Halloween 2021 Playlist for laptop and 10/29/2021 Music Releases

     I got my laptop back on Tuesday, however, due to the fact the front had been opened by smashing into the front of the tray I kept it in to keep it from getting dusty, the warranty had been voided and they returned it with the buzzing noise still present.  However, it is still better than using the older laptop or no laptop, so I'm sticking with it for now and will just Zoom chat on my phone from now on.

    The return of the laptop meant I could change my Halloween Playlist with tracks that aren't in Spotify or most digital music sources, so the final 50-song playlist looks like this:

1-Black Sabbath-Black Sabbath

2-Black Widow-Bruce Dickinson, Adrian Smith, Tony Franklin, Tommy Aldridge

3-Paranoid-Black Sabbath

4-The Wizard-Bullring Brummies

5-War Pigs-Ted Kirkpatrick, Dug Pinnick, Chris Jericho

6-Children of the Grave-Ted Kirkpatrick, Dug Pinnick, Tim "Ripper" Owens

7-Crazy Train (Live 1981)-Ozzy Osbourne

8-Feed My Frankenstein-Alice Cooper

9-Running Wild (Live, Tokyo, 1979)-Judas Priest

10-Victim of Changes (Live, Tokyo, 1979)-Judas Priest

11-Breaking The Law-Judas Priest

12-Rainbow in the Dark (Holy Diver Live version)-Dio

13-Breaking the Law (Live, Wacken 2015)-Judas Priest

14-The Last in Line-Tenacious D

15-Paranoid (Live 1983 with Ian Gillan of Deep Purple on Vocals)-Black Sabbath

16-Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!! (10 BABYMETAL BUDOKAN LIVE)-BabyMetal

17-Karate-BabyMetal

18-Thriller-Michael Jackson

19-Ace of Spades-Motorhead

20-Fear of the Dark (Live at Rock in Rio '01)-Iron Maiden

21-Diary of a Madman-Ozzy Osbourne

22-Paranoid (Live)-Ozzy Osbourne with Randy Rhoads

23-Hand of Doom (Live 1970)-Black Sabbath

24-He's Back (The Man Behind The Mask)-Alice Cooper

25-Dream Warriors-Dokken

26-Black Sabbath (Live, Birmingham, UK, 2017)-Black Sabbath

27-Eat Me-Ozzy Osbourne, Andrew Watt, Duff McKagan, Chad Smith

28-Take What You Want-Post Malone, Ozzy Osbourne, Travis Scott

29-What Baby Wants-Alice Cooper, Kesha

30-Iron Man (Live, Birmingham, UK, 2017)-Black Sabbath

31-Bark at the Moon-Adrian Conner

32-Experiment on Me-Halsey

33-Starbreaker-Judas Priest

34-Nothing Else Matters-Metallica

35-Bad Memory-K.Flay

36-Saturday Night Special-BPMD

37-Keeping Halloween Alive-Alice Cooper

38-Beyond the Realms of Death (Live, New York's Mudd Club, 1979)-Judas Priest

39-Bloodstone (Live, The Omni, Atlanta, GA, 1982)-Judas Priest

40-The Hellion/Eletric Eye (Live, Houston, 1986)-Judas Priest

41-Sinner (Live, New Haven, CT, 1988)-Judas Priest

42-Dissident Aggressor (Live, 2008)-Judas Priest

43-Nothing Else Matters-Miley Cyrus, Andrew Watt, Robert Trujillo, Chad Smith, Elton John, Yo-Yo Ma

44-ABSURD-Guns N Roses

45-The River is Rising-Slash Feat. Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators

46-Enter Sandman-Rina Sawayama

47-Sad But True-St. Vincent

48-Through the Never-The Hu

49-Hellraiser, 30th Anniversary mashup-Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Motorhead

50-Paranoid (Live, Birmingham, UK, 2017)-Black Sabbath

 

Last week's album by Elton John was great, there were several exciting collaborations and it was surprising yet good to hear his voice with a more modern Pop sound.

This week we have a 25th anniversary re-release of "Restless Heart" by Whitesnake, a new album by Alice in Chains' Jerry Cantrell, a new album by Joe Bonamassa and a deluxe re-release by my hometown band Death Cab For Cutie.  Hopefully, each performs up to their standards, I've only really gotten a taste of the Whitesnake album so far and it sounds really good, apparently, Joel Hoekstra was brought in to beef up the rhythm parts, so it's kind of a new release of a 25-year-old album.

7th Memories Playlist, for real

    Since I saw a live rock concert on October 15th, I managed to fill out my 7th Memories Playlist with tracks I've heard live and in-person.  This means I have one memories playlist for each day of the week, something I want to try out at least once when I get my regular laptop back.  Here's the playlist:

Memories 2019-2021
1.)    Already Gone (Eagles cover, Don Felder 3/22/2019)
2.)    Victim of Love (Eagles cover, Don Felder 3/22/2019)
3.)    Heavy Metal (Taking A Ride) (Don Felder 3/22/2019)
4.)    American Rock N Roll (Don Felder 3/22/2019)
5.)    Megitsune (BabyMetal 10/16/2019)
6.)    Elevator Girl (English) (BabyMetal 10/16/2019)
7.)    Distortion (BabyMetal 10/16/2019)
8.)    KARATE (BabyMetal 10/16/2019)
9.)    HeadBangeeeeerrrrr!!!!! (BabyMetal 10/16/2019)
10.)    THE ONE (English) (BabyMetal 10/16/2019)
11.)    Road of Resistance (BabyMetal 10/16/2019)
12.)    Highway To Hell (AC/DC cover-Hell's Belles 12/7/2019)
13.)    If You Want Blood, You Got It (AC/DC cover-Hell's Belles 12/7/2019)
14.)    Shoot To Thrill (AC/DC cover-Hell's Belles 12/7/2019)
15.)    Thunderstruck (AC/DC cover-Hell's Belles 12/7/2019)
16.) Unspoken (The Dead Daisies 10/15/2021)
17.) Bustle and Flow (The Dead Daisies 10/15/2021)
18.) Lock N Load (The Dead Daisies 10/15/2021)
19.) Fortunate Son (Creedence cover-The Dead Daisies 10/15/2021)
20.) Mistreated (Deep Purple cover-The Dead Daisies 10/15/2021)
21.) Like No Other (The Dead Daisies 10/15/2021)
22.) Long Way To Go (The Dead Daisies 10/15/2021)
23.) Burn (Deep Purple cover-The Dead Daisies 10/15/2021)
24.)    Hotel California (Eagles cover, Don Felder 3/22/2019)

Today I also return to the Church building of Garden Street United Methodist for the last time as we say goodbye to the old building and take up temporary residence at the Sheraton Hotel on Lakeway Drive starting November 7th.  I will be missing the initial service there, as I will be with my brother, sister-in-law, Dad and his wife in Beaverton, OR, in fact, that's the day I return home to Bellingham.  I'm a bit nervous about the move, but I know it is necessary, the old building needs more in repairs that we ever could afford and GSUMC is the congregation, not the building.  We will live on and carry out our work, even if we have only the options to meet in Pastor Kathy's living room, Whatcom Falls Park's Parking Lot or the back room at Grocery Outlet.  I will miss the old building, but sustaining our existence in a reasonable facility is more important than upholding tradition.  Jesus bucked tradition in favor of compassion, as do we as a reconciling congregation.  The building on Garden Street is a nice building, but God is everywhere and is guiding us forward to the next step.

A lot of things are moving to their next step.  Super Smash Bros. is over, the Mariners are going to compete in the AL West, possibly without Kyle Seager, many classic rockers have either announced their retirement or their alignment with anti-Biden, anti-mask, anti-vaxx, pro-Trump policies, I played so many video games during the pandemic I'm not sure how many more I'm going to play, but it seems like only a few and a website I've been part of for over 13 years and posted for almost ten doesn't have the appeal it used to because it only appreciates one side of me, a side that is worn out and exhausted from trying to entertain them all through the pandemic and got criticized for exercising free will.  I'm honestly afraid if I post screenshots from future games there, they'll continue to "backseat gamer" me and tell me what I should be doing and spoil plot elements and make me rush through the game rather than enjoy it at my own pace.  I don't want that for Metroid Dread, Miitopia or Splatoon 3, which means I should probably retire now, end the nonsense.  The only problem is I have no idea how to fill all the free time.

Updated Halloween 2021 Playlist and some updates on last night's releases

     There was an excellent track by guitarist Slash with his backing band Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, and though the album it's on is due out in February, I felt I had to add it to my Halloween playlist this year, so it now looks like this (this is hopefully the final incarnation):

 

1-Black Sabbath-Black Sabbath
2-Black Widow-Bruce Dickinson, Adrian Smith, Tony Franklin, Tommy Aldridge
3-Paranoid-Black Sabbath
4-The Wizard-Bullring Brummies
5-War Pigs-Ted Kirkpatrick, Dug Pinnick, Chris Jericho
6-Children of the Grave-Ted Kirkpatrick, Dug Pinnick, Tim "Ripper" Owens
7-Crazy Train (Live 1981)-Ozzy Osbourne
8-Feed My Frankenstein-Alice Cooper
9-Running Wild (Live, Tokyo, 1979)-Judas Priest
10-Victim of Changes (Live, Tokyo, 1979)-Judas Priest
11-Breaking The Law-Judas Priest
12-Rainbow in the Dark (Holy Diver Live version)-Dio
13-Breaking the Law (Live, Wacken 2015)-Judas Priest
14-The Last in Line-Tenacious D
15-Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!! (10 BABYMETAL BUDOKAN LIVE)-BabyMetal
16-Karate-BabyMetal
17-Thriller-Michael Jackson
18-Ace of Spades-Motorhead
19-Fear of the Dark (Live at Rock in Rio '01)-Iron Maiden
20-Diary of a Madman-Ozzy Osbourne
21-Hand of Doom-Black Sabbath
22-Rat Salad-Black Sabbath
23-He's Back (The Man Behind The Mask)-Alice Cooper
24-Dream Warriors-Dokken
25-Black Sabbath (Live, Birmingham, UK, 2017)-Black Sabbath
26-Eat Me-Ozzy Osbourne, Andrew Watt, Duff McKagan, Chad Smith
27-Take What You Want-Post Malone, Ozzy Osbourne, Travis Scott
28-What Baby Wants-Alice Cooper, Kesha
29-Iron Man (Live, Birmingham, UK, 2017)-Black Sabbath
30-Bark at the Moon-Adrian Conner
31-Experiment on Me-Halsey
32-Starbreaker-Judas Priest
33-Nothing Else Matters-Metallica
34-Bad Memory-K.Flay
35-Saturday Night Special-BPMD
36-Keeping Halloween Alive-Alice Cooper
37-Beyond the Realms of Death (Live, New York's Mudd Club, 1979)-Judas Priest
38-Bloodstone (Live, The Omni, Atlanta, GA, 1982)-Judas Priest
39-The Hellion/Eletric Eye (Live, Houston, 1986)-Judas Priest
40-Sinner (Live, New Haven, CT, 1988)-Judas Priest
41-Dissident Aggressor (Live, 2008)-Judas Priest
42-Nothing Else Matters-Miley Cyrus, Andrew Watt, Robert Trujillo, Chad Smith, Elton John, Yo-Yo Ma
43-ABSURD-Guns N Roses
44-The River is Rising-Slash Feat. Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators
45-Enter Sandman-Rina Sawayama
46-Sad But True-St. Vincent
47-Through the Never-The Hu
48-Hellraiser, 30th Anniversary mashup-Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Motorhead
49-Paranoid (Live, Birmingham, UK, 2017)-Black Sabbath
 

I also got to listen to some tracks off the new Elton John album and I really liked the ones with Brandi Carlile and Eddie Vedder, it was pretty cool to hear classic rocker/friend of John Lennon Elton John team with a pair of Seattle-based musicians on this album!  Here's hoping the other collaborations are just as good.

Music and General Updates for 10/22/2021

     Last week's Judas Priest release was a really great metal album of songs I was both familiar with and new songs/versions of songs I hadn't heard before.  The Beatles' Super Deluxe version of Let it Be had some great tracks, but I'm probably not going to buy the whole thing over time since some of the jams were already available on Anthology 3 and Let it Be...Naked Disc 2.  Others were brand new and were fun to listen to, though, so that made it worth it.  Ariana Grande and Kelly Clarkson had a great Christmas song and K.Flay had a great single for her EP, due out November 19th.

 

    Smash Bros. Ultimate released its final DLC on Monday, Sora from Kingdom Hearts and his stage, Hollow Bastion.  I made Mii Swordfighters of Kingdom Hearts characters Aqua and Xion to accompany this and they fit pretty well, making Sora my third favorite DLC character to play as.

 I am planning on getting Metroid Dread, Miitopia, Splatoon 3 and (if it exists) a Persona fighting game for the Switch and I'm not sure if I'll get anything else, I've played a lot of video games over these last two years to keep myself busy and my mind off of COVID and as such, may be losing my desire to keep playing them due to overuse.  Honestly, I'd like to see more concerts and baseball games in the future, rather than be cooped up in my apartment and fight through too many more video games.

 

This week sees one major release I'm looking forward to musically;

 

Elton John-The Lockdown Sessions: Stuck inside with not much to do like the rest of us, Sir Elton John decided to collaborate on a wide variety of recordings, here available in one album.  Duets with Dua Lipa, Rina Sawayama, Brandi Carlile, Eddie Vedder, Stevie Nicks and Stevie Wonder are all available, as is the cover of "Nothing Else Matters" by Miley Cyrus Elton John did piano for. It looks like a majorly exciting release and I am seriously looking forward to how the tracks I haven't heard yet sound.

Halloween 2021 Playlist

 I thoroughly enjoyed The Dead Daisies' concert on Friday night, Glenn Hughes is truly the "voice of Rock and Roll" and can sing very soulfully, I was quite humbled by how amazing he is.  Doug Aldrich was amazing on guitar and Tommy Clufetos delivered a great drumming performance, while David Lowy helped carry the rhythm and backing excellently.  Highlights for me were "Bustle and Flow," "Lock and Load," "Fortunate Son" (A Creedence cover), "Mistreated (a Deep Purple cover)," "Like No Other," "Long Way To Go" and "Burn (another Deep Purple cover).  I hope to see them again some day.

Also, I received a 50th anniversary CD of Judas Priest music with several previously-unreleased live versions, enabling me to finish my Halloween 2021 playlist on Spotify.  I decided to keep it shorter than previous years so it'd be easier to get through and tried to focus on my absolute favorites.

1-Black Sabbath-Black Sabbath
2-Black Widow-Bruce Dickinson, Adrian Smith, Tony Franklin, Tommy Aldridge
3-Paranoid-Black Sabbath
4-The Wizard-Bullring Brummies
5-War Pigs-Ted Kirkpatrick, Dug Pinnick, Chris Jericho
6-Children of the Grave-Ted Kirkpatrick, Dug Pinnick, Tim "Ripper" Owens
7-Crazy Train (Live 1981)-Ozzy Osbourne
8-Feed My Frankenstein-Alice Cooper
9-Running Wild (Live, Tokyo, 1979)-Judas Priest
10-Victim of Changes (Live, Tokyo, 1979)-Judas Priest
11-Breaking The Law-Judas Priest
12-Rainbow in the Dark (Holy Diver Live version)-Dio
13-Breaking the Law (Live, Wacken 2015)-Judas Priest
14-The Last in Line-Tenacious D
15-Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!! (10 BABYMETAL BUDOKAN LIVE)-BabyMetal
16-Karate-BabyMetal
17-Thriller-Michael Jackson
18-Ace of Spades-Motorhead
19-Fear of the Dark (Live at Rock in Rio '01)-Iron Maiden
20-Diary of a Madman-Ozzy Osbourne
21-Hand of Doom-Black Sabbath
22-Rat Salad-Black Sabbath
23-He's Back (The Man Behind The Mask)-Alice Cooper
24-Dream Warriors-Dokken
25-Black Sabbath (Live, Birmingham, UK, 2017)-Black Sabbath
26-Eat Me-Ozzy Osbourne, Andrew Watt, Duff McKagan, Chad Smith
27-Take What You Want-Post Malone, Ozzy Osbourne, Travis Scott
28-What Baby Wants-Alice Cooper, Kesha
29-Iron Man (Live, Birmingham, UK, 2017)-Black Sabbath
30-Bark at the Moon-Adrian Conner
31-Experiment on Me-Halsey
32-Starbreaker-Judas Priest
33-Nothing Else Matters-Metallica
34-Bad Memory-K.Flay
35-Saturday Night Special-BPMD
36-Keeping Halloween Alive-Alice Cooper
37-Beyond the Realms of Death (Live, New York's Mudd Club, 1979)-Judas Priest
38-Bloodstone (Live, The Omni, Atlanta, GA, 1982)-Judas Priest
39-The Hellion/Eletric Eye (Live, Houston, 1986)-Judas Priest
40-Sinner (Live, New Haven, CT, 1988)-Judas Priest
41-Dissident Aggressor (Live, 2008)-Judas Priest
42-Nothing Else Matters-Miley Cyrus, Andrew Watt, Robert Trujillo, Chad Smith, Elton John, Yo-Yo Ma
43-ABSURD-Guns N Roses
44-Enter Sandman-Rina Sawayama
45-Sad But True-St. Vincent
46-Through the Never-The Hu
47-Hellraiser, 30th Anniversary mashup-Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Motorhead
48-Paranoid (Live, Birmingham, UK, 2017)-Black Sabbath

This playlist may change if I get my laptop back before Halloween, but I'm not sure that's going to happen, so here it is for now.

Big Music Update Week

     This is a big week for me musically as several important albums are getting released and tomorrow I'm seeing my first out-of-town concert in almost two years to the day.  I've been getting up early all week to get ready and think I'm in pretty good shape to catch the Greyhound down to Seattle tomorrow.  Now for some details, first, the releases.

 

The Beatles-Let It Be (Super Deluxe Edition): In January of 1969, The Beatles attempted an album with a less experimental, more "return to the roots of rock and roll" kind of vibe.  However, the creative differences between John, Paul and George wore on each other through the month, resulting in a lot of recorded outtakes and jams to break the tension.  Billy Preston also joined The Beatles on keyboards to keep things moving while the whole thing was filmed and recorded, resulting in countless bootlegs.  This is the first legal release of those sessions by The Beatles and features outtakes of songs on the "Let it Be" album, Glyn Johns' original attempt to mix the album and jams of later released songs like "Octopus's Garden" and "Gimme Some Truth."  I am hopeful the "Octopus's Garden" rehearsal is from the part in the Let it Be film where Ringo is toying with the song on the piano and George offers some advice, then John comes in and starts playing with the drums. It's a rare lighthearted moment in a pretty dour film.

 

Judas Priest-Reflections; 50 Years of Heavy Metal: Hard to believe the Metal gods have been doing this for 50 years (especially since they don't have access to re-release their first two albums due to legal issues).  This one has some studio selections such as the "infamous" "Eat Me Alive" (infamous because Tipper Gore and company singled it out as one of the "Filthy Fifteen," when according to Rob Halford, it's intended in jest), "You Don't Have To Be Old To Be Wise," and "Never The Heroes" from their newest studio album Firepower from 2018.  The bulk of the album is live cuts from at least 1978-1991 (some are undated) and I'm not sure if it's all new material or a collection of tracks from the Remasters they put out some time ago.  Either way, it's going to be great "Living After Midnight" with the Priest.

 

Kelly Clarkson-When Christmas Comes Around: Yes, it's about three weeks too early, but she did make a great Christmas album a few years back.  I actually thought about getting this for my sister-in-law, but it has Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas" and a guest appearance by Ariana Grande, and she doesn't like those.  I, on the other hand, do, so I'm going to give it a listen.

 

Alcatrazz also releases their first album with Doogie White lead singing, Tom Morello will release a new album, K.Flay has a new single being released tonight and gay African-American bassist/singer Dug Pinnick is also releasing a new album.

 

The big news for me, specifically, though, is The Dead Daisies concert tomorrow night at the Neptune Theater in Seattle, WA.  The Dead Daisies are a four-piece rock band with Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Country Communion) on bass and lead vocals, Doug Aldrich (Lion, Whitesnake, Dio) on lead guitar, David Lowy on rhythm guitar and Tommy Clufetos (Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath) on drums.  I took note of Glenn Hughes when I was getting into Hard Rock and Heavy Metal around 2012-2013 and found out he follows Billy Ray Cyrus on Twitter, the two recording a pair of duets on Billy Ray's album "Thin Line," released 2016.  There is a video on YouTube of the two rocking out and singing "Tie Your Mother Down" by Queen with Steve Stevens, Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum backing them up in a project called the Kings of Chaos.  According to setlist.fm, songs I should look forward to are "Bustle and Flow," covers of "Fortunate Son" and "Mistreated" by CCR and Deep Purple, "Like No Other (Bassline)" and the final encore of "Burn," also by Deep Purple.  Sounds like it'll be just the thing I need.

Good news this week and Music update

     Well, the new laptop got sent in Tuesday morning.  I'm actually typing this on the old one because I didn't throw it away because I don't know how to safely dispose of technology, kind of lucky for me, I was getting frustrated looking at my phone and alternating between DVDs and CDs in my DVD player, feeling a little stifled and that I might be irritating the neighbors.  I'm not at 100%, but I'm better than I was yesterday or two days ago.

 

    A trio of good things have happened since Sunday night, though.  I posted a tweet of Miis of Edelgard and Petra from Fire Emblem; Three Houses and tagged their English Voice Actresses, Tara Platt and Faye Mata, and they liked the tweet.  Also on Twitter, I got to tell Emily Osment congratulations on her brother, Haley Joel Osment, making it into Smash Bros., as he voices Sora in Kingdom Hearts.  If you're as old as me, you know him onscreen from at least the commercials for The Sixth Sense, which is why in the Hannah Montana Halloween episode, Lilly says Miley will say her cousin "sees dead people."  Also, an order I placed a month ago of an action figure of Rob Halford, lead singer of Judas Priest, arrived.

 

    Last week's albums by Brandi Carlile and Jon Foreman were amazing, producing songs I'll probably listen to for years, especially Brandi's "Mama Werewolf" and "Sinners, Saints and Fools" and Jon's solo version of "A Place Called Earth" and rendition of "It Is Well With My Soul."  This week brings all-woman band (not sure about that, actually) Vanilla Ninja with a new album, an album of duets by hard rock singer Jeff Scott Soto, possibly an album by Japanese, maybe Japanese-American pianist Hiromi (not sure) and an album by heavy metal Grecian guitarist Gus G.  All sound like they'll be worth at least a listen.

Edeleth Week Day 7/Final: Crossover/Crosstag Battle

     It never ceases to amaze me how similar Persona and Fire Emblem can get, from the Social Links and Support Ranks method of dating/playing psychiatrist to your characters, to the many shared voice actors and voice actresses (Laura Bailey, Tara Platt, Yuri Lowenthal, Cherami Leigh, Matt Mercer, Kira Buckland, Colleen O'Shaughnessy, Xanthe Huynh and Cassandra Lee Morris, to name a few) to the crossover Tokyo Mirage Sessions or the appearance of both franchises in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.  So I decided for the last day to do a crossover between Edelgard and Byleth and the Persona series, based on the combat system for the crossover game Blazblue; Crosstag Battle, which features Blazblue, Persona and RWBY characters as well as others from Senran Kagura and Arcana Heart.  This was also inspired by watching the scene where Elizabeth helps Rise Kujikawa awaken to her Persona's offensive capabilities in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax since they are played by two of my favorite voice actresses (Laura Bailey plays Rise and Tara Platt plays Elizabeth, in fact, I shared the clip in August titling in "Jester meets Edelgard" after Bailey's Critical Role Mighty Nein character and Platt's most popular Fire Emblem character).  Rise's Persona is also named Kanzeon and Elizabeth's is named Thanatos, named after figures from Shintoism and Greek Mythology, respectively.

               Byleth and Edelgard gripped their typical weapons as they stood at one end of a yellow-tinted ring with TVs lining the side.  At the other side stood a familiar figure, joined by three unfamiliar ones.  They recognized the orange dress-clad pigtailed figure of Rise Kujikawa, she had wanted to challenge them in a two-on-two outside of Smash Bros., outside of Mii Brawler constraints.  Yet, the environment, the world around them, the others, were completely foreign.

 

               Behind Rise stood a tall woman-like figure with a dress for a body and a head that resembled a satellite dish and a cannon.  Tiny speaker-like orbs orbited this woman and Rise.  Next to the J-Pop star was a woman with white hair dressed in blue with piercing yellow eyes.  This woman unsettled Edelgard, but she couldn’t place her finger on why.  Was it her white hair, reminding her of her own? Her unnatural yellow eyes?  Her unserious, flighty, silly personality?  Or was it that this woman’s voice sounded eerily like her own shifted upwards in pitch and as if she was playing Puck in Midsummer Night’s Dream?

 

               Creepier than that, though, was that behind this woman was some deformed mix of a knight and a Tyrannosaurus.  “Shall we begin, Miss Risette?” asked the woman.

 

               “Please, call me Rise!” insisted Rise.

 

               “That white-haired lady with the yellow eyes gives me the creeps.” Muttered Edelgard.

 

               “Keep your focus, El, we’ll prevail.” Replied Byleth.  Byleth charged at Rise, who hit her with a mic stand, then blasted her with sonic waves.  Byleth slashed Rise with the Sword of the Creator, Rise responding with another sonic blast.  Edelgard tagged in and swung her axe, smacking Rise back.  She pressed her advantage, smacking Rise repeatedly.  Elizabeth tagged in, letting the deformed Persona attack Edelgard with its mass of blades.  Edelgard yelled in fury as she slashed Elizabeth multiple times with her axe, Elizabeth retaliating with another assault, this time of Tarot cards.  The images on them, her friends, Rise, a man with headphones and monkey wrenches, A redhead in black leather and white faux fur, was this to mock her uncertainty about deities?  Before she could process this further, Byleth tagged in, slashing Elizabeth with the Sword of the Creator, knocking her back.  Rise tagged back in, smacking Byleth with her mic stand.  Byleth smashed Rise with her sword, knocking her into the air, Edelgard joining her, their sword and axe crashing into Rise, defeating her.  Elizabeth appeared, defeating Byleth with a rush of Tarot Cards, leaving Edelgard and Elizabeth.

 

               Edelgard gripped her axe fiercely, summoning her courage.  Elizabeth summoned a tornado of Tarot Cards at Edelgard, her beating it back quickly, then smashing into the Velvet Room Attendant with her axe fiercely.  She swung down with one fierce stroke, crying out “A-MYR!”  Elizabeth crashed to the ground, defeated as Edelgard panted, exhausted.  Byleth walked up next to Edelgard as Rise and Elizabeth both got up.

 

               “Well done!” smiled Rise.

 

               “Truly fascinating, I should visit this world of Flames and Emblems someday.” Added Elizabeth.  The four women all shook hands, then Byleth hugged Edelgard, kissing her cheek.

 

               “You faced something you were afraid of, I’m proud of you.” Whispered Byleth.

 

               “I had you with me, I can face anything if you’re by my side.” Smiled Edelgard.  She kissed Byleth on the lips, smiling broadly afterward.  Byleth smiled back, responding with a kiss.  The two were happy together and belonged together, joyful that they had found each other and always helped each other.

 

The End

Edeleth Week Day 6: Halloween

     Since it's the start of October, I decided to write the FE3H characters celebrating what Fire Emblem Heroes calls "the Fall Festival."  Dorothea's costume was inspired by this piece of fanart: Commission: Rise and Dorothea by sirenami on DeviantArt while Annette's is based off this character: Mamori by gvsgdude89 on DeviantArt and inspired by this alternate outfit for her: Mamori as Annette by gvsgdude89 on DeviantArt  Also, I don't know if I was aware of it while choosing the costumes, but there is a piece of fanart of Byleth in the costume I chose here: Calamity Cosplay by TaylorSwitch64 on DeviantArt  Also, Annette's line about Larvitars was inspired by her voice actress, Abby Trott's Twitter.

               Byleth stood in front of a full-length mirror in the Adrestian Castle, fastening light blue hair clips to her hair to finish her costume.  She was wearing a blue top over a white button-up shirt, a large leather belt, black fingerless gloves, tight black pants and brown boots.  “You look marvelous for the Fall Festival, honey.” Said her wife’s smooth voice as she strode into view.

 

               Edelgard was dressed as the current incarnation of the Princess of Hyrule’s wife, a white and blue suit of armor with red chest armor and blue shoulder pads with white circles on the front and lime green circles on the sides.  A green cannon adorned her right arm.  She wore no helmet, her white hair in a ponytail cascading down the back of her head, ending at the small of her back.  Byleth giggled slightly.  “Thank you, and you make an impressive bounty huntress for the second year in a row.” She said with a smile.  The previous year, Edelgard had dressed as Samus in her Zero Suit.

 

               “Thank you, I find she gives me courage and confidence.” Replied Edelgard, giving a curtsying motion.  Byleth walked to Edelgard’s left side, the two locking their arms together at the elbow, heading off to the Fall Festival.  Citizens in costumes such as werewolves, vampires, mummies, superheroes and famous people ran to and fro, asking for treats from houses they visited.  Petra arrived with Dorothea, Dorothea dressed in a simple orange dress that ended at her knees, black tights and orange heels, with her hair in pigtails.  Petra, on the other hand, wasn’t in a costume.

 

               “Hi, Petra and Dorothea!” smiled Byleth.

 

               “Hello, Byleth.” Replied Petra.  “I understand a festival of Fodlan is taking place tonight?”

 

               “It’s the Fall Festival, honey, I told you before we left!” smiled Dorothea.  “Everyone dresses up and collects candy and pumpkins.”

 

               “Around this time, Brigid has a memorial service in honor of those who have fallen in the last year.” Replied Petra.  “We pray to the Forest Spirit of Death and burn a large tree in memory of our loved ones, watching the ashes blow away in the sea breezes.”

 

               “D—did you do that for me…when you thought I had died all those years ago?” asked Byleth.

 

               “I had listed your name; I was relieved to be mistaken.” Replied Petra.

 

               “Can we talk about something happier, honey?” asked Dorothea.  “Maybe we’ll win a candy or pumpkin prize for Brigid!”

 

               “That would be most enjoyable!” smiled Petra.

 

               “What, or rather, who are you dressed as anyway, Dorothea?” asked Edelgard.

 

               “Oh, I’m Rise Kujikawa, a premium pop star we’ve seen fight as a Mii Brawler in Smash Bros.  The one in orange with the pigtails?” she replied.

 

               “Ah, right, that one, she’s pretty adorable.” Nodded Edelgard.

 

               “Speaking of adorable…” said Byleth, noticing a familiar ginger mage approaching with her axe, though dressed in a light purple and blue kimono with a pinwheel on the collarbone area and her hair in braided pigtails with a giant red bow atop her head.

 

               “Hi, guys!” said Annette, putting her axe by her waist.  “Great costumes, love the Samus, Zelda and Rise outfits!  Petra, what are you supposed to be?”

 

               “I am…not wearing a costume, Brigid does not celebrate the Fall Festival.” Replied Petra.

 

               “Annette, when you joined us, I told you about diverse cultures.” Said Byleth.  “Not everyone believes in Sothis, and that is fine.”

 

               “I know, personally, I’m still having some trouble with the fact Seiros wasn’t as good as we were taught to believe in elementary school, that she really was a petty, power-mad dictator.” Replied Annette.  “But, Edelgard showed me her scars and Rhea didn’t do anything about it…what kind of leader doesn’t help when something like that happens?”

 

               “One more concerned with being right than the citizens of her continent.” Replied Edelgard angrily.  She sighed to regain control of her emotions, Rhea was gone, she couldn’t hurt her or anyone else anymore.  “So, who are you, Annette?” she asked.

 

               “Mamori of Fortuna Entertainment in Tokyo, Japan!” smiled Annette.  “I had wanted to be a Larvitar, but they didn’t sell that costume at the costume palace.”

 

               “Well, you look adorable.” Smiled Edelgard.  “How about you, Petra and Dorothea enter the candy raffle?”

 

               “Nice, we’re going to get the grand prize!” smiled Dorothea.

 

               “You wish, Dorothea!” replied Annette with a laugh.  The three went off, Byleth gently putting her hand at Edelgard’s back.

 

               “Hey, you okay?” she asked.  “I wasn’t expecting Annette to bring that up.”

 

               “Honestly, I wish I could be nicer to her.  She’s all there is left of the Blue Lions now.” Replied Edelgard.  “You’re better and kinder than he was…but I keep cursing his loyalty to the tradition of state religion, his unwillingness to have freedom of religion for a beloved childhood friend.  If he had…I would never have had to…well, you were there.”  Tears formed in Edelgard’s eyes.  Byleth hugged Edelgard, who hugged back, breathing heavily.

 

               “I didn’t have any childhood friends like that, but I can imagine how much it grieves you.  He called you that name, that only I, your sisters and your parents have used.  He still cared, though his actions showed he was ultimately more loyal and afraid of Seiros than that care.  But I won’t stop caring, El.  You’ve been through too much.  I don’t want you to go through any more.” She whispered.  Edelgard wept out the sadness.

 

               “Thank you, Byleth.” She whispered, letting a few more tears fall, Byleth letting her shoulder catch them for her Empress.  “We should keep going, we’ve got quite a few other people to talk to.”

 

               “Yeah, let’s see how Shamir, Bernadetta, Caspar, Hubert, Ferdinand, Leonie and Lysithea dressed up!” smiled Byleth.  The two walked off, arm in arm, smiling at each other.  Edelgard’s spirits lifted, she felt like she’d be okay, so long as her sweet Princess of a woman was with her.

 

The End