#also if you saw the version of this post where i tagged the wrong diane duane: no you didn't

[semiotomatics]

i meant to make some big well-written post abt it but unfortunately my brain was otherwise occupied experiencing The Horrors so instead, have some wordvomit

this past monday marked twenty years since i went on a field trip to the library and ran my hand along a bookshelf in the children's fiction section and found a book called So You Want To Be A Wizard* and brought it home and read it cover to cover in like. a day. and i couldn't even begin to explain how that day has shaped my life but i do just wanna acknowledge it and say that i'm so glad my friend let me borrow her library card (cause i didn't have my own yet) so i could bring the book home and i'm so glad my mum special ordered the rest of the series from the local independent bookstore almost immediately after i finished it and i'm so glad i discovered the forums and i'm so glad i found so many cousins on tumblr—including my best friend and platonic soulmate @astraldepths—and i'm so glad i got to help plan and execute crossingscon (twice!!) and that i got to meet so many of you in person—INCLUDING DD HERSELF—and i'm just. so glad i discovered this series

i have like twelve copies of SYW but i think my favourite is the twentieth anniversary edition (which is now, itself, twenty years old—wild), because it contains both the short story Uptown Local, which i adore, and an afterword by DD, which i have read entirely too many times. anyway, i wanna share a quote from that afterword, bc it seems fitting:

Wizardry, too, changes with the times, because its practitioners do...and indeed it must change, to keep up with the Lone Power, Itself never averse to using new means to Its old end. Even the Wizard's Oath will seem to change from time to time, altering its appearance according to species, age, cast of mind, and (sometimes) simply according to where you're standing, in time and space, when you examine it. But beyond that, as the series continues, I can promise that some things will always stay the same—the knowledge of a partner's dependable friendship; a shared go-for-broke determination to get it right when the Universe is watching; and the glad adrenaline rush caused by the sudden incursion of the unexpected...as when you run your hand down a row of books on a library shelf and one of them catches your finger.

so yeah. in lieu of a more coherent post abt it, i just wanna say. thank you @dduane. for everything 💚

#this has been an original post #personal spewage #young wizards #dying rirhait noise #*technically i discovered High Wizardry first and read the first page and was like ''i feel like i'm missing something'' lol #then i noticed it was the third book in a series so i went looking for the first #but anyway #my point still stands #also if you saw the version of this post where i tagged the wrong diane duane: no you didn't

[geekgemsspooksandtoons]

Archie And Atlas

This is a story set within my Bioshock Rebirth AU. A reimaging/reboot of the Bioshock franchise. https://geekgemsspookyblog.tumblr.com/post/626141727587270656/bioshock-rebirth-timeline-this-is-a-timeline-of-an Just as a heads up if anyone is wondering about the context. I’ve had some stories in my drafts for a long time now and I’m finally publicly sharing them.

Deciding I’m gonna post this. I made this as a short story to a friend. Gonna add some stuff. @fishtankinhouse​ has read this before. I’ve been thinking of more stories and this was in my drafts for a long while.

So yeah understand this wasn’t made in my regular format of writing. Just finished the tags. I added some stuff and changed some things.

After a long while when Archie comes to Atlas's hideout. He finds the fisherman grabbing and opening a beer. No one is there. The man hears his footsteps. As Atlas took a chug, he turned his head to his left and saw Archie standing, holding a wrench for some reason. He assumed it was maybe to defend himself from any Splicers around. Even though the young man would hold up a gun usually. Atlas: Ah Arch you're here! You're back. You did it son! Nice work boyo! Archie: Yeah I did. Atlas: I was worried about you. Glad you're okay. Do you have the genetic key? Archie: Where's everyone else? Atlas: Oh some of the others went to a place to get more weapons for us in case. Daisy, Diane, and Bill are probably around here some where. But it's mainly me. Archie: Atlas I need to ask you something. Atlas: Sure lay it on me lad. Archie:.....how did you know of the trigger phrase? Atlas's eyes widened as he was drinking. Atlas:.....what? Archie: Ryan told me something. Atlas: Ryan told you something ey? Heh I wouldn't believe him. He'd probably say anything to make himself live longer. Even some weird shit about a trigger phrase. What the Hell are you talking about? Archie: Atlas.....I didn't kill Ryan......he put together some things. I discovered some things, recordings. Atlas:.......listen Arch I don't know what the Hell are you talking about? Maybe Ryan was going mad like I said before. Archie: How in the Hell did you know about the WYK programming?.......how did you know what Fontaine was gonna do before he died? How did you even know that phrase? You said it a couple of times when I was out there with Elizabeth. Atlas just looked surprised. Just honestly baffled. The look on Archie went from confused to more serious. Almost angry. Atlas was a man Archie he met this week. But the young man admired him. Because Atlas was filling in the hole left after his parents had died. To have a father figure after 4 years of being alone felt like the greatest feeling in the world. It was only made better when he got closer to Elizabeth, Tenenbaum, and those Little Sisters. But also meeting others like Jasmine, Diane, Daisy, and Bill made life felt different. Including whoever else. But the relationship with Atlas felt important. To Archie, he felt like he was looking at an older version of himself. Even though some of Atlas's ideas seem questionable and he was rough. But Atlas had the best intentions. It was the first time in years he felt like he had genuine best friend, or even a brother. But most importantly a father. Archie: Where are they? Atlas: Who are you talking about? Archie: Elizabeth and Tenenbaum. They were with you last. Atlas: Meh they went back to their safehouse. Archie: Atlas....be honest with me. What did you do to them? Besides they would of told me if they went back. Atlas:.....you know what I'm sorry I fibbed a bit there. I didn't wanna tell you this at first. But Elizabeth and Tenenbaum....they were just using you. Archie: What? Atlas: When you left them with me. Things changed. Elizabeth may seem like a sweetheart. But inside she's just a spoiled girl who was using you to get to Ryan. Even Tenenbaum was too. She wanted to get the Hell out of the city. But she teamed up with Elizabeth at first. You know to get rich in case.

Hearing this from Atlas, Archie’s heart began to break a little. Ever since he met Elizabeth this week. He had developed a sort of crush on her. Nothing too serious. Almost like a puppy dog crush. He loved her as a person and tried to make sure she didn’t go crazy after everything going on in Rapture. But she noticed how she seemed to get excited about this Atlas person.

She seemed to have this little crush on him. You couldn’t blame her. He had this charm to him. Even if he was married. It was sort of like how his own feelings towards Elizabeth. It almost felt like a bit of betrayal hearing this from Atlas.

Was she really using him? Maybe that’s why she acted so differently about Atlas. Archie’s feelings were so confused. *Atlas takes a chug of the beer again.* Atlas: You know what Elizabeth did after we were done with that call with you? She grabbed me and smacked her lips onto mine. So me and Daisy had to tie them up. We were heart broken to see who they were actually. I didn't wanna call you about it because you would be heart broken.

Archie’s sadness soon went into confusion. Tied up he said?

Archie: What you did what? You tied them up!?

Atlas: Arch just calm down.  Archie: That's not true. Atlas: Arch......let me be honest with you. I've seen you got close with her. There's no shame in that. She's a beautiful girl. I don't blame you for liking her. I'm thinking she was getting tired of the nice girl act. That's when I noticed something was wrong. That's why I offered to look out for them. I needed to find out if they were truthful.....I'm just looking out for you Arch. I warned you about Tenenbaum. But I didn't knew Elizabeth would stoop that low. Archie:.....where are they? 

Atlas: They’re not ready to talk now. Please understand that.

Archie: Then how did you know of the trigger phrase? Atlas: I don't know what trigger phrase you are talking about. But I'm gonna be honest with you and I may sound weird. I'll admit when Elizabeth kissed me. It was strangely amazing. Especially the taste....mmmmmm strawberries. Atlas just touched his lips when he said that. His mannerisms were different. When he was mentioning the so called kiss Elizabeth forced onto him. It looked like he was remembering it fondly instead of disgust. Because Atlas said he was a married man who had a baby child. In those moments. Archie finally realized and thinking back to what Atlas saying. It was that moment though he truly realized. Atlas was actually lying. In a quick second, Archie swung the wrench across to the left of Atlas's head. The man dropped the beer and it broke. While Atlas was surprised but couldn't do anything. He was knocked out.

Archie: Elizabeth! Brigid!

The young man had looked around the headquarters. It seems like nobody was around. He kept yelling out their names in case they would respond. Archie had made sure they were safe. He couldn’t handle the idea of something terrible happening to them. Until he heard Atlas’s radio go off and he heard Daisy’s voice.

Daisy: Atlas! We made it to Tenenbaum’s apartment. You sure Archie isn’t gonna find us....I’m sorry I don’t believe Arch may go against us. I can understand these two bitches using him. But Arch....I just can’t believe that...Atlas can you read me? Is everything okay? We brought Ryan’s kid and Tenenbaum here. Do you not have your radio on you?

Archie heard Daisy’s voice. He knew they had them. Now he just had to find Brigid’s apartment. He remembered a little during talks with Brigid at her safehouse. Olympus Heights is what she mentioned. He decided to try to rush over there as fast as he can. 

#bioshock #bioshock rebirth #archie wynand #atlas #bioshock au

[andcontemplation]

You’re so cute and amazing! What do you think happened between Hopper, Joyce and Lonnie when they were young? Do you think that Joyce didn’t love Hop romantically in high-school? Or they were in love, but something went wrong(like what?)? Why she fell for Lonnie?

Aw, Anon, now I’m blushing! Thank *you* for being so sweet and kind!

This question… is my whole world. Seriously, not exaggerating. I think about this a lot since it’s the plot for the fic series I’m (slowly) writing. 

Spoilers for the first half of Time in a Bottle below... (specifically Stand By Me and an updated version of Paint it Black which will be published soon) 

So, disclaimer -- my head canon is that Joyce and Hopper are a bit younger in the show than the actors are in real life. I like to think that they graduated HS in 1965 just because it seems to fit in well with actual real-world events and the kid’s birthdates, etc.

I’ll try to keep this history brief, and in point form so I don’t get carried away here lol 

Hopper and Joyce grew up across the street from each other and were best friends from the time they could walk. Their dads were military buddies, until Joyce’s dad died in the Pacific Theater when she was just a baby. Their mother’s remained very close over the years. Hopper’s dad didn’t approve of Joyce’s mom’s lifestyle and marrying again so soon after his friend died though, so there was always some hard feelings there as the kids grew up.

Lonnie was friends with Hopper first, in elementary and middle school. He picked on Joyce and pulled her pigtails, shoved her in the dirt, even though Hopper did it back to him in retaliation, Joyce’s protector.

When Lonnie started to take a real interest in Joyce in high school, that made Hopper jealous and started the rift between them.

Joyce always liked both guys, but in different ways and at different times.

Hopper was her best friend, and they did everything together. He was her first crush at eleven years old, before that was quickly squashed when he told her girls were gross, and also her fifth crush later on when they both started dating in their early teens. Hopper was dating all the pretty blondes though, so Joyce just figured she wasn’t his type and moved on from her little crush, no hard feelings.

Lonnie was the cool, older bad boy in Hawkins (he failed a grade) and Joyce wanted to date him primarily to piss her mom off, but also because he was different than all the other guys she knew. There was something brooding and aloof about him and what teenage girl wouldn’t fall for that stereotype? She didn’t have a crush on him until grade eleven.

Lonnie dates Joyce first, in their senior year of HS, but only because Hopper is too nervous to make a move. Hopper always saw Joyce as a BFF first and he didn’t want to throw a lifelong friendship away just because he had some feelings, if you know what I mean. Still, he finds himself looking at her in a new light now that he can’t have her.

Lonnie treats Joyce like crap though, and she realizes what a jerk he is and breaks it off… the week before Prom.

Hopper asks Joyce to go with him so she didn’t have to skip it or go alone. This stirs up that old crush in Joyce and she realizes her true feelings for her best friend.

They share a perfect kiss at Prom (some trauma too when Lonnie catches them!) and start dating soon after. 

Joyce and Hop spend the summer after highschool completely and utterly head over heels for each other, in a way only young lovers know 🥰 (”Summer lovin’ had me a blast...”)

Even though things are going well between them and he doesn’t want to break it off with Joyce, Hopper enlists for the army to fight in Vietnam, mostly due to pressure from his dad and his peers wanting to go get it over with since a draft was looking to be inevitable by the fall of 1965. Hopper doesn’t think he’ll get called up right away, but he does and has to leave.

Joyce is devastated, but she promises to wait for him and they write each other every week. And they do at first, and become very close; opening up about stuff that they couldn’t even admit to themselves in their love letters. Slowly, as he finishes bootcamp and then special training, he starts to write less and less as things become more and more stressful for him. He doesn’t want to worry her about the shit he’s seeing.

Eventually, he’s facing combat in Vietnam, when he tells he doesn’t think he’ll be able to write for a while. His letter mentions something about a girl named Hannah, who told him to give up, and he just sounds so unlike himself… Joyce isn’t even sure it’s him writing to her any more.

She’s worried about his change in demeanor and upset that he’s seeming ghosted her for another girl (not realizing he was talking about Hanoi Hannah — a propaganda radio host used by North Vietnam to demoralize the US troops.)

A few weeks later, right before Christmas 1966, the awful news comes that Hopper went MIA in the jungles of Vietnam and is presumed dead. Joyce is completely destroyed by this and mourns him.

Lonnie comes back into her life soon after. He sees Joyce is not her usual self and tries his best to make up for being a jerk to her in high school. He asks if they can give it a try again and says that she was the one that got away. He thinks he’s in love with her. She’s the only woman who can clean him up.

Joyce is hurting, her self esteem is nowhere to be found and it’s a bit flattering to hear all that, so she goes along with him, wanting to feel something other than the hurt she feels losing Hopper. She parties hard with Lonnie and his friends, and goes through a bit of a wild streak fighting off her own depression.

A month or so later, Joyce finds out she’s pregnant with Jonathan. Lonnie does the right thing and marries her right away and indeed, he does clean up for a while, in preparation for being a dad. They have a blissful honeymoon stage and are as in love as they can be (considering Joyce is still heartbroken about Hop and it’s Lonnie we’re talking about lol)

While Joyce is in her third trimester, the town of Hawkins gets a shocking bit of news. Jim Hopper is alive! He had been assumed dead when the army found his dog tag next to another man’s body who had stepped on a landmine. In reality, he had been taken as a POW and held for the last eight months by the North Vietnamese.

Joyce is relieved to hear Hopper is okay, but is sad that she has moved on without him. She comes to the conclusion that everything happens for a reason and tries to feel content with the path she’s chosen for herself.

Jonathan is born at the end of 1967 and Joyce falls in love with the new little man in her life.

Hopper is treated in a hospital in Saigon. He’s due to be honorably discharged and sent home if he wants, but when he finds out Joyce is starting a family with Lonnie, he volunteers to stay for another tour.  

When he comes back to the US in late 1968, he stays out in California for a bit, hanging out at Whisky-a-go-go, following the Doors around Los Angeles, sleeping with all the hippie chicks and generally just getting into trouble. 

In 1969, he meets Diane, his nurse at the VA where he’s being treated for his PTSD and they start dating. She wants to move back home to NYC and become a teacher. He plans to follow her...

Phew! That’s a lot...

Hopefully that answers your questions :) I have more history written down that spans 1970 through to 1983 but I will leave it there for now since this pretty much encompasses my head canon for high school/post-high school Jopper (and this post is long enough already lol.)  Thank you so much for the ask! It was fun to answer, and a big help to get it all out on paper in a linear timeline instead of my usual messy notes :)

#jopper #headcanons #asks #answered

[lavender-lizzy]

French Musicals Tag. 

It is hard for me to give only one answer to each question, so I decided I was going to pick 1 to 3 answers. The musicals I took into consideration were: Roméo et Juliette, Notre Dame de Paris, Mozart l’Opéra Rock, 1789 - Les Amants de la Bastille and Le Roi Soleil. I tried to mix it up a little bit, so that I didn’t end up choosing the same musical all the time. 

1. Favourite Musical: Roméo et Juliette, Notre Dame de Paris. I love both of these comédies musicales a lot. NDDP was the first one I ever saw, and it has a special place in my heart. Roméo et Juliette is the one I think about the most, and always want to rewatch. 

2. Favourite Troupe: Roméo et Juliette (2001). I could have chosen NDDP for this as well, but I just adore the cast in the original ReTJ.

3. Favourite Male Singer: Tom Ross (RetJ), Damien Sargue (ReTJ), Bruno Pelletier (NDDP). I stopped at three because I promised I would, but there are many many talented male singers in these musicals. 

4. Favourite Female Singer: Cécilia Cara (ReTJ), Victoria Petrosillo (Le Roi Soleil). Once again, it’s hard to just pick two!

5. Favourite Actor: Mikelangelo Loconte, Yamin Dib (Mozart l’Opéra Rock) Rosenberg is really funny, and I love the way Mikelangelo plays Mozart, so here it goes.

6. Favourite Actress: Réjane Perry (ReTJ). Amazing singer as well, I was sad to find out that she passed away in 2003.

7. Favourite Male Character: Tybalt (ReTJ). I mean, does it even need saying? I was thinking of putting somebody else here and him for favourite villain, but he is indeed my favourite character, so it makes much more sense to put him here, where he belongs.

8. Favourite Female Character: Juliette Capulet (ReTJ), Isabelle (Le Roi Soleil)

9. Favourite Understudy/Alternate: Diane Dassigny (MOR). I saw her in MOR 3D and to be honest liked her more than Claire Pérot.

10. Favourite Villain: Frollo (NDDP). I love Daniel Lavoie, and Frollo’s songs are just beautiful. 

11. Favourite Song: this is impossibile, I am going to say Lune (NDDP), Le Duel, J’ai Peur (ReTJ), they are among my favourite in my two favourite musicals. (I briefly talked about my favourite songs from these musicals here and here) 

12. Favourite Love Song: Un Jour, L’Amour Heureux (ReTJ). I mean, how could have I not chosen ReTJ for the love song?

13. Favourite Guilty Pleasure Song: I don’t consider any of them guilty pleasure songs, really? I’d say Les Solos Sous Les Draps, maybe (MOR). It’s sort of fun and silly and the title is a sexual reference so I guess it fits the category. Or maybe A’ quoi tu danses (1789), for dancing Robespierre.

14. Favourite Dance Sequence / Number: Le Bal (ReTJ 2001). I think it’s beautiful, I love the choreography and the colours, and I could rewatch it an inordinate amount of times to see what all the characters are up to.

15. Favourite Opening Number: super hard because the opening numbers are always amazing! I really enjoy all of them a lot. I think my favourite are Le Temps des Cathédrales (NDDP), Vérone (ReTJ)

16. Favourite Act 1 Finale: Aimer (ReTJ). This one wasn’t hard to answer!

17. Favourite Finale/Curtain Call: for the curtain call itself, Roméo et Juliette, because I love Benvolio presenting all the characters, and then Aimer/Les Rois du Monde (2001) and Les Rois du Monde/Avoir 20 ans (2010).  For the final song, NDDP (Danse Mon Esmeralda) or MOR (Vivre à en crever).

18. Favourite Music Video:  Ça ira mon amour (1789). I really liked Desmoulins as well. The official videos for the songs tend to be a bit weird in general. 

19. Favourite Canon Pairing: Roméo et Juliette (ReTJ), Duc de Beaufort et Isabelle (Le Roi Soleil).

20. Favourite Non-Canon Pairing: probably Mozart and Salieri (MOR). I guess? I love seeing all the fanart.

21. Favourite Costume: I am doing it off the top of my head, because I would need to look at all the costumes of all the productions.

For male costumes, I love Tybalt’s costume in ReTJ 2001, both the red leather one and the one he is wearing at the ball (the trousers are the same). Also, the Duc de Beaufort’s black coat in Le Roi Soleil. And Mozart’s red coat in Je Dors sur des Roses.

For female costumes: Constance’s dress in Six Pieds Sous Terre and Nannerl’s dress in Penser l’Impossible (MOR).

22. Favourite Set Design: Roméo et Juliette 2001 (really, I think it’s sort of simple yet effective and I am not a big fan of the towers in the revival), 1789 - Les Amants de la Bastille, which was quite ingenious!

23. Favourite Choreography: That’s super difficult. I am ruling ReTJ out, because I chose Le Bal for the dance scene. The first musical to come to mind was Le Roi Soleil, because of its beautiful coreographies, and 1789 has great choreos, too. The thing is, when I have to think about a single choreography, my mind goes to Le Bien Qui Fait Mal (MOR). It’s probably not even my favourite, but it sure stays in your memory!

24. Favourite Foreign production: I have only seen Italian NDDP and Italian and Hungarian ReTJ (plus I listened to English ReTJ), so my choice is Italian Notre Dame de Paris! I think it’s a very good production. 

25. An Underrated Musical: well, NDDP is super popular with the public all over the world. I think it’s the most popular French musical ever probably, and definitely the most popular out of the 5 I’ve chosen, but I have to say I don’t see many posts on Tumblr (maybe I am just using the wrong tags). Also, everytime I try to look it up in the tags I see tons of posts about the Hunchback of Notre Dame musical. People, if you loved Hunchback you need to watch NDDP. 

26. An Underrated Pairing: maybe Mozart and Constance (MOR). I find posts about him and Salieri much more often (understandably, but still)

27. An Underrated Character: I am not sure she is underrated, but I am going for Fleur-de-Lys (NDDP). 

28. An Underrated Song: oh, I am not sure I know which ones are underrated. Maybe Tu Dois Te Marier, 2001 version (ReTJ). I love that it’s so upbeat. 

29. Fancast one musical: I can’t possibly think of doing this one, it would require too much thinking! 

30. Free Choice. Okay, my free choice is: most random thing you love about a musical. And for me it is the way Mercutio is pronounced in French, I LOVE IT.

#french comédies musicales #french musical tag