#I am an old nostalgic island at peace

[captain-lessship]

The Poetic Lovers Pt. 1/2

All was beautiful with the wonderful world. It was a peaceful morning for Hotch. 

You walked into the kitchen, happily bobbing to whatever was in your earbuds. You took one out when you noticed your dad.

“Hey dad, you alright?”

“Just enjoying the view out the window.”

You laughed, “We’ve lived here for years.”

He looked at you, small smile, “And over that time I found this was the best view.”

You rolled your eyes as you grabbed the jug of orange juice out of the fridge. “Oh, do you need me to get anything from the store? I can get some stuff after my classes.”

“Ah, I think we’re almost out of peanut butter. I will pay you back for it.”

“Nah,” you unscrewed the cap off the jug, “You bought my shampoo last week.” 

Hotch looked at you, an unfamiliar look on his face.

You took a swig from the jug, “What?”

“Twenty three years… and that’s the first time I’ve ever traded you shampoo for peanut butter.”

“You’re getting nostalgic, old man,” you screwed the cap back on, “Oh! So my boyfriend’s birthday is toda-“

“Still haven’t met him.” 

“Yes,” you put the orange juice back in the fridge, leaning against the now closed door, “Anyway, I am going to be back late.”

“After you drop off the peanut butter?”

You rolled your eyes, “Nah Dad, I am going out for a birthday dinner like this.”You gestured to your lab clothes.

Aaron was extremely proud of you. Through long nights and genuine talent, you graduated highschool a year early, you were going to pursue a career in the field of forensics. You knew it would take a lot of time and dedication but you were a Hotchner and the apples don’t fall far from the family tree.

“Alright but call me if you need me. I got to go into work.”

“I will,” you grabbed your bag from it’s usual spot on the hall chair. “See you later tonight.”

After a long day of classes and paper writing, You were back home, getting ready for the date.

“You look like a office cowboy.”

You turned your head to see your younger brother.

“The hat is too much?”

The boy nodded, you looked in the mirror. “Well, hats are my staple.” 

Jack walked beside you, “But your hair looks good.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Do we like the red shirt?” 

“Yeah!” 

“Of course, you’d like it,” you picked him up and spun him around, pulling giggles from the boy. “Red is you favorite color.”

You put him down, “Alright, so we look good, right?”

“Right.”

“Thanks wingman,” you looked at your phone, “I better get going.”

Aaron walked in from the door, getting the attention of both of you, “Dad!” The two of you said in unison.

“Hey, you two,” he looked at your outfit, “Looking fancy.” 

“Yeah, I am also about to be fashionable late! Love you two,” you grabbed your coat and rushed out the door.

“Hey!” Aaron called.

You opened the door again, “Yea?” 

“Keys.” 

“Oh,” you grabbed them off the key hook, “Thanks”

Aaron sighed before looking at Jack.

Jack mimicked the sigh, “They’re hopeless.”

“In ten minutes, we’re gonna follow him.”

“Dad! The cat!”

Jack did that whenever you or Aaron got nosy. 

“Fine. Did he at least bring the peanut butter?” 

You were simply enjoying the live poetry, snapping after people finished. 

“I find it amazing that we went from clapping to snapping, who knew A hand movement as simple as clicking one's index finger and thumb together would became a symbol of rebellion among countercultures.”  He simply took a drink of his tea after saying this.

You laughed then whispered, “I didn’t know you were such a big fan of poetry.”

“It’s a predetermined pattern of words that lets people get out their feelings and thoughts on a subject. It’s a artistic form of a rant.” He whispered back.

You smiled, “Is it a good birthday so far?”

“Yeah, it’s up there with one of the best’s. What are you going want to do for yours?”

You thought for a moment, “Be on a tropical island drinking from a pineapple and watching the blue water from the white sandy beaches.” 

This sent Spencer into a long discussion on why the water looked blue and how alcoholic beverages that don’t taste that alcoholic are tricky to drink in warm environments: the hotter it is, the more you drink.

“So you don’t want to get drunk in the Bahamas with me?” 

“I will take mine without the alcohol, but I would enjoy the beach.” He said, smiling.

He was happy he found someone who would let him ramble and never get agitated by him. 

#spencer reid #aaron hotchner #criminal minds #gender neutral reader #romantic relationships #established relationship #hotchner!reader #x reader #series #date night #happybirthday #reader x spencer Reid #romance #fanfic writing #fanfic #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid x you #criminal minds fandom #criminal minds fanfiction

[shawol-to-wall]

The nostalgia™ of replay by shinee is unparalleled and will never be surpassed

#I said what I said #shinee #onew #jonghyun #kim jonghyun #key #kim kibum #minho #taemin #big mess energy from me today #but also green tshirt debut key hits different and I’ve had wine #I am an old nostalgic island at peace #please ignore me feeling emotions about debut shinee #it’s a lot

[oumaheroes]

Since the new canon season had the industrial revolution as a recurring theme, do you have any headcanons for that era?

Gosh anon, you had me thinking in all kinda ways. I do have headcanons for this era (too many) so I’m gonna break it down a little.

Of course, if I am to talk about the industrial revolution, I must start off with the goblin man that is England. The industrial revolution started with him, after all, and this is a fact that England is very, very proud of. For a hot minute, Great Britain was the workshop of the world and utterly dominated everything, not only in physical items that were outputted, but also by international perception and industrial change. I could go into the historical implications of this and how it affected real people (a fuck tonne man, a fuck tonne), but for England himself this time is one that he looks back on with a sort of pompous pride.

He was known. His products were sought after, his productions were the quickest and the smoothest, and his people were making great strides across all industries and changing them according to a new, British standard. For a nation, a creature that exists to represent a collective group of people and fades when the memory of them is forgotten, this is probably a pinnacle of achievement.

It is one thing to conquer and influence lands by force and might, armies and guns and swords that push their way in and change an existing power dynamic by force. It is quite another to win it smoothly, a silky slipping into a different way of things and a sly, cunning domination of the markets. Britain was everywhere and these products were wanted everywhere.

It is so hard for me to describe how impactful the industrial revolution was using just a grumpy anime man- this event was quite literally earth shatteringly cataclysmic in how peoples’ lives changed as well as how fast this change was. It happened so quickly that even people of the time recognised and lamented the losses the progress would bring (William Blank, a famous English poet, being a notable example).

Our modern understanding of ‘work life’, capitalism, social structure, fashion, food, everything was touched by the invention of mass-produced machines and this… this also makes England conflicted.

He is conflicted because suddenly the world has changed and it has done so, in a large part, because of him. And he is happy about this, he is, but things are always lost when others are gained and the industrialisation of his lands brings with it a loss of a more traditional way of life.

I like to see nations as nostalgic things. If we take away the immortal aspect, the fact that these are creatures that push to keep their people heard and relevant and make sure that they do not disappear into time, they are also beings that silently stay and watch. They see the changing tides of time wash away the past and they alone remain to remember it.

This process is smooth, usually; this process is lonely but natural and slow. Life didn’t really change much from century to century- fashions changed and food evolved, as did the language and the law, etc. But, overall, it didn’t. The life of the everyday man and woman mainly remained unchanged for centuries, generation to generation and decade to decade seeing very little change in the day to day working of things. The industrial revolution though utterly blew up every aspect of human life. If previously change was a slow erosion and evolution, the industrial revolution was a mega flood, ripping apart the earth underneath and receding to reveal a whole different landscape underneath.

Again, I’m not going to go into historical detail too much about how many things were affected but it was many. For nations, then, this would have been an utterly baffling and potentially even slightly horrifying experience, but maybe only something they clocked onto years into it.

England himself wouldn’t have noticed for a while. He would have been riding too much on his high, revelling in his position at the top with his pride pushed higher than it had ever been. But then, eventually, he would have twigged.

Does no one dance that dance, anymore? Does no one sing that old song? That story he loved to hear from the travelling minstrels, when was the last time he’d heard it spoken? Or even seen one of those men about? What was that myth from the town down the road, really does no one know? Is there no one left to remember with him?

This realisation would have been hard to contend with and would have been, and still is, something that he struggles with. The industrial revolution was good after all, and it was something he was and still is so damn proud of that it’s hard for him to accept that he regrets it, even a tiny bit. Especially after his boasting and crowing, especially after strutting about parading his achievements and showing off his fancy new wares and processes. England couldn’t admit, even to himself, for a long time, that maybe, actually, he didn’t quite like it.

He liked what it brought, he liked how it made him feel and he liked that he was, indisputably, at the top of his game and a trendsetter in every sense. But as soon as he first felt that flicker of loss it never quite went away and he could never again feel the full and shiny affects of the first few years. Instead, the feeling of loss grew and pulsed with the passing of each generation as more and more of his old way of life slipped away, leaving him truly an island amongst a sea of the new and the strange.

Other nations feel similarly, but without the smug superiority that came from being the instigator of this madness. The new inventions helped their people and boosted their economies too, so even if they weren’t the inventor of them, and even if England did have a stupidly large monopoly on the industries he’d created out of thin air, they understood intrinsically that this revolution of change was one for the better.

But, like England, they saw and felt the rumbles of change wiping away an old, reliable existence. Unlike England, they weren’t clouded with pride and a superiority complex about the whole thing. They could see the impact this would have early on and they had more time to make peace with it.

A few sources, if anyone is interested in learning more historically accurate information:

Global Transformations of the Industrial Revolution

Cultural & Societal Changes of the Second Industrial Revolution

Wikipedia is also a good read!

#aph england #hws england #hetalia #aph #hws #hetalia headcanons #heroes headcanons #sorry this took me so long anon! #I had to think of it #I hope you like #and thanks for the ask! <3 #heroes answers

[demonslayedher]

Kimetsu no Yaiba and its ties with traditional Japanese culture

Just a ramble and a little dive into what makes the Kimetsu fandom so engaging for someone who, as I like to say, “broke the weeb scale a long time ago.” 

From the perspective of the craft of writing, Gotouge is clearly a novice. While Kimetsu is not a debut work, it’s nearly that, which is why Gotouge only got so big of a deal on anime rights due to (previous) lack of name recognition. It commits all kinds of writing sins; the flashbacks were never hinted to until they become relevant, contrived conveniences move the plot, and I’ve never seen more egregious use of telling instead of showing.  But despite all that, it’s told with a lot of heart. The core bonds between people and character motivations drive the story beyond all those execution flaws. The premise is straightforward and hits on core classic themes found throughout human history of fiction. It’s that lack of nuance sometimes, as well as the pure love put into these characters, that sometimes makes me feel like I’m watching a little alligator child play with action figures and light up as they pause the pretend dialogue to tell you all kinds of exciting things about the world they are having the toys fly through whilst also making ‘bang, pow’ sound effects as they resume play.  (The art likewise commits so many sins but that is so freaking endearing, let’s move on.) A large part of what attracted me to Kimetsu in the first place was the aesthetic. Samurai style warfare never gets old, element-based powers never get old, and when it comes to character designs, the motifs used throughout the series are merchandise gold for how recognizable they are. There’s a certain lack of mainstream Taisho Era manga, despite that being a very exciting and fashionable era made all the more nostalgic for its brevity and relative pre-Showa peacefulness.  You know what, I’m just going to skip the preamble and get straight to it: the more deep diving you do, the more you realize, oh hell, this alligator had a ship-ton of detail and background in this. 

Whether intentional or not, the series has provided a huge wealth of ties to traditional folklore, and when people who know a lot about this stuff start theorizing and pulling in outside research, dang, they can get going.  Some examples I’ve heard:  1. Drawing comparisons to just about every demon legend out there, including spider demons in the mountain, demons that mingle among the courtesans, demons that attain the ability to live among humans by practicing self-restraint, and so on and so on and so on.  2. Tracing the origins of the series to some of the most ancients writings in Japan and showing how many rules and themes of demon slaying have remained consistent throughout centuries of legends. 3. Diving into the local folklore of the places tied with the series (for example, I heard a passing comment about the islands were Iguro is from having men and women live separately, which I have not verified with my own research). 4. Pulling in places not mentioned specifically in canon but bare distinct similarities with canon elements, such as many tourist sites that have recently exploded in popularity around the country (for example, one of my favorite sword-forging sites in Shimane, or a couple shrines that just happen to be called Kamado Shrine with the same somewhat rare kanji, or a garden famous for its extensive use of wisteria.) 5. Diving into the origins of names (such as how the pronunciation of “Agatsuma” has roots in Shinto mythology of a god singing the praises of his wonderful wife) and traditional patterns (the Ichimatsu (checkerboard) patterns having ties to enduring continuity, many other patterns being used to ward off evil, etc.) It’s such a fun rabbit hole (or, swamp demon hole??) which fans go really, really deep in their theories, bringing in uncanny comparisons to historical botanists or insisting that just because something has roots in the Heian period it must be chosen on purpose because you know who else has roots in the Heian period? Kibutsuji Muzan. It’s all connected, Wani-sensei, sugooooooiiiiiiii!!!! And I love to get wrapped up in that too (see here), but then when I consider translating the juicy details, I usually stop for two reasons: 

1. That’s... that a lot of background that would take a really long time to explain. 2. When you get down to it, a lot of it is just fun coincidences, and I think it’s too far of a stretch to make them canon theories.  It’s when I choose not to translate them that I reach two conclusions.  1. Whether consciously or unconsciously, it’s very possible Gotouge did take these sorts of very, very trivial details into account when designing the characters, especially giving the very clear level of research that did go into specifying a lot of the character details. Like, seriously, Wani-sensei, how many yyyyyyyears have you spent soaking all this up? The sheer level of Taisho Era world building is a testament to that.  2. Even without all those layers of ties to centuries and centuries of folklore, at its core, the story remains engaging because of the elements mentioned previously. It’s a classic tale of good versus evil; there are no elemental powers, it’s just people doing the best they can because they have motives that drive them--familial love, revenge, duty, regret, filling in something that’s missing.  But oh, man, oh my demons, how I love, love, love how this series stokes my nerdy side, I love it, I want to climb ALL THOSE MOUNTAINS AROUND TOKYO AS FANDOM PILGRIMAGES AND DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON HOW MUCH THIS FANDOM HAS INFILTRATED EVEN MY TEA CEREMONY LESSONS EVER SINCE THAT RIKYU-BAI NATSUME REMINDED ME AND MY CLASSMATE OF UZUI TENGEN, I CANNOT FULLY CONCENTRATE or even BREATHE, SENSEI, I CANNOT PRACTICE THIS ‘OCHA NO KOKYUU’ WHEN YOU KEEP MAKING KIMETSU REFERENCES, AND I AM NOT EVEN THE ONLY ONE WHO MADE THAT INOKO-MOCHI JOKE, STAHP------

#KnY nerdery #Kimetsu no Yaiba #Demon Slayer #KnY fandom theories and meta

[warmest-oceans]

A Non-Paradoxical Moment of Accepting Oneself While Falling in Love with a Best Friend

Set in Phuket, a beautiful large island in southern Thailand, I Told Sunset About You already wins the Best Picture category. The island is magnificent on its own — blessed with emerald clear water, bed of white sand, quiet calm breeze, but the island also has the charm of its old town scenery. Every shot feels like it was shot in a new world. The combination of laid-back island life with culturally rich town is visually pleasing.

Aside from its excellent choice of set, the storyline is the true gem here. In the peaceful island of Phuket, we’re brought into the not-so-quiet lives of our two male protagonists, Teh (Billkin Assaratanakul) and Oh-aew (PP Amnuaydechkorn). From the start we know that these two best friends are about to be involved in something that’s bigger than themselves, something that’s uncontrollable and something that will change their lives forever.

It won’t be a 10/10 series if the actors can’t bring the golden storyline to live. The actors who play our male protagonists apparently have been friends since they were teenagers, making every scene they act on-screen believable. The chemistry can be seen clearly with a dash of improvisation here and there by the actors themselves and the magical direction by Boss Kuno, the director of the series.

I can’t really wrap up my introductory of the series without mentioning the amazing soundtrack and scoring. We only have three songs as soundtrack (with different versions) sung by our male protagonists, but the quality is top-notch, you’ll fall for it!

OK, I’m done with my introductory piece. Now, let me gush about this series. To me, I Told Sunset About You has become a coming-of-age story that left a permanent dent in my heart. It’s everything I ask for in a series; a beautiful set, excellent story, magical chemistry, and incredibly fitting soundtrack. Sadly, the series is almost always lumped into BL category, which I find insulting to the series to be honest.

Although I don’t identify myself as a part of LGBTQ+ community, I relate to the series more than I initially thought. Let me be honest, I am INVESTED in this series. Let me just write down the things that I think make this series is in a whole another league.

Self-acceptance in the middle of everything else

The series is great at delivering the moment of being a teenager who’s in the middle of self-discovery, starting to think about the future (the protagonists are in 12th grade), falling in love (hard) for the first time (on top of that, with your very own best friend!), seeking acceptance and validation, and trying to stay afloat at the same time. The topic seems to be nothing out of ordinary, but its ordinariness that brings up its own charm when it’s combined with excellent character development.

We all go through self-discovery and we all try to accept who we are when we’re teenagers — how crazy it was, restless, tiring, but also exhilarating it was. That’s why I think the series will resonate with most people.

I love how the process of the protagonists discovering and accepting themselves also answers the dilemma of falling in love with the best friend. Personally, I believe that I need to love myself first to love another person (note: if you want it to work and if you want the relationship to be a healthy one).

Thanks to this series I had a pleasure of reliving the experience of self-discovery and self-acceptance once again. No kidding, after I watched the series, I did a bit of self-reflection.

Impulsiveness

I think the first emotion that the series successfully portrayed is the impulsiveness of hot-blooded teens. I love how chaotic and erratic Teh and Oh-aew can be. One day they’re best friend, tomorrow? Who knows. Everything is a mess and everything is truly a collection of fleeting temporary moments.

Nobody in the series got their shit together and it’s supposed to be like that. Nobody figures out shit when they are in 12th grade. Everyone in the series is scattered, explosive, tortured, yet sensitive and delicate at the same time. It really reminds me of my own 12th grade moments!

Most of teens would act out of their gut reactions and that’s exactly what the characters do in this series. They’re not perfectly groomed and planned. So if you’re no longer in your teenage years or maybe if you’re in your 30s, you may find some of their actions to be silly and atrocious even. Tip: try to remember your teenage years. Try to remember all the stupid things you did in 12th grade. It helps you understand the characters.

Jealousy among friends is real and valid

I rarely see a show can realistically execute the side story of jealousy in friendship or even rivalry. Sometimes it’s too mean, sometimes it’s not even brought up (mostly being avoided in a story). I Told Sunset About You portrays jealousy in the most relatable way, through microexpressions. Through Oh-aew’s subtle glance at Teh and Ma or through Teh’s smile when talking to Oh-aew. Really, kudos to the whole team!

Naivety that leads to boldness

I think we can all agree that we’re much bolder when we’re younger, no? That’s because we have this naivety vested in us. Like trying to learn how to ride a bike for the first time, we don’t think much about the risk, we just want to have fun with the bike. We think adults will catch us when we fall anyway.

It’s another thing from the series that makes me fall in love with it. These flawed characters, probably in their 17 or 18, think that everything will be sorted out eventually. While, we adult know that most of the time, we clean our own mess. You’ll know what I’m talking about in episode 4.

Everyone got their own idea of first love

I think love is a complex, hard-to-understand feeling for everyone in every age, let alone for a bunch of 12th graders. Deeply impressed with how the series handles the tenderness and also the chaos of first love. How the series shows different outcomes of loving romantically for the first time is also admirable.

Teh stole my heart. At first, he was so certain about his feeling. He was calm, loving, and patient, the best you could be when you’re in love. But later when he’s in turmoil with himself, he becomes petty, awkward, and impulsive. He thought he loved, but turned out, it wasn’t even the kind of love he’d imagined.

I’m the main character

No character in this series is a filler. Everyone got their own dream and ambitions. Tarn, the female character isn’t just an obstacle between our protagonists. She’s a fully-developed character, an independent woman that works hard for her dream and a dynamic person. Bas, a male character, a good friend of Oh-aew has his own likings and dream. He’s good at some things. He acts on his own. Everyone is the main character in their own world and it’s evident in the series.

Symbolism and color theory

This wouldn’t be one of my favorite series without hidden meanings, symbolism, and color theory. Almost every scene and every material placement is intentional in this series. I won’t talk about it much because it’ll spoil the fun of you finding them.

Nostalgia

I had fun watching, crying, smiling, and laughing throughout the episodes the way they are. Aside from warmth and the feeling of awe, maybe the production crew doesn’t realize that it also makes me feeling nostalgic.

It reminds me of how futile and just fragile some of the moments from my youth were. They looked like big deals when I was in my 17, but now they are just dust. They really don’t matter in the next 5 years.

It reminds me of how insanely good falling in love felt like. It was intense yet tender, messy yet everything fell into pieces perfectly. The feeling that you want to give the person the world, but sometimes that world isn’t what the other person wants or needs. The feeling that you can almost do anything for this person. The suffocating feeling of not knowing what to do, but want to do everything for the other person. The liberating feeling of falling into the abyss. The feeling of surrender… completely.

The series makes me remember how exciting and scary it was when I realized I fell in love with one of my best friends, how confusing it was to even talk to him the next day after the realization. I just wanted to be with him ever since. Nobody could take that away from me and everything just didn’t make sense anymore in my head, just like how Teh and Oh-aew felt.

As you can see, I only have good words for the series. I hope, after watching the series, you’ll feel various emotions but hopefully… they’re all good and warm, because that’s how I felt. I also think that the production crew tried really hard to deliver a heartwarming series (please watch the documentaries/their behind the scene videos, it’s amazing!). I hope this series can be a newfound joy for you.

#itsay #i told sunset about you #itsay review #review #i told sunset about you review #bkpp #billkin #pp kritt

[coraxaviary]

Halcyon

SHIFTY POWERS   X   READER

Preface:

My first actual x reader work. It was actually very fun to write except for my mini-breakdown when I couldn’t figure out how to force my fingers to type the word “kiss.” 

Summary: There is the forest, and an indescribable feeling of vitality. It doesn’t take long for you to realize the source of life is your proximity to Shifty.

Word Count: 1.9K

Warnings: None.

.

“Hey, Shifty,” you say, leaning heavily into his side, the light of the full moon making the night bright and luminary. Despite the relative dimness and landscape of shadows, you can still make out the shine of stars reflected in the sheen of Shifty’s eyes. He blinks, and then looks at you. You’re pressing close and for a fearful second you’re afraid he’ll pull back. He doesn’t, just answers.

“Yeah?” he says. The hard angular line of his shoulder is jutting into your arm, but you don’t mind it, just take the moment for how it is and try not to think too hard about any of the days before Zell am See, and maybe the days after, where you will be thrown into the boundless, bloodsoaked scatter-spray of islands that jut barely out of the Pacific ocean, on the other side of the globe.

Some of the memories have taken on a golden tint – like Toccoa, a happy medium between civilian mundanity and desperation-tinged fraternity. Toccoa is not that hard to think about. You remember when Shifty was smiling and laughing often, untouched by death and hunger in the good times.

“You ever think about how things woulda turned out if this war never happened?”

Shifty pauses for a second to look down at you, and then looks back out over the still lake, glassy surface only bothered occasionally by the meandering wind. The cicadas here are rising and swelling with the black of night. It must be late now, and both of you should head inside to get some sleep before you start training. Training to go to war – back to war, Speirs had phrased it, as if you’d somehow left.

The heavenly tint of Austria is deceiving, but no one ever forgets why they are here in the grassy knolls of a country that needed liberating, basking in the blue sky and the green lake and the emeraldine forests, where there are deer aplenty, bird in the air, and the deep, deep smell of earthy magic. It is enchanting, but it is not home. It does not possess the same familiarity of a shared language, American pavement, and the feeling of settlement and antique hope.

You wonder whether or not the American hope is a scam sold by the remnants of your fathers’ generation – a cheap marketing scheme to get as many young people as possible to sign up for a few years of shelling, killing, smoking, bleeding, and running. It’s not really important at this moment, though, so you refuse to ask Shifty something as heartbreaking as the dissolution of the American Dream in the face of world conflict.

“Yeah,” he finally answers. “I reckon’ everybody does.” He says it in that Southern, wild twang that settles in your bones as a souvenir of home, even though you’re not even from anywhere remotely near Virginia, or that small speck of town Shifty speaks so nostalgically about.

You move around a little bit, trying to make his shoulder less sharp in your side. It’s never been soft, because Shifty is muscled and unyielding like the other men, despite his rather gentle exterior.

“You think we’d have met?” you ask, and the question is loaded. What you really mean is to dig for any type of affection in Shifty, that old crush coming back with a vengeance now that you haven’t heard German shells in a month. You know he doesn’t really sense the underlying implication, the I wish we’d met in the calm part of the century, at least you don’t think. You tell yourself that the extra pause and the flick of his eyes to your face for a half-second longer is just Shifty being simultaneously thoughtful and languid and earnest like he always is.

“No, I wouldn’t wager. Not much of a chance,” he says briefly before fidgeting in his lap with some loose part of his uniform, as if some part of the answer bothers him. It bothers you, too, because you can’t have peace and friendship at the same time in any situation. And it’s sad, because you might even choose peace over meeting Easy, just for the chance to never have to do any of this… this rending, firing, and staunching ever.

“Hmm,” you say, because there’s nothing else to say. Shifty laughs emptily and you risk laying your head on his collarbone – something you haven’t done since you huddled in a foxhole together.

It sounds kind of weird to think, but you can hear him smiling in the dark: just the small sound of lips parting and saliva against teeth. You think it’s sad that you’ll probably never see that smile resurface when you’re done crawling up the sandy beaches under Japanese fire, but you smile too.

If his hand brushes against your waist, as if he wants to hold you but decides against it, neither of you acknowledge it.

~

He’s more like a fox to you than anything else, you realize, as you watch him with those sharp eyes and cheekbones and the set of his lips, always looking steady but piercing over the sight of his M-1. He waves at you to be still, and you stop walking, dappled glare of the filtering sun shining bright and bothersome in your eyes. Shifty is on the trail of something you can’t identify, and his look of concentration is almost animalistic as he fixates on the branches and bothered foliage. He looks at home here in the trees and leaves – illuminated with a yellow glow that makes his eyes bronze.

He nods and signals for you to mirror his line of approach, and you aim wide, the familiarity of flanking somehow overtaking the foreignness of hunting a deer. Suddenly, the both of you break into a clearing and there is a large doe standing in the center, eyes wide and ears pricked. It hears something – you don’t want to admit it, but maybe it’s your quiet gasp – and it bolts through the trees, leaving no trace.

Shifty’s eyes silently fade back from that wild look – the passion of hunting, you suppose – and he looks back at you. It’s a little disappointing to see him so earthly after getting used to hunter-Shifty for a while, the one that makes you think he might have some blood of Artemis in him or something, but you tell yourself that you are running away with strange metaphors.

“Sorry,” you try, knowing Shifty will try to blame it on himself.

“No, no,” he says, waving a hand, clearly disappointed but trying not to show it. “It’s alright.”

“I probably scared it,” you say.

Shifty doesn’t debate, but he looks down at his gun and back into the wilds, debating pursuit. He shakes his head. “Don’t be feelin’ bad,” he says. “I don’t really know if I’d feel right killin’ it anyway. What with all the food we got now.”

You both pause to process that statement. There is plentiful food in the kitchens, courtesy of the town, the farms, and the unhindered supply lines. It’s true, and you nod.

“We headin’ back?” you ask, and Shifty looks out, almost longingly, back into the greenery. You pause. “We don’t have to. I’m sure no one’s gonna miss us,” you amend, brushing your hair out of the way. You didn’t remember to tie it this time, and it spills out in neglected strands that you are constantly blowing out of your face. Shifty turns his head out of the corner of your eye.

“You think we can stay out for another hour?” he says, looking down at the ground.

“Yeah, sure,” you say, slinging your rifle back onto your shoulder. “Where d’ya wanna go?”

“Dunno yet,” he says, strangely avoiding your glance. Maybe he wants to ask you something and he doesn’t feel very comfortable about it, but you pretend all is well. Is he uncomfortable with you particularly? The possibility is dismaying, and you think that maybe you were staring for too long. “We can walk around,” he finally says, nodding at some invisible path he’s managed to pick out in the undergrowth.

You follow, watching Shifty meander with grace through the leaves. You are not so deft with plants, and are left ducking and wading and crashing through matter despite the gap Shifty is making, just a foot or so ahead. He pushes a stalk aside and unknowingly lets it go, and it whips back to lash your face.

“Ow,” you yelp, rubbing at the bridge of your nose. You’re not irritated, just surprised.

“What happened?” says Shifty almost immediately, turning around and moving a step closer. “You alright?”

“Yeah, yeah,” you say, watching him come closer through your fingers.

Shifty reaches out and takes ahold of your wrists, pulling them away from your face, and he looks intently at the place where you are rubbing. “Oh, was that me?” he says, leaning in, and you realize just how close the two of you are, his fingers around your arms and almost touching your uniform where you hold your hands up to your chest.

Shifty is not really naive, but you are convinced that he is absolutely childlike in certain moments of concentration, like now. You can hear his breathing quite clearly over the shifting of foliage, and his eyes slowly lift to yours, only realizing now how you have started to hold your breath. You feel your cheeks start to heat, and you watch Shifty look a little harder at you with gradual realization.

There is silence between you, and only your eyes watching each other. Your heart is pounding in your throat as you try desperately to divine Shifty’s thoughts through his wide, keen eyes.

“It’s gonna leave a little bit of a mark,” he murmurs quietly, almost whispering, because it doesn’t take much volume for the words to go between you two, with the inches of separation. And very cautiously, like you’ll crack under him, he removes one of his hands from your wrists and reaches over the space, to brush very gently at your nose.

You aren’t holding your breath now, but you feel as if you are breathing very loudly, because it’s all you can hear with the pounding of your heart in your head. His eyes flick downwards slightly, over your face, and you don’t want to dare to hope anything. But in a move that seems daring for Shifty – because he’s never sudden with you, at least not on purpose – he surges forward and presses his lips to yours.

It’s sudden and it’s brief, but you break apart with wide eyes and panting breaths. You extricate your arms from his grasp, and reach up and over his shoulders to slide your hands into his hair, pressing your forehead to his and breathing in the scent of the forest – of life, of leaves, and of sun. His hands go to your waist; he smiles first, and it’s bright and magnetic, somehow even more warm than the filtering sunlight.

You smile without care, just for the moment, and you stay in the moment for as long as you can, just enjoying. You think, for a moment, that in this small slice of time, it is possible to choose both love and peace, even if that peace is fleeting.

And then you lean in for another kiss, surrounded by the living fairytale forest of Austria, and encompassed, all around, with the vitality of nature that is wild and free.

.

#band of brothers #band of brothers fic #band of brothers imagine #shifty powers #shifty powers x reader #band of brothers x reader #hbo war #writing

[brighteyes-darkhearts]

I read the Iliad, the project of a sun-drenched, blood-soaked semester in Florence. I loathed Achilles. What a stupid, selfish, dishonorable man. Homer originally called the epic The Wrath of Achilles, which is a far more appropriate title, all things considered. Sixteen thousand lines of dectilic hexameter to which thousands of people have devoted countless hours of life and countless jars of ink reading, translating, pondering; a civilization destroyed, innumerable lives lost, children left father-less, all because of one terribly petty man. The most terrible part of all of it, though, is that he is right, and successful.

Achilles strove for immortality, and he achieved it.

He died over two thousand years ago and everyone in modern Western civilization still knows his name. I hated him most because I knew , I know, his name, too, and because I see myself in him and him in myself. We all want a legacy; we all want immortality. Not in the sense that we fear the deaths of our bodies, though some of us certainly do, but rather in the sense that we fear the deaths of our names. They say we all experience two deaths: the first when our bodies cease their function, the second when our name falls from someone's lips for the last time, never to be spoken again, the memory wisps of smoke, uncatchable even if someone wanted to.

People would rather go to war and fight and kill and die instead of fulfilling some kind of peaceful pastoral idealism if such happiness means they will be forgotten.

Have you ever really considered the implications of that?

Have I? Has anyone?

To have or leave or create, cultivate, curate, a legacy, one needs to have a name. Sounds obvious, no?

A name is something everyone has, the second gift we're ever given, one longer lasting than our first gift of life. Names can be terribly old fashioned and boring, staunchly traditional, wildly new age, or if one is the child of a celebrity, they can be bizarre and unfortunate.

I never thought too much about my own name until recently, except in comparison to that of my twin sister, against whose monumental combination of syllables most others pale significantly. However, as my young adult self nears the expectations of marriage and motherhood, which many my age have already fulfilled, the concept of names has been on my mind with increasing frequency. On a superficial level, this consists of thoughts like "Could I marry someone whose last name doesn't sound good with my first," or "since my children will be saddled with my husband's last name, I get to pick their first and middle." I have been informed by my mother, however , that that is, in fact, not how the partnership of marriage works.

Marital disputes aside, as I thought about having to change my name for my eventual husband's, something I had always planned on doing when I got married, and something I had never considered much of an option, I found myself developing quite a resistance to it.

Why am I the one required to upend my identity, and not my husband? As previously referenced, isn't marriage supposed to be the ultimate collaboration, a team endeavor? Sure, I can keep my name, but then I designate myself as an "outsider," an "other," concepts that shape the very foundations of the human behavioral matrix. This, in turn, led me to the whole "why" question.

Names function to provide order to society, categorizing people in a clearer way than "hey, you" for everyone we meet. They also delineate strict patrilineal origin and hierarchical status within said society, often emerging from one's trade. I am referring, of course, only to men, because up until astonishingly recently, and sometimes still today, women were considered the property of men. Women would not own property or function independently from the man to whom they belonged.

The names of women, like the names of fields and houses, denote ownership.

Even then-names are a privilege, because they provide an avenue through which one can form an identity, through which one can be remembered. Throughout history, not everyone was considered important enough to warrant remembering. Enslaved people on plantations in the American south were not given last names of their own; they had to create them themselves or take on those of their owners, and with it, a clear signifier of their forced place in society. Considering the last names of Jewish Europeans both unnecessarily difficult and too clear a sign of the identities they sought to erase, Nazi Germany renamed millions of the Jews they killed or enslaved with unconsidered combinations of nouns and adjectives- Rosenberg, pink mountain, or Gardenschwarz, black garden. The immigration operatives of Ellis and Angel islands did the same to thousands of newcomers whose names they did not want to attempt to spell, so here, you take “Smith,” and you get “Jones.” Your connection to family history and national culture? You won’t need those here. Welcome to America.

Our names are the greatest gifts our parents can give us, planting us firmly within family lineages or tying us to historical figures and concepts; again, another moment in which the memory of another is re-embodied to continue its arduous trek towards immortality. We become our names as we mature, growing into or out of them. There were several options for my own name floating around before I was born, all of which seem entirely inappropriate and unfitting now, though occasionally I feel nostalgic for the Gracen I could have been but never was, a multiplicity of personalities never given the chance to realize themselves. Friends of mine whose names were mercilessly anglicized have slowly begun to reclaim them in their original, intended forms, building back conversation by conversation, introduction by introduction, the bridges back to who they are, who their parents named them to be, the cultures and histories from which they come.

Perhaps, in contemporary society, none so acutely feel the pain that names can bring than members of the trans community. Claiming their true name as an act of courage and authentic life in the cool sunlight of every morning and having to defend it in every hour that follows, having to suffer, too often in silence, the sting of a deadname used by those with no empathy or understanding or common sense in their hearts. Sometimes, the names our parents give us are simply wrong, and reclaiming our true names, those given from the deepest depths of truth at the core of our hearts, is the greatest gift we can give ourselves, and the utmost respect we can give to others.

Identity is a smoky concept to pin down concretely, but names are the first iteration of this idea, translating conceptuality into physical manifestation. It should come as no surprise, then, that our names are the first to go whenever someone seeks to dehumanize. Ayn Rand bestows upon all her characters a litany of numbers, distinct but uninspired, parts of a machine, easily replaced, insignificant.

Names are dangerous, because they allow for and support the construction of an individualized consciousness. There is no greater threat to oppression than a fully realized, highly actualized, wildly individualized consciousness. We most certainly cannot be the masters of our fate or the captains of our souls if we don't even know who we are.

#identity #my writing #poets on tumblr #mortality #immortality #what’s in a name? #how to life #achilles #philosophy #personal essay #late night writing #writers on tumblr #excerpt from a story i'll never write #writers #nonfiction #writtenconsiderations

[hatsukeii]

OH MY GOD I JUST HAD A GENIUS SONGFIC IDEA

I am once again disregarding requests-

I’m sorry I love you guys but I HAVE TO DO THIS

Due to popular demand via a vote on instagram, I have decided who to write about:DDD

Disclaimer: This fic is inspired by a Levi one I’ve read before, I don’t remember the author but if you find them or they find me props to you!!

Remember When // Modern!Todoroki Shouto x reader

Word count: 2000+

Warnings: Cursing, idk if this is a warning but aged up characters

Summary: In a world where everyone is reincarnated, your search to find someone special ends somewhere nostalgic.

The memories shouldn’t stay.

They just shouldn’t.

That’s not how the world works.

What was supposed to happen, was you were supposed to die, forget everything, and get reborn. Start a new life, with a new face, meet new people, fall in love all over again, get married, have kids, grow old, die, repeat.

So why didn’t that happen to you too?

Why did all the memories come flooding right back the second you turned three? Why did you look the exact same? Throughout your teenage years, you desperately tried to get rid of everyone in your memories. Mina, Bakugou, Deku, Kaminari, Jirou, and most importantly, Todoroki.

Ah, Todoroki Shouto, your first and last love. How could you forget him?

For fifteen years of your life, you’ve been trying desperately to find him. 

But who’s to say he remembers you too? 

That possibility didn’t stop you from seeking out every opportunity to figure out whether he was still the Todoroki you used to know. The Todoroki you used to love so dearly. You prayed every night, that you would finally meet him again, not in your dreams, but in real life. No matter how hard you tried to burn the memory of him out of your mind, he just wouldn’t leave. You couldn’t let go of how he stared at you, those heterochromatic eyes staring into your soul as it lit on fire. You craved to feel his hand on your cheek, his lips on your head, his arms around your waist, you wanted it all back. It made you feel greedy, it did, but could anyone blame you? You had everything taken away from you the minute he died. You wished to pass away, so you could forget about him and start a new life, but ended up with this mess. Your emotions are hard to suppress. You’re just as in love with Todoroki Shouto as you were in another life. 

You were unlucky to be reborn like this, all the memories from your past life mixed with new ones. The school days at UA high, fighting villains alongside your best friends. The day you got married. The day you had kids. It was terrible, having those images in your mind, but being unable to fulfil the hunger and constant longing to do it all over again.

Walking down the street, you stop at a cafe. It’s a really nice cafe. Reminds you of the one you used to work part time at in your past life. Warm, dim ceiling lights, timber wall lining, Swiss cheese plants, a nice little island where baristas were busing brewing up steaming hot mugs of coffee, plush couch seats and wooden chairs accompanied with marble tables, and a little platform for occasional guests that would perform. The entire cafe radiates a nice vibe. It reminds you of what you used to have. Giving yourself a tiny grin, you push the door open, letting the little bells ring. Grabbing a couch seat, you settle yourself down, putting your headphones on in an effort to block out the noise other customers were making. “Good evening, miss. Would you like anything? I suppose you wouldn’t want coffee at such a late hour.” You position one of the sides behind your ear. What time is it? You bring your phone up to your face, squinting a bit at the bright screen, showing 7:15 in bold, white numbers. “It’s fine, I’ll just have a latte and your apple pie.” The waitress looks at you in confusion. “Miss, I haven’t given you the menu yet?” Eyes widening, you go silent, before plastering a smile on your face. “Regular, just not at night.” Did that convince her? The waitress bites her lip, tilting her head a bit, before jotting down the order and shuffling away quickly. 

The cafe is buzzing with excitement, talks of a band performing in a bit filling the air of the cozy space. You roll your eyes, not wanting to deal with it. You just got back from five lectures that you surely didn’t enjoy. The cafe is supposed to be a way for you to get some downtime, not for a band to ruin the peaceful atmosphere. Pulling your headphone back onto your ear, you mindlessly go through your phone, bored and uninterested in anything on your timeline. Every single post is about your friends with their valentines date. To you, valentines is truly, the worst thing to possibly celebrate. Not only is it is about a man that was tortured and eventually killed, it is also a reminder, that you’ll never be able to love someone normally because of those stupid, idiotic, utterly pointless memories that held you back. It doesn’t matter how many people your friends set you up with. You’ve had to reject over eight guys you were set up with, all because you simply can’t let go of Todoroki. It doesn’t matter whether he remembers, as long as you do, you’ll never be free of this hell. You get made fun of for being too uptight, too picky, too dense, when in reality you can’t help it at all. Whenever you even have the slightest thought of a different guy, Todoroki’s name plays in your mind like a broken record. Thinking about it now, maybe you don’t want to leave the memories behind. Maybe you want to remember them, no matter how annoying, shitty, and irritating they can be. Losing them would be like losing a part of yourself, and you didn’t want that.

“Miss, the latte, and the apple pie. Enjoy your food.” Picking up the tiny spoon, you fiddle around with the utensil, admiring it in all its simplicity. It isn’t a peculiar spoon or anything, just a normal coffee spoon that has a gold brimmed green end. Sticking it into the latte, you give the drink a good stir, not even paying attention to the coffee foam art that was there a second ago. Leading the brim of the cup to your lips, you carefully take a sip of the hot liquid. Nothing about it has changed. It tastes just as good as when you worked here. If only you could introduce this to Todoroki all over again. Eyeing the pie with lidded eyes, you cut out a chunk, taking it into your mouth as you reminisced the days, where you would feed him the exact pie. It was pretty impossible not to feel nostalgic in this place. Way too many memories were made here. First dates, first kisses, first mini concerts, this was like a shrine of key events in your past life. You continue to savour the rest of your food, saving the drink for last. Exhaustion is taking over as you hear the sound of cheering, a guitar strum, and a half recognisable voice. Slumping into the couch, you doze off, headphones slowly falling off. From onstage, heterochromatic eyes stare at your figure, mouth hanging as the band sets up their instruments.

He finally found you.

After all these years, he finally found you.

Never has he ever been so thankful for fate.

His situation was the same as yours. He was reborn, then regained memories from his past life, except he was never able to get a certain someone out of his head. For years, he performed at this particular cafe, hoping you would be there to watch him. He hasn’t been able to fall in love with anyone, despite having hundreds of fangirls craving for his hand in marriage. He spent immeasurable amounts of time delving deep into those past memories, trying to scrape together the song you oh so loved to listen to. The song that represented your life with him. Hours upon hours of bass practising, just for the sake of reuniting with you. Uncertainties burdened him night after night. What if you’ve already become a different person? Would all his work have been for nothing? Would the only place he can ever meet you again be his dreams, and the piles of the memories he still had with you? All those doubts were washed away with the look he gave you. That was definitely the (Y/N) he knew. From the iconic band hoodie, to the order of the cafe’s secret apple pie and latte. That was undoubtedly you.

“Guys, please let me play one song first.”

“Hah? Todoroki, you’re seriously changing it now?”

“Do me a favour, would you? Let me do that song first?”

The drummer’s eyes widened in realisation. 

“O-oh! Yeah, sure thing. Good luck, you get one shot.”

Hands on the mic, the cafe goes silent as the first riff comes on.

Headphones fully slipping off your ears and onto your neck, your ears are no longer protected from outside noises.

This song.

Letting your eyes flutter open, you shake your head, rubbing your eyes a bit from your little nap. Adjusting your headphones to hang nicely around your neck, you sit up from your position, steadying yourself with your hands. How long have you been asleep for? You groggily grab for your phone, wincing yet again at the bright light that shone through. You weren’t even able to fully comprehend the numbers on your screen, when a voice rang loud and clear.

“Thought I saw your shadow under the door,”

This song, I remember it.

What is this? You absolutely love it. The way the lyrics resemble a long lost friendship, it makes your heart clench with every word. You pull your phone up, trying to Shazam the lyrics. The song sounds familiar, yet so, so different from anything you’ve heard before. Typing in the lyrics rapidly, your search fails as nothing comes up. 

Dammit, what is this?

“I can never tell what’s real anymore, anymore, anymore.”

There’s no way. It has to be a real song. You swear on your life you’ve heard it somewhere. It’s lingering in the back of your mind, waiting for the right time to pop out. Cold sweat drips from your forehead as you go through all the songs you know. Your head hurts, your sight is blurry. Hands go up to grab your head as you squeeze your eyes shut, your phone dropping onto the plush couch.

No, I know this, I definitely do.

“It seems so long, it seems so long,“

Colours flash in front of your shut eyelids, almost giving you an epilepsy. Your mind travels into those god forsaken memories from your past life. Mina, Jirou, Kirishima, Bakugou, Deku, Todoroki, everything crashes right down on you. Panting heavily, you grab the cup of coffee, downing it in one go, hoping it helps with easing your mind. An image flashes in your head, sending jolts to your body. You and Todoroki in a cafe, listening to Wallows perform for the first time. That was your first date. Remember When became your song that night. It was a staple of your relationship. It was like the background music of your life story. Was there no Wallows now? The nostalgia that song brought you was immeasurable, yet you didn’t know it would have such an effect on you. 

Oh my god.

A moment of epiphany hits you like a truck.

“All the places I’ve returned to,”

“All the faces that remind you,”

Letting your head spring up, your eyes dart around the cafe, desperately trying to find where the song is playing from. You should know fully well it’s coming from the band that is intriguing the audience excellently. However, you’re still in a state of complete shock, refusing to believe your ears. The familiar tune resonates in the cafe, a silky voice serenading couples in the audience.

It’s him.

Your eyes lock onto the band.

Heterochromatic irises stare back at your watery ones. 

He looks just as good as before. His hair is still groomed, red and white parting in the middle. His turquoise eye shines with the gloss of tears as he sings his heart out on the stage, letting the tears roll down his cheeks freely. 

Covering your mouth with a shaky hand, tears freely fall from your eyelids as your mind goes blank. You can’t seem to peel your eyes off him. Your heart beats wildly as you let out a tiny gasp.

It doesn’t matter if the two of you only just met. At a cafe. 

Right now, you’re looking at someone you’ve known your entire life, and it feels ethereal.

I found you.

Finally.

Do you remember this?

Do you remember when we were the ones watching?

References:

Remember When- Wallows

Lyrics to said song

Cafe interior inspo lmao

Tags:

@sunshines-and-tatertots @izzyphantomgamer @trashcanweeb @burnt-tomato @tiger1719 @bokutokoutarou @poppirocks @just-another-bored-writer @justachillgirl @itmekisuu @kaylacinderella @random-fandomlover @skyeackermans @macaronnv @mariechan123 @xonfusedsoul​ @inlwlevi​ @talks-a-lot-of-stuff​ @ewfilthymundane​ @emsvegetables @estherwritess @shoutsukii @sakusasgarbage @agentvicinity @thirstyvolleyballhoe @artsamber @sneezefiction

Feel free to comment if you’d like to be added to the taglist!

For once I’m proud of something I wrote, please feel free to give me feedback, hope you like reading this<3

#bnha #bnha x reader #bnha scenario #bnha imagine #bnha headcanons #bnha todoroki #mha #mha x reader #mha scenario #mha imagine #mha headcanons #mha todoroki #shouto todoroki #todoroki x reader #todoroki imagines #todoroki scenario #todoroki headcanons #wallows #remember when #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #iida tenya #uraraka ochaco #jirou kyouka #kirishima eijiro #denki kaminari #mina ashido #anime #boku no hero academia

[lady-spieroles]

The Lives we Live

There is little to no Mianite presence on Ao3 so I guess this fic will live on Tumblr for now. 

Here’s a little 1500 or so word thing on my take of how Sparklez ended up joining Mianitian Islands. Though really it's more of a character study type thing. Bits of this were inspired by Chaggle’s comic “Wake Up Call”  https://chaggle.tumblr.com/post/616415075016785920/wake-up-call including much of the dialogue between Tom and Jordan. 

Enjoy!

~

He woke alone on an island. 

Gods, he was so tired of waking alone on an island. What had gone so wrong after they’d jumped through the portal? It had been so long since that day, since that world, since he’d seen his friends. He’d woken alone that first new day as well. Instead of an island in the sea, it had been an island in the sky with no world below, forcing him to build the world from nothing. And then again in a world that was a vast desert, again with no choice but to start anew. Again and again, each world just slightly different from the last. Always alone. No friends, no resources and no Gods 

He’d lived dozens of lives that way if not more. And then finally he’d woken in a world where he was not alone. It was a world of islands and oceans, water stretching endlessly on the horizon, odd but not unwelcome. He’d believed it to be another life he’d live alone but then by the Gods there had been others! Other people in this vast ocean world! He was sure he’d made a fool of himself at first but he was just so relieved to hear the voice of another person instead of the specters of memories of the ones he’d lost and left behind. Things had gotten better after that. Whatever Gods controlled his life must’ve had their fun letting him live alone because he found more and more people with each new life he lived. There were still lives he woke alone, but more often than not there was at least one other soul. 

Some lives were short, some long. Some crowded with other people, some with just one other. There were stretches where he lived alongside the same person or people he’d met before. Those were the best, because they understood one another and what they’d all been through. He lived a life entirely underground, just him and one other man who he was becoming increasingly familiar with. There was a world populated by mysterious creatures to be tamed and trained and battled with. One life was spent as a king of a fledgling kingdom with dozens of people who knew him despite he not knowing them. The strangest was a world that had been populated by others like him for some time, he the newcomer to a world well-established and crowded with dozens of others, so much so that he missed his solitary life and moved far far away from the rest to get some peace and quiet. He saw many of those faces in the world that followed and made many new friends among them. For a time it was enough.  

But even through all these lives, however long they lasted, some part of him missed the first long life he’d spent with people other than himself. He still, even after all this time remembered the day he’d woken on the shore of that strange land with its pair of strange gods. He remembered the adventures in that world with a nostalgic fondness. He’d lived so many lives since then, all fulfilling in their own ways and well spent, but nothing ever quite compared to the days he’d spent with those first few friends. That world, that life, was where he’d met Her. His Lady, his Goddess, the forgotten and caged woman who he would free from her shackles and devote the rest of his lives to serving. For he’d never forgotten her, not in all the lives he lived after. He rarely spoke to her or prayed, but kept her in his thoughts. In the worlds where he was alone his mind turned to her more frequently, wondering if she was watching him, following him across life after life, dimension after dimension. He had no doubts that she was able, but would she really care? Who was he but another man in another world in another life? Who was he to a Goddess whose consciousness stretched across all dimensions?

Which brought him to this new world. Alone again. It had been some time since he’d been truly alone. He’d had at least one person with him in most of his last few lives, usually the same man, who he’d come to view as quite a dear friend, who knew of the Gods despite not following any of them himself. X33N had been strange at first, he gave no further name and seemed to share some knowledge with Jordan himself. X33N knew of the Gods, knew of the world of Ruxomar and of many of the people who’d lived there before it had fallen to ruin. They’d met in that world they eventually realized, though X33N always felt as though he’d lived dozens of lives at once rather than in different worlds. He had recollections of being present and omnipresent all at once. 

But this time, there was no X33N when Jordan opened his eyes. None of the friends he’d made in the last few lives. For the first time in a very long time he had no one. With a heavy sigh he got to his feet and brushed the sand from his jacket as best he could, straightening his glasses on his face. 

“X33N?!” “Kara?!” “Anyone?!” He called out, despite knowing it was useless. “Alright. Just me then.” he muttered to himself, taking his first steps in this new world. “Though I suppose I always have you huh Milady?” The rhetorical question was said with a bitter twist to the words, jaded from ages spent without answer.

‘Always, my Champion’ Jordan stopped mid step at the voice that floated through his mind. No. It was impossible. She was gone. Ianite was gone from this and every dimension. 

“Ianite?” He breathed, desperation tingeing his voice. A shrill beep chirped from his pocket in answer and he was suddenly aware of a weight that hadn’t been there a moment prior. Curiously, Jordan removed a small device with a screen. It was similar enough to communicators he’d seen before but why would he have this? Unless.

He tapped the button on the screen, trying to keep his hopes from growing too high. 

“Hello?” The message scrolled across the screen in plain text. Clearly whoever had sent it had not expected to see anyone either. Jordan exhaled a sigh that was somewhere between disappointment and gratitude. He was not alone. He’d thought maybe, for a moment, that this would finally be the life he saw one of them again. The device beeped again and then a voice.

“Jordan?!”  “Wait, Wait JORDAN!?!” 

Jordan fell to his knees in the sand at the voice that came from the device. Tom. After all these years and all these lives. 

“My DUDE! Where are ya at?!”  “Dude.” “I called Mianite a Lil’ Bitch earlier.” 

Jordan had yet to say a single word, a smile pulling at his lips and a tear in his eye. Tom had hardly changed at all. 

“Then he killed me.” “Oh yea.” “Dianite also came to visit.” “The two fought for a bit.” “Then Dia killed me.” 

The smile turned into a chuckle as the tear slid from his eye. Gods, he’d missed Tom. He’d missed them all, but Tom most of all. 

“Jordan? You there?” Worry had seeped into Tom’s excited voice, he’d not been without his own struggles it sounded like.

“I’m here. I’m on a beach.” Jordan replied, trying his best to keep his own voice level, no need for Tom to know exactly how relieved he was to hear the other man's voice. If he was to live this life with Tom and if they were lucky, the others, he didn’t need to give Tom any ammo to tease him with already, no matter how overjoyed he was. 

“I need your coords.”  “I have no idea where I am.” 

It was Tom’s turn to be silent, perhaps he too was as relieved to hear a familiar voice. Jordan didn't even want to think about the implications of what Tom had said. One thing at a time. Find Tom first then worry about what Gods may or may not be around in this world. 

“I woke up on an island a few days ago.” Tom’s voice was rougher now, as though he’d cleared his throat several times trying to rid it of emotion. In the distance Jordan saw a series of small islands, perhaps that was where Tom was? It was worth a shot at least. 

“Have you seen or heard from the others?” It was the question Jordan couldn’t help but ask as he returned to the water’s edge. 

“Nope.” Tom said with a soft sigh. “Just me.” 

Jordan let out his own sigh. So it was to be just the two of them. He didn’t want to be ungrateful, but part of him had hoped that this might be the world where they saw one another once more. He had Tom though. If no one else, they had each other.

Tom prattled on of what he knew so far as Jordan swam towards where he hoped Tom might be. Very little it turned out. Mianite and Dianite had turned up but had disappeared again soon after, doing little more than what Tom had already described. He was already working on a way to try and get Dianite to come back. Neither, it seemed had mentioned Ianite. 

The first island he arrived at was empty, barely more than a sandbar. But just past it was a hilly island with a volcano, trees, and most importantly of all the silhouette of a man atop one of the hills. 

Jordan dove into the sea once more with a renewed sense of excitement, pushing himself to swim faster, ignoring the burn of his muscles and the racing beat of his heart. 

As he climbed out of the water, he saw Tom rush down from the hill to meet him on the beach. The other man had barely changed, the only sign of time was the new weariness in his eyes. The same weariness Jordan saw whenever he caught a glimpse of his own reflection.

“Tom” “Jordan” 

They spoke at the same time, both overwhelmed and relieved in equal measure. 

Jordan swallowed heavily then smiled, telling himself the warm, salty moisture that slid down his face was leftover seawater and not tears “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” 

Tom’s expression mirrored Jordan’s own, green skin crinkling around obsidian eyes as he smiled. “It sure has been.” 

“But hello, old friend.”

~

Find me on Ao3:

Selenejessabelle12626 for the tame stuff

Lady-Spieroles for the less tame stuff ;)

#mianite #mianite is back yall #mianitian isles #my writing #fanfiction #Mianite fanfiction #Captain Sparklez #captainsparklez #synhd #jordan maron #syndicate #ianite #dianite #origin story #words words words

[visualbandaids]

folk•lore

noun

the traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth.

@taylorswift releasing no leads, no radio-friendly pop single or any promotional tactics means she’s not coming for hits.

She’s coming for critical acclaim.

ALBUM REVIEW eme:

the 1 “I guess you never know, never know, and if you wanted me, you really should’ve showed. And if you never bleed, you’re never gonna grow and it’s alright now. ”

a lovely introduction / sets the mood and vibe of the whole record / the one that got away version 2020

cardigan “A friend to all is a friend to none, chase two girls, lose the one. When you are young they assume you know nothing.”

THE lead single we deserved / lyrics and melody are beautifully arranged / THAT bridge up until the last chorus? *chef’s kiss

the last great american dynasty "Holiday House sat quietly on that beach, free of women with madness, their men and bad habits, and then it was bought by me."

sounds like an old school yeehaw song / the impressive story line is about the history of the previous owner of HER mansion in Rhode Island / BIG mood

exile ft. bon iver "I think I’ve seen this film before and I didn’t like the ending. You're not my problem anymore, so who am I offending now?

literally a masterpiece / the call and response at the bridge? shocks, konti na lang oorder na ko ng alak satrue lang 🤧 / mapanakit ka sis?

my tears ricochet "And if I'm dead to you, why are you at the wake? Cursing my name, wishing I stayed, look at how my tears ricochet."

first song written on the album / i really adore the metaphor behind the lyrics / plus the vocals huh you knew girlie’s up for sumn / the power that track 5 has

mirrorball "And I'm still a believer, but I don't know why. I've never been a natural, all I do is try, try, try."

love the 80s disco-ish nostalgic arrangment / lakas maka-js prom lol / i think she wrote that song with my life in her mind :(

seven “Sweet tea in the summer, cross my heart, won’t tell no other and though I can’t recall your face I still got love for you.”

ang lamig ng vocals pero i get a summer vibe? the irony

august "So much for summer love, and saying 'us' 'cause you weren't mine to lose."

got some red vibes / this song has a potential to be a HIT / kunwari happy song siya because of its production but in reality sinasaktan ka na nung lyrics if you listen carefully

this is me trying "Pouring out my heart to a stranger but I didn't pour the whiskey."

yes. that’s me. all the time. bye

illicit affairs "They show their truth one single time but they lie, and they lie, and they lie, a million little times."

WOW. IT HIT ME HARD. WOW / if i am actually heartbroken right now, i don't know if i can make it out alive after hearing this song / hilig mo manakit sis?

invisible string "Time, mystical time, cutting me open then healing me fine, were there clues I didn’t see?”

that play of strings plus a dreamy vibe? i liveee

mad woman “Do you see my face in the neighbors lawn? Does she smile or does she mouth, “fuck you forever”?

when she’s mad, she actually meant it / love some revenge song / weird but sometimes i like it when girlie cursed lol

epiphany “Something med school did not cover; someone's daughter, someone's mother holds your hand through plastic now. Doc, I think she's crashing out.”

this song is as high as the heavens yet as deep as the ocean / a perfect quarantine lullaby / a huge thanks and salute to all the brave people on the front line especially to our healthcare workers

betty “I’m only seventeen, I don’t know anything, but I know I miss you.”

i live for the harmonica country vibes and THAT narrative and key change yes girl / #queersongoftheyear

peace “The devil’s in the details but you got a friend in me. Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?”

true to its name, it’s peaceful af / she’s basically telling her lover that she can give anything but never peace / no i’m not crying brb

hoax “Don't want no other shade of blue but you, no other sadness in the world would do.”

the calmness and the autumn vibe i get / THAT'S HOW YOU DO AN OUTRO folks

#I NEVER THOUGHT ID SEE THE DAY TAYLOR SWIFT DROPPED A SURPRISE ALBUM #folklore #🎧

[randomnameless]

I was checking the other wiki for more info on FE16′s unused content 

(is it me or the other wiki isn’t edited as easily as a snapchat selfie?)

We missed the best battalion in the game :’(

OTOH, if we’re supposed to think those battalions are random mercenaries chilling around waiting to be hired, i’d feel bad about a battallion of random crazed villagers chilling around, just waiting to be hired but apparently they cannot be healed...

From the unused map sprite, even if it doesn’t match the character’s sprite, Rhea bleaches her hair when she cosplays as Seiros, and we were robbed of the “two eyed Dimitri” map sprite.

I’ve finally found the beta “Felix’n’Annette were supposed to fight against Dimitri” convos, idk what was the beta AM, but here it seems as if Felix’n’Annette are fighting alongside Cornelia and the randoms Faerghusians in Firdhiad. Maybe they defected when Dimitri wanted to go to Enbarr, then Flèche happened, Dimitri returns home and has to fight against them? idk.

More interesting though, is the cut “trading” activity, where, apparently, we would have been able to send merchants somewhere to get rare and endemic products.

It’s interesting because it has some flavor text about the destinations!

Brigid A group of islands with abundant nature, floating in Western Fódlan. They lack in production of arms and goods, but they are excellent hunters and fishers, and are well-known for their unique cuisine.

They were unlucky in Civ and didn’t start near a mine of iron or copper? If only we could have more Brigid dishes, i’d be a happy nerd

Land of Albinea A vast land located Nothwest of Fódlan. They require a variety of resources for development. There are lots of famous foods that take advantage rich nature in the area. 

Albinea doesn’t have a lot of ressources for development (TFW no iron/copper) but apparently they have a lot of “famous food”. I think Albinean moose is used in some dishes?

Derdriu, The Aquatic Capital The capital of the Regan Dukedom, and the central part of the Alliance Territory. There are a lot of factories there, and they leverage the port to produce and export goods to build their wealth.

Look at those merchant republics exporting goods and developing factories, then what, they developed tariffs? Sleazy merchants. OTOH, from this description alone, I have the feeling the Alliance’s nobility desperatly tries to assert its authority through “ancient noble blood” and what not, because if someone is rich enough to have 70% of the factories used, and controls the trade, even if Count Gloucester recalls how Gloucester the Elite was the dudest bro in the world, rich merchants won’t give a fig about him.

Fort Merceus A fortified city, and the capital of the County of Bergliez. Extremely rich in agriculture and fishing thanks to the blessing of the fertile Gronder Field and Airmid River.

The Empire seized every fertile land in Fodlan? I remember a raunchy novel implying Cichol blessed the fields of Gronder (bla bla earth dragon magic?) but with the river + those magical fields, the Empire’s supposed to be self-sufficient, at least when food is concerned. It contrasts with the Kingdom where recolts aren’t that rad, some are forced to turn into Dagdas and Ingrid’s family deals with bad recolts.

Arianrhod, The Fortress City A fortress Kingdom city on the border with the Empire. They put a lot of effort into military preparation, but it's said that they have a surplus of equipment and due to their non-agressive defense policy.

TFW everyone works their butts to build a super fortress city but then your local nobles say it must be used to strengthen a “non-agressive defense policy” :’(. OTOH, Arianrhod being a non-agressive defensive “fortress city” near the border with the Empire means that, at least during the first part of the game, the Kingdom and the Empire weren’t at each other’s throats.

Almyra The great country to the East that has long been at war with Fódlan. The throttle on trade was loosened when the former king began his reign, and they now export many goods.

Wow, interesting bits here! Who is the former king this is talking about? Claude’s Almyrian Grandpapa? Of course greedy merchants from the alliance try to make some business (tm) and Almyra even exports goods! Maybe the pals raiding every wednesday are just a faction who doesn’t want to negociate/trade with their neighbours and only want to fight’n’feast, idk. Making peace through trade though, i’ve read it somewhere but i can’t remember where are they trading coal and steel?

Sreng Region A desolate region where the Sreng people live. It's said that Zoltan, the master swordsmith, once lived there, so there may be valuable weapons waiting to be discovered.

Alright who is Zoltan because we find his weapons in the game. Still sad that there’s nothing about the Sreng people, but talks about a swordsmith in a region where Birdie is sighted in the game makes me think a bit, maybe Zoltan is one of Macuil’s alias, like Cichol and Seteth, or Rhea and Seiros? “There may be valuable weapons waiting to be discovered” TFW you’re a thief trying to discover magic weapons in a desert but get attacked by a talking magic beast :’(

Fhirdiad, The Kingdom Capital The capital of the Kingdom located in Northwestern Fódlan. The study of magic is popular, and the people are said to be skilled at crafts, but the surrounding lands are barren.

Look the Fhirdiad magic school of sorcery gets a mention! It makes me wonder why Fhirdiaid pushes for magic studies but the Empire is supposed to have the most magic oriented army in the continent... Contrast with Bergliez again, the Kingdom’s lands are barren. And yet they still manage to have cheese. Fhirdiad randoms are supposed to be skilled at crafts, what, Cordelia asked them to craft spare parts for her Titanuses and the randoms obliged, not knowing what it would be used for? Or because they don’t have natural ressources, they had to craft a lot of things to compensate for the shitty climate and barren lands?

Morfess, City of Sorcery A desert city located far to the Southeast of Fódlan. The climate is rough, but the study of magic is popular, and it's said that their skill at weapons forging is also high.

Okay I'm pretty sure Morfis/Morfess specialities being “magic + weapons forging” was, in this version of the game, the devs trying to tell us that Macuil used to be there. Climate is rough, dude loves deserts. But as @damoselcastel​ pointed out, maybe Morfess/Morfis developed its own branch of magic and also uses it to forge weapons. TFW the only things we get from Morfis are a battalion of mole people looking mages and plums. Yes, plums.

County of Gloucester A territory of the widest plains in the Alliance territory. Agriculture and cattle-breeding are prosperous, and it's said that County Gloucester himself uses them to develop new foods.

Oh, so next to the economic mess/Fodlan’s version of Amsterdam in Derdriu, Count Gloucester rules over a pretty rural area of the Alliance? He develops new foods, like what? He tries to create fusion food? Now I imagine all kind of jokes made at Count Gloucester’s expense with various sheeps, when the Riegans just need to develop 3 more technologies to fully enter to the industrial revolution era. No wonder why he’s so salty :).

OTOH, again, more worldbuilding : apparently only the Kingdom wasn’t blessed with fertile fields? It sucks for them.

Enbarr, The Imperial Capital Capital of the Adrestian Empire that has a long history. More people there than any other city in Fódlan, and it also has a huge market that sells mostly food.

Compared to the description of the other capitals, this one feels flat. So, Enbarr is old and it has more people in its walls than in any other city in Fodlan. Market sells a lot of food. Enbarr dictates food prices in the continent or what? Or maybe the huge food market is like, the biggest food market in Fodlan where food from every part of the Empire is sold (it manages to enter Enbarr thanks to the canal?). I’m kind of disappointed, otoh, Ferdie reading an agricultural treaty gives him a new light, if food/agriculture is so important in the Empire.

now the million gald question : is Enbarr exporting food to the Kingdom who’s in need or not

County of Varley This area is lacking in water sources, which is rare within the Empire. It's said that they forge precious weapons and armor using the minerals taken from the Ogma mountains.

hahaha what kind of minerals taken from the Ogma mountains are we talking about crest stones or nabatean bones i mean

Fascinating to note, again, that the Empire is the bestest place to be in Fodlan because bar Varley, every area isn’t “lacking in water sources”. So maybe we have a lot of swamps in Adrestia, but at least there are no deserts. With water, you can grow stuff, so it’s a huge bonus for agricultural development. then why are the adrestians so nostalgic about a time where they controled a frozen wasteland and want to reconquer that frozen wasteland, like, it has nothing of interest no natural ressources nothing so why

If only Bernie could forge us something OP...

Kupala This area is just a part of the Alliance's Territory of Margrave Edmund , but it's an autonomous region where the mountain people life. They produce weapons and armor, made with precious minerals.

Those tidbits were in the game before the DLC, so at that time we didn’t know was Kupala before Nemesis’s party. Interesting to note that this is an autonomous region in the Alliance, and not a part of the Alliance like any other territory (Leonie’s village). Maybe the Alliance thought it was too much of a hassle to keep an effective control over those parts of the mountains, for little benefit. Why needing to crush them when we can trade with them?

Territory of Margrave Edmund The region is almost entirely made up of coastal area or islands, and trade with far-off areas is thriving. You may be able to get something rare. 

Or maybe the Territory of Margrave Edmund is just some sort of puzzle, when the Lords needed to give him a territory because he’s a noble they thought about the most difficult, shitty place to administrate and thought about this place, islands, coasts and mountains. Totally not a difficult mess to send knights to keep order of something. Coasts + islands = pirates? But apparently, in the general Alliance trend, Edmund managed to trade with “far-off areas” instead of maintaining a military rule/dominion, and apparently, it works so well that he sometimes manages to get something rare!

Land of Dagda A vast land far west of Fódlan. Their weapons crafted with unique skill are well known. They are hungry for meat that you can only get in Fódlan.

Meat for weapons seems a good trade - I mean Dagdians weapons are supposed to be unique but also well-known. It’s such a shame we never see anything like that in the game :) IIRC Shamir doesn’t have a special Dadgdian pref bow and i hope they’re not talking about the fetters of dromi :’(

why did they cut those worldbuilding parts???

#FE16 #unused content #i should check the other wiki more #it seems more reliable than the usual one #even if it's not always up to date #maybe the trading post wouldn't work in the war phase? #or we could influence the prices of weapons/materials by trading? idk #they did it in ToA iirc #those tidbits make me love the alliance #why IS decided to shit on them in the game? #as if they'd like to be lumped with those backward losers from the kingdom or those useless guys from the empire #you can be sure united fodlan will fail within the first 5 years because Derdriu'd be nope #we have factories m8 we won't listen to y'all we can mass produce weapons if we need them #and we have the power of money #fig y'all #count gloucester being the old agricultural nobility with a good name trying to resist the call of modernity #hahaha #Macuil might have traveled a lot Morfis then Sreng #yes he can fly but damn #all of those added lorebits (?) add to the feeling that if Fodlan wasn't roses and sunshine in the beginning of the game #at least no one expected a war/agression from one of the 3 major countries in the continent #Dimitri has a bajillion sprites if he was robbed of a pixelised map sprite then it's no big deal #otoh blonde seiros matches with the CG? #we were also robbed of the pegasi riding pirates batallion #so many great ideas why cut them IS why??

[1989album]

first thoughts on folklore under the cut!!!

the 1

Omg piano. A beat?bus stop? Girl u aint taking the bus. I’m getting Sara barelies vibes. Im LOVING this sound. It would have been you. FUCK. Literally CHILSS. 

Cardigan

She is trying to kill me. THIS SOUND? IS SO GOOD?  Cardigan is the new all too well scarf. BUT I KNEW YOUUUUU. This is like…everything I’ve been asking for out of an album from her? YES. Fall vibes, 100%. This one gives me Sara barflies and Lana vibes. This seems very nostalgic =. like……wildest dreams 10 years later. Im sobbing.

The last great American dynasty

Ok new vibes sorta?whom is Rebecca? Do I know like no American history? I don’t know what this is about lol. Rhode Island? a Kennedy mayhaps? Dolly? I don’t know what this is about I should stop guessing. OH. The house she bought in Rhode Island ok. 

Exile 

Piano intro again, im here for it. Omg the man’s voice…I did not expect it scared me LMAO. I like the vibes of this one. The lyrics too, I need to relisten to focus on the lyrics. I like the call and response they have in the bridge that is *chefs kiss* my tears ricochet

“If im on fire, you’ll be in ashes too” JESUS YES. “I swear I loved you to my dying days”. THIS IS KILLING ME. Leave with grace. UFCK. IF IM DEAD TO YOU, WHY ARE YOU AT THE WAKE? KLSJDGKLDSJGKLS. FUCKING ROASTED, IN THE SOFTEST VOICE TOO. Get fucking reckt, calcium headpiece. This is my favorite so far. “I DIDNT HAVE IT IN MYSELF TO GO WITH GRACE, SO THE BATTLESHIPS WITH SINK BENEATH THE WAVES.” That IS SO FUCKING GOOD?

Mirrorball

Oooo this gives me beachy vibes. Literally every part of this song, this album is what I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR!!!!! I sent home the circus yessss. No clowns allowed. I love the voice modulator and the layered vocals on this A LOT.

Seven

OMG IS THIS TAYLOR? Her voice!!! I love this. It is such a different way for her to sing.SWEET TEA AND GOD’S GRACES MAAM? 

August “cause you were never mine” why is everY SONG RIPPING MY HEART OUT? This bridge. YES. “For me it was enough to live for djsgklsjdkl” YES. “YOU WERE MINE TO LOSE” 

This is me trying

I like this slow intro. “I just wanted you to know this is me trying” brb crying. This whole album has me in my feels. I love the strings in this one. 

Illicit affairs

Ooo Taylor what u been doin girl. “Leave the perfume on the shelf that you picked out just for him” girl. ): THEY SHOW THEIR TRUTH ONE SINGLE TImE. “DONT CALL ME BABY, LOOK AT THIS GODFORSAKEN MESS YOU MADE MEEEE.” I WOULD RUIN MYSELF A MILLION LITTLE TIMES……fuck this album is good. God tier.

Invisible string

This song sounds so soft. Safe and sound vibes. Im in lOVE. “CUTTING ME OPEN THEN HEALING ME FINE” kGOD????? FOR THE BOYS WHO BROKE MY HEART. Where is centennial park? 

Mad woman

OK I CLAIMED THIS SONG. LETS SEE. Um yes? Do you see my face in your neighbors lawn? FUCK YOU FOREVER. sKLDJGKDLSGJKLSD TAYLOR YES. “They say move on, but you know I won’t” “women like hunting witches too” SHIT GIRL……there’s nothing like a mad woman YES.  CAUSE YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME…..yes hunny. This is so GOOD. Lwymmd had a GLOW UP. 

Epiphany

I looove how she is branching out with how she sings. This is so GOOD. WATCH YOU BREATH IN WATCH YOU BREATHE OUTTTT. Her voice is so LOVELY in this wow. Some things you just can’t speak about :/ . It is true, girl. I cant decide a favorite song. They are all SO good. I love how this one fades out and just makes u sit in it.

Betty

oh she said cuntry bumpkin vibes for betty. Taylor got some old grudges to talk about LOL. Oh Taylor did something? This song is so gay I cant. Im not a Gaylor but jeez. taylor said: debut rights. In the GARDEN, it was JSUT A SUMMER ATHING? WHAT. I DREAMT OF YOU ALL SUMMER LONG? CARDIGAN AGAIN? Ok 

Peace

Ohh this guitar intro, im a fan. “No I could never give you peace” GOD. The lyrics on this album are so good. “Im a fire and ill keep your brittle heart warm” YES. This is just so good. “YOU KNOW THAT ID SWING YOU FOR THE FENCES> SIT WITH YOU IN THE TRENCHES.” WAIT WHAT; “GIVE YOU A CHILD?” GIRL……… She gave me a shoutout in peace "clowns to the west"

Hoax

I love all the piano in this album.  This is such a good closer. So soft. So warm. “ I am ash from your fire” “you know it still hurts underneath my scars” this is forsure top 3 for me

OVERALL: this album is SO good. So soft. So warm. It is everything I have been asking for in an album from Taylor and im blown away at how good it is. GOD IS A WOMAN AND HER NAME IS Taylor Swift.

#folklore #Taylor swift

[ellocentipede]

Arcana Craves Daydream Collection Review

It’s been a horrible, strange year so far in so many ways, and Julia of Arcana has been quietly working on a beautiful Craves collection to soothe our aching souls. Julia writes that her new Craves Daydream collection “is about some of the experiences and places we've been longing for and daydreaming about while cooped up during lockdown.” This collection is incredibly beautiful, varied, wistful and nostalgic--I love each scent fiercely, and I have to admit that I teared up a bit while testing several of them. I’ve been longing for the simple pleasures of going out to see a movie, or having a milkshake in my favorite local ice cream shop, Cammie’s Old Dutch, or watching my child laugh on a carnival ride and eat kettle corn at the fair. This collection offers us those experiences in scent form and ignites a kernel of joy. Thanks so much, Julia. <3      

Honey Craves Coffee Shops

Scent description: The warm, convivial aromas of a neighborhood gathering place. Roasting coffee beans, honey-drizzled cake, freshly baked vanilla cookies, soft, overstuffed chairs, and a hint of steamed milk.

I have to confess that historically, coffee scents have not worked for me (excepting BPAL’s Mornings in New Orleans, whose success I attribute to the chicory au lait). This, though, is much more than a coffee scent. Holy smokes. I mainly get honey-crusted warm brioche--sweet, wholesome, and comforting. It’s not super doughy, but realistic and just right. Warming up the blend and bringing some serious comfort like a scent-hug is the pleasant scent of freshly-roasted coffee beans. This is a scent that is both rich and gentle, comforting and snuggly. A must try for both lovers and skeptics of coffee fragrances.

Honey Craves Festivals

Scent description: Throngs of people gathered together under summer skies. Smoky dragonsblood and nag champa incense, dark honey, live music, green cannabis, spilled beer, bonfires, patchouli, soft earth, and laughter.

Honey Craves Festivals would be perfectly at home in the Green Dream collection! What a beauty. The cannabis note reminds me of the one used in Rose Petal blunt--it’s both green/brown and sweet, like tall late summer meadow grass. The incense notes are soft, gentle, luxurious, and comforting--they effortlessly round out the honeyed cannabis and create a happy and hazy scent that evokes gathering outdoors with good friends in the late afternoon sun. This one is a big, big win!

Honey Craves Ice Cream Parlors

Scent description: Sweet, cold scoops of pleasure. Pistachio ice cream, honey ice cream, Madagascar vanilla gelato, and a chilled porcelain bowl.

Sweet, creamy, honey ice cream in a waffle cone with a maraschino cherry on top. I think the pistachio note is reading as “cherry-like” to my nose. I should note that this pistachio note is toothsome, natural, and non-medicinal. If you typically have trouble with pistachio or cherry-like scent notes, do not fear this one! This scent is a foodie lover’s dream! It’s sweet, but not overly sweet, and happy! With time, the honey ice cream wins out on my skin--it’s a perfect scoop of honey ice cream in a rich waffle cone. Sticky-sweet, creamy, and delicious!

Honey Craves Moonlit Paths

Scent description: All the scents of night-hiking in a deciduous forest with only the moon to light your way. Beeswax absolute, forest floor, damp, decaying leaves, fragrant mosses, wild honey, sleeping trees, and a whiff of feral fur.

I love each fragrance in this collection, but if I absolutely had to pick a favorite, it would be this one. On my skin, this starts out as a version of Waterfall--with damp, moss-covered stone and cool, still water. With time I get more of the sweet honey and warm, snuggly fur. The effect is like walking in a cool, shadowy, moss-draped, stone-filled, deciduous forest with a pup companion. In the distance are fragrant beehives, scenting your way, or blossoms that are so nectar-filled and syrupy-sweet that they mimic the smell of natural honey. Moonlit Paths is a tour de force, and I foresee myself wearing it often. <3 

Honey Craves Paradise

Scent description: The essence of a gloriously sunbaked tropical island. An opening of richly sugared mango expands into a blend of heady tiare blossoms, delicate honey, golden sand, and warm coconut-scented body oil.

Julia’s tropical scents always make my heart flutter, and this one is a beauty! It’s a well-blended tropical dream! I get coconut-slicked warm sand, gently heady, lush, creamy, and sweet tiare blooms, and sugar-crusted, ripe, juicy mango. The honey is a delicate haze of sweetness holding the blend together. Unsurprisingly, this has quickly shot up among my favorite scents of all time. It truly is paradise in a bottle, and just what my soul needs right now. Beautiful!

Honey Craves Theater

Scent description: What could ever compare to live theater? Golden vetiver, floral honey, sakura blossoms, rare orchids, white amber, pearl musk, a glass of chilled chardonnay, and a hint of leather. Author! Author!

This scent is brooding and luxurious--this is a Gilded Age theater crusted with gold leaf mouldings and heavy red velvet drapes. I get thick, sweet honey that’s balanced by a bite of vetiver, smooth, worn, dark leather seats, and a splash of chilled white wine. With time the hothouse orchids make their presence known--they lend a languid, humid, heady aspect to the scent. Gorgeous! This would be an excellent scent to wear to a murder mystery dinner theater!

Peaches Crave the Movies

Scent description:  An ode to the bygone experience of watching movies in a 1990s era megaplex: the lights go down, the sound goes up, and you are transported into another world. Torn ticket stubs, peach gummy worms, cherry licorice whips, red velvet drapes, buttery popcorn, and smashed candy on the floor.

I thought this scent was going to be overwhelmingly foodie, but I am pleasantly surprised to find it to be complex on my skin--it really is like the entire experience of sitting in the movie theater, snuggled up with your assortment of snacks, waiting for the film reel to flicker on. The peach gummies are most prominent on my skin and they smell true-to-life--sweet, tart, a little gummy/waxy. The buttery popcorn wafts in the background--you’ve handed the bucket to the cinephile to your right while you munch on gummy peach rings. Surrounding all of this is the supremely comforting, lightly fresh but also somehow velvety and luxurious scent of fabric and something mildly papery. These lend some atmosphere to the blend, and the effect is gorgeous. This scent is incredibly nostalgic and comforting for me, and makes me long to go to the movies.

Strawberries Crave Sunlit Paths

Scent description: The happy scent of day-hiking through the dappled sunlight of a coniferous thicket of trees. Sugary red strawberries with Arcana Wildcraft's Her Forest (layers of velvety forest mosses and soft green lichens with wild-harvested Northern fir tips, Bourbon vetiver, black oudh, and a hint of forest floor).

Her Forest (review here) is one of my very favorite Arcana scents. It’s a complex, beautiful, and realistic calming forest scent. Combining this scent with strawberry was a stroke of genius--they blend so incredibly harmoniously. This fragrance is much more than strawberry + Her Forest--it has become a magnificent fragrance of its own. This is a happier, more carefree version of the solemn and peaceful Her Forest. It truly does smell sunlit--like walking along a well-worn sun-dappled path in a beautiful old deciduous forest, fingers stained and juicy from perfect, ripe strawberries. Strawberries Crave Sunlit Paths is bottled happiness.

Vanilla Craves Grind Shows

Scent description: The edible aromas of a traveling carnival overflowing with oddities and amusements. Vanilla-laced cotton candy, deep fried funnel cakes encrusted with powdered sugar, salty peanuts, kettle corn, and caramel-covered apples.

Sweet kettle corn, pink cotton candy, and a pop of salty peanut! With time, the kettle corn wins out as the dominant note for me, and it’s wonderful. It smells so realistic that I feel like I’m sticking my nose into a bag of warm, freshly-popped, sweet and salty kettle corn. This is a wonderful and happy carnival scent that makes me yearn for our local fair. I predict that Vanilla Craves Grind Shows will be a major hit! Don’t sleep on this one, y’all.

Vanilla Craves Mermaid Shoals

Scent description: A gourmand aquatic fantasy. An opening of warm, musky neroli leads to a heart of lemon biscotti, bright tangerine, sunlight glittering on blue water, vanilla, sea foam, briny seaweed absolute, and scattered rose petal incense. .

This one is going to be a smash hit. It’s another fine example of Julia’s expertise with aquatic and tropical scents, with some toothsome gourmand elements added to keep things interesting! This is the scent of eating orange creamsicles and iced lemon cookies on the most beautiful tropical beach. The creamsicle is perfection--smooth, sweet vanilla cream and juicy, tart tangerine--and the iced lemon cookies melt a bit in your fingers. The sea breeze carries the scents of sparkling, pearl-crusted foam, and a light hint of waxy pink blossoms. This is a fantasy indeed. An utterly beautiful scent!

Arcana Craves perfumes may be perused and purchased at https://arcanacraves.com/ 

[redrocx]

For the one piece ask: all of them? 😅 (I honestly can't decide which to ask for soooo...) Alternatively, only the ones you want to answer the most 👍🏻

Challenge accepted 🌚🌚

No but honestly, this was so much fun and I was bored at work

⛵️ - Fave pirate ship? (like boat ship)

It's a tie between the Thousand Sunny and Going Merry. Thriller Bark is epic though lol

🔫 - Fave canon arc?

Enies Lobby & Marineford, also Wano is creeping up there too

🚽 - Least favorite canon arc?

Davy Back Fight

💩 - Least favorite character? (in general)

Blackbeard

🙅 - Least favorite Straw Hat?

.... currently Zoro but only bc of the Zorosexuals lol I love him as a character but people are being so obnoxious that it kinda translates into how I feel about him too

😀 - Most favorite Straw Hat?

Luffy, Chopper and Robin~

😍 - OTP?

Lawlu, Frobin, Saboala

💀 - NOTP?

Hancock x Luffy

ZoSan

Kidd x Law

🙇 - A headcanon about <Luffy>

I like to think that he's asexual~

☠ - Fave pirate symbol?

You mean as in favorite flag? Obviously the Straw Hat and Heart Pirates flags (´༎ຶོρ༎ຶོ`)

Also the ✖️

🏰 - Fave marine?

Garp, Aokiji (if he counts lol), Coby

❌ - Least fave marine?

Akainu 😂 though I like the way he's written

👾 - Fave villain?

Doflamingo

🎾 - Fave battle?

Luffy vs. Lucci, Luffy vs. Katakuri

😭 - Saddest scene?

Merry's death & Law's backstory

😆 - Funniest scene?

Too many lol but probably Luffy getting swallowed by Nora/Nola rofl

😜 - Funniest character?

Luffy

😳 - Any crushes?

Law, Shanks, Robin, Nami, Reiju, Kiku, Black Maria and I'm probably forgetting someone

👌 - Fave character design?

Hmmm.... I love Crocodile's design, simple mafia boss. Franky pre time skip was really neat too, so is Katakuri

🃏 - Who has the Best Hat? (the true question)

Law post time skip (sorry Luffy lol)

🖍 - Fave filler arc?

Lol obviously the navy base one XD

🗡 - Least fave filler arc?

The bounty hunters on ice

🆚 - Sub or dub?

Both, German dub is just so nostalgic. But mostly sub

☯️ - Anime or manga?

Both

⏰ - How long have you been into One Piece?

Since elementary school so about 18 years lol

🍎 - Fave Devil Fruit power?

Hana hana no mi & ope ope no mi

🍏 - Would you eat a Devil Fruit if you had the chance to?

If it's a cool one, definitely. Though I am gonna miss swimming lol

🐼 - Fave side character?

Sabo, Reiju, Kiku, Carrot

☔️ - Scene that made you cry the most? (not necessarily the saddest scene)

Merry's death, Law's backstory, Luffy dealing with Aces's loss

🌧 - Saddest backstory?

Law & Robin

😎 - Funniest joke?

Zoro will kill Kaido the one where Luffy tries to lecture Zoro on where South is on Skypiea

😱 - Most attractive character?

Shanks, Law, Robin, Reiju

😐 - Most annoying character?

Blackbeard, Spandam, Orochi

😕 - Scariest character?

Shanks honestly lol he's so badass and ominous it's scary af XD (but in a hot way lol)

👍 - Most powerful Devil Fruit power?

Good question. Probably Blackbeard's. Though others are not to be taken lightly too, like Law's, Big Mom's or even Kaido's.

🗣 - Got any theories for how it’s all gonna end?

Hopefully with a happy ending lol I'm terrified of the prospect of Luffy following in Roger's footsteps.

👏 - Fave techniques of <Luffy>

Haoushoku, Red Hawk, Gear 2

🙏 - Favorite episode?

Don't have just one

😏 - Favorite scene?

Again, don't have just one. But for example Luffy & Co ganging up to beat someone's ass; Sogeking shooting through the WG flag; Luffy decimating the Pacifista after his training; Jimbei donating blood to Luffy; Luffy stopping Doflamingo from crushing Law's skull, Sanji's "I'm the hunter" scene,...

👂 - Favorite quote?

"Pirates are evil? The Marines are righteous? These terms have always changed throughout the course of history! Kids who have never seen peace and kids who have never seen war have different values! Those who stand at the top determine what's wrong and what's right! This very place is neutral ground! Justice will prevail, you say? But of course it will! Whoever wins this war becomes justice!"

"Compared to the "righteous" greed of the rulers, the criminals of the world seem much more honorable. When scum rules the world, only more scum is born. At least we're honest about being bad people."

🙌 - Are you up to date?

Yess! Well kinda lol I don't check spoilers and I don't read the leaks, so I'm "behind" on new chapters until they come out on Sundays lol

❓ - What unanswered questions do you have related to One Piece?

So many XD

- who is Shanks?

- What happened to Sabo and Vivi?

- What's with the hat (both Luffy's and the giant one)

- Who's that ominous dude (forgot the name) sitting on the throne?

- What happened during the void century?

- What does the D stand for?

Just to name the ones at the top of my head

▶️ - Fave opening?

- kokoro no chizu

- Over the top

- Hard knock days

- We are

- Share the world

- Hikari he

-

🔙 Least fave opening?

We Can or whatever it's called lol

👀 - Fave eyecatcher?

The old ones, especially Robin's with that alluring melody

🏝 - Fave country/island visited?

Skypiea, Water 7, Fishman Island

🎆 - Something you can’t wait for??!!

To get to know what's the deal with Shanks. Also to see the Straw Hats fulfill their dreams ofc... but first of all ofc the war in Wano *gets goosebumps*

🔝 - “One Piece is better than <insert something else you also like>”

I don't do these types of things bc I don't like the sentiment of statements like that. One should never try and lift one's fave /something/ up by tearing another thing down.

🔍 - What do you think the One Piece is?

The truth of the void century

🔪 - A character who fills you with frustration?

Usopp, especially during Water 7

💓 - Which character do you relate to the most?

Law and Robin probably lol Law for his level of annoyance and being done with everything and Robin for her dark humor, as well as her love for reading books~

™️ - How has One Piece changed you?

I'm not even sure how to put it into words. It's just always been there for me ever since I was little. It made me find so many friends and meet so many awesome people. It's my home, my safe haven, the place I can always return to. It got me out of one of my darkest places last year (when I finally found back to it after having strayed from it for a few years). It's my anchor, and a way to connect with other people. Most of all, it's the most amazing story I have ever experienced, and has given me so many role models and things & words to live by.

#asks #ask game #animanga: one piece #animanga #long post #like very long post #personal #this was so much fun omgg thank you again ♥️

[euphoriacrossing]

So I started my New Leaf town back over...

I really didn't like the name I was experimenting with, but I am glad I figured that out before New Horizons. I picked a much better name for my town this time, I called it Mayfield which is my great grandmother's maiden name I think. I know it won't matter much once New Horizons comes out. I screwed up months back by deleting the village I had had since New Leaf came out and since then it just hasn't felt worth it. I mean, I have /tried/ to make it feel fun again, but I am always filled with so much regret that it is kind of hard.

That is why I hope beyond all hope that I don't lose my town's save data in New Horizons. I know you can recover it once, but how hard is that going to be and will it be worth it when you'll know the next time your switch goes haywire it's actual game over for that island? I imagine it'd be INCREDIBLY anxiety inducing to know you'd used your ONE retrieve and you were now one bad day away from losing everything you'd worked on. I know it'd make me feel like I shouldn't bother anymore, like I shouldn't make an effort, because it could all be gone in the blink of an eye.

I know these may not be rational ways to look at things, but I can just predict that this is how my anxiety will have me feeling and viewing the situation.

Anyway, back to New Leaf, I think getting the right name for my town helps me deal with some of the regret at least. Like it was a trade off, badly named well developed towns for a very well named undeveloped town. So as we head off into the age of New Horizons, I feel I have finally made peace with New Leaf. And I mean, after it came out I played a lot for probably a year or two before I ever reset so I got a taste of what a good town is like. I didn't work as hard as I could have though, so it wasn't like a GREAT town. I hope that is different in New Horizons. I don't need the most manicured, well put together island out there, but I would like something I can be proud of having worked hard on and something I can get attached to. I mean New Leaf was more than just a game to me and it all meant a lot, but my town itself never became something I loved an excessive amount. I loved activities, and routine, and my villagers, but my town was "meh" and could have been better, so I am hoping for better with New Horizons. It's a new chance to make something great.

Oh and just as a little bonus this I love about my new New Leaf town is I HAVE CHIEF IN IT. I know this will lead to heartbreak because he'll probably move away when I move on to New Horizons. But I had Chief maybe in the gamecube version...? Maybe it was Wild World instead, I can't say for sure as my memory is awful, but I really grew to love him and he made a meaningful impact on me. So now he's my favorite wolf villager for sure, and then the wolves are my favorite species I think. But hey, if you know anyone with an extra Chief amiibo card who wants to make AC dreams come true, point them my way! I have nothing to trade as of yet, I haven't gotten and doubles yet, but I hope when I have more money and can get more packs of my own, I'll open them, maybe get some extras and I hope in the future to hook people up with dream villagers either by mailing them the card they need or letting them come to my campsite to convince an animal to move to there town. I would like to help people create their perfect villages, so maybe someone will be charitable enough to help me create mine. 🥺

Outright begging aside... ahem. Moving on.

I found my old Animal Crossing/gaming blog. I had a hunch and so I jumped through fifty hoops changing passwords and checking emails until I was finally logged into my playtimewithmadi.tumblr.com blog

I haven't looked at any of it yet and I am super excited to. I am almost tempted to move back onto that blog, but I will mention it before I do if I choose to do so. It was kind of a "general" gaming blog but if I remember right it's mostly AC and it was from like the time right after New Leaf came out. Man, it's so nostalgic to think back about it. If there are any good posts I will of course share them here.

Anyway, I'm gonna go look through that. And beat myself up for missing my visit with Chief which I SET AN ALARM FOR WHICH NEVER WENT OFF THANKS DUMB PHONE. 😠 Seriously I feel real life bad about that. I need to find him a good present to make up for it. So yeah, browsing my old blog and playing New Leaf, hopefully that helps the time pass quickly. We're getting so, so close guys. It's going to be amazing. Are you excited? I am. 😀

#Animal Crossing #New Leaf #New Horizons #Animal Crossing New Leaf #Animal Crossing New Horizons #ACNL #ACNH #AC New Leaf #AC New Horizons #nostalgia #AC tumblr #playtimewithMadi #gaming blog #personal

[waitingisms]

i believe that is elita krol, the lady in waiting of iilyria. they are twenty-five years old and are known to be very zealous & forthright, though they can also be very disputatious & eccentric. they remind me of dresses left in heaps on banks away from splashes from a secret swim, summer wildflowers and winterberry branches tangled in braids and long waves, and poems and quotes committed to memory while being read late under candlelight. written by : ophelia, 25, cst, she/her

tw: familial death mention

ABOUT ME

hi everyone! i’m so excited to be here and to get to know all of you! my inbox/messages are always open and i’m always here to plot! a bit about me: i am a bit of a nerd and love pretty much everything between marvel, disney, star wars, crime shows, period dramas, and really anything else i can get nostalgic about. right now, as with a lot of people, i’m obsessed with animal crossing and making my island all nice and pretty. recently i’ve been on a period drama kick and found this rp as if it was fate and i’m really excited to get writing! also i will probably bring in another character because i can’t help myself.

ABOUT ELITA

basics.

age: twenty-five

gender: cis female

sexuality: heterosexual

title: lady in waiting to natalya ryback

kingdom: iilyria

personality.

positive: zealous, forthright, honest, loyal, caring, passionate

negative: disputatious, eccentric, bold, outspoken

star sign: pisces

hogwarts house: gryffindor

season: summer

element: air

family.

father: nobleman in court

mother: noblewoman, deceased

maternal cousins: live in gydina

bio.

elita’s mother died when she was very young and all she has left to remember her with is memories told to her by her father and her reflection in the mirror because she’s often told she looks just like her. because of her father’s place in court, she grew up there, often being told to be quiet and act ladylike even though she worked her way into obtaining books and reading what she could when she had the chance, reading beyond what is common for ladies of court to learn.

through minor arrangements and pushing of her father, she made acquaintance and quick friendship with natalya who she’s fiercely loyal to above anything that her father had wished. it ultimately became natural that she would become nat’s lady as they got older.

when it comes to war and politics of the land, she’s often voicing an opinion in favor of peace, sometimes out of turn in some opinions ( and much to the despair of her father who wanted to keep in good favor ). she often believes in an ideal world and one that she believes is possible in spite of what anything around her would have her believe otherwise. she felt relief when king dimitri didn’t want to continue in his father’s footsteps.

she’s hopeful now that everyone gathers for peace, even if there may be whispers about how it won’t work or last.

wanted connections.

sutor: they haven’t been formally introduced as such yet, but she knows it’s inevitable with her place in court and as a lady. she just worries about what that will mean from her place and her voice.

family connections in gydina: they would be from her mother’s side. someone she’s written to throughout her life, potentially has stories about her mother to share too.

other connections in iilyria court: other friends she has, people she shares thoughts with, some that disagree with her, some that often talk about her outspokenness in distaste.

#imperialintro #imperialooc #death tw