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#two parts folklore
royalnugget42 · 7 months
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The God of Stories and the Nowhere Man
A Post-Canon look at the characters if Loki
In the years (weeks? decades? seconds?) after the birth of Yggdrasil, there was no mention of the TVA in any part of history. Such has always been the case. The TVA prides itself on anonymity and secrecy, almost as much as it values bureaucracy.
The same cannot be said of some of the figures involved.
———
Also majorly fuck Disney corporation for funding genocide. Go here to support humanitarian aid for Palestine.
B15 has a seat in the war room, defending Loki’s branches against the coming storm. Incredibly skilled tactician, yet humble enough to seek counsel from others, it isn’t long before she’s the de facto head of their little council. She insists that no one stand on ceremony though.
Casey, for his part, finally decided to look into his past. Reading history pages and conspiracy theories about his sacred timeline self is a little unnerving, but also very cool. In his branch he was Frank Morris, a criminal mastermind and an incredible escape artist. He’s always been a desk worker, but even if he never does any field work, he’s gained the confidence to become a proper analyst, a spiritual successor to Mobius.
O.B is recursive as always, but after finally leaving his basement level room, he came up with some improvements to the TVA headquarters. Their tech is now more reliable, their processes more streamlined and efficient, and the wifi has never been faster. He publishes the second edition of the TVA handbook. Victor Timely works well with him, and also suggests that they make better temporal radiation suits, even if they hopefully won’t have to use them anytime soon.
Most of the hunters still haven’t read the new guide, but Casey finally works up the courage to ask for an autograph. O.B writes his phone number as well. Of course, neither of them actually have phones, O.B was trying to be romantic, but the gesture goes over Casey’s head for a bit. Eventually they figure it out. O.B takes him to a bookstore.
Brad is left to go back to his own version of the timeline, but it’s bittersweet. He can’t forget the faces of the people who were depending on him in that cube. Can’t help thinking that it should’ve been him in there, not Dox. They all still exist somewhere on the timeline, but it’s not the same. They’re not coming back in a way that matters. When he goes back to being an actor he uses as much money as he can on humanitarian aid and charitable donations. It doesn’t erase the screams, but they get quieter.
Ravonna is lost at the end of time, and constantly on the run from various Lokis that she pruned a long time ago. Alioth never hurts her though. Even though she stood before it, choosing death instead of a life constantly on the run, it passed over her like a normal mist. In her heart she knows it’s Loki. She thinks he’s being vindictive by letting her survive. Eventually she’ll learn that he’s being gracious, allowing her the chance to change. She reminds him so much of himself sometimes.
Sylvie works at the McDonald’s, and it doesn’t pay much, but she never cares about it. What she wants she can summon or enchant someone into getting it for her, and what she doesn’t want she just doesn’t bother with, because she doesn’t have to anymore. She doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to do ever again. She smiles. Maybe she’ll go on a date or something. Maybe she’ll go on vacation just for the Hel of it. There’s something so beautifully divine in being a creature of habit, a goddess of chaos finally settled, like a puzzle piece rattling into place. Privately, she calls herself the goddess of freedom.
All of them find their places, and make names for themselves, but their stories do not reach far, by intention. They are little things, twining with the rest of the branches.
There are two that find themselves in many branches; The God of Stories, and the Nowhere Man.
The god of stories is an ornate title, and a little dramatic. It’s accurate though. He weaves the lives of many into new branches, shifting with each misplaced footprint. The sheer multitude of the branches is their protection; The Conqueror won’t find them if he doesn’t know where to look.
This weaving has consequences though. One of the branches Loki touches is near the genesis of his own people. Heimdall is there, and he sees the tree, and its branches, and all the nine realms. It bothers him that he cannot see into the center, but alas, some things are beyond even his sight. He knows someone is there, though, and the legend grows in Asgard of the one who sits in the world tree, spinning the threads of fate into stories. Over time, the legend turns into the three frost giantesses known as the Norns.
And he is not idle in his throne either. At length he discovers that he can leave his seat at the center of the tree, but it’s dangerous to do so. His power is tied to the tree, and without him it begins to wilt again. It’s a while before he can leave it for more than a few seconds.
He manages though, and even while separated from the tree he can reach into the fabric of the branches he travels, unwinding them and twisting them as he sees fit. Legends arise around New Asgard that the brother of Thor has returned, with an unknown power in his hands. SWORD looks into it, but they find nothing out of the ordinary. Darcy looks into it and finally meets Thor’s brother. She slaps him, like Jane Foster once did, but she grows to like him eventually. They bond over a shared love of snakes.
And he doesn’t always appear as…himself. Sometimes the god of stories is herself, or theirself. They’ve appeared as a snake, a wolf, and once as a horse, but that story doesn’t need to be elaborated on. The snake is most common though, and some begin to call him Jormungandr. The world serpent.
Eventually Steven Strange takes an interest in whoever has been crawling through the multiverse. Loki drops him in a perpetual fall for an hour, and Strange decides it’s none of his damn business.
Legends of these types have echoing similarities. Solitude is their main theme, occasionally countered by the figure of the nowhere man.
Some stories say he’s the only one who dares to stand against the god of stories. His fate is his own after all, because he exists in no time at all. No story to twist, no time to pause, a Mobius, with no end and no beginning. Once they learn of him, they decide that he must surely be the greatest adversary of Jormungandr. Loki, for his part, finds it absolutely hilarious.
Other types of stories do crop up, though. The nowhere man walks among the people, and can erase your fate with a mere touch. Relentlessly the Norns pursue him. Some say it’s because the god of stories wishes to have his fate pulled away from him, like stars into the void. Some say it’s because Jormungandr craves total authority, and only when he consumes the nowhere man will he be sated. Some even say that they’re partners, companions, a yin and yang of sorts. They say that without one, the other would fall to ruin. This version of the tale emerged after too many instances of someone threatening Mobius where Loki could hear them (and if they’re on one of his branches he can always hear them loud and clear).
The Nowhere Man is a being of pure chaos. The God of Stories is order incarnate. The two of them cackle about the reversal of their roles, as they walk the branches of Yggdrasil. They laugh together often these days, and these days are now all the days, for all time. Always.
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chalamet-hl · 2 months
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Je t'aime... 🌾
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aroaessidhe · 2 days
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2024 reads / storygraph
A Dark and Drowning Tide
gothic fantasy romance
a folklorist is chosen as the co-leader of an expedition to find a fabled magical spring for the king, along with 6 nobles
when her mentor, the other leader, is found dead on their boat in the middle of the night, she has to figure out who did it; while continuing the mission through the wilderness and navigating the potential political fallout
and the only one she can probably trust is her academic rival, a naturalist, who she hates
dark folktales & creatures
Jewish lesbian MC
arc from netgalley! out sep 17
putting both covers here because they’re both so beautiful!! (artists: Audrey Benjaminsen, & Erica Williams)
#A Dark and Drowning Tide#aroaessidhe 2024 reads#I really loved this! so atmospheric and full of things I like. Love the characters and folklore and the creatures…..#I think it was well balanced between the plot worldbuilding and romance -#though if you’re not into any of the elements it might all fall flat for you. but I love all these things. so I had a good time.#I did feel like some parts of the narrative/character relationships went a bit fast and I wanted a little more detail in between?#Plus the ending wrapped up easier than I expected. I wanted to get to know the side characters a bit more#and a bit more of the backstory/leadup (how they all knew each other; sylvia’s time in the war??)#I also couldn’t stop thinking about how taxing the environments they’re in would be on their bodies/gear..aghjs you mght have seen my post#I was getting distracted from the plot thinking about it. Not to say that it mentioned at all and I’m aware too much would have taken#away from the story. Lets take it as an indication of just how lush and atmospheric the writing was. I was having flashbacks.#I put the book down three separate times to draft three separate fanarts.#but listen. you stick two lesbians in a forest/mountain/cave and put a couple Creatures in there too and I will eat that up#one thing I did note is that I don't recall any non-white characters? I may have missed a description.#I try to take notice if a book has an entirely white cast bc like....does it need to#sapphic books
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theunfairfolk · 2 years
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greenerteacups · 1 month
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crying screaming throwing up at the latest Lionheart update – only amplified by my listening to the Tortured Poets Department (anthology) while reading. What are your favourite songs from the album? and what would be Hermione and Draco's faves?
favorites: So Long London, BDILH, Florida, Guilty as Sin, The Bolter
Guilty as Sin? is the one that I'll be using for my imaginary blorbo music videos for a while, personally. BDILH is going to be the new star-crossed-lovers edit audio on TikTok from now til the heat-death of the universe, and I personally am going to enjoy that. The Bolter is the best storytelling, and I think its specificity is its strength.
I think Hermione and Draco are 90's babies, and I have self-indulgently projected my own taste for 80's/90's altrock onto both of them. I think Daphne would go full Swiftie in a hot minute, though. Would go nuts for the Alchemy. (It's me, I'm Daph.)
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looking-for-orion · 10 months
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"august"
by taylor swift
( ♡ you can listen while scrolling ♡)
 *:・゚✧*:・゚✧ *:・゚✧*:・゚✧*:・゚✧*:・゚✧ *:・゚✧*:・゚✧
Salt air, and the rust on your door
I never needed anything more
Whispers of "Are you sure?"
"Never have I ever before"
“You sure?” “I know we haven’t,” Henry says quietly. “But, er. I have, before, so, I can show you.” “I mean, I’m familiar with the mechanics,” Alex says, smirking a little, and he sees a corner of Henry’s mouth quirk up to mirror him. “But you want me to?” “Yeah,”...Alex leans down to kiss him, and Henry murmurs into the corner of his mouth, “Ready when you are, love.”
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But I can see us lost in the memory
August slipped away into a moment in time
'Cause it was never mine
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And I can see us twisted in bedsheets
August sipped away like a bottle of wine
'Cause you were never mine
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Your back beneath the sun
Wishin' I could write my name on it
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Will you call when you're back at school?
I remember thinkin' I had you
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But I can see us lost in the memory
August slipped away into a moment in time
'Cause it was never mine
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And I can see us twisted in bedsheets
August sipped away like a bottle of wine
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'Cause you were never mine
"Alex,
...Thank you for everything. x
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cyberr-v0id · 9 months
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Can people please, please learn the differences between the magpie song and the crow song
The magpie song starts ‘one for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four four a boy’ and refers to the amount of magpies in an area foretelling something
The crow song starts ‘one for sorrow, two for mirth, three for a wedding, four for a birth’ and is about the about of crows in an area foretelling an event
Both of these then have their own regional/traditional differences, but the start of those two marks the difference between which each one is
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The Name Chapter: Temptation came out two days after my birthday, which is the closest I'll probably ever get to an album I like coming out on my birthday and I'll take it 🫶
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cosettepontmercys · 1 year
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not to clown but maybe 7/23 eras tour seattle will have paramore as a surprise guest
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the way folklore (and evermore) became part of my life in a way I don't remember a time before them... so many songs that I still feel as strongly as I did when they first came out... They changed me as a person
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thrpilsopher · 3 months
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would love your opinion of the newest episode of DW, if you get the chance.
HAHAHAHA YES I HAVE MANY THOUGHTS
Alright okay so
I only have one complaint, which is that that wasn't a faerie ring. You could still have the shamble, no problem, but it should have been over the top of an actual faerie ring, which should be a mushroom (or, at a push, stone) circle. Not some cotton that would blow clean off the cliff edge in three minutes.
HOWEVER
This is the first time I've seen Doctor Who do a time travel story using, not Doctor Who time travel lore and rules, but Welsh faerie rules. (First time I've seen anything do it, in fact.) In Welsh myth, people who enter faerie rings or get entranced by the music become suspended in time, out of sync with the real world. They think they danced for a night, but when they return it's been 100 years, and they crumble to dust as soon as they eat/drink/step on land/etc.
In this case, this is what I think happened to Ruby. She spent that time in Annwfn, seeing what would happen if the binding on the ring was broken. When she 'dies', she returns to the spot and lasts long enough to give her younger self the warning, then crumbles to dust.
But, a time travelling Ruby is not the woman who follows her throughout the episode. That, in fact, is a gwyll.
The gwyllion were hag faeries, usually of mountain tops (though Pembrokeshire's liminal cliffs are 100% from Welsh mythology - it was said that if you found a faerie ring on one but only put one foot in, you could see the faerie islands in the sea. And that faeries used to visit the human markets in Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion. So while gwyllion are unusual there, it's not an impossible relocation.) They were malicious and sometimes vicious faeries who delighted in making people lose their way, could strike an uncontrollable and ungodly terror into travellers, and who feature in more that one myth as an old woman that someone tried to approach, but they always appeared at the same distance away, impossible to catch up.
CAN YOU SEE THE PARALLELS
And the best part!! Is that this is why she defeats UNIT!!!
Kate tells Ruby that her agents have necklaces of silver and salt to keep out the supernatural, but that's just generic fairytale shit. That doesn't work on gwyllion. Salt drawn in a line would provide a barrier, but the UNIT soldiers aren't trying to trap or block the gwyll; they're trying to capture her. What works, very specifically, is a knife. Iron or steel for preference of course, but it needs to be a knife.
But UNIT has no Welsh employees and the soldiers have guns, not knives. And so they all become entranced.
(This is also what I think the gwyll 'says' to everyone to turn them against Ruby. She doesn't say anything - she sings.)
This is also the first time I've ever encountered any mainstream media doing Welsh faeries and understanding the tone to strike, which is 'unknowable, unstoppable and fucking terrifying'. I think I've only ever read it in Catharine Fisher books, and she's a Welsh author so... yeah, obviously. But I basically vibrated with delight and excitement for the entire episode.
Oh my god, hang on, Roger ap Gwilliam! Okay, I have two theories about him.
My weaker theory and the one I don't like is the kind of boring and obvious one, which is that he is himself not human. A lot of Welsh folklore features the devil, and I get that vibe from his role in the story. But, I'm not keen, because I can't see the link to the gwyll.
But my strongest theory, and the one I have chosen to believe, is that he's a human who made a deal with the Fae for power, and then reneged. There's a Metric Fuckton of stories about humans fucking up Fae gifts in some way, and the punishment is usually something ironic but always results in the loss of the gift. It could be a faerie harp that makes everyone dance, and the Fae tell the giftee not to abuse it, but they cruelly force everyone to dance so long and so hard that the faerie returns, takes back the harp, and then takes the human's ability to ever make music again, so example (by taking fingers or eyes or tongues as well, often.)
So I think Mad Jack strikes a bargain for power - but, then tries to abuse that power (nuclear war). But part of the bargain is that the Fae cannot approach him directly ever again. In the real world, they therefore tempt him into the faerie ring and bind his soul there, problem solved - until the Doctor accidentally lets him out, and gets his own soul stuck. Ruby, therefore, becomes the instrument through which they manage to take that power away once again - and then, her final Fae gift for her service is that they use the temporal anomaly of the faerie ring to send her back, at the end of her life, and give her a second chance. This time, with Mad Jack's soul left bound in Annwfn.
The fun part is, RTD is a writer who understands the power of not explaining everything and leaving some things up to the viewer's imagination, so none of this is ever going to be explained lol. But yeah, that is a gwyll. The moment she appeared, I said out loud "Oh holy fuck, gwyllion." That was a gwyll.
As a final observation, I loved seeing Siân Phillips, and I choose to believe they filmed those scenes in a pub because they could only get Siân if they agreed to just come to her local. The woman is a queen.
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chalamet-hl · 3 months
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Red lips and rosy cheeks... ✨🤍🏃‍♀️
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Metallica - Enter Sandman 1991
"Enter Sandman" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica. It is the opening track and lead single from their self-titled fifth album, released in 1991. It evolved from a guitar riff that guitarist Kirk Hammett wrote, after being inspired by Soundgarden's 1989 album Louder Than Love. The title is a reference to the Sandman, a character from Western folklore who makes children sleep.
The single was released on July 29, 1991, two weeks before the release of Metallica. The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 in the US and nine other countries, and sold over 22 million copies worldwide, allowing "Enter Sandman" to become "one of the most recognizable songs of all time in rock". The single peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and at number 5 on the UK Singles Chart. In addition to the nominations received by the album as a whole, the song was nominated for Best Rock Song at the 34th Grammy Awards in 1992. It was voted Song of the Year in Metal Edge's 1991 Readers Choice Awards. The music video won Best Hard Rock Video at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards and was nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Editing.
Motörhead covered "Enter Sandman" in 1998, and received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards. "Enter Sandman" is used in the polka melody "Polka Your Eyes Out" for "Weird Al" Yankovic's 1992 album Off the Deep End. The song was also sampled by British electronic duo Utah Saints and American rapper Chuck D on their track "Power to the Beats". It was covered by Weezer as part of The Metallica Blacklist tribute album. It was also used by NASA mission control CAPCOM B. Alvin Drew to wake up space shuttle astronauts aboard STS-123. The song was selected for Mission Specialist Robert L. Behnken by his fiancé.
"Enter Sandman" received a total of 81,1% yes votes!
youtube
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kaalbela · 4 months
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Kantha (Bengali: কাঁথা) is a form of embroidery originating in Bengal region, i.e. Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and parts of Assam. It has its roots in nakshi kantha, an ancient practice among bengali women of making quilts from old saris and rags by sewing them together. In modern usage, kantha generally refers to the specific type of stitch used. The kantha needlework is distinct and recognised for its delicacy. The stitching on the cloth gives it a slightly wrinkled, wavy effect. Today, kantha embroidery can be found on all types of garments as well as household items like pillowcases, bags and cushions.
While it is an increasingly diversifying art form, traditional kantha embroidery motifs are still sought after. Traditional kantha embroidery is two-dimensional and are usually of two distinct types: geometric forms with a central focal point, carried over from the nakshi kantha tradition and influenced by islamic art forms; and more fluid plant, floral, animal and rural motifs with stick-figure humans depicting folklores and rural life in Bengal.
1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 | textile series
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determunition · 7 months
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i took the switcheroo week as an excuse to finally try my hand at some scrybeswap designs! got a bit carried away as you can see, i love doing character design so much
decided to keep their species/major design elements fairly consistent (e.g. grimora's makeup, mag being vague and indistinct, leshy having nonhuman legs, p03 only having one arm) while still switching up their aesthetics as needed; super happy with all of these as a result!
design notes for each scrybe under the cut! def open to any further questions or curiosities, i always think way too hard about characters while designing them lmao
P03:
scrybe of the dead: i went for a possessed tv vibe; he's still mechanical but those bones do have a living soul trapped in them...also shoutout to @squid-hug for suggesting the x-ray machine, i was very tickled by that lmao
scrybe of beasts: overgrown old bot was kind of a given for this one, but i was also thinking that the plants are part of what's keeping him running somehow
scrybe of magicks: the magic eye is the core powering that top monitor, and the two side monitors display what he's seeing with that eye at any given time
grimora:
scrybe of beasts: she's a witch! like a chill terry pratchett kind of witch, she works with a lot of herbs and such; also her makeup is meant to mimic blood drops
scrybe of magicks: magick grimora is more of a warlock type, her magic is a lot more sinister and she almost never opens her eyes (whereas her third eye is basically always open)
scrybe of tech: tech grimora is kind of a wacky machinist-flavored dr. frankenstein; she inscribes by writing on circuitboards!
leshy:
scrybe of the dead: this leshy is a gargoyle/vampire hybrid! i thought a mirror would be fun for him bc you can get two different cultural refs; medusa (bc stone gargoyle), and the idea that vampires don't appear in mirrors!
scrybe of magicks: i decided to make him a bird guy (kinda harpy-esque) bc he's basically a more whimsical baba yaga hermit; the baba yaga thing carries over from slavic folklore obvs. also he has polycoria!
scrybe of tech: tech leshy was super fun, bc he's steampunk! rather than animal legs i gave him digitigrade robot legs, but other than that he's the most like, normal human guy here probably lmao; despite his well-adjusted appearance though i still think he's got a bit of freaky wonk in him
magnificus:
scrybe of the dead: this one was very ring-inspired lol, got those clump of hair you found in the shower drain vibes
scrybe of beasts: bush magnificus real! i think he'd be a bit more quirky trickster fae in this form
scrybe of tech: one of my favorites; tech mag is an emaciated cyborg draped in so many loose cords and wires that you can't tell what he looks like anymore. a lot of those cords are connected to him, and he plugs them in wherever as needed! he also has a drawing stylus, making him just an average art student tbh lmao
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