#the fire within

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft (Werner Herzog, 2022)

[heavenhillgirl]

The fire within (1963), Louis Malle

[classicfilmblr]

Le feu follet (The Fire Within) —1963, dir. Louis Malle

[phoenixyfriend]

Not Just a RomCom: CodyWan AU

This actually did start out as a vaguely normal modern AU but then we all got distracted. Set up with help from @bytebun and @catboydogma.

Single dad Obi-Wan has a pottery studio. (Technically he's parenting his siblings, but he believes he deserves the Respect of a successful single parent.)

Anakin is, as per usual, just. Being incredibly rebellious and uncooperative with Obi-Wan's attempts to be a parent. Anakin, on a rebellious streak (number eighteen of the year) decides to skip out on Obi-mandated college application hours. Yes he wants to be an engineer, but Obi-Wan's pressuring him right now, and he does not want to do what Obi-Wan wants him to do, even if the thing Obi-Wan wants him to do is meant to help Anakin do what he wants to do. Anakin uses his sudden free time to go to the mall and, seeing a pop-up stall for modeling, decides to give it a shot. He's a pretty guy, he can probably do this, right? Can't be that hard!

(You know. He's eighteen. Maybe nineteen. It's that age.)

(Also it is VERY hard.)

Enter Cody, who is not technically, in and of himself famous… but he is the top modeling agent in the country, by virtue of having sourced and negotiated all of Bly's top runway and editorial models, and the guy who is now 'discovering' Anakin Skywalker.

I feel like there's a specific energy to amputee male model Anakin Skywalker and I like it very much.

I was just. Rolling around 'people of similar ages and maturities who have vastly different life experiences, and going 'hm, this is why power/maturity differences are a way bigger issue with teens and early twenties but way less of an issue in middle-aged people.'

Obi-Wan isn't a Big Name With Big Responsibilities, but he has been more or less single-handedly raising his brother and sister. Like yeah his friends and stepsister help out sometimes, but he's been doing this mostly alone since he was twenty-five. He also runs a small business as an artist/creator, and does all the management for it (taxes, advertising, insurance) himself.

Meanwhile, Cody helped out with his own younger siblings, but he was never the primary adult in their lives, and he's got a position that works around communications and networking, and a lot of the management bits get delegated, so it's…. IDK

It's a weird balance that does work out but it feels very odd and strange to both of them at first, especially because there's a Big Difference in financial statuses and the whole 'you are my little brother's new boss, sort of.' I think they initially connect over the parenting-younger-siblings aspect of their lives.

I'm torn between "he does plates and bowls on a wheel" and "he does insane custom fantasy pieces like overly detailed dragons."

Come enjoy this completely normal romcom [take note of the dragons they will be important later]

I do know that, whichever it is, he does classes, including "Wine and wheel" nights where people come in on dates to take a pottery class while tipsy. It's like drunk painting nights.

I want Cody taking Obi-Wan out on the fanciest dates, like the kind of NYC restaurant where an entree is $200. Sometimes dinner turns into "bitching about Anakin" sessions.

Obi-Wan: I cannot help you. Cody: You raised him. Obi-Wan: Yes. But you are the one who signed a contract to keep him around. You made this bed. Lie in it.

"I inherited this can of worms. You grabbed it off the shelf, paid in full, and were then surprised that there were worms."

Side note I've decided that the head of his legal department is Padme. She and Rex (IDK what his actual job is?) are in competition to gain Anakin's affections. IDK how legal that is but Padme probably ensured it was fine before she got involved.

Alternately, Rex is a fellow model (he's using it to pay for college) and he can flirt with Anakin as much as he wants (which is usually not that much), and Padme can't.

She wants to! Anakin is flirting with her! But. Legally. She can't. (Yet.)

Padme: Until your position has been secured in such a way that I cannot influence it, I cannot date you. Anakin: 🥺

And now we get to the part where it is... not just a RomCom.

Because I was... trying VERY hard not to talk about The Last Dragon chronicles (you know, The Fire Within, etc.). And then I did. And now it's part of this AU.

Quiet subplot to the entire romance and Anakin's modeling journey is the fact that Obi-Wan and Ahsoka are just making sapient dragon statues to hand out to their friends.

Obi-Wan: Okay Cody, as a symbol of my affection, here is a statue of a dragon. It's got some props that are related to your passions. It survives on your love. Cody: Aw, that's cute. Thanks. Cody, that night: [hears some small scraping noises and weird shuffling] Cody: [looks up and sees the dragon statue moving] Cody, whispering: what the fuck

HE THOUGHT HE WAS IN A ROMCOM WHAT IS THIS

Anakin is not very good at the dragonmaking. He tries, for Rex and Padme, but he's. Not very good at it, at least not compared to his siblings. Ahsoka has to go through it with him, step by step, so the dragons are Worth Giving.

They gotta be perfect.

Obi-Wan definitely makes other things as well but the Dragons are absolutely magical. (Vases and plates and whatnot are easier to sell, though.)

The one he made for Anakin (right after Qui-Gon and Shmi died) has a cyborg arm, because it just felt right. Ten years later, Anakin lost his arm in a freak accident, and everyone was like oh.

I feel like Obi-Wan's dragon might actually have a shield? Because he defines himself in large part around protecting and raising his siblings. His dragon is also less 'dragon' and more 'Boga the varactyl.'

Cody's needs to be something about connection and networking, since his whole thing in this AU is making connections and figuring out how to put people where they need to be. I'm partial to a spiderweb hanging from the end of the statue's raised tail, and also he's got a tie on.

Padme's comes with a fountain pen. Rex's has jaig eyes and feathered wings. Unrelated, I do think he's studying to be a social worker.

I'm not entirely sure what I want Ahsoka's role to be, insofar as what about her is reflected in the statue. I think I'm going to say she's a skater girl, so her dragon has a board and knee/elbow pads? Or possibly a paintbrush. IDK. Still poking her open.

A giant eastern dragon statue that watches over the house from a central location as a vestige of Great-Grandpa Yoda. It is in fact bigger than Yoda himself. It's one of those incredibly long and complicatedly coiled ones.

I think I really enjoy Anakin being just. Really bad at clay stuff compared to Obi-Wan and Ahsoka. Ahsoka is happily being primed to take over the family business one day.

What Anakin does eventually turn out to be incredibly, terrifyingly good at is steampunk dragon automatons.

Like this but it's real and it moves:

(Source)

And you assume it's just like. A windup toy? And it is... when you're looking. If you look away (or it trusts you), it moves on its own. When Anakin's dragons move, everyone just assumes there's a battery or something.

Anakin's just really excited that he can continue the family tradition but like in his own way. Fuck knows he can't really do anything on his siblings' level with clay, but he can do clockwork.

It's the GG fan in me popping out, nothing is cooler than steampunk automata with minds of their own.

[jnjo]

Le Feu follet (1963) dir. Louis Malle

Oslo, 31. august (2011) dir. Joachim Trier

[fictional-library-tournament]

Prelims round 1, poll 14

Propaganda

Komura Monument Library, Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

There are mysteries in it, but still somehow it is a relatively safe haven. There are like two other people in it. You can LIVE in it when you are fifteen and honestly what else do you need. Especially when you are young Kafka on the Shore dealing with family curses.

The Thunderhead, Arc of a Scythe by Neal Shusterman:

It contains the collective knowledge of humanity and is a perfect, almost-sapient AI that doesn’t follow the “utopia is actually dystopia” trope

The Cloud Recesses' Library Pavilion, Mó Dào Zǔ Shī/Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu:

I hope someone else has submitted a better propaganda; it's been awhile since I last read the novel. I hope there aren't any egregious mistakes.😔

During the aggression that the Qishan Wen sect is deploying in a bid to conquer the rest of the five great sects, members of the Gusu Lan sect were made to burn down the buildings of their own dwelling, starting with the Library Pavilion. In standing his ground and refusing to do so, Lan Wangji had his leg broken by Wen Xu. In the meantime, Lan Xichen retrieves what documents and scrolls he can from the library and seeks refuge, assisted by (whom will later be) his trusted sworn brother, Jin Guangyao.

Later in the story, it will be revealed that in assisting Lan Xichen in protecting the contents of, and further in rebuilding, the Library Pavilion, Jin Guangyao has attained access to the forbidden chamber of the library, and subsequently has attained knowledge of a song of turmoil, which he then uses to induce qi deviation in Nie Mingjue, who is also a sworn brother to Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao. Nie Mingjue later dies following this qi deviation.

The Librarium, Fire World by Chris d'Lacey:

It's a museum of books! There are Firebirds roaming the upper levels!

Aunt Josephine's Grammatical Library, A Series of Unfortunate Events:

So boring that the kids aren't even able to enjoy it even though reading is Klaus's greatest joy in life. Has a sick, plot-relevant, badass eye window looking out on its owner's greatest fear.

Library of Records at Heimlich Hospital, A Series of Unfortunate Events:

It is a vast archive held under a creepy hospital, possibly affiliated with a mysterious organisation, and curated by a cryptic man named Hal who insists that an archivists job is to file the documents, not read them:

"'The Library of Records contains information not only from Heimlich Hospital , but from all over the area. There's information about everything from poetry to pills, from picture frames to pyramids, and from pudding to psychology-and that's just in the P aisle, which we're walking down right now.'

'What an amazing place,' Klaus said. 'Just think of everything we can learn from reading all these files.'

'No, no, no,' Hal said, shaking his head sternly.

'We're supposed to file this information, not read it.'"

Also his organising principle is absolutely insane:

"First, you remove the paper clips and put them in this bowl. Then you glance at the information and figure out where it goes. Remember, try to read as little as possible.' He paused, unclipped a small stack of paper, and squinted at the top page. 'For instance,' he continued 'You only have to read a few words to see that these paragraphs are about the weather last week at Damocles Dock, which is on the shore of some lake someplace. So you would ask me to unlock cabinets in aisle D, for Damocles, or W, for weather, or even P, for paragraphs. It's your choice.'

'But won't it be difficult for people to find that information again?' Klaus asked. 'They won't know whether to look under D, W, or P.'

'Then they'll have to look under all three letters,' Hal said. 'Sometimes the information you need is not in the most obvious place.'"

Absolutely bonkers.

[godzilla-reads]

🐲 Dragon Recommendation #4 🐲

THE FIRE WITHIN by Chris d’Lacey

📖 SYNOPSIS 📖

When David moves in with Liz and Lucy, he discovers a collection of hand crafted, clay dragons that comes to life and has magical powers. David's personalized dragon, Gadzooks, can forecast the future, and inspires him to write a story which reveals the truth behind an unsolved mystery close to home.

⭐️WHY I RECOMMEND IT⭐️

Another unique story, this one filled me with childlike wonder at the prospect of magic and dragons that are just at your fingertips. The story is mysterious and fills you with hope.

[falsenote]

The Fire Within (1963) / The Woman with the Knife (1969)

[rikabauer]

[black-arcana]

Within Temptation ➤ The Fire Within [✻]

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft (Werner Herzog, 2022)

[classicfilmblr]

Le feu follet (The Fire Within) —1963, dir. Louis Malle

[your-lovers-and-drifters]

Le feu follet, 1963 (dir. Louis Malle)

[carnageandculture]

Le Feu Follet [The Fire Within] (1963, Louis Malle)

[figureskatingcostumes]

Junhwan Cha skating to The Fire Within for his free program at the 2021 World Championships and 2019 Cup of China.

(Sources: Ester Ayerdi Photography and David W. Carmichael)