#and I’m not used to specifically assigning each song to a person

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

Thinking about “evermore,” as you do, and something struck me about it this afternoon.

One of the things I love about the song is its imagery. It’s a song about the depths of grief and sadness (and depression), but instead of saying it explicitly, it’s all about conveying it with the mood. E.g. “Gray November, I’ve been down since July” = been in the pits of it for months, “Motion caption put me in a bad light” = freeze framing a bad time in your mind (or in the minds of others), “I replay my footsteps on each stepping stone, trying to find the one where I went wrong” = mulling over your actions over and over again trying to figure out if it’s something you did that has led you here, what you could have done differently to prevent this from happening, etc. “Writing letters addressed to the fire” = thinking of the million different ways you could have said something (or done something) but never being able to do anything about it, basically screaming into the void. And so on.

You’ve got all the imagery of being stranded alone in the winter cold, waves crashing, etc. Which on the surface lends itself to the “Victorian cabin” mood of the folklore/evermore era that Taylor talks about in her speeches every night at her concerts, but obviously stands in for feeling lonely and alone and unbalanced, and fighting your way back to yourself after going through the depths of despair.

One of the curious parts I’ve been thinking of is that the verses and the chorus are very self-centered — not in a narcissistic way, but in the sense that it’s very much about the narrator’s feelings of loss and isolation. Then the bridge hits and in the cracks of light “I thought of you,” dreamed of you, etc. Because “you were there,” and thats’s when the story flips from insurmountable pain to the first rays of hope by the end of the song.

But the one part that really struck me today was, “And I was catching my breath, floors of a cabin creaking under my step,” specifically because she’s talked so much about the fantasy cabin on tour. When I used to listen to the song, I loved the imagery (and sound) of that line, because she’s finally on solid ground after being tossed and turned in the water, but in light of how she’s talked about where her imagination took her in 2020, it also strikes me (intentional or not) as a metaphor for that whole uneasy period of the pandemic lockdowns. Taylor has talked about how the fantasy cabin sparked her imagination and set off this creative streak that hasn’t really stopped since. I almost wonder if “floors of a cabin creaking under my step” leading into “And I couldn’t be sure, I had a feeling so peculiar, this pain wouldn’t be for evermore,” can also be seen as, using this creative outlet (her music/the cabin) to process these feelings, and particularly in that point in time, to ground her and bring her back to herself. The creaking floors being the reminder that she will be whole once again, the metaphorical creaking in her mind being the spark of ideas leading to her most introspective work. “It was real enough to get me through,” like getting lost in these fantasies was enough to get through the worst patch, and in the end, it’s what ended up bringing her back to life (metaphorically of course).

I don’t necessarily think that was what the song set out to be, but given the narrative around the cabin in her mind etc., I just think it’s a neat coincidence at the very least that when she was feeling unmoored and “on waves out being tossed,” the metaphorical floors under her reminded her (and by her, I mean whoever the narrator was or will be) that the ground will be steady again under her, because it always will be when she goes back to doing what she loves.

Anyway. I love this song, why do you ask?

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

I see you very much as an expert on all things Rohirrim, so I bring to you this question, hoping I can pick your brain for info to use in my own fics (full disclosure). 😅

It seems to be a popular fanon that the Rohirrim/Riders of Rohan have tattoos, and that body art is a part of their culture. Do you have any thoughts or personal HCs about this that you're willing to share?

Thank you in advance! I appreciate you and your blog so much (if you didn't already know that).

Oh my goodness!!! I am so very honored to be thought of as a person who is knowledgeable about my beloved Rohirrim, and I hope very much that I can live up to that reputation. Thank you!!!

I’m not aware of any real textual evidence for body art among the Rohirrim, and the historical record in the medieval Anglo Saxon and Norse societies that Tolkien used as a reference for them seems to be disputed. But I absolutely understand and agree with the conventional wisdom that tattoos are a thing in Rohan. It just fits well with a warrior culture that has a wilder, dare-I-say more pagan aesthetic as compared to the smooth solemnity of Gondor or the formal elegance of the elves. And since they’re a culture that doesn’t document things in written words, pictorial representations such as tattoos and body art would be one way to fill that gap (along with their songs and oral traditions).

In my mind, tattoos in Rohan are common but basic—they’ve really only got the technology for the “stick and poke” method so the designs are kept simple because anything too elaborate is difficult to pull off well. They’re mostly in black line (using soot) but some have color using powder made from grinding up certain dried roots and plants.

Each village/community has its own distinctive tattoo motif that is worn by all of that community’s members. So you can tell just by looking at someone whether they’re from Upbourn (a fish because it’s a river town) or Dunharrow (mountain peaks since they’re in the White Mountains) or Everholt (a boar in honor of the wild boar that live in this part of the Firien Wood), etc. And soldiers also tend to share tattoo designs specific to their éored—getting your éored’s mark is a formal rite of passage for the younger members when they first get assigned to their company. These shared tattoo designs are important both for group cohesion and as a means of identifying fallen Rohirrim even if the deceased isn’t known to whoever finds the body.

Beyond these ritualized and practical functions, I do also like to think that there are some purely decorative tattoos among them as a means of personal expression and/or to help cover small scars that so many Rohirrim have from battle, riding accidents or other mishaps. Obviously horse-based designs would be very popular, as well as other flora and fauna of Rohan. But they’re a very sentimental people and so I think little emotional signifiers would also be very common (again, especially because they generally don’t have a means to pay tribute to beloved people/things in written form, this sort of symbol would serve the purpose of making some kind of record of those tributes).

In terms of specific people in my head canon: Éomer has a little simbelmynë blossom for each of the major figures in his life that he’s lost (forearm). Háma had a sun to remind him of his wife, who brought warmth and light to his life (shoulder). Théodred had stars in the shape of a particular constellation that is visible every year on his mother’s birthday (chest). Éowyn has a representation of her father’s sword (left wrist) and gets a quill (right wrist) to represent Faramir after they get married. (Faramir got a little running horse in her honor on his first trip to Rohan. He was glad he did it, but he never wants to sit through that again.)

Merry brought tattooing back to the Shire when he showed up with a tobacco pipe on his bicep (both for its association with Buckland and in tribute to Théoden, whose last words to Merry were about smoking together someday when peace was restored). Unsurprisingly, tattoos did not catch on with the other hobbits, but Merry remains very proud of it.

Anywayyyy…I hope that was in any way helpful! Thanks so much for asking!! I remain a huge fan and am so grateful to you for helping convince me to put some of my thoughts and stories out there vs keeping them all in the confines of my own Google drive!

[floralcrematorium]

If each member of the FACE family could be a part of the holy emo trinity/quartet, which band is getting which member?

First and foremost, thank you for the ask. Secondly, I just about died when I saw this notification. This question is so specifically tailored to me… I AM HERE FOR IT

I refuse to acknowledge TOP, so we’re gonna use Paramore as a fourth band.

France: Panic! at the Disco

Which hurts me to say since Francis is my favorite,,, HOWEVER, I am asking you to look at A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out specifically. I think the cabaret aspect of the album fits him so well. I’m thinking specifically of the theatrics of “There’s a Reason These Tables Are Numbered” and “Intermission” past the one minute mark. I do think there’s songs from future albums which remind me a bit of Fran. Notably, “Northern Downpour,” “When The Day Met The Night,” and “The Piano Knows Something” from Pretty Odd. Fran isn’t really on the more electronic side of their sound and I’d stick more with strings and piano for him.

America: Fall Out Boy

I could. Write essays about how much I love FOB and it’s funny that I’d assign my favorite band EVER to my least favorite of FACE, but alas. Here we are. I genuinely think pre and post hiatus FOB’s sound could work for Al. I’m specifically in favor of Folie a Deux, but that’s because I associate that album with the band AU I’ve been cooking up. If I have to assign Alfred some songs… I’ll pick “Alpha Dog,” “Snitches and Talkers,” “I Don’t Care,” “Novocaine,” and “Sunshine Riptide.”

On a separate note… I can make so many FOB songs FrUK coded that it’s concerning. I had started working on an animatic. I have several illustration ideas, several fic ideas, all because of FOB. One of my poor friends had to sit through me slamming them with different FOB lyrics and me pointing at them like “LOOK IT’S SO FRUK CODED.” I am. Unhinged.

Canada: Paramore

I don’t really have anything to say about how I think Paramore’s sound fits Matt, but I’ll just give a couple of songs. “Running Out Of Time,” “This is Why,” tbh a majority of After Laughter, “Tell Me It’s Okay,” and “For a Pessimist.” With Matt, I’m picking songs that AREN’T the ones I would’ve heard at the mall food court in 2009. He’s not getting the sharp songs.

England: My Chemical Romance

Sighs.

I can’t not give Arthur Mommy Issues Kirkland “Mama.” Anyway, MCR is the closest in sound we’ll get with the emo trinity to the bands I usually associate with Arthur. I personally associate Royal Blood with him, but a couple of my friends really associate him with The Smiths or Radiohead. As for MCR songs… I think Bullets might be best sound wise? Individual songs… “SING,” “The Ghost of You,” “You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison,” and “The Light Behind Your Eyes.”

If you’re curious as to my playlists for each of them, I’ll link them below. Note that they’ve got songs that remind me of them either due to old fandom AMVs, just in sound, or lyrics, not what I think they’d listen to. France’s is… a mess. I have a secondary playlist that doesn’t bust it down sexual style. I apologize in advance because Francis’ is so messy with the genres. It’s so bad. There is NOT a consistent sound to be had.

France | America | Canada | England

[atlanticsea]

Hey, I just took your soldier/poet/king quiz and wanted to let you know that every single question felt like a gut punch from an entirely new direction each time. So phenomenal job with that.

I also wanted to ask if you could give a breakdown on the soldier archetype like you did with the king archetype. I found the thought process behind the king archetype super interesting and would love to hear more.

Thank you so much! As for the Soldier breakdown, I’ll give the same disclaimer as I did for the recent King ask I got -- this is about the actual archetype I made, it may or may not apply to you, it’s not actually super personality based, it’s more of an interactive writing exercise, etc etc. Also, an added disclaimer: there is a lot of talk of anger with this archetype, and that’s because I based a lot of the archetype on myself, at a time when I was realising how much my PTSD affected my relationship to anger -- that’s fully a me thing, I kinda projected anger issues on a bunch of people, really sorry about that 😭

The core value the quiz is about is duty and how each archetype relates to it. The King accepts it reluctantly, the Poet rejects it, and the Soldier resents it: by that I mean that I envisioned the Soldier as someone who was given strict rules and used to follow them no matter what (and still might!), but no longer knows if they apply, or if they were ever good at all. I also wanted Soldiers to take a matter-of-fact approach to life, in between the King’s resignation and the Poet’s rebellion, an acceptance that life is what it is while still knowing that it is often hard. The song is like that: there will come a soldier who carries a mighty sword, he will tear your city down. The soldier has a sword, and he will use it. This may sound similar to Kings, in terms of being dealt a certain hand and accepting it, but Kings are to an extent motivated by a fear of failure and a sense of responsibility, whereas Soldiers aren’t. They accept that failure and pain are inevitable, that following rules is also inevitable, and their morals are much more self-imposed. However, this doesn’t mean they are hopeless or inherently cynical: the quiz also talks about love and healing, and Soldiers do want the fighting to stop. They do want peace. They do want acceptance. In terms of love (romantic or otherwise), I pictured Kings wanting to be loved without expectations (freedom), Soldiers wanting to be loved as they are and as they’ve been (acceptance), and Poets wanting to be loved and understood (companionship).

To be fully honest, as I’m writing this, I find Soldiers hard to define, probably because it was so based on myself and because I’ve changed a lot in the past two and a half ish years. I know a Soldier when I see one (I love assigning S/P/K to media trios) but struggle to explain their defining characteristics beyond the fact that they have known a battle (whatever it may be) and that it has not left them. I know this sounds like a PTSD diagnosis lmaooo I’m so sorry 😭 I hope this gives you an idea of my reasoning though, definitely ask me for clarification I know unfortunately that this specific archetype is a bit tougher to make sense of since a lot of it is me going “well you see it makes sense in my head” 😭

[j4y-lvr]

ADOR U! … nishimura riki ㅤ▷ attention ㅤ"the last thing i want is attention,"

SYNOPSIS. a silly dare led niki to attempt to be your silly boy

GENRE. fluff, crack, some angst

PAIRING. danceteamleader!niki x teammember!fem!reader ft. enhypen, newjeans

WARNINGS. unhinged and maybe its cringe since i explained the moves to the placement of their feet, im sorry-😭, jungwon says niki got no rizz, lowercase intended, tba

WORD COUNT. 1.2k

NOTE. idk where the idea came from but yeah nwjns yk. this is my wack attempt at slowburn (not really) and specifically targeted at my bsf😘🤞 didn't proofread.

Reblogs and feedback are highly appreciated! prev.:ㅤ.master.ㅤnext:.

now playing:ㅤattentionㅤ ılllı ㅤㅤ ㅤ newjeans 0:00 ─●──────── -0:00 ㅤ⇆ㅤ◁◁ ▐ ▌ ▷▷ㅤ ↻

ㅤㅤㅤ ☰ queue

"dare." And that, determined niki's fate to be involved in your business. 

"ask out the next person through the door," jungwon fired, bursting into a fit of laughter at his friend's pained expression. Regret filled the boy as he looked at the door anxiously, awaiting the next person intently.

“do i have to do it right then and there?” the younger boy drawled, sending his two friends beside them into a fit of yes’s, their eyes not leaving sight of the door of the cafeteria for a second. 

A distance away from the doors stood you, fumbling with your sweater. You filmed the previous routine in a more secluded area, not exactly nervous since onlookers were absent. But the next location was the cafeteria, sending chills through your spine.

You walk through the hallways to the cafeteria with anything but confidence. When your friend, minji, said it’d be a small gig alongside academics, you should’ve restrained from her desperate pleas to get you to join their dance club.

This is definitely not what you thought you were signing yourself up for. Dance was something that came naturally to you, the expression of emotions though either soft or rigid beats or none at all, using your body appealed to you, mastering it and turning the art into your forte. Beside your impeccable talent, the massive obstacle was that you were too shy to dance around anyone other than those close.

Your aura changed when it came to the expression, executing the sentiments with each soft yet rigid movement with apt emphasis. A prodigy praised many, but your timid attitude needed to go.

With that minji tiresomely tried to break the hardened shell and to no avail. So her next best solution happened to be this; helping you gain confidence in your skills and meeting the member requirements for her next routine. “i’m a genius!” she had exclaimed enthusiastically, much varied from her current tense stature and furrowed brows.

Danielle, who was also a part of the team had forgotten to learn the choreo with no one else to fill the spot. The others were assigned different songs and no one covered dani’s part, the current situation arose and you were seen to dance alone, by yourself.

"danielle, you were supposed to learn the choreography of hype boy with yn–"

“I thought we were filming attention today and hype boy tomorrow,” the rebuttal ended with confusion and a sigh of frustration from minji.

You were more than expected to carry out the routine alone but the faint of eyes scared the living shit out of you. Shrinking in your shell, you raise your palm to minji aware, “i’ll do it,” you say, with absolutely no grounds of your voice, your words heard as a light whisper.

Minji heard your mumble and her frustration turned into worry, “you don't have to push yourself, we can film tomorrow,” she stated, sympathising with you and your courage. You’d be lying if you said her offer wasn’t tempting.

“the deadlines in a week for the competition, moreover we have to practise the routine for cookie,” You stood contemplating out the doors of the cafeteria, recalling your connotations to minji before you agreed to join the club.

“the last thing i want is attention, minji”

You didn’t want minji’s endeavour to end sourly, and that led you to step up and face your sheepish fears. There came your predicament, and you'd never wanted more than to just crawl in a hole and hide.

Minji gave you a small push to the door with a soft and proud smile. You went through the doorway before the rest, hyein trailing behind and taking the lead ahead of you, adjusting the camera and setting it to the right angle while you merely managed yourself from fainting. The number of eyes surrounding you seemed to multiply tenfold when the music began.

All while the curious trio peered at you from a distance, rowdy and loud, shouts, “it’s her,” from their table. One jet haired boy face planting, dropping his head to the table with a thump. They began chanting his name, while the supposed main character lifted his head, flushed with a shade of red painted over his cheeks and ears. 

“they seem busy, can’t i ask her out later,” he winces, creasing his forehead. Sunoo shook his head frivolously, urging niki out of his seat. And off he went sprinting over to the spot, avoiding the camera, observing you warming up. 

He smiled at you with a nod, whispering a few words of notice to minji while he responded enthusiastically making it appear to be something of the positive sort since minji fervently nodded with a thumbs up. 

The music boomed overhead, the adrenaline coursing through your veins, like a jolt of electricity almost. You played with your hair, fixing it and peering at minji with desperate orbs, solely for her to grin at you, shouting words of encouragement.

You started with the pre chorus, meeting the minimum required length for the short video feature and competition. You sprawled your arms to the front, forming them in a circle and over your head on both sides, skipping to the right twice on your toes. 

You began feeling rather stiff from the amount of people judging you. It would've been much better to have someone beside you also doing the routine, sharing the burden of the mass of onlookers. 

Minji's smile caught the corner of your eye while you barely fared to look at the camera. You prepared yourself for the chorus that followed and entered the boy with a lunge, dancing to former danielle’s part alongside you. You swiped the invisible dirt off your shoulder and he copied along. 

He seemed to know the choreo beforehand, his movements outshining your own. The two garnered more attention from passerbyers. He shuffled to the left and hit all the point moves danielle would've covered had she remembered to learn the dance. At the end of the chorus, the crowd was going feral, yells singing to the song while the others cheered.

The verse continued and niki motioned to the camera with a half held hand heart, waiting for you to complete it. You shy away, minji exclaiming from beside you out of the frame, ushering you to complete it. You shook your head with a laugh, completing his silly heart with silly sentiments.

“and cut!” shouted hyein, a huge smile plastered on her front, the rest cheering for you both. You turn to niki with a grin out of both thankfulness and timidness, “thank you,” he waved the gesture off. 

The crowd began to disperse, sunoo and jungwon looking at their friend through the throngs of people with a death glare. Niki’s heart was pounding as you turned away to look at your friends.

“can i ask you a question?” he piped up, his bottom lip disappearing between his teeth out of nerves. The calm atmosphere returned except for niki’s anxiousness. It quieted down, and you hummed with interest, meeting his gaze, “yes,”

“will you go out with me?”

[noelwho]

Ultimate Chronological Order Imodna Playlist!!!

Hello! I feel like I have to introduce myself ‘cause I’m barely on Tumblr. I’m still learning how to use it, I posted a couple of fanarts and they went really well, so I want to try and make myself a spot in here. My name is Noel (they/them) and I’m a big fan of Critical Role. I started watching a few months ago, with Exandria Unlimited. Once I was done I went ahead and started Campaign 3. I’m currently on episode 49 (I know, I have a lot ahead yet). I also watched the first season of Candela Obscura and a couple of One-Shots.

Today I’m here to talk about the Lesbian Southern Gothic Witches. Earlier this week I started to obsess over a playlist. An Imodna playlist, to be more specific. It started with me listening to one I found on spotify (I will credit below because it’s been a huge inspiration for this project) and I got the urge to make my own. At the beginning it was something chill, something normal…until it was not. Over the course of the last 3 days I haven’t thought about or listened to anything else. I got the idea of making the playlist in chronological order and I started to take it very seriously. I divided their history in 10 different chapters and assigned each song to the correct time period. At first it was just gonna be into chapters, but then I started to put them in order inside the chapters too, and it became very personal. For real, this playlist has been the one and only thing I wanted to talk about for days. Last night I finally finished it. I’ve played it for run tests several times and I think it’s finally ready to see the light (kinda feels like the project of my life even though I only spent a few days working on it).

After all this brainrot it didn’t feel right to just tweet a link to the playlist, I wanted the world to know everything that went through my head in the process of making this. I also don’t have many people around who care about Critical Role, and I thought it was a good opportunity to connect with the fandom. So all of this took me here, to tumblr. All of a sudden it became very clear that this was the perfect place to set my baby free.

There’s some things I wanna make clear before you start reading, the first being the classic: english is not my first language. Sounds like a joke at this point but for real, it’s very likely that this thing is full of grammatical mistakes and I want to apologize in advance (specially about the in/on/at situation, I’ve been having lots of trouble with those for some reason) This is also the first time I do something like this so it may not be perfect. The second thing is that this will obviously be filled with spoilers. In fact I actually haven’t even got to The Scene, I saw it around on Tumblr and Twitter (impossible to avoid that spoiler, but I don’t really care). I’m aware that there’s a lot of Imodna moments that I haven’t seen yet, but I couldn't wait to start this playlist. I don’t know if the episodes I have left to watch will translate into new chapters or into new songs for the chapters I already have but either way, I will keep this post and the playlist updated.

With that being said, welcome to this ride through an unhinged mind. Fasten your seatbelts and enjoy!

The tether scene is one of my favorite ones. I love that metaphor with a passion. That’s why I chose this name for the playlist. With the photo I wanted to make an allusion to the red thread myth given that Laudna herself carries around a spool of red string. I even edited the picture so the hands on the right are slightly gray like Laudna’s.

There’s not just one specific vibe to this playlist, but I find it to be a very calming one, with the exception of some specific moments that we will talk about later. I tried to avoid strong and distracting beats so I could keep it a little ethereal. Lots of acoustic guitar (which I love). I’m not going to talk about every single song because some of them have pretty obvious meanings. Usually the songs aren't a 100% match, but they do have a part to it that speaks to me and to the story on a certain level.

× Imogen and Laudna’s separate lifes ×

At the beginning of the journey that is this playlist, I wanted to introduce the characters. Intertwining their songs, we get to know Imogen and Laudna’s pasts, before they have each other to face the terrors of being witches in a world that doesn’t quite understand them.

Delilah - Florence + The Machine (Laudna)

I sometimes wonder if Marisha has ever listened to this song, because oh my fucking god. I wanted to start the playlist with Abbey, I didn’t because with the intertwining I couldn’t make it fit, but this one is a very good start as well. This song shows perfectly how it must have been being brought back by Delilah and having that power all of a sudden.

Abbey - Mitski (Imogen)

Matilda - Harry Styles (Laudna)

Imogen - Nick Mulvey (Imogen)

Laudna's lullaby - Ginny Di (Laudna)

Time comes in roses - Bess Atwell (Imogen)

The Tradition - Halsey (Laudna)

Burn it down - Daughter (Imogen)

There’s several songs from this album on this playlist. It couldn’t fit better. It reflects perfectly the moment Imogen started to develop her powers. It even refers directly to the way she parts ways with her town (which doesn’t happen for a few chapters but still I felt this one belonged here). Her fear of being a disappointment, her father becoming absent, the feeling of being cursed. It’s all here.

The hanging tree - The hunger games (Laudna)

Still I wait - Anna Leone (Both)

Even with everything they had to go through, they both still wait and cling to hope.

× Imogen and Laudna meet ×

Finally, their paths cross. They experience the feeling of warmth for the first time in a long time. They both feel the need to keep the other one close and begin to appreciate the little things in life, learning how to be taken care of. Goodbye loneliness.

Season of the Witch - Lana Del Rey

I'd like to walk around in your mind - Vashti Bunyan

How important is this song knowing what Imogen can do…

Comfortable Silence - Bella Porter

Without you without them - Boygenius

A hole in the earth - Daughter

That Moon Song - Gregory Alan Isakov

Love brought weight - Old Sea Brigade

That distant shore - Steven Universe

Sick of losing soulmates - Natalie Dawn

I Hear a Symphony - Cody Fry

Sidelines - Phoebe Bridgers

The bug collector - Haley Heyderickx

Sometimes I feel that it’s always Laudna taking care of Imogen, as if she didn't have anything on her own plate. It can't be easy to live with a voice in your head and paranoia. This song shows how Imogen is there to hold Laudna too when it becomes too much.

Look up - Joy Oladokun

If the last one was an Imogen’s POV, this one is totally a Laudna’s POV. Her and her silly little pep talks. “You’re so capable”.

Daylight - Taylor Swift

I love the idea of them learning that life can be good if you find someone to share it with. This song encapsulates that perfectly.

Spell - Dora Jar

I wanted this one to be the last one of the chapter because it introduces the idea of leaving together.

× Imogen and Laudna run away together ×

“Would you run away with me?” They learn what it’s like to have a home that’s not a place, but something entirely new. The past still follows but they’re no longer crushed by it, because they don’t have to sustain it on their own.

Departure - Daughter

Second child, restless child - The Oh Hellos

Just the two of us - Grover Washington, Jr.

I really like to imagine Imodna slice of life scenes when I listen to this song.

Dandelion Wine - Gregory Alan Isakov

Homesick - Dwara, Khotton Palm

Graceland Too - Phoebe Bridgers

When I realized how much of a Laudna's POV this song is, I almost cried.

Telepath - Manchester Orchestra

I really really like Manchester Orchestra, it's one of my favorite bands. I never let go of the chance of spreading them around, and this one is the best song they have. Laudna's POV for sure.

everything i wanted - Billie Eilish

With songs like this one and Intertwined, I wanted to introduce the idea that even though they're definitely better off now that they left the town, that doesn't instantly solve all of their problems. As I said before, the past follows, but they're no longer alone with it.

Savior Complex - Phoebe Bridgers

Intertwined - Dodie

Nothing else matters - Phoebe Bridgers

As long as they're together, nothing else matters.

× You lied ×

Even though I only have a few songs for this precise moment of the story, I thought that it was very important to include their first fight. The gem is broken and Imogen feels betrayed. Laudna is left abandoned and thinks she deserves to be punished for Delilah’s wrongs. We explore jealousy for the first time.

Witches - Daughter

The silence at the end of this instrumental song represents the loneliness that Laudna felt when Imogen left her alone after her incident with Delilah

Landfill - Daughter

There are two possible ways of reading into this one. This is in my opinion a Laudna's POV. She could either be talking to Imogen, expressing her deep rooted desire for a punishment for what she’s done; or to Delilah, alluding to the attachment she has to her own powers (that at least as far as she knows are there because of Briarwood) opposed to the hatred she feels for her and for herself for wanting those powers (this is a theme that they explore later on future chapters)

Are you okay? - Winnetka Bowling League

Afterglow - Taylor Swift

The archer - Taylor Swift

× Laudna’s death ×

Otohan Thull relentlessly kills three members of Bells Hells. A coin is flipped and Laudna is gone, again. What awaits beyond the afterlife? Perhaps a little girl, a monster and a tree.

DVD menu - Phoebe Bridgers

If death’s not exactly DVD menu by Phoebe Bridgers, then someone tell me what’s like because I can’t imagine otherwise. I freaking love how this song connects with Daffodil.

Daffodil - Florence + The Machine

Death with dignity - Sufjan Stevens

Bells in Santa Fe - Halsey

I like to imagine that Laudna didn't appear in Nightmarish Whitestone immediately. Up until this point, she's in a limbo, accepting her own death. Bells in Santa Fe marks the moment she sets foot in that Upside-down kind of world. The constant repetition of “All of this is temporary” is like a mantra for her, the only hope she has of getting through it with her sanity intact is believing that this will also end and she will finally find peace.

Willow Tree March - The paper kiss

Hard times - Ethel Cain

Tether me - Galleaux

With this song and the next one, I wanted to express desperation. We don't get to know in the series how she feels throughout all of this, but I can only imagine how terrifying it must have been. There's a point where anyone would have started begging for help.

Matilda - alt-J

× Imogen’s grief ×

“Is she your favorite?”. Imogen feels deeply guilty for what happened. The possibility of bringing Laudna back is the only thing that’s keeping her from losing it completely. All the regrets, all the words she wishes she said before, all the times she didn’t approached her when she wanted to, come afloat. Grief, disassociation and sorrow.

Words - Storefront Church, Phoebe Bridgers

This song is meant to represent the exact moment of Imogen floating and losing control, with Otohan in her head pushing her to let go.

Goner - Twenty One Pilots

No other song in existence can express better the moment Imogen realize Laudna's gone for good.

Lanterns lit - Son Lux

True Faith - Ashley Johnson

Hurt for me - SYML

Carry you - Novo Amor

My love - Florence + The Machine

Lucky for you - Novo Amor, Gia Margaret

Killer + the sound - Phoebe Bridgers, Noah Gundersen

Should have known better - Sufjan Stevens

Ya'aburnee - Halsey

Show you a body - Haley Heyderickx

Imogen (even Laura) loses hope for a moment during the ritual they do for bringing Laudna back. The end of this song summarize this repeating a lyric over and over (you can clearly see through this playlist how much I love repetition).

× Back together ×

After Bells Hells confront Delilah at the Upside-down-Whitestone of Laudna’s nightmares, Pike manages to bring her back to life. Imogen and her are back hand by hand, and nothing can ever tear them apart again. Here’s where I think something awakes inside them, but they are far from realizing it.

I am the Antichrist to you - Kishi Bashi

Like an angel “fallen from the sky with grace”, Laudna’s back on Imogen’s arms.

Darling - Halsey

This love (Taylor's Version) - Taylor Swift

Now that you're home - Manchester Orchestra

Lose you again - Manchester Orchestra

Halloween - Phoebe Bridgers

But not kiss - Fayer Webster

Like I said, something changes after this. What they’ve been through is not nothing. This song is here to show that something is born deep inside them, on their subconscious far from their reach yet

× Back to Gelvaan ×

Same as with the “You lied” chapter, I felt that this one was important even though I just have one song for it. It just matches perfectly. Imogen and Laudna visit Imogen’s hometown and the place where they met, searching for answers. Old wounds, some closure and an emotionally absent father.

My tears ricochet - Taylor Swift

× Tethered ×

In this chapter the platonic bond is peaking. It takes place right before The Unraveling, giving in to the “Can I kiss you?” phase and becoming romantic. They’ve been through hell and back just to stay together. This is my personal favorite bit of the playlist, everything is extremely intense but not yet explicit.

Tethered - Sleeping at last

I Will - Mitski

Anchor - Alli X

Don't let them see you cry - Manchester Orchestra

Crosses - José González

Quietly - Manchester Orchestra

Francesca - Hozier

Moon song - Phoebe Bridgers

Capital Karma - Manchester Orchestra

Everywhere, everything - Noah Kahan

In a week - Hozier

Monster - King Princess

j's lullaby (darlin' i'd wait for you) - Delaney Bailey

I will follow you into the dark - Miya Folick

I wouldn't ask you - Clairo

× Can I kiss you? ×

Finally, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. The beggining of something new, the next and most logical step of this journey. The platonic becomes romantic and they get to truly explore the feelings they always had, and some novel ones. This is the moment I know less about, but I’ve used my imagination and my own headcanons.

Can I - Genevieve Stokes

I debated a lot whether to put this one at the end of the last chapter or the beginning of this one because I don't know how relevant Laudna's death is up to this point, and there's a huge reference to this in this song. I know for a fact that the Delilah’s plot is not over and things will change, but I couldn't resist the urge to put it in here, given the name of the song and its obvious connection to the chapter.

We'll never have sex - Leith Ross

Wading in Waist-high Water - Fleet Foxes

This is the last time - The National

All my ghosts - Lizzy McAlpine

Prière pour la nuit - Barbara Pravi, November Ultra

Chewing Cotton Wool - The Japanese House

Bandages - Rachel Bobbitt

This is it, this is The Ultimate Chronological Order Imodna Playlist. I don't know if I'm the first one doing this, probably not, I don't know if this has any value to anyone beyond myself, but I had a hell of a lot of fun. If only one person were to read this till the end I would be more than satisfied.

I’ll link here the playlist that started all of this. Massive respect for this person whoever it is, I took lots of the songs from here

Infinite thanks to anyone who gets here or saves my playlist, feel free to respond with any song that you think adds to the story!! Something tells me this isn't the end of my Imodna brainrot so,,,, more things could be on their way (a fanfic, perhaps?).

No idea how to end this so… long live Lesbian Southern Gothic Witches!!!

[catmaidetho]

assigning my favorite guys crane wives songs

aka, in honor of the crane wives being my #1 artist on spotify this year, have some insanity. this list is loosely based on the life series, but each song aims to encapsulate a character as entirely as possible w/o focusing too hard on any specific event. i'll also say that i actively tried to choose songs that i haven't seen us as a community talk about that much.

Etho - Volta volta is a song about making the conscious decision to be present in your life, taking back control. etho is someone who constantly jumps from thing to thing, never really staying put, and i personally interpret volta as not just consciously taking back control of your life, but also making the decision to settle into something. it is about fighting your nature of running away and choosing to stay. i will admit that this song is about vibes more than lyrical content. still, have some lyrics

"Do you remember being young and eager? My heart was buzzing like a wire Give me a reason to connect, be nearer"

Bdubs - Little Soldiers ON THE BROKEN BACKS OF ALL THE WORDS WE SPARED, LIKE LITTLE SOLDIERS IN THE TRENCHES. IT WAS A MARCH WE MADE TOWARDS RUIN AND DESPAIR BUT WE HELD HANDS ALL THE WHILE. I SWEAR THAT I LOVED YOU. I SWEAR THAT I LOVED YOU. I SWEAR THAT I LOVED YOU---I SWEAR, I SWEAR!!!!

LOOK ME IN THE EYES AND TELL ME THAT DOES NOT FUCKING SCREAM BDUBS. HE LOVES ME. I FOUGHT TOOTH AND NAIL BEFORE THE FLAG HAD FLOWN BUT YOU WERE ALREADY GONE!!!!!!

sorry little soldiers is one of my favorite crane wives songs. two people tied together with barbed wire, knowing that what they're in isn't good but refusing to let go out of a desperate attempt to cling onto love. tell me that isnt ethubs, especially the way we as a fandom dramatize them.

Cleo - High Horse high horse is a song about being a petty, spiteful motherfucker. it is about looking at someone you hold dear who has hurt you, and saying, "you know what? i won't stand for this" and throwing them under the bus.

"I'm done thinking about it You're never gonna get what you want So why feel guilty about it?"

Grian - How to Rest listen. look me in the eyes. i know we all like to pretend, especially in regards to scarian and the desert and double life, that grian did not/does not love scar. that the love, that the friendship, that the real connection they shared was not there because it makes for some juicy angst. look me in the eyes and tell me that grian being outright cruel towards scar is somehow more interesting than grian pretending he does not love scar, when in reality he does. tell me that blatant angst for angst's sake is more interesting than grian looking out for scar, not because of an obligation, but because scar is his friend and his ally and maybe sometimes people just chose to be around each other.

"Here's the truest thing I've ever known The heart is just a muscle with a rhythm all its own It doesn't stop when you decide not to move on The heart knows nothing of your love or of your loss"

Joel - The Wolf oh joel wants SO BAD to be a threat. he wants so badly for people to fear him, to take him seriously, to be the bad guy. however, his attempts at this often fall short, usually due to his own brazen overconfidence and snappy, petty nature. all of this, of course, pushes anyone who he hasn't latched onto away because who would want to align themselves with someone who wants so badly to be a loose canon?

"Can it be Can it be easy for once Cause I’m no good at being kind to myself Or anyone [...] I am a beast at your back You better run for your life"

Jimmy - New Colors i am by no means a jimmy expert, but this song is just so jimmy to me. he is so desperate to do well. new colors is a song about desperation. he is so desperate to be taken seriously, in a similar way to joel, but the difference is nobody ever does. i'm just going to leave you with these lyrics.

"Don't tell me that I can't Oh Lord, don't tell me that I can't I need this so damn bad"

"I give up my sight To see I give up my air To breathe"

Scar - Down The River i'm gonna admit, i really struggled to find one for scar, but i think this one works. scar doesn't put much stock into past grievances if it isn't convenient for him, he will simply move on and pretend he didn't do anything. this is ESPECIALLY relevant in moving between series---all bridges are burned, and must be rebuilt.

"Now, tell me, when you start again Where will you house your skeletons? Or will they stay behind Your settlement in kind?"

this post is getting kind of long, and im gonna admit im not confident enough in my characterization of the rest of the cast to assign them a song, so i'll leave this here for now :)

[greycoffee]

Take My Hand, Give Me Your Soul and Fire

Pairing: Zack Addy/Seeley Booth

Summary: A rewrite based on 1x09 The Man in the Fallout Shelter where Zack finds it odd that he keeps bumping into Booth at every turn even though they're locked down in the lab. He discovers something about himself while observing him.

Part: 1/3

Word count: 4.5k

Song: Open Your Eyes by Snow Patrol

My bones ache, my skin feels cold 

And I’m getting so tired and so old 

Zack winces as the needle pricks his buttock. He isn’t the biggest fan of getting shots but, if it means not dying of Valley fever, then he can set aside his feelings for the pointed instrument momentarily. He slides his pants back up, not that he had lowered them much, and glances awkwardly between his colleagues and the floor as they talk about what to do next now that they’re aware of side effects or symptoms they should look out for. 

For now, they’re told to get some rest. Hal, the head of the hazmat team, bids them a good night and reasures them not to be too worried before packing up the equipment. Once they leave the medico-legal lab, it’s his team’s turn to complain about their ruined holiday plans. Well, everyone except for one person. 

“You know what?” Booth says humorously. “I’ve never realized how pretty all this shiny stuff is.” 

The others watch him with mixed feelings of awe and jealousy solely for the fact that Booth is the only one with the preferable side effects. There’s not much that they can do other than discuss how they should get some sleep and then regroup in the morning to examine the unidentified remains now that they have the time to do so. Once the sleeping bags are brought in, everyone grabs a sleeping bag before dispersing to their little nooks. 

Hodgins claps the back of Zack’s shoulder. “I’m calling our workstation if you want to bunk with me.” 

Zack doesn’t say anything but nods as he considers taking Hodgins’ offer, it’s the most logical seeing as they’re closer and more accustomed to each other’s presence. Plus, they’ve shared the same sleeping area before after having a few too many drinks while watching anticipated basketball games. There was no other reason as to why he shouldn’t. 

He’s ready to follow Hodgins and grab a sleeping bag from the lone pile when his eyes latch on to the only other person who’s been quietly staring at the lab’s light fixtures. Booth turns away from the twinkling lights and locks eyes with him, the doltish smile still plastered across his face. Panic shoots up Zack’s chest and bubbles at the cusp of his throat as he looks for something to say. 

Booth is acknowledging him, and although he might not be saying anything he’s maintaining eye contact, which is something he isn’t used to. He feels like he’s under some kind of spotlight. 

“You see this?” Booth asks him as glances back at the lights, his eyes speckled with their reflection. “Wow, I mean these are… beautiful.” 

Zack’s fingers twitch from where they hang uselessly by his side. His eyes flit from one side of the lab to the other in a last-ditch effort at shifting Booth’s attention from him onto something else. There’s no one else in the lab other than the two of them. 

“Uh, Agent Booth?” 

All he receives is a noncommittal, “Yeah?” 

“Shouldn’t you be with Dr. Brennan?” 

At the mention of the anthropologist’s name, Booth turns, his brown eyes on him once more. 

“Bones?” he asks. Zack nods. “Should I be?” 

“I suppose not, but you always accompany her wherever she goes.” 

Booth lightly scoffs. “No, I don’t.” 

“Yes, you do,” he refutes. He’s not sure where his sudden burst of dissent is coming from but it doesn’t burrow itself back down immediately. “You tend to seek her out whenever you’re assigned to a case that requires the Jeffersonian’s resources.” 

“Because the FBI and the Jeffersonian have an agreement.” 

Zack shakes his head. “Although that’s true you never seek the others. You always seek out Dr. Brennan specifically.” 

Booth’s eyes shift and there’s an odd emotion in them Zack can’t quite identify (not that he can recognize most of the looks people give him anyway). All he knows is Booth would never give him this type of look during their regular, albeit limited, interactions. 

“Yeah well,” Booth scratches at the corner of his mouth and sniffs, “Dr. Goodman assigned her as the leader of your squint team, she’s the most qualified to be in and out of the field when it comes to our joint forces… we work well together.” 

“We as in?” 

“The FBI and the Jeffersonian,” Booth says quickly with an awkward smile. 

Zack doesn’t know what to make of that so he agrees. “Right.” 

“Right.” 

Booth goes back to staring at the lights. Zack sighs and makes up his mind to get the man’s attention again. He carefully makes his way over and lays a hand on Booth’s arm. It works and he earns a mildly confused Booth staring at the sudden touch. 

“Let’s go find Dr.Brennan,” he says with much effort. Zack feels like his heart’s going to shoot out of his chest; he’s sure Booth would be able to pinpoint his location with the sound alone if he had a gun trained on him in a dark room. “She’ll know what to do with you and I’ll get to keep all of my fingers.” 

“Why wouldn’t you keep all of your fingers?” he asks, genuinely confused. 

“Because I’m laying them on you?” 

Booth’s eyes soften.“You know I don’t mean it when I threaten you and Hodgins, right? I’d never hurt you.” 

Zack almost wishes the agent would threaten to shoot him and stuff his lanky body somewhere obscure where no one would find him. However, something inside of him grows fond of this side of Booth he’s never let him see and he learns why. It isn’t difficult to develop some kind of soft spot for him. 

The corners of his lips twitch upward. “Of course I do.” 

Booth returns his attention to look ahead of them, his eyes following the lights from time to time as they make their way to Brennan’s office. Zack’s sure he hears the FBI agent mutter some things under his breath but pays no attention to his hallucinogenic ramblings; he’s focused on getting Booth to Brennan in one piece and bruiseless… if only Booth could stop looking up at the lights every five seconds. 

*

“Where are you going?” 

“To the restroom,” Zack answers, showing Hodgins the packaged toothbrush and toothpaste they were provided with. “I just remembered that I haven’t brushed my teeth.” 

Hodgins made a sound of acknowledgment before settling comfortably into his sleeping bag and tucking the fabric beneath his arms. 

“If you find any eggnog that managed to survive the bone dust, bring it over.” 

Zack gives a short laugh. “No promises.” 

He can practically hear Hodgins roll his eyes and takes that as his cue to leave before he gets something thrown at the back of his head. 

The bathroom’s empty like it typically is even in hours of service. Still, Zack waits a few seconds to see if anyone’s inside before walking over to a sink and running his toothbrush under the faucet. The bristles are harsh on his gums but he powers through it finding that he’ll find it considerably worse if he doesn’t brush at all. 

He rests a palm on the cold counter and leans into it, humming to himself as he gets into every crevice that he can. Zack rolls his head onto his shoulder and eases into the peaceful quiet especially after the commotion where everyone had been so quick to point the finger at one another. The quiet felt duly needed and he’s grateful for it. 

However, as if a testament to his dwindling luck, the door to the restroom opens and Zack looks up at the mirror to see a quiet and mild-tempered Booth waltzing in. Well, the mild-tempered part doesn’t last for long as the man’s entire demeanor changes the second he realizes he isn’t alone inside the men’s restroom. Zack almost finds it endearing actually. The sudden change in conduct reminds him of his sister’s golden retriever when he returns home for the holidays: bright, captivating eyes, perked ears, and a wagging tail that smacks him when she begs for pets. 

No, he reminds himself. Booth isn’t a dog and he doesn’t have a tail — but if he did, it would definitely be wagging, he concludes. 

“Zack,” the man breathes out a sigh of… relief? 

Zack quickly looks away from the mirror to spit in the sink. “Booth, what are you doing here?” 

“I was looking for —” he stops to look for the right words to say “— the restroom.” 

Zack cups a hand of water and rinses out the toothpaste before using the sleeve of his graphic tee to wipe away the remaining water that clung to the corners of his mouth. 

“Well, I just finished up here.” He finds that he can’t keep the eye contact Booth’s been so insistent on holding with him anymore and he looks down at the wet sink. “Restroom’s all yours.” 

“No, it’s okay. I’m not rushing you.” 

He rinses his brush and taps it against the edge of the basin all the while stealing a glance at Booth; he finds it odd that the man hasn’t moved. Zack decides to crack a little joke with Booth and see where he is in terms of reality while putting his toiletries away. No one really knows how long it’ll take for the effects to wear off. 

“So, did you finally wear Dr. Brennan’s patience down or did Angela kick you out?” 

No response. 

Okay, maybe Booth’s back to ignoring him. That’s fine with him, he knows what to do when Booth isn’t acknowledging him anyway. It’s clockwork. 

“I’m sorry by the way,” he muses. “I didn’t mean to blame you for keeping us here at the lab, I was just annoyed that you brought something for Brennan to —” 

The sound of footsteps causes him to look up at the mirror and see Booth approaching him. There’s something off about him, an indecipherable look in his eyes. It’s quick, like the snap of a rubber band tenfold, but noticeable all the same. Zack barely has any time to turn around and face him by the time Booth’s standing directly in front of him, the proximity of his broad chest making him take a step back until he’s met with the cold countertop digging into his lower back. His eyes snap up to meet Booth’s own, who are watching him curiously. 

“Why do you keep bringing up Bones?” 

Zack feels like prey being stared down by a predator, save for the fear that would usually be instilled in the prey, he feels small. There was something else deep within him. The sensation roiling in his abdomen wasn’t dread he knew that much, but it was disquieting nonetheless. He swallows anxiously and the motion triggers something in the man in front of him. 

Booth leans in closer and Zack feels his chest press against his own. It’s warm unlike the room they’re in, the dichotomy between his warmth and the cold marble drove him crazy, like a circuit on the fritz. He quickly shot his hands up and put them between them to stop the sensation. His palms pressed against Booth’s shirt while the pads of his fingers connected with exposed skin just above the seams. The feeling crackles and burns his fingers like exposed wire. 

It did nothing to calm the feeling. 

“Dr. Brennan this. Dr. Brennan that.” Booth’s breath fans over his cheek as he leans down, his arms caging Zack in. “You’re driving me crazy.” 

Zack finds it odd that Booth’s breath is fresh and minty. He assumed Booth had also forgotten to brush his teeth, like he had, and had therefore entered the restroom to do so but now he isn’t sure. 

“I’m sorry,” he pushes through a single breath and squeezes his eyes shut. “I just thought that, since the two of you work together, you’d appreciate spending more time with her. I’m surprised you’ve even acknowledged me for this long.” 

“I already spend enough time with her during work, Zack.” His body trembles at the way his name sounds coming from Booth’s lips. “Ever thought that maybe I felt intimidated by you? All that knowledge stored inside that pretty little head of yours and I don’t know what to say without making a fool out of myself in front of you?” 

Zack blinks. Huh? 

Before he can ask what he meant, ask for some type of clarification, Booth withdraws his arms and takes a step back. Zack feels his skin prickle at the cold that rushes over him and finds that he misses the warmth, the way his body felt pressed against Booth’s, he craves its comfort and pulls closer — he snaps himself out of his thoughts and looks up to see that Booth is still standing close, brown eyes dark and piercing. His body betrays him and he shivers. 

They stand there, looking at each other for a few moments, when Zack finally gains the ability to speak.

“It’s late,” he whispers. Booth nods. “I told Hodgins I was only going to go brush my teeth. He’s probably taken my sleeping bag hostage by now.” 

Booth blinks and his gaze softens. “You were getting ready for bed?” 

Zack nods, not fully trusting his voice. 

“Sorry for keeping you up.” 

Heat rushes up Zack’s face, he’s unsure why. He wants to jump off of the Jeffersonian’s roof. 

“It’s okay.” 

* 

“What’s he doing here?” 

Hodgins is no longer inside his sleeping bag by the time the two of them get back to the shared sleeping space. It looks as though his friend had been ready to go looking for him if he hadn’t come back the moment he had… he isn’t even sure how he’d attempt to explain why Booth had pinned him against the bathroom counter if he had found them. In all honesty, he still isn’t sure how to explain it to himself. 

Some sort of display of dominance? Zack’s already seen Booth do that on a few occasions but he’s proven his dominance over him on multiple occasions through a multitude of ways. This time it felt different. 

Ugh, he really — really — wants to jump off of the Jeffersonian’s roof. Lucky, or rather unlucky for him, they’re in quarantine and he didn’t have access to it. 

“He followed me here,” he whispers to Hodgins as he makes his way over to his sleeping bag. 

“You know I’m just high, not deaf, right?” 

“Shut it, Shrooms.” Hodgins points at him and then shoots a mildly annoyed look at Zack. “I can’t believe out of all of us he’s the one who gets to be blissfully stoned out of his mind.” 

So far, from how he’s seen Booth act, Zack’s not sure he wants to be blissed out of his mind. He’d rather be in control of himself, thank you very much. 

Booth walks over to a shelf stocked full of all sorts of equipment and pulls something out of its proper place. He turns it over in his hands, reading the label if it has one before putting it back to grab something else. If it doesn’t have a label he proceeds to ask Hodgins, who only has so much patience before he’s itching at the band on his wrist, what it is. Zack steps in and answers a few of Booth’s questions to diffuse the situation. 

Booth grows quiet for a few moments… before moving onto the next shelf and pulling something else to examine. Zack goes to take it out of his hand and shush him before he can ask but he’s too late. 

“So what does this –” 

“Alright, out.” Hodgins shoots up into a seated position. “Both of you need to go find somewhere else to sleep.” 

Zack scrunches his brow in confusion. “Both of us? C’mon —” 

“Yes, both of you. You brought your little friend here and he’s worn my patience down enough.” 

Zack groans and, not wanting to put up a fight, pulls both his sleeping bag and pillow off of the observation table. He doesn’t even attempt to roll it back up and lets it drag across the floor as he makes his way to the door. When he doesn’t hear footsteps behind him, Zack turns to look at Booth and glares at him. 

“You heard him.” 

Booth falls into step with him. “Where are we going?” 

“We’re going to my office.” 

“You have an office?” 

“Kinf of… not really,” he says as he tries to find the right words to use. “I call it my office but it’s more of a workstation than an actual office. There’s a couch thrown in there by the Jeffersonian but it’s nothing like Dr. Brennan’s.” 

“Huh. For some reason, I never entertained the idea that you'd have an office.” 

Zack spares him a glance. “Not sure why you’d waste a second of your day wondering if I had an office or not.” 

Booth hums as if reminding himself of something. “Right.” 

Zack looks up to see him staring straight ahead, a pensive notch carved on his brow. He decides not to question what that look meant, it’s far too late and Booth’s been enough of a pain in the ass as of tonight. He just wants to sleep and hopes that somehow they will all be given the green light to go home when they wake in the morning. 

Zack smiles at the sight of his ‘office’ door and pushes it. Thankfully, it’s a part of the quarantine zone and it opens without much resistance. Booth follows close behind and gives a quick look around, not that there’s much to look at. 

He doesn’t have much in there, not many personal things at least. He keeps most of his belongings in his apartment, of course, but a few things are scattered throughout his workspace like his favorite books mixed in with research texts and trinkets from shows or comics he enjoys. Besides that, he has a throw pillow his little brother made him a few years back when he first moved out to DC. It was one of the first sewing projects he made in his art class that had sturdy enough stitches in it to have not fallen apart during the move. He makes his way over to the couch and fluffs the pillow before returning it to its rightful spot. 

Right, they still need to figure sleeping arrangements out. There’s enough room for Booth to set up his sleeping bag parallel to the couch if he moves the cart of tools closer to the shelf. Zack turns to instruct him to do as such when he realizes a crucial detail. 

“Where’s your sleeping bag?” 

“My what?” Booth’s confusion only serves to raise Zack’s eyebrows… until he remembers and snaps his fingers. “Oh right, I left it with your boss.” 

“You left it with Dr. Brennan?” 

He shakes his head. “Your boss’ boss.” 

Was that who Booth was with prior to finding him in the restroom? He hadn’t spoken much with the others after they had all gone their separate ways but it wasn’t too far of an assumption that Booth would’ve bunked with Dr. Goodman; Booth never did fit the type of person that likes being alone. 

“If you left it with Dr. Goodman, then why aren’t you with him?” 

“I – good question – I don’t know.” 

“You don’t know?” 

“Eh.” 

Zack smacks a hand over his face. “Okay well you can either return to Goodman so you can sleep in your own sleeping bag, or –” he raises the sleeping bag “– you can stay here and take mine.” 

The gesture surprises both him and Booth. He’s not sure why he’s giving Booth an option; knowing Booth, he would take the option to spend as little time with the socially awkward assistant anthropologist. But this new side of Booth? Zack isn’t sure what he’d do now… and he’s a little curious as to what he’ll do. Besides he would feel bad for kicking him out after Hodgins had done the same. 

“You’re letting me bunk with you?” 

Zack shrugs and furthers the man into making a decision by motioning Booth to take the lump of fabric in his hand. “I’m being nice and letting you take this rather than the cramped couch.” 

Booth smiles in that dopey way he’s been doing since receiving the shot. Even his eyes have this odd attentiveness to Zack in a way he’s still not used to… he’s not quite sure what to make of it or how it’s related to the side effects of the shot. 

“You are nice.”

Zack’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. “That’s what I just said?” 

“I –” Booth sighs and fails to continue his thought before taking the sleeping bag. “Never mind.” 

Silence falls over them as they tend to their sleeping arrangements. Zack plops the pillow on one end before dropping himself onto the couch and hugging his brother’s throw pillow to his chest. He stares up at the ceiling and listens as Booth zips himself into the sleeping bag, the rustling fading as he settles into it. 

“These are far more comfortable than the army–mandated ones we got in Kosovo.” 

Zack stays quiet for a good second before something in him prompts him to blurt out: “Army–mandated?” 

“Yeah —” he hears Booth take a deep breath “— we never got much sleep but when we did, and if we were lucky, we’d get a few hours of sleep in these really thin sleeping bags. We were extremely lucky to even get them sometimes.” 

“That sounds terrible.” 

“It was terrible,” he chuckles quietly. “You wouldn’t believe the places we used to get some shut-eye.” 

“Try me. I’ll listen,” Zack says quietly when he doesn’t say anything else. Booth looks up and they lock eyes, curious eyes chipping at his to find some answer. “Where else did you sleep?” 

A faint smile graces Booth’s lips. 

“Anywhere we could. We’d sleep inside our operation vehicles, sometimes on or under them. Depending on where we were, sometimes we’d dig a trench and bunk there. And sometimes, if you wanted some space away from the others, you would go look for an isolated spot in some shrubbery or other foliage.” 

“What if you overslept? Wouldn’t you be left behind?” 

“Yeah, well… it happened to me once.” 

Zack turns on his side and peers over the edge with an alarmed look on his face. “What?” 

Booth snorts, entertained by his outrage. “I mean yeah, but they found me not long after. I woke up to see the OV gone and none of my teammates there.” 

“Weren’t you terrified?” 

Booth’s eyes flit to the ceiling above them. “Of course I was. We were close to enemy territory and we had been very close to being spotted a few times but we toughed up, we pulled through. We were trained for those kinds of situations.” 

“I’m assuming you found each other again.” 

“Maybe half an hour later they realized I wasn’t in the vehicle and they hauled ass to turn around and find me.” 

Zack feels the need to lighten up the mood a bit. He’s sure that what Booth just told him is something extremely personal that’s probably left him feeling vulnerable, so telling him a story from his own past might be helpful. From what Angela’s told him about interacting with other people, replicating conversation or body language is beneficial to forming a connection with someone. It wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot. 

“One time when I was twelve, my brother thought it would be funny to prank me by taking me out of our shared tent and leaving me out on an open field in the middle of January.” 

Booth does this sound like he doesn’t know if he should laugh but does anyway. “Older brother?” 

“Third oldest, just by three years.” 

“Sounds about right. Older brothers can be a pain in the ass like that.” The smile on Booth’s face turns mischievous. “So what happened?” 

“Luckily we were only camping in the woods behind our house, but he pulled out the air mattress I was on and packed everything up just before breakfast was called,” he explains and stops for a second to brace himself. He’s not sure why he feels embarrassed telling him now and curls into the pillow. “I woke up buried in a pile of blankets and snow with a deer licking my face.” 

Booth breaks out into a fit of laughter and Zack feels his face burn hot. He presses his face against the pillow in a poor attempt to hide it. Rarely does he see Booth this talkative and unabashedly open so hearing his boisterous laughter tugs at something in his chest. 

“I just thought of the perfect nickname for you and it’s better than Mini Bones,” he says between gasps of air. “It’s perfect.” 

Zack’s aware of that nickname, Booth’s called him as such before and he found no offense to it. If anything, it was an honor, he is her assistant after all. (Even if the name was at the expense of Dr. Brennan.) Still, he’s intrigued as to what Booth could’ve come up with so quickly. 

“You did?” 

Booth tilts his head away, stifling (poorly, may he add) more laughter. It’s an odd gesture to do, seeing as he’s already laughed a couple of times inside the enclosed space, but Zack says nothing and studies his features. The stretch of his neck, the slight crow’s feet at the corner of his eyes, the lightly scarred tissue stretched over his knuckles and forearm as he hides his laughs behind his hand, the scrunching of his nose. He takes it all in. 

He knows this won’t last. The effects of the shot will wear off by morning and everything will go back to normal. Booth will go back to ignoring him and Zack will go back to stealing little glances when they share the den during cases. 

“You ready for it?” Booth regains enough breath and turns to look at him with teary eyes. “Bambi!” 

Zack groans and rolls onto his back. He takes it back, he really hopes it goes back to normal after tonight so Booth wouldn’t have to call him that. 

“Oh, c’mon it’s great!” 

“I should’ve taken you back to Dr. Goodman. Let him deal with you.” 

“Don’t be mean, Bambi.” 

“Do not call me Bambi, it’s demeaning. I’m a Ph.D. student and deserve the utmost respect.” 

“But you look just like him: lanky, fluffy hair, big brown eyes, long eyelashes… all the reason to call you Bambi,” he teases with a stupidly charming grin. “Y’know, you’re cute when you’re annoyed.” 

Zack freezes, astounded by the comment, and unsure how to respond to something like that. Booth just said he’s cute — scratch that — he said he’s cute when he’s annoyed. He’s merely saying this to get a rise out of him. Zack opens his mouth to tell him just that but finds that Booth has already closed his eyes and is humming to himself, the notes later replaced with soft breathing within a matter of seconds. 

“Booth?” Zack asks and receives a soft grunt. He can’t help but smile softly. You only have tonight, he reminds himself. And that’s fine. “Goodnight.” 

“Night, Bambi.” 

[kastle-thrones]

I love the fact that I was like, “ah, a blog, for me to be angelic on” and then I haven’t done a thing to be angelic on it 💀

My apologies to those of us who followed for angel content but I also like being human

Anyways, i guess I could make an introduction post-

Hi.

I’m Cassian/Kastle. Call me Cas (Or Kas). 💕

I’m an angelkin, this is an angelkin blog. It will have non-kin content on it, though. Both because I’m bad at remembering to switch back to my main, and because I like things and have interests.

And sometimes that means reblogging 7 shitposts in a row on my Big Fancy Angel Account™️

(I tried so hard to be cool and professional as if we were getting graded on being the Most Angelic and now I simply don’t care so you get wing posts and me screaming at unhinged levels about fiction and how divinity feels like hot water on your hands and how normal I am about fnaf and also spirituality.)

I’m an angel and therefore anything I post is technically angel content. I stand by this. /lh

Some things you may need to know!

I don’t have a DNI! All I ask is that if you interact, you’re courteous. If you don’t like me for some reason, I’m happy to talk about it, but if we can’t come to an agreement, the block button is at the top of the screen to your right. <3

If it wasn’t obvious, this is an alterhuman friendly blog. All kintypes are welcome here, no matter what.

I’m a scribe! I will likely post a lot of unrelated rambles, and it’s because my job is basically to write. I’m here to keep track of the earth. I write songs, poems, theories, fanfic, books, and, if you ask, I’ll happily write about you or subject matter you like! Research is the love of my life, and I’m always looking to learn. If you drop an anon fact in my box I’ll love you forever. <3

I tend to switch between an overly formal, stylized version of writing, and just incoherent key smashes. Both of these are me, one is just what I lovingly refer to as Information Dispensing Voice, the other of which are my casual blabbers. Information dispensing is usually very well thought out, and flows, whereas blabbers are just me taking a moment to make the words go, regardless of whether they fit together or not. Information dispensing tends to be fact, whereas blabbers stem more from feelings.

I’m an angelkin of the first triad. I have a connection to both seraphim and ophanim, but I’m not positive as to which I am. Seraph in looks, ophanim in personality? I guess? But then again can you really assign a ‘look’ to an entity of energy-

I have special interests in cryptozoology (study of cryptids/demons/angels, a la supernatural entities), psychology, writing (obviously), music, digital art, and certain indie video games, and this is just off the top of my head.

I have memories, and am more than happy to discuss them, whether they’re lighthearted or serious in nature. I love pursuing knowledge and would never discourage others to do the same!

Occasionally, I use tone indicators. I really don’t need them, but they’re fun! If you’re struggling to read my tone, please ask. I will always clarify. 💕

My asks and anon asks are open! Please come talk to me, I definitely do not bite.

Enjoy your stay, and if you need clarification on anything, feel free to say hi! <3

- Cas 💕

I will eventually come up with an organizational tag method for this blog, but for right now, it is messy. Ty for understanding. <3.

Edit:

#introductions are other kin blogs I know of. I reblog their introduction posts so that we have a chance of seeing more of each other and meeting more otherkin through their posts!

#casposting is posts that I specifically have things to say on! Not just reblogs, but things I actually talk about or make. :>

[ee-aych-fan-zine]

♡ Hi!! ♡

Over the summer I had the opportunity to work on @quadropheniazine ‘s project revolving around Quadrophenia by The Who, and it inspired me to take on another zine project!

I’m super excited to announce that my friend Kimberley and I are starting a zine dedicated to the album Electra Heart by Marina and the Diamonds, and we are looking for fans who would like to participate!

Here you can find the application if you wish to join. We would like to have applications submitted by January 26th, so that we can send out invitations by February 1st.

Basic information:

♡ Although we would like to have an idea of what kind of projects will be submitted, please don’t feel like you have to be married to one idea from the beginning.

♡ We will be making a Discord server for this project, but if you do not have Discord and you want to submit work, please reach out to us and we will make sure you can still participate!

♡ We will be accepting work made specifically for this project, as well as old work you have made in the past, as long as your work fits the theme.

♡ The end product will be published as a pdf for free.

Themes:

♡ The zine will be centered around the 19 songs on Electra Heart Platinum Blonde Edition.

♡ Our priority is to have 18 other artists on board, with one person assigned to each song, and one person assigned to make a cover.

♡ Although it is not mandatory, you are allowed to submit multiple works if you choose to, as long as they stick to the album and its themes.

♡ We will allow works that explore other aspects of the Electra Heart era, such as demo songs and the archetypes, especially if more people sign up than anticipated.

♡ As long as it’s accessible via pdf, then any form of media is allowed! This includes images, videos, and writing.

♡ ♡ ♡

Our idea is to publish the zine on April 27th, the album’s anniversary. Here is the rough timeline we would like to work with:

7th January - announcement/applications open

26th January - applications close

1st February - emails/Discord invitations go out

1st March - check-in 1 (emails out to people without discord)

1st April - check-in 2 (emails out to people without discord)

20th April - pieces due

♡ ♡ ♡

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me! Boosting is also very much appreciated. Thank you so much for reading, and happy 2023!

[cruelsummer-ficfest]

Hello, just wanted to say that I’m excited to be participating in this year’s fest. I’ve read some of the stories and I’m amazed at how unique each one are. I hope to not disappoint since these stories are truly amazing.

Also, I wanted to know how do you come up with assigning the songs? Is it random or do you “think” of a song that could work perfectly with the pairing?

Hello!

We're so happy to have you, and will be here to cheer you on when you finish your work no matter what—at the end of the day, you've written a whole fic! About HP characters! Using Taylor Swift lyrics as inspiration! That's what we're all about, so we're genuinely delighted by each submission we get—regardless of the length, pairing, or album. :)

We've said this before (in our personal chats, and in a recent podcast episode lol), but truly one of the best parts of running this fest has been seeing the unique and absolutely brilliant ways that folks interpret their song prompts.

We intentionally didn't restrict the fest to a specific ""era"" (no pun intended) of HP characters because we wanted to make it open to as many people as were interested, and each year we've been blown away by the stories that contain the characters we usually read/write about AND the stories that contain pairings we've never considered before. It's no surprise to us—you're all fantastic, creative people—but it's been so neat to see/read the different ways each participant interprets the lyrics, the tone, or the ~vibe~ of each song and turns it into a doubly transformative work of art.

As for the songs themselves—as much as us picking songs ourselves would be fun...we use a fun randomized wheel hahaha.

In our first year, we wanted to try and randomize it as much as possible, so we literally put all 200+ songs that she'd released into a random generator and spun the wheel every time we had someone message us asking for a prompt.

After receiving feedback from participants—friends and strangers alike—we realized that we could offer up a bit more structure by dividing it into paired up albums (an especially convenient solution when Taylor had announced her Eras Tour, too) and giving folks about a 50/50 chance of getting a song from an album they loved/were more familiar with than others.

that said...this year's song assignments have been EXCELLENT all the way across and honestly...we couldn't have picked them this well if we tried

we do still have a bit of beef with our 1989/evermore wheel for practically clearing out 1989 before getting half-way through evermore though. she took after miss swift on ignoring evermore there lol

[simplysummers]

do you have a kurtbastian playlist?

I actually don’t have a kurtbastian playlist, I don’t tend to make character/ship lists, I just let my songs play and the correct scenario jumps to mind with each song (like a lil movie).

But these are a huge chunk of the songs I have personally assigned to Kurtbastian as a ship!

I’ve colour-coded them to show the following: specific scenario, overall kurtbas vibe, average love song. And my personal favourites are in bold!

My kurtbastian song list:

Glee covers:

My Life Would Suck Without You - Glee Cast

I Want To Hold Your Hand - Glee Cast (this is specifically agtthg core though-)

She’s Not There - Glee Cast

Blackbird - Glee Cast

As If We Never Said Goodbye - Glee Cast

I Want You Back - Glee Cast

Take My Breath Away - Glee Cast

Never Say Never - Glee Cast

Live While We’re Young - Glee Cast

Musicals:

Runnin’ Home To You - The Flash

Satisfied - Hamilton

One Of Us - Mamma Mia

Why Did It Have To Be Me - Mamma Mia

Andante Andante - Mamma Mia

Angel Eyes - Mamma Mia

Without Love - Hairspray (with a dash of niff)

Summer Nights - Grease

Hopelessly Devoted To You - Grease

We Go Together - Grease

If You Love Me For Me - Barbie: Princess and the Pauper (don’t say a word-)

A Boy Like That/I Have a Love - West Side Story

A Lovely Night - La La Land

Disney:

Tale As Old As Time - Beauty And The Beast

Dos Oruguitas - Encanto

Ma Belle Evangeline - Princess and the Frog

Can You Feel The Love Tonight - The Lion King

Evermore - Beauty And The Beast

I See The Light - Tangled

I Won’t Say I’m In Love - Hercules

Misc:

Before You Go - Lewis Capaldi

Can’t Help Falling In Love With You - Hailey Reinhart

Dancing In The Moonlight - Toploader

Dandelion - Ruth B

Dear Darlin’ - Olly Murs

How To Save A Life - The Fray

If Our Love Is Wrong - Calum Scott

I Never Dreamed Someone Like You - Kate Irving (my all time favourite song right now)

One Call Away - Charlie Puth

Pacify Her - Melanie Martinez

Paper Rings - Taylor Swift

Pieces - Ella Henderson

Rainbow Connection - Sleeping at Last

Rule The World - Take That

Still Into You - Paramore

Treacherous - Taylor Swift

Until I Found You - Stephen Sanchez

Yours - Ella Henderson

21 Reasons - Ella Henderson ft Nathan Dawe

Now, before you panic (Meg) there should be a lot more Taylor Swift songs on this list, but I’m in the process of re-listening to all of her songs, and assigning them kurtbas scenarios, so for now I only have the two that I’ve always been 1000% sure on listed. They will creep up at some point!

[chryzure-archive]

im sorry abt your surgery, ill be there in spirit to hold your hand if you need it <3 wishing you the best and hopefully its just a scare and nothing to worry too much abt!!

as for asks...

i always love your music taste so, 5 songs youve had on repeat lately that make you think of chryzure + chrysijacks? also, if they were each a pair of unlikely animal friends (ie, a pig and a monkey lol) which ones would they be? def feeling rabbit and cat for chryzure.

this question is a very self-indulgent one cus ive been going thru a huge superhero phase but, if they were superheroes which ones would they be? this could either be made-up or existing superheroes-- personally, i think chrysi would be an AMAZING black cat/felicia hardy, she has the white hair and the dark aesthetic to match it :3 i def think azure would be a mutant/x-men (no particular reason, it just seems to match him?) and jacks... well, jacks is just giving me deadpool energy. slutty antihero? i think yes. it'd be cool to know what kind of superhero abilities youd assign to them tho :33

thank you 🖤 please hold my other hand though, they’re cutting up my right one 🤧 hopefully there’s nothing to worry abt since my family has a history of the weirdness w/o the cancer..

chryzure songs:

so good right now // fall out boy (wanted the whole album to make me think of chrysigil, then it jst wound up being chryzure and chrysijacks coded…)

xyz // technoplanet (vv specific vibe, idk why, but instrumentals like this make me go crazy, go wild)

anicent history // the crane wives (teehee! in agony thinking abt them separated)

in my head // mike shinoda, kailee morgue ((bonus song, still alive // demi lovato because screamvi brainrot real….. jst saying the au goes wild!))

cartoon people // billie marten (the vibes themselves……)

chrysijacks songs (he’s more annoying):

chapstick // coin (sorry, juno…:(( sorry jacks ruined this for you)

summer // circadian clock, baethoven (biting him!)

blood in the cut // k.flay (sorry juno pt.2)

hold my like a grudge // fall out boy (part-time soulmate, full-time problem too real for chrysijacks…)

121U // day6 (I DONT WANT TO WANT YOU I DONT WANT TO LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!)

chryzure is kittybunny lovers all the time… they are doing this right now:

chrysijacks is kitty and fox… sorry, the legend of the archer and the fox is actually abt chrysijacks and chrysi’s the archer and jacks is the fox!! idk what was going on in the books, get ur facts right!

((more proof is that i had a chrysijacks song called the fox before the book came out + the lyrics imply jacks not wanting to be the fox and hunted down by the archer… explain this 🤨))

oh my god, i looked up black cat and you’re RIGHT, that’s sooo chrysi??? esp the probability thing… explains why azure’s gotten such bad luck over the years.

if i were to make chrysi her own superhero, hmmm….. i feel like she’d summon ghosts and stuff… ??????? idk, i’ve never thought abt it 🫢 i mean, the funniest option is totally that she can bring back the dead and summon ghosts and stuff, but she never fucking uses that in favor of bashing ppl’s heads in w a baseball bat. OH, wait, her fated abilities include causing fear and giving nightmares, so maybe i could do something like that!!! she can keep the ghost summoning thing if she wants. idk what name i’d give her. it’s so hard coming up w a good superhero name. nightmare is too basic + i’m sure there’s thousands of ppl w that superhero name 💀 oh well!

AZURE WOULD SOOOOO HAVE X-MEN VIBES. he gets to go to a special little mutant school and have like minded peers… little special princess boy 🙄 SOME people learned they inflict fear on ppl and had to deal with it ALONE, but it’s fine. it’s rlly okay.

his powers probably are jst spatial manipulation, but he’s good enough at it that it looks like it’s jst telekinesis… and also teleportation :) jst the idea of him tricking ppl he has one power when it’s actually another makes me go crazy, go wild!!! idk what his title would be either. this is HARD, how do comic book writers do it!!!

yes. jacks is a whore. fuck him. i want him dead in a ditch. his powers are making ppl love him and want to obey him? rlly? he gets everything handed to him on a platter???? killing him killing him killing him!!!! he’d be the villain that chrysi and azure have to take down first, but they get there and jacks is jst rlly lameand they’re like, “…….. okay, guess we’ll leave you alive….?” and now he’s a thorn in their side that doesn’t leave ://////

[khxvrly]

Writing Process Reflection 

I picked the contemporary R&B genre as my topic because it’s one of my favorite music genres and the artist that I chose is one of my all time favorite artists along with the song I picked. I wouldn’t necessarily say that the music genre is important to me but it's more of an interesting topic with the reason being that it’s my go to genre and Giveon being one of the artists I listen to almost everyday. What I’ve learned so far is that it’s important to know the difference between music genres since some of them have similarities that often can be easily confused with. With that said, before learning more about contemporary R&B, I wasn’t aware that it was R&B’s sub genre though it was interesting to learn about it while doing more research about the chosen genre. I still want to do more research on Giveon's personal background and the story behind how he comes up with his songs and why he identifies as a contemporary R&B artist. What I find the most interesting about the genre I chose is its history and evolution.

Reflecting back on my writing process this far, the most difficult thing I’ve been dealing with when it comes to writing is time management and incorporating what I’ve brainstormed into the essay and thinking of a way on how to start it off and how to come up with a title for it. What has come easy during my writing process was having an idea of what genre and which artist to write about along with picking a song as the possible evidence for the genre. The writing prompt’s instructions were specific on what to write about and how to write the essay which helped me a lot to get a head start to decide what to write about. I’ve noticed that the strategy I use to start brainstorming and how I’m more interested in the writing prompts is what I feel like I’m doing differently with my writing and assignments compared to what I did in high school. Personally, college work compared to high school is a lot easier for me to understand and the way I see it is that I’m more focused on doing the assignments rather than wanting to procrastinate like I did back in high school. I feel that what I need to focus on doing next for this project is putting the essay together and making sure that I have enough time to research everything needed for the essay. My actual plan/schedule for the next steps of my essay would be to research the genre's history and evolution, the artist’s personal background, analyze the song lyrics and collect enough evidence to use to support why the song fits in the genre and overall start writing the essay.

The phase that is the most difficult for me would be Step 2 - Gather Ideas and Form Working Thesis. Personally, forming a work thesis has always been one of my weaknesses when it comes to writing essays. I feel that whenever I try to write a thesis that it doesn’t often fit as a working thesis for my writing. One of the quotes from the chapter that reflects what I learned about the writing process is, “Always read over the entire assignment provided to you by your instructor… This sheet is a direct communication from your instructor to you, laying out every expectation and requirement of an assignment. Follow each to ensure you are conducting and completing the assignment properly. I can use the information in writing my essay to help me have a better understanding on what the writing prompt is about and to give me an idea to know what are the important requirements needed to be successful at writing my essay.

[worldsentwined]

(One of my friends is doing daily writing prompts on discord this month - I couldn't resist writing this when I saw it. Prompt is "French kissing fairy princes, and other reasons I’m banned from the library")

Prince Parsley Sage liked many things about being an exchange student in the human realm. Their food tasted better—processed sugar, but don’t tell the tooth fairies or they’d never let him hear the end of it—they had all kinds of music, and the campus library contained information on more subjects than he’d known existed before he came.

Unfortunately, the library was now off-limits.

Fortunately, Pars’s favorite thing about the human realm was Izzy.

“I can’t believe this!”

“Listen, I’m not saying they were justified in kicking us out—”

“—going to file a complaint, this is homophobic specifically against me—”

“And I’m not saying I like, regret it or anything, but you have to admit—”

“I’ll start a petition, that’s what I’ll do! Justice for all, knowledge should be free—”

“—maybe after everything else, this was…kind of the last straw?”

Izzy halted mid-tirade and scowled. “Excuse me? Are you saying there was something wrong about our pure and noble expression of mutual respect and attraction?”

“Um. Well.” Pars rubbed the back of his neck. “You did have your tongue down my throat in the middle of the contemporary politics section. I guess maybe some people don’t want to see that?”

“Best thing to ever happen in that part of the library, probably,” Izzy replied with a huff. 

“Better than the time you left a half-eaten piece of pizza on one of the shelves, I guess,” Pars admitted.

“I was coming back for it!”

“And probably better than the time you let those flying snakes loose in the stacks.”

“They were for a homework assignment, I was on my way to class!”

“And like, this was definitely better than the time you accidentally cursed all the books to sing the same song a half-step off from each other.”

“I still say it could have happened to anyone.”

Pars shrugged. “I guess it is a little weird that you got banned for this, and not the hell portal.” 

Izzy sighed, shoulders slumping. “Yeah, the hell portal was kind of a mistake.”

They looked so dejected that Pars decided not to bring up the spaghetti incident. “Anyway,” he said, reaching out to pat Izzy’s shoulder, “I guess you’re right, they shouldn’t have made such a big deal about this one. The grass and flowers will come right out of the carpet with a little weed killer, and I think the tree really adds something to the decor.”

Izzy snickered. “Yeah, it adds a great big tree. Say, is that going to happen every time we make out?”

Pars blinked, all innocence. “What, does that not usually happen to humans?” He batted his eyelashes a few times for good measure.

“Of course it doesn’t—oh, you’re messing with me.”

“Yeah.” 

“Such a tease, Parsley.” Izzy smacked his arm.

“I was just…surprised, that’s all.” Pars looked at his feet, where bits of moss and tiny purple flower petals still clung. “I didn’t realize you felt that way about me.” He hadn’t realized he’d wanted Izzy to feel that way until about a month ago, when he’d been struck by the horrifying thought that someday he’d have to go home to a realm that didn’t have them in it. 

“Really? I thought I was super obvious about it.” Izzy ran their hand down his arm, tugging his sleeve up so they could take his hand. “And who wouldn’t love Prince Parsley Sage, heir to three realms and a castle full of unicorns? Not to mention the fact that you’re, you know, the hottest person to ever get kissed in that library. Half the campus has a crush on you.”

Pars snorted. He didn’t care about other people’s crushes. He only wanted to be loved back, which up until about ten minutes ago had felt impossible. “I keep telling you, the unicorns do not live in the castle, and it’s only two realms. And one of them is considering alternative forms of government, so—”

“Pars—”

“It’s not likely I’ll actually inherit anyway—”

“Parsley—” 

“When you think about it, there’s no reason why anyone would be interested—”

“PARSLEY!” In the silence that followed, Izzy rested their free hand on Pars’s cheek. “Did you miss the part where I said I love you?”

Pars raised his head. “You do?”

“Yeah.” Izzy met his gaze, their usual teasing grin gone soft. “In case the display that got us banned from the library didn’t make that clear.”

“Oh.” Pars felt his own lips twitching into an answering smile. “So, since the library is off-limits now, do you think we could do that again, but somewhere more private?” 

Izzy twirled a lock of Pars’s hair around their finger, expression going thoughtful. “We could. Or…”

“Or?” 

The wicked grin returned in full force. “Or we could go see what it takes to get kicked out of the ice cream parlor.”

Food in the human realm was sweet, but not nearly as sweet as the taste of a laugh on Izzy’s lips. “Okay,” Pars agreed, allowing Izzy to drag him along by the hand as they started toward the ice cream parlor. “But you’re paying.”

[artwithoutblood]

Another thing stuck out to me in the Cryptid let’s play… the music. Very pretty. It sounded like a Middle Eastern instrument and triggered a similar memory of another song’s opening.

The song is called Full Circle by Loreena McKennitt from the Mask and Mirror album. It might not be your style but it specifically compares/contrasts Christianity with Sufi Islam by way of their morning and evening prayers. (Dawn call to prayer vs bells for vesper.)

In other words they are different faiths but are both calling to god who might even be the same one. The album liner notes on the net spell the parallels out. There are also apparently a lot of Sufi converts from Christianity because there are enough similarities to converge? I think Dorian would like all of this very much.

I’d like to know more about the game music too if possible - what is the instrument used? Was the non-Christian cultural/religious overtone intentional? It was so fitting.

And as the lack of life/ash storms also mimic sandstorms in the desert, could that hint at where Dorian once resided in life? His beliefs? And potentially which particular political and religious landscape brought about his death?

I wondered if he was killed in the Middle East resisting the spread of Christianity but that doesn’t square with his manner of death (being burned) or called an heretic. Or his pale skin and blonde hair. And very early on Christianity was the tiny cult being persecuted. And HE was implied to be a cult leader of some kind himself! I’d have to check more into the time frame given for his death. (After I remind myself when it was.)

I do know ancient pagan religions were overrun in Britain. For burning monasteries were razed by Vikings Lindisfarne in 793. Dorian does live a monastic existence curating (false) religious texts. But those were raids for profit rather than ideological. And Christians were the ones that forcibly converted the Vikings.

The ash is possibly just a metaphor for spiritual death/a spiritual wasteland or meant to emotionally mirror Dorian’s barren isolated existence where he can’t even enjoy life’s pleasures like freedom or eating.

He also does seem to fill the role of the scapegoat, having been labeled a sinner/assigned responsibility for sins and been sent into exile alone in the wilderness.

Anyway. I’m not religious myself and haven’t studied any religion or history but I like lore and all that just came to mind as something cool to discuss! I hope the nerding out was not offputting. Interesting thought provoking game.

-Let’s Play/fruity tea/consensual Erebus affection anon. (Different to 🍎 anon)

apologies for mobile spacing. no matter what i do, it doesn't want to look good.

ive heard loreena mckennitt's music before, so thank you for putting her back on my radar. for the music, i gave my musician some ambient vibes music that i like (i am the person who regularly listens to ambient. i know.) for any influences and instruments for making the songs sound the way they do, you'd have to ask zack himself! he's very talented and in the discord. nonetheless, i might add one of mckennitt's songs to my dorian playlist. thank you!

in dante's inferno, which is the source that dorian's original source is based on, heresy is kind of boring because he's just a bunch of dudes. like. burning forever. in vindication (whenever we start getting to the production process), the never ending library was most of what the player would see. the souls of the damned were burned for fuel and for knowledge. each circle provided a challenge: dorian's was constantly lying out of wanting the mc to stay with him. there were attendants he had, mouths ripped and stitched so they would no longer tell lies, but they were husks of people. for the sake of the jam and my spin on vindication, i did not include them, and i indulged in dorian's loneliness.

i added the ash storm mostly because i thought...it was cool. and i needed a reason for the player to get into close quarters with him. i have nothing written of his past, other than he was born with albinism which has shaped itself into pure whites and grays while in hell, he led some sort of "cult" maybe that still had the values of the religions at the time, and that he was burned alive. everything else is sort of vague on purpose, because for me, it's not about the man he once was. like all other demons, he was given a new name upon assuming his role. all demons are. erebus's human name was not erebus.

which is why im really interested in this interpretation you have! dorian is a character who, really, is up to the player. he's old, but how old he is he does not reveal. he may not have died because of heresy outright. limbo herself was assigned limbo despite not fitting entirely with original doctrine or anything (also because. it's my fantasy catholicism for my silly little game and i get to choose what the sins mean). anger themselves are a newer demon born out of the misery of a justified crime. who knows why dorian was chosen? perhaps the forces enjoyed his charisma.

the ash, the fog, and the cemeteries parallel against the life he preserves in his own abode. (and random shoutout to the irish vikings and also the christians being lame. as usual.)

he might be a scapegoat who transformed into what he was scapegoated for. who knows?