#came up

[rimzieiei]

Does that mean owen willingly lets the vampires drink from him? Or is he just vibing with them but not letting them take any blood?? Maybe he's in charge of their livestock and gets exasperated every time the town gets a kill (not perma kill just a kill) on the vampires because without fail there's only ever a breeding pair left in the pen the next morning

yes! owen does let the vampires feed on him. he find the contact comforting. the vampires dont care about his disease at all so he actually learns how to feel normal around them

sireswap owen has a mutual agreement that if the vampires dont turn him he will happily give up some blood. owen does not live with the vampires in the castle ruins, he hhas his own cabin somewhere else in the forest.

im SO happy about this ask. i love infodumping about character dynamics. sireswap owen + vamps GO GO GO(minus shelby/cleo. IM WORKING ON THEM I SWEAR)

owen + apo! as ive mentioned owen and apo are meant to have a lot of similarities. they bond over the losses of their loved ones. they would consider each other actual friends, with some of the other vampires feeding feels a bit more like a business transaction. owen (despite his illness) is also physically STRONG. they do a bit of friendly sparring every now and then, just so apo can keep her combat up to standard (military background and all that)

owen + pyro! when i said "business relationship" this is the dynamic i meant. pyro is one of the last vamps to be revealed in sireswap because they dont do anything super obvious besides turn scott and they try their hardest to be a "forgettable side character" within the town. owen lives outside oakhurst from day 1 (disease) and because pyro doesnt engage with the coven very much after theyre revealed (which is when owen makes a lot of these bonds). they dont really get to know eachother beyond owen sparing a bit of blood sometimes.

owen + scott! owen and scott get along similarly to canon? owen is still a theatrical son of a bitchh even if hes not a vampire, so he appreciates scotts flair for dramatics. they have a mutual respect for each other that doesnt go much deeper. sometimes, owen thinks scotts anti-human sentiments go a little to far. even though owens been screwed over by humans for years

owen + drift! owen and drift get to be BESTIES (rimzie is the ceo of rare friendships shes done it before she will do it again). they initially bond (as mentioned in the drift/avid post) over their distaste for avid. drift tries to like avid but its VERY hard when she knows avid would kill her in a second.

owen is the first to catch onto drifts discomfort and drift confides her secret in owen before she fully turns. owen helps get avid kicked from town both so drift can feel safer and cause he HATES avid. owens stories of louis help drift work through her fears of becoming a monster like the orchid killer that turned her. and drift, a common theme with sireswap owen, is able to give him companionship and comfort (BEFORE the other vamps. and before drift is fully turned. showing owen that drift truly values him by risking whatever human is left in her).

owen knows about drift before any of the other vampires. when theyre revealed and apo/scott/cleo/drift go to live in the castle ruins owen stops by primarily for drift. (and your GENIUS IDEA abt the animal breeding). owen definitely helps supply them with lumber to rebuild

now. have a sireswap owen and drift doodle for your troubles

[mx-misty-eyed]

WHY THE FUCK IS THERE A MACKLIN CELEBRINI TAG?? WHY THE FUCK IS THERE A SAN JOSE SHARKS TAG?? WHO THE FUCK IS ON HERE POSTING ABOUT THE SAN JOSE SHARKS

[wellthatschaotic]

[Image Description: a screenshot of our follower count, which is at 801. End ID]

HELLO????

[fwoopersongs]

Do give the MV by CPC Music Channel a LIKE here!  I own nothing except the translation.

The State has a city, hey! The city is boxed. The city has a Lord, hey! Benevolent he was. The ministers are capable, hey! Pillars of the state. The Lord has an Empress, hey! She was just.

Sons, they died young; the succession fell from this line. Daughter, beloved and headstrong, fearful to the last. But the People too, were the Lord’s daughters and sons; in the streets, peace, stability - all were hale and well.

My wish is only one, to one day be myself; to follow my heart, be rightly filial, with no more ceaseless restraint for propriety, as a husband, free to shower affection on my wife, as a father, free to love and dote on my every child, to know my dearest as I did before, with no distance between us.

Our wish is only one, to limit Our desires as best We can, and both Lord and father need no longer worry for the morrow’. Prudence for a Lord is the most important virtue; the People are the very foundation of all under heaven. For the peace and stability of all the land, how dare We be willful?

Sons, they died young; the succession fell from this line. Daughter, beloved and headstrong, fearful to the last. But the People too, were the Lord’s daughters and sons; in the streets, peace, stability - all were hale and well.

My wish is only one, to one day be myself; to follow my heart, be rightly filial, with no more ceaseless restraint for propriety, as a husband, free to shower affection on my wife, as a father, free to love and dote on my every child, to know my dearest as I did before, with no distance between us.

Our wish is only one, to limit Our desires as best We can, and both Lord and father need no longer worry for the morrow’. Prudence for a Lord is the most important virtue; the People are the very foundation of all under heaven. For the peace and stability of all the land, how dare We be willful?

..................................................................................................

Comments

Serenade of Peaceful Joy came up in conversation with friends, and I thought to check it out on a whim.

Because the opening song starts with the little child singing in words easily parsed, it’s easy to be lulled into a state where you just sit back and enjoy the beautiful art in the drama’s opening. Even when the light male voice takes over at the second verse. But at the end of that verse,  百姓康↑ (i.e. the people are doing very well) sort of reeled me in again because the volume went up, but also - I did not detect any joy in that.  

And then I suddenly heard 惟愿我能一日为己 // My wish is only one, to one day be myself, and right onscreen was the puppet Emperor. So I came to the correct conclusion, that this line was in his voice and from his POV.

Then the camera zoomed out and seeing this scene of the people watching the stage reminded me of the child singing. I think when children sing songs that praise the goodness of their times, there is a shade more reliability. They aren’t stupid, and they can be startlingly observant. 

Anyway, depictions of the imperial family amongst the cheerful commoners, contrasted with the most powerful man in the state tired of the constraints on his life imposed by his duty. That was just - uhg. 

The next line I heard clearly was 亦君亦父勿忧旦夕 // and both Lord and father need no longer worry for the morrow’ - which touched me more than it hurt? But it was an achy sort of moving. 

Very innocently, I thought it was about the hard work and pressures that went into doing well as an Emperor for his people. 

(But you translate poetry, yj. You should know better!)

I wasn’t entirely off the mark ok.

So imagine my absolute shock when I actually pulled up the lyrics and saw the entire 2nd verse????

子皆寿短储落旁 Sons, they died young; the succession fell from this line. 女亦娇拗终惶惶 Daughter, beloved and headstrong, fearful to the last. 然民亦皆君子女 But the People too, were the Lord’s daughters and sons; 市井平宁百姓康 in the streets, peace, stability - all were hale and well.

The first line is already shocking. It also feels like something that would happen near the end of an Emperor’s rule. The choosing of a crown prince from a branch of the family, that is. You normally wouldn’t be doing that unless there is no other viable choice.  But more importantly, his sons all died young?! Truly tragic.

But his daughter (daughters? It feels like one though.), very treasured and headstrong, but passed fearful and uneasy? What happened here?

The second two lines feels like a consolation but also a ringing slap to the face. Like hey! Your personal life is a wreck, but at least you’ve done your job swimmingly. Perhaps it was at the cost of his family?

Next verse is the true wish! He uses ‘I’. This is a wish he makes as his personal self, just a normal man, wanting to be filial, wanting to be a good husband to his wife, a good father to his children, wanting to be himself and not have to suppress his nature and refrain from these things for propriety. 

The next verse shatters that wish into a million pieces. Here he uses 吾 as a self reference which I approximated with the royal We. For the rest of this life, he can never be just a normal man. He has to be a good emperor, prudent and dedicated, a father to his people. For peace and stability to be maintained, he cannot just do as he wishes. And the good news? In the narrative of this song, he succeeded!

So we have  Verse 1 - Commoner’s pride and praise of their State, city, benevolent emperor, capable ministers and fair empress. (The result, the surface) Verse 2 - May be the state of the country at the end of his rule. (The cost and the good done.) Verse 3 - A pipe dream. Maybe at the beginning before he fully mentally accepted the responsibility. (Start) Verse 4 - He’s accepted that he can’t have a normal life like that, and is now fully committed to the kingdom. (Turning point, go to Verse 2)

国有城兮城四方 城有君兮仁以长 臣忠能兮为栋梁 君有后兮持正方

子皆寿短储落旁 女亦娇拗终惶惶 然民亦皆君子女 市井平宁百姓康

惟愿我能一日为己 从心从孝勿思复礼 为夫恣情于内 为父舐犊于膝 识卿于初无疏离

但愿吾能尽节其欲 亦君亦父勿忧旦夕 慎乃君德之首 民为天下根基 为四海平宁何敢恣意

子皆寿短储落旁 女亦娇拗终惶惶 然民亦皆君子女 市井平宁百姓康

惟愿我能一日为己 从心从孝勿思复礼 为夫恣情于内 为父舐犊于膝 识卿于初无疏离

但愿吾能尽节其欲 亦君亦父勿忧旦夕 慎乃君德之首 民为天下根基 为四海平宁何敢恣意

[toriceratops]

UGH OMG GUYS. Malcolm's favorite line, 'serial killers aren't born, they're made' he needs to prove to himself that that works the opposite way too. Good people can be made. He wasn't born bad because of his father. He can be good. He has to do good. wreckless abandonment for his own safety is just Malcolm Fucking Bright trying to prove to the world that he can make himself into something good. something bright in the world

[hold-the-fjord]

Talks Machina, the Weiner and Big Ol’Pepperonis episode.

Talks Machina, the PIZZASCHNITZEL and Big Ol’Pepperonis episode.

[flange5]

Today, I had a student who was discussing Infinity War and he predicted that “Stark will get the Gauntlet and snap from the power and go crazy with it,” and I had to compose my self, gird myself with all the dignity of a literature professor who is trying not to be a salty fangirl at work and say “That’s an interesting theory. Upon what textual evidence are you basing that argument?”

And then we stared at each other, because where do you go from there?