#vs broke so I had to use a ts :')

[gongyu]

Choi Sooyoung & Ji Chang Wook in — If You Wish Upon Me (2022)

#if you wish upon me #kdramaedit #kdramadaily #ji chang wook #choi sooyoung #useryd #userhannah #kdrama #songyi.gif #eyestrain #vs broke so I had to use a ts :')

[amigosmercedes]

Champagne Problems, is about Tom Hiddleston proposal, and It's not just about Dianna proposal ? And none Karlie.

I know this probably unpopular opinions.

Since Dianna Agron is allegedly proposed to Taylor Swift in the verge, their ending relationship back in 2012/2013.

However, if we try to be more open to the idea it could be Karlie or Tom Hiddleston, since both of them have sister/s. Both of the have some kinds of "group of friend" with Taylor Swift. Karlie, of course with her Victoria Secret's Angel's friends. While Tom Hiddleston, he and Taylor have some friends in commons.

Why I think Tom Hiddleston could be proposed, because he is by far the most stable man. I mean, emotionally, Tom is the most emotionally stable. You can compare to Calvin Harris, bisexual Harry Style, John Mayer, Jake Gyllenhaal, even the gay/bisexual Joe Alwyn.

Tom practically wearing I love TS t-shirt. He was adored Taylor. I bet Tom will be willing to everything for Taylor. Unfortunately, Taylor heart is not fully for Tom.

You can compare the body language of Tom vs Joe Alwyn when they are together with Taylor Swift. Tom looks happy strolling paparazi with Taylor. Then, compared to the annoying and talentless Joe Alwyn, he seems to get diarrhea when spotted together with Taylor. With Joe Alwyn, Taylor is the one to act like big spoon. But with Tom, he is the one to act like the big spoon.

Joe Alwyn the "longest term boyfriend" is the obnoxious person that publicly never supported Taylor Swift. Tom care to spoke highly for Taylor. Then compare to Joe, he dont even try to give any honour for Taylor. Joe maybe the longest relationship contract boyfriend, but he is the worst. Worse than Joe Jonas to be frank who broke up over the phone. Joe might be on par as worst as Calvin Harris that routinely shagging other women while under relationship contracts

Check this gossip news then review the lyrics;

Those gossip news stated that Tom want more "serious" something with their relationship. This could mean he proposed. Once the proposal rejected by yours significant others, then there is no turning back. Tom could be so swoon with Taylor, and he wanted to be some kind of official. Tom has a good relationship with his sister and mother. So Taylor's lyrics on Champagne Problems capture these dynamics. And ironically, Tom's mother name is Diana. Imagine your ex name is Dianna, then you dated someone that his mother name also Diana. Some people with take it as Dianna is the one, no matter what happened Dianna will always be lingering.

Why I am rethinking Champagne Problems is not solely about Dianna Agron proposal. Because I believe Taylor accept Dianna proposal. Back then even Taylor mad to Dianna, she is still in love with Dianna. There is Stay Stay Stay songs, then we got How You Get A Girl as well. Swiftgron was ended because of Taylor PR management and I believe mainly her parents do not agree with it, in particularly Taylor father.

On US Weekly article, it stated this;

July 14, 2016

A source told Us that Hiddleston was planning to propose to his girlfriend of two months. “She would definitely say yes,” the insider said at the time, adding that dating the Kong: Skull Island actor had “been a dream come true” for Swift.

In Champagne Problems, it gives us notions that Taylor said NO instantaneously over the proposal. Unlike what happened with Swiftgron proposal. Why not Karlie, Karlie was already with Josh Kushner She literally took classes at NYU just to impress Kushner clan. Also, when in 2019 Taylor allegedly about to come out in Pride Month, it was intended with Karlie. But Karlie refused it, because Karlie has been enjoyed having Kushner clan family blessing. Why would Karlie want to take the hard route of life to come out with Taylor if she already offered a nice, stable life with Kushner clan. Taylor is the richest singers, however, she still controlled by bunch of moguls behind her. Compare to Kushner, Kushner pratically the one that control things. So Karlie is just being Karlie, she's thinking about her easier future for her and also Kloss family.

Review the lyrics here;

champagne problems

Lyrics

You booked the night train for a reason So you could sit there in this hurt Bustling crowds or silent sleepers You're not sure which is worse

Because I dropped your hand while dancing Left you out there standing Crestfallen on the landing Champagne problems

Your mom's ring in your pocket -> Taylor had met Tom mother My picture in your wallet -> this typical guy move Your heart was glass, I dropped it Champagne problems

You told your family for a reason You couldn't keep it in Your sister splashed out on the bottle → Tom has sister Now no one's celebrating -> see US Weekly article

Dom Pérignon, you brought it No crowd of friends applauded Your hometown skeptics called it -> Tom family in a town in UK Champagne problems

You had a speech, you're speechless Love slipped beyond your reaches And I couldn't give a reason Champagne problems

Your Midas touch on the Chevy door November flush and your flannel cure "This dorm was once a madhouse" -> Taylor's Rhode Island house I made a joke, "Well, it's made for me"

How evergreen, our group of friends -> Taylor & Tom mutual friend Don't think we'll say that word again And soon they'll have the nerve to deck the halls That we once walked through

One for the money, two for the show -> practically Tom Taylor relationship I never was ready, so I watch you go -> they broke up after the proposal rejections Sometimes you just don't know the answer 'Til someone's on their knees and asks you

"She would've made such a lovely bride -> Tom family and friend like Taylor What a shame she's fucked in her head, " they said But you'll find the real thing instead -> Tom eventually engaged with another person around 2020/2021 She'll patch up your tapestry that I shred

And hold your hand while dancing -> Taylor & Tom dancing in Met Gala Never leave you standing Crestfallen on the landing With champagne problems

Your mom's ring in your pocket Her picture in your wallet You won't remember all my Champagne problems

You won't remember all my Champagne problems

This is just theory based on Taylor Swift public personal life, her songs, her video's clip of her songs. Taylor Swift is music industry, one of the biggest singers in today's generation. So, until Taylor release "tell all" books, rumors, fans theory will never be subsided.

#taylor swift #swiftgron #gaylor #dianna agron #kaylor #swifties #gaylor swift #sapphic #taylor nation #calvin harris #joe alwyn #tom hiddleston #tilly #marvel #marvel cinematic universe #avengers #mcu #marvel movies #marvel mcu

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

BESTIE I had a GREAT idea this morning…..I started thinking of all the Taylor and Beatles songs that contained the same word in the title and now I want to hear your opinion on which one of the two is better :)) I only listed what I could think of today but I’ll probably send another message eventually with even more…..but for now enjoy and can’t wait to hear your thoughts :)))

I Think He Knows vs. Think For Yourself

Lover vs. And I Love Her (I KNOW the Beatles and TS have like 600 songs with “love” in the title but Lover….Love-Her……get it. PLUS And I Love her is the ELITE “love”-in-the-title Beatles song)

Tell Me Why vs. Tell Me Why (duh)

How You Get the Girl vs. Girl (same disclaimer as for the love one)

Getaway Car vs. Drive My Car

Out of the Woods vs. Norwegian Wood

I Did Something Bad vs. Bad Boy

New Year’s Day vs. Day Tripper

Soon You’ll Get Better vs. Getting Better

Omg thank you for this Caro LOVE IT <33333333

I Think He Knows vs. Think For Yourself

It's very close, tbh, but the ITHK bridge fucking HITS!!!

Lover vs. And I Love Her

Sry AILH, you're very cute and lovely, but Lover is literally THE SONG. THE SONG!!! Also as a veteran k*ylor hate-reader I am all too familiar with the concept of "lover=love-her"

Tell Me Why vs Tell Me Why

You tell me which one I chose. The Taylor one, but mostly cause it's extremely meaningful to me personally <3

How You Get The Girl vs Girl

FINALLY, an easy win for the Bugs.

Getaway Car vs. Drive My Car

This one broke my heart, I love Drive My Car so much, but when I heard Getaway Car for the first time I went insane !!! US TRAITORS NEVER WIN!!!!!!!!!!

Out of the Woods vs. Norwegian Wood

I REFUSE TO ANSWER THIS ONE. WHAT THE FUCK.

I Did Something Bad vs. Bad Boy

the way you presented me with the single worst Beatles song. I'm insulted you even asked to be honest </3 (putting Bad Boy against Bad Blood would've been kinder and yet Bad Blood would've won that round 100000 times over as well)

New Year’s Day vs. Day Tripper

again, mostly for sentimental reasons I adoooooooore Day Tripper.

Soon You’ll Get Better vs. Getting Better

Idk man. I don't like Getting Better that much and SYGB is... TOO much but this just feels wrong :(

The way you made it so hard for the Bugs to win any of these </3

#lmao this was fun #ask #pennielane #swiftles

[glimmerglanger]

I really liked TS - I thought you treated some potentially very icky issues on power and abuse between Ben and Jango with thoughtfulness. Are you taking requests? Because if so I have some! (I also sometimes struggle with fic requests because clearly, as the author, you ended the story where you thought it was best to be ended...but we are greedy creatures...) I’m very curious about the Jedi that Jango delivered as bounty - Dooku? Does that come into play when Jango delivers an ass whooping on Qui-Gon? I would also love to see the first time they’re intimate post freedom, maybe from Ben’s perspective? And maybe a moment when Jango hears what’s happening with the new mandalorians vs death watch? I feel like he would be conflicted, but make a conscious decision to stay out of it. So! Many! Thoughts!

Thank you! I am generally into doing snippets after long fics. I like playing in the space for a while, it brings me joy. I decided to did into Ben’s POV on them getting intimate the first time. 

This takes place roughly two years after the ending (or three years before the coda). Jangobi. SPICY. Not Safe For Wizards. Mentions of past trauma, but no major warnings. It’s mostly Ben thinking, honestly.

~~~~~~~~

Ben relearned how to want things slowly.

Sometimes, on particularly bad days, he wondered if he’d ever known how to want things in the first place.

He couldn’t be sure, one way or the other, and, really, it didn’t matter in a practical way, so he left the thoughts slide away. Instead, he spent his time learning what kinds of food he wanted to eat, what kinds of teas he wanted to drink - he no longer had to rely solely on what was brought to him - and how he wanted to sleep…

He learned how to want all those things. Basic things. Things other people probably knew how to want automatically, and--

Sometimes, his head got so loud, so noisy with memories of why he didn’t. The weight had a way of pressing down on him, crowding into his throat and his chest, smothering and thick. He learned, before they ever landed on Yulion, that Jango made that go away.

Jango felt things...strongly. He had since the first time they met, when he broadcast a need for help so clear and sharp that it had cut through everything else. He’d felt like a drowning man, thrashing around desperately.

Ben had been taught how to help those drowning, in another life. Received warnings that, if you got too close to a foundering soul, they could push you down, as well, unintentionally and in a panic. Those drowning often drowned uncautious rescuers. But that wasn’t a good reason to allow someone to perish.

Jango had radiated a desperation for help, so Ben had helped him.

He still did, sometimes. But there was something...below that need for help, ever and always. Ben didn’t have words for exactly what it was that he felt from Jango, as they lived together. But it made his chest warm and achy. It chased away the tightness in his throat and the memories in his head that made him want to pull himself to pieces.

He could press close to Jango and feel, with certainty, that he was wanted. Safe. Secure. Jango used the word ‘love’ for how he felt. That felt like a good descriptor, Ben decided, eventually. It was...warming and wonderful. Ben wanted to pull it all around himself some days, some nights, after nightmares.

Jango seemed happy enough to let him. When Ben requested that he keep feeling that way - haltingly - he always went still, and Ben could feel him trying to modulate his surface emotions and it was--endearing. Ben could not find a way to tell him that the underlying base of what he felt didn’t change, anyway.

Perhaps someday he’d find a way.

He hadn’t, by the time he realized he was learning how to want other things. The realization slipped in slowly, as the two year anniversary of their arrival on the planet eased closer. He found himself watching Jango more, as he cooked or cleaned his weapons, found himself aching oddly as they spoke softly together after getting Ani to sleep, found himself breathing faster, when Jango curled around him - body and feelings - in bed.

They’d been married almost a year. He’d expected, at first, that Jango would become impatient with waiting for him. But he seemed content enough to...handle things himself. Ben felt it, distantly, when Jango touched himself in the fresher, the twist in his emotions and wants a shining kind of beacon.

The first time Ben idly imagined joining him, his cheeks flushing at the thought, he ended up standing outside, staring up at the sky and dragging a hand back through his hair. Ani followed him out and insisted they play tag, which, at least, thoroughly took Ben’s mind off of matters.

But the thoughts recurred. The wants returned, even when Jango wasn’t feeling any particular wants at all. Which meant, Ben was increasingly sure, that the desires were his own.

Ben shivered, considering the scope and breadth of what he felt. It was...strange. But not unpleasant. His gut flooded with warmth, the next time he leaned in to kiss Jango, something they did, occasionally. Ani was sleeping, safe and snug in his bed, his presence in the Force gone slow and peaceful with dreams. 

And Jango felt--so good, his mouth and his hand, curved against Ben’s cheek, his wants and emotions curling out between them. No one else had ever felt the way he did. It was one of the reasons Ben had so much difficulty classifying the emotions he picked up.

Those thoughts fled, in the moment, as Ben settled closer, warm all over, fingers tangled in Jango’s hair. They’d been on the couch. Ben had been reading, he thought, before he started kissing Jango, and--

And he couldn’t recall why he cared what he’d been doing. Instead, he tilted his head to the side, changing the angle of the kiss, and Jango made a sound against his mouth, shifting a little closer and then checking his movement. 

Jango pulled back, blinking a few times and turning his face to the side. He cleared his throat and said, “I think I’m going to hit the fresher,” like a code, as though Ben didn’t know exactly what he planned to do in the fresher, and--

“Don’t,” Ben said, the word slipping out as he reached out, curling fingers around Jango’s wrist.

“Ben,” Jango said, his voice thick. He glanced over and said, eyes all dark, “I’ll come back. I just--”

“I’d like you to stay,” Ben said, wetting his bottom lip without thinking about it. “Or--for both of us to go. Maybe to your room.”

Jango stared at him for a long beat. “You want to be held?” It was a fair question. Ben often did. 

His heart beat a little faster in his chest and he said, feeling a flush creeping over his cheeks, “No. Not really. I want--” He shifted closer, slid his hand over Jango’s thigh, and Jango sucked in a breath when Ben found him hard “--to help with this.”

“It’s--that’s--” Jango swore and visibly marshalled himself. “You don’t have to. I’m perfectly capable of handling it on my own, so--”

“I know I don’t have to,” Ben cut in, and there was a giddy kind of joy to hearing the words and knowing they were true. He could feel that Jango meant it. “I want to. Do you want me to?”

The question felt silly, for a beat. He could feel how much Jango wanted, could feel what he wanted; hands on skin and mouths brushing together and soft gasped sounds. “Yes,” Jango told him, swallowing hard, “I do--” And Ben leaned towards him, and his fingers were in Jango’s hair, then, his mouth sliding against Jango’s, warm and welcoming.

Jango wanted, so badly. Ben felt it, shivering as Jango slid a palm up Ben’s thigh. Ben managed to get a hand under Jango’s shirt, on warm, familiar skin, as Jango rasped out, “Ani could wake up.”

“I’ll know if he does,” Ben murmured back, reassuring. Ani felt deeply asleep. Content and safe. “Please.”

Jango made a ragged sound, and Ben was willing to admit that perhaps adding the please had been slightly unfair. Jango wanted him to have the things he wanted. And that was--heady, as Jango pulled him into a kiss, one Ben was delighted to melt into, the pair of them slowly sliding sideways, until they were sprawled out on the couch. 

It didn’t take much effort to undo the closures on Jango’s slacks. He was hard, his cock familiar when Ben curled fingers around him. Jango made a ragged sound, kissing across Ben’s cheek, to his jaw. Jango’s beard rasped against his skin, a flare of sensation as Ben shifted his grip, tilting his head back, aching, thinking about the best way to bring Jango off and--

“Do you want--” Jango broke off, shoving up on one arm, eyes dark and breathtaking. “Do you--” He shifted his hand, fingers dragging down Ben’s stomach and, oh. Ben had barely realized he’d gotten hard, himself. “Can I…?”

“Please,” Ben rasped out, again, and took Jango’s wrist, pushing his hand further down, enough that he could rock up into the pressure. Jango swore, quietly, and tugged at the closures on his pants, radiating want and--

Feeling someone want, more than anything, to make him feel good was something Ben had not been able to imagine, a few years ago.

It made his spine arch, made him groan, made him hard and aching and wet and--

“Gonna take care of you,” Jango rasped, and kissed him again. Ben nodded, half-senseless all at once. He could feel that Jango meant it. Jango had meant it for so long. Tried and succeeded and--

Ben buried his fingers in Jango’s hair, when Jango shifted down his body, bit his lip to muffle the sounds he wanted to make, somewhat, at the touch of Jango’s mouth over his skin. He was so close to the edge already when Jango licked across the head of his cock, mouth warm and hot and unexpected and--

Ben felt himself rock up; he felt electrified, throbbing and so full of wants and demands from his body. For a moment he wondered if Jango had somehow learned how to read wants, too, because he bobbed his head and slid a hand between Ben’s legs, thumb brushing back and forth, so perfect.

Ben went off like a shot, like the blasters Jango had insisted on teaching him to shoot, barely able to strangle out a sound. Jango swallowed, and Ben made a ragged sound, feeling good and achy at the same time, inside of his body, a whisper of other wants getting louder.

He set them aside, focusing enough to hear Jango breathing raggedly down by his hips. He’d turned his face against Ben’s thigh, muscles tense, an arm stretched back. Ben managed to raise his head enough to watch Jango jerk himself hard and fast, emotions flashing over all hot and good and buoyant when he came.

For a moment, they just slumped there, breathing heavily. “Oh,” Ben managed, finally, tingling from head to toe. 

Jango snorted, cheek still pressed against Ben’s thigh. He shifted, wiping his hand on his shirt and then, with a little frown, pulling the shirt off and mopping it across Ben’s stomach. He asked, voice all warm and thick, “Was that...what you wanted, Ben?”

“Mm.” Ben nodded, trailing touches over Jango’s skin. “Yes,” he said, and then, learning all kinds of things, “I want to do it again.”

Jango’s head snapped up, and Ben couldn’t help but smile at the expression on his face. Jango said, tone darker, “You…?”

“Now,” Ben told him, “I want to do it again now.” And Jango made a hoarse noise, falling into him, kissing him while Ben wrapped both arms around him and just...felt, for a while.

#glimmer replies #ask me anything #transactional states #jangobi #spicy #not safe for wizards #mentions of past trauma #no major warnings for this snippet #pls read all warnings before reading the series itself

[h-e-l-l-b-r-o-k-e]

Without a Doubt [B.H. x you]

Summary: Billy’s enamored with his desk neighbor. The only thing is, she’s not aware of his existence...or anything, really.

Inspiration: Ballerina Out of Control by The Ocean Blue & Lorelei by Cocteau Twins

Word Count: 1399 Warnings: profanity.

Written Date: 11/7-18/2019 Posted Date: 11/18/2019

Parts: [1] [2] [3] [4] [MASTERLIST]

Billy noticed her brutalized notebook first as it loudly plopped onto the desk beside his. Its front cover hanging on to its last two spirals while angry indecipherable scribbles nearly puncture through the material. The edges were beyond frayed from maltreatment.

He rolled his eyes then and thought to himself, ‘Great…I sat next to the weirdo of Hawkins High.’

But then a subtle scent swirled into his nostrils, smelling of roses and…those essential oils Susan had stored away under their bathroom sink. Girly. Girl. ‘Girl.’

Instead of some overweight, pimpled-faced, greasy-haired brute who spends the majority of his time masturbating to Miss November and probably hasn’t figured out how to make eye contact with the opposite sex without his palms cooking up a sweat, Billy’s ocean blue eyes found her. A rather pretty girl with tangled locks whose wardrobe lacked diverse shades of color.  

Needless to say, she hadn’t noticed him. She hadn’t seem to notice anything. Not the teacher as she introduced herself, not Billy as he was forced to introduce himself as the new kid to the entire class, and certainly not the material her grades would rely on. The steady world outside the classroom was just as dull and lacklustre as the classroom, yet it had cast a spell on her.

And, the whole time Billy hardly noticed anything other than the quiet girl who limply waved her hand just a few centimeter above her shoulder when her name was called during attendance. He hadn’t noticed Tommy H., who would soon become the unshakable monkey on his shoulder, nor Cassie Beckham, the flirt he would have a late night encounter with just a couple days later at the quarry.

In just those first forty-five minutes of class, Billy managed to make out two words in the mess that was Y/n’s notebook, and he wasn’t even sure if he had gotten it right when spelling it out on a different sheet of paper: cocteau twins. ‘What the fuck is Cocteau Twins?’

Never coming across such a strange term, not even in the diversity of California, he didn’t know where he could find the meaning. Regardless, he was determined and became rather obsessive in the hunt for the answer.

He had snuck into his father’s study just to browse through his encyclopedias, but all he found was some French writer he doubted had anything to do with the girl in his class. He had wasted two hours at the local record shop flipping through the ‘Cs’ and ‘Ts’ before putting on his best flirtatious smile and asking the employee if she’d ever heard of them, thinking it could possibly be a band. The employee hadn’t, but she’d been happy to check the inventory list for him before coming up empty.

That didn’t deter him from hopping around other music stores, even when the outcomes continued to be the same. After Tommy had become somewhat of a friend to him, he had joked that madness was doing the same thing every day and expecting a different result. And still, Tommy had not a clue that this search was for the girl in black in their English class for dumbasses. No, Billy’s hunt came to a close when he’d ran out of record stores within the 15-mile radius.

With no hint as to whether this Cocteau Twins even existed, Billy held on. Quite literally.

Just a month into the school year and fall had consumed the town, leaving layers of cracked and chlorophyll-broken leaves for the street-sweepers to clean up almost daily. But while she was staring out the same window at those dead, sinking leaves, Billy decided to forge those same words he’d been searching for onto the center of his palm in blue ink. Tommy had taken to sitting behind him, so he had to stop glancing at her so often.

For always picking on poor souls who crossed his path, Tommy was careful around Y/n, acting like her seat wasn’t preoccupied by one of the sorest thumbs in the entire school. This left Billy even more mystified about her. There was history between the two, just like there was history between Tommy and the soon-to-be dethroned king himself, Steve Harrington.

How deep the ties were in this school, he’d soon find out during a shirts vs. skins basketball scrimmage against the one-and-only Steve Harrington.

With one quick shove of the shoulder, Harrington’s lanky form toppled to the floor. That was all it took for Billy to make the winning basket before offering a hand to his fallen opponent. Leaving the pen markings in his palm vulnerable to scrutinizing eyes, it took only one prolonged glance for Harrington to ponder upon all the answers Billy had been itching to know.

Steve had dated the girl who had introduced him to the virtually underground band whose name was etched into Billy’s skin before leaving her for a new fancy—Nancy, the unpopular girl who grew into her looks quite well. They had dated for a year, and Steve had thought he had loved her all the more when she and Tommy had surprisingly developed a bond that resembled siblings.

And yet, Steve had ultimately ruined everything he had built with Y/n for the exciting chase that was Nancy. It was his fault that Y/n had fallen off the cliff of popularity and had swindled down a hole so foreign to him. He’d stolen what little shine her eyes had held, the soft peaches of her closet, and left her a hollow shell of the girl she was before.

At first, Steve hadn’t a reason to worry about her after the breakup. He didn’t cheat on her and he hadn’t lied to her when he told her he had fallen out of love. Besides, it wasn’t his fault that the friends she had met through him were superficial enough to turn on her once they weren’t an item. There was no reason for guilt to settle in the pit of his stomach when Carol had nastily snickered about hearing his ex’s sniffles behind one of the bathroom stalls because his hands were clean.

But, Steve was different now. He was still very much in love with Nancy but finding this Morse code on his enemy, the need to protect his vulnerable ex-girlfriend as some form of self-redemption shocked his core. And he wondered just what in the hell did Billy have planned for Y/n?

Billy had caught the lingering stare of his enemy, and later that day, Billy had taken Tommy H. to the only bar that didn’t card because a drunk Tommy was a very open Tommy. He spent twenty-three dollars he barely had just to get Tommy spilling his nostalgic guts onto the wooden counter.

“Harrington broke up with her over boring Nancy, and she’s not even hot ya know? No, but see, my Carol is hot. Nancy? Nah, man. Just another judgy bitch that thinks she’s better than us. And now, Y/n—she dresses like a freak. I think she’s fuckin’ depressed, hanging around that ash* chick Samantha sure messed with her head.” Tommy finished his drink and flagged the bartender for another one.

In between the slurring of his words, Billy got the gist of the drama his friend was mulling over and suddenly Hawkins didn’t seem like such an empty puddle. And, yet, Billy acted the oblivious fool when it came to her.

He never speaks to her, never speaks about her. He is a mere observer without a clue as to what Cocteau Twins is because he refuses to make the first move. So, he fucks around with girls whose names he doesn’t give a shit about, fights with other guys for dominance—anything to stir a commotion in this depressing town, hoping one day she’d be enchanted with him instead of their English class window.

A/N: *Ash was one of the many terms in the 80s used to label someone from the goth subculture before the term “goth/gothic” really took off.

#I'm sorry if this sucks so much ass or if it's not really coherent!!!! #Billy Hargrove #stranger things #billy hargrove x reader #billy hargrove imagine #billy x y/n #billy x reader #billy hargrove x you #billy hargrove fanfiction #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things imagines #stranger things imagine #st #st imagines #st imagine #steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington imagine

[goindownshipping]

Please do #3 for Stony

Take me into your loving arms

Pairing: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark (Stony)

Rating: Teen (T)

Notes: “A breathy demand: “Kiss me” - and what the other person does to respond.” In this universe, people have multiple soulmate matches, and people often meet more than one soulmate in a lifetime. Thanks for another great one, @ohwereusingourmadeupnames!

Word count: 3.2k

Summary:

Tony didn’t live with much regret in life. He was proud of his work, he had great friends, he was involved in the community. The darkness only crept in on particularly bad days when he returned to an empty condo, reminded of the fact that he couldn’t find a partner in life. In all reality, it shouldn’t have been that hard for him to find someone. 

Or, Tony has given up on finding a soulmate when he matches with an unlikely colleague.

Feel free to send me prompts!

Tony didn’t live with much regret in life. He was proud of his work, he had great friends, he was involved in the community. The darkness only crept in on particularly bad days when he returned to an empty condo, reminded of the fact that he couldn’t find a partner in life. In all reality, it shouldn’t have been that hard for him to find someone. 

Ever since he was a child he’d been taught about soulmates. He read fairytales and watched movies about when people finally met one of their matches. As a child, he dreamed of the day that he would finally brush hands with someone and everything around them would disappear except whatever his soulmate was thinking at that moment. The movies made it look beautiful; the prince asking the princess to dance, taking her hand, and in that instant, the world would shift on its axis. Immediately the prince and princess knew they were meant to be and they lived happily ever after.

But of course, that’s not how it worked in the real world. Tony met his first match when he was 16 and he was elated. He couldn’t believe he’d found a match already! He couldn’t understand why that first boyfriend dumped him a few months later, claiming they’d met a match with a stronger connection. That was when Tony learned that he didn’t live in a fairytale; meeting a soulmate didn’t mean guaranteed happiness. It seemed like some kind of sick joke that the universe would identify your most compatible partners only to remind you that you’re still not good enough for them.

Years passed and Tony lost faith in soulmates. He avoided people that seemed like they could be matches, resorting to casual hookups, and flings through college. It seemed like the safest way to avoid perpetual heartbreak. Years after college he met Pepper Potts and he thought he’d finally found it. They fit together perfectly and Tony let his battered heart and self-confidence rebuild itself.

That went out the window when his best friend Rhodey got out of the Air Force and came home so Tony could finally introduce him to Pepper. It seemed like a cruel joke when he watched them shake hands and saw the faraway look in both their eyes. As much as they tried to laugh it off and ignore it for a while, it was only a matter of time before things broke down between Pepper and Tony.

Tony couldn’t be too mad about that one. Pepper and Rhodey were the two best people he knew and who was he to get in the way of that. Besides, he had too much fun taking credit for their disgustingly happy marriage.

So all in all, Tony was happy with how his life had played out. He’d long ago given up on finding another soulmate and was perfectly content with that decision. He was grateful that he’d had early success in his career, and now sat in an executive position at a swanky marketing firm. 

Said executive position had him in charge of the annual summer picnic for his division and he was doling out responsibilities to his team. As he went down the list he focused on Steve Rogers. Steve was his second in command in the office and the guy drove him up the wall. They’d started around the same time at the firm, but had always rubbed each other the wrong way. They worked together well, but that was where it stopped. However, just because they weren’t friends, that didn’t mean they didn’t engage in some good office competition.

To: Rogers, Steve

From: Stark, Tony

Subject: Stark vs. Rogers 2020, Stark’s Revenge

Message: Get ready for the annual softball game, I’m not letting you steal this one! - TS

--

Tony knew he had a competitive streak, and he was certainly not going to let his team lose to Rogers in the company softball game once again. Year in and year out, Steve Rogers and his team managed to win the game, but it was always close, Tony’s team just barely losing, never by more than two runs. This year, Tony wasn’t going to let that happen. Team Stark was barely holding on to a tie game, and all Tony had to do was make it from second base to home plate. 

As Clint prepared for his wind-up, Tony took a lead off the base, hands on his knees, and ready to run. He glared at Steve, who was crouched behind home plate, daring him to throw him out if he stole third. Before he could think about it too long, the ball was out of Clint’s grip and sailing toward Natasha. Her swing made contact with the ball with a loud crack, spurring Tony into a full sprint toward third. He rounded third without hesitation, closing in on sweet victory over Team Rogers.

As he sprinted down the third base line, Tony could see Steve poised on home plate, waving frantically toward one of his outfielders. He could nearly taste the victory when he saw the highlighter yellow softball come in to view out of his periphery. Before he could think about it, Tony tucked his left leg under, extended his right leg toward the plate, and used his speed to propel him into a slide. As soon as his foot hit plastic, Tony felt the thump of Steve’s glove against his shoulder. Before he could look to Bruce for his call, everything shifted around him.

Suddenly, he felt as if his head was underwater. The loud voices and cheers were reduced to soft echoes, nothing quite reaching his brain. Through the fog, he heard one voice loud and clear, ringing brightly in his head.

“What the hell?” 

Tony knew that voice. That deep, buttery smooth timbre belonged to none other than Steve Rogers. Tony turned his head slowly, unable to move any faster, and was surprised to see Steve on a knee, his hands pressed to his temples.

“Oh fuck, come on!”

Steve pressed his fingers hard into his temples, willing his body to regain some semblance of balance. When he heard Tony’s gravelly voice break through the haze, he paused. He forced his eyes open and they immediately locked with Tony’s.

In a moment, the world seemed to snap back into motion; noise and commotion rushing around them. Natasha knelt at Steve’s side as Bruce checked on Tony. Before anyone could ask any questions, Tony looked up at Bruce.

“Please tell me I was safe."

Both teams erupted into laughter, the tension leaving the air for the moment.

“Yeah man, you were safe. Looks like Team Stark finally got a win under their belt."

With that, a few team members helped Tony and Steve to their feet, watching both men cautiously. It wasn’t unheard of for people to discover a soulmate in front of a group of people, but it wasn’t exactly commonplace either. Most of the crew disappeared, leaving Tony and Rhodey standing with Steve and Bucky. Steve nodded toward Bucky and whispered something about a quick word with Tony. 

Rhodey looked between the two of them and shook his head with a smile on his face. “I’ll be with Pepper, Tony,” he said as he walked away.

As much as Tony wanted to whine in protest, he knew he needed to get this conversation over with. He turned to Steve, with his stupid blue eyes, unfair beard, and drool-worthy chest. Those were new thoughts for Tony, but damn if Steve looked good with a light layer of sweat and breathing heavily from exertion. He couldn’t help but look Steve up and down, drinking in the man in front of him, evidently, a soulmate. He tried to think through all the years he’d known Steve, unable to believe they’d never made physical contact until that moment.

“Before you say anything,” Tony started, “I don’t really do soulmates."

Steve took a deep breath, trying to keep his own emotions in check. “What do you mean by that, Tony?”

“Exactly what I said, Rogers. You know how I am, I’m not built for relationships, and I’m certainly not built for soulmates."

“Well, clearly you are, given what just happened out here."

“I never said that I’ve never matched with anyone, I just said I don’t do soulmates. Ask Pepper if you want. We tried, I wasn’t good enough,” Tony rambled.

“Do I get a say in this?” Steve interjected.

“What could you possibly have to say, Steve? You know as well as I do that we’re like oil and water, why should we try something we know won’t work?”

“I know that you’re stubborn, and you’re driven. You’re the smartest guy in this division by a mile and you’re dedicated to anyone and anything that matters to you. I think we’d be stupid to ignore what lies under the surface for us."

Tony shook his head hard. “No, Steve, I can’t." Tony took a deep breath and opened his mouth as if he was going to continue, but he snapped it shut.

Before Steve could say anything else, Tony spun on his heel and headed toward the rest of their colleagues and friends. “I’ll see you behind the barbecue in an hour or so!” he called back toward Steve.

When Tony dropped onto the bench next to Pepper and Rhodey he immediately closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the backrest. He hoped for a moment of peace before the interrogation he knew was coming, and managed to count to 30 before Pepper cleared her throat.

“Yes, Pep?” he asked without opening his eyes.

“You wanna tell us what the hell just happened, Tony?”

“I think you know what just happened,” Tony sassed back.

“Alright, alright,” Rhodey soothed. “What did you and Steve talk about?”

“Nothing important. I told him that I don’t do soulmates, he got stubborn about it, that’s it."

Pepper and Rhodey shared a glance.

“I can hear you silently judging me. At least do it out loud so I can join the fun,” Tony quipped.

“We’re not judging you,” Pepper started.

“Don’t you want to at least give it a shot? I mean, it’s Steve. He’s a great guy, I’ve never understood your beef with him,” Rhodey said.

Tony snorted. “Yeah, no way. I don’t want to give it a shot especially because it’s Steve. Now, I have an hour until I have to cook all your lunches with the guy, so be nice to me."

The three of them rejoined everyone else on the grass where several games of corn hole, volleyball, and other lawn games were in full swing. Tony grabbed a badminton racket, happily joining in on the fun. He was surprised to see Steve sitting off to the side; he was usually one to engage in team bonding.

Steve was watching Tony with an unreadable look on his face. At first glance, Tony thought he looked angry. Upon further inspection, Tony could see the slight furrow in his brow and pout on his lips. Tony wasn’t sure what to do with the thought that Steve was upset with him, so he turned his attention back to the match at hand, laughing and distracting himself for the time being.

Steve sat quietly, deep in thought as he watched Tony let loose and have fun with their friends and teammates. He wasn’t sure why Tony never revealed that side of himself to Steve, and he tried not to take it personally. He was just as shocked as Tony was at home plate that afternoon, but Steve couldn’t ignore the inkling in his gut telling him to go for it. He wasn’t one to follow soulmate matches blindly; he’d done it once before and everything was perfect until it wasn’t.

Steve truly believed he didn’t have another match out there after Peggy and he couldn’t bear the thought of losing the opportunity to explore a relationship with Tony. He knew Tony was terrified, he was too. He wouldn’t pressure Tony into anything, but he only hoped that maybe over time, Tony would give him a shot. 

Before either of them knew it, Steve and Tony were situated behind one of the many old grills stationed around the park. Luckily the rest of the team had provided the supplies and all they had to do was grill everything up. They worked quietly for a while, easily moving around each other and alternating between watching the grill and getting the rest of the food set out. Tony may have been somewhat helpless in the kitchen, but he knew his way around a barbecue. 

Steve stood back and watched, happy that Tony seemed at ease around him for once. His fingers itched to initiate more contact with the other man, but he fought against the urge. He was brought out of his thoughts by Tony clearing his throat.

“Steve, can you get all the sides set out? I’ll finish up here,” Tony said, gesturing to the grill.

Steve nodded, “Sure thing, Tony." In his haste to get everything ready to go, Steve turned around too quickly and missed the smallest of smiles across Tony’s face.

Once all the food was set out across the picnic tables, Steve called out to everyone and waved them over. Steve and Tony stood back, letting everyone get their plates of food. They easily refilled plates and platters, passing utensils and empty dishes back and forth. When everyone had their food and had settled at the further set of tables, Steve and Tony quietly made their own plates.

“Hey, Tony?” Steve asked quietly.

“Yeah Rogers?”

“Any chance you’d like to join me here for lunch? I’m not sure I can handle all the energy over there."

Tony hesitated. “I, uh-”

“I won’t pester you about earlier, I promise,” Steve interrupted.

Tony watched Steve’s face. The slight droop in his shoulders and genuinely hopeful look in his eye had Tony agreeing. “Sure, Steve."

They situated themselves next to each other at the picnic table, eating in silence. The sounds of laughter and vibrant camaraderie filled the air, making them both smile. After a while, Steve looked up at Tony, a pensive look on his face.

“What is it, Steve? I can see you watching me,” Tony said with a smile.

“I know that I promised not to bring up the thing from earlier, but can I just say one more thing? Then I’ll drop it, I promise."

To Steve’s surprise, Tony just smiled and nodded, gesturing for Steve to continue.

“I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for pressuring you so quickly. It was unfair of me to ask something of you that I wouldn’t want to be asked of me, and I hate that I handled it that way. To be honest, I don’t do relationships or soulmate matches either, at least not anymore. I was so shocked when it happened, I really didn’t think I had another match out there, and I just forgot myself. I hope you can understand how sorry I am."

Tony stared at Steve, not fully understanding. “What do you mean you don’t do soulmate matches anymore?”

Steve paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. “It’s been a very long time since I found a match. The last time I did, I thought I’d found my forever person, you know? But I didn’t and things fell apart. It’s not important, it was for the best, that’s for sure. But in the years since then, I haven’t met anyone else that could’ve even had the chance of being a match. I figured I was one of those people that really did have only one. And then you happened today and I got hopeful for a minute, but that wasn’t fair to put on you."

“Steve, as cliche as this is going to sound, my reaction today really had nothing to do with you. Yeah, you drive me nuts at work with all your protocols and doing everything by the books, but my panic today was all me. I’m- I’m broken, Steve. I’m not built for relationships."

“You said that earlier today, Tony. How do you know you just haven’t found the right relationship. What if it’s really not you at all?”

Tony just stared at Steve. The small part of his brain that had been screaming at him all day was blaring loudly in his head, urging him to just try for once. His entire being begged him to just give this a shot. He couldn’t ignore the magnetic pull he felt toward Steve now that he knew the thread tied between them. 

“Steve, I can’t get hurt again. I just can’t do it,” Tony whispered. 

Without thinking, Steve slid across the picnic bench until there was barely any space between him and Tony. He turned to straddle the bench so he could face the man next to him. 

“Tony,” Steve murmured. “Give it a shot. Give me a shot, please."

Tony couldn’t take it anymore. The bodily need to touch Steve began clouding his judgment the closer the man got and it was all he could do to not climb right into Steve’s lap and burrow into his chest. Tony had never had such a strong reaction to a match before. He’d heard stories from friends about when they found their match that there was nothing they could do to fight that urge when they first matched. Sure, people had multiple soulmates out there, but some connections were stronger than others. That very fact led Tony to swear off soulmates, too scared of hurting his partner or being hurt in return.

But there, in that moment on a bench with Steve Rogers, Tony finally, finally, gave in.

“Steve,” Tony nearly sobbed. “Kiss me,” he breathed.

Instantaneously, Steve pressed his lips firmly to Tony’s as he wrapped his arms around Tony’s waist. He helped Tony turn to face him without breaking their kiss. The new position allowed Tony to tangle his hands in Steve’s hair and slide even closer to him. When Tony felt Steve’s tongue trail along his bottom lip, he gasped into the kiss. Steve took the opportunity to softly press into Tony’s mouth, exploring the warmth and softness there.

Tony was letting out little whimpers that he was completely unaware of, lost entirely in Steve. Those noises spurred Steve on, doing anything if it meant Tony would keep making those noises.

Eventually, Tony pulled back, sucking in a deep breath and resting his forehead against Steve’s. Steve unwrapped one arm from Tony’s waist and ran his fingers up and down Tony’s spine when he felt the man let out a shuddering breath against him.

“Was that okay, Tony?” Steve asked quietly.

Tony pulled back enough to look into Steve’s eyes and nodded. “More than. I didn’t know it could feel like that,” Tony admitted.

Steve smiled and in that instant, Tony felt his heart crack open and fill with warmth. He didn’t know anything could feel like this.

“You aren’t broken Tony, I can guarantee you that. Will you give me a shot to prove it to you? Please?” Steve asked hopefully.

Tony leaned his head against Steve’s shoulder, reveling in the feeling of being in the arms of a soulmate. For once, it made him feel safe and loved, rather than terrified and waiting for the other shoe to drop. He nodded, smiling against Steve’s shoulder.

“You’re already proving it to me, Steve,” Tony said with a smile.

#stony #stevetony #stevetony fics #mine

[whumpookies]

Merlin one shot, bit of humour can be found here

"No boat huh?"  Matthew muttered, scratching his head in slight confusion 

It was one thousand years later, and what would have been water was now fields, yet the Isle of the Blessed still sat on a hill in all its glory- the same hill that Talia and Matt stood facing. 

"No boat. That’s global warming for you," Talia shrugged easily as she placed down her longbow, making Matthew roll his eyes 

"So, what are we doing here?" Matthew asked as he sat on the hill looking down to the isle.

"Remember the last time we were here?" She asked, joining him sitting on the hill, their knees touching as they leaned back.

"Screaming vale, Doracha, cranky old woman, scarification of a soul to close the vail, Lancelot being an idiot, you warning the old hag..sure hard to forget, really. Why?" Matthew grinned cheekily. 

"Well, time for..revenge," she smirked. 

Matthew blinked..and blinked. "We're what?"

"Going to get revenge, well we ain't but..you’ll see," she half shrugged, laying back into the grass enjoying the rays from the warm sun.

"How? Or should I say why?" Matthew asked, looking over to her.

"Because I promised Lancelot I wouldn't get revenge...back then...didn't say anything about helping get revenge." Her eyes closed, unable to see the disbelieving look Matthew gave her. "You know he's gonna have kittens knowing what we're doing." She shrugged again, standing brushing the grass off her shoulders, Matthew following her actions. 

"That's why we'll tell him after we deal with the old crone," she grinned before grabbing Matthew's collar, dragging him down the hill towards the island.

"Just how are we doing this?" Matthew muttered climbing down the embankment.

"With a dragon." She answered, following him down the silence followed as Matthew stared at his best friend in shock. "A...dragon?"

"Yes, Merlin let me...borrow Kilgharrah"

"Borrow?" His eyebrows rose skywards, scepticism gracing his features. 

"Okay, not borrow...more like the dragon has it in for the hag, so we made a deal." Talia rolled her eyes before continuing along the field as Matthew huffed, "I don't want to know do I?"

"Nope." She answered, snickering. They carried on towards the Isle of the Blessed with a sense of mischief in their hearts.

"Just how did you get our swords and the longbow past the airport checkpoint?"

"You're really asking that now, Matt?"

"I'm curious, it’s not like you can say 'Hey officer, don't worry, just going to get revenge on Cailleach the old hag, then call a dragon, watch him eat her. Just ignore the swords, oh please don't check the blade, it's sharp. Oh look there goes your finger, don't matter if you hurry, it can be sewn on again!" Matthew counted off on his fingers, sarcasm dripping off his words.

"You finished?" She asked, rolling her eyes, once again asking herself why to the heavens. Surely deities were listening.

"Oh no, I've just started!" she sighed before clambering up the steps of the dry dock. "I actually said we're part of a cosplay team…"

"You what?!" 

"Now I bet you wished you never asked!" She cackled, walking down the dock, leaving a groaning Matthew. 

"You have no idea," he sighed.

It was as if time had stopped. The walls were damp, cobwebs spread in abundance, corridors dark until they spotted the light at the end of the tunnel leading to the altar. "How are we getting the old crone to come here? Not like we're sacrificing anyone...why are you looking at me like that?" Talia grinned at a very worried looking Matthew. "Don't worry, no scarification needed. Luckily Merlin knows a few tricks nowadays."

"Yeah, well he could at least get a haircut and a shave!"

"I think he's got the wizard look right down" she glanced over at him. 

"I still think Tolkien met him."

"What, to get the whole Gandalf look down?" She asked slightly confused

"Hell yes! Come on, both Merlin and Tolkien's characters have the beard and long hair… plus look what happened when you asked him to dress up at Samhain!" Matthew grinned, shaking his head. 

"Yeah..that was interesting," she agreed, her forehead creasing slightly.

"Tal, he declared Gandalf as a half-baked wannabe with a guilt complex the size of Albion."

"Point taken," she chuckled, shaking her head.

"Then Lancelot laughed that much he nearly passed out."

"Wait till this year at Halloween you'll love it…"

"If you say Merlin and Lancelot as themselves, I'm so going to be there to watch," Matthew said. 

"Nah, I gave up on that, thinking Harry Potter and Dumbledore." 

The laughter echoed down the empty passageway as they broke into the altar area; it was still large and lush with green grass swaying with the wind.

"You know Talia if this place wasn't linked to the old religion it would be perfect"

"I've nothing against the old religion, just the old hag with a god complex."

"Well let's do this, it's gonna be a long drive back."

Walking around the altar, Talia's hand running along the cool stone as Matthew stood leaning against the wall watching her. 

"How are we doing this?" He asked. 

"Easily, Cailleach is listening to the old hag and is too nosy not to! You ain't getting a sacrifice to some old hag. So come on let's have this out!" She yelled the last part, her voice echoing around the walls as she jumped up on the altar, sitting on the edge. 

"Are we really pissing her off?" Matthew asked.

"I don't get pissed off," the voice croaked behind him. 

"Bloody hell, you old cron don't do that!" Screeched Matthew in a high pitch voice that would make an opera singer jealous as Talia doubled over laughing. Cailleach stood behind the young man all in her dark glory. 

"What do you want, guardian?" She said.

"Oh come on, Cailleach. No hello? It's been, what, one thousand five hundred years, give or take a year...or ten," Talia shrugged, grinning ear to ear as she crossed her legs on the altar."The last I saw of you guardian...you threatened me, and I don't take well to threats," Cailleach accused, her eyes squinting at her.

"I don't take well to you trying to kill Arthur, Merlin or Lancelot," Talia shrugged easily, surprised  by her anger

"It is not killing.."

"Really? A sacrifice to close the veil isn't killing?. Don’t you have enough souls in the underworld?"

"Not yet," she grinned, looking to Matthew 

"Dream on hag, we're taken," Matthew muttered, walking over to Talia by the alter, sword in hand. 

"So it seems that you are, child." Cailleach mourned at the loss of another soul joining her.

"See, I promised someone I wouldn't get revenge on someone else." Talia brought the conversation back on track. "Lancelot." 

"Yes Cailleach, Lancelot, but I spent the day with a very large green-scaled dragon and it seems he still holds a grudge," she smirked, evilly sitting forward. 

"Oh look, Talia, I think it just dawned on her?!" Matthew laughed as Cailleach searched the skies above her as the wind picked up.

"So it seems Matt. Heads up hag, we've got a visitor!" Jumping down, Talia grabbed Matthew, dragging her friend towards the wall as wings came into view. 

"Done my part. Good luck Cailleach," Talia yelled over Kilgharrah's arrival.

"Amazing how hard it is to get a dragon to meet the gatekeeper," Talia muttered as she pulled Matthew into the gatehouse. 

"We are not gonna watch?" Matthew asked.

"Have you ever seen a gatekeeper and dragon go at it?"

"Well...no."

"Me neither, but Kilgharrah said to stay out of the…" A crash and crackle of magic hitting something stopped them.

Both looked to the door. 

"I think I get why now." Said Matthew worriedly looking over at her before a crash followed as rocks flew past the doorway. 

"Oh, that's one pissed off dragon." 

Talia nodded, sitting on an abandoned table. "Wouldn't you be? That old hag nearly killed Merlin, tried to stop the path of Arthur."

"Let's not forget the whole vail crap." 

Sparks struck the door frame as Matthew jumped back. "Oh, the whole Veil needs a blood sacrifice and all that crap. She has real issues with wanting blood." 

Fire bombarded the area passing the door; the heat could be felt with ease. 

"Damn, should have bought marshmallows," Said Matthew bemoaning the loss of a good crispy marshmallow.

"Next time."

"I'm bringing the sausages as well then!" She shook her head as Matthew watched the show as close to the door as possible.

"Well, the old hag needs a peg knocking out of her." 

"Duck!" Matt yelled, boards, bursting, showering bits of wood in all directions.

Talia ran to the door shouting around it. "Kilgharrah get a move on you overgrown lizard! That almost killed us!" 

Matt stood brushing debris off his coat moving away. 

"Bit close," he sighed. 

"Just a bit." 

With the table upturned, they sat behind it, flashes of lightning and flames, crashes and bashes, debris flew past the door frame or closer allowing them to duck, roars covered ears and magic was yelled as it all continued...

"How long?" Talia groaned heavily.

"Three hours and five minutes, in other words, five minutes from the last time you asked." 

"Damn"

"Tal, tell them to quit," Matt moaned whilst cleaning his nails with his sword.

"And get my head blown off?"

"Come on, it's getting late, Merlin can only keep him busy so long!"

"Your point?"

"I'm bored, hungry and they’re being.." he pointed to the door as a lightning bolt struck close by, "...idiots, and they’re going to get us killed!"

Sighing heavily Talia stood, brushing herself off and stormed to the door. "If I die, I'm haunting you!" She muttered before diving out the door quickly as a whip.

Matthew listened intently to the point of straining his ears above the yells of casting, roars and the odd flame until…."THAT WAS MY CLAW!" A deep booming voice Kilgharrah echoed.

"Well if you weren't such an arse, I wouldn't have to stab it, you stubborn bloody dragon! And don't you start either you old hag!"

Matthew snickered, leaning against the wall, shaking his head as laughter rippled through him, whilst trying to listen as Talia continued to rant.

"...yes, I know! Get over yourself, Cailleach or I'll run you through old woman…."

Matthew shook his head, wiping the tears away "...oh trust me, I go to that underworld and I'll haunt you so much that you'll be begging to kick me out.."

He had to agree, she probably would. Talia could be annoying as hell, that was for sure.

"..Yea you're pissed at each other, I get that but come on! When Arthur gets released from Avalon you both need him, so give it a bloody rest! Don't start, you overgrown chicken...and don't you start you wrinkled old pug!"

The second bout of hysterical laughter struck the young man bracing himself against the wall, only Talia would insult a dragon and the gatekeeper of the underworld.

"...Right, that's it!!! I'm calling a truce till next Samhain. You, Kilgharrah, home till Merlin wants you, and Cailleach back till the underworld…no, not Halloween, that my bloody time you get Samhain the eve of Halloween!"

Attempting to catch his breath, Matthew began gathering his and Talia's things.

"Yes, I promise I'll call upon you next bloody Samhain...just...behave till then!"

Matthew cleared the doorway as Kilgharrah flew off, no sign of Cailleach could be seen.

"Finished venting?"

"They are like bloody kids I tell you! I ain't cleaning this mess!" She vented, walking over to her friend gathering her stuff from him. 

"meh, we’ll just call Merlin on the way back; he can clean it up," Matthew reassured as the two made their way back out of the old palace.

"Next year we'll bring Lancelot and Merlin. It'll be fun," Talie said. 

"Only if we bring camp stuff and food," he replied. 

"Deal"

"Cool. Hey, can we stop by McDonald's on the way back? I'm starving," Matthew asked as Talia rolled her eyes. 

"Sure, Merlin wants a happy meal anyway"

#Merlin Lancelot #merlin #oneshot #fanfic #oc #lancelot/oc #humour #funny #dragon #over grown lizard

[kehideni]

Why i don’t like Star vs Season 4 so far:

To get this s**t out of the way, yes i am a Starco shipper. My reasonings have NOTHING to do with shipper stuff though.

Now that that’s out of the way let me just commence with a f***in huge a** rant.

TLDR first because rant, explanation and reasonings will be under readmore.

So Tl:dr.: Marco is pretty much Marco from Season 1. And while i really love that his relationship with Star is back to Season 1 lightheartedness, i really REALLY hate that his character also seems to slowly but surely regress.

Now to the rant part

 Now i want to uphold my right to change my mind because english is my secondary language, hungarian being my mother language and to top that off  where i saw the episode the audio is the most crappy at  the most crucial parts, and i MAY have misunderstood or worse missed dialog between characters.

However from what i precieved so far from this- what...  6 episodes, is that Marco is regressing to the neurotic comic relief character, that in serious moments is the voice of reason, or you know Star’s angel figure of the shoulder demon-angel picture.

 Marco in Season 1 was Star’s voice of reason, for him being from Earth he knew more, but i also credit it to Marco being a HUMAN. 

Human meaning: You know, that creature that is the apex predator of a whole f***in planet SIMPLY because of their superior intellect.

While Star is from a society based on magic that’s FULL of senseless shenanigans, you expect her to be instinctual, feral, random, which she WAS.

Marco is from a society based on science. Everything has a reason, every problem has a correct way to approach it. Intellect, sophisticated, calculated, predictable, which he WAS.

The great thing about their partnership is that they gave a little bit of their society to each other, those bits that each respectively yearned for or atleast needed.

Star gained understanding, Marco gained something unexplainable by science, something new in his life, DIVERSITY from the norm.

Understandably, season 1 had them and them only in focus, in which case someone has to carry the story on their back(and that must be Star, she is the title figure after all) and someone has to carry the comic relief buisness(Marco and his neurotic illstarredness[yes that was a pun]).

More shortly: The stress and de-stress factors that’s mandatory for a show like Star vs.

It’s BRILLIANT for a starter Season, but you know there is something with characters that i like to call the “Snapping point”.

I use that phrase in the context of character vs episode or character vs tv show(or whatever else medium your character appears in, this appears in mangas a whole lot too)

To explain what a Snapping point is i must first introduce you to the Snapping characters. And then the different style of snapping point/snapping characters, but let’s come up with examples first.

(Interestingly enough in most shows/comics/mangas/whatever my favourite characters end up being snapping characters)

Examples.:

Beast Boy - Teen Titans 2003

Katara - Avatar the last airbender

Raphael - TMNT2012

Chopper - One Piece

Charmander - OG Pokemon series

Lucy - Fairy Tail

Now, the snapping characters most usually are from the main cast but they are not THE main characters of their show. They are important, but mostly to fill a role.

Let’s take the first two of the list as examples. Coincidentally they are two different type of snapping characters, so explaining each mirroring the other will help me explain it even in more debth.

Katara as a main character has a set characteristic, in which way the show itself interacts with her. 

Katara is a mothering figure and the show treats her as such, so much so that in one episode it’s even a conflict starter. Her motherly behavior is a very important, very magnified point in her character. However there is one episode in the whole series where she as a character goes againts this point and you as a viewer almost forget that she is the group’s mother-figure.

No, it’s not the blood bending episode, and also not the episode where she teaches the old man that women can be just as good students as men.

Both of those episode show us her strenght, and she gets angry yes, but you don’t forget her motherly characteristic because for the majority of those episodes she still acts like our dear, established mom character. An angry mom.

The episode where she snaps her role, where you might even say she is OOC(when she is indeed NOT ooc, it’s just we get a glance at how she looks like when one of her core traits is pushed WAY out of her mind) is the episode where she and Zuko go and find her mother’s murderer.

Ask yourself: when was Katara the scariest? Bloodbending is scary, but you still see her being true to herself and mourn her innocence, you see her cry, you don’t forget what she is like, you more like pity her, mourn with her.

But don’t tell me that when you first saw her STOP THE RAIN AROUND HER you didn’t s**t your pants, because you did. It was completely in character but you didn’t expect her to do so, because you were thinking of Katara as the kind character it’s just that she’s mad. Yes she was mad, but you still expected her to be toned down, quiet and loving and kind like she usually is. She SNAPS the expectation, the norm episodes usually put her in and pushes further because the show(from her perspective: life) just pushed her over that specific “border”.

Now Beast Boy is in a completely different position as a character, and has a different “border” that he was pushed over, but still he is a snapping character.

He had serious moments in previous seasons and episodes, but we can all agree that he is the comic relief of the bunch. Your usual underdog, gets pushed around, loser, weak (eventhough he got GODLIKE POWERS  FFS)

It even gets noted by Raven and Cyborg and sometimes even Robin that he seems to lose a lot of times. In the episode “Every dog has his day” his core personality is what causing the conflict even.

You expected him in the Terra themed episodes to behave the way he did eventhough he was far from being a comic relief in those episodes. He didn’t really break out of his role. He is still the one that gets beaten up, still the one making mistakes (although Terra made bigger ones so the real focus is on those) NONE of the Terra episodes is his snapping point.

My favourite episode of the whole show is The Beast Within, is where he reaches it.

The show puts BB in the loser position it usually does, but it is as if he gets self concious, he just SNAPS and breaks the “same old” frame, and for a whole episode he behaves OOC, which- again -isn’t OOC at all, it’s just what he looks like when he finally has enough.

Usually, Beast Boy doesn’t do too much in fights, the heavy lifting is done by Starfire and Cyborg, the style is Robin, the magic is Raven, Beast Boy is mostly a hole-filler. If none of the 4 can handle something, you can bet your behind that it will be BB who takes over(i’m looking at you Season 5)

The episode starts the same way, BB gets his butt kicked, but then he just... he just snaps. There really isn’t much of a catalyst, Adonis trashtalks and that’s it..., he isn’t the first to trashtalk and certainly not the last. The point is that Beast Boy DESTROYS Adonis in the start of the episode and even at the end, and beats up his own teammates meanwhile too, for good measure. I remember seeing this on TV the first time and i WAS scared of BB. I always knew he had monsterish powers but i not only got shocked because he breaked out of the norm, he VALIDATED my suspicion, that he is MUCH more than a joke. It’s almost like he deliberatelly lets the show kick him around because he just doesn’t care.

Now, both of these just happen to be aggressive show of the “Snapping point” but there are milder examples.

Like Lucy’s Snapping point (Fairy Tail) is when she saves Loki the Lion celestial spirit.

The Snapping point is not a show of power, but a break from their magnified characteristics to show that they are more. Most usually it’s shown with a powershow, that’s true, but Lucy for example up to that point was a damsel in distress stereotype with tweaks here and there. In saving Loki through stubborn spiritdoor opening she broke from that magnified characteristic of hers and showed that she is capable of much more.

Notably main characters don’t have snapping points, because as they are in the focus the majority of the show, they are shown in much more detail, much more smaller steps just how much they are capable of.

Aang shows the Avatar state in the very first episode.(The avatar state being a quite literal break from his normal characteristics, since he is technically being possessed by his previous lives)

Robin almost never loses a battle, he constantly shows just how much he is capable of.

And Natsu.... let’s not even go there. It’s like bringing up Son Goku. He is almost always on screen, roaring and getting more and more powerful as he goes, JUST because he’s the main character. You know he will never lose there is no border for them to be pushed over.(And as such they are boring characters to me. Well atleast combat-wise, i like them both as characters it’s just they don’t have “THE” big moment, they are constantly in it. If you are constantly in it, it’s like you’re never there.)

But back to Marco.

All throughout Season 1 and 2 and majority of Season 3 he was fine.

The things happening to him may not have been easy to watch as a fan, but they had valid reasons for happening. He had very small snapping points which i was happy for, but then it’s as if they were forgotten by Season 4.

You see the point of this whole “Snapping” buisness is demonstration, for the viewer to keep in mind.

After The Southern Raiders, the viewer never forgot how much controll Katara had, and what brute strenght. So in the fight againts Azula you were completely prepared for pure badassness. You KNEW s**ts about to go down when you saw Katara’s eyes drawn similarly as when she was about to make a pintcushion out of the dude who’s name i mysteriously just forgot... a few minutes ago i knew it... i’m getting sidetracked.

After The Beast Within you knew that Beast Boy knows exactly how to use his powers effectively, it’s more like you were aware now that he is constantly holding back. So when you saw him beat demon after demon up in the Season 4 finale, even his own evil self, EVEN STARFIRE’S EVIL SELF, you knew that he always had it in him, he’s just the pure character he is.

After you saw Lucy go to such lenght as to almost deplete her own magic to save Loki(which back then meant death but Mashima mysteriously forgot about that just like how i forgot that dude’s name that Katara scarred for life) you were not surprised that she all alone freed her WHOLE GD GUILD from that demon prison that absorbed living beings into it’s walls. (Including Natsu who we all know is OP AF) You knew she totally would no spare herself all her effort.

But Marco? Firstly, in the Season opening episodes, he had the role of comic relief again, which in itself wouldn’t be a problem IF RIVER WASN’T THERE FOR THAT VERY SAME ROLE ALREADY.

Secondly, he had MINOR snapping points which were forgotten already by crew and by fans... His dimension-adventures could have been such a massive snapping point but it ISN’T. He didn’t change AT ALL. He doesn’t have anything to show for it AT ALL. (Justanawesomedragoncicle) And that’s why i still stand by my fellow Starco shippers saying it’s not pedophilic because he quite literally has nothing to show for that 30+ years now. NOTHING.NADA.WE LEARNED NOTHING MORE OF HIM. HE IS SO VERY MUCH THE SAME, which is why we all say that this dimension-adventure stuff was for nothing but s**ts and giggles. Marco wouldn’t be any less if these episodes wouldn’t exist. He’s certainly nothing more with them. In the Season 3 finale he did show off his skills but just like that they were forgotten. *Poof*

SO FAR the show treats Marco with amnesia.

Everyone else is treated properly. I couldn’t be more proud of Tom from the last episode, really. Star-... *sigh* she seems to have taken a step back too but with all the bs going on around her and her family i can’t blame her. There is such a thing as “too much” storylines on one shoulder, which is so fken clear she can’t handle all at once, so i don’t really mind her not addressing the kiss nor her feelings.

But come OOONN, MARCO! My boy... shooting the same joke twice, pushing them even...

FFS you are a HUMAN from EARTH!! That Earth full of apex megaminds, and you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see if the swimming trunks are too big or too small! And ffs if it stops circulation, use your common sense boi- TAKE IT OFF.

And i get that it was a joke, but that one joke was pushed ALL THROUGHOUT THE EPISODE. It was not funny...it was cringeworthy.

Rn i feel he is nothing more but a joke.  If he didn’t appear in most of those episodes it wouldn’t have changed a thing.

Yes there were times where he WAS the voice of common sense, but it was outweighted with sheer stupidity which was not funny nor de-stressing. 

The jokes with him were taking me out of the story, not allevitating Star’s serious buisness.

#Star vs the forces of evil #Marco Diaz

[iameverything]

A Conversation: Lost Under Heaven

“The Manchester duo Lost Under Heaven, or LUH, have never been keen on subtlety. Super-sized in every dimension, the music of former WU LYF leader Ellery Roberts and visual artist Ebony Hoorn sought grand answers about love and mortality by way of drastic melodies.”

First off, for people who dont know, who is Lost Under Heaven? Ebony Hoorn & Ellery James Roberts Collaborative life work.

The first time I heard of you guys was 'I&I' on the HBO show Ballers and I was hooked. I originally thought of bands like July Talk etc, where the voice coming from the person is a surprise, in a very fascinating and amazing way. Was there a moment you can remember when you (Ellery Roberts) realized you had such a unique voice? When I was young I found a cathartic uplift in singing as hard as I could, usually in response to the noise of the rest of what ever teenage band I was playing with, since then I’ve learned to control it, focus it, People always tell me my voice is unique, it’s just how it comes out, but these days I am singing quite differently, working on a softer croon. I have nothing to shout about anymore.

In regards to the previous question, whats it like to get your music featured on HBO Ballers and even Netflix 13 Reasons Why, among other content? How surreal is that? Its always strange to see a song that has quite specific meaning or ambiance to you, put in a totally different context, but that is also the beauty of creation, once you release something you never know what it may go on to inspire.

With how unique Ellery's voice is and than to be accompanied by the other beautiful voice that is Ebony, I am surprised your music isn't showing up in a lot of other content. I picture LUH having a song in a tv show as the intro in my opinion. How much longer until North American tv/movie productions start taking notice you think? Have you gotten any offers you turned down? We haven’t turned anything down, sure it would be nice to have some high level syncs, make cash flow easier and get the name out to a wider audience, but these things always come out of the blue… We enjoy narrative, atmosphere and an expansive sound in our song writing so it lends well to soundtracks. We are actually working on our first soundtrack for ‘8 days with hopper’ a feature film due in 2021, a really beautiful project that we are very excited to be a part of.

Before we dive into the bright future that is Lost Under Heaven, we gotta go back to the past. Before you (Ellery) joined Ebony for LUH, you started in a band called WU LYF, mindset wise, what was it like being in WU LYF vs LUH? And creatively how different was it? WU was a teenage jam band that got picked up on a wave of hype. I loved the creation of the record and feel it is a very genuine document of untamed youth, but after touring it for 18 months relationships soured and the joy, the fire was gone- trying to write the second record and growing in awareness to the state of the world I fell into a deep depression, I longed for a deeper life and my heart knew I needed to make a change. I broke the band up quite impulsively which I regret for it needlessly hurt those closest to me- but life moves on, wounds heal. creatively all the songs came out of 4 people jamming together for hours and hours- with LUH the process is much more focused, considered, I sit at a piano or with a guitar & write songs working with Ebony to produce them in a cinematic world of atmosphere and tension. I only miss WU LYF in the nostalgic way people miss their teenage years of wild abandon.

With endings come new beginnings.... Right before the end of WU LYFE, did you guys always know Lost Under Heaven was the next project in mind? And has it lived up to the expectations of what you pictured? Lost Under Heaven began when I moved to Amsterdam to live with Ebony, we were not really anticipating working together but it naturally came with me making music whilst she made her visual art in the same small apartment. We then started to have grande visions of what we could create together, we see LUH as a life work, ever evolving, a process thru which we can experiment with ideas and express our ever evolving level of consciousness.

You guys are just absolutely marvelous, I even went as far as calling you my favourite band of the last decade. You guys present not just new ideas, but new sounds and something I have not yet seen. You guys have such a unique vibe its insane. Have you guys ever been approached by any labels or music reps to change anything up significantly? And what do you think of artists doing that to get signed? Fortunately we both have always had a very clear idea of what we should be doing. We are ever motivated to create and have great gratitude that we are able to live this life. To be honest nobody’s ever really challenged us to change, the way in which we work is essentially D.I.Y so we just explore where ever the energy take us. We probably would benefit from some business management, but the blessing of doing everything yourself is you learn and grow at a high pace. As to other artists, each is own their own path and they have to live with themselves so I have no judgment- personally I have never compromised my art to get a wider appeal, or more success, I strive for soulful honesty- not just entertainment.

Little backstory: I was once standing on a beach somewhere in a middle of nowhere, and the beach was a temporary home, something to hide away in but it was only a band-aid of escape. In the mist of the sunset setting and nothing but ocean in the backdrop, your track Loyalty from the album Spiritual Songs for Lovers to Sing came on, and everything made sense in that moment. One of my favourite songs ever, hands down. Talk about what that song means to you guys? How did it come to be? Loyalty is one of my favorites, it was actually the first song Ebony sang on, the first time I really heard her voice- I wrote the cello part years ago, probably when I was a teenager and always had the idea to make an epic street hassle (Lou Reed) kinda record, but could never figure out how, then I came up with this guitar riff and sang along it all started to come together but I had no idea how the chorus should go, so I asked ebony to just play around and those line’s “we are going to sail away…” came out of it- perfect! yeah I love that song, we have never really been able to play it well live (with out a cello player!) so I haven’t heard it for a few years- but you made me want to revisit it now…

While we are on the topic of your first album, what was the song writing process for it vs your second album Love Hates What You Become? Would you say there was a difference creative wise between the two? Spiritual Songs was written in lots of little fragments over a couple of years (2012- 2015) I mostly wrote it on a piano and then straight into Ableton so its a lot more processed production, - Love Hates I wrote whilst we toured the 1st record in 2016- I had started playing guitar for the live band so I wrote nearly all the songs on 6 strings, I finished it up in a week in January 2017 so it was fast, focused- we produced the record with Jon Congleton in 3 weeks recorded and mixed, so it was all very fast- I felt the record to had a raw urgency, to keep us moving, keep the band on the road, but then the label stagnated the release schedule for 18 months and it kinda lost the energy, I am proud of the record- but it was quite a frustrating period, which I am happy to have behind us.

I've always wondered, with your album titles like Love Hates What You Become or  Spiritual Songs for Lovers to Sing, where do these ideas for album names come from? The Unified Field. I don’t know man, ideas arrive and you note them down and then months later they have meaning, that’s the way titles, lyrics most of what we do comes to be- I like walking around aimless, letting my mind roam, writing down anything that feels exciting

Speaking of creative, you guys recently left Mute Records to start your own label LUH International. What prompted this big change up? And in a nutshell what can we expect from these big changes? As eluded to earlier, after the release of Love Hates we had become frustrated by the slow and bloated process working within a label system can place on your creativity- We were looking for new way to work in the world with more intimacy and spontaneity, an opportunity had arisen with a de-centralised video platform called Vevue that enabled us to become financially independent for the foreseeable future- so we decided to make LUH.international formalised as an entity- to release our work, not necessarily a record label, I see it more as creative studio that will periodically make short run pressings of our projects- we are currently putting together the First, a book that consolidates our work on the Love Unite Humanity web series release via Vevue.

What advice can you give someone who would want to start up their own record label? Patience, perseverance and maintain a level of success consciousness- law of attraction vibes.

You guys are not just starting your own record label, but developing original content (and music) titled Love Unites Humanity (Episode zero here) and will be featured on the video platform Vevue. In saying all that, what does this project mean for you guys? And how will this take Lost Under Heaven onto the next level? Love Unites Humanity brings together a lot of our thoughts and experiences over the last few years, I see it as a way of articulating our world view, thru artistic expression. It also provides us a free space to experiment, creating work quickly and immediately releasing it with no middlemen, the Vevue platform enables us to directly earn from our work with it token exchange economy.  

When can Canada expect to see LUH live in concert? ah man, I have no idea, we’d love to get over to you tho- perhaps some one reading this will want to make it happen.

5 rapid fire questions, give the answer that comes to mind first If you were not called Lost Under Heaven what else would you want to be called? Ebony & Ellery James and their Famous Flames Best venue to play in? The White Hotel, Manchester Favorite current song? ROSALÍA - Juro Que  Best underrated artist? So many but my today I say, Kali Malone Favorite song that is your own? Here Our Moment Ends or Black Sun Rising

Cover photo by Chris Almeida

#luh #lostunderheaven #www.seohero.uk #london #music

[jessicakehoe]

Everything You Want To Know About The Makeup and Hair On Fleabag

Season 2 of Fleabag dropped last month and since that time, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s series based on her one-woman play has inspired love letters, a sudden obsession with pre-mixed cans of G&Ts, and theories about the meaning behind the fox. Fans have also been searching for ways to look like Fleabag herself, from buying her black jumpsuit, to copying her haircut and trying to recreate the exact shade of her signature brick red lipstick.

Unlike the celebrity makeup artists and hairstylists who prep their clients for red carpet appearances, or the ones who work backstage creating runway looks for fashion shows, film and TV artists have a different task: using cosmetics and hairstyles to communicate something about the characters on screen, from where they shop (Boots vs. Harvey Nichols ) and what brands they use, to their imagined lifestyle and income.

We tracked down Pippa Woods, the lead makeup artist and hairstylist for both seasons of Fleabag, to ask her about everything from the meaning behind Fleabag’s different hairstyles (speaking of, we love the amazing tote Woods’ girlfriend gave her when the show wrapped) as well as the unfortunate cut her sister Claire (Sian Clifford) got to what makeup she used after the family dinner fistfight.

Did you and Phoebe talk about the overall makeup and hair profiles for Fleabag and Claire before filming, and what did you want their hair and makeup to communicate about their characters?

“Their beauty routines were briefly mentioned in Season 1 when they go to the retreat. Claire had so many products for all different parts of her face and body, while Fleabag just had one that did everything. We didn’t really follow through this theory though as there are just too many products we love to one use just one. We did try to keep Fleabag as minimal as possible though. She’s a mascara and lipstick kind of girl rather than someone who would use loads of fancy eye shadows. I think the sisters’ hair definitely reflected their personality traits. There is so much pressure on women to look a certain way because of how the media promotes beauty, that our emotions do manifest in our hairstyles. Fleabag’s hair always looks done, as we all feel the need to hold things together and promote a certain image to show that we are ok. It’s something we can actually control.  I also think that’s why we make such drastic changes to our hair when we feel we need to change things in our life, just like Claire.”

Claire’s extreme hair transformation in Season 2 involved a wig. Who decided on the reference for the style she got?

“We worked closely with Sian and Phoebe on the style for The Haircut. We needed to find something that was so drastic but could actually be something that Claire would think was a good idea. That was the trickiest bit. I spent ages gathering and narrowing down a selection of styles which could look amazing on the right person (hence Claire choosing it in the first place), but would never be right for Claire. These images then bounced back and forth between Sian and Phoebe until we all agreed on the same one.”

What products did you use to create Fleabag’s look?

“Phoebe’s hair is naturally very curly so to achieve the style we blow dried it with a hot brush to lengthen out the curls a little to give them more freedom and movement. We used Shu Uemura Essence Absolue Nourishing Protective Oil, and the Bumble and Bumble City Swept Finish to give her hair a ruffled texture so it didn’t look too perfect.”

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I just adore this photo of Phoebe. It was one of the first continuity photos we took from Series 2 of Fleabag. Swipe to see 2 of our absolute favourite products to get Phoebes skin looking so perfect. @augustinusbader is just the most incredible moisturiser and base for makeup and we just can’t live without our Chantecaille future skin. We use it on everyone! Makeup and hair by the super talented @charlottebroadbent_mua … #fleabag #phoebewallerbridge #makeup #beauty #skincare #foundation #chantecaille @thecommsstore @chantecailleuk @chantecaille #makeupartist #hair #hairstylist #skin #glowy #glowyskin

A post shared by Pippa Woods (@pipwoods) on Apr 11, 2019 at 2:40pm PDT

Did you use anything special on The Priest and Martin?

“We used a pomade for Martin’s beard to keep it under control for the top of the series when he seems more together. It’s a high-shine pomade from the company Layrite who do fantastic men’s hair grooming products. After the family dinner scene in Season 2, we used a wax-based makeup brand called Maqpro from Paris to create the bruising around their eyes. We also use Maqpro’s foundation, concealer, blush—just about everything. It’s my go-to range for most things.”

What were some of your other go-to products on set? 

“Chantecaille‘s Future Skin. And Augustinus Bader, a super hydrating cream, which worked so perfectly on Phoebe’s skin. It also has a certain gleam to it, which just makes the skin look gorgeous. We also absolutely love the Stila Convertible Color cream blush in Peony on Phoebe, but we use it on most people because it looks good on everyone.”

Can you tell us about Fleabag’s signature shade of red lipstick?

“We custom mixed her lipstick from scratch. We took oils, waxes, butters and other natural ingredients and mixed them with natural pigments to get that perfect Fleabag shade. We used it for both seasons; it was so popular in season one we thought, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’”

Did you do anything differently with Phoebe’s skin for that scene in Season 2 when everyone is complimenting Fleabag at her mum’s funeral, and she’s worried people will think she’s had a facial?

“[We used] glowy skin primers and lots of Trilogy Rose Hydrating Mist Toner. That stuff makes everyone look better.”

The post Everything You Want To Know About The Makeup and Hair On <i>Fleabag</i> appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Everything You Want To Know About The Makeup and Hair On Fleabag published first on https://borboletabags.tumblr.com/

[hudsonespie]

Interview: Master Mariners Speak On Training, Corruption And Jobs In the Industry Today

The rank of a Master Mariner is the pinnacle of achievement in the merchant navy. Years of training, hard work, rigorous examinations, experience at sea and mental and physical constitution later, a cadet finally achieves what he has always looked up to- taking command of a vessel.

While at a training institute, a newbie always has ample questions with regard to the profession and what it is due to bring in terms of professional success, relentlessly posing questions to Masters about their time out at sea including all the trials and tribulations that career brought with it, and naturally.

We at Marine Insight thought it to prudent to bring forward to our readers’ first-hand experiences from Masters which would bring clarity from a stalwart’s viewpoint and at the same time help them understand the profession a little more.

With this in mind, we interviewed two very respected Masters from two different backgrounds (one who started as a cadet and another who come from the Indian Navy background eventually switching over to the merchant navy).

Capt. Subroto Khan (SK) is a Master Mariner who, after extensive experience out at sea, is currently a faculty member at the Great Eastern Institute of Maritime Studies. Capt. Vivek Scudder (VS) is also a Master Mariner who is currently Senior Faculty at the RL Institute of Nautical Sciences. We (MI) got their views on their time at sea, the current scenario in the industry, what is lacking and the steps they think will improve the quality of officers onboard ships. Here’s what they had to say.

MI: At first, I’m sure everyone would like to know more about you – school, college, pre-sea, cadetship, becoming a Master Mariner and your cadetship experience.

SK: I had completed my schooling from The Doon School, Dehradun where I came to know about the prestigious and lucrative career at sea from one of my classmates who happens to be a successful Superintendent today in a major shipping company in Singapore. I tried to enter as a direct entry cadet but did not succeed. Finally, I appeared for the IIT JEE exam where one of the options along with the IITs was the option to join the Merchant navy either through TS Rajendra in Mumbai or the DMET in Kolkata.I opted for the 2-year pre-sea training at TS Rajendra and along with 80 other cadets, joined the training at Ferry Wharf on a bright November morning.

Two years flew by in rigorous training, with the fear of not getting a ship after training looming constantly over us. I was lucky to get the Great Eastern Shipping Scholarship making me somewhat assured of a placement after passing out. I joined the Great Eastern Shipping Company in Dec ‘85 and the first ship was a brand new ship which had just arrived at Butcher Is. on its maiden voyage to Mumbai. 

VS: I studied at the King George’s School, Bangalore and thereafter at the Lawrence School, Lovedale. Following that, I did my college from St. Xavier’s, Mumbai. I am an ex-naval cadet and officer. I joined the merchant navy as a Chief Officer in 1989 with the South India Shipping Corporation Ltd. that later merged with Essar Shipping Ltd. Both were excellent companies.

MI: What about the competency exams (how hard were they, how did you go about studying for them, how was life through prep- broke/basic living etc, the feeling upon clearing)

SK: I completed my seat time in 3 other ships to eventually appear for my competency exams in 1988. It was difficult financially along with the fear of facing the surveyors at MMD, always was a harsh reminder when we were out partying during exams! There was an immense urgency to clear the exams in the shortest possible time as the recession was at its peak.I finally joined Great Eastern after clearing my ticket and got my command as a Master in 1995.

VS: I did my Masters course at LBS in Mumbai in 1990 and got my command as a Master in 1993. The exams were very tough back then, especially the orals.

MI: Difference among cadets now and back then? What are the improvements needed in training? 

SK: Today the cadets are too distracted and hence are not able to do justice to their profession.The pride of being a seafarer is a trait difficult to find.They need to be dedicated to their profession and be eager to learn every day. I remember a Chief Officer who told us to show him 5 new things we learned on a daily basis and to always maintain a diary to note down things.

The ship staff is too busy to find adequate time to spend on training but they need to ensure the juniors are groomed and mentored so that when they come back as officers the seniors are more confident in delegating duties to them and hence their workload will be reduced automatically.Good pre-sea and onboard training for the cadets is a win-win situation for everyone – the ship staff, the company and the industry as a whole. As the mantra goes-train, train and retrain and retain.

VS: Earlier, cadets were doing 3 years of sea time before they went ahead with their 2MFG exam. That was a much better system. Now they do college for 3 years and just 1 year of sea-time which is not sufficient. They lack practical knowledge today and are usually poor in the practical aspects of COLREGs and bridge teamwork. Only 50% of the cadets are good today and many of them lack the basic knowledge of English, which imperative onboard. A master always expects a cadet onboard to display good practical knowledge and to display proficiency in navigation eventually along with cargo work and ship stability. More emphasis should be given to practical aspects of COLREGs and bridge teamwork. BTM and BRM should be part of the cadet’s syllabus. MI: How do you address the issue of rampant corruption – the presence of agents that claim huge amount to place cadets?

SK: Corruption is raising its ugly head in placements which were not there in our time. One needs to be vigilant and ensure thorough background check before committing any money to the agents who are taking advantage of the situation. My advice to the cadets- be patient and the tides will change.Your day will come when you will get a suitable opportunity. Shortcuts can lead to disaster.

VS: Any agents in question should inevitably be in possession of an RPS License.

MI: Many youngsters are not getting jobs. We do understand it depends on the market situation, but there is a huge gap between demand and supply. How can we address this issue in the long run?

SK: To ease the situation of a number of waiting trainees, the Port Trusts can help in recruiting them for their services including Pilotage. There is plenty of scope available in the Port Operations where some of the interested waiting candidates can join till the situation improves.

VS: Cut down cadet training to 20 cadets per batch per institute per year

MI: Any interesting accounts from the time at sea?

SK: There are many but none that I can think off the top of my head right now. We shall revisit this question another time!

VS: Sailing from Venezuela (loaded Alumina) to Iceland (Grundartangi near Reykjavik). A very interesting and tricky voyage of 10 days of which 3 days involved navigating through ice fields and icebergs- it was awesome! Visiting Iceland itself was a great experience. Seeing those hot geysers and springs amid glaciers and experiencing sub-zero temperatures is something I will never forget!

Marine Insight would like to express their gratitude to both Masters for taking time out from their busy schedules to let our readers get a better perspective of the profession and the industry as a whole.

Disclaimer: The authors’ views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of Marine Insight. Data and charts, if used, in the article have been sourced from available information and have not been authenticated by any statutory authority. The author and Marine Insight do not claim it to be accurate nor accept any responsibility for the same. The views constitute only the opinions and do not constitute any guidelines or recommendation on any course of action to be followed by the reader.

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