the crowd her family was in, and only survived because she separated from them in order to check on Amuro.

I was also kinda surprised to relearn that Amuro doesn't really 'fall in' to the cockpit; he very deliberately gets in, having happened to read the manual earlier, in an effort to either protect the remaining civilians or take revenge for the ones who've just fallen (the context doesn't really make it clear which one, but he rushes to the cockpit soon after Fraw Bow sees her family die and is making her escape).

One thing that's really interesting in the metacontext of the series is that although Amuro ends up being one of the best pilots (he's a legend in mecha anime for a reason), he kinda starts out as one of the worst. Many Gundam protags are either experienced, have some level of training, or have other reasons why they're hot shit right out of the box; Amuro really does not know what he's doing, and is carried entirely by the fact that the Gundam itself is dizzyingly durable for the time period. It also comes with a learning computer (which I bet sounded very advanced in the time the anime was made, but kinda brings certain chatbots to mind in the present day) to ease the piloting burden while he learns how to use the dang thing. Not only that, but he goes up against a lot of mobbers who aren't that much better than he is and can't do much against his much better machine.

(A really interesting experiment is to contrast Kira from SeeD, which follows a lot of the original Gundam's major story beats quite closely for the first part of the series and is almost a spiritual remake in some parts. Kira almost has the opposite end of the equation going on -- a very good pilot from day one, he has the misfortune of having five other named dudes who are close to his level and have machines that are arguably better than his in a vacuum, and he fights them pretty regularly.)

Anyway, through more luck than skill, Amuro manages to get through his first Mobile Suit battle in Side 7, but Bright is already looking to utilise him as labour, and Char is advancing on the colony. That's the first episode, more tomorrow. (I don't intend these to be exhaustive or talk about every little, but I wanted to go a bit more in depth for the first ep, and I don't want to restrict myself from veering off on tangents because those are fun.)

[iviarellereads]

The Great Hunt, Chapter 21 - The Nine Rings

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Harp icon) In which it's no bad thing to go back to your roots.

PERSPECTIVE: Rand expected the common room to be empty, but half a dozen men are playing dice with their ale, and another man sits by himself. They all have the look of soldiers, the lone man an officer, and all in dark blue.

The innkeeper greets them, and says she'll have rooms prepared for them, their horses looked after, and there's a good table free. Rand stumbles when she asks if they're hunting the Horn, until she explains that she's seen multiple people through already, though the Hunt can't have been declared long yet.

Hurin asks where the innkeeper is from and after some surprise that his man speaks so freely, she says she's from Lugard, but married a Cairhienin man. She was all ready to go back home when he died, but he'd left her the inn and his brother the money when she expected it to be the other way around. Cairhienin to the end, he was.(2)

She's doubly surprised when Hurin sits with them for supper. When they're done, she asks if Rand would let his man favour them with music, she can see the flute in the bundle and her last musician married into a farm family. At Hurin's discomfort, Rand admits that he's the one who plays. The innkeeper instantly withdraws her request, she didn't realize... But he doesn't mind, he says, as he thinks about the dwindling coins in his purse.

He starts playing Heron on the Wing unconsciously, thinking of the heron on his palm. Selene looks at him like trying to figure out who or what he is. He cycles through a number of songs, and at one point the soldiers start singing their local words to one. When they're done, their officer dismisses them curtly, and apologizes to Rand for any offence, introducing himself as Aldrin Caldevwhin. He asks Rand's name and origin, and asks very probing questions, as if testing Rand's honesty in his answers. He's asking Selene her name, when one of the serving girls drops a lamp, starting a small fire.(3) When it's sorted out, Selene says she isn't feeling so well after all.

Rand asks Caldevwhin what the great crystal sphere was, and he says it's part of a statue from the Age of Legends. King Galldrian himself has ordered that it be dug up and brought to the capital, to be mounted outside the city wall. How long will they be staying here? Only the night, Rand says, they leave for the capital in the morning. Cal has some men he has to rotate back to the city, my lord won't mind if they ride with him? It's a rhetorical question, clearly.

Cal takes his leave, early day tomorrow, and leaves the inn entirely. When he's gone, the innkeeper offers to show Rand and co to their rooms. Rand says they'll only be needing the one, thank you. When she's seen them settled and left herself, Rand turns to the others.

“Do either of you know why that captain was so suspicious of us? He was, I’m sure of it.” He shook his head. “I almost think he thought we might steal that statue, the way he was talking.” “Daes Dae’mar, Lord Rand,” Hurin said. “The Great Game. The Game of Houses, some call it. This Caldevwin thinks you must be doing something to your advantage or you wouldn’t be here. And whatever you’re doing might be to his disadvantage, so he has to be careful.” Rand shook his head. “ ‘The Great Game’? What game?” “It isn’t a game at all, Rand,” Loial said from his bed. He had pulled a book from his pocket, but it lay unopened on his chest. “I don’t know much about it—Ogier don’t do such things—but I have heard of it. The nobles and the noble Houses maneuver for advantage. They do things they think will help them, or hurt an enemy, or both. Usually, it’s all done in secrecy, or if not, they try to make it seem as if they’re doing something other than what they are.” He gave one tufted ear a puzzled scratch. “Even knowing what it is, I don’t understand it. Elder Haman always said it would take a greater mind than his to understand the things humans do, and I don’t know many as intelligent as Elder Haman. You humans are odd.”

Rand asks if the soldiers in the morning are part of this Great Game, and neither Hurin nor Loial can say. Sometimes people are just doing as they say, and sometimes... that's the way of the Game of Houses. Hurin suggests asking Selene more about it in the morning, she'll know.

But in the morning, Selene is gone. She's left a sealed parchment with the innkeeper for Rand, though.

I must leave you for a time. There are too many people here, and I do not like Caldevwin. I will await you in Cairhien. Never think that I am too far from you. You will be in my thoughts always, as I know that I am in yours.

Hurin and the horses wait outside the inn, and Cal with fifty mounted soldiers. He asks after the Lady, and Rand says she had to leave suddenly in the night. Cal stumbles at this, and Hurin whispers to Rand that Cal had the inn watched, Selene must have gotten past them somehow.(4) Rand thinks that if there was any chance Cal didn't yet suspect them of something, Selene's gone and finished it off.

Rand mutters to himself about this, and the younger officer in charge of the fifty soldiers, Tavolin, asks if he said something. Rand just says nothing is happening the way he expects it to. Tavolin smiles briefly and suggests they ride. Onward, to the city of Cairhien.

=====

(1) In honour of Rand using Thom's flute again, I expect. (2) And here we get a great intro to the Game of Houses, which yes directly inspired Game of Thrones. Robert Jordan and GRRM were good friends. At any rate, the Game of Houses is similar in some ways if you're familiar with Game of Thrones, but also very different. Everyone will read twenty layers of meaning and intent into your every action and every nitpick detail of your appearance because their lives and livelihoods will literally depend on it. This lovely innkeeper had no clue her husband would apportion his estate so, despite being married to him for years, but he surely had his reasons. That's Cairhien in a nutshell. (3) Lanfear doesn't want to answer your petty questions, man. A little "accident" to give her an exit suits just fine. We saw the Amyrlin hold Nynaeve and Egwene up with weaves of Air, why not a firm pinch applied just so? (4) How could she have gotten out? Well, who knows what talents Lanfear might have. We have very little information about what was known to be possible in the Age of Legends.

[sixminutestoriesblog]

Singing Sand

I thought we’d do something different today.  Let’s take a trip across the world and back in time.

The story goes like this:

The desert heat was dry, first soaking into every crevasse and fold of clothing and then become a heavy weight there, pressing down from above, pressing in from the sides.  As the day progressed, the heat soaked into lungs, breathed down through covered noses, filling the body, baking the travelers from both the outside of their bodies and now the inside as well.  Their shadows ran long before them and then trailed, even longer and darker behind them.  Wind blew off the sand dunes and the grit of that sand seeped, like small, persistent fingers, past barriers of cloth.  The only sound was the sighing of the wind over the sand, the soft steady chime of the bells on the camels blankets and the occasional clicked tongue from one of the camel’s guides.  It was like traveling through time, backward and backward again into the past.  It was like being caught in amber, a moment that stretched on and would never end, never change to the next moment.

At first the sound might only be the wind.  A low, solemn sound, coming from somewhere far away.  A droning rise and fall that vibrated through the air, that hit the chest and shook persistently through the lungs and heart there.  Slow, as the travelers seemed to grow nearer, the sound clarified into low chanting, sometimes louder, sometimes fading, following a song that  changed without warning or pattern.  Low, always vibrating low, filling the air with the continuous, sad song.  

It was a song that Marco Polo recorded in his journals and one the locals knew well.  

A song sung in the quiet, secret, hidden places of the desert.

We’re talking about singing sand, a rare, naturally occurring phenomena that science can - almost - explain.  

Singing sand can happen on beaches but the most impressive songs come from sand dunes lost in the desert. Ancient people described the noise as moans, drums, chanting or thunder.  Marco Polo, traveling along the Silk Road, wrote that the sounds were caused by evil spirit and sounded like musical instruments or the clash of arms.  The songs aren’t just limited to the China either.  Singing sand can be found world-wide and no two places will sing the same song.  According to science, the ‘song’ of the dunes and beaches are caused by very specific types of sand grains, ones with a silica, caught in very specific circumstances, rubbing against each other as they move.  The makeup of the sand influences what sounds it will produce, with small sand grains making the softest sounds and large grains vibrating more bass.  Sand grains of different sizes will create different harmonies while uniform grain size creates uniform sound.  And though the sand usually has to be very dry to sing, a small amount of water can apparently change the pitch of the song.  The ‘singing’ is believed to happen when wind or footsteps start the sand sliding, the avalanche causing minuscule layer to rub against minuscule layer of sand until the grains resonate and create sound.  Singing sand can be found in the US, Africa, Wales, Hawai’I, China, Japan, Australia and the Middle East - anywhere the sand and the climate is right for the music to start.  While science is still trying to figure out, exactly, how singing sand works, the people of the past already knew.

In Dunhuang, China the stories say that the area around its famous Crescent Moon Lake was once mountainous and full of temples.  One day the chanting and singing from the temples woke a Yellow Dragon Prince who was sleeping in the nearby desert.  Angry at being woken, he covered the entire area with desert sand, entombing everyone in the temples.  The sounds you hear in the region are the spirits of those still trapped below the dunes, eternally chanting their songs.

The Bete Grise Beach in Michigan also sings.  Local legend says that a Native American woman lost her lover to Lake Superior and every day after he drowned, she would stand on the beach and call his name into the wind coming off the water.   The sand still calls for him to this day and whenever it is disturbed, the long dead ghost of the woman whispers her lover's name in memory. The sand, it is said, will not sing if you remove it from its beach.

We know that people sing. Whales sing. Birds sing. And now, apparently, even the sand has something to add to the choir.