#and suddenly the doom soundtrack starts playing

[ozdicaff]

INTRODUCING: CHILDRENS SHOW AU!

WAY too excited to share these guys !!!! im super proud of these designs <3

CTS!Y/n and information about the AU under the cut!

In this AU, FazCo is a company running a TV channel network called FazBS, where each animatronic has their own show!

Sun's show airs at mornings and is all about getting energized and hyped up for the day, its similar to LazyTown with it's cartoon-esc violence and slapstick humor, with scenarios that make little sense, but are entertaining to watch anyway! only very simple language is used to make everything understandable for younger kids, with cameos of the other animatronics! his show was extremely popular, just above Roxy's and below Monty's in popularity.

Moon's show airs around bedtime and is focused on getting kids to go to sleep, with a soothing music box soundtrack, Moon's trance-inducing voice, and more advanced dialogue that makes kids zone out, its known for how fast it puts kids to sleep, even the especially rambunctious ones fall asleep out of boredom. While his show wasn't as talked about nor popular as sun's, it was highly rated among parents.

[descriptions for the glamrocks' shows will be added later when i draw refs for them too! :D]

Well, that was before the entire channel went downhill after FazCo fired all of its human workers.

Yeah, despite the channel's success and being extremely profitable, this was the FazCo's end-game from the start. Being able to AI-generate children's content without having to pay a single human, FazCo thought that their animatronics have already learnt enough from being show hosts for more than 10 years now, but they thought wrong. The gradual decline in quality was felt by the parents, and after Bonnie's show was suddenly cancelled- even the kids noticed how bad things were getting.

[psst, i'll go into detail about how each show was effected by this change in another post!]

Parents called in, demanding the shows they grew up with to be good again, and it wasn't just nostalgia speaking.

So, in an uncharacteristic turn of events, FazCo responded! They said that Freddy's, Monty's, Roxy's and Chica's shows were going to have human staff again!

...what they neglected to mention, was that they were pulling funding from Foxy's show, and cutting Sun's and Moon's budget in half to make up for this change.

Sun now has to re-use and repurpose old props to make up for his inability to get new ones, buying with his now super limited budget cheap D.I.Y kits to make crafts with- not to mention, without having any human staff around, he had to play every sound effect in real time- because the new S.T.A.F.F bots FazCo got have ZERO idea what comedic timing is. Needless to say he was under a lot of pressure, his show was pretty well liked by both kids and parents, and he didn't want to disappoint them. He had to change a lot with the absence of human actors and no narrator to have a solid dynamic with, calling on his pal Chica often jus to have another person on the show.

Moon's show however, was doomed from this change. Y'see, his show featured a narrator, posing as a curious soul and asking Moon thoughtful questions he can answer in a way kids can digest, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood style, and with no off-screen voice he can respond to, Moon's show felt incredibly eerie, as his true thoughts were left free with no guidance from his narrator buddy. He started acting stranger and stranger, going on derailed existential tangents accidentally, making a few jabs at FazCo here and there from frustration. The kids didn't understand any of it, but the parents found it off-putting, and complained.

Eventually, Moon's show was put on a permanent hiatus, after a particularly bad episode where 'moon truly let his rising anger at FazCo loose', as an article described it. No recording was archived of this episode, and any attempts to post it is quickly struck down by FazCo.

They've re-run old episodes of his show for about 6 months now, with no sign of moon coming back.

This, however, is when Y/N comes in! after half a year of dwindling ratings of sun's show, and decreasing profits in merch sales, they caved in and hired a single narrator! after not being able to retrieve their old narrator, due to "a small disagreement."- they brought you, surely, they don't expect you to single handedly bring back sun's show from ruin!? ...well, did they?

who fuckin knows you'll find out in my [soon to be written] fic lol

#fnaf daycare attendant #fnaf security breach #sundrop #moondrop #security breach #sun fnaf #fnaf au #sb moon #fnaf sun #fnaf sunny #childrens tv show au #CTS!moon #CTS!sun #CTS!y/n #my au #myart #childrens show au

[dbstaches]

KNOCKING BACK A WEE DRAMA (OR TWO) DAVID BALL: treading softly Pic by Joe Shutter

Record Mirror magazine, 23 July 1983, Simon Tebbutt — full article text bellow

If you thought David Ball, the normally quieter side of the Soft Cell, had been so silent lately he must be off digging the potatoes in his allotment — forget it.

While Cell mate Marc Almond has been busy handling his Mambas over the past months, young Dave has been beavering away on the soundtrack for a play and a film and putting the finishing touches to his soon to be released solo LP.

“This year I've spent most of my time in the studio,” he says. “I've got a lot better at building up sounds and arranging.”

The play, Tennessee Williams' ‘Suddenly Last Summer’, a steamy tale of heat-oppressed passion set in New Orleans and now running at the New End Theatre in Hampstead, came about by chance.

“I was sitting in a hotel bar and started chatting to this bloke who turned out to be an actor,” says Dave. “I said if he could think of anything that would be good to put music to but keep as a play, not a musical, then I'd be interested.

“He phoned me up about two months later and said he wanted to do ‘Suddenly Last Summer’. Tennessee Williams is perfect, he's just so dramatic.”

The music, like the play, which Dave has financed himself, is heavily atmospheric and doom laden. And it has opened doors for the musician in the wonderful world of movie soundtracks.

“I'm doing a German film called ‘Decoder’ — it stars the real Christiane F and William Burroughs makes a cameo appearance. I really like the idea of the music emphasising and sometimes overstating what is going on in the action.”

All these themes have come together in Dave's solo work, provisionally titled ‘In Strict Tempo’.

“That's because of a track on the album called Strict Tempo,” he explains. “It started off as a military rhythm and then I got David Claridge to do a voice-over talking about his club Skin II. So you've got the military side of it, the discipline, and the rubber.

“I've got Psychic TV's Genesis P. Orridge singing on a couple of tracks, one of which, ‘The Troubled Sleeper’ or ‘Sincerity’, will be a single.

“The whole album is about musical cliches all put together in the wrong order. Like taking a country and western guitar solo and putting in the middle of a funk track. But it all works. If it didn't work, I wouldn't use it.”

But don't worry, gentle reader, this flurry of individual activity doesn't spell the end for Soft Cell.

“For me doing this solo stuff has been a break,” says Dave. “Marc and I play each other what we've done all the time. We're working on ideas that we'd only dabbled in with Soft Cell. Everything is more powerful. And now we're collecting bits for a new Soft Cell album at the end of the summer.”

#Dave Ball #David Ball #Soft Cell #Genesis P-Orridge #David Claridge #solo #In Strict Tempo #Decoder #Record Mirror #1980s #1983 #synthpop #new wave #interview #magazine #text #photo #image #nostache

[residenthughes]

like clockwork

pairing: leon kennedy x gender neutral reader

word count: 730

tags/warnings: fluff, just a touch of angst, possibly unrequited love

summary: leon's too far away for your liking but you know better than to call back for him.

notes: a result of my one too many feelings after discovering resident evil! this was really fun to do and even funnier that whilst editing, i was listening to the austin & ally soundtrack. i miss writing. hope to write more whenever that may be.enjoy :)

"i think about you a lot."

and it's a fact - you do. when he's far away, saving lives like clockwork, the leon-shaped hole in your heart is quick to indicate how intertwined your lives are together. despite your smothering platonic friendship being nothing but just that, leon's space in your life is as grand as it gets. keys to your door, his trusty aftershave tucked away in your bathroom and a bedside table littered with all the silly trinkets he brings back from lands far away.

you know better than to have let this come into being, to let this continue being. you're in love with your best friend and allowing for him to tread your boundaries freely as if they weren't landmines, was a recipe for disaster. however, when you trudge through your doorway with exhaustion aching in your bones, stomach growling, you can't help but forgo your rationality as leon greets you at the door, hanging up your coat with your favourite comfort show playing in the background as the heavenly scent of a hearty dinner lingers in the air. you feel spoiled by his affection, whatever undertone it may come with, but you know better than anyone else how it begins to rot you from within.

on nights of his absence, the silence of your apartment is loud, your heart heavy and the left side of your bed is empty. sometimes when the back of your eyes burn with crimson, doused in drowsiness but nevertheless open, you gaze out the window nearest leon's side of the bed and catch the dull gleam of stars in the sky. knowing that wherever leon may be - whether that's beside you with a light snore, regretfully awake in his own residence and thoughts, or somewhere not even remotely close to home - you two lay under the same sky. and sometimes, that blanket of reassurance is enough to lull you to sleep, but other times, that blanket is too thin to bare.

"you do?" he asks a simple question, but it really isn't.

suddenly, it's blistering cold, chills zapping down your spine like electricity. the daunting weight of your feelings hold your tongue down like cement, warning church bells ringing in your ears to the point where you feel yourself start to disconnect from your body completely. after all, wouldn't that be better than confessing your doomed love?

amidst the seemingly heavy seconds of silence, your soul manages to drift back into your body, gazing up at leon whose eyes never leave yours. the apricot saturated streetlight from above glares down on him with a tenderness you've never seen, his striking features basked in warmth and ultimately softened. it's embarrassing how quickly the sight sets an uptake in your heartbeat.

"of course," you start, glancing down at your shoes in a casual attempt to avert his line of sight. the azure blue of his eyes that you know like the back of your hand is abruptly too much to handle, your hand seeking refuge on the back of your neck. "who else would i call to fix the water pressure for free?"

he scoffs, amusement tugging at the corner of his lips as you chuckle along with the playful atmosphere that settles between the two of you. it's nice, and not so terribly domestic to the point where it feeds your misconception of your relationship. comfortable.

"that all i'm good for?" a slow and sexy smile graces his face, and you can't help but blush.

he's good for a lot of things, truthfully speaking. but where's the fun been in simply admitting that?

"afraid so, handyman." you joke, accidentally catching a glimpse of how his tricep flexes under dim lighting and has you feeling lightheaded yourself.

"your personal maintenance man, huh?" he muses, laying against his arms crossed behind his back that's supported by the large mailbox he leans against.

"more like the human sized rat who finishes all my turkey dinosaurs."

his head turns to face you. "well, wouldn't have that issue if you actually ate them, now would ya?"

his eyebrow arches in question and as you look up at him, you're sick with how even if he raids your fridge for your beloved turkey dinosaurs, keeps your apartment mini-fridge temperature or even if you go weeks without seeing him, when you're finally with him, it's worth it. even if your heart yells out in unrequited love.

#resident evil #re4r #re4r leon #leon kennedy #leon kennedy x reader #leon kennedy fanfic #my fics #rahhhh i haven't written in ages so this was fun #hehe

[rattlingmycage]

IIIIIII’m so curious how dark dark one could go with bastard astarion like. I would discuss it but I worry I’d be overstepping since I know not a lot of people are comfortable with certain themes in darkfic (plus I know there’s like, purity discourse over fiction and all, that’s a mess.) but you’re comics made me feral. The way you panelled em and showed Astarion’s intentions but not 100% exactly was so well done.

Fuck yea, I'm glad you liked it! I love seeing stuff where characters don't say what they're thinking but show it instead, and that's also what I strive for, so thank you.

And I totally get you lol, one of my bigger fears is posts/comics/art leaving my circle and getting misinterpreted by people. But I think that not writing darkfic and not discussing it is a loss to literature as a whole. Purity culture has been around forever, it just comes in waves, whether it's the comics code authority banning everything under the sun in the 1950s, satanic panic in 1980s, or the twisting of social justice by bad actors and misguided people with good intentions (hello I used to be in this picture and I don't like it) in the 2010s.

So long as things are tagged, people are kind about others having squicks/triggers/dark taste, and stay in their lane, I think it's fine. This is waxing philosophical, but I think a lot of purity culture is an attempted bandaid in the absence of media literacy. Problematic media gets popular, the subtext goes over certain people's heads + they simp for the villain, and suddenly everyone wants to ban the media + assumes that anyone simping also doesn't get the subtext. I'm tired of it and I've come to realize there's just no pleasing the masses, it's better to find your own little weirdo corner with a couple fellow clowns and have your fun that way.

Anyway, YES I need to start a dark urge run with Astarion because I think they would be so good together. I've been playing with the idea of making a dark urge version of my OC as well for comics (I really want them to bite astarion just to catch that fucker by surprise lol. Not playful sexy biting but RIP AND TEAR DOOM SOUNDTRACK biting hhhhh). This game is just so hulking massive I'm still trying to get through run 1.5 (taking my good run and branching off into ascendant astarion) at the moment.

#answers

[megatraven]

Ares draws the Blood of Alex and suddenly the soundtrack from DOOM starts playing as Aphrodite kicks the HERA dojo door in looking furious, godly energy spilling from her like hellfire.

[narrator voice] it was then that ares knew he fucked up

#ares #alex #aphrodite #lovestruck voltage #lovestruck #astoria #alex cyprin

[developerwith1]

Eerie Echoes: Decoding the Hidden Messages in Iconic Horror Movie Theme Songs

Imagine sitting in a dark, quiet room when suddenly a familiar eerie tune starts playing, sending chills down your spine. That's the power of Best horror movie themes, crafted not just to scare, but to leave a haunting imprint on our minds. But is there more to these melodies than meets the ear? Let's unravel the mysteries behind the iconic horror movie theme songs and discover the hidden messages they carry.

Unveiling the Veil: The Essence of Horror Music

Horror movie themes are more than just background noise; they are the heartbeat of the film's atmosphere, designed to pull us deeper into the story's dark world.

The Classics: Psycho and Jaws

These timeless themes use repetition and escalating tempo to build tension, embedding hidden messages of impending doom and relentless danger.

Modern Masterpieces: The Conjuring and Sinister

Exploring how recent horror hits use sound to tap into our primal fears, with layered tracks and eerie soundscapes that speak to our subconscious.

Musical Motifs and Their Meanings

Identifying common motifs in horror themes, like the use of minor keys and staccato rhythms, and decoding what they symbolize within the narrative.

The Role of Instruments in Horror Themes

From the ominous strings in "Psycho" to the electronic pulses in "It Follows," each instrument choice serves a purpose, creating specific emotional responses.

Dissonance and Discord: Creating Unease

Delving into how composers use musical tension and atonality to evoke feelings of discomfort and anticipation, mirroring the film's suspense.

Silence as a Tool in Horror Music

Examining the powerful use of silence and sudden sounds to create jump scares and moments of intense fear, proving that sometimes less is more.

Cultural Influences in Horror Soundtracks

Exploring how different cultural elements are woven into horror music, giving each film a unique flavor while tapping into universal fears.

Psychological Impact of Horror Themes

Analyzing how these themes manipulate our emotions, triggering a fight-or-flight response even in the safety of our theater seats.

Behind the Notes: Composer Insights

Insights from famous horror composers on their creative process, revealing the intentional design behind the chilling sounds.

Evolution of Horror Music Styles

Tracing the transformation of horror themes from the orchestral arrangements of the past to the electronic and digital sounds of today.

Interpreting the Unheard: Subliminal Messages

Investigating the possibility of subliminal messages in horror music, and how these hidden elements can subconsciously influence the viewer's experience.

Horror Themes in Digital Age: Changes and Challenges

Discussing how the digital era has transformed horror music composition, offering new opportunities and challenges for creators.

The Legacy of Iconic Horror Themes

Reflecting on how the most memorable horror themes have left a lasting impact on the genre and continue to influence new generations of filmmakers and composers.

Exploring Beyond the Screen: Horror Music in Real Life

Examining the influence of horror movie themes outside the cinema, from haunted attractions to theme parties, highlighting their cultural significance.

In conclusion, the iconic themes of horror movies carry deep, resonant messages that transcend their eerie melodies. These compositions are carefully crafted to manipulate our emotions, create tension, and enhance the storytelling, leaving a lasting imprint on our psyche. By delving into the nuances of these haunting tunes, we uncover the layers of complexity that make horror movie themes a pivotal element of the cinematic experience, proving that sometimes the most terrifying things are those we hear, not see.

[m39]

Doom WADs’ Roulette (2007): Cheogsh

G2: Cheogsh

Main author(s): Shadowman

Release date: August 2nd, 2007

Version played: ???

Required port compatibility: GZDoom

Levels: 1

And now, for the first partial conversion of the 2007 roster, and, probably, the first real banger of the 2007 roster, we have Cheogsh. Created as a tribute to the author’s passed best friend, in around 1.5 months (counting a break). And while there is no written plot in the textfile, there is some stuff in the map itself talking about fighting the titular hell lord.

I’m running out of stuff to stay, so let’s see what this map has to offer.

Let’s start by saying that this map looks great. While it’s mostly covered in red, black, and brown colors/lightning, the map still manages to look incredible and has many distinctive locations. I don’t know if this is the prettiest-looking map I’ve seen up to this point (ignoring the maps/WADs that were released in the following years), but at worst I would consider it pretty close to that position.

The soundtrack is also great. I don’t know if it is the original track or was taken from other media, but its epicness on every level (even the parts that are calmer) is worth taking a listen to.

Asides from one shitty location to play through, this map isn’t really complex. Now let me tell you what you do on this map (I would warn you about spoilers but this is a 15-year-old map; bite me).

You start on the beach shores near some ruins. As you explore them, you notice a temple. You go in, you kill doormen, and you use teleporter.

You suddenly end up in a cage with fellow marines. You break out, and after a while, you end up in some kind of demonic community area with a tavern, pool, huts, etc. As you go around doing shenanigans, you eventually end up in the catacombs. These are the worst part of Cheogsh; a fucking labyrinth full of ghosts and skeletons (if you know what I mean) that has barely enough light and you can’t even see the layout on the map. I legitimately hate this area.

Anyway, after dealing with that filth, you finally get the yellow key which you use to get the blue key. Doing this takes you to some human house (based on and created by the passed friend of the author’s) to grab the hidden BFG.

With BFG in your hands, you go back and through the blue door to the underground cavern where you find the red key. With this key, you get access to Cheogsh pentagram. This thing must be turned off by pressing five switches, each dedicated to one beating heart that powers the demon lord. You do that, and you are finally allowed to fight the titular demon. After turning him into mush, you go back to the shore to notice that the sky is now blue. The corruption has been lifted. You won.

Now changing the subject, aside from catacombs, there is another thing in Cheogsh that I don’t like (although, not on such a magnitude) – the unskippable cutscenes. Not the ones where Cheogsh talks (where Korax’s voice lines are used), but the ones where are forced to stop and listen to some ramblings (with some broken English) either from you or Casper the rambling marine. Sure, it’s not as horrible as 007 WAD, and it happens only three times, but I honestly believe there should’ve been a skip button to not waste everyone’s time.

Cheogsh isn’t exactly a hard map. It suffers from the hard pistol beginning that every map has, where you have nothing but a pea shooter, but it gets easier and it overall ends in-between on the difficulty scale. I can at least say it’s harder than Genesis of Descent and it rarely has hitscanners.

What doesn’t make this map a complete pushover is the new enemies. These were originally introduced in Knee-Deep in ZDoom, a WAD released a few months before Cheogsh. And since that WAD also won a Cacoward in the same year as this map, try not to act surprised when I’ll be talking about these mofos again when I get to KDiZD:

Starting with three, new Imp variants – Howler, Soul Harvester, and Nightmare. The first one is basically if Class 2 imp from STRAIN was more unique. In that case, we still have a fast Imp-like enemy that functions as a weaker Arachnotron but is now slightly tougher than a decade ago.

Meanwhile, Soul Harvester is like a smaller cousin of Revenant, in that he shoots homing projectiles. These are much harder to dodge (they will usually turn around and still hit you almost all the time), but at least they can only scratch you... I guess?

Nightmares... just suck. They act like ZDoom stealth enemies, you can only hit them when they attack you, and as soon as you spot them, you almost always get hit... hard. At least they appear in the catacombs section and can be seen with night goggles.

From 2002’s Nimrod, we have Mauler, the Pinky variant that for some reason can launch at you like a freaking Lost Soul. At least it has a better design and is still as tough as the regular Pinky.

The Hell Nobility also earned two additional variants – Satyr and Hell Warrior. The former runs around after snorting a line of coke trying to rip you apart. Thankfully, he’s melee-only.

The latter one comes from 2004’s ZDCMP1, but now it has a lion head and his shield can shoot projectiles too (I don’t remember him doing that in the original project).

We can’t forget about the titular Cheogsh, of course. Dressed as the bruiser demon, he can fire a single projectile, a volley of these, and a barrage of floor fire. Fighting him isn’t really hard, just annoying since he’s three times tougher than Cyberdemon and the last attack makes him teleport.

I haven’t encountered bugs in this map, but the Doomwiki article mentions how the blue key has a chance to appear under the platform it lies on.

Cheogsh might have the baffling catacombs area, and some of its cutscenes outstay their welcome, but it is still a great map worth checking out.

I can only hope that other single map WADs/partial and total conversions keep up the fun factor this map has.

See you next time.

Bye!

#doom #doom wad #review #doom mod #doom 2 #doom 2007 #2007 #cheogsh #cheoghs wad #doom cheogsh #doom wads’ roulette #cacowards #top ten wads of the year

[skelegun]

I know it’s stupid to bitch about the plot in Doom of all things but there is apperently a nationwide shortage of ADD medicine going on so you’ll have to forgive these ramblings. Right now I’m slogging through Doom 3, and I really like a lot of elements of that game, because of how it aims to be really dark and spooky, and I first played the original Doom as essentially a babby on my dad’s computer and it was really scary, then when I was slightly older I played a lot more of Doom 64 and the Doom on the PlayStation, which both have a much darker color palette and creepier soundtrack than the original Doom. In my mind Doom is a simple story about a regular dude slogging his way through corridors filled with the horrifying forces of Biblical Hell.

So it was always perplexing to me when Doombros started creaming their pants over Doom 2016 saying it was the series’ return to form. Because Doom 2016 was a game about running through empty corridors until you got to big circular arenas and fighting waves of demons until you clear that arena then walk through more empty corridors until you get to the next circular arena. Which isn’t to say Doom 2016 was necessarily a bad game. Then Doom Eternal came around and, while it’s still a fun game it’s a really weird one, because they decided to go all in on this weirdly meta story where Doom Guy is like some immortal memelord and instead of literal Hell/demons, it’s all just ancient aliens, and now there is bing bing wahoo Mario stuff and enemies shoot out bright neon pickups like some kinda glow stick filled piñata. Also I absolutely loathe the glory kill system. Each glory kill is kinda cool the first time you see them but the problem is you keep seeing them, and it’s like a near mandatory aspect of the gameplay loop so you have to keep doing these repetitive little mini cutscenes over and over again if you want to play effectively.

Idk it’s just weird to me. Because I like how unrelentingly oppressive the older Doom games feel. It’s like you are one move away from getting ripped apart by demons. Where as in Doom Eternal it’s like “Ohh I’m almost of blue glow sticks better hit the next enemy with the blurp gun then do the glory kill I’ve seen A HUNDRED TIMES ON THIS SAME LEVEL ALONE :)” and I still don’t understand what the point of making them aliens and not actual Demons anymore is. They also did that same shit in the Doom movie and everyone hated that, but suddenly it’s cool that you are just fighting the Burning Legion led by Evil Doom Guy in A Gundam.

[deadfunks]

I started playing Doom 2016 and it’s just fucking insane. No other game makes you feel like this. The chaos. The blood. The gore. The MUSIC dude, holy SHIT. I listen to the Doom soundtrack all the time, some of it is on my work playlist, and Mick Gordon made the perfect ass kicking soundtrack. Like, there’s moments where you might end up with 5 or 6 enemies and not a lot of music. But when doom guy sticks his hand into a gore nest and rips its beating heart out with his fist, and you’re suddenly assaulted with the most disgusting electronic grindcore song you’ve ever heard?? This game is like playing a sentient adrenaline rush and I love it so much. This will be the first game I’ve actually beaten in a long time, because I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop playing until I do.

#doom 2016 #this is still a personal blog even if i changed the description to a shitpost blog

[beevean]

The ARK, and consolidating Shadow’s corruption

What’s this? I still have Things to Say about ShTH levels nobody cares about? Yes, it’s not my fault this game has gallons of untapped potential :)

I planned to write only one last post, but since it turned out a little too long, I thought it was better to split in two parts. This one is a little shorter than the others, and it’s about Shadow’s trip to his old home with his dad. Fun, right?

The ARK is the darkest 5th stage in the map, and you can reach it in two ways: either Shadow detonated Black Doom’s giant bombs in Central City, destroying at least part of it, or Black Doom succesfully corrupted Shadow enough to let him experience a false memory in which he killed every G.U.N. soldier during the famous raid on the ARK.

Obviously, both of these events are nothing short of a Moral Event Horizon. Either Shadow is a full-fledged terrorist, or he succumbed to Black Doom’s violent brainwashing to the point that he can no longer trust his own thoughts. In any case, if you reach this point, it’s too late for him to redeem himself.

Look at him, he’s out for blood. Even Black Doom is happy that Shadow has “finally come to realize just how abominable these humans are”. And personally, I find the music that starts playing when the cutscene focuses on Shadow’s hatred-filled eyes a little unsettling, as if it’s saying “This is not Shadow anymore. Who is this monster?”.

Much like its mirror counterpart Lost Impact, The ARK has an unbalanced set of missions, only Neutral and Dark. It again emphasizes how Shadow can’t turn “good” anymore; but it also conveys how alone Shadow is now. He has rejected the help of many of his friends and, depending on the route, committed unspeakable crimes: his only ally in the world is the manipulative Black Doom, from which he cannot escape anymore.

There’s actually not much to talk about the level itself: for being the second-to-last stage in a path, it’s incredibly easy, as you literally fly your way through shooting at your targets with the Black Volt. Either you destroy 4 defense systems to allow the Black Arms to get to the Eclipse Cannon, or you… don’t. It’s a needed breather between what came before and what comes next, but it’s a shame that it’s so easygoing considering the heartwrenching context of Shadow violating his old home under Black Doom’s orders.

On that note, the music is worth talking about:

It’s a very catchy remix, the only contribution to the soundtrack from Tomoya Ohtani no less, of Sonic Adventure 2′s Final Rush.

What’s the significance? I think it’s pure irony. Final Rush is the last stage of the Hero Story in SA2, where Sonic has to make a mad dash to prevent the Eclipse Cannon from firing. In ShTH, you return to the same location (with a very similar level design if you bother getting off the Black Volt), but as a villain with plans to fire it again. If you played SA2 before, revisiting a beloved level in this situation just rubs salt into the wounds.

Anyway, much like Lost Impact, what’s really interesting is the endings both missions send you to.

You can suddenly tell Black Doom “nah i can’t be bothered with opening the way for you, cya” and fly to the Goal Ring in 2 minutes or so. Shadow’s musing at the end of the mission implies he’s simply filled with nostalgia for “where it all began”. The big man is strangely okay with this, even though he doesn’t get to use the Eclipse Cannon: he can still threaten humanity, and with reason. He also still trusts Shadow enough to ask him for help with G.U.N. raiding the Black Comet. (It makes me think he didn’t really need the Cannon, he was just being petty.)

Believe it or not, this is the path you have to take if you want to see Shadow becoming Black Doom’s servant: dispatch 50 of the G.U.N. mechs on the Comet, and Shadow will find his place to the right side of the alien lord.

It’s actually creepy how easily Shadow vows loyalty to Black Doom and forgets everything about finding his own identity, and I can’t help but wonder what kind of existence he’ll live with him.

(small comparison: in the Japanese version, he says “My name is Shadow the Hedgehog… The strongest soldier, chosen by the ruler of darkness, Black Doom! Together with him, using this wondrous power, I shall dye the ugly world in black!”. Not only Shadow sounds less servile, but there are several paths that lead to this ending named after the concept of “dyeing in black” and especially being a “soldier”. A clear case of lost in translation, but the English version isn’t bad, so I’ll let it pass)

(and before you ask, I hate the Semi Dark-Hero ending so I refuse to spend more time thinking about it than the writers did, which is “they didn’t”)

But let’s back up a bit. What if Shadow is a good obedient tool and destroys the 4 defense systems instead? In that case, after murdering the poor pilot of the Blue Falcon, he gets a front row seat to watching Central City crumble under the Eclipse cannon.

And then he goes to the last stronghold humanity has left, where he loses what little sanity he had left.

The second part of this post will be about my favorite stage in ShTH. See you then as I try to convey how horribly well-written the evil endings are :)

#sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #shth #shadow the hedgehog (2005) #long post #black doom #the ark #i actually like the concept of this level #flying over the ark as it's collapsing #it's unique

[lucienballard]

The Velvet Underground’s 30 greatest songs – ranked!

30. Ride Into the Sun (1969)The Velvets recorded two versions of Ride Into the Sun: a fabulous 1969 instrumental laden with fuzz guitar and a hushed 1970 vocal take backed by organ. Somewhere between the two lies one of their great lost songs; Lou Reed’s disappointingly flat 1972 solo version doesn’t do it justice at all.

29. Run Run Run (1967)For all the shock engendered by the lyrics of Heroin and I’m Waiting for My Man, the most malevolent-sounding track on the debut album might be Run Run Run, a powerful R&B groove lent a gripping darkness by Reed’s noisy guitar playing and the screw-you-I-take-drugs sneer of his vocals.

28. Beginning to See the Light (1969)The title suggests awakening, the melody is bright, but the lyrics are dark and bitter. They may have been directed at John Cale, who played on an initial version of the song, which was subsequently re-recorded after Reed sacked him, against the wishes of his bandmates. A ferocious 1969 live version amps up the tension.

27. Foggy Notion (1969)Reed was a lifelong doo-wop fan. His passion usually found its expression when the Velvet Underground recorded backing vocals for their ballads – as on Candy Says – but the tough, rocking Foggy Notion went a stage further, gleefully stealing a chunk of the Solitaires’ 1955 single Later for You Baby.

26. The Gift (1968)In which the band set a two-chord grind that may, or may not, have been based on their instrumental Booker T in one channel and a blackly comic Reed short story read by Cale in the other. “If you’re a mad fiend like we are, you’ll listen to them both together,” offered the producer, Tom Wilson.

25. Guess I’m Falling in Love (1967)Recorded at the White Light/White Heat sessions, but never completed, the April 1967 live recording of Guess I’m Falling in Love – taped at the Gymnasium in New York – will more than suffice. It boasts three chords, a distinct rhythm and blues influence, Reed in streetwise, so-what punk mode and explosive guitar solos somehow potentiated by the rough sound quality.

24. Temptation Inside Your Heart (1968)“It was not Mein Kampf – my struggle,” the guitarist Sterling Morrison once reflected of the Velvet Underground’s career. “It was fun.” A delightful late Cale-era outtake that inadvertently captured Morrison, Cale and Reed’s giggly backchat as they recorded the backing vocals, Temptation Inside Your Heart bears that assessment out.

23. New Age (1970)New Age comes in two varieties. Take your pick from the world-weary, small-hours rumination found on 1969: The Velvet Underground Live, or the more epic studio version that the Velvets biographer Victor Bockris suggested was “an attempt to present some encouraging statements to a confused audience as the 70s began”. Both are superb.

22. After Hours (1969)The Velvets’ eponymous 1969 album ends, improbably, with the drummer, Moe Tucker, singing a song that could have dated from the pre-rock era. The twist is that her childlike voice and the cute melody conceals an almost unbearably sad song, ostensibly a celebration of small-hours boozing, but filled with longing and regret.

21. I Can’t Stand It (1969)Amid the Velvets’ songs about drugs and drag queens lurked the plaintive sound of Reed pining for his college sweetheart, Shelley Albin, the subject of Pale Blue Eyes, I Found a Reason and I Can’t Stand It. The latter’s cocky strut is disrupted by a desperate lyrical plea: “If Shelley would just come back, it’d be all right.”

20. The Black Angel’s Death Song (1967)There is something folky and vaguely Dylan-esque at the heart of The Black Angel’s Death Song, but by the time Cale had finished with it – alternately strafing it with screeching, insistent viola and hissing into the microphone in lieu of a chorus – it sounded, and still sounds, unique.

19. I Found a Reason (1970)It is one of the ironies of the Velvet Underground that the most forward-thinking, groundbreaking band of their era could occasionally sound like old-fashioned rock’n’roll revivalists. Buried on side two of Loaded was one of the loveliest of Lou Reed’s loving homages to doo-wop, complete with spoken-word section.

18. Some Kinda Love (1969)Musically straightforward, sensual in tone, Some Kinda Love is a complex business, part seduction soundtrack, part refusal to be hemmed in by standard categories of sexuality – “no kinds of love are better than others … the possibilities are endless / and for me to miss one / would seem to be groundless”. Killer line: “Between thought and expression lies a lifetime.”

17. European Son (1967)European Son isn’t a song so much as an eruption. It sounds like a band overturning the established order of rock’n’roll, almost literally: after two brief verses, it bursts into thrilling frantic chaos with a verbatim crash, like the contents of an upended table hitting the floor.

16. Rock & Roll (1970)It is hard to see Loaded’s driving, joyous hymn to music’s redemptive power – “her life was saved by rock and roll” – as anything other than disguised autobiography on the part of Reed. The suggestion that music will endure “despite all the amputations”, meanwhile, seems to look forward to his departure from the Velvet Underground.

15. Candy Says (1969)No one else in 1969 was writing songs remotely like Candy Says, a stunning, tender pen portrait of the transgender Warhol superstar Candy Darling set to a gentle doo-wop inspired backing. Its melancholy seems to presage the note Darling wrote on her deathbed in 1974: “I had no desire for life left … I am just so bored by everything.”

14. Sunday Morning (1967)Sunday Morning was written at the behest of Wilson. He wanted a single that might conceivably get on the radio; he got a haunting, melancholy sigh of a song, its battered wistfulness and undercurrent of paranoia – “watch out, the world’s behind you” – the perfect encapsulation of morning-after regret.

13. What Goes On (1969)Morrison maintained that the studio incarnation of What Goes On wasn’t a patch on the live versions the band performed with Cale on organ. Maybe, but the studio incarnation featuring Cale’s replacement, Doug Yule, is great. It prickles with nervous energy, Reed’s guitar playing is amazing, its churning coda takes up half the song and it still feels too short.

12. Femme Fatale (1967)Apparently provoked by the damaged, doomed Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick – with whom Cale had a brief affair – Femme Fatale is as beautiful and fragile as its inspiration. The story of a wary, ruined former suitor warning others off the titular anti-heroine is lent a chilly edge by Nico’s delivery.

11. I Heard Her Call My Name (1968)In the Velvets’ early days, Reed purported to be “the fastest guitarist alive”. A berserk claim, but his Ornette Coleman-inspired solos on I Heard Her Call My Name are some of the most extraordinary and viscerally exciting in rock history, frequently atonal, spiked with ear-splitting feedback and pregnant pauses.

10. Ocean (1969)The Velvet Underground recorded Ocean several times – one version is supposed to feature the return of Cale on organ – but never released it in their lifetime, which seems extraordinary. It is among the greatest of their later songs, its atmosphere beautiful, the epic ebb and flow of its sound completely immersive.

9. I’m Waiting for the Man (1967)An unvarnished lyrical depiction of scoring drugs tied to music on which Reed’s rock’n’roll smarts and Cale’s background in minimalist classical music – the pounding, one-chord piano part – meld in a kind of relentless perfection. Amusingly, there is now a pharmacy at the song’s fabled location of Lexington 125.

8. I’ll Be Your Mirror (1967)A song about Reed’s affair with Nico that could just as easily be about Andy Warhol’s approach to art, I’ll Be Your Mirror is one of those Velvet Underground tracks that makes their initial commercial failure seem baffling. How could a pop song as wonderful as this fail to attract attention? Nico and Morrison on stage at the New York Society for Clinical Psychiatry annual dinner in 1966.

7. White Light/White Heat (1968)A delirious paean to amphetamine, its subject reflected in the lyrics – “I surely do love to watch that stuff tip itself in” – and the turbulent, distorted rush of its sound. The band appear to be barely in control as it careers along; the chaotic finale, where Cale finally loses his grip on the bass line, is just fantastic.

6. Heroin (1967)Heroin was the deal-breaker at early Velvets gigs, provoking a “howl of bewilderment and outrage”. The shock of its subject matter has dulled with time, but its surges from folky lament to sonic riot still sound breathtaking. Oddly sweet moment: Reed’s chuckle as Tucker loses her place amid the maelstrom and suddenly stops playing.

5. Pale Blue Eyes (1969)“High energy does not necessarily mean fast,” Reed once argued. “High energy has to do with heart.” Hushed, limpidly beautiful and almost unbearably sad, Pale Blue Eyes’ depiction of a strained, adulterous relationship proves his point. In its own vulnerable way, it is as powerful as anything the Velvet Underground recorded.

4. Sweet Jane (1970)Sweet Jane started life as a ballad – see the versions recorded live at the Matrix in San Francisco in 1969 – but, sped and toughened up, it became as succinct and perfect a rock’n’roll song as has ever been written, based around one of the greatest riffs of all time.

3. Venus in Furs (1967)For a band who inspired so much other music, the Velvet Underground’s catalogue is remarkably rich with songs that still sound like nothing else; they were as inimitable as they were influential. Venus in Furs is a case in point: umpteen artists were galvanised by its dark, austere atmosphere; none succeeded in replicating it.

2. Sister Ray (1968)A monumental journey into hitherto-uncharted musical territory, where a primitive garage-rock riff meets Hubert Selby-inspired lyrics and improvisation that sounds like a psychological drama playing out between Reed and Cale, all at skull-splitting volume. Fifty-three years later, it is without peer for white-knuckle intensity.

1. All Tomorrow’s Parties (1967)Ninety per cent of the Velvet Underground’s oeuvre consists of no-further-questions classics. The astonishingly high standard of almost everything they did makes picking their “best” song a matter of personal preference, rather than qualitative judgment. So let’s go for Warhol’s favourite, on which the sour and sweet aspects of their debut album entwine faultlessly. The melody is exquisite; the music monolithic and unrelenting, powered by Cale’s hammering piano and Tucker’s stately drums; Nico’s performance perfectly inhabits the lyrics, which turn a depiction of a woman choosing what dress to wear into a meditation on emptiness and regret. It is original and utterly masterly: the Velvet Underground in a nutshell.

source

#the velvet underground

[aulentale]

OKAY ALRIGHT I'M GONNA BE LIVE ANSWERING MY THOUGHTS ON THE SONGS I am so sorry they won't be terribly cohesive

main title: AYO THIS IS THAT SONG?? I've heard this one before, didn't realize it came from this. How is it calming and like building tension at the same time. The horns slap so hard.

Stampede: Oooooh this sounds like its flowing almost, the choir and the drums all add urgency but this sounds proper epic. You were right. Drums and choir are a need now it helps so much

Burn it all: this is the sickest blend of a bunch of different styles. Never expected a trap beat layered over a choir to sound awesome but it works surprisingly well

Your father would be proud:

THERES A LIGHTSABRE?? THATS DOPE!! In all seriousness this one is hitting me in the feels. WAIT IF I RECALL THIS CORRECTLY I DID CRY AT THIS SCENE IN THE MOVIE- IS THIS NOT THE SCENE WHERE THE DEATH STAR WORKS MAN i can't be crying rn I got stuff to do-

Po finds the truth: you even warned me and I nearly fell out of my chair. Geez that comes at you fast. Idk what instrument is playing the melody right after that drop, I can't tell if its a string or what but it sounds dope. Towards the end it almost has like a magical feel to it and wow does that hit different. For a split second I thought it was gonna go into the hobbit theme

Glorious purpose: major spooky vibes. I like the bassoon(?) or whatever it is, shakes your chest cavity kinda vibes. Also, I could've sworn there was a minecraft zombie sound effect. Short and sweet but gives you a sense of doom in a good way, I enjoyed that

Tai Lung escapes: I have a very sudden and profound respect for hans zimmer, more than I did previously. The little shift from deep booming instruments to like flutes and stuff in the middle hits. WOAH IT SUDDENLY SOUNDS LIKE A PORTAL SONG THATS SICK. I have sudden urgency to do my homework faster cause of the build in tempo (is that the right word? Who knows, it’s just fast). I could’ve sworn it would end like three times and it just keeps going it’s v satisfying

A blessing and a fessing: oh I can’t tell if this is bad but I got like Hispanic Jurassic park vibes from the first like five seconds. Love the suspense from the strings. Oh this lives up to its name so well like it’s suspenseful and then calming with just a hint of the previous tense undertones.

Dumbledores farewell: okay so I’ve never seen the movies (evidenced by me accidentally misspelling dumbledore as dumbledoor initially) but man yeah it just hits you in the feels. Short but sweet, it’s exactly what it needs to be. The last note kinda leaves you aching

We built our own world: also short and sweet and I love the cello (?) whatever the sounds are in the background, almost gives you a sense of megalophobia, like there’s something bigger back there. It could easily just be the high strings and yet there’s that added dimension. 10/10

Comic book: THAT BASS DROP THO OH MY GOSH easily my favourite on the playlist. Shame it’s so short cause oh my gosh that hit. And like the glitchiness of the track?? H I T S. love it

La valse de l’amour: quite the shift from the last song but like is this a waltz scene? Feels like it could be. Nice easy listening and just overall. Soft? WAIT was that a key change?? Or maybe they just started playing higher towards the end. Either way, oh that last chord sounded beautiful.

Alright so I’m so incredibly sorry this took a while but it was worth the wait thank you sm @grape-flavored-rukuuuuuu don’t worry I didn’t forget about it

Here’s the playlist if anyone else wants to listen to it

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/18Af6J37hBuvHzXQt0Ys2r?si=VGv1UPOCQpODbSAe-cOjV

And here’s the one with all the honourary mentions!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/32iYp0tKFRTiwz7M3CnOGj?si=HAUZSnCWQcO3m2holU_WYg

#grape flavoured ruku #these songs were banger thank you again #I’m so sorry it took so long for me to finally post but!!! i enjoyed every second of it

[pocket-luv101]

Summary: Licht is hired to compose a soundtrack for a play Hyde is directing. Unfortunately, Licht has writer’s block. (LawLicht, Modern AU)

“How is your new song coming along, Licht?” Kranz asked and Licht didn’t answer him aside from a swift glare. He knew it meant that he hadn’t made progress on the song. His cold response didn’t offend Kranz because he had been his manager for years and he was accustomed to his attitude. He understood that Licht was frustrated with himself and the song rather than him.

“I’ve been staring at a blank page for the last hour.” He sighed heavily. His statement wasn’t entirely true since he had written several melodies but the song would become a crumpled piece of paper on the ground. A small mountain was forming next to his feet. Licht turned in his chair and kicked over the pile of discarded songs. “Is there something you want to talk to me about?”

“I wanted to discuss your new album. There’s no rush to write a new song. You don’t have a deadline. We haven’t made an announcement or signed a contract with a production company yet. You don’t need to trap yourself in a room and force yourself to write like this.” Kranz was worried that Licht would overwork himself. “Have you eaten dinner yet?”

“I think I did.” He said but Kranz knew that he was merely evading his question. Licht loved playing the piano and he had toured the country ever since he was a child. When he turned nineteen, he released an album of original piano pieces and it had been a success. He would often be asked about his next album but he couldn’t answer them.

For the past three years, Licht had been plagued with artist block.

“I have the music room booked for another hour. I’ll grab something to eat after practise is over. My recital on Friday will be the last one on my tour. I should have more time to work on my new song after that.” Licht collected the paper on the ground to throw them away properly. He told himself the hours he spent on the songs wouldn’t be wasted as long as he found a new song.

“I wanted to discuss a potential job. It’ll start after your tour is over. This director wants to use a few of your songs for his play. There are a couple adjustments he needs for the songs to fit his vision for the play.” Kranz told him. He took out a folder from his bag to show him the details of the play. “This should be an easy job. Maybe a change of pace and something more structured will help you with your songwriting block.”

“Hyde Lawless Servamp? This name sounds familiar but I don’t remember what movie I’ve seen him attached to.” Licht skimmed the description of the play. “What if Romeo was an angel who fell in love with a human? I haven’t read a play from Shakespeare since high school but this is interesting. I’ll talk to the director and decide whether I want to work with him.”

Licht entered the theater an hour before his meeting with Hyde. He planned to watch the rehearsal and see how the director interacted with the actors and production team. Many were respectful to him but he knew it was because he was a famous pianist. He would see who the director truly was from how he spoke to the crew. As an angel, he refused to work with a demon who mistreated those around him.

The large room was quiet when he entered and he couldn’t see anyone on stage. While the lights were on, it was clear no one was in the theater. He wondered if he arrived too early and the rehearsal hadn’t started yet. At first, Licht was irritated that his plan failed and he had wasted his time walking to the theater. He began to leave but then he noticed a piano standing in the orchestra of the stage.

He had an hour until his meeting with Hyde and he could practise the piano while he waited. Licht made his way down the stairs and jumped into the orchestra pit. He brought a few of his original songs and placed them on the piano. Kranz told him that Hyde wanted to make small adjustments to his songs so they would fit his play. Will it be a simple key change or would he want to rearrange the chords?

“If that man wanted something that would fit his play, why doesn’t he just ask a composer to write an original song?” Licht asked out loud to himself. He had never collaborated with someone before because he didn’t work well with others. He only decided to speak with the director after Kranz suggested that it could give him inspiration for his next song.

Ever since he was a child, he never had trouble composing a song. His parents had taught him that he could do anything as long as he imagined it. Licht continued to hold concerts where he placed his songs and other classics. Yet, he struggled to write another song. He didn’t know why he was having trouble when writing music came so easy for him in the past.

Footsteps pulled him out of his thoughts and he turned towards the sound. Licht saw a blond man walk onto the stage from the sidelines. He didn’t know if the person who entered the room was the director or someone from the crew. He didn’t want them to kick him out so he stood to introduce himself. Licht stopped at the man’s voice. “O’ my love! My wife! Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath.”

The man on stage didn’t seem to see that he had an audience of one as he walked through the scene. He stopped under a spotlight and then knelt on the ground. He touched the air before him and spoke to a person who wasn’t there. Licht couldn’t fully understand what the man said but he pieced together that he was acting out Romeo’s death scene.

“Shall I believe that unsubstantial death is amorous and that the lean abhorred monster keeps thee here in dark to be his paramour? For feat of that, I still will stay with thee and never from this palace of dim night depart again.” He suddenly stood with his arms circled around the air. A hint of madness tainted his voice as he danced around the stage.

The actor was alone on the empty stage but Licht was able to envision the full scene around him. A fallen angel danced with the corpse of his lost love. He lowered his invisible partner into a dip and said, “The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss. A dateless bargain to engrossing death.”

Hyde almost fell forward when he was startled by the notes of a piano. He thought the theater was empty but it was clear that he was wrong. The orchestra pit was shadowed by the stage so he didn’t see the pianist until he stood. He easily recognized him since he was a famous musician. He walked to the edge of the stage and knelt in front of him.

“I thought our appointment wasn’t until eleven, Angel Cakes. You’re an hour early.” Hyde was able to see him better in the light. He had seen videos of his performance but he was surprised by how handsome he was up close. If he didn’t know better, he would’ve thought that he was truly an angel. “Do you want to go to the lobby and talk about the play?”

“No, do that scene again.” He commanded. Licht sat down and played a song that Hyde didn’t recognize. He repeated the same cords a few times and he heard small changes in each. The passion he placed in each note drew Hyde to him and he stepped onto the top of the piano. “What are you doing, Shit Rat? You can’t put your feet on a piano like that! Get off!”

“This piano is strong enough to handle my weight. I’ve walked on this thing a thousand times to enter the orchestra pit. It’s quicker than walking all the way around the stage.” Hyde reassured him but his words only caused Licht’s eyes to turn cold. He didn’t notice his glare and jumped off the piano. He landed next to him and sat on the piano bench. “Is that an original song, Angel Cakes?”

“When you were acting out the scene, I thought of what kind of song Romeo would be dancing to. I came up with it on the spot.” Licht drew music notes on his notebook. He struggled to write a song for years yet the melody suddenly flowed to him. He couldn’t describe why seeing Hyde dance inspired him. “Would Romeo dance with Juliet’s corpse like that though? It’s an interesting acting choice.”

“A pair of star-crossed lovers.” Hyde quoted the opening of the play. “Distance makes the heart grow fonder but not for this pair of star-crossed lovers. The distance made them more desperate to be with each other until love and lust drove them mad. Poor Romeo and Juliet were doomed the moment they saw each other. You must be a genius with the piano to be able to write a song for the scene. It’s beautiful and haunting. It’ll be perfect for the scene.”

“The director said he wanted to use my original songs for the play. I should wait to hear his ideas before I decide if I want to re-write my old songs.” Licht started to play his song without thinking. “You’re the lead actor for this play. Have you worked with the director before? I want to know what kind of person he is. I won’t lend my piano to a demon. Then again, you’re a demon yourself since you walked on this piano.”

“I think Hyde’s a good person but I might be biased since we’re the same person.” Hyde saw shock and surprise on Licht’s face. His expression was surprisingly cute and he chuckled at the reaction. “You accepted this job without knowing who I am? I think that’s a first.”

“I just thought your idea was interesting.” Licht took out the script Hyde sent to him as a proposal. He opened the book and showed him the different highlights he made. There were small notes in the margins where he thought they should include music cues. “Kranz said you want to turn Romeo and Juliet into a gothic novel. Will you be acting as the lead as well as directing?”

“I haven’t acted since I was a teenager. Lately, I’ve missed the stage but I couldn’t find anything that inspired me to act again. My brother suggested that I put on a play for myself.” Hyde admitted. He continued to play the piano as they talked and his music made him feel relaxed. “Since I’m already producing and directing the play, people will think I’m pretentious if I give myself the leading role.”

“Fuck what other people think.” Licht’s blunt statement caught Hyde off guard. He appeared serious as he turned to face him. “I’ll agree to work on the music of your play if you’re the lead.”

“Really?” Hyde was surprised that he agreed to join the project before they discussed the play in depth or any payment. “I’m happy that you’ll write music for the play but that’s a quick answer. Can I ask why though?”

“I heard music when I watched you act out that scene.” Licht answered him and stood. “I’ll have Kranz come and negotiate a commission for the songs. I want to start writing this song right away. Can you act out the balcony scene?”

“All this is but a dream, too flattering sweet to be substantial.” Hyde winked at him before he climbed back onto the stage to act out the scene.

#servamp #lawlicht #greed pair #servamp hyde #licht jekylland todoroki #fanfiction

[the-breath-in-air]

Nicolò Patrol (Chapter 4: The Rescue) [text of a Twine fanfic]

[If you'd rather read the story with sound and video cues, you can do so by clicking here]

If the goal of the current mission weren’t so serious, Joe might have been caught up in the surreality of what was happening. He was sitting in the back seat of a teleporting sentient van who was following directions from a man in a leopard-print hotpants. The man in leopard-print hotpants was, in turn, taking directions from an electromagnetic spirit who lived in a man wrapped in mummy bandages. The man in mummy bandages had allowed himself to be kidnapped in order to lead the rest of the team to the facility of a secret government agency.

Most importantly, the facility was where Nicky was being held captive. So Joe turned his mind away from the surreal situation. He instead focused on the plan; he’d need to be at the top of his game. They all would.

After what felt like an eternity, Danny finally turned off the radio.

“We’re here,” Flex announced.

Danny had actually teleported them a few blocks away from the Bureau of Normalcy, so they wouldn’t draw any unnecessary attention. It was here the team split up. Victor, Jane, Rita and Cliff would cause a distraction by attempting to enter the facility to stage a ‘rescue’ for Larry. Meanwhile, Nile, Andy, Booker and Joe would actually infiltrate the facility through a back entrance Victor had conveniently hacked open for them. Danny was standing by as their getaway and Flex was managing communication between the negative spirit and each group.

Just as they were moving out, Joe heard Cliff through his earpiece. “Uh, guys, what if they’re keeping this Nicky fella in a different facility than where they brought Larry?”

Joe heard Jane and Rita respond, “Shut up, Cliff.”

Joe knew the answer to that possibility, though. If Nicky wasn’t here, they’d simply have to take an agent of the Bureau hostage and use them to get Nicky back. Whether that meant using the hostage as leverage, or interrogating the hostage for information didn’t much matter to Joe.

Andy and Joe hadn’t shared this contingency with their new allies; they weren’t sure how the others would respond to taking part in a kidnapping. If it came to it, Nile, Andy, Booker and Joe would simply have to enact that backup plan on their own.

“Stay focused,” Andy ordered them as they took up their positions.

There was silence over the comms as the Doom Patrol moved into place. Joe waited with the second team for the signal to access the back door. Joe took slow and steady breaths. This is just another mission.

Suddenly the silence was broken by the sound of Robotman’s voice, coming through even with his comms turned off. “You Normalcy bastards better get the fuck out here right now,” Cliff shouted. “Release the Lar-bear! Give me my Lar-bear!” Next to Cliff, Jane had become Sun Daddy, a giant person with a sun for a head, and was throwing fireballs at the entrance to the base. Explosions punctuated Cliff’s vulgarities. “Fuck you, you absolute literal…” boom! “Come out here and…” boom! “FUCK!”

The distraction worked, and as the alarms on the base went off and personnel ran to confront the Doom Patrol, Joe, Nile, Andy and Booker quietly entered the Bureau of Normalcy’s headquarters. “We’re in,” Andy said over the comms.

Infiltrating an enemy’s prison was, in many ways, a fairly routine mission. Joe and the others had done this countless times before. Weapons ready, they moved through the hallways fluidly, appearing almost as a choreographed dance. This helped them cover ground quickly, which was necessary as the building complex was large.

It soon became clear why they had come across so little resistance as they made their way to the cell Victor had identified as Nicky’s via hacked security logs. Any guards who weren’t responding to the commotion outside the building, were stationed right outside the door to Nicky’s cell. The four immortals made quick work of the dozen, or so, guards. They never stood a chance.

“Victor you’re up,” Andy stated.

“Copy,” Victor responded.

Now that the team was standing at the cell door, Victor would need to remotely open it.

“Uh, Keeg asks that you hurry. Larry is being tortured,” came Flex’s voice over the comms.

“Copy,” was all Andy said in response. She was keeping it all business.

Joe wanted to point out that they were there to rescue Nicky as a top priority. He wanted to tell Flex that they’d find Larry after they saved the love of his life from whatever horrors the Bureau had been inflicting on him. But Joe said none of that. Andy was right to keep things professional. Plus, Joe really did want to save Larry from torture too. He just couldn’t prioritize that part of the mission right now.

The mechanism that locked the cell door audibly released, and Joe looked at Andy to confirm everyone was ready to breach the cell. She nodded back to him and he opened the door and rolled into the room in a fluid motion, weapon ready in case someone from the Bureau was in the room.

Joe saw Nicky strapped to a medical table, with a newly regrown arm. Relief flooded Joe as he saw that Nicky was alive. It was all he could do to keep himself from collapsing onto him. Then Joe noticed that a cleaner was standing near the medical table with a mop, washing away the blood on the floor. Joe cleared his head and returned to focusing on the mission. They weren’t out yet.

“Back away slowly,” Joe ordered.

Nicky spoke as the cleaner moved to the opposite side of the room, “Alex, here, was just about to help me escape.”

“Oh thank goodness you arrived,” Alex was saying. “I really wasn’t sure what to do. It all seemed so horrible. Like, worse than usual, even…”

As Alex babbled on, Joe swiftly moved toward Nicky and began releasing him from the table. They embraced briefly. It’s not over yet. Joe handed Nicky a firearm and Nicky nodded as he took it with his good hand. “Stay here until it’s safe,” Nicky said to Alex.

Joe and Nicky emerged from the cell and they silently greeted Nile, Booker and Andy, who had been keeping watch at the door. There’d be time for an emotional reunion after they had finished their escape.

“Flex, we have Nicky. Have you located Larry?” Andy asked.

“Down the corridor and make a right. Cell #247,” Flex replied.

By this time, the distraction from the Doom Patrol had stopped being useful as a distraction. Now it was just a fight. And Sun Daddy’s fireballs were proving to be more of a hindrance. “Jane, cease the fireballs,” Andy ordered over the comms as the team made their way toward Larry’s cell. “Just be glad she’s not Karen right now,” Rita replied.

When they arrived, Joe noticed that the cell was suspiciously unguarded. “It’s a trap,” Nile said. “Agreed,” Andy acknowledged.

Joe turned to Nicky to assure himself that Nicky was up for this. There had been a lot of blood in that cell, and Nicky’s entire harm had only just become usable again. Nicky silently patted Joe’s shoulder in reassurance.

With that, Andy gave the signal. It might be a trap, but they were immortal. Their biggest concern was making sure Larry didn’t end up collateral damage. “Relay to Keeg that Larry will want to duck if possible,” Joe said as they took up positions outside the cell. “Victor..”

“One step ahead of you,” Victor replied as the lock to Larry’s cell was released.

This time Andy breached the cell door first, with her labrys at the ready. Joe heard gunshots ring out as Andy tore through the guards in the room. Meanwhile, more guards poured out of the adjacent cells. “What’d I say?” Nile said as she met the onslaught. “When you’re right, you’re right,” Booker replied.

The resulting fight was brutal, but ultimately the team was victorious. Andy emerged from the cell with Larry slumped against her. Cliff, Jane, Rita and Victor came up behind the dwindling guards and cut through them effectively. “We need to leave. Now,” Andy said as the two teams rendezvoused. “On it,” Jane, or more accurately Flit, said as she stuck her hands out like she was ready for a football huddle. “Hands in everyone,” Rita said wearily.

By this point, Joe trusted this other team enough to believe that whatever was about to happen, it would aid in their escape. So he and the others all put their hands in. A moment later they were all standing outside the Bureau’s headquarters, right next to Danny and Flex. “Why didn’t you simply teleport us to the house?” Booker asked. “Actually, why didn’t you simply teleport us directly into the facility in the first place,” Andy added. Jane, who had again become Jane, simply shrugged. “Flit does what she wants.”

Quickly, both teams hurried into the back of Danny they instantly teleported them to Dr. Calculator’s mansion. Everyone climbed out of the van and stood aways from Joe and Nicky as they reunited. Danny turned on the radio to provide what they thought was the perfect soundtrack.

Joe was so shocked by what Nicky had just revealed to him, that he didn’t even realize what song was playing or see Danny’s message. But when he finally recognized the song, he burst into tears and collapsed into Nicky’s arms. The anger, fear and tension from the past few days was finally released. “I just got you back,” Joe murmured between sobs. The Origin of Love, indeed.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Nicky reassured him as he wrapped his arms around Joe. “Not any time soon.”

Joe drew a knife from his utility belt and quickly sliced open his own finger. The pain was familiar. What was not familiar was how long the pain lingered. He watched his own finger intently, waiting to see if it would heal as it usually did. A few seconds passed by and the blood started to drip down. It hadn’t begun to heal, though.

Joe’s sobs turned into quieter sighs as his worst fears were ameliorated. For a few brief moments, Joe had imagined the possibility that he and Nicky had been wrong about their destiny. That Nicky might die in a few brief decades, and Joe would be forced to continue on alone. “I’m going to need a band-aid,” Joe called out as his breathing returned to normal. “And Nicky needs to be patched up. A bullet grazed his side.”

On hearing the call for bandages, Danny turned off his radio and everyone gathered near the two of them. “You need what?” Nile asked in disbelief.

Joe held up his bleeding finger and Nicky lifted his shirt to reveal his wound. “It’s nothing serious,” Nicky reassured everyone. “We’re just going to die some day.”

“Well, fuck,” said Cliff. “Aren’t we all.”

#the old guard #doom patrol #danny the street #nicolo di genova #larry trainor #flex mentallo #nile freeman #andromache the scythian #sebastian le livre #victor stone #rita farr #cliff steele #crazy jane #immortal husbands #nicky x joe #joe x nicky #if found #my fanfic #nicolò patrol #the plan #chapter 4 #yusuf al kaysani

[its-nuwanda-baby]

its a bit of a odd pair but maybe some neil x knox?? hcs if you do them or a confession fic 👉👈

confession one shot, coming right up!

A Punch in the Right Direction (Knox x Neil)

Warnings: underaged drinking, language, slight mentions of blood, slight mentions of homophobia (only in the beginning!)

I PROMISE YOU IT’S WAYYY FLUFFIER THAN IT SOUNDS LOLL

when neil befriends a girl at rehearsals, he has no idea that she will single-handedly deliver him his doom... in the form of one, stupidly wasted knox overstreet. chaos ensues. also Todd and Stick are boyfriends because I can, and because that funky lil man will have a place in everything I write (I am but a stick stan account). ENJOY!!! let me know what you think!

Neil Perry had always known he was gay. He knew right when he kissed Charlie in the first grade, on a dare from Pitts, that this was what a crush was supposed to feel like. He accepted early on in life that the world was not kind to people like him. He understood that words like “queer,” “fairy,” and “homo” were names for people like him, and that the sneers of disgust that accompanied them were just part of a package deal. He knew when he started school at Welton Academy that there was the inevitable danger of crushing on roommates and friends, and by his senior year at the all boys school, he was used to the routine of identifying and burying unwanted feelings until they were forgotten. So, when Knox Overstreet had leaned against his doorframe on the first day of school, smirking like an idiot, Neil had no problem identifying the beginnings of a crush bubbling in his chest. He had no problem, when Knox had reached out to shake the hand of Neil’s new (incredibly shy) roommate, pushing down the goofy smile that had threatened to spread on his face at how sweet Knox was being. Neil Perry had a crush on Knox Overstreet, and, given his previous experiences, it was about as scary as a kitten.

He had no problem hiding his disappointment when Knox announced he wouldn’t be at study group that night, even trying to pull him out of his obvious state of disappointment- “anything’s better than Hell-ton hash, Knox…” he had said, with just the perfect amount of nonchalance to make it convincing. Oh well, he thought, at least it would be easier to focus on the trig homework he needed to finish. 

And, when Knox returned, looking like his head was stuck in the atmosphere of Jupiter, Neil had so convincingly feigned his excitement when Knox had announced his infatuation with Chris- “are you crazy? What’s wrong with that?”- when the only thought going through his head had been you idiot, she has a boyfriend. What about me? I’m right here? 

Neil Perry was, for the most part, a good actor. He could play the part of the excited friend, the matchmaker, the hopeless romantic, and he could play them with ease. It was Todd’s fault, really, that everything had begun to unravel. That the feelings became too much to bury. In Neil’s experience, once it was out in the open, there’s no going back. If only Todd wasn’t so damn observant.

The conversation had gone somewhat normal, in the beginning:

“I dunno, Todd… I guess I just don’t understand it! I mean, she has a boyfriend already! If Knox really loves her so much, why isn’t he happy for her?”

“Neil, no offense, but don’t you have more important things to worry about than Knox’s love life?”

“Like?”

“Like, just about everything else? Why is it so important to you, anyways?”

That had shut Neil up. Maybe he wasn’t too good at hiding his feelings, after all. Then, the dreaded question reared its ugly head.

“Do you… like Knox?”

He had never been good at this part, the part where he had to lie about his feelings. Usually, nobody could even tell something was off, and he never even had to think about what to say if someone guessed. Todd was just… different, somehow. Neil knew he was also queer. He had seen Todd holding hands with another boy from their hall, nicknamed Stick. They were a nice couple, and Neil had to bite back his jealousy at seeing what he only wished he could have with Knox. 

“Neil? You know you can tell me, right?”

“You know the answer to that question already.”

Todd gave a small nod and moved to sit next to Neil, putting an arm around his shoulders.

“You know, I may be the newest addition to this friend group, but I don’t think Chris is the one Knox really wants.”

And before Neil could process the implications of the statement, Stick was at their door, and Todd was waving goodbye to Neil and leaning to kiss his boyfriend hello, and then they were gone.

But, if not Chris, then who? The question haunted his mind for days, and by the end of October, Neil Perry’s crush had grown into quite a bit more, which meant that burying his feelings was about to get a hell of a lot more complicated. Thanks to rehearsals and a new friend, maybe even impossible.

Neil enjoyed rehearsals. He loved watching his fellow actors lose themselves in the performance. He loved listening to the chatter of the tech crew as they discussed backdrops and lighting. He loved the smell of sawdust and paint that lingered in the air and on his clothes. The one thing he never really got the hang of was the talking. Despite being known as a social butterfly at Welton, the mixture of Henley Hall girls and public school kids was a whole new atmosphere for him, and if there’s one thing Neil Perry hated, it was change. So, when the girl who played Hermia walked up and introduced herself, he was so overjoyed at the prospect of a friend that he hadn’t stopped to ponder over the familiarity of her surname. 

“Hey, you look a little lost! I’m Ginny, Ginny Danbury. I play Hermia.”

He had looked up, unsure at first of whether he was the one being addressed. In discovering that he was, his face broke out into the trademark Neil Perry Smile, the one he reserved for his dad and Dr. Nolan. 

“Neil. Perry. I, uh, I play Puck.”

They had shaken hands, he in his crown of twigs, and she in her pink tulle dress, and a friendship was born. 

Two weeks before the performance, she mentioned her older brother. 

“So, I got home last night, and Chet- that’s my brother, by the way- Chet asked me if I had been hooking up with someone. Apparently, he thinks the only valid reason to be out late is if you’re getting laid…”

She had kept talking after that, but Neil had stopped listening. What had Knox said about that girl? Practically engaged… to Chet Danbury. When rehearsal was over that night, Ginny asked Neil a question.

“Would you mind giving me your phone number?”

—

The smell of cheap liquor greeted Knox before he had even opened the door. Charlie’s words rang in his head; you don’t really think she means you’re going with her? He was right, after all… this was Chris’s boyfriend’s house, and he was a guest. His guest. He was really starting to regret passing up a Poets meeting for this, when he could have been cozied up next to Neil in the cave. Neil… with his perfect brown eyes that should be considered national treasures, in Knox’s opinion, and a voice like velvet… Neil, the reason he had even begun pursuing Chris in the first place, as a way to distract him from the true object of his affections. Neil, whose absent-minded, yearning looks were surely reserved for everyone, not just him… keep it together, Knox, tonight is the night you forget about Neil Perry, once and for all.

“Carpe diem, Knoxious… carpe diem.”

He opened the door.

About an hour later, he was wasted. His earlier attempt to get a beer had been sabotaged by two football players who were a little too closely acquainted with the bottles of vodka and whiskey lined up on the counter. Before he knew what was happening, his beer had been replaced by a shot of liquor that smelled exactly like the stuff his sisters used to clean off their nail polish, and he had been affectionately dubbed “Mutt Sanders’ brother” by the shorter of the two jocks, despite his protests of never having met a Mutt Sanders. A few shots later and he was stumbling into the basement, nearly incoherent. What happened after that would surely remain burned into his memory forever, but the most that he could bring himself to tell anyone was that he had somehow ended up on the floor with a bloody nose and a splitting headache.

The full story is a bit more complicated. Knox, intoxicated and feeling brave, had begun his search for Chris in the kitchen, weaving around crowds of people he didn’t know. If he had been sober, he certainly would have been a little less obvious, but Knox Overstreet was a man on a mission, and although the alcohol helped him focus on the task at hand (find Chris, woo Chris, (maybe) hook up with Chris, fall in love with Chris, forget Neil Perry), it certainly didn’t aid him in his attempts at subtlety. By the time he managed to get to the basement, he forgot why he was there.

Neil, Knox, you’re here to find- no, you’re here to FORGET Neil. Find Chris, forget Neil. Find Chris, forget Neil. It was here that Knox began to feel the fourth shot in his legs, and he quickly moved to sit on the couch before they gave out. Cursing his low alcohol tolerance, he began to scope out the crowd in the basement for Chris, when he suddenly became aware of two things at once: the presence of an annoyingly loud couple mid-makeout on his right, and the sleeping presence of Chris Noel on his left. And Knox Overstreet, in a burst of alcohol-infused idiocy, began to stroke her hair, and suddenly it wasn’t Chris on the couch beside him, but Neil. Neil Perry, and he was smiling up at Knox, saying something that Knox couldn’t understand because all he could see was the shape of Neil’s lips, moving ever so slowly towards his, and in that moment, as their lips met, time seemed to slow down, and the voices and music were all combining into a kind of ambient soundtrack- that is, until the distorted voice of Kitchen Jock #1 made its way into Knox’s alcohol-muddled brain, pulling him back to earth in word form.

Chet… CHET, it’s Mutt Sanders’ brother! And he’s feelin’ up YOUR GIRL!

And he wasn’t kissing Neil, he was kissing Chris, and she wasn’t asleep, she was sitting up, asking him what he was doing, and, hell, what was he doing? As he opened his mouth to answer her, he picked up a bright red blur in his peripheral vision, moving towards him.

Next thing he knew, he was on the floor.

—

There was a knock on the door.

“Mr. Perry. You have a phone call.”

“Yessir, I’ll be right there, sir.”

Todd shot him a confused look from where he was sat on the floor with Stick. He and Neil had left the Poets meeting about ten minutes after Charlie showed up with girls and liquor, and Meeks and Pitts had soon followed. The latter two had denied their invites to a study group, which meant they were most definitely making out in their room, so Todd had asked Neil about inviting Stick to work on the Latin conjugation assignment together, to which Neil had happily agreed.

In all honesty, Neil was glad for the phone call. Todd and Stick were so cute together it was nearly maddening, especially when Neil could so easily imagine him and Knox together in the same ways. The gentle brush of their shoulders against one another as Todd checked Stick’s spelling, the way Stick watched Todd’s lips moved as he practiced his pronunciations… to anyone else, it would have been endearing, but to Neil it felt like a lifetime prison sentence. 

Dr. Hager handed him the telephone when he got to the end of the hall, and he nodded a “thank you” before watching the man disappear into his room.

“Hello, this is Neil Perry?”

“Neil, thank goodness you’re there!”

“Ginny?”

“Yes, oh, I’m so sorry to bother you on a Friday night, but there’s been a bit of an… incident…”

Shit. Knox had been at the Danburys’ house. Neil’s blood turned to ice.

“What sort of incident? Is everyone alright?”

“Well, sort of… do you happen to know Knox Overstreet?”

Boy, did he ever…

So that’s how Neil ended up at the Danburys’ house at 10 pm on a Friday night, picking up a bleeding (and incredibly drunk) Knox. Ginny hadn’t been able to tell him what happened, and nobody else got a good look, but the story was that, while an intoxicated Knox had been trying to dance with Chris, Chet noticed and punched him in the nose. Neil believed it. 

So there they were, sitting on the dock near the lake as Neil pressed snow to the bruise that was rapidly forming around Knox’s eye. 

Around 11, Neil deemed Knox sober enough to take back to the dorms without causing suspicion, and they crept up the stairs and down the hall to Neil’s and Todd’s dorm.

Neil softly pushed the door open with his foot to see Todd at his desk, surrounded by crumpled pieces of paper. Upon seeing Knox’s inebriated state and the exhausted look on Neil’s face, he immediately jumped to help Knox out of his coat and tie while Neil guided him to sit on one of the beds.

“Neil! Buddy! How’d you get here?”

Neil and Todd immediately shushed Knox, whose bruised face contorted into a frown.

“Sorryyyy” was the slurred response, given in a sort of whisper-yell smoothie.

“Knoxy, don’t talk. Your nose is still bleeding.” Neil’s voice was dripping in concern, which caused one of Todd’s eyebrows to perk up in his tell-tale “I told you so” smirk. Knox was preoccupied with trying to lick the blood from his nose “to clean it!”, and Neil was trying to get him to sit still. 

After about an hour, Todd had gone to room with Hopkins for the night, to his immense gratitude (drunk Knox was not a character Hopkins was particularly interested in dealing with, and neither Todd nor Neil blamed him one bit). Knox, who had sobered up enough to gain the ability to form coherent sentences (but not a filter) was delighted to fill Neil in on the happenings of the party, to which Neil couldn’t bring an objection from his lips. As annoying as he could be, Neil loved Knox’s ramblings, sober or otherwise.

“And then, I was sitting on the couch and the strangest thing happened! Chris was there, but it wasn’t really Chris! It was you, Neil, can you believe it? You were there!”

Neil hummed in mock surprise, grabbing the cup of water he had gotten from the bathroom and wetting another towel.

“No, Neil, you gotta remember, you kissed me! Well, you almost did…”

Neil froze, almost dropping the water.

“I.. did what?”

“You kissed me, silly! And I thought I was drunk…”

“Knox, I wasn’t at the party… I didn’t kiss you.”

The crushed look on Knox’s face at Neil’s words would have been adorable if it hadn’t been so sad…

“You… didn’t kiss me?” Neil shook his head slowly. “But then, who did I kiss?”

“Knox, Chris’s boyfriend punched your lights out. You were seeing things.”

“But Neil, you don’t get it. That was supposed to be our kiss!”

“Shh, Knox, stop moving so much. Your nose isn’t bleeding anymore, so let’s get you to bed. Can you stand up?”

Knox pouted, pouted, which almost caused Neil to drop dead on the spot, and stood up shakily before giggling and leaning into the wall.

“Nope!” He sang, popping the “p.”

Neil sighed. Knox was wearing jeans and a dress shirt, which meant he was going to be incredibly uncomfortable. Might as well do it now, then at least he won’t remember if anything embarrassing happens…

“Knox, you’re going to be uncomfortable sleeping in that.”

“So strip me, Perry, I’m not afraid,” he said with a drunken attempt at a wink that should not have made Neil’s heart flutter in the way that it did. He sighed and moved to unbutton Knox’s shirt, breathing another sigh of relief when he was met with the sight of a cotton t-shirt underneath. Crisis number one, averted.

“If I hold onto your shoulders, can you get your own pants off?”

“Yyyyyyeup!” It took Knox three tries to find the button on his jeans, but eventually, his clothes were folded neatly on Neil’s desk and Knox was sitting on the bed in just a t-shirt and boxers.

“You know, Neil, it’s your fault I went to that stupid party anyways.”

“Pardon?”

“Your fault, Neil. You and your stupid hair and your stupid face… you’re so stupid and fucking hot and it drives me so insane. It’s your fault I tried so hard to get Chris, and… and it’s your fault that my fucking nose is broken. There, I said it.”

There had only ever been a handful of times where Neil Perry was rendered fully speechless. Usually, it happened when his father said something particularly nasty, or when Todd occasionally worked up the courage to read his original poems at DPS meetings. But nothing could have prepared him for what Knox Overstreet said to him at 11:30pm on that fateful Friday night as he knelt on the floor between his legs.

“Wh-what?”

“You’re so stupid, Neil… I can’t do this anymore.”

And before he could say anything, Knox pulled him in by his tie and captured Neil’s parted lips with alcohol drowned ones of his own.

Neil pushed him away with no hesitation. “Knox, I-“

“Neil, come on… first Chris, now you too?”

“Knox…”

“No, Neil. You always talk, now I’m talking. I’m in love with you, and I thought maybe you might have been in love with me after tonight, but I was wrong and I’m starting to think that maybe going after Chris was a good thing, because she made me forget about you, even if it was just a little bit for a little bit of time. I’m…” Knox went silent as Neil kissed him again, softly.

“Knox, I like you. I like you a lot, actually, but you’re still really drunk and we should wait to talk about this, yeah?”

He stroked Knox’s hair softly, smiling when the other boy nodded and leaned into his touch.

“Okay. I’m gonna get ready for bed now, alright? I’m not leaving, I promise.”

Knox hummed affirmatively, getting under the covers of Neil’s bed.

“Smells like you… smells nice.” He buried his face in Neil’s pillow.

Neil smiled as he turned off the lights and got into Todd’s bed, listening to Knox’s quiet snores until he fell asleep.

—

“Fuck”

Knox opened his eyes, and immediately regretted it when the world exploded, sending shards of light and color into his aching brain. Groaning, he buried his face in his (no, not his,  his was softer?) pillow, wincing at the unexpected throb around his eye. He rolled over, facing the ceiling, moving an arm up to cover his eye when he heard the door open and relaxing immensely when he heard Todd’s voice.

“Morning, Knoxious. You okay?” Todd’s concern was evident, which made Knox feel a lot better. He loved that about Todd, he made up for what he lacked in confidence with an abundance of love and care for other people. Here he was now, handing Knox a bad of ice and a plate of pancakes from the diner he loved in town.

“Stick and I got breakfast this morning, thought you could use a hangover cure. Oh, which reminds me, I also brought you this,” he said, handing Knox a cup of water and a bottle of aspirin. He took everything with a smile, which widened when he saw Todd return it. Todd never smiled, and when he did, it was almost always genuine, and it made Knox feel warm inside to know that he had caused it.

“Where’s- ahem- where’s Neil?” Knox cleared the sleep from his throat and gulped down a couple pills before digging into the pancakes- blueberry. My favorite! Todd knows my favorite!

“Oh, uh, I actually don’t know,” Todd shrugged, furrowing his eyebrows, “He might be down by the dock? He goes there to study sometimes when he’s conflicted.”

Knox nodded, drinking the rest of the water and making quick work of the remaining pancakes.

“I’m gonna go find him. We gotta talk. If you see him, let him know I’m looking for him, alright?”

Knox got out of bed, only slowing for a moment when he realized he wasn’t wearing pants, before grabbing his jeans from their place on Neil’s chair and tugging them on before leaving the room.

Knox Overstreet had shitty hangovers. He had the headaches, the nausea, the fatigue, the dehydration, you name it… but he couldn’t seem to get wasted enough to ever forget anything. Usually, that was a good thing. As Knox marched towards the dock, he couldn’t decide whether he was glad to have the memories of the previous night, or if he wished that they would disappear forever.

His eyes are so fucking pretty. Fuck, how could I ever think I was in love with Chris when he was right here in front of me? 

“Knox? You okay?”

“Mmm. You’re pretty, that’s all.”

He had laughed, then. God, his laugh was like music. His laugh was music.

“You’re pretty too, Knoxy.”

Fuck. It was too much, he was right here, and he had just taken Knox’s shirt off, and he was sitting on the floor between his legs, and it was all too much. 

Carpe fucking Diem.

“You’re so stupid, Neil… I can’t do this anymore.”

Knox was grateful for Neil’s tie in that moment, because it was the one thing tethering him to the mortal world. Neil’s lips felt like home, and he knew it was more than just a drunken kiss. He was made to be kissing Neil, and he felt like he could do it forever.

And then it had ended.

“Knox, I-“

“Fuck.” He cursed at himself, the memory hurting his head worse than the alcohol or the bruise. 

“I like you a lot, actually…”

“You’re pretty drunk still”

“Wait to talk about this, yeah?”

“Knox! Down here!”

Speak of the fucking devil. Neil Perry, looking as beautiful as ever, was sitting on the dock, long legs sprawled out, reading glasses balanced on the tip of his nose. He looked delicious. Knox shoved back those thoughts before they made themselves known on his physical form and waved at Neil, walking towards him.

“Hey, Neil.”

“I’m glad you’re up! How are you? How’s your head?”

“‘M fine, Neil. Really. Thanks to you and Todd.”

As he sat down next to Neil, he couldn’t tell if the look the other boy gave him was a look of concern or of longing.

“The bruise actually looks a lot better. I’ll bet it’s gone completely by Monday.”

Knox tried to hide the way his breath hitched as Neil’s hand moved to cup his cheek, stroking the area around his eye so tenderly it should have been illegal.

“Neil…”

“I know. We need to talk about last night.”

“I shouldn’t have…”

“Actually, I’m… I’m glad you did. Considering you meant it, at least.”

Knox was speechless. He had planned a whole speech out on his way down, only to have all words robbed from him by the flecks of sunlit gold in Neil’s brown eyes. 

I love you

“I did. Mean it, that is… I definitely meant it.”

Jesus Christ, I love you, Neil Perry

“Then you won’t mind if… if I did it again?”

Knox met Neil’s eyes with his own. 

“Not in the slightest.”

Then, he did the same with his lips.

And I love you, Knox Overstreet.

#neil perry #knox overstreet #dead poets society #dps #dps fanfic #dead poets society fanfic #dead poets society fanfiction #dps fanfiction #neil perry x knox overstreet #Spencer writes! #perrystreet #that's their ship name now

[doomedandstoned]

Italian Doomers BRETUS Tell Ghostly Tales on New LP, ‘Magharia’

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Artwork by DamianaMerante

Hailing from the City of the Two Seas, Italian doomers BRETUS return with a new album of ghost stories. Longtimers know that Bretus and Doomed & Stoned practically grew up together. Though the band has been active since the turn of the century, our first exposure came with their debut full-length 'In Onirica' (2012) and subsequently we formed a friendship with the Catanzaro doomers that continues to this very day. It's hard to believe they're already over two decades old (okay, 20 years young, if you like). And what do they have to show for it? A handful of LPs, an EP, and a split with fellow Italianos Black Capricorn.

If you're as much a fan of vintage horror movies, H.P. Lovecraft lore, mysticism, and the occult as Zagarus (vox), Ghenes (guitar), Janos (bass), and Striges (drums), there's a whole world of story and sound awaiting your deep dive into the Bretus catalog. Adding to their already excellent discography, a fifth album now reveals itself: 'Magharia' (2021).

I won't spoil my interview with the band (see below) if I tell you that the album concerns, shall we say, several tales of the supernatural variety. An ominous gong is struck to the backdrop of monastic chant as Magharia opens in epic fashion "Celebration of Gloom," a song characterized by a chugging proto-trash tempo, trve metal stylings, and Gothic vocals appropriate to it's subject. It's a rather grim account of a certain sacrilegious priest and his daliences with young women of the church. As a preacher's kid, I've seen this kind of thing play out a hundred times and can assure you these sweeping romances between clergy and laity never end well. In this case, it winds up with a ghoulish rite and a victim's vengeance.

"In the sky lightning strikes...wicked laments rise from the ground." Welcome to "Cursed Island." True to the spirit of the lyrics, this track really let's it all hang out, with quasi operatic vocals that occasionally erupt in maniacal laughter (reminding me vintage Reagers-era Saint Vitus, with its lusty swagger). And why not? This is after all about the mystery that surrounds one of the most haunted islands on earth.

Thus far, the record's been sporting a pretty up-beat pulse, so surely you're ready for some good old fashion doom? "Moonchild's Scream" concerns a albino girl accused of being possessed by the devil for her appearance. One day, she disappears in the dungeons of a castle and legend has it that her cries can still be heard every five years during the Summer Solstice. Doesn't get more doom than that, folks!

After a brief interlude ("Necropass"), we arrive at my favorite track of Magharia. "Nuraghe" concerns the spirit of a woman judged and condemned for a crime she was innocent of still roams among the ancient stones. Boy, the ancients sure did have a hang-up with free-spirited, independent women, didn't they? The song itself is possessed by the spirit of Pentagram in its biting guitar work and rhythmic attack. Love the riffage on this one! Some of it could have been played out just a little more for my taste, like the all-too-brief Soundgardenesque motif at the two-minute mark. It returns a minute later, again in brief. C'mon Ghenes, let your inner Kim Thayil loose! Maybe we can convince them to improv at this point with a bitchin' guitar solo at their next festival appearance. Then again, perhaps this fits artistically with the song, which speaks of obscure "grim dancing bats" and a ghost that haunts through swift shadows passing over glimmers of light. Once again, Zagrus expressive song style comes through to distinguish this as a gem of the genre. I shall be revisiting it on my personal playlist often.

"Headless Ghost" strikes graceful Goatsnake groove as the yarn is spun about the restless and tormented soul of an ancient Roman warrior who has risen from his place of rest. All he wants is the skull that was looted from his place of burial. Give it back to him! "No one will be spared tonight," the lyrics warn, as the song shifts down to a dire doom dirge as the night unveils a strange moon and the wanderings of a cursed soul, seeking his head and not more. "He is living again in this hell."

"The Bridge of Damnation" is one of the creepiest of the record, said to be about "a bridge, a young boy, and his three torturers." The mood is quite dark, with esoteric atmosphere, reverberating vocalizations, guitar and bass trading off notes. Oh, and did I mention this tale from the crypt involves death and resurrection, as well? The riffmaking and drumming are absolutely on point, as is the singing -- which by now in the record I'm not only am accustomed to, but have grown to admire. Another keeper!

"Sinful Nun" winds and grinds as Zagarus croons about the inner torment of a Sister who has never gotten over her beloved, who died under such unspeakably tragic circumstances that she decided to consecrate herself to God in celibacy. However, her vows are in vain as she still pines for her long lost lover. The verses are sung to the accompaniment of a galloping tempo, which seems to represent the fevered anguish of a soul forever stricken by grief and the haunted memories of lost love. This is juxtaposed in the chorus by a cursed riff that seems to speak as the Hand of Fate itself. "Farewell to this life," are the Sinful Nun's final words.

At last, we reach the album's namesake and though "Magharia" is entirely instrumental, it would be a mistake to assume you know what it's going to do. Around the four-minute mark, I had to check and make sure I was listening to the same album, as dark synth busted out a metronomic rhythm, leading to a declamatory section of keyboards to accompany the math-like guitar play and an improvisation of almost creepy seventies-sounding prog, which after its playful fit dissipates suddenly in a bluesy collapse.

Bretus have cooked up a remarkable horror soundtrack that, though it speaks of ancient lore, is very much a fitting backdrop to the unreality of our own times. Fitting somewhere on the stylistic spectrum between Candlemass and Paul Chain, Reverend Bizarre and Cardinals Folly, Margharia may be the band's finest effort to date. Certainly, it rewards repeated listens, and will haunt you for many years to come. Look for the record to drop this weekend (pre-order here), with multiple physical formats releasing via The Swamp Records (compact disc), Burning Coffin Records (cassette), and Overdrive Records (vinyl). Until then, you can stream it all, right now, right here!

Give ear...

Magharia by BRETUS

An Interview with Bretus

What is the concept behind the new album and what themes do you explore?

Musically the new record is most "in your face" than the previous album. Also our approach to the recording was different. We rehearsed and arranged together more than before. The result is an album more raw to us. It is a concept album born around different italian old ghost tales. Some of these is supposed to be legend or myth, who knows.

When did you write it? Was it during the pandemic lockdowns?

We had more ideas about new stuff long before the pandemia arrived. We spent this time working on the pre-production of the tracks.

Can you give us a track-by-track explanation of each song on the album?

For sure!

"Celebration of Gloom" is a strange song because there are many influences in it. Including a solo flute in the middle of the track. However is a very loud and gloomy song.

"Cursed Island" probably is the most rock 'n' roll song of the album. If you know what I mean. Rock in the attitude. Also the first video of the album.

"Moonchild's Scream" is 100% pure Doom with a heavy mid-section.

"Necropass" is like Caronte travelling the damned souls across the Stige River.

"Nuraghe" is a heavy oriented track with a very dark feeling.

"Headless Ghost" has a more stoner trend than the others and in the end there is a psycho riffing.

"The Bridge of Damnation" includes our '80s dark influences into our sound, probably the most haunted track of the album. The story is based upon an old weird story that happened in our native city, Catanzaro.

"Sinful Nun" is like an experiment and neither of us can explain really what it is... ah ah aha! For sure the most heavy track of all.

Finally "Magharia." You cannot believe it but the idea comes from a Who's album, Quadrophenia. Either of us wrote a part of the song. The result is a kind of horror soundtrack.

Magharia by BRETUS

How do you feel that your basic style or approach to song composition has changed since you first started writing songs in the early days?

You already know a lot of things about us, we know you from so long ago! Please don't ask how old we are. (laughs) Basically our approach is the same from the beginning. Of course we listen to a lot of new stuff during these years so every album brings different "colors."

Where are you most looking forward to playing live once pandemic restrictions are eased?

Everywhere! We are angry for live gigs or simply to drink beers with friends.

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