#yes those lyrics are from the phantom of the opera | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thedvilsinthedetails · 3 months

Text

What each marauder’s fav musical would be (in my opinion):

James - beetlejuice (chaotic af, funny and happy ending…)

Regulus - Jekyll and Hyde (thought provoking, sad ending also he’d find ‘bitch bitch bitch’ funny bc that’s lowkey exactly what the ppl at functions he has to attend are like. Also he loves ‘bring on the men’ and I won’t accept questions and if ur confused about the name, it’s exactly what it sounds like.)

Remus - Hamilton (he just…would love it.)

Sirius - Six (no question. And he would sing ‘Don’t lose ur head’ at the drop of a hat. He defo learnt the dance to ex-wives and six finale)

Peter - Dear Evan Hansen (he just gives me those vibes like he genuinely would love it and I love that 4 him)

Barty - Heathers (pretty sure this was in like one of my first posts too but he would LOVE heathers.)

Evan - Moulin Rouge! (OMG this one was actually hard icl I couldn’t think of one for ages but I actually think this is perfect for Evan. He definitely prefers like plainer style of stuff and shit and pretends not to like musicals but he goes excited like a puppy dog with proper heart eyes if you show him the absolutely over decorated stage they perform moulin rouge on. And you best believe he knows all the lyrics of ‘Firework’ by Katy Perry but no no my friend it’s not because he listens to her, in fact he’d probably be confused about the annoying pop song arrangement of ‘the song from moulin rouge’ also he loves the song mashup bit in ‘backstage romance’ that they dance to (if you don’t know what I mean then play this song but skip to 2:30 bc the start of the song won’t make sense without the entire plot detailed to you) because I say so because everyone does because it’s impossible not to.)

Mary - Anastasia (look I will not be accepting slander of this musical and neither would Mary. It is a masterpiece.)

Lily - Jesus Christ Superstar (fucking love this musical and only the best for Lily Evans. She would love it because I said so.)

Pandora - Hadestown (thought provoking, gorgeous music, based off a Greek myth. Just yes. Also I can picture her humming Orpheus’ tune but especially the extended bit in ‘wait for me’ )

Marlene - Les Misérables (ok so I know this might seem like an odd option for her but hear me out hear me out…Marlene attempting to perform all the parts in ‘one day more’ and blasting ‘Do you hear the people sing?’ from her phone as an attempt to scare people.)

Dorcas - Phantom of the Opera (the absolute dramatic theme is definitely her jam and she absolutely knows how to play it on every instrument. Like she doesn’t necessarily know how to play an instrument but you can bet she at least knows the phantom’s theme on it.)

my theatre kid side is rlly coming thru in this oops

also if anyone wants to know the specific albums (bc a lot of them have more than one recording) of the musical that I prefer and am thinking of as I write this then check below ‘keep reading’

beetlejuice/hamilton/anastasia all only have one - the original bway cast

Jekyll and Hyde - ‘Jekyll and Hyde: The Gothic Musical Thriller’ (the 1995 one with Anthony Warlow as J/H)

Six - ‘Six: the musical (studio cast recording)’ sorry to the Broadway cast lovers, I prefer the og Brit one bc it feels weird to hear them with American accents to me

Dear Evan Hansen - the original Broadway cast recording, not the movie one

Heathers - Original West end cast. Again sorry to all the ppl that prefer the off broadway one, west end heathers ver till I die, it’s just better like ‘never shut up again’? I say no? I’m sorry it’s just better, no matter how much u say ‘blue’ is better than ‘your welcome’

Moulin Rouge - original Broadway cast, as much as I love Nicole Kidman I just prefer the bway cast recording to the movie recs

Jesus Christ Superstar - ‘Jesus Christ Superstar (Remastered 2005)’ the one with the 1996 London cast, it’s just my favourite album of it because of the song arrangement

Hadestown - original Broadway cast recording (I feel like ppl don’t rlly listen to the concept album anymore bc it’s just so wildly different from how the actual show music ended up sounding, I do actually quite like it but the musical ver is better in my opinion)

Les Mis - holy shit there’s a lot of albums for this one, tbh I’m not thinking of a specific one but maybe the 2010 London recording - the live one(?) I just quite like it but tbh I listen to a diff album each time I swear 😭

Phantom of the Opera - the original 1986 London cast one bc I just prefer it to the movie

30 notes · View notes

blithesharem · 6 months

Note

Barbatos 🌂

Okay so forgive me because all I could think of when I saw this was how much Barbatos probably enjoys the musical Singin' in the Rain. I feel like he secretly (not so secretly?) is a huge broadway/live theater fan. He certainly has memorized the main dance number.

So I'm using this as an excuse to do an entirely indulgent Bros + Extras HC post:

What is their favorite musical?

Lucifer: Les Misérables. Happy endings where? He appreciates the nuanced plot and relates to all the bullshit the leads have to deal with. He gets teary at the end but will never let a soul see. Except perhaps you. Perhaps.

Mammon: Newsies. A bunch of scrappy up start business boys coming together to demand some extra coin for their hard work? What’s not to like? I mean, if you asked him he’d deny enjoying musicals at all, but we’ve all heard him singing the lyrics under his breath.

Leviathan: Six. History but turned into an idol concert? His dream. For a period he got way into learning everything there was to know about Henry VIII’s six wives and he and Satan were insufferable, spouting facts to anyone who would listen.

Satan: Phantom of the Opera. A classic, and for a reason. He admires the impact it had on contemporary theater and he claims to relate to the Phantom…but you know better. Once he admitted to you that his real favorite was Wicked, and you suspect he sees himself in Elphaba more than he may be ready to admit.

Asmodeus: Chicago, of course. Razzle Dazzle? When You’re Good to Mama? CELL BLOCK TANGO? This is the most Asmo-coded musical to ever grace the stage. You know he’s just WAITING for the excuse to force his brothers to dress up and perform with him. He'd be satisfied if you'd settle for a private performance as well.

Beelzebub: Beel has a hard time with live theater, because it’s a long time to sit without any concessions to get him through. Watching a performance on TV or as a movie though he’s happy with. His personal favorite is Peter Pan. He likes the Lost Boys the best, a group of brothers all happy together (and Wendy too of course). Also, he knows it doesn't count...but that food scene in Hook? Nice.

Belphegor: Heathers. What can he say, he likes the bitchiness. Also he always thought J.D kinda had a point. He likes to imagine that he and Veronica blow up the school and run away together to live happily ever after in a sort of a twisted Bonnie and Clyde way. Anyway, how about those uniforms? Any chance of you wearing one of those sometime ha ha…?

Diavolo: The Lion King. Oh man oh man Diavolo loves The Lion King. Does he frequently tease Barbatos (and sometimes Lucifer) about being his Zazu? Absolutely. Was Nala his first not-so-secret crush? Oh yes. Does he wish he had a dad like Mufasa? …Well, let’s not worry about that. Diavolo loves every minute of the play, but he openly weeps at the end when Simba takes his place as king.

Barbatos: Singin’ in the Rain. The classic aesthetic, themes of struggling with adjustment in a changing world, a triumphant ending...it's a bit of an escapism pleasure for Barbatos. Not to mention, he's happy for any excuse to dress up and go out on the town with you on his arm.

Solomon: Moulin Rouge. Solomon is a romantic at heart, but he’s a romantic who knows that all too often, romances are tragedies wearing a mask. He enjoys indulging in the sweetness of the love story, the hopeful crescendo, before the fall into the reality of loss. He finds it depressing in a comforting way, like an old friend waving hello from across the street. As time with you goes on however, he finds it’s becoming harder to watch through to the end…Perhaps Beauty and the Beast is more to his new tastes?

Simeon: Waitress. Simeon, like Lucifer and Solomon, enjoys the bittersweetness. He likes that it doesn’t shy away from the messiness of human connection. As an angel, it’s fascinating, like a fruit he can never know the flavor of. However, unlike the other men, Simeon likes a happy ending, and the ending of Waitress makes him choke up for different reasons. If Luke asks, however, his favorite is Matilda.

Luke: Annie. Little kids being rascals and naughty with the sweetness of a tender adoption story? It makes him feel warm and fuzzy (and mischievous) every time. Knows all the words to every song though he won’t admit it in front of Mammon.

#I SPENT WAY TOO LONG ON THIS #obey me #obey me hcs #blithe hcs #obey me solomon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me beelzebub #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me asmodeus #obey me barbatos #obey me simeon #obey me diavolo

30 notes · View notes

ghostly-piano · 8 months

Text

Andrew Lloyd Weber Is the Greatest Musical Theater Overturist of All Time.

Okay, so, yeah.

Overtures. We all know them, we all acknowledge their existence (sometimes). And...that's about it. When it comes to Broadway musicals, the overture is becoming an outdated technique. There has been a rise in shows that instead of on an overture, just jump into the show's opening number, And for those shows that keep this format, how often is this overture added to the cast album? Yeah. Think about that.

When I say overture, what comes to mind? I'll tell you right now, actually. The Phantom of the Fucking Opera. I'll be the first to say that I believe Phantom in it's book and lyrics is weaker than most people believe it is, but there's something about that overture. The way it has cemented itself into musical theater history with the dark, electronic chords and harpsichord panic above is completely incredible and the in the case of almost any other composer, completely weird and forgettable.

I have to preface this by saying my appreciation for this overture was completely neutral until this past April. I was aware of its existence and that was about it. Then I watched it live. I had the incredible opportunity to see Phantom in Her Majesty's Theater in London mere weeks before it became His Majesty's Theater, which is completely off-topic but I'm proud of it. Before seeing the show, I had never listened to more than the titular song and like Music of the Night like once.

Guys. Present me cannot listen to the Phantom overture without getting full body chills. For those who have not seen the show, right as the show opens (pre-overture, which is an interesting choice), there is an auction being held for things from the old opera house. Everything is covered with tarps that read the names of each object. The largest, in the center, reads 'CHANDELIER'. After a short scene I'm not going to get into, the tarp is ripped from the chandelier, which begins to spark and flicker. Suddenly, the overture begins and the chandelier is thrust into the air, lighting to its full glory. Jesus Christ.

Chills chills chills chills forever and ever. Now, is the overture greater because of its staging? Oh, yes, 100%. And is it maybe the best overture ever? Yeah, maybe, but we must realize that there are other factors that make it feel this way- among these are its incredible staging as well as its icon status.

You know what overture doesn't have icon status that fully deserves it? Scroll up 2 paragraphs, right there at the end. Yeah. Jesus Christ Superstar.

I am in full belief that anyone who says they hate Jesus Christ Superstar is one of two people: A. The Person Who Has Never Listened To Jesus Christ Superstar, and B., Mean Girls Obsessionists (not to rag on Mean Girls like that, but hear me out for a moment). I am using Mean Girls as a blanket for contemporary musical theatre, with it's pop influences, clean, almost emotionless instrumentations, and sterilized pop belts. Especially that last bit.

I Hate Sterilized Musical Theater Belting.

Jesus Christ Superstar opens with a single distorted guitar riff. It's heavy, odd, and dark. Everything about this overture is rushed, imperfect, but so filled with emotion. You can feel the panic coming from the whole pit around the 1:30 mark, before it fizzles into the Heaven on Their Minds riff, which is just so fucking cool. I always encourage fans of 70s rock and roll to give the original concept album (The Only Real Jesus Christ Superstar Recording) a listen. I have also seen Superstar, though in just a small regional production (which was fantastic, stop immediately judging regional productions just because they're regional productions). It bursts into the motif of Superstar, the blazing gates of heaven melody that just completely blows you away upon first listen.

So here's your homework, if you made it to the end of this- Listen to Jesus Christ Superstar. Please.

That's all! Feel free to repost or comment or whatever and argue with me please!!!

TLDR: The best overtures of all time are from Phantom of the Opera and Jesus Christ Superstar and also you should love Jesus Christ Superstar as much as I do.

#phantom of the opera #erik the phantom #christine daae #alw #andrew lloyd webber #overture #theatre #musicals #musical theatre #broadway #west end musicals #west end #jesus christ #jesus chris superstar #musical theater #theater kid #rant #essay

19 notes · View notes

tgarrett26 · 10 months

Note

I have an idea for the plot that he would show up with Scott or Carly at stage door after a show, but a prompt would be if you had certain quotes in mind or something./// I have no idea but that is up to you probably a singing lyric from Hamilton who lives who does who tells your story 😅

Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again

It’s always been common for your family to attend your show, they’ve been to many performances of Phantom Of The Opera where you play a young Christine Daae. The show is a classic in many means which means it’s an Evans family obligation. But since the show is coming to the end of its long, over three-decade run, they’ve made it their mission to go to at least one weekly show.

Today was a Tuesday (luckily not matinee) night performance where it’s Chris’ turn to attend the show. It’s typical for him to be busy, but after missing his turn for the past three weeks due to a filming complication, he was able to come just the day after they wrapped.

After the long show-of many to come-you come to the East stage door while the cooling feeling of toning liquid and moisturizer make your skin tingle in the chilling weather. Family isn’t always allowed backstage right after shows, but the security team has always been good at permitting your family to hide when crowds get too close or demanding.

After you’ve signed autographs and taken so many pictures you have light spots in your vision, you look past the road to see your oldest siblings, Chris and Carly. He’s holding a small bouquet of flowers with a nervous smile on his face while she’s beaming by his side, her arm linked in his.

Without any worries, you flee from the building and run past an alley of New York traffic to pounce your siblings. Chris manages to catch you while Carly laughs to herself and gently holds your arm as it’s around your brother.

“You did so good in there. It was hard to believe it was my baby sister up there until that grin took over at curtain call.” he muffles over your shoulder

You wiggle in his grasp, thrilled with excitement and joy at the fact that your brother is home.

“I told you I was coming tonight, didn’t I?” he asks and laughs

“Yes! You did, but you know after those times it’s no promise.”

“Well, it’s a promise now. I’m not due back until the spring, so you’ve got me for the next couple months.”

You only hug him tighter, truly having trouble believing he’s actually here after so much time away. He reciprocates the action, wordlessly grateful he’s back with his family and away from the cramped trailer he’s had to stay in for the past several weeks and months.

“Ma’s waiting back at the hotel for you. She told me not to tell you, but I figured it’s much less a surprise than my being here.” he reasons as you both pull away

“Nah. But I’m glad you told me. I would have thought she’d sneak into my apartment.”

“That’s Scott and Shanna’s thing-and occasionally mine.”

A smile tugs on you as you adjust the strap of your duffle bag over your shoulder, but your older brother takes it for himself, soon extending his right hand with the now smooshed flowers in it.

“Hold these instead.” he suggests

Your smile only gets bigger, grateful not only that your brother and sister are here, but that they’re as kind and welcoming as any kid would hope for. The three of you begin your walk, trailing down street by street as lights and strangers fill the city for the night.

“They’re limp.” you mention as one flower bends at the stem

“Well, maybe next time take them from me before you trample me on the sidewalk.”

“Where are we going anyway?”

“Dinner. I may not be the mature one of us, but I bet our girl hasn’t eaten a good meal in a while. And before you say you eat just fine-don’t pull that ‘take-out’ line on me again. It didn’t work on dad and it’s not gonna work on me.” he explains

“It was Scott, actually, but okay.”

“Haha.” he fake cackles

You shake your head and look off and away, trying to ignore the fact that while a good amount of New York didn’t know or didn’t care who you are, your brother has to hide under a ball cap. The fact that people have to do this as a precaution, in order to maintain personal space from strangers who don’t obey manners or boundaries, makes me feel unwell.

“I brought cookies from Shanna’s though.” he adds

“For the sake of yourself, you should hope you didn’t eat them.”

“One, but I was tired from the drive. Okay-two but it was because I got up too early for the hotel’s breakfast. She sent like ten though, you can spare a few.”

“Christopher Robin!” I exclaim and smack his left hand

“Well?”

“The only reason she’s not wrestling you after that is because she cried calling you last week when you were gone for Thanksgiving.” our sister mentions

“Carly! How could you?!” I worry somewhat jokingly

“It’s alright, Honey. You just missed him is all, it’s okay.”

I try to brush it off, but our brother seems to detect something and takes my bag from his left shoulder to place it on his right. He puts his left arm around me and continues to guide us down the road, leading us to dinner as the mature one of the group (surprise).

“I’m only letting you keep that there because I’m always wishing you were somehow here again.” I mutter

#chris evans x sister!reader #broadway

23 notes · View notes

intimidatingpuffinstudios · 1 year

Note

Lol don't be me

Don't be me imagine my mc (the one that's romancing Manerkol because yes I must romance all options and multiple save due to characters/writing being that good) having one of those ball dance scenes *cough* similar to one from Haunting mansion or Labyrinth in book 3

(pss this line from Labyrinth called 'Within You' fits too dang well from Manerkol and mc relationship but I especially like these lines)

'How you turn my world

You precious thing

You starve and near exhaust me'

'Everything I've done

I've done for you

I move the stars for no one'

'You've run so long

You've run so far

Your eyes can be so cruel

Just as I can be so cruel'

'Live without your sunlight

Love without your heartbeat

I, I can't live within you'

I will absolutely be you, friend 🤩🤣 These kind of gothic ball scenes are exactly the kind of vibe I'm going for!!

And the Phantom of the Opera one... But yeah these lyrics you included are SPOT ON!

I guess all obsessive and possessive ROs have the same vibe? 🤣☠️🤪

#the soul stone war #tssw #manerkol #interactive fiction #can't WAIT for the ball tbh

73 notes · View notes

pursuitseternal · 1 year

Note

Questions for fic writers: 1, 3, 5 (with Beautiful Creature of Darkness), 23, 30, 35, 45 & 48

So excited! My first ask (of course it helps that the newbie here opened it up lol)

1. What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work?

Honestly, I’m really impressing myself (with all humility) with “Beautiful Creature of Darkness”. It’s combining two of my fandoms. My life long fandom of Phantom of the Opera and Saurondriel! I think it’s the best writing, the deepest characterization and motivation, and the spiciest scenes I have put forth.

3. What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics?

I try to have a lot of the five senses worked into my writing. I also tend to write very comfortably for a single pairing, like a deeper-dive into emotion and attraction and lust and fulfillment thereof 😉. I work in periphery characters, but often I feel like it’s harder for me to care about them? For tropes, forced proximity (trope) or having to work together for a mission (trope) that becomes love.

5. What do you wish someone would ask you about “Beautiful Creature of Darkness?” Answer it now!

Hmmm tricky… I wish someone would ask what my influences are… I am trying to weave in Phantom of the Opera allusions: lyrics from the musical or images from the movie/ book. I am also trying to work in the gothic literature tones and vibes, thunder, lighting and a LOT OF HOT SPICE. LIKE GHOST PEPPERS Y’ALL. If that sounds good, just jump right to my hot Vampire-Sauron chapter “To Whom You Belong”

23. What's a trope, AU, or concept you've never written, but would like to?

Sherlock Holmes! 🧐 Have always loved/lusted over that character. @thegreatzombieartisan posted a prompt once to cross Sherlock Holmes and Haladriel, and once I get almost done with “Beautiful Creature” I plan to flesh that one out! Maybe. Jewel heist? Add in some Silmarillion??

30. Have you ever written something that was out of your comfort zone? If so, what was it, and how did it affect your approach to writing fic thereafter?

Yes, when I was first writing, I started a fic to push myself out of my comfort zone for writing smut. I tried to include all kinds of bdsm and dom/sub situations. These have continued to play into my sex scenes. The most uncomfortable scene I did involved non-con. While I’ve still played around with it, it’s something I’ve tended to clarify in my scenes, that encounters may be conflicted or regretted, but not forced anymore. Nothing against those who write it or read it, but I tend to seek happy endings, and those are hard to overcome I think for love interests.

35. What aspects of your writing are completely unlike your real life?

Almost everything! I don’t have magic or wealth. While I did marry the angsty, brooding love of my life, he is blonde and blue eyed, not tall, dark, or morally grey 😝.

45. What's something you've improved on since you started writing fic?

I mean, I’m in my thirties now and I started writing when I was… 16? So I’d like to think everything. One main goal I have always had since taking fiction writing at a college level was to include all five senses. Things have taste and smell that often get neglected. And I also have a background in music, so I tend to try to use those terms to describe sounds. I think it adds to a reader’s understanding.

48. What's the last fic you read? Do you recommend it?

Literally just skipped between three fics:

One from my asker: @iamstartraveller776 “Next to You” for Captain Swan shipping from Once Upon a Time. WOULD TOTALLY RECOMMEND.

One from @haladriel her new work “The Sun Rising” WOULD ALSO TOTALLY RECOMMEND.

And lastly @myfavouritelunatic “The Blacksmith” my first and favorite venture into Sauron x reader pairing and I’m hooked WOULD ALSO TOTALLY RECOMMEND.

Thank you for asking, @iamstartraveller776

#ask me questions #questions for writers #box is open now so bring on the questions #the rings of power #haladriel fanfic #haladriel smut #fic rec #fic recs included

9 notes · View notes

princesssarisa · 2 years

Text

Character ask: Christine Daaé (The Phantom of the Opera)

Tagged by anonymous.

Andrew Lloyd Webber musical canon (the original only, not Love Never Dies), because I haven't read the novel.

Favorite thing about them: Her emotional journey and growth, as she starts out as a timid, naïve young girl left vulnerable by her father's death and afraid of yet captivated by her mysterious "Angel of Music," but by the end gains strength, sees the Phantom for who he is, and refuses to let him manipulate her anymore, yet still gives him her compassion, which moves him to set her free. The Phantom might be the title character, but Christine is the real protagonist, and though he might be the most complex character, she's the one with a character arc while he only changes at the very end.

Least favorite thing about them: While she's less helpless and passive than she's often thought to be, I agree with the common complaint that she does little of her own initiative, but spends most of the plot obeying or reacting to others.

Three things I have in common with them:

*I have brown hair. (Yes, I know she's blonde in the original book, but Sarah Brightman's brown curls have become the character's signature look in the musical.)

*I love music.

*I'm close to my father. (Thankfully, mine is still alive.)

Three things I don't have in common with them:

*I"m not a professional opera singer.

*I'm not an orphan.

*I've never been in a love triangle.

Favorite line: The lyrics to "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again"

And from the Final Lair scene:

"This haunted face holds no horror for me now.

It's in your soul that the true distortion lies."

and

"Pitiful creature of darkness,

What kind of life have you known?

God grant me courage to show you

You are not alone."

brOTP: Meg Giry, who is not going to kill her.

OTP: Raoul.

nOTP: The Phantom – sorry, phans.

Random headcanon: She's going to be happily married to Raoul (who won't become an alcoholic or a gambler), any child she has will be his, she'll always remember the Phantom but will never see him again, and she'll eventually die in her 60s of natural causes. In other words, Love Never Dies will never happen.

Unpopular opinion:

(1) She only betrays the Phantom once, after inner conflict about it and arguably with moral justification: when she publicly unmasks him during the Don Juan Triumphant performance. She doesn't betray him earlier by wanting to leave the Paris Opera to escape from him, and she certainly doesn't betray him by choosing Raoul as her romantic partner! It's only the Phantom's unhealthy perspective that views those things as betrayal.

(2) Her complex relationship with the Phantom, with its blend of enthrallment, fear, gratitude, anger, pity, etc., is interesting enough without interpreting her as being in love with him.

Song I associate with them:

"Think of Me"

youtube

"Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again"

youtube

Favorite pictures of them:

Sarah Brightman:

Rebecca Caine:

Glenda Balkan:

Sara Jean Ford:

Sandra Joseph:

Ana Marina:

Anna O'Byrne:

Sierra Boggess:

Samantha Hill:

Emmy Rossum in the film version:

#character ask #the phantom of the opera #christine daae #musical theatre #andrew lloyd webber #ask game #fictional characters

34 notes · View notes

dennydraws · 8 months

Note

AAAA got to join after seeing the fave animal ask!! For some reason when I saw you mention you like/liked parrots I wanted to share that I have 2 cockatiels here at home haha (my irl friends don't really like them because they are loud but that's okay, the birdies massively have helped on my mental health:D) Also uhhhh idk what to ask, quick, think... well, not really original I guess, but, does Aryllin have some more things you could share about her maybe? Like little habits she has or how they met with Claude?

THAT'S SO COOL! What's their names? I hope they keep sparking joy for many years ahead! :D I remember a neighbour who had some colorful birds as pets but I was also like 4 and my memories aren't super clear ... I'm not sure what type they were but I super loved going there and staring at them as a kid!

Hmm! Ary asks! Let me think... XD It's a little funny I made her on spot and not really thinking how and what she is like when I started playing and then, lore happened! But that's also the best way to shape an OC into these kinda games, I think!

The Aryllin Lore Bits!! I made her before reading any lore on the angel race but now that I had... I think she is Miracle Bringer who just enjoys seeing things grow and flourish! I would think she has some kind of plant affinity given her leafy halo! She is quite oblivious but also curious about everything around her. I don't know how lore breaking it is but I kinda see her as angel who directly came to the terrestrial plane rather than being born there.

Because she was advised to eat at least once from everything (given how that rises status in the game!) she probably bit on Claude's key due to it's weird shape and being unsure what it was before he said it's a key ... and yes it's real. Quite the embarrassing moment :D;;

A friend suggested she should be able to sing to go along with Claude writing music and I'm totally going with it now! She makes up lyrics to his music and idly sings them while working on the farm, completely unaware how he finds this so charming. (His angel of music? Am I going to descend into Phantom of the Opera aesthetics now??)

She is fascinated with things that grow and bloom. A little seed that can become a big tree? Amazing!

She appears graceful and meek but she would rush and attack in a heart beat if something endangers her precious sprouts and sometimes those sprouts are precious people. I think she sees herself as a guardian angel ! :D Because she can heal herself with the miracle spell, she doesn't really have good perception of danger. She heals fast so who cares if you get a little broken on the way?

How did she meet Claude? I think she spot him first when he was in town staring at the water. And his dismissive attitude made her go "Hmmm something is off here." I think she saw him as this wilted plant that turned into a cactus in order to survive and now no one dares get near to water him a bit! She made it part of her routine to get to know him - one small step at a time!

I don't think she fell for him until she started to notice him smiling more. She caught herself thinking about him more than anyone else and being in love is quite a new emotion to her. She too is a little embarrassed about how to handle it! :D;;

She thinks he is a beautiful little plant with many bulbs he is afraid to let bloom because he thinks the world only wants one specific flower of him and nothing else.

#Replies #Thank you for the ask!#A bit late as I just got to work and fuel myself with coffee when I saw the ask xD;;#It made me wait a bit and think hmm yeah this checks for Ary!

6 notes · View notes

thekimspoblog · 9 months

Text

My WIPs (or at least the ones I can remember)

Portal:

"Opera Beneath Aperture": Where the Geekenders version is vaudeville, mine is more pop-opera in the style of "Phantom" or "Wicked". Basically just remixing the soundtrack and adding lyrics. There will be comedy, but at the end of the day, playing the melodrama of "Portal 2" straight is just easier. (Progress 30%)

"Rat Race": An homage to the US "The Office", but one by one the characters are axed off as Aperture becomes a more and more dystopian place to work. (Progress 10%)

"Portrait of a Lady: A Romanticized Horror": Prequel character-study on Caroline, obviously. She's preppy like Kim, but being born in the 1930's she's more sexually repressed, and therefore even more of a manic-pixie-nightmare-girl. She blacks out and murders her gynecologist for malpractice in Chapter 3; yeah it's that kind of a story. Also she's pretty racist? To the extent that any person from that era running a dystopian secessionist megacorporation would have to be. (Progress 50%)

Better Call Saul:

"Sheepdog": A traumatic event causes Kim to question the nature of her own reality. We the fans love Kim... but we do not respect her. (Progress 50%)

"Slippin Kimmy": This is my SERIOUS entry for what I think should happen next in the story. Basically a lot of white-hat Heisenberging around. She stops a shooting at a Planned Parenthood in episode 2; yeah it's that kind of a story. If that's what "WYCARO" ends up being, I'll be happy. If not? Hey it's free money, Vince. I'll just leave it on the table 'til you're done being done again. (Progress 5%)

"Last Clear Chance Doctrine": In 6x05 Jimmy calls Kim to say he's going to be late; Howard wants to fight him in the ring. Kim says she'll be right over. (Progress 0%)

"Just Take the Money": Parallel "Breaking Bad" timeline, where Walt accepts Eliot's hand-out. It'll make you wish he had stuck to cooking meth. I'm probably going to include a subplot where Saul bangs Skyler cus it makes me smile. (Progress 0%)

Crossovers/Other:

Steven Universe: "Warp Congestion": Steven figures out how to remove his gem and live as a normal human for extended periods of time. And if you think this sounds like a contrivance to write Rose Quartz back into the story... it is! Pearl was supposed to hold onto the gem for the day, but as the administrative headaches of helping to keep Little Homeworld organized pile up, Rainbow Quartz starts to revert back to v 1.0. (Progress 5%)

Steven Universe: "Roughhousing": You ever have those moments with your spouse, where one minute you're joking around and everything seems fine, and then one little comment gets taken wrong and suddenly everything gets a bit ugly? Even Ruby and Sapphire have those moments. And it made for one hell of a night at Beach City Underground Wrestling. (Progress 100%... but it's in the format of a Torts practice exam. Yes really)

Barry: "A Plan for Sally": My OC, Rita, has been going around to various netflix shows and selling life-insurance and family planning policies to the love-interest characters in crime dramas. Well, Rita will call them "insurance policies"; what they really are are Faustian bargains. If you thought the ending to "Barry" was weird, rushed, or maybe even a little saccharine, Rita is why. (Progress 0%)

Midnight Mass: "The Girl Who Ate the World": Erin Greene wakes up lying in the grass to find herself - not just alive - but sparkling in the sun like a million little diamonds. It's a miracle! Second only to the bad-miracle of news that the Angel survived and is transforming people in the Portland subway system as we speak. Rita is in this one too. (Progress 50%)

"Crack Fic: Torts and Torts": Kim Wexler, Dolores Abernathy, and Love Quinn attend a mobwives convention in Napoli. After a few drinks, Kim and Love get into a tense conversation about dead brothers, and more specifically when/how a spouse is at-fault for the death of a brother-in-law. Kim forgets the argument after she sobers up, but Dolores warns her to watch her back. Sure enough, Love attacks Kim with a katana and they must battle it out as frenemies. (Progress 2%)

"300 Million Cowboys": I re-write Better Call Saul as a pulpy beach-read about vampires. With enough changes to the plot that it can be legally sold on Kindle. Kim is now named Jean Troy. Jimmy is now named Sammy McCormick. Mike and Chuck have been merged into one character. Kevin and Howard have been merged into one character. (Progress 2%)

#portal 2 #better call saul #kim wexler #slippin kimmy #wycaro get hype #breaking bad #gretchen schwartz #caroline portal #steven universe #rainbow quartz #barry hbo #midnight mass #love quinn #netflix you #westworld #wip #current wip #my wips #better call saul vampire au

2 notes · View notes

the-rockstar-lestat · 2 years

Note

what do you think about your musical? really wanna hear your thought about hugh panaro playing you

Are you ready for the truth? Can you handle the truth?

Hugh Panaro is my favorite Lestat. The Forgotten Lestat. The Un-Lestat. The one no one remembers or saw or brings up in comparison posts. I can't tell you why, I can't put my finger on it.

Actually, that's a lie, I can. He has a natural stage presence and charisma that I love. He smiles and laughs a lot--which, ask Louis, I do constantly. The more inappropriate the situation is to laugh at the more I'm going to laugh. He has a habit of sitting oddly on chairs. He grabs both his Nicki and Louis and tosses them around like a cross between a golden retriever who thinks he's tiny and a Chihuahua who wants attention now. He declaims his lines like a theater kid who just discovered Hamlet.

I love him.

I didn't get to see him in the ill-advised musical, but I had the fortune to see him twice in the title role in the Phantom of the Opera, and he remains my favorite phantom.

(ah, RIP phantom. It's been running almost as long as I've been awake.)

And of course, I love his voice, and his vocal performance. This is something I don't get to compare to the other Lestats, of course, but I LOVE his phrasing, his ornamentation, and of course, that operatic tenor with enough of the rock star sensibility one gets from cutting one's teeth on rock musicals.

In short, he deserved a better musical.

I was about to write "other than that I hate the musical," but honestly, I don't. Is it completly, utterly, unabashedly, awful? Oh, yes. Of course. It's mind bogglingly awful, every decision was the wrong one, and there isn't much redeeming it. If I had to pick I'd say the lyrics are the greatest sin, but everything from score to book to direction to set design was so mind boggling-ly odd I can't figure out how it happened.

But it doesn't seem from lack of trying. I believe, whole heartidly, that everyone on that production team loved the source material and wanted to do it justice. I love the idea of getting Elton John, a gay, camp, rock star who had experience writing for Broadway to write the score, and I think he really cared about the project. And of course, all the actors are doing their absolute best.

I feel about it rather the opposite of the new show. I feel everyone was trying so, so hard to get it right, while being faithful to the source material and just.... everything went wrong. Some might use it as an argument that you can't adapt my books faithfully and have it work. I think the first problem is you can't compress two 300 page novels into one two hour music without hitting a lot of problems, and it went down from there. I find it almost endearing in how terrible it is.

To be fair, there are a few moments I like. Both of Claudia's songs are quite good (ignore some of the more terrible lines in both. The lyrics here ...are not redeemable). Lestat's act one solo, "Right Before My Eyes" is very good, and has some of the better lyrics in the show. And of course, Hugh Panaro absolutely kills it. He still preforms it in concert sometimes, I hear. And Louis and I are (ironically? I'm not even sure any more) quite fond of Embrace It. Sue us.

For those of you who haven't heard of or seen this monstrosity of a musical, or Hugh Panaros performance, I've left a bootleg below. "Right Before My Eyes" is at about the 24 minute mark, "Embrace It" is at 1 hour 19 or so. (I love him flopping down on the couch and his singing "torturous!")

youtube

Anyway, this musical is terrible and I can't hate it. I merely call it Ill-advised. Not that I think I shouldn't HAVE a musical, I just think this wasn't it.

And I wanted to write the score. I could do better. I actually tried to "fix " it and wrote a few songs myself, got bored and gave up.

#the ill advised musical #hugh panaro #once an actor always an actor

11 notes · View notes

deepmochi · 1 year

Note

💚

Hey Mochi Chan, do you know anything with the Phantom of the Opera? If so can you please do quotes or song lyrics from it? If you don’t know phantom of the opera then can you please do quotes from Ponyo? Love ya!

Hello anon 🐥

You called me Mochi chan that's cute. My otaku's heart is soft. I already did Ponyo quotes, and I don't know if you send this first or later. Tumblr mess my asks a lot. So, I will post about the Phantom of the Opera. Just to clarify, I haven't watch the movie or read the book. So, just take what resonates.

The owner of these images is @nipuni In ig as nipunidraws

Read: You can check your sun sign but the Phantom gives me romantic dark vibes, so check Venus too.

Aries: "You are crying! You are afraid of me! And yet I am not really wicked".

Taurus: "Now I want to live like everybody else. I want to have a wife like everybody else and to take her out on Sundays. I have invented a mask that makes me look like anybody. People will not even turn round in the streets. You will be the happiest of women. And we will sing, all by ourselves, till we swoon away with delight.”

Gemini: "She is singing to-night to bring the chandelier down!”

Cancer: "He often comes when they least expect him, when they are sad and disheartened.”

Leo: "When you are in love, you expect nothing but love in return".

Virgo: "No one ever sees the Angel; but he is heard by those who are meant to hear him.”

Libra: "All I wanted was to be loved for myself".

Scorpio: "When you give in to the melody, you find out the demons you never knew you had in you".

Sagittarius: “I can’t go on living like this, like a mole in a burrow!”

Capricorn: “I tore off my mask so as not to lose one of her tears... and she did not run away!...and she did not die!... She remained alive, weeping over me, weeping with me. We cried together! I have tasted all the happiness the world can offer.”

Aquarius: ″‘Your soul is a beautiful thing, child.’ replied the grave man’s voice, ‘and I thank you. No emperor received so fair a gift. The angels wept to-night.”

Pisces: "Are people so unhappy when they love?”

“Yes, Christine, when they love and are not sure of being loved”.

Take care,love 🧚🏼‍♀️💚

Source:

#astrology #the phantom of the opera #zodiac #astrology community #fun #fun post #quotes

12 notes · View notes

arknights-imagines · 2 years

Note

Hh exe :) are you enjoying is2?

Sgshs anon, hiya 💞!!

Omg yes, I most definitely am 🥳!!! In fact, Integrated Strategies 2 has to be one of my favourites additions to Arknights aaa!

I hope it's okay that I use your question as an opportunity to ramble a little about Integrated Strategies 2 svshs... 👉👈!!

As Phantom is one of my favourite Operators, I was v v intrigued by Integrated Strategies 2 and I certainly wasn't disappointed ✨!! The theme is super awesome and is captured perfectly I feel like, and Phantom's story was presented in a way that was v v compelling!

I'm not particularly interested in finishing any of the alternate endings outside of Crimson Finale svshs, however my most favourite completed adventure so far is this one where 'Rico mostly took on defeating Phantom (I had ASPD-increasing and Spreadshooter-buffing Collectibles so 'Rico was insanely strong lololsbs)!!

Like I've mentioned before, I'm a v v big fan of the 'Phantom of the Opera' musical that Phantom's character takes lots of inspiration from!! There are some small references to 'Phantom of the Opera' in Integrated Strategies 2 as well, and I enjoy seeing them lots omg!

Mainly I noticed that the recently changed ending Operation names ('The Point of No Return', 'All I Ask of You', 'Twisted Every Way') share titles with songs from the musical svshs 😮✨!!!

I also v v much enjoy all the small descriptions of every one of the Collectibles as they sometimes give small bits of lore regarding Terra or our Operators!!

Some of favourite Collectibles are these ones here svhss:

I think the ones about Miss Christine are super cute aaa 🥺💞!! And the description of the Broke Mask that belongs to Phantom himself also appears to be another small reference to 'Phantom of the Opera', from these lyrics here:

"Those who have seen your face

Draw back in fear

I am the mask you wear

It's me they hear

Your (my) spirit and my (your) voice

In one combined"

And in addition to all of that, the new CG art for Integrated Strategies 2 is super breathtaking and phenomenal aaa 🥳✨!!! Two of my favourites are these ones:

Anywho sbsjs 👉👈!!! I'm v v happy with Integrated Strategies 2 and I'll definitely keep playing it often lolol~ I hope you and everyone else are also enjoying Phantom and Crimson Solitaire 👍!!

Ty for your ask anon 🥳! I hope you'll stick around and please have a great day 🌸!!

#Hypergryph always delivers great work sbsjs it's clear that lots of thought and care went into Integrated Strategies 2 🥳!!!#arknights #arknights imagines #not an imagine #arknights x reader #inbox #inbox reply #anon #anon reply #phantom and crimson solitaire

11 notes · View notes

malicious-compliance-esq · 2 years

Text

Meta: "In His Own Image"

Without further ado, welcome to Malicious.

Read “In His Own Image” now on Drive or inline directly below per your pleasure!

This meta offers exposition on Black Jack’s character and motivations through the lens of a fic concept I'm working on drawing parallels between Outlander and The Phantom of the Opera.

The inline version below is just the body text of the meta. Hop over to Drive for enhanced content that reads more like an AO3 fic file—and of course, a soundtrack song!

After the inline meta, there's also some bonus exposition on publication formats in a more general sense. Consider it a bit of early installment weirdness from before I got active on the Archive. ***

Ye Randallites by name, here be some deep thoughts on dissociative identity and the physical body that originated with narrative flow development for the “Precious Little Ingénue” diptych. While ruminating on this I switched from listening to The Phantom of the Opera original cast recording to Everything but the Girl’s Walking Wounded album and especially “The Heart Remains a Child” because the themes I was reflecting on reminded me so much of that song and really the whole album. “Good Cop, Bad Cop”? Try #ACAB, quite literally—All Characters Are Bisexual. What did you think I meant?

(Seriously though, that too. In this house we vanquish our invaders. Ugh, phrasing!)

I noted in my working document for “Precious Little Ingénue” that the “I am the mask you wear / It’s me they hear” lines from the “Phantom of the Opera” song lyrics—included as the soundtrack for the first installment of the two-part arc—should be referenced explicitly in-story with the “how’s my handiwork looking” concept about the extreme scarring on Jamie’s back. This got me thinking extensively on the finer points of why Black Jack cares so much about seeing the lasting impacts of his violent behavior written in flesh.

BJR is established implicitly in show canon and even more so in book canon as having dissociative issues, which I incorporate as baseline characterization in my own takes on canon—though how integrated he is depends on the specific story/timeline/background. So it makes perfect sense that he can only have an integrated self-concept by seeing his work on others. It likewise makes sense that this matters most of all to him when he finds himself unable to elicit emotional responses from people whose attention and affection he craves.

This shows up in different ways—some more angsty/destructive and some more peaceful/constructive in various continuities of mine, and the scars on Jamie’s back themselves receive different treatment based on the specific characterization nuances for him in those different continuities. Here, the scarring on Jamie-evoking-Christine parallels the scarring on the Phantom from the original story behind the musical. So the music the Phantom writes for Christine parallels the scars Black Jack puts on Jamie for the world to see.

In both cases, public performance is involved—are you watching? And in both cases the “artist” wants their craft to be seen as an expy of themselves—a representation in which they are not broken and damaged, but rather cohesive and whole, and can be accepted as such. BJR is noted explicitly as dissociative, including a fair degree of depersonalization as commonly occurs from childhood trauma, in “Blood Is Thicker".

Although that arc does not share continuity with the one for "Precious Little Ingénue" necessarily, it deals with a lot of similar themes—establishes BJR as not being able to draw his own face without getting lost and having the image fall apart. He basically tries to put the pieces of himself together in physical media and cannot make them cohere. RIP BJR, you would’ve loved cubism.

All of this makes me think I should totally reference “Girl Before a Mirror” implicitly in some of the fics about him and Mary where he draws her while she is pregnant. This would be difficult to do explicitly within 18th century canon because Picasso didn’t exist yet, but I can still play with the concept and evoke some of the imagery and technique from the painting.

Hell, the official Picasso museum (also the bast damn visual art museum ever IMHO) is even in France just outside of Paris! And you can experience the museum different ways—you curate your own experience based on how you walk through the museum and a variety of other factors. Rather like what we in the Republic of Randall do with exploring the oft-referenced redemption potential—as well as the oft-referenced self-destruction potential ultimately realized in both the show and book canons—of an incredibly complex character who can fit so much trauma in him.

This parallels how BJR has different possibilities and futures because he is established in canon and by TM/RBM/DG as being incredibly complex and multifaceted but always having at least some possibility of redemption. Whether or not these possibilities ever bear fruit depends on the specific choices Black Jack makes within the circumstances surrounding him and the options others give him. That last bit shows up very explicitly in “As Long as You Follow” and does so in a way that relates strongly to the scars and dynamics surrounding them.

BJR “writing” on Jamie with a whip also parallels the way he eagerly embraces both Mary’s explicit invitation in “Mother Nature’s Writing” to write on her skin with henna ink as a means of celebrating how he is always present within her both on the surface and deeper within. In that series specifically and its general master continuity we get a lot of exploration (especially in the second part of that diptych itself given the immediate context of the story) about Black Jack’s overwhelmingly positive and affirming feelings towards stretch marks and other changes in Mary’s body that come from carrying his children.

It’s absolutely a more positive and explicitly consensual-from-the-start analogue of how Jamie’s scars come to take on more overtly similar meanings over time in that continuity and others as BJR makes different choices and establishes meaningful trust with Jamie. In each case the idea that scars are “dead flesh” gets refuted. Rather, they are flesh with new and different life that tells a more honest truth—something BJR innately appreciates given his own unusual but clearly established moral code in canon and his obsession with getting the truth out of others.

And again, in canon Dougal MacKenzie explicitly notes that the whipping incident at Fort William tells people everything they need to know not only about Black Jack but also about Jamie. Black Jack is bringing a truth out of Jaimie that Jamie isn’t ready to except about himself yet in the show timeline, which is part of why many of us find the dynamic between them so fascinating, and why over time Jamie becomes just as obsessed with BJR as BJR is with Jamie.

To that end, in “As Long as You Follow” BJR also writes in very temporary form on Jamie using the lead pencil he always carries in his waistcoat pocket. As this story forks off from the main show canon at the exact moment in S1E15 where BJR goes down to Jamie’s prison cell, it basically creates a foil to the branding sequence from the original episode. Instead of harming Jamie by convincing him to brand himself with Randall’s crest after the latter heated it in the brazier, BJR writes his initials on Jamie’s skin after drawing him.

Notably, rather than initiating the gesture himself, he instead writes on Jamie’s skin in response to Jamie’s own curiosity about whether the pencil works on other surfaces—and only after leaning closer and asking “may I?” before actually making contact. This exchange occurs in the broader context of a discussion about how Black Jack felt a need to stake a claim on Jamie even though only one of them was fully aware of their attraction to one another. Doesn’t imply BJR was the better-adjusted one between the two of them, mind—each of them is verra fucked up in their own ways throughout S1.

In fact, BJR’s musing to Jamie in the original S1E15 sequences spotlights this. “How does it feel to be alive and wear so much dead flesh?” is a question that pretty much everyone living with dissociative issues knows the answer to: all the pain in the world, and yet simultaneously nothing at all. Or to call up yet more Walking Wounded lyrics, this time from the title track: “There's resilience inside my face, but sometimes nothing.”

That also offers insight into why so many people with dissociation practice S&M and D/s. Again, personal experience proves very relevant—both about these general dynamics and about what happens when a person tries to ignore/repress those sides of themself.

An interesting aside here is that Black Jack‘s nickname also references the weapon of the same name. I don’t think this is accidental. Especially not when you consider the specific qualities that make a cosh weapon a blackjack. To put a verra fine point on it, a blackjack is defined as a hard steel rod encased inside soft leather. The inner core of the weapon is literally encased in dead flesh.

So in altering Jamie’s body with his violent actions, BJR is quite explicitly and viscerally molding Jamie in his own image—and thus actually being able to grasp that image in some meaningful way that he cannot do on his own, no matter how much he tries to through his art. He can only understand himself through his impact on other people. How positive or negative a direction that goes in for the various continuity time working within varies depending on a few different factors, and really offers a fascinating look into the many possibilities for the character.

And as many others have pointed out, Jamie also comes from an abusive home. The comment that based on his background he should have “gone for BJR with heart eyes” seems right on the money. But that’s only possible in any kind of sustained sense if BJR chooses to actually let Jamie in to see what lies beneath the dead mask he wears. The more I think about this, the more I think it explains why Tobias Menzies so explicitly played BJR’s physical presence with a smile that never reaches his eyes except in very certain circumstances.

Those dynamics in Menzies’s portrayal of Black Jack also explain why I noticed immediately that there was more than just familial support between him and Mary Hawkins in S2E12. If you freeze frame some of the moments where he’s looking at her directly, they prove verra telling. Literally the only other times we see light come into BJR’s eyes happen when he gets a chance to hurt Jamie or—and again, are you watching?—he appears in Jamie’s dreams looking blissfully happy and moaning “don’t stop” while Jamie makes love to him.

Alex Randall lampshades all this by talking about the “dark wall” Black Jack builds around himself to hide his better nature from the world. Likewise, Frank Randall’s subsequent story arc—no accident that we get an in-depth retrospective on his journey directly after BJR’s own plotline and life end—shows him getting progressively more split apart socially and emotionally over time. In the process, we watch the light that made him look so completely different from BJR despite being played by the same actor dimming within his eyes.

For all you fellow The Terror fans, this is also what makes all those visual memes contrasting Black Jack Randall with James Fitzjames so thoroughly effective—even for screen reader users given sufficiently insightful ALT text. Two period roles playing high-ranking British military officers—with long hair, traumatic pasts, identity issues aplenty about 100 years apart temporally—but completely different people. It creates a dramatic irony of sorts when considering the fact that many of us got into Outlander/BJR fandom through The Terror/JFJ fandom or vice versa.

For me it was the former—as much as I relate to much of what BJR experiences, having survived different but analogous forms of domestic abuse and ethnocentrist violence, I relate even more strongly to Fitzjames. Right up to the origin story revealed in S1E8 where he pours his heart out to Francis Crozier at the cairn of stones on King William Island. Having a secret other biological father and feeling like you have to work twice as hard to prove half as much about how you “fit” in familial and social spaces? Being much less white genealogically than you look physically? Wouldn’t know a thing about any of that.

Of course, I also wouldn’t know a good goddamned thing about any of the analogous “all vanity” dynamics with BJR’s deliberate obfuscation of his better nature—the tender underbelly of the toughness he tries to project.

Remember that according to Menzies, Black Jack quite earnestly means everything he says, even and perhaps especially when he seems to contradict himself from one minute to the next. When he tells Claire Beauchamp in S1E6 “I dwell in darkness madam, and darkness is where I belong” he is also telling himself this. More specifically, he’s reminding himself that any attempt to pursue the redemption he let himself contemplate in detail—with a dreamy look creeping up toward his dead eyes—just moments beforewould only bring failure and ruin.

Gentle readers, I have known these men. I have frittered away years of my patience and compassion on these men—and one particular one above all others who quite aptly was not the one who abused me for years—only to have them surrender to that same insidious fear that drives Black Jack to ride willingly to his own death at Culloden knowing full well what awaits him thanks to the very same person he sucker-punches for daring to make him imagine a better future.

One in which he starts the arduous uphill climb of making meaningful amends with Jamie before going back home to Mary and actually sticking around to face “the consequence of actually feeling”. (Name that Counting Crows song that will become verra important in a future Malicious fic in the “Blood Is Thicker” continuity, folks!) BJR goes to meet his maker feeling thoroughly convinced that the complete undoing of all his defenses awaiting him back at home would surely be worse.

This comes after watching the only person he has allowed himself to be truly vulnerable in loving and thus not harmed in the process—and to that point, note the brilliance of the sequence ad-libbed by Menzies in S2E12 of show canon—finally expire after significant suffering. BJR only engages in physical violence against Alex after he dies—because with the spirit that inhabited his brother’s body extinguished from the mortal world, the cadaver left behind becomes just another mocking reminder of BJR’s inadequacy.

Black Jack steps up to protect Mary and her unborn child because material generosity is the only way he has consistently felt able to express caring without doing terrible damage in the process. But he ultimately flees in terror (ahem) to die by the hands of the man who simultaneously represents his darkest desires and his deepest fears. So for all you who watched S3E3 and wondered if Frank’s death might have been a suicide of sorts, ask yourselves the same of BJR’s own exit to the battlefield at Culloden Moore.

And oh, does that particular point ever send my stereotypically hyper-perceptive neurodivergent brain spinning with pattern recognition. We won’t talk at length in this particular meta about all the parallels I immediately spotted between Black Jack and James Bond—especially the original literary version created by switchy bisexual ex-British-military king Ian Lancaster Fleming, whom Menzies just so happened to play in Any Human Heart. “Like all harsh, cold men, he was easily tipped over into sentiment?” God ILF, stop reading BJR’s diary!

But if you’re picking up what I’m putting down with all that, come peep and consider contributing to the #headcanons-aus-fic-discussions content on the BJR Discord server. I may have gone HAM—Hanoverian As a Motherfucker, that is—yarn-mapping all those parallels for the good of the Republic of Randall. Perhaps I should even copy out that content for an additional #MaliciousMeta in the future.

And rest assured I’ve got a fic arc going already—with an initial trilogy plus a companion diptych all in various stages of progress along with about two dozen other fics, because I’m Malicious and I make words as copiously as BJR makes trouble for Jamie Fraser and anyone who dares command his attention away from obsessing over Black Jack himself—exploring the parallels between Bond and Black Jack. Trust it includes ample amounts of actual master spy Frank as well!

I’ll wrap up the present effort by noting I often set up and explore BJR’s relationships with Jamie and Mary as simultaneous parallels and foils for one another, where the same basic dynamics of growth and trust building and mutual healing are happening, but with different nuances according to the specific people and their circumstances and histories with each other.

It also seems very fitting that in many of my continuities BJR himself is more whole and integrated for having meaningful relationships with both of them that intertwine in different ways without the three of them being a triad. From what I’ve seen, including robustly in my own experience, this is a very common dynamic for polyamorous people living with a history of dissociative issues—especially those of us who are also bisexual—and working to stay integrated in a general sense. ***

Not sure if I'll release my BJR-and-adjacent writings only on here and Discord or also become an active author on AO3. Still mulling over that because, in a revelation that will surprise absolutely no one, my unilaterally Dominant ass enjoys maintaining high control over content curation.

But there will be writings, ye Randallites by name. All told I have some 30 fics presently in various stages of progress, plus 2 finished ones I already linked for those in the know on the Discord @jurian-is-cinnamon-roll magnanimously maintains for those of us shamelessly using Black Jack as our best weapon against perpetually unresolved trauma.

Will likewise release those completed stories here as the weekend unfolds. In the meantime, if you don't know WTF is going on with the various specific fic continuities of mine mentioned here, anticipate treats forthwith!

Finally, I should put a verra fine point on the fact that there will be absolutely no handwaving or minimization of violence--whether sexual, physical, emotional, social, or otherwise--in any of my writings. In case you missed the implicit here, let me make it explicit:

I have survived unspeakable things on all of the above fronts, and supporting other survivors in their own unique journeys of healing past trauma and taking back power has kept me going during times where nothing else much endeared me to this mortal coil. And I live with a deadly progressive disease that makes me constantly conscious of how very little tomorrows are promised, so that speaks volumes.

If you want to know more, read the meta. And if you want nothing to do with any of this, cool. Your life, your journey, your choice. Kindly EXEUNT STAGE LEFT without pissing all over the floor of the only thing that has finally helped me reclaim my own joy and liberation in earnest.

As my wife and fellow traveler on the lifelong road of survivorship has often noted, we never stop running until long after the demons stop chasing us. But for any who would come at me for daring to process trauma through highly introspective art, I offer both caveat and caution in kind:

I've been to Hell, my boy. You've only read about it.

—Marquis de Sade, Quills

#niche outlander musings #black jack randall #trauma #writing is healing #fandom #lgbt fiction #processing #malicious meta #extended studies #character analysis #villain discourse

5 notes · View notes