Of course it is stories that touch us so deeply; for, after all, we are living in one, and our hearts know it. // This is the blog of a Bible-believing Christian, a lover of stories in all forms, and an overthinker. (And, would you believe it, they're all the same person!) // Feel free to drop me an ask!
Chapters: 9/9
Fandom: The Wingfeather Saga - Andrew Peterson, the wingfeather saga - andrew peterson (books)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Artham Wingfeather & Esben Wingfeather
Characters: Artham Wingfeather, Esben Wingfeather, Bonnifer Squoon, Jru Wingfeather (mentioned), I'm not tagging everyone who was mentioned-- Jru's just kinda important here, Janner Wingfeather, Nugget (The Wingfeather Saga)
Additional Tags: Salt and Light, Canon Compliant, spoilers for the whole series, Minor character death (or rather the aftermath of it), snapshots in time, Grief, Hope
Series: Part 2 of Tales of Two Brothers
Summary:
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Wingfeather Saga - Andrew Peterson, the wingfeather saga - andrew peterson (books)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Arundelle & Hanley (OC)
Characters: Arundelle (The Wingfeather Saga), Hanley (OC), Artham Wingfeather (mentioned)
Additional Tags: Sibling Talk, that's it that's the fic, Canon Compliant, Salt and Light
Series: Part 2 of I'll Figure Out A Better Title For This Later But For Now: Artham/Arundelle +Adjacent Fics
Summary:
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Wingfeather Saga - Andrew Peterson, the wingfeather saga - andrew peterson (books)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Arundelle/Artham Wingfeather, Arundelle & Artham Wingfeather
Characters: Artham Wingfeather, Arundelle (The Wingfeather Saga), Jru Wingfeather, Nala Wingfeather, Esben Wingfeather (mentioned), Original Characters, Hanley (OC)
Additional Tags: It feels like I shouldn't be tagging this as a ship fic because they're not really at that point yet, but who am I kidding-- yes this is a ship fic, Canon Compliant, Pre-Canon, Dancing, First Dance, <- apparently that's a tag so YAY, Music/dance choices heavily inspired by my background in Scottish culture :D, Fluff, This is an old fic so give it a little grace, It's a Wonderful Life (1946) References, . . . singular-- /reference/-- but that's the tag, Salt and Light
Series: Part 1 of I'll Figure Out A Better Title For This Later But For Now: Artham/Arundelle +Adjacent Fics
Summary:
In which Hanley instigates things, both intentionally and accidentally.
rules (loose definition of "rules"): post six sentences of your current WIP or piece of your writing, and tag six people to do the same to keep passing it along!
today I offer you a snippet from my PHM Ilyukhina lives AU, "eternity (knows him and it knows what we've done)"
"He didn't even remember his name until I told him. He has complete amnesia of at least the entire Hail Mary project, probably more than that. Maybe his whole life."
That, more than anything, is what's terrifying. Not the vastness of space beyond what any human has seen, not the death of her friend, not the knowledge that she is going to die out here, years from her home. What scares her is that the only person left, the man who may actually be capable of saving the world, doesn't remember anything.
tagging @gentlevalor, @kanerallels, @misscrazyfangirl321, @called-kept, @pippilotta-the-philologist, and @theladyjojogrant, if you have anything you want to share!
This is from the end of a little pre-canon WFS fic-- a conversation between Arundelle and the older brother I've headcanoned up for her over the years. (I don't know exactly where he came from; I'm not much one for making repeating-character OCs. XD)
He stood and stretched, eliciting a few pops from his spine. âThe stove should be warm now; how about you start some eggs and bean brew while I check on Ma?â
She pulled the blanket closer around her shoulders and nodded, hopping off of the seat and wincing when her bare feet hit the cold floor.
Hanley padded off down the small hallway, and she turned around and glanced at the window one more time.
The frost at the top of the glass was melting, and by standing on her toes she could see the castle at the top of the hill, shining against a blue sky in the morning light.Â
She smiled to herself and slipped off toward the kitchen.Â
Tagging @mozart-the-meerkitten, @brandyestchristi, @griseldabanks, @granny-griffin, @peeta-mellarks-smile, and @theragamuffininitiative.
Man-- if I had a nickel for every time I got distracted in the middle of a film by looking up an actor's Wikipedia article to see which films they were in besides the ones I'm familiar with, only to find out that they appeared in a bazillion films, practically defined the horror film genre of their respective times, and were The Actor for a certain character across many years, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that both William Henry Pratt (AKA Boris Karloff) and Christopher Lee had such extensive careers and I'd never heard of most of it.
Edit: Apparently this was made in what could be called the Articles Of Confederation period of the Code-- it was adopted in 1930, but really started to be enforced in 1934.
On a technical level, that was great for its time.
On a storytelling level . . . that was terrible. It treated the Monster the way Victor Hugo treated Quasimodo (child-minded, not able to fully understand things, a bit helpless in some parts and reactive in others), except that it spun the Monster as the sole villain. Based on the prologue, you'd expect the point of the story to try to be "when Man meddles in God's territory, there are disastrous consequences"-- but there are no consequences, really, beyond three deaths that don't directly affect Henry Frankenstein (again, I'm puzzled at the name change).
Which makes sense given the fact that this is just a horror film with no intention of being deeper than that-- but I suppose I expected there to be more to it than just shock value and emotional pull.
Man-- if I had a nickel for every time I got distracted in the middle of a film by looking up an actor's Wikipedia article to see which films they were in besides the ones I'm familiar with, only to find out that they appeared in a bazillion films, practically defined the horror film genre of their respective times, and were The Actor for a certain character across many years, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that both William Henry Pratt (AKA Boris Karloff) and Christopher Lee had such extensive careers and I'd never heard of most of it.
Edit: Apparently this was made in what could be called the Articles Of Confederation period of the Code-- it was adopted in 1930, but really started to be enforced in 1934.
Man-- if I had a nickel for every time I got distracted in the middle of a film by looking up an actor's Wikipedia article to see which films they were in besides the ones I'm familiar with, only to find out that they appeared in a bazillion films, practically defined the horror film genre of their respective times, and were The Actor for a certain character across many years, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that both William Henry Pratt (AKA Boris Karloff) and Christopher Lee had such extensive careers and I'd never heard of most of it.
Semi-liveblogged thoughts on the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood OVAs:
OVA #1, The Blind Alchemist:
Hm-- my guess would be that if this chap did perform human transmutation, the fact that he's blind would indicate his eyes were taken as payment.
That seems awfully close to what happened to Roy, though, so I'm not calling it yet.
Oh, huh-- I should've called it.
"My late husband"-- so I'm guessing we traded a life for a life here.
Aaaah, so rather than that, it's just a transmuted corpse with some soul stuffed into it.
That actually makes more sense than what I was guessing at.
So they're protecting Judou from knowing the truth.
OVA #2, Simple People:
Oh! Oh! We're going back to Winry and Riza's conversation!
Awwh, that's so cute! I never would've guessed that Ed and Al got those earrings for her!
Winry got her ears pierced because she thought Riza's earrings looked neat??
Aw, Winry--
Hi, Rebecca!
If there were any decent hair regulations in this military, Riza, you would've been tying your hair up about . . . *squints at length* . . . two years ago.
AND RIZA DECIDED TO GROW HER HAIR LONG BECAUSE OF WINRY??
Oh my word, I love that.
I loved that whole thing, honestly. It tied in to the main series nicely.
OVA #3, The Tale of Teacher:
Izumi!!
AHAHAH, we're getting to see that month she spent in the Briggs mountains.
This ought to be fun.
"I ain't dying until I fall in love" is definitely something in-character for a young Izumi Curtis. XD
A BEAR???
Yep. That's her.
He sent her up there to prepare for surviving fights instead of learning alchemy.
That. That makes sense.
1897, Izumi was 18, the bulk of the story takes place in 1914/1915 . . . so she was 35/36 at the time of the main events of the series.
OH MY GOODNESS, THIS IS HOW SHE AND SIG MET--
"You, uh . . . you dropped your dead bear." This one's entering my vernacular.
Pfft, I love Ed and Al's vaguely confused/disturbed glances at each other. XD
OVA #4, Yet Another Man's Battlefield:
Oh! Roy when he first joined the military!
. . . Once again, I'm thinking about the contrapposto with Bradley.
So there was common discrimination against the Ishvallans even before the war.
HUGHES!!!
Interesting.
(I'll ignore the question of "who in the world could actually like spinach quiche," because it's not relevant.
I am, however, mentally reliving some very unpleasant childhood memories at the mere mention of that stringy mess.)
My stomach curled a little when Roy threw the first blow. Civilian though I may be, it's ingrained into the descended-from-military part of me that infighting is off-limits.
Yep. Y'all are digging trenches. XD
Oh, man-- to think what this Heathcliff kid is going to have to deal with in a few years.
OH.
That's so much worse than what I was thinking.
Man, they really saved the most thought-provoking one for the end.
Hughes is dedicated to people (specific) while Roy is dedicated to people (general). That's why Hughes is determined to do whatever it takes to survive and protect those he hopes to return to, while Roy is determined to pour himself into doing whatever it takes to atone for wrongs, save lives, and change things for the collective better-- even if that means sacrificing personal matters or even losing his own life. (This possibility becomes more unsavoury with time, though, because in order to climb the ladder and change things, he's got to be alive.)
I've got to think about this more, though.
I'm sure someone's thought about this before, but surely there's significance to Eugene going from "I don't sing" (before he's forced to) in I've Got A Dream, to both diegetically and non-diegetically singing in I See The Light.
And ALSO, every song in the movie is a list, a bunch of items being rattled off-- whether it's the things Rapunzel's doing to fill her days, or the things Gothel wants Rapunzel to fear, or the dreams and desires of everyone in the Snuggly Duckling (I suppose Gothel's reprise of Mother Knows Best would be the exception in this case, though it's still a list of insults to Rapunzel and threats regarding what's sure to happen with Eugene)-- until I See The Light. No lists beyond what was in the past and what is no more-- we end in a focus on the other person, not a thing, not an airy concept; we end at something real and present.
See, the thing about Secondhand Lions and The Last Unicorn is that what's worth believing in is true, and what's true is worth believing in. The causation of this may work both ways, and the inverse remains-- if something is not worth believing in, it turns out to be untrue in the end. Perhaps everything sad is not coming untrue, not yet-- but everything hollow and ugly and worthless is certainly coming untrue, because it is untrue and of no substance.
You can choose to believe in whatever you want, of course-- just because something's not true is no reason you can't believe in it. But you can't make something into something it's not by believing in it; all you're earning yourself is an illusion.
Whatever something really is will come through in the end-- and the wondrous thing is that it works both ways.
Even if something's a kernel, a seed, of truth with something else built up around the outside-- even if someone is just a weary old man with only the air of greatness and goodness about him, even if a lion is just an old worn-out circus lion who's never seen a jungle, even if a human woman is only a human woman who can't even remember that she used to be a unicorn-- that truth comes out and its reality consumes everything else in the end. The stories about Africa turn out to be true; the lion does what only a real lion can do; and the unicorn, changed though she may be, is still a unicorn. Cinderella's ashes may give her her name, but they cannot keep her hidden from the prince in the end-- they cannot change what she truly is; especially since what she truly is is someone good and steadfast and worth saving. The kernel of truth betrays the whole.
It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.
- Luke 15:32
Happy ninth birthday to Make Me Whole!
(. . . Yeah, it's hard to wrap my brain around it having been two years (plus one day) since I stumbled across this fic (and later followed Novie over to Tumblr after being a lurker for years). XD)
@novelmonger I don't need to tell you how much this story and its subsequent instalments mean to me, so a simple "thanks again and happy anniversary" should suffice. <3
I think these new Blurryface videos might be the actual song lyrics of the new song coming out! I've seen some people taking Breach to mean a breach of a contract. Any theories? :)
Iâve thought that too! Iâd be okay if they were, but I need time to warm up to them and I like the idea that theyâre out-of-order, disjointed VERSIONS of the real lyrics better.
I think âbreach of a contractâ is a good theory! But I also think it probably has a double-meaning. Breach also means âbreakthrough.â Tylerâs tattoos (theyâre in his Instagram profile description) have logic-symbol equivalents to a pattern of psychology with a âbreakthroughâ moment in it, so it could mean that.
It could also mean âbreachâ in the sense that the walls of DEMA are getting breached. In Paladin Strait we saw Clancy sneaking into DEMA through the tunnels, but the walls havenât been broken through physically, yet.
It could ALSO mean breach as in what something that has been living underwater does when it BURSTS out of the surface and into the air (think whales or sharks,) and with Drown and Backslideâs lyrics, thatâs pretty cool. Heâs spent all this time drowning in metaphorical water but now heâs bursting out.
It could also-also mean break-through in a physical sense, which I think is neat because in Oldies Station the refrain is âpush on through.â âBreachâ = âPush on Through.â
But can I tell you what I hope is about to happen in the lore?
We last left Clancy trying to do it all on his own by climbing the tower with the intention to stop Nico, and then take Nicoâs place, and show people âabsolute power.â
In life, trying to destroy your dark thoughts in your own power is actually just a shortcut to giving those DARK THOUGHTS total control of you, because you canât ever fix them in your own power, so all you wind up doing is obsessing over them. And, absolute power is the opposite of surrender. Striving and grasping and thrashing around for control, in vain, is the opposite of giving it all up to someone Else who can actually help you.
Guess what else is a word that is the opposite of âsurrender?â
âSeize.â
Take for yourself. Take hold of. Possess.
Which is what Bishops do. Which is what Clancyâs on his way to becoming when we leave him confronting Nico alone in Paladin Strait.
PAUSE.
I was watching The Outside the other day and noticing how they took time to quick-cut to the fact that there are ancient relics in the woods of VoldsĂžy (the island of violence off the coast of Trench) that appear to have long been abandoned. Couple that with the fact that one of the Banditos, in a letter, said heâd found evidence of an âan ient fight,â and says itâs been going on longer than they thought.
Clancy is given a power âthought to be extinct,â NEDâS antlers. And he realizes itâs a gift, a tool to overthrow DEMA. But when I thought about how he describes Vialism as a âhijackedâ religion, I realizedâwhatever religion was being hinted at, abandoned, on VoldsĂžy, is being portrayed in a positive light. Meanwhile the Bishops (THEYâRE LITERALLY CALLED BISHOPS) and Vialism are a negative thing, and Vialism specifically âhijackedâ what mightâve once been a good religion.
What Iâm saying is, Clancy found the Truth out on VoldsĂžy. He was guided there by the Torchbearer and given artifacts of that Truth by the NEDS. But heâs using them wrong, because heâs making it all about himself.
Which is exactly what the Bishops are doing, with Vialism. âHijackingâ what was once its own true thing for their own dark purposes in their own strength.
And theyâre literally called Bishops. With stoles and robes and titles and everything. Whitewashed tombsâusing religion as a fake means of salvation in an attempt to keep ultimate power for themselvesâŠbut they have no real relationship with the Truth, which is True Religion.
Itâs the Prodigal Sonâs brother trying to earn his own salvation and missing out on relationship with the Father, itâs the Pharisees (ancient Bishops) putting themselves above everyone through their own rules and systems and missing out on relationship with Christ, itâs Tyler trying to hold on to Christ in his own strength and by measure of his own emotions instead of surrendering.
Clancy is âseizingâ in every sense of the word, when the only thing that will save him is âsurrender.â
I mean come on, the whole name of the first of what-we-didnât-realize-was-a-two-part-conclusion was his own name. Heâs wrapping the stole around his head and is blinded by himself, his own self. All he can see is himself in this battle, this goal, this exchange.
So what he needs to do is lose. Hit rock-bottom. Ask for help. And then the Torchbearer will help him.
Iâd also like to point out that if both âThe Contractâ and âBreachâ refer to a decision, the Ă symbol in logic/mathematics would mean âthere is no choice,â but if itâs followed in a psychological sequence by X, the X (itâs called XOR in logic and usually it looks like this: â) means âA crossroads where only one option can be true: you can choose one or the other, but not both.â
