#torch is a different pitch he sings in sometimes

[synesthete-sylke]

based on a song by gideon with the same name!

gave me far too much brainrot. deck building dungeon crawling treasure hunting, collect 'em all ways point to the strategist fumbling babeyyy

colors based on what i see for the song! finally living up to my username :b

[redorich]

Eventually the Hermits get their hands on the one shulker box. They give it back a day later, filled with goodies as an apology for stealing, because they just needed it briefly so Doc could set up a shulker box duplicator.

(2/2) To expand on the shulker box ask I sent: It's cheating. They know it's cheating. They debate for a while over wether or not they should build it. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and dammit they need shulkers. Mules and Llamas can only get them so far.

---

(this takes place before the fic where puffy finds zedaph.)

---

The Hermits put up with mule highways and caravans of spitting llamas because they think they have no choice. At least one person complains about the lack of sophisticated storage transportation daily. Mumbo tries to create a system which will ferry items between bases, but it turns out to be more of a Rube Goldberg machine than anything, considering the items only travel at the speed of the water which carries them. Zedaph creates an actual Rube Goldberg machine for item transportation, but the only people who use it are himself and his neighbors, Impulse, False, and Tango. It’s more for prank transportation and snail mail anyway.

Things change when Stress, on a covert surface run, comes a bit too close to other humans on accident and catches sight of a blond man in a hoodie furtively checking his surroundings. Stress immediately does as she’s been trained, hiding herself behind tree cover and checking how long her invisibility potion will be in effect for. It says four minutes. As long as he leaves soon, she won’t have an issue.

The man surveys the muddy clearing with a keen eye, keeping watch for any evildoing interlopers. He places down an Ender chest, reaches his hands into it, then looks around once again to make sure no one’s there. Stress’s heart beats like a drum-- not the style of drums she usually plays, but rather the percussion of one of Xisuma’s favorite black metal bands. As the man’s gaze passes right over her, she feels the machine gun fire of her heart against her chest peak, breath catching in her throat.

He doesn’t see her. Quickly, he pulls something out of the Ender chest. A shulker box!

Stress’s breath stops for an entirely different reason. The things the Hermits could do with even one shulker box..! Item dupers are a thing, right? If anyone knows how to make an item duplication machine, it would be Doc. And a shulker box might be useful for an item duping machine! 

She’s getting ahead of herself. Should she steal from this person? Can she steal from this person? Even disregarding the moral dilemma, the members of the Dream SMP are fighters through and through. She’s got the advantage of surprise because she’s invisible and this man doesn’t know she’s here, but how long will that last? Even if she manages to take it, what if the blond man (Punz, she thinks is his name) kills her and takes the shulker box back from her?

As Stress weighs the risks and the rewards, she knows she’s running out of time. Punz breaks the shulker box. Right as he’s about to put it back in his Ender chest, Stress, who can see the window of opportunity closing, springs into panicked action.

She sprints right past Punz, hoping with every fiber of her being that her invisibility potion will be enough to save her. Snatching the box right out of Punz’s hands, Stress takes off running. Punz shouts, swinging his sword wildly at the air. He’s so close that a few strands of hair, just barely the tips, get sheared off of Stress’s fluffy mane and become visible as they flutter to the ground.

Punz’s eyes narrow, tracking the potion particles that he can just barely see. Unfortunately for him, the invisible thief takes off into the mob-infested forest. He gives chase, but the thief gains on him every time he has to stop to fight a mob.

Stress knows she can’t outrun Punz. She’s not bad, but he’s really good. Stress absolutely cannot lead this man back to the canyon. Allowing the hostile mobs of the forest to buy her time by slowing Punz down, Stress looks around rapidly, searching for something, anything she can do to lose the hunter on her trail.

A lone cow catches her eye. Thinking fast, she bites her lip as she dumps her only water bucket out into a nearby pond where it won’t be noticed, then milks the cow. In the distance, a zombie groans as Punz takes it out. Stress hyperventilates, frantically digging at the ground beneath her feet with a silk touch shovel. Once she’s created a hole just barely big enough for her to hide in, she hops in and puts the grassy dirt she dug up just seconds ago above her head and immediately downs the milk, so that there won’t be any potion particles to track her by.

Slowly, carefully, and as quiet as she possibly can, she digs up the dirt beneath her feet in absolute darkness. Logically, Stress knows that Punz won’t be able to see the light from her torch, but she’s too terrified to think logically. What has she done?!

Her shovel stills as angry feet stomp above her. Dirt crumbles into her hair when Punz walks directly above her. Caustic mutters faintly reach her ears through the loamy earth, fading farther and farther away as Punz searches in vain for the invisible thief. Stress waits with bated breath for minutes on end, hands shaking like leaves in a hurricane. 

Tentatively, she digs up the diorite block below her with a pickaxe. A mob shifts aboveground and Stress, paralyzed with the paranoia that it might be Punz, spends another five minutes in immobile silence. Burying her face in her hands, she sucks in a breath and continues digging. Once she hits a decently low y-level, she digs forward, taking care to place all her blocks behind her exactly as they were before she mined them.

After a solid three hundred blocks, she begins to staircase back up. On one unfortunate swing of her pick, water floods into her staircase. She must be under a lake or a sea. She can make out some kelp, though, so hopefully that’ll be enough cover for her to go up and check her surroundings.

Stress takes a deep breath and plunges into the cold water. Swimming up, she catches sight of wood-- no way. There is no way she’s made it to the docks just outside of the canyon. Eagerly, she swims back down into her staircase for a breath of air and the chance to down an invisibility potion, then back up to the surface.

On the entire journey from the bottom of the sea to the elevator on the other side of the canyon, she expects someone to catch her, to notice the water she’s dripping on the ground, to somehow sense the guilt emanating off her in waves. It doesn’t happen. Stress makes it to the elevator and pushes the down button eagerly. Every foot the elevator descends down is another thousand pounds of weight off her shoulders. She’s exhausted, and so close to home base. If she can just make it into the Atrium, she’ll have succeeded.

The elevator dings, rousing Stress from her daydreaming. “I really am dead on my feet, ain’t I?” she murmurs to herself.

She makes her way into one of the village houses, avoiding the pressure plates and tripwires which she knows like the back of her hand by now. In the house, she presses a button, which opens a door which leads to a tunnel. Sagging in relief, Stress practically melts across the floor as she traverses the short tunnel and finally makes it into Atrium 1-- a large circular room with a rounded ceiling and plenty of light.

“Woah, Stress!” Ren exclaims, running to support her. The dark circles under his eyes make him look as exhausted as she feels. He’s been working round the clock at the tree farm to churn out enough wood to meet the demands of twenty-four Hermits.

“Stress?” Ren asks with concern in his eyes, gently shaking Stress’s shoulders.

She laughs, high-pitched and wild. She’s done it. She’s really gone and done it!

“I got a shulker box,” she breathes.

Ren gasps. “What?! No way, they’re not even a thing on this server!”

“Yes they are,” Stress sing-songs, “because I have one.”

She tosses him the cyan shulker box with a look of pride on her face. Ren looks at the box in his hands, then back up at Stress with wide eyes.

“We gotta go show Xisuma, my dude.”

---

The Hermits convene in the small meeting room in the residential district, then realize that the room is in fact small and twenty-four Hermits aren’t going to fit in it. Xisuma’s having a good day, so he decides to hold the meeting in Atrium 1.

There are many different opinions on the acquisition of the shulker box, which sits innocently in the center of the room. Some people like Wels believe that even if it’s a great boon, it was stolen and therefore the Hermits don’t have the right to use it. Things were different when they first arrived in the canyon; they stole small things in order to survive. A shulker is nice to have, but the Hermits won’t die without it. On the other hand, there are people who side with Grian, who believes that since the Hermits already have the shulker box, they might as well use it.

Doc rumbles a deep hm, indicating that he’s debating with himself whether he should say something or not. Finally, it seems that the side of him which wants to tell his fellow Hermits wins out.

“Have you guys considered shulker box duping?” he says. Immediately, there is a clamor of outcries, both for and against, as well as just plain disbelieving.

Tango speaks up: absolutely not. It’s cheating. False tentatively rebuts, though, that sometimes cheating is acceptable when it's for a good cause. After all, part of her season 7 base was dug out using TNT dupers. Mumbo awkwardly raises his hand and waits for someone to acknowledge him, which Grian does.

“Er… what if we give it back after we’re done with it?” Mumbo says. Tango still looks unhappy, but the idea seems to appease Wels.

“Friends,” Xisuma says softly. Everyone quiets down immediately. “Should we have a civil vote, or shall I decide?”

Immediately, everyone gets shamed into behaving. “We can vote,” Bdubs says. “Everyone in favor of not cheating?”

“Wait, what are our options?” Grian asks.

“Er,” Scar speaks up. “Keeping the box but not duping it, giving the box back, duping it then giving it back, or duping it and not giving the original back. Is that right?”

Bdubs nods. “Yeah! So, all in favor of keeping the one original box?” A few hands go up, maybe five or six.

“Giving the box back?” More hands go up.

“Duplicating the box, then giving it back?” Nearly a dozen hands go up.

“Well then,” Bdubs says, “I guess I don’t have to finish the options; dupe-and-return wins.”

Doc strides into the center of the room and mines up the shulker box before anyone can change their mind; Tango grumbles good-naturedly at having lost the vote. Meanwhile, while everyone discusses the vote, Joe ferries Xisuma off to his quarters.

“So who’s going to give the shulker box back when we’re done with it, my dudes?” Ren asks the room at large.

“I will,” Stress says immediately. “I stole it; it’s only right that I give it back.”

---

Two days later, Punz wakes up to a noise in his house. He reaches for a knife under his pillow; just because there is no one to be seen doesn’t mean that no one’s there, as Punz is well aware given the theft of his shulker box, which he is still smarting over.

He gets out of bed, treading softly. Right there, in the doorway, is the same shulker box he lost! He looks around. This has to be a trap. No one is around… Punz might as well spring this trap.

He opens the box. Nothing is missing. In fact, there are more items inside than there were when it was stolen from him! A totem of undying, four diamond blocks, two ingots of netherite, and a note which reads, Sorry I stole your box! I only needed to borrow it, but I felt bad so I left some extra goodies in. xoxo

“...Huh?” Punz says to himself. This is the weirdest prank ever.

He puts the box back into his Ender chest and resolves to think about it in the morning.

[kingstylesdaily]

Stevie Nicks Answers All Our Questions About Harry Styles

Of all the disciples to worship at the altar of Stevie Nicks, none have managed to capture the attention of rock’s reigning priestess quite like Harry Styles.

The 26-year-old rocker (who this week received three Grammy nominations) is the Gucci-clad poster boy carrying the torch for a bygone era of music history that the Fleetwood Mac frontwoman helped crystallize. Styles recently cited the group’s 1977 (and still charting) classic “Dreams” as one of the first songs he learned the words to growing up. Their friendship began in 2015 after the former One Direction member presented his idol with a hand-piped birthday cake after a Fleetwood Mac gig in London. (“Glad she liked carrot cake,” he later said.) The years since have seen the duo’s mutual affection blossom into one of pop culture’s most cherished bondings.

Last year, when Styles inducted Nicks into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, he proclaimed the 72-year-old “everything you’ve ever wanted in a lady, a lover, in a friend.” Nicks has gushed about him in interviews as everything from “the son she never had” to her “love child” with bandmate Mick Fleetwood. Styles earned her official seal of approval after covering “The Chain” every night of his first solo tour in support of a record that sounds closer to Crosby, Stills & Nash than anything he released under his prior band.

“Harry could’ve lost a lot of fans, but he didn’t,” Nicks recently told Vogue over the phone. “I’m so proud of him because he took a risk and didn’t go the One Direction route. He loves One Direction, I love One Direction, and a gazillion other people do too, but Harry didn’t wanna go the pop route. He wanted straight-up rock and roll circa 1975.”  

Nicks has been embracing some of the busiest years of her dual careers as both Fleetwood Mac frontwoman and solo sorceress—and doing so amid a global pandemic. Since she last performed with Styles at the Forum for his Fine Line release show in December, she’s released a 24 Karat Gold concert film and “Show Them the Way,” her politically minded single and first piece of original music in six years. After Miley Cyrus asked for Nicks’s blessing before releasing her “Edge of Seventeen”–tinged “Midnight Sky,” the two joined forces for an exhilarating new mash-up titled “Edge of Midnight.”

In honor of Styles making history as the magazine’s first solo cover boy, Nicks caught up with Vogue to answer all our questions about their cosmic connection. Currently beachside with her quarantine bubble in Hawaii, she’s been doing what one would expect Stevie Nicks to be up to during a pandemic: writing new music, dancing around her house to “Watermelon Sugar,” and “casting little spells.” As befitting rock’s foremost storyteller, our intended 30-minute chat turned into a two-hour confessional about her love of Styles, working with Cyrus for the first time, joining Fleetwood Mac, the president-elect Joe Biden, the Met Gala, betta fish funerals, and much more.

ksd note: edited to only include Q&A about Stevie and Harry!

Did you get a chance to look through Harry’s cover story yet?  

Right before I called you, I sat here and looked at all the pictures on my new iPad. What can I say? That’s my Harry. I think the thing that’s most wonderful about him—and I’ve told him this, and sometimes I think he takes it the wrong way—is that he’s such a kooky guy. He’s the type of person you’d wanna live next door to. He’d look out the window, see you having a hard time planting flowers, and rush out asking, “Can I help you with those roses?” “Sure, but you are Harry Styles, right?” That’s who he is.

I really only know him to a certain extent, but I have gotten to experience some big moments in his life, like when he released his first solo record at the Troubadour. I always think of Tom Petty saying, “So, you wanna be a rock star or you wanna be a pop star?” It’s two completely different things, and he really could have gone pop like his friend Zayn [Malik]. I was sorry that Zayn didn’t keep going more because I thought he was really good. But he took the pop route, which I think was right for him. Harry could’ve lost a lot of fans doing rock and roll, but he didn’t. Harry did a long tour with that first record and said, “I’m a different person now. I have a full-on rock band, and this is what I’m gonna do.” With many of my records, I’ll stuff down peoples’ throats until they like it, and that’s exactly what he did. Then he went away and wrote Fine Line, one of my favorite records.

What were your immediate thoughts listening to Fine Line for the first time?

Me and four of my friends sat with Harry in his living room  in London and listened to it a few times before it came out. But it wasn’t really Fine Line yet. The first time we listened to it, nobody really said anything. The second time everyone started to go, “I think this song is great, but it should be second in the sequence.” By the third listen, it was five girls screaming, “Well, Harry really now, I think you need to take these four that are called Harry Songs and do this and that—” while he’s sinking in his reclining chair thinking, Are these women ever gonna leave? Thanks for your opinions, but oh, my God, stop already.  

What changed when you heard the record in it’s finished form?

This record means a lot to me. When it was all put together, I listened and said, “Oh, my god, the Beatles live.” A whole lot of people live in these songs. Fleetwood Mac lives there. I live there. When I listen to “Fine Line,” I hear melodies that would’ve worked on “A Day in the Life. “It has that same kind of complexity. I think the Beatles would’ve thought, Here we’ve influenced a young man who took some incredible things from us and made them his own years and years later.

Earlier this year you posted a message saying that Fine Line is Harry’s Rumours. Can you elaborate on what you meant by that?

When Harry asked me to do “Landslide” with him at the Forum, I asked why, and he said, “Because I want you to be there. You were there for my first night at the Troubadour for the first record.” That night I wrote him a letter that said, “This is your Rumours so you have to really respect it and adore it because these kinds of records sometimes don’t ever come again.” Fleetwood Mac went on to make many great records, but people would bet their life on the fact that Rumours was the one. And this might just be the one for Harry. We were all kind of the same age when we made Rumours. I was 28, and Lindsey [Buckingham] was 27. I actually don’t even know how old Harry is—he’s that timeless to me.

Do you have a personal favorite of his songs?

Every one represents a different thing to me. “Sunflower” is such a great little song. He loves to do crazy videos, and one time I called him and said, “I have an idea. You’re gonna be a bee, and the sunflower would be your girlfriend, and you guys would get married and live in a beehive with your little bee children. You’d sing the lyrics ‘kiss in the kitchen like it’s a dance floor duh duh duh’ and show this entire bee relationship.” 

What did he think of that pitch?

When I finished, the other end of the phone was silent. I said, “No, really, think about it. It’ll be fantastical like a Francis Ford Coppola movie.” He’s like, “Yeah, okay...” [laughs]. I also love the “Adore You” video with the little fish because I have my own special relationships with fish.

In what sense?

I always have two beta fish, but they have to be separated otherwise they’ll kill each other. I stick my finger into their aquarium, and the blue one will swim around my hand like a little dolphin. When my fish get old and suddenly die, I have funerals for them in my backyard where I play Celine Dion. I have them filmed, and everything [laughs]. It’s too much, but I thankfully haven’t had any recent fish deaths. I haven’t even been able to sit down and show Harry the videos of my little fish, so when I saw the “Adore You” video, I couldn’t believe it.

Why is it important for you to foster these relationships with younger artists like Harry who’ve been so openly influenced by you?

I’m inspired by them. I’m inspired that Miley wants to make music with me. I’m inspired that the Haim girls are my biggest fans—and I theirs. A lot of these kids are making the amazing records I’ve been waiting for them to make. I’m not like other 72-year-olds. I listen to current music because I want to be current. When people find out how old I am versus the music I’m listening to, they think it doesn’t gel at all. I’ve been collecting musical knowledge since I was in the fourth grade listening to the singles my grandfather used to bring home. I listened to Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers until the sixth grade when R&B radio became Top 40. I said goodbye country and hello R&B, so it’s not like I’m ever stuck on one thing. What I love about Harry is that he’s very old school but still modern. And that’s kinda like me.

You both also transitioned from massive groups to equally massive solo careers rather seamlessly.

When I decided I wanted to be a solo artist, I’d only been in Fleetwood Mac for a few years. I tried to figure out a way to do it gracefully because I didn’t wanna break up the band. I just wanted to sit at my piano and write poetry. After we did a record and a really long tour, the band scurried off to different parts of the world while I’d just be home writing songs for a year and a half. What did they care what I did while they were all on vacation? I’ve always said all the way through these two careers I’ve had: If you’re in a band first, never break it up.

Do you think One Direction would ever reunite?

I think it’s a good idea. For all we know, One Direction is completely broken up forever. But I think those guys are friends, and five or ten years down the road, they could all go, “You know what, wouldn’t it be really fun to do a One Direction tour?” Because that’s what people do. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did reunite at some point just because they can. And because it would just be fun. Harry is the kind of person who would never stomp on that idea. He would never say, [imitates posh English accent] “Never! I would never do that again!” Because why not just keep the door open?

Was there any particular detail or passage in Harry’s cover story that stuck out to you?

According to this article, he can get in a car with his friend to drive all over Europe then drive back by himself. I stopped driving in 1978 because my driver’s license expired and I’d already made a lot of money. I very smartly thought, “You know what, if someone even hits you and it’s not even your fault but you’re a little drunk, you are done. You’re finished, and the fortune that you’ve made is gone, so why should you drive anyway?” By then me and Christine were very cloistered, but Harry’s able to live a freer life because he’s a guy. He’s like Mick. He has a free life.

Would you say that you don’t?

I’m only comparing us in the way that Harry goes off to the Bahamas to work on songs, then flies back to L.A., then London, then Italy—I can’t do that. I can’t do that by myself. He’s able to do whatever he wants by himself, and it’s a whole different way of life. Being that Harry is a guy, he’s able to be a loner more than I am. As a woman, I’m not free to do all that. Even when I was his age, I couldn’t just get off anywhere I wanted. When we were on the road, Christine and I didn’t have a clue in the world what the boys did. We went to our rooms with security guys standing outside. It’s not like we ever escaped to go club-hopping in downtown Manhattan. We never got to live that life, so freedom as Harry knows it is very different than it’s been for me.

Did you ever have any figure in your life who provided some sense of mentorship the way you have to artists like Harry?

I didn’t really have anyone. If I had any guiding force at all, it probably would’ve been Christine McVie because she was five years older than me. And five years is five years, you know? Chris was friends with Eric Clapton and knew all the famous musicians in London. She’d married John [McVie] and done a bunch of records with Fleetwood Mac before I came along, so she’d been in the music business for a long time. I was breaking up with Lindsey when she was breaking up with John. She was my therapist and my go-to person for just about everything. We had each other to get through that really difficult situation where no one was gonna quit the band. Christine and I kept the whole thing together by telling the three men, “You quit because we’re not stopping” Thank God I had her, but on the other side of that, thank God she had me. We really were a force of nature.

** I’m curious to what extent fashion plays a role in your and Harry’s relationship. Have you** gifted him any accessories that were significant to you?

I actually gave him a ring at the Forum thing. It’s very masculine and has a pink stone in it. I told him it was a pink diamond, but it really isn’t. It would’ve cost $5 million. It was mine, and I really loved it, but I thought, This should be for Harry. You can see it on his hands in the “Falling” video where he’s playing the piano. If Harry and I were in a band together, we’d be trading all kinds of crazy stuff.

What are your thoughts on him being the first solo male cover in Vogue’s history?

It makes me feel so inspired. I’m extremely jealous he’s on the cover of Vogue because I’m 72 years old and have wanted to be on the cover my whole life. I’m such a magazine hag, so I’m incredibly jealous of Harry, but I’ll get over it. As far as all the crazy things he’s wearing, you do whatever you have to do to be on the cover of Vogue. I’m very proud of him, and I think it’s great that there’s a man on the cover…but I should’ve been in the corner off in the distance [laughs]. Did you know I’ve never been to the Met Gala?

We would be honored to have you at the next gala and every one after that. I’m putting this in the article to make sure it’s in the public record.

As Mick Jagger says, “We still have our freedom, but we don’t have much time.” I would like to be not much older than I am now so I can wear a fantastic outfit and entertain everybody. It’s a dream of mine, and most of my dreams have come true, but I need to not be 90 when it happens.

Harry and you could perform together.

We wouldn’t even have to rehearse. We’ve got a couple of duets that are really great. We do “Landslide” and “Two Ghosts” together really well. We actually have five or six terrific acoustic numbers that we could do at the drop of a hat.

You hinted earlier this year that there might be a role for Harry in the miniseries based on the stories of Rhiannon. Is there any update there?

This is probably the third-biggest thing I’ve ever done in my life after Fleetwood Mac and my solo career. There’s a lot to be done in the movie business before I can start riding my horses across the mountains of Wales. I’ve signed with a movie company—I’m not gonna tell you who—and we just signed a writer. I’m not gonna tell you who that is either, but there’s an amazing part for Harry. My favorite character in the series is the only man who goes through all four books. He’s a magician who doesn’t wanna be king, and I think Harry would just be so perfect.

Have you and Harry discussed collaborating on any future music together?

We’re open to making music together because we’ve been very successful when we go onstage just to do one song. I would love to be in a band with Harry, but even if I never saw him in person again, he’s made a record that breaks my heart in a million places like Fine Line. As far as music goes, there’s plenty of fun things that he and I could do. We can just reach out to each other and do it. I’m always ready to slip back into those high-heel black suede boots and become my alter ego.

via Vogue.com

[hlupdate]

Of all the disciples to worship at the altar of Stevie Nicks, none have managed to capture the attention of rock's reigning priestess quite like Harry Styles.

The 26-year old rocker (who this week received three Grammy nominations) is the Gucci-clad poster-boy carrying the torch for a bygone era of music history that the Fleetwood Mac front-woman helped crystallize. Styles recently cited the group's 1977 (and still charting) classic “Dreams” as one of the first songs he learned the words to growing up. Their friendship began in 2015 after the former One Direction member presented his idol with a hand-piped birthday cake after a Fleetwood Mac gig in London. (“Glad she liked carrot cake,” he later said.) The years since have seen the duo's mutual affection blossom into one of pop culture‘s most cherished bondings.

Last year, when Styles inducted Nicks into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he proclaimed the 72-year old “everything you’ve ever wanted in a lady, a lover, in a friend.” Nicks has gushed about him in interviews as everything from “the son she never had” to the “love child” of her and bandmate Mick Fleetwood. Styles earned her official seal of approval after covering “The Chain” every night of his first solo tour in support of a record that sounds closer to Crosby, Stills & Nash than anything he released under his prior band.

“Harry could've lost a lot of fans but he didn't. I’m so proud of him because he took a risk and didn’t go the One Direction route," Nicks recently told Vogue over the phone. "He loves One Direction, I love One Direction, and a gazillion other people do too, but Harry didn't wanna go the pop route. He wanted straight-up rock-and-roll circa 1975.”

Nicks has been embracing some of the busiest years of her dual careers as both Fleetwood Mac front-woman and solo sorceress—and doing so in the midst of a global pandemic. Since she last performed with Styles at the Forum for his Fine Line release show in December, she’s released a 24 Karat Gold concert film and “Show Them the Way,” her politically-minded single and first piece of original music in six years. After Miley Cyrus asked for Nicks's blessing before releasing her “Edge of Seventeen”-tinged “Midnight Sky,” the two joined forces for an exhilarating new mash-up titled “Edge of Midnight."

In honor of Styles making history as the magazine’s first solo cover-boy, Nicks caught up with Vogue to answer all our questions about their cosmic connection. Currently beachside with her quarantine bubble in Hawaii, she’s been doing what one would expect Stevie Nicks to be up to during a pandemic: writing new music, dancing around her house to “Watermelon Sugar“ and “casting little spells.” As befitting rock’s foremost storyteller, our intended 30-minute chat turned into a two-hour confessional about her love of Styles, working with Cyrus for the first time, joining Fleetwood Mac, the president-elect Joe Biden, the Met Gala, betta fish funerals, and much more.

Did you get a chance to look through Harry's cover story yet?  

Right before I called you I sat here and looked at all the pictures on my new iPad. What can I say? That's my Harry. I think the thing that’s most wonderful about him—and I've told him this and sometimes I think he takes it the wrong way—is that he’s such a kooky guy. He’s the type of person you'd wanna live next door to. He’d look out the window, see you having a hard time planting flowers and rush out asking "Can I help you with those roses?" "Sure but you are Harry Styles, right?" That's who he is.

I really only know him to a certain extent but I have gotten to experience some big moments in his life like when he released his first solo record at the Troubadour. I always think of Tom Petty saying "So you wanna be a rock star or you wanna be a pop star?" It's two completely different things and he really could have gone pop like his friend Zayn [Malik]. I was sorry that Zayn didn't keep going more because I thought he was really good. But he took the pop route, which I think was right for him. Harry could've lost a lot of fans doing rock-and-roll but he didn't. Harry did a long tour with that first record and said “I'm a different person now. I have a full-on rock band and this is what I'm gonna do.” With many of my records I’ll stuff down peoples' throats until they like it and that's exactly what he did. Then he went away and wrote Fine Line, one of my favorite records.

What were your immediate thoughts listening to Fine Line for the first time?

Me and four of my friends sat with Harry in his living room  in London and listened to it a few times before it came out. But it wasn't really Fine Line yet. The first time we listened to it nobody really said anything. The second time everyone started to go "I think this song is great but it should be second in the sequence." By the third listen it was five girls screaming "Well Harry really now, I think you need to take these four that are called "Harry Songs" and do this and that—” while he’s sinking in his reclining chair thinking "Are these women ever gonna leave? Thanks for your opinions but oh my god stop already."

What changed when you heard the record in it’s finished form?

This record means a lot to me. When it was all put together I listened and said "Oh my god, The Beatles live." A whole lot of people live in these songs. Fleetwood Mac lives there. I live there. When I listen to "Fine Line” I hear melodies that would've worked on “A Day in the Life.“ It has that same kind of complexity. I think the Beatles would've thought “Here we’ve influenced a young man who took some incredible things from us and made them his own years and years later.”

Earlier this year you posted a message saying that Fine Line is Harry’s Rumours. Can you elaborate on what you meant by that?

When Harry asked me to do "Landslide" with him at the Forum I asked why and he said "Because I want you to be there. You were there for my first night at the Troubadour for the first record.” That night I wrote him a letter that said “This is your Rumours so you have to really respect it and adore it because these kinds of records sometimes don't ever come again.” Fleetwood Mac went on to make many great records but people would bet their life on the fact that Rumours was the one. And this might just be the one for Harry. We were all kind of the same age when we made Rumours. I was 28 and Lindsey was 27. I actually don't even know how old Harry is—he's that timeless to me.

Do you have a personal favorite of his songs?

Every one represents a different thing to me. “Sunflower” is such a great little song. He loves to do crazy videos and one time I called him and said “I have an idea. You're gonna be a bee and the sunflower would be your girlfriend, and you guys would get married and live in a beehive with your little bee children. You’d sing the lyrics “kiss in the kitchen like it's a dance floor duh duh duh” and show this entire bee relationship.”

What did he think of that pitch?

When I finished the other end of the phone was silent. I said "No really, think about it. It’ll be fantastical like a Francis Ford Coppola movie.” He’s like “Yeah, okay...” (laughs). I also love the "Adore You” video with the little fish because I have my own special relationships with fish.

In what sense?

I always have two betta fish but they have to be separated otherwise they'll kill each other. I stick my finger into their aquarium and the blue one will swim around my hand like a little dolphin. When my fish get old and suddenly die I have funerals for them in my backyard where I play Celine Dion. I have them filmed and everything (laughs). It’s too much but I thankfully haven’t had any recent fish deaths. I haven't even been able to sit down and show Harry the videos of my little fish so when I saw the “Adore You” video I couldn’t believe it.

Why is it important for you to foster these relationships with younger artists like Harry who’ve been so openly influenced by you?

I'm inspired by them. I'm inspired that Miley wants to make music with me. I’m inspired that the Haim girls are my biggest fans—and I theirs. A lot of these kids are making the amazing records I’ve been waiting for them to make. I’m not like other 72-year olds. I listen to current music because I want to be current. When people find out how old I am versus the music I'm listening to they think it doesn't gel at all. I’ve been collecting musical knowledge since I was in the fourth grade listening to the singles my grandfather used to bring home. I listened to Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers until the sixth grade when R&B radio became Top 40. I said goodbye country and hello R&B, so it’s not like I'm ever stuck on one thing. What I love about Harry is that he's very old-school but still modern. And that's kinda like me.

You both also transitioned from massive groups to equally massive solo careers rather seamlessly.

When I decided I wanted to be a solo artist I'd only been in Fleetwood Mac for a few years. I tried to figure out a way to do it gracefully because I didn’t wanna break up the band. I just wanted to sit at my piano and write poetry. After we did a record and a really long tour the band scurried off to different parts of the world while I’d just be home writing songs for a year and a half. What did they care what I did while they were all on vacation? I’ve always said all the way through these two careers I've had: if you're in a band first, never break it up.

I know Beyoncé because I spent a day with Destiny’s Child making the “Bootylicious” video. I owe them a debt of gratitude because that’s the one time I ever got to pretend I played rock-and-roll guitar! But when Beyoncé made the decision to be a solo artist she did not see herself going back to Destiny's Child every couple of years. And that's a perfectly acceptable decision because sometimes that's what people wanna do. I, on the other hand, said why not have the ability to go back to Fleetwood Mac whenever I want? Being a Gemini I get bored really easily, so being able to have those two careers was great.

Do you think One Direction would ever reunite?

I think it's a good idea. For all we know, One Direction is completely broken up forever. But I think those guys are friends and five or ten years down the road they could all go "You know what, wouldn't it be really fun to do a One Direction tour?" Because that's what people do. I wouldn't be surprised if they did reunite at some point just because they can. And because it would just be fun. Harry is the kind of person who would never stomp on that idea. He would never say (imitates posh English accent) "Never! I would never do that again!" Because why not just keep the door open?

Was there any particular detail or passage in Harry’s cover story that stuck out to you?

According to this article he can get in a car with his friend to drive all over Europe then drive back by himself. I stopped driving in 1978 because my driver's license expired and I'd already made a lot of money. I very smartly thought "You know what, if someone even hits you and it's not even your fault but you're a little drunk, you are done. You're finished and the fortune that you've made is gone, so why should you drive anyway?” By then me and Christine were very cloistered, but Harry's able to live a freer life because he's a guy. He's like Mick. He has a free life.

Would you say that you don’t?

I'm only comparing us in the way that Harry goes off to the Bahamas to work on songs then flies back to LA then London then Italy—I can't do that. I can't do that by myself. He's able to do whatever he wants by himself and it's a whole different way of life. Being that Harry is a guy, he's able to be a loner more than I am. As a woman I'm not free to do all that. Even when I was his age I couldn't just get off anywhere I wanted. When we were on the road Christine and I didn't have a clue in the world what the boys did. We went to our rooms with security guys standing outside. It's not like we ever escaped to go club-hopping in downtown Manhattan. We never got to live that life so freedom as Harry knows it is very different than it’s been for me.

Did you ever have any figure in your life who provided some sense of mentorship the way you have to artists like Harry?

I didn't really have anyone. If I had any guiding force at all it probably would've been Christine McVie because she was five years older than me. And five years is five years, you know? Chris was friends with Eric Clapton and knew all the famous musicians in London. She’d married John [McVie] and done a bunch of records with Fleetwood Mac before I came along so she'd been in the music business for a long time. I was breaking up with Lindsey when she was breaking up with John. She was my therapist and my go-to person for just about everything. We had each other to get through that really difficult situation where no one was gonna quit the band. Christine and I kept the whole thing together by telling the three men "You quit because we're not stopping” Thank god I had her, but I think on the other side of that thank god she had me. We really were a force of nature.

I’m curious to what extent fashion plays a role in your and Harry’s relationship. Have you gifted him any accessories that were significant to you?

I actually gave him a ring at the Forum thing. It’s very masculine and has a pink stone in it. I told him it was a pink diamond but it really isn't, it would've cost $5 million. It was mine and I really loved it but I thought "This should be for Harry.” You can see it on his hands in the "Falling" video where he’s playing the piano. If Harry and I were in a band together we’d be trading all kinds of crazy stuff.

How did you come to decide on your all-black stage uniform?

I started getting paid when I joined Fleetwood Mac but up until then I didn't have any money to buy food. All of a sudden we were going on tour so I just packed up my normal clothes. We started eating because there was room service and there I was gaining ten pounds in the middle of the tour. I didn't fit in any of the clothes and I didn't have time to shop so when I got home I said “I can never do this again.” I knew a friend who knew a designer and I told her I needed a uniform because I can't be thinking about what I wanna wear every night. It makes it so much easier since everybody that's in Pittsburgh isn't necessarily gonna be in Philadelphia. Harry's done the same thing with his white pants and pink shirt.

What are your thoughts on him being the first solo male cover in Vogue’s history?

It makes me feel so inspired. I'm extremely jealous he's on the cover of Vogue because I'm seventy-two years old and have wanted to be on the cover my whole life. I’m such a magazine hag, so I’m incredibly jealous of Harry but I'll get over it. As far as all the crazy things he's wearing, you do whatever you have to do to be on the cover of Vogue. I'm very proud of him and I think it's great that there's a man on the cover… but I should've been in the corner off in the distance (laughs). Did you know I've never been to the Met Gala?

We would be honored to have you at the next gala and every one after that. I’m putting this in the article to make sure it’s in the public record.

As Mick Jagger says, "We still have our freedom, but we don't have much time." I would like to be not much older than I am now so I can wear a fantastic outfit and entertain everybody. It's a dream of mine and most of my dreams have come true, but I need to not be ninety when it happens.

Harry and you could perform together.

We wouldn't even have to rehearse. We've got a couple of duets that are really great. We do "Landslide" and “Two Ghosts” together really well. We actually have five or six terrific acoustic numbers that we could do at the drop of a hat.

You hinted earlier this year that there might be a role for Harry in the miniseries based on the stories of Rhiannon. Is there any update there?

This is probably the third-biggest thing I've ever done in my life after Fleetwood Mac and my solo career. There’s a lot to be done in the movie business before I can start riding my horses across the mountains of Wales. I've signed with a movie company—I'm not gonna tell you who—and we just signed a writer. I'm not gonna tell you who that is either but there’s an amazing part for Harry. My favorite character in the series is the only man who goes through all four books. He's a magician who doesn't wanna be king and I think Harry would just be so perfect.

Have you and Harry discussed collaborating on any future music together?

We're open to making music together because we've been very successful when we go onstage just to do one song. I would love to be in a band with Harry but even if I never saw him in person again he’s made a record that breaks my heart in a million places like Fine Line. As far as music goes there's plenty of fun things that he and I could do. We can just reach out to each other and do it. I’m always ready to slip back into those high-heel black suede boots and become my alter ego.

This interview has been edited for clarity and space.

[nachosforfree]

Okay I have a prompt, Just ignore me if you don't like it: Remus woke up and everything was dark, this wasn't unusual, But there was something.... different about this darkness.

Darkness wasn’t unfamiliar to Remus. His existence began in darkness, it would likely end in darkness. His home was filled with darkness, lights turned low, long hallways only lit with scarce torches. He always woke up to a pitch black room, and it never scared him.

Well, it usually never scared him. But the moment he woke up, something had settled deep in the pit of his stomach. Something bad, something...that hurt. The darkness felt different, and for a view hazy moments of post-sleep confusion, he couldn’t understand why.

Until he realized how silent everything was.

Remus never woke up early, Deceit and Virgil were usually up before him. Every morning he’d wake up to emo music playing with Virgil and Deceit laughing and singing along, he’d hear pots and pans while one of them did their best attempt at passable food, he’d hear crying muffled by the shoulder of a loved one and Remus’ door, he’d hear life.

Today he heard nothing. He heard no laughing or singing, no cooking, not even any hiccups and sobs and “why do they hate us”s. 

And memories hit him like an oncoming car playing music so loud the driver couldn’t hear the screams of passerby or truly focus on the road, and then hit their accidental target before crashing both into a tree, blood soaking the car and the wood as the bodies lay mangled and crushed by the intensity of the impact. Remus felt like the bodies. 

Staring up into the darkness, he could hear the argument replaying in his mind.

“Virgil, they’re-”

“They’re what?! Good people?! Better people than you?”

“Please if you just listen to me, do they truly care-?”

“They came after me when you didn’t!”“I tried to- WE tried to, Virgil! You wouldn’t let us in!”

Virgil had sneered at Deceit, “Bet you would’ve lied to me and told me you loved me and try to get me to never go back up.”

“That’s-”

“I don’t want to listen to anything you have to say to me! All you fucking do is lie and I know it!”

“Virgil, how long have we been friends, how long have I-”

“We aren’t friends, Deceit.”

Remus had been hiding behind the couch, hands over his ears as he rocked back and forth He hated when they fought. He hated fighting, he hated seriousness, it made him think too much about…

But when Virgil said those words, his hands flew down to the ground and he froze. He slowly turned to peak over the couch.

Deceit stood completely still, like a person staring at an oncoming car, too in shock or maybe too afraid to do anything. He opened his mouth, and then closed it again, and then opened it again, “What have they done to my stormcloud?”

Virgil scoffed, “I’m not your anything anymore. And I’m leaving. You can’t stop me.”

He pushed past Deceit and walked past the couch, catching sight of Remus and giving him a stare so cold it made Remus feel like his heart itself was freezing. Maybe it was. Maybe that’s why his chest hurt so bad and not because of the crushing grip squeezing it as the words played over and over.

“We’re not friends. I’m leaving. We’re not friends. I’m leaving. We’re not friends. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I HATE YOU. I HATE YOU!”

Deceit had crashed onto the couch, and Remus had heard sniffling. Not the open crying he would hear sometimes, when Deceit and Virgil vented their pain to each other. It was stifled, like he was trying to hide it. Small sniffles and the occasional choked back sob. Remus sat there, listening to it, completely frozen. 

The whole ordeal finished playing in Remus’ mind, like the ending of a real shitty movie. Except it wasn’t a movie, it was his life.

Virgil was gone. Virgil was gone.

Remus’ eyes shot towards nothing when he heard his door creak. Soft steps across his carpeted floor, slightly shuffling as to not bump into anything. Remus felt his bed dip down with the weight of another person. Part of him longed for it to be Virgil. Most of him knew it wasn’t.

“Are you awake?” A voice came. It was far too small, too quiet, too soft, too scared, to be Deceit’s, but Remus knew it was.

“Yes.” Remus responded just as quietly.

A body pressed into his, much smaller but still older, and a face into his arm. He could feel tears running off of Deceit’s face and onto his naked arm.

Remus turned so he was facing Deceit, and wrapped his other arm around him, pulling him close and pressing his face into the other’s hair.

He stared into the darkness until the wetness now pressing into his chest slowly dried, and the sniffling stopped, replaced with soft, steady breathing. Then he closed his eyes to find more darkness.

This darkness felt like it would never end.

[onceklaudiaspiechowicz]

Slavic Gods Associated with the Underworld

Veles

“Slavic people believed that this god is often shown in a form of a bear, even though Veles is capable of transforming into other animals too. But, in later writings, this god is presented as a demon, where he lost his old functions and then linked to the devil and the underworld. Fact is that mythology among early Slavs also developed as their own turbulent lives, so naturally even the gods changed during ages in the eyes of the common folk. When their crops would die out due severe droughts they created a myth how Veles stole the heavenly cows and rains stopped. Even thought Veles with no doubt was considered a “mischievous” God, he was still a subject to worship and respect. It was him that protected farmers cows from plague or improved their crops and land fertility. Average people didn’t want to interfere in mythological fights between Veles and Perun, but in fact worshiped them both as major forces of this world, often according to their own needs.”

“Veles (or Volos) is sometimes called the second most important god of Slavic religion. The old Ruthenian chronicle which calls him skotiy bog makes him the god of cattle. This would also position him as the god of wealth (as cattle was one of the main markers of a family’s wealth). Other hints suggest he could have been linked to such domains as magic, poetry, oaths, the underworld, and the dead.

Veles is sometimes seen as the mythical antagonist of Perun, part of a structural pattern that may reflect a more ancient Indo-European myth of a primordial rivalry between the two opposing supreme deities (compare: Mitra and Varuna in Hindu mythology). Historians and ethnographers suspect that the relics of this ancient notion may have survived even centuries after Christianisation, and can be found in the Slavic Cosmogonic myth which transposes the same theme of rivalry between God and the Devil (See below: Slavic Creation Myth), the latter being a version of Veles. This identification can be observed in Czech folklore as late as the 16th century, where the phrase ‘Jdi za moře k Velesu’ (Go across the sea to Veles!) means ‘Go to the devil!’.”

Chernobog

“Also spelled as Czernobog, Tchernobog is a Slavic deity, whose name means black god, about whom much has been speculated but little can be said definitively. The only historical sources, which are Christian ones, interpret him as a dark, accursed god, but it is questionable how important (or evil) he was really considered to be by ancient Slavs.

About Chernobog, there was just one written document named Chronica Slavorum from Saxon missionary Helmold that says:

''Among Slavic people, there is one weird belief that is kept in their drinking fests and feasts. They at same time bless and curse under names of their Gods, respectively in the name of good One and evil One, saying that good things come from good God and evil comes from evil One. In their language they call evil God ''Chernobog'', or ''black God''.''

Morana

“Morana is a pagan Slavic goddess associated with seasonal rites based on the idea of death and rebirth of nature. She is an ancient goddess associated with winter's death and rebirth and dreams. In ancient Slavic rites, the death of the Goddess Marzanna at the end of winter becomes the rebirth of Spring of the Goddess Vesna representing the coming of Spring.”

“In modern times the rituals associated with Marzanna have lost their sacred character and are a pastime – an occasion to have fun and celebrate the beginning of spring. The tradition is usually celebrated around the spring equinox (March 21). Usually schoolchildren and young people participate in the celebrations alongside local folklore groups and other residents. A procession consisting of men, women and children carries handmade Marzanna to the nearest river, lake or pond. The participants sing traditional songs and throw effigies of Marzanna into the water. Sometimes the effigies are first set on fire, or their clothes are torn. On the journey back to the village the focus falls on the copses, adorned with ribbons and blown egg shells. The procession, still singing, returns to the village."

“Researchers emphasise that Marzanna functioned not merely as a symbol of winter, but also as a Slavic goddess. Marzanna's later association with death (in some regions Marzanna is called Death Crone) trivialized the importance of the goddess, who was the lady of not only death, but also life, and commanded the natural world.”

“Drowning Marzanna in water (an element of high importance in season-related folk celebrations) is understood as the goddess' symbolic descent into the underworld, to be reborn with next winter. Some researchers underline the sacrificial character of this ritual and suggest that Marzanna is sacrificed in order to appease Winter. The authors of Wyrzeczysko propose that Marzanna is sacrificed to the demons of water, whose favour was necessary to ensure a plentiful harvest in the coming year.”

Karna

“Goddess of the funerals, personifying tears. She is compared to the Indic Karna.”

“Yet another goddess of death, the ancient Karna is depicted as a young woman with black hair and bright red clothes. She is said to be the daughter of the goddess Lada. She spends most of her life down in the underworld. Some sources claim her to be related to Marzana (the goddess of winter and death, it might be a region differential)”

Oźwiena

“Goddess of the echo, and generally of voice and oral communication.”

“She was a companion of the god Veles, the goddess of echo. Some specialists in mythology connect her with Greek nymph Echo. She was also the goddess of gossip. According to the legend, it was impossible to her keep something she heard as a secret. Whatever you told her, she shared it. However, if she liked someone, she spoke only good things, but when someone became her enemy, she spoke all the bad things about this person. Moreover, Oźwiena loved glory, fame and listening to the stories.”

Flins /Hela

“Hela, the death goddess, is represented with a lion head with an outstretched tongue. As Myda, an aspect or another name of hers, she is represented as a crouching dog.”

“God of death who may be a Wendish name of Veles, although the iconography is rather different. He is sometimes represented as a skeleton with a lion upon his shoulder, holding a burning torch in his hand, and placing a foot on a large pebble. In other cases he is represented as an old man, with the same attributes of the skeleton, except for a flint instead of a pebble. His cult was widespread in Lower Silesia, Lusatia and Saxony.”

Morok

“Morok, literally “Darkness” in Russian, is a concept that has been deified in modern Slavic Native Faith (Rodnovery). He is the god of lie and a deceit, ignorance and errors. At the same time, he is a keeper of ways to the truth, hiding such ways to those who pursue truth for vanity and selfishness. He has a twin brother, Moroz (“Frost”), and they switch into one another at will.”

Nemiza

“God who cuts the thread of life, sometimes represented as a male with four beams around his head, one wing, and on his chest a dove with outstretched wings, and sometimes represented as a naked female with an eagle by her side gazing up to her. Nemiza was regarded both as a calamity for bringing death, and as a beneficial figure for introducing the soul to a new life.”

Ny

“Ny is the god of the underworld who acts as psychopomp, that is to say the guide of the souls into the underworld. He is associated with subterranean fire and water, snakes and earthquakes. Peklabog or Pekelnybog is another name of the god of the underworld, and he has been compared to the Indic Shiva. Etymologically, the word peklo means "pitch", and after Christianisation, its meaning became that of "hell", often personified as the Devil, and pekelnik any being of hell.”

https://www.slavorum.org/veles-the-slavic-shapeshifting-god-of-land-water-and-underground/

https://mythology.wikia.org/wiki/Chernobog

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morana_(goddess)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deities_of_Slavic_religion

https://aminoapps.com/c/pagans-witches/page/blog/dark-slavic-gods-goddesses/xpdX_JM6s2uVLKp7bdXgQmXmqBXQQrvBvG

https://culture.pl/en/article/what-is-known-about-slavic-mythology

[exhaustedfander]

Hello, hope your day is going good! Not sure if your requests are still open, but if so, could I ask for some intrulogical? Thanks! ^^

Okay, so this was obviously just supposed to be a one-part thing, but I couldn’t help but run with this idea so it’s gonna actually be two or three parts. Probably three, if I’m honest. Warning for gore and character being terribly injured. I’d love to hear what you think! 

Summary: Remus and Logan's friendship has grown greatly in the last few months, coming as a surprise to Logan. His feelings for Remus have been... complicated, to say the least, as of late, but when the creative side extends him an invitation to his side of The Imagination, Logan accepts happily. However, what befalls them once in Remus's realm is unlike anything either of them could've imagined. 

Word Count: 2,988

a03 link

NFWMB: Part One

It is by no means Logan’s first time in the imagination. Roman has dragged him into his realm many instances in the past, eager to show him the things that he’d created and, though he’s never explicitly stated it, desperate for approval.

It isn’t as though Logan isn’t impressed with Roman’s creations, at least not entirely. Sometimes, Roman has brought him in for the purpose of allowing him to conduct experiments on the things he’s dreamed up and study the worlds he can form. However, most of the time, Roman is so caught up in making everything absolutely perfect that Logan is to some extent left at the wayside.

That isn’t to mention the many dangerous creatures that Roman tends to surround himself with; Logan will never understand his obsession with fighting monsters that boast strength and size far exceeding his own.

Roman hasn’t asked him to come ‘adventuring’ in some time, though, and Logan’s fairly certain he knows the reason why. After all, recently he’s been spending a great deal of time with his twin.

Initially, Logan hadn’t thought of a relationship of any kind between himself and Remus to be possible. For the most part, Remus represents Thomas’s intrusive thoughts, something that in itself largely goes against logic. He’s an incredibly unpredictable person, something Remus proudly refers to himself as, and his sense of humor, as far as Logan is concerned, far deviates from himself.

Except… with time, Logan learns that Remus isn’t quite what he’d taken him for. While he is indisputably unpredictable and crude, he’s also endlessly curious. He likes to know how things work, sometimes desperate to find out, and Logan can’t help but see a bit of himself in that desire for knowledge. Additionally, something that continues to surprise Logan Is how well the duke listens.

In truth, Logan has become more and more frustrated with his fellow sides as of late. While he continues to claim he possesses no emotion, day by day that’s proven to be a falsehood. So often, Logan’s advice is brushed aside with little regard to how that might affect him. Logan is determined to be taken seriously, to be listened to, and he doesn’t always find that with the others.

But with Remus?

Their conversations can go on for hours without either of them realizing the passage of time. Usually, Logan tries to limit how much he blathers, knowing he can easily get lost in his ramblings, but oftentimes, Remus encourages him to continue.

“I like hearing you nerd out,” Remus had said once, strange fascination written on his face, “keep going, nerdy wolverine.”

And so, Logan does. Despite all his better judgment, he allows himself to ‘nerd out’ about all of the topics that interest him. Outer Space, the depths of the ocean, all the strangest flora and fauna planet Earth has to offer, anything and everything is talked about. His conversations with Remus are so engaging, he seldom minds when the topic suddenly shifts as it often does. It’s hard for the others to match Logan’s pace in conversation, but Remus accomplishes it with ease.

So, when Remus offers to take Logan into the Imagination, he’s absolutely thrilled.

“You can study all the weird gross shit,” Remus declares, “Bring back samples to dissect, or whatever. I’ll show you all the best spots; you’re gonna love the river of blood!”

“A river of blood?” Logan asks, doing very little to hide the excitement in his voice, “Fascinating. I certainly look forward to it.”

Remus smiles at that. It isn’t the manic grin he flashes at the others most times, there’s no malice or devious intentions behind it, in fact, it’s a rather soft expression. Almost too soft, Logan decides. He’s not used to Remus wearing such an innocuously happy expression. Now that he thinks about it, he can’t recall the last time one of the other sides have brought out such an expression in Remus, and the feeling the thought elicits is one Logan is quick to shut down. He can’t stand here, thinking about him being the reason Remus has such a peaceful expression without freaking out a bit (a lot), so he’s not going to think about it. Simple as that.

“Well then let’s go!” Remus says excitedly, grabbing his hand and dragging him in the direction of his room. Logan’s stricken by surprise for a moment; he didn’t know Remus meant right now. Even so, he allows the intrusive side to lead him along, doing his best to disregard the feeling of warmth that shoots up his arm in response to the contact.

While Logan has spent a great deal of time in The Imagination in the past with Roman, studying the rolling hills speckled with castles and towers as well as the many mythical creatures that inhabit it, he’s never been in Remus’s half and it would be quite the understatement to say that he’s excited for the possibility of discovery.

Remus brings him to a neon green door in his room, faded with age and littered in slashes, likely left from his Morning Star. Remus hasn’t let go of Logan’s hand yet, still holding tight as he pulls them through the door and the pair stepped into Remus’s side of the Imagination.

Immediately, Logan’s awestruck. He’s used to the sprawling green fields, bright blue skies with puffy white clouds. He’s used to wildflowers and woodland creatures roaming the forest, many of which most likely, somehow, possessing a singing voice. Logan’s used to a setting straight out of Disney film and this… isn’t that at all.

Remus’s half, while also a forest with rolling hills, is not bathed in sunlight. The only light that shines is that of the crescent moon that hangs high in the night sky. The foliage is not green and vibrant, instead dark as pitch and looking rather venomous. Logan can see a crumbling tower off in the distance, one that seems to resemble Rapunzel’s in a twisted way. Perhaps it resembles that of Disney’s creations more than Logan initially thought, but certainly in a far darker way. He loves it.

“Remus, this is so… different than Roman’s half. Is it night here, all the time?” Remus nods.

“It sure is! Cool, right?”

“It’s incredible. I can’t believe I haven’t been here until now.”

“Well, Roman just hates to come over here, it’s no wonder you’ve never been. He says it’s positively deplorable; and he’s right! But you’re with me, now,” Remus says, his grip tightening on Logan’s hand slightly, “C’mon, I’ll show you everything!”

It’s clear that Remus is excited to show Logan this world, and Logan is just as eager to learn. Not long ago, he’d thought the idea of him and Remus being friends was beyond absurd. But now? Now Logan can’t find himself minding as Remus drags him down a beaten path, conjuring a lantern for them to see by.

“This is intriguing,” Logan notes, letting go of Remus’s hand and crouching near a plant that seems to resemble that of the Venus Fly Trap.

“Careful, specs, that thing eats human brains,” Remus explains casually, “And I’m sure you look like a whole-ass meal, what with all the brains up in your head.” Logan grimaces, though he can’t help the strange compliment of his intelligence endearing, in a clumsy, uniquely Remus way.

“Where do you find the… food to supply it with?” Remus shrugs.

“Oh, you know, here and there.” Logan decides not to question it further, instead allowing Remus to lead the way.

“You spoke of a river of blood,” Logan says after a moment, seeing Remus’s eyes lit up with manic glee, “I’d very much like to see that.”

“Right, ‘course! C’mon, it’s just this way! It’s so deep you could drown in it, Lo! Wouldn’t that be the coolest? Drowning in blood!” Remus asks, though Logan has very little chance to answer, as Remus is talking again, lengthily about the prospect of drowning in human fluids of various kind. Logan can’t find it in himself to be disgusted; after all, thinking of what it would be like to drown in blood, vs, say, stomach acid is rather interesting to contemplate.

They walk down the path, Remus’s torch guiding their way, though it’s clear the Intrusive Side knows his realm quite well. Logan’s fairly sure he could traverse it in pitch-black darkness, no problem. The lantern is probably only there to assure him in some way, and Logan can’t help but dwell on that for a moment.

That is until he hears a loud sound overhead that jars him from his thoughts.

“What in the world is that?” Logan asks, craning his neck to look up into the black sky. Quickly, Logan realizes that the strange noise seems to be flapping, a dark, incredibly large outline is just barely visible.

“Oh, that’s probably just the bat.” Logan turns to Remus, horror surely present in his expression.

“The bat?! How large is it? From the sound of it flapping, as well as what I can make out of it –.”

“Pretty fuckin’ big,” Remus says nonchalantly, before seeing the look in Logan’s eyes, “Whoa, hey, there’s no need to panic, nerd.  It’ll probably just keep flying, anyway. It usually only eats Unicorns, and most of those live on Roman’s side.”

Logan isn’t one to believe in something as silly as a jinx, and yet the thought can’t help but come to mind as the bat suddenly pauses before swooping, growing closer to them with each passing second. Logan finds his hand pressed into Remus’s again, this time by his own intention, squeezing it.

“Remus – it, it appears to be getting closer…” Remus nods, his eyes trained on the beast quickly gaining in closeness.

“Yeah, yeah I see it.”

“Should – should we run?” Logan finds himself asking. He’s never had to worry about this with Roman; while he often creates monsters far too large to handle, they’ve never gotten too close when Logan was present. Now though, this thing is heading right toward them and blood is pounding into Logan’s ears.

“Nah, we’re good,” Remus says, his Morning Star appearing in his hand as he turns to Logan, a reassuring smile on his face, “Don’t worry, Nerdy Wolverine, I’ve got this –.”

Remus shouldn’t have turned away, not even for the second that he did because the monster is upon them, it’s long talons grabbing hold of Remus and pulling him from Logan. Remus’s Morning Star falls to the ground as well as the lantern, which shatters upon impact. The flapping of creature’s wings shakes the trees as it bites down on Remus, who lets out a groan of agony.

“Remus!” Logan shouts, icy panic flooding his veins.

He watches in horror as the creature’s grip tightens around Remus, carrying him up higher and higher. Logan doesn’t know how this realm works, the rules and regulations of these monsters, if there even are any, but he does know that he’s presently seeing Remus being carried away. This situation is devoid of logic, a beast of such absurd size overtaking his friend, and Logan doesn’t know what to do. How can he possibly help? How can he do anything but watch and scream in horror, a sound he’s barely aware he’s making.

Suddenly, in his struggle Remus manages to deliver a sharp kick to the beast, it’s bird-like talons releasing him in response. The fall must be twenty feet, at least. Remus hits the ground with an unsettling thud, hissing in pain. Logan clampers over to him in an instant, eyes quickly scanning Remus’s body. Nothing looks broken, somehow, but he can’t be sure and there’s blood, there’s a lot of blood beginning to seep from his wounds, and –

“Remus? Remus, can you hear me?”

The creative side groans, though that seems to be the extent of his capability of speech for the moment. The Earth shakes beneath them as the monster lands, several feet away. It hisses, and even in the low-light, Logan can see despite it’s more Bat-like traits, how much more sinister it truly is. Its ruby eyes are piercing, wings adorned with purple and blue feathers that seem to serve little purpose other than aesthetic. Going by the looks of things, Remus decided to slap a bird and a bat together to create a gargantuan, horrific monster just for the hell of it. It’s not surprising.

The beast moves forward as if to descend upon Remus once more, and before Logan knows what he’s doing Remus’s Morning Star is clutched in his hands.

“Stay back!” he warns, his voice a shout as he aims the weapon high. If things were different, he might wonder how well the animal could see. He would study its form, decoding what traits it shares of each animal, he’d examine it. Such passive thoughts cannot come to mind now, though.

The creature hisses loudly again, saliva splattering over him and Remus, who he stands in front of protectively.

“Don’t – don’t come any closer,” Logan says, feeling the break in his voice. He’s surely shaking terribly, the pounding of his heart unrelentingly fast, fear gripping him like a vice, but his focus can’t linger there. The only thought that goes through Logan’s mind now is that of Remus’s safety, something he is willing to protect at any cost.

The Creature dares to edge closer, too close, and Logan arches his arms back and swings hard. The bat lets out a sound of anguish, reeling back. Logan can see the lacerations he’s formed, blood trickling into the matted fur.

“Don’t fucking touch him!” He roars, hitting again, even harder as the creature rears its head, earning another round of hissing. He would hit, again and again, beat the creature to death, if given the chance. But it seems it’s decided this fight is not worth its time. It withdraws, creeping backward and allowing itself space to once again take flight. Logan doesn’t care what direction it’s heading, so long as it’s away from them. He can hear the sound of flapping growing distant as he kneels by Remus’s side, dropping the Morning Star in the dirt.

“Remus. Remus, can you hear the sound of my voice?” Logan asks, desperately, as he sees the blood pouring from where the creature sunk its fangs into his side.

“Mm – Logan?” Remus asks, his voice weak and eyes bleary.

“I’m here. I’m right here,” Logan says, quickly pulling at Remus’s sleeve that had been torn, tearing within seconds. He presses it hard to the wound, which is weeping blood, so much blood, and Remus moans in pain. “It’s alright. You’re – you’re going to be alright. You’ll be fine.”

“You saved me,” Remus whispers, his voice awed, a faint smile appearing on his lips, “You- you really showed that fucker who’s boss.”

“Why the fuck would you make something so dangerous?” Logan asks, holding the cloth to Remus’s side, aware of the countless others injures that litter his body, blood already beginning to soak through the torn sleeve, “You’re – you’re even more reckless than your brother.”

“Don’t cry, Nerdy Wolverine,” Remus says, his voice achingly soft, achingly weak, “A pretty thing like you shouldn’t… shouldn’t cry.” Logan hadn’t been aware of the tears running down his cheeks, not until now. Remus’s eyes are fluttering open and closed, his breathing growing shallow.

“Hey, y-you need to keep your eyes open. Remus, Remus look at me,” Logan commands, sniveling as the hopelessness of everything only seems to grow.

“Wouldn’t-wouldn’t be so bad,” Remus says, his speech beginning to slur, “If you were the last thing I saw.” Logan shakes his head, panic clenching his heart.

“Don’t say that. You’re – you’re going to be fine. We can’t die, y-you can’t die, Remus. You’ll be okay, just, s-stay awake. Focus on me.” A trickle of blood runs down Remus’s lip and Logan feels his breath catch.

“Y-you don’t know that, though, do you?” Remus asks. It’s true; Logan doesn’t know. None of them have ever been injured to this point to the best of his knowledge, not even Roman, and there’s a chance, there’s a chance that –

“O-of course I know,” Logan insists, sniffling as he fumbles for something, anything, to stop the blood from pouring out. “You’re not going to die. You’re – you’re not going anywhere.” Remus struggles to keep his eyes open, blinking in and out of consciousness.

“You can keep my Morning Star, if… if you want,” Remus breaths out, “You… you sure know how to handle yourself with it.” Logan shakes his head, tears rolling down his cheeks as a sob erupts from his throat.

“No, why – why would I need it? You’re not going anywhere. Remus – Remus? R-Remus look at me. Come on, look at me, you’re alright. You’re – you’re hardly bleeding! Don’t be such a child, you’re fine! Remus! Remus, come on!” Remus fails to respond; his eyes having slipped shut and breathing growing all the more depthless.

Logan gasps for air, panic overtaking as he does all that he can think to do: he calls out for Roman.

“Help! Roman, H-help! Remus needs – needs assistance! Help! Roman!”

Logan doesn’t know how to summon him, not here, not in this senseless realm of which he knows so little of in the grand scheme of things. There’s so little chance of Roman heading his call, of even hearing it, but Logan is desperate, and Remus might very well be dying. He’d do anything now if it meant Remus would be alright. Logan holds him in his chest, sobbing and begging him to stay with him.

Logan is not a man of nonsense; he is not someone to throw himself in the direction of false-hope just because he wants something. But now, Logan prays for Roman to come and do something, anything, to help. He has so little left to cling to.

Logan prays.

=+=

(I accidentally forgot to add my taglist upon initially posting this, oops!)

Taglist:

@nadiestar

@unoriginalgayboyalex

If anyone wants to be added to my general taglist, please let me know! I’d be happy to add ya!

[frenchy-and-the-sea]

A for Val!!!

Minific was the name of the game. This is likely not what it meant. 

But, y’know. Val. Family. Feelings. It’s all par for the course at this point. So here’s three different scenes about Val using thaumaturgy. 

2500ish words.

—–

The candle just wouldn’t burn. 

Or rather, it wouldn’t burn the way Val wanted it to. The little funny word in Infernal that her mother had taught her - the one that made torches burn brighter, or changed them brilliant purple in an instant - only seemed to startle whatever birds chanced to land nearby, and make whoever was milling by on the trade road walk just a little bit faster. 

Val growled, pitching forward onto her hands and knees, and lowering herself down until she was eye level with the flame.

“Get bigger,” she hissed, in Common this time: the candle just flickered with the puff of her breath.

“Ohhh, I think you startled it.”

Val’s head shot up at the voice, and turned to the familiar silhouette casting its shadow over her. Even through the glare of the sun, she could make out the spiraling tower of horns, the dark red skin, the unbroken slate black eyes; everything that would suggest her father, except for the coal-colored hair cut short around his ears, parted neatly to one side, and the wry smile pulling at his lips. The anger that had been cooling in her evaporated completely, replaced with a sudden rush of excitement as she sprang to her feet.

“Uncle Imren!” she cried. He barely got both hands out before she launched herself at him, clinging to his forearms when he buckled under her weight.

“Whoa!” He scooped an arm beneath her so that she was propped against his hip and laughed. “Gods, you’re getting big! One day you’re going to have to pick me up like this.”

Val sat upright in his arms and wrinkled her nose. “You’re being silly.”

“I’m not! One day, you’re going to be taller than a dragon. And he’ll see how big you are, and he’ll puff up and start breathing dragonsmoke, and -” He paused then, sniffing at something in the air, and stole a glance downwards. “Ah.”

Val followed his gaze to where her little candle was laying sideways in the grass, knocked over in the scramble and just starting to torch the drier grasses around it. She made a little noise of alarm, but her uncle didn’t so much as flinch. He just muttered something under his breath - a familiar something, Val realized - and the little flame began to dim. The last few embers, he smothered beneath the tip of his tail. Val clutched at the front of his shirt, gasping.

“Uncle!”

He looked up just as she pushed out of his grip, and scrambled to catch her. “Easy, easy Valtish! Gods, what is it?”

Val took no heed of his valiant attempts to stop her from toppling to the grass; she let herself roll down into the dirt, then scrambled up and set the candle back into its stand.

“You can make it bigger, right?” she asked as she turned, beaming. “Cause mum can, and so can da, and I keep trying ‘cause they taught me the word but it’s not working, and they’re busy, and -”

“Alright, alright,” her uncle laughed, waving a hand to cut her off. He stepped to the opposite side of the candle and sank down onto the ground, so quietly that Val couldn’t even hear the grasses bend, then pulled a piece of flint from the satchel on his hip and gestured her way. “Let’s see what you’re doing.”

Determined now, Val plopped herself solidly onto the ground again, leaning forward and focusing as her uncle relit the candle in front of her. She waited for the flame to steady in the faint afternoon breeze, then took a deep breath, narrowed her eyes and muttered the same word that she had heard Imren use. 

The candle didn’t so much as flicker.

She tried again, leaning closer, eyes narrowed even further. Still, nothing. The third time, her voice cracked as she spoke, and Imren reached out a hand and gently pushed her back.

“Easy now,” he said softly, wiping away the hot tears that had begun to well in her eyes. “This doesn’t mean you won’t ever get it. Nine hells, it took your father almost a year to do it right. And now he’s a master of all sorts of magic, isn’t he?“

Val sniffled and scrubbed the lines of her tears from her face. "Guess so.”

Imren hummed quietly, and then Val heard him slide sideways through the grass, until he was hunched right beside her. He pressed an elbow into her shoulder, warm and familiar.

“In fact,” he said quietly, leaning down, “I happen to know how he figured it out too. Want me to tell you?”

Val looked up, still sniffling, but the mischief glittering in her uncle’s eyes banished the last of her tears. She nodded, and his grin widened. 

Very carefully, he removed his flint from its satchel again.

“Your father,” he said, as he turned it over in his hand, “always did magic better when he had something to do. It’s why he sings or plays the lute when he does it, understand? It makes more sense in his mind that way.” Out of the corner of her eye, Val saw a flash of metal, and watched with wide eyes as her uncle withdrew a wicked looking knife from somewhere around his waist. “Now, this particular spell only requires the word, but sometimes, if he was having trouble getting it right, he would pretend that he was adding to the fire himself. Like so.”

In one quick motion, he struck the flint with the spine of his knife and sent a shower of sparks scattering through the grass. Val recoiled instinctively, but her uncle’s tail swept over the patch of earth and smothered whatever grass was starting to catch. Then he held the flint towards her.

“Do exactly what I did,” he said as she slowly reached out to take it, “but pretend your fingers are the knife. Don’t hit the rock there, just make the motion. Atta girl, just like that.”

He slipped the knife away with a simple flick of his wrist and grabbed Val’s hands as she began gesturing them frantically towards each other, making little adjustments until it looked, to her little mind, like she was nearly scratching the edge of the flint with each pass. He let her practice a few more times, then swept the candle back in front of her with the tip of his tail.

“Now,” he said, with a gesture towards it, “try again. With the word, this time.”

Charged with a sudden surge of adrenaline, Val straightened her shoulders, reached back and struck a wide arc over the flint, all but shouting as she did. Her heart pounded hard in her chest as the candle flickered, wavered…

And stubbornly refused to grow.

This time, the tears came too quickly to stop, and her uncle’s arm swept around her and pulled her up into a crushing hug as they broke across her cheeks.

“Keep practicing, kid,” he said softly, as she fisted little claws into the front of his shirt and sobbed. “You’ll get it soon.”

—————

The candle hung heavily in Val’s pocket, bouncing off of her knee as she ran. 

She could hear her mother’s laughter behind her, growing steadily fainter as she pounded across the hillside towards the last place that she had seen the wagon. Her uncle’s arrival had been unannounced, as usual: but as usual, her mother had been prepared. Val shoved a hand into her dress pocket to keep her candle from tumbling out and willed her legs even faster.

Miraculously, neither her uncle nor her father noticed her approach. They were standing beside the wagon, locked in a low, intense conversation as she skidded around the base of the hill.

“…. no real aptitude for magic,” her father was saying as she came into earshot, barely seconds before his eyes flicked up over his brother’s shoulder and caught sight of her bounding their way. He stepped back instinctively.

“Valtish,” he started, his tone a warning; but Val was already hunched low, and she sprang for her uncle’s waist with a wild cry of triumph.

Imren, for his part, did not so much as flinch as he spun neatly on a heel and snatched her up into his arms.

“Aha!” he cried, hoisting her onto a hip as she shrieked with delight. “There’s the ferocious little lion cub I was looking for. Who taught you to creep up like that, huh? Your dad?” He turned to leer pointedly back at her father away. “He’s the sneaky one of the two of us, after all.” 

“No, uncle,” Val giggled as her father rolled his dark eyes, “you’re the sneaky one!”

“Am I? Why, I hadn’t noticed.”

Grinning, he pulled her into a tight hug, digging fingers into her sides until until she squealed and thrashed in his arms.

“Well,“ he said, when she finally managed to push herself away, “if that’s my handiwork, I ought to teach you how to do it right, huh?”

A sudden panic fluttered in Val’s chest. She made a wordless noise of protest, wrenching around in her uncle’s grip. If he was going to teach her anything, she thought to herself, he needed to know his success first. She snatched the candle in her pocket and then held it up in front of him, so close to his face that she saw him go cross eyed. 

"Watch!” she demanded, then swung her tiny fist in an arc over the candle’s wick. The candle remained unlit - a mistake that she only realized ten minutes later, in retrospect - but the lantern hung on the wagon’s door beside them suddenly blazed higher in its case, shifting to a vibrant blue the color of a summer sea. Her uncle and father turned, startled, as Val threw her hands up with a whoop of triumph.

“Did you see?” she asked, turning to face her uncle again. “Did you see what I -”

Imren was not looking at her. His dark eyes were fixed on the lantern flame with an intensity that drove the last of Val’s excitement straight down into her gut. 

“I see,” he said quietly. Then his eyes shifted towards her, and she caught a faint grin twitching at the corner of his mouth. “You’ve been practicing, haven’t you?”

Her excitement flared up again, hot as the lantern burning behind them. She nodded furiously.

“I did what you showed me! I tried it again and again and again and again and then one day, poof!” She threw her arms out to both sides. “It worked!”

Imren laughed - a bit less loudly than before - and then hiked her further onto a hip and glanced over his shoulder towards his brother.

"Well, Cai!” he said, with a grin. “Seems you were wrong about little Valtish here, huh?”

Her father’s eyes remained fixed on the lantern. “Seems so.”

“And no self respecting niece of mine would be fine with just that, would she?” Imren turned back to Val with a winning smile that chased any worry about her father’s odd silence clear out of her mind again. “What do you say, kid? How about I teach you how to be sneaky this time around?”

She nodded again, so hard that her curls swatted at her cheeks. Over her uncle’s shoulder, she saw her father turn.

“Imren,” he said, with the same warning tone that he’d used before. Imren waved him off.

“Easy, Cai. She’s a good student. And there are worse things to learn than to not be seen, don’t you think?”

This time, when they trotted off, her father let them go without a fight.

————–

The candles were already burning low when Val arrived back at the grave.

The funerary party had been small, but had insisted that she leave her vigil long enough for dinner. She had only gotten through half of a plate before she couldn’t stomach the ashen taste of food anymore. They had let her go then, after they were sure that she had heard all of their offers of a bed for the night.

For the night, she knew, but likely not for much longer. 

That would have been fine, once. An inn bed tended to be a luxury, one that she was used to forgoing for a tent, or the blanket-covered floor of a wagon anyway. In any other time, at any other place, she would be fine with that. In any other time, she would not need it. 

In any other time, perhaps her parents would not be dead.

The bitterness of the thought winched her throat shut, but all that did was bring a too-familiar stinging to the corners of her eyes. They’d run out of tears long before her father’s grave had been dug; the reminder that she was still alone certainly wouldn’t be enough to bring those back. So she turned them up to the hill on the horizon instead, squinting into the growing dark, where a splinter of the trade road wound down the length of it. Still no silhouette on the horizon, no towering horns, no dull red skin catching the last lingering rays of sunlight. 

Still no Imren.

Sighing and scrubbing at her stinging eyes, Val stepped over to the little round of the headstone and sat down beside it. She didn’t dare cross over the freshly turned earth beside her, or look at it for long enough for her mind to process. Her eyes would only sting more. 

Watching the candles was easier. They had been placed in a little arc around the sides of the headstone, a few on top, dripping wax down the swath of slate grey. She whisked some of the longer drops away with her bare fingers, focusing on the scalding heat and the dancing whip of the flame that always seemed to make her blood pound a little harder in her ears. She didn’t play often with fire, but there was something familiar about it, something old and nostalgic that made little threads of excitement burn up to her chest…

An idea, the wild sort that only grief could conjur, suddenly sprang to life in her mind.

Straightening, she spun herself to face the candles - away from the grave, away from the memory, away from the empty, empty hill - and lowered her face to their level. She watched the flame for a long moment, focusing. Then, with a frantic rush of hope that could only come in a bard’s child, she waved her hand across the top of them and muttered an old, familiar word.

The flames brightened dutifully, to a brilliant red like skin on an open field in the middle of summer, but the world around her remained empty. No one stepped out from behind a tree, arriving in the dramatic eleventh hour like they would in her father’s stories; no one appeared to crest the hilltop. The wind was just cold, the earth still freshly turned, and she was still utterly alone.

The tears came then, fierce and hot with the fresh dashing of her hope, and they did not leave again for a long, long time.

[dargonwriter]

A Winter’s Ball

Read on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16614212

Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning

:

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Category:

F/M

Fandom:

The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)

Relationship:

Harrow/Sarai (The Dragon Prince)

Characters:

Harrow (The Dragon Prince)

Sarai (The Dragon Prince)

Amaya (The Dragon Prince)

Viren (The Dragon Prince)

Language:English

Summary:

The winters ball was a well known event all throughout the human kingdoms. The start of winter often brought much gloom but the winter's ball, held on the first night od winter, was often something to look forward to. If one got a hold of an invitation, they had a chance of meeting the royal family themselves, along with other members of the royal court. Sarai had never gone, and Amaya had been invited as a plus one one year but Sarai had always wanted to go, even if it was in rags.

Grounded??? In all the seventeen and a half years in his life, he had gotten grounded a lot. But this time felt personal. The Winters Ball was tonight and Harrow always attended. It was a thing for him to hit on any girl that would let him, if he didn't do it, then did he really exist?

Or:

How king Harrow and Queen Sarai met.

The winters ball was a well known event all throughout the human kingdoms. The start of winter often brought much gloom but the winter's ball, held on the first night od winter, was often something to look forward to. If one got a hold of an invitation, they had a chance of meeting the royal family themselves, along with other members of the royal court. Sarai had never gone, and Amaya had been invited as a plus one one year but Sarai had always wanted to go, even if it was in rags.

Sarai watched each day for the weeks leading up to the winter's ball for some messenger to stop by. Of course, no one ever stopped unless it was from their grandmother or one of the letters the instructor at the academy sent Amaya about her being a soldier despite her deafness. Nothing to Sarai.

The ball was in two days, but of course nothing of invitations for commoners reached her ears. Of course. Commoners never had a reason to visit the castle.

With a loud sigh, Sarai looked past the road, up to the not-so distant castle on the horizon. "I'm going to that party, even if the elves themselves try to stop me." She said with a determined nod.

"Come on, Viren!" Harrow shouted, looking over the balcony with a bright smile. Next to him rested a bowl of punch, on his shoulder sat his young bird pip, and behind him stood his oldest friend who looked deathly afraid of something. Probably Harrow's father.

"We're going to get in trouble." The nineteen-year-old mage apprentice responded, crossing his arms and looking at the door to the balcony with a fearful scowl.

Harrow only shrugged. "So? What's my father going to do? Send us to the scaffold? Death by firing squad? Or he'll send us to the border and have the elves do it for him." He snorted when Viren's already pale skin went even paler. "Stop worrying, Viren. You're practically invincible when you're with me."

He heard Viren sigh and come closer to the ledge, until he looked at the ground below. His brown hair almost looked blond in the light of the sun. "You're very confident of this, but just remember the word practically. It's the same as if. which means that if your father decided he has had enough of me being involved in your antics in some way, he very well can do whatever the hell wants. And while he may not kill either of us, I do plan to go to the winter's ball for once in my life!"

"Once again, Viren, stop worrying." Harrow repeated in a sing sing voice. Viren drew in a breath, like he was going to respond, but then their target came into view. The high mage himself, Lord Arion. Harrow smirked and got ready to push, but Viren stopped him quickly with a panicked wave.

"No, no way! When you said we'd be pouring juice on someone important, I didn't think-"

"Chill out, Vir. It isn't like he's your actual dad or anything." Harrow chuckled, keeping an eye on the high mage as he got closer to the drop point, followed by two guards. This would be good.

"He's like my father! He'll skin me alive if he finds out I was involved." Harrow was only half listening because Viren's master was only a few steps away...

Harrow laughed as soon as the mage was in place, then shouted "Then I guess you better not be seen!" Before dropping the bowl on top of the three men below.

Except, at the last moment, Viren shouted "Wait!" and tried to reach down and grab the already falling bowl. In his panic, he slipped and fell over the very short stone railing of the balcony.

"VIREN!" Harrow shouted. Pip jumped off his shoulder and tried to dive for Viren but of course Pip could do nothing even if he was full grown. It all seemed to slow down as Viren screamed and fell to the concrete. He stopped midair, though, and Harrow gasped. Viren's screaming halted once he realized that he was no longer falling. Harrow looked past Viren at the men now covered in fruit punch, but specifically at the Lord Arion, who was chanting something with a snarl on his almost gray face, eyes black as night. He gripped something in his hand but Harrow had no clue what it could be. When he stopped chanting, Viren fell safely into a guards arms.

Harrow released a breath he didn't know he had been holding and just took a moment to try to calm his beating heart, but it stopped once again when his eyes locked onto the pitch black ones of the high mage. He was in so much trouble.

Sarai stormed into the room with a loud shout, then walked to her bed and sat down with a pout.

'What happened?' Amaya signed, pausing from the sword she was polishing in an entirely non-threatening way.

'Mom's a fucking asshole.' Sarai huffed, signing back.

Amaya gave her a questioning look before asking 'You got the invitation but mother said no?'

'WE NEVER GOT THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE!'

Amaya gave her a quizzical look before asking 'How is that mom's fault?'

"It just is." Sarai muttered allowed, crossing her arms. Amaya gave a smile, then shook her head. It was obvious, she was ticked off because once again she couldn't go. And she worked so hard to surpass even Amaya in their swordplay class so she could get noticed...

The ball was tonight...

'How is it you're almost eighteen yet your maturity level is akin to a 10 year old?'

Sarai rolled her eyes and gave her sister the middle finger as her response. She began laughing, though, when Amaya gave a dramatic horrified look, then reached for the sword and held it up at Sarai threateningly.

Sarai smiled, but the glint of the sword gave her an idea. She smirked. 'What if we didn't need an invitation?' She asked, already devising a plan.

"Grounded????" Harrow asked. In all the seventeen and a half years in his life, he had gotten grounded a lot. But this time felt personal. The Winters Ball was tonight and Harrow always attended. It was a thing for him to hit on any girl that would let him, if he didn't do it, then did he really exist?

"I warned you," Viren sighed, throwing a ball at the wall and catching it as it bounced back. While Harrow sat in the chair in front of his bed, looking depressed, Viren laid on Harrow's bed, playing around with some magic goo or something on a ball and throwing it while Pip tried to chase it. If Harrow weren't so mad, he would probably want to play with it too because it did seem pretty cool. "You're lucky your father is still allowing us to hang out in here tonight, instead of telling us to separate and 'think about what we've done.' like he used to say when we were younger."

Harrow rolled his eyes and got up, then walked out to the balcony. Viren shouted behind him because, yeah, it was freezing outside, but Harrow ignored him. He looked out at the bridge connecting the cliffs. Already the torches leading from the village closest to the castle were lit, and already people were beginning to climb the mountain in their carrages and on their horses. Harrow groaned and sat on the edge of the balcony, the same spot Viren had fallen from but been stopped by magic.

Magic...

"Hey, Viren, what was that spell the high mage did?" He asked, trying to sound curious.

Viren finally sighed and came outside to answer. "It's a simple levitation spell. You need the feather of a Xadian macaw to do it and you have to know the words, but that's it."

"Isn't Pip a Xadian macaw?"

Viren slowly nodded, clearly beoming suspicious. "... Yes..."

"You know how to do it?" Harrow asked. It was becoming difficult to hide the smile forming because Viren would never agree to do this unless he was already doing it in the first place, but this was his one way ticket to going to the ball.

"As I said, it's relatively simple." Viren shrugged.

Harrow smiled and walked over to where Pip landed, on the perch next to his cage. He smiled and took one of the fallen feathers Pip sometimes dropped, then handed it to Viren, who just stared. "Let's try it."

"What? No!" Viren's attitude changed immediately to a snarl and he shook his head. "No way! Lord Arion grounded me from doing magic!"

"Then what's with the ball?" He took the heavy, stone ball and bounced it, looking at viren pointedly.

"That's... different. Not the same magic."

Harrow sighed, then caught the ball. After a minute, he smirked and accidentally bounced it off the roof and onto the stone walkway below. "Whoops."

"HARROW!" viren shouted. "That was, like, my only thing I could do!"

"Just do the thing with the feather to put me down there and I'll toss the ball back up to you, deal?" Harrow offered his hand to shake with a smirk.

Viren huffed, then looked away, then at the balcony, then at Harrow's outstretched hand. He did this every time he was making a decision. Which meant, Harrow may be in luck. finally, Viren's shoulder's dropped and he sighed. "Okay, but I was not involved in whatever you're planning to do. You climbed off yourself using your own bedsheets and I couldn't stop you." He shook Harrow's hand, meeting the younger man's eyes.

"You got it. now do the thing." Harrow said, climbing onto the edge of the balcony.

Viren sighed, then snapped and lit a fire on his fingers. He set the feather on fire and closed his fist around it, then began chanting quietly. "hsa srehtaef a sa eltneg. won llaf... Jump, Harrow."

And, though Harrow was nervous, Harrow trusted Viren and fell backwards. He felt the wind rush onto his back and blow his dreaded hair as he fell but he was caught only moments after being in the air. It felt like he had hit a tree or something, like an invisible, hard stone slab caught him, and it lowered him to the ground. He touched the ground with his feet first once he was close enough, then stood and smiled up at Viren.

"The ball?" Viren called, holding out a hand. Harrow rolled his eyes, then searched for the ball and bounced it up to the other. Viren looked like he struggled to catch it but did catch it. "I was never involved." Viren reminded before disappearing from Harrow's sight.

Harrow smirked and ran off, not even caring if he was in his normal clothes. He looked good enough.

'this is one of your worst idea.' Amaya signed, gesturing to the blue, kind-of-poofy-but-not-really dress she wore underneath the guard armor she stole from dad.

Sarai smiled and asked 'Worse than pranking Sir Stevenson?'

'Sarai, he was already getting receiving orders from the general.' Amaya pointed out, giving her a look.

'Then why was he still there?' Sarai narrowed her eyes and smiled playfully, challenging Amaya to the same argument they had each time this was brought up.

Amaya didn't take the bait, though, and just stood from where they watched outside the gates where guards were checking for invitations 'My point is, I don't know if this plan will work.'

'of course this plan will work!' Sarai said, sure that it will. She adjusted the helmet of their mother's armor, it was a little too but but it was that or dad's and, well, even Amaya was struggling to keep the overly large armor on, even with their dressed underneath. 'I'll go first, you follow.' She reminded before standing up and turning the corner.

"Hunt!" She shouted to the two guards at the gate, startling them. She had heard the other one say the name so it could make her look friendlier if she sad it too. She jogged up, despite the difficulty because the leggings of the armor over the skirt of the slim dress she chose was constricting.

"My... name isn't Hunt..." One said, looking at an invitation before nodding and letting the carriage pass. "But it is Hunter."

"Whatever. They, they need both of you to help out with, um..." Fuck, she just thought of it. It was at the tip of her tongue... "What was it..." She snapped when she came up with it again. "Right, checking the carriages. Making sure no one brought any weapons. We were sent to take over for you until you got back."

"Really?" The other one asked suspiciously, then looked at Amaya, who smiled and nodded, holding her hands behind her back. "Where's the paper asking for us? With the captain's signature." He asked, holding out a hand.

But Sarai, at least, had planned for this part and she scowled, putting on an annoyed act. "Are you really asking for a paper so your sorry asses can obey an order? Do you know how expensive paper is getting these days?" She crossed her arms. "The captain isn't going to waste a slip just because you two are needed. Now go!" She walked forward and pushed them out of position, towards the way in which she and Amaya just came from.

It seemed her tone had sparked something because both grumbled but left, muttering "Weird recruits..."

"See? Easy." She smiled at Amaya, who rolled her eyes and walked ahead of Sarai.

'Let's just go before they realize the trick.'

Both girls ran into the hall that would lead to the ballroom and courtyard, Amaya leading the way.

Harrow snuck into the ball room, spotting his dad and Lord Arion immediately and decided, also immediately, to avoid them both. If he was caught, he would be in so much trouble. But while one side of his brain figured Hey, I should go back to my room and stay out of trouble the other screamed was YOU AINT IN TROUBLE N'LESS YOU GET CAUGHT and it was obvious which side he listened to the most.

So Harrow stayed on the other side of the ballroom. The music was lovely, dad had selected a new band this year who had an amazing violin player, the drinks amazing, and the ladies were beautiful in their dresses and skirts. Pinks, blues, greens. He only saw a few red dresses scattered through the crowd, though not really any other colors. No one was ever original. All the noblewomen acted polite and often way too modest for Harrow's liking, but it was fun to joke with them and watch them squirm when he mentioned a controversial topic, instead of just complementing them or talking about the weather.

He had been in an interesting conversation with a bright young women who was a little more than drunk though. Maybe fifteen? Apparently she had one too many drinks but she was definitely brighter than the other ladies, even of she was stumbling with each step and slurring every other word.

Because of his fascination with this bright young lady, he didn't keep an eye on his father so imagine his panic when he realized neither the high mage, nor the king were in the same spot as before. He stared wide eyes, then began searching around desperately for either.

"Ssssmethin wrng?" The girl asked, lifting her head because he had been in the middle of dipping her.

"I... gotta go." He said, bringing her to her feet and running.

'Amaya, no.' Sarai laughed, barely being able to sign correctly. Amaya was far too focused more on the man in front of her anyway. Sarai had tried to cool her sister's anger, but Amaya was dead set on showing this guy up. Well, it did serve him right, for saying women should just be respectable and quiet. Specifically in response to Sarai getting in a debate with another man about the best way to kill an elf. Not that either had actually done it. But Sarai won the conversation. Definitely.

Amaya signed to Sarai, expecting the sister to translate. As always "Don't doubt what a lady can do." Sarai said aloud, adding as much of a snarl in her voice as Amaya had currently. It was actually kinda hard considering the circumstances because while she agreed wholeheartedly with her sister, Amaya starting a fight at a royal ball they weren't even supposed to be at was just so Amaya.

"Can she not speak for herself?" One man demanded, but Amaya signed and Sarai just shrugged,

"Her sword can speak for her."

After that, one man challenged Amaya and then a fight started. And for a girl who had never even worn a dress since she was like seven, Amaya did surprisingly well fighting in one. Someone gave them each a sword, actual swords, and she and the first guy went to down. Amaya didn't make the first move, her opponent did, but she met it and dispelled it, then moved out of the way and took a shot at him, which he barely blocked. Then he stepped back and she shot forward, going in for another attack with the ferocity of a Sunfire elf and the speed of a Moonshadow elf.

The fight ended abruptly though when a line was cut from one side of the ballroom to their position and the king and the high mage themselves were approaching. "Enough." The king said in a commanding tone. Amaya, of course, didn't hear him but when she saw her opponent stand down immediately and look behind her with a surprised expression n his face, she turned quickly and she, too, set down her sword.

When Harrow caught sight of his father, he gave a sigh of relief and tired to mosy on past but curse his curiosity, he glanced past his dad to see what te commotion was about but what he saw instead was a beautiful girl with dark, medium length hair and beautiful brown eyes. She was smiling, though she was clearly trying to hide it and it was amazing. She wore an amazing black dress, fitting her form tightly.

Harrow kept walking as he passed the opening. Then her eyes met his and locked and he almost froze. Until he fell over nothing. literally. he had reached the stairs leading down and out of the ballroom. He tumbled over the steps with a shout, rolling until he stopped halfway down.

Sarai stared at the stairs where this absolute idiot  fell, surprised. She looked at the king, who had come closer and was speaking to Amaya and the 'gentleman' she had fought with, then with a smirk waved goodbye to her sister and slipped out between the onlookers. She rushed to the stairs and upon locating him came down and asked "Are you okay?" She offered him her hand, and the look he gave her was pure awe and she loved it.

"If  say no, will you stay?" He asked slowly, breaking his stunned silence. Sarai couldn't help but giggle a little in response, because he was kinda cute. Something about him, maybe the light stubble on his chin? He grabbed her hand and she smiled.

"C'mon, get up." She said, then pulled him up.

"THAT'S HER!"  Someone shouted on the steps below. Sarai followed the sound with wide eyes, freezing when she saw the hunter guy from earlier. "SHE TRICKED US!"

FUCK. "Welp, gotta go!" She said to him, but he didn't let her go, even when she tugged.

"Oh no, this is not a Cinderella story." He said, then got up as guards began climbing the stairs quickly. "Follow me."

Then he dragged her back up the stairs and through the ballroom. from there she lost track but they went through like three corridors before they finally lost the guards.

Harrow was going to be in so much trouble!

He didn't know why he was leading this random girl through the castle and helping her escape when the guards wanted her but he was doing it. And it was working.

After the final clinks of metal armor faded into the distance, Harrow smiled and led her into the courtyard, then to the main gate and let her go. "There you go. You should probably leave before they come back."

"What about you?" She looked confused.

"Can't," Harrow shrugged.

She gave him this look, like she was annoyed but also like over it emotionally an it made Harrow's heart melt. "And why not? Whatever, come on." Now she was the one who took his hand and led him out of the gates and Harrow probably should'v stayed but hey, when a pretty girl takes your hand and says 'Come on' you'd better listen. It's like following a rainbow to reach a pot of gold.

The next morning, Harrow returned to the castle reluctantly when he finally told the mystery girl, named Sarai, who he was ad she told him she would never speak to him again if . He found Viren standing at the gate looking less than amused. "The delinquent prince returns." Viren mumbled, looking way too tired of this crap. He probably was.

"Morning Viren." Harrow greeted brightly, but Viren just rolled his eyes.

"You are in so much trouble. Was it worth it?" He asked

"I don't regret a thing."

"And that's why everyone's invited to the winter's ball each year." King harrow told young Callum and even younger Ezran with a hum. Sarai watched with a smile from the other side of the room, reading her book.

"You left out the part of what happened when we got to my place." She told him, laughing when Callum shouted "MOM!"

"Calm down," Harrow chuckled "She showed me her book collection and I ended up passing out on her bed."

"So when do I come into the picture?" Callum asked, but Sarai cleared her throat and stood up.

"That's a long story, and one for another time."

[k1tt3nhau5]

Tips I learned while playing BoTW

Update! Somewhat. Very minuscule update.

These are stuff I learned when I was playing. I'm on mobile so it won't look so organized, but this is stuff I learned and I felt they might be really useful. It'll be a list of things I feel people might not know but since the game has been out for a while, most people already know what to do.

Koroks

They suck but you only need 441 seeds to max your stash

If you have the Korok Mask, it helps a lot!

With the mask, if you move a little ways and it stops singing no matter your direction, it's above you or below you.

If you see three trees with two of the trees having one apple, it's a possible Korok. You have to match the third tree so it's the same as the other two.

Update: The same is with the Cacti in the Desert.

Using Stasis helps locate the rock you need for the rock puzzles.

If you see the pinwheel and don't hear or see the target balloons, it's usually the clay pots.

Enemies

Lizalfos are terrible and I hate them. They never sleep.

If you can freeze the Enemies, the weaker they are, the longer they'll stay frozen. Golden Enemies don't freeze too long.

Using Chuchu jellies are useful when paired with Shock weapons. Pop the blue chuchu jelly around the enemies and hit them with your shock weapons to create the thunder dome to get multiple enemies.

If a Lizalfos ends up in the water, shock arrows are good if you are not good at aiming like me.

Spin attacks are good when you have a heavy/two-handed weapon because it'll keep hitting the enemies without them moving so much. USUALLY. Sometimes they'll still hit you.

If the enemies hit you and take more life than usual, the weapon might actually have more attack power. Or your defense is lower than usual.

Lynels are vicious but more manageable when you're up close and personal. If they pull out their bow and shoot straight on the air, it'll likely get you 95% of the time. (If there is an update that fixes that, disregard this.)

Flying Guardians suck. Careful when you reflect their laser beam because it might not hit your shield, but just above you.

If a Hinox's leg guard doesn't burn, it's metal and if you use a shock arrow, it'll shock them long enough to hit their eye or wail on them.

Using Remote Bombs to roll along the sand will force Molduga to eat them and you can detonate the bomb to stun it. When it begins to move, you can move just out of the spin attack and stay there. Usually it'll burrow under the sand but breach out to surface as it circles you so you can shoot it with a bomb arrow and repeat the process.

Weapons

As I mentioned above, if an enemy hits you harder than usual, it's probably a stronger weapon.

Black Hinox's carry the Royal Weapons and are useful if you need one.

If you like hunting Lynels, you can score some pretty good bows.

Enemy camps can be pretty good to find stronger swords or bows.

Molduga can also be useful too.

If you have more than, I think 60 or 70 arrows of any kind, the stores won't sell them until you have around 20 or 30. Maybe. I'm not quite sure the number but they won't sell you arrows if you have a lot.

If you want to farm for regular arrows, going along Zora Domain's path and killing all the Lizalfos will drop over a 100 for sure. You can stop at the great bridge after the small camp with the black Lizalfos.

The Royal Guards weapons are beautiful and awesome looking, but they suck at durability, which actually annoys me because I love the black color. However! They do have some pretty high attack power compared to the Royal Weapons. So if you still wanna make the most use out if them, sneak attacks are your best friend. The shield can be useful in a pinch and the bow has a great fire rate.

Materials and Meals

Satori Mountain is pretty good for getting all kinds of good plants like Endura Carrots or Hearty Durians/Radishes.

The Faron region is also a pretty good place to get all three beetles and definitely Hearty Durians.

Riola Spring spawns Farosh from the water. Easy place to farm its dragon parts.

Naydra is a jerk. But if you want to farm parts from it, I learned that a good spot is around Lanayru Heights, facing towards where Zora's Domain is. When it drops the part you hit, instead of flying down into the water to pick it up, you can get it from the grass. I usually go towards the West Gate, the highest I can go, and face away from the bridge towards the plains where deer are.

Drinaal is a bit easier than Naydra but the same thing can happen depending where you are. A good spot is along the Deplian Badlands where the three Lynels are. North of the Thyphlo Ruins (The Dark Forest) and Death Mountain. It flies low enough to almost hit you if you're not careful. Another spot, though not as good as the Badlands, is at the very end of Tanagar Canyon. If Lynels make you worried, this spot is well enough that you don't have to drop so far to pick up its piece. It's at the end towards the Gerudo Highlands.

From Hateno Tower towards Firly Plateau, there's a pond next to a giant tree where you can get at the very least 4 Hearty Bass. At max, 6.

Darners > Butterflies.

You can mix food items of the same stat as the insects to make elixirs! Just don't forget the Monster part!

So far, Lynel Guts have a lot of potency but I'm still experimenting.

Update: Modulga Guts and Hinox Guts seem pretty good as well. 

Dragon Horns guarantee 30 minutes of your stat. So make sure you use highly potent ingredients.

Monster Extract can do the same, but it's a gamble. You might end up with 1 minute or 30 minutes. Use it during a Blood Moon.

Blood Moons makes your cooking critical, so use it to your advantage when cooking up stat meals. Extra hearts or Stamina doesn't seem affected by it. 

Sometimes cooking a meal like Rice Balls will bump up your stat time more than just using five of the same ingredient. At least I noticed that.

Silent Princesses is highly potent steal ingredient. 

Fleet-Lotus seeds are the best Haste ingredient.

Endura Carrots > Endura Shrooms

If you set fire to a Spicy Pepper, it can cause an updraft. Use it for a quick boost!

Making an elixir gives you more time than a cooked meal from what I noticed. Example: 3 Mighty Porgies + 1 Bladed Rhino Beetle + 1 Lynel Gut gives you more time than 5 Mighty Porgies. (Health/Stamina boosts don't count)

Miscellaneous

Cooking during a Blood Moon works at 11:30 pm game time. It's when the critical cooking is in effect.

Climbing Gear is so useful with the Climbing Bonus. You use less stamina when you jump.

Update: Majora’s Mask acts as a disguise for Lizalfos, Moblins, Bokoblins, and Stal Children. It works with Lynel’s, but they see through it pretty quick.

The Soldier Gear/Ancient Gear/Hero's Gear maxes out at 28 Defense per piece. Very useful to have. Champion's Tunic maxes at 32 defense.

During a Blood Moon, if you want more time to cook or you need the shrine that requires it, hop into a shrine before the animation starts, usually at 11:55 pm before the animation cuts in, and wait it out. The game will not register a Blood Moon actually happened and will do it again the next night. So far it's worked all the time for me. It will not bring back the enemies but it's a good way to make some meals or get more ingredients for them.

If you do the Master Sword Trials, your boons will carry over. Extra Hearts, Stamina, and attack/defense/etc. will carry over.

It also works with the Stranded on Eventide shrine quest.

The Shrouded Shrine quest, or that pitch black forest north of Great Hyrule Forest, is that if you don't want to drop a weapon you like for the torch, using a Remote Bomb helps. I noticed if I use the Magnesis Rune on a metal object, it illuminates better around you but your camera is pretty fixed.

Ancient/Guardian Items don't conduct electricity. Feel free to use them during a Thunderstorm.

That's all I got for now, but if you found those useful, I'm glad it helped. Though I didn't really look hard to see if anyone posted some of the stuff I mentioned, I think some of it can be new that some people didn't really know about. I did mention stuff that I have seen but it was just in case. Thanks for checking it out if you're reading this! (• u •)b

Spoiler Warning just in case

The Shrouded Shrine quest, the Pitch Black forest, you can go straight ahead, you'll see a giant bird statue and a small bird statue you can light up, and climb over the wall. You'll land where the shrine pops up. When you see the blinking arrow, that's the Hinox sleeping. Get the orb, by stealing it or killing the Hinox, and plop the orb into the pedestal.

If you go to Zora's Domain through the back, Akkala Region, you will see a new Cut Scene for Prince Sidon if you don't speak to him at the bridge.

If you go along the path when you meet Prince Sidon at the bridge but fly down to the domain before meeting him at the entrance and meet the King, Sidon will not be there. You can go to the entrance where he is waiting for you and he'll give you a different reaction when you sneak up on him.

[thepolyorchids]

A bit about each song on The Polyorchids LP

Track 1 of 10: The Lark

This was the first Polyorchids song that didn’t exist prior to the band’s formation. It was sort of an experiment in a different writing style. The first Courtney Barnett album had just come out and I loved the way she wrote these songs made up of super specific and sometimes mundane lyrics that, when added up, made you feel something. Tony’s naturally great at getting specific like that, but I tend to retreat into my own mind and write from that space. I used a simple a two-chord progression I’d been sitting on for years and wrote a blow-by-blow telling of a drive out to a gig Travis, Tony and I played in Willits a few weeks prior. The hills of Lake County had just been burned by a huge fire. On the trip, we met a bunch of nice seasonal weed-trimming folk (plenty of them white dudes w/ dreads, hence the chorus, which was originally just a placeholder but ultimately stuck) and we crashed at a shitbox motel called The Lark. I liked a Joyce Manor song called “Midnight Service at the Mutter Museum” which had a quiet-verse/loud-chorus structure to it. I brought it to the band with that in mind, but couldn’t get Travis to soften the his floor tom hits, only to find that the thumping beat actually made for a better song. From there it found its groove. — Justin

Track 2 of 10: Predisposed

Most of the lyrics and melodies for “Predisposed” were written in 2011. I think for most songwriters it’s easier to say something in a song than it is to say it in real life. This song was written directly to my friend (and sister from another mister) Nicole Putnam. She was and has always been someone that had my back no matter what, no questions asked. This song turned out to be a (WELL-deserved) explanation/Thank You (even though she never asked for either) for all the times in that year she was there for me when I felt like I had no one. It started as an acoustic song (like most Polyorchids songs), I absolutely forgot I EVEN WROTE IT! For me writing becomes sometimes like therapy, so once I finish... I feel better and feel like I can move on a bit. I found and old iPhone in October of 2017. When I checked out the voice memos, this bad boy was on it. It wasn’t totally complete but Justy, Trav and I worked it to be a full band song and it made it to our album. This is also the first time in The Polyorchids history that I sing my own song on the record. — Tony

Track 3 of 10: Dumpster Heap

I wrote the melody for this a few years ago on a miniature kids’ guitar I was fooling around with, but I spent more than a year just humming gibberish to it. Tony and I have had tons of conversations about our feelings about talking politics on social media. On one hand, it’s a cesspool of garbage that brings out the worst in people and diving into it accomplishes essentially nothing, but on the other hand, it’s where we do 90% of our communicating at this point. If we don’t talk about this stuff online, we’re sort of making the decision to not talk about it at all, which isn’t good either. I’ve typed out full responses to Facebook comments only to delete them before posting so as to avoid surrendering my day to a shit show of notifications. This song is about that internal conversation. I wrote a second verse for this after the “grab her by the…” tape came out, but decided it made an evergreen idea too specific. A few months later I started writing ’45’ and realized this 30-second song could exist with just one verse that feeds right into that one. — Justin

Track 4 of 10: 45

The sort of bizarre post-election vibe had given way to the inauguration and now this guy was slapping his Sharpie signature on like five executive orders per day and arguing about crowd sizes. A parade of idiots were marching through Charlottesville with tiki-torches the day I started writing it. I can’t really pull off overtly political lyrics because they feel corny to me about one hour after I write them, but it seemed like a joke that this dude was running things and I felt like trying capture that in some way, because it was inescapable. Jeff Rosenstock’s WORRY had come out a few months earlier and knocked me out. A fast/crazy deep-cut called "Bang on the Door” was my favorite track and I pretty much wanted to jack it and make it my own. The chords and melody for 45 are totally different from that song, but you can tell they’re sort of distant cousins. I only had one verse written, but I showed it to Trav and Tony at the very end of a practice and the “Side! Eyed! Glances!…” intro was so glorious and punchy with the full band. Some songs take work to find their groove. This one was a natural fit right off the bat and we got excited about it. I wrote a second verse and we started playing it at shows. I finished the third verse the night before recording with Pat and our friends Mike and Jake came in to sing gang vocals on the outro. — Justin

Track 5 of 10: Skeletons

Tony wrote this one a few years ago and lost the demo on an old phone (that’s his move) until just a few months before we recorded the album. I’d never heard it prior to that, but I instantly became obsessed with it, even more so than Tony I think. I told him as much, and I even played it a few times at open mics by myself. The song is really just one verse and one chorus… or a looping chorus with one bridge — however you want to put it. I added the guitar riff, which mirrors the melody but gives it something new, and pitched the idea of having Tony and I alternate singing with a louder, shared verse at the end. This is the only time we’ve ever structured a song that way. We recorded this two days before I moved out of California and we had absolutely no time to practice it with Travis. We tracked our instruments to a click track (unlike most Polyorchids songs, which we record live as a full band) and let Pat at Earth Tone play the percussion after the fact — also something we’d never done before. — Justin

Track 6 of 10: Down in the Desert

This song was written after a trip to Arizona for my uncle Jeff’s funeral. My brother and I grew up with our uncle around a ton, bringing us those little popper/snappers and just generally being the best. As we grew older, we came to realize how truly bizarre and fucking hilarious this person was. Eccentric and witty to his absolute core. He joined the Army out of high school and was stationed in Germany, which I think clouds this song in a bit of confusion because “shipped out to Germany…” really sounds like WWII, but it was actually decades later during a peace-time in Germany. My uncle enjoyed room-temperature tall cans of beer �� a taste he said he developed during those years in Germany. After the Army, he got into theater and ultimately became a union-carded makeup artist in Hollywood, working on stuff like the sitcom Major Dad and a TV adaptation of the movie Weird Science among many other projects. Before the funeral, my dad received a letter from one of Jeff’s old makeup artist friends/colleagues. He read that full letter at the funeral and it was just about the most real and beautiful thing I’ve heard in my whole life... Just a human being remembering another human being through the specific memories they shared — the kinds of specifics that send you inward to think about your own memories. I cried hard and felt extremely happy at the same time.

The whole extended family stayed at a desert motel that night and passed a couple of tall cans around in a circle and took turns sharing stories. I liked the idea of letting that evening with family be the chorus and Jeff’s life be the verses, so that’s the basic structure of the song. I started the first couple of lines during that road trip to the desert, but the rest came one line at a time over like a half a year. I never hit a wall, but I never hit a groove either. It was a challenge to write, and yet I felt strongly about seeing it through. It wasn’t until I played an almost-finished version for Tony that it became a potential Polyorchids song at his insistence. I played it once at an open mic but the first time we played it live as a band was at Danny Secretion’s Fuck Cancer benefit almost exactly a year later. — Justin

Track 7 of 10: Back off, Warchild

I started this as a sparse and mellow folk song on acoustic guitar, but abandoned it after about a month of frustration over the lyrics. It started as a sort of abstract story about conflict and tension, but I had a hard time keeping it moving. I liked the first verse on its own but didn’t see a path forward. But then we tried it as a band right after the Popgun EP was done while floating some new song ideas. This came right after we’d found some momentum with The Lark, and I got excited about the dynamics of the full band banging it out. It added something new and took some pressure off the lyrics, which I still feel a bit lukewarm about to be totally honest. The binding theme of the song is frustration and tension and negativity. Verse one is childhood, verse two is early adulthood, and verse three is the old age and death. The chorus is sort of an anthemic reveling in that pessimism, which is no way to live but real nonetheless. The one lyric I really love is the chorus line: “...Not our tax brackets not the weather / could pull the graphite out of the letters...” The song title comes from a line in Point Break when Keanu is about to get in a fight at the beach. We spent our teens and 20s camping and boogie boarding at that beach (Leo Carrillo) and rinsing off in those same outdoor showers. — Justin

Track 8 of 10: Low Class Love Song

Low Class Love Song was started in October of 2017. It started out as a baseline I couldn't get outa my head (I'm not 100% sure but I feel like I might have stolen the chords from "runaround sue"). It ended up being a song about the feeling of dating above your class and knowing it's not gonna end well but pursuing it anyway because the pain of a broken heart is worth the experience of sharing some time with that person. Music really is cheaper than a therapist. — Tony

Track 9 of 10: Preachers in Private Jets

This song started as a jam session groove at a practice. Our old band wrote some songs that way, but The Polyorchids never really have. We loved playing it but didn’t know how to treat it because there was no chord progression, just this looping riff. Eventually we added a palm-muted version of the riff and I started yelling nonsense over that part sort of in the style of Fugazi’s Waiting Room. Around that time I saw a video of two televangelist preachers shooting this shit about why God is very pumped about them being super rich. More than half of the lines in this song are lifted almost directly from that YouTube clip. A week before recording, Hurricane Harvey hit Houston and Joel Osteen locked up his megachurch doors, keeping out the affected. That last verse was finished right before recording. The chorus chords were written separately by Tony for a different song, but we were elated to find that they fit right into this one and added a nice melodic part that contrasted the verses and the riff. We took a long time to start playing it live, but Jake from Pisscat nudged us to play it every night of a tour we did together around Lake Tahoe. Pisscat pal Becky wrote it on a set list as Pee Pee Jay one time and I regret not calling it that. From there it felt complete. — Justin

Track 10 of 10: Readiness for Radio

After a life spent not caring either way about Bruce Springsteen, I found my way to his Nebraska album and loved it like many before me. I did the obligatory deep-dive into its origin story: DIY four-track demos that he’d recorded in his basement with plans of doing a proper full-band studio album, only to release the raw demos instead because they served the songs better. I liked the idea of writing something that referenced the themes of the album and its story without ever doing so explicitly. The result, I think, is one of those songs that lets the listener find their own meaning. It’s not an autobiographical song for me, and yet I identify with plenty of it personally. The main chords were adapted out of an old mewithoutyou song. I thought I’d spun them off to be totally unrecognizable, but my brother’s wife Veronica spotted it like four years after I wrote it! If you listen to that band, let me know if you can spot it. I recorded it live in the big drum room at Earth Tone, soaking it in open space and reverb. Pat left the loooong ringing sound of the final chord and then abruptly ended it when I slap the strings shut. I love those final seconds. — Justin

[bobbystompy]

My Top 132 Songs Of 2016

Previously: 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011

Haven’t started writing this yet, but after peaking at 73 songs in 2013, then dipping to 67 and 71 the last two years, it is unbelievable we hit 132 (blame Spotify’s easy ability to save music and create playlists).

I debated skipping around, but nahhh, let’s get it.

As always, the criteria/info:

This is a list of songs I personally like, not ones I’m saying are the “best” from the year; more subjective than objective

No artist is featured more than once

If it comes down to choosing between two songs for an artist, I try to give more weight to a single or featured track; it’s not the ultimate factor, but it typically makes sharing the music easier

Speaking of... each song on the list is linked in the title if you wanna check out some for yourself

BOBBY VS. THE SONGS, FID

132) Kendrick Lamar - “untitled 07 | levitate”

Yeah, not gonna do the thing everyone else is doing where we pretend Kendrick is making amazing music with 2016′s throwaway release. I had to trudge through so much weird-and-not-fun stuff on “Butterfly” last year; it’s time to be done with it. Kendrick is obviously a top flight MC and could end up as an all-time great, but, like, come on -- this is from an EP of b-sides, it’s (probably) the best song... and it’s still not that memorable. How this record is ended up on so many year end best of lists mystified me.

131) Young Thug - “Drippin'”

Thugger spazzin’ around.

130) 2 Chainz f/ Lil Wayne - “Gotta Lotta”

Eh, this song’s aight; beat good, kinda sticks with you sometimes. Funny it should be listed as “2 Chainz & Lil Wayne” -- peep the very creative album art -- yet ended up as a 2 Chainz solo feature (on technicality alone) due to Weezy’s ongoing label issues. These two play off each other well.

129) Real Friends - “Mokena”

This song is good, but it’s... a little too angst-y at points.

128) Iggy Pop - “American Valhalla”

The best compliment I can give this song is it sounds unlike anything I’ve ever heard. Not a fun listen every time, but if you consciously immerse, it can definitely work.

127) The Avett Brothers - “Ain't No Man”

Good mom song; feels like fun. passed the torch with this one.

126) Paul Simon - “Horace And Pete”

Louis C.K. got Simon to write a theme song for his dramedy “Horace and Pete”, and the diminutive one came through in spades. I sometimes like to shoehorn in the f-word when singing along to help break up some of the seriousness. But yeah, this feels like a ‘60s classic even though it’s essentially brand new.

125) Frank Ocean - “Nikes”

The A.V. Club summed up my opinion of the Frank Ocean record with one swift line: “On first listen, Blonde feels like a Cracker Jack box with no toy in it.”

Amen.

Don’t get it twisted: I love Frank, still believe in Frank, and of course consider “channel ORANGE” to (objectively) be one of the greatest albums of this generation, but “Blonde”? It didn’t connect. Somewhat reluctantly, I picked this song for the list because it was the first one I heard, and it stands as a symbol of the initial hope which faded over a few listens. But when Ocean breaks in after all the high pitched singing, it does feel like a moment.

Also, this line will always stick: “RIP Pimp C / RIP Trayvon, that n**** look just like me”.

124) DJ Khaled f/ Jay-Z & Future - “I Got The Keys”

DJ Khaled is a talentless jackass, annoyingly ad libbing his way into our brains. Unfortunately, my personal favorite artist chooses to make listenable songs with him. Alas, No. 124. Jay slaying with “My wife Beyoncé, I brag different”. Future... being Future.

123) Slim Thug - “King”

The always underrated Slim Thug, hangin’ out and tellin’ you about his life. Also lifting weights. Minus points for using the Pimp C sample Jigga used in “FuckWithMeYouKnowIGotIt” only three years ago.

122) American Football - “Give Me The Gun”

This band will never hit for me as much as it does with cool/laid back guitar people, but I enjoyed this tune. And I wish my friend Luke were here to listen with me.

121) Craig Finn - “Screenwriters School”

Craig Finn, as slow and chill as you’ll ever hear him.

120) Mikey Erg - “1001 Smashed Motel Rooms”

Solid verses, big chorus, and you can almost, like, tell he’s bald by the voice (not an insult).

119) Cassadee Pope - “Summer”

The former Hey Monday singer goes in on the strongest season.

118) The Cool Kids - “Connect 4″

It’s very difficult to write about The Cool Kids without using the word “cool”, but man, these guys have such a great interplay. It’s not two separate dudes taking turns; it’s a glorious intertwine with true chemistry.

117) Third Eye Blind - “Cop vs. Phone Girl"

This is our first song I’d call an imperative listen. I say this because you need you to hear Stephan Jenkins sing “Why's it so hard to say ‘Black Lives Matter’? / Doesn't mean that you're anti-white / Take it from me, I'm super fucking white”.

He remains bulletproof.

116) Wakrat - “Sober Addiction”

I was positive this song was a jam after one listen, but I’ve listened 3-4 times since, and it’s gotten progressively worse each time. If that’s not enough of a hook, the singer is the Rage Against The Machine bassist.

115) Owl Meet Rabbit - “This Side Of The Nut House”

A Christmas song with a “National Lampoon” reference.

114) YG f/ Drake & Kamaiyah - “Why You Always Hatin?”

Still a little unclear why Drake keeps agreeing to be in YG songs. His verse references sliding into DMs.

113) Yo Gotti f/ Nicki Minaj - “Down In The DM (Remix)”

...and we also have a track titled after it. My biggest memory with this song will be feeling sick in an Uber from Chicago to Forest Park on, like, a weekday morning but still mustering the nerve to laugh at the chorus, which is egregious enough before the “bridge” of “Snapchat me that pussy, if it’s cool”. Seriously. RIP, music.

112) The Dirty Nil - “Zombie Eyed”

This rips.

111) Microwave - “Homebody”

A good song that pulls you in further when the distortion gets bigger in the chorus.

110) AJJ - “Terrifyer”

Some days, you're a member of Queen Other days, you're a Kottonmouth King Some days, you're Emilio Estevez Other days, you're Charlie Sheen

109) Band of Horses - “Casual Party”

These guys are all smooth harmonies.

108) Fitz and the Tantrums - “HandClap”

This song is pretty unoffensive, but it’s catchy enough to work.

107) Nothing - “The Dead Are Dumb”

“The Dead Are Dumb” -or- if the “Twin Peaks” theme actually went somewhere.

106) Car Seat Headrest - “Unforgiving Girl (She's Not An)”

This band kinda reminds me of The Strokes; just a liiiiiitle less New York street and a tad more indie.

105) Vince Staples f/ Kilo Kish - “Loco”

Vince got into the news this year after defending the mom who had an extreme distaste for his lyrics in 2015′s “Norf Norf”. Let’s just say she also would not enjoy this one. His interplay with Kilo is on point.

104) GTA f/ Vince Staples - “Little Bit of This”

‘ey, it’s Vince again, and this one is stronger; somehow topping the high energy of “Loco” with another level of fire-spitting.

103) The Living End - “Monkey”

The Aussies broke a 13 year album hiatus with 2016′s “Shift”, and “Monkey”, one of the lead singles, did not disappoint. There will always be a place for songwriting like this.

102) Vic Mensa - “16 Shots”

This song is so raw and street and real. Sometimes you hear something, and it just cuts like a knife. I’m talking a “Straight Outta Compton” level here. Mensa has thoughts on police brutality in Chicago, and he ain’t holding back. He played this live on Kimmel, and his solemn-yet-wired energy could not be ignored.

101) Boyd & The Stahfools - “Summerly”

Some might say BATS sold out with this very commercial ode to Pollyanna’s raspberry wheat ale, but when you consume as much of it as those boys do, I say it’s legit art.

100) Macklemore & RL f/ J. Woods - “White Privelege II”

This is kinda like the Third Eye Blind message on Black Lives Matter, only the exact opposite. It’s... quite heavy handed, and while I like that from Macklemore, I realize a lot do not. All I can say in his defense is, like, man, it really seems like this dude is trying, and he certainly attempted to involve the right people. If that’s not good enough for you, I get it.

(Plus, he kinda digs on Iggy; throwing y’all a bone, just take it.)

99) Conor Oberst - “A Little Uncanny”

Oberst sounds a ton like Bob Dylan in this one, but he also sounds a ton like Oberst. It’s kinda like two massive folk tidal waves crashing into each other.

98) Cymbals Eat Guitars - “Have A Heart”

CEG -- despite a terrific name -- have always made music that felt obtuse, but this is the first song that felt ready-made to, like, give normal people a window to check out the band.

97) Green Day- “Bang Bang”

Everyone wants to over-analyze Green Day. But if you don’t do that, you’ll enjoy this as a fast and easy pop-punk song. It plays at my gym sometimes, and I always kinda assume people are annoyed by it. To quote Josh from “Heavyweights”, this pleases me.

96) James Vincent McMorrow - “Get Low”

Chill/cool.

95) The Flatliners - “Hang My Head”

This won’t end up in their all-time Top 5, but it’s a good song, and it was nice to hear from this band in 2016.

94) AFI - “Snow Cats”

This would sound right at home as a mid-tempo number on “Sing The Sorrow”.

93) Jay Electronica - “#TBE The Curse Of Mayweather”

Oof, what a shitty title. So, this is Jay Elect’s “blast back” at Kendrick Lamar after K-Dot slaughtered the rap game (and shit, maybe rap itself) in 2013′s “Control”. But here’s the thing... “Control” was “Control”. No one is topping “Control”. No one is successfully going at “Control”. That’s in its own stratosphere. Was it fun to see the enigmatic MC try? Sure. Did it make any type of impact? Eh, no. But I did enjoy the fake Kendrick voice.

92) The Dyes - “Loudmouth”

Out of every song so far, I’ve found this the toughest to write about. My favorite part is probably the way the guitar and bass play off each other, but my second favorite part has to be how sinister and swaggery it sounds.

91) Big Sean - “Get My Shit Together”

Maaaan, I missed Big Sean in 2016 after an extremely fruitful 2015. The few times he did surface -- on other people’s songs -- he stayed in form, so you’ll see more of him as this goes.

It feel like young Ray Allen with the white twins

90) Emeli Sandé f/ Jay Electronica & Áine Zion - “Garden”

Serene, with a fitting Jay Elect verse.

89) Yumi Zouma - “Haji Awali”

Chiller than a Coleman.

88) Jimmy Eat World - “Get Right”

We’ve talked about this before, but JEW typically have sunny day feel good songs, or nighttime darkness-type songs; this one’s the latter.

87) Into It. Over It. - “No EQ”

Sooooo good; melodic and percussive and soulful. It tugs at your heart just the right amount.

86) The Front Bottoms - “Joanie”

This really, really sounds like a Front Bottoms song, which I mostly mean as a compliment but also... am slightly worried about as it pertains to future material.

85) The Lumineers - “Ophelia”

Would I like to steal this song and give it to a girl and say I wrote it to mega impress her? Uh, duh. Piano for dayz.

84) Viola Beach - “Swings & Waterslides”

Kinda a lighter version of the Arctic Monkeys; mostly the singing... but in a big way.

83) The Game - “92 Bars”

It’s sposta be a Meek Mill diss, but it’s basically Game freestyling about a buncha stuff over a workable beat. Some real solid lines, too. My favorites:

- “I can kill you in four bars, that's a Kit Kat”

- “Let me tell you who suck, like banana Now and Laters” (haha)

- “Give me Left Eye back, take Fetty Wap and the Raiders”

- “Gum by them Yeezys, I'm the 6'5" Eazy” (MVP bar?)

- “This the Golden State and my shooters ain't on no hoop shit” (coooold)

82) OMI - “Hula Hoop”

I’mma give the write up here to my girl Alyssa Pawola, via her husband, Jeff Pawola (who watched the video after she was told the song reminded me of him):

She agreed with you!

She says it's because the singer dances similar to me and is a little goofy (compliment?), whereas all the girls around him are really good dancers (thus, her).

81) Joey Purp f/ Chance The Rapper - “Girls @”

If you’re not all-in on this song by the seven or eight second mark, then you can probably pass. HOWEVA, Chance and his 3 hat appear later on, so we call that incentive, young Bucky.

80) Vinnie Caruana - “I Don’t Believe You”

The feels like a last-song-on-the-record kinda track.

/looks up if it was the last song on the record

...8 of 10!

(Close enough.)

79) No Lenox - “Leave”

This song is heart and blood, with a rare use of “fucking” from Chris Trott.

78) JANK - “Versace Summer”

JANK is interesting. All of their artwork and motif make them seem like stoners (and maybe they are), but the music itself is so technical and synced. Like, you know they’re trying and very capable. So as weird as seeing “Versace” next to “JANK” might look, maybe it’s this high end brand that truly does fit their sound over, say, Faygo. But yeah, by the time this song is done, even though they’ve played the chorus a handful of times, you probably wouldn’t mind a handful more.

77) White Lung - “Dead Weight”

This band is just the coolest shit. They always go so, so hard, but this time, there’s a guitar playing mega bad ass leads to help even things out. I would believe you if you told me the guitar was also shooting lasers.

76) Descendents - “Without Love”

Like The Living End, the Descendents have also been out of the ‘releasing new records’ game for over a decade. And as jokey of a band as they’ve been in the past, this song has some of the same earnestness and vulnerability we heard on 2004′s “Cool To Be You”.

75) Andrew Bird - “Roma Fade”

For sure a candidate for coolest song title of 2016.

74) LVL UP - “Hidden Driver”

This is too indie for its own good.

73) A$AP Ferg f/ Big Sean - “World Is Mine”

Mostly included for Sean. Sorry, Ferg -- but you did give him the hook and a verse.

72) AM Taxi - “Enough To Feel Like Enough”

Like The Front Bottoms song from earlier, this AM Taxi song is very AM Taxi. But I ain’t ever worried about AM Taxi.

71) Rozwell Kid - “Baby’s First Sideburns”

Not sure I’ve ever heard a weak song by this band.

70) PARTYNEXTDOOR f/ Drake - “Come And See Me”

If you wanted to upset your love interest in 2016, hitting him or her with the “I hear you talkin' 'bout ‘we’ a lot, oh, you speak French now?” line was probably a good place to start.

69) Tancred - “Bed Case”

Kinda ‘90s, right? Nice.

68) Thrice - “Blood On The Sand”

Moderate take alert: I purport the Thrice singer sounds like Dave Grohl in this song, particularly during the chorus. Come at me with your agrees or disagrees.

67) MakeWar - “Ode”

The dude on this band’s album cover always reminds me of Rafa Nadal, which is weird, as I’d argue he looks -20% like Rafa Nadal. This song has a downcast energy. I think I wanna see these dudes live.

66) PKEW PKEW PKEW - “Asshole Pandemic”

Party punk, wooooo. You will not find a more circular 2016 lyric than “Why’s this fuckin’ dick gotta be such a cock?”

65) Adam Friedman f/ Mike Posner - “Lemonade”

blue eyes >>> brown eyes, Adam.

64) Matt and Kim - “Let’s Run Away”

As always-always-always, Matt and Kim are having more fun than we are.

63) Ariana Grande f/ Nicki Minaj - “Side To Side”

As recently as 40 days ago, I was emaling my friends about this track with the very loaded “I’m not sure this song is good at all”.

My buddy Brian’s response will probably jar you like it jarred me:

Gotta say, I have a soft spot for this song. I think the beat is pretty banging and the subject matter is a plus. Like, we do have to acknowledge that she's walking side to side because she's been having sex with dude all night and day and now her vagina is too sore to walk like a regular person. I can dig that.

Well then.

62) With You. f/ Vince Staples - “Ghost”

Weird music video, but definitely my favorite version of Vince that we got in 2016.

61) Fifth Harmony f/ Ty Dolla $ign - “Work From Home”

I was listening to this song with my girlfriend the other day, and I said something like “This song could really use a rap cameo”. Enter: the very forgettable Ty Dolla $ign. Still, a fun, sexty song. Also, I believe this is our first -- and only? -- song to have over one billion YouTube views (!!!).

60) Masked Intruder - “If Only”

This made it over other MI candidates due to the Winnie Cooper reference.

59) Fat Joe, Remy Ma, Jay-Z f/ French Montana & Infared - “All The Way Up (Remix)”

An easy chorus for sports teams to co-opt, as well as a “fuck off me” Jay verse. He bucks “Lemonade”, ups his products for the infinite time, and drops the mic after:

The OG's say, "Hov, how high is high enough?" I said "'till we eye and eye with the higher ups" Until we let 'em know, we ain't those n****s Until our baby's showered in gold, n**** Blue looking like Pac in the tub David LaChapelle levels of not giving a fuck Prince left his masters where they safe and sound We never gonna let the elevator take him down

Man.

Worry not, cockroach French is around to muck things up. It’s salvaged by a real dope Remy Ma verse, though.

58) Al Scorch - “Everybody Out”

The perfect soundtrack for escaping a busted speakeasy.

57) Tegan and Sara - “Dying To Know”

This song makes the list because the “Boyfriend” chorus was lazy as hell; it was like the “Closer” chorus, version 2.0. Conversely, “Dying To Know” has real emotion and a big, legit chorus.

56) Bloc Party - “The Good News”

A song I fear no one will like but me... but hey, my list.

55) New Lenox - “It’s Its Own Thing”

This is a song I wrote (and drummed on) about how winter sucks. It’s also about Chicago, being alone, finding someone, and using Banner Pilot to get through tough, frozen times. Shout out to Dave Rokos for singing the majority of the leads and Chris Trott for producing.

54) Julien Baker - “Photobooth”

I became enamored with the voice and talent of 21-year-old phenom Julien Baker throughout 2016, and though she released her debut album in 2015 (ALL TRACKS DISQUALIFIED, CHICA), she did drop this Death Cab cover for The A.V. Club this year, so I found a way to get her in the door. Now that we’re all here, I’ll give the floor to Deadspin’s Tom Ley:

What I did not expect was to like this version of the song so much that I now become visibly disgusted when I try to go back and listen to the original. Like all the good, thoughtful teens of my era, I spent a lot of time listening to Death Cab in my car, and I used to nod along pleasantly when “Photobooth” came on. But now I’m just angry I ever wasted any time listening to a lesser version of the song. In my opinion, Death Cab should just turn their entire catalog over to Julien Baker and be done with it.

Ironically, I will be seeing Baker open up for Death Cab singer Ben Gibbard later this January.

53) Desiigner - “Panda”

This is a bad song... but it’s incredibly listenable (for about 30 seconds, only it keeps going for a normal amount of time). It got upped on Kanye’s album, which likely sparked public interest in this mumble rap disaster. Literally the best thing you can say is it’s a Future rip off -- and he’s not all that great to begin with.

/sadly looks up YouTube view total

190 million; Fifth Harmony is like “pshhhh”.

Yet, “Panda” somehow endures. It feels fresh, saying “panda” repatedly never seems to tire, and it burned down the dance floor at Brian Pawola’s wedding this summer; old and young alike wanted to be pandas.

Now is also probably a good time to disclose my Halloween costume...

52) Cloud Nothings - “Modern Act”

Me, blogging about my excitement for the new Cloud Nothings album that drops in three weeks.

51) A Tribe Called Quest f/ André 3000 - “Kids” (no link)

Welcome back.

50) Run The Jewels - “Talk To Me”

Haven’t listened to RTJ3, but it’s only been out for, like, 10 days. Still, this song is as reliably dope as they’ve always been. I also felt compelled to include ATCQ and RTJ in these spots to ensure they were not above “Panda”.

Brave men didn't die face down in the Vietnam muck so I could not style on you

49) Kevin Devine - “No History”

My aforementioned buddy Dave Rokos likes this song because of its big chorus, and I’d also like to use it as a selling point.

48) Kings Of Leon - “Reverend”

For as big as Kings Of Leon are, I haven’t really heard this song anywhere.

47) Rae Sremmurd f/ Gucci Mane - “Black Beatles”

I always thought Rae Sremmurd were kinda meh (at best) and Gucci Mane was an idiot’s idiot (at absolute best), but this song’s a banger -- and this conclusion was reached prior to it going viral with the Mannequin Challenges. Speaking of... my 2016 Black Wednesday:

A video posted by Bobby L (@bobbystompy) on Nov 23, 2016 at 7:15pm PST

46) Grimes - “Kill V. Maim”

This song is straight out of a video game or action movie. Like, get ready to fight a boss or something.

45) Dave Hause - “With You”

Heartfelt ballad that feels sprawled out across a few genres.

44) Robin Thicke f/ Nas - “Deep”

What do we get when we combine a dude with no credibility and feature a dude with tons of credibility? A sneaky sizzling collab. And if you still got beef, remember: it ain’t that deep.

43) Against Me! - “Rebecca”

A lot of people have had this AM! song on their year end lists, and I wasn’t seeing it, but after a few extra spins, it became pretty clear this was thee highlight from the album. It’s got this kinetic energy, spinning out of control while somehow maintaining perfect balance.

42) Restorations - “See”

Restorations make spectrum songs; ones you listen to while the world moves in slow motion at an airport reunion, while time stops after a death, or stretches out on an overly contemplative Sunday evening. What I’m saying is, these dudes control the clocks.

41) Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties - “Green Like The G Train, Green Like Sea Foam”

Soupy from The Wonder Years’ solo project keeps -- PUN INTENDED -- chuggin’ along with this one. He’s singing in the same gear he always sings in, but the chorus and always trusty synced rhythms that break it in two definitely get me goin’. 

40) Titus Andronicus - “No Future”

Titus Andronicus covering Craig Finn, and they add just the right amount of anguish to the proceedings. There’s such an obvious-yet-still-clever element to the “February’s about as long as it is wide” line.

39) Rihanna - “Needed Me” (NSFW-ish video)

This song is good -- Mustard on the beat, natch -- but RiRi murdering a dude in the back of a strip club in the video might be better.

38) Jeff Rosenstock - “Festival Song”

The former Bomb the Music Industry! singer dipped his toe in a few genres throughout his 2016 album “Worry”, though I’m not sure how to describe this one; it’s kind of spastic punk with some synthy keyboards and a catchy outro, strong enough to throw two capable haymakers as the song enters its final minute. 

37) The Steve Adamyk Band f/ Colleen Green - “Carry On”

I hadn’t even heard of this band a month ago, but “Carry On” has quickly become a favorite; toe-tappin' rock.

36) The Naked And Famous - “Higher”

This band seems like they’d have -- there is no better word I’m so sorry -- epic concerts. Also, don’t miss out on the “In The Air Tonight”-sounding fills.

35) Phantogram - “You Don’t Get Me High Anymore”

Brilliant drum samples, drug stuff, and a pop sensibility; you seriously could not ask for more.

34) Child Bite - “Vermin Mentality”

This song is quite harsh, and I imagine if you had individual approval ratings for all 132 of these songs, it would very easily finish in the bottom five. That said, I think it rocks, and it reminds me of the Dead Kennedys’ best scenario.

33) Joyce Manor - “Last You’ve Heard Of Me”

Sure, I reacted like a mom when I saw Barry’s new neck tattoo in the video, but the song was the redeemer. Recommended if you like the Everclear “Santa Monica” intro, marijuana makes you tired, or you’ve found love in the parking lot outside a karaoke bar.

32) Cassino - “Alabama Song”

If you did happen to listen to “Vermin Mentality”, this’ll probably be the song to get that taste out of your mouth. I love its overall laid back vibe, even if what it’s about remains unclear after a good chunk of listens.

31) Direct Hit! - “Was It The Acid?”

This one lost several punk points after the singer revealed he did not use hard drugs. But still.

30) Bayside - “Pretty Vacant”

My buddy Brian Pawola doesn’t like this song because of the teenage-y “I can’t believe this is my life, I’m pretty vacant all the time” chorus, but that’s precisely why I do. Also, apparently the album it’s off of is called “Vacancy”, haha.

29) PUP - “Familiar Patterns”

Feels weird not picking a single, but this one was always my favorite; the same percussive power, shreddy singing, and unrelenting noise we got in their debut a few years ago. Also funny: they named their 2016 album “The Dream Is Over”, which is what the PUP singer’s doctor told him after diagnosing his vocal chord ailment.

28) Tokyo Police Club - “Not My Girl”

Sometimes, I wanna tell non-punk fans TPC is what all punk rock sounds like, because even though the band has more of a pop-indie element, they do seem like the genre’s best case scenario more often than not.

27) The Falcon - “If Dave Did It”

Feels like sacrilege picking a Dave Hause fronted track for my Falcon choice. After all, this is Brendan Kelly’s group, and after an EP and two full lengths, it’s Dave’s first ever time fronting a song in the band. But this song kept standing out. It also has a small drum solo, and even though basically all drum solos are bad, Neil Hennessy’s on the kit -- so you know you’re in good hands.

26) Chance The Rapper f/ 2 Chainz & Lil Wayne - “No Problem”

Chance’s “Coloring Book” was so positive and creative and multi-faceted that it feels a little wrong to pick a song that’s more traditional rap with typical guests, but it really is the best song, you know? For whatever reason, Lil Wayne’s nonchalant verse was my favorite, with his initial bars being the highlight:

I got problems bigger than these boys My deposits, they be on steroids Lord, free the Carter, n****s need the Carter Sacrificin' everything, I feel like Jesus Carter

But sure, we can also highlight funny 2 Chainz things:

- “Inside of the Maybach look like it came out of Ikea / Run shit like diarrhea” (oh my god)

- “Aye, aye, captain / I'm high, captain / I'm so high / Me and God dappin'” (haha)

Also, if you don’t raise-and-drop your arms for the “huh! huh!” part before the beat kicks in at the beginning after “lobby”, you’re a monster.

25) David Rokos - “Pacific Time”

Falling in lust with a California girl who has the keys to bomb ass hotel room overlooking the ocean? What self-deprecating heterosexual dude isn’t signing up for this?

24) NOFX - “Six Years On Dope”

Thrash punk, with Fat Mike and Eric Melvin divvying up the vocals after arguing to start the song. Here’s the July 2016 description I emailed to the gf:

So, the lead singer has kind of a flat, annoying voice, but then there's this guitarist who mostly does yell parts and not a lot of leads, but in this song, they both basically trade off yelling, and the guitar is blaring, and it just does not relent. They've released a million records at this point, but something about it feels so fresh. Like new blood has been infused into all of them.

You will like... 0% of this.

Her response: “Hahaha. I wouldn't say that I hate this...but it's pretty close.”

23) Beach Slang - “Future Mixtape For The Art Kids”

Of all the artists on this way-too-long list, I had the hardest time picking a Beach Slang song. This is probably because all of their songs sound the same. But as a writer earlier this year said, it’s still a good song. So true. I went with Track 1 from their album “A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings” (this is the actual title) because it has the biggest chorus:

We're not lost, we are dying in style We're not fucked, we are fucking alive I hope I never die

Every Beach Slang song also has to include “die” or “alive” in the lyrics; this one gets both. Minor gripe: that vocal distortion you hear is an effect used on every other song on the 29 minute record.

22) Kid Cudi f/ André 3000 - “By Design” (no link)

When you think too much, you’re removing what’s moving

This song could literally be in a made up language, but the diction, beat, and Caribbean stylings from Cudi and 3 Stacks would still make you wile out. The full version appears to be nowhere on the free Internet, but I highly recommend finding it.

If you’re too lazy, peep Cudi’s “Goodbye” instead. It’s a pump up track that samples 2Pac and Pink Floyd -- what could go wrong?!

21) Anderson .Paak - “Come Down”

My buddy Ceebs used this as the entrance song at his wedding; he and his wife looked so cool.

20) The Weeknd - “False Alarm”

Listen, I wanted to include “Starboy”. But after shunning “The Hills” for “Can’t Feel My Face” in 2015, I wanted to pick the weird song over the poppier one this time, OK? This music video is so violent. I also really do wonder if this song has borderline punk elements.

19) Carly Rae Jepsen - “Higher”

Just a Carly Rae “Emotion” b-side cracking the Top 20, no big deal. Seeing CRJ in Milwaukee in March was my favorite concert of 2016; so much so that I saw her in Chicago the next day and even exchanged a shirt (...cutoffs) with the merch guy I’d met already.

18) Brian Fallon - “Red Lights”

We have The Gaslight Anthem singer’s solo project here. This could definitely be a TGA song. “I only stop to tell her that I love her at the red lights” = unstoppable swoon.

17) Jay-Z - “Spiritual”

I need a drink, shrink or something I need an angelic voice to sing something

A song that should’ve had a much bigger spotlight in an incredibly tumultuous year. I remember listening to this during the Dallas shootings, my heart absolutely breaking for the country. Here is the statement Hov released with the track:

16) Justin Timberlake - “CAN’T STOP THE FEELING!”

Our Song of the Summer, 2K16.

The one critique you could give is maybe it’s a little too easy, a little too low hanging fruit, but my counter would be: who said pop music has to be terribly difficult? And if you’re still folding arms during the “Can’t stop the fee-laaaaahn” falsetto part, having fun probably isn’t your bag.

15) Get Well Cards - “Is It Worth It?”

I think you’re trying to kill me, when you said you’d lick my wounds

I play drums on this jam, but it’s Dave Rokos’ songwriting that gives me all the feels. It always reminded me of a slightly more restrained “Good Things”. This song is about sleeplessness, deep contemplation, and a deteriorating relationship; you don’t know if you should do everything you can to hold on... or mercifully let it all go (”And they say time is all we have to give / And I think I’ve given you enough”... oof).

14) Resolutions - “Daily Train”

Blindly assumed this band was from Canada, but, upon further research, it looks like Germany. Hmm. The singer sounds like the Rise Against dude to me.

13) Mike Posner f/ Big Sean - “Buried In Detroit (Lucas Lowe Remix)”

Hunger > Strategy

The Mike Posner comeback was one of the more delightful storylines of 2016. Though I liked “Ibiza” quite a bit, I had a softer spot for the one with his fellow Michigander. This is my favorite Big Sean performance of the year, and Posner’s verses and choruses are straight anthemic.

12) blink-182 - “Rabbit Hole”

Though we can all agree “Built This Pool” is the best song of all-time (Travis’ “Is that really it?” = completely perfect), “Rabbit Hole” was a bit more well-rounded -- and it’s Matt Skiba getting in the mix in a blink-182 song (verse two); I can’t believe we’re here.

11) Kanye West f/ Kendrick Lamar - “No More Parties In L.A.”

In honor of its number on our dear list, my Top 11 favorite bars from this banging banger of a song...

11. Kanye: “And as far as ‘Real Friends’, tell all my cousins I love 'em / Even the one that stole the laptop, you dirty motherfucker” (he’s not over it)

10. Kanye: "My psychiatrist got kids that I inspired / First song they played for me was 'bout their friend that just died” (creepy, ominous)

9. Kanye: “Hey baby, you forgot your Ray Bans / And my sheets still orange from your spray tan” (very South Naperville)

8. Kendrick: “She said she came out here to find an A-list rapper / I said baby, spin that 'round and say the alphabet backwards” (the young MC will not be slighted)

7. Kanye: "Thinking back to how I got here in the first place / Second class bitches wouldn't let me on first base" (those days are probably over, Yeezy)

6. Kanye: “Got pussy from beats I did for n****s more famous / When did I become A list? I wasn't even on a list” (those days are also probably over, Yeezy)

5. Kendrick: “Well cutie, I like your bougie booty / Come Erykah Badu me" (that’s just good game)

4. Kanye: “Every agent I know, know I hate agents / I'm too black, I'm too vocal, I'm too flagrant” (empowering)

3. Kanye: “I was uninspired since Lauryn Hill retired / And 3 Stacks, man, you preach it to the choir” (golden)

2. Kanye: "Mulholland Drive, need to put up some god damn barricades / I be paranoid every time, the pressure / The problem ain't I be drivin' / The problem is I be textin'" (we’ve all been there)

1. Kanye: “I be worried 'bout my daughter, I be worried 'bout Kim / But Saint is baby 'Ye, I ain't worried 'bout him” (and we’ll end with my favorite rap lyric of 2016)

10) Daya - “Hide Away”

It took a few listens to realize how sublime this one is. The lyrics are solid, the beat is great, and they display some real patience with how the hi-hat notes are deployed, and it really helps control the flow of urgency (Posner uses this tactic in the “Buried In Detroit [Remix]” as well).

Also, don’t sleep on its grocery store banger potential with the happier sounding and cutesy “Tell me where the good boys go” bridge.

9) Beyoncé f/ Kendrick Lamar - “Freedom” (note: link is to the live performance)

This is big.

I remember when “Lemonade” dropped, I was txting with my friend Buffalo Grove Tina (she’d heard the album and I hadn’t yet), giving her selective feedback as I was progressing through the tracks. She then sent a message that stuck with me every listen since:

Hooooooly buckets, she nailed it. The Just Blaze beat should be sent to the CDC, Yoncé is breathing fire, and once you start to finally wrap your head around all of that, you get a K-Dot verse as icing on a cake that already had great cake and great icing. It’s run-through-walls time.

8) Drake - “One Dance” (note: link is to the live version)

Drake has been so consistent with his output this decade, turning every year into a "Should I pick the hip-hop song or the pop song?" debate when it comes to list-making. This time, the pop song wins (or dancehall, really).

"One Dance" is a good joint to drink, dance, or sway to. There's a reason it became his most streamed song of all-time.

7) The Hotelier - “Piano Player”

What a beautiful piece of music. The warmness I feel during the “I don’t know if I know love no more” is unmatched. Their album (”Goodness”) is one of the year’s best.

6) Culture Abuse - “Dream On”

This song is automatic pulverization. Like, about 80% of the way through, it tries to end but somehow can't. The chorus isn't ready to be done. Some have compared the singer's style to a robot, but I think it just sounds *cool*.

5) Japandroids - “Near To The Wild Heart Of Life”

She kissed me like a chorus

Skeptics might hate on this song for sounding like a retread of their sound from 2012's legendary album "Celebration Rock", and even non-skeptics may roll their eyes at the "I used to be good, but now I'm bad" line. But I shun these trigger happy notions. Enough time has passed since “CR”, and I was ready for this band to come back; beyond ready. This song gave me everything I was missing during the Japan-void.

/walks out of the room with an unflinchingly straight face

4) Pusha T f/ Jay-Z - “Drug Dealers Anonymous”

My pick for the best hip-hop track of the year. No choruses, no trade offs; it’s one long Pusha verse, then one long Jay verse -- the best rap verse of 2016, by my count. Pusha’s is galvanizing too, though. He paints pictures, conjures the Flint water crisis*, and sets up a bowling pin for the GOAT to roll one at...

/deep breath

Just, like, fuck, man.

JAY-Z IS SO GOOD AT RAPPING WORDS

Shawn Corey Carter doesn’t walk, he weaves. He doesn’t blast, he shoots silenced. I’d love to use the word “ether” to describe the verse but won’t out of respect. What doesn’t it have? I don’t know. Here’s what it does have: Tomi Lahren she gone, drug dealer stuff, rich guy stuff, historical and pop culture references (I’ll defend the “Damn, Daniel” line to the death), and this piece of divinity: “Y’all think Uber’s the future, our cars been autonomous”.

Sometimes all I can do is put my head down, bite my lip, and bob when this song comes on; lucky to be alive, like always.

(* - Pusha apparently donated water to the city but wanted it nameless, rationalizing it in the song with: “And I can’t even mention what I sent or what I spent / Cause my name in 18 wheelers is evidence”)

3) Modern Baseball - “Apple Cider, I Don’t Mind”

MoBo’s “Holy Ghost” was a little uneven as an album, but I’m just happy to have singer Brendan Lukens here with us after his bout with depression, substance abuse, and suicidal thoughts. By the time he got back to the studio after rehab, he was ready to give us at least a little insight into his psyche -- and it’s desperate, scary, and beautiful. My favorite overall musical moment of 2016 is the pleading “I can’t” he hits at the 1:15 mark of this one.

Clocking in at a tick under two minutes, this song almost feels incomplete in a way that 2014′s “Rock Bottom” (2:14 itself) didn’t. It’s like Lukens wants to sprint so hard he passes out, worrying not as much about finishing the race but instead focusing on giving the audience all of himself while in the booth.

2) Pinegrove - “New Friends”

Hit me, Spin:

Pinegrove are almost radically likable, soft-spoken in a year of grandiose statements, filling a void that only existed in retrospect.

Damn straight. I hadn’t even heard of these guys at the start of the year.

This goes from indie folk to a Weezer-y outro with only a short build up, but the songwriting and lyrics are in a style all their own, really. That’s it.

1) The Menzingers - “Lookers”

When this dropped, my buddy Chris Trott emailed me what he always emails me when a new song piques our interest: “Holy good god damn this is good. This is like 'I believe in music again' good.”

Shortly after, I remember leaving work for lunch and bumping the song for the first time in a parking lot. I wrote him back: “Was staring at this brick wall while listening and the first thought that popped into my head was something like 'It feels like they are taking my soul out of my body and splattering it on that wall' (in the best way, of course).”

Nostalgic verses, massive Jersey chorus, an “On The Road” reference, and the desire to want more of these songs even after you were just given everything in a single installment.

This god damn band.

[chelseyroseblog]

QUESTIONS I ASK MYSELF AT THE START OF EVERY NEW YEAR

Anyone else here a fan of Tony Robbins? If I ever feel uninspired all I need to do is pick up one of his books, flip to any random page and read a few paragraphs. 

He reminds me to think of who I really want to be, how I see myself in years to come, what direction I'm taking, what goals I'm setting for myself, and how I plan on getting there. 

I get caught up in day to day stuff so often that sometimes I forget to really think about how these things will pay off in the long run. Once I really sit down and think about where I see myself 10 years from now, it gives me motivation and changes the course of how I'm doing things. 

One of the most important things I learned from Tony is to set some time aside at LEAST once a year and really just let yourself free and write about where you see yourself 5-10 years from now. 

Write down everything about your ideal day from the moment you wake up until the moment you lay back down to go to sleep.

What are you wearing?

What does your house look like?

Who are you with?

Where are you in the world?

What do you do with the first hour of your day?

I've done this so many times that I this vision in my head like it already happened. This is how detailed mine is: (From here, we write down different questions that will help us figure out how we're going to get to this ideal day for us years from now. )

My ideal day 10 years from now:

I wake up around 6:15am in the second story of my modern home next to my husband and dog, I walk down the wooden steps to my big kitchen where I have a beautiful floor to ceiling window view of San Diego or LA, I make myself some espresso and a fresh juice and turn on some relaxing jazz music and light some candles. 

I spend my morning by myself, reading and planning my day. I have a small breakfast then go back upstairs to get ready for my morning barre class. 

I drive myself to barre in my blacked out infinite suv, my hair, skin and nails are on point and my body is in amazing shape because I eat clean and make time to work out everyday. 

I get back from barre and enjoy some time with my kids and husband while I make them breakfast. 

I work from home in my office upstairs.....

Okay, I won't bore you anymore but you get the idea. Let yourself think of every detail. Let your mind expand and don't place ANY limitations on yourself. Think about what you really really want. 

Now that you know what you want to look like, how you want to live, and where you want to be with your career, you can start THIS YEAR with questions and goals in mind that will help push you towards that ultimate vision. 

There's 4 set's of goals that we need to pay attention to:

- Personal Development Goals 

- Career/Business Goals

- Toys/Adventure Goals

- Contribution Goals 

1. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS:

STEP ONE:

Set a timer for 5 minutes and write down everything that you can possibly think of. 

How would you like to improve your physical body? What are your goals for your mental and social development? Do you want to start to make meditating a habit that you do every morning? Do you want to learn a new language? Do you want to speak in front of an audience?

Emotionally what would you like to experience or achieve? Do you want to forgive someone or mend an old friendship? Do you want to start going to church?

Tony Robbins shares some questions to ask yourself before writing.

What would you like to learn?

What are some skills you want to master in your lifetime?

What are some character traits you’d like to develop?

Who do you want your friends to be?

What do you want to be?

What could you do for your physical well-being? (Get a massage every week? Every day? Create the body of your dreams? Join a gym–and actually use it? Hire a vegetarian chef? Complete the Iron Man Triathlon in Honolulu?)

Would you like to conquer your fear of flying?  Or of public speaking? Or of swimming?

What would you want to learn? To speak French? Study the Dead Sea Scrolls? Dance and/or sing? Study with violin Virtuoso Itzhak Perlman? Who else would you like to study with? Would you like to take in a foreign exchange student?

STEP TWO:

Set your timer for 1 minute and give yourself a deadline for accomplishing each goal. If it's 1 year or less write 1, if it's 2 years, put a 2 next to it, and so on for 10 years, 15 years, 20 years etc. 

STEP THREE:

Chose your most important 1 year goal and take 3 minutes to write down a few paragraphs about why it's so important to you. Why are you committed to achieving that one specific goal this year? Why is it so important to you? What would you miss out on if you didn't achieve it?

2. CAREER/BUSINESS GOALS

STEP ONE:

Take 5 minutes to write down your career/business/financial goals.

Here's some of Tony Robbin's suggestions of questions to ask yourself.

Do you want to earn: $50,000 a year? $100,000 a year? $500,000 a year? $1 million a year? $10 million a year? So much that you can’t possibly count it?

What goals do you have for your company? Would you like to take your company public? Would you like to become the leader in your industry?

What do you want your net worth to be? When do you want to retire? How much investment income would you like to have so you no longer have to work? By what age do you want to achieve financial independence?

What are your money management goals? Do you need to balance your budget? Balance your checkbook? Get a financial coach?

What investments would you make? Would you finance an exciting start-up business? Buy a vintage coin collection? Start a diaper delivery service? Invest in a mutual fund? Set up a living trust? Contribute to a pension plan?

How much do you want to save toward giving your kids a college education?

How much do you want to be able to spend on travel and adventure?

How much do you want to be able to spend on new ‘toys’?

What are your career goals?  What would you like to contribute to the company? What breakthrough would you like to create?  Would you like to become a supervisor? A manager? A CEO? What would you like to be known for within your profession? What kind of impact do you want to have?

STEP TWO:

Set a timeline for your goals by putting a 1 next to goals that you want to accomplish in 1 year or less, a 2 for 2 years, and so on. Try to do this in 1 minute.

STEP THREE:

Pick your top 1 year goal and spend 3 minutes writing about it. Explain why you are absolutely committed to achieving this goal this year and if you can't think of good enough reasons then you might need to pick a different goal that really fires you up.

3. TOYS/ADVENTURES GOALS

Take 5 minutes to write down EVERYTHING you could ever want, have, or experience in your life. 

Here's some of Tony's examples:

Would you like to build, create, or purchase a cottage? Castle? Beach house? Catamaran sailboat? Private yacht? Island? Lamborghini sports car? Chanel wardrobe? Helicopter? Jet plane? Music studio? Art collection? Private zoo stocked with giraffes, alligators, and hippos?  Virtual Reality machine?

Would you like to attend an opening of a Broadway plan? A film premier in Cannes? A Bruce Springsteen concert? A Kabuki theater production in Osaka, Japan?

Would you like to race any of the Andrettis at the next Indy 500? Play Monica Seles and Steffi Graf, or Boric Becker and Ivan Lendl, in a doubles match? Pitch the World Series? Carry the Olympic torch? Go one-on-one with Michael Jordan? Swim with the pink dolphins in the oceans of Peru? Race camels between the pyramids of Egypt with your best friend? And win? Track with the Sherpas in the Himalayas?

Would you like to start in a Broadway play? Share an on-screen kiss with Kim Basinger? Dirty Dance with Patrick Swayze? Choreograph a modern ballet with Mikhail Baryshnikov?

What exotic places would you visit? Would you sail around the world like Thor Heyerdahl in Kon-Tiki? Visit Tanzania and study chimpanzees with Jane Goodall? Sail on the Calypso with Jacques Cousteau? Long on the sands of the French Riviera? Sail a yacht around the Greek Isles? Participate in the Dragon Festivals in China?  Take part in a shadow dance in Bangkok? Scuba dive in Fiji? Meditate in a Buddhist monastery? Take a stroll through the Prado in Madrid?  Book a ride on the next space shuttle flight?

STEP TWO:

Set a timeline for your goals by putting a 1 next to goals that you want to accomplish in 1 year or less, a 2 for 2 years, and so on. Try to do this in 1 minute.

STEP THREE:

Pick your top 1 year goal and spend 3 minutes writing about it. Explain why you are absolutely committed to achieving this goal this year and if you can't think of good enough reasons then you might need to pick a different goal that really fires you up.

4. CONTRIBUTION GOALS

Take 5 minutes to write down how you want to give back. What contributions do you want to make to OTHER people's lives? How will you leave your mark or make a difference?

Here's some examples from Tony:

How could you contribute? Would you help build a shelter for the homeless? Adopt a child? Volunteer at a soup kitchen? Read to the blind? Visit a man or woman serving a prison sentence? Volunteer with the Peace Corps for six months? Take balloons to an old folks’ home?

How could you help to protect the ozone layer? Clean up the oceans? Eliminate racial discrimination? Halt the destruction of the rain forests?

What could you create? Would you come up with a perpetual motion machine? Develop a car that runs on garbage? Design a system for distribution food to all who hunger?

STEP TWO:

Set a timeline for your goals by putting a 1 next to goals that you want to accomplish in 1 year or less, a 2 for 2 years, and so on. Try to do this in 1 minute.

STEP THREE:

Pick your top 1 year goal and spend 3 minutes writing about it. Explain why you are absolutely committed to achieving this goal this year and if you can't think of good enough reasons then you might need to pick a different goal that really fires you up.

Now that you have your 4 MASTER 1 YEAR GOALS, use them to inspire you all year long!

Tony ends with this:

“Now you should have four master one-year goal that absolutely excite and inspire you, with sound, compelling reasons behind them.  How would you feel if in one year you had mastered and attained them all? How would you feel about yourself? How would you feel about your life? I can’t stress enough the importance of developing strong enough reasons to achieve these goals.  Having a powerful enough why will provide you with the necessary how.

Make sure that you look at these four goals daily.  Put them where you’ll see them every day, either in your journal, on your desk at the office, o rover your bathroom mirror while you’re shaving or putting on makeup.  If you back your goals up with a solid commitment to CANI!, to constant and never –ending improvement of each of these areas, then you’re sure to make progress daily.  Make the decision now to begin to follow through on these goals, beginning immediately.”

As the saying goes, your dreams are the most precious things you own.  Your goals are simply your dreams on a timeline.

Leave a comment below and let me know what one of your goals are for this year!!

[400legends]

Wrongs righted

Quojin

The sun filters through the open windows, motes and a small beetle dance upon the sweet air. It is a beautiful spring day. There is the scent of dew and grass and earth and a rich earthy aroma of rough milled grains and gentle spices simmering on the fire waft up to you as you gather up your belongings. A bedroll… a waterskin… some torches… and hanging on the wall across from the bed, a five sided shield emblazoned with the family crest and an open eye, Trava. You’ve been hired to protect a ranch from some evil-doing. Though you don’t plan to be gone very long, if there’s one thing you know from communing with the ancestors is that you have to follow where evil leads you.

[roll Perception 5] A youngling tries rather unsuccessfully to climb the stairs stealthily and sneak up on you, Dajiv.

[wait for response]

“Mama! Did I surprise you? I can be an adventurer, too! I’ll just sneak up on the evil ones and bop them in the head and they’ll run away never to hurt anyone again! Do you think that I can be a hero like you?”

[wait for response]

“Quojin, Dajiv! Come down to breakfast!” your husband calls up. Heading down to the dim kitchen/dining area, a wave of gratitude and melancholy overcomes you as you see Dajiv’s father place a hand on his head before handing him a steaming bowl of oats. Dajiv will be well taken care of. Sitting in your chair at the head of the table is an object, very poorly wrapped in string and large leaves and oddly shaped.

“It’s for you! I made it myself!” [very quietly, a whisper] “They’re magical…”

Carefully opening the package, you find two very smooth river stones. On one, written childishly with some unknown pigment and misspelled in Draconic, is the word “Mommy” and on the other is “Dajiv.”

“They’re sending stones! That way we can talk to each other while you’re away. I prayed really hard to our ancestors, for like almost an hour, so they must be magical! Do you want to test them out?” You do not have to be a wizard to know that these stones are not magical.

[wait for response]

You finish breakfast, but not before regaling your family with a story. Though the journey was not delayed for more than an hour, the story spanned centuries and generations, but isn’t that the way of stories?

“I suspect that you’ll be gone for a while, but by the time you get back Dajiv will be ready to consider a vocation. He has the temperament for adventuring. Do you think that you’ll be ready to squire him if he decides thus?”

[wait for response]

“Either way, we’re always with you. The ancestors are with you too, but this I don’t have to tell you.”

“We love you ma-ma!”

“Go with our blessing and bring safety to others who have not been so blessed. We love you.”

As you take your leave, walking alongside your horse to save its stamina for tougher trails, tears of happiness and gratitude stream down your face. In the sun of this spring day, the ancestors truly smile upon you. You are blessed.

Threnody

The sun rarely touches the ground in the alleys and backstreets of the capital very much unlike the palatial balconied bedroom you left not long before dawn. While the heat is overbearing midday and you can often find all sorts of unsavory types here finding respite from the heat, in the early morning the hidden paths are free of observers and ne'er do wells. The door you’re seeking is almost perfectly camouflaged but your keen eye and long practiced experience seeks the hidden edge and after a quick glance to ensure you’re unobserved, the door is pried open with your dagger. You close the false door behind you and find yourself in a pitch black entryway, facing a steel door. Two quick knocks, pause, one, pause, then three. The door opens and you find yourself face-to-face with your trouble-making but golden hearted older brother, Fabian.

“Come, quick, I have news!” He says and grabs your wrist, not unkindly to draw you into the hideout.

Looking around you see that there are fewer refugees than usual, and you’re not sure if that’s good or bad news. Normally, this place is pretty packed with hungry, tired, travel-worn people. Many children would seem especially scared, not from any perceivable imminent danger (if there were danger, the children are the last to know), but from their unusual and unstable circumstances and the osmotic pressure of the worries of adults.

[roll Insight, adv 10] Fabian is in particularly good spirits, it seems like he’s been able to house or relocate some of the families after all, into better more permanent circumstances. 

“... and I couldn’t have done it without the help of the Thieves’ Guild. They’re the ones who smuggled them out of here and got them to their new homes! And that brings me to why I’ve summoned you…” a long pause, the wide jubilant grin turns into a more sheepish smirk.

“I may have promised them that you’d help them out with a little problem they’re having overseas…” He averts his gaze expecting you to lash out at him for volunteering you to cavort with this shady institution that he’s ensnared in.

[wait for response]

A small girl, dragging a tattered blanket interrupts the conversation. “Do you have any sweets, Ms. Lady?” You do.

[wait for response]

“She was separated from her family in the last skirmish, poor thing. We still haven’t been able to find her family, but the Guild has contacts. Doing a favor for them, could help her and dozens of others that we haven’t been able to house yet for one reason or another. The Guild just wants someone to discreetly deliver a package to their contact overseas, an apothecarist, and deliver a message to a rancher in the same town. No, not that kind of message, a piece of paper. Then, you’re free to head back. Favor complete. Easy peasy. Because of the embargo, they need someone who can travel freely without being searched. So, what do you say?”

[wait for response]

“I know you have to make it back before Cathilda finds you missing. No questions, no lies. I’ll stay here and await your return. When we get back, maybe the conflict will be over and we can swap stories over drinks!”

You know that with Fabian’s stubbornness, disdain for government, and his fiery desire to help those less fortunate, that some shadowy entity or another will curtail his efforts, but if he’s clever enough, not his life. He’s smart and capable, you just have to trust that he’ll be okay.

Exiting the hideaway, the purple-orange of the early morning sky has shifted to blue, signalling that you’ve been here too long. Time to hurry home and convince your parents that you need a vacation. To book passage across the foaming eastern sea and into the heart of adventure. Secure in the knowledge that the little girl and others like her will be okay. Eventually they will be as free as you feel, when you’re off on your own, carving your own path, and sowing your goodwill unto the world.

Ferris

Walking through the near pitch black of the Underdark is never easy, but with good enough vision, experience, and a familiarity of the dimly bioluminescent lichens that populate the dank caves and tunnels, one can make do. You started your sojourn to the small lagoon hours ago. A place in which you have found yourself spending more and more time communing with the very few small insects, mammals, lizards, and bleached, sightless fish that have wandered in from closer to the surface. There’s life everywhere, even in the deep, if one knows how to watch for it. Both of the times you’ve made your way to the surface with your father in order to engage in commerce with the more skittish traders, you marvelled at the diversity and abundance of life up in the sun, even as fearful, mistrustful eyes follow you through town. You long to spend more time on the surface and one day you will once you know your father is taken care of.

Up ahead you see the silhouette of a thin elf, slightly hunched, and wearing the long flowing robes of a priest. He’s hurrying towards you.

[Perception check, adv, DC 10] You would know that shape anywhere, though the pace at which he moved threw you off for a bit.

“Daughter, my most precious onyx, you must follow me back to the village. A most unusual thing is happening now. No questions, please follow.”

Elves, being nearly immortal, don’t tend to suffer the maladies of age like most, but Riklaunim is bold and passionate, unusual characteristics for a Drow, let alone the clergy. He raised you to cherish life and truth, to be practical, and not to hold the ideas of good and bad as precious. His poor posture came from an accident that stemmed from an attempt to cure your mother from Saint Vitus Dance, a debilitating and ultimately fatal neurological condition that resists magical intervention. He never expected to be a father, he’s told you multiple times, but he couldn’t leave you to be raised as an orphan after all that. While there were times, as a baby where he sometimes wished he’d made a different decision, now he would gladly trade his valuable life to ensure that yours is happy and long.

As you approach the village, you notice an unusual amount of light radiating from the center. Fire! You never see fire in town. There is no need for heat since the temperature never changes, most food is eaten raw, and the fires for forges and other creative ventures are relegated to caves closer to the surface where the gases can be vented safely to the outside world. Even light required for reading and walking about is cast by plants carefully cultivated for that purpose.

“Stay your hand, young one. All is well. Shade your eyes and come with me.”

With apprehension, closing in on the center of town, your keen eyes see what appears to be the lanterns of travellers casting some of the light, but also fire dancers flipping and swinging balls of fire around. Around them, light-skinned creatures large and small perform feats of strength and acrobatics while singing. Two carts of goods and two very nervous looking mules are being tended by yet another of this troupe.

“You see. Some brave traders and entertainers have braved the dangers of our world.” Traders can be useful but you don’t really see the point of the entertainment.

[wait for response]

“They call themselves the Brood. The dwarf you see there is the business manager, Wermek is his name. The gnome singing is in charge of the entertainment. Apparently, they travel far and wide to ply their respective trades. Apparently it’s profitable to go where others aren’t. The young ones were afraid of the light of course, many had not seen such before, but once they were assured, it brought joy to them. Just come watch for a bit and see if there’s anything we can trade for, then we can return to our pending duties.”

The music wasn’t unpleasant. The fire was interesting, sure. The vendor seems to have a decent selection.

[wait for response]

[if browsing wares] The dwarf shows you his wares. The lightness of his skin is strange to you but he seems friendly enough, which is also strange. The duergar are not friendly; they would certainly try to stab you and take your possessions if you weren’t very careful in your dealings with them.

[Investigation check, DC 10] You find some clever, well-crafted shiny items that will help you and your father survive here, trading away a few of your smaller sapphires for them. There are some remote caves and crevices that are positively lousy with “precious” stones and gems.

[if watching fire] The three dancers had ropes with flaming balls at the end of them. They danced in circles, weaving fluidly between each other, the balls of fire never stopping or slowing. Occasionally, they would draw intricate patterns that would leave mystifyingly beautiful afterimages when you closed your eyes. Sometimes the fire would switch directions seemingly defying physics, making one wonder how much of this was mundane and how much magic. Once, all three stopped to take a drink of something and spit it out facing the crowd. Massive draconic flames spewed forth above the audience’s heads. “But they’re not dragonborn?!” one kid says incredulously. They take their bow before taking a break before starting up again in a couple hours.

[if listening to music] The gnome steps forward. She is small, but with a vitality and vibrancy that is unique. Her sly, soft, sultry smile, like the keenest dagger blade, deceptively powerful and holding wild, dark secrets. The voice you heard before was tinny from the poor acoustics of the damp cave and the distance from which you heard it. Now, her voice, soft, powerful, reverberated through your chest, sucking the air from your lungs, making your head swim and your eyes water. She sang in Gnomish and though you didn’t understand a word, you felt the heartache, regret, and furious vengeful rage of her aria. Your eyes meet and the corners of her mouth twitch upward in a smile. She winks at you and turns to belt out the next verse to the other side of the semicircle in which the audience listens, some with tears, some with fierce grins. None of the onlookers are distracted or impatient. The song reminds you of the wild raw energy of life. You are invigorated.

The gnome approaches you, nimbly hopping up a boulder nearly her height to look you in the eyes, speaking in Common, “Hi there! My name is Bimpnottin. I hope you liked the show. I saw you in the audience. What did you think?”

[wait for response]

“The acoustics in this place is lousy but the moistness of the air is good for the vocal cords. You’re beautiful. What do you do here?”

[wait for response]

“What do you want to do?”

[wait for response]

“This job is all about partnerships and recognizing talent. I have a feeling about you. If you love life follow us, help out, travel, and see all sorts of things. Have you ever been to the beach? Our next stop is a lovely little village. It has a ranch, a swamp, a great sea, you’d love it. What do you say? There’s no risk really, no commitment.”

[wait for response]

[if mentions father] “Well if you can’t, I understand. We’re gonna stay for a few more hours, then head for the surface, we could use a guide (we nearly got lost on the way down). I hope you come, I rather like you!” She bends over to you and kisses your cheek.

You talk with your father about this interaction, no secrets between you, and he looks relieved. He tells you to live and not worry. “Come visit often and what you do in the meantime is your business as long as you’re happy.” After making some arrangements with some villagers to make sure he’s taken care of. You pack lightly, you don’t need much when you can forage. Bimpnottin waves to you. It’s time. You take your leave from him, catching up and then leading the troupe slowly towards the surface.

It’s time to meet the light and live your life. Barring an accident, your father will be there. The safety of the dark falls behind you and you exit the caves that you spent most of your life into a verdant forest full of life. You breathe deeply and look back at the gnome. “That’s more like it!” She says. “I love that smile on you!”

Jennora

The time spent at Temple was a necessary evil to appease your family, but frankly it feels like a waste of time. You respect what your parents are trying to do, afterall the righteous causes and opulent equipment are what the Jewelcrusher clan is known for. You, however, are more of a scholar. Sensitive to your inclinations, your family has urged you to pursue life as a Cleric, but why should you limit yourself to one particular kind of magic, why limit yourself to the workings of the divine, when there is so much power to be had from daliences with dark entities. You dedicate yourself particularly to the study of dark artifacts and weapons carved from shadows. It’s been awhile since you swore a blood pact to a hexblade and you’ve felt yourself grow stronger with its power. Growing up with warrior parents and within a collective heritage of weapon making gave you a unique insight into this arcana, but you know you lack experience.

As you head home from a tedious, you detour, heading to a dusty remote crevice in the mountainous terrain. The crack in the rock is tight, but soon you find yourself in a small clearing with an opening to the sky, spare grass, and a single sickly tree. Here you practice summoning and dispelling your spectral blade. 

[Perception or Nature check DC 10] Occasionally you stop to take note of the bones of some forsaken animals who had the misfortune of finding their way in and not making it back out. Absently, you think about all the generations of dead who must be all around us. Surely there are more people dead now than alive.

Knowing that you’ve been gone long enough and that your absence will be missed, you head back home. Upon arriving you find your parents waiting for you with a book of dark arts that you had hidden under your bed sitting on a table.

“Where did you go? What were you doing?” your father starts.

[wait for response]

Your mother: “We’re worried about you, what are you doing with a book such as this? Don’t you know that these spells and magic are evil? This goes against everything that we stand for! Please, explain yourself.”

[wait for response]

“Tell us why we should let this continue” mother again.

[wait for response]

“Please excuse yourself, young one, we need to talk amongst ourselves and contemplate what you’ve told us.”

This was ridiculous. You are not a child, granted you are lacking experience, but whose fault is that? They never let you go anywhere. Maybe it’s time to strike out on your own. It’s likely though that without their blessing, they’d come after you and hunt you down to bring you back. After the discovery of the book, you’d be lucky to escape town at all. You’re on lockdown.

The next morning, you greet both parents at breakfast. The majority of the tension seems to have left the room and through their bloodshot eyes you see nervous excitement.

Mother begins, “We talked long into the night. We trust you. You are our most…”

“...most precious gem.” You finish exhaustedly.

“But you are!” she continues, “We think that if anyone could use the dark arts for good, it would be you. This was not an easy decision to come to and the ethics of it had us going around in circles, but we came up with a way for you to continue your studies in good conscience. Ground rules…”

They were being far more understanding than you anticipated, but the idea of rules holding you back makes you a bit queasy.

“No blood magics, no evil deeds, and you must always protect the innocent. Do you understand? Lastly, always understand the price. Don’t pay the price for magic in a way that endangers your soul.”

You can’t tell them about the pact of the Hexblade.

Your father speaks up, “I happen to know someone in a sleepy seaside town that studies this sort of thing. Train with him and travel and learn about the world. That you would keep such a secret from us means that we can no longer control you, nor should we. You are your own dwarf and you should be out writing your heroic deeds upon the face of the world. Make us proud and don’t forget your way back home.”

You are speechless. Tears well up in their eyes and they smile back at you with joy and the endless enduring love of family. You will become powerful, perhaps the most powerful Jewelcrusher to ever have lived. The dwarves eons from now will know your name and though you may spend endless hours in libraries, crypts, tombs, and other dark places, your heart is light and sings out with the joy and resilience of your clan. You’ve never been to the beach before. Best to start packing. Tomorrow is a new day.

Globnar

In a shallow hillside cave, not far from the capital, four small trails of slime glisten in the sun that filter through the canopy of tall pine trees. Slugnar is clearly the fastest, but Snugnar has been known to occasionally surprise you when properly motivated with its incredibly long stride or glide or whatever it is. The other two are there just to make it interesting. Your large bulky muscular frame is delicately hunched over the event, your gaze a model of concentration and interest. Snugnar can still do it, but it has to make its move now! Dognar, helpfully, is barking at this proceeding, maybe sensing your excitement or maybe to hurry them along. Either way it’s welcome, the noise gives the whole event a sense of urgency. He knows that the two slower ones, likely the untrained newcomers, will be a treat, so there’s that too.

The solitude suits you. Lately, you’ve been feeling a bit of uncharacteristic loneliness, but when that feels strong, you redouble your efforts in training Dognar. Dognar is… challenging. Not bad, not that you’d ever characterize any dog as bad, but Dognar definitely likes to follow his own path, a sentiment that you understand intimately. Also, you trust Dognar and he trusts you. You’ve always looked after each other ever since you came across the lost mastiff puppy years ago.

But before this snail race can come to its thrilling end, Dognar suddenly falls silent, walks to the edge of the cave looking toward the west where the bulk of the forest lies and beyond that the Great Sea. At once, Dognar whines and collapses onto the cave floor. You rush over to see if he’s okay.

[Medicine check DC 10] There’s a tiny spot of red in one of his eyes as though a blood vessel burst. You snap your fingers around his face to check his reflexes and at first he doesn’t seem responsive, but then, slowly, he seems to regain his senses. Within a seemingly eternal minute or two, Dognar seems to be himself again but just very tired.

Like any willful adventuring canine, Dognar is not a stranger to injuries. You try to avoid it, but Dognar is Dognar and stuff happens. For minor injuries, you bandage him up and have him take it easy, and for more major situations, you employ a healer in town. One day it is likely that Dognar will literally bite off more than he can chew, but generally some scrapes and pulled muscles won’t stop him from protecting who he loves most.

This, however, is not like a normal injury, and not like the injury of the old either, as Dognar’s been on the road adventuring for years now. That hard life tends to age furry companions prematurely and that’s doubly so for our larger friends. What’s going on?, you think.

[Animal Handling check DC 10] Dognar looks at you. Never before have you seen a more human face on him, a face that seems to say, “I want to tell you something.” With all of the considerable force of your intention and love that you can muster, you place your forehead to his and think, Tell me, what do you know, friend?

A dizzying array of images, no it’s more than that… memories, pummel your unprepared mind into submission. Already kneeling, you keel over with the pressure of the experiences of a whole other life. 

The angel boy falling from the sky, the battle with the sahuagin, the fireside chat with the man in black and his gift of tarot cards, the grand city of New Gilead, the gunslinger training, the light battle with the baby as its victor, the wizard’s mangled memory, the tanks, and the first orb, the time jump, the mines of the dwarves, the death of Arthur, the town of Crag and the blood stones and the missing children, the mysterious jungle temple with poison and death around every corner, the next time jump, the lobstrosities and the werecamels and the great vast desert, the vast seemingly endless tomb, the inscrutable sphinx and weakened djinns, the mad mage, his eternal love, and the time dragon, the angelic intervention and a trip through the bowels of hell, the bloody fortress and a battle with a fallen angel, and yet another time jump, a time of separation and contemplation and the reunion at a hunters cabin, a frost mage and a flying castle of giants, a myriad of strange battles within levels of the tower, a world across planes bureaucratic and heavily factioned, a trial with a demigod as judge, a town in need of saviors for kidnapped children, an adventure into a strange, magicless future world, a corporation formed to protect reality, mechanical wolves, a sleepy prison town of psychics, a grand illusion of homecoming and fellowship, and at last a field of roses, the song of creation and the tower that holds it all together. 

A wet cold nose nudges you awake. You remember this past life vividly. Your head vaguely throbs and as you sit up you realize that Dognar must’ve experienced the same thing. No wonder he was acting so strangely. A question comes to you immediately, Why? Why do I, we, remember this?

[Insight DC 10] You realize that this has nothing to do with you, or the other, or even tower, at least not directly. When you stood before Gan in that other life, we had all made wishes in our secret hearts, but the wish that won out, the one most virtuous and loud that rose to the top and straight into the ears of Gan is that of Dognar.

Dognar wished simply to live a happy life with his friends, not as they were, but as he sees them at their best. Void of the strife and heartbreak so common in life, but full of the vitality and adventure and love that they had for each other throughout.

You understand what you must do and immediately start to pack up camp. It takes you a moment in the hubbub to find Snugnar and Slugnar and put them back in the box you made for them, full of their favorite foods. You toss the other two slugs up in the air and Dognar catches them nimbly. You pause as you look into the radiant sea of green and gold that is common to most forests when the light is just right and the wind is relatively still. A track appears on your grimy face as a single fat tear makes its way down your cheek.

A bark breaks the silence. Dognar looks up at you expectantly. It’s time to meet our friends again for the first time. Dognar seems to understand this and leads the way into the forest, down the hill, and towards the sea. That shadow of loneliness that’s been following you lifts as the sense of wild possibility that permeates any true adventure takes its place.

[wait for response]

Beyond the sea of green and gold lies everything that makes life worthwhile. In Lan’Repus, friends unite as though they never parted, sharing in merriment and joy, in drinks, stories, warm hospitality, and hugs. 

In your dreams and trances you hear the sweet chorus of the rose. It sings its song of creation, safe because of the greatest creative act of all. Love.

[fraink5-writes]

Blue Ceiling - Tablet VII

Not to worry, the new chapter of Blue Ceiling has arrived!

Thanks to @leio13​ for being a pal and reading this over!

Summary: Expecting to become king of the merpeople as son of Tiamat, Kingu is suddenly forced to give up his tail and to go the surface to restore humanity’s disregarded respect for the Goddess of the Sea. However, he severely underestimates the Uruks’ willpower, especially that of their stubborn king, Gilgamesh.

This chapter can also be found on Ao3 here. Without further ado, please enjoy!

Kingu was neither human nor mermaid. Without body or shape, he was the sea. He saw everything in his grand, blue expanse. And he felt it too. He welcomed it all: the swish of schools of microscopic fish, the flicker of tails of swimming merpeople (albeit less enthusiastically), and even the tiny pricks from the spears of human fishermen. They were all so small and meaningless and, in that, equal.

Tiamat’s song was everywhere, rippling through him in waves of sorrow. All the little creatures of the sea could not comfort her galactic loneliness. The wordless solitude enveloped Kingu in a pervasive anguish enough to make the skies cry.

Tiamat was in the temple. No, she was everywhere. Tiamat was the sea, and she was only lending her perspective to Kingu. 

Tiamat’s sea churned in her lament. On the surface, waves crashed back violently, hopelessly, to their core of despair. Even without a body, Kingu was rattled by her grief. But other presences caught Kingu’s attention: ten tiny anomalies lined up on the seabed. A serpentine, winged dragon whose golden horns glinted in the filtered light—Bašmu, an eyeless, maned beast scraping its flaming claws into the sand—Ušumgallu, a scaly lionesque creature waving its tentacle mane for easily caught prey—Mušmaḫḫū, a lengthy creature with mixed feet of lions and eagles who flickered its snakelike tongue and tail impatiently—Mušḫuššu, a giant with a red-streaked mane, sharpening its dagger—Ugallu, a ferocious dog baring its sharp but human jaw—Uridimmu, a half-man, half-scorpion waving its stinger overhead—Girtablullû, a thorny beast whose tail crept across the ground like a vine—Umū dabrūtu, a half-man, half-bull upturning the sand with stomping hooves—Kusarikku, and a creature who looked just like a merman but whose open grin revealed infinite rows of spiked teeth— Kulullû. The tempestuous waves stirred their animalistic tempers, yet they all stood in line, waiting for their mother, for Tiamat’s command. They stared into the horizon, towards a distant city above the waves—towards Uruk.

Kingu jolted awake. Sweat was fleeing from his pores, drenching his skin. Even as he adjusted to the real darkness of his surroundings, his breath did not settle. Tiamat’s beasts… Uruk… His heart was ready to bolt. His body, although still weary from sleep, refused to lie any longer, so he lugged out of bed, freshened up hastily and tottered onto the now empty streets of Uruk. 

The moonless night was still as death. Not a soul moved. Even in the windows of homes, not a candle could be seen. Other than the tiny insects singing mournfully from the trees, Kingu was alone. No laborers chatting to lighten their jobs, no mothers guiding children by the hands, no vendors calling out to slow passerbys, no strollers basking in the sun’s light, no children ducking in and out of the crowds… Uruk at night was desolate. Dead.

Reluctantly, Kingu left the city and trudged towards the Euphrates. Although there was no light, Kingu had walked this path countless times to and from work that he had no trouble. In fact, it was the appearance of a light, a torch, which startled him. A familiar pair of red eyes flashed in the flame’s light.

“Gil?!”

The man stopped and examined Kingu from head to toe, and Kingu took the opportunity to confirm it was in fact Gil. Finally, Gil spoke, “What are you doing here at this hour?”

“I couldn’t sleep. What about you? Why are you awake?”

“As King, I am quite busy,” Gil muttered.

Kingu couldn’t help but snicker at the pathetic excuse given to him. 

Gil only growled slightly. “If you’re wandering about now, come with me.” He turned to the direction from which he came, towards the Euphrates.

“Don’t you have kingly midnight business to attend to, your majesty?”

Gil went rigid with a forced sigh. “Idiot. If you’re pacing around in the middle of the night, you must have something serious on your mind, right?”

Oh. Kingu nodded quietly and followed without objection. 

Finally, they arrived at the Euphrates. At night, its surface was a black void, speckled with stars. Kingu had not paid enough attention to the stars, and he looked up. The night sky was not truly black; a river of light coursed across its infinite expanse. Surrounding that stream were billions upon trillions of twinkling flecks: stars. Some shone brighter, some dimmer, but they were only as interesting as grains of sand. Something so tiny could not possibly come in different shapes.

Gil had sat on the river’s bank and invited Kingu to join him. “So, what disturbed your sleep?”

Kingu joined Gil on the grass. The warm firelight from the torch muddled his rationality. Under the orange glow, Gil appeared to be an alluring magnet, drawing out all of Kingu’s feelings: his hopes, his fears, his affection. Kingu wanted to reach out to him, to the lonely hand next to his own. But he was not so intoxicated by the starry night, and he kept his hand firm on the grass. Was it the lack of moon that made the night particularly cold? “A dream,” he admitted.

Gil did not speak, but his serious eyes beckoned Kingu to continue.

“It was a dream about Uruk’s fate.” Kingu relayed the nightmare with as much detail as possible.

Gil sat quietly, his gaze unmoving, until Kingu had finished. "So, you say Uruk is in danger."

"You don't believe me."

"No, I will believe you. You may be a worrywart with strange beliefs, but you're an honest person. So I'll trust what you saw in your dream." Gil’s eyes guided Kingu’s thoughts from the river back to the stars. "You know, you can use the stars to read the future,” he spoke softly. “They can tell us our fortunes and give us directions when we are lost." Even the undaunted king felt awe under the cosmic power of the night sky.

Kingu, however, did not. He revered only the ocean. Nevertheless, he was curious as to what they, insignificant glimmering dots, could mean. "What do they say?"

"They are guiding us forward and upwards. Even if Tiamat's assault comes tomorrow, Uruk shall certainly prevail. As long as the stars are shining on us, it is Uruk's destiny to reach them."

Gil’s eyes were always turned upward. And the city of Uruk followed him. Even the ziggurat was a monument to the heights the Uruks could reach. He was an ambitious, greedy king. Given the time, he could conquer the entire night sky. But no person was given such time, so he devoted himself to Uruk as it was building itself upwards.

If the sky was Uruk’s future, then the sea must have been a step backwards. The Uruks had left Tiamat’s sea a long time ago with the intention of only going up from then on. "Do you hate the sea? Tiamat?"

Although it was a serious question in Kingu’s mind, Gil laughed. "I have no strong emotions towards the sea. It is just a body of water, a resource for Uruk to use. Yes, our great city owes its foundation to the sea and its rivers. But it's humanity's innovation which propels Uruk to succeed, not the sea. Like a child from its mother, Uruk has become independent. There's no longer any need to revere old powers."

Kingu was not optimistic, but he hesitantly pitched his next question anyway, "But are you grateful, at least?"

"No. Like I just said, I don't waste any emotions on a body of water!” Gil shot Kingu an incredulous look before preceding calmly. “The sea is neither Uruk's friend nor enemy; sometimes its floods bring prosperity; sometimes they bring destruction.” He reached into the black river, letting its waves lap his fingers. “Were Uruk to control it, it'd be a powerful resource, but now it is just another variable force of nature. Now, let me ask you, why do you revere Tiamat?"

Kingu could not think of an adequate answer. Tiamat was always an unquestioned part of his world. She was as naturally to be revered as Kingu was to be king. Kingu scoffed at himself. Even if he had no solid reason, Gil, who judged Tiamat as unnatural, still expected one. "I guess it's because she was all I had besides my name. No family, no friends, no home... But even then, Tiamat..." Even then, what? Kingu recalled his upbringing, memories from a previous life: fights with the old merpeople at the market, fresh meals on Gorgon’s dinner table, hours of solitary reflection… Where was Tiamat? She was everywhere, but she was nowhere.

"What are you talking about? You have me, don't you? And Shamhat. You have a home—and you have Uruk. Uruk is your city. So why are you still clinging to Tiamat?"

Kingu was stunned by Gil’s ardent response. Kingu had lived in Uruk for so long, and yet he had never realized it—he was an Uruk. The ever-growing, undeterred city was the place he called his home, and the city had accepted him, a lonely exile. A single tear was followed by a few more, picking up such momentum as it rolled down Kingu’s cheek that he could not stop the sniffles and eventual hics that joined it. All Kingu could do to preserve his dignity was look away.

“I don’t understand you at all.” Gil sighed. A firm arm wrapped Kingu’s shoulders, placating their trembles. Its warmth melted away whatever tears lingered inside Kingu. 

A gentle hand nudged Kingu’s chin up towards the night sky. “Do you know about the constellations?”

[shielddrake]

Rebel of Sky City Ch. 4

Am I writing and posting these chapters too quickly?

Chapter Four

 “Man, I wish I had a hat,” Lukas complained as the sun shone directly in his eyes.  “This sun is killing me!”

 “What happened to your last one?” Petra asked as they walked down the streets towards the Spring Festival. “I thought you had one?”

 “My cowboy hat?  It got blown off the island into the Void.”  Lukas ran his hands through his hair.  “I haven’t had the chance to craft one.  I can’t get the right materials.”

 “The Founder’s still not approving your Dad’s petitions?” she inquired, although she already knew the answer before she saw Lukas’ nod.  Milo hadn’t had a single petition approved since he was released from jail.  “That’s ridiculous.  You can’t even get a hat?”

 “You looked like a loser in it anyway.”  

 Lukas rolled his eyes at this statement, making sure the brown-haired young man walking on his other side didn’t see.  He seemed to be lengthening his stride, forcing Lukas and Petra to make quicker steps in order to keep up.  He kept his arms akimbo, further showing his impatience with the other two.  He was facing away from them, so it wasn’t hard for Lukas to hide his exasperated expression.

 Would it kill you to say something nice once in a while, Aiden? Lukas thought.

 Petra must have had the same thought, and she whispered as much to Lukas.  “Why is he coming with us again?”

 “Come on, he’s my friend,” Lukas protested, though a bit weakly.  “He’s not that bad.  He just wants to get to the festival.”

 “He didn’t have to wait for us. We could’ve met him there.”

 Lukas didn’t answer.  He had no response to that.  She was right.

 “The first thing I’m going to do is get something to eat,” Aiden declared, either not hearing their conversation or ignoring it.  “They better have melon there.  They didn’t last year.”

 “Melon sure sounds good right now,” Lukas agreed as they arrived at the outskirts of the festival.  “The food booths are at the other side.”

 “You guys go ahead,” Petra said. She slowed her pace to a stop, and the boys did so as well, although Aiden didn’t turn around to look at her like Lukas did.  “I’ve got some business to take care of first.”

 “The thing?”  Lukas asked.

 “Yeah, the thing,” she answered. “I’ll meet you guys at the cake booth, okay?”

 “See ya, Petra.”

 “Yeah, later.”

 With that, the bandana-wearing redhead went her own way, leaving the area of the festival and heading towards some of the darker alleys, where neither the sun nor the torches from the festival would shine any light on the goings-on there.

 Hopefully the guards will be too busy with the festival to care about some illegal trading, Lukas thought.

 “Yo, Luke!” Aidan called, and Lukas snapped his vision back to his friend.  “You coming or not?”

 “I’m coming!”

 The two men made their way to the main part of the festival, with Aiden pointing out things he wanted to do while they were there.  Lukas was less picky about what activities they would partake in, so he just left that decision making to Aiden.  It was just really nice to be around the town without having to worry so much about anything. The guards, trading crafting materials, hiding, the suspicious glances because of who his father was…all these things Lukas could just forget about, even if just for a short while.

 Instead, he could just focus on the here and now and enjoy himself.  He wanted to see the cookie booth and eat some cookies (something he almost never got under any other circumstances), play some games like darts and ring toss, and maybe see if he can convince anyone to give him some leftover supplies.  Plenty of people knew about his cause and were happy to help, so long as it couldn’t be traced back to them.

 “I’m definitely checking out that slime booth later on,” he announced.

 “Oh yeah!  Maybe we can convince Ivy to give us some.”

 “Don’t get your hopes up, Aiden. The guards keep count of all the materials that enter and leave the festival, remember?”

As the pair arrived at the more central part of the festival, Lukas couldn’t help but smile at the group of people who had begun dancing to the tune of the jazz band playing there.  They were bouncing up and down, spinning, and singing along with the music.  Lukas was quite fond of the guitar himself, although he never had the opportunity to learn how to play.

 In the middle of the dancing group was a young woman with pitch-dark hair, wearing a pair of blue overalls and a red t-shirt.  She was perhaps the most active of all the dancers, going back and forth between partners with a smile so wide Lukas had to wonder if her face was going to break in half.  Her energy also must have been contagious, because she was able to bring people who weren’t dancing into the group to join in on the fun.  Even the darkest sneers were turning into smiles at her behavior.

 You’d think she’d never danced before, Lukas thought, as he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

 “Hello?!  Lukas!”  Aiden yelled and waved his hand in front of Lukas’ face.  “Anyone home?”

 Lukas shook his head briefly. “What?”

“I’ve been calling your name for the past five minutes.  What’s got you so distracted?”  Aiden followed Lukas’ gaze, landing on the dark-haired woman, and he smirked.  “Well, look what we got here.”

 “I don’t think I’ve seen her before,” Lukas said.  “She must be new.”

 “It’s not like we know everyone in town,” Aiden reminded him.  He ran a hand through his hair.  “Well, time to go say hello.”

 Lukas wasn’t sure he liked the tone Aiden’s voice had taken, and he didn’t really want to find out what he was thinking.

 The blond made his way through the crowd to the many dancers.  The close proximity of all the people and the sun beating down on them all made the area hot and stifling, making Lukas wish even more he hadn’t lost his hat.  Once he reached the middle of the crowd, he found himself staring at the young woman again.  Her green eyes sparkled brighter than any emerald (not that Lukas had seen many).

 Those very eyes landed on him, and no more than a minute later she rushed over to take his hands.

 “Come on!  No standing allowed!”  She declared, pulling him in front of the band.  “Everyone’s got to dance!”

 Lukas didn’t get the chance to protest as he was brought into a spin with her, their arms crossed as they bounced together.  The girl laughed, and her smile was infectious, because Lukas grinned widely as well.  They danced around, keeping their entwined for several minutes, completely ignoring everyone else around them.

 As the music came to an abrupt stop, the woman snapped her head to look at them in shock.  Doing this, however, caused her to yank on Lukas’ hands again, and the two ended up falling to the ground, with the two of them side by side.  Others had to jump out of the way to make sure they didn’t all become a line of dominoes.

 Lukas glanced over at the girl.

 “You okay?”

 She blinked and pulled her dark hair out of her face.  “Ah, man. I did it again!”

 “Did what again?”  He cocked his head in confusion.  What’s she talking about?

 “I knocked someone over again,” she explained as she stood and helped Lukas to his feet.  “I swear I’m not usually this clumsy!”

 “No worries,” he replied.  “It happens.  I’m Lukas, by the way.”

 She seemed a bit taken aback by the introduction, but moments later stuck out her hand.  “I’m Jesse.”

 “Nice to meet you.”  The band started playing again, but there was less dancing this time, with the festival attendees moving on to other activities.  Lukas led them away from the crowd.  “I haven’t seen you here before.”

 “Yeah, um, well, it’s my first time at the Spring Festival.”  Jesse fidgeted with one of the buckles of her overalls.  “So yeah, you wouldn’t have seen me before.”

 “You haven’t been to the festival before?  Why not?” Jesse’s eyes started darting around, and her teeth nibbled on her bottom lip.  “It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me.  It just kind of sucks that you haven’t before.  It’s lots of fun!”

 “I know, right?”  Her tone instantly uplifted and she made eye contact again.  “I’ve only been here a few minutes and I’m already having a blast!”

 “Yeah, I could tell by the dancing,” Lukas said.  A torch suddenly lit up in his head.  “Hey, if you want, I can show you around?”

 Jesse did a little jump. “That would be great!”

 “Hey Lukas!”  It was Aiden, pushing his way through the crowd to join them. “Sheesh, you just disappeared on me.”

 “Sorry about that,” Lukas said with a small huffing laugh.  He waved a hand to Jesse.  “Aiden, this is Jesse.  Jesse, meet Aiden, a friend of mine.”

 “Hey there,” Aiden answered, giving her an amused smirk and puffing up his chest.  “Haven’t seen you here before, and I know all the girls in town.”

 The fact that this statement was the opposite of what he said earlier about not knowing everyone in town seemed to be completely lost on Aiden.  Lukas rolled his eyes and barely stopped himself from slapping his palm to his forehead.

 Really, Aiden?  You’re trying a line like that now?

 “Yeah, this is my first time at the Spring Festival,” Jesse repeated for the newcomer.

 “Well, you don’t know what you’ve been missing,” Aiden declared.  He threw an arm around her shoulders and began to lead her to the booths. “Why don’t you let us give you a tour?”

 Jesse’s face built up a small flush. “Uh, sure.”

 Lukas couldn’t help but notice she was a bit less enthusiastic than when he offered the same thing moments ago.

 “Hey Lukas!  Didn’t you want to see the slime booth?”

 “Slime booth?”  Now Jesse just looked confused.

 Lukas shook his head as he followed the two, with Aiden leading the way.  They quickly ended up at a booth with a pile of slime balls in the middle of the counter.  At the back of the booth were multiple buckets, each labeled with different numbers, which Lukas knew to represent points.  The person running the booth was a middle-aged woman with long, dark brown hair and wearing a long dark green robe.

 “Hi Ivy.”

 “Hello, Lukas,” she greeted him warmly.  “I thought you’d be by sometime today.  You always do.  Care to play?”

 “What is this exactly?” Jesse asked, her eyes darting back and forth between the buckets and the slime balls.

 “This is Slime Basketball,” Ivy described.  “Basically, you take a slime ball and throw or bounce it into one of the buckets. Each bucket is worth different points, and you get three throws.  The prize you get depends on how many point you earn.”

 “Sounds fun!”  The younger woman cried out.  “May I give it a try?”

 “Hmm, a polite young lady.” Ivy gave her an appreciative look and passed her three slime balls.  “Here you go. Good luck!”

 Jesse picked up a ball and passed it back and forth between her hands.  She bit her lip as she took in all the buckets.  The ones in the back were worth more points, and of course a higher score would mean a better prize.  Lukas watched as she seemed to calculate the scores in her head, and she hadn’t even made her first throw yet.

 Finally, she drew her hand back and gave the slime ball a strong toss.  It ended up hitting the wall behind the buckets, bouncing back to the others and hitting the counter.  From there, it bounced towards the buckets again, but instead of landing in one it bounced off, hitting the ceiling, then the floor, then the ceiling again.  Up and down it went until it ran out of energy and finally landed on the floor near Ivy’s foot.  She bent down to pick it up and placed it back on the counter.

 Jesse let out a nervous laugh, which Lukas noticed was the quietest he had heard her be so far.  “Um, sorry.  Guess I shouldn’t throw so hard.”

 “That would be a good idea,” Ivy said nervously.  “I’ve never seen a slime ball hurt someone, and I don’t think I’d like to find out if it can.”

 “Sorry.”

 “Do you want me to show you how to do it?”  Lukas offered.

 Jesse chuckled.  “Yeah, that might be a good idea.”

 “Nah, step aside.”  Aiden pushed himself forward.  “I’ll show you how it’s done.”

 He snatched a slime ball from the counter and, with a smirk, threw the ball effortlessly.  Sure enough, it landed in one of the middle buckets, earning him three out of five points.  Aiden stood with his chin held high.

 “Nice one!”  Jesse said.  She turned to Lukas.  “How about you?  You want my third throw?”

 Lukas gave a small shrug. “Sure, I’ll give it a try.”

 The blond took the last slime ball, eyeballed the distance to the bucket farthest in the back, and then carefully aimed his throw.  This one he intentionally bounced off the ground so that it curved as it flew, landing in one of the five-point buckets.  He threw his hands up in the air above his head and let out a cry of triumph.

 “Got it!”

 “Nice!”  Jesse cried out.  “Good job!”

 Aiden’s lips thinned as his brow furrowed, but Lukas didn’t really notice.  His focus was on Jesse and her toothy grin.

 “Thanks.”  He held his hand up for a high-five, but Jesse just stared at his hand.  “High-five?”

 “A what now?”

 “You don’t know what a high-five is?” Aiden asked with an eyebrow raised.

 “Like this.  Hold up your hand.”  Jesse followed Lukas’ instruction, and he slapped their palms together.  Jesse let out a confused yet excited smile.  “It’s how you celebrate something.”

 “Awesome!”  Jesse turned back to Ivy.  “I guess that’s not enough points to get a prize?”

 “Sorry, but no,” Ivy replied. She glanced at the younger woman for a moment.  “Well, I guess I can give you something, since this is your first time.”

 Ivy rolled one of the slime balls to Jesse, who easily caught it.  “Hey, thanks!”

 “Won’t you get in trouble with the guards for giving that away?”  Lukas asked, his tone concerned.

 Jesse’s eye widened.  “I didn’t think of that.  I don’t want to get you in trouble, Miss Ivy.”

 “I’ll just tell the guards someone accidentally threw a ball into the Void,” Ivy explained.  “I think you already proved one of these slime balls can go crazy pretty much anytime.”

 Jesse’s worried expression faded to appreciation.  “If you’re sure?”

 “I’m sure.  You don’t need to worry.”

 “Thank you, Miss.”

 “I bet Petra’s waiting for us by now,” Lukas realized.  He waved to Ivy.  “Thanks again, Ivy!  See you later!”

 “Don’t be a stranger now!”  She called back before turning her attention to another attendee.

 “I still can’t believe you didn’t know what a high-five is,” Aiden said as they made their way to the cake booth. “Who doesn’t know that?”

 “Sorry.”  Jesse rubbed the back of her neck.  “My, uh, mother doesn’t let me out much.  I don’t exactly have many friends to celebrate anything with.”

 Lukas watched her wring her hands for only a moment, and then put a hand on her shoulder.  “Well, you’ve got some now.”

 She glanced up at him.  “Even though we just met?”

 “Even though we just met.”

 Jesse almost looked like she was going to cry, and Lukas was suddenly worried he had said the wrong thing.

 She’s still smiling, so I guess she’s okay?

 The trio arrived at the cake booth, and both Lukas and Aiden brought out some money to pay for some food. Jesse watched them with wide eyes and then patted her pockets.

 “Oh man, I forgot to bring money,” she said, and then released a sigh.  “I’ll have to pass.”

 “It’s okay.  I’ll buy a slice for you,” Lukas stated.  He placed enough money on the counter for two slices, and then passed one of them to Jesse.

 She took it hesitantly.  “Are you sure?”

 “I already bought it, so I’m sure.”

 Jesse’s smile made his heart flutter.  “Thanks, Lukas.  I’ll pay you back tomorrow.”

 “Really, don’t worry about it.”

 Jesse tucked her hair behind her ear as she took a bite of the cake.  The sun made her black hair shine in a way that almost made it look a lovely blue color.  This stood in stark contrast to her pale skin, which looked like it rarely if ever was exposed to sunlight.  She didn’t seem pallid, but rather this combined with Jesse’s enthusiasm about the festival made her practically glow brighter than any redstone Lukas had ever seen.

 Lukas shook his head and took a bite of his own cake, forcing himself to look anywhere but at her.

 What am I thinking? I just met her!  In spite of himself, Lukas kept sneaking glances at her out of the corner of his eye as they ate.  There’s just something about her…that draws me to her…