#he started the cult and it expanded that fast all in a day

[ghoultrifle]

Your post with Jimothy was just a little inspiring to me.

How do you feel about Phantom wetting himself on Rains lap while Rain is sat on the floor (below eyeline just felt more subtle than the couch or armchair) because Rain wont let him up during pack movie night? Stop wiggling will you? You don't want us to miss the good part do you? While Rain plays the good, helpful partner. Whispering in Phantoms ear to keep quiet as he feels it happen, then still not letting him up until the movie ends "so that the rest of the pack doesn't find out what he did and tease him or WORSE punish him for making a mess" (in quotes bc ofc they are in on the shenanigans as consent from all parties is always key)

HELLO ANON THIS IS THE BIGGEST BRAIN PROMPT AND IT WAS A PLEASURE TO WRITE!!!! (this is the post anon is talking about) Once again, it's a piss fic, read the prompt for the contents - don't like, don't read. I'd also like to point out that I have never seen Twilight so please ignore if any references sound out of touch, it's because they are ajghalhkdg. It slightly devolved into the entire pack getting in on the action because I couldn't resist!!

Read HERE on AO3 or below the cut!

After Twilight was rudely interrupted by Mountain and Cirrus’ fiendish games last week, the whole pack held a proper movie night to show the cult classic. Earlier in the day, however, Rain had accidentally spilled his iced coffee all over one of the common room’s beanbags, leaving only enough room for eight of the nine ghouls to sit. 

Cirrus immediately made her way to the remaining beanbag, popcorn in hand, ready to subject the others to the film. Next to her, Aurora was already fast asleep in the other beanbag, she’d been curled up all afternoon. Cumulus was wedged between the resident big boys, Mount and Aether, already making biscuits on Mountain’s thigh as she settled in for the night.

Swiss and Dew were left to find their seats, Rain having sent them out of the kitchen with drinks and snacks for everyone, keeping Phantom behind. Dewdrop ran at the remaining sofa, launching himself onto it, no doubt breaking something in the process. Swiss followed, placing the food on the table before laying his head in Dew’s lap, staring at the screensaver on the TV.

Everyone was right where Rain wanted them. Including Phantom, who was bitterly arguing with the water ghoul about who gets the last seat on the sofa next to Swiss and Dewdrop.

“Alright Bug, calm your tits. How about we both sit on the floor, hmm?” Rain enquired, praying to Satan below his careful planning would pay off, “I’ll even let you sit on my lap and I can braid your hair.”

“Mmm okay but I call dibs on the beanbag next time!” Phantom pouted, resigning himself to Rain’s lap, sat on the floor in front of Swiss and Dew. 

The water ghoul was sat cross-legged, the space between his thighs a welcoming nook for Phantom to nuzzle into, resting his head on the bend of Rain’s neck. It’s as if they were made for each other, an enzyme and substrate locked together for eternity.

Rain offered a blanket to the younger ghoul, knowing his own tendency to run cold. Phantom happily declined, his brand new bat ‘oodie’ covering most of him, and a large pair of fluffy socks keeping the rest of him warm.

An absorbent choice of clothes, Rain thought to himself, pleased the young ghoul had picked the oodie up on the way to the den.

Cirrus happily clicked play on the remote as the film started. The lights were out, only the glow from the TV and Phantom’s bat-themed fairy lights illuminating the den. Rain had his arms around the quintessence ghoul, embracing him in a warm hug, well warm for a water ghoul.

That afternoon, Phantom had been out in the greenhouse, helping Mountain move the delivery of new pots for the earth ghoul’s ever-expanding collection. It was hard work, Mountain ensured Phantom wasn’t getting dehydrated as he knew the young ghoul found it hard to listen to his body (and he’d be lying if it didn’t make him think back to their quiz night, Phantom drenching Cirrus as he writhed in her lap).

But Phantom didn’t use the bathroom once. In fact he seemed quite content labouring away without a care for his bladder. Mountain certainly took note, a new summon like Phantom couldn’t hold his bladder for more than a few hours, let alone when he was pounding back drinks at the rate Mountain had been offering them.

What the earth ghoul was unaware of was Rain. Rain who suggested Mountain take the young ghoul outside for some good old fashioned manual labour. Rain who sat at the dockside watching the quintessence ghoul all afternoon. Rain who kept Phantom’s bladder from sending any signals to that poor brain of his. Rain who dragged the ghouls back inside for movie night, handing them a clean set of clothes as he led them directly to the common room, “It’s starting now, guys, Cirrus would be really disappointed if you missed the actual showing of Twilight!” And Rain who, midway through the film, let down the barriers between Phantom’s brain and bladder.

Shit, Phantom thought, a sudden, intense pang twitching in his lower belly, What the fuck? He looked behind him, only to be met with a set of cerulean eyes already staring back at him. Looking down, Rain’s fangs were poking out, a smirk adorning his face. Still unsure of exactly the game Rain was playing, the quintessence ghoul went to stand and make his way to the bathroom. The water ghoul clamped his hands down on Phantom’s twig-like arms, it was no trouble to keep the smaller ghoul from moving, he could do it in his sleep.

“Colour, baby bat?” he whispered sweetly, as if he wasn’t suggesting Phantom piss himself in front of the pack.

Phantom hesitated. He knew Rain would release him if he just said the word, but part of him loved being forced into these situations, forced to go through the humiliation of getting himself, and others, soaked.

“G-green,” he choked out, trying to be discreet about both his words and the growing desperation. He thought the initial twinge was bad, but Rain seemed to be letting the need grow with every second.

“Good boy, now stay right here, I’ll be the judge of when you can leave, okay?”

Rain phrased it as a question, however they both knew it was anything but. The only way Phantom was getting out of this dry was by calling the scene, and that was exactly how he liked it.

Phantom was now cursing his past self for not taking the blanket, his bladder on the verge of leaking as he writhed under Rain’s vice grip; both ghouls’ hands now in the main compartment of the jumper. Phantom had removed his hands from the arms of the oodie to subtly clench his dick. Rain’s deft fingers, on the other hand, snuck their way under the woolly fabric to still the squirming ghoul’s arms more firmly.

“Stop wiggling will you?” Rain whispered into Phantom’s ears, barely audible over the swell of the film’s music. Unlike the swell of the quintessence ghoul’s bladder, the slosh of the day’s drinks audible as if it had been injected directly into his eardrums. 

Damn water ghoul magick, he thought.

He wondered if the others could hear it or if Rain had spared him the humiliation of letting the pack in on his desperation.

He wasn’t sure which option he would prefer, both ideas leaving his cock twitching for different reasons. Had the pack been unaware, it would have been him and Rain’s dirty little secret, something shared between them, a sinful pleasure. Had the pack been in on it, part of Rain’s master plan, he would revel in the knowledge that their eyes are on him, it’s not all in his mind; they’d watch him let go as Rain hushed him to be quiet under the guise of secrecy.

Rain, the ever helpful partner, offered Phantom a drink, “Wouldn’t want you to get dehydrated, baby, you’ve been working outside all day.”

The smaller ghoul grimaced as he took a sip from the shark-adorned straw, not wanting to alert the others to his somewhat distressed state. There was no doubt that refusing a drink from Rain would prick ears and invite watching eyes. The other ghouls had all fallen victim to Rain at one point or another, Phantom included.

His efforts were futile as Rain held the tumbler to his mouth for far longer than expected, forcing Phantom to continue gulping the water. He wasn’t sure he could physically hold any more liquid in that slight body of his. Dew and Swiss exchanged a knowing look, Rain having made the pack well aware of his intentions for tonight. 

With each gulp, the quintessence ghoul’s bladder longed for release, and his brain became fuzzier, a haze pulling over him. His belly was throbbing, an unhelpful, nimble hand massaging his abdomen. Cuddles, the water ghoul would claim if questioned. Not that anyone would, the pack were under strict instruction not to let on, and Phantom was flushing a deep purple at the idea of being found out.

Quintessence ghouls had an odd connection with the colour purple. When a ghoul turned that hue, it was indistinct, it could be any number of emotions; excitement, shyness, embarrassment, or unfortunately for Phantom, turned on. The young ghoul prayed the room wasn’t too dim for his glowing veins to be displayed. Even if it was, the distinct smell of ozone wafting around the room was all the pack needed to know exactly what was happening between the two ghouls.

In the interest of dragging the scene out, Rain removed his teasing hands and began to softly braid Phantom’s hair, gently raking his nails along the ghoul’s scalp as he whispered into his ear.

You don’t want us to miss the good part do you?

Such a good boy holding it in for me.

Gonna feel so good when you leak, getting the both of us all wet in front of the others.

Phantom shivered as he let out a barely audible whine accompanied with a plea, “Rainy, please, needa go!” He was rocking slightly now, thighs clenching in time with his movements, Rain struggling to keep a hold on his hair. It was a lost cause, the water ghoul decided, snaking his hands back under the oodie to still his desperate, whimpering ghoul.

At the sensation of Rain’s cold fingers resting just above his neatly trimmed curls, the quintessence ghoul could also feel another odd prodding sensation. Of course he’s getting off on this, Phantom thought as he ground discreetly against the water ghoul’s filled out cock; he was nothing if not passionate about pleasing his partners. At least Rain’s dick was leaking from arousal and not about to burst from the insistent pressure barraging his bladder.

Phantom would be lying if he said his cock wasn’t attempting to get hard, the incoming tsunami hampering its efforts. He got off on the humiliation of it all, the shame of wetting himself, losing- nay giving control to Rain, and oh the feeling of drenching himself in his own piss. The way it floods, saturating clothes as the stream hits too fast for the fibres to absorb it. The warmth, like basking in the heat of a thousand suns, slowly running down your legs, dripping beneath like sand from an hourglass of passion.

Phantom’s eyes rolled back both in desperation and in the heat of his own thoughts. He was close now, a weak dam holding back the torrent, due to collapse any minute. It was obvious even to a passer-by that the quintessence ghoul was aching for release of every kind. Small breathy moans, supposedly muffled by the soundtrack, eyes screwed shut, tail quietly thumping on the rug, and hands conspicuously hidden beneath his clothing, no doubt grabbing his dick like the end of a hose, letting the pressure build before spraying.

He could feel his body giving in, it feld like he’d been holding on for hours at the brink of spilling. He felt the stream making its way from his belly to his dick, leaking just a few drops. He whined, louder now, with abandon. Rain’s probing fingers froze, before settling over the ever-growing damp spot on Phantom’s sage green boxer briefs.

Quiet, my darling, we can’t have the pack finding out what a dirty boy you are…

Shh baby, you’re such a naughty little boy, you’ll let the whole ministry know you’re wetting yourself at this rate!

Phantom quiets down, a low purr in his chest, only for Rain’s ears. It was the water ghoul’s turn to breathe out a cut off whine, almost forgetting the game he was playing with the younger ghoul.

Phantom sat there, placed helplessly in Rain’s lap as he drenched the both of them in his piss, torrent in full flow now. His oodie sagging as the stream continued, warm humiliation coursing over him and through his veins. His boxers now a dark shade of the once autumnal colour, the overflow seeping slowly through his layers and onto Rain.

The water ghoul was rock hard, revelling in the way Phantom was leaking all over the two of them. The warmth flooded around his dick first, making it kick in interest, a small bead of pre soaking into his already wet underwear. His jeans were no match for a day’s worth of quintessence ghoul piss, quickly soaking through the layers, engulfing Rain’s ass and upper thighs in the hot liquid. He could feel it dribbling beneath him and onto the rug beneath, a pretty pattern forming in the tufts of the fabric, no doubt.

The flood came to an abrupt stop, Phantom sighing in relief, unsure how he held it for that long. Perhaps Rain helped a little, his magick was always subtle - you’d only ever notice it in hindsight, that’s what made it even hotter. Either way the shame hit Phantom like a truck, there was no way the pack didn’t see his spectacle. No way they didn’t hear the hiss as he relieved himself, fully clothed, in the common room, ruining Cirrus’ movie night.

They both sat there, unmoving for what felt like hours. Rain finally piped up, “Such a good boy for me, ah feel so wet, my perfect little piss boy,” he mouthed at Phantom’s neck.

Phantom took that as the end of the scene, Rain was done with him. He went to excuse himself, to clean up the mess he’d created at the hands of the water ghoul. It was embarrassing, sure, but it would be far more humiliating if the pack noticed when the lights came up and they all filtered out the common room, eyes not even needing to strain to see the puddle on the sky blue rug.

“Oh no, bug, you’re not going anywhere,” Rain whispered into his ear, faux concern in his voice, “they’ll see the way your clothes sag and drip all over the floor, a little trail of shame. You wouldn’t want them to find out, would you? To see your little accident? To see you can’t even hold it in during a film? How embarrassing,” he tutted. Phantom only winced in reply.

“Or worse, Ant, they might punish you for making such a mess of Cumulus’ new rug. I’m sure Swiss is vying for a chance to get you over his knees, all soggy and dripping, to show you what happens to naughty boys who break the rules.”

The cock beneath Rain’s sodden fingers gave an undeniable twitch at the comments, interest piqued at the idea of being found out; Rain knew the younger ghoul loved public play. 

Two long fingers found themselves tracing a slick line from where the piss had pooled in the bottom of Phantom’s underwear, grazing over his taint, gently teasing his balls, before drawing up over the length of his cock, at full attention now.

“Colour?” he asked almost silently, still keeping the guise of stealth.

“As green as the mountains, Rainy, fuck, please, so hard” he whined softly back, craning his head to keep their conversation somewhat private.

Rain chuckled as he began to stroke Phantom through the fabric, gliding smoothly over his dick, a mix of piss and pre lubricating the underwear. The quintessence ghoul threw his head back into the crook of Rain’s neck, his nerves were on fire, and if he wasn’t glowing purple before, he definitely was now. All he could hope was that the pack were too engrossed in the movie to notice.

The squelch of the movements was barely audible but it was crystal clear to Phantom, music to his ears. The product of his shameful accident being used to get him off? He nearly came at the sound alone. Phantom bucked his hips into Rain’s gentle touch, not quite enough to send him over the edge. 

“You either keep still or I stop touching you, baby boy,” Rain demanded, maintaining the pack are still unaware, despite the very obvious handjob he’s giving the whining ghoul on his lap. Rain would never admit it, but he was teetering on the edge with the heady combination of Phantom’s unintentional grinding and the gloriously wet puddle he was sitting in; he was going to blow his load right into the mix with Phantom’s piss if the younger ghoul didn’t stop.

Hips stilled and whines were cut off at the water ghoul’s insistent voice. Rain’s hand gave no reprieve, however, reaching below the damp material to grasp Phantom’s slick cock and start stroking him in earnest, smirking as the quintessence ghoul desperately tried to keep a straight face, fangs piercing his lips ever so slightly, purple blood aglow at the surface.

He tried to pay attention to the film, for the first time since Edward brought Bella to the Cullen home. Although, he doesn’t remember Twilight looking like this… there was a laugh track, and completely new characters, and-

“Oh- fuck, Rain, shit, ah, don’t stop!”

Rain leaned in to give a playful bite at Phantom’s neck, as he sent him over the edge, despite his confusion about the film. The quintessence ghoul hissed as Rain’s hand sped up, stroking him through his explosive release, cum further ruining the oodie and spurting onto his happy trail.

Once the water ghoul was sure Phantom’s dick was spent, milked dry, he released his hand, wiping it on a somewhat-dry part of Phantom’s clothing. Mourning the loss of contact, Phantom came to his senses, looking back up at the TV. It definitely wasn’t Twilight, perhaps it was that friends show Aurora kept talking about. Had he really been on the edge for so long that the film finished? Looking around, nobody was watching it. Every single pair of eyes was looking squarely at Phantom, hungry.

Looking up at the sofa behind him, Dew and Swiss grinned in unison.

“Heard you wanted to see what happened to naughty boys that broke the rules,” Dew growled, the scent of burnt wood and cinnamon assaulting the quintessence ghoul’s nose.

Phantom gulped as the whole pack stood up, Swiss offering his hand to the small ghoul. Phantom squelched as he rose, only briefly getting the chance to appreciate the mess he made of Rain’s lap before he was being dragged out of the common room.

Swiss didn’t stop until the quintessence ghoul was laid, in all his soggy glory, on the dining room table, the rest of the pack eagerly perching on the wooden chairs beneath.

“Are you going to be a good boy this time?”

[bigjimbopickens]

This is now the most legendary photo of my Werewolf Jim fursuit. This is where I peak with this thing.

Featuring my mom’s boss (left), who’s place we were staying at.

What’s going on? Well, the past few days have been very crazy. (I cannot shorten this I’m sorry there’s a lot I need to tell)

Basically, Thursday morning a fire started rapidly expanding towards my homecity and on Friday I was evacuated when the wind changed direction and started bringing the fire towards my home. We went to a family friend’s place at the southern edge of the city.

We weren’t the only family staying at that place and there were a few small kids who were rightfully scared. My mom suggested I wear one of my fursuits to try to cheer them up a bit and WereJim was the only one I had on me. The rest were in boxes in a truck. I had him on me as before we were evacuated I was preparing for the (now cancelled) convention in Kelowna. So I put him on and the kids loved him. Eventually I joined the adults on the porch watching the fire get closer with him on and I said “Y’all should take a photo with the fire in the background” and my mom did. I never want to have an opportunity for a photo like that again so might as well do it then.

This story has a happy ending tho, the evacuation order was rescinded Saturday morning and I was able to go home. My home was still there. The fire went down the mountain towards it but crews made a firebreak above our neighbourhood that saved it. I’m so incredibly grateful.

Before leaving I did also save my cult wall, well, the portraits at least.

But the destruction the fire caused here has been absolutely devastating. It all happened so fast and I need some time to mentally recover from it all. Wildfires are one of my biggest fears and I came close to becoming homeless because of one. During this terrifying time, me and everyone else in that house found a bit of joy from a furry version of Jim Pickens.

Pretty unusual for Jim to do that. Usually he’s the one starting the fire and making everyone miserable. Or he eats all your furniture.

Anyways, thank you for reading if you got this far. I am safe, so don’t worry about me. Once I recover I’m back to work on a very awesome project y’all are gonna love :)

[dire-kumori]

Ever After - Director’s Commentary

Evan muted the phone with a weary sigh.

“Nope, not doing this tonight.” The chair groaned as he leaned back, eyes slipping shut. “My therapist already has enough to deal with.”

He didn’t have a therapist, but Evan was seriously starting to consider getting one. That was a thought for another day.

Get one.

Hello and welcome to the director’s commentary of chapter three of Ever After! Here you get to see my (limited) thought process as I was writing this chapter. Honestly though, this was one of my favorite scenes to write and I was very much pleased with the reactions I got when I published it.

Seriously Ev, get therapy. It’s a lot healthier than this.

Running his fingers through his auburn locks, Evan weighed his options. He couldn’t leave empty handed. And he was fairly certain that he’d found all there was to the maintenance room. There was always the possibility that the blueprints weren’t the real thing.

But to find out…

Evan chewed his lower lip.

He’d have to examine the animatronics up close.

He would rather set himself on fire.

You see why this line is funny, right? No? Well, I thought it was funny when I typed it.

But he had a promise to keep, so he reluctantly peeled himself from his chair, removed his headphones from where they rested around his neck and unclipped the Walkman from his belt. He set both on the desk and reached for his torch, doing his best to ignore the way his heart was already beginning to race.

Halfway down the hall he heard the squeal of the tape being wound fast, barely audible over the fan’s ever present hum.

‘Stay with me, stay with me. For tonight you'd better stay with me.’

He ignored the raspy singing, even when the volume rose as high as it could, loud enough for the guitar riffs to be heard clearly at the end of the hall.

‘Stay with me, stay with me. For tonight, you’d better-’

My first thought when including the Walkman in the story was as a reference to the time period. I decided to make it an emotional link between Michael and Evan actually when I decided that it would be how Michael most easily communicated with Evan through the five nights.

Actually, writing this fic has expanded my taste in music a bit. I spent a bit of time searching for songs that would be appropriate timeline-wise and also could easily communicate what Michael wanted to say in specific moments. In this case, ‘don’t leave the office.’ You can probably tell, but I’m especially fond of Blue Öyster Cult.

Evan tuned it out. Forced his legs to keep moving, in spite of the tremor working its way up to his knees, threatening to send him toppling over at any moment. He quickened his pace in hopes it would keep him upright just a bit longer.

Out of the corner of his eye, Foxy’s curtain slowly began to slide open.

The three main animatronics’ eyes seemed to gleam in the dark.

It was just the reflection of the torch beam, he told himself.

No it’s not.

Nothing attacked him as he crossed the room. He could feel his heart beating so frantically he was half-surprised it didn’t shatter his rib cage as he hoisted himself up onto the stage, coming to stand before Freddy. The animatronics were much smaller than he remembered from his childhood, but still managed to tower over him, soulless mechanical eyes staring straight over his head and maws full of gnashing teeth and mechanical crossbeams hanging open. Oil or grease, something dark and slick, dripped from Freddy’s teeth. Its pungent smell flooded Evan’s nostrils.

Evan swallowed down the lump in his throat. Suddenly, he felt sick.

With trembling fingers he reached for Freddy’s bow tie…

Honestly, I think Evan’s most defining trait is his courage. Yes, he’s timid and scares easily, but that doesn’t stop him as a small child from facing down horrors the likes of which would have most adults pissing themselves in fear. It probably would have been easier to curl up under the bed and hide. Who knows if it would have worked, but it would have been easier than guarding against them all night until the sunrise.

It was easy for me to picture him doing something this reckless, so long as he had (what he considered) a good reason for it. He’s rather lucky that time is on his side, so to speak.

Freddy’s eyes snapped to him.

What a shock!

Evan shrieked. He threw himself back from the animatronic, but Freddy’s giant paw closed around his wrist in a vice grip and wrenched him up into the air.

“Jesus Christ, what the fuck, what the fuck what the fuck-”

Language, Ev. Some of the phrases I have him use - ‘Jesus fuck on a stick’ or ‘Jesus Christmas’ are things I say in real life.

The torch fell from his grasp, light dying as it fell to the stage and then rolled off somewhere into the shadows. He flailed, kicked in the air, clawed at the oversized paw that engulfed his hand. All of it useless. Chica and Bonnie stepped forward, unmoving mechanical faces somehow managing to radiate sadistic glee at his helplessness. After letting him struggle for a few moments Chica seized his other arm, threatening to snap bone as though he were made of twigs. Bonnie seized his ankles, heedless of his thrashing. He was trapped, each limb held in an unrelenting mechanical grip. And then they began to move.

“No no, please! I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to hurt you I swear, oh god, what are you going to do to me, no no nO NO NO pleasedon’tkillmeIcan’tdieyetIpromisedhim-”

Someone told me that this scene reminded them of the FNAF 4 Minigame where Michael and his friends dragged Evan up onto the stage and, honestly, that’s exactly what I was going for.

Interesting that Evan immediately believes the animatronics can be reasoned with. Since he hasn’t had the same warnings Mike did in the original timeline, he doesn’t have the same assumptions for why the animatronics do what they do. Writing this made me wonder about how Phone Guy came to the conclusions he did - if he came up with them on his own or that’s what he was told - or how he figured out what the animatronics would do if they caught him.

The robots ignored his broken sobs. Foxy had climbed down from its stage, watching with those golden eyes as Evan was dragged screaming into the maintenance room.

The door slammed with the finality of a coffin lid.

I was kinda proud of that line when I wrote it, but now I’m worried it sounds a little corny. I tend not to do so well with metaphors and similes - to me, they always seem to come out purple-prosey - so I tend to stick with more tangible, concrete descriptions of scenes and events as I picture them happening. I do like the coffin lid comparison though, I just wonder if I could have written it better somehow.

In the first draft I actually ended the scene with Evan ‘waking up’ in the office. When I decided to cut that line I also decided that each chapter would be contained to its own 24-hour period within the same loop (excepting the Day chapters in 1981, which sometimes are continuations of the same 24-hour period). That also influenced my decision in chapter five to have Evan sneak into Michael’s room exactly after midnight. In-universe, it was to make sure enough time had passed that everyone would be sound asleep. Out, it was because I wouldn’t allow myself to write a continuous scene that crossed from 11:59:59 of one day to 12:00:00 of the next. This is also the point where I actually wrote up my first outline, although I’ve deviated from it a bit since then.

Read the full fic here!

[nwodsecondchances2e]

Stigmatic Herald (Demon-Beast Crossover)

Andrew Miller has seen a lot of shit after over three decades of life as a stigmatic. He’s met most of the other things lurking in London’s shadows, been a part of nearly a dozen cults, murdered Unchained, fought alongside Agencies he’d previously tried to kill and made a name for himself among mortal occultists who have no idea what else is out there. He has one unshakable belief that guides everything he does: the conviction that the God-Machine is broken.

Andrew’s first encounter with the supernatural had actually been with the Begotten, although exposure to the God-Machine’s gears is what ensured his life would never be normal. As far as Andrew figures, there isn’t a good reason for demons and angels to be so antithetical to Beasts. They are both occult forces, and while grounded in different principles, Andrew ultimately believes in a unified reality. His hypothesis is that the God-Machine is out of sync with the rest of the occult universe, which is why Beasts react poorly to it and is the cause for its seemingly contradictory directives. It has taken years of preparation, but he feels he is finally in a position to do something about it. 

Andrew wormed his way into the good graces of Ida Max, an Inguma Tyrant whose Horror reflected the fear of impossibly human-like machines. Andrew pushed Ida towards expanding her Lair and Legend in ways reflecting technology and machinery. While Ida couldn't develop Family Ties with the Unchained or the God-Machine’s angels, Andrew helped her forge bonds with other stigmatics, psychics, and stranger beings touched by the God-Machine. When Ida created her cult, Andrew became her Herald and began executing his plan. While Ida is more physically powerful than Andrew, he knows how to run a cult while making her feel like she is in control. 

Now, Andrew is in the final phases of his plan. He’s started pushing Ida towards Inheritance, and while he’d prefer she become an Incarnate, an Unfettered or Rampart would also serve his purposes. As much as Andrew genuinely appreciates Ida, she has always been a means to an end for him. If he must sacrifice her to heal God, so be it. 

If Andrew could still pass as an ordinary human, he’d look plain. Messy black hair, a body that’s gone slightly to seed, and a face that refuses to stand out all help blend in with a crowd. They also disguise his powerful, magnetic personality. When Andrew talks, he makes you believe whatever he is saying, regardless of how far-fetched it sounds. Between his stigmata and Ida’s influence over her Herald, Andrew lands solidly within the uncanny valley these days. His skin is slightly matte and rubbery, giving those who look at it the impression it is synthetic rather than organic. The veins under his skin are silvery rather than blue, appearing far more like circuitry than a circulatory system. His voice is distorted and synthetic like it is coming through a bad radio or an autotuner that’s gone too far. 

Legend: Relentless Life: Selfless Aspirations: Recruit new cultists, Convince Ida to undergo Inheritance, Fix the God-Machine Attributes: Intelligence 4, Wits 3, Resolve 3; Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2; Presence 4, Manipulation 5, Composure 2 Skills: Academics 1 (Religion), Computers 4, Crafts 4, Occult 3 (Cults), Politics 2, Science 2; Drive 2, Firearms 2, Larceny 1; Empathy 3 (Emotional Weaknesses), Intimidation 1, Persuasion 4, Socialize 2, Streetwise 2, Subterfuge 5  Merits: Anonymity 1, Aura Reading, Eidetic Memory (Advanced), Fast Reflexes 3 (Advanced), Omen Sensitivity, Unseen Sense (God-Machine), Unseen Sense (Primordial Dream) Health: 7 Willpower: 5 Integrity: 4 Size: 5 Speed: 9 Defence: 2 Initiative: +7 (include Fast Reflexes)

[profanepurity]

Im interest in your Cult AU but I'm lost? Can you explain me, pliz?

You are most likely not the only one, so I’m using this ask as an explanation post! Hope you don’t mind lol!

I’m going to try and not ramble on and make this post miles long, but bare with me!

So, I guess I should start by saying that the Cult AU is technically an umbrella term for several little aus that I have that exist at the same time as each other. The first being the “crossover AU”, which is the events of the The Walten Files, FNAF, and eventually Harmony and Horror (possible Mandela Catalogue but I don’t want to force that into the writing and make this a “multiverse” because that’s just too much. So I’d need to sit with it for longer as a concept) happening at the same time and overlapping. William and Henry were familiar business partners with Jack and Felix. They wanted to do a lot of marketing and co- performances with Bon’s and FredBear’s. They may or may not help cover up each other’s murderers Their kids are all friends with each other! While Jack and Felix didn’t really want to get too involved, William was also entertaining the idea of a toy line for marketing Fredbears characters with Martin Greywhinder’s toy company. Without going to much into that (since I’m saving a lot of that content for the comics), there’s the cross over AU.

The second AU would be the “Evan is Gregory AU” I guess. I have an explanation for this one here if you want to read up on that!

And now finally we have the “Cult of Malhare AU”. So, I’m sure the fandom is familiar with the Vanny/ Reluctant follower concept with glitchtrap. Though, in this AU she is anything BUT reluctant. But I wanted to expand on that and make it feel a bit more “culty”, and bring in some more familiar faces. William was experimenting with remnant way back in college when he initially met Henry. Once they started getting closer Will shared his research with Henry and got him in on it. Later on when Will married Clara she learned about it by accident when she found some stuff she was not suppose to see in his office. While neither Henry nor Clara participated in the murders, they helped Will hide them, and Clara acted as an accomplice multiple times. It’s important to note also that back in the day, Jeremy, Fritz, and Sammy (yes Sammy from the books, he’s alive and older than Charlie here) were Michael’s 3 other friends in ‘83. Remember that for later. You fast forward a little bit to Henry and William having their super dramatic and messy break up with the business and Henry opening up his own diner with the Toy animatronics, where he hires Jeremy and Fritz as night guards. Henry knew Jeremy and Fritz were still friends with Michael in college and trusted them. After days of stalking, multiple break in attempts into the diner as scare tactics, and patience, William murders both Jeremy and Fritz and collected their remnant. This attracts the attention of young, private detective Sammy Emily, who wants to help his dad put William in prison and get revenge for Charlie’s death. How Sammy dies and has his remnant collected by William, that’s for a future comic 👀 After William dies, Jeremy and Fritz’s spirits are trapped with Will up until he makes contact with Vanessa and glitchtrap is able to form. Jeremy and Fritz are now able to materialize as well. Jeremy presents himself as living to Vanessa as a beta tester to help lure her closer and closer to Glitchtrap, and she only learns about Jeremy being dead this whole time when he finally allows her to see his “true” state. I.e. when Vanessa thinks Jeremy spilled ink on himself wearing a Halloween mask in the VR tapes. Vanessa has always been hiding some “dark secrets” and now with the exposure to the cult, and after a series of trials, she commits herself happily to Malhare. At this point, William has created a massive virtual space to keep his followers, including Henry and Clara, who’s souls he’s trapped in his own personal digital hell with him. Now skipping to the present, Michael and Charlie are back having survived the fire and having been in hiding, only coming to the plex when Charlie felt compelled to by the other spirits. They try to help Gregory and eventually the spirits of Evan and Elizabeth, but as they spend more time in the plex though, the old animatronics begin to come back as well. This includes Cassidy and some of the others, wanting to make sure William stays in his VR purgatory, but the Funtime animatronics have been rematerialized by Malhare, and they are fully invested in their creator’s daughter as they are given a second life and chance to do Afton’s bidding. Michael is also being haunted by Jeremy, Fritz, and Sammy as they try to get him, Gregory/ Evan, Elizabeth, and Charlie to join the cult and reunite with their family.

I have a reference post here for the “Malhare follower’s faces and masks, but they correlate with the masks that the boys wore in ‘83.

I’m still working out a real title for this mess of a series, but I’m running with the Cult Au for now, since they all sort of end up together again even after death with the Waltens, since Michael and Sophie are “really close friends” and inevitably make their families run into each other again.

Ok, I hope this helps! Please feel free to keep asking questions, it honestly helps me solidify concepts. And of course, let me know what you guys think!

[writemarcus]

HITTING NEW HEIGHTS

BY MARCUS SCOTT

ORIGINAL RENT STAR DAPHNE RUBIN-VEGA TAKES YOU INSIDE THE IN THE HEIGHTS FILM

Qué quiere decir sueñito?” The disembodied voice of a girlchild ponders. “It means ‘little dream,’” responds an unseen authoritative figure, his feathery tenor with a soft rasp and tender lilt implying there’s more to the story.

Teal waves crash against the white sand coastal lines of the Dominican Republic and a quartet of children plead with the voice to illuminate and tell a story. Usnavi de la Vega (played by Anthony Ramos), sporting his signature newsboy flat cap and full goatee, begins to narrate and weave a tall-tale from the comforts of his beachside food cart: “This is the story of a block that was disappearing. Once upon a time in a faraway land called Nueva York, en barrio called Washington Heights. Say it, so it doesn’t disappear,” he decrees.

And we’re off, this distant magic kingdom ensnared within the winding urban sprawl of farthest-uptown Manhattan, the music of the neighborhood chiming with infinite possibilities: a door-latch fastening on tempo, a ring of keys sprinkling a sweet embellishment, the splish-splash of a garden hose licking the city streets like a drumstick to a snare fill, a manhole cover rotating like vinyl on a get-down turntable, the hiss of paint cans spraying graffiti like venoms from cobras and roll-up steel doors rumbling, not unlike the ultra-fast subway cars zigzagging underground. So begins the opening moments of In the Heights, the Warner Bros. stage-to-screen adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical by composer-lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton) and librettist Quiara Alegría Hudes (Water by the Spoonful) that is set to premiere in movie theatres and on HBO Max on June 11, 2021.

This stunning patchwork of visuals and reverberations combine to create a defiant and instantly memorable collage of inner-city living not seen since Walter Hill’s 1979 cult classic The Warriors or West Side Story, the iconic romantic musical tragedy directed on film by Robert Wise and original Broadway director Jerome Robbins. With Jon M. Chu at the helm, the musical feature has all the trademarks of the director’s opulent signature style: Striking spectacles full of stark colors, va-va-voom visuals, ooh-la-la hyperkinetic showstopping sequences and out-of-this-world destination locations.

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A Kind of Priestess

Joining the fray of proscenium stage vets in the film is Broadway star Daphne Rubin-Vega, who originated the role of Mimi in the Off-Broadway and Broadway original productions of Rent. She returns to major motion pictures after a decade since her last outing in Nancy Savoca’s Union Square, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011. When we caught up with Rubin-Vega, she was hard at work, in-between rehearsals with her In the Heights co-star Jimmy Smits on Two Sisters and a Piano, the 1999 play by Miami-based playwright Nilo Cruz, a frequent collaborator. Rubin-Vega netted a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as the enraptured Conchita in Cruz’s Anna in the Tropics; that same year Cruz was awarded the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, making him the first Latino playwright to receive the honor. Despite significant global, social and economic disruption, especially within the arts community, Rubin-Vega has been working throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

“People around me have [contracted] COVID… My father-in-law just had it. I’m very fortunate,” Rubin-Vega said. “This collective experience, it’s funny because it’s a year now and things seem better. Last year it was, like, ‘Damn, how inconvenient!’ The one comfort was that, you know, it’s happening to every one of us. That clarity that this is a collective experience is much more humbling and tolerable to me.”

The last time Rubin-Vega graced Washington Heights on screen or stage, she acted in the interest of survival and hunger as a probationer released after a 13-year stint in prison and given a new lease on life as an unlicensed amateur masseuse in the basement of an empanada shop in Empanada Loca, The Spalding Gray-style Grand Guignol horror play by Aaron Mark at the LAByrinth Theater Company in 2015. In In the Heights she plays Daniela, an outrageously vivacious belting beautician with a flair for the dramatics, forced to battle a price-gouging real estate bubble in the wake of gentrification.

“She’s like the deputy or the priestess,” Rubin-Vega said. “Owning a salon means that you have a lot of information; you’re in a hub of community, of information, of sharing… it’s also where you go for physical grooming. It’s a place where women were empowered to create their own work and it is a place of closeness, spiritual advice, not-so-spiritual advice. Physical attention.”

She said, “Daniela also being an elder; I think she’s not so much a person that imposes order on other people. She’s there to bring out the best—she leads with love. She tells it like it is. I don’t think she sugar-coats things. What you see is what you get with Daniela. It’s refreshing; she has a candor and sure-footedness that I admire.”

With the film adaptation, Chu and Hudes promised to expand the universe of the Upper Manhattan-based musical, crafting new dimensions and nuances to two characters in particular: Daniela and hairdresser Carla, originally portrayed as business associates and gossip buddies in the stage musical. On the big screen they are reimagined as romantic life partners. Stephanie Beatriz, known to audiences for her hilarious turn as the mysterious and aloof Detective Rosa Diaz in the police procedural sitcom romp “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” co-stars as the fast-talking firecracker, Carla.

It’s been a year waiting, you know. It’s like the lid’s been on it and so we’re just so ready to explode.

Where Is Home?

“Well, Quiara and Jon really expanded on what Lin and Quiara originally created and now they’re partners—and not just work partners, right? But they’re life partners,” Beatriz said at a March press event celebrating the release of the film’s two promo trailers. “What was so gratifying to me as a person who is queer is to see this relationship in the film be part of the fabric of the community, and to be normal, and be happy and functioning, and part of the quilt they’ve all created.”

She continued, “So much of this film is about where home is and who home is to you. And for Carla, Daniela is home. Wherever Daniela is, that’s where Carla feels at home. I thought that they did such a beautiful job of guiding us to this, really, you know, it’s just a happy functioning relationship that happens to be gay and in the movie. And I love that they did that, because it is such a part of our world.”

Rubin-Vega said she had no interest in playing any trope of what one might think a lesbian Latina might look or act like, noting that the queer experience isn’t monolithic, while expressing that the role offered her a newfound freedom, especially with regard to being present in the role and in her everyday life.

“Spoiler alert! I felt like not wearing a bra was going to free me. Did I get it right? Am I saying that gay women don’t wear bras? No, it was just a way for me to be in my body and feel my breasts. To feel my femaleness and celebrate it in a more unapologetic way,” she said, laughing. “To be honest, I was really looking forward to playing a lesbian Latina. It’s something that I hadn’t really explored before. Latinos [can be] very homophobic as a culture, and I wanted to play someone who didn’t care about homophobia; I was gonna live my best life. That’s a bigger thing. It’s also like, maybe I’m bisexual. Who knows? Who cares? If you see that in the film, that’s cool too, you know?”

Stand-out performances abound, especially with regard to the supporting cast; newcomers Melissa Barrera (in a role originated by Tony Award winner Karen Olivo) and Gregory Diaz IV (replacing three-time Tony Award nominee Robin de Jesús) are noteworthy as the aspiring fashion designer Vanessa and budding activist Sonny. Olga Merediz, who earned a Tony Award nomination for originating her role as Abuela Claudia, returns to the silver screen in a captivating performance that will be a contender come award season. However, Rubin-Vega may just be the one to watch. Her performance is incandescent and full of moxie, designed to raise endorphin levels. She leads an ensemble in the rousing “Carnaval del Barrio,” a highlight in the film.

Musical Bootcamp

“We shot in June [2019]. In April, we started musical bootcamp. In May, we started to do the choreography. My big joke was that I would have to get a knee replacement in December; that was in direct relation to all that choreography. I mean, there were hundreds of A-1 dancers in the posse,” Rubin-Vega said. “The family consisted of hundreds of superlative dancers led by Chris[topher] Scott, with an amazing team of dancers like Ebony Williams, Emilio Dosal, Dana Wilson, Eddie Torres Jr. and Princess Serrano. We rehearsed a fair bit. Monday through Friday for maybe five weeks. The first day of rehearsal I met Melissa [Barrera] and Corey [Hawkins], I pretty much hadn’t known everyone yet. I hadn’t met Leslie [Grace] yet. Chris Scott, the choreographer, just went straight into ‘let’s see what you can do.’ It was the first [dance] routine of ‘In The Heights,’ the opening number. He was like, ‘OK, let’s go. Five, six, seven, eight!’”

Rubin-Vega said that she tried to bring her best game, though it had “been a minute” since she had to execute such intricate choreography, noting that they shot the opening number within a day while praising Chu’s work ethic and leadership.

“There was a balance between focus and fun and that’s rare. Everyone was there because they wanted to be there,” she said. “I think back to the day we shot ‘96,000.’ That day it wouldn’t stop raining; [it was] grey and then the sky would clear and we’d get into places and then it would be grey again and so we’d have to wait and just have to endure. But even the bad parts were kind of good, too. Even the hottest days. There were gunshots, there was a fire while we were shooting and we had to shut down, there was traffic and noise and yet every time I looked around me or went into video village and saw the faces in there, I mean…it felt like the only place to be. You want to feel like that in every place you are: The recognition. I could recognize people who look like me. For now on, you cannot say I’ve never seen a Panamanian on film before or a Columbian or a Mexican, you know?”

Another Notion of Beauty

Rubin-Vega’s professional relationship with the playwright Hudes extends to 2015, when she was tapped to [participate in the] workshop [production of]  Daphne’s Dive. Under the direction of Thomas Kail (Hamilton) and starring alongside Samira Wiley (“The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Orange Is the New Black”), the play premiered Off-Broadway at the Pershing Square Signature Center the following year. Rubin-Vega also starred in Miss You Like Hell, the cross-country road musical by Hudes and Erin McKeown, which premiered at La Jolla Playhouse in 2016 before it transferred to The Public Theater in 2018. With her participation in the production of In the Heights, she is among the few to have collaborated with all of the living Latinx playwrights to have won the Pulitzer Prize; Hudes won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Water by the Spoonful, while Miranda took home the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Hamilton. Speaking on her multiple collaborations over the years, Rubin-Vega also acknowledged having known Miranda years before they would join voices.

“Lin to me is like a little bro or legacy; he’s a direct descent to me from [Rent author] Jonathan Larson, which is a bigger sort of all-encompassing arch,” she said, though she stressed that she auditioned like everyone else, landing the role after two or three callbacks. “Quiara and I have a wonderful working and personal relationship, I think. Which isn’t to say I had dibs by any means because…it’s a business that wants the best for itself, I suppose. […] So, when I walked in, I was determined to really give it my best.”

Life During and After Rent

Rubin-Vega has built an impressive resume over the course of her career, singing along with the likes of rock stars like David Bowie and starring in a multitude of divergent roles on Broadway and off. From a harrowing Fantine in Les Misérables and a co-dependent Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire to a sinister Magenta in The Rocky Horror Show, her evolution into the atypical character actor and leading lady can be traced back 25 years to January 25, 1996, when Larson’s groundbreaking musical Rent, a retelling of Giacomo Puccini’s 19th-century opera La Bohème, premiered at the New York Theatre Workshop. On the morning of the first preview, Larson suffered an aortic dissection, likely from undiagnosed Marfan’s syndrome and died at the age of 35, just ten days shy of what would have been his 36th birthday.

On April 29, 1996, due to overwhelming popularity, Rent transferred to Nederlander Theatre on Broadway, tackling contemporary topics the Great White Way had rarely seen, such as poverty and class warfare during the AIDS epidemic in New York City’s gritty East Village at the turn of the millennium. Rubin-Vega would go on to be nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for her role as sex kitten Mimi Márquez, an HIV-positive heroin addict and erotic dancer.

  The show became a cultural phenomenon, receiving several awards including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and four Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Rubin-Vega and members of the original Broadway cast were suddenly overnight sensations, recording “Seasons of Love” alongside music icon Stevie Wonder, receiving a photo shoot with Vanity Fair and landing the May 13, 1996 cover of Newsweek. Throughout its 12-year Broadway run, many of the show’s original cast members and subsequent replacements would go on to be stars, including Renée Elise Goldsberry, who followed in Rubin-Vega’s footsteps to play the popular character before originating the role of Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton, for which she won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

When the screen adaptation of Rent hit cinemas in 2005 under the direction of Chris Columbus, Rubin-Vega’s conspicuous absence came as a blow to longtime fans. The confluence of pregnancy with the casting and filming process of Rent hindered her from participating at the time. The role was subsequently given to movie star Rosario Dawson.

“First of all, if you’re meant to be in a film, you’re meant to be in it,” Rubin-Vega said. “That’s just the way it goes. It took a quarter of a century but this [In the Heights] is a film that I wanted to make, that I felt the elements sat right. I always felt that Rent was a little bit darker than all that. Rent to me is Rated R. In The Heights is not. It’s also a testament. Unless it’s sucking your soul and killing you softly or hardly, just stick with it. This is a business and I keep forgetting it’s a business because actors just want to show art. So, it’s really wonderful when you get a chance to say what you mean and mean what you say with your work. It’s a really wonderful gift.”

Rarely-Explored Themes

Like Larson’s award-winning show and the film adapted from it, In The Heights is jam-packed with hard-hitting subject matter, addressing themes of urban blight, immigration, gentrification, cultural identity, assimilation and U.S. political history. When Rubin-Vega’s character Daniela and her partner were priced out of the rent for her salon, most of her clientele moved to the Grand Concourse Historic District in the Bronx. Her salon, a bastion of the community, is met with a polar response when she announces she’s joining the mass exodus with the other victims of gentrification who were pushed out by rising rents. The news is met with negative response from long-time patrons who refuse to take the short commute to the new location. Daniela counters, “Our people survived slave ships, we survived Taino [indigenous Caribbean people] genocide, we survived conquistadores and dictators…you’re telling me we can’t survive the D train to Grand Concourse?”

The question is humorous, but also insinuates a more nuanced understanding of the AfroLatinidad experience in the Western world. The film also looks at the American Dream with a naturalistic approach. Leslie Grace, who plays Nina Rosario, a first-generation college student returning from her freshman year at Stanford University and grappling with finances and the expectations of her community, noted that while her character “finds [herself] at some point at a fork in the road,” she may not have the luxury to be indecisive because of the pressures put on by family, community and country.  

“The struggle of the first-generation Americans in the Latino community is not talked about a lot because it’s almost like a privilege,” Grace asserted. “You feel like it’s a privilege to talk about it. But there is a lot of identity crisis that comes with it and I think we explore that.” Speaking on the character, she elaborated: “Home for her is where her heart is, but also where her purpose is. So, she finds her purpose in doing something outside of herself, greater than herself and going back to Stanford for the people she loves in her community. I really relate to where she’s at, trying to find herself. And I think a lot of other people will, too.”

Worth Singing About

For Miranda, a first-generation Puerto Rican New Yorker that grew up in Inwood at the northernmost tip of Manhattan before attending Wesleyan University where he would develop the musical, this speaks to a larger issue of what defines a home.

“What does ‘home’ even mean? Every character is sort of answering it in a different way,” he said. “For some people, home is somewhere else. For some people, home is like ‘the block’ they’re on. So, that’s worth singing about. It’s worth celebrating in a movie of this size.”

Given the current zeitgeist, it’s no wonder why Chu, Hudes and Miranda decided to pivot with adapting the stage musical for the big screen, leaning in to tackle the plights and predicaments of DREAMers [children of undocumented immigrants seeking citizenship] stateside. In one scene, glimpses of posters at a protest rally read “Immigrant Rights are Human Rights” and “Refugees Are People Too.” Growing up in a multicultural household as a Latina with a Black Latina mother, a white father and a Jewish American stepfather, Rubin-Vega said she was used to being in spaces that were truly multiracial. Nevertheless, there were times when she often felt alien, especially as a du jour rock musical ingenue who looked as she did in the mid-1990s through the 2000s.

“Undocumented people come in different shapes and colors,” she noted. “To be born in a land that doesn’t recognize you, it’s a thing that holds so much horror… so much disgrace happens on the planet because human beings aren’t recognized as such sometimes.”

The film “definitely sheds light on that, but it also talks about having your dream taken away and its human violation—it’s a physical, spiritual, social, cultural violation,” Rubin-Vega said. “There’s a difference between pursuing dreams and being aware of reality. They’re not mutually exclusive. What this film does, it presents a story that is fairly grounded in reality. It’s a musical, it’s over the top… but it reflects a bigger reality, which is like an emotional reality…that people that are challenged on the daily, have incredible resolve, incredible resoluteness and lifeforce.”

She said: “Growing up, looking like me, I got to ingest the same information as everyone else except when it came time to implement my contributions, they weren’t as welcomed or as seen. The dream is to be seen and to be recognized. Maybe I could be an astronaut or an ingenue on Broadway? You can’t achieve stuff that you haven’t imagined. When it talks about DREAMers, it talks about that and it talks about how to not be passive in a culture that would have you think you are passive but to be that change and to dare to be that change.”

Dreams Come True

Dreams are coming true. Alongside the nationwide release of the much-anticipated film, Random House announced it will publish In the Heights: Finding Home, which will give a behind-the-scenes look at the beginnings of Miranda’s 2008 breakout Broadway debut and journey to the soon-to-be-released film adaptation. The table book will chronicle the show’s 20-year voyage from page to stage—from Miranda’s first drawings at the age of 19 to lyric annotations by Miranda and essays written by Hudes to never-before-seen photos from productions around the world and the 2021 movie set. It will be released to the public on June 22, eleven days after the release of the film; an audiobook will be simultaneously released by Penguin Random House Audio.

Hinting at the year-long delay due to the pandemic, Rubin-Vega said, “It’s been a year waiting, you know. It’s like the lid’s been on it and so we’re just so ready to explode.”

Bigger Dreams

“Jon [Chu], I think, dreams bigger than any of us dare to dream in terms of the size and scope of this,” Miranda said. “We spent our summer [in 2018] on 175th Street. You know, he was committed to the authenticity of being in that neighborhood we [all] grew up in, that we love, but then also when it comes to production numbers, dreaming so big. I mean, this is a big movie musical!”

Miranda continued, “We’re so used to asking for less, just to ask to occupy space, you know? As Latinos, we’re, like, ‘Please just let us make our little movie.’ And Jon, every step of the way, said, like, ‘No, these guys have big dreams. We’re allowed to go that big!’ So, I’m just thrilled with what he did ’cause I think it’s bigger than any of us ever dreamed.”

Speaking at the online press conference, Miranda said, “I’m talking to you from Washington Heights right now! I love it here. The whole [movie] is a love letter to this neighborhood. I think it’s such an incredible neighborhood. It’s the first chapter in so many stories. It’s a Latinx neighborhood [today]. It was a Dominican neighborhood when I was growing up there in the ’80s. But before that it was an Irish neighborhood and Italian. It’s always the first chapter in so many American stories.”

[hk-magicalhumanau]

HK Human AU- Hollow's Knight Institute for Psychiatric Care and their newest patient.

This is to expand on my magic human AU. As a brief recap, The Radiance is named Lucy and is a Broadway Theatre Actress, but the "Radiance" is a moniker and an alias that she uses to call herself during her shows.

Disclaimer: This is just a reimagining and fan fiction. So many will be Out of character and warped beyond recognition for the purpose of the plot. I will be taking inspiration from the game and also other historical stuff.

Now I'm going to reach what would be the counterpart of the infection and the Radiance's sealing within the Hollow Knight.

But the Hollow Knight is not a vessel, it is the name of an institute or asylum. A building and a vessel are both meant to house something or someone.

The actual Hollow Knight/Pure Vessel as a character will be a separate being.

If you are not aware, please read this for Lucy's backstory. It's actually a series of posts covering most of her childhood, the links are on the bottom. This will help explain things down cause she never born crazy.

All credits goes to Team Cherry, and the Vietnam war

This is a continuation of this post.

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

Her shelter-turned-cult home won't remain a secret for too long. The authorities are getting reports on missing family members, college students who dropped out and never returned home. They also start receiving reports of an odd smell coming from the Theatre building.

Lucy's cult member did tortured some of the members as punishment for trying to leave. A few died from their wounds and they had to bury them under the floor boards in the basement.

But the one incident that busted her was when her followers attempted to release a deadly orange gas in a tram full of civilians.

One of the cult members is a female chemical engineer working for a pharmaceutical company, she just had a divorce which results to her having stress issues. Another is a war veteran, he is struggling with PTSD and don't know what to do with his life. Both of them where invited to the Theatre by a cult member who saw their struggles, saying the place can help them get peace of mind.

The engineer was able to smuggle chemicals from her company and together with the war veteran, they created a orange-colored toxic gas.

This is where the Pale King, or rather Shiro as he is called now, comes in, cause the gas attack is actually an attempt to kill him when he started his own investigation on the missing students. Some of their parents where his former student in his previous life, and he suspects the disappearances are connected to the other missing reports. But his main motivation is to find his former classmate, Xero, who is one of the missing people.

He noticed the investigation keeps going nowhere so he is doing it himself.

Lucy was able quickly evade all suspicions thanks to her own connections. She thinks Shiro is just a small college kid who can easily be dodged. But Shiro is not easily fooled, works fast and is very close to uncovering the Theatre. Lucy eventually saw him as a dangerous threat to her "home".

Shiro just happens to be taking the tram to the police station to share his discoveries. The cult members decided to use the opportunity to take him out there. The confined space of the tram makes it easy for them to trap him there, even though there are dozens of other civilians who are also using the tram.

The members went in first with plastic sealed bags filled with the gas and stabbed it with their umbrella, before quickly leaving. They also locked up the doors and the major exits of the tram carriage after they left, to make sure Shiro will not leave fast enough.

This gas won't really kill Shiro due to his supernatural origin and accelerated healing, but the other civilians that are locked up with him will.

Shiro/PK though, actually designed and help build the tram 150 years ago in his previous life, that is still being used in the present day. He knows every screw bolt, circuitry and the many safety latches he added there for emergencies such as this.

Though during it's initial release, the tram received a lot of criticism. Many call the thing as waste of money and the many security latches are a waste of resources. But Shiro stood his ground, he had to pull some strings and connections to make sure his original design will be used and not modified by future officials or technicians.

Now it is a City icon and tourist spot.

Thanks to his knowledge on the tram design, Shiro manage to get most of the civilians out of the tram but some inhaled too much and had to be admitted to the hospital. The gas cause irreparable damages to their internal organs and needed surgery. One woman was so badly injured, she needs to be on support for a year. In addition to months of rehabilitation.

PK/Shiro in his part, actually did foresaw something life threatening is going to happen in the tram even 150 year ago, but it's not specific on when and who.

Maybe the chord broke, or someone end up setting in on fire by accident, but a disaster will happen. Stuff like that happens nearly all the time but PK/Shiro is not taking any chances. That's why he is super insisted that no one touches his original design.

What he did not expect that that the disaster will be related to himself directly.

Meanwhile, Lucy is further enraged that a college kid evaded her again. Sereh, tired of her mother and still grieving the loss of her best friend, quickly escaped the Theatre. That was hard for her in the past since her mother is always watching But at this point she don't care if her mother Lucy will see her run out the front door in broad daylight, Sereh just want to get away from there as fast as she can.

She ran to PK/Shiro and the police. She quickly confessed to the gas attack and all the happenings in the Theatre.

With that information, The Theatre was quickly raided and Lucy was captured, along with her followers.

Inside, the police found the many images of Lucy in a madman's Shrine with a ton of candles and spoiled food offerings. They also found the smuggled chemicals to make the gas, and the dead bodies that are decomposing in the basement.

Shiro saw that one of the bodies have a complicated sword tattoo. The same design he drew for Xero 4years ago.

With all that evidence, Lucy and her followers was convicted for murder, mass terrorism and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Lucy, though, is labelled as too crazy and dangerous. She spend the whole trial doing nothing but yelling on how much she will make Shiro suffer for "poisoning" and stealing her daughter, destroying her "paradise", her "kingdom" and taking everything from her. Insanely calling him a demon and vowing revenge. Even the judge is starting to get unnerved by Lucy's insane ramblings.

She was imprisoned in a heavily guarded facility called "Hollow's Knight Institute for Psychiatric Care", located on Black Egg Hill.

PK/Shiro helped fund and design the place in his previous life to be a hospital where the mentally ill will be looked after 24/7. But it was recently converted to be an asylum for their newest patient, Lucy. Who quickly developed a bad reputation for constantly attacking the nurses.

As a former actress, she can act quite and appear docile for days only to snap the next minute. She charmed and convinced one of the interns she met everyday to give her a pair of scissors, saying arts and crafts is very therapeutic. Only to use it to gorge the eyes out of one of the nurses the next day, attempting to escape.

She now have to wear a white strait jacket during her raging episodes and only a few can interact with her.

Sereh, unlike her older sisters, was only given a few months in jail before she is let go. Sereh became the new legal owner of the Theatre building, but she request that it be demolished, saving a few items that she may find useful. This leaves Sereh homeless.

PK/Shiro, as gratitude for her part on the investigation, gave her enough money to support herself for a few years and start a new life.

This is good for Sereh as Lucy's arrest and the terrorist attack was headlined on every major newspaper and news channel. The City is still trying to recover from the Tram incident and see everything connected to Lucy with intense negativity. Public opinion is so bad, no one is going to hire Sereh when they know she is Lucy's daughter. It would be best for her to go to another town where it is not as affected, until the public calms down enough for her to return without all the bad press.

After Shiro and Sereh said their goodbyes, the first thing Sereh did with the money was travel to see the now abandoned Planetarium that her and her friend saw on that one flier during their youth.

When she arrived there at the delipidated structure, wearing a pair of round purple-tinted glasses she bought along the way. She looks sadly at it while holding a red scarf that once belonged to her late best friend.

[lustinglilac]

Undercover

A/N: I really hope y’all enjoy this! Haven’t written for OA in a while but I could never forget my gorgeous FBI agent :) 

Warnings: brief mention of sex cult, creepy professor, nothing too crazy. 

The situation took her by surprise as she made sure she heard her boyfriend’s boss correctly, “I’m sorry, you want me to do what?” She questioned as she leaned in closer over the conference table.

“We want you to go undercover for the sole purpose of helping us put this criminal behind bars.” Agent Mosier spoke calmly.

“Did— did we consult Agent Zidan on this?” Jubal whispered to the woman next to him all the while trying to sound relaxed considering the younger girl wasn’t taking this lightly.

“We will once he gets back.” Mosier snaps quietly, “What day works best for you?” The older woman smiles politely at her as she scrolls through her tablet.

“C-Can I have a minute?” She rubs her sweaty palms on her jeans as Mosier agrees to give her some time to think the decision over. Jubal stood back for a minute, watching his boss leave the room.

“I know more than anyone how stressful this decision can be. If we could have anyone else do it, we would. But, we are running out of time and the last time we saw this man, he was— in contact with you.”

Her head snapped up the moment the words left Jubal’s mouth, “What does he want with me?” She asked, shocked by the fact that a criminal had been near her and she hadn’t even known it.

“There’s no way to put this lightly but, he’s— He’s your professor.” Jubal sounds defeated as the words come out of his mouth. She was going to have to find out sooner or later.

A shaky breath left her as she stared the the glass table, not daring to look up at the man in front of her.

She finally finds the courage to look at Jubal, “How long has he been doing—“

“Almost two years.” Jubal crosses his arms across his chest. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to—“ He began to say only to be cut off.

“I’ll do it.” She spoke slowly but surely. She was going to help them out in anyway she could if it meant saving others.

“Really?” Jubal barely had time to register her answer before OA walked in.

“What’s going on? Are you okay?” He immediately scanned his girlfriend’s face for any signs of distress.

“I’m okay, OA. I was called in to help out with a case—“

Turning around to close the door, he turned back around just as quickly, his eyes pointed towards Jubal.

“Absolutely not. Are you out of your mind?!” He exploded, hand slamming down on the glass table, making her flinch slightly.

“Zidan, I know how this sounds but just hear me out—“

“Omar— please.” She pleaded with the agent to at least have his colleague explain the matter at hand.

“You can talk all you want, you can try to convince me but there’s a very slim chance that it’s even going to come close to working.” OA crossed his arms over his broad chest, dress shirt expanding over his straining biceps as he stood behind his girlfriend protectively.

“OA, I’ve been in contact with this man for the past few months and didn’t even know it. He’s my professor.” She spoke as calmly as she could considering the circumstances.

“Can we talk?” OA tries to process the information, as Jubal shifts his weight from one foot to the other, “Alone?”

Jubal finally gets the hint and leaves the conference room, closing the door behind him.

She pulls him to sit in the chair next to her, “Baby I know how you feel, believe me. I felt that too as soon as they told me. I couldn’t believe it.”

His jaw ticked as she spoke but nevertheless he listened attentively as she spoke about her decision.

“And if it is true, I want to be able to help. The guy trusts me, OA, this is your one chance to actually get him.” She assures him, leaning towards him to give him a kiss.

“If you feel comfortable enough to do this, I support you.” He cups her face in his larger hands as she smiles softly, “And I trust you.” He finally places a kiss to her lips, forcing himself to brave the facts.

The door opens fast, as if the two older agents had been spying on them behind the door, “Welcome to the team.” Mosier smiles.

•••

“Are you sure you want to do this? It’s never too late to back out, baby.” OA asked her as he fixed her hidden wire.

“I’m sure. Are you going to be okay?” She teases him as he rolls his eyes, bringing his hand up to fix his own earpiece.

“Zidan, heads up.” Another agent calls from his left as they got a clear view of the suspect who’d just walked out of the building from teaching his last class of the day.

She was supposed to be meeting him in his office to discuss how she’d done on an essay she wrote for him. She was beginning to get a little nervous since she had the pressure of the whole FBI on her back, counting on her not to mess up.

She pushed the negative thoughts away and tossed her hair to the side, securing the tiny hearing devices that looked like earrings that Maggie had given her.

“Okay, run through the plan one more time.” OA listened closely as she spoke, eyes never once leaving her beautiful face.

“I’m going to walk in, get him to tell me what he does when he’s not teaching, and hopefully he doesn’t catch on.”

“Good. We’re all going to be right here watching. If you feel uncomfortable at any point during the meeting, you signal to me and I’ll get you out of there, okay?” He promises her.

OA pulls her into his chest, letting go of the breath he had been holding and squeezes her tightly.

“Hey, lovebirds, it’s time.” The same agent from earlier speaks into OA’s ear letting him know it was time to take their positions.

“Alright, sweetheart. Be safe.” He eyes the building behind her as she turns around, heading for their target.

Walking up the familiar steps, she slowed her breathing as she was sure the whole team could hear her heart beating out of her chest.

She reached his office, stepping into the small room and closing the door behind her but not all the way in case she needed to get out and FBI needed to get in.

“There she is. My favorite student. Come, have a seat.” Dr. Owens beamed when he saw her, eyeing her up hungrily.

She tried not to look so stiff as she sat down across from him in the worn out leather chair.

“How have you been? You been doing a lot of studying lately?” He pulled his glasses off, rubbing his eyes.

“Yes, actually. The semester is coming to an end really fast.” She breathed out, smiling lightly as he chuckled.

“I’m going to miss you, you know.” His eyes narrowed at her.

“Oh, Dr. Owens, I’m going to miss taking your class, too!” She placed a hand over her heart for dramatic effect.

“How about we go out to lunch one day, huh? My treat.” Dr. Owens leans back in his chair casually.

She could hear OA shuffle in her ear piece, he was getting agitated.

“Oh I’m flattered but I don’t think that would be appropriate, I’m still a student of yours and I have a boyfriend.” She clears her throat softly, “I thought we could go over my essay—“

“Your essay was god damn perfect like everything else about you. If I could give you an A plus plus, I would.“ He laughs wholeheartedly as he leans forward on his elbows, interest peaking as soon as she mentioned she had a boyfriend.

“Your boyfriend is more than welcome to join us. Unless he’s a cop.” He pauses, making her freeze up, not knowing how to respond. “I’m kidding! You should’ve seen your face. Oh, man. What does he do for work though?”

“He’s a plumber.” She blurts out the only occupation on her mind in the heat of the moment as OA scoffs. She wanted to laugh because she would definitely hear it from him later.

“A plumber, interesting. Listen, I-I wanted to ask you something, for my research. And it’s okay to be honest.” His chair squeaking under his weight as he stood up, eyes never leaving her.

“Sure, I’d be happy to answer.” Her acting skills on par as she kept her composure, smiling at him.

“What do you think about— sex?”

She nearly choked on her spit, words catching in her throat, “Dr. Owens, I don’t—“

Back in the van, OA was fuming. He knew it wasn’t a good idea to send her in. She was uncomfortable, he could tell, any person with eyes could tell she was starting to get anxious.

“We have to get her out of there.” He spoke to Maggie as she looked up into his worried eyes.

“Agent Zidan, hold your ground.” Mosier’s voice coming through the telecom.

He huffed as he continued to listen in on the conversation, wanting to burst through the door and get the son of a bitch already.

The office had very strong tension in the air, the question completely catching her off guard.

“To be honest, there’s not much to think about.” She spoke, voice feigning as much innocence as possible as she stared at her professor.

“Hmmm... okay. Would you ever consider joining a sex cult? For the hell of it?” Dr. Owens presses.

She paused for a moment, Mosier nor Jubal had not mentioned anything to do with cults to her or OA, especially not ones involving the toxic mishandling of females and/or males. Probably for the simple reason that she would’ve backed out and OA would’ve freaked out. She couldn’t let that get to her right now, it was not the time nor the place.

She had to step it up, she was going to blow her cover if she didn’t urge him, and right now she had the leverage, “Dr. Owens, would you know of any?” Her voice soft.

“Well, mine, of course.” He smiled matter-of-factly in her direction, the moment short lived as two agents she’d never seen before burst through the door, pinning the older man down with ease and cuffing him.

“John Owens, you are under arrest for the—“ The agents voice droned on in the background as she stood up, OA nearly knocking her over when he ran in behind them, leading her out of the overcrowded office.

“Are you okay? I’m so sorry. They didn’t give me the real story; Mosier set me up. I didn’t know he was that kind of sick human being—“ OA explained erratically as he held her jaw in his palm.

“Omar, I’m fine. Nothing happened.” She assured him with a small nod of her head, “Would’ve been nice to know what exactly I was walking into but, we did it.”

“You did it. I love you.” He leaned down to capture her lips in a soft kiss, making her melt into him.

“Thank you for believing in me. I could get used to this.” She winked, knowing it would probably be her first and last time in this position.

“As amazing as you were, it’s not happening.” He shook his head, walking side by side to the black SUV.

OA would definitely have a word with Jubal and Mosier later for not giving him the full details but, for now he was going to enjoy his time with her. They settled into the vehicle, the radio playing softly in the background.

“Also, plumber? Really? Couldn’t think of something else, something more— I don’t know— cooler?” OA couldn’t help but bring up the topic, eyebrows furrowing together.

She pointed her finger at him accusingly, “I knew it! I knew you were gonna say something about that! It wasn’t my fault.” She gasped, letting out a giggle at his expression.

He chuckled, holding her hand in his over the center console, “I’m joking, baby. I can be whatever you want me to be.” He winked at her, parking the vehicle, and walking around to help her out.

She couldn’t help but blush as he took her hand and led them up to their place. She knew that wherever OA was, that’s where she wanted to be, too, forever.

Tags: @detectiveinchicago @ginghampearlsnsweettea

[sigmadecay]

You said you can info dump about Jonestown massacre? I'm here to learn about Jonestown massacre.

OHOHOHO YES

okay so if I start from Jim Jones’ early life this is literally gonna take me hours to write and probably take you forever to read so I will try to cliffnote the context of....y’know, his life

He didn’t have super present or even very parental parents, his mother worked a lot & his father was a disabled WWI vet. A neighbor took him to church w her family on Sundays and that began his interest in religion. He went to different churches all the time to see what they were about but had a particular interest in the Pentecostal church, it was loud & interactive & joyful but they did get a bad rep for “speaking in tongues”

Jim married his wife Marceline when he was 17 or 18 and she was like 20-21. She was working as a nurse in a hospital that Jim did custodial work in while he was trying to get himself through school. I have a lot of thoughts about Marceline Jones and most of them are “she deserved better” but we will come back to Marceline later.

Fast forward fast forward and Jim & Marcy have a number of kids, their “rainbow family” which consists of one bio child and a number of adopted children I think?? Listen in my defense he ended up with nine (!!! NINE) kids and they’re hard to keep track of but I know Stephan was their biological son and they adopted Jim Jr. who was black and Lew & Suzanne who were Korean which was a bigass deal at the time. More kids cropped up over the course of things but y’know. When Jim founded the Peoples Temple he got the MLK Jr award for racial equality because his church was the first fully integrated church at least in Indiana which was fucking nuts at the time??? Lots of people liked him. It appeared that he was doing good things.

And then shit like faith healings started where he would stage religious healings from cancer and shit and his congregation began regarding him as a deity. Someone would be blessed and would spit out a “tumor” (a piece of chicken liver) or the woman in the wheelchair who got up and walked turned out to be Jim’s secretary. Completely bogus nonsense, but it was a good, integrated church and they all thought he was a good person.

So, (and I’m leaving out details here sorry) Jim starts teasing like an escape to a “promised land” type deal. And he goes to a bunch of places looking for one—he spends time in Brazil especially—until finally settling on Guyana. The Guyanese govt was excited to have Americans coming bc they were at war with Venezuela and it was...sort of like insurance, but yeah. They gave the Peoples Temple a couple hundred acres in the middle of basically the fucking rainforest. And it was touted as like this socialist utopia and shit. It’s work but there’s housing and you grow your own food, and it seemed nice! Especially for people who were so disillusioned with the government and racial inequality. So they move out to Guyana and start to build houses, and shit is pretty alright at first, but...The soil isn’t fertile and almost no food actually grows. The hours are long and the work is backbreaking, not to mention the HEAT, but it’s like, deal-with-able until Jim Jones gets there. At this point Jones is like completely totally paranoid and he’s losing his grip on reality. He’s been doing drugs for years and his sermons have gone from “the US government is bad because it’s capitalist and racist” to “the US government is literally plotting to kill us.”

Some people managed to get out, and formed a group called the “concerned relatives.” They were, you guessed it, concerned relatives of the members who’d been whisked off to the Guyanese wilderness. Lots of people wrote off their concerns because of how many people, namely politicians, liked Jim Jones for his work in racial equality, but the one guy who listened to them was Congressman Leo Ryan, who was by all accounts a Pretty Solid Dude. He didn’t think anything fishy was happening, necessarily, but his whole stance was “I hear you & your concerns, and we should check it out to put your mind at ease! :)”

By this point, life in the Temple is falling! the fuck! apart! Jim Jones has a PA system set to run 24/7 that either play a) recordings of past sermons or b) his announcements happening Right This Second. People work for like 16 hours a day, there are armed guards at the entrance and around the fields to keep people in, the housing is cramped and overcrowded and they do Not have enough food for the almost 1000 people there. They are also getting record low amounts of sleep because Jim Jones, Nutjob Extraordinaire, has gotten into the habit of blaring the air raid siren at god knows what our and calling all his followers into the pavilion for a White Night. Which is, if you can even fucking believe it, a PRACTICE MASS SUICIDE BY KOOL AID.

Talk about foreshadowing.

So anyway, Leo Ryan rolls up to the compound, relatives and an NBC camera crew in tow, and is like “hey what’s up! :)” Jim Jones has been COACHING PEOPLE to tell him how much they love it. It’s fucked up. But okay

So they put on this dinner and a show type deal for the congressman and all the visitors, and Marceline (remember Marceline?) gives them a whole tour and shows them her pride and joy, the school she’d built and helps teaches at, and the medical center, and the daycare, like Marceline ADORES children this cannot be overstated. There are about 300 children in Jonestown and she loves them with her whole heart. ANYWAY

And everyone is having a funky good time, except Jim Jones, whose sanity is coming unraveled like an old sweater and his 950-ish overworked undercompensated cult members

But as Leo Ryan is leaving, someone slips a note to one of the reporters, BEGGING him to get them out of there. And then someone else comes forward. And then another. There are like....maybe 10 people total that come forward? Jim Jones loses his mind, naturally, but Leo Ryan is still like “hey, 10 out of 950 isn’t bad at all! They just miss their families :)” and they get going.

Unfortunately, because the number of people traveling back to the US from Guyana is greater than before, and they came on a small plane, they’re all posted up at the Port Kaituma airstrip waiting for a second aircraft. And this is when shit gets fucking real.

Jim Jones secretly sends his Red Men (read: “guards” with shotguns) to the airstrip to kill everyone because they’re going to give their secrets to the CIA or whatever. So they fucking roll up in this trailer and...open fire. Leo Ryan is killed, an NBC cameraman is killed, some of the defectors and concerned relatives are killed, many of them are wounded.

The Red Men return to the compound and report back to Jones. And then he gets on the PA and tells everyone that the USA’s destruction of them is imminent. He lies and tells them that the pilot will be shot and the plane will go down, and the US government will come into the compound for retribution and kill their seniors and kidnap the children and rape the women. You can hear a recording of this on YouTube! It’s called the Jonestown death tape and it will absolutely ruin your day if you listen to it. Anyway.

People are panicking. It’s time for the real White Night. Jones gets a vat of Flavor-Aid (off brand Kool-Aid) filled with cyanide and narcotics and says “drink :)” and...everyone is...understandably afraid. They’re tired and exhausted and terrified and have no idea what’s true or not. One woman, Christine, argues and pleads for another solution, like running off to the Soviet Union. The entire rest of the compound shouts her down.

So, finally, people drink. Those who won’t, and young children, are injected with it. The death is not painless. People suffer for a long time, and move to the back of the line, lie down, and die. At a reception house in Georgetown, one of Jones’ aides kills her three children and then herself with a steak knife.

A handful of people get out. Maybe five are able to hide, and three of Jones’ sons are away at a basketball game in Georgetown while this is all going down, so they live.

Jim Jones does not drink the poison. Jim Jones shoots himself in the head, and his private nurse does the same.

Marceline Jones screamed, sobbed and struggled until every single child had died, hoping at least one of them would be spared. And when none were, she dried her eyes, resigned herself to her fate, and drank the Kool-Aid.

The 900-something bodies, about a third of which were children, began rotting in the tropical sun almost immediately. Many of them were decomposed beyond recognition by the time the US troops got there. Those unidentified are buried in a mass gravesite in...California, I think? It was the largest loss of American life not due to a natural disaster up until 9/11. The place is still there, though now it’s overgrown, and it’s just...haunting. There’s a number of documentaries on it (recommend) and if you have a really masochistic streak, the Port Kaituma airstrip shooting and the Jonestown death tape audio are both on YouTube the last I checked.

Thank you for indulging me my special interest, and I’m happy to expand on anything here or give more details :3

[jayjaysocks]

Listing my favorite animes (because I’m jumping on the bandwagon)

❗️⚠️ *spoilers!! (Duh)* ❗️⚠️

5. Deadman Wonderland

I was really really sad when I found out this anime got cancelled. The music was fantastic, the animation was really good, and the voice acting was incredible. Even the fucking dubbed version (I loved the voice they chose for Senji. God he was hilarious). I binged this show so fucking fast it wasn’t even funny. I loved watching the characters go through their own struggles and grow as people in the very small amount of episodes provided. There was a lot of development within the snippet that we actually saw, and I was thoroughly impressed with how well it was done. I wanted to scream or something when I found out there wouldn’t be a second season.

Sigh. Oh well. At least we got some of the manga’s masterpiece translated into a show, even if we were missing some fucking awesome characters.

4. Guilty Crown

Ugh, don’t even get me started. This anime was beautiful and I got so invested so freaking quickly. I literally go back every few years to rewatch it because I get ship starved.

Shu and Inori’s story was so beautifully done; between Shu uncovering his courage and Inori’s journey of self-discovery, I was continuously awe-struck and filled with feelings—I mean, I had never felt such raw emotion while watching something and I was completely blown away by the affect it had on me. Anger, hatred, sadness, it was all there (even for the main character lmao) and it was one of the first times I had ever felt a ship so heavily that I literally cried at the end. It was one of the very first Animes I’d ever seen and was one of the reasons I got such a taste for them. Thanks for throwing me down that rabbit hole, GC.

3. Soul Eater

This was literally the first Anime I’d ever seen, and my god I couldn’t have asked for a better starter. What I like about this one is that it’s style is so unique and different. It’s very punk and grunge, something I admired and appreciated in a genre that is normally the opposite (like Guilty Crown, for example). Also the fight scenes were badass, like holy shit just look at that gif ??? Freaking amazing.

I loved the way the show transitioned from light hearted to intense and adrenaline pumping so effortlessly. That can be said about a lot of shows, but this one went from *haha cute show* to *holy shit, like they’re actually gonna die ohmygod howaretheygoingtosurvivethis* so smoothly I was genuinely surprised. They made one of the main villains actually cool and each character had their own beautifully done arc. I loved and adored how the show solidified and expanded on the different friendships/relationships that were involved—specifically Soul and Maka’s (also, holy shit, Stein’s arc? Fucking prime, dude). There was a lot of growth in each and every friendship (CRONA!!!), and that really pushed the viewer to invest in the individual characters.

I am fucking delighted that this was my first anime, and (though the ending was a little anticlimactic) it remains one of my top favorites to this day. It set the bar pretty fucking high, and for that I am extremely greatful.

No one asked for Soul Eater: Not! It is the unspoken sin of the Soul Eater world (then again, it is called Soul Eater: Not!)

2. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

If you have been following me for a while, then you are no stranger to my love of FMAB. Some of my most popular posts are about this anime, and for good reason.

Unfortunately, I was late to the party. I actually didn’t watch this until last year, but got invested really damn quick. I have a tendency to be extremely picky about the animes that I watch/like (which is why NONE of these shows are that recent), to the point that I will literally research them before I start watching (a bad habit, do not copy me). I have an incomparably hard time finishing a show when I start, because I get bored really quickly, but this was an exception. I started watching and I just... didn’t stop. I spent a straight week watching FMAB, gobbling it up during any small amount free time I could manage, and finished it before I even knew what happened. I wasn’t picky about it, I didn’t research it, I just dove right in and gosh, I was not disappointed.

The subtle romance that was alluded throughout the entire show was super cute, the devotion the brothers had for each other was to die for, and the struggles that each person went through was more than moving. I never once found myself bored while watching, and that’s saying a lot for my adhd ass. I was invested in each and every second of that damn anime and I was never, ever left underwhelmed. That probably had to do with the fact that every. Single. Character. Had a purpose. I’m not even kidding. Every single person contributed to the big fight at the end and that alone is fucking fantastic.

Not to mention ALL the women, every female character, was a badass bitch. None of them were reduced to sex appeal or romantic subplot, they all had real feelings, real arcs and real, unadulterated badassery that I thoroughly admired and appreciated. I could watch this anime over and over again every single month and I wouldn’t get bored. Between the emotional struggle, self discovery, and personal development of each character, I promise you will not see a lack of plot or meaning here. The more you watch, the more you discover and that is not a lie. There are so many layers to its story, which only makes me wish I had watched this sooner.

There is nothing I have to offer in the ways of criticism, and for that I couldn’t be happier. Thank you, Hiromu Arakawa, for such an incredible piece of art. You deserve every bit of love that this manga/anime gets. You go girl.

1. Cowboy Bepop

Holy shit holy shit holy shit this anime is so fucking good and it has been my favorite for so damn long. I have been watching anime for years, and while some of the shows in my list have moved around, this one has yet to be bumped down from the top (and I doubt it ever will). There’s a reason it became such a cult classic.

For starters, the animation. I mean, just look at Spike and the way they animate his fighting (yes I am aware that this gif is from the movie, but that still doesn’t change my point). The sequences in the show/film have been reused in many other shows and for good reason. It’s good, incredible, actually and they make him look so badass with just a few hand movements. I was consistently impressed with the way the fight scenes were portrayed and wasn’t ever left underwhelmed or disappointed (or, for that matter, feeling like they completely over exaggerated/overcompensated the scene with huge close-ups and tons of debris and lights). I loved watching this and my heart was always pounding with every intense interaction. I didn’t feel bored during any of the episodes and always found myself laughing when they cracked a joke—pretty much all of their funny lines hit and that’s saying something, dude.

The show, while having a lighthearted surface, has a heavy meaning that you don’t see at first glance. It’s about dealing with grief and loss, and how the characters themselves accomplished that in different ways. The most prominent quote is the biggest indication of its moral “you’re gonna carry that weight”. Basically: ‘You’ve gotta pick up your baggage, because the world moves on, with or without you’. Or ‘You’re going to carry that weight whether you like it or not, because life keeps going’. When I figured out the show’s actual message, while staring at my ceiling in the long hours of the night, I almost cried. This realization brought something entirely different to the table, a new understanding of the show’s characters and overall essence.

The main characters, all of them, had depth. They had real, palpable depth, and even if you didn’t want to care you found yourself seriously interested in their lives. Each of them had relatively shitty pasts. Faye with her lost memories, Spike with Julia and the people who fucked him over, Jet with his old flame and the ISSP, Ed and her/his father... throughout the entire show we got to see how all of them dealt with these things, whether they wanted to continue on with life or not. The way they portrayed it was engaging, because the characters individual, contrasting journeys weren’t repetitive or one note. The beauty that the show holds so achinging close to its core, the layers of grief that the characters are wrapped in so delicately is almost suffocatingly real—because they’re all different. It’s something you discover when you think on the subject in a deeper light, which is another reason why I enjoy it so much. It has both a surface story and a deeper one. You can either take the show at face value or choose to understand the underlying moral.

This show inspired my very first, thoroughly fleshed out OC, and continues to inspire me to this day. It has contributed to my own personal growth, and has helped push me to continue my art and writing. It is beautifully written, beautifully executed and even though some of the episodes seem like filler, it has never disappointed me. I rewatch it all the time because there’s something so infinitely refreshing about the beauty of this anime, whether it be the way we watch the characters develop or the overall moral it portrays. This show has given us a message that is essentially timeless, it can be ‘carried’ through generation after generation, and still have the same impact—something I absolutely fucking adore.

I owe so much to this anime, including my very own artistic development. I discovered it during a really shitty time in my life and I couldn’t have asked for better timing. I will never tire of the bittersweet message or the thoroughly fucking fantastic animation. Everyone who contributed to this masterpiece deserves love, because it’s seriously fucking gold.

[nathanielhoover]

Also, I take off my shoes as soon as I get in the house.

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[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 88

Sophia, the day after her conversation with Tyche.

Thank you to @satan-parisienne and @baelpenrose for keeping me going and on an even keel! Sorry the Author’s Note is so short... I didn’t realize until I had about 10 mins before I had to be back at work that I forgot to queue this for today *facepalm*

The next day was an entire education on new places I could be sore. A hot shower and analgesics only took the barest edge off, and I ended up needing a transport to get to my office instead of my routine walk. I did my best to ignore the grin on Conor’s face every time I moved too fast and winced.  After the third time I scowled at him, I brought up my datapad and did some research, careful not to tap my legs as I gestured, which had become something of a habit.

 “That snot,” I gasped. Conor glanced at me, so I clarified. “Tyche had me doing fencing footwork yesterday…. Intermediate footwork, it turns out. No wonder I’m so sore.”

 “Least it wasn’t sparring,” he pointed out cheerfully, gently lifting my chin to get a look at my lip.  “You should have let Noah heal that, love.”

 I brushed my cheek against his hand. “I want the reminder. May even let her do it again once it heals.”

 This time, it was his turn to scowl. “Not funny.  That face has been bruised enough for one lifetime.” He gently rubbed my cheek as the transport stopped. “Okay, time to go be the boss.  No fighting with the other kids.”  Despite the joking tone, his eyes were serious as he leaned in to kiss me before he headed to his shift.

 I realized that Alistair not only beat me to work, but could apparently hear me groaning as I tried to walk, because the door opened before I was even within three feet of it.  True to form, he gave me an appraising look before his expression settled on my face. “Door get a bit mouthy today? Or did your feet decide you needed to stay home?”

 “Tyche punched me, actually.” My tone was light as I inched my way to my desk. “For defending myself. And then she decided I need more ways to defend myself, so now I can hardly move.”

 “Solid logic,” he deadpanned as he handed me a cup of coffee. “I feel obliged to point out that the coffee is hot, seeing as you display a disturbing propensity to get hurt.”

 “Very funny.”

 “You have been warned, et cetera, so on, so forth.” He waved a hand nonchalantly as he turned, bringing up my agenda for the day. “Your first meeting is the one to discuss medical testing ethics, criteria for volunteers, and determination of the necessity of the procedures. Then you have time set aside to review the status of the Galactic Core Curriculum, along with proposals for expanded learning topics and their existing analogues in the education systems of other planets - “ He paused and tilted his head. “I will never cease to be caught off guard when sentences like that exist.”

 I restrained the urge to nod - or more accurately, my back twinged with a warning not to even consider it. “Believe me, I understand. Noah and I were talking about other species a few weeks ago. Did you know there is a species of avians out there who essentially live on a planet with no surface atmosphere?”

 “The Preeyar, yes,” he sighed wistfully. “Knowing that Fermi was simply impatient has been quite eye-opening, so to speak.”

“Well, he wasn’t wrong,” I conceded. “We were too young for extraterrestrial civilizations, we weren’t listening properly, they apparently weren’t trying to contact us until recently…  But they do exist.” A smile crept on my face at the idea that we really hadn’t been alone in the universe.

My office door opened without warning, and a familiar voice chimed in as Alistair turned with clenched fists. “I do argue that we are entirely too dangerous to have been contacted.” Arthur Farro stood leaning against the frame, and Alistair relaxed marginally. “At least we were until relatively recently…. Throwing nuclear ordinance at each other the moment killing each other in the thousands - rather than the millions - stopped scratching that vicious itch. Who does that?  We’re like demented eight-year-olds who got bored of burning ants and started setting each other’s hair on fire instead.”

“You really should keep that door secured,” my assistant sniffed as he closed out my agenda, right around the time he caught Arthur squinting at it.

“He has the code,” I admitted.

“Or maybe that was accidental,” our resident history teacher continued, ignoring us. “I’m a big fan of assuming stupidity instead of malice where possible.  And, dear lord, does our track record make it plausible.”  Finally entering the room, he flicked a finger at my face. “That was not, however.”

Before I could stop him, Alistair took one glance between me and my friend, and strode to the door. “No.”

“Alistair…”

“I’ll clear your calendar. No. Have a good day.”

“What the fuck were you thinking?” Arthur asked as the door closed behind my soon-to-be-ex assistant.

“That he’s a coward,” I muttered.

“You know damned well that’s not what I mean.”

“Tyche already decked me.” I gestured at my split lip and the bruise that bloomed on my chin overnight. “So, yeah, I know - “

“No, you really don’t seem to.”

“Arthur, stop.”

“I will not.” He stepped forward and placed both his hands, palms down, on my desk.  He knew I hated that gesture. “Bjornson’s entire narrative hinges on you being more dangerous than anyone realizes, and you putting up a display of false helplessness to make everyone trust you.  By decking one of his followers, not only did you show that you do, in fact, have violence in you - meaning that it’s now entirely plausible you’re as Machiavellian as they claim - but you’ve also gone and indicated for whatever reason that Jokull is enough of a threat to drop that premise.” Straightening, he crossed his arms in clear disappointment. “If you wanted to give him more credibility, good job. You succeeded.”

I swallowed every bit of hurt I felt at his words, reminding myself they were nowhere near as barbed as the ones Tyche had given me the day before. Instead, I tilted my head and arched an eyebrow at him. “Are you done? Did you say everything you needed to say?” I paused, giving him a chance to respond. When he didn’t, I poked harder. “Feel better?”

“Not particularly, but big picture? I’m not a terribly gleeful person, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. But yes, it is your turn now.”

“Gracious of you,” I cooed sarcastically.  “Tyche made the same points yesterday, after punching me in the face, with the added gravitas of a guilt trip served with that special seasoning of having watched me almost die and thinking I abandoned her as a child. Also three hours with a rapier, whipping my ass. So. Far more impressive, I assure you.”

“Foiled again by the smaller Reid,” he sighed dramatically before catching himself.  “Rapier, you say? I was going to say no pun intended, but I’ve decided I did that on purpose. Yep. Totally intentional.”

I rolled my eyes before pulling up my tunic to show the bruises on my midriff. “I’m not very good at it, for the record.”

He waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t worry, saber’s a better style anyway.  And I’m not just saying that because it’s my favorite.”

“Uh huh,” I nodded, not entirely convinced. “As far as Bjornson… seriously. She gave me the scoop.  I seriously fubared the entire situation yesterday.  Apparently, our suspected cult leader only believes in physical attacks on those who would defend themselves. No honor in beating a beaten foe, et cetera.”

“Mmm hmmm,” he nodded, like I was a student he was letting reach her own conclusion.

“Which means I just made it open season on Sophias,” I groaned.

“Really, saber is much better for brawling tactics,” he hedged.

I laughed bitterly. “Doesn’t matter.  My walking privileges are revoked until further notice. Must be accompanied by one of six people, or two out of another ten, and on a transport.” The last word came out like a profanity.  It was a known fact I hated using them.

Hence why I was now being forced to, unfortunately.

“If you think there is any possibility that I’m going to argue against Tyche on that decision, I need to talk to her about that head scan,” he told me pointedly. “Then again, you and I have different definitions of the word ‘think’, but I’ll be clear - it’s not happening.  Moving target, faster than a walking pace, with a protective attachment? Which roster am I on, again?”

“Very funny. You already know.”

His expression softened slightly when he realized I was actually upset. “There is some good news in all of this.”

I threw up my hands and spun in my chair. “Oh, do tell, great military historian and warlord. What is the shining silver lining to the fact that I just gave a man who thinks I am the only thing standing between him and his New Start a golden ticket to sic his followers on me?”

“Okay, first off, sassy shit, my main career is a school teacher. I only moonlighted as a warlord to pay those apocalypse bills. Not my fault I was good at it.” Suddenly, he got serious. “The good new is, if he was too stupid to realize that your talent for inspiring loyalty meant you were a massive problem for any takeover plan, and a problem he’d have to deal with sooner or later….. Well, he’s probably too stupid to keep his little cult together much longer.  Leaders who don’t recognize more than one kind of strength never manage to build a lasting legacy.”

“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair…” I said, half to myself.

“Yeah, our guy is no Ramses II,” Arthur replied.  “Besides, those who seek power are rarely good at keeping it.”

“I would have given him my seat on the Council if he’d just asked,” I admitted.

“Besides the fact that you literally just proved my point, if he was suited to the Council, he’d be on it.  It’s not like you were the only candidate.”

I shrugged. “No idea. I didn’t even know I was on the Council for the first week. I think it was a week.”

When I turned to look at him, I was met with a flat stare. “I know it was explained to you at some point.  How does that search function work?” He reached forward like he was going to tap my head before I swatted his hand away. “You were appointed to the Council to replace Simon, you represent a specific population on board the Ark, when we arrive at Von, you will serve an additional two planetary standard years before elections are held, of which you cannot be a candidate….”

Ugh. “I was put forward as a recommendation by Simon. The other Councillors put forward their candidates. The population I represent voted based on my personnel file, since no one even knew any of the candidates at that point. We’d only been on the Ark about six months. Some of us, anyway.” Glaring, I narrowed my eyes at him. “I don’t know how you figured that out, but I have a feeling I’m going to kill someone.”

He waved a hand at me in a very familiar gesture. “I see other people do it all the time. Jog your memory, and some phrase or word triggers it.  Cool to watch, though.” With a shrug, he continued. “Point is, Bjornson wasn’t even a candidate, same as me.”

“How do you know that?” I asked incredulously.

“Fuck, Sophia. You really need to keep track of your constituents.”

“Hey, I didn’t even want to be a - Wait. You are one of my so-called ‘constituents’!?”

“Even voted for you,” he grinned.  “Didn’t know it was you-you, but… Communications background, peaceful but intelligent attributes to balance out our resident warhawk, fair enough to offset Huynh, and you seemed like the type to actually listen to Grey, Pranav, and Eino.” He shrugged. “To be fair, I was right.”

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[beneaththetangles]

A Ryvius Advent

Advent, the time of year in which Christians commemorate Christmas by looking forward to it in anticipation, as well as to Christ’s return, is upon us. We hope that we can help you participate and get into the “Christmas spirit” through our blog as we do our traditional Christmas posts. Consider signing up for our newsletter as we gear up for the season, and following along here on the blog as well with posts like today’s, which kicks off the season is a most appropriate way.

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Infinite Ryvius (Mugen no Ryvius), Goro Taniguchi´s Lord of the Flies meets Lost in Space, is without doubt one of my favorite shows. Yet, I must warn you: It is not an easy one to watch. Its slow burn starts with the focus on the people-pleaser protagonist, Kouji Aiba—a guy who finds it uncool to hang out with anyone who has known him for a long time, his estranged brother Yuki, and their bossy childhood friend Aoi. But soon it expands its scope to perhaps twenty or so very interesting youngsters aboard the Liebe Delta, a starship academy for future space cadets, left without adults after a strange accident (or is it?), and through them, encompasses an entire teen society which grows, fights, suffers, and evolves with every episode, always waiting for rescue.

That is the starting point of a journey that will take its protagonists through hard decisions about survival and violence, war, lies, fears and betrayal, the collapse of social norms, emotional and mental breakdown, and repeated moral failure in what I found to be a very atypical, honest story full of quasi Eva-like angst and misfortune.

What’s worse is that you do not even have a Gendo to blame here, either for how frustratingly Kouji acts nor for anything else. There are adults and dangers outside, but they are not the focus. Instead, it’s on the kids. From the kindhearted teen hero to the bright model student, from the Vulcanian-like brainy to the loud representative, from the weak-willed fat boy to the “bad girl,” from the silent gang leader to the space princess (sort of), they are as flawed as they are relatable, and truly dangerous to each other in their own ways. And the consequences of their sins and errors are not small, not here. What follows has been aptly described as an ascent/descent into hell.

Why watch it, then? Why suffer? For one, its characters are (in my view) fascinating, and their occasional ugliness, and that of the situation, is how we gradually come to see something genuine and hopeful about them. They may start as archetypes, but they suffer, evolve, interact, struggle, and surprise me, for better and for worse. No matter how minor their roles, they all have something to say, and quite frequently they are things I hadn’t heard before from characters like these. The story does not whitewash their flaws, but neither does it give up on them when they fail (and boy, do they fail). The comparison with The Lord of the Flies may be the first thing that comes to mind, but if you go along, you will receive, one after another, signs that things may go differently here. It is not only the primal they confront, but also the supernatural; not only the evil in them, but the good. And I have come to understand enough about myself to know that I´m pretty much like Hikki Hachiman: I thirst to know the human heart, of others and mine, and I often find hope in it.

More than that, Mugen no Ryvius is a show firmly interested in what is good and evil, right and wrong, just and unjust, much like Bokurano or Serial Experiments Lain. It takes its premise seriously, and it makes every effort to show us that everyone is connected. This principle is personified in the character of the Girl in Pink, the soul of the starship, an observer who wanders around learning about its inhabitants, sometimes talking with them, sometimes helping them, sometimes unveiling what is beneath the surface, she herself connected to the deeper mysteries of the ship. And, as I have loved reading about the evolution of fictional societies and regimes since I first read Plato´s terrific (in both senses of the word) Republic in Philosophy class, the self-contained nature of the community which is described, the elegant way in which everything is presented and the 26 episodes that give us plenty of time to know everything about everyone make this a very enjoyable story, even if sometimes you have to just endure it.

There is even more. Ryvius is not only a psychological thriller or a social experiment. It is a tale of discernment and heroism, but not only that either. Much as in Taniguchi´s Planetes, its themes and symbology go all the way to the philosophical and the spiritual, in this case with the salvation of all humanity literally at stake. The characters are largely unaware of this larger plot—they are busy enough as it is—except for some weird encounters they experience here and there, but we get to see it through the Girl in Pink. The story has something to say about who we are to each other, and about sacrifice, sin and delusion, and also about the meaning of hope and love in this fallen world. Thus, it connects with the themes of Advent, the time when we remember the long wait for Christ during the long ages of Israel, the longing of the human heart for Him in the reign of sin, the promises of the prophets and the difficult and specific, strange, miraculous yet discreet circumstances in which the fulfillment of that hope was prepared when the time came.

But, God being the Lord of the Living, this period is not only one of remembrance. It is also the time when we try to better dispose our hearts so that His coming here and now can touch us more deeply. It’s becoming a challenging, tiring Advent for me, both professionally and personally, so these days I am fasting a bit, trying to bring to mind the hope of Christmas and of the future and meditating on the readings of Isaiah and John the Baptist, Joseph, and Mary. Because Advent is also the time when we look to the future from the hardships of this world and renew our hope that He will come back, that rescue is coming. That there is a second, hidden story in my life too, and it encompasses and explains the one I see. It is something of a funny coincidence that the hardest part of the Ryvius story comes also at December, a December in space.

I think that is as far as I can go speaking only in general, so spoilers ahead. Ryvius is full of twists and turns, so you have been warned.

Episode 23 is probably the show at is bleakest. Just an episode or two before, the violence, the egoism, the anarchy, the malevolence, the ill will, the disorder and the laziness have reached its peak, and a friend has been scarred. The sins of the little society—unbeknownst to them, a literally chosen people, because the Ryvius is the only hope for humanity to escape the Second Solar Flare, and no crew has ever been able to make it react—are just too many, and they are punished. It is the logical consequence, and even I was hoping for it. Our heroes experience a mutual emotional breakdown, unable to comfort each other. And hurt and bitter, the courageous and kind Ikumi turns into a tyrant by threats and sheer force, threatening to destroy entire sections of the starship if he is not immediately given unconditional obedience. Like the Leviathan of Hobbes, he demands absolute power to prevent the kids to becoming wolves for each other. With Yuki and the rest of the mecha aces on his side, those aboard are forced to comply.

His first decision is to reinstate the gang of Airs Blue, that other interesting tyrant, back from prison as the police force, a role than they clearly enjoy. Shortly after, order is restored, but in such a way the ship starts to feel like an occupied country. Violence is not as overt as it was, but it is there. And maybe all that would be at least an improvement on the previous anarchy, were not that his main advisor is the ultimate schemer of the Zwei group, Heiger, who has been given free hands to engage in his social engineering projects and protect this Pax Romana until the number of violent incidents is zero.

Shortly after, people are sorted by ability and separated (well, either that, or if Heiger thinks you a subversive element, sent straight to Class F, which includes pretty much every important character who is not part of the regime). Juli Bahana, the voice of empathy and reason, is expelled from the bridge for objecting (more specifically, for objecting without providing a feasible alternative), and sent to Class F. So is her ever-jealous friend Ran, who has undermined her in every way she could. His crime is violently protesting that the little kid aboard, Pat, has been sent to Class F too (well, says Heiger, naturally, he is not useful by any objective standard). Fina S. Shinozaki, the beautiful pagan priestess/cult leader who preaches the false Gospel of making yourself a new you of your own design, is leading the course of the ship, which now points toward her planet.

When all the new residents of Class F are in their area, a new surprise comes. Unbeknownst to Ikumi, Heiger, who is losing it a bit, blocks the area and switches the lights off. They are left without food or a way out. In his reasoning, these people are not useful, the lowest of the low, and everything that is given to them is a waste. Many of them, conscious of their crimes or their lack of ability, even recognize it is only natural that they would end up at Class F. So there they are, our most pathetic characters, in the darkness. Jealous Ran, indecisive Juli, feeble and treacherous Charlie (sorry, I mean Good Turtleland the Third), femme fatale Criff, bratty Nicks, people-pleaser Kouji, messy and bossy Aoi, loud Lucson, spoiled Pat, the lazy couple who stole points, even the creepy psycho who “protects” Charlotte—all there.

When someone lights a lantern, and it turns out that Lucson was stealing food, so he decides to share it, not without boasting about his “keen foresight.” The last, the not useful, the dispossessed, the guilty thus share the little they have, and sit around the light. Somehow, a curious joy starts to permeate them, and someone asks out of the blue, “It is almost Christmas, isn’t it?”

What it is is December 13rd, the birthday of the youngest member of the crew, Pat Campbell. His father and mother figure are beside him. Lucson may be an incompetent, a liar, and a vain leader, but he has taken good care of Pat, to the point of showing that he is willing to take a beating in his place, and has tried to set example for him in his own clumsy way. Juli may be indecisive and her renouncing as captain of the ship may have played a part in the present state of things, but she has cared for the kid from the first moment. The Girl of Pink is attracted towards that light they share, not towards the bridge, and it´s no wonder. The bleakness of Ryvius disappears for a couple of minutes, and there is a warm light instead. This is the moment in which she speaks to Kouji and stops being an observer, providing hope, a way out. Literally, there is a path.

The darkness will strike twice again in this very episode and the hardest part of this journey of purification is still ahead, but we have seen a glimpse of where it leads. As viewers, we can have hope. Kouji still has to carry his own Cross, his own Gethsemane, and beyond. Aoi will share it all with him. We will still suffer before we reach the end. But for now, there is light. There is a sign of something beyond the madness the Ryvius has fallen into, something that reaches these broken sinners suffering the consequences of their own errors and makes them one, even so.

While darkness and poverty have united Class F, the powerful, the strong and the wise in the terms of the ship are not so lucky. Ikumi cannot participate in the feast. After all, he is locked in his palace—the officials bedroom—with his own thoughts, increasing his own power, worried, navigating his inner traumas, working to stop even the littlest of crimes aboard while the tyrannical system he has created causes others he does not detect. He wants his Pax Romana no matter the means, and even if he is not mistaken about what is right, he is wrong about placing all hope in his own hands, and about the darkness of his own heart. Like Herod (though younger, more desperate and driven by fear and trauma), he may resort even to murder. Neither can Kozue, who has made the conscious decision to play into Ikumi´s trauma to have someone who will provide her affection, and literally shut the door to everything and everyone else.

Neither can Yuki, our punk Pharisee, who never loses an opportunity to point how weak-willed, despicable, low and inauthentic his elder brother is, usually with a punch or two to show him.  Even if he is Kouji´s younger brother, he is no doubt like the older brother of the parable, only substituting obedience to the father to doing what he pleases without external influence. He also wants acknowledgement for his achievements. Nor Heiger, who is busy with the census of his new empire, sending every member of the Ryvius community to the place where he belongs to, in his opinion, and worshiping efficiency like he always wanted to. Heiger´s terrified reaction to the unknown, in the form of the Lovecraftian/Ghiblian space beasts, shows us how self-enclosed in the works of his own hands he is at this point of the story: His own cleverness has blinded him to this hope.

But if Ikumi is traumatized, Heiger is a materialist, and Yuki is just doing what he feels vaguely good about, someone is searching for a spiritual meaning in the circumstances. And the meaning she finds is evil. That is Fina S, Shinozaki, the young cult leader/priestess of Mother Arne, a pagan deity who considers letting your past behind and rebuilding yourself from zero as the first moral imperative, adapts to every situation quickly and cleverly, considers Ikumi to be a war god, and believes the Universe will help you if you desire things strongly enough. Behind the bizarre elements of this space cult (you know, those pesky Uranians), there is a very familiar philosophy: Be the center of everything, project a perfect illusion, become powerful no matter the situation, delete from your life those people and parts of yourself you don´t like, always be determined, and get what you want.

Villainous as Fina is, I cannot but feel compassion for her, as she is farther away from hope than the rest, and suffers without it. When hurt, she tries to kill the same person whose love she longs for: she wants to prevent him from applying her own philosophy to her and letting her in his past. When heartbroken, she tries to force her smile like a mask. When her acts get her scarred, she wonders if she is not as virtuous as she should be. The philosophy of becoming your own creator not only destroy you, but also tells you that it´s your fault, for not wanting to be free and happy strongly enough. So I truly pity her, and this broken age of ours, too. In a silent alliance with the Girl in Pink, Kouji will risk everything to confront all four, like John the Baptist, and call them to repent.

So at this time of the year, we should also prepare for what is to come—the fights as well as the rescue, the present as well as the future. The joy of the feast and the time of waiting. In the midst of our daily struggles and sufferings, of the problems of the world, we may take a step back to reflect and pray, try to hear the call, think about the meaning of what is happening, share the little we have, remove the obstacles, acknowledge who we are, repent. Take perspective on the things of the world. Give others the comfort and hope they need. Be brave. And help those who are not useful for us, even those who have hurt us, for we are connected, aboard the same ship. And those far from Class F, locked anywhere, need Christmas too, and dearly: Their hearts thirst just like ours.

And miraculously, there is a path.

=====

Mugen no Ryvius can be acquired at Amazon.

[proxymothh]

Since Jack gave his honest opinions about Life Is Strange 2, I wanted to give mine and talk about some of the things he did.

(Spoilers ahead)

It should be noted that I’m Hispanic and the oldest of my siblings so I could be biased but oh well haha.

I really really really REALLY liked that game, possibly as much or maybe even more than the first LiS game. It just spoke to me more, I suppose. I loved the music and the art style, the characters, and the story, and I like the way they handled racism towards Mexicans and since that was one of the bigger things Sean spoke about, I’ll start with that.

The racism.

In my opinion, the racism was handled extremely well. It was very realistic and whenever it happened it made me very uncomfortable and angry and yeah, it was good. Jack talked about how it seemed like it was just thrown to us without warning and just dropped until the next time and well... yeah that’s kinda the point?

That’s how it happens, you’re walking through the store and suddenly you’re called a beaner and told to go back to your own country. They spit at you and move on... and that’s what you do too. Wipe the spit away and just move on with your shopping. Obviously there’s times where it gets out of hand and stuff but the game handled day to day racism really well, and that’s all it really was save for the extremists at the end in the last episode.

Since the character you’re playing as is in fact, a Mexican, he’s not going to sit and talk or think about the racism he receives unless someone asks. Sure he can get angry and upset about it but the point I’m assuming the game wants to get to you is that it happens enough that it’s just a day in the life of a person of color and it happens more than it should.

There really isn’t a need to expand upon the topic, it really is just “hey look, this is how hard poc have it. If you really care and want to do more, research it on your own” also I feel like if they dove more into racism and politics than they already have, it would’ve been boring or annoying to some. It’s really just a gateway, if you want to know more or help, look up real life facts rather than explanations from a video game, and I think they peeked an interest on the topic for a lot of people. Like Jack even said that he wants to know more and understand it better... so I think they did a good job.

The powers being more of a burden than a blessing and not using them enough topic.

Again... that’s kinda the point? Rather than having the powers as the main character, it’s up to a ten year old boy to do anything supernatural. He’s a kid, he wants to be grown, not to mention going through some serious trauma. I don’t know how much y’all know about psychology but trauma and an underdeveloped mind don’t exactly make for good decision making. And this goes for Sean too! He’s 16, watched his dad die, has to take care and help raise his supernatural brother all that. He’s still a kid as well, it’s just harder to see that since he had to grow up REAL fast on the road.

They’re going to make decisions that just seem right in the heat of the moment, because they’re kids and they’re scared. It’s harder to see the reasoning behind it since you’re not in the situation, and an adult. The game tries really hard to try and put you in their shoes but that being said... it’s a game and it’s hard to take seriously, that’s really just depends on how into it you are.

Daniel will sometimes do what he wants but overall he’ll listen to Sean, who you control.

The not using the powers more thing is honestly on Jack more than anything, that’s just how is playthrough went because he was kind and careful and didn’t let Daniel do anything too crazy he played it safe and realistic (as you can get with superpowers lol) which determined the ending he got... which he didn’t like.

If you would’ve let Daniel go ape shit things would’ve been different, so that ones on you my dude.

Quick final thoughts.

The whole Mexico thing seemed really reasonable to me, they had a house there, they wouldn’t be in legal trouble there and to a 16 and 10 year old that seems a lot better than facing jail and getting seperated. Stupid to a fully developed mind? Yes. But to scared little boys? No. Again, it’s really just down to putting yourself in their shoes, which isn’t always easy in a video game.

The too much teen drama thing is one of the things I agree with Jack on. But again... it’s kinda what makes a LiS game, corny teen drama. And Jack could’ve had less of it but again, during the weed farm arc he choose to let Sean be a teen thus making... drama. It’s always gonna be there but you have a choice to tone it down.

The cult thing was really weird but desert cults are like a real life issue so eh...??? I could’ve gone without it but I suppose that’s a fun introduction to Karen.

Meeting people cool people on the road and saying goodbye is kinda the point of running away or just traveling like that. People have their own goals and often just move on from each other.

Jack didn’t like the ending but again, that’s on him, there are others lol.

The choices are more important than you think.

Anyway I think that’s all I have to say about that game and just talking about the things Jack talked about. Kinda sad that he didn’t like the game but I get it, and I’m happy he played it anyway. Sorry this was so long but thanks to those that read it! I really loved this game and I’m glad I got to experience it!

[migstheruler]

PLaystation 5 Event

initially great, despite the horrible pre-orders ordeal.

On Sept. 16, 2020, Sony pulled back the curtain on another slew of details regarding the PS5.

1.       The PlayStation 5 releases on November 12th, 2020 in Japan, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and the United States (why these states, only Sony knows even though I think it’s because of their distinct market in each of these countries).

2.       The PlayStation 5 releases everywhere else on November 19, 2020.

3.       The PlayStation 5 launches at $399.99 for the digital edition and $499.99 for the disc-based edition.

*IF backward compatibility with the PS4 is important to you, I’d recommend the disc-based PS5. Sony execs have confirmed 99% of PS4 games are compatible with their new Flagship console.

   The event also gave us a look into some new games coming to the PS5 for launch as well as games we can expect during the first year of the PlayStation 5’s life cycle. Honestly tho, I think some of those games indicating they were launching during 2021 is a lie. You mean to tell me you’re going to launch Horizon, God of War 2, Final Fantasy 16 all in one year…..really… If these games were dique going to launch in 2021, you would think they would have had at least a working demo or something, instead of a teaser trailer with the games logo…but I digress, I’ll touch on this later.

 Below are a few games showed that caught my eye and I just had to write about them.

Overall, Sony’s PS5 presentation was a good one, with all the information we as consumers were asking for since June and 10/10 would watch again (I’ve seen the presentation 4 times already (twice to write this piece 😊)).  

The presentations started with a trailer showing a slew of different games coming to the PlayStation five system, most games we covered in https://migstheruler.com/post/620830163010240512/ps5-reveal-event but just when you thought this was another trailer, boom!!!

Final Fantasy 16

A nice mix of old and new: as if the folks from Final Fantasy 11 and 12 made a 15 esque type game.

Shiva the ice goddess is back, and looking deadlier than ever throwing out chilly ice crystals sure to cause anyone level seven frostbite

Who´s a good boy? This little pup looks ready to be pet and given treats.

 It looks like our trusty steeds the Chocobos are back, hopefully, they are more useful this time around )I’m looking at you final fantasy seven episode one)

Marlboros are looking as menacing as ever.

 Final Fantasy 16 was pretty unexpected to be honest, especially given final fantasy seven episodes one releasing a few months ago. However, it’s a nice surprise to see Square Soft jk Square Enix working on a new Final Fantasy game, especially one that likes to expand upon the action RPG elements (Think kingdom hearts series or final fantasy 15 and even 7).  Aesthetically, this is giving me hardcore fantasy elements with realism thrown in there.

Either way, what a great way to start off the presentation.

  Spiderman Miles Morales:

Next up, Sony gives us a seven-minute look into Spiderman Miles Morales, which expands upon 2018’s PS4 Spiderman. Sony has said this is not a direct sequel but instead a look to further expand upon the world through the eyes of Miles Morales. The graphics and presentation of this game are sure to entice any spiderman man. The lighting coupled with Mile’s powers makes this game a visual PS5 treat.

 Last time we saw Miles, he had just shown Peter Parker he too had powers to which Peter Parker joined him upon the ceiling, it was a bonding moment the two spider-men would have. Fast forward maybe a year (I’m not sure how much time has passed since the last spiderman game) we are thrusted into the shoes of Miles Morales.

  “Mom I’m home” Can we take a moment to appreciate my man’s line up here, dam that shit looks crispy.

Walking through Harlem, music playing, and folks dancing Salsa in the street. I’m not going to lie, this made me cheese from ear to ear.

This is what I expect to encounter when I have to mediate between clients ready to rip each other apart in a gory fashion (above).  

 Okay, knowing how strong spiderman is, I fully expect the dude’s Jaw to be broken after this power punch.

I forgot to mention (above) Miles can turn Invisible and has access to electric powers (below) sure to spruce up and affect the way Miles plays. I can only imagine a focus less on gadgets and more of an emphasis on Miles’ powers.

Although I know this game stars a new spiderman aka Miles Morales, the developers sure are making sure we know  we’re not playing with Peter Parker anymore.

“Insert obligatory spiderman being pulled from different directions trope here” I’m not even going to front; this image is pretty cool.

Lastly, how dope is this launch title? It is one of the first games I plan to beat on my PS5.

-          I do want to say one thing regarding this title. I think it’s pretty great from a representation perspective to see a Black and Puerto Rican spiderman. Representation matters. I’m not Puerto Rican but am Latino and I do appreciate the flags littered throughout the trailer, folks dancing salsa and overall, Miles Morales as a character.

One gripe I have with this game unfortunately is Sony’s anti-consumer stance regarding those that purchased 2018’s Spiderman. Folks that purchase the Deluxe Spiderman Miles Morales edition for $79.99 get both Spiderman Miles Morales and a supped-up version of 2018’s spiderman for the PS5, yet Sony hasn’t extended an olive branch to those of us that supported their 2018 game (even making it one of their best sellers). IF you want to play Spiderman Miles Morales, you can cop it for a cool $49.99 which is dope but doesn’t include any type of upgrade for those of us with the PS4 version of spiderman. Honestly, as someone that doesn’t plan on playing the game again but it’s pretty anti-consumer to not even offer some type of benefit to those PS4 supporters. Here’s to hoping they offer some type of upgrade via a patch to the PS4 spiderman.

·       Turns out the game will run natively better on the PS5 given the consoles superior power but for a truly next gen 2018 Spiderman experience, you gotta pay those $69.99 duckats.  

   Looks Like we’re going back to Hogwarts and I’m not talking about Fantastic Beasts or Harry Potter. We received our first look (aside from the leak that was released last year). In Hogwarts Legacy, we go back to the late 1800s to visit the Wizards of the Waverly place (I think I said this right, I’ve only seen the Harry Potter movies once all the way through). Either way, it looks like they managed to capture the magic of Hogwatz. The walls of Hogwarts look alive, books flying all over the place and magic spewing from cauldrons of unknown potions.

 Our journey begins going back to Hogwarts with a cool looking Owl to boot.    

 The sorting hat is back babi, it seems like this is a create your own character adventure, where we as the player will get to customize our very own character, sure to get into whatever wizardly fun is to be found.  Team Slytherin all day!! JK, I’m team Gryffindor babi. But really tho, I have no idea what school I’d be assigned too.

  In both of these pictures, its quite remarkable the little details you see; the more you look, the more you see. Did you see the candles above, or the candlelight below

Looks like our boys are cooking up work in the kitchen aka cauldron. I’d also like to bring attention to the lighting, truly impressive.  Time to eat some delicious grub with my fellow wizards!! (Below)

 Looks like we’ll be facing a litany of different monsters and foes. I know with my Avada Kedavra, I’ll be blasting fools like the one below away.

 Dam son, we fighting Dragons out here too, sheesh.

Looks like combat will be a big portion of gameplay as the video showed of a created character fighting some pretty large beasts.

Looks like we’ll be playing quidditch in this game, and I honestly can’t wait.

I sure do hope we’re able to feed these little cuties and pet them.

Looks like this game is open world, as the characters are seen flying on Griffins across the vista. They draw distances in this game are spectacular.

Hogwarts Legacy launches in 2021.

 *JK Rowling has no involvement with this game and that’s a good thing given her recent problematic statements.

  Demon Souls

Full disclosure, I bought demon souls for the PS3 back in the day but unfortunately, did not stick with the game. It was fun and I would proceed to play other From Software and souls genre games in the future such as Sekiro, Bloodborne and Nioh to name a few. But here we have Bluepoint games remaking the PS3 Cult Classic and precursor to the Souls Genre. I for one am super excited to jump back in and try my hand again at Demon Souls.

 This place here is the game’s main hub that allows you to access other portions of the world map. IT’s nice to see it in all it’s HD Glory.

Our Player is borne anew: Rise from your grave!!! JK, this isn’t a Sega title.

The environments look super luscious and literal indistinguishable from concept art. The leaves, lighting, and armor are truly a beautiful sight to see.  (Below) 

Nothing like chilling by a bonfire, although if you’re new to the genre, every time you heal at these bon fires, all the enemies you spent tirelessly fighting repopulate.

Call me crazy but in the original, players from other games could leave each other messages written in blood, as a way to help each other out. It looks like this concept is making a comeback this time around.  

 Dragons are so hot right now…. (insert Zoolander Gif here)

If you have ever played a souls game, you know this is something you can expect to see even in your dreams. I remember going to bed thinking how an enemy boss had beaten me 13-times in a row, only to go to bed thinking and imaging different strategies on how I could kill the foe standing between me and the game's progress.

The gameplay looks faster than the original but the difficult elements remain prevalent. The player is seen mowing down enemies which seems a bit off given the extreme difficulty of the PS3 game. But this could be Bluepoint addressing the sometimes-outrageous difficulty by making it more appealing to casuals.

Launch Title!!!!

 God of War Ragnarök:

Last time we saw our heroes, Kratos and Atreus were shacked up in their home when they receive a visit from a mysterious visitor brandishing what looks like Mjolnir on his waist.  The game ended in a great cliff hanger and is sure to improve on the many aspects the PS4 game

Get the fuck out of here. Sony decided to drop a nuclear ton warhead on us with the teaser trailer of God of War Ragnarok, a sequel to the PS4’s God of War.  Although they did not show any game play, they did manage to build the hype with the screen below:  

And then to top off the trailer the list the following with a supposed 2021 release date which I think is highly unlikely but, we will see. Either way, “we must prepare”.

   Sadly, when the presentation ended, pre-orders went live . We were told by Sony that we would have ample time to prepare to pre-order, nothing but the contrary occured. I was one of the unlucky folks who failed to obtain his PS5 preorder despite having the funds to do so. Here’s to hoping I’m able to secure a pre-order prior to the Nov 12 launch. I did manage to get a PS5 camera which is a must for me since I like to stream games online, it’s really quite addicting. Check out my channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiazQqSufhmIGo2a7odLOpQ?view_as=subscriber.

I do want to say one thing, I am very fortunate to have the things i’ve accumulated over the years. I know there are people in the world that lack even basic necessities. If you’re reading this, please donate to  cause/fund or organization you beleive in. I know my life’s work is to improve the living conditions of everyone regardless of their creed and that keeps me plenty busy.  

  All images used in this piece were obtained from the source below: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG0G44G6RI8

Credit: IGN 

[intoxicatingimmediacy]

Big Ups: Clipping Pick Their Bandcamp Favorites

“Right from the beginning, we always wanted to make a horror-themed record,” says Jonathan Snipes, a producer in the Los Angeles-based progressive noise-rap trio Clipping, alongside MC Daveed Diggs and fellow beatsmith Bill Hutson. The group’s third project for Sub Pop, There Existed an Addiction to Blood, updates the cult horrorcore hip-hop trend of the mid ‘90s in a thrilling and forward-thinking fashion. It’s a striking and deeply atmospheric record, powered by synth-based sonic experimentalism and grisly concept-focused writing that exudes a sinister and shadowy feel.

There Existed an Addiction to Blood adds to a stellar canon of work that kicked off with Clipping’s introductory midcity mixtape in 2013. “That one was really us learning how to be Clipping, and what we sounded like,” says Hutson, who helped mastermind the project’s metallic, glitch-afflicted beats. On the following year’s debut album, CLPPNG, the crew moved further towards what Hutson calls “dark and noise-tinged instrumentals.” The omission of the letter I in the album title represents the way Diggs avoids rhyming in the first person. Hutson maintains that if much of hip-hop involves MCs rapping about their own lives, Clipping’s music strives to be “a novel, not a memoir.” Case in point: 2016’s Splendor & Misery took shape as an Afrofuturist sci-fi adventure that explored an artificial intelligence world; 2017’s single “The Deep” inspired the author Rivers Solomon to expand the song’s environment into a novella of the same name.

Basing There Existed an Addiction to Blood around horrorcore and gory movies is a natural representation of Clipping’s influences and the way the trio approach writing songs. “Horrorcore is this forgotten and maligned subgenre of hip-hop that we’ve always had a tremendous amount of affection for,” says Hutson. “So much of Clipping is about referencing styles of hip-hop—almost all our songs were conceived as our take on a certain type of rap song—so this horror album was always going to happen.” Snipes adds, “We think of each of these songs as self-contained movie scores of vignettes in a specific genre.”

The original horrorcore movement that inspired Clipping’s latest album was spearheaded by RZA and Prince Paul’s Gravediggaz project, plus artists including Houston’s Ganksta N-I-P, Detroit’s Esham, and New York City’s Flatlinerz. ‘90s horrorcore lyrics were packed with macabre imagery and references to psychological disorders, satanism, and cannibalism; the gruesome verses were often relayed over willfully dank and grimey production. Clipping’s resurrection of the subgenre taps into the same lyrical themes—but this time Digg’s intense verses are backed by marauding waves of monstrous synths, sharp abrasive stabs of discordant noise, and snatches of field recordings that bring a chilling realism to There Existed an Addiction to Blood.

Key song “Run For Your Life” plays out like a frantic short movie. It co-stars Memphis MC La Chat, who used to roll with Three 6 Mafia and the Hypnotize Minds roster back in the ‘90s. “She’s hunting down Daveed and approaching and moving behind him in a car,” says Snipes. “Then in the third verse, we’re fully in the car with her.” To drum up the effect of the protagonist being chased to a bloody demise, Digg’s lyrics are surrounded by constantly shifting ambient noise: The sound of passing cars blasting music and dogs barking literally pulls the listener into the chilling scenario.

The same blend of adventurous production techniques and concept-heavy writing present on Clipping’s latest album also runs through Hutson and Snipes’s Bandcamp recommendations. Blasts of abstract hip-hop lyricism mix with innovative thematic albums and avant-garde film scores, adding up to a smart representation of Clipping’s advanced-level musical DNA.

Bill Hutson

Dax Pierson - Live In Oakland

I first saw Dax Pierson play around 2003, when he was in a group called Subtle that was an Anticon side project with Dose One and Jel. Dax was also the secret weapon of the Themselves project, which was also Dose and Jel, and on tour he’d play keys and finger drum on MPCs. Dax is this compelling, creative performer and composer. This tape came out on Ratskin and it’s from a more recent show—I might have even been at the show! His music is fascinating, almost uncategorizable left-field dance stuff that’s blending all these ideas.

John Wall - Hylic

I was really enamored of improvised music in the early ‘00s, and it’s a lot of what fueled my ravenous collector habit, which came from having to track down these obscure records that came from Japan and Germany and Switzerland and England, where they were only pressing a couple of hundred copies. John Wall is very careful as a computer music composer, and he’d spend years and years cutting up tiny pieces of improvised sounds and turning them into these totally austere and totally alien compositions. I was fascinated by the disparity between how much intention there was behind it and how alien the result sounds. Hylic almost sounds like there’s no human brain making logical choices that would compose this music—it feels like it’s naturally occurring in some way, like you’re listening to the background radiation of the solar system—but there’s also the most extreme version of authorship going into it.

billy woods - Hiding Places

I think billy woods is a fantastic example of this very abstract and angular and strange rapper but with these really strong connections to the history of New York rap. It’s almost like he’s from a different timeline where southern hip-hop didn’t take over the mainstream in the ‘00s and we kept going with Nas and Wu-Tang, and it’s developed into this new form. [Producer] Kenny Segal is a buddy—we’ve toured with him—and he would have been a youngster in the Project Blowed days but came out of the experimental L.A. hip-hop scene that produced Abstract Rude and Freestyle Fellowship and, later with the beatmakers, birthed the whole Low End Theory and Brainfeeder movement. This album is a New York and L.A. collab record that seems to perfectly synthesize two different types of left of center aesthetics, but feels completely natural in a way we wouldn’t have expected maybe 20 years ago.

Kevin Drumm - 09082001 gtr​/​synth ‘solo’

I included this not because anyone needs me to tell them Kevin Drumm is a fuckin’ noise hero, but I wanted to include Drumm because I think what he’s doing is a really unique thing that Bandcamp can provide: A couple of months ago I bought Drumm’s entire discography for like $22, which was like a hundred or so releases! He puts out so much, and it’s all of such high quality. This specific recording is from my favorite period of his work in the early-2000s, but it wasn’t available [back then] until he started bypassing labels and physical copies and started putting everything up himself direct to the fans.

DEBBY FRIDAY - DEATH DRIVE

[The label] Deathbomb Arc put out some of the first Clipping stuff. I think of [founder] Brian Miller as A&Ring my listening habits because he’s out there finding new artists I wouldn’t come across and putting out their records. DEBBY FRIDAY completely blew me away—this release seems both out of nowhere and so fully formed. It’s just brilliant and sort of industrial hip-hop. It’s really like the best Skinny Puppy album we never got but with way better lyrics and content and performance. It’s so smart and dark—she’s a really great lyricist.

Jonathan Snipes

Missincinatti - remove not the ancient landmarks

Missincinatti was Jeremy Drake, Jessica Catron, and Corey Fogel, and they had this band for a short time in L.A. where they played these contemporary arrangements of sea shanties. They’re all incredible musicians, and their arrangements were always so off-kilter and smart. This album is only on Bandcamp, and it’s like a little monument to this band that I loved so much for a short time. One of my favorite things is arrangements of folk music that almost feel like critical theory about folk music and this project feels like it’s in this realm. I wish they were still around playing shows so I could go to them.

François-Eudes Chanfrault - Inside

I discovered François-Eudes Chanfrault when I saw the movie for which this is the score. Then, when I started looking into François’s music, I realized that I’d run across him in online nerdy computer music circles. He became one of my favorite composers, and I became obsessed with tracking his music down. The development of the Inside score is really slow and tasteful, and that’s hard to accomplish when working with film. I also score movies, and film music always feels like if the music’s following a picture. It wants to be fast and have abrupt changes—but François is someone who is somehow able to make these really long elegant cues that actually play against the action of the film in this really striking way. It’s probably the last score I’d expect anybody to write for that movie, and it hits exactly the right tone. His use of electronics and computers and his use of a chamber ensemble are perfectly matched.

Lauren Bousfield - Fire Songs

Lauren’s a really good friend, and this album’s only available on Bandcamp. She’s an incredible musician—an absolute genius. This is the album she released shortly after her house burned down and she lost all her possessions in the fire. It feels very personal. It’s easy to think of electronic and breakcore as just splattered breakbeats that feel mechanical and machine-based. But this one, with the context [of the backstory], feels very emotional, and almost makes me tear up when I hear it.

Bryce Miller - W A S P

Bryce Miller is someone I found through some Bandcamp journalism, which I read regularly. This album, which is based on the Stieg Larsson Millennium books, is elegant and precise. There’s a lot of this retro ’80s synthwave stuff flying around—I’ve made a fair bit of it myself—but somehow this really nailed the tone of feeling very contemporary, but also very ancient. It’s like what I wanted synth records in the ’80s to sound like at the time, but they never quite did. The sense of melody and structure and tension and release is really spot on. Bryce feels like a real composer in that realm.

Max Tundra - With Love To Mummy

I first heard Max Tundra on the double disc compilation Tigerbeat6 Inc. from like 2001. I was really into Aphex Twin and Squarepusher and Kid606 and Matmos, and I was trying to figure out who was doing weird electronic music and that comp came out and it ended up being a huge window into bands I’d never heard of. Max Tundra’s track [“The Bill”] sounded like a general MIDI soundtrack to a spy show that he’d recorded into his answering machine! I’ve been a lifelong fan of his since then, and this collection is, like, his teenage recordings—it’s really interesting to hear his old music. It’s charming and fun to listen to as a fan, and to note where his music took him after that. I suppose other people feel the same way about that Radiohead release.