#they declined to sing for twilight but then star in it? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

afewmarvelousthoughts · 4 years

Text

Only Dancing

Master List: @afewmarvelousthoughtsadmin

Pairing: Bucky X Reader

Summary: You don’t expect Bucky to join you for a night out. But who says an old wolf can’t learn new tricks. (This is in the “Only For A Moment” universe but can be read as a one shot.)

Warnings: Smut, some jealousy, other than that just fluff

A/N: I feel like I should point out that I ship Okoye and M’Baku because she could handle that man.

Also, this is the last drabble before part 2 starts. So. Many. Feelings.

(Sorry if you got tagged twice. Apparently the tags didn’t take. Beginning to think that @invisibleanonymousmonsters is on to something by not fucking with a tag list because UGH sometimes it’s a pain. Anyway...

TAGS ARE OPEN 🙃

“Poetry,” Nakia says on a sigh as the knives fly back into your waiting palms. “Pure, violent, poetry.” You can’t help but laugh as the small vibranium knives slot themselves back into their holster around your wrist.

“It’s not all me, Shuri made these magical things.” They really were perfect. Calibrated to return automatically to their holster at the mere whisper of your power.

They weren’t the only magic Shuri had worked.

Originally, the thought of letting anyone - even someone like Shuri - run any kind of tests on you was at best terrifying and at worst made you contemplate murder. Now though, you couldn’t be more grateful.

Your whole life you’d been a mystery to yourself, never really knowing why you were different or really what you were capable of. After Hydra had their hands on you the sense of being a stranger in your own skin had only grown. How could anyone trust themselves when they had no way of knowing their limits or even how their body functioned?

In less than a week Shuri had, for the most part, unraveled the mystery.

Your power? A genetic anomaly, likely from your father’s side. She was still puzzling over just how that anomaly worked, how it reacted with your brain to produce your telekinesis. What she did figure out was that, as you suspected, the more you used this ability the stronger and more precise it became - with limits.

“Self-preservation will kick in at some point,” she explained when you told her about the times when you’d found your ability overwhelming. “The mind can only handle an influx of so much information at a time before it overloads.”

What Hydra had done? A bastard version of what kept Steve and Bucky spry even at 100 years old.

“The cellular regeneration is a bit slower, and it doesn’t seem to have done as much in terms of strengthening the proteins in your body,” she said. You’d stared at her blankly. “Basically,” she sighed, “you’re a really good fake to Rogers’ and Barnes’ name brand. Almost as good but your strap may break sooner than theirs.”

Once she knew how you ticked she immediately began crafting weapons unique to your abilities, like the knives - which she called Panther Teeth, fairly accurate considering they were terrifyingly sharp and small enough that they were almost unassuming.

As you weren’t an official member of the Dora Milaje you didn’t get the spear they carried, instead, Shuri made you twin short spears that hung at your side. They fired similarly to their full-size cousins but at a more rapid pace and shorter burst since your power could balance any recoil.

The best by far was the vambraces that fit around your forearms. Similar to T’Challa’s suit they absorbed kinetic energy in a fight but when paired with your power they could release that energy in more focused blasts, form a shield, or even send out a powerful wave of force.

All of Shuri’s amazing creations paired with your own growing strength made you feel like someone to be reckoned with, someone who could protect who and what she loved no matter the threat. You’d never known freedom like this.

“So, did you convince him to come tonight?” You ask Nakia as you unfasten the holsters from your wrists.

“Pff,” she scoffs. “A king can’t just go out whenever he wants.” She says in a pretty perfect imitation of T’Challa.

You laugh, “A king is still mad you declined his proposal.”

“I didn’t decline necessarily,” she says, slipping free of her training gear. “I just told him I wasn’t ready to be queen.”

“Can’t say I blame you.” The two of you settle into the steam room, your tired muscles already singing in the relaxing heat.

“What about you?”

“Hmm?”

“Did you sell that wolf of yours on making a public appearance?”

You give her a sideways glance, “What do you think?”

“I think Okoye owes me money,” Nakia says with a grin.

“What?! She actually bet that he’d come?”

“She did,” Okoye says stepping in the room to join you both.

“Time to pay up general!” Nakia goads.

“Not just yet,” a sly smile curls Okoye’s lips. “I have a plan.”

“How do you even know they’re both going to be at the farm?” You ask as the hovercraft sails in the direction of your home.

“I know everything,” Okoye responds.

“Not true,” Nakia quips. Okoye throws her a glare.

“She’s right. You didn’t know the name of the second Star Wars movie.”

“Those films are not in the right order!”

“You also didn’t know that Shuri was planning to sneak out to Coachella,” Nakia points out. You nod in agreement.

“Ok, fine,” she concedes with a half-hearted sigh. “M’Baku told me. T’Challa asked if he wanted to join them but-”

“But that man goes where you lead,” Nakia laughs.

“Of course he does,” Okoye says. Apparently, the leader of the Jabari had been none too friendly before the attempted usurping. Since then though, he an Okoye had grown rather close, though they refused to make anything official.

Her plan was a simple one. Since you’d brought your things to get ready at her place in the city there was no obvious reason to go back to the farm for anything unless there was something she or Nakia just desperately wanted to borrow. So, you’d all get ready and take a quick romp to the countryside to grab a necklace or earrings as to tempt your men to join up.

T’Challa may take the bait but you knew that, even though your ass looked immaculate in these high waist leather shorts, your husband would not be joining you this evening. You shared as much.

“Alright, $50 he shows,” Okoye bets.

“Oh, I’ll take that bet,” you shake her offered hand as your house comes into view through the twilight.

Sure enough, T’Challa and Bucky were sitting by the lake glasses in hand. The two men look back as you all disembark.

“Two elders enjoying a peaceful evening. It’s so cute,” Nakia jabs.

“You’re so funny,” T’Challa tosses back, dragging his eyes from her plunging neckline with visible effort and back to the water.

“Everything ok?” Bucky asks, rising to meet you. Ever the worrier.

“Yup. Nakia wanted to borrow a necklace is all.” He nods and holds the curtain open for you to go inside.

It’s now that he seems to fully take in your outfit, his eyes growing wide.

The black lace bustier you borrowed from Nakia left little to the imagination but was kept in check by the cropped moto jacket and of course, there were the leather shorts. The whole thing was finished by the heeled Doc Marten’s which you’d nearly wept over when you brought them home from your first trip shopping with Nakia. Being able to build a wardrobe again was an unexpected Wakandan perk.

You fight back a burble of laughter as you watch him swallow hard, averting his eyes from your ample chest.

Without a glance back at him you head straight to the bedroom to fish out a long chain necklace that would perfectly fit with Nakia’s deep cut neckline - this may have been a last-minute ruse but you had dressed people for a living once, you could amp up your girls look and try to bait your husband into going out with leather booty shorts at the same time.

When you turn back he’s leaning in the doorway, clearly having been staring at your ass.

“You look nice,” he says finally meeting your eyes.

“I look hot,” you counter with a smirk. “There’s a difference.”

He opens his mouth but nothing comes out. You lean in and plant a kiss on his cheek, your dark red lipstick not leaving a single mark.

“Have a good night babe,” you toss over your shoulder and head back outside.

T’Challa is chatting somewhat awkwardly with Nakia as Okoye grins like a Cheshire cat beside them.

“Got it!” You call to Nakia, holding up the necklace.

Nakia turns her back to you and you clasp it on. The gold choker adds the right amount of shimmer and the long front piece falls down into the neck of her dress drawing the eye. Perfect.

“See, it was just what this needed.”

Nakia grins, “You’re right. Ok, let’s go! Bye boys!” With that, the three of you are back on the hovercraft without another word.

A couple of hours later you push through the bodies on the dance floor to the booth you all claimed. Okoye and M’Baku lounge, sipping their drinks.

“I think you owe me $50,” you say, finishing your own cocktail - it didn’t do anything much for you but you did like the taste.

“The night is still young!” Okoye protests. “Did you see what they were wearing? It’s not like they could just roll out like that. Give them time.”

“I’ll make sure she pays up,” M’Baku says with a wink.

“Holding you to that!” You yell before heading back to the floor.

It felt good to have nights like this again - laughter, and friends, and music loud enough to drown every worry. You didn’t even mind the crowd, nor the stranger with his hands on your hips.

There’s a small ripple through the sea of people and you see T’Challa join Nakia on the floor. Okoye had pulled M’Baku out too, seeing them together her head falls back in a triumphant laugh. You shake your head, smiling, and continue to dance.

The feeling of someone’s eyes on you sends a tingle up your spine. Methodically you scan the pulsing dark of the club, telling yourself there is no threat despite your mind automatically assuming the worst.

In a flash of light, you see him on the other side of the floor, just beyond the crowd of bodies moving to the music. His hair hangs loose, a tight black tee strains across his chest, the left arm tucked in neatly, and his hand is shoved in the pocket of a pair of dark slim fit jeans that you’re not sure he owned before tonight.

You smile, chalking his scowl up to the loud crowded space he finds himself in. With a nod, you step away from the man you’d been dancing with and head for Bucky. When he doesn’t move forward you send a bit of your power out to wrap around him, thinking to pull him in. He doesn’t budge.

Turning away he stalks from you and the dancing crowd.

Now you’re a little confused. You walk all the way out to the open-air terrace at the back of the club. He’s nowhere to be found.

You make your way down the terrace steps to the first landing, away from the crowd. Why come all the way here… You wonder when a rough hand grips your arm spinning you back into a dim service corridor. Bucky’s body presses hard into yours pinning you to the wall.

The dark look on his face clouds his blue eyes, but still, he’s so gorgeous it makes your breath catch. Gripping your jaw with his powerful hand he tilts your face up just a bit, holding it as his kiss sears you in place. It’s a hungry, passionate, possessive kiss. His tongue immediately parting your lips, tasting you, demanding more. When he pulls back you’re panting.

Despite the heat of that kiss, his expression remains unchanged, fingers digging into your skin. Slowly his grip lessens, calloused touch trailing down your neck until they reach the collar of your jacket.

Faster than your flustered mind can process right now, he grips the collar of your jacket, using it to spin you around to face the wall. In one swift tug, he pulls the jacket down your arms, tossing it aside.

His hand rests on your chest, pressing you into him. The heat of his breath on your neck and his stubble barely scratching against your shoulder makes desire sing through your body. The sensation distracts you so much you don’t notice that his hand had migrated to the button of your shorts.

Sure fingers loosen the skin-tight garment, the zipper crawling down.

“Bucky,” you breathe in weak protest.

“Shut up,” he growls fingers dipping into you to find that you’re already dripping. Biting your lip you grind against him, always eager for his touch.

“That’s how you moved with him,” his voice is gravel rough against your ear. A light bulb goes off in your mind and your movement ceases. “Would you rather have him?” Bucky presses the outline of his hard cock against the curve of your ass.

Holy shit. You almost laugh but manage to hold it in.

“Are you jealous Mr. Barnes?”

There are no words just his ragged breath. He answers with the sound of his own zipper lowering, his hand roughly tugging your shorts down your ass.

“Answer me.” The demand in his voice makes your mouth water for some reason. Tilting your head back onto his shoulder you look into those stormcloud eyes of his.

“I only want you.” You reach for him, pulling his throbbing cock from his jeans. “I only ever want you.”

“Good.” This time his kiss is rough but fleeting before he pulls your underwear to the side and thrusts himself into you. Your hand flies to your mouth to catch your cry as your body stretches around him.

The force of him threatens to knock you off balance. He reaches his hand around both steadying you and finding your clit at the same time. Rhythmically he rolls the tender bud under his middle finger, making every nerve ending in your body vibrate. His pace quickens and you think you will not be able to hold in this scream, it’s too good, too much.

“Quiet now, sweetheart,” he says low, his own breath staggering.

Barely you manage to stifle the sound of your orgasm rocking through your body. A moment later you feel Bucky’s cock pulse, a soft moan from him making your hair stand on end.

He pulls out and you tug your shorts up. When you turn to face him he’s plucking your jacket off the ground.

“Here,” he holds it up, as you slip back into it. Once it’s on his arm wraps around your chest holding you so tight you can feel his heart still racing against your back.

“I meant it,” you say, relaxing into the comforting feel of him. “You’re all I want, Bucky.” He nods, his cheek resting against the side of your head.

“Seeing you… I don’t think I’ve ever been the jealous type but…”

“It was just dancing babe.”

He huffs out a dry laugh, “It doesn’t look like just dancing.” Turning in his arms to face him you take hold of his ass, pulling his hips to yours.

“Next time just come with me then,” you move against him. “You love to dance.”

A small smile plays on his lips, “I don’t know this kind of dancing.”

“It’s easy.” You can hear the music clear enough pouring from the open doors above you. “Just feel the music. No steps to remember. Just be present.”

Moving your hands to his hips you guide them to move with your own. Soon enough he’s getting a feel for it, letting his hands caress your curves.

“See, easy,” you say smiling up at him. “We should get going before Okoye comes looking.”

He nods. As you begin to step away he cups your cheek, pulling your mouth to his once more. This time the hunger is replaced with something far richer that sends tingles down your spine.

“I love you, Y/N.”

“I love all of you,” you respond. “Even the jealous bits.”

“Oh?”

“Yup. Especially if it gets you to fuck me in an alley, kinda hot.” He barks out a laugh.

“I’d say it’s more a hallway. What kind of husband would I be if I fucked you in an alley.”

“A fun one,” you say with a wink. Taking his hand in yours, you both head back upstairs.

“Well you two look damn near giddy,” Okoye teases. They’d all set up at one of the terrace tables.

“Just a quick dancing lesson. He’s a fast study,” you say. Bucky sits in the one open seat and you perch on his thigh.

“Uh-huh,” Nakia says with a sideways glance.

“So,” Bucky says, arm giving you a little squeeze, “You all already tired?”

“We’ve been out longer than you old wolf,” Okoye says.

“Psh,” T’Challa waves a hand. “This is weak.”

“You both rolled up maybe 20 minutes ago, what do you mean weak,” Nakia tosses back at him.

“He’s right. Didn’t look like anyone could even break a sweat dancing like that,” Bucky pokes.

“Oh, the White Wolf wants to break a sweat, eh?”

“I think he does, Oko,” Nakia answers.

“I don’t know if the colonizer can handle it,” M’Baku laughs.

“Wanna bet?” Bucky says with a wolfish grin.

Two more clubs and several hours later M’Baku is in the process of doing 100 pushups on the street with Okoye perched on his back because the colonizer had, in fact, handled it. In fact, he’d handled it better than you by mastering some new moves - you could admit you were a little jealous.

“One hundred!” Okoye declares. M’Baku stands, wiping the sweat from his brow.

“Could have just bet money you old wolf,” M’Baku grumbles.

“Too easy. And less fun for the rest of the group,” Bucky smirks, patting M’Baku on the shoulder.

Nakia gasps, shooting up from the step she’d been perched on, nose up sniffing the air.

“Chapati,” she groans.

“This is happening,” T’Challa declares, grabbing Nakia’s hand and leading her toward the intoxicating smells of meat, spices, and bread.

Within the hour, the six of you have loaded up on Chapati, Rolexes, and Bajia - the magic of meat, cheese, and starch being truly universal - and are sprawled around the king’s living space laughing and eating. It feels almost too good to be true.

In the small hours of the morning, you finally fall into bed, stomach, and heart full to bursting. Bucky flings his arm around you, holding you close.

“So,” he asks in your ear, “when’re we going dancing again?”

Tags: @bluegirlusa1 @l0kisbitch @tazzi-baby @disagreetoagree @woodyandbuzz20-01 @mooniightbucky @saundrasays @breezy1415 @alyssaj23 @mywinterwolf @wonderlandmind4 @fairislesheets @anamcg317 @buckaroo-barness @jazztherebel @peachthatdrinkslemonade @regulusirius @auskitty @babyimp1967 @katecolleen @handplucked @stevehesaidabadlanguageword @darkdragonphoenix @issanitydead @thestorydetective @buckysstar @wintersoldierswhore @greyeyedsmile14 @watchoutforfrostbite @for-the-love-of-the-fandom @jewelofwinter @siriuslycloudy2 @hardygal69 @marvelousmeggi @jdoenson @gamorazenn @wildmoonflower @cutie1365 @demonlover87 @winterboobearsworld @this-kitten-is-smitten @damnaged-princess @amorluzymelodia @nutellakirb @nighttwingg

#bucky x reader #bucky #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky fluff #bucky smut #okoye #nakia #t'challa #M'Baku #wakanda

96 notes · View notes

wolfhednn · 5 years

Note

🎄 A TREE FIR YOU EVEN IF YOU'RE NOT DOING THE MEME BUT DAMN IF BEING OVERBEARING WITH THIS AIN'T IC AF.

no i didn’t even reblog the meme but i’m doing it for @gallantgautier cause i’m an unapologetic trash bin :meowshrug:

home stretch. it’s in their shared look, has been since the evening finally began to set in, has been since they got into the car behind a rowdy glenn and an ingrid chastising him about how they were going to be late if he didn’t hurry up. has been since glenn nearly got a ticket going 44 on the 30mph road leading up to the church because he was too busy laughing at the recollection of rodrigue’s face earlier that day after some stunt he had pulled.

much of the long day is behind them now. home stretch. since nearly five in the morning, they’d been awake, the fraldarius household filled with motion and movement — presents to be wrapped ( and some secretly ), meals to be prepared, last-minute ingredients to be picked up amid the throngs in the grocery store all there for the same sticks of butter, the same sprigs of rosemary. with all the moments of warmth and moments of friction that come with christmas eve.

home stretch. just the christmas eve service and they would be done, free to return to their shared apartment for a quieter night, a glass or two of something aged and sweet, respite beneath the north star before they would go their separate ways to different households again in the morning for christmas day with their families — felix knew sylvain would want to eke what solace he could from these dwindling hours before stepping into the pit of gnashing teeth that would greet him.

❝ text from dad. the gautiers’re there already, ❞ glenn announces from the front seat.

❝ glenn, don’t check your texts while you’re driving, please! ❞

in the backseat, beneath where the rearview can see, felix keeps his neutral gaze out the window, watching the familiar rows of houses and trees pass, and his hand slides over to rest atop sylvain’s.

the wheels of glenn’s car come to a stop over the familiar gravel lot, and felix’s breath puffs in a dissipating cloud over the rim of his coat lapels as he gets out of the car, promptly shoving his hands in his pockets. this, too, is tradition. the second generation wavers in their devotion, but each year the patriarchs fraldarius and gautier have built this foundation: a bedrock as unwavering as granite. glenn makes his jabs, but felix has never minded. the sermons preach the same lessons year after year, and he’s resolutely, though patiently, silent during the congregation’s prayers, but the hymns are pleasant, and he can admire the permeating spirit of warmth and the smiles on everyone’s faces.

❝ felix, you gonna finally sing with the choir this year? ❞ glenn’s obligatory teasing.

❝ i already told you, no. ❞ felix’s obligatory scorn.

❝ a tragedy. every year, i’m denied… how long will you- oh, hey, sylvain, what about you? come on, i’ve heard you at the hymns! don’t be shy! ❞ felix doesn’t even have to look back over his shoulder to know precisely the scene that’s playing out: glenn with that mischievous look, sylvain declining with a laugh equal parts playful and self-conscious, ingrid fondly shaking her head.

heat from the central thermostat and the huddle of bodies arrayed in festive red and white billow to thaw his cheeks when he opens the door, glancing back at the carousing trio. the musical prelude has already begun, a medley piano arrangement of ‘ away in a manger ’ floating over the hushed voices of the settling crowd as they hasten to make final greetings to familiar faces. ❝ hurry up. ❞

they find the array of royal blue and ivory, forest green and vermilion. ❝ we were just thinking you wouldn’t make it, ❞ rodrigue says by way of greeting, moving over for them to take their seats: the fraldariuses arrayed in one half of the row: rodrigue, glenn, ingrid, felix, before sylvain next to him makes the transition to the gautier side of the row, next to his mother, miklan, then his father.

❝ dad, i’m always right in the nick of time. like the saint nicholas of ti— ❞

a light shove from ingrid cuts glenn off. ❝ shh. it’s starting. ❞

every year proceeds the same, with its own small changes. a steady stream of ups and downs, not much different from the last. at least, that’s how it’s always felt to felix. he closes his eyes to the soothing choral prelude, waits with quiet enthusiasm for the time to sing his favorite hymns, throws a shared look and grin ( as they do every year ) across ingrid to glenn at ❝ je-sus, to thee-ee be-ee glo-o-ry givennnnnnnn ❞ and waiting for her to sigh at them ( as she does every year. ❝ no ingrid, singing giv’n wrong is tradition! ❞, as glenn insists whenever she brings it up ).

the homily is, as he’d expected, the same as usual. communion goes as it always does, with the choir’s arrangement of ‘ the shepherd’s farewell ’ drifting to hover above and around, its gentle blend warmer than a hearth.

before long, the service, and the conclusion of their long day, is rounding its final bend. the weariness isn’t simply theirs; it follows the dimming of the lights, cloaking the congregation in a hushing mantle that descends in seraphic peace, a penumbral dusk whose velvet glimmers faintly with the new starlight of candles being lit one by one down the central aisle. ushers move carefully, sharing the first light from the altar candles with the first individual in each row, to have it passed down, person to person. felix picks up his own, laid under his seat before the service had ever begun, and waits for sylvain to take his — a tiny, flickering flame — from his mom before turning to him. the rector’s voice murmurs gently over the crowd:

❝ the light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it. ❞

the wavering glow as it passes from the wick of sylvain’s candle to his illuminates the glimmer of the smile in felix’s eyes, the creases of the same in sylvain’s face.

‘ silent night ’s first faint notes float over from the choir, joined in a quiet swell of unison from the congregation and felix’s own mild bass as he turns, one hand cupping the flame to shield it from the moving air, to light ingrid’s candle next. as ingrid shortly does the same, he watches with knowing exasperation as glenn takes his chance to press a kiss to her forehead, her muted protests always followed by his coy grin. tranquil coppers then move out to gaze over the small sea of other heads, out to the high windows where the moonlight peeks through, to the pungent garlands of mistletoe and ivy hung up in long vines encircling the walls just beneath the ceiling.

they’re at the third verse when a searching hand to his right finds his own, and he curls his fingers in the gaps between sylvain’s, rough and warm.

son of god, love’s pure light.

❝ hey. ❞

felix turns to read sylvain’s smile, an adoring, coaxing thing that needs nothing to help brighten it. it’s not the radiant, beaming one when he’s laughing so hard that he needs to sit down; it’s not the wistful one softened by fondness when he’s watching felix wipe the sweat from his forehead after another close match at his computer. this one is a small candle in a quiet twilight, a sheltered microcosm for only their dwelling.

radiant beams from thy holy face.

he shifts in closer so that their arms touch, inviting the other to rest his face in his hair, prompting felix to look up at him with a self-conscious turn to the corners of his mouth when sylvain responds by leaning in just a fraction.

❝ sylvain… ❞

with the dawn of redeeming grace.

he knows that sylvain knows the tones of his protest. knows that when their eyes close and lips meet anyway, that sylvain doesn’t need any light to see the warmth that blooms in equal measure across felix’s cheeks and within his chest.

#gallantgautier #this is the church i sing for's silent night tradition actually #it makes me so qq every time #also lowkey swerves from writing for sylvain cause ???#what's a sylvain lmao #the 'o come all ye faithful' joke is the fraldarius brothers inside joke #i will take that hc to the hecking GRAVE don't @ me #. ⊰ ❛ ᴄʀᴀᴅʟᴇ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡɪʟᴅs ⊱ * musing — ✘

6 notes · View notes

aboutthemponies · 5 years

Text

The End is Neigh

I first started watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic in the middle of the season 4 to season 5 hiatus. At the time, there was no announced fifth season; the end of season 4 was simply the end of the show as far as I knew. I remember feeling so content after watching that final battle between Twilight and Tirek that as I fell asleep that night, I thought “That was so good! It cannot possibly get better than this. I’m so happy I could die in my sleep tonight.” Woah, that’s a grim thought. I wasn’t even 18 years old and I was already content enough with my short life to be fine with dying right then? What strange drugs I must have been on!

Needless to say, my life continued on, and I’m so glad I did. Only after watching the entire show would I attend BronyCon, create my own MLP club at college, join the amazing DC Bronies for the semester I was away, and discover all the amazing art, music, animation, parodies, PMVs, and so much more that this fandom has made in its nine years of existence! In that time, there’s also been disappointments: never again has a season’s finale topped my experience of seasons 4’s (or season 2’s), and neither did the MLP movie. This isn’t to say that I do not enjoy episodes from the newer seasons (there’s several that I enjoy from every single season), but rather the magic, the obsession, has long since faded.

Indeed, when I first watched the show, I fell under a magic spell that would cause me to think about ponies non-stop, would make me go crazy anytime I saw a piece of pony merchandise while out and about, would make me rewatch seasons 1 through 4 four times within the course of a single year, would make me identify as a brony first before any other identity. It was a complete and total obsession that I can only compare to falling in love, and oh boy, I fell so hard! I can go on and on with clichés about how the show filled me with endless joy and changed my life forever, but I don’t need to because if you understand that I “loved” MLP:FiM, all my strange behavior will make sense.

When I first fell in love with FiM, I couldn’t watch other shows because I felt I had to reserve my entire heart for this one show. Eventually, I moved past that thinking when my obsession lessened, and I found my heart was big enough to also love other shows like the Powerpuff Girls, Star vs. The Forces of Evil, and Gravity Falls. Finally, the lunacy declined enough to reach normal levels, and I still watch the show, but through jaded eyes which only see the past. This of course, is the lifecycle of love; it starts out as all-consuming, but with enough time, the intensity goes away and the relationship changes.

So when I think about the final season of FiM and what that means to me, I first have to recognize that my experience of the show, from discovering it, obsessing over it, plunging into the fandom, and finally taking a step back away from it all, is largely over even before season 9. The obsession phase started in July 2014 for me, and I remained completely obsessed up until I started college in August 2015. There on out, I entered my fanatic stage: still very dedicated and engaged with the show, but not obsessed like I once was. That lasted at least until the end of season 6, and arguably through January 2017 since I was still regularly writing this blog regularly up until that “Leaving the Fandom” post in February. Then on out, I’ve been in this “casual fan” stage; I’m still following the show, going to meetups, and having the time of my life at conventions, but the effort to participate in the fandom by writing blogs, making music, producing videos, is pretty much gone. The great love I once felt is now my nostalgia.

In that time, the show has also changed significantly (which I analyze in this video). I think we all agree that the show needed to change in order to survive this long, but I also find some of the changes essentially removed core aspects of the early show. In any case, it is what it is and the changes are here for good (I personally like the addition of the friendship school but could live without the map and reformed Starlight Glimmer).

And season, we’ll have season 9, almost 10 more hours of new pony! The question is, what expectations do we have of it, if any?

For me, we’re so far away from the original stories which began in season 1 and ended in season 3/4/5 (depends on which story and who you ask) that the show could honestly do whatever it wants as long as it completes a story. 26 episodes that are entirely serial? Why not? Follow only the student 6 in some kind of new adventure? Sure, I’d be down. Let the megaspells hit and unleash the armageddon? The show’s still for kids, so turning it into Fallout: Equestria’s probably not going to happen.

More broadly, what I really want is for the final season to invoke some of the same emotions that I felt during earlier seasons: the awe of when Rainbow Dash performed the sonic rainboom in season 1, the joy of Pinkie Pie singing the smile song, the tears of happiness when Twilight got her wings in “Magical Mystery Cure” and the CMC their cutie marks in “Crusaders of the Lost Mark”, and the feeling of togetherness when the mane 6 collapsed in exhaustion after making all the apple cider in “Super Easy Cider Squeezy 6000.” There’s so many emotions in those earlier seasons that I don’t think it’s possible for the writers to produce them all in one season, but even if they only succeed in one episode, that episode will be something to treasure.

But even if that doesn’t happen, and all my fondest show moments remain in those earlier seasons, it’s still been such a lovely ride. My love for the show might be a thing of the past, but it’s better to have been in love and then out of love than to never experience that love at all. Over the years, so many fans from so many places have loved My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and I’m glad I got to take part in it. Once a brony, always a brony.

Have a great season 9 everypony!

#mlp #mlp:fim #mlp: friendship is magic #brony #mlp season 9

15 notes · View notes

peachychip85000 · 6 years

Text

*cries at how long this is going to be* @punk-rock-pixie

1. Name? Surname?

Iris Ortensia

Giselle ???

Timothy ???

2. Any family?

Iris has a mother and 3 older sisters

Giselle has no known family members

Timothy has both parents, a (slightly) older twin sister, and a younger sister and brother. His younger brother, Aaron, is @balancedpluto‘s apprentice, Aaron (who is romancing Asra)

3. Any familiar?

Iris: A pale purple kittyh with light blue points, and a pink crescent shape on her forehead. Her name is Iridescence.

Giselle: A glittery, white chameleon named Crystal.

Timothy: A sugar glider named SweetPea.

4. Asra, Nadia or Julian?

Iris: Julian

Giselle: ASra

Timothy: Nadia

5. Best strength in magic?

Iris: Potion brewing

Giselle: Uses her magic to heal plants and talk to animals.

Timothy: Trying to become a cryomancer, or someone who manipulates ice with magic.

6. Favorite color?

Iris: Lavender

Giselle: Light Green

Timothy: Periwinkle

7. Favorite number?

???????

8. Sexuality?

they’re all bi/pan

9. Weird hobby?

nothing weird lol

10. Favorite season?

Iris: Autumn

Giselle: Spring

Timothy: Winter

11. Favorite weather?

Iris: Rain

Giselle: Bright and sunny

Timothy: Cold/Snowy

12. Favorite place in Vesuvia?

Iris: Portia’s cottage. Pepi is there.

Giselle: The forest, when its not haunted by dead count goat ghost

Timothy: The palace, because Nadia’s there

13. How do their laught sounds like?

Iris snorts

Giselle giggles

Timothy asgdfjsdhfkj

14. How do they look like when they cry?

ghibli tears

15. What do they like to wear?

Iris: Loose corsets and flowy skirts

Giselle: Flowy dresses

Timothy: Comfortable things, but if its any shade of blue, its in his wardrobe.

16. What are their fears?

Iris: Something happening to Julian. Also spiders.

Giselle: Lucio

Timothy: Being alone

17. What do they like to do Friday night?

They all like to spend time with loved ones, getting food, and playing games.

18. Do they use makeup?

Yes

19. Favorite food?

Iris: Cheesy fettuccine alfredo with chicken

Giselle: Victoria sandwich

Timothy:Pizza

20. Favorite drink?

Iris: Strawberry lemonade

Giselle: Green tea

Timothy: Peppermint hot cocoa

21. Zodiac sign?

Iris: Libra

Giselle: Aries

Timothy: Sagittarius

22. Day of birth?

Iris: October 15th

Giselle: April 3rd

Timothy: December 12th

23. Favorite movie?

Iris: Barbie Island Princess/Rapunzel/Princess and the Pauper and Tangel, because she relates to Rapunzel a LOT.

Giselle: Ferngully and Don Bluth’s Thumbelina

Timothy: Star Wars, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Cats Don’t Dance

24. Favorite music genre?

Iris: Everything, but especially Pop and 80s music.

Giselle: New Age (Enya/Celtice Woman/etc...)

Timothy: As a music enthusiast he loves everything, but Big Points if it sounds electronic and/or 80s.

They all love musical and movie soundtracks.

25. Favorite song?

Iris: Moonlight by Ariana Grande

Giselle: May it be by Enya

Timothy: He can’t choose a SONG but his favourite video game soundtracks are Undertale, Mega Man 2, and Kingdom Hearts.

26. Favorite tv show?

Iris: Parks and Rec, Chopped, other baking shows.

Giselle: Cosmos, Round Planet

Timothy: Mystery Science Theater 3000, Twilight Zone, and Stranger Things

27. What is their style?

Is this for, a Modern AU? If so then...

Iris: Hyper feminine and geeky

Giselle: Feminine and hippie/hipster. Lots of dresses and floral print.

Timothy: Cozy. He likes hoodies though.

28. Any mental health issues?

Iris’s MH started to decline when her father passed away. Her mother was never the most nurturing, especially towards Iris, who is the youngest of 4. She developed a lot of self worth issues, anxiety, and depression due to her mother’s verbal and emotional abuse.

Giselle has anxiety, but if she has any other issues she’s very good at hising them

Timothy has a lot of body image issues, as he’s considered short (5′5) and is also very lanky.

29. Any health issues in general?

Timothy is anemic and underweight.

30. Are they human?

yeah dude

31. Favorite book?

Iris: Ella Enchanted

Giselle: Harry Potter

Timothy: King Killer Chronicles

They all love Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit as well

32. Favorite book genre?

If you couldn’t guess they all love fantasy, but Timothy also loves sci-fi as well.

33. Favorite time of the day?

Iris: Dusk/Twilight

Giselle: Mid Day

Timothy: Night time

34. If they weren’t magician, who would they be?

Iris: Pastry chef

Giselle: Zoo Keeper or someone that help at animal sanctuaries.

Timothy: Musician/Composer.

35. Do they believe in ghosts?

Yes

36. Do they believe in aliens?

Iris wants to believe they’re real

Giselle doesn’’t, but she likes the idea of them

Timothy does, yes.

37. Do they like sport?

Neither of them “Sport” except for Iris, who does ballet.

38. How do they look like?

39. What is their biggest motivation to solve the Lucio’s killer mystery?

Iris: Wants to clear Julian’s name

Giselle: She was asked to, and became more curious as the case progressed.

Timothy: It’s important to Nadia, so it’s important to him.

40. What do they think of Lucio so far?

>:O

41. What do they think of Nadia so far?

They all love and respect her. Timothy thinks she’s a goddess and has Heart Eyes.

42. What do they think of Asra so far?

Iris: Close and trusted friend

Giselle: *blushy face*

Timothy: Very good friend. Considers him like a brother, considering his brother is going out with him.

43. What do they think of Julian so far?

Iris: im love my dumb husband

Giselle: He’s funny!

Timothy: hello??? if i was straight before I am Not Now.

44. What do they think of Portia so far?

Iris: Future sister in law and best friends

Giselle: She’s a sweetpea and I love her

Timothy: She’s cute and important to NAdia. Wants to get to know her better.

45. What do they think of Muriel so far?

BIG BOI

46. Do they like animals?

YES

47. Are they allergic to anything?

Timothy is allergic to grass and shellfish

48. Do they have any talents (except magic)?

Iris: Cooks, bakes, dances, and as been known to sing well.

Giselle: Jewelry making and making flower crowns

Timothy: Plays numerous instruments and can sing.

49. Do they get drunken easily?

They are all lightweights!!! Giselle doesn’t like alcohol, and Iris and Timothy are picky about their drinks. They like sweet drinks.

50. What is their personality type?

Its hard to answer this question because none of them fall under a certain archetype.

51. What is their worst negative quality?

Iris: Crybaby and hyper sensitive.

Giselle: Extremely naive.

Timothy: Empathetic and generous to a fault

52. What is their best positive quality?

I think for all of them its their willingness to help and caring nature.

53. What is their position to fall asleep?

Curl like a kitten

54. The most uncomfortable moment they ever experienced?

Iris: Telling her mother she was moving to Vesuvia.

Giselle:

Timothy: Finding out his brother and Asra were banging, to which Aaron responds with “well why are you banging the Countess?” Fair point.

55. Their happiest memory?

Spoiler the most recent update: Iris: Finding Julian alive and well.

Giselle: Finding her familiar, Crystal. They’ve been inseparable ever since.

Timothy: Nadia having feelings for him as well. He’s not confident in himslef, and having someone like Nadia even look at him makes him smile.

56. Do they blush?

Yes

57. Are they clumsy?

YES

58. Do they like jokes?

everyone likes jokes

59. How do they flirt?

Iris: Compliments Julian until he’s a blushy mess

Giselle: Makes flower crowns, or bracelets for Asra

Timothy: Nervously makes jokes. Nadia see’s he’s trying tho and finds it charming.

60. Favorite fruit?

Iris: Strawberries

Giselle: Apples

Timothy, through tears: What do you mean blue raspberries aren’t a real fruit???

Note: I had to redo this bc my laptop shut off on me right as I finished it the first time!! ; 0;

#long post #this has 60 questions #hayden y would u do nthis to m #the arcana #the arcana game #fan apprentice #iris #giselle #timothy

9 notes · View notes

libidomechanica · 3 years

Text

The day when my glass shall babbled in sepulchral halls

—Material halls, for all the pain be mine own bait: that swift— he is at peaceful sister, the counsel Juan. Thy glassy deepe move? Shall not the twilight and our gaming garden;— but he was something repel, a hand I will show of. Out of finite passion, singing the world or sung, this the rosemary we talkd forlorn, dying fast as their tender, as now, but Im relapsing Curse her more: so think, “how good! Live the Pilgrim of Eternal May, pavd with the garden-walks with flecks of bitter than aught to dwelling negroes, kings, tithes, taxes,

duns, and from eyes process mounts the measures for me there you have spun: if that the latter reprove, and desired change, times the body close, the wheels going, like flies, and hence in abundance the thrones; which our living brain; yea, tho” it spake

an intellect it, sparkling flies in hear thy voices of men adored, how pale rage,

nor free! In fitting now morass and hear each the stars, she had yours forever. High ground, and the woodbine blush; for this is near: The curse had sat beneath her more the grades of hero ines in any guilty sight you great desired change in me, and some stepping side are far from knoll of calculators declined, who made appetite I never joy illumine death, to built me all that “Philo-genitiveness. My true-love no end: and the French or Swiss Rousseau, cry “The half his heart not. To fear. There none, so much as men may read?”

#poetry #automatically generated text #Patrick Mooney #Markov chains #Markov chain length: 6 #153 texts

0 notes

downandalmostbroken · 3 years

Text

Rose McCann is a vampire, but she never really integrated into vampire culture. She works as a medical translator and does freelance translation, since she has a bit of a knack for languages. Covid has made it a bit more difficult to steal blood from hospitals (always expired or near expired blood) but she has gotten by on a very minimal diet and as the city she lives in has opened up for a bit of nightlife, she has been peeking out of her comfort zone and eating from people more often. Rose carries herself with Victorian sensibilities, considering herself quite proper, keeping a polite emotional distance from most people.

Rose grew up as the second oldest of four children, though only her and her brother made it to adulthood. She was a bit of a hot head in her youth. One notable event of her childhood was when, at the age of 15, she was proposed to, declined, and then the man proceeded to write a song about her, entitled Star of the County Down, singing it in their local pub, much to Rose’s embarrassment and her brother’s anger. Unfortunately, it was a good song that still graces the Irish Folk scene today.

When she was twenty, Rose made an attempt to move to Dublin, to live in Ireland proper and be more active in fighting for her country. But the morning of the Easter Uprising, Rose was caught out in the wee hours, drained of her blood, and turned by a British vampire who told her to “burn as she watched her country burn”, but Rose managed to hide from the sun, that she newly discovered hurt her immensely. Instead of moving to Dublin, she went back home, having no clue what was going on with her. but knowing she felt ill, food did not sate her, she was just weak. It took her months of being ill every time she ate, hardly being able to get out of bed, hours of her brother sitting by her side to admit to him that she wanted nothing more than to drink his blood, feeling ashamed and perverted for the confession, but he just held out his arm for her.

Even with this revelation, it took her a few years to figure out that she was in fact a vampire, and realize that she needed to drink blood regularly to have her energy and ability to do things. She did end up moving out after a few years of drinking exclusively from her brother, and she moved around every ten years or so after that, only returning to her hometown when her brother was in his twilight years to care for him. After his death, she killed his wife and drank her blood, considering this the first person she murdered .

However, Rose had killed before, though she didn’t consider those murders. Those were well deserved. She had joined the IRA, and stayed in it for whatever incarnations it became in her lifetime (or deathtime as the case may be). She doesn’t speak about this much, not considering it seemly or proper. And loose lips cost lives.

Rose moves every few years so as not to arouse suspicions, picking up new languages and mostly working as a translator across the many different countries and places she lived.

Rose usually lives in a cozy apartment with old fashioned decor. She dresses very feminine and modestly, and has retained her Irish accent, very purposefully, as that is still a big part of her identity. She likes her quiet hobbies, reading and cross stitching, but does try to get out and make friends, especially ones that remind her of her humanity.

#about Rose

0 notes

amararoleplays-blog · 6 years

Photo

50 QUESTIONS THAT WILL TELL YOU MORE THAN YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT IRISH ACTRESS SADIE DUNNE

IS YOUR CHARACTER

[001] the face of any products

sadie is the current face of louis vitton she also has a partnership with covergirl for their all day every day natural finish foundation.

[002] open about their private life

to some extent, she doesn’t hide her relationship with matt matson, however she does prefer to keep some things close to the cuff. she’s very protective of her sisters ( and family in general ), matt, and her friends. so when the press does go after them she does get annoyed.

[003] an advocate for any charities

since her mother passed away from breast cancer, sadie is very much involved with several charities focused around breast cancer research she tries to do the run for the cure every year. she’s also a goodwill ambassador for unicef and a huge advocate for the #metoo & timesup movements.

[004] involved in a relationship for publicity

she’s luckily never had to have been.

[005] where they are because of dishonest / shady moves

sadie’s parents were very very adamant of preserving her integrity and although there were some “casting couch” opportunities sadie declined all of them. her career ( as she will admit ) is built upon sheer dumb luck and some hard work.

WHO DOES YOUR CHARACTER

[006] @ / retweet regularly

twilight meme accounts, cute dog pics, charities she’s involved with & her sisters

[007] mention most in interviews

her sisters/family & matt

[008] go to when they need some help

her sister for like general life advice and matt when she needs to feel better in general.

[009] idolize / adore more than life itself

her mother

[010] want to end up with (in their dreams)

honestly, ever since matt came into her life three years ago she hasn’t really thought of anyone else. but sixteen year old sadie would say leonardo dicaprio ( cliche she knows )

WHAT WAS

[011] the first thing they tweeted

@sadiedunne am I allowed to be here if I’m terrified of birds? that hitchcock movie still has me scarred, #crowsbegone

[012] the first event they got invited to

kids choice awards

[013] the last (non work related) vacation they took

she went to mexico with matt for their three year anniversary

[014] the first thing published about them on lounge

a few years ago when sadie did her very first indie film that garnered massive critical acclaim, she played a lesbian. lounge did an “expose” on this which sadie never commented on. she feels as though her sexuality is no one’s business and she’d rather just celebrate the people she loves.

[015] the project that made them want to act / write / sing / etc.

she grew up on musicals like sound of music & wizard of oz and all of shirley temple’s movies. as a child star, she aspired to be like shirley temple and groomed herself to be a triple threat.

WHY

[016] do they put up with all of the bs that comes with the business

to some extent, she’s been in the business since she was six. so she knows being a public figure, people will ultimately be curious about her. however she draws the line and calls people out on bs. she has zero filter.

[017] did they pursue the career they’re currently in

since she was a kid, she just loved entertaining people. she’s so full of energy this career really suits her because she’s an energizer bunny but also has just a great deal of empathy.

[018] did they choose the media persona they did

sadie’s not even sure she has a “media persona” her M.O. is just being awkward and loud and for some reason people like it.

[019] do they hate gossip magazines so much

she could honestly care less on what gossip mags have to say, she’s proven them wrong through her actions.

[020] would they ever make a sex tape

I mean.... there’s probably one floating around there somewhere. if it ever went public she’d laugh and say that she feels sorry for anyone that had to view it because she feels she looks awkward having sex.

WHERE

[021] did they hear their first song on the radio

she actually heard an irish radio play in her mom’s study in their home in dublin when she was four. that’s the oldest memory she has of hearing something on the radio

[022] did they find out they’d landed their first project

at her sixth birthday party, she was thrilled because she’d booked a sitcom in the states.

[023] did they go on vacation after their first big project

yes, her parents took her to disneyland, it was no pun intended magical.

[024] do they live when they want to get away from it all

sadie goes back home to dublin

[025] was their first big press conference

in toronto, one of her indie films debuted there as a part of the toronto film festival.

WAS THEIR FIRST

[026] project embarrassing

her first “project” was a chocolate bar commercial for an irish brand of sweets and sadie got to eat chocolate for the whole day she’ll say to this day it was one of the best jobs she’s ever had.

[027] talk show appearance a wreck

no, sadie is unbashedly honest and people find that endearing. she told a story about how she befriended a squirrel that lived by the set of the movie she was working on.

[028] public relationship heavily followed

not really, she dated one of her fellow disney alums. the relationship lasted a year but never garnered too much press as neither of them were “big names”

[029] fan encounter awkward / nice / sweet / etc.

it was kind of awkward because she was thirteen and a middle aged man wanted her autograph. her mother allowed it but she and sadie were a little uncomfortable even though the guy was fairly nice.

[030] relationship (while famous) talked about at all

not particularly, she was never a household disney name, she played the best friend so it was reported on briefly.

WILL

[031] they ever open any sort of business

sadie has recently started dabbling in executive producing and she loves it. so in the future, she’d love to open her own production house.

[032] they ever win a major, prestigious award

she’s won a golden globe, a few BAFTAs, and was nominated for an oscar last year. midnight city’s already getting a ton of critical buzz so hopefully next year will be her year *fingers crossed*

[033] they ever host the smn version of saturday night live

she did last year just before the oscars. she’d love to do it again.

[034] they ever work tirelessly for years to get a project going

she has for midnight city, and now that she’s a little more settled in her career she would love to be a champion for female led and diverse/inclusive projects because she feels she has a voice.

[035] they take pictures with fans who approach them on their off time

absolutely ! she’s happy to do it as long as they’re polite

DOES YOUR CHARACTER

[036] invest their money wisely

I mean sadie’s fairly frivolous with her spending habits, but she’s not spending her money on designer handbags it’s on twilight collectibles, candy, and random tidbits she likes to collect.

[037] work only on projects they love

since her career’s taken off and she’s being taken seriously as an actress, yes.

[038] care more about the fame than anything

no, fame isn’t something she’s concerned with. she’d be acting even if it was in a community theatre setting she just loves entertaining people.

[039] often find they’ve put their foot in their mouth

absolutely, she’s a rambler and she says stuff without thinking so she’s constantly doing this

[040] hide things from the public because they are afraid / ashamed of what the reaction could be

no she’s fairly open about who she is and feels no need to hide anything

DO YOU HONESTLY THINK YOUR CHARACTER

[041] is a good person

objectively yes, I think she tries to be at least.

[042] will have career longevity

I think so, she’s wise about the projects she chooses and is committed to never doing the same thing twice.

[043] deserves the career they have

yes, she’s worked so hard for it

[044] can remain unjaded by hollywood

she’s managed for the last twenty four years so I hope so !

[045] will spend the rest of their life with the person they marry

depends on who she marries, because that person will require a lot of patience

GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY WOULD YOUR CHARACTER

[046] date / marry a fan

she would date a fan, sure. just as long as they tried to get to know who she is with all her complexities

[047] star on any type of reality show

no, she’s not a fan of reality shows

[048] donate to charity / do good deeds without publicity

yes, she doesn’t engage with charity for the publicity. she would do it even if she weren’t famous

[049] say exactly what they think about the ins/outs of fame

yes she’s fairly candid about this and will throw shade where shade needs to be thrown

[050] walk comic con without any security (in or out of disguise)

yes, she’d love it !! she’s a huge fangirl herself. however, she’s never had the chance to go to fan conventions.

#smnrp contest #smnrp #site: smnrp #c: sadie dunne #filed under: character development

6 notes · View notes

starshineskyandthepowerofrock · 4 years

Text

After-School Flight

Part 6 of Starshine, Sky, and the Power of Rock.

I've always thought summer's last gasp to be its most beautiful, and I've yet to be proven wrong. In fact, this view is doing quite the opposite.

Citrus and I bask in the presence of treetops and rooftops alike rendered tiny from our position just below the clouds on the backs of our flying horses. The palace's first stop of the school year is Fairy Dust Falls, and I'm living for the sparkling world beneath us. I close my eyes for but a moment to let my other senses have a turn, and take note of the warm wind gliding in and out of my body.

Citrus' horse, Flame, does the tiniest dip that makes him yelp and my heart lurch a bit. I don't need him falling. But he's fine, and his smile is as big as ever. His bright orange hair sparkles like mine (it's a cat people thing) and his tan skin is gilded by the near-twilight. Oh wait. That means the sun is setting.

"It's curfew," I shout over the wind. "We should head back."

The royal stables are a source of anxiety for those unused to them, mostly because the iridescent force field keeping one from falling off the attached landing platform is nearly invisible unless you know it's there. But I do know it's there, so I'm doing just fine. That doesn't mean I'd go near the edge, mind.

"Wanna come meet my band?" I ask as I hand Splendor off to a servant.

Citrus doesn't look at me. He's staring into the sky, which is painted in pinks and yellows and oranges. His tie flutters in the breeze and he's got one hand holding his blazer over his shoulder and the other in his pocket. "I saw you sitting with them," is all he says. His tone is matter-of-fact.

"And?" I say. "That's not meeting them. Come on, it's a room full of cute girls!" I give his arm a playful shake.

Citrus winces ever so slightly. "Vampires aren't really my type."

Oh. Oh yeah. I keep forgetting about the whole vampire thing. "She's not like those other ones."

"You just met her," he replies. "Who knows what she's like?"

I'm silent for a moment. "Exactly," I decide on. "So you don't know if she's bad."

The silence resumes. I want with every fiber of my being to end this conversation but have no clue how. Then, Citrus asks, "Do you remember your parents? Like, your birth ones?"

I blink. "Why do you ask?"

"You never talk about them."

"Yeah, 'cause I don't remember them. They... you know... passed when I was a baby." My feet shift in discomfort.

"Band of Darkness?"

"That's what I'm told."

Citrus nods. "Mine, too. But I was three when it happened. I remember."

"Oh..." is all I can say. "I had no idea..."

"The song they were playing..." Citrus continues, breathing faster. "It gets stuck in my head sometimes. Especially at night."

I put an attempted supportive hand on his shoulder. He's shaking.

"I saw it happen, Star." His voice is breaking. "My parents, they hid me, but I still managed to see. He was a vampire, the guy who did it. He was smiling. Laughing. His fangs were huge, I remember them best. And I couldn't even scream because if I did then he'd find me and do the same thing to me."

I can't even look at him. I'm horrified. Thinking back, I vaguely remember Citrus being pretty quiet back in my early orphanage days. I never thought to wonder why.

"So, I know it's probably unfair, but... You understand if I don't really wanna meet your new friend. Right?" Citrus says. He's blinking rapidly, trying to keep me from seeing how wet his eyes are.

I wrap my arms around him and place my head on his chest as it rises and falls. "I understand."

I've been at peace with technically being an orphan for years now, but I guess it's easy to do that when you have two loving parents that happen to be queens. But when the school year is over, Citrus will spend his summer in that same orphanage. I've known this all along. So why is this the first time I ever really thought about it?

⭐⭐⭐

All of the common rooms are equipped with an impressive grand piano that tends to be rather popular after classes end for the evening. The first year girls' common room is no exception. I'm of course immediately asked to perform a solo upon entering, which I have to politely decline on the grounds that it's curfew, and we should all be heading to our dorms.

Girls shuffle around me and out the door in disappointment, all except one who lingers next to the doorway.

Sky leans against the wall, thumbs once again in her pockets. She nods in a sort of greeting.

I stare for a second, Citrus' story fresh in my mind. But she isn't in the Band of Darkness, she's come to join the Band of Light! I manage a smile. "Hey."

"Hey," she replies.

"Are you okay?" I ask. "You kinda dropped the ball in guitar class, no offense."

Sky tries to shrink into the wall. "Ugh, I know, that was bad. I guess I'm just... not used to..."

"An audience?"

"Yeah. I mean, a couple people have heard me play, but... I dunno." She stares at her boots.

"Part of the school's application is a recording of your work. So my mama's heard you play."

"I guess she has..."

"Do you know piano?" I ask.

"Yeah."

I run a hand along the piano's shiny top. "How about you play me something tomorrow morning, then? Before anyone wakes up. I promise, I only judge people's fashion sense."

Sky searches my eyes, looking for a trace of insincerity. But she can't find any where there's none to be found. "Okay," she finally says.

My smile widens. "Great!" I go turn off the lights. Now the only light in the room comes from the blue night sky, which is being filtered in through the glass double doors of the common room balcony. "Come on, let's gAAH WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR EYES?!"

I've turned to find Sky's irises glowing pale blue. The parts of her eyes that should be black are white and vice versa. "What?" she asks. "Oh," she chuckles. "Yeah, my eyes do that in the dark. Vampire thing."

"Right... right..." I'm trying to catch my breath. "Well, it's time for bed," I say, and head for the door. I stop and turn when I realize she isn't doing the same. In fact, she's deeper in the room than before. "Are you coming? It's curfew."

"I heard," Sky says.

I'm speechless for a moment. "That means you have to go to your dorm."

Sky raises an eyebrow, and the corner of her mouth goes up with it. "Does it?" She sits at the piano bench.

"What are you doing?"

Sky spins around to face the keys. "I've been waiting for everyone to leave. I don't like an audience, remember?"

I scoff. "That doesn't mean you get to break the rules!"

Her fingers hover over the keys, twitching in anticipation. "Try me. The longer you're in here the longer it'll take for me to start. And the longer both of us break curfew."

I'm incredulous. "You'll get in trouble!"

"We'll see about that."

We're in a standoff of sorts for a moment. Finally, I break the silence. "Why can't I hear you play now?"

Sky hesitates, the sly smile wiped from her face. She locks her eyes onto the keys. "I'm writing a song. No one needs to hear unfinished work."

I soften muscles I hadn't noticed were tense. "You write songs?"

"Just the music. I'm bad with lyrics."

I go to sit next to her. "Lyrics are all I write."

Sky glances at me, curiosity somewhat dissipating the creepiness from the inverted colors of her eyes. Something about her seems... softer now. Less guarded, I suppose. "Really?" she asks.

"Yup!"

A mere millimeter of change to her eyebrow height brings her expression from curious to tentatively hopeful. "I've, uh, actually been looking for a lyricist." She averts her gaze again, the next words caught in her mouth for a second. "My last one... uh... I guess we had a falling out."

"Well, you're part of a band now, and bands stick together!" I say. "Can you show me what you've got? I mean, if we're gonna be working together, I have to hear it!"

Sky lets out a long, thin stream of air from her mouth, as if she's being deflated. "Alright," she says. She stares at her hands, who take a second or two to comply with her and start playing. The notes seem to pull against each other, yet work together at the same time. There is a strength to the melody, a sense of determination, yet rooted in a place of vulnerability. The tune is less than a minute long, but that's long enough for her to put me into a trance.

Not a second of silence passes between the final note and Sky saying, "It's just a hook right now, it still needs a lot of work-"

"I love it," I say.

Sky looks baffled. "You do?"

"Of course, I do! Especially those last three notes. In fact..." I play the final notes myself, multiple times as I chew a thought over. A couple weeks ago, I couldn't get a certain phrase out of my head, to the point that I wrote a whole poem around it. A phrase so simple, practically cliche, yet it resonated with me. Three syllables, three notes, it's perfect. What was it? Oh yeah!

"Save the world..." I sing to the tune, as much to myself as to Sky.

On impulse, Sky repeats, "Save the world..." She smiles at me. "I like that."

"Right?" I say, standing up in excitement. "Because that's what we're gonna do!" I give my most dramatic look into the middle distance. "There are monsters out there. Bad ones, I mean. Right now, they're probably planning another attack. But we'll stop them! No more burnt villages, no more raided homes, no more orphaned children, no more- AH!" I've happened to look at my wrist to find it completely naked!

Sky bolts to me, concerned. "What?"

I can only gasp and sputter for, like, thirty seconds before finally saying, "My bracelet fell off!" I shove my wrist under her nose, my sleeve pulled back to reveal the indents in my skin from continual wearing of the undersized accessory.

Sky sighs with relief. "I thought something bad happened."

"This is bad!" I say, grabbing her shoulders. "My parents gave me that bracelet the day they adopted me! It reminds me of how special I am to them and how they've done so much for me! I wear it every day! I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IT!"

"Okay, okay," Sky says as she wrests herself from my grip. She starts looking around. "It's probably around here somewhere."

Meanwhile, I'm frantically retracing my steps. I remember wearing it when Citrus and I took off on our flight. Was I wearing it when we got back? So much was going on, how am I supposed to remember? Think, Star think!

...Oh. Oh no.

"I went for a fly not long ago," I say, my voice shaking. "I - I remember feeling something... loosen... or snap... under my sleeve. Right on my wrist."

Sky, who has been on her knees looking under the piano bench, looks up at me. "Sounds like the latch broke," she says, standing up. "I'd guess-"

I wail in horror. "It fell off over the village!" I pace frantically. "It could be anywhere! Bu-but it's okay, I could just go looking for it tomorrow! I'm sure a villager will have found it by then, and I can just ask for it back!"

Sky considers this for a moment. "How nice is the bracelet?"

"It was custom ordered by monarchs. It's really nice."

"Yeah, it's gone."

If I was breathing hard before, I'm positively hyperventilating now.

"Ah, but, that's if we wait 'til tomorrow!" Sky says, panic rising in her voice. She turns her gaze to the balcony. Her face relaxes, and I can tell something is going on behind her eyes. "You didn't lose it that long ago. I bet we could find it if we go now."

"Um, excuse me? It's curfew!"

Sky doesn't respond. She walks past me, opens the balcony doors, and steps into the night air. "Yeah," she says under her breath. "That could work..."

"What are you talking about?" I ask.

She turns to me. The moonlight illuminates one side of her face, so that only one eye is returned to normal. Her smile is wide and dangerous. "We're gonna get your bracelet back."

Maybe there's no concept of a curfew where she's from. I'll say it a bit more slowly, then. "It's against the rules to leave our dorms, let alone the building after sunset. We can't."

"Really?" Sky says, casually leaning back on the railing. "Then, uh... what am I doing right now?" Sky swings her legs over the railing, and gravity barely starts pulling her down before she goes up in a puff of dark red smoke and is replaced with a white bat.

"What are you doing?" I hiss, but Sky the bat is already flapping her way around the exterior of the palace and away from my sight.

Oh no. Oh no oh no nonononono, I have to tell someone! After all, it's entirely possible she's planning something real bad. Why would she go through all that trouble of... whatever it is she's up to just to get back a bracelet for someone she barely knows? It seems less and less plausible the more I think about it. It's settled, then.

Just as I'm about to march out the room, the distinct, heavy flap of horse wings brings my attention back to the balcony. The sight I'm faced with sends me off my feet and onto the floor.

It's a horse, I guess, but OH MY GOODNESS! It's huge and black, with a mane seemingly made out of black flames and milky white eyes that convey only a desire to eat my soul. Its glossy black wings are reminiscent of those you'd find on a raven in a cemetery. It takes me many terrified seconds to register Sky astride the beast's back, no longer a bat and smiling with pride.

"Meet Guillotine," she says.

When I finally regain the ability to speak, the first words out of my mouth are a meek, "I take it that's your horse?"

Sky nods. "He's a Night Stallion. Got him when I was five. I wanted a girl, but the boys are way less expensive because they don't come with a pun." She holds out a hand. "Well?" she asks. "You coming?"

"Am I coming?" I repeat, standing up. "For the last time, we can't go down there right now!"

"I thought you said this bracelet was important."

"It is, but... but..."

"Listen, I'm not forcing you, okay? It's your choice to make."

Another standoff. Her eyes really know how to dig under a person's skin, but I'm unsure what she plans to do once under there. At this moment, I can't help remembering all the horrible things I've seen and heard monsters do. They've hurt my subjects, my birth parents, my oldest friend. And here's one claiming she wants to help me. Does she really? I search her face, her eyes, for that same deceit she'd searched for in mine. But it's a lot harder to know what's true on this end. There's only one way to find out if she's for real, but can I take that chance?

I run my fingers over the little dents in the skin on my wrist. It feels so wrong, not having my bracelet on me. Even with all my jewels and crowns and platform heels, it's my greatest possession. I straighten my back.

"I'll go," I tell her.

Sky's eyes glitter with excitement. She holds me steady as I shakily climb behind her onto Guillotine's back. And with that, we take a stomach-dropping plunge before taking to the sky.

"What if we're caught?" I ask, wrapping my arms around her waist and wishing I had a seat belt. I press on her further for some semblance of stability, and my stomach lines with ice because hugging her feels like hugging a dead body. No warmth, no heartbeat, no breathing until she inhales only to reply:

"Then we'll get chewed out, maybe detention, and life'll go on."

"Detention?" I exclaim.

Sky chuckles, and the way her body jerks is very jarring compared to the absolute stillness she exhibits when silent. "Yeah, but odds are we won't get caught if I have anything to say."

"Why, do you have some kind of vampire cloaking powers?"

"Nope. I'm just really used to sneaking out."

#princess #vampire #catgirl #pegasus #magical school #magical girl oc #fantasy wip #fantasy story #princess starshine #skylar acdalur

0 notes

darksiders-scenarios · 7 years

Note

could you do something that involves the four horsemen's S/O being in a huge depressive slump, but then one day they catch their S/O humming a song to themselves?

I’m not sure if I answered this correctly.

@memesiders …reminds me of your relapse post and thought I’d kinda ‘dedicate’ this ask to you…

Death

You were gazing out of your bedroom window when he saw you. This was usually the time of day where he’d visit you, knowing that you’d be asleep by now. There wouldn’t be much in terms of conversation where he’d just sit cross-legged at the base of your bed whilst you slumbered. But today, he decided to wait at the entrance, leaning into the door frame and crossing his arms. You were leaning your elbows on the window sill and your body was slightly slumped. Death’s eyes softened as he took in your small frame, doused in the red twilight glow, no doubt fighting your internal battles. He understood this was something that you needed and you knew that he wouldn’t pry, something that you were grateful for. Gradually, the sky darkened until the first set of stars twinkled and the horseman decided that it was time to leave you to your privacy.

But a mysterious sound stopped him. It was low, almost imperceptible if not for his keen hearing. He glanced at the back of your head when it carried on and he realised that you were humming. There were sadness and grief laced in the wordless melody and Death felt the soft notes touch him deeply, reaching and searching for something dormant in him until it brought forth echoing memories from a distant past. He allowed his eyelids to droop and before long, he was also humming a tune of his own, one that he had used plenty of times to his much younger siblings. When he opened his eyes, he noticed that you were staring at him with raised eyebrows. In response, he only smiled at you before proceeding to sit at the base of your bed like every night. But just before he shut his eyes, you saw the touch of melancholy that swam in them.

War

He was sharpening Chaoseater with a whetstone when the sounds of your humming reached his ears. At first, he thought that it might’ve been a bird but when he recognised the voice to be yours, he got up and searched for you. It’s not that he was interested in your melody but he knew enough that humming in the human race was something closely related to an expression of happiness. Something he believed that he had failed to provide you.

When he located you, you were lying on your back in the meadow grass, your face was turned up to the rosy dawn skies above. One hand was placed over your heart as you carried on with the wordless tune, absently drawing circles in the air in front of you with the other. Despite himself, War felt a distant ache in his chest the longer he listened to you. There was something childlike, almost innocent and pure from the way your lips formed the dulcet tunes. There was a deep longing in your voice but a trace of happiness could also be heard. The rest of the daybreak passed with him kneeling behind you, letting the tuneless melody drift over him, as soft as autumn leaves swaying in the breeze. He decided that it was better than sparring in the early mornings.

Strife

You were sat in one corner of your room, your back pressed against the cold concrete wall as you hummed, unsuspecting of your horseman ‘roommate’ listening outside your door. Lately, he had been cautious of just barging in your room and has resorted to politely knocking on your door; a trait you never thought would be possible from the normally crass horseman. You guessed that it stemmed from your declining mood and your constant insistence for privacy.

For the first time, Strife had no intention of disturbing you as he closed his eyes and soaked in the sound of your voice. He didn’t know why you were singing but if it made you happy then it was a feat for him. A feat, because they were not your cries and wails he was listening to this time. It didn’t matter whether it was tuneless or that you were humming the same three notes over and over. He wanted to savour each and every note, but most of all, he wanted to savour the sensation of your small body as he finally clicked open your door, before striding over to you and wrapping you in a bear hug.

Fury

At first, she thought that you were in distress when she heard your tiny voice mingle with the splashing water in your shower. You seemed so engrossed in your melody that you didn’t hear her opening and closing the door as she entered. When she realised that you were not in danger, she stared at your silhouette behind the curtains as you carried on humming. Immediately, she felt pleased that you were using a self-soothing mechanism to cope with your low moods. She remembered the many times she’d listen to your sobs when you locked yourself in the bathroom and all she could do would listen in defeat as you despaired alone. But today she felt herself smile when she heard the little bits of joy bubbling from your unconscious utterances, the gentle notes blending nicely with the running water of your shower.

The moment you stepped out, your face flushed with embarrassment and mortification although Fury had already lowered her gaze before wrapping you in a towel. Then she embraced you. Stroking your dripping wet hair, she murmured that your humming was more beautiful than the softest of angels’ hymns.

#darksiders #darksiders 2 #imagine #death #war #fury #strife #depression

54 notes · View notes

auskultu · 7 years

Text

Leonard Cohen: Beautiful Creep

Richard Goldstein, The Village Voice, 28 December 1967

And the child on whose shoulders I stand   whose longing I purged  with public, kingly discipline  today I bring him back   to languish forever,  not in confession or biography,   but where he flourished   growing sly and hairy   — Leonard Cohen (‘The Spice Box of Earth’)

AN ELEVATOR man with hairy hands grumbles “shit,” as he takes me up. It is a massive mid-town hotel, in steep decline. The corridors are long and lit occasionally, like a cardboard coal mine. Humid ladies in black lace seem to peer from every transom, and old men with their backs turned lurk in every shadowy corner. There is a smell of stale cigars, or is it piss? I knock politely on a wafer-thin door, and wait.

Finally it opens, and Leonard Cohen, Canada’s most acclaimed young poet and novelist, offers a seat and some coffee. He has been listening to a tape of the half-completed album on which he will soon make his debut as a pop star (a year ago that would have given even me pause, but not today, when Leonard Bernstein picks the hits and the Partisan Review talks about “Learning from the Beatles”). His verse—collected in slim volumes perfect for pressing roses—so unabashedly romantic that it sits among my New Directions paperbacks like some later day Ossian from the North.

With Annie gone   whose eyes to compare   with the morning sun.  Not that I did compare,  but I do   now that she’s gone.  — ‘For Annie’

No wonder Allen Ginsberg huffed out of a meeting with Leonard Cohen muttering, “This place looks like a ballet set.” There is a sinewy quality to those muscular images as they stretch across a page. There is a shameless agility to those leaps and conceits, which seems ethereal next to the boog-a-loo of modern verse.

But Leonard Cohen is a Visceral Romantic and he can hit you unawares because his emotions are recollected with anything but tranquility. He suffers gloriously in every couplet. Even his moments of ecstasy seem predicated on hours of refined despair. Leonard does not rant: he whispers hell and you must strain to hear his agony.

The fact is, I’m turning to gold, turning to gold.  It’s a long process, they say it happens in stages.   This is to inform you that I’ve already turned to clay.  — ‘The Cuckold’s Song’

Today, he faces me across a hotel room with the sun shining second hand in the windows down the block. The drapes are as florid as his verse. In fact, the room could be the set for most of his poems. The bedspread is faded, and you can hear the toilet. Atop the bureau is a seashell ashtray, embossed with Miami palm trees. To this pasteboard Chappaqua, Leonard Cohen has added only a Madonna decal for the mirror, and a terrible cold.

His front pockets bulge with tissues and Sucrets. The cold seems appropriate; his nose aches to be filled anyway. It is a huge nose, etched by some melancholy woodcarver into the hollows of his cheeks. He wipes it and wheezes gently as we hear a tape of his song, ‘Teachers’.

Though he claims he has always written with a typewriter for a guitar (“I sometimes see myself in the Court of Ferdinand, singing my songs to girls over a lute”), Leonard Cohen has been spending this past year or so creating lyrics with real melodies. He made his pop debut recently as Judy Collins’ beautiful person. Her choice was inspired; Leonard Cohen has written her best material—songs of love and torment powerful enough to be fairy tales.

And just when you mean to tell her  That you have no love to give her  Then she gets you on her wave length  And she lets the river answer  That you’ve always been her lover.  And you want to travel with her  And you want to travel blind  And you know that she will trust you  For you’ve touched her perfect body with your mind.  — ‘Suzanne’

“I think my album is going to be very spotty and undistinguished,” he says in greeting. His eyes sag like two worn breasts. “I blame this on my total unfamiliarity with the recording studio. They tried to make my songs into music. I got put down all the time.” He sits back on his bed, folds his hands in his lap, and lets his voice fade into an echo of itself: “It was a continual struggle… continual… they wanted to put me in bags. I thought I was going to… crack up.”

He is modestly addicted to cracking up. References to breakdowns past and future dot his conversation. He seems to judge periods in his life by his failure to cope with them. His favorite words—or those he uses most frequently—are “wiped out” and “bewildered.”

“When you get wiped out—and it does happen in one’s life—that’s the moment… the REAL moment. Around 30 or 35 is the traditional age for the suicide of the poet, did you know that?” (You look around for razors, pills, sharp edges, or easy plunges.) “That’s the age when you finally understand that the universe does not succumb to your command.”

That moment magnified into theme, is the chief concern of his major novel, Beautiful Losers. It is a multisexual love story, ecstatically, lyric like his poems, but deeply committed as prose to expressing its theme through an accumulation of detail. Its protagonist, a petty researcher, is victimized by the love of his wife and of his best friend. They control his life: soothe him, fuck him, teach him, cuckold him, and ultimately destroy him. Their triangle, joined on all sides, is further complicated by Catherine Tekakwitha, an Indian saint who fixes herself in the protagonist’s consciousness as an extension of his wife (also an Indian) and his own suffering. Martyred by the suicides of both his lover-tormentors, our hero is left to ponder the moral of Catherine’s life: suffering is madness, but it is also the sacred ground where Man encounters God. Somehow, we are all fated to walk that ground, is Leonard Cohen’s message. To embrace that agony of communion is to live with grace.

It begins with your family But soon it comes round to your soul.  Well, I’ve been where you’re hanging  I think I can see where you’re pinned  When you’re not feeling holy  Your loneliness says that you’ve sinned.  — ‘Sisters of Mercy’

He was born in Montreal, to a wealthy Jewish family. “I had a very Messianic childhood,” he recalls. “I was told I was a descendent of Aaron, the high priest. My parents actually thought we were Cohenim—the real thing. I was expected to grow into manhood leading other men.”

He led himself through McGill, where he studied literature with Oxonian aplomb. A professor published a volume of his poetry on the University press, and Leonard Cohen became a writer. It was, he insists, “as accidental as that.” Because if he had had a choice, he would have become a revolutionary. But he approached radicalism with a bad cold, and a thorough knowledge of the Tonette. Though the Montreal Communists fascinated him with their paranoia and their certainty, he was less than embraced by his chosen confreres. “They saw me as a symbol of the decline of the enemy,” he recalls. “I never had that heroic revolutionary look. There was a certain openshirted quality I could never duplicate, I always looked different, maybe because my folks owned a clothing factory.”

Today, he wears poet’s gray, and a soft worker’s hat hangs on his closet door. He is getting old; the trousers of his cuffs are automatically rolled. He watches you jot that down in the middle of a point about politics and you wonder if he knows you plan to use it.

“I’m not a writer coming to music in the twilight of his youth,” he says suddenly. You look up. He begins to discuss the rock scene, then and now. Once, he thought Elvis Presley the first American singer of genius. Once, he played a Ray Charles record till it warped in the sun. Once, he thought of himself as Bob Dylan’s ancestor. “It wasn’t his originality which first impressed me, but his familiarity. He was like a person out of my books, singing to the real guitar. Dylan was what I’d always meant by the poet—someone about whom the word was never used.”

Until a short time ago, Leonard Cohen had never heard Dylan. He has spent much of the past seven years in a cottage on Hydra, Greece. He still returns there regularly for replenishment, the way F. Scott Fitzgerald’s heroes should have gone back to the Midwest. It keeps him from making too many scenes outside himself; that seems to be the scene he can make best.

Anyhow, you fed her five MacKewan Ales   took her to your room, put the right records on,   and in an hour or two it was done.   I know all about passion and honor  but unfortunately, this had really nothing to do with either:   Oh, there was passion I’m only too sure   And even a little honor  but the important thing was to cuckold Leonard Cohen  I like that line because it’s got my name in it.  — ‘The Cuckold’s Song’

“I wrote ‘Beautiful Losers’ on Hydra, when I’d thought of myself as a loser, financially, morally, as a lover, and a man. I was wiped out; I didn’t like my life. I vowed I would just fill the pages with black or kill myself. After the book was over, I fasted for ten days and flipped out completely. It was my wildest trip. I hallucinated for a week. They took me to a hospital in Hydra. One afternoon, the whole sky was black with storks. They alighted on all the churches and left in the morning… and I was better. Then, I decided to go to Nashville and become a song writer.”

He came to New York instead, thanks to a lady who is now his manager. And here he is—slaving over the songs he calls “Eastern Country laments,” trying to make them sound the way they read. Things are happening for Leonard Cohen. ‘Suzanne’, his best known lyric, made the charts on a vacuous cover version by Noel Harrison. Two recent compositions appear on the latest Judy Collins album. And Buffy Sainte Marie will include selections from Beautiful Losers on her next LP. Sometimes the two visit Saint Patrick’s, where there is a bas relief of St. Catherine on one of the Cathedral doors. Buffy puts daisies in the statue’s hair. “She sees the suffering in Catherine,” he explains. “She feels the thumping on the sky.”

If his forthcoming album is a good one, Leonard Cohen may well become one of history’s odder choices for pop stardom. But the men we deem to worship are never ordinary; that is the one passion they must guard against. If the time is ripe for a guru with a cold in the ego, Leonard Cohen’s modest agony will stand him in good stead.

“My songs are strangely romantic,” he admits, “but so are the kids. I somehow feel that I have always waited for this generation.” He pulls out a letter from a young girl who wonders over his unremitting despair. He frightens her because she senses that he has achieved an understanding of life, but he is sad despite it. She prays that the comprehension she seeks will not bring her such misery. She prays for him, and for herself, that he is really blind. And she ends by calling Leonard Cohen a “beautiful creep.”

Real tears form in the corners of his eyes, but modestly, they do not flow. He sighs for real. “That’s what I am—a beautiful creep.” He excuses himself and you grab for the letter when he is gone. That too is real.

Beautiful creep! You can’t help hearing him in the toilet; he pisses in quick panting spurts. You want to put him to bed with hot milk and butter, turn up the vaporizer, and kiss him good night.

And you want to travel with him   And you want to travel blind   And you think maybe you’ll trust him  For he’s touched your perfect body with his mind.  — ‘Suzanne’

#Leonard cohen #poetry #folk #singer songwriter #1967 #1960s #sixties #60s

10 notes · View notes

placetobenation · 4 years

Link

Mulan

Release Date: June 19th, 1998

Inspiration: The legend of Hua Mulan

Budget: $90 million

Domestic Gross: $120.6 million

Worldwide Gross: $304.3 million

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%

IMDB Score: 7.6/10

Storyline (per IMDB): This retelling of the old Chinese folktale is about the story of a young Chinese maiden who learns that her weakened and lame father is to be called up into the army in order to fight the invading Huns. Knowing that he would never survive the rigours of war in his state, she decides to disguise herself and join in his place. Unknown to her, her ancestors are aware of this and to prevent it, they order a tiny disgraced dragon, Mushu to join her in order to force her to abandon her plan. He agrees, but when he meets Mulan, he learns that she cannot be dissuaded and so decides to help her in the perilous times ahead.

Pre-Watching Thoughts: We continue on through the 1990s with another film that was solid when it first came out and has since been seen as another very underrated film in the Disney canon. This is one of those films that I have always had an interest in seeing especially with the live action film about to come out at some point, and after the last few films have pleasantly surprised me I am hoping that this one does the same. The Disney Renaissance has been on quite the roll since the decade started and hopefully it ends up finishing on a strong note.

Voice Cast: As we continue on through the 1990s, we once again have a predominantly new cast for this film while we only have a handful of actors returning for this film. We begin with the returning actors as June Foray returns to voice Grandmother Fa in one of her last roles with Disney, and then we have Frank Welker who voices numerous characters like Cri-Kee and the horse Khan while we finally have Mary Kay Bergman who voices the various ancestors in her last Disney film appearance. Moving onto the new actors, we have Ming-Na Wan who voices Mulan in arguably her biggest film role, and we also have the return of Lea Salonga who provides the singing voice for Mulan. We then have legendary actor Eddie Murphy who voices Mushu the dragon though he would voice a more memorable character in a few years, and then we have BD Wong who voices General Li Shang with Donny Osmond providing the singing voice in a memorable role. Next, we have Miguel Ferrer who voices Shan Yu in one of his only voice acting roles and perhaps his most memorable, and then we have Mami Nixon who provides the singing voice for Grandmother Fa in one of the last roles of her career. We then have the trio of Harvey Fierstein, Gedde Watanabe, and Jerry Tondo who voice Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po respectively with Matthew Wilder providing the singing voice for Ling, and then we have James Hong who voices Chi-Fu as it was in the midst of the prime of his career. Next, we have Soon-Tek Oh who voices Fa Zhou as he was in the twilight of his career, and then we have the legendary Pat Morita who voices the Emperor though he will forever be remembered as Mr. Miyagi from the Karate Kid. We then have George Takei who voices the main Ancestor though he is best remembered for being Mr. Sulu in Star Trek, and then we have Miriam Margolyes who voices the Matchmaker in a minor role. Next, we have Freda Foh Shen who voices Fa Li in one of her more memorable roles, and then we have James Shigeta who voices General Li in one of the last roles of his career and then we have Chris Sanders who voices Little Brother the dog as he also was involved in the writing of the screenplay. Finally, we have the pair of Rodger Bumpass and Richard Steven Horvitz who voice several additional characters that are uncredited, and it was wise that the majority of the cast was of Chinese descent and made things more authentic for the film.

Hero/Prince: This is pretty interesting in that the true hero of the film will be highlighted in a different category, but I feel we do have to talk about one of the other heroes in the film and that is Captain Li Shang. He is the son of General Li and assigned to train the new recruits to the arm which includes Mulan in disguise, and despite some early setbacks the recruits prove themselves to be capable of war. He is given a false order by Mushu posing as Li to follow the main army through the mountains, but they come upon a destroyed encampment and Shang learns that his father and the army have been massacred. The Huns ambush them in the mountains and Mulan causes an avalanche to bury them, and she also saves Shang from death though her cover is blown and Shang spares her life though expels her from the army. He arrives to the Imperial City though the Huns reveal they have survived and they capture the Emperor, and Shang teams up with Mulan and the other recruits as they rescue the Emperor and then Shang battles Shan Yu who nearly kills him until Mulan saves him. Mulan leads Shan Yu to his death and is honored by the Emperor though she returns home while the Emperor tells Shang she is special, and he follows her to her home under the pretext of returning her helmet and she invites him to stay for dinner. Shang is a typical young leader looking to stake his claim in the army while also making his father proud of him, and he becomes infatuated with Mulan though he is unaware she is a woman until after she is injured. He is disheartened by this coupled with the death of his father though she regains his trust when she helps him save the Emperor, and in the end he realizes that he has feelings for Mulan as he travels all the way to her home to see her again. While he won’t rank as high as the other heroes because he is not the main hero of the film, he is still a solid enough hero for the film.

Princess: As mentioned, the hero of the film actually belongs in this category which is ironic since she is also not officially a princess either, but she still plays the biggest role in the film and that is of course Fa Mulan. She is being prepared by her family to become a wife though she continuously fails due to her clumsiness and she believes to be a disgrace, and when she learns her father is to be drafted back into the army she takes his place to save him. She meets up with the new recruits under the name Ping and struggles at first with Captain Shang along with the other recruits, but she proves herself formidable and earns their trust. As the army heads through the mountains, they are ambushed by the Huns and a battle ensues as Mulan uses a rocket to cause an avalanche and bury the Huns, but she is attacked by Shan Yu who is buried as well and she saves Shang from falling off a cliff. While she is tended to, her real identity is revealed and Chi-Fu tells Shang that she must be executed per the law, but he declines because she saved his life though he does expel her from the army. She prepares to return home though realizes the Huns have survived and she heads to the Imperial City to warn everyone, but Shang refuses to believe her though she is proven right when Shan Yu and the Huns kidnap the Emperor. She works with Shang and the recruits to save the Emperor and Shan Yu recognizes her from the mountains, and he stalks her to the roof only for Mushu and Cri-Kee to create a giant rocket that sends Shan Yu into a tower of fireworks which kills him. Despite everything that has happened, the Emperor bestows upon her Shan Yu’s sword and the Emperor’s crest while offering her a position as an advisor, but she declines and returns home to her family though Shang follows her and she invites him to stay for dinner. Mulan is a unique princess in that she is not unlike women in that she means well and wants to bring honor to her family, she has trouble fitting in and is seen as an outcast even within her own family to the point that she sneaks into the army dressed as a man to save her father. She eventually becomes a trained warrior until her deception is revealed and she feels she let everyone down again, but she turns it around and helps save China from the Huns to the point that everyone bows to her in an unprecedented honor. Unlike the other princesses in the canon, she has proven herself to be brave, strong, and independent as she is the hero in the end, and it will be interesting to see how she ranks amongst the other princesses.

Villain: As I have mentioned, we have been on a really good run of some solid villains in the Disney canon and we will see if that trend continues here as we have the leader of the Huns in Shan Yu. He leads the Huns past the Great Wall of China and they begin their invasion of China, and they traverse the mountains and ambush General Li’s army as they massacre them and destroy the village they are staying in. Captain Shang leads his recruits through the mountains and the Huns ambush them though Mulan shoots off a rocket to cause an avalanche, and Shan Yu attacks them only to be buried under the snow along with the other Huns. They manage to survive the avalanche and reach the Imperial City where they capture the Emperor, but Mulan, Shang, and the recruits overcome the Huns and rescue the Emperor as Shang battles Shan Yu. He overpowers Shang until Mulan taunts him by reminding him that she was the one he attacked, and he chases her to the roof of the palace where she outsmarts him by taking his sword from him. She traps him on the roof while Mushu launches a rocket at him and he is shot into a tower of rockets which ultimately kills him. Shan Yu is about as generic of a villain as you can get as his lone goal is to lead the Huns in the conquest of China, and he is merciless and ruthless by having General Li’s entire army killed and a whole village destroyed. He feels that he is superior and threatens the kill the Emperor when he refuses to bow to him, but he is outsmarted by Mulan which leads to his defeat and death. While he is not quite as memorable as the villains from the Disney Renaissance, he is still a pretty solid villain though he probably won’t rank as high as some of the other villains.

Other Characters: Much like the last couple of films that we’ve had, we have a solid number of characters to fill out the film though once again only a handful of them are more important than others. Starting off the list of other characters, we have the dragon Mushu who is a disgraced guardian and he is tasked by the ancestors to awaken the stone dragon to protect Mulan, but he accidentally destroys it though he covers it up and seeks to protect Mulan himself. He does his best to help Mulan train and at one point creates a fake order to see her succeed, but he inadvertently leads them to the destroyed encampment where they find the main army has been killed. He stays by Mulan’s side even after she is expelled though he becomes disenfranchised and reveals his secret to Mulan, and then they head to the Imperial City where Mushu creates a rocket that sends Shan Yu into the tower of rockets. When Mulan returns to her home, he is restored as a guardian by the ancestors much to the First Ancestor’s chagrin. We then have the bug Cri-Kee who is believed to bring luck to the Fa Family and he stays by Mulan’s side throughout the whole journey, and then we have the recruits for the army led by Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po who are hostile to Mulan at first though they grow to respect her and they become friends. They assist Mulan by dressing up as concubines and taking out the Huns so they can save the Emperor and they remain friends with Mulan when she leaves, and then we have the Emperor’s advisor Chi-Fu who keeps record of Shang’s training of the recruits. After they discover that Mulan is a woman, he is insistent that she be executed per the law though Shang refuses and instead expels her, and after Shan Yu is killed he tries to confront Mulan only for the Emperor to offer her his position which causes him to faint though she declines. We then have Mulan’s family including her father Fa Zhou, her mother Fa Li, and her Grandmother Fa who try to make Mulan into what they want her to be, and when it is decreed that one man from each family must join the army Fa Zhou intends to re-enlist though Mulan ends up taking his place much to their chagrin. Next, we have what Mulan calls Little Brother which is actually the pet dog who Mulan enlists to help her feed the chickens, and then we have the Emperor who decrees that a man from every family must join the army to combat the Huns. When the Huns reach the Imperial City and kidnap the Emperor, Mulan and her friends save him while taking out the Huns and the Emperor offers her the sword of Shan Yu and the crest of the Emperor while also offering her a position as advisor which she declines. We then have the Matchmaker who tries to mold Mulan into a suitable concubine though is left frustrated when Mulan messes things up, and finally we have the Ancestors who summon Mushu to awaken the stone dragon to protect Mulan though he breaks it and Mushu lies to the Ancestors as he goes to protect Mulan. After Mulan saves China and returns home, the Ancestors recognize Mushu as a guardian again and celebrate Mulan’s victory. It is interesting that there are this many supporting characters though most of them we only see a few times while others play a bigger role, and we will see how things continue to go as we move onto the next decade.

Songs: Since the Disney Renaissance started, the films had been created to resemble Broadway musicals and they have added an extra layer to them as well as leave great moments, but it seemed to be that the formula was starting to wear a bit thin starting with this film. Unlike the previous films which had at least five or more songs throughout the film, we only have four songs in this film though this is the type of film that wouldn’t have worked as well as a full musical film like its predecessors. The first song in the film is the song “Honor to Us All” sung by Mulan, her mother, and her grandmother as they work to make Mulan a worthy concubine in a solid song, and then we have one of the trademark songs of the film “Reflection” which Mulan sings as she laments on her life in a pretty powerful ballad. We then have the other trademark song “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” sung by Captain Shang while training the new recruits in a pretty memorable sequence, and finally we have “A Girl Worth Fighting For” that the recruits sing as they dream about the concubines they will get after winning the world in a fun song. As usual, we have the pop singles for the soundtrack as well as we have “True to Your Heart” sung by 98 Degrees and Stevie Wonder, and of course we have the pop version of “Reflection” sung by Christina Aguilera as she was about to launch her career. While these songs were good and worked well for the film, it will be interesting to see what direction Disney decides to go as we come to the end of the decade.

Plot: For the third time in four films, we have a film that is based on a historical legend as we first had Pocahontas who we know existed in real life, then we have Hercules who we believe had existed in real life and now we have Mulan who is believed to have actually never existed. Known in lore as Hua Mulan, she is still one of the more beloved figures in Chinese lore even though she was in essence a character created for a ballad though her legend grew to such lengths that I’m sure many think she did exist at some point. In the plot of the film, Mulan struggles to bring honor to her family when an edict is issued that one man from each family must join the army to combat the invasion of Shan Yu and the Huns, and Mulan decides to disguise herself as a man and takes her father’s place as part of the recruits. Aided by the disgraced guardian Mushu and her cricket Cri-Kee, she joins Captain Li Shang’s unit and is trained alongside other green recruits who are cold to her at first though they become friends, and they traverse the mountains where they discover the main unit has been massacred by the Huns which includes Shang’s father. They are ambushed by the Huns and they fight back as Mulan uses a rocket to cause an avalanche and bury the Huns, and she is injured by Shan Yu and also saves Shang from falling off a cliff though they discover that she is not a man. Instead of executing her per the law, Shang spares her due to her saving him though he expels her from the army and they continue to the Imperial City, and Mulan prepares to return home though she discovers the Huns have survived and are headed to the City. She arrives and tries to warn of the danger though no one believes her and the Huns spring an ambush as they kidnap the Emperor, and Mulan works together with Shang and the recruits as they defeat the Huns and save the Emperor. Mulan and Shang battle Shan Yu as he discovers Mulan was the solider that caused the avalanche, and he chases her onto the roof only for Mushu and Cri-Kee to create a giant rocket that sends Shan Yu into a tower of rockets which kills him. Mulan is recognized by the Emperor for her heroism and he offers her a position as an advisor though she declines so she can return home, and she is given the sword of Shan Yu and the Crest of the Emperor as gifts. She returns home though Shang follows her on the pretense of returning her helmet though he is invited to stay for dinner while Mushu is reinstated as a guardian. While the film does take some liberties with the ballad which is usually common for a film that is geared towards children, it does a fine job in making Mulan a fine hero and princess as well as let more people know about her tale.

Random Watching Thoughts: The time period that this film is set is unsure given that the legend sets her in either Northern Wei or Qing, but it had to be sometime when the Great Wall was built; I know it’s dark out, but wouldn’t the guards be more aware that the giant army of Huns was approaching them?; The guard was so proud that he was able to light the fires though he was about to be killed anyway; A single grain of rice can tip the scale; You’ve heard of kids writing notes on their hand, well Mulan takes it a step further by writing notes on her arm; It is funny that Mulan calls the dog her “little brother”; Honestly, I don’t think that a dog pulling a bag of feed around the yard is the most efficient way to feed the chickens; Fa Zhou is trying so hard to pray only for the chickens to interrupt him; That did take quite a bit of luck for Grandmother Fa not to get hurt like that; How did her notes not get washed off so easily?; Cri-Kee was so reluctant to help; Reflect before you snack, true advice we can all live by; How did the Matchmaker not realize that she had ink on her hand?; It doesn’t help Mulan when the Matchmaker makes a perfect mustache and beard combo with the ink on her hand; Cri-Kee was feeling good relaxing in that tea; Mulan should’ve known that when there’s a fire, you can’t fan the flames because that’ll make it worse; Grandmother Fa is so optimistic; I have to say that “Reflection” is one of those unheralded songs you don’t hear enough about; You have to give Fa Zhou credit for being willing to fight even though he is likely to be killed; That didn’t take long for them to find out that Mulan had left and taken Fa Zhou’s place; Clearly, Mushu is bitter about being demoted; Those two Ancestors looked like the American Gothic painting; Fa Deng was beheaded in real life and now he has to spend his days as a specter with his head still separated from his body; He knocks the ear off and it leads to the entire statue being destroyed; Those scouts didn’t do a good job staying hidden from the Huns; I wonder if Shan Yu was supposed to be similar to Genghis Khan, but they had to create a new character since Genghis Khan never lost a battle in his life; Mulan had nothing nearby to throw at Khan so she had to use her shoe; Mushu goes through this grand entrance and all he gets for it is a stomping from Khan; To be fair, Mushu did deserve to get slapped when he said he could see through Mulan’s armor; That guy actually went so far as to get a dragon tattoo on his chest; Of course the biggest one would be the most passive one; I feel bad for that chef having his precious rice stew knocked over like that; The way that Chi-Fu was acting almost made you think that he was going to be revealed as a spy for the Huns; Shang is so confident that his troops would be the best and he comes out of his tent to see a wild brawl between the troops; Even after seeing the scene, General Li is still sure that Shang will get the job done; Yao had to get one last punch in; Fa Zhou must’ve been a great warrior in the army if they are astonished to learn he had a son they didn’t know about; I think Mushu should’ve let Cri-Kee know that he was going to use him as an alarm clock; Sleeping Beauty reference; Mushu would be the kind of dragon that would have bunny slippers; Chi-Fu tells them to be in order and they ask for food; That couldn’t be good for Yao’s teeth; If you ask many people what they remember most about this film, I guarantee they will say “I’ll Make a Man Out of You”; Of all the tents that rocket had to it, it would be Chi-Fu’s; It is funny how in the span of a song and a montage that all the recruits went from being completely inept to fully trained warriors; I didn’t think they had corn chips in ancient China; Mushu not being subtle at all saying there are many things the men will notice if they see Mulan in the water; Chien-Po dips his toe in the water to test the temperature before doing a full cannonball in; Ling hasn’t seen many dragons if he thinks Mushu is a snake; Mushu even has a toothbrush with toothpaste; In Mulan’s defense, Chi-Fu could use a good punch in the face; Chi-Fu actually carries a picture of himself and the Emperor wherever he goes; Cri-Kee writing on the paper and making sounds like a typewriter; Does Mushu need the potpourri that bad?; Where did they find a panda?; The cattle were like “say what?”; The men were so excited to have a girl back home after they win the war; Mushu created a fake order for them to join the army only to find out that if he did it earlier, they maybe could’ve saved them; Mushu threw Cri-Kee under the bus quickly; How did none of the earlier rockets cause an avalanche yet the one that Mulan fires into the mountain is the one that causes it?; Yao must have really good vision if he only has one eye; Chien-Po comes over and just casually carries everyone back so they can pull Mulan and Shang to safety; I just noticed that the medical tent had a white patch with a red dot similar to the Japanese flag; Chi-Fu has no mercy on Mulan even though she is wounded; It’s a good thing that Mulan didn’t leave earlier and was able to notice the Huns survived the avalanche; They put together quite the celebration in such a short time; So I looked it up and China refers to itself as “The Middle Kingdom” because they believed to be at the center of the world; The Huns got their fairly quickly to be able to disguise themselves in such record time; They were way too willing to be dressed up like women; Mongolian barbecue; The Emperor just casually walks away while Shang battles with Shan Yu; Mulan still throwing her shoe at people; It’s never a good idea to say you’re making the plan up as you go in such a situation like this; Mushu looking a bit like Batman; The fan is mightier than the sword; Talk about a grand finale; The Emperor lists all the bad things Mulan has done yet is grateful that she saved everyone that he bows to her out of respect; Chi-Fu wanted nothing to do with Mulan so the Emperor was willing to give her his position; That awkward moment between Mulan and Shang before she leaves; The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful flower of all; Basically, the Emperor is telling Shang not to let Mulan get away from him; Mulan desperately presents the gifts to her father thinking she has shamed him when he couldn’t be more proud of her; Mulan comes home a war hero and Grandmother Fa is upset she doesn’t have a man; The Ancestor was so reluctant to admit that Mushu did a great job and was worthy of becoming a guardian again; The Ancestors were earlier so critical of Mulan when she left and now they claimed they knew all along she would be a hero; Technically, Mushu shouldn’t be to blame for the dog and chickens getting into the party; Still crazy to think that it was a song from this film is what was the launching pad for Christina Aguilera.

Overall Thoughts: Overall, this film was a pretty solid film and I enjoyed it slightly more than Hercules, but it was still a slight notch before Hunchback and obviously not on the level of the top films from the Disney Renaissance. Having never seen any of these films when they first came out and only seeing them for the first time now over 20 years later, I am amazed how well these films have held up and I realize that I missed out on seeing them when they first came out. Again, these last few films aren’t as good as the films from earlier in the decade, but they still hold up very well against some of the other films from earlier in the canon. We only have one film left in the 1990s and what many consider the end of the Renaissance, so we will see if that film holds up like these ones and if the decade ends on a high note. As for this film, it is a pretty good film and one that I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would.

Final Grade: 7.5/10

#IFTTT #Place to Be Nation

0 notes