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lunaetis · 9 months

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eden : senses and other specific headcanons.

what does your muse smell like ?

warmth and ashes. eden is someone who's leaning towards the warmer side of things and her scent reflects as such. her affinity with path of preservation allows her to resonate with the element of fire, thus, she often carries that sort of scent with her. that, and the smell of the burning stars are akin of burning coals, and that is what stellaron makes her body emit. the scent of stars. sometimes, you'd be able to catch a faint hint of coffee or hot cocoa as those are her go-to beverage to drink.

what do your muse’s hands feel like ?

eden often wears gloves on both her hands, but given that she's a fighter through and through, her hands are a proof of that. scarred and rather calloused, she has hands of a warrior who holds countless weapons and had been through more battles than one could count. there are still parts that are soft, but most of the time when you hold her hands, you know these are hands of someone who is on the frontline. scarred, bruised, and battered. you can find the list of scars on her hand in this post : scars.

what does your muse usually eat in a day ?

it's no surprise nor secrets that eden enjoys eating and snacking. she actually snacks a lot during daytime or when she's thinking about something. you'd often find her chewing or nibbling on something whenever she's reading or even during her exploration if she has a chance. she does eat proper meals on time, however, with brunch being her favorite because she loves meat and eggs. but really, this girl isn't a picky eater. she'd eat anything anyone gives her or anything she comes across. best way to lure her out is by food, this had been proven more than once.

does your muse have a good singing voice ?

my portrayal of eden is japanese based, so her voice actor is ishikawa yui. her voice has quite a wide range, it could go deeper or pitch higher depending on her emotions, but there's always a calming or soothing quality to it. she'd serenade you. here are some of the examples of her singing voice : [1], [2].

does your muse have any bad habits or nervous ticks ?

biting is one thing. i say this as a bad habit because it's something she does without realizing most of the time. when she's stressed or nervous, she tends to lean onto nibbling or gnawing on something, or someone. this explains why she likes to snack when she's concentrating. another bad habit i'd say is that she is most likely to not place value in herself as much as others. eden, at her very core, does not view herself as human because she isn't one. she is a vessel created to house the stellaron, she is artificially made, so in her own eyes, she is less of a person than those around her and she would put other people's lives above her own.

what does your muse usually look like/wear ?

she likes her default outfit as they're comfortable and easy to move around in. she has a particular penchant for jackets, coats, and hoodies. from time to time she does wear something casual for dates or outings just to change it up. here's her casual outfit. eden doesn't pay much attention to her outfit or clothing unless there's a special occasion that calls for it.

is your muse affectionate ? How so ?

while she might seem cautious and stoic with those she just met, eden is actually extremely affectionate with those she trusts and loves. the way she expresses her affection is mostly through physical touch and act of intimacy than words. i've written a few posts about her expression of love and habits which you could find them below :

how she expresses her love / calling her name / regarding ' i love you. '

what position does your muse sleep in ?

either on her back if she passes out from exhaustion or on her side as she's curled up towards something or someone. most of the time, she has a habit of sleeping curled up as though she's holding onto someone. eden doesn't know why it's like that or when the habit develops, of course, but she sleeps better when she's holding onto something in her hands or arms.

could you hear your muse in the hallway from another room ?

depends on the situation. eden can be loud and chaotic if the situation calls for it, but most of the time she's rather quiet and kept to herself unless spoken to or provoked. she has rather firm and solid footsteps, however, so you might be able to hear the sound of her heeled boots against the ground as she walks.

tagged by : @maquiscursed ( THANK YOU SO MUCH VEN !! this was fun to do !! )

tagging : i suck at tagging others and this one is kinda long, so anyone who wants to do it, steal it from me !

#.headcanon: eden | trailblazer #.long post #[ tHIS WAS A LOT OF FUN TO WRITE & GET INTO #some parts i've mentioned in a few of my scattered headcanons but it's still very interesting to get into !#I WROTE THIS IN ONE SITTING W/O PROOF-READING SO #i might amend and change things around when i have time #sO EXCUSE ME IF IT'S A BIT ALL OVER THE PLACES #i love my raccoon dottir tho ]

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dragonfire-suau · 1 year

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This is the premise for my AU and prologue for the fic I’m working on. This is an OC insert work but also a chance to play around and world build for Gems. More to come in the ways of art and fic blurbs wile I work on things!!

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Gems don’t have natural predators, their gems after all. The occasional gem gets eaten by larger animals on colony worlds- it’s bound to happen, but as long as a Gem isn’t cracked or broken in the process they’ll just eventually come out the other side or make their way out on their own.

Earth was the ideal planet for a colony. It had a strong natural magic, and Gems made in any kindergartens there were guaranteed to be strong, able bodied workers right out of the ground. The problem with a magic-rich world is that you tended to have animals spring up here and there that were connected in some way to it. They were rare and often not a problem to be dealt with. But…

Dragons are prideful creatures. Strong and intelligent, but driven by instinct. If Gems are magic and light around their true body, dragons are flesh and magic wrapped around living fire. To snuff a dragon's Flame is to kill them. Their magic was fueled by consuming other magics. The natural gems and stones of Earth store magic in them. Alongside meat and plants which fueled the body, dragons would eat the natural gems and stones that could be found to fuel their fires.

Now imagine how it went when sentient Gems came from the stars, magic coming off them so heavily that, to the more gifted dragons, it was visible. Lone Gems occasionally went missing at first. When they were never found they were simply marked as lost, soldiers and builders are dime a dozen and, if the occasional one goes missing, well, the world is in the early stages of colonization it’s not uncommon to lose a few to the local flora and fauna during this stage.

Then the kindergartens started up. The magics of Earth shifted as Gems were planted for incubation in the crust. When they started emerging it was like all magic in stones, rocks, and natural crystals of Earth just dried up.

The Dragons panicked. Magic fed their Flames and without it they were doomed. In their panic they were nothing but mindless beasts.

Blue and Yellow Diamond had been setting Earth up to hand to Pink for her first colony, a beautiful magic-rich world just for her to do with as she pleased. But when the kindergartens were suddenly being plundered by large fire breathing creatures that would swoop in and snatch freshly emerged Gems, or even showing up and digging premature Gems out of the very ground, eating and consuming them, magic visibly draining from Gems as their color washed away to leave dull, muted tones. Any who managed to escape before they were fully drained- and so few ever did, faded fast after. Body losing color and form till they were simply too weak to even manage an outward form, once they pooffed they never woke back up.

Dragons lived in family units, find one nest, you’ve found all of them. Fifteen clans were completely wiped out, eradicated within thirty years time. More than half of them were gone, and they were already so slow to produce, slow to age into adulthood, slow to grow their population in any way. In a last effort to keep from being wiped out, the remaining clan heads gathered. It was decided with what little remained of their magic (for within 30 years Flames had been reduced to nothing more then smoldering coals), they would change shape. Burning embers did not produce fire anymore but it could be coaxed to shift flesh and blood around it, to bend and change leathery wings and scales to skin and hair.

With that, the remaining dragons of the world vanished into the primitive human societies. The Gems brought their hunts to a halt, assuming every last Gem Eater vanquished, and Earth was given over to Pink Diamond. The rest is history.

#steven unvierse au #steven universe #AU #alternative universe #fanfic #fantasy #dragon #dragons #gems #Steven Universe Gems #Steven #fanfiction

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tseneipgam · 9 days

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"Close-ups of nail art, a pebble from outer space, a tarantulas compound eyes, a storm like canned peaches on the surface of Jupiter, Van Gogh's The Potato Eaters, a chihuahua perched on a man's erection, a garage door spray-painted with the words STOP! DON'T EMAIL MY WIFE! Why did the portal feel so private, when you only entered it when you needed to be everywhere? She felt along the solid green marble of the day for the hairline crack that might let her out. This could not be forced."

"Where had the old tyranny gone, the tyranny of husband over wife? She suspected most of it had been channeled into weird ideas about supplements, whether or not vinyl sounded "warmer," and which coffeemakers were nothing but a shit in the mouth of the coffee christ. "A hundred years ago you would have been mining coal and had fourteen children all named Jane,"'she often marveled, as she watched a man stab a finger at his wife in front of the Keurig display. "Two hundred years ago, you might have been in a coffee shop in Göttingen, shak- ing the daily paper, hashing out the questions of the day--and I would be shaking out sheets from the windows, not know- ing how to read." But didn't tyranny always feel like the hand of the way things were?"

"It was a mistake to believe that other people were not living as deeply as you were. Besides, you were not even living that deeply. The amount of eavesdropping that was going on was enor- mous, and the implications not yet known. Other people's diaries streamed around her. Should she be listening, for in- stance, to the conversations of teenagers? Should she follow with such avidity the compliments that rural sheriffs paid to porn stars, not realizing that other people could see them? What about the thread of women all realizing they had the exact same scar on their knee? "I have that scar too!" "

"A person might join a site to look at pictures of her nephew and five years later believe in a flat earth."

"As she began to type, "Enormous fatberg made of grease, wet wipes, and condoms is terrorizing London's sewers, " her hands began to waver in their outlines and she had to rock the crown of her head against the cool wall, back and forth, back and forth. What, in place of these sentences, marched in the brains of previous generations? Folk rhymes about planting turnips, she guessed."

"Every time she passed the model train store she clenched her fists and said, "You did this…" And it was true, it was tris life as we knew it was coming to an end because 160 years ag% of whatever, some old weirdo who was obsessed with trains had to invent trains because trains didn't exist yet. Choo-choo, motherfucker, are you happy now?"

"The only thing that bound us together was this belief: that in every other country they eat unspeakable food; worship gods more see-through than glass; string together only the most meaningless syllables, like g00-g00-g00-goo-goo-goo-goo; are war- like but not noble; do not help the dead cross in the proper boats; do not send the correct incense up to the wide blue nos- trils; crawl with whatever crawls; do not love their children, not the way we do; bare the most tempting body parts and cover the most mundane; cup their penises to protect them from supernatural forces; their poetry is piss; they do not respect the moon; slice the little faces of our familiars into the stewpot."

"The Cairns must be holy, she thought when she visited, for the air around her was doubled, tripled, with remixed and humming life. Old robes and old bones swished past her on their way to cookfires, a mist of eyes looked up to mark the place of the sun in the sky, and the ruddy cows on the oppo- site hillside spoke to each other in words that were almost comprehensible: life, death, Im spilling over, green grass. They said all you needed to be remembered was one small stone piled on another, and wasn't that what we were doing in the portal, small stone on small stone on small stone?"

"On the Isle of Skye, she and her husband ate langoustines at a restaurant overlooking a long gray ridge of rock with a light- house at the tip of it, and laughed at the herds of tourists who insisted on visiting lighthouses wherever they went. "Some things!" her husband whispered. "Are the same! No matter where you go!" But later, taking an afternoon out of the portal to read Virginia Woolf, she realized that that must have been it, the lighthouse the family sails to on the final page. Was that the final page? Or did the book end with herself and her hus- band, cracking the red backs of little sweet creatures, cutouts of each other and all the same, and laughing at the people who moved in one wave, the family who went to the Lighthouse?"

"Your attention is holy," she told the class, as her phone buzzed uncontrollably in her back pocket, for a long-ago joke she had made about a Florida politician "who nearly died during elective taint-lengthening surgery' was receiving renewed at- tention that morning. "It is the soul spending itself,"

"Context collapse! That sounded pretty bad, didn't it? And also like the thing that was happening to the honeybees?"

"CIA Confirms "Charlie Bit My Finger" Was on One of Osama bin Laden's Computers Also a file called assss.jpeg."

"We were being radicalized, and how did that feel? Like we had just stepped into a Girl Scout uniform made of fire. Like the skies had abruptly shifted to the stripes of an old Soviet poster, and the cookies we carried through green and well-watered neighborhoods had been cut by the guillotine. We were being radicalized, yes, even though we owned personalized goblets that said Wine O'Clock, even though we still read the Old Gray Lady every morning with not nearly enough of a sneer on our faces! SHOOT IT IN MY VEINS, we said, whenever the head- line was too perfect, the juxtaposition too good to be true. SHOOT IT IN MY VEINS, we said, when the Flat Earth Society announced it had members all over the globe."

"The portal's favorite stories, now, were about interracial friends who met playing online Scrabble and eventually invited each other to Thanksgiving dinner. One of them must be very old, old enough to have been on the wrong side of the civil rights movement, and one of them must be very young, young enough that their face was like a fresh lightbulb. They must encounter each other's traditional dishes with an equal amount of surprise and familiarity, they must take pictures of them- selves sitting down at the feather-flocked table, and, most im- portant, they must do it again next year. We reveled in these stories, which were not untrue. But there was some untruth in the degree to which they comforted us."

"Modern womanhood was more about rubbing snail mucus on your face than she had thought it would be. But it had always been something, hadn't it? Taking drops of arsenic. Winding bandages around the feet. Polishing your teeth with lead. It was so easy to believe you freely chose the paints, polishes, and waist-trainers of your own time, while looking back with tre- mendous pity to women of the past in their whalebones; that you took the longest strides your body was capable of, while women of the past limped forward on broken arches."

"Our enemies! ... Had they made us weak with intermittent fasting? Had they wasted our evenings with the detective show that no one could understand? Had they done this to make American novels bad for a time? Were they distracting our anarchists with polyamory and meal replacement drinks, so nothing could get done? Had they bloated us with homebrew? Had they made Christianity viable again? Had they brought back snap-crotch bodysuits?"

"What do you mean you've been spying on me? she thought- hot, blind, unreasoning, on the toilet. What do you mean you've been spying on me, with this thing in my hand that is an eye? How were we supposed to write now that we could no longer compare anything to a phantom limb? Was the phrase "the Braille of her nipples" to be absolutely retired? Were we just never to say that someone "inclined her head like a geisha" ever again? Could we not call the weather bipolar without risking the prison of public opinion? Not imply that bird- watchers are autistic? Could we not say the crescent moon was "as slender as a poor person"? Not say the sun "crashed inevi- tably into the mountains like a woman driver"? Take all shades and strengths of coffee away, if we could no longer hold it up to people's faces!"

and the only way it was possible to comfort herself anymore was to stand in front of the mirror and say out loud, "Cows don't know about him."

"MY SAFE! she found herself screaming two days later, kneeling below her husband's work window with a needle standing in every pore, a pair of balled-up panties stuck to one leg and clutching to her chest what appeared to be a dictio- nary. "GET DOWN HERE AND OPEN MY SAFE!" She had tried every number that she could think of-_the sex num- ber, the antichrist number, the twin towers number-_but he grimly took the safe from her and freed it with 1-2-3-4. "Oh," she said, slumping with relief, her body unlocking as soon as the phone was in her hand, "that's good, that's funny. Like learning to count. Like Sesame Street." That night the safe went in the back of the closet, where the words NEW EN- GLISH could not wink at her any longer, and they never spoke of it again, and that was love, that was what love was now."

"Self-care, she thought, and sprinkled in her tub a large quan- tity of an essential oil that smelled like a Siberian forest. But when she lowered herself into the trembling water, what she would have referred to in the portal as her b'ole began to burn with such a white-hot medieval fire that she stood straight up in the bath and shouted the name of a big naked god she no longer believed in, and as strong rivers flowed off her in every direction she did not remember the conditions of the modern moment at all, she was unaware of anything ex- cept the specific address of her own body, which meant either that the hot bath had worked to restore her to herself, or else that she would have sold out her neighbors to the regime in an instant, one or the other."

"and tell him to go suck a poison pussy, sweetie Was it entirely his fault? Lately it seemed every man on the planet was about to burst from a supplement sold to him by another man with exactly the same set of opinions. "Mom, I want you to check Dad's medicine cabinet," she said one day during her weekly call. "Check and make sure he's not secretly taking some supplement with a bullshit name like Destroy Her with Logic 5000 + Niacin."

"It's nonsense!" a man hollered at her, rising unsteadily on his cane. He had read about the event in the physical newspaper. He signed every one of his texts, Love, Grandpa. "It's not nonsense! It's folk art!" she hollered back. Like those early American women who painted kids with enormous fore- heads, either because they didn't know how to paint regular foreheads or because it was a stylistic choice!

"Our politicians had never been so authentic, so linked arm in arm with the common people. "My favorite meat is hot dog, by the way," one told us. "That is my favorite meat. My second favorite meat is hamburger. And, everyone says, oh, don't you prefer steak? It's like, I know steaks are great, but I like hot dog best, and I like hamburger next best." And we shivered with recognition, and a vague vote grew solid in our hands, for we too liked hot dog best, and hamburger next best. We were the common people, on whom it all rested, and we lived in diners, and we went to church at the gas station, and our mother was a dirty mattress in the front yard, and we liked, God dammit, hot dog best."

"Her cousin, born the odd year before her, was autistic, at a time when they still blamed refrigerator mothers. Before he got too strong and was sent away, her aunt had built for him in the basement of her mansion a miniature kitchen. It was thought, somehow, that this bright and well-ordered corner of verisimil- itude would help him break into real life. Little T-bones, shaped like South America, dewy ears of corn, false cans with actual labels. But he cared nothing for this, he cared only for music, he slapped his temples to the pulse, and as he grew taller and turned the beat louder and louder it became clear they had it all backward: real life was in him, trying to burst the miniatur- ization of the body, little T-bones, dewy ears."

"A certain look used to come over her aunt's face as she crossed and held her son's wrists behind his back, in that imitation kitchen full of imitation food. It made her wonder if she ought to have children, for anything could happen, and you didnt know if you were up to it, how could you know if you were up to it? But she thought just as often of a little girl with pigrails who came running down the aisle of a plane toward her once, and patted her all over her arms and legs as she passed, and it was like a rain of soft blue bruiseless plums. She felt the surprise of it long after the girl was gone, and as she contemplatively sipped vodka from a shampoo bottle in the bathroom, a bloom came suddenly all over her skin: maybe she was up to it, after all."

"Her wish for the next generation was for them to be spared an age when numbers got sick- swarmed, clumped together, went plummeting off cliffs-_and the numbers were human beings. But could what they had started be stopped? "

"because when a dog runs to you and nudges against your hand for love and you say automatically, I know, I know, what else are you talking about except the world?"

"The theme they had chosen was swans, serene and graceful, though the only swan she had ever per- sonally met had stared her down outside the Kafka Museum in Prague and then attacked. It had chased her all the way down to the water, its half-a-heart neck stretched out in a scream, but of course, she had understood later, its nest must have been somewhere near."

"She held the little hand and waited for its wilted pink squeeze, like the handshake of a lily. She stroked the heaving back--how hard it was, to haul the body through even a single day- and traced the new brown down on the baby's forehead. She leaned over the child and said something; she said, 'It is going to be just like your mother."

#book

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mangowavves · 6 months

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a mistake (spotify wrapped 2023 on steroids)

here's the top 100 from both of my accounts. and i mean both. i used two different accounts this year. meaning it's a top 187 :3

links will be supplied at the bottom in case you'd rather look at them that way

version one

1. ramen waitress - high sunn 2. hunter's moon - ghost 3. how to never stop being sad - dandelion hands 4. rats - ghost 5. ghuleh / zombie queen - ghost 6. the bug collector - haley heynderickx 7. nova scotia 500 - boyscott 8. ode to joy 2 - remo drive 9. per aspera ad inferi - ghost 10. where the sun sets - mars water 11. what a pleasure - beach fossils 12. seventeen (age) - mike krol 13. year zero - ghost 14. glass jaw - chokecherry 15. american spirits - inner wave 16. fifteen minutes - mike krol 17. kiss the go-goat - ghost 18. ever new - beverly glenn-copeland 19. visions - loving 20. dræm girl - no vacation 21. jigolo har megiddo - ghost 22. song for a guilty sadist - crywank 23. her sinking sun - coma cinema 24. lotus eater - foster the people 25. mummy dust - ghost 26. hospital beach - cottonwood firing squad 27. evergreen - richy mitch & the coal miners 28. what once was - her's 29. con clavi con dio - ghost 30. grade school love - mike krol 31. my blueberry life - current joys 32. clay pigeons - michael cera 33. call me little sunshine - ghost 34. the end - sisyphus 35. gnaw - alex g 36. i exist i exist i exist - flatsound 37. dance macabre - ghost 38. orgasm of death - the growlers 39. using - sorority noise 40. disco - surf curse 41. cirice - ghost 42. swing lynn - harmless 43. stress relief - late night drive home 44. boys - indigo de souza 45. jesus he knows me - ghost 46. red minivan - mike krol 47. blond hair, black lungs - sorority noise 48. smokey eyes - lincoln 49. twenties - ghost 50. ash in the sun - vundabar 51. kids - the frights 52. francis forever - mitski 53. square hammer - ghost 54. alien blues - vundabar 55. ***hidden track*** - prince daddy & the hyena 56. nostalgic feel - bedroom 57. faith - ghost 58. misty morning - travis bretzer 59. killing floor - subvision 60. fine, great - modern baseball 61. i'm a marionette - ghost 62. losing touch (nyc) - thanks for coming 63. make out song - the rosebuds 64. forever dumb - surf curse 65. monstrance clock - ghost 66. two weeks - grizzly bear 67. the gaping mouth - lowertown 68. art school wannabe - sorority noise 69. kaisarion - ghost 70. need 2 - pinegrove 71. you are going to hate this - the frights 72. velvet ring - big thief 73. ritual - ghost 74. rip van winkle - shannon & the clams 75. like a star - mike krol 76. i dreamt i saw you in a dream - sunbeam sound machine 77. watcher in the sky - ghost 78. maud gone - car seat headrest 79. natural disaster - mike krol 80. where'd all the time go? - dr. dog 81. griftwood - ghost 82. morning sun - dave bixby 83. glue - p.h.f. 84 idk - fake tides 85. stand by him - ghost 86. all alone - acid ghost 87. everything is going to hell - teen suicide 88. best supporting actor - good morning 89. spillways - ghost 90. cold weather - glass beach 91. woke up - olivia olson 92. heart attack - mike krol 93. from the pinnacle to the pit - ghost 94. nothing lasts - bedroom 95. enjoy yourself - saint pepsi 96. s.w.a.k. - luxary elite 97. crucified - ghost 98. resonance - home 99. 恢复 - 2 8 1 4 100. a sad song about a girl i no longer know - bedroom kites

version two

1. the village - wrabel 2. get fucked - mustard service 3. unlucky - lunar vacation 4. dancing through the telephone - the axidents 5. i think it might be hell - clarence james 6. common sense - benches 7. want me - baby queen 8. a portrait of - sorority noise 9. like or like like - miniature tigers 10. keep two-stepping - pretoria 11. smokey eyes - lincoln (48) 12. hanging from the ceiling - the velveteins 13. eventualities - daddy's beemer 14. card declined for pizza & wine - stevie dinner 15. fear of heights - daddy's beemer 16. why do you lie - the grinns 17. stay - buddah trixie 18. jesus he knows me - ghost (45) 19. demons - m.a.g.s. 20. shrek~chic - winona forever 21. why am i like this? - orla gartland 22. dogs - nouns 23. drought - carpool tunnel 24. where did my pets go? - furnsss 25. sea dogs & pyrite - soft cough 26. a.c.l. - the symposium 27. jaded - near tears 28. cowboy hat - sea ghost 29. typical - goodbye honolulu 30. nova scotia 500 - boyscott (7) 31. red minivan - mike krol (46) 32. like i care - noah nolastname 33. girls - girls in red 34. corpse - franky flowers 35. grade school love - mike krol (30) 36. dance with me - beabadoobee 37. dover beach - baby queen 38. lovesick - peace 39. like a star - mike krol (75) 40. sappho - frankie cosmos 41. colours of you - baby queen 42. too close - sir chloe 43. easy eyes - archer oh 44. strawberry milk - deep sea peach tree 45. art school wannabe - sorority noise (68) 46. pine point - pup 47. 27 club - strange case 48. blackout control - spendtime palace 49. kids - the frights (51) 50. where the sun sets - mars water (10) 51. the spins - mac miller 52. shred cruz - mom jeans 53. evergreen - richy mitch & the coal miners (27) 54. my only friend - lll spector 55. kim - joy again 56. don't delete the kisses - wolf alice 57. grass eater - the mellowells 58. call me - elevator fight club 59. if you want to - beabadoobee 60. lucid - rina sawayama 61. don't leave me (chapter 1: despair) - hmltd 62. buzzkill - baby queen 63. any other way - tomberlin 64. because i love you - montaigne 65. fever dream - mxmtoon 66. alaska - maggie rogers, toby green 67. i want to be with you - chloe moriondo 68. paper mache world - matilda mann 69. close to you - dayglow 70. telephone - waterparks 71. 14 days - floral tattoo 72. april - beach bunny 73. let's go - stuck in the sound 74. d'you have a car - swrms 75. soapbox sunday - courier club 76. dance macabre (37) 77. ode to joy 2 - remo drive (8) 78. star catcher - vansire 79. cut your bangs - radiator hospital 80. our window - noah and the whale 81. yer killin' me - remo drive 82. my own person - ezra williams 83. angel - lava la rue 84 clearest blue - chvrches 85. flirting with her - sir babygirl 86. heart - flor 87. what's it gonna be - shura 88. tired - beabadoobee 89. urbanangel1999 - thomas headen 90. knock me off my feet - soak 91. you are going to hate this - the frights (71) 92. nothing else i can do - ella jane 93. moment in the sun - sunflower bean 94. bang bang bang - lauren hibberd 95. imposter syndrome - sidney gish 96. natalie portman 2002 - jason is 97. nobody loves you - similar kind 98. i want to kiss you - the spook school 99. turtleneck sweater - marinelli 100. satan's hands - sexy girls

links for the impatient :3

#hotel reviews from hell #spotify #spotify wrapped 2023

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marmaligne · 3 years

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headcanon in two parts, sorry. Ask does not miss it. 1.1 Oh, you know the insecticons from the tfp? Can I have a headcanon where a S/O person is on friendly terms with insecticons?

[TF PRIME] S/O Is Friends With The Insecticons

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* [S/O] meets them by accident quite a bit before the events of the Energon Eaters. Arachnid is still “leader” of the Insecticons by technicality as the only available ‘Queen’ for the hive-mind, however she never really patrols the area or takes care of the hive as she should, rather choosing to wander as a free mind, disobeying orders from everybody.

* You had stumbled upon the hive while taking a short walk along the side of the Jasper highway, leading out of town and to an old coal mine you liked to inhabit on your days off work. A home-away-from-home of sorts, it brought you peace of mind to have a quiet place.

* At least you thought it was a quiet, desolate area until you broke through a thinning in the rock floor of the entry shaft and ended up crashing an Insecticon tea-party.

*It was a rather awkward fall, and it had injured your hip joint on the way down, leaving you temporarily paralyzed in throbbing pains and nerve damage.

* The giant bug-like robots and their shiny, metal wingspans immediately armed themselves and aimed at the shifting dust and rockfall, growling and chittering in a language of some sort, unknown to you.

* “Is it one of those ugly-faced Decepticons ploys again?”

* “It’s too small and squishy, much sooner to be a predacons’ chew toy than any weapon.”

* You looked super confused, absolutely stupefied, completely duped, utterly incomprehensible, awkwardly awed, amazingly idiotic, a-

* Their manner of speech and vocal patterns was practically lost on you. You could pick up remnants of a language similar to broken [language], but really nothing else. In an attempt to make contact with the metallic giants to gain help, you enabled your parroting capabilities.

* Humans have the stunning ability to mimic sounds and specific noise frequencies, at levels other earthen animals, especially mammals, cannot. Using this ability, you managed to copycat the grinding and chattering noises coming from the vocal mass of bug-bots.

* [S/O]: “¿Krrt-grrut vvurrr chechch?”

* Hardshell: “¿Buzzzz vert-tet-brrrz, Erreech?”

* [S/O]: “¿Erreech?”

* Hardshell: “¡VRREE BUZZZ-EECH CLICKLICKIK!”

* The contact went well, unbeknownst to you, and the successful communication meant that you might actually have a chance at escape, or finding a hospital!

* Congrats! You are now [Tiny Bug Child]! You have no idea what they were speaking about, unaware that they were contemplating how to execute you, but you successfully managed to evade death by being cute and cuddly! People say curiosity killed the cat, but it evidently saves the naive human-who-fell-into-an-insect-cult-meeting!

* Hardshell, the Insecticon you nearly landed on top of, begins to lift you out of the rubble, and place you down upon a makeshift stone table, partially destroyed by the collapse. The others—including Wingflap, Bombshell, Shrapnel, Blockhead, and Kickback—gather closely around you, cooing and chirping in their weird language again.

* This was, evidently, how you became the new Queen of the hive, though you didn’t know it, and managed to befriend your way through the entire enclosed community and worm into the spark of every Insecticon, though they were very few in number.

* You made easy friends with Bombshell, and remained close with him up until his untimely death by Bulkheads hammer fist. He would often lay atop the Jasper cliffside with you, and make out shapes in the clouds, constellations in the stars—regaling to you tales of the Old Cybertron, when his own kind weren’t so despised, and were respected as viable assets and allies amongst those with forms like and unlike their own—until the Autobot Elitists ensured they were seen as ugly and malformed, made to hide away in the shadows and step away from society for ‘the greater good’.

* It’s how you came to hate the Autobots—and Decepticons—for all they had done, to their planet and yours, and to your friends as well.

* Your mimicry slowly turned into actual speech patterns and recognition. Repetitive sound signals were a key portion of Archaic Insecticon speech, which made it easy to recognize simple words or phrases, each indicated by a set of whirs, clicks, or beeps.

* Now that you could actively communicate with most of the hive, it was far easier to make friends with even the hardiest of bots.

* Hardshell, of course, was tough to crack. At your constant insistance, he spoke with you once or twice, and made sure to acknowledge your presence when in the room, as well as save you a seat at the underground pub every other weekend. It wasn’t actually a pub per-say, rather a dugout chamber with smooth walls and some stone slabs insert for seating, where the cons enjoyed engex they could sneak off the Nemesis from time-to-time.

* After awhile, he warms up to you, welcoming you back to the hive every day after work, standing alongside his multiple siblings, and pushing others aside to get to hold you first.

* Meanwhile this all happens, they still don’t know what a human is. Their simple understanding of earth comes only from what they’ve seen on the highway from the cliffside, or from video footage of the Autobot pests on the Nemesis. Due to their bulky size and noisiness, they’re banned from most human-inhabited areas.

* Don’t doubt that some of them have attempted to follow their [S/O] home. They have. And some of them won’t stop trying. It’s been more than one awkward encounter between you and some teens to get them to realize they could get you in trouble.

* You all eat [dessert] together sometimes, made with energon supplements for ‘The Boys™️’, with some good ol’ 25-something-kg of sugar mixed in.

* The boys were worried when you didn’t show up for a week due to hospitalization via severe food poisoning medical coma.

* When Arachnid finally returned to Earth, and her fight against Arcee had proceeded about as well as expected, she located the hive and proceeded to force them to engage in business with Megatron. She believed that by implementing her own soldiers amongst the ranks, she’d be better equipped to backstab Megatron when the time came.

* She was undoubtably surprised when Hardshell and some others adamantly refused to take part in her plans at first, until she enforced their compliance through the hive-mind.

*When she learned of your existence, and the very gauge of your importance to her former hive, she came at you with full force.

*The Insecticons were fully unprepared to deal with a fight between their small [S/O] and an extremely angry ex-Queen. In refute, they returned you to the surface without so much as a goodbye, and begged you to escape before Arachnid scented you out.

* It was soon after these events that you learned of Breakdown’s death, Bulkhead’s coma, and Bombshell’s demise due to the combined effects of a substance called Tox-En and injuries sustained during his battle with Bulkhead. It broke you inside to learn there was nothing you could have done to help, but you refused to disobey their pleas to stay away for awhile.

* At the hive, Arachnid rules supreme. Being able to control the hive-mind was a feat a human was incapable of achieving, only Cybertronians able to easily access the imbedded chain of command.

* Hardshell mourned the loss of a true friend—a small, squishy human—but a friend nonetheless.

* Wingflap and Kickback went through a collection of memories you’d left behind with them. Pictures and small objects gifted over the years, a small treasure trove of important parts of their lives, now without you in them.

* Shrapnel stims a lot more now, and has nervous tics that he believes are the result of the loss of his dear friend. He knows you aren’t dead, least not yet, but he knows that you’ll likely never come back.

* Blockhead, as dumb as everybody thinks he is, is actually very emotionally intelligent. He has a way with words he barely understands, and [S/O] acted as a big support for someone like him. Without them now, he can no longer function like normal, and now has nobody left to talk to.

* Arachnid could care less. She absolutely despises [S/O], and would smite them for all she cares. You matter little to her, and only worry her for the loyalty and capacity of her troops.

* It isn’t until the Energon Eaters appear that everything turns completely south.

* [S/O] finally builds up enough courage to march themselves back down to the mine, and demand to meet Arachnid face-to-faceplate.

* The desert is hot, Nevada is hotter, and the trek down the highway seems endless and tedious. You pass by 5 interstate signs on your way to the hive, and count the steps it takes to reach the entrance, parched by the time you make it there.

* In all your sweaty glory, you, [S/O], make your way down the carved pathway into the mineshaft, dark and cramped—just as you left it.

* But everything is exactly as it was left, not an item out of place. The entire hive was empty, including of those you cared about. Their rooms are full of memories, and their energon cubes still lie in a corner, collecting dust and grime.

* The search seems profitable, yet it leaves you with nothing, and the emptiness of the hive echoes around you, and in all the chambers, through the cavern walls of every room.

* You know they’re gone, that they have left without you, and without so much as a simple passing note.

* Perhaps someday you’d find them, hiding away in another Jasper mine, but you never would.

* In their haze of a hive mind, they barely even remember the face of the human they left behind. A long line across the moon—stretching on for miles—and a vampire on a false throne, draining the lifeblood from their veins, and the image of [S/O] from their minds.

———————————————————————

✨ Hope you enjoyed ✨

#writing #transformers x reader #transformers imagine #transformers headcanon #tfp insecticons #transformers #transformers prime #tfp decepticons #x reader #tfp #insecticons #platonic reader

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lilyrachelcassidy · 3 years

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Moonlight

Draco x Reader One-Shot

Summary: This is based off the song ‘Moonlight’ by Ariana Grande. During the bad times of War, not everything has to be so black-and-white. Both Y/N and Draco know it just too well.

Word Count: 2.6k

Warnings: language

tags: @drawlfoy @eltanin-malfoy

Composing yourself had been more than a hard thing to ask for lately.

The Death Eater had finally taken Hogwarts under their control; famous Harry Potter, who was allegedly supposed to play a hero, disappeared in the depth of the unknown; the plan of escaping the school turned out to be an utter failure since the Dementors encircled and blocked every passage of absconding, escalating the disappointment over students.

Yet you hadn't thought of the plan B as an alternative solution, but you were sure, even if you managed to find one, it might take a few more months to figure things out. And you had to admit that increasing anxiety about your parents made you cry yourself to sleep at night. Despite your insistent pleads of the letters to contact you, you hadn't received any response or other sign of life ever since over two months of a constant worry.

And yet, it wasn't the worst part.

The Carrows, who unwarrantedly preferred to call themselves professors Carrows from now on, had decided to introduce their new methods of teaching everyone. And punishing for any triviality.

Once, for example, in Charms class -- which was the worst nightmare of a week -- you had been asked to stand up in front of the class and demonstrate a Crucio curse on the First Year who happened to accidentally bump into Alecto in the corridor. Obviously, you hadn't obeyed an imposed task to which Carrows only reacted with unrestrained rage. Instead of punishing the eleven-year-old boy, the lesson had turned out to be your disciplining session of torture for not being submissive enough. Although the feat had brought you more renown later on, which served to make Carrows more flustered, you still couldn't get out of the Hospital Wing for whole three days.

All of that also led your Occulumency to suffer, which was doubling the struggle. There was for sure no doubt it was an important skill to have, not only to create a mental barrier protecting yourself from uninvited intruders; but also preventing others' thoughts from leaking into your head. It was already enough of bearing the non-stopping suspense in the air. So, the idea of accumulating more emotions on your account would probably navigate to an outburst.

One thing, however, surprised you. You had found out that people who outwardly seemed to have quite a reputation of cruel tossers were actually more decent and human than you could think. In particular, certain Draco Malfoy, who had been selected as a Head Boy in terms of this year.

Wandering around the school and doing the night patrols, he had happened to find you sitting hunched over, face buried in your knees, and sobbing brokenly at the fate the Wizarding World was faced to deal with. He had flumped next to you, without question, silently accompanying and comforting you in moments of solitude.

Two other times of your encounter had been in the library: spotting you among the crowd of students, he would come over and take a nearby place. You didn't know whether it was a matter of pride or disposition, but he had never spoken up, which you, in fact, didn't mind. At first, you had been a little bit dubious about his sudden influx of approachability. However, as to mute your suspicions down, you tried not pondering about it too much.

Funny, how the real nature of the boy who you had known for a nonchalant sneer and teasing remarks, could suddenly become so interesting and mysterious.

It was on a Thursday late that you were strolling up to The Astronomy Tower to see the Thestrals soaring in the air. Normally, it was around the time when you would be putting yourself to the bed, but too many thoughts were buzzing in your mind, and you knew it wouldn't give you much space to sleep anyways. The only optimum, instead of staring aimlessly at the ceiling and flipping from one to the other side of the mattress, was busying yourself with something else. The lack of sleep was due to nothing else than today's lesson with Carrows. They had thought up an idea of having some practice with a Confrigo spell which, rather unfortunately, was presented on a living phantom. As always, a whole hour of torments was disastrous, to say at least, and even after classes, you couldn't shake off the echo of troubled screams and beggings, which carried over the petrified room of students. That's why you were thinking you could swallow your emotions down, quietly and undisturbedly, in the only place you could wish for some private space. Besides, it was the only spot resembling the old Hogwarts you had known from the previous years, showing the calming extent of green grounds.

However to your surprise, when you pushed the door to The Astronomy Tower, noiselessly, you could notice a silhouette of a man already standing at the barrier, which made you momentarily flabbergasted suddenly considering an option of running upon a teacher. To save yourself from much too unwanted detention, you decided to change your track, rushing straight into your dormitory. But almost as you succeeded doing so, in the last moment, a person shifted in their place and spoke up before you had room to move.

"Pretty late for a casual stroll, huh?" At once, a feeling of dread ebbed away, and you exhaled deeply air you didn't know you were holding as you recognized none other than Draco with his back turned towards you. His tone was as usually taunting, but something in a timbre of sadness was hitched to it as well. "Shouldn't be sneaking out of the room on the patroling hours, you know? I'm the least of who you could come upon today."

Your dignity told you to say something in order to defend your harmless saunter to calm down your nerves, which benefited only your mental account. However, he made a point -- you could have been caught not only by some random teacher but Currows themselves who, you were inexorably aware, wouldn't let a chance of dehumanizing others slip away. And besides, you were a little too dumbstruck to speak, realizing it must be the first time Draco fucking prince Malfoy had uttered more than a word to you. What was a coincidence of meeting up with him just on the same day as you had been wondering about your atypical relationship formed within this school year?

Before your contemplation ended, Draco's voice carried on with a conversation, echoing off the walls. "Care to join? Seeing as you're already here."

Frowning to yourself at how surreal the situation can become, you stepped off the stairs with no more hesitation. You truly wouldn't have suspected the things would turn out that way -- embracing his Head Boy position, you thought he would send you off back to the Hufflepuff Tower with his dismissive attitude as it usually was. Inviting you over to company him was a top cherry you hadn't even considered. Truthfully, it made you feel a little thrilled to accept this offer.

As you walked over to him, his facial features became much sharper than from afar. Now, as you looked at him closely, you could define the contours of his face were even more angelic yet still masculine than in daily light. The platonic hair glinted accordingly to the moon above; his blue eyes were focused on a black void in the sky, clearly pondering more than concentrating on a particular object; a mouth pursed into a line, not a mocking expression he was usually carrying himself with. Eyeing him like that and still not being capable of deciphering him suggested he must be someone between a completely unemotional git or an excellent master of Occulumency. You preferred to presume the second one.

Quickly, realizing you were staring, you turned your head to behold a collection of vivid stars hovering above your head. You knew it was only in the Wizarding World that sky flickered so brightly -- your father was a muggle, and a whole family dwelled among a non-magical society, which you didn't mind at all. And that's why you were able to recognize... differences existing between those two worlds.

"Why are you here?" you asked curiously, not quite capable of restraining yourself from doing so. You were standing close enough to him to smell his sandalwood cologne.

He gave you a perfunctory smile, and although it was a three-second gesture, it somehow made you lighter on the chest to know he was convenient with a conversation. "Needed someplace to think," he explained, not darting his eyes away from where he was looking. He took a pause there. "You?"

"The same reason," you answered simply, shrugging. "My roommates can be too loud sometimes, and I needed some silence to sort out...stuff."

Draco nodded in understanding, not interfering any further into the topic. Brushing your hair habitually with fingers, you scolded yourself for coming up here in the first place. How could you act so irresponsibly to think you could smoothly break a regulations' rule and without anyone finding out? Although you were desperate to hide it, the presence of Draco made you inexplicably nervous, and even though you tried to gulp it down, your stomach was churning when he was around. Time proved his intentions weren't bad after all, and you confronted with the truth ever since he first happened to find you at the moment of your meltdown in the corridor, clutching to him as if he was your sanity. But that didn't dispel your doubts about him becoming a fully active Death Eater, who praised with a Dark Mark on the left forearm like with a reward for some kind of acrobatic stunt.

Your gaze swept briefly over the rolled-up sleeves of his snow-white shirt only to assure yourself the mark didn't disappear off his arm with some help of the power of your imagination. Yet it was still there -- as always, tinted coal-black, scary and blood-curdling every time you looked at it.

That evidently didn't escape Draco's notice who, as though reading your mind, started. "You know, I didn't want this." He didn't have to show what he meant by saying so because you instantly figured it out. You looked up at him, and almost invisibly, his skin pale as it already was, changed even to the whiter shade. "He has bait on me. All of this: assassinating Dumbledore; obeying his will -- it's not because I want that."

The sudden shock welled up at these words, and you gawked at him stupidly, not quite able to process what he had just told you. Swallowing with some difficulty, you coerced yourself to a mutter. "Why... why are you telling me this?"

For the first time this night, his steely stare landed at you, scanning your face to detect signs of emotion. You attempted to conceal it, but he could see you were thunderstruck by his unexpected confession. Without preamble, he smiled slightly at you. "I thought you ought to know."

Ignoring the clenching in your chest, you did your best to not break eye contact with Draco when his eyes were intently locked on yours now. You could swear, something on the verge of interest and sympathy flickered in them for a second. "Why?"

"Because you're the only person who doesn't freak out when I'm around," he explained carefully. "Every time I go to the library or appear in any other public place, you're the only one who doesn't glare."

He closed his eyes, clearly relived with the fact he could confide the worries he had been carrying for a long time. Breathing out through the nose and his lips flinching a little, his head spun again to the blank of the sky.

It was a depressing sight to see him in such dejection, and the images of him being cast aside by his former group of friends with who he had been laughing merely a year ago rolled into your head, try as might to suppress it. You could only imagine what it must feel like to be rejected by everyone around; to play the main role in something you never wished to participate in.

For a moment, you thought he was going to continue because he grunted enigmatically, but the silence remained. Unable to restrain the urge to offer physical comfort, you affectionately grabbed his palm, squeezing it in the reassurance that you were there for him. He didn't attempt to break himself out of the grip, which presumably was a good indication.

"I believe you," you stated, for some reason, satisfied with the fact you're the one to comfort him. "You are a good person, Draco."

This time, it was he who clasped your hand, and he glimpsed at you once more, towering over you with his long legs. "No. In the past, things happened, and to say, I'm not proud of them. Jeering, mocking, insulting -- that wasn't fa-."

"Past is a past, Draco," you cut him off, knowing where it all was leading, and you wanted to bring it to an abrupt end. It was the least adequate moment for apologies. "You can't fix it. Good that you understand your mistakes by now."

He hummed in comprehension, smiling, and his grasp tightened around your palm as if you were about to run off from him, which he couldn't be more wrong about. Admitting to yourself, you loved his smile -- though it was seldom, it much differed from a smirk you were accustomed to at that point -- and you secretly hoped he could do it more often. You also loved that even if he didn't talk much, he was very successful in lifting you up.

Therefore, there you were: standing arm-to-arm with your ex-bully who you had happened to run across; observing the moon in its full exposure; holding hands in reassurance. Both of you clearly enjoyed this gratifying moment and were lingering towards it not to end.

"Thank you," Draco finally choked out. "Thank you for...everything."

Ultimately, smashing the wall of uncertainty down, he wrapped his arms around your neck, hunching a little to adjust to your height, and buried his face in the crook of your neck. At first, your body stiffened at the sudden touch and a skip of the boundary, but as not to agitate him, you adapted yourself soon enough by reciprocating the hug. You started to rub the slow, steady circles on his back, and little by little, he began stroking your hair, softly grazing your scalp.

How long you stood clinging to each other like this, you didn't know. Hearing Draco sigh quietly, feel the rise and fall of it against your hands. Your heart sunk when you heard him breathe out, and you prepared yourself for him to mix out of the embrace because of sudden consciousness he was cuddling with a half-blood Hufflepuff he had been mocking for half of a decade ('I should get going'; 'I didn't mean what I said earlier; 'leave me be, Y/S'). But none of this happened, and he was only murmuring into your ear.

"I presume I should escort you to the dormitory. I could tell you were the whole time with me so no one would get any suspicion if we run into...anyone," he offered, yet you felt him almost grimacing at the thought of ending a moment you were two having.

"Mhm..." you agreed with no more opposition. "But let's give it one more minute."

____________

A/N: This is so typical of me to do something other than what's necessary lmao ;) The second chapter of Summer Nights is almost up if anyone interested. As I think of it now, this one-shot gives me such a vibe of Loud Places/Turn. However, I hope you enjoyed it :) Oh, and I'm explaining the sudden change of schedule with posting: 1. I'm very irresposible; 2. I got the super inspo to scribble this one-shot. Hah, sorry...

#draco malfoy x reader #draco x reader #draco x oc #draco x you #draco malfoy #hp #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter #draco malfoy imagine #draco malfoy x you #hp fandom #hp fanfic #slytherin #hufflepuff #draco malfoy one shot #draco malfoy fanfiction #pottermore #harry potter imagine

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fromtraveldiaries · 2 years

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Flame of the Forest

If you look up Flame of the Forest on the internet, you’ll see a tropical deciduous tree that’s found extensively in the Indian subcontinent. Commonly known as palash, dhak, or palasa in India, it’s also known as the bastard teak. However, if you lookup Flame of the Forest and Kanha together, the internet will spring up images of a resort nestled in the forestry of the Kuthwahi village that lies in the periphery of the Kanha National Park.

Earlier this year, we plan to stay at the Flame of the Forest resort during our visit to Kanha in October. Unsure of post-monsoon road conditions, especially in Maharashtra, we take a flight to Jabalpur and drive down to the resort with DK. The 3.5 hours drive takes us through villages, hills, and greenery and just as it gets dark, we turn onto a nondescript dusty lane that leads to the resort entrance. A warm welcome party awaits us at the gate, armed with flashlights and sanitizers. We have seen only a few pictures of the resort on the internet and none of them have clued us in on the night time ambience.

In the early evening darkness, our nasal and aural faculties overwhelmed with forest smells and sounds, we follow our ushers on a narrow bridge lit with electric lanterns to the reception area. After a quick welcome drink and a brief meeting with Karan, the owner of the resort, we are led to our cottage over more bridges through thicker woods along a narrow dimly lit path. In the darkness we can feel the thick canopy cover overhead and big trees around us. Big bright stars shine through the gaps in the leaves and amid the chirps of loud crickets and nocturnal birds, we hear the faint gurgle of flowing water nearby. It’s just the right amount of tantalization, carefully constructed to evoke our curiosity and yet forbid us from wandering off the path or pause to take it all in, a frisson that pleases and frightens simultaneously.

Later that evening at the reception area, Karan tells us how the lodge is a labor of love for him and his wife. You can read about the history of the lodge in their own words here. The property is spread over 20 acres of thickly forested land, that was once barren, on the eastern bank of the Banjar river. Loosely modeled after the Taj Safari’s Mahua Kothi, it has a rustic look. The reception area consists of the dining space, a small library setup, and an outdoor seating area overlooking the river. There are 4 cottages for guests and on-site accommodation for the resident staff. The indoor lighting is yellow and dim, as in most resorts in Kanha, keeping in mind forest aesthetics and also to discourage insect activity. We sit surrounded by the trees looking at the dance of the fireflies and occasionally catch a shimmer of the river in the pale moonlight.

In the morning we wake up to the beautiful sight of the gentle meandering Banjar river. We now see what we had missed in the darkness of the night. The cottage has a big courtyard and a porch. The porch faces the river and is in the shade of the trees. We discover a snake skin in our outdoor shower and confine ourselves to the indoor one. There’s no electric geyser but hot water is provided by burning charcoal through an elaborate system of pipes, vents, and gauges. The staff monitors the usage and refills the coal chamber as needed. There’s a generator that provides backup in case of power failure. Large glass doors provide a splendid view of the river from the cottage.

Along the slopes of the bank, there are paddy fields and vegetable patches that cater to the lodge’s needs. Machans dot the field bunds and in the overhang of big trees we hear and spot many birds. A herd of buffaloes crosses the river and ambles upstream along the river bed to graze on the western bank. Kingfishers, drongos, herons, egrets, and bee-eaters make their presence felt on the river. In the morning mist, the place has an air of Marquez’s magical realism. The trees are filled with restless birds that chirp unabashedly. ‘Once I spotted 78 species of birds here on a single day’, Karan tells us later in the day. Over the next few days, we spot a number of birds in the resort — red-vented bulbul, white-throated kingfisher, Tickell’s blue flycatcher, jungle babbler, laughing dove, crested goshawk, and oriental magpie robin.

One morning we hear shrieks from afar and look up to see bats circling a tree. We walk towards the gate and discover fruit bats (or flying foxes as they are called) hanging on tall terminalia trees. There are too many to count and they fidget in their sleep, constantly scratching, screaming, and otherwise creating a racket. ‘There must be some 300 or so’, Dharam, who’s been with the resort for more than 10 years, tells us. ‘When it gets hot, especially in the summers, they pee on themselves and since they hang upside down, the pee flows over them cooling their bodies,’ DK tells us. We also spot a giant haldu tree (also called haldina or kadamba in India) that houses many beehives.

Over the next few days, we explore the lodge. It’s too vast for us to cover everything but we try. We discover narrow trails and small planked bridges along the river bank that lead us to the yogashala. Yoga and meditation camps are organized here for visitors. Flame of the Forest advertises itself more as a natural wellness camp that offers safari rides in the wilderness than a commercial tourist resort. We marvel at the natural mementos adorning the walls that lend authenticity to the rustic rural setting. During the afternoons we sit in the large open airy space near the books listening to birds and chatting with Dharam. In the evenings, we talk to Rohit and Amit, the naturalists who enthrall us with their stories. Rohit tells us about his time at Ranthambore and Amit keeps us engaged with anecdotes from Agumbe. We talk about tigers, snakes, wildlife tourism, and gaze at stars using a star-tracker app. We flip through a lot of books and photographs over endless refills of mahua that’s sourced from a nearby village. We hear the regular hoots of owls. ‘There’s a scops owl on this tree and there are spotted owlets on a tree outside’, Dharam tells us. He promises to take us to see the owls.

One day Dharam arranges an outdoor lunch for us under the giant Indian cherry tree. Known as lasoda or gond in India, its fruits are used to make curries in certain parts of the country. Under the spreading crown of its lowering branches, several of which brush the ground, we sit in the shade on wooden benches and have our food in a picture-perfect frame by the Banjar river. Bees, butterflies, dragonflies, and ants give us company. The gentle cool breeze lulls us into drowsiness and we retire indoors to have a post-lunch siesta. The next morning we go to see the spotted owlets. As the sun rises up, they change their positions on the tree to get more sun. We don’t see the scops owl but we spot a new-born squirrel on the property. It shrieks a couple of times before going back to sleep. We are amazed that it doesn’t seem to mind being left alone by its mother. We spot a langur sitting on a tree eating fruits. Later in the day, a couple of langurs pay us a visit at our cottage. They bound up and down creating a ruckus before gallivanting off into the trees.

Another morning we cross the river and take a walk on the river bed watching clams and collecting pebbles. Dharam tells us that the water is cool in the morning and warm at night. He shows us the markings on the arjuna trees on the eastern bank that are made by floating logs during the rains when the river swells up and rises to many times its current level. He collects a twisted bamboo clump as an addition to the mementos on display in the reception area. The property stretches as far as our eyes can see till the bend in the river. Boys from the village swim and cross the river and a lone herdswoman guides her buffaloes across. As the skies darken and clouds gather, we return tired and hungry and catch our breath back at the lodge. The skies open up and a relentless shower pours down. After the downpour, everything is awash with a soft glow, a natural filter that seems to have been applied on the scenery. We watch the sun go down behind the trees on the western bank of the river.

For our remaining days we cancel all tentative plans to visit the national park and decide to spend time at the resort instead. We have the place more or less to ourselves. On our last day, we are told about a snake sighting late in the previous night. Earlier, we had heard about wild boar visits to the lodge. We carry some mahua with us as a souvenir and click a few hurried snaps before boarding a cab for Jabalpur. As the sun ascends, we bid goodbyes to Dharam, Karan, and DK and start along the dusty lane passing the nonchalant buffaloes and the spotted owlets on the return leg of our journey. Our time at the Flame of the Forest has been the most rewarding.

#Flame of the Forest #Kanha #Kanha national park #Kanha resorts #Nature #Wildlife #indian wildlife #forest resorts

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missalectoxcarrow · 3 years

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ALECTO CARROW CHARACTER PROFILE

“Well, look who I ran into”, crowed Coincidence. “Please”, flirted Fate, “this was meant to be.”

Character’s full name: Alecto Carrow Reason for name and/or meaning of name: Alecto was one of the three Furies in Greek mythology, the English translation of the name means “the implacable or unceasing anger” Character’s nickname: None, do not try Birth date: November 19th Star Sign: Scorpio

Physical appearance Faceclaim: Deniz Baysal Gender: Cis-female Height: 5′11 Build: Tall and willowy Eye color: Dark brown Glasses or contacts?: None Distinguishing marks/scars: She has a circular birthmark behind her ear Hair color: Black Type of hair: Straight and long Hairstyle: Alecto will wear her hair differently depending on the day. It is typically worn down but if she’s going on any sort of venture where she may get her hands dirty, she will put it up in a bun Clothing style: Expensive, tasteful, and you can always find her in high heels Make up: Alecto usually wears bold makeup, and she especially loves a red lip

Personality Good personality traits: Intelligent, Witty, Loyal, Ambitious, Confident, Strong-Willed Bad personality traits: Malicious, Manipulative, Dry, High-Maintenance, Haughty, Judgmental Mood character is most often in: Alecto is not even tempered, but she is able to hide her inner feelings well. With her fellow Death Eaters, she tends to be quiet and observant, but with those she considers to be beneath her, she doesn’t hold her tongue. Sense of humor: She has a pretty good sense of humour when it comes to making fun of other people Articulation: Alecto has a posh accent, and always takes the time to carefully craft biting words Character’s greatest joy in life: Emasculating men Character’s greatest fear: Losing Amycus Character is most at ease when: She’s around the people she likes the most Most ill at ease when: She’s around people that she considers to be beneath her, but has to act as though she doesn’t find them to be beneath her Enraged when: Men try to flirt with her if she doesn’t initiate Depressed or sad when: She thinks about how Amycus will always be favoured over her by their parents Priorities: Fighting to have blood status be more of a meaningful category within the wizarding world Life philosophy: That she is a diamond amongst a bunch of coal Greatest strength: Her ability to never back down Greatest vulnerability or weakness: Her confidence could very easily be her downfall, as it sometimes blurs with arrogance

Goals Drives and motivations: Alecto is very motivated by protecting blood purity and wizard/witch supremacy - it was something that was ingrained into her from a young age, and she feels incredibly passionate about it. She believes that there is no place for outsiders, and with Pureblood names dying out, wishes that more of the wizarding community would take it seriously. It feels as though time is running short, and she’s thrown herself into the war passionately. She is also motivated by emasculating the men around her any chance she gets. Long term goals: To spend all of her parent’s money and restore rightful order to the wizarding world

Childhood Hometown: Virginia Water, Surrey, England Type of childhood: Alecto was incredibly spoiled as a child, though she always noticed that her parents gave Amycus more of their favour than they ever did her. Instead of resenting Amycus for it, though, it brought them closer, and had her rebelling in other ways. Pets: A barred owl named Poof Dream job: She doesn’t really have one

Present Current location: London, England Currently living with: On her own Sexuality: Lesbian Occupation/education: An heiress, part time healer, and Death Eater Mode of transportation: Apparation and Disapparation

Family Parent one: Celeste Carrow Relationship with them: She likes her Mother more than her Father, but she wouldn’t consider them to be close by any stretch of the imagination Parent two: Salvatore Carrow Relationship with them: Alecto’s relationship with her Father is complicated. Deep down she would love his approval, but as soon as she realized that he would never favour her more than Amycus, she started to pull away and stop seeking his approval Other important family members: Amycus Carrow, her younger twin

Favorites Color: Red Music: Classical Food: Caviar and foie gras Film: Coming from a Pureblood family she has never seen a movie Drink: Champagne Form of entertainment: Attending parties Most prized possession: A family heirloom mirror

Habits Hobbies: Ruining people’s lives Plays a sport? No How she would spend a rainy day: Listening to the sounds of the rain Spending habits: Alecto does not shy away from buying expensive things as often as she can Smoking/drinking/drugs?: She drinks when the social situation calls for it Nervous tics: None Usual body posture: Alecto has impeccable posture and always carries herself with the grace of a dancer

Traits Optimist or pessimist? Pessimist Introvert or extrovert? Extrovert Daredevil or cautious? Daredevil Logical or emotional? Logical Leader or follower? Both, depending on who she’s around Disorderly and messy or methodical and neat? Methodical and neat Prefers working or relaxing? Relaxing Confident or unsure of himself/herself? Confident Animal lover? It depends on the animal - she is particularly fond of snakes

Self-perception How do they feels about themselves? Alecto is very in love with herself One word the character would use to describe themselves: Beautiful What does the character consider their best trait?: Her intelligence What does the character consider their worst trait?: Nothing, she’s perfect What does the character consider their best physical characteristic?: Her legs What does the character consider their worst physical characteristic?: Nothing, she’s perfect How does the character think others perceive them?: Alecto thinks that other people see her to be beautiful but deadly What would the character most like to change about himself/herself: Nothing, she’s perfect

Relationships with others Opinion of other people in general: She typically sees people as beneath her and not really worth her time, save for a select few Opinion of the Death Eaters: Alecto generally thinks that she’s surrounded by morons, but will make time for one man other than her brother, and that’s the Dark Lord Does the character hide their true opinions and emotions from others? Depending on who she’s around, she tries her best. If she feels no need to impress someone, she can be pretty biting. Most important person in character’s life: Amycus Carrow Best friend/s: Bellatrix Lestrange and Freya Rosier, she tolerates Regulus Black from time to time Dating experience: She has always been a little too infatuated with herself to really pursue anyone to date, but she is very sex positive Romancing: She is very confident and has yet to find someone who can keep up with her

#god should have made girls lethal when he made monsters of men | alecto #character profile

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themuzzleofnemesis · 4 years

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Documents of Evil-Third Period; Terminal Phase

The Muzzle of Nemesis, documents of evil part 1

“The State of Affairs”

The great war that began as a result of the assassination of the Asmodean prince was gradually wrapped up after the revolt that occurred in Holy Levianta in the year 983. However, at the same time it made obvious the decline of the USE (Union State of Evillious), and around the time Nemesis was released from prison in year 985, each country in Evillious was starting to take its own individual measures.

In year 986, Gammon Octo, the leader of the Tasan Party in Elphegort, gave Nemesis the position of vice-leader. There were voices in opposition of making a political novice such as herself the vice-leader, but ultimately she was promoted through Gammon’s own will and the backing of the public.

Nemesis, who had killed the reviled Gallerian Marlon, was seen as a hero by the people. Gammon figured that they needed her popularity to take back the Tasan Party’s influence.

Nemesis was promoted to the new head of the Tasan party by Gammon’s disappearance in the year 989. That same year, the Tasan party achieved majority control of Elphegort. Nemesis then proceeded to press on with changing Elphegort into the military regime that Gammon had originally conceived.

That same year, former Dark Star Bureau director Hanma Baldured died in Elphegort’s Yatski Village.

Needed for this militarization was an enormous amount of funds and public support. On the one hand the Tasan administration deepened its relationship with the Yarera Zusco Conglomerate, while on the other it began to suppress the foreign-bound Freezis Conglomerate. This “anti-Freezis” policy wound up gathering the support of Elphegort ultranationalists.

As the militarization of the country progressed, its relationship with its neighboring nations worsened. Lucifenia and Marlon in particular would frequently voice criticism of Elphegort’s military regime. One cause of that being that both countries had a deep connection to the Freezis Conglomerate.

Meanwhile, the countries of Asmodean and Beelzenia, whose relationships with Lucifenia were bad due to conditions before the great war, supported Elphegort’s policies. These three countries, having already joined in alliance, developed an even friendly relationship under the banner of opposing Lucifenia. Asmodean especially was collapsing into an economic crisis due to events from before the great war, and so even from within the country there were more and more voices clamoring to merge with Elphegort.

In the year 991, Elphegort proposed an annexation of Asmodean under the pretext of guardianship. The Asmodean government put the matter of whether they would take the merger or remain independent to a public vote. The government had naturally envisioned that independence votes would take the lead, but contrary to their expectations, annexation won by a thin margin. They had misread the lack of faith that the people of their country had towards their government.

In 992, Asmodean merged with Elphegort. The former Asmodean government proposed changing the country name to “Elphegort Asmodean”, but the Tasan party refused. The new country name was decided as “Tasan Elphegort”.

In 993, Tasan Elphegort finally declared war on Lucifenia. They were excommunicated from the USE, but as the USE’s structure had already become largely ineffectual Tasan Elphegort made no move to rescind their invasion force. That same year Beelzenia also declared war on Lucifenia.

In response to this, Marlon and Holy Levianta that headed the USE military planned a full-scale siege of Tasan Elphegort. The neutral power, the United States of Maistia, announced its intent to provide aid to the USE allied nations. And due to Jakoku declaring war on Maistia, the coals of flame were spread across the entire world.

In 995, the Republic of Lucifenia fell to Tasan Elphegort. But Tasan Elphegort’s steady advance stopped there, and the USE side gradually came to hold the advantage.

In 998, the Tasan party began research into a new weapon “Punishment” to defeat their unfavorable position in the war. They fired the prototype on a forest in their own country. One of its developers who witnessed its power was said to have murmured, “Now we are all sons of bitches”.

The second prototype was to be aimed at the United States of Maistia. But the test failed, and the location that “Punishment” actually landed on was Jakoku, far removed from its target. Due to this Jakoku’s southern island of Onigashima suffered catastrophic destruction.

Fearing the existence of “Punishment”, Maistia’s president Tarot dispatched a special task force led by Bruno Zero. They launched an assault on Tasan headquarters, but the mission ended in failure.

In 999, the USE army surrounded Tasan Elphegort. They called for a complete surrender. But the next day—a sum total of 108 “Punishments” were launched at the entire world from Tasan Elphegort.

“Organizations/Important Figures”

The Freezis Conglomerate

Commander Muspell Freezis dies in year 985. His son Surtr inherits his position. By this time the once affluent Freezis Conglomerate is on the road to decline. This is further accelerated by their oppression by the Tasan Party, and by the time Tasan Elphegort invades Lucifenia their branches in other countries have already been closed down, leaving only their headquarters in Marlon. However, their actual circumstances aside, the prestige they had to their name was going strong even during the great war.

The Yarera Zusco Conglomerate

They supported Tasan Elphegort right up until the world was destroyed. However, company head Gusuma Yarera had initially refused to provide the Tasan party aid. This was because his little sister and niece had died during the incident with the S.S. Titanis. Gusuma would often voice his hatred towards the perpetrator Nemesis to his underlings. But aside from his personal feelings, he was also a natural-born businessman, and a patriot. Ultimately he prioritized his organization’s profits and his country’s prosperity.

Gusuma’s younger adopted brother Jorm died during the Leviantan revolt the following year in 984. Publicly it was a suicide, but it’s not clear if that was really the case. There are rumors that he was poisoned by Gusuma.

Gammon Octo

He suddenly went missing in year 989. It was made public soon afterwards that he’d died in the Millennium Tree Forest. However, in truth that wasn’t the case. He had lived on in “Evils Theater”. Gammon had been captured by the theater’s “residents”, and afterwards came to work as their “gardener” in exchange for staying his execution. There, he came to learn many “truths” about the world. But in the end he was caught up in the “Punishment” that Nemesis fired at the forest.

Restaurant “Graveyard”

A suspicious restaurant that was shut down by some conspiring on Gallerian’s part.

The owner Lich and the cook Eater temporarily became members of PN afterwards, but after Gallerian’s death they apparently wound up becoming residents of “Evils Theater”.

After the girl who worked as Waiter was released from prison, she went missing. Some witnesses claimed to have seen her with a woman wearing a kimono in the Millennium Tree Forest, but the truth is uncertain.

Hel Jaakko

Originally a member of PN. After leaving the Dark Star Bureau, she quietly lived in Holy Levianta with her family.

In 998 she was suddenly reunited with her old friend Bruno. Realizing the danger posed to the world, she spurred on her aged body and resolved to give Bruno her assistance.

Feng Li

Originally a member of PN. After leaving Gallerian he returned to his home country. There he met the girl of his dreams (a human) and had two children with her. He fled with his family to Levianta due to the political instability in said home country. At first he tried to discourage his old friend Hel from taking such reckless action, but ultimately he joined in on the assault against the Tasan party with her.

directory------next>>

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annemarieyeretzian · 3 years

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Vincent van Gogh

Vincent Willem van Gogh, a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter, is among the most famous and influential figures in Western art. In only a little over a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 paintings – most of which date from the last two years of his life.

As a child, Vincent was serious, thoughtful, emotional, and he struggled with his identity and direction. He spent his free time wandering nature or drawing. In 1864 he was placed in a boarding school where he felt abandoned. He later wrote that his youth was "austere and sterile."

Vincent immersed himself in religion. He wanted to become a pastor, so his family sent him to live with an uncle who was a respected theologian. Vincent volunteered to move to an impoverished coal mine where he preached and ministered to the sick.

The church committees were not pleased, particularly when Vincent gave his comfortable lodgings to a homeless person and moved to a small hut where he slept on straw. The church authorities stated he was "undermining the dignity of priesthood" and refused to renew his contract.

In 1880, Vincent decided to become an artist in order to bring beauty, comfort, and consolation to people that way. He attended the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Paris where his younger brother Theo supported him financially and the two kept up correspondence by letter.

Vincent rented a room where he lived in poverty and ate poorly, spending the money Theo sent on painting materials and models. He studied color theory and broadened his palette to include carmine, cobalt blue, and emerald green.

In 1882, Vincent painted for the first time in oils which he bought with money borrowed from Theo. In 1885, Theo asked Vincent if he had paintings ready to exhibit, and he responded with The Potato Eaters, a masterwork which references Rembrandt with its use of light and shadow.

While studying in Paris, Vincent met Paul Gaugin, Claude Monet, and Camille Pissarro, and began to both lighten his color palette and paint in the short brushstrokes of the Impressionists’ style. (Pictured: Orchard in Blossom.)

In 1888, Vincent sought refuge in Southern France. His time in Arles became one of his more prolific periods: he completed 200 paintings and 100 drawings. Enchanted by the local countryside and its light, his works from this period are rich in mauve, ultramarine, and yellow. (Pictured: Café Terrace at Night.)

Vincent hoped his friends would join him in Arles and help him found a school of art. Paul Gaugin agreed to visit, work with, and then live with him. Vincent admired Gaugin, but Gaugin was arrogant and domineering and the two fought often. (Pictured: The Bedroom, van Gogh’s room in The Yellow House.)

One night, after a violent altercation, Vincent returned to his room in The Yellow House – which Gaugin had already vacated – heard voices, and cut off part of his ear. He was found unconscious and taken to a hospital; his brother Theo rushed to be by his side.

When Vincent woke, he had no recollection of the event. Vincent recovered and returned to the house, but was forced out two months later by the police after the townspeople petitioned to have the “redheaded madman” removed.

Vincent returned to the hospital, then left Arles and voluntarily admitted himself to an asylum (Saint-Paul-de-Mausole) in 1889. While at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, Vincent painted 150 canvases over the course of a year. (Pictured: The Courtyard of the Hospital at Arles.)

Vincent Van Gogh painted Starry Night in 1889 from his room at the asylum. He wrote to his sister Willemien “This morning I saw the countryside from my window a long time before sunrise, with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big.” According to a later letter to his brother Theo, he considered Starry Night to be a failure.

One of his best-known works, Almond Blossoms, was painted in response to the news that Theo had become a father (and Vincent an uncle). From one of his letters: "I started right away to make a picture for him… branches of white almond blossom against a blue sky.”

After almost a year of stability and creativity, Vincent suffered a severe relapse. Bored, homesick, lonely, and extremely depressed, Vincent shot himself in the chest on July 27, 1890.

Theo rushed to his brother’s side the following morning and found him in good spirits; but within hours Vincent began to fail, suffering from an untreated infection resulting from the wound. Vincent van Gogh died a day later on July 29, 1890.

Vincent’s last words – as recorded by his brother Theo – were "La tristesse durera toujours." or "The sadness will last forever." Vincent was considered a failure and a madman in his lifetime, and his suicide at age 37 came after years of depression, poverty, and mental illness.

#Vincent van Gogh #Vincent #van Gogh #Dutch Post-Impressionist #Dutch #Post-Impressionist #Post-Impressionism #Post-Impressionist painter #Post-Impressionist artist #painter #artist #mental illness

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aforrestofstuff · 4 years

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Okay! I have a burning question for you, my dude. Music is my life, and I wanna know what kind of music the OPM casts listen to. Thanks, my guy!

I had a feeling this would be inevitable lol. I don’t really know a whole lot about music or genres or anything like that so I’m just gonna give you a rundown of each character individually and some song recs along with that just to smooth things out a little. Thanks for your ask, by the way! ❤️ Now my playlists will be put to good use.

A Brief Rundown of the Major OPM Characters’ Music Tastes:

Blast: hc that he doesn’t even have ears since he never fucking LISTENS

Terrible Tornado: Stuff that makes her feel powerful. Loud vocals and good instrumentals. Also, she’s a little angsty since she’s saltier than the gotdamn Pacific almost all of the time. (Recs: Florence and the Machine - How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, Susanne Sundfør - Delirious, Florence and the Machine - What Kind of Man, Kali Uchis - Dead to Me, Let’s Eat Grandma - Falling Into Me)

Fubuki: some of that real classy shit. Slow songs that are nice to just have a cup of tea with. Nothing too meaty or fast-paced, she enjoys taking a moment to breathe every once and a while since life gets pretty hectic when you’re managing a gang of some 30 hooligans. (Recs: Wes - Midnight Low, any song from Lana Del Rey’s entire discography lol, Florence and the Machine - Grace, The Marìas - I Don’t Know You, Yellow House - Ain’t Gonna Call, Feng Suave - Toking, Dozing)

Silverfang: Stuff from his time. I hc that he was a bit of a party animal back in his prime so he’s gotta have those grooves. Disco to the extremo. Also, another hc: Garou absolutely hates his music. He would play it during training and Garou would contemplate homicide. (Recs: Frankie Valli - Grease, The Edgar Winter Group - Free Ride, KC and the Sunshine Band - I’m Your Boogie Man, Matthew Wilder - Break My Stride, The Main Ingredient - Everybody Plays the Fool, Andrea True Connection - More, More, More)

Bomb: save as Silverfang, although I hc that Bomb was a little more of a nerd growing up. Still, he never missed out on a good party. (Additional Recs: KC and the Sunshine Band - Get Down Tonight, The Trammps - Disco Inferno, Tierra - Together, Cornelius Bros and Sister Rose - Too Late to Turn Back Now)

Atomic Samurai: Old shit. Shit older than Silverfang. He’s really not that old, but his soul is fucking ancient and he’s got that classic “grrr music these days sucks” kind of shithead attitude. (Recs: Jim Croce - Time in a Bottle, Dion - Runaround Sue, The Carpenters - The End of the World, The Band - The Weight)

Child Emperor: Upbeat synth. Stuff to listen to while he’s working on his machines and whatnot. Probably has meaty beats to keep him in tune with what he’s doing, like working around a clock. Probably some groovy citypop in there too. (Recs: Taeko Ohnuki - 4:00 AM, Junko Ohashi - Telephone Number, Tatsuro Yamashita - Magic Ways, Hiroyuki Sawano - NEXUS, Superfly - Kakusei, Mariya Takeuchi - Plastic Love)

Metal Knight: Intrumentals that Disney villains listen to. Deep, dark shit that makes you feel sad. He probably feeds off of negative emotion. What a toolbag. (Recs: Lucas King - Sociopath, Abel Korzeniowski- Table for Two, Max Richter - Never Goodbye, Max Richter - She Remembers, Evelyn Stein - Quiet Resource, Mac Quayle - Adagio in G Minor)

King: video game soundtracks, obviously. Might be some electro funk in there too, as a treat. (Recs: Metal Gear Solid 3 OST - Snake Eater, Mick Gordon - Rip and Tear, Xenoblade Chronicles OST - Main Theme, Persona 5 OST - Last Surprise, Daft Punk - Verdis Quo, Toby Fox - Hopes and Dreams, Disasterpeace - Prologue, iamthekidyouknowwhatimean - Run, Darren Korb - Old Friends)

Zombieman: Dad Music. Old rock that makes you wanna rail some lines of white thunder and dance on top of a car. He’d be reluctant to try out new stuff but does so nevertheless. Just a little bit of weird alternative here and there. (Recs: Poison - Unskinny Bop, Mötley Crüe - Dr. Feelgood, Black Sabbath - War Pigs, Def Leppard - Animal, CRX - Walls, MGMT - Little Dark Age, Pink Floyd - Money, Queens of the Stone Age - Villains of Circumstance)

Drive Knight: Dark synth, obviously. Need I say more? (Recs: El Tigr3 - She Swallowed Burning Coals, Trevor Something - Enjoy the Silence, Greg Drombrowski - Devour, GUNSHIP - Woken Furies, GUNSHIP - Thrasher, Carpenter Brut - Invasion A.D., Kavinsky - Nightcall)

Pig God: this guy probably just listens to ASMR of people eating food lol.

Superalloy Darkshine: Upbeat stuff that’s good for exercise; loving those new jams along with some of the old. He’s got a pretty groovy style. (Diane Ross - Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Saint Motel - Puzzle Pieces, CRUISR - All Over, Barry White - Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up, Sade - Kiss of Life)

Watchdog Man: 10 hour loop of wolves howling on a summer night.

Flashy Flash: classical. Some nice instrumentals to listen to while training. Stuff that preferably doesn’t have any or very little lyrics so it’s not too busy on his ears while he’s fantasizing about killing someone. (Recs: Vaughn Williams - The Lark Ascending, Debussy - Rêverie, Grieg - Peace of the Woods, André Laplante - Une Barque sur L’Ocean)

Metal Bat: Modern alternative. A little bit harder than say, Mumen and Kama, but not as hard as Zombieman or Death Gatling. He’s that middle ground where he’s still got some real bangers, but Zenko can listen as well. He’ll play this stuff loudly as he’s doing chores and working out, no headphones ever. It gets pretty annoying. (Recs: Foals - Exits, The Blue Stones - Black Holes, Solid Ground, CRX - Broken Bones, Jungle - Happy Man, The Strokes - Reptilia, We Are Trees - Girlfriend)

Genos: synth. But not just any synth, some heavy, fast-paced synth that’s just like him: speedy, relentless, and powerful. He listens to shit that’ll make you wanna get up and start killing Terminators. Probably. There’s some other synths in the mix too because we love a three-dimensional king. (Recs: Carpenter Brut - Division Ruine, The Protomen - I Still Believe, Carpenter Brut - Leather Teeth, Gunship - Tech Noir, TWRP - Phantom Racer, Le Castle Vania - Red Circle)

Tanktop Master: Dad music but the type of dad music that makes you think your dad was a sappy nerd back in the day. Long tracks that are good for workouts. (Tears for Fears - Woman in Chains, Pink Floyd - Us and Them, Duran Duran - Ordinary World, Billy Idol - Eyes without a Face, A Flock of Seagulls - I Ran, The Alan Parsons Project - Eye in the Sky, Tears for Fears - Sowing the Seeds of Love)

Puri-Puri Prisoner: Pop. Dance music. He doesn’t really get to listen to a lot of music in prison, so he holds on to whatever he can and savors every second of it. (Coldplay - Talk, Bruno Mars - Runaway Baby, Lady Gaga - Bad Romance, Flo Milli - Beef Flomix, Doja Cat - Say So)

Mumen Rider: Hes a lighthearted, soft boy. Likes some fluffy indie tunes. It helps to motivate him when working out or doing hero stuff. He might need to cry every once in a while though, so there’s some sad songs in the mix too. (Recs: Varsity - The Dogs Only Listen to Him, The The - This is the Day, Amarante - Don’t Look Back, Alvvays - Saved by a Waif, The Monkees - As We Go Along, Acid Ghost - Hide my Face, Mogwai - Take Me Somewhere Nice)

Sonic: same as Flash. He’s a little more hip with the times however, so he’s got some more groovy, electronic instrumentals to listen to in addition to some elegant stuff and isn’t opposed to having a little bit of lyrics sprinkled in there as well. In fact, he’s not opposed to uppity pop either. He thinks dancing is frivolous but he secretly does it when he thinks nobody is looking. (Additional Recs: Odesza - Bloom, Pretty Lights - One Day They’ll Know [Odesza Remix], BØRNS - Electric Love, Hembree - Culture, The Cinematic Orchestra - Arrival of the Birds)

Garou: same as Metal Bat. Bang let him have a little MP3 player during his time at the dojo and has since collected a few songs on there. They’re very near and dear to his heart since it’s one of the few good things that came from his absolute disaster of a childhood. (Additional Recs: Foals - Inhaler, CRX - Slow Down, Deep Sea Arcade - Close to Me, Gorillaz - Empire Ants, The Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger, Glass Animals - Take A Slice)

Death Gatling: Shit your old Vietnam-vet grandpa would blast on the back of his F150. He gives me self-righteous asshole vibes, if I’m honest. Like, don’t get me wrong, I like Death Gatling, but he seems like the type of trailer park-dwelling sewer rat to carry a revolver into a Walmart for “self defense” and that’s probably the type of music he listens to, too. (Recs: Megadeth - Trust, Megadeth - Angry Again, Creedence Clearwater Revival - Fortunate Son, Glen Campbell - Southern Nights, Mötley Crüe - Kickstart My Heart, Quiet Riot - Cum on Feel the Noize)

One-Shotter: I hard hc that he had an emo phase he never quite grew out of. He doesn’t quite listen to emo anymore but he’s still into that alternative shit. Homeboy also likes some slow tunes every once and a while because he’s an emotional dude who’s not afraid of a good cry. (Recs: Anything from Blink-182, Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know?, MGMT - When You Die, Mazzy Star - Fade Into You, Cigarettes After Sex - Dreaming of You, Yon Ort - Other Matter)

Lightning Max: Same as Genos but without the terminator-killing. Fast-paced stuff because he’s a fast lightning dude. A little more upbeat because he’s not as much as an edgelord as Genos, however. (Additional Recs: Carpenter Brut - Hang’em All, The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize, Worn Tin - Sensitivity, B.E.R. - The Night Begins to Shine, Martin Hall - Different Kind of Love)

Stinger: he’s all about that FUNK! Stuff that gets him moving! Stuff that makes him wanna dance! (Recs: Daft Punk - Doin’ it Right, TWRP - Body Image, Wild Cherry - Play that Funky Music, Chemise - She Can’t Love You, Saga - Wind Him Up, Saga - On the Loose, TWRP - All Night Forever)

Okamaitachi: they give me electro vibes! New, modern shit that’s good to dance to or to just sit down and have a listen! Also, some shit that’ll probably play in a coming-of-age teen movie or something. They don’t really vibe with heavy music and that’s alright, babey! Keeping it light and bouncy. (Recs: Tei Shi - Bassically, Varsity - Must Be Nice, Class Actress - Weekend, CHVRCHES - Richard Pryor, Alvvays - Marry Me, Archie, Sobs - Telltale Signs, Goth Babe - Sometimes, ALASKALASKA - Meateater)

Iaian: Nice, low tunes that are good for meditation and to be used for background noise during training sessions. He never really sits down to listen to music, it’s always in the background of something else he’s doing so he prefers to have some soft beats that don’t really interfere with his senses. Tunes so quiet, he sometimes uses them as lullabies; especially since the trauma of losing his arm has since made it hard to sleep. (Recs: Boy Scouts - Saddest Boy, Susanne Sundfør - Mantra, Vashiti Bunyan - If I Were the Same but Different, Starman Jr. - Blue Fairy, Patrick Watson - Je te Laisserai des Mots, Sibylle Baier - I Lost Something in the Hills)

Bushidrill: same as Atomic Samurai just without the shitty attitude. He’s happy to listen to some newer stuff, he just doesn’t like it and that’s okay, baby! Probably some classy shit your wise old grandpa would listen to. (Recs: Dean Martin - Volare, Dion - The Wanderer, Peppino Gagliardi - Che Vuole Questra Musica Stasera, anything from Luis Miguel lol, Franco Micalizzi - Sadness Theme)

Amai Mask: probably just listens to his own music like a putz. If not, he’s listening to the sound equivalent of glittering diamonds. He’s probably got this shit playing at the end of a long day while he’s chilling in a hot bath or something. (Recs: Fergie - Glamorous, Rita Ora - Hot Right Now, Lana Del Rey - Freak, Lana Del Rey - Art Deco, Tame Impala - Feels Like We Only Go Backwards)

Saitama: He doesn’t listen to music much anymore, sadly. He did, however, have a killer motivational mix to get him through his vigorous training prior to becoming a hero. (Recs: Paul Engemann - Push it to the Limit, Journey - Don’t Stop Believin’, College & Electric Youth - A Real Hero, Joe Esposito - You’re the Best Around, Survivor - Eye of the Tiger, The Bee Gees - Nights on Broadway)

Here’s the playlist with all of these songs in order (mostly):

It’s on YouTube because I’m allergic to Spotify. I’ve got a doctor’s note. Also, all of my other playlists are on my little profile thingy so if you want to listen to my pile then go right ahead.

Thanks for your ask, my dude! ❤️ this took up ALL of my energy lol but it was fun.

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zebrabaker · 5 years

Text

Falling for you, A Dick/Marinette one shot.

She’d been silk dancing for four years, doing trapeze for three. She had started on low sets, set up outside to attract customers. Then, they had set her as a background girl, nothing big, but enough that she caught the ringmaster’s notice. Two years ago, she had been moved to the main ring, with her best friend and partner Cole.

Cole was from Greece, and their parents hadn’t approved of them being non-binary, so they had joined the circus when they were thirteen. She and Cole had been dancing together since she had been outside the tent. Now, the pair was in their early twenties, and it was opening night in Gotham. Apparently, few circuses dared perform anywhere near Gotham due to the Joker. The manager was interested in the ‘untapped market’, so here they were.

The horse group had gone out, and the flame eaters were bowing to a roaring audience. Marinette rolled her neck and walked through the slit in the tent, waving to the crowd before pretending to trip. She launched into a front walkover, down into a handstand, and walked on her hands to the center of the ring. The audience clapped and cheered, and she beamed, standing as the light glinted off her costume.

It had taken months of work, but it was perfect. The bodice had a Basque waist, and was covered in red sequins, with six dots made of black sequins on her front and back. The shorts were miniscule, and were a shimmery black material. Overtop the shorts was a sheer skirt that reached mid-thigh, with slits up to her hips to let her move better. There was a giant golden bow at the small of her back, with ribbons that dragged a little when she walked. Cole had told her the look was very sailor moon, making Marinette giggle.

She waved to the crowds, smiling heartily as Cole flipped down off one of the shorter platforms to land beside her. They took her hand and bowed to the audience, before standing up.

“LADIES, GENTLEMEN, CHILDREN OF ALL AGES!” The ring master, Signore Grigio, called. “TONIGHT, WE PRESENT THEPOWEFUL PEACOCK!” Cole smiled and bowed. “AND THE INCANDESCENT COCCINELLA!” She beamed, curtseying to the cheers of the audience. “THEY ARE OUR TRUE STARS, PERFORMING WITH NO NET WHATSOEVER!” The crowd roared, screaming their approval. “THEY PERFORM ALMOST THREE-HUNDRED-FIFTY FEET IN THE AIR!” The spotlights swept from the ringmaster to where she and Coal had scrambled up to the platform.

She waved down to the crowd once more, before grabbing her bar. She backed up and jogged forward, before leaping. The crowd gasped below, and she relished in the feel of the wind against her face. She swung out a few times before flipping so that she was swinging by the backs of her knees. Marinette stretched her arms out to Cole, and readied for the jump.

Marinette almost doesn’t see it, almost continues on the performance blissfully unaware, but then she sees the feather Duusu let her use for Cole’s mask twitch violently, and she’s instantly on alert. She looks around inconspicuously, trying to see where the danger is without being too obvious (there’s still a show going on). But then she looks up, and her blood runs cold.

The cable. It’s on the verge of snapping, and she’s hundreds of feet in the air, without a safety net.

There’s no way she’d survive a fall like that.

So, the moment she gets close to Cole she leans in and grabs their hands. Cole raises an eyebrow and leans in too. Marinette tries not to let her panic show, but she knows some of it is leaking through from the way her stomach is lurching and her heart is pounding.

“Cole, my cable.” She says in a hushed tone. Cole’s brows furrow, and she sees their brown eyes flit up briefly, only to widen a smidge, but she can see their skin pale drastically. Their grip on her hands tighten, too.

“Jump to me on the next swing!” They say quickly, before letting go so that they swing apart. Marinette isn’t sure if the cable will survive another, but she nods anyway; she’ll be fine. She has to be.

She plasters a blinding grin and shoved down her nerves. She swings back, back, back, and then forward to Cole, who’s arms are ready to catch her. She’s almost there, just a few more inches, she can feel hope bubbling in her chest, and a grin twitches at the corner of her lips. There’s a resounding snap, and her hope bursts, seizing her heart.

Fear takes it’s place, and Marinette locks eyes with Cole’s own dark brown ones. Something akin to horror crawls across her partners face and they lurch forward.

Oh god no.

Time seems to still for a mere fraction of a second, the seat gives out beneath her, and she jerks forward to grab Cole. Then time grabs the reigns again and in the beat of a hummingbird’s wing, she’s falling.

No- no, that’s not the right word, falling. It sounds like she’s jumped off the swing at a playground, and now she’s falling a few feet. No, she’s plummeting straight to the ground, straight to the concrete ground, straight towards death. She’s three hundred feet up, two fifty, two hundred, one fifty, one hundred, seventy, fifty, twenty, ten.

Then, she’s being caught, someone cradling her bridal style. Whoever it is, they’re panting. She can feel their chest pumping up and down against her cheek.

“MARINETTE! Someone is screaming, and she recognizes it as Cole. The figure lowers her legs to the ground, and she shakily stands. She barely has her feet under her when someone sweeps her into their arms, swirling her around.

“Oh gods, you’re okay!” It’s Cole, their Greek accent heavier than she’s ever heard it. “You’re alive, oh ZEUS!” They were sobbing.

“I’m…I’m good.” She whispered, feeling tears streak down her face.

X0X0X

Dick had been overjoyed when he heard that a circus was coming to Gotham. He had begged all of his siblings to go, and eventually they all caved. Damien had been against it at first, but the animal acts had quickly changed his mind. He had been entranced by the horses, and the elephants had blown him away

“Here comes the best part!” Dick had gushed when the ringmaster had walked into the big ring.

“LADIES, GENTLEMEN, CHILDREN OF ALL AGES!” The ring master bellowed. “TONIGHT, WE PRESENT THEPOWEFUL PEACOCK!” The man in the peacock unitard bowed. “AND THE INCANDESCENT COCCINELLA!” The young woman in the ladybug leotard bowed, beaming. “THEY ARE OUR TRUE STARS, PERFORMING WITH NO NET WHATSOEVER!” The crowd roared, screaming their approval. “THEY PERFORM ALMOST THREE-HUNDRED-FIFTY FEET IN THE AIR!” The spotlights swept from the ringmaster to where the acrobats had scrambled up to the platform. They waved down to the audience, before grabbing their bars. Dick focused on the girl. She backed up and jogged forward, before leaping. She swung out a few times before flipping so that she was swinging by the backs of her knees. The crowd gasped around him, and he saw even Damien was impressed. She stretched out her arms towards her partner, and caught his hands. She whispered something to him, and he glanced up. Dick’s heart stuttered. No, no not again. She swung back, and he had almost calmed down when she was mere inches from her partner. Then, he heard it. That heart wrenching snap, and the girl screaming as she plummeted.

Dick vaulted the barrier, running full tilt for the center of the ring. The woman was falling fast, but he was faster. His legs pumped as he leapt, catching the girl in his arms. He jogged a few more steps, cradling the sobbing girl in his arms. He let her legs down, and waited to remove his hands till she was stable.

The other acrobat was running towards them, sobbing and calling what he assumed was Coccinella’s real name.

She had barely stood up when she was tackled by the other acrobat.

“Oh, gods, you’re okay! You’re alive, oh ZUES!” They’re both sobbing, barley holding each other up.

“I’m…I’m okay.” Marinette whispers, voice shaky and slightly accented. His heart stuttered, and his hand went to his wrist.

“My name is Dick Grayson-Wayne. Miss, what happened?” He asked, setting his hand on her shoulder. She turns to face him, and he sees the most beautiful blue eyes, the same color as the accents on his suit. She has a smattering of freckles, and her lips and eyes are painted red with make up to match her outfit.

“My…my cable was frayed, or almost cut. It just…snapped.” She wrapped her arms around herself, shuddering. “I can- wait.” Her eyes go wide, and she grasps the wrist that he now sees has a covering of make-up on it.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” The peacock sighs. “Only our lucky lady would find her soulmate as she falls to her death.”

#maribat

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thesilverdragoon · 4 years

Text

Fae-cursed

Previous: Wicked White

Next: Tomorrow

The first color to fade back in was the color blue.

A peaceful, dark blue at that, with veining branches of lighter colors crawling up the walls between brass and gold trim that bordered the walls similar to windows.

And a humming sound.

A low, faint thrum.

Vesevont scrunched his nose up as he inevitably came to, sitting up slowly as he did so. His head hung forward as he waited for everything to stop wobbling back and forth. It did. He looked up and around at the strange circular room he was in.

“I see you’ve finally come back to us.” His ear twitched as a voice emerged from his peripheral. “A good thing, I didn’t know if you would make it through or not.”

The speaker was an odd looking fellow. And a very short one.

He wore dark robes, with a large cowl with ornate golden trim mysteriously draped over the upper portion of his face, along with a red and white sash each criss-crossed over his chest, all similarly colored and decorated as the room had been.

One arm bared the resemblance and same color of aetheryte, while the other seemed quite ordinary. The same crystalline features carried upwards towards the stranger’s neck, creeping ever closer towards his obscured face.

“How do you feel?” He asked.

The Ishgardian swallowed, his throat feeling dry and raw. “...Bad,” He croaked.

The man seemed rather unsurprised. “I see. The physical symptoms will most likely disappear as the day wears on.

You likely have many questions.” He continued, watching Vesevont closely as he patted around himself cautiously (though at this stage, one would have described it as ‘drunkenly’) as though he were looking for something. “But, should you require more rest then by all means, please, you are free to take all the time you need here-” “Here- here...where is here?” The elezen asked.

The robed man gazed at him for quite a long moment.

“Another world entire, my friend.” He answered slowly and quietly. Almost delicately.

“What?” Now Ves was sure he hadn’t heard him right. He thought he’d said another- “Wait- what do you mean??”

“There is quite a lot to explain, and I do not wish to exhaust or stress you further, and needlessly.”

“Never mind me- tell me, please-” The knight begged.

The man paused, before nodding. “...Very well.

This place you have been brought to is called the Crystal Tower. An ancient Allagan device capable of quite much.”

Allagans?? It wasn’t a word Ves ever expected to hear. He knew nothing about the ancient empire that had once ruled Eorzea in the days of old, save for a few random tidbits often told by strangers headed to even stranger places.

“Around it lies a city of refugees from all parts of the world. A city that came to be known as the Crystarium.

Only, not from a world you might recall, meaning, our world.”

“Our world?”

“Indeed.” The robed man nodded. “Though this world bears resemblance to our own in some ways, it is not ours. This is the star known as the First, one of thirteen others, barring the one are hail from: the Source.”

Already Ves could feel his head pounding.

The Source… thirteen worlds-

Malarchy. Completely and utterly.

Yet with all that had been going on lately anyway… Who was he to say otherwise?

He decided to entertain it, for now.

“How did I...” Ves gulped audibly. “Get here then?”

“That, is what I am trying to figure out. There are hardly any beings that I could describe capable of breaking such barriers between worlds to begin with. And you don’t seem like any of the ones I am aware of.

Which… brings me to mention that I have several questions of my own. If you are willing.”

Ves’ gaze wavered as he looked away, only to notice a black and smokey figure standing nearby, staring at him.

He didn’t recognize it, and just the sight alone made the hairs on the back of his neck, and everywhere else, stand on end.

The man glanced over towards where he was looking at, frowning slightly. “...That was one of them, yes.”

“Y-you see it?”

“Yes.

Before I get too far ahead of myself, what might I call you, friend?”

Ves’ eyes darted back and forth between the two as he tried to focus on the prior. “V-...Vesevont,” He answered, unsure if even that much was still true.

“Vesevont.” The stranger nodded. “Many of the Crystarium over the years have oft referred to me as the Crystal Exarch, though, for our purposes, you may refer to me simply as the Exarch to save ourselves a breath.” He smiled towards the end.

“Exarch,” Ves repeated. How strange.

This man reminded him so much of the miqo’te that had been traveling with them before-

The elezen’s breath hitched. “I was traveling- with a few companions- we were headed into the Twelveswood to do a job and we had run into a monster-”

“A monster?” “A black wyrm- with a large eye on top of its flat head, and many other smaller eyes along its body, and a long mouth like a river crocodile-”

The Exarch listened to him describe the strange creature, never uttering a word, much less a ‘hmm’ of thought of affirmation.

The trip to the Twelveswood to recover DeFleur’s papers.

The disaster it ended up being as the Garlean that hosted the strange eyeball-worm caught on and attacked them.

“I have not heard nor seen any animal or thing like this I’m afraid. I could not tell you what you saw.”

Ves’ expression fell.

He had to tell him about Puffy. None of it would make sense otherwise.

“...I… I have a companion with me- we- I had always thought maybe- maybe it was a voidsent but… now I’m not so sure,”

“The one with us currently I assume?”

“Y...Yes.”

The solid black shadow-figure (for lack of a better name. Maybe it was Puffy, maybe it wasn’t) paced back and forth behind the Exarch, almost as if entertained by their conversation. Or impatient about it.

“Tis no voidsent. I’ve had more than my fair share of run ins with them.

While appearing malevolent, I strangely feel as though it isn’t. And thus far, I have been correct, thankfully.” The Exarch turned to look back at the dark being. “Likewise, you, Vesevont, are quite peculiar as well.

You ran into a trusted and loyal friend of mine out on the road. She recounted to me the events that had occurred mere moments before I had arrived.”

Friend?

Immediately Ves saw the girl in his mind’s eye. The viera with the blue hair.

“I had sensed your arrival to the First initially, and it was only through various methods of scrying (in order to explain it simply) that I was able to even locate you. And even then, it was not you I had located.” The Exarch gestured towards the shadow. “Twas your… companion, here.

But please, continue. Tell me about your arrival, and what happened afterwards.”

Vesevont continued, describing his horrifying experience in the land of Il Mheg, as the Exarch soon explained to him the existence of pixies and their mischievous natures.

And then the trip down the road, where the sky overhead felt hotter than it should have been, and how Puffy had kept saying that it felt bad- and how he too felt horrendous the longer he remained out there.

And the white creatures… The terrible beasts…

“Sin eaters.” The Exarch named them. “Creatures that have been consumed by the overabundance of light aether. Animals, people, any living being with aether at its core. They’ve been corrupted into the twisted pale forms you witnessed outside of the city, and they search endlessly for others to corrupt, and feed off of.”

“Where did they come from?”

“A product of the Flood of Light. The calamity that befell this world nearly a century ago. Heroes in the name of Hydaleyn performing her deeds to the point where this world’s balance had tipped so far into the Light, that it had ultimately consumed it. Such a thing occurred on the world the voidsent hail from, only in the completely opposite way. You could say the sin eaters are quite similar to them in some ways.

Both parties seek aether to take into themselves.

But ah- forgive me. You were saying?”

“...Oh uh- yes…”

Vesevont continued, describing the appearance of the white maiden in heavy armor, with her weapons in hand, wings beating and staring down towards him, but never at him. “It was as though she...wasn’t able to see me. That or she was ignoring me entirely. It was so strange...”

And only when Puffy had emerged, did she react. And run him through.

“Everything turned white then- I couldn’t see- couldn’t hear either. And it felt like everything was burning. Almost like sticking your hand in an oven full of coals, only, it felt like that all over…”

Had he been in the process of turning into one of those marble beasts? What would have happened then? Would he even have remembered it? Would everything have gone??

“And then suddenly, everything turned black instead-”

Everything had gone dark. As though he’d fallen into the abyss. The abyss he’d seen many times in his dreams, where the shadow being he could only assume was Puffy had dwelled, deep within the confines of his psyche.

The experience had not been relatively peaceful like those times however.

The light hurt, the darkness hurt- everything translated to pain. Just different kinds. Whereas the white felt like fire, the black felt as though he were being torn apart.

And as soon as it had come, it had all come to an abrupt end.

Only for him to wake up here, in this Crystal Tower.

“I must tell you Vesevont that you are no ordinary…” The Exarch paused, wondering how to word what it was he wanted to say. “...That is, your aether, or lack of, is not ordinary by any means.”

The elezen cleared his throat a little, slouching just a little more. “So I’ve been told. When I had first met with...him,” He looked towards the pacing shadow figure. “And we had joined,” He mashed his hands together to illustrate. “A, er, well studied friend of mine had remarked that indeed, somehow I had been surviving without any aether at all. I’m not entirely sure what it means- but he told to me that every living thing has it inside them- like… a life force.

And to be without one- shouldn’t be possible normally.”

The bouts of exhaustion whenever he and Puffy were separated came to the forefront of his mind then.

“Your friend is correct. It is because of this that many are able to channel their aether into spells and the like in the first place. Save for pureblooded Garleans, as you are well aware. But you are no Garlean, clearly.

This being you speak of. Somehow it regulates your intake and output of aether, so that you remain in a stable state. This would explain why you experience debilitating symptoms when you are separated, so I assume.

When you were struck by the sin eater’s blade, had it not been for this system so to speak, then I’ve no doubt you would have turned. And there would have been nothing anyone could have done at that moment to aid you.”

He could have died.

Death was nothing knew to Vesevont. Not in the least.

But dying like that?

It made him nauseous, thinking about it.

“It was then, while you were ‘seeing white’, as you so described, that your vision turned to show you ‘black’ instead, correct? Which, is about the time that I was told that your body gained the likeness of our friend back there.”

“H...Had I?” Ves’ ears perked up.

“Yes.”

And thus the Exarch explained how he had turned into the shadow being, attacking the sin eater without hesitation, without any sort of mercy, inevitably skewering it in the same fashion it had attacked him, only with ink-like tendrils that had once been arms.

“Bear in mind these are all working theories I have been meditating on myself for the last several days now-” “Several days?!” Ves interrupted, looking around in a panic. “Yes- please! Be calm- you are safe here, and well. Or at least better than you were when you arrived.” The Exarch held his hands up to steady him. “But, as I was saying-

I theorize the sin eater’s attack overloaded your system, and that your companion used the enormous surge of aether in order to initiate the transformation to begin with, as, altering the physical body of anything takes quite a fair amount of energy to begin with, should it not prove impossible.”

Everything was starting to spin in the Ishgardian’s head.

Inevitably it manifested as a throbbing migraine. Ves let his head fall into his hands briefly as he sat there at the edge of the cot he’d woken up in. “What’s happening to me...”

The Exarch pursed his lips for a moment, before reaching out and putting a hand gently onto the elezen’s shoulder. “Forgive me, I did warn that it would be much. Did I not?” He said, with a light note of sympathetic humor in his voice. “...Nevertheless… You would have had to have been told eventually.

Let us come back to this again later, shall we? After you’ve recovered from this ordeal a bit more.”

Ves would have argued against it, were it not for the sheer amount of overwhelming everything he felt at that moment.

How would he get home?? Could he go back home? While those two questions were the most important ones he had had, he was sure he had about a hundred more buzzing around in his brain somewhere.

“Thank you, for having me brought here, and not left out there,” Still, he could thank the Exarch for that much. Living was much better than dying. Even if it was quite troublesome.

“I will deliver your thanks to Lyna, as she is the one who did most of the work in having you brought here.” The Exarch held a brighter smile then. “I will let you rest now.”

“Ah-” Ves raised a hand as the Exarch turned away. For a quick moment he glanced off to the side.

The shadow figure was gone.

“I uh… should I need to… have a walk around- am I free to leave?” As if he knew where the exit to the tower even was to begin with.

“You may. I will not keep you here like some prisoner.” The Exarch answered. “Though, with what the soldiers witnessed out on the road, I fear we need to come up with some sort of reasoning as to why you transformed into this terrifying shadow-creature that no one here has ever laid their eyes upon, that is capable of killing powerful sin eaters at that.”

The Ishgardian winced.

This man surely reminded him of the other hooded miqo’te in more ways than one.

“Seeing that you had stumbled out of Il Mheg, we could easily call it a curse, bestowed upon you by the fae.

A much more believable and easy-to-swallow account to the residents here, I wager.”

Fae-cursed?

Even Ves had heard stories of pixies and other dastardly creatures invoking curses on impolite or unlucky individuals. Though, they were usually tall-tales the elders would tell the children in order to get them to behave.

Still, it sounded better than saying he had a worm inside of him.

...Even thinking that sounded terrible.

“I take my leave, Vesevont. Thank you for sharing with me. Hopefully I was able to help you find answers, or at least begin to. If you’re in need of any assistance, please, let me know.”

The door creaked closed as Vesevont was left there in the small antechamber to think about…

Well… everything.

#dovah writing #2020 is the year i start fucking explaining the inner machinations of all this shit

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