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autumnslance · 4 years

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FFXIVWrite2020 #16: Lucubration

A rapping at his window startled Thancred, sending his pen scratching across the parchment and ruining the line. He growled in annoyance and looked to see just who the bloody hells was interrupting his work.

It was Yda, shifting nervously from one foot to the other on the balcony. She must have hopped up the same way he often did, with help from the grand old tree in the Leveilleur yard.

“Can I help you?” He asked as he opened the window. When last he had looked out, the sun was still just above the western hills; now night had fallen on Sharlayan, the moons and stars wheeling overhead.

“Have you seen Lyse?” She asked, trying--and failing--to keep panic from her tone.

“I haven’t seen anyone since—” he glanced at the chronometer finally and rubbed his eyes. “Since dinner at least. Bells ago.” He gestured at his desk (and the page he was going to have to rewrite, godsdammit). “I’ve an essay due to Master Fraeskoef in the morning.”

“What you get for taking advanced literary analysis as an elective.”

“It’s actually part of my main curriculum now,” he replied with a yawn.

She looked skeptical. “Still not sure what stories and songs have to do with your particular skill studies.”

“That’s why they’re mine, while yours are rather more straightforward. Anyroad, why are you looking for Lyse this time of night? Shouldn’t the little rapscallion be tucked in her bed?”

“If she was, I wouldn’t be here,” Yda replied, exasperated. “I know she’s been bothering you lately, so I’d hoped she came here to show off what she swiped.”

“Swiped? Since when is Lyse a thief?” Thancred asked.

“I assumed you’ve been feeding her stories again,” Yda said darkly, then shook her head. “Also, Mister Perception, haven’t you noticed something missing?”

He blinked, then realized just what did seem so wrong.

“Your mask,” he answered. He could count on one hand the times he’d seen Yda without her turban and the mask worn either on its front or down over her eyes. A couple times had been summer days of swimming and silliness in the Thaliak, the others rare festival days where she instead wore her traditional Ala Mhigan dress.

“If she’s taken it in a fit I—” Yda shook her head. “I need to find her. But now I don’t know where to look, if she isn’t pestering you.”

Thancred thought for a moment. Sharlayan was a large city, sprawling on either side of the river. There were plenty of places a nine year old girl might hide.

Assuming, of course, the girl stayed in the city.

“I have an idea,” Thancred said, turning to grab his shoes. “She mentioned something, the last time she was…” he paused.

Lyse had come running up to him earlier that day as he had been on his way home from a particularly strenuous cat-and-mouse session with Master Enfel Hopfel. Thancred recalled being short with the child, wanting to get home to clean up, eat, and get to work on his other assignments before crashing to sleep and doing it all again tomorrow. The road to becoming an Archon--particularly if one was attempting to speed down it, having had to already play catch up at basic academia with his peers--was a busy one, not leaving much time for playing with energetic little girls.

“Last time she what?” Yda asked.

He really looked at Yda. Like him, she had dark circles under her eyes, and more than a few bruises and scrapes from her own rigorous training. Yda had long since determined that she would become an Archon to best take care of her little sister in their adopted homeland, and to repay Papalymo and the others for their aid. Hells, her immigrant status and more physically based studies had been a large chunk of Thancred’s inspiration for his own scholastic pursuits.

But it didn’t leave Yda much spare time, either.

“I may have blown Lyse off this afternoon,” Thancred said, pulling on his shoes as he hopped out the window to join Yda. “She was mentioning something about the hills beyond the Arboretum. Between the two of us we should be able to track her down.”

Yda looked a little pale at the thought. “You’re better at that than me. Gods, I hope she didn’t go out there; there’s bears in those hills.”

“Then let’s hurry,” he said, using the balcony’s railing to swing down to the ground. Waiting the brief moment it took Yda to join him, he noted Master Louisoix’s study window also still had a light on; not unusual for the old man.

The pair padded through the streets. Others wandered by, visions passing between the glow of streetlamps and shadows, moving to and from libraries, laboratories, and homes. A few still-open cafes glowed warm and inviting, hosting late night study groups and silent social readers, sipping their beverages while taking in the ambience with their books.

As they crossed the courtyard of the Arboretum, Thancred glanced at Yda. “You know, I’ve never asked just why you always wear that old mask.”

“I guess I’ve never said,” she replied, frowning slightly. “I...well, I don’t know how to say it without...sounding callous.”

“Callous?” As if that word could ever describe a Hext.

“Father gave it to me.”

Ah. Family things. No wonder Yda hadn’t mentioned it.

“He wanted to keep me safe,” Yda continued. “So it was to hide my identity while in the Rebellion. We were fighting our own people at first--the Corpse Brigade could be damned nasty, and they didn’t care much that I was just a kid.”

She wasn’t that much older, honestly, but a few years at their respective ages could make drastic differences--more so when one fought in war.

“Then there were the Garleans...And they were worse.” Yda’s eyes scanned the brush line as they passed the edge of town and the ground began to slope up. “Our father was a leader, and he had made a lot of enemies.”

“I can imagine.” It seemed polite to say something, at least. Thancred began to look for signs of a little girl’s passage, while still listening to Yda.

“When he was gone...I don’t know. We weren’t able to take much with us, you know. I worried more about getting Lyse somewhere safe than any of our possessions, even Mother’s heirlooms...So the mask is what I have.”

“And she knows how important it is to you.”

“Sort of,” Yda said. “I...I’m really not sure how well she remembers him. Or any of what happened before we came here; she was so little. I know she doesn’t remember Mother.”

I can’t remember anyone, he thought. Out loud, he said, “Well, you do all right. We just have to find her.” He pointed to a narrow little trail. “This way.”

“You’re sure?”

Thancred nodded. “Stay quiet.”

Yda nodded, and they continued on. It was only a few more yalms and around a bend in the hill before they found the child, sitting on a log that had fallen across a deep ditch, forming a natural bridge. Her legs swung as she sang a little song to herself, the mask on her face.

“Lyse!” Yda called, running forward.

Lyse jumped, nearly rolling off the log in surprise. “Yda! Thancred!”

“I was so worried about you!” Yda exclaimed, stopping just at the edge of the ditch. “You could have been hurt and we wouldn’t have known!”

“You found me anyway.” She sounded petulant.

“I found you,” Thancred said, walking up to the tree trunk, pulling himself up, and then flipping into a handstand, hoping to amuse her. “You were trying to tell me about this earlier, weren’t you?”

Lyse glowered, her expression visible behind the too-big mask. “Yeah, but you were a jerk and now I don’t want you here.”

Ouch. He flipped back down to land on the trunk a good fulm from her. He didn’t bother to hide his hurt; Lyse had never spoken to him that way before.

“Lyse!” Yda admonished. “Don’t be rude! Thancred’s—”

“Busy!” Lyse shouted, the words echoing off the nearby hills. “Just like you! Always busy, all the time, studying and taking tests and doing homework and I hate it and I hate this place and I ha—” she hiccuped into tears before she could get out the rest.

Thancred looked helplessly at Yda, remembering to shut his jaw after a moment. Younger sibling tantrums were well outside his wheelhouse.

Yda closed her eyes, counting silently, before making her own way onto the fallen tree. Lyse was now between them, arms crossed tight against her chest as she tried to remain angry, though silent tears slid from under the mask and glimmered on her cheeks in the starlight.

“I’m sorry,” Yda said. “I have been really busy lately. We all have.” She glanced over at Thancred.

He cleared his throat. “I suppose I did snap earlier,” he said finally. “I wasn’t actually mad at you, though; just tired.”

Lyse tried to speak, but it came out as a whine and she clamped her jaw tight again.

“We’re always tired,” Yda said, voice cracking. “And always busy, and always doing something...except spending time with you. That’s my fault. I can do better. Will you let me?”

Lyse breathed heavily for a short time, thinking. It didn’t take long; she turned and flung herself into her sister’s waiting arms, almost sending them both tumbling backwards off the log. Thancred let out a sigh of relief as Yda’s strong legs remained hooked under the wood, holding them both as she cradled Lyse, stroking the girl’s back.

Thancred looked up at the night sky, not wanting to intrude more than he already was. It was hard to know what to say or do in such a situation.

So he sang.

Quietly, at first, starting with the song Lyse had been singing when they had found her. He figured out a way to transition it into an Ala Mhigan folk tale he had stumbled across in his studies. Lyse leaned on Yda, her ragged breath slowly evening out, both of them listening. By the time the last note faded into the clear night air, Lyse had quietly pulled the mask off and offered it back to Yda.

“I just...wanted to have something of you with me,” she said quietly.

Yda chuckled. “Whenever you like--just maybe ask next time.” She kissed Lyse’s forehead.

There was a strange, lonely ache in Thancred’s chest as he watched them, but he couldn’t help a smile, either. “It’s a bit chilly, and rather late for both students and little girls,” he said. Then he held up a finger. “But! A night this nice shouldn’t be wasted, don’t you think?”

Yda raised a brow as she affixed her mask to her turban again. “Don’t you have an essay due in the morning?”

He shrugged, propping a foot on the tree trunk. “Honestly I was writing myself in circles; a break will do me good. I can come up with something to tell Master Fraeskoef, not to worry,” he waved a hand dismissively.

Yda shook her head, smirking. Lyse looked down thoughtfully, then at Thancred. “I don’t actually hate you, you know. I’m sorry for what I said.”

He reached over to give her blond ponytail a tug, presenting a little white flower for her before she could scold. “I know,” he said with a wink, tucking the bloom behind her ear. “But thank you. I’m sorry too, for what it’s worth.”

He hadn’t known for sure, actually, and it was nice to hear. He could keep that to himself, though.

The trio watched the moons and stars wheel over Dravania for another bell, worries of studies put off until the morrow.

#FFXIVWrite2020 #Final Fantasy XIV #Thancred Waters #Yda Hext #Lyse Hext #Sharlayan #Dravania #Lyn Writing #Friendship #pre-canon

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beautifulterriblequeen · 4 years

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I’m really intrigued by Rayla’s moonshadow assassin peers. I especially am interested in Andromeda because I think she is the only other girl in the group? Do you have any headcanons in how these teen/young adult assassins interacted? Do you think Rayla isolated herself from them because she was always iffy about taking a life? Also TDP finally colored their map and I know you live maps, find any new cool stuff? I especially love how there’s a frozen sea north and a spinning sea south, imagine the powerful Magic’s that channeled to make them.

Okay, so I jumped straight to the map, did 80% of it, and wandered away for a few weeks. I apologize, anon. Let’s get this going again:

I’ve got a few headcanons on the Moonshadow assassins! It seems likely that they hang out mostly with each other, when they hang out, to reinforce their teambuilding and to give them some socialization, since assassins tend to keep others at arm’s length. So I kinda figure they tend to roam as a pack on their evenings out in the village, if they’re not married to a non-assassin like Runaan is.

I think that could be part of the reason that Rayla might not have hung out with the others as much, too: Runaan wanted to be either training or at home with Ethari, so Rayla probably spent a lot of time doing those things just because he did them. And when Runaan was doing more serious training or missions, that’s when Rayla had her free time to run around the forest and make adoraburr friends.

Runaan could’ve probably insisted that she do something more assassiny with her free time. Shadow an assassin, do more studying, practice certain prescribed skills on her own. But he didn’t. He let her play. Soft assassin is soft!

Listen, anon, I have a fun headcanon for you about Andromeda--and by fun, I mean it’s really angsty half a second after you start thinking about it. Ready?

What if: Andromeda is Runaan’s half-sister. If they’re both Lujanne’s children by different assassin dads who kept dying in battle, but a Moon mage needs an assassin leader partner to defend Xadia with, and Lujanne knew her son Runaan wasn’t old enough to lead yet, so she burned through three or more husbands protecting him until Runaan was well trained enough to lead the assassins himself and had fallen in love with a mage who adored him and would be his partner in her place.

Andromeda looks a fair bit like Lujanne, too:

Along with Runaan, they all have long hair, side tails bound in silver cuffs, and some form of braids. Andromeda’s hair is sectioned in front similarly to Runaan’s. Her accent sounds more British than Scottish, though she only has the one line: My eyes for truth. And Lujanne and Andromeda are the only two Moonshadow elves we’ve met who have medium blue horns, while Runaan’s are dark blue. Almost everyone else’s horns have purple or pink as their base color.

But then, see, Andromeda went on Runaan’s mission, and she died. Her spirit was the most aggressive in TTM, usually closest to Rayla with her sword out, as if she hated Rayla the most. If she had a vested family interest in Runaan’s mission succeeding, and then it went pear-shaped because of Rayla, that would make sense.

No matter if she’s related to Runaan or not, she’s wearing horn cuffs, so she was in a dedicated relationship of some kind, and that’s so sad. Someone’s missing her the way Ethari’s missing Runaan. :’((((

Anyway, it’s just a headcanon, but since you asked, there ya go.

Okay, on to my thoughts on the map, of which I have a normal and healthy amount:

The Map Border:

Everyone doodles in the borders. I love to see what they put there.

Starting in the upper left and going counter-clockwise, the five human crowns are cool

Cornucopia swirls center left look like an homage to Cabbage Man from ATLA

Bait is staring at Evenere. his home? Or maybe he just wants to eat the dragonfly on its logo

Human defender has a beard. Hairagorn. He's very heavily armored but has no helmet. Long hair is braided to rest on front of shoulder, like the blond elf in the painting at the Moon Nexus. Old timey hairstyle?

He’s defending Katolis Castle specifically. I wonder if the little white building is kinda random or if it’s supposed to represent the Banther Lodge. Nah, I have a better guess: that’s where Viren grew up

The crack in the map looks meta. It's been repaired somewhat. Makes me wonder if it's an in-world map, whose, who ripped it, and who fixed it. Sir Phineas Kurst seems like the kind of guy to almost shred his really cool map

The star behind Zym's egg has seven points

The two ships on the southern waters are western and eastern respectively. Tidebound elves from Singapore? Jack Sparrow would be proud

There is land just south of the Dragontail, wonder what’s there?

The leaves around the human figure are small and numerous while the Moonshadow elf has fewer but bigger leaves

The elf is standing in the way of one of the six leaves growing out of the rune rose and that leaf's curly tip seems to have been replaced with a curl of the elf's very long hair

The human pose is more offense and the elf pose is more defense. But the elf has two swords, and one has some wicked hooks in it.

Elf has 4 fingers instead of 3 so whether it’s in-universe or meta, they were drawn by a human :DDD

The elf's braid winds around their horn and I think that's clever

High collar shirt under protective layer, bracers and elbow gloves, bare biceps, complex shoulder getup, ornate hair that's butt long and partly braided, two long slightly curving swords... horn cuffs too. This is a Moonshadow assassin in the same gear Runaan's got, poised to defend the Xadian half of the map as the human is poised to defend his side

The rune rose isn't a compass. It has a two sided pointer and six primal runes. Just decorative I guess. ;)

More lettuces on right center.

Maybe a portaling caterpillar on the center knot? Little bug pal, I see you

“The Five Human Kingdoms” lettered in red, “Xadia” in blue. Giving me Stratego flashbacks. Even the flowers on their banners are color coded

Banners in the corners are similar but Xadia has more fluttery tips

Thunder drawn all attacky top center, does he have anything to do with the Frozen Sea being frozen?

Compass rose under Thunder’s wing

Dick island near the compass. Well, Duren is the breadbasket of the human lands. A most excellent cartography joke! 10/10 would chortle wholesomely again

The Human Kingdoms:

Neolandia

Capital Eboreus seems to be a lake city below a mountain and I'm here for all the Lake Town refs.

It's also the eye of the elephant shape

Not a lot of trees, mostly grasses or desert. Only borders Duren across a couple rivers/estuaries/sea channels

Heart shaped island next to elephant trunk

Land generally broken into several sections by sea/rivers

If it’s rivers, they seem to generate from the capital’s lake and flow in several directions. And they say there’s no magic left in the western lands! ;)

But if there was exactly one source of freshwater in a desert land, it makes sense that you’d find a way, magical or mechanical, to spread that lifegiving water in as many directions as possible so your people can thrive so kudos to Neolandia’s ancestors/Tidebound elves/whoever managed that, it’s brilliant

I can and will make up explanations for anything on a map. I adore worldbuilding

Del Bar

Two named locations. Since Del Bar’s national symbol is a serpent, I guess Serpentongue is the capital.

Hinterpeak is a sweet name. Looks like Helm's Deep with that retaining wall. What’s it for? Are there dwarves in this land? Is it an Earthblood stronghold? Maybe it’s like the Mines of Moria, and the Earthbloods were chased out and/or killed inside and now it’s full of nasty orcses but someone left a MacGuffin down there so *nudges hero* Off you pop.

Nice forests around the southern mountain range but northern DB is more arid or grassy lands like Neolandia.

Considering that crops grow well in Duren, which is farther north, I assume there is a massive meteorological gyre over the human lands, with a southern wind blowing down over the western realms and keeping them icy until the mountains of Hinterpeak block and divert them, protecting Evenere. The winds don't blow eastward without warming right up-- and causing thunderstorms in Katolis how about that-- because there is a warmer side to the gyre over Katolis and Duren, blowing tropical warmth and moisture north and providing rain for trees and crops alike. Most years, anyway.

How does the weather fail in Duren for seven years in a row, anyway? That seems like a Thunder issue. Unless it’s a Sunforge issue, which I’ll get to below.

Ahem.

Borders Neolandia, Duren, and Katolis across rivers, but most border is coastline.

Serpentongue probably got its name from the two river heads around it

Cluster of dead little cracks spawns a single river. Looks like someone cracked the tub and it drained away. I wonder how much of this landscape has been affected by the Mage Wars. Big watery basins have flooded and other spots seem dead. The lands may or may not actually touch depending on how deep some of these waterways are

Evenere

Looks like someone punched holes in the land with a giant pencil to make it a separate island. Broken outline with scattered islands

That Pawprint Isles has only four toes

Moon-shaped island is very crescenty indeed

Are these isles home to refugees or outcasts from Xadia? Listen, I want pirates and that sea looks pretty Caribbean to me

No capital city, hmmm what's that about? Is it underground, does it move? Maybe Fareeda’s capital is on the back of a world turtle and she’s constantly on tour around the island?

That arm of land ending in a peace sign, please can we get surfers

The hills emanating from that claw shaped headland look like something is sleeping under the island, hello yes I am here for giant immortal creatures please

Katolis

its capital is also called Katolis, the only human realm to use the same name twice

Weeping Bay could be a ref to the tears the humans shed after they reached the west. Or the Moonshadow elves as they left their forest for the east. Or both. Both, in this case, is bad but balanced

Boomerang island next to the Dragontail

The river the Dragaang rode on was going uphill

The watery slash in the land between Katolis and Del Bar is awfully straight. So is the one between Del Bar and Neolandia. I call magical warfare.

Katolis has a bunch of mountains in the east, part of an old natural border before the lava one appeared

Mt Kalik is probably volcanic. It's a standalone mountain and it's really tall. Rex Ignius maybe? Oh, probably not, I think I see him peeking on the other side of the map

The trees of Duren and Katolis are different then the western lands. Softer green, deciduous. And the land itself is yellower, warmer in tone

Forests centered on Mt Kalik

The Moon Nexus looks like an eye on a dragon head near the Dragontail, and Evenere looks like a severed wing (Yes I am still wondering where Luna Tenebris went, why do you ask)

Weeping Bay looks like the most natural body of water in the western lands

Three red little trees scattered around the Katolis map. Fruit trees? How very Moonshadow.

Duren

The only land border among all the human kingdoms is between Duren and Katolis. Maybe it used to be further south along the river?

Capital is Berylgarten, set on a lake. Beryl is a stone that’s usually green, blue, or yellow in color, very gardeny

Second smallest realm but the breadbasket of the human lands. Has several little forests and great tilled fields

Being a farmer in Duren is probably as awesome as being an assassin in the Moonshadow Forest; you do what you do for all your friendly kingdoms

Northernmost land is cold and craggy, named Skall's Hook along the sea

Third ship in the Frozen Sea is icebound and crushed. Looks western, indicating no possible passage

Lots of colored trees and shrubs as if fruitbearing, I keep comparing Duren to the Yakima Valley in Washington State

Where the lava reaches the Frozen Sea, it melts the ice next to Duren's mountains

Northern Xadia:

Lux Aurea

Most of the center lands of this map has warm tones for its ground. Maybe that’s because of the long reach of the warmth and light of Lux Aurea’s Sun Nexus, and only the lands that are just too far from it are truly cold and icy. It would explain why Duren is a breadbasket realm so far north--it’s just across the border from Lux Aurea.

If there’s anything to that, then I suddenly worry for the fate of all the human lands now that the Sunforge has gone dark. It’s early summer now in Xadia, and crops in Duren will be ripening soon... Unless the sun’s magic was helping them grow. This coming winter could be rough. Next winter, people will die. Unless they can purify the Sunforge again.

Also, I have to wonder if Duren’s seven years of famine had anything to do with Sunforge shenanigans. They’d have happened at Khessa’s command, and we know she despises humans. If she was responsible for all the struggles that humans had to go through without enough food for seven years, and then their desperate attempt to fix the problem by invading Xadia for a Magma Titan’s heart which extended and exacerbated the war, I can see why Aaravos might feel Queen Khessa deserved to die

The city’s shaped kinda like an Egyptian pectoral necklace on this map, and that’s super pretty and not at all ominous

Also that’s a lot of gold for a whole city and I wonder how they got it all

The Shiverglades and the Shards

These areas are north of Lux Aurea and seem cold but not very icy, even though the Frozen Sea is right there. More thoughtful glances at the Sunforge over this one. Is it warming the land, or not warming the sea? Both?

Shiverglades is a play on Everglades, so this is a cold swamp, which sounds super fun I’m sure. Permafrost, tundra maybe?

The Shards seem to be rock islands with ice mountains. Glaciers are cool.

I wonder if something broke those islands off on purpose. Have I mentioned how much I enjoy worldbuilding? Yeah, well, I like world-wrecking, too.

Storm Spire

Has a good view on everything that happens for miles, including Lux Aurea, the Midnight Desert, the Shiverglades, the Black Tundra, the Uncharted Forest, and Drakewood.

Defensible position, no other tall mountains nearby

Also able to alert others to danger, especially since Avizandum could teleport like lightning

The Midnight Desert

It’s pretty big! And it looks like it’s littered with ruins of columns and dead palm trees. Like something else used to be in that great space and then something Very Bad happened to it. Maybe there was one great city where all the elves could mix together, and then it got utterly obliterated and the elves all fled to their respective safe places around Xadia. A city of black stone, back when Aaravos wore a crown? Now pulverized to dust and surrounded by not one, not two, but three primal nexuses? Hmmm...

All the wisps could be heat from the sand, or spooky spirit hints, or just an ominous sign of danger from the snakes below, but the overall effect is that the land is unhealthy if not cursed

The oasis is marked, and it must contain a spring since it runs a river out to join the river that passes through the Moonshadow Forest

Also the actual oasis kinda resembles a blue lizard which is adorable and probably also terrifying

Moonshadow Forest

The Silvergrove is the only village marked in the forest, so in keeping with the other lands and general map legend rules, it’s likely the capital/central village for the Moonshadow elves

The village is marked by four round-roofed homes between two tall leafy trees that shelter and hide them. It’s a hybrid balance between the blocky manmade castles of the human lands and the actual forest around them, showing a blending with nature that even the Sunfire city of Lux Aurea did not embrace, with all its golden buildings

It’s a good-sized forest, and it kinda stretches thin to the east but there it tentatively connects to the Drakewood Forest

Moonstone Path to the west just chilling in the lava like a blank alignment chart. Moonstone Path is Chaotic Hot.

Southern Xadia:

Ruins of Elarion

Elarion is a city, and it’s been lost to the humans for a thousand years

The building outlines are squared-off towers like the more modern castles in the west, suggesting that humans in Xadia built for strength and defense as soon as they could. They felt vulnerable and created protections in their architecture. The three elven cities we see also play to their strengths, but those strengths include magic. Elarion’s humans had to find a different strength, and they went with craftsmanship and ingenuity

It seems to be the only human city from before the border was drawn

“Ruins” doesn’t necessarily mean no one lives there at all, but it’s been emptied of humans and no one else has maintained it since

It had a great position on a vast lake, with sheltering hills and easy sea access

Sea of the Castout

This inland sea has five inlets and outlets. It’s hard to be sure which is which with some of them, with the way the water is drawn on this map. But I’m kinda liking the idea that all the water swirlies are places where Tidebound magic has been placed over the millennia, so the water can do whatever it needs to do depending on circumstances. That goes for the human lands, too. Katolis backward river, you’re off the hook.

With a name like "Castout,” I wonder if it was some kind of universal toilet to flush away things you didn’t want--including humans--who might wash up near Elarion and start to build there. Yeesh.

The rivers that flow into this sea pass through or near the Moonshadow Forest, the Midnight Desert, the Storm Spire, Drakewood, and the Uncharted Forest. That’s a lot of drainage.

It’s pretty far from the Tidebound Archipelago, so maybe its name is referencing Tidebound elves who have left their home colony

Was this always a sea, or did something that Xadia wanted to forget get flooded and hidden in the depths?

The land around it seems open and hospitable. It could be a good place to build/rebuild in a time of peace.

The Far Reaches

Open grassland with low hills

Two of the hills look like giant boot prints

Several colorful trees which I hope are fruit trees

Bounded by two rivers from the Sea of the Castout

Looks homey tbh, great spot to retire to get away from everything if there were a war that really shook you up

Ocean Point

There’s a Star rune here, and it could mean many things

The closest other marked location is Elarion

If this was where Aaravos lived of his own free will, I can see why he’d take a shine to the humans. They were his neighbors.

If he is imprisoned here, it’s literally the furthest point in Xadia from the other elven realms, with the Moonshadow Forest being the closest one and Umber Tor not too much further but in a totally different direction. If they were trying to isolate him physically with a portable mirror to watch over him, that’s a good spot for it

Possible location that the cube is leading Callum toward? Portal to the Star Touch home plane? Aaravos’s seaside B&B? Trap street?

Eastern Xadia:

Drakewood

Umber Tor looks to be the tallest mountain in all of Xadia, save possibly for the Storm Spire. It’s more traditionally mountainy, with a nice snowcap. Since it’s labeled, I’m guessing it’s the Earth Nexus, under which an Earth Archdragon sleeps

Also there’s a giant yellowish-brown dragon chilling next to the Tor. Yeah, he seems nice. Rex Igneous, I presume?

Or maybe not, since the neighboring forest is called Drakewood. Maybe this woods is just where a bunch of Earth dragons hang out? Ezran and Pyrrah flew off and returned with a crew of Sun dragons from somewhere, so dragons must have communities too

The mountains that edge the sea are shaped roughly like a stone dragon in flight

Drakewood seems to be the forest closest to Umber Tor, with both deciduous and evergreen trees, though there’s a huge swath of wooded land here, to the north and to the southwest. I wonder what the locals consider the border where the Drakewood becomes the Uncharted Forest and why. The way the evergreens are drawn almost looks like a border, a sort of kingswood set aside for a specific use. Rex Igneous’s best toothpicks?

Uncharted Forest

Okay this is a properly magical name, very mysterious. But uncharted by whom? People with charts? This might be a Sir Phineas Kurst name, which is outsidery, and it makes me wonder if the locals/neighbors have their own name for it, which the human explorer never learned, a la “Thunder” for Avizandum

Maybe “Uncharted Forest” just means no one ever turned those trees into charts though, old growth ftw

If no one lives here, will someone move here? If someone lives here, who are they? Earthblood elves? Moonshadow elves? Humans? This mystery, it calls to me

the trees are mostly deciduous and fill basically all of this whole section of land, up against the mountains and the rivers, so it seems very fertile land indeed

Earthblood elves could live here, but there is no city marked. Maybe because we haven’t gotten that far in the show, or maybe that’s the wrong sort of descriptor for how the Earthbloods live and organize. Maybe the whole forest is their city, like Pando, the interconnected quaking aspen clone forest

The northernmost part of this forest lies right between the Storm Spire and the Tidebound Archipelago, so it might get a regular flyover route for migration or messages

Yes, this forest is the most interesting place in Xadia to me, I desperately want to learn more about it

Black Tundra

Yeah this place isn’t ominous

Similar to the Shiverglades, but where that has shrubbery, the Black Tundra has single dead trees and creepy curving spikes. Scorched? Poisoned? De-magicked?

The water north of this area isn’t frozen, and with a lake to the south and a river and a moderate mountain range, the whole area looks like it would otherwise be decently habitable, but instead it’s cold and black

Is climate change a thing here, or will we get a nice horrible disaster instead?

Tidebound Archipelago

These islands have dotted lines around them, like they’re submerged at high tide, or maybe made of shifting sand that literally moves around like sand dunes across a desert, or perhaps they’re exactly at sea level with half their civilization in the air and half underwater or in cool bubbles, or maybe the islands actually float

Maybe the Tidebound elves even sank them on purpose for defensive purposes

The archipelago is about even latitudinally with the Storm Spire Lux Aurea, Berylgarten, and Eboreus so they probably get pretty nice weather

There’s no ice in sight here in any direction along Xadia’s east coast, so presumably the prevailing current is a warm one

do they have bridges connecting the islands? Ferries, animals who give them a lift across?

the islands have quite a bit of space on them. I wonder if there’s a big population, maybe a shifting population? Do Tidebound elves migrate up and down the coast like gray whales and return to the islands for certain holidays or social events?

This is probably the hub of the Tidebound elves’ culture, but the sea surrounds the whole land and infiltrates it with many rivers and lakes. The Spinning Sea and the Frozen Sea are pretty firm Do Not Enter signposts, but a determined Tidebound could get around either one if they wanted to

What I’m not seeing here is a city. Either it’s not been marked yet, or that’s not a thing that Tidebound elves have in their culture. If they don’t have a city, they’re possibly migratory in family groups, or maybe they stick to small villages like the Moonshadows do, but with even less central leadership

#asks #map of xadia #i love maps okay #xadia #andromeda #rayla #runaan #lujanne #moonshadow elves #moonshadow assassins #tdp angst #angst #through the moon spoilers

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vegetacide · 3 years

Text

TaG: Bloodlines (Part 11)

Veg • notables: Still kicking...

As always TY @gumnut-logic and @scribbles97 cause they put up me invading their PM’s

Chapter 1|Previous Chapter | NEXT

Rating and General warning: Mature content head. If you are not a fan of medical issues of a female nature in relation to pregnancy please proceed with caution.

Characters: Virgil/Kayo.

E N J O Y

8-8-8

Part 11 - Pengalihan

Thunderbird Two banked around the crest of a hill to come across a scene of complete madness. The red and blue lights of emergency vehicles flashed all around, people were scattered about in unorganized chaos and a couple of GDF troop carriers had just arrived and were off loading personnel and equipment. In the middle of it all sat Thunderbird One, her long streamline haul gleaming in the bright utility lightings that were being used to light up the mining sites service area. She was cordoned off and guarded by a row of black and whites that were doing their best to keep the gawkers back and out of the way.

Hitting the comms, Virgil brought Two to a hover some hundred meters up the rise. VTOLs blasting the hill side and flattening what little vegetation still remained among the scree and debris that had been dumped along the embankment.

“Thunderbird Two to Scott. On site, you got a place for me to set down.”

“I see you Thunderbird Two and I’m working on it. Veer left ninety degrees. Once those dozers have vacated you should have enough room to set down and plenty of room to work.”

Virgil looked to his left and watched several hard hats racing towards a group of parked dozers in a back lot just behind what looked like a collection of construction trailers. From his vantage point he could make out a clear line of sight to the mine shaft so getting pods to where they need to be wouldn’t be a problem.

“F.A.B,” He adjusted Two’s altitude to kill some of the turbulence rushing down the hillside and kicking up dust down below.

“Wow, it’s a mess down there.” Gordon said from his copilot seat, his nose almost plastered to the right view port. “Who’s in charge of this mess?”

“No idea, it’s a collaboration of a couple big construction firms last I heard. No wonder Scott is having a hard time of it.”

The chair next to him swiveled in his direction and Gordon pointed a thumb back over his shoulder. “You don’t seem all that surprised by this.”

He shrugged, his eyes scanning over his controls and keeping an eye on the progress of the dozers below. “Been keeping tabs on the progress on a few engineering sites. This project has had a lot of set back in recent months. The other construction firm was brought in ahead of schedule in hopes that it would speed things up. . Stupid idea if you ask me, they were no where near ready for the extra crew. No way they could keep proper safety measures in place with these extra bodies in play.”

One of the many downfalls to projects of this nature. The money behind it all wanted results and their quarterly statement to be in the black. There were a lot of funds riding on the transcontinental transport tunnel that was going to bridge the gap between the Western tip of Russia through the Diomed Island chain and across to the Eastern end of the Alaskan land bridge.

It was a daring venture to say least. The Bering strait was rough on the best of days, trying to construct a tunnel system some fifty odd meters down in a sedimentary trench deep enough to hit bedrock was anything but easy. An engineering feat of epic and mind blowing proportions. If they could accomplish it, the implications on commerce would be huge and add a whole new avenue for transporting goods from one end of the world to the other.

Top that with the latest in maglev rail systems and it would revolutionize the shipping industry. Run with robotics and minimal manpower in transit, low impact on the ecosystem once fully implemented and someone was going to be sitting pretty on a pile of cash. That was of course if they could get it built.

One delay after another had plagued the project from the get go. From faulty equipment, personnel issues and bad timing with the weather. Now it seemed something had failed in a big way and from what little information John had been able to provide on route, there may or may not be upwards of forty six workers trapped down the this access shaft.

Securing Two, Virgil swung about and signaled to Gordon to follow. Passing through the bulkhead they made their way to the pod bay, Two starting to rise up on her struts as soon as they had cleared the reinforced doors. The hull beneath his feet rumbled as she trundled upwards but he paid it little attention, pod assembly first and foremost on his mind.

“Grab a medkits and blankets and a couple backer boards, we have no idea what we are heading into.”

‘Got ya,” Gordon nodded, already heading to the supply area at the back of the bay. “Think John or Scott have any new info yet.”

Distracted by the controls in front of him, Virgil shrugged non-committedly. “Your guess is as good as mine. Comms down the shaft seem to be fried and John was having a tough time getting thermal readings. Too many metallurgical components in the surrounding sediment are throwing his readings off. We’ll have to take our own scans while we are down there."

“You think that will work?” Gordon’s voice carried back through the bay.

The heavy assembly system kicked into life. Not knowing what they were walking into, he decided against the track system and went right for the bifurcated spider legs and traction gear. He just hoped that that tunnel wasn’t flooded, thought the pods could easily handle it.

He eyed his exo-suit a moment and with the easy brush of a finger on the console it unlocked from its loading bay. Another quick flick and it was loaded up on the back of the pod. Better to have it and not need it.

Task completed, he turned to give Gordon a hand with the gear. “Ya, it should as long as the tunnel hasn’t been too compromised and isn’t flooded we shouldn't have an issue.”

Gear stowed away, they climbed aboard the pod and without further adieu the heavy blast door of the pod compartment rolled up and out of the way.

The scene outside hadn’t changed much in the few moments it had taken them gear up and unload. People were still scattered about but now the GDF was corralling them into groups further back from the shaft entrance. Several bulky shapes of GDF flyers were circling above, kicking up loose debris as they chased off news droids that had invaded the DZ airspace.

Thumbing his comms, Virgil signaled to Scott and his figure appeared out the mess of suited and uniformed people crowded near One.

He didn’t look pleased to say the least, the crease between his eyes evident even from a distance. His long legs ate up the distance, the GDF that appeared behind him forming a blockade to keep the riff raff at bay.

Virgil popped the canopy, the plexi-shielding swinging up. He squinted and grabbed his helmet as the one of the flyers came close, its Vtol downdraft warm and swirling up dust.

“Scott,” He nodded with a grunt as he swung down out of the pod, his heavy soled boots thumping. “We got a sit-rep yet? John was surprisingly vague.”

“Not intentionally.” John’s voice crackled through the comms in his ear. Virgil wasn’t surprised his brother had been listening in and his early words hadn’t been meant as a slight though he knew John wouldn’t take it that way.

“For a construction project this big you would think they would be more organized..” Scott huffed skidding to a halt, his eyes doing a quick scan over the gear that was assembled. “We’re getting contradicting accounts of what happened. Some say there was a section collapse. Others, an explosion of unknown origin. I’ve taken some preliminary scans but the results are inconclusive. All I know is there is a pocket down there about hundred and fifty feet down the shaft that’s blocked off.”

“Signs of life?”

Bringing up the scan details on his wrist comm, Scott pointed out the area in questions. “Audio’s picked up tapping. Standard Morse Code but it stopped about twenty minutes ago.”

That wasn’t a good sign. “Number of missing still the same?”

“I’m waiting for confirmation. More came up the shaft after the initial count. Visibility is poor down there so we’ve had some stragglers.”

“Take the pod down, check the integrity and see if you can get further signs of life. I’m going to try and get the story up here and a firm headcount. I’ll also relay info up to John. Comms in the mine are sketchy at best so line of sight is required.”

“F.A.B.”

Eyes track the movement of the spider legged pod as it crossed the compound. The machine was a wonder and from what he could see from his vantage point the interior of the pod bay it had departed from was no different.

The technology was revolutionary in innovation and design. International Rescue reputation was well warranted in that regard and he could see why his employer would be so obsessed with them though he knew there was an underlying darkness to the obsession. He’d seen it himself a time or two. Disposing of the remnants of whomever it was that crossed his path.

It was a thankless job but he was paid well for his efforts and his well financed employer never skimped.

Slipping between two of the many supply shipping containers that dotted one side of the service area, he obscured himself in shadow. Away from the hubbub and chaos of people darting to and fro there was little chance he would be spotted. The GDF were too entangled in their own task of trying to bring some sort of order to the situation to take notice of one solitary figure.

He’d snuck around easy enough before the evacuation order had been announced. After the noisy blast of a horn in triplicate it was as if he was invisible. The contradictory rally points purposely imposed and uncorrected making the ensuing tangle of people the perfect cover for him to slip in amongst the moving mass of bodies.

His counterpart had been waiting for him, standing off to the side and obviously not one of the many clambering workers with his pristine coiffed hair and tailored pants. The dirty hard toes boots a decidedly tacky but necessary accompaniment to his apparel.

The acknowledgement of the others presence was simple and took but a second of eye contact and a briefest of nods. His associate then easily donned the façade of a simpering idiot and joined the hurried workers. Disappearing as the first thundering roar of rescue entered the scene.

The man truly was an idiot though so slipping in to the role he was to play was only natural. He really had no idea how much he was being manipulated. Every action, one his employer had direct, every reaction one that was completely expected.

The association with the billionaire inventor was just one part of the puzzle, a naïve one at that as the twit had no idea who was really behind all the careful planning. Planning that had been meticulously cultivated over the last several months so that all the players would be exactly where they needed to be at precisely the right time.

He knew exactly how important this next stage of the plan was and there was the real threat of cold steel at his neck and an unmarked grave in his future if things didn’t go the way his employer envisioned. Not an appealing end to his career to say the least.

Billionaire dealt with, he returned his steely gaze to the task at hand. Tracing the path the pod had taken he watched as the canopy opened and one of his targets hopped down, followed shortly thereafter by another and a greeting of sorts took place between them and a third. He knew as much as his employer would divulge about the ongoing grudge with the first responders though he cared very little about the true nature behind it.

He was being paid handsomely for his work and the bonus of screwing over that family was rather appealing. Taking them down a peg or two was something he had wanted to do from the first time he’d met them.

Further pondering though would have to wait for a more appropriate time as he had a task to complete. Part one of the plan had gone without a hitch and the true responsible party’s identity was safely out of sight.

It was only a matter of time before their patsy’s involvement would be discovered. He was a well known man after all. Infamously so when it came to International Rescue and he wouldn’t be able to hide in the crowd for long. His reputation for failure in his chosen field was well known and his employer had made sure that his ineptitude was something that couldn’t be missed. Use of him as a distraction in the past had already proven rather successful in aid deflecting from their true goals and there was no doubt that he would be again.

He himself was a part in the grand scheme and he took a certain amount of pride in the subterfuge his involvement had incurred. The Tracy family really had no clue.

Leaning on the shipping container, he zeroed in on the sudden bustle of organized activity. It appeared things were moving again as two of the brothers hustled back into the pod and it started moving towards the mouth of the shaft.

Palming a small, encrypted communication device he quickly activated it. “Targets on site and entering shaft. Phase two is a go.”

Message sent, he snapped the device in two and tossed it over his shoulder into the brush. His thick padded work jacket and mining helmet soon followed. Straightening he did one final check of his GDF Blues and stepped out into the harsh halogen brightness of the industrial lights.;

8-8-8

TBC

Chapter 1 |Previous Chapter | NEXT

#Thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds fanfict #fanfiction #fanfic #TaG Bloodlines #vegetacide #Virgil Tracy #Kayo Kyrano #virgil/kayo #Virgil X Kayo

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nbhd-daily · 4 years

Photo

LILY PATTERSON: Where the fuck is Chip Chrome? I noticed you deactivated your Instagram.

JESSE RUTHERFORD: [Laughs] I like that you turned the “who” to “where.”

PATTERSON: Obviously, there’s one glaring reference for an alien rock star alter ego—

RUTHERFORD: Wait, wait, wait, who though?

PATTERSON: … Ziggy Stardust?

RUTHERFORD: I’m just joking.

PATTERSON: [Laughs] Oh my god, I was like, “Did I say that clearly?” But yeah, you’re channeling an icon. Tell me about bringing Chip to life.

RUTHERFORD: I’ve had the idea for Chip for about two and a half years.

PATTERSON: So it’s been baking.

RUTHERFORD: Yeah, I had the name, the whole shit. Obviously, Bowie is a giant reference… Ugh, I hate that word. A giant inspiration. It’s funny; when I was a kid, people would tell me about him, but I wasn’t really interested. I was gravitating toward hip-hop or modern pop. First, I got really into interviews and just watched the man talk. Then the music. I’ve always been an in-between kind of fella. I’m not quite this, I’m not quite that. I’m not super masc, I’m not super feminine … I’m kind of a confused person, to be honest with you. Bowie has helped me route. Like, here you go, this is a blueprint, an architecture. Not to say I sound like him at all.

PATTERSON: You deployed @chipchrome on Instagram, a platform that’s created so much anxiety around being “real,” being consistent, endlessly delivering your personal brand. And now Chip’s off the grid.

RUTHERFORD: I’m trying to figure out myself in all of this. Maybe I’m expected to have already done that, but I haven’t. I feel like I turned into a “thing” on the Internet. When you work on a piece of music for a long time, you post it, and it gets X amount of likes, then you post a picture with your girlfriend and it gets X amount… It’s just a weird, challenging, confusing feeling. I feel like there’s an opportunity to get off the platform, or at least try it this way.

PATTERSON: How many months ago did you debut Chip? August?

RUTHERFORD: Yes. I killed @jesserutherford when I turned 27. Dead at 27.

PATTERSON: A not-so-subtle 27 Club reference.

RUTHERFORD: Exactly. It’s this ridiculous motif. Really, I want to have fun with this stuff, play with it. Like, yo, nobody paints themselves silver, throws on a Spandex suit and a grill. Then, of course, Kanye West comes along…

PATTERSON: [Laughs] Major Basel ‘fit.

RUTHERFORD: Bowie passed and everyone started to think about him again, riff on him. But no one was taking it to the full Ziggy extreme! There’s a Tekashi69 out there but no Ziggy Stardust? C’mon. It feels comfortable for me. I’m having fun.

PATTERSON: Can you describe the physical process to go full Chip? Side note: I saw a picture of that reflective Marine Serre balaclava you scored recently. Insane.

RUTHERFORD: The makeup itself isn’t too long of a process. I’ve always done it myself. Actually, I have a friend of mine who rips at makeup, Sydney, @sydn4sty on Instagram—

PATTERSON: Good friend plug.

RUTHERFORD: She’s bomb. Me and Dev [Devon Carlson, Rutherford’s partner] met her, she was our neighbor at an apartment we lived at a bit ago. She came over, fucked around and helped me with an eye design. For the most part, though, I’ve always done it on my own. We did a tour recently, and I’d usually start an hour before the show, giving myself time to get in the headspace. I could turn into Chip in 25 minutes. It doesn’t take that long.

PATTERSON: What about the suit?

RUTHERFORD: The silver suit is a stupid Spandex suit from the boulevard. I just ended up going into one of those places, figuring out a suit that worked there. Taking measurements and shit, getting the sizing right.

PATTERSON: Love that.

RUTHERFORD: I premiered Chip at a B-level, crusty, Hollywood, kind of spaghetti Western-y place. Which felt right. But as you can see—you referenced the top Dev got for me—there’s so much opportunity for Chip to grow visually. When we [The Neighbourhood] go on tour later this year, I want to develop this. But there’s also something about the campiness, this B-level visual, that I really like. It feels authentic to me.

PATTERSON: All in a time when people are hiring stylists for their hotel-lobby-to-car looks.

RUTHERFORD: [Laughs] Exactly.

PATTERSON: I feel like the DIY, the physical process of putting yourself together imbues a certain energy, a sort of leveling with your audience.

RUTHERFORD: Right. Thanks so much for noticing.

PATTERSON: Is Chip working its way into your solo act? Or do you think you’ll reserve it for The Neighbourhood?

RUTHERFORD: It was gonna be its own thing. I had no intention of bringing Chip into The Neighbourhood. It sounds corny, but the reason I wanted to do Chip for The Neighbourhood is—I don’t know if you’ve heard our song, “Middle of Somewhere.”

PATTERSON: I did. I watched the video.

RUTHERFORD: That song is a special one to me. I wanted to make sure that I could attach something to it that would make people stop, look, and have to listen. We were gonna do a textural video, like B-roll footage, Super 8, nature-y. I wake up in the morning, and I go to the house we’re recording at, in Coldwater Canyon. Before our director Alex got there I was sitting in the house, looking across the canyon over on this hill, and I actually had a vision of the chrome fuckin’ thing on top of the hill. So I showed up the next day in full Chip regalia, and everyone looked at me like, “Oh, no…”

PATTERSON: [Laughs] So that was the first introduction between Chip and The Neighbourhood, when you made it a part of the universe.

RUTHERFORD: It was, yeah. Actually, this producer duo called Take a Daytrip–they did that Sheck Wes song [“Mo Bamba”], “Panini” by Lil Nas X–they’re doing so well. I’ve known them for a long time. They’ve always sent me beat packs and I’ll just go through, pick ten at a time. I thought Chip was going to be leaning more toward my hip-hop shit.

PATTERSON: Yeah, if you’d gone through with Chip as an independent project, how would it sound?

RUTHERFORD: End of 2017, me and my engineer, Danny, were in the studio, going off on Chip. If you ask my friends, they heard about Chip so long ago, they’re like wow, you actually did it! Chip was going to be hip-hop.

PATTERSON: Daytrip almost feels more aligned with this glitchy, chromed-out look than The Neighbourhood. I’m thinking of the “Panini” video, Lil Nas X in the space suit.

RUTHERFORD: Hip-hop music has been my programming. It’s been my love. When I was a kid, hearing Eminem, G-Unit for the first time, I was like… Bro, that is it. I don’t know if you know where I’m from, Newbury Park—

PATTERSON: Ventura County, right?

RUTHERFORD: Yeah, yeah. I was kind of the odd one out, in my neighborhood, my area, obsessed with rap. I decided to stick with the guitar, and I fell in love with it, not having to use so many goddamn words. In fact, I don’t want Chip to talk, because Jesse talks enough. It’s all in the song, that’s where I’m gonna leave it. And “Middle of Somewhere” is a good jumping off point. That’s probably the purest sound you’re gonna hear; it’s just me and a guitar. I’ve been really into Dolly Parton lately—

PATTERSON: She’s having a revival moment with us younger gens!

RUTHERFORD: She’s a great reference for what I’m doing, because Dolly will tell you, “Yeah, I don’t give a fuck if you think I’m fake on the outside, because I am! That’s what I wanna look like. And that’s fine, because I know what’s coming out of me is more real than anything. So I don’t have to worry about that.”

PATTERSON: People are gonna assume they know what Chip’s about; i.e. my questions about the Ziggy comparisons or the visual continuity with Daytrip’s sound. But the far-out visual is paired back to a fairly stripped sound.

RUTHERFORD: Exactly. It’s not what people are expecting. Right now, Chip’s dedicated to The Neighbourhood. The project is gonna be called—there might be a change—but right now it’s called Chip Chrome and the Monotones. The boys, the way we all look together… They’re shadows, they’re silhouettes.

PATTERSON: They’ve got the reflective two-piece suits, right?

RUTHERFORD: For the most part, I’m the only one who has to say something to express what we collectively feel. So if I say something they’re not into, they tell me. I mean, there’s two thousand songs the world won’t hear because we all didn’t agree. It’s working, though. When I first showed up as Chip, everyone was like “what the fuck are you doing?” Now that we’ve worked on the context, everyone’s down.

PATTERSON: Final question, easily the lamest. Will Jesse/Chip find their way back to Instagram?

RUTHERFORD: I guess I’ll say I don’t know. I’m only a couple weeks off.

PATTERSON: How’s it feeling?

RUTHERFORD: I mean, you know… I’m going through it a bit.

PATTERSON: It’s a hell of a drug. You ingest it, but it can also completely consume you.

RUTHERFORD: Comparing myself to everything, everyone, everybody I love… You can’t look at humans like that. I don’t want to think about what everyone else is doing. I feel my creativity pumping back up again. I mean, I have the queen of social media sleeping in the bed next to me. And it’s the coolest thing ever, the way Devon does it? That’s the way you gotta do it. Not work for it, but make it work for you. And that’s cool, that’s her thing, it doesn’t have to be my thing. Luckily, if I do want to come back…

PATTERSON: It’s all gonna be there.

RUTHERFORD: The weirdest twist to it all—which I love, which is wonderful—is that I get off of it, and a week later I get an email that Lily from Interview fuckin’ Magazine… I mean, it’s Interview Magazine! If that isn’t a sign to pay attention, then I’m an asshole and I need to recalibrate my vision.

#the nbhd #the neighbourhood #jesse rutherford #Interview Magazine #interview #chip chrome #chipchrome

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crackspinewornpages · 4 years

Text

A Midsummer-Night’s Dream- William Shakespeare

A1S1

In the palace of Theseus in Athens Theseus, Hippolyta, Philostrate and attendants are. Theseus tells Hippolyta their wedding is in four days and she also wishes they’d pass quickly, “Four nights will quickly dream away the time; and then the moon, like a silver bow, new-bent in heaven, shall behold the night of our solemnities.”p.196 Theseus tells Philostrate to go around and stir up merriment and as he goes Theseus tells Hippolyta he might have wooed her with his sword and won her love with it, will wed her another day with pomp. (so it’s a shotgun wedding) Egeus, Hermia, Lysander and Demetrius come in with Egeus complaining that his daughter Hermia was supposed to marry Demetrius but she’s in love with Lysander. He wooed her and, as Egeus complains, turned her obedience to him into stubbornness and wants Theseus to have her marry Demetrious or allow him to kill her with their law. (yes my daughter won’t obey me so she must immediately die)

Theseus tells her her father should be like a god who made her and is within his power to figure or disfigure, Demetrious is a worthy man, she tells him so is Lysander. He says that may be true but her father favors Demetrious, so he is worthier. She wants her father to see it from her eyes, (but daddy I love him) Theseus says she must look with her father’s judgement. She tells him to pardon her, she doesn’t know what power made her bold to give her thoughts but if the worst should befall her she still refuses to marry Demetrius. He tells her its either that or die, “Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires; know of your youth, examine well your blood, whe’r, if you yield not to your father’s choice,”p.197 (could you talk to Juliet real quick) She could live as a nun, a happier rose is distilled than on a virgin thorn. (eugh)

Hermia responds, “So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord, ere I will yield my virgin patent up unto his lordship, whose unwished yoke my soul consents not to give sovereignty.”p.197 Theseus tells her to wait until his marriage and on that day prepare to die for disobeying her father, or wed Demetrius or become a nun to Diana. (well gee you make such a reasonable argument) Demetrius tells Hermia and Lysander to yield, “You have her father’s love Demetrius; let me have Hermia’s: do you marry him.”p.197 Egeus calls Lysander scornful, yes he loves Demetrius (my jaw dropped) and what he loves shall give to him, such as Hermia. Lysander says his love is as deserved as his, his love is just more than his. Hermia loves him, why should he give it up, besides Demetrius made love to Helena and she loves him. Theseus has never heard so much, doesn’t know what to think (honestly so much drama just dropped on the guy I want to know what he’s thinking right now) and warns Hermia of the consequences as he and the rest leave the couple.

Lysander notices Hermia looks offset and they don’t like love chosen by another, “Or, if there were a sympathy in choice, war, death, or sickness did lay siege to it, making it momentary as a sound, swift as a shadow, short as any dream,”p.197 Hermia says if ever true lovers have been crossed it stands in destiny then they should trial patience. Lysander tells her to listen, he has a widowed, childless aunt who loves him as a son and lives far from Athens. (how convenient) He could marry her there and Athenian law can’t follow them, they could leave tomorrow night through the wood. Hermia swears by Cupid’s bow and best arrow, Venus’s doves and the fire that burned Carthage’s queen. “By all the vows that ever men have broken, -in number more than ever women spoke,-in that same place thou hast appointed me, to-marrow truly will I meet with thee.”p.198

Helena come in and tells Hermia Demetrius loves her and wishes she could catch her charms and be taught how she sways Demetrius’s heart. Hermia doesn’t give him anything and he still loves her even her curses the more she hates him the more he follows. (boy needs to take a hint) For Helena it’s the opposite but Hermia tells her she won’t see her again, they’re leaving Athens before meeting Lysander, she loved Athens but now paradise is hell. They tell her they’re leaving tomorrow night through the wood and will meet each other in the primrose bushes, wish them farewell and for good luck to give her Demetrius. When Hermia and Lysander exit Helena laments of how happy others are and even if she is just as fair as her Demetrius doesn’t think so, “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is wing’d Cupid painted blind.”p.198 And Demetrius gave up his oath to her over Hermia so she will go tell him of her flight. (you tell a man where and when the girl he likes is going so he will like you…ok)

A1S2

In Quince’s house the Rude Mechanicals, Quince, Snug, Bottom, Flute, Snout and Starveling and going over the script. Quince and Bottom are arguing over the calls in the play they are to preform at Theseus’s wedding. Bottom has Quince call the actors and their roles and Bottom wants to know his direction for Pyramus. Flute asks who Thisbe is and is upset he’s playing a woman since he has a beard, (I guess it was funnier in Shakespeare’s time since women weren’t allowed to act) he’ll be in a mask and have few lines. (easier to memorize) Bottom wants to hide his face and play Thisbe so he can do a funny voice, Quince says no and names the other roles. Bottom wants to play the lion too so he can roar, Quince tells him he’ll do it so badly they’ll be hanged. Insists he’ll play none but Pyramus and Bottom asks what type of beard he’ll wear (Bottom must be a pain in the ass to work with) Quince tells him bare face and hands out the parts and for them to come tomorrow night in the wood to rehearse.

A2S1

In the wood near Athens Puck and a fairy are talking, the fairy wanders everywhere and serves the fairy queen and must get things ready for her and the elves arrival. Puck warns not to let the king see her because they got into an argument over a changeling child, Oberon wants to train it as his knight, but she wants to raise him. (a healthy marriage is about communication and compromises) The fairy recognizes him as Robin Goodfellow a mischievous sprite, “mislead night wanderers, laughing at their harm? Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck, you do their work, and they shall have good luck: are you not he?”p.200 That is he and he jests to Oberon to make him smile (in the 2013 Globe Theatre production their relationship was very homoerotic) he does mischief for a merry time and here comes Oberon now and the Queen Titania.

Titania and Oberon enter at either side, “I’ll meet by moonlight, proud Titania.” “What! Jealous Oberon. Fairies, skip hence: I have forsworn his bed and company.”p.200 (just airing bedroom drama to everyone now) He asks if he’s not her lord, then she must be his lady but she knows when he leaves fairy land to carouse around and to go to Hippolyta, Oberon calls her bout on loving Theseus. (what would be great would be if they same actors played them) Titania calls that jealous talk and never since they met on a hill in the middle of summer’s spring to dance as he’s stopped them with his fighting and then gives a soliloquy of the seasons. “by their increase, now knows not which is which And this some progeny of evil comes from our debate, from our dissension: we are their parents and original.”p.201 (mom dad please stop fighting) Oberon asks why she crosses him, he wants the boy as a henchman, the mother was a votaress of hers who died and she wants to raise the boy to honor her. She’ll only be in the wood until after the wedding, if he wants to join the revels come if not go, he’ll go if she gives him the boy, not for the kingdom and she leaves.

Oberon plans to torment her for this and calls over Puck and recalls when he saw Cupid fire and arrow but miss, “Yet mark’d I where the bolt of Cupid fell: it fell upon a little western flower, before milk-white, now purple with love’s wound, and maidens call it, Love-in-idleness.”p.201 Go get the flower it’s juice when poured on sleeping eyes will make the person madly in love on the next creature it sees. He’ll use it on Titania, the next thing she sees could be a lion, monkey or ape she’ll love it (honestly sounds like a better partner than you) and then he’ll have her give the child to him and remove the spell. (so you’ll roofie your wife so she’ll give you a child as a servant that she wants to keep and raise) But in the middle of this he senses someone coming and turns invisible to eavesdrop.

Helena is following Demetrius with him telling her he doesn’t love her, so stop following him while he’s here in the wood trying to find Hermia. She calls him hard hearted but he draws her if not she wouldn’t follow, he asks if he wasn’t clear that he doesn’t love her. She calls herself a spaniel, the more he beats her the more she fawns (first don’t treat dogs like that) and to be used like his dog. (second just no) He is sick when he looks at her, she’s sick when she doesn’t look at him. He says she risks her modesty to follow a man out at night, she doesn’t care, he’s her whole world. He threatens to run and leave her to the mercy of the wood, she claims it’s the opposite of Apllo and Daphe and she’ll follow him. (girl turned into a tree to avoid a creep total mood) “Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex! We cannot fight for love, as men may do; we should be woo’d and were not made to woo.”p.202 Puck comes back with the flower and Oberon plans to use it on Titania and for Puck to give some to the disdainful Athenian youth so he may love the lady more than se does and meet back in the morning.

A2S2

Somewhere else in the wood Titania has her fairies sing her to sleep and when she does a fairy sends them away and Oberon comes to put the flower on her eyes (drugs her) hoping she wakes to see a vile thing. Lysander ad Hermia show up having gotten lost and decide to rest, Hermia will rest by the bank, he’ll find his own bed to preserve her modesty. “Then by your side no bed-room me deny, for lying so, Hermia I do not lie.”p.203 For love and curtesy she tells him to lie further off and good night, “Amen, amen, to that fair prayer, say I; and then and life when I end loyalty!”p.203 Puck shows up finally finding an Athenian and the maid lying on the dirty ground away from him so he puts the flower juice on his eyes and goes to find Oberon.

Demetrius shows up with Helena running after him until she can’t keep up and as she’s lamenting that even beasts flee from her she finds Lysander and thinking he’s dead, she wakes him. (what a guy can’t just take a nap in the dirt) He wakes and proclaims his love for her and she asks where Demetrius is, a word to perish on his sword. She tells him not to say that and what of his love to Hermia, she still loves him. “Content with Hermia! No: I do repent the tedious minutes I with her have spent. Not Hermia, but Helena I love: who will not change a raven for a dove.”p.204 (first off douche doves are just white pigeons ravens are awesome) Never a worthier maid, now Helena thinks he’s mocking her, flaunting her insufficiency, “O! That a lady of one man refus’d, should of another therefore be abus’d.”p.204 He swears to be Helena’s knight and follows after her, after that Hermia wakes up from a nightmare that a serpent ate her heart and wants his help but he’s gone so she goes to find him.

A3S1

In the wood Titania is asleep when the actors show up to rehearse and Bottom is complaining already. He wants a prologue written so the audience knows they wont harm with their swords and Pyramus won’t really die. (you know there’s a thing called the suspension of disbelief) Quince agrees to write it and Snout asks if the ladies would be afraid of the lion so another prologue to say he’s not a real lion. Bottom wants the actors faces to be seen, Quince again agrees but how will they get Pyramus and Thisbe to meet by moonlight. Bottom suggests looking at a calendar, it shines on the wedding night so they need a big window, Quince says they’d make him hide in a thornbush and say he’s disfigured, they’ll also need a wall for Thisbe to talk through. Bottom says they need a man to play a wall and Quince has him start the rehearsal.

Puck comes out from behind them wondering who came near Titania and wants to play a part or be the auditor. The actors start rehearsal and Puck comments on the strange Pyramus as the actors mess up their lines. Puck turns Bottom into a donkey (see you act like an ass you turn into one) and Quince calls him a monster and the troop flee. (well that’s not very nice it’s just a donkey) Puck says he’ll follow them through the wood as anything and Bottom wonders why they ran away. Snout says he changed what does he see on him, “What do you see? You see an ass-head of your own, do you?” “I see their knavery: this is to make an ass of me; to fright me, if they could,”p.205 Bottom thinks it’s a prank and decides to stay there to show them he’s not afraid.

Titania wakes asking who’s there as Bottom is singing and Titania asks him to sing again, she loves his voice and looks. “And thy fair virtu’s face, perforce, doth move me, on the first view, to say, to swear, I love thee.”p.206 (they say love is blind) Bottom thinks there’s little reason for that, “and yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together now-a-days.”p.206 (even today) Titania calls him wise and beautiful, (ha) no, if he had enough wit he would be out of this wood, Titania doesn’t want him to go but to stay with her and she’ll give him things like immortality. (that’s not all it’s cracked up to be) She calls her our fairies to serve Bottom and he asks for their names and Titania has them lead him to her bower, but tie his tongue so he’ll be quiet. (pfff)

A3S2

Oberon in another part of the wood wonders what Titania would wake to when Puck returns. He says Titania’s in love with a monster as a crew of Rude Mechanicals met to rehearse a play for Theseus’s wedding, their Pyramus left the scene so he took advantage and gave him an ass head. When his fellows saw him they ran away and he led them through briars leaving their Pyramus behind to be seen by Titania. “When in that moment, so it came to pass, Titania wak’d and straight away lov’d an ass.”p.207 (well she’s already married to one) Oberon is happy his plan worked better than expected and the Athenian, he did and should see the woman by his side.

Demetrius and Hermia show up Oberon says that’s the Athenian, but Puck says that’s the woman but not the man. (oops) Demetrius asks why she rebukes him; Hermia fears he killed Lysander. Demetrius says she pierced his heart with cruelty she’s the murderer looking bright as Venus. She demands to know where Lysander is, he’d rather feed him to his hounds and she worries that Demetrius really did kill him. He quickly says he’s not guilty and Lysander’s not dead. He tells her he’s well, what would he get from her, to never see her again. She flees and he can’ t follow her so he decides to remain for a while and sleeps sorrow growing heavier.

Oberon tells Puck it’s the wrong Athenian (Puck you had one job) and to go and find Helena and bring her here and he’ll charm the mans eyes. When Puck leaves Oberon tells the flower to sink in his eyes, “When his love he doth espy, let her shine as gloriously as the Venus of the sky. When thou waks’t, if she be by, beg of her for remedy.”p.207 Puck returns with Helena and Oberon tells him to be quiet or Demetrius will wake and Puck replies that two will woo one. Lysander and Helena arrive with Lysander proclaiming his love Helena doesn’t believe him because he gave the same vows to Hermia. Lysander says Demetrius loves Hermia and not her, that wakes Demetrius who sees Helena and proclaims his love for her. Helena thinks they’re making fun of her, “I see you are all bent against me for your merriment: if you were civil and knew curtesy, you would not do me thus injury.”p.208 Lysander tells Demetrius he’s being unkind, he’s supposed to love Hermia and will give up her love to him if he gets Helena’s, they all argue. (see the mess you caused)

Hermia arrives to find Lysander and asks why he left her, he asks why he should stay when love make him go for Helena. Hermia doesn’t believe it and Helena thinks she’s in on it too, is their friendship forgotten they were so close, “And will you rent our ancient love asunder, to join with men in scorning your poor friend?”p.209 It’s not friendly and she feels hurt, Hermia says it’s not her but she. Hermia says if she didn’t send Lysander to scorn and follow her and have Demetrius who’s scorn her to sing praises. “Wherefore speaks he this to her he hates? And where fore doth Lysander deny your love, so rich within his soul, and tender me, forsooth, affection, but by you setting on, by your convent?”p.209 Really she should pity than despise her, Hermia doesn’t understand, Helena says they shouldn’t act like this and her death or absence will remedy her plight. (hey now just calm down)

Lysander and Demetrius don’t want her to go, Helena says she does love him and Lysander and Demetrius fight over who loves her more. Lysander tells Hermia to leave and she doesn’t know why he’s changed like this and thinks he’s joking. Lysander and Demetrius continue their argument, Demetrius doesn’t trust his words, “What! Should I hurt her, strike her, kill her dead? Although I hate her, I’ll not harm her so.” “Am I not Hermia? Are not you Lysander? I am as fair now as I was erewhile.”p.209 Why did he leave her and Lysander says he never wanted to see her again and he’s not joking that he hates her and loves Helena. Hermia calls Helena a thief that stole her love, Helena says she has no shame and calls her a puppet and Hermia believes she used her hight to her advantage, “Speak; how low am I? I m not yet so low but that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.”p.209 (this scene seems like it could take place in a high school)

Helena begs the men, even though they mock her, not to let Hermia hurt her. “You perhaps may think, because she is something lower than myself, that I can match her! “Cower! Hark, again.”p.209 (cat fight) Helena tells her not to act like this she loves her, never hurt her and told Demetrius she fled into the wood and she followed him because she loves him, so let her go back to Athens. She won’t follow and leave her heart behind, with Lysander, no Demetrius. Lysander declares she won’t harm her, Demetrius agrees. Helena calls Hermia shrewd, “She was a vixen when she went to school! And though she be but little, she is fierce.”p.210 Hermia is insulted and wants to fight her, Lysander calls her a dwarf and acorn. Demetrius tells her to leave her alone and not speak of Helena, never so little show of love. Lysander says she doesn’t hold him and to fight for her and all four go off fighting. (fight fight fight)

Oberon accuses Puck that this is either a mistake or he willfully caused it, Puck swears he mistook which one, he wasn’t told there were two Athenian men so he’s blameless. (nothing is your fault is it) Oberon tells him to cast a fog to lead them astray and when they sleep administer the cure on Lysander’s eyes to lift the spell. “When they next wake, all this derision shall seem a dream and fruitless vision; and back to Athens shall the lovers wend, with league whose date till death shall never end.”p.210 Then he’ll go to Titania to ask for the boy and release her from the spell and all will be at peace. Puck comments that it must be done quick because of spirits, Oberon isn’t worried since they’re also spirits but they shouldn’t delay. (I’m not afraid but let’s not stay here just in case)

Puck says he’ll lead them up and down as Lysander enters calling for Demetrius to come out and Puck throwing his voice calls for him to follow, he does the same for Demetrius. Lysander, thinking he missed Demetrius, decides to sleep and find him tomorrow, Demetrius does the same. (they’ve been in these woods running around for two days shouldn’t they get hungry and is nobody looking for them) Helena enters saying she wants to be in Athens by daylight, “and sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow’s eye, steal me a while from mine own company.”p.211 As she sleeps Hermia arrives weary and can’t go further and will rest until morning, as she does Puck puts the remedy in Lysander’s eyes.

A4S1

As the four are asleep Titania is with Bottom as Oberon watches unseen. She wants Bottom to sit with her but he wants the fairy servants to serve him. Titania offers to play some music and offers him food, he wants oats and hay but instead doesn’t want to be disturbed as he sleeps in her arms. Puck arrive and Oberon begins to pity the sight of his wife in love with an ungrateful fool, when he taunted her she begged pittance and gave him the child. (I see that still wasn’t enough to get you to change and be a better husband and person could have been like seeing yourself as Bottom and how you treat your wife) Now he’ll undo the spell and tells Puck to change Bottom back, “may all to Athens back again repair, and think no more of this night’s accidents but as the fierce vexation of a dream.”p.212 He wakes Titania and she thinks it was a dream, he shows her it was true and she hates Bottom’s face now. Oberon takes her away as Puck turns him back, they made up and tomorrow they’ll go to Theseus’s wedding and Titania wants to know why she was sleeping close to all those mortals. (that’s a long story)

Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus and everybody else come to the scene and Theseus has the forester sent for because it’s time for his wedding and he wants to hear his hounds. Hippolyta has never heard anything like it everything seems to cry in musical discord. (hmm could it be the fairies are around) Theseus brags that his hounds are the Spartan breed until he notices people in the brush. Egeus recognizes his daughter, Lysander and Demetrius and Helena wonders what they’re all doing together. Theseus thinks they came early to observe the wedding but it’s also the day Hermia has to give her answer.

They kneel before Theseus and he wants to know why, if they hated each other, they’re sleeping together without enmity. Lysander says he doesn’t truly know but believes he came with Hermia to leave Athens, Egeus says it’s enough and wants the law to come down as he took Hermia from him and Demetrius. (such a loving and understanding father you are) Demetrius says Helena informed him of the plan and he went after them and she followed. Now he doesn’t know by what power his love for Hermia faded, “and all the faith, the virtue of my heart, the object and pleasure of mine eye, is only Helena.”p.213 Theseus doesn’t want to hear any more declares the couples will be married in his wedding and the part leaves. (yeah if I was him I’d’ve had enough too)

The two couples are confused and Demetrius wonders if they’re awake and it’s not a dream that Theseus told them to follow, they do and as they go recount their strange dreams. Bottom awakes then and starts calling out his fellow actors who left him asleep in the wood. “I have had the most rare vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was: man is but an ass, if he go about to expound this dream.”p.214 He thought he was one, a man would be a fool if he said so, he’ll get Quince to write a ballad of his dream and he’ll sing it at the end of their play. (uh I don’t think that’s such a good idea)

A4S2

In a room at Quince’s house the actors haven’t heard from Bottom, he didn’t come home, Quince says they can’t have the play without Pyramus only Bottom can play him. (your friend has been missing for two days and you didn’t send out a search party) Snug comes in saying Theseus and the other couples were married and Flute is upset they won’t get paid thanks to Bottom. Then Bottom enters looking for them and Quince is happy he arrived, and Bottom wants to tell them all his dream. But no time as Theseus has dined and they need to get their things and get to the palace and Bottom starts making demands for the play again. (I see you haven’t learned your lesson)

A5S1

At the palace, Theseus and Hippolyta say it’s strange the tale the lovers told, “more strange than true. I never may believe these antique fables, nor these fairy toys.”p.214 He tells her that lovers and madmen shape fantasies, all imagination, men see visions of hell, lovers see Helen’s beauty, the poet heaven and figures he shapes with his pen. Just imagination giving some joy or at night fear. Hippolyta says their stories are the same and they’re consistent it must be more than fancy images. Theseus changes the subject to the after-dinner entertainment (you know I can tell you’re going to be a great husband always listening to your wife) and calls Philastrate who gives him a paper to read out.

The play of Pyramus and Thisbe, (ah yes the myth on how mulberries are red (ignoring that white mulberries still exist) two lovers forbidden by their families to be together run away and though misunderstanding think the other is dead and kill themselves how appropriate for a wedding and sounds very familiar) Philostrate says its ten words long, “which is so brief as I have known a play; but by ten words, my lord, it is too long,”p.215 He just drags the play, it’s tedious the actors are awful, so bad it made his eyes water when he saw them rehearse, it made him laugh, Theseus can’t wait to see it. Philostrate begs him not to unless he finds their intent humorous, but Theseus is insistent as they all take their seats. Hippolyta doesn’t want to see it but Theseus assures her, “The kinder we, to give them thanks for nothing. Our sport shall be to take what they mistake: and what poor duty cannot do, noble respect takes it in might, not merit.”p.215 He’s seen people throttle their accent in fear and not give him welcome, trust him. “I read as much as from the rattling tongue of saucy and audacious eloquence. Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity in least speak most, to my capacity.”p.215

The play starts, Quince gives the prologue they’re here to show their simple skill (simple is a way to put it) to give content. The newlyweds comment he is a poor speaker, but what he said is true, like a child or tangled chain. The characters show on stage and Quince gives away the whole plot and Theseus wonders of the lion will speak Demetrius responds to him, “no wonder, my lord; one lion may, when many asses do.”p.216 The Wall gives his reason for the part the audience continues to heckle as the actors give their lines and Hippolyta says it’s the silliest stiff she’s heard Theseus tells her, “If we imagine no worse of them than they of themselves, they may pass for excellent men.”p.217

Snug says he’s not a real lion and Theseus says the beast has a good conscience, a goose for his discretion but it won’t carry his valor but leave it to his discretion. Theseus and Demetrius continue to criticize and heckle the play as it plays out till the end. Bottom asks the audience if they’d like to see the epilogue or a dance. Theseus calls for the dance, (good call) “The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve; lovers, to bed; ‘tis almost fairy time. I fear we shall out-sleep the coming morn, as much as we this night have overwatch’d”p.218

A5S2

Enter Puck saying that now it’s night the fairies will appear, enter Oberon, Titania and their train to bless the house and on Titania’s command they sing and dance. Oberon sends the fairies about and blesses the couples with true love, beautiful children and safety and peace on the houses. The all exit leaving Puck, “If we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended, that you have but slumber’d here while these visions did appeare.”p.219 So good night and if they are friends applaud and he’ll restore amends. (yay happy ending as long as we all conveniently ignore the fact that Demetrius had his free will taken away)

(I just have to say if this is ever animated could they make Puck turn into a robin to fly away at the end)

#a midsummer night's dream #william shakespeare #books #book summaries #play #comedy #fantasy fiction

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homeboundrunnerfive · 4 years

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Zombies Run Secret Santa 2019!

@notforconsumption HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM YOUR SECRET SANTA! I HOPE YOU LIKE IT! I had this idea about a “5 times...” including Five, Sara and Sam at about 5000 words similar to what I did for Secret Santa last year. But this was too much fun to write, and I couldn’t bear to end it before I felt that it was properly finished, and this piece wanted to be more than 5000 words. So therefore, I make this pledge to you: have this smaller preview of my ZR/pokémon crossover as your present for this Christmas Eve, and send me a scenario that you would like to see added in the final version of this piece and your Secret Santa will make it so! And lastly: big thanks to both you and @runnerzero for organising this wonderful Secret Santa exchange!

Fandom: Zombies, Run! Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Runner Five/Sara Smith Characters: Sam Yao, Sara Smith, Runner Five, Simon Lauchlan, Janine DeLuca, Maxine Myers Additional Tags: Female Runner Five, Spoilers for Season 1, Mild Language, AU - Pokémon, Preview (or: remember that time probably at least a year ago when the fandom discussed the ZR/pokémon crossover?) Summary: Only by the very skin of her fucking teeth does Five make it in through the gates unscathed. Had guards on the wall not opened fire on the faster zoms directly behind her, she might not have made it inside at all. The second the gates close behind her, she actually lays down flat on her stomach to stop herself from vomiting. She has never run that fast before in her entire life, and her vision is flickering a little. The Cubone crawls out of her backpack as she pants heavily into the dirt, and jumps off of her to look around. After a few moments it gives her a sour look, seemingly deeming its new surroundings to be nothing all that special. ”If I had dropped you, this would have been a lot easier for me,” Five mutters to the Cubone. It returns her snarky remark by pulling out the bone and whacking her square in the head.

— S1M01 The transfer from Mullins Military Base to the smaller settlement of Abel Township is not starting out well. Five is a little disappointed in herself for actually being just the tiniest bit surprised by the fact that every single thing that could have gone wrong today has.

To be fair though, being shot down from the sky with a rocket launcher is a rather uncommon occurrence, so maybe she can’t take the blame for not predicting that one.

Which is a right shame, because what she can predict, Five will prepare for. For example, she knew that that arriving without a pokémon would elicit reactions and she had prepared herself for it. Pity and commiseration from some, assuming it was lost or killed in the chaos of Day Zero. Distain or suspicion from others, trying to rationalise how someone able to secure a spot at Mullins for themselves could be so negligent as to not provide for their pokémon.   Others are just confused at the sight of someone without a pokémon in these trying times. Who wouldn’t want an immune companion to not only protect you, but to also love you and keep your spirits high?

Five had prepared for that eventuality. She had not prepared for parachuting out of a helicopter, nor arriving to Abel in a mad dash chased by one of the faster zoms she’s encountered so far.

Inside the gates she’s greeted proper by three individuals, though a lot of people attempt to quickly wheedle information or supplies off of her the moment she stumbles through the gates

“Hey! Good to see you in the flesh… the totally-unbroken, skin-not-bitten-by-zombies flesh, right? Step back, step back everyone, don’t crowd! Give Runner Five some space!“ She recognises the voice as the man guiding her from the crash to the gates, radio operator Sam Yao. ”You alright there?”

He’s a younger Asian man in his mid-twenties or so, with dark hair and friendly eyes. The vibrant orange colour of his hoodie sticks out in a very striking manner, and a Flaaffy and Minccino is peeking out from behind him. Five feels like he fits the image of what she had imagined someone with his voice would look like. Rather soft, unpretentious and… boyish. The chinchilla-like pokemón looks rather downcast, sitting on top of the Flaaffys woolly head.

Next is an African-American woman in a white lab coat, immediately relieving Five of the CDC files and giving her a bite check before welcoming her to Abel Township. Five catches a glimpse of pale gemstones and notices that the woman, Dr. Myers as she introduces herself, has a rather small Sableye clinging to her hip underneath the lab coat. The pokémon is watching Five cautiously, showing the slightest hint of teeth.

Last is a serious-looking woman with a stern face, dressed in practical clothing. While the doctor is performing Five’s bite check, the woman is speaking quietly with another equally impressive woman, seemingly a bit older, who is accompanied by a weathered Lucario. The older woman is carrying a firearm, discreetly hidden by her loose shirt in a holster strapped to her belt. Five only notices because she has gotten into the habit of looking for threats, no matter the surroundings.

”Welcome to Abel Township. My name is Janine De Luca,” says the serious-looking woman. At her feet, an Umbreon is standing at attention like a guard dog, staring Five down. ”We have much to discuss.”

Five knows better than to hope for good things by now. But so far, so good, she thinks.

— S1M07

Only a few weeks into her transfer, disaster strikes.

Janine De Luca, one of the authorities of Abel Township, had sent her out on a mission to make contact with a member of a supposed rebel group within the neighbouring settlement of New Canton under the guise of picking up a cache of electrical supplies. Unsurprisingly to at least Five, who has learned to expect the worst of every situation given the state of the post-apocalyptic world, the rendezvous ends up with her having to flee for her life in the completely opposite direction of Abel Township while dodging automatic gunfire.

It takes a solid hour of running through extremely taxing natural terrain before Five feels confident that she is out of the woods, and by that point she is out of the scanner range Sam was talking about. Her headset took a hit when she smacked into a low-hanging branch in her hurry, and it seems to have been damaging enough to disable her transmitter. To further emphasise the vulnerability of her situation, the sun has now fully set beyond the western horizon and midnight is closing in. The moon working its way across the starry sky provides some light, but not enough by far.

”Runner Five… I don’t know if you can hear me. Our scanner’s down,” Sams voice starts again over the headset. He’s been checking in periodically, voice growing more and more despondent each time he goes without a response. Something bleats weakly in the background, and Five imagines Sam stroking the soft coat of his Flaaffy as he flips between monitors. ”It never works that well at night anyway, and a couple of bits of equipment have broken down, so… so there’s no way to see where you are. Truth is, I… I don’t even know if you’re alive. Odds aren’t good, right?”

He would have lost sight of her the moment she fled into the dense forest, Five thinks, so for all he knows she could have been shot dead the second she exited his camera coverage. The odds for her survival, as he said, were certainly not optimal.

Mustering what little strength she has left, she forces herself into a slow jog towards a more defensible position to take a much needed rest to catch her breath. On a hill, about half a kilometre away, under the roots of a large tree growing on the incline Five can see something similar to a makeshift burrow. It isn’t ideal, but the surrounding trees are much too bare for her to climb without some sort of equipment, so a dirty hole in the ground to keep her back free will have to do for now. After listening intently for a moment, she feels certain there are no zombies nearby. No groaning moans, no shuffling steps and no crinkling leaves.

”You’re not even my second Runner Five, you know that? You’re my fourth. I guess there’s no better reason you’d make it back than any of the others,” Sam sighs, and Five thinks that even if her transmitter wasn’t smashed, she wouldn’t respond to that. It’s true. She’s no more likely to survive the night that anyone else in her position.

Doesn’t mean she isn’t going to try.

Five pulls the axe from her back, keeping her pack on, before sitting down on the ground and leaning back against one of the thick roots. Her legs are almost numb, and her breaths are still coming out ragged. For the moment she feels very warm, but Five knows the sweat on her skin will soon cool and bring her body temperature down. She can’t allow herself to stay still for more than a few minutes, but that will be all she needs. In her head, she’s already mapping out the route back to Abel.

Something hard hesitantly pokes her lower thigh. Her muscles tense instantly and she chokes up the grip on her axe, bouncing into a defensive crouch.

In the dark, she can only make out two narrowed eyes staring suspiciously at her and a small silhouette sitting further inside the burrow. Whatever poked her has been retracted back into the shadows. Then, a white stick strikes out with lightning speed and hits against the metal head of her axe, sending the smallest of vibrations down into her hands.

The noise isn’t too bad, but it breaks the absolute silence of the woods in a way that puts Five on edge.

She backs up a few steps, standing up as she does, and slowly raises her axe into a batting position. The small figure, interestingly enough, mirrors her movements perfectly.

Chancing a quick look around, Five can’t see anything shambling towards her position, which is good. Whatever tiny little creature drove her out of the burrow seems almost as guarded as she is, holding their little stick poised for another strike. She takes a few moments to carefully study the shape. The very top of the creature would barely reach up to her knees. Humanoid in form, bipedal, gripping what looks like a small bat, and a rather lumpy head with small horns. Too small to be a zombie, and too clever to be an animal.

Five tries to cycle through her passable knowledge of different Pokémon species native to England, and she doesn’t have to think very long before the answer comes to her. She’s invaded the little underground home of a Cubone. From what she can remember, they aren’t very social and prefer to keep to themselves. What she thought was a stick poking her was most likely a bone, then.

”So… I’m just going to keep talking for a while. I mean, for all I know, I could be talking into the ear of a zombie. But, hey —” Sam starts again, and Five slowly reaches up to mute the signal for just a moment to keep her concentration on the situation at hand.

Sinking down to her knees, Five exaggeratedly places the axe down to rest on the leafy ground before raising both hands in a placating manner towards the Cubone. The universal sign for ’I don’t want any trouble.’ Not because she is in the slightest intimidated by this tiny thing, armed as she is, but because any loud noises will draw zombies in and force her to start running before she’s had a chance to catch her breath.

The pokémon doesn’t lower the bone its holding, but takes a few steps forward to the mouth of the burrow. In the moonlight, Five can spot a rather large gash on the left arm stretching all the way down to the hand. Not too deep a cut, but most likely infected by the look of it, and probably rather painful.

It tugs at her heartstrings. The only way for her to survive the night is to make it back home to Abel before they bar the gates, so there is really no reason to be stingy with her rations. Starvation or exposure is not what will kill her. Slowly, as to not startle the Cubone, she combs through her pack until she finds what she’s looking for. A protein bar, the first and only one she's gotten since she was made a runner and therefore prioritised concerning nutrition compared to other assignments in the township.

She unmutes her headset at the reminder of Abel.

Disinfectant or bandages would be better, but snacks is all that she has to offer. The process of opening the wrapper quietly is tedious, but after half a minute she has the bar uncovered in her hand. Most likely expired, since the chocolate coating is cracked and flaking away with every slight jostle, but a treasure all the same. Keeping her palm flat, she holds it out as far as she can from herself and waits for almost a full minute.

The Cubone only stares defiantly, staying firmly put.

”I called you my friend just before, didn’t I?” Sam says through some slight static, sounding a touch less relaxed than he normally does, seemingly about to go off on a more rambling kind of tangent. ”Is that cool with you? I mean… well, I’m definitely not your friend if you’ve gone gray. But I feel like we have a kind of… simpatico… something? Not that we’ve ever really talked. I guess we’re talking now. So… yeah, well, let’s just talk like normal people, like… buddies, or something,”

At least someone wants to be my friends, she thinks sullenly as the pokémon continues giving her the evil eye. Sighing, Five tosses the protein bar towards the Cubone, only slightly wincing at the fact that she threw actual good food on the forest floor before sitting back down. If the pokémon dislikes intruders this much, its behaviour should alert her to any incoming zombies. She figures she’ll be better off taking that little rest here than spending precious time finding another spot, even if she no longer has her back free.

It takes a few moments of apprehensive investigation, but eventually the Cubone starts nibbling on the protein bar while still keeping a watchful eye on her. She mostly ignores it and turns her back to keep lookout of her surroundings, fairly certain the pokémon won’t be bothering her further for the short time she intends to stay.

Unsurprisingly, the minutes pass by much too quickly, and her muscles still scream with complaints as she gets to her feet. The Cubone has finished its snack, and seems to have been emboldened by her tribute. Waddling forward, it sticks its hands down her backpack and starts searching for more treats.

”Get off,” Five mumbles and makes shooing motions. The Cubone pauses to nail her with the most unimpressed look she has ever seen a pokémon make, and continues rooting around. Five’s pretty certain the only thing she has left in there by now is her half-empty bottle of water, but it’s the principle of the thing. She was issued that equipment by Janine, and Five is still very determined to make a good impression on that woman.

She hadn’t tried hard enough back at Mullins. Five will not make the same mistake twice.

”That’s mine, and I’m going,” she says, more firm this time, and grabs the closest strap to pull the backpack away from the Cubone. Before she can even attempt to stop it, the pokémon has not only tugged the pack from her, it has decisively climbed into it and given her an indignant harrumph. It reminds her of a stubborn toddler, which is unfortunate. She doesn’t have very much experience dealing with those kinds of tantrums. Five resists rubbing her temples in frustration.

”It’s mine, and it’s coming with me. Get out.”

They lock eyes, and a silent battle of willpower ensues.

The absolute absurdity of the situation is that Five doesn’t actually have the upper hand here. She needs to get back to Abel before they bar the gates, and it’ll take her a good hour of running in the dark as it is.

Moments pass.

Nothing happens.

”Fine then.” With a forceful yank, she expeditiously tugs the pack onto her back, passenger and all, and secures the hip belt around her waist to balance her centre of gravity with the added weight. It’s not too heavy, but definitely enough to make a difference while running. The head is poking out of the top, giving her a fierce glare. ”You’ll come to see it my way.”

The next hour is a little strange, to say the least. Occasionally, the Cubone will grunt in annoyance and rap at her shoulders with its held bone, but it makes no attempt to get out of the backpack. She fortunately only has to reroute twice after spotting smaller packs of zoms in the distance, and during those tenser moments the pokémon is surprisingly quiet. Sam continues checking in, making either morbid or hilarious monologues in her headset. For some bizarre reason, it does keep her spirits up. If he’s still talking to her, it means the gates haven’t been barred yet. Even if his chosen topics for conversation are disheartening for the most part.

When she gets close enough to Abel to see the light on top the tower guiding her back home, she’s picked up quite a trail of zombies, despite her attempts to circumvent any encounters.

”— but I’ve gotta be honest… we’re losing hope here.” Five is now only registering bits and pieces of what Sam is talking about, mostly concerned about keeping a safe distance ahead of her groaning pursuers. ”A couple of zoms have arrived at the gates, and that usually means the bigger horde is on its way. Maybe only a few minutes ‘til we bar the gate.”

That, however, she does hear loud and clear.

It means she’s still got a chance. All she has to do to make it is run fast enough.

Only by the very skin of her fucking teeth does Five make it in through the gates unscathed. Had guards on the wall not opened fire on the faster zoms directly behind her, she might not have made it inside at all. The second the gates close behind her, she actually lays down flat on her stomach to stop herself from vomiting. She has never run that fast before in her entire life, and her vision is flickering a little.

The Cubone crawls out of her backpack as she pants heavily into the dirt, and jumps off of her to look around. After a few moments it gives her a sour look, seemingly deeming its new surroundings to be nothing all that special.

”If I had dropped you, this would have been a lot easier for me,” Five mutters to the Cubone. It returns her snarky remark by pulling out the bone and whacking her square in the head.

— S1M10

Five is having a tough time figuring the new Cubone out, and the pokémon seems to actively be trying to infuriate her.

While bringing it into the township had been no issue with Janine, the question of ownership and training was apparently of more import. No rogue inhabitants in her township, she had said. Five had not been particularly adamant about claiming the Cubone for herself, given the apparent distaste of her the pokémon seemed to harbour. It almost seemed like whenever an opportunity to obstruct her presented itself, the Cubone would take it and then give her a smug look afterwards. So it seemed the safer bet to place it in the communal building rather than with her.

But after a few days, it was perfectly clear the Cubone was not fine with living in the communal building, nor socialising with the other collectively owned pokémon. The sharp, angry cries throughout the nights attracted zombies to such a degree that they actually had to send runners on emergency missions for ammunition to keep up.

A few people did try to befriend the Cubone, but to no avail. All attempts were rebuffed, with varying degrees of violence and threatening behaviour. Simon suffered a rather unfortunate injury to his groin trying to charm the pokémon, both scaring and upsetting his own tenderhearted Sylveon. After that incident, there weren’t many volunteers.

So now the responsibility has once again circled around to Five.

Things are not going well. The only two things she has managed to understand is that the Cubone is a male, and that it seems to dislike everything and everyone. It seems content to follow her around at a distance, but makes a scene when she tries to get close. Strangely enough, it seems to have no problem climbing onto her back whenever the pokémon feels like it. Touching that is not initiated by the Cubone, though, is out of the question, prompting wild swings with the bone. Any conversation or commands are met with glowering or growling. In short, the Cubone is completely dominating her, her life and all their interactions at his own very unpredictable whims.

Many people offered her tips, all delivered in a rather delicate manner as to not imply any incompetence on her part which Five feels is more or less unnecessary at this point. Chris McShell had given her a long and detailed lecture on abstract pokémon psychology. Evan gave her different training exercises to establish respect and dominance, demonstrating them to her with his impressively obedient Growlithe Bonnie. Jody and Sam offered a plethora of bonding exercises, most of which just seemed to be different forms of cuddling. Five did not point out that neither of their pokémon come equipped with their very own weapons, and simply enjoyed watching Jody hugging her soft and sweet Audino.

In the end though, all suggestions proved to be equally useless.

Presently, Five is sitting on the ground with her back against the wall of the mess hall. Cubone is sitting a few meters away, and a silent battle of wills is raging.

They’ve been at it for days. The pokémon is as stubborn — possibly even more so — than Five.

”I don’t want to do this,” Five says, fingers playing with the laces of her trainers. ”I’m tired. If you don’t like me, leave. If you don’t like this place, leave.”

She’s ignored very pointedly by Cubone, who is drawing something in the dirt with its bone. From Five’s poor perspective on the ground it looks like nothing but squiggly lines.

”Things are a certain way in Abel. You’ll have to find a place. You can’t have things your way here.”

Narrowed eyes glare at her from beneath the large skull adorning its head, and if looks could kill, she’d be more dead than the corpses shambling outside the walls. At least she knows Cubone understands her, even if all that she receives in return for her words are defiance. The pokémon resolutely turns its back on her with a familiar harrumph, continuing to draw in the dirt.

”I would have thought you’d be better at this than you are. I’m surprised, Five. And that doesn’t happen too often, you know,” Sara grins, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms. By her side her companion Lucario does the same, and the two of them just radiate an aura of smugness.

Five scrambles to her feet and locks her arms behind her back in a courteous manner, feeling incredibly stiff and awkward about the forced formality. It’s still a little early to act too casual with superiors in Five’s opinion, even though her military ID has been recovered and Sara herself has expressed in so many words how laughable this kind of ”boot-licking” behaviour looked on someone as physically imposing as Five. Yet, she snaps into place on instinct. Cubone flinches violently as she moves suddenly to break their staring match, and turns to glare suspiciously at the newcomers with narrowed eyes.

”I apologise,” replies Five, keeping her eyes on her trainers. ”I am having more difficulty that I would have thought.”

”The difference really is night and day, wouldn’t you agree, Donal? Like a roaring lion and a cowering house cat. It really is frustrating,” Sara says offhandedly to her companion, before pointedly leaning her head to catch Five’s gaze as she does so. ”We do things differently here, Five, and I don’t want to have to go through this little song and dance every time I see you inside the gates. This is not Mullins. Act like a normal human being. No one is going to have you shot in your sleep for mouthing off or slouching. So please, honey, at ease, now.”

Chancing a quick glance, Five catches Sara’s eyes. They are brown, filled with mirth and just deep enough to hide something seriously menacing behind those twinkles of amusement. There’s a layer of subtext that Five has become quite adept at understanding at this point, even though there are few women Five has met that are quite as contradictory as Sara Smith.

Two sides of the same coin show their faces whenever she speaks. The gentle but stern reminder that Five won’t be shot in her sleep for mouthing off also serves as a warning to remind her that other things might be enough to earn her a bullet in the back of the head. The complimentary comparison to the king of the jungle during missions is also a barbed statement about her positively spineless behaviour within the walls of Abel Township.

”I understand.”

Sara lets out a small chuckle. ”Slow learner, and stubborn to boot. That’s fine, Five. Not entirely unlike this Cubone here, judging by the way things are going,” she says, turning to her Lucario to share a look. ”Donal and I never had these problems, did we?”

It’s difficult to pinpoint why, but the comment strikes a raw nerve within Five. Perhaps its her lifelong habit of people-pleasing that takes offence at her obvious failure, or her very frail yet still very much alive ego taking a targeted hit from someone she very much admires, or perhaps it is simply the drop that makes the cup run over for whatever reason. Either way, Sara’s words have found purchase beneath Five’s armor and like a frightened animal she strikes out on instinct, barely registering the words as they pass her lips.

”Military issue espionage pokémon are trained from birth in obedience, I’ve read. Must make training a breeze. But that has nothing to do with you, I’m sure,” Five bites out while keeping her eyes to the ground. Later, she will regret giving lip to one of the more influential and possibly lethal figures of the township, but for now Five is wallowing in self-pity and unable to care about the intricate policies of the apocalypse. Even though she has technically been officially encouraged several times to be slightly less deferential in public as to not attract attention to Project Greenshoot.

Sara gives her a sly smile, eyes twinkling. ”None of your concern, now is it? What I will say is that you are going about this the wrong way. Of course, I could give you a few pointers. Unless you prefer to continue this hopeless exercise in frustration. Up to you.”

Five reigns herself in, says nothing this time. Every single time she has opens her dumb mouth things turn sour, sooner or later.

”Lucario are an extremely capable and skilled pokémon species, and exceptionally rare at that. They are omnivores, though meat is very much preferable. Usually they live in smaller packs in the deep mountains away from the hustle and bustle of civilisation, and their unique ability to read and manipulate auras is unparalleled. Highly intelligent, my darling Donal more so than most I would say, able to understand and even communicate complex, abstract concepts. Most Lucario seem to have a natural sense of justice, and will react badly when training is not mutually beneficial to trainer and pokémon.” The Lucario has left her side to circle around the hesitant Cubone with a calculating look on its face as Sara speaks. ”This is just the smallest piece of knowledge that I have about the species of my pokémon. Useless information for you, of course. And yet, I keep droning on and on about all the things that I know, and you don’t. Seems like quite a dull thing to do in this kind of sticky situation, no?”

Five quickly schools her face into a more neutral expression, having unconsciously tightened her lips into the slightest scowl during Sara’s monologue.

”You don’t know anything about the Cubone species, so let’s skip that entire lecture for now. I’m sure a capable runner like yourself will be able to get your hands on that kind of information without having to bruise your ego asking me for it. So let’s look at what you do know instead, hm?” Sara continues, ignoring the low growl coming from Cubone as Lucario stops to study it. ”You intruded on an injured Cubone’s territory after nightfall, where he was all alone in a ditch far from both people and pokémon. You fed him scraps, and he climbed into your backpack and refused to be left behind. Strange thing, I’ll give you that. Here at Abel, he seems… let’s just call it displeased for lack of more polite terms, to be in the communal building. In other words, he doesn’t mingle well with strangers. Other people that have tried to gain his favour and trust have gotten nothing but sullen stares and the occasional light beating. Wherever you go, he follows at a distance, and grows defensive when you try to get close.”

It is becoming increasingly obvious where Sara is going with this guessing game to Five, and the impending conclusion is not something she is inclined to take to heart at this point in time. Maybe at all. In the zombie apocalypse, people can die whenever, so if Five’s lucky she’ll be grey before she’ll have to face her own flaws.

”I could give you my take on things, of course. Standing by my side is a disciplined and loyal pokémon, and you’ve got an armoured little gremlin following you around like a shadow, beating you with a stick whenever he damn well feels like it. You have to admit that’s funny.”

There’s a long pause, and it is almost enough to make sweat start beading at Five’s forehead but her lips won’t move. What admission Sara wants her to come to is not difficult to understand, but the strings of correct words dancing through her brain don’t seem to make their way down to her mouth.

Pride and shame battle fiercely within her. Five is locked between feeling completely unable to admit to any kind of vulnerability, while also simultaneously terrified to portray herself as devoid of empathy. Her tongue feels heavy and swollen resting behind flat teeth that aren’t sharp enough to tear through flesh and bone.

A few seconds pass that are long enough to draw every single breath of air from her lungs.

The result is pathetic. Absolute silence.

”It’s referred to as the lonely pokémon, did you know? Curious thing, in my opinion.” Sara inspects her fingernails in a very pointed manner, before catching Five’s eyes in a way that makes it clear she is not to look away.

It makes her squirm, and a knot is growing in her stomach.

”Alarmed at the thought of having a companion that is similar enough to you that it might actually understand and know you?” Sara’s voice is teasing at the surface, but sharp and calculating beneath it. ”Or maybe you simply don’t want a pokémon that is like you because you think you, and by extension it, is broken and bad?”

The knot settles firmly in the centre of Five’s stomach, making her feel ill.

Suddenly, a loud horn blares through the silence for one short signal, followed by Janine’s voice booming over the intercoms accompanied by gunshots in the distance. ”Calling Runner Five! Or Runner Eight! Or both. Runner Five and Runner Eight, report to the gates!”

Only seconds after that, Janine’s voice starts filtering through her headset, which Five quickly pulls up over her ears to listen properly. Sara has already done the same, and motions for Five to follow over her shoulder as she and her pokémon turn to jog towards the gates. ”Runner Five and Runner Eight, urgent assignment! Sam’s on a rest period, but we’ve discovered a traitor in the camp. We need you to chase her down before she gets away!”

”Copy that, Janine. On my way,” Sara answers, and turns to shout at Five over her shoulder. ”Come on, Five, let’s get going. And don’t you worry, we’ll save this little game of ours for a later date.”

Five takes off after her, only stumbling on the first step.

From this perspective up above as she passes them by, the scribbles Cubone made in the dirt earlier looks like a pair of vaguely humanoid, thick figures, one larger and one smaller, both wearing bulky helmets.

After a few seconds, a quick pattering behind Five gives her a moment to prepare before a heavy weight lands on her back and small hands claw into her shoulders like vices. She steadies herself and starts running.

— S1M19

The ceremony for Chris McShell is held on a foggy day, and the dim skies accurately reflect the mood of the runners returning from the forest walking through the gates. Most are met by their pokémon at the gates, thankful for whatever comfort they are given.

Five is silently thankful that Chris was one of the few in the township to not have a pokémon. She is feeling raw as it is, and the thought of watching a confused companion looking for someone that’s not coming back cuts like a knife. Without words, her Cubone crawls into her arms and settles in, filling her with warmth. It’s not enough to thaw the small pinprick of cold somewhere deep inside her chest, but it feels marginally better.

She listened to him die. Sam didn’t cut the feed.

Somewhere in the world, he might have had a daughter waiting for him. More likely is that he will be joining her amongst the dead.

Five showers without really taking notice of the icy temperature. The stiff sensations in her limbs actually makes it easier to remember that she does inhabit a body, and that she is here. Every time her boots hit the ground she becomes more heavy and solid, grounding her in reality. Her Cubone is shadowing her every step, for once not climbing over her frame to take a seat on her shoulders like he usually does. Strangely enough, Five thinks, the weight on her shoulders feels heavier than usual even so.

The bell rings, and Five follows routinely. A haze has settled over her mind, and it’s enough to dull her senses to the person quickly approaching her from the left. Sara catches her by the arm as she walks mindlessly to the mess hall, holding her firmly enough to not be easily brushed off. Her Lucario walks up behind Sara, and the usual silent staring contest ensues between their two pokémon.

”Hey there, Five,” Sara greets her, and the little sparkle in her eye is familiar enough to let Five know that she’s got a mission. ”I won’t keep you for too long. We’re expected, after all.”

Squinting at the last rays of the evening sun, Sara takes her sweet time before continuing as the light illuminates her rugged features. A breeze moves past the four of them, and Five feels like an ancient statue. Like someone that has been rooted in place for millennia, muscles of heavy stone, growing moss and collecting dirt.

”It feels good not to be the only one left who knows my boys’ faces. We remember them, don’t we Donal?” Sara says fondly, and her Lucario looks away from Cubone to respond with a short nod. There’s a faraway look in her eyes, and it takes Five a moment to actually register the words. It’s not every day that Sara speaks of her family, let alone her sons. ”Someone must, I should think.”

There’s a beat, and Five waits. She has learned that Sara usually takes her time setting the mood before getting to her point when she doles out her wisdom.

Sara exhales evenly, letting her hand fall from Five’s arm after clapping her on the shoulder. ”If you’re the only one thinking about them sitting all alone in your room, it’s mourning. But if you’ve got someone to share the memories with, you’re celebrating them. That’s my take on it, anyway.”

Furrowing her brow just the tiniest bit, Five tries to put the pieces together. It could be that she is being admonished for isolating herself with her grief, but that is an unfair assumption. Sara can’t have missed that she caught Five as she was going to the mess hall, where the atmosphere of loss is the thickest. She pulls her arms closer to her sides, jaw clenching slightly with tension.

Sara tilts her head, and gives her a look that Five can’t discern the intent behind, before nodding towards the ramshackle building. ”Don’t just be there, Five. Be present. It’s bad at first, I’ll give you that much. But it’s better in the long run.”

Turning on her heel with her Lucario following close behind, Sara leaves Five in the dust as she casually strolls through the doorway. Five stares intently at the ground, unwilling to risk meeting Sara’s eyes should she glance back for one last look.

Her advice is not lost on Five, and in most circumstances it would be marvellous and healthy advice. But for Five, it’s only words in the wind. She’s not strong enough to be present in the face of this kind of grief. There’s barely enough left of her inside to keep her going through the days as it is. There is no energy nor will left to spare on mental health after the taxing realities of the zombie apocalypse.

Looking down at her solid feet, planted on the ground, there is Cubone looking back up at her with solemn eyes.

She won’t do be able to do what Sara is asking, she thinks as she bends down to scoop her pokémon up into her arms. It’s not even worth trying.

Five still walks into the mess hall, though. Her chest is warmer, and the Cubone clings to her shirt.

#zombies run #@notforconsumption #zr secret santa #yoooo so i hope this is at least enough to make you a little more merry this christmas #i tried to be overtly shippy but i just....... can't???? with five and sara #so it is subtle but it's there #the piece in itself is NOT christmas-y #and i'm rambling #but i hope you like it anyway

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lordgoopy · 4 years

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“The Saturday Interview: I Am In Eskew Podcast” —Recovered

The podcast is called I Am In Eskew; it’s a horror / weird fiction show delivered as a series of dispatches from a vaguely Central European city.

Eskew is a place that is, both spatially and psychologically, off-kilter. The streets wind too far in on themselves, the stairs climb too high, and both buildings and inhabitants can act in peculiar, obsessive, or frightening ways. And every episode we follow the narrator, David Ward, a kind of semi-unwilling immigrant to the city, as he finds himself stumbling into new aspects of Eskew. As for me, I’m a writer in London, working in digital media for the charity sector; I’m writing and narrating Eskew sort-of-anonymously. Not for any kind of grand scandalous reason, but because I think it adds to the fun and helps to keep the conceit alive a little bit.

Ah...that explains why I couldn’t find your name when I was researching for this interview. I thought my skills were slipping! I think it’s very interesting that Eskew focuses on horror based around spaces and buildings. Is this something of particular interest to you?

Yes, definitely! I think there’s a rich ream of horror, from The Haunting of Hill House to Ghostwatch, that delves into the idea that certain places can simply go wrong - and once these bad environments have been established and ostracised by society, they can’t be exorcised. They simply keep accruing power through the individual stories that play tragically out in their shadow.

I mention a real-life example of that kind of bad architecture in one episode; the Pope Lick Bridge in Kentucky, a place that looks and feels so sinister that it developed its own local folklore about a goat-man who attacks people who stray too close to the edge - and which has ended up resulting in deaths as visitors peer over the side trying to get a peek at the monster.

I find this kind of stuff fascinating, because it plays into my own paranoia about environments, and my dislike of ghost stories with explicably human antagonists. Like David says in the first episode, people aren’t frightening. Places are frightening.

If I’m sitting alone at home on a dark and stormy night, and I glance nervously up towards the bedroom doorway, my fear is not that my house is being haunted by a spirit called Mabel who died in the 19th century at the age of fourteen and is constantly seeking her favourite teddy bear...because all of these details both humanise her and make her ridiculous.

My fear is that there will be something standing in the doorway, because the doorway is where things come to stand.

Because unoccupied spaces, in our imaginations, must find something to fill them.

Could you describe some of your creative influences?

Thomas Ligotti is probably the writer I’m trying to crib from the most. Not so much in terms of his pessimism (or his love of puppets as a horror motif, which I can’t really get behind), but I see him very much as someone who bridges the gap between American horror and European absurdism. Some of my favourite stories of his - The Town Manager, Our Temporary Supervisor, The Red Factory - are hilarious as comedies! They’re very much scathing satires on our inadequate human response to the inexplicable and awful.

Junji Ito is also a big influence, in particular, his masterpiece Uzumaki: a collection of short stories about a town that’s driven mad by the symbol of a spiral. The brilliance is in the inventiveness with which he builds an anthology of horrors, with variety and with mounting awfulness, while playing on that simple motif.

I see Ito’s work as very much in the spirit of some of the most classic horror of all; Ovid’s Metamorphoses, where the threat comes not from an external monster, but from our own bodies and minds, transforming at the whim of cruel, fickle and obsessive gods...which feeds into a lot of what I’m trying to do with Eskew!

I usually try and avoid thinking about Lovecraft as an influence, even though David is clearly an obsessive, neurotic first-person narrator in the Lovecraft/Poe mould. I think there’s a lot of baggage around what constitutes ‘Lovecraftian’ fiction, and I didn’t want to set up false expectations by referencing him (like the idea that there might be some monstrous cosmic intelligence behind it all).

I really enjoy Lovecraft too, especially something like “The Shadow Over Innsmouth.” I think the idea of monsters living in the sea near the town and the strange, inexorable link the townspeople have with them makes it a lot creepier than something like “The Call of Cthulhu.”

Yeah! I think the elements in Lovecraft that have made him so franchise-friendly (these brilliant alien races and gods) have eaten away at the edges of Lovecraftian horror, bringing it closer to something that can be quite kitsch, even a kind of steampunk pastiche at times. With Eskew, I’m trying to keep to something I see in Ito, or in Ligotti, where any antagonists, whether human or otherwise, are only symptoms of something worse, something that’s simply a force of nature.

I see the city of Eskew as being a bit like a literal cancer in that sense - a highly complex structure where some of the cells (or in this case streets, art galleries, citizens...) have started to lose their original sense of self and are obsessively spiralling off in other, destructive directions...

What made you decide to do I Am In Eskew as a podcast, rather than as a graphic novel or book?

Honestly, it’s a lack of talent in the first instance, and a lack of discipline in the second!

Writing it as a podcast was my partner’s idea (she’s also the occasional voice of Riyo, an investigator looking into David’s disappearance, and she copy-edits every episode with me) - I knew I wanted to write a series of horror short stories based around the theme of urban isolation and weird architecture, but I was really struggling to get started.

She suggested that recording it as a podcast would force me to keep to a schedule, and hopefullyit might even give me some audience feedback to keep me excited about the project.

So it was a pragmatic choice, but it’s one I’ve really come to be thankful for! I think the medium is perfect for bare-bones, atmospheric horror storytelling (Knifepoint Horror is probably the best example of that ‘lonely voice whispering in your ear’ kind of fiction), and there’s an incredibly welcoming, friendly, mutually-supporting community of listeners and creators online.

Once the podcast is complete, I think I’d definitely like to look at compiling all of the episodes, editing and improving them, and turning it into a full-length written anthology. I’ve definitely made a few continuity slip-ups along the way that I’d like to correct, apart from anything else.

I’ve enjoyed Riyo’s episodes too, especially now that she’s directly looking into ‘hostile environments’. I feel like the contrast in tone and narrative style help to strengthen the series overall. Do you intend for the story of I Am In Eskew to have a specific ending in the future? If so, have you decided on the arc of the story?

I think David’s story (and Riyo’s) needs to be a finite one, definitely. In my experience, most successful protagonists in serial horror tend to be investigators, or monster-hunters. That choice of profession makes them witnesses to the story, rather than victims - effectively, they’re exempt from the psychological cost of whatever happens.

With David, I very much wanted to avoid that sense of safety; I want the horror to keep taking its toll on the character, episode after episode - which means that eventually he does need to find some kind of resolution!

Otherwise that psychological cost starts to seem fraudulent, and the whole thing turns into a predictable game of ‘David sees something horrible, then miraculously escapes at the last second’ week after week.

So I do know how the finale is going to play out; it’s really just a question of how many more stories I can reasonably invent for the show, without things starting to feel stretched, before we get there.

Mind you, it’s been established that there are recordings from Eskew that have gone missing, so it doesn’t need to end, even if it ends…

Do you have a favourite episode of I Am In Eskew so far?

I really like Episode 3: Excavation. A mysterious digging sickness takes hold in Eskew, with citizens tearing their own hands to pieces just to get into the ground - and in retaliation, a religious cult starts to form, extolling the virtues of the sky and constructing a grand tower.

It’s not necessarily the best-written episode structurally, and definitely one of the crudest in terms of recording quality, but it was the first episode where I felt I was pushing the boat out towards the kind of outrageous, absurdist horror that I really wanted to be writing, where normal human behaviour was just being given a couple of extra screw-turns towards something awful and monstrous.

It was also the first episode where I really saw a few people begin to respond on message boards, so that was really reassuring to me - when it first went out, I was petrified that I’d gone too weird to sustain anyone’s interest.

I tried to pick a favourite episode in preparation for this interview, but I honestly couldn’t narrow it down past five or six. If I really had to pick, I’d probably choose Illumination - the episode about the sinister and compulsive call of an old railway bridge. Are ideas like this based on real examples?

That example definitely is - it’s based on a railway bridge about a minute’s walk from my house! I love that kind of very modern ruin; old brick stacks stood out in the open, arches filled with ivy, graffiti in a place that seems impossible to reach...

There are a few other specific London inspirations (I based the Fish Market on Spitalfields Meat Market, for example), but with Eskew as a whole, I was thinking specifically of hillier cities in Western and Central Europe: Budapest, primarily, but also Lisbon (the trams and cobblestones), maybe a bit of Rome...

I’m used to flat English cities without any kind of panorama, so I find it a ceaselessly astonishing thing to be lost in a city’s streets and suddenly find myself up high, staring down over a sea of winding streets and rooftops...

How do you feel having wrecked people’s appreciation of AA Milne’s poem Disobedience by highlighting how deeply sinister it is?

I’ve actually been driving myself wild trying to decide if that poem is just a nonsense rhyme celebrating bossy children, or if there’s a class-snobbery thing going on (James James Morrison’s mother puts on a golden gown, and goes to the end of the town...does she get robbed there? Is the end of the town so unsafe because that’s where the low-income people live?)

You may have a point there about class. After whatever happens to her happens, the King himself gets involved with a reward. Clearly, she’s a lady with connections! Could you describe your writing process?

My writing process is very much informed by necessity - I commute in and out of London every day and don’t have a lot of free time, so I have to do most of my drafting while standing upright in a crammed train carriage!

Which may not be ideal, but on the other hand, if you’re writing a podcast about the horror of urban life, there’s no better place to find inspiration than a crowded, sweaty, angry Underground train filled with blank faces...

How long does it take you to put an episode together, from first word to the finished product?

I’m very quick; I usually sketch out the episode concept well in advance, then take about a fortnight to draft it and edit. Recording and audio-editing happens very speedily, again out of necessity, on the weekends! I try and devote a day apiece to each.

Turning to the technical side, what do you wish you’d known about creating a podcast at the very beginning?

There’s still an enormous amount that I don’t know! When it comes to even simple audio editing, I’m learning all the time. I very much am still just a schmuck in his living room, talking into a handmade sound booth on his days off - which is the beauty of podcasting, I suppose.

But I’d probably give my earlier self some very common-sense advice like...

...be brave. Stick to a schedule. Know the signs of burn-out. Listen to other people’s work in the medium before you dive in. Stay hydrated so your mouth doesn’t make those disgusting wet sounds when you’re trying to talk. Never forget that this should be fun, above anything else.

What motivates you to keep producing episodes?

Honestly? Seeing that it’s connecting with people. Spooking people. Entertaining people. That means everything.

If people would like to engage with you or support you online, what’s the best way to do that?

If you’d like to support the show...please do just shout about it! Tell your friends, leave a review on iTunes. It really makes a huge difference.

If you’d like to chat, we’re also on Twitter: https://twitter.com/eskew_podcast

#i am in eskew #eskew #long post

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sankta-arya · 6 years

Text

Not All That Glitters Is Gold (8)

Just realized I hadn’t updated this one on here... Hoping to post a new chapter the following week!

Jon and the other Northmen ride north early the next morning. She meets him in the Godswood shortly before he's set to leave.

She takes his hand and he offers her a small smile.

She almost asks "May I kiss you again?" but then she sees the focused look in his eyes. It wouldn't do to distract him. So instead she just squeezes his hand and asks: "Promise?"

He squeezes hers back and says: "Promise."

***

She stands on the battlements, watching him ride away, staying long after he's disappeared behind the horizon.

Her face and hands have gone numb when Jaime Lannister comes to retrieve her. He sighs repeatedly and loudly on the way to the keep.

"Is there something you wish to share, Ser Jaime?" she asks offhandedly.

"Perhaps," he starts, pausing as if he's reconsidering. "Perhaps it would be better for you if your brother doesn't return, Your Grace."

"Perhaps you're being too bold, Ser."

"I swore an oath to protect you," he points out.

She comes to a halt, turning to study his face. "From my own brother?"

He doesn't answer, just holds her gaze for a couple of moments before raising an eyebrow.

"You also vowed to keep my counsel," she reminds him, continuing down the steps.

"Oh, and I shall," he promises, hurrying to keep up. "But I've learnt keeping my mouth shut can be a great dishonour. I do have your best interest in mind, My Queen."

"Your concern is touching, Ser, but completely unnecessary," she tells him before picking up her pace to indicate the conversation is over. Besides, Jon is not my brother.

***

The days grow shorter and the nights become darker and colder. Not long after Jon has left, a letter arrives. Maester Wolkan brings it to her in her solar.

"Where did this raven come from, maester?" she asks when she sees the seal.

"Casterly Rock, Your Grace," he informs her.

After she's read it, she calls her brother and sister into the room and tells Jaime to find his brother.

When everyone's present, she hands the letter to Tyrion, who reads it to the others.

Dear Little Dove

I believe congratulations are in order. You can finally call yourself Queen. I can't say that pleases me, but it does offer some comfort to know you were wise enough not to bend the knee to the Mad King's daughter.

I have terrible news for you. Our Good Queen Daenerys has burned King's Landing to the ground. I can't bear to think of all the poor unfortunate souls who lost their lives in this tragedy.

Winter has come, as your dear papa always used to promise, and so has the time to band together against our common enemy. We both know any agreement with the Targaryen bitch is pointless, but I'm willing to make the same offer to you that I once proposed to your brother. I will agree to a truce between House Lannister and House Stark, if you agree to stay neutral in this conflict between me and the Dragon Queen.

I'll even sweeten the deal. In return for your help, I'll grant the North its independence. Ponder your decision wisely, Little Dove, but don't take too long.

Give Tyrion my regards. Tell my other brother his child died in my womb after he abandoned me and that I'm set to wed Euron Greyjoy upon his return from Pyke.

Cersei of House Lannister, First of her Name, Queen of the First Men, the Andals and the Rhoynar, Lady Regnant of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm

"Do you think it's true? Do you believe Daenerys would do such a thing?" she asks when he's finished.

Tyrion rubs his beard, looking over the letter again. Jaime is pacing the room and Arya's nails are digging into the armrest of Sansa's chair.

"Maybe Cersei did it herself," she offers.

"Possibly," Tyrion admits.

"It was a trap," Bran says.

Suddenly Jaime stops pacing, thrusting his golden hand into the wall, and shouts: "Of course it was a trap!"

Sansa flinches and Arya veers up.

He looks down at his brother, rage in his eyes and panting.

Tyrion's eyes grow large and then he nods. "Of course... The Mad King Aerys had hundreds of caches of wildfire hidden in the tunnels beneath the city."

"But you used those to fight off Stannis in the Battle of the Blackwater," Sansa objects.

"Not all of them. We had the Pyromancers produce more of it, just in case."

"And Cersei found more of Aerys' stash, which she used to blow up the Great Sept of Baelor."

"Apparently she still had enough left."

It's horrible to even imagine all those people being burned alive, but she can't deny that it's brilliant. Only Cersei would be able to come up with such a plan and be ruthless enough to see it through.

Who would want a Queen who destroyed the capital of the kingdom she wishes to rule, who wiped out its entire population in one stroke? Who would be left to point out that Cersei must have tricked Daenerys into attacking the city, while she'd fled to the safety of Casterly Rock?

"We can't trust Cersei," she decides, "and we can't trust Daenerys either."

"Cersei can't win," Tyrion points out. "Even with the help of her sellswords, she's no match for the Dothraki and the Unsullied."

Arya nods. "And she still has two dragons."

"Just the one," Bran disagrees. "Rhaegal has flown North to Jon."

All eyes in the room fly to his face, and Jaime and Tyrion exchange questioning looks.

Jaime shakes his head. "I came here riding up the Kingsroad and never met any trouble. If Daenerys sends her armies North again, the weather might slow them down, but there will be no one to stop them until they reach Winterfell."

"I'll take care of her armies," Arya says calmly.

Sansa clasps her hand, but she retracts it gently.

"You?" Jaime scoffs. "I've heard what you did to Walder Frey, but you can't hope to kill an entire army!"

"I'm not going to kill them," she corrects him. "I'm going to lead them."

Another look of disbelief passes between the Lannister brothers. "And how exactly were you planning to accomplish that?" Tyrion asks.

Sansa already knows the answer.

Arya shrugs. "It's easy. All I need is her face."

***

Dany walks through the wasteland that used to be King's Landing just days ago. It's eerily quiet, apart from the sound of her dragging her wounded leg and the few fires that are still burning.

Her face is glowing hot and her head feels too large for the rest of her body, spinning out of control, almost making her forget how to put one foot in front of the other. Perhaps this is another nightmare, she muses.

Jon Snow was standing alone in the middle of a frozen lake. She ran to him, but he drew his sword and pierced her heart in one swift thrust. They both watched with fascination as the blade came out clean, only to melt away in his hand. She turned her back on him, not even turning around when he called out her name.

If I look back, I am lost.

The wound in her chest started to smoke and sizzle, tearing itself open until she shed her human flesh and the dragon erupted from the empty shell that had once been Dany.

If I look back I am lost.

The dragon flew over the masses who called out to her, the slaves she'd freed in Meereen, the people of King's Landing and the wights she'd seen beyond the Wall. She opened her mouth to tell them dragons plant no trees, but flames erupted from her throat and they were all consumed by the fire.

She blinks to shake off the memory of the fever dream and continues on. She sees the remnants of a bakery, the baker's skeleton lying next to the oven. Two charred bodies are still entangled in what must have been a passionate coupling. A mother is clutching a babe to her breast, even in death.

If I look back, I am lost.

Snow and ash drift down around her, coating her hair and skin in a grimy film. At last she reaches Aegon's Hill. She doesn't even know why she came. There's nothing left for her here.

But then a voice whispers: "To go forward, you must go back, and to touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow."

She decides to start climbing. She enters through the remnants of the gates. The skeleton of the throne room is still standing. Snow and ash have already invaded it and when she crosses the room she can see that there is snow on the Iron Throne.

She's close enough to touch it, but then Drogon screeches overhead. I've seen this before.

She turns, almost expecting a gate to appear and open, the way it did in the House of the Undying, but instead she can see a figure stumbling toward her.

It steps into the light and she can see the wight, heavy chains connecting the shackle around its neck to the ones around its wrists. It opens its mouth and at first there is nothing but a shriek, but when she listens more closely, she can hear it rasp: "Help me!"

It's only then she sees the Night King, whip in hand, staring at her. "Mother of Dragons," he whispers, and her blood turns to ice in her veins. "Breaker of Chains."

***

Davos clears his throat. "The trenches are ready, my lord."

Jon nods and pushes himself to his feet. "They've been filled?"

The grizzled man folds his hands behind his back. "The northernmost with branches and leaves, and the one closest to us with snow, as instructed."

"Command the men to retreat to the camp, I don't want anyone near the trenches tonight."

"But the fires still need to be lit," he objects.

"I'll take care of that, Ser Davos," he sighs. I hope you're right ,Bran.

His horse is already saddled, so he can ride east to Long Lake.

On the way there, he mulls over the course of the war so far to distract himself from what he's about to do.

The Last Hearth was lost and abandoned, but their forces managed to beat back the wights at the border of the Karstark lands. The wights have since crossed the Kingsroad, keeping to the west of it as they advance south, unable as they seem to be to cross the Last River.

He's had two wide, deep trenches dug between the mountains and the western shore of Long Lake, at its northernmost point, where the distance is smallest. The bulk of their forces are on the eastern shore of the lake, where they suspect the wights will be sent once the Others realize they're walking into a trap.

Once it gets colder and the rivers freeze over, the wights will be able to cross, so they hope to strike hard now, and reduce their numbers significantly.

A mile from the shore Jon dismounts, sending his horse back to the camp with a slap to its hindquarters. The beast would only get upset coming too close to the new inhabitant of the lake.

The water is steaming when he reaches the edge and at his whistle the originator of that odd phenomenon emerges from the lake in its green and bronze glory.

Rhaegal lands only a couple of feet away and Jon walks toward him slowly but steadily, showing no fear. He reaches out to pat his snout. "Ready to light the greatest fire the North has ever seen?"

The dragon screeches happily and lowers its long neck, so Jon can mount him.

#jonsa #my fic #not all that glitters is gold

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inkedskinpaperwings-blog · 7 years

Text

An incomplete list (but already way too long) of stalker/obsession films for... no reason at all. Keep in mind I got all these from online lists, so if some of them aren’t actually stalker films, I cannot be held accountable for it.

The Roommate (2011) - “When college freshman Sara arrives on campus for the first time, she befriends her roommate, Rebecca, unaware that the girl is becoming dangerously obsessed with her.”

One Hour Photo (2002) - “An employee of a one-hour photo lab becomes obsessed with a young suburban family.”

Play Misty For Me (1971) - “A brief fling between a male disc jockey and an obsessed female fan takes a frightening, and perhaps even deadly turn when another woman enters the picture.”

The Fan (1996) - “Three-times MVP baseball player Bobby Rayburn joins San Fransisco Giants, and obsessive fan, whose profession is selling hunting knives, Gil Renard is excited over that. But Rayburn plays the worst season of his career and Renard tries to do everything to help him, but goes too far.”

Dear Zachary (2008) - “On November 5, 2001, Dr. Andrew Bagby was murdered in a parking lot in western Pennsylvania. The prime suspect: his girlfriend. As the saga unfolded, Andrew’s oldest friend began making a film…”

Hidden (2005) (might be in French?) - “An upper-middle class Parisian family starts receiving anonymous video tapes of their house. There’s no commentary, no threats, but the message is clear: You’re being watched. Slowly, dark revelations come to light…”

Enduring Love (2004) - “On a beautiful cloudless day a young couple celebrate their reunion with a picnic. Joe has planned a postcard-perfect afternoon in the English countryside with his partner, Claire. But their idyll comes suddenly to an abrupt end.”

The Loved Ones (2009) - “When Brent turns down his classmate Lola’s invitation to the prom, she concocts a wildly violent plan for revenge.”

Body Double (1984) - “A young B movie actor’s obsession with spying on a beautiful woman who lives nearby leads to a baffling series of events with drastic consequences.”

The Gift (2015) - “When married couple Simon and Robyn unexpectedly encounter Gordo, an acquaintance from Simon's past, little do they know that their perfect lives will be thrown into a terrifying tailspin.”

The Good Son (1993) - “Mark, a young boy who loses his mother, must stay with his extended family while his father is away on business. Mark becomes acquainted with his cousin Henry. However, the extent of Henry's depravity soon becomes clear.”

Remember My Name (1978) - “Neil Curry is living a happy life with his second wife Barbara in California after abandoning his first wife, Emily, in New York. Their life of domestic bliss is interrupted when Emily comes back from prison, where she served a 12-year sentence for murdering Neil's former lover.”

The Resident (2011) - “A landlord becomes obsessed with a doctor who moves into his building.”

Reviving Ophelia (2010) - “No one listens when a teenager suspects that her cousin is in an abusive relationship.”

Hear No Evil (1993) - “An Oregon woman's new friend helps her elude a corrupt policeman who wants an item she unknowingly holds.”

Hell Hath No Fury (1991) - “The wife of a slain man is framed by the killer, a warped woman whose identity she knows.”

Creep (2014) - “Aaron answers an online ad and drives to a stranger's house to film him for the day. The man wants to make a movie for his unborn child, but his requests become more bizarre as the day goes along.”

Sleeping With The Enemy (1991) - “After faking her death in order to flee from her violent husband, Martin, Laura Burney leaves Cape Cod and moves to Iowa, where she adopts a new identity and starts dating a local teacher, Ben Woodward. Martin, meanwhile, unearths evidence suggesting that she isn't dead, and when her mother confirms this, he tracks her to Iowa.”

Stalked at 17 (2012) - “An abusive man promises to kill his girlfriend when she threatens to end the relationship and take their baby.”

Stalker (2010) - “A troubled writer retreats to a country house to work on a new project, but her new assistant may be hiding a sinister agenda.”

The Strangers (2008) - “Kristen and James are expecting a relaxing weekend at a family vacation home, but their stay turns out to be anything but peaceful. First, a mysterious and dangerous woman arrives at the door while James is out on an errand. After a time, the real danger does show up - in the form of three masked torturers, leaving Kristen and James struggling for survival.”

Lady Beware (1987) - “A Pittsburgh window dresser gets tough with a deranged lab technician who stalks her.”

Dark Summer (2015) - “Alone under house arrest for stalking, a teenager experiences a terrifying brush with the supernatural.”

Eye Of The Stalker (1995) - “A wily legal consultant maneuvers within the letter of the law to be near the object of his obsession, a judge's daughter.”

Fear (1996) - “When 16-year-old Nicole Walker meets 23-year-old David McCall at a Seattle nightclub, she falls in love. David is exciting and charming, and despite the wide age gap, he wins over Nicole's family -- except for her workaholic father, Steven, who's suspicious of David from the start. His concerns are realized when David turns out to be a violent sociopath who sees Nicole as his possession.”

Fear Stalk (1989) - “A producer from Beverly Hills is shocked when someone steals all of her belongings out of her purse. The thief begins to make threatening phone calls and withdraws money from her accounts. The stalker becomes more and more dangerous until he finally tries to kill the producer.”

The Paperboy (1994) - “Small-town deaths are the result of a 12-year-old boy's obsession with a divorced mother.”

The Perfect Guy (2015) - “With a fulfilling career and a loving relationship, lobbyist Leah Vaughn seems to have it all. Then Dave, her long-term boyfriend, questions her future plans for marriage and a family. The resulting breakup leaves Leah heartbroken, until she meets Carter Duncan. Soon, the budding romance turns dangerous as Carter reveals his volatile nature, forcing Leah to turn the tables on the man she thought was Mr. Right.”

P2 (2007) - “Angela is working late on Christmas Eve. When she finally decides to leave, she goes down to the parking garage to get her car, but it won't start. Thomas, the garage's security guard, offers to help. He also invites Angela to dinner, but she refuses. Thomas, crazed, knocks her out. She wakes up in Thomas' office, chained to a chair and in different clothes. Now Angela must fight for her life in order the escape from the garage.”

Obsessed (2009) - “Things couldn't be better for Derek Charles. He's just received a big promotion at work, and has a wonderful marriage. However, into this idyllic world steps Lisa, a temporary worker at Derek's office. Lisa begins to stalk Derek, jeopardizing all he holds dear.”

Unforgettable (2017) - “Barely coping with the end of her marriage, Tessa Connover learns that her ex-husband, David, is now happily engaged to Julia. Soon, Tessa's jealousy starts to consume her, and she will stop at nothing to turn Julia's paradise into the ultimate nightmare.”

Unlawful Entry (1992) - “Michael and Karen Carr call the police after a failed robbery. Officer Pete Davis arrives and helps arrange the installation of a new security system. The grateful Carrs have Pete to dinner and strike up a friendship. Pete invites Michael to ride with him during a night's patrol and gives him the chance to beat up the burglar. Michael refuses and tells the disturbed cop to stay away, but Pete begins stalking the terrified couple.”

Alone With Her (2006) - “A stalker named Doug uses hidden cameras to spy on Amy, the beautiful object of his obsession. With knowledge gleaned from his secret surveillance, the young man manipulates her, first into friendship, then pushes for a romantic relationship.”

The Crush (1993) - “Writer Nick Eliot moves to a new city for a magazine job and rents a room in the house of Cliff and Liv Forrester, whose 14-year-old daughter, Adrian, instantly makes her attraction to Nick clear. Nick has trouble fending off Adrian's advances and as her obsession with Nick grows, Adrian becomes angry at being rejected and starts attacking his property and friends.”

Split (2016) - “Three girls are kidnapped by a man with a diagnosed 23 distinct personalities. They must try to escape before the apparent emergence of a frightful new 24th.”

Gone (2012) - “A woman is convinced her kidnapper has returned when her sister goes missing.”

My Soul To Take (2010) - “A serial killer returns to his hometown to stalk seven children who share the same birthday as the date he was allegedly put to rest.”

Cyberbully (2015) - “A British teenager is forced by a computer hacker to do his bidding. If she refuses, the hacker will leak compromising photos of her to the public.”

Stalked By My Neighbour (2015) - “A mother and her 18-year-old daughter move to suburbia to help recover from a traumatic home invasion, but a sinister shadow seems to be stalking them.”

Ratter (2015) - “A young graduate student is tormented by a stalker who hacks into her electronic devices and monitors her every move.”

The Perfect Teacher (2010) - “A spoiled, selfish teenager becomes infatuated with her teacher. She befriends his daughter as a way of worming her way into the family, and sets about manipulating every aspect of his life.”

Cyberstalker (2012) - “Thirteen years ago, Aiden Ashley's world was torn apart after an online stalker followed her into the real world and broke into the Ashley family home to claim the object of his desire.”

Valentine (2001) - “Five women are stalked by an unknown assailant while preparing for Valentine's Day.”

The Wrong Girl (2015) - “A budding friendship with a new student takes a sinister turn when the girl starts to disrupt the lives of her family.”

Disturbia (2007) - “A teen living under house arrest becomes convinced his neighbor is a serial killer.”

Kristy (2014) - “When a college girl who is alone on campus over the Thanksgiving break is targeted by a group of outcasts, she must conquer her deepest fears to outwit them and fight back.”

Open Windows (2014) - “A jilted fan soon finds himself pulled into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse after he accepts the opportunity to spy on his favorite actress via his laptop.”

Cry_Wolf (2005) - “Eight unsuspecting high school seniors at a posh boarding school, who delight themselves on playing games of lies, come face-to-face with terror and learn that nobody believes a liar - even when they're telling the truth.”

Blackway (2015) - “An ex-logger comes to the aid of a woman who returns to her hometown in the Pacific Northwest and finds herself harassed and stalked by a former cop turned crime lord.”

Choose (2011) - “A journalism student tracks a killer with the help of her detective father and a therapist.”

Amusement (2008) - “Three women are stalked by a killer with a grudge that extends back to the girls' childhoods.”

Truth & Lies (2015) - “Teens band together to investigate the source of anonymous messages that threaten to expose their secrets.”

Night Rain (2017) - “An actress is unwittingly hired by her stalker to make an independent movie about a famous unsolved Hollywood murder, but she and her group of young indie filmmakers soon find themselves the subject of their own terror.”

Voidfinder (2017) - “A supernatural stalker pursues a super model to steal her soul with his demonic camera.”

#FollowFriday (2016) - “Students and Faculty on a college campus are targeted by a killer using social media.”

Urban Legend (1998) - “A college student suspects a series of bizarre deaths are connected to certain urban legends.”

The Good Neighbour (2016) - “A pair of mischievous high school kids create the illusion of a haunting on an unsuspecting neighbor. While keeping his every reaction under surveillance, they see much more than they bargained for.”

When The Bough Breaks (2016) - John and Laura Taylor are a young, professional couple who desperately want a baby. After exhausting all other options, they finally hire Anna, the perfect woman to be their surrogate - but as she gets further along in her pregnancy, so too does her psychotic and dangerous fixation on the husband.

#Misc: keeping to the shadows (ooc)#long post #long post tw #gabriel makes movie lists

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theworstbob · 7 years

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yellin’ at songs: week 31

brief reviews of the songs that debuted on the 8.9.1997, 8.11.2007, and 8.12.2017 editions of the billboard hot 100

8.9.1997

10) "Never Make a Promise," by Dru Hill

See, the thing about this R&B song in which a person makes an eternal promise that separates it from all the other dozens I've heard in the past couple of weeks is, goddamnit I was really hoping I would come up with a joke by the time I got to the conjunction, I figured, y'know, I'd get the ball rolling, get some momentum, y'know? If I started saying words in the cadence of a joke, I would get with the program and sort of involuntarily make a joke. I see now the folly in my ways. I should've been better prepared for 1997. I knew milquetoast R&B was in store. I dropped the ball on this one, and dropped it in such a way that it did not start rolling, to tie it back to a metaphor from earlier. I promise to do better. And uh, fun fact about me, I never make a promise I won't keep.

87) "Down for Yours," by Nastyboy Klick ft./Roger Troutman

Pitch the Auto-tune a little lower, put in a few of those drums what sound like a dude roiling his rs to imitate a machine gun, and this is a perfectly acceptable 2017 pop/rap song. I just wanna real quick address something: I know I said last week that every 1997 rapper, short Magoo, was better than the best 2017 rapper, but I was speaking in terms of pop/rap. Like, if you only go by what charted, which is a mistake for so... so many reasons, 1997 rap is better? But once -- I mean, the Kendrick and Jay albums were fire, but more importantly, you've got folks like Vince Staples and Brother Ali and Joey Bada$$ and Lupe Fiasco and SZA making awesome, challenging works that aren't gonna chart. These charts are at once a sample of music history and the poorest imaginable representation of music history. Anyhoo, I don't know what previously held the title of 'most innocuous song to throw Bob into an existential tailspin over the general utility of the YAS project,' but it belongs to this dumb sack of song now!

90) "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up," by Lisa Stansfield

Hey: if nothing else, clicking on this edition of YAS 7s should give you a fun and cool new way to Rickroll your friends. Add a meta layer to your Rickroll game. I know this isn't actually a comment on the song, because how could anyone be aware of memes in 1997? All these songs predate Hamsterdance. Someone should have told Lisa Stansfield there was already a song called this, though. Anyhoo, I'm not actually talking about these songs at all. They're boring! This is probably the most okay song so far, but I'm putting it out of my mind to think about a boring meme about a boring song.

92) "Drink, Swear, Steal, & Lie" by Michael Peterson

aw this guy's just a big ol' dork. i love him! ii love his dork ass song about how in love with his girl he is. this song has one joke and it's still a vastly more complex and well-written song than any pi[50,000 word treatise on bro country redacted]anyway, this dude's great. like, i'm a pop/punk main, y'know? i love dorky and earnest jams. this hits that button squarely, y'all. i'm so into this.

only publishing the 1997 top 20 because changes happen with the other two and i value consistency

20) "Step by Step," by Whitney Houston (3.15) 19) "Can We," by SWV ft./Missy Elliott (8.2) 18) "On and On," by Erykah Badu (1.25) 17) "I Want You," by Savage Garden (3.1) 16) "It Must Be Love," by Robin S. (5.24) 15) "Smokin' Me Out," by Warren G ft./Ronald Isley (6.21) 14) "Fix," by BLACKstreet ft./Ol' Dirty Bastard (8.2) 13) "Silent All These Years," by Tori Amos (3.22) 12) "What They Do," by The Roots (1.11) 11) "Step Into a World (Rapture's Delight)," by KRS-One (4.5) 10) "I'm Not Feeling You," by Yvette Michele (2.22) 9) "Bill," by Peggy Scott-Adams (3.29) 8) "Just Another Case," by CRU ft./Slick Rick (7.5) 7) "I'll Be," by Foxy Brown ft./Jay-Z (2.15) 6) "Felton St.," Leschea (6.14) 5) "Bitch," by Meredith Brooks (4.26) 4) "Mo Money, Mo Problems," by The Notorious B.I.G. ft./Puff Daddy & Mase (8.2) 3) "Return of the Mack," by Mark Morrison (3.1) 2) "Hypnotize," by The Notorious B.I.G. (4.26) 1) "Not Tonight (Ladies' Night Remix)," by Lil Kim ft./Angie Martinez, Left Eye, Da Brat & Missy Elliott (7.12)

8.11.2007

47) "Stronger," Kanye West

Graduation is such a goofy album because it has three of the best Kanye singles of all time, including what, let's be real, probably ends up as the best song from 2007, but it's also Kanye's worst and least interesting album. It's Kanye at a crossroads, stuck between being the pop/rap god and the morose Auto-tune sadlord who makes 808s and MBDTF. This song actually finds Kanye at the perfect point in the crossroads. He's still making a towering achievement for the mainstream, but he's breaking out of being chop up the soul Kanye, moving into electronic territory, developing his sound into that direction in a way that doesn't quite sound like MBDTF but sounds like the first step on that road. It'd be a bold experiment if it didn't absolutely work, and this is an amazing song by any objective measure.

65) "Cyclone," Baby Bash ft./T-Pain

Man maybe I just haven't noticed it yet or maybe I'm just coming down from the "Stronger" high, but I forgot how horrible the generic crunk beat was to listen to. It hasn't been quite so prevalent, but heck whoever gave this dude the Lil Jon MP3s. I will say that T-Pain making noises to describe what it feels like when a woman dips it low is the tiniest little miracle of a thing, but boy, is my life not better with this song in it. OK I just got to the part where T-Pain makes that noise three times in a row, this song is an achievement in Western art and culture and the world is saved.

83) "Love Me if You Can," Toby Keith

who the fuck listens to toby keith for the ballads like who is this for who thinks of this song when they think of toby keith no legit dude just make dumbass party jams i don't get why this would ever need to exist

84) "Take Me There," Rascal Flatts

Like legit why would you give "Love Me if You Can" to Toby Keith when Rascal Flatts is literally right there. Songs like "Love Me if You Can" and this treacly pile of love song are why you made Rascal Flatts in the first place. I also enjoy the twist this puts on The Country Song. I don't think anyone ever came to Rascal Flatts for Authentic Country Music, so them saying they want the girl to take them to Main Street and the backroads is actually kinda sweet. Like, they're not posturing, they're saying, "Yeah, we're clearly city softboys, but we wanna see the small town blue jean nights that made my girl." Rascal Flatts: generally inoffensive yet again! They just keep comin'!

89) "Proud of the House We Built," Brooks & Dunn

I like this song because it reminded me of The Wonder Years' "Teenage Parents," and I appreciate the opportunity to think about The Wonder Years. I dunno, country hasn't really been problematic this week! This song is almost good! It's just a nice look back on life. "Yeah, it kinda sucked, butcha know what, we made it." Maybe it could've acknowledged that the tough times sucked instead of looking back smiling and saying, "I wouldn't have it any other way?" Hard times suck, dude. I know you haven't heard that Paramore jam yet, but hard times suck and you shouldn't idealize them. Especially when, you know, you're a millionaire, and people who are actually going through hard times are listening to you and saying, "Welp, guess this is my station in life!" Hey Bob you're going on a treatise on the sociological implications of bro country, and you are actually unable to write that. Please write about JoBros.

92) "Hold On," Jonas Brothers

What a week for songs named after far more notable '80s jams! (Actually Wilson Phillips w)I LOOKED IT UP AND DECIDED I DIDN'T CARE anyway did anyone else forget that Jonas Brothers are like legit songwriters? Like, this is definitely as good as any Simple Plan song, and Simple Plan was like a decade older than these kids. Does Simple Plan make good music? That's beside the point, which is that Jonas Brothers was never garbage. They were always making highly enjoyable pop/rock songs for the whole family, and they were capable of making these songs from an extraordinarily young age. We could've done worse, is what I'm trying to get at. Like, we had it pretty got dang good with the JoBros, friends! There's a world where JoBros fades into semi-obscurity and makes highly enjoyable Christian rock with Hanson, and also no one ever makes "Jealous," and that's a pretty OK alternate reality, that one.

100) "Hood Nigga," Gorilla Zoe

The most optimistic sentence on Wikipedia is, "This is Gorilla Zoe's only top 40 hit on that chart, to date." This song ain't bad! It would've been a fine #1 in some of those weeks where the best song was like "Do it Just Like a Rock Star." He has this really fun and gruff voice, maybe a little laconic but certainly pleasant to put in the ears, the beat is, as the kids might have said in 2007, knockin', and we have certainly heard worse things! Also the radio edit replaces N with F and of all the letters to replace the N, F is easily the funniest, because now this song is about a dude who can't get enough figs in his life. Fuck Cristal, this dude's got a Fig Newton cabinet.

New #1 hype! 20) "Lip Gloss," by Lil Mama (6.9.2007) 19) "Stolen," by Dashboard Confessional (4.21.2007) 18) "Beautiful Liar," by Beyonce & Shakira (3.31.2007) 17) "Cupid's Chokehold," by Gym Class Heroes ft./Patrick Stump (1.13.2007) 16) "The River," by Good Charlotte ft./M. Shadows & Synyster Gates (2.10.2007) 15) "Say OK," by Vanessa Hudgens (2.17.2007) 14) "Alyssa Lies," by Jason Michael Carroll (1.13.2007) 13) "Never Again," by Kelly Clarkson (5.12.2007) 12) "Can't Tell Me Nothing," by Kanye West (6.16.2007) 11) "Get Buck," by Young Buck (4.14.2007) 10) "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," by Jennifer Hudson (1.13.2007) 9) "Thnks fr th Mmrs," by Fall Out Boy (4.28.2007) 8) "Candyman," by Christina Aguilera (1.13.2007) 7) "Misery Business," by Paramore (7.21.2007) 6) "Because of You," by Ne-Yo (3.17.2007) 5) "Umbrella," by Rihanna ft./Jay-Z (4.28.2007) 4) "Beautiful Flower," by India.Arie (6.16.2007) 3) "Dashboard," by Modest Mouse (2.17.2007) 2) "The Story," by Brandi Carlile (4.28.2007) 1) "Stronger," by Kanye West (8.11.2007) Hey guess what the alt-country song doesn’t end up being Record of the Year 2017. Also I made a minor adjustment to #20 because Lil Mama is going to stay around as long as I feel I cannot bop her in good conscience.

8.12.2017

40) "Back to You," by Louis Tomlinson ft./Bebe Rexha & Digital Farm Animals

Huh, well, I think I mind this the least of all the One Direction side projects! I'm down for a duet, even if this is just a little too low-key to ever attain Iconic Duet status -- drunk folks and karaoke wanna shout about love, and while I'm sure they'll appreciate the "you fuck me... up" phrasing, you're not giving them a lot to work wth. I've never minded Bebe Rexha as little as I do here, and just like in his boyhood, Louis Tomlinson doesn't do anything to ruin everything. This was passable. I wouldn't mind hearing this again, I wouldn't mind if a thousand lives were lived before I heard it again.

61) "What's My Name," by China Anne McClain 81) "It's Goin' Down," Descendants 2 Cast

Listen. Am I upset that this young woman's villain song does not in any way hearken back to "Poor Unfortunate Souls" in any way? Of course. Am I 15 years aged out of the target market for this song? I mean fucking obviously, I knew we'd be treading in these waters eventually. These are fine generic pop songs, the only true flaw in any being the fact someone looked at purple-haired girl and said, "She should be in a rap battle. I think she could convincingly hold her own in a rap battle," like I'm sorry sweetie you have an abundance of other talents and zero bars. It's charming. It's charming! Listen. Am I ready for China Anne McClain to rule the world for five yet-to-be-determined years in the future? Yes. Do I love Captain Hook's gay son? I LOVE CAPTAIN HOOK'S GAY SON

77) "Issues," by Meek Mill 79) "Wins & Losses," by Meek Mill 83) "1942 Flows," by Meek Mill 96) "We Ball," by Meek Mill ft./Young Thug 97) "Fuck That Check Up," by Meek Mill ft./Lil Uzi Vert 99) "Heavy Heart," by Meek Mill

So if I'm rating the theme weeks of 2017: 1) Kendrick Week 2) Jay-Z Week 3) Future Week 4) Meek Mill Week 5) Migos Week 6) Ed Sheeran Week 7) Big Sean Week 8) Drake Week 9) Bryson Tiller Week I was honestly surprised by how much I enjoyed these songs. Like, I'm actually adding the Meek Mill album to the library for future listening. "1942 Flows" and "Wins & Losses" are legit, they're engaging songs and Meek Mill brings passion to them, and maybe I'm just unfamiliar with the rest of Meek Mill's catalogue, but I honestly didn't expect to be involved in these songs. This seems like a fine album with which to kill a summer bus ride or two. Like, I can't remember the last time I heard a song with a Young Thug feature where I wasn't paying more attention to what Young Thug was doing. Meek Mill did fine work. (Worth noting: Wins & Losses is 15 minutes longer than DAMN., and I am curious what makes Meek Mill think he has 15 minutes' more of worthwhile thought than Kendrick.)

91) "Imitadora," by Romeo Santos

It was "Heroe Favorito," right, where I said I might enjoy Romeo Santos' whole thing on another day, when I was ready to accept him into my life? WELL HOT DIGGITY, Y'ALL, 'CUZ TODAY'S THAT DAY. I love his breathy falsetto thing over this song way more, it just fits. I'm also in love with this track, this gentle Latin guitar with occasional blasts of indie platformer main menu music. I don't know a better term to express what I mean because I'm bad at music, but these synth blasts play in the intro and outro and occasionally come back and they just take this track to another level. This is just phenomenal work from someone I now understand to be a veteran in the scene from the past seven months of limited engagement with the world of Latin pop.

I changed the top of the 2017 Top 20 again. 20) "Bodak Yellow," by Cardi B (7.22) 19) "Woman," by Kesha ft./The Dap-Kings Horns (8.5) 18) "Smile," by Jay-Z ft./Gloria Carter (7.29) 17) "Love Galore," by SZA ft./Travis Scott (7.1) 16) "Bad Liar," by Selena Gomez (6.3) 15) "DNA." by Kendrick Lamar (5.6) 14) "It Ain't Me," by Kygo x Selena Gomez (3.4) 13) "Craving You," by Thomas Rhett ft./Maren Morris (4.22) 12) "That's What I Like," by Bruno Mars (3.4) 11) "Chanel," by Frank Ocean ft./A$AP Rocky (4.1) 10) "Strangers," by Halsey ft./Lauren Jauregui (6.17) 9) "Either Way," by Chris Stapleton (5.27) 8) "Run Up," by Major Lazer ft./PARTYNEXTDOOR & Nicki Minaj (2.18) 7) "Imitadora," by Romeo Santos (8.12) 6) "Green Light," by Lorde (3.18) 5) "Hard Times," by Paramore (5.13) 4) "ELEMENT." by Kendrick Lamar (5.6) 3) "Despacito," by Luis Fonsi ft./Daddy Yankee (2.4) 2) "iSpy," by KYLE ft./Lil Yachty (1.14) 1) "Issues," by Julia Michaels (2.11) Like #1 should be a mix of Most Impactful Song and Song I Enjoyed Most, and maybe #1 justifiably belongs to “Despacito” given how great that is, I’m still getting a lot of mileage out of “Issues,” and honestly as long as I’m not keeping up this silly idea that a song that was #90 for one week is the most iconic song of the year this useless list has at least some utility. Shoutout to the true heroes Paramore, though. And also Major Lazer, PARTYNEXTDOOR, and Nicki Minaj. I will never fucking forget you guys.

Who won the week?

2017 actually put up a rather strong fight, but there was no way Meek Mill and the Descendants 2 soundtrack were going to take down “Stronger,” even when it was being weighed down with Toby Keith. 2007 had a couple strong punches, and it was more than able to notch another point. 2017: 11 1997: 11 2007: 9 In next week’s post, we get to listen to Spice Girls AND Billy Joel, 2007 gives us Luke Bryan AND Robin Thicke, and I don’t know what fresh hell 2017 has in store but evidently Tay Tay collaborated with B.O.B. at some point in the recent past and it’s gonna be real fun to deal with B.O.B. the popular musician should it come to that. What an unproblematic and unremarkable artist who has precisely zero bad opinions which he expresses loudly!

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rasekstories · 6 years

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Sri-La

He had let Juzmik pick their lodgings. It was his best bet at the time, with Easy and the boy leading their covert landing on the new continent. If he’d let Easy pick their base, he would have stuck a flag in the middle of a battlefield and challenged the world to come tear it down, and while Juzmik was a bit softer than he cared for, the village of Sri-La was accommodating enough and relatively peaceful besides.

It reminded him of Revantusk in all honesty, which made him more comfortable and homesick than he particularly cared for. As such, he spent the majority of his time in a small apartment in Halfhill that served as both a living space and an office. It had an excellent view of the quaint little garden belonging to his neighbor, and the town itself was so busy despite its size that he was hardly ever bothered by the inhabitants, who were more worried about the hawkish troops with their hands on their weapons than they were about a glorified clerk with thinning hair.

Still, as long as Sri-La was their landing point, Rasek was expected to be there to push things ahead from behind, so to speak. While the majority of the soldiers rushed to the Shrine of the Two Moons and had fallen in love with the careful majesty of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, the major general stayed behind to welcome the new troops, direct them to where they needed to be, go through his paperwork, the logs, and the payroll without much interference from the Alliance.

Sri-La clung to the wall of a massive cliff face on the northeastern shore of the continent, no less elegant than many of the of the other towns in the area and certainly more so than Halfhill itself, but it was out of the way and offered little beyond the way of fishing and perhaps a place to rest for someone who’d gotten lost on the road to elsewhere, so it remained relatively untouched by the flurry of activity that blanketed the region from the top of the cliff to its western border.

However, with the bulk of his papers left behind at his meager office, if Rasek finished his work early he was left with little to do. He stood at the edge of an empty deck with a fishing pole at his side, having harassed the Pandaren usually sitting there into wandering off and leaving him some peace, patting at his vest in search of a cigarette.

A young woman poked her head out the door and looked him over quickly before sighing and ducking back indoors. He could hear her speaking to someone in her native tongue, followed by another sigh. The Pandaren were amiable enough, but they didn’t like him crowding their space, and when they invaded his he made such a commotion that even with his generous rent he was becoming too much of a bother for the quiet little village.

Rasek shrugged and pulled a cigarette from his inner breast pocket. They’d likely try to bump his rent at the end of the week, which was fine. The more excuses he had to officially move his station to Halfhill the better. Even that shrine the boys had been fawning over would be a welcome change.

He found a single match left in his matchbox, bittersweet since he’d need more soon, but good enough to satisfy his nicotine cravings for now. He struck it against the side of the box, and as soon as the head burst into flame a gust of wind picked up from offshore and extinguished it, leaving Rasek with a terrible frown on his face and his pointed teeth nearly biting through the end of his cigarette. He attempted to throw the wasted match into the ocean to teach it a lesson, but it fluttered helplessly in the breeze and bounced off the helmet of a troll wandering along the beach beneath him instead.

“Oi!” Rasek called out, leaning over the banister and waving his hand. The troll looked up at him without a word. He was dressed head to ankle in dark plate, the deep cobalt blue of Northrend, with holes in the helmet for his tusks as well as a decorative set of darkened Drakkari bones on either side of his helmet. Fur poked out from the top of the breastplate and the bottom of the helm, which would have left any regular troll sweltering in the balmy warmth of the Jade Forest, but for a Death Knight it was just another layer of protection.

“You eh, you got a light?” The major general asked, his toothy grin failing to hide his ambition and desperation. The knight below him shook his head.

“No sir. I have no need for one.”

“Oh right, eh. Ya ya, don’t smoke, do ya?”

The knight shook his head. Rasek sighed and took the cigarette from his mouth, tempted to chew on it but unwilling to ruin his last cigarette, and tucked it behind his ear for safe keeping. The troll in plate did not move. Was he waiting for orders? Rasek eyed him rather awkwardly, unsure of what to do or say. The knight stared back.

“Sarjen eh, why don’t ya come up here an eh, have some company, ya?”

“Yes sir.”

He spoke with a clarity that made Rasek uneasy, and while he was never the best at hiding his emotions, he did his best not to be seen as unnerved by it. He wasn’t concerned about Sarjen’s comfort, but he was unwilling to let someone like that have any sort of power over him, even if it was by accident or something as small as the quality of his voice. It was so deliberate; careful yet dangerous, like speaking to an elf that was actually capable of grabbing you by the neck and squeezing until your head popped. His footsteps on the wooden stairs were just as deliberate. Rasek ran his tongue across the front of his teeth.

Sarjen took his place next to his superior officer, a head taller than the younger man and with broader shoulders, his hands clasped behind his back, eyes straight ahead. When he stood still, he was so quiet he seemed not to even breathe. Indeed, Rasek looked at the man’s chest to see if it was moving, which is was.

“Sooo…” He began, “Ya like it here, mon?” Sarjen was one of the unlucky few who had been stopped by the regular guard closer to Grookin Hill. Darkspear Trolls were not viewed favorably in the Horde these days, and Garrosh hadn’t invited them to join the rest of the loyal forces in Pandaria. Sarjen was no doubt capable of taking care of himself in regards to pencil pushers and lackeys, but he was also a dedicated soldier, and when faced with the possibility of being reported for disobedience, he faltered. As a result he was stuck in the Jade Forest until they could figure out why he was there in the first place.

“It is warm.” The knight’s voice was tinny and deep, rough and grumbling like two rocks being tumbled together. Rasek couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.

“Warm ya, but eh, de mon like you don’t get warm, do ya?”

“We do.”

“Oh?” Rasek shifted sideways to give the man another look. “Prolly cuz ya got all dat shit on ya. Prolly could just wander round shirtless an nobody ain’t say shit, eh? Juzzy prolly get a kick outta it too.” He smiled again, a hint of cruelty playing at the corner of his lips that he meant to seem playful. Sarjen neglected to answer.

The young woman poked her head outside the door again, narrowing her eyes at the pair and clicking her tongue before ducking back in. Rasek turned to look at her briefly before flashing his friend another smile.

“Dey don’t like us too much, I tink.” Sarjen shook his head. “I hear tings like eh, dey got all de Trolls workin togedda up in someplace in de nort’ bit, ya? Drakkari, Farraki, Amani an Gurubashi AN de Zandalari all cutting heads togedda an givin hell to dem fur tings. Ya hear dat too?”

“Yes sir.”

“Sometimes I tink eh, like what if we had joined wit de Amani back when dey was regroupin? I wanted to do dat ya know. Dunno if joo was wit us den, maybe, was like eh, a year ago maybe, maybe more. I wanted to be wit my bruddahs an sistahs tryin to take back what were ours to begin wit, but de whole ting ended ‘fore I could get anyting to move on our end. Ya know what dat’s like, Sarjen? Wanting to run off an help de rest a ya mon like dat an not bein able to?” He peered at Sarjen, trying to read the glow of his eyes from behind the shadow of his helm.

“No sir.”

“No? Neva?”

“No sir.”

Rasek popped the cigarette back between his lips and began patting his vest for another match, as if forgetting the events that transpired just moments before. His face twisted into a scowl as he checked and double checked his pockets, grumbling to himself about fuck this and fuck that while Sarjen watched him struggle with his habit.

“Perhaps the woman in the inn has a light for you.” The knight offered, nodding once at the doorway the little Pandaren kept ducking in and out of. “She seems rather interested in you anyway.”

“Ya tink?” Rasek ran his hands through his thinning hair. “Dey keep on me like flies on shit, s’if I don’t pay em enough to get some fuckin privacy round here.”

Sarjen said nothing. Rasek gave him a look of reproach and turned to the open doorway of the inn. He gave the knight a lazy half-salute and stepped away from the edge of the deck, resigned to asking favors of the nosy, chatty woman who ran the place but not attempting to hide his dissatisfaction.

“Ey eh.” He stopped and turned back to other Troll, who turned in kind and cocked his head to the side, listening. “Tell Juzzy him idea to stay here were shit an I hate him for it.”

Sarjen nodded and turned his back to the major general, who stepped inside to begin haggling for a match or matches and maybe a couple more cigarettes. As soon as he was alone, Sarjen let his shoulders slump and a raspy sigh escape from the back of his throat. Crossing paths with Rasek had never served him well. The major general was in a foul mood more often than not, giving him humiliating messages to send to Juzmik or berating him for his so-called exotic tastes, and of course this time was no different.

Still, the boy wouldn’t return from the shrine for a few days yet, maybe a week or more if he were held up somewhere, and that gave Rasek plenty of time to give him another idiotic message to deliver or change his mind. It might even trump the one he’d already given, or annoy Juzmik less, or even be good news, if the sun suddenly rose at night and the fish rose from the ocean on wings of seaweed and flew away like birds.

Sarjen contented himself to listen to the innkeeper deny Rasek another pack of cigarettes and attack him with a flurry of insults. The sea breeze picked up once again, carrying the cries of nearby gulls and the low cooing of a hozen running around in the sand below, the smell of salt and decay filling his dull senses. Somewhere in his memory, a wiry young scout was sitting on a deck just like this one, kicking his legs over the side and humming to himself.

Sarjen leaned against the rail and smiled to himself. He rather liked it here.

#wow stories #gorwatha #mop stories #sarjen #rasek

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