#and she wrote about this in her new song that’s getting quite popular

[ileaveclawmarks]

An interview with Leslie Feinberg appearing in the Oct/Nov 1998 issue of On Our Backs.

Please click on image to read or find the transcript below:

Feinberg and hir activist peers have transformed the landscape of current queer politics: they have introduced "trans" (even into the mission statement of the National Organization for Women) as an umbrella term for transgender and transsexual persons. "Transgender" refers to any person whose gender expression appears at odds with his or ber biological sex, including transvestites, drag queens and kings, intersexed persons, "passing" men and women, feminine men, and masculine women. "Transsexual" refers to men and women who challenge the sex they were assigned at birth, whether they choose sex-reassignment surgery or not. Feminism popularized the distinction between "sex" (as biological sex) and "gender" (as the social expression of masculinity, androgyny, and femininity); the trans movement took this distinction to the streets.

Feinberg and hir activist peers have transformed the landscape of current queer politics: they have introduced "trans" (even into the mission statement of the National Organization for Women) as an umbrella term for transgender and transsexual persons. "Transgender" refers to any person whose gender expression appears at odds with his or ber biological sex, including transvestites, drag queens and kings, intersexed persons, "passing" men and women, feminine men, and masculine women. "Transsexual" refers to men and women who challenge the sex they were assigned at birth, whether they choose sex-reassignment surgery or not. Feminism popularized the distinction between "sex" (as biological sex) and "gender" (as the social expression of masculinity, androgyny, and femininity); the trans movement took this distinction to the streets.

Feinberg discusses her struggle with the health care system in hir new book, Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue. Released in October, Trans Liberation chronicles Feinberg's career as a public speaker and collects the addresses s/he delivered to a variety of groups, from Gay Pride organizers to straight male transvestites. We spoke with Feinberg about why sexual freedom is impossible without freedom of gender expression.

On Our Backs: Trans Liberation was released this fall. Can you tell us about what you're working on now?

Feinberg: I'm deep into a novel titled Drag King Dreams. It's about a working-class, Jewish trans person who has a foot in both the diverse trans communities and also the lesbian, gay, and bi communities. It's a book about figuring out what "home" means and who your people are. I'm also trying to write a fable titled "Tale of Two Hearts." it's really a love song to Minnie Bruce Pratt-my wife, my lover, and my friend. It's just one chorus of the love song I write to Minnie Bruce every day of my life.

On Our Backs: Your relationship with poet Minnie Bruce Pratt, thanks in part to her book S/he, is well known. What is your advice to those of us seeking a long term relationship as loving as yours?

Feinberg: I just know that for me, this is a relationship unlike any other I've ever had. I wasn't looking for a lifetime commitment when I met Minnie Bruce. I°d been dating nonmonogamously for quite a while, nothing serious. Minnie Bruce and I both did a lot of work individually to grow up, get sober and work hard at developing our political consciousness and activism. We were ready for each other. Ready to be loving, to communicate, and to listen.

On Our Backs: Pat Califia once wrote that she wishes there would come a time when we don't pick a sexual partner by his or her gender, but by other criteria, such as whether the person is a top or a bottom. In your ideal world, what would attract people to one another?

Feinberg: It's hard for me to hypothesize. In the world we live in, individuals do organize their preferences around gender expression. But a spectrum of sexuality existed in ancient societies that predated state. sponsored repression of human love. That leads me to think that these preferences might continue to exist in future societies in which no form of sex or gender is outlawed or demeaned. I don't think the problem today is preferences so much as prejudices. For example, I read personal ads in which people say "no druggies or butches need apply." Wow! That's preiudice. If you say in an ad that you're looking for someone feminine or androgynous or some other form of preference. that's very different from saving "no butches." As more and more prejudices are defeated, and in a world freed from divide-and-rule bigotry, people will be freer to explore their preferences about gender and about individuals.

On Our Backs: Do transgendered persons have sexual representation-pornography, erotic fiction, videos made for and by themselves?

Feinberg: Right now, there are many people trying to write erotica that bends gender. And I think it's very important. For many of us, it's very hard, never being able to identify with the sexuality we see everywhere in the dominant culture. [So] it was very important for me to write about sexuality in Stone Butch Blues. In the novel I'm working on now, I've been thinking a lot about how to write about sexuality that's not necessarily masculine or feminine, or gay or straight.

On Our Backs: What do you mean by "sexuality that's not necessarily masculine or feminine"?

Feinberg: I see masculinity and femininity as forms of gender expression. But a person's gender expression doesn't necessarily determine their sexuality. It doesn't determine whether you'll be attracted to someone of a similar gender expression or a dissimilar one. It doesn't mean you'll be sexually aggressive or submissive or both. That's what makes me so angry when I hear people derisively refer to someone as "thinks she's so butch but she rolls over in bed." It's an assumption that masculinity translates into being a top sexually. It limits the range of sexual expression of masculine females. And it's a sexual attack on someone who is, by virtue of their social oppression, already sexually wounded.

On Our Backs: Both sex scenes from Stone Butch Blues were excerpted for collections of lesbian erotica. Did you intend the scenes to be sexually arousing for readers - to be erotica - when you wrote them?

Feinberg: That's such an interesting question. I have to say that when I set out to write the sex scenes, I began to be aware of internalized censorship: "Can I or should I write about this or that?" So I consciously blocked out any thought of readers with this odd mental trick: I told myself that whatever I wrote, I didn't have to publish it. First write it, then decide. By doing that, I discovered that I could write about the kind of sex that i thought was true to the emotional makeup of the characters. If it was erotic for readers, I think it was because I was true to the characters themselves, so the sex was "real," if you know what I mean.

On Our Backs: Can sexuality exist without gender? Or is gender an essential component of sexuality?

Feinberg: Certainly everyone is gendered - quite complexly. And we infuse much of who we are, as gendered people, into our sexuality. But sexuality is so complicated by oppression right now that it's really hard to study it removed from its social soil. Jesse Helms defeated funding for a study that would have backed up much of what Kinsey revealed decades ago: that human sexuality is not two opposite poles- one normal, one not. Sexuality is on a spectrum, and many individuals move along that continuum during their lives. But lesbian, gay, and bisexual love is outlawed in the majority of states in the United States. So how can a truly objective, intensive study of sexuality even be conducted? It's like doing a study on religious beliefs and affiliations during the Nazi regime in Germany. So much of what we will learn about the relationship of gender and desire, as well as unraveling other questions about the matrix of sexuality, will be tied to the victories of our liberation of humanity from oppression altogether.

On Our Backs: In Trans Liberation you wrote about how frustrating it is voting for a two-party system when both parties are backed by big business. Do you vote? Should poor, queer, and trans people even bother voting?

Feinberg: Well, politics is about more than voting. It's also about finding ways to move people to action. In a particular situation, voting on an issue in an election or a candidate could help advance the movement. In general, though, I don't think voting for Republicans or Democrats - both supported by wings of corporate America, as are their parties - advances our struggle. I believe we need to build an independent liberation movement that's not tied down by waiting to see what happens in the next election. Everything our movement has ever won, including progressive legislation, has been won based on the strength of our struggle.

On Our Backs: Lesbians who accept transgender liberation in theory often balk at making alliances with transsexuals. Why is this so?

Feinberg: First and foremost, transsexual men and women helped build the modern lesbian, gay, and bisexual communities and movement. I know of at least one transsexual sister who fought the cops at Stonewall. They haven't always been recognized for their valuable contributions. But I believe strongly that those in the lesbian communities who are opposed to building coalitions with the diverse trans communities are just one current, and very often a minority current. The question is: Which current of any movement will lead? Those who seek to narrow the movement, or those who seek to broaden and strengthen its collective power?

*In this interview, On Our Backs refers to Feinberg with the pronouns "hir" (pronounced "here") and "s/he." We choose to do so because Feinberg has stressed that if society is to accept transgendered people, our language must expand as well. S/he gives as an example Ms., a common term now, but unacceptable before the women's movement.

Source.

#leslie feinberg #stone butch blues #transgender warriors #on our backs #lesbianism

[coeursye]

The strange union of Lucerys Velaryon and Aemond Targaryen resulted in the birth of a brood of perfectly handsome sons and perfectly beautiful daughters.

Meet them down below ⬇️

Aemion is the dependable, friendly and oblivious eldest child of Lucerys and Aemond. He deeply loves all of his siblings and has a tendency to acts as if he was their mother. Aemion is sweet, always cheerful and rather charming.

Contrary to his eldest twin, Aeryn is shy and melancholic, he seems to always be in the clouds and likes to isolate himself. He’s pretty reserved unless he’s with Aemion, who he adores perhaps just a little bit too much.

Valaena is a rather calm and collected young girl although she is quite cold, judgemental and sardonic. She is fiercely protective of Lucerys and will not tolerate any kind of disrespect toward him. There’s no one who could be more proud to be a Targaryen than Valaena.

Unlike her sisters, Calyx is not known for being a great beauty but rather for her remarkable intelligence and prowess in archery. Adventurous, she loves to explore news horizons with her dragon. She has little regard for her youngest twin, Baelon, and mostly ignores him.

Prideful, fearful, arrogant and short-tempered, his personality doesn’t make Baelon particularly popular among his siblings. Despite his overall unpleasant demeanor, Baelon’s intelligence is undeniable and extremely praised, though it seems to only add to his already inflated ego.

Maegelle is sweet, at least that’s what she wants everyone to think. She is delighted whenever she gets to tease her older brother Baelon and more often than not gets into arguments with him. Maegelle enjoys singing the songs she wrote as Baelon and Valaena play the lute and the harp for her. She admires and is way more than fond of Valaena but unfortunately for her, it doesn’t seems to be reciprocal.

Saelyna is the eldest triplet of Osferth and Rhaegar. She is quite rubbish, clumsy and overall a very funny little girl but she’s unfortunately not the smartest. For there is absolutely nothing going on inside her head.

Calm and docile, Osferth is a sweet kid with a sweet tooth. While he doesn’t have a dragon himself, he loves takings care of the dragons of his siblings. He is very fond of his sickly little brother Maelor and often sneak in his chambers to take care of him and keep him company.

(Will add the portrait later)

Rhaegar was the youngest triplet of Saelyna and Osferth. He was the only child who looked exactly like Lucerys. The babe unfortunately passed away before his first moon, which deeply devastated Aemond and Luke.

Lucerys and Aemond were blessed with Maelor a few years after the loss of their babe, Rhaegar, and after multiple miscarriages. Sadly, he was born weak, tiny and very sickly with dragon scales on different part of his body. Rarely allowed to go outside, he spend most of his time alone in his chambers with his little dragon, Pythios.

Gael is a little girl who despite her very young age is quite energetic. She likes to run around and cause mischief.

And that’s it, for now. I hope you guys will enjoy all the pics, fics and lores about them that I’ll post in the future!!

#aemond targaryen #lucerys velaryon #lucerys x aemond #lucemond #my ocs #coeursye’s shit #abo #I will come back to this later and update some portraits as they’re quite old and ugly #fanart #hotd #house of the dragon #house velaryon #house Targaryen #asoiaf #got #artists on tumblr

[multi-fandom-things730]

Welcome to Burlesque

Summary: Y/N is a burlesque dancer who works at Taz’s club. She and his son Hook start developing feelings for each other as they navigate the complicated world of organized crime.

Warnings: mob au, guns, blood, injuries, fighting, cussing, violence, angst, fluff, Jack being a little traitor, club environment, burlesque club, creepy man not taking a hint, drinking

A/N: should I have been writing a speech for college today? Yes. Did I? No. I wrote this💀😂 this burlesque idea is a little thing I came up with while listening to the burlesque movie’s soundtrack😂 and I thought it would be something fun to combine with a mob au. There will be a part 2 to this, and I hope you all enjoy!!!!! 🤍And thank you as always to @99hook for helping me brainstorm and come up with different little ideas for this fic💛💛✨

Working at Taz's burlesque club was a dream come true to Y/N.

Was it a little bit shady? Yes.

Was she aware of the business the Senerchia family was in? It wasn't very hard to figure out being in the club as often as she was.

But did she care? She probably should have a lot more than she did. But she couldn't bring herself to.

Taz was undoubtedly one of the kindest men she'd ever met; at least to her anyway.

Maybe not to everyone else, but being one of the club’s most popular dancers had its perks.

The two ended up spending a lot of time together, as she performed almost every night. And Taz preferred conducting his business at the burlesque club to anywhere else.

He knew it was safe, and there were back rooms disguised as extra dressing rooms he used when business had to get a little messy.

Y/N knew it wasn't the most conventional dream to have, but she had wanted to be a burlesque dancer for years.

When Taz bought the business from the previous owner, Y/N watched as many of her coworkers left when they realized who their new owner really was.

She knew she probably should have gone with them, but she just wasn't willing to give up on her job.

She loved the club so much; she couldn't imagine working anywhere else.

And it may have also had a tiny bit to do with Taz's handsome son.

Y/N and Hook both remembered the first night they met vividly, and they knew they wouldn't be forgetting anytime soon.

Hook was sitting in a private booth in the corner next to his dad at the burlesque club.

Taz had bought it a few months ago, but he hadn't bothered to come by until tonight.

His dad was dealing with a customer who had put his hands on one of the dancers here, and wanted his men there to help him 'take care' of the problem.

Say what you wanted about Taz, but he and his people did not take that lightly.

The man showed up every Friday night, so they watched the performance while waiting for him to show his face.

Hook was itching for him to show up, ready to beat the disrespect out of the man's body.

But his mind was pulled away from the soon-to-come beat down when a song he vaguely recognized started playing.

It was an older song, but he couldn't quite put his finger on the name.

But when the curtains reopen, Taz laughs when he sees his son's eyes widen and he inhales sharply.

"That's Y/N" Taz informs with a smirk. "She's the most popular dancer here"

"She.. she's gorgeous" Hook mumbles.

Taz laughs and claps Hook on the shoulder. "Don't go getting too distracted, we have business to take care of tonight"

Hook clears his throat and nods, but his eyes quickly trail back to the woman on the stage.

His eyes scanned up and down her body as she sensuously moved across the stage, and her melodic voice floated around the room.

He was so enthralled by her that he didn't even notice when his father's men started shifting around the room.

It wasn't until Taz nudged his side that he snapped out of the trance Y/N had lulled him into.

Later that night, Y/N was sitting at the bar with a drink in her hand.

Her eyes stayed on the stage, watching her friends perform with a smile across her red lips.

"I recognized the first song you sang"

She spins around in her seat, and smiles at the handsome man who had spoken to her. "Yeah? Did you like it?"

"Mhm" he nods, and slides into the empty seat next to her. "But I can't remember the name of it"

"A guy what takes his time. Originally sung by Mae West" Y/N informs.

"You a big fan of her?" Hook asks.

"Very much so" Y/N replies with a grin. "She's such an icon"

"I have to admit, I'm unsure of who she is" Hook says with a sheepish grin.

"She's only one of the most famous sex symbols ever" Y/N says with a giggle. "She even was the first to say the quote 'Why don't you come up sometime and see me?' Rather scandalous for 1933"

"Extremely" Hook concurs with a chuckle, before sticking his hand out. "I'm Hook, but you can call me Tyler"

Y/N was caught off guard by that. Of course she knew who Hook was, but she had heard how he didn't let many people call him Tyler. She even heard a few stories of him beating people up who disrespected him by calling him his real name.

But weirdly, it caused butterflies in her stomach. She placed her hand into his and sent him a sweet smile. "I'm Y/N"

"It's a pleasure to meet you amore" He lifts her hand to place a kiss on her knuckles, and that combined with the Italian nickname had a bright blush flushing Y/N's cheeks.

"So" Y/N clears her throat before her face changes to a serious expression. "Is the problem taken care of?"

"What are you talking about?" Hook plays dumb, and if she wasn't already in the know she probably would have fallen for his charming smile.

"You know what I'm talking about" Y/N stares directly into his eyes, annoyance creeping into her gaze. "He comes here every Friday, and all the girls are scared. Taz told me it would be taken care of tonight. Was it not?"

Hook stares at her for a second, unsure of what to say. He couldn't believe she knew. Furthermore, he couldn't believe his dad was the one to tell her. And even further, why did she seem so fine with it?

Taz, who had been behind the bar checking inventory and eavesdropping on the two, decides to walk over and help his seemingly frozen son. "Good evening miele"

Y/N smiles at Taz, and leans over the bar to kiss his cheek. "Hello Taz. I was just asking Hook if the problem was dealt with, but for some reason he seems to be unable to answer me"

Taz chuckles. "Don't worry about him, he's not used to talking to such a vision. He was dealt with earlier tonight, during your performance actually"

Y/N chuckles. "Good"

"It's getting late, and you spend enough time in this club as is. Tyler, why don't you take Y/N home?" Taz proposes.

"No, that's okay. I don't want to impose" Y/N immediately replies.

"I don't mind at all" Hook finally speaks up. "I'd love to give you a ride"

"Then it's settled. Because there's no way I'm letting you walk home this late" Taz says sternly.

Y/N just smiles. "How'd you know I was walking today?"

"It's my job to be observant Y/N. And I heard you complaining about your car not starting" Taz answers. "So until that's fixed, you are getting a ride from someone. It's not safe to walk around here"

"Alright, just give me a few minutes to get my stuff" Y/N gives in. She stands from her seat and smiles up at Hook.

"Thanks Hoo.. Tyler" she corrects herself, and gives his arm a light squeeze as she walks by him.

Taz smirks over at his son, who is looking down at the bar in an attempt to hide his red cheeks. "Tyler? You just met her and she's already allowed to call you Tyler?"

Hook doesn't answer, which causes Taz to laugh.

"You know, she's a good girl. I think you would be good together" Taz says. 

"Really?" Hook asks softly, looking up at his dad.

"Mhm" Taz hums. "But she's not like those other girls you go out with. You can't flash her a smile and she immediately agrees to go out with you. You're gonna have to put some work in. And it better be good, or I won't let you"

Hook chuckles. "You're not gonna let me?"

"No" Taz immediately answers firmly.

Then Y/N walks out with her bag. "I'm ready to go"

Taz walks out from behind the bar and gives her a hug. "Have a good night Y/N"

"You too Taz" she smiles as they pull away.

Hook walks over and takes her bag from her.

"Thanks" she says, and Hook just nods before placing his hand on the small of her back to guide her out of the building.

That next morning Y/N woke up to a surprise.

Y/N furrows her eyebrows, and stops making her coffee when she hears noise coming from her driveway.

She quickly grabs a jacket before walking outside to see what was going on.

But a smile spreads across her lips when she sees Hook in her driveway messing with her car. "Good morning handsome"

He looks up and flashes her a sheepish smile with red cheeks from her compliment. "Did I wake you?"

"No, I was already up" She answers. "What are you doing?"

"Fixing your car" he says with a proud grin. "I already figured out what's wrong with it. The battery's dead"

"Is that bad?" Y/N asks, not knowing much about cars.

Hook shakes his head. "It's an easy fix. I'm gonna jump-start it and it should be good as new"

"Well, thank you so much" Y/N smiles. "You didn't have to do all this, but I really appreciate it"

"It's not a problem" Hook brushes it off. "I'm glad to help"

"Come inside when you're done. I’ll make breakfast"

And she did. The two talked and laughed the entire time.

It started becoming a routine for them to have breakfast together.

At first, Hook left after breakfast. But then he started staying a little later. Then he started staying for lunch too. And by the time he stayed for lunch, he may as well have stayed long enough to drive her to the club for her shift, right?

Taz couldn't be more excited watching the two of them walk in together every night, including tonight.

As usual, they walked in right at 5:00, making the most of every minute.

"One of these days you're gonna get here at 5:01, and you're gonna be the one in trouble Tyler" Taz jokes, making the two laugh.

"Don't worry Taz, I'll make sure I'm always here on time. I can't let my favorite Senerchia down" she laughs, and walks over to pat his arm.

Hook pouts, but his lips turn up when she pecks his cheek as she passes him on the way to the dressing rooms.

"How's it going son?" Taz asks once Y/N’s out of sight.

"I think it's going good" Hook answers. "I can tell she's hesitant though"

Taz nods. "Just be patient. She's used to men playing her, just keep showing her you aren't like that"

Later that night Hook was sitting in a booth with his best friend, Jack Perry.

He was standing up and applauding as Y/N left the stage, but not before blowing a kiss towards him.

He pretends to catch it before sitting back down next to a snickering Jack. "What?"

"Nothing" Jack raises his hands in surrender. "I can just tell that you really like her"

"Yeah" Hook mumbles. "But I don't know if she likes me like that"

"You told me you spend time together everyday" Jack replies.

"We do" Hook shrugs. "But whenever I try to kiss her or hold her hand, she always pulls away"

"She's probably just nervous bro" Jack pats Hook's shoulder. "I mean, with her job, she's probably had to deal with a lot of scumbags"

Hook nods. "I know. My dad said the same thing"

But before either of them can say anything else Skye, one of the other dancers, walks over to the table. "Hey Hook. I'm sorry to bother you, but there’s this guy at the bar messing with Y/N. He won't leave her alone, and she said she could handle it, but he's not stopping"

Hook immediately stands up, and scans the bar.

He spots Y/N almost immediately, and the guy next to her who is way too close for his liking.

"Thanks" he says gruffly to Skye before taking off towards Y/N, Jack following close behind.

Hook walks over, and places himself in the space between them. "Hey amore"

He can see the relief on her face as he gently pushes her to stand behind him. "Hi Ty"

She holds onto his arm as Hook stares the guy down.

"Excuse me, we were talking" the guy rudely says, clearly not knowing who he was dealing with.

"It's best if you'd leave man" Jack says from his place next to Hook in an attempt to diffuse the situation.

Y/N knew that if looks could kill, that man would already be six feet under from the glare Hook was sending him. So she pulls on his arm, indicating she wants to leave. And he almost does, until the guy opens his mouth again.

"I just said we were talking" The guy repeats.

"You were talking" Hook snaps, pulling away from Y/N to step closer to him. "She wasn't"

"Oh yeah?" The guy stands up, making both Jack and Hook tense up, clearly ready for a fight.

"You got a fucking problem?" Hook demands.

"Ty, Ty let's just go" Y/N says, grabbing onto his arm again. "Please?"

"Yeah, just go" the guy taunts, and Y/N's eyes widen when he pushes Hook.

Chaos happens so quickly after that. Hook immediately pushes him back, and then his fist connects with the guy's jaw.

Jack joins in, and holds the guy still while Hook rains punches down on him.

"Tyler! Tyler stop!" Y/N yells as the bouncers run over and pull the three men apart.

Y/N latches onto Hook's arm as the bouncers drag the guy out.

"Are you two okay?!" She exclaims, quickly scanning them for injuries.

"I'm all good" Jack says. "I'm gonna head out, that was enough excitement for me for one night"

But as Hook wrapped his arms around Y/N to comfort her, he didn't realize what was going through Jack's head. Unbeknownst to Hook, he had just revealed to Jack his weak point.

Y/N headed to work later than normal a few days later. She wasn't supposed to work that day, but Skye was sick and Y/N offered to take her shift.

Hook had some business his father needed him to deal with, so he wasn't there to drive her.

Y/N was headed into the club when it happened.

All of a sudden she was grabbed from behind. She kicked and screamed as loud as she could as the men attempted to drag her into the trunk of their car.

She managed to scratch the hand of the one holding her mouth, causing him to let out a pained yell and loosen his grip.

And with her mouth free she screamed for help; she screamed for Hook.

Anthony, who was one of Hook's friends and Taz's men, heard a scream from his place at the door and ran outside.

Once the men saw Anthony running towards them with his gun out, they dropped Y/N and scrambled to get back in the car.

Y/N let out a yell when she fell onto the pavement and hit her head.

She was in a daze as she just laid there on the ground, watching as the car sped off and blood landed on the ground, dripping from her head.

Anthony kneeled next to her and pulled her into his arms. "Y/N? Hey, you're okay now. I got you"

She curled into his chest as he pulled his phone out and called Taz.

Less than ten seconds later every one of Taz's men in the club came running out with instructions to find the people who did this.

Then Taz himself ran over and kneeled next to them. "Hey hon"

"Hi Taz" she mumbles, sending him a weak smile in an attempt to assure him that she was okay.

He smiled back and brushed some hair out of her face. "You're gonna be just fine miele"

Anthony picks her up and carries her to Taz's car. He lays her down in the backseat before sliding in next to her.

Y/N was still a bit in and out as Anthony pressed a cloth against her bleeding head, but she heard Taz call Hook.

"Son, something's happened at the club"

"What do you mean? Are you and Y/N okay?" Hook asks urgently.

"Yes, we're all alright. But Y/N was hurt, son"

It was silent for a moment, but Y/N heard when Hook's breathing started getting heavier. "What happened?"

Y/N knew that tone. It was calm, too calm. She knew that he was furious, and it worried her that he would go out and try to find the people.

"I want you to come to the house before I tell you all the details"

"Why?!" Hook immediately snaps.

"Because I know you son" Taz replies firmly. "And the minute I give you any details you're going to go out and try to do something"

"Of course I am! Someone hurt Y/N! I am gonna hunt them dow-“

"I am not telling you a damn thing until you're at the house and that's final. Y/N will be there" Taz says with finality before hanging up the phone.

When Taz pulled into the driveway, Y/N was surprised. "You brought me to your house? I thought only the inside circle knows where you live"

But Taz just turns to smile at her. "That's right"

Y/N smiles after that, before sitting up with Anthony's help.

"Don't get ahead of yourself Y/N" Anthony says.

She just nods, and lets him pick her back up and carry her inside.

"Lay her down in the living room, I've got the doctor coming over" Taz tells Anthony, who nods and does as told.

Y/N thanks Anthony after he sits her on the couch, and he smiles and nods in return.

She looks around the room, and her eyes stop on a picture perched on the mantle. It was Hook and his dad when Hook was little. A smile grew on her lips as she stared at the photo.

"I love that picture too" Taz says as he walks into the room with a cup of water.

She thanks him for it as he sits down next to her.

"He hasn't been that carefree in a long time. I suppose that's my fault. Dragging him into this life" Taz sighs.

"No, I don't think it's your fault. He's told me how much he wants to be a part of it. I don't think you could have done anything to stop him" Y/N replies with a sympathetic smile.

Taz nods. "Thanks, hon"

It's then the door swings open and hurried footsteps echo through the house. "Y/N?!"

Y/N winces at his loud yell, and Taz stands up to meet Hook in the doorway. "Hey, her head is still hurting. No yelling, and be gentle with her"

Hook frantically nods before running over to her.

He kneeled in front of her and cupped her face between his warm hands.

Y/N leaned into his palm and closed her eyes. "I'm okay. Don't worry"

"You're not okay" Hook breathes out. "You don't have to lie"

"I'm okay now" she insists. "You're here now. I know nothing can happen to me"

Hook's lips turn upwards slightly, before he reaches up to pull her into a hug. "I was so worried"

"Don't be. I'm tough" Y/N replies.

Hook pulls away to press his forehead against hers. "Yes you are. My strong girl"

The two smile at each other, and sit like that for a moment. Hook was so thankful to be able to sit there and listen to her breathing while holding tightly onto her hands, reassuring him that she was okay.

Then Taz walks in with the doctor.

Hook sat next to her as the doctor cleaned up her cuts, and held her hand the entire time.

Meanwhile, out in the hallway, Taz was talking to his right-hand man; Tony Schiavone.

"I wanna find the people who did this" Taz says in a dangerous tone. "I want them found and brought to me; alive. Understood?"

"Yes" Schiavone nods. "Out of curiosity, what do you plan to do to them?"

Taz just smirks. "I think I'll let Tyler decide that"

Y/N woke up the next morning with a very sore body.

Every time she moved pain shot through her, and she had a terrible headache.

She slowly pulled herself into a sitting position, and took a second to brace herself before sliding off of the bed.

She looked to the bedside table for her phone, and smiles when she sees more than just the phone. There was medicine, a cup of water, a little bag of her favorite chips, and one of Hook's hoodies folded up.

She reached over and slipped on the hoodie, taking a moment to savor the smell of Hook's cologne that now swirled around her, before taking the medicine. Then she got out from under the extremely cozy blankets and left the bedroom.

She went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth and hair before venturing out into the hallways.

She felt a little awkward making her way around the Senerchia house- well, more like mansion. She was a guest and didn't know her way around very well, but she was really hungry.

She let out a quiet cheer when she found the kitchen, and walked over to the fridge and pantry to see what they had. Y/N pulled out the ingredients to make pancakes, bacon, and eggs. She knew Hook would probably freak out over her cooking after just being injured, but she wanted to do something nice for them.

For absolutely no reason, the Senerchia's had taken her in and accepted her as family. Taz had done so long before she ever even met Hook.

Many people would be angry that they had been attacked because of the Senerchia family, but Y/N wasn't. She knew the lifestyle they lived, and she made a choice to be in their lives anyway. She just wished Hook realized that too. Y/N knew Hook would beat himself up about it for months to come.

As everything was cooking, Y/N was trying to figure out how their coffee machine worked. But she was stumped.

"Something smells amazing" she turns around and smiles when Taz walks into the kitchen.

"Thank you. I hope you don't mind, I just wanted to do something nice for y'all" Y/N says.

"I appreciate it" Taz smiles back.

"I was trying to make you guys coffee too, but I can't figure out this machine" she laughs, making Taz laugh too.

"You've done more than enough this morning" Taz walks over to the pot and takes it from her hands. "Let me make the coffee at least"

"What a great team we make" Y/N grins, before heading back over to the stove.

"I assume you're feeling better this morning?" Taz asks.

"I don't feel great, but definitely better than last night" Y/N answers. "Got a splitting headache though"

"That'll clear up in a few days" Taz comforts.

Y/N nods. "Thank you for taking care of me last night"

"Hey, you're one of us now" Taz says. "You will be protected from here until forever"

Y/N couldn’t stop the bright smile that took over her face, until the next words that come from Taz. "Unless you decide you don't wanna be part of this life of course"

"What are you talking about?" Y/N immediately asks.

"I'm not gonna lie to you Y/N, most people don't make it long-term in this world. The danger, the not knowing if someone will make it back home, the threat of the cops, it's not an easy life to live. And I know Tyler hasn't asked you to officially be his girl yet, but I know he wants to. And when he does, I just want to make sure you know that you have options. This incident.. I can't guarantee it, or something worse, won't happen again. I wish I could but I can't. You know we're gonna do everything we can to make sure no one lays a pinky finger on you ever again, but.. if it all becomes too much for you, I need you to know that I can get you out. I can send you away, somewhere even Tyler won't know. You can get a fresh start away from all of this"

Y/N stares at Taz for a moment, letting his words settle, before she smiles softly. "Thank you so much Taz, but I won't be needing any of that. Ever. I'm here for the long haul as long as Tyler will have me"

Taz just smiles back, incredibly happy to have Y/N as a part of their family.

Now all he needed was for Hook to man up and confess his feelings to Y/N.

Taz knew he was scared; scared of the danger it would put Y/N in. But it seemed that the danger was already present. And seeing it first hand had shaken Hook. The original plan that night was for Hook to finally ask Y/N to be his girl. They told Y/N that Hook had something Taz needed him to do; when really he was out getting some gifts for her. He had dinner reservations at her favorite restaurant, and he was going to pick her up from the club early and take her out. But of course, the night did not end the way Hook had hoped.

Then Hook walks into the kitchen, and his eyes widen when he sees Y/N cooking. "Y/N! You don't need to be cooking, you need to be resting!"

Y/N just laughs as he puts his hands on her arms and guides her to sit down at the kitchen island. "I'm feeling okay Ty"

"No, you need to rest amore" Hook says, and leans down to kiss her on the forehead before taking her place at the stove.

Jack sighed from his seat at the burlesque club.

He watched as Y/N performed, the gears in his head turning rapidly.

His plan to kidnap her had failed, and he was actually kind of glad about it.

He had realized since that night a few things. And the biggest one was that Y/N is fiercely loyal to Hook and his family. Even after almost getting abducted she stuck by his side, perhaps closer than ever.

He realized if his plan had worked, she wouldn't have told him shit about Taz's operations.

Jack couldn't ask Hook; they were friends, but he'd realize what was up if Jack started poking around.

But anyone who was an enemy of the Senerchia may kidnap Hook's girl to try and get information to take them down.

But Y/N wouldn't crack, Jack was now sure of it.

So he decided on a new plan:

Psychological warfare.

He didn't need to take Y/N from Hook, he was gonna make her want to leave.

#aew #aew hook #aew hook x reader #hook aew x reader #hook x reader #hook imagine #hook aew #send hook #aew x reader #aew fanfiction

[iateyourparents]

i want to write you a song | c.b.

pairing: colby brock x musician!fem!reader

summary: you were an artist. when you were heartbroken you didn’t just cry alone in bed. you’re just making something out of your emotions.

warnings: kinda angsty, break up, use of y/n, bad writing and grammar(i’m sorry, english isn’t my first language)

an: inspired by ‘I want to write you a song’ by One Direction. (btw guys i’m slowly running out of ideas so if you have something you would like to read you can request it/write to me or in comments <3)

pictures are from pinterest:)

You wanted to lie in bed all day. You really wanted to. But you weren’t this type of person, you couldn’t just lie all day while not doing anything but crying. It would just make you more frustrated.

So instead you just decided to pour your emotions on a paper and write a song.

You really wanted to make some energetic song where you would just badmouth your ex but you still loved him too much to do that, so instead you wrote a goodbye song for him. And it was really good.

“I want to write you a song, one as beautiful as you are sweet” you hummed to yourself trying to make a melody that would be perfect with your song.

“Already sounds great sweetie.” your manager, Ellie, said coming into your studio room. You deeply regreted giving her keys to your apartment. “What got you writing something like that? It doesn’t sound like love songs you made about Colby.”

“It’s a goodbye song for Colby. I actually wanted to call him an asshole and viagra taker but I just couldn’t make myself do that so I decided to do this. And I actually feel pretty good after writing this.” you shrugged and put your gituar in its place.

“Oh honey, what happend?” she sounded concerned.

“Colby broke up with me because he ‘didn’t felt as he should feel’ he just…wasn’t in love anymore.” you felt tears pricking at your eyes. Ellie gasped and hugged you tightly. “Don’t feel too bad, that song is amazing.” you laughed even though tears were already streaming from your eyes.

|||

“Okay guys, so I have this new song and you’ll be the first ones to ever hear it before it comes out today at midnight.” you told the crowd which started screaming with excitement. “That’s actually a form of a goodbye to someone who was, still is, important to me and even if we won’t ever talk again I want him to know I wish him the best.”

Well, maybe that wasn’t the best way to announce your break up to the world but whatever. It’s not like twitter and tik tok detectives weren’t starting to notice little things.

Music started playing right when you started playing your gituar and crowd got silent to listen better to new song.

“I want to write you a song, one as beautiful as you are sweet…” you continued singing and people started to get what you meant, and who you meant, in your little speech and well, you never heard a silence quite this loud.

“I want to write you a song. One to make your heart remember me, so anytime I’m gone you can listen to my voice and sing along. I want to write you a song.” you ended the song with tears in your eyes. Singing it out loud in front of thousands of people made you realize how real that situation was. You were no longer with Colby. And it still hurts.

You could see that some people in the crowd had shock on their faces and tears in their eyes. It was the first time ever it was so silent after you ended a song. And it felt weird but also so right.

It was like a minute of silence for you and Colby and for your relationship. For your memories.

You and Colby were popular couple. Many people said you’re the perfect example of right person in right time, so you knew these news would be heartbreaking for some of your fans.

“I know it’s probably a lot to take in just a moment but it actually felt good singing this out loud. Yeah, some chapters in life ends but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing waiting for us. New chapter is just a new chance and I’m gonna use it as best as I can.” you did a little speech and your fans finally recovered from the news you dropped at them and applaused for you. “I love you guys, I wouldn’t be here without you. I’m so fucking grateful for y‘all. See you soon!” as you were coming off the stage you could hear squeaks, shouting and clapping and it made you smile. You made it. And you will make it through this negative feelings. And you will be fine again.

|||

You were in a bar. It was your friend’s birthday party and as much as you liked her, this party sucked. Everybody was so sober and awkward that it made you want to leave.

“Oh hi.” you heard next to you. When you turned you saw Colby.

“Hi” you smiled to him. He looked really good. His black button up was revealing part of his chest and his beautiful blue eyes were shining in dim light “How are you?”

You tried to be civil with him. You were almost used to thought that you are no longer together. It still hurt, especially with world still talking about it since you announced it just few days ago even though you were broken up for few months.

“Good, thanks. And you?”

“Fine.” you smiled awkwardly. You stood in kind of awkward silence and just from looking at him you knew he wanted to tell you something but wasn’t sure how. “Just say it.”

“I like the song you wrote.” he finally choked out and you felt your heart squeezing. You didn’t expect him to start this topic but you just gulped and faked a giggle.

“Thank you.” when you wanted to say something else he stopped you with his words.

“I know I hurt you. I regret it like nothing else in my life but you deserve better. I just didn’t feel like I loved you enough. Not as much as you deserve to be loved. So I didn’t want to hurt you even more with pretending. But maybe…” he quickly shuted up and then changed his words, or rather tried to avoid saying what he started saying. “So I thought that would be better. But I still love you and think that in some way, I always will. But I think it’s better if you find your perfect match instead of being stuck with me. And it might seem cruel for me to say this now but I just wanted you to know that it would be impossible for me to forget someone like you. You changed my life, y/n.”

You wanted to say something but before you realized it he was out of your eyesight so you just sighed and took a sip of vodka.

|||

It’s been a month and you couldn’t stop thinking about Colby’s words.

Did he meant what you thought he meant?

He still loved you but didn’t think it was enough? Didn’t think he was enough for you?

You had so many questions and it made you sleepless trying to think what you should do or what are answers to these questions.

So now here you were, at Colby’s door in the middle of the night, still in your pajamas, hoping he was home.

You inhaled an air into your lungs and started knocking. Maybe more aggressive than you should but you just were desperate for answers and you couldn’t give up.

Finally moments later, the doors opened revealing sleepy Colby who looked at you confused and then he suddenly were more awake looking at you with concern.

“Everything okay? What happened? Are you hurt or in danger?” he looked over you as if to look for any visible wounds.

“Yes, I mean no.” you sighed and started explaining. “Since Doris’ birthday I can’t stop thinking about your words and it’s fucking crazy. Like, what did you mean?”

Colby could see desperation and tiredness in your eyes and it make him feel bad because he was the reason of your distress.

“I…”

You interrupted him.

“I thought about it so much that i got to a conclusion that you still love me but don’t want to be with me because you’re too… scared of something, like hurting me or whatever. And it hurts so much anyway because I don’t think I can function without you anymore what is so funny to me because I literally wrote a song to get over you. But it didn’t work because I still fucking love you and want you back and I hope i’m right and you also still love me because I think it will break me for good if I’m wrong and you don’t love me anymore. And I might sound so pathetic right now but I don’t care becau…”

This time he was the one who interrupted you. But with the way he did that, you couldn’t be mad.

He kissed you to make you shut up.

You gladly reciprocated the kiss and after a moment he took his lips away just to place his forehead on yours.

“You’re right. I’m still in love with you. But I just felt like my love wasn’t enough, that you deserve so much better. Someone who will always be able to show you his love and share your passions with you and…” now you were the one shutting him up with your lips.

“Don’t say anything. You’re so stupid, Colbs. You’re the only one I want, even if you have your own hobbies. And you showed me your love in a way I loved. I want you, only you.”

Colby smiled at you and took your hands to lead you inside his home.

“I’m so glad you were brave enough to come here because I missed you so much but was afraid to confront you after Doris’ party.” you laughed softly at that and squeezed his hand.

Maybe now you will be back to writing love songs about this man.

#colby brock x reader #colby brock #colby #katrina stuart #music #one direction #sam and colby #snc #sam golbach

[lilythesingingwitch]

So I may have created a trolls AU based the show Julie and the phantoms (which I highly recommend you check out)

In this AU, instead of being a simple boy band like in the movie, they a literally a band, with JD on the lead guitar, Bruce on drums, Clay on the bass, Floyd on keys, and Branch is the second guitar in training. Poppy and Branch are still best friends, and are gonna become a couple eventually, but in the beginning, just friends.

So, without further adieu, let me introduce you, to Poppy and the Phantoms!

First up we have Poppy (Please don't mind the fact that she doesn't have tail in the drawing, I forgot to add it here but it will be present when I digitalize these)

Poppy is a University student still mourning the death of her mother, who is desperately trying to fix her inability to sing and play music since her mothers passing. She still loves music, but the grief is sadly stronger. When her dad brings up the thought of selling the house in favor of helping her, Viva and himself with moving on from her death, she goes to clean the garage, aka her moms old music studio. Where she finds an old CD, for a band called Brozone. When she puts it in the player and lets the first song play, three familiar ghosts pop out of nowhere.

(Things written on the paper, without my spelling mistakes and some minor stuff I didn't write down)

Lives in the house that John Dory and his new band would live and practice at

Discovers the phantoms when looking through her moms stuff in the garage

Figures out pretty quickly who they are, with Branch being her best boyfriend

They make a band to help the guys ascend and Poppy to mend her relationship with music

Lives with Viva and her dad

Next up, John Dory

Back when he was in his teens, he and his brothers made a band called Brozone, which, despite was pretty popular all things considered. However, when they were preparing for one of the biggest concerts of their live, they get into a fight about John Dory being too bossy and demanding of his younger siblings. After which, John Dory leaves the house and his family at the age of 17. In the span of his time alone, he makes a new band with some of his new friends. In a short span that they've been a band. John Dory wrote pretty much all of the songs that they sang, and though trial and error, they got an opportunity to play on a stage that has made a lot of underground artists mainstream. However, John never gets the chance to play on that stage, for her dies from a poisoning 30 mins before the show.

(Things written on the paper)

He and his brothers were in a band called Borzone, where he played the guitar

Until he, SpBruce and Clay quit, leaving Floyd and Branch alone (Well, they all lived with Grandma, you get what I mean)

Regrets it, deeply

Wrote all the Brozone songs, including songs for his new band

Also wrote "Unsaid Emily", which was originally named "Unsaid Family" as a tribute to his biggest mistake in life and an apology to his brothers, but renamed it.

Died right before his big performance on the same day and Bruce and Clay

Died at the age of 23

Bruce next

When his brother proposed the idea of making a band, he had his doubts, since they were all in school and had their own stuff to do, but then again, up until then, he and JD always did crazy things together, and band was by far the most tamest of his brothers ideas. And with everyone else on board he thought "fuck it, why not?". And it was fun for a while, until he noticed how controlling JD had become, always telling him to go practice instead of letting him hand out with friends, telling him to watch his shape, giving him a work out routine for that, Bruce had enough and finally stood up to his brother and claimed that he's quitting the band, to which Clay joined in on, and which prompted JD to leave all together. And soon after, he leaves the house at the age of 16. He rents a small house by the beach, works at the cafe near it, changes his name from Spruce to Bruce, and takes up surfing. Which also becomes his downfall on a particularly bad day, and he takes his surfboard out for a quick swim, gets swallowed by a wave, and never resurfaces.

(Things written on the paper)

Was the drummer in Brozone

Was the first one to declare he's leaving the band and feels like it's his fault for causing the butterfly effect of others quitting as well

Left to live by the beach as soon as he could

Wanted to reach out to his brothers, but only ever sent a single post card to each

Died in a surfing accident on the same day as John Dory and Clay

Died at the age of 22

Cried when they all realized that they're dead

Last but not least (for now), Clay

Clay was, surprisingly, very on board with JDs idea about the band, despite being the nerd and bookworm of the family. He just wanted to spend more time with his brothers and have fun. That quickly changed when John completely stopped paying attention to Clays interests, hobbies and dreams. And especially with the forced title of "The fun one". He finally snapped when John kept trying to push them beyond their limit for their important concert, the time they should've spent relaxing after all the hard work they did to get this far was instead spent with their instruments like that's all that mattered. When Bruce brought up quitting the band, Clay happily joins that train, and walks out the door as soon as John and Bruce do. And so, Clay leaves the house and goes to stay with his friend at the age of 14. He finishes high school, gets accepted into a very good university, and moves into a dorm as soon as he can as to not cause more trouble for his friend than he already has. And life is good again, he's doing what he wants, works at a local library, studying to be a licensed CPA, and is gathering his courage up to confess to Viva. However, he does the latter too late, for he confesses to her and dies in a fire at the university while saving her, pushing her out of the burning building before it collapses on top of him.

(Things written on the paper)

Was the bassist in Brozone

Stayed with a friend after leaving the band and moves into a dorm as soon as he got accepted into uni

Was going to be a licensed CPA

Was best friends with Viva before he died

Died on the same day as John Dory and Bruce in a fire

Died at the age of 20

Was also in a sad book club

There's still a lot I need to write out about this AU, and a lot of characters to draw and design, but I hope you all like what I have so far! Here are some redraws of certain scenes from Julie and the Phantoms with this crew (again, excuse the lack of tails on one of these, I once again forgot to add them, just imagine that they're there)

#art #my art #trolls #trolls 3 #trolls band together #trolls brozone #trolls bruce #trolls poppy #trolls john dory #trolls jd #trolls clay #trolls dreamworks #poppy and the phantoms au

[jrob64]

Silly Songs With Killian - a CS Modern AU One-shot

You can blame @sotangledupinit for this silly, but sweet, little story! She posted a prompt on Discord which caused my muse to jump to attention, and I wrote it in two days. If you're not familiar with the Veggie Tales videos, you'll still be able to enjoy this, but do yourself a favor and check out the songs on Spotify here. You don't have to be a kid to enjoy them and I guarantee they'll make you laugh!

Special thanks to Kit for making young Henry look even younger for the pic set, Mary for being my beta, and Krystal for being a second set of eyes for the Silly Songs lyrics and also for the pic set I created. It pays to have wonderful fandom friends!

Summary: After a frustrating and exhausting day, Emma Cassidy is relieved when her little boy, Henry, is entertained by a gorgeous musician at a restaurant, giving her a chance to sit back, relax, and enjoy the music (and the view!) It gets even better when the singer, Killian, sings some of Henry’s favorite Silly Songs from his favorite videos, Veggie Tales. 

Rating: T

Words: 3946

Also posted to Ao3 and ffn

*********

It’s been one hell of a day. It wasn’t supposed to be this exhausting, but of course my ex, Neal, had to complicate things.

I was looking forward to going wedding dress shopping with my future sister-in-law Mary Margaret and her other bridesmaids, sipping champagne and giving my input on each of the possibilities. It was going to be so much fun.

And then...remember the saying that was popular many years ago - shit happens? Well, Neal can be used interchangeably with shit - they’re one and the same.

It was his scheduled weekend with our three-year-old, Henry, which was one reason why Mary Margaret chose this day. Then on Friday, almost an hour after Neal was supposed to pick Henry up at my apartment, he sent me a text: Something came up. Can’t make it this weekend. Tell Henry I’m sorry.

Apparently he turned off his phone after sending it, because he didn’t answer any of my increasingly volatile texts - eighteen of them, to be exact - or phone calls. I had to sit Henry in front of the television so I could go into my bedroom to leave some choice words on Neal’s voicemail.

Fortunately (or unfortunately for my sweet little boy) Henry is used to being let down by his father. In the eighteen months since we called it quits, Neal has skipped out on more weekend visits than he’s kept. I guess being a lying piece of shit takes up way too much of his time and he can’t spare any for his son.

Also unfortunately, all of the people who usually babysit for Henry were unable to watch him. Most of them were included in the shopping trip, my brother David was busy because he was painting the living room of the house he and his fiancée just bought, and Ruby’s Granny was off bowhunting with her new beau. (Bowhunting with her beau has been a running joke ever since she left a week ago.)

So instead of enjoying a carefree day of shopping with Mary Margaret, Belle, Ruby and Elsa, I had to keep an active, inquisitive toddler entertained in one bridal shop after another. We were all relieved when he finally fell asleep in the third shop, until the manager woke him up by screeching about how he was going to drool on the green velvet upholstery. That cost her any business she might have had from us (though in all honesty, her gowns were all hideous and looked like something only the Wicked Witch of the West might wear.)

Eventually, Mary Margaret said ‘yes to the dress’ in the fifth shop late in the afternoon, then we all decided to get an early dinner at a nearby restaurant that serves kids’ meals and has outdoor seating. If Henry has to spend one more minute inside today, I think he might have a complete meltdown.

After placing my order and getting Henry situated with the provided coloring sheet and obligatory four crayons, I hear someone speaking into a microphone and look over to see a guy standing on a small stage with a guitar. A very, VERY attractive guy.

“Good evening, everyone,” he says, and my jaw drops at the sound of his British accent. “My name is Killian and I hope you enjoy the music tonight. I do take requests. Feel free to sing along or dance in this nice, open area in front of me.”

“Oh, wow!” Belle gasps. “He’s very handsome, isn’t he, Emma?”

My jaw snaps shut and I turn to look at her. Seeing her sly smile, I teasingly say, “Why are you asking me? We all have eyes, you know.”

“Yes, but we all have significant others, too,” Ruby adds, which is completely unnecessary but, sadly, also completely true.

While my self pity begins to set in, the guy - Killian - strums his guitar and launches into the Eagles classic “Take it Easy”. Henry, who by this point has scribbled all over the coloring sheet, somehow managed to break his crayon into at least four pieces and, judging by the color of his teeth, took a bite of it as well, looks up with bright eyes. Since I allowed him to kneel on a chair instead of trying to strap him into a booster seat, he takes advantage of it and hops down.

Before I can chase after him, he makes a beeline for the open space in front of the admittedly gorgeous singer and begins jumping around in what passes for a three-year-old’s version of dancing. I sigh and start to get up, but Mary Margaret stops me with a hand on my arm. “Let him go. He’s been very good all day and deserves to burn off some energy. Besides, he’s only a few feet away and we can see him clearly from here.”

It doesn’t take much convincing for me to heed her advice. If someone else can entertain Henry for a while, I’m not going to complain.

When the song comes to an end, Killian acknowledges the smattering of applause and plays the extremely recognizable first chords of “All Right Now”. Henry doesn’t miss a beat, throwing himself around like a rag doll while all of us at our table, as well as most of the other diners, laugh delightedly at his exuberance.

By the time Killian is in the middle of his third song, “Old Time Rock and Roll”, our food arrives and I face the dreaded task of dragging my son back to the table to eat. I nibble at my fish and chips until the song ends, then dash to the makeshift dance floor to cajole Henry. When he shows the expected resistance, Killian chuckles and helpfully says, “Go with your mum, lad. I’ll play a slow song that’s not as much fun for dancing.”

True to his word, he croons the song “Everything I Do, I Do It For You” as Henry acquiesces and comes back to his seat to shove French fries into his mouth as fast as possible. It might not be a good song for Henry’s style of dancing, but Killian’s smooth voice singing the beautiful lyrics is sending pleasant chills down my spine.

Another song with a slow tempo follows, during which my little man polishes off his fries. But when Killian starts “Footloose”, all bets are off and Henry is back on the dance floor with a chicken nugget squeezed into both of his chubby fists.

After we finish our meals, Belle, Ruby and Elsa leave to spend the rest of the evening with their boyfriends. Mary Margaret lingers, telling me she’ll stay to keep me company, because she’d rather not have to help David clean up his painting mess. We don’t want to take up a table, so we move to some empty seats along the edge of the patio from where we can still see my little dancing king.

“You’d think his battery would run down soon,” Mary Margaret comments.

“Are you serious? That kid is like the Energizer bunny, plus he’s been cooped up in stuffy dress shops all day. My money is on the singer wearing out before Henry.”

She’s uncharacteristically quiet for several minutes. When she finally speaks, she says quietly, “He really is very handsome and seems like a nice guy.”

Her statement is out of left field and I’m confused. “Who?”

“The singer - Killian,” she clarifies.

I narrow my eyes at her. “What’s your point?”

“No point. I was just making a comment,” she shrugs, all innocence.

I don’t believe her. Mary Margaret is the queen of set-ups and wears the crown proudly. She introduced Belle to Will, Ruby to Jefferson and Elsa, well, she introduced Elsa to Victor, but that didn’t work out very well. Elsa met Graham on her own.

“I’m not looking for someone to date, Mary Margaret. I’m still dealing with my idiot ex and trying to concentrate on raising my son not to follow in his father’s footsteps.”

“I understand, but…”

And it’s at this point I resign myself to the fact she’s going to spout some argument that’s going to weaken my resolve not to date.

“If Henry had a really good male role model in his life, it would help you in raising him to be a gentleman.”

“Seems to me David does a pretty good job of that, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“I know,” she sighs, “but between working, getting the house ready and planning the wedding, his time with Henry is very limited.”

“The house will be ready before you get married and the wedding is in less than five months. After the honeymoon, he’ll have more time.”

“Oh, but then we’ll have children of our own, and you know how much time that takes.”

“Is this your way of telling me you’re pregnant, Mary Margaret?”

‘’What?” she gasps. “No! I’m just saying…”

“I know what you’re saying and I hear you. If the right guy comes along, I wouldn’t be opposed to dating him, but I’m not gonna try to force something to happen.”

“Wouldn’t it be nice to have a date for the wedding, though?” she presses.

“Henry will be my date. He’ll be very dapper in his little tux.”

“But…”

“No buts, Mary Margaret. I don’t want to be set up with someone just so I don’t look pathetic at your wedding.”

We both fall silent as we watch Henry continue to dance in front of the bemused musician. Glancing at the time on my phone, I realize he’s been at it for well over an hour and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. It’s beginning to get dark and I know I’ll have to wrangle him into the car before too much longer for his bath and bedtime.

I feel a little sorry for Killian, though. Nobody else has taken him up on his offer to dance, despite his repeated invitations. In fact, most of the diners aren’t paying attention to him at all. I hate to take his number one fan home, especially when I’m able to sit back and relax while listening to some seriously good music.

“I’m going to take a little break and then I’ll be back,” Killian announces, lifting the guitar strap over his head.

“Well, I guess that’s my cue to take Henry home,” I say to Mary Margaret.

“I suppose so,” she agrees. “Let me say goodbye to him and then I have to be on my way, too. According to his text, David is anxious for me to see how the living room turned out.”

We both stand up and move toward the stage, but I stop in my tracks. Killian is squatting down in front of Henry, listening to him with a huge smile on his face. I don’t know what Henry is saying, and I’m not sure Killian will be able to understand it anyway. Henry has an extensive vocabulary for a three-year-old, but I listen to him with ‘mom ears’, which means I can actually decipher what he’s trying to say.

When we reach them, Killian looks up at us and whatever I was going to say flies right out of my head. From a distance, the man is handsome. Close up, he’s nothing short of breathtaking. Carefully trimmed scruff covers a jawline sharp enough to cut glass, his cheekbones would put every male model to shame, and his dark hair is swept back from his forehead with a few rogue strands hanging down enticingly. Even his slightly pointed ears are adorable.

But it’s his eyes that shut down the functioning part of my brain. To say they are blue is like saying the sun is a tad bit warm, and the way the waning light catches them makes them shine like sapphires. I’m aware that my mouth is hanging open like a fish on dry land, but I can’t seem to make it form actual words.

“Hello, Killian. We’ve been thoroughly enjoying your music tonight, even if we haven’t been showing it as much as this little guy.”

Thank God for the natural chattiness of Mary Margaret.

Killian reaches out to ruffle Henry’s sweaty hair, then stands up. “I’m very happy to hear that,” he says in that beautiful, lilting accent. “I was just telling young Henry here that I’ll play some special songs for him after the break.”

I finally find my tongue. “Oh, but I was coming to tell Henry it’s time to go home.”

My little con artist turns his baby browns on me. “Please, Mommy. I be a good boy, I pwomise.”

That’s just great. Now if I take him home, I’ll have to forfeit my Mom of the Year award.

Mary Margaret laughs. “Well, Henry and Emma may be able to stay, but I really have to go.”

Why did she emphasize my name so much? As if I don’t already know.

She hugs Henry and me, tells Killian goodbye, and winks at me as she passes by. Even without trying to set me up, she’s setting me up.

I look back at Killian, who finishes chugging a bottle of water and grins at me. Reaching out to take my hand, he shakes it and says, “It’s nice to meet you, Emma, and little Henry.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Killian. Thanks for entertaining my son tonight.”

“It’s been my pleasure. I love how uninhibited kids are, and how joyful.”

“Well, his day certainly didn’t start out joyfully at all.” I shouldn’t have said it, but I’m still boiling about what Neal did to his own son, especially when this stranger seems so happy to spend time with him.

“No?” Killian questions. “May I ask what happened?”

I glance down at Henry, not wanting to bash his no-good father in front of him. He’s happily lining up little stones he collected along the edge of the patio, oblivious to the conversation going on above him.

“He was supposed to be with his dad this weekend, but he canceled. Again. So Henry was stuck shopping for wedding dresses with us all day.”

“I see.” He ponders for a second. “Would that wedding dress be for the lovely lass who just left…or someone else?”

“Yeah, it’s for Mary Margaret. She’s engaged to my brother.”

“I’m very glad I was able to make Henry’s day better, because his dancing did the same for me.” We watch Henry play, babbling to himself. “He seems like a happy little lad,” Killian observes.

“I do my best, but as a single mom, I make a lot of mistakes.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Love. All parents make mistakes. It’s a good thing kids have perfect aunts and uncles,” he says with a smirk.

“So, are you an imperfect father or a perfect uncle?” Am I really flirting with him right now?

“I have two nieces, so that would make me the latter.”

“Do you get to see them very often?”

“Aye, they live just a few miles from me, so I spoil them as often as possible. They’re my brother Liam’s girls.”

“Doesn’t sound like you’re originally from the U.S., if you don’t mind me saying.”

He chuckles again, rubbing his finger behind his right ear. “We were born in England and lived there until I was fourteen, then my father took a job here so we moved across the pond.”

“That explains the accent.”

He nods and checks his watch, blowing out a breath. “I should probably get back to my set. Will you allow young Henry to stay for a few more songs?”

I shrug my shoulders. “Sure. What’s another fifteen minutes in the grand scheme of things?”

A genuine smile splits his face. “Excellent! I think he’ll particularly like the next three or four songs I play.” He looks around and grabs a nearby chair from an empty table, setting it down beside me. “Won’t you please have a seat, Emma?”

“Such a gentleman,” I say, sinking onto the offered chair.

“Oh, I’m always a gentleman.”

Somehow I don’t mind him flirting with me.

He steps back on the stage, slips his guitar into place, and positions himself in front of the microphone. After giving me a wink, he announces in an overly accented, squeaky voice, “And now it’s time for Silly Songs with Killian. The part of the show where Killian comes out and sings…a silly song.”

I burst out laughing at the very familiar words. Henry is addicted to Veggie Tales, the wacky shows featuring talking fruits and vegetables. I love them because they teach good moral values; he loves them because they’re hilarious. His favorite part of every video is Silly Songs with Larry the Cucumber, which we watch over and over and over again. Apparently he conveyed this obsession to Killian.

Killian closes his eyes, somberly strums his guitar, and sings, “Oh, where is my hairbrush? Oh, where is my hairbrush? Oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh wherrrrrrrre…is my hairbrush?”

Henry is jumping up and down like a kangaroo on a pogo stick, shouting, “Mommy! Mommy! It’s the Lawwy song! Keeyin is singin’ the Lawwy song!”

Wiping tears of laughter from my eyes, I look around at the half-dozen people at the tables, who are looking at the musician like he’s lost his damn mind. Bunch of sticks in the mud. Lighten up.

But Killian isn’t bothered by their response, or lack thereof. He smoothly transitions to another of Henry’s favorite silly songs. “Oh, everybody’s got a water buffalo. Yours is fast, but mine is slow. Oh, where’d we get them, I don’t know. But everybody’s got a water buffalo, oooooo.”

Henry is beside himself with excitement. He’s running around in a circle, waving his arms in the air in his best impression of a rabid chimpanzee.

Killian moves on to sing a few lines of “I Love My Lips” (I can’t help thinking I’m quite fond of them, too), followed by “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything”.

By this time, the diners have relaxed, laughing and clapping along with the crazy tunes. Meanwhile, my son has finally worn himself out, collapsing in a small heap in front of the stage, looking up at Killian adoringly.

“...and we’ve never been to Boston in the falllllll,” Killian concludes with a flourish and takes a deep, dramatic bow.

I dig into my purse and pull out a twenty dollar bill. I always try to watch my budget, but I’ll skip getting a chocolate caramel latte for a few days to compensate. It’s worth it for what Killian did for Henry tonight.

Walking up to the stage, I drop the bill into the tip jar, smiling up at the singer. He’s between songs, so I say, “Thank you so much, Killian. You’re my hero for entertaining Henry tonight. It was great and he loved it, didn’t you, kid?”

Henry jumps to his feet. “I weally did, Keeyin! I love Lawwy songs!”

“What do you tell him?” I prompt.

“Thank you, Keeyin,” he says obediently.

“You’re very welcome, lad. I play here again in three weeks. Perhaps you can stop in and see me again?” He’s talking to Henry, but he’s looking at me.

“Can we, Mommy?” Henry pleads.

I know we probably can’t. This restaurant is all the way across the city from where we live, plus it’s pretty expensive. Mary Margaret footed the bill today, but twelve bucks for a kid’s meal is a little steep and I won’t pay it. I don’t want to say any of this though, because my tired son is walking a thin line between lingering happiness and an emotional collapse. So I use the parental standard, “We’ll see.”

Taking Henry’s hand, I say, “Thanks, again, Killian. Have a good evening.”

Something that looks like slight panic flashes through those gorgeous eyes of his and he speaks into the microphone, “I’ll be back in five, folks.” He slides his guitar around to his back and steps off the stage, placing himself directly in front of me. “Emma, if I may be so bold, and if you’re not already dating someone, would you consider going out with me?”

“Wh-what?” Apparently, getting asked out by the most handsome man I’ve ever laid eyes on renders me a bit stupid.

He lightly wraps his hand around my wrist and pulls me further toward the side of the patio for some privacy. “Even though we just met, I would really like to get to know you better.”

“But…but you don’t even know my last name.”

“What is it?”

“Cassidy.”

“Mine is Jones, so now we know each other a little better already.”

I stare at him, trying to think of a single reason why I should say no to him. “I…we…um…Henry and I, we…uh…we come as a packaged set.” That’s the way, Emma. Use your kid to try to scare him off. And you did it so gracefully, too.

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m really quite fond of your son. That’s not a deal breaker,” he states firmly. He still hasn’t let go of my wrist and now he’s rubbing his thumb over it. I find I don’t mind at all.

“I…”

“Mommy, potty!” Henry announces.

Oh, geez. Killian has to get back to his set and Henry has to pee. I’m running out of time.

Dropping Henry’s hand, I rummage through my purse, trying to find a pen. “Got a piece of paper?” I ask, mid-rummage.

Killian dashes to his guitar case and pulls out a piece of sheet music, returning with it just as I locate the elusive pen. He plants his foot on a chair and slaps the paper down on his knee so I can scribble my number on it.

When I finish, I lift Henry into my arms and take off to find a bathroom. Before disappearing inside the restaurant, I glance back at Killian. He’s still standing where I left him, a broad smile on his face as he grips the paper in his hand. Raising my free hand, I give him a little wave and he returns it.

After I’ve had time to think about it, I might regret giving him my number. Right now I just have to keep my kid from peeing down the front of my dress.

*********

A year ago, Killian Jones was my hero for giving me a chance to relax while he entertained my son. Five months later, he was once again my hero by being my date to Mary Margaret and David’s wedding. Today, he’s still my hero because he’s continuously proving that not all men are incomparable asses.

On the contrary, he’s everything I dreamed a man should be, once upon a time. Killian Jones is talented, intelligent, funny, considerate, masculine, caring, loving, passionate, and a great conversationalist, not to mention drop-dead gorgeous (if I didn’t mention that, it would be a crime.) He’s the total package and I’m head-over-heels in love with him.

Oh, and he’s a fantastic role model for my little boy. I usually hate to admit when Mary Margaret is right, but in this case, she was unequivocally correct. He and Henry absolutely adore each other and it makes my heart so happy. They do everything together - read books, play Star Wars with lightsabers, build block towers, climb trees, ride bikes, you name it.

And Henry loves singing silly songs with his soon-to-be stepfather. What more could a mother want for her son? Except, perhaps, a sibling.

Killian and I are working on that…and thoroughly enjoying every second of it.

*********

Thank you for reading. I hope it brightened your day!

Tagging: @hookedmom​​​​​​ @kmomof4​​​​​​ @cs-rylie​​​​​​ @qualitycoffeethings​​​​​​ @grimmswan​​​​​​ @wyntereyez​​​​​​ @the-darkdragonfly​​​​​​ @ultraluckycatnd​​​​​​ @paradiselady19​​​​​​ @xarandomdreamx​​​​​​ @motherkatereloyshipper​​​​​​ @julesep3026​​​​​​ @courtorderedcake​​​​​​ @lfh1226-linda​​​​​​ @pawshapedheart​​​​​​ @vampcoffeegyrl23​​​​​​ @tiganasummertree​​​​​​ @captainswan4life85​​​​​​ @bluewildcatfanatic​​​​​​ @eleveneitherway​​​​​​ @elfiola​​​​​​ @kday426​​​​​​ @julieenchanted-swans​​​​​​ @gingerchangeling​​​​​​ @andiirivera​​​​​​ @djlbg​​​​​​ @jonesfandomfanatic​​​​​​ @snowbellewells​​​​​​ @huntressandlioness1​​​​​​ @anmylica​​​​​​ @booksteaandtoomuchtv​​​​​​ @pirateherokillian​​​​​​ @cocohook38​​​​​ @ilovemesomekillianjones​​​​​​ @laschatzi​​​​​​ @zaharadessert​​​​​​ @jennjenn615​​​​​​ @yasbio2015​​​​​​ @lyssapup27​​​​​​ @nachocheese-itsmycheese​​​​​​ @singersdd​​​​​​ @mie779​​​​​​ @undercaffinatednightmare​​​​​​ @winterbaby89​​​​​​ @xsajx​​​​​​ @jackieorioncat​​​​​​ @teamhook​​​​​​ @bdevereaux-blanche​​​​​​ @soniccat​​​​​​ @searchingwardrobes​​​​​​ @jarienn972​​​​​​ @apiratewhopines​​​​​​​ @softkilly​​​​​​​ @goforlaunchcee​​​​​​​ @kymbersmith-90​​​​​​​ @captainswan217-blog

#csff #silly songs with killian #cs modern Au #one shot #jrob64 #art by jrob64 #captain swan fanfic #henry is little #anti-neal #emma & neal are divorced #killian is a musician #cs fanfic #silly songs from veggie tales

[jamestaylorswift]

I have complicated thoughts about atw10. I go back and forth on it - sometimes I hate it, sometimes I love it. but I think I always end up at those extremes because I can’t help but compare them.

first you have the og atw. perfect, no notes, whether or not you agree it’s her magnum opus it does deserve every bit of hype it gets because it’s a great fucking song. (the magnum opus conversation is intertwined with the lore about the song - that taylor wrote it all in a vent sesh with her band; that it wasn’t a single but became a fan favorite because it’s a great fucking song; that there’s A Scarf™️; that taylor recognized all this history and played it up; that by rerecording her music taylor gets the opportunity to carefully prune, as one would a bonsai tree, narratives and how her eras are remembered and how this is the one she’s cemented in history; that now the focus on a song’s lore has intentionally and unintentionally become integral to its endurance and popularity….) the original song has extreme dynamic peaks and valleys despite its nearly unwavering four chord progression. it has lines about autumn leaves and repeat phone calls so insightful that you marvel at how anyone could have been so talented as to string those precise words together. but its emotional punch is twofold: the details are just clear enough to make you recall one of your own experiences and just hazy enough to prevent the writer’s experience replacing yours. the whole thesis is about remembering all too well, forever. you can’t get rid of it. because you remember it. you remember it all. the song is a tour de force and taylor’s skillful manipulation of emotional/musical tension in this song is something that will be appreciated and studied for years to come.

then on the other hand you have atw10, which not only sounds and reads differently but could even be considered antithetical, or at least a foil, to the original song. the zeniths and nadirs are less pronounced and she expands the story with new verses largely interpreted to be about a toxic relationship with an age gap. the musical arrangement is more modern and features an expanded palette of instruments: tension and release comes from subtle harmonic differences, staccato background vocals, or a wild violin. the new verses - were they really part of the original song? or do they clearly betray the perspective of someone who’s 10 years older? the short film - it hammers home this exact expanded story and was admittedly written as a retrospective, with the insight that being 10 years removed from a toxic relationship provides. the ultimate effect is that atw10 is not about remembering it all because you can’t get rid of it. it’s about taylor remembering it all, even though she can finally get rid of it. the “it” is clearly her own experience (though this is not to say the atw10 story is not a relatable story or that it’s not a valuable story to tell or hear.) “I was there, I was there….” the memories and the pain all trail away with time. but, these memories are very clearly not yours, the listener’s. atw10 may be an expansion of the original all too well story, but this expansion does not simply intensify the same emotions from the original song—it explores a rather different emotional profile. musically and lyrically, and whether intentional or not, atw10 argues that the pain of remembering is dulled and even remedied with time.

and thus the ways that atw10 excels and fails are quite different than the ways the og atw does. whether one is “good” or “bad” depends what we value in a song, and more generally, why we enjoy the songs that we do and the extent to which we value an artist’s interpretation of their own experiences. have we been in toxic relationships and can relate to the specific story of atw10? are there traumas we can’t heal no matter how hard we try? are we moved by brash drums and isolated guitars or playful violins atop chords that chug on and on? does taylor swift’s word supplement or supplant our own connections with her songs?

I know that I personally would find atw10 less confusing if I stopped comparing it to its shorter relative. but the various lengths and mediums in which the all too well story is told make it seem destined that we’ll all be comparing the versions until the end of time. and yet just as there are shades of red for every possible intense emotion - burning, cherry, so scarlet, maroon - so are there reasons to love all too well. just as it will endure in the popular zeitgeist as one of taylor’s best, most famous, most impactful, most beloved songs, so too must all too well live on in every listener because of (and only because of) each and every one of us loving it for unique reasons.

#red #red tv #I suppose I will put this in the tag: #music analysis #yes I am aware that many of my conclusions are ‘wow isn’t everything great when we take a step back and remember that songs have merit #outside of and despite the neverending discourse of whether they’re good or bad?’ #I am aware AND it doesn’t make that less of a truism!! #(really my hot spicy opinion about atw10/the film is that it’s an extended ***** ******** about ****** #and after taking much to develop this interpretation I must firmly put myself in the camp #of being an atw10 liker despite originally it giving me the ick) #rambles

[smartycvnt]

mutual fans

pairing: rhea ripley x reader

summary: when you were asked to write and sing a song for a wwe superstar, you never imagined it could end like this.

You had been a lifelong wrestling fan. There were references to wrestlers from way before you'd even been alive in many of your songs. With your music gaining more traction, it only made sense for the WWE to reach out to you. You had expected the email from Stephanie McMahon to be about making an appearance at a show taping or something, not for you to write one of their superstar's new theme songs. To make it a little more challenging, she hadn't disclosed who the song was for, just the general theme that she was looking for.

And so, for weeks you had worked on writing the song and music to fit what she had described. You were no stranger to adversity or being seen as the bad guy. Being a woman in the music scene that you had dove into wasn't exactly an easy task. Most people were past the whole woman thing, but there were quite a few big names whose outdated ideas hadn't exactly helped you gain traction. Still, you had excelled and if the rumors were true, your debut album was in the talks for an award or two.

"Y/n, there's someone to see you." You weren't used to being interrupted while brainstorming, but something told you that this particular producer's assistant had a good reason. You set your guitar on its rack and followed him out of the little room where you'd been trying to write the first single for your new EP. It was hard having to immediately start working on new music after finishing up a tour, but you were glad to get studio time.

"Holy shit, you're Rhea Ripley," you said automatically. There had been absolutely no thought put into whether or not you should have said it, the words just slipped out. Rhea chuckled at that and extended her hand towards you to shake. "I'm Y/n. Can I ask why you're here to see me?"

"You wrote my new theme, and I just wanted to let you know it's awesome. I was a bit sad to let the Ash Costello one go, but she'll understand," Rhea said. Your eyes widened as you realized what she had told you. Stephanie McMahon had you write Rhea a new theme, replacing the one that one of your greatest inspirations musically had written. "Do you have a minute to sit and chat?"

"Oh yeah, we can hang in this room. Don't mind the mess, brainstorming always gets a little hectic," you told her. Rhea seemed almost giddy at the idea of being in the same room as you while you were writing new music. "So, what prompted the theme change?"

"They're pushing a new gimmick for my return. They change all sorts of stuff all the time," Rhea told you. You understood what she meant, the entertainment industry in general was a little bit sporadic. "I'm pretty honored you accepted, it might sound lame, but I am a huge fan."

"Y-you're a fan of me?" You didn't mean to sound so surprised, but you couldn't help it. Rhea nodded, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Well, thank you. I'm a fan of yours too. If I wasn't such a baby, I'd love to try what you do in the ring one day."

"I know a couple people with access to wrestling rings if you're ever in Florida. I don't mind taking an afternoon or two to teach you some basics. Once you get started, don't blame me when you get addicted to it though," Rhea said, shooting you a wink. You looked away from her, blushing slightly. "But you gotta teach me something too. It's only fair."

"Alright, no problem. Wait here." You stood up from your seat and grabbed a bass guitar from the rack. Rhea looked a little surprised when you placed it in her lap. It wasn't much, but you spent about an hour teaching Rhea how to play the bass riff and solo for one of your most popular songs. "If I can find a studio to record in, I could probably spend a whole week in Florida."

"Give me a call when you're thinking of flying out," Rhea told you. The two of you exchanged numbers before you went your separate ways.

#wwe #wwe x reader #wwe imagine #wwe imagines #rhea ripley imagines #rhea ripley imagine #rhea ripley x reader #rhea ripley

[kitkatt0430]

🌵🕯️📚🍬🥐

🌵 ⇢ share the link to a playlist you love

So I'm not really a playlist maker type person. Or a playlist-seeker-outer. (Seeker of playlists?) When I play music I just kind of stick whatever I'm in the mood for on shuffle. I've got a Plex server set up for my personal media - tv shows, movies, music - so I've got the music categorized by somewhat broad genres. That way I can just click a category and hit play + shuffle on it.

That said, I've contributed a little to the Heck Yeah Harrisco Playlist, so I do recommend that one. It's fun to listen to and does have a Harry/Cisco vibe to all the songs on it. I don't listen to it often, but I do check back in every so often to see what's new.

🕯️ ⇢ on a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you enjoy editing? why is that?

Depends on when the editing happens. And we'll call 5 a neutral point between hating this process and happily typing away.

Pre-posting a fic/chapter? - 8 or 9. The spelling grammar aspect is nit-picky, but I like that I can go back and fix a scene that isn't working, add stuff I forgot, or move things that work better at a different point in the story. I can change the tone of a scene if necessary or fix mistakes where a character did something twice when they should have only done it once, or they left but are still there.

But post editing? - 2 or 3. There's always another spelling/grammar issue to find, some which screw up the meaning of a sentence. Who approved this to post??? (Me, that's who, it's me, I'm at fault, whoopsie-daisy) And if I want to add something to the chapter that wasn't there or remove something that is there or... then it's difficult to let people who have already read it know there's been a fix. *sigh*

I never completely hate editing because the editing process always makes the fic better in the end. But my enjoyment (or lack thereof) of the process is definitely variable.

📚 ⇢ what's the last thing you wrote down in your notes app? 

I don't have any recent/new story notes as such, but I do have a fic I've been working on today. I've been reviewing my Armageddon notes, trying to make progress on an Iris-centered fic there. And I've decided to skip over Iris' ill-fated adventure with Ryan (Wilder, not Choi) for now (I'm gonna write it, it's gonna be pretty awesome for Iris despite Eobard hitting the reset button on her) and move to the scene I've been really wanting to write for a while. Iris and Barry meeting at Jitters, Iris struggling to accept that her fiance - Eobard - is actually the bad guy here.

She knows it, but she hasn't accepted it quite yet.

For a moment she'd felt the timeline shifting around her like a choppy, angry river... and known the truth for herself.  And in the wake of that certainty, she'd agreed to meet Barry.  To hear what he had to say for himself and to learn what Eobard Thawne had stolen from her in his obsession with harming Barry. Now she was less certain.  Iris was engaged to Eobard.  She loved him.  She wanted to be married to him and spend her life with him.  But... there were things she was giving up to be Eobard's wife.  Including the possibility of children, something he adamantly didn't want.  Iris thought she was okay with that.

Seeing the vision of her children in the real timeline is hitting iris pretty hard. And thus also breaking through what amounts to Eobard brainwashing Iris.

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

One of the reasons we like Leonard Snart so much - aside from Wentowrth Miller's stellar performance - is because we didn't really have much of him on the Flash. He was used sparingly and then snatched away by Legends before he could get utilized to his full extent. Which is something we all lament because his potential as a character was so vast...

But because the Flash writer's didn't really use him much, particularly after he died, they didn't get to screw him up and that was a good thing. We saw what they did with Savitar/The Future Flash arc. We saw how Eobard got flandarized all to hell by the end of the show. We saw Season 5 couldn't make up it's mind about who the main villain was. We saw how season 6 started off tightly plotted in the front half only to get lost in the weeds and do Iris a major disservice in the back half. We saw how poorly handled Cisco's send off was. We saw the three conflicting plots in a trenchcoat that was Armageddon... We saw the continual retconning of Hartley because they couldn't let go of The Sound and Fury.

As much as I wish we had more of Leonard Snart on the show... I think maybe having less meant his characterization dodged a major bullet. And I'm thus also extremely glad we have exactly what we got and no more too.

... I don't know if this is exactly an unpopular opinion, but it's definitely not something brought up a lot with all the musing on how awesome a Rogue's season would have been if the plot lead in for it hadn't been mishandled and dropped. Which is definitely a popular topic for Snart fans.

🥐 ⇢ name one internet reference that will always make you laugh 

Miette

I've definitely made so many Miette style jokes, substituting in my dog for Miette.

Estelle pouting because I won't feed her half-an-hour early? Jail for human, jail for a thousand years for starving poor puppy.

hehehe

#kitkatt0430 answers #writer ask game #emoji ask meme #thank you for asking ^_^

[merryfortune]

Ask Me an Interview Question

Written for Femslash February 2024 and the Sweetheart Bingo from @sweetspicybingo

Day 6. Ask Me

Title: Ask Me an Interview Question

Ship: Cameraphoneshipping | Nico/Romin

Word Count: 2,351

Universe: Sevens - Canon Compliant

Rating: T

Tags: Crushes, Confessions, Getting Together, Humour

   If there was one thing which got butts on seats and eyes on the headline, it was news stories about RoaRomin! 

   There was no doubt about it. The Newspaper Club knew this best of all, they were super in tune with their audience, after all, and could state definitively that Goha 7th Elementary School loved to read news stories about their local celebrities. Whether it was gossip raggy drivel about what Kirishima Roa had for lunch or actual hard hitting journalism about the chord progression in their new song, nothing got the general student populace attention quite like RoaRomin.

   However, popularity was a double edged blade.

   As much as the Newspaper club would love to write excessively and obsessively on the most minute of RoaRomin trivia and on-goings, people would eventually get bored. The attraction would fade and the lustre would tire. Not to mention, their group of golden geese would eventually stop taking their calls to bother them so some level of detachment was required.

   Happy muses, happy readers, happy life. Or something like that.

   Hence, it had to be big news - really big news! - to justify the Newspaper Club getting involved in the endless press loop RoaRomin were often involved in. News like, say, the release of a new album. Now that was news and naturally, the Newspaper Club were going to be all over it like black and white on a penguin.

   “Er bad news Nico,” Shinjitsu said to her over the phone, “but I need you to do all the leg work today. Masaru is down for the count with a bad cold so you’re in charge of today’s interview, capiche?”

   Apparently not.

   For all their faffing that they really truly were actually the best journalists in all the school, they really truly were actually not.

   They’d tried.

   They’d done everything right ahead of time. They contacted RoaRomin’s manager for a time slot and managed to work something out. They wrote up the interview ahead of time and even prepped a layout template to put the actual news story content into.

   But now things had gone thumbs up at the last minute.

   “Why can’t you help out?” Nico asked, panicky. She could have dropped her phone because of this bombshell.

   “You’ve seen what I’m like in an interview!” Shinjitsu snapped back over the phone. Then in a smaller voice, he hissed to remind her, “I’m shy.”

   Nico grumbled.

   Gah! Big, dumb, stupid Masaru immune system! Why did it have to go and fail literally the night before a big interview?! It's not like they could simply reschedule it, either. Nico could have literally pulled her hair out of over this but as she finished up her squealing and groaning, she sighed heavily. Fine. She’ll take one for the team and do everything tomorrow.

   “Fine.” she snipped. “I’ll conduct the interview tomorrow, boss.”

   “Thanks, Nico, this is why you’re the best.” Shinjitsu said and he hung up on her quite promptly after that. He sounded way too chipper to push this job onto Nico.

   Nico sighed as she stared at her phone.

   Her lips quivered as she sat up against her wall, she curled up and put her knees under her chin, tucked in against her pillow. This shouldn’t be a problem. Maybe it wouldn’t have been if this wasn’t going to be a big issue of their newspaper or if it had been literally any other topic but Nico just squirmed. She had butterflies in the bottom of her stomach.

   See, here’s the thing… She kind of maybe had a teeny tiny gigantic crush on one very specific member of RoaRomin. Romin. It was Romin. She had a crush on Romin.

   It was somewhere between a normal celebrity crush and a normal schoolgirl crush. After all, they were classmates - insofar as going to the same school - and Romin was famous but there was something a little bit more to it. Nico laughed in hindsight at the duel between Shinjitsu and yuga, with how Romin teased her afterwards.

   That incident had been a good wake-up call for the integrity that they strove for. There was a marked difference in there content pre and post that duel. Like yeah, sure, they spun a tall tale every so often and enjoyed a bit of Photoshop every so often but they were doing much, much better and so Nico had kind of a fondness for it. That moment everything changed.

   Romin was so funny, too. A rockstar who couldn’t sing, who had more sass in her little pinkie finger than most people had in their whole bodies. Her sense of humour was totally on-point. As a result, Nico was totally head over heels. With or without RoaRomin’s legendary, and intimidating, popularity behind them.

   So Nico could only cross all her fingers and toes. Tomorrow would not be a disaster. She would will it into existence. They’d already taken one blow in the form of Masaru’s cold, surely there wouldn’t be another, right?

   “Thanks for waiting, Nico,” Romin said, flashing her a smile as she set down her guitar in the school’s auditorium, neutral ground for them both, “totally unprofessional us but you’ll never believe it! Roa, Ushiro, and Getta are all down with colds. So crazy.”

   Oh, okay. Wrong.

   “Y-Yeah, so crazy.” Nico replied through gritted teeth. “Masaru has a cold, too. Must be, uh, something in the water.”

   “The air probably.” Romin corrected her thoughtfully.

   Nico could have snorted, “Yeah, you're right. The air probably.”

   Romin politely sat down in front of Nico and they had bit of a staring contest for a minute. Nico had everything read. In theory. The papers, the notetaking, the questions but she found her gab unable to open in front of Romin alone. Both of them alone. Except for each other. Sitting on the gymnasium chairs and a sign on the door which said do not disturb.

   “Everything okay?” Romin asked as she uncomfortably changed how she sat, she switched which leg would be tucked under the other.

   “Y-Yes, just, um, gathering my thoughts!” Nico chirped. “Okay, let’s just get right in.”

   “Yeah, nice.” Romin smiled encouragingly.

   It was good to know that there were no harsh feelings because of their last encounter as press and subject.

   Nico shuffled her notes and cleared her throat, “Seven questions for what the students of Goha Sevens Elementary want to know, all good?”

   “All good.” Romin confirmed, excited to get started.

   “Good.” Nico said. “Now, I promise you. They’ll be quick: bang, bang, bang, done.”

   “Awesome.” Romin replied. “Whenever you're ready.”

   Nico nodded decisively, “Itadakimasu, thank you for your time. Question one. Album name?”

   “Go Rush with two exclamation marks.” Romin said.

   Nico took her notes without looking down, keeping unflinching eye contact with Romin from behind her glasses.

   “Question two. Will you be releasing any singles from this album ahead of time as promotional material?” Nico said.

   “Yes. We’ll be releasing two singles.” Romin said. 

   “Names and where they can be streamed?” Nico said. “That’ll be questions three and four. Not a twofer.”

   “Got it.” Romin nodded. “Mirage and One Way. both can be streamed on all good streaming services.” She flashed a smile.

   “Great work. We’re speeding through them.” Nico said. She was scribbling hard, writing down Romin’s answers. “Okay, onto question five. How is everyone feeling about the album? If you can give us a good soundbyte, that’d be appreciated.”

   “No promises.” Romin laughed. “But we’re really proud of the hard work he put in. We’ve really evolved as a band in the past few months and this album reflects that growth. It’ll have a little bit for everyone: rock, pop, grunge, punk, metal, and more. Staying true to ourselves but letting us grow up, too.” Romin ended her spiel with a sheepish laugh.

   Nico cackled as she wrote Romin’s response down verbatim, “And you said you couldn’t promise a good soundbyte.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. “What do you call that last bit?”

   “I do some of my best work on the fly.” Romin said and as though on cue, her stomach rumbled.

   She reached down to her school backpack and grabbed a snack. Nico, meanwhile, finished writing up that last bit of her notes.

   “We are doing fantastic, Romin.” Nico said.

   “My pleasure.” Romin said.

   “So here’s question six: any music videos planned?” Nico asked.

   “Yes, at least two but if there’s a dark horse sleeper hit, we’d love to do more.” Romin said. “So, uh, everyone, make sure you buy and stream the heck out of it so we make lots of money to make lots of music videos!”

   “I see, I see,” Nico murmured, with a hint of a snicker to her voice, “and I imagine the two locked in are the same as the singles you intend to release?”

   “Yup.” Romin nodded.

   “Got it, got it, and last one…” Nico said and she took a big, deep breath. This was it. Lucky last. They were tearing through it and were now up to the most important question, “Number seven: did you guys have fun making and recording the album? Any inside jokes and stories?”

   “We had tons of fun and, um, not really? The whole creative process is honestly so dry after a while. Get in, get out. Do a silly song and dance. Literally, Getta has taken up a “lucky dance” as a ritual. It so does not work. He looks like a fool but he swears by it but any time he does it, it makes him so don’t knock it til you rock it? But seriously, he’s only ever come up with a bad idea after doing it.”

   Nico laughed quietly to herself. She could just imagine it, honestly, with no description needed. Something dorky and dweeby. Just perfect. And with that, she could pretty much wrap up the interview.

   “Any closing remarks?” Nico asked, offering Romin the metaphorical microphone.

   Romin hummed thoughtfully. She mulled things over in her mind - this and that, those, too - and Nico could practically see the cogs turning behind her mind. Until those wheels finally went sproing! And broke as she cheerfully replied.

   “Nope, can’t think of anything. I’ve said all my pieces I’ve been coached through.” Romin replied light-heartedly. “You did great, Nico, especially since you just handle the photography side of things normally. Honestly, it’s so much easier talking to another girl than a guy.” She laughed a little bit.

   Nico began to blush furiously. Her teeth chattered. Her knees knocked.

   All throughout the interview process, she had been short and snappy. Any longer and this feeling of torment would have taken over because she could not disagree more. It was not easier talking to another girl than a guy. Or maybe it was because Romin wasn’t just any girl. 

   Nico’s mouth dried. She needed to be done with it. This crush! It was crushing her.

   “Um, actually, Romin, I have one more question. I just thought of it.” Nico said.

   “Go ahead, ask me anything.” Romin said.

   “Will you go out with me?!” Nico squealed as she bowed forward.

   She practically bent at a seventy degree angle in her seat as she thrust forth her confession to Romin. She blushed, she sweated, her whole body went stiff. Nico had never felt more intense about anything in her life and Romin…

   Her jaw dropped, “Eh?!” she exclaimed. "I said ask me an interview question! Not ask me out!"

   That interview question had not been one she had been expecting. Let alone prepped for.

   Nico could feel her blood rush to her head as she waited what felt like an eternity and then some for Romin to reply. And when she didn’t? She did what Nico did best: blabbed her mouth off.

   “I’ve had a crush on you for the past couple months and have been dying to ask you. I think you’re really cute and funny and it would be an honour to take photographs of you any time I like and want to get to know you better and take you on a date!”

   Nico was breathless by the time she finished her elaboration of her confession. Her lungs ached as they emptied of breath. She had pushed out all her thoughts in one big blurting out of everything. There had not been a single comma in there, she could feel it. Shinjitsu would kill her if she ever wrote like that, let alone speak like that but don’t worry. She felt like she was dying even more so than before just contending with her crush. Let alone speaking it out loud to said crush.

   Nico continued to pant as she waited for Romin’s reply. Her fringe flopped in front of her eyes, her glasses slid down her nose and all Nico could hear was the sound of her own blood droning in her ear. She saw a slight movement, however, in front of her.

   Romin adjusted herself again. Crossed and uncrossed her legs, this time behind her ankles rather than over her thighs. She looked away demurely.

   “I-I’ve never been asked out before,” she confessed slightly, “so, um, what the hey? Let’s try it. Let’s hang out sometime, grab a bite to eat somewhere.”

   Nico couldn’t believe her ears. If they ran that in the papers, they would be accused of fanfiction! The gall! But here it was. In real life. She unstuck herself from her head over knees position and drew her hand up in front of her chest, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart.

  “Thank you very much!” Nico exclaimed with a grin. “Can I put that in the paper?”

   “No!” Romin yelled. “Stick to your actual interview!” She blushed but looked adorable to be embarrassed. 

   “A-ah, of course.” Nico said. “And now a picture, for the papers and, um, to commemorate this moment? If you don’t mind.”

   Romin exhaled and her cheeks began to pale, “Yes, Nico, you can take your photos.” She smiled a small smile.

   “Yippee, thank you, Romin!” Nico said as she excitedly snapped her photographs of her now girlfriend.

#femslash #sweet and spicy bingo #femslash february #femslash february 2024 #cameraphoneshipping #yugioh sevens #sevens #yugioh #kirishima romin #nico (sevens) #nico (yugioh) #writing tag #Ask Me an Interview Question #clover and violets #clover and violets 2024

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

New IN THIS MOMENT Song 'I Would Die For You' Featured On 'John Wick: Chapter 4 - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'

Lakeshore Records is set to release "John Wick: Chapter 4 - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" digitally March 24 with an original score by Tyler Bates ("John Wick", "Guardians Of The Galaxy"),and Joel J. Richard ("John Wick", "The Andromeda Strain"). Bates and Richard, their scores an integral part of the success of the first three installments of "John Wick", return with another masterclass in high-intensity compositions that feature an array of instruments — including treated piano, mandolin, acoustic and electric guitar, bass, harmonica orchestra, synths, and found object percussion. Bates also produced songs performed by Lola Colette with Nick and Sam Wilkerson of the punk band WHITE REAPER on drums and bass respectively, as well as tracks with IN THIS MOMENT and Manon Hollander. In addition, the track co-written and produced by Bates with vocals by avant pop phenomenon and cast member Rina Sawayama, "Eye For An Eye", is available digitally. The Lionsgate film directed by Chad Stahelski and starring Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Laurence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Lance Reddick, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins and Ian McShane is in theaters and IMAX on March 24.

Bates told Entertainment Weekly about his collaboration with IN THIS MOMENT: "'I Would Die For You' is a song that I wrote with Maria Brink and Chris Howorth of IN THIS MOMENT and [also] produced. Chad, literally, out of the blue, called me up, and he's like, 'Yo, Tyler, do you know this singer, I love her, Maria-something, she's in this band, IN THIS…?' I'm like, 'IN THIS MOMENT?' He said, 'Yeah, that's it!' I said, 'I'm actually working on their new record right now. [Laughs] They are real fans of 'John Wick', which is really cool."

"John Wick: Chapter 4 - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" track listing:

01. Big Wick Energy 02. Nowhere To Run (Lola Colette) 03. Sand Wick 04. Change Your Nature 05. Continental Breakfast 06. Wick In Osaka 07. High Table In Osaka 08. A Grave Accusation 09. Grief On A Train 10. I Would Die For You (IN THIS MOMENT) 11. Of Mincing & Men 12. A Grave Situation 13. To Get Back In 14. Killa's Teeth 15. Ambition And Worth 16. Dog Lover 17. JW, Loving Husband 18. Stairs Arrival 19. Marie Douceur, Marie Colère (Manon Hollander) 20. John Wick Rises 21. Paris Radio Intro 22. Chess Club 23. Urban Cowgirl 24. Quite The Mess You've Made 25. The Ex Ex 26. The Ex Ex Chapter 3 27. Arc De Triomphe 28. Wrong Train 29. Sacré-Coeur Sunrise 30. Pistol Procession 31. Ten Paces 32. Twenty Paces 33. Helen A Handbasket 34. Eye For An Eye (Rina Sawayama) 35. Cry Mia River

Bates regularly transitions from scoring some of the world’s biggest film and television franchises, such as "Guardians Of The Galaxy" and "John Wick", to rocking massive audiences in the world of rock music, and back to the studio again writing and producing records with artists like HEALTH, BUSH, IN THIS MOMENT and STARCRAWLER, to name a few. In 2004, he created the menacing audio backdrop for the popular Zack Snyder reboot of "Dawn Of The Dead", beginning a string of nearly a dozen box office number ones that have contributed to well over five billion dollars cumulative worldwide box office gross for his projects. Bates then teamed up with Snyder again for the films "300", "Watchmen" and "Sucker Punch". His oeuvre expanded to include films like "Atomic Blonde", "The Devil's Rejects", "The Day The Earth Stood Still", "William Friedkin's Killer Joe", and TV shows like "Californication", "Punisher", "The Purge", "Kingdom", "Salem", "The Exorcist" and more. More recently, Bates scored the blockbuster "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs And Shaw", "Deadpool 2", "Jamie Foxx's Dayshift", Ti West's 2022 releases "X" and "Pearl", "The Spy Who Dumped Me", plus Genndy Tartakovsky's acclaimed animated series "Samurai Jack" and "Primal" on Adult Swim. After scoring Cirque Du Soleil's "R.U.N.", Bates embarked on the 2022 world tour in support of Jerry Cantrell's latest album "Brighten", which he also co-produced. With more new projects on the horizon including "Agent Elvis", Tyler Bates will undoubtedly continue to redefine what a composer is as a shapeshifting artist who's architected one of the most kaleidoscopic resumes in music.

Last October, IN THIS MOMENT released an EP called "Blood 1983". The effort commemorated the tenth anniversary of IN THIS MOMENT's gold-certified album "Blood" (2012) and was made available digitally across all digital service providers as well as CD via BMG.

"Blood 1983" was co-produced by Bates and Dan Haigh, and mixed by Zakk Cervini.

Since coming to life in 2005, IN THIS MOMENT has presided over a diehard fan base under the watch of "mother" figure and frontwoman Brink — joined by co-founder and lead guitarist Howorth, bassist Travis Johnson, guitarist Randy Weitzel and drummer Kent Dimmel. As millions convened upon the group's otherworldly and unforgettable concerts, they quietly emerged as one of the most influential and impactful bands of the 21st century.

To date, in addition to the gold-selling album "Blood", the quintet has garnered two gold singles — "Blood" and "Whore" — followed by Top 25 entries on the Billboard Top 200 with "Black Widow" (2014) and "Ritual" (2017). Bringing their total stream tally well past 200 million as of 2020, "Ritual" elevated them to new creative and critical peaks as well. Between selling out headline tours coast-to-coast, the group performed in arenas everywhere alongside DISTURBED and appeared at countless festivals from Welcome To Rockville to Sonic Temple. Along the way, they assembled their seventh full-length, the aptly titled "Mother" (Roadrunner) with longtime collaborator Kevin Churko (OZZY OSBOURNE, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH).

IN THIS MOMENT is Maria Brink (lead vocals),Chris Howorth (guitars),Travis Johnson (bass),Randy Weitzel (rhythm guitar),Kent Dimmel (drums).

#maria brink #In This Moment #I Would Die For You #2023 news #John Wick #soundtrack #metal ladies #metal bands #metal music

[mermaidsirennikita]

I was gonna ask, I didn't read the book but I do know a lot of the plot points and quotes tnx to tik tok and twitter so on the surface it looks like a good adaptation to me, plus I've seen nothing but praise for it online ever since the casting was announced. You're like the only person I've seen say basically anything negative about the show. Do you think this is a situation of people misunderstanding the book, because I'm not sure it's just a lot of people didn't actually situation. Even then I feel like I would have seen more criticism, it's a popular book after all and there are definitely people out there who have read it.

I'll be real with you, I actually do think that more people haven't read the book in full than you think. That's kind of a thing on BookTok. You get the broad strokes, you enjoy fandom, you consume a lot of fanworks, you think you get it.

I also think that because it's a BookTok book, it's a fandom thing--we're going to stan this shit because it's amazing and it gives us more stuff to consume, whereas all they had before was a book and the audiobook (which is amazing, by the way-the audiobook > the book as written, imo, because of the cast). Fandom is a bottomless pit that wants more more more because without new content MOST fandoms eventually kinda die off and you lose that connection and the high that having new shit to fangirl discourse over gives you.

What makes me REALLY think that a lot of people haven't read the book in full or read it... I don't even wanna say closely because I don't think the book needs a super close reading... is the lack of discourse over the songs changing. The songs are a big part of that book, and typically that's the type of content fandom would cling to--Impossible Woman is a song, for example, that Billy writes about Daisy and then denies writing about Daisy even though everyone, including Daisy, knows it's about Daisy. That is FODDER, and I guess it's not there? But if you hadn't read the book, you wouldn't really know that.

Similarly, Honeycomb in the show IS NOT Honeycomb, lol. The meaning is so altered, lyrics aside. It's a song, as written by Billy, about getting back to this dream life with Camila. Daisy alters the song, yeah--but not into this "we could make a good thing bad" shit, into this idea that there is DOUBT. Which especially bothers Billy because a) he doesn't want to cop to how close he is to falling off the wagon at any point but because b) Daisy herself represents doubt in his marriage. At a pivotal point, Daisy switches the lyrics back to what Billy wrote, because she is basically telling him "you WILL have this", loving him so much that though she wants that to be a certainty for THEM, she is giving him that certainty for him and Camila. Affirming THAT relationship.

... the fact that people aren't calling that out more just makes me raise an eyebrow. Because I do know of other BookTok popular books where people just don't read them yet discuss them as if they have, lmao. I know this is a thing that happens. It's the hype train.

I mean, people also don't seem to be confused about where the timeline is going--how old is Julia when she's making this doc on the show? When all is said and done in the book I believe Billy and Camila have quite a while together before she dies; she's in her early 60s when she goes. Julia is the person putting together this retrospective, and she was tiny (barely able to remember Camila and Daisy's confrontation) when the band broke up. So if that was 20 years ago when these interviews are being done, how old is she? Is she still compiling them? Camila was interviewed in the book, and Billy is later interviewed after her death, but I'm just... curious as to how this will all work.

The thing is, though, that the show just came out and many people aren't aware of the changes in full yet, so we may see more and more critique. I saw several people on Twitter going "wow, so we won't have" [X moment that connects to a specific lyric or song vibe]. People are only just now listening to the album. It hasn't been out for like... even a few days. I've seen more level-headed critiques coming out.

I mean, I read this book the month it came out, I think; I'd read TJR beforehand. I think I escaped a lot of the FANDOM stuff with it, which also makes it easier for me to have a jaundiced eye, and I don't feel like I came into the book hyped over things like I AM THE SOMEBODY. I was able to make very independent opinions, and I had nobody to discuss it with until I got my friends to read it, lol. And I'm trying not to sound condescending when I say that, but it is a DIFFERENT experience than coming into this book with the hype train made. Some of the stuff fandom is into I just... don't get. And I don't think it's a perfect book, even though I love it.

Also, I will say, professional critics really aren't super hot on the show lol, and many of them HAVE read the book based off the reviews I read. Several didn't like the book either, so maybe that's just a thing, but several did and make some pretty harsh comparisons between the book and the show.

So look, I'm sure many people have read the book and don't care (and that's FINE, if you like it then by my guest), some will care later and are too hyped right now to care, but like... yeah, I think that BookTok and booktwt especially have created a culture in which "joining in" is more important than fully consuming the material. So even if the book isn't your thing, which is FINE, you feel like you're missing out if you don't join in. And the fandom around this book makes it easier to CliffNotes it. I'm sure the MAJORITY of people have read the book. But I've seen a few comments that make me go "lol there is nO WAY you actually read the book", and it's kind of fascinating to see.

#daisy jones and the six

[fiadorable]

Twenty-two questions for twenty twenty-two (fanfic edition!)

Thank you @curator for sharing the questions! This was fun to think about.

1, Fandoms you wrote for this year?

Star Trek Strange New Worlds and The Librarians

2. Favorite fic you wrote this year?

the rage that is in my heart was the fic that reignited my imagination and hurled me into writing again after a four year dry spell, so it’s very special to me.

3. Favorite fic you read this year?

Thursday Night Cooking School by igrockspock Summary: Una had always said that Captain Pike was the best captain in the fleet; she’d never mentioned that he was the friendliest captain in the fleet. Or that he’d be obsessed with food, and getting La'an to eat it.

Fantastic fic about La'an and Pike's growing friendship in the aftermath of Una's arrest. The characterization is excellent and effortless. chef's kiss

4. Favorite opening line/scene you wrote this year?

The Librarians: Eve tucked a soft kiss below Flynn’s ear for safekeeping, and left him to his bubble pipe. (a touch of forgiveness)

SNW: Time is not immutable. It bends and breaks, dilates and contracts, spins out of control and in some cases stops completely. Time is but a perception, a tool used to quantify the experience of conscious thought, an inherently neutral concept. Illyrians were taught this from a young age.

And yet, ever since Valeo Beta V, Number One felt that time had turned against her. (the hand on the clock)

5. Favorite ending line/scene you wrote this year?

She touched the door frame, gentle reverence in her fingertips, before turning and leaving everything behind her for the second time in her life, for one last walk to the ready room. (the hand on the clock)

6. A trope you wrote this year?

Third party observes your OTP

7. Pairings you wrote this year?

Eve/Flynn Eve & LITs Pike/Una and Pike & Una Uhura/Ortegas Spock & Una Una & La’an La’an & Chapel

8. A fic regret from this year?

Feeling rushed to put out content and be “relevant” instead of enjoying the moment and the resurgence of creativity

9. A song that helped you write?

Bird Song by Juniper Vale

10. Total number of fics you posted?

Nine one shots (700+ words/per) Twenty-one drabbles (100 words/per)

11. Total number of words you posted?

14,154

12. Most popular fic written this year?

revelation in the light of gray

13. Least popular fic written this year?

neon

14. Longest completed fic you posted this year?

revelation in the light of gray

15. Shortest completed fic you posted this year?

I've been doing drabbles this year!

Trekalicious Drabbles SNW drabble collection Promotion NSFW SNW drabble We are the library The Librarians drabble collection

16. Favorite character to write about this year?

Toss up between Number One and Eve Baird

17. A fic you didn’t expect to write?

One Good Reason was a plot bunny out of left field that escaped from a conversation between friends. A La'an/Sam Kirk fic that is very much an AU and very silly.

18. Most memorable comment/review?

“# bro # this fic knocked me in the windpipe and then threw me a kitkat # i love it” from @myenterpriseisparked on boreal

I love these tags, especially because this was a drabble I was very unhappy with (and still kind of am tbh) but decided to post anyway to just kind of document my writing practice. It was nice to see people connecting with it anyway, even if I felt it wasn't quite right.

19. Trends you noticed in your writing this year?

Friendships have been very important in my writing this year

20. Fics you wanted to write but didn’t?

I had an epic fic about the day before Pike's accident and then immediate aftermath that I really wanted to write (and have written a bit of and do plan to write eventually) that just ended up being too exhausting to write this year.

I also have so many ideas for The Librarians but those fics aren't flowing as easy as the Strange New Worlds fics, so they're on the back burner for now.

21. Something you want to write next year?

I wrote a lot of friendship this year. I'd like to try writing more romance next year.

22. An idea from one of your fics that you want people to think about?

Una's arrest at the end of season one is going to be so not a big deal by this time next year, so let loose and have fun with fics set in the future!

#twenty-two questions #fiadorable answers #fanfiction wrapped #come back alive librarian #somehow i figured you might

[corneliaavenue-ao3]

2022 Wrapped

Tagged by @seriouslysam8

Sorry for not doing this in 2022, I was busy last night!

Post the top 5 works you're most proud of that you released in 2022 (not necessarily your most popular)

Well since I only published 5 works this makes my life easy!

i wrote a poem (you say what a mind) - my first ever fanfic! just a nice sweet moment between Harry and Ginny in OOTP. I feel like it's not a secret that I love missing moments between those two in OOTP.

island breeze with the lights down low - I WROTE SMUT?!?

up on a roof with a school girls crush - written for several sunlit daylights! Also a New Year's Eve fic, so very fitting for the day!

the road not taken looks real good now - also written for several sunlit daylights (not that it had to be, all of my fics are slightly based off of Taylor Swift songs). Harry and Ginny just get a much needed moment of peace before the horcrux hunt

god rest my soul - a quick oneshot I wrote a few days ago about the impact Tom has on Ginny. I am really proud of the prose on this fic.

your top 4 current WIPs that you're excited to release in the new year

I will be honest, not sure I have 4.

the breaks in your soul - a oneshot about a double date between Lavender/Ron and Ginny/Dean. It is like 99% done, I just am not happy with the last paragraph and honestly I hate the title. I have been scouring Taylor Swift lyrics to find something better and nothing has clicked yet. So it will stay a WIP until I find a better title!

barefoot in the kitchen - I posted a scene of this for Several Sunlit Daylights. It is just a bunch of missing moments of Harry and Ginny in the kitchen over the years!

time can't stop me quite like you did - this is my baby. I've been thinking about this fic for maybe 2 years now. Some dark magic happens while cleaning Grimmauld Place causing Harry and Ginny to get stuck in a time loop. They must work together to figure out how to get out of the time loop and why they are the only two stuck in it. Originally it was a one shot and then I wrote a lot and now its a multi-chapter fic. Hopefully you see this in 2023.

I have ideas post time can't stop me quite like you did, so in theory those are mental WIPs

your top 3 biggest improvements in your writing over the past year

Well to start off I posted a fic this year! I got over that huge mental leap and started to share my work!

I think my detail in my prose have improved. I try to paint more and more of a picture of the scene.

I used to struggle with dialogue, and not I think I have some natural banter and flow! Still needs a little improvement, but that is okay!

your top 2 resolutions (ways you wish to improve your writing/blog) for the new year

To focus when I write. I often write 100 words and then go off and do something else. I want to dedicate some time to writing each week.

I want to build more of a community with my writing! That is my favorite things about fandom, and I just want to continue to build on what I have! (love you to all of my mutuals!)

and your number 1 favorite line you've written this year

I'll be honest, I am not 100% sure this is my favorite, but I do really like it! A scene from the road not taken...

Her bed was much colder now that Harry no longer occupied it with her. Now that she had experienced fire, everything else felt cold. The frigid feeling froze Ginny as she realized this new bitterness would stick with her when Harry really left for good.

Tagging (sorry if you have already been tagged I have no clue who has participated!)

@displayheartcode @nuatthebeach @thegirlwhowrites642 @ginnyw-potter

#happy 2023!

[moonlightreal]

Thoughts on the Fate prequel novel

It was better than I expected.

Lighting the Fire is better than the novelization Fairies Path.  No surprise; this one is written by Sarah Rees Brennan who is a legit YA fantasy author with books under her belt, so she knows what she’s doing.

I don’t quite know how this kind of writing works.  I know Ms. Brennan was hired by Netflix or whoever, and she would have been given a brief, “You’re writing a prequel, here’s an outline for the plot points you should include, here’s some info on the characters...”  And she watched Fate season one so she knows what everyone looks and talks like, an edge Ava Corrigan didn’t have for the novelization.  But how detailed that brief was and how much freedom Ms. Brennan had to interpret things her way, that I don’t know.  

The book contains a few nods to the fandom.  An almost shippy scene between Dowling and Silva happens, as if Ms. Brennan or the person who wrote the brief knows that ship is popular in the Fate fandom.  And at one point Stella says, ‘look all you want but don’t touch the hair.” a line from the 4kids opening song.  Since that song was also quoted in the novelization I assume that the lyrics were part of the brief, “include a line or two from this song if you can fit it in.” Or maybe Ms. Brennan is a Winx fan.  

Also there are more WB Yeats quotes. Someone somewhere cares about Fate as a theme, and wants it to be a thing with depth and poetry, a true saga!  I… think that possibility fell off the table when season one had such a tragic lack of worldbuilding, but I kinda love that someone out there is trying.

One bit of ecology crept in: Terra and her father once rescues a fairy steed that ate human flesh.  So now we know the Otherworld has wolves, bears, sheep, and flesh eating fairy horses as animals.  There’s also a bit about Callum being “human” as in, not a fairy or specialist and Dowling hiring him because she doesn’t mind humans. But we don’t get any worldbuilding about how the different types of people work.

The characters:

-Terra meets Riven at a low point in his life, determines he’s being bullied and sets out to protect him.  Ms. Brennan does a grand job of writing Terra as Terra complete with babble and cringy woke language.  (the time to care about social justice is always. The time to talk about social justice with all the jargon is sometimes.)

-Stella has to choose a future roommate between queen bee Ilaria and nice person Ricki.  Knowing her mom wants her to have queen bee friends but actually liking Ricki better, Stella decides to set Ricki up with a boy who will make her more tough and also part of a power couple to make her an acceptable friend by Queen Luna’s standards.  She decides on Riven as the boy.  The accident that blinds Ricki takes place after the book ends so we don’t get to see the interesting fallout from that.

-Riven is bad at fighting and nobody is impressed by his edgelordiness.  Heh.  He hangs out with Terra until his true jerk nature comes out, she rejects him and he decides to take up substance abuse as a new hobby.

-Aisha is only in part of the story because she doesn’t live at the school. She has trouble with her magic and thinks of everything in sports terminology.

-Musa is even less present.  We read about her mother’s death a bit and how she has trouble not hearing other people’s thoughts and distances herself from everybody.

-Bloom is even less present than that but gets some bits of depth: she has no friends and likes buying things from antique stores and fixing them, and she accidentally starts fires when she sees injustice.  Actually Bloom’s mother gets a larger section, mourning that her daughter is drifting away from her and thinking how much she loves Bloom.  I wonder if the writers realized how awful Bloom’s mother looked in the show and wanted to walk that back a bit.

-There’s also a section from Silva’s point of view, him thinking about his terrible guilt over what happened with Andreas and how he really does care about Sky but has trouble showing his feelings.  And that he cares about Dowling as the leader he wants to follow, and he’s glad she’s a mind fairy so he doesn’t have to express his feelings in words.  So the book leans shippy but doesn’t go all the way!

There was also a “main plot” about orientation day at Alfea, students suspecting Dowling is having a romance with her assistant Callum who Beatrix murderizes later, and everyone getting slipped a truth potion, while Dowling is secretly going to earth to look for Bloom after finding an old letter by Rosalind about some important thing in the human world.  But really the book is about each character turning into who they are in the first season of the show.

For someone who loves Fate this book is a must-read.  For me who’s lukewarm on Fate it wasn’t unputdownable but it was not bad and it filled in some gaps and explored the characters’ feelings in ways that I thought were well done.  

#fate the winx saga

[ntriani]

OQM Playlist: Life during quarantine #27

With this new Life during quarantine playlist, Nick Triani ponders Randy Newman's standard 'I Think It's Going to Rain Today' and the emotions it evokes.

Lockdown Don’t open the borders we said. Keep wearing the masks we said. Avoid crowds we said. Stay home if feeling ill we said. Lockdown is here again. It’s tiring to discuss but our inherent greed and wish to keep the wheels of capitalism churning might do for us yet. The welcome news that a vaccine is now a reality and just around the corner is a chink of light in this most rotten of years…

Human kindness overflowing The songwriters that have benefited from the patronage of Judy Collins are too numerous (for the sake of brevity) to mention here. But let’s at least recognise Collins’ role in the careers of Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Donovan (in the US), Jimmy Webb and Randy Newman. Why Collins doesn’t have some kind of monument in her honor for music discovery is baffling, she also never had the title A&R woman attached to her name although that’s clearly what she did. The fact that in this era of rediscovery and music nostalgia Collins is not more readily identified amongst the greats of popular music is quite simply a conspiracy against women. Today I focus on a song by Randy Newman first introduced by Collins, ‘I Think It’s Going to Rain Today’ (or in some cases ‘I Think It’s Gonna Rain Today’).

Collins recorded a version of the song for her In My Life album from 1966, though Julius LaRosa is credited as having released a version a few months earlier. It’s Collins interpretation that became the template for the song’s subsequent ubiquity. To confirm this, LaRosa’s version doesn’t appear anywhere.

30 different versions Over the years all kinds of bands and artists of varying degrees of fame and fortune have tried to interpret ‘I Think It’s Going to Rain Today.’ I’ve cherry picked 3o different takes for this playlist. You may think, how crazy is that, listening to the same song so many times in a row, but please have a try because this may surprise you. Many of these interpretations are achingly similar in style, but I do think these vary enough so that you can sit through an hour and 40 minutes of the same song. The middle eight is the big variance in a lot of these versions (something about “Tin can at my feet, Think I’ll kick it down the street.”) Generally, most versions lead with piano and have string arrangements. Yet, the story changes with each voice. The latest version on this playlist is from 2020, which gives you some kind of idea of the longevity of the song.

I personally have a soft spot for the Françoise Hardy take from 1972. Her fractured English and the baroque string arrangement brings an intimate melancholy to the song. Leonard Nimoy does a great pass that pleases by not quite being right. Still, it might just be that Randy Newman’s own version from his debut album in 1968, impeccably produced by Van Dyke Parks, is the best. Newman is not the greatest singer, but has oodles of character and personality, which means the song retains its weary edge and infinite sadness (which is a bit lost on many of these takes.)

A younger generation may recognise Newman as the Toy Story soundtrack guy. That’s ok and cool. But Newman also lays a belated claim to be the pre-eminent songwriter of his generation. Recently this song has taken on a life of its own for me, reflecting collective grief and my hopes for a better day. The song also tells something about empathy and giving, even indulging our obsession of connecting our emotions to the weather. ‘I Think It’s Going to Rain Today’ touches a raw nerve, the weary sadness at the heart of the song can also comfort and help in getting through the ache. I believe that’s what Newman initially wanted when he wrote the song.

#randy newman #I think it's going to rain today #OQM #nick triani #judy collins #playlist