#it doesn't fit the concept of the album at all and it feels like it's getting so much attention and hype for something boring

[earlgreybocchan]

I want a Soobin and Beomgyu unit of them singing something miserable at each other :(

[not-goldy]

I’m wondering if Jimin loves JK and I say this because all I ever see is him flirting with other members and rejecting Jk, flinging his arm off or suffering out of his hold and then he goes and rubs RMs thighs, or hugs Tae or Yoongi? It baffles me, and it’s so sad to see JKs dejected face. Bless him.

Hmmm🥲

Found: Jk not feeling that Kwenchana

Not gonna lie your insecurity is adorable 🤭🤭🤭🤭

But you don't have to wonder. you have to take Jimin's word for it. He says he loves Jungkook therefore he loves him. Right???

And since Jk keeps following him around I'd assume he feels that good good vibes off Jimin cos Jungkook is a no bs kinda guy and will dip fast if he the energy is off. Coughing in Tae Kook. Cough. Cough.

If you don't think it's Romantic love between them at least don't question that base love. Cos that would be weird af. After everything Jimin has done for him💀

By every thing I don't mean the constant cheering him on like he's his number one fan, speaking highly of him, supporting his career- listen, if a man can risk his hair follicles to dye his hair Golden to support another man's album release MARRY HIM. cuff him. Get the bands on him Jump the broom invoke the spirits of your ancestors and let them witness the I do.

But noo, I'm not talking about that kinda love.

I'm not talking about the absolute fear and panic in his eyes when he hears Jungkook has passed out on stage, or how quick he drops everything to go and see him.

I'm not talking about the concern in his voice when he says "Jungkook you need to pace yourself." When he feels JK is cutting it close.

I'm not talking about studying him so well that he knows just how to confort him when he's nervous

Or being confused as to whom to give the last bite of food to between staff and Jungkook- just so you know Jimin loves everyone but if it comes down to Saving you or Jungkook- do bid your loved ones farewell cos it will never be you💀

I'm not talking about him nurturing Jungkook and providing a safe space around him for Jungkook to share his vulnerability with.

I'm not talking about Jimin offering him his companionship and filling him with laughter to make his heart merry and ease his troubles

I'm not talking about Jimin protecting Jungkook from fans who body shame him but also looking out for him at the company and going out of the way to insist the members respect Jungkook's choices and hearing his voice when he makes contributions to conversations.

And while these days Jungkook has the audacity to insist on being heard at the table especially around cameras, when he needed to be heard at his most vulnerable years Jimin looked out for him.

But I'm not talking bout none of those.

I'm talking about the specific ways Jimin tailors his love to fit Jungkook's needs. Because at the end of the day that's what truly matters.

It's not about YOUR conception of love and YOUR notion of love. It's about WHAT JUNGKOOK UNDERSTANDS TO BE LOVE.

To that I think Jimin loves him when he allows him to be his own man first and foremost. He loves him when inspite of being two years his senior he allows Jungkook to feel just as important and equal.

I think he loves him when he respects him as a man a colleague and an artist.

I think he loves him when he stands by him and trust that he knows what he's doing no matter what.

I think he loves him when he holds his hands after a major scandal and stroll through the airports with him knowing the last thing his pr and solo stans want is for him to be caught in the cross fires.

I think he loves him when he puts in the effort to understand him so he doesn't feel misunderstood around him.

I think he loves him when he is transparent with him and let him in as much as he let's him in.

I think he loves him when he allows him to take care of him and not shut him out by constantly guarding his heart and secrets around him.

There's a mutually shared degree of vulnerability between them and I think that's love too.

Bye

[couldtransitionsaveher]

EMIL SINCLAIR from LIMBUS COMPANY

JUSTIFICATION:

"The unhatched egg metaphors. The constant anxiety and insecurity. The Zwei ID art where she looks like a gay librarian. The scene in Hell's Chicken where Ryoshu's team is all women oh and Sinclair too. The cute little Faelantern dress... it is my belief that Sinclair will only reach full self-actualization once she realizes she's a girl. This goes for the Sinclair from Demian (1919) too but I don't know as much about that one." - Anonymous

"okay. where the hell do I start.

Sinclair (Limbus Company) is based directly off of Sinclair (Demian - this will come up in a minute), and is a largely withdrawn, melancholic "boy" whose associated imagery is an egg and breaking out of a shell (again - more in a minute), and characters comment sometimes that she seems like she has an inner turmoil/darkness to her. a couple of her outfits just straight up look like mid-transition fits. her appearance in the album art for the song used in her chapter (itself based on the painting described below) is one of the most #girl things imaginable Sinclair from the source text (Demian)

1. struggles with her parents' expectations for her, and her increasing betrayal of those expectations (leading to such lines as "-at times I didn't want the Prodigal Son to repent and be found again. But one didn't dare think this, much less say it out loud.")

2. becomes friends with Demian who, aside from representing a more nuanced take on the black/white logic of point 1, Sinclair regularly remarks how cool it is that Demian's face is kinda feminine

3. begins to view herself as destined to live between two worlds, the light and the dark, human and inhuman, and, interestingly, "man and woman in one flesh". for all this is treated as a fear it's also explicitly stated to be something she desires

4. stops and thinks one day in college "perhaps I am not like other men?"

5. sees some random pretty girl one day and decides the concept of that pretty girl must be the path to return to the world of light/salvation. she learns to paint just to paint this girl and doesn't get it perfectly accurate but is pleased nonetheless. she becomes obsessed with this painting and stares at it while falling asleep before eventually realizes that the painting actually resembles herself, not as she feels she is but "-what determined [her] life, it was [her] inner self, [her] fate ... what the woman [she] would love would look like if ever [she] were to love one. That's what [her] life and death would be like..." - she eventually burns the painting and eats the ashes, y'know normal "girl who hasn't realized it yet" behavior

6. throughout the entire book she has visions relating to and is tied to imagery of eggs and birds escaping their shells to take flight" - Anonymous

Reminder: Submissions are always open! Submit here!

Did you make your daily click today?

[yuri-is-online]

Ok but what if yutu finds a box full of letters and poems in yuus closet?

Their partner was out, so it was a perfect opportunity. In a week their 1 year marriage anniversary will happen, so they needed to act quick and be sneaky. They go to the closet and unbury a box full of all the letters and poems their partner has wrote throughout their years together, some even have no name onto them as they were intended to be from a secret admirer, but yuu noticed the similar handwriting.

They were going to take the box and turn into into a book, like an album of memories.

They hear the front door open. Oh no their partner is back way sooner than they expected. They hide the box into their clothes, as they're too far from the closet.

A man they've never seen before walks in. Before they can get a word out, they're blasted with two spells back to back.

One muddles their mind, the other opening a portal behind them. The shock from the blast, and them being not far off of their due date causes them to lose balance and tumble into the portal.

When their spouse returns home all they find is a rummaged closet and messy bedroom. Although they want to deny it, the evidence suggests that yuu took any funds they(yuu) were hiding and ran away.

Yes I'm also the grim overblot anon 😁 my brain is full of angsty worms and your au is just too perfect for me not to take them out on 💕

This could be read as something for any of the boys but I feel that it fits rook the most😶‍🌫️

Hello newest friend o/ I'm surprised at how many brainworms I've managed to give people, but it is very nice chatting with all of you about this. I really like this ayuu c:

I like this concept and agree that it fits Rook the best out of all of them. So much so I think I am going to steal it for his Yutu hc post. In general though I think that if Yutu found something like that it would add to the mystery of who his father is for him. Lilia! Yutu sees it as further confirmation that he was the product of an affair, Malleus! Yutu takes it as further proof that magic is real. Jade, Deuce, and Riddle's Yutus would probably be even more confused; if his dad loved Yuu this much then why isn't he here with them? While Cater, Ace, and Yutres of the the Trey Triplets would just find the letters very romantic and not think too much on it beyond that. I can't really see Leona writing letters, Idia I could see writing a digital diary of sorts but no physical letters. It's a really cute idea ;-; the correct mix of angst for this ayuu I think.

Now as for Rook thinking that Yuu left him...

The evidence suggests that yuu took any funds they were hiding and ran away. That's what whoever created this scene wants him to think. But there's no way Yuu would have been able to leave the house without him knowing unless they had a very specific sort of help. The Hunt estate has some of the highest level of security clearances in Twisted Wonderland, whoever took his spouse is someone with connections indeed. But not to worry, he got Vil back from the Isle of Woe did he not? He'll find Yuu and their child soon enough. Rook writes a detailed diary about his search, about the beauty he observes that he missed telling Yuu about.

But he doesn't find them. He doesn't find them and the real world begins to crumble around him alongside his personal one.

[museforblooms]

★⠀⠀ ⁄ ⠀⠀CURSE OF CAPULET is the fictional debut mini—album by the idol band BELLADONNA released on February 14, 2024. After their win on Superband, Belladonna would take five months to write and produce their first album with the help of Plastic Flowers SALEM and OLIVER and former Lush member DALLAS LINWOOD. Along with the songs written by the members, Salem had gifted them an old draft, RENEWAL, which was supposed to appear on Wind and Rain in 2019 but was replaced with another song. The album takes on themes of love, desperation, mortality, and the inevitability of fate with their concept changing from girlhood to medieval and renaissance imagery, often seeing the girls depicted as saints. The album had one title track, BURN ALIVE, but RENEWAL was also promoted as a b-side.

★⠀⠀ ⁄ ⠀⠀Curse of Capulet comes from the play Romeo and Juliet by Williams Shakespeare as it's themes closely resemble the overall meaning of their debut album. It is a reference to Mercutio's death in Act III, scene I in which he curses both the Capulets and Montagues with "a plague o' both your houses!", blaming both of them for his death. He wants Romeo to know that he blames the feuding families for his fate and remind Romeo that his love for Juliet was the reason for his death to Tybalt, Juliet's short tempered cousin. The album was released with TWO versions: ROMEO and JULIET, with the back cover featuring quotes from both characters alongside the tracklist.

★⠀⠀ ⁄ ⠀⠀TRACKLIST.

‘ # 001.⠀ ⠀OLIM ──── written by kwak yulli, produced by oliver song, and performed by belladonna. olim is an introduction track to belladonna's debut track and mimics catholic hymns, with the word olim itself representing the beginning of a fairytale. the translation goes as: "once, long ago God arrived in this age of brightness / He will come again" and is repeated twice. all members of belladonna referred to this as the hardest recording session that they've ever had. the idea was brought up by oliver as a joke, but yulli saw it as the perfect time to flex her old latin skills from attending catholic skills. it was almost cut completely, but the girls were able to save it at the last minute.

‘ # 002.⠀ ⠀TITLE TRACK: BURN ALIVE ──── written and produced by bae haena, performed by kwak yulli. in their debut single, belladonna comes out swinging as they depict themes of addiction, self-destruction, and the sacrifices made for love. the main imagery of the song is a toxic relationship where both parties are consumed by their vices and are unable to break the cycle of destructive patterns. because of this relationship, they are no longer who they aspired to be and desire to capitalize on their own pain, a reflection on modern society.

‘ # 003.⠀ ⠀THEATRE ──── written by ko sarang, produced by dallas linwood, performed by kwak yulli. theatre explores the desire for love and acceptance through the lens of a theatrical performance. it delves into the idea of yearning for a love that feels like it belongings in a grand gesture from a movie or performance. the narrator is willing to go through the motions by pretending and faking emotions just to fulfill this dream of being loved. they yearn to be loved and adored as a film star, swept up in a fantasy where all their desires are achieved.

‘ # 004.⠀ ⠀FORTUNATE ISLES ──── written by kim eulsun and kim wonhui, produced by dallas linwood, and performed by kwak yulli. this song is often the one that gets the most criticism as professionals and netizens alike believe it doesn't fit the sound of the album. however, the girls are always ready to double down on how much they love the song. taking it's name from the greek island where all their greatest heroes lived, fortunate isles conveys the story of a letter being delivered to an ex lover who isn't quiet over their relationship yet, asking to be reborn in spring so they can live together forever.

‘ # 005.⠀ ⠀RENEWAL ──── written and produced by salem kueakulsri, performed by kwak yulli. renewal was a gift to the members of belladonna from plastic flowers leader, salem kuekulsri. in an instagram live, she confirmed that it had intended to be a plastic flowers song, but it was cut and eventually left in her vault of music. she said that she gave it to belladonna to remind them that they always hold the power in their lives and as a way to keep them strong. it explores themes of personal growth and resilience in the face of adversity, wanting to start anew and find solace in oneself after experiencing setbacks and challenges. by "growing a new plant in your head", the narrator can reach a new sense of personal transformation and optimism, leaving anyone that doubted them behind.

‘ # 006.⠀ ⠀LOVERS ──── written by bae haena, produced by oliver song, performed by kwak yulli. haena is quickly establishing herself as the queen of heartbreaking ballads in the group and fans absolutely love it. in this slower track, yulli really shines vocally as she laments on a relationship that failed, but only just realizing how good she had it. with only two verses and a chorus, their message comes across very well as they repeat "i wish you were with me" and "me as yours, you as mine".

‘ # 007.⠀ ⠀PAGAN POETRY ──── written by kwak yulli, produced by oliver song and dallas linwood, performed by kwak yulli. this song explores the spiritual connection between two people as the singer s pedalling through the dark currents and finding an accurate copy of another's pleasure inside of her. this connection is described as a secret code carved into black lilies, something deeply romantic and spiritual. the concept of paganism is reflected in the individual's connection to the divine as deeply personal and the beauty and spiirtualiy is celebrated.

★⠀⠀ ⁄ ⠀⠀STYLING.

★⠀⠀ ⁄ ⠀⠀ERA SUMMARY.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS: 200,000 sales in the first week and a nomination on every major south korea music show. fans were unable to get them a win, but they would only place behind the actual winner by a few points, making it possible for the next era.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀belladonna's fandom name, DOVES, would be announced by the girls in a video on how to cheer for burn alive. it was chosen because doves are often seen as a symbol of peace, freedom, or love—all things their fans provided for belladonna.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀the budget was the talk of the town. everyone was supervised to see how lavish and beautiful their concept photos, music videos, and performance outfits were. it drove poppies mad and they demanded for equal treatment for the two.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀ fan wars started between DOVES and POPPIES as soon as it was confirmed salem and oliver were working on the album. many accused belladonna of not being able to write or produce their own music, which is objectively not true as seen by their superband run, and were just overall nasty towards the girls.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀ the OLIVER and YULLI DATING RUMORS. . . someone had posted a video of them looking a bit too close after plastic flowers' performance at cheeky's and twitter just ran with it. superbloom had to issue a statement saying they were just friends and had a close "senior—junior artist" relationship.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀ enough about plastic flowers! DALLAS LINWOOD was praised for his work on the album! after announcing his retirement from performing, most were excited to see him working on music again and he did not disappoint on these arrangements.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀ belladonna performed and WON their first time on immortal songs: singing the legends. they were on the PATTI KIM episode and sang MOTHER'S HEART IN SEOUL! it was praised by the older generation of domestic netizens and the girls will definitely be returning.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀all of the girls were supposed to have their natural hair colors for this promotional period, but haena had over plans. without telling superbloom, she bleached her own hair and it surprisingly came out well! when the company found out, she was forced to tone it and it remained a white color.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀many pre-debut fans were disappointed by their concept shift. though it was hinted at in the later rounds of superband, many wanted them to keep their "girl—rock" sound because they could relate to what they were singing about. there's a clear divide between these stans and those that enjoyed the curse of capulet.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀they were given a reality show called THE BELLA'S, which was filled with fun challenges and the girls getting to know each other! it's a loved series by fans and is still being uploaded even after promotions ended. they had a whole episode on haena's hair, which was an instant classic.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀despite knowing each other for less than a year, BELLADONNA seemed very close. they have amazing chemistry together and even showed how well they knew each other on BLOOM WITH US, with YULLI being the overall winner because she "loves her members".

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀they also posted various covers including EDGE OF SEVENTEEN by stevie nicks, NIGHT SHIFT by lucy dacus, CHILL KILL by red velvet, THE CHAIN by plastic flowers, DITTO by newjeans, and many more.

[whiskeyswifty]

What’s your favorite thing about folklore?

oh my god what a question. I'm just gonna riff off the dome here because if i try to go at this in any kind of organized way, i'll write a deranged thesis paper. (this is about the album proper, sorry to the lakes. too bad she never released it and we'll never know what it sounded like)

Gut reaction to this question is just how complete it is. It's an idea and concept, a writing prompt if you will, compiled neatly and cohesively in a way that's the perfect digestible length for it's form (music/an album) and also all killer, no filler. All the vignettes are not a "story" (save for the love triangle which i largely ignore because it's shoehorned) but come off like an anthology; that is to say that they're a series of emotional vignettes across a range of life experiences, but explored through the motifs and styles of one writer. I cannot jump around with folklore, i must press play on the 1, which has never happened before with a taylor album. It has no skips, every single one flowing smoothly but efficiently with the ebb and flow pacing of a babbling brook. (i do skip mad woman occasionally cuz its not what i wanna hear at the moment or epiphany cuz it's too heavy and too soon to go back to that mental place, but they're both excellent and fit perfectly within the album when i'm casually listening)

The sound is also just so perfectly aligned with my tastes. I contain multitudes, but unfortunately one of those is being a sad indie white girl lol. I love soft rubber bridge guitars, and whining violins and piano and minimal but expertly layered textures. atmospheric ones that carry the mood and the fill the space like fog but let you feel close to the artist, as i've said once before, as if she were sitting next to you and talking directly to you. There's a lushness to live instruments played softly and as pieces of a whole, and it makes any additions from a moog softened and supplementary. It just, for me anyway, really helps to hear the tactile nature of the instruments and mistakes and the breaths and the pedals on the piano and all the rest. it's the perfect mix of what i love musically from that genre, akin to Sujfan or Lucy/Phoebe or imogen heap or the xx or lana at times. even as way back and like dashboard, which shows my age a bit. you know the vibes. And i love how jack leaned into his more orchestral side, which he doesn't often do with taylor, still to this day. august in particular is just outstanding and he's great at stuff like that and i wish they would do more like that together!

I think its the PERFECT use of her voice. it's not blasphemous to say of all her artistic talents, she does not have a voice that can stack up against her peers vocally. But, as i've also said a million times before so sorry to bring it up again, she has a very emotive voice when it comes to the tiniest and most nuanced of emotions. maybe because she's less focused on vocal runs or hitting notes, but this album has her voice really shine. it's textured and rough and soft and smooth at the same time, fully bringing you whatever raw emotion is on the page. its the voice of a scribbled journal entry if that makes sense, off the cuff, unpracticed (even though i'm sure it is), and so intimate. you can hear her smile and hear when her throat is thick, it's just a showcase of her voice like nothing else. the pared down sound really lets all those tiny moments rise to the surface.

visually, i mean what can i say. her second best album cover ever. Fully removing herself from the center of it, diminishing herself with the trees for scale. Trees that have existed before her and will outlive her, as if to say this, the act of making art and ultimately the art itself, is so much bigger than me. my life and my problems. but everything is bigger than me, and it's important to not lose sight of that. which, if you were an adult at that time, particularly of a similar age to her at least, you commiserate with that sentiment. the black and white isn't actually black, but more of a warm gray, which i also love. i also know it was mainly out of necessity, but embracing how dressed down and simple her styling was. wrinkled dresses and limp, unruly hair. really suited the look of someone who's going to spin you a tale. NO TEXT TOO LIKE YEAHHHHHHHH god it's perfect and so well designed.

rapid fire now, lets see. i love that peace was done in one take, and you can tell, in a good way! and it's her HEARTBEAT???? i'm a sucker for that, no matter how played out that trick is, and imo it's justified because they disguise it with a dissonant tone of sorts. i love the PERFECT knee jerk answer opening of "i'm doing good" and then proceeding to delve into some of her darkest emotions she'd explored thus far (and in some ways since). i love that illicit affairs is missing it's final chorus, a song that is structurally unfinished and just peters out, the way doomed affairs always do. the way she never mentions the location or even the event, but the soundscape and the lyrics of my tears ricochet paint a perfectly clear church and funeral in your mind!! i love the word ricochet and i love how easy it is to spew it with vitriol. as corny as it is in the context of the rest of this more subtle album lyrically, i love the swiftian turn in the bridge of tlgad like.... damnit it's always so delicious. that harmonica in betty is just like a glass of sweet tea on a muggy summer night, it's SO bright and fun and puts a smile on my face every time!

But all that to say I think my favorite thing is seven. seven is a perfect song. her best song. the best version of a taylor swift song. a song so emotionally poignant and transcendent it wins over, however begrudgingly, even the biggest haters of her and indie music as it pokes at that one spot that will always be soft, and it's blank space's spiritual successor and therefore foil in that way. incredible feat to use the motif of your childhood self and not come off trite, like most other attempts by other artists can be. the most opaque she's ever been lyrically, which is a huge risk to take. small in scale but massive in it's implications and intentions. a song where the meaning and gravity exist in your reaction to it and not the song itself. perfect art. an opus of a song on an opus of an album.

[pebblysand]

hello! you may find the entire playlist on spotify here. below is some more information on my song choices.

Castle by Eminem: very anticlimactic but i will only really be able to explain this one after the last chapter comes out. so, come back in a bit ^^.

Things We Lost In The Fire by Bastille: it's funny, i'm a massive bastille fan but it didn't really hit me how castles that song is until i went to see them live last summer. i remember being in the crowd and thinking to myself: god this is so on point. i think the lyric that gets me most is: the future's in our hands and we will never be the same again. there's such a dichotomy to that and it's so representative of what is happening in this chapter, which is harry and the trio sort of reconning with the concept of time and the post-war state of things and: now what? the excitement of: we survived and the future's in our hands, but also we'll never be the same again because we lost all these things (people) in the fire (war). i just find it very apt.

O Children by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: firstly, i love that song, i thing it's beautiful and it just nails that post-war tone of the early chapters. the cleaners are coming one by one, they measure the room, they know the score, etc. secondly, this is obviously the harry& hermione song, which is a massive vibe and plot point of this chapter. i will defend the dance to my dying day, i think it's one of the most beautiful scenes in the whole film and those who don't like it because of the harmony vibes are wrong. that's it 😅.

UNHEALTHY by Anne-Marie: this is a more recent addition, but doesn't this song kind of have early harry/ginny vibes? i'll let you listen and be the judge.

Wonderwall by Oasis: harry mentions oasis in this chapter, so of course i had to add this. i have listened to this song so much in the past 20 years, i can't even tell if i like it or not. anyway, here's wonderwall 😅.

Pompeii by Bastille: ah. the infamous break down of everything. as i've already said, absolutely love bastille, and this one is a classic.

Shadow Preachers by Zella Day: i added this one more recently but i feel like it also had very strong early harry/ginny vibes. i also like that it sounds a bit similar-ish to pompeii in that sort of break down of everything vibe. there's a sort of desperation to that song that i feel really fits well.

Place de la République by Coeur de Pirate: firstly, if you think of coeur de pirate as comme des enfants and don't know anything else from her, i am begging you to open to your heart to her other songs/albums, she's incredible. secondly, i've always loved this song. it so well captures this sort of regretful break up situation where she is breaking up with someone because of distance and giving them one last chance to show up and they don't. i feel like it's very much a ginny song in chapter 3, this way she doesn't really want to break up with harry but has to. it's just 😫.

Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi: i've gone back and forth a lot on this song, whether to include it or not. it's almost Too Much. but, also, harry is a bit Too Much in this, so it just fits.

Achilles Come Down by Gang of Youths: this is... very literal, i don't think i need to explain. i will say, for a very long time, i didn't know where the french bits were from. it sounded like some sort of documentary about suicide, which i thought was odd, but it's actually a reading of the myth of sisyphus by albert camus. i've never read it because i've only ever read camus's fiction, but he is one of my favourite french authors, so i was happy to find that out. it works with the song incredibly well, obviously.

Hell or Highwater by Passenger: we're back with the break up songs. i love this one because it very much is about the confusion and the not knowing what caused the break up, which i think is very fitting for harry, here. i also just love the writing in this song, the way he uses the "hell or highwater" saying in a different way - it's a song i very much love, even outside of castles.

Six Degrees of Separation by The Script: idk, this song has such strong 2000s vibes, and it's so break-up-y dramatic - it just fits, you know? 😅.

Giants by Dermot Kennedy: this playlist supports irish artists! ✊🏻 jokes aside, i kind of see this song as having a bit of a double-meaning here. like, of course, it's hinny break up song and plays - again - to that lack of understanding (we used to be giants, when did we stop?) but i also see it as reflective of harry's broader state of mind. it's this post-war confusion of: we used to do these great, important things, and what is our purpose, now? obviously, this first arc is very much about finding a reason to live after the war, so i feel like this song works for both plotlines.

As It Was by Harry Styles: i'm not a massive harry styles fan so the first time i ever heard this song was when he was on tour and the 'LEAVE AMERICA' trend was all over tiktok. and, i don't know, the moment i heard the song as a whole i was like, 'fuck, this is such a castles song!' especially of that early, post-war, confused era of: 'harry what are you doing sitting at home on the floor, what kind of pills are you on?' it just had to be in this playlist.

Fear of Fear by Passenger: this song is just a mood. i feel like it could play over a montage of the weeks passing in chapter four, and harry just going to work, trying to sleep, and going running in the night.

Le vent nous portera by Noir Désir: there's two reasons why this song is here. firstly, i feel like it signifies healing and the passage of time, which works very well with this chapter. it's a gorgeous song and has this idea of the wind just blowing the hardships away, an "it'll be alright" motto that i love. but also, what my international audience might not know is that this song is highly controversial - bertrand cantat, the lead singer of the band, beat his girlfriend - french actress marie trintignant - to death in 2003. he was arrested, went to jail - if you are french, just know that i'm not going to get into the Debate of whether he should still played/be listened to, etc. we all have our opinions and whichever way you're leaning i'm not going to change yours but i just wanted to note that i wouldn't have put this song in the playlist for any other chapter. but with the added theme of DV in the case giulia and harry work on here, i felt it was fitting.

Brave by Sara Bareilles: this is obviously giulia's pep-talk song haha! harry, get out of your rut, and be brave. i love it.

You're Not Special, Babe by Orla Gartland: i love this song. and, again, it's very giulia. i feel like both of these last songs for this chapter have this vibe of her telling harry to just get off his arse and do something, which is what he needed at that point. quit moping around, quit blaming yourself, you're not that special. it's really the kick off, onto chapter five.

Insomnia by Ren: ah, ren. if you've been following the playlist for a while, you will have noticed that i had a major ren moment between the end of 2023 and the start of 2024 and added, like, fifteen millions of his songs to the playlist. i feel like castles generally has such a ren "vibe" to it, which is wild because i didn't find him until well into writing the story. this song has this incredible line: i used to use drinking as a way to stop thinking and my problems with drinking made me feel like i was sinking, so i dried up my drinking and then i couldn't sleep a wink, and now i'm thinking, now i'm thinking, now i'm thinking, now i'm thinking about nothing. fucking nothing. and everything and nothing - i hate not sleeping. this is so on point for this chapter, which has harry's insomnia stalking those post-war months, and i absolutely love it.

The Last Unicorn by Passenger: ah, the first mia song 😫. my child. this is so scarily on point.

J'écoute du Miles Davis by Navii: this is really one of the core, OG castles songs as far as i'm concerned. i remember listening to it on loop very early on, writing the early chapters. i love the chorus of 'Et le temps passe' (and time passes) - it's this factual statement that i feel is very castles. "Time just - passes."

The Way I Am by Eminem: i was so mad to find out i couldn't use this song in text because it came out in 2001. obviously, very related to the press, fame, etc. which are topical for this chapter.

Dominoes by Ren: i added this one fairly recently. it's one of those songs that isn't precisely topical to the chapter itself, but i really liked the riff of "we fall like dominoes, dominoes, falling". it echoes that thing harry says about how he's afraid to fold because if the "leader" falls, then everyone comes cascading down. i felt like there's an interconnection in that song that resonates, here. and also, i think the thing about public perception and body shaming is also somewhat related to the treatment of girls in harry's life in the press.

Read All About It, Part III by Emili Sandé: i thought most people would already know this song because it was featured so prominently in the 2012 London Olympics, but i suppose it still didn't make it to america, 'cause i've had quite a few comments from people saying the playlist was the first time they'd heard it. anyway, it's obviously about harry using his voice and finally talking to the press, and it's amazing :).

Babylon by Barns Courtney: the vibes of this song feel like the fall of a civilisation and "the walls are caving in, you're paying for your sins" and... yeah. idk, i see this as the theme song to the whole battle scene at the lace mill.

What He Wrote by Laura Marling: this was always Giulia's "song" in my head, i'm not even sure why. it's got nothing to do with her but just based on vibes. i listened to this on loop writing her death. and, also, the connection with Peaky Blinders, which heavily inspired the first act of castles.

Fourth of July by Sufjan Stevens: this is just... a beautiful song about death lol. how cheerful 😅.

All My Tears by Ane Brun: and... another one, lol. also, another connection to PB.

Jimmy by Moriarty: i only have two songs for this chapter, probably because it used to be paired with chapter six so i initially didn't think of it as an independent item. anyway, this is one of my favourite songs in the world, and it's recently come to my attention that it fit quite well in here, with this idea of "coming home" (to the burrow, in harry's case. i feel like it works well with the general mood of the chapter.

CORALINE by Måneskin: ah. coraline, coraline, di me la tua verita... this is the beginning of harry, and ginny, and the letters, really.

Zombie by The Cranberries: canonically, Mia is a fan and while two cranberries songs are mentioned in this chapter, i always felt like this one fit better. first, because it's about a civil war that, in many ways, resembled the wizarding war. second, because i've always sort of thought as amycus as a bit of a zombie. like, he's dead but he still plagues ginny (and later harry) with the things he's done and their ramifications.

Rather Die by Barns Courtney: obviously, i'm a massive fan of barns courtney and i've always felt this song is very ginny during the war. basically, 'i'd rather die than give in.'

Repeat After Me by KONGOS: this song is obviously about the absolutist christian faith and someone trying to escape it, but i think there's something so rhythmic about it. in my head, i could see it playing over a montage of the DA pulling off stunts, getting attacked, getting back up again, fighting again, losing again, etc. there's also the 'repeat after me' of indoctrination that could very much apply to the ministry's propaganda. i remember listening to this song so much as i was writing this chapter, just to remind myself of the relentless sort of pacing i wanted to achieve.

Dopamine by Barns Courtney: okay so. this is the song of this chapter. i know it feels like it's not really about this chapter (it's clearly about drug addiction) but you cannot possibly imagine the number of times i listened to it as i was writing. i don't know. i love everything about it. the loud rock and instrumentals, the production, the lyrics. if we end it all, at least you're by my side. we could never die. and this: it's always the same. see the drink couldn't wash out the taste of your name. i literally think it's one of my favourite songs ever, and one of my favourite sentences ever written. i think in my head it's a bit about ginny sinking, about amycus, about harry. about everything. i would say dopamine is probably one of the most important songs in this playlist. i am so attached to it.

Thirteen Thirtyfive by Dillon: and... the last song. i will say this: i have since learnt that this song is about a woman who has lost a child (either through miscarriage, abortion or death after birth, it's not clear) and is reminiscing about what her life could have been. that is... not how i initially interpreted it. you may listen and come to your own conclusions. if you interpret it like the above, maybe it fits with pansy's story. if you don't... well. you'd be thirteen, i'd be thirty-five, gone to find a place for us to hide. be together but alone, as the need for it has grown. make of that what you will.

Formidable by La Bronze (Stromae cover): god, do i love this song. and god do i love this cover almost more than the original. i love how she made it less sad and more angry with the more rock-like music, as well as the sound of arabic. it works So Fucking Well. the chorus of this song sort of says it: we were incredible.

The Kid I Used to Know by Arrested Youth: just one of those songs i used to listen to on loop while writing/planning that arc of castles. i do think of this time in this fic as the formal end of harry's childhood, when he finds out about ginny and realises that all their innocence has gone. so long to the kid i used to know.

Hold On by Ren: i feel like there's such a restlessness in this chapter that you also find in this song. this sort of endless torrent of stuff coming harry's way, and him trying to... get through it and hold on.

Blind Leading The Blind by Mumford & Sons: i had originally put this one in for chapter nine, but i actually think it's more of a chapter ten song. welcome to the trials, aka the epitome of the blind leading the blind.

Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High? by Arctic Monkeys: ah. were you also a teen in the early 2010s? welcome to the song. obviously - very harry & ginny in this chapter.

Falling Is Like This by Ani DiFranco: i've always adored this song ever since i discovered it referenced in another fic. it's where i got the idea of the car running off a cliff in last chapter - it's also very heavily referenced in this chapter. think of it like a transition song lol. just such a Mia mood. falling is like this.

Je suis un homme by Zazie: i was looking for a song this morning to operate the transition between falling is like this and the kids are all rebels, and i settled on this one. judge me all you want but i love zazie, and i think this works quite well with the beginning section of this chapter that is a little bit like the song: humans and their institutions going round in circles.

The Kids Are All Rebels by Lenii: i loooove lenii. she's irish (🇮🇪🥳) and this song is such a DA song. there's this dimension of youthful idealism hitting the brick wall of adulthood, and the things they see the government do which they're not happy with. the song itself was written about trump's covid policies, but it fits so well here too!

Anthem by YOKANA & Barns Courtney: i think this is self-explanatory. harry is starting to doubt his "no comment" strategy...

Statues by Alexandre Desplat: we're... starting a new war in courtrooms, aren't we? jokes aside, it's probably my favourite music from the films, very war-coded, it makes me want to rise up to battle, so.

Remember the Name by Fort Minor & Styles of Beyond: there's something about the relentless rhythm of this song that i just love for the end of this chapter. like: LET'S GOOO!

Legendary by Welshly Arms: i see this as the DA's song, too, you know? not just harry. they're all doing something legendary.

Till I Collapse by Eminem: this is one of my favourite eminem songs, and i think it fits really well with the beginning of this chapter. the onslaught of press coverage regarding harry's and the DA's actions, and their common desire to push through no matter what.

Instant Crush (feat. Julian Casablancas) by Daft Punk: i actually wanted to put da funk in this playlist (which is the song mentioned in the fic) but i chose not to subject you all to five minutes of lyric-less late-naughties techno music 🤣. i also feel like putting this right after Till I Collapse is a bit of an insult to eminem ("you don't know me, you're too old, let go - it's over, nobody listens to techno" 😅), which is a bit funny lol.

Teenage Culture by SKYLAR: it's funny, i listened to this song on loop the summer of 2023 but didn't really find an excuse to add the song to the castles playlist until it finally hit me now that it was per-fect for this chapter. i love skylar and i love this song, it's so tongue-in-cheek and yet lyrically incredibly clever. i think this is such a teenage anthem and fits so well for this chapter, both in the "partying" side of it, but also in a the-kids-are-all-rebels sort of way. i just absolutely love it.

Everyone's at It by Lily Allen: i've just realised this is the first lily allen song in this entire playlist which, if you know me and how much of a lily allen stan i am, is wild. i stole some of the lyrics of this song for the chapter; it's about the double-standards that exist in dealing with drug addiction, which ginny talks about a bit. it's a song that was very important in opening my young eyes on this topic, when i was a teenager. i feel like it also goes so well with the SKYLAR song, it's like the millenial-advocate-y song to SKYLAR's gen z, more apathetic/don't-care take.

all the good girls go to hell by Billie Eilish: i have a very strange relationship with Billie Eilish's music where i listen to her only for very specific occasions and moods, but i do love that song. and, idk, i kind of see it as a symptom of ginny's slight "descent" in this chapter, where under the surface, partying and sleeping around begins to be less "fun" than it used to be. there's something weirdly haunting about Billie Eilish's music (esp the first album, that i feel fits here).

Any Other World by Mika: i added this song to the playlist rather recently but if you are a the good wife fan, it will of course sound familiar. i think i was looking for a song to finish off this chapter and recently was lucky enough to see Mika play live in dublin, and thought it just fit. it's neither really a love song nor a political song, it's a third thing, and i think it's really symbolic of the conclusion you reach at the end of this chapter of "say goodbye to the world you live in". i think this chapter is really the point of no return, this sort of deep realisation that nothing will be the same anymore. it's also the halfway point of the fic (in terms of chapters), so i reckon it works.

Un peu d'espoir by Joyce Jonathan: i relistened to this song recently and i think it really suits the beginning of the chapter. there's a growing up vibe to it and, nostalgia, sadness and hope at the same time. i really see it playing in that time where harry reflects on the upcoming anniversary of the war and where he and ginny talk about the aftermath.

Dance Monkey by Tones and I (Stripped Back): okay. i know this is a bold choice but let me explain. basically: i was working on completing the playlist and was looking for a song for the end of the trials, draco's hearing and all the politics in this chapter. i looked up my top songs of 2022 (which is when this chapter was written) and found out i actually listened to this song quite a lot that year (the original version of it). and yes, this is a dance song, but when you look at the lyrics, there's a vibe of, like, the establishment and the wider world forcing you to do something you don't really want to do? like, sure, here, this is a woman who's being told, basically "why don't you dance/smile more" but i think this is also applicable to harry and his relationship with the press and the wizarding world in general. there is a dimension in it of "dance monkey! dance!" where he's just like - not feeling it. this is the chapter where he rebels, too, and actually doesn't stick to the script, and pushes the wizarding world to change, and we love that for him. i chose the stripped back version for the playlist, because i feel it just fits the mood more than the dance version of this song.

bad guy by Billie Eilish: ugh. do i need to explain? i mean, harry, come on. stop toying with two girls at the same time.

Bad Habits by Ed Sheeran: a bit the same as the above. my bad habits lead to you - you can't quite let ginny go, can't you?

Arcade by Duncan Laurence: if you were on tiktok in the golden age of dracotok, this song will need no introduction. i don't even think the lyrics fit but i now have such a strong association between draco malfoy and this song, it needed to be there in this chapter.

This Is What Makes Us Girls by Lana Del Rey: i feel like this is a lesser-known Lana song, but it's haunted me for years. i think there's a vibe of "for us girls, it's just the way wars are fought" in that song. and, with this chapter being the one where we find out about pansy, i couldn't not include it.

Mr. Sandman by SYML: okay, i cannot possibly explain this but i very strongly associate this song with the vibe of draco in prison, and that last scene. it's bizarrely haunting, and i think fits the mood perfectly.

[hillbilly---man]

A list of my works on AO3

(they're all Saiki K fics at the moment but I'll add fandom categories to this post if I ever get a new interest lol)

It doesn't fit my plans; it's something I don't understand

Published July 11, 2021

Summary: Saiki is fascinated by Satou Hiroshi, and the people around him start to see that this might be more than just a platonic curiosity.

What is this feeling called love?

[Notes: Bittersweet ending. Nobody gets together. My insistence on theming these early fics after songs is pretty embarrassing now. I'm not proud of my writing here but the story is ok. I might rewrite it someday. Not bad for my first fic since like 2003 though]

Something Changed

Published August 11, 2021

Summary: Aiura wrote a letter to her soulmate the night before they were supposed to meet.

She's predicted a lot of things... how could she have gotten this one wrong?

[Notes: Another sad ending. The format of this is almost entirely an excited letter about the future Aiura imagined that would never come to pass. Not really much of a story happening here tbh]

Won't it be strange when we're all fully grown?

Published August 28, 2021 (INCOMPLETE)

Summary: With graduation quickly approaching, the psychics of PK Academy (and Akechi) worry that they'll drift apart. Luckily, they come up with an idea.

"Let's all meet up in the year 2030!"

A lot can change in a decade.

[Notes: Kind of like a psychicker class reunion where they're all adults with jobs and everything catching up. Future chapters were going to have almost a Scooby Doo vibe (with a twist reveal at the end about Aiura's husband!) I abandoned it because I posted some art and someone called my art creepy and it made the whole fic feel bad to think about. Maybe I'll get back to it someday. It's cool to see how quickly my writing improved. I was also super proud of how well I wrote Akechi's dialogue here]

Hotel Valentine

Published September 24, 2021

Summary: Toritsuka Reita is a pretty lucky guy. He somehow managed to not get expelled from PK Academy, he graduated, and he's avoided creeping on any living girls for a few months. To celebrate, the PK Psychics paid for a one-night stay in the fanciest hotel in Tokyo so Reita can creep on the ghost girl of his dreams. Pretty lucky, right?

Too bad things aren't going his way. He's being ignored by the staff, he's bored out of his mind, and he can't find the ghost girl anywhere. Some vacation, huh?

[Notes: Spoiler: Toritsuka's a ghost stuck in a nice hotel. This is based on a concept album that most of you have never heard but hear me out! It really has nothing to do with the Cibo Matto album of the same title except that the chapters are named after the songs and there are fun Easter eggs for fans of the album. Another slightly sad ending but not too bad]

Coffee & TV

Published August 27th, 2022

Summary: The new silence in her house felt heavy on Kumi's shoulders. Everything reminded her of Kumagoro... especially her grandson Kusuo, who has been coming to visit more often than ever before.

[Notes: this is my least popular finished fic and I understand why. It's about grief and the loss of a grandparent. It's about the unique pain that a psychic would have after failing to prevent that death. There's a sad twist that TBH I think I was a little too subtle with. One of my favorites]

Friendly Fire

Published January 8, 2023

Summary: Being an adult is great until the Problems start. Good grief.

30-year-old Kusuo's psychic powers have been pretty well controlled for over a decade. Why are things starting to go haywire all of a sudden?

[Notes: Friendly Fire my fucking beloved!! In this fic, Saiki gets essentially psychic multiple sclerosis and has to deal with some complicated emotions. I don't think it's a masterpiece or anything but it was cathartic to write and I'm in love with the versions of these characters that I wrote here. So much so that I'm writing a sequel just so I can write more of them. Also, FINALLY a happy ending!!]

Ramen Ikouze?

Published April 28, 2023

Summary: After being dragged to get ramen with Nendou every week, Kusuo starts to realize that it's not so bad after all.

[Notes: I love Nendou, he's so good. This fic is very cute and about their friendship. A couple of fun twists]

Saiki has Plans?

Published May 2, 2023

Summary: Saiki mentions having plans after school, and the overactive imaginations at PK Academy work themselves into a fuss trying to imagine what he could be doing.

[Notes: This fic follows around a bunch of Saiki's classmates as they gossip and snoop to find out what he's up to. It's my most popular fic for some reason]

A Bright Flash

Published May 13, 2023

Summary: Saiki develops an annoying new ability, and through some comedy series logic is forced to tell Teruhashi about it. She tries to be a good ally to her "newly psychic" crush.

[Notes: Teruhashi accidentally finds out about Saiki's new power and he's like "fine. I'm a psychic. But it's just this one power and nothing else."]

Heat Wave

Published June 6, 2023

Summary: There's a historic heat wave in Hidariwakibara, and some of our favorite PK Academy students end up running into each other while taking refuge from the hot weather.

A series of four standalone (but connected) stories taking place at the same time:

Aiura has a vision of disaster, and she and Nendou try to stop it

Yumehara gives Toritsuka some advice to improve his game

Akechi meets Teruhashi's brother

Saiki really wants some shaved ice from the kakigori stand where Mera is working

[Notes: The summary explains it well but also I weaved so many connections between the chapters (that are all happening at roughly the same time). It was also a lot of fun writing interactions between characters that didn't get much in canon. Also you can tell it was hot as hell when I wrote it because I definitely gave Saiki some kind of psychic heat intolerance lol]

Immunity

Published July 6, 2023

Summary: She didn't know why, but Kokomi was finally able to see the truth.

Why Saiki seemed to appear and disappear without explanation. Why it seemed like he always knew what she was planning. Why he wore those weird hairpins.

It was all so obvious now.

Saiki had psychic powers.

[Notes: The veil is lifted suddenly and all the truths that Saiki kept locked behind his mind control were revealed to Teruhashi. He and Aiura have a chat with her about it. Also this was the first fic of mine that an IRL friend read (to my knowledge) and his comment was something like "I don't know anything about your boy but he sounds autistic and gnc" and I took that as a fucking compliment! You know you've written Saiki right when people can see that shit from space]

The Disastrous Financial Situation of Saiki K

Published August 9, 2023 (IN PROGRESS)

Summary: Adjusting to his new limitations has been annoying, and now Kusuo (age 31) needs a car to get around.

Unfortunately, taking time off work has drained his savings.

How is he going to get the money for a car now?

[Notes: This is my sequel to Friendly Fire but it's a lot lighter in nature. 100-Yen-Man goes around doing stuff for Saiki's friends. There are mentions of his disability from Friendly Fire and it's plot relevant but I think you can catch on even if you didn't read the original. I haven't updated in a while but I am actively working on it!! A Yumehara and Makino chapter next and then a Toritsuka chapter after that. TBH this isn't my best work and it's pretty unpopular but I'm having fun and that's all that counts)

[revenant-coining]

Non-Inherently Xenic Neoender Umbrellas

plaint text: Non-Inherently Xenogender Gender Umbrellas

Reblogs of this post won't always be up to date, but this notion link will be (link).

Last Updated: December 15th 2022. Total Terms Listed: 52 i think

Formatted as: Name + link to coining post: basic definition (basic as in might not include every concept/experience)

Aetherine (link): a non-xenine umbrella term that encompasses all things related to the otherworldly/ethereal. It is usually centered around the idea of otherworldly ideas/concepts/things and/or connection to concepts/ideas/things from other planets, whether fictional or real, but not always.

Altumen (link): an umbrella term for terms (genders, identity, orientation, alterhuman, etc.) connected to the deep sea, deep sea creatures, speculative biology, merfolk, merfolk culture, and nonhumanity/alterhumanity.

Ambedoric (link): a umbrella term that is centered and based on the concept of ambedo (link leads to definition). It is a very broad umbrella term that can include xenogenders, aesthetigenders, neurogenders, etc. underneath it. It can, however, be simply used as a xenogender, but does not definitively have to be.

Apalaros (link): a gender umbrella that is mostly based on fragility. May be similar to being kenochoric in a lighter since. It has close ties to feeling fragile and almost ghostly. Things like photographs, snowglobes, and time may be considered Apalaros in nature. This is not inherently a xenogender.

Aquarine (link): similar to soporine and kenochoric, it is an umbrella term surrounding the themes of aquatics, the ocean, water, marine life, and anything related.

Bellunic (link): A gender umbrella that is best described as being cutesy, childish, and sweet. Genders under this umbrella may be related to ribbons, bows, strawberries/strawberry flavor, pastels, pink, frilly skirts/dresses, stuffed toys, candy, and dolls. These genders are typically feminine but are not inherently female.

Cringenic / Cringern (link): a gender umbrella related to all things cringe! designed with otherkin, neurodivergent, and queer people in mind, this gender umbrella is related to reclaiming the word cringe and being unashamedly yourself. cringenic / cringern is, overal, related to being againdt cringe culture peace, love, kindness, unity, and of course, being "cringe". it's usually also related to accepting others, being childish, and etc, but doesn't have to be.

Cuteseyic (link): A non-xenine neogender umbrella related to cute(sy) things. This umbrella term encompasses all things related to cuteness. It is usually centered around cutesy concepts/things, however one may identify under cuteseyic if they do not fit under this definition.

Cybertrecores (link): An umbrella term that describes an identity, understandable only in concepts of one being Cybertronian. It is connected to the anatomy of Cybertronian species, it's culture, machines and mechanisms, transformation, mass shifting, shapeshifting, and everything else, that might be connected to Cybertronians.

Dimensen (link): an umbrella term connected to alternate dimensions, multiverse theory, subdimensions, pocket dimensions, fate, soulmates, and the like.

Dreandna (link): is an umbrella term themed off of the album Dreamland by Glass Animlals. It is connected to feelings of wistfulness, love, sadness, melancholy, disturbing, haziness, and dreaminess. This umbrella term is more based on vibes than a concrete definition.

Edisicial (link): a gender/gender umbrella for EDIN(s) (edisicial in nature (superficially)) identities. Edisicial is a Neogender.

Esperkyn (link): a (primarily) gender umbrella, similar to (but distinct from) the xenogender umbrella. It is for identities based on feelings of hope, a better tomorrow than today, victory through adversity, and many other similar concepts. While I did coin the term as a way of describing gender, other types of good-faith identities may also qualify as Esperic.

Everithe (link): a NON-XENIC neogender umbrella related to lightness, dawn, infinity, everlasting, gold, and existence. this can be metaphorical, literal, or something in-between.

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Fantasium (link): a gender umbrella related to fantasy, nobility, mythical creatures, nature, non-humanity, divinity, ethereal things and such. it may be related to the concepts tied to these, their aesthetics, their meaning, anything.

Feruvel (link): An identity centered around things connected to beastliness, animals, ferality, nonhumanity, etc. It encompasses things like predator / prey dynamics, primal instincts, wild animals, feral monsters and anything that someone might consider a part of beastliness and pure nonhumanity. This label is not exclusive to alterhumans, though one might feel this identity in a different way due to ones alterhumanity.

Furrean/Furriean (link): A semi-xenine neogender umbrella related to furries, furriness, being a furry, fursuits, furry characters, furry art, and other aspects of the furrydom!

Gesneriad (link): a gender quality that describes a gender identity directly/heavily/partly connected to clothing/clothing aesthetics, it can also relate to the the person’s fashion style, or what the person is wearing as of right now.

Hedoxine (link): an umbrella term for a gender or genders related to, connected to, or affected by the concepts of hedonism, decadence, indulgence, and/or pleasure.

Howabeiyn (link): is an umbrella term themed off of the album How to be a Human Being by Glass Animals. It is connected to feelings of unnerve, urgency, haziness, wistfulness, confusion, distraught, and fuzziness. This umbrella term is more based on vibes than a concrete definition.

Hypnocerics (link): An umbrella for terms connected to the concepts of mind and hypnosis. It is not a xenogender, though it may overlap.

Inbissiec (link): an umbrella term centered on the idea of being bizarre. It is an umbrella term circling all labels that center around being odd.

Incovodian (link): a gender umbrella relating to all things incomprehensible and dark. this gender umbrella encompasses things related to the void, nothingness, space, the darkest depths of the ocean, and strange phenomena that can't be explained. this isn't all that it encompasses however, those are just examples.

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Kasvionan (link): a gender identity/umbrella centered around plants (inclusive of any kind of plant), and possibly also sunlight, growth, beauty, and/or strength. This is a non xenic identity/umbrella, simular to kenochroic, luxine, or macashric. (do not tag as xenogender).

Kenochoric (link): an umbrella term for identities centered around things like liminal spaces, loneliness/emptiness, nostalgia, the uncanny, distortion, obscurity, disconnect, nonhumanity, and many other related things. It can be an identity of its own, but it also describes any identity with characteristics that fit its "vibe."

Kerlinux (link): a neogender umbrella for genders related to the linux operating system, free and open source software, computers, and so on. it's a broader version of linuxgender, which is under this umbrella. this may also be used as an individual gender.

Kocirine (link): a non-xenic neogender gender umbrella for genders similar to scene, neon, and/or high-contrast aesthetics. it may feel chaotic, cluttered, bright, high contrast, clashing, hyper, or "cringe", but it doesn't have to be. it could describe one's gender being related to scene and neon aesthetics, just having a lot of clashing and contrasting genders, some combination of those things, or something different.

Liminic (link): A non-xenine umbrella term for any identity related to liminality. This doesn't just have to include liminality as in liminal aesthetics, but can also be an identity that feels "transitional", in a sense. This is typically used as a descriptor for gender, but can be used as any identity, such as an allion, perspeque, personalius, xeniden, or a chornosian term. (doesn't just have to be limited to those though)

Liminix (link): a gender/umbrella term for genders that feel deeply and inseparably connected to liminal spaces. this gender may feel as though it exists within a liminal space, or simply be inseparably connected to the individual’s interest in liminal spaces. an eerie, unsettling, liminal gender.

Lumenoir (link): centring around golden light and positivity, Lumenoir is an umbrella term that includes identities that relate to sunshine, kindness, compassion, glitter, gold, brilliance, and all that shines. It is strongly positive and perhaps may be glowing or luminous. Some experiences that fall under this label could relate to sun showers, the light of dawn, acts of kindness, or angelic halos! Experiences that fall under this label may include concepts not listed above and may differ from what I have stated in this post! It mostly is about how the term feels and what vibes it gives off rather than a literal checklist of what to include and what not to include!

Luxine (link) is an umbrella term centered around the ideas of divinity, light, holiness, and vastness.

Macarshric (link): a neogender that is NOT xenic or xenine. It is the sum of macabre and horror themes which generally means the distress or disturbed feelings that can arise from death and/or violence. Macarshric is its own gender, but it can also be an umbrella if the user chooses.

Mechaneve (link): A non-xenine umbrella term that can encompass all things related to mechanical engineering, machinery, and other similar concepts and themes. Can be based off of vibes too like an id that feels mechanic. This term is usually a gender, but is not exclusive to being only a gender.

Mellic (link): an umbrella term for genders centered around the themes of sleepiness, stars, blankets, pyjamas, plushies, nighttime, moons, stars and other similar concepts. the label broadly covers any genders that feel sleepy-in-nature (SLEEPIN) or related to concepts of sleepiness and bedtime.

Mislypec (link): is an umbrella term connected to zombies, apocalypses, radiation, mutant creatures, nuclear mutation, and concepts of sentience, consciousness, and nonhumanity.

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Mortelum (link): a term for someone whose identity relates to a variety of concepts centring around death, the passage of time, and the intersection between those two concepts. Mortelum may also relate to the imagery of said concepts, such as vast grandfather clocks or rotting bones. The following concepts all fall under mortelum.

N’rosesgender / Nrosesgender (link): A gender/umbrella term for genders related to Guns N’ Roses in any way

Ocularic (link): An umbrella term similar to kenochoric or luxine, which encompasses anything relating to unease, being watched, eye horror, dread, forbidden knowledge, and the dangerous curiosity of the unknown.

Occunous (link): A neogender umbrella related to watching and being watched, paranoia, eyes, the need to know everything despite the risks, the need to collect and store information even to one's own detriment, and The Beholding from The Magnus Archives!

Polyhedral (link): a gender quality that describes a gender identity that is heavily/directly connected to shapes/objects that have many sides, this can be both on a molecular or normal scale.

Rosenion (link): an umbrella term for gender similar to love, red/pink/violet, and amatopunk aesthetics. it may feel bright, comforting, caring, safe, warm, loving, lovestruck, obsessive, or soft, but it doesn’t have to be. it can describe your gender feeling comforting and caring, being described by love and stereotypical romantic/sexual/platonic/etc gestures, relating to one’s amatopunk identity, a combination of those things, or something different.

Rosetoric (link): a umbrella term that is centered and based on roses and femininity (link leads to an image of roses). It is a very broad umbrella term that can include xenogenders, aesthetigenders, neurogenders, etc. underneath it. It can, however, be simply used as a xenogender, but does not definitively have to be. The umbrella, in general, is feminine, but does not necessarily have to be feminine and can include any type of genderedness under it.

Scalecosmic (link): an umbrella term that describes gender(s) that can be described by space, space objects, or particles that don't exist on Earth, but indeed are somewhere in space (antimatter, for example).

Scerine (link): A nonxenine gender umbrella related to scenecore, rejection of cringe culture, being cringe but free, etc!

Scenemis (link): an umbrella term for something that affects ones gender or alterhumanity or full identity. It's defined by and influenced by emo and scene culture, scenecore, cringyness, early 2000s aesthetics, bright colors or black/gray colors, webcore, Invader Zim, Hot Topic, PLUR, and more! Anyone who's identity is influenced by these things may be Scenemis!

Sonderous (link): An umbrella term/descriptor for genders related to sonder. Similar to Kenochoric, this term isn’t inherently xenine, though they can overlap.

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Soporine (link): an umbrella term for genders based on sleepiness (or lack thereof), dreams, drowsyness, etc.

SPAN/Spangender (link): a non-xenic umbrella term for all Space-in-nature genders, meaning genders that primarily related to space and/or have a space-like quality. It can be used as a gender on its own.

Spiritine (link): an identity directly connected to/representing one’s spirituality or religious beliefs. this could have a few different meanings, including not being able to separate one’s spiritual and queer identity, feeling that one’s queer identity is spiritual, or being xenine + identifying with spirituality-themed xenic identities such as religiogenders.

Temporine (link): a gender (umbrella) related to the passing of time and any other related things such as mortality and limits, as well as endlessness and the infinite. it also covers themes of life, death, the universe, and nothingness, among other things. however, these are not strict rules, merely loose guidelines for what "counts" as tempoirine. many other things can be considered tempoirine.

Twistidatian / Intwistian (link): a gender umbrella term for identities related to, connected to, or are “intimidating with a twist”. that twist is often cute, gentle, and soft. could be seen as a counterpart to twistute. intwistian by itself is not a xenogender, but terms under the umbrella can be xenogenders.

Twistute (link): an umbrella term ( like kenochoric and luxine ) for identities related to, connected to, or are “ cute with a twist “. that twist is often dark, creepy, or unsettling. some examples of this are pastel clothing with eyes or teeth, candy gore, and yami kawai. this is not a xenogender, but genders under this could be described as xenogenders.

Valmia (link): a term for genders that are bloody, painful, realistic, cartoony gore, pain, and/or weirdcore gore and similar.

Warfaren (link): An identity centered around things connected to war and military. It encompasses things like carnage, warfare, military jobs, outfits, weaponry and machines.

Wilderic (link): an umbrella term, connected to forests, plants, wilderness, wonder, the natural world, ecology and nature.

Wisteric/Glicinoric (link): a umbrella term that is centered and based on wisteria flowers (link leads to an image of wisteria). It is a very broad umbrella term that can include xenogenders, aesthetigenders, neurogenders, etc. underneath it. It can, however, be simply used as a xenogender, but does not definitively have to be.

Zabainal (link): is an umbrella term themed off of the album ZABA by Glass Animals. It is connected to feelings of haziness, weirdness, strangeness, floaty vibes, confusion, and calmness. This umbrella term is more based on vibes than a concrete definition.

tagging for reach /nf: @sunshinesolaic , @epikulupu , @kenochoric

[your-bigender-big-brother]

Xenity and Gender in the Abstract

(An essay under the cut.)

Can you imagine a gender experience that is not feminine, masculine, neutral, epicene, outherine, or even genderless? What if, instead of any of those categories, you used far more unconventional ways to explain your gender? The concept of atrinary identities was explained in a previous essay, but I also briefly mentioned the experience of being xenine - that is, any gender quality outside of the human scope of genderedness. Instead of using human concepts to explain gender, xenity exists in the realm of the abstract and the other. Xenine identities may also be called  xenic.

Xenity can be experienced in a number of ways - through concepts based on emotions, colors, textures, plants, animals, media, sensations, and so much more. Some xenine identities might feel like a cool early morning while some might be related to a specific character from a TV show or movie. Others might be more like the deep dark ocean. And others might be best described as something eldritch and unknowable. Like any other gender experience, it really depends on the individual who uses the label. Genders that are inherently xenine are typically called xenogenders.

While these experiences don’t use human categorizations of gender, they do not inherently indicate a nonhuman experience such as otherkinity or therianthropy either. However, that may actually be the experience for some members of those communities. If someone is more animalistic, they may view their own gender as something an animal might experience - or, at least, an animal in a human’s body. It gets even more complex when that person isn’t human or animal, or even anything of this world. If they’re some sort of mythical creature, a spirit, an alien, or even the embodiment of an abstract concept, their xenine experience might be more suited to that form of nonhumanity.

Other folks - not otherkin or therian - may feel a connection to music or other forms of media, which means their xenic experience will reflect that. Xenogenders based on specific songs or albums, on video game characters, on physical pieces of technology, or even the nostalgic feeling of interacting with these types of media exist to fit this type of gendered experience.

Another way someone may experience xenity is through -coric identities, which are based on specific core aesthetics. Goblincore, cottagecore, horrorcore, and fairycore can all be xenogenders - goblincoric, cottagecoric, horrorcoric, and fairycoric respectively. While an aesthetic-based identity sounds like it may play into one’s gender expression more than anything, these are actually more often literal genders. Xenogenders may also be based on other types of aesthetics, anywhere from lolita to gothic to pastel to neon. Aesthetics can be just as flexible as genders.

Xenity doesn't just have to relate to xenogenders. Since it's a gender quality, it can be applied to any other existing gender or lack thereof. You can be a xenic man, a xeno-aligned agender person, or someone who is demixenogender with a connection to other genders. Your presentation or expression can also be xenic. What does that look like? Like any other type of gender expression, it is variable and individualistic - it depends on how that person chooses to express themselves! There are no rules for gender expression or how a gender quality might affect our gendered experiences.

Gender is incredibly personal and since we experience the world through a vast and varied number of sensory inputs, it makes sense that those inputs might intersect with our gender identity. Our sense of self, after all, is often shaped by the many ways we experience the world. The way something looks, feels, sounds, or is experienced through memories can all influence our genders in some way. This might very well be one of the most diverse and flexible gender concepts that exist!

[wouldvecouldveshouldve]

I think its so stupid how people who ship her with matty or travis are now trying to re-write her entire relationship with joe to make it seem like she was never happy and in love with him. NOW, all the songs she wrote about how much she loved him, how she wanted to marry him, how he was this beautiful object she desired and how amazing their sex life was is either secretly sad or somehow about someone else.

Weirdly enough ive seen some Tayvis shippers try to push the same narrative about travis and kayla, acting like he was misserable for their entire relationship and was just waiting for Taylor to be available because he was in love with her the entire time.

it's genuinely astonishing to me how people can do that. it's like some people just invalidate the love and experiences taylor's had with others, and mark them off as unreal and secretly something deeper just to fit with their delusions and the narrative they desire. just like what some people are doing with travis now.

experiences are what make you human, and that's what taylor's craft is about. she writes songs about her life - an autobiographical look into her life, and sure, they can be over-portrayed and romanticised, but they're still real and a part of what makes her her. just like, when she was with joe, she created wonderful albums like reputation and lover which enunciated those exact feelings and replicated the adoration she had for him.

just because concepts like love and relationships sometimes don't last, or they didn't work out in the way that people expected them to, doesn't mean that they're any less real that the experiences that taylor is going through right now.

it's like a constant cycle of misinterpretation and misreadings into taylor's life, when really, what we do know is right in front of us.

taylor loved joe. but sometimes, things just don't work out. that doesn't make the relationship fake, and it doesn't mean she was always secretly pining over someone else or she was in love with another. and no matter what interpretations of songs are written, and no matter what fans may theorise, the love she held for joe is the only thing that's true.

i think some people need to recognise that.

[autumnalmess]

Unpopular opinion: does anyone else just fucking hate the 1985 original London recording of Les miserables or is it just me?? I'll give my propaganda reasoning below, give that a read first:

Okay, my reasoning:

OBVIOUSLY Colm Wilkinson is incredible. Not disputing that. So slightly remove that from the equation when I say I don't like this recording. Of course, a lot of the singers are really great (specifically Marius, Eponine, Cosette, jvj, fantine, Enjolras, loads of the Amis), and there are some songs that I like, but as a whole it feels really clunky.

In terms of timing, I know it was more of a concept album for England and they obviously changed a lot of bits afterwards, but in the recording it feels like all of the singers are very unsure of the timings. Whether this is because they actually were or because of artistic decisions to phrase things strangely, in the listening experience, it really comes across with an uncertain feel. Nothing seems to come in quite at the right time, and a lot of the singers will be just a couple of beats delayed in their coming in, which they may have been instructed to do by the musical director, but it feels strange all the same. And a lot of the singers play around with the timings so much that it feels at odds with the accompaniment.

Second, this is gonna be an insanely unpopular opinion, but I think Roger Allam in this specific recording (not commenting on his performance live) is a bit abysmal. He's an insanely talented actor and I love him in the thick of it, but here he does not show off his ability as a singer well at all. He speaks most of the lines, which is fine for some songs but feels awkward when he's really baring his soul in the soliloquy. Also his technique as a singer is really questionable. The way he holds his consonants completely restricts his vocals, giving it no vib and no room to grow especially on the big notes, it does not do justice to the build of the music. Furthermore, I feel he skims over the tops of the notes a lot, which really pisses me off because in a piece of music so carefully curated like Les miserables, every note is important to the flow and the harmony. This is not to slag him off. I'm sure he was good in performance, but I feel this specific recording does not reflect that.

Musically, they don't go ham with the drums enough. If you want to understand what I mean, just listen to the french version. Also, the music in this version, again, feels a little uncertain. Like there are points where a couple of instruments are playing a melody, and theres a countermelody that doesn't really sound like it fits. And you know it just needs a third harmony to bring it all together. It's just little things that make it sound less refined as a whole. (Side note but this pisses me off: a lot of the time the songs are a lot slower in tempo than all the other recordings and it just feels like it lacks energy a bit)

Propaganda time: The main reason I don't like this one is because it's not as good as the french version, which feels consistently refined and energised and raw. The emotion comes through from all of the singers so much more, without losing track of the notes or the rhythms. All the singers have wonderful technique, specifically jvj and Javert, which makes their songs so much more powerful. Just listen to Comment faire? (Same as Who am I) and youll get what I mean about the drums and the countermelodies. Also they have some baller theme and variation in that song which really brings out the music student in me.

Conclusion: I'm absolutely so sorry if I've just ripped apart your favourite recording. Do feel free to ignore everything I've just said because most of these are just like teeny tiny little things that annoy me specifically. And I'm sure most of this is just because I've spent too much time listening to the french version that now I turn my nose up at perfectly respectable other versions. If you love this one, you're valid. And I do listen to some of the songs on it. I love their little fall of rain and finale. I just can't stand roger allam's soliloquy or stars.

[disruptivevoib]

mx voib how on earth do you go about designing your hmsw variants, i'm so jealous

Oh I feel fancy now!

Anyhow, I don't have any distinct go-to process but generally having a good idea for the au or the concept I want to design them based on and stemming from there.

Many of my more baseline Aus are close to my canonical designs. With the re-designs of Eleutheromania having a half/half Heart to match the Mind design and make him more distinct.

Then there are the more abstract things like the "Death Thirds" Which is an au I've not really spoken on, and I don't recall if I've posted them here. Though I know I have on Twitter. (I recall CJ liking the Soul design)

Those are meant to be more ethereal, uncanny and inhuman designs. They are VERY self indulgent and more an experiment than anything. Though I knew I wanted to use the Mind design off the album cover for CCCC as baseline inspo for Mind. Soul happened kind of accidentally tbh. I was doodling and he came about.

Theres a set I'm drawing right now which have been far more in-depth. But thats because they stem from an existing media. But that's all I'll say on that one!

As for the smaller guys... I wanted to draw an HMS which was closer to 'canon' in some ways or just different from my typical used for the Song Pieces! They actually well exemplify some thematics in terms of square mind, circle heart, triangle (with rounded edges) soul. Which is a motif I've had since even my VERRRRY very very first concept ideas for my HMS designs!! Shape language is very important to me, and its something I highly suggest learning about or messing with.

I also like to take their canonical clothing; Mind's leather jacket or black vest, Heart's hoodie, Soul's jacket and apply or manipulate it to fit a design. The stripes in my Soul jacket I believe aren't how the real jacket CJ owns is but more so ripped from Kai @/calamarispiderart ?

But yeah! Overall. Themes, motifs, things like that are key in my designs.

Pluto is also a good show of that. I wanted to make sure he looked as faded and washed out as he felt. So his hair is white and his colors, even his Heart and Mind's colors are desaturated and a little off. Lacuna Mind leans into navy and teal while Lacuna Heart is nearly pink!

The Swap designs are also a good example. Viscera is a Whole with nothing in him, and while now I see Soul as more exemplifying that- Whole needs to exist in this au more physically. So— Viscera takes that place. He's a husk and a shell. The half mask with an empty void on the otherside showcases just as much. And for as uncanny and blank as he seems, he is soft. His face is always very soft and maybe a little bit sad. Ennui, Swap!Mind maintains the half/half motif of my Mind designs if only to keep him recognizable. But, his source is a jagged and sharp edged heart and the strings run in a simplistic but sharp form of a heartbeat. Electricity forced to be another way. His features are also softer still from the typical Mind design! Even in what he wears! Judge I have fewer notes on other than his blindfold is not present and in its place is his brain source, obscuring both his eyes if he technically has them at all. Astray, Soul, is faceless. For what is Soul supposed to even be without the mask? Especially when he doesn't know much of anything at all.

Sooo yeah! Just. A big ramble that boils down to the answer of... I try most often to make sure the designs convey the personality or story of the character in some way. Themes and motifs or ideas from or for the au also play that same part.

Course I cannot tell you why the au where they are in eternal snow, Mind has white hair. That is far more a "felt like it" moment than anything else.

Sorry if this is too broad or non specific. I can probably go more into depth on particular designs but yeah! And sometimes a design is one and done. Other times they need many thumbnails or concepts to cycle through. My own designs for the canon HMS have changed a lot in little ways since I began drawing em!

[stupendousfoxthing]

So what if "FRI(END)S" is about ending a friendship to become more...the friends to lovers troup kinda thing ? This is me taking a wild guess lmao

The play bar is a heart, and it's so cute

Btw do you think any of the songs, tae or Kook sang, made, covered, or recommended, were about one of them or abt their relationship ?

For me I've always thought "sweet night" is about tae questioning his feelings that are growing more for his "best friend" without him noticing, till he finds out that he's indeed in love with the said best friend and what other friend could think I about other than kook himself :

"I'm wondering

Are you my best friend

Feel's like a river's rushing through my mind

I wanna ask you

If this is all just in my head"

My heart is pounding tonight

I wonder"

I know it's an ost for his friends' drama, but that doesn't mean it couldn't have been inspired by his personal experience.

I do think there are other songs related to them, but maybe we can discuss that in another adk ig you're open to it

I have zero theories about Friends right now, but I loved the concept film and can't wait to see what it's about. Sweet Night is one of my favorite Tae songs, musically and lyrically. I never thought it was about Taekook, but if it is that's sad since ships passing in the night generally refers to people who have one chance to be together but miss it and go their separate ways. I don't like speculating too much about what songs may or may not be about them or resonate with them in terms of their relationship, because I love all kinds of songs that don't bear any similarity to my life. I also think them choosing to not take part in the writing process for their debut albums was because they knew people would be trying to figure out what it meant about their own lives and they can't really be open about that, at least for now. I think it was a very smart choice. I'm willing to reach for "2U" because those lyrics not only seem to fit the situation but Jungkook made the cover him literally looking at Tae (who took the picture). I think "Nothing Like Us" came up several times with them, so that might be a song they relate/related to. "Fools" is hard to deny since JK released his cover like an hour before Tae's birthday. And of course I think "Oh No Oh Yes" and "To Find You" are special to them as a pair, because Tae told us. That's all I can think of off the top of my head that have direct ties to them as a pair. Did I forget any? 😅

[pricechecktranslations]

Would you consider 5th perriot as a main series sin song (ex evil food eater)or a response song(ex drug of gold)- obviously it starts as a response song but it really doesn't fit the typical Mode as a commentary on the sinner by someone who loves them its just lemy killing some guys and dying. maybe It's a false response b/c of margarita's false contract? I don't see how lemy could be 'diligence' like gumila is 'chasisty' lol

It's a response song. My main reasoning for labeling it as such is the Seven Crimes and Punishments album, where all of the main seven deadly sins songs are paired up with their response song. Fifth Pierrot fills that slot for Gift.

However, the very concept of "response song" is itself an arbitrary label that the VOCALOID fandom is, I think, a little too rigid about--I don't know if mothy himself has ever described these songs as such, and Fifth Pierrot is not the only one that doesn't really fit. I mean, the song for Muzzle of Nemesis is Last Revolver, which A) came out first, and B) is from Nemesis' perspective rather than that of her lover. Girl of the Miniature Garden similarly came out before the song it's supposedly a "response" to. Weathered Head might be about two people who loved Kayo, but it's written from the POV of a detached narrator, not in first person.

I think it's more helpful to view them not as "response" songs but rather just "directly connected" songs. Songs that are meant to give us an alternate or opposing viewpoint of the events of the main song, something that sheds new light on what happens in it. Sometimes that means showcasing a sympathetic side to the main sinner that wasn't present in their song. Sometimes it gives a "conclusion" to a story that had an ambiguous ending. Sometimes, like in Fifth Pierrot, it means revealing more fully the sinister criminal organization that was only hinted at in Margarita's song. It's also worth pointing out that this was around the time mothy was getting more serious about writing the plot to his story, so I think when making Pierrot he was more interested in setting up story threads that would pay off later.

.

Also these "response songs" aren't written around the "7 heavenly virtues". Like, I've seen people try to make that argument multiple times and it feels like shoehorning to me. Gumina's song isn't about chastity any more than Carlos' song is about temperance.

[therowdymagpie]

The Main 6 as AJR songs(pt.2): The Neotheater

A/N: Continuing this series with "The Neotheater", my favouite album AJR has released so far. I have to be honest, this round was a bit more difficult in regards to finding good songs for everyone but nonetheless here it goes:(spoilers for all routes of course)

Asra: Turning Out ii

At this point I could honestly match Asra with the entire Turning out trilogy. With all the underlying messages about love that you can pinpoint from how they act in every route, can you blame me? Turning out's themes really match tragically with Asra's story, how they handled being there to help MC and how that affected them.

One of Pt. ii's main messages is about attaching yourself to the idea of loving someone so much that by the end you have no idea if you actually love them for who they are or just the feelings that come with that.

And if you think about Asra's connection to the lyrics and the Mc it makes a lot of sense:

Now in absolutely no shape, way or form am I saying that Asra doesn't love the Apprentice. He moved LITERAL REALMS and struck one of the sketchiest of deals to bring the person he cared about the most back, giving HALF.HIS.HEART as exchange for them. Then, even when he realised that person couldn't even remember him anymore, even then, he stayed by their side and practically taught them how to be a human being from scratch just to give them a second chance to live again.

Asra ,before the events of the game, was always worried about whether the Apprentice would remember and secretly hoped that they could go back to how they were before the Plague, all the while having to lie to protect MC's feelings and mind. They clung into that hope so much, but that hope was the idea of a love that they can never really get back to and that will never be the same.

I think it's a very interesting concept to wonder about : Asra loving who the Apprentice used to be and that just reinforcing loving who they are now, but in the beginning just, like the lyrics suggest, loving "the idea of them"(especially if Asra has also considered this and thought about it).

Break your heart (ha)In the end all Asra can do now that the Apprentice is back is watch and, despite how sorry they are for all that's happened, try to love the way they "turn out" and grow now that they can make desicions for themselves and experience the world again (even if they won't "love it much at all" in Lucio's route XD).

Nadia: Finale (Can't Wait to see What you do Next)

The Finale is one of the most soul-clenching and melodically complex songs this band has released for me personally, so it's not surprising that it represents Nadia so much. I feel like all the lyrics fit with the different aspects of her life and story incredibly well.

One of the biggest worries in Nadia's mind are her capabilities as a leader and how her actions will affect her citizens and paint her to the eyes of everyone else. Ever since she left her home in Prakra she wanted to prove to her family and to herself that she is capable of doing great things without the help of anyone else.

And when she got that opportunity, she was stifled during the Plague by Lucio, her independence and ideas bottled up. She went to Vesuvia and married the Count, setting the goal of helping the city and in the end standing in the sidelines while he was reducing it to ruin, justyfying her fears and inhibitions.

That is apparent, especially if you imagine the people of Vesuvia as the chorus that's in the background of the song(and at the back of her head), claiming how they need her. There is so much expectation in Nadia's mind in how people are always watching and believe in her and it becomes a driving force to keep her going since she thinks she has to earn that faith everyday.

Small pause to just mention that these lyrics perfectly describe how Nadia may have felt waking up from her coma, realising that she has to step into the role of Countess. Even down to the memory loss part and her not being able to "remember how she got here".

The song has a lot nods to the theme of finally reaching a certain point of achievement which comes with the fear of not being able to maintain it. This really reflects Nadia's attitude to her role and responsibilities, while the final musical swell gives an optimistic outlook on the future: Her people will believe in her no matter what she does next...

Julian: Karma

I love Karma for Julian for several reasons. The song is all about the disappointing reality that sometimes no matter the amount of effort you put in being good and doing your best, life just won't repay you for it, there's no Karma to be found for all your good actions, just this empty feeling of melancholy.

For all the Martyr syndrome Julian possesses and as much as he tries to convince people that he's a bad person, there is more to it that just trying to punish himself. There's always the hidden frustration that ties into not being enough. He can't understand why all the good he does never comes back to him. Why no matter how hard he tries, the amount of people he helps and all the burdens he keeps shouldering for everyone else, he's still alone and stressed out and just can't seem to shed off all the negative stuff in his life.

This especially ties back to when he was a doctor during the Red Plague. He tried and tried and spent so much time in that lab underneath the Palace, slaving away with Valdemar over his shoulder trying to figure out a cure. And even when he did, he came back and got condemned for trying to save everyone.

Yet he still tries to protect everyone despite all the toll it's taking on him, "lamenting the load while he carries it" as Portia puts it. The whole song has this really frantic energy, bouncing from one sentence to another, it feels like a spiral, completely matching the back and forth he does with wanting to be free, ask for help and be loved or going back to thinking he actually is guilty and sacrificing himself for everyone else.

These lyrics could also refer to Julian's relationship with the Apprentice during his route. The MC is this person he feels such a profound connection with, someone he wants to keep close and express discontent to but knows has to keep away, even when the MC tries to convince him that he's enough and can do better.

At the same time, there's this irony in the song about referring to and venting all these frustrations to a "Doctor" or therapist to give you answers on when you will finally receive something good in your life, which is also a great parallel.

In the end, Julian wonders if it's actually worth keeping up what in his mind is this "persona" of the good person everyone knows he is or just succumb into the role of the villain he's been led to believe he is by his thoughts and his own self-doubt.

…Is it actually worth being good, if it doesn't even matter in the end? If he's just doomed by design to be stuck in the same place over and over again?

Muriel: Break My Face

Choosing for Muriel, "Break your face" seemed the most appropriate to connect him with. A thematic of overcoming adversity and accepting all the ways life has roughened you up, seeing the worth and strength in all the times you've been hurt? It's literally perfect.

(Maybe not that much lyric-ways but the main message is very relative)

Muriel, you can tell, has so much self-confidence and self-love issues that stem from all the trauma he had to indure in his younger years, both living at the docks and later on in the Colussium. All this time having to act like an executioner for Lucio's entertainment, have messed up so much of his psyche in regards to how he views himself and how others see him.

And even after all that he went through he even made sure people forgot about him entirely, he didn't want to be remembered for that part of his life that hurt him so badly, essentially sealing his face from everyone else.

He spent so much time chastizing his scars, his build, hating everything that possibly could make him look threatening to someone, tying it into the whole "monster" narrative everyone formed around him(you are beautiful Muri don't do to yourself).

It's the whole reason he's willing to take, at this point, anything life gives him yet still thinks he's undeserving of it.

It's only after he meets the Apprentice that he finds out, there's a lot of beauty within him unrelated to how he looks and that there's so much to be proud of in the ways you have survived. He finally accepts that it's worth the risk to get hurt sometimes, it's always you in the end...it's still you and you aren't defined by your scars.

This man has been torn down by the world around him and has gotten through a lot of rough times, but no matter what, in the end of his story he can make sure that the face he stares at the mirror is just a face, his face and he's loved for it.

Sidenote: As for this, it's just 100% Muriel behaviour. This gentle giant takes no fibbin' from anyone and doesn't care for your fancy words and condecending attitude, no matter who you are, he will give you a death glare if you annoy him enough, which....fair.

I also want to make a small mention to "100 bad Days" for including coming to terms with all the rough times in your life and accepting them.

Portia: Next Up Forever

Honestly Next-up Forever is such a good fit for Portia and the entirety of her character development on her route. All it's lyrics refer to something in your life holding you back from taking that final step and move on from what everyone expects of you which is honestly all you can see from her in the duration of trying to solve the Mystery of the Count's death at first.

At the start of hers and other's routes, Portia is constanly overshadowed and her actions are more commonly the result of who she is to someone else. Everyone goes around her, barely giving any mind to what she wants and making her desicions for her.

Also the lines "My God, are you growing without me?" for Julian and "Somebody help me, (somebody, help me)" for the Apprentice are just so tragic and perfect.

There are all these things keeping her back from everything she wants to experience: Being a handmaiden to Nadia, helping free and clear her brother's name, constanly making sure the Palace is running smoothly and wearing that happy mask on her face at all times, leave her restricted to live vicariously through her adventure books in second place.

It's only when the Apprentice convinces her that she is more than everything she does for others, listens to her and acknowledges what she wants out of life, standing by her side, that she recognises she has to put herself first and sets out to find out what she actually wants and who she is.

I especially love this verse connecting the beginning and the end of her journey. In the beginning Portia first sailed from Nevivon trying to find her brother and make it somewhere else for once and in the end after all she's gone through sailing again in a much more encouraging note finally buying the ship of her dreams and setting forward to actually have all the adventure she's always craved.

Portia's story is one of self-discovery and defining youself in spite of everyone else, shining though and proving that no matter all the things that hold you back you can stop standing by and delaying going the next step forward, in the end making it damn bigger than you thought you ever could for everyone to see.

Lucio: The Entertainment's Here

If I could associate every song on the album with the Goatman I would…The Neotheater is all in all very Lucio in character, having to do with the themes of fame, the fear of getting forgotten and not wanting to grow up just to name a few, but "The Entertainment's Here" just fitted the best.

Hmmm…hates being bored, doesn't make plans, not using your head, blatantly avoiding the task at hand, any guesses folks?

Lucio genuinely believed that by constantly hosting Masquerades and parties he made Vesuvia better and that everyone should focus on all the fun that was going around when he was Count. I can honestly see him saying these lyrics unironically, it fits so much with him trying to cover up with the illusion of just another event.

There's this constant mention of Entertainment and distraction all throughout: The first, middle and end verses all include it and grasp your attention and move it away from the problematic confessions being said at the same time. Specifically, every time a confession about the fear of thinking for too long is mentioned.

Like I’ve stated before Lucio is a complex written character and he's not as dense as people make him out to be: The man knows he's done mistakes, he just can't come to accept them or acknowledge them because he has this image of greatness he needs to keep up. So "he can't be bored" because that way he has to get back in his head and he hates that.

Lucio doesn't do the things he does just to distract everyone else, he also does them to distract himself from his past mistakes and insecurities. He parades and hypes up his life with that notion of constant Entertainment, movement and fun because he can't afford to stop for a second and let all his thoughts catch up to him.

He NEEDS theEntertainment, the distractions the adoration, the reassurances or else his mind stays still for too long and the thoughts of inadequacy, faults, abandonment all resurface and they are terrifying.... So again, he reverts to what he knows how to do best and doesn't deal with any of it since no one’s ever taught him to.

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can you people tell i tried to get this out on Julian's birthday and failed👁👁