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sanchoyo · 3 years

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danny phantom 14-20 thoughts!! I finished up s1 :D these last few eps were actually really really good!!!

-did. did tucker really just say esperanto was a dead language only spoken as a secret code between geeks. google says around 100,000 people actively speak it. oh my god...it being an auxiliary language doesn't mean its 'just for geeks to speak in code' ...it helps bridge gaps between people who don't have a language in common...

-danny really isn't pulling punches when it comes to fighting the ghost-cop possessed people huh. like he SLAMMED KWAN INTO THE CONCRETE SO HARD. HE THREW PAULINA INTO A BILLBOARD. will that...I mean it WOULD carry over to their bodies non-possessed, right? like if the ghost piloting their bodies gets hurt?? itd be so upsetting to be possessed, lose time, then wake up covered in bruises (and possibly, broken bones??) real horror movie stuff im sure wont be addressed in any way

-tuckers parents seem nice! I like them :)

-WULF IS CUTE AND I FEEL BAD. im so glad the gang realized he was only causing trouble bc of the shock collar walker put on him and helped. also, him wearing that big hoodie with the hood on, and thinking its subtle. we can tell youre still a giant wolfie :) THEN GETTING SUCKED INTO THE PORTAL AAAAH :( anxiously waiting to see Him Again....

-DANNY BLASTING HIS PARENTS THINKING THEY WERE OVERSHADOWED LMFAO GET THEIR ASSES. maddie marking how many ghosts she gets with lipstick tallies on the side of her portal gun? kindaaa iconic tho. (ALSO, SHE WAS LIKE, 2 FT AWAY FROM HIM RIGHT AFTER SHE TRIED TO SHOOT HIM. HOW DO YOU NOT RECONINZE YOUR OWN SON??? like sure, he might have diff hair/eye colors. but like, if one of my family members dyed their hair, and was wearing contacts, its not like id be like 'wHO IS THIS STRANGER!!!' ...he still has all his facial features!! same everything!!! I hate it here)

-paulina being #1 girl realizing danny's a friendly ghost immediately. smart queen. lancer and kwan ran away right after he made this sweet baby face at them:

which is hilarious.

-ok. im not saying his bullying is JUSTIFIED, but. dash looked so pleased with the (cute!) poster he just painted, and danny comes thru the wall and spills paint on his nice letterman jacket. his anger is justified maybe 65% of the time so far...(not the way he handles it, but STILL.) at least lancer is stepping in!! and them making a silly little bet was...cute?? until dash pulled out his GROSS UNDERWEAR AND SAID DANNY WOULD HAVE TO EAT THEM???? WHAT THE FUCK MAN. TUCKER WAS SO RIGHT ITS FUCKING WEIRD TO CARRY THOSE AROUND EWWW. THIS KID IS UNWELL. lancer was right, his animatronic setup was SUPER IMPRESSIVE?? hes actually pretty creative. danny meanwhile is stealing the fright knight's design...I hope dash is taking art classes or smth with his sports

-fright knight is the most bestest ghost so far i LOVE THAT DESIGN. I am biased towards knights, and characters with swords, but he fucks so severely. and should sue danny for copyright infringement for stealing his design for his haunted house. if some 14 yr old broke into MY house and stole MY sword, id also be pissed. his evil winged unicorn rules too with its FANGS. and he just CAN SHOVE THE PORTAL OPEN WITH HIS HANDS??? is he the strongest ghost weve seen so far? idk but hes my fav. SOUL SHREDDER IS SUCH A COOL SWORD NAME TOO. ANY NAMED SWORD ALSO FUCKS. 'flaming bedsheets of DEATH' funny king. ALSO he was polite to dash and tucker when just asking for directions and telling tucker 'oh maybe, just a suggestion, maybe be nicer to me and be more respectful :)' I LOOOVE HIM.

-I noticed this in the Ember ep, but jazz has an electric guitar in her room!! talent musical queen!! its cool to see hobbies just in the bg.

-fright knight's murder castle reminds me of the booby trapped murder castle in zexal!! another supposedly 'for kids' show with murder/trap castles! we love that. if you are a dp fan reading this, give yugioh zexal a try. its also got 13-14 year old protags and involves (alien) ghosts. the cardgame is just a vessel for the plot, which is really good. (I just want more people to watch my fav yugioh, man)

-danny. with a SWORD.

-danny doesnt NEED TO WIN this contest, dash didnt STEAL HIS DESIGNS AND STEAL A SWORD. he also got excited to hear lancer got sent to a dimension with his worst fears too just so he could win the contest? DANNY WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!!! BRO MAYBE YOURE 14 AND HAVENT FULLY DEVOLPED YOUR WHOLE BRAIN YET, BUT...THATS FUCKED. this kid casually says the most deranged things, I do worry for my spooky son. once again, therapy needed. that judo toss was great tho. I wonder if he actually did pick up some martial arts stuff from his mom?

-danny can fly 112 mph!!! thats so fast! I love the lil montage of him and his friends testing his abilities and stuff, very cute and a good way to showcase what he can do by now and how much more proficient he's gotten from ep 1!!! I'm sure he's going to get more abilities :)

-im glad...maddie's at least TRYING this ep. I do feel for her because her husband is a man baby. but the fact it took 16 episodes to get a kinda semblance of any kind of real concern or attempts at bonding. hmm. jack's 'BACK OFF SHES A MINOR' @ the ghost trying to attack jazz. also was very funny. and him wanting to make an action figure of her? are the parents redeeming themselves to me? slightly. they gotta Work Harder

-THE GHOST. IS FLYING. THE PLANE.

-fenton machete. but she doesnt carry a PHONE??? ???

-I mean I expected vlad when you namedrop him earlier in the ep, and also the title card picture, and dalv corp being fucking vlad backwards. but seeing him just pull up on a golf cart made me bust out laughing. WITH the gift baskets prepared. why wouldnt you at least be suspicious. also, if he wants danny to be his lil sonboy, why is he so fucking malicious?? dude you are going about this in such a bad way. stop it. get some help.

-maddie not even hesitating to drag danny out. fucking good. danny is so right, go on the internet to date. get a cat. how do you spend...how many years?? has it been since college?? at least 20, right, since the parents/vlad are in their 40s? hung up on ONE girl. my god, man. incel drama queen. her kung fu IS impressive, but dude. 'we both know hes a creep' SO right. it sucks but they do need a phone and shit being in the middle of NOWHERE. also, just stealing his helicopter was great. <3

-'you must be exhausted carrying the weight of that mistake you made years ago' 'well we all make mistakes. maybe I'll make one now!' WHY DID THIS EXHCHANGE SEND ME. AND VLAD WITH THE BREATH SPRAY EWWW BITCH. 'OLD BAIT BREATH' SOO RIGHT. both danny and his mom playing him HAHAH hes so dumb. or rather, I think he thinks with his emotions too too much and is...actually pretty gullible? lmao he believed danny was ready to give in SO fast. (which is sad hes that hopeful, like you have SO MUCH MONEY YOU COULD EASILY GET ANOTHER GIRL WHO HAS A KID. AND WOULD WANT TO BE WITH YOU AND BE SUPPORTED. GET OVER THIS (1) WOMAN ALREADY IM GETTING SECONDHAND EMBARRASSMENT AAAAH)

-GHOST BEAR GHOST BEAR GHOST BEAR. it was also in the title card, but I still got very excited. we love bears here

-SAM'S BAT SWIMSUIT COVERUP!!! her outfits are simply iconic.

-'i'd tell you to go to the mens room, but I don't think you qualify' top paulina transphobic moments. :( and him wearing a tanktop to the swim park? hmmm! (actually I think she was overshadowed by then, so, KITTY top 10 transphobic moments??)

-kitty just piloting paulina around makes me feel SO bad tho, paulina's gonna wake up and be like 'wtf do you mean I was dating this rando' like youre leading danny on to make johnny jealous, and also just POSSESSING POOR PAULINA. dude take your relationship problems ELSEWHERE. last time we saw them, they seemed like such a cute couple!! wtf johnny!! I mean, she sucks for trying to make him jealous, he sucks for looking at other girls...maybe they need a break, but Not Like This. or, you know, just. better communication...

-and the A-listers having a full packet and a stamp system. who organizes this. kwan fucking owning being the new danny though, this is hysterical. THE TUCKER/KWAN FLOWER FIELD TWIRL. UNIRONICALLY ADORABLE. and him giving it his all for the poetry slam. bless his HEARTTTT.

-Star owns. actually, all of the extra characters are shining this ep and I love it.

-INVISO-BILL??? NOOOO THEY DID HIM SOO DIRTY. DANNY SWEETIE IM SO SORRY.

-johnny and danny bein friends and staging a fake fight (which danny takes too seriously, once again this child has aggression he NEEDS TO WORK OUT) I hope these three stay friends, I said it before but danny needs more friendly ghosts to hang with.

-at this point, Danny's ghost enemies are a lot like, I dunno, batman's rouge gallery is the first thing that comes to mind. they all have their own gimmick and unique designs, but most of them are easy to beat after learning the Moral Lesson. I still get excited when any of them show up again, though. 18 is another valerie episode!!!! :D skulker really said you two will get along if I have to handcuff you together <3 and the gym teacher really said, youre married now, have a flour baby! ngl, I'm not really watching this show for the shipping stuff (which I am very scared to look at the fandom for after I finish this watch through- I feel like there's probably discourse/arguing about ships...) but. I'm gonna put my opinion out there. valerie/danny > sam/danny. maybe I just really love the enemies to lovers trope. And the secret identity stuff adds Extra Flavor.

-SKULKER JUST HAVING THE BOX GHOST AND DANGLING HIM BY A STRING. HILARIOUS. and him watching them with binoculars and making his silly little commentary. AND MAKING THE SACK BABY CRY. LMAO. THIS DUDE IS A BABY KIDNAPPER. skulker is super fun

-danny, you just...collapsed the water tower. and then attacked the nasty burger machine...mascot thingy...out of anger..I KEEP SAYING HE'S GOT ANGER ISSUES BUT. HE REALLY NEEDS A LESSON IN MANAGING COLLATERAL DAMAGE!!! So does valerie!! They're both pretty focused on each other. I mean it's good of Danny to say he's trying to make sure PEOPLE don't get hurt, but... (I mean I guess it's not something 14 year olds WOULD worry about, but as an adult im like, who's going to fix that? how much money will that take??)

-TUCKER MAKING BANK. and sam and tucker being super emotionally attached to their flour baby and being pretty good parents. that's cute...also him just straight kissing her and being like. WAIT. O_O JDSKAFHD. his mom baking them into cookies was the funniest possible result. tbh I dont feel like this is on tucker, if anything the other kid's shouldve been more responsible! He was just taking an opportunity to get that $$ which I respect

-Danny being more understanding of Valerie's situation in the end (helping her at her job, too, and trying to keep that a secret for her!!!) And seeing them work together this ep, and also her letting phantom get her out of the ghost zone...was very sweet. LOVE that. more valerie eps pls

-me when I realize vlad's big stupid house exploded because of his own carelessness with changing the ghost portal ectofiltrator or whatever: *pointing and laughing*

-me when I realize it means he's gonna go make danny's life hell for it somehow: >:(

-SCOOBY PARODY!!! I feel like there's gotta be some scooby doo/danny phantom crossover stuff, right? also, 'guys in white' men in black wishes

-'oh, that's right! dad married the love of your life! you're bitter and alone!' DANNNNNYY GET HIS ASS ONCE AGAIN WE ARE POINTING AND LAUGHING AT VLAD

-'jack, you captured the ghost boy!!' UMM. he did nothing <3 'we have a weapon's vault??' YOU HAVE A WEAPONS VAULT??? and jack didnt put a handle on the inside. of fucking course he didnt! why would you leave that to your son!! or expect him to clean YOUR LAB when its where you work with probably dangerous chemicals and weapons and hes 14!! give him normal chores, like, I dunno, vacuuming, laundry, dishes...CMON. I hate it here. But I'm glad Jack is more chill about danny while he's a ghost, and willing to work with him for this ep. AND. I DID ENJOY JACK PUNCHING VLAD IN THE FACE. AND GENERALLY JUST OWNING HIM. the ghost punchy fists are actually amazing. like yeah, just punch a ghost in the face. that rules.

-ep 20 opens with the coolest fucking ghost lady design. her tattoos can come off and fight. MA'AM. I like ur nose ring and your cape maam hello 👉👈😳

-sam's grandma is hilarious and the most valid member of her family and I love her. thats my grandma now. and tucker covering for sam by dressing as her. thats true friendship <3 also skipping school to go to a goth circus. just bestie things! sam's parents are haters but for all the wrong reasons.

-'my family has controlled ghosts with this for generations!' WAIT. WAIT FREAKSHOW /ISNT/ A GHOST? I didn't expect that...he's just a fucked up guy controlling ghosts? anyway watching danny shoot at police cars and rob banks while mind controlled. its like, the most stereotypical 'bad' things lmao. (tbh an evil ghost circus troupe is a sick concept)

this gives off big deviantart emo edit vibes

(I'm going to assume evil circus reaper danny has a lot of fan content. people love an edgy au, except this one is canon (even tho its via mind control...having the protag go evil otherwise might be hard, I guess?) but au where he stays with the troupe...that has to exist, right?)

ANYWAY. excited to start s2!! lowkey surprised by how many notes some of these posts have gotten. I've gone back and tagged them all with 'dp thoughts' so they're easier to find on my blog! ^^ and I will probably possibly do (more) fanart on my art blog after I finish the watch of the whole show, so like. @sanchoyodraws follow my art blog :)

#sanchoyorambles #danny phantom #dp thoughts

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wovenstarlight · 4 years

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YWBK update: chapter 25 + liner notes

yesterday will be kinder has updated! you can read chapter 25 here, or start from the beginning here

okay, on to notes and commentary! first time i’m doing these, let’s hope this works out. commentary under the cut to save people’s dashes

Hamin laughs. “Given how bad you are at not being suspicious, that’s understandable.” “Oh, come on, I’m not that bad.” Hamin screws up his whole face in a squint. “Okay, so maybe I’m a little bad.”

this part was really funny to me when i wrote it because i was like “hmm reasons for DHM to understand why HHJ wouldn’t work in the guild” and then i was like Wait. Their Whole First Meeting, Dude. DHM was lowkey convinced for the longest time that HHJ was like, on the run from the KR version of the mafia, and got plastic surgery to look like his little brothers, and is possibly in some sort of witness protection program??? or something??? how else does he not have cops on his ass this man is so suspicious all the time

“I don’t think… They said the dungeons were, like, different worlds? Did they find people there?”

mafia theory second place. dungeon theory first place

“Like, humans? Um. No, no humans.” “So then you can’t be from there. Okay.”

dungeon theory shot down. mafia theory back in the running

“Hey,” he says cautiously. “I’m— I’m gonna go get us some water, okay? Why don’t you… take a minute.” “Okay.” “The bathroom is over there, if you need it.” “Okay. Thank you.”

after four years working alongside a guy you start to notice when he’s feeling a little out of it and needs a bit of a break... but as JHW mentions later you also learn to be a little subtle about giving him one

jung heewon What’s with your typing? It reads like Jihye’s [HYJ]’s fine. Very energetic Too energetic? He’s going to burn out. How do I make him calm down

Epic Burnout Man makes a reappearance! when translating sclass one of the things that makes me want to shake HYJ most is his habit of constantly adding things to his to-do list while he already has 1 billion things on his plate. and all the time he’s whining about “UGH there’s SO MUCH WORK to do” No One Asked You To Do It

Anyway. the point is. HYJ isn’t about to be beat by HHJ at Developing Issues 😔

jung heewon I haven’t spoken to him directly about this because if he’s anything like you he’ll take it as an insult You wtf whts tht supposed 2 mean quit typing jung heewon Better not say shit, mr “No, I can’t take days off and cater to my interests or go out with friends or on a date, I’m too busy taking care of the kids and making sure their needs are met, no I don’t care that there are thousands of people out there balancing personal enjoyment and romance and work AND kids at the same time, are you suggesting I be a BAD GUARDIAN to MY KIDS?”

see above re: not being too direct with pointing out when HHJ’s having Issues because he doesn’t react well

You wht but our eyes r fine jung heewon Even if having glasses doesn’t run in the family, you should still get him checked, just in case

top 10 funny time travel moments: referring to you and your past self as “us” (our = my eyes are fine), but other people think you mean “our family” (our eyes are fine = no family history of long/shortsightedness)

Also. Sooyoung-ie says hi [Attachment: 20XX1213_144516.jpg]

ok no lie this was one of the parts that pissed me off the most, even though it’s Literally One Line, because. i love chat exchanges. i really do. when done right they’re a lot of fun to read. But Do You Know How Long It Took Me To Figure Out A Calendar For The Events In This Fic. now everything’s TIMED i have to count HOW MANY DAYS IT’S BEEN since XY event so i can CORRECTLY NUMBER the FILE ATTACHMENTS!!! this sucks!!! it took me fucking forever to pin down a timeline just so i could write this chapter plus the few before and after it!!!!

anyway i gave up when i reached year. i just put 20XX. fuck it. we are running on fairy tail time now. (actually i think that’s XXnumber number? XX76? or was it X796. something like that. Who cares i stopped watching fairy tail forever ago)

Fuck it! Hamin will understand!! “If you Awaken you should come work with me,” Han Hyunjae says all in a rush.

“HAMIN WILL UNDERSTAND” => he literally was cool with me giving zero context for half a dozen absolute balls to the wall nonsense bullshit things i’ve done before. he’ll be fine with this too. dog_in_burning_house_this_is_fine.png

“You already know about the guilds, those are going to be for dungeon Hunters, but I was thinking of forming something like an independent group of contractors. Awakened people with skills that aren’t useful for combat, but that might… that will be generally useful. It’d be you and me, and maybe one other guy I met recently. Probably more in the future.”

given that HHJ has no idea currently that peace exists (i’m so sorry baby i’ll find a way to shoehorn you in soon i miss you so much) he’s got no intentions to start a kiseungsu business yet! he mostly wants to live quietly while just acting as a manager for other Awakening-related services, like YMW’s forge and DHM’s tracking service, along with the information exchange/lowkey spy ring that he’s planning on setting up with JHW and the bar. since HYH is fine associating with him in this timeline, HHJ’s thinking he can get a foot in the door that way, then eventually spread out into dealings with most major guild leaders

RIP to this plan. you were well-made but you will not last long.

“Please, I can’t tell you how I know that, I really can’t, it’d put me and my brothers in danger if it got out. But—” “No need.” Hamin looks slightly alarmed, and Han Hyunjae feels himself settle at the obvious concern in his eyes.

MAFIA THEORY RAPIDLY RISING TO PROMINENCE??? THIS IS NOT HOW DO HAMIN WANTED HIS GUESS CONFIRMED

“I spoke to the Task Force Head and she said that there’s been discussion about hosting a meeting for the nearby high-rankers, where they’ll announce the guild proposal and see who else is interested in trying it out.”

“they’ll announce” i’m sorry king 💔 you deserved a nap

(OH ALSO FUN FACT choi eunyoung is a canon character, not an OC of mine! she appears in uhhh i think late 140s? 150s? something like that)

“I think there’s… probably only one other S-rank who’s Awakened right now?”

Hehehehehehehehehehehehehhehe

Hamin beams. “No, they’re doing great! Spookie’s taken really well to the new housing situation, but I think Spots might miss the store…”

shoutout to @daemonic-dawn for letting me borrow a pet name, love u king. i had a much longer ramble about pet names here but i finished typing and realized it was all entirely off topic so i removed it for convenience

Hyunjae makes an annoyed noise in the back of his throat. “Don’t— I mean.” He huffs, visibly taking a deep breath, and Yoojin frowns reflexively. [...] “Is everything alright?” Yoojin kind of wants to be annoyed at his tone on principle, but he forces his shoulders to relax, matching Hyunjae’s posture. Though he can’t stop himself from being a little short when he answers.

things the brothers have learned in four years living together: getting confrontational often leads to arguments that just fizzle out anyway, so it’s way fucking easier to consciously tone down their combativeness in advance when talking to each other about things they have problems with, instead of screaming their heads off and then having to calm yoohyun down afterwards to boot

“I guess. Whatever.” Yoojin slumps. “Can I…” “Hm?” Hyunjae blinks at Yoojin as he gestures to the spot on the bed beside him, then jolts. “Oh! Yeah, sure, c’mere.” He opens his arms, and Yoojin goes over and flumps on the bed, head in Hyunjae’s lap. Almost immediately, Hyunjae starts stroking fingers through his hair, and Yoojin relaxes into the touch, listening as Hyunjae continues speaking.

cuddles 🥺🥺🥺 sorry i don’t have any other commentary here just. cuddles. extremely and overwhelmingly comforting for a man who spent the better part of 8 years(?) with no major positive relationships, and a kid who spent 12 years of early life basically abandoned by his parents. you had best bet they gave up on not hugging each other 1 year into this whole mess

Yoojin hums in acknowledgement. It’s not like he’d ever let himself get hurt; he has too many responsibilities to his family and friends. If he wants to be good enough to keep up, he can’t afford to fuck up like that. But… hyung will worry if he keeps working so hard. He can slow down a little for him.

Problems disorder man when will you stop. the way he sees “getting hurt” as an inconvenience and an obstacle to his duties rather than a danger to himself. the way he doesn’t really care if he himself gets hurt, but if it’ll worry his family, then it’s a no-no. it’s just. wow. i know i wrote this but i hate him

“Not really. I talk to Myeongwoo about it sometimes.” “Ah, right, Myeongwoo.”

haha gays

“Don’t be weird about him,” Yoojin warns[...]. “I won’t, promise.”

if the “i won’t” line had a dialogue tag it’d be “Han Hyunjae lied”

“Is Eunwoo still in his relationship?” “Mhm, happy as ever. Apparently they’re trying long-distance, now that Eunwoo’s gone off to university abroad.”

three guesses for who eunwoo’s dating and you won’t need the first two

Hyunjae raises his hands like he’s going to deny the accusations levelled against him, so Yoojin seizes him by the collar and shakes him until he cries for mercy

oh my o/rv ass struggled so bad with not writing “shakes him like a man betrayed” here. it killed me not to. but in the end i prevailed (against, uh, myself. don’t think about it too hard.)

“Jeez, okay, he’s an F-rank!” “Eh?! Then why—” “He’s also got an SS-rank potential skill,” Hyunjae admits[...].

play-by-play of this scene because god if i draw any scene in this fic it would be this one just for the sheer hysterical nature of HYJ’s reaction:

YOOJIN: I HATE YOU WHAT THE FUCK WHY. TELL ME HIS RANK

HYUNJAE: HE’S AN F

YOOJIN: WHAT? WHAT THE FUCK?

HYUNJAE: he’s also got an SS-rank skill,

YOOJIN:

#star.txt #work: yesterday will be kinder #writing commentary #my writing #making impulse decisions today. very tired. godonight i hope you enjoy but also you'll have to enjoy without me

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elisende · 4 years

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Songs in the Night (3/?)

Characters: Halsin/OMC, Astarion, Wyll, Gale

Rating: M

Words: 1627

Summary: Halsin and Langoth fight for their lives--and souls--on the fugue plane while in the Underdark Gale struggles to complete the ritual to bring them back to life.

They had only to persevere long enough for revival. To clasp hands at the precise moment the last words were spoken on the material plane.

But in the shadow of the dragon’s enormous form, blasted by the heat that radiated from its black sides as though from a blazing furnace, that seemed nigh impossible.

“Behind me,” Halsin said to the ranger, grimacing against the dragon’s roar. Instead, Langoth stood beside him, drawing his bow. Although his longsword and dagger had not survived the fatal journey between planes, his ironwood bow was imbued with deep magic and a brother’s love and had traveled with the soul of its owner to this purgatory. Seeing it in his hands gave him heart.

Langoth loosed an arrow at the ancient styx dragon’s neck; it merely plinked off its armored scales.

The dragon seemed to chuckle, exhaling plumes of flame with its laughter. Your spirits will make a meager meal but there is rich entertainment in watching you struggle, at least, said the dragon. It raised one clawed foot, blotting out the grey sky and Halsin dove, a line of white hot fire screaming across the back of his leg where the dragon’s spur caught his flesh. He yelled as its poison sank into muscle--his soul, in fact, for in this plane, body and soul were one.

The pain was vivid. Halsin opened himself to it, allowed it to sharpen his focus and turned back to the dragon. There was no weakness he could perceive, no gap in the undulant ranks of its black scales. But every dragon was tender around the muzzle and this one had foolishly lowered his, the better to watch him suffer. Halsin screamed again for effect, clutching his leg and the dragon sank even lower, its face in striking range. Marshaling all of his strength, Halsin drew the club from his back and threw it like a javelin into the dragon’s nose. It struck true, showering him a waterfall of hot, black blood, like tar.

The creature’s tortured shriek was terrible as it echoed across their minds. Halsin staggered over to Langoth, both his wound and his head on fire.

“When the time comes--whatever else should happen,” Halsin said, “You must take my hand.”

Before Langoth could reply, the dragon was upon them again. It was no longer toying with them: now it was out for blood. Only luck saved Halsin from being cut in two as he dove away--this time the dragon’s claws sliced through empty air.

How much longer? Langoth asked. He wove and tumbled around the dragon’s legs, avoiding its swiping claws with limber grace that might be a dance but for the raging dragon above them.

The monster busy with Langoth, Halsin ignored the throbbing pain in his leg and closed his eyes for a moment to test the link he’d left to the plane where their bodies lay, lifeless.

...was a mad idea, what if they don’t come back at all? Across the planes, Astarion’s voice was watery and hollow, as though he were speaking from the other end of a very long sea cave.

Master Halsin’s nearly past the point of no return, looks like, Wyll said. Hells, what’s that on his leg?

Gale’s voice echoed more forcefully in Halsin’s mind. Less commentary, if you please, this does require a bit of focus, you know--Halsin, is that you? Is it time?

Almost, he thought, Be ready. He felt the wizard’s assent and turned back to the fray. Langoth had sunk an ice arrow into the dragon’s nostril and it was trying to scratch it away, howling from its sting.

Halsin dashed over to the ranger, avoiding the sweep of the dragon’s tail as it staggered and bellowed in blind rage. They would just have to hope the distraction lasted long enough to complete the ritual. Langoth looked shaken but unhurt, his keen eyes watchful. Even as the dragon roared above them, Halsin felt a surge of love, of humility in the face of its enormity: greater than any ancient guardian of the Fugue Plane, greater even than death. “It’s time,” he said. Their hands joined and he reached across the void again, to Gale.

What if it’s too late? Langoth said. He sensed the ranger’s despair.

“Just don’t let go. No matter what happens.”

In answer, Langoth interlaced his fingers and squeezed them tight. The druid shut his eyes and perceived, worlds away, Gale whispering the incantations that would bring their souls back.

Halsin, Langoth’s voice rang in his mind, sharp with fear.

He opened his eyes to see the dragon bearing down on them, its mouth open, throat welling with blue fire.

“Don’t let go,” Halsin said, even as every instinct screamed at him to break away, to dive to safety. Langoth gripped his hand so hard he feared his bones would bruise.

The styx dragon bore down on them, a gout of flame shooting from its maw. Halsin closed his eyes again. The ritual was nearly complete--a few words away, if Gale did not stumble.

I need to tell you something, Langoth said. While there’s time. I--

But before he could finish, darkness took them both.

“...breathing, that has to be a good sign, surely?”

Dim, green light danced around him. Langoth moaned and shut his eyes again. Cold, he was so cold. Everything from his waist up was agony: pain that throbbed, ached, stung, burned, and stabbed. From the waist down, all was numb.

“Langoth,” Wyll said. He heard the warlock approach but couldn’t bear to open his eyes again. His voice sounded distant. “Hells, he’s properly torn up. Here, give us that potion.”

A hand cradled his head, tipped it back, and another held a phial of healing potion to his bloodied lips. It slid down his throat and he sighed as it took effect, restoring life to his stiff limbs. A sickening crunch as his spine reknit itself and sensation rushed back to his legs. He shivered. It felt as though he’d never be warm again.

“Halsin,” he said, remembering. The fugue plane, the dragon, the blue flames--he struggled to his hands and knees and collapsed with a groan.

“It’s alright, mate. Halsin is just there, look.” Wyll pointed to the other corner of the courtyard, where the druid was staggering to his feet, shaking his thick mane of hair and rubbing his face. Langoth sank back down in relief. They had made it, somehow.

“I’m fine too,” Astarion said. “If you were wondering. I also nearly died, on your behalf. Again.”

“Thank the gods,” Langoth rasped with a smile. He shut his eyes and breathed deeply--real air, again. Even though it was centuries stale and stank of fungus and dead minotaur, there was no sweeter smell.

“Actually, thank Gale,” the wizard said, approaching with Halsin by his side. “It was a very near thing, indeed. Suppose I owed you for all the times you’ve pulled me back from death’s door.”

The druid leaned over him and took Langoth’s icy hands between his own. “Thank you,” Langoth whispered.

Halsin laid a hand on his chest. “Don’t speak. You need food. Your soul has been too long in Kelemvor’s kingdom and needs to be fully restored.”

“And nothing better for that than a nice warming mug of soup,” Gale said. “I would know. I shall see to it.”

An arm around Halsin’s waist, Langoth limped past the minotaur corpses laid out on blood slick flagstones to sit in the fort’s cozy refectory by the fire that Gale had set roaring with a cantrip.

“Rest here,” Halsin said, helping into a dusty leather chair which was surprisingly comfortable, considering its age. “But don’t sleep yet. Your soul’s connection to your body is still too tenuous.”

“Stay with me?” he asked. Their eyes met and warmth spread through him; heat not just from the roaring fire. Gale busied himself nearby with the cooking, humming tunefully as he banged pots and spoons and asking Astarion if he might use his dagger to mince the garlic.

Halsin eased down beside Langoth on a rickety bench, favoring one leg.

“The dragon?” It still hurt to speak.

Halsin nodded, wincing as he settled onto the bench. “It will mend, in time.”

“Did I hear the word dragon?” Wyll said. “I think that might be next on my list, having taken down a minotaur single handedly.”

Astarion shot him an acid look from across the room.

“Well, almost single handedly. Alright, you lot all helped.”

“Your magnanimity, Wyll, is as ever, inspirational,” Gale said, magicking a stream of hot water into the cookpot.

Langoth laughed, and felt a little warmer still. It was good, he reflected, to be alive. The heady scent of garlic and onions sizzling over the fire reached his nose and his stomach growled.

“Well, our foray into the Underdark is off to a wonderful start,” Astarion said from the shadows. “I just can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings. Perhaps decapitation?” He met Langoth’s eye.

“Stop sulking in the corner, Astarion,” Langoth said. “We survived, didn’t we?”

The vampire spawn scoffed but he approached and even sat on the bench with Halsin. At the opposite end, but it was a start.

“Mad idea, coming down here,” Astarion said, looking moodily into the fire. He turned to Langoth and with unexpected emotion said, “We almost lost you.”

“Well, you didn’t,” Langoth said. “And we will make it to Moonrise Towers.”

He did not fail to observe the expression of foreboding on Halsin’s weathered features. He’d never seen the druid look so tired. Again, he perceived there was something he was holding back, some unspoken burden he carried. Langoth took his hand but he only patted it absently, staring into the dark.

#halsin #bg3 halsin #fanfiction #baldur's gate 3 fanfic #halsin/omc #langoth #baldur's gate gale #wyll #astarion

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sunshineandfangs · 5 years

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Klarosummer - Jello Shots || Eizehu chachâm? Eize’hu gibôr?

@klarosummerbingo

This one contains religious themes, see bottom note for my title explanation. However, I am more using the mythology of beings than any type of scripture. Sorta Supernatural-esque I suppose. (But with fewer direct references and hopefully way less convolution and weird plots...) Although, how my mind went from jello shots to this... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Oh uh and a dash of angst, but it’s resolved I promise!

---

Caroline eyed the multiple mixing bowls, each filled with a different colored jello. She flitted between them, making sure each was properly stirred, ignoring the eyes she could feel burning into the back of her head. Her sorority party needed jello-shots after all. What kind of party would it be without them?

“Caroline,” a masculine voice called out from behind her, clear disapproval in his tone.

She feigned obliviousness, measuring out different ratios of water and vodka to make shots of varying potency. Red would be nearly all vodka while violet would just be normal jello. Virgin Violets, she giggled to herself, pleased with her silly alliteration.

“This is suicidal, Caroline,” the voice continued.

She hummed, turning to fetch the small 4 oz cups, only to stop short as Klaus materialized in front of her.

“Cease ignoring me,” he growled.

Huffing, Caroline crossed her arms (hugged herself) as she raised her eyebrows at him. Forced her tone to be normal as she spoke. “Well, then do something useful, Klaus, and help me make these jello shots. Perhaps, then I would have time to chat.”

His scowl deepened in the face of faux-cavalier attitude, and he waved an arm. Instead of mixing bowls, a rainbow of jello-filled plastic cups now stretched across the counter.

She sighed, stance unconsciously softening, fighting the twitch in her lip as she noticed he had organized them all by color.

It was a bit annoying (hurtful) that he had used his power, but what else was she expecting given what she had said? Still, she thanked him. There was no need for poor manners.

He just raised an expectant brow, hands now clasped behind his back. “Our discussion, Caroline?”

Swallowing, she gestured toward the living room and took a seat on the sofa, patting the space next to her in invitation. She leaned back against the arm, bracing herself for what would likely be another diatribe.

It seemed she was right to do so, Klaus right at her heels, angling himself toward her, an intense expression on his face. The last time he had looked at her like that they had been standing, his bloody hands on her arms, bodies at their feet.

Two Years Ago

Heels clicking as she sped walked through the packed streets of Manhattan, Caroline went over her day’s to-do list. Though mostly on autopilot, it was easy for her to move around the crowd, weaving her way to where she needed to be.

Heading up Macdougal St, back toward NYU, her eyes caught on her familiar suited stranger, staring at her from his seat outside one of the many cafés. As always he looked just a tad out of place.

Maybe to everyone else he seemed like a particularly well-dressed businessman, but she knew better. For one thing, he always wore the same suit, from the lightly patterned tie to how he buttoned the jacket. And more importantly, she had been catching glimpses of him and then interacting with him her whole life.

As the Forbes heiress she was used to the occasional bodyguard. They might not be anywhere near the richest people in the world, but they were still easily part of the 1%. That being said normal, human bodyguards aged.

Her mysterious overseer never did.

---

Although to say he just observed her wasn’t quite true either. Her lips quirked remembering the first time he had spoken to her. How he had crouched down beside her at the park, no one else seeming to take notice of his sudden appearance, stating brusquely that she should avoid going home for the next hour. Then, disappeared just as abruptly.

He had delivered several other similar messages until she managed to catch him off guard. Precocious eight-year-old Caroline had been a force with the way she snagged his arm in her grasp and informed him, quite seriously, that humans didn’t interact with one another like he did with her. And maybe he should work on that?

To this day, she wasn’t quite sure why he listened to her, but the next time he showed up with a warning he actually greeted her. An almost fond Hello, Caroline fell from his lips along with some inane commentary about the weather to which she had blinked in bewilderment. He then proceeded to deliver his typical message and, to her astonishment, wished her well before departing.

And over the years, she’d continue to offer him little pieces of advice. (You know smiling wouldn’t break your face? The crazy-eyed stare would be scary to normal people. Why on earth do you always wear the same clothes? (He ignored that one and the next time he showed up she rolled her eyes, commenting he could at least accessorize.) He added a striped pocket-square. (In monochrome though, he was a disaster.))

Mentioned some of her favorites parts of being human. (Determination. Passion. Ambition. People tend to want to do things with their lives, you know? I know I do.)

Even just chatted a little about mundane topics. (Have you ever tried playing soccer? Yeah, me neither. Do you have a favorite season? Time of day? Mine is Autumn if you were wondering; it’s a time of change. I like twilight for the same reason, the bridge between day and night.)

He was almost a friend by that point, for all that she didn’t know his name.

---

And, as if summoned by her thoughts (well, he probably was actually), he appeared beside her, walking in step with her as if he had been there all along.

She rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t you get bored using your powers all the time?”

A minuscule crease appeared between his eyebrows. (Another success she took credit for. He used to be waaaaaay worse at emoting, if one could believe it.) “What else would I use?”

“Gee, you have hands, don’t you?” He actually looked down at them for a split second as if he had forgotten. “And you’re walking beside me right now. When you appear as a human does, sometimes it’s satisfying to accomplish things as they do.”

“Slowly?” He asked, sounding a bit incredulous and disdainful. (More progress! ...Kinda).

“No,” she scolded. “Purposefully.”

He still looked doubtful, but he did walk up to her more often after that. Got up and handed things to her when she asked, rather than just teleporting or conjuring them. Mentioned offhandedly, that his name was Klaus, the next time they met.

She didn’t think that one day she would come to regret her advice.

---

One Week Ago

Caroline looked around, feeling lost. Not the confused kind of lost, but the lost one feels when the beliefs they once held were challenged, broken.

He left her there.

---

This time attackers had slipped by her guardian angel (a hysterical sob caught in her throat), but they hadn’t been able to do much of anything to her. Klaus had appeared with a rustle of feathers, ripping the hearts from the two remaining attackers.

And then he had spotted the bodies already strewn across the floor. They could have been sleeping if not for their vacant stares and still hearts.

God, the way he had looked at her.

Caroline had never personally known heartbreak until that moment.

She had watched as he stalked toward her, gripping her upper arms in his still blood soaked hands.

“What have you done?” He had whispered to her, looking more horrified than she had ever seen. He had shaken her then. “What have you done?!” A shout. She had never heard him shout before. And she hadn’t understood his reaction.

“I-I was never surprised by your abilities. Surely, you knew I had my own?”

“Of course I did!” He had hissed. “But you were never supposed to use them!”

She hadn’t understood. Her voice was small as she had asked him, “Why? You do?”

“I am not like you. You are a cambion, Caroline, a threat. It has always been my duty to contain you. By God, I should smite you where you stand for this.”

A tear had slipped from her eye. “Then why did you-?” Her hand had made an aborted gesture toward the men he had killed, thought about all the years he had spent warning her.

And she had watched as he seemed to deflate and then stepped back from her.

Another crack in her heart.

“If no one attacked you, then what need would you have for your powers?” He had stared at her almost seeming sad as he said, “You were so human.” And then his expression had hardened. “Stay home for the next few days while I take care of the source. Do nothing.” And then he had vanished with another fluttering sound.

---

He left her.

The thought raddled around in her brain, and the contained sob emerged from her throat.

She sat there, in a room of dead and broken people, and cried until she had no tears left.

And then she went home.

Slowly.

---

And now here Klaus was again. Looking at her like he didn’t know her at all. (She supposed she hadn’t know him then either, had she?) Despite her facade she was breaking all over again. She didn’t think she could lose him twice.

And then, he looked away, making the most human gesture she had ever seen from him. His palm dragged down his face, a face that actually appeared tired now that she looked closer.

He looked back at her, reaching for her, hesitant. Finally, he took her hand in his and delicately rubbed the skin over her knuckles.

“You have made me a rash creature, Caroline. I was...afraid,” he uttered, sounding awed. The original meaning of the word. “But I should not have spoken to you like that. Nor left you there. For all my bravado I could not have killed you.” He shook his head. “I do not think I could have from the moment your eight-year-old self took my arm and taught me what it meant to be human.”

“What are you saying?” She whispered, a dangerous kernel of hope blossoming in her heart.

The full force of his gaze returned to her eyes, but there was no disgust or horror there.

“I am saying I want you to come with me. Not forever. Not unless you wish to,” he added in a whisper before continuing, voice firm and determined once more. “I know that no matter your powers you are not the type of threat the Host fears. But others will not. Do not. If you are with me though I can vouch for you. My name holds weight, Caroline. You could live a normal life eventually.”

A tear slipped down her face, but she was smiling.

“You are part of my life now. So don’t you dare leave again.”

He laced his fingers with hers, used his other hand to cup her cheek and brush away her tear.

“Deal.”

---

Author’s Note: Today’s title is the beginning of two different Jewish proverbs/sayings: “Who is wise?” and “Who is mighty?” respectively. The full sayings are “Who is wise? He who learns from all people” and “Who is mighty? He who subdues his passions”. The irony of course being that Klaus typically embodies neither of those things. And even here, it’s pretty debatable. Also, I know at least @thetourguidebarbie is Jewish and would know this better than me so correct me if I’m wrong here. I just went off the internet.

#Klaroline #KlarosummerBingo #Klaroline Fanfiction #Klaroline Drabbles #Klaroline Edits #Klaroline Photosets #Klaroline Aesthetics #My Writing #My Edits

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dailyaudiobible · 6 years

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03/26/2019 DAB Transcript

Deuteronomy 5:1-6:25, Luke 7:11-35, Psalms 68:19-35, Proverbs 11:29-31

Today is the 26th day of the month of March. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I'm Brian. It is great to be here every day. Right now…I don't…and this won’t be the last time I say stuff like this. I say stuff like this all the time throughout the year, but when I'm calling out these days and I'm looking at the fact that we’re at March 26th, by the way, happy birthday to my brother. I just…I mean…it just very much feels like it was just New Year's Day, like we just started this journey and we really are about to finish 1/4 of the year. And it reminds me in a good way that time is flying. And, you know, if we’re not here than we weren’t here, right? So, if we’re always out in front of ourselves trying to get things done in advance which is…I'm raising my hand, it’s the story of my life…then we look at a calendar and realize a bunch of time has past and where did it go, right, because we were always out in front of ourselves and we weren’t here. So, I wasn't planning on talking about that at the top of the Daily Audio Bible, but I imagine that I'm not the only one. And, so, let's be here now as we allow God's word to wash over us. We’re reading from the Good News Translation this week and we’re reading from the book of Deuteronomy and the book of Deuteronomy is the final book in the Torah and it is the final three conversations or discourses that Moses gave to the people before he left them, like before he died, before he became history. So, these are the things that Moses, who has gone through a lot with these people, this is what he feels like is important to say. In today's reading we will begin his second of three discourses. Deuteronomy chapter 5 and 6 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in today's reading from the gospel of Luke, John the Baptist who has been has been taken into custody by Herod sends a couple of his disciples to Jesus to ask, “are you the one?” Kind of an interesting question. Why would John ask such a question? And this is where we begin to brush up against the apocalyptic worldview of the time and we’ve kind of talked about this before and we’re not gonna get into like super big depth about this other than from time to time, we need to mention what we’re rubbing up against because it gives us context for what we’re reading in the Bible, but also context for our own lives because we have an apocalyptic worldview. So, essentially what we’re saying when we’re saying apocalyptic worldview sounds so ominous is essentially that the world is heading in some sort of direction, right? And usually as it's passed down from generation to generation the direction that we’re heading in is not a good direction, right? Things are only getting worse and that will lead us to a breaking point or a tipping point where things could get very, very messy, but what is happening then is something new will be born out of that, a new heaven and a new earth as it were. That's how we as Christians would speak, but this apocalyptic worldview is essentially the sense that were going somewhere, and things are going to get worse before they get better but they're going to get better. In the first century when Jesus ministry and John's ministry were taking place, I mean, things had gone through quite a long time of turmoil. The children of Israel that we’re reading about in Deuteronomy right now, they haven't crossed over the Jordan River and gone into the promised land. In Jesus time they've already long been kicked out of the promised land for their unfaithfulness to God. So, there back in their ancestral land but it's not their land and so there's all kinds of turmoil and uprisings. So, they are looking for a Messiah. They are looking for somebody who can rise up, rally all of the Hebrew people together, restore them to God, and see God to do some of the miraculous overthrow that he had done in times past. So, right? They have in their ancestry the story of God coming with the plagues on Egypt. So, if God can do that to Egypt, He can certainly throw the Roman Empire out of this land and that is what they want, and they believe it will happen through this one person, God's anointed, the Messiah, the one who was sent to do exactly that. So, this is why John sends a couple of disciples to say, “is that you? Just checking. It is it you?” Because they have a worldview and a certain set of expectations about what the Messiah’s job and roll is and what the Messiah will accomplish. Of course, Jesus will accomplish all of those things, it will just be on a cosmic level and not just a temporary fix for a certain generation or time. So, Jesus sends word back to John basically telling his disciples, “look, go tell John what you are seeing. Don't go just tell John miracles are taking place. Go tell him what you are seeing because what is taking place is what it looks like for the kingdom to come”, right? So, wherever Jesus is going restoration is happening, the kingdom is coming. Wherever He is the kingdom is. Friends, that is still true, and He is within you. Wherever you go, so goes the kingdom. You can walk into these situations with the kingdom and ignore the power that you have because of that and walk away, or you can be Christ like. Jesus, in the gospel of Luke today after this discourse about John kind of finishes everything up by saying, “how can I speak about this generation?” And he talks about how there are kids in the marketplace and kids play for other kids wedding songs, but nobody dances and so they decide to play sad songs, but nobody cries. What Jesus is effectively saying here is, “you are never satisfied. God could send you…and He's talking about John here…this prophet that lives a very austere very, very simple life with a fiery message, that's not good enough for you. And then the Son of Man comes and He’s not doing that He's eating and drinking, being among you, going where people who need a doctor are. That's not good enough for you. Nothing is good enough for you.” This is what Jesus is saying. If we just push pause and just consider what we’re talking about in the gospel of Luke today, we are already pinned to the wall, we have already been exposed. We do all of the same things, but lest we think this is a new invention on planet Earth, this kind of thing, forgetting who you are and where you've come from and who God is and where you're going, this has always been happening. And, so, we turn the page backward from the gospel of Luke and we go back into our reading from the book of Deuteronomy today and Moses is giving his second discourse and what is he telling the people? “Tell your children about what you are experiencing today. When they ask questions answer them. Pass the story forward, who you are, who God is, where you are going. And, so, we’ll close our little chat today by reading a passage back to you from the book of Deuteronomy. The reason that I'm reading this back to you is to remind you who you are, who God is, and where you're going. These words spoken to the children of Israel are certainly in to their context, but these words also mimic the story of our lives. “We were slaves of the king of Egypt and the Lord rescued us by His great power. With our own eyes we saw him work miracles and do terrifying things to the Egyptians and to their king and all his officials. He freed us from Egypt to bring us here and give us this land as he had promised our ancestors, he would. Then the Lord our God commanded us to obey these laws and to honor Him. If we do He will always watch over our nation and keep it prosperous. If we faithfully obey everything that God has commanded us he will be pleased with us.”

Prayer:

So, Father, we come before You, acknowledging this and falling to our knees because we are not capable of doing this in our own strength, but You came for us and You made it possible for us to walk in union and in unity and in collaboration and in relationship with You. And, so, as we walk with You we certainly can walk on the pathways that will only lead us to righteousness, will only remind us of our identity, will only remind us of who You are and where we’re going. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, it's we��re you find out what's going on around here.

I guess the most immediate thing to mention is the More Gathering for women. Today is the 26th and registration for the More Gathering ends on the 31st of this month. So, you can get all the details at moregathering.com and we hope to see you there.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. I thank you, thank you, thank you for those of you who have clicked that link over the years. Thank you. If you're using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi family, this is Rachel from Houston. I am calling today to encourage Dash from Indiana. I just heard your message and it spoke directly to my heart. I actually was at a Bible study last night and it was about how forgetful we are sometimes, and I think that it’s something that…we are forgetful. We forget how big our God is and, you know, our God is so big that He, He’s just so much bigger then all of the worry and stress and unfortunate pain and discomfort that we feel. And, so, not to discount the way that you feel, that depression is directly from the devil and I push that away. So, devil we do not that depression. But I encourage the joy from Jesus in your heart for all the love for that baby boy who’s turning one and all the love for your new one on the way and I really really encourage you, I give you the love of Jesus in your heart and I just am praying over you and you will be on my prayer list every single day. So, I love you and I love you family and I am lifting you up. So, have a great day.

Hi…hi…I am Erlin from Haiti I want to ask you for my cousin, she’s named is Julia. She has a cancer and now she’s comma. So, we know that God is the God of the impossible, but I know He can do and He can heal my cousin. Also, for my brother for some time he’s seeing some blood in his poop and he started a medical following and next week he’s gonna have a colostomy. So, I want to ask prayer for him and for all my family. Thank you.

Hello family, I’m a first-time caller and calling from Nigeria. __ I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio for almost 5 years now. I have a request and I want you guys to please put my mother-in-law in prayer. Her name is Rita. Please, she’s had some kind of illness that brings pain to her face and it has no known cure. Right now, she’s in the hospital and the doctors are saying they don’t know what it is to her. __ she can’t produce any blood platelets. So, please lift her up in prayer for me, that the Lord may heal her wound. Thank you.

Hi, I was listening to Daily Audio Bible today and I heard a request from Dash and I heard other prayer requests similar to that __ a while about feelings of hopelessness and I just want to say that first, it’s a huge step that you’re even calling to ask for prayer. I think that’s amazing and I think that’s such a gift from God because it’s so hard to take that step, to ask for prayer. And, so, I think you should just commend yourself and others who have called in feeling hopeless too, that you even took that step. And, so, I just want to let you know and the others know as well that I’ve been praying for you and will continue to pray for you. I struggle with that as well, but I just want you to know that God always delivers, and He never fails and just hold onto what you know deep down in your heart about God truth. Try not to focus on how you feel because our feelings often feel lead us astray, but God’s truth always remains there. So, keep it up and I’ll just be encouraging you in prayer. Thanks.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible, this is Scott in Alaska. I haven’t called in in two years. I’ve been listening since about 2010, off and on. I’m actually not in Alaska, I’m driving back to Alaska right now in Western North Dakota nearly to Montana. I’m so grateful for the DAB and being able to listen to it going down the road and a thought came to me this morning. The roads pretty foggy. I’ve only got about a quarter to a third mile visibility. It’s kinda like life sometimes. I can’t see everything coming up ahead but it’s really fine. A quarter-mile is more than enough visibility. I’ve got warm coffee and the Daily Audio Bible and people to pray for. I don’t really need to see any further than that. I’ve got complete faith that this ole highway is still rollin’ miles and miles ahead of me and I’ll see as it comes to me. That’s sort of the way God does our life too, isn’t it? So, if you’re in life that’s kind of foggy and you can’t see very far ahead right now, it’s no big deal. Have a cup of coffee, read the Scriptures, and pray for other people and the road will unfold for you. So, thanks a lot and I’ll try to check in again on this trip up to Alcan. I love you all and thank you Brian for doing this.

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hayleysayshay · 4 years

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Sorry for the bombardment but there's a lot of good questions here, you don't have to answer them all - B D J T Z

Anon, I’m happy to answer them all hehe

B- A pairing you initially didn’t consider but someone changed your mind

I’m pretty open to most pairings, i either like and don’t mind them. Maybe a pairing that fits this is Masami? I just read a fairly short sad fic ages ago and it did turn me to the pairing, and I was like yes.... I love their aesthetic together, the quietness to their relationship... very pleasant

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t (again: be nice)

People keep recommending me that Zhurrick fic that’s really good and I read a bit of it it and it is really good! But I just can’t maintain my interest in that pairnig.

Maybe Borra as well, I just like them as friends though I like their book 1 date, I just have no further interest in it.

J - Name a fandom you didn’t care/think about until you saw it all over tumblr

Steven Universe back in the day! Exploded over tumblr and I got interested, and then I was hooked.

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending, about anything at all (gender identity, sexual or romantic orientation, extended family, sexual preferences like top/bottom/switch, relationship with poetry, seriously anything)

ASAMI AND MAKO HUNG OUT AND WERE FRIENDS DURIING THE THREE YEAR GAP. they didn’t catch up as much as they should have but they literally didn’t ignore eachother for three years. They need a social butterfly like Bolin or Korra with them but they would sometimes meet up. Also Mako’s family literally lived at Asami’s house, this is is extremely fairly likely tbh.

I also have a fairly strong headcanon that Mako was not Wu’s bodyguard for three whole years just because I think that Mako and Wu’s relationship strikes me as two people who get to know eachother better over book 4. I seriously can’t buy Mako not telling Wu that he is a bit shit for three years? Like Wu says ‘no-one has every spoken to me like that before’. It’s Mako, he’s quite blunt? For three years? Six months I could buy. There’s some commentary that apparently contradicts this headcanon and implies three years but I choose to ignore it!

When it comes to sexuality headcanons I’m more loose and I’m not hardcore with these as I think there’s a lot of room for interpretation but guys.... bi mako... pls

Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)

Like most of tumblr I feel like I know too much about Supernatural.

Oh god, remember when Voltron’s finished.... omg. I only watched the first six episodes of the first season before getting bored, so I knew the characters so I knew everything that was going on but I had little investment in any of it. It was somewhat funny, mostly sad.

FANDOM ASKS

#lok #Anonymous

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fourteenacross · 7 years

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natasha, pierre, and the great comet of 1812 - 8/12/17, 2pm

MY LAST TRIP TO GREAT COMET :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

I wish I was going to be in town for the last show :\ It’s the day before I get back from Atlanta, but if I was going to be in town, I would 100% have moved heaven and earth to get there.

We bought these tickets awhile back, after seeing Dave in June. We had already been planning to see Oak but hadn’t settled on a date or a seat type, so we used that performance to gauge where we wanted to sit, and literally minutes after I thought, “Oh, we need to buy those tickets today now that we know where to sit” the day after, they announced Ingrid was going the cast during the time period we were looking at so...yes.

(After our third time seeing the show, I was reaching the point where I was like, “I LOVE the entire cast but I’d LOVE to see some of the understudies live!” but I honestly couldn’t imagine anyone but Brittain playing Sonya, but I love Ingrid Michaelson, so that was a nice way to ease into the idea.)

Anyway, some time later we convinced two of our other friends, @charmingpplincardigans and @chiasticbees, to join us. This was a boon for me because August is CRAZY so we were doing this trip in one day and Naomi doesn’t drive, so that would have been...a lot of driving for me. But yeah, this was all long before the drama and the show posting its closing notice, so the trip went from “Yay, we’re going to see Oak and Ingrid and maybe we’ll go again in September or October to see the OBC one last time before contracts are up” to our last time seeing the show on Broadway.

I have a lot of feelings about that, which I’ll vomit at the end.

I weighed like, five different travel options and we ended up leaving Boston around eight, driving to White Plains, parking at the train station, and taking the MetroNorth into Manhattan. I went to school outside of White Plains and the exit for the train station is not long after 15 in CT ends, so it was also just good timing/placement in the length of our trip. We made okay time despite needing to stop to pee fifty times and had enough time to grab lunch at GCT before the show.

Naomi and I sat on the Banquettes on stage right in the second row, right on the end. We’ve sat on stage with a view from basically every angle, now, which was cool, but I do wish we’d had a chance to see see it from front mezz or the orchestra, too. But, that aside, they were excellent seats which we chose in advance because Pierre stands there to sing part of “Dust and Ashes.” Unfortunately, we had THE WORLD’S WORST SEATMATES, a bunch of middle-aged and older women who were just flat out rude. There were seven of them with three seats in one row and four seats in another row and they weren’t sure which seats they had. The first two of them showed up at, like, fucking 1:55 and gave the usher a hard time, and each time a few more of them trickled in, they gave the usher an even harder time. They kept insisting she was putting them in the wrong seat and no matter how many times she told them “you do not have a ticket for the seat you’re sitting in,” they would not listen and got pissy with her. They were also pissy that they were being rushed, even though by this point the cast had come out to give out pierogis and do the pre-show “don’t put your feet in the aisles, turn off your cellphones” talk. They also talked CONSTANTLY during the show, a running commentary on their thoughts which would have been bad enough in a traditional seating arrangement, but when you’re three feet from the actors whispering “That performance didn’t do anything for me” loud enough for the whole stage to hear is just rude.

ANYWAY, enough vitriol about them. Before the show we did a lot of soaking in of the stage and set with the knowledge that this was our last time :( And then the show started!

Denée: So good, as usual. I’ve seen Denée every time I’ve see the show and even though I really wish I could have seen Shoba’s Natasha, I can’t say I’m disappointed because she’s SO good. She’s so funny and sweet and naive and a beautiful perfect angel. I love the way she performs her narration to the audience, like we’re her confidante. “No One Else” is extra breath-taking when it’s happening a foot away from you, for sure, and “Pierre and Natasha” was just....ugh, I want to start ugly crying just thinking about it. What a star. What a presence. I hope she has a million wonderful things waiting for her in the future.

Grace: God, I’m gonna miss Grace McLean raining hellfire down on the stage. What a voice! What an attitude! Especially compared to her as...her. Like, meeting her at the stage door a bunch of times, she seems so tiny and quiet and it’s hard to reconcile her with Marya, who fills the entire room.

Lucas: Lucas gets more over the top each time I see him and I love it. We saw Blaine as Anatole in June, and I LOVED Blaine’s Anatole, but I’m glad I got to see Lucas one last time. He’s just so MUCH and he does every part of it so well. He and Oak had AMAZING chemistry.

Amber: I stg she turned up the energy on “Charming” times a zillion. She was also hanging out in front of our section a lot and I don’t think I’ve ever noticed Helene and Dolokhov mocking the rest of the opera goers in the background, especially Marya once she starts talking to them. That way she flips back and forth between bitchy & holier-than-thou and honestly invested in her friends and family is amazing. She also is just so broken in the last few numbers, it’s heartbreaking. She collapsed basically on top of our feet. (Also, she and Grace made out like, six feet away from me and I was QUITE PLEASED.)

Nick: We saw Azudi as Dolokhov last time and he was great but, as with Lucas, I’m glad I got to see him one last time :\ Nick is like, our secret favorite because we saw him at a talkback at ART back in the day and were instantly charmed. He’s really excellent and balances being an almost maliciously amused asshole with genuine anger and regret super well. I also just love his voice and wish he had just a little more to do.

Courtney: Gelsey’s on vacation, so we saw Courtney as Princess Mary. This seems like a ridiculously hard role to understudy given all the weird vocal things that Gelsey does as Mary, but Courtney did a great job. Her Mary was a little more innocent than Gelsey’s and a little more frazzled. Gelsey plays her as already having given herself over to the knowledge that this is her sad life now, whereas it felt like Courtney’s Mary was still clinging to hope and those hopes just got dashed over and over again.

Nicholas: His Andrey is SO cold. I’ve only ever seen him as Andrey, but compared to some of Blake DeLong’s choices on the original cast album, his Andrey comes off as icy and angry, which I like a lot, but is just so sad. I was right around Bolkonsky for parts of “The Private and Intimate Lives of the House” and he was such an awful, creepy asshole. (Which is obvs a compliment XD)

Paul: A delight! He and Ingrid were right next to us during “The Duel” and it was great.

Ingrid: I was SO pleasantly surprised! I mean, I knew that Ingrid had a theatre background, but I think I wasn’t expecting to love her Sonya so much, both because Brittain is one of my favorite parts of Great Comet and because I don’t really think of her as an actress, but she was phenomenal! Her Sonya was more frustrated and betrayed and jealous in Act 2 than Brittain’s, and very visibly put out in Act 1, whereas I feel like Brittain’s Sonya just sort of lets herself get pushed around by Marya and is miffed, but goes with it. Also, her Sonya was possibly even gayer than Brittain’s? It’s hard to tell, but WOW. Her voice was beautiful, of course, but god, I’m still stuck on thinking what a fantastic actress she was. That confrontation in “Sonya and Natasha” especially. Amazing. I’m so glad I got to see her.

Oak: I am SO glad I got to see Oak as Pierre, seriously. He was fucking incredible. I mean, hashtag I love all Pierres, so I was predisposed to loving him anyway, but he really blew me away. Being two feet away from him while he did “Dust and Ashes” was like a fucking spiritual experience, for sure. His Pierre was different from all the other Pierres I’ve seen--there were parts that I liked more than some of the other guys and vice-versa. I would say that his Pierre was more...sad and longing. Groban’s Pierre is angry and Scott’s is frustrated and Dave’s is given up and despairing, but Oak’s is on his way to that Malloy-esque despair but hasn’t hit rock bottom yet. It’s such an interesting choice and I LOVED it. It added a sort of poignancy to “Dust and Ashes” in the opposite way of Malloy’s--Malloy’s “Dust and Ashes” has that poignancy because his Pierre has hit rock bottom and is seeing the light for the first time and just awed by it. Oak’s Pierre is saved from hitting rock bottom by that moment in “Dust and Ashes.” A different interpretation, but just as meaningful. He was also SO funny in “The Duel” and “The Opera.” His little thumbs-up to the audience on “No, I am enjoying myself at home this evening” was hilarious and his parts in “The Duel” were so mellow and goofy--way goofier than any other Pierre I’ve seen. I totally dug it. I will say that his “Whaaaat?”s were not QUITE up to Malloy’s and Groban’s, but they were passable. And, fucking, “Pierre and Natasha” was SO beautiful. He had such amazing chemistry with Denée in that moment and he was so obviously in over his head and reeling. I think this was the first time that “Pierre grew confused” clicked as a picture perfect reflection of the performance being given. He had such a desperate, human emotion on his face--he really wanted to connect with Natasha and was honestly upset that he couldn’t seem to do it. And his spoken lines were SO beautiful. They’re up there with Dave’s as forever favorites. “The Great Comet of 1812″ was just wonderful beyond words. The slow revelation that his Pierre is settling into was a perfect reflection of that moment in “Dust and Ashes” that he decides to live, so soft and deep in counterpoint to the frenzy of before. Those last two verses were SO beautiful, and the look on his face as he slowly lowered himself to the ground...my heart.

ENSEMBLE:

During “The Ball” I couldn’t pay attention to Natasha and Anatole because the lady couple was dancing right next to our seats and their chemistry was crackling enough to be totally distracting to me, a person easily distracted by queer ladies.

Nick Gaswirth was over by us at the start to do some of the pre-show talk and I noticed for the first time that he has glitter in his mustache and I love him a lot.

I got a letter from Cathryn Wake who is cute as a button, tho I always feel like a creepy old lady when I say that because I think she’s like, twelve.

Kennedy Caughell was also right up in our business a lot and she’s also the cutest.

So was/is Lauren Zarkin. And Ashley Perez Flanagan and just everyone, okay? I love everyone in this 19th century Russian supper club.

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

God, I’m sure there are a million things I’m forgetting. “The Duel” is still one of my favorite things to ever happen on stage. Everything about that song makes me so happy. And I can’t believe there are people who can keep themselves from bouncing along to “Preparations”/”Balaga”/”The Abduction” because it’s all so frantic and great.

As I mentioned before, all of that careful planning to get good Pierre seats meant that we were inadvertently in the seats that Anatole sits in during “The Abduction” and I spent a looooooooong awkward moment with Lucas Steele’s arm around me as we stared unnervingly at each other and I tried not to burst into hysterical laughter.

I had like, this awful deep lovely moment at the end of the show, just staring at the comet as the discordant music swells, thinking about how this was my last time seeing the show, how there were a finite number of shows left, how so many people aren’t going to have a chance to witness this wonderful thing live. I’m still so deeply saddened by this. I know I should feel lucky that I got to see it as many times as I managed and I know I will feel lucky later, but for now I’m still stuck in feeling sad.

This show has really been the thing that’s helped me limp through this year. The first time I saw it on Broadway was right before opening, less than a week after the election. I needed this show at that moment. I was already annoyingly crazy about it and had been evangelizing since seeing it at ART, but this was a thing that I held onto in the months to come. I wanted to have it for so much longer and I’m just so mad that the rest of the world didn’t give it a chance. It’s so weird and wonderful and strange and beautiful and there’s really nothing else like it. There’s no experience on Broadway that’s as fun as this show is, and I wish I could have escorted everyone I know into the theatre to push them down and make them listen and watch. So much of it is lost in translation from stage to audio and it’s so, so much more than what you hear on the cast recording.

I don’t know. I cried at the end, like I always do, and I cried during “Sonya Alone” and “Dust and Ashes” and then, as we were walking out, I started crying again realizing that I was leaving the Imperial as it currently stands for the last time. Something about that set, that theatre, is comforting and has been since last November. All wrapped up in red velvet and beautiful lights, it feels small and cozy and comfortable. It feels, I think, the way Mimi wanted it to feel--like an escape from the world outside, a pocket of music and life and exuberance and peace hidden away from everything going on in the larger world. Show aside, just being in that theatre felt safe, in a weird way, and even when the show tours I doubt they’ll be able to replicate that feeling.

I’m making myself sad thinking about this again. I know I’ll always have those memories to fall back on (more or less, depression has largely ruined my memory and regularly punches holes even in experiences that are dear to me), but I’m selfishly depressed that I’ll never be able to run away to 19th century Russia again.

Anyway, thanks to the cast, to Dave and Rachel, to Mimi and Bradley and Paloma and Sam, to ART, to everyone who brought this thing to life and gave it to me. I won’t forget it.

#natasha pierre and the great comet of 1812 #stuff i've seen #show notes #theatre #okieriete onaodowan #ingrid michaelson #and lots of other people of course #but they're the two new ones

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bevioletskies · 7 years

Text

20 questions [8/20]

characters: peter/gamora, guardians-centric

fandom: avengers academy/marvel cinematic universe

summary: wasp has a new competition in store for the students of avengers academy, and there’s money involved. so obviously, peter and gamora have to pretend to be a couple in order to win. wait, what?

chapter preview: peter and gamora argue and make up (aka the usual), gamora has a bit of an epiphany, and someone goes missing.

word count: 4804 | total word count: 118k

a/n: the ending of this one makes me happysad every time i read it over, tbh

ao3 | previously | next | masterpost

Janet van Dyne, as the hundreds of students, SHIELD agents, and faculty had learned (sometimes the hard way), was not a girl to be messed with. She wasn’t the strongest, the fastest, or the most skilled of students on campus, but God help you should you get in her way, or even worse, mess with any of her friends.

It had started off as a perfectly normal Sunday morning, of course. She woke up feeling peppy as always, and made her way into the dorm cafeteria/lounge, where Clint and Kate were hovering over the coffee machine, looking desperate, but otherwise dead to the world. She pulled out her green juice from the communal fridge, cracked open the lid with a satisfying pop, and then took a swig, right as she opened Twitter. She then promptly spat it out at the first trending topic she saw, nearly spraying Cosmo and Lucky in the process, who were just innocently sitting on the floor at the Hawkeyes’ feet.

“KAMALA!” she hollered, causing the Hawkeyes to jump. “WE HAVE A SOCIAL MEDIA EMERGENCY!”

Ms. Marvel came dashing in, sliding across the linoleum on her socks, precariously tipping over in the process and nearly braining herself on the doorframe. “What is it, Jan?”

“Why am I seeing this weird, tell-all Twitlonger from some SHIELD agent being DMed to me by hundreds of people?” She stuck her phone in Kamala’s face. “Who is this guy, and why is he saying mean things about Peter?”

“Let me see, girls,” Peggy Carter said, strolling briskly into the kitchen with the no-nonsense attitude that every girl in the Academy revered. She took the phone from Janet and scrolled through the article, frowning. “I can’t say he stands out to me, I wouldn’t remember his face even if I’d met him. He’s rather generically good-looking, wouldn’t you say?”

“He said something about Peter punching him in the face for looking at Gamora,” Janet said. “That doesn’t sound like something he’d do.”

“What’s this about Quill and Gamora?” Natasha sauntered over from the fruit salad station, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. After Peggy showed her the post, her mouth twisted unpleasantly, considering. She wouldn’t put it past Quill and the other Guardians to attempt a long-con to make money, even if it meant a little bad publicity to get into the news. She reasoned that Gamora was the one with a strong moral compass, someone who understood the need to save lives the most after taking so many, and she wouldn’t have taken Natasha’s money regardless. Still, it didn’t clear the suspicions she’d had from the beginning. Maybe this wasn’t the most important secret she had to sniff out on the entirety of the Academy campus (the timefog was definitely a more pressing matter), but it was something Natasha knew she had to look into further.

______

Waking up next to Gamora a second time was decidedly less pleasant than the first, as Peter had been unceremoniously kicked in the gut. With a rather comical shout, he went tumbling out the bed and landed elbow-first on the floor.

Her head popped up over the side of the bed a moment later. “You okay, Quill?” she said, concerned.

“Never better,” Peter groaned, stumbling to his feet. “What happened?”

Her eyes flickered away from him a moment, guilty. “Nightmare,” she murmured. “It won’t happen again.”

He decided not to push it - it was definitely not a topic to be discussed in their game or any context, really, unless she was ready - instead electing to mumble about needing to pee and walking to the bathroom to give her space. When he got back, she was already dressed, her hair braided, face composed once again. She was on her phone, presumably checking her messages and making sure the Guardians hadn’t killed anyone - or each other - in their absence.

“Mantis says there are lots of photos and videos of us online,” Gamora said, turning to face the wall as Peter began stripping down. “They’re referring to us as the ‘hottest new superhero couple’.”

“Alright, I like it,” Peter said as he buttoned up his shirt. “We could definitely be the most attractive superhero couple ever.”

“Always so modest,” she commented dryly, turning back around as he finished adjusting his belt buckle. As she moved to get up, her phone went off with a text notification. “Wait, Janet says there’s a weird Twitter post about us.”

He sat down to do up his shoelaces, distracted by the need to finish dressing. “Yeah, yeah, read it.”

“It says, ‘Star-Lord is a possessive psychopath. He and his girlfriend came to my workplace for some Guardians business, and when I checked them in, I apparently took too long looking over her ID and he lost it. He grabbed me, pulled me out from behind my desk, and punched me in the face repeatedly. It took two security guards to pull him off me, and he kept yelling at me about trying to steal his girlfriend.’” Gamora blinked. “What the hell,” she said flatly.

“It’s that damn Number Five,” Peter said, fists clenched. “My nickname for him,” he added at Gamora’s confused expression. “He’s probably mad he got called out for being a creep, even though I was super non-confrontational about it.”

“And now he’s making people think you’re an over-possessive, violent boyfriend, how is that okay?” she exclaimed. “An untrue slight against you, you’re just going to let that go?”

“If it becomes a problem, we’ll deal with it,” he shrugged, and there was that nonchalant quality of Peter’s that frustrated Gamora so often. It wasn’t just in situations like this, it was on missions, on jobs, where he told everyone he would “figure it out when we get there”, or “wait until we know more”.

“Your talent for improvisation will only take you so far,” she informed him, getting to her feet. “We might need to make a counter statement when we get back. I’ll text Pepper.”

“You do that,” Peter sighed, frustrated. This day was already starting out on a sour note compared to the near-perfect time they had yesterday. He hoped it could only go up from here.

______

Breakfast downstairs was an...interesting affair. The elderly couple from yesterday was there once again, having a petty argument about using the wrong kind of knife for jam, when they spotted Gamora and gestured for her and Peter to join them. They shared stories of their favourite dates and anniversaries, which made the two smile, until they asked how long Peter and Gamora had been together.

“We’ve known each other for a couple years, but we’ve only been dating about four months, almost five,” Peter said, glancing over at a slightly defensive-looking Gamora. The couple motioned for him to elaborate. “I don’t know if civilians heard about the fight us Guardians had back at that time, but my father turned out to be pretty evil and we had to take him out. It was in that moment that I realized I had a giant crush on Gamora, and I didn’t want to lose out on telling her before some other crazy bad guy took us down.”

It still made her uneasy to hear or tell this story, no matter how many times it was spoken aloud. A lie rooted a little too deeply into truth, and Gamora could almost forget that it didn’t actually happen.

After Peter continued to make up stories during the duration of breakfast, the pair headed out to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a place that Mantis had listed and Pepper had recommended. “There’s lots of amazing stuff in there, but I think Gamora would especially love the Arms and Armor section,” she had said, handing them a stack of brochures.

The car ride was uneasy, to say the least. Gamora wasn’t sure why she was so annoyed this time, in all honesty. It wasn’t like this was the most stubborn either of them had been, nor the most dire issue they’d ever gotten into an argument over. And yet, it bothered her that Peter wasn’t planning on doing anything about this. For a guy who cares so much about being called Star-Lord, he doesn’t seem worried about being seen as a violent boyfriend, she thought, glancing over at him. He was humming mindlessly along with the radio, some pop song that played on rotation every two hours. She was uncertain about why he hadn’t switched to an oldies station, but the atmosphere felt too tense for her to ask.

The moment they got out of the car, it was like a switch had flipped. Peter took her hand and guided them to the museum entrance, where they were taken to the front of the queue and let in almost immediately the moment they showed their Academy passes. “Perks of being a hero,” Peter said to her in a sotto voice, slightly concerned that the civilians would overhear and complain. “Where should we start?”

Once they got going, it seemed as if things were back to normal. Gamora found that she was enjoying herself, not just in the Arms and Armor exhibit (though it was definitely her favourite), but in observing the art and furniture of the other exhibits that taught her a great deal of Terran history that she’d been unaware of until now. Peter also seemed to have relaxed a little bit, offering colourful commentary, joking around with her, his hand warm in hers. They seemed so used to it now that she felt as if they would continue to accidentally hold hands after the ruse was up. Or maybe it was just her, unused to the sort of intimacy Peter probably received in spades.

Brave individuals approached them and asked for a photo or for a moment to simply thank them, while the shyer members of the public stared at them from afar, attempting to be discreet in taking videos or photos, only to quickly turn away when eye contact was made. Even one woman blurted out that she thought they looked good together, before turning red in the face and dashing away, clutching at her companion and muttering about how embarrassing she was.

They took a break for lunch when both Peter and his stomach began to complain, tucking themselves away into the American Wing Café for a quick bite. “You alright?” Peter said cautiously, moments after they’d settled in.

“Are you asking after something specific?” Gamora said, tilting her head as she observed Peter practically inhaling his sandwich. “Because if you think I’m still irritated, you’d be correct.”

“I’m just surprised it bothers you so much,” Peter said, frowning. The effect was ruined by bits of lettuce falling out of his mouth. “I get you being worried about Thanos coming to kill me, like, me specifically, but this is just one post making up stories that barely anyone’s listening to. What’s the big deal?”

“You put stock into your reputation but this doesn’t worry you at all. Why?” she countered, leaning back and crossing one leg over the other. “I understand fighting for people to call you Star-Lord, since it holds both notoriety and sentiment, but what about fighting against being seen as a possessive, unreasonable lover?”

“The public have already gotten over it five minutes after it was posted, and I’m pretty sure any girls I’d be interested in from this point on would be smart enough to know it isn’t true,” Peter shrugged, licking his fingers. “Like, you know I’m not that guy. And hell, you were more physically threatening to him than me, we both know it, so who cares?”

Gamora exhaled slowly. “I guess it bothers me,” she admitted. “Not because you aren’t doing anything about it - I’ve come to expect little effort from you on things like this - but because...I don’t like the idea of people seeing you in a negative light.”

Peter smiled softly, reaching across the table to put his hand over hers. She saw a camera phone flash out of the corner of her eye, but instead of turning towards the culprit, her eyes fixated on Peter’s face instead, the signature warmth in his eyes a comforting sight. “That’s awesome of you - no, really - but that kind of stuff doesn’t really get to me. I care more about what you guys think of me than some random people from the public. And I know what kind of guy I am. So that’s all that matters.”

Smiling back, she felt the tension in her muscles dissipate. Contrary to popular belief, she did not enjoy fighting with Peter. “We should get going,” she said. “I want to look at the swords again.”

______

“I am Groot.”

“I know you’re bored, hold on a second - ”

“I AM GROOT!”

“Hey, now, don’t talk to me like that, watch your d’ast language, kid.” Rocket climbed out from underneath the table, where he had accidentally dropped his wrench. He was working on some weaponry that wasn’t all too critical, but since Peter and Gamora were taking their sweet time bringing supplies back in favour of a “romantic” weekend trip, he didn’t have what he needed to continue doing repairs on the Milano. It also meant he was looking after Groot even more than usual, as the other two would usually take him while Rocket was working. “Now, whaddaya want?”

“I am Groot.” His little wooden fingers pointed in the direction of the sleeping quarters.

“I don’t think she’s even on the ship, Groot. Haven’t seen her since dinner last night.” Rocket rummaged through the mess of wires he’d uncovered from one of the cooling units. It was a miracle the thing hadn’t blown to bits with the way they were tangled up.

“I am Groot.”

“Why would I be worried? Nebula’s probably just skulking in a corner somewhere and hissing at anyone who gets too close.”

“I am Groot!”

“What? How did you even get into my communicator, it’s password-protected.” Rocket leapt over to the coffee table, where his holo-tab was sitting, unlocked. He scrolled through his messages for a moment before looking back over at Groot. “Shit, you’re right. We gotta tell the others.”

“Wha’s going on, rat?” Yondu emerged from his room, looking around blearily. He got a suspiciously high amount of naps in for a guy who was supposedly failing a decent amount of his classes and needed to catch up. Then again, the naps were probably what kept him away from homework in the first place.

“Nebula’s somehow off-planet, she’s been spotted on some cluster near the Kyln,” Rocket said, shoving all of his work onto the floor in favour of his tablet, now projecting a map of Nebula’s rumoured location onto its surface. “We should tell Gamora, we aren’t equipped to handle this without her.”

“Shit,” Yondu yawned, scratching himself. “We really gonna interrupt her and Quill’s date night? They should be on their way to that light thing that bug-girl picked for ‘em.”

“There’s more pressing matters than Quill and Gamora getting all kissy-faced, alright? D’you have any idea how much trouble we’re gonna be in if Patch Man finds out we somehow lost Nebula? How did she even find a spaceship - Milano’s busted, quinjets ain’t built for space travel - ” Rocket started mumbling absent-mindedly to himself as his claws flew over the keyboard, attempting to plot a course for Nebula’s location.

Groot went running down the hall of the Milano, extending his arms to knock on Drax’s and Mantis’s doors. “I am Groot, I am Groot!”

Drax came out first, daggers in hand, ready for a fight. “What is it, small Groot?”

Mantis poked her head out from behind her door. She had earbuds in, listening to a playlist Peter had made for her, and spoke even louder than usual. “What has happened?!”

“We gotta cut in on Quill and Gamora’s love trip - Nebula’s missing,” Rocket called from the kitchen, where he was inexplicably rummaging for cutlery. “Can someone contact them already? Don’t have all day, it’s already getting dark out!”

“Rocket, while I understand the need to recover Nebula, what are we supposed to do about it? There are no functioning spaceships on this base,” Drax said patiently, lowering his daggers slowly in mild disappointment.

“We’ll figure it out,” Rocket snarled. “Now get to it!”

______

“Is it bad I kinda just want to spend the rest of the day in here?” Peter asked, flopping down on the bed. He rolled around to cocoon himself in the thick duvet. “I don’t know what it is, but I’ve been kinda tired this whole trip. Not in a bad way, just like a ‘I’m-letting-myself-get-tired’ kinda way.”

“We don’t get much rest at the Academy, so being off-campus probably helps your body relax,” Gamora suggested. “We don’t have to go, then. We can just...stay in. Order more pizza, watch the lights from here.”

“You secretly like pizza, don’t you,” he teased, turning over to look at her.

“Didn’t think it was much of a secret,” she replied, smiling as she set down her bag and her phone. “I adhere to a strict diet to maintain my physicality, but I enjoy indulging every once in awhile.”

“Pizza it is,” he cheered, reaching for his phone. To his surprise, less than a minute later, Gamora crawled in next to him, having apparently already changed into her pajamas in record time. She’d taken out her braids, leaving her hair slightly crinkled and messy, looking more unkempt than he’d ever seen her, but just as pretty as ever. It was good to see her so at ease.

“And maybe a movie?” she suggested, almost shyly.

He nodded more vigorously than he meant to. Gamora’s large chocolate brown eyes were kind of mesmerizing up close. “Yeah, yeah, of course.”

______

Despite still being grounded, the Milano had delved into chaos, what with Rocket leaping about as quickly as he could to gather parts, Mantis and Drax attempting to flesh out Rocket’s flight path plan, Groot bouncing up and down on the kitchen counter in anticipation, and...well, Yondu was sitting on the couch, observing.

He was in charge of contacting Peter, though he wasn’t sure if he wanted to do it just yet. Not because of him being away with Gamora, though that did play a minor role, but because...was it really so crucial to get Nebula back? She left for a reason, a reason that everyone suspected but couldn’t confirm - Thanos. Going after Nebula likely meant confronting Thanos, and Yondu wasn’t in the mood for dying, not today.

Watching the others scramble around like their feet were on fire, you could never tell that Nebula constantly antagonized all of them, only being marginally nice to Gamora when it suited her. Gamora had insisted her sister wasn’t a lost cause, not yet, but it was telling when Nebula bolted the moment Gamora was gone as well. And they weren’t saying it out loud, but the way they were eyeing him? Yondu could tell the others were surprised he was still here when Peter wasn’t, either.

“We really that scared of Fury findin’ out?” Yondu called, tucking the holo-tab away, as if he’d done what he’d been instructed to do. “Maybe he’ll like it better now that she’s gone.”

“It’s not just Fury I’m worried about, you idiot. You wanna face Gamora when she gets back and finds out we didn’t tell her that her sister somehow disappeared off-planet to fight their evil daddy?!” A clang. “Ow.”

“I am Groot?”

“Yeah, I’m okay, thanks. So are you helpin’ or are you hinderin’? ‘Cause if you’re not helping, we could use some extra space.” Rocket’s arms were folded, his chin tipped upwards. Yondu supposed it would be more intimidating if Rocket wasn’t a mere 3 feet tall.

“Pretty sure Quill put Drax in charge, not you,” Yondu drawled, moving closer to stare him down.

“It would be wise of you to assist us, Yondu, unless you would like to have your toes removed.” Drax’s voice, usually jovial at best and monotonous at worst, was dangerously low, his blue eyes like ice.

“Yessir,” Yondu said sarcastically, though he moved over to the table to help. He wasn’t that much of an idiot.

______

“Just once, I’d like to watch a movie with no singing or dancing in it whatsoever,” Gamora sighed as the movie ended, her head moving to rest next to Peter’s shoulder. “I think you’re skewing my perception of Terran culture.”

“Twist and Shout is so good,” Peter said enthusiastically, turning to look at her. They were nearly nose-to-nose (well, Peter’s-nose-to-Gamora’s-forehead. She was uncharacteristically slouched over, her entire upper body pressed up against his). “I could totally be Ferris Bueller, right?”

“As long as you’re not expecting me to be Sloane,” Gamora said, patting his leg.

“I think you’re more like Jeanie,” he countered, leaning closer. “Did you see the way she took out the principal?”

She laughed softly, her hand coming to a stop on his knee. “Alright then, that helped me think of my next question. The Guardians, we think of each other like family. We fight, we argue, but we do it for each other. Do you see Nebula and I as your sisters?”

“No offense to Nebula, but she’s not exactly on the ‘ride-or-die’ level for me yet,” Peter chuckled, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. They were nearly cuddling at this point, body heat radiating off both of them at every spot they were touching. It made him vaguely wonder if there had been something in the pizza that had made Gamora unusually pliant, but even stranger, it wasn’t as odd to him as he thought. She was so comfortable around him now that it made him secretly feel pleased. He couldn’t imagine Gamora being able to snuggle up to anyone since she was a young, innocent girl, and now her arm was slung across his lap like it was nothing, his breath rustling her hair.

“And me?” There was a half-smile on her face, almost flirtatious. It reminded him of when they had stopped over on Knowhere, where Rocket, Drax, and Groot had gotten drunk, and he and Gamora had a moment that he held on to with a surprising fierceness.

“I, uh...I don’t think, that, uh, I think of you as my sister. First of all, it would make this whole fake relationship situation really weird,” he elaborated at her slightly baffled expression. “And you have some...qualities, that I like in girls.” He cursed inwardly at himself the moment the words left his mouth. What was he, some inexperienced ten-year old trying to flirt with his schoolyard crush? This was Gamora, someone that he’d been opening up to in the past few weeks in ways he’d never anticipated.

Thankfully, she didn’t prod further. “But I don’t dance, or quote movies you like, or find you funny,” Gamora said, teasing.

“Oh, you definitely dance.” Peter got to his feet, weaving their fingers together and pulling her up as well. “I think you’ve danced with me enough times to establish that you’re totally a dancer.”

He moved to press play on his Walkman, smiling as the gentle sounds of a chorus and strings flooded the room. Despite having the latest technology available to him soon after they’d landed on Terra, Peter had asked for songs he had discovered later on and truly loved to be put on tape. He liked the idea of continuing his mother’s Awesome Mixes, as if it was his way of responding to hers.

They slowly moved around the room, Gamora sighing as she always did but following his lead. She was slightly on her toes, as her feet were bare, taking away the height advantage her thick-heeled combat boots usually afforded her. Her face was closer than it usually was, and despite the fact they’d kissed just yesterday (was it really yesterday? It felt like decades ago), there was an intimacy present that she was unused to, the feeling of Peter’s breath against her nose that wasn’t too unpleasant.

He then ducked his head slightly, his mouth now practically in her hair, nestled comfortably against her ear. “You give your hand to me, and then you say hello,” he sang, his voice so soft that she nearly missed it. As they turned slowly around the generously-sized living room, she could see the lights from the show flickering in and out of view, bathing them in a warm glow. “And I can hardly speak, my heart is beating so…”

Peter opted to hum for the next few lines, but Gamora felt her face begin to warm. Their perceptions of music were so different. Gamora enjoyed her punk-rock, with lyrics about fighting against the establishment and navigating the hardships of life and death, but there was something so endearing and innocent about Peter’s connection to older songs. He was a modern man in many ways - his somewhat arrogant personality in contrast to his gentle, all-loving nature - but his heart beat in time to older music and movies that celebrated love and life.

She dared herself to look up at him, and there was that softness that she liked so much, a stark contrast from the steely-eyed confrontation they had earlier today and many times before. Their eyes locked as Peter picked up again. “...and longs to kiss your lips, and longs to hold you tight...to you, I’m just a friend...that’s all I’ve ever been…” He broke off to chuckle. “It’s weird, ‘cause this song is pretty slow, but they dance so quickly in the movie. I always thought it was perfect for just kind of...two-stepping...like this.”

Gamora let out a soft breath, unsure of what to say. A breeze whistled by from the open balcony door, disturbing her hair, but all she could see was how it made one of Peter’s curls flop over his forehead. She reached up to push it out of the way. “Do you have a question for me?” She wasn’t sure why she was whispering, or why her thumb lingered on his cheek longer than she’d meant to.

“Sure,” Peter smiled. “You know what I look for in a significant other. What do you look for in a guy?”

“Physically fit,” she said immediately. That was an easy one, she needed someone to keep up with her in training, combat, and...other things. “Disciplined, intelligent, level-headed.”

He chuckled softly. “You describing a life partner or a business partner?” His large hand pressed slightly closer on the small of her back, though the pads of his fingers were still gentle. “Afraid and shy, I let my chance go by, a chance that you might love me too…”

“Then I guess you could say I look for a person who could be by my side in all aspects of my life,” Gamora countered, though her voice remained quiet and even. “Someone to be on equal footing with.”

“Like someone who leads a team with you?” Peter asked, and her eyes widened in realization. Maybe…

“Maybe, exactly, like that,” Gamora breathed, her chin tipping upwards.

It was an unconscious choice by them both, an instinct, really, as they moved together. Gamora’s hands were now cupped in Peter’s, held delicately between their chests. Their bare feet, taking tiny, careful steps, now coming to a stop. Peter’s nose met the side of hers first, and it was so slow compared to the rushed kiss of yesterday, like they had all the time in the world…

“GAMORA! Gamora, are you there?!”

She jumped backwards, nearly stumbling over her own feet. Peter watched her, astonished. He’d never seen Gamora trip before, not without some sort of catalyst. Without giving him a second glance, she turned and walked into the bedroom, snatching up her tablet. “I’m here, Rocket, what’s wrong?” she said, her voice hoarse.

“Yondu was s’pposed to contact Quill but he decided to be a big blue idiot and do nothin’ - your sister, she’s gone! Off-planet, gone to hang out near the Kyln!”

“What?” Peter exclaimed, hurrying over immediately to stand near Gamora. “How’d she get off Earth? Does SHIELD - or Stark - have some space travel technology we don’t know about?”

“Can’t be too naive, Quill, their secrets got secrets. You guys gotta get back here immediately, ‘cause Fury doesn’t know yet and this ain’t something I wanna tell him!”

“We’ll leave right now,” Gamora promised, her voice level, though her mind was racing. “Don’t do anything rash until we’re back.”

She disappeared into the bathroom to start packing and get changed into her combat gear, leaving Peter to stand there, dumbly staring after her, the spell broken.

Oh, you’ll never know the one who loved you so.

a/n: i know i know, i did the cliché thing, though this whole fic is an excuse for me to deconstruct tropes and clichés so shh

the song they’re slow-dancing to can be found here, in reference to this scene from groundhog day.

#starmora #peter quill #gamora #avengers academy #gotg #myfic #myfic: 20q #my tags continue to be inconsistent it's fine

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hutcho33-blog · 7 years

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The Ten Greatest Kanye West Songs Of All Time

Today is Kanye West’s 40th birthday and rather than get Kanye a cake or a pair of extremely expensive sneakers, we here at Boss Hunting decided to celebrate Kanye in the only way we know how, by assessing the greatness of his music.

Don’t expect any mention of that weird Nike diss track or whatever “I am a God” was. No we’re gonna be focusing on the greatness of Kanye. Of course this is only one list and we can’t possibly do every great track justice, but here’s what we ended up with.

Honourable Mentions: Famous, Waves, Lost in the World, Stronger, FourFive Seconds, N***as in Paris, Heartless, I Love Kanye.

Lost in the World, FourFive Seconds and N***as in Paris all get disqualified from the list on the basis that they can’t be entirely classified as ‘Kanye’ songs. Although his collab with Jay-Z is still very much in his style, all of the songs in the top ten come from places that are very recognisably Kanye. Famous gets a mention not only for being a good track, but also for the impact it made on the pop-culture world.

Waves is also an underrated banger, although some of us would’ve liked the final version to sound like how it was initially pitched by Chance the Rapper. Heartless and Stronger also get a mention due to it’s noritory amongst more casual fans of Kanye. I Love Kanye is the best skit on any of his albums and is on here for one reason. It’s funny. It’s quirky. It’s so Kanye.

This section alone could warrant it’s own tribute, with Kanye producing great songs far beyond a ten count. However, here is a carefully considered and likely highly controversial list of the top 10 Kanye West tracks of all time.

10 – Gold Digger → Late Registration (2005)

Possibly Kanye’s most widely popular song, ‘Gold Digger’ became a permanent fixture in clubs around the world due to its eccentric vibe and fun flavour. One should be careful however to fully discount the quality of the track. Even the first thirty seconds are packed with sounds that defined an era in music.

Jamie Foxx’s voice in this track is iconic, leading to a hard breakdown and the introduction of one of the most famous hooks in all of hip-hop. “I ain’t sayin she a gold digger/ but she ain’t mess’n with no broke n****s” is one of the most recognisable hooks in the modern era of hip hop.

The beat stays consistently upbeat, forcing even the most fridget of listeners to at least tap a foot or bob a head. The song reaches out of the bounds of just the rap game and has the widespread pop appeal that few rap songs were able to have before that time.

While Kanye brings the lyrical heat, there are songs that are significantly more intriguing in manner senses. While this song has gained international popularity and acclaim due to it’s accessible greatness, it fails in some respects to do justice to the type of work Kanye is capable of. For this reason, a ranking in the top ten is more than enough to recognise Kanye’s most famous track.

9 – Love Lockdown → 808s and Heartbreaks (2008)

Ah so we come to the heartbreaking love ballad. A story about the conflict between fame and love. The lyrics of this song are less of a concern here, as nothing blows you away in this regard. No immaculate or majestic stage is set by anything that the vocals say. What makes this song so great is that it relies entirely on the way that the instrumentals work so beautifully together to provoke such deep feelings on the listener’s part.

Rather it’s the slow burn and build that transpires throughout the song. The deep bass drums that belt out from the beginning are so deep it feels like someone is drumming your soul. You can just focus on those drums tapping in your chest. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. It’s the consistent beat that dominates the song and helps define it. Slowly Kanye adds layers of instruments on top, slowly, until one is totally submerged in the very simple message of Kanye’s heartbreak.

Then the outro. No spoken word just a deep forest sounds that build the song to it’s final climax before being striped away to that all too familiar beat from the intro.

8 – Jesus Walks → College Dropout (2004)

Young Kanye lays down some bars in this one. The whole song relies almost entirely on two pillars.

The first, the context to religion and christianity. This shows in the overall tone of the track, with the back up vocals all having a distinct church group style. This juxtaposed with the preaching manner in which Kanye is actually rapping creates a sense that you’re engulfed in a sermon on the Mount of Yeezus.

The second is Kanye coming at everybody trying to make a name for himself.

“You know what the Midwest is? Young and restless

Where restless (niggas) might snatch your necklace

And next these (niggas) might jack your Lexus

Somebody tell these (niggas) who Kanye West is.”

It’s worth noting this is off Kanye’s first album. He’s basically introducing himself to the audience that tells them one very clear message. My name is Kanye, I’m from the city of Chicago and I’m a badass.

7 – Black Skinhead→ Yeezus (2013)

Gritty Kanye is a good Kanye.

This is Kanye’s best gritty song. When the career retrospective is written on Kanye West it’ll say many a thing. It’ll recount a polarising relationship with she who shall not be named, a beef with Taylor Swift and most prominently of all it will mention that Kanye pioneered a style that was adopted by rappers like Chance.

However this is the black box for Kanye’s influence on a harder and more experimental form of rap music.

As he mentions in the song about going 500mph and being out of control. It’s a direct fuck you to everyone on the outside. The public, the media, the scrutiny, all of it.

It’s the Kardashian era Kanye mission statement. I’m going to do whatever I want to do, make whatever music I want and do it whenever I want to do it.

6 – Hey Mama → Late Registration (2005)

This is some great early Kanye. Just simple story telling over a cool beat with some fun lyricism. It’s the kind of song you play when you’re just hanging out with your friends on a lazy Sunday afternoon enjoying the sunshine.

There’s not a lot to hate about this song. It’s an upbeat tribute from a wildly successful son to the mother that helped him on his road to stardom. Even hook is loveable.

“(Hey Mama), I wanna scream so loud for you, cause I’m so proud of you

Let me tell you what I’m about to do, (Hey Mama)

I know I act a fool but, I promise you I’m goin back to school

I appreciate what you allowed for me

I just want you to be proud of me (Hey Mama)”

Deep down inside we all wish we could just straight up shout out our awesome mothers in song and actually pull it off. So for being a fun, well constructed and never boring display by a loud and proud mama’s boy, Hey Mama pulls a sweet sixth spot.

5 – Blood On Leaves → Yeezus (2013)

Blood on Leaves is dark, hard and gritty.

The sample of Nina Simone’s ‘Strange Fruit’ over piano keys to intro the song immediately catches attention before Kanye is even able to spit a line. The repetition of the phrase “blood on leaves” is a staple of the track, and if one wants to truly appreciate the depth of this song, they should check out the original song itself.

This is one of Kanye’s more undeniably provocative tracks. From referencing lynchings in the south during the late 1800s to calling out Instagram frauds, Kanye covers a very broad range of sensitive social issues whilst remaining aggressive throughout. The use of the song ‘Strange Fruit’ as a sample holds a lot of weight in this sense politically. It’s not trying to be a party banger, nor is it a song built for the radio. It’s a track that’s meant to make you think about the world. Usually when artists (and Kanye is guilty of this too) try and do this kind of commentary, they can miss the point entirely, seeming to lecture more than provoke.

This is not the case with Blood on Leaves.

4 – Dark Fantasy → My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)

Doing this list, however you cut it, teaches you something. Kanye has made some really fucking great music in his career.

With that explicitly stated, we have Dark Fantasy. The fact is that this ranking might not do this song justice. It has all the great aspects of an all-time great Kanye track.

The intro feels like a kids story turned dark right at the end. The hook is amazingly done, providing insight into the way Ye sees himself. The top, better yet, the very top. He’s actually asking if it actually gets any higher than where he is. All performed with beautiful vocals that seem more heavenly than arrogant.

Then Kanye spits bars on bars on bars on top of a very old school rap beat. Just Kanye performing some verbal acrobatics in a way that resonates with hip-hop fans of any era. It’s this kind of performing that puts him all-time lists with other great pure rappers like Nas.

The fact is that this track would be number one a lot of lists if it were made by another artist. But alas, Kanye’s discography is a lot like the 2017 Golden State Warriors. Three can only be three in a Big Three. Sorry Klay Thompson, and sorry Dark Fantasy.

3 – Touch the Sky → Late Registration (2005)

Along with the aforementioned Gold Digger and Jesus Walks, this song is among Kanye’s most famous. Like the others, it grabs your attention from the start, giving you only four small beats to prepare for a vibrant experience blossoming with energy and optimism.

The reason this song gets a higher place on this list is the incredible interaction between the orchestra, Kanye’s choice of tone and even a strong Lupe Fiasco feature. Kanye also puts forth one of his stronger performances from a verbal gymnastics perspectives. Some Kanye songs you can kind of keep up with lyrically. Other than the chorus, anything Kanye vocalises on this track is pretty tough to follow for longer than a few seconds.

For being a nice blend between mainstream hit, pure rap skill and that dash of Kanye flavour, Touch The Sky opens up the top three.

2 – Runaway → My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)

Runaway will certainly be one of Kanye’s greatest career accomplishments. The opening piano keys are hauntingly beautiful, consuming the listener with confusing but real emotions from the very beginning. It’s the anticipation that get’s you, like in a horror film when you’re waiting for the jump scare. Then the different note rings in you ear and you feel it. That’s just the first twenty seconds of a nine minute emotional odyssey.

The song sends chills down your spine from the start and is best consumed in a dark room with your eyes closed. It’s what Kanye West does better than many artists in history. Then the song actually starts and it has an effect, a personal one at that.

Kanye is unravelling himself in song. He acknowledges his arrogance, the fact that he is not perfect whilst also admitting himself to be a perfectionist. It’s a raw self reflection where it seems that Ye struggles both with a pursuit of perfection in his life but also knows ultimately that nothing can remain totally without flaw forever.

It’s Kanye’s perception on the fleeting nature of beauty and love. It feels so intimate all the way through, the kind of connection the song makes is the kind you only experience sparingly in life.

Then there’s the outro. An over three minute voyage. Just auto tuned and indecipherable vocals over the haunting but classically beautiful instrumentals. Much in the way one can become entranced with the mystery of a Frank Ocean track, the outro provides and incredible conclusion to a perfect song.

1 – Ultralight Beam → The Life of Pablo (2016)

There are some great tracks that have been discussed in this piece and even more that didn’t even get a honorable mention. Some club bangers. Some heartfelt ballads. Some joyous proclamations of the joy of life. Some angry protests. With the close study of every track and skit on every album Ye has ever released, there is an undeniable truth.

Ultralight Beam is the greatest track Kanye West has ever made.

I understand the opposing argument. The Life of Pablo as an album has many flaws. The Kanye you get in TLOP overall is not the best Kanye we have ever been fortunate to experience. No song on that album had the mainstream acclaim of other songs. Nor did it universally get approved by every diehard hip-hop fan. TLOP is an average Kanye West album, mainly because it has too many songs that feel like filler. Whilst I don’t agree with all these assertions, I do understand them.

But none of those arguments have anything to do with Ultralight Beam.

It feels heavenly, divine, omnipotent and enlightening. I still remember driving around with my sister when I first heard it. My heart melted with the transition from the girl talking about God to those incredible chords and vocals. The instrumentals are insane, undeniably some of Kanye’s best producing work.

Then the choir hits. The choir is beautiful. The choir is exactly what it says it is. A god dream.

A deep beat, soul melting chords and an inspiring choir all collide to touch a very sensitive part of your very being you never knew. Kelly Price’s voice is the definition of musical beauty. All of this all time great Kanye work builds to what clinches the title for best Kanye track. The best verse of 2016 performed by Chance the Rapper. There’s too much about this verse that is great to limit it to one part. The song built perfectly to that voice, with those words over that beat.

If you’re still not totally convinced, listen to the last twenty seconds of that song a few times. Listen to it from beginning to end by yourself and really listen. That build over a song to the incredibly beautiful ending is what Kanye has thrived on his whole career. This is his greatest example of it.

It’s okay to disagree. The denial is expected. I sought out another answer. A great spiritual journey was undertaken. Many a possibility pondered. But in the end, there can only be one.

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dailyaudiobible · 5 years

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07/22/2019 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 6:12-8:10, Romans 7:14-8:8, Psalms 18:1-15, Proverbs 19:24-25

Today is the 22nd day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. It’s great to be here with you today as we kind of get into the new workweek. So, hope you had a wonderful restful weekend and are just ready to live into this week. And we do that daily by taking the next step forward in the Scriptures and allowing them to speak into our lives into all the issues that we might be facing. And, so, let’s get to it. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. Today, second Chronicles chapter 6 verse 12 through 8 verse 10.

Commentary:

Alright. Let’s review a couple of things that the apostle Paul said in our reading from Romans today. He said, “for I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want but I do the very thing I hate, for I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh for I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out for I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” I mean, does that sound familiar, or what? And if it does, and it probably does sound familiar then we’re in good company because the apostle Paul is saying this, and he confessed these things in this letter to continue the discussion of the law that we’ve been having since we began Romans. So essentially, Paul’s telling us that the war that is between right and wrong, or that is between good and evil, it may indeed be a cosmic struggle, but the war is waged inside of a person, right? So, often we’re just looking externally all around us at the world at our community at whatever is wrong and screwing up our lives, not realizing that the battle is inside of us. And, so, what Paul’s trying to explain here is that the law is a good, and spiritual things given by God because it simply makes us aware of this fact, that the battle is happening. In our own strength there's no way. It's a losing battle, which is exactly what Paul’s saying, “everything that I'm trying to do that's right is not what I'm doing and everything that I'm trying to avoid is what I am doing, wretched man that I am.” Right, that’s what Paul’s saying. “Who's gonna free me from this? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” So, according to Paul for himself and for us, Jesus changed the paradigm, the entire trajectory implied of all of humanity. There’s no longer any condemnation for those who belong to Jesus, for those who are in Christ. And because we belong to Him His Spirit frees us from the power of sin and death, something that the law couldn’t do, right? So, the law could show us the situation and even point the way to perfection, but as hard as we try, we can't achieve it on our own. And, so, we keep failing and doing the things that we don't want to do, but through Jesus the paradigm is changed, and Paul described that paradigm shift. “Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit for to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” And isn't that what we’re after, life and peace…I mean…isn't…isn't that all what this running around and all the jumping through the hoops and staying on the treadmill and all of the activities that we do, isn’t that what we’re looking for, life and peace? And when we just stay in the fray, how's that working out? So, let's live in to what Paul is instructing us to do. Let's consciously turn to the Spirit, set our minds on the spirit, the Holy Spirit. Let’s call upon the Holy Spirit when the things of the flesh arise – envy, lust, rage - any of the things that have been described in this letter so far that will disrupt peace and wholeness in our lives. When those things arise, we set our minds on the Spirit and remember that…that we have a choice. And this isn't just a new…like this wasn’t a choice because Paul wrote this down in a letter. This goes all the way back to the beginning of the Bible, right? Remember Moses saying, “today I have given you the choice between life and death between blessing and cursing. Oh that you would choose life.” May we choose life. Because what we have found in the book of Romans today is that there is a way to choose life. It is just beyond us to achieve on our own. We cannot get there on our own and we cannot get there through obeying the rules. The rules show us the way, but we can't do it on our own as we well know, but we have a Savior. So, we can exhale, we can relax, and we can set our mind on the Spirit and follow the Spirits leading. This is the path. It is set before us. May we choose life.

Prayer:

Father, we invite you into that. It's ultimately about surrendering to the fact that we will not be able to stay in control. It’s like we want all of the advantages of your kingdom and we want to do it right and so we will try our very best, only to continually fail because we could never achieve it on our own. And, so, we’re giving up trying, which sounds counterintuitive, but we are surrendering to you. We cannot do this, but you can. And, so, we set our minds upon you and invite you to lead us in all of our thoughts and words and deeds today. Come Holy Spirit, we set our minds upon you. Come and lead us into all truth we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base. So, it’s home. It’s where you find out what's going on around here.

We’ve been talking about the Family Reunion that is quickly approaching. It’s over Labor Day weekend, the 31st of August through the 2nd of September here in the rolling hills of Tennessee and it’s shaping up to be a fantastic time. And, so, we’re eager and looking forward to seeing everybody and just coming together, coming together for this few moments in time out of a year-long journey together to just step out of…step out of the Internet and step into life together. So, I look forward to that very much. Hope you can be there. All the details can be found dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section. Look for Family Reunion 2019 and all the details are there. So, hope to see you, hope to see you soon.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link, it lives on the homepage and I thank you for your partnership. If what we’re doing here to bring God's spoken word read fresh every day and offer it to anyone in the world who will listen to it any time of day or night and building community around that rhythm that we lovingly call the global campfire, if that brings life to you than thank you for your partnership. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner. Obviously, there's a link on the website at dailyaudiobible.com or, if you prefer the mail, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or a comment there are a number of numbers that you can use depending on where you are. If you're in the Americas, 877-942-4253 is the number to call. If you're in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number and if you are in Australia or the lands down under 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to dial.

An that's it for today. Have a great day. I'm Brian. I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello my DAB family this is Mark Street from Sydney Australia. Today is Wednesday the 17th of July and I’m just calling in to thank a few people. I want to thank Dash from Indiana for calling in and praying about my financial situation and also Slave of Jesus. And Slave of Jesus, thank you, Amen and I certainly agree and come alongside you that I am the most wealthiest person. And I want to extrapolate there a little my family, why I say that. It’s true that I live paycheck to paycheck, and I don’t have any spare money but reflecting back on this last nine years, God is perfect. He took away my financial…my finances because I was wasting them…I was wasting them on my addictions, and I have no money to waste on addictions now. So, he’s good and in that time. I’ve learned also how to…to save and put more money towards His kingdom. I’m up to 7% of my income. I’m trying to get next year after the 10%. But also too, I don’t have enough finances even for a car. I haven’t had a car for none ears. And when I first started DAB I had multiple sicknesses. I had diabetes, I had high cholesterol, I was on __ drugs and diabetic drugs, I was on __ and without having a car I’ve had to walk everywhere. So, that has improved my health. I walk more than 10,000 steps a day. So, God does know what He’s doing and I’m sure and leaving my finances and believing in God’s hands because He knows what He’s doing and I know if I get to a point where He knows that I’ll be…

My son __ Christian Augusta passed away on June 17th this year. He was only 29 years old and he died of a __ and we’re just crushed. We’re completely crushed. It was unexpected and we loved him more than anything. He was our only child. And I’m asking for prayers. I’m asking for prayers for me because I don’t want to go on living and I’m asking for prayers for his father who’s devastated by the loss of our only son.

Hey DABbers, this is Slave of Jesus in North Carolina. All right Holy Spirit let’s role. Well, kind of sad one today. Amen to prayer for all the DABbers who have recently had to put their dogs down. We ask you to give them comfort. Talk about comfort, Orson’s family Lord, we ask You, ooo…gonna cry during this one…to pray for his entire family, the big 28-year-old baby, the baby that died and weighed for his dad to call in to ask for prayer for his entire family while not asking for himself. So, we are praying for you brother. Same thing. Amen to prayers for baby Diago. We’re paying for health and a recovery from the infection that has taken him. More guys calling in and praying for these wives. First time colors, Davin Newfoundland Canada, way to call in and pray for your wife. And Bruce, another first-time caller from California, __ to call in for your wife. So, the men of the DABbers are stepping up, calling in and praying for their wives and family members in some really tough times. So, we thank you. And Jadrian just started listening. So, welcome to the DAB as well and we are gonna pray for all of you first-time callers and newbies to the DABbers. Stick with it. Enemies gonna to try to steal it from you especially after a month or two, that seems to be the pattern but stick with it and you will see an entire change in your life and your family lives. So great that you’re praying but don’t let the enemy steal your joy when tough times come. Love you all have a great day.

This is Living in His Presence, Scooter in Tuckahoe. I’m calling for Zach. I’m so sorry about your loss and as a good friend of mine said to me as I walked along this same road, you have membership in a club that no one wants to be in but God…God will use this. My prayer and hope for you is that you Zach, because you didn’t ask for prayer for yourself, please be there for your wife and children and allow your grief to come out and merge with theirs. As men we try to be a rock and maintain the normality of life to be strong for our family, but Moses was used by God to bring water from the rock because the people needed that water. Your wife and your daughters need you. They need you to be there. As much as you can, stop the world and be with them, comfort them, be the conduit of God into the grief of your family and don’t forget to let your grief out. Don’t carry it. Let God wash and clean. Let Him be your comfort as you comfort those that He has given you. God bless you.

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