#i want to learn so much about the beautiful origins of this country that doesn't belong to me

[beemintty]

something i struggle with is my australian identity. it's a fickle thing, identity that's tied to your country of origin. now those who know a bit about our countries history, I descend from the english part of the country. my dad is first generation australian (his parents are immigrants) and my mum's ancestors probably came across on the first fleet as convicts (we think that was the case anyway). so i'm british pretty well through and through. which is fine but i'm honestly not very proud of what the british did here to this country..... they stripped an entire culture of their own identity and practically erased it completely-- the people and the tradition-- and we are still making up for the unforgivable actions today (as we should be!). so yeah my australian identity feels a little bit conflicting.

so here's the thing. i want to learn and experience the indigenous culture that was so horrible erased by the british colonisation, but i understand how far away i am from indigenous australians and their culture. but i simply can't be a part of "just another western culture" i need more than just being a westerner.... i want my own individual culture that I can share and experience with food and tradition and ART and STORIES! like i feel so lost in "just another western culture".

but here's the other thing. australia is so uniquely isolated in its westerness. even though we are a predominantly western society, we are different. we do have tradition. we do have food. we do have art. we do have stories. it just doesn't look like an old, rich culture, it's growing and it's still young.

i feel like i find myself envying my lack of indigenous identity and therefore having no time to this land and no way in to understand the marvelous culture they have. but then again i also seem to despise my part in the western world. maybe out of consolidation or guilt but maybe also just out of not feeling particularly connected with australia's western traditions. so i'm stuck in this weird inbetween, unable to identify with either culture that make up my country.

i feel a bit lost.

[whateversawesome]

Some Theories about Anya's Name

Who would have thought a short chapter would bring so much information and discussion? But then again, we're talking about Anya, agent of chaos (according to her papa).

After that chapter, there's plenty of theories flying around, so I decided to make this post to compile, explain and expand these theories 😉

Ready?

Anya is an acronym: This one is pretty clear has been a popular general theory. It means that the letters of her name stand for something else. What exactly? We don't know yet, but it probably has to do with Project Apple and the infamous lab Anya was created.

Anya...Ania...OstANIA: If you live near small children, you probably know that when they are learning how to talk, they do it by picking up words adults say and many times they say those words wrong. While discussing with some friends, I imagined those scientists constantly saying the word Ostania in front of that little girl. Maybe baby Anya thought that was her name because she heard the word OstANIA all the time, but she couldn't say it right.

Anya, the foreign princess: This one is very simple. It means that her name was spelled differently in her country of origin. This theory is vague, but I do believe a third country could be involved in all this mess. Also, it would make sense for Anya to be hiding in Ostania, if she was born and kept captive in a different country.

Anya...A N/A: This one is one of the most interesting theories! A N/A would mean something like "Non-applicable". You probably think this doesn't say much, but it really does. In the first few chapters of the story we learned that Anya was adopted and returned 4 times. Instead of a child, she was returned as if she was a piece of clothing. Even though it's been barely mentioned, we've also learned that people that participated in Project Apple didn't treat the subjects nicely (see how they treated Bond). Those people called Anya "subject 007". They didn't even give her a name. If we think about it, Anya is very "non-applicable". She was created in a lab, she has a strange power, so she's not like the other kids, she's been adopted and returned 4 times...

The A N/A and Anya being treated like an object instead of a human being fits the Spy x Family premise of the story, which is: Humans like Twilight, Yor, and Anya are used as weapons instead of being treated like humans. The story is about them regaining their humanity through love and family.

So even if A N/A says nothing about Anya, it says a lot about the story.

Look at this little girl. This illustration was heartbreaking. Do you know when it takes place? It's right before he meets Twilight. We see that it's the same filthy orphanage Twilight visited on chapter 1 and this is not Anya's first orphanage, so that means this illustration happened after she was returned again. The way she's facing the door, her body language, the way she holds Mr. Chimera by the hand is so sad. Here she is, once again, in a place she doesn't want to be, where nobody will take care of her...alone 😭

Enough of that or we'll end up crying...🤧

Some other things to take into consideration about her name:

Mr. Chimera: Since this is a visual story, that panel of Mr. Chimera tells us that this plushie is involved in Anya's name. If you've read certain fic, you know where I stand on that. In this case, I think that yes, the person who helped Anya escape gave Mr. Chimera to her. However, I don't think it was exactly that character (you know who). It probably was someone else, maybe even a new character we don't know yet. It could also be a scientist who took pity on Anya or disagreed with the use of children as lab rats, and helped her escape. We don't know yet.

Twilight: One of the most beautiful panels on that short chapter was seeing Anya's eyes lit up when her papa told her the correct spelling of her name. Did you see it? Those were the eyes of someone who had just learned something new about herself and by doing this, Twilight made her even more human.

One more thing...I've seen speculations about the next arc of the manga being about Anya's past because of this short mission. In my opinion...I don't think it'll happen yet. Why? If it was the case, this would have been a longer chapter and the actual beginning of the arc.

I believe Anya's past will be one of the last things we learn, because there's plenty of things to resolve and a lot of information we don't have. Stories are like puzzles; this chapter was an important piece, but we're not working on that part yet.

[dervampireprince]

ASMR | Elisabeth das Musical - Der Tod x Listener SFW Death Becomes Entranced And Seduces A Lonely Prince

[M4M/GF4M] [Prince! Listener] [Seduction] [Manipulation] [Kissing - no character death, lore here is Death's kisses can kill if it's 'your time' but if it's not they don't but they're still cold and cause temporary frostbite-like symptoms] [TW implies the listener is depressed and has been experiencing suicidal ideation, Death at points advises the listener to kiss him which would kill them, please skip this audio if you think these issues could affect or trigger you and if you are affected by these issues please seek help and contact hotlines in your country. This audio is fictional, Death's attempts to be a voice of suicidal ideation should not be taken seriously nor applied to real life.] 

I've been wanting to make this audio for so long. While I've left it ambiguous enough to be enjoyed as an original audio, this character is actually from my favourite musical 'Elisabeth das Musical'. It's a German-language dark queer historical romance where Death (Der Tod) is drawn to those who think about him, in particular it follows the life of Elisabeth, Empress of Austria, and her son Rudolf. The musical does deal with serious mental health topics and some historical events from that time including the rise of fascism so please know that going in, but if you think you can handle such topics then I couldn't recommend the musical enough. 

The original 1992 Vienna production is on Youtube with English subtitles, that is my favourite production and means a lot to me as Uwe Kroger as Death is just... perfection to me, very much gender envy and has been a big influence on me and helped me with accepting myself and my gender expression, and his characterisation of Death as this genderfluid, pansexual otherworldly being is just beautiful. And if you enjoy then I'd also recommend the 2005 Vienna production which is also on Youtube with English subtitles mostly for the few extra added song and Serkan Kaya's performance as Lucheni.

For those of you in my Patreon Discord server, I streamed this musical last Sunday in there for you guys and it finally felt like the perfect time to bring this audio to life. And if Kronprinz is still around, I know you were requesting a Der Tod audio for a long time and I hope you're happy with this one. The listener in this audio series takes the place of Rudolf, but you don't need to know anything about the musical to understand these audios. I chose to present them more like my original royalty series audios as Elisabeth das Musical is not very well known outside of mainland Europe and Japan, so I hoped by framing it this way with a photograph of myself cosplaying Death from a couple years ago would entice more people who aren't familiar with the musical. 

I love this musical so much, European musicals in general are my biggest interest and if you go searching for them it wont be long until you find my sfw account @emptymasks posting too much about them. If you're interested in learning more I have some masterlists and info posts pinned on my emptymasks Tumblr, but also as part of my subathon rewards I am doing a stream on my Twitch explaining about infodumping about European musicals and I've been working on some video essays for years that I hope to get finished this year that will be up on my emptymasks Youtube channel. I also run @europeanmusicals . If any mutuals or followers from my main or side blogs finds this... well hello there, I find myself nervous to drop this in the euro musical tags, as if people are going to find this format of fanwork weird but well... I had fun, I hope you guys are nice about this (nice doesn't mean you have to like it, but please don't be mean about it if you just don't enjoy asmr or audio content).

Something something if I had a nickel for every time Prince voiced a personification of Death from different fandoms I'd have three nickels.

.

Old public spicy audios on sound gasm (link in pinned post). 2 Exclusive spicy audios on Patreon every month. I also stream on Twitch every week @ dervampireprince . [minors + ageless blogs dni. this blog is for 18+ only.] [do not repost/reupload/edit any of my content]

[aesterblaster]

Just saw a really clickbait-y youtube video that called Blue Lock fascist in its thumbnail and I will admit first and foremost that I didn't watch it and yes I've been informed that it isn't implying that Blue Lock is some fascistic propaganda but it still got me thinking so-

here's my rant/breakdown about the ways that Blue Lock is specifically anti-fascist

So first of all, popular animes and mangas having possibly fascist undertones is nothing new. I won't deny that there's a long history of Japan being a colonizer and commiting atrocities that are still brushed off or forgotten about to this day. And this does seep into some works that I personally choose to not engage with for exactly that reason. Miss me with trying to be an apologist for or glorifying real world war crimes- But Blue Lock specifically? I'd be extremely hard pressed to call it fascist.

Fascism is defined as an alt-right, ultra nationalistic political ideology usually characterized by a centralized autocracy, forced suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy and subordination of individual interests for the believed good of the nation or race according to Wikipedia. First let's go through the ways Blue Lock does match up with that.

Ego can be easily viewed as a dictator near the beginning of the manga

Most characters thrive on putting others down for their faults and strictly believe that there is some sort of natural order where people who lack "ego" are at the bottom

There is a sort of central autocracy with the top 6

Near the beginning especially, there is a violent snuffing out of any ideology that dares oppose egocentrism or the idea that you need to be a solid team to win a game

Now let's go through the ways Blue Lock denies and even goes against Fascism.

BLLK's main goal is to make a Japanese soccer team that can win a World Cup. In a more fascist manga, we would see racism ga-fucking-lore. We can see this in animes that have more right wing leaning undertones like Attack on Titan where when race is brought in it's for conflict. There's no possibility of harmony, only winners and losers. Those protected and those put down and punished.

And Blue Lock does have an extreme focus on who wins and who loses. It is not afraid to include racism against Japanese people like with Adam or portray black people in unsettling and kind of racist ways like Dada's original design. But these elements don't automatically spell fascism. Blue Lock is careful to portray characters of color as just that, characters. They don't exist to tell you about their lives of hardship and struggle and they don't exist to justify Ego's obessesion with creating a good Japanese team. As you read BLLK, you'll notice that the artist has taken care to get better at drawing different body types and facial structures. The character design isn't trying to sell some perfect ideal like fascism so famously does, it tells you a peak athlete doesn't have one distinct look. It tells you characters from other countries are just as if not more capable than the Blue Lock boys. Hell, even Sae's hatred of Japanese football is portrayed as less of a betrayal of country and pride and more of a cultural clash. The issue to be solved in Sae's character is the way he looks down on his brother, not how much he despises Japanese football teams' tactics. We know this because Ego himself rails against them too.

A fascist manga would paint Sae as a villain for even learning from and joining teams from other countries, lending them his talent instead of keeping it in his home country. But Blue Lock encourages diversification and collaberation with other nation's teams so heavily that it is literally an entire like 5 part arc right now. Ego isn't ultra nationalistic, he just wants to make a better soccer team for his country and he isn't afraid of praising and adopting from other countries in the process. The biggest win to come out of a Blue Lock team wouldn't be that they're all Japanese but that they all follow his ideology.

Speaking of his ideology, Ego is extremely harsh and controlling, yes, but he also believes in the boys. He lets them do what they believe is best. He pushes them to their limits, not because they disobey him, but because they dissapoint him. A true fascist dictator would rule with fear with no introductions of other ideologies, he would strike at any sign of weakness or opposition. At the beginning, he does do this. But as the manga goes on we see how much wiggle room he's willing to allow. He lets Isagi curse at him and question his leadership, he lets Shidou play even though he's clearly queer and extremely volatile, he doesn't punish any of the boys for injuring each other. In a fascist society, you are expected to fit an ideal or be othered, be perfect and work together with a sense of comradere because that's the only way to prove your claims that you are the best race/nation. There can be no imperfections or cracks in the facade...But Ego lets the boys be messy. He never forces them to change who they are, only forces them to believe that they can do great things all on their own. Even with Kunigami, Wild Card wasn't a correction of his disbelief in some nation or race, but instead a correction of how limited his mindset was. In fact, in a more fascist society, Kunigami's love of playing hero and protecting his teammates would be praised and celebrated. Ego putting individuality and aspiration over the good of the team as a whole is literally a middle finger to fascism.

The villain of the series is literally a greedy Japanese man that wants to commercialize the team and make them less individualized. I don't know how much more anti-fascist you could get-

Also, Blue Lock handles disability very carefully and very well. In more alt-right ideologies than not, something you'll see again and again is this idea that disabled people don't deserve the same rights because they can't contribute to society. Disabled people are a stain to be pushed away and hidden because they contradict the central idea of a "perfect" nation. In a fascist retelling of BLLK, Chigiri would be kicked from the program, not given power and influence. In a fascist retelling of BLLK, Kenyu would be attacked and beaten as soon as it was discovered that he made it into the top-six with failing eyesight. Any physical disadvantage could easily put an athlete at the bottom of the social hierarchy as well, Blue Lock could have very very easily made fun of its disabled characters for even trying. It could get away with mistreating these players and be defended for it so fucking quickly. But instead, it lets you root for them and gives them just as much care and weight as the others. It's trying to tell you that being a good player sometimes means knowing your limits and getting help, not punishing yourself because you have some biological disadvantage. It also takes care to demonstrate that no race is inherently worse at soccer than the other.

And, of course, the elephant in the room, Noa and Kaiser. Okay...if you see German characters and immediately think OMG NAZIS??OMG FASCISM?????OMGGGG HE HAS BLONDE HAIR???AND BLUE EYES?? That's a fucking you problem and you clearly aren't reading the manga. Even Noa Noel being an older man and still being allowed to play and looked up to as the best is an example of how Blue Lock goes against steriotypes about athletes. Kaiser does have blonde hair and blue eyes yes, but he also wears eyeliner and eyeshadow and has a tattoo and dyed hair... None of that would be allowed in an actually fascist Japanese manga unless it was as caricature to make fun of and dominate. But instead, Kaiser is an actual threat who has complex arcs and behaviors. Also, Kaiser isn't fascist himself, he clearly views Isagi as an equal even though they're different nationalities and he doesn't believe in any one authority or greater cause except for himself. Noa is very strict yes, and he does rank and rate the boys, but he specifically doesn't factor race into it. He also, just like Ego, allows other ideas and patterns to emerge even if they mess up his own plans for matches. He doesn't suppress anyone and is actually extremely lax. If you think he or BLLK is "fascist", look at actual real world sports teams and their strict practices or past statements about other nationalities.

Isagi as a protaganist is anti-fascist too!!!! He's a Japanese everyman who has good Japanese parents, no disabilities, an honest personality and believes in a future where Japan wins the World Cup. In a fascist story, he'd be fucking untouchable (ESPECIALLY against characters from other countries) and all of this would be paraded as proof that a Japanese soccer team is clearly superior and all-dominating. But no! He gets beat down, questioned, disrespected and constantly shown up by others. He's not special and he's extremely self-centered. He doesn't water his own beliefs down for the "good of the nation" or whatever the fuck and he grew up idolizing foreign players. Isagi never supresses other people's ideologies, he just makes fun of them if they fuck up. He's never xenophobic, even when other characters have moments that have xenophobic undertoens like Adam or Sae's comments. Isagi Yoichi's character could have a few traits flipped and be a poster boy for some alt-right manga about how superior Japanese people or hell, Ego's pupils are. But he doesn't. He's simply designed and he's rude and he looks down on people, but he also apologizes, humbly accepts when he can improve by questioning his own ideals and is open to talking with everyone he comes across.

Calling Blue Lock a "fascist soccer manga" is not only demonstrating that you have no idea what fascism is, but also disgustingly painting over all the beautiful themes and messages within the manga.

Again I'm aware that that original video wasn't aiming to negate any of these points but I have seen people make claims and jokes before that about Blue Lock's more *beat it into your head* tendencies with ideology. And I've seen jokes specifically about the German team/the way Sae seems to just hate Japanese culture. I just dislike the painting of Blue Lock as a jumping point for discussions about fascism and its effects because of the way it handles themes like cross cultural connection, family pressures, capitalism and disability so carefully.

[deke-rivers-1957]

ECU Film Ranking Part 1

This will be a 3 part series where after 10 or so movies, I'll rank them in reverse order with 10 being the worst and 1 being the best. My ranks are based on how much I liked the movie, how much I liked Elvis' character, and how well made it was. Each entry will have an explanation so I hope my opinions make sense. If you have any disagreements feel free to share them. Enjoy!

Roustabout

The problem with this movie is simple: it completely misses the point of Charlie's character. When you think about what the movie wants us to believe, Charlie is supposed to be a grown man who's got a chip on his shoulder about being made an orphan and wants his respect. While the movie does show him as pushing back when he's being disrespected, Charlie isn't a jerk who needs to get rid of the chip on his shoulder. If anything Charlie is a saint for having to deal with people who actively hate him. In fact outside of bit characters and Mr. Carver, everyone else is infinitively times worse. How are we supposed to think Charlie needs to learn his lesson when the whole time we're on his side of most confrontations? Overall, it was a good story concept with terrible execution as it a completely wasted potential storylines and an amazing soundtrack.

(John Lennon wrote Revolution 9.)

Wild in the Country

On paper this should be an absolute banger of an Elvis movie: An angry young man who has no faith in himself until he meets someone who inspires him to be better. Too bad the movie felt like it had no idea on how to work with that concept. You get the feeling that each writer had a different story idea but was never able to execute it from start to finish. For instance, the ending was supposed to be tragic but instead became bittersweet in the most mild way possible. Given how this movie initially sets this serious tone where a character's bad actions will have consequences, the ending does a complete 180. Nothing of consequence happens and the movie suffers because of it. If the most intense part of the movie is done and over with in 5 minutes with no time to even digest what happened before we see Glenn go off to college you just sit there thinking "what was the point of that if nothing came out of it?" It's slightly better because at least the first third gave us some of Elvis' best character moments with Glenn giving an emotional monologue about his life.

Love Me Tender

Story wise it's a step up from the other two, but still suffers from executing a vision. The entire 3rd act destroyed whatever character arc Clint had going for him. I get the idea that Clint suddenly turning on Vance and Cathy just because practical strangers filled his head with ideas was something that was added at the last minute to make Elvis more relevant despite an originally smaller role. I can understand Clint being insecure about his manhood and doubting his wife's loyalty, but the execution of that was terrible. Just fix Clint's character arc in the 3rd act, and this movie would've been fine.

Paradise, Hawaiian Style

There's nothing wrong with Rick as a character. The problem's that he's boring. He doesn't have much of a character arc as it's not like him saving Danny showed a new side of him. His womanizing is his character flaw and the driving factor of his irresponsibility. Him rescuing Danny doesn't change that and it definitely doesn't give his romance with Friday any weight as I simply don't believe they have any chemistry. Then again, the only vision this movie had was to showcase actual Hawaii and the Polynesian people. For the 1960s they did that in a pretty respectful way. Drums of the Islands is a great finale song with beautiful visuals. It's a nice finale to conclude an otherwise boring movie. But what a finale it is.

Clambake

As much as I love Scott's character arc, the songs are a mixed bag and the production at times is bad. I also wasn't that enthused about Scott and Dianne's relationship as I thought Dianne was boring. The side characters are fine but again nothing to write home about. I do think that if this was given more time it would've been better, but as it stands it's not at all the worst story. The ballads keep the soundtrack from being completely terrible. It's in general a very mediocre movie with an amazing character arc.

(Joe DiMaggio wore the number 5.)

Production wise this is easily the worst one as some of the effects are so bottom of the barrel of what they wanted to achieve. The story had elements that would've been amazing but simply never expanded on them. However, JODIE IS PEAK. Way more interesting than Josh and easily could've been the main character. The revelation that he's not Pappy's son alone should've been talked about in the movie as opposed to being a throwaway line. His ballad for Midge easily the best song in the movie. Such a shame this movie was rushed out. I genuinely think if they had Elvis just be Jodie, it would've been an absolute banger. The side characters have more personality than Josh and it carries what would've otherwise been a boring movie.

Jailhouse Rock

This movie is ICONIC but character wise Vince falls a bit flat and I have mixed opinion his relationship with Peggy. Vince waffling between liking Peggy and being cold to her is strange. Especially since Peggy simply disappears for a long period of time. When they get together at the end it's like all of the justification for why things were forgiven happened off screen as opposed to naturally seeing it play out. If you simply boil it down to a cocky young man falling off his pedestal and opening up to people, then the movie works. It's very well made but there are still wrinkles that keep it from being in my top 3.

(2 and 3 are interchangeable. They're about even so the difference is simply what I like a little bit more today.)

GI Blues

Story wise I don't see anything that's really wrong with this movie. I think Tulsa is a good character. Any criticisms I have boils down to how I would've written the same story but in a different way. I guess the one criticism I do have is that we get the lie reveal plot element over in done with so little time, that there was no point of even including it. Overall, it's still a well made and enjoyable movie but it doesn't blow me away.

Girl Happy

This is low key one of the best stories in an Elvis movie. It does the lie reveal cliche right as it gives this plot element enough time to develop, climax and then resolve itself naturally. Nothing about this is forced therefore everyone involved feels like they're real people. The point of the conflict is that Rusty is supposed to watch Valerie without her knowing that he's been asked to watch her. If Valerie knew, then she wouldn't want to be around him and would only become more sneaky. The emotional conflict of her finding him and Deena together isn't anyone's fault as it wasn't like anyone wanted to act out of malice. Everyone reacted within reason and despite the miscommunication, this is a situation where telling the truth would've only complicated things. You feel bad for everyone involved and regardless of who you think is in the right, you can totally understand where the other side is coming from. The songs are still very much a mixed bag and that's why I can't put it as my number one, but as a love story it's very underrated.

(You know I had to do this lol.)

Loving You

What can I say it's Elvis' story if he had an actual happy ending. As much as I don't like how Glenda is as a character the ending makes you think she will change. Deke is such a lovable character and it only makes you wonder why he doesn't have a lot of friends. I was angry for Deke when he just forgave Glenda that quickly by coming back. I'm not sure if it's simply because that's who Deke is, or if it's on the writers for not showing us his thought process. It's similar to my criticisms for GI Blues segment. It's simply a matter of "good concept, I just would've executed it a little differently". The songs are all functional to amazing. The movie is very well made as it doesn't feel the need to blast you in the face with color. If anything Deke going from generic "farmer's clothes" to a vibrant white/red combo is so fitting. When Deke is on stage he really comes to life. Even in his regular clothes, it's like they added a brightness to them. Unintentional I'm sure but it's incredible how Deke's clothes reflect his rise from nothing. He goes from being lonely and having low self esteem to feeling joy knowing he isn't alone anymore. Such a shame it's lost in the shuffle of his other 50s movies. This one definitely stands out on its own.

AN: Thank you all for following along with my reviews. If I missed a tag I'm real sorry.

Tagging: @arrolyn1114, @thedaisymaisy, @that-hotdog, @peaceloveelvis, @imaginationlast, @fuzzymusic94, @helen06dreamer, @sfull12345, @briefpandatimemachine, @alittlemoreelvis, @lynettethemadscientist, @motht-eeth, @ash-omalley, @spooky-hazex, @teamnefarious, @blighted-star, @ab4eva, @oh-my-front-door, @father-of-2cats, @atleastpleasetelephone, @xanatenshi, @crazymadpassionatelove, @burnthheparaphilia, @aliengoth3, @smokeymountainboy, @stormie-ryan23

@yksuwyksud, @tacozebra051, @alienelvisobsession, @vintageoldsoul, @ohmygiddd, @lovininapinkcadillac, @stephthestallion, @mistyspresley, @bisexualwvtson, @ahundredlifetime, @karel-in-wonderland, @elvispresleywife, @georgefairbrother, @moonchild-daniella, @musiclover712, @worldofyns, @sillybookmarks, @g00d2balive, @leighpc, @generoustreemystic, @peskybedtime, @thetaoofzoe, @renegadewarrior, @vintagepresley, @tupelomiss, @myradiaz, @pinkcaddyconfessions, @kiankiwi, @presley72elvis, @delulubutidontcare, @januarypresley1969, @livelaughelvis, @hooked-on-elvis, @slayingjd, @ilivebecauseiamforced, @dusintv, @cattcb, @eapep, @jaqueline19997, @richardslady121, @iloveelvis2, @lett-them-eatt-cake, @if-i-can-dream-of-elvis, and @lookingforrainbows.

[leagueofgardens]

The Origins of Assault Lily

In 2005, Obanazawa Kenei (the original creator of Assault Lily, which officially launched much later in 2013) posted a description of a setting that he called "Private!¹ Yurigaoka Girls' Academy" on his blog. Later, he put up an expanded write-up on the website of a model dealing partnership he was a member of. This is an English translation of the expanded write-up.

In translating it, I tried to be as literal as possible while also conveying the rather casual tone that most of the original writing has.

I translated this because I think it's genuinely interesting to see how some of these ideas continued into Assault Lily, while others were changed or discarded. I have assumed that Obanazawa doesn't mind people reading this because it's still online and he has mentioned it in interviews about Assault Lily, but if he ever indicates that he no longer wants it to be public, I'll delete this post.

¹ Private as in "Yurigaoka is a private school", not as in "Obanazawa didn't want anyone to see this."

Yurigaoka Girls' Academy — Setting

In the 23rd century, because of various changes in the planet's environment, living things have also rapidly mutated and evolved.

Some of them have turned into monsters that prey upon humans.

Developed countries have invented new weapons to oppose these monsters, and it's the responsibility of all of humanity to use these weapons. This is so that every single person has the means to defend themselves.

Teenagers are the best at learning how to become warriors, and to train them in advanced fighting techniques, the high school curriculum now includes combat as a subject of study.

Japan is no exception to the state the world is in, and the Ministry of Education oversees the new curriculum. It's been 30 years since that happened. The story begins in 2230, when the belief that humanity can't survive without fighting has spread throughout society.

Yurigaoka Private Girls' Academy… a missionary school for girls that moved to Ikuta² after the new education requirements were implemented.

It's an elite high school that's recognized for teaching its students everything from advanced tactics and strategy to one-on-one fighting, training in the use of the latest weapons, and more. Atop a low hill stands its beautiful cathedral, and its gate rises towards the heavens. A garden in which the chosen maidens gather… that's what Yurigaoka Girls' Academy is.

The setting of Private! Yurigaoka Girls' Academy

Well, it's the year 2200, and all sorts of creatures on the planet have evolved, in a bad way.

So you see, humanity isn't at the top of the food chain any longer. Uh-oh, lizards got all big, so there's dragons and stuff now. Other wacky creatures (you know, monsters! The real gross kinds! Ones with tentacles and stuff!) are spreading all over the place. That means that by the time people are high schoolers, they've gotta be stronger than anyone believed possible! They'll already be drilling like soldiers! Because that's how strong humanity is, y'know? Everyone on the planet is a warrior, that's what this is like! But there hasn't been a world war or some kind of disaster that destroyed the Earth, so civilization is still moving right along. There was a lot of inequality in the world once, but when the monsters showed up, they wiped all that away. So things aren't like that any longer. Anyway! Civilization's progressing in all sorts of ways. Humans aren't Night Heads³ anymore, for the most part. Almost everyone can use over half of their brainpower now. And among those hidden powers, people have plenty of abilities that are a lot like magic and superpowers. So now, with these powers they've gotten that completely ignore the laws of nature, humanity is fumbling for a way to try and remove themselves from the food chain once again. Even in this world, Yurigaoka Girls' Academy is amazing. Guns of all sorts, swords, hand-to-hand fighting—their graduates have all found a way of fighting to call their own, and are throwing themselves into the battle to protect humanity.

Yurigaoka's Unique Educational Systems

1: The Schutzengel System

This is a system where an older student becomes the Schutzengel (meaning guardian angel) to one of her juniors. It's a system dating from the time when Yurigaoka was a Christian school. Well, this part is just like it is in "Someone-sama is Watching"⁴, hee hee. This is a parody, after all, so please excuse the silliness. Anyway, the three school years are known as Erzengels (archangels, 3rd-year students), Schutzengels (guardian angels, 2nd-year students), and stray sheep⁵ (1st-year students), with students from each year taking care of the younger ones. This is a big deal for the party system, which I'll talk about later, and other things too.

2: The party system

At Yurigaoka Private Girls' Academy, there's a system where three people will join up into a party. Of course, the girls in a party together have a super-strong bond! Students can form whatever parties they like, as long as at least one member is a senior. Fighting monsters isn't so easy that three inexperienced girls from the same school year could get together and do it, after all.

3: Sororities⁶

Sororities are a bit like social clubs, but it's not like everyone has to join one. They're like any other club or after-school activity. There are a whole bunch of sororities at Yurigaoka, but five of them are officially recognized by the school, and these five all have their own requirements to join. Being a strong fighter or a good student, that sort of thing. Sororities are an opposing force to the Student Council, which has immense power, and the fact is that it's their presence that allows the school to operate in a democratic manner. The leaders of sororities are called "Masters", and each of them has inherited one of the several special deposited⁷ weapons that are called Gears.

Yurigaoka's Curriculum

Year One

Yurigaoka uses a credit system, and the first year is used to determine the aptitude of new students. Basic fighting skills, handling and practical use of their main weapons, simulation games, mock battles and so forth are all used to choose the best warriors among them. The available electives are equipment training (with missile launchers, bombs, communication gear and so forth.) The most important thing is for students to find a fighting style they're good at. They're also trained to fight in the parties they'll be in later. Normally, during this year, every student will find a Schutzengel who she'll call "Onee-sama." Second-year students also believe that to become a proper student, they need to choose a stray sheep to guide, so they'll be looking for a younger girl who they like during this time. But those who enter into an oath with one another also usually join the same party, so it's not solely about liking or disliking each other personally.

Year Two

It's well known that Yurigaoka is strict with allowing only those who have earned it to graduate, and advancing to the next school year is equally challenging. To progress to their second year, students must have mastered the Deposition⁷ Synchro-System. The Deposition Synchro-System, which allows someone to instantly materialize various weapons, serves as proof that one is a senior Yurigaoka student. (This is a rip-off of Gavan.)⁸ The students will continue advancing the skills they learned during their first year, as they begin fighting real battles as parties. Second-year students also study, as a required subject, the Deck Battle System that uses Sealed Card Decks. By collecting cards, each of which has a special technique with unusually potent offensive ability sealed within it, they'll get highly effective attacks they can use while fighting monsters, although there's a limit to the number of times they can be used. (This is a rip-off of Kamen Rider Ryuki and Blade.)⁸ Notably, the reason that the 13 special weapons used to protect the school are considered special is that because they can take cards that are unusually powerful and effective. These 13 special weapons, called "Gears", belong to the leaders of the student council and the masters of the sororities, and are passed down to others through various means.

Year Three

All the third-year students of Yurigaoka, with their amazing powers, hold the future of Japan in their hands. They've gotten even more accurate and proficient with the Deposition Synchro-System they learned in year one, and the Deck Battle System they learned in year two. They can now elevate party battles to new heights. Third-year students don't need to use wild strategies. They can just charge right in and overwhelm the enemy. That's the true mark of a third-year. As many important positions in the school as possible are held by third-years, like the three student council presidents (the Yellow Lily, White Lily, and Red Lily, hee hee.)⁴ If you hear a girl say without hesitation that she'll take on a thousand enemies, you know she's a senior Yuri girl.

Later On

Graduates from Yurigaoka Private Girls' Academy can proceed straight to Yurigaoka Girls' College. The college's clubs also attract strong fighters who aren't students there.

Weapons and That Sort of Thing

It's not part of the curriculum, but Yuri girls are expected to take many credits' worth of electives during their three years at the school. Depending on their decisions and how motivated they are, they can earn a lot of credits doing this. The electives include weapons training and live combat courses. Oh, and also, the weapons should be the futuristic sort, but the near future. The reason is that I don't know a thing about weapons, hee hee! The only gun I know about is the P-90 from Gunslinger Girl! The only thing I know about warships is some are called Aegis warships! That's why! So keep in mind this is fantasy, in a lot of senses of the word! Someone lend me their brain here! Weapons! I know nothing about them!

The Location

Well, Yurigaoka Girls' Academy is near Ikuta Station on the Odakyu Odawara Line (but this story takes place in 2200, remember? Don't try to find it!) Not Mukogaoka Yuen! Ikuta! The school's on a small hill, where there used to be an experimental facility⁹ used by the old Japanese Army. Yeah, that place! You think the neighbors know about it? By the way, the only trains on the Odakyu line nowadays are those "Romancecar" express trains¹⁰. What's with that?

Gears

These are the 13 special weapons. Not only are their fundamental abilities an order of magnitude better, they have special card readers which can read advanced decks called High Rankers' Decks. They're the latest weapons used to protect the school, and can only be used by people whom they themselves deem worthy. It's impossible for anyone else to use them. Those who can use the Gears also become able to use High Rankers' Decks. The case holding the decks has a thin LCD display that can be used like a touch-sensitive PDA. By entering the right password, you can use super special techniques! The passwords are things like 555, 333 and 000. (This is a rip-off too.)⁸

Yurigaoka Girls' Academy Character Illustrations

I've chosen not to repost Obanazawa's illustrations here because I don't like reposting illustrations that belong to people and not corporations. But you can see them on the original website.

These are characters that I, Obanazawa Kenei, drew.

My scanner is broken, so I took and uploaded these with my mobile phone's camera!

It's crazy, I know! But even if they weren't photos they wouldn't be great!

1: Ruri and Miki¹¹

On the left is the model for this kit. She's a new student who just entered Yurigaoka by passing the high school entrance exam. Yurigaoka has a junior high school, high school and university, so it's pretty tough to enter midway through. But fortunately! Ruri has a gentle, yet sometimes strict onee-sama to guide her! (Yeah, yeah…) On the right is her onee-sama, Miki, a second-year at Yurigaoka. Miki is one of the student council presidents. She's a remarkable person who will soon be one of the pillars supporting Yurigaoka! Oh, and she's rich enough that it'll blow your mind!

Text on the first image My scanner's busted as usual, so I took this on my phone. On the left is the main character, Ruri. I imagine her voice as Saito Chiwa's! On the right is the girl who becomes her onee-sama, Miki. I imagine her voice as Hitomi Nabatame's! My drawings don't have a pattern to them, huh? I can't tell them apart myself!

2: The Commander of the Tricolor Lilies! Shigure Hisae

Yurigaoka's student council has three presidents, and one of them is her, Shigure Hisae. She's a straight-laced person who seems like she's similar to a samurai, but she's one of the most capable student council presidents of all time. She's especially skilled with swords and uses the Gear "Mistilteinn."

So, this girl, before I get too into things, I want to say she's based on Signum¹²! It's fine, isn't it? I just can't say "Laevateinn!" Oh, and watch out for the tentacles, hee hee!

Footnotes

² Ikuta is a train station in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture on the Odakyu Odawara line. It's two stops before Yurigaoka (the station called that, not the Garden, which in current canon isn't even in Kawasaki.) ³ "Night Head" refers to the 70% of their brain that most humans (supposedly) don't use. Those who can use more of their brain have psychic powers. The term comes from a 1992 Japanese television series of the same name. ⁴ This is a reference to Maria-sama ga Miteru. ⁵ Obanazawa wrote this as "stray sheep" in English, otherwise I'd have translated it as "lost lambs." ⁶ I haven't talked about them on this blog before, but this concept survives in Assault Lily as the "Labyrinth Sorority", a clandestine society that acts as a check on the power of Yurigaoka's student council. They operate an unofficial legion, LG Ginnungagap, whose members are registered with the school as freelance Lilies and sortie together. ⁷ Deposition (in Japanese, ��着, jouchaku) is a reference to the tokusatsu show Space Sheriff Gavan, where the titular sheriff yells "Deposition!" to have his spaceship encase him in Granium particles that form into his combat suit. In physics, deposition is when a solid surface is coated by individual molecules of another substance (metal plating is one type of deposition.) ⁸ Just to be clear: Obanazawa actually wrote these things here himself. They're not some kind of editorial by me, the translator (the only things I added were these footnotes and the sentences all in italic.) ⁹ This seems to be referring to the Noborito Research Institute, which is now a museum. ¹⁰ I think this is Obanazawa complaining about the real world, not anything related to the setting… Can't be sure though. ¹¹ Ruri's name is almost definitely Ruri, but I'm less sure about Miki. It's not as likely, but the kanji in her name could be pronounced Mitsuki or Miyuki instead. It's impossible to tell from what's written here. ¹² From Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's.

[evenstarfalls]

Alright, so the @ultimateinstrumentpoll is starting soon and a few instruments I play are going to be part of the bracket, but there's one instrument in particular I wanted to spread some propaganda for. This is an instrument that a lot of y'all have probably never heard and even fewer have heard of, so I hope you'll take the time to hear about it.

Also, Megalovania—but we'll get to that!

The carillon is a set of bells played with a keyboard. Now, not just any bells qualfiy: to be considered a carillon there must be at least 23 bells and they must be tuned chromatically. And when I say keyboard, I'm not talking electronic.

image source

This is what the keyboard looks like. Those wires? Go straight up to the top, baby! (Not all carillons are in towers, but as a general rule, they are. Most of them are.) And we're not just talking small bells. We're also talking about giant, taller-than-a-person, weigh-multiple-tons bells!

They're also some of the heaviest instruments (cast bronze is heavy!) and, along with organs, have pedal keyboards. (Notes! Played by the feet!!)

Sounding pretty cool, right?

Maybe this recording of The Owl House theme will help convince you.

(yeah, i did crop myself mostly out but carillon is obscure enough this might still be a little doxxy. Oh well!)

Notice that you can hear the clacking of the keys, and that the keys are depressed using the whole hand. And as loud as it can get up in the playing cabin, you can't hear any of that outside, just the beautiful ringing of bells across the city. And if it looks like a workout... yeah it is.

Yes, carillons are quite loud. The best place to listen is outside and a bit of a ways away. You don't also get much of a choice? Have I taken advantage of this to rickroll my university? Of course I have! Of course I have! Isn't that cool?

Carillons are also quite rare as an instrument. They number in the hundreds, scattered around the world, although most are in the Low Countries of Europe (where carillons originated) and North America. With as rare as carillons and carillonneurs are, most people don't know about carillons and how cool they are. Doesn't that make you want to vote for them?

I know, I know. You're probably just learning about this instrument, and trying to decide whether you're really invested enough in this to vote for it. Would you like to hear Megalovania played on the carillon? Would that help? (I also did tell the tournament mod I'd share it and I'm a woman of my word.)

Unfortunately the only recording I have is not a particularly good one. Oh well!

...why yes I do have to arrange a lot of my own music.

One last thing to share, because this is also an informational session. If you'd like to learn more about the carillon, The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America is a good place to start. Their website has a lot of information about carillons, and a directory if you're curious whether there's one near you. A lot of carillonneurs do offer tours! The World Carillon Federation's website also has a list of carillons and member organizations worldwide.

When the polls open, remember to vote for the carillon!

This has been an infodump. Thank you for reading.

[lailosh]

HOLIWISSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!

Hope ur taking care and life's isnt to heavy on ya

So i was wondering...........u like....if u don't sharing with us

Bit of oc lore👀?

Specialy that story of urs where the gal gets reicarnated and falls in love with the prince, not sure if it has a title yet skksksk

Wanna learn more about it <3333

Hope u have a good one 💕

You want to know about...  my oc lore? Oh boy, never had anyone ask about them before ngl I'm a little nervous now (also, I'm doing great thanks for asking 💕)

Okay, alright! Let's start with some little facts about the two main characters shall we? 

Iola (it's an "i" btw), our beautiful female lead, was once your average 19 yo girl who worked at a small bakery on the outskirts of the city to support herself back when she was still on earth. She was an orphan, had a few good friends, and absolutely loved reading romance in her free time! 

One of her favorite romance novels/ webcomic actually was one about a poor noble lady who her mother insisted that she goes to the royal hall to have some fun since she never went before and and also because it was the crown prince's birthday! a big event really. And after the prince saw her at the ball, he fell in love with her and now is doing everything to be with her. A cliche story I know but Iola kept reading it because, well, the art style nice! and um... She may or may not had little crush on one of the supporting characters (that would be our guy Leonhard!).

She's not sure how it started... I mean he was handsome yes, but so was everybody else really. He also didn't have that big of a role in the story aside from protection the young lady like he prince has ordered him, but she thought it was cute how attentive and caring he was when taking care of her.

Fast-forward after a few more chapters, Iola was devastated to find out that her favorite character got killed trying protect the prince and his soon-to-be bride. So much so that she didn't notice when she accidentally turned on the kitchen stove which led to her dying in her sleep due the the leaking gas.

... Or did she? Because next thing she knows she's waking up in a completely different place surrounded by all these strange people who were sobbing and cheering about how happy they were to have her back after she's been in a coma so long.

Confused (rightfully so), she tries to ask them who are they and what's going on. But her current body is so week that she can't move a muscle or speak. Fortunately, and after some time, she slowly regained her health as well the memories of the body that she now possess.

At first, she didn't realize that she got transferred into the novel that she was reading. So she spent most of her time trying to get used her new home and the fact that she has someone to call family now (it felt so weird to her to call a strange man 'father' the first couple of times, but she got used to it... eventually).

She actually realized she was inside the novel after her father introduced her to the captain of the royal knights one day when they went out to see the horses (apparently, and her new dad was a very important nobleman who owns most of the animal farms and stables in the country).

After realizing that,  she made it her main mission to get closer to him but to also try and prevent him from dying like he did in the original novel.

Now for Leonhard! As I previously mentioned he is the captain of the royal knights, he's 23 years old, and even though he's a person of a higher rank, most people avoid interacting with him because they find him to be intimidating and scary looking because of his scars. That's why he doesn't have any real friends or any other kind of relationship with anyone (aside from the queen and the crown prince)

He used to have a family before, but his poor mother died of the plague when he was little and his father sold him to a slave master for like 3 silver coins because he didn't want to take care of him anymore.

After that Leonhard was forced to become an underground ring fighter at a very young age to survive, that went on for almost 7 years until the queen and her knights came to arrest the slave master and everyone that was involved in that incident. Recognizing his strength (and feeling sorry for the pitiful boy), the queen took him in under her care and encouraged him to become a knight to work for her.

Feeling forever in debit for the queen, he accepted her offer and did just that. training day after day none stop until he became an official knight at 15, as well as the youngest royal captain the country has ever seen at 18, and also receiving the title of fearless hero at 22 after winning a war in only 3 years.

So you could imagine his surprise and confusion when the famous ill daughter of a well known noble man suddenly appears in his life demanding to be his friend, because why would she want that? He can't understand her reasoning at all. Not to mention all the bizarre things that she does and say all the time, and yet... He can't help but feel drawn to everything about her...

Hcjskxjslkk okay I should stop now or else I'll never shut up about them hehe

But yeah! This is roughly the lore of these two! I hope that it was a little interesting and that I didn't bore you too much talking about them XD oh also! The original title for my story was going to be "let me love him!" But idk I might change it later on.

@miraclecherryblossomsblog

[synergysilhouette]

Reimagining a Disney musical about "The Snow Queen"

I know what you're thinking, and you're NOT seeing double; I've already done rewrites for "Frozen" and "Frozen 2," but for this post, I'm gonna do my own idea for a Disney musical based on the Snow Queen. I did let some aspects of the film (both concept and official) inspire me, as well as the Christmas special--which felt unnecessary, but I guess not if I'm using it! Lemme know your thoughts. (Note: I do like the idea of this happening in a Northern European country like "Frozen." It's one of the few times we get a specific region in their Euopean-inspired fantasy realms. I haven't really nailed down where, but I just used Danish names here. Have NOT nailed down a time period, though; I'm thinking 16th or 17th century, in contrast to the 19th century of "Frozen.")

Plot

"Every December, wicked is heralded in by the wicked Snow Queen, bringing fear and danger in place of a joyous time for Christmas. However, when Clara decides to challenge the Snow Queen to thaw her Frozen heart, she has one year to save her kingdom from becoming her new ice palace."

Principal Characters

Clara--Intelligent, calm, and (somewhat) practical, Princess Clara is the crown princess of Rensdyr, standing out easily with her red hair and warm color tones (usually greens and reds, but other colors too), usually with floral patterns, and always keeps a rose somewhere on her person. Raised by her kindly grandfather, the studious princess craves adventure and excitement from her otherwise mundane duties. Close to Christmas, the Snow Queen--who has gone unseen for so long, they believed she was simply a myth, a relic of a bygone era, believing the harsh snow was normal--appears in the throne room, insulted by the largest, warmest holiday celebration she has ever seen. For this insolence, she curses the kingdom to eternal winter. Clara, not one to take an insult lightly, ventures to find the Snow Queen and make her reverse the curse, with only a mouse and a nutcracker given to her by her grandfather (who becomes ill and wants her to remember him by giving her his "good luck charm") as protection. She is, unsurprisingly, unable to defeat the Snow Queen physically, but instead of being killed, the Snow Queen offers her a deal: if Clara can find the Snow Queen's frozen heart somewhere in the land within a year, she will leave the kingdom and never return. However, if Clara fails, she will be but the first ice sculpture in the Snow Queen's new palace--AKA Clara's palace that she plans to take over. Clara knows she cannot trust the Snow Queen entirely, but she learns that this is simply a battle of the mind: she must simply outwit winter herself. Of course, she doesn't immediately realize that it's not the mind she needs to think with...(Note: whenever she enters the Snow Palace, her clothes are influenced by the Northern lights, so blues, whites, and vibrant rainbow colors are her new identifier.)

Kai--The knight in shining ice, one of the few humans inside the Snow Queen's domain. While she tells Clara that Kai is meant to protect her for a year and "verify" if she has found her heart and return it to her, she secretly instructs Kai to find "it" before Clara. He originally is portrayed as stoic and of few words, not a large help to Clara. When they find a beautiful ice crystal the size of his hand, Clara accidentally trips and falls into him. As she cries from a twisted ankle, the tears fall onto the crystal and his chest, revealing that for centuries, whenever the Snow Queen froze someone, their heart escaped their body and took the form of a peculiar piece of ice. They can only be captured during the winter; otherwise they melt and turn into puddles of water that the ground refuses to absorb. Upon having his heart restored, Kai finds that he still has an affinity toice, being able to refine and change it's shape--a sign of him still belonging to the Snow Queen. He becomes much more friendly while keeping his confidence and maturity, and quickly falls for Clara over the year that they search for the Snow Queen's heart--though he can't help recall what exactly "it" was that the Snow Queen wanted her to find first...

I'm kinda thinking he's very similar to the Beast when he's an ice knight, while becoming more like Phoebus once he's thawed.

The Snow Queen--A sadistic woman worshiped as a goddess due to her longevity and power, she encases the land in ice and snow, delighting in the misery of others. She's a cross between Maleficent and Cruella de Vil in terms of personality--and in clothes; while she does wear fabrics like silk, she loves the decadence of fur, particularly from animals who disappoint her. Her skin is a beautiful blueish-white, while her eyes are a bright blue, and her hair is whiter than snow. When Clara dares to stand up against her, the Snow Queen vows to break her spirit before turning her into an ice sculpture for her amusement and take over the kingdom. When she instructs Kai to find "it," she is actually not referring to her heart--which she never lost, but it is still frozen solid, making it impossible to feel positive emotions--but to the "Heart of Winter," a primordial being that once gifted her powers over ice and snow when she was a freezing girl in poverty selling matches in another kingdom. A neutral figure, if Clara managed to sway it, it would never visit the kingdom again, forcing the Snow Queen to either flee or stay powerless in the kingdom, which is not an option. When Clara does (by accident) encounter the HoW, the Snow Queen attempts to kill them both in order to keep her powers forever. She manages to freeze Clara, but , Clara's heart has grown over the journey, being more open to love and less cynical, allowing the warmth of her heart (and Kai's tears) to melt her and even the Snow Queen herself, who has lived so long that her body does not become a puddle, but a massive fjord. Her story inspires Clara to focus on the poverty when she returns home, as well as instructing a statue of the queen and the HoW so her story is never forgotten. It is revealed that her name is Anika.

The Heart of Winter--I was gonna make it look like Santa Claus, but I think Clara's grandfather should look like that. In any case, the HoW is a shapeshifter and can appear in any form, usually wise and quiet, though it enjoys the form of humans (not as young as Jack Frost, but I wanted the visual), wolves, foxes, reindeer, and dragons the most. As a spirit, it is swayed by powerful acts of emotion: negative ones like the Snow Queen's inspire it to make harsh and freezing ice, while positive ones inspire it to make memories of joy and fun during Christmastime. Clara's warm heart, however, makes the environment inhospitable for it--not that it's bitter--and thus it leaves, never to return (at least for a few centuries).

Music

I'd still want the Lopez-Anderson team to make this, and if not them, Stephen Schwartz (and maybe Alan Menken). Again, I suck at song titles.

Early in the morning--I kept having "Carol of the Bells" and "4 in the Morning" in my head when I imagined this song. Weird combination I know, but it's mainly an introduction to the kingdom, as well as Clara's life.

My Way--The Snow Queen and Clara make a bet: she must search the land for the Snow Queen's heart, and over the course of a year, the winter will become harsher until every creature on it is frozen.

Ice in my veins--The Snow Queen sings this while Clara searches desperately for her heart, laughing at the ridiculousness of the heart to make you do stupid and reckless decisions, mockingly asking if it's just her who finds it astounding.

Heartache--Kai sings this as he regains his feelings, noting how strange it is to feel again,and how he doesn't remember who he was before becoming the Snow Queen's servant, but vows to find out and free the others once everything is over.

Desperately Yours--The Snow Queen reflects on how Clara has figured out the secret to thawing out hearts, and questions if she's now more dangerous than she thought. She recalls vague feelings of love for others, but laments that it was not returned to her, and ponders how such a thing can cure hate. This is mainly a duet between Clara and Kai, but the Snow Queen intervenes at times.

My Way (Reprise)--Clara reflects on how cynical she's been, about how this whole thing was about her own ego, having glory and being right, when she hasn't stopped to appreciate those who have helped her along the way, and she realizes she loves Kai. She also reflects on how entitled the Snow Queen has become, and how bitter she is because of her tragic past.

Love Will Thaw--A soaring chorus number (I know they're usually saved for reprises, but they're underrated) where Kai and Clara and the other victims of the Snow Queen return to Rensdyr just in time to celebrate Christmas a year after the beginning of the film, but it's the perfect holiday to reconnect.

Lemme know your thoughts, questions, and concerns! I'm enjoying these "bare bones" rewrites just as much as the alterations.

[marciabrady]

Which Disney films would you explore more the worldbuilding on if you had the means?

Oh there are so many. Needless to say all the Disney Princess movies, but I'll try to avoid saying some of them to cut out repetition and really get to a nice mix:

Snow White: So many questions. That being said, I have come to learn more through some of the production material I've read, so for it to be expanded upon, it'd have to be only with the original writers. BUT learning about Snow White's mother and father and their rule, Snow White's mother's passing. Snow White is seen praying so I want to know if this is a Christian country and how they view magic, as Snow White doesn't demonize it via the well or wishing apple. I want to know how the people saw Grimhilde and I want to learn more about where she came from and how she learned the magic she did. So many different rooms to explore and so many secrets to uncover regarding the passage of time. I want to see more of the Prince's castle and the people that live there. I'm not even a HUGE dwarfs fan but what I've read about them is genuinely so fascinating so I want to know about them, are there more mythical creatures, what is their past with the Queen, etc.

Pinocchio: THIS UNIVERSE IS FASCINATING. It's so beautiful and I want to know so much more about everyone- Honest John, the Coachmen, the school children, what school is like? I want to know about the lore, again. I have a book that mentions there's a mermaid and it actually felt in character for the world? So again, Pinocchio just has a hypnotic pull as a world and I would love to know more.

The Little Mermaid: I think, due to the subject matter of Ariel wanting to escape the underwater world, we didn't get to spend too much time in Atlantica and that's a shame! I know we were there in the television series, but I'd love more world building in something that was consistent and of the same quality as the sequel. I want to see Ariel's sisters rooms, I want to know if they go to school together and what they study, I want to see King Triton's room, I want to see the places Ursula frequented...did she have a room in the Palace? I want to know about the associates that travel to the kingdom to converse with King Triton and if he has like...sub royalty in other domains, since he's the King of the ocean, but if he has lesser counts, for lack of a better word, that are more spread out. I want to see where Ariel's mother slept and how he met her and which Kingdom she came from. I want to know about the lore of mer-people, and again, in a way that feels authentic- I don't want material from the third Little Mermaid or live action movie.

[anothermeforcompany]

Inspired by the Haunting of Helena but image the husband is Alejandro or Rudy with the wife is kind of a magnet for ghost. Yeah, I make this while in the middle of shower and I just have to

So wifey kinda haunted and didn't tell Alejandro or Rudy about it since after some talks she assumes he don't like those taboo things, she doesn't want to be despised and have their daughter taken away like she lose her parents that abandon her. However their daughter inherits her ability to see so she have to teach her about it. Problems arise when a particular ghost try to take over daughter and because of husband absence, they decided to divorce with wifey taking daughter and move to another country.

However daughter kinda attract another, more dangerous evil spirit. Rudy or Alejandro who still loves them suspect that wifey is threatened or something so they went to talk again, to learn, only to discover wifey house windows and doors lined with salt. Alerudy (sorry I got lazy) try to talk with her about it, but accidentally broke one of the salt line in process. Daughter is screaming and they immediately goes to check her, fearing the worst but different expectations. Alerudy is surprised to see the evil spirit, grab a chair to smack it but it did nothing. Before it can hurt him, wifey throw holy salt on it to banish it away.

Alerudy is very disturbed as he learn about it after wifey redo the salt line. They talk and reconcile as Alerudy and wifey still very much love each other and Alerudy willing to do anything for them, even learning how to deal with evil spirits and whatever entails. Alerudy goes detective mode in order to learn about this evil origin and wifey helps by giving him numerous protection items and ways.

Turns out the spirit is using daughter which makes Alerudy pissed as fuck as he can see how stressed their beautiful queen is because of them.

They managed to send the spirit to hell where it belongs by burning whatever items it attached to with fire, salt, and holy oil. Alerudy and wifey re-married and go back to Las Almas. Alerudy goes to kill whatever evil spirit haunting his princessa first and the cause of his divorce in the first place before they settles back tho, man is protective and pissed, no man and now spirits can disturb his family as long as he's alive.

Rough drabble but damn, don't I love a man who's willing to listen to his wifey's "nonsense" because it clearly upsets her and helps her in whatever way he can ? And Alerudy ? I just thought they are perfect for this since there's still taboo stuff used over there so they have ideas on what's happening, but nothing more.

[illfoandillfie]

Hi sweetheart, i hope you are doing great! i think you are a beautiful person and an amazing writer, i’ve written lots of things already but i would like to hear some advice from you about writing so i can improve my skills, i really love writing 🫶🏻😩🥹🥰💌✨

lots of love from Argentina

oh gosh im 🤧🤧 thank you, thats so lovely of you to say!

First of all I keep a writing advice tag for any posts I come across with useful writing tips. Some of them are really general, some of them are about writing specific things (like kissing or children), so probably not everything in there will be useful but hopefully some of it is.

As for my own advice.... none of it is going to be groundbreaking stuff. I've never studied writing, I don't think too hard about how I write, and at the end of the day I just write silly fics about silly boys to keep myself entertained. But I'll put a few things under the cut. These are all more general sort of tips so if there are any specific parts of writing you want me to talk about let me know and I'll see what I can give you!

Number 1 is to just have fun with it. Don't get hung up worrying about if a concept is cringe or if its something no one else will like or if it sounds too much like something else you wrote. If it's an idea that interests you, then you're going to find it easier and probably more fun to write. And if you already love writing then you don't want writing to turn into a chore or something you don't enjoy.

Number 2 is to read real books. Reading fanfic is great and fun but it's very useful to read some books that have been professionally edited and published too. There is a craft to writing things that sound good and one of the fastest ways to learn what sounds good is to read books. You don't have to study them or analyse them, your brain will just pick up on patterns, on how sentences fit together, on what sounds good and what doesn't.

One of my fave examples of this is the way we describe things, at least in the English language. There is an unwritten formula for making a description sound good. opinion, size, age, shape, colour, origin, material, purpose. It's why saying "the silly little pink French book" sounds good but "the pink silly French little book" sounds very strange. No one is taught this formula, no one does it consciously. It's just that one sounds better than the other. And it's the sort of thing you subconsciously pick up from reading.

Number 3 is don't be afraid to do some research. No one knows everything. Sometimes you'll want to write about something that isn't super familiar to you. Whether that be because you're writing is set in a different country to where you are, or you're writing a smut scene with a kink/position you've never done in real life, or you're writing a character with a kid when you don't have kids. Research it! Go on google maps and find the place you want to write about so you can see how the streets look. Find a cosmo article or a youtube video that talks about the kink. Find a site that includes those little drawings of sexual positions (or heck, find some porn if thats more helpful) so you can see how it looks. Find a blog post from a parent and see how they talk about their kid. Listen or watch interviews if you're writing RPF to see how your person talks and what their mannerisms are. Not everything has so be 100% accurate and you're absolutely allowed to make some stuff up but if there's anything you feel unsure about, see if some research helps you.

Number 4 is to read everything you write out loud, but especially dialogue. Sometimes things can sound good while you're writing it but then when you read it back you realise it sounds clunky or it doesn't flow properly. Plus it helps you pick up on mistakes you might otherwise miss (like incorrect spelling or if you meant to delete a sentance but didn't). And I say especially for dialogue because when people talk they'll abbreviate words, they include slang, they use contractions. By reading things out loud to yourself you can hear where inflections are, you can hear if something sounds too formal, or wrong for the emotion you're trying to convey. When I write I make sure that I read it out loud to myself when I'm editing. You don't have to read it to someone else and you can whisper it under your breath so no one else will hear, but it is one of the best things you can do while editing or even if you get stuck while writing a conversation. Sometimes just hearing it out loud will help you identify why its not working.

Those are all the things I can think of off the top of my head but like i said if theres any areas of writing that I haven't mentioned that you'd like my take on let me know!

[chiro-asuta-vulpes]

New Faces, and Additional Ocs / Characters will Greet you in the Forest Deities Au coming soon🤗

We have Luke, Inky, and Lunie

Inky is a Beautiful, Inspiring, Adorable young Moth Creature.

She's is a very curious adventurer that constantly follows Tate around and begs her to tell her stories about humans and info's about them, because she's very eager to one day see and learn fascinating things about humans' existence, Inky was not around when the humans and the other deities (denizen of the jade country) interact each other before the incident occurs.

She lives with her sister Lunie who's a bat, so she doesn't often make appearances since she sleeps in the daytime (they're not the same species because fun fact: original ink is adopted)

Ink's goal in life is to befriend a human!

Inky formerly lives with a Tribe of Moths or the MOTH TRIBE, living on the Farthest Area deep within the heart of the Jade Country, Moths with different colorful aspects, traits, etc. they are known as the sweetest friendliest and curious beings. Thus, everything has changed much on the tribe during the aftermath of the incident, many have doubts that humans will capture and kill their own kind for satisfaction and researches or worst use their own kind with other bad intentions like pricking their wings, such as making it as a display or decoration. Inky's determination and willingness on wanting on studying and learn more about Humanity during the aftermath of the incident, her tribe got angry on her because of her eagerness and trying to get out of their habitat and keep on insisting and pursuing her dream they told her if she keeps pursuing this dream it will only endanger her and her own tribe exposing their existence to the humans or the other deities. The Moth Tribe fears on getting involved as they try to keep any Moth in their homes no one goes in and out.

The Moth tribe was about to do something bad to Inky or forced her to be exiled from her home, because of Ink's dream that's when Lunie starts to protect and begun to argue to the rest of the moth tribe that Inky doesn't deserve this kind of fate, and the moth tribe just ignores her opinions and Lunie yells

"At least Inky is gifted and talented unlike you MOTHS ALL YOU DO IS HIDING IN SHAME AND NEVER ALLOW THIS BEAUTIFUL CREATURE TO EXPAND HER EAGERNESS TO EMBRACE SUCH WONDROUS UNIQUE DREAM AND LOVE HER FOR WHO SHE TRURLY IS! IF U CAN'T TAKE GOOD CARE OF THIS LIL GIFTED ADORABLE BUNDLE OF JOY, I shall take her with me!"

After saying so she took Inky away and went home along with her and not setting foot on the Moth Tribe's homes ever again. Thus Inky is happy to have Lunie to watch over her and very indeed lucky to raise her as they live together.

Next on the other side, in the Mortal World we have

Luke is another one of the Human Travelers who is friends with Nathan, Researcher, the Y/Ns, and Kema. Who embarks on a journey alongside them after they're best friend the Y/Ns found a KEY which opens the GATEWAY between the MORTAL WORLD and THE JADE COUNTRY.

Luke is a guy that loves and wanting to try something new, searching and finding his way getting away with the school and modern life. He's very fascinated by fantasy stories and legends.

He met the Y/Ns in the library looking for the same book and they became friends in no time since they have the same fascination with those kinds of things and later on Luke meet Researcher who also writes and journals everything about his findings and information he gathered, sharing thoughts and knowledge he knows to Luke by explaining the discovery they have and about to set off a journey inviting him.

Luke happily accepts and accompanied them on their study and adventure as they discover and explore this NEW WORLD they are ABOUT TO SEE AND ENCOUNTER AND WHAT THIS WORLD IN STORE FOR THEM.

LUKE, INKY, LUNIE belongs to @boiling-potato

REASEACHER (Y/N) belongs to @feelin-lo

NATHAN belongs to @aesopsbaby

KEMA belongs to @alcohol1maid

THE Y/Ns belongs to @mystique-flowers-and-sibling-duo

[vintagecivet]

Happy Blorbo Blursday!

Your characters go to another country on vacation together, what kind of tourists are they? Who wants to see all of the tourist attractions? Who spends too much on souvenirs? Who tries to learn any of the language before they go? Who tries to make sure everybody arrives at the airport 8 hours early?

Just tell me what they would all be like on a trip together!

Really sorry for getting to this very late, because I don't think about this kind of thing often. That being said, here's my ideas for my characters' travel habits:

Frederick: He's 100% visiting England, for starters. It's his Number #1 destination to visit because he read wayyy too much poetry about the beauty of the English countryside. He doesn't want to see all of the city tourist-y stuff, though he wouldn't mind if he was dragged along for it while traveling out to the countryside. Anyways, he prepares for the trip like crazy but then when he gets to the actual destination, he spends most of the trip not following his plan because so many little inconsistencies with his original travel plans keep popping up.

Hugo: He came on the trip last minute. He does everything... basically last minute. He's not one to plan trips - that's the fun of it for him. He'd be convincing the group "Hey, let's do this and this and this." Also, the entire time he's just like "I'm praying to HaShem that my fibromyalgia doesn't flare up during this trip. Pleaaase don't let that happen, I want to just enjoy this trip to the countryside." It doesn't until the last few days, which he's immobilized in the hotel bed and kinda mad about it.

Blanche: She's getting dragged along for the ride to England, and the entirely time, she's going to complain about how Russia would have been a much cooler destination and how English is "such a silly language, which is why it's at the bottom of my to-learn list." Typical belligerent tourist who refuses to ask for help, I suppose.

Stanislava: She wants to see all of the military stuff the country has to offer before she goes with the flow. She will be a hardass about this and complain if it doesn't happen. If England has a war museum - kind of like The National WWII Museum in New Orleans - she will throw a mini-temper tantrum if the group doesn't go with her. She'll also want to see the old castles in the countryside.

Roy: "Oh, England, again? Same old, same old. Countryside isn't really my thing, but it's better than visiting London for the 20th time." He frequently travels to London for work, so it's not new territory for him. Much like Hugo, he prepares for everything last minute. He also has to not be tempted to buy souvenirs like crazy while they're out in the countryside. He will probably fail at this and buy at least one.

Lola: Oh man, she's excited. She's never been outside of NYC and LA, so this is new territory for her. She's preparing like crazy, and buying a LOT of souvenirs while she's there. Maybe some gifts for her family as well. She's also getting a gift for her dog, Brandi, too.

Yeah, I think that's about it. Thank you for this ask, and again, sorry it took so long to answer.

[crepus]

Cater has much more in common with prince Hans than with Cinderella

a.k.a: I gave a random tought too much power now y'all should suffer with me.

Okay so A very popular theory for Cater is that he is twst stand in for Cinderella so first I think I need to explain why I don't think Cater is Cinderella first.

So the Cinderella theory centers itself in the idea that Cater's sisters are mean to him just like Cinderella's stepsisters are mean to her. Supplementary information is the fact that Riddle has to save Cater before the 12 am in the Halloween event (haven't read that one yet) and I've also seen the take that Cater is actually the blessing the faery godmother gives Cinderella (a lot of helpers, a dress to hide herself (like a mask to hide her true self)) just like Silver is the blessing/curse sleeping beauty received and not sleeping beauty herself.

This theory doesn't really make Cater fit cleanly in the rol of Cinderella. Firstly Cater's sisters aren't really cruel to him anymore, don't get me wrong they did a lot of damage to his mental health but Cater himself says that they are being more mindful of what he really wants to do instead of insisting on doing what they want. And while it is true that one of Cinderella's sister received a redemption that was after Cinderella got her happy ending, something Cater has not achieved yet.

He also doesn't work like the blessing of Cinderella, because it's a blessing? like silver's make sence bc it is both a blessing AND a curse.

All characters attending NRC are in some capacity antagonistic to the heroes in their original tales. Yes, even Kalim even tho he entered bia nepotism, the sultan was an obstacle Aladdin had to overcome so it makes sense he is here.

No metter if you believe Cater is the blessing or Cinderella himself it doesn't make sense for him to be in NRC and not Niege's school RSA

Also like Professor Trein I right there with a cat and two sons so-

Okay so like with that out of the way, please put on your tin foil hats and proceed to listen to me and my prince Hans theory.

In case you don't have Prince Hans from Forzen living rent free in your brain like I do here is what you need to know:

Hans is not from the same country as the rest of the main characters

He doesn't feel at home in his home

His family was very neglectful bc he was the youngest

He changes personalities to fit the people he is talking to (so he wears a mask to hide his true feelings)

First We know that contrary to the rest of the Heartslabyul dorm Cater is not from the Queendom of roses but from the shaftlands, although with how much he traveled he doesn't know anyone in the shaftlands (or like any place to be honest) And he himself has said he doesn't feel he had a place to call home before he entered NRC.

We don't exactly know if Cater's parent were emotionally neglectful of him but at the very least we know the favored his sisters above him growing up

I dont really have to explain the masking his true feeling and changing personalities to fit right? Almost everything Cater has ever done is for others to care about him and remember him even when he leaves but that never happens

Also "love is an open door" fits very well with Cater, the song is considered by many as Hans's villian song (since he doesn't really have a solo song rip 💔)

It also fits thematically? Frozen is about how shutting your emotions and true feelings is never the solution to your problems, only when you learn to really on other you can begin to heal.

Like it's not a perfect fit either, idk what the deal is with the sisters or abt Cater's unique magic (if I had to guess it could be a reference to the changing way Hans acts in the movie???) but idk this was fun

TLDR: 9 years later I'm still salty Hans didn't get a redemption arc and I'm projecting him into Cater, also read my theory cuz I had to rewatch Frozen for this 😔

[annaizscribbling]

I WANT TO KNOW!!! ABOUT ELLIE!!! i wanna know about the pink girl!!! shes very cute and sweet (and reminds me a lot of patton kinda) and i want to know more about her.

first of all, when i think of her i kinda think of jules from euphoria, but like in her pastel stages when she wasnt fucked up (/pos). shes so bubblegum. like, hubba bubba girl, yknow?

can i learn a little about her home life? what inspired her to be the way she is? shes been very fluffy since she was a child, clearly, but why? why not be angry at the world?

also you may already have talked about this but i havent scrolled through ur entire calypsokimm tag so i dont know, how did she meet the other girls?

I love Ellie so very much and will happily talk about her <3 fair warning I don't have quite as much backstory laid out for her like I do for Calypso (Cal has the most complex story by far, for obvious reasons, but the other's all have stories, most are just not as detailed/still in development) but there is still going to be so much.

I haven't watched euphoria do idk Jules outside of like, pretty pictures, but I can confirm that Ellie is very hubba bubba bubblegum girl

As I've mentioned in passing, my OCs were originally going to my own sides, but I very quickly decided I could do more with them as their own people. Ellie was set to be the bulk of my emotions, my vulnerability, and my more childish tendencies. I did not want one side to be morality, because I would have given that job to Logic/Athena, which probably tells you something about me as a person lol.

But she would have taken on Patton's character type, as bubbly, oblivious, honest, childish, and angelic in terms of virtue.

Most of the girls have names that fit them perfectly because of like origins and meanings and even what countries they came from, but not Ellie. I looked it up just now, and it means 'light' which is surprisingly fitting for her.

The reason I named her Ellie was simply after my childhood dog. She (the dog) is very old now, but still with us and deeply loved. We first got her when I was around seven or so, and at the time, I adored the name, and always loved to play pretend using it as my character. When we got the dog, my brother suggested it and here we are 11 years later.

All of my girls embody different parts of me, quite literally, because that was the original plan. Ellie literally has the name I used to play pretend with as a kid, and is the name of my oldest pet.

She's unique in that way, as well as her color scheme even. She's color coded with light blue (nod to pat) and pink. Her hair is dyed blue save the ends, which are still her natural brown for some reason.

As for her personality, Ellie is incredibly sunny. She lights up the room as soon as she walks in, she's so good at charming people with earnest conversation and an easy going excitable nature that draws people in. She's lighthearted, funny, giggly, and has a special knack for understanding people. She can be impulsive, wild, and high energy at all times. Sometimes she's reckless, filled with a deep wonder and adoration for the world around her and the things within it. She feels like she's bubbling over with a profound joy for everything around her.

The world is beautiful, to Ellie. It's gorgeous and overwhelming, but so so worth it.

She can be observant, but only when it comes to a person's character, how they work, what they like, and the things that make them special. She won't notice the new curtains or remember what she had breakfast or lots of other basic things that drive Athena to the brink of insanity, but she knows Athena's tells for when she's especially upset, or the sweater she wears when she's thinking about her boyfriend, or even the food she makes when she didn't sleep well the night before. Ellie is good at people, she understands them on a deep and empathic level, she just doesn't notice that she ran another red light by mistake.

Her emotional intelligence comes across as older than she is. In her late twenties, she manages to carry both her almost innocent giddy personality and her very calm, mature, almost ancient understanding of anyone she comes across. She cares, in an honest and loving way that's so genuine it's nearly startling. She almost effortlessly knows how to comfort people, whatever your love language is when you need it, or even what type of person you need. She can be tender and motherly, she can be playful like a sibling, supportive like a friend, or just a loving figure who'll listen to you when you have nobody else.

She's the closest with Bree, but Ellie is good friends with all of her roommates. She makes a point of coaxing Athena and Luna especially into being more open, and she's managed to get them to open up more, so they're able to have friendships where they can all be vulnerable, even where they hate it.

Ellie really is a special person, on some level she knows it. It isn't through grand gestures or a global impact. She doesn't really care too much about leaving her mark on the world or being infamous. Ellie is just different, she understands people. She loves them. She is unique

Alright I'll give some actual background now. It'll explain some of that.

Ellie grew up pretty middle class, her parents had a rocky relationship even before she came along, but they kept their struggling relationship under wraps and just stewed. Ellie was an only child, as her parents quickly realized that having a child didn't fix anything for them, and having another would just be more difficult.

Ellie would never grow up feeling loved by her mother and father.

She was always provided basic necessities as well as entertainment, but was never close or even wanted around her parents, not unless they were in public.

Her parents weren't rich, but were well established in their social circles. They came from a very large extended family with high expectations for how well a family should get along. From neighborhoods, coworkers, friends, and family, it was important to Ellie's family that they looked like the ideal family.

From as young as six years old, Ellie knew when to smile, when it was okay to hug her parents, and when she was expected to sit in her father's lap or hide behind her mom's leg. It never felt real to her, it just felt right. Mom and Dad smiled and laughed with her in public, dad would scoop her up, bouncing her and saying something silly whenever grandma was watching them. Mom would nod when Ellie made a cute comment to Mom's friend. They never said it explicitly, Ellie just learned what was expected of her, what made Mom and Dad happy.

And Ellie really wanted them to be happy.

They fought and screamed at home. They hated eating dinner together, it always ended up so tense and snappy when they did. Ellie didn't understand the numbers and names they were talking about but they made everything scarier. She never knew when the air would break and it would become a true fight. Ellie would be tersely sent to the other room, and Ellie would sit far back on the couch with her hands in her lap, fists around her dress, and her eyes locked straight ahead. She tried desperately not to hear it, or think about it. It was too scary to listen to the yelling.

She wasn't sure if she loved how they seemed to love her when they weren't fighting, or if she just feared the anxiety that rose and bubbled in her chest when they fought.

So she learned. She learned to do good things. if she cleaned the kitchen, Daddy wasn't as annoyed when he came home. If she complimented Mom's body a whole bunch, she'd be lighter, and less likely to start snapping at Dad. She memorized all of their favorite movies and books, so she could always bring them up or play them on TV. It was a quick way to distract them after dinner, if they made it through dinner at all.

They liked when she was cute and quiet. They liked when she made simple friends and did easy activities with them. They liked when she did arts and crafts to put on the fridge. They liked when she was curious about all the right parts of their jobs. They liked when she made safe lighthearted jokes, but only when the mood was correct.

Ellie learned all of the subjects that set Dad off. Ellie learned what tones lead Mom down an angrier path. She learned when and where to interrupt before either parent upset the other.

When she was ten, her father ended up getting a hefty promotion. It changed their dynamic, for the better at first, but everything quickly came back to the stressful everyday life she was so accustomed to.

Then she met Bree, one of her new neighbors.

Ellie had always worked hard to keep herself under control. Make sure all of her qualities were kept under wraps and easy to digest. She kept her positivity dialed all the way up, kept herself as quiet as possible, and never pursued anything impulsive, loud, adventurous, or unpredictable. There was a deep longing inside of her, that wanted nothing more than to throw on her favorite neon blue cardigan and run barefoot through the park, play with other kids, die laughing at a schoolmate, get messy in the mud on a rainy day, finally listen to loud music and scream it without caring who hears, and do things at the drop of a hat.

As desperately as she wanted it, none of that was an option, not in her family. She wasn't sure if she was angry, even as an adult reflecting on it, she's not sure. Adult Ellie might be angry on her younger self's behalf, but little Ellie wasn't angry, just very very scared, and very sad. Her little body was nearly in tatters trying to keep so much love held back, but there was no one to receive or give her the love she craved.

So she spend her days fantasizing about the person she wished she was, but could never be.

But Bree was like that. Bree was very much like that person she wished she was.

Bree was loud. She loved attention as much as she loved giving it. She liked shiny things and singing at the top of her lungs to songs in a language Ellie doesn't know. She loves swooshy dresses and glitter, and is constantly affectionate with her family and friends. She did fun things, she climbed trees, helped her mom cook, ran down the street to meet with her friends, laughed without monitoring her volume, made messes she begrudgingly cleaned. She could be whiny or pouty, but it never stuck and she was always ready to pull herself up. She was feisty maybe petty, and fun. Bree was so fun and Bree's parents didn't dislike the way she had fun. They reigned her in if she got too wild, but they loved her, even when she was difficult or loud.

It shocked Ellie.

Because it was everything Ellie had every dreamed of, living just three doors down.

Somehow they became friends after meeting a few times at block parties and the local pool, and Ellie was introduced to a brand new world. It was like the planet turned upside down. For the first time in her life, Ellie could be herself.

They could be loud, spontaneous, wild, silly, childish, messy, and everything else a 10 year old child was supposed to be. Bree's house was a safe place, with a family who was charmed by her gentle soul and sweet friendship with their youngest daughter. It was a friendship that saved Ellie from the brink of giving up, even as young as she was.

And life went on.

Ellie had neither the desire or the ability to articulate what her homelife was like, so her friendship with Bree was a simply a solace from it all, and the two grew and remained almost impossibly close. The two even ended up at the same school after the next summer, and their days were filled with each other. Endless memories and shrieks of laughter filling their days.

It was the happiest few years of her entire life thus far.

Then her parents took her out of that school to switch her to another. She silently lamented the loss of seeing Bree daily, but still spent copious amounts of time with her outside of school. Things were still okay, things were still happy. She was okay. Everything was okay. Her parents were difficult, but there was peace, life was worth it, and her love for the world had a place to go. She just had to smile

Then Calypso happened.

Ellie loved Cal. She was accepting another person into her life, almost to the same extent that she trusted Bree. Cal was soft and kind, good and pure and gentle. Calypso was not, and the pain of that betrayal nearly broke her.

She spiraled for weeks, barely sleeping, eating, or even getting out of bed for anything but school. Her parents paid little attention, but Bree's family did express some concern that Ellie's own parents pretended to care about. The fighting had been infinitely worse lately, with nonstop screaming, breaking things, kicking each other out of the house. She wasn't sure if it ever got physical, and she was terrified of finding out. Ellie barely saw them, but when she did, she'd just smile. She was so good at smiling. Smile. Smile. Just smile.

She hated Calypso, missed her, loved her, grieved her, despised her.

But Calypso revealed the truth to her, in a terrible, cruel way that ached just to think about.

Ellie lied in order to survive, and it hurt.

It was that simple.

Good thing Ellie liked a challenge