#and guess who rohan sounds like

[dumb-teambucciarati-headcanons]

What do jojo characters sound like in your head? Like when you read the manga or a comic someone made or read a fanfic.

Like do they sound like the voice actors for the language you watched it in? Or do they sound different? Does their voice change?

#Johnny has a thick western accent #Bruno sounds a bit like the dub voice actor #but with a thicker Italian accent #Mista has the same voice as donkey from shriek #jobin has a “big brother that is constantly annoyed by your presence voice and I don’t know how else to explain it #jolyne sounds sort of like her japanese voice actor #Fugo sounds like light yagamis dub voice actor #but specifically that potato chip scene #kakyoin has a British accent in my head #and guess who rohan sounds like #he sounds like James Charles #I kinda feel bad for Rohan tbh #that that’s how I hear his voice #he deserves better #jjba part 5 #jjba

[welikeimagines-andfandoms]

LOTR/ The Hobbit Preference: How You Met (2/4)

(1) (3) (4)

Kili

You and Kili meet during the quest to reclaim Erebor. Oddly enough you arrived on the quest right as the company were in the middle of fighting off a bunch of orcs. Gandalf was relieved to see you but the presence of such a cute human woman seemed to confused the rest of the company.

“Y/N! Thank the Valar you’re here!” Gandalf shouted as you walked into the fight.

Kili was confused and as he looked to see the sweet looking woman, he was awestruck. His awe and confusion only intensified as you were running towards him sword drawn.

“Get down!” He heard you shout as you pushed him aside, your blade landing in the guts of an orc.

Before he had the chance to thank you, you were off. Managing to slay just as many as the rest of the company combined, they all looked at you in awe.

“Guess I’ll be a good asset to the team.” You smile at the group of dwarves as you make your way back over to them.

“Especially to keep you safe.” You wink at Kili, causing the prince to smirk and blush.

Legolas

Legolas and you meet when he goes to Rohan to meet with his friend Eomer. You worked as a barmaid at one of the pubs in town and manage to make the sweet elf blush.

“Hello, your highness. The regular today?” You ask as you approach the table Eomer and Legolas sat at.

“Yes and please, just Eomer.” He politely replies.

“So sorry, and who is our lovely elf friend?” You ask smirking as you turned to a very cute blushing Legolas.

“This is Legolas. He is the prince of the woodland realm.” Eomer introduced.

“Would you like me to call you ‘your highness’ or just Legolas, sweetheart?” You ask the cute elf, now completely ignoring Eomer.

“Uh, ahem, a-ah, ju-just Legolas, is fine.” He shyly stutters out, earning a chuckle disguised as a cough from his friend, and sweet giggle from you.

“How long are you in town for, Legolas?” You ask him, your whole body now facing Legolas.

“Uh-ah, a-a couple more days.” He replies as a blush grows on his pale cheeks.

“Well I guess you’ll have to come back before you leave so you can take me somewhere nice.” You smirk and wink as you turn around, leaving a smirking Eomer and a blushing Legolas.

Lindir

Lindir and you meet when your friend Bard takes you to Rivendell for a spring festival. You watch Lindir play so beautifully that you become enthralled.

As Lindirs performance comes to an end you can’t help but enthusiastically cheer louder than the rest of the audience, embarrassing you slightly but leaving a light blush on Lindirs cheeks.

“You play so beautifully. We don’t have music like that where I’m from; your music sounds like something from a lovely dream.” You can’t help but gush at the sweet elf.

“We-well, thank you very much, I appreciated your applause. It’s not the response I usually get from other elves but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, my lady.” He confessed.

“I’m glad you appreciated it, I was a little embarrassed but I’m glad it brought you joy. I’m not very used to elven culture.” You shyly smile.

“Perhaps I could show you around the festivities, make you feel a bit more comfortable.” He offered.

“That sounds lovely.” You agree as you take the arm he offers.

#Kili #Kili x reader #Kili imagine #legolas #legolas imagine #legolas x reader #Lindir #Lindir x reader #Lindir imagine #lotr #lotr imagine #lord of the rings imagine #lord of the rings #the hobbit #the hobbit imagine

[frodo-with-glasses]

25 Questions with Phil Dragash: YES, SERIOUSLY!

So y'all know how I was reviewing Phil Dragash's audiobook of LotR last year, but kinda fell off somewhere in the middle of Rohan?? Well, guess what! A couple weeks ago, I received a tumblr message from the man himself, saying he'd read through all my reviews, had really enjoyed the little blast from the past, and was open to answering questions if I had any!

So of course, I had LOTS of questions.

The first one being: "Are you actually the real Phil Dragash??"

But I'm delighted to say that after exchanging emails with the work email listed on his website, I can confidently say that it is the real dude, and I've had a blast chatting with him! So for those of you who urged I listen to this audiobook—especially @laurelindorenan for her glowing recommendation—and for everyone else who likes the audiobook and/or enjoyed my reviews: I am delighted to present, ladies and gentlehobbits, this peek behind the curtain!

But of course I'm putting it all below the cut, because this man rambles like I do 🤣

Obligatory disclaimer: All opinions presented by Mr. Dragash are his own, I am not necessarily condoning any of them; please do not come after me for his opinions regarding pineapple on pizza.

25 QUESTIONS, LET'S GO!

1. Tell me how you got into Lord of the Rings!

I was ten years old when my dad took me to the library, and found a VHS copy of Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 animated Lord of the Rings film. I was already a fan of the “Chronicles of Narnia” and my dad just handed the tape to me and said “Look, C.S. Lewis’s friend made this”. I watched it, and had no idea what was going on. It was so hard to understand.

Fast forward to the year 2002 when “Fellowship” was out on DVD, and we had a movie night at my older cousin’s place, and watched the film for the first time. My 13 year old self was enraptured by it. Dad bought the DVD first thing the next day, and I’ve been a fan ever since! I, my brother, and our dad watched “Return of the King” in theaters four times, which was saying something, considering we only ever saw a movie once in cinemas. Between “The Return of the King” opening in December ‘03, I picked up the books and read (as well as I could) through them. A lot of friends kept joking “tell us how the damn story ends!”, good times.

2. When and how did you decide to make this audiobook? What’s the story behind the entire project? 

I was a very ambitious lad, and my first and biggest interest was filmmaking. I used to direct short films with my friends ever since my 11th birthday, and was the youngest in class at the filmschool I attended a few years later. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that I had massive ambitions to direct “the Hobbit”, which is silly in retrospect considering I was 16 years old at the time. I even sent my portfolio and DVDs of my films to Peter Jackson’s manager (who actually got back to me with a wonderful response, despite not being able to accept my ‘completely reasonable’ offer) When I was heartbroken and torn to pieces knowing I wouldn’t be directing the movie, a few more years went by, and I decided to reread some chapters of the “Lord of the Rings” books. I remember really well that this was late at night, laying in bed, and going through “King of the Golden Hall” and seeing how close to the movies it was, but also far more expanded. I thought “my extensive home-made short movies experience with sound design and sound mixing could work here, and I could just read a few chapters and try to make the soundscape as realistic as possible. Why not try it?” 

So, the next day I tried. The first two chapters I tried were “King of the Golden Hall” and “A Journey in the Dark” (which partly answers your other question about that chapter). I was so absolutely surprised by how well it was going, that I decided to upload them onto YouTube in March 2010 I think. I got a fairly good response, and I was planning on doing a few more random chapters. I never intended to do the whole thing. But this one comment on YouTube I’ll always remember, it said: “I think you should go from start to finish, because you’ll probably get used to the characters and sounds and people can also follow along in the story gradually”.

Taking that suggestion to heart, in August 2010 I went from Chapter 1 onward. 

3. Were you inspired by any other audiobook versions of LotR (such as the BBC radio drama)?

I was not, I actually haven’t listened to the BBC Radio drama until far ahead into the project I was doing. I did some research on what other audio productions anyone did with LOTR, from The Mind’s Eye edition, to the ‘60s Hobbit Radio Play; so I felt pretty confident. I just fell in love with the way the films brought Middle-Earth to life and seeing their incredible dedication for authenticity (from the props department, to the music), you really couldn’t do any better than that visually or audibly - at least in my opinion. I just wanted to hear Tolkien’s text but with the realisation of the films. 

However, if you listen to Chapter 1 of TTT, and hear how Legolas laments their absence from not being there to help Boromir at Amon Hen, you can clearly hear the inflection from the BBC Radio play’s version. I just lifted that because I thought it was a fantastic way to deliver the line.

4. Did you have any rituals for “getting into character” before recording?

If I were to show you the raw unedited recording sessions, you’d probably be surprised at how underdeveloped it is! I had no real rituals or warmups, I just went for it. Usually went in cold, and tried reading the entire chapter and doing all the voices at once. Then I’d be exhausted, and afterwards start cutting all the mistakes, and separating each character into different tracks – and then re-recording 50%-70% of it, as I was laying in the sounds. 

I think any character just needs a few words for me to say in their voice, and that helps for the rest of their dialogue. For Aragorn it was usually: “You cannot wield it! None of us can.” for Pippin it was: “Sometimes”, just random things that make things ‘click’ in my head. If I got lost or didn’t feel like the performances were working, I’d simply just watch scenes from the films to hear the real actors again!

5. Who was your favorite character to voice? Who was your least favorite? And why?

People who know me, know I love doing the villains. Sauron, the orcs, the Nazgûl, etc. I just love the idea of personifying things that scare you. Something completely the opposite of who you are. Always a fun time! Any character I can nail extremely accurately always makes me happy, but I’m always very critical of my own work, so it’s a rare thing.

My least favorite characters to voice are: Imrahil, Denethor, Arwen, Celeborn, Galadriel, Erestor, Lindir, Haldir, Goldberry, Gildor… I think the pattern is pretty obvious if you realize that I am incapable of providing a satisfactory voice that feels unique enough. They just sound to me like “I wish I had a broader range. They weren’t done justice.” I have feelings for most of the characters in this situation, but I’m a mere mortal. I can’t do all of them as well as I wish I could. I wish Aragorn was more like Viggo Mortensen’s voice (I tried with the nasally yells you mentioned!), I wish Gandalf had a richer tone, I wish Saruman sounded more majestic, and I wish Frodo was - in retrospect- more older sounding, too. There’s so much I wish I could do better, but to hell with it, I tried.

Fun fact: my least-favorite to voice are also Orcs because they destroy my throat after a while. Which is ironic, because of my first statement.

6. I noticed that you gave the men of Rohan and Gondor slightly different dialects! Are you pulling from any real-world accents to make that happen?

I did try to listen to Anglo-Saxon, and ancient norse but I just tried to make Rohan and Gondor slightly distinct in any way I could. I never really tried to make things too obvious, but admittedly, I think I just used my intuition (smoothing the R’s for the Rohirrim, making the Gondorians more ‘proper’, etc.). I do want to emphasize that this was a one-person project and keeping things together or consistent is definitely an extraneous exercise when you’re just trying to get something finished by yourself! 

7. Some characters (like Beregond and Quickbeam, to name a couple of my favorites) aren’t in the movies, so they don’t have an actor for you to imitate. How did you decide what they would sound like?

Well, in the case of Beregond, I realized he was just “your ordinary guy”, and seeing Minas Tirith through his eyes (and Pippin’s)  is such an amazing and interesting opportunity. It made the city feel so real, and I wanted to take advantage of that. I think I started with a ‘generic’ voice, but when I re-recorded him knowing more and more of the context and what he was saying to Pippin, and as a result who he is, made me adjust what I felt were more his personality. But still that ‘ordinary guy’ idea was the bedrock, and it’s been years since I heard that chapter, but I hope it holds up! (I just remembered Bergil is in that too, another voice I wish I could have done better) 

Another fun fact: when Pippin scares the kids in Minas Tirith, the audio was from something I videotaped when I was 10 years old with my friends, it had the perfect “kids-going-aaah!” sound.

If I had it my way, I’d have a cast of dozens in this Audiobook, so a lot of times I never felt like my voice was enough to truly capture the “We’re in Middle-Earth, we just have microphones to record it” idea. So I have to make compromises since I was the only one doing the voices. That being said, Quickbeam was a fun surprise because he felt like, as you said “young treebeard”, and these things just worked out through experimentation! I think Quickbeam turned out pretty nice. I like Quickbeam.

8. HOW—I ask with great enthusiasm—DID YOU DO TREEBEARD’S VOICE? How did you get that resonance and woody sound? Did you send your voice through a wooden box and re-record it on the other side like they did in the movies?

It’s really great that you know all the behind the scenes stories from the films! Especially what Ethan Van der Ryn, David Farmer, and the late Michael Hopkins have done with their incredible creativity. I had no such resources to produce Treebeard’s sound. What I did was a digital facsimile: a special ‘room’ reverb, with some other equalizing effects to boost the bass and (maybe, I can’t remember) another higher pitched track of the same voice faintly in there. 

You won’t believe this, but I was not going to do The Two Towers audiobook unless I could do a good Treebeard voice. In 2011 after finishing “Fellowship”, I was on the fence about continuing, and only committed once I knew I could do Treebeard right. Treebeard was the key to all this. This should come to no surprise to the ones who played the game, but I used a lot of sound effects from ‘Battle for Middle-Earth’ which contained a lot of clean sounds for ents, trolls, the balrog, the ringwraiths, and other monsters from the films. I used the ent’s footsteps from the games, and recorded my own foley for some of the trees snapping and leaves rustling as well. The “fart” sounds were the low creaking of tree branches, and - as they stated in the making-of for the films - very pitched down cow moos. 

9. Tell me about the foley work! Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been that nerd who watched the Behind The Scenes featurettes for fun, so I’m very interested to hear how you made the sound effects for footsteps and whistling arrows and jangling horse harnesses and such. 

I’m glad you are! I’ve collected sound libraries (ripped from video games, and finding and buying sound packs) for a literal decade, because I always needed sounds for the short films I made when I was younger. I just kept learning about how to mix sounds together, and it’s very creative and very enjoyable! That being said, the foley work itself is mostly recorded by me. If I can’t find a sound in the library I have, I will record it. Clothing rustles, and touch are all recorded while I listen to the audiobook playback and ‘perform’ each character. It’s a really arduous process, but I think it adds so much life into the sound. 

I went out into the woods (or backyard) with my mic to record footsteps, sometimes I would listen to the audiobook with headphones while performing the footsteps. When I would have traveled somewhere with different terrain I would be sure to record more foley (rocks being moved, or pebbles being stepped on) knowing I’ll use it for certain chapters. I do not want to reveal a huge secret about the predominant foley for the character's clothes, but an old backpack I used were 90% of the characters’ ‘movements’. Some wingflaps of the fell beasts were just my jeans. It’s a really creative process trying to find things that ‘sound’ right for an environment or action. The magic is putting them all together and hearing the result. Also, yes Sam’s pan is my grandma’s frying pan, and I know it’s sometimes annoying, but - look - Sam has a lot of stuff to carry.

I start with the background sounds (wind, tree rustles, water if there is any, etc.) lots of layers of them just to make them sound unique and not the same. Then I move to selective and nearer environmental background sounds. Then, the ‘hero’ sounds, the effects that are integral to the story (if it’s sword clashes, or an explosion, or who knows what), and finally the foley (footsteps, clothing rustles, breaths, etc.) - I had a friend record her own horses breathing and moving for a lot of closeups of the horses in the audiobooks. I think even if you can’t really hear some of their low breaths, their presence is still ‘there’. I personally think I got a lot better by the end of LOTR than when I started! 

I wanted to add, the sounds for little Elanor in the very last scene of “The Return of the King” (the baby sounds), I was not happy with the stock baby sounds I had, and asked my older cousin (an audio person too!) to send me recordings he made of his then-1-year-old daughter in a studio. So, my first-cousin-once-removed is Elanor! She’s 22 now. I feel old.

10. Do you have a favorite sound effect from this project? Mine is the “pat-pat” against cloth that’s used to denote a hug.

Absolutely, do you remember the two “watchers” before the tower of Cirith Ungol? The vulture-like statues that block the hobbit’s path out? The alarm sound is a wholly original sound design I did, and I’m really happy with it. It’s just ugly sounding, and that’s the point. I always wished I had more Nazgul, and I think the worst moments I had with mixing were the battle scenes. There’s just too much to handle and make it sound good. But I really tried.

I’m very glad you heard the ‘pat-pat’s. I try my best to perform every character when recording foley, and want even some of the sounds to convey something in the telling of the story.

11. What's the thought process behind your use of the various musical motifs from Howard Shore's score? (Read: Why do you use the Shire theme so often, and why does it get me in the heart every single time?)

I want everyone to know that this is a really important and valuable question, and one I never really get to talk about: To me, Howard Shore’s music is one of the very best things to come out of the films. He truly made an opera out of the story, and all his leitmotifs and orchestrations are a stroke of genius. They work on their own, and when reading the books as well, and as a nerd for films and all that stuff, I wanted to put a lot of care into how I’m placing the score, and for what scene, emotionally and leitmotivically, if that’s a word.

The Audiobook I did is obviously a ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’ situation, so I can’t credit myself for the majority of the Audiobook I did, but I wanted to use all my filmmaking intuition to properly use the music to enhance the telling of the story. So, just like the filmmakers had to change and mix lines from the book, or make changes to make it work as a film, I felt like a lot of instances happened with the music for the audiobook. Obviously, I used the score when applicable to the intended scenes, but there are very often cases where they won’t work. I read as much as I could in the past about what the motifs were and where Shore used them in the movies, so I followed that trajectory for the most part. Gondor is Gondor, Rohan is Rohan, Mordor is Mordor, etc. 

Changes happen when I feel the emotions for a scene in the books do not match up to the ones in the films, and then there are brand new scenes and characters not in the movies at all, that I have to figure out! Take the pause from music between Gandalf falling into the chasm with the Balrog, and the fellowship successfully escaping. It’s perfect in the film, but I knew I couldn’t put the lamenting heartbreaking music in there yet, since the descriptions all drive the idea that escape is paramount. So I treated it as a ‘shock’ moment. No music until they’re completely out of the mountain, then the grief comes in. Things like that, a lot of fun creative thinking to get those emotions working!

I recall you mentioning the ‘Gimli / Legolas drinking game’ statement and how I used the hell out of it throughout the Audiobook, which is a good example. I pitched it up and down, for different moments, and it just has that hobbit mundane and jolly quality to it. So, in it goes to fill moments from the books. 

I also edited and modified existing motifs for completely different scenes and ideas. One of my favorites is when Treebeard talks about the Entwives. I needed this melancholy yearning sound that was really essential, and found it by reversing Eowyn’s theme, and pitching it down so the violin sounds like a cello/bass. To me it just felt extremely appropriate for the sound of a long-lost relationship while portraying a larger-than-life creature. 

Let’s also say Bombadil. I made up the idea that the last statement in the credits for “Return of the King”, was Bombadil’s theme. It’s actually just a reference to Der Ring des Nibelungen by Wagner, a very verbose beautiful crescendo, but I thought “I’ll pretend like it’s Bombadil, he’s last in the score even though he’s the first in Arda”. So I used that musical progression in his songs, that’s his leitmotif now (to me, anyway) He sings in that wavy up-and-down melody. Which is why you hear a lot of that in those chapters.

I also try to use recordings not from the original score: I looked far and wide for alternative recordings, predominantly the album by the Royal Prague Philharmonic, and the “LOTR Symphony”, just to make the Audiobooks feel different. I pitched down and moved and reassembled a lot of different cues for different scenes as well.

There are not a lot of instances of music from other movies, however, they do exist! I used music from “Battle for Middle-Earth”, the game “War in the North”, and for the last few chapters, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” since it just came out at the time. I used a lot of music from Howard Shore’s “Seven” and “The Game” during Shelob (I think), and for the Barrow-Downs. I used a tiny bit of underscore from the brilliant Don Davis’s “The Matrix Reloaded”, it had a really eerie choir which made me feel like it would be perfect for the fatigue and dizzying unreality of Mordor when Sam and Frodo were on their last leg, trying to get to Mt. Doom. Lastly, I used a little bit of music from Howard Shore’s “Twilight: Eclipse” for some dialogue scenes during Return of the King! And music from the independent film “Mongol” by Tuomas Kantelinen for the Woses when Theoden has to get help from Ghan-Buri-Ghan. Also the ending of ROTK has a few cues from “The Lord of the Rings musical”, lovely stuff.

It may surprise you that there is a small amount of score I actually ‘wrote’ with help from my brother (he’s a musician). It’s in the coronation of Elessar. It’s not very good but I needed something. There is also a cello version of “to the edge of night”, which I kindly asked permission to use by YouTube celloist, but I sadly don't think that video is up anymore.

Lastly, I use the Shire music so much because - just like Howard Shore said - it becomes a ‘hymn’ or an ‘anthem’ for the hobbits as they leave their comforts behind and are in a wide and unfamiliar world. Every little bit that reminds them of home, or relates to each of them, usually deserves a little ‘shire’ statement here and there. I feel if it’s in the characters’ hearts and minds, it has to be expressed in the music!

12. Out of all the chapters I’ve listened to so far on the Internet Archive, “A Journey in the Dark” is the one most plagued with editing issues; Sam’s temper tantrum over leaving Bill the Pony is cut out entirely. Which is a shame, because I was really looking forward to hearing your take on that. (Is it strange to say that I wanted to hear you break down into blubbering tears? Probably. Let’s ignore that and move on.) Is there any chance that you have a cleaner edit of that chapter somewhere?

I think you’ll be very unsurprised to know that “A Journey in the Dark” is the first chapter I ever recorded. I think you’ll also need to know that I did FOTR when I was 21 years old, and my grasp on doing better sound mixing or even getting the characters right was still a work in progress. I learned so much going chapter-by-chapter and felt that each succeeding one improves from the former. As a demo-run, I did “King of the Golden Hall '' and “Journey in the Dark” in early 2010 (in fact, I did only the first half of “JITD” back then. Stopping right after they are barred inside the mines, as the Watcher destroys the gate. I did the second half once I caught up with the story going chapter-by-chapter.)

There are so many issues with it, and I haven’t listened to it since. If you have headphones you’ll also notice that none of the voices really pan from left to right, or feel like they’re ever anywhere else except the dead-center. I was lazy back then. 

When I read the chapters, at the time, I was sharing an ‘office room’ with my younger brother, and as a teenaged younger brother does - continues strumming his guitar no matter what the other brother is doing. It was really fun, and funny and I was extremely sloppy with editing things out, and taking it too seriously. So, for sure you can hear ‘someone’ in the background during the early parts of FOTR, and I was too lazy to re-record or edit out the noises that weren’t supposed to be there.

Forgive me if this part is a lot longer, but now that you mention it, I want to get on my soap-box and rant about how many things I agree with about the Audiobook’s shortcomings and how many things have changed since the wee days of 2010: 

I didn’t really get a grasp on the characters, and I had no idea I was going to do the entire book. I did not take enough care with sound mixing (it’s a highly technical and rigorous practice, I’ve discovered. Even now, ten plus years later - it’s too technical for me to fully understand yet), and I did not thoroughly re-listen to the chapter when I was done with an edit or a sound-effects pass. Therefore there’s always been mistakes still in there, and just unpleasantly careless placement of sounds and music. I have often thought about re-recording it to get it up to scratch, but it’s been over a decade and I haven’t properly preserved all the sound stems without having to re-sound-mix the whole chapter again, and there is that little thing called ‘burnout’ which is hard to ignore. So, I apologize to everyone who has to suffer through that huge drop in quality with “A Journey in the Dark”. It quite literally was my first attempt, and it definitely shows. 

The good news is that a fan asked me the same thing about the missing piece in that chapter (the one you mentioned! With Sam and Bill!), and I’ve heard the same comments about it throughout the years. Why is it missing? I don’t know why! I recorded it, but in my loose run-and-gun past when I was a wee lad, I was careless, and just had the mp3 with that part missing. A rendering error, perhaps! Stupid 21 year old Phil just hodgepoging everything.

A Few months ago, I did get another email about that missing piece. I thought “okay, once and for all, I’m going to find that missing part.” - and I searched my old harddrives for some kind of archival copy with that part in it. Amazingly, it was a lot harder to find than I thought. Every rendered version of JITD either stopped right before that scene, or had it omitted. I actually found one half of it as a ‘demo’ piece I rendered years ago for a ‘sound trailer’, and then I finally found the original YouTube video I made - which had it intact! Now the hardest part was stitching it together with the rest. Took longer than I thought, but I finally amended this horrible incompetence. And yes, I will share the link to you! And be prepared to be disappointed at the 2010-era quality!

I don’t know if anyone knows this, but with the mp3s circling around, I have taken the liberty of re-recording and re-working some chapters from their original versions. I try my best to preserve the originals, but I also wish people to listen to the re-records. I have actually re-recorded and re-mastered “A Long-Expected Party” three times. 2011, 2013, and 2014. I re-recorded “King of the Golden Hall” in 2013, and “Shadow of the Past” in 2014. I usually try labelling the dates on the mp3 files themselves. The one I’m most proud of re-recording bits of, is “The Pyre of Denethor” as the first time I had Denethor say his last words he was mildly raising his voice, but I listened to it again one day and went “this man should be at the edge of sanity.” - so he absolutely yells now, and it’s such a night-and-day comparison.

Another addendum: I completely understand the complaints about ‘the sound/music drowning out the dialogue’. It’s been the #1 complaint over the decade. I completely understand. I never had professional sound mixing gear, nor did I have proper mixing headphones or speakers or a proper studio (most of the audiobook was recorded at my grandmother’s house!). The balance of the audio making it sound immersive, (like you are there!) and having clear dialogue to hear is - like I said - an extremely technical and complex process that I’ve never had the ability or tech to master. Let alone for a book that’s 48 hours long, and has so much sound and music to it. Nothing would bring me more joy than to work with an experienced sound mixer, and find all my audio stems, and for us to work together to clear up any and all issues. But as this project was a simple fan-made work, and I haven’t distributed it myself for a decade, who knows?

This is also why I never went on to do “The Hobbit”. Burnout is real, and I’ve never recovered from LOTR. The burnout… “it’s never really healed, Sam.”

13. What was your favorite scene to record and mix?

Mount Doom. Can’t get better than trying to make the climax as horrible and eucatastrophic as that. It all led up to this, and it was such a rush to work on. I remember how I was at the edge of my seat watching ROTK in cinemas for the first time, and how amazingly they pulled it off, and I wanted to definitely imitate that, but using Tolkien’s own writing. Just so cool.

I have two favorite chapters: The first one is “The Scouring of the Shire”. I remember well, when I was working on it, I realized this has never been ‘dramatized’ before. At least not in full. I felt so special being the first one (probably) to do it. I could imagine the entire chapter in my head like a film, and I could bring it to life with very little outside influence. Such a poignant and shocking chapter. 

I don’t think I would have done it as well without the experience I gained doing the rest of the Audiobook. Showing the strength of the four hobbits, portraying the dignity and resolve of their kind, giving that pathetic yet dangerous authenticity to Sharkey, and the ruffians, illustrating the battle of bywater with sound… this was done in 2013, so we all were able to listen to new music by Howard Shore (for The Hobbit), and I would be able to transpose motifs from that, into “Scouring”, and honestly I wouldn’t know how it would have worked out if the Hobbit films didn’t come out just at the right time. I think the score fits so well with the events of “Scouring”, there is a ‘mordor’ theme but it feels ‘unfinished’, like the remnant of an old defeated foe; there’s that wily progression for Radagast in the films, that I used for the hobbit’s rebellion and the conflict, and there’s a new ‘hobbit/shire’ motif that worked so perfectly for a ‘wounded, but recovering’ Shire. I feel so silly talking about decisions I made for this, but I always wanted to share some thoughts I had! 

Fun fact: I had a wonderful person ask if she would be able to play Rosie Cotton back in 2013, and I asked her to perform her lines. She was great, but I realized a very strange thing: when I put her in the audio mix, it would actually break the immersion, because you can hear a voice that wasn’t mine, and as a result - I couldn’t help but keep thinking - my voice for Rosie’s mother sounded like a Monty Python skit in comparison! And thus her lines had to be unused. It kind of just opened the fourth wall, breaking the illusion. Which is a shame, because I always dream of having a fully-cast LOTR Audiobook, maybe someday officially.

The other favorite is “The Tower of Cirith Ungol” just because I listened to it one day in 2014, and heard no errors. I was so proud. I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to change substantially. No one dislikes all the errors more than I do!

14. What’s your best memory from this entire project?

My late dad drove me and my brother out into a clearing at midnight in the forest. The sky was so clear and starry. And we were here simply to just yell at the top of our lungs to record material for “Helm’s Deep”. All the clear yells: “Elendil!!!” “Gúthwinë! Gúthwinë For the Mark!”etc. Etc. - I lost my voice, it was a fun time. He held the microphone for me as I splashed around a stream (for Gollum), once again at midnight since there were fewer background sounds.

I also tell this story a lot: A friend of mine who was listening to the chapters as I finished them - she hated the sound of knuckles cracking. And hated spiders. So, obviously, Shelob would have to have knuckle-cracking sounds for her limbs. So I recorded my own knuckles cracking and tried using it as much as I could for Shelob’s legs moving about. My friend was soooo ecstatic to know this fact.

15. If you could do it all again today, what would you change?

I would consider doing a ground-up re-recording of everything. With a budget, with a cast, with a lot more understanding of the story and intentions behind them. With VR sound options. With extra original music. That’s the dream. 

If we’re back to reality, I guess I’d just re-record a bunch of chapters since they could always be better, and tighten all the technical errors. But that would require a lot of assembling of the raw archived files, and re-building of sounds, and re-recording of lines. Also, as I stated before, I do not want to distribute my unofficial fan work just because I know that it’s a copyright nightmare. And burnout… “it’s never really healed, Sam.”

I like taking other people’s opinions to heart, such as the issues with Frodo’s youth or inflections and intonations for certain scenes that I didn’t quite fully grasp the first time. I would love to adjust things and make it closer to the book now.

- - - - -

And now! The Silly Questions Lightning Round!

(With thoughts from Lady Glasses in parentheses and italics!)

1. In Fellowship, long stretches of dialogue would often have someone randomly cough in the background. Tell me about the Cough. Why is the Cough there?

No one hates the coughs more than me. That’s either my brother minding his own business in the other end of our ‘office room’. I think you now know I was 21, I didn’t care, so these things are just left in because I was careless. However, sometimes there are intentional coughs to make it feel more realistic. It’s been years since I listened to it, so unless I somehow do a massive commentary stream someday (thinking about it), your guess will be as good as mine! The coughs heavily subsided once I did Two Towers, since I was by myself.

2. During the dinner scene with Farmer Cotton, someone burps. Who was that?

Mine. I have no regrets with that one. Or Pippin. I guess it could be Pippin.

(Darn! And here I thought it was Farmer Cotton, LOL)

3. How did you manage to make Bill Ferny’s voice so perfectly obnoxious?

I imagined Bill as an obnoxious guy. The image in my head gives me a good idea of what he’d sound like, and I’m so glad he’s so obnoxious that you had to mention it.

(He sounds perfectly punchable. Thanks, I hate it.)

4. Did you crack yourself up at any point in the recording?

Oh yes, in fact I have a whole outtake reel just for you!

(Warning to anyone who clicks the link: the April Fool's audio had me ON THE FLOOR)

5. Voice acting aside, who is your favorite character in LotR and why?

If you asked me in 2002 it would be the Balrog, if you asked me now it would be difficult because so many of them mean so much to me, and each of their aspects have something to aspire to. Gandalf, Aragorn, Sam, Frodo, Galadriel, the list goes on and on.

(That's beautiful, and so true. The story really grows with us, doesn't it?)

6. What’s your favorite color?

Blue. Always has been.

(Blue is a good color! 💙)

7. Political question: Pineapples on pizza, yes or no?

Yes, I still don’t get what the fuss is about

(Oooh, controversial)

8. Is a hotdog a sandwich?

No, it’s a hotdog!

(Counterpoint: A hotdog is a taco.)

9. What’s your opinion on geese?

They’re racist

(Racist against the entire human race, apparently)

10. How much would I have to pay you to say “I love boats!” in Merry’s voice? (It’s an inside joke with my friends.)

Nothing, it’s on the house!

(HOLY CRAP I LOVE YOU)

- - - - -

Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us! What are you working on nowadays?

I’ve actually had a few people ask me if I’ll ever do more audiobooks like this, and I seem to have tapped something. Yes, in fact! I’m working with a few creative collaborators on a small company to do the exact same sonic experience with other books! Since we’re very small, we are starting with stories in the Public Domain, and have successfully kickstarted (and finished) “The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling. Which will be out (hopefully, officially) by early September! I’m really excited and hope this will lead to more projects, and - hopefully- back to Tolkien someday, in an official manner. Please follow my Instagram or Facebook for more info about it. (I also have a Twitter and Tumblr and more, but they’re all completely unrelated to LOTR and are just me drawing doodles and being a nerd, very unlike the Audiobooks I did, which is a bit confusing, I admit.)

- - - - -

And that concludes our interview! As I told Phil, it was so much fun to discuss a fellow fan's passion project like this. The more I read about it, the more I realized just how similar it was to my own experiences as a fan creator. We all start out as just a noob with a few unpolished skills, making something because we love it, and we learn and grow and hone our talents along the way. It's legitimately inspiring.

Needless to say, I am stoked to finish listening to the rest of this audiobook! Is it a bit weird knowing the creator of the thing might drop in and read my reviews?? Yes. Yes it is. But I'm gonna do it anyway. No holds barred! If I hear another cough, you're gonna know about it, Phil!

Also I may or may not do something with that audio of Merry because I'M STILL DYING OF LAUGHTER HELP

Anyway! If you made it to the end of this, you deserve a cookie! Everybody say thank you to Mr. Dragash, and go check out the other stuff he's doing nowadays! Namárië!

#phil dragash #audiobook #lotr audiobook #interview #CATCH ME SCREAMING ABOUT THIS FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

A few final thoughts from my 14 year old niece, the first time LOTR reader, before she heads home tomorrow:

1. She loves Éowyn and she loves Faramir, but she does not love that Éowyn married Faramir. She wanted Éowyn to be a single lady out raising hell somewhere, perhaps with Faramir in tow but ONLY as a buddy. Her suggestion was for Éowyn to run Rohan’s army since “she did better in battle than anyone else anyway,” and that would allow Éomer to focus on “other stuff” as king. I don’t really know what other stuff she had in mind, but, whatever it is, I’m sure he will look extremely handsome while doing it.

2. She skipped all the poems and songs that were more than 6-8 lines long. I can’t criticize this choice, as I don’t think I learned to really like and appreciate them until I was college-aged, and I didn’t get everything from them that I could until I had a lot more context for the many 1st and 2nd age references. So maybe she’ll come back to the poems on a future reading someday (if there is one). She’s already pretty certain that she’ll never find the Bombadil sing-songy verses appealing, though.

3. We’ve established that Legolas is her favorite major character (runners up: Éowyn and Sam), but, like many of us, she has her own favorite minor characters that she is emotionally invested in to a level that is disproportionate to their place in the story. Hers are Bill the Pony (“way better than Shadowfax”) and Ioreth (“she reminds me of grandma”). When she heard who my own little minor obsessions are—Háma, Théodred, and Elfhelm—she had to be reminded who they are because they apparently didn’t make much of an impression on her. But she very politely listened to my case for all 3 of them and agreed that they sound “kinda cool, I guess.” I’ll take it.

All in all, I cannot possibly recommend the experience of talking about the books with a first time reader highly enough. I am so jealous of her for getting to experience some of this magic in that special way that can only hit you on the first time through, when you have no expectations or preconceived notions and it’s all just washing over you. Getting to hear her impressions brought some of that back for me in a vicarious way, and I loved it….though she will hold over my head the fact that she read over a thousand pages at my request until the day I die.

#lord of the rings #lotr #tolkien #first time reader thoughts #my niece is a certified Bill the Pony stan #the kids are alright

[mrsbsmooth]

Suzi, now… before the reveal I NEED you to rank the islanders based on their names and resumes (we mostly have similar opinions Id love to see your prospective)

Oh you NEED it well then okay I guess I gotta do it 😂 y’all wild.

Note: this does NOT indicate which LI I’m going for this season. I’m waiting for the rest of the sprites because I’m ✨ shallow ✨

Anyway, here you go!

(Hope this doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass)

Season 8 islanders ranked worst to best

Based on nothing but their applications

#8 Sports Physio (Jack)

Cyclist. Last place.

#7 Wedding planner (Emel)

Hannah/Juliet hybrid. Thinks she knows everything about love. “Can always tell when a couple aren’t right for each other”, now wouldn’t that be convenient if you’re coupled with someone she wants??? It sucks because she sounds so smart and cultured and I hope she’s nice, but I just have a feeling they’re gonna make her the villain.

#6 Acrobat (Sophie)

She could be interesting, but she’s screaming “I’m quirky! Look at me! Want to watch me do a handstand?” Like come on, at least Rohan had a personality outside of his job. It might end up being endearing like Tim with his rap career but somehow I don’t see it happening. I hope not though because I do so love the Irish.

#5 Cat Cafe Manager (Luna)

Idk what it is about her she just sounds laaaaaaame. And this is coming from someone with a cat who adores them more than life itself. One of those people who makes coffee their whole personality, you know??? I feel like she’s gonna be Thabi from S4 but without the personality quirks that made her unique.

#4 Firefighter (Oakley)

He sounds a little boring but I have a feeling he is going to be like, next level hot. Like NEXT LEVEL hot. I’m immediately picturing Blaze from Love Is Blind (Netflix Game) and if he is I might die. 6’3!?!?!?!? Strong silent type, Jake Wilson-esque, might be our “slow burn” (😏) of the season because I feel like one of the girls is gonna latch her claws into him like that cat he saved and NEVER LET GO.

#3 Underwear Model (Jin)

Don’t get me wrong, he’s gonna be hotter than the sun, but honestly his personality is just boring to me. It might be how it’s written, but the whole “I’m funny because I tell you I’m funny” is getting a bit old. I hope he’s got a serious/romantic side to him (a la Bruno 🥰) otherwise he’s gonna get on my nerves real quick (a la Bryson 🤢).

#2 Dentist (Claudia)

I’ll be honest I’ve already seen her sprite and holy moly mother of Mary she is a STUNNER. I already know MC is gonna have nothing on her, but she’s gonna be stuck in friendship couples for her whole time in the villa because she’s a female LI. This also means she’s probably a bestie option. She seems so smart and funny, and it seems like she doesn’t take things too seriously. She’s gonna be fanfic fodder for sure.

Drumroll:

#1 Travel Photographer (Theo)

Not only is this one of my favourite names, it’s also one of my weaknesses. Greek men. Y’all saw me last season demanding Cassius and it didn’t eventuate so if Theo is as hot as he sounds I might pass away. The reformed player vibe is doing it for me so I’m REALLY looking forward to seeing if he’s all that. If nothing else he sounds like he’s going to be a huge source of entertainment and will probably get himself into a lot of trouble 😂

#I’ve been saying the even numbered seasons are better since s4 watch me prove my theory right #love island game #litg s8 #love island season 8 #love island the game #litg #come on consistent sprites COME ON

[tonberry-yoda]

Inspiration - Rohan Kishibe

Pairing - Rohan Kishibe x f!reader

Warnings - none!

Word Count - 719

Notes - this is one of my older writings, but my first writing I'm posting on here! I really hope you enjoy because even though it's short, it is one of my absolute favorites!

(image is not mine)

“Damn.” She looked at the clock on her computer. It was almost 8. She was so busy doing homework that she had no time to eat. She sighed and put her head down on her desk, groaning. “What a pain in the ass.” She saved her writing as a draft and threw on a jacket and grabbed her keys, opening her door. “Son of a bitch, just my luck. Thanks, Zeus.” She grabbed an umbrella and looked at the rain pouring down in the streetlamp. Sure, it was beautiful as an art form, but not when you were in desperate need of dinner. She crawled in her car, and adjusted her rear view mirror, finding a couple walking together in the rain. They were pressed against each other and laughing about something. She could only dream to have something like that at this point. At the moment, she was an overworked college student who lost track of time and forgot to eat. She sighed, and started up her car, the windshield wipers moving the rain that was being shone on by her porch light. Tonight was going to be a long night.

“Can I just get a meatball sub? Thanks.” The sound of customers and plates clanking was muffled in her ears as her mind was in a completely different realm. She needed inspiration. Something. Anything. She kept deleting her paper for class. It just wasn't working. Nothing she was writing felt right. There were some amazing writers out there, but none of her writing felt… good enough. She sighed and took a sip of her hot cocoa, looking out the darkened window, seeing people walk by holding hands with their children or their lovers, all overcast by their own umbrellas. It was beautiful, but it wasn't enough. Suddenly, she was pulled from her own mind when a man sat across from her in her booth. “Can I help you?” She tilted her head slightly and grabbed her butter knife just in case. “My name is Rohan Kishibe. You look sad, are you alright?” “I'm sorry? First of all, like the Rohan Kishibe? Like the manga artist.” “Are you a fan?” “A huge fan!” He signed a napkin and handed it to her. “And second, Mr. Kishibe, I'm not sad.” “You sure look sad.” “Well, I'm not-” “Then what are you?” He fluttered open a sketchbook and looked back at her. “I'm sorry?” “What are you?” “Your meatball sub, ma’am.” The waiter sat it across from her and Rohan raised his hand slightly, pen in between his fingers. “I'll get some fruit water, and then I can get to work.” “Yes sir, I'll be back with that momentarily.” The waiter hurried off and her eyes went dark looking at the manga artist. “That’s not going on my bill.” “I understand. We’ll split then. 50/50.” “Woah, I was just asking for you to pay for your fruit water, not a quarter of my damn meal!” “I don't mind. Anyway, as I was saying, how do you feel?” She put her face in her hand and looked back at the manga artist. “Uninspired I guess. I have a paper due soon, but haven't had any inspiration to do it. I want it to be really good, but I don't know.” “Thank you.” Rohan nodded at the waiter and then looked back at her. “Uninspired, you say?” She nodded and took a bite of her food. “I just want… something. You know?” “Oh believe me, I know. Question: do you mind if I draw you?” “Y-You want to draw me?” “I'll draw you twice. One that you can keep, and one for me.” “I-I don't mind at all!” He began sketching as she continued talking, and before they knew it, it had been over an hour and a half of just the two of them talking. “Here you go. And here’s the money for the drink. I quite like you.” She smiled and looked over the drawing with a red face. “Thank you, Rohan. This means a lot.” “And since I'm here,” he slipped over a piece of paper with his number on it. “Call me sometime. I like hearing your voice.” He walked out of that restaurant and suddenly, she had the inspiration to finish her paper in one night.

#rohan #rohan kishibe #rohan jjba #jjba #x reader #rohan x reader #rohan kishibe x reader #jojos bizarre adventure #anime #manga #rohan kishibe x you #rohan kishibe fluff #rohan kishibe imagine #first writing!!

[fedorasaurus]

Deus Ex SPOILERS

Some of my thoughts about the Lebedev Airfield mission 'cause this video game is still stuck in my head lately.

So like, I figured doing a non-lethal run means nobody dies and everyone is happy with me (yes technically Gunther prefers if you go in guns blazing or otherwise let him fight people on Liberty Island, but if you KO all the enemies first, he won't have anyone to fight and he's still happy with you as long as you gave him a weapon), but it turns out it's not so simple.

Sure, you don't have to kill Lebedev (he's an unarmed prisoner who peacefully surrendered, after all), but Anna will. I tried so many things to stop her. I locked the door behind me, I blasted her with pepper spray, zapped her with the prod, slapped her in the head with the baton, even tried getting her health down with explosives first to make sure I could finish her off with nonlethal weapons, but as it turns out? She's immune to nonlethal damage.

You can't talk to her, you can't move Lebedev away from her, you can't knock her out, you can't knock Lebedev out (I mean you CAN and the game shows him as unconscious, but everyone's dialogue acts like you killed him and apparently it counts as a lethal takedown despite the description box showing "Unconscious"). The only way to save Lebedev (which is probably the most morally correct move) is to kill Anna first. Which means at that point you're not doing a nonlethal run. You can't play this game in a way that everyone lives and everyone is happy. You CAN be nonlethal, if your conscience can handle letting an innocent man get killed right in front of you. You couldn't stop Walton from killing prisoners earlier, but NOW you have a chance to do something. If you're willing to kill for it.

To JC's credit, he DOES talk back to Manderley about the situation, not that it was especially effective, but this is sort of the first time in the game that JC is really starting to question authority and worry about who he can trust. As a sidenote, Karen Rohan's performance of Lay-D Denton is SO GOOD here. She sounds so tired (sad?) when confiding to Carter, I really loved that. JC taking a tiny moment to speak openly and vulnerably about how things just don't feel right at UNATCO.

I haven't decided if I want to reload my save and kill Anna yet. I ultimately didn't because I knew that would piss off Gunther, and I was holding out hope that he would trust JC enough at some point to defect. Wishful thinking, I guess.

Even if you take down Lebedev yourself (I did this nonlethally, but it still counted as a kill), Gunther doesn't sound impressed when he congratulates JC. It's more of a reluctant "oh, congratulations," because even if he approved of you helping him at Liberty Island, he's (from my interpretation) STILL bitter about these brand new agents with Nanotech taking all the important missions while he, who has had years of experience and tons of expensive/invasive mechanical upgrades, gets put on basic security duties. Yet for some reason I keep trying. As I mentioned in a previous post, he's SO CLOSE to understanding the truth of things. Is this how Paul feels trying desperately to get JC to come to his side?

If you let Anna kill Lebedev, by the way, Gunther is disappointed that he didn't contribute, sure, but he sounds WAY more enthusiastic about congratulating her.

It's a neat thing about this game, the tiny details that change depending on how you play it. It really gets me immersed, and TERRIBLY emotional!

#Deus Ex #spoilers #thoughts #I have more to say but this post is long enough auuuuvhhhhh

[eosofspades]

okay. first half of lightfall complete!! done for the day because my brain is frying and its almost midnight but MAN I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS. HELLO

spoilers below

GHOST IS BACK!!!!!! THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE ENTIRE GAME ALWAYS. GHOST I MISSED YOU SO MUCH

the intro cutscenes FUCK oh my god?? i was NOT expecting the traveler's attack / the slicening to be literally the FIRST CUTSCENE?? INCREDIBLE. couldnt play the first mission properly bc my hands were shaking i was so hyped up ghsjdnfv

WHY DOES THE WITNESS JUST TAKE THE BEAM FULL FORCE. WHAT THE FUCK MAN

the tormentors are FUCKING TERRIFYING. I WAS SO SCARED. LIKE THAT GROWLING NOISE RIGHT BEHIND YOU IS ACTUALLY SO FUCKING SCARY MY HEART WAS POUNDING FOR LIKE TEN MINUTES AFTER I KILLED THE THING

stay frosty

STRAND IS SO COOL. LIKE STRAND IS EXPONENTIALLY FASCINATING AND SO MUCH FUN

i will elaborate on this more in depth another time but i need to say strand feels like what they were going for with stasis except this time they did it RIGHT. in terms of consequences/risk we HEARD all about the dangers of stasis but there were literally no side effects. this on the other hand??? ITS DONE SO PERFECTLY I CANT GET OVER IT

and CONSEQUENCES!!! obviously i knew rohan was going to die like that was completely expectable but i would NOT have guessed the guardian's own shortcomings would have been the reason. god damn

everything about nimbus is so good. i love love love that they're not actually angry or blaming the guardian for rohan's death, just accepting and ready to get justice

THAT FUCKING SCENE. THE FUCKING WITNESS POSSESSING GHOST SCENE?? HELLO??? THAT WAS SO AGONIZING TO WATCH I WAS SO AFRAID

also i lost my shit ghost was literally getting possessed and in visible pain and the guardian just fucking stood there like a sim

ON THAT NOTE THOUGH. "WE'RE IN THIS TOGETHER." AND HOLDING OUT THEIR HAND FOR HIM???? THAT IS SOME GOOD GUARDIAN AND GHOST CONTENT THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN BEGGING FOR FOR YEARSSS

all the witness scenes are so fucking cool btw that nightmare they sent to calus is WILD. i am OBSESSED with the witness' shattered glass thing but more importantly their ANGER. i didn't think CALUS is what they'd be angry about!! holy shit!!! emperor has the survival instincts of a fucking moth and if the winnower doesn't blow up the witness i want the witness to blow up calus

i NEED to know what the witness means by "we know pain." babe who hurt you

GHOST GOING "are you handling highly volatile materials?? AGAIN???" I LOVE GHOST SO MUCH IT'S UNREAL. I LITERALLY DIED AT THIS PART BC I WAS LAUGHING SO HARD. he sounded so exasperated and annoyed and affectionate i love ghost more than anything ever

^ PLUS. Rohan going "Again? How often does this happen?" and ghost yelling "TOO OFTEN" GHOST BABY IM SO SORRY AHAHAJSGVSV

THE STRIKE!! THE STRIIIKE. HELLO. i got my ass handed to me about sixteen times in a row and almost gave up for the night but holy shit was it worth it for the ending line. nezarec i KNEW you would come back to us!!! <333

side note im literally so pissed off about the reactor core mission bc the end when you're supposed to be using strand to swing out. i just fucking jumped i was so anxious and i couldn't find the strand thing and then everyone kept talking about how i used strand to get out and how amazing it was and ive just been sitting here like . guys please i know i missed out on all the fun you don't have to rub it in PLEASE

OSIRIS TRAINING THE GUARDIAN OSIRIS TRAINING THE GUARDIAN!!! MY OC HEADCANONS ARE BECOMING ACTUAL CANON. VINDICATION IS SO GOOD

when osiris yells "THAT WAS EXCELLENT" i got SO HAPPY. HE IS SO PROUD OF THEM!!!

now that said. i have NOT gotten past the strand training mission i'm about halfway through it. so i don't know if it comes up and it might not but i WOULD like to see osiris at least acknowledge that he was being too harsh before. like i know he's incredibly stressed and everything but my guy. the guardian was literally keeled over dying and osiris is like "we don't have time for this. why aren't you better at this by now"

on that note listen i love osiris so much he's my second favorite character but when he was scolding the guardian and ghost tries to come to your defense and says "we did our best" and osiris SHOUTS "we NEED to do BETTER" i got SO MAD. DO NOT RAISE YOUR VOICE AT MY GHOST

i cannot believe bungie canonically gave the guardian a cringefail compilation cutscene. power blowing up in their face. ghost and osiris shaking their heads at each other in disappointment and affection for the guardian. im losing my shit

THE FUCKING CUTSCENE WHERE OSIRIS HOLDS HIS HAND OUT AND TRIES TO TALK TO SAGIRA BEFORE HE REALIZES........ AGONIZED WAILING HEARD FROM MY HOME

this is... about as far as i have gotten. i know i'm forgetting some things but!! i am SO hyped up rn okay i am going to play the rest tomorrow

overall conclusion: GOOD SHIT. i love it here this game is the best thing that has ever happened to me

#destiny 2 #mine #lightfall #lightfall spoilers

[daisychainsem]

Cherrygate - Rewritten

Author's note - This is my first try at writing, I replayed Love Island season one last week. Cherrygate gets me every time, they could have done so much. If main character is loyal she still gets shafted and blamed because of Erikah jealousy. I wanted to see if I could do something better, if you think it's awful sorry.

All grammar mistakes are my own and on my head be it.

Word count - 2000+

Disclaimer - characters are property of Fusebox.

Couple - Levi & Elena

18+ strong language

The Morning after Cherrygate

Elena woke for a split second she forgot about last night but only for a second before it hit her, she was hoping it was just a nightmare. How could he do this to her? After everything they had been through to get here...

“Oi, so it wasn’t a dream was it?” Tim calls over as her eyes glass over, she sits up offering a weak smile to Tim, “it feels like a nightmare,” she sighs wiping the stray tear on her cheek as she looks down not wanting Tim to notice but it’s too late.

He pulls back his duvet, Jen is already up, he makes his way over to his friend before pulling her in for a hug, “I didn’t see that coming. I thought he was really into you!” he huffs, “how are you feeling?”

She looks up at him, “I’m really upset,” her eyes become more glassy, “yeah, that was a stupid question, wasn’t it?” He weakly smiles at her as the bedroom door opens and Levi pokes his head in, he spots her awake with Tim consoling her.

He freezes on the spot, “oh, I didn’t think you’d be up!” He stood awkwardly not knowing what to say, “I’ve go to go....um...be somewhere less awkward!” Tim jumps off the bed and pushes passed Levi, “you messed up big time!” Tim whispers to Levi as he makes his way out of the bedroom.

“Leave me alone!” Elena spits at him before pulling the duvet over her head not wanting to speak to him, “I was trying to!” she heard him hiss at her before she felt the mattress dip and heard him sigh, “listen, I just want to say....” he’s cut off with the bedroom door opening.

He rolls his eyes, “oh great. Another interruption.” He looks over his shoulder at Cherry who just wanders in holding her phone, “morning everyone. I’ve got a text!” She smiles but it quickly fades when she spots Levi.

“What? It’s so early!” Rohan looks shocked, Elena pulls the covers from over her head, “why does this keep happening?” Allegra groans.

Cherry, today you and another Islander will take a trip to the local market. You must buy the ingredients you need to prepare a home-cooked dinner for the rest of the islanders.

#Onthemarket #foodforthought

“Right. Saved by the bell, I suppose!” Cherry awkwardly smiles, “come on, Levi. We’re going shopping!” He looks a little shocked, “yeah, ok! That sounds good! I think I was done here anyway, I guess I’ll talk to you later, Elena!” he gets up and Elena pulls the duvet back over her head, “I don’t think there is anything I want to say to you!” She calls out from the covers.

The other islanders look over at Elena under the covers, she heard Tim fill them in.

“Oh, Elena!” Talia takes a seat on the edge of the bed and pulls back the covers, Elena sits up, “I can’t believe he’d do that after he made such a big deal about recoupling with you!” Elena shrugs trying to not let it bother her.

“There has to be more to it,” Talia tried to reassure her, “he has been unsure about us,” Elena admits to her.

“I think you need to speak to him,” Elena laughs, “he’s a little busy right now,” Elena rolls her eyes.

“Ok, get ready for when he’s back!” Talia nudges her, Elena reluctantly gets up off the bed and heads for the dressing room.

A few hours later, Elena is sat around the fire pit as Levi and Cherry arrive back, she watches the islanders gather round the kitchen as she notices Levi looking for her as each of them make their way from inside. He looks disappointed when he can’t find her, but then his eyes move around the villa, she looks away not wanting to meet his eye.

She doesn’t move from her seat, or notice Jen making her way over, “you coming over to see what those two are cooking?” Elena shook her head, “rather not!” her stubbornness took over.

“He searched for you as soon as he came back!” Jen took a seat next to her, “didn’t look too hard, did he?!” Elena shrugs, “as much of a mistake he made he’s honest to his core. You must know what Jasper and Allegra are saying is complete bullshit! I think there is another factor to it. When we were playing never have I ever you remember he said he cheated?”

Elena nods, “I asked him about...” Elena looks, over to where Levi is, his eyes are already on her, he looks sad, his eyes pull away from her to the food he's preparing.

"I GOT A TEXT!" Tim calls out pulling all the islanders to him, "what is it?" Rohan asks, "let me read it. Islanders, it's time to find out how much you trust each other. Get ready to get wet in a game of sink or swim! #Trustissues!"

The islanders looks round each other, "this will be interesting!" Allegra teases the group. Elena rolls her eyes unenthusiastic, perfect timing! She followed the group out to the challenge.

Elena wasn't playing much attention until her name was called put, "next up, it's Elena and Levi! This should be interesting!" Jasper chuckles, the pair make their way up to the tanks and onto the platforms, she looks straight ahead, but she could feel his eyes on her.

"I'm sorry babe! I really made a mess!" He calls over in hope she'll turn to look at him, but she doesn't. Instead she looks down at the two buttons dunk or save, she hits one wanting this to be over, "hey which one did you push?" He calls over.

"Dunk!" She shouts back still not turning to look at him, "fair enough. You're hard to read sometimes!" She takes a deep breath not letting his comment get to her.

"They have both made a decision, time to count down!" Jasper smugly smirks, the islanders count "three, two, one!" But neither of you move…

Levi is confused, she finally turns to face him, "what people say and what they do are two different things. You should know that more than anyone!" She hissed before she made her way down from the tank.

She heard Levi sigh as she made her way back to watch the others, Rohan and Jake dunk each other which lightens the mood. Elena and Erikah are called up, "what do you say hun? Do I dunk you or save you?"

"Do what you want!" Elena calls over, "you always do anyway!" Elena mutters under her breath as she hits a button, the islanders count down, "three, two, one!" The water was cold.

Elena knew she'd dunk her, it made her feel less bad about dunking Erikah as she swam to the top, Erikah is holding onto the side as she narrows her eyes at Elena, "you dunked me! You actually dunked me!" Erikah hissed.

Elena climb out of the tank, "karma is a bitch or a dunk tank!" Elena smugly winked at her, pissing off Erikah even more.

Dripping wet Elena grabs a towel to dry off as the game continues, "Elena versus Cherry!" Allegra smirks.

Elena drops down her towel, she stood once again on the platform, she quickly glances at Cherry who looks apologetic at her. Elena pushes her button as does Cherry, "three, two, one!" Neither of them move, they look to each other in shock.

"I thought you were definitely going to dunk me! We should have a word later, ok?" Elena nods and they both climb down from the tank.

After the challenge Levi is in the kitchen cooking, he looks up as she wanders passed, "hey…" he says but it doesn't stop her in her tracks, she walked passed without a word making her way to the pool.

A few minutes later she heard shouting she looks up towards the kitchen where Levi and Mason are standing off until Jen pulls then apart, pushing Mason into the villa and away from the kitchen.

Levi's eyes meet hers from across the villa, she shook her head and turned away from him. His face falls knowing he was making everything worse.

Later that evening, everyone is getting ready for the big dinner, Elena wasn't really in the mood, Cherry sat down next to her at the dresser, "Elena, before we all head down. I just want to say I'm sorry about my involvement with last night! I shouldn't have kissed Levi, I came in here to make friends, find love and have a good time, but I messed it all up. I'm not saying it's an excuse, but my head is all over the place at the moment. I tried to put it to the back of my mind, but it's a bit hard when I watch him glancing at you all the time. I know that's not your fault it's Mason's, but I just feel like I'm competing with you for his attention. Which is why I kissed Levi…"

Elena stops her, "but you've seen me multiple times tell him, he is no more than a mate. So there is no competing for his attention. It all his end not mine!" Elena gets up and puts on her shoes, "I just wanted to explain why it happened and apologies," Cherry looks up at her.

"I don't blame you, you're not the one I'm coupled up with. So there is no reason to apologise!" Elena checks herself over in the mirror, "great! Thanks Elena!" Cherry jumps up a little brighter, "ready for dinner everyone?" Cherry claps her hands together before rushing downstairs with the other girls following her.

Elena flops down on a seat, she no longer has the energy to sit down and play happy islanders, within a few minutes she can her raised voices from outside. Rolling her eyes she pulls out a makeup wipe and removes her make up before changing into her pajamas.

It's a little quieter downstairs now, she pushes open the bedroom down and Levi is sat on the end of their bed, he looks up as she wanders over.

"Dinner was a disaster!" He looks back at his hands, "I heard!" She pulls back the duvet and gets into bed, he turns towards, "look Elena, I'm sorry about last night! It shouldn't have taken me all day to apologise, but I thought if we both cooled off first we could talk about it calmly. Erikah got into my head, telling me how all the boys fancied you…!"

She sat up and cut him off, "wait, so you let a girl, who is still pissed at me for picking Rohan at the last recoupling, get in to your head and instead of coming to me about it, you lock lips with Cherry?! How is it my fault the boys fancy me? I have told each and every boy that they were in the friends zone because I liked you! Makes sense!" She rolled her eyes at him.

"Erikah didn't tell me that!" He looks at her shocked, "you are the one I've been waiting to couple up with for weeks now we finally couple up you kiss another girl because of hearsay. How would you feel if it was Mason talking in my ear about you, making me doubt what we have and I kiss someone else?" Levi looks down, "I'd be upset you didn't come to me…" he looks up at her.

"Exactly!" She shook her head, he climbs up the bed, "I'm sorry! I still want us, if you forget me?" His face is inches from hers, his eyes flicker between hers, "only if you don't listen to jealous cows!" He chuckles, "I'll come to you before I do anything stupid!" He quickly peaks her lips making her smile.

He pulls her to his chest, she snuggles into him as the other islanders wander into the bedroom, Erikah frowns when she spots Elena and Levi cuddled up…

I'll deal with her tomorrow…

#love island the game #love island the game season one #Levi #Love island the game fanfic #fanfic #fandom #love island #cherrygate #levi love island #fanfiction #love island uk #first fic #18+ only #love #island #fusebox #fusebox the game #cherrygate rewritten

[charmfamily]

(SEMI) CHARMED KIND OF LIFE: EPISODE 3, PART XVIII. “GENESIS IN BLACK”

Transcript Below.

GEMMA: [Considering the fact that she is also being stalked and followed – albeit by three spinster aunts, the invitation to find some respite in a temporary escape does sound somewhat appealing, her brow furrowing contemplatively…] [... before she grabs up her bag and shoulders it, nodding in agreement to follow Ulrike out and give all her own annoyances the slip, however briefly.] Point taken.

ULRIKE: I’m Ulrike, by the way. Faust. I think I’m a year ahead of you at Satyrhorne, you’re gonna be a junior next year, right?– You’re a part of the little brainiac crew with uh, the Star Wars kid, Robot Boy, Yuki Behr, and Maaike Haas.

GEMMA: [She snickers a little, her lips spreading into an amused smile.] His name’s Rohan and it’s all stuff that has “Star” in the title– Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate, Battlestar Galaxy or whatever it’s called; he’s also a huge actual astronomy nerd so unless you wanna hear about space for like ten hours, don’t bring it up. Robot Boy is Cameron Fletcher who also likes to talk about space and sci-fi but his thing is whatever a “cyberpunk dystopia” is. I’m Gemma. Charm.

ULRIKE: Ah – Fletcher. That has to be Marcus’s little brother… I know him, kind of. Know of him, he used to DJ pop-up parties out in the Bluffs which is I think how he got wrecked by a werewolf, not sure. That’s the rumor, anyway. Are you also a huge fan of space, both personal and outer, Gemma Charm?

GEMMA: Everything I know about the cosmos, fictional and otherwise, has been 100% absorption by association – Rohan’s my biffle, but I have more in common, like interests and stuff, with Maaike I guess? Books. Writing. That kinda thing. I don’t have anything against space, I like it and it’s cool, but… 

ULRIKE: But you’re more of a fellow artisan than you are a scientist, I thought you looked like you might be my people. [She laughs.]  Not that I can write worth a fuck, I draw. Sometimes cosmic related, sometimes not. Mostly not. 

GEMMA: Can I see your stuff sometime? ULRIKE: Can I read your stuff sometime?

#TS4 Edit #Sims 4 Story #Story Simblr #TS4 Story #The Sims 4 #TS4 #Sims 4 Spellcasters #(Semi) Charmed Kind of Life #SCKoL #Gemma Charm #Ulrike Faust #Yes Mr. Security Guard you have identified the real threats: The beanpole and the uncoordinated gnome from Siobhan's ballet class #Also Gemma is internally weeping at how cool Ulrike is like omg you ARE SO COOL AND YOU DON'T EVEN TRY #Gemma and I share the same trait of being bewildered any time someone speaks to us like whaaaaat but you're so neat lol

[charlesandmartine]

Monday 29th April 2024

The knock came at 5am this morning, again. We had to hurry because the animals were waiting! Clearly. We were once more loaded into the back of a Toyota and off we went into the depths of the Hwange National Park. Just remember leopard I said to our ranger. Need to see one, or two. We clattered off in a vehicle that sounded like it desperately needed a service. We had had a good night sleep, up until 5am that is. The train stopped at 3am so giving us a motion free sleep. Although the cabin size is more than adequate, we feel that until now we have been living out of a suitcase, now we feel we are living in a suitcase!

The park was good and we managed to see three lionesses and three cubs. Of course there were the accompanying entourage of zebras, elephants, giraffes, impala, water buck, kudu and baboons. Gorgeous birds too; the banana bird, lilac crested roller and pepple roller.

Right in the middle of nowhere was a small well managed campsite with toilets, kitchen and shower cubicle. It was looked after by one man and a broom who was stationed there on his own for a month. A rudimentary fence surrounded the site but the gate left little to be admired. Knowing what's out there and how many sharp teeth are involved, I'd want a sturdier fence and gate than what's on offer.

Returning to the rail track, there was a welcome sausage and coffee as well as champagne which kind of made up for there being no leopard.

Back on the train it was pretty much time for luncheon. Bringing out the wine needs little excuse and today proved no exception. Our wine waiter even forced a dessert wine down us.

Retiring to our cabin, we were able to sit and idly watch the African countryside drift by. The twin powerful DD class 2200hp locos steadily pulling or 20 coach train onwards to Bulawayo. The vegetation is quite green and lush at the moment, with bush and trees unrecognisable. Occasionally wildlife can be seen; wart hogs, baboons, impala. Odd bits of railway equipment discarded from a bygone era, little shacks of unknown use by the narrow gauge track, occasional rusting railway trucks. We are still in Zimbabwe and we wonder when the trackside signals last worked? There is no red or green light showing on these rusted poles. Rovos locomotives can only be used up to the South African border whereupon they need to be swapped out for South African units and driven by South African railway staff but that won't happen until tomorrow.

Rovos Rail was the dream of Rohan Vos in 1986. His initial intent was to buy four carriages to restore and hitch them onto a South African Railways train as a family caravan. His first service was a locomotive and seven carriage train to the Eastern Transvaal and was launched on 29th April 1989. Rovos Rail is now considered one of the most luxurious trains in the world.

As the train rumbled on, we passed through isolated townships and villages, and as we did so small crowds of children would run squealing from crossings, running along the track behind the train. We simply could not guess what sort of lives they might lead. In some cases they were hoping for money or gifts. Some passengers had thrown sweets and we heard that the train had given leftovers although none of this was endorsed by the company.

Springbok for dinner. Lovely.

ps It's a Giraffe journey of giraffes when they are on the move but tower of giraffes when stationary.

[totkdaily]

Day 26: Goron City

I launch from the Eldin Canyon Skyview Tower in the early dawn.

The launch gets me as high as a nearby island, so I hop across and ride the minecarts there up to another. There, I find a… Sage's will? I've never heard of such a thing. Sounds useful though.

I think there's a shrine up here somewhere. 

It's a whole thing up here. That island leads to another via minecraft, which is high enough to hop to the shrine island, which also contains a machine which can bounce me up to the next island. 

See, the thing about being that high up is… how far can you get? I gaze at the horizon. I feel bad for leaving Pumpkin, but he's safe enough. I leap, paraglider in hand.

I land in the hot springs just outside Goron City. Not bad. 

I get Kish's photo of the hot springs, then glide down to the shrine. There's a scar of Gloom just outside town, I think. It's dusk over Goron City - red sky at night. 

I glide down from there to the clothes shop - and stop short. A Goron outside with glowing eyes who won't stop eating, called Pyle, even when he's explaining to me that since Death Mountain stopped erupting a couple of years ago, no-one wants fireproof gear any more. Inside, another Goron with glowing eyes who also won't stop eating - Rogaro. What's wrong with them? Ashe mentioned Gorons with strange rocks - is this what they meant?

As I emerge from the shop, I realise - they're everywhere. 

Almost everywhere. Volcano says his teeth can't handle the marbled rock roast. Tray says none of the elders can eat it. But the younger Gorons...

There's a big pile of marbled rock roast in the centre of town. This is what they're all obsessed with.

I spot Boss Bludo! A familiar face. He's bemoaning Krane having given up to the marbled rock roast. Offrack and Slergo, the kids, are fine too. They say President Yunobo is the one mining the roast - uh oh. Yunobo, what have you got yourself into?

Yunobo's dressed strangely, and is being mean. "What could you want?" What a way to greet an old friend! And talking back to Bludo… how has he got like this? 

Slergo reckons Yunobo has been talking to Zelda. I've got a bad feeling about this. Is this the real Zelda, or the imposter Penn hypothesised? 

Rohan the Smith says the Princess asked him to make a mask out of strange material. Is that the mask Yunobo is wearing? That's got to be bad news.

There's a Hylian here! I guess the lower temperature does make the City more accessible. She's called Douma, and she's a journalist. She's looking for a place called Gorondia, some mythic ancient place where Gorons used to live. She's going to write a book. That's nice. I'm going to get to the bottom of this rock roast business.

As I investigate, a Blood Moon rises.

#totkdaily #day 26 #yunobo being mean was so sad #I love that guy #totk #zelda #loz #legend of zelda

[the-light-finds-its-way]

Courtship of the Heart

Kahun's ship landed upon Neomuna's tower landing bay. Opening up, the gigantic Cabal walked down the stairwell, onto the balcony, where Nimbus's eyes widened as they focused a single shot upon him.

"Don't come any closer, Shadow Legion!" they said.

Kahun threw his arms up, his Ghost hovering at his side. "I'm not Shadow Legion!! I'm Zavala and Caiatl's son!!" he hastily said.

Nimbus's jaw dropped to the ground. "Zavala has a son? And he's with Caiatl?!"

"I'm adopted, I know," Kahun explained. He dropped his arms. "Can I come out please?"

"Uhh... let me just confirm with-"

"Allow my son safe passage. I am certain you two will get along well," Caiatl's voice rang out as her heavy footsteps came forth. There, she made her way to Kahun's ship, offering a single hand.

Kahun took it, and bowed. "Thank you, Mother." Standing upright, he let go, and walked toward Nimbus, who, despite their height, still didn't quite reach that of Kahun, who stood at least a few inches taller. Not as tall as his mother, though. Nonetheless, the Cabal grinned, and bowed to Nimbus, too. "I've... heard about the Cloudstriders. And what they can do. I'm impressed," he said.

Nimbus waved their arms. "No need to bow to me. I'm just a rookie!" they insisted.

Nodding, Kahun righted himself once more, and smiled obviously beneath the rebreather. "Well. There's clearly a war going on here, and I gotta shoot some shit. So point me in the right direction, and I'll get firing!"

Caiatl sighed, shaking her head. "You're brash, Kahun. Remember, headlong into war will only lead to your demise."

The Cabal sighed, nodding. "Sorry, Mother."

"Apologize not to me, but to yourself, and your Ghost. He will have to resurrect you when you die repeatedly," she explained.

"I'm a Guardian. Dying is what I do best." Kahun chuckled, and looked to Nimbus, putting one hand awkwardly behind his head. "I'm... sorry... about my mom. She's just trying to protect me..."

"I get it! I really do!" Nimbus said. "Rohan tries to do the same thing to me."

Kahun chuckled a little. "He sounds like a great guy, then, just as my mother's an incredible woman."

"Oh, he's the best! I hope to be as good as him one day."

"You seem pretty great already!" Kahun said enthusiastically. "You're the tallest person I've met who isn't Cabal! That's a plus. Do you know how hard it is to lean over and talk to my dad all the time? Hah."

Nimbus chuckled now, too, albeit nervously. "You know, I never thought I'd be conversing with another Cabal on even terms. I knew we had allies in you, but not you specifically."

"Yeah. It's... gotta be hard... to see us as on your side during a time like this. I'm... sorry..."

"Sorry for what? You've done nothing wrong!"

"I'm just used to apologizing, I guess." Kahun hung his head. "Well... let me not hold you up any longer. Where're the Vex, and what are they up to? I'll get on destroying them for your guys' sake."

"Maybe I can come with?" Nimbus asked.

Now, Kahun's eyes widened. "You want to come with me?"

"Yeah! Why not? You seem like a cool guy!"

Kahun grinned beneath the rebreather, and rammed a fist against his chest. "Alright! Let's go, then! Kahun Tu'mak, pleasure to meet you!"

Nimbus bowed. "You must be the Archduke of Cabal, then. Right? I'm Nimbus, milord. Pleasure to meet you."

"Well... I don't have a formal title yet, but Mom's training me for sure! So no need to bow to me," Kahun told them.

Nodding, Nimbus stood, smiling. "Alright! Let's get shootin' some Vex!" Getting on their board, they surfed off into the sky, as Kahun jumped down the air current leading to the ground below.

And upon the balcony, Caiatl crossed her arms contentedly, nodding. "Perhaps they'll get along too well. Maybe it's for the best. Kahun needs someone to relate to," she said to herself. Pressing the comm on her helmet, she spoke again. "Zavala, he's safe. In good hands. Should we keep an eye on that Nimbus? Make sure they do not... court... our son?"

"If they do, let it be," Zavala said. "Kahun's earned their courtship of heart if he does choose to. And I'm certain Nimbus will have earned his all the same."

#nimbus #kahun tu'mak #zavala #empress caiatl #d2

[ageofsun]

My prediction for Aya's ability

Before the March manga chapter is out, I want to place my bet on what Aya's ability will be (I'm also betting on her developing an ability on-panel, but I think the odds are good for that)

So, the first thing about both Aya-sensei and bsd!Aya is their families in general and their fathers in particular. Aya-sensei's mother died when she was four, and her father was the famous novelist Kouda Rohan. Her first writings were about growing up with him, and they were written at the request of publishers. She also had a sister (and two aunts) who were acomplished musicians who studied abroad, so her works deal a lot with her feelings of inferiority. Bsd!Aya has an abusive father and is constantly compared to her dead mother and older sister, and found lacking.

For possible ability names I want to look at some of Aya-sensei's works: Zakki (lit. miscelaneous notes), Shuuen (lit. the final years of one's life), Chichi Sono Shi (trans. Death of My Father), Kuroi Suso (lit. black hem), Tou (lit. to fight or wage war), Misokkasu (lit. miso dregs) and Nagareru (lit. float away).

It's Word of God that abilities are related to trauma, and bsd!Aya has plenty of it; I headcanon that abilities are tailored to maximize utility for the moment they appear --if you're drowing you get an ability to breath water and so on--, so I'm inclined to ignore all the father-related titles. Thematically appropriate, environmentally baffling.

That leaves me with Zakki, Kuroi Suso, Tou, Misokkasu and Nagareru (at least from her most notorious works; there's always the possibility Asagiri will pick a less-known work, or just choose a name and make an unrelated ability like Rashoumon).

Zakki (miscelaneous notes), Misokkasu (miso dregs) and Kuroi Suso (black hem) are too vague for my liking. They could be any and everything, so I'm not picking them.

Tou (fight) I like better. Bsd!Aya is a martial artist so it fits! It could be an ability that mimics fighting styles. BUT --there's always a but-- most martial artists only ENHANCE their craft with their abilities: Kouyou and Kyouka use their demons alongside their knives, Chuuya makes a single hit feel like being kicked by an elephant, Fukuchi improves his sword but even without would be a master swordman, Kunikida and Fukuzawa don't use their abilities with their martial arts at all. We even see Atsushi learning to fight so he doesn't have to rely on the tiger!

Tou is better, but I still don't like it.

Now. Now listen to me. NAGARERU

This is what jisho.org gives as translation for the verb nagareru

You can see meaning number 5, to be heard or played, as in sound. Her father never listens, so it'd be thematically appropriate for Aya to be heard for the first time when her ability develops.

And you know what else? Aya and Bram are trapped, and nagareru is a verb for motion: an environmentally appropriate way out. They are also trapped very high, and it ties nicely with meaning 3, float like a cloud.

In conclusion, I'm putting my money on her awakening Nagareru, a flying/floating ability that will help her and Bram get down from the tower they're on.

But I guess we'll know in a month or two.

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #bsd meta #bsd aya

[jojolovenotes]

( Hugs your ✨dating sim event✨!

I'd love for my character, Jennifer, to go on a date with Rohan Kishibe please! I can see her inviting Rohan to a high profile art gallery opening somewhere in Tokyo, so they can spend some long overdue time together!

They can love the artworks or be sassy about what's been created if it's really ridiculous, and match it up against their own art. As a a painter, her own style is autobiographical, sludgy and realistic while telling the tale of her own dramatic life lol. Either way, they bring out the best in each other and have fun with the date!

Jennifer would try to be detached enough to not show her growing feelings for Rohan, but honestly her big laugh and generous grin give her away everytime.

Thank you so much! (っ.❛ ᴗ ❛.)っ )

♡ Dating Sim Event (Closed) ♡ Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry this took so long!! but I wanted to make sure to get it done before this year was over!! ;w; 

Rohan had been invited to many art galleries before, but this time it was different. This invitation had been more of a date, and while Rohan was usually good at keeping his cool, the thought had been enough to make him feel just a hint of nervousness. ‘Come on Rohan, this isn’t like you...’ he mumbled to himself as he finished getting ready. It wasn’t like this was their first date together, but it had been the first time Rohan actually wanted to do something for Valentine’s Day. Normally this would be a holiday he would want to avoid - the overcrowded restaurants and the shops filled obnoxious pink and red displays of various stuffed animals and candies to gift your significant other. At least the art gallery should be a bit calmer today compared to those packed restaurants. 

He made it to the art gallery rather early as he hadn’t seen Jennifer just yet. He looked around hoping to be able to catch sight of her, but it seemed she had caught sight of him first. Soon enough Rohan felt someone’s hands suddenly cover his eyes. While he’d like to hope it was Jennifer, there was always the worry that maybe it was a fan who recognized him and wanted to chat or get an autograph. 

“Jennifer? That better be you.” Rohan tried to sound playful, but maybe there was a little hint of irritation in his voice. 

“Of course it is, or were you expecting someone else?” Jennifer uncovered his eyes and laughed a little. She linked arms with him and leaned against him giving him somewhat of a soft side hug. 

“No, of course not. I’m glad it’s you.” Rohan leaned back against her direction just a little bit. 

Jennifer was smiling to herself, hopefully Rohan didn’t notice just how much. She still wanted to keep him guessing even though it was clear she occasionally flirted with him. Still, it was unclear to Rohan just how serious Jennifer was about him - even then despite this being a ‘date’ Rohan wasn’t sure if she meant in a romantic sense or if it was just her being nice in a friendly way.  Maybe it would be best to stop overthinking and just enjoy their time together...

The gallery certainly had a lot to offer. The pair spent a lot of time carefully dissecting each piece of art - some of them had positive opinions for the pair to share, while there were pieces that seemed to baffle the pair. Some of Jennifer’s comments on the pieces they weren’t very fond of made Rohan chuckle a bit. It was such a different experience to experience art with someone else. Normally he would often go to these galleries alone - which he didn’t mind, but now that he had been here with Jennifer he realized there were a lot more things he’d like to do with her at his side. 

Her smile was something that was now burned into Rohan’s mind, he felt inspired all of a sudden. He knew when he got home her inspiration would be put on a canvas, but he was unsure if he’d show her his work. Still, he didn’t want their time together to end just yet. He was a bit nervous about asking, but he hoped to be able to spend a little more time together after the gallery.

“Would you like to join me for dinner?” Rohan asked this rather quietly. 

“Of course I would!” Jennifer’s smile widened. “That means you’re buying right.” she teased with a playful wink. 

“Only because you asked nicely.” Rohan teased right back. 

Maybe tonight one of them would finally confess their feelings for each other. It seemed like the time was just right... 

#received transmission ✨ #dating sim event ✨ #ships: Rohan #softmalldrifting #queue ✨

[frodo-with-glasses]

1 and 10 for Aragorn and Legolas?

1. “When I think they became friends”

Once again I have plundered the Appendices for potential information on Aragorn’s early life—but this time, I’ve come back empty-handed! There’s nothing in the book to indicate that Aragorn and Legolas had met before the Council of Elrond. If that's the case, I'm sure their friendship grew quietly and gradually, as it did for most members of the Fellowship (at least, those who didn't know each other already). Clearly Legolas trusts Aragorn as leader by the time they leave the Mines of Moria; when he sees Sam and Frodo lagging behind, Legolas' first thought is to tell Aragorn about it.

But the book also doesn't say anything about them NOT meeting before the Council of Elrond! And if Legolas' outburst from the movies ("tHaT iS nO mErE rAnGeR, he is aRaGoRn sOn of aRaThOrN") is any indication, it seems that Legolas already knows about Aragorn and considers him worthy of respect.

If they met at any time before the Council, I'm gonna hazard a guess that it was somewhere between 2957-2980, when Appendix B tells us that "Aragorn undertakes his great journeys and errantries". During this time he served—in disguise—under both the King of Rohan and the Steward of Gondor (Theoden's dad and Denethor's dad, respectively), so it's not out of the question that he could have served in Thranduil's court for a little while too. Appendix A tells us that he spent some time journeying East and South, "uncovering the plots and devices of the servants of Sauron", and where better to start that search than the nearest friendly kingdom to Dol Guldur, where the "Necromancer" had been hanging out since like the start of the Third Age??

......I put way too much work into this answer. TL;DR: Aragorn and Legolas might have met somewhere around 2980-ish when Aragorn was off doing heckin' Ranger Stuff.

10. “A song that reminds me of them”

Okay, so once again I had to go looking for a new song since I couldn’t think of any off the top of my head, but I think I finally found something: “Mountain Sound” by Of Monsters and Men. Honestly, you could probably listen to any song by that band and it would fit—all of their music is just the right combination of joyful, melancholy, mysterious, and baffling to fit the Sunshine Prince and Emo King—but this song in particular reminded me of the Three Hunters, what with the emphasis on horses and running through the woods, so I’m gonna go with that.

FRIENDSHIP ASK GAME!

#ask game #legolas #aragorn #lord of the rings #lotr #my writing #in which i somehow managed to spend two whole hours answering just two questions