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murfeelee · 9 months

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Witcher Season 3 (AKA The "Final" Season 🤣😂)

Alright y'all, back at it again with my 3rd Witcher tv show "review" or whatever. S1 | S2

Disclosure: I already told y'all that I've made peace with this being the Yennefer Show, and that I'll keep watching when Liam Hensworth plays Geralt in S4, because this show ain't been about Geralt or witchers anyway--it's about the mages, obviously. Like, I don't blame Cavill for leaving, cuz if I had to play second fiddle to Yenn when I'M the titular MC, but I don't have ANY scenes, ZERO speaking lines, and NOTHING to do in my own show, then yeah I'd quit too! So I'm not gonna complain about what I WISH this show was--it will NEVER be the books or the games (definitely not Game of Thrones). Missed opportunity.

All that being said, unpopular opinion, but IMO Season 3 kinda slapped? The 2nd "volume"/part was the best BY FAR, but I genuinely liked the vast majority of the episodes. I give S3 a 9.5/10, because I actually have very few complaints about this season overall, I'm shocked. (EDIT: I have DEEProoted suspicions about a lot of naysayers/hatewatchers who say the show's "unwatchable," just because it's got a multicultural cast/"agenda"--sounds like racism to me.)

THE GOOD

The MAIN PLOT actually went somewhere!!!! A wild Vilgefortz appears! ^0^ He beat the DOG SNOT outta Geralt, YIKES! XD

One of my biggest gripes about S1 was that the show didn't focus nearly enough on THE BIG BAD, Vilgefortz. Cahir got SO MUCH screentime doing literally NOTHING for 2 whole seasons, meanwhile the rest of Geralt's Hanse was NOWHERE to be seen, and Vilgefortz was just sitting in the cut looking pretty, like wtf?

And Season 2 was barely any better!

But yeah, S3 FINALLY gave us Vilgefortz's dastardly behavior I'd been waiting for. He effed everybody up at Thanned, as I expected--that's my special evil boy! <3 (Now that Ciri jacked half his face up I'm very sad--that man is absolutely splendid to look at. A moment of silence for the eye candy, it will be missed. U_U)

THANNED. ^0^ Hoooooooly god this was great, even better than Sodden in S1. Episode 6 is the best episode in S3--such a great battle; people were dying left and right. And MAMA TISS!!!!! She went OFF! O_O

It was so sad, but ofc this was all gonna happen--they had Tissaia allllll the way up Vilgefortz's butt, so OF COURSE she was going to be crushed when he INEVITABLY betrayed her. (I don't blame you though, girl, cuz he's SO DANG PRETTY! I'd be crushed, too!) But at least Mama Tissaia got that body count up during the battle--SLAY! The way Filavandrel was just.... 🤯

Speaking of the elves, Francesca and Fringilla were put on the backburner (after dang near dominating S2); but I like the way their arcs ended, even though I felt bad for them. Very good scenes; the mages & their arcs are the very best parts of the show, as usual.

LODGE OF SORCERESSES RISE! ^0^ Dijikstra & Philippa. 😍

These freaks--I LOVE them, your honor! 😅 I was so hyped to see Geralt break Djikstra's leg, but Philippa had me ROLLING when she was like "well, it's a good thing you like pain"--I DIED! XD These kinky mofos! They're hands down one of the best parts of the whole show--I LOVE how sinister Philippa is (her bird feathers are such a great touch--whoever was in charge of her costumes & HAIR 👌), and what a simp Dijkstra is for her. It makes me so sad to know how things go for them in the video game--I sided with Dijikstra to kill Radovid, and was so hurt when he went after Thaler & Roche. But....yeah, I did pick the option to break his other leg, so....oops? XD

So yes, I'm excited to see where this show goes with Philippa and Vilgefortz; how their schemes line up (or not) with Emhyr and the Fake Ciri; and how that effects the REAL Ciri and how she eventually ends up under Avallach (I hope we get to see him on the show!).

Speaking of Ciri, we FIIIIINALLY got to see some domestic Geralt, Yenn & Ciri--even if they are on the run from assassins; and Geralt's iced Yenn out cuz she tried to sacrifice Ciri to Voleth Mier back in S2. A lot of the fandom HATED that they made S2 Yenn betray them, but I think S3 did an alright job of not retconning her, per se, but patching things up. Cuz it's NOT a good look to have your (REAL) main character (LOL) hated by the fandom for betraying her own "daughter." So was the domesticity hamfisted? YES. But was it necessary? GOD yes, otherwise what's the point of showing The Last Wish? They're supposed to be a FAMILY, so for god's sake start giving them scenes to actually SHOW us that--stfu about "destiny"!

Probably another unpopular opinion, but I liked Episode 7 with the unicorn. These are the kinds of adventures Ciri NEEDED in S1, running around some stupid empty forests doing NOTHING is different from learning how to survive on her own in a strange wilderness, encountering strange creatures, and tapping into the good AND bad sides of her magic.

And oooooh my god, the GOAT has returned.

A lot of...hrm...interesting conversations were had as Ciri was hallucinating in the desert, with love of my life Grandmama Calanthe, as well as Pavetta & Falka. It's a shame that Ciri didn't get this kind of development MUCH earlier in the series. Too little too late? We'll have to see where Ciri's plot goes with the Rats in S4 to find out if her new whole Chaos/Fire magic arc is worth it.

AT LONG EFFING LAST, we're getting some HANSE ACTION!!!

I've been SO EFFING SICK of Cahir. I'm glad Ciri finally got closure with him from SEASON ONE, and that he's FINALLY in the Hanse now--took y'all long enough, ffs! And Milva's interesting so far, so I'm glad to see her around, giving Geralt & Dandelion grief. So in S4 all we need now is Angie, and YA BOI!!! ^0^

THE BAD

I wish Mistle and the Rats were better established--the whole Wyvern thing wasn't done very well or made much sense, and Mistle & Ciri should've had WAY more scenes. I wasn't feeling any chemistry between them, which is annoying, since Ciri's a lesbian in my TW3 game--is the show gonna go with hetero Ciri instead? Or is her love of Mistle gonna be what pulls Ciri out of the Fire/Chaos dark arc they're teasing for S4? 👀

What's annoying is that we already had a Dark!Ciri arc in S2 though, and EVERYONE hated it. We see Yenn reconcile betraying Ciri, but where's Ciri reconciliation for slaughtering all those witchers at Kaer Morhen? 😡 First she's possessed by Voleth Mier, now she's possessed by Falka? This show's great at focusing on Yenn & the mages, but leaves Ciri in the same ditch over & over--it's irritating.

Ep5 was a LAME way to end the first half/"volume," I hated that episode. The whole ball just bored me, with the dancing and singing--I get it--"all is not *clap clap* as it seems," stfu already. I didn't care. It was OBVIOUS Stregebor was being framed; WTF was that mop on Istredd's head; WHY was Triss the only one with a braincell who cared that students were going missing when apparently the school's SO strict; why don't these mages start TELEPORTING for once, and stop running around SLOW AF; how the HECK did y'all let HUMAN Dijkstra jump a WHOLE SCHOOL OF MAGES--this is an utter embarrassment. Usually the mages are the only thing this show gets RIGHT, so to see them all faceplant like this was just baffling & frustrating.

And again with the monoliths--how do y'all NOT KNOW these things are here!? Same with the one hidden in Kaer Morhen, like REALLY? NO ONE's medallion is going off? Omg. Istredd! You STUDY these things! Start TEACHING these drunk AF mages a thing or two--this is why Vilgefortz and Dijikstra wiped the floor with y'all on your own turf! 🤦

THE UGLY

The pacing was SLOW AF. Episodes 3-5 particularly dragged.

Everything with Cahir I wish was in S2 instead. That elf was GORGEOUS and I hated to see him go, but what was the point of all that again? I almost expected him & Cahir to start banging! (My perv brain; I need help, y'all. U_U)

Speaking of!

ALLLLLLL this mess about Dandelion & Radovid.

What "ripple effects"? XD It was UNNECESSARY. We all know Radovid's a disgusting genocidal racist psychopath and Dandelion's a womanizing old man--I'm not interested in seeing Radovid going through all this effort to seduce Dandelion, just to DOUBLE CROSS him to get to Ciri, like wtF? TBH, I feel like we were queerbaited, yeah I said it. 😤

And it's SO unfair how we have alllll these sex scenes with naked women's vajayjays & boobs all over the place--even Philippa got in on the action, hey hey hey! ;) --but we never get to see man-on-man action!? Wow, they kissed, SO WHAT!? Men never get full frontal nudity and it ticks me off, cuz naked women are just all over TV, meanwhile the dudes don't show SQUAT, and it's happened AGAIN.

Anyways, those are my only real complaints; otherwise I liked S3, it was much better than S2 IMO. Just don't expect too much--turn your brain off, and accept that this show doesn't gaf about Geralt (or even Ciri really) whatsoever. I'm here for Yennefer, Vilgefortz, and to see the Lodge of Sorceresses make themselves an absolute menace under Philippa so that Radovid literally flips his wig (that horrible weave MUST go in S4) and effs everything up for mages & non-humans.

#the witcher #the witcher 3 #nonsims #mini rant #video games

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sassaffrassa · 11 months

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First lines meme

Rules: Share the first line of your last ten published works or as many as you are able to and see if there are any patterns!

tagged by @deerna and tagging @kuwdora @bomberqueen17 @bittylildragon @eatingcroutons @witch-and-her-witcher if any of you feel the urge 💕

(ok so i have an unholy number of drabbles so i stuck to works with a word count over 500)

pattern: i love to jump straight into the action, in media res with the least amount of context possible to start, especially if i can do it in a way that subverts the readers expectation for what's about to happen. the more distant the POV, or the greater time frame that the story's describing, the more background info i'll add. (drabbles tend to start with a line of dialogue, turns out lol)

Taste the Rainbow

Witcher | Geralt/Jaskier | T, modern au, 3.8k

Geralt flinches when something comes at his head, but when his hands fly up to catch it, he finds he’s got one of Ciri’s wrists in each hand, and a string of bright colors laced between the two.

Blossoming

Witcher | Vesemir/Mignole | E, daddy kink, 4.8k

She can’t sleep, despite her best efforts. The blankets tangle around her legs as she tosses and turns, feeling hideously ashamed of herself.

Putting the 'FUN' in Dysfunctional

Witcher | Roche/Jaskier | E, spies, 9.1k

Roche has never had much time for music in his life. As a boy there has been fêtes in the market square and bawdy minstrels who came through the house, paying with their entertainment to draw custom before heading upstairs to get their own, and not much else.

A Hangdog Look

Witcher | Iorveth/Roche | E, animal transformation, 10.3k

The bed shifts beneath him, just enough to startle him awake, and Iorveth draws a knife before his eye even opens against the dim light of his rooms. He lurches upright when the weight of whatever is attacking him lands against his back, heavy and startlingly cold and Roche whimpers, ducking his head between his paws.

Roach

Witcher | Geralt/Roche (& Roach) | T, drug use, 2k

Geralt leans his head back, blowing a stream of smooth blue smoke into the air. It clouds around his head, hazing over the bright pinpricks of stars in the night sky.

Your Hand in Mine

Sherlock Holmes ACD | Holmes/Watson | T, remix, 500

Holmes had been standing by the window for a quarter of an hour at least, turning the necklace over and over in his hands. Watson looked down again, reining his focus back to the treatise in his hands.

you've got a friend in me

Witcher | Kiyan & Gaetan | T, possession, 2k

When a Cat goes missing, they usually stay missing, for one reason or another. There’s already too few of them, fewer by the year, witchers of all schools declining as the mages get more and more power hungry, and the caravan has to go further and further out of its own way to avoid Nilfgaard’s expanding territory. They make it hard to find them on purpose, and sometimes that means Cats can’t make it home, if they been gone too long.

the wonders of the universe

Torchwood | Ianto Jones | T, aliens, 3.1k

The first one he brings back to the Hub, he really actually does think it’s a cool looking rock at first.

Team Building Exercise

Witcher | Roche/Blue Stripes | E, sex pollen, 12k

There’s an elven shrine somewhere in the woods, and bloody Roche is the one who stumbles onto it.

Safe Harbor

Witcher | Roche & Anaïs | T, TLOU au, 900

They’re still two miles out from the township when Roche spots the first tripwire. He jumps to yank Anaïs out of its path.

#my writing #in my defence i have no self control #writing memes #the witcher #torchwood #acd holmes #fanfic #temerian trash can

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desultory-novice · 2 years

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What are your favorite Kirby boss fight osts? I think there are too few people discussing this.

First, you are absolutely right to want more discussion about Kirby boss fight songs because they are amazing! Whenever a "best of" discussion comes up, it quickly boils down to a debate between "CROWNED!" "Mind in a Program!" "Moonstruck Blossom!" and lately, "Two Planets Approach the Roche Limit!" which are all good songs (...we all know which one I'm biased toward) but there are so many others that get passed over in favor of the mega hits!

So, I'm going to take this time to look at almost all of the boss fight songs! And not just the last boss fights, but the major boss fights as well! (Sorry, mini boss battles. Maybe next time.)

As you can imagine, doing this will take a LOT of words. And it's also going to take more than one post. This post will be for the GB to DS era. I'll do Wii+ in a later post. A final note that I'm not really musically trained, in fact, I'm a bit tone deaf, so most of my reactions/descriptions will be based on feel!

[Kirby Boss Battle Music Breakdown Pt.1]

[24 Songs Total]

Kirby's Dream Land

[King Dedede]

This has to be one of the most famous songs in Kirby, next to Green Greens and Gourmet Race. And listening to it, you can hear why! Oh, it’s an incredibly short loop, with none of the fanciness that would get added to the theme later, but it’s still a bop, keeping you energized all throughout the final level, which it plays throughout. More than just a stage theme though, it captures a lot of Dedede's exuberant energy too! I mean, we're talking about a (self-proclaimed) king of generally indeterminate age but of a kingly size that gives him a definite weight-class advantage over our 16 pixel high hero! But this song isn't about a bully beating up a kid. It's about a big guy who's a big kid himself, at least at heart! The pure “rush” of this song (not urgency but vibrance) codifies that Dedede is Kirby's eternal rival, and it does so before the idea of a Kirby "franchise" was even a Twinkle (Popo) in NIntendo's eye!

Kirby's Adventure

[Nightmare Orb]

...Ugh, I don’t like this song at all. Partly because I hate this phase of Nightmare. I never manage to land quite enough hits on him and Kirby crashes into the ground while the orb escapes. It sucks. Also, this song is pretty one note. Or like...6. I guess it does its job of sowing the tension. I’d blame the NES’s sound quality, but there’s some really famously good tracks on the NES. Anyway, how much this song grates on me doesn't matter because...!

[Nightmare Wizard]

...Nightmare's actual theme is GREAT! Who said the wizard with the gigantic chin and no backstory was allowed to have a theme that rocks this much?! There's still that tense, fast-paced beat from before, but the song is much more meaty now. And that little...oh geez, what are those? Flutes? I mean, they're highly synthesized, this being the NES, but HAL's sound team of this era loved flutes, so I'm going to assume it's a flute! Anyway, it's great?! It injects a sense of whimsy into the battle and I'm not sure whether its there to represent Kirby’s presence or whether Nightmare himself has hidden depths...? (Dess keeps desperately looks for Nightmare's hidden depths, knowing I won't find much.) Anyway, Kirby's already set up its legacy of great boss tunes just two games in!

(I’m a little sad this song didn’t get more airtime in the concert, btw.)

Kirby's Dream Land 2

[Dark Matter Blade - “Duel in the Darkened Sky”]

I love Dark Matter Blade a lot, but this song is verrrrrry close to Nightmare Orb's theme in that it kinda bothers me to listen to? What saves it in the end is that it has some really interestingly "character" vibes going on here. (Also, it’s got a great title. It’ll be a while until we start getting those Touhou-esque song names that Kumazaki himself was so proud of, but this is an early example of a name that evokes a feeling.) Anyway, the element of character was missing from Nightmare's excellent bop, but its nicely present here, if lowkey, so that scores it points. I say this because Dark Matter Blade comes out of nowhere to be this weird alien space invader type of deal? And the song is just discordant enough that it matches that feel of "Wait, what the heck?!?" that I think DL2 was trying to get across with the introduction of the first of our Dark Matter bosses.

(And Dess’s favorite to this day. Blade! Woo, yeah!)

And that discordant, alien-invader, “what the heck?! are we in some kind of space sci-fi now?!" feel is continued with the very next notes of...

[Dark Matter]

I mentioned in a different post when fawning about “CROWNED” that there's this opening reveal sting that becomes ironic because Magolor is totally NOT what he wanted to become. And here we see the very first use of that "Shock and awe" opening sting in Kirby as the cool space warrior, Dark Matter Blade, takes off his clock to reveal...he’s a giant eyeball?! Anyway, this song downplays some of the elements of “Duel” that bothers me, and so is a little easier on the ears, even if it's more repetitive in the end...

Kirby's Block Ball

[Brobo / Boss Theme]

...Okay, okay, this is actually the generic theme that they play for any boss that's not Dedede, but Brobo gets forgotten enough in this series, so we're going to posthumously (...Did I just kill Brobo?!) declare this to be the Forgotten Last Boss’s theme! Anyway, it's got some funky robot-like vibes to it, especially that siren-like noise at the beginning, so it suits them!

It’s another short loop. But heck if this one isn't a lot of fun! It's not going to stick in your head for years and years, like Dedede's theme, but you could put it on one of those hour long loops while doing something repetitive and barely notice, I bet! It does a fine job getting the competitive spirit pumping!

Note: I know I've skipped over a lot of Dedede themes to this point from the various spinoff games and I'm going to skip over more! That's because you could make an entire post out of Dedede themes alone and while they're all quite good, I want to get this post over with before the end of the year! Haha!

With that said, we're leaving the NES and Gameboy era behind and skipping right along to the SNES and Super Star!

Kirby's Super Star

[Gourmet Race]

NOT TECHNICALLY A BOSS THEME but we weren't getting out of here without me giving at least a nod to the famous “Gourmet Race” theme! Question! How many of you first heard this in Smash Bros and as its orchestral remix and thought it was the theme of the Fountain of Dreams and not a silly mini-game in which Kirby and Dedede race to see who can stuff their faces the fastest?!

Anyway, this theme is classic. It's sooo good! It has been lovely parodied/remixed a dozen times and may continue to do so, just because of how darn lyrical it is! Without lyrics!! You can just tell that HAL's sound team have been having a completely great time with the SNES's expanded sound opportunities and Gourmet Race is a perfect example! And that little springy SPROING! noise whenever it gets started! I really wish I knew more about music so I could praise this harder. But yes. Gourmet race!

[Meta Knight - “Battle with Meta Knight”]

Meta Knight's Revenge, origin of the grammy winning masterpiece by Button Masher and The 8-Bit Big Band, probably gets more attention as regards songs from Meta Knight's Revenge, and for good reason. (It’s really good!) But while the coolest knight in the galaxy’s first outing in the boss battle arena (err, with his own unique theme) is more lowkey and underplayed, I do really enjoy how much is going on in the back melody (...use your words, Dess...) of this song. The bass (?) drum (?) line...? Whatever it is, takes up so much of the song, yet you've got these moments of stronger sounds rising up slowly from the background. Also this wild riff type thing creeping up out of nowhere...

:takes a deep breath:

What I'm trying to say is that this song is surprisingly perfect for the MASKED Meta Knight, whose complex backstory and secret motivations, as well as his love of battle are all "disguised" by that beat, but those slightly jazzy elements (no wonder they had him play the sax! It was there in plain sight all along!) peak through constantly during the song, just like how you get a glimpse of Meta's face when you beat him! ...It's meaningful!!

[Marx - “Meddlesome Marx”]

:cheers wildly:

Every song I've praised up until now? You guys are great and all but “Meddlesome Marx” is here and now we have a new high bar for Kirby last boss songs! I mean it. Even over King Dedede's expanding leitmotifs.

Meddlesome Marx is so amazingly good, I just ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. A-ahem. Not only is it beautiful to listen to, with HAL using the BEST sounds they've uncovered in their time with the SNES (that flute-esque sound in Nightmare's song has evolved to becomes this amazing little giggly woodwind here that is both gorgeous and haunting) and our key Kirby series composers just making something that isn’t just interesting, or “neat” but really pleasant too?!

Also, while I HATE "Marx is just crazy, that’s it" as an interpretation of his character, this song does has that perfect little bit of musical "sanity slippage" where you expect the initial melody to repeat nicely and whoops! They slip in another pair of notes to drag it out unexpectedly! (Again, I don’t know music terms. I apologize.) If “Dancing Mad” wasn’t already used for another famous video game BGM of this era, I’d say it’d be a good potential title for this one. (...Am I the only one with likes-to-dance!Marx HCs...?)

But that hitch, it’s like Marx is basically waiting for you to get into a rhythm and repeat the notes verbatim and is now rolling over giggling when you inevitably trip over it. The song itself is saying, "Haha! I FOOLED you!" I gather there’s also stuff going on with time signature changes here, which are presumably pulling a similar trick to the listener. Which I love for a lot of reasons? It plays into the song being a “jest” but also “time” = clock(work) = Galactic Nova.

Not content to be just playful, it's also TENSE and has these moments of creeping dread looming up, fitting for a last boss fight with the entire planet at stake! While I don't necessarily hear any notes of “Green Greens” (?) it does have that triumphant bridge (?) that will be inherited in many other boss fights in the future - something to represent Kirby’s part of the battle. And that bridge (?) will usually have some bit of “Green Greens” or other classic Kirby song in it.

...I think the number of feelings this song evokes in me is why I'm never really satisfied with any remix of it? Nothing quite surpasses the original to me. Try to make it too creepy? You miss the point. Marx is a gleeful villain! His song should be about that rush of acquiring the power cosmic and the giddy feeling of your plan being soooooo close to completion! And if you go all haunted house vibes with it, you're losing the discordant elements that make him so haunting. The bright colors and the energy he brings to the fight! Again, I’ve seen people question why we Marx fans care so much about a character with barely any dialogue. He's got no backstory, no “character”...

But Kirby characters are defined by so much more than what they say, as we should hopefully know by now. (It’s not like the series is known for its massive amounts of dialogue anyway.) A character’s theme music is as much a tool to understand them as their pause screen lore is. And I'd count Marx's as one of the first to go all in on "his true story is in his music."

(...Something I'm going to not shut up about when I reach “CROWNED.”)

Kirby's Dream Land 3

[Dark Matter - Hyper Zone 1]

What they wanted and kiiiiinda missed the mark on with Dark Matter Blade/Dark Matter in DL2, they did a MUCH better job here! The otherworldliness? The space/alien vibes? All here. Yet with a much more interesting melody and a wider variety of fun instruments. There’s also a strange sense of divinity thanks to the crystalline instruments used. An excellent setup for the fact that we’re about to encounter what you might call the “god” of the Dark Matter.

Also, I love that little jingly noise mixed in there that gives you a strong sense of a starry sky. The Dark Matter you fight in DL3 presumably isn't the same one as Blade (unless we assume Blade to be re-absorbed/co-opted by Zero, which would be tragic...Poor Blade...Just wanted friends...) but I feel like the music trying to put us in mind of a starry sky is a nice callbacks to Blade’s fight.

Basically, this is a lovely “retake” of Dark Matter's theme, just like DL3 gave us a chance to fight Dark Matter in color! (And introduce them to a wider audience. It's sad when your best lore is tucked away in a Gameboy sequel!)

[Zero - Hyper Zone 2]

I really, really like the opening sting here! As much as I like Zero for the lore, I'm not 100 on the speed of this song though? Now, the whistling gives the song a really strong vibe of emptiness -- like the wind howling through an empty void. Get it, void? But I don’t know, the core part of the later bit of the song seems to focus on a heroic vibe: the presence of Kirby. While the heroism angle only surfaced for a moment in Marx's theme, it's slightly more present here for a longer period. Fair, because we're talking about a two stage boss, and by this point, you want to cheer the player on! I also like how those uplifting notes come in stronger at the end of the loop, showing that, as the two forces clash, Kirby's hope and positivity really is coming out on top. The care that gave birth to the love love stick (heh) shows that the loving heart will triumph!

Kirby Super Star Stacker

[Gryll]

Yeahhhhhh, Gryll!!

Sadly, this one has no flashy opening like in Block Ball, being just a solid, and sadly, an incredibly short loop! It's a really fun one though! I don't know how they pulled it off, but each time the phrase (?) in the song changes, it gets slightly more...claustrophobic feeling? An excellent choice in a game where the point is to save yourself from a rising tide of blocks before you're overwhelmed.

I imagine that, if you're unprepared, the possibility exists that you'll actually be right about the point of losing by the time the song has reached that part of the loop where it's beginning to crowd you! Each “bwoop” sound brings in another row. And another. And another!! A great way to bring tension to the game’s secret last stage and last boss that NEEDS ANOTHER APPEARANCE.

A-ahem.

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

[Miracle Matter]

We return to that Dark Matter-esque phrase I'm not completely in love with, but I absolutely respect the follow-through! Tbh, when I first started out on this, I thought I couldn't say much positive about Miracle Matter's theme, much like Nightmare Orb. But after listening to my boss playlist enough, I've started to come around on it. Especially when you take the whole "boss music as character revealing" thing into account. Because Miracle Matter's theme has this almost...bitcrush vibe to it! I'm still not sure we know anything solid on what Miracle Matter even is, which makes the heavily remixed-sounding nature of the song interesting. Perhaps revealing of the boss's hollow nature...?

It’s a very action/shooting game tune. Maybe the most we’ve heard to date? Not a last boss, but a stage boss. Which is interesting when we follow it up with...

[Zero2]

...Now THIS feels like the last boss of a side-scrolling danmaku game. Something like Radiant Silvergun or Ikaruga, just without Hitoshi Sakimoto at the head. (In fairness, this is actually a shooting game boss fight! Hohoho!) The opening sting is BRILLIANT. Love it. Mystical and powerful and really brings you into the game for this moment. This one boss fight. (I say as someone who was just kind of playing Crystal Shards by the numbers till I got till the end. Getting all those shards and avoiding the bad ending is a TASK and it wouldn’t be weird to be a little exhausted depending upon how much back tracking you have to do. But this song immediately refreshes you and reminds you of the stakes.

Okay, so, I still refuse to put it over Marx's theme, but we're back into the really great character themes now, of the boss’s nature being defined by their music. I believe there's a mild argument going on over whether the "Zero 2 can't feel emotions or not" is false lore? (I haven't looked it up myself) But even if it is a mistranslation (?) I can see why it continues to gain spread, because this song is SAD. It pulls at your heartstrings, especially the longer it goes on.

I complained about my issues with Zero’s theme being that it was almost too triumphant? Too speedy? “Beat the bad guy, beat the bad guy!” But it’s worth it to have that, dare I say, misinterpretation of what it means to battle Zero there just for the complete emotional turn around here.

Considering that what you're fighting is altogether likely the corpse of Zero, the shell potentially struggling to regain its lost innocence as a once upon a time pure-hearted Void Termina-esque being... (Confused lore or not, Void does share the Hyper Zone BG effect. That’s got to mean something.)

The consistent back beat that pervades all the other Dark Matter-related fights finally FINALLY takes a step back, again showing that Zero 2 is struggling to become something...or reclaim something of itself. There’s nothing triumphant here. There can be nothing triumphant. Only melancholy. A zero sum victory.

A really powerful song. Fitting for our last Dark Matter boss for a long while.

Kirby and the Amazing Mirror

[Dark Meta Knight]

Poor GBA sound quality. I feel like the chance to have some really expressive songs here is definitely hampered by the "hearing it through a pair of 10 year old earphones while also underwater" nature of the music. That said, Dark Meta Knight's theme still has some fun bits to it. There's the slightly discordant nature of it, which is a classic way of informing the listener "something is wrong." Then that crystalline sound in the back beat that comes in again stronger in the first bridge just shouts "mirror world" and I love it!

The rest of it is just good, classic dueling music. Honestly, even though I teased the sound of it in the beginning, I really do like it. Meta Knight’s battle music is all “masked” whereas Dark Meta Knight, once revealed, is all in-your-face. The beat is almost aggressive and even the crystalline mirror sounds, normally providing an otherworldly or softening vibe in other songs, feel like being stabbed with a shard of glass here! DMK is a bit of a stabby one.

Also, this song is my favorite part of the 30th anniversary knight medley.

[Dark Mind]

HECK YEAH DARK MIND!!!! So, Dark Mind is probably the mirror parallel of Dark Matter, somehow? ("mind over matter" as another clever user figured out) but having a human face aside, there's a lot of parallels with Nightmare from Adventure too, including them both having an unfairly good bop!

Unlike some of the other great last boss songs up till now, it doesn't tell us a darn thing about the Eye of Sauron...Err, I mean...the giant flaming eyeball. Then again, we know so little about the Mirror World and Dark Mind, maybe it will turn out to be super informative down the line?

Regardless, the emotional emptiness of the song almost doesn’t matter it's so good! Though I do like that you can hear a similar...uh, BRRRRRING sound here to BWWAWINNG sound in Dark Meta Knight's theme, telling you they worked together. A musical call and response! Not much more depth than that. But what a strong note to end on!

...Oh...Right. It doesn't end there...

[Dark Mind - “Fighting Dark Mind in the Sky”]

Annnnd it is followed up with one that just isn't as good. Or at least, not as catchy. (It's even longer too, damn you.) Okay, okay. I don’t mean to be unfair. Perhaps there's stuff going on here I'm missing. Song callbacks that serve to explain the mystery of Dark Mind and the mirror dimension.

Maybe it’s beautifully timed. Excellent key changes. Great instrumentation? There is some cool techno-sounding stuff going on here, it’s true!

But to me, this song just feels a bit...hrgh... Look, it's not bad, really! I just don’t love it as much coming after Dark Mind's phase two! To be frank, It's the opening I really don’t like. I don't have full on synesthesia, at least not to a strong degree, but that opening bit tastes like a burnt meal to me... It just makes it hard to pay attention to what’s going on in the rest of the song.

Kirby Canvas Curse

[Drawcia Sorceress]

With all the times I've complained about discordant elements in these songs causing them to lose me, is it weird that I completely LOVE DRAWCIA'S THEME?! Well, for one thing, opening up with that strong gothic-horror, pipe organs and abandoned church vibes is SO good, even on the DS's not great sound. Coming off of the incredibly creepy “World of Drawcia” stage, it’s emotionally the right choice. (Now if only you fought her in a ruined church or something. Like the opening boss fight of Ender Lillies...)

But I'm glad that we finally get a gothic horror-y Kirby last boss track. To start with. But the main thing, and this is one of the reasons I love Drawcia so much is that she also goes straight for the "character interpretation via boss music" that you'd only really seen much of in Marx and 02 (and Dedede, a little) till now! And she's from a spinoff game! This is because being discordant is in Drawcia's nature! And the little, uh, how can I describe them except "pew pew" noises have this sense of slapping paint over a canvas (or hitting someone with a high pressure paintball gun) in the process of slowly painting over the word. Of course, Drawcia Sorceress is only one part of the package...

[Drawcia Soul]

Ahh, it’s back! There's that same "horrific reveal" note we first/last heard in Dark Matter's theme from DL2! Only this one has what I would describe as the audio equivalent of a VCR glitch. These two songs are excellent in show-not-tell horror. I mean, Drawcia Soul is a pretty creepy boss either way. One of the more creepy Soul bosses. Perhaps THE creepiest (....outside of Sectonia decapitating herself...) but the music is some jumpscare levels of horror! The fact that it drops low early on like it's whispering to you and then it has that section I can only describe as musical tinnitus. Alternatively, a SCREAM. And yet, it's not all distortion effects and jumpscares. There's a really good melody tucked away in there, that's swallowed up by that VCR effect again. A sign of the forgotten portrait's true nature, before it was corrupted, perhaps?

One of the least "listenable" songs in Kirby, but a really great one nontheless.

Kirby Squeak Squad

[Daroach - “Troubling Situation”]

Technically an all-rounder battle theme for the Squeaks in general, but it plays every time you fight Daroach too, so to the master thief, we bequeath this...wait, what's this?! He's already stolen the theme?! When did he-?!

Anyway, sad as it is to say, Squeak Squad's music is similar to the game itself. That is, it's not bad, but it gets outshined by the many truly sparkling entires before it. "Troubling Situation," which feels like an arrangement/variation/extrapolation on "Here Come the Squeaks" manages to carry the game's zany cartoon energy just fine. And a shoutout to the adorable squeaker chorus that's a consistent (but not annoying) presence in the background.

It works as a boss theme, but as my boss fight music review should have made clear by now, we're several entries past "very serviceable music." Really, Daroach...or Dark Daroach, at least, should have gotten his OWN theme. Daroach isn’t lacking for character, thanks to Mass Attack, but the (lack of) music in this game is not doing him any favors, when it could have elevated him even higher as a character. Alas, it's at the end of the journey that Squeak Squad always stumbles. Speaking of a lackluster end game... The Starfish...

[Dark Nebula]

Dark Nebula's theme opens strong, giving us these intergalactic vibes that let us believe we're onto something big and COSMIC! Considering this game takes us through the Gamble Galaxy and into space (rare, when our games have been rather Popstar focused for the last few entries) it’s a nice aural-gameplay tie-in treat! And while the sounds of the main melody come really close to sitting shoulder to shoulder with the best of their SNES work, they just fall flat somewhere? I feel like the music could punch up so much higher, but it doesn’t finish strong. That, to me, is the flaw here. There's that nice bit at the end of the loop, but even that seems to give up at the end like "Oh, wait! I've got something good going here and uh....wait, I think I lost it." Ahhhhh, I hate to rag on this theme or any Kirby theme, really, but it lacks follow-through...

Super Star Ultra

[Dyna Blade & Wham Bam Rock - “Battle with the Enormous Boss”]

As if Super Star wasn't packed with enough good songs on its own, they come back with some treats for the DS remake, including giving us this tune to elevate Dyna Blade and Wham Back Rock into fittingly chapter ending bosses!

Err, that said, nothing really amazing, here, and its shared between the bosses, so we can’t even say it gives us many character notes, but at least it's a solid song all the way through, with a nice note of heroism + the journey's end vibe.

Sometimes it's good to have a song without world-ending stakes or an undercurrent of sadness and misunderstanding!

Sometimes, you just want to beat up a giant rock...!

[Masked Dedede]

Just because I wasn't going to cover all the additional Dedede themes didn't mean I wouldn't cover any of them! And Dedede’s theme has grown so much, receiving a glow-up, becoming a more robust song to fit with the series going forward! There's more character in it, a few notes of, gasp, majesty injected into it in the beginning too before it breaks out into pure energy.

(There's also a bit of a battle arena feel to it, which helps characterize the self-proclaimed king that builds a wrestling ring in his castle just for whenever Kirby should arrive.) But, after years of loss, we also hear a strong determination worked into Masked Dedede theme! He’s lost plenty of times (...every time...) before, but he’s remaking himself! More powerful, more of a presence! It works well with his new, scary battle mask and rocket-booster (!?) hammer!

It’s honestly great that Dedede’s theme grows, because character growth is going to signify Dedede in the games to come! (Especially since he’ll be a playable hero shortly!) So this remix on the old theme is the place to see the way he’s becoming more important to the games going forward!

[Galacta Knight - “The Greatest Warrior in the Galaxy”]

What's this?! (Synthesized) electric guitars in my Kirby game?!

Err, and oh gosh, I hate to end this post like this, but I'm not a huge fan of Galacta Knight's theme, just as a piece to sit back and listen to, that is. It’s the pseudo-synethesia thing again. It’s a little...grungy-sounding? To me, Galacta Knight's song feels a bit like...

......kitchen mold.

I'm so sorry! It's not meant as an insult!

Anyway, that kickass opening riff aside, what I most want to point out about Galacta's theme is how DIFFERENT it is to everything we've had so far. Whether it's because Galacta is from a time forgotten (the age of rock and roll, clearly) or because the sealed warrior is just in a class no one can hope to touch, their theme stands alone as well! I'm glad for it!

We never have gotten much about Galacta’s character. Almost as if its being avoided on purpose, but you can definitely detect the same “character” in this music of the knight who turns around and destroys Star Dream the second they’ve been summoned. This song also has those same “masked” elements where so much is hidden behind the rapid beat that Meta Knight’s battle does.

It’s truly fitting for them...!

And that’s it for now. No, I didn’t forget Mass Attack, but due to release dates, I’m saving it for the inevitable part two...

..Wherein I talk obsessively about “CROWNED” and how amazing it is! A-and a bunch of other really good songs too....!

(That said, part two is not going to be up immediately after this, just due to general business/intensity of writing these. It will happen though!)

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bylightofdawn · 2 months

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Are ya'll ready for: El seriously overthinks video games + minor FF7 Rebirth spoilers hour?

I'm finishing up the mission on Junon where Cloud and Co go undercover and just watching Cloud lose himself in the role, genuinely getting ATTACHED to the Seventh Infantry and me then having to escort my baby infantry ducklings around as they murder other Shinra troops out of the mistaken belief they are on the other side made me FEEL A LOT OF THINGS. Like holy shit that’s insane even typing it out. And kinda dark and a little twisted. And potentially fucks those poor Infantry troops over yet they are STILL rode or die for Cloud. I wasn't expecting to get socked in the feels as much as I did.

Because Cloud is so detached and emotionally standoffish, watching him seriously get into the role of playing at the Captain of the Seventh Infantry is hella significant.

And I think it's because it's so familiar and something he is missing. He misses the camaraderie and brotherhood of serving. Sure, he moved onto becoming a SOLDIER and who was his damn role model/sempai? Zack Fair who is one of the most big-hearted, best big brother energy dude ever. So of course he would subconsciously internalize that's what a good leader should do. Sure, there was also Sephiroth but he's clearly the worst and reflects what bad leadership skills would be.

So yeah, I think there's a part of Cloud that misses serving, or at least misses that sense of brotherhood. He's been a lone wolf for so long, I can't imagine he's not starved for that kind of connection. It's also prolly easier and less complicated than the relationships he has with the main party.

Okay so that's me being all philosophical. Now let me be a degenerate and horny on main for a second.

Holy fuck nuggets Rufus is so hot. He's ALWAYS been hot but he's especially hot and v. Ice Prince-y and I fucking love it. I am laughing at the absurdity of his clothing and how it continually gets more complicated and ridiculous. He legitimately looks like he's wearing a fucking farthingale with that ridiculous belt collection he's wearing. Or yanno....bdsm gear. XD

Somehow they have managed to take Roche who was already at Maito Gai levels of over the time 100% energy and made him even MORE ridiculously and over the top. I lowkey wish he would stop talking. I have an excellent solution on how to do that and that is for Cloud to shut him up by fucking him until his brains bleed out of his ears over his stupid bike. Or yanno, there are other ways to shut him up varying from gag and other creative things to occupy his mouth with.

Even though it's clear Cloud is pretty hetero-coded but after like 25 years of soooooo much Sephiroth/Cloud, Zack/Cloud fan content, I don't think that's going to stop the internet (or myself) from shipping him like a fandom bike. Hell I actually love Cloud/Tifa cause I am a disgusting multi-shipper.

Ahem. Anyway I hope Cloud gets to reunite with his Seventh Infantry people at some point. I think I'm like.....1/3 of the way through the game and holy shit. I've discovered I detest minigames. I love side-missions in games but fuck DDR minigames or that damn in real time strategy game Fort Condor. There's a reason I've never been interested in FF Tactics.

EDIT: OMG Red XIII going full on Karen Mode and demanding to speak to the bartender/employee who won’t let him play in the Queen’s Blood tournament because he’s an ‘animal’ is the funniest shit I’ve seen so far in this game. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

EDIT 2: never mind, Red going full on Chester Cheetah/Michael Jackson absolutely takes the cake. I’m ded. I also stayed up way too late beaten this freaking queens blood tournament mini game and I really gotta go to bed now.

#el plays video games #ff7 rebirth #ff7 rebirth spoilers #final fantasy rebirth spoilers

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still-single · 7 months

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Al Karpenter & CIA Debutante s/t LP (Ever/Never)

You can spend a week with Mattin one night but that’s all in the company kept. Ask Nathan Roche and Paul Bonnet; with his Karpentry outfit, Matt’s transformed them into an inside-out Von Südendfed for about half the runtime of this corkin’ collab, which would make him at least 25% upside down Mouse on Mars (or Mars on Mouse). Anyone into the idea of CIA Debutante who’s been whelmed by the records – and understand, that is NOT ME, I love ‘em – might appreciate the crust they’re buried beneath here, and if you’re already on board, this new perspective of Eurothinkspeak crackle is gonna raise a ghost of MES chokin’ on slimy giraffe tongue all over your present abode. Rent’s going up with this one for sure. Much of it sounds pretty easy to discern the two factions at work (“Medieval Cocaine”) but you’ll know when it starts to turn. Easy to have missed out what with there being two Al Karpenter releases at once (the other, which I’ll get to, features Triple Negative, a project that’s always left me feeling like I was listening to someone else’s record and remembering it wrong), but the joys are getting easier to spot amid these balls of freewheelin’ noise, laptop melt, barometric pressure and thog-trog vocalese. Goddamn this one’s great. “New Puritan” / “Papal Visit” levels of confuse. “No one knows where inspiration comes from,” he says, but this might provide a clue. I’m almost certain you can get caught up in the next week should you want one of these. (Doug Mosurock)

#mattin #cia debutante #nathan roche #mosurock #still single #review #bandcamp #Bandcamp

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ray-green-wicked4good · 2 years

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If Snowpiercer had a pumpkin carving competition, who would judge it, and who would carve what in their pumpkins and who would win?

First of all--I love this! Second of all--I argued with myself for wayyy too long over whether or not Melanie would participate given it would tie up so many resources for a seemingly arbitrary purpose (one cup of cooked pumpkin contains 3 grams of fiber, 2 grams of protein, as well as adequate amounts if vitamin C and E, riboflavin, copper, potassium, zinc, iron, and magnesium--it is a vital part of a healthy Snowpiercer diet. Carving into the pumpkins makes them rot faster, Ben, and exposes the fleshy interior to dirt and insects etc, etc. Why don't they understand that it just isn't practical?) but THEN I decided, you know what? Melanie gets overruled. When Layton takes over, he decides to hold a train-wide pumpkin carving contest to boost morale and promises to give the winners all-you-can-eat passes to the Halloween feast (and first dibs on the pumpkin pie). And Till of course sides with him. Josie appreciates the opportunity for the Tailies. Ruth has never liked pumpkin on principal and Roche just thinks it will be a fun activity to do with his family. Jinju has already lost so much sleep over Layton's slipshod approach to resource management that she falls asleep during the meeting and doesn't vote. Everyone is surprised that Audrey sides with Melanie, voting against the contest, but her big gripe is that she feels Big Alice should be invited to participate too. And once Layton agrees to this stipulation, well--there's just no stopping that pumpkin carving train.

Coordinating with Wilford is...difficult. He insists on being included in the judging panel. Which Layton disputes. And round and round we go.

Eventually, an unbiased(ish) panel is selected--Miss Gillies, Kevin, and Winnie.

The entries are...varied:

- Ruth still doesn't like pumpkins. She refuses to cut into it to scoop out the insides. So she gets some silver edible glitter and sprays it all over her pumpkin. And sticks some teal bows on it.

(Winnie thinks it's pretty. Kevin sneers at the four-in-hand knots she used for her bows.)

- The Headwoods go all out. Mrs. Dr. Headwood carves a traditional looking face on their orange pumpkin. Mr. Dr. Headwood takes a scalpel to a smaller white pumpkin, and carves intricate lines all over to make it look like a brain. Together, they saw the top off the orange pumpkin and place the brain inside.

(Both Kevin and Winnie are creeped out by this. Miss Gillies is impressed.)

- Ben cuts himself twice trying to get the top off of his pumpkin. Melanie grumbles that he's useless with a knife as she bandages him up--then she kisses him and helps him carve a crude looking wave and palm tree.

(Miss Gillies says it looks great. Kevin says it looks like a caved in mess. Winnie asks if it's upside down)

- Roche and Anne carve a half a heart into two pumpkins so that when put side by side the shape is completed. Carly carves a ghost.

(Miss Gillies and Winnie both awww over them. Kevin gags.)

- Everyone on Big Alice has been instructed to carve the Wilford logo onto their pumpkins. But Emilia teams up with Murray to try to carve the continent of Australia. Murray accidentally makes a bad cut and so they have to try again on the back side. It is discernable, but when they put the candle in, it looks awful.

(Kevin turns up his nose. Miss Gillies says good effort. Winnie asks what Australia is and listens with wide eyes as both Murray and Emilia talk fondly about their old home)

- Javi carves a goofy skull into his pumpkin, and then paints around the eyes and nose like a Day of the Dead mask. He uses pink and red and white and purple. It looks very festive. He also gives it glasses.

(Everyone loves it. Even Kevin doesn't turn up his nose.)

- Another surprising entry is Tristan. He carves the face of the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. The smile is exquisite. The teeth perfectly aligned. With the candle inside, it glows warmly.

(Miss Gillies and Winnie are both very impressed. Kevin notes on his sheet that he suspects Tristan of cheating)

- Annie presents the judges with a perfectly untouched pumpkin. "You don't think I'm gonna make more of a mess for myself to clean up do you?" All of the janitors shake their heads to show their supports.

(The judges move on.)

- Layton is equally unprepared for the judges when they arrive. He has drawn lines on his pumpkin with a sharpie to look like a basketball.

(Kevin makes sarcastic comments about not being surprised. Winnie once again has no idea what it is)

- Josie, however, wows the judges with the intricate web she has carved into her pumpkin. She has even drawn little spiders on several of the pumpkin seeds and has them scattered around the base.

(Kevin's only comment is that he hates spiders. Miss Gillies instinctively launches into a lecture on the life cycle of spiders for Winnie, but Winnie says she remembers all about spiders because of Charlotte's Web. Josie gives her one of the pumpkin seed spiders to keep, which Winnie carries proudly and calls 'Little Lot')

- Boki's entry is a bit on the--abstract side. He and Cherry and the other breachmen drew several 'W's on their pumpkins and then lined them all up in a row. Then they smashed them with mallets.

(Both Miss Gillies and Kevin mostly stare at the breachmen's bare arms. Winnie tells Boki he'd better clean up before the janitors see. They'll be really upset.)

- Jinju's entry is creative. She has taken the bits of pumpkins she cut out and stuck them to the sides and top of her pumpkin to serve as the flippers and head of a sea turtle. The work on the shell has caved in some places, but the overall effect is impressive.

(Kevin thinks it's 'saying too much' but both Miss Gillies and Winnie tell Jinju it's great)

- Pike's pumpkin is...both scary and not. His hand cramped halfway through carving the big twisted moth, so he gave up, and drew the left half with Layton's sharpie. He got the eyes carved out, but drew a triangle for the nose. Then he stuck two forks into the top just for the heck of it.

- Likewise, Z-Wreck and Strong Boy have tried to go the traditional route, but didn't quite meet the brief. Strong Boy's pumpkin has a single eye suspiciously fist shaped. And Z-wreck's nose is way off center--and there are still a lot of stringy insides ruining the candle effects.

(Even Miss Gillies admits it's a little sloppy. But Winnie gives Strong Boy a hug and says she loves it, which makes him smile)

- Till panicked and doesn't know what to carve. She tries making a scary face with pointy teeth, but miscalculated and accidentally shaves off all the triangles for teeth. She had intended to make cat eyes, but can't get the slits right. She would have just left it, but Audrey helps her smooth out the mouth into a toothless smile, and reshape the eyes into hearts. She doesn't even seem to mind that Till got pumpkin guts all over her dress.

(The judges think it's adorable. Kevin is bored and comments on the messy workstation)

- Audrey's own pumpkins are...eclectic. A few have been sequined within an inch of their lives and wrapped in boas. Another has been given a pirate's eye patch and hollowed out and filled with rum. And still another has an intricately carved ballerina--but she is missing a head.

(The judging reviews are mixed)

- Osweiller's carved a wolf into his pumpkin. But when he tried to cut the moon around it as well for effect, he accidentally took out the wolf's head he'd worked so hard on.

(Kevin laughs.)

- LJ's entry is...disturbing. She was inspired by Osweiller's accident and carves a large hole in the face of her pumpkin. She then soaks the cut bits of pumpkin in green dye and wires them together to model into an arm. She shapes the hole some more to look more like a mouth and gives it lipstick. Then she places the arm inside her pumpkin, so it would reaching through the mouth. She glues on two of her father's spare eyeballs and tosses a wig on top. She calls it, 'Ding Ding the Bitch is Dead'.

(Kevin stared at it for a long time, looking pale. Miss Gillies covered Winnie's eyes and moved her along.)

- Miles had chosen a misshapen pumpkin for his jack-o-lantern. His initial cuts are along the bottom, to yank out the seeds and guts. Then he lays his pumpkin on its side and carefully blocks out three sections for his train. It's simple geometry--circles and squares. It turns out pretty good.

(Miss Gillies is very proud of him. Winnie says his choo-choo is perfect. Kevin says it's simplistic and doesn't have enough detail. Josie trips him on his way out. And Melanie trips him again in the hallway. Stupid Kevin.)

- Alex almost doesn't even enter. Wilford had been watching her, dropping subtle reminders that the Wilford logo was elegant and stable and probably the safest bet. And there had been plenty of other crewmembers who knew about her penchant for drawing who had asked for her help. So she had put it off. She made excuses. She didnt have the right tools. Halloween is dumb anyway. It wasn't until a conversation between the engines, when Melanie asked gently if she remembered how they used to carve together and roast the seeds later, that Alex finally made up her mind. She let Melanie carve a star into the top around the stem, and watched her scoop out the insides. She wordlessly hands her mother her drawing. Then she carves. It is very simple. But effective. A bumblebee. Despite herself, she has fun. She gives her bee buck teeth. The stinger is tricky. She let's Melanie try to carve the antennas. She cuts too close and one pops off. Alex laughs.

(Kevin asks what the heck it's supposed to be. Miss Gillies says it's...unique. She thinks she can see the their vision. Wilford scowls.)

**The judges argue deliberate for a long time. It is finally decided they'll name several winners--the scariest they agree is LJ's, the most creative goes to the Headwoods, the cutest/funniest is a tie between Tristan and the Roches and Javi, and the best overall goes to Josie. (Kevin insists the award for dumbest goes to Layton. Wilford is at least happy about that.)**

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crabjest · 10 months

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Forced my boy to watch the watchmen movie with me (so he could get what I was yelling about on my private instagram story, I was mansplaining the whole time and we watched the directors cut), so here are my thoughts:

It was relatively faithful (not that that's a measure of how good something is), and overall criticisms I can think of have already been made (fight choreography, Zack kinda missing the point) and for a goofy little time its pretty enjoyable :3

((More in depth below))

I think that they messed up Dan's character, he was made too confident... (I love his extremely passive/gentle demeanor and speech patterns so much so much and they took that away from him... growls...) and also how his relationship with Laurie was handled

I really didn't like how they had Dan immediately come onto her in the dinner scene (like im looking at the book rn and I'm failing to see romantic subtext there, though I am like really bad at seeing that kinda stuff so it could be user error?) they just feel really underbaked in the movie, kinda gives me "oh they're boy and girl they kiss now" energy, where in the book they have a lot more time to develop (also like Dan also knew her since she was 16 iirc so having her take most of the initiative makes it feel way less predatory... and I wanna clarify I think Laurie and Dan are great for each other and he treats her so well after they're established)

Not to mention the pool scene! That scene was so fucking deep and tender etc. I CRODE and there was really nothing comparable in the movie (ALSO WHY DID THEY HAVE JON KISS HER OH MY GOD)

I also personally fucking HATED how the Roche scene was handled but I guess burning a dude alive was too much /opinionated because I can see how it kinda makes sense like killing him the same way he killed his dogs or whatever and its a relatively easy way to go...

But god in the comic where he's just standing and waiting is so powerful, also like really fucked up because the guy didn't even outright confess (which its like were certain its him but theres that <1% chance it was wrong guy wrong place wrong time to be thought about) also being burnt to death is accepted to be one of the most painful ways to die and to put salt in the wound giving him the saw even though both of them knew he wouldn't get out... it just makes him feel super Fucked Up And Evil which makes sense! That scene is one of the very rare cases in fiction where I get the same gut response as I get when hearing about real fucked up murders

those were my main issues tbh I really liked how they did Rorschach's mask also his waist being so snatched under the trench coat was driving me crazy... loved his casting esp because im also a short freak, there needs to be more of us

Good things about Dan though he still is sweet and gentle despite not being as much as I wished he was... like when he fixed Rorschach's collar and just little things like that... and despite my grievances with how his relationship was handled with Laurie it wasn't fucked up TOO bad...

Uhh lets see, casting JDM as Edward actual genius

Refuse to comment on blue peanits...

Anyways here's what the boyfriend had to say about it:

So true babe <<<3

#watchmen #im normal #😀#screaming about media thats from the late 80's to 2000's is what god put me on this earth to do

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janeeyreheresy · 1 year

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Blanche Ingram

Little developed side characters offer endless possibilities.

Blanche's refusal of Rochester, if it indeed happened, could have been a Persuasion situation. It's not one I prefer personally, I like my Blanche not giving a fuck about Rochester. In fact, I headcanon her as lesbian. One of the scenarios I like to imagine is that she wanted to marry old Roch because she knew of his womanising ways and it didn't matter to her, for she'd be able to have a girlfriend too. (I'll get to the womanising.)

In the grand scheme of things, Blanche doesn't matter at all--she has no bearing on the plot. Nothing would change if she wasn't there, or if her part was reduced. It can be argued that her purpose in the narrative is to provide romantic tension. But why? The story already has plenty of conflict. If the author's intention is to showcase the contrast between a plain governess and an upper class lady like Blanche, then Blanche merely needs to exist as a guest at Thornfield, without having to be a rival love interest for Rochester. That part in the book, the morning after the fire in Rochester's bedroom, when Jane is impatiently waiting to see him, to talk to him, and gets told he travelled to Leas, where people of his class have gathered for a party, and she hears he is popular with the ladies? That's actually brilliant. The realisation of her poor, insignificant governess-y self? The grasping of her foolishness for thinking she could matter to him? It's so... raw. No doubt many of us have experienced something similar. Then Mrs Fairfax tells her of Miss Blanche Ingram, beautiful and accomplished, how she reigned like a queen at a Christmas party at Thornfield seven years ago. You know you have no chance against that. It's powerful, it hits the reader in the feels. Even if the reader doesn't like Rochester. Jane does. This bit alone provides enough romantic suspense for the whole book. The merry company didn't even need to arrive at Thornfield, really, though I'm glad they did. There's so much fun to have with these characters.

What I'm arguing is, Charlotte didn't have to go as far as having the Roch pretend he was going to marry Blanche, even if she needed Blanche to provide romantic tension. A purely friendly banter between Blanche and Edward, filled with references to their past encounters and inside jokes would have sufficed. "Remember that time we were staying at Gosford Park, and we thought the place was haunted by the ghosts, but it was only Countess of Trentham's snoring?" Followed by laughter. You catch my drift. Not only is Blanche beautiful and classy, she has a history with Edward.

Digression - A Better Man

It still wouldn't paint old Roch in a favourable light, mind you. He still left for Leas without a word, the morning after Jane saved his literal ass. He could have left her a note. Dear Jane, I am called to Leas for a gathering of old friends. I will be back in a fortnight. I will miss our evening conversations. Yours, E F Rochester. But that would not be Edward Rochester, because that would be an entirely different man, a better man, a man who would not house an arsonist under his roof, and that would mean any fire in his bedroom would be only accidental (more on that later). This man would not force a governess to sit in the drawing room with high society--or he would have introduced her as part of a family, demanding they treat her as an equal. This man would not unnerve her so much she'd run out of the drawing room, he would not make her cry, he would not leave her abruptly in the hallway with a sentence unfinished at "goodnight, my", he would not feign attraction to a different woman, a woman Jane cannot compare herself to and win. This man would not lie that he got her a new job across the Irish Sea, forcing her to expose her feelings for him. It would be an entirely different story.

Of course, he as the master of the estate owed her, his employee, no explanation for why he went to Leas. But in that case he should not have allowed them to become so close that she practically looks on him as a friend. And after such a distressing event as a fire in a bedroom--and her saving his life--a note of courtesy would be just good manners. Dear Miss Eyre, thank you for saving me from becoming a well done steak last night. I will be gone for two or three weeks. Keep up the good work with Adele. Sincerely, Rochester.

End Digression - Back to Blanche

I take Jane's descriptions of Blanche with a pinch of salt. When Jane went to Rochester to ask for a leave of absence, he was playing billiards with the younger members of the merry company. Jane describes that Blanche gave her a look demanding to know “what can the creeping creature want now?” But that is only Jane's imagination, Blanche never said anything like that. (Curious that Jane thinks someone finds her creepy. Maybe she stares at people.) All Blanche said was:

“Does that person want you?”

"That person" is cold, but it's not like Blanche is obliged to remember the name of some governess. (Also Rochester didn't see Jane, so had Blanche not alerted him to her presence, Jane would have continued standing there like an idiot.) During the gypsy fortune teller episode, when Jane was fetching wine from the drawing room for Rochester in the library, she tells us Blanche looked at her suspiciously, no doubt thinking Jane was taking liberties. Again, it's just Jane's imagination. We don't know what Blanche was thinking. Even if Jane was right in her impression, well, Blanche could have thought that and so would many people. As far as Blanche was concerned, the person Jane was talking to in the library was the gypsy fortune teller. Of course it would seem weird to Blanche that Jane was getting her wine! If Blanche guessed the gypsy woman was Rochester in disguise--and I like to think she did, and so did the other girls, or at least one of the Eshtons--it was still strange that Jane fetched him wine. Why couldn't he get it himself? Was it so important to him to keep his gypsy play act? But he asked Jane to tell Mr Mason to come to the library to see him--so it means he already dropped the act for everyone else, not just Jane.

Another thing to consider is that Blanche may have wondered whether something was up at Thornfield. She may have wondered why the governess was always sitting with them in the drawing room, when she wasn't part of the company. (She probably wasn't the only one in that.) She may have wondered about Adele, too, was she Edward's child or not? She may have wondered about the newcomer, Mr Mason, how come she had never heard Edward mention him in the seven years she'd known him?

And another point. That moment when Rochester ambushed Jane in the hall, when she was running away from the drawing room with tears in her eyes after hearing him sing, he was afraid a servant would see them. Was it an Ingrams' servant he worried about? (The merry company brought their own servants with them.) If he was performing an act of potential future husband for Blanche, of course he couldn't risk her discovering how close he got to a governess. I like to think of Blanche's lady's-maid as one who spies for her mistress.

Blanche is the detective of this mystery.

In any case, Blanche is the character with the biggest potential for development. Have her care about something and ta-dah--character development. As I said, I headcanon her as a lesbian ("women are beautiful"), so that already gives me a different angle to her altogether. Whatever Charlotte Bronte intended with her character, Blanche enables me to see Rochester's true awfulness.

#blanche ingram #jane eyre #rochester is a villain #jane eyre meta #fanfic ideas

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dankmaths · 1 year

Text

so i just 100%ed kirby and the forgor land at the car dealership this morning and

i have some thoughts. about the ost. but i can't put them on twitter because 1) it's too long and 2) the latter part of my thoughts contain SPOILERS FOR ENDGAME. so. here i am. disorganized and spent the better part of my evening writing this instead of cleaning. oh well!

i absolutely love recurring themes in video game soundtracks and thinking about how they supplement the story, and forgotten land ABSOLUTELY smacks you over the head with them, they are nigh impossible to miss.

there are two in particular i'm thinking about. here's one. the main theme, as it plays in the title screen, "Ready to Go!":

youtube

full of adventure! i'm specifically zooming in on the three-note motif at 0:44, right when the whole orchestra kicks in. (sheet music notation for nerds)

these wide melodic leaps that soar upward give off a very heroic vibe! like you are truly about to leap headfirst into a new world.

here's the other theme i'm thinking about, "Plundering Beast Battle." you first hear it when you first meet elfilin, and rescue him + the waddle dees from the beast pack:

youtube

there's another three-note motif here i'm focusing on, which starts at 0:04. (again, sheet music notation for nerds)

this one is the complete opposite of the other motif. where "Ready to Go!" is in a major key, "Plundering Beast Battle" is in a minor key. "Ready to Go!" leaps upwards into adventure, "Plundering Beast Battle" leaps downwards like a beast about to strike (lol). very fitting as a theme for the antagonists!

well, spoilers start here...

you'd think that the "Plundering Beast Battle" motif represents... well, the Beast Pack, since they're the ones you've been beating up for the whole game. but then you get to the stage titled The Beast Pack's Final Stand and this absolute banger starts playing:

youtube

but that's the melody from "Ready to Go!" okay. maybe the composers just wanted to shove their theme in again. i'd let them cook regardless. it certainly gives off a "heroic final battle" kind of vibe, if you're looking at the music from kirby's perspective during the stage.

then you go up the creepy elevator and beat up beast king leongar and it's back to "Plundering Beast Battle" (motif starts at 0:09):

youtube

cool. but then ID-F86 posesses him, revealing that fecto forgo has been influencing the minds of the beast pack this entire time.

kirby saves the day and kills god by committing vehicular manslaughter! but leongar stays trapped in the shadow realm. when you go in to save him, fecto forgo's dream dimension (forgor dreams 💀) hits you with the "Plundering Beast Battle" one more time:

youtube

i already knew about the reoccurring themes, but this track in particular made me notice that they were opposed. mainly bc i accidentally added an hour of playtime to my file from vibing too hard. so i actually wonder if these motifs are more representative of elfilin and fecto forgo than they are of kirby vs. the beast pack. there's even a track called "Elfilin" that plays right after you beat up leongar that's a slower, stripped down piano version of "Ready to Go!"

("Two Planets Approach the Roche Limit" is one of the rawest fucking song titles i've ever heard, and it also includes "Ready to Go!" but i've been up since 6 am and it's quite a long song and i don't have the brainpower to go any deeper into it rn lol).

dunno. i might just be pulling stuff out of my ass but i thought it was pretty interesting to think about.

ps. other thing i find interesting: the Green Greens theme is surprisingly absent from this game. i'm not a kirby music loremaster or anything, but HAL loves their remixes, and green greens is the very first stage from the very first kirby game, so you'd think it'd show up more often?

but the only appearance i can recall off the top of my head is when you enter kirby's house:

youtube

if the ruined urban civilization being reclaimed by nature wasn't enough of a cue that kirby has found himself in a totally new world, the recurrence of new themes plus the scarcity of familiar ones from older games (to my knowledge) really hammers the feeling home for any returning fans.

pps. fun fact, the first initial of each area also spells out N-E-W-W-O-R-L-D. just in case you didn't get the memo from the visuals and the OST. beary neat.

#kirby and the forgotten land #kirby and the forgor land...#would love to pick apart p4's ost one day too #specifically the anime bc i have a scientific hypothesis that they hardcoded souyo into the ost (i am delusional)#sorry i know the youtube links will probably explode in the near future but idc it's MY essay that i'm writing into the void for MYSELF #also i am excluding all the evidence that does not support my point #Youtube

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alittlefrenchtree · 5 months

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(Spotify part 2)

Oh cool, thank you! I really like the context notes each time. It adds some narrative behind your songs; it makes it personal, I think. Not that songs can't be personal in themselves, but I don't know. It's just nice to see how these musics and you met.

Well, I might share it yep. It would only be fair, after all. Probably not anonymously 'cause, at this point, I'm not sure that it changes anything (and even if it did, it wouldn't really matters I guess).

Ophelia: Of course you have. I love this song too (which appears in my 2023 playlist as well, by the way). It's very catchy. I can listen to it many times without getting bored.

Katoum: Well, I already know the guy, so it's hard to judge your explanation. But it seems clear to me, for what it's worth. In fact, I'm glad that you mentioned him. You reminded me that I didn't listen to his album enough; and that's a shame, 'cause it's actually good? I mean, of course, he is technically not a singer (some could say that he is since he literally made an album but, yeah, it's not his first job), but I like most of his songs.

(And we can't even compare him to Trivia, who is already well-known for her singing ability. She showed it several times, including at two - if I'm not wrong - concerts. Of course, it was also for the Z-Event, but she is just so talented. Oh and her work with PV Nova? Amazing.

Blinding Lights and Toxic are obviously in my 2023 recap. I will put the links - in case some people were lost here, in the French side of Tumblr, and wanted to discover a really good singer. I may not be utterly objective 'cause, well, I love her. But honestly, you could make an unexpected discovery).

https://open.spotify.com/track/51HwpMwkMJacQ32ircRGMZ?si=GeiaguXoSjWobdaBUuVIhw&context=spotify%3Aplaylist%3A37i9dQZF1Fa1IIVtEpGUcU

https://open.spotify.com/track/0PG40nP8ZNcRz6xEF4xfnh?si=XcaEL2wvS0ixMmA_wToN1Q&context=spotify%3Aplaylist%3A37i9dQZF1Fa1IIVtEpGUcU

Mh yes, that's understandable. He makes it hard not to like him, I guess. By the way, it's ok for him to be handsome and charismatic, I can live with it. But he shouldn't be allowed to have that voice as well.

I still listen to the 2021 Z-Event karaoke sometimes (my favourite one, I think). It makes me feel nostalgic - obviously - but that's also very pleasant to hear (and also funny at some specific moments).

And, well, from what I remember, I was quite surprised by ZeratoR back there. I didn't know that he sang, or at least never heard him (I don't have the chronology and so don't remember when the album goal came; but anyway, as he said himself, it's almost common for a famous video maker to do some songs now, mostly for fun, so it's hard to know at what point it is serious). His Graver dans la roche cover was definitely something.

So, yeah, I don't really follow ZeratoR (I guess that - for once - everything is perfectly healthy. 😌 ) I watch Twitch sporadically, following my current random interest (streamer or even video game), so nothing surprising here. But I'm still interested in some of his projects - and this one is definitely one of them.

Now, which are my favourite songs from him? I'm trying to drop some titles, but that's not that easy. I would mention Anonyme, Katoum, Ralentis and The Void (don't get me started on Antoine Daniel's voice 'cause fuck, it doesn't help).

Oh and the two last ones - I Say and Décennies - are not bad either. And let's not forget Lyrics, which I'm listening to right now (and probably a good one to discover his album as a non-French speaker, so I will put the link too; I seriously doubt that any lost soul will ever read it but, just in case, a link doesn't hurt).

https://open.spotify.com/track/04OhfYHHYCEap1coJgObAd?si=mcYjSkPhS3CJgnHXyQVLxA

https://open.spotify.com/track/2fqK2DYGXwysdU27vYlj9o?si=xWM9vdBlSKKpCZcxT57kfg

Belobezvodnoe & Moskva: Ooh it's interesting again! Not for the same reason I guess, 'cause I know nothing about Thylacine (not even his name). I also missed Arrête avec tes mensonges (like pretty much all the films this year). My last time at the movie theater was in September (if I don't forget anything), and it wasn't even for a discovery; so my true last time was in July with the last Pixar, Elemental (a very good surprise, by the way, I don't know if you saw it), which was a long time ago now that I'm thinking about it.

(Time flies again).

(I should take a cinema subscription. Well, it's not that easy of course; it's expensive. But at this point, it appears to be that or nothing. At least, with a subscription, you're quite "forced" to go (if not, it feels like a dumb waste; it's partially irrational, but it's here and it's a good motivation in itself) and - more important - you can go like that, just to give it a try. You can't waste anything else but time - which seems freeing. It's just about you and your envy. Nothing more, nothing less).

I don't even know what Arrête avec tes mensonges is about, but the soundtrack seems to have some potential. It's relaxing, but not only. The two songs that you mentioned are quite different, so I don't imagine the same things for both of them. I'm curious to know if I get them like we're supposed to - like they're used in the movie.

Anyway, thank you again. It influenced my Spotify recommendations in a nice way. It was like: "Wait, you like instrumental songs? Like really, you couldn't say it earlier?", and then Spotify suggested other instrumental stuffs.

Scar Tissue: It happens sometimes. Spotify Wrapped shouldn't be surprising (at least for our most listened to songs) but somehow it is. I don't know much about Red Hot Chili Peppers. I know well the few songs I downloaded like... a decade ago (omg 🫠). But this one wasn't in my playlist, so it feels like my first time. It's a nice one.

Weed For Speed: Ah, a song from You Suck At Parking (perhaps a bit of ZeratoR influence again). I see what it is (Z-Lan oblige, even if I didn't follow the whole thing), but nothing more.

(No context but it reminds me Etoiles and his nightmare (also known as the puzzle). I'm not gonna lie, it was quite funny to watch. But it was way less after on Trackmania. He was just a bit disappointed by himself, if I'm remembering well).

But to talk about the song itself, it seems quite unknown. Less than 1k plays on Spotify? That's not much (it doesn't even appear when you search the title only). Anyway, I like the vibe. It seems to be a good focus music (well, it's a video game song after all).

Your whole playlist: Mh, I literally have nothing to say since the link doesn't work. 🥲 It's not the first time I see that. It may be linked to your confidentiality settings on Spotify? The playlist may have to be publicly shared on your profile to work? I don't know.

But think is : when I just click on the link, it opens my Spotify application and shows me my own playlist. So then, I tried to open without being connected and had a message like "your link is broken", or something very similar.

So, to me, the easiest solution is to create a new public playlist with all the songs on your Spotify Wrapped. I don't have a better solution, at this point. But, well, you'll see what you want to do again.

And that was probably too long again (with a very approximate English, which wasn't even necessary). But, well, here it is I guess. I liked to listen to these few songs and see a bit of your pov. :)

omg please never do that again 😂 and by "that" i mean totally break my brain the first time i read this on a week day at 5am. For the first part I was like who the fuck i'm talking to and then it became pretty obvious - or at least 99.9% obvious (no offense but only you could right this 😘) but I had no idea you were following here? (or i feel like i didn't know, but maybe i should have?) Give me a quick second while i second think each of the 11,845 posts i ever shared on this website? 💀💀💀 bit of self-consciousness going on there but we're going to be fine. i think.

I'm not going to answer to everything but DM me your secret identity when you have a minute? it will be easier to talk, even if my brain doesn't fully grab the concept of writing in French on tumblr dot com 😅

Just a few things that could be interesting for general audience:

I've tried something else for the whole playlist, maybe it'll work better here? Otherwise I have no idea.

Also, as not-so-anon said, listen to Trivia (aka LittleBigWhale) :

#alft asks #spotify wrap 2023

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aicas2023 · 1 year

Text

Feb 10, 2023

It's been weeks since I last posted here. A lot has happened already. I now have a part time job at CAS cnx. We just finished the training this week and next week we will be deployed to the prod already.

I loved the training. In just two weeks, I have already improved a lot. Especially my English speaking ability.

Roch and I had our date. I was sad because I missed him a lot. But we really tried our best to be just with each other even with our low cost date. :)

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magnhild · 3 years

Text

every important/interesting/fun detail i noticed in roman holiday for anyone who can’t and does not want to read the book (SPOILERS AHEAD)

-roman was a teenager (an old enough one to be a strong fighter) when neo was eight, making him most likely 8-10 years older than her.

-at the same time, lil miss malachite was in her 30s. With this in mind, roman was probably also in his 30s by the time of his death in v3, meaning neo was at least 20 years old at that time.

-lil miss has apparently had the same outfit for roughly the past 15 years.

-neo played video games as a kid, including plenty of driving and flying simulations. gamer neo confirmed.

-neo seems to be able to vocalize as far as things like gasping, sighing, and laughing. her laughing is said to sound like hiccuping.

-neo’s heterochromia is natural, and her parents would be her wear a brown contact lens over her pink eye when in public.

-neo’s imaginary friend, who she got her current name from, was purely in her head as a younger kid, but later became one of her illusions.

-neo uses texting to communicate when she can’t do so with gestures.

-roman was a member of the spiders

-melanie and miltia did indeed once live with their mother in mistral, and roman shared a safehouse with them, as he was the only person lil miss trusted to protect them. roman seemed to care for them as younger sisters, though finding them annoying.

-the twins are a year older than neo

-roman worked with a woman named chameleon while part of the spiders, who had a one-sided friendship with and crush on him.

-capivara - giant ratlike grimm with glowing red streaks running along its body, with white barbs on the end of a long tail, long, sharp claws, and double rows of finger-length teeth. comes from the deserts in menagerie.

-neo had a tutor named aurelia, rather than attending any school.

-roman was kicked from the spiders after undergoing side jobs for his own purposes, after which he moved to vale.

-the mistrilian city of kuchinashi, the setting of the grimm campaign, in mentioned, as is a character from it, lemon.

-roman’s mother left him in an orphanage in the town of wind path as a child, kickstarting his inability to trust people.

-neo literally tried to learn to pick locks from online tutorials.

-neo picked up the idea of using a parasol as her weapon after she used one to slow her fall from jumping out of a window after accidentally setting the family mansion on fire.

-’the girl that fell through the world’ was named alyx- very clearly an alice in wonderland reference.

-after the fire incident, neo’s parents sent her to an all-girls academy.

-two huntsman show up named roch szalt and kandi floss and i’m laughing my fucking ass off. and you guys thought trivia was a bad name.

-we meet junior’s father, hei xiong, and the three bears references are very blatant. the guy loves oatmeal. he knew neo’s father and used to bring her fairy tale books as presents.

-roman got his pumpkin motif because it was the first thing offered to him to cover up the tattoo he’d gotten while working for the spiders.

-hey howdy hey the malachite twins ended up at the same academy as neo. they were bitter enemies.

-neo was made to use a voice app to communicate at the academy, which she hated.

-the fairytale ‘the gift of the moon’ is referenced.

-neo knows how to sew.

-neo does indeed use her semblance to make half of her hair pink to begin with, but later dyed it in order to save aura.

-neo met roman for the first time after following the malachite twins and saving him after the twins and a bunch of spiders corner him.

-neo’s emblem comes from the symbol of the academy, and represents harmony and balance, which is explained to her by the academy’s headmaster after she approves of neo’s change of look.

-neo was secretly tasked by her headmaster to keep an eye on and capture roman, and she properly learned to fight there. of course, as she gets closer with roman, she ends up wanting to help him instead.

-the first time neo referred to herself as neopolitan is when she introduced herself to roman. it was initially a cover to not reveal too much about herself to him, but she decided it felt right and took on the name for real.

-there is an initial bit of what (ahem) some people might consider ship tease when neo and roman talk for the second time, but this is dropped very quickly and can probably just be passed off as neo being an at-the-time 18yo girl who’d not really had any close encounters with older men before. she does give him a kiss on the cheek near the end, but then she also tussles his hair, implying more of a familial bond (but we knew that already).

-roman had been wearing a bowler had for years, but it was neo who gave him the one he wore in the show. the feather has a transponder in it that neo uses to find him. she also later gives him the outfit he wears.

-neo designed her weapon, but roman ordered it for her from a weaponsmith in mistral.

-remnant has a ‘dr pepper’ copycat called ‘dr piper’.

-a car described as a sedan is mentioned. either real-life names for types of cars are used in remnant, or this was an oversight.

-neo’s been able to pilot aircraft since she was 18. she learned from online training videos.

-lisa lavender plays a role in saving roman and neo at the book’s climax. not joking.

-at age 18, neo was too short to see over a steering wheel :’)

-roman doesn’t kill neo’s parents :/ they instead end up killed, along with hei xiong, when their mansion explodes.

-glynda is apparently vale’s most famous huntress.

#rwby #rwby spoilers #roman holiday spoilers #blaire rambles

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witcher-and-his-bard-archive · 3 years

Note

Geralt in 21 with partner of your choice for the lingerie prompts!!

I hope we’re feeling Geralt X Eskel tonight bc I wanted to write Eskel v badly.

"Maybe it's a bad idea," Geralt mumbles, twisting to look at his ass in the mirror. Objectively, he looks good, but fear and self-doubt creep into his mind anyway. Outside the bedroom door, Eskel sighs.

"Can I just see it so I can give you an honest opinion? Not one tainted by your horrific self-loathing."

Geralt takes another look at himself, resists the urge to sigh, and steps away from the mirror. If it was anyone else but Eskel, he'd lock the door and undress before going back out, but he trusts Eskel. And tonight, he's hoping Eskel is a better judge than he. He takes a deep breath as he steps out into the living room and as soon as Eskel's eyes are on him, he deflates. He feels stupid.

"I'm just gonna change," he mumbles, but Eskel reaches out to stop him.

"Don't. He'll love it."

"Are you sure?"

Eskel nods slowly, a faint smile pulling at his lips. "You look… incredible. Only an idiot wouldn't love you in this."

Geralt doesn't believe him, but he trusts Eskel's judgement. He slips back into his room, closing the door behind him (although there's not much left that Eskel hasn't seen tonight) and turns to his closet to pick out what to wear.

Lingerie aside, he's looking forward to tonight. Vernon is… something. But it's not like Geralt is going to marry him or anything. He wants to fuck him, though and tonight is the fourth time they've been out, so he's optimistic - hence the wardrobe choice.

He leaves the house just after five with enough time to get to the restaurant before their 5:30 reservation.

By six, he's sat in the underground parking with his head on the steering wheel.

He feels like an idiot to have assumed this was going anywhere. And yeah, maybe he wasn't as into the guy as he should have been, but being turned down outright still fucking sucks. And to make matters worse, all he can feel is the press of the straps digging into his skin. It's irritating, maddeningly so, and only serves to remind him of how fucking stupid he was to think someone might want him. But he can't go upstairs because Eskel will be there and he'll ask why he's home so early and Geralt will have to tell him. And the only thing worse than being stood up and having to come home and take off the lingerie he bought specifically for tonight (an already embarrassing experience) is having to admit to your best friend that it happened.

Geralt groans and squeezes his eyes shut, banging his head against the steering wheel. If he just stays down here long enough, Eskel will never know. He'll think he went out and had a great time and came home. It's what he usually does. But factoring time for dinner, sex, and potential conversation afterwards? He'll be stuck down here for hours. Which is not at all how he intended to spend his night.

He picks his phone up off the passenger seat and makes to get out of the car, but there's one unread message that catches his eye and he opens it quickly, hoping it's Roche. It's Eskel, because of course, it is, hoping that his night goes well. Geralt just groans at the screen before locking it and shoving his phone in his pocket where it can't taunt him.

When he gets up to their shared apartment, he waits again before letting himself in. Only for a few minutes, only to try and hear if Eskel is in the living room. But there's no sound coming from within, so he pushes the door open and sneaks to his bedroom. But as the door is clicking shut, Eskel calls out.

"Geralt?"

Fuck.

"Geralt, is that you? What are you doing home?"

"Uh- change of plans," he mumbles. He wants to make up an excuse, to say he's not feeling well or something came up, but he can't form the words. Instead, he flops onto his bed and stares up at the ceiling, which is where Eskel finds him a moment later.

"What happened?" he asks gently. Geralt shrugs and sighs.

"Don't know." He does know. It's the same thing that happens every time, but he knows Eskel doesn't like when he talks badly about himself, so Geralt keeps quiet. "Just didn't show."

His skin prickles and he shuts his eyes. Just for once, he'd like to be good enough for someone. For someone to want to be with him. He's always the one setting the dates or reaching out to start with and he doesn't know why he bothers because it never goes well for him. The best he gets is Eskel's sympathy and a bottle of gin to come home to.

"Asshole," Eskel mutters, "doesn't deserve you anyway. You can do better." Geralt scoffs, but Eskel persists and eventually, Geralt just tunes it out because one day Eskel will realize that he is inherently unlovable, that he's not worth the time to text and say hey I'm not showing up tonight.

"Thanks," he mumbles, but it's false.

"You wanna watch tv and drink vodka?"

For the first time in hours, Geralt smiles.

"You know I do."

Watching tv and drinking vodka turns into watching Jeopardy and drinking if you get the answer wrong. And the longer it goes on, the fewer answers either of them gets right. It's not until late that Geralt realizes he never got changed when he came home. He peels off his shirt, having spilled his drink on it, and the black straps are there, crisscrossing across his chest and reminding him he's an idiot. Which is a shame really because the piece itself is nice and now he'll never get a chance to enjoy it properly.

"S nice," Eskel mumbles next to him. Geralt looks up to see what he's talking about and finds Eskel looking back at him. "Vernon's a fuckin' idiot turning you down in that." Geralt huffs a humourless laugh.

"You're drunk," he shrugs, "and you're s'posed to say shit like that when I'm having a bad day."

"True though. Wish you didn't think so badly of yourself all the time. You're hot, Geralt, simple as that. You're the only one who doesn't see it." Geralt pauses for a second, decides he's misheard, and shrugs it off. He picks the bottle up off the table, takes a large drink, and passes it to Eskel who sighs, but takes it anyway.

But over the next half hour, he catches Eskel looking at him. And not just glancing over at him, but really looking at him in a way that makes the skin on the back of his neck prickle.

"What?" he asks finally, his anxiety getting the better of him. "What's wrong?"

"Just thought you'd have taken it off by now, thought you'd wanna be comfortable."

"It is?" Geralt says simply and Eskel purses his lips and nods.

"Can I touch it?" Eskel looks up at him earnestly and Geralt would be an idiot to say no to him now. He nods slowly and Eskel reaches out, tracing the lines of the leather. His fingers slip, brushing against his skin, Geralt pretends not to notice.

He shifts to get more comfortable, turning to face Eskel and leaning into the couch cushions. And Eskel grows bolder, slipping his fingers into the rings joining the straps and tugging gently, letting the leather lift from his skin before releasing it. Geralt shudders the first time he does it and that only seems to encourage Eskel.

One warm hand presses against his chest, slipping down to the button on his jeans. Eskel turns it between his fingers for a moment before looking up at him.

"Should take these off," he hums, "let me see the rest."

"You saw the rest earlier."

"Not like this."

To Geralt's drunk mind, it seems like sensible reasoning, so he quickly unbuttons his jeans and pushes them to the floor. He feels suddenly exposed in only leather straps and a lacy thong, but Eskel is transfixed. He runs a hand up Geralt's thigh and Geralt shudders under the warmth of it. The room is cold, his skin breaking out in goosebumps now that he's mostly bare, but Eskel's palm is warm where it slides against his skin and Geralt closes his eyes at the feeling.

He stops where the leather digs into Geralt's thighs, pressing his thumb beneath it and following the line along. Geralt is only partially aware of the way his pulse spikes, the way his skin prickles under Eskel's touch, but he knows that he likes it, so he doesn't tell him to stop.

"Geralt." Geralt opens his eyes and looks up to find Eskel looking back at him, his expression soft. "Can I kiss you?"

Geralt's mind whirls to try and catch up with what it's evidently missed. He doesn't even realize he's nodding, and then Eskel's mouth is on his own, soft and warm, and he can't think about anything else. His fingers slip instinctively into Eskel's hair and Geralt finds himself laid back against the arm of the couch as Eskel fits himself between his thighs.

He's wearing sweatpants and the softness of the fabric feels amazing in contrast to the leather wrapped around his thighs. Geralt nearly groans when Eskel shifts forward, but then his attention is refocused to where Eskel's hand settles on his pec, fingers slipping under the leather straps. Eskel breaks the kiss just long enough to mumble fuck, before pressing into his neck and kissing under his jaw.

"D'you have any fucking idea how you look in this?" he mumbles, "christ Geralt, you're stupid beautiful." Geralt starts at that. No one has ever called him beautiful before. On occasion, he's been called hot, but he knows it's just his body they're interested in. When Eskel calls him beautiful, it feels like something more.

"You're drunk," he accuses and Eskel laughs against his skin.

"But so are you. Drunk and beautiful." Eskel shifts down the couch, pressing soft kisses down Geralt's chest until he reaches his nipples. "Fuck. You just put 'em on display like this?" he groans, "what's a man supposed to do with himself, Geralt?"

Geralt squirms under the praise, but he shuts his eyes, focusing instead of the brush of Eskel's lips, the warm wetness where his tongue peeks out from between his lips. He'd be lying if he said he'd never thought about Eskel this way, but Eskel was always just one more in a long line of people who would rather just be friends. So Geralt doesn't think about it. Much. On occasion, he'll imagine what might have been if they'd met at a different time, or on nights when nothing else is going right, he'll picture him above him as he jerks off, inevitably falling asleep guilty and ashamed.

But he never expected anything like this.

Eskel sucks a nipple between his lips, flicking his tongue at the numb and Geralt lets out a shaky moan, shifting his hips beneath him. The sensation goes straight to his cock and he realizes belatedly that he's half hard. It's not until Eskel readjusts himself that Geralt realizes he's also only wearing a tiny, lacy thong and that it was barely covering him to begin with.

His worries go unnoticed by Eskel who is now sitting sideways, one arm under Geralt's back and the other slipping slowly down his chest, catching on each of the straps as it goes. He stops abruptly and Geralt hears a little hum before Eskel's leaning back up to him, nosing under his jaw.

"You're already so hard," he groans, "can I touch you?"

"Please," Geralt whispers.

There's no hesitation as Eskel's palm cups his cock, first over the lace, then quickly pushing beneath it to wrap a hand around him. He strokes him slowly, working him up to full hardness in no time at all and then he's ducking down and wrapping his lips around the head of his cock. Geralt whispers and bucks and when he looks down, the hand that was on his cock is now shoved down Eskel's sweatpants.

"Let me see," he breathes and Eskel shoves the pants down without so much as wavering in his ministrations.

Once he catches sight of Eskel's cock, he can't look away. He watches the way it slips between his fingers with fascination, imagining his own hand around him, his mouth around him.

"Fuck me," he says and Eskel pulls off his cock to stare at him.

"You want me?"

Geralt nods and leans in to kiss him again, sighing softly against Eskel's lips before pulling away. "Yes. Always, please."

Eskel doesn't hesitate, wrapping his arms around Geralt's waist and kissing him soundly as he pulls him up into his lap. When he shifts his hips, Geralt can feel the thick length of Eskel's erection through the lace and it only makes him want him more. He nips at his lips, kisses him hard and Eskel laughs softly against his mouth.

"Fuck, you're really somethin' aren't you."

"Lube," Geralt grumbles. He shifts to move, but Eskel stops him. When Geralt looks up, he looks embarrassed then he shoves a hand down the side of the couch and Geralt realizes why.

For whatever reason, there's a bottle of lube stashed between the cushions and he offers Eskel a questioning look.

"Full disclosure?" Eskel shrugs, "I couldn't get the thought of you all wrapped up in that out of my head. I was gonna jerk off while you were gone to try and get it out of my system but then you came home."

"Mm," Geralt hums, "good thing I did."

He kisses him again, slow and deep, taking the bottle from Eskel's hands and flicking it open. He pours probably more than he needs to into Eskel's hand then drops the bottle again, uncaring as Eskel's fingers press back between his cheeks. Eskel makes no attempt to remove the thong, just slips his fingers beneath it and presses against him.

Eskel makes quick work of opening him up, fucking into him with thick fingers and kissing the moans from Geralt's lips. When he fucks him, it's quick and hard and neither of them is sober enough to have much finesse, but it's good. It's the first time in maybe years that Geralt remembers genuinely enjoying himself during sex and when they're finished, he collapses against Eskel's chest and just stays there.

Warm arms wrap around him and Eskel kisses his shoulders and slowly, they both drift off to sleep.

In the morning, Geralt wakes up alone with a pounding headache and something digging into his skin. As he looks down at himself, at the straps barely covering his skin, everything rushes back to him and he feels sick. Fuck.

He shouldn't have given in, should have said no to Eskel's advances. But he was in a bad place and he wanted. He still wants him, but evidently, Eskel was just horny and drunk. Mark him down as another who doesn't want to stay. Geralt wants to go back to bed, to call Yen and ask her to drag him out to do anything but stay at home in the apartment, but he supposes this is something that should be dealt with sooner rather than later.

He barely makes it to his feet before Eskel comes downstairs. He's dressed in only his sweatpants, hung low on his hips, and Geralt groans internally.

"I'm sorry," he blurts and at the exact same time, Eskel says "I've got the bath running." To which, Geralt doesn't have a response.

"You first," Eskel says tentatively. Geralt sighs.

"I'm sorry about last night, I shouldn't have-" he cuts himself off, failing to put his thoughts into words.

"Oh. Right. Yeah. It's just… I've been up for half an hour making breakfast and running a bath and I didn't account for regretting what happened last night." Eskel smiles up at him and Geralt's shoulders slump. Sometimes he hates how well Eskel knows him, but this morning he's glad for it.

Eskel steps up close, reaching around to undo the clasps at the back of Geralt's neck and gently tugging the lingerie down until it falls in a pile on the floor. The thong goes next and Geralt doesn't say a word as Eskel's hands settle on his hips.

"Bath, breakfast, and then we're going to sit down and talk about this," he breathes, "but don't think for a second that I'm gonna let you worry yourself out of this. Last night was good. You were- you are beautiful. Go upstairs and I'll be up in a minute if you want?"

Geralt isn't sure exactly how Eskel thinks he's going to fit the both of them into their bathtub, but he isn't going to let that stop him from trying.

"Okay," he whispers. Eskel smiles and tips forward, stopping at the last moment, but Geralt leans in to close the space, kissing him softly. He loses himself for a moment in the slide of Eskel's lips against his own and he doesn't realize he's being pulled forward until he shifts his hips and presses against Eskel's cock, hard in his sweats.

"Bath, breakfast, talk," Eskel repeats, breathless, "after that I'd like to keep you in my bed for a week."

As far as ideas go, Geralt thinks it's a damn good one.

lingerie prompts~

#sorry about... all of this #geralt x eskel #v spicy #rex writes #modern au #multiplelizards

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