Song of the Day, January 31, 2017

[Bob Schroeck]

Now, don't take this exactly literally, but...

Hail the day so long expected, when the Gates are opened wide.
Magicks, old and new collected, have restored the ancient pride.
Throughout Faerie’s wide dominion hear the trumpets swoop and soar.
Avalon is risen, is risen, is risen.
Avalon is risen, to fall no more.

All of us now stand in wonder as our visions come to pass.
Old Earth Mother and God of Thunder, Huntress, Weaver, join the dance.
Swell the sound of joyous laughter, hear immortal voices roar!
Avalon is risen, is risen, is risen.
Avalon is risen, to fall no more.

Though some thought that all their hating had sent Her beneath the waves,
Avalon was only waiting, for Her folk will not be slaves!
Now the day of freedom’s dawning brings them back forevermore.
Avalon is risen, is risen, is risen.
Avalon is risen, to fall no more.

Hark, all ye in beds and bowers; Pan has come another time –
Ruling with a rod of flowers, giving us the bliss sublime.
Freyr and Freya now shall guide us, Venus be our counselor.
Avalon is risen, is risen, is risen.
Avalon is risen, to fall no more.

Listen warriors of the Old Gods, as the Wild Hunt’s horn does sound.
All their works shall fall before us, and the evil ones be bound.
Raise the shield of bright Athena, swing the hammer of great Thor.
Avalon is risen, is risen, is risen.
Avalon is risen, to fall no more.

Hear me now, each dree and bandree, Brahman, volkhvi, flamen too,
Priest and priestess, poet, godhi, runemaster and shaman true:
All your faith is now rewarded, prophets of the ancient lore.
Avalon is risen, is risen, is risen.
Avalon is risen, to fall no more.

Some of us shall yet go a-sailing, through the void so deep and far.
They will come with us unfailing, plant the seeds from star to star.
Hear our children’s children’s voices, join with those from days of yore.
Avalon is risen, is risen, is risen.
Avalon is risen, to fall no more.
Avalon is risen, is risen, is risen.
Avalon is risen, to fall no more.
-- Leslie Fish, "Avalon is Risen"

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Star Ranger4]

Heh. Given what step this is 'from' I could easily see a ginger haired bookworm having deciphered and revived some ancient lore.

That and its banging music cue for the DADA crew to be doing a training montage, or even just slinging spell and taking names, cause they ALL out of bubblegum.

Well, gum that Gred and Frorge havent.... Tinkered with.
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[Bob Schroeck]

Heh. No, this is the montage song:


I spent the afternoon going through everything in my helmet. I
did it in the Mansion, to make use of the mainframe's search
power -- after all, I'd been dropping my helmet on the docking
stations for how long now? Everything I'd added in my travels
had *long* been tranferred, scanned, indexed and cross-referenced
by the applications that were launched every time it detected my
helmet on a dock.

What I was looking for was... well, anything that would enhance
or open up metatalents in someone who had them. Which in this
case included the mage gift, even the half-assed pipsqueak one
the wizards of this world possessed. If I could boost that to
what I considered bare minimum useful, and maybe reset their
plasticity so they could acquire alternate styles of magic, I
could turn them into a force that could steamroll Lord Emo into
a pale pink paste.

I'd never really done this before; I'd only ever approached it as
a theoretical exercise, but I already had a couple of candidates.
Queen had a good song. And there was that one from the Disney
film which had come out just before I'd been ejected from
Homeline.

Yeah, let's start with that one.

"Computer," I said, feet up on my desk, hands behind my head,
leaning back in my nice comfy chair in front of the Big Board.
(Which, being as the Mansion was just a simulation, was blank
except for readouts from the mainframe.)

"Command?" the synthesized voice responded.

I could have used the keyboard which sat five or ten centimeters
past my heels, but I was feeling lazy. "Song database."

"Ready."

"Display lyrics and metadata for 'I'll Make a Man Out of You'."

"Working... displayed on screen nine."

I glanced through the words of the song. *Let's get down to
business/To defeat the Huns...* Yeah, I remembered this right.
I'd gotten the feeling I could use it as a kind of high-speed
'boot camp' effect. I reached out for the paper cup of tea to my
right and cautiously took a sip. It had cooled enough to drink
comfortably, so I took another as I read through the lyrics for
what had to be the first time in years.

Right, my original plan had been to confirm that it did what I'd
thought it would, and then give Gracie, Ruth and Nina first shot
at trying it. Too bad, girls, now the DA was going to get the
benefits of this song before you. Taking another mouthful of tea
I dragged my finger up along the screen to scroll to the next
page. I'd just give my notes in the metadata a once-over then
head right over to the Danger Room and...

I spit out my tea. *Thirty-four uses of the song logged?*

When the hell had *that* happened?

I paged to the notes. It *should* have held a one or two-
sentence description of my feel for the song's possible effect.
Should have. Instead...

"'This song produces a time-compressed "training camp" effect,
squeezing six to eight subjective weeks of intensive study,
instruction and practice into its objective duration'," I read
off the screen. "'By default it produces a standard "boot camp"
experience, but any subject known to a sufficient degree by *any*
participant can be imparted to everyone under the song's effect,
if the choice is made to do so at the outset of playback. Only
one skill or set of related skills -- boot camp training, a
single martial art up to fifth dan equivalent, or a semester's
worth of high school algebra, for instance -- can be imparted per
use of the song. No food, drink or rest is required for the
subjective duration of the song, however, participants will find
themselves exhausted and famished upon its completion, though not
dangerously so. Any instruction in physical skills will need at
least a week of 'real world' practice to 'anchor' them, or the
acquired benefits will fade away. Purely mental skills require
no "rehearsal".'"

"Holy. Shit," I whispered. When had I used this song so often
that I could write up an abstract that detailed? I had no idea.
But I had a pretty good guess who had benefitted from those
thirty-four uses. Seven Japanese schoolgirls of whom I had no
memory whatsoever.

But now I knew I had to have trained them to be *major* badasses.

Who *were* those girls? And why had I gone to such lengths for
them?

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Star Ranger4]

Heh. and yet another hint at S
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[Labster]

or a semester's worth of high school algebra, for instance
Oh hi Ami!
> Avalon is risen
Arthurian legend seems pretty compatible with Potter.  Hmm.
-- ∇×V

[Bob Schroeck]

> Now, don't take this exactly literally, but...

On second thought, do take it literally.

[robkelk]

> Now, don't take this exactly literally, but...

On second thought, do take it literally.

Ooh, levitating Avalon...

[Bob Schroeck]

<rimshot>

[Star Ranger4]

...

.....

Holy floating Islands, Doug!