#evocatio

[birlwrites]

scrapbook snippet: evocatioops

this was an exchange i sadly couldn't fit into chapter 2 of 5 times sirius ranted at barty, in which heather is curious about why james is soooooooo concerned about evan being the root of all evil and shattering regulus's heart forever

-

"Why does James care so much?" Heather says. "I'd think you'd be the one obsessing."

"I," Sirius says, "care a reasonable amount, and if I picture Evan going about his day, I don't automatically think of him cackling maniacally and flipping through a huge book titled How To Cheat At Quidditch."

[de-angulorum-et-angelorum]

evocatio (20632 words) by justwhatialwayswanted Chapters: 7/7 Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

After Regulus's secret not-quite-a-relationship goes up in flames, he decides the only possible course of action is to get revenge on James by making him jealous. How? By fake-dating Evan, James's worst enemy on the quidditch pitch, of course. There's no way this could possibly go wrong.

[aminadeux]

[dashnite]

Favourite nothing but thieves song? :3

Oh, Tempt You (Evocatio) like. By a landslide. Conor’s vocals in that song are the stuff dreams and angels and unicorns are made of. It’s just… such a soft song. Obsessed w it

[brokenxmachine]

HEAVEN...

NOTHING BUT THIEVES - "Tempt You (Evocatio)"

[snowychicken]

HEAVEN

THERE'S ROOM FOR US IN HEAVEN

WE COULD STAY THIS WAY FOREVER

WHILE YOUR PEOPLE PRAY TOGETHER

[vicsy]

hi vicsy my love

i’d love to hear more about your thoughts and process behind writing evocatio because i think about your fic every time i see the ferrari logo ❤️

RIVER HI COMRADE!

First of all, the fact that my blasphemous creation lives in your head in any way makes me go ZOOOOOOM. Literally. I love you. Thank you for kind words, ALWAYS.

Now, to your actual question...

Evocatio was a totally different concept when I first thought about creating it. It wasn't even called "evocatio" at that moment. My only note about it was "the cars are alive??" and it was in the science fiction genre! I had a wild mashup of Tron/Pacific Rim and sort of virtual reality thingie where the drivers were real but the race wasn't; they had to be hooked up to the simulators but took real damage from the race. And they had to be connected to the cars in some neurological way. One team member was a "driver" and the other was a "guide" through the virtual reality track that changed constantly.

Honestly, I could never make this idea work properly, and when the Piarles exchange tolled around, I thought I could use it. But again, it didn't work how I wanted it to. Did not make the impact I was going for.

So I was struck by a thought: why not leave science fiction behind and move to myths, gods and legends cause I love that stuff so much? At that point, I didn't know that my giftee (@pinkierre hi!!) was into myths, too, so that was an amusing coincidence!

When I started to build this idea in my head, "evocatio" by Nothing but Thieves came onto the shuffle and it clicked.

But I will tell you this. The entire concept of this fic was built around that one scene in chapter two where Pierre dunks Charles in the ice tub in order to save him from potential death (then, he didn't know from what, he just knew Charles was overheated). The idea of having too much external/racing pressure and using ice to cool down was also present in the previous concept, so I knew I wanted to include that in any way. The desperation, the correlation between Pierre's cold fear and iced water, Charles' too-hot body in his subtly shaking hands.

So I started to build from that. Why was Charles feeling so bad and what happened to him? Ferrari happened of course. It was very fun to decide which god represented what and how racing was a universal way of worship and how every god only chose two champions, apart from other people simply praying for them in other ways they chose. The dramatic connection between Charles and Ferrari came in very handy – the story basically writes itself. Charles gives himself away and gets shit in return. Of course, later we learn it's because he basically is Ferrari but I wanted to emotionally torture him.

Pierre, on the other hand, was somewhat harder to write because he's an actual believer, unlike Charles, and in his eyes, gods are usually right even though after some tragic events and his run with the Red Bull, he should have questioned them properly. He never really did, not until he learned about Charles' condition and basically thought "that's some bullshit".

I knew I needed to go heavy on exposition and certain introspection right from the start but not overstuff the story. I decided to throw the readers head first into it, experience Charles' confusion and then explain in extensive worldbuilding what the fuck we are dealing with.

Evocatio started as a single chapter that quickly grew into a three-chapter thing because I needed to change the POV and some scenes didn't work just through the eyes of one character. So I came up with a structure that basically went now–past–future. It made sense to sing praises to the gods in Pierre's POV and put more focus on actual racing in Charles' POV.

I had literal chunks of scenes haphazardly written everywhere and the only I thing I didn't have tight to the very end was "the ending". Like, Pierre was always supposed to think Charles was fucking with Carlos, Charles was always meant to collapse after a race, they both were meant to lose control with each other. But where it led to? Good question indeed. I wanted right from the start to make Charles this "god-like" figure and use sex as a metaphor for worship. I really like the "near-death experience" as a trope to push two pining characters together. Especially in the Piarles case, because oftentimes you don't need to explain why they are in love – it's like a law of the universe.

But, oh, I had fun torturing Pierre with his feeling and conflicted questions of fate, belief etc. Like, he believed more in Charles' fate as Il Predestinato than Charles himself, he was really trying to go vroom vroom but the gods said "sort your shit out or perish".

The sacrifice for each team deity had to be somewhat connected to the team. Spilling blood for Ferrari was always in my head but using insomnia for Red Bull was an idea Briony suggested at some point! I really wanted it to be symbolic for each team and maybe if I write a sequel (maxiel in my head lmao) I could explore more of that.

I will be frank. I was dreading the smut part because I am not good at it as many others are. But it was an important part of the plot. I really messaged Briony "Charles gets on Pierre's dick and it fixes things" but it's so much more than that or the fact that I used the "racing gods" joke as inspiration.

On the subject of gods, I was struggling a bit cause I didn't want to make them super detailed and all-powerful but they needed to be imposing characters, not to be messed with. Which was funny cause Pierre, THE BELIEVER, was the one to defy them because of his love for Charles. I said SYMBOLISM. And most of the deities were inspired by team logos/lore and actual gods from the myths. It was really fun to come up with them starting from the most obvious (The Black Stallion, The Red Bull) to the less obvious (The Huntress, Trickster god, Sunshine goddess).

Lastly... the metaphors. I love them so much. Really. Most of the time I overuse them but for this fic? They never felt too much. I love expressing internal turmoil through metaphors. For Charles, I chose something more grounded, less mythical. For Pierre, I went all out on subverting existing myths to fit into the world. Personally, the one metaphor about returning with the shield or on it from the first chapter and the one about the Minotaur's labyrinth from the second chapter are my faves. I used them to underline the contrast in Pierre and Charles' thinking and attitude and how it changes when the truth comes out eventually in the final chapter.

Ok, I lied about "lastly"... The last chapter was the trickiest, I rewrote the track scene where the culmination happens, I think, four times. I needed it to be present in the moment, not just explaining what is happening and also it had to make sense and not be... cliche if I can say that? It came to me as I went on. The only thing I was 100% sure about was Nando's cameo as a demigod (Nandofuckery everywhere!). So I wanted to do I "happy" ending but also show that Charles realizes what he is and how coming together with Pierre fits into his new role doesn't fix everything in its entirety. He still struggles... but maybe I can express in a lil ficlet that is lying in my notes, waiting to be written properly...

In conclusion, this fic really started with me thinking "it would be really dope to put one of my faves in the ice bath while he is on the brink of death while the other character who is in love with him tries to not let him slip away" and ended up being a fucking MONSTROSITY full of religious imagery, complete blasphemy, some softness and, apparently, an outlet for my metaphor kink. I am not a religious person and an atheist, so it was truly an amusing ride. Even if some stuff of the story was so clear in my head, and other tortured me for days.

I did spend so much time writing this fic, blowing up deadlines but I just... couldn't bring myself to write faster. I literally questioned every line, spend a month with waking up and going to sleep with this fic in my head, compiling the playlist and having a lil breakdown, thinking I bit more than I could chew. But who am I if not an overachiever so I would have never backed out from doing right by this idea, this universe, the person I was gifting this fic to and, of course, the whole fandom. I am really glad I met all of you guys thanks to the exchange even though I still have war flashbacks about writing it for exactly (day to day) one month.

River, this got out of control, just like "evocatio" did at some point and I am sorry for so many words!! Though, I do hope you will find this ok. Thank you, again, so much for having so many kind words and thoughts about this fic. It means so much to me, you have no idea.

[eldenbiscuit]

The ritual of evocatio was premised on the belief that a people could be made vulnerable if the power and kindness of its tutelary deities were to be diverted outside of the Tower. And so, Iver’s compassion to Sir Messmer’s knights was deemed a betrayal.

Iver:

- was once in training to become a Hornsent tutelary deity, but her acts of mercy towards Messmer’s men see her banished. At the sentencing, Hornsent Grandam convinced the inquisitor elders to move down her punishment from imprisonment/death to banishment. In exchange, she must provide healing and protective services to Enir Ilim in perpetuity.

- well versed in protective and healing magic from her above training

- she has a secret love for the Erdtree, inherited from her great-grandmother.

- as she was without protection after her banishment, she picks up the art of wielding curseblades to survive.

- she’s deeply curious of Messmer, enjoys pushing his buttons then getting the fuck away.

Bubo:

- is a Rauh owl with scarlet rot adopted by Iver after her banishment from Enir Ilim.

- his name has several meanings: “horned owl”, and “owl of ill omen” being two of them. However, he was initially named by the Bloodfiends as a callback to his rot (bubo = pustule). Despite his limitations and ancient age, Bubo thrives when helped along.

- he despises indiscriminate swathes of things, (with Messmer and Tarnished at the helm of his To Hate list), and holds lifelong grudges.

If only there was an elderly, horned and cursed demigod who also loves trees and thrives at life by sheer force of being an absolute Tarnished hater, they’d get along swimmingly. 😔

[starvingforabutterfly]

“Darling, I’m gonna build you something

Sweety, you need something better

Let me build you something better..”

Tempt You (Evocatio) ~ Nothing but Thieves

[haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll]

Tracklist:

Excuse Me • Ban All The Music • Wake Up Call • Itch • If I Get High • Graveyard Whistling • Hostage • Trip Switch • Lover, Please Stay • Drawing Pins • Painkiller • Tempt You (Evocatio)

Spotify ♪ YouTube

[birlwrites]

chapter 3 of 5 times sirius ranted to barty is up!

[book-nerdtothemax]

The song Tempt you (evocatio) by nothing but thieves is so the last ten minutes of good omens season two coded that I just can't not cry.

Have a listen to it and see who would sing which bits!

[racefortheironthrone]

Did ancient peoples (such as the Romans, Greeks) believe their Gods were the gods of all men (ala Christianity/Islam) or just specifically THEIR gods? Might a Roman except that Zeus is real but far away and foreign?

Yes and no.

On the one hand, the ancient Mediterranean world could get very local - this is the god of this river, this is the goddess of this forest, this is the patron diety of this polis and there's the temple where they live. One interesting example of this attitude was the Roman tradition of evocatio deorum, a prayer that the Romans would make to the god(s) of a foreign city that they were besieging. In this prayer, they would promise to build a bigger temple in Rome than the one in the diety's home city if they would abandon the defenders for Team Rome:

"Thee too, Queen Juno, who now dwellest in Veii, I beseech, that thou wouldst follow us, after our victory, to the City which is ours and which will soon be thine, where a temple worthy of thy majesty will receive thee."

Likewise, the Romans could get really into gods who they saw as cool and exotic -Isis was a big hit, so was Cebele, so was Mithras, and so forth. As the quote above indicates, to a significant extent, the Roman attitude was that the inclusion of foreign gods made Rome spiritually stronger.

On the other hand, classical paganism had a strong tendency to syncretism. And while this could lead to a more tolerant attitude to foreign gods ("hey, they're just like us!"), it could also lead to an oddly colonialist attitude in which people would translate foreign gods that had the same or similar jobs to their own, erasing some real differences between them:

hence the Romans borrowed the Greek Pantheon but insisted that Ares is actually Mars, Zeus is actually Jupiter, Hera is actually Juno.

the Romans wouldn't stop saying that the Germans worshipped Jupiter (Odin) and Mars (Thor) and Venus (Freya).

the Greeks got into it too, with Herodotus constantly calling Thoth Hermes, and so forth.

On yet a third hand, the Romans could get extremely insistent that everyone in the Empire partake in religious rituals of the Imperial cult, which they saw as spiritually necessary for the prosperity and security of the Roman Empire - which frequently led to violent conflict with monotheistic cultures. Whether in the case of the Jewish-Roman Wars or the persecution of early Christians or the Manicheans in the eastern Empire, the Roman army could go from zero to cultural genocide very fast indeed.

[pancake-breakfast]

I'm a day behind because yesterday was more busy than anticipated, but one final recommendation for Trigun Fanfiction Appreciation Week (@trigunfanfic)!

And this last spot I'm giving to Evocatio by @deludedfantasy

Words: 5,029

Status: Complete

Rating: Teen

Relevant Tags/Warnings*: Vashwood, Vash the Stampede, Eriks Vash, Nicholas D. Wolfwood, Prayer, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Pining, Post-Canon (Stampede S1, ep 12)

Summary: A year after the destruction of July, Wolfwood returns to what's left of the city to pay his respects. He's never had much faith in a god, but there is one person he feels might be worth praying to....

Ok, ok, I'll get to the story in a minute, but first, I need to gush a bit about its author. Because without Dani, two of my fics wouldn't even exist. They're only here because of their request. Granted, the first one was for a gift exchange and so they didn't know the request was going to me specifically, but do you know how encouraging it is to have someone accidentally end up making a fanfic request of you and then purposely make another one?

I'm pretty sure they've read all of my meager offerings, and they comment on them and share them and seem to love them quite a bit. Most of the fanfic I write is for myself, but at this point, when I write Trigun fanfic, I think I might also be writing it for them. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU, Dani, for your constant encouragement and willingness to try and spark my creativity! No one is obligated to like or read every work by any author, but the fact that you give so much of my stuff a shot means the world to me. You make me wish I read more fanfic myself just so I could also be so encouraging.

Alright, on to the fic.

One of the more beautiful things I've found in the Trigun stories is how they provide space for their audience to work through religious trauma. I don't say that to imply that's what the author is doing with this fic, as that's beyond my scope of knowledge. Rather, I bring it up because our dear Wolfwood is working through his own share of religious trauma here, and the way he does it might provide some of that same space the original narrative does to its reader.

It's a beautiful story of a man's struggle for hope in a world where hoping often seems meaningless. Wolfwood wants so much to have a reason to hope... in the world, in others, and mostly in himself. He finds that hope in Vash, but what's he to do when Vash has gone silent? How is he supposed to keep the candle burning when the one who lit the flame is gone?

I could write a pretentious little essay chewing on this fic. Wait, no. I could write a pretentious long essay chewing on this fic. But I'll spare everyone that. Especially myself.

If you've struggled with holding onto the hope you feel you're supposed to have, or with the disconnect between what you've been told you need to be by authority figures and how you know you actually need to be, or with feeling like it's just you by yourself in a very dark world... maybe give this one a read. It may not solve your problems, but at the least, maybe it will make you feel not so alone.

Do it for Vash.

*We all know some AO3 tags are added for fun/shits and giggles/because how does one even tag, so I’m just listing some of the basic ones that might be of use to people when deciding whether or not this is for them.

[deludedfantasy]

Chapters: 1/1

Fandom: Trigun Stampede (Anime 2023), Trigun (Anime & Manga 1995-2008) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Vash the Stampede/Nicholas D. Wolfwood Characters: Vash the Stampede (Trigun), Nicholas D. Wolfwood Additional Tags: Prayer, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Post-Episode: e12 High Noon at July (Trigun Stampede), Angst, Hopeful Ending, Vash the Stampede as Eriks (Trigun), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Slash Summary:

How do you summon a ghost from the darkness? You pray to him.

A year later, Wolfwood returns to July searching for Vash. He prays. What he's not expecting is an answer.

Hello! On this final day of Tristamp Party, I bring to you Wolfwood praying to Vash in front of the crater of July because he wants him to come back (and a tiny bit of Eriks). Really not sure what possessed me with this one but I’m very happy about it. Please enjoy!!

@tristampparty