Can't you see the desperation? This isn't happy dancing. This is "forget my problems" dancing. Look at the arms. If a guy waves his arms like that, he's worrying about a lot more than looking stupid on the dance floor.
— Joker Moreau, at a nightclub in a city at war, Mass Effect 3
And after the bombs subside
And this long, low campaign
Calls it good for the night
We meet in the streets
Will we meet in the bar's cold light?
We grip at our hands
Will we hold just a little tight?
After the bombs
After the bombs
Subside
And after the rockets calm
And the glimmer of fire
Portends an early dawn
We pinch at our skin
Will we wonder how we escaped harm?
We forget all our trials
All there in our babies' arms
After the rockets
After the rockets calm
Then we'll go dancing
Won't we go dancing?
Yes, we'll go dancing
'Til it all
Starts over again
And this long, low campaign
Calls it good for the night
We meet in the streets
Will we meet in the bar's cold light?
We grip at our hands
Will we hold just a little tight?
After the bombs
After the bombs
Subside
And after the rockets calm
And the glimmer of fire
Portends an early dawn
We pinch at our skin
Will we wonder how we escaped harm?
We forget all our trials
All there in our babies' arms
After the rockets
After the rockets calm
Then we'll go dancing
Won't we go dancing?
Yes, we'll go dancing
'Til it all
Starts over again
— The Decemberists, "After the Bombs"
And today we’re all brothers
Tonight we’re all friends
A moment of peace in a war that never ends
Today we’re all brothers
We drink and unite
Now Christmas has arrived and the snow turns the ground white
Hear carols from the trenches, we sing O holy night
Our guns laid to rest among snowflakes
A Christmas in the trenches, a Christmas on the front far from home
Tonight we’re all friends
A moment of peace in a war that never ends
Today we’re all brothers
We drink and unite
Now Christmas has arrived and the snow turns the ground white
Hear carols from the trenches, we sing O holy night
Our guns laid to rest among snowflakes
A Christmas in the trenches, a Christmas on the front far from home
— Sabaton, "Christmas Truce"
They dance, if only to forget. They clamor, if only to be free from thought. The glittering city of Yusnaan erupts in a rapturous banquet, all so that her people can turn their eyes from the horrors that lie in the darkness. They are running from a doom that stands ever nearer. And at the head of the table stands the man I would least expect.
"Redemption is beyond us." The lament of all but saints and fools... and the comfort of the lords and ladies of this accursed place. Once they held fast against the madness, only to embrace the coming cataclysm and delight in the end of days. Perhaps in rapture they seek to lose themselves and the misery they share... Or perhaps for them alone the promise of eternal pleasure really does hold true.
— Ardbert Hylfyst, on the city of Eulmore, Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers
