#and ability to pick anyone she wanted to collaborate with

[writing-wh0re]

“That's my girl, you take cock so well.”

♥ pairing: professor!nanami x professor!reader

♥ summary: Based on this ask “Reader is a new young and fun professor at the college and works in the same hall as Nanami. She challenges Nanami and his old school ways. Nanami ends up folding her up in his expensive car after class ends and makes her submit to him. ”

♥ warnings: smut 18+, oral, female performing oral, spit, slight throat fucking, praise, unprotected sex, creampie, car sex, cowgirl, mention of hickies, slight begging, pet names: baby, little plot with banter.

♥ wc: 2,523

♥ masterlist & taglist

You watch the tall blonde man in awe, with every comment written against the exam, his arm flexes ever so slightly, tensing the muscles with each stroke. God what you would give to feel his arms around your body, his hands on you. 

Nanami reaches up to adjust his glasses causing a small panic to rush through you, not wanting to be caught eye fucking the man. You quickly move your mouse around, clicking blindly on the screen, fringing busyness. 

“Y/n.”

You look up towards Nanami, embarrassingly quick, your mind in two places, hoping he didn’t catch you.

“I’m half way through these exams, could you cross mark this pile for me?”

You eyes glance over at the stack of stapled paper, at least 30 students work all compiled together. 

“Paper exams? C’mon Nanami, that’s just punishing yourself.”

Nanami smirks slightly watching you move from your desk to his. 

“It keeps my students honest.” 

“Yeah and bored, I’m surprised anyone has a pen on them these days.” 

You grab the stack of papers and head back to your desk before stopping yourself. 

“Speaking of pens.” You trail off as Nanami presents you his red pen, knowingly having a pencil case full of others. 

“Thanks.” Blush nips at your cheeks, adding a mental note to buy yourself pens. 

The two of you sit in comfortable silence, each going over the exams. After a while your wrist starts to cramp. 

“I don’t know how you do it.”

“Hmm.” Nanami hums, keeping his eyes on the test in front of him. 

“How is your wrist not killing you? Cross marking my exams will be so much easier.” 

Nanami chuckles, his eyes finally leaving the paper and connecting with yours. 

“Why don’t you print yours out for me?”

“Why don’t I just give you a lesson in technology?” 

A small smirk crosses his lips as he sits back in his chair, loosening his tie and crossing his arms over his chest.

“I have all night if you do.” 

“Oh Nanami.” You sigh, wait, is that blush on his cheeks? You quickly push past the thought and continue. “You doubt my abilities, I’m a great teacher, it won’t take all night.”

Nanami smiles, looking at the window as thunder rumbles through the sky. 

“Although, with your elderly ways yours might be the most time consuming.” 

Nanami laughs, shaking his head at you before picking up his pen and continuing with his marking. 

God, you wish you could have recorded that sound. 

| | | 

“Okay, now this document allows for students to collaborate virtually, I use these documents to not force students into sectioned group work”

Nanami sighs, sitting back in his chair that is now squeezed in beside you. 

“You’ll have to write this down for me.” 

“The more you do it, the easier it will get.” You smile at him, watching as he nods, a slight frown over his brow. 

“Hey, if you’d like I can come into a class when you’re introducing it to your students and help along the way.” 

“The students won’t need help.”

“I wasn’t talking about the students.” 

A silence falls between you two, the sound of thunder rumbling in the sky, the wind howling against the windows as rain begins to pitter patter against the tin roof. 

“I’d appreciate that.” Nanami smiles, looking over his shoulder at the window. 

“We should head home, before this storm keeps us here.”

“Uh yeah, you go, I decided to take the bus this morning so I’ll wait it out.” 

“The bus?”

“Yeah, it's this huge metal box on wheels with little to no personal space.”

Nanami scoffs, rolling his eyes. 

“I’ll drive you home, smartass.” 

You heartbeat picks up, he will drive you? God sitting next to him at your desk was hard enough but contained in his car? Fuck. 

“You really don’t have to, I wouldn't want-”

“Y/n, it wasn’t a question.”

You huff slightly, his authoritative voice sending a wave of arousal to your core. 

The wind outside picks up as Nanami packs up his papers. 

“C’mon, I don’t want us caught in the storm.”

You nod, quickly packing up your desk and following behind the tall man. While trailing behind you reach into your bag, quickly spritzing yourself with your perfume the hints of vanilla and bergamot floating in the air. 

Nanami holds the door open for you. You gingerly step outside, although under cover, the wind blows your hair across your face, the chill causing you to shiver. You tense slightly as Nanami places his hand on the middle of you back. He bends down, the rain picking up as he whispers in your ear, his warm minty breath fanning against your cheek.

“I’m the blue mercedes over there.” He presses his car key causing the yellow lights to flash once. “It’s unlocked but we’ve got to run, the rain won't slow for us.” 

You simply nod at his instruction knowing your voice would struggle to compete against the downpour. Nanami’s hand leaves your back, he quickly checks his surroundings before rushing into the rain. You’re quick to follow behind him, stepping in a few small puddles as the water splashes against your bare legs, your skirt not providing any warmth or coverage from the water. 

You slide into the passenger seat, the leather slippery under your rain soaked skin. 

The air of the car is filled with both of your heavy breathing, both of you taking a moment to catch your breath from the rush. You look over at Nanami, his blonde hair dripping water down his face, the droplets falling from his strong jaw. His eyes lock with yours, your hair also wet and sticking to you. Small droplets are stuck to your eyelashes, running down your face with each blink. 

Both of you smile at each other, laughter filling the air at your small adventure. The rain picks up, accompanied by lightning and thunder. The front windscreen mimics a waterfall, the car ever so slightly rocking from the gusts of wind. 

“That’s one way to get me wet.” You joke as Nanami leans his head back against the headrest. 

“Not how I intended.” Nanami whispers, if you weren't so close to him you would have missed it. 

You look over at him, his blue shirt stuck to his toned chest, his skin silky with water. 

“How did you intend?” 

The words leave your lips in a breath, almost inaudible, not sure where it could take you or if you want him to hear. 

Nanami stays quiet, a deep sigh falling from his parted lips. You almost want to take it back and act like you asked a different question but his eyes capture yours, his hand falling to your knee. 

“Taking you out, treating you to dinner and maybe, if you considered me lucky enough, spending the night with you and showing you how to use that smart mouth of yours.” 

Your breathing hitches as his fingers trace shapes on your thigh. You take in what he’s just told you, your heartbeat picking up and your body becoming warm as the water on your skin feels sticky. Nanami goes to pull his hand away from you, believing he has overstepped but you grab his wrist. 

“Show me.” 

Nanami smirks at you, dragging his fingertips up your body, his hand caressing your cheek and turning you to face him. His thumb hovers over your lips, his eyes darken as you press a kiss against his fingertip. He drags your bottom lip down, your tongue licking against the digit as he slips it past your lips. 

“Fuck.” He breaths, watching your lips wrap around his thumb, your tongue slowly swirling around it. He pulls his hand away from your mouth, tangling his hand in your hair and pulling you closer to him, your lips ghosting against him. 

“Kento, please.”

Nanami swallows harshly, his forehead resting upon yours.

“Say that again.” 

“Kento.” 

He groans before connecting your lips together. Your hands fly to his face pulling him against you. Your tongues tangle against each other, his fingers scratching against your scalp. You rest one hand on his shoulder, the other running down his chest. You moan against his lips as you touch his body, your fingers pulling on the buttons. 

He pulls away from you, your eyes locking with his tiny water droplets on his glasses from his hair.

“Get in the back.” 

You quickly shuffle into the back, more room that you thought. You wait in the middle as Nanami pulls his tie off, opening his door and stepping into the rain before sliding in beside you. The windows in the car begin to fog up at the brief edition of cold air. 

Nanami rests against the seat, looking over at you and gesturing for you to get on top of him. You’re quick to straddle his waist, your skirt bunching up around your hips, the blue lace of your panties sticking to your dampening core. His fingers grip your waist, pulling you against him as your lips mould together. He leans forward slightly, holding you tight and kissing down the column of your throat as your moans fill the air, competing with the rain. His hands slip under your skirt, guiding your hips against his crotch, his moans mixing with yours. 

Your hands slip between your bodies, fumbling with his belt and pulling his shirt from the waistband. You move to slip your hand into his pants before he stops you. 

“Oh baby, I haven’t used your mouth yet.” 

You nod at his statement, wiggling on the seat and slipping down into the footwell as Nanami chuckles at your eagerness. He helps you free his cock which has your mouthwatering, the long member throbbing at it’s freedom before you wrap your hand around the base. 

Nanami rests one arm against the head rests of the back seat, his other hand caressing your cheek as you trail your tongue up his cock. The moment your lips wrap around the tip he thrusts into your throat, a gag filling the air as he coo’s at you encouragingly. 

“You can take it, show me baby.” 

You move your mouth up and down his member, his hand moves from your cheek to your hair, holding it away from your face to ensure he doesn’t miss a moment of his cock disappearing past your spit covered lips. 

Nanami slowly rocks his hips up into your mouth, hitting the back of your throat as your eyes water. Your hand pumps his cock faster, watching as he tips his head back against the headrest, moaning your name into the air. You’d continue this for the rest of your life to hear him moan for you over and over. You go to pull back as he holds you still, keeping his cock buried in your throat. You squeeze your eyes shut at the action causing him to release; you pull back with a gasp, his cock popping from your lips. Spit sticks to the tip leading a trail to your lips. Small pools of drool have formed around your mouth, your eyes glistening with tears. 

Nanami winks at you, bending down and placing a soft kiss to your lips. His hands fall to your biceps, helping to pull you up from the footwell and to his lap. He brushes your hair away from your face, kissing your slightly swollen lips, his teeth grazing against your bottom lip before pulling back, his eyes locking with yours. 

You break his eye contact, pulling your shirt over your head and unclasping your bra. Silently thanking yourself for choosing a matching set this morning. Nanami rests against the seat, watching you undress for him, taking in every curve and mark on your torso, his fingers slowly unbuttoning his shirt. His hands fall to your tits, massaging the skin, a small smile on his face. 

“So beautiful.” 

Blush heats up your face, goosebumps littering your skin. 

“Please Kento.” You grind your hips against his hard cock earning a hiss to fall from his lips. The lace of your panties scratching the sensitive head. 

Nanami leans forward, kissing your breasts, sucking against the skin, leaving his mark on your body. Something you’re bound to be looking at for days.He runs his hands down your body, gripping your ass tight. He bunches your skirt up higher, looking down at your clothed pussy. 

His eyes lock with yours silently asking permission before you nod eagerly. He pulls your pants to the side, a small chuckle vibrating through his chest at your wetness. Nanami drags his cock up your slit, nudging your clit with the head.

“God you’re tight.” He hisses, sliding against your slick walls. 

“Fuck, so big.” Your hands rest on his shoulders, nails digging into the skin. 

Nanami holds you in place, capturing your lips with his, his fingers digging into the skin of your ass. 

You softly rock your hips, his hands guiding you, helping you set a rhythm. You alternate between swirling your hips side to side and rocking back and fourth. Continuing to pull moans from his lips like a prayer, yours accompanying his. 

You lean back, your shoulders resting against the backside of the driver seat, watching as his cock slips in and out of your pussy. 

“That's my girl, you take cock so well” 

His girl.

The simple comment causes your pussy to flutter around his cock, tightening. 

Nanami licks his lips, reaching towards your lips and slipping his middle finger into your open mouth. You moan around him, swirling your tongue as your eyes close. He pulls the digit from your lips and places it against your clit causing your breath to hitch. 

“Oh fuck.” 

Nanami keeps his eyes fixated on your pussy, watching his cock slide in and out, his free hand helping you keep a rhythm as he circles your clit with his finger. 

“Don’t stop.” You moan as Nanami’s hips thrust up into you, his pace on your clit picking up slightly. You place you free hand against the roof of his car, your body tensing as your eyes squeeze shut. 

“Kento.” You moan loud, your rhythm slowing, your cum covering his cock, the sound of your wetness floating around the car. Nanami groans low, pulling you to his chest, wrapping his arms around you as he fucks you through your release, chasing his own. 

Your lips fall to his neck, kissing, biting and sucking the skin. He places a hand against your head, the other staying wrapped around you, a low moan vibrating through his chest. The thunder outside rumbles against the car, his cock twitching deep inside of you. A warmth fills you, his hips slowing, his fingertips dragging up and down your back soothingly, the other running through your hair. You pull back from him, looking over his neck, the faintest hickies showing on his skin. 

“Let me get you home.” Nanami kisses your forehead, helping you slip off his cock and sliding your pantines back across. 

“For round two?” You wink which causes blush to tint his cheeks. 

Taglist - Tag yourself here

@zagreusdaughter @sunshinemunchkin @alina02 @veryspookybatbabe @maybesandohnos @mathletemadison @themoonis-beautiful-tonight @skarlettmikaelson @darling2800 @reynaandeny @uwiuwi @anythingandeverything97 @fckve @nyx2021 @alexxavicry @thehumanistsdiary @anonreaderas @i-love-scott-mccall

#writing-wh0re-requests #jjk smut #nanami x you #jujutsu kaisen nanami #nanami smut #jujutsu kaisen #nanami kento #nanami x reader #nanami fluff #jjk imagines #jjk x reader #jjk #jjk fanfic #nanami kento x reader #kento smut #kento x reader #kento nanami #jjk kento #kento nanami smut #jjk nanami #jujutsu nanami #jujutsu kaisen fanfic #jujutsu kaisen fanfiction #jujutsu sorcerer #professor!nanami #Nanami x you #kento nanami x you #kento nanami x reader #kento nanami x y/n #nanami x y/n

[violetlunette]

My Yuu's relationship with Heartslabyul as requested by this ask;

Ace: Ace is one of the few people who can keep up with Yuu and his antics thanks to his ability to pick up on things quickly. Ace usually lets Yuu have his fun but is the one to put his foot down when Yuu goes too far. An example is when someone dared Yuu to make a black hole machine, and Yuu forgot the off switch. Yuu sees Ace as a capable person and, thus, will turn to him when things get dangerous.

Yuu was surprised to realize that Ace is defensive of him and was shocked to learn how upset he was when he thought Yuu was in danger during the Halloween event.

Deuce: Yuu sees Deuce as a younger brother and is quite protective of him. Often, he helps Deuce study and understand things, as Yuu is good at dumbing things down so anyone can understand. Deuce always feels like he’s tumbling down a rabbit hole with Yuu but still admires him in many ways, especially his determination to succeed when he fails.

There is a strong comradery between Ace, Deuce, Grim, and Yuu, and they all look out for one another.

Riddle: Oh boy, was this an explosion when they first met. 

Yuu ignores rules that are inconvenient to him, whether they’re school rules, laws, or the laws of physics and logic. He believes that if you quietly—note, QUIETLY—ignore them, then the rules will rewrite themselves so they don’t apply to him. (The fact that he, a non-magical student, is at NRC proves it.) As such, Yuu often clashes with Riddle, who thrives on order.

In a way, they’re like the Queen of Hearts and Wonderland.

The Queen believes that she rules Wonderland and keeps it in check, not realizing that Wonderland is actually twisting her to match its rules.

It’s the same between Riddle and Yuu. Riddle believes he’s the only one who can keep Yuu in line, but, more often than not, Yuu uses Riddle’s mindset against him to get what he wants. Riddle is straightforward and can't keep up with Yuu’s creativity to find loopholes. However, Riddle does adapt eventually and begins to see through Yuu’s tricks, keeping the other on his toes.

(Fun fact: Riddle has a large stick labeled “No, Yuu, don’t!” which he uses to whack Yuu.)

Trey: Poor Trey. Poor Trey, someone save him!

Aside from the shenanigans Yuu brings to his dorm when he visits, there’s the chaos when Rook brings him to the Science Club. (They have a special line of rules made especially for Yuu.)

That being said, while exasperated at times, he doesn’t hate Yuu. He even finds Yuu's love for Silver kind of cute and will gently try to pull him back when he reaches stalker level.

Yuu was a bit miffed at Trey when they first met, as he refused to rein in Riddle or stand up to him, which caused issues for Ace and others. However, Trey’s kind nature (and cakes) won Yuu over. He even made him a mixer—that NO ONE in Hearts will go near out of terror of what might happen—and attempted to fix his leg when it broke in chapter 2. (Trey wouldn’t let Yuu near with a scalpel, which is a shame because Yuu’s best work is done with bones.)

Carter: Carter thinks Yuu is great entertainment—from a DISTANCE. Carter likes to record Yuu’s antics but always makes sure to keep out of the Danger Zone. (Coward.)

Yuu thinks Carter’s okay and is good for Intel when he needs it, but they don’t collaborate beyond that.

--

Masterpost

#twst #twisted wonderland #mine #twst yuu #ramshackle prefect #twst wonderland #disney twst #twst oc #twst spoilers #disney twisted wonderland #Heartslabyul #deuce spade #riddle rosehearts #ace trappola #trey clover #carter diamond

[kiwibirdlafayette]

you heard of the kites and nightingales, kestrels and herons... but little do you know, another faction hides in the caves and unseen crevices of the faction isles...

I've been brainrotting about a Krimson Krakens (+ mianite pirates and Tom because I do what I want) cameo in Pirates SMP, so have some worldbuilding and lore ideas! Of course, all for fun, moreso an AU/Headcanon than anything, not meant to be taken seriously at all :] If it turns into anything more, cool beans, but for now! I'm just vibing

(Made in collaboration with @kaye-memer-kurrentvertz who helped with the Dave, Krinios and Krakens dynamic stuffs :D)

Little prologue and ficlet below the cut; Enjoy!

Meet the Krimson Krakens.

Comprised of mystical and mysterious individuals- some of more human in appearance than others- no one is sure when this faction formed. Unlike the others, it holds no precedence over the many generations of pirates in these Isles, nor is their presence heard of other then in whispers between pirates across the land.

Carrying with them an infamous reputation of a crew like a Kraken; in search of breaking curses, solving the mysteries of the Isles. Who would find their target and take it over like tentacles wrapping around a ship reaching into its deepest corners until they've found what they're looking for, no stone left unturned in their wake.

The crew is headed by the elusive Captain Kara Corvus, adorned by many snakes upon her shoulders, and Captain Jordan Sparklez of draconic origins; the latter said to have begun life in the End, given humanity by a deity and brought into the Overworld as a curse. While they bicker a lot sometimes, they are a powerhouse of a duo who know each other very well, being a force to reckoned with especially while wielding their respective weapons- Kara's ruby-adorned Leviathan Blade and Jordan's unbreakable enchanted prismarine trident with a name in Enderian spoken only once ever by the deity that crafted it

But they by no means hold any sort of superiority over the others, for like Nightingales, they value friendship and comradery over power over one another. By their side is the former Kestrel cyclops Krinios- a man with a keen eye for treasure and an ability to loot a ship in the heat of battle which has been considered unmatched, only having been caught a few times. - and Dave Krtzy, a fighter from a bloodline stretching generations in the Kites who broke it to join the Krakens. A master with any melee weapon he can get his hands on, he's usually the first to jump into battle, and if someone's in danger, his waterman abilities come into play.

However, while these four make up the core of the Krakens they are not alone in their adventures, and have picked up other friends along the way

Joining them are the Dulahann siblings, Katherine "Capsize" and Redbeard (his birth name has been all but forgotten by the others) and family friend Rupert, a skeleton reborn from an island of purple goo who gained sentience thanks to Capsize's mother. The Dine-at-Night is their family's tavern-BnB that was expanded into a base of operations after the trio met Jordan, who one day washed up on the beach with little memory of where he came from- and sort of became his family. While not a Captain in this universe, she still takes up a leadership role of her own right in being rather good with a sword, solving mysteries, collecting evidence and giving the realest advice to both friends and passing bar patrons. Red's a little more loose headed but alongside Rupert is a skilled ship engineer, and the guy to go to if the boat's got a leak or a steering system has gone awry. Not much is known about Rupert besides him being known to be a jack of all trades, a powerful asset to have onboard. He has said to have had said he has a claim to fame in his past life before dying on the taint-covered island, but has yet to share it with anyone..

The most recent member to join them is the undead Tom Syndicate, a blue-haired zombie with an explosive personality and fighting style, who had been known to frequent taverns across the Isle. Having once belonged to a rival independent crew of the Krakens, rumor has it that he betrayed them after years of mistreatment, turning instead to choose to join Cpt. Sparklez out of admiration and perhaps a kind of affection that turned romantic over the years (to the point of claiming to be married to the captain, no one knows for sure how true this is). Despite coming from a very different background than the others, including a lost memory of who he was before he had been zombified he fits in quite well, his willingness to jump into battle like a cannonball flying through the air and explode on enemies without second thought brings a certain chaos to the Krakens that they have accepted wholeheartedly.

While their ship is stored away in a sea cliff hidden behind a waterfall somewhere on the island, the tunnel system leading there from beneath the Dine-at-Night, the Krakens enjoy a relaxing life on land, chilling at their tavern base of operations, or being a living legend amongst the other inhabitants, familiar but unfamiliar faces in the crowd. Some have started to believe that their swashbuckling days are few far between in the lack of comings and goings since the new recruits have arrived, but contrary to that they still have been traversing under cover of night to seek out what darkness could be brewing just around the corner. From the growing amount of purple in Rupert's hair to a sudden glow of the rusted coin around Dave's neck the Krakens have had their suspicions for a while....

-------------------------------------------

"Oi! Ye heard what happened?"

Jordan jolts awake off the bar when the bottom of a mug hits against his shoulder. He glares at the Scottish accented, freckled face that passes him, an eyebrow raised.

"No... Heard what Kat?" He grovels, and sits up a little straighter, turning to check the time. 1am. He rests his hand under his chin, hoping that propping it up would keep him awake for the time being. "It better be important, I was having a nice dream for once in my life."

Capsize rolls her eyes. "I don't think that's all gonna matter all that much one ye hear about what I heard today."

He eyes her cautiously as sets the mug she was drying down on the bar. There were a number of things that she could be alluding to, from their own personal affairs, to Tom causing trouble at the Heron's base to something as drastic as their ship had been stolen, or worse burnt to the ground. He hoped it wasn't the last one, but even if it was, he and Kara had a contingency plan.

He murmurs. "I mean maybe... what'd you hear?"

She sits down on a stool across from him, folding her hands together. "The Factioning was a few days ago, right?" She waits for him to nod in response, ensuring that she had the dragon's full attention. "Turns out, that's not the only thing that happened that day. Something calls them out to the Isle to the north, spoken through the recruitment officer."

"The fox man? He told them to go?"

"From the looks of it, yeah." She fiddled with her bracelet, the clacking of the beads breaking through the ambient sound of distant ocean waves and the crackle of torchlight. "I mean, I wasn't there so what would I know. for sure, but they listened."

Jordan shrugs. "I mean PK's a trustworthy guy, I'd probably go if he told me to."

"Yeah, well you'd trust Tom if he told you to walk the plank, I'm not surprised." Despite her little quip, Capsize's face becomes more serious solemn in expression and her voice lowers. "I don't think they were meant to because turns out, twenty-four of them went over there, two of them didn't come back. Kestrels and Kites apparently both lost a member of their faction."

"... Like they stayed? Why would anyone wanna hang out at the wasteland, there's nothing there but-"

"Jordan. They died."

A gust of wind howls outside through the barely cracked windows, the flame within the lantern beside her flickering briefly twice.

The wings on the captain's back droop slowly downward as he lowers his hand onto the bar crouching over ever so slightly. "Died? From what, the island?"

"I don't know, but from what it sounds like. Yeah." She gulps. "One get taken away on a boat.. of sorts? The other follows and lands onto the island probably to chase after their friend, and never comes back."

Jordan feels his heart drop further down into his chest. He finds himself fidgeting with the rings on his fingers, already a million possibilities running through his head "Did they get a look at who took the first one away, at least? So there's somewhere to start?"

"All that I was told is that they were dressed in robes. Could've been a cult, bandits in disguise, ghosts for all I know- Not much to go off of." She solemnly runs her hand through her hair, reaching to untie her bandana allowing her bangs to fall into her face. "It's a feckin' shame really... after all these years. I didn't think anything of that damn accursed land would ever come back. Because here I thought they'd be able to recover properly this time, not let whatever still lingers take back over."

A glaze falls over Jordan's expression. Memories of dried violet entrails wrapping around buildings, skeletons not unlike in appearance to Rupert buried in the masses of warped wood and sunken docks. Wind howled over the tops of the valleys and mountains carved out, through temples that had been thought to be abandoned for centuries. The time he, Kara, Red and Dave travelled there in search of another medallion there was a certain eerie silence, the sign of a land that no longer had any visible, breathing life to it, but remained haunted by all that came before, and all that was yet to come.

Jordan furrowed his eyebrows together. "That means… the island's alive again?"

Capsize nodded. "Aye. The island is alive again."

#lafakiwi writes #krimson krakens #lafakiwi draws #gkm arts #pirates smp #pirates smp headcanon #pirates smp theory #mcyt fanart #dave krtzyy #kara corvus #jordan captainsparklez #captainsparklez #krinios #captain capsize #skipper redbeard #rupert the grey #tom syndicate #hope yall enjoy the little ficlet at the end #i wanted to present the lore a little differently this time rather than just writing bullet points so i tried to write it like exposition #again! just for fun :D #then go into just a tiny little scene #ficlet #no beta we die like men #the mianitian krakens au

[7-dreamers]

28 May 2023, [Idoltist] Choreographing·YouTube…Dreamcatcher Sua, what can’t she do? ②

Sua, who showed talent in dancing since a young age, came to Seoul from South Gyeongsang’s city of Masan all by herself to start the trainee life. Through 5 years of training and nurturing her ability to copy choreography, Sua started thinking ‘I want to teach others choreography that I make’.

“So of course I used my members. The company suggested that I created choreography for a special clip. I had only been thinking those thoughts, but it was the company’s director that made it actually happen.”

◆ Special clip Sua & Dami 'Havana'

“It was my first choreography so I knew there would be a lot of expectation, and as this team’s main dancer I didn’t want to make an easy dance, so I added in a lot of strange moves and practiced alone.

I first realized when I was doing the ‘Havana’ dance with Dami. ‘If you’re going to teach people a dance, you have to add moves that look good when anyone does it, not just yourself.’”

◆ Special Clip Jiu & Sua & Yoohyeon 'Taki Taki'

“For my second choreography, I picked the members. I wanted to make a hip and hot dance for ‘Taki Taki’, so I picked members that would fit that.

The members did really well to make the choreography look good. What I also felt then was that when the people who are performing pull off the gestures and facial expressions really well, it makes it so fun for the person making the dance. ‘I see this person can pull it off like this.’ The same move can produce a variety of feelings and that in and of itself was fun.

For my first choreography, I learned that ‘I have to create a dance that suits that person’, and for the second one, I learned that ‘it can end up looking good (even differently).’”

◆ Special clip 'COPYCAT'

After showing dances with the members, Sua prepared her first solo performance through ‘COPYCAT’. Sua received inspiration from BTS J-Hope’s solo dance for this choreography.

“I really liked it. So from then on I thought ‘everything I do turns out well’ and gained strength.

It was the result I liked the most. I still watch it even now. I think the composition was perfect. At the time our manager sent the video to our group chat, and Yoohyeon said ‘This dance is totally my style. I want to do it too’. When the members say that they want to do it themselves too, I feel like I created it really well.”

◆ Dreamcatcher B-side 'Red Sun'

Up until then Sua had only been choreographing for special clips, but after choreographing for Dreamcatcher’s B-side song ‘Red Sun’, she showed her choreography on music shows as well.

“It was so fascinating. I was happy even just having the members dance to choreography that I created, but when the music show MC introduced our song by saying ‘Sua’s choreography,’ I felt so good.

From then on I’ve been wanting to choreograph for our title songs as well. My next goal is higher, so I have to do as much research to reach that point.”

◆ Special clip Sua & CLC Seungyeon 'Tadow'

“There were a lot of fans asking for a collaboration with another company’s artist, and coincidentally Seungyeon was doing a program that released a video every month. We had been saying ‘let’s film a dance video together’ for about a year and half, and we felt that ‘now is that time’ so we created a dance together and uploaded it.

It was a choreography with a different vibe compared to our group’s concept, so it was fun. I felt that ‘it is nice to do a variety of dances’, ‘I like dances that are not confined to one thing.’”

Starting with special clips all the way to Dreamcatcher’s group choreography, Sua has even started creating her own YouTube content. Through Dreamcatcher’s YouTube channel, Sua releases her personal vlog called ‘Sua’s Private Life’ that she films and edits herself.

“It’s nice for the company to edit for me, but they have so much to do including group videos and the other members’ personal vlogs. In that way if one person does everything, all the members’ personal vlogs start to have the same vibe.

I definitely had my own style. No captions and fast cuts, to me it felt very easy to watch. So I felt like it was a good idea to edit the videos that I took in my own style. I think I challenged myself to this for practice since I want to open up my own YouTube channel later.

At first I started it fearlessly, but it turns out there’s a lot to do. I have to write all the captions with correct spacing and grammar. After one or two videos, I started to get tired of it. (laughs) So I started doing it all at once right before the deadline.”

Although Sua makes the content on her own, currently ‘Sua’s Personal Life’ is taking a break. “I filmed a lot of vlogs when we went on tour. It’s not a vlog I usually film, so the content and flow becomes repetitive. So I realized I needed to take a break.

Even so, in the future I will keep doing them. Because I bought an editing app. In order to do it, I even bought an Apple Pencil and keyboard. (laughs) I’m the type of person who needs to start something the moment I think of it, so I immediately bought them.”

To ease the absence of ‘Sua’s Personal Life’, Sua recently started filming a CeCi Korea content called ‘Solution Sua’. Sua says “if I keep doing things like this one by one, later on when I make a YouTube channel, maybe it will just feel like a continuation,” and brings about anticipation.

Source : Xports News

[Reporter Lee Seul]

Translation by 7-Dreamers irshu Please do not take translation without credit

#dreamcatcher #sua #230528 #era: a from us #t: interview #t: trans

[burnwater13]

Finally! Someone had told the Mandalorian Bounty Hunter his name. Grogu. That’s right. Grogu. It was a name. Like Ahsoka was a name or Djarin was a name or Peli was a name. 

It’s not like Grogu had picked it for himself. He hadn’t. It was just the name he was called at the Jedi Temple. He didn’t know why they had called him that or who had named him. No one he knew admitted to being the one who did that. 

But if you said it out loud, he would turn his head and ask ‘What?’. It got his attention. That’s what names were for, right? To get your attention. When Din Djarin finally said Grogu’s name, ‘Grogu?’, Grogu had been surprised and grateful and had paid attention to the Mandalorian. Which, as it turned out, was just what Din Djarin had wanted.

Yup, the Mandalorian liked that power. The ability to say a word and capture Grogu’s complete attention. There weren’t many other ways to do that to people. The Mandalorian had found ‘Hey, kid’ less than satisfactory because Grogu always assumed Din Djarin had been talking to someone else. 

But now that he knew Grogu’s name, just who was being summoned, or scolded, or teased was no longer a mystery. It was the owner of that name, Grogu. 

Even the Imps and their collaborators didn’t know his name. They were the ones who called him ‘The Child’, like that was going to be specific enough. Although, who knows, maybe in Gal Basic ‘The Child’ meant ‘little green guy who could use the Force but wouldn’t unless he really liked you or really disliked you’. Gal Basic was strange that way.

The other strange thing was that lots of people seemed to have more than one name. After all, the Mandalorian wasn’t just Din or Djarin. Nope. He was both. Din Djarin. Like Peli was Peli Motto and Ahsoka was Ahsoka Tano. Even the Imps had two names, like Moff Gideon or Stormtrooper FN-2187. 

Grogu wondered why that happened. Did people just decide on a second name? Did their parents decide? Was it a governmental action? He could see the Empire really liking the ability to make people carry a name of their choosing, you know, since names had power. 

Look at all the Darths for example. Darth Sidious. Darth Vader. Darth Maul. Darth Tyranus. Darth Bane, who started the whole thing. They weren’t brothers, or children, or family. So the name didn’t tell you anything about them really, except to cross the street if you heard anyone say ‘Uh, oh! Here comes Darth [insert name here]!’ It was about the power.

Grogu wondered if he actually needed to learn to speak in Gal Basic now. Just to balance the power out with the Mandalorian. It seemed like the thing to do. If he could say Din or Djarin or Mando… he just might get the tall guy’s attention when he actually wanted it. That would definitely change their working dynamic. 

“Din, want frogs!”

“Djarin, want sleep.”

“Hey Mando when are we going to visit Greef Karga again? I miss IG-11!”

He could just imagine the Mandalorian’s face if he learned how to say any of that stuff. He had to imagine it since Din Djarin, Mandalorian Bounty Hunter, was wearing his helmet all the time again. Which reminded Grogu that he didn’t know the Armorer’s name. Did she even have one? Or was ‘Armorer’ like ‘Grogu’? Just a singular name that covered the whole territory of the person? Maybe. 

In which case, maybe Grogu meant something like Armorer did. It was a job. Or a skill set. Perhaps he was called Grogu because he was strong with the Force? Then anyone else strong with the Force would be called Grogu… nope. That didn’t work. Lots of other people had been strong with the Force without being called ‘Grogu’. 

It was also possible that the Jedi had run out of other names for their younglings and had called him Grogu because it was the last name left. He’d never heard of there being two Jedi with the same name. No Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, one and Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, two. Or prime, or whatever other designator would be needed to prevent confusion. 

Now he wondered how that worked across the galaxy. There were a lot of people. Did folks just have letters and a bunch of numbers appended to them so you would know the difference? That didn’t even seem real. 

Nope. Grogu liked his name and would keep it. Maybe someday he would be known as Grogu Mando, because he was a Mandalorian now. But until then, Grogu was just fine.

#the mandalorian #grogu #din darjin #calendar prompt a day

[beckface]

Animal au things because I couldn’t sleep last night and wanna just talk about it ahhhhhhh

-Claire is a elk, she’s not a fox because I want her to be a large animal in comparison to Tobey and I decided Tobey’s dad is a fox anyways. (I hqd her as a horse before but I want amazo guy to be a horse so switching that) Tobey hates that when he looks in the mirror he looks like his dad (who left) and tries to insist that he’s anything else that he can reasonably pass as as a fox. Sometimes it’s a cat so he can be more like wordgirl, sometimes he’ll say he’s a wolf to seem like a “cooler” larger predator.

-Victoria’s family is very against her being with anyone except another (male) lion. Hunter Throbheart is also a lion and her parents approve of their relationship. The Bests also tend to look down on any other types of cats, much to Becky’s annoyance. One time Victor called Johnson (cheetah) a “cheap spotty copy” of him, and Tj got really angry and stood up for Johnson

-If Tb gets turned back into Steven in this version he keeps the white coat and scruffy neck fur. His nose, ears, tail and other prominent mouse features get changed back though

-Villains that are naturally more pack/pride/herd-oriented like Twobrains and Victoria try to collaborate with others more then the more lone-type species. LRW is a zebra so she is naturally inclined to having a herd, but she’s also the most antisocial person ever so it cancels out

-Leslie regularly stands on Mr. Big’s head

-I regret not making any of the main villains a hyena. Like I want a hyena what was I THINKING. I could have made Rhyme and Reason a hyena and an African Wild dog, or maybe a Badger for Reason. They’re such big threats in the show I should have made them predators. I might change it.

-Twobrains refers to his henchmen, the villains association, and wordgirl as his pack, just because he still uses wolf talk even though he’s part mouse. She did not know that she was included in this until one day when he just casually said it in the middle of an evil monologue and started tearing up, making it awkward for everyone.

-The henchmen do bear things together

-Boxlietner definitely knew his lab assistant Squeaky was evil but never took it seriously

-Miss Power flies with her wings, not supernaturally like Becky does. She’s jealous of Becky’s ability and teases her for it, making Becky wish for the first time that she wasn’t a cat

-The kids all get picked up by their neck scruffs idc. Yes even violet (fawn)

-One of the side characters is an aardvark I’ll figure out who later

-Learnerer can just like float around. He’s not flying because he can’t go up or down. No one gets it

-Miss Question is the fastest flyer of the birds

-When Miss Power got defeated Granny May (with jetpack) said “Good riddance to that old jerk. I’m the one and only flying lizard around these parts.”

-Tiny big is a falcon

-If any of the large predator villains got in a fight and it turned physical the protocol is for the kids and smaller animals to be taken far back as possible. WG is ofc allowed to help in splitting them up (no one really “allows” her do anything to be fair) but usually it’s best to just let them figure things out with teeth and claws

-kinda wanna change Steven McClean to a wolf just to be a territorial rival to DTB. But also rams are fun

-Butcher is the scariest villain to a newcomer to the city even though he’s a huge softie

-Chuck and Brent are two seperate species of tortoise

-Hal is a raccoon

-Contraria is a land of boars and pigs mostly

-The warden is a goat

-Timmy tim bo is a sloth

-Beastars au plagues my mind, day and night

#wordgirl #animal au #this is just for me to ramble honestly

[jumaanboruto]

Public knowledge:

Ash started his journey with Pikachu, rather than a traditional starter. Through word of mouth and interviews, the fact that Ash woke up late and had to take him is public.

Ash seems to be able to talk to Pokémon to some extent, though as he’s not comfortable describing the mechanics of Window to the Heart, he tends to publicly describe it as just knowing certain Pokémon very well, and ‘picks up how they communicate.’ He’s often caught having full conversations with Pikachu and others.

While he can keep his supernatural abilities a bit obscure, his outlandish, often superhuman strength is very public knowledge, and is a subject of memes and jokes surrounding his public persona. It’s difficult to ignore a man holding a full-grown Gigalith.

He’s married to his two friends, the Top Coordinator and Poké Stylist, Dawn, and the former Kalos Queen, Serena. Serena announced their relationship in a Poké Vision shortly after the events of her first Master Class.

He does have other outstanding relationships, like with Roxie, and his close friend, May. Both of them are known for this extra-marital relationship that’s okay’d on all sides. Unlike his marriage, though, he and any others lead their own independent lives.

He considers Professor Kukui and Professor Burnet as parental figures. The same goes for Johanna and Grace, but they’re in-laws, as well.

Ash adopted a young child in Pallet in his young adulthood, named Elaine.

Ash’s favorite food is croquettes.

Ash is a talented singer and guitar player. He’s released a couple of albums, singles, and collabs, and even performed the rare concert. His most common partners in music are Roxie, Malie City’s Ryuki, and the former idol, Yancy.

After passing his Championship on to Misty, Ash is the eighth and final Frontier Brain of the Kanto branch, which has now moved to the Sevii Islands. He can only be challenged after all of the others are defeated for their silver, and then gold symbols.

Ash took the crackdown on Team Rocket very seriously, and engaged in a very public final battle with Giovanni in Saffron City, where he defeated him, and freed Ho-oh and another unidentified Pokémon from his control. He’s public about Lugia and Ho-oh formally joining his roster, afterward, though he doesn’t speak about their habits or whereabouts in the interest of their privacy.

Ash and Professor Kukui, or the Masked Royal, hosted an exhibition match in the Alola region to popularize the idea of using Z-Moves without Z-Rings, after the discovery that the Shiny Stones used to craft them are taken from Necrozma and their absence harms them. The full story is quietly kept, but the event was convened with the region’s Kahunas, publicly announcing a change in their religious practices, to instead offer prayers to Necrozma in the form of Z-Move poses. Z-Crystals are still distributed, and their energy radiation will allow the execution of Z-Moves, rather than being directly worn.

Ash caught Victini his late 20′s; this became a big public stink when an administrator of the Orange League, in her bitterness over Ash defeating Drake in his youth, peddled a series of rumors about Ash rigging matches with the Victory Star. Of course, he hadn’t.

Him having Zekrom became public knowledge once she started living with him. Hard to hide a giant dragon when your grade-school age child wants to bring them for show-and-tell.

While Ash-Greninja was simply known as ‘the strange Greninja’ during the time of the Kalos League, the form became far more well-known after he rejoined Ash and started competing in his official matches; including assisting Ash in defeating Lance for the Championship. The nature of their bond was popularized with the hit single, XY&Z, which Ash collaborated on with Ryuki.

Ash-Pikachu was publicly revealed during Ash’s final PWT Championship battle with Paul. His appearance was a complete shock to anyone but close friends and family.

Ash is public with his struggles with depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Although he’s made a great recovery in his emotional and mental health, since his most difficult days, he openly advocates for anyone with their own problems to seek help and talk to someone.

Semi public knowledge (only certain people know)

His many tangles with evil teams and villains, sans Team Rocket, are known of by the likes of Interpol, and people who are close enough to Ash to know about them. He doesn’t comment on these publicly, though he will talk about it with people he trusts.

On the note of Interpol, Ash became a member of them in his young adulthood, quietly assisting them in dismantling Team Rocket along with his public opposition to them. He also assisted them handling Ultra Beasts in Alola, where he aided Champion Moon in solving the Necrozma crisis and defeating Team Rainbow Rocket.

While he won’t address it publicly, there are plenty of people out there aware of his ability to communicate with Pokémon and use of Aura. He occasionally has no choice but to explain or show them off, or will use his abilities to help others. He’ll ask them to keep the subject quiet, though undoubtedly rumors have slipped on the subject.

Ash likes to peddle some of his more outlandish and less traumatizing stories to the world, both for his and others’ entertainment, and to muddy any certainty on topics he likes to keep private or obscure. He’ll also blatantly make up farfetched stories to throw into the mix. He has fun doing this, but it serves the purpose of his privacy.

It’s more of a lowkey open secret, but Ash can be rather promiscuous — as are his wives, who might be even more infamous than him in that department. Rumors and stories are exchanged on online celebrity-oriented message boards on the topic, to the point where they’re occasionally sought out, either out of thirst or sheer curiosity. The topic isn’t touched on publicly, though, because explaining their polyamory was enough of a headache.

Pikachu is legally registered as a member of the Ketchum family (now Ketchum-Tsumura-Aniere, or Ketchumuriere.) and he handles Ash’s taxes. No, this isn’t a joke.

Private knowledge ( Only family or very close friends know )

The mysterious possessed Pokémon wielded by Giovanni was a third Mewtwo, collected after Team Rocket discovered tattered notes of the first Mewtwo project. Giovanni managed to Mega Evolve it, which had left Ash and his team utterly powerless to defeat them. The Mewtwo from M01 appeared to the rescue, and placed his faith in Ash due to past experience. Their mutual trust and will to topple the madman culminated in Mewtwo naturally turning into Mega Mewtwo X. The melding of their hearts struck Ash with the full memory of the experience of New Island that he’d lost, as well as many of Mewtwo’s own thoughts and memories. They occasionally surface to him in dreams. After Giovanni’s defeat, Mewtwo said his farewells, and left with the third Mewtwo to rehabilitate them. 

He became close with Arceus after the events of the Jewel of Life, over the years, and they’ve become a father figure to him as well, who would appear in disguise at rare points to check in on him. He keeps in contact and has an Arc Phone gifted to him for doing so. The same extends to their Ultra Space counterpart, Necrozma. There’s a photo or two in the KAT household of the bunch of them with a certain llama god in attendance.

Ash assisted Arceus with spacetime troubles in the form of venturing back in time to Hisui, where he would watch over the faller child they sent to maintain the past and defeat Volo. Rather than taking an active role as usual, he was sent as insurance, should further anomalies and dangers arise. Ash joined the Galaxy Team’s security corps, posing as a trainer from afar. He went to great lengths to secure his identity and knowledge of the future, only divulging them to the faller Ingo, the child protagonist, and...

Upon joining Galaxy Team, Ash was confronted by a spunky and nosy member of the Agriculture Corps; a woman named Murara. They quickly became romantically entangled, and when she was struck with the revelation that she was a faller, Ash told her the whole story. A child of Klara thrown into the past mistakenly by Moon’s Lunala, she decided to remain in the past with her new family and community. It was a bittersweet relationship cut short by time, but they left each other fondly. The experience left a strong emotional impact on Ash, and led him to taking on a look reflecting Hisui.

Additionally, Murara turned out to be Ursula’s ancestor. Ursula is aware of the situation, much to her dismay, as Ash asked to hold onto one of her family keepsakes that belonged to her. It’s become a point of comical contention between them; only she and Ash’s close friends and family know.

Thanks to Hoopa’s mischief, and the supernatural benefits of his Arc Phone, Ash has met prominent figures and characters from across the multiverse; including other realms of fiction. He keeps in contact with some of them, though only friends and family know about this. If a man told you he was casual friends with characters on a TV show, well...

Ash has lost multiple teeth in combat, which in his indifference he might’ve left alone, until he was told it could affect his ability to eat. He has several false teeth.

His battle with Paul in the PWT involved him utilizing Ash-Greninja, Mega Charizard Y, Ash-Pikachu, and their Z-Move; 1-Billion Volt Thunderbolt. Even with Greninja carrying a hold item to ease stamina, the experience exhausted Ash so horribly that it hospitalized him for several weeks. He’s on doctor’s orders to never combine power-ups that recklessly again. Because of this, Pikachu and Greninja are split between his Gold and Silver Symbol teams.

#(⚡) — You gotta keep smiling no matter how tough things are getting! [text post] #(⚡) — The aura is with me! [headcanon] #WHEW this was a lot #sorry i have lots of thoughts #the PLA stuff is fresh #i wrote it with my wife and her faller OC #so enjoy that lore ig #(⚡) — Check it out Buddy! [dash commentary]

[fuminotamaki]

She sleeps a lot during the day, but she always goes for a walk several times a day to protect her territory. She will attack anyone who comes into her territory, but when she realizes that they are not trying to take her territory, she becomes gentle, she shows them the way and asks for a cat food can. She seems to have picked up a smartphone on the roadside. [1]

Appearance

She has medium length dark brown hair and blue-green eyes with kemonomimi ears and a fish shaped blue hairpin. She wears a light beige and tan striped hoodie with black shirt underneath.

Personality

Tamaki speaks in a soft and pleasant voice that belies her strange sense of humor and whimsical nature. As befitting of a cat, her streams can be very random such as when she titled her stream as a "2D Announcement" only to begin a karaoke stream partway through before stopping and suddenly beginning a collaboration stream with other NIJISANJI members to play charades.

Due to her habit of joking heavily and her strong roleplaying abilities, many of her fans are often left wondering if what just happened on stream was actually real.

History

Following the popularity of their "Official NIJISANJI Virtual Livers," Ichikara Inc. opened a second set of auditions on 22 February 2018, featuring an unnamed "stray cat" as one of the available designs.[2] On 15 March, Ichikara Inc. formally revealed their second generation of Virtual Livers, introducing them as members of the group "NIJISANJI.[3]

2021

On 10 April, Tamaki revealed her 3D Model in a 3D model debut stream.

Relationships

Second Generation (2期生出身) - Tamaki, Suzuka Utako, Ushimi Ichigo, Ienaga Mugi, Yuhi Riri, Mononobe Alice, Fushimi Gaku, Kenmochi Toya, Gilzaren III, and Morinaka Kazaki.

Fumino and Fumi (ふみのとふみ) - Tamaki and Fumi.

TamaNgo (たまンゴ) - Tamaki and Suo Sango.

Nijisanji Team Rocket (にじさんじロケット団) - Tamaki, Fumi, and Nagao Kei.

Trivia

Color: #EBDDB4 [4]

She has the nickname "airplane cat" from to the imagery in some of her videos, because the fan of her PC is really loud. Or "unlucky cat" due to difficult circumstances including often dropping her phone, getting her bicycle seat stolen, and the below.

She suffers from many problems around her, such as bad internet connection and bad luck.

She can mess up many things without getting punished by other NIJISANJI members, as long as she doesn't cause serious damage and loss.

She received the friendly nickname "clueless cat" from her fans because of her ineptness with technology. During a particular livestream on 24 April 2018, she failed five times to start the stream due to technical issues and was crying on the sixth attempt. Her YouTube channel's name had been the same text repeated twice - it can be assumed that that was accidental - for months.

In May 2018, Tamaki began experiencing problems with her throat that made speaking and therefore streaming difficult. She visited the hospital on a few occasions and on 3 June 2018, she tweeted a diagnosis of vocal cord Leukoplakia, basically a severe issue with the vocal cords that is a risk of cancer. She went for treatment and on 28 June 2018 she tweeted that it was going well and that she hoped to be active again within a week.

On November 10 2018, she wanted and won 2434 bags of potato chips from Calbee's gift campaign.

On one of her streams showcased here she was heavily sleep-deprived and managed to stay awake for a brief amount of time before she fell asleep. Whilst she was asleep it was assumed by most that her stream disconnected, but in truth she simply fell asleep due to her aforementioned sleep-deprived state, and during this time both the chat and Super Chat went into free time due to her not being awake to attend the stream, earning light-hearted hashtags/trends on Twitter such as "#Wake Up Fumino Tamaki", along with around 2000 viewers still on the stream. She woke up after four hours of sleep, shocked to see that she fell asleep whilst her stream was ongoing, and even more surprised to see both the amount of viewers that stayed during her nap and the amount of yen she recieved as she slept, which was about 250,000 yen, she greeted her fellow viewers after her nap and explained that she expected her stream to disconnect, and was surprised to see that it was still active during her rest, thanked the viewers for them being there even as she slept and for those that donated the aforementioned yen, even jokingly mentioning that she should sleep again to see if such an event happens again. [5]

Tamaki lives with 4 other cats. Originally she had a 5th cat, but it became ill and "was taken away".

Tamaki has dislocated her jaw while streaming on two separate occasions. On one of the occasions, she managed to dislocate her jaw twice during the stream and fix it both times. On the other, she had to have Kenmochi Toya and Morinaka Kazaki, who she was streaming with, end the stream for her because she couldn't fix her jaw.

On 3 February 2021, the "#NIJINYANJI" project was held, which included the Indonesian, Korean, and Indian variants of NIJISANJI, which showed the liver's models dancing to the video known as "Nyanyanyanyanyanya!". However, Tamaki, the stray cat herself, was not invited to the event (because of NIJISANJI's official policy was to only use 3D models). So she started to play "Nyanyanyanyanyanya!" at the same time as everyone else - for 12 hours, mind-blowing due to other member's videos being their models for around 3 minutes.

On 13 February 2021, she tweeted out that she may have broken her hand during the 7.1 earthquake that occurred late the previous day. She later confirmed that the microwave near her bed fell and landed on her hand and that it was indeed broken after going to the hospital.

External Links

Media

Fumino Tamaki's corporate profile on the official NIJISANJI website

文野環【にじさんじの野良猫】ふみのたまき - YouTube channel

@nekokan_chu - Twitter account

Further readings

文野環 - Unofficial NIJISANJI Wiki

Nijisanji logo (V T E)

#nijisanji

[rayroa]

Judy Collins Q&A for Creative Loafing Tampa Bay

Judy Collins returns to Tampa Bay on Jan. 28, 2024, and Creative Loafing Tampa Bay has a feature story advancing the gig, but here's our Q&A for anyone interested.

—

Merry Christmas. What's that like in your house?

It's beautiful. It has a beautiful tree, and all my favorite possessions, and my husband. It's full of beautiful plants, and beautiful lamps and lights—so it's perfect.

And this is in New York, right?

Yep.

You talked about all your possessions and things like that. We obviously catch you at a very prolific time in your career. Still heavily gigging on the road, feeling great. What does Judy Collins ask for for Christmas? And what does she get for Christmas at this point?

Oh, I got a fireman Santa Claus ornament. An ornament of a microphone. I got a beautiful scarf from my sister and one from my husband—they're beautiful, gorgeous. And I love those things. They cozy me up on the road and they help me get through things. And books, and of course wonderful little tchotchkes from my sister and my granddaughter. I got a candle in a beautiful cup that has butterflies all over it. I love butterflies.

That's awesome. Gifts are really nice when you can figure out how to attach them to warm memories of the people that give them to you.

Exactly.

I want to ask you about Leonard Cohen a little bit. Obviously the story is well told and has been told a lot. He asked you why you weren't writing your own songs. You told him he's got to sing his own songs. And then you wrote "Since You've Asked" right after that. But I haven't seen you kind of talk about what you think Leonard would say about this latest album of all originals.

I know he'd love it. He'd love the one about Thomas Merton, certainly and he'd love the one about Spellbound. He was always generous with his praise. I would send him songs since I wrote them, and he would send me notes and tell me how wonderful they were. So I was always grateful.

Was he a good songwriting collaborator in terms of...

Oh, no I never collaborated with him on anything. He was a friend, and he was a fellow artist, and he was a great inspiration to me. And I think that's really where his  friendship helps me out. Because he inspired me with that first question. He got me going. And then after that, it was up to me, of course, but I did send him everything to get his response.

Did he ever give you constructive criticism?

He always said "That was wonderful." And that's the way that's the way he rolls.

For 32 years you learned that bel canto style under Max Margulis. He's the reason you can still work like a dog and I know you picked up a lot of good practices from him..I know that today is as good as it gets, you and I are both alive—and I know you have songs on the album that talk about some bad times, thinking of Arizona and tuberculosis in 1962—what about your own New Year's resolutions what are you working on this year?

Work harder. Keep on the edge. Forgive, forgive, forgive. Delight in the present. You know, keep your weight steady. Do your exercises and your bone strengthening. And take care to think of all your relatives and friends every day. Try to pray for them in this difficult time. It's always a difficult time on this planet. I don't know how we get by, or what we're supposed to do, but hang in here and try to exist and survive. Art's the thing that helps us which is why I treasure what I do. I think about the past year—I've had, in my experience, some of the best performances of my life in the past year. When I come off the stage, and I have that feeling that I have been present in something unique and transformative, it's transformative to me as well as the audience. I am so blessed because this is what keeps me going. This ability to get out there and do what I do, and sing and sing and sing, and talk, and tell my stories. It's just such a great privilege.

Yeah to be helpful for people's lives, too.

Absolutely. And the people who follow me and who come to my shows, they know what I'm going through because I'm always honest with them, I always tell them. This whole past month-and-a-half when I've had this cold which wouldn't go away, I was still able to sing and perform and I didn't have to cancel anything, thank God. So, you know, they know you're human, and they accept what you can do. Max has taught me what to do. So that makes my life much easier. Because I know how to get around these barriers to the voice.

You've kind of alluded to the cyclical nature of things in the human condition, and how the human condition kind of asks us to have art. Art gets us through things. And obviously, throughout your career, multiple people told you things like you know, "You got me through Vietnam," and I know that for poets hope is everywhere, but as you alluded to, there's this circle—and we love to kill each other for some reason—what is some of the art that gets you through these days?

Well, it's just the fact that being able to embody something that is of the nature of the other. Of the emotional, the spiritual, of the perception. You're dealing in something that's not on a foursquare basis. It's on the basis of spirituality, understanding, hearing, learning, listening, creating, dreaming, and that's what our life on the planet really is all about. I mean, the rest is a lot of work. And as far as writing and creating, my friend who's a mystery writer says, it's like laying pipe. You have to get up and do it, and practice it and write it and paint it. And that's the work that goes into it. But the result is just this connection between the spiritual and the practical. And that's what gets us through life, I think. I don't know what we would do without art. From the beginning, the caveman was drawing pictures on the walls of the caves because it had to express their experience of nature and of the powers of nature—and they did. And that's what we do. We basically were expressing what's happening around us—the nature, the growing things, the birds, the air, the clouds, the sun, the light, the morning, the night, the stars, the moon. So we see ourselves reflected in the universe, and we try to make something out of it that can inspire us, inspire one another.

And obviously reflection and song is its own special art form. Expression in songs is its own art form. Sometimes it's easy. Sometimes it's hard. It was interesting to hear you say that you'd like to forgive more in the new year. You're so expressive in your music. You're always also a very vivid storyteller in your music. Oftentimes, your songs can take somebody back to a year, or a moment in history, but what are some of the things that you find hard to express? Is forgiveness one of those, or what's hard for you as far as expression goes?

The hardest thing to express is my being vehemently against war, and sometimes that has to come out with a song by Pete Seeger or Woody Guthrie. I have shied away from singing "Masters of War" lately. I usually sing it in my shows, but since this disaster in the Middle East, I'm not singing it. I just can't even bear it. It's too painful. I don't want to take people to that place in the moment. I mean, "Amazing Grace" will do it. John Lennon's "Imagine" will help—a song that transcends the moment instead of leaving us to have to live in that feeling of despair and horror and hunger and human suffering. We don't have to live through that through a concert. We have to be given something to lift us over that and through that. And also, I think that helps the planet. I don't think it's important to poke people's eyes out with the information that everybody has. I can't even watch the news.

Yeah, I totally understand that. And you know, listening to you talk about not wanting to sing "Masters of War" was interesting. Because I have a four year old and they did a Christmas program a week ago, and I didn't know what they were singing. And they did "War Is Over." 

Good.

And it was so crazy to see a bunch of four year olds, you know, singing like, "War is over if you want it." And I'm in Florida, like, this is where woke goes to die, you know?

(laughs)

So I was like, really happy to see these kids like singing this song. I couldn't believe it. And you know, and it makes a lot of sense now that you wouldn't play "Masters of War." You talked about Leonard a little bit, and I was gonna ask you, you know, because he was an Orthodox Jew and I think you've played you know, in front of Jewish audiences, but I think you kind of answered the question in the previous answer. I was going to ask you how you thought your conversations about the current war would go with Leonard, but I feel like you answered that. Do you feel that way, too? Or do you feel like you have more you want to say about that?

Well, you know, he was so explicit. Also there was a point in I think '73 when one of the wars—the Six-Day Way, I think, happened—he went to Israel and sang and wrote a song…(hums it out, trying  to remember the song title)... I forget, anyway, he was always expressive. On You Want It Darker, some of his last material is so powerful and so painful, because we wanted to darker—and we're getting it darker. This free formed mental illness that's what it is, it's freeform or mental illness.

My brother in law's in town and we've been talking a lot about Martin Luther King and his quotes about how violence could change somebody but also change a country, you know. You're one of the most famous activists in American history.

I don't know about that.

I don't know, I think your career is really interesting, because you have sung activist songs and you've, I mean, you're a woman also making music and art through all those really hard years for women. And you talked about the cyclical nature of things and thinking about the song "Mama, Mama" and that brave story that you told about traveling to Nebraska when you were 23. And I think the last time I talked to you was early 2022. And since then, in the last year, we saw the right to abortion fall, and I was wondering, why are men still so obsessed with telling women what to do? You'd think we could exercise that out of our humanity.

I don't know. I mean, the fight might be there to keep our seal up and to make us aware that it's not right, and that we have to take action. Maybe that's what it's all about. I don't know. It has to be so hard. Why does it have to be so hard?

The animal kingdom is very hard and very simple. The rules are very simple. The aggression is based on hunger and predatory, land grab, and survival. And maybe that's all that it is. It's survival. It's predatory, land grabbing, and knocking off the neighbor who's annoying you. That's sort of historically what it's all about. War and fighting and anger and ferocity is part of our planet, life. Everything has a time. And then it goes, and species die out. Ours may. I mean, we're sort of forcing that on the planet to get rid of us because we're damaging it so badly. We may get retribution from the planet. And maybe war is part of that retribution? I don't know. I don't know the answer to any of these questions, except that I do know that it's one day at a time. That is getting through your own battles and your own struggles with this degree of kindness, gentleness, and understanding.

If you can't see that on the planet, you have to do it in your life. To show gentleness, to show respect, to show forgiveness, to be an even handed neighbor and friend. The kindness to one another is essential. The fact that we can learn to hold our tongue unlike some of the forces around us, people who cannot hold their tongue and have to say everything on their mind. That takes us back to mental illness.

I wanted to ask you something about your dad. I think he woke up every day, I think I remember you telling the story of him maybe singing like Dorothy Dandridge.

Yeah.

And being smiling and kind of ready to work all the time and learn something new every day. And obviously, your dad was also an alcoholic who got the job done. But then you've also described him as you know, a blinded man in a sighted world which  could be a beautiful metaphor, but also quite literal, in his life, but that joy that you talked about, that your dad brought to every day—smiling, ready to work and learn something new—what are some of those things that he taught you either directly or indirectly by example that you kind of bring to your work every day and maybe want to amplify even more this year?

Yeah, show up on time. Your work to the best of your ability. Always be present. Always be cooperative, always be enthusiastic. Always be happy. I mean, he was happy most of the time except if he was dead drunk. But, you know, that's the challenge. He overcame it. He knew how to do what he had to do. And I learned that from him. I had the benefit of discipline. In terms of my studies, I had to practice several hours a day. I had to show up. I had to do my homework. I was helpful. I was industrious, and that's part of why I do what I do. I love to be happy. I can tell you that some people in my family think I'm a cockeyed optimist. Why am I cockeyed? I have to be an optimist. You have to think there is something beyond what's going on, which is going to come out well. And I think even in chaos and the death and the destruction that's happening. The other side of that—it's like the fire burning in the forest and the next spring, all the wildflowers come bursting out dancing around in their colors and their shapes and their shifts—we have to look beyond the depths into what can be the brightness of the outcome. That's what we have to think of.

Right, I know we're getting short on time. I wanted to squeeze in a couple more questions. I think you kind of alluded to this. You've said people lose sight of everything—and you were just talking about that big picture—but you also said they watch too much television. They're on social media too much, which is not surprising but then you also said, "I'm also guilty of that sometimes but I tried to stay away from it." I don't imagine you like doomscrolling on Twitter or Instagram much. Do you?

No, I tell you, I do my due diligence. I check my email. I check my Facebook page. My Facebook is really a wonderful place because I get things that I love. Lots of paintings. A lot of scenes of herding dogs, sheep dogs—they excite me a lot—and horses. I get a lot of rivers and wind and trees and things like that. So I dip in there but I don't stay very long. And last night we watched “Christmas Carol” with Alastair Sim. That's a yearly event—we always watch that—it's the best film.

Real quick, do you still do the Canadian Air Force exercises?

Well, I do everything I can to stay healthy. I run. I walk. I have a FitBit that tells me my steps; I quite often get 2,000 a day. I try to do my stretches. I try to work out. Now I have a trainer for my weight bearing exercises so that I can increase my bone mass. The Air Force Exercises, I don't know if I could do them now, but I'm pretty fit.

And last question. I want to revisit “Arizona” again. The stories it conjures up for you, whether it's being brought to the lung doctor after the ash alley gig, the custody battle with Peter, but what about the writing of a song like that? Does it sting emotionally to have to revisit all of that over and over until you land on lyrics and an arrangement you love?

Well, it was a long-term song. I started it years ago. I worked on it on and off. I put things in it that I liked, and eventually when I was writing songs with Ari Hest, that's where the whole concept of Spellbound came because when I was writing with him, I realized that I just had to get down to start writing a poem every day, and also finish some of the things that I've been working on. He was very helpful. It’s a very mysterious process. And I'm very grateful to have it in my life.

I'm very grateful that you made a little bit of room for me in your life this morning.

It’s been wonderful talking to you. You're very inspiring.

Thank you. You're also very inspiring and I'm proud to talk to you and I'm proud to tell my parents that I get to talk to you and your music has meant a lot to my family over the years. 

Have a beautiful holiday Happy New Year to you.

Enjoy those scarves. Happy New Year.

Bye bye.

#judy collins

[richardwakeley]

Working as a volunteer at a food bank

Working with food banks as a volunteer has several advantages. There are cross-sector relationships as well. Therefore more volunteers are required. If you want to become involved, look at the jobs listed below. After that, you can select one or combine a few to achieve your volunteer objectives.

Volunteering with food banks is a fantastic strategy to combat food insecurity in your neighborhood. Not only does this service benefit individuals in need, but it also improves bonds in the community. Additionally, it offers new contacts and talents. Volunteers can even contact their elected leaders and local representatives to fight food insecurity in their neighborhoods.

Several food banks desperately need volunteers. Major news organizations, including NBC and The Atlantic, have covered the recent food scarcity. Unfortunately, some food banks have closed as a result, while others have lost volunteers. Find a nearby food bank and start volunteering now if you're interested in learning more about volunteer opportunities.

Food banks need volunteers to assist with food distribution. To fill Good-to-Go Backpacks and other boxes, they require volunteers. There are several ways you may become involved, depending on the kind of foodbank and the kind of food you want to give. For instance, you may distribute fresh groceries at Greenmarkets. Alternatively, you can go to food banks and obtain food for people who cannot do so.

Both individuals and groups can benefit from volunteering with food banks. Typically, volunteers participate in daily tasks like food delivery and special projects. All ages and size groups are invited to reserve shifts in advance. Additionally, anyone can sign up for shifts as required.

A terrific method to make new friends and pick up new skills is volunteering. Additionally, it can result in academic credit and demonstrate your civic engagement to potential employers. Additionally, volunteering can help you feel grateful and appreciative, which might alter how you view the world. Finally, it's a great way to spend time with your loved ones.

One member said they help at food banks because of their beliefs. She pays great attention to the tales of the individuals she encounters because of her Christian convictions. Her experience working at a food bank has also aided her in strengthening her feeling of compassion. Although she feels Christians are required to assist the needy, she has learned that a person's circumstances and upbringing may affect their behavior.

People at the Working Table discussed bringing experts from many professions to assist food banks. These collaborations involve regional governments, nonprofit organizations, and academic institutions. Additionally, Food Banks are forming alliances with for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. The COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated how crucial it is to form new alliances and alter how food banks operate to serve local needs better.

Volunteers are essential to the ability of food banks to feed the hungry. However, it is essential that volunteer services be run more effectively and that volunteers and food bank customers be better matched. Additionally, cross-sector cooperation is essential since food banks require volunteers with various abilities, ages, and backgrounds.

One approach to overcoming the difficulties facing food banks is to increase the number of volunteers. To fight the worsening food crisis, food banks urgently want additional volunteers. Therefore, food banks must expand their volunteer recruitment and training efforts and identify new volunteers. A cross-sector relationship with a hospital or institution is a suitable illustration.

If you operate a food bank, you know the value of volunteers. You might not be able to serve the community as well as you'd like to if you are understaffed. The ideal scenario would be if you managed to raise money for volunteer opportunities and assemble a potent squad. To increase volunteerism, food banks should develop ways to advertise their volunteer opportunities. You may increase the effectiveness of your food bank by using these suggestions.

Determine your volunteer recruitment is messaging first. You should include each volunteer's specialized job in your recruitment pitch. For instance, you may urge volunteers to distribute food hampers and promote shifts at food banks. Distributing marketing materials and publicizing volunteer opportunities on social media are two other strategies for recruiting volunteers. Additionally, get in touch with your current volunteers and urge them to tell others about your cause and the need for volunteers.

You may also participate by getting in touch with your neighborhood food bank. Find out if extra volunteers are required. Many firms may donate money in addition to volunteer hours. As a result, your volunteer efforts will have a more significant overall impact. Additionally, many food banks have volunteer safety procedures in place. For instance, some organizations demand that volunteers wear masks to safeguard their health. Additionally, volunteers must be able to lift to 40 pounds.

[unriding]

MATCHUP FOR @/CEYLON-MORPHE286 ! THANK U (:

𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐈

nami thinks the gullible aspect of you is to die for. she’ll cuddle up against your side, giving you her best puppy eyes as she requests cuddles.

“i had a really rough day…you know how luffy gets,” she sighs, eyes sneakily pleading for you to return her embrace.

always reacts to every comment you make. she laughs at your silliness, cringes or drops her jaw at any weird retorts you blurt out, nose scrunching up with a “why would you say that!?”

if you ever stopped, maybe go silent in fear that she’s weirded out— she’ll shake you by your shoulders, ensuring you that she loves every part of you! never stop.

if anyone speaks to you in a crude way, she’ll get mad— pulling you flush against herself as she coos “don’t cry..”

as soon as she confirms that you’re okay, her clima takt is out, angrily eyeing whoever made you cry while pointing it dangerously close to them. “apologize!”

sometimes luffy is loud, so nami will step behind you, covering your ears with her hands before yelling over luffy to quiet down. she doesn’t want you to hear her yell!

dates with nami include spending time together in her room, her working on maps while you sew or draw beside her. sometimes she asks if you’d like to collaborate, creating something together using your art skills and her map making abilities!

speaking of art, she wants you to help her pick out outfits on the daily. “you have that creative mind,” she’ll say, holding up two dresses. “so which one?”

“you know me best after all.”

your desires & her goals align well! she wants to make a map of the world, and take you with her on that journey. together, the two of you develop maps together, taking pictures together at each island you visit to add to a photo book.

she comes to you for clothing help too.

“can you make these shorts fit my waist?”

nami always sits beside you when you sew, watching you with heart eyes until you’re done. wants to try on the clothing in front of you to show you how talented you are!

𝐊𝐎𝐀𝐋𝐀

koala is extremely protective of you! she likes that you’re introverted— thinks being near you is relaxing and therapeutic. it’s just what she needs after a tiring day!

when you’re feeling extra lazy, koala likes to give you a piggy back ride outside, taking you around because “you need some fresh air every now and then”

when you’re loud— she’s loud, and when you’re tired, she’s in bed with you. koala’s good at matching your energy, she just likes your company and her mood subconsciously shifts to twin with yours.

if anyone makes you tear up, she’s dragging them by the collar of their shirt straight to you, lecturing them on and on about how this is absolutely not okay and demanding an apology!

if you quickly accept the apology, her cheeks puff out, telling you that “you’re being too kind.”

koala likes to do all of your hobbies with you! whether it’s a walk where the two of you can share what happened throughout your day, or dancing together (she always offers to dance in the rain, despite nagging you constantly about staying warm during cold weather..)

— she likes doing everything with you.

on the way to missions, she always gushing about how much she loves you to sabo— telling him about any silly comments you made with a giggle, reminding him that she loves you so dearly and can’t wait to be back!

she knows how to ease your shyness when it comes to introductions. koala is an extrovert, and she’s always with you when you meet someone! at any gathering, anywhere where you’re bound to have to introduce yourself, she’s right beside you.

“this is my beloved y/n!” she’ll chime in, pulling your cheeks. “so cute, right?”

hops in during conversations to make sure there’s no awkward pauses, helps you loosen up! she can tell when you’re tired, excusing the two of you and taking you back for alone time.

“come here,” she’ll say, waving her hands to urge you to settle your head on her lap.

𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐔𝐒 — thank you for ur tip! <3

robin was a close one! she would add onto anything you say, weird or silly. the two of you build off on each other’s theories, you adding onto her gore comments & her adding onto whatever brews in your brain!

i believe boa would love you dearly as well! if anyone dares make you cry, she’s turning them to stone in an instant, saying it’s “absolutely unacceptable to talk to my beloved like that!”

#final wc 787!

[damselofblueroses]

Bambi, Chapter 1

You are my Bambi, girl, I am your candy, tell me what are you waiting for?

Summary: As an archaeologist who works on the Ancient Greece, you were on the verge of excavations’ session. While you have been preparing your team, you learned that your institute decided on your team has to work with another team as they wanted the outcome as a collaboration. The head of other team was your biggest rival, a scumbag in your eyes: Byun Baekhyun.

You two were supposed to work together for three months, in a Greek Island, Chios.

Could you manage to not kill Byun Baekhyun for three months?

Content: AU, heavily Greek mythology, enemies to friends.

Warnings: Well, the story contains NSFW/Smut, please minors do not continue.

Note: This story will be four or five chapters if I will not change my mind in the meantime. It is inspired by my major; however, I do not have a complete knowledge on archaeology, I am a historian. If I will make a technical mistake, please let me know. I am willing to receive any kind of feedback; you are more than welcomed to drop a message.

Chapter One: UN Village

June, Incheon Airport

Along the curves of the hill

Rolling, rolling, rolling hills

As we climb there’s a broken streetlight

When I see one, I turn off the lights under it

Baekhyun was nothing but ready for the excavation.

You were more than ready for the session.

Both of you, were nothing but two leaders who hated each other equally.

You were eyeing each other with saying no words since your teams came together in the airport. Before this particular moment of departure, you refused to meet with Byun Baekhyun, putting aside meeting with him, you refused even dropping an e-mail in order to let Sunkyungwan Team about Sejong Team. You were clear and strict as fuck, even though two teams had to work together for three months, you had zero intention to get accustomed with the other team leader.

The weather was sunny, nice and warm, however because of you and Baekhyun, your team members were feeling like they were trapped in a fucking blizzard during the coldest winter.

You were aware of your team members had positive opinions of that scoundrel, especially the girls, as you had your first-handed experiences because of your stupid classmates, Byun Baekhyun was very famous of his abilities to cast a spell on women. The problem was he was also famous as a serial dater, serial killer type of men.

A bastard, nothing more nothing less.

“Indy,” one of your team members, Minseok, called you. Although, calling you as Indy was also a habit of Minseok, it was also an obligation for the others, you insisted on calling you by your nickname or your name, instead of calling you as sunbae. You did not like the hierarchical titles. “Should we move into the control point?”

“Yeah, if you are ready.” you replied, grabbing your luggage and the rest.

“I guess we have to alert Sunkyungwan people since we will fly together.” Hyesun pointed out, your eyebrows knitted.

“I guess,” you recall her words. “They also have this information, so we do not have to alert anyone, we are not their babysitters.”

Hyesun’s cheeks were blushing after you kindly scolded her, but she was clever enough to hold her tongue. Your dislike towards Sunkyungwan was not a secret as you used every opportunity to show it. You led your team to the kiosks, counting the heads automatically. You had six here, you were going to have ten more when you arrive to Chios whose coming from all around European universities. With thirteen Sunkyungwan students, the excavation was going to shelter almost forty members. It was going to be massive, you had to admit. You never had more than twenty students in the field till now, but you were going to lead an extraordinary team as Junmyeon craved into your brain’s folds with his hammer of words.

You wished to be with Junmyeon right now, you were more tense than usual. Junmyeon could put you in more stable mood, however you even did not think to name him while the executives were asking your possible candidates. He would kill you merciless, you knew it very well.

Eh, at least you got Sehun, Junmyeon’s brother in your team, he had a lot of similarities with Junmyeon even though he could be noisier than anyone you know, however you accepted him as your dongsaeng, as his precious noona and role model, you also knew how to put him in an order. Then you had Minseok, the eternal field-partner of yours. He was older than you, although he was engaged in a Ph.D. programme in abroad, he willingly accepted your invitation. You had four seniors, Shinhye, Yixing, Jongdae and Hyesun.

To your dismay, two of the seniors who you really could want in your team, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were in that bastard’s team. You were of the fact that they were immensely close to each other, but you wished to have them in your team as their abilities were precious.

Especially Doh Kyungsoo.

You missed that fucking bastard who preferred to be with Baekhyun.

Life, you inhaled. It was not going exactly in the way you could ask.

“On your foot, soldiers.” you called your team around you. “Do you collect all the materials you will be in need of?”

“Yeah.” Jongdae cutely pointed to his tiniest bag. “I am ready to excavate.”

“Exactly you will need every tool you have.” Shinhye smacked her husband’s shoulder. Yeah, you had a married couple in your team, although you were a year younger them, you always regarded yourself as their big sister, if not a mother. “You are going to work too much, Dae. I have sleepless nights because of the burden on your shoulders.”

You could not help but burst into laughs after the look Jongdae gave to his wife. Those idiots, they were so lovely and instead of their endless scolding sessions, they were incredibly fond of each other.

Sometimes you wonder, how having your significant other by your side would be?

You slightly shook your head, quickly climbing out of this deep cliff.

“Let’s go!” you exclaimed, jumping to the air. “Sejong is ready for the session!”

Baekhyun was watching you with a disgusted expression.

“Move on, Baekhyun.” Chanyeol pushed his body to forward. “We will miss the flight, Goddamnit.”

“Give him couple of minutes.” Kyungsoo chuckled. “He is fucking the girl with his eyes, frankly, he is doing it unapologetically.”

“Which girl?” Chanyeol’s eyes widened. “Do you mean, that girl? You c-

“Of course, I am not.” Baekhyun interrupted Chanyeol, staring at Kyungsoo. “She can go and fuck herself.”

“Well,” Kyungsoo stood up, placing his book into the bag. “I guess, you are going to be one to fuck her, but maybe I am wrong.”

“In her dreams.” Baekhyun laughed. “If she can manage to dream something like this, but I do not think so. That little freak can put even the nuns into a shame.”

“She is beautiful to be honest.” Chanyeol said with no different intention but observing your features carefully. “Okey maybe not the hottest girl in the town, but she is pretty, and I heard she is very clever.”

“She is.” Kyungsoo approved. “But she kicked Baekhyun’s ass twice, so he cannot endure her presence.”

“She never,” Baekhyun grunted lowly. “Kick me or my proverbial parts!”

“Did someone talk about kicking some asses?” Jongin appeared out of nowhere. “I am in.”

“Shut up, Jongin.” Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “Let’s pick the team.”

The smile on Kyungsoo’s face irritated Baekhyun, he wanted to erase that fucking grin so bad, punching his face but Baekhyun had to hold his manners as the team leader. If they would be in their flat, he could already beat the shit out of Kyungsoo, at least he would try.

Baekhyun hated the fact that Kyungsoo had the exact past with you and him. Three of you entered the department together, instead Kyungsoo went to another university to pursue his master, in the end he testified every moment between you and Baekhyun.

That’s why he was smiling since he learned you were going to be the other team leader.

Baekhyun was aware of the close relationship between you and Kyungsoo, one of his best friends.

Quickly Baekhyun led his team to the control point, close to your team. He was avoiding from this step, however as the leader, presenting his fucking team to your team was his responsibility. When they arrived, he took a deep breath.

“Good morning to all.” his blood started to boil when you turned to him with a displeased face expression. Your eyebrows were knitted, your fucking lips formed as a thick line, your dislike was palpable and Baekhyun knew his own face was mirroring your feelings. “I hope you are fine, could you let me present my team to you?”

Baekhyun wanted nothing but cut the shit off.

“Good morning.” you answered between your teeth. Your voice sounded extremely creepy. “Yeah, go for it.”

You do not make a favour to me, bloody woman, Baekhyun thought but he put all his efforts to control his words.

“My name is Byun Baekhyun, I am going to lead Sunkyungwan Team this year.” he looked at your team members, quickly memorized their faces. “I really look forward to work with you, I wish a good session for us. They are my members, Park Chanyeol, Doh Kyungsoo, Kim Jongin, Kim Danbi, Lee Taemin, Lee Donghae, Kim Jonghyun, Kim Kibum, Lee Seungjo, Kang Seulgi, Im Yoona, Kim Taeyeon and Kwon Yuri.”

“You are like a troop, huh?” one of your girls smiled after Baekhyun finished his presentation.

“More or less.” Baekhyun smiled back to her. What a surprise to him was the transformation of your face. You warmly smiled to the members and bowed to each of them.

Baekhyun raised his left eyebrow, but he could not avert his eyes from your smiling face.

It was pleasant like a spring day and when you smile your eyes were shining.

“Thank you.” he heard your voice. “My team is not big as yours, Park Shinhye, Kim Jongdae, Zhang Yixing, Oh Sehun, Kim Minseok and Song Hyesun.”

“You forget yourself.” Minseok slapped his forehead and rolled his eyes. “Indy is going to lead Sejong Team as she has been leading us for the last two years, you can put your faith on her, she is the greatest.”

“Indy?” Jongin repeated your nickname with a surprised face. “Are you foreigner?”

“Do I look like?” you laughed and prevented yourself from flinching his forehead. He was such a cute kid. “That’s how my team call me.”

“Ah.” Jongin blushed and you could not control yourself anymore.

“But if you want, you can also call me as Indy.” you grinned like a Cheshire cat. “Everything must be equal for the teams since we are going to live together during a whole summer.”

“I would like to.” Jongin bowed to you.

“So do we need to add sunbae when we call you?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Have you ever called me as a sunbae, Doh Kyungsoo?” you coldly replied. “Did Sunkyungwan change your behaviours?”

“Gardens of roses turn to garths of thorns in a second.” Kyungsoo murmured but he was smiling to you, then he opened his arms, catching you off guard because you knew that Kyungsoo was not a huge fan of hugs. “Will you salute me as a good friend, or will I start calling you as sunbae?”

“Shut the fuck up, Doh.” you inhaled, but actually you were happy to see your still-working-on friendship. You moved to hug him, he held you tightly and lifted you to the air, then turned around himself, made you laugh like a 5-year-old girl.

Baekhyun did not like what was happening before his eyes. Kyungsoo had to be with Baekhyun, not hugging you for his fucking dear life, or lifting and turning you around like you were very dear to him. He hated sharing his friends with you, he already lost Junmyeon, he wanted to keep Kyungsoo and Chanyeol to himself. You should be fucking away from them, they were Baekhyun’s and only Baekhyun’s friends.

And there was another fragile issue that Baekhyun had been keeping in the deepest point of his heart and mind, like the palace of Nyx in the darkest part of Tartarus. Extremely delicate, horrendous, and even atrocious.

Baekhyun was aware of a strange presence was lying down beneath his hatred, dislike and continuous loathe towards you, there was a layer of curiosity, something could feed different layers and causing an earthquake in his life. Baekhyun knew that you were his biggest rival, but you became his rival by your talents and intelligence. He knew this and this piece of realization doubled his hate towards you.

The funny part was the things he did not realize. Baekhyun was full of confidence, he was capable of performing even miracles, however he never perceive the fact that you were also a miracle.

“So, what we are going to do?” Chanyeol asked to everyone with a huge, happy smile. Baekhyun fended himself off moaning, happy virus Chanyeol already sensed the chance of levitating the mood between the teams and playing along with it. “Are we boarding?”

“Yeah, let’s go.” one of your boys, Sehun, came close to Chanyeol. Baekhyun and you immediately glared them, noticing the chemistry between these two. Both of you wished to keep the teams apart from each other in order to reduce the obliged interactions between the leaders, but it seemed not possible even from the beginning. Baekhyun was cursing between his lips, you were swearing at the executive board in your mind.

“Indy,” Shinhye whispered to you. “Are you okey? You look like wanting to kill one of us.”

“Not you.” you answered without thinking, then registered to your words. “Ignore me, Shinhye, I am a little bit tense right now.”

“We got your back.” she blinked at you and held Jongdae’s hand. “Let’s start the adventure!”

What an adventure, you thought but silently joined them. Kyungsoo also was walking next to you.

“Why the heck you went to Sunkyungwan?” you spilled the bean. “I always believed you would stay in Sejong.”

“Yeah, that was my intention.” Kyungsoo was plain as always. “However, Sunkyungwan gives me more opportunities to secure my career, Indy.”

“I know.” you had to admit. Sejong was not generous as Sunkyungwan. “Sorry for my selfish words.”

“No worries.” he beamed. “It happens all the time, but I am really happy to work with you again.”

“Old but gold days, huh?”

“Well, it was not purely gold,” Kyungsoo followed the flows and ebbs. “Do you remember when we were almost expelled from the university?”

“Is there a way to forget those days?” you immediately took a look on Baekhyun. It was his fault, obviously. “We were shitting in our pants instead of the one who put us in that situation.”

“Come on,” Kyungsoo chuckled. “It was not only his fault, Indy, our hands were also crimson red.”

“Let me recall the memory, Doh,” you pinched his hand, he playfully pushed your fingers. “Excuse me if I am wrong, however that scumbag was the one who challenged you to confiscate the coin, because of your involvement into the incident, I had no choice but dragging your ass out of shit.”

“They caught two of us in the crime field.” Kyungsoo burst into laughs. “Professor Lee went ballistic and scolded us like we just killed a person cold heartedly.”

“And you could not see the reason behind it?” You were cutting Kyungsoo’s body with your eyes. “If someone tries to steal a coin from the excavation house during the session, I will kill them for sure. We were so lucky, the one who caught us was Professor Lee.”

“I heard you are strictest when it comes to excavation.” Kyungsoo assured you. “But try to not kill us.”

“The only one I am going to take down,” you shivered with the memory, Kyungsoo was already regretful to remind it to you. Well, maybe not so much because he wanted you and Baekhyun to realize the potential relationship you could have, and the easiest way in order to put you two in touch was making you angry. “That bastard if he will behave like the old days. We are not children anymore.”

“Have you ever been a kid?”

“Fuck off, Kyungsoo.”

“You did not change even a bit, Indy.” Kyungsoo made his statement. Obviously, you were going to keep this to yourself, taking his silent approval made you were more than happy. “You are still a pain in the ass.”

“And you are still a good boy.” you grinned, watching his lips formed around silent laughs. “Such a cute puppy for me, let me see your wagging tail.”

“I am sorry to interrupt your flirting session,” Kyungsoo turned to Baekhyun’s deadpanned face. “However, we have to move.”

“When you come across to a pretty girl,” Kyungsoo did not miss the chance of returning the favour. “You have to flirt with her. Wasn’t it your advice?”

“Yeah.” Baekhyun looked at you, then turned to Kyungsoo.

You knew what was going to happen.

“He said pretty girls,” you tucked the words in Baekhyun’s mouth before he could open his fucking damn mouth. “To my dismay, I have never been pretty to correspond the standards of Byun Baekhyun the Magnificent. I am crying for the lack of beauty almost every night, I mean living without Byun Baekhyun’s interests… Such a misery.”

Kyungsoo bit his lower lip in order to hold his laugh, Baekhyun’s fists were clenching but you did not stop there.

"Ah I almost forget to ask for the name of that little village, Baekhyun.” you directly looked at his eyes since ages. “Where the girl you desperately wanted to bless with your attention left you? UN Village?”

You immediately spin on your tiptoes, then slipped towards to Sehun, leaving two of them behind of you, refusing to look at back. In the meantime, Baekhyun was throwing daggers to your back, grinding his teeth, his jaw was extremely tensed. Before Kyungsoo could stop him, he swiftly came to your side, you felt his breath on your neck.

You shivered.

You fucking shivered and Baekhyun noticed that.

“You are playing with the fire, as always.” he whispered to your ear before someone could notice what he was doing. “Did you forget who was burning with fire, baby girl?”

He quickly disappeared and started to make such a fuss in order to gather his team members around himself. You were frozen, after years, you were frozen, you missed the little smile on the corner of Baekhyun’s mouth.

You were on the verge of screaming because of the frustration you had felt. You forced yourself to proceed, walked into the plane, helped your team in order to set their belongings and place into their seats, then you retreated your own seat. It was comfortable and you could easily snatch a blanket. Your wish became true, even quicker than you expected because Sehun, your wonderful Sehun, already brought a soft blanket for you. You smiled at him, actually forgiving him for building bonds with Chanyeol since they changed their seats in order to sit next to each other and weaved your legs around the fabric.

Your brain was in autopilot, you were lost in the horrible memories. You did not want to recall them, you buried them into the cemetery of your memory. You wished nothing but never remember that day.

The day in that village.

Baekhyun was mad at himself.

His face was clouded, for the first time he was silent and sitting on the farthest seat in the plane. He really wanted to be alone, and since being vocal about his feeling was so natural for him, he told his need to the team. They willingly let him to do what he wanted, as a result, he was looking out of window, hell if a person could see something out of a plane’s window, and he was cursing himself.

He knew it was going to be a chess play. Between you and him.

It has been always like the chess.

There was a bond between you and Baekhyun, even thought you two always refused it, you also were aware of that bond. You equally hated each other and if there was a thing which could make you happier than seeing each other’s downfalls, that was the opportunity of being the one who digs the other’s grave by their hands.

He was sure on he was going to be the one who sets your body on fire, then finishes you. He was sure on he was going to be the victor, the one and only champion.

When he kills you, erases your name for all eternity, when he condemns you with demnatio memoriae, he will calmly breathe again.

You were a pain in the ass, even when you were not around of Baekhyun, you had a place in his mind since that fucking day he met you. Your presence was like a tree, how much he could try, he could neither find your roots in his mind nor cut them all.

You were his enemy; he was going to treat you as you deserved.

There would be no turning back.

But…

He was mad at himself.

He made a wrong move while he was trying to disturb you, shake your cage in order to give you a lesson.

He also remembered.

The day in that fucking village.

#baekhyun angst #baekhyun fluff #baekhyun x reader #baekhyun smut #baekhyun fanfic #exo baekhyun #baekhyun #byun bacon #byun baekhyun #exo series #exo fanfiction #exo x reader #exo smut #exo fanfic #exo imagines #exo angst #exo fluff #exo #baekhyun fic

[millenialfanfictionaddiction]

Please Me Oikawa's Oasis: Part 1

⚠️THIS FIC IS 18+, MINORS DNI⚠️

Welcome to week 4 of the Please Me Series!  A collaboration with @axoxtxhxh! This weeks theme is Virginity Loss featuring Oikawa and Goshiki!  This weeks fics are broken into 3 parts! Please check out Joey’s fic, Guiding Goshiki!  I will link it in the Please Me master list!  

Warnings: Swearing, bad pick up lines

Word Count: 2,000

The sound of Volleyball hitting the floor and shoes shuffling around in the hard wood is all to familiar to Toru Oikawa.

He was finally, living out his dreams as a professional volleyball player. It’s all he ever wanted to do, all he had ever thought about from the time he was a young kid.

After high-school, his goals became centered around making his dream a reality. To accomplish this, he knew he would have to sacrifice a lot. Forgoing his personal life in order to pursue his main objective.

The thought never really bothered Torū. He was always popular with his fans, however none of them seemed to understand his deep desire for the sport he loved so much.

After countless failed high school relationships, he put his personal life on hold in order to pursue something more favorable.

He was given the opportunity to move to Argentina and become a member of Club Atletico San Juan. He jumped at the chance to further is professional career and move abroad, gaining citizenship to a country world renowned for its athletes. His dream was finally becoming a reality

Entering the training gym, Oikawa was anything but nervous. He knew his skills as a setter were exceptional and he always aimed to improve in any way he could. His specialty outside of setting was serving, which is what attracted the recruiters to him. Taking a deep breath, he walked into the bright gym for the first time, preparing to achieve his goals.

“Ahh Oikawa! It’s great to finally meet you” the San Juan teams head coach said as he greeted Oikawa with a smooth smile and a firm handshake.

“The pleasure is all mine sir” Oikawa says as he watches the various members begin to practice.

Oikawa was amazed at the level of skill he saw. These players were on an entirely different level, a level that only served to excited him more.

“Well, it’s probably best if you just join in. I’d like to see your abilities up close” coach says as Oikawa nod, running over to great the members of his new team.

“Hello everyone! My name is Torū Oikawa and it would be my pleasure to set for you” he smirks as the players study Oikawa closely.

Torū had always had a rather flamboyant personality. Often being the stand out character in a room. It never bothered him when others made comments about him because he was confident in himself as a person and as a setter.

The team looked at him, nodding as the captain made his way towards Torū.

“Show us what you’ve got Oikawa” the captain says as he signals for the spikers to form a line “the best way to learn is by doing.”

“I couldn’t agree more” Oikawa smirks as he turns heading close to the net.

“By the way, I prefer if you can get the toss as high so I can have time to correct the positioning if needed” he remarks as the men prepare for spiking practice.

One by one, the players toss the ball to Oikawa as he sends set after set to the players.

“I’m sorry, that one was a little long” he signals to one of the spikers “I can tell by your approach, you favor balls close to the next. I’ll adjust.”

The player nodded to Oikawa and the next player stepped up, tossing the ball to Oikawa.

“Man his adaptation skills are incredible” on of the assistant coaches says as the head coach watched Oikawa closely.

The door opens as the men shift to see a figure pushing open the door with their foot, emerging into the gym with a basket full of freshly laundered jerseys.

Letting out a deep breath, you sigh as you set the basket down, moving onto your next task of refilling the now empty water bottles.

You had been the team’s manager for almost 3 years now. You loved your job so much. The perks were fantastic and the pay was stellar. You worked long hours and traveled a lot but that never hindered your life. You actually enjoyed seeing the world with your team.

Grabbing the bottles, you begin to head for the fountain when the coach approaches you.

“YN, I’m going to need you to prepare a jersey for our newest team member. His name should be on the sheet I gave you this morning. Please have it ready by the end of the week” the coach asks as you nod in agreement.

“I’ll work on it as soon as possible sir”

“Thank you YN. We would really be lost without you” he says as you smile back, eyes glancing towards the gym floor.

You knew a new member would be starting soon. You had heard rumors of one, Torū Oikawa. You had seen his skills on many videos as the team prepared for his arrival. You took notes from what you could see so that you could immediately start helping the promising new setter.

You eyes glanced towards the net as they were met with gorgeous chocolate orbs. The young setter stared at you in wonder as you smiled sweetly, moving towards the door to fill the water bottles.

God you are so pretty Oikawa thinks to himself as he fails to hear the shouts of his teammates, as a tossed volleyball hurls straight for his head.

As you reach the door, a loud SMACK sounded causing you to turn your head towards the men to see the new setter rubbing his head feverishly.

Oh, this one’s a klutz you think to yourself as you roll your eyes, setting the bottles down and running to see if the setter was ok.

“Are you ok?” You ask running up to the new setter, trying to ignore the snickers of the other players as you check him over.

Oikawa rubs his head as he looks up to you.

“I hope you know CPR” he says looking up to you.

“Omg is it that serious?”

“No, it’s because you just took my breath away” he says smiling at you as you roll your eyes walking away as the rest of the players laugh at Oikawa’s cheesy line.

You get up, moving back to the door grabbing the water bottles and walking out.

Great another Romeo you think to yourself as you snicker lightly, remembering the young man’s pick-up line.

“He is pretty funny I’ll have to admit” you under your breath, smiling a little as you fill the teams water bottles.

“Hey Oikawa, are you sure you’re, ok?” the captain says laughing lightly.

Oikawa shakes his head smiling “if there’s one thing I’m accustomed to, it’s getting hit in the head with a volleyball.”

The team laughs as Oikawa looks to the door where you exited.

Of course, you were stunning. Oikawa had seen his far share of women but none quite gave off the radiance you did.

“Hey man” the captain said placing his hand on Oikawa’s shoulder “don’t worry about YN. She just takes her job serious. She’s not really one for screwing around.”

Oikawa nods as he looks back at the door, watching you reenter the gym. He had to admit, he admired how determined you were to do your job. And your cold tone wasn’t going to deter the great king, Torū Oikawa.

“Okey doke then guys, let’s get back to it” he says shaking his hands as he returns to his spot at the net as the next spiker tosses to him, sending a set perfectly to the spiker.

You watched in awe at the new team member. You have to admit, the man was good. He seemed to take the sport of Volleyball more seriously than his pick up game. You smiled as you watched the men hit spike after spike, kill after kill. It was refreshing to have such an invigorating member join the team.

“Alight guys, time to wrap it up” the coach yells as he grabs his clipboard “YN will you lock up tonight after your done please? Also leave the nets up tonight. We will have the gym open early for practice.”

“Of course, coach” you say smiling as the team grabs their towels and water bottles, leaving to change.

You went about your business, finishing laundry, logging notes and filing a few pieces of papers.

“Just mopping left” you say as you sign, leaving your office and heading to the gym.

The sound of volleyballs hitting the gym floor radiated from down the hall way.

What is someone still doing here you wonder to yourself as you walk into the gym, checking your watch.

You see a panting Oikawa, tossing a ball up, serving over the net with such intensity.

Your eyes widened as you body jumped at the power he held. His serves were so strong, so intense and so fast. How can anyone stop them?

“It’s not polite to stare” he says as your concentration is broken as you look over to him, smiling at you as he wipes his face off.

“Oh, I wasn’t staring- I just came to umm, I just came to mop up the gym floor” you said stuttering as you walk in, putting your bag down.

“Oh, I apologize. The coach said it was ok for me to practice” he said as he continues to try and cool down.

“No worries, I have sometime. I can wait” you say as you turn heading to sit down. “Oh and by the way, that last serve was out by like a centimeter” you say sitting down, pulling your phone out of your bag.

“Ughhhh” Oikawa says as he grabs his hair and pulls on it as you snicker.

You continue to watch Oikawa practice, 10 minutes turns into an hour, which turns into an hour and a half. While you didn’t want to interrupt his practice, you knew he needed to rest. You could tell he was overexerting himself.

You got up to talk with him when he sent up a serve, landing incorrectly on his leg and wincing.

Your eyes widen as you run to him.

“Ok that’s enough tonight, Oikawa. You’re going to hurt yourself” you said as you grab the ball from him.

“It’s fine YN, this happens all the time” he says wincing at the pain radiating from his knee. He really did overdo it.

“Alright well I don’t care how often it happens, I’m closing practice” you say grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the bench.

“YN –” he says before you interrupt him.

“It’s my job to make sure you don’t overdo it. I’m not doing my job if our setter can’t set after his first day” you say as you help Oikawa to the bench, running to grab an ice pack and a hot pack.

“Here, we will do 15 minutes cold, 15 minutes warm. Then I’ll wrap it” you say as you check his knee.

“Thanks, YN” he says sweetly as you smiley at him.

“No worries, Oikawa, it’s my job” you say as you out the ice on his knee, helping to reduce the bit of inflammation that was forming.

“When you get back home, you’ll need to take anti-inflamories. Do it every 4 hours and you should be ok!”

Oikawa looks at you as you help ice his knee, you really were something else.

“Alright” you say as you wrap his knee up “let’s get you home.”

You help Oikawa to get to the changing room, as you quickly go to mop up the gym floor. You turn off the lights to see Oikawa waiting for you at the doors.

“yoo-hoo Yn-chan” he says waving frantically at you as you roll your eyes at him braking into a smile.

“Yn-what?” You say as you help Oikawa out the front doors, locking the building behind you.

“It’s a personal greeting in Japanese. Often used for close friends” he says smirking at you.

“Oh so we are close friends now are we?” You say as you walk with him towards the dorms he was staying at

“O f course, we are YN-chan! Why wouldn’t we be!” he says smiling at you as you laugh lightly.

“You really are something else Oikawa” you say as you wave him off, heading towards your own dorm.

So are you YN, so are you.

Taglist: @serostapesweat @chaotic-nick @lovelyzabrak-meadow @yep-seeyalaterbranflakes

#haikyuu oikawa #haikyū!! #haikyuu!! #haikyuu #please me #please me series #seijoh #aoba joshai #oikawa toru x you #toru oikawa #oikawa torū #oikawa #oikawa toru x reader #oikawa x reader #oikawa x you #oikawa x y/n #haikyuu fan fiction #haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu fic #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu smut #oikawa smut

[bananaofswifts]

Taylor Swift Turns on a Facsimile Machine for the Ingenious Recreations of ‘Fearless (Taylor’s Version)’: Album Review

Swift recreates her entire 2008 album literally down to the last note, then gives herself room for stylistic latitude on six never-before-recorded "vault" tracks.

By Chris Willman

Swift recreates her entire 2008 album literally down to the last note, then gives herself room for stylistic latitude on six never-before-recorded "vault" tracks.

There is no “best actress” award at the Grammys, perhaps for obvious reasons, but maybe there should be this coming year. And the Grammy would go to… Taylor Swift, for so persuasively playing her 18-year-old self in “Fearless (Taylor’s Version),” her beyond-meticulous recreation of the 2008 recording that did win her her first album of the year trophy back in the day. It’s impossible to overstate just how thoroughly the new version is intended as an exact replica of the old — all the way down to her startling ability to recapture an untrained teen singing voice she’s long matured and moved on from. It’s a stunt, to be sure, but a stunt for the ages — mastering the guile it takes to go back to sounding this guileless.

There are two different, very solid reasons to pick up or stream “Taylor’s Version,” regardless of whether you share her ire for the Big Machine label, whose loose ways with her nine-figure catalog precipitated this, the first in a six-album series of remakes where she’ll be turning on the facsimile machine. One is to marvel at her gift for self-mimicry on the album’s original tracks, where she sounds as possessed by her younger self as Regan ever was by Pazuzu. The other reason is, of course, to check out the six “vault” numbers that Swift wrote during that time frame but has never released before in any form, which dispenses with stylistic fealty to the late 2000s and frames her “Fearless”-era discards in production and arrangements closer to “Folklore.” Those half-dozen (kind of) new tracks really do sound like modern Taylor Swift covering her old stuff.

But those original lucky 13? It’s the same damn record… which is kind of hilarious and marvelous and the kind of meta-ness that will inspire a thousand more think-pieces than it already has, along with possibly efforts at forensic analysis to figure out how she did it.

It would not be surprising if, as we speak, Big Machine was putting a combined team of scientists and lawyers on the case of the new album’s waveform readouts, to make sure it’s not just the original album, remixed. Honestly, it’s that close. The timings of the songs are all within a few seconds of the original tracks, if not coming in at exactly the same length. The duplication effort doesn’t allow any detours. If “Forever and Always” had a cold open then, it’s going to have a cold open now. If the 2008 “That’s the Way I Love You” had slamming rock guitars with an almost subliminal banjo being plucked beneath the racket, so will the 2021 “That’s the Way I Loved You.” A drum roll to end the old “Change”? A drum roll to end its body-snatcher doppelganger. And if she chuckled before the final chorus of “Hey Stephen” 13 years ago, so will that moment be cause for a delighted giggle now.

Of course, much analysis will be put into whether the new laugh is a more knowing-sounding laugh. And that will be part of the fun for a certain segment of audiophile Swifties who will go looking for the slightest change as evidence of something meaningful. When “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” first came out weeks back to preview the album, there were reviews written that swore she’d subtly changed up her phrasing to put a contemporary spin on the song. And maybe they were right, but, having done a fair amount of A/B testing of the two versions of the album, I found myself feeling like I do when vinyl buffs insist there are significant sonic differences between the first stamper version of an LP and one that was pressed a year later. If you can spot those very, very, very modest tweaks, go for it.

But my suspicion is that if Swift has decided to turn a phrase a little differently here or there on this album, or done anything too differently aside from brighten the sound, she’s doing it more as an Easter egg, for the people who are on that kind of hunt, than anything really designed as reinterpretation. Because the last thing Swift wants most of her fans doing is A/B-ing the two versions, the way I did. The whole point is to have folks retire the OG “Fearless” from their Spotify playlists, right? The Swift faithful were already threatening to rain down damnation on anyone caught sneaking an audio peek at the old version after midnight. What she intended was to come up with a rendering so faithful that you would never have a need to spin the vintage album again. In that, she has succeeded beyond what could have been imagined even in the dreams of the few self-forgers who’ve tried this before, like a Jeff Lynne.

Is there any reason to find value in the new versions if you couldn’t care less about the issues of masters and contracts and respect in business deals that made all this strangely possible? Yes, with the first one being that the new album just sounds like a terrific remastering of the old — the same notes, and you’d swear the same performances, but sounding brighter and punchier just on a surface level. But on a more philosophical one, it’s not just a case of Swift playing with her back catalog like Andy Warhol played with his soup can. It’s really a triumph of self-knowledge and self-awareness, in the way that Swift is so hyper-conscious of the ways she’s matured that she has the ability to un-mature before our very ears. With her vocals, it’s virtuosic, in a way, how she’s made herself return to her unvirtuosic upstart self.

On Swift’s earliest albums and in those seminal live shows — at the time when she was famously being told she “can’t sing,” to quote a song from the follow-up album — there was a slight shrillness around the edges of her voice that, if you lacked faith, you might’ve imaged would be there forever. It wasn’t. That was partly youth, and partly just the sheer earnestness with which she wanted to convey the honesty of the songs. She’s advanced so much since then — into one of pop’s most gifted modern singers, really — that the woman of “Folklore” and “Evermore” seems like a completely different human being than the one who made the self-titled debut and “Fearless,” never mind just a woman versus girl. It wouldn’t have seemed possible that she could go back to her old way of singing at the accomplished age of 31, but she found and recreated that nervous, sincere, pleading voice of yesteryear. And maybe it was just a technical feat, of temporarily unlearning what she’s learned since then, but you can sense that maybe she had to go there internally, too, to the place where she was counseling other girls to guard their sexual virtue in “Fifteen,” or wondering whether to believe the fairy tale of “Love Story” or the wakeup call of “White Horse,” or proving with “Forever & Always” that writing a song telling off Joe Jonas for his 27-second breakup call was better than revenge.

If at first you’re not inclined to notice that Swift has re-adopted a completely different singing voice for the “Fearless” remakes, the realization may kick in when those “vault” tracks start appearing in the later stretch of this hour-and-50-minute album. The writing on the six songs that have been pulled up from the 2008 cutting room floor seems primitive, even a little bit by the standards of the “Fearless” album; there are great lines and couplets throughout the rescued tracks, but you can see why she left them as works-in-progress. But she doesn’t use her youthful voice on these resurrections, nor does she employ the actual style of “Fearless” very strictly. Of course, she feels more freedom on these, because there are no predecessors in the Big Machine catalog she’s asking you to leave behind. Her current collaborators of choice, Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, divided the co-producing work on these fresher songs, as they did for the two all-new albums she released in the last year. (The “Fearless” recreations are co-produced by Swift with Christopher Rowe, someone who worked on remixes for Swift back in that era.) They co-produce the vault songs in a style that sounds somewhere between “Fearless” and Folklore”… a more spectral brand of country-pop, with flutes and synths and ringing 12-string guitars and a modicum of drum programming replacing some (but not all) of the acoustic stringed instruments you’d expect to be carried over from “Fearless” proper.

Of the previously unheard tracks, Swift was right — she’s always been her own best self-editor — in putting out “You All Over Me” first, in advance of the album. With its imagery of half-muddy stones being upturned on the road, this song has advanced lyrical conceits more of a piece with the level of writing she’s doing now than some of the slightly less precocious songs that follow. Still, there’s something to be said for the sheer zippiness with which Swift conveys teen heartbreak in “Mr. Perfectly Fine,” which has a lyric that shows Swift had long since absorbed the lessons Nashville had to offer about how to come up with a high-concept song — the concept, in this case, being just to stick the word “mister” in front of a lot of phrases relating to her shallow ex, as if they were honorary titles to be conferred for being a shit, while she employs the “miss” for herself more sparingly.

Some of the remaining outtake songs go back more toward the sedate side of “Fearless”-style material; she didn’t leave any real bangers in the can. “We Were Happy,” the first of two successive tracks to bring in Keith Urban (but only for backgrounds on this one), employs fake strings and real cello as Swift waxes nostalgic for a time when “you threw your arms around my neck, back when I deserved it.” It’s funny, in a good way, to hear Swift at 31 recreating a song she wrote at 17 or 18 that pined for long-past better times. The next song, “That’s When,” brings Urban in for a proper duet where he gets a whole second verse and featured status on half a chorus, and it’s lovely to hear them together. But, as a make-up song, it doesn’t feel as real or lived-in as the more personal things she was writing at the time — and the fact that its chords are pretty close to a slightly more balladic version of the superior “You Belong With Me” was probably a pretty good reason for dropping it at the time.

the 18-year-old Taylor Swift is a great place to visit, but “Folklore” and “Evermore” are the place you’ll want to return to and live, unless you have an especially strong sentimental attachment to “Fearless”… which, sure, half of young America does. It’s not irreconcilable to say that the two albums she issued in the last year represent a daring pinnacle of her career, but that “Fearless” deserved to win album of the year in 2008. Has there been a greater pop single in the 20th century than “You Belong With Me”? Probably not. Did the album also have lesser moments you probably haven’t thought about in a while, like the just-okay “Breathe”? Yes. (I looked up to see whether Swift had ever played that little remarked upon number in concert, and according to setlists.fm, she did, exactly once… in 2018. Because she’s Taylor Swift, and of course she did.) It’s not certain that her duet with Colbie Caillat really needed to be resurrected, except it’s fun, because hey, she even roped former duet partners back into her time warp. But there are so many number that have stood the test of time, like “The Way I Love You,” an early song that really got at the complicated feelings about passion and fidelity that she would come to explore more as she grew into her 20s… and just kind of a headbanger, too, on an album that does love its fiddles and mandolins.

It doesn’t take much to wonder why Swift put up “Fearless” first in this six-album exercise; it’s one of her two biggest albums, along with “1989,” and it’s 13 years old, which does mean something superstitious in the Taylor-verse. In a way, it’ll be more interesting to see what happens when she gets to more complicated productions, like “1989” or “Reputation.” But maybe “Fearless” did present the opportunity for the grandest experiment out of the gate: to recreate something that pure and heartfelt, with all the meticulousness a studio master like Swift can put to that process now, without having it seem like she’s faking sincerity. Let the think-pieces proceed — because this is about six hundred different shades of meta. But, all craftiness and calculation aside, there’s a sweetness to the regression that’s not inconsequential. It harks back to a time when she only wondered if she could be fearless, before she learned it the harder way for sure. What they say about actors “disappearing into the role”? That really applies to Taylor Swift, playing herself.

#taylor swift #fearless #review

[melisa-may-taylor72]

QUEEN BEFORE QUEEN

THE 1960s RECORDINGS

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PART 4:

THE OPPOSITION

JOHN DEACON WAS THE QUIETEST MEMBER OF A MIDLAND-BASED FIVE-PIECE WHOSE GREATEST AMBITION WAS TO PLAY ANOTHER GIG.

Initial research John S. Stuart. Additional research and text: Andy Davis.

John Deacon was the fourth and final member to join Queen. He became part of that regal household 25 years ago this month, enrolling as the band’s permanent bassist in February 1971. His acceptance marked the culmination of a six-year ‘career’ in music, much of which he spent in an amateur, Leicestershire covers band called the Opposition.

From 1965 until 1969, Deacon and his schoolmates ploughed a humble, local furrow in and around their Midlands hometown, reflecting the decade’s mercurial moodswing with a series of names, images and styles of music. The most remarkable fact about the Opposition was just how unremarkable the group actually was.

Collectively, they were an unambitious crew: undertaking precisely no trips down to London to woo A&R men; winning only one notable support slot for the army of chart bands who visited Leicester in the ‘60s (opening for Reperata & the Delrons in Melton Mowbray in 1968); and managing even to miss out on the option of sending a demo tape to any of the nation’s record labels. The band’s saving grace is its solé recorded legacy: a three-track acetate — although even this was done for purely private consumption, and has rarely been aired outside the confines of their inner circle.

It is perhaps indicative of the Opposition’s modest outlook that their most promising bid for stardom, a beat contest, was called off before they had the chance to play in the finals. For John Deacon and friends, it seems, merely being in a band was reward enough.

Considering of all of this, it’s easy to imagine the response to the following story, related in the ‘60s to one of the Opposition’s guitarists, Ronald Chester:...[ ]

...[ ] “There was a teacher who worked at Beauchamp School, which John attended, who told fortunes. They went to see her one Saturday and were told, ‘John Deacon is going to be world famous and very, very rich. Of course, they all fell about laughing. She was determined that this was going to happen. But they all thought it was a joke."

What particularly amused Deacon’s colleagues was the unlikeliness of this scenario, given the plain facts of his demeanour. John was born in Leicester in 1951, the product of affluent, middle-class, middle England. As a youngster, he was known to his friends as ‘Deaks’ and grew up to be quiet and reserved, what Mark Hodkinson referred to in ‘Queen — ‘The Early Years’ as “a ghost of a boy".

“He is basically shy,” confirms Richard Young, the Opposition’s first guitarist/vocalist, and later keyboardist. “I suppose he was quieter than the rest of us — but he was fairly static with Queen if you look at him on stage.”

Ron Chester agrees: “John was quiet by nature. His sister, Julie, was the same. Once he got going, though, he wasn’t any different from anybody else. But on first approach, you really had to coax him out of his shell. We’d have to pick him up. He couldn’t walk down the road to meet us."

CONFIDENT

Despite any lack of personal dynamics, Deacon was a capable teenager: “He was very confident," recalls another of the band’s guitarists, David Williams. “But in a laidback sort of way. He didn’t have a problem with anything. ‘Yeah, I can do that’, he’d say. We used to call him ‘Easy Deacon’, not because of any sexual preferences, but because he’d say something was easy without it sounding big-headed. I remember saying to him once, I’m going to have to knock off the gigs a bit to revise for my ‘A’ levels. What about you?’ ‘No’, he said, ‘I don’t need to. I’ve never failed an exam yet, and I’ve never revised for one’. Ultimately, he was just confident, with a phenomenally logical mind. If he couldn’t remember something, he could work it out. And, of course, he got stunning results.”

John’s earliest interest was electronics, which he studied into adulthood. He also went fishing, trainspotting even, with his father. Then music took over. After dispensing with a ‘Tommy Steele’ toy guitar, John used the proceeds from his paper round to buy his first proper instrument, an acoustic, when he was about twelve. An early musical collaborator was a school mate called Roger Ogden, who like Roger Taylor down in Cornwall, was nicknamed ‘Splodge’. But his best friend was the Opposition’s future drummer, Nigel Bullen.

“I’d first got to know John at Langmore Junior School in Oadby, just outside Leicester, in either 1957 or 1958,’' recalls Nigel. “We were both the quiet ones. We started playing music together at Gartree High School, when we were about thirteen. We were inspired by the Beatles — they made everybody want to be in a group. John was originally going to be the band’s electrician, as he called it. He used to build his own radios, before we had any amps, and he fathomed a way of plugging his guitar into his reel-to-reel tape recorder. He was always the electrical boffin."

The prime mover in the formation of the group was another Oadby boy they met on nearby Uplands Park, Richard Young. “Richard was at boarding school," recalls Nigel Bullen. “He was always the kid with the expensive bike. He played guitar, and what’s more had a proper electric, with an amplifier. He instigated getting the band together. Initially, we rehearsed in my garage, and then anywhere we could. John played rhythm to begin with. He was a chord man, the John Lennon of the group, if you like."

SWITCH

Despite his later switch to the bass, Deacon’s technique on the guitar also developed, as Dave Williams reveals: “Later on, I remember he could play ‘Classical Gas’ on an acoustic, which was a finger-picking execise and no mean feat. It’s a bit like ‘McArthur Park’, a fantastic piece of music, and when I heard it, I thought, ‘Bloody hell. You dark horse!’ Because he never showed off."

The Opposition’s first bassist was another school friend of John’s called Clive Castledine. In fact, the group made its debut at a party at Castledine’s ouse on 25th September, 1965 (their first public performance took place the...[ ]

...[ ] following month at Gartree’s school hall). Clive looked good and appreciated the kudos of being in a group, but he wasn’t up to even the Opposition’s schoolboy standards. “I was the least proficient, to put it mildly,” he admitted to Mark Hodkinson.“His enthusiasm was 100%,” adds Richard Young, “but his actual playing ability was null, so we had a meeting and got rid of him.” Deacon took over, initially playing on his regu­lar guitar, using the bottom strings. “John was good,” Young continues. “It was no problem for him to switch to bass. He hit the right notes at the beginning of the bar, and we were a better band for it. Whereas Clive made us sound woolly, as anyone who just plonked away on any old note would, John was solid.”

DIARY

Young turned out to be the Opposition’s archivist, keeping a diary of each gig played, the equipment used, and the amounts of money earned (as indeed did John Deacon). Richard’s diary documented the day Deacon — now, of course, bassist in one of the world’s most famous groups — first picked up his chosen instrument. “In an entry for 2nd April, 1966,” says Young, “it reads, ‘We threw Clive out on the Saturday afternoon. Had a practice in Deaks’ kitchen, and Deaks went on bass. Played much better.’ John didn’t have a bass, so we went down to Cox’s music shop in King Street in Leicester, and bought him an EKO bass for £60. I paid for it, but I think he paid me back eventually.”

“John’s bass style with the Opposition was the same as with Queen,” reckons Nigel Bullen. “He never used to play with a plectrum, which was unusual, but with his fingers, which meant that his right hand is drooped over the top of the guitar. Also, he plays in an upward fashion, which I’d never seen before, certainly when we were in Leices­ter. Over the years, I’ve watched many bass players adopt that style. I’d say he has been copied a lot. I’ve mentioned this to him, but he doesn’t agree.”

Clive Castledine wasn’t the last member of the band to be dismissed. “The vocal and lead guitar side of the Opposition was changing all the while,” recalls Nigel. “Myself, John, and Richard Young were always there — as were Dave Williams and Ron Chester later on — but we had a succession of other musicians who I can hardly remember now. There was a guy called Richard Frew in the very early days, and a young lad called Carl, but he didn’t fit in. After we began playing proper gigs, Richard decided he wasn’t happy with his singing and wanted to move onto keyboards, so we brought in Pete Bart (formerly with another local band, the Rapids Rave) as a guitarist and vocalist. He was good, but again, didn’t last long.”

“Bart was a bit of a rocker, while we were all mods,” remarks Dave Williams. “We were impressed by mod bands like the Small Faces and the original Who. Bart seemed to come from a different era altogether.”

“Deaks had the Parka with the fur collar,” remembers Ron Chester. “And short hair, a crew cut. Mirrors on his scooter.” Richard Young agrees: “John was more of a mod than us. But you couldn’t really pigeonhole the band, because our music went right across the board”.

”Buying Deacon his bass was no one-off, and Richard Young is remembered as the group’s benefactor. Being older than the others, he had a steady job working for his father’s electronics company in Leicester, which brought him a regular, and by all accounts, generous wage. He rarely thought twice before splashing out on equipment for the other members.

RECEIPTS

“Richard bought me a P.A.,” recalls David Williams. “But he didn’t ask, he used to think that the group needed it. He’d buy it and then say, ‘You owe me this’. My mum used to get really annoyed. She’d was at that going- through-my-pockets stage, probably looking for contraceptives. She once found a receipt from Moore and Stanworth’s, a local music shop. It was for a Beyer microphone, which cost about £30. I was still at school, getting pocket money, and my mum said, ‘What on earth is this?!’ Receipts on the Sunday dinner table, that sort of thing. It was good, though. The group needed it.”

“I was dead serious about the band,” claims Young, who switched to organ with the arrival of Williams in July 1966. “Perhaps more so than anybody else. I could see it going nowhere if money wasn’t pumped into it.”

“Dick Young was an accomplished organ player,” adds Dave, “and he improved the group quite a lot. He always had plenty of dosh, and a car. But he was totally mad, a crazy bloke. He’d come round with an organ one week, then next week, he’d have a better one. He ended up with a Farfisa, with one keyboard on it, then one with two keyboards — one above the other. Then he had a Hammond, an L 100. which was really heavy. Then he had a ‘B’ series one. The ‘L’ was top-of-the-range and he sawed it in half to make it easier to carry!”

Dave Williams helped to improve the group as well. “He was at school with us,” says Nigel Bullen, “but in another band, who we always looked up to.” That band was the Leeds-based Outer Limits (who went on to issue several singles — without Dave — in the late ‘60s). “I joined the Opposition after they asked me to watch them and tell them what I thought,” recounts Dave. “The Outer Limits were older lads, all mods, but I was after something a bit more easy going, and the Opposition were my own age. They were okay, but I first saw them at John’s house, when they were still practising in bedrooms, and they were absolutely awful. I said, ‘Have you thought of tuning up?’ They said they had. But it sounded like they were playing in different keys — totally horrendous. It was so funny. They were so conscientious, they’d all learned their bits, but hadn't tuned up to each other. That was my first tip.”

“Our first proper gig was supporting a local band, the Rapids Rave, at Enderby Coop Hall,” recalls Nigel Bullen. “They used to play at this village hall every week. and then we ended up doing it every week for quite some time.” Richard’s diary records the Opposition’s debut taking place on 4th December 1965, and that the band’s fee was £2. Thereafter, they began to offer their Services in the local ‘Oadby & Wigston Advertiser’, which led to bookings in youth clubs and village halls in local hot-spots like Kibworth, Houghton-on- the-Hill, Thurlaston and Great Glen.

SCHOOL WORK

By spring 1966, the Opposition were playing every weekend, school work permitting. The peaks and troughs of their career are illustrated by the following memorable gigs: one at St. George’s Ballroom, Hinckley, on 23rd June 1967, when just two people turned up and the band went home after a couple of numbers; and a September appearance in a series of shows at U.S. Airforce Bases in the Midlands, at which they were required to play for four-and-half hours with just two twenty-minute breaks. It was nothing if not diverse.

“It didn’t seem to matter what you played,” says Dave. “People would clap simply because you were making music. They never said, ‘Do you do Motown, or soul stuff?’ ” The band’s repertoire initially consisted of chart sounds and the poppier end of the R&B spectrum. “Although we were inspired by the Beatles, we never did any of their songs,” claims Nigel. “But we covered the Kinks, the Yardbirds, and things like Them’s ‘Gloria’, and the Zombies’ ‘She’s Not There’.

They also altered their name slightly to the New Opposition, which they unveiled at the Enderby Coop Hall. “The name-change was decided overnight, when John moved from rhythm to bass guitar,” recounts Richard, whose diary records the date of the transition as 29th April 1966. Interestingly, though, it makes no mention of another local group also called the Opposition, long thought to have been the reason for Deacon’s crew adopting the ‘New’. The change did act as an impetus for further development, however, instigated by Dave Williams, who soon took over as the group’s lead vocalist.

“When I joined they were doing all Beach Boys stuff,” he recalls, “and I think I may have brought in a little credibility. In the Outer Limits, I’d been playing John Mayall, the Yardbirds, that sort of thing, plus that group was into really good soul like the Impressions, and fantastic vocal bands from the States. So I had a broad musical knowledge by then, whereas the Opposition had been a bit poppy.” Appropriately, the words “Tamla” and “Soul” were now added to the Opposition’s ads and calling cards.

Towards the end of 1966, the New Opposition were enhanced further by the arrival of Ron Chester, who’d previously played with Dave Williams in the Outer Limits, as well as in an earlier band, the Deerstalkers. “Ron Chester was a bit eccentric,” claims Richard Young. “He never used to go anywhere without his deerstalker. He was a really good guitarist (“stunning”, adds Dave Williams). We were probably at our best when Ron was in the band.”

On 23rd October 1966, the New Opposition entered the local Midland Beat Contest. They won their heat, landing themselves a place in the semifinals on 29th January 1967. They won this, too, and steeled themselves for the finals, which were due to be held on 3rd March 1967, when they were to be pitched against...[ ]

...[ ] an act called Keny. The stars of the show would have been the nearest the Opposition came to having a rival: an outfit called Legay. (A year later, incidentally, this band issued a now collectable single, “No One” (Fontana TF 904,£80J.) Unfortunately, for all concerned, however, the contest never took place. “That was a fiasco,'' laughs Ron. “Somehow we won those heats, but in fact, I don’t remember seeing anybody else playing. I don’t know whether we won by default or not. After that, they pulled the plug on the competition — probably because they knew we’d be playing again!”.

CASINO

“The heats took place in a club in Leicester called the Casino, which was the place to play,” adds Nigel. “The guy who ran the competition was an agent for the club. His company was called Penguin (or P.S) Promotions and he walked like a penguin too, with his feet sticking out. The final was going to be held in the De Montford Hall, which is still the main venue in Leicester. We thought, ‘Crumbs, this is it, perhaps we might make the big time.’ But the guy did a runner with all the money — people had to pay to come to the heats. So the final was called off.”

David Williams wasn’t too fussed, as he scored another prize that night: “I remember taking a girl back to Dick’s car on the strength of us winning our heat. I said, ‘Can I borrow your keys, Dick? He said, ‘What for? You can’t drive!’ “

Were the New Opposition — or the Opposi­tion, as they dropped the ‘New’ again in early 1967 — left in limbo by the cancellation of the Beat Contest? Having achieved the most public recognition of their talents so far, were they disappointed with the loss of the chance to prove themselves further?

“No. It was almost insignificant,” reckons Ron. “We didn’t really look upon it as a stairway to stardom.” And what would John Deacon have thought? “Nothing really,” suggests Chester. “ ‘It’s cancelled. What are we doing next, then?’ That would have been about the depth of it. We were a village band, all gathering at the church hall to try and improve our abilities. The financial aspect of it wasn’t in the forefront of our minds. We were more concerned with our music, and if we could get a booking doing it as well, to pay off some of the equipment, then that was a real bonus. Three bookings a week was enough for us while we were working or still at school.” Despite any dodgy dealings, history does have the Penguin promoter to thank for the only professionally-taken photograph of the Opposition. (“We didn’t go much on photos in the band,” remembers Dave Williams.) On Tuesday, 31st January 1967, two days after winning the semi-finals, the ‘Leicester Mercury’ dispatched a staff photographer over to Richard Young’s parents’ house in Oadby. Here, the group lined-up in the front room, looking more like refugees from 1964, rather than 1967. The only indications of the actual date are perhaps Ron Chester’s deerstalker hat and the ridiculous length of David Williams’ shirt collars — seven inches, no less, from neck to nipple.

“Dave was very extrovert,” recalls Nigel. “But we all had those silk shirts with the great long collars made by our mums and grandmas for our stage gear.” Dave admits: “Our clothes were all a bit mixed up. We had silk shirts with tweed jackets — which were fashionable for a while — and bell-bottoms. Musically, we were pretty good, better than...[ ]

...[ ] most of the local bands around that time, but we had this squeaky-clean, schoolboy image which let us down. I used to get frustrated when we were billed with other bands, and they’d all play with so many wrong chords but had a better image and still the punters applauded. Were they stupid? We were still at school — we didn’t leave until we were eighteen — and weren’t allowed to grow our hair long”.

“After the mod thing,” he continues, “long hair became really important. Bands were growing their hair right down their backs. I remember getting to one gig with John and Nigel a year or so later, and the other group were already on. And when they saw us they turned round and said, ‘Look! They’ve got no hair!’. We were quite upset about that”.

“We also went through the flower-power look,” Dave adds. “And then we got into those little jumpers without any sleeves that Paul McCartney used to wear, the ones so small that half your stomach showed. And then it was grandad shirts without the collars and flares.” Ron Chester: “The flowery shirts and flared trousers were everywhere. We looked like a right shower of poofters. But so did everybody else. You stood out if you didn’t wear them.”

1967 also heralded the arrival of an additional attraction to the Opposition’s stage show: two go-go dancers. At least, it did if the existing literature on the subject is to be believed. “I vaguely remember it,” admits Richard, “but speaking to Nig, neither of us can recal who those dancers were”.

Dave Williams throws some light on the subject: “They were the jet-set girls of the sixth form, they came from the big houses. They came to a couple of gigs and just started dancing. Somebody who booked us for the following week actually advertised us ‘with go-go girls’. But they were never really part of the show.”

ART

On 16th March, 1968 for a gig at Gartree School, the Opposition changed their name once again. “We called ourselves Art,” reveals Nigel, “because Dave was arty, that is, he was training as an artist. It was as simple as that.” Dave agrees: “It was my idea, because I’d been doing art at school.” Nigel Bullen was aware of another band using that name around the same time (the pre-Spooky Tooth outfit), but assuming them to be American, reckoned they’d be no confusion. As the Leicester-based Art never made it to London, there wasn’t.

Despite wording like “A time to touch and feel, to taste and experience, to hear and understand” appearing on the group’s tickets, Richard maintains that Art was “just the same band” as before. “Nothing changed."

“It was mutton dressed up as lamb, really,” admits Ron Chester. “We thought if we were called something different, people might come because they were curious. But it didn’t make a lot of difference. The audiences were captive at the places we played anyway. There was nowhere else to go on a Friday or Saturday night. Everyone used to roll up to see whoever was on, whether they’d heard of them or not.”

1968 was the year psychedelia caught up with many provincial British bands. The Art were no different, but their acknowledgement of what had been last year’s scene in London was via sight rather than sound. Their light shows seem to have been particularly memo­rable, as Dave Williams explains: “They were brilliant. We used the projectors from school, filled medicine bottles with water and oil, and projected through them to get this lovely golden, amber backdrop. As the image came out upside down, when we poured in some Fairy Liquid, it dropped straight through in a blob, but came out on the wall like a giant green mushroom cloud. It was amazing, and we had about four of them at the back, projecting over the band.”

John Deacon was party to another of Dave’s exploits. “One day,” recalls Williams, “John and I bought a 100-watt P.A. — which was pretty big for those days — and took it into the lecture theatre full of kids at Beauchamp School (which Deacon had attended since September 1966) for our version of Arthur Brown’s ‘Fire’. We cranked it up as loud as we could, put the light show on, and let off these smoke bombs, which were DDT pellets we’d got from the chemist. All the kids started choking, and then the headmaster walked in...[ ]

...[ ] with a load of governors. You could see the fury in his face. One of the governors asked what we were doing. ‘It’s a demonstration in sound and light, sir,’ I said. ‘We’re using these ink bottles turned upside down, but we’re a bit worried about these DDT pellets so we might knock the smoke on the head, but we’re still experimenting.’ And he fell for it!”.

INFLUENTIAL

Towards the end of 1968, a crop of new groups began to have a profound effect on the maturing schoolboys: Jethro Tull, the Nice, Taste, and in particular Deep Purple. Ron: “We used to buy Purple records and learn to play them. We’d seen John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and the Downliners’ Sect in Leicester, the Nice, King Crimson. These sort of groups. We learned a lot from just watching them. They were influential. There was always a big discussion in the band as to whether we should do a particular song. Once we’d decided that, there’d be another big discussion as to how we should do it. Everybody had their say.”

Hair, too, had finally began to grow: “John grew his quite long,” recalls Ron. “We all had longish hair, but not shoulder length. We couldn’t look too unkempt for the normal side of life, but we didn’t want to be too prissy for the other end of the spectrum. That was when we started playing universities, and we went a bit heavier. The audiences were far more serious minded about music and more enthusiastic. In some of the youth clubs we’d been playing, the audience would be moving around on roller skates, or peeling bananas all over the place, things like that”.

“We felt we were making an impression towards the last year or two of the band,” he continues. But it went no further: “We were at school, some of us had jobs, and there was an element of common sense overriding what we would have liked to have done. None of us wanted to chuck in our apprenticeships or courses. If we’d had a flair for writing our own material, we might have taken off. But we just played what was popular, nothing different from most other groups. That wasn’t a basis on which to launch ourselves. So it never happened."

“We didn’t think that far ahead,” admits Richard Young. “I just thought of playing and getting repeat bookings. John was probably the least ambitious of all of us, to be honest. I think he felt that there was no mileage in what we were doing, although it was good fun. I think he had the impression that this was a hobby, a phase he was going through.”

Sometime in the Sixties, possibly 1969, but maybe earlier, Art recorded an acetate. Whatever the date, the crucial point is that John Deacon was present at the session. “We weren't asked to do it,” recalls Nigel. “We just wanted to make a disc. I think it cost us about five shillings.”

The venue was Beck’s studio, thirty miles south east of Oadby in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. “I’d never been in a studio before and it seemed awesome, really,” recalls Dave Williams. “It was a fairly decent-sized room for acoustics. It was all nicely low-lit, with lots of screens. The guy knew what he was doing.” Richard Young was less impressed, though: I’ve been in studios all my life,” he says. “That was just another session. Nothing about it stood out.”

The “guy” Dave remembered was engineer Derek Tomkins, who informed the group that they could record three tracks in the time allotted. “We’d only gone in there with two, ‘Sunny’ and ‘Vehicle’,” says Nigel, “and we didn’t want to waste the opportunity, so Richard knocked up a little instrumental called Transit 3’ — named after our new van, the third one — right there in the studio. Although we were purely a covers band, everybody had a bash at writing, but we never did anything of our own on stage. The exception was Transit 3’, which was incorporated into the set after this session.”

“ Transit 3’ was about about the only track we ever wrote," reckons Richard Young (“Heart Full Of Soul”, as reported in ‘As It Began’, is in fact a Graham Gouldman nurnber). “I initially had the idea, but I can’t really remember anything about it. It’s very basic. It wouldn’t take a great deal of effort to write something like that.” To the objective observer, “Transit 3”, taped in mono but well recorded, is a fairly uncomplicated, organ-led scale- hopper, reminiscent of Booker T & the MGs.

 “Everybody was listening to ‘Green Onions’,” confirms Nigel, “so Booker T would have been an influence there.” But for all that, it’s well- played, with memorable lead and twangy, wah-wah guitar passages courtesy of Dave Williams. And, crucially, John Deacon’s thumping bass is plainly audible throughout. On this evidence, the Opposition were clearly a tight, confident outfit. “Transit 3” could have been incorporated into any swinging ‘60s film soundtrack, and no one would have jumped up shouting, “Amateurs”!.

UNFAMILIAR

The other two tracks, covers of Bobby Hebb’s ‘Sunny' and the more obscure, soul- tinged ‘Vehicle’ (later a hit for the Ides of March), featured a vocalist, but an unfamiliar one: another of the Opposition’s fleeting frontmen. “We had a singer for a while called Alan Brown,” recalls Nigel. “He came and went fairly quickly. He was good, really good. Too good for us, I think. That wasn’t him saying that. We just knew it.”

On both songs, Brown is in deep, soulful voice, sounding not unlike a cross between Tom Jones and the early Van Morrison — if such an amalgam can be imagined. The Art’s reading of “Vehicle” is edgy and robust, dominated by Richard Young’s distinctive keyboards and Nigel Bullen’s bustling drum work. Dave Williams is again in fine form, delivering more sparkling wah-wah guitar, while on the cassette copy taped from Nigel Bullen’s acetate, at least, John’s bass is very prominent, over-recorded in fact, booming in the mix.

“Sunny” goes one better, breaking into jazzy 3/4 time halfway through, before slotting back into the more traditional 4/4. It’s an imaginative arrangement, with alternate soloing from both Dave and Richard, while the whole track is underpinned by swirls of Hammond organ and John Deacon’s pounding bass.

“We did ‘Sunny’ as part of our stage set,” says Nigel, “but I don’t recall us ever going into the jazzy bit. That’s quite interesting. We might have talked about that before we went into the studio, but I think it was just for this session. Dave had two guitars, a six-string and a twelve-string, or it could even have been twin-necked. I still quite like the wah-wah he played on that track. By this time Richard would have been onto his second or third organ — he was heavily into Hammonds and Leslies."

Operating as they did in a fairly ambition- free zone, and having prepared the listener for a mundane set of recordings with their trademark laid-back approach, Art’s acetate comes as something of a revelation. Let any bunch of today’s schoolboys loose in a studio for an afternoon and defy them to come up with something half as good!

Just two copies of the Art disc are known to have survived. John Deacon’s mother is believed to own one and Nigel Bullen has the other. “I’d forgotten all about this record,” admits Nigel. “We know that one copy was converted to an ashtray!. We stubbed out cigarettes on Richards at rehearsal one night.” Although treated with anything but respect at the time, the importance of the disc is now apparent to Nigel Bullen: “This is probably John Deacon’s first recording, apart from tracks he did in his bedroom on his reel-to-...[ ]

...[ ] reel, which are probably long gone. Although, knowing John, they’re probably not!”

The beginning of the end for Art came in June 1969, when John Deacon left Beauchamp. With a college course lined up in London, his days with the band were obviously numbered. He played his final gig with the group on 29th August at a familiar venue, Great Glen Youth and Sports Centre Club. By October, he’d moved to London to study electronics at Chelsea College of Technology, part of the University of London.

Another blow was dealt in November, when the band's lynchpin, Richard Young, left to join popular local musician Steve Fearn in Fearn’s Brass Foundry.

“They were a Blood, Sweat and Tears-type of group,” recalls Richard, “and paid better money than I’d been used to. I was out five nights a week, on about £3 per night, against an average of about £10 between us.” The previous year, Richard had played session keyboards on the Foundry’s two Decca singles: “Don’t Change It” (F 12721, January 1968, £10) and “Now I Taste The Tears” (F 12835. September 1968, £8).

SAVAGE

Ron Chester departed shortly afterwards, and gave up music: “I left in the early 70s, after John Deacon moved to London. John was replaced by a bass player was called John Savage, who unsettled me. He had different tastes and drove us a bit hard. His approach was totally different from Deaks's, and he was much more interested in the financial side of things. We’d all been mates before, we didn't just knock about for the band. It just wasn’t the same.”

Nigel, Richard and Dave pushed on into 1970 with the new bassist, changing the band’s name again, this time to Silky Way. They returned to Beck’s studio to record a cover of Free’s “Loosen Up” with another vocalist, Bill Gardener, but that was the band’s last effort. Dave left after falling into Nigel’s drumkit, drunk on stage at a private party one Christmas. “I waited for them to pick me up the next day,” he recalls sheepishly, “but they never carne.”

Richard and Nigel moved into a dinner- dance type outfit called the Lady Jane Trio — “Corny, or what!”, laughs Bullen — but Nigel left music altogether soon afterwards to con­centrate on his college work. Richard turned professional, moving into cabaret with the Steve Fearn-less Brass Foundry, before forming a trio called Rio, finding regular work on the holiday camp and overseas cruise circuit. In the late ‘70s, he joined a touring version of the Love Affair.

Down in London, John Deacon caught a glimpse of his future world-beating musical partners as early as October 1970, when he saw the newly-formed Queen perform at College of Estate Management in Kensington. “They were all dressed in black, and the lights were very dim too,” he told Jim Jenkins and Jacky Gunn in ‘As It Began’, “All I could really see were four shadowy figures. They didn’t make a lasting impression on me at the time.”

While renting rooms in Queensgate, John formed a loose R&B quartet with a flatmate, guitarist Peter Stoddart, one Don Cater on drums and another guitarist remembered only as Albert. The new band was hardlv a great leap forward from Art: they wrote no originals, and when asked to perform their only gig at Chelsea College on 21st November 1970, supporting Hardin & York and the Idle Race, they hastily billed themselves — in a rare fit of self-publicity for the quiet Oadby boy — as Deacon.

A few months later in early 1971, John was introduced to Brian May and Roger Taylor by a mutual friend, Christine Farnell, at a disco at Maria Assumpta Teacher Training College. They were looking for a bassist. John auditioned at Imperial College shortly after­wards. Roger Taylor recalled Queen’s initial reaction to Deacon in ‘As It Began’: “We thought he was great. We were so used to each other, and so over the top, we thought that because he was quiet he would fit in with us without too much upheaval. He was a great bass player, too — and the fact that he was a wizard with electronics was definitely a deciding factor!”

How did the members of the Art/Opposition back in Leicester, view John’s success with Queen? “It wasn’t sudden”, says Ron Chester. “First we heard he’d got into another group. We couldn’t believe that — were they deaf? There were all these sort of jokes going along. Then we heard he’d got a recording contract and the next thing he had a record out. It was a gradual progression. No one dreamed he would end up the way he did.”

“I don’t think we expected success for any of us" admits Nigel Bullen. “Richard maybe. He was the first one to go professional. But when John left for London to go to college, he left all his kit here. I thought that was the end of it for him. He had absolutely no intention of continuing. His college course was No.1. It was only after he kept seeing adverts for bass players in the ‘Melody Maker’ that he became interested again.”

He also seemed to lose some of that ‘Easy Deacon’ touch which so impressed Dave Williams in the ‘60s. “He’d ring up these bands,” continues Nigel, “but when he found they were a name act, he bottle out. When he went to auditions for anonymous bands, where he would queue up with about thirty other bass players, he had a bit of confidence. He just wanted to play in a decent band. Once I heard what Queen had recorded at De Lane Lea, and John played me the demo of their first album, I thought they were well set.”

CABARET

By early 1973, Dave Williams had forsaken a career in animation to join Highly Likely, a cabaret outfit put together by Mike Hugg and producer Dave Hadfield on the back of their minor hit, “Whatever Happened To You (The Likely Lads Theme)”. While Dave was in the band, they recorded a follow-up single which wasn’t released, before evolving into a glam rock outfit, Razzle, which later become the Ritz, who issued a few singles. “During Queen’s early days, before they’d had any real success, John came to see us once,” recalls Dave, “and said, ‘I wish I was in a band like this which could actually play some gigs’.” Dave concludes: “I remember John coming round once around that time, saying I’ve got a demo’. ‘So have I!’, I said. So we put his on first, and the first track was ‘Keep Yourself Alive’. My mouth dropped wide open and I thought. ‘Bloody hell! What a great track’. I remember saying that the guitarist was as good as Ritchie Blackmore — who was still our hero then — and thinking ‘They’re serious about this. This is the real thing’.”

RECORD COLLECTOR Nº 198 FEBRUARY 1996

⬅PREVIOUS: SMILE

https://melisa-may-taylor72.tumblr.com/post/639672109315014656/queen-before-queen-the-1960s-recordings

➡NEXT: IBEX, WRECKAGE & SOUR MILK SEA

@natromanxoff, @mephisto92, @moviestorian, @x5vale, @39-brian, @onegoldenglance, @crosmopolitan, @an-abyss-called-life, @his-majesty-king-mercury, @i-live-for-queen, @brian-39-may, @toomuchlove-willkillyou, @brimaymay, @sail-away-sweet-sister, @drummerqueenrmt, @old-fashioned-roger-boy, @briianmaay, @inui-mycroft, @deacytits, @iminlovewithrogscar, @drowseoftaylor, @brianmayislongaway, @balticlover, @astrophysicist-guitar-god, @miez-lakatz, @brianmayoucease, @jesus-in-a-life-boat, @aslongasthereismusic, @roger-taylors-car, @silapril, @sherrifanciesfriskyfreddie, @tenderbri, @brianmydear, @thosequeenboys, @millionairewaltz-carpediem, @painandpleasure86, @bribrifrenchfry, @xlucylennonx, @a-night-at-the-abbey-road, @inthedayswhenlandswerefew, @madformeddowstaylor, @queenrogertaylorfan, @let-roger-get-a-lunch, @queen-for-life, @rethought, @drivenbybrianmay @mymakeupmaybeflaking, @old-but-still-a-child, @let-roger-get-a-lunch, @warriorteam1924, @funnydressesweirdhairanddance, @painkiller80, @thefanhuman13, @yourtieddownmother, @hgmercury39, @brimi-stardust, @thefairyfellermercury,  @retroromantics, @sailawaysweetbrimi, @sophiaintheskywithdiamonds, @holybrianmaywritingbear, @lydiannode, @39-yellow-daffodils , @ure-gonna-loveme-when-u-seeme, @kaykaybeachgirl, @foxmonkey, @deakysgurl, @redspecialandclogsandcurls, @briansrainbowsocks-deactivated2, @delilahmay39, @ohmybribri, @bless-the-queen, @everythingaboutfreddie, @doitforthevine67, @recordsoftheseventies, @rhysjoejoshtomfarisblog, @tenementfunsterwithpurpleshoes, @drummah-in-a-rocknroll-band, @beatlegirl1968, @maylorsqueen, @autumnscenemcyt, @gralto, @alittlepeoplemagic, @rainbowsockbrian, @frejudy, @drivenbybri, @yourlocalmusicalprostitute, @saik-ava, @omb-xx, @sassymaylor, @somekindofroger, @starlightmay, @freddiemercuryismylife, @sunshine112, @chrysochromulina, @glitteryloveravenue, @deakyislife51, @0-primejive-0, @just-a-skinny-lad,  @bluewillowmom, @sassiesillie, @stesichoreanpalinode, @farrokhbulsaramercury, @tayloredofqueen, @rushingheadlong, @izzy-is-slightly-mad, @scandalacious, @0-my-fairy-queen-0  @39-volunteers-to-space@zodiacaldust, @deakytaylor, @queenband70s, @deakyeveryday, @drivenbybrimay @70smay​

#Queen Before Queen #Pre-Queen Series #John Deacon #The Opposition #🎤🎵🎸👑⭐

[thefanficmonster]

Never Satisfied [Chapter 3]

Corpse Husband x Original Female Character

Warnings: Language

A collaboration between Vy & Ashens 🖤

“I can’t tell if this is a date or a debt collection“

“So where do you want to eat?” Corpse murmurs, sitting in the same car with the same girl he’d been in only a few days ago. His seatbelt clicks and he tilts his head to peer at her from his peripheral vision. She’s buckling up and getting settled in the passenger seat where no one but her has sat in for months. His cheeks turn pink when she turns to look at him, catching him staring which brings a grin to her face. 

“I’m buying you food, bud, you pick.” She answers simply, leaning back in the old seat. 

Corpse sits frozen for a minute or two as he contemplates what the best option would be. 

Nowhere? Could I get away with that though? 

His anxiety is starting to creep up again - the dark demon of his existence. The everpresent rain cloud over the parade of his life. 

What if I make myself look like an idiot. What if I picked something she doesn’t like? Would she think I’m weird? What if whatever I get makes me sick and I end up embarrassing myself! 

Wait, she’s a klepto. What if she robs me?!

“If you can’t think of a place, there’s a little bistro about ten minutes down West Colt avenue that has some pretty bangin’ Greek food.” She suggests calmly, taking his silence as indecisiveness. She’s good at picking up subtle cues, he’s thankful for that. She seems to easily be able to get along with anyone despite her wild personality. She may have a wild spirit, but she’s got the ability to tame it when needed. She’s the only one with that power from what it seems. 

Corpse takes a moment, nods and puts his car into drive to head in the directions she mentioned.

He isn’t completely sure how she’s perceived his indecisiveness though, which is bothering him - was she annoyed by it and wanted to put an end to it or was she just trying to be helpful and prevent him from getting himself worked up? His mind spirals so easily, he hates it. Even in a calm and casual - ok, as casual as it’s gonna get with this girl - scenario, his head is spinning with nothing but the worst outcomes and possibilities. That’s anxiety for ya, it’s a fucking bitch. Either way he appreciates her stepping in like that, saved him quite the bus load of anxious pondering, so the least he can do is offer her a quick smile. 

Don’t make it weird, Corpse!, he scolds himself.

She’s looking out the passenger side window, fingers tapping calmly and rhythmically against her knee, seemingly not bothered by the loud silence in the vehicle. He, however, is not so at peace with it. He’s usually the one to enjoy silences, unless he finds himself in these kinds of situations - in-closed space with another person. He tries to ask himself what would other people do to put an end to the quiet that feels almost like a physical presence. Small talk? That’s one thing he’s never been good at. Music? That’s the key here, however he can’t be sure how to properly use it to his advantage. He can’t just play whatever and expect it to be fine. He appreciates taste in people - he knows he’d be mildly offended if people didn’t respect his taste, that’s why he always pays attention to the favors of others. Especially when it comes to music. 

That’s why, before turning the car radio on, he pauses to ask: “What kind of m-“

“Anything. Really.” She says quickly, cutting him off mid-question before laughing in a certain way Corpse can’t quite place...nervously? Could that be it? That’s a sound he never expected he’d hear from her. Is that feeling even in her specter of emotions? Her? Nervous? - sounds more impossible than him being confident. 

 “Anything?” He’s curious now. She’s managed to intrigue him so easily. He smirks, switching from the radio over to the CD he has placed in the stereo. It’s a compilation of several bands he enjoys listening to, songs that help relax and soothe him. Bonus points for the effect they have on his anxiety - they always manage to suppress it even the slightest bit. Many of his favorites are on there, a lot of genre mixing as well: rap, punk, industrial. But there are also a few mellows on there, even a couple foreign songs that she might not have heard before. 

Much to his relief, a little glow appears in her eyes at the sound of the tunes that fill the car, burning brighter than the reflection of the midday sun that’s already present in them, “I’ve always loved music...haven’t found anything I don’t like.” She tells him, voice traveling softly as she closes her eyes for a moment before opening them and allowing her grin to widen, “So...my choker, huh? Thought it suited ya?”

Corpse laughs a little, low and timid as the car comes to a slow stop at a red light. “I thought it was mine, I swear.” He admits, shrugging slightly. “I go by a C name on the internet so…thought it was a product of my bullshit sentimentality or a shopping spree I can’t recall.” He swallows hard, contemplating whether mentioning he’s online was a bad move or not.

 Luckily, she doesn’t  seem to have acknowledged it, as she promptly speaks up again, “You do look good in a collar, you have that bad dog kind of vibe. If it didn’t have such sentimental value I would’ve let you keep it.” She laughs, a sound so light, almost like a glow you can see more than a voice you can hear. It’s contagious too and he can’t help but chuckle with her, blushing again. 

“You would look good in one too I bet.” He says but cringes right as the words leave his mouth. He’s quick to regret what he has said, his tongue burning with a bitter taste as he tightens his grip on the steering wheel and clenches his jaw. 

Fuck! Stupid! Stupid! Why the fuck would you say something like that?? She’s going to think you’re a fucking creepy pervert who’s imagin-

Corpse’s mental anguish is put to an abrupt pause as something warm covers the fingers of his right hand. He lets his tunnel vision focus on his hand to find hers curled over it. 

“Hey…you still with me?” She asks carefully, thumb touching one of his rings. “You don’t have to worry about offending me. It takes a lot to do that, if you can’t tell. Besides, you seem pretty cool and you’re not a narc so that’s a huge plus.” She squeezes his hand before wiggling her fingers under his palm and pulling it from the steering wheel so their fingers could intertwine. “If you need it, you can always grab my hand any time and squeeze until you don’t feel nervous. Although, you never need to be nervous around me. Consider me your personal human safety blanket. Or a….what to call it?... - A checkpoint! If everything or everyone else makes you anxious, I’m your checkpoint person where that anxiety should evaporate. Sounds good?”

Corpse stares at this literal stranger in his car. A stranger holding his hand and promising to be there for him when his anxiety overwhelms him. Letting him rely on her whenever his chest tightens or his heart speeds up. He feels so much while looking at the sight she is. Gratitude and confusion take over though. “Why would...you-..” He attempts to mutter, but she’s quick to cut him off yet again.

“Because I know what it’s like to be anxious and I wish I had somebody to help me when I was feeling that storm in me.” She replies, shrugging her shoulders with nonchalance and gives his palm another gentle and encouraging squeeze. “Even if this is a one time hang out sesh between strangers, you can count on me until we go our separate ways.” Confidence radiates from her like waves of warmth and safety. 

Her aura’s reaching out to his, offering him reassurance and comfort. And so, he decides to accept.

Corpse finally brings himself to squeeze her hand back. “-...thanks.” He murmurs, lips quirking up in a smile. 

But I don’t want this to be a one time thing…I might actually have a friend. I may have just clicked with someone like I haven’t in so long. 

She releases his hand so he could continue driving, nodding her head as if to tell him she’s still there despite the loss of contact, reassuring him that he could reestablish that contact whenever he’d like or need to. 

He now feels more comfortable in the car, more relaxed than he can even remember. Music plays from the speakers but it’s overpowered by their voices singing along to the songs they recognize. Corpse can’t help but note she sounds nice, singing like that - so carelessly. She’s by no means a Utada Hikaru, or a Mariah Carey but she knows how to hold a tune and he can appreciate that. He’s no BONES either after all.

He doesn’t want this drive to end, he doesn’t want this bubble of comfort and leisure to burst. He rarely gets the luxury of finding himself in a state like this one so peaceful yet so chaotic. So familiar despite him not having experienced it before. It all feels so natural despite how out of place it is. It’s so many things contradicting each other and it’s beautiful to him. It’s comfort, it’s happiness. It’s the absence of anxiety - a feeling he wants to enjoy for as long as possible. He has Cora to thank for this, for managing in less than a full day of knowing him what people who’ve known him for years haven’t been able to do. He’s aware that this is temporary, this car ride can’t last forever and neither can this outing. But he knows that when they step out of this car, when they leave this bubble, her hand will still be within his reach. And when this hang-out sesh is over, he’ll be able to make another one happen. There is always this big step of overcoming his anxiety he has to face whenever he wants to invite people within his proximity and in his life, but with her, that step disappears. It’s erased from existence by the simple touch of her fingers. The oddly powerful grip of her small, gentle hand. 

Corpse is not one to believe in fate, but there are some things that are inevitable. Things that are special and always happen with a reason and a message. He’s not blind either - he knows what he’s got here, with her, falls in that category of special.

@fockingwhore  @vixenl  @annshit  @wineandionysus

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