#maybe it's the fever talking

[dracomort]

reached a level of delusion where i no longer think taco is crack

[miyakosora]

Endwalker - Autumntide Music Video an Essay

 Sometimes you just need a place to gush about something you are really passionate about. After a not-so-fun week of dealing with Covid I happened back upon the music video for Endwalker - Autumtide. So here is where I gush about how Final Fantasy ties all my favorite art-related things together. 

At this point, Endwalker has been out for over a year, and there are so many details in this music video I’ve still probably missed. One of my favorite things in FF14 is the concept of Hope. Everyone has a different story for their WOL, but no matter how grim the circumstances, there will always be our character, marching on through whatever trial we face. No matter how often we get knocked down, we get right back up and continue on. 

So Miya, how does this music video have anything to do with Hope?

Well skeptical Miya, the music video starts off with a younger woman mosing about her home. She’s aimless, fumbling with a bottle and looking at the dead plants in her space. She sings along to the lyrics -Fade away-. I like the idea of this woman not only being the player, not necessarily the WOL, but us the player. 

As the song and video continue on she passes someone reading Count Fortempt’s novel this is matched with the lyrics -Sorrow's silence, we needn't bear-. Next, as she is walking up an overpass bridge she sees a woman resembling Yotsuyu smoking a pipe on the bridge, -Every step we take echoes in our wake-. Finally, she’s alone in the park, tired and breathless from her day of searching. The sun is setting and looking up she sees a figure waving to her as they walk away -To forge ahead-. 

At the start of the video the protagonist is drawn by a glimmering light, and she follows it out of her home. Like I said she’s looking at everything in her house, and looking outside before finally, something draws her in, but we also get these flashes of an internal dialogue where she’s alone, upset, and anguished by this trial she’s going through. -Marching forward, left behind.-

Every step you take forward on any journey in life, you are going to leave something behind. This is true for not only your character as the WOL, but as you the player, and for the protagonist in the video. The woman could continue to stay in her house and that would be her story, she continues to stay and be sad and just fade away. For whatever reason, she chooses to leave and head outside and explore the world. 

There doesn’t seem to be a destination in mind for her, but she passes these characters along the way, and in doing so they mimic some of the characters we’ve left behind in the game. I find myself drawn most to the person reading the novel and how it’s matched with the lyrics -Kindred severed neverwhere, Sorrow’s silence, we needn’t bear.- Ironically, “A smile best suits a hero.” Kindred - family, severed - cut off, and neverwhere- no where. Now neverwhere also has me a little thrown for a loop because it’s the title of a Neil Gaiman novel (Why is it always Neil Gaiman). I would love to go on another deep dive just by that one word alone, but that might be a little extreme.

I’ll be honest I story-skipped Heavensward and Stormblood and went straight for Shadowbringers, (Look I started ARR before Stormblood, and then restarted somewhere before Shadowbringers. I’ll go back and do it at some point.) So I only know a little about Yotsuyu and Tsukiyomi, (that’s not true I’m obsessed with moon mythology). I love the image of her watching traffic as it flows around her at twilight. There is so much movement, but she’s standing still, and our protagonist is surprised to see her there. 

During these scenes, we see those moments of our protagonist anguishing by herself, before coming to the park and seeing the figure waving at her as they leave -Marching forward, left behind-. Then the protagonist is lost in a multitude of sceneries, continuing on her journey. -Should we lose our way, tired of all this pain- We don’t see her anguishing anymore, but there is a moment of weakness as she’s on the ground before looking up at this blinding white light. 

I’m slightly pausing here before I noticed something while writing this, in the last scenes we get a reflection of her shoes and how they are dirty and worn. -Forge ahead-. In the start of the music video when our protagonist first leaves her home, her shoes are white and clean if not brand new. Just like our character when starting this journey. Watching through they actually show the shoes quite a few times and how scuffed and worn they are becoming. Another thing I noticed towards the end before she’s leaning over in the dirt is how her hair has noticeably changed if not grown longer. This could just be unintentional, but I like that it shows the physical passage of time on this character. 

So Miya, I’ll ask again, what does this have to do with hope?

If you’ve played through Endwalker, you know the entire plot boils down to a bird with depression. Our WOL is the reincarnation of the last Azem shepherd of stars in the dark. We could see the story in a few ways. Our character could very much just be a tempered weapon for Hydalyn, we do cause a fair bit of trouble along the way…then we could ask what victory is worth this price. Do you sit in hopelessness and wait for whatever outcome, or do you go out and make a difference? It’s a very human concept, and it blends beautifully into meeting Venat and learning ‘Your answer’. 

The game started with a Calamity. If you play for an hour or through the entire game, you have your own reason for playing. A reason for living in this beautiful world. No matter what brought you to this point, it’s cannon not just to you, but to everything around you. No matter how many times something has pushed you down, you’ve gotten back up and overcome it. You might have just evaded the obstacle for now, but that’s part of life. Not every boss you defeat stays dead, just look at Zenos. Not every action you make will change the outcome of the scenario, look at Elpis and how we went there knowing we couldn’t change their future. 

Saying that though makes me want to reflect on Shadowbringers, and how one timeline’s wish to change reality was able to change reality in its entirety. It wasn’t impossible, only improbable.

And should you lose your way, tired of all this pain, don’t be afraid to forge ahead. 

Much love,

Miyako Sora

[jadewritesficshere]

Eddie and you have a little girl and she is the light of his life. She is super empathetic and sweet, but like all little kids she is blunt and unfiltered. You have been teaching her colors and she has most down. Eddie is trying to show Steve how well she is doing, how smart she is. She gets Eddie's shirt right (black) and the couch (blue). She then starts pointing at things and calling them out herself (the wall, green. Her shirt, pink). She points to Steve's temple and announces "Grey".

Eddie wheezes with laughter and tears spill out of his eyes as Steve is aghast.

[wereh0gz]

The Minecraft movie would've been so good if they'd just. Made it in earnest

[persephonesfill]

it's a dance fever (live from madison square garden) kind of night. can't wait to bop and then cry and repeat for 1 hour and 44 minutes. do you have any thoughts on this plan

i absolutely recommend this albeit with a few tweaks. dance fever is best listened to during

a). a full moon

b). an eclipse

c). a thunderstorm

d). all of the above

consult with your weather god of choice 💖

[hidey-writes]

Day After Day | 日复一日

25k | T | Weilan | Case Fic, Undercover Married, Grief

Shen Wei swallows. “And this is why you asked me to—” he makes a vague gesture that means go undercover as your husband “—pretend with you.” Zhao Yunlan comes to a stop, eyes on Shen Wei. “That’s why the cover is a married couple. The reason I’m asking you is because there are no other options for people to go undercover with.” Shen Wei scoffs to give himself an excuse to look away. “You certainly know how to flatter someone, Zhao Yunlan.” Or: Four Haixingren disappear for two months after a stay at a romantic mountain retreat. Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan book a weekend there to find out what happened.

it's finally here!!! my beloved fic for the 520 day guardian reverse exchange! this was written for trobadora, who gave me the most delicious set of ideas to fit into a story. it was so fun.

i have no idea how to describe this fic, frankly - this is, hands down, the most complex and most heartwrenching and most incredible thing i've ever written in my entire life.

here is a list of some things in it: a kiss, a mystery, a change of heart. old chinese people, dark energy world-building, lesbians, big-time character parallels, forgery of documents, rainstorms, rowboats, lollipop symbolism, [redacted], bedsharing, grading, the stupidest undercover name ever. zhao yunlan described with so many light metaphors. shen wei being the most shen wei i could make him.

read Day After Day | 日复一日 on ao3 here!

[trolls-poppy-specialist]

okay now I need a fic compilation of what were to happen if carmen were to be sick in every episode of the series

like, getting taken by VILE or some team red comfort (especially with the introduction of dadowsan)…

[ghostofhallownest]

me too jiavani

[scummy-writes]

I have still not emotionally recovered from gilberts dramatic end

[alluralater]

my friend just called me yelling about how he wants to go swimming but everyone is either sick or working and he was like "please tell me you can go" and i was like *sniffling* "shawty you're not gonna like this news i have for you" he legit was trying so hard to convince me being like 'i just don't wanna go alone! put a bathing suit on! i'll come scoop you up and you can tan in the sun and drink margaritas while i swimmmmm" lmfaooo and then he was like "bring your girlfriend!" and i had to be like "what??" and he was like "you know what i mean, your lesbian flavor of the week, bring them!" this man i swear. anyways he will be swimming alone today. he signed off like "fuck you for being sick! love you" skjfajfskjfk

[mzannthropy]

I could not care less about the drunkard from your loser district, why don't you fix that blunder of yours from the original trilogy and write a happy ending for Finnick and Annie, Suzanne? The books are narrated by Katniss, just say she was hallucinating when she said Finnick died, that he never joined her wild goose chase of a mission or that he made it out of that dungeon or whatever the place was, how hard is it really. (In fact I think Annie's conduct is favourable to this theory, this is someone who was already struggling with being mentally stable, and losing the love of her life should have sent her over the edge, but she behaves so calmly and casually, which makes me think he did survive, he might have just sent her in his place to the meeting bc he didn't want to deal with it, and the photo Katniss mentions at the end means nothing, it's Finnick himself that could have taken it.) You could show what trauma does to someone's perception.

How about Johanna, she never got any ending, how about Cressida, how about Effie? She could be an interesting character to explore. Like seriously, I think even writing about any of the Careers would be 1000x more interesting than going back to the same district and same overrated characters. Christ, this fucking series never fails to rile me up.

[kreinvulon]

respectfully, why is gore’s ass so gargantuan in his camp outfit. i love it

[allthewhumpygoodness]

When they're so super delirious that they can barely see the face looming above them, and what they do see is twisted and distorted beyond recognition - maybe it's a friend but they see a nightmarish demon, maybe it's a stranger but they see a long lost family member. Or, at least, they see something and that's only semblance of a face their fevered mind can latch onto.

[ask-the-fever-four]

Jeff have you invented anything recently?

Not really. Mostly been working on upgrades to old equipment I found.

[lunalunawillow]

Is it me or since the 3rd anniversary it kinda feels like most comissions released since that were just... forgotten or ignored completely

[palms-upturned]

There is too much goo in my headnoughhh.