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ejzah · 1 year

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A/N: And we’re back friends! Thanks so much for your patience and enthusiasm for this story.

***

In Miss Blye’s Class, Part 15

“What’s 27+43?” Deeks asked, tossing the question over his shoulder while he rinsed a casserole dish. Behind him, Caleb was playing some self-invented game that involved skipping from floor tile to tile.

“Oh, that’s easy. 70!”

“Easy, huh?” Deeks screwed up his for a second. “Ok, then how about 29+37+55?”

Caleb slid to a stop next to Deeks, his mouth dropping open. “That’s harder than the worksheets we get at school,” he objected with a glare that was absolutely adorable.

“Well, you said the last one was too easy,” Deeks reminded him with a shrug. “You give up?”

“No.” Shaking his head stubbornly, Caleb settled his small fists on his hips. “I’m still thinking.”

Deeks started humming the Jeopardy theme song under his breath, which earned an unamused look.

“Daddy, that’s not helping!” he complained. Muttering under his breath, Caleb returned to his skipping game.

The doorbell rang a few minutes later, and Deeks set a freshly washed plate to the side, shaking off soap suds. “Hey kiddo, you wanna dry those dishes in the rack while I check the door?” He ruffled Caleb’s hair with a wet hand, dropping a kiss on the know damp strands. “Try not to break anything!” he added on his way out to the living room.

He opened the front door, lips curling up in a surprised, but pleased smile when he saw who was standing on the stoop. “Kensi, I didn’t expect you.”

“I know. I just wanted to stop and check in on you,” she said.

“Well come on in.” Deeks stepped to the side, still close enough that Kensi’s shoulder brushed his as she entered. “We already had dinner but I can warm something up if you want,” he offered, leading her a little further into the house.

“Thanks, but I grabbed a sandwich on the way here. Besides, I have some more grading that I didn’t get done at the school.”

“Ok, well what’s on your mind?” he asked. He didn’t mind the surprise visit at all, but it wasn’t like Kensi to be quite so spontaneous. At least in his somewhat limited experience.

“I heard you had a private meeting with Principal Hanna,” she told him.

“Well, wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been sent to the principal’s office,” Deeks quipped. “How did you find out?”

“Nicole. She said he had you called in from the car-rider line.”

“Yep. Definitely didn’t flash back to 8th grade when me and my friend Ray got in trouble for “borrowing” the driver’s ed car.”

“You what? Ok, I’m definitely going to need to hear that whole story at some point,” she said, holding her hand up. “But before I get completely distracted, what did Sam want?”

“Oh, he just wanted to know my intentions with you,” he replied with a shrug. Kensi’s mouth dropped slightly.

“You’re joking.” Deeks shook his head, and she groaned, covering her mouth with both hands. “Oh my god, I thought it was a possibility, but I didn’t think he’d actually go that far.” Her eyes narrowed, shifting from mortification to mild fury.

“Tell me exactly what Sam said.”

“He said someone saw us at the gala the other night and there’s been some rumors about us,” Deeks assured her, gently brushing her arm.

“Bunch of gossips,” she muttered in disgust.

Deeks cleared his throat, hesitating before he added, “He also made it clear that he wouldn’t take it lightly if I turned out to be a no-good Lothario.”

“Oh, he is a dead man.”

“So it doesn’t bother you that people have been gossiping about us and those rumors pretty much confirmed? It could cause problems for you, like Sam mentioned.”

That was the part that concerned him the most; Kensi might realize that dating him, or whatever they wanted to call their thing, was more trouble than it was worth.

“Yes,” Kensi said firmly. “I know the consequences and I’m not aall that worried. Besides, it’s not like we’ve been making out in the gym or something.” Deeks chuckled, inclining his head.

“Pretty sure Sam would sucker punch me if we did.”

“You let me worry about Sam. We’re going to have a long talk.” Her voice lowered menacingly and Deeks was infinitely glad he’d never given Kensi cause to use it on him.

“Won’t that put your job at risk?” he asked, and Kensi waved her hand dismissively.

“I’ve known Sam since I was sixteen when he and my dad were in the military together. Sam offered me a position at St. Bridgets before I graduated. I can handle him,” she insisted, her lack of concern going some way to reassure Deeks that she wouldn’t be destroying her career over it.

“Ok, then. But if you do happen to find yourself in a smack down and in need of legal advice, I happen to know an excellent lawyer,” Deeks offered teasingly.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Though I’m not sure I can afford you.”

“I’ll give you the friends and family deal.”

“Oh, I’m honored.” She chuckled.

Something clattered in the kitchen, and they both stilled listening for further signs of distress.

“Everything ok, kiddo?” Deeks called out.

“Yeah, I just dropped a pan!” Caleb shouted back. Deeks imagined trails of soapy water on the floor, possibly a flood or two.

“Ok, thanks, bud. How about you leave the rest for me to do. Finish up your homework and then we can watch some tv.”

“Ok!”

Beside him, Kensi pressed her lips together, barely containing a smirk.

“What?” Deeks asked, feeling oddly self-conscious.

“Nothing. You two are just…cute together.”

“Oh, you think I’m cute?”

“I think that’s already been established,” Kensi said, reaching up to playfully tug at his shirt collar. She kept her hand there, stretching up to kiss him.

It started out as just a peck on the lips, but then Kensi shifted closer, left hand falling to his chest while she looped the other arm around his neck. Deeks made a soft, appreciative sound, smoothing his hands down to her waist, and tugged her forward so their lower bodies met.

Kensi pulled back with a hitching gasp, nose pressed against his.

“Damn,” she said, making Deeks grin even as he tried to catch his own breath.

“Agreed.”

She sighed, pressing a couple, more chaste kisses to his mouth.

“I should go. Let you get back to your dishes.”

“Highlight of my night. Have a good night grading.”

Kensi made a disgusted sound, releasing her hold on him, and heading for the door. Deeks followed after her, leaning against the door jam. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said.

“See you,” Deeks murmured back, sneaking a final kiss before she was out the door. He watched her retreating back, the goofiest grin plastered across his face.

#ncis la fanfiction #densi #marty deeks #kensi blye #Caleb Deeks #lawyer Deeks #teacher Kensi #in miss blye’s class #part 15 #au #fluff #ejzah fanfiction

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stelladilemmen · 2 years

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A summer on fire

Summer is ending with record temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere. But how has this affected agriculture, the grapevine in particular, and what can we expect from the 2022 harvest?

What is coming to an end has been a period of great drought and heat here in Stella di Lemmen as well. It has challenged the course of the seasons, the land and us workers. This is also why we have not been able to update our „logbook“ regularly in recent times.

The first three months of the year went by without any precipitation - we started watering in January/February! - and were interrupted only by a few scant rains in April. This led to a spring that exploded and petered out in record time, as the early warm weather soon evaporated the little moisture in the soil and plants flowered and wilted within a few weeks. One example for all: lavender, which usually blooms from early July to mid-August, had already withered by the end of June.

Trees and flora ran for cover, trying to go to seed in a great hurry to ensure reproduction before the eventual passing due to heat and drought.

Fire temperatures and no water, just a single thunderstorm from May to mid-August! All the plants suffered from the pressing heat and many, even some rosemaries, did not make it. The fatigue of the plant world was so obvious that we could not shield ourselves to be shaken by it as well.

The animals faced the heatwave by resting interminable hours motionless, seeking shade from late morning until evening.

Fortunately, in the period up to the solstice the temperature range helped, bestowing coolness and a little moisture in the night and early morning hours.

As the only exception, the vineyard coped fairly well with the sunny summer and drought, evidently benefiting from the cultivation techniques we employ and despite the fact that not a drop of irrigation was lavished on it. The ripening of the grapes developed quite evenly, slightly better in the areas where - paradoxically - the plants had less vigor. The result is a copious harvest that will soon, exceptionally soon, have to be collected and turned into wine.

The abundance of grapes will allow us, for the first time, to select the best bunches for our „Limen“, the Cinque Terre white, and to tackle some new experiments, with amphorae and barriques, aimed at growth and the pursuit of excellence.

The red grapes, of the Grenache and Canaiolo varieties, will also be a first: the first harvest! We are really excited and, as per our nature, a tiny bit anxious… :)

Now that two copious thunderstorms have returned to wet the land, and nature as a whole has been able to take a breather, we hope for a harmonious resumption of rainfall and a consequent, gradual return to normality. Plants, animals and we farmers will hopefully be able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Let's see if nature, generous as always, as a result of this difficult period will reward us with some wonderful surprises. After all... „in vino veritas“, „in wine lies the truth“!

Un’estate di fuoco

L'estate si sta concludendo con temperature record in tutto l'emisfero boreale. Ma come questo ha inciso sull’agricoltura? Che conseguenze ha sulla vite e cosa ci si può aspettare dalla vendemmia 2022?

Quello che giunge al termine è stato un periodo di grande siccità e caldo anche qui a Stella di Lemmen. Ha messo a dura prova il corso delle stagioni, la terra e noi lavoratori. Anche per questo negli ultimi tempi non ci è stato possibile aggiornare con regolarità il nostro „giornale di bordo“.

I primi tre mesi dell’anno senza precipitazioni - abbiamo iniziato ad annaffiare a gennaio/febbraio! - sono stai interrotti solo da qualche scarsa pioggia ad aprile e hanno portato ad una primavera esplosa ed esauritasi a tempo di record, perché i primi caldi hanno presto fatto evaporare la poca umidità presente nel terreno e le piante sono fiorite ed appassite nel giro di poche settimane. Un esempio per tutte: la lavanda, che di solito fiorisce dai primi di luglio a metà agosto, a fine giugno era già sfiorita.

Gli alberi e la flora sono corsi ai ripari, cercando di andare a seme in grande fretta, per garantire la riproduzione prima dell’eventuale trapasso a causa del calore e della siccità.

Temperature di fuoco e niente acqua, un unico temporale da maggio a metà agosto! Tutte le piante hanno sofferto la pressante calura e in tante, addirittura alcuni rosmarini, non ce l’hanno fatta. Troppo evidente la fatica del mondo vegetale per non rimanerne scossi anche noi.

Gli animali hanno affrontato la canicola riposando interminabili ore immobili, ricercando l’ombra dalla tarda mattinata fino a sera.

Per fortuna, nel periodo fino al solstizio l’escursione termica ha aiutato, elargendo frescura e un poco di umidità nelle ore notturne e di primo mattino.

Come unica eccezione, il vigneto ha retto egregiamente all’estate assolata e alla siccità, beneficiando evidentemente delle tecniche colturali che utilizziamo e nonostante non una goccia di irrigazione gli sia stata elargita. La maturazione delle uve si è sviluppata in maniera omogenea, leggermente migliore nelle zone dove – paradossalmente – le piante presentavano meno vigoria. Il risultato è un raccolto copioso che a breve, eccezionalmente presto, dovrà essere vendemmiato e trasformato in vino.

L’abbondanza di uva ci consentirà per la prima volta di selezionare i grappoli migliori per il nostro „Limen“, il bianco delle Cinque Terre, e di affrontare qualche nuovo esperimento, con anfore e barrique, mirato alla crescita e alla ricerca dell’eccellenza.

Anche il rosso, varietà Grenache e Canaiolo, sarà una novità assoluta: il primo raccolto! Siamo davvero entusiasti e, come da nostra natura, un briciolo ansiosi…

Ora che due copiosi temporali sono tornati a bagnare la terra e la natura tutta ha potuto prendere respiro, si spera in un'armonica ripresa delle precipitazioni ed un conseguente, graduale, ritorno alla normalità. Le piante, gli animali e noi contadini potremo auspicabilmente tirare un sospiro di sollievo. Chissà se la natura, generosa come sempre, come risultato di questo difficile periodo ci premierà con qualche meravigliosa sorpresa. In fondo...“in vino veritas“!

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junicai · 3 years

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Relationship with SuperM

➣ BAEKHYUN ☾ baekaria

before being thrown into a supergroup together, aria and baekhyun hadn’t really spoken

they’d seen each other around the building, and aria was an avid supporter of exo so of course she knew who he was but she wasn’t expecting him to know who she was

so when aria walked into the practice room and was greeted by baekhyun waving her over and calling her name

sue her if she was a little stunned

their relationship was a little stilted at the beginning

between the age gap, and baekhyun not having a girl member in a group before, it took a few weeks for the two of them to figure out their dynamic and where they fit around each other

eventually though

they settled into a pretty comfortable situation

baekhyun tries to put her at ease as much as possible

there is 8 years in the difference, but you’d swear that its less than half

although he’s playful and generous with the teasing like he is to other members

he’s careful to avoid certain topics when it comes to aria, just out of respect for her and not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable

this came to fruition after kai unknowingly made a small comment on how aria “must have been hungry”, considering how fast she was eating

baekhyun knew he didn’t mean anything by it, but he watched aria slowly put down her chopsticks and reach for the bottle of water beside her instead

he didn’t see her eat for the rest of the evening

did kai get in trouble? no but he did get hit lightly over the head

when aria does something cool - like a spin or a trick - baekhyun is the first to say “that’s my child. i raised her, look how well i taught her”

ten: “heY-”

tldr: although they’re not the closest, aria’s slowly grown more comfortable around him, and he’s looking out for her all the time

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

200829 Knowing Brothers: when baekhyun brought up the members of superm all showering together to get closer quickly, heechul quickly pounced on aria - the girl slowly moving to put her head in her hands.

“and where was aria during all of this? don’t tell me you brought her to?”

baekhyun: “well of course we did-”

aria: “NO I STAYED OUTSIDE HE’S A LIAR DON’T LISTEN TO HIM!”

*cue baekhyun laughing his ass off*

➣ TAEMIN ☾ arimin

aria thought she was going to die

there was absolutely no plausible reason that she should be in a group with The Taemin

he was highkey the reason why she had even accepted her position in sm at the very beginning of her training

this man convinced a fifteen year old to give up the sport she’d been doing her entire life

his impact (*¯ ³¯*)♡

please stand by while aria tosses herself off a bridge

she was So Formal at the beginning

he honestly was the member she took the longest time to warm up to - because she had idolized him for so long

will still refer to him as taemin-ssi occasionally, but now its less a formality and more of a tease

this boy was shook when he found out how young aria was - mark and lucas he can deal with because at least they’re 1999, but aria....

“2000??? 2000?”

he said :O

despite their rocky start, they’re quite comfortable around each other, especially after spending a few nights rooming together over the tour

does aria still look for his validation in a lot of her work? yes, but she’s more open about asking for it now then she would have been

taemin definitely doesn’t have a favourite kid and it’s definitely not aria no why would you think that

aria really out here collecting parents like pokémon

gotta catch em all~

he looks out for her a lot during their schedules, mainly because he knows what its like to be the youngest in a group and how it can feel a little like you don’t really have a place there

so he always makes sure to include her where possible

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

sitting in a circle in a waiting room while mark toy-ed around with the guitar in his lap, aria sat curled in the corner, humming lightly to herself as taemin sang softly along with mark playing “view”.

quietly, she began to sing soft backing harmonies along with taemin, her eyes still attached to her phone in her hands.

when she felt the device being tugged out of her hands and her being pulled upright by another hand on her arm, she looked up to see taemin smiling brightly, still singing

cue the impromptu concert of a lifetime: with god tier vocals

➣ KAI ☾ kairia

so, they met

and kai just kinda went: mine.

and that was that really

its like a puppy refusing to give up its favourite chew toy

“nooo but its my turn to room with aria :(”

never really did the whole awkward, getting to know each other phase?

not that aria had any real say in it

but jongin point blank refused to engage in small talk with her

so they ended up spending their nights on the superm tour talking about stuff ranging from why the sky is blue to why aria stopped ice skating

she started crying and he did not handle it well, bless him

although he’s super chill and fun to be around

he’s also the only non-nct member that seriously scolds her

when he found her in a practice room lying on the ground (she was Resting, thank you very much) at three in the morning, he dragged her out without a word and brought her back to her dorms in silence

aria knew he was mad at her, but she thought it was because he had to borderline carry her four blocks down to the nct dorms

“no you idiot, im angry because you thought that instead of coming to one of us for help with the bits you’re struggling with, you figured hey. let’s pass out instead.”

he’s so affectionate with her

you know how lucas and kai have Intense Brothers Energy

well aria has that, little sister vibe that makes kai want to wrap her in a blanket and carry her everywhere

she’d hate that, if he tried that she’d scream (he did try that, this is coming from past experience)

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

kai chucking aria like a cannon ball into the pool during the filming of mtopia when she refused his hugs.

“oppa, oppa no im sorry ill give you all the hugs you want, oppa, JONGIN-OPPA NO NO NO NO -”

*sploosh*

➣ TAEYONG ☾ ariyong

taeyong took one look at aria the first time she showed up for group practice and immediately adopted her (not literally but he would if he could)

eomma meets highly protective brother meets life coach type beat?

so so soft for her its sickening

says he doesn’t have favourites and will then spend an hour cooking for aria because she’s been in the studio the whole day and he knows she hasn’t eaten yet

when aria was given a duet to do for the sm stages, she had to pick another member to do it with and her first choice was taeyong

she always has said that taeyong is one of the pillars keeping her upright and sane - without him she wasn’t sure if she would have been able to complete her training

because of all the schedules they share together, if aria isn’t rooming with mark then she’s definitely rooming with taeyong

whenever she does his makeup (more often than you’d think) she point blank refuses to cover his scar, even when he asks her to do so

“please? i don’t like it.” “*gasp* how dare you.”

sleepy aria! snuggling into taeyong’s shoulder when a schedule ran late!

he gets uncomfy when the stylists put her in too revealing clothes, and has spoken to them on numerous occasions about dressing her in age-appropriate attire, no matter how “sexy” the concept might be

he keeps little bags of sugar-dusted strawberry sweets in his bag incase she forgets to eat and feels faint after the last time (they used to be blueberry flavoured but he heard donghyuck throwing out any and all “blueberry-contaminated” food one evening)

taeyong doesn’t tolerate hate towards aria, especially in person, so he always makes sure to sit down the line from her so that he can see when people skip her intentionally

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

taeyong had just been awarded the single bedroom on the last night of the mtopia series, and was staring off into the corner looking rather uncomfortable. aria, who was meant to be rooming with baekhyun, looked over and saw his mouth curled downwards slightly.

“baekhyun-oppa, is it ok if i room with taeyongie-oppa tonight? i ran out of my tablets, and he has some in his bag..”

baekhyun looked down at her with a small smile and agreed, while the edited captions on the video appeared with the words, “a cute maknae asking to room with a younger member..”

➣ TEN ☾ tenaria

Whipped™

so so gone for her its upsetting actually

yangyang and aria share the position of his baby

except aria willingly accepts the title while yangyang would rather fling himself from a rooftop

ten’s instagram is half his cats, half miyazu aria

he posts her dancing practice on his story a lot, with a variety of captions ranging from “thats my baby ♡( ◡‿◡ )” to “yah that’s not right…(눈_눈)”

such an enabler for her bad ideas

aria wants to go shopping at 4am? ten agrees, now they’re sitting by han river eating ice cream

pls he’s gonna get her in so much trouble one day

when they walk together, ten likes to take her hand and put it in his pocket

its under the pretense of not wanting her to get lost

he just wants to hold her hand

yes he has lost her in a shopping mall, and NO it wasn’t his fault

ten always complains that they never have schedules together and he misses his baby

“we have superm-” “I NEVER SEE YOUUUU (ﾉಥ益ಥ)ﾉ”

if they’re in the same room ten is either watching her out of the corner of his eye, or is actually wrapped around her like a boa constrictor

hugs n kithes all around

only he is allowed make fun of her mistakes in dancing

anyone else gets deaded. he will fight for her honor how dare you insult his baby

sm give these ttwo a dancing duo video pls

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

the first and only time aria and ten had a duet was during their last concert on superm’s first world tour. during the second half of ten’s solo performance, aria emerged from the left side of the stage, coming to join him in the centre stage. no one had ever seen aria as serious as she was then, both herself and ten becoming completely different people in the moment. midway through, aria spun with her back to ten and leaped backwards into the air - eyes closed - completely trusting ten to be where she needed him to be to catch her.

➣ LUCAS ☾ arihei

besties

please they’re so cute together - tol child next to tini child she barely comes up to his chest :(

bear hugs

he just swamps her in his arms, and when he doesn’t feel like being bent over he picks her up

complains that she’s too heavy but then immediately after will throw her around like a softball

someone tell this man to be careful with her she’s not a barbie doll

singular braincell energy

don’t get it wrong, they’re both super smart

so it’s just - being smort together, but then nearly dying because neither of them remembered that you couldn’t eat raw cookie dough when there are eggs in it

she adores how he’s so confident in the things that he does - like convincing the entire nct fandom that he was fluent in english? king behaviour

so aria looks up to him (literally) but also because she wants to have that confidence some day

lucas says they’re not close and then aria pouts and he takes it all back

nczennies made a 14 minute compilation titled “lucas melting like a popsicle in australia for aria”

and literally what the title tells you, this man goes :(( when he sees her

lucas was actually the person to convince her to go ahead with the [redacted] proposal - and reminded her that it was too good an opportunity to pass up just because she felt like she was outgrowing the boys

he’s so proud of her

and she’s so proud of him

they’re so proud of each other and it makes nczennies want to cry because they never are seen together

sm stop separating the platonic soulmates first markhyuck and now arihei smh

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

during a photoshoot, aria was standing off to the side of the boys, dressed in white suit to contrast the boys’ black ones. the photographer was calling out to her to get her to move closer, but she couldn’t hear him from so far away, and so lucas (who was on the end) just walked over to her, gripped her by the biceps and lifted her vertically and to the left a little bit.

“luc-LUCAS?”

“you had to move :)”

➣ MARK ☾ mari

½ of the best friend crew

honestly at the beginning, mark and aria weren’t very close, having only really seen each other in passing or with johnny

but after being dropped into training together the two quickly became fast friends, and now they’re borderline inseparable

you thought you knew pain? watch aria’s reaction to mark’s graduation from dream :)

mark’s the reason why aria felt confident enough to pitch some of her lyric ideas to the team, after staying up until 4am to help her make some edits so she was as confident as possible

kinda just, rests his head on her shoulder? and wraps his arms around her waist when he’s tired

mari being confused in foreigner: ???

aria said once in a vlive that she finds mark really comforting to be around - when she feels stressed or worried about something she’ll go to mark’s room and just sit on his bed for a while

aria is so close with his parents - “ahh, how’s my favourite child” “i’m doing great mom.” “no not you, how’s aria?” “wh-hu-MOM?”

you’d swear sometimes mark is younger than her, considering the pout he puts on and how much he whines when they’re not on the same team together for promotions

mark big protecc boi but also little small cuddly boi

they’re so soft for each other ( ╥ω╥ )

in one of the fancams for mark’s solo stage during superm, someone zoomed into aria singing along with him in the wings and dancing to herself with the Proudest Smile™

he’s! so! proud! of! her! constantly! she could be walking and he’d be like “omg get it”

when aria refuses to get up and make herself food (this happens way too often, she just gets into the groove of her work and doesn’t want to move) mark gets her to by threatening to do it himself

consistently caught by czennies just standing behind her and holding her hand in crowded areas - airports, waiting rooms, etc.

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

mark and aria were standing off to one side as the mc explained the rules of the game they were about to be playing. mark looked totally confused, and elbowed aria in her side before looking down and mouthing “what?” to her. aria opened her mouth, before closing it and looking down at the ground, muttering to herself, “결합… 結合….. le chéile…. le… le.. oh oh - combined! we have to put them together, markie.”

and thus, a new confusion meme was born

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sweatergirlsposts · 4 years

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Imagine Leah Imprinting and Rosalie Finding her Mate, You, a Lion Shifter

Title: The Lion, The Wolf, and the Vampire

Pairing: Leah Clearwater x Male!Reader x Rosalie Hale Cullen

Request By: @rexburn12 (Song Imagine)

(A/N: So sorry for the late imagine request, I hope y’all like it!!)

It started with a hum, that turned into a whisper, until the whisper couldn’t be contained as it was. The whisper became notes that carried in the air, light like a feather but longing as they floated along.

“I found a love...for me”

Almost inaudible to all ears that were around the bonfire, two individuals heads had perked up at the haunting voice.

Every year as a way to celebrate the birth Renesmee, The Cullens, Jacob, Seth and Leah would have annual bonfire on The Cullen land. Why a bonfire? Well some of the Cullen’s, specifically a certain blonde and pixie cut Cullen, couldn’t stand the smell of lingering wolf shifter in the main house. Also, a certain wolf shifter, who had to be there because of them being the Alpha’s Beta, didn’t want to step foot into the Cullen’s house. So as a compromise for all parties, they would have a birthday bonfire for the half human-vampire child.

“Darling just dive right in”

There it was again. Rosalie looked around bonfire trying to find the direction the voice came from.

“Did you hear that?” Rosalie uttered talking to no one specially, but Bella was the first to pick up what she said.

“Hear what?” questioned Bella.

“And follow my lead” sang a voice, almost like the call of a siren.

“That,” Rosalie spun in the direction of East, “There’s something out there”

Everyone looked over concerned at Rose, if something was going to happen wouldn’t have Alice seen it and warned all of them. All the Cullens were silent for a minute trying to detect a sound or a scent that roamed around the woods but detected nothing.

“I’m not making this up,” Rosalie announced to the group frustrated that they couldn’t hear what she was witnessing. Bella placed her hand on Renesmee’s shoulder in worry that something was coming to threaten her family.

“Blondie is right, I can hear it,” piped Leah from the other side of the campfire confused that she was the only other one hearing it too, “and smell it.”

Seth placed a hand on her arm worried about his sister.

Leah looked over to Rosalie in surprise with a dash of distaste. After all, the Cullen’s and Bella were the main reason why they attracted that psychotic red headed vampire that killed her father, Harry. So why in the hell was she starting to hear the things the blonde bloodsucker was hearing, unlike the rest of the group she thought.

“Well, I found a girl,”

Rosalie could hear the voice again, it was masculine by the sound of the tone and the pitch. The male voice was captivating and soulful as it rang through the night, not disturbing the nightlife but acting as one of the many sounds that belonged with it.

“Is everything alright Aunt Rosie?” Renesmee asked Rosalie, innocently tugging on her sleeve.

“I don’t know my little snowflake”

In Renesmee’s first years of life, Rosalie would tend to look after her the most besides Edward and Bella. She gave her many nicknames over the years but two that stood the test of time were sweetheart and little snowflake.

“Beautiful and Sweet”

“Ms. Clearwater, would you be able to track the scent for us? Carlisle asked Leah, who nodded still distracted by the voice, “Bella I think you should take Renesmee back to the house, the rest of us will go look for what is out there”

Bella collected Renesmee into her arms before taking her back to the Cullen house instead of Edward and her’s small cottage. It would be safer there. In the years that came after the initial ‘immortal child’ incident, Renesmee hadn’t really changed the age of her look. The growth spurt she first had was so impactful that the next one’s would very slowly come and catch up eventually. She looked the same from the time of the incident because her internal clock was still catching up with her body and when it would she’d start to age appropriately like a normal human.

“I never knew you were someone waiting for me,” the singing was now getting further away, like it was traveling in the opposite direction of them.

They needed to follow it now or else it would be gone forever Rosalie felt the panic within her as the singing was getting quieter. Leah felt the same thing coursing through her self too.

Without another thought or the go ahead of anyone else, Leah ran towards the direction of the voice and turned, letting out her giant white wolf form. She needed to find it before it was too late, and no one else was going to slow her down. Not even a second later, Rosalie followed in pursuit.

Meanwhile across the woodland, you had your duffel bag in hand mindlessly passing through the territory on your way to Seattle. You had wanted a change of scenery from hiding in the rocky mountains in British Columbia and wanted to return home to Nevada. Seattle was going to just be a pit stop on the way.

You decided to take the scenic route and stop by in the Olympic National forest to hunt. It was better this way to hunt here than in the city or any town, plus you didn’t want to attract attention in this state being who you are. If the locals said that they found a lion roaming around the forest and not the savanna, you were bound to be hunted and place on someone’s fireplace mantel.

A lone wolf you were...actually a lone lion, the last one. When you first turned, you didn’t go home, you ran away as far as you could and never looked back. Homeless and hungry for many years you were until someone gave you a job on a native reserve up north. The natives had helped you develop your skills of changing and told you stories about shifters like yourself but had no proof that others currently existed. You built a cabin and lived there up til a couple weeks ago, when you had mastered your changing ability and decided it was time to go home.

You had your earbuds plugged in jamming to your tunes from the phone you obtained through hard work. An honest man you like to think of your self as you’d work for everything that was currently on your body and in your bag. You walked through the forest not minding the cover of night as you were walking in the direction towards Seattle from the national park.

The song ‘Perfect’ By Ed Sheeran had come on your playlist. You started to hum it which turned into a whisper and then you started to sing. Back at your temporary home with the natives in the rocky mountains, they had praised your singing. Apparently it was one of your gifts that had been bestowed upon you, as a shifter. Some could run fast or have immeasurable strength but you had been blessed with the voice of an angel. You learned to busk and sing to make some extra money, which didn’t hurt.

“Cause we were just kids when we fell in love, not knowing what it was, I will not give you up this timeeeee!” you belted not giving a care, “Darling just kiss me slow, your heart is all I own! And in your eyes your’re holding mine!”

Little to your unbeknownst, you didn’t notice the smell or vibration on the ground of a large group heading your way, for you were too absorbed in the music.

“Baby, I’m dancing in the dark with you between my arms. Barefoot on the grass listening to our favourite song!” you bellowed with eyes closed, “When you said you looked a mess, I whispered underneath my breath, but you heard it, darling, you look perfect tonight!”

You let the music trail off without realizing that you had two sets of eyes following your form from a distance. Leah had found you first by following the sounds of your enchanting voice and distinct smell of artificial pine and sandalwood.

She stopped from a distance behind a set of bushes, assessing whether or not you were a danger to her. She admired from behind your (N/C) hair and your (B/T) form. You wore a dark olive coloured canvas jacket overtop a light blue button-up shirt with black jeans. You had your eyes closed when you turned around, and still singing, when she saw your face.

Like an incoming headache, it came hard and fast to Leah almost knocking her back. Like a roller coaster going down after the first gigantic incline, Leah could feel her mind and soul lift, as if she was having an out of body experience, then be slammed back into her form. As she came back to reality from the mind boggling experience, the center of her gravity refocused under a new light, your light.

‘So this is the whole rave about imprinting, I can see why Sam and the rest of them went crazy for coco puffs,’ Leah thought to herself comparing the mental state of imprinting to a cereal slogan.

She wasn’t the only one that felt that very same thing when she looked at your handsome face. On cue, Rosalie was the next one to see your unaware form singing in the forest.

To Rosalie, you not only sounded perfect but you were. Gracefully and oblivious you moved naturally like a willow tree in the wind. Your face had the perfect curvature that she wanted to trace with her fingers and eyes. She could only imagine what your eyes looked like. Blue like water found at Isle Esme, ivy green like the colour her father’s study was when she was human, or possibly brown like a rich worn leather jacket? She needed to know.

Coming to your senses, you smelt something in the distance. One scent smelt like you but not at the same time, and the other you couldn’t recognize as something that you have witnesses in your life.

Not wanting to tear one of your better outfits, you quickly undressed to your skimmies. You could sense it was near, observing you even, so you turned.

Shedding your true self, came forth the king of the jungle, your lion form. Full luscious golden mane and tan fur. Whiskey in the sunlight eyes shined through the darkness in the forest, scanning to find whoever was watching you.

You took one more sniff in the air before charging at whoever was behind the set of bushes not too far. You pounce on a form, surprisingly almost as large as yours and had them on their back. Doing a once over of the form beneath your claws, you noticed that it was a large white wolf with eyes that look scared but mixed with something else within them. You didn’t know the emotion but you started to get dizzy looking at the wolf. You looked away trying to focus on something but your eyes then fell upon a blonde women that you assumed was with the wolf. Again the dizziness hit you.

You felt more than fine a few seconds ago, what happened to you?

You got off the wolf and started walking backwards. You pawed at your muzzle to try and wipe the feeling away but it kept coming. You saw yourself, slightly older stuck in theses woods, with two other people. Women? One a strikingly elegant pale blonde and the other an alluring rustic dark raven haired women. Each held your hand simply walking through the forest, each with their head on your shoulders, dreamily listening to you sing. The song you sang in this vision was the one you just belted in the forest.

What was this feeling? What did you see? Who were those two women? You recognized the blonde one from the vision as the one in front of you but the other women was unknown.

You shifted back to your human form unable to take anymore of what you saw.

“What the hell?” you whispered to yourself getting up off the forest floor in the nude.

Leah reverted back as well, also being in the nude, and realized that you imprinted on her as well.

‘Shifter imprinting on shifter, was unheard of, let alone on a whole ‘nother species of shifter,’ she processed

You rubbed your eyes before focusing your vision on the blonde and now present raven haired women in front of you.

“What did you guys just do to me?”

“You’re talking to both of us?” Leah asked when you referred to the both of them.

“Yeah, you guys were watching and did something to me. I just had the weirdest vision with the both of you in it for some reason?!” you massaged your temples then made eye contact with the both of them.

The both of them?!?! Leah and Rosalie simultaneously thought. In less than a couple seconds, the rest of the Cullens showed up along with Seth and Jacob as wolves. After getting to a closer distance, everyone in the group could hear the mesmerizing singing that Rosalie and Leah did hear before it stopped. Leah and yourself ducked behind the bushes to hide your guys modesty.

“Woah geez I didn’t expect a whole flock of you guys to come running,” you held out your hands to show that didn’t want to attack.

“Who are you people? Especially you guys, the wolves, are you guys all shifters?” you pointed questioningly at the two large wolves still utterly bewildered at the situation.

“Who are you?” spoke Rosalie gazing over body taking in all the details.

“I’m (Y/N), I was just hunting in the area and just leaving to go to Seattle. I don’t mean to hunt on your guys land, I was just taking a detour,” you eyed each individual but your eyes lingered on the lady shifter beside you and the blonde.

“Where do you come from (Y/N)?” asked the stunning women beside you in the bushes.

“Rocky Mountains, British Columbia. I didn’t think that there were any shifters left other than myself, I thought I was the last one” you laughed in disbelief, “And you didn’t answer my question. What did you guys do to me like what was that whole vision thing you did?”

“You imprinted on them,” spoke the lean pale brunet man stepping forward from the rest of the group, “The vision you saw was in the future of the bond you share with my sister Rosalie and Leah, the shifter beside you”

“Wait what’s imprinting?”

“In our case, it’s a profound bond between you, her, and myself if you saw the three of us in your vision,” Leah, the lady that stood beside you, explained gesturing to you herself and the blonde Rosalie.

“Ummm okay, I’m still slightly confused and uncomfortable at the moment, due to the lack of clothing. Is it possible that maybe we can discuss this somewhere else with more than just bushes covering,” you waved your hand in front of the bushes covering your genitals, “this please?”

“Personally I don’t mind the view,” muttered Leah sending you a wink.

“Me neither,” you mumbled side eyeing her gorgeous body.

In a snap, Rosalie collected your clothing and your duffel from the ground, where you left them, and handed them to you. Rosalie’s hand brushed against yours sending feel-good tingles down your spine. Her body was ice cold to the touch but was perfectly contrasting your blazing skin. You sent her a dashing smirk her way and she gave you a genuine teeth-showing smile, something she rarely showed others.

You put on your clothes and gave Leah some shorts and shirt to wear in the meantime, because she didn’t have any clothes nearby.

“Our home is more than a walk back, I recommend that you travel with one of us,” said the mature blond man of the group. Rosalie raced over by your side and picked you up bridal style.

“Wow, now this one I can check of my bucket list,” you said taken aback by the sudden position.

“And what is that handsome?”

“To be held by an angel,”

Nevada seemed like a distant memory at that moment in time. Home no longer seemed to be Nevada, it now was in the arms of this exquisite blonde and in the eyes of the ravishing raven haired women.

MASTERLIST

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beneaththetangles · 3 years

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Light Novel Club Chapter 30: Reset! The Imprisoned Princess Dreams of Another Chance! Vol. 1

So I have a confession to make: I just received the memories of having lived through a bad future in which the world was destroyed, and the only way to prevent catastrophe is to cover a second light novel about a princess going back in time to avert a bad future! …okay, so I don’t have any such future memories (so don’t ask me about next week’s winning lottery numbers), but all the same, we have a nice light novel from Cross Infinite World here about that subject, so join me, Jeskai Angel, and Gaheret as we take a look at how a more selfless princess deals with the challenge of changing the future.

As a reminder, all Light Novel Club discussions are held publicly on the Beneath the Tangles Discord, and anyone can join in on these discussions! The next light novel volumes we will be discussing will be at the end of this post.

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1. What are your overall impressions on the novel?

Jeskai Angel: I like it (I mean, that’s kind of why I picked it for this month’s reading, LOL). Beyond that… I find it really difficult to talk about Reset! without making reference to LNC-favorite Tearmoon Empire. If I said “This story stars a princess who suffers tragedy, then goes back in time to when she was twelve years old, after which she attends a school for nobles, learns to ride a horse, strives to change the future, and has flashbacks to her first life (and there’s a major character nicknamed ‘Bel’),” you wouldn’t be able to tell which light novel I’m talking about. That said, Tearmoon Empire is awesome and saying “This reminds me of Tearmoon Empire,” is a compliment in my book.

Reset! also differs in several significant ways from Tearmoon Empire, and I think it’s necessary to talk about them to properly appreciate Reset!. First, there’s the straightforward, traditional medieval fantasy setting, which stands in contrast historical inspiration behind the setting, events, and characters of Tearmoon. On a related note, Reset! is explicitly fantasy, meaning it has magic, unlike Mia’s world. And this story has a somewhat more serious or dramatic tone compared to Mia’s extremely humorous adventures.

stardf29: So I definitely enjoyed this novel, and while there are similarities to Tearmoon Empire, I’m glad that there are also enough differences that it doesn’t read like just a slight variation of that story. So as for Reset, there’s obviously a major element of magic to the whole thing, giving it more of a fantasy story feel, and in particular there’s intrigue behind what actually happened at the end of the old timeline, before the, ahem, reset, and how the whole thing happened and how that might affect things later on in the story. Also, Bel is a wonderful protagonist, but I’ll get to that and the other characters in the obligatory “what do you think about the characters” question.

Gaheret: I liked the story. Though the setting felt less developed than, say, Tearmoon Empire, and as you mention there were less interesting characters with different backgrounds or agendas (Ed, Annabel, Charles, Daniel and their friends are all more or less people of similar upbringing and motives). I suspect that Karina may be a sorceress, which would fit with the odd, anti-strategic behavior of King Daniel, with the news of tribes using black magic in his kingdom, and with the fact that magical powers (or lack of them) have such an important role both in the status of Annabel’s kingdom and in her life. The romance was enjoyable, too. But what really did make the difference for me was Edoile’s sacrifice at the beginning defining her second life, protecting her from harm and giving her a chance. It was beautiful, and felt similar to how the life of a Christian feels, knowing that Christ has rescued us out of love. This is a sacrifice that can protect her from chains and beatings, even when Ed was beaten to death and chained with the anti-magic artifact, the sign of that love being the red stone that is, we are told, a part of the soul of its owner. I found that very compelling, even universal.

2. What do you think of the characters?

Annabel

Jeskai Angel: Annabel is surprisingly mature compared to Mia. I say “surprising” for a couple of reasons. First, Mia is technically older (having died at 20, versus Bel going back at 18). Second, before ending up in the dungeon, Mia actually saw quite a lot of the world. She witnessed the fall of her empire, participated in governmental duties, visited other countries, etc. On the other hand, although Bel’s family does seem to genuinely care about her, they were crazy overprotective in a way that seriously reduced her range of life experiences the first time around. I think many of Annabel’s more genuinely immature moments stem from how sheltered she was. On the other hand, a wonderful aspect of Bel as a character is her pseudo-immaturity: her deliberate efforts to be more childlike and have more fun. These aren’t moments of thoughtless indulgence, but a purposeful rejection of the borderline ascetic lifestyle of repressing any and all desires to which she adhered in her first life. Reset! is not just a time-travel-to-prevent-disaster story, it’s also time-travel-to-make-better-life-choices. Finally, I liked the Bel-tries-to-learn-magic subplot, with the way it addressed her feelings of inadequacy and showed her dogged perseverance in trying to do something long after others gave up on her ever doing it.

stardf29: Given how this story is directly from Annabel’s point of view (with no narrator to make snarky commentary about things), we have a very personal protagonist here, one whom we really get to know how she thinks. So it’s a good thing that she’s just a nice, likable girl all-around. She’s realized how sheltered she was and starts to question whether just following her expected role is what is best. All the same, she’s still overall a nice girl who is trying to make the most of her second chance at life.

While I don’t want to get too much into comparisons with Mia, there is one thing that caught my interest: how their periods of imprisonment seems to have affected them. In Mia’s case, it gave her a better appreciation for things she took for granted or considered to be beneath her. However, in Bel’s case, it felt to me like her imprisonment actually freed her to think outside of just following along with her parents, and instead pursue what she wants herself. In other words, while Mia’s imprisonment mollified her self-centeredness, Bel’s imprisonment actually increased her self-centeredness, albeit in a healthy way.

Gaheret: On the whole, I like her a lot. She is humble, grateful and determined. She works hard, both for Edoile and for her magic, and does not allow herself to live in resentment or hate. And I really empathized with her when she was jealous.

Edoile

stardf29: Ed is a great character and love interest for Bel. He’s got that “cool knight” aspect to him, but he’s not above a bit of playfulness, like trying to use a frog to kickstart Bel’s magic. It was definitely nice to get a bonus chapter from his perspective, and it’s amusing that the guy he’s most worried about… is himself, from a different timeline. (Definitely a twist on the whole “you vs. the guy she told you not to worry about” thing…) He’s obviously trying to make sense of his “duplicate” Magic Stone, and it does make me wonder if at some point, should Bel attempt to tell him about the past timeline, what his reaction would be.

It’s interesting that the differences in events in the current timeline has led Ed into going down a different path in life from the past timeline. Whereas before, he settled for being a knight and channeling his feelings for Bel to simply being her protector, now he wants to become a high-ranking court magician so he has the standing necessary to marry her. Perhaps he was inspired by Bel’s determination to break past what society expects a princess to do.

Jeskai Angel: Ed is the only character who really comes across as a distinctly different person in each timeline. Bel is the same person, and for most other characters we only get to know them in one timeline or the other. Whether it was romantic or not, there’s no question that OG Ed treated Annabel with loyal and self-sacrificial love. The presence of his magic stone, continuing to protect Bel even after the reset, regularly reminds us that OG Ed went to great lengths to protect her and is in some sense still influencing the story. I’m curious what he may have known that hasn’t been revealed (was he just bluffing when assured Bel that help was coming?). How is he connected to the reset, such that his magic stone went back in time with Bel?

And then there’s Reset Ed. He is the most vivid example of the timelines diverging, even apart from Bel’s influence (e.g., his mediocre sword skills in the new timeline vs. being a master swordsman in the original). I thought it was super cute watching how he starts falling for Bel, demonstrated through sweet moments like when he tries so hard help her learn magic, or just tries to improve as a swordsman to live up to her expectations.

Gaheret: Edoile was a very interesting character too. An ambitious, noble, self-sacrificing knight-in-the-making who has to become the kind of man he was in the other timeline. We know he has a brother, a good relationship with his brother’s bride, talent and ambitions, and admiration for the mage that established the kingdom in its present form (and married a princess). He is also a good friend for Charles, and it seems that King Daniel was jealous of him. His courtship of Annabel seems a risky move, and I thought he wouldn’t consent to it, but I’m happy he has chosen to go for it.

Bel’s parents

Jeskai Angel: Let’s talk about Bel’s parents, who are ironically one of the points she and Mia have in common. That is, they both have some terrible parents who dote on them but don’t actually raise them well. I am honestly kind of angry with Bel’s mom and dad. Who thinks it’s a good idea to keep a kid in the castle her entire life until the moment you ship her out to another country to get married?????? How is that not a self-evidently horrible idea?????? And don’t get me started on the whole secret-transporter-rooms-we-never-mentioned! What had they planned to do in Bel’s first life if they suddenly needed to flee and Bel happened to be in some part of castle where they couldn’t conveniently fetch her? Just leave her behind? It’s like they simultaneously distrusted her AND were obsessively protective toward her. It’s nice that they begrudgingly let her do stuff like go to school and ride horses when she pushed for it in her second life…but even in her second life you see the same impulse to shelter her. Look, I know they were upset when Bel ran off into town on her own, but was locking her in the castle for six months REALLY the best way to handle the situation? I’m surprised Bel turned out as well as she did with such a smothering, disturbingly overprotective family controlling her life. (I don’t really blame Charles because he’s probably just a kid obeying his parents’ instructions, not the one responsible for any of this.) So yeah, I think Bel’s family totally wronged her. They did so in a different way than Mia’s highly irresponsible parent(s?), but they still were bad parents..

stardf29: Oh boy, her parents confining her for half a year daring to get kidnapped… I mean, that’s basically victim-blaming, isn’t it? And yeah, their overall sheltering of her is just terrible. They don’t recognize Bel as a person with her own agency or desires; you could even say they outright were responsible for suppressing her agency and desires in the first place. They didn’t love her as a person, but as their “property” that they have attachment to but expect to do what they want her to do. And to think they were so scared of her possibly escaping that they didn’t even want to let her know about the emergency teleporters… Ed has a line about how “a bird that has flown the coop cannot be caged again”, and I think that really shows that the king and queen wanted Bel to be: a caged pet bird.

Gaheret: I didn’t perceive a mistreatment of Annabel by her family. I recall she saying that she had had a happy childhood at least twice, and their parents gave her presents, took into account her desires and dined with her everyday despite they being royalty. They also encouraged her to visit hospitals and do voluntary work for the wounded, at least while she was under punishment. And she seems fond of them, even if she is determined to take an active role and avoid being a doll this time. Being so sheltered may be reasonable in the world, which is quite grim. We are told that these countries depend on complicated strategies for their survival. All the male rulers or heirs, as well as the queen, are subject to constant threat of assassination, while a girl is a valuable asset for controlling the kingdom. Being married to one is said to be sufficient to legitimate any usurper, in the eyes of the people. Prostitution and human trafficking are also a danger. It is never clear what are the dangers of the Academy that Charles warns Annabel about, but every noble seems to be destined to some branch of the military, and knights are primarily bodyguards. When Annabel is sequestered, the guards offer the king their own lives, no less. I think this is a feature of the world. In that context, putting herself and others in danger by going out without protection and following two strangers in a street she knows to be dangerous seems serious enough to me to justify confinement in the castle. I also think Annabel thinks her punishment is justified.

I know frogs are commonly used for magic but not like this…

Other characters

Jeskai Angel: Compared to Tearmoon Empire, I thought Reset! had far fewer well-developed, interesting characters, choosing instead to focus overwhelmingly on Bel and Ed. Bel and Ed are great, but I don’t have much to say about most of the other characters. Of the secondary cast, my favorite was Charles. The teasing and goofiness, the protectiveness, the desire to impress his younger sibling… It all just came across as a fun, realistic big brother character. I also give Charles 2.0 bonus points for revealing the existence of the teleport pads to his sister, rather than clinging the over-the-top secretiveness of Bel’s family in the original timeline.

stardf29: Charles is a cool older brother. In contrast to his parents, he’s actually receptive to his sister doing what she wants, even while still having his protective side.

Gaheret: Charles was a good brother, loving and protective, but I don’t think Annabel and him are very close. There is only a year between them, but she never thinks of telling her about the future, nor that she likes Edoile. For his part, he doesn’t tell Annabel much about his ambitions, crushes or dreams. Annabel points out that Ed knows how to manage Charles, flattering him or calming him. He seems competitive, sometimes preoccupied with his standing in the class. I think Karina may court him, not Daniel, in this timeline.

We get a lot of mentions of the other friend of Charles, the noble with golden eyes who wins the tournament, and who is mentioned to be stronger than Edoile. I think the two will fight, at some point.

stardf29: While we don’t get any particularly deep characterization for Olphia and Claude, they’re a nice little side couple, with the added aspect of how we don’t know if they survived in the last timeline, so obviously Bel is motivated to keep them safe this time around. At the moment they just add a bit of extra sweetness to the story between them and their friendship with Bel, which I’m not going to complain about.

Gaheret: Concerning other characters, it surprised me when Claude and Oliphia work together to protect her from potential fortune-hunters in her class (or so it seemed to me). They maintain their budding romance from 12 to 15 and, we are told, even beyond, in the other timeline. Oliphia is the person with whom Annabel laughs, eats cake and visits the town, and who knows about her crush, too. Claude is a future diplomat, and we are told that the survival strategy of the kingdom depends on careful diplomacy. He also hands Annabel the book about Daniel’s magic laboratories. We’ll see.

stardf29: Finally, a bit about Daniel: as long as we’re comparing with other novels, I’ll bring up another Cross Infinite World title: Since I Was Abandoned After Reincarnating, I Will Cook With My Fluffy Friends. In that one, the female protagonist was in a similar situation, in that she was engaged to a prince, but then another woman schemed to spread lies to get him to break up the engagement. In that novel, the prince had a serious inferiority complex, which is what allowed him to so easily doubt the protagonist’s loyalty and instead believe the lies of another woman. I can’t help but think something similar is going on here with Daniel. He seems to be wanting to bolster his country’s magical power, to make up for how it’s inferior to that of Najir, and while he might have genuinely fallen for Bel, at some point the worries of her not being able to use magic probably caught up with him, thus leading him to believe she’s cheating on him (something that Karina probably came up with) and thus causing everything to go downhill from there.

Jeskai Angel: So what’s going on with Daniel and Karina seems like one of the big mysteries of the story. Your scheming-woman-exploits-inferiority-complex theory has merit, but it’s still strange that Bel didn’t pick up any negative signals from beforehand. Like, in Fluffy Friends, the protagonist didn’t expect to get dumped, but she at least acknowledges after the fact that the prince was quite flawed and that it’s not entirely surprising that he could be manipulated into lashing out against her. So, was Daniel just a better actor, and he covered up his flaws / insecurities? Bel seems totally blindsided his betrayal, and at no point does she suggest there were any warning flags with Daniel.

I mention this because of the conflicting reports we’ve gotten about a character who hasn’t actually appeared “on screen” in any meaningful way: Karina. Based on the original timeline, she seems totally villainous. But in the reset world, Bel hears that Karina is supposedly a wonderful person. What’s up with that? The ambiguity surrounding what kind of person Karina is reflects back on Daniel: it’s harder to surmise how Karina may have influenced him when we don’t really have a strong reading on Karina herself.

stardf29: Yeah, Karina’s supposedly being a nice person in the current timeline is another interesting wrinkle. Obviously, there’s the possibility that something happened that turned her evil, which could make for an interesting future plot point in which Bel must recognize and try to stop something that corrupts her former enemies, like how a certain sage has to deal with certain serpents of chaos. But it’s definitely just speculation at this point.

Gaheret: Daniel and Karina. Daniel did everything right, treating Annabel well, reassuring her about her lack of magic, courting her… And one day, he insulted and punched her, conquered her kingdom, broke their engagement and put her in prison. It was literally the first sign that something was wrong. So, my thesis is that, rather than being insecure, he may be bewitched. His laboratory seems to be a novelty of this timeline. Well, this is mysterious. Concerning the cruelty and open hate of Karina, I think it can only be explained if either they had met in a forgotten timeline, or she hates her kingdom or her family for some reason. I think she is behind the black magic users, and that she is older than she looks.

3. What do you think of how the story uses the “turn back time to prevent disaster” trope? (Feel free to compare it to other stories that use this trope.)

Jeskai Angel: This question connects back to my comments on how Reset! differs from Tearmoon Empire. I think Reset! has more of a sense of mystery, especially with regard to the “prevent disaster” plot. Mia witnesses the fall of her empire, and thanks to Ludwig’s lectures, knows many of the reasons for that fall. But as Annabel herself realizes, she isn’t even absolutely certain that OG Ed died! She doesn’t see the fall of Najir or have any idea why her ex-fiancee turned against her. At one point, she lampshades how illogical it was, noting that even from a coldblooded realpolitik perspective, Daniel could have gained more from marrying her then murdering her than from just breaking off the engagement. The “prevent disaster” part of the trope becomes much more difficult when there’s so much Annabel still doesn’t know.

This is compounded by another difference between the two light novels. Every change in Mia’s second life (aside from her initial act of time travel itself) can be traced back to her own influence. Not so in Reset!. On multiple occasions, Annabel observes that her second life differs from the original timeline in ways that can’t reasonably be attributed to anything she did. This again complicates the “prevent disaster” goal by obscuring what Annabel needs to change.

I think this sense of mystery is one of Reset!‘s distinguishing features, something that sets it apart from many other “turn back time to prevent disaster” tales. Annabel’s gone back in time…but rather than her conflict focusing on how to change the timeline, so far she’s still just struggling to figure out what’s going on!

stardf29: So Jeskai has done a good job breaking much of this down, so now I have to find some other aspects to talk about…

I think one important element to these stories is how the “disaster” of the past timeline mentally affects the protagonist in their current life. In the case of Tearmoon Empire, Mia becomes more wary of death, and how her actions may lead to bad consequences; as mentioned before, she also becomes more patient and grateful, as her life in imprisonment gave her perspective of how bad life could get. As mentioned before, in Annabel’s case, she starts wanting more out of life herself, refusing to just blindly follow her expected roles. Both are interesting avenues of character development–certainly moreso than, say, just wanting to get revenge on those who caused the disaster.

Beyond that, adding to the mystery to all this is how the two timelines may actually be “connected”. At the very least, there’s Ed’s magic stone, an item from the past timeline that isn’t just a “hey, remember what happened” thing like Tearmoon’s diary. What role will that stone have in the future of the story… who knows.

Gaheret: A story of time travel is always, I think, a story about vocation or a tragedy. You may discover that things cannot be changed, or discover that you are called to change them. I think Annabel’s story works in that level: she was mostly passive, but now will be active. She wants to respond to Ed’s sacrifice by loving him. She may marry, not another king to keep the balance of the powers, but a genius that may change the game entirely. I’m definitively interested. What I find a little odd is that she doesn’t seem to think much about the future invasion, or of warning anyone, checking the defenses, understand what happened or why they were defeated… That was an aspect Tearmoon Empire handled well. I don’t need this story to be about that, but, were it me who knew my country will be invaded in five years, I don’t think I’d be able to focus on my daily life like that.

4. What do you think of the novel’s depiction of self-denial vs. acknowledging one’s desires / striving for a formal sense of perfection vs. having fun? (from Jeskai Angel)

Jeskai Angel: I mentioned it a bit before regarding Annabel as a character, but I think this is a really interesting aspect of the story. First, I was curious whether everyone agrees in seeing it as positively as I do. I can imagine a negative interpretation, but I don’t think the story is promoting rampant selfishness. Sacrifice and self-denial can be good and noble (as OG Ed demonstrates), but it’s not an end unto itself. Annabel in her first life sounds like someone who engaged in a kind of asceticism, ignoring her own wishes out of little more than a vague sense that that’s what people around her wanted. There was no specific purpose or higher meaning to the kind of self-denial she practiced. It brings to mind the apostle Paul’s condemnation of a sort of meaningless, arbitrary asceticism in Colossians 2:20-23.

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

This way of life contrasts starkly with the love-based self-sacrifice we see demonstrated by Ed and also taught in the Bible. Whether it’s love for God or for our fellow man, the kind of “dying to self” the scriptures depict is all about love, not just a nebulous sense of duty.

Happily, Bel regrets and rejects this way of life, and makes better choices with her second chance. This is a theme that shows up in other stories, too. Bel’s efforts to enjoy her second life more than her first, to live without regrets, remind me a bit of recent posts stardf29 and Twwk have written regarding the positive “Don’t be a workaholic” message found in I’ve Been Killing Slimes For 300 Years And Maxed Out My Level. I think we could also find parallels in The Saint’s Magic Power Is Omnipotent!, another LNC favorite which stars a recovering workaholic using life in a new world to slow down and have more fun.

stardf29: So I kind of already answered this question when I talked about how Annabel’s imprisonment affected her in the current timeline. Going deeper into that, she felt that all her self-denial was basically meaningless. It’s interesting that you bring up Killing Slimes, as Azusa there ends up feeling a similar sense of regret over how she “sacrificed” her life for work before.

The point you made about how love was missing is key. For Azusa, when she found a life spending time with her new “family” and helping the village; for Sei, who saw how much her potions helped people and saved lives; even for someone like Mia, who realized that she’s more likely to end up happy if everyone is happy… they all found someone else to care for. And likewise, Annabel finds herself wanting to change a bad future, to protect her friends, family, and Ed.

Now, as for how doing stuff for fun fits into all this… it’s really not that much different, at least as far as the feeling that it’s ultimately meaningless to pursue “happiness” just for its own sake. Think Solomon in Ecclesiastes, or the prodigal son. But add in love and a greater perspective, such as Annabel wanting to enjoy her time with friends while making sure they survive, and “fun” might actually start to feel fulfilling.

Gaheret: Self-denial is certainly very important, more so in a king or leader, but as Jeskai notes, not for itself, but for the importance of the things you affirm with it. Loyalty is not against creative response, questioning, putting your own initiative there, disagreeing or even disobeying, when necessary. In fact, it is the opposite. Annabel thought that by letting herself be guided, not creating trouble and denying herself would help her family and kingdom, but it was not so. Now she will try the other way, and I think she will truly help.

5. Final thoughts?

Jeskai Angel: I’m glad to see Cross Infinite World releasing some excellent new licenses in the past year. No offense, but I felt like some of their earlier works were…well, let’s just say I could understand why none of the larger publishers had bothered to license them. But light novels such as Reset!, the aforementioned Fluffy Friends, and Reincarnated as the Last of My Kind are every bit as strong as what Yen, JNC, and 7Cs are putting out.

Gaheret: These days I’m watching HBO’s John Adams and reading about Lincoln, so it’s a lot of politics and family life, people trying to reach the difficult balance between pressing public issues and family life. Stories about kings and princesses have these two naturally intermingle. So despite what I said about the invasion and the world, I appreciated the fact that this was more of a family story where I could observe and appreciate without distraction the small interactions between Annabel, her parents, her brother, her friends. It has been a fun ride.

=====

If you read through all of our discussion, thank you! If you haven’t read the novel yet and want to, you can get it from Cross Infinite World.

The light novel we will be discussing starting later this month is Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki, Vol 2! Whether you had followed our discussion of the first volume, or are curious after having seen the anime, or simply want to read the story of a gamer trying to win at the game of life, this should be a nice change-of-pace from all the bad-future-preventing fantasy adventures. Our discussion starts on May 21st and will run for several weeks, so whether you have one or two volumes to read, there’s still plenty of time to join our Discord and our discussion!

If you want to get ready for the discussion after that, our following Light Novel Club discussion will be on The Faraway Paladin, Vol. 1! This is a fantasy story that is definitely quite different from the usual fantasy light novels, and with an anime adaptation coming this fall, it’s a great time to check out this title. Our discussion on that starts on June 23rd!

#Light Novels #Christianity #Reset! The Imprisoned Princess Dreams of Another Chance!#Torawareta Oujo wa Nido Shiawasena Yume o Miru #BtT Light Novel Club #Articles #Author: stardf29 #Author: Jeskai Angel #Author: Gaheret

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maaaaaatryoshka0325 · 4 years

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As Above, So Below - Kim Seungmin Paranormal Investigator AU Part 1

(Next Part ->)

I’m finally posting it ya’ll! :D

The reader's abilities are based off of those of Lorraine Warren's. She and her husband, Ed, were paranormal investigators. If you need an insight on her abilities, watch 'the conjuring'. It's great movie, hands down one of my faves.

“These pictures were taken during the exorcism last year." Seungmin's voice rang throughout the large classroom.

Kim Seungmin, the well renown paranormal investigator, stood before you in a classroom in your town. You watched his videos all the time, followed his social media. He was a big inspiration for you, someone you knew would understand you.

You have a gift, you see. One not many people would understand. You had gotten into a car accident when you were younger, leaving you not only with PTSD, but with an unnatural gift. You could see and hear things no one else could, you could be brought into almost another dimension, the other side showing you things from the past. You were known as a clairvoyant.

You watched Seungmin’s presentation in awe, excitement filling you every time he showed something new, something you didn’t see on his blog. Your eyes kept meeting his, but every time they met, the girls behind you would squeal, especially the one in the middle.

The girl in the middle used to be your best friend, until a few years ago. Kim Eunmi , now one of the most popular girls in your college/university. She always walked around with two other girls, Lim Hyuna and Song Inhye. They were your “bullies” if you’d call it that. They wouldn’t say much to you, usually a sly remark here and there, but they would always openly giggle behind your back or whisper almost loud enough for you to hear; and it all came from an incident a few years back, the incident where Eunmi abandoned you as a friend then spread rumors about you, making your high school career a living Hell. You were labeled a “freak” and spent your high school years by yourself.

“Here is another slide from the case of Go Jinjoo, the man who was possessed and kill thirteen women in a span of three months.” Seungmin’s voice broke you out of your thoughts, your eyes landing on the pictures of the man on the screen.

He had blood covering his shirt, his teeth grit and blood splattered across his face. His iris’ were completely black, his veins popping out of his face and neck. He looked possessed, to say the least. Your eyes searched the picture, your eyes sensing the dark aura around him. Your eyes scanned every detail you can, and you felt someone’s eyes on you.

You peeled your eyes from the screen and made direct eye contact with Seungmin, his eyes staying on you longer than you could never believe. You heard a squeal behind you, and your heart dropped, thinking he could’ve just been admiring Eunmi. Eunmi was very attractive, with her silky dark hair, large eyes, and beautiful face. She was much more to look at, or that’s what you thought at least. You remembered all the boys would gawk and stare at her when you two would hangout, and it got worse in high school. You tried not to pay attention to it, but it was hard when every time you went to your locker, which was straight across from hers, a guy was either trying to confess or give her something. You were shocked and disappointed when Seungmin ended the presentation, cursing yourself for not paying enough attention. Oh well, there’s always a next time. Seungmin looked at you, and your heart fluttered, then quickly dropped as you felt someone bump your shoulder, and realized Eunmi was walking down the stairs. Her eyes were mocking towards you, and you knew she was going to purposely try to flirt with Seungmin right in front of you. Eunmi knew she was naturally pretty, and she flaunted it a lot. You never understood why she wore the amount of makeup that she did, she was effortlessly and naturally stunning. She bat her false eyelashes at Seungmin, pressing her arms closer to her chest to make her boobs pop out more. You rolled your eyes and packed your notebook in your bag, having had taken notes while listening.

“Hi Seungmin-ahhh!” Eunmi greeted him in a sweet voice.

“Oh, hello.” He greeted with a pretty smile.

“I’m Eunmi, and I’m a huge fan. That presentation was something else!” She giggled.

“Ah, thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it.” He said with a polite bow.

“Now Seungmin-ahhh.” She giggled, leaning close to him.

You wanted to snap your pencil in half. Eunmi knee how much you had loved his documentaries, you had started watching his videos when you were in middle school together, and she always told you it was lame. Seungmin has the gift since he was younger, and you had admired him ever since your accident.

“Saw you looking at me this whole lecture.” She purred, fixing the buttons on his white button up. “Is there something you wanted to say?”

You quickly made your way out of the room, and Eunmi watched you walk out with a smirk, but another set of eyes were on you as well.

“Actually… Uh… That girl that was sitting in front of you, what’s her name?” He asked.

“Who? Y/N?” She scoffed. “Just some weirdo. She thinks she can see and sense ghosts. She just does it for attention.”

“I see. Well, it was nice meeting the three of you.” Seungmin said with a smile before grabbing his bag and walking away.

“Wait, Seungmin!” Eunmi called, grabbing his shirt sleeve.

“Weren’t you looking at me?” She asked, her eyes big.

“You’re very pretty, but it wasn’t you I was looking at. And I don’t look at petty women.” He said casually, pulling his sleeve out of her grasp. “Have a nice day, ladies.”

You walked into the courtyard, the pink trees of the garden glowing in the soft spring sunlight. You sat on the stone bench and opened your notebook, going through the notes you took and sighing.

“I should’ve paid better attention.” You groaned, dropping your head into your notebook. “Stupid stupid stupid.”

“I think you’re pretty smart, actually.”

Your head shot up at the voice, your nose almost brushing Seungmin’s. Shock was in your eyes as he smiled down at you.

“Mind if I sit?” He asked, pointing to the empty spot on the stone bench.

“Oh, sure!” You said in a voice a little too high pitches for your liking, making you almost cringe.

He sat down beside you, his eyes going to your notebook.

“You took notes on the session?” He asked, his eyes full of admiration.

“U-Um yeah… I love what you do.” You said shyly.

“I see… You seemed very interested in the whole thing. Almost like you knew how it felt to have these abilities.” He said, looking directly at you.

Although he had such a sweet looking face, his eyes held a ferocity that you have never seen before. It was breathtaking to look into massive orbs you’ve only ever saw on a screen.

“I… I guess you can say I have a gift.” You said lowly, your eyes not leaving his.

“What kind of gift is that?” He asked, his eyes still searching yours.

You slid him the notebook that you had written your notes down in. He looked at the notebook and slowly went to the first page, reading what you wrote and drew sketches of, all of your experiences on the finely outlined pages. His long finger tips followed where he was reading, his eyes quickly scanning the pages as he continued to flip through it. He stopped at one, an amused smile on his face.

“So you know, huh?” He asked.

“What?” You asked.

“Most of the episodes of Ghost Hunters is staged and acted out.” He said with a light chuckle.

“Even if I didn’t have this ability, it’s painfully obvious.” You pointed out, scrunching your nose in distaste.

“How else do you know? And how can you tell when it isn’t staged?” Seungmin asked.

“Well, for starters, their reactions. When it’s fake, you can tell when they over dramatize it, like it’s too much. I also don’t see anything when it’s fake.” You said.

“See anything?” He asked.

“I can see shadows… Morphs… Whole spirits.” You said hesitantly.

His eyes searched yours, seeing the sincerity in them.

“You can just see shapes and figures?” He asked.

“No…” You said lowly. “I can see them… Usually when they just want to be seen.”

“What if they don’t want to be seen?” He asked.

“I can see their shapes and figures, and I can feel them.” You responded.

Silence fell over the two of you, Seungmin’s eyes going back down to your notebook and flicking through the pages, stopping at a certain one.

“What’s this?” He asked.

It was from the last night you and Eunmi had spent the night together as friends. The night she got scared away, the night she held a grudge against you for. You slid it out of his hands and closed it, a sigh leaving your lips.

“An experience I wish I could forget.” You sighed.

He went on to say something, when you gave him a sad smile.

“They show me things.” You said.

“They show you things?” He asked.

You nodded and played with your fingers.

“They show me what happened to them… Or what could happen to other people.” You whispered.

His eyes were soft as he laid a gentle hand on your shoulder, giving it a soft rub.

“You’re a clairvoyant Y/N.” He said.

You nodded and sighed when he lightly grabbed your chin and turned your head towards him.

“There’s nothing wrong with that, nothing at all. I know what it’s like to have a gift no one understands, I know it’s lonely, but I’m here for you now, okay?” He said with a bright smile.

“You’re only in town for a couple of days.” You giggled with a small blush.

He fell silent for a moment, biting his lip and thinking.

“Why don’t you come for an investigation? We’re also here to investigate a house about an hour away from here.” He suggested with a smile.

“Will that really be okay?” You asked.

“Of course!” He laughed. “It’s just me and three other people.”

“O-Okay.” You nodded with a shy smile.

“Perfect! We have to leave in an hour, do you need to get changed or anything?” He asked.

“No, I think I’m okay.” You laughed. “Why? Is my outfit bad?”

“Not at all, just don’t want you to catch a cold.” He laughed.

You put your notebook back in your bag as he stood up and stretched his hand out to you, a smile on his face. You smiled back and lightly took his hand as he helped you up, and you felt something in that little touch. It was like a spark, a small fire emitting itself in through your hand and all throughout your body, warming your heart as you walked step for step beside him. His light brown hair caught the sun in a beautiful way, his hair shining brightly. He glanced at you, giving you the whitest smile you’ve ever seen, and you swore it could blind anyone with how white his teeth were.

He lead you to a small, hippie fashioned Volkswagen (if ya’ll know, ya’ll know.) Two men and a woman were standing outside of it, and the one turned and gave you a friendly smile.

“Hi there.” He greeted you.

“Hi.” You greeted him and the others with a polite bow.

“Seungmin, who is this?” The woman asked.

“This is Y/N, she’ll be joining us today.” He said, introducing you.

“I’m Hyunjin.” The one who smiled at you said.

“I’m Felix.” The other said with a big smile. “And that little ball of sunshine over there is Haru.”

You looked over at the woman, who scowled at you and Felix.

“Why is she coming?” Haru asked.

Wow, rude.

“She has talents that we need.” Seungmin said, putting his stuff in the back.

Haru scoffed and eyed you up.

“And what talent is that? Taking up space?” She asked.

“Haru, stop being so rude.” Hyunjin gasped. “Seungmin doesn’t invite just anybody.”

Haru went to open her mouth, when Seungmin shot her and look, making her purse her lips.

“She’s a clairvoyant. I’m curious about her, and she’s welcome to come with us. Don’t make this hard on her, she doesn’t deserve that.” Seungmin said, his voice serious.

Haru rolled her eyes and turned away, stalking towards the back of the SUV. Felix gave you a friendly smile and took you to the front seat.

“You’ll ride up front with Seungmin so you won’t have to deal with our little ball of sunshine in the back.” He said with a smile.

You nodded and slid into the front seat, catching the glare from Haru. Eunmi was already a lot to deal with, but now this girl? You only have known her five minutes! Seungmin sat next to you, flashing you a smile as he pulled out his GPS.

“So, what exactly is going on at this home?” You asked.

Haru scoffed in the back seat, and Felix elbowed her.

“A couple has been hearing strange noises around their home, and we’re just going over to see what exactly is happening.” Seungmin said.

“Most likely nothing too exciting.” Hyunjin said, getting the camera he had in his hands ready.

“Do you record before you even find out if it’s haunted or not?” You asked.

“Of course, I wanted to start a vlog where we post the most stupidest encounters and how goofy the residents look when they realize their house isn’t haunted.” Hyunjin giggled.

“Why didn’t you?” You asked with a laugh.

He pouted and looked at Seungmin. “Seungmin said it’s unprofessional.”

“And it is.” Seungmin said as he pulled out of the parking lot.

“I don’t know, I’d love to watch them.” You laughed. “It might attract more viewers.”

“We’re not doing this for viewers.” Haru snapped.

“Lose the attitude Haru.” Hyunjin said, looking at her. “The more viewers we get, the more recommendations we’ll receive.

“People like horror and humor, if you give them both, they’ll be all over you guys.” You said.

“Or attract people who just want the attention.” Haru said.

You fell silent, not wanting to say anything else. Seungmin flicked a look at Haru through the rearview mirror and she huffed, shoving her headphones in.

“I’m sorry about her, she doesn’t take to people easily.” Seungmin sighed.

“It’s okay, it’s no big deal.” You said with a small reassuring smile.

When you pulled up to the house, you noticed the roof looked a little caved in, probably from the recent storm. You followed Seungmin out of the SUV and up to the house as the other three grabbed their cameras and setup. The couple who owned the property came out, and you noticed the two of them were fairly young.

“Mr. Im, Mrs. Im.” Seungmin greeted both of them with a bow, and you followed suit.

“We’re so glad you’re here, we haven't been able to sleep for days.” Mrs. Im sighed.

“What seems to be keeping you up?” Seungmin asked.

“There’s this terrible creaking sound that usually happens at night, and it sounds like there’s footsteps coming from the attic.” Mr. Im said, his eyes wide.

“We’ll take a look.” Seungmin reassured them.

He beckoned you to follow him, Hyunjin coming in directly behind you both with the camera on the both of you. Seungmin stopped at the top step, turning towards the camera and smiling. He bumped you with his elbow, and you turned and smiled as the camera started rolling.

“This is Seungmin back with another video, and today we’re investing a couples house. Mr. Im says there’s been strange creaking and what sounds like footsteps coming from the attic. Today we have with us a new friend of mine, Y/N.” He said, giving you a smile.

You bowed to the camera and smiled brightly as you followed Seungmin up the stairs. Your eyes scanned the hallway and rooms you passed by, hoping to catch something on this case.

“I’ll show you guys the attic.” Mr. Im said.

“Stay here for a moment.” Seungmin whispered to you as he walked up behind Mr. Im, Haru walking by you and giving you a petty smirk as she did.

You rolled your eyes and turned to see Mrs. Im, a small smile on her face.

“Are you new?” She asked.

“Um- sorta? I mean, I was at one of his sessions and he invited me to come here.” You said with a smile.

You turned your head and saw a picture on the wall, Mr. Im holidng Mrs. Im up in the air, the both of them smiling brightly.

A scene of the two of them running through the autumn leaves filled your vision. Mr. Im tackled Mrs. Im in a hug and they toppled over into a big pile of leaves. They both laughed like crazy as Mr. Im covered Mrs. Im in kisses, her bright white smile glistening in the sunlight. Another flash and he was on one knee, a beautiful ring in a carefully crafted box in his hand.

“What a beautiful fall day to propose.” You said as you held the picture in your hands.

“What? How could you tell?” Mrs. Im asked in shock.

“It’s called an insight, you get to see little pieces of someones life.” You said with a smile.

You heard something and turned to see Seungmin standing there, a smile on his face.

“Was she right?” He asked.

“She was.” Mrs. Im breathed, her eyes full of curiosity.

His smile grew wider as he walked over to you.

“Why don’t you come upstairs and help us get this figured out.” He said.

You nodded and followed him up the stairs and into the attic, scanning the room. You couldn't’ feel or detect anything, it felt normal.

“And we just keep hearing THUD THUD THUD THUD!” Mr. Im explained to Felix and Haru.

“Seems like you’ve got an annoying one on your hands.” Haru said, then turning to you and arching brow. “And what do you think, little miss clairvoyant?”

“Not sure yet.” You said flatly, looking around.

The place wasn’t haunted, obviously. But you needed to show them that it was something else. You pressed your foot on a board that looked worn out.

THUD.

Bingo.

“I found your ghost.” You said.

“Who is it? Is it an old man? A woman? GASP! Is it a little girl?!” Mrs. Im squealed.

“No, no, and no.” You replied, pushing on the board as it thud.

“Was that the sound you were hearing?” You asked.

“Oh my god, it was! But doesn’t that mean something had to be stepping on it?” Mr. Im asked.

“By the looks of it, you keep that old rocking chair on it.” You said, tilting your head to the rocking chair in the corner.

“The wind or draft push the rocking chair, which creaks.” You said, moving the chair over top of the board.

You rocked it, and it thumped and creaked. Sighs of relief left the couple, then embarrassment washed over both of them.

“We are so sorry for wasting your time!” Mr. Im gasped.

“It’s okay!” Seungmin laughed. “Usually these places aren’t haunted, there’s always a logical explanation, and it looks like Y/N found it.”

“I’ll get that old board fixed right away.” He reassured everyone and his wife.

The couple walked you both out, and Mrs. Im held your hand.

“Thank you so much, you really impressed me with that insight. I hope they keep you.” She said.

“No, thank you for that experience! I’ve always loved Seungmin’s adventures, and being on one was a dream come true.” You said with a smile.

“I hope you get to stay. You really are talented.” She said, waving goodbye to you.

Seungmin drove to a small diner as you all sat down to eat.

“I’ll cover yours.” Seungmin said.

“No its fine-”

“Listen, that investigation went so quick because of you. And that insight? You’re very talent Y/N.” He said.

As you ate, you kept feeling Haru’s glare, and it was starting to make you uncomfortable.

“Haru, look at your food.” Felix said, glancing at her.

She slammed her fork into her food and continued eating, chewing angrily.

“I need to use the restroom.” She said, abruptly getting up and walking away.

“She’s just made because she believed it was haunted, and you knew it wasn’t and proved her wrong.” Hyunjin reassured you.

You nodded awkwardly and Seungmin rubbed your shoulder.

“You were amazing back there Y/N.” He said.

“Thank you, it was nothing really.” You bowed with a blush.

When Haru got back, you all ate quietly then left. Before you made it to the SUV, Seungmin turned to you, Felix and Hyunjin smiling brightly. Haru narrowed her eyes, anger on her face.

“No.” She growled.

“This isn’t your decision.” Seungmin said.

She stormed off to the SUV, slamming the door. You looked at them in confusion, and Seungmin gently held your hand.

“Y/N, I have a huge question.” He said.

Your heart hammered through your chest as he smiled at you.

“Will you be apart of our crew?”

#kim Seungmin #seungmin #stray kids seungmin #stray kids kim seungmin #skz seungmin #skz kim seungmin #stray kids #straykids #stray kids imagines #skz #skz imagines #seungmin au #kim seungmin au

166 notes · View notes

punkscowardschampions · 3 years

Text

Joe & Ronnie

Joe: [Enough time later that you might think you’ll not hear from him again, realistically like a day or two but given what you did it’d seem like longer/regret and dip ‘cos ya should but we know that ain’t it]

Joe: you spent Charlie’s modelling money yet

Ronnie: long gone baby like you

Ronnie: if you were after a cut shouldve taken it sooner

Joe: nah, it’s yours

Joe: his but sounds like he enjoyed himself, by her account

Joe: no need to ask what you spent it on

Ronnie: but you wanna hear my account yeah

Ronnie: thats what this is

Joe: do you think that’s what this is

Ronnie: youre not taking up space in my head mckenna

Joe: and not in your diary, as you pointed out up top

Joe: busy busy yeah

Ronnie: i werent asked to audition to be a doss student cunt 💔

Ronnie: & the one he brought back didnt fancy me enough to ask me to join in either

Ronnie: busy getting out their way

Joe: leave it a couple years you’ll be a mature student and they ask less questions

Joe: how rude

Joe: after you told him about your massive cock and everything? 💔

Ronnie: go ed and dig me up when youve graduated then

Ronnie: 3s a crowd when 2 of em are scousers & the others from fuck knows where didnt have you to translate or the horse for scale

Joe: after an invite? Sure thing, sis

Joe: not Kent then, gutted

Ronnie: less questions you said put your ? away gobshite

Ronnie: not england but i aint a skinhead who cares so hes as alive as dorothy ever leaves em

Joe: people love that though

Joe: black EDL members and asian conservatives, such a laugh for ‘em

Ronnie: too late to go back and put the boot in now he ll have been shown the door & it wasnt me getting a name or number

Joe: his loss all ‘round then, I get it

Ronnie: yeah

Joe: alright, so I need linking

Ronnie: you got cash or you selling yourself

Joe: I’ve got cash, just not the contact

Ronnie: hand it over ill pick up for you

Joe: you think i’m that green

Ronnie: what colour do you reckon you are

Joe: you’ve got no prejudice, apparently, so what’s it matter

Joe: [picture of some of the multi-coloured bruises you acquired]

Ronnie: he was a pussy & you want me to connect you to people who aint

Ronnie: youre an easy target

Joe: you wanna pocket my money yourself instead, I get it

Joe: you can have a % of the shit, alright

Joe: not asking you to do it for nothing

Ronnie: thats all theyd do when you show up with your baby face and habit

Ronnie: ill take your money & still have it pocketed cos i dont need student loans to score no shit are you asking me to do it for nothing

Joe: what you gonna give me to keep hold of ‘til you give me mine

Ronnie: add an arm to your collection what do i care

Joe: yeah, what do ya

Ronnie: you want a easy pick up get a schoolboy plug i dont know any

Ronnie: i care about money youre ready to waste

Joe: that’s part of the appeal

Joe: why get it in a safe, nearly legitimate way

Joe: half the fun, eh, alright, alright

Joe: do it then, I don’t know no fucker else I can ask yet, I’ve gambled on worse

Ronnie: i just wanna get it thats the fun

Ronnie: get into a fight with whoever the fuck you like whenever for a pissing contest

Joe: you wanna start one ‘fore I’ve given you the cash and you’ve given me mine?

Joe: that’s blatant bullshit

Ronnie: you wish

Ronnie: save your childish excitement for the phone call home like

Joe: nah, you’re full of shit that it’s not just as much about the company and authentic experience

Joe: there’s plenty dealers that are nowt but businessmen

Joe: nothing but a transaction and they’ll sell to a junkie and city banker as one in the same

Joe: don’t act like you don’t have a deathwish or what was the point of taking me there and showing me

Ronnie: where the fuck am i meeting buisinessmen or getting the cash to pay em

Ronnie: dont be fucking rem

Joe: everyone’s stupid enough to wanna get their dick sucked over cold hard cash every other deal, no matter how presentable or legit they play

Ronnie: ive got the links ive got

Joe: fine

Joe: where you wanna do this then

Ronnie: whats your problem

Ronnie: [but a location anyway]

Joe: what’s mine

Joe: thought we’d covered that in length or are you less convinced now

Ronnie: convinced youve got fuck all to cry about

Joe: obviously

Joe: definitely bother with you if that were true

Ronnie: you wanted a big sister im doing all the hand holding

Joe: I never did and I still don’t

Joe: but you carrying on with the pretence if it makes you feel better

Ronnie: i didnt come to you or ask for fuck all to make me better

Joe: yeah you’re blameless

Joe: all in my fucked up head and not yours

Joe: what’s it like being an 👼🏼

Ronnie: i already told you you aint in my head & you werent in my veins for long enough to get fucking soft about it

Joe: i’ll be there in [however long that’d take you]

Ronnie: boss

Joe: you sound like them, you know

Ronnie: i dunno who the fuck youre talking about

Joe: the rest of the fam, of course

Joe: glad to see that the level of chatting bollocks to make yourself feel better is genetic, s’not depressing at all

Ronnie: that still dont clear fuck all up for me except that youre a bigger cunt than i thought

Joe: you don’t think about me

Joe: and none of that shit happened, your memory loss and confusion extends to that, don’t worry

Ronnie: you like me but you still compare me to em every chance you get

Ronnie: fuck you

Joe: yeah, fuck me

Joe: like you haven’t just

Joe: forget it, actually forget it

Ronnie: youre as full of shit as you reckon I am

Ronnie: forget that its been ages & youre speaking up now cause you want something

Joe: i haven’t been able to flick my brain onto anything else, never mind shut it down, I haven’t slept or eat or done anything to take me away from it, you

Joe: and it meant nothing to you

Joe: fuck you

Ronnie: gear not me

Ronnie: theres the authentic experience you were going on about

Joe: no

Ronnie: yeah

Joe: this is what I mean

Joe: you know as well as I do what it was

Joe: why are you fucking lying and saying I am

Ronnie: im a junkie all i do is lie & nothing else means anything to me

Ronnie: youre worse than green if you dont fucking know that

Joe: you’re lying that it meant nothing

Joe: not lying that it did

Joe: even if it made you fucking sick, that isn’t nothing and I don’t believe you

Ronnie: dont believe me i dont care who the fuck are you

Joe: your brother

Ronnie: youre nothing

Joe: yeah right

Ronnie: the dealer means more

Joe: already pointed out you’re that much of a cliche

Ronnie: what we can’t both be a cliche take it then

Joe: never heard that one

Ronnie: nows your chance to make a final comparison between me & whatever family member you hate or are turned on by the most

Joe: final chance, alright then, sound even more stupid

Ronnie: sound like more of a pussy that youre kicking off over this but not gonna fuck off

Joe: why would I?

Joe: i’m not pretending that it weren’t a thing

Ronnie: nah youre pretending it was

Ronnie: whoever the fuck ever told you youre special is the liar here like

Joe: your mate don’t count, you ain’t done that before either so fuck off with your jaded routine

Ronnie: hes my brother when & where it counts

Joe: there’s no blood and no reason not to go there, that’s where it counts

Ronnie: if i wanted to fuck you too your ma wouldnt stop me she means even less than you

Joe: yeah

Joe: you and your life aren’t totally fucked because of how much you care

Ronnie: you dont know shit about me or my life

Joe: you wish

Ronnie: you dont

Joe: or do you, actually

Joe: you shove it in everyone’s face, what do you reckon everyone thinks

Ronnie: youve seen a few scars & now youve seen into my soul yeah

Ronnie: shut the fuck up for all you know i lived a couple of doors down from you for your whole bullshit childhood

Joe: you look like that and reckon it doesn’t scream mommy issues? Fuck off, you aren’t that dumb

Ronnie: fuck you

Ronnie: everything you do is pure about her

Joe: not everything but I can admit she contributed

Ronnie: shes the 1st bitch to fuck me over but not the only is the difference between us

Ronnie: that unwanted bullshit was a pattern

Joe: you don’t know me either

Ronnie: i know you had a set of parents who kept hold of you however fucking west you were

Ronnie: no cunt was calling you racist shit or trying to touch you up

Joe: you’ve got a monopoly on fucked then, got it

Ronnie: like fuck have i but mine dont start & stop at mommy dearest how you think

Joe: of course it doesn’t

Joe: neither does mine

Ronnie: stop acting like youre an expert on how and why my head is wrecked and i wont have to kick yours in

Joe: you started it

Joe: but that’s good with me

Ronnie: get over yourself mckenna

Ronnie: you like what i start

Joe: i prefer the other night

Ronnie: yeah i like when youre getting punched in the face too

Joe: you can do the honours in a bit

Joe: fuck healing, yeah

Ronnie: what did your girlfriend say

Joe: oh, I got mugged and her dad’s gonna get her some pepper spray and a rape alarm 👍

Ronnie: hot

Ronnie: but she ll have dreamt you fell off the horse only got the single fantasy in her

Joe: that her dad’s so responsible and caring? would be her #2 if she had the range

Ronnie: if hes delivering that shit in person let me know so i can start something with him

Joe: oh god

Joe: that reminds me

Joe: She wants to invite Charlie over for like, a dinner party or something

Ronnie: if her daddy is there hes gonna need that rape alarm back off her to fend off mary

Joe: 😂

Joe: idk if she’s that oblivious and now wants Charlie to fuck her, or she thinks he’s my only mate 🙄

Ronnie: shes over you baby i scared her off

Joe: or she thought you was gonna ask for a line 😏

Joe: if that’s true I’ll owe you, again

Ronnie: ket hook up

Joe: you think she’ll let her love be in pain on your behalf?

Joe: not likely

Ronnie: not gonna ask politely

Joe: hot

Joe: I was gonna hit you up sooner

Joe: I tried to find you after

Ronnie: you didnt try hard

Joe: I only had one eye, by that point

Ronnie: im an attention whore with screaming mommy issues cant make it no easier to spot me in a crowd

Joe: in that crowd?

Joe: or will you be pissy if I call you dime a dozen

Ronnie: still got the accent as my own personal rape alarm

Joe: where’d you go then

Ronnie: youre a tourist theres no point telling you

Joe: if you left with that lad, no need to go over the details, got the picture

Ronnie: why the fuck would i leave with him

Joe: you mean you weren’t in his pants for his benefit

Joe: careful, getting bit close to honesty

Ronnie: i mean to go where i dont need a horse or an en suite

Ronnie: youre a hopeless romantic like

Joe: that’s a new complaint, I’ll tell my exes

Joe: deffo their fault after-all, buzzing

Ronnie: how many are there

Joe: get less slut-shaming off Soph, cheek

Joe: I dunno, I had to keep it moving because of all the secret mommy issues, you know

Joe: I’ll do a tally

Ronnie: its not already carved into your arm no wonder theyre pissy at you

Joe: if that worked for any of ‘em they could come back from the ex thing

Joe: 💔

Ronnie: try her initials whatever the fuck they are in between dinner party courses and win her back

Joe: you should come

Ronnie: id be made up if she pepper sprays me

Joe: it’d be the only way this won’t be the worst evening ever

Ronnie: loads of ways to take out your other eye ill pass you a spoon

Joe: give a go doing my A-Z carving with it too

Joe: 🤞 she invites her twink classmate and you can try for your threesome

Ronnie: she’ll get in there before us cause youll have distracted me with the state of your cackhanded 💘 carving

Joe: can’t say I’d be sorry

Ronnie: you catholics invented anal but i reckon its overrated

Joe: you’d probably feel different if that’s where your g-spot was but can’t say I disagree with that either, not that that’s anything too deep to have in common so we’re fine

Joe: and raised strictly un-catholic so the pope can’t have a go

Ronnie: nah no cunt would find it if it was there either

Joe: 💔 baby

Ronnie: you mean it

Joe: yeah

Joe: which bit, though

Ronnie: my invite to the shitshow

Joe: ‘course

Joe: if it’s shit, you’ll only have yourself to blame for not livening it up enough

Joe: and I will have to kill myself if I have to be there sincerely

Ronnie: he knows about you

Ronnie: might wanna kill yourself if he opens his mouth

Joe: oh

Joe: so I’m gonna have to act all nice and respectful, yeah

Ronnie: if you wanna make me sound full of shit

Joe: what did you say?

Ronnie: told him i shot you he werent best pleased about it but youre not his brother so fuck all he can do

Joe: sweet

Joe: still not gonna fuck him though

Ronnie: hed get your g spot for you 🍒

Joe: not if he’s worried about my innocence

Ronnie: hes worried about my head getting wrecked not yours only bitch who is

Joe: you’ll have to tell him what you told me

Joe: I ain’t in there

Ronnie: you fairies bring everything back to your obsession with your mothers course hes no fucking exception

Ronnie: & cos i stole my file when i was a kid he thinks i give a shit too you were part of the happy 🏡 picture he was getting in a flap about but i tore through that 🌈 optimism with the 💉

Ronnie: you can have lively

Joe: better he knows than goes on about it

Joe: it’s far from 🌈☀️ even if you were up for it

Ronnie: every soft lad but him knows its ⛈ if not outright 🌨

Joe: when I started looking, if you were like them, I weren’t even gonna bother to talk to you

Joe: just give her the info and let her do it herself

Joe: but I knew you weren’t

Ronnie: told you youd have liked me at 9

Joe: 😏 yeah yeah

Ronnie: shed have bailed before scrolling that far back even with the pure messy sketchy shit kept off for the sake of dorothys cv

Joe: idk,she bangs on about her own glory days as ‘precaution’ enough

Joe: probably dead proud

Ronnie: raincheck on dinner i gotta go slit my throat after hearing that like

Joe: yeah, it’s real fun

Joe: far as starters go though, you’re welcome

Ronnie: cos you owe me go ed & drag my corpse there dress it up like horse girl and send her that info so i dont make her proud yeah

Joe: gotcha

Joe: the fibres sending Soph down are an unfortunate side-affect or added bonus, depending how you feel

Ronnie: dressing like a dyke art teacher is shady to my mourners hed have loved having me on the team

Joe: sure she wants to be buried in her jodhpurs, like

Joe: not gay but kink-adjacent, he’ll be alright

Ronnie: inside the horse youll have to hollow it out for her

Joe: poor horse not ready to be made into glue but there we go

Ronnie: but when youre ready to follow me to the grave only need a plastic bag

Joe: follow you anywhere, or whatever sounds good in a song

Ronnie: not had a little brother like that before

Ronnie: never know the mime is behind you or not

Joe: he shy or you cut his tongue out altogether

Ronnie: saving that for you cos i know how you feel about 🍒 & theres fuck all else left

Ronnie: hed never get attention whore out or mommy issues w & m forget it

Joe: I can feel the slutshame

Joe: there hasn’t been hundreds, come on

Joe: you were being weird, I needed to get you talking, it worked

Ronnie: how many then

Joe: I guess 6 total, not counting anyone before like 15 because that isn’t real, maybe 7 but we might be pushing the term girlfriend there

Ronnie: 💘 how many songs

Joe: not destined for the bin? Fuck all

Joe: cliche points off the charts though

Ronnie: i know youve seen the busking vids hes still got posted up that im in i cant say shit

Joe: you’re good

Joe: even when you have to go Top40 for the tips

Joe: class thing about the cello, looks more pitiful ‘cos the case is massive, people try to fill it, like

Ronnie: soz im not killing myself fast enough for you

Ronnie: miss me with your schoolboy cliches 🖕

Joe: don’t worry, the songs were ‘insert name here’ jobs if they were anything

Joe: don’t wanna sound like I’m singing about a 75 year old bloke, do I

Ronnie: if itd been changed you wouldnt have found me shit at stalking as you are songwriting like

Joe: you’ve already got your own song anyway, don’t be greedy

Ronnie: ill keep you some 🐴 if youre not

Ronnie: 1st thing i tried if you do wanna follow after us

Joe: trip down memory lane we can both handle

Joe: ‘course

Ronnie: dont have any exes itll have to do

Joe: prefer the ket

Ronnie: write a song about it

Joe: [blatantly will in a pisstake way]

Ronnie: k gonna be dead easy to carve with the spoon can do it rattling

Joe: your faith in my abilities is appreciated

Ronnie: youre not fucking here youll have to

Joe: just got out the station hold on

Ronnie: fuck telling me to hold on you hurry up

Joe: if you shut up I can run

Ronnie: can you

Joe: fuck off i’m not that unfit 😂

Ronnie: nah dead fit far as homos and horse girls reckon

Joe: lucky me

Ronnie: youve had 7 bitches no cunts gonna feel sorry for you

Joe: all various shades of boring though

Ronnie: no shit

Joe: so you’re saying you ain’t gutted for me? 💔

Ronnie: your virginity sob story is like me in that crowd of cunts you couldnt find your way through

Joe: Christ, don’t remind me, first and last time I ever went near a virgin

Ronnie: theyre all older than you itd be pathetic well as boring

Joe: exactly

Joe: too much hassle having to worry about them, destroys any point of doing it

Ronnie: gotta put their kids in the cupboard as is

Joe: fortune in gaffa tape, like

Ronnie: still not 💔 mckenna going on about how flush you are since i met you

Joe: amazing how far you can stretch the loans when you steal Soph’s food and do fuck all that ain’t necessary

Joe: not like I actually dated any sugar mommies

Joe: should’ve, clearly but carefree 18-25s are easiest actually

Ronnie: gears necessary now youre gonna have to start stealing more than her pasta shapes

Joe: you’re my manager now, are you 😏

Joe: there’s shit I can do, music gigs, it’s fine

Ronnie: fine for your baby habit

Ronnie: it wont last

Joe: alright doom and gloom

Joe: not gonna learn how to cover my teeth yet

Ronnie: fuck off & fuck you

Joe: i’m here so come say it to my face

Ronnie: youre not better than me cos you can nod through a cello practice

Joe: where’d I say I was

Ronnie: when you said how fucking functional you are

Joe: I didn’t, I said I could get cash, that’s all

Ronnie: so can i its not the fucking point

Joe: and I didn’t say you couldn’t so what’s yours

Ronnie: youre not a fucking kid at the pool if youre gonna pussy out cos the waters too cold fucking do it

Joe: I’m in and you know that

Joe: so let me in

Ronnie: bullshit are you

Ronnie: youre proud of yourself for treading water

Joe: you’ve got the plug, I’ve got the cash, what is the problem with that

Joe: it’s an equalizer, if anything

Ronnie: we ll never be equal

Ronnie: you can cover your arm run off to class & pick up another boring girl whenever the fuck you like

Joe: what do you want me to do, seriously

Joe: say it

Ronnie: stop talking

Ronnie: fucks sake

Joe: [Show up hun]

Ronnie: [I love the idea that they have to wait around for ages for this dealer in awkward silence haha]

Joe: [the casual tension]

Ronnie: [god knows what she’s gonna use to ease the tension with a lil bit o self harm because god knows where they even are, I worry about you and all the infections you would get gal]

Joe: [the casual one-upmanship until you’re interrupted]

Ronnie: [we know she’s not paying him in cash and we know why she’s not please don’t get into another fight Joseph]

Joe: [got to let that one go as she was specifically like you’re not better than me, probably fuck off whilst that happens ‘cos not gonna stick about]

Ronnie: [take your heroin and calm down huns]

Joe: [hope you take enough to pass out ‘cos you’re not gonna be in any sort of mood now either of ya lol]

Ronnie: [we’ll do you both that favour]

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teflonsos · 4 years

Photo

⌠ MIGUEL HERRAN, 21, CISMALE, HE/HIM ⌡ welcome back to gallagher academy, RICARDO ‘RICKY’ ALONSO! according to their records, they’re a FIRST year, specializing in DRIVER’S ED; and they DID NOT go to a spy prep high school. when i see them walking around in the halls, i usually see a flash of (5 a.m. cigarettes after a sleepless night, the smell of burning rubber after driving so fast you break the sound barrier, cheap vodka in an expensive shotglass, scraped knees and elbows from reckless parkour). when it’s the (scorpio)’s birthday on 11/04/98, they always request their CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES from the school’s chefs. looks like they’re well on their way to graduation. ⌿ kati, 23, est, she/her ⍀ @gallagherintro

STATS / PINTEREST / CONNECTIONS / CLASSES

INSPIRATION.

fernando alonso – formula 1

james hunt – formula 1

jp – redline

peter quill – guardians of the galaxy

emmett cullen – twilight

mercutio – romeo & juliet

han solo – star wars

charlie pace – lost

vert wheeler – acceleracers

BACKGROUND + CLICK FOR FULL BIO.

when ricky is born, there are expectations as the firstborn male but they are expectations that ricky refuses to meet. he’s stubborn, insolent, and straight up annoying. his dad is mysteriously never around and his mother suffers from chronic illness, so he generally has free range of the house and...free range to harass and drive out nanny after nanny

his younger sister is the balancing force in his life, proper in all the ways that he’s a mess and polite in all the ways that he’s uncouth. however, they get along really well and she’s his best friend in an otherwise large, empty house.

as he gets older, his father’s comings and goings are more noticeable to ricky and he realizes that he doesn’t really understand what his dad’s job actually is? and his father won’t answer his questions about it either. one night, when ricky is about ten years old, he sneaks downstairs to find his father covered in blood. at first he screams until he realizes, that’s not his father’s blood – it’s someone else’s.

put the pieces together, his dad is a blackthorne alumn, assassin, and...brotherhood member.

ricky doesn’t really get the chance to be close with his parents, but he is super close with his grandfather. his grandfather is a big man with a full laugh who used to race formula one like, back in the sixties. he’s a big name, and ricky wants to be like him, and his grandfather is the one that gets ricky really into the sport. racing.

ricky starts off by racing t cars, and when he’s fourteen and sneaking out to the track with his sister, things go awry. they’re stopped and kidnapped by brotherhood members. from conversations by the kidnappers, he can surmise that his father has something to upset the brotherhood and the kidnapping is a move to keep his father in his place. ricky have to listen to his father tell the kidnappers he doesn’t give a fuck about him (likely a bluff, but still stings) over the phone.

ricky’s father’s move doesn’t work, and he doesn’t get to them in time. ricky has to beg on the phone for his life. a gunshot rings out. everything else is a blur.

ricky wakes up the next day with a million questions, but there’s one answer: his sister will never walk again. a gunshot has left her without the use of her legs, but otherwise she’ll make a full recovery. she encourages ricky to continue his racing and tells him how much she believes in him.

he takes home trophies year after year while t car racing and people start to learn ricky’s name, to see him as an up and comer as they associate him with his grandfather. the next four years are hard work, but he’s healing from trauma with a new passion and a great support system.

ate age 19, he’s on the podium after his third formula three race, and he wins the championship, raining champagne on his teammates and laughing. his nights are busy, filled with parties and clubs, pretty girls and people willing to give him whatever he wants.

he awaits the next season and the rise into formula two, but he’s getting ahead of himself. late nights spent partying before the race take their toll on him, and his sister says it best. “you shouldn’t go out there,” she says. “i have to go out there. it’s fine, i’m just a little hungover. besides, it’s raining today. i have the advantage.” but he never learns.

ricky crashes hard, lucky to get off with a tbi and some broken ribs, but the drugs in his system render him a pariah and no one will really want to sponsor him after that. everyone had high hopes for him, but now he just looks like another stupid kid. he’ll never forget the disappointment in his grandfather’s eyes.

he spends most of the year blowing previous winnings.

after all of that bullshit, his grandfather sits him down. “you’re going to apply to gallagher academy,” he says. and that’s when he tells ricky everything, about his father’s profession, just like his grandfather’s brother and father before him. the legacy, the brotherhood, blackthorne academy, and ricky’s both riveted and horrified. “that’s what my sister got shot for?”

ricky passes the test while the brotherhood still has its claws clenched tightly around the reigns of gallagher academy somewhere. he’s a good driver, the fastest, and he might’ve been the best if he wasn’t so irrational and drunk on his own pride (among other things.)

before he can gain the skills to stop his father himself, someone else does. the news comes on ricky’s very first day of school: “dad’s been arrested.” and it’s like his whole world stops, because he always knew his father was bad, just someone else got to him first.

PERSONALITY.

ADVENTUROUS: ricky is not afraid of risks, and actually, this is usually in a good way. he pushes himself to want and pursue fulfilling life experiences, so while he’s made stupid decisions, he never lets fear stop him from taking chances and trying new things, so he’s pretty open-minded

CHARISMATIC: pretty good at putting on a smile and making himself likable when he needs to be, he has a nice smile and a good-natured spirit even if he can be a bit MUCH at times ! the kind of asshole that you can’t help but like anyway, he means well

FLEXIBLE: one of his great strengths is his ability to go with the flow, it doesn’t change him around or turn him inside out when things don’t go his way, he’s pretty adaptable and able to adjust when there’s a wrench in his plans

SELF-DESTRUCTIVE: ricky has a habit of ruining things when they’re going good for him, he’s notorious for self-sabotage and it probably comes from a mix of feeling like he’s invincible so he pushes limits and because he’s almost comfortable in the label of fuck-up at this point, not wanting to get his hopes up too high

ENTITLED: whether he likes it or not, he comes from a good family and a past where most things have just been handed to him. so, while he’s worked hard, he’s never had to work...that hard. he feels entitled to success and certain things in life and he can be a bit of a dick about it, even out of touch with other ways of life. he tends to feel like he deserves things, such as his gallagher education or another chance at racing

SELF-CENTERED: apart from his sister, ricky very much puts himself first and can be a bit selfish. it’s mostly out of self-preservation, but most of his thoughts revolve around him. he actually puts a lot of pressure on himself, which is why he turns to unhealthy coping mechanisms and doesn’t look at how his actions affect others in his life

HEADCANONS.

when it comes to his memory loss, it’s pretty manageable. he keeps up with medication and IF he gets a good night sleep/eats well...it’s good on his brain. but sometimes he’s not so great about it! his most common habits are: putting something down and forgetting where he just put it, asking you a question he’s already asked, and he’s bad with names

used to be good at fighting games but now he isn’t and he still tries and it’s sad :(

as you can guess, he’s really bad at card games but he likes to gamble so he’ll just bet on other stuff. always ready to put money on the results of a sports game or something, loves to do fantasy brackets

really likes anime movies! watches a lot, but his faves are obviously redline, akira, princess mononoke, perfect blue, and ghost in the shell. he watches anime too and tbh probably a lot of anime i’ve never seen like naruto, one piece, and cowboy bebop. for my sanity please don’t talk to much about them with him bc i won’t know what to write.

loves to skateboard and snowboard, and is pretty good at it because really the main thing is confidence and he has plenty of that!

loves to play pranks in class or on people, he’s got a whole repertoire of tricks he used to play on his nannies growing up and has no issue with playing them on a teacher with a stick up their ass

his primary coping mechanisms are 1) hating his father 2) cocaine and 3) acting stupid

is bisexual and honestly doesn’t give a fuck! guys, girls, whatever, sex is sex and he’s gonna like who he likes. has never come out to his parents but has never known them well enough for it to matter.

had a steady long term girlfriend but she broke up with him when he started to tank his future and started partying more, probably as self-preservation for herself and ricky feels guilty about how he treated her, doesn’t want to put anyone else through that

really likes german cars so it’s a bummer that he missed out on the berlin trip, he’s going to geek out and cry any time someone mentions berlin to him, he’ll be so jealous of their semester

has wicked good eyesight, 20/20 vision which is great on the track but he also has really good aim on a shooting range, he’s a pretty observant person as well

WANTED CONNECTIONS.

BROTHERHOOD CONNECTIONS. Someone who also had someone close to them (likely a family member) that was also arrested for being involved with the Brotherhood by the strike team. Both Ricky and your muse are dealing with the shock of this together.

FAN? SOMEONE WHO FOLLOWS RACING? Someone who watched Ricky’s rise and fall from grace by being invested in F1. It would make sense if they were a big fan of Ricky’s grandfather...and Ricky is the disappointment. Idk someone with predisposed opinions on Ricky.

PARTNER IN CRIME. The two of them just vibe like immediately they both have the same chaotic energy and encourage each other’s recklessness to take chances and do stupid shit, are probably hilarious and can’t take anything seriously when they’re in the same room together, the kind of friends that other people can’t stand to see them together.

WHOLESOME FWB. They get along really well as friends and mainly just need to scratch an itch sometimes. None of that toxic shit, they probably lay around and talk about their crushes and are actually friends.

CONFIDANT. Late night rooftop conversations, this person can get Ricky to open up, is probably someone who is really chatty and comfortable with their own emotions and they encourage Ricky to be open about his.

INFATUATION. Ricky doesn’t know your muse at all, just sees them in the hallway and thinks they’re super hot, probably an older and unattainable student that wouldn’t give him a second glance but he’s like...this is my future spouse. They just don’t know I exist. Has never talked to them and they might not even vibe if they ever spoke lol.

ENEMIES? They simply don’t! Get along? Hate at first sight? They see Ricky smoking a blunt on campus and think he’s stupid irresponsible? He doesn’t remember their name when he should have? He makes a stupid immature comment that rubs your muse the wrong way? Any of the above, ready to fight at any moment.

RACING BUDDIES. Another driver’s ed student who is willing to race with him after hours or practice together, they both wanna fuck the cars, they both are super competitive and bring that out in each other.

OLD FAMILY FRIENDS. Their parents knew one another, likely on his dad’s (Blackthorne/spy) side, and they grew up closely. After the kidnapping happened, your character’s parent stopped speaking to the Alonsos and distanced themselves. Your character is probably the only one who knows about that part of Ricky’s past in any detail.

GOT OFF ON THE WRONG FOOT. Ricky tried to flirt with your character but actually wound up pissing them off by seeming like an entitled white boy, which he is. He’s trying to prove to your character that he’s not so bad! This connection has nothing to do with feet I just had no better ideas for a name I hate feet.

REALLY BAD SEX. your muse has ricky saved in their phone like [link]...prob a hookup that happens on one of the first days after he heard about his dad but...he’s fucked up and sad and he can’t get it up! It’s literally so embarrassing, maybe they’re both embarrassed, he wants to die when he sees ur muse around bc they saw his limp ass sad boy dick.

CAT AND MOUSE TYPE THING. essentially ricky has a bunch of attempts to flirt with your muse & your muse fucking hates it. Tom and jerry but like, if tom wanted to fuck jerry. I think of this gifset.

#gallagher:intro

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wolfpawn · 4 years

Text

I Hate You, I Love You, Chapter 152

Chapter Summary - Danielle says goodbye to her grandmother and Tom learns more about her from the experience

Previous Chapter

Rating - Mature (some chapters contain smut)

Triggers - references to Tom Hiddleston’s work with the #MeToo Movement. That chapter will be tagged accordingly.

authors Note - I have been working on this for the last 3 years, it is currently 180+ chapters long. This will be updated daily, so long as I can get time to do so, obviously.

A concertina is like a small accordion.

The Willie Clancy is a huge deal in Irish traditional music and takes place every year in Miltown Malbay, Co Clare.

Bangor is in County Down and contrary to the belief that the Troubles are based solely on religion, they are far more complex than that and are more predominantly based on political beliefs, those who see themselves as part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Unionists) and those who see themselves as Irish (Nationalists). Bangor is 72%, Unionist.

The Falls (in Belfast) and the Bogside (Armagh) are staunchly Nationalist, and I mean 100% nationalist. You would not be harmed these days going to them if you are British or Unionist, you would just not feel in any way welcome.

The Parting Glass, as explained, is a traditional song recently covered by Ed Sheeran.

As an Irish person in Britain, I have to say I have experienced some acts of racism, but I live in a depressed town with high unemployment and little understanding, so it is par for the course.

As D-day for Brexit approaches, a "no deal" scenario keeps cropping up and with no idea what that means for non-national people in Britain, fears like those Danielle references are becoming more worrisome.

tags: @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog @jessibelle-nerdy-mum @nonsensicalobsessions @damalseer @hiddlesbitch1 @winterisakiller @fairlightswiftly @salempoe @wolfsmom1 @black-ninja-blade

Tom sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. He inhaled deeply and looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He was tired but he knew he had to be there for Danielle who was far more tired than he was.

Danielle had flown back from the US from an important meeting with the rest of the Safeguard group and had gone for a shower when her phone rang. Seeing it was an Irish number, Tom answered in case it was important. He took in everything the woman on the phone said on him revealing after that Danielle was in the shower. When she came back downstairs, slightly tired but in good humour, she noted Tom's face immediately and waited worriedly for him to tell her what was to be worried about.

“Tom?”

“When you were in the shower, a hospital called. It's your grandmother.”

That led to them being in the city of Cork where Danielle and a few of her family were waiting for the inevitable. There was little hope for Sheila, she was very much deteriorating in health.

Danielle was exhausted but she continued to be there for whatever member of her mother's family needed her. Tom tried to help but to be honest, there was little he understood of what her aunts said with their strong accents and their tendency to use Irish thrown in a lot of the time.

“Elle, love, you need to get some sleep.” Tom urged, seeing Danielle lean back against the wall, clearly exhausted.

“I will, in a bit.” She sighed.

“Elle, you have not even eaten today.”

“I am fine.”

“You need to eat. I am going to be the stubborn partner and insist you get something to eat.” He smiled.

Danielle huffed a small laugh. “Yes, boss.” She pushed off from the wall to go to the shopping centre across the road to get something to eat when a beeping came from the intensive care unit and a crash team rushed through the halls. Danielle looked at her aunt who walked out of the room looking worried. “She…Danielle, what's this?”

Danielle looked at the paper in her hand. “It's a DNR, a 'do not resuscitate' form. it translates as to leave her to pass away rather than prolong the situation really.” She explained. "It means when she goes downhill, just to make sure she is comfortable and allow her to go peacefully."

Her cousin, a nurse at the hospital walked over to her mother. “Mam…it's really for the best.”

Danielle's aunt inhaled deeply before nodding her head. “Okay.” As the eldest, she had the greatest say, so she signed the page.

Danielle gave a slight nod in agreement with the decision before going to her aunt. “We are just going to get something in the shop, do you need anything?” She smiled.

“You're grand, Danielle, Pet. We'll call you if anything changes.” Her aunt gave a tired smile. “Have you even had some time away from here?”

“Plenty of time for that at a later date. If it's alright, I may go back to the hotel for a shower.”

“Alright, we'll see you later so.” Catherine stated before going to find a doctor to give the form to.

Danielle could barely recall the journey back to the hotel and crashed as soon as she hit the bed. Tom ordered some food and urged her to eat after a while. With a shower to attempt to wake her again, Danielle ate and made her way back to the hospital, deciding to walk the short distance in the nice weather, Tom, who felt she needed more rest walking beside her.

“Are you okay?” He asked as they walked.

“Yeah, I mean, I'm not stupid. She's been going downhill for a while, I just... it's sad. I don't really know my Mam's side of the family so with Nan about to leave us, I feel like I have even less of a tie to home now.” She explained. “I suppose in one respect it's okay because I am building my life in England, but…”

“Home is home.” Tom added. “A lot of actors have left Britain and indeed Ireland and other countries to go to the States for work and they say it too. You build a life elsewhere, but you are from where you're from and holding onto home is a big thing. I feel it when I am away but it's the reason I love living in London, I am from England and I am fortunate enough to live there.”

“Do you remember when we met Lucas for lunch and he asked about Brexit?” Tom nodded that yes, he recalled such. “Do you ever think about it? I mean, I get occasional racist comments about being Irish, if they get worse or if the government decide to fuck out all non-nationals, I am not sure where that leaves anything.”

“Is that why you have not been willing to go look at houses recently?” Tom asked, noting of late that Danielle was not the least bit interested in continuing their house hunt.

“Well, it's scary investing in a second home there if all that is going to happen is I will be forced to sell soon.”

“You're in England with nearly a decade, I cannot see this going that badly, but if it does, you're so long in Britain, you could not possibly be forced to leave.”

“It's just worrying. I want us to know that if we do this together, it is not going to be a waste of our time. I want whatever we get to be the house we want, the one we still love in a decade.” She looked at him and smiled.

Tom smiled back at her and took her hand in his before kissing it. When he went to leave go again, she gently tightened her grip, telling him she wanted to keep the contact. Both enjoying the anonymity of the city none would expect to see them in.

It was the next day when the DNR form Catherine signed became relevant. After a goodbye and a kiss on the cheek to her grandmother, Danielle said goodbye to Sheila for the last time. She stood stoically next to Tom as the doctors walked out of the ICU with Catherine and Margaret, another of Danielle's aunts and gave their condolences to the family. Tom stayed beside Danielle, letting her know he was there for her. He had sadly lost his grandparents, so he knew the sensation, but the words she said on the road from the hotel resonated with him, she was losing her ties to Ireland and in many respects, Tom felt saddened for her, for very obvious reasons but part of him also hoped that Brexit would not chase her way as it was doing other Irish people.

The funeral was small, they went to West Cork to the small parish that her grandmother was from for the funeral, which he noticed was all done in Irish, Danielle reading a piece from the altar for part of it, Tom fascinated by the manner in which she spoke, her voice sounding entirely different in Irish. The whole affair was quiet, until after the meal in the hotel close by, after that, he was slightly startled by the show of music that took place. He looked to Danielle for an explanation.

“Nan was mad into music, so naturally, we remember her this way.” She smiled sadly.

“What's that little accordion?” He pointed to the instrument he had seen a few occasions before in lock-ins but did not know the name of.

“A concertina.”

“How old is that girl?” He asked in shock at the young child playing the instrument diligently.

“She is nine, she's been reared with music in the house and been taking lessons since she was four, her father is a huge trad man, goes to the Willie Clancy in Clare every year.” Tom gave her a confused look. “It's a trad festival, a week-long, with trad groups from all over Ireland go and just play together in one town in Clare, it's a big deal.” She smiled. “Mam would make sure we were there every year without fail, it was one way to guarantee she'd see her lot for a few days, Dad would just be happy in a corner with his whiskey and a good song.”

Tom smiled at the fondness Danielle had for her old family occasions. She clearly spent time with her cousins as a child as he had his, but again, the words she had regarding not having much by way of family ties to Ireland came to him.

For the most part of the evening, they sat in a corner, listening to the music and occasionally talking to family or old friends of her grandmother and grandfather that recognised “Bridget's girl”. Many got curious as to the English fellow she had and more than one checked was there Scottish in him, to Tom's surprise, that seemed acceptable to the majority of them and apparently negated a lot of his English-ness.

One man made it very clear he was less than fond of Sheila and Daniel O'Brien's granddaughter being with a British man. But Catherine shooed him off and informed him Sheila had met and adored Tom, talking fondly of the lovely man her Danielle had brought over to meet her from England, informing one and all Sheila's thoughts of him. It was the only time Tom really felt a moment of uncertainty and a tad unwelcome in the whole situation, he wondered if Danielle ever felt similar; the manner in which she rubbed his hand when Catherine defended him made him think it was something she knew something of.

When the evening turned to night and the celebration of the life of Sheila began to come to a close, Tom was startled when the final song was requested of Danielle, who to his utter shock, sung a song he had heard before but listening to the words, he realised were sadly poignant to the saying of goodbyes.

They were staying in the hotel the afters of the funeral were in, so with goodbyes to her family, he and Danielle went upstairs to their room. Inside, Danielle sighed and took off the clothes she had borrowed from a cousin for the funeral. Tom had hired a suit from a tailor not too far away, so he tidied it into the wardrobe for the night for them to return before their flight the next day.

“I am sorry about Sean Daly.”

“Who?”

“The fella that was not quiet of his dislike of Brits.”

“I was in Bangor for a while, I think it is safe to say, I have been in more hostile company.”

Danielle laughed. “Tom, Love, I hate to break it to you, but Bangor is fairly Unionist and Protestant, so you were under little to no threat there. If you said it was the Falls or the Bogside, I'd sympathise, but Bangor is fairly safe. So is Cork, but still. I know it's never pleasant to have people be so averse to you for no reason. I know I joke and comment on the whole Irish and British thing, but still, it's not nice when people say so aggressively.”

“Do you get it often?” Tom asked curiously.

“Not in London, it is more tolerant and multicultural but on some sets in more remote areas, comments occur, yes.”

Tom said nothing for a short time before getting into the bed, Danielle quickly following after and curling up against him. “Elle?”

“Mmhmm?”

“I didn't know you could sing.”

“I'd hardly call it singing.”

“But what was that tonight?”

“Mam and Nan loved me singing that song as a child and there is no way you decline a wish of the deceased. I sang it at Mam and Dad's funerals and she told me to sing it at hers, I couldn't decline.” She explained.

“Well, I have to say, I am somewhat startled, I never knew it. What is that song?”

“The Parting Glass, an old folk song, made more famous by being in an Assassin's Creed game and I am fairly sure Ed Sheeran covered it.”

“You sound different when you speak Irish and sing, your accent is stronger.”

“You're making me self conscious now.” She admonished before toying with some of his chest hair. “Thank you, Tom. For being here for all of this.”

Tom frowned at her. “Elle, I would be nowhere else, you silly woman.” He dismissed. “I am here for you Elle, no matter what.” He kissed her head. “I love you.” She just continued to lean against him and say nothing as she processed the act of burying her grandmother, a woman she always loved dearly and admired.

#i hate you i love you #chapter 152 #wolfpawn #tom hiddleston #tom hiddleston fic

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goodnight-socialiite · 5 years

Text

What a Shark Puppy Concert is like (+ setlist of covers)

I have a FUCKTON of headcanons of what a Shark Puppy concert would be like, and i must eject them into the void before i go crazy. I sure hope everyone is still thinking about the clown movie and their shark band. I always imagine them doing something like Ninja Sex Party’s “Under the Covers” albums.

Here’s my playlist of Songs that Shark Puppy totally covered

First and foremost:

Mike: plays the primarily drums and the trumpet (when songs call for it)

Beverly: plays primarily bass, but also lead guitar, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, and keyboard, when the other boys sing

Stan: plays primarily keyboard, but also rhythm guitar

Bill: plays primarily lead guitar, bass when Beverly sings.

Eddie: plays keyboard, rhythm guitar, bass, and lead guitar interchangeably, when one band member wants to sing without instruments (a real jack of spades).

Richie: plays primarily rhythm guitar, but also drums.

Ben: I read a fic where he was their manager, and now i can’t see him as anything else, but he plays the acoustic guitar.

These kids? multi-faceted. I like to think that they went to a music school, where they learn multiple instruments.. I also think them learning multiple parts for songs would help if one member is sick, or needs a break during the concert.

Since people are trading between instruments, there’s a lot of chatter and crowd interactions, it’s super lit.

Set List and breakdown under the cut:

1. Killing Me Softly- Roberta Flack

The concert opens with the boys all standing in a line, like an acapella group, with microphones on stands. Beverly is standing either by the side, or in the middle, with an electric guitar. They sing this beautiful cover of the song, with Beverly accompanying on the guitar; which seems like it wouldn’t work, since the song is so gentle, but it does. the fellas are singing their hearts out about a their man who’s killing them softly, while Beverly is shredding, and the crowd is losing their minds. The boys are doing this crazy five part harmony, and they can barely hear themselves over the fans.

2. No Scrubs - but the Wheezer cover

From “Killing Me Softly”, they immediately transition to No Scrubs. Everyone fucking books it to their instruments, while Richie and Bev go into the first verse. Mike on the drums, Stan on the keyboard, Bill on lead, Bev gets back to the bass, and Eddie on rhythm guitar. Richie really knows how to get the crowd riled up. He jumps around and has so much attitude, and the fans eat it up. Everyone is seriously eating up the gender bending of the songs.

3. Istanbul - They Might Be Giants

Possibly the most chaotic song they perform, Eddie takes over keyboard while Richie picks up rhythm, and Bill’s on lead. they belt out the lyrics, and dance across the stage. Stand and Richie do the answer and call for “Why’d they change it I can’t say,” “PEOPLE JUST LIKE IT BETTER THAT WAY!” it’s just... the drama, and the chaos, ugh, it’s a spiritual experience to see them perform it live. Stan and Richie get each other really hyped, and Stan is stand in between Bill and Richie while they play.

4. I Like (The Idea of) You - Tessa Violet

Beverly takes on the lead vocals, while all the boys do backup. She loves the bass part tho, and demands that she play it while singing. Stan takes back the keyboard, so during the song, Eddie doesn’t have an instrument, so he plays the tambourine, and dances like a 60′s backup singer (something like the Supremes) and it becomes a meme. like people captioning 240p pictures with “When the group leader doesn’t assign you any work” but they love it. the song itself is so fun, the band really plays with it.

5. Pieces of Us - Mark Ronson feat King Princess

Eddie takes center stage, and just fucking destroys this song. He has the range, he has the moves. The fans love it, because they didn’t start #moreeddieplease for nothing. and Eddie definitely doesn’t make the most intense eye contact with Richie through the whole song. When they perform this song more, Reddie likes to rile up everyone, and get particularly... creative. Especially at the line “the way you turn me on,” because Eddie can dance, he can move his hips, and he loves it when Richie’s jaw drops and he forgets to play. The crowd loses their minds.

Intermission: I Love You - Bill Wurtz

While the band takes a short break between songs (water, towels, and the fastest bathroom breaks), it’s just Stan, fucking shit up on the keyboard and singing, while wearing sunglasses. Before he even begins, he dedicates the sog to Patty, and the crowd goes fucking mental. it’s odd, but he makes it work, and the fans go fucking buck wild. It’s the wild card for sure, but the vibes are... off the charts. Stan would survive the vibe check.

6. Baby I’m Yours - the Arctic Monkey’s cover

Everyone jumps back in, with Richie hangs back and plays the drums while Bill and Mike do this gushy duet with each other. Everyone pretends not to enjoy it, gagging and playing begrudgingly, but the crowd is swaying to the tune, and making heart eyes. Someone took a candid photo of Mike with his arms around Bill’s waist while Bill plays the guitar. Stan gets his designated break during this song, (No keyboard needed) and he is just watching the cheesy, romantic shit happen in the wings with Ben, while sipping a cup of water.

7. Everybody Wants to Rule the World - but the Ninja Sex Party cover

This is the song where they each sing different verses, and the way they sing lines extra loud, oof, it really resonates with the crowd. Sometimes its more screaming than singing, but they need that.

8. The Only Exception - Paramore

Ben joins the band for this song, because he and Beverly sit on chairs at the center of stage, and he plays acoustic while she sings, then the whole band joins in. This kind of display of love gets people a little teary-eyed, waving their phones an lighters in the air.

9. Starry Starry Night - Don McLean

Sometimes they play one or the other. Bill always introduces the song, and dedicates it to Georgie. Georgie always encouraged Bill to keep drawing and creating art. They had gone to an art gallery together, and seen a print of Van Gogh’s Starry Starry Night. It means so much to Bill. If people weren’t crying during the display of Benverly, they were in fucking tears. The first time Bill performs Starry Starry Night, it’s just him and his acoustic guitar, and later, twitter is filled with support and messages of love. Every time he plays it, number one trending on twitter is #starrystarrynight. The occasional #fuckimcrying was thrown in.

10. Say my Name - but the Hozier cover, and a bit more metal.

Eddie nails this song, and he gets real playful whenever they perform it. He likes to antagonize Richie, always singing the verses to him, as though he were the man in question. Rich plays along, bless his heart, and they get the who crowd to sing along.

11. Eddie my Love - The Teen Queens

This is Richie’s fucking pride and joy. Whenever he sings it, he tries to sing to Eddie (who’s trying to play Richie’s part on rhythm), while Eds tries not to blush and instead look pissed. The fans are screaming at this. One time, they had tricked Eddie into thinking “Eddie my Love” was removed from the set list, (he was equal parts happy and sad). When they started playing it, Richie got a chair, and sat Eddie in it, and was on his knees, singing so dramatically. Eddie covers his face, so people think he’s embarrassed, when actually, he’s so flushed with affection. The crowd is wild, and Eddie can’t help but peck Richie’s cheek as a reward.

12. What the World Needs Now is Love - Jackie DeShannon

Mike opens on trumpet, and no one has ever seen a crowd get so hype with just a trumpet, but people begin to s c r e a m. There’s one point, where the band stops singing and playing, and the crowd is singing to them “What the world needs now, is love! Sweet love!” and it reminds them that maybe the kids are alright.

#shark puppy au #shark puppy #reddie #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #beverly marsh #benverly #bill denbrough #mike hanlon #hanbrough #stan uris #it 2 #it chapter ii #it 2019 #it 2017 #ben hanscom

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tillidontneedfantasy · 5 years

Text

Defined by the Things She Loves: A Track-by-Track Breakdown of Taylor Swift’s 7th Studio Album, ‘Lover.’

Contrary to popular belief and misconception, Taylor Swift has always been more of a lover than a fighter. Yes, she can be a fighter, but only when she feels she has no choice. Often times, the combative side of her is brought out as a means to protect her ability to love. “Combat, I’m ready for combat. I say I don’t want that, but what if I do?” is how Swift opens up the vulnerable fifth track from her new album, Lover, titled “The Archer,” in which she explores her automatic defenses when things go well, because how can they possibly stay that way? This is an incessant fear of Swift’s, as seen through her personal diary entries included in the 4 different deluxe versions of the album. In deluxe album 2, there is an entry from 21-year-old Taylor that says: “This ridiculous thing happens to me when I’m this happy...I start feeling like karma will balance it all out by making something tragic happen.”

She then counters her own negative thinking: “But I’m trying to just show gratitude as much as I can. Every day, every minute. I’m grateful for being happy right this moment.” In the foreword for this album, Swift notes how a majority of these diary entries actually do document her taking a moment to cherish the small joys in her life: “I wrote about tiny details in my life in these diaries from a bygone age with such...wonderment. Intrigue. Romance. I noticed things and decided they were romantic, and so they were.” And not much has changed. Even on reputation (2017), an album that evokes a combative stance, or so it seemed to the naked eye, she still always finds the romance in life. Coincidentally, reputation is an album in which the general public took around 2 years to admit was actually good. In a lot of ways, it felt like the reputation era was deliberate in that sense, as if Taylor only trusted her loyal fans to get what she was trying to say and do, almost not wanting the skeptics and overly zealous critics to see what was underneath the armor. All the reviews of reputation slammed it as an album about her infamous feuds, and although they are of course addressed famously on songs such as “Look What You Made Me Do,” “I Did Something Bad,” and “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things,” and sprinkled a little more here and there throughout, that was more of a distraction to the actual inspiration: love. Almost every other track on reputation explores her anxiety and relief around her newfound relationship at the time with British actor Joe Alwyn. It’s really a love story about finding someone who sees you for who you really are, rather than how the world is painting you.

On Lover, Swift takes command of the paintbrush, trying to get the world to see her the way her “lover” and her fans have the whole time. In “Dancing With Our Hands Tied” from reputation, Swift sings, “deep blue, but you painted me golden.” On “Daylight,” Lover’s closer, she describes love as golden like daylight. “Step into the daylight and let it go,” she almost whispers. She’s shedding her snakeskin, and she is ready for people to see her in all her loving and golden glory.

Swift is a storyteller like no other pop singer this generation, and so it would feel wrong to skip any chapter of this beautiful story. And thus, please join me in the track-by-track breakdown of the triumphant and magical Lover.

01. I FORGOT THAT YOU EXISTED

“How many days did I spend thinking ‘bout how you did me wrong?” she opens the album, seemingly reflecting on the reputation era and image. She revels in the magical feeling of forgetting that someone who wronged you even existed; obviously not forever, but just for even a single moment when you’ve realized, “Ah, I’ve made it to indifference! How wonderful!” She laughs and becomes more playful as the song progresses, showing her relief, although not exactly her freedom. In a recent interview with CBS Sunday morning, Swift asserts, "You know, people go on and on about, like, you have to forgive and forget to move past something. No, you don't. You don't have to forgive and you don't have to forget to move on. You can move on without any of those things happening. You just become indifferent, and then you move on." This sentiment is evident throughout the song, and in the nonchalant way she ends it by going, “so...yeah...” As in, yes the drama has affected me, but I’ve come to terms with it, so let’s move on, shall we? And so, we shall!

02. CRUEL SUMMER

Sometimes, listening to a song can feel like electrocution. “Cruel Summer” is an immediate shock to the system following the bubbly first track. Suddenly, for 2 minutes and 58 seconds, we’re transported back into the anxiety of reputation, but through a different lens. Chronicling what seems to be a fraught start to her current relationship, Swift seems to be suffocating under her own emotions, trying to play it casual and cool, however against her nature. The production is astounding, and it is one of her most intriguing songs to date. Each lyric can be analyzed again and again from a new perspective, leaving you to wonder more and more. (And what so significant happened at a vending machine that she felt the need to include it in this story?) At the climax of the song, she admits that she can no longer keep her feelings secret, and has to risk telling him how she feels, even if that means losing him. “I scream, ‘for whatever it’s worth, I love you, ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard?’” she shouts in the bridge. Earlier in the track she states that “devils roll the dice,” and after her dicey proclamation of love she tells the audience that “he looks up grinning like a devil,” as if he were to say, “Of course I love you back, I rolled the dice for it to be so, didn’t I?” The entire song can be interpreted in a multitude of ways, but one thing is certain: the summer may have been cruel, but it was all love come the fall.

03. LOVER

The best-received and final pre-release, the title track is an ode to her main muse for this album. “Have I known you 20 seconds or 20 years?” she wonders, before asking to be with her lover forever and ever. She’s felt like she’s known him for almost her whole life, and wants to spend the rest of it with him, too. So much so that the bridge sounds like Swift’s (future? past? are they secretly married?) wedding vows, especially with the play on words for something borrowed and blue. The song even sounds like it’s being played by a wedding band with the use of live instruments. Although it has been pushed as a single and is destined to be a wedding song for many couples to come, I unfortunately cannot see it having the same success as Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” or “Perfect,” despite its superior lyrics and greater emotional depth. And why might that be, you ask? Great segue into the next track...

04. THE MAN

It’s really a staggering thought experiment to think of how Taylor Swift’s career would be perceived if she was a man. I could write a novel on this, but Taylor did a pretty good job of summing it up in a 3-minute pop song: if she was a man, she’d be THE man. This is without question the truth. The woman has 10 Grammys and countless other accolades, she has written her own music since the beginning of time (her third album, Speak Now [2010], was entirely self-written, no co-writers). Yet she is continually ridiculed and mocked for things for which men are praised. Swift sings the song slickly in her very comfortable alto-range, which feels purposeful. It feels oddly powerful to hear Taylor Swift sing the word “bitch” twice in one song, which not only hearkens back to her defense for the infamous Kimye call, but for a moment really highlights the distinguished usages of the word “bitch,” forcing you to really consider why we let men just get away with it. And yes, the song’s take on misogyny is pretty surface level, but Taylor herself only has to deal with it on such a level, so we have to work with what we’ve got. Either way, I don’t think I’ll ever be over the line, “I’d be just like Leo in Saint-Tropez.” Someone had to say it, and she did!

05. THE ARCHER

The third pre-release from Lover, “The Archer” is a slow-build examination of Swift’s role in her relationships, both with others and herself. We have never seen this side of Taylor, but it feels like we were waiting for it all along, like we needed it. It’s very rare that someone as successful as Swift lays out their deepest flaws and insecurities for the world, other than Lorde on “Liability,” also co-produced and written by Jack Antonoff. “I never grew up, it’s getting so old,” she says, echoing a common criticism of the way she has dealt with feuds or breakups publicly. “The Archer” is placed at track 5, a track that Swift has historically reserved for the most vulnerable song on the album. The bridge officially earns this spot; it is simple and simultaneously one of her best ever, as she transitions from, “They see right through me” to “Can you see right through me?” and then finally to an agonizing “I see right through me.” Swift’s self-awareness is painfully relatable, as she pleads, “help me hold onto you,” after each pre-chorus as an important reminder that sometimes we need to ask for help in order to grow.

06. I THINK HE KNOWS

It almost feels like whiplash going from the vulnerability of “The Archer” to a song that has the line, “He’s so obsessed with me, and boy, I understand!” But it’s a fun type of whiplash, as if Taylor is saying “wipe your tears and let’s skip down 16th avenue together.” What is admirable about Swift’s craft is that she is able to mature and cover maybe more sexual topics in her music while still keeping it discrete enough for her younger audience. “Where we gonna go? I think he knows,” feels like a wink to the camera (microphone?) moment. And yes, Taylor, we do know. Happy for you, girl.

07. MISS AMERICANA & THE HEARTBREAK PRINCE

Many deemed Lover’s second single, “You Need to Calm Down,” along with its Video of the Year winning music video, which explicitly outlines her support for LGBTQ rights, as an outright opportunistic ploy to win over liberal music consumers rather than a genuine showing of solidarity. The unflashy “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince” proves that Swift means business. The casual listener might not realize the subject matter right away as it masked underneath school tropes and cheerleader chants. Quite effectively, Swift uses high school as a metaphor for the current political state. This song could be better explained through a 7 page MLA formatted essay, but in short, it’d be helpful to take note of Swift’s recent explanation and regret for her silence during the 2016 election. The lyric “they whisper in the hallway, ‘she’s a bad, bad girl,’” echoes the similarities between Swift and Hillary Clinton that she outlined to Vogue. It is refreshing to hear Taylor write about something perhaps out of her comfort zone with the same eloquence and strength as she would about topics she’s been writing about for years, and her message is clear: she is against the current president and administration, and always has been. “Boys will be boys, then where are the wise men? Darling, I’m scared,” she sings frantically. Me too, Taylor.

08. PAPER RINGS

Quite like “Lover,” this song feels timeless. “Paper Rings” is a series of quips, connecting the moon being high to his friends, her cold wine to her cold shoulder, and feeling blue to the color they painted his brother’s wall. There’s quite a charming sigh after she chants that she will kiss him a third time “’cause you waited your whole life,” and then proceeds to proclaim that she would marry her lover even with paper rings. With the upbeat, musical number like rhythm and the line, “I hate accidents, except when we went from friends to this,” this track is destined to be in romantic comedy films until the end of time, as it should.

09. CORNELIA STREET

Out of all 18 tracks on Lover, “Cornelia Street” is the most reminiscent of Taylor’s staple songwriting, and self-written at that. A beautiful, lengthy retelling of the “sacred new beginnings” of her relationship, the song centers around the street on which she rented an apartment in 2016. She swears if she lost him, she’d never walk the street again. Once again, Taylor masters the ability to make extremely personal details feel completely universal; we all know what it’s like to associate a specific place or time with someone we love or lost, and how that link can never be fully broken. It’s hard to smell the scent of someone you no longer speak to, or hear their favorite song, or walk down the street where you shared something special. On top of the beautiful production, the way Taylor’s voice cracks right before the last chorus when she says, “I’d never walk Cornelia Street again,” is just an immediate tear duct trigger. You need proof that Swift can write on her own? Look no further.

10. DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS

Inspired by the Netflix film Someone Great (which was coincidentally inspired by Swift’s “Clean” from 1989 [2014], says writer and director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson), “Death By A Thousand Cuts” explores the pain of separating from someone, not because some tragic event happened that tore you apart, but because you naturally grew away from each other. “Gave you too much but it wasn’t enough / but I’ll be all right, it’s just a thousand cuts,” she tries to say casually. There is a unique mixture of production styles, and an absolutely mesmerizing bit of piano at the end of the hook. The echoing “my, my, my, my” in the beginning makes sense when it returns for the second half of the song, in which Swift lists all of the things taken up by this person. Though we know this song is not from personal experience, it shows that she can still write one hell of a breakup song.

11. LONDON BOY

A catchy, upbeat song filled with totally cliche tropes of London men, including British vernacular such as “I fancy you!” While some people are taking the song a bit too seriously, it is a fun track that shows just how head-over-heels she truly is with Joe Alwyn, as she giddily describes herself as a child when their eyes meet. “They say home is where the heart is, but that’s not where mine lives,” she croons. Although the meaning of the saying “home is where the heart is” would point to the fact that her home would actually be in London with her lover rather than where she’s from, it’s still a cute twist on the phrase.

12. SOON YOU’LL GET BETTER featuring The Dixie Chicks

Probably the saddest song Taylor has ever written, “Soon You’ll Get Better” is a mantra to her mother, Andrea, during her cancer relapse. (The Dixie Chicks, Andrea’s favorite artist, lend their beautiful harmonies). However, it is also a mantra to herself to get through the impossible. “Desperate people find faith, so now I pray to Jesus too,” “I know delusion when I see it in the mirror,” and “I just pretend it isn’t real” painfully show how Taylor is dealing with it. But she’s willing to go to any lengths for her mom as she sings, “I’ll paint the kitchen neon, I’ll brighten up the sky / I know I’ll never get it, there’s not a day that I won’t try.” One of the most heartbreaking moments comes in the bridge with the lyric “I hate to make this all about me, but who am I supposed to talk to?” She has said multiple times that she does not think she’ll ever perform the song live and that she cannot even listen to it. Anyone going through a similar situation can understand; it’s a very difficult song to get through without crying. And although the pain Taylor and her family must be going through is unimaginable, there is extreme bravery in sharing such a personal account that is also, unfortunately, a universal experience.

13. FALSE GOD

“False God” is a sultry and confident song about convincing herself and her partner that they can still make their relationship work despite all of the breaking points they’ve reached. “I’m New York City, I still do it for you, babe,” she states, reassuring the both of them that she shines like the brightest city in the world, and there’s no way he’s going to let that go...right? The track is elevated to another level by the saxophone in the chorus, and the way she almost trips over her words, somewhat offbeat with the track in the pre-chorus when she says, “They all warned us about times like this / they say the road gets hard and you get lost when you’re led by blind faith” feels like she’s guiding the listener through the uncertainty and desperation behind blind faith too.

14. YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN

Lover’s second single, “You Need to Calm Down,” is a song about dealing with people who just can’t mind their damn business, divided into three parts: the online bullying Taylor has received, the homophobia displayed outside of her concerts by Westboro Baptist protesters, and the constant comparisons between and competition projected onto different female artists. With its release during Pride month and an array of LGBTQ celebrities in the music video, casual listeners were extremely skeptical of Swift’s intentions, feeling as if she is only showing support for the LGBTQ community now because she thinks it will help advance her career. This judgment is misplaced for two reasons: 1) Swift started off in country music, and so the majority of her fanbase are from red states, so she has much more to lose than to gain, 2) clearly these people have not been paying attention; not only has Swift shown her support to the community in various ways throughout the years, but this is already her second time showing it through music, as she celebrates “you can want who you want, boys and boys and girls and girls” in 1989′s opening track, “Welcome to New York.” Again, she wants to show that she values love- all types of love- above all. Was Swift’s execution perfect? No. Were her intentions in the right place? Yes. Everyone’s been crying for Swift to be more outspoken, and she’s doing her best. And she has been continually showing avid support for The Equality Act, as she started a petition which she asks people to sign at the end of the video. And although I am straight and cisgender and thus everything I just said isn’t actually important, and what really matters is what her fans in the LGBTQ community have to say, I have seen many of them express feeling really seen by their favorite pop star because of this song, and isn’t that the most important part of it all? Taylor can definitely do more and do better, but it’s a genuine start.

15. AFTERGLOW

It’s been years of pleading...years of completely original outcries...”Write a song called ‘Maybe I’m The Problem’!’” Well, maybe she didn’t make that the title, but “Afterglow” is the closest thing we’re going to get. “Hey, it’s all me, in my head / I’m the one who burned us down, but it’s not what I meant / Sorry that I hurt you,” she apologizes, taking complete ownership for a blowout. “Fighting with a true love is boxing with no gloves,” she observes, as when you hurt someone you love so much you are also hurting yourself. Then she turns the fight on its head, making it for one another instead of with one another: “This ultraviolet morning light below tells me this love is worth the fight.” Lover is such an interesting album from Taylor Swift because we get to see the sides of her in love we haven’t before, and in “Afterglow” she shows us all sides: combative, overdramatic, reflective, apologetic, and reparative. So maybe it’s time to retire the joke, kids.

16. ME! featuring Brendon Urie

I don’t care what anyone says: spelling IS fun. And it’s truly tragic (yes, tragic) that Swift decided to remove such a bold assertion from the lead single, “ME!” right before the album’s release. When it comes to Swift, it seems like her critics are constantly waiting for her downfall, which in some way admits that they know she’s good. But what they fail to comprehend is that a songwriter can write serious, profound songs as well as songs that are just for a laugh or to make them feel good. Anytime Swift engages in the latter, it’s responded with aggressive amounts of “Taylor Swift sucks! This song is horrible!” And then when the full album comes out, they sigh, “Damn it, she doesn’t actually suck- just that one song does,” and await the next album cycle for her to prove them wrong again. It seems like Swift is the only one of her contemporaries to receive this treatment. (I wonder why? See: “The Man.”) Was “ME!” a great single choice? Not really. Is it one of the weakest songs on the album overall? Unfortunately, yes. But within the context of the album, following songs like “False God” and “Afterglow,” she’s trying to say, “Yeah, I’ve messed up, but I clean up my messes, and what we have is special because we are both individually special.” That’s a great message! Just because something might appeal to children doesn’t inherently make it childish. And you know what? You literally cannot spell ‘awesome’ without ‘me.’ (And by the way, Brendon Urie is actually the one who wrote the bridge, but alas, no one cares. I repeat, see: “The Man.”) Either way, the overwhelming ridicule over the lyric “spelling is fun” as if the girl was truly serious rather than just trying to be silly was simply ridiculous. I wish Taylor could have just let the haters hate and instead just shake shake shake, but she succumbed to their criticism. RIP spelling is fun, I still have you on the original copy of the single I bought on iTunes and will cherish you forever.

17. IT’S NICE TO HAVE A FRIEND

The shortest track on the album and the most hauntingly beautiful, “It’s Nice To Have A Friend” features a sample from students of Regent Park School of Music in Toronto. How fitting too, as it tells a tale of childhood love. Swift starts off the first verse by gently singing, “School bell rings, walk me home / sidewalk chalk covered in snow,” and then begins the final verse with, “Church bells ring, carry me home / rice on the ground, looks like snow.” The parallel between these verses highlights that at the end of the day, eternal love is really all about forever friendship, in all its forms.

18. DAYLIGHT

“Real love shines golden like starlight, and doesn’t fade or spontaneously combust. Maybe I’ll write a whole album about that kind of love if I ever find it,” Swift wrote in the prologue of the Red (2012) lyric booklet. Well, she did find it, as is evident throughout the entire album. But it’s stronger than starlight: “I once believed love would be burning red, but it’s golden like daylight,” she sings on the final track of this album. In a perfect closing, Swift describes this love as the light at the end of a “twenty-year dark night.” Now that she has this love, she doesn’t want to look at anything else; she just wants to soak it all in. “Daylight” is hope; it is the message that things always get lighter eventually as long as you let love in. That love can be from anywhere: a parent, a friend, a lover, a song, an album, an inspiration. But you have to let go of the darkness, even when it's all you’ve known for so long, in order to embrace the new. Taylor did that, and we can all follow the daylight she now emits as our guide.

“I want to be defined by the things that I love,” she declares in a spoken ending. And I believe that this celebration of love through Lover will not only define her professional career, but also her personal legacy.

DISCLAIMER - REVIEWER’S BIAS: Taylor Swift is THE songwriter of our generation. This isn’t bias this is just a fact. Why Are You Booing Me I’m Right dot jpeg.

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citylightsbooks · 4 years

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Exclusive Interview with Sheree Renée Thomas, Author of Nine Bar Blues

One of our booksellers, Caitlyn Wild, had the amazing opportunity to conduct this longform interview with author Sheree Renée Thomas. Her newest book is Nine Bar Blues: Stories from an Ancient Future, published by Third Man Books. Sheree is celebrating her book along with her Third Man “label mates” Alison Mosshart and Robert Gordon (who also have new books out) in our City Lights LIVE events series on Wednesday, October 21.

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Caitlyn: This book is gorgeous on the inside AND the outside. This is one of my favorite covers of 2020, have to say. As I'm gazing wistfully at it here I see the subtitle, "Stories from an Ancient Future". Could you speak about what that phrase holds and conjures for you? Sheree Renée Thomas: Thank you! I wanted the cover for Nine Bar Blues to offer a visual clue to some of the characters, natural (and unnatural) landscapes, and themes in the stories. Third Man Books did a wonderful job of creating that sense of wonder and the verdant richness (cicadas, Egyptian gods, the moon, aliens, vines!) I was hoping for.

The subtitle, “Stories from an Ancient Future” is my riff on the idea that if humanity continues onward, we’ll someday reach a point where even our imagined futures are ancient. Some of the stories in the collection are set in the near future, alternate futures, the present, and the past. What would life be like if you existed in an ancient future? If time is relative, there is always a place where we can look back at ourselves (or our imagined selves) and see the grand sweep of time. What things remains the same, what falls away, is erased and remade again? The ancient future contains some of the wisdom of our past and some of our hopes for the future. It also contains our mistakes and fears. Will we be better off then, in this imagined future? Perhaps, at least I hope so. But that depends on what we carry with us and how well we learn from the lessons of the past. For me, it’s a blending of Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles and the West African philosophy of Sankofa.

The story that really stayed with me in this collection was "Head Static". It put me in an altered state! I felt like I was watching the earth as it was being created, the deep gods and archetypes of our psyches emerging from the hum of the universe before my eyes, but in reverse. In short, I loved it! Could you tell us about the inception of the character in that story, Claire, and explain how she came to be in your mind and then on the page? That makes me so happy because Claire was one of those characters whose journey really haunted me. When I began writing her, I knew who she was but not why she was, or rather, how she had come to feel the way she did. Music became a way of thinking about the things that people share in common, around the world, throughout time. It is one of our greatest forms of expression. And music contains our deepest thoughts and observations on the world. But our culture is so obsessed with the cult of celebrity, in search of the next great thing. We worship youth and novelty, often at youth’s expense. There’s this constant drive for innovation and acceleration, while holding onto the dream of an endless life span. At what cost? To what end? Writing “Head Static” was a way for me to think about some of these ideas while exploring that deep musical connection. On October 21 we are excited to host you and two of your fellow Third Man Books authors, Alison Mosshart and Robert Gordon. Third Man also publishes another of my favorites, Janaka Stucky. As a reader I'm consistently enraptured with the authors and books they publish. I'm curious as to what the Third Man experience is like from the author's side? It’s been pretty exciting! First of all, if you ever get a chance to visit Third Man Records, go immediately because the space is just amazing. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s like a cross between Tim Burton and Ed Wood with a little Willy Wonka mixed in there? Fantastic design throughout and um, Jack White. Yeah, Jack White! Working with Chet Weise and the Third Man Books/Records team has been as close as my non-musical self has ever been to being in a rock band! There is a lot of good energy, great ideas, and collaboration, and the team is insanely supportive and creative. Between the kickass writers—poets, fiction writers, creative nonfiction—there’s a great deal of talent to just vibe with and connect. My fellow press mates are always working on new wonders, the kind of work that impacts the world—and that’s inspiring.

You are the first Black author to receive a World Fantasy Award for the groundbreaking collection you edited, Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora, which was published in 2000. (HELL YES). In another interview, you said you were inspired to put the book together because you were shocked it didn't exist yet. In 2020, is there a book you are shocked that has yet to be published? What books that have come along since 2001 are you glad about? There is at least one marvelous book that I do hope to see in the world before I roll out, and there are a couple of others that seem like their time has come, industry-wise, so we shall see. Back in ’98 when I was thinking on what would eventually become the first volume of Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora, I didn’t set out to create a groundbreaking project. I literally was just looking for more Black speculative fiction to read for fun, and when I didn’t find it in the bookstores, its absence puzzled me. With as many different anthologies that make up the genre, I was surprised that it hadn’t been done before. I’m really grateful I had the chance (and the courage) to do it. It’s been quite a journey! Since that first volume and the second one, Dark Matter: Reading the Bones, that came out in 2004, there have been many, many wonderful amazing books that pretty much put away the old arguments about Black writers not reading or writing this work. One book that I reviewed around the time I was working on the anthology was Nalo Hopkinson’s Brown Girl in the Ring. That novel felt like a game changer to me, because Nalo’s writing got us all so excited about the cultures and worlds we had not seen often in science fiction. She achieved this in a magical way that, while offering all the things we love about speculative fiction, rang true with a rootedness in Afrodiasporic culture. It didn’t feel like she was translating to us. Her writing, storytelling, and world building felt natural and true to itself. Today you could have a whole library of Black speculative fiction (and the scholarship that examines it), and that is beyond thrilling for me.

Between the diverse works of N.K. Jemisin, Andrea Hairston, Tananarive Due, P. Djèlí Clark—they cover a lot of imaginative ground--and a ton of exciting YA authors I cannot even begin to name, readers have a lot of new work and new voices to explore. It’s just an exciting time.

Finally, if you owned a bookstore or small press, what would it be called and what would your bestseller or focus be? I’ve been jotting down bookstore names for years! Here are a few: Beloved Books (this was invented during my Toni Morrison phase), focusing on the books people can’t stop discussing and all of our childhood favorites, too. Echo Tree Books (named after one of my favorite short story writers and poets, Henry Dumas, featuring all fantasy, science fiction, horror, and such).

Haint Blue Books (so I can paint every single wall the most stunning shades of blue, focusing on excellent fiction and world folklore with tons of poetry because sometimes, sadly, people be sleeping on the poetry, lol. Don’t sleep on the poets!). And my favorite, All Y’all Books (Southern lit and more! Plus a healthy selection of regional lit from other parts).

I love the last one the best because I can just hear folks saying, “You know you can get it at All Y’all Books!” or asking, “Where did you get that?” “Girl, at All Y’all’s Books. They have out of print and rare books, too!” Authors can say, “I’m going to be reading at All Y’all’s Books.” You can’t help but smile when you say that!

#sharee renee thomas #nine bar blues #5 questions #third man books #speculative fiction #Black authors

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demiromantic-official · 4 years

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Carnival of Aros July 2020

I haven’t participated in one of these before, but since music is quite important to me, I decided that this one I would write about.

My View as a Consumer

Now I feel that I’m bit different than most arospecs, especially in my relationship to music. I don’t have a problem with songs about love, though I do dislike most of those sappy, cliché ones like those played on the pop stations. However as a musician, lyrics are not the only things I think of when deciding whether I like a song, which also may make my view a bit different than others.

Mostly I listen to new wave / post punk from the ‘80s, and those songs reflected the depressing and tumultuous emotions of the era. They explored themes like depression, hopelessness, fascism, the Cold War, threat of nuclear destruction, longing, disconnect, stardom, politics, WWII, addiction, war, humans relationship with technology, religious guilt, commercialism, and many others that are clearly not love but which also doesn’t have a clear meaning to me. Or maybe they weren’t meant to have a meaning, like the songwriters of New Order claim about their songs.

When it does come to the love songs, I don’t feel the revulsion or disconnect that many arospecs seem to feel. I do dislike many of the vapid meaningless ones that are found on the pop stations (like Ed Sheeran etc), but most of the ones I listen to, I’m not sure if I would call them love songs. Maybe I’m being naïve, but even though I know the songwriter was thinking about someone they loved when writing it, the lyrics that have a deeper meaning than “i saw this hot girl and i wish we would date”, and are therefore interesting to me. Rather the feelings are described in such a way that it could be about a close friend, or someone that means a lot, without even stretching. They seem more about the human experience and interconnectedness, rather than purely romance. Even though I don’t experience romantic attraction, I like songs that delve deep into the human experience, about longing and fear and death and brokenness and other profound emotions. There’s a reason that era of music was sometimes described as “the new romantic”. Take “Lovesong” by the Cure for example.

Whenever I’m alone with you

You make me feel like I am home again

Whenever I’m alone with you

You make me feel like I am whole again

Now it’s no secret that Robert Smith wrote it about his wife whom he had been with for years, but I also think it describes something about the human experience that most people can relate to: being a broken and hurt person, but having people in your life that make you feel safe, make you not think so much about your brokenness. And that’s part of my aromantic experience, I think. That I don’t listen to songs with a “love filter”, but rather I think about what the song says about the human experience, about the deeper emotions that most people are afraid to talk about. It’s the same with his song “Disintegration”. Even though the song alludes to being about losing a partner, it’s much more than that. It’s (according to interviews, but also my own interpretation) about depression and drug addiction and having such a bleak view on life that you don’t see the possibility of being whole again. The poetry in it is stunning. I’ve never heard a song that better describes what it feels like to go through a trauma and to be in so much pain that you don’t know you can survive much longer, or that in his words:

through the eye of a needle,

it’s easier for me to get closer to heaven than ever be whole again.

I guess what I’ve been trying to describe is that as an arospec person, I don’t seek out traditional love songs, but I like the kinds that mention love, that maybe have love as a theme, but which aren’t entirely about it, those which have much deeper themes that describe other aspects of the human experience that maybe most people are afraid to touch on. I’ve related a lot of such songs, or songs about a failing relationship / losing a lover that do not explicitly mention it being about a partner, to being about other situations in my own life, such as losing a friend. Or platonic love, in general.

I don’t think there are any songs I’ve related to being aromantic in particular; I’ve had an easier time relating songs to asexuality (like some Smiths songs, such as Pretty Girls Make Graves, can relate to asexuality since Morrissey viewed himself as such). Nevertheless, I still feel that music has been able to describe my range of experiences, and I’ve never felt excluded or underrepresented.

If one wanted to be coy, though, I could name the song “Shot by Both Sides” by Magazine as one to which I could add an aromantic meaning. It’s meant to be about having a political view that leaves one “shot by both sides”, which one can say a lot about even today, when the loudest voices are extremists and having a nuanced opinion leaves many people hated by both majorities, but I won’t go into that on this blog. However sometimes it sadly feel like the aro experience...Straight people don’t accept us because we aren’t straight enough, because we’re cold people who don’t know love (in their eyes). And LGBT+ people don’t like us because we can “pass” as straight. I know not all people feel this and outside of the occasional hateful ask and mutual making a “aro and aces don’t belong in the community post” “haha all these asks trying to convince me otherwise are funny you’re not gonna convince me”, I’ve not experienced anything like this firsthand. But the sentiment is there.

My View as a Songwriter

When I write songs, I try to keep this same energy of the earlier songs I mentioned. That is, if the song is about a person or being hurt by a person, I try to make it in such a way that multiple interpretations are valid. It could be about a friend, or it could be someone else. I focus on the feelings, or even on topics that are not about interhuman connections.

I don’t necessarily think that songwriters should be expected to be inclusive of the community, like the promptings asked. Unlike movies/shows, songs can be highly personal and typically express some emotion, experience, social commentary, or opinion that the person has, and I feel there’s an extent to which you can tell someone how to make their art (not giving spotlight to people who sing about rape/pedophilia/racism in a way that’s not satire and not social commentary or a demand for change is one exception I stand by 100%). With movies and books it’s different, because then you’re telling a story and fantasy or not, stories should contain myriads of experiences because they are almost always a reflection of the outer world in at least a small way.

I think it’s a lot easier to be inclusive of the trans or gay community, by changing lines slightly to be vague about the genders of the people involved, which is something Pete Shelley from the Buzzcocks did to make his music accessible for people no matter their gender or what gender they liked. And it can be done without changing the meaning.

That being said, as an artist I can recommend the following actions:

Reach out to your favorite artists! I know a lot might not answer especially if they are well-known, and fan mail doesn’t seem to be a thing anymore, but it’s a good try. Bringing up the Smiths again, I remember an interview talking about Hand in Glove (one of their many songs that have a reference to homosexuality), in which songwriters Morrissey and Johnny basically talked about being inclusive with the song. Even when they were playing cover songs, they didn’t have a problem playing a song but a girl pop group about wanting a boy. Based on his bio, I know Johnny is likely not LGBT, but is a wonderful ally. I say this to point out that if you show how important being included is, the artist may just do something similar.

Maybe try different out artists/genres? This doesn’t solve the problem of being included, but I see a lot of arospecs claim most music is about romantic love...and as someone who sees themselves as well-versed in music...it’s really not? Maybe it’s because almost all my music is alternative and because I used to listen to a lot of punk which often is social commentary and calls for change, but in my experience of listening I’ve heard a wide range of experiences and parts of humanity expressed, evening disregarding the songs that are ambiguous about whether they are about romantic love or other love. Even popular artists like Radiohead and Nirvana have many songs with different topics than love. Sure, the topic of love may be represented than any single other topic alone, but combined the other number of songs on other topics are great too.

Support aromantic artists (or artists who sing about topics you relate to). Artists need support to keep making music, so support the ones who include you. And who knows, maybe more aromantic artists will start singing about their experiences as support grows.

#carnival of aros

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blackkudos · 4 years

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Taj Mahal

Henry Saint Clair Fredericks (born May 17, 1942), who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American blues musician, a singer-songwriter and film composer who plays the guitar, piano, banjo, harmonica, and many other instruments. He often incorporates elements of world music into his works and has done much to reshape the definition and scope of blues music over the course of his more than 50-year career by fusing it with nontraditional forms, including sounds from the Caribbean, Africa, and the South Pacific.

Early life

Born Henry Saint Clair Fredericks, Jr. on May 17, 1942, in Harlem, New York, Mahal grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts. He was raised in a musical environment; his mother was a member of a local gospel choir and his father was an Afro-Caribbean jazz arranger and piano player. His family owned a shortwave radio which received music broadcasts from around the world, exposing him at an early age to world music. Early in childhood he recognized the stark differences between the popular music of his day and the music that was played in his home. He also became interested in jazz, enjoying the works of musicians such as Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk and Milt Jackson. His parents came of age during the Harlem Renaissance, instilling in their son a sense of pride in his Caribbean and African ancestry through their stories.

Because his father was a musician, his house was frequently the host of other musicians from the Caribbean, Africa, and the U.S. His father, Henry Saint Clair Fredericks Sr., was called "The Genius" by Ella Fitzgerald before starting his family. Early on, Henry Jr. developed an interest in African music, which he studied assiduously as a young man. His parents also encouraged him to pursue music, starting him out with classical piano lessons. He also studied the clarinet, trombone and harmonica. When Mahal was eleven his father was killed in an accident at his own construction company, crushed by a tractor when it flipped over. This was an extremely traumatic experience for the boy.

Mahal's mother later remarried. His stepfather owned a guitar which Taj began using at age 13 or 14, receiving his first lessons from a new neighbor from North Carolina of his own age who played acoustic blues guitar. His name was Lynwood Perry, the nephew of the famous bluesman Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup. In high school Mahal sang in a doo-wop group.

For some time Mahal thought of pursuing farming over music. He had developed a passion for farming that nearly rivaled his love of music—coming to work on a farm first at age 16. It was a dairy farm in Palmer, Massachusetts, not far from Springfield. By age nineteen he had become farm foreman, getting up a bit after 4:00 a.m. and running the place. "I milked anywhere between thirty-five and seventy cows a day. I clipped udders. I grew corn. I grew Tennessee redtop clover. Alfalfa." Mahal believes in growing one's own food, saying, "You have a whole generation of kids who think everything comes out of a box and a can, and they don't know you can grow most of your food." Because of his personal support of the family farm, Mahal regularly performs at Farm Aid concerts.

Taj Mahal, his stage name, came to him in dreams about Gandhi, India, and social tolerance. He started using it in 1959 or 1961—around the same time he began attending the University of Massachusetts. Despite having attended a vocational agriculture school, becoming a member of the National FFA Organization, and majoring in animal husbandry and minoring in veterinary science and agronomy, Mahal decided to take the route of music instead of farming. In college he led a rhythm and blues band called Taj Mahal & The Elektras and, before heading for the U.S. West Coast, he was also part of a duo with Jessie Lee Kincaid.

Career

In 1964 he moved to Santa Monica, California, and formed Rising Sons with fellow blues rock musician Ry Cooder and Jessie Lee Kincaid, landing a record deal with Columbia Records soon after. The group was one of the first interracial bands of the period, which likely made them commercially unviable. An album was never released (though a single was) and the band soon broke up, though Legacy Records did release The Rising Sons Featuring Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder in 1992 with material from that period. During this time Mahal was working with others, musicians like Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Guy, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Muddy Waters. Mahal stayed with Columbia after the Rising Sons to begin his solo career, releasing the self-titled Taj Mahal and The Natch'l Blues in 1968, and Giant Step/De Old Folks at Home with Kiowa session musician Jesse Ed Davis from Oklahoma, who played guitar and piano in 1969. During this time he and Cooder worked with the Rolling Stones, with whom he has performed at various times throughout his career. In 1968, he performed in the film The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. He recorded a total of twelve albums for Columbia from the late 1960s into the 1970s. His work of the 1970s was especially important, in that his releases began incorporating West Indian and Caribbean music, jazz and reggae into the mix. In 1972, he acted in and wrote the film score for the movie Sounder, which starred Cicely Tyson. He reprised his role and returned as composer in the sequel, Part 2, Sounder.

In 1976 Mahal left Columbia and signed with Warner Bros. Records, recording three albums for them. One of these was another film score for 1977's Brothers; the album shares the same name. After his time with Warner Bros., he struggled to find another record contract, this being the era of heavy metal and disco music.

Stalled in his career, he decided to move to Kauai, Hawaii in 1981 and soon formed the Hula Blues Band. Originally just a group of guys getting together for fishing and a good time, the band soon began performing regularly and touring. He remained somewhat concealed from most eyes while working out of Hawaii throughout most of the 1980s before recording Taj in 1988 for Gramavision. This started a comeback of sorts for him, recording both for Gramavision and Hannibal Records during this time.

In the 1990s Mahal became deeply involved in supporting the nonprofit Music Maker Relief Foundation. As of 2019, he was still on the Foundation's advisory board.

In the 1990s he was on the Private Music label, releasing albums full of blues, pop, R&B and rock. He did collaborative works both with Eric Clapton and Etta James.

In 1998, in collaboration with renowned songwriter David Forman, producer Rick Chertoff and musicians Cyndi Lauper, Willie Nile, Joan Osborne, Rob Hyman, Garth Hudson and Levon Helm of the Band, and the Chieftains, he performed on the Americana album Largo based on the music of Antonín Dvořák.

In 1997 he won Best Contemporary Blues Album for Señor Blues at the Grammy Awards, followed by another Grammy for Shoutin' in Key in 2000. He performed the theme song to the children's television show Peep and the Big Wide World, which began broadcast in 2004.

In 2002, Mahal appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation album Red Hot and Riot in tribute to Nigerian afrobeat musician Fela Kuti. The Paul Heck produced album was widely acclaimed, and all proceeds from the record were donated to AIDS charities.

Taj Mahal contributed to Olmecha Supreme's 2006 album 'hedfoneresonance'. The Wellington-based group led by Mahal's son Imon Starr (Ahmen Mahal) also featured Deva Mahal on vocals.

Mahal partnered up with Keb' Mo' to release a joint album TajMo on May 5, 2017. The album has some guest appearances by Bonnie Raitt, Joe Walsh, Sheila E., and Lizz Wright, and has six original compositions and five covers, from artists and bands like John Mayer and The Who.

In 2013, Mahal appeared in the documentary film 'The Byrd Who Flew Alone', produced by Four Suns Productions. The film was about Gene Clark, one of the original Byrds, who was a friend of Mahal for many years.

In June 2017, Mahal appeared in the award-winning documentary film The American Epic Sessions, directed by Bernard MacMahon, recording Charley Patton's "High Water Everywhere" on the first electrical sound recording system from the 1920s. Mahal appeared throughout the accompanying documentary series American Epic, commenting on the 1920s rural recording artists who had a profound influence on American music and on him personally.

Musical style

Mahal leads with his thumb and middle finger when fingerpicking, rather than with his index finger as the majority of guitar players do. "I play with a flatpick," he says, "when I do a lot of blues leads." Early in his musical career Mahal studied the various styles of his favorite blues singers, including musicians like Jimmy Reed, Son House, Sleepy John Estes, Big Mama Thornton, Howlin' Wolf, Mississippi John Hurt, and Sonny Terry. He describes his hanging out at clubs like Club 47 in Massachusetts and Ash Grove in Los Angeles as "basic building blocks in the development of his music." Considered to be a scholar of blues music, his studies of ethnomusicology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst would come to introduce him further to the folk music of the Caribbean and West Africa. Over time he incorporated more and more African roots music into his musical palette, embracing elements of reggae, calypso, jazz, zydeco, R&B, gospel music, and the country blues—each of which having "served as the foundation of his unique sound." According to The Rough Guide to Rock, "It has been said that Taj Mahal was one of the first major artists, if not the very first one, to pursue the possibilities of world music. Even the blues he was playing in the early 70s – Recycling The Blues & Other Related Stuff (1972), Mo' Roots (1974) – showed an aptitude for spicing the mix with flavours that always kept him a yard or so distant from being an out-and-out blues performer." Concerning his voice, author David Evans writes that Mahal has "an extraordinary voice that ranges from gruff and gritty to smooth and sultry."

Taj Mahal believes that his 1999 album Kulanjan, which features him playing with the kora master of Mali's Griot tradition Toumani Diabate, "embodies his musical and cultural spirit arriving full circle." To him it was an experience that allowed him to reconnect with his African heritage, striking him with a sense of coming home. He even changed his name to Dadi Kouyate, the first jali name, to drive this point home. Speaking of the experience and demonstrating the breadth of his eclecticism, he has said:

The microphones are listening in on a conversation between a 350-year-old orphan and its long-lost birth parents. I've got so much other music to play. But the point is that after recording with these Africans, basically if I don't play guitar for the rest of my life, that's fine with me....With Kulanjan, I think that Afro-Americans have the opportunity to not only see the instruments and the musicians, but they also see more about their culture and recognize the faces, the walks, the hands, the voices, and the sounds that are not the blues. Afro-American audiences had their eyes really opened for the first time. This was exciting for them to make this connection and pay a little more attention to this music than before.

Taj Mahal has said he prefers to do outdoor performances, saying: "The music was designed for people to move, and it's a bit difficult after a while to have people sitting like they're watching television. That's why I like to play outdoor festivals-because people will just dance. Theatre audiences need to ask themselves: 'What the hell is going on? We're asking these musicians to come and perform and then we sit there and draw all the energy out of the air.' That's why after a while I need a rest. It's too much of a drain. Often I don't allow that. I just play to the goddess of music-and I know she's dancing."

Mahal has been quoted as saying, "Eighty-one percent of the kids listening to rap were not black kids. Once there was a tremendous amount of money involved in it ... they totally moved it over to a material side. It just went off to a terrible direction. ...You can listen to my music from front to back, and you don't ever hear me moaning and crying about how bad you done treated me. I think that style of blues and that type of tone was something that happened as a result of many white people feeling very, very guilty about what went down."

Awards

Taj Mahal has received three Grammy Awards (ten nominations) over his career.

1997 (Grammy Award) Best Contemporary Blues Album for Señor Blues

2000 (Grammy Award) Best Contemporary Blues Album for Shoutin' in Key

2006 (Blues Music Awards) Historical Album of the Year for The Essential Taj Mahal

2008 (Grammy Nomination) Best Contemporary Blues Album for Maestro

2018 (Grammy Award) Best Contemporary Blues Album for TajMo

On February 8, 2006 Taj Mahal was designated the official Blues Artist of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

In March 2006, Taj Mahal, along with his sister, the late Carole Fredericks, received the Foreign Language Advocacy Award from the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in recognition of their commitment to shine a spotlight on the vast potential of music to foster genuine intercultural communication.

On May 22, 2011, Taj Mahal received an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. He also made brief remarks and performed three songs. A video of the performance can be found online.

In 2014, Taj Mahal received the Americana Music Association's Lifetime Achievement award.

Discography

Albums

1968 – Taj Mahal

1968 – The Natch'l Blues

1969 – Giant Step/De Ole Folks at Home

1971 – Happy Just to Be Like I Am

1972 – Recycling The Blues & Other Related Stuff

1972 – Sounder (original soundtrack)

1973 – Oooh So Good 'n Blues

1974 – Mo' Roots

1975 – Music Keeps Me Together

1976 – Satisfied 'n Tickled Too

1976 – Music Fuh Ya'

1977 – Brothers

1977 – Evolution

1987 – Taj

1988 – Shake Sugaree

1991 – Mule Bone

1991 – Like Never Before

1993 – Dancing the Blues

1995 – Mumtaz Mahal (with V.M. Bhatt and N. Ravikiran)

1996 – Phantom Blues

1997 – Señor Blues

1998 – Sacred Island AKA Hula Blues (with The Hula Blues Band)

1999 – Blue Light Boogie

1999 – Kulanjan (with Toumani Diabaté)

2001 – Hanapepe Dream (with The Hula Blues Band)

2005 – Mkutano Meets the Culture Musical Club of Zanzibar

2008 – Maestro

2014 – Talkin' Christmas (with Blind Boys of Alabama)

2016 – Labor of Love

2017 – TajMo (with Keb' Mo')

Live albums

1971 – The Real Thing

1972 – Recycling The Blues & Other Related Stuff

1972 – Big Sur Festival - One Hand Clapping

1979 – Live & Direct

1990 – Live at Ronnie Scott's

1996 – An Evening of Acoustic Music

2000 – Shoutin' in Key

2004 – Live Catch

2015 – Taj Mahal & The Hula Blues Band: Live From Kauai

Compilation albums

1980 – Going Home

1981 – The Best of Taj Mahal, Volume 1 (Columbia)

1992 – Taj's Blues

1993 – World Music

1998 – In Progress & In Motion: 1965-1998

1999 – Blue Light Boogie

2000 – The Best of Taj Mahal

2000 – The Best of the Private Years

2001 – Sing a Happy Song: The Warner Bros. Recordings

2003 – Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues – Taj Mahal

2003 – Blues with a Feeling: The Very Best of Taj Mahal

2005 – The Essential Taj Mahal

2012 – Hidden Treasures of Taj Mahal

Various artists featuring Taj Mahal

1968 – The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus

1968 – The Rock Machine Turns You On

1970 – Fill Your Head With Rock

1985 – Conjure: Music for the Texts of Ishmael Reed

1990 – The Hot Spot – original soundtrack

1991 – Vol Pour Sidney – one title only, other tracks by Charlie Watts, Elvin Jones, Pepsi, The Lonely Bears, Lee Konitz and others.

1992 – Rising Sons Featuring Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder

1992 – Smilin' Island of Song by Cedella Marley Booker and Taj Mahal.

1993 – The Source by Ali Farka Touré (World Circuit WCD030; Hannibal 1375)

1993 – Peace Is the World Smiling

1997 – Follow the Drinking Gourd

1997 – Shakin' a Tailfeather

1998 – Scrapple – original soundtrack

1998 – Largo

1999 – Hippity Hop

2001 – "Strut" – with Jimmy Smith on his album Dot Com Blues

2002 – Jools Holland's Big Band Rhythm & Blues (Rhino) – contributing his version of "Outskirts of Town"

2002 – Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Volume III – Lead vocals on Fishin' Blues, and lead in and first verse of the title track, with Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Alison Krauss, Doc Watson

2004 – Musicmakers with Taj Mahal (Music Maker 49)

2004 – Etta Baker with Taj Mahal (Music Maker 50)

2007 – Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino (Vanguard) – contributing his version of "My Girl Josephine"

2007 – Le Cœur d'un homme by Johnny Hallyday – duet on "T'Aimer si mal", written by French best-selling novelist Marc Levy

2009 – American Horizon – with Los Cenzontles, David Hidalgo

2011 – Play The Blues Live From Lincoln Jazz Center – with Wynton Marsalis and Eric Clapton, playing on "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" and "Corrine, Corrina"

2013 – "Poye 2" – with Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba on their album Jama Ko

2013 – "Winding Down" – with Sammy Hagar, Dave Zirbel, John Cuniberti, Mona Gnader, Vic Johnson on the album Sammy Hagar & Friends

2013 – Divided & United: The Songs of the Civil War – with a version of "Down by the Riverside"

2015 – "How Can a Poor Boy?" – with Van Morrison on his album Re-working the Catalogue

2017 – Music from The American Epic Sessions: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – contributing his version of "High Water Everywhere"

Filmography

Live DVDs

2002 – Live at Ronnie Scott's 1988

2006 – Taj Mahal/Phantom Blues Band Live at St. Lucia

2011 – Play The Blues Live From Lincoln Jazz Center – with Wynton Marsalis and Eric Clapton, playing on "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" and "Corrine, Corrina"

Movies

1972 – Sounder – as Ike

1977 – Brothers

1991 – Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey

1996 – The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus

1998 – Outside Ozona

1998 – Six Days, Seven Nights

1998 – Blues Brothers 2000

1998 – Scrapple

2000 – Songcatcher

2002 – Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

2017 – American Epic

2017 – The American Epic Sessions

TV Shows

1977 - Saturday Night Live: Episode 048 Performer: Musical Guest

1985 - Theme song from Star Wars: Ewoks

1992 – New WKRP in Cincinnati – Moss Dies as himself

1999 – Party of Five – Fillmore Street as himself

2003 – Arthur – Big Horns George as himself

2004 – Theme song from Peep and the Big Wide World

#05/17

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svexchange2k19 · 4 years

Text

Treat List!

What’s a treat list? It’s an anonymous list of exchange participants’ requests that I’m posting here so that anyone (regardless of if you’ve signed up to do the exchange or not) can create gifts matching these prompts if they want to :))

This part of the exchange is strictly optional (no obligation from anyone to do this) and it’s also not an exchange (i.e. if you make a treat, you don’t get something back ... other than the knowledge that you’ve made someone very happy :)).

Treats can be basically anything you want! E.g. a quick doodle, a few lines of a drabble, or anything more complex/long if you choose :)

How to submit a treat:

Please email [email protected] with ‘Treat for Prompt [x]’ in the subject line, e.g. ‘Treat for Prompt 1’

If you want to post your treat publicly on your Tumblr/AO3 account, please only do so after the exchange’s gift reveal date (25 January 2020). Close to this date I will let you know who the treat recipient was and you can then tag/link/mention them in your post, send it to them if you want, etc.

The Treat List

/// PROMPT 1 ///

First choice of ship: Ed Chambers/Richard

Second choice of ship: Big Head/Jian-Yang

Additional ships: Jared/Richard / Gilfoyle/Monica

Do you have rating preferences out of the following: general (no age restriction); teen and up; mature; explicit? Teen and Up. Mature and Explicit Welcome.

Content preferences: Evil!Richard or Possesive/Jealous!Ed Chambers. Angst with happy outcomes.

Prompts/suggestions:

Ed Chambers secretly hiring himself as an employee. Richard hates him and always hears Jared talking about him.

Pied Piper actually succeeds AU. Jared dealing with super powerful Richard who needs to be brought down a peg.

Big Head secretly knowing what’s up and handling Jian-Yang, playing him like a fiddle.

Content weaknesses: I will reject nothing. Everything involving SV is good.

Content limits: No limits. The dirtier the better.

Anything else you want to share with your gift creator? If you've ever stopped yourself from writing something because you thought the fandom would judge you. Give me that.

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/// PROMPT 2 ///

First choice of ship: Jared/Richard

Second choice of ship: Gilfoyle/Monica

Additional ships: Dinesh/Gilfoyle

Do you have rating preferences out of the following: general (no age restriction); teen and up; mature; explicit? If so, please list in order of preference. Mature, Explicit, Teen, Everyone

Content preferences: Fluff, angst with a happy ending, porn with plot/porn with feelings

Prompts/suggestions:

Pied Piper Christmas Party

Finale fix it fic

Sick fic

Meet the Parents

Pretty much any AU other than high school

Content weaknesses: Preferably not Erlich x Richard, Richard x Gavin, Richard x Bighead, or Jared x Gilfoyle

Content limits: Non-con, domestic violence, gay bashing

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/// PROMPT 3 ///

First choice of ship: Jared/Richard

Second choice of ship: Gilfoyle/Monica

Do you have rating preferences out of the following: general (no age restriction); teen and up; mature; explicit? No preference

Content preferences: Content: fluff or h/c, comedy, but most importantly, romance.

Prompts/suggestions: Boy howdy do I love tropes. I love hijinks, farce comedy, fake relationship stuff, and bad, fumbly sex where they get to giggle and be nervous without inhibitions. But also, if you have a hankering for something specific, throw it at me! no story is going to be better than one You genuinely want to write.

Content weaknesses: gilfoyle/dinesh, anything with Erlich

Content limits: rape/ non con, underage (Like if they're 17 or something that's fine but they gotta be the same age ish)

Anything else you want to share with your gift creator? Uh... I love you

-----------------------

/// PROMPT 4 ///

First choice of ship: Jared/Richard

Do you have rating preferences out of the following: general (no age restriction); teen and up; mature; explicit? As much as I love explicit art and fic, I would prefer not to receive any in this exchange. Teen/mature/whatever is all good for me

Content preferences: I enjoy humor, fluff, and drama. Please no angst

Prompts/suggestions:

Historical AU

Fantasy AU

arranged marriage/marriage of convenience

established relationship

Content weaknesses: none

Content limits: No explicit violence or gore please. hurt/comfort is ok as long as the focus is on comfort. Oh, and no major character death!

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/// PROMPT 5 ///

First choice of ship: Jared/Richard

Second choice of ship: Ed Chambers/Richard

Additional ships: Gilfoyle/Monica

Do you have rating preferences out of the following: general (no age restriction); teen and up; mature; explicit? 1) Explicit 2) Mature

Content preferences: in no order - angst with a happy ending; comedy; pining/mutual pining; romance; gratuitous smut; tenderness

Prompts/suggestions: in no order - bed sharing; soulmate AUs; Alone on the Water AU; high school AU with misfits finding each other and pining SO MUCH PINING; Richard sees Jared in a tux for the first time; inappropriately timed proposal; Richard bids on Jared at a date auction for charity; Jared works as a stripper, Richard becomes a regular; Pied Piper Christmas party complete with mistletoe and drunken shenanigans; any version of Richard and Jared confessing their love for each other

Content weaknesses: Dinesh/Gilfoyle, Big Head/Jian Yang, Dinesh/Gilfoyle/Monica.

Content limits: non-con (references to past abuse, like mentions in Jared's past, are ok, just nothing onscreen)

Anything else you want to share with your gift creator? Thank you for making a gift for me!

-----------------------

/// PROMPT 6 ///

First choice of ship: Jared/Richard

Second choice of ship: Ed Chambers/Richard

Additional ships: Dinesh/Gilfoyle/Monica

Do you have rating preferences out of the following: general (no age restriction); teen and up; mature; explicit? No preference.

Content preferences: hurt/comfort, pining, angst with a happy ending, porn with feelings, domestic life, AUs, established relationship, humor

Prompts/suggestions:

Richard comforting Jared;

pirate AU;

I just really like established relationship… when the characters know each other really well, when they have their own shared stories, jokes etc;

For the Ed Chambers ship – maybe something using that whole “Richard trying to be alpha” storyline from 6x04

Content weaknesses: any hints of Gavin/Richard

Content limits: Omegaverse, mpreg, hardcore violence, unusual specific kinky stuff like that. And fluff. Cuteness is cute, but in ships it often makes me cringe, sorry *covering eyes with hands* Tenderness though! Tenderness is good. Good Shit™

Anything else you want to share with your gift creator? Tbh I just want you to have fun doing this! So I hope you do (have fun I mean) :)

-----------------------

/// PROMPT 7 ///

First choice of ship: Dinesh / Gilfoyle

Second choice of ship: Big Head / Jian-Yang

Additional ships: Jared / Richard

Do you have rating preferences out of the following: general (no age restriction); teen and up; mature; explicit? No.

Content preferences: Hurt/comfort, angst.

Prompts/suggestions: Season six.

Content weaknesses: None

Content limits: None

-----------------------

/// PROMPT 8 ///

First choice of ship: Dinesh/Gilfoyle/Monica

Second choice of ship: Gilfoyle/Monica

Additional ships: Big Head/Jian-Yang

Do you have rating preferences out of the following: general (no age restriction); teen and up; mature; explicit? Any is fine

Content preferences: Any as long as there’s a touch of comedy in there.

Prompts/suggestions: Depending on pairing, some ideas:

Monica wants to try something new, Gilfoyle is into compersion, and Dinesh is into … well, Gilfoyle, mainly, but hey, Monica is kind of hot. So they get together and do a little experimenting.

5 times someone found out about Gilfoyle and Monica when they were trying very hard to hide it, and once time they told everyone. Bonus points for the 5 times being a range of reactions from turned on to disgusted, with a lot of astonishment thrown in.

Jian Yang moves back from China and everyone else moves out, so it’s just him and Big Head, chillin’ out, playing some games, shooting some cans, hooking up and kind of digging each other’s radically different vibe, like, a lot.

Or whatever the author has in mind for those pairings, I’m easy!

Content weaknesses: N/A

Content limits: N/A

#sv exchange 2k19 #announcements #sv squad #silicon valley winter exchange #silicon valley #silicon valley hbo #treats

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