#he was between a drake and the river and he hopped right in

[afni-fics]

Elder Scrolls DC - A Reluctant Dragonborn: Chapter 29: Leaving Whiterun - Magic and Bandits

Elder Scrolls DC - A Reluctant Dragonborn: Chapter 29: Leaving Whiterun - Magic and Bandits (38503 words) by C_R_Scott Chapters: 28/? Fandom: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Red Robin (Comics), DCU (Comics), Batman (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Characters: Tim Drake, Lucien Flavius Additional Tags: Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Skyrim/DCU crossover, Reluctant Dovahkiin | Dragonborn, Not Beta Read, Alternate Universe - Skyrim Fusion, Modded Skyrim, Skyrim Spoilers, Tim Drake is Dragonborn | Dovahkiin, Tim Drake-centric, Trope: It sucks to be the chosen one, Trope: Trapped in another world, Trope: Kidnapped by the Call

Previous Chapter | Masterlist | Next Chapter

Summary:

Tim and Lucien finally set out from Whiterun towards the town of Ivarstead, on their way to visit the Greybeards of High Hrothgar. Along they way that morning, there is learning about magic and dealing with bandits.

The sun was just cresting over the horizon as Tim and Lucien made their way past the outer walls of Whiterun. Despite himself, Tim paused as they reached the stables to look back at the city, trying to commit what he saw to memory. Who knew when, if ever, he'd return to this place? He may not be very fond of the leadership of this place, but the citizens he'd interacted with seemed to be good, generous, hardworking people. If it wasn't for them, especially Irileth and Danica, he'd probably be dead.

"What do you mean, you can't take us to Iverstead?"

Tim turned his attention to the conversation taking place between Lucien and the carriage driver.

"Is something wrong?" he asked as he walked up to the pair.

Lucien sighed. "Apparently this carriage has already been commandeered by Honningbrew Meadery to take a large shipment of mead up to Windhelm, so we can't hire him to take us to Ivarstead."

"I'm sorry," the Nordic man said regretfully. "If I were to take you Ivarstead, it would delay my shipment to Windhelm by a couple of days, and transporting this quantity of mead is riskier the longer I'm on the road due to the bandits."

"Hmmm," Tim murmured as he pulled out his map and studied the space between Whiterun, Ivarstead, and Windhelm. "Well, could you at least take us halfway?" he asked as he showed the map to the carriage man and Lucien. "Just take us to where the road forks off here." He shrugged at Lucien. "We'll have to make the rest of the trip to Ivarstead on foot, but at least we're not walking the entire way."

"That shouldn't be a problem," the Nord said with an agreeable nod. "and I'll only charge you half the usual fee since I'm only taking you halfway."

Lucien sighed again. "I suppose it can't be helped. At least we can follow the river to the town from there and don't have to worry about getting lost in the wilderness." He regarded the map critically. "We may have to camp for a couple of nights though. Do we have the supplies for that?"

Tim nodded. "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst," he replied. "I got enough supplies I think we'll be ok for a straight week of camping. Especially if we follow the river, we won't have to worry about water, and we can hunt or fish for food if rations get low."

"Salmon are starting to make their migration runs to their spawning grounds this time of year," the carriage man offered. He inclined his head toward Tim's bow. "If you've got decent aim with that, catching fish with it won't be a problem along the Darkwater River. You will have to be careful of bears, though. Also, make sure you have a strong line tied to the arrow shaft when fishing. Because of the spring melt off from the mountains, the rivers are running deeper and faster and will send your catch downriver before you can blink."

"Alright," Tim said with as he folded his map back up. "We've got a plan. How soon can we leave?" 

"As soon as you fellas hop into the cart, we can be off."

The carriage driver's name is Bjorlam, and for the first part of the morning the ride is pleasant enough. Riding on the cart is definitely faster than walking the path on foot, but still slower than Tim is used to back on Earth, which is frustrating. He wished they could afford to purchase horses so they could travel at a faster pace. However, the stables back at Whiterun wouldn't sell for anything less than one thousand Septims apiece. So for the first hour that morning, Tim sat brooding as he watched the landscape pass by.

At least until Lucien pulls out a book and taps Tim's knee with it.

"What's this?" Tim asks as he takes the thin book and examines the cover. The leather is dyed yellow and has what appears to a bird symbol stitched on the front.

"It's a book on novice Restoration spells," Lucien explained.

Tim looked at Lucien with surprise. "You want to start teaching me magic now?"

"Why not? Didn't I say back in Whiterun that I was going to teach you? Besides, we've got scads of time to kill."

Tim's heartbeat quickened a bit and any boredom and frustration he had been entertaining was immediately forgotten. He listened intently as Lucien started to explain basic spell theory and Magicka.

It was a few hours past sunrise and while Tim had no problem absorbing the more technical explanations of spellcasting that came from the book and Lucien's own clarifications, actually tapping into Tim's own pool of Magicka in order to bring the basic healing spell into existence had been a far greater challenge. Lucien was starting to be concerned that perhaps Tim just didn't have access to Magicka, being from another world and all. It had been frustrating for the both of them. For Lucien, accessing Magicka was something innate and natural, like breathing or blinking. He never had to try and explain "how" to tap into it to someone who was completely unaware of its existence until recently. Mentally, the scholar likened it to trying to teach a fish how to drink water while they were swimming in a pond.

Then, the young man had suggested something that Lucien had never heard of before.

"What is 'meditation'?"

Tim had shifted to sit on the floor of the cart, so he could adjust his posture into a cross-legged seated position that Lucien found curious. "It's a little hard to explain," he said with a slight frown. "It's a kind of mental training... Limiting distractions... Focusing inward... Maybe... If I can just clear my mind and adjust my awareness I can find this Magicka pool you say I should have?"

So Lucien watched as Tim adjusted his hands into very specific poses before resting them on his knees, closed his eyes, and breathed in and out with slow measured breaths. He watched as Tim's face relaxed into an expression of quiet concentration. After a bit, Lucien wondered if perhaps Tim had fallen asleep, but the fact that the young man kept his posture intact, even to the precise position of the tips of his thumbs resting against the tips of his ring and pinky fingers while his other two fingers were extended reassured the scholar that more than just slumber was taking place.

For about an hour, it was quiet and peaceful in the cart. While Tim meditated, Lucien had pulled out a different Restoration spellbook to study, this one containing Apprentice level healing spells. Healing Hands was a slightly more complex spell since it was used to heal other people, not just the caster, but it was not beyond Lucien's grasp as a mage. However, out of the corner of his eyes, a movement broke his own concentration. 

Timothy's posture had changed. While his left hand was still resting on his knee, his right hand was slowly rising upward and towards his chest, fingers still held in the same position though his first two fingers were now pointing upward. His eyes were still closed, though his brows were furrowed slightly. Then his right hand shifted. His ring and pinky fingers stretched to join their brothers, and then his hand went through a motion as if scooping something gently from the air in front of him, curling his fingers around something intangible. Lucien's eyes widened as slender tendrils of light began to swirl around Tim's hand. Then, when Tim opened his hand, those tendrils coalesced into a small glowing sphere of golden light.

"Oh my..." Lucien whispered as a smile formed on his lips. "You did it!"

Slowly, Tim's eyes opened. His gaze seemed distant at first, but soon he focused wide-eyed at the golden spell cradled in his right hand.

"Wow," Tim breathed out in awe. "It's like holding a star." He brought his other hand up and brushed his fingertips along the outer edges of the spell, watching as small embers of light broke off from the main sphere to chase after them.

"So, you can access your Magicka now?"

Tim nodded. "I think so. It's... different. Definitely not intuitive like you describe it. It's kinda like flexing a muscle I never knew I had. I have to make a conscious effort to tap this... energy." 

He furrowed his brow in concentration again and actively channeled energy into the spell. Larger golden tendrils of light swirled around him for a few seconds, and he could feel a comforting warmth coursing through his veins. But before too long those tendrils disappeared and the light of the spell in Tim's hand winked out suddenly. He winced as a slight headache twinged behind his eyes.

"Ow..."

Lucien watched this with great curiosity, wincing along with him in sympathy as he immediately recognized the sign of Tim expending all the Magicka at his disposal. "Interesting... It appears your Magicka pool might be quite small at this point even compared to novice mages just starting out." He fidgeted thoughtfully with his beard. "I wonder if the reason your pool is smaller than normal is because you aren't from this world to begin with?"

"That might make sense," Tim said as he tried to massage away the remains of the headache. "Theoretically, if Magicka is something heavily present in the environment here, like in the air you breathe or the food and water you eat, native people would be passively absorbing Magicka since the day they were born. Since I'm not from here, I've only been taking in Magicka for a few weeks at most, so I'm starting at a disadvantage." Tim couldn't help the edge of disappointment to his voice.

Lucien smiled reassuringly at him, though. "Well, fortunately with time and practice, that shouldn't be the case for long. It's a known phenomenon that the more spells a mage learns and practices the larger their natural pool of Magicka grows. There are also potions and enchantments that can be used to artificially boost a mage's mana pool as well."

Tim smiled a little. "So it is like exercising a muscle. That's good to know." 

"Indeed," Lucien agreed with a nod. "Let's have you rest for a bit, and then you can check your Magicka pool to see if there's enough to practice with later."

The sun was halfway across the sky when unexpectedly their carriage came to a halt.

"Damn it," the carriage driver cursed.

"What's going on, Bjorlam?" Lucien asked.

The Nord shook his head. "The damned bandits are still occupying the Valtheim Towers," he spat out in frustration as he pointed to the two stone towers coming up ahead with a bridge that spanned the river. "Last time I came by here, the bandits demanded a one hundred Septim 'toll' for me to pass without getting mugged. I'd hoped by now Whiterun's guards would've run these bastards off, but I guess they haven't made it this far east yet. The moment those thieves see all the mead I have, they'll demand that along with the Septims." Bjorlam sighed. "I'm sorry fellas, but I think I might not have a choice but to turn back to Whiterun to fetch the guards or hire one or two of the Companions."

"What?" Lucien squawked. "No! We can't go back now! It took half a day just to get this far!"

As Lucien argued with Bjorlam, Tim was peering at the towers and bridge between them. "One... Four... Six..." He squinted "Maybe seven?"

At that, Lucien and Bjorlam had stopped arguing and had turned their attention onto him, the carriage driver with confusion and the scholar with a frown. 

"Seven what?" Lucien asked Tim suspiciously.

"Bandits, of course," Tim replied as he checked to make sure he had some potions in his belt pouches and added a few metal throwing stars he'd had the blacksmith in Whiterun make for him before they left the city to a simple leather holster that was strapped to his right thigh.

"Wait... You're not going to--"

Tim had grabbed his new metal quarterstaff and hopped off the back of the cart. "I needed to stretch my legs anyways. Might as well clear out the garbage while I'm at it." He looked to other two men. "Why don't you both stay here? I'll wave you over once I've cleared them out."

Bjorlam looked at him like he was crazy, and Lucien's expression was laced with concern. "Are you sure, Tim? I can come along to help."

Tim shook his head. "I feel better than I have in months and honestly I need to figure out where my baseline is now that I'm healthy. This is the perfect chance."

"Your baseline?"

Tim's smiled in a coy way before he started making his way to the Towers on foot. 

Ten minutes later, Lucien and Bjorlam were watching with amazement as commotion erupted at the Tower. Tim had quickly taken out the three bandits that had been guarding the first tower and was now making his way across the bridge towards the second. Though some of the bandits in the other tower tried to snipe him with arrows from the other side, Tim managed to either deflect those arrows with spins from his quarterstaff or dodged them with effortless grace even as he attacked the two bandits that were in the middle of the bridge. The bandits on the bridge seemed utterly outclassed, and frankly Tim seemed to be toying with them before he sent them flying down to the waters of the river below with a few well placed blows and kicks. The moment he was close enough to the second tower, the young man sent two of his new throwing stars flying at the remaining bandits. One bandit got tagged by the sharp metal star on the back of his hand and howled in pain before he could send another arrow flying. The other had the string to his bow sliced through, rendering it absolutely useless. They both stared at Tim warily.

"Okay fellas! This is going to end one of two ways!" Tim yelled at them warningly. "Either you two take a dive--" he pointed to the river with his staff. "--Or I am coming over there to beat you down and throw you in! Either way, you're both going for swims. Which is it going to be?!"

One of the bandits decided to take his chances. They pulled a sword out and tried to rush Tim while he was still on the bridge. Unfortunately for then, Tim could see the attack coming a mile away and the smile that lit up his face was practically feral. "The fun way it is then," he muttered as he held his staff in a ready position.

He let the bandit get close enough to try and get a swing on him. Unfortunately for the bandit, Tim's reach and momentum with the metal staff was far greater than the sword. Tim met the bandit's sword with a downward swing of his staff. The sword was immediately parried with enough force to disarm the attacker completely and the unfortunate bandit found the end of Tim's staff was aimed squarely at his face. A quick thrust forward was all it took for Tim to knock the man off balance, and a flashy flying tornado kick sent the bandit completely off the bridge before he even realized what was going on. 

Once that bandit was in the river, Tim looked pointedly at the last one standing. Wisely, the final bandit decided to take the dive himself.

As soon as Tim was certain the towers were cleared, he stood there on the bridge in a bit of a daze. That fight was child's play compared to what he used to deal with back in Gotham. The bandits were clearly not skilled fighters, firearms were not a threat he had to worry about in this place, and bad luck for them he was completely healthy to boot. All in all it was a pretty fun exercise for him. 

But still... something about that fight and its aftermath felt odd to him, like something more was out of place or forgotten. He didn't realize it until he lifted a hand to wipe the sweat from his brow. Then the thought struck him out of the blue, and he froze. 

He wasn't wearing a mask.

Here he was in this strange world. He was fighting with all the skills and strengths he had developed as a child soldier of Gotham, first as Robin, then Red Robin. 

However, Timothy Drake-Wayne wasn't supposed to be a fighter. He name and face was that of a teenager from a wealthy set of families. A child of privilege and influence. Tapped to lead the family business, even ahead of his older adopted siblings and the younger biological son of his father. His civilian identity was supposed to be a separate person from his vigilante one. Never were the two supposed to intersect.

And yet, at an intersection is where he found himself. Tim's civilian name and face had collided with his vigilante identity, strengths and skills. Even if he had a mask to wear, there was no real reason to do so here. But he still had to fight, both to survive and to safeguard those under his protection in the moment, he realized as he watched the carriage with Lucien approach the towers.

And on top of that he was now learning magic as well as trying to find answers to this whole Dragonborn mystery that was swirling around him. 

Who was he now?

"That was amazing to behold!" the carriage man said as Tim emerged from the first tower, a satchel full of recovered valuables from the bandits stash slung over his shoulder. "The way you took out all those bandits, just on your own! I've never seen anyone fight like that before!" 

The Nord's smile grew even wider as Tim handed him a bag of Septims. "There's probably a bit more than a hundred Septims here, but you don't mind, right?" Tim smiled and graciously accepted Bjorlam's profuse thanks.

"Are you alright?" Lucien asked Tim made his way to the back of the cart.

Tim nodded. "Yeah. I think so." He hopped in and settled in before Bjorlam set the cart in motion again.

"While it was amazing to see you fighting in peak condition, I couldn't help but notice you seem a little troubled after it was all said and done," Lucien observed. "Did something happen at the towers we weren't able to see?"

"No," Tim said with a dismissive shrug. "Just thought of a question I don't have any answers to yet."

"Anything I can help with?"

Tim smiled and deflected. "Actually, I think I banged up my knuckles a bit on those bandits. Might be the perfect chance to practice that healing spell. Can you show me again how to cast it?"

Lucien shook his head with a sigh. "Sure. Let's take it from top."

NOTE: Though Tim has a lot of hand-to-hand combat experience, the longer he stays in Skyrim the more I see him taking up magic as his primary go-to for offense and defense. While growing up in Gotham he wasn't the best student and even dropped out of high school due to his vigilante lifestyle, here in Skyrim the study of magic is something he can dive into whole-heartedly. The subject matter is fascinating and the practical applications both in combat and even daily life are nearly endless. I don't see him ever going full blow magic-only. Sometimes, you just need to hit something with a blunt/sharp weapon or a clenched fist, and I don't see Tim ever really giving up the protection of at least a suit or several of light armor for cloth robes, no matter how enchanted they are.

I'm also using the mod "Carriage and Ferry Travel Overhaul" (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/8379) that allows my characters to hire a carriage that actually transports them overland from one destination to another, and allows for stopping and starting inbetween those locations. I'm trying not to use the Fast Travel function unless absolutely necessary so that I can include more opportunities for role-play as my characters are journeying.

Finally, I am also using a pair of mods in conjunction that allow for the use of throwing weapons (specifically in this case throwing stars - because Red Robin): Throwing Weapons Skills & Perks Tree (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/39499) and True Spear Combat (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/78347?) which adds the throwing starts among other weapons you can throw. This same mod author also made the Spears Skills and Perks Tree I'm using for Tim's quarterstaff fighting (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/99303?).

#elder scrolls dc#fanfiction#tim drake#skyrim fanfiction#red robin#batfam#crossover#lucien flavius#wip#afewnovelideas

#elder scrolls dc #fanfiction #tim drake #skyrim fanfiction #red robin #batfam #crossover #lucien flavius #wip #afewnovelideas

[caffeinatedtimdrake]

CONGRATS ON 200 FOLLOWERS YOU DESERVE ALL OF THEM!!!! From the prompts list, could I maybe get 48 and 58 with Timmy Drake?? Ya girl needs some FLUFF and you are by far the best person to write Tim Drake fluff!!!

1.5k of Tim Drake fluff as you requested, anon!! 

48. “You gotta stop doing that.” “What?” “Saying things that make me wanna kiss you.”

58. “Why me?” “Because you saw me when I was invisible.”

Tim Drake thinks it’s absolutely extraordinary that you care so minimally about your birthday. 

“But it’s…a celebration of your birth. Of the moment you left the womb and came into the real world!”

“Maybe I’m a test tube baby.” 

He opens his mouth to respond but shuts it slowly. He shoots you an intrigued look, raising an eyebrow ever so slightly.  “…Are you?” 

You snort and jab him lightly with your elbow. “No, but that would be pretty sick, yeah?”

“It would explain a lot.” 

You shake your head and fail to fight a smile, glancing down at your neatly tied laces. “It’s nice that you think exiting from a uterus is a celebratory occasion, but being born is, like, three percent of the battle. You have to actually…survive…for it to mean anything.” 

He hums agreeably, low in this throat. “Otherwise, natural selection will get you.”  

“I will beat you with the bio textbook. I do not want to discuss that class until our test is over.” 

“Is that what you want for your birthday, Y/N?” 

You glance at him out of the corner of your eye, grinning slyly in a way that makes his breath catch. “Maybe.”

It’s just before midnight on the eve of your twentieth year and just after an intensive study session with Tim over Darwinian theories and many types of finches. As always, he insisted on walking you home, dark brows knit in a concerned frown – even when you reminded him you once accidentally fractured his wrist because he taught you some self-defense moves and you’re an efficient learner. 

The air is temperate against his skin, but Tim still feels heat painted across his face. You tend to have that effect on him, all roses and melted chocolate, but for someone so smart, you seem largely oblivious to his more-than-platonic affections. 

He clears his throat. “I want to show you something.” 

“Sounds suspicious.” 

Tim rolls his eyes and reaches out his hand to intertwine your fingers, heart lurching at the gentle brush of your skin against his. “Come on, test tube baby.” 

You’re glad he turns to lead you down the sidewalk because he can’t see the way your eyes nearly bug out of your head, cheeks flushed with pleasant surprise beneath streetlights and neon signs. 

Befriending Tim had been scarily easy. You had spent a fair amount of time in the hazy background, lost in a jumble of murmured conversation and lukewarm connections, but it hadn’t always bothered you. Adolescence was complicated and arduous enough – you didn’t need people with bad energy polluting your already chaotic world. People were either too suffocating or too unreliable and you had the emotional capacity for neither. However, you weren’t immune to echoes of loneliness. There were moments you longed for genuine friendship, when you wanted to someone look at you and truly see you. 

You hadn’t expected such a friendship from a smartass with a bright smile and diamond eyes, but three years later and he knew your soul more intimately than the stars. With Tim, everything simply clicked into place. 

The city sleeps peacefully, but the butterflies in your stomach are certainly wide awake as he pulls you around an alley corner and through a rickety side door. 

“Is this illegal?” You inquire, voice echoing off the narrow staircase. 

“Probably. But only if we get caught.” 

You choke on laughter, a wheezy, squeaky noise. “Is this worth possible incarceration?” 

He halts halfway up the stairs and your nose almost collides with his back. A smooth, well-toned, muscular back… 

In the dismal blue-gray lighting, he glances over his shoulder at you and his eyes are an enigma of mischief and topaz. “You have no idea.” 

You feel your heart squeeze in a funny way, affinity enfolding. 

“No, nope, no idea at all.” You say in a breathy voice because his grip tightens on your hand and you feel yourself unraveling slowly. 

Several flights of stairs later, Tim brings you before a door. 

“Tim, you do realize that there’s a large lock and chain on the door, right?” 

He chortles and meets your puzzled frown with a smile of sunlight. “Has that ever stopped me before?” 

He’s indisputably referring to your wariness at the birth of this friendship and you flush. “N-no.” 

“Have a little faith, won’t you, Y/N?” 

He drops your hand and you despise the twinge of sour disappointment across your tongue when he crouches down and pulls several suspicious tools out of his backpack. 

“If it involves you, Timmy, I’ll always have a little faith.” 

He shoves what might be a fancy screwdriver into the lock, lifting his eyebrows. “Oh? And why’s that? Why me?” Tim asks with the light cadence of a songbird on a spring morning.  

You shrug, watching him frown at the chain and wiggle the metal without reason. The tip of his tongue pokes out of the corner of his mouth and the gel in his hair has grown tired, sending tiny locks of ebony flopping onto his forehead.  

“Because you saw me when I was invisible. If you can do that, you can do anything.” You muse softly.

He whips his head around to look at you so quickly, he lands flat on his butt, eyes wide. 

Something in the tangle of metal clicks promisingly. 

Tim hops to his feet and there’s a flash of hesitation across his features before he places his hand on your shoulder, looking at you earnestly. “I always want you to feel like you’re able to be seen, Y/N.” 

You nod, skin buzzing at the contact, and he offers you a warm smile. 

“Speaking of seeing, this is the best view in the whole city.” He shoves open the door. 

“Oh, I know.” You chortle in a playful tone that makes the tip of his ears go pink.  

His laughter rings like moonlight across the empty rooftop, tangling with gentle wind and worn brick. 

“It might be even more magnificent than I am. Which is absurd, I know.” 

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” You tut as he entangles your fingers once more and tugs you closer to the edge. 

“Oh.” You sigh, dropping your backpack. “You weren’t kidding.” 

The city is beautiful from here; the perch is higher, but not quite the highest. Below you is an expanse of twinkling lights and obsidian edges, reflected softly in the river. Above you, skyscrapers loom with the same quiet power as Californian redwoods with shiny, dark windows and smooth steel for bark. The view is set to the music of midnight traffic and a thudding heart. This epitomized Gotham – obscure and illuminated in striking angles. 

Tim finds it hard to avoid admiring you while you admire Gotham. A smile of reverence fights its way across his mouth as he watches you; you, who glues him to the ground and sends him floating dreamily through the clouds and understands his soul better than any evolutionary theory or mathematic equation; you with the pretty eyes and wide grin and heart of unadulterated honey gold. 

When your gaze flickers to him, his heart skips a beat. Or several. 

“This is lovely, Tim. Thank you.”

He smiles sheepishly, suddenly bashful beneath the warmth in your regard. There’s a slightly panicked pressure unraveling in his chest because he’s known for a while that he’s enamored with you, but now there’s a tiny voice at the back of his head telling him to actually do something about it. 

You’re awfully fond of the way heat rises in his cheeks as he glances down at his watch. 

“Happy birthday, Y/N.” 

You throw your arms around his neck and he wants to collapse because he loves, loves, loves the way you fit against him and the scent of your shampoo tickling his nose. 

He squeezes you and you revel in the warm gravity of his embrace. When you pull back, you continue to dawdle shyly at the edges of his space, beaming up at him. 

“Really, Tim, this is amazing. The best birthday present.” 

“Nothing but the best for you.” He flashes a cheesy grin but sobers quickly. “I’m serious, Y/N. Sometimes I don’t think you understand it. You deserve everything good in this world.” 

You groan, hiding your face behind your fingers. “Tim.” 

He moves your hands to squish your cheeks and prevent any timid protests; you pout.

“For real, test tube baby. Never settle for anything less than what you deserve. You deserve so much.” 

“You gotta stop doing that, Tim.” You mutter. 

“What?” He asks, plain intrigue written into cornflower blue and your face still between his warm palms. 

“Saying things that make me wanna kiss you.” 

He freezes, barely blinking, but he can almost register the blood rushing to your face. 

You can’t even slap a hand over your mouth in mortification, but there was no time to choke the words down anyway. Smooth skin and sweet words had unraveled your sense of reason. 

Tim shakes his head almost imperceptibly, hands falling gently from your cheeks. “I-I don’t think I’ll do any such thing, in that case.” 

He swallows hard and opens his mouth to continue rattling off remarks about all the good things you should have in this life, but you lean into him again and press your lips to his.

#tim drake is the man we all deserve #also these things tend to end with...kissing #but really wouldnt a tim drake birthday kiss be so nice #i love soft tim #tim drake #red robin #robin #tim drake imagine #tim drake x reader #red robin imagine #red robin x reader #robin imagine #robin x reader #dc #dc imagine #young justice imagine #teen titans imagine #batman #you saw me when i was invisible #stop saying things that make me wanna kiss you #prompts #fluff

[mizmahlia]

Some guys have all the luck (or not)

Summary: Last time Tim checked the dictionary, he was one hundred percent certain isolation meant being alone and separated from others. So when he wakes up in Gotham General's isolation unit, he's surprised to see his entire family standing on the other side of the window.

Leave it to them to change the definition.

TW: The only warning is for general medical stuff like the description of symptoms. Nothing graphic.

AO3

Tim had nothing personal against rats, really. They were living, breathing creatures after all, and had a right to survive like any other being. But when they multiplied into the hundreds and thousands and were controlled by a former pest control agent who used them to do his criminal bidding?

Yeah, then he had a problem with them.

For the longest time they believed Otis Flannegan was dead. No one, criminal or otherwise, had heard from him in months after his encounter with Penguin, and along with Otis, his enormous rat colony had seemingly disappeared. So when a flood of calls came into local pest control companies about brown rat infestations, Tim got curious.

After hacking into the computer systems of four pest control businesses in the Bowery, he managed to find a single common denominator. Most of the calls were from businesses, apartment complexes and single-family homes near major sewer junctions. That meant one of two things. Either Waylon Jones had made some new friends, or their dear friend Otis wasn’t dead after all.

Tim laughed quietly as he lowered himself through a manhole. The thought of Waylon Jones talking to a bunch of rats was way funnier than it should have been. As his boots hit the bottom of the sewer tunnel he pulled out a high-powered flashlight and checked his watch. It was just past midnight and he promised Bruce he’d turn in early tonight on account of running a reconnaissance job with Dick the night before. He’d been awake a little too long for Bruce’s liking and while he hated to admit it, Tim knew he was right.

He sloshed through the brackish water and was grateful for the new boots Jason gave him. Any time they had to climb into a sewer tunnel meant their gear smelled absolutely horrible for several days.  Jason found some great combat boots that repelled water better than their Wayne Tech-issued boots and gave Tim a pair when he mentioned he was looking for Otis. Between the boots and Tim ditching his cape for the night, he was confident he wouldn’t have to go home smelling quite as bad as usual.

The tunnel stretched out in front of him for about a hundred yards before it branched off to the left and right. Based on the system maps on his gauntlet screen, the main source of the infestation was to the right. Once at the end, he turned in that direction and sighed when he heard the beginnings of a high-pitched echo- undoubtedly the squeaking of an enormous rat colony.

“Way to go, Drake,” he muttered. “You should have left this one for Batman or Hood.”

The couple of inches of putrid water dried up into nothing the further he went, and the sharp smell of rodent urine invaded Tim’s nostrils, making him cringe. He was definitely heading in the right direction and based on how loud the noise was, he figured the colony was just ahead and to the left. He stopped for a moment, debating whether he should put his respirator on, and decided against it. That far underground, his voice would echo terribly anyway, and he didn’t want to take the chance Otis would mishear him and sic his rats on him, so the respirator stayed in its pouch on his belt.

He turned the corner and pointed his flashlight into the middle of the cavern, sighing when his suspicions were confirmed. The cavern floor was covered with rats and Otis was standing on a bucket in the middle, caressing one as another scurried up his shoulder.

“Otis? I’m gonna have to ask you to take your rats and get out of here.”

Otis turned to him and glared.

“I haven’t done anything wrong. Leave us alone.”

Tim stepped further into the room, dragging his feet so he wouldn’t step on any of them. He cringed when a rat, at least six inches long by his estimate, hopped across the top of his boots. He fought the urge to kick his foot and fling it away from him.

“Yet,” Tim replied. “We haven’t caught you doing anything yet.  But this is a public health concern,” he said carefully. “And if you don’t leave, the pest control companies are going to start using traps and poison to eradicate the problem above ground, and I know you don’t want that.”

Otis leaned down and let the rat waddle down his arm and hop to the floor.

“Why are you being so nice?”

Tim shrugged.

“I’d rather not make a colony of rats this size angry. I’m not a fan of rodents.”

Otis sighed and stepped down off the bucket.

“At least you’re honest.”

He turned and started walking toward the other end of the room toward a tunnel branch leading toward the Sprang River. But before he could get very far, a thundering roar echoed into the room from behind Tim and the rats startled, swarming for the tunnel Otis was heading toward. They stirred up a massive cloud of dust as they went, turning the room hazy. Tim fumbled for his respirator and managed to hold it to his face as he followed Otis. He could hear Waylon lumbering down the tunnel he’d come from, presumably to investigate who dared to enter his sewer.

Once outside, Tim lowered the respirator and coughed, mentally cringing when he realized what he inhaled wasn’t just dust and dirt from the floor, but urine and fecal matter from the rat colony was well.

Gross.

On his ways back to Redbird, he calculated the chances of his getting sick from exposure to all of that and figured since he had the respirator on as long as he did, the chance was fairly low.

He left the visor of his helmet up for the ride home to savor the fresh air.

A pretty easy night, all things considered.

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

The symptoms began less than a week later.

In the days after his visit to the sewers, he began feeling achy and tired, with his hips, back and shoulders hurting the most. He was nauseous and had a headache that just wouldn’t quit, though the acetaminophen helped ease the pain to a tolerable level. The low-grade fever he had at first climbed to 101F, and that’s what did him in.

He missed a get together with Jason to have coffee and catch up. When Tim didn’t show and Jason couldn’t reach him, he went to the Manor to find Tim lying on the floor next to his bed.

“Tim? What the hell? Are you okay?”

Jason crouched and wasted no time in picking Tim up off the floor. He gently set him on the edge of the bed and frowned. He held the backs of his fingers against Tim’s cheek before putting his hand on Tim’s forehead.

“Christ, kid. You’re practically on fire.”

Tim attempted to shrug but nearly fell over backward.

“’M fine,” he said. “Just the flu.”

Jason narrowed his eyes and remained where he was, kneeling on the floor in front of him. He noted how pale Tim was in addition to the fever.

“How long have you been sick?”

Tim tried to answer but before he could say a word, he began to cough. He held up three fingers.

“You’ve been sick for three days?”

Tim continued to cough and Jason watched as struggled to breathe in between. He reached a hand out and latched on to Jason’s wrist, squeezing tightly. Jason covered Tim’s hand with his and shook his head.

“That’s it. We’re going to the emergency room.” He quickly tapped out a text to Bruce, Alfred and Dick before taking off his wool pea coat and wrapping Tim in it.

“C’mon Timbit, let’s go get you checked out.”

Tim leaned his head against Jason’s shoulder, wincing as they went down the stairs. Even though Jason was careful not to jostle Tim much, everything hurt and he couldn’t catch his breath.

“We’re going to take the Range Rover,” he heard Jason say on their way to the garage. “It’s got heated seats and it’s easier to lift you in and out of.”

The last thing that crossed Tim’s mind before he passed out was how much Jason reminded him of Bruce, even down to the way he tried to hide how scared he was.

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

Before he even opened his eyes, Tim decided it was too quiet in his room.

He could hear absolutely everything and nothing all at the same time, and it was disconcerting, to say the least. Something to his left beeped in time to his heartbeat. There was a rhythmic ‘whoosh’ on his right. And he heard the murmur of voices somewhere in the near distance, though he couldn’t make anything out.

He opened his eyes and saw the stark white ceiling tiles first. His gaze dragged tiredly from the ceiling to the wall at the foot of his bed, then to the door on the left. There was a sign on the glass and the only words large enough for him to read said, ‘CAUTION: ISOLATION. DO NOT ENTER’.

That’s not good.

It was only when he tried to swallow that he realized a ventilator was breathing for him. He fought the urge to panic and clawed at the blankets, desperately trying to find a call button. The beeping on the heart monitor increased and the noise made the panic worse. There was a knock on the window and Tim turned his head to see Jason with his hands against the glass.

“Tim, try to relax. Let the vent do its job. There’s a nurse coming, okay?”

Tim managed a thumbs-up and felt tears run back into his hair. He closed his eyes and tried to relax enough to let the ventilator work. The door opened a minute later and a nurse rushed in, covered head to toe in protective gear. She smiled when she got close enough and rested a gloved hand on Tim’s shoulder.

“Try to relax a little, Tim. There’s a doctor coming and we’ll see if we can take that breathing tube out. In the meantime, I’ll explain what’s going on, okay?”

He blinked in response and she picked up his hand.

“Squeeze once for yes and two for no.”

Tim squeezed once.

“Do you know where you are?”

Once squeeze, then two more.

“You’re at Gotham General in the isolation unit.”

He saw Bruce rush to Jason’s side and look into the room, raising his hand against the glass.

“You’re going to be okay, but you gave us a scare. We had to intubate you four days ago when you got too sick to breathe on your own. Thankfully your brother brought you to the emergency department when he did.”

He squeezed her hand once.

“You’ll be in isolation for a little while yet because you’re still infectious. You’ve got something called Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.”

Tim’s expression must have been shocked because she smiled and nodded.

“I know. It’s incredibly rare. You’re one of the lucky ones; nearly forty percent of those who contract this don’t survive. You’ll have to tell us how in the world you managed to come into contact with the infected rats.”

A long pause before another squeeze.

“Unfortunately, you won’t be able to have visitors in your room while you’re in isolation, but they can certainly visit you through the window.”

She moved out of the way so Tim could see the entire window. Dick had joined Jason and Bruce, and Damian appeared next to Dick. He felt his eyelids growing heavy and tried to keep them open.

“Why don’t you get some rest. The call button is in your right hand, and when you wake up again, we’ll have the doctor remove the ventilator.”

One more squeeze and Tim let sleep take him.

Even though he was quarantined, his family made sure he wasn’t alone. During visiting hours, at least one person was there to keep him company. And Damian had let it slip that he hadn’t been in school since Tim was admitted, in order to prevent Tim from waking up and not having family there. And Dick grinned mischievously when Tim asked what the hospital thought of the constant stream of visitors, mentioning something about a grant from Wayne Enterprises.

There was an intercom they could use to talk to him, and they all took turns keeping him up to date on what was going on in the outside world. He was a bit of a celebrity for contracting the hantavirus, one of only four cases nationwide that year. Jason helped him come up with his cover story about chasing a stray cat into a vacant apartment building in the middle of the rat infestation zone. Poor Tim Drake and his bad luck.

“You should have worn your respirator, kid.”

Tim sighed and fell back against the pillows behind him.

“I know.”

Jason nodded and rubbed the back of his neck.

“I mean, not to be that guy, but you’re immuno-compromised and need to be careful.”

Tim looked up, surprised at the emotion in Jason’s voice. He was staring right back at Tim, green eyes glassy.

“You had me terrified. I thought you stopped breathing on the way to the ER, and you actually did stop breathing a couple of times before they put you on the ventilator.”

Tim didn’t know what to say, so he didn’t try.

“Look, I’m not trying to lecture you. But this, this was a close call. As close as they come where you remain above ground.”

Tim swiped at his eyes with the back of his hand, suddenly feeling very alone.

“Hey, Timbit. Look at me.” Jason’s voice was rough, but kind. “C’mon.”

Tim looked up to see Bruce appear behind Jason’s chair, squeezing his shoulder. Dick was there again as well, as were Damian and Stephanie. Tim longed to be able to be in the same room as them so they could hug him, and he could hug them back.

“Just a couple more days until you’re in a regular room,” Dick said, grinning. “Then you’ll get all the hugs you can stand, plus a few more.”

“Yeah, I’ve been saving a few for you,” Steph added. “By my count, I owe you at least sixteen.”

Tim laughed and while it hurt a bit, he didn’t mind.

Despite having been in this room by himself for so long, he hadn’t been alone in the slightest.

Leave it to his family to re-designate isolation as a group activity.

#Whumptober 2019 #Whumptober Day 7 #Tim Drake #Batfam #Bruce Wayne #Dick Grayson #Jason Todd #Damian Wayne #MizMahlia's Fanfiction

[intoxicatingimmediacy]

Big Ups: Clipping Pick Their Bandcamp Favorites

“Right from the beginning, we always wanted to make a horror-themed record,” says Jonathan Snipes, a producer in the Los Angeles-based progressive noise-rap trio Clipping, alongside MC Daveed Diggs and fellow beatsmith Bill Hutson. The group’s third project for Sub Pop, There Existed an Addiction to Blood, updates the cult horrorcore hip-hop trend of the mid ‘90s in a thrilling and forward-thinking fashion. It’s a striking and deeply atmospheric record, powered by synth-based sonic experimentalism and grisly concept-focused writing that exudes a sinister and shadowy feel.

There Existed an Addiction to Blood adds to a stellar canon of work that kicked off with Clipping’s introductory midcity mixtape in 2013. “That one was really us learning how to be Clipping, and what we sounded like,” says Hutson, who helped mastermind the project’s metallic, glitch-afflicted beats. On the following year’s debut album, CLPPNG, the crew moved further towards what Hutson calls “dark and noise-tinged instrumentals.” The omission of the letter I in the album title represents the way Diggs avoids rhyming in the first person. Hutson maintains that if much of hip-hop involves MCs rapping about their own lives, Clipping’s music strives to be “a novel, not a memoir.” Case in point: 2016’s Splendor & Misery took shape as an Afrofuturist sci-fi adventure that explored an artificial intelligence world; 2017’s single “The Deep” inspired the author Rivers Solomon to expand the song’s environment into a novella of the same name.

Basing There Existed an Addiction to Blood around horrorcore and gory movies is a natural representation of Clipping’s influences and the way the trio approach writing songs. “Horrorcore is this forgotten and maligned subgenre of hip-hop that we’ve always had a tremendous amount of affection for,” says Hutson. “So much of Clipping is about referencing styles of hip-hop—almost all our songs were conceived as our take on a certain type of rap song—so this horror album was always going to happen.” Snipes adds, “We think of each of these songs as self-contained movie scores of vignettes in a specific genre.”

The original horrorcore movement that inspired Clipping’s latest album was spearheaded by RZA and Prince Paul’s Gravediggaz project, plus artists including Houston’s Ganksta N-I-P, Detroit’s Esham, and New York City’s Flatlinerz. ‘90s horrorcore lyrics were packed with macabre imagery and references to psychological disorders, satanism, and cannibalism; the gruesome verses were often relayed over willfully dank and grimey production. Clipping’s resurrection of the subgenre taps into the same lyrical themes—but this time Digg’s intense verses are backed by marauding waves of monstrous synths, sharp abrasive stabs of discordant noise, and snatches of field recordings that bring a chilling realism to There Existed an Addiction to Blood.

Key song “Run For Your Life” plays out like a frantic short movie. It co-stars Memphis MC La Chat, who used to roll with Three 6 Mafia and the Hypnotize Minds roster back in the ‘90s. “She’s hunting down Daveed and approaching and moving behind him in a car,” says Snipes. “Then in the third verse, we’re fully in the car with her.” To drum up the effect of the protagonist being chased to a bloody demise, Digg’s lyrics are surrounded by constantly shifting ambient noise: The sound of passing cars blasting music and dogs barking literally pulls the listener into the chilling scenario.

The same blend of adventurous production techniques and concept-heavy writing present on Clipping’s latest album also runs through Hutson and Snipes’s Bandcamp recommendations. Blasts of abstract hip-hop lyricism mix with innovative thematic albums and avant-garde film scores, adding up to a smart representation of Clipping’s advanced-level musical DNA.

Bill Hutson

Dax Pierson - Live In Oakland

I first saw Dax Pierson play around 2003, when he was in a group called Subtle that was an Anticon side project with Dose One and Jel. Dax was also the secret weapon of the Themselves project, which was also Dose and Jel, and on tour he’d play keys and finger drum on MPCs. Dax is this compelling, creative performer and composer. This tape came out on Ratskin and it’s from a more recent show—I might have even been at the show! His music is fascinating, almost uncategorizable left-field dance stuff that’s blending all these ideas.

John Wall - Hylic

I was really enamored of improvised music in the early ‘00s, and it’s a lot of what fueled my ravenous collector habit, which came from having to track down these obscure records that came from Japan and Germany and Switzerland and England, where they were only pressing a couple of hundred copies. John Wall is very careful as a computer music composer, and he’d spend years and years cutting up tiny pieces of improvised sounds and turning them into these totally austere and totally alien compositions. I was fascinated by the disparity between how much intention there was behind it and how alien the result sounds. Hylic almost sounds like there’s no human brain making logical choices that would compose this music—it feels like it’s naturally occurring in some way, like you’re listening to the background radiation of the solar system—but there’s also the most extreme version of authorship going into it.

billy woods - Hiding Places

I think billy woods is a fantastic example of this very abstract and angular and strange rapper but with these really strong connections to the history of New York rap. It’s almost like he’s from a different timeline where southern hip-hop didn’t take over the mainstream in the ‘00s and we kept going with Nas and Wu-Tang, and it’s developed into this new form. [Producer] Kenny Segal is a buddy—we’ve toured with him—and he would have been a youngster in the Project Blowed days but came out of the experimental L.A. hip-hop scene that produced Abstract Rude and Freestyle Fellowship and, later with the beatmakers, birthed the whole Low End Theory and Brainfeeder movement. This album is a New York and L.A. collab record that seems to perfectly synthesize two different types of left of center aesthetics, but feels completely natural in a way we wouldn’t have expected maybe 20 years ago.

Kevin Drumm - 09082001 gtr​/​synth ‘solo’

I included this not because anyone needs me to tell them Kevin Drumm is a fuckin’ noise hero, but I wanted to include Drumm because I think what he’s doing is a really unique thing that Bandcamp can provide: A couple of months ago I bought Drumm’s entire discography for like $22, which was like a hundred or so releases! He puts out so much, and it’s all of such high quality. This specific recording is from my favorite period of his work in the early-2000s, but it wasn’t available [back then] until he started bypassing labels and physical copies and started putting everything up himself direct to the fans.

DEBBY FRIDAY - DEATH DRIVE

[The label] Deathbomb Arc put out some of the first Clipping stuff. I think of [founder] Brian Miller as A&Ring my listening habits because he’s out there finding new artists I wouldn’t come across and putting out their records. DEBBY FRIDAY completely blew me away—this release seems both out of nowhere and so fully formed. It’s just brilliant and sort of industrial hip-hop. It’s really like the best Skinny Puppy album we never got but with way better lyrics and content and performance. It’s so smart and dark—she’s a really great lyricist.

Jonathan Snipes

Missincinatti - remove not the ancient landmarks

Missincinatti was Jeremy Drake, Jessica Catron, and Corey Fogel, and they had this band for a short time in L.A. where they played these contemporary arrangements of sea shanties. They’re all incredible musicians, and their arrangements were always so off-kilter and smart. This album is only on Bandcamp, and it’s like a little monument to this band that I loved so much for a short time. One of my favorite things is arrangements of folk music that almost feel like critical theory about folk music and this project feels like it’s in this realm. I wish they were still around playing shows so I could go to them.

François-Eudes Chanfrault - Inside

I discovered François-Eudes Chanfrault when I saw the movie for which this is the score. Then, when I started looking into François’s music, I realized that I’d run across him in online nerdy computer music circles. He became one of my favorite composers, and I became obsessed with tracking his music down. The development of the Inside score is really slow and tasteful, and that’s hard to accomplish when working with film. I also score movies, and film music always feels like if the music’s following a picture. It wants to be fast and have abrupt changes—but François is someone who is somehow able to make these really long elegant cues that actually play against the action of the film in this really striking way. It’s probably the last score I’d expect anybody to write for that movie, and it hits exactly the right tone. His use of electronics and computers and his use of a chamber ensemble are perfectly matched.

Lauren Bousfield - Fire Songs

Lauren’s a really good friend, and this album’s only available on Bandcamp. She’s an incredible musician—an absolute genius. This is the album she released shortly after her house burned down and she lost all her possessions in the fire. It feels very personal. It’s easy to think of electronic and breakcore as just splattered breakbeats that feel mechanical and machine-based. But this one, with the context [of the backstory], feels very emotional, and almost makes me tear up when I hear it.

Bryce Miller - W A S P

Bryce Miller is someone I found through some Bandcamp journalism, which I read regularly. This album, which is based on the Stieg Larsson Millennium books, is elegant and precise. There’s a lot of this retro ’80s synthwave stuff flying around—I’ve made a fair bit of it myself—but somehow this really nailed the tone of feeling very contemporary, but also very ancient. It’s like what I wanted synth records in the ’80s to sound like at the time, but they never quite did. The sense of melody and structure and tension and release is really spot on. Bryce feels like a real composer in that realm.

Max Tundra - With Love To Mummy

I first heard Max Tundra on the double disc compilation Tigerbeat6 Inc. from like 2001. I was really into Aphex Twin and Squarepusher and Kid606 and Matmos, and I was trying to figure out who was doing weird electronic music and that comp came out and it ended up being a huge window into bands I’d never heard of. Max Tundra’s track [“The Bill”] sounded like a general MIDI soundtrack to a spy show that he’d recorded into his answering machine! I’ve been a lifelong fan of his since then, and this collection is, like, his teenage recordings—it’s really interesting to hear his old music. It’s charming and fun to listen to as a fan, and to note where his music took him after that. I suppose other people feel the same way about that Radiohead release.

#clipping. #clipping #bill hutson #jonathan snipes #daveed diggs

[crypterion-moon]

Red Prince Eternal/4

Tim’s nightmares haunt him constantly, the words that bit him to the bone and stripped him of his dignity and he was kicked to the ground. The despair still haunt him. But the longer he spends with Kon, the more he begins to realize how much the superhero means to him.

His new companion is wary of such attachment.

He was aware that Batman was not the most welcoming of men or heroes but it didn’t make the words any softer in Tim’s mind.

“Back off, kid, this isn’t a game you can get into and out of.”

“I know Bruce,” there’s no one around, no one would hear the whisper of his name but Batman heard it loud and clear and it made him stiffen. Natural, a little boy knows who he is and little boys can say anything.

“I’ve always known, the lines were there, I just connected them and what evidence I had, I know Dick is with you and so was Jason. I’m only here because I want to help.”

“Don’t talk about them.”

“What-”

Suddenly Batman lost it, and he sent the table flying, “Don’t talk like you know, Tim, they suffered and still fought like soldiers. They know what it’s like to be stuck in the filth this world can offer, what do you know about that?”

“I know, Batman, I’m no street urchin or orphan, but pain is everywhere,” Tim stopped, remembered Jason, “I’m sorry about Robin.”

Bruce glared at him for the longest time before he turned, “Don’t ever speak to me again.”

Of all the people, he would’ve thought Dick would understand, but even the more cheerful counterpart to Batman was...less than pleased. Especially when Tim showed up on his front door with an apology. Dick spent the next hour denying he was Nightwing.

“Dick, I’m not dumb. I still remember the day at the carnival,” Tim fished the photo from his jacket, “The day we took this picture together.”

It was Tim and Dick years younger on the night Dick’s parents died, their performance sabotaged by Zucco. Dick was holding Tim while their parents stood happily behind them. Tim wearing a big baby faced smile. Seeing his parents’ faces made Dick grimace. Tim quickly put the photo away.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

It was a bad move to mention the man’s parents, an old scar that he’d opened up unwittingly. Dick held face and his eyes became stern.

“What do you want, Tim, this is beyond you.”

“What I want is to help, Bruce is taking things harder and he’s trying to do it alone. He doesn’t believe me, no one does, I came to you because I hoped-”

“No,” Dick said, finality in his tone, “No way in hell.”

“But-”

The sudden bang as Dick brought his cup down hard on the table made Tim nearly jump right off his chair.

“No! You have no idea what it’s like. It’s not fun and games, people get hurt if you make a mistake,” you won’t last a week so just stop, forget it.”

Dick had enough of the discussion, glancing at the clock. Get out. The unspoken words rang out, striking Tim in his heart. He thought-, he’d hoped, it might work out this time but there was little chance if not even Dick believed in him. Tim nodded and left promptly.

He may not be able to join their fight in person but at least he could drop important information disguised as someone else. Tim was a computer genius at a young age and he was nothing if not persistent. Informer became a vital addition to their missions, his information drops invaluable. All the while they’d assumed it was a mysterious person who had established himself elsewhere, never Tim.

When Jason returned, Tim felt the thread in his network tremble. Red Hood, notorious avenger and unabashed killer of criminals. He was so different from the Robin he’d met one night it was frightening but Tim hoped still that there was a way to redeem the former Robin. So he pulled some strings, dropped notes until they all found out thanks to Oracle and her superior tracing, they managed to trace the trail all the way back to the little ten year old. No, they definitely weren’t pleased, especially when they realized that Tim had taken advantage of a loophole. It was as if, he had a feeling, that they were angry or disturbed that he was far more crafty for a little boy his age should be. True.

What truly scared Tim though, was that Jason had said nothing while Dick and Bruce lay into him with all the reprimanding, but his body was tense. Wound tighter than a spring and ready to break. A storm was brewing.

Tim startled awake and realized where he was, back in the present and in his bedroom lit only by the glow of his computer. He sighed and kneaded gently at the knots in his neck and between his eyes. His memories haunted him even in sleep or what little there was of it. He wished he could boast that he’d gotten over those years, the hurt, but it still weighed on his conscious and subconscious. Perhaps, in time, but certainly not for the time being.

He can hear the rustling behind him as he worked on the latest client, well, victim actually, but they didn’t need to know that. The noise is intentional. Tim knows because Tiamat, as beautiful as he is, is frightening all the same. Too much shadow and of enough human on the outside. He’s used to it by now or else he’d have jumped up a few feet off his chair like the first time he slithered up behind him. It’s been a while since Tim first brought him home but already they fit, it’s...weird though, he’s...

“Happy Birthday,” a soft voice hummed by his ear. A body slithered up behind him. He could almost feel the grin.

“It’s still a few days off,” Tim chuckled.

“Hmm,” Tiamat let out a soft breath, a chuckle, “I wanted to say it first.”

“Congratulations, you got to say it first before all the other goofballs get here.”

Tiamat’s expression dropped a bit, “I won’t be able to when they do.”

He always disappeared when they arrived, slinking off into the shadows in Tim’s room and avoiding them all together. Usually, he’d still be there, watching from the shadows. If Raven was there, he’d be gone completely. He’d rather not, Tim quite enjoyed the feeling of Tiamat’s presence in the room, though the others unaware of his new roommate did not, for some strange reason. Beast Boy would always note a certain uneasiness. Tim would shrug it off. He was certain it would be a bad idea to tell them judging by their reactions alone. They might even end up fighting.

Tiamat was still recovering from the wounds he’d gotten when Tim found him on the banks of a nearby river, severely weakened and shivering like an injured animal. He brought the stranger back and tended to him as much as he could. He couldn’t eat anything for some reason, nothing Tim brought him helped They were tentative at first, Tim didn’t know how to deal with this strange creature that had literally fallen outside his doorstep and Tiamat,  a shadowy figure who looked strangely familiar was shiftier than a cat, he spent a lot of the time staring straight at Tim and didn’t speak, not until he’d seemed to have acquired all he needed to know about the boy.

“I never told you my Birthday,” Tim remarked, a question disguised as a statement but he knows the answer.

“Our birth dates are similar across worlds, Tim,” not one but many, many more Tim Drake’s out there, this one was his shadowy mirror. Honestly, he’d never imagined meeting another him, less likely imagine himself in a form like this. Tiamat has mostly abandoned his former life.

“Is it strange?...” to call me by your name? Our names. We’re supposed to be the same but we’re so different. Tim doesn’t say it out loud but Tiamat smiles a smile of many answers and more questions. He stops and jerks to look at the window.

“They’re here,” Tiamat hissed, drifting off into smoke. Just as the knocking on his window drew Tim’s attention. He padded over and pushed it open to greet two teenagers and a green bird.

“Hey there, Tim,” Kon said with his lopsided smile, “Can we come in?”

“Sure,” Tim stepped back and allowed them to float closer and climb through, Beast Boy flew in and settled on the carpet as he transformed back into a boy. Without acknowledging his guests further, Tim went over to turn his computer off. Thankfully, nothing unscrupulous was open, but just to be safe. Kon looked around, his ears perking.

“Guess they’re not home again?” he said rather disappointed for Tim.

“Three month trip this time, they won’t be for a good while.”

“That’s no way to live,” Cassie said.

“You’d be surprised how a people can live once they get used to it, so,” Tim sat down casually at his desk, twirling around to face them, “How can I help you?”

Con shifted uneasily from foot to foot as if unsure of how he was going to form his next words. Cass elbowed him rather harshly as Tim waited patiently for the response.

“Well uh, we’ve hung out a lot at your place and the Titans haven’t really thought of going anywhere else, and uh, we found a pretty cool spot recently while we were busting some alien asses last time, that was so cool you should’ve seen- OW!” Kon yelled as Cass elbowed him again, this time a bit harder, “Geez, you’re gonna bruise me. So I was saying, since we found a pretty cool spot I thought all of us could-”

“Oh for goodness sake,” an irritated bratty voice growled as another figure hopped onto the window sill, “Can’t your small half-kryptonian brain at least form one simple request?”

Damian was Robin now, congratulations, and part of the Teen Titans. Something Tim would have dreamed of in another lifetime. From the looks of it, and the silence that still graced Tim, Robin hadn’t disclosed anything about his mentor to the Bats, just as he’d asked. But now, there was awkward tension between them, Tim could guess that somewhere in Damian’s mind, he was still confused as to why Tim wouldn’t want his father and now brothers to know about him. That he was required to treat him as a stranger and whenever they met.

However, Robin respected his decision and even covered for him whenever Kon or anyone was close to revealing Tim’s role in their lives. Tim owed him an explanation, he really wished he could, but some things are better left unknown. Tim glanced at Robin briefly before turning back to the three amigos.

“So, where is this place we’re going?”

Later, when the whole group had left, settled back in his chair, exhausted mostly by the strain of having to talk more than usual. Normally, he wouldn’t be so exhausted, Tim wouldn’t exert himself so, but having to deal with so many people, with Kon and his endearing idiocy sometimes and have all the patience of a sage pushed Tim a little further than usual. His health hasn't been right, since the fall, and the depression that followed. He’s never been a fittest but he’s sure things would’ve been slightly different if he’d had any reason to train his body. But no, what’s the point, so what if he had a failing defective, body. It wasn’t as if anybody would care.

“Why do you push yourself for them?” A whispering voice reached around, seemingly to wrap around Tim and comfort him. He nestled in his chair not even caring that the lights had gone out.

“I don't usually, but it's been getting worse,” Tim let his fall back on the headrest, “I don't know, I don't know why I….That's not true, is it?”

A face in the darkness, reflecting his own, Older and beautiful, they both have the same eyes. This dark soul that bound himself to Tim. He could feel his own stained heart whenever he looked at the shadow, like a cancer spreading over him. Maybe that's why he does it. To cling on to the light he found even if he'd convinced himself the opposite. So irritating and yet, the times when Kon made him laugh, when he and Raven formed a powerful pair of sarcasm and dry wit, when he genuinely admired Cyborg's good taste in technology and pizza, those moments were when he felt most human. Not an object useless or otherwise, made to be on display, discarded and pushed away. Moments when Kon held or brushed against him, when his eyes held a certain unnamed emotion for Tim, was when Tim felt more like a person, enough to start loving again.

“You love them don't you?” it wasn’t a question and Tiamat did not wait for an answer, “And him, far more deeply.”

“What? No, no I...he’s a friend too, he-, he was the first person who treated me like another person and not something with a name on it,” the first person to call Tim by name, “But I don’t...there’s nothing between us.”

He was lying to his own reflection, or he might as well been because those eyes were looking straight through him. Into his heart.

“I can’t...”

“Because you are weak, and broken?”

Thou art weak, a poor broken child

“I can’t...”

“That you can be thrown away?”

Easily thrown aside, thy heart’s love

“Please,” Tim felt himself collapsing without even realizing he was no longer seated, that he’d gotten up only a few seconds later. It was so dark, he couldn’t eve see what he was doing. He felt hands on his face, covering it, his hands, he wanted to cry but they’d dried up long ago.

“I don’t want to go back, I was an idiot, I don’t want to go back to being an idiot, I don’t care what I have to become.”

Hands not his but his likeness, smooth as silk yet cold and solid as marble until they conjured fire from their palms gently slid his own down from his eyes, sapphire eyes glowing in the shadow stared deeply and tenderly into his, capturing his soul as Tiamat spoke, “You have time, when your decision is made, ask me again.”

Time still remains, when thy decision is made, call upon me once more

#tim drake #timkon #kontim #timdami #damitim #angst #tragedy #alternate universe #vampire!tim

[suffering-and-happy-about-it]

In and out (Part 5) (Nathan Drake X Male reader)

Read: Part one  Part two  Part three  Part four

Description: There was a deal between Elena and Nathan to make her way to Yemen for managing to get them to the city. But plans don’t go so easily as they should. Well, isn’t that pretty common thing for Nathan & Co.™?

A/N: Sorry for a big delay, I am very sick and I have antibiotics!

Mood for this chapter: Gee, Busy Earnin' by Jungle. I stan this song.

Tagging: @march-moon

Y/N rode the automobile directly to the city on a huge highway with four roads. He talked about Yemen in particular, about the culture and mainly about the people living there and even managed to talk the land itself, he told them some interesting details and even find his way to talk with Sully. Florence nor Nate wasn't sure if that is an arguing or an actual discussion, but they didn't concentrate on them as much as they didn't contrate on her and Nate in the opened back of the Jeep. She was sitting in the corner now because her gum has broken and her hair was flowing around like a river of ginger flames. Their skin was almost gold in the direct noon sunshine as they jumped on the Jeep’s metal trunk. 

Florence was looking at those high canyons which seemed to be red in the sunlight, her sunglasses hanged under the root of her nose. She tapped her fingers on the side of the trunk, synchronizing her fingers with the funky tune playing on the radio. 

"It suits you." Nate looked at her left hand, which was playing the melody, with that silver ring on and Florence looked at it too, but she frowned as if something was wrong.

"Yeah. Maybe. Whatever." Florence made a slightly uncomfortable move with her shoulders and looked directly at Nate. "But it feels kinda heavy in some way."

"Something on your mind, dear?" Nathan asked curiously and she just raised her eyebrows like she wanted to talk, but then her eyes wondered on Sully’s back, watching him with the slightest frown. Then she smiled and shook her head a little.

"Don't think about it. What was that thing about?" She hopped on a totally different note as if she was about to make an interrogation. Her face looked passionate yet curious and her lips curled into a teasing smile. The hair tangling in the passing air made it looked like she has flames surrounding her face. 

"What was what?" Nathan looked away just as if he didn't know what she's about. He thought that maybe Florence will let that be, but that just wasn’t her style at all. 

"That chat between you and him. You seemed maybe too passionate." Florence raised her eyebrows in a clear sing - didn't you tell him anything? Florence asked him without words. She didn't want to drag another normal person into their life. It was already too dangerous for the three of them and Y/N looked like a pretty normal guy without any martial arts training at all. Maybe he could shoot from a gun, but that wasn't the only thing he needed to survive in this business.

He would have to have some pretty good physics, he should stay on his feet in the classic hand-to-hand combat, he should manage to run at least mile without stopping in the fastest way he could, and even Sully didn't look like it, he could run a mile under twelve minutes. And Y/N would have to do it too. It was too dangerous and too tiring up for some normal guy to do it, living on the edge of his strengths, constantly looking death to face as if he was looking at his old friend.

"I told him enough to shut up and let us work," Nathan answered and looked away, watching the non-ending canyon. He knew that lure of the adventure is a pretty sweet thing and that it can possess your head completely, but he realized that maybe he told Y/N too much, maybe far enough to interest him and even more to keep him thrilled.

Sir Francis Drake was a big name in the business. Seriously big. And if Y/N would somehow be similar to Elena, which Nate hoped he wasn’t, he would hear on the calling of that name. Nathan just begged God to leave Y/N out of that busy earning he and his friends spent the whole life by.

They loved every single aspect of that life, and no-one could say otherwise. He couldn’t be himself without hearing the shots being fired at his back as he was running away through the jungle. The adrenalin, the unknown which lied before him - he truly lived for that. he lived for that as anyone else did. 

Florence loved the wondering when she held something pretty old in her hands, just quietly observing every single part of that thing. And kicking asses to some assholes was just a big bonus.

"So you told him. I told Victor that we shouldn't leave you two alone." Florence laughed nervously and looked on Y/N back.

"You're acting like my mother," Nate said quietly in the meantime and cracked a small smile on his lip.

"You take that back." She looked him directly to the eyes and looked like Nathan just blew off a bomb. Sometimes, when he was really sentimental, he called Sullivan his dad. And even though Florence was as old as him, a few months younger actually, it didn't stop Nate for calling her his mother, because she was engaged to Sullivan.

As they started to leave the canyon made from red rocks, a beautiful view of a city opened right in front of their eyes. That city had to be centuries old and even from that far, they could see a huge market and the slums surrounding the city. It looked like an oasis in the desert, especially when the sun was beaming on it like that.

“This is the city was heading to!” Y/N shouted to the back of the Jeep, while Florence bent over between Sully and Y/N, slightly touching the volume button a blasting that song out loud.

“It’s catchy!” She shouted at Sully, who wasn’t looking very excited about that. But then he smiled and smiled at her, still smoking that cigar.

They managed to park in front of an old motel in a nice and calm atmosphere, Nathan joking around and Y/N answering with some of his jokes. That went on pretty well - until there was a problem with vacation. Y/N and the male were arguing about something until Y/n came with angriness in his face. 

“What’s up?” Nathan looked at the male receptionist mumbling something in Arabic and then on Y/N, who was rolling his sleeves up. His jaw was clenched in a tense gesture. 

“That man has a problem with giving you and her one room.” Y/N smoothed his face with a long exhalation and looked at the receptionist.

“Can we go somewhere else?” Nathan asked. He didn't know what such a problem was. They looked pretty normal and polite, except Florence's clothing. But what was that deal about?

“The problem is that mister Sullivan and misses Carter aren’t married.” Y/N smoothed his face and looked at everyone last of them. "They are pretty strict in here about this sort of things. And it's just one huge thorn in their eyes. I'm sorry. And I probably can't solve it."

"Listen, baby," Florence stepped to him and showed a finger to his face. She wasn't in a mood for playing, she was a bit frowned about Nate telling Y/N about Drake's thing was actually what they were after and that women could barely stand up for themselves in that country. "I'm not in a mood to fucking around. So this guy better rent us a room, even if I should pay him a horde of money, or I will stab that pen he has right into his palm. Go tell him that."

And so he went there. Y/N talked with the receptionist for a long time, it looked like a pretty serious discussion.

"Ok. So I and that guy over there have a deal. And he will not accept anything less than fifty thousand rials." Y/N came back to his little trio and he was sweaty as hell. The air was almost unbreathable and he had to button of some buttons on his shirt, deserving a few concerned looks.

Not from the women or men, in particular, Nathan just studied every inch of his collar bones with a confused look. He liked how his sweaty jaw looked and how significant his collar bones were.

"I think that it isn't any sort of problem," Florence took her wallet and gave Y/N a serious load of Yemen rials, which was about three hundred dollars. "And be fast, Jesus." She took her knapsack and helped Sully with his bag.

And against everyone's wondering, there wasn't any other problem. They got a big hotel room with an amazing view and two rooms. The bathroom looked really well actually, so they changed clothes and cleaned their faces.

"So in which hotel do you live?" Sully asked Y/N while they were waiting for Florence as she was changing into long sleeved trousers and a light shirt.

"I do live in this one actually. Just a few rooms away." Y/N answered, watching Nate as he observed the city. Drake was frowning, trying to figure out something.

"Dear, hope you don't think you're some kind of guide or attendant," Florence spoke as she came out of her room. "We don't need that kind of person around here. We can take care of ourselves."

"I didn't think at all, miss Carter. But I know some kind of things that you might be fond of." He stood up and went to the window next to Nate, looking at the city too. Y/N took his shoulder and pointed on an old collapsed tower. "You see that?" He asked and Nathan looked at his face. They stood next to each other, body on body and sweat on sweat. The sun beamed on Y/N's face and he looked seriously excited at that moment, so much that Nathan started to be excited himself.

"Yeah?"

"That tower is about three thousand years old, so it would be here when," "When Drake was here," Nathan stated and looked at his face, almost waiting on an approval. And the man next him nodded excitedly, still holding his shoulder in his palm. He was so beautifully warm that Nate's cheeks had to react. But he didn't say anything.

"And we should be able to find something here. And since any of you speaks their language," Y/N pointed both his hands on him and cockily smiled at Florence, drinking a glass of water. "I think that I'm your man."

#uncharted #nathan drake #victor sullivan #naughty dog #uncharted fanfiction #have a lovely day #nathan drake x reader #nathan drake imagines #nathan drake x male reader #in and out #sully x oc

[lostinthe-pines-blog]

Olivia. Ch. 3 - A Final Ride

LIAM x MC, LIAM x OLIVIA, DRAKE x OLIVIA

A multi-chapter story that follows Liam and MC as they spend their first year ruling as King and Queen of Cordonia. As they rule together they realize their strongest ally is the one person from the one place their people have rejected. Questioning why Liam and MC still support Olivia and Lythikos they work together to restore her reputation.

Story-lines from The Royal Romance books have been altered slightly.

NOTE: This is a fictional story based on Pixelberry’s Choices App. *The Royal Romance books. I am not affiliated with Pixelberry nor do I own the rights to their original characters.

TAGS: @katurrade @emerald-bijou @speedyoperarascalparty @captain-kingliamsqueen

Ebony’s stride was much slower than it used to be, but she was still fast in her age. There is something truly freeing about the wind in your hair. Some people find this freedom in a car, or on a run but Oliva and Liam today found it on the back of a horse. They must have gone almost a mile through the forest before making it to the clearing. Liam leading Ebony over to the rivers edge.

“Dismount.” Liam says looking over his shoulder at Olivia as Ebony comes to a stop.

“Wait, what?” she’s confused, she thought they were going for a ride, she didn’t expect to stop in the middle of nowhere.

“Liv, dismount.” his voice chimes as he watches her hop down from off the aging black horse.

Looking around Olivia now recognizes the clearing, the river pooling into a small lake a cross a field of tall grass and weeds. She’d been here once before. The storm clouds above break letting light sprinkles fall as the air fills with the scent of rain. She closes her eyes remembering a similar experience from years before.

“Olivia!?” Liam yells riding into the clearing. “Olivia! The storms coming in, your mother is waiting for you back at the palace. We’re all worried about you! Olivia where are you!?”

The return of Olivia’s mother brought devastating news. Olivia’s father Mathew Nevrakis reigning Duke of Lythikos had succumb to his illnesses. In normal Nevrakis fashion her parents had kept his illness a secret to even her. He suffered from stage four cancer for 6 months hiding his pain from his daughter. He couldn’t bare to tell her, she was his light and he couldn’t see her light go dim. Her mother had sent her on a trip to Cordonia to “bond” with her betrothal. It was an unexpected and unusual time of year for her to visit. She couldn’t believe how stupid she truly was not to guess that something was wrong.

Olivia emerges from the trees along the side of the river her tears colliding with the rain falling. Ebony by her side she she’s Liam approaching her on foot now. He doesn’t speak he just wraps his arms around her. Their friend group seemed to be cursed, Liam had lost his mother, Maxwell both of his parents and now Olivia’s father.

“If I go back it’s all real, I can’t face my mother.” she cries into his shoulder. The prickly personality that was Olivia had been set aside. She was nothing but entirely vulnerable to him now.  She couldn’t keep track of time but she knew they’d stood there for a while as her long red hair was now dripping from the rain. She imagined the clouds crying for her father just as she was.

“Liam why am I here!” she yells angry with the place he’d taken her. Triggered emotionally by every sight around her. She lets the frustrations of the past years fully take over her body.

“Because, when your father died you became the strongest version of you there is, and I need that Olivia now.” he respond tethering Ebony to a tree. “After you mourned you came out on top.” Olivia looks down toward the blades of grass feeling raindrops hit her harshly. She knows he’s right. “He would be proud of what you’ve accomplished. Of the ways you stood up to enemies and fought for your country.” Liam continues “But your fight isn’t over.”

“Cordonia turned on us!” she spits, “Our friend and ally, the people want a war they want to riot. But all the while my best friend sits on the throne. How can two civil leaders respect each other so deeply and yet defy what their people want. When I look at you I don’t know if I can trust that you wont turn on me too. If your people demand it, will you deny it? Will you wage a war between your neighboring lands for the sake of respect!” Olivia rambles angrily, she speaks out of fear and loss now. She’s had to rule a country that had been fed lies since the death of her father. Lythikos was a cold and harsh land now being tasked with the restoration alone was killing her. But now she lived in fear that the man she once loved would come for her lands and people.

“Because Cordonia will not survive the loss of Lythikos” Liam explains “Sure we’ll find a new way to import steel, but the fresh water from your mountains and constant snow is irreplaceable. I would never wage a war against you. Not even if it threatened my position. Olivia you have all the potential and fire to be the greatest leader. And you don't need me to do it. You don’t need any man. Lythikos has never been lead by a woman of birthright. Step up Olivia” he demands, Liam is certain she is the only person who could fill this position and take on this task. She was the strongest woman he knew. “This is your time! You have my support, MC’s support, Maxwell, Hanna, Penelope.. We aren’t kids anymore. In the next 10 years we will all stand in positions of leadership. We will make the choices that form our nation. And I want Lythikos to be there for it.”

“If we lose our connection with you we lose almost all of our major farming.” Olivia responds her tone and emotion softer now. Thinking through his words she breaks into laughter. “It’s funny isn't it, 25 years ago we were just kids riding on horseback, playing tag at Applewood Manor, Ice Skating behind my duchy. Your kind mother and my passionate father there to catch us when we fell. No one can catch us now. We have to catch our lands and ourselves. But I don’t even know where to begin.” As the rain begins to fall harsher now the two of them take shelter under the trees.

“We have options” Liam smiles taking Olivia’s hand in his own. “Do you trust me?” he asks boldly.

“Liam, you’re the only person on this earth I trust.” she nods in response.

“You will address the people, you will tell them the truth. You don’t have to reveal your mother as the enemy if you do not want too. But you will tell them of your innocence in the attacks and your intentions moving forward.” He explains, “I will support this, and I will speak about the imports and the friendship our lands have always shared. That these last few years cannot make enemies of us. But then there is one memory you must share.”

Olivia looks to him shocked she knew exactly what he’s talking about. A memory she holds dear to her. A memory she wasn’t even sure Liam had told MC. “What?” she asks baffled. “Are you sure?”

“We have to prove that we will always stand together, that my bloodline and yours will never betray each other. That will be the only way.” Liam assures her softly.

“What if it doesn’t work?” Olivia asks worried.

“Then we explore plan B?” Liam's’ voice harsh, clear that plan B is not a good option.

“And what would that be?” Olivia inquires

“You will marry a Cordonian.. Your people will have to respect its new reigning Duke.” Liam was her King and he could command this of her, be he never wanted to. He never wanted dictate a her love life the way his had been dictated for years.

Olivia looks to the ground angrily. “Please… don't make me do that.” she knows he has the power and she knows it’s a foolproof way of uniting these arguments and riots.

Their harsh tone and conversation is interrupted as Ebony whinnies at the lighting and thunder from around them. The old horse begins to collapse. Liam and Olivia share a moment of worried eye contact before running to the horse that had meant so much to them.

Olivia kneels in the mud beside the calm beast, she was dying; peacefully, but still dying. Olivia runs her hand gently down the horse as it rumbles and cries. Liam sits opposite of Olivia calming Ebony with his touch. They knew they’d have to walk back to the stables, Ebony would never make it. Olivia lays her face against the long neck of her old friend. Gently she sings to her a song of her childhood;

“Somewhere over the rainbow; way up high,

there’s a land that I heard of once in a lullaby…”

Liam looks to her as her kind voice sings the simple lyrics from The Wizard of Oz. A movie the pair of them had watched together far to many times in their childhood. There were pictures somewhere of Olivia dressed as Dorothy and Liam as the scarecrow. He knows these lyrics comfort her, she’d sung them at her fathers funeral just as she sung them now. Liam reaches crossed Ebony and takes Olivia’s hand as their old friends breathing slows

“Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue,

And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.” 

Liam continues the song as her breathing stops. Olivia buries her face in the thick coat of the horse squeezing Liam’s hand tight she cries for her friend. But her tears also harbor stress and worry for her people, they represent betrayal and lies piled on to her over the years. She cries now for the hope that she can do right by her father and bring light back to Lythikos.

-----

MC sits with Drake in the dining hall discussing his memories of past Cordonian birthdays. Helping MC see the event from the eyes of a commoner.

“It’s always a time of year for the people to see their rulers face to face. People who never leave there homes come out for this event. Because they want to see how their leaders truly act. This is a chance for them to either believe or ignore the stories printed in the press.” Drake explains. “Everyone must put their best food forward on this day. No matter what their emotions.”

MC takes note quickly continuing to listen. She trusted Drakes opinions because he knew both sides of life in Cordonia. He’d been fortunate enough to be a member of Liam’s court but also live as a commoner. He was wiser than anyone she could think of. He was her key to uniting their kingdom in tradition. As Drake continues to recite stories of birthdays past they are inturrupted by the sound of loud thunder. It was mid day but the sky was almost completely dark.

“I hope they are alright…” MC trails wondering if Liam and Olivia had been caught in the storm. It was in this moment that her King entered the dining hall. Covered in mud, dripping wet and his face holding a sad demeanor.

“Drake, I’m sorry to interrupt. May I borrow my wife for a moment.” Liam asks gently.

Drake nods in response reading his emotion. He knew immediately Ebony had died. Drake stood to leave the room and as he passed Liam he offered his condolences.

“She was a good horse, a good friend.” He pauses.

“Drake.” Liam catches his arm. “Olivia is still out there…By the clearing. She won’t leave her.”

Drake nods knowing what Liam is asking of him. He exists heading toward the stables quickly.

As Drake exits the room falls quiet. MC stands to meet her husband, she ignores the mud covering his clothes and pulls him into a clearly needed embrace. Something had happened out in the rain and she wasn’t sure what.

“Talk to me..” she says pulling her face to his. “What can I do?”

“Ebony died out there, and I know she’s just a horse but she was the last horse my mother knew. She was the horse at my side during coronation. She’s been so much apart of my life…” He sighs. “Olivia refused to leave her out there but with the storm I need her back here.”

MC stands on her toes and kisses his forehead. “Is that where you sent Drake?” she asks watching his head nod in response. “You need to clean up, and I’ll cancel the press meeting for this evening. She wasn’t just a horse Liam, she was your family. Tonight is a night for family, for friends. Lets face this weekend together, let's start it off right.” MC suggests.

Liam looks into her hazel eyes searching for some sort of imperfection, he’d yet to find one in her. “I love you.” he responds softly. Even Kings have weaknesses and she made him strong through all of them. No one is more powerful the a Queen who stands for and by her King. A woman in power should never be questioned, for she is the bravest and strongest and kindest of all.

“Let's get you cleaned up…” MC trails walking hand in hand with him back to their chambers.

-----

“Olivia!” Drake yells. The rain is thick making it hard to see. He’s left behind a horse and decided to find the duchess on the back of his motorcycle. Machine wasn’t as easily scared of thunder as beast and he couldn’t risk being left in the rain. “Olivia!” he yells again spotting her red hair leaning over Ebony. Liam knew Drake was the only person who could get Olivia to leave. Their personalities both so stubborn he might actually be able to convince her to go.

“Leave me alone!” she yells in return as Drake pulls up beside her.

“Olivia this storm is not letting up, we have to go.” Drake insists.

“I’m not leaving her.” Olivia spits looking up directly to Drake.

“We will come back for her as soon as the storm clears I promise! But it’s not safe out here.” Drake says climbing of the old bike and heading to Olivia’s side. “Now get on the bike, or so help me Nevrakis I will force you onto it.” Drake’s tone strong. He wasn’t scared of her, he wasn’t afraid of her power. He respected it, joked about it yes but still harbored nothing but respect for the lone ruler from the north.

Olivia rolls her eyes at the commoner looking back to the dark coat of her friend. “I’ll die out here too.” she scoffs. “I’m already dying.” she whispers softly.

“You’re not dying Olivia.” Drake says grabbing her arm harshly.

“Let me go!” she screams fighting his tight grip, but he is far stronger than her especially in her moment of weakness. She fights his grip until his strong arms go from wrestling her to protecting her. He feels her scream into his chest. Something more was going on in her head. He wasn’t sure what. But she needed a friend now more than ever.

“Come on Nevrakis” he says lifting her onto the bike as she lays her head against his back watching Ebony fade in the rain as they drive away.  

#the royal romance #choices #play choices #choices fan fiction #king liam #liam x mc #liam x olivia #drake x olivia #xoempine

[objectivesubjectivity]

I’m at 99 contenders for my “Top 100 Albums of All Time” list.

A large part of this entire journey was to attempt to delve into my subjectivity and question why I like what I like and, potentially, in a broader sense, start to gain a better understanding of what makes a *great* album. 

But equally as interesting are those albums that just aren’t *great* enough. This past week, I listened to two albums which are truly excellent but didn’t quite make the cut.

Iron and Wine - The Shepherd’s Dog

When I first heard Iron and Wine, I was admittedly dulled out of my senses. I would frequently rant about their dullness and question why anyone in their right mind could stand it. So much so that I remember a friend asking to quote my vitriol for an article he was writing on the band (something about drinking jim beam while listening to sam beam, I couldn’t find the article online). 

I have since replaced “dulled” with “lulled” and found great appreciation for  “The Creek Drank the Cradle” and “Our Endless Numbered Days.”

But then a different friend of mine handed me a copy of the “Woman King EP,” and told me to give them another shot. And, I’ll admit, I was impressed. Here was some potential for life and energy and passion. So, with that in mind, I gave “The Shepherd’s Dog” a chance. And it paid off. 

Here was the fullness I had been missing. There was even a rhythm section! And with it came a groove that played masterfully off of Beam’s silky voice and accompanying harmonies.

To this day, it’s an album I turn to at a party or when with company or on a road trip. It possesses the unique quality of being both supremely palatable and musically complex; it appeals to both the active and the passive listener. 

So, for g-d’s sake, why leave it off the contender list? 

One reason might be due to its universality. There is nothing abrasive, nothing off-putting, nothing controversial in these 12 tracks. Even the scattered vulgarities are so well couched that a discerning ear might easily miss them on a first listen. I find that I tend to lean toward the less than perfect, the flawed, the discordant. Individuality can be built by defending unpopular opinions and the unpopular opinion in this case might be passing it by. This is not to say that I rejoice in making choices others find cringeworthy, but I do believe that there is joy in having an opinion that is uniquely yours. 

Another reason is that I tend to lean toward albums that feel like the artist is pushing their own boundaries. In this case, the boundaries pushed are adding some instruments and not sounding like they’ve recorded the entire thing in their basement. So maybe I just don’t find the push all that impressive.

Lastly, maybe I’ve just heard it too many times. As I said before, it’s an album I frequently turn to. When I was working at coffeeshops, many of its tracks would be on my work playlist. I’ve probably listened to “Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car,” nearly 100 times. And the fact that, unlike ���Graceland” or “August and Everything After” or “I Am The Movie,” its repeatability feels even remotely negative seems like reason enough.

Atmosphere - Seven’s Travels

I stumbled upon Atmosphere on a Epitaph Records compilation. 

My knowledge of hip-hop at that time was fairly limited. I was a big fan of Beastie Boys. I owned De La’s “Three Feet High and Rising,” and Tribe’s “Low End Theory” but didn’t really get them. I had “The Slim Shady LP,” but that was because I first heard him on alternative radio. I thought Limp Bizkit was cool.

Tough times, I know.

But I was big into punk. And this was when Epitaph was killing it. Not only did their roster include classics like Bad Religion, Pennywise, and Rancid, but they began to push the limits of the genre, signing acts like Motion City Soundtrack and The Weakerthans and The Special Goodness. 

And then there was this licensing deal that brought Rhymesayers to Epitaph. 

And I discovered Sage Francis and Eyedea & Abilities and The Coup and Danger Doom. 

And I discovered Atmosphere. 

I knew there was something special about Seven’s Travels when Slug gave a shout out to “emo kids with too many feelings” in the intro to “Always Coming Back Home to You.” The album was rife with Ant’s slick beats and Slug’s impassioned rhymes. Slug was Drake while Drake was still on Degrassi. And I ate that shit up.

So why the disrespect this time around?

I’m married now. I have, at the least, a semblance of a career. I help pay a mortgage. I’m not worried about relationships or getting my life together or battling with my vices. I’m worried about my cholesterol and when I’m going to do the laundry and if I’m saving enough money for the future. Like Slug, I am also trying to find a balance but its between being responsible and having enough time to do shit like write these blogs.  

Whatever I can enjoy about the album exists purely in nostalgia. And nostalgia can be a beast. I would be lying if I said I didn’t start bopping my head to the aforementioned “Trying to Find a Balance,” or gutteral-screaming along to “Bird Sings Why the Cage I Know,” or giving an approving smile to the LifterPuller reference in “Reflections.” But nostalgia can only go so far. And it damn well shouldn’t be a reason to give an album a top 100 contender slot. 

What I listened to last week:

Top 100 contenders in bold.

CIV - Set Your Goals

Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans

Atmosphere - Seven’s Travels

The Cure - Seventeen Seconds

Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree

Severed - Severed

Ben Kweller - Sha Sha

Dashboard Confessional- The Shade of Poison Trees: I love the fact that the songs on this album that sound the most like his early material are political rants; almost as if his heart is no longer broken by girls but by our government. 

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Shake the Sheets

Refused - The Shape of Punk to Come: A Chimerical Bombation in 12 Bursts

Slow Gherkin - Shed Some Skin

Iron & Wine - The Shepherd’s Dog

Every Avenue - Shh, Just Go With It

Chumbawamba - Shhh

Constantines - Shine A Light

Eels - Shootenanny!

Filter - Short Bus

Show Off - Show Off (PPP #60)

Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream

Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More

Ace of Base - The Sign

When Walls Are Built - The Silence Party

Bloc Party - Silent Alarm

Outsmarting Simon - silent sober and sound

Okkervil River - The Silver Gymnasium

Knapsack - Silver Sweepstakes

AFI - Sing the Sorrow

Total albums listened to: 1,493

#iron and wine #the shepherd's dog #indie #indie folk #folk #folk rock #atmosphere #seven's travels #epitaph #epitaph records #punk #punk rock #hip-hop #alternative hip hop #emo #nostalgia #collection #obsession #top 100 #lists #coabba

[skinks]

New York Times: The Best Albums of 2017

1. An indicator of walls soon to fall: Joe Mulherin, who records as nothing,nowhere., finds common ground between the charred screams of second- and third-wave emo and the easy swagger of contemporary hip-hop, using both in the service of stark emotional vulnerability. [Read the interview]

nothing,nowhere. Blends Hip-Hop and Emo to Make Tomorrow’s Pop

Joe Mulherin is part of an emerging group of artists that is bridging the chasm between rap and rock. His debut is one of the most promising albums of the year.

By JON CARAMANICA OCT. 20, 2017

HYDE PARK, Vt. — At Green River Reservoir State Park here earlier this month, the water was placid and clear, and the leaves on the surrounding trees were a dozen shades of green, lustrous red, pumpkin and taupe. Every now and then, a loon floated by, incurious.

It was a Friday evening, and Joe Mulherin — who records scathingly beautiful hip-hop-influenced emo music as nothing,nowhere. — was building a fire for the night.

“I feel the most calm when I’m here doing this and I’m away from it all,” he said of camping out. He unsheathed a small ax and found a skinny, dead tree to chop down, then used a bow saw to cut its trunk into campfire-size pieces, which, over the course of the night, were reduced to silvery ash.

Vermont’s outdoors is a salve and a muse for Mr. Mulherin, 25: His right arm is covered in tattoos of the state flower, the state fish, the state seal, the loon from the reservoir (“They don’t know how hard I ride for them,” he said, referring to the loons).

But just as often he’s indoors. In the basement of his parents’ house, not far from this park, he has spent the last few years refining his music, one post at a time on the streaming service SoundCloud. 

On Friday, nothing,nowhere. will release “Reaper,” an outstanding album that synthesizes the second-wave emo of the early to mid-2000s with the rattling hip-hop low end of the last few years. It is one of the most promising pop albums of the year; the logical, and perhaps inevitable, endpoint of hip-hop’s broad diffusion into every corner of American musical life; and also the most viable current direction for guitar-driven music in the mainstream.

The lyrical rawness of “Reaper” — Mr. Mulherin’s proper full-length debut album, and his first on a record label — can be searing. “There’s a lot of instances on this record where I probably should have just taken a nap,” Mr. Mulherin said while finishing off a fireside pad thai, cooked with water boiled over a modified seltzer can filled with isopropyl alcohol.

“I haven’t spoke to you since 17/Just thought I’d let you know you’re dead to me,” he lovingly sings on the spooky, abraded “Clarity in Kerosene,” one of the album’s most anguished songs. At the chorus, Mr. Mulherin toggles back and forth between shrieking and soothing, and in the verses, he alternates between a kind of whispered, conspiratorial singing and nimble rapping.

The music is similarly piercing and caressing. Mr. Mulherin often plays with an arid electric guitar tone redolent of lonely folk music. “I’m really into open tunings,” he said. “There’s something about that tone that’s chilly, that’s kind of cold and removed.” His beats are urgent and dark. (He produced the album with the punk producer Erik Ron and JayVee, a SoundCloud collaborator.)

The music of nothing,nowhere. is an intriguing turn for emo, which has been through at least four waves, and has been celebrating a revival by classicist-minded new bands in recent years. Mr. Mulherin is a devotee of the genre’s older standard-bearers — “I never stopped listening to these bands,” he said of groups like Mineral and the Promise Ring. But he’s part of a young, still relatively fringe group of artists, largely gathered on SoundCloud, that is melding vintage emo with contemporary hip-hop production, finding unlikely kinship.

In the way that the rise of Drake portended the final obliteration of the wall between hip-hop and R&B, the music of nothing,nowhere. — along with other SoundCloud-first artists including Lil Peep — helps bridge the chasm between rock and hip-hop. Unlike the rap-rock of a decade and a half ago, which was often clunky, expressed via brute force and a constant reminder of its forebears, Mr. Mulherin’s blend is seamless and intuitive.

That’s clearest on the ethereal and sinewy “Hopes Up,” which features a guest appearance by the emo godfather Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional.

Mr. Carrabba likened nothing,nowhere.’s embrace of hip-hop to his own generation’s engagement with hardcore: “Some of the trappings are similar: posturing, hypermasculine, not necessarily inclusive, cocky and braggadocious,” he said in a phone interview. “Joe seems to have embraced the best pieces of that and laid the tropes aside. That’s where I see a connection to our generation.”

Mr. Mulherin still has the voice mail saved on his phone of Mr. Carrabba agreeing to sing on the track and asking “to hear more of your music just because I’m kind of obsessed with this song.” He said hearing that kind of praise from someone he looked up to “really puts wind in my sails, because I’m not the most confident person.”

Mr. Mulherin was raised in Foxborough, Mass. but spent summers in this part of Vermont. By the time he began taking guitar lessons at 12, he was already immersed in the bruising rap-rock of the era, Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park (“my first vulnerable band”), and also emo and post-hardcore bands like Taking Back Sunday, Thursday and Senses Fail.

He was shy, preferring listening to music in his room to doing homework. Soon he was posting emo covers of rap songs like 50 Cent’s “Candy Shop” and Jim Jones’ “We Fly High” on his Myspace page.

After high school, he went to the only college that accepted him, the hippie-leaning Burlington College: “It wasn’t unusual to walk into class and no one would be wearing shoes, or deodorant, for that matter.” He fell hard for the beauty of Vermont. Already straight edge, in his freshman year, he went vegan. He’d been making videos with his friends since high school, and got a job editing videos for a local business. In 2013, he won a short-film competition as part of a young-filmmaker internship that brought his work to the Cannes Film Festival.

Still, he was dissatisfied, and after saving up a few thousand dollars, he left college after earning an associate’s degree and started nothing,nowhere. He posted his first song in his current style on SoundCloud in 2015 and, after getting a positive reception, made several more songs quickly. Online interest grew, and eventually led to offers from touring agents, managers and record labels. Last year, at dinner before his first label showcase, “I was shaking,” he recalled. “I couldn’t even drink my water.” (nothing,nowhere. is signed to DCD2, the imprint founded by Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy.)

A sensitive child who refused to kill insects, Mr. Mulherin had a panic attack in second grade, and has been grappling with anxiety ever since.

“I’d be a lot worse if I didn’t make music,” he said. “With my worst moments, I just put it into a song so I don’t have to feel it elsewhere, and sometimes that works.”

It’s that emotional immediacy that radiates most powerfully from his songs, and has resonated. Since he first began getting attention online, Mr. Mulherin said has been receiving emails and messages from fans, like “I got this tattoo on my neck of your logo cause I was gonna kill myself and then I heard ‘Deadbeat Valentine.’”

“I know my message and what I bring to the table is positive,” he said. “I’m acting upon my empathy. I have nothing but good intentions.”

With that, he headed off into the trees to gather more wood, making sure the fire would keep burning.

#long post #nothingnowhere #nothing nowhere #MY BOYYYYYYYYY #i'm so proud #stan talent #the line about needing to take a nap is hilarious #that last bolded paragraph hit me hard because tbh that was me

[patricksilvrrozartistry]

Current Music Obsessions: November 16 - 30, 2017

Soooo there's A LOT of stuff this time. I PURGED my watch later playlist and there's still over a hundred songs on there. ANYWAYS, here are the honorable mentions.

Then Comes Silence - Warm like Blood Lyria - What Do You Want From Me? Witchcraft - Холодный свет A Skylit Drive - Wires and the Conscept of Breathing Fenrir's Scar - From Porcelain to Ivory Royal Blood - How Did We Get so Dark? Cadence Calling - The Accounts of Evil The Oblivion - Helios In this Moment - Roots Demether - Two Roses Tears of Martyr - Evil Domini Words as Knives - Over the Abyss Kobra and the Lotus - Prevail Aftereffect - Fade Away HDK - Pedestal Diamond Black - Sorrow A Crowd of Rebellion - M1917 Alaska Thunderfuck - Come to Brazil Syndemic - Exileseeker Crimfall - The Last of Stands Elephants in Paradise - Feeding a Lie Kalela - LMK Sinistro - Lotus Mercury Killed Newton - Arusha Mourning Sun - Latitud:56'S Aly & AJ - I Know Satanicpornocultshop - Left Handed Darling Imperious - Scorn Cellar Darling - Six Days Lake of Silent Terror - Eyes of God Pale Waves - New Year's Eve A Sound of Thunder - Lifebringer

And the many obsessions.

1) Wheelfall - Impenitent

If you're looking for a death metal track with a dope ass intro, this is the song for you. The intro is so cool and different. It's your typical death metal track, but there's something about this song that's just so epic. Definitely a great listen.

2) Dim7 - Apophis Enigmata

This is blackened doom metal at its finest. It oddly has a groovy vibe to it in the early parts, but then it gets very doomy towards the end. I'm really digging the new direction that these guys are going it. I really enjoyed their gothic doom metal stuff from their early days, but this new stuff is pretty damn awesome.

3) Skarlett Riot - Warrior

This band fuses really catchy vocal lines with some badass riffs and I love the contrast between them. This band is really starting to grow on me the more and more I listen to them. This is a great jam and the breakdown near the end is a great way to tone things down a bit while still maintaining a lot of energy.

4) Moon Tooth - Little Witch

This song and video are so campy that it's making me love them. I'm still very new to these guys, so I don't know if a lot of their stuff is this cheesy, but even if isn't, I'm loving it. Definitely has a psychedelic rock, classic doom metal vibe to it. Go give these guys a listen.

5) Diablo Swing Orchestra - Knucklehugs (Arm Yourself with Love)

This is the first single off their upcoming album and I am so hyped for it. This song is pure camp fused with being an anthem track. Although I'll definitely miss them having  a soprano, their new frontwoman is bringing some new dimensions to them that's going to make them campier and I'm beyond excited for that.

6) Ruins of Elysium - The Birth of a Goddess

This is their latest single off their latest album and is definitely one of the highlights off it. We really need more bands like Ruins of Elysium that show their love and support for the LGBT community in their music, especially in the symphonic metal scene. Not only that, but be open enough to show to the world that they're fronted by someone in the community. This song speaks to me on so many levels being the bi dude that I am, and I can't help but feel so loved by such an amazing band. I can't wait to be able to meet Drake, because ya bitch needs to do that.

7) Cradle of Filth - Vengeful Spirit feat. Liv Kristine

Cryptoriana is handsdown their best album in the past decade, and this song is proof of that. I never expected Liv to collaborate with them again, especially on a more aggressive track like this. It's an epic adventure from start to finish and I can't get enough of it. If you're going to listen to anything off this gorgeous album, listen to this.

8) Rivers of Nihil - Perpetual Growth Machine

I rekindled my love for this ballbuster recently. I really need to listen to everything else this band has released, because this is the only song I've listened to from them. The riffs are so great and are always in your face. Don't even get me started on how intense the bridge is. Needless to say, it mutilated my balls.

9) Aeonian Sorrow - Forever Misery

I'm so happy to hear that Gogo of Luna Obscura is in an active project again. This song is completely different from the stuff from them. She sings in a much lower register. Oh, and this is depressive doom metal and not gothic metal. Such a hauntingly beautiful track.

10) HDK - Mortal Zombie

Discovered this song after I watched an interview for Sander's project Phantom Elite and they mentioned he was part of After Forever and I couldn't remember who he was so I went onto the metal archives and found this project under him and checked it out. This song is so epic. It's a bit cheesy, but the fact that it's such an intense and in your face track makes up for it.

11) Amberian Dawn - Dragonflies

I am blown away by how insanely epic this new album is proving itself to be already and I haven't even heard it yet. They're definitely going in a more faster direction and playing with some prog vibes. This is such an epic track and Capri looks insane in the video.

12) Evenoire - Forever Gone

This band never seems to fail me. Each song is such an epic piece of work. This song is so beautiful and has such a cool vibe to it and flows so nicely. I really love how proggy it is and how it switches tone a decent amount. Also it's the first song I've heard from them that features growls.

13) Apparition - The Dames of Darkness

This was a random find that I am so glad I came across. Such a beautiful and power gothic metal track. The end of the final chorus is everything. I love finding these hidden gems that snatch your edges out of nowhere.

14) Metalite - Purpose of Life

This band definitely has my attention. I'm very much looking forward to listening to their debut album, because everything I'm hearing so far is amazing. The strong electronic element goes so well with their power metal sound. Not to mention this song is definitely the fastest that I've heard from them so far.

15) Kartikeya - Durga Puja

I discovered this song through the band's record label and I'm so intrigued. It starts out sounding like progressive death metal, then it gets really weird during the bridge. Like, really weird. It sounds like the frontman is just speaking gibberish, but not a beat-boxing gibberish that Korn uses in their songs, this sounds like legit gibberish. I'm definitely am gonna listen to more from these guys and see what other interesting things they got going on.

16) Gravity - Noctifer ~ Le Porteur de Nuit

I discovered these guys not too long ago and this is the second song I've heard so far. They're a progressive death metal band with some strong djent vibes. I really want to hear more from them, because they have such an interesting sound. It sounds atmospheric, but is way to aggressive to be atmospheric.

17) Forbidden Lore - Endless Run

Another random discovery that snatched my edges. This is such a powerful symphonic power metal track and I need more of it. It's rare to find songs like this on the Metal Monks page, so when I saw it, I had to give it a listen, and I'm so glad I did. Their frontwoman has such a strong voice and I need more of it.

18) Eluveitie - Rebirth

This is their first metal single with the new lineup and I'm not mad at it. I was worried I wasn't going to like their new female singer as much as Anna, but she definitely fits very well. And it's also really great to hear a ballbuster that's reminiscent to some of their earlier stuff.

19) The Hardkiss - Part of Me

I was on a huge The Hardkiss kick for a minute and this was the main song I was jamming to. It's so catchy and fun and the bridge gets me every time. I wonder if they'll go back to having the obnoxiously artsy videos like they did back during the Stones and Honey days, because those were always fun to look at.

20) Aura's Seers - In Our Minds

This is their latest song and it's gorgeous. I LOVE the blend of trip hop with atmospheric metal. It has such a weird and beautiful contrast. And the video is breathtakingly beautiful. I can't wait to hear a full length album from them.

21) Lil Peep - The Brightside

It's so sad that he's past away. Especially since I discovered him maybe a month beforehand. This was the second song I heard from him and it really hits hard with what's going on right now. This song embodies the struggles he was going through. But even though things were really rough for him, he always wanted to look on the brightside. Even if he couldn't, he wanted his fans to at least do so with whatever situation they were/are going through.

22) Navarone - Step by Step

I discovered these guys a while back through either Marcela Bovio or Dianne Van Giersbergen and I really dig their sound. They're very different compared to majority of the Dutch bands I listen to. I guess you could say it's prog, but it's definitely not metal by any means. Such a fun song and a great jam. Really am looking forward to hearing more from these guys.

23) Johari - Bloom

Found a new gem on Spaceuntravel. These guys are ambient progressive metal that remind me a lot of Ashe O'hara's era with Tesseract. It has this soft, but in your face vibe to it that I really like. I'm definitely am gonna be listening to their new album sometime soon, because this song is just so great that I need to hear more from them.

24) Maidens of the North - Carry Your Darkness

Randomly came across this song one day and decided to check it out. I’m so glad I did. This song is so great. An all girl symphonic metal band. Do you know how hard it is to find an all girl metal band? Very! I’m definitely looking forward to what they release in the future, because this song alone is amazing.

25) Snovonne - Filth

For some reason this song reminds me of a Manson song, but it's nothing like a Manson. I came across them through a Facebook page and instantly fell in love with the bizarre and creepy atmosphere. It's so different from what I'm used to hearing from gothic metal bands that have a symphonic element to it. Definitely am gonna check out more from them.

That's it! There's probably gonna be a lot next time, so here's your warning!

#me #Current Music Obsessions #music #blogger #metalhead #Wheelfell #death metal #Dim7 #black metal #Skarlett Riot #metal #Moon Tooth #rock #Diablo Swing Orchestra #avant-garde metal #avantgarde metal #Ruins of Elysium #symphonic metal #Cradle of Filth #Liv Kristine #extreme metal #Rivers of Nihil #Aeonian Sorrow #doom metal #Luna Obscura #HDK #After Forever #Phantom Elite #melodic metal #Amberian Dawn

[bobbystompy]

My Top 127 Songs Of 2018

Previously: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011

Not the most ever... just the second most ever. The record of 132 stands. I hope it is never broken.

As always, criteria and info:

This is a list of what I personally like, not ones I’m saying are the “best” from the year; more subjective than objective

No artist is featured more than once

If it comes down to choosing between two songs, I try to give more weight to a single or featured track

Each song on the list is linked in the title if you wanna check any or every out for yourself; there is also a Spotify playlist at the bottom that includes 122 of the 127 songs

Well?

/grins

127) B.o.B - “Food Fight”

Some triplet rap, pretty boring, and I have no idea what this song is supposed to be. But the “Food of the WiFi” part makes me laugh, and I always picture my buddy Matto singing it to his eye rolling wife (even though I’m pretty sure he’s never heard the song before).

126) French Montana f/ Drake - “No Stylist”

This song sucks -- even Drake can’t save it. French Montana is cancer except you don’t get to die.

125) 21 Savage - “Monster”

Not a huge Savage guy, but the Gambino verse helps.

124) The Kooks - “All The Time”

Kind of a lazy chorus, but it’s aight.

123) Sean Paul f/ Jhené Aiko - “Naked Truth”

Love Aiko, have never cared for Paul... but the collab weirdly works.

122) REASON - “Summer Up”

My buddy Josh sent this one, and it’s got the warm vibes. Money stretch:

P asked me is REASON still workin', shit N***a, is Amber Rose still twerkin', gold diggers still flirtin' horny teens still jerkin', all my exes still lurkin' black lives still hurtin', black lives still hurtin'?

121) Nipsey Hussle f/ YG - “Last Time That I Checc’d”

B’s vs. C’s. And a beat that sounds like DJ Mustard combined with ‘90s G-funk. Also, YG’s bandanna scarf is just very cute.

120) Thrice - “Only Us”

Weirdly, another reds and blues music video. But this time, it’s kids at a summer camp. This could absolutely be used by networks as a pump up song for sporting events.

119) Anderson .Paak f/ Kendrick Lamar - “TINTS”

Anderson .Paak -- ohhhh, that dot will always annoy me -- really does not make bad songs. Kung Fu Kenny fits right in, and it’s a very easy hit-the-spot driving song.

118) Mr Hudson f/ Vic Mensa - “Coldplay”

A serious song that uses an emotional reliance on Coldplay to take objective shots at Coldplay, which is pretty hilarious. Vic’s verse is good (”I lost my Queen poppin’ Ace of Spades at King of Diamonds ... I hate Coldplay”).

117) Logic f/ Wu-Tang Clan - “Wu Tang Forever”

Long cypher song. If you care about hip-hop, you probably know Drake also released a song called “Wu-Tang Forever” five years ago (which featured no members of Wu-Tang). There was talk of a remix -- RZA even recently said he wished they did -- but Inspectah Deck articulated why it didn’t happen back then:

“When I finally got to hear the song, I was more or less like, ‘Wow, I thought it was a tribute song like, it would be in respect of all eight members,'” Deck said. “And when I heard it, it was about a girl.”

You can just sense the colossal and spiritual disappointment.

Well, this one is more about fire than females; you’ll shout “Wu-Tang” proudly at least once. My MVP verse is Ghostface.

116) Jhené Aiko f/ Rae Sremmurd - “Sativa”

Rae Sremmurd* still sound like little kids to me. Conversely, Jhené Aiko is all that is woman.

(* - never knew they were brothers until just now)

115) Sam Coffey & The Iron Lungs - “First Time”

Sam Coffey first got on my radar with The Clash-sounding song “Talk 2 Her”. This is less of that and more, like, ‘80s hair metal. It’s almost hard to tell if this is sincere or parody. The video absolutely does not take itself seriously.

114) Saves The Day - “Kerouac & Cassady”

Always been impressed with the very unthreatening Chris Conley’s ability to create such sinister, dark, and menacing imagery. This maybe has the most bleak closing line of any of these songs.

113) 5 Seconds Of Summer - “Youngblood”

This is what Fall Out Boy tries to sound like with their new stuff... but they just suck so bad now.

112) She Killed In Ecstasy - “Dissension (Gold)”

I remembered this being a dope instrumental before totally forgetting about the just-as-awesome vocals; great band name, too. Recommended by my friends Jim and Bill over brunch after taking in their show at Subterranean in Chicago the previous night. This could be the closing theme for a critically acclaimed TV show.

111) Night Birds - “My Dad Is The BTK”

Straightforward, bratty punk rock that promotes snitching (if you’re sure it’s for the right reasons).

110) The Decemberists - “Once In My Life”

Why does such an outwardly melancholy song still feel so damn uplifting? Probably the video. They have a long statement attached on YouTube, so for sure peep if this catches your interest.

109) Mad Caddies - “She’s Gone”

Here we have a straight up reggae cover of NOFX. Sometimes I don’t think I like this song at all, but it might just be hard to separate it from the original; almost wish it was possible to go in with a clean slate. Maybe you can on my behalf?

108) Rivers Cuomo - “Two Broken Hearts”

Would you rather not know the video uses Bitmojis or the pre-chorus promotes two different ice cream brands before the song ends?

107) XXXTENTACION - “Train food”

This song is intense; gave me memories of listening to Kendrick’s “The Art of Peer Pressure”. X not surviving 2018 makes it that much more haunting.

106) Kanye West & Lil Pump f/ Adele Givens - “I Love It”

Not sure why, in his most embattled year yet, Kanye decided to be a part of such a derogatory song towards women. Listening to it makes me feel bad. And sure, the MAGA imagery will be what we think of when we think of 2018 Yeezy, but this picture shouldn’t be too far off either.

Shark: jumped.

105) New Lenox - “Do You Think We Made The Most Of Those New Years Eves”

That is a very long song title. But not as long as the time since passed on this reflection of the final night of the year, over a decade now gone. But even though he’s looking back, you know Chris Trott gets to hit reset at the end of the night, whether it’s December 31st or January 1st. And when NYE hits again, whether you return to the same party in the same place or a different experience in a totally different hemisphere, celebrating something is what makes this all matter.

(Full disclosure: yours truly has a minor backup vocal part in the outro)

104) Jeff Tweedy - “Having Been Is No Way To Be”

This for sure made it on the list because of the “And if I was dead, what difference would it ever make to them?” line, but upon closer scrutiny, the “And I’m sorry when you wake up to me” line is even more crushing.

103) Panic! At The Disco - “Dying In LA”

Brendon Urie’s voice is so polished and full. This song is him in complete control, and he knows it too (the “Dyin’ in LA” falsetto part at the end of the chorus is... probably not necessary).

102) Sugarland f/ Taylor Swift - “Babe”

Though Taylor’s impact in the music video is significantly stronger than her impact in the actual song, it’s still rock solid country. Or... country solid country?

/curtsies

101) ZHU & Tame Impala - “My Life”

This song has such a dancy cool on the power of its instrumentation; really doesn’t need vocals at all.

100) Kidd Russell & Southside Jake - “Slow Motion”

The poppiest SSJ has ever sounded. This is his best song to date. I’m not so sure if “Shots kill the butterflies” is an actual expression, but it should be.

99) Hop Along - “What The Writer Meant”

Hot damn, what a voice. This song is beauty in our not-often-beautiful world.

98) Retirement Party - “That’s How People Die”

This reminds me of a female fronted version of the departed Modern Baseball. Eager to see how they develop and definitely plan on checking their Audiotree session soon.

97) Lil Peep - “Sex With My Ex”

It’s... really good, you guys. The grimy nihilism of the “Fuck me like we’re lying on our deathbed” is palpable. It’s impossible not to think of the heights Peep would have almost definitely hit had he not passed. Also, super interesting tidbit on how the album got posthumously made:

Lil Peep died of an accidental drug overdose last November [2017] at 21. Afterward, attention turned to his computer. First, it went to London, where the files were backed up by First Access Entertainment, the company that helped guide his career.

Then it went to his mother, Liza Womack. In an interview in her cozy Long Island home, sitting on a nondescript couch that belonged to Peep and was shipped cross-country after his death, she calmly recalled walking into an Apple store, handing the laptop to a clerk, and saying: “My son died. This is him. Take this and put it on a new one.”

96) Kurt Vile - “Bassackwards”

I was on the beach, but I was thinkin’ about the bay

This has Kurt Vile’s signature laid back-ness (good) but also has a 9:46 track length (VERY VERY BAD). I’m not saying it has to be even four minutes long... but, like, could you have given us seven, KV? All of that aside, it really doesn’t slog at all despite mostly staying the same the whole time. Though I still can’t stop thinking about how much shorter it should be.

95) Christine And The Queens - “Doesn’t matter”

Kinda ‘80s pop sounding. Also, there’s a foreign accent there. British maybe?

/googles

French! Even better.

94) Brendan Kelly And The Wandering Birds - “Shitty Margarita”

Wish the drums were louder, BK.

93) Courtney Barnett - “Nameless, Faceless”

Barnett does not fuck around with her chorus/old adage:

I wanna walk through the park in the dark Men are scared that women will laugh at them I wanna walk through the park in the dark Women are scared that men will kill them

This type of perspective, down to the description of how she has to hold her keys in a way your average dude might not think about, remains so crucial as we all hope to continue to better understand each other.

92) Jeff Rosenstock - “Powerlessness”

Meet me at the Polish bar I'll be the one looking at my phone Shaking like a nervous kid Absolutely terrified of being alone

...it doesn’t sound how it reads. All of his skittish energy fuels this fist pumping jam. And don’t miss the guitar solo.

91) Charli XCX - “5 In The Morning”

Pretty standard fare pop song, but Charli makes it cooler and better than if the average person jumped on.

90) Pinegrove - “Darkness”

Gonna be honest: it was nearly impossible to listen to Pinegrove in 2018 without thinking of the sexual coercion accusations from the previous year. Jenn Pelly’s long ass piece really did nothing to help matters. So because of all this, I listened to their new album “Skylight” wayyyyy less than originally anticipated. The few times -- really maybe ‘time’ in all actuality -- I was able to separate the story from the songs, it definitely became enjoyable. This has head clearing guitar leads and a lyric straight outta Sublime’s “Garden Grove”.

89) Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson - “Bad Dreams”

Brooding, nighttime, driving; good ingredients for a successful duet.

88) Meek Mill f/ Rick Ross & JAY Z - “What’s Free”

Now, if I’m Rick Ross, I spend my entire career avoiding any situation where people can compare me to Biggie. But since Rick Ross is Rick Ross, he went with the opposite plan. This is his (to my knowledge) second reimagined Biggie song*, and... it’s... it’s rough. I mean, how far can you take it with the line “Mona Lisa, to me, ain't nothin' but a b***h” and end with a gay slur. Pass.

But we also have the GOAT. In classic Jay fashion, he spits a lot of good words, you know it’s complex, and there’s no way to process it without more listens. And yes, the immediate brand checks are super annoying, but he pushes through and delivers some bars:

They gave us pork and pig intestines Shit you discarded that we ingested, we made the project a wave You came back, reinvested and gentrified it Took n****s' sense of pride, now how that's free?

When he finishes, the song itself ends, and we have one of the more long and uneven Jay cameos ever put on wax. It’s, like, a 5-star B-.

(* -  the first being 2014′s “Nobody”, a take off “You’re Nobody [Til Somebody Kills You]”, featuring French Montana, which spawned an all-time Rap Radar comment, “If someone killed French, he’d still be a nobody”; I will bring it up with the most minor of segues for the rest of my life)

87) Red City Radio - “In The Shadows”

I tend to prefer Red City Radio playing more uptempo, but they drag us down to a slower speed for this one. This centers around the cryptic “I show no fear when I know that the devil’s here” line, and the guitar solo is definitely overqualified for the genre.

86) Kanye West - “Yikes”

/cracks knuckles

The song: banging chorus, solid beat, lyrics meh. Of course it was the song he got Drake for, because it’s the only one on his solo release that vaguely resembled a hit.

The album: Calling “ye” bad is a little unfair, but the best and realest description is sadder: it’s Kanye’s most inessential record. It was forgettable at best and cringeworthy/offensive at worst. The one about his daughter was particularly appalling:

Don't do no yoga, don't do pilates Just play piano and stick to karate I pray your body's draped more like mine And not like your mommy's

This doesn’t even get into the entirely warped mental health takes that I’m not nearly qualified enough to address.

Kanye himself: Every Kanye fan has defended Kanye, some Kanye fans have abandoned Kanye, but 2018 was legitimately the tipping point where it felt like we all finally had enough, in unification. Shock, betrayal, and disappointment are probably the best adjectives. When you are willing to forgive someone for 90% of their behavior, and they up their bullshit to 110%, an understandable separation must occur. At this point, the man we once called Yeezus is now the hip-hop Louis C.K.: no type of constructive or negative feedback can penetrate his brain, and any new attempts at creative output only make everything worse.

85) Royce da 5′9′’ f/ Eminem & King Green - “Caterpillar”

As lyrical as it gets on this list, but what else do you expect from Em and Royce? Not a huge fan of the chorus (at least that loud part in the first half). Eminem legit goes off for, like, ten lines with a pooping metaphor to close the song.

84) Nicki Minaj - “Barbie Dreams”

Staying in the redone Biggie songs lane, we have Nicki with a passive evisceration of your favorite male rapper. You can call it crass, but I’d argue her playfulness makes the whole thing work, combined with the fact that it’s flipping the male gaze on its head. And though she’s having fun, some of these movie punches catch real faces. My favorites:

3) “Drake worth a hundred mill, he always buyin' me shit / But I don't know if the pussy wet or if he cryin' and shit”

2) “I remember when I used to have a crush on Special Ed / Shoutout Desiigner 'cause he made it out of special ed”

1) “Had to cancel DJ Khaled, boy, we ain't speakin' / Ain't no fat n**** tellin' me what he ain't eatin'”

Goodbye forever, DJ Khaled.

83) Bad Bunny f/ Drake - “MIA”

I do social media for my high school alma mater’s football team, and this song first got on my radar when of the players tweeted something like “I can’t understand a word, but this is really good”. I was piqued, and it delivered. Nobody cultural appropriates quite like Drizzy Drake. Also, am I the only one who would have maybe been happier if the song was called “Bad Bunny” and the featured artist was M.I.A.?

82) Phoebe Bridgers - “Christmas Song”

Christmas songs are hard to write because they’re either taken or terrible, but Bridgers definitely carved out her own lane. This could work as a single person under a spotlight or sung by a group of lonely strangers finding camaraderie at a bar; within the song, you actually get both scenarios.

81) Remo Drive - “Blue Ribbon”

Got into this band for the first time in 2018, and though some of their older songs got more spins, this was my favorite from the new album.

80) The Sidekicks - “Twin’s Twist”

Mostly just impressed they were able to seamlessly integrate the “Chronic 2001″ into lyrics of a lighter rock song.

79) Real Friends - “From The Outside”

My favorite chorus they’ve ever written. While remaining thoroughly pop punk, the catchiness puts it more on the pop side of that spectrum.

78) Mike Posner - “Song About You”

Posner sounds like he’s barely trying, and it’s still so, so good. Favorite moment is this non-rhyme: “Since you’ve been gone, I got nothing to do / I sleep until noon, I wake up and feel bad”. It’s like a pop freestyle or something.

Also, extra shout out for how well he took his social media roasting after the Thanksgiving performance in Detroit. Love this dude.

77) Bad Religion - “The Kids Are Alt-Right”

What if I told you Bad Religion made a song with an intro that sounded like Andrew W.K.’s “Party Till You Puke” but were somehow still able to stay afloat? Hell, I’m confused too. The satirical lyrics mark 2018 for what it was. The pre-chorus, I remain torn on.

76) Blood Orange - “Saint”

You said it before

Looped keyboard beat over some smooth lyrics and melodies.

75) Juice WRLD - “Lucid Dreams”

I cannot change you so I must replace you

Still unclear how this *isn’t* a Post Malone song.

74) Tancred - “Queen Of New York”

Own the city.

73) We Were Sharks - “Drop The Act”

Ohhhhh, I love this production.

72) Cloud Nothings - “Leave Him Now”

This band continues to possess all of the melodic fury (and the Russell Westbrook of drummers).

71) Childish Gambino - “Summertime Magic”

Wasn’t big on “This Is America”*, so Glover releasing an ode to the best season as an alternative selection helped.

(* - at least not the song; vid was interesting)

70) The 1975 - “Love It If We Made It”

The 1975 are one of those bands where liking them makes you feel like an alien because everyone else either loves or dogs them. I’m keepin’ this casual, aight?

Also, since all writers are contractually obligated, we must mention the “Fucking in a car, shooting heroin” line which opens the song.

69) Kississippi - “Cut Yr Teeth”

Saw this band play in a classroom at a high school (google “BLED FEST”) in Michigan in May of 2018. They were fun, diverse, and covered Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle”. This tune is a little more serious and locked in.

68) Muncie Girls - “Picture Of Health”

Every part of this song is well-written, but it all builds to a massive chorus.

67) Justin Timberlake f/ Chris Stapleton - “Say Something”

There was a time, in January 2018, when not a ton of music had dropped yet, and this song was everywhere. It was like the dead-of-winter equivalent to the Song of the Summer. This one definitely gets docked some points for what I’d call weak lyricism. You can tell both dudes were way into it though, which does help make up for it some.

66) Interpol - “The Rover”

As speedy as I’ve ever heard Interpol; pretty unskippable.

65) Dashboard Confessional - “Catch You”

Imagine if this were the only Dashboard song you’d ever heard. You’d think they were, like, happy. Our protagonist has a trustworthy assurance that should put you at ease.

64) Gulfer - “Secret Stuff”

No singing on this list will alienate you faster than the first eight seconds of this one.

63) Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - “Talking Straight”

Though this feels like two band names in one, RBCF know exactly what they’re doing as it pertains to the actual songwriting. This would fit right in during the mid-2000s garage/indie rock boom; could listen to the chorus on a loop.

62) Rita Ora f/ Cardi B, Bebe Rexha & Charli XCX - “Girls”

This song has the unique distinction of being think pieced and outraged cycled before I even got a chance to hear a second of it. The case:

Now, it goes without saying that the best people to explain why this song feels damaging and hurtful to queer women are queer women themselves – girls who kiss girls whether they’ve been gulping back Malbec or not. “A song like this just fuels the male gaze while marginalizing the idea of women loving women,” wrote Hayley Kiyoko on Twitter. Kehlani said it has “many awkward slurs, quotes, and moments”. MUNA’s Katie Gavin noted that in ‘Girls’ she hears “the familiar chorus that women’s sexuality is something to be looked at instead of authentically felt”.

To her credit, Ora apologized the very same day that piece came out (PUN INTENDED). What’s weird is the idea of this song being problematic made me like it more. It gives the sexual flippancy of the chorus authenticity. I don’t know, man -- this stuff is complicated.

Not complicated? Cardi B’s awful green screen cameo featuring cheap looking special effects.

/shakes head in disappointment 

61) Eminem f/ Ed Sheeran - “River”

Though not apples to apples -- since he’s not spitting -- we shall remember this as the time Ed Sheeran > Eminem in a song.

Marshall remains our unquestioned king of the ‘relationship dysfunction’ genre.

60) Culture Abuse - “Calm E”

Everyone’s getting back together

The writers of the perfect and generational “Dream On” continue to stay in the mellow lane with their subsequent releases. When you can pull off both, why not?

59) Brian Fallon - “Silence”

Fallon covers -- /checks notes --  Marshmello f/ Khalid, but it really could be an original. Dude really knows how to pick ‘em. I remember hearing this randomly at Shinto (a sushi/hibachi place) in Naperville; don’t remember if it was this or the original. Such a moving chorus.

58) Okkervil River - “Don’t Move Back To LA”

Gotta appreciate the persistent sentiment -- even though it’d be the opposite of my advice. Also took about 99.9% of the year for me to stop calling this band “Overkill” River in my head.

57) Natalie Prass - “Short Court Style”

Uber catchy and with a real groove.

56) The Interrupters - “She’s Kerosene”

2018 Rancid, down to the raspy-ish singing from Aimee Allen.

55) boygenius - “Me & My Dog”

When I heard Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and someone named Lucy Dacus were forming a super group, I was stoked. This tune was the one that jived the most with my vision of the project. Amazingly sick harmonies, dropping elbows on your heart like a professional wrestler, and introspection on introspection.

I wanna be emaciated I wanna hear one song without thinking of you I wish I was on a spaceship Just me and my dog and an impossible view

So, so, so, so good.

54) Shack Wes - “Mo Bamba”

How do you explain “Mo Bamba” to someone who doesn’t like rap? How do you explain “Mo Bamba” to someone who does like rap? I don’t know, but I am Teddy Bridgewater now.

53) Lil Dicky f/ Chris Brown, Ed Sheeran, DJ Khaled & Kendall Jenner - “Freaky Friday”

If you thought Rita Ora’s “Girls” was messy, allow me to introduce you to our last bad rap song on the list. Actually, maybe the Virginia Tech women’s lacrosse team would be a better candid--OHHHHH LADIES NO!!!!!!!!11111111

So yeah, whether it’s the most lightning rod word in American history, cultural appropriation, reverse cultural appropriation, or even just a good ol’ “I Blame Chris Brown” take, this attempt at comedy hip-hop got put under a microscope for all the right and wrong reasons. No one came out unscathed. But, like Ora’s song, if you can ignore some components (read: nearly everything), it’s so god damn fun, man. I mean, Dicky and Chris Brown swapped bodies -- pretty nuts. And it’s rare for an MVP line to be “How his dick staying perched up on his balls like that?”

52) Jay Rock f/ Kendrick Lamar, Future & James Blake - “King’s Dead”

I gotta go get it- I gotta go get it- I gotta go get it- I gotta go get it

The back half of the Future verse is the worst part about this song... yet the most fun to talk about. He raps auto-tuned, in falsetto... and these are the lyrics:

La di da di da, slob on me knob Pass me some syrup, fuck me in the car La di da di da, mothafuck the law Chitty chitty bang, murder everything

What a disgrace. Yet, almost like a whimsy 2 Chainz verse, it’s really fucking memorable.

51) Soccer Mommy - “Your Dog”

Noticeably good bassline? Check. Skin crawlingly bad band name? Check. Cool swearing? Yup.

50) Vince Staples - “FUN!”

Vince could rap his way out a bottomless pit; floating elevation flow.

49) Dan + Shay - “Tequila”

Tried so hard to get this one next to “Shitty Margarita”. Genuinely love this song. Maybe it’s the mountains in the music video, but that chorus just soars.

48) Meg Myers - “Numb”

Look up in the air and see this tidal wave chorus crashing through the world in slow motion.

47) The Penske File - “Fairgrounds”

My new working theory -- which really feels more like fact -- is how cool lyrics with the phrase “Meet me...” are. It creates this aura of unknown, mystery, and maybe even danger; like anything could happen if you just agree. Here are some from songs just off the top of my head:

Meet me by the lake

Meet me at the reservoir

Meet me in Montauk

Meet me in the middle (more on that one later)

Meet me in the back

Meet me at midnight

The list goes on. So please say “yes” to The Penske File at the fairgrounds, won’t you?

46) Lil Wayne f/ Swizz Beatz - “Uproar”

Weezy goes this entire song only using “oh” rhymes; not sure how he does it. Sometimes, I listen to this and pretend I’m a buffalo.

45) Cardi B - “Be Careful”

Cardi sampled Lauryn (wayyyyyyyy more on this later) and made it work. The chorus always sticks with me, and though the verses have a few bumps along the way, they might even be better.

44) Elway - “Crowded Conscience”

Elway pulls up their roots in this All Colorado Everything lyric video, and you’ll be ready to tap the Rockies when the singalong chorus finishes.

43) Pkew Pkew Pkew - “Passed Out”

A punk rock drinking song with a real bummer of a chorus for how happy the theme itself comes across.

42) Joyce Manor - “I Think I’m Still In Love With You”

I have no scientific proof, but Barry’s lyrics seem to be getting worse and worse. The drug references are still there, sure, but there’s an almost elementary simplicity to the proceedings. Still, like “Heart Tattoo”, this song doesn’t get in its own way and takes advantage of the basic words to create a big, big hook. You sing along even though it feels too easy at times.

41) Alkaline Trio - “Throw Me To The Lions”

So much desperation in the chorus; this could work as their last ever song.

40) The Bombpops - “Dear Beer”

My favorite opening line on this whole list -- the sweet and simple “I’m about to hit send / I’m waiting for the weekend”. Before you know it, a full blown self-loathing chorus. It’s got it all.

39) Foxing - “Lambert”

In quiet awe listening to this masterpiece of a song. Saw this band way up close in 2018 -- here is a picture:

Hello, Foxing

38) Lucero - “To My Dearest Wife”

Civil War soldier or rigorous rock and roll touring schedule? Either way, the Lucero singer misses his wife and family, and he’s gonna let you know they’re on his mind. I saw them open for Frank Turner in 2018, and he played their new album front to back -- before it had been released -- as their entire set because “I promised to do this when drunk on Instagram”. Gotta respect a man with principles.

37) BlocBoy JB f/ Drake - “Look Alive”

Favorite Drake hook of the year. BlocBoy JB... less necessary. Also kinda crazy to think we didn’t know who producer Tay Keith was at the beginning of 2018; definitely made his impression felt by the end.

36) The Front Bottoms - “Tie Die Dragon”

As psychedelic as I’ll ever get. Unless it’s, like, The Beatles. But that’s different.

35) The Lawrence Arms - “Laugh Out Loud”

Released on their Best Of record (legitimately titled “We Are The Champions Of The World) and an “Oh! Calcutta!” b-side from 2006, TLA prove even their leftovers can be a main course.

34) Tinashe f/ Future - “Faded Love”

I know he’s a rapper and she’s a singer, but nothing is more illustrative of how much harder women have to work compared to men than the 1:36 mark when Tinashe sensually sings “Let’s just feel this feeling”, doubled with Feature’s auto-tuned ass doing the exact same thing, only 10x worse. Not enough to taint the song, even a little. His verse, however...

33) Chance The Rapper - “65th & Ingleside”

Chance -- who almost always makes the correct choices -- did this super annoying thing where he released a bunch of songs in single batches in 2018.

“But Bobby, he gave you tons of free music! Why are you complaining?!”

Because we couldn’t easily sequence it, bruh. Look at this shit!:

Not even Drake would pull this stunt. EP next time, Chano.

Anyway.

Fun lines, really contagious beat, and a few types of flows; he spazzes at the end.

32) Complainer - “Drunk (Again)”

Gotta love when a song can’t start until multiple beer cans crack. These guys are a tiny band inspired-by-but-better-than Jeff Rosenstock, and I hope they get so much more traction.

31) ScHoolboy Q f/ Kendrick Lamar, Saudi & 2 Chainz - “X”

I LIVE ON TEN

Always read this title as the letter X even though the word “ten” is used 40 times in the song.

30) KIDS SEE GHOSTS (Kanye West & Kid Cudi) - “Reborn”

From Kanye’s only useful project in 2018 comes “Reborn”. Luckily, it’s mainly Cudi on this track (chorus/bridge/a verse). It feels like Ohio’s son is breaking through... or breaking out; verging on real triumph over his demons. Kanye, meanwhile, is surprisingly understated (read: good) and fits into all of his parts like a non-OJ glove. The sparing use of Yeezy reminds me of how the master himself used to feature people like Chief Keef just enough to harness the talent but not enough to ruin the song or do too much. Those alpha days appear to be way in the rearview now.

29) Travis Scott f/ Drake, Swae Lee & Big Hawk - “SICKO MODE”

Stacey Dash, most of these girls ain’t got a clue

This joins “Mo Bamba” in the Top 2 of Rap Songs That Need To Be Played At All Parties In The Year 2018. While “Bamba” is more consistent -- seriously, “SICKO MODE” is four songs in one -- almost nothing tops hearing the start of this and immediately anticipating the rest (like the opening of “Tuesday” when that was hot). The third part is probably my favorite. #likealight

28) SOB X RBE f/ Zacari & Kendrick Lamar - “Paramedic!”

Our third selection from the “Black Panther” soundtrack. Second favorite beat of 2018; I can’t not move the second it drops.

27) Drug Church - “Unlicensed Hall Monitor”

Favorite guitar leads of 2018. It’s as sleek as the vocals are gruff.

26) Matt And Kim - “FOREVER”

Was a dead tie between this and the equally emotional “Youngest I Will Be”. But this one has a vid -- and they make the best vids. This song also references the 1992 Dream Team. Our world will never be shit if they stay a part of it; first time I’ve came close to tearing up so far. These two inspire.

25) The Ramblin’ Boys Of Pleasure - “Joyce Jawbreaker”

Speaking of turrs, my band of 14 years released our maybe last song ever in 2018. Written in Maine, titled for Joyce Manor and Jawbreaker, and about lost love, Chicago, futures, playing music with your brothers, tiny hands, and found love. We also did a video:

24) Ariana Grande f/ Nicki Minaj - “the light is coming”

I really, truly am not excluding “thank u, next” to be contrarian. While I agree that is her defining song of 2018 -- and biggest hit to date? -- “the light is coming” is so much more unique. It goes in so many directions while the hook ties the rope around you a hundred times. Yep, I’m right.

23) Laura Jane Grace & The Devouring Mothers - “Apocalypse Now (& Later)”

Wish I could forever keep this song’s opening line as my mantra: You make me walk away from the hate I carry.

22) Restorations - “Nonbeliever”

Another band that should be bigger, so they can always be free to do anything they want. This song will always boil down to this part, which captures the push and pull of 2018 America:

I love your protest lines Oh, but who has the time? We all saw the same thing at the same time, okay? Got a partner for starters And a kid on the way Can’t be doing all this dumb shit no more

For how crass, clumsy, and non-rhyming that concludes, the song itself ends dire.

21) The Get Up Kids - “I’m Sorry”

One of my favorite videos of 2018. Similar to “Apocalypse Now (& Later)”, I’m not sure if it’s about a love interest or a kid. Does it matter? No. But it does to me.

20) Antarctigo Vespucci - “Freakin’ U Out”

A band name for the ages. With Chris Farren (of Fake Problems) on vox and Jeff Rosenstock on instruments, this song could power a car -- or at least one person who didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.

19) Bayside - “It Don’t Exist”

Anthony Raneri has a new grill, but this song feels 50 years old. A classic in real time.

18) The Carters - “APESHIT”

Is this artsy, all-time vid somewhat undermined by the Migos ad libs?

Yes.

/makes note to maybe dress up like this for Halloween next year

17) Post Malone f/ 21 Savage - “rockstar”

This song is so good -- albeit misogynist and also bad -- it makes me genuinely eager for a 21 Savage verse. And though I love any bars relating to his 12-car garage...

my favorite 21 savage quirk is his yearly 12 car garage updates:

2016: “why you got a 12 car garage?”

2017: “they like ‘savage why you got a 12 car garage / and you only got 6 cars?’”

2018: “why you got a 12 car garage? / cause i bought 6 new cars”

(via @ottergawd)

...his intro line is just so, so terrible: “I've been in the Hills fuckin' superstars / Feelin' like a popstar”. You know that’s... not really a rhyme, right?

16) Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness - “Ohio”

/will always, always death stare that dumb name to start any Andy section

Ah, but if we did start with a lyric?

Katie’s counting crows

This song is about leaving the worst state for one of the best. But if we’re doing that, why do we feel so melancholy?

15) Kendrick Lamar & SZA - “All The Stars”

You've gotta be mesmerizing to make Kung Fu Kenny look pedestrian, but SZA's galactic hook does just that.

14) Frank Turner - “1933″

Frank isn’t from here, but he’s setting out to remind us of where this all began.

13) The Wonder Years - “Sister Cities”

As far as pop punk legacies are concerned, The Wonder Years’ is secure. There is no longer necessity to churn out bangers; they’re already on the Mount Rushmore. Still, they go. Every part of this song is essential: the build up verses, blown out chorus, Panic! At The Disco 2005-era hi-hat off-time drum transitions, end-of-the-rope bridge. The true standout is the closing of V2:

I'm guarded like I'm wounded, my first instinct's always “run” I wanna turn to steam I wanna call it off I wanna lighten the dark I wanna swallow the sun

Good guitar leads add even extra.

12) YG f/ 2 Chainz, Big Sean & Nicki Minaj - “BIG BANK”

“Alexa, what does big bank do to little bank?”

The highlight line from each:

YG: “Ayy, I set the bar, I'm the fuckin' bar / Look in the sky, I'm a fuckin' star / I don't fall in love 'cause I be lovin' hard / Do everything like my shirt, extra large”

2 Chainz: “Big shit like a dinosaur did it”

Big Sean: “I'm rare as affordable health care”

Nicki: “Told em' I met Slim Shady, bagged a Em / Once he go black, he'll be back again”

Let this also be remembered as the song that created a Madden controversy.

11) Dean Summerwind - “Parked By The Lake”

What is there to say about the legend that is Dean Summerwind? With only one song on Spotify, he’s batting a clean 1.000. Calling this genius feels like an understatement. It’s real, it’s parody, it’s persistent, it’s ours.

10) The Dirty Nil - “Bathed In Light”

The Canadian Local H. Reaaaaaaaally wanna see them live in 2019.

9) oso oso - “gb/ol h/nf”

I stylized oso oso as “Oso Oso” last year to stick it to their frontman Jade, but a year later, I’ve lost the energy. Blame Ariana Grande. This song -- which stands for “goodbye old love, hello new friend”* -- has my favorite chorus of the year. It’s so simple, it’s obvious: “But I still come through, when you want / And if I serve no use, where do I get my purpose from?”

Also, this is indie/pop/punk/rock’s version of “SICKO MODE”: got more parts than “The Wire”.

(* - had to look that up multiple times in 2018 and never retained, despite it being the bridge of the song... I didn’t notice)

8) Kacey Musgraves - “Space Cowboy”

If any song *survives* the existence of this list, I hope it’s this one. Kacey has this predictable-yet-surprising way of taking existing tropes and co-opting them with her own twist. Homegirl is like the Jim Nantz of pop/country in that way.

7) Direct Hit! - “Welcome To Heaven”

This song makes me want to die to, you know, check. Blustering chorus, fascinating premise, and charged up while simultaneously patient/in control.

6) FIDLAR f/ The 90s - “Are You High?”

This not being on Spotify was one of the worst non-Michigan football things to happen to me in 2018. Man, I hate Michigan football.

5) Drake - “Nice For What”

- My favorite beat of 2018 (New Orleans bounce, ftw)

- My favorite release of 2018 - Drizzy said it would drop on a Friday - We were thinking morning or midday (not late evening, in the last remaining hours of the day, when were were faded and had waited so long it was almost forgotten -- it hit perfect) - On top of that, he also sampled Lauryn Hill’s “Ex-Factor” -- the same week Cardi B did the same -- with even more pulsating results - I will always interpret that as a real or sneak diss, yet no one I know has ever said anything

- My buddy Josh sent a selfie vid of him and his girl and some friends bopping to it; I’ll remember that forever; the moment felt like such an event, as if the world simultaneously celebrated at such an atypical time

- Drake deserves 30% less credit for this female empowerment anthem because of the “these hoes” sample

- Maybe a Top 5 Drake song, all-time

- There is no planet, solar system, or multiverse where 2018 Drake finishes ahead of 2018 Pusha T

4) Pusha T - “The Story Of Adidon”

You are hiding a child.

Let’s not mince words: this is the No. 2 greatest diss track of all time. Pac is No. 1 -- this will not be debated. From there, Nas is DQ’d for “Ether” homophobia, annnnnnd no one else is in the realm. King Push...

- Unearthed a photo of Drake in blackface and uses it as the art for the song - Goes at Drake’s mom (”Marriage is something that Sandi never had...”) - Goes at Drake’s dad (”Dennis Graham stay off the 'gram, bitch, I'm on one”) - Outs Drake for having a child (and hiding said child!*) - Goes at Drake’s baby momma - And -- /gulp -- goes at Drake’s longtime producer 40 for having multiple sclerosis, suggesting he will not be alive soon**

He does this over “The Story Of O.J.” beat... a rather chill backdrop, all things considered.

(* - Drake responded later with the line “I wasn’t hiding my kid from the world, I was hiding the world from my kid” which just isn’t cool at all but is competent enough to win some people back over; /barf)

(** - HOLY FUCK***)

(*** - much debate occurred in the aftermath regarding if Push “went too far”; I was 50-50 at the time but now am 100-0 that it was the right choice; this song is cyanide venom, so why pull back even an ounce?)

Though Drake survived -- turns out the mainstream pop boost is bigger than hip-hop beef -- he took the fattest of L’s on this one.

Really can’t decide on a lyrical ending, so I’m gonna go with two:

Surgical summer.

If we all go to hell, it’ll be worth it.

3) Spanish Love Songs - “Buffalo Buffalo”

In my head, this was gonna end up ahead of The Menzingers, but that would be like putting Greta Van Fleet ahead of Zeppelin. Spanish Love Songs were my breakout band of 2018. They released my favorite album, I saw them as an opener at Sub-T in Chicago, and I promised their bassist I’d see them in Florida at the Fest (this did not materialize). While their vocals and guitar leads sound identical to Scranton’s finest, if you listen to them as much as I did, you’ll realize they offer a sound and perspective* of their own as well.

(* - no one hates themselves more than this singer)

2) The Menzingers - “Toy Soldier”

There’s so much to be sad about these days

/that guitar intro

Followed by the best musical moment of this year: from 0:06 to 0:07 -- the ever-so-slight delay before the band blows it out. Spent a lot of time in 2018 debating if I should change my Twitter bio to “I lost my accent in the plague”. Listened to this song on the floor of the living room on my 32nd birthday; then I read “The Great Gatsby”. From there (at this point, it was past midnight), I realized this sounded like The Lawrence Arms’ “Requiem Revisited”, which was inspired by Naked Raygun’s “Soldiers Requiem”. It’s all a triangle of that perfectly fitting punk chord progression. That’s right: I am Pepe Silvia.

1) Horror Squad - “I Smoke The Blood”

Best song title of 2018. Best song of 2018.

This has 729 views on YouTube -- be the 730th.

Spotify playlist.

Thank you for reading.

#black panther #the carters #beyonce #the menzingers #spanish love songs #vince staples #post malone #travis scott #drake #pusha t #kendrick lamar #sza #yg #matt and kim #chance the rapper #nicki minaj #foxing #alkaline trio #cardi b #eminem #justin timberlake #kanye west #the 1975 #meek mill #xxxtentacion #lil peep

[dbtrilogy2]

Strike One(16)

Carlton

I won't up early this morning to make my family breakfast. Believe it or not I'm trying here. Having both my girls upset with me is stressful plus my own son schooling me was a bit of a wake up sign.

"And the kiss up begins." Elias walks in. "Waffles huh good choice."

"Have you always been this much of a smart ass?" I put Rebecca plate on the tray with the cup of coffee and bowl of sliced pears.

"Yeah but you wouldn't know that." He smirked pouring himself a cup of juice.

"Look I get you upset or whatever but I'm still you father don't disrespect me boy."

Me being away is doing more than just having my family miss me. I'm starting to feel like a step dad. When all this album stuff is over they see it all was worth it. The long hours and all!

Before I start my way to my wife and I room my princess came down.

"Your here?"

"Yeah I live here don't I?" I pinch her cheek. Usually she would smile and blush.

"I don't know I thought you moved into your office." She walked by me.

"Ok you both need to cool it. I get it you don't like me working but I bet you do like your phones and clothes and living in this house. Someone has to pay for all of that stuff it doesn't just come for free!"

"Dad please don't try to make us look like over spoiled kids. You gave us most of this stuff we didn't ask for it." Amanda says picking at her food. "If it means you won't miss another of my shows you can have my phone and iPad....I just want my daddy back."

She pouts getting up walking off. Elias went after her leaving me alone. Taking the tray of food I go into our room seeing a empty bed.

"Yes I can meet you at my shop and we'll just work from there." Rebecca came out the closet putting on a watch. Seeing me and the food she ends the call. "What's this?"

"Breakfast. I wanted us to all eat together but the kids are in a mood." I say watching her sit in front of her make up stand thing.

"That happens when you abandon your kids for some island hoe."

"Rebecca-"

"Don't worry I'm not starting anything just stating a fact. I gotta leave but thanks for the thought...don't forget Julian first game is tonight everyone is going."

"Ok but uh I was thinking after all this album stuff is done we can go on some kind of family trip maybe Disney world or something. I wanna show you guys the benefit of all the long hours and me being absent to a few things."

"Sure Carlton I'll see you later."

She came kissing my head then strutting out. Her outfit was a little more over the top than usual but I'm sure she just wanted to look good.

Today I'm going with Robin to her first radio interview and a shoot for her album. It's all in the finale stages so soon we'll be presenting a track list to the record heads for their approval.

By the time I was leaving out I was home alone. I lock up the house and hop in my car heading for the address set in my GPS. While waiting in front of the house I sat on my Instagram. I come across a picture of my wife from this morning. I haven't really paid much attention to her post like I usually do.

@BuymyBrand:#morningthoughts people aren't like clothes you can't change them whenever you want that change has to be in them don't miss out on your own blessings being so worked up in helping someone who doesn't want that help

"Morning sunshine." She got in smiling at me. "I'm so excited for today."

"Good I'm excited for you. So today is your first radio interview then the photo shoot for the new comers magazine. After we get the ok from the label they'll get some more singles out put you on a promo tour so this is good practice." I pull off towards the radio station direction.

"Thanks for coming with me I'm shitting bricks right now! Oh and thanks to for picking me up my car should be done by tomorrow."

"It's cool."

We rode in silence for a while until reaching the station. Once inside were taken to a room where the DJ and his co host are waiting. The show will be going on live.

"Hey thanks so much for coming in today. Your song with drake is a killer we play it all the time."

Robin blushed. "All praise really goes to this guy here he made that happen and has been personally helping me become something big." She looked back smiling at me.

"Yeah I've been hearing good things about this man here!" Me and the DJ go back to the middle school days. We were science lab partners. "How you been man?"

"Pretty good just been working my ass off."

The show started and was going smooth. They asked her about how she got started what her style is what brought her to Atlanta. This simple up coming artist questions. But then it took a slight turn when the co host started question her about us.

"I know Carlton is the producer for your up coming album but it seems you guys spend more than a lot of time together."

"Well yeah Carlton is like a mentor to me he's been teaching me about the business. He's taken me under his wing in a way."

"Mmhm and how does his wife feel about all this or do you just not care and only worry about you?"

"I wouldn't know when we are together it's just about us the outside world doesn't matter. If she had a problem I'm sure he would say something."

No no no no no no.

"It's not my fault if he rather work with me than be at home with his wife. I'm not forcing him we just enjoy out late nights together."

I'm so fucked.

The co host looked back at me shaking her head. "Late nights? You don't think it might look wrong how your so comfortable keeping a husband from his family. Any self respecting woman I know doesn't spend most of her time with married men. Rather he's not stopping it you should have some respect not only yourself but for his wife right? How would you feel if you were in her shoes?"

"I guess yeah but it's clear she's not doing something right and it's keeping him out. If anything someone needs to be telling her how to keep her husband home." She laughed looking back at me. "And if it were me being that I know how to keep my man happy this wouldn't be happening."

I signal to cut the interview and walk out. This bitch is about to get us both killed! I can't blame anyone but myself for that anyway.

"Hey why did you run out like that?" Robin came out looking worried.

"Really...what the hell was that!?"

"An interview you didn't think it went good?" She acting clueless right now.

"No you basically called out my wife that shit was way beyond unnecessary."

"She asked me a question and I answered!"

"That has to be the dumbest thing you've done. I told you before we even got here not to answer question like that ones that are clearly are a win for the host but a lose for you. What makes you think you have any right to speak on me and my wife?"

"Oh cry me a fucking river that bitch does nothing but stress you out just because she knows I can take you away in a heart beat. It's not my fault I'm more enjoyable to be around."

"Don't speak on my wife ever again you not about to take anybody a god damn place and if you call her out her name again you'll be dealing with me."

This bitch is crazy. Through the rest of the day between the photo shoot and car rides I said nothing to her. There nothing to say really. I had to stop by my office since I left my laptop.

"Carlton would you stop ignoring me. You are blowing this way bigger than it is." Robin followed me to my office.

"You cloned my wife on live radio...am I suppose to just let that go?" I unlock my door walking in the room.

"So what it's not like she's gonna do anything about it."

"You are so wrong to think that." My oh so beautiful smart and understanding wife smiled walking in sitting.

"Hey baby." I sat kissing her cheek.

"Hi...Robin I wanna talk to you."

Mona

Jumping out my sleep I squint at my door. I thought I heard someone call me but-

"Mona get up!" Mom came busting in my room.

"Ma I'm sleep why you gotta come up in here with all that." I whine laying back down.

"Because I'm telling you to get up."

"It's Sunday mommy let me sleep."

"No I need you and Stanley to watch the twins today. Their both already up and we about to leave."

After she left I went back under my warm comforter. As I'm getting back into my deep sleep a cold wind hits me.

"What the hell!?"

"Curse at me again I dare you." Dad looked at me blank. "I know your mother told you to get up. If I come back in here and you not up imma pull you out the bed myself." He left leaving my door open.

Smacking my teeth I get up stomping and slam my door. It wasn't on purpose per say but hey. As I'm heading in my bathroom my bedroom door flies open scaring the shit out of me.

"You lost your mind slamming my door like that!?"

"It was on accident!"

This is why I prefer to deal with mom she's more laid back and not as crazy as daddy. He is not afraid to get at us while mom would rather give a look and send us to our room or something. I know I get away with a lot with mom and try not to take advantage of that.

He looked at clenching his jaw. "Keep the damn door open and hurry up."

I shower and get dressed in something lazy. I could hear the twins already.

"Morning." Stanley smiled flipping her pancake. "I made oatmeal for them so can you feed one and I'll get the other."

I sigh picking up a bowl sitting in front of Morgan. "Open up runt." She smiled dropping her mouth.

"So what did you do last night."

"Nothing much. How was the celebration dinner?"

"Well it turned into something else for me and Julian. He called it a practice date."

"Oh ok grown self."

I think Julian and Stanley would be the cutest couple. She deserves that boyfriend privilege. Gifts for no reason being showered with compliments and kisses. Oh and can't forget that tingling feeling of your special someone calling you baby. It's simple but from the right person sounds like the greatest thing ever.

That's how things were when Sam and I were together. I remember the first time we kissed. It was at the junior high summer dance. We snuck off to the empty hallway. He put my back to the wall looked deep in my eyes giving my stomach butterflies. That was the best night of my life. I thought we would last for years honestly but sometime after we got to high school I didn't feel the spark anymore. Shawn gives me that spark and this rush feeling.

"We ate at this pizza place it was just us and the people that worked there. It was really nice." I noticed her blush. "After we got ice cream then he dropped me off."

"Did he kiss you?"

"No we decided to save that. I think I'm starting to really like him...it's kind of scary."

"Awwwww."

Laughing we finish feeding the girls. We cleaned them up and decided to walk to the park. We ran around the small playground until they found their own little friends. Sitting on a bench I pull out my phone.

Danger💉♥️:baby where u at I wanna see you

Me:the park around my neighborhood but don't be to noticeable I'm with my sisters

Danger💉♥️:yea yea I do what I want girl

"I saw you sneaking in last night."

"What?"

"Around one I got up to get some water and I heard something in your room and peaked. I saw you climb through the window. Why did you lie to me?"

Sighing I lock my phone. "Because what I do is my business. If you knew I wasn't actually home-"

"I wanted to see if you would lie to me." She looked at me sad. "All I'm trying to do is protect you Mona please...this can only end wrong."

"I don't need to be protected I'm not a child! Shawn makes me happy why isn't that enough!"

"Because this whole relationship is illegal! You are fourteen a minor in the eyes of the law if anyone gets wind of this Shawn is going to prison. How can you be with someone investing so much of your time and emotions knowing at any moment the could be taken away from you!?"

"You should be asking yourself that honey."

I didn't want to do this I really didn't. Stanley and I are closer than blood sisters. But she's over stepping her place and clearly I need to push her back.

"What are you talking about?"

"You and Julian...I'm sure the adoption people frown on in family relationships with kids they send into families."

She pouts looking at me shaking her head. "You know I'm even in a relationship with him."

"And yet you two just went on a date?"

"So that's how far your willing to go with this?"

"All I'm saying is you rat me out I rat you out and we both lose something important. Me a boyfriend and you a family."

It may have been a little harsh on my end....ok it was really harsh but she should've stayed out my business.

"Fine Mona you won I'll back off...for good."

As my phone vibrates in my hand she walked off with the diaper backpack calling the girls. Seeing his text I smiled looking around until I spot his car.

"Hey sexy get on in here." Shawn bites his lip as I slide in his car. "Where you wanna go?"

"Where you want baby."

Nodding he pressed on his gas making the car roar. As he's pulling up to the park exit Stanley walks across with the twins in the double stroller.

"Isn't that your sister? Damn she got ass."

"Shawn what the hell I'm right here you dick!" I shove him as he chuckled.

"Man be quiet. She got more ass than you."

"Seriously Shawn shut up that's my sister I'm your girlfriend that's some disrespectful shit!"

"Who told you that Mona I have a girlfriend already."

#Lil Fizz #kayla phillips #malutrevejo #officialreine #fanfiction #fanfic #fiction #chris brown fanfic #chris brown fanfiction #andele lara

[unfair-sports]

The OSG Fantasy Report Week 9

Week 9 (See below for recommended plays position by position as oppose to game by game breakdown).  Week 9 is here and we roughly have half of the seasons sample to go off of. Some of the defensive and offensive stats seem a little more real. Some of the teams tendencies are a little more real. Very little can change for a team at this point in the season from a fantasy output perspective. The better teams will find ways to win late in games which as we saw with Todd Gurley, that doesn’t always mean fantasy production.  But at this point of the season, it is very difficult to completely change your offensive identity.  Lions at -5 Vikings (49).  The Lions as usual are playing uninspiring football. at this point of the season. However, they traded Golden Tate in a “for the future” deal. This opens up 69 targets or 9.85 targets a game for Detroit mid week before a price increase on Marvin Jones✅ or Kenny Golladay. This will open up some value. Jones is coming off the big week, so has a slightly higher price tag. Golladay ✅✅is due for some positive regression and because I’ve been riding him all season he will be the preferred target. However either is in play. Jones did beat Xavier Rhodes in their Thanksgiving Day matchup. Either of the two WRs are in play. I’m scared to touch Kerryon Johnson with Theo Riddick back in play, and  Blount vulturing TDs.  -On the Minnesota side you just have to keep clicking on Adam Thielen✅✅✅. His floor is so solid it is almost like plugging in a RB that you know will not crater your lineup. He’s the league leader in targets, yards, receptions, and. 2nd in red zone targets. Only Michael Thomas will carry a better completion rate. 3rd in targets on the main slate is Stefan Diggs. ✅✅This offense is very concentrated. If you are looking for an off the board TE play do not be surprised if we see 5 catches and a TD from Kyle Rudolph. He has 8 red zone targets in 8 games and is 4th among TEs in targets. The Lions are worst on the main slate vs TEs in fantasy production allowed. Dalvin Cook is expected back but will be on a snap count. So a decision has to be made on whether to fire Latavius Murray✅ in a great matchup.  Chiefs -9 vs Browns (52) In comes the NFLs leader in fantasy points Patrick Mahomes ✅✅. As crazy as it sounds but I’m not too interested in Mahomes as I am in his targets. We have seen this Browns defense stifle some of the best QBs in the league including Brees in the dome prior to Mark Ingram’s return, Big Ben twice, and Phillip Rivers. I do always targets TEs vs Cleveland so Travis Kelce✅✅✅ is high on the board for me this week. The low price TEs have not come thru in weeks past and paying up at TE will always differentiate your lineup. Tyreek Hill✅✅ and Sammy Watkins ✅have a favorable matchup. But as we saw last week the way to beat these Browns will be the RB. Hunt ✅✅✅is in a great bounce back spot. If you wisely loaded up on James Conner last week, you will do that here. Hunt even offers a little more pass game work which raises his floor even more. He is definitely a RB must play this week along with Kelce✅✅✅. This defense has not had a bye, and has played more snaps by a wide margin than any other defense. They will wear down in the 2nd half and Hunt will pound them and they will live in the red zone. Consider the Chiefs cheap defense this week as well vs a turnover prone rookie QB. Mahomes ✅✅being the highest priced quarterback will lose ownership especially to Cam Newton. This makes him an excellent tournament play.  -On the Browns side it’s hard to know what to expect. New coach, new offensive coordinator, same rookie QB. Njoku✅✅ has been Mayfield’s favorite target and only trails Kelce (by 18) in targets to TE and is a strong play this week.  Landry is 2nd in targets behind Thielen but is only catching 52.69 percent of those passes vs Thielen’s 75.51. So they are targets but they are not very catchable. This is a great spot for Nick Chubb✅. His value increases if the Browns can get the b-ball inside the red zone, and hope the game stays close enough to keep running the ball.  Steelers vs Ravens -3 (47.5) Despite the decent total I’m not too excited here to play the division rivals. Two of the better offenses in the league meet two of the better defenses in the league, the Ravens being the better. You can take a shot on Conner or AB here but I think I’m taking a hard fade on Pittsburgh here.  -As hard as the pass on The Steelers it is similar here for Baltimore. While Flacco continues to air it out, I would reserve him for naked in tournaments. I’m tempted to fire up John Brown✅because he has let me down for several weeks in a row in good spots. He and Crabtree offer value at WR though I prefer other targets this week.  Bucs vs -7 Panthers (55) The Return of Fitzmagic vs Carolina in a division matchup. If you combine Fitz and Winston they would be the 2nd best QB in fantasy behind only the GOAT Patrick Mahomes. Fitz to Evans or Desean Jackson ✅✅✅should hit big Sunday. Their struggles to number 1 receivers continues and while OJ Howard is in a excellent spot, Fitz has preferred his receivers while Winston peppered the TEs with targets. With Fitzpatrick under center, Evans and Jackson’s completion rates, catchable targets and ceilings sky rocket. Fire up this stack at a great price this week.  -Run this stack right back with Cam Newton ✅✅✅who is rightfully the highest projected QB and highest owned QB this week. Tampa’s defense is the worst in every category, including to the TE.  Many will flock to C-Mac✅✅ again as Tampa has been so bad to RBs including pass catching ones (but they are terrible to every spot). But McCaffrey’s production has been down, but he has had some tough matchups. Some can be credited to the return of Olsen. C-Mac is definitely back in play this week. Out of Funchess, Olsen, Moore, I would prefer in order to stack with Newton: ✅✅✅Olsen,✅✅ DJ Moore, ✅McCaffrey, then Funchess.  Jets at -3 Dolphins(43.5) I am fading the Jets entirely. Anderson and Enunwa could play which spreads it around for the Jets. Division game. On the road. Pass.  -The only interesting Dolphin is a value RB in Kenyan Drake. The Jets blitz a lot to add to their pass rush which opens them up to screen plays. We saw what Cohen did to them last week plus the rushing that the Bears sustained last week. Look for Drake ✅ to reach value at low ownership off of the stud RBs this week.  Falcons vs -1.5 Redskins (48.5) One of my rules to consider are dome teams on the road outside on grass. Their fantasy production completely drops on the road and Matt Ryan is no exception. The Redskins safety core just got better with Clinton-Dix which eliminates to big play ability. However in between the 20s we can still look to Julio. Call me a sucker but this is FINALLY FINALLY the week Julio hits the end zone and maybe even twice for good measure. He is the only Falcon I have interest in.  -Father Time has not visited Adrian Peterson✅✅✅. He flirted with 100 yards almost every week and exploded last week. And now faces one of the worst run defenses in the league. They are also at the bottom of the league bs pass catching backs and with Chris Thompson still questionable, this can once again be the AD show. He’s at home and favored in a close game. He can be thrown into the Tournament player pool this week. One value play I am going to recommend but cringe at is ✅Josh Doctson. Atlanta is just too bad of a defense to not consider his price tag in this matchup. And for the vulnerability that Atlanta has consider Jordan Reed✅ as well. Alex Smith is check down Charlie so the middle of the field is his bread and butter.  Bears-10.5 vs Bills (37.5)  First of all the Bills are a complete fade until further notice. Just don’t try it.  The Bears defense ✅✅✅is a top play this week. They carry a well deserved price tag vs Nathan Peterman who is guaranteed to throw 2-3 INTs this week and is highly likely to deliver an unpredictable pick 6. They will be a popular choice Sunday. Offensively in a 37 total nothing gets me too excited. Maybe Anthony Miller✅ at a very cheap price tag who has seen 7 targets for 2 straight weeks. Cohen is an ok play as well. Maybe Jordan Howard✅ as well if the Bears are up and he gets fed 20 times and stumbles into the end zone.  Texans vs -1.5 Broncos(46) Deshaun Watson is one of the toughest guys in the league. His chest/lung injury has prevented him from flying yet he continues to play. With Fuller out ✅✅✅Hopkins is a top play this week. Some will look to Coutee or Lamar Miller. Just play the floor of D Hop here and move on. He will go completely ignored with other studs in top spots this week.  -Denver is always tough. I guessed right and had a little a Phillip Lindsay✅✅at RB but he has been a consistent contributor. He can be considered this week again as a value RB. Now that Royce Freeman is out Lindsay will get all of the backfield touches in a home game in which they are favored. His salary allows you to fit in other studs. With Thomas out of town that should open up even more targets for Emanuel Sanders.✅ The fantasy world is in love with Courtland Sutton✅✅✅ who many believe will finally hit big this week at his price with D. Thomas gone. His price again opens up salary for those studs in the Rams Saints game or allows you to pay for the likes of Thielen etc.  Chargers vs Seahawks (47.5) pick em Once again I have yet to pick and choose the right spots for the Chargers this year. The best suggestion is just play ✅✅✅Melvin Gordon if he’s a full go. All he does is score TDs week in and week out. He has been questionable but logged in a full practice Friday coming off of a bye. It is a hamstring which is damaging for a RB, but he has had some rest. Keenan Allen ✅✅✅is my favorite WR to target here yet I keep missing he and Rivers stacking wise. They are on the road which leans me even more so to Gordon. BUT the sites refuse to drop his price which lets you know the big game is coming. Individually he has a great matchup on paper and could hit at low ownership on the road.  -The Seahawks side offers some value. Chris Carson should be monitored up to Sunday as he has missed a game with the same injury that has left him with a questionable tag all week. David Moore offers some value along with Doug Baldwin against a beatable Chargers secondary. I just never feel good about plucking a Russell Wilson WR. Baldwin. Lockett. Moore. You’re playing the guessing game and I tend to always side with the cheapest option. For me I’m leaning Moore who comes in on a “hot streak”.  Rams -2 vs Saints (57)  Last but not least. The expected shootout. The undefeated Rams come to play on the fast track of the Superdome. Every Ram is in play beginning with ✅✅✅Cooper Kupp. The slot is spot to pick apart New Orleans and he is a top play this week coming off of injury. But you can like Robert Woods✅✅ and most importantly Brandin Cooks✅✅in the revenge spot. If we love these receivers then you must consider Jared Goff. With the Rams it’s either Goff or Gurley. This week I’m going with the pass game as the Saints boast an excellent rush defense and funnel ALL production to the pass game. But I will not stop you from playing Gurley or any piece of the best offense on the best, and undefeated team in the NFL.  -The Saints are slowly going back to last years ways with Mark Ingram back. Slow pace, run first, keep the opposing team off of the field. This would be the case to fading some of this game in fear the game goes completely under because all of the fantasy world will be focused on this afternoon hammer. In the meantime I do like the safe floor of Michael Thomas ✅✅✅and the potential ceiling of Alvin Kamara. 50 yards rushing. 50 yards receiving. 1 td by land and one by air. Ill  take that on his falling price tag. One under the flyer play is Tre’Quan Smith✅✅. This is the kind of game you look to the low price players like we would Ted Ginn. But with him out that leaves Smith. You can make a case for the 2td vulture game from Ingram but I’m more interested in the safety of Kamara. The other side of the argument is that New Orleans last two games (on the road) left them in situations where Brees did not have to air it out. But if the Rams stay on the gas and force them to air it out then we get the shoot out.  ✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅ So in review position by position: QB. Cam Newton and Fitzpatrick in a potential shootout.  Brees and Goff in the game of the week.  Kirk Cousins to Thielen.  Mahomes up too.  RB.  Kamara/Gurley/Ingram.  McCaffrey and Hunt combo which will be chalk this week but rightfully so.  Latavius Murray.  To be contrarian Adrian Peterson and Phillip Lindsay (salary saver).  For the game flow consider Cohen and Howard with the Bears defense in tournaments.  WR.  High price studs: Michael Thomas. Julio Jones. Adam Thielen✅. Deandre Hopkins at low ownership. Mike Evans.  Mid tier: Marvin Jones and Kenny Golladay.  All 3 Rams WR (Woods, Cooks in the revenge game, Kupp who is my favorite). Desean Jackson as Fitzmagic has a much better deep ball than Famous Jameis.  Chalk Value: Courtland Sutton. Tre’Quan Smith. DJ Moore (Carolina). David Moore (Seattle).  Off the board sneaky play: Josh Doctson.  TE Kelce vs Cleveland. Talented TE vs Cleveland.   Greg Olsen vs. horrible TE defense in Tampa.  Njoku after laying an egg last week is even a better spot this week at home.  OJ Howard. Kyle Rudolph for TD red zone equity.  Off the board: Jordan Reed.

#football #fantasyfootball #fantasy #nfl #espnfantasy #yahoofantasy

[213hiphopworldnews]

All The Best New Music From This Week That You Need To Hear

Getty Image

Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best music released in the last week.

This week sees the release of one of the strongest indie rock albums of the year from Kurt Vile, a long-awaited solo album from Migos’ Quavo, and a piano-and-voice reimagining of St. Vincent’s most recent album. Yeah, it was a pretty great week for music. Check out the highlights below.

Kurt Vile — Bottle It In

There are many great things about a new Kurt Vile album cycle. One is that it allows us to appreciate the best hair in the music industry; his long, caramel locks standing as an essential part of his identity. Another is the craft that goes into his work, with our own Martin Rickman noting, “Like endless time spent in your own mind, thoughts enter and escape Vile’s tracks, reappear like wraiths, cause chain reactions of doubt and regret, and painful, introspective examination of your own self.”

St. Vincent — MassEducation

If you ever see a St. Vincent live show, you’ll witness a barrage for the senses. Projections, lighting displays, choreography, rock-star poses, and songs arranged in whatever way makes the most sense for her current iteration. That’s what makes her latest endeavor, a piano-and-voice recreation of her last album, such an exciting proposition. We’ve rarely heard St. Vincent this intimate and stripped-down, getting to the skeletal core of what makes her songs tick. It’s a brave move in a career defined by such bravery.

Quavo — Quavo Huncho

While some might be suffering from Migos fatigue, the members of Migos have not let up on the throttle for several years. Now comes the highly anticipated solo album from member Quavo, which features the likes of Madonna, Drake, and Cardi B. In previewing the album, Uproxx’s Aaron Williams captured the gravity of the release, likening Quavo to Beyonce’s role in Destiny’s Child. If that’s true, this could be a huge moment for the star, his moment to test the waters outside his group or a collaboration, and see what he can carry on his own.

Ella Mai — Ella Mai

The creator of one of the biggest breakout singles of the year, “Boo’d Up,” is ready to take on the world with this full-length. DJ Mustard handles production on several songs while John Legend shows up as a feature, but mostly it’s Ella Mai front-and-center, proving that there’s a whole lot more to her than just one song.

Anna St. Louis — If Only There Was A River

There aren’t a ton of artists that can be traced from roots in Kansas City to really getting their career going in Los Angeles. One is Anna St. Louis, whose debut album feels comfortably at home amongst the rootsy folk tradition of the city she now calls home. Another is Kevin Morby, who along with King Tuff, worked as a producer on the record. Classic country plays a big influence on the collection, which finds St. Louis establishing herself as an enthralling songwriter right out of the gate.

Yowler — Black Dog In My Path

No one should ever accuse Philadelphia-based songwriter Maryn Jones of being stuff on a particular sound. On her latest album as Yowler, the aesthetics can switch wildly from soaring, distorted incantations to intimate, longing meditations. Somewhere in there is even the practically danceable “WTFK.” It paints the portrait of an artist that is comfortable in the act of exploration, as interested in the process of searching as she is in what she finds along the way.

Run The Jewels – “Let’s Go (The Royal We)”

Last year, one of the key stories surrounding hip-hop super-duo Run The Jewels was about El-P’s shelved score for Blade Runner 2049. But one film’s trash is another film’s treasure, as some of the music has been repurposed for the latest RTJ offering, “Let’s Go (The Royal We),” which is being used as the closing song for Marvel’s Venom. The guitar is reminiscent of Nirvana, but when the beat kicks in, the pair weave an ominous, foreboding anthem that skirts the line between hero and villain.

Soccer Mommy – “Wide Open Spaces”

Dixie Chicks have roughly 50 songs that would sound great covered by indie rockers (or that sound great as is), but rising songwriter Soccer Mommy‘s choice is impeccable and iconic. “Wide Open Spaces” is a country radio classic, but in Soccer Mommy’s hands, it is wistful and elegant in a way that’s inherent in the song’s construction. The slide guitar sitting happily in the song’s shadows is a wonderful added touch.

Bad Bunny Feat. Drake – “Mia”

Canadian rap megastar Drake has made no secret about his infatuation with Latin and Carribean culture, as could be seen on his last couple albums. But on his new song with reggaeton star Bad Bunny, Drake dives in completely, singing in Spanish on the instantly catchy tune. But it doesn’t sound like just a play for increasing his reach. Drake manages to be chameleonic while always very much himself. There seems to be literally nothing in which he doesn’t excel.

Sia — “I’m Still Here”

Whether writing for others or herself, Sia can craft a pop banger just as easily as she can a sentimental ballad. Her latest song falls in the latter category, a cinematic take that demands lighter flickers and cellphone flashlights. It’s released to celebrate her new partnership with Maison Repetto for her first ever fashion campaign. If the shoes she’s releasing are of a similar quality to the song, then fans are in for a treat.

source https://uproxx.com/music/best-new-music-this-week-kurt-vile-quavo/

#hiphop #hip hop legend #hip hop history #hip hop #music #trending #hip hop news #ballin #hip hop scen

[christinaepilzauthor-blog]

Barnstaple and John Delbridge

by Lauren Gilbert

A view of Barnstaple and its setting at low tide

Some years ago, I surprised my husband with a fishing trip in northwest Devon. We got off the train in Umberleigh, checked into a delightful hotel (with an equally delightful pub), and discovered...there was no fishing due to an unprecedented heat wave. Nothing daunted, we proceeded to explore the area. At dusk one evening, we witnessed the water rushing into a river at high tide, followed by a family of wild swans. The next day, we hopped back on the train and went on to Barnstaple. It was a fascinating town which we enjoyed exploring. My current work in process includes a gentleman who inherits a small estate in the vicinity of Barnstaple, so I decided to read up on its history.

Afred the Great

Barnstaple is what may be the oldest borough in England. The town was known in the 900's, a typical Saxon stronghold. Known to the Romans as "Tunge abertawe" and to the Saxons as "Beardenstaple," it was referred to as "Barum", the Latin contraction, in documents of the era. It was created a burg (borough) by King Alfred. A mint was established, possibly by King Athelstan who also supposedly granted a charter with rights to hold a market and fair (If there were a charter, it has been lost-a charter dated 930 was proven a forgery and no other has ever been found). The earliest known coin was minted during King Eadwig's reign (between 955-59). The mint was not a particularly active and ceased production in the 13th century.

King Athelstan I

It fell to the Normans about 1068, and the fall is discussed in the Domesday Book. It is believed that an original castle was built by King Athelstan, and strengthened after the Conquest. This may be the site of the known castle, built in wood in the 11th century by Geoffrey de Mowbray, Bishop of Coutances. Stone walls were erected subsequently, probably by Henry de Tracey. By 1326, castle was a ruin; only the motte remains as a mound. It was the only port in the southwest of England, and by 1290, an important trade center located on River Taw; trading with Europe, Ireland and New World. Imports included tobacco, wine, spices. Barnstaple was licensed to export wool from the 14th century and was a member of the early merchant Guild of St Nicholas. Exports included woolen material and pottery.

Other industries included lace making, fishing, and ship building. Barnstaple was the 3rd richest town in Devon in the 14th century (behind Exeter and Plymouth). Its importance as a port grew during the 14th to 16th centuries, and the city was represented in the Naval Council. There was a petition to Mary I to build a quay and merchants' exchange on the river in 1555. Barnstaple was a "privileged port" as a member of the Spanish Company (authorized to trade in Spain and Portugal) in 1577. There were 12 merchants in Barnstaple listed in the charter.

Trade with America was also very important in the 16th and 17th centuries. Barnstaple had a rather exciting military past as well. In 1588, 3-5 outfitted ships, manned by locals, sailed to join Sir Francis Drake to help defend against Spanish Armada. In 1642, when the English Civil War erupted, Barnstaple was originally pro-Parliamentarian, but changed sides four times. Seriously damaged after the war, the city eventually resumed its normal business and trading activities.

Queen Anne's Walk

Queen Anne's Walk was built in 1708 (a rebuilding of the original Merchants' Walk built in Tudor times) and completed in 1713, as a merchant exchange on the river with its own quay for loading and unloading ships. A statue of Queen Anne was placed on the colonnade. In the 18th Century, the wool trade ended and Barnstaple began to import Irish wool which was sent on for manufacture. The harbour silted up (a process which began as early as the 17th century) and trade gradually moved to Bideford although there was local shipping (agricultural) until the 20th century. However, the town still maintained its importance as a market town. It has been represented in Parliament continuously since 1295 (it had 2 representatives until 1885 when representation was reduced to one member). It remains an important business and shopping site and the main town in North Devon.

Delbridge Arms

A name that recurred in the history of the town during the 16th century was John Delbridge. Who was John Delbridge? He was born in Barnstaple. His exact date of birth is unknown; however, he was baptized July 9, 1564. John was the 2nd son of Richard Delbridge, a merchant of Barnstaple, and his wife Alice. 

John was a Puritan, and was educated at Emmanuel College Cambridge (he enrolled July 3, 1604 as a paying student or commoner, not as a scholar), and later entered the Middle Temple in London May 10, 1606. He was married to Agnes Downe of Barnstable on January 10th, 1585. Agnes was the niece of Bishop Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury. They had five sons and three daughters, but only one son and daughter survived John. He became a successful cloth merchant, importing and exporting goods by 1591. He was involved in the Newfoundland fishing trade and was a member of the East India Company (1611-21), the French Company (1611), the Virginia. Company (from 1612 to at least 1623), the North West Passage Company (1612), and the Somers Island Company (from 1615 to at least 1622). He was also a member of the Council for Virginia (1621). Clearly, he was a man of great influence with fingers in many pies. John was involved in the American colonies, including providing passage for colonists to Virginia and Bermuda. His ship The Swan took 70 new settlers to Virginia in 1620 and all survived the voyage (he was apparently known for well supplied ships, and few deaths). He was an active trader particularly in imported tobacco. Clearly successful, John acquired property in Virginia as well as in England. He owned a house in Barnstaple and by 1632 had an estate at West Buckland (a manor which included an advowson (right to appoint a clergyman to serve that area)) about eight miles from Barnstaple. He also had an estate at Bishop's Tawton. John became active in politics. His political career includes: working under Robert Cecil (Elizabeth I's chief minister) in 1602-1606 (dates approximate); serving as Mayor of Barnstaple three times (1600-1, 1615-16, 1633-4). He was elected Member of Parliament for Barnstaple six times (elections in 1614, 1621, 1624, 1625, 1626 and 1628), in which capacity he served on various committees (with his known expertise in trade matters) and was very vocal on a wide range of bills at least occasionally in open defiance of the king's wishes. (He served with Pentecost Dodderidge, a fellow merchant, at least three times, and Alexander St. John, Knight as well). Agnes died in May of 1639, and was buried May 15th of 1639. John made his will on May 27th and died June 24, 1639 at his home at Bishop's Tawton, leaving the bulk of his estate to his surviving son Richard, with bequests to other relatives and to the poor. 

Unrest was brewing, leading to the Civil War which erupted in 1642. The events involving the war and its aftermath left John Delbridge in obscurity. I couldn't help but wonder if his Puritan faith and service in Parliament steered the loyalty of his city to the Parliamentary side of the conflict, at least at the start. This is not by any means a comprehensive history of Barnstaple or of John Delbridge; it does, however, serve to tickle one's fancy to look further into that fascinating town and its people. Sources: Holton, Denise and Hammett, Elizabeth. BARNSTAPLE THROUGH TIME. Stroud: Amberley Publishing, 2013. (Kindle Version); SECRET BARNSTAPLE. Stroud: Amberley Publishing, 2015. (Kindle Version) The History of Parliament on-line. "Delbridge, John (1564-1639) of Barnstaple and Bishop's Tawton, Devon." HERE GoogleBooks. Willis, Browne. NOTITIA PARLIAMENTARIA: Or A History of the Counties, Cities and Boroughs in England and Wales. 2nd Edition with Annotations. London: Robert Gosling, 1730. HERE ; Tudor and Stuart Devon: The Common Estate and Government : Essays Presented to Joyce Youngs. Edited by Todd Gray, Margery M. Rowe, and Audrey M. Erskine. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1992. HERE Barnstaple Town Centre on-line. "History." HERE A Vision of Britain. "Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Barnstaple" by John Marious Wilson in IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF ENGLAND AND WALES (1870-72). HERE Cambridge Alumni Database. "Delbridge, John." HERE View of Barnstaple taken by Lauren Gilbert (c) Lauren Gilbert

Images from Wikimedia Commons Alfred the Great HERE Athelstan HERE Queen Anne's Walk HERE Delbridge Arms HERE ~~~~~~~~~~ Lauren Gilbert, author of HEYERWOOD: A Novel, is working on her second novel set in Regency England, A RATIONAL ATTACHMENT. She lives in Florida with her husband. Please visit her website HERE.

Hat Tip To: English Historical Fiction Authors