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odoraful · 3 months

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Giving them jewellery p.1

you bring home a souvenir that you picked out just for them！

characters: neuvilette/xiao x reader tags: fluff, established relationship, a sprinkle of sentimentality a/n: it was really fun to come up with pieces of jewellery would suit these two! there might be a part 2 coming up of this including maybe lyney/zhongli

𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑰𝑼𝑫𝑬𝑿 ₊˚.༄

Holding it up to the light coming in through his office window, the Iudex could see the true artistry of the brooch. The brass lyre was well polished, and the windwheel aster flowers painted at the base were so detailed he could see each individual red petal and the swirling green stems surrounding them. For having lived for centuries, he’d never seen such a quaint embellishment.

“I bought it at a vintage market they had before I left.” You gazed at how he inspected the lyre brooch you bought in Mondstadt city between his thumb and forefinger. “Isn’t it nice?”

“Indeed. For something so small, it is quite beautiful.” The cheerfulness in his voice was a relief to hear. You had taken a few rounds browsing the market, looking for the perfect souvenir. Despite the grandeur of his Iudex robes, Neuvillette was far from materialistic. You knew that something more understated would suit him well. The man from whom you purchased the brooch from said that this was a precious item. The original owner was his great grandmother who had received it from her beloved as a promise that they would celebrate Windblume Festivals together for as long as they lived.

You retold the story to Neuvillette. “Now, a few years following his great grandmother's partner's passing, she asked him to sell it. She said she wished for another couple to have it to bless them with the love and happiness she experienced."

He nodded. “A token of everlasting love between partners,” he said fondly. “It is something I wish for the two of us as well.”

“Now that I think about it,” he grew wistful as he continued, “I rarely receive gifts from other regions. Aside from diplomatic ones, of course, but none have been personal or sentimental in nature.”

Turning from the window, he walked towards you standing beside his desk. “This is perhaps the first true gift someone has ever bought for me. Thank you, my dear.” Those sincere words were accompanied by him gently cupping your cheek and angling your face upwards. He placed a light kiss on your forehead. His easy affection made your heart soar.

“For you, I’ll gladly be your supplier for all of Teyvat’s finest curios,” you grinned.

He chuckled. “There is no one I would trust more in that role. Now,” he unpinned the brooch and handed it to you, “Could you put it on for me? I’m certain my gloves would make it difficult for me to do it myself.”

You dusted off his lapel, searching for a good space to find it. After pinning it in place, you took a step back to admire the newest addition to his uniform. Neuvilette straightened his robes. At that moment, you could have sworn the clouds parted, letting more of the warm, morning light pour inside.

𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑽𝑰𝑮𝑰𝑳𝑨𝑵𝑻 𝒀𝑨𝑲𝑺𝑯𝑨 ₊˚.༄

Standing behind him, you brushed the hair framing Xiao’s face aside, giving room to place the necklace around him. Fingertips grazed his nape as you laid the cord flat and started tying it in place. His body stiffened at the contact, hyper-aware of your soft touch and absent-minded humming.

“I can do it myself,” he had told you firmly a few seconds before. He had tried to clasp the necklace from behind, elbows pointed upwards. His brow furrowed deeper, the stubbornness to not ask for help was waning with each awkward, failed attempt. You leaned to the side to catch his gaze in the mirror in front of both of you.

“Can you really?” you teased. “It would be much easier to let me help you, wouldn’t you say?”

Xiao huffed when he saw your pouting face. He didn’t have the heart to say anything against your wishes. Facing against hordes of ruin guards and abyss mages was considered a warm up exercise for the yaksha, and yet the sight of a sulky Y/N made him weak. You held your hand out beside him, and he resignedly gave you the necklace.

He looked at his reflection. Sitting just above his vajra necklace, the pendant was carved from pale green jade to be shaped like a small carp. Along the black cord were several other small jade beads secured in place between knots. It was certainly a divergence from his usual style.

But it is… cute. Xiao thought, the corners of his lips lifted faintly.

After clasping the necklace in place, your hands travelled to lay relaxedly on his shoulders. Feeling an unexpected stiffness, you began to gently massage them. Xiao cleared his throat, trying to find his voice again.

“You said this symbol is special in Qiaoying Village?” Though he was familiar with the village already, he wanted to hear you talk about it.

You nodded. “Yep! I was told that in local legends, the carp is a symbol of good luck and protection for those who journey across the sea to trade with other nations, since, you know, Yilong Wharf is the main hub for transporting goods.”

He noticed your eyes flicking to the side, your voice turning more solemn. “Think of it as… a protection symbol from me, so that no matter where you are... you'll always remain safe and return to me.”

The moment was gone as soon as it came. You returned to your usual countenance. Bright and assured. The vulnerability slipping away along with your hands off his shoulders.

Your words had provoked something within in that he couldn’t pinpoint. A sadness at your downcast expression, a frustration at himself for making you worry so often.

Overwhelmingly, however, he felt a desperation. A desperation to instil the confidence that he wouldn’t disappear one day without notice. He brought the pendant up to his lips. Your eyes widened.

“Xiao?”

“Thank you for giving this to me.” Resolve burned in his eyes as he gripped the necklace close to his chest. “Although I cannot promise I will be unharmed in my patrols, I- I can promise that I will always have enough strength to return to you.”

#✏️〰odorawrites #genshin impact #genshin #genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin x you #genshin x y/n #genshin impact neuvillette #genshin neuvillette #neuvilette x reader #neuvillette x you #neuvillette x y/n #neuvillette fluff #genshin impact xiao #genshin xiao #xiao x reader #xiao x y/n #xiao x you #xiao fluff

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astraltrickster · 3 months

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Note: this isn't about the True Most Valid Reason. The story has been told, retold, and reinterpreted, millions of times, both centuries ago and in the modern day, and this is not the place to fight about what's the best way to approach it. This is just about YOUR favorite version. Nothing more, nothing less.

Now have fun.

#mythology #polls

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mswyrr · 5 months

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re: Ballad and histories of musical genres

Why does Lucy Gray have that accent? A lot of Latinas and people of color have Southern accents! Why is she singing "country" music? The division of folk music in the US into some exclusively white/WASP genres is a racist invention of the 1920s - musician and historian of the topic Rhiannon Giddens has done deep research into that which has raised awareness on it:

A final explanation for Johnson’s absence from the historical record may be the most significant. It involves not his reputation but that of the music he played, with which he became literally synonymous—more than one generation of Southerners would refer to popular dance music simply as “old Frank Johnson music.” And yet, in the course of the twentieth century, the cluster of styles in which Johnson specialized––namely, string band, square dance, hoedown––came to be associated with the folk music of the white South and even, by a bizarre warping of American cultural memory, with white racial purity. In the nineteen-twenties, the auto magnate Henry Ford started proselytizing (successfully) for a square-dancing revival precisely because the music that accompanied it was not black. Had he known the deeper history of square dancing, he might have fainted. (source)

And - specific to Latine identities in the southern US - popular Mexican and Mexican American genres like corrido ballads (which often were highly critical of US imperialism and racism! Telling stories of resistance to Anglo/white supremacist authorities) and Ranchera songs are country music.

Corridos were fast-paced ballads that told culturally significant stories. To the sound of a guitar or a bajo sexto, a twelve-string guitar popular in the Southwest, corridos recounted epic events and retold the story of the cultural conflicts between Anglos and Mexican Americans... Corridos not only provide a graphic record of the injustices that Mexican American suffered—including land loss, cattle and horse theft, and lynchings—but also celebrated outlaws who stood up to defend the honor of the Mexican American community. (source)

Not only is the current rightwing concept of "country music" on highly commercialized radio deeply manufactured, white supremacist, anti-labor justice and a rejection of the kind of pro-equality, class and racial equality conscious music of some earlier white musicians like Johnny Cash, but the whole history of US folk music has been whitewashed and divided up dishonestly.

Lucy Gray played by Rachel Zegler makes total sense! I get why people wanted to see a Roma actress cast, but the people saying it's "weird" to see a Latina with a Southern accent singing country music are just not aware of this history.

I really like these genres and I find this history fascinating and powerful, so the way Collins has written a love letter (or love ballad?? lol) to them and their diversity is exciting and delightful to me.

#the hunger games #tbosas #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #lucy gray baird #my meta #thg meta

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justforbooks · 10 months

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Daniel Ellsberg, a US government analyst who became one of the most famous whistleblowers in world politics when he leaked the Pentagon Papers, exposing US government knowledge of the futility of the Vietnam war, has died. He was 92. His death was confirmed by his family on Friday.

In March, Ellsberg announced that he had inoperable pancreatic cancer. Saying he had been given three to six months to live, he said he had chosen not to undergo chemotherapy and had been assured of hospice care.

“I am not in any physical pain,” he wrote, adding: “My cardiologist has given me license to abandon my salt-free diet of the last six years. This has improved my life dramatically: the pleasure of eating my favourite foods!”

On Friday, the family said Ellsberg “was not in pain” when he died. He spent his final months eating “hot chocolate, croissants, cake, poppy-seed bagels and lox” and enjoying “several viewings of his all-time favourite [movie], Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”, the family statement added.

“In his final days, surrounded by so much love from so many people, Daniel joked, ‘If I had known dying would be like this, I would have done it sooner …’

“Thank you, everyone, for your outpouring of love, appreciation and well-wishes. It all warmed his heart at the end of his life.”

Tributes were swift and many.

Alan Rusbridger, the former editor-in-chief of the Guardian, said Ellsberg “was widely, and rightly, acclaimed as a great and significant figure. But not by Richard Nixon, who wanted him locked up. He’s why the national interest should never be confused with the interest of whoever’s in power.”

The Pulitzer-winning journalist Wesley Lowery wrote: “It was an honor knowing Daniel … I’ll remain inspired by his commitment to a mission bigger than himself.”

The writer and political commentator Molly Jong-Fast said: “One of the few really brave people on this earth has left it.”

The MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan said: “Huge loss for this country. An inspiring, brave, and patriotic American. Rest in power, Dan, rest in power.”

The Pentagon Papers covered US policy in Vietnam between 1945 and 1967 and showed that successive administrations were aware the US could not win.

By the end of the war in 1975, more than 58,000 Americans were dead and 304,000 were wounded. Nearly 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers were killed, as were about 1 million North Vietnamese soldiers and Viet Cong guerillas and more than 2 million civilians in North and South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

The Pentagon Papers caused a sensation in 1971, when they were published – first by the New York Times and then by the Washington Post and other papers – after the supreme court overruled the Nixon administration on whether publication threatened national security.

In 2017, the story was retold in The Post, an Oscar-nominated film directed by Steven Spielberg in which Ellsberg was played by the British actor Matthew Rhys.

Ellsberg served in the US Marine Corps in the 1950s but went to Vietnam in the mid-60s as a civilian analyst for the defense department, conducting a study of counter-insurgency tactics. When he leaked the Pentagon Papers, he was working for the Rand Corporation.

In 2021, a half-century after he blew the whistle, he told the Guardian: “By two years in Vietnam, I was reporting very strongly that there was no prospect of progress of any kind so the war should not be continued. And that came to be the majority view of the American people before the Pentagon Papers came out.

“By ’68 with the Tet offensive, by ’69, most Americans already thought it was immoral to continue but that had no effect on Nixon. He thought he was going to try to win it and they would be happy once he’d won it, however long it took.”

In 1973, Ellsberg was put on trial. Charges of espionage, conspiracy and stealing government property adding up to a possible 115-year sentence were dismissed due to gross governmental misconduct, including a break-in at the office of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist, part of the gathering scandal which led to Nixon’s resignation in 1974.

Born in Chicago on 7 April 1931, Ellsberg was educated at Harvard and Cambridge, completing his PhD after serving as a marine. He was married twice and had two sons and a daughter.

After the end of the Vietnam war he became by his own description “a lecturer, scholar, writer and activist on the dangers of the nuclear era, wrongful US interventions and the urgent need for patriotic whistleblowing”.

Ellsberg contributed to publications including the Guardian and published four books, among them an autobiography, Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers, and most recently The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner.

In recent years, he publicly supported Chelsea Manning, the US soldier who leaked records of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, who published Manning’s leaks, and Edward Snowden, who leaked records concerning surveillance by the National Security Agency.

On Friday, the journalist Glenn Greenwald, one of the Guardian team which published the Snowden leaks in 2013, winning a Pulitzer prize, called Ellsberg “a true American hero” and “the most vocal defender” of Assange, Snowden, Manning and “others who followed in his brave footsteps”.

Steven Donziger, an attorney who represented Indigenous people in the Amazon rainforest against the oil giant Chevron, a case that led to his own house arrest, said: “Today the world lost a singularly brave voice who spoke truth about the US military machine in Vietnam and risked his life in the process. I drew deep inspiration from the courage of Daniel Ellsberg and was deeply honored to have his support.”

In 2018, in a joint Guardian interview with Snowden, Ellsberg paid tribute to those who refused to be drafted to fight in Vietnam.

“I would not have thought of doing what I did,” he said, “which I knew would risk prison for life, without the public example of young Americans going to prison to make a strong statement that the Vietnam war was wrong and they would not participate, even at the cost of their own freedom.

“Without them, there would have been no Pentagon Papers. Courage is contagious.”

Three years later, in an interview to mark 50 years since the publication of the Pentagon Papers, he said he “never regretted for a moment” his decision to leak.

His one regret, he said, was “that I didn’t release those documents much earlier when I think they would have been much more effective.

“I’ve often said to whistleblowers, ‘Don’t do what I did, don’t wait years till the bombs are falling and people have been dying.’”

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

#JUST FOR BOOKS #Daniel Ellsberg #Pentagon Papers #Vietnam war #in memoriam

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readerbookclub · 8 months

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Hello everyone, it's time for a new book list! This month, I've made a list of books inspired by folklore. Hope you enjoy! I tried to include stories from different countries and cultures. As always, please be sure to vote using the link at the end of the post :)

Onto the books...

Gods of Jade and Shadow, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Jazz Age is in full swing, but Casiopea Tun is too busy cleaning the floors of her wealthy grandfather’s house to listen to any fast tunes. Nevertheless, she dreams of a life far from her dusty small town in southern Mexico. A life she can call her own.

Yet this new life seems as distant as the stars, until the day she finds a curious wooden box in her grandfather’s room. She opens it—and accidentally frees the spirit of the Mayan god of death, who requests her help in recovering his throne from his treacherous brother. Failure will mean Casiopea’s demise, but success could make her dreams come true.

In the company of the strangely alluring god and armed with her wits, Casiopea begins an adventure that will take her on a cross-country odyssey from the jungles of Yucatán to the bright lights of Mexico City—and deep into the darkness of the Mayan underworld.

Deathless, by Catherynne M. Valente

Koschei the Deathless is to Russian folklore what devils or wicked witches are to European culture: a menacing, evil figure; the villain of countless stories which have been passed on through story and text for generations. But Koschei has never before been seen through the eyes of Catherynne Valente, whose modernized and transformed take on the legend brings the action to modern times, spanning many of the great developments of Russian history in the twentieth century.

Deathless, however, is no dry, historical tome: it lights up like fire as the young Marya Morevna transforms from a clever child of the revolution, to Koschei’s beautiful bride, to his eventual undoing. Along the way there are Stalinist house elves, magical quests, secrecy and bureaucracy, and games of lust and power. All told, Deathless is a collision of magical history and actual history, of revolution and mythology, of love and death, which will bring Russian myth back to life in a stunning new incarnation.

Things in Jars, by Jess Kidd

Bridie Devine, female detective extraordinaire, is confronted with the most baffling puzzle yet: the kidnapping of Christabel Berwick, secret daughter of Sir Edmund Athelstan Berwick, and a peculiar child whose reputed supernatural powers have captured the unwanted attention of collectors trading curiosities in this age of discovery.

Winding her way through the labyrinthine, sooty streets of Victorian London, Bridie won’t rest until she finds the young girl, even if it means unearthing a past that she’d rather keep buried. Luckily, her search is aided by an enchanting cast of characters, including a seven-foot tall housemaid; a melancholic, tattoo-covered ghost; and an avuncular apothecary. But secrets abound in this foggy underworld where spectacle is king and nothing is quite what it seems.

Blending darkness and light, history and folklore, Things in Jars is a spellbinding Gothic mystery that collapses the boundary between fact and fairy tale to stunning effect and explores what it means to be human in inhumane times.

Love in Colour: Mythical Tales from Around the World, Retold - by Bolu Babalola

A high-born Nigerian goddess, who has been beaten down and unappreciated by her gregarious lover, longs to be truly seen.

A young businesswoman attempts a great leap in her company, and an even greater one in her love life.

A powerful Ghanaian spokeswoman is forced to decide whether she should uphold her family’s politics or be true to her heart.

In her debut collection, internationally acclaimed writer Bolu Babalola retells the most beautiful love stories from history and mythology with incredible new detail and vivacity. Focusing on the magical folktales of West Africa, Babalola also reimagines Greek myths, ancient legends from the Middle East, and stories from long-erased places.

With an eye towards decolonizing tropes inherent in our favorite tales of love, Babalola has created captivating stories that traverse across perspectives, continents, and genres.

A Master of Djinn, by P. Djèlí Clark

Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer.

So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case. Al-Jahiz transformed the world 50 years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms, before vanishing into the unknown. This murderer claims to be al-Jahiz, returned to condemn the modern age for its social oppressions. His dangerous magical abilities instigate unrest in the streets of Cairo that threaten to spill over onto the global stage.

Alongside her Ministry colleagues and her clever girlfriend Siti, Agent Fatma must unravel the mystery behind this imposter to restore peace to the city -or face the possibility he could be exactly who he seems…

Please vote for our next book here.

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jellybellyblimp · 2 years

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I want to offer my lukewarm defense of aging up Claudia before Sunday. I say lukewarm because I don’t know wether I will end up liking the change, but I can see why it was done.

I’ve seen some speculation that this was so the show could go uhhhh… raunchier? with her relationship to Louis. Personally, I disagree that this was the intention. I mean Louis has said himself he’s gay, so I could be totally wrong but I can see several far less gross reasons why this was done.

1. Claudia’s story has already been told. I think this show is trying very hard to tell a new story within a familiar framework. And they are executing on that wonderfully. They aren’t trying to create a faithful adaptation of the book bc that already exists. Instead they are telling the story of a Queer Black Man in the early 20th century, the story of an interracial gothic queer romance, the story of a black teenage girl in mid 20th century New Orleans. And I think that distinction is important. I don’t need Claudia’s story to be retold exactly the same when you can explore similar themes, but give us something new and nuanced.

2. Telling Claudia’s original story on screen is hard. I think the closest we’ll ever get is the movie, because their is no way an actual child actor can portray the maturity required for her. Nor would I really want to see them try bc let’s face it Louis and Claudia’s relationship gets questionable at some points.

3. Aging her up to 14, that the crux of puberty, opens so many new opportunities to explore. You still have that idea of an adult trapped in a child’s body, but now it’s those awkward middle school years. And honestly that sounds like real hell. She’s a young woman who will never get to actually be a woman. And importantly she is a young black woman. (Y’all thought Lestat was struggling to see Louis’ perspective as a black man, imagine trying to explain intersectionality to this bitch) She’s permanently trapped at the most awkward undervalued position she could be in. Too old to be a little girl, but too young to be a mother. And unfortunately society really only leaves one role for a woman to be then and that is sexual object. Doubly so, because racism. I’ll be genuinely surprised if that idea doesn’t pop up at least once.

4. This is a TV series. And confirmed for at least a second season. That she will feature heavily in. And if she pops up in flash backs (or as a spirit) in any seasons after that, looks kids age fast. It’s just not feasible to cast an actual child as Claudia long term.

So TLDR: I think this was largely a practical choice, so they decided if they have to change her story to work within the medium, might as well actually do something new with it.

#interview with the vampire #claudia de lioncourt #iwtv claudia #anne rice #vampire chronicles #iwtv

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slothquisitor · 8 months

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Between the Lines

The three times that Liv left Astarion books, and the one time he gave her one. Or, what if I desperately tried to write a cute fluffy book exchange and then it became more about working through trauma? Astarion x tav, 2500 words.

Also on AO3.

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Astarion likes the quiet evenings at camp best. Sure, the ever looming threat of turning into a mind flayer hangs over them all, but otherwise, it’s quite peaceful. There are plenty of books about, and so he spends most of his evenings reading. It is…strange. To have the freedom to do whatever he would like, to a point, they are out in the middle of nowhere after all. But these small moments, small decisions, they’re his. How he wants to spend his time, what book he wants to read, if he wants to participate in conversation or not, they’re his. For the first time in two centuries, he has those small freedoms.

He can’t remember if he was much of a reader before Cazador turned him, but after, oh the only true solace he had was in books. He remembers when he first discovered the velocity of escape, the comfort of being someone else with other problems. It was so much easier to pass the long, bleak daylight hours stuck in Cazador’s palace when he had a book to read. It made everything easier. Each story was a place to retreat no matter how bad things became.

And retreat he did, often. He told himself stories while the lashes landed on his back. Told himself stories while trapped in the darkness alone. Retold tales of adventure and worlds and places he knew he would never see. He might never feel the sunlight on his skin again, but he could read about those who could. It was a pinprick of hope in the darkness.

At first, he kept the books a secret, smuggling them into forgotten corners and only reading them when he could ensure he was alone. The second that Cazador caught wind that Astarion might enjoy something, it was liable to be taken away. But as the years wore on, as he became more and more resigned to his fate, he stopped hiding the books. He read everything from poetry to histories to philosophy. At some point, he stopped reading stories. They stopped offering hope or comfort. It made him sick to read about a hero saving the day, about the world being saved when there was no hero coming for him, no world where he escaped Cazador’s grip on his throat.

Until now.

They find books everywhere. Astarion peruses the spines until he finds something interesting and slips it into his bag. Then he spends the night poring over its pages. It’s been years since he’s read anything fictional, anything fantastical, but something about the impending doom hanging over his head makes him care less than he used to. Maybe, a little hope here at the end of all things is okay.

Maybe this tadpole won’t turn him into just another type of monster. Maybe he can use it, maybe he can twist this all to his advantage, maybe he never has to be a puppet of Cazador’s whims again. He’s read enough stories to know that the power grabs belong to villains, but he’s long since stopped thinking himself a hero anyway. Heroes and villains die just the same as the next fool, and he’d rather survive.

It shouldn’t surprise him that he’s not the only bookworm in camp. Oh, he expected the two wizards to hoard books like dragons, but while Gale prefers arcane theory, Liv has a different collection. She seems to be like him, collecting stories instead. She has a neat little stack at her tent, and Astarion might have glanced at the spines, just to see what she might be reading. Not that he actually cares what she’s reading, this is about seduction, obviously. The better he knows his target the more success he’ll have.

It’s on one of those quiet nights at camp that she asks what he’s reading, the words soft, almost too quiet with the crackling fire between them.

He looks up from the well-worn pages. The other members of their group are elsewhere, sleeping or busy with their own distractions. It’s just the two of them at the fire now. He’s supposed to be seducing her, which means that this would be a good opportunity for him to move closer, to drop his voice just above a whisper so that she has to lean in to hear. It’s a dance he’s done a thousand times with a thousand different people; the music varies but the steps are the same. They work every time.

He’s not sure why he doesn’t move, then. Why he can’t seem to will himself through the pantomime tonight. He stays exactly where he’s at, reclined against a log. “Searching for Adze,” he replies without lowering the book.

“I’m not familiar with it. Is it any good?” she asks.

“Oh, it’s absolutely awful. The plot is basically nonsensical, but it went on enough about hammers I definitely believed it might have a bit more spice to make it worthwhile.” He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. The flirtation is half-hearted, Liv tends to ignore most of these remarks anyway. It’s partly infuriating, the way she gracefully side-steps his most overt flirtations. But there are moments when her interest is clear, like when she drew his portrait or any time he drinks from her neck. It’s happened three times now; not that he’s counting.

Liv smiles. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you enjoy smutty books.”

“Darling, everyone enjoys smutty books. Most books would be greatly improved with its inclusion. Including this one.”

“You should certainly pass that along to the authors of spell theory books. I’m sure they’d love the feedback.”

Liv’s humor is dry, a blink and you miss it sort of wit. He smiles. “And what are you reading?”

“Re-reading,” she corrects, “Tales from the Underground, an old favorite. With everything so uncertain, it’s nice to read something where I know the ending.”

Astarion understands that sentiment. When things were at their worst, when he was starving, or hardly able to think straight or clearly for the pain of suffering Cazador’s ire, a plot twist or a surprise ending felt crueler than a death sentence. He would instead take comfort in the stories he knew, in pages so well-worn he hardly needed to do more than skim the pages.

He’s familiar with her book, he enjoyed it, once. “I suppose there is a sort of comfort in knowing what happens next.”

Her green eyes are bright with the gratitude of being understood. “Yes. I…whenever life got difficult, I always found myself retreating back into a book. My problems usually look smaller than whatever world-ending thing is happening in a book.” She frowns. “It’s not working very well right now.”

Her admission rankles. He’s the most at peace he’s been in two hundred years. He wonders what could have ever been so bad in her little life of privilege that she’d need to retreat into a book. She hasn’t said much about her background, but he recognized her last name. She’s a noble, a diplomat’s daughter. Even without that information, he would have placed her accent as upper city anyway. But he’s never heard of her, which means she’s from places too bright and redolent with life for even Cazador to sully.

“Well, it’s not so bad; we’re not dead yet,” he stretches a bit, beginning to stand. He can tell she’s going to talk more, is going to share things about herself and her life, and he doesn’t want to know those things. He doesn’t want to care. He is here to survive, to do whatever it takes, take whatever moments he must. But there is no seduction here, staying means talking, bonding, it wouldn’t be in the service of his plan. And it’s precisely why he can’t stay.

If she’s bothered by his exit, she doesn’t say. Just like she hasn’t said a word about the page he stole from her sketchbook. He’s sure she’s noticed it, he’s seen her sketching at night too. He wishes she’d say something, anything, but everything is the same as it has always been with her. She’s infuriatingly even-keeled, even under present circumstances. When she breaks, and she will, no one is this stoic, it will likely be dramatic. It will probably be entertaining.

A few days later, the first book appears. He’s been out hunting; he’s content, a little blood drunk, but sated, calm. Until he notices the book on the stool, and every bit of warmth and peace turns to ice. He tells himself he’s being ridiculous, that evidence of someone being around his tent while he’s away isn’t necessarily a portent for something bad. And yet, it takes all his courage to reach for the book. He turns it over in his hands, searching for some sign or message. The book is just a book, there is no note. An unfamiliar title, but from the cover and art within the first few pages, it’s an adventure novel.

He mistrusts the gift immediately. Cazador used gifts as much as the lash. There was always a message embedded. A gift might mean something good in the moment, but those moments were all too fleeting. He got better at reading their inherent messages with time, but he still remembers far too well the lessons learned when he didn’t. What’s the agenda here? What does someone in this camp want from him? Are they doing this on purpose, just to see him squirm? For the night, he sets the book aside.

The next night another appears. A few days later, another. Only this time, it’s Tales from the Underground, and the mystery of his book deliverer is solved. Liv has been leaving him books. But what he cannot fathom is why.

He gets his answer two days later, when he witnesses Liv give Karlach a stuffed owlbear as a friend for her teddy bear, Clive. Karlach can’t even touch the gift herself, since it’ll catch fire if she even walks too close to it, but she’s overjoyed. And there is no agenda. Liv doesn’t expect anything in return. She’s just being nice.

It’s disgusting really.

Astarion doesn’t want Liv’s niceness, though he supposes it must mean that part of his plan is working. If she’s being nice to him, then she won’t turn on him. What’s more infuriating than her niceness is that now he seems to be looking for a book to give to her. It’s an unconscious thing, really. But he can grudgingly admit that she does have fine taste. The books she’s anonymously deposited at his tent have been exactly what he would have picked for himself.

Besides, participating in this little book exchange is sure to win him enough favor with her to buy him safety. So he doesn’t really know why it takes him so long to settle on a book. But finally, he does.

It’s another quiet night at camp; no devils have appeared to collect debts, and hells, Gale isn’t even eating magic boots. Liv and Shadowheart had spent some time at the fire, drinking wine for a while, but now Liv’s at her tent alone. She seems to be working on something, spellbook open and components scattered across a small table.

“It’s a lovely evening,” he says by way of greeting.

She glances up from her work, and seems surprised to see him standing there. He supposes that’s because she’s usually the one that comes to speak to him. “It is. Everything all right?”

There’s a small hint of suspicion in her eyes; she’s clearly trying to read him, his intentions. Fair enough. He’s not exactly innocent here. He holds up the book in his hand. “I brought you something.”

Her entire face brightens. “Really?” She seems genuinely surprised, and thrilled. For someone who likely grew up wanting for nothing, him bringing her a book surely couldn’t mean that much. Could it?

Well, if it does, all the better for him, obviously.

He purposefully steps closer, turning to the side rather than head on. She’s skittish, he’s learned, and this way, she doesn’t put distance between them. He offers her the book. “This one is one of my favorites. If you haven’t read it, I’d be happy to describe to you what happens. Everything that happens. In great detail.”

There’s actually nothing particularly smutty in this story, this is just a line he thought up while looking for a book for her. It has the desired effect. She blushes as she reads the spine. “Thank you, I haven’t read this one. I take it that means you didn’t dislike the books I left for you?” And there’s the sidestep, the distance, but she hasn’t moved away, not yet.

“Darling, I simply adore gifts.Your little books were a welcome surprise.” The lie slips prettily off his tongue, even though he knows that she won’t miss the slight insult, as if the books meant nothing, just another trinket among trinkets. He’s not sure why it’s always this way with her. She is soft, gentle. If Liv has a hard edge he’s yet to find it, but he can’t seem to avoid trying to cut her all the same.

She retreats away, pressing the tips of her fingers into the corners of the cloth-bound cover. “You hadn’t said anything, so I wasn’t sure.”

Her guard is up now, it’s best to drop his routine rather than press her too hard. Which means it’s time for him to go. But something inside him can’t help but ask. “How did you know what I’d like?” The question comes out harsher than intended, but it’s too late to take it back now.

It’s clearly not the question she’s expecting from the way uncertainty quickly moves across her face. Gone in a flash, banished with a smile. “It wasn’t too hard, I saw some of the books you grabbed for yourself. I simply added the ones I knew that I thought were similar.” She shrugs like it’s nothing.

Ugh, nice people are so boring.

He represses a sigh. He’s turned an interaction that was supposed to be seduction into something that feels accusatory, so he knows he has to dig himself out of this, so he offers her bit of niceness in return. “I liked them. I liked them all quite a lot. I just didn’t realize I was so transparent, is all.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone of your very embarrassing penchant for adventure stories.”

“What else do I have out here, but my sordid reputation?”

She laughs at that. “I have some other books too, if you want to look through them. I wasn’t sure what you had or hadn’t read.”

Staying breaks every internal rule he’s made for himself, but he does stay. They talk books for a pleasant half an hour. He tells himself that he’s got an ulterior motive here, and that this is all in service to his grand plan. But later, when he’s alone in his tent, he might admit to himself that he stayed because he wanted to.

And he wonders for the first time if this plan of his is truly necessary. He discards the thought as quickly as it comes. This isn’t a story, there’s no happy ending coming unless he reaches out and takes it for himself.

#astarion #astarion x tav #baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate iii #baldur's gate fic #fanfic #slothquisitorwrites #astarion x liv

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lookedupandfellasleep · 4 months

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Little Women in 1994 and Little Women in 2019

Little Women is a novel written by Louisa May Alcott in the 19th century. It is a slice-of-life story that follows the March family, which consists of four sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy, their mother, Marmee, and their father who has been deployed far from them. We see the different people who enter the lives of the March family such as Laurie, Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Brooke, and Friedich who fall in love with their family. We get to know these ordinary but extraordinary little women, their struggles, characters, ambitions, and relationships.

This simple story has been adapted to film a whopping six times since its publication. People may wonder why this story needs to be retold so many times but it is one for every generation. Even though Little Women is set in the 1800s, the tale is timeless and deserves to be adapted to film for every generation to enjoy and learn from.

The two most recent film adaptations are the ones from 1994 and 2019, respectively. With the 2019 remake so close to the previous one, many people had doubts about Greta Gerwig’s take on this film. However, it proves to be a worthy retelling of this classic with the most promising young actors of our generation and a modern take on a timeless tale.

Cinematography

Little Women (1994) used cinematography in a way that makes you feel at home. It’s whimsical and almost like looking at a moving version of a greeting card. This is completely fit and appropriate for the theme of the story. The lighting is consistent, soft, cozy, and reminiscent of holiday films and Disney movies. Wide shots are used to establish surroundings and close up as well as extreme close up shots are used to establish intimacy, emotions, and the close relationship of the family.

Little Women (2019) uses cinematography in a completely different but equally, – perhaps even more beautiful way. It shows how different emotions, time periods, and state of minds can be portrayed just by tweaking a few things with the way scenes are shot. Gerwig’s version isn’t consistent, styles changing as we watch the past and the present unfold. The past is told with sweeping movement and lots of activity to emulate the energy and light of the chaotic but charming March sisters. The “present” or older era is told with a locked frame, farther away from the sisters. This gave amazing contrast when it comes to the emotional state as well as more clearly told a non-linear story. We see the whimsy and pure joy of the Marches’ childhood when everyone was innocent, happy, and united. In contrast, the older Marches are resigned, separated, and watching each other from afar.

Characterization

In terms of characterization, Little Women (1994) stayed true to its source material and established everyone’s personalities early on. Jo is headstrong, feisty, and spirited. Meg is gentle, kind, and a romantic at heart. Beth is reserved, quiet, generous, and talented. Amy is the baby, a little snooty, annoying, and ambitious. Then we have Laurie, a lonely young lad just wanting to be a part of a family with someone to play with. Some inconsistencies come up when the time jump happened such as Amy’s sudden aloofness and sophistication. We don’t see a trace of the vibrant little girl we saw for the first half of the film. Jo also goes through some changes, it wasn’t as drastic as Amy’s and we still see Jo’s core character despite her opening herself up to love and connection.

Little Women (2019) also stayed true to these characterizations with a few exceptions. There was a creative decision to have Florence Pugh play Amy all throughout the movie even when she was supposed to be a child. While this may be an odd choice, it somehow worked and made the film more cohesive. We see how Amy grew into a sophisticated young lady but still see glimpses of the younger, vibrant Amy. Jo had a different development from the source material as well as the 1994 adaptation. The Jo in the 2019 film was a little more stubborn, a lot more spirited, and independent. This Jo loved her freedom and independence too much but expressed the very real dilemma of being lonely while being so. This is an incredibly powerful concept that the 1994 film didn’t address. Jo doesn’t fall in love here unlike the 1994 version, she simply feels lonely and wants to be loved.

Acting

There is nothing really bad to be said about the acting for both films. Both had an outstanding cast that delivered the emotions, the depth, and the personalities that the characters needed. It’s also interesting to note that both films chose to cast the most promising young actors of their particular generation, drawing in the most appropriate audience for the films at the time of their release.

However, there is something to be said about the incredible performances the 2019 cast gave in the film. Most notably, Saoirse Ronan, Timothee Chalamet, and Florence Pugh. Ronan captured Jo’s vivacious essence so exceptionally and gave the character such life. Chalamet brought more understanding to Laurie’s loneliness and desire to be part of a close family. Finally, Florence Pugh gave unbelievable depth to Amy, who is more of a shallow character in the previous adaptation. Pugh showed us Amy’s ambitions, feelings, and sense of obligation. It’s an incredible new angle for this character.

Emotional Impact

Both the 1994 and 2019 version of Little Women will touch the heart of anyone. Both films do a good job of letting the audience get attached to the characters to be able to empathize with them when they are angry, happy, and heartbroken. We experience life with them, as if we are part of the family. It helps that both films were also directed by women, which gave unique insight to the little women’s struggles and bond.

Little Women (2019) and Little Women (1994) tackled many of the same issues and some different ones, as well. The 1994 film went into more social issues such as poverty, racism, and discrimination. The 2019 film tackled issues such as loneliness, obligation, and life after marriage. Little Women (2019) had a bit more of an emotional impact because of the great storytelling for each character, leading the audience to become more attached to them and empathize with the struggles and loss.

Storytelling

The 1994 version of Little Women establishes exposition (Block, 2008) in the form of a narration from Jo’s point-of-view at the very beginning of the film. This continues all throughout and is a consistent tool for storytelling. The events unfold in a linear fashion and we grow up with the March family. The main conflicts come in the form of Laurie’s confession and Beth’s illness and death. Jo has to deal with losing her childhood friend after an emotional rejection and losing her beloved sister. The resolution comes as they accept the loss, Laurie and Amy reveal their marriage, Jo inherits Aunt March’s estate, and finds love in Friedrich.

In the 2019 film, we see many of the same events and even the same dialogue used but the storytelling is completely different. Gerwig uses a non-linear way of telling the story, opening the film with a quote from the original novel’s author, Louisa May Alcott saying, “I’ve had lots of troubles, so I write jolly tales.” Jo is grown up and already trying to make a name for herself in New York City. From there, we get flashbacks from their childhood that fill in the blanks of what’s happening in the present. There is only one exposition to establish the past “7 years earlier”, the screen tells us as Meg and Jo are getting ready for a party. After this, the film uses color and lighting to differentiate the past or their memories from the present. The present has a colder quality with muted color palettes of browns, blacks, blues, and reds. On the other hand, the memories have a warm quality, almost like everything is bathed in sunlight or candlelight. Everything looks cozy and vibrant, just as the March girls. Beth’s death is paralleled by the happy memory of her recovery only years prior as Marmee turns in her chair to reveal Beth sitting up. In the present, this scene is mirrored but as Marmee turns, the seat behind her is empty and she breaks out into sobs. From there, Gerwig’s interpretation of the classic starts to digress. The 2019 film addresses Jo’s need for independence along with her overwhelming loneliness that makes her desperate for love without loving back. She portrays hidden heartbreak hearing about Laurie and Amy’s marriage instead of the immediate happiness shown in the 1994 version. The ending is ambiguous, insinuating that the ending in the book that Jo wrote was not the ending that she chose for herself. The resolution is a little clearer as we see Jo and her family in the school that she established in the late Aunt March’s home.

The 1994 version is a little shorter than the 2019 adaptation but the modern, unusual take made the time go faster. The non-linear storytelling was also effective in getting the audience to understand the relationships and character development better. It gave context and a whole new angle to things.

Chemistry and Relationships

Again, both films did a great job with the casting and development. All the actors had a magical chemistry that really led you to believe they were family. Everyone’s love and friendship was palpable. You could feel the bond of the sisters through the screen and the way Laurie fit in so seamlessly within the family. Christian Bale and Wynona Ryder’s chemistry was outstanding, creating a romance-that’s-not-a-romance that devastates the audience when Jo rejects Laurie.

With a longer running time, the 2019 film gave way to developing the relationship between Laurie and the other March sisters, as well. We see him bond with Meg, Beth, and Amy in different ways, making his integration into the family much more natural. Chalamet and Ronan’s chemistry as friends and almost-lovers is also phenomenal. Their bond as best friends and Chalamet’s subtle moments of falling in love was the cherry-on-top. We also see how Amy and Laurie’s relationship grows and the audience isn’t as blindsided by it as in the 1994 version.

Romance

Romance was handled a little differently from the 1994 adaptation to the 2019 film. The former had more of a romantic undertone that leads the audience to believe that Jo had fallen in love with Friedrich and that she plans on marrying him. On the other hand, the 2019 version chose to go a different route and play things ambiguously. Jo doesn’t seem to be as obviously in love with Friedrich although she seems to be fond of him. She is lonely, yes, and has moments of weakness. But she values her freedom too much and doesn’t want to be a wife. In the end, we see Friedrich with the family at Jo’s school but it’s unclear whether or not she has a romantic relationship with him. The audience is left to choose what to believe.

All in all, I loved both versions of the film but I preferred the modern remake from Greta Gerwig. Of course, I may be a little biased because prior to this, it was already one of my favorite films of all time. I have watched about a dozen times and can never tire of it. Watching it again knowing all the different aspects that go into filmmaking and with the goal to observe the techniques, storytelling, and its overall appeal and quality, it gave me a whole different experience and made me love the film even more. The visual story of Little Women (2019) is truly brilliantly done. It gave new meaning to an adaptation that was already made multiple times. I love the changes that were made for the plot. As a writer with the same principles as Jo, I found myself relating to the 2019 version of her a lot which is probably what makes this resonate so much with me. I love that Gerwig didn’t go for the conventional ending and instead went for ambiguity so that the audience can choose their own ending. Loneliness can be a powerful thing to battle with especially if you value your independence and this film addressed it perfectly. This classic tale can be retold over and over again and it would be just as powerful. The stories of these little women will continue to touch each generation of little women.

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goldenappledelicious · 1 year

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I really like thinking about how the fairytales would’ve evolved over the centuries they’re being told in EAH. With most of the stories (with exceptions like Sleeping Beauty) being retold every like 20-30 years, there would obviously be some small changes and tweaks to the story every once in a while.

Like one I was thinking of was how in the first written down Grimm version of Snow White, the Evil Queen is Snow’s biological mom. So like maybe the original version in EAH, she was her bio mom but it got tweaked to stepmom over time and now it’s just set that way. Even Sleeping Beauty works with it. Most versions have the kingdom go to sleep with her but it could’ve been changed to just Sleeping Beauty since they realized the ramifications of an entire kingdom repeatedly falling asleep for a century.

#and it could bring up an interesting debate about following the stories #and questions about how closely they need to be followed #and how far the changes can go #just some random thought because the EAH lore is so fascinating to me #ever after high #eah #EAH lore

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ao3feed--reylo · 1 year

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Still Falls the Rain: The Scholar

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/7Els6H1

by Ev3rMichelle

The story of Ben Solo had been told, embellished, and retold for five hundred years. In one version, he was the golden child of a golden dynasty, the beloved heir to the Organa family. In other versions, he was a turncoat, a coward, and a betrayer--a sworn loyalist to Snoke as he cast his ropes of power around Chandrila and tightened the noose.

Rey Niima was only interested in facts as she delved into the sordid history of the Organa dynasty to complete her thesis.

Nearing the end of her research, Rey had read everything she could get her hands on about the fifteenth-century conflict: journals and letters, fables and histories, in a near-desperate search for the truth.

An unexpected invitation takes her to places she'd only dreamt about, and she will have no choice but to rethink everything she ever held as reality.

Perhaps history had more in common with fairy tales and legends than she thought. Perhaps the story of the past was closer than she'd ever expected.

A Dracula-inspired Reylo AU, set in an alternate version of our world, in which love can span centuries and blood can conquer death.

Words: 4668, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 2 of To Search the Ends of Time

Fandoms: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con

Categories: F/M

Characters: Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey (Star Wars), Lor San Tekka, Knights of Ren

Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Ophelia (Hamlet)/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren

Additional Tags: Vampires, Alternate Universe, Vampire Bites, Blood, Blood Drinking, Blood Magic, Vampire Turning, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate History, Explicit Sexual Content, Force Dyad (Star Wars), Soul Bond, Past Relationship(s), Reincarnation, Inspired by Dracula, Inspired by Romeo and Juliet, Non-Consensual Vampire Turning, Manipulative Sheev Palpatine, Dead Sheev Palpatine, Manipulative Snoke (Star Wars), Dead Snoke (Star Wars), Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Sith Alchemy (Star Wars), Multiple Time Periods, Time Skips, Hopeful Ending, Forbidden Love

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/7Els6H1

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #Star Wars #Star Wars Sequel Trilogy #Reylo #Rey #Ben Solo #Kylo Ren #AO3 #ne

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crimsonfluidessence · 2 years

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Prompt 17: Novel

It had been months, but as he sat at his desk, Esredes finally held it in his hands. The brown paper covering over top was smooth to the touch as one ran a hand down it, almost to the point he didn't want to rip it off. But that would be silly- one simply didn't keep the covering on a new book, so Esredes took another long moment before ripping it apart and pulling out the book underneath.

Its cover was light brown, not much on it except for a blue eye and the title itself, which read The Heterodox Collection: Tales Beyond The Arches. Freshly made and in new condition, a collection of historical tales retold in light of the new truths with a limited release, and he was- An uncredited contributor. The author had asked him a fair share of questions in his research for the book, but there was no way he'd ever be anything but an uncredited contributor. Still, it was beautiful, to see it finally arrive, and Esredes ran a hand down the cover of the book, rough to the touch underneath the fingertips. It was like he had been gifted a precious treasure, and it would go right into his bookshelf once he finished reading.

And to think, it was technically and unknowingly to everyone else his sole writing credit. Esredes took out his old war journal from the hidden compartment and flipped it open with a harsh squint- this thing certainly wasn't the invigorating and exciting, rough and personal accounts of a wartime soldier he read about so often. Not with only a third of it even filled out, the only occasional effort to actually write about any experience he had, or the pages upon paging of venting or even the couple pages that were just the words I'm sorry written either large or over and over. Yes, truly the peak of literature.

Esredes shut the journal and put it back in its place. He was never, and continued to be, anyone with talent or passion for the written art. Writing papers at work and letters to others was more than enough effort by itself. And yet, here he was with all the people he met and lost, the unique and surreal experiences that only a follower of her could've had, and a city-state that wanted to erase all of it and act as if it never happened and the people of Ishgard came to enlightenment by themselves.

It had been suggested to him many, many times. It was the logical conclusion. Tell your side of the story, don't let it be lost to history. Write a book. And yet, he didn't even know how to start. There was so much to write, and so much to do justice, and it felt like he would be scaling a high mountain with just a single pickaxe to even try. Even if he enlisted the help of someone else who knew what they were doing when it came to writing stories, would it even be enough to write and cover eight years and continuing of experiences? All those names, long forgotten by the rest of the world, all the truth and all the agony- even were he to manage this arduous task, it would then have to be stored away safely and published some decades or centuries after his death, when the world was ready to read such a book without immediately burning and banning it. Esredes had certainly wondered if he would even put his name on it. A lot of parts of him wanted to simply use exclusively first person and make it anonymous- with how things turned out, he didn't really want to be remembered. He was content to fade away and be forgotten in history- but the graveyard's worth of people in his head deserved to be remembered.

It would have to be everything, contained within the confines of white pages and black ink. A grand confession of everything, the great highs and the bloody lows. A voice periodically told him in his head that he should really get started on it. At least just start writing it down with no thought given to presentation, let an actual writer sort it out later- and yet all this time later, there were still no documents of that sort to be found in his desk, and in the meantime, Esredes continued to go out and risk his life, risk losing all of that story to the void of death if he finally fell.

Write a book. It will help you move on, someone once told him as a bit of professional advice. And yet, pages were left blank, and pens stayed in their inkwells, as time stretched on, and on, and on, and memories struggled not to fade with the cries of unheard, silenced voices who could no longer speak...

And still, every word was left unsaid.

Esredes clutched his new book to his chest, and went upstairs.

#ffxivwrite2022 #ffxivwrite #in action #writing #screenshots #esrey's house

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whitepolaris · 1 year

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Zombie Road

by Troy Taylor

Traveling west along what used to be old Route 66, you soon leave the buildings and houses in the western suburb of St. Louis behind as you enter a rugged, wild Missouri landscape of forests, rivers, and caves. It is here that mysteries lie.

If the stories told about one forgotten stretch of roadway are even partially true, then a place called Zombie Road may be one of the weirdest spots in the region. Zombie Road (a name by which it was known at least as far back as the 1950s) was once listed on maps as Lawler Ford Road. (Where the “Lawler” came from is lost to time, but a ford crossed the river here.) People were sometimes ferried across the river at this location, which no doubt explains why the road was placed here.

The road may have originally been an American Indian trail that was later converted into a roadway by European settlers. The railroad came through the area in 1853, and in 1868 the Glencoe Marble Company started to quarry the nearby limestone deposits in what is now the Rockwoods Reservation. A side track was laid from the deposits to the town of Glencoe, and Lawler Ford Road became a gravel and dirt road providing access to the railroad tracks and the Meramec River. It’s likely that wagons were used to hail quarry stone up the road, and trucks later were used on the narrow road, which was paved at some point.

Tales Take Shape

The quarry operations were shut down and the road fell into disuse. Those who recall the road during that period say that the narrow, winding lane, which runs through roughly two miles of dense woods, was always enveloped in a strange silence and a half-light. Shadows were along, even on the brightest days, and it was impossible to see past the trees and brush to what was coming around the next curve. If you were driving and met another car, one car would have to back up to one of the few wide places on the road to allow the other car to pass.

Thanks to its seclusion and abandonment, in the 1950s Lawler Ford Road became known as a lovers’ lane and a party spot for local teenagers. It still sees a traveler or two today, though most who come here are hardly looking for a party. Instead, they came for a taste of the unexplained.

Like many similar locations, Lawler Ford Road gained a reputation for being haunted. Numerous legends and stories exist, from the typical tales of murdered boyfriends and killers with hooks for hands to more specific tales of a local killer who as dubbed the Zombie. Supposedly living in a dilapidated shack by the river, he was said to attack young lovers who wanted someplace quiet and out of the way. As time passed, the stories of a madman were told and retold so often that the road’s original name was largely forgotten, replaced by Zombie Road-the name it is known by today.

Even now, there is no shortage of stories about the road. Resident ghosts include a man killed by a train in the 1970s and a mysterious old woman who yells at passersby from a house at the end of the road. The tales of American Indian spirits and modern-day devil worshippers could fill a small book.

Is there any truth to the ghost stories-or at least a history that could explain how they got started? For the answer, read on.

American Indian Spirits. There is no record of the first inhabitants of the area, but they were probably the Indians who built the centuries-old Cahokia Mounds, located near present-day St. Louis. Many other tribes passed through the region as they were moved out of their original lands in the east, but they never stayed. If these indigenous people left an impression behind, it could be the reason why Indian spirits are still encountered here today.

Civil War Soldiers. During the Civil War, the city of St. Louis found itself in the predicament of being loyal to the Union in a state predominantly dedicated to the Confederate cause. For this reason, men in the Home Guard were picketed along the roads and trails leading into the city. Confederate spies, saboteurs, and agents used less trafficked paths to get in and out of the area, including the trail that would later be known as Lawler Ford Road. Troops from the Home Guard were stationed at the ford, and a number of men died here in short battles with them.

Could this violence explain some of the haunts along Zombie Road? It’s possible that the bloodshed that occurred here during the Civil War left its mark on the site, as it has on so many other locales.

The Railroads. The railroads figure large in stories of the road. Della Hamilton McCullough, the wife of a local tanner and shoemaker, was killed in 1876 after being struck down by a railroad car. It maybe her death that started the Zombie Road legend of the ghost of the person who was ran over by a train, since there’s no record of fatal train accidents in modern times.

Today, the old line can still be seen at the end of the road, where it is believed the railroad ghost walks. Many accounts over the years have described a translucent figure in white who walks up the abandoned line. Those who’ve claimed to see it say the phantom glows with bluish-white light but always disappears if anyone tries to approach it.

Some of the other restless ghosts could be those of accident victims along the rail line. Sharp bends in the tracks at Glencoe were the site of frequent derailments-so many that eventually service was discontinued around the bend in the river.