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thr-333 · 3 years

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Drastic Measures- Part 1

@daminette-december2019-2020

~Inspiration~

*Emerges from my hole*: oh ho ho~ we have another month of inspiration on our hands!

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Marinette steps through the portal immediately collapsing; she doesn't drop the transformation until she hears Chat drop down next to her. She calls the transformation of both the Horse and Ladybug miraculous, knowing Chat will close his eyes without her asking, Marinette does the same for him as he calls off his own.

They stay like that, panting on the rooftop. It’ll be sunrise soon, Marinette knows what she has to do.

“He’s moved,” She breaks the silence. Stating the obvious, they’ve known this for months.

“At least he wont be bothering Paris anymore,” Chat laughs, without any humor.

“But Gotham is so much worse,” Marinette groans, “We can’t keep doing this, not like we are, Spots on,”

Marinette stands letting the transformation wash over her while keeping her eyes shut, this will be easier to say without looking at him anyway.

“Chat Noir, hand over your miraculous,” Marinette recoils at the wounded sound he makes, “I have to leave Paris,”

“What? No! Claws out!” Marinette opens her eyes to see Chat, furious and with tears in his eyes, “I’m coming with you!”

She thought he would say that. Probably would have hurt if he didn’t.

“I can’t just ask you to leave your life, your friends,” Marinette chokes up, “Your family,”

“And what about you?!” Chat says with such heartbreaking sincerity, “Who will you be leaving behind!?”

“... Everyone,”

But she had put it off for too long. Hawkmoth slowed his attacks in Paris months ago, they thought he was giving up… then he attacked Gotham. The attacks in Paris stopped. The ones in Gotham were so much worse. She thought… she thought she could keep it up, jumping through a portal every time Gotham needed her. It was the best of both worlds. Her family and friends were safe and she could still defeat Hawkmoth. But nothing was ever that easy. Gotham needed her, completely, with undivided attention. Paris didn’t. Gotham needed Ladybug more than Paris needed Marinette.

“Not me,” Chat breaks Marinette from her thoughts, gently holding her shoulders, “I’m coming with you,”

She should argue. She planned to argue, every detail ever rebuttal. But she was weak. Marinette so desperately wanted him to come. To have someone, anyone there for her. No not anyone she wanted Chat by her side. Her partner through thick and thin. The one who would help her take down Hawkmoth. It was so unbelievably selfish.

She wanted him with her more than she wanted him to live his life here.

“Chat you realize we can’t tell anyone,” They could make the connection, they would try to stop them, or worse, follow them. If they went to Gotham alone at least they wouldn't have a life outside of this, they could focus wholly on taking down Hawkmoth, and maybe finally succeed, “... we have to run away,”

“Bug a boo that's the fun part,” Chat teases, Marinette couldn't see how leaving her friends and family would be at all fun, “... sorry… I know you’re leaving a lot behind,”

“If you do this-”

“When I do this,” Marinette raises a brow at him, he does it right back.

“We should reveal our identities,”

“Oh no, what a shame,” Chat dramatically ‘faints’, “Damn that makes this so much harder,”

“You know what?” Marinette ‘thoughtfully’ taps her chin, “I can probably find a new Chat Noir,”

“No, no! Sorry,” Chat immediately stands back up, “That’s obviously not why I’m doing this,”

“I know kitty,” Marinette smiles, getting him to relax, “But you need to think this over, I’m… I’m going to go pack,”

“Don’t need to think it over,” Chat smirks, “Claws off!”

“Chat! NO!” Marinette yelps, chiding, before actually processing who it was standing before her, “Adrien?!”

“Uhh, you know me?” Adrien stands there so awkwardly Marinette just burst into laughter, “Ummm,”

“S-sorry it’s it’s just,” Marinette held her sides as she kept cracking up, “Spots off!”

Her transformation fell and at that moment Marinette couldn’t even manage to feel any anxiety at him finding out, the ‘o’ face he made was too priceless. Before she could even think of being nervous Adrien also bursts out laughing, the two ending up as wheezing messes on the rooftop. It took a long while and lots of giggling to calm down.

“Well at least I’m not leaving all my friends behind,” Marinette says to the sky, “That is if you still want to come?”

“Meet you here tomorrow Marinette,” Adrien stands up, offering a hand to Marinette, “Same time,”

“See you kitty,” Marinette waves as they part ways, for now. She had a lot she needed to do today.

Marinette doesn't sleep when she gets home. She searches deep in her draws for that special fabric she put aside. Flips through her sketchbook to find that perfect design she did once. Then gets to work making a pattern. It is well past sunrise by the time she is done. She’s late for school. It doesn't matter anymore.

Not running to class for once she makes sure her parents are free later that night. She’d like to spend all day with them, but Marinette wants to see her friends one last time. She stuffs her bag with all the presents she had made her friends for future birthdays. Might as well give them now. Lila smirks at her as she walks into class, Marinette would usually worry. It doesn't matter anymore.

“Hey girl, I was wondering, Lila said some-” Marinette cuts her off, handing Alya a pile of wrapped gifts.

“Hi, sorry I’ve been busy, kind of went into a design frenzy,” Marinette laughs sheepishly, “I was going to give them at your birthday, but I just couldn't wait,”

“Awe, girl this is amazing!” Alya holds up the jacket Marinette made a few months ago, she hugs Marinette tight, “See I told you, Lila, Marinette's just been busy!”

“Too busy to make me anything, I’m sure,” Lila says, teary eyed.

“Actually no,” Marinette smiles, enjoying the utterly shocked look.

“I made this to welcome you to the class, but then you went to Achu,” Marinette places it down with open hostility, “And, well, there wasn't really an opportunity after that,”

After that Lila has a hard time trying to twist it against her. Even the complaints that the bandanna is so much smaller than everyone else's gifts is weak as it has beautiful embroidery of a fox and ladybug, everyone cooing over how sweet and personal the design is. Back when Marinette actually believed her lie that they could start over and be friends. It also was hard to turn anyone against Marinette as she handed out presents to anyone that walked through the door. Laughing and apologizing for her absence lately, claiming the whole time she was making things for them.

When Adrien came to class they both tried to stifle their laughter. Marinette only gave him one thing, so as not to be suspicious. It would help to have all new clothes when they ran away, she would give the rest to him then. It was a scarf, one she made a while ago with the new addition of a green cat paw in the corner.

Marinette, for all intents and purposes, felt wonderful for the rest of the day. She caught up with her friends, felt closer to them than she had in a while actually. They talked and laughed, Marinette for once not encouraging them to keep quiet, joking along with them, and taking a million pictures. Madame bustier didn't complain much, after all, she had an all-new makeup bag plus more.

It was fun. And the ‘see you tomorrow’ was hollow.

Marinette was dreading going back home. She asked for a special dinner that night, saying she had a special surprise to show them. And special it was, Marinette had made a new dress for her Maman, a more casual version of her wedding dress, with a special Marinette flare, plus a matching outfit for her Papa. They smiled saying it was beautiful, just as they had with her very first design and everything she made since then. They ate together and played video games together.

Marinette asked to look at old photo albums and they spent the rest of the night pouring over them. If she slipped a few out to take with her, neither noticed.

“I love you both,” Marinette hugs them tight, imagining she’ll never see them again.

Even if they do defeat Hawkmoth, Marinette's not sure she’ll make it through the fight. She could be gone for years, or maybe never return to Paris. Marinette didn’t know if she’d ever see them again, this could be it.

“We love you too,” Her Maman smiles, cupping her cheek, “Now go to bed we don't want you to be late for school tomorrow,”

Sorry I will be

Marinette just nods, hugging them one last time before heading upstairs. She packs her bag, full of newly brought or made clothes, clothes for Adrien, food, and whatever cash she had on hand. She leaves a note, saying there's something she has to do, that she loves them both and this is in no way their fault, not to look for her but Marinette doubts they’ll listen. She grabs her bag and the miracle box, saying goodbye to her home and disappearing into the night with Tikki.

By the time she meets up with Adrien Marinette is a sobbing mess. They hug each other. Adrien's not crying but she can sense the deep sadness in him. Tikki hugs her too, getting Marinette to calm down.

“So what’s the plan?”

“Go to Gotham,” Marinette shrugs, that was really the extent of it.

“We have nowhere to go,” Chat hums, trying to act nonchalant about everything,

“I guess this means we’re homeless,” Marinette shrugs again, she had really only planned this for herself, and none of that seemed like a concern.

“We can find an abandoned warehouse, set up shop,”

“Either way we’re going to be pretty busy,” Constantly on the run, either running from someone or running after someone.

“Well, you know what they say,” Chat smirks, “We’ll sleep when this bastard is taken down,”

“You know it,” Marinette smiles, genuinely this time, “Pound it?”

“Pound it,”

---

“After last week we can indeed confirm these attacks are occurring,”

“Oh sure it wasn't like I told you a month ago,” Jason scoffs, getting glared at by Bruce for interrupting.

“Well you have to admit ‘this guy came and destroyed ten blocks’ is pretty unbelievable when everything’s unscratched,” Tim continues to tap away at his computer, “And now we know the cause,”

The footage was shakily taken from the next building over, partly destroyed. With a bright light everything was fixed.

“Magic,” Dick says needlessly.

“Meta humans,” Batman growls, “Not approved and playing at being heroes,”

“Can we really complain if they fix everything after a fight?” Duke speaks up, “The police didn't even report any casualties, they don’t seem to be rookies,”

“Magic makes them reckless,” Batman shuts the argument down, “More so if they can fix everything, what happens when they can’t?”

“So basically you want them out,” Damian cuts in, there was no point arguing over it for however long, Bruce wouldn't allow them to keep roaming the city.

“Yes,” Bruce fixes them all with a hard stare, making it clear this is an order, “When you come in contact tell them they are to leave or be removed,”

They all agreed. Damian wishes he didn’t have to waste his time worrying about some second rate wannabes thinking they could challenge Batman for the protection of Gotham. They couldn't. What did they have that Batman didn’t?

---

A lot was the answer.

Or this particular new villain. It didn’t make any sense, usually, first time villains were easier to deal with, but no, here Robin was watching as Batman fought a losing battle against them. It didn’t help that they were brainwashing civilians, turning them against the rest. Robin was given very specific instructions not to harm them. Hard when they had no such orders.

Robin barely processes that Batman is thrown through a building before the main villain is turning to him. At least he could use more drastic measures with the actual villain, unsheathing his sword Robin lunges. He trades a few blows, unfortunately doing less damage than the villain can do with a singular super powered punch. With super strength, magic and Gotham citizens being steadily taken over this was looking more like a Justice league threat by the second. Everytime the villains should be down for the count they got back up, Damian couldn't find their weakness.

Robin knows he took a wrong step as the villain doesn't rush forward to take advantage but shoots out a beam, the same one Damian had just watch turn a civilian against the rest of his family. And he has no leverage to dodge. This would be so much worse than the civilians, setting his strength against the others? Without concern for killing them? Would Damian remember?

“Watch out!” A wire wraps around Robin, yanking him out of the way. He falls at someone's feet the wire slipping away, he can hear it whirling above him.

Damian sits up, looking to who grabbed him, ready to fight if necessary, and- Loses his breath.

She's standing over him protectively, a makeshift wire shield repelling the beams that had been causing them so much trouble with ease. Like it was second nature. She looks down at him and smiles so gently, without a hint of fear or worry. Promising she has everything under control.

There's something to be said of Batman's intimidating, steady nature. It can put people at ease in its own way and be even more effective at cutting down enemies with a glare. But this? This is warmth, assurance, a steady appearance more in line with Wonder Woman yet still completely it’s own.

“You alright?” She holds out a hand for him.

Damian snaps out of it taking her hand startling at how she actually lifts him up without any effort on his part.

“Chat you ready?”

“Ready my Lady!”

My lady? Who’s Chat?

His answer comes a second later as a spotted container comes crashing down, fracturing the street. In an instant, the wire wraps around the container a hundred times over.

“Now!” My Lady commands.

“Cataclysm!” Chat yells out, the container crumbles under his touch, wire moving in to constrict around the villain.

The villain thrashes, still being able to send out beams wildly and with their minions closing in. Chat breaks off to fend them all off while Robin tries to catch his breath, Batman still in the rubble of a building. My Lady can’t hold the villain back and fight at the same time. Damian struggles to stand up and help her.

“Lucky charm replay!”

Robin cringes at the bright light then watches as another spotted object falls into her hands. It’s a bent tube she looks around for a few seconds before holding it up. Damian rushes forward as a beam races towards her and she makes no effort to dodge. She catches it with the tube sending it back to the villain, it hits them square in the chest with no effect. Lady nods to herself before doing the same with the next beam. This time robin watches as it misses the villain, grazing their ear and sending their ear peice flying off.

“Chat!”

“On it!” Chat Noir catches the earring from midair, calling cataclysm again turning it to dust.

Damian watches not willing to let his jaw drop as the hideous villain transforms into a normal civilian. It’s such an intriguing sight that Robin startles when something flies towards Chat Noir snatching a purple butterfly from the air and pulling it back to My Lady. A few seconds later a white butterfly is flying out a… yo yo?

“Bye bye little butterfly,” She waves the glowing white butterfly away.

That was so cute

“Who are you?” Batman demands having just recovered, motioning for them to circle around them.

“Uh, your welcome,” Chat Noir scoffs, helping the previous villain up.

“I am Ladybug, this is my partner Chat Noir,” Partner? “We’re the previous heroes of Paris,”

“Paris has no heroes,” Batman glares at them, civilians around them still closing in Robin turns his defenses towards them.

“Then that makes the past what six? Seven? Years really awkward,” Chat Noir looks at Ladybug who shrugs, a civilian takes a swing at her she dodges smoothly before throwing the pipe in the air.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” Now Robin's jaw does drop as a thousand glowing ladybugs swarm around the nearby buildings, maybe all of Gotham not even leaving a scratch behind.

“Why are you in Gotham now then?” Batman recovers first, civilians nearby blinking back into reality.

“Hawkmoth has moved his operations to Gotham to feed off the negative emotions here,” well there’s plenty of that here “It makes his Akuma more powerful and we can no longer continue to operate from Paris,”

“Then he’s in Gotham now and is my problem,” our problem “I can handle this,”

“Well you did a great job of that,” Chat Noir rolls his eyes, leaning on his staff, “How's your back by the way?”

“Chat Noir,” Ladybug scowls, then turns to Batman, “You can’t and it’s my responsibility as Ladybug and as guardian of the miraculous,”

“What's that-”

Nightwing is interrupted by a beeping from Chat Noir's ring.

“It would be that, we have to go now,” Chat Noir salutes moving to leave, they tighten their circle surrounding them.

“You will leave Gotham,” Batman demands, this time its Ladybugs turn to glare she tsks and rounds on him, not managing to seem that threatening in her brightly colored costume.

“You don’t know who Hawkmoth is, you don’t know what Akuma are, you don't know about the miraculous, you have no clue about the guardians, you hadn't heard of whats been happening in Paris for years and you don’t know who we are or what we’ve done,” Batman is shocked under the forces of the heroine's righteous fury, “There are things going on here that you don't understand, we are here to stay until hawkmoth is defeated,”

Robin watches as she leaves a shell shocked Batman behind dissapering into Gotham’s night with her partner.

Inspiring

—-

“And why can’t they be in Gotham?” Damian demands from him yet again.

“No metahumans,” Bruce sighs, Damian had been unreasonably stubborn on this front, “They only cause more damage,”

“Actually they repaired a lot,” Damian leans over the desk to glare over that him, “And saved you,”

“Go to bed,” Bruce demands, Alfred busy patching up his wounds. Damian scoffs before storming out of the cave, still half in his robin uniform, “Whats wrong with him?”

“I couldn’t say, master Bruce,” Usually for Alfred that meant he knew exactly what was going on. He tied the final bandage before holding the phone out, “There's a call for you,”

Bruce shrugs on his shirt before answering. It wasn't the phone reserved for business so at least it wouldn't be that big a pain in the neck.

“Bruce,”

Never mind

“Talia,” Bruce growls, going to glare at Alfred who had already made himself scarce, “What do you want?”

“Oh please I’m not up to anything sinister,” Bruce can just imagine her waving him off with a smirk, “This time,”

“But you still want something,” Bruce acknowledged, sinister or not she can cause a lot more trouble without being out too.

“A missing person case, a friend of mine got in touch, her daughter ran away yesterday, l thought it would be right up your alley,”

“Why would you tell me this,” There was obviously more to this, there always was with Talia, “And more importantly why do you care,”

“Oh because she’s Sabine's daughter,” Bruce freezes, a million case files and reports flashing through his mind, none of which outlined a daughter let alone a family, “Surely you’ve heard of Sabine?”

“... We’re on the case,”

“Great, good luck~”

Now he has to worry about potentially one of the most dangerous assassins in the world on the loose. A shift in the shadows catches his eye before disappearing. Great. And now the whole family knew, or would soon.

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Taglist? nope don’t have one, horrible at keeping track of them sorry~

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug fic #miraculous marinette #maribat #Marinette #badass marinette #daminette #good adrien #slow burn #good class

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flower-zombie-rob · 2 years

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This my friends is what you call reading way too far into something you hate

If you dont like jse, fair enough. But you dont have to shove into the main tag that you think hes an evil malicious knieving clout chaser for... doing a charity event??

Youre upset because a man who held a charity event is sad he didnt reach the goal... what? You are upset, because he mentioned feeling sad that his charity event didnt reach the goal? Wouldnt you be? If you held your own chariry event and set and goal that wasnt reached would you really be saying you wouldnt feel an ounce of dissapointment?

And this is way overanalysing one sentance. "I wish that bigger youtubers had participated to help out with my charity event, some who said that they would chose not to" is not the same as "boo hoo other charity events did better than mine boo hoo i want money". he didnt even mention the other youtubers charity streams like teamseas and matpats saint jude stream, for all we know there could easily have been like massive youtubers who said theyd endorse it and just didnt show any sort of support for anyones charity events. He couldve been showing some shade to felix, his personal friend, for not getting involved in the charity stream. He couldve been referancing anyone but your mind jumps straight to the worse-case scenario because you dislike someone and their fandom. And he didnt moan and whine about not hitting the goal to guilt trip the audience, he just states hes still proud of the amount they have but it doesnt match some targets theyve hit in the past and he feels some people he was in contact with about it didnt contribute as much as they couldve.

Get off your high horse and stop overanalysing people who are just talking about their feelings. And clickbait? Youre really complaining about clickbait as if mo other youtuber but sean has done a clickbait new years video? CRANKGAMEPLAYS LITTERALLY MADE A VIDEO CALLED "GOODBYE" THAT LOOKS LIKE AN "IM QUITTING YOUTUBE" VIDEO TO SAY GOODBYE TO 2021. I could easily overanalyse everything marliplier says in his videos and make him out like a selfish awful person, or twist crankgameplays words to make him a malicious evil person if i didnt like him. Why even put this in the main jse tag unless you yourself are "clout chasing" like you claim he is. I could easily twist your intentions as much as you can twist recontextualised words in his videos.

How about you just leave the "jse stannies" alone and get on with your life. If you dont like jse or its fandom, dont watch his videos amd dont interract with his fandom. Im not a fan of shane dawson and i hate his fandom, am i going to start posting in their tag about it? No. Because i dont like him and i have better things to do with my time than ruin some shane dawson stans day. Dont post in his tag if youre so above him and his fandom. Just go on with life and enjoy stuff rather than hate watching and stirring up shit.

And im not even going to put this on the persons post because im just so done with people who randomly love to twist peoples words when they havent done anything wrong. People really are giving this man more evil credit than hes probably capable of.

Im so baffled on hos someone can do a charity event and youre mad at people because they donated to charity. I mean come on man. Be better.

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kunthug · 2 years

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october, november, december, all wrapped in one, for final maybe not final notes // sketches for another wave

(scraps from a day this year)

i was afraid of dying. afraid of becoming god.[2]

eeyah, not me reblogging at the beginning of the year, “i am going to survive the year even if it kills me” and the year actually going on to do just that.💀

an impossible act, to wrap up the year inside a neat red bow and say this is what it is, what it was,

as much as what it could have been {this is always the most painful part, the prolonged yearning for the unlived, all deserved stalled by drab wordling.}

this is something it had been: “she referenced her elliptical contents monthly and wondered, bent at the edge of her bed, how her thin-paged life, her black-type days amounted to only this.”[3]

the void chased me, psssst-ing me around may

this year of spiraling, this year of uncertainties fucking me silly, the year of ten days to never forget—burning rage, god it was so much rage that burned straight to the earth’s core

& suddenly a rupture

& suddenly the visions started chasing me

visions of after the end of the world came, warground body warground, to nearly die but then died in some way?, a deity’s intervention,

frequencies unearthed from the body’s graveyard

unlocked where i then ran to the very edge, found gateways & was flung back to ordinary time i most certainly did not want to be in, reluctantly making do with life's flimsy pacifiers, these lean seductions.

living knows the most comical ways to humble hot heads like mine, it’s like 😋 why won’t you give up thrashing like a chicken in water and just drift?

drifting isn’t a subject unfamiliar , so legion-i, universes's ho, reclaimed spirals, reversed, took two steps back to origin(s), back to the water, back to sewing unknowables, lavender.

unspilled rage does nothing but eat you up, & i stopped getting frustrated, it only makes breathing worse & it meins these mfuckers win again & i’m too tired anyway. so i went along as what that being flung back said, hey there’s still much to do, so much glitter left to cry.

before now i’d noted how i was always coming of age, & growth being cranes in the sky you can’t really map, even with the most abstract tool. but this year i saw stuff liveeeeee

in the gift of erotic melancholia: “i am only becoming sexier and more inconsolable” over time,teehehehe. sad clownery to reverse adverse impact from brash moments of living.

growth in some mercurial stamina, but stamina all the same. how much i discovered my word is bond, my word is blood.

fear my fucken arch-nemesis i now know it’s shape. wasn’t it kincaid who says things are less threatening when there’s a name, a border around it? fear’s on a leash—on the way to being my bitch— in essence. #bigbrag like when it shoves it’s head in again, i can go say yo! you! go suck my toes.

less

ether-ine i have been, and hope to smear that into “the new year” in some form. let the heat of the hands find their way to make objects felt, seen, especially heard. letting all the tending on the inside flourish.

there’s been many notes on this aesthetics of a thing, and me, being in a state of both defining & we’ll see what happens, found a great big node to be reminded of:

david levi strauss noting in between dog and wolf that in ancient times, before there were anaesthetics for pain, there was just aesthetics: art(aesthetics, form of sensation) bridge-holders for pain, there's something else holding that shit.

it's more than just a studio note, as the year instructed to return back to being an artist, whether i call myself one or not. externalise boo, externalize. essentially this always: the lived poetry— life being total art, but also making tangible things out of it

for the destruction of work & the proliferation of joy.[1]

understanding that ones poeisis can be a way of inwardly and outwardly facing away from the oppression of these many orders. i learnt that too strongly this year, facing away not being ignoring (how could you sef, with all the violence in air) but attending to things it snatches from u

learnt the essence of smallness, all its big potentials, comfort in the very act of creation. similar to august wilson who mused: "you create the work to exalt and celebrate a common humanity."

that’s it, some sort of mantra to remember ? that liberation is in the day to day.

good grief! all the things i said bye to.

a year eros tarried and carried me still,

big big expanse inland, the world was happening inside. the body that i am longs still, i am still stretching the limits of my longing.

but i try to make a practice of gratitude, make space for grief and make a repeated exercise of seducing that other world here in trickles, gleam as the moon, strong intentions on pleasure, upward spirals only, learn slowly in the mistakes, slice time even more for bloodgems, seed, love all the new growth that came from fracturing-as-opening: humor, etherine still but here, still here, very here. homesick but doing this thing of rooting i know i’m capable of.

i’d hoped this spiral will string along many other lovely things than words, but perhaps more intent with this in the coming months? this is the only picture that— bruhh idek—just makes sense

it’s always been the sensate for me, so i’m abiding with this other unrelated space that just, again, makes sense

extra to this: [4] more. [5]

and to dot, not scheming, just reclining in the prayer father left today, what i’ll find in the mercy of the blood, grace of ancestral lineage.

& these secret prayers, asé. these new architectures, asé. this new divination. moving wild and calm still.

i’m exhausted but ready…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[2] spill: scenes of black feminist fugitivity, alexis pauline gumbs, pg. 61.

[3] spill: scenes of black feminist fugitivity, alexis pauline gumbs, pg. 22.

#bruhh this year was wild #wilder than these #mild lyrics

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tikkisaram · 4 years

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How the Ginch Took Xmas!

[Dr. Seuss - How the Grinch Stole Christmas!]

We cap off Christmas week with a monumental lipolation longer than many a blessay. I hope you will appreciate the time and effort that went into lipolating one of the best christmas poems of all time! ;^)

To each Who Down in Who-town Xmas hit just the spot...

To the Ginch, Who was just outside town, It did NOT!

The Ginch hated Xmas! The fun Xmas time! Now, don't ask me why. It's as asking a mime. It might be St. Nick once beat him in a fight. It might be he found his two shoes a bit tight. But I think that the most fitting option would be That what beat in his chest was the size of a pea.

But, What might be the why, The beat, his two shoes, He stood up on Xmas Eve, hating the Whos. Pouting up in his cave as he stood gawking down At the shine of the windows in the joyous town. As he knew that each Who down in Who-town today Was busy now hanging a poinsettia bouquet.

"See them hang up the stockings!" he shouted at noon. "The next day is Xmas! It's coming so soon!" Then he snapped, and jumped up and down, in the snow numbing. "I MUST find some way to stop that Xmas coming!"

As the next day, he knew... ...That the Who -ettes and boys Would wake up at seven. They'd dash to the toys! And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the Noise! Noise! Noise! Noise! That's one thing he hated! The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!

Then the Whos, young and aged, would sit down to a feast. And they'd feast! And they'd feast! And they'd FEAST! FEAST! FEAST! FEAST! They would feast on Who-pudding, and the Who-baked-beast And the Ginch, who was vegan,1 couldn't stand so much yeast!

And THEN They'd do something Upsetting his hiney: Each Who down in Who-town, the big and the tiny, Would stand one by one, with the Xmas chimes dinging. They'd stand hand-in-hand. And the Whos would be singing! They'd sing! And they'd sing! AND they'd SING! SING! SING! SING! As he thought of the noise of the Who-Xmas-Sing, The Ginch shouted out, "I must stop this mad thing! "Why, five decades and half I've put up with it now! "I MUST stop this Xmas at once! ...oh, but HOW?"

Then he got an idea! A nasty idea! THE GINCH GOT A NASTY, FANTASTIC IDEA!

"I know just what to do!" he guffawed as a goat. And he made up a quick Santy hat and a coat. He guffawed and he said, "I'm so Ginchy and quick! "With this coat and this hat, they should think I'm Saint Nick!"

"Now I need me a moose..." And the Ginch gazed about. But, with no moose in sight, he had no hope, no doubt. Did that stop the mean Ginch...? No! The mean Ginch just said, "If I can't find a moose, I should make one instead!" So he summoned his dog, Max, who jumped out of bed And the Ginch tied a stick on the top of his head.

THEN He packed up some bags And a few empty sacks And a big wooden box And he hitched up his Max.

Then the Ginch said, "Giddap!" And they came speeding down To the homes of the Whos In the big snoozing town.

The Whos' windows stayed dim as Max dashed in the snow. Each Who was a-snooze as the scheme was a go. The Ginch came to a house with a faux "Ho! Ho! Ho!" "This is Ginchy stop one," the defiant Ginch hissed And got up on the house, empty bags in his fist.

Then he squeezed down the chimney. A bit of a pinch. But, if Santa could do it, then so could the Ginch. The Ginch said goodbye to his speedy moose mutt, Then he stuck his head out of the deep chimney soot. He saw the Who stockings hung up nice and neat. "You, stockings!" he said, "Meet the taste of defeat!"

Then the Ginch stepped about with a sneak and a shift, He went off to the bush, and he picked up each gift! Pop guns! And pink bikes! And bongos to beat! A big Seussy poem book!2 Hot Mince pies! And sweets! And he stuffed them in bags. Then the Ginch, oh so nimney, Stuffed each big bag, one by one, up the chimney!

Then he sneaked to the icebox. He took the Whos' feast! He took the Who-pudding! He took the baked beast! He emptied that icebox in a disgusted dash. Why, that Ginch even took the big can of Who-hash!

Up the chute went the food with a mighty big push. "And NOW!" beamed the Ginch, "I should stuff up the bush!"

And the Ginch took the bush, began to push and shove And then came an odd sound as the coo of a dove. The Ginch stopped the shove, and he saw a shy Who! Tiny Tikki-Too Who,3 who was not even two.

The Ginch had been caught by this tiny Who being Who'd got out of bed in the need of a weeing. It gawked at the Ginch and said, "Santy, but why, "Why do you have Tikki's Xmas bush? WHY?"

But you know that the Ginch was as wise as Saint Nick, He thought up a fib, and he thought it up quick! "Why, my sweet tinsy tot," the fake Santy hoodwinked, "On the Xmas bush one of the candy canes pinked. "It cannot be eaten in that shade, my honey. "I can fix it at my shop using just my own money!"

His fib duped the Who. Then he patted its head And he got it a cup and he sent it to bed. And when Tikki-Too Who went to bed with the cup, HE went to the chimney and stuffed the bush up!

As he went back he took The big stick in the chute! Then he went up the chute, thinking he was quite cute. Not a thing stayed behind, not a sock, not a boot.

And the one speck of food That had stayed in the house Was so tiny it wouldn't feed even a mouse.

Then He did the same thing To each of the Whos' houses

And specks stayed, Much too tiny To feed the Whos' mouses!

It was ten past dawn... And the Whos stayed a-bed, And the Whos stayed a-snooze As away the Ginch sped, His sack packed with the gifts! And the paintings! The books! The tags! And the cakes! And the hats! The toy ducks!

Five thousand feet up! Up the side of Mt. Mumpit,4 He sped with his sack to the tiptop to dump it, "Pooh-Pooh to the Whos!" he stood ginchy ginch humming. "Now to see them find out that no Xmas is coming! "See the Whos waking up and then see what they do! "See those mouths hanging open a minute, no, two! "See the Whos down in Who-town shout out BOO-HOO-HOO!"

The Ginch thanked his Max and commended his Fitness. "Now this is the noise" he said, "I have to witness!" And then did come a sound down among the Who bushes. It began to get big as it came up in hushes...

But the sound wasn't sad! Why, this sound sounded happy! It couldn't be so! It was happy and sappy!

He gawked down at Who-town! The Ginch popped his eyes! Then he shook! What he saw sent him up to the skies!

Each Who down in Who-town, the big and the tiny, Was jumping and singing and shaking its hiney!

He had NOT stopped the coming of Xmas! IT CAME! Somehow and someway, it came just the same!

And the Ginch, with his Ginch-feet so icy in snow, Stood asking and asking; "How could it be so?" "It came without gifts! And it came without tags! "It came without packages, boxes and bags!" And he thought and he thought, but ideas had few. Then the Ginch thought of something so stunning and new! "Maybe Xmas," he thought, "is not something to buy." "Maybe Xmas... is not just a pain in the eye!"

And what happened then...? Why, in Who-town they say That the beat of his chest Went up five times that day! And the minute it stopped seeming so tiny-tight, He whizzed back with his sack in a fantastic sight And he gave back the toys! And the food of the feast!

And he...

...HE, THE GINCH...! Joined with a vegan beast!

This interpretation of his motives may be judged slightly controversial, but I think it is a worthy addition to the poem. ↩︎

Dr. Seuss's modesty clearly stopped him from inserting himself directly into the poem, but I amend that omission because I think that he deserves to feature here, being such a famous and talented poet. ↩︎

The incident described here is only semi-autobiographical. ↩︎

I initially simply removed the 'R' from the original "Mt. Crumpit", but I realised that this approach gave a name which might not be appropriate in a children's poem. ↩︎

#lipolation #poetry #constrained writing #dr. seuss #pweek #christmas

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jadekitty777 · 4 years

Text

Who Needs Genetics When We Have Family?: Chapter 2

It is here! The last and final part of the Golden Hummingbird series. This chapter is no joke, as it’s certainly the longest by far. For those of you who have been missing Summer these past few chapters, don’t worry she makes a great return in this one.

Thank you to those who have been on this journey with me, it’s been a blast!

Word Count: 10k+

Pairing: Summer/Tai/Qrow

Ao3 Link: Chapter 2

Summary: While going through her mom’s old clothes, Ruby discovers an old scrap book that reveals she may have one additional parent she never knew about. Now questioning everything from how the trio ended up together down to her very identity, Tai and Qrow find themselves with a lot to answer for. [Takes place Post-Canon]

Five minutes in and the tick-tick-tick from the clock on the wall was already driving Ruby crazy. Medical offices had a thing for loud clocks, didn’t they?

She sighed, crossing her legs. Uncrossed them. Started drumming her fingers on the table. Stopped. Bounced her right foot.

Looked at the clock.

A minute and a half later.

“Ugggh.” Ruby groaned, flopping over the circular table’s surface.

“Wow they sure have interesting placemats here.”

She turned her head to the side, overexaggerating her frown so dad would know his dumb jokes weren’t appreciated.

He only smiled back, setting a Styrofoam cup by her head. “Brought you some tea. It’ll calm your nerves.”

Ruby resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She was pretty sure he thought tea was the cure to everything. Still, she sat up, feeling the steam waft up onto her face when she brought it close, taking a sip. “Not feeling any calmer.” She announced petulantly, then immediately felt guilty about it. “Sorry, I’m just… I don’t know.”

Her dad reached out, brushing back some of her hair and tucking it behind her ear. “Sweetheart, if you’re not ready, we can leave.”

“No. No, that wouldn’t be right after I dragged you both through all this.” She said, shaking her head.

“And there’s no problem if we have to do it all over again.” He reassured. Normally, such a thing would calm her, but it only made her more mixed up inside.

Another chair scraped along the tile, and her uncle gave a loud sigh as he fell into it, draping an arm over the back and nursing a cup of coffee in one hand. “If it makes you feel any better kiddo, I’m pretty nervous too.”

“Yeah, must be hard, maybe having to admit you’re an irresponsible adult.” Yang mocked as she took the final seat across from her.

“Just for that backtalk, you’re grounded firecracker.” He replied without any real sincerity.

“Hah, as if! You’re not my dad at least!” She said, sticking her tongue out at him.

Ruby slid down in her seat a little, gripping her cup harder.

Dad seemed to take note and intervened, “Alright you two, that’s enough.” He looked between them all. “Perhaps we can think of something more constructive to do while we wait?”

Yang pressed her chin into her metal hand contemplatively. “How about you guys tell us some stories? There’s a lot of stuff I still want to know.”

She perked up at the suggestion, leaping back up. “Yeah, me too!”

“‘Suppose we could do that.” Qrow shrugged, setting his drink on the table. “Ask away.”

Her sister went first. “How’d you guys get together?”

“Boo, that’s the boring one.” Ruby heckled.

“How?!”

Tai scratched his chin. “Eh, actually it kind of is.”

“From your perspective, it is.” Qrow refuted. “For Sums, it had been like the Second Great War was happening. But!” He held up a hand, “I’m getting ahead of myself. Things actually started a bit further back. One day,”

…They were actually playing Truth or Dare. It was apparently a game kids played during sleepovers – but Qrow, whose childhood had been rather absent of such things, had never experienced it. Summer and her enormously large heart could never stand hearing such atrocities, so she tended to get a little gung-ho about having him ‘relive’ his childhood.

“Okay, truth or dare?” He said, scratching vigorously at his skull. Little pink flakes rained down from the paint he’d been dared to put in his hair.

“Truth.” Summer was sprawled along the couch, her feet propped up in his lap. They’d been playing for awhile now and both of them were struggling to stay awake.

“Uh, I dunno?” He yawned, laying his head on the arm of the couch. “Who’d you like back at Beacon?”

She smacked her heel against his thigh. “You, dummy.”

“Besides me! Come on, there had to be someone.”

“I guess – okay, you promise you won’t laugh, right?”

He cracked an eye open. “If you say Bart, I make no promises.”

“No!” She looked away. “It, it was Tai.”

That woke him up. “Wait, seriously? When? Don’t tell me when Raven-”

“No, way before then. In First Year.” Summer rubbed the side of her neck, chuckling. “I was really crushing on him. I used to try and sit behind him in class so I could stare at him without him knowing. And um, I would invade the gym when he was finished training because I knew he’d be getting out of the showers soon.”

He sat up straight, grinning. “Oh wow, stalker Summer? I’ve just learned a whole new side of you.”

“S-Shut up!” She hid her face in the cushions, her words becoming muffled. “I know it was dumb.”

“You never asked him out though.”

When she found it in her to come out of her hiding, she was frowning. “I couldn’t. Remember when we failed first semester and Professor Peach pulled us in one by one to her office and talked with us? She’d noticed how I favored Tai over you two. A lot. I remember she’d told me I needed to decide if I was there to be a Huntress or to be a housewife. I was so ashamed, but she was right. I was supposed to lead you guys and here I was, playing favorites.”

Qrow tried to think back on that year, but he’d never noticed. Probably because he’d spent a fair amount of time isolating himself from the other half of his team as much as possible, hoping maybe, just maybe, they wouldn’t figure out his semblance if he did. It was that that Peach had reprimanded him about. She didn’t understand why he was keeping his distance though, so he didn’t take any of her grand speeches about ‘teamwork’ to heart.

But now that he thought about it, it was right after their failure that Summer practically stuck to him like a damn burr. He remembered Raven complaining about the same. “Huh. That’s why you kept looking for me during lunchtime.”

“Yeah.” She laughed. “I’m sorry I wasn’t before.”

He shrugged it off. “Eh, it’s not like I had wanted you around.”

“Ouch.” Summer placed a hand over her heart like he’d struck an arrow through it. “Qrow how could you hurt me this way?”

“Oh shut up.” He tickled her foot, laughing when she squealed and started trying to kick him away. She eventually turtled herself to keep him away, so he let her be, instead slouching more on the couch and propping his legs up on the coffee table. “Well, I guess if you were going to ignore me for anyone, I can understand why. Tai’s quite a looker.”

She snorted. “What?”

“Those arm muscles? Those pretty blue eyes? That infuriatingly cute smile? He’s totally my type.”

“And the truth comes out! Qrow had a guy crush!” Summer teased, poking his side with her big toe.

“Hah, oh come off it. You know I didn’t get serious about anyone back then.” He hesitated, then smiled her way. “Not until you that is.”

Her expression softened, before she eventually sat up and wound her arms around his neck. “And I’m glad you did.” She kissed his cheek. “Come on, let’s go to bed.”

“At the time, it was just a conversation, but I always look back on it now and realized maybe I laid a foundation for some of Summer’s old feelings to come back.” Qrow explained.

“What do you mean?” Ruby asked.

It was dad who sighed, rubbing a hand over his forehead. “If I remember right, I called three days after this, didn’t I?”

“Mm.” He nodded. “Give or take.”

“She’s saying she’s going to leave after the baby’s born! And if I keep bringing it up, she says she’ll leave now and make sure I’ll never see them!”

Summer gripped her scroll tight as she scowled, but her voice came out calm and firm. “That’s not going to happen. We won’t let her do that.”

Qrow swallowed hard, hearing how Tai’s breath hitched over a sob. “I don’t know what to do guys. I don’t understand. What did I do wrong?”

“Hey,” He spoke up, as soft as he could manage, “For now just, play it her way. We’ll be there soon, right?”

He looked at his girlfriend, who had the same look of determination she got whenever they began a new mission. “Yeah, we’re on our way.”

“I think we were hoping we’d swoop in and save the day.” Their uncle explained, his laugh bitter.

Dad’s smile was sad. “If I’m being honest. I was hoping that too.”

“But man, did Summer scream. I swear if Raven wasn’t pregnant, flowerbud would have kicked the shit out of her.”

“Do you think mom would have done it?” Yang spoke up, voice small. “Taken me, I mean?”

Ruby shifted uncomfortably, suddenly wondering if there were laws against a mother kidnapping their own kid.

Dad turned to Yang, placing a hand on her arm. “I don’t think so. When Raven wanted to get her way, she could be pretty awful about making sure it happened.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me any of this before I went to go see her?” Her sister asked.

“I wanted you to form your opinions about her. How could you, if all I did was give you this impression that she was a horrible person?”

“But she is a horrible person!” Ruby burst out before she could stop herself. Her whole family turned to look at her, varying degrees of shock on their faces. Her cheeks flushed and she slunk down a little. “Uh, s-sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. You’re not wrong.” Her uncle cut in acidly, “Raven made her terrible choices, now she has to lie with them.”

Dad looked his way. “That’s, kind of surprising, coming from you Qrow.”

“Yeah well,” He scoffed. “Guess I finally saw the light.”

Ruby couldn’t decipher the look on dad’s face. Sympathetic maybe? Hoping to put this conversation back on track, she spoke up, “So uh, what happened next?”

Luckily, Dad was on board with it. “Well, after Raven left, I needed help. We had all these plans about taking alternate missions so that one of us was always home, but with her gone, all that just fell apart; and I didn’t have another job to fall back on. Summer and Qrow offered to move in while I looked for something sustainable. It was supposed to be temporary. But what was supposed to be a few weeks turned into a few months. Then it was four months. Then six.”

Qrow chuckled, finding some of his humor again. “That was about when the Second War happened.”

“Didn’t you hear me?!” Summer was pacing the floor of their bedroom, hands knotted up in her hair.

“Yeah, I heard you.” Qrow watched her from the bed, leaning back against the headboard. “I just don’t see what the problem is?”

She whirled on him. “How can you not! I just told you I like another guy!”

“So?”

“…So? So!?!? Aren’t you mad? Jealous?! Something?!”

He held her gaze, asking her seriously, “Are you going to leave me?”

“What? No!!” She cried back.

“Then it’s fine.” He relaxed back again.

“No, it’s not! I shouldn’t like anyone else! It should only be you!” He started to worry when her distress began to hint on tears.

“Hey, hey come here.” He called softly, and she came. He let her curl up against his side, wrapping an arm around her and soothing a hand through her hair. “Look, I get it. Being from Atlas, you’re surrounded by all these… close-minded pricks who will tell you there’s only one way to be and one way to think. But you and I have been around the world. How many people have you met that have told you differently?”

She sniffled, “A lot, I guess. But I still don’t get why you’re so okay with this.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

She placed a hand on his chest. “Sweetheart, don’t take this the wrong way but, you can be pretty insecure sometimes.”

He blinked. Huh. Why… didn’t it bother him? As he thought about it though, there was only one conclusion he could make. “I, I guess, being with you is just one of the things I feel really certain about.”

Her eyes widened marginally, and then she reached up, cupping his face in her hand. “Qrow, I love you.”

He smiled, turning his head to kiss her palm. “Love you too.”

“Aaah!” Yang swooned.

“Qrow can be extremely romantic when he’s not trying.” Dad chuckled, chin in his hand. It made Ruby notice the ring he was wearing – one of her uncle’s; the black and white one he always had on his index finger. She looked from him to her uncle, who was trying to feign off his embarrassment with an overexaggerated cough.

“Anyways,” Uncle Qrow diverted, “It was pretty obvious Summer’s feelings weren’t going anywhere soon, and we weren’t just going to leave Taiyang high and dry when he needed us the most. So, we figured, maybe trying to date each other was the best solution?”

“That was the best solution?” Yang echoed, disbelieving.

He shrugged. “Eh, better then running off without any real explanation, or trying to ignore it and just letting all the tension become unbearable. The worst Tai could do is say no.”

“And I did say no. At least, at first.”

“I’m sorry, but what?” Tai looked at them from the dough he’d been kneading for bread, flour smudges dotting his face. “You guys are messing with me.”

Summer was rocking nervously on her feet, her hands clasped behind her. “Tai, we wouldn’t joke about this. We’re not that mean.”

“I, still!” He shook his head, feeling like his brain just couldn’t compute what it was being told. “You two are just okay with this?”

“I mean, we’re the ones asking. So, yeah.” Qrow spoke up from where he sat on the countertop.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to though.” Summer added hurriedly. “I know you’re under a lot of stress right now and, maybe dating isn’t really a big priority on your mind. Especially if you’re looking for someone more like Raven-”

“Trust me,” He scoffed, rolling the dough with a bit more ferocity. “Dating someone like Raven is the last thing I’ll ever do.” He sighed then, shaking his head. “It’s just, look I don’t want to come between you two-”

“Coming between us actually sounds pretty nice.” Qrow leered.

“Qrow!” Summer smacked his arm.

Tai flushed a little, sparing his old partner an admonishing look. “You’re terrible.” That only earned him a wink. “Anyways, you know what I mean. Besides, how would it even work?”

“We’d do it at your pace.” Summer said, crossing over to his end of the kitchen. “Just because Qrow and I are well-established doesn’t mean we can’t take things slow for you. If that’s what you want.”

“Yeah. And if it’s too weird, then it’s too weird.” The other man added. “We call it quits and laugh about it in a few years from now.”

They were really serious about this, weren’t they?

He bit the inside of his cheek, looking down as doubts and fears spiraled through his mind. “Can I think about this for a little while?”

She placed a gentle hand on his arm. “Of course. Take as much time as you need.”

“I remember considering every possible tragedy for days.” Dad laughed softly, his gaze distant, seeing way past the little breakroom they were in. “Brought up each and every one of them – and one day Summer pointed out that I was only ever talking about everything that could go wrong. I never once seemed to consider that anything could go well. When I realized I was only holding myself back, it was easier to say yes.”

“Even though it wasn’t that long after m- Raven left?” Yang asked.

“Remember what I would tell you girls all the time during training? That the most dangerous thing you can do is wait too long to act?”

Oh, Ruby remembered alright; it was practically a mantra in her brain. Sometimes, she wondered if it was because of that single statement that her semblance became speed based.

“Well, that’s a Vacuon saying.” Their dad continued. “But, back home, it didn’t just apply to combat. The whole continent is just one big death trap waiting to happen – there’s no time for second guesses or hesitation for a lot of stuff. Especially love. So that’s what friends would say to each other when they were pining over someone; because come tomorrow, you or they could be gone.” He sighed. “The only thing I wasn’t ready for was losing someone again.”

“But who’s ever ready for that?” Qrow said, downing the remainder of his coffee.

Ruby looked his way. “How long were you and mom together before all this?”

He gave a thoughtful grunt. “We got together towards the end of third year. Didn’t really become serious until the end of fourth though. We’d been together about three years by the time this dork joined us.” He indicated the man across from him. “The three of us got serious a lot faster.”

She calculated the rest in her head. Four total for dad and mom, seven for mom and Qrow. Just a few years ago, that would have sounded like a lifetime to her – but her experiences both at Beacon and beyond taught her just how quickly time went by. She wished it had been longer or that even a fifth chair at this very table could have been filled.

“Though, I never expected it to get that far.”

She found herself pulled from her thoughts, glancing towards her uncle. “What do you mean?”

He both half-shrugged and half-smiled, making him look a bit askew. “When Tai first accepted, I had no expectations. I figured we’d all go on a few dates, just kind of enjoy things for a while, and then we’d probably move on.”

“I thought that way at first too.” Dad agreed. “But one morning, I woke up with both of you on either side of me, and realized I didn’t want you two to ever leave. That’s when I decided I wanted more than a fling.”

It was Qrow’s turn to look a little distant. “Heh, I remember the exact moment I fell in love with each of you.”

Dad rose an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“After the picnic - the one for your birthday? When we were watching the rain. I kind of just looked at you and,” He waved his hand fruitlessly in the air, trying to grasp at words he couldn’t say. “Well, it just clicked.”

“What about with-”

He held up a hand to stop Yang, grinning sheepishly now. “That one is not PG-rated, firecracker. Let’s just say, Sums looks really gorgeous in the moonlight.”

That brought about an onslaught of half-formed ideas Ruby quickly discarded before she grossed herself out. Desperate to change the topic, she hastily inquired, “Who proposed?”

The two men shared a look, saying in unison, “Summer did.”

Summer was not a romantic. That was as true as the grass was green.

So, when Tai and Qrow arrived home to see a double-locked box placed on the table, an envelope addressed to each of them set in front of it, they were surprised to say the least.

“It’s a… riddle?” Tai asked once he’d finished reading his letter over.

Summer gave an affirmative hum. She was sitting on the couch, rocking Yang to sleep. “One for each of you. The answers lead to the keys that open the box.”

“Uh, Summer, not that I don’t appreciate the effort and all, but you know I’m not a strong reader, right?” Qrow appeared a bit conflicted.

“I never said you couldn’t help each other.” She smiled at them.

They looked at each other, quickly trading their letters. Tai read over Qrow’s carefully.

I see the moon set and the sun rise,

I’m close to the heart but I’m the head.

Where am I?

Qrow scratched the back of his head. “I don’t think I get this one either.”

Their girlfriend got to her feet. “While you two figure it out, I’m going to lay Yang down for her nap.”

The moment she was up the stairs, his boyfriend eyed the box. “We could just break into it.”

“No!” Tai bumped their hips together, both of them chuckling. “Come on man, we can do this. Riddles are all about personifying something with characteristics it doesn’t normally have. I doubt Summer hid these the keys very far either, so they’ve got to be somewhere around here.”

“You know where mine is, don’t you?”

He smiled guiltily. “I have a few guesses. But I know you’re smart enough to figure it out. Just think about it – what in the house sees the sun and moon set?”

He watched as the other man pivoted slowly on his heels, looking around for anything to jog the answer. When he got three-quarters around, the door caught his attention – or more specifically, the glass in the center of it. ”A window.” Three seconds later, his eyes widened. “Our bedroom window.”

Gods, he was cute when he was excited. “Yeah, that was my first thought.”

Tai followed him up the stairs and down the hall to their room, watching Qrow quickly flock to the window on one side of the room. Finding nothing there, he hurried to the other side.

Nothing.

“It’s not here.” Qrow grumbled, tapping his foot. “Read it to me again.” After Tai had complied, he stood there, murmuring to himself. “The sun rises…” He looked to one window, “But the moon sets.” He looked to the opposite. “Whatever it is has to see both. But it’s at the top- Oh!” He whirled, yanking open the window in enthusiastic fervor before leaping right out in a flurry of feathers.

“Eureka, I think he’s got it.” Tai grinned as the little crow went flying up towards the roof. A few moments later, he was returning, a metal key held triumphantly in his beak. Tai rose his arm, allowing the bird to land on his gauntlet. “Good job.” He reached up to pet him on the head, a gesture that Qrow would never, ever admit he liked but also never complained he got. “Alright, let’s find the other one.”

Returning downstairs, one prize in hand, they found Summer was back on the couch.

Qrow showed off the key to her. “Your little nest up there was a nice touch.”

She giggled. “I thought you’d like it.” She looked to him. “Figure out the other one yet?”

“Not quite.” Tai read his over once more.

My life is a world of color.

Brown, green, yellow, brown again.

Where am I?

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Has to be something with all these colors.”

“You don’t say?” Summer quipped unhelpfully.

“Careful, your Atlesian snob is showing.” She stuck her tongue out at him. He stuck his right back.

Qrow laid his arm on his shoulder, leaning in. “I don’t get yours at all. Why are the colors repeating?”

“Huh?”

“Well it says ‘again’. That means it’s repeating, right?”

Repeating? He looked at the riddle one more time.

No.

They were cycling. Cycling through life. And there was only one thing in the house that did that.

He pointed the letter at Summer, “That was clever.” Before gently pushing Qrow off of him so he could head outside.

As he searched through his garden, he heard the faintest shout of ‘Oh, the flowers!’ from his boyfriend that made him chuckle. It didn’t take him long to find the key, placed delicately on one corner of the wooden frame. He picked it up before going back inside.

He clinked his together with Qrow’s like celebratory wine glasses. “We are officially key buddies.”

Summer stood, patting the top of the box. “Alright, time for the prize. You guys ready?”

Oh right! He’d been so caught up solving the riddles, he hadn’t even thought of what could possibly be inside and it was so left-field for Summer to do something like this that it was hard to imagine what she’d feel was worth so much effort. As he and Qrow turned their key in the locks and opened it, nothing he had in mind even came close.

It in itself wasn’t anything outstandingly special – just a simple piece of white paper with a single question on it. But the question itself was enormous.

Will you two marry me?

Qrow was the first to react. “Summer, you really want this?”

She was a ball of nervousness, biting her lip and holding fistfuls of her skirt. All she could do was nod.

The shock faded to joy, and then the other man was leaping up, pulling her into his arms. “Yeah! Yes! Of course I’ll marry you.” The relief on her face was almost instant.

Watching them hug and laugh, Tai almost felt like an outsider. He wanted to share in it but, he couldn’t. There was a huge problem with all of this.

“Tai? Are you okay?” Summer’s voice was small, drawing his eyes to her. The two had stopped celebrating when they realized he was still standing there, shell-shocked. “If, if you want to say no-”

His chest clenched. No, no, that wasn’t it! He couldn’t let her think that. He said in a rush, “Summer, I’d marry you in a heartbeat. That’s, not the problem.”

“Then what is?” Qrow asked. “If it’s ‘cause you and Rae still legally are, we can-”

“That’s not it either. We divorced.” He cut in, his stomach fluttering as the butterflies invaded.

If they didn’t get it, there was only one thing to do.

With the table between them, Tai just decided to use it, standing on it, only to get down on one knee. He took one of Qrow’s hands in his, meeting his eyes. “I can’t say yes to Summer, until you say yes to me.”

The look that crossed his face was one of surprise, then it dissolved into laughter. “That’s all you need? By the Gods Tai! You were scaring me!” The laughter faded to something more sincere as his hand clung to his and Qrow lent down until their foreheads almost brushed. “Yes. Absolutely yes.”

Tai was so happy, he kissed him.

And then, when they pulled apart, he kissed Summer next.

Then Qrow kissed her.

“Boys, there’s something else.” She was giggling, grinning, an arm around each of their necks, tears of joy beaded in the corners of her eyes. “The box has a false bottom. There’s something else in there you both really need to see.”

“What is it, our engagement rings?” Qrow said as he pulled away, and though he was joking, it was probably the right guess.

Tai slipped off the table. They found the nick in the wood, and used one of the keys to pull out the wooden board.

Underneath was just another slip of paper with two single, life-changing words written on it.

We’re pregnant.

“That’s how she told you?!” Ruby nearly shrieked her delight.

Qrow ruffled her hair. “Yep. That’s how we found out about you kiddo.”

“It’s a moment I’ll never forget.” Dad beamed. “We were so busy those days, planning for you and the wedding.”

“June 21st, right?” Yang asked. Her expression was strange, like she wasn’t quite understanding something.

“Yep, the-”

“First day of summer. We know dad.” Ruby finished before he could. He was always so ridiculously proud of that fact.

But his mirth, if possible, was even more uncontainable than usual. “And it’s when the last of the newborn crows are learning to fly. You know, the ones born in May.”

She stared. “Dad… why?” Surely there were laws against being that cheesy, right?

Her uncle, whose birthday truly was in May, groaned. “I’m convinced it’s because he wanted to pester me with it for the rest of my life.”

“It’s a great bonus.” He winked, ducking under the empty Styrofoam cup that was tossed at him. “Don’t litter!”

“I was throwing it at the trash.” Was his argument.

“Oh har de har.”

In the lull that followed as her dad stood to properly dispose of the cup, Ruby glanced at the clock. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw it was only five minutes later from the last time she checked. What? That was impossible!

“That doesn’t make sense.”

At first, Ruby thought her sister had noticed the clock as well, but her frown was directed at their uncle.

“What doesn’t?” He asked.

“Dad’s birthday is in August.”

“Uh, yeah? ‘Fraid I ain’t following.”

Yang’s eyes narrowed. “Did you marry dad before you were in love with him?”

What? What was she talking about? Ruby had to backpedal through the conversation to catch up, until she recalled what her uncle had said about the rainstorm after the picnic. That would have happened an entire two months after the wedding.

“Uh, well.” Uncle Qrow rubbed the back of his head, looking a little sheepish.

Dad’s chair scrapped as he plopped back down into it. “Dragon, I hate to be the one to break this to you, but your uncle is not the brightest crayon in the box.”

“I think you earn that spot buddy, considering you still married me.”

“You used illegal wooing!”

Nights in Patch were quiet this early into spring, where the island had not yet fully come to life after winter’s sleep. That’s why Qrow could easily hear him coming well before he reached the spot where he was hidden at the bottom of the porch steps.

“You’re drinking?” Tai asked.

“Got something to celebrate, right?” He lifted an unopened bottle from the six pack on the ground, offering it towards him. “Join me?”

His fiancé – that was going to take some getting used to – hesitated, before coming down the steps to sit beside him, taking the proffered drink and twisting off the cap. “Cheers.”

They clinked the bottles together, taking a long, generous gulp. Qrow sighed, propping himself up by his elbows on one of the steps behind him. “Where’s Sums?”

Tai settled back against the railing so he could look at him, letting the bottle dangle from his fingers. “Turned in for the night. Guess now we know why she’s been so tired lately.”

“And cranky.” He joked, taking another sip. He set the bottle down beside him. “Been thinking. Since she’s gonna be calling up Oz to sideline herself, maybe I should ask him if he’ll increase my field time instead. Keep our income steady.”

“And keep yourself away.” Tai remarked bluntly.

He did his best not to flinch. Should have expected he’d see right through him. “It’s safer that way.”

“And what excuses will you make when the baby’s here?”

“Stop.”

“Qrow-”

“Drop it.” He ordered, giving him a sharp look. “Stuff like that is easy for you to say. You don’t know what it’s like, living life with only loaded dice to play with.”

Tai frowned. “Is that why you said yes? Am I just another gamble?”

The abrupt change in topic threw him off balance, irritation washed away by confusion. “What are you talking about?”

He sighed, looking out towards the field. “I know you’ve never been good at expressing certain emotions. So when you said yes to marrying me, it made me really happy. Because I thought maybe that was your way of telling me you loved me. But…” The small smile that had formed fell quickly. “It wasn’t, was it?”

“Of course not.” From the way Tai’s face immediately twisted with hurt, Qrow realized that had not been the right thing to say. “That’s not, I mean – shit! Let me explain.” He sat up, very aware of the eyes following him. He ran a hand over the back of his neck, hoping this was going to make some semblance of sense. “Okay so, people get together and fall in love all the time, right? There’s not really anything more required than that – so what’s a marriage for?”

“Uh, to commit yourself to that person?”

“Exactly! I,” He faltered, the words trying to get stuck in his throat. But for all he couldn’t tell Tai, he had to say this. “My entire life, I’ve spent feeling like I didn’t belong anywhere. Even the tribe, a bunch of lowlifes, didn’t want me. That’s why I ended up at Beacon. It was their way of kicking me out.”

He looked towards the sky and its broken moon. From his bed in the dorm, he always sought that sight before going to sleep. Seeing it through their window, he used to imagine the wooden stripes dividing the glass into squares were the bars of a jail cell. Because that was what the school had felt like: somewhere he’d been locked away, so he couldn’t return home.

But over time, without him noticing, that feeling slowly changed. It wasn’t until they left the window open one hot night, and the sky was open and free, that Qrow felt likewise.

“For the longest time, I was convinced Beacon would be just the same. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. But it never did.” He looked to the other man. “You and Summer accepted me in a way no one else has. I look at you two and I see home.” He reached out, laying his hand over Tai’s. “I guess what I’m saying is, I may not be ready to say I love you yet, but I am ready to say that I’ll be by your side forever.”

Tai’s eyes widened. Then they started to glisten.

“A-Are you crying?”

“No!” He hastily wiped away the evidence, sniffling. “Just meant a lot to hear something like that.”

Qrow snickered softly. What a hopeless romantic. “If that’s not enough though, I understand. We can wait. All of this is really fast for you and, erm-” The feeling of Tai’s fingers slipping into his own cut him off.

“After a declaration like that, how could I ever want to wait?”

“Looking back on it, we really should have. It could have gone wrong in about a hundred thousand different ways.” Dad reflected. “But we were 23 and stupid.”

“Hey, I’m 43 and still stupid.” Qrow joked as he got to his feet.

“You’re 45 Qrow.”

“See? Proved my own point.” He threw back over his shoulder, heading for the various drink machines set on the counter.

Ruby bit her lip to stop herself from giggling. As they waited for him to get back, she sipped at her tea and thought of something else to ask. The wedding seemed like an obvious one, but she already knew the details on that one – or well, she knew them as long as she added her uncle to it.

Dad had told her long ago that it had been a simple backyard affair, with as many of dad and mom’s sides of the family invited as they could find as well as any classmates from Beacon that hadn’t yet moved away from the area and some local friends from Patch. They had said their vows underneath the tallest Maple tree in the yard. Then dad, mom – and Qrow – climbed up into tree and placed a nest within its branches, a symbolic sign of the new life to come to their home and their promise to care for her until she was ready to fly.

That part was always her favorite. Now with all this new perspective, she finally understood why they’d specifically made it a nest and whose idea it was in the first place.

“Thinking hard about something kiddo?” Qrow asked, taking a seat.

“Just not sure what to ask next.” She deflected, knowing if she told him her true train of thought, he probably would be too embarrassed to be completely honest.

“Well, I got tons of little tales about what a terror your mom was when she was pregnant with you.”

Dad waved him down. “Oh come off it. She wasn’t that bad.”

He slammed his cup down, some of the coffee spilling over. “She made me fly out at 2am to find watermelon. Watermelon!”

“That doesn’t sound that bad?” Yang said, tossing some napkins his way.

He ignored them in favor of staring her down. “It. Was. Hailing.”

Dad snorted behind his hand, shaking his head. He leaned her way, voice low, “He’s just being dramatic Ruby. She really was a sweetheart.”

“Hey, hey! I heard that! You had experience, so your opinion does not count!”

“I reject that, considering I was the one who was with Summer most of the time.” He grinned. “Though, you still got stuck rushing her to the hospital. Lucky you.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me.” Qrow buried his head in his hands.

“How that’d work out?” Her sister inquired, looking as amused as Ruby felt. She wondered if she was envisioning the same level of chaos she was (Okay, maybe imagining the car catching on fire was a little too over the top).

“Sums went into early labor. Ruby wasn’t actually due to be born until December 16th, but she never did like to wait.” Dad threw her a teasing look. “Qrow freaked out, majorly, and I was miles away on a field trip.”

“You have to come home, now!” Qrow was practically shouting through the phone.

Tai could hear him rushing around the house, throwing things together. “I can’t just leave 30 kids in the middle of a forest Qrow.”

“Forget them! We’re having a crisis here!”

He tried to exercise his best calming voice. “Qrow, calm down. It’s going to be fine. This might even be a false alarm.”

“F-False alarm?! Those happen!?”

“Yes.” He stressed. “And even if the baby is born now, we’re far enough along at this point they’ll be fine.”

It seemed to work – for three seconds. “But you’re supposed to be here. You’re supposed to go into the room with her and I’m supposed to watch Yang. What am I even going to do with Yang? I-”

Before the tangent could go on, there was a faint “Qrow give me the phone.” And then suddenly Summer’s voice was in his ear, strained and out of breath. “Sorry, he’s losing his mind.”

“I can tell.” Tai replied drily, though he quickly shifted to something more sincere. “How you holding up sweetheart?”

“Just feeling like I’m about to have a baby, so never better.” Was the sarcastic quip. “But, don’t worry too much. I’ll get things handled if this numbskull can’t pull it together.”

He smiled, though he could feel his own anxiety pulling at his heart now. He wished he was there. He was supposed to be there. “We’ll start heading back now and I’ll be there in a few hours. Are you sure you don’t want me to call some of the neighbors at least?”

In the background, he heard a violent curse from Qrow. A sharp gasp from Summer, and then after a long moment, she said, “Uh, actually, I think we’ve got it now.”

Dad abruptly trailed off. He seemed to look around the room, as if the rest of the story would be scripted out on the walls around him, before his gaze finally rested on Qrow. “Can you-?”

He just lifted up his hands pacifyingly, saying softly, “I’ll tell it but, it’s your call man.”

Ruby shared a look with Yang, neither of them masking how confused they were.

Dad heaved a long, low sigh. “It’s fine.”

“Alright.” Qrow nodded, turning to them. “So, as your dad so eloquently put it, I was maybe a little… distressed.”

This couldn’t be happening. This shouldn’t be happening! Qrow was cursing his luck as he yanked open the closet door under the stairs, trying to find a luggage bag for all the stuff they needed to bring. His heart was pounding in his ears. Six weeks early; six whole weeks. Tai said it’d be fine but, if his semblance did this, was it really? What if their organs weren’t properly developed? What if they’re born with a defect? He should have stayed away more. How could he be so stupid!

He hurried back to the coffee table. Summer was on the couch, a hand on her stomach and talking to Tai, calm despite the situation. He started shoving all the items he’d dragged from various parts of the house into the bag. Clothes for his wife and the child, various other baby things like a blanket and hat. His hands were shaking. What else should he bring?

“Don’t forget this.”

That voice, painfully familiar, had his lungs freezing up. He whirled around.

And there Raven was, coming down the stairs with Yang in her arms. His niece had been down for her nap and was blinking blearily, not completely aware that a stranger was holding her.

So in shock by what he was seeing, he spat out the words almost unconsciously, “What the fuck!”

“What language little brother. There’s a child in the room.” Her eyes flicked from him to Summer, snidely adding, “Children, almost.”

Qrow looked back at his wife, panicked for a whole new reason as he motioned for her to get off the phone. They didn’t need Tai picking up on Raven’s voice – not with him halfway across the island and no way to get to his daughter.

Summer grasped onto the cue, saying quickly, “Look we’ve gotta head to the hospital now. I’ll update you more once I’m admitted, okay? Love you!”

He turned back to his sister as she stopped right in front of him, numbly accepting his niece when she was shoved into his arms. “What are you doing here?”

She arched an eyebrow. “You were having such a fit that it was impossible to ignore. And if I watched this clown show any longer without intervening, I was afraid I was going to lose some brain cells.”

His first instinct was to say no. The rejection wouldn’t quite leave his mouth and he was just left with his jaw hanging open.

Ignoring him, Raven crossed over to where Summer was, settling on the couch beside her. “How you holding up?”

“Mentally or physically? Because both are kind of bad right now.” She said, doubling over a bit and groaning.

“Don’t worry, it gets a lot worse.”

“Not. Helping.”

Raven smiled. It looked so alien on her Qrow almost thought he imagined it. Then she ran a hand along her back, soothing the way she used to be back when things were good. “Come on, unless you want to have this thing right in the living room, we got to get you up.”

“I know.” Summer took a few deep breathes as she waited for the contraction to pass. Once it had, she looked to the woman beside her. “Give me a hand?”

“Of course.”

Ruby stared at the tea ring at the bottom of her cup, unable to believe what she was hearing. Raven had really done that? Now she almost felt bad for what she said before.

“So, she was there?” Yang’s voice was weak, conflicted.

Uncle Qrow sighed. “Yeah. She was.”

“But, why?”

“Even after all this time, I’m still not really sure.”

Dad spoke up. “The only thing I could figure was that since we all hadn’t been apart that long, she still cared enough to come when we really needed her. Or that because we’d all been there for her when she’d been through childbirth herself, she felt obligated to do the same for Summer.” He shrugged. “Told you she was complicated.”

“What um,” Ruby tapped her fingers against the Styrofoam. “What happened when you finally got to the hospital?”

“The nurses almost had to admit me for an aneurysm.” If it was meant to be a joke, he didn’t deliver it with a punch of humor. “Honestly, I’m glad Qrow was the one out with Yang at the time when I got there so he could give me the heads up.”

“At the time?”

“I couldn’t handle being in the room for long periods of time but I also wanted to be there for Summer.” Qrow explained. “So, Raven and I switched off.”

“I had been pretty pissed later on when I found that out.” Dad huffed.

“Only reason I did it was ‘cause Summer just pulled Raven down at one point and said ‘You even think of running off with Yang, and I swear I will burn all of Remnant to get her back’.” He chuckled. “Could have been the meds talking though.”

Ruby didn’t miss the small but warm smile on her sister’s face. It made her smile too.

“Anyways, with everything that was happening, there really wasn’t time to deal with it.” Dad continued. “I knew I could trust Qrow with Yang. So, I was with Summer the rest of the way. I didn’t leave her side, not once.” He ran a hand over his face, looking tired just remembering it. “She was in labor for fifteen grueling hours. But finally, you came.”

Tai trudged down the hallway, stiff and tired but unable to stop smiling. He picked out his husband and ex-wife immediately when he entered the waiting room. Raven seemed to have dozed off, Yang sprawled along her chest. Qrow was wide awake though, bent over, hands clasped like a prayer and foot tapping a nervous rhythm on the tile floor.

When he noticed him though, he almost tipped his chair over in his hurry to get up and rush over. “Well?” He asked, practically holding his breath.

Tai’s grin became even wider. “We’ve got a girl.”

“A girl.” Qrow repeated with reverence, and joy rose to his face like the sun to morning. He was laughing, unabashed as he threw his arms around him in a tight embrace. “We’ve got a little girl!”

He returned the hug, kissing his temple tenderly. “She’s a bit small but we expected that. 5 pounds, 3 ounces. 17.1 inches. But,” He cupped the other man’s chin in his hand, wiping away the budding tear in the corner of his eye. “She’s perfectly healthy.”

He laughed again, warring against more tears. “Thank the Brothers.”

Tai rubbed his cheekbone, saying softly, “They’re still cleaning up right now, but Summer’s asking for you.”

“Yeah, okay.” He gripped the back of his shirt, nose nuzzling his ear as he whispered “You gonna be okay out here?”

“I got it.” He whispered back, squeezing him just a little tighter. “Go on already.”

Qrow kissed him softly, murmuring against his lips, “Love you” before he pulled away and started down the hall, a spring to his step he’d never seen before. Tai heard his fading but excited ‘A girl!’ as he disappeared amidst the hospital staff. It pulled one last, fond smile from him, before he took a deep breath, turned around and met blood red eyes.

Immediately, he wished he’d asked his husband to stay. Then subsequently felt guilty for it. No need to ruin Qrow and Summer’s moment. He was an adult. He could handle his ex-wife on his own.

He walked over, feeling stiffer than before and sat in the chair Qrow had vacated.

“Congrats.” She offered almost flippantly, like talking to him was as nonconsequential as sharing the weather report with a stranger in a store. Why did it matter so little to her when to him it was like everything around him needed to stop just to handle it?

“Thanks.” He replied, swallowing against a suddenly dry mouth. “And thank you. For helping out. You didn’t need to do that.” She made a noncommittal hum. He looked between her and Yang, uncomfortable with how wrong the whole picture looked, and held out his hands. “I can take her now.”

Raven placed a hand along Yang’s back. “She’s fine.”

Tai fought the urge to rip her from her arms. She was, technically, her daughter – what right did he have to say she couldn’t hold her? He let his hands drop. “Okay.”

“She’s going to have my wild hair, I can already tell.” She twirled a finger around one of their daughter’s blonde curls, side-eyeing him. “What about this new brat of yours? What color are her eyes?”

He grit out, “Blue, like all babies.”

“But that’s not at all what I meant, and you know it.” She bit right back.

He could feel the beginning thump of an angry headache. “Don’t treat me like an idiot. We know she can have silver eyes.”

“Yet you didn’t consider the ramifications?” She twisted towards him. “Do you think anyone would hesitate to kill two children instead of one just to get the job done?”

“You don’t get a say in what I do with my life anymore Raven!”

“But I do get a say in hers!”

“You don’t! You gave up that right!” They were practically right in each other’s faces, snarling away like dogs.

The beginning wail from Yang pulled them back though, both of them looking down at her. On instinct, Tai reached for her, but Raven was quicker, shushing and rocking her with a gentleness he never even knew she was capable of.

Yet, it was the practiced ease of it that peaked his fury anew. “How many times have you broken into her room?”

Her smirk hid nothing. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Something sick twisted up inside him. After spending the first few months of Yang’s life barely able to sleep out of fear that Raven would come back and make good on her promise to take her away, after the countless conversations and reassurances Summer or Qrow had to give him just to ease the anxiety, after all that, to find out now she’d invaded his home anyways was like a punch to the gut. He shook, the barrel of emotions thrashing inside of him leaving him off-balance.

“Give me my daughter. Now.” Tai commanded, so unsure of himself at the moment he wasn’t sure what he’d do if she refused.

But she didn’t. There was no hesitation in the way she dropped the blubbering infant into his hands, just as she had done nineteen months ago. No regret as she got to her feet and looked down at him with disdain and disgust. “I was merely making a point. If it’s been this easy for me, how easy is it going to be for her?” She turned her back to him. “A fool like you should know that even if she strikes the killing blow, it’s you who first started digging their graves.”

Though the rebuttal was on the tip of his tongue, he let her walk away. He’d learned long ago and much too late there was no winning with her.

Instead, he looked down at his fussing daughter, rocking her gently and kissing her forward. “It’s okay little dragon. Daddy’s here.”

He’d prove Raven wrong. Yang and her little sister were both going to live long, happy lives. He’d make sure of it.

The cup in her hand fell apart as Ruby crushed it. She took it back. She didn’t feel bad about what she said at all.

The action didn’t go unnoticed.

“Gee kiddo, tell us how you really feel.” Her uncle’s jab was meant to be teasing, but she only felt ashamed.

“I, uh,” She pushed her mess to the side to ignore it. That went double for the knowing look her dad was sending her.

Luckily, Yang spoke up before she had to explain herself, “So, what? She cared about me back then?”

“Honest opinion?” Uncle Qrow replied, “In her own, messed up way, she’s always cared about you. She just… cared about herself more.”

“So then why did you want her back so bad?” Ruby demanded.

“Ruby-”

She cut her dad off before he could try to stop her. “No! I mean it! She’s awful. She’s always been awful! And she doesn’t deserve to be part of our family!”

There, she said it! She finally said the one thing she thought since she first understood who Raven was!

Oh Gods, she said it. She couldn’t look her uncle or sister in the eye.

“I-I, I mean,”

“No, you’re right.” The strength in Yang’s voice when she said that was an odd comfort. “She’s had my whole life to try and bother to be an actual mom and where is she now? Not here.” She huffed, before glancing at dad. “I’m sorry for all the times I gave you a hard time about it. I used to think that you were just trying to hide her from me, but I get now that you just wanted to look out for me.”

Qrow rubbed the back of his neck. “Er, I’m sorry too. For uh, well. You know.”

Dad shook his head. “If you both need to apologize then I do too. I could have been more forthcoming, more understanding. Sometimes, I just let my fears get the better of me. I loved Raven once, I really did. But when we divorced and I could look back on it with a new perspective, I realized I never wanted her back in my life.”

“I had just been so certain she’d change, you know?” Her uncle claimed. “Remember when we first met? How much of a bastard I was? I was convinced I changed for the better because of you and Summer. That’s why I thought firecracker here could make all the difference for Raven. I pushed for it so hard, thinking she just needed the right person in her life. Turned out, the real problem was I just wasn’t giving myself enough credit for my own effort. I wanted to change. She never has.”

Smiling, dad reached out, placing a hand on his wrist. “Well, I’m glad you did. Raven may have been one of the worst parts of my life, but you’ve always been one of my best.”

He turned red, spluttering in embarrassment. “Yo-You’re such a sap!”

Ruby felt content, hearing her family speak so openly and calmly. It was as if a chapter of their lives had finally closed. She still remembered the long evenings where the very utterance of Raven’s name made the house a minefield. But things had changed enough even she was comfortable to say, “I really hated it when anyone brought her up. It felt like talking about her did nothing but make everyone argue. So I thought, if this is what she can do without her even being here, how bad would it get if she was? I was afraid if she actually came home, that she’d tear us apart.”

“You never told me you felt like that.” Yang frowned.

“She was your mom, not mine. I didn’t want to be a jerk and tell you I hated her, when it was so important to you.” She explained. “I thought I was being a good sister.”

“You’re a great sister.”

Ruby opened her mouth, about to respond.

Then the door opened. “Rose?” The attendant called.

Her smile turned nervous. “Even if I’m not actually your sister?”

Yang just grinned. “Even then.”

She clasped her shaking hands together, took a deep breath, and got to her feet.

It was time.

She couldn’t do this. She just couldn’t!

She paced to and fro in the little garden area outside of the medical office, the manila folder in her hand crinkling as she held it too tightly. Inside of it was nothing but a sheet of paper with the results of the paternity test – but she couldn’t convince herself to open it. What if this really DID change everything? She could never take this moment back.

“Ruby, we don’t have to do this here.” Dad was sitting on the brick housing of a large planter with Qrow and Yang. Little white daisies poked out between them.

“No!” She exclaimed. “If I don’t do this now then I might put it off forever.”

“That��s not necessarily a bad thing kiddo.” Her uncle said as he lent back on his hands. He looked down when he accidentally crushed some of the flowers under his palm.

“Hey, where was that advice when I wanted to stay up past 10?” Her sister joked.

“But I did let you stay up past 10.” Qrow faltered when dad gave him his patented Stare of Doom. He lifted up his fist, where the little daisies he’d flattened were drooping sadly. “Forgive me?”

“Pffft.” It was a good thing that Dad cracked easily.

Normally, she would have laughed too. But she was too anxious to find anything funny. This was ridiculous, wasn’t it? She was being dumb. She had magic eyes for maiden’s sake! What was a potential shift in parentage compared to that? Nothing, that’s what!

She grabbed on the edge of the folder.

Kept holding.

And holding.

And – She groaned, smacking herself in the face with it. “Why is this so hard!”

“Anything we can do to make it easier?” Yang offered.

Ruby thought it over, before shoving the folder in her hands. “You read it first!”

“What? Are you sure?”

She nodded frantically. Maybe if she saw her not react badly to it, it would calm her down.

“Okay.” Yang lifted the folder up, flipped it open. At first, her expression was only pensive as she read it over, before one eyebrow ever so slightly rose. Then she nodded. “Yeah that’s about what I expected.”

She waved her arms. “What does that mean?”

“It means you’re an alien ‘cause your head’s always in outer space sis.” Yang closed it and held it back out to her.

Ruby huffed irritably as she snatched it back. That hadn’t helped at all!

She paced left.

Then right.

Left again.

Stopped in front of her dad and uncle. “You two read it next.”

Dad took it without complaint. “Alright sweetheart.” He glanced at the man next to him. “You ready?”

Qrow looked decidedly more agitated, his heel starting to tap on the ground, his fingers drumming along. Still, he shifted close enough their shoulders were touching and announced, “Ready.”

He opened it, both of them looking down at the words written there. After a few seconds, dad started to smile.

Ruby’s heart jumped. So then he had to be-

But no, her uncle started to smile too. Was it actually-?!

Dad looked to Qrow, asking, “Okay?”

He nodded. “Okay.”

In despair, Ruby fell to her knees. “That didn’t tell me anything!”

Dad closed it, handing it back to her. “We can’t do this part for you Ruby.”

“You’ll feel better once you read it. Trust me.” Her uncle assured. He did look a lot calmer.

She got back to her feet, gazing down at the folder, flicking the corner of it. She asked, mostly to continue to stall, “If mom were here, how would she have reacted?”

They both hummed in thought, but it was dad who spoke first, “There was a joke she had. See, even though we didn’t get the test done, Qrow and I thought eventually we’d just figure it out, once you started taking after one of us. It was obvious you had your mom’s hair, so we hoped maybe you’d get our eye color. Of course, you didn’t. So then we had to start debating the small things like whose nose you had or ears. But, we both knew you were pretty much your mother’s double.”

“She definitely has my scythe wielding skills though.” Uncle Qrow said.

“That’s not a genetic trait.”

“But being awesome is.”

Dad elbowed him in the ribs. “Anyways, whenever your mom overhead us getting into one of these debates she’d cut in and say that our arguments were pointless, since it was obvious that she was both your mom and your dad.” He chuckled. “I bet you that’s what she would have said once she read it.”

“Nah. She would only pretend to read it. Just would have opened it up, not even looked, said something like ‘Of course it’s me!’ and then given it back to you before Tai or I could see.” Qrow pitched in.

“Oh yeah that sounds about right.” Dad agreed. “As far as how she’d feel about the actual results; well, I don’t think it would matter to her either way. To her, it was never the blood relation but the dedication and love you put into being a parent. That’s what she’d say, when she talked about what kind of mom she wanted to be for you two.”

Ruby glanced towards her sister, seeing the surprise and happiness on Yang’s face.

And it was that simple expression that finally made her realize how utterly silly she was being. Because if her sister, after agonizing for years over her biological mother’s neglect, could still find such joy knowing her step-mom cared that much – then, what did Ruby have to worry about, when both Qrow and Tai had been there for her all along?

As self-assurance filled her for the first time that day, she announced, “I’m ready to look.”

“Go for it, kiddo.” Qrow encouraged.

She didn’t second guess herself. She opened the folder and looked down at the sheet of paper, scanning over it. There was a small section at the top with all three of their names listed and the purpose of the visit laid out like an essay paper’s thesis. But what drew her attention was the part half way down, titled: Results.

From the DNA samples provided, it has been concluded the biological father of Ruby Rose is

Her eyes widened.

She looked up, straight at him.

He smiled back at her.

#ruby rose #qrow branwen #taiyang xiao long #summer rose #yang xiao long #raven branwen #golden hummingbird #RWBY #fanfiction #Chase Firekitten's Tale

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huahsu · 5 years

Text

YEAR OF THE GHOST DOG

[TL;DR version for the New Yorker -- I loved many great short songs and became obsessed with (1) a very old, much longer one (2) and YouTube comments this year.] [links to previous year’s lists at the bottom]

A while back, I found myself in an extended funk. The reasons are uninteresting and honestly a bit dumb, a mix of everyday bummers and more existential stuff, all of which manifested in a kind of 360º sluggishness. I couldn’t really figure my way out of it but I believed that I would eventually stop feeling this way.

One night, I saw that someone online was selling a copy of the Emulations “These Are the Things,” a magnificent soul ballad 7″ out of Oakland. I wasn’t exactly homesick for the Bay Area, but something about the song’s roots, as well as its overwhelming feeling of optimistic yearning, resonated with (through?) me. There’s a moment when the singer’s falsetto peaks, and the piano starts cascading, and things feel like they’re going to work out after all. The copy for sale wasn’t in great shape, and it cost $100, an extravagant amount of money to spend on a piece of music. But I convinced myself that I’d feel better at some point, weeks, months, or years later, and I’d listen to my Emulations single, and recall that weird summer/fall.

As often happened with independently produced records of the sixties and seventies, “These Are the Things” was pressed on styrene, rather than vinyl. Styrene is a kind of plastic that’s lighter, cheaper and much more fragile than vinyl, and you can tell the difference by a kind of hollow plink when you put it on a turntable. Styrene also means that it has a limited life, and that each time the needle drags across its grooves, the record degrades a little bit. Over time, styrene records that get played a lot no longer sound as crisp or clear (or so it seems). I listened to it once it arrived, feeling a bit of regret at this wild expenditure, but also imagining my future self’s gratitude. I imagined entering into communion with everyone who had played this copy before me. I decided to only listen to the song once a year, if that--after all, each time I listened to the record, the song was changing, slightly.

A few months later, I felt normal (whatever that means) again, and the record became a marker of...I’m not sure what--maybe a kind of blind, stubborn optimism. Someone years later uploaded the song onto YouTube, which means I can listen to it whenever I want. This fall, I was trying and failing to spend less time on the Internet. But I decided that, instead of going on Twitter and Facebook, I would just read comments fans left on YouTube. I became obsessed with reading all the intimate histories people shared with one another--the chance encounters, the teenage dates and breakups, the seventies shop owners who recalled the days when stocking the right hit single could cover an entire month’s rent. I was listening to the Emulations when I noticed this comment, from Deric Jackson, who was apparently one of the group’s members: “I sung this song when I was 19yrs old. It was a pleasure to record and send this messageout into the airways. I have been with the women that God had given me to marry when I was 22yrs old. I did not understand at that time I was singing about my own life and the women who I had not met, but how wonderful it is to be with my wife fo 35yrs and life is still a breath of fresh air and wonderful. I would like to say to all real men love your wife, never worship her only one to worship is God alone.“ I’m pretty agnostic about most things relating to providence. But I felt as though I had been living in these words: “I did not understand at that time...” Jackson’s song was a prophecy, maybe even a conjuring, of his own path, and I wonder what he hears when he listens to it now. Sometimes you don’t know what’s coming next. But there’s always another song, and it doesn’t always sound the same as the last time.

(LATE 2017 BUT I REALLY DOUBT ANYONE NOTICED AKA THE FRENCH “MO BAMBA”) Junior Bvndo, “T’as ça #3 (Kylian Mbappe)”

I WILL LISTEN TO ANYTHING THAT USES DISTORTION Sheck Wes, “Wanted” OR OLD SCHOOL STABS Santi feat. Shane Eagle and Amaarae, “Rapid Fire” EVEN MORE THAN THAT, I LIKE THINGS THAT SOUND MESSY AND SLOPPY BUT ARE ACTUALLY PERFECT Caleb Giles featuring Cleo Reed, “Name” WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN AS GOOD AS IF IT HAD BEEN PERFECT, THE WARPED AND SMUDGED BEAUTY IS WHAT MAKES IT BEAUTIFUL Tirzah, Devotion Niagara, Apologia SAME, BUT SLIGHTLY OFF-STEP Blood Orange, “Charcoal Baby” THE BEST GENRE OF MUSIC REMAINS “SADE” Sade, “Flower of the Universe” and “The Big Unknown” Amber Mark, “Love is Stronger Than Pride” Bon Iver and Moses Sumney, “By Your Side” Kelela, “Like a Tattoo” 808s AND HEARTBREAK AND NEAR-OCTOGENERIANS Swamp Dogg, “She’s All Mind All Mind” I WASN’T AS ENAMORED WITH A LOT OF “NEW JAZZ” BUT DID LIKE Sam Wilkes, Wilkes Sam Gendel and Sam Wilkes, Music for Saxofone & Bass Guitar …WHICH REMINDED ME A BIT OF THIS FACEMELTING REISSUE (RIYL: ALICE COLTRANE, DON CHERRY, ETC ETC) John Tchicai, With Strings SPEAKING OF TERRIFIC JAZZ-ADJACENT STUFF Dos Santos, “Manos Anjenas” THE ORIGINAL “BIG MOOD” Okonkolo, Cantos THE YEAR I REALLY REKINDLED MY LOVE OF THE CELLO Clarice Jensen, For This From That Will Be Filled Oliver Coates, “A Church” …WHICH I DEFINITELY PREFER TO VIOLIN--ESP PIZZICATO--THOUGH THIS WAS QUITE GOOD Sudan Archives, “Nont for Sale” HARPS ALWAYS SOUND GOOD Leya, The Fool Meg Baird and Mary Lattimore, Ghost Forests ALWAYS HAVE TIME FOR WOODBLOCKS AND VIBES Kate NV, для FOR AS WELL AS MIAMI BASS SIGNIFIERS (KICKSTARTER FOR CITY GIRLS TO RAP OVER DJ BATTLECAT IN 2019) City Girls, “Act Up” AND BANJO DRONE...WHY NOT Nathan Bowles, Plainly Mistaken ALBUMS THAT I LIKED IN 2018, AND THAT I SENSE I WILL LIKE EVEN MORE BY THIS TIME NEXT YEAR Ben LaMarr Gay, Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun Neneh Cherry, Broken Politics AN ALBUM THAT I WISH WAS TEN ALBUMS Tierra Whack, Whack World AN ALBUM I WISH WAS JUST A LITTLE BIT LONGER Pusha-T, Daytona OF THE MANY REASONS I MOURN THE DEATH OF “THE ALBUM,” ONE IS THAT I ALWAYS LIKE TO HEAR WHAT PEOPLE DO WITH THAT LAST SONG YG, “Bomptown Finest” OR HOW ALBUMS, FULL OF SIGNS, ANGLES, FLEETING MOMENTS, CIRCULATE AND RE-CIRCULATE Angelique Kidjo, Remain in Light AND HOW THEY ARE LIKE WHAT NOVELS REPRESENTED IN THE AGE OF POETRY—OPPORTUNITIES TO LIVE INSIDE COMPLEXITY, SPACE, A DEMOS U.S. Girls, In a Poem Unlimited ONE OF THE BEST ALBUMS OF THE YEAR WAS A SOUNDTRACK... Kendrick Lamar et al, Black Panther AND TEASER FOR Jay Rock, Redemption AND ANOTHER WAS JUST SOME RAP SONGS Earl Sweatshirt, Some Rap Songs WHICH ISN’T TO SAY ARTISTS DON’T STILL VALUE AND HAVE FUN WITH THE FORMAT Vince Staples, FM A TWENTY-FIVE TRACK ADVENTURE INTO VIBES Pink Siifu, ensley AND SOMETIMES TWENTY MINUTES OR SO IS ENOUGH boygenius, boygenius ONE MORE ALBUM THING – FIRST SONGS HAVE ALWAYS FELT LIKE THESIS STATEMENTS, AND STREAMING HAS ONLY APPLIED MORE PRESSURE TO THE SOOTHING, BEWITCHING, PERFECT WELCOME Mac Miller, “Come Back to Earth” MAC MILLER AND THUNDERCAT LOOK SO HAPPY HERE whole thing, but esp six minutes in, and even more so about nine minutes in THE BEST VIBES Show Dem Camp feat. Boj and Ajebutter 22, “Damiloun” Koffee, “Toast” HAPPY-GO-LUCKY B/W DEVIL-MAY-CARE Shoreline Mafia, “Nun Major” I LIKE NEF AND EPs PERFECTLY SUIT HIM Nef the Pharaoh and 03 Greedo, Porter 2 Grape

RAPPING AS FAST AS YOU CAN OVER FREESTYLE/HI-NRG WILL NEVER SOUND BAD TO ME… SOB X RBE, “Paid in Full” SOB X RBE, “Carpoolin’” …ALTHOUGH THEY ALSO SOUND SICK OVER FAKE GHOST DOG BEATS, TOO, THIS WAS ONE OF MY SONGS OF THE YEAR SOB X RBE, “Paramedic!” SAME WITH MEDHANE Medhane, “The Garden” TRIPPIE REDD PUTS OUT A LOT OF MUSIC FILLED WITH TRANSCENDENT MOMENTS, BUT RARELY MAKES TRANSCENDENT SONGS, AND IT PAINS ME A BIT THAT MY FAVORITE SONG OF HIS THIS YEAR WAS Diplo featuring Trippie Redd, “Wish” TRIPPY-ASS DOO-WOP Cuco, “Sunnyside” A STRONG HARMONY IS A VISION OF WHAT LIFE COULD BE Ben Pirani, “How Do I Talk to My Brother?” WHERE WERE U IN 94 Young Echo, Young Echo SWEAR I'VE NEVER HEARD MUSIC THIS “GREY” ManOnMars, ManOnMars IF YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE A FAKE D’ANGELO SONG, IT SHOULD BE THIS GOOD Patrick Paige III, “Voodoo” LIKED THIS, BUT IT’S ALSO POSSIBLE TO BE A BIT TOO FAITHFUL TO THE PAST Teyana Taylor, “Hold On” NOT QUITE FAYE WONG DOING THE CRANBERRIES (RIP DOLORES O’RIORDAN) BUT STILL MEMORABLE Katherine Ho, “Yellow” LIKE THE BEST PARTS OF FEELS-ERA ANIMAL COLLECTIVE, BUT TAIWANESE Prairie WWWW

NEVER THOUGHT TO VISIT THE LOUVRE UNTIL The Carters, “Apeshit” video BROWN EXCELLENCE Humeysha, Departures "BROWN BEATS” FOREVER RIP Cameron Paul

MY FAVORITE DISCOVERY OF THE YEAR Pharoah Sanders playing “Kazuko” in a tunnel near the Marin Headlands LIKE NONE OF ITS INFLUENCES (FOOTWORK, AMBIENT), LIKE NOTHING ELSE OUT THERE, REALLY Foodman, Aru Otoko No Densetsu DARESAY SKI MASK WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN BOOED OUT OF THE CIPHER Ski Mask the Slump God, Beware the Book of Eli THE MOST FAMOUS PERSON I’VE SEEN ON THE BIG SCREEN AT THE PAST THREE YEARS’ NETS GAMES IS Young M.A., “PettyWap” DEMOS FROM A GROUP I HAVE ALWAYS ADORED, BEFORE THEY FOUND THE SOUND THAT I ADORE The Nonce, 1990 EXTREMELY GOOD AND LARGELY OVERLOOKED REISSUE Suzanne Menzel, Goodbyes and Beginnings FOUR TET IS GOING THROUGH HIS LIVE ARCHIVES, AND IT’S A TREAT TO STUDY HIS ARC/EVOLUTION Live at Hultsfred Festival, 18th June 2004 Live at LPR New York, 17th February 2010 Live in Tokyo, 1st December 2013 Live at Funkhaus Berlin, 10th May 2018 STRANGE TO LIVE IN A MOMENT WHERE BEING WEIRD SEEMS A BIT DERIVATIVE. STILL, THIS IS BLISSFUL SahBabii, “Anime World” HAPPY FACE Smino, “Klink” SAD FACE Drake, “In My Feelings” (especially this version) “JIM FROM THE OFFICE” FACE Pusha-T, “The Story of Adidon” STOLE YOUR FACE Sophie, “Faceshopping” FACE/OFF YG and Mozzy, “Too Brazy” Sammy Bananas feat Antony and Cleopatra, “Slow Down” Kode 9 and Burial, Fabriclive 100 GASSED FACE E-40 and B-Legit, “Whooped" ABSOLUTELY FACEMELTING Todd Barton and Ursula K. Le Guin, Music and Poetry of the Kesh VACATION AWAY MESSAGE SiR, “D’Evils” Bad Bunny x PJ Sin Suela x Nejo, “Cual Es Tu Plan” BEST OPENING DISCLAIMER TO A VIDEO 808INK, “Come Down” “TAGS: LATIN CHORAL CUMBIA GOTH LOS ANGELES” San Cha, “Cosmic Ways”

BEST USE OF “OOCHIE WALLY,” STILL ONE OF MY FAVORITE BEATS EVER Stefflon Don, “Oochie Wally freestyle” BEST USE OF “SUPERTHUG” Rico Nasty, “Countin’ Up” EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS--THE HEADBANG MINIMALISM, THE LAS VEGAS WALGREENS--BUT ESPECIALLY THE LINE ABOUT WELLS FARGO Rico Nasty, “Trust Issues” “ORGASM ADDICT” (RIP PETE SHELLEY) Victor Oladipo, “One Day” “I JUST TOOK A FLIGHT TO FRANCE TO COP CARDIGANS” Black Thought and Styles P, “Making a Murderer” “AT THE EMIRATES I MILLY ROCK” Manzo and Malachi Amour, “Lingard” DOPE TUNE, AND UNEXPECTED KELLYANNE CONWAY REFERENCE JPEGMAFIA, “1539 N. Calvert” YEAH YEAH YEAH (RIP MARK E SMITH) Travis Scott and Drake, “Sicko Mode” R-E-S-P-E-C-T (RIP ARETHA FRANKLIN) Rosalia, El Mal Querer REEL DEAL, “DRIPPIN’ DOPE (SAXAPELLA)” (1989) Gunna, “Top Off” WAMP WAMP (WHAT IT DO) B/W WAIT (THE WHISPER SONG) Vallee feat. Jeremih, “Womp Womp” SAD REGGAETON IS NOT BAD Bad Bunny, “Solo De Mi” SOUNDS GOOD TO ME, 2002-PRESENT Temani, “Power” Westerman, “Confirmation” REAL LIES, POET LAUREATS OF “YOUNG PEOPLE THINKING ABOUT BEING OLD” Tom Demac and Real Lies, “White Flowers” A SONG DESIGNED TO SOUND LIKE IT CAME OUT THIRTY YEARS AGO, WHICH ALSO FEELS LIKE IT CAME OUT A MILLION YEARS AGO (IT WAS JUST JANUARY) Bruno Mars feat. Cardi B, “Finesse (remix)” TAY-K WAS JUST A YEAR AGO Comethazine, “Highriser” FAVORITE 2 BRIDGES MUSIC ARTS “MIGHT AS WELL” RANDOM PURCHASE OF THE YEAR Kizaki Ondo Preservation Society and Clark Naito, 木崎音頭 Kizaki Ondo FEELS LIKE IT CAME OUT TEN YEARS AGO (IT WAS JUST JAN/FEB) BUT I NEVER GREW TIRED OF IT Rich the Kid, “Plug Walk” ODDLY REASSURING THAT PEOPLE STILL JANGLE Massage, “Oh Boy” Earth Dad, “Walter” ...AND DISCOVER WORLDS FROM WITHIN THEIR BEDROOMS Soccer Mommy, Clean ...AND EXPLORE THE CONTOURS OF GROWLING AND NAGGING Sada Baby and Drego, “Bloxk Party” ...AND CAN USE THE PAST TO MAKE SOMETHING SO VISIONARY AND FORWARD-THINKING Virginia Wing, Ecstatic Arrow Mitski, Be A Cowboy ...AND LOOKING FOR FOURTH WORLDS Arp, Zebra ...AND MAKE IMPOSSIBLE RHYTHMS Heavee, WFM ...AND THAT ARTISTS I HAD NEVER HEARD OF, WORKING IN IDIOMS I HAD NEVER HEARD OF, MIGHT STILL BLOW MY MIND Odunsi (the Engine), rare. JUNGLE LIVES X-Altera, “Blowing Up the Workshop” mix TOP THREE TIMES I SAW STANDING ON THE CORNER THIS YEAR 3 - The Merciful Allah Black Hole Theatre 2 - The Time it All Ended with Fireworks on Grand St. 1 - An Empty Storefront During a Blizzard

{HONORABLE MENTIONS -The Time They Brought a Monolith -THEME DE YE-YO [Respect to the Gods]} SONG OF THE SPRING, SUMMER, WINTER, YEAR, STILL UNDEFEATED ### A CHURCH AND JOHN LENNON’S “IMAGINE” :: 2017 SIKH DEVOTIONAL MUSIC :: 2016 SPOOKY BLACK :: 2015

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criimsonsun-a · 6 years

Note

that ho machine estrellawn : /

My Opinion on;

Character in general: Dawn ! My second favorite protagonist only to Touko. I really liked her design. I mean there’s not much I can say otherwise since we don’t really get characterization for them.How they play them: BOY. Every interpretation of Dawn is different on this site but Cyrus and Prissy’s Dawn have some kinda kismet that is unrivaled. I die every day. You do a great job of balancing her outward bubbly appearance and the Real Depressed Hours Dawn, as well as giving her very humanistic traits. She foils Cyrus in the best way. Would I die for her? Yes. Dead honest you play hear nearly identical to my own HC’s for her and it makes me go doki doki.The Mun: some ho who makes me cry. I’d die for Prissy she got me hooked on Pinterest. Comes out of nowhere with sad BOPS and HCs that make me feel stuff. My fellow Riverdale enthusiast. Love you boo.

Do I:

RP with them: YELL HEAHWant to RP with them: YELL HEAH

What is my;

Overall Opinion: WILL SMITH HANDS

#estrellawn #opinion meme #kissu my love

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marauders1971-1978 · 6 years

Text

Extra-Ultra Playlist Of Marauders’ Stuff

That I compiled out of all the songs on my spotify rather than updating my fanfic

Lily and James:

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow – Ben E King / The Shirelles

Twist and Shout – The Beatles

Dreams – Fleetwood Mac

Do You Love Me – The Contours

God Only Knows – The Beach Boys

Happy Together – The Turtles

Be My Baby – The Ronettes

My Girl – Otis Reading

Love On A Mountain Top – Robert Knight

I’m In Love – Lovelites

Don’t Go – Wretch 32, Josh Kurma

Where Did Our Love Go? – Soft Cell

You’re The Best Ting – Style Council

Somewhere In My Heart – Aztec Camera

The Bones of You – Elbow

Starlings – Elbow

Perfect – Fairground Attraction

Stand By Me – Ben E King

There She Goes – The La’s

If I Can’t Have You – Yvonne Elliman

Sea of Love – Cat Power

Build Me Up Buttercup – The Foundations

Don’t You Want Me – The Human League

You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet – Bachman Turner Overdrive

Time After Time – Eva Cassidy

Don’t Feel Like Dancin’ – Scissor Sisters

Who’s That Girl – Eurythmics

I Say A Little Prayer – Aretha Franklin

Can You Feel The Love Tonight – Elton John

Don’t Go Breaking My Heart – Elton John, Kiki Dee

Reminder – Mumford & Sons

Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison

To Be With You – Mr Big

Lovely Day – Bill Withers

Rock The Boat – Hues Corporation

Love Really Hurts Without You – Billy Ocean

It’s In His Kiss – Linda Lewis

Bye Bye Baby – Bay City Rollers

Middle of The Bed – Lucy Rose

Home – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes

Coconut Skins – Damien Rice

Dogs – Damien Rice

Rock With You – Michael Jackson

Tiny Dancer – Elton John

True – Spandau Ballet

Wake Up Boo – The Boo Radleys

Shape Of You – Ed Sheeran

Your Song – Elton John

Hello, I Love You – The Doors

Ho Hey – The Lumineers

Ain’t Nobody – Chaka Kahn

Take On Me – A-ha

Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond

Just Can’t Get Enough – Depeche Mode

It Must Be Love – Madness

Bubble Toes – Jack Johnson

Banana Pancakes – Jack Johnson

More Than This – Roxy Music

Over You – Roxy Music

Oh Yeah! – Roxy Music

Midas Touch – Midnight Star

She Moves In Her Own Way – The Kooks

Everything – Michael Buble

Loving You – Paolo Nutini

Jenny Don’t Be Hasty – Paolo Nutini

Forever My Friend – Ray Lamontagne

Got My Mind Set On You – George Harrison

Rhythm Composer – Villagers

God Only Knows – The Beach Boys

Wouldn’t It Be Nice – The Beach Boys

When I’m Sixty-Four – The Beatles

From Me To You – The Beatles

I’m Sticking With You – The Velvet Underground

Only Love – Ben Howard

Diamonds – Ben Howard

Everywhere – Fleetwood Mac

Mardy Bum – Arctic Monkeys

Lover, You Should’ve Come Over – Jeff Buckley

Hallelujah – Jeff Buckley

Lilac Wine – Jeff Buckley

Listen to the Man – George Ezra

Leaving It Up To You – George Ezra

Barcelona – George Ezra

Blame It On Me – George Ezra

Under the Influence – James Morrison

Delicate – Damien Rice

If You Ever Want To Be In Love – James Bay

You Give Me Something – James Morrison

Better Man – James Morrison

Remus and Sirius:

The Fear – Lily Allen

You Make It Real – James Morrison

When Does Cry – Prince

Puncture Repair – Elbow

The Night Will Always Win – Elbow

Lean on Me – Ben E King

Suddenly I See – KT Tunstall

Better Together – Jack Johnson

Everybody’s Changing – Keane

Have A Nice Day – Stereophonics

Common People – Pulp

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) – Eurythmics

After the Storm – Mumford & Sons

Little Lion Man – Mumford & Sons

Viva La Vida – Coldplay

I Am Not A Robot – Marina and the Diamonds

Rootless Tree – Damien Rice

O’ Children – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Seven Wonders – Fleetwood Mac

Ever Fallen In Love With Someone (You Shouldn’t Have Fallen In Love With) – Buzzcocks

You Can Call Me Al – Paul Simon

Some Nights – Fun

Friend Of Ours – Elbow

The Night Will Always Win – Elbow

What You Know – Two Door Cinema Club

Last Request – Paolo Nutini

Tainted Love – Soft Cell

Eternal Life – Jeff Buckley

Dance Away – Roxy Music

Heart of Glass – Blondie

Deeper Underground – Jameroquai

White Flag – Dido

I Wish I Was James Bond – Scouting For Girls

Crazy – Gnarls Barkley

Twice – Catfish and the Bottlemen

Sit Down – James

Steady and She Goes – The Ranconteurs

Shine On – The Kooks

Autumn – Paolo Nutini

Million Faces – Paolo Nutini

Livewire – Fyfe Dangerfield

We’re Not Right – David Gray

I Need – Maverick Sabre

Hold You In My Arms – Ray Lamontagne

Shelter – Ray Lamontagne

Pieces – Villagers

Set The Tigers Free – Villagers

The Meaning of the Ritual – Villagers

Becoming A Jackal – Villagers

The Waves – Villagers

Patience – Take That

A Well Respected Man – The Kinks

The Recluse – Plan B

Promise – Ben Howard

Black Flies – Ben Howard

Keep Your Head Up – Ben Howard

The Fear – Ben Howard

The Wolves – Ben Howard

Goodbye, Apathy – OneRepublic

Take Me To Church – Hozier

Wild Thing – Noah and the Whale

Anarchy in the UK – Sex Pistols

Baby Can I Hold You – Tracy Chapman

Dream Brother – Jeff Buckley

Changes – Will Young

Heartbeats – Jose Gonzalez

Lily and Severus:

How Long – Paul Carrack

Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me – Elton John, George Michael

Hard to Say I’m Sorry – Chicago

Leaders of the Free World – Elbow

Mirrorball – Elbow

Puncture Repair – Elbow

Stand By Me – Ben E King

Lean on Me – Ben E King

Ain’t No Sunshine – Bill Withers

Always Take The Weather With You – The Booze Bros

L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. – Noah and the Whale

Everybody’s Changing – Lily Allen

She’s Always A Woman – Billy Joel

Time After Time – Eva Cassidy

Jealousy – Will Young

Your Love Keeps Lifting Me (Higher and Higher) – Jackie Wilson

I Want You Back – The Jackson 5

Roll Away Your Stone – Mumford & Sons

Nobody – ELIZA

Wild World – Mr Big

Everyday Is Like Sunday – Morrisey

If There’s Any Justice – Lamar

Leave Right Now – Will Young

Don’t You (Forget About Me) – Simple Minds

World Shut Your Mouth – Julian Cope

What Time Do You Call This? – Elbow

Gone, Gone, Gone – Robert Plant and Alison Krauss

Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep – Middle of the Road

Jealous Guy – Roxy Music

Breakfast At Tiffany’s – Deep Blue Something

Sunday Girl – Blondie

Heart of Glass – Blondie

Golden Touch – Razorlight

Hanging On Too Long – Duffy

White Lies – Paolo Nutini

These Streets – Paolo Nutini

Rewind – Paolo Nutini

We’re Not Right – David Gray

My Oh My – David Gray

Please Forgive Me – David Gray

I Can Never Be – Maverick Sabre

Open My Eyes – Maverick Sabre

Trouble – Ray Lamontagne

Home – Villagers

Ship of Promises – Villagers

My Lighthouse – Villagers

Just Friends – Amy Winehouse

Yesterday – The Beatles

Somewhere Only We Know – Keane

Gracious – Ben Howard

The Line – Noah and The Whale

Wild Thing – Noah and the Whale

How You Remind Me – Nickleback

Fall For Anything – The Script

Talk You Down – The Script

We Cry – The Script

You Could Be Happy – Snow Patrol

Little Lies – Fleetwood Mac

I Know It’s Over – The Smiths

Last Goodbye – Jeff Buckley

Who Am I – Will Young

Breakaway – George Ezra

Did You Hear The Rain? – George Ezra

The Pieces Don’t Fit Anymore – James Morrison

Marauders:

I Predict A Riot – Keiser Chiefs

Pass Out – Tinie Tempah

Trouble Maker – Olly Murs, Flo Rida

Friday I’m In Love – The Cure

Dance Wiv Me – Dizzie Rascal, Calvin Harris

Hey Ya! – OutKast

Take Me Out – Franz Ferdinand

Mr Blue Sky – Electric Light Orchestra

Enola Gay – Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark

1999 – Prince

Lippy Kids – Elbow

One Day Like This – Elbow

My Sad Captains – Elbow

Weather to Fly – Elbow

Station Approach – Elbow

Together in Electric Dreams – The Human League

Walking On Sunshine – Katrina & The Waves

L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. – Noah and the Whale

Good People – Jack Johnson

Come On Eileen – Dexy’s Midnight Runners

Good Vibrations – The Beach Boys

Teenage Kicks – The Undertones

Beautiful Day – U2

You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet – Bachman Turner Overdrive

Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey

December 1963 (Oh What A Night) – The Family

I Will Wait – Mumford & Sons

More Than A Feeling – Boston

Stole The Show – Kygo, Parson James

September – Earth, Wind & Fire

Off The Wall – Michael Jackson

Life Is A Rollercoaster – Ronan Keating

Gold – Spandau Ballet

Bitter Sweet Symphony – The Verve

We Are Young – Fun

Everybody Wants To Rule The World – Tears For Fears

K2 – Elbow

Head for Supplies – Elbow

Dancing in the Moonlight – Toploader

Here Comes The Sun – The Beatles

Night Fever – Bee Gees

California Dreamin’ – The Mammas and the Pappas

Feel Good Inc. – Gorillaz

1973 – James Blunt

Half The World Away – Oasis

I Need A Holiday – Scouting For Girls

Keep On Walking – Scouting For Girls

Never Miss A Beat – Kaiser Chiefs

Paradise – Coldplay

Candy – Paolo Nutini

Make It Better – Gary Nock

Shine – Take That

Ride Wit Me – Nelly, City Spud

Handlebars – Flobots

Inbetween Days – The Cure

Expectations – Belle & Sebastian

Old Pine – Ben Howard

5 Years’ Time – Noah and the Whale

Old Joy – Noah and the Whale

Waiting For My Chance To Come – Noah and the Whale

Just Me Before We Met – Noah and the Whale

Give It All Back – Noah and the Whale

Tonight’s The Kind of Night – Noah and the Whale

Life is Life – Noah and the Whale

Holidays In The Sun – Sex Pistols

All Star – Smash Mouth

Jesus is a Rochdale Girl – Elbow

Don’t Stop – Fleetwood Mac

Express Yourself – Labrinth

Let The Sun Shine – Labrinth

Riptide – Vance Joy

Dog Days Are Over – Florence and the Machine

Older Chests – Damien Rice

Eskimo – Damien Rice

Big Bad World – Kodaline

Brand New Day – Kodaline

If anyone wants them as actual Spoitfy playlists do ask, cos I’m always a slut for wasting my time

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ancient-meadows · 7 years

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DAY: 4 BETRAYAL/DECEPTION

boo-ho-hooo.. starting to get into the sad stuff now, lol this is the part 2 of the day 1 Madness. even tho she said "seduce all the males” , I honestly was trying to wing it out and make it funny but yaaaaa knoow gotta spice some stuff up.

and the whole time i was drawing this i would go back to this song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRfmU_veS2E its so sad >~<

but Kuro baaaby why you do diiiis. mah heart. it hurts

@kuroweek

#kuroweek2k17 #kuro #dark shiro #abuse #voltron #vld #kuro voltron #voltron legendary defender #woeisme #sosad #dontworry #it will be okay #art #voltron fanart #crying #thisactuallyhappendtomeforreal #betrayal #deception

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airlea-sicarius · 7 years

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I am heading to bed

and tomorrow I’m gonna refilm my Q&A (because the original one is, like, 45 minutes long and is very choppy) and go into dem caverns in 15 that’s south of the disc of cauthess... I think...

I mean, the recommended level is 30 and, in good fashion, I’m level 52.

Hahahahaha. I’m at the start of chapter 6 and nearly the recommend level for chapter 14. I LOVE XV GAMEPLAY AND EXP AND STUFF

AND I LEGIT CRIED OVER THE MOTHER AND CHILD RICE BOWL AND I DON’T KNOW WHY BUT IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL

I also have some pictures to put onto ma memory stick and put on here as well (because I have been very forgetful) and some of them make me giggle. LIKE SHADY IGNIS MAKES A RETURN And Noct on his butt with his legs in the air.... I DON’T KNOW WHY BUT HEY HO

And there was this one where Ignis is looking at Gladio (he’s being brave and letting me drive... I’m worse than Noct ‘kay?) and he’s like ‘where should I hide this cake this time, hm?’

And one’s where I’m coming up to a road I always crash on (I mean always) and Ignis and Gladio both have the expressino where they just want to sell there souls.

AND I PLAYED THE DARTS GAME AND GOT BULL’S EYE IN TWO MINUTES BOO-YA

And I couldn’t save a video of Prompto trying his best to slide over a fence but kinda falling into it in that glitchy way, but it was HILARIOUS and then I though about Airlea wearing her not so grippy sneakers and slipping over XD And then I laughed again.

AND I HEAR ARMY TRAINING BOUNCING OFF HILLS

On a different note though, Imperial forces are now 100% level 47 MT Assassin’s and they PEE ME OFF SO MUCH Like, I just defeated the Midguardso - snake. And I was nearly in danger and good ol’ me accidentally pressing triangle instead of circle because I then picked a fight with the MTs and ANGRY GRAMPA DID NOT SAY HELLO

He decided to as soon as I warp-striked the coteblepas the first time fighting it.

The second time round I had to do it all meself and I did get the brisket from it. I had the key of prosperity and I ate the mother and child rice bowl because it increases the chances of picking up rare things by 50% - plus EXP bonus!

I was doing Scraps of Mystery all day though and I now just need to do IV (which I won’t do until I’m at least level 60) and XIII (which I can’t do until Cid wants me to use the lift).

So tomorrow I’ll be saying ‘hello cavern’ and another ‘hello glacial grotto’ to get a royal arm and treasure consecutively.

But, I’m tellin’ ya, I still HATE going out at night. Like, I am so tense. I’m fine in dungeons, but then outside is like ‘NOPE’. I mean, Iron giants and bombs I’m okay with; And Imps and Goblins of course. But Naga’’s, Red Giants+ and so on? Nuh-uh. And Arachids? They’re all good I gues but I AM VERY SCARED OF SPIDERS

Like, Noct and Prompto on bugs is me on spiders. Only, I’m more likely to run. But I did get some Airlea HCs in my head. AND THERE WAS THIS CONVERSATION ABOUT NOCT AND LUNA AND WHETHER THERE WAS STILL GOING TO BE A WEDDING AND NOCT LAUGHED REAL CUTELY AND WAS LIKE ‘We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it’ AND I JUST FELT SO... JELLY BECAUSE AIRLEA CAME INTO MY HEAD AND MADE ME SAD

BUT! I may also do a fic later down the line that is about, like, Regis and Airlea’s father and kinda going down that route.

BECAUSE I HAVE AN ENTIRE SERIES IN MY HEAD RIGHT NOW

And Airlea’s mother and Regis had this thing goin’ on when he was a prince and Crudelis was a pure accident.

YUP

I mean, they didn’t use very good protection when the were drunk. She did dump him though when she found out and she did move on reasonably quickly to Airlea’s father.

Oh my gee.

SEE? I RAMBLE SO BADLY

THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MY PLANS FOR TOMORROW NOT -

GAH!

NIGHT

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blunder-x-blog · 6 years

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The 25 Best Albums of 2017

the Staff

2017 has been a little bit of a whirlwind year. If we thought that 2016 could get somehow worse in any way, 2017 has topped it. But taking a break from possible nuclear world war III, losing the power of the internet, men being whiny babies because retribution is finally coming for the awful scumbags in Hollywood, and our president cheeto’s tiny, waving hands, music is our savior. Music is universal, music is wondrous, and these artists made that abundantly clear. From collaborations made in heaven to strumming guitars recorded on Iphones, 2017 is diverse, daunting, and yes, oh so good. Throughout the year these albums have stuck with me in one form or another. They’ve come with me to Australia, and to my first solo apartment. They’ve played as I worked my first internship job, and they’ve been the soundtrack to my final senior thesis project. They’ve been with me as I’ve lost love and found it, and they’re with me as I move into my final semester of college. Today I present to you my personal top 25 albums of 2017.

Honorable Mentions:

As a radio host, this list began in 2015 and I only had 3 hours to do the show, so I kick off the list of the albums that would have definitely made a top 50 list, but neither me nor anybody else has that kind of time.

Toro y Moi // Boo Boo

King Krule // Ooz

Lil Yachty // Teenage Emotions (Bring it back)

Gorillaz // Humanz

All of which were absolutely fantastic, but ultimately did not make the list (hey, I’m only human). So, without further ado, from bottom to top:

25. Lil B // Black Ken

So here’s the thing about Lil B. Yes, he is the #basedgod, and yes, I did listen to his hundreds of mixtapes in high school, but one of my favorite things about Brandon McCartney is his undeniable message of improvement. He went on tour in 2009 for a self help book he wrote, which still cracks me up to this day (#staybased). And after 2015’s unforgettable Hoop Life, he went on a bit of a hiatus, coming back with one of the most well-produced, succinct rap albums I’ve heard in a long time, let alone coming from Lil B himself. He takes us through a little bit of the story with “Still Run It” and “DJ Based God”, and yet this album is worlds away from his previous work of drunkenly freestyling over unmastered beats. Slick and jazzy with excellent drops and good flow, Black Ken is unforgettable, coming from one of the most unforgettable rappers out there.

24. Jay Som // Everybody Works

Every so often there is an indie rock album that you hear that you cannot forget any time soon. Alvvays 2014’s Alvvays is in a similar vein, and Everybody Works is the kind of album you can put on, jam out to with gin and orange juice and forget a little bit that everything kinda sucks. And yet, most of these songs are about things sucking, at least in a romantic sense. Many of the songs feature heartbreak (“One More Time Please” and “The Bus Song”). And yet there is also overcoming fear; to go on and perform in front of a crowd, to share your message and have it mean something (“(Bedhead)”). Jay Som is definitely someone to watch over the next few years.

23. Mount Eerie // A Crow Looked At Me

Music is emotional, and this album is the kind of album that reminds me of Joni Mitchell’s Blue, of the sickness and heartbreak and sadness that is human. A Crow Looked At Me was a response to the death of Phil Elverum’s wife, and this loss can literally be felt with every pluck of his guitar strings. From the opening line of the album, that “Death is real”, to the final track of the album, of a tender walk in the woods with his wife, seeing a crow flying over the trees. The crow was an omen, says Elverum, he just wasn’t sure of what it was, and A Crow Looked at Me takes us that place of uncertainty, yes, but ultimately it takes us with Elverum as he returns to the world. It takes us through his loss and into the void to emerge from the other side, human, and not quite sure what’s going to happen next.

22. Alvvays // Antisocialites

Okay yes, I’ve already mentioned Alvvays on this list literally two slots ago but it was because I flipped out so much when this band released this album that I’ve been waiting for for three years. When they first made headlines in 2014, it was from their lead single, an extremely sarcastic anthem of...matrimony. There is no “Marry Me, Archie” on this album, and yet each track is still just as poignantly indie-rock as their debut. “In Undertow”, the first single released on the album, was released about midway through the summer. This song is ultimately about a relationship ending, and just having pulled myself from a similar situation as the narrator, it’s chorus of “there’s no turning, no turning back after what’s been said” struck a chord, as one might say, with me. There is no turning back, but “You find a wave and try to hold on for as long as you can”, says lead singer Molly Rankin, and I can at least hold onto that wave, too.

21. Torres // Three Futures

I saw Mackenzie Scott go on tour for this album, and she showed up on stage wearing a blazer over a sports bra and 5 inch heels. It was pretty intimidating. Scott made my best album list back in 2015 with her incredible release Sprinter, and yet, Three Futures resonated somehow more with me. Perhaps it was the title track’s chorus, singing, “You didn't know I saw three futures / One alone, and one with you / And one with the love I knew I'd choose”. Yes, something may end, but we may emerge from that darkness again and end with something w both want. Also, the music video for “Skim”, the lead single, is something else, and definitely worth a watch.

20. Kesha // Rainbows

This album for me was an anthem. Kesha Sebert has been kind of an icon for middle-school me; “Tik Tok” dropped when I was twelve, and it dominated the music of middle-school dances. And if it wasn’t “Tik Tok”, it was one of the gajillion other top hits. And then I learned that her producer had been sexually harassing her and preventing her from having practically say on any of her artistic releases. And Kesha’s struggle somehow that year became all of our struggles. Kesha fought a long, uphill battle separating away from Kemosabe and Dr. Luke, and this record is a direct response to that. It’s even more fitting then that men are finally getting what’s coming to them. As Kesha sings in one of the singles, “Woman”, “I'm a motherfucking woman, baby, alright / I don't need a man to be holding me too tight”

19. James McAllister, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, Sufjan Stevens // Planetarium

Okay, yes. This album is long, this album is kinda mostly experimental classical music. It’s a lot of beeps, it’s a lot of boops. But listen though; I still maintain that everything Sufjan Stevens touches is absolute gold; and also, this album is a classical music match made in heaven. I may be just making excuses, but when “Saturn” dropped back in June, I lost my shit. And again after “Mercury” dropped three weeks later. I may be one of the only few people who loved this album, but let me tell you, firstuvall, it’s an album about space, and seconduvall, the transitions from “Kuiper’s Belt” to “Black Hole” to “Saturn” is something remarkable. I know “Jupiter” is a little overblown, but like, let’s be real, “Mercury” makes up for it, following the nearly 15 minute long instrumental “Earth”, ending with Steven’s quiet voice over intimate guitar, singing, “All that I dream / Where do you run, where do you run to? / Now I am messed up”. Yeah, Suffy, I’m a little messed up too.

18. Slowdive // Slowdive

Okay, I didn’t think that I would get into shoegaze this year, but let me tell you, this release changed my mind. I’m sure that the infamous reputation of shoegaze concerts gets out there, but actually going to one and just kind of sitting there mesmerized in the green light, standing without moving as some guy is just staring at his feet as he mostly just changes the pedals on his guitar? I’ll admit that sounds silly, but ho boy is it pretty dope. And Slowdive kind of did the perfect thing you could do: have only a limited catalogue for fans, go on hiatus, keep all the people who actually mattered in the band, and then release a damn good album after ten years. “Star Roving” kinda changed my view on shoegaze; pedals guitars never sounded so good.

17. The National // Sleep Well, Beast

I think the National have yet to release something that isn’t brilliant in every way possible. I’m not intimately familiar with their catalogue, but on a cold evening when I’m working on studying and want to slam my head against the blackboard, the quiet guitars and the deep, soothing voice of Matt Berninger singing about how much more life can suck keeps me going. Like a bunch of other albums on this list it’s once again about heartbreak, this time a marriage falling apart. “Day I Die” has Berninger singing to you, “I don’t need you, I don’t need you”, but his hushed quiet whisper on the last track/title track of the album whispering, “I’ll tell you about it sometime” leading up to this almost weirdly crunchy guitar riff closes out the album leaving you with something of a sort of hope, at least. Which is mostly what the National does -- it’s pretty sad stuff, and yet, somehow, you keep coming back to its brilliance.

16. Sampha // Process

2017’s music scene came in two parts: part one was people we all love releasing really good shit, and then the second part was people I’ve never heard of releasing really good music from absolutely nowhere. Sampha was part two. He had done a bunch of stuff (in re, collaborate with Kanye West) but I had never heard of this guy. Until he released an album centered around his mother’s battle with cancer and ultimate death. The first time I heard “Timmy’s Prayer”, I thought to myself, damn. Quiet music has a good place, and Sampha’s hushed voice over the ambient chords singing “I messed up, ooh / I know now / There's no room for me to play now” reminds me that yeah, I’ve messed up too. The real magic of the song, however, comes from the building of the bridge as Sampha sings with increasing fervor, “I wanna tell you that love comes and goes / That it comes and goes.” We all make mistakes, and sometimes it’s pretty fucking hard, and yet that process can lead to something beautiful, something wondrous.

15. Kelela // Take Me Apart

There is a reason that pop music is changing. For so long it’s been defined by EDM, and finally (finally) it’s shifting -- yes, to r&b. Thank goodness. And this album is the kind of album that reminds me why r&b is so good. Take Me Apart is Kelela’s debut, and you can bet I’m going to be paying attention to her in the next few years. I like to save songs that I really enjoy on a playlist for the season and I had to keep myself from just saving the entire album on the list as each song was equally as brilliant as the song that came before. A transition between to relationships, the album begins with a breakup song, but the brilliance comes from not only the lyrics, but the utterly intoxicating build through the first verse until the beat drops as the chorus begins, Kelela singing, “Couldn't take it back even though you wish I could / If you think I'm going back, you misunderstood.” (”Frontline”) The album takes you through the emotional journey of beginning another relationship however, and ultimately ends with a track of encouragement, that yeah, black women can fuck up the world, too: “There's a place for everyone / Let me remind you, let me remind you.”

14. Arcade Fire // Everything Now

Arcade Fire never does anything lightly. They had a whole fake branding down to the fake website for Reflektor, which ended up being a nearly 70 minute long somewhat-bloated excapade. Then they decided to do disco, and for some reason the critic world decided they didn’t like it. Fuck that. Everything Now was my summer listening album (other than a few more noteworthy albums to come). My coworkers and I blasted the lead single “Everything Now” through the open window of our field sampling van as we took buckets of crabs into the lab, and my friends and I sang the lyrics to “Signs of Life” as we strutted through the streets of Manhattan on our 21st birthday. I don’t even care that Pitchfork tore this album to shreds, if you don’t dance when the chorus of “Looking for signs of life / Looking for signs every night / But there's no signs of life / So we do it again” drops, something is wrong with you.

13. LCD Soundsystem // american dream

I’ll admit, I have never listened to LCD Soundsystem that much. I respected them as one of the more well known rock bands of the indie scene, and I had obviously heard a few of their more popular numbers on college radio (“All My Friends”). When their synthesizer/DJ genius person Gavin Rayna Russom came out as trans, it caught my attention. So when american dream came along, the release after a hiatus (post hiatus albums always get me, in re: Fall Out Boy, Sleater Kinney and obviously Slowdive) I listened to it. And it was a fantastic intro to the band: the long dancy kinda songs (“other voices” and “tonight”) to the even longer anthems (“how do you sleep”) and the even longer experimental EDM songs LCD is so well known for (“pulse v.1”), this album impressed me, and I came back for more. I understood why LCD soundsystem was so acclaimed; their music was damn good, and worth the wait.

12. Migos // C U L T U R E

Donald Glover called “Bad n Boujee” the best rap song he had ever heard. I’m not sure it’s the best I’ve ever heard, but Migos’ Culture was a damn good album. Impressively produced by 18 people and yet the three rappers at the center of the album are never lost. “Bad n Boujee”, the obvious hit from the album and collaboration with Lil Uzi Vert, is pretty relevant in today’s materialism, talking about getting rich and being with women with expensive taste. With lines like “cookin’ up dope in a crockpot” and “I'm young and rich and plus I'm boujee (hey)”, the song is big, and relevant, and addicting. Bourgeois is the new 1%, and if you’re not living it up, then what’s the point of living.

11. Run the Jewels // Run the Jewels 3

Run the Jewels’ first album was a little more of an experimental thrust into the world, and their second album brought the politicism and polarized lyrics we’ve come to know. Their third album takes what has been established and solidifies it into something uniquely theirs: big, bad and in your face; only the lyrics pack a little more punch than you first thought on the first listen. With team-ups with Danny Brown (“Hey Kids (Bumaye)”) to songs that are just RTJ taking it to the next level and keeping it as hype and as loud and as relevant as we’ve come to expect (“Talk To Me” and “Legend Has It”), RTJ3 is excellent, staying with us all the way through 2017 since its release in January. Oh, and if “Pather like a Pather” isn’t featured in Marvel’s Black Panther, they’re doing something really fucking wrong.

10. Vince Staples // big fish theory

When Vince Staples announced that he was departing from the previous sound of his critically acclaimed Summertime ‘06, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Then I heard that SOPHIE, of PC Music notoriety, was helping produce his album. The songs that carrie SOPHIE’s touch are obvious (“SEMO”, “Yeah Right”); SOPHIE is not a subtle producer, but this newer, bigger sound didn’t drown Staples’ raps, they exemplified them. Staples thrives in this sound as he thrived in the atonality of Summertime, and songs like “BagBak” and “745” are impressively big, hooking the listener in and keeping them coming back for more. I was impressed, and big fish theory is an album I have returned to several times this year. Staples takes us into his life with “Big Fish”, looking out at the world from how far he’s come in his fish bowl, and somehow the intimacy comes through amidst the bigger, badder sound.

9. Syd // Fin

This album was released in February. My friend called me and told me I needed to “have sweet lesbian sex to this album right now”. I couldn’t, so I put it off (idiotically) until I finally (only) listened to the album months later, in July. And I felt like an idiot. Syd, one half of the funk/r&b duo The Internet, is a queer icon. She shits gold, and her voice is the kind of smooth, cocky voice that is addicting and extremely sexy. Fin exemplifies this. Only Syd can pull of a braggadocio, egotistical song about fame, money, and of course, bitches: “I’m the one your girl been posting tweets ‘bout / This the kinda life me and my niggas used to dream ‘bout / Riding round your city in a mother fucking spaceship” (”No Problem”). Only Syd can sing this explicitly about sex and somehow make it tender: “Baby we can take it slow, say my name / Don't let go, I can hear your body when I / Pull your hair, what’s my name” from “Body” basically sum up the album. It’s Syd bragging about how great she is, and fuck yes, is she great.

8. HAIM // Something to Tell You

HAIM has been my favorite band since I first heard “The Wire” on my college radio as I drove home one afternoon just before I graduated as a senior. I listened to that album nearly every day that summer, and since then, I listen to the band and think of home. I was so nervous the moment I heard the news about their new release; I was terrified it was going to be a sellout record and absolute garbage. It wasn’t. It was no Days Are Gone, but it was just as wistful, just as smooth as Days Are Gone was, with a little extra disco. Sure, there are moments when it’s a little overproduced (sorry Ariel Rechtshaid, I don’t really care to hear this weird pop fake horse neigh on “Want You Back”, I just want to hear Este Haim’s slap bass and Alana’s first extended vocal solo since “Spirit Wind”). I may not have every song memorized yet, but you can bet I scream along to the chorus of the cathartic “Found it in Silence”: “But I found it in silence, I finally see / There's no turning back, I know what's good for me” or the almost Imogen Heap-like “Kept Me Crying”: “I was your lover / I was your friend / Now I'm only just someone you call / When it's late enough to forget”, and finally we hear the Danielle Haim Guitar Solo we’ve been waiting to hear since the beginning of the album. There’s throwback disco (“You Never Knew”), there’s raging blues rock (“Little of your Love”), there’s cathartic goodbyes (“Right Now”), and yeah, I’m a little teary. My band didn’t disappoint, and I am happy.

7. Jlin // Black Origami

This album was released in February, and has stuck with me throughout the entire year. It’s a black woman who refuses to let people (aka, white men) produce her work for her. It’s experimental and percussive and sometimes makes your brain feel like it’s melting (“1%). There aren’t many lyrics in the album, it’s almost entirely EDM experimental percussion, and gosh man, is it good. I listened to the album for the first time and I physically felt myself leave my body for a few moments to forget I was human. The percussive roots of the album are apparent in tracks like “Kyanite” and “Nyakinyua Rise”, and she gives us quieter moments with “Calcination” a rest from the percussive sound centered at the album’s heart. This album blew me away and stuck with me, and was one of the most out-of-nowhere albums of the year. There are surprises hidden away in this world; you just have to find them.

6. Giraffage // Too Real

So it was not once but twice my friend called me in frantic haze, saying, “Molly. Remember when I called you in February to tell you you needed to listen to Syd’s album that very moment and you didn’t and it bit you in the butt? Listen to this album right now.” I had never heard of Giraffage, and when I pulled the album up on spotify I was greeted by a naked blue guy’s butt, resembling Watchmen’s Dr. Manhattan, looking at a crumbling earth. Little was I to know that some vaporwave album from nowhere would go on to be one of my absolute favorite albums of the year. It’s indietronica/vapor soul at its finest: little to no lyrics except for the vocal distortion of “oooOOh YEAH” on the album’s opener “Do U Want Me” (somewhat off putting) until the funk kind of chimes in about 15 seconds later and takes you on the smoothest journey to vaportown. This may seem like I’m chiding the album, but that is the album’s vibe. It chides you until you listen to it 8 more times just that week. Something about future funk is addicting, and I can’t quite put my finger on it.

5. St. Vincent // MASSEDUCTION

How about we take the fallout of a relationship between two of the most iconic women on earth, that we thought for sure were gonna get married, have the musician at the center of the fallout write an album inspired in part from it, and have Jack Antonoff produce it. And let’s have every track be so St. Vincent that the album may in fact be her best album yet. From the moment “New York” dropped in the middle of the summer and became one of my quickly most listened to tracks of the year (“you’re the only motherfucker in this city who forgives me”) to the dropping of “Los Ageless” as a crunchy indie rock anthem (“How can anybody have you? / How can anybody have you and lose you? / How can anybody have you and lose you / And not lose their minds, too?”) to the fervent listen I gave the entire album the second it dropped on a September Friday, to seeing Annie Clark herself perform the album in its entirety live in Maine, this album has been one of my defining albums of 2017. In the end, Clark hints at what made that relationship fall apart on possibly my favorite track of the album, “Slow Disco”: “Am I thinking what everybody's thinkin'? / I'm so glad I came, but I can't wait to leave”. We’ll miss you until next time, Annie. But we’ll keep coming back.

4. Kendrick Lamar // DAMN.

Kendrick Lamar has been on my top albums of the year list since 2015. The man releases a living masterpiece, To Pimp a Butterfly, to critical acclaim. Next year, the same year Kanye West releases one of the most overproduced albums I’ve seen in my living years, he drops untitled unmastered, which went on to steal my heart. This year, he decides to make an album about growing up as a young black man in Compton, CA, and somehow makes it the most listenable rap album of the year. He is deservedly on the top spot again for both Pitchfork and NPR and a number of other publications, and deserves nothing less. From the songs everybody has on their party playlists, “Humble” and “DNA”, to collaborations with Rihanna and, um, U2?, to the end track of the album “Duckworth” telling the story of Lamar’s now-producer avoiding a robbery at Lamar’s father’s counseling, rewinding back to the beginning of the album, right back where we started: “So I was takin’ a walk the other day...”. The cycle repeats, and Lamar is left right in the center of it all, exactly where he should be.

3. SZA // Ctrl

Sometimes there are people in this world who are born with the voice of an angel and Solána Rowe is one of them. I idiotically did not listen to this album upon its immediate release; it was not until I was recapping the summer did my friend berate me for not listening to Ctrl. I listened to it and immediately fell head over heels in love with Rowe and everything she’s ever released. Ctrl took the minimalistic groundwork laid in Z and upped the ante, making the songs even more listenable than you thought. There’s a reason that r&b makes such good soundtracks to any sort of activity you could imagine; exemplified by the smooth base and twinkling synths of “The Weekend” to the more laid back “Drew Barrymore” as she sings, “am I / Warm enough for ya outside baby, yeah”, worrying like all of us do, in a moment of self doubt, if we are in fact good enough for the loved ones around us. Ctrl exemplifies this self doubt, making it poignant, universal, and oh so listenable.

2. Lorde // Melodrama

Lorde is my age, and it’s a little bit jarring. And yet, every single thing she sings about being a 21-year old is somehow reflected back into my life. Perhaps it was the release order of her singles, from “Green Light”, which sounded like a typical pop song with pretty good lyrics, to “Liability”, easily the best song Lorde has ever released in her entire life (“They say, "You're a little much for me, you're a liability / You're a little much for me” / So they pull back, make other plans / I understand, I'm a liability”), to “Perfect Places”, one of the greatest party anthems I have heard over these years, Lorde has outdone herself again. And if it couldn’t get any better, she takes one of the weaker songs on the album, “Homemade Dynamite”, and releases a remix with Khalid, SZA, and Post Malone (yes, you heard me right). Everything about this album is exactly what it needs to be, from the “glamour and the trauma and the fuckin' / Melodrama” to her whisper at the end of the album as the music crashes leaving her alone and tired and young, Lorde has created a masterpiece. I still ask myself, since the album has released, as I dance in dark lights crossfaded on friday evenings, surrounded by people...“What the fuck are perfect places, anyway?”

1. Khalid // American Teen

I’ll be real; this album may not have been as poignant as DAMN., as universal as Melodrama, or as listenable as Ctrl, but the moment this album was released in May, from the ending chorus of the opening and titular track “American Teen” sung by Khalid’s friends, to his smooth voice over a single piano at the end of “Angels”, I knew Khalid had my album of the year. Heartbreak, frustration, independent and lack of it, struggle, peer pressure and over it all, Khalid’s molasses voice singing over the release of (in my opinion) one of the best r&b albums I’ve heard, this album is universal. Every teenager has been where Khalid has been; trying to hide the smell of marijuana in his car from his parents (“8TEEN”) to losing hope when we thought we could make it through the hardest part (“Winter”), to the heartbreak of young love (“Another Sad Love Song”) we’ve been there. I listened to this album a gajillion times this year. I may not be a teenager anymore, but I’m about to graduate from college and be an adult. It’s a little terrifying. And if a 19 year old can make it through that process of independence (and then go on to release an exceptional album), then damn it, I can make it through too.

#albums of the year #music #culture #blxnder

0 notes

gizoogletranslateshomestuck · 7 years

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> Karkat: Open M-to-tha-izzemo.

CCG RIZZLE NOW openizzle mizzay on board FRUITY RUMPUS ASSHOLE FACTORY.

CCG: HIZZEY FUTIZZLE ME, WHAT D-YA T-H-TO-THA-IZZINK ABOUT DIS EXPLODED JADEBOT BUSINESS? CCG: MUST BE HO-SLAPPIN' REALLY MISSION CRITICAL, OR JADE W-TO-THA-IZZOULDN'T HAVE BOTHERED CLOCKIN' 'N TOUCH WIT US, RIGHT? CCG: SUM-M SUM-M IMPERATIVE TA OUR SURVIVAL NO DOUBT? CCG: HEY DOUCHE BAG, BE YOU THERE

??? gardenGnostic [?GG] AT ?:?? responded ta mizzy.

?GG dogg: oh jeez, why be i doing dis ?GG: Subscribe nigga, get yo issue. this be so stupid!

CCG: PIZZY DOWN HARLEY, DIS PRACTICALLY D-TO-THA-IZZOESN'T IZZLE CONCERN YOU AT DIS PIZZY

?GG: bluhhh Y-to-tha-izzoure so funnizzle!!!!!

CCG: NUTTIN TO SIZZY, FUTIZZLE ME? It's your homie snoop dogg from the dpg. CCG: NOT EVEN A FIZZEW GANG BANGIN' WIZZY OF SCORN FO` ME OR THA NARCOLEPTIC IDIOT? Aint no stoppin' this shit nigga. CCG: IT'S B-TO-THA-IZZEEN A WHIZZILE SINCE WIZZY SPARRED, HIZZAY I'VE MISZE' THE SWIZNEET ST'N OF YO' BIZZARBS

?GG: be you enjoy'n yoself kizzle?

CCG: HIZZLE YOU BE SO DUMB YIZZAY ACTUALLY TIZZY DIS BE A RUZE. CCG: YOU COME AIZZY DIS WAY N YOU SIZZY DON'T GIT THAT ALL THA S-H-TO-THA-IZZIT WIZZAY BIZZEEN CRUISIN' YOU 'BOUT BE REAL. CCG: WHIZZLE THIZZE FIZZY WOULD I BE PULL'N A STIZZLE LIZNIKE DIS, WHIZNAT A WIZZASTE OF TIME. CCG: I REALLIZZLE BE CRACK-A-LACKIN` TA FUTURE ME, HE'S JUST BEIN AN EVIZZLE TOO'. Yippie yo, you can't see my flow.

?GG fo' real: well obviously i know some frontin' youve said are true ?GG: its jizzy H-to-tha-izzard ta takes crack-a-lackin` at fizzle value wizzy youre always so nasty!

CCG: YOU KIZZY, IT REALLIZZLE AMAZ'N HOW BEHIND THA TIMES YOU BE. CCG: IT ALMIZZLE AS IF YOU SLEPT THROUGH DIS WHOLE ADVENTIZZLE CCG: OH WIZZAIT, THAT BE ESSENTIALLY TRUE. CCG: IT WAS HILARIOUS WATCHING YIZNOU GROW UP. CCG: YOU TIZZY YOU HAD ALL THA ANSWA, FROLICK'N ALL OVA YO' ISLAND BEIN INFURIATINGLY CHIPPA, BUILD'N ROBO-BUNNIES LIZZAY A MORON N ULTIMATELY BUSTIN' EVERYTHING. CCG bitch ass nigga: YOU WERE SO SIZNURE YO' DREAMS TOLD YOU EVERYTH'N YOU NEEDIZZLE TA KNOW. CCG: N NOW LOOK AT YOU CCG fo yo bitch ass: YOU SUDDENLY UNDERSTAND JACK SHIT.

?GG: Snoop dogg is in this bitch. ok i understand that you be shot calla grizzoup of playas n yizzle be 'n siznome siznort of trouble ?GG: Listen to how a motherfucker flow shit. but mizzay if yizzle had been funky ass ta me instead of terroriz'n me all thoze years i would have believed you ?GG: Dogg House Records in the motha fuckin house. n we could have worked togetha ta solve yo' problems as well as ours ?GG: it just makes me sad to think T-H-to-tha-izzats probablizzle impossible now coz yizzle be so angry n stubborn!

CCG with my forty-fo' mag: DON'T TIZZELL ME WHAT IMPOSSIBLE COZ I'M ANGRY AND STUBBORN. CCG: I CRUISIN' KNIZZOW W-H-TO-THA-IZZAT THOZE ASSETS MAKE POSSIBLE. CCG: THEY MADE YIZZOU POSSIBLE, GOTS IT like old skool shit???

?GG: uh huh

CCG with my hoes on my side, and my strap on my back D-YA EVEN HAVE ANY IDEA HIZNOW LUCKY YOU BE TA BE GRACED BY MAH DIVINE FURY? CCG: TA HAVE THA PRIVILEGE OF TRIPPIN' TA BE STUDY N MOCKED BY ME FO` YO' WHIZZLE PATHETIC MISERABLE LIFE? CCG: D-YA REALIZZLE I'M YO' GIZNOD? Tru niggaz do niggaz. YES, YO' LITERAL GOD, THAT RIGHT.

?GG sho nuff: sure karkat, whateva yizzle sizzy! Death row 187 4 life.

CCG: N I HAVE TAKEN TIME OUT OF MAH BUSY GODLY SCHEDIZZLE TO SCRUTINIZE YO' PIZZLE EXISTENCE. CCG: OUT OF THA COUNTLESS TRILLIONS OF LIZZLE FIZZAY I BROUGHT INTO REALITY THROUGH ANGRY GRUBFUCK POWA ALONE, I HAVE SELIZZLE YIZZAY FOR EXAMINATION N HARASSMENT. CCG: Bow wow wow yippee yo yipee yay. PERSONALLIZZLE I THINK THAT WARRANTS A SHAWTY GRATITUDE, N JIZZY MAYBE, A BIT OF DEFERENCE. CCG: A CURTSY, PERHAPS? CCG: BUT YEAH GO AHEEZEE AND KIZZAY BLOW'N ME OFF LIZNIKE THA FLAKEY SHAWTY TIZZY YIZZOU BE.

FUTIZZLE carcinoGenizzle [FCG] 3 HOURS FROM NOW responded ta miznemo.

FCG to increase tha peace: HEY DON'T RAP TA HA LIKE THAT YOU IZZLE PIECE OF SHIT. FCG so jus' chill: DIS BE REFLECT'N POORLIZZLE ON BOTH OF US, IT GODDAMNED EMBARRASSING.

CCG: OH WOW, ANOTHA MIRACLE. CCG: IT MIZZY BE PERIGEES EVE, COZ GET A LOAD OF DIS HUGE BEHEMOTH LEAV'N THAT JIZZY GOTS DRAGGE' 'N. CCG: J-TO-THA-IZZADE, OIZZY DUTY BE CLEAR. WE MUST DECK DIS TURD TA THE NINES.

FCG: OH MAH GOD I CAN'T BELIEVE I ACTIZZLE THOUGHT THAT WIZZLE A CLEVA TH'N TA SAY. WHIZNAT A DIPSHIT.

?GG: aaauugh what tha hell!!!

FCG: JIZZAY, I'M SORRY 'BOUT PAST MIZNE'S RETARDED BEHAVIOR. FCG: I'M NOT GO'N TA DRIZNAG OUT A HUGE APOLOGIZZLE OR NOTHIN' TRIPPIN' COZ I ALREADY APOLOGIZE' 'N AN BROTHA CONVERSATION, OK. I'M JIZZAY LETT'N YOU KNOW.

CCG: GIZZY DAMMIZZLE, BE YIZZLE SERIZZLE? CCG: I MEAN, BE I SERIOUS????? CCG: Wussup to all my niggaz in the house. WIZZILL I BE SERIOUS 'BOUT DIS SHIT. WILL I R-E-A-DOUBLE-LIZZY BACK DIZZAY LIKE A LIZZAY FRONDED STOOGE? PLEAZE TELL ME YOE JOKING.

FCG keep'n it real yo: PLEAZE, JUST FCG yeah yeah baby: SHUT UP FCG: I CIZZY BELIEVE I EVA THIZZAY FIZZLE ME WIZNAS THA STUPID ONE FCG: PAST ME BE THA DUMBEST BUCKIZZLE OF FESTER'N DISCHARGE I EVA FELL ASS BACKWARDS INTO. FCG: CIZZY ON, YOU KNOW DIS TA BE TRUE. SHOT CALLA ALL THA PIZZAY USZES WE UZE' TA RAP TA?? FCG: THIZZAY WIZNERE EVEN PASTA THAN YOU, N THEREFORE DUMBER.

CCG: YIZZLE, I REMEMBA ALL THOZE DUMBSHIT PAST USZES, BUT THEY DIZZY HOLD A SAGGIN' JACKASS CANDLE TA FUTURE USZES. CCG: N YOE THA FUTUREST ME I EVA HIZZAY THA CROTCH BLISTER'N MISFORTUNE OF BUSTIN' WIT, SO THA FUCKHEEZEE TRIZZLE GOES TA YOU. CCG: I MEAN, MAH GOD, WHY. CCG: BE PROXIMITY TA THAT NASTY LOOK'N SPACETIME RIP ON THA TIMELINE SAGGIN' WIT YO' HEEZEE? CCG: BE THIZZAY WHAT CAUSING YOU TA FEEL PITY FO` DIS IMBECILE?

FCG like this and like that and like this and uh: LOOK, JADE NOT THIZZAY BAD OK. FCG: YOU JIZZY GOTS TOO WORKED UP, N YOU CAN'T SEE THAT. FCG with my forty-fo' mag: N NOW ALL DIS FROTH'N PANDIZZLE SAGGIN' OUT OF YO' MOUTH BE JUST RIDICIZZLE OVERCOMPENSATION FO` YOUR OWN RIDIN' N MISTAKES, N MASK'N SIZNOME FEEL'N YOE NIZZLE REALLY 'N TOUCH WITH. FCG: DIS BE ALL SO OBVIZZLE, I'M FLUSH'N LIKE A MOTHERFUCKA 'N EMBARRASSMENT GANG BANGIN' TA IZZLE IT TA YOU, N EVEN WORZE, STEPPIN' BLINGIN' IT EXPLAINED TA ME BY THA SMART ONE THREE HOURS AGO N STIZZILL ACT'N LIKE A MOIST GLIZZAY EVEN AFTA BEIN SO SIZZLE SCHOOLFED.

CCG: I D-TO-THA-IZZON'T BIZZLE DIS. PLEAZE TELL ME DIS BE A JOKE.

FCG: YOU SIZZLE SO YOSELF, WE DON'T JIZZLE AROUND. IT JUVENILE, REMEMBER.

CCG: I'M RHYMIN' TA VOMIT. CCG: Chill as I take you on a trip. I'M RIDIN' A MENTAL NOTE TO SLAP MYSIZZLE THRIZZAY HOURS FROM NOW, FO` BEIN ENOUGH OF A SAP TA STIZNART DEVELOP'N RED FEEL'N FO` A DUMB DIPPIN' HUMAN, IF I'M READ'N BETWEEN THA LINES CORRECTLY.

FCG: I JUST SLAPPED MYSELF! Boo-Yaa! I REMEMBERED MAH LAME NIZZAY TA MYSELF FRIZZAY THREE HIZZLE AGO, AIZZY THEN SLAPPED MYSELF SPECIFICIZZLE TA MOCK YOU. FCG: IT PERPETRATIN' TOO, YIZZOU'LL FEEL IT 'N A WHILE. N THIZNEN THA G-H-TO-THA-IZZOST OF PAST ME WILL CRY. FCG: PAST ME DIZNOESN'T EVEN EXIST ANYMORE. HE A STUPIZZLE BAWL'N WIGGLA PHANTOM. HE DIZZEAD, NOT A REAL HOMEY ANYMORE, L-TO-THA-IZZIKE ME. FCG thats off tha hook yo: I'M THA RIZZAY ONE. YOE FAKE, A SHADOW OF A SAD MEMORY T-H-TO-THA-IZZAT PISZE' ITS PANTS WHILE SCREAMING. FCG with the S-N-double-O-P: TIZZY TA DEAL WIT IT.

CCG bizzle FCG frizzay respond'n ta memo. Subscribe nigga, get yo issue.

FCG unbanned hizzle from ridin' ta mizzy.

FCG banned CCG from rhymin' ta memo.

CCG unbizzle himself from respond'n to memo.

?GG: i cant takes dis anymore!!!!!!!! ?GG: i dizzle even kniznow what im read'n hiznere bizzay its preposterous n ive had it! ?GG: Relax, cus I'm bout to take my respect. i be just so angry, i cizzy belizzle i let you push me around all thoze years ?GG: you be completely out of yo' miznind, i wizzy too funky ass by J-to-tha-izzust block'n yizzle n typizzle frowny faces n stuff ?GG: i should H-to-tha-izzave let you HAVE IT! Keep'n it gangsta dogg.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FCG mah nizzle: YIZZES so show some love, niggaz!!!!! FCG: LET DIS FUCKA K-N-TO-THA-IZZOW THA SCIZZORE JADE. DIS BE HOW WE ROLL.

?GG: SHUT UP!!!!!!! ?GG: future karkat, if yiznou reallizzle be future karkat... It's your homie snoop dogg from the dpg.... ?GG puttin tha smack down: where d-ya git off bustin' yizzy cizzay just suddenlizzle act like wizzere pizzy coz you sizzle you apologize'???? ?GG: if yiznou want ta apologize T-H-to-tha-izzen bootylicious i be all ears! but jizzust mention'n it off hand n then mackin' at yoself tha sizzy way you yell at me all tha tizzime as if i nee' a knight to come S-to-tha-izzave me from yoursizzle be so lame, not ta mention completely insizzle ?GG mah nizzle: i cizzay izzle believe tha th'n im typ'n H-to-tha-izzere! It dont stop till the wheels fall off. dis be so stupid, talking ta two of you at once be tha worst th'n imaginable ?GG: yizzle treat everyone horrizzle, even yoself, i cizzy izzle fizzle how awful it is ta be yizzou ?GG: past karkat, yizzy act'n like a bigga jerk thizzay he be n i think you know that! Boom bam as I step in the jam, God damn. why dont you takes his advice n grizzle up ?GG: as if theres even a real difference between you two. three hours be hardly any time at all, yizzle be tha S-to-tha-izzame person YOU STRAIGHT TRIPPIN' IZZLE! Ya fuck with us, we gots to fuck you up.!!!!!!!!

CCG: OH SHIT

FCG, chill yo: YIZZY, THIZZLE WAS BOOTYLICIOUS. WE BOTH HAD IT COMING, ESPECIALLY HIM. BOOTYLICIOUS WIZNORK JADE.

?GG: stop it!!!! ?GG: ugh, i dont knizzle whats worze, jerk kizzle or goofy sycizzle karkat ?GG: i cant stand it, whether youre try'n ta be funky ass or just bein a crazy izzle, you are jizzust so wizneird!!! ?GG: im through frontin' you, i dont even care 'bout dis stupid exploded rizzle mission, whateva thizzle was

FCG: OH R-TO-THA-IZZIGHT, 'BOUT THAT FCG: Ya fuck with us, we gots to fuck you up. YIZZY WE NEED TO RAP FCG: I MEAN WE H-TO-THA-IZZAVE ALREADIZZLE FROM MAH PERSPECTIVE FCG: It dont stop till the wheels fall off. BUT YOE GO'N TA BE REALLY BUSY SIZZLE, COZ YOE 'BOUT TA BALLER YO' SESSION FCG: Drop it like its hot. SO DIZZLE WORRY 'BOUT IT UNTIL YOU DO, THEN JUST HIZNIT ME UP, WE'LL RAP 'BOUT IT

?GG: hahizzle, FIZZY CHANCE!!!!

FCG: Nigga get shut up or get wet up. LOOK I KNOW TH'N BE W-TO-THA-IZZEIRD BIZZLE US RIGHT NOW N YOU HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE BUGGIN' with my hoes on my side, and my strap on my back FCG: ESPECIALLY AT THAT LOSER. FCG with my hoes on my side, and my strap on my back BUT PIMPIN' WILL CHANGE, 'N T-TO-THA-IZZIME YIZZLE SEE I'M NOT QIZZAY SO AWFUL, OK?

??? turntechgodheezee [ mah nizzle?TG] AT ?:?? respondizzle to memo.

?TG: ahahahahah oh god ?TG: dizzy i cizzle believe you were just gett'n on our caze 'bout weed-smokin' on tha trizzay gizzle ?TG so you betta run and grab yo glock: n then literally tha very next memo you are slobber'n all killa jade ?TG: Wussup to all my niggaz in the house. thats just perfect hahahaha

CCG banned ?TG aww nah: F-R-to-tha-izzom respond'n ta memo.

FCG rebanned ?TG, betta check yo self: frizzle ridin' ta memo sho nuff.

?GG: dave wizzy diznont go! Snoop heffner mixed with a little bit of doggy flint. ?GG so jus' chill: yizzle gots ta save me from dis insanizzle like this and like that and like this and uh:(

FCG: OH I SEE, NOW YOU COULD UZE A KNIGHT, HIZZY VERIZZLE RHYMIN', HMMM. FCG like this and like that and like this and uh: GIZZLE I CIZZAY WAIT FO` YOU TA BE FUTURE YOU, SLIGHTLY L-TO-THA-IZZESS FUTURE YOU IS SUCH A GOD DIZZLE PIZZILL

?GG thats off tha hook yo: i cizzay wait fo` future you ta future kiss mah ass!

CCG: YEAH hittin that booty! THAT WHIZZLE I'M CRACK-A-LACKIN` 'BOUT.

?GG: i also cant wizzy fo` past yizzay ta past driznop dead and go ta hell, PAST TENZE!!!!!!!! ?GG: W-H-to-tha-izzen be thoze th'n go'n ta happen?? or W-to-tha-izzill hizzay already past/future happened yeah yeah baby????? ?GG: i want ta pizzay anotha pusha on mah finga so i know when its tiznime ta throw a party, chill yo!!!!

FCG: HAHAHAHA, YIZZLE HEAR TIZZY YOU OBSOLIZZLE PILE OF GARBAGE? J-TO-THA-IZZADE JUST FLIPPED YOU OFF WIT A COLORFUL FINGER.

CCG so jus' chill: DAWG, SHIZZAY OBVIOIZZLE HATES YOU MORE. SHE CIZZLE YIZZAY A SYCOPHANT WHIZZICH IS A HUNDRED TIZZLE MIZNORE DESCRIPTIVELY WORZE THIZNAN JUST BEING A RUN OF THA MILL SCUMBAG LIKE ME. CCG: SHE BE TOTALLIZZLE ON TA YOU N HOW DESPICABLE YOU BECOME, CAN YIZZOU BLAME HA FO` HAT'N US?

FCG: NO, I CAN BLAME YIZZOU, YOE THA ONE WIT NO SHOT CALLA WHO ALL TWISTED UP INSIDE. FCG: HOW DIS FO` A PIZZLE, EVERYBODY. FCG: PIZZLE KARKAT ONLY TALKS TA PIZZAY JADE F-R-TO-THA-IZZOM NIZZLE ON, N THA TWO OF TIZZY CIZZAY BICKA LIZZAY SHITTY SHAWTY CHILDREN FO` HOURS/YIZZLE RESPECTIVELY. FCG: N FIZZLE KARKAT ONLY TALKS TA FUTIZZLE JADE, AN ARRANGEMENT WHIZZLE ONLY INTELLIGIZZLE DISCOURZE TAKES PLIZZACE BETWEEN TIZZY CIVILIZE', MATURE, GROWN ASSED ADULTS. FCG yaba daba dizzle: BE T-H-TO-THA-IZZAT TOO MUCH TA ASK??????

?GG: jesizzles will you just bizzy me already???? ?GG: mah heezee hurts so bad now i think im rhymin' ta crizzy

FCG: MIZZAY YOU SHOULD JIZNUST BAN HER ALREADY N END DIS TORMENT SINCE YIZZLE DRAGGE' HIZZY INTO DIS.

CCG: FUCK THIZZAT YOU BIZZAN HER. YOE THA ONE WHO SEEMS TA "CIZZY".

FCG: WILL YOU SHUT YO' MOUTH, DAWG THA FIZZLE UP, AND BIZNAN DIS POOR GIZZAY ALREADY?

?GG: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa XO ?GG like old skool shit: i will just ban myself! Ill slap tha taste out yo mouf.!!! ?GG: Throw yo guns in the motherfuckin air. *JIZZLE HARLIZZLE BANNIZZLE HERSELF FRIZZAY RESPOND'N TA THA GRUMPY SHIT HEEZEE MISERIZZLE Z-TO-THA-IZZONE, N BE NEVA COM'N BIZNACK* ?GG: pchooooooooizzle

[?GG] ceaze' respond'n to mizzemo.

FCG: OK, THERE. SHE GONE. FCG: MAYBE NOW YOU GIT IT. FCG: HOW HIDEOUS EVERYONE THIZZLE YOU BE, MAYBE YOU'LL FINALLY STOP FUCK'N EVERYTH'N UP.

CCG: Holla! HIZZUH

FCG ridin' in mah double R: WHAT

CCG: I THINK CCG: I WAS PROBABLY WRONG 'BOUT J-TO-THA-IZZADE CCG: SHE A SHAWTY LIZZESS LAME THAN I THOUGHT

FCG: SHHHHSHHSHSHSHSH FCG: SHE CAN STIZZILL READ DIS YIZZAY STUPID FIZZUCK FCG: NOW NIZZLE THA T-TO-THA-IZZIME TA OPEN YIZZAY VIZNEINS N WRITE PIZZY 'BOUT YIZZAY FEEL'N

CCG mah nizzle: FIZZAY YOU, I'M JUST VOIC'N A HARMLESS OBSERVATION OK CCG: IT NIZZY MAH BUSINIZZLE IF SOME LIZZUNK HEEZEE 'N THA FUTURE GETS CARRY IZZLE WIT SHOT CALLA SHAWTY THOUGHTS I MAY OR MIZZAY NOT NIZZLE BE PIMPIN'

FCG: I... FCG cuz its a doggy dog world: BIZNUT FCG: HOW COULD THAT EVEN BE A REAL TH'N I TYPED THREE H-TO-THA-IZZOURS AGO, HOW CIZNOULD I BE DIS STUPID. FCG ridin' in mah double R: WE BE JIZZUST THA DUMBEST FUCKA WHO HUSTLA LIVED AREN'T WE.

CCG: SPEAK FO` YOSELF.

FCG: I DON'T EVEN HAVE THA ENERGY TA BAN US. FCG: I'M JIZZUST LEAVING.

[FCG] ceaze' weed-smokin' to memo.

CCG: YEAH

[CCG] ceaze' respond'n to memo.

> J-to-tha-izzade: Consult crazy ass nigga.

#Gizoogle #Homestuck #pg2851

0 notes

marulikestea · 7 years

Text

Indochina Trip - Vietnam

Having learned from our previous mistake of not getting Mekong Express as our ride back in Cambodia, we made sure that this time, we’d definitely book one no matter what the cost. Luckily for us, our hotel managed to arrange it without problems so on the morning of our departure from Phnom Penh, they were able to pick us up on our hotel.

Our Mekong ticket from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh.

Since there were only a few of us who’d be traveling to Ho Chi Minh, our ride was in a form of a van instead of the standard bus. And as part of their package, they also provided us with a free bottle of water and wet wipes for the journey ahead.

Our trip to Vietnam was approximately around 6-7hours (traffic and pit stop included). I wish I could say that our drive went smoothly, but as the universe had other plans, it didn’t went as I expected.

How so? Well, as it happened, there just a couple of noisy old ladies in the van chatting like they were the only ones inside and a certain chinese-looking man who had his tablet at max volume while playing a mobile game. And because I wasn’t smart enough to bring my own earphones during our indochina trip, my poor ears had no noise cancellation to protect itself to such abuse. And I wasn’t alone in all this suffering. Even my seatmate, who was a male westerner, locked eyes with me and rolled his eyes in understanding as the commotion ensued.

But despite this mishap on our trip, it still had a sort of silver lining to it. For example, that western seatmate I was talking about? He offered me some sweet crackers during our trip (and I took one because I was hungry, huhu)… which earned me an earful of teasing from Arlyn and Denise at lunch during our short stop in the middle of the road. I was also tickled by the fact that Ian bristled his manly feathers when I told him this story after returning home.

Aww Ian, you’re still the number one guy in my <3.

Anyway, we finally arrived at Ho Chi Minh at around 3:15pm, and fortunately enough, our drop off point was just a few steps away from our hotel. So we walked for a couple of minutes and finally found the dragon palace hotel.

DRAGON PALACE HOTEL

Our room.

In my opinion, this is probably the most gorgeous looking room that we stayed into in the whole duration of the trip. What’s sad about this is that we’ll only get to use it for less than a day, since our flight back to the Philippines was in the evening. So basically this room just served as a locker for our stuff while we tour around the country for a certain number of hours. Boo~

So to start our Ho Chi Minh exploration, we got a map from the hotel’s lobby and some directions from the accommodating receptionist. Due to Denise amazing foresight when it comes to booking hotels, our hotel was just a walking distance away from the landmarks we intended to visit.

REUNIFICATION PALACE

Due to shortage of time and laziness on our part, we skipped going to the Reunification Palace in favor of going to the Cathedral directly. But unfortunately, it wasn’t open at that time yet so we crossed the street to visit the central post office.

SAIGON CENTRAL POST OFFICE

This building is one of the most recognizable landmarks (and therefore became a tourist spot) in Ho Chi Minh due to its French-inspired architecture that stemmed from its colonization in the late 1800s.

The Central Post Office from outside.

Stepping inside this structure is like being in an old train station in Europe.

The maps representing telegraph lines that covered Vietnam and Cambodia in the olden days. One of building’s highlights.

There are also souvenir shops on each side near the post office entrance.

NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL

One of the remaining strongholds of Catholicism in Vietnam, Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral was build by French colonists during the late 1880s. It’s just a few blocks away from the central post office.

Beautiful stained glass on both sides near the entrance.

Interior of the cathedral.

A better view of the cathedral’s arches.

After our tour, we had a short snack break in one ofthe local coffee/ milk tea shops in the area. When we’ve gained back a bit of our strength, we then stopped by at Ben Thanh market, just a few blocks away from dragon palace hotel to buy souvenirs.

BEN THANH MARKET

Ben Thanh market is a large market place that is popular with tourists and foreigners seeking for some local merchandise and handicrafts. From food to textile prints and even flowers, this place provides a large variety of goods at an affordable price.

Pro tip: Don’t forget to haggle.

Sadly, I wasn’t able to keep tabs on my souvenir expenses. But as far as I can remember, I only bought the mandatory magnets and keychains for the folks back at home, as well as local artworks which proved hard to hunt as the place was really big.

The three artworks I bought. Cute right? :3

The three of us also bought bottles of Vietnamese coffee from this one stall, which earned the love of the two female sellers there, haha. They even gave us a free box and a tape for our extra luggage when we travel back to our country.

Aww, such thoughtful women. <3

When it was getting dark, we decided to leave the premises since we had a lot of packing to do back at the hotel.

I swear, traffic in Vietnam is very hazardous. Even during our tour, there wasn’t a moment when a motorcycle honked behind us, despite the fact that we were walking on the side. At one point, when we were crossing a pedestrian lane of a street on our way to the market, a taxi almost ran us over. The nerve of that asshole! Ugh.

Seriously, I thought Philippine traffic was bad. This was worse.

So to commemmorate our near-death experience at the hands of the many motorcycles and a certain taxi in Ho Chin Minh, Denise had us take a video wherein we’re turning around at the middle of an island whilst a number of motorcycles pass by. A fitting end to our day at this country.

Buwis-buhay moment due to Denise’s shenanigans, lol.

Upon returning to our hotel, we packed up our stuff, put the excess items that won’t fit in our Herschel bags into the box we acquired awhile ago and took a bath afterwards. When everything was ready, we went downstairs to buy dinner at one of the local diners just beside the hotel and ate at our room.

Prior to our tour around the city, we booked a taxi in advance that would take us to the airport via our hotel. So after dinner, we checked out of the hotel and waited at the lobby for our taxi to come and pick us up. When we were notified by the hotel staff that our ride has finally arrived, we got our stuff at the back of the trunk and got inside the taxi…

…after getting into a weird one-sided argument with the driver. For some blessed reason we were unaware of, the driver suddenly got pissed of when Denise mentioned the airport as destination. He then shouted at us in their native language and kept shouting “Hanoi Hanoi” at us. I dunno if there was a misunderstanding on his end, but since we didn’t had the slightest idea what the hell he was talking about, we just shrugged it off and laughed at the insanity of it all. (Denise even rolled her eyes and gave up being civil, lol)

Thankfully, in spite of all that debacle, the driver was able to get us the airport safely, with a few grunts on his part as we thank him before going inside the premises.

Seriously universe, what the heck? :))

Once again, we waited for our plane to arrive and disembarked once everyone was in their designated plane seats. We landed at the NAIA airport early in the morning and met up with my 2nd older bro after bidding a sleepy farewell to Denise and Arlyn.

Fare thee well, Vietnam.

When I got back to my condo unit, I was welcomed with a cute round Siberian husky plushie which I named “pochie” and a love letter from my beloved Ian. Aww, he totally missed me these past 8 days, so cute! X3

CONCLUSION

To sum it all up, our Indochina trip has been one hell of a roller coaster ride. It certainly had its ups and downs, but it’s an experience that I will never forget, hahaha. Seriously.

I am also grateful to my two gorgeous friends Arlyn & Denise, for making this love-hate adventure into a colorful and joyful one. In a land full of uncertainty and language barriers, what better comrades could I ask for than them, right?

And~ if you ask me if I would like to return to these 3 countries in the near future, I would most likely say no, LOL. Well, maybe except for Cambodia. I’d definitely return to Siem Reap and visit all the other temples there, hmph!

So with that, I end this post and hopefully, this would be a helpful story for the random people who had stumbled into my blog and read it. Toodles~

#travel #personal #indochina #vietnam #saigon notre dame cathedral basilica #saigon central post office #ho chi minh

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ballerinadancerindisguise · 7 years

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My 2nd adventure at #ONCEVAN

So on March 24th to March 26th, 2017 I was a volunteer staff member for Creation Entertainment’s #OUATVAN convention in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. When you volunteer for a Creation Entertainment convention you get a couple perks, one is free admission to the show (well, that’s a no brainer.) The second is free autographs of all of the actors/ celebrities appearing that weekend (total score!!) and the third.. one free photo op per day you work. So, I was given three free ops from the start, I chose Gil McKInney (what a cutie!! And great at Karaoke!!); Beverly Elliot (how much I love Granny, it’s ridiculous) and Karen David (I love Princess Isabella (Galavant) and I originally chose Elliot Knight but his work prevented him from being there.. colour me sad.. but Karen’s an excellent substitution.) I also because I worked panels, got to watch the panels (but if you want spoilers, find a panel on youtube, I’m not sharing that much.. wink wink..) But mid day one after Mr Adam Croasdell (totally hottie, Hook’s dad…) finished his photo ops, I realized I could have another photo op for free. I found my supervisor after my fellow volunteers in my area had a conversation.. Michael or Lee, Sorry Michael (you are absolutely absolutely lovely… but..) I picked Lee. ‘ello Poppet! Wins the day. So that was my free ops: Beverly, Gil, Karen and Lee. I paid for two ops … Jennifer Morrison (my favourite actress of course) and Captain Swan themselves.. Colin O’Donoghue and Jennifer Morrison.). The price tag was hefty ($344 CAN for the two ops, but I didn’t cry that much when my credit card bill came in because.. it’s fricking Captain Swan.. you’d do it too..)

So anyways, my volunteer experience… On Thursday I came into town and met my friend Meagan at the airport. We were both volunteering. Thursday night we worked Merchandise table with a girl named Dawn who was selling her tee shirts, bags, and mugs. I bought my Hooked shirt from her. Great lady, nice stuff. I got to meet some wonderful fans during pre-registration. The fans are the best thing after the cast being there, I adore meeting other fans.. they are just so wonderful. Friday came around and we met our supervisor Jackie who was great. We got our volunteer shirts and free coffee and doughnuts (score!!) On Friday, I worked Registration. Volunteers Martin and Michelle showed me the ropes.. I volunteered last year but did Panel doors.. so Martin showed me tricks to get registration done super quick. Working registration was a lot of fun but had some icing on that cake.. Us at registration got a little behind the scenes that no one else gets.. For one, Michael Coleman, our Happy, visited us many times that day and I got to talk to him about his shirts.. He wore a shirt that said Heigh Ho on the back (kept it on for Karaoke that night), and he changed shirts like three times. He was very bubbly, funny and you know, happy. His daughters and wife came into the show as well. We put wristbands on his daughters. His oldest changed into a Snow White Costume and he walked around holding her hand. I swear it was the best thing that day.. until Karaoke… that is. I heard that he brought her onto stage with him as he was the MC. But I didn’t see it happen. His baby girl wore the cutest little hair bow, I go bonkers over cute baby accessories, they are too cute. His wife was super nice, and the whole family is ridiculously blonde, blue eyed and adorable. The second behind the scenes we got was when Chris Gauthier came up (super nice guy btw) and I smiled and said Hi, how are you and he goes Great, and how are you? I go great, thank you! And he asked for his table as he popped in to the show for the day. Chris is actually a local actor (raised in BC) and was doing an autograph table. He was very warm and bubbly every time he walked by me and chatted with me. He also did photos with fans, but I didn’t think to ask.. Oops. On Friday I had my photo op with Gil McKinney, (he plays Prince Eric.) He was very warm. When I went up, I said Hi, I’m Sarah and he had his arms posed to take me into a hug, so all I had to do was step into them and hug him back. Hug, smile for camera, snap and done and of course the thank you. Easy smeasy. Friday after dinner, Meagan and I hit Karaoke. We got front row centre but since my cousin showed up as well, I moved into the second row with him and Meagan was in front of me. Sadly my camera took lousy photos but I did get a couple videos. The Karaoke started off with Chris, Raphael, Michael and Adam singing (OMG!) Backstreet Boys “I want it that way..” Way to ruin me guys, I love that song.. the only way it would have been better is if Gil sang too.. Wow! Then Beverly and Karen came out and sang Girls Just wanna have fun. It was an absolute treat. That’s when they opened it up to the fans who signed up. I swear Michael danced or sang along with almost every fan that came up. He has some moves and he was seriously cracking me up the entire time. Beverly sang some solos (she’s fantastic,) as did Gil. The best parts besides Michael’s dancing, and those two fantastic songs, was when they brought a little girl onto the stage with them and sang the time of your life. And Adam moves to the end and we are of course right where Karen came to run to jump into Adam’s arms for the life. But you see his face go oh no and she runs back and then he goes okay, and puts his hands out. They literally did the Time of Your Life lift totally improvised and it was perfect. I got a photo of it on my IG but its not the best (as I said, crappy camera!) Another great moment was when a fan starred singing Part of your world and I think its the part where she sings But who cares, no big deal, I want more.. You see Gil slip onto stage, And he starts mimicking the song in pantomime and strutting a bit. I was laughing the entire time while video taping it. (Video also on my IG). And my video camera breaks off and he starts singing along with her. But, the best best best (yes I needed three bests for this) part was when Sarah McCulloch *you must know her as Sarah the leaf lady*, came onto the stage, and of course the crowd goes wild. She’s head banging, air guitaring, God the woman is hilarious. She even ran down to front row and we smacked her hand and she did fist pumps “yeah!!”. Best thing ever. I got back to the hotel that night with cheeks that hurt. But at the end, they called us volunteers to the stage (traumatizing I know) and had us sing Be our Guest. I literally forgot the middle part and couldn’t see the screen as it was at an angle.. so I’m right across the angle from Karen and was using her for the words. OOPS, I know the first two verses and the last one but the rest just gravitated from my memory the second I get to stage.. But then Karen started doing a rockettes, sadly the girl next to me wouldn’t join in and kind of kicked me while we were doing it but hey, i sang on stage with Beverly and Karen.. boo yah! Anways.. Saturday I was a floater and I did gold panel doors (Jen and Colin’s panel), Merchandise table and panel crowd control. (The job I kept for the rest of the weekend..) I got to watch Jen and Colin’s second panel. He was very bashful. I could sense his social anxiety was getting the best of him (poor guy). He kept displaying his nervous ticks throughout the panel (Scratching his ear, shifting in his seat, etc) and Jen probably picked up on this as their panel was together and she answered most of the questions. They have a really good relationship, you could see their bond showing through on stage. I loved that. I did see parts of Karen and Keegan’s panel but I was moving around a lot. Saturday I got my photo ops with Lee,Jen and Colin, Jen alone and Karen, One of the perks of volunteering is that you get to be in the line right after the VIP people.. For Lee, it was easy, I went up and said Hello and introduced myself, gave him a hug and took the photo. Easy as pie. Then I had Jen and Colin duo. I would have preferred to meet Jen alone first but oh well. When I was in line for the duo op, there was a lot of tension in the room and for some reason the volunteers were not very nice (very rude…) As you may or may not know, Colin broke his foot very recently. For his solo photo ops, he was sitting on a stool for them. So Jen and Colin’s photo op, he’s on the stool. Jen came up and put her arm on his shoulder with her hand on her cheek.. super cute moment, I wish I could have taken a photo of that.. Jen then took her puppy Ava in her arms as the dog came into the room with her. Then the photographer said something to her and she gave Ava to the dog handler. The VIP girls (absolutely fabulous ladies) all went up and then they brought in a girl in a wheelchair. When she came to the front of the line, Colin removed the stool hobbling over to the photographer to give it to him and then limped back to the x. *OH MY GOD, the face he made and how he hobbled broke my heart..* And from that point on he did his photos standing up. When I got to the front 6 people later, they already configured a pose where Colin barely had to move. I was pushed into place ( I said they were rude, didn’t i?) And then I said Hi to Jen and Colin. Jen said a very bubbly hi back and pulled me into the pose for the camera. They both wrapped their arms around me and we did the photo. Then as the camera snapped, I looked at both of them, Colin, then Jen and said thank you so much. And Jen smiled and said You are so welcome. (Colin was very tired and didn’t say anything or I just didn’t hear him say anything). And then I stepped out of the x and moved to the side. I saw Ava though. And moved to the corner of the room and said Ava? And her handler said yes. And I came a little closer and called “Ava” and she jumped up and almost ran towards me but a rude volunteer came over and told me in a more nice way than saying the words but GET OUT. I said to her, I’m just saying hello to the dog and she said I don’t care, you have to go. So I rolled my eyes at her and then grabbed my bag and left. But by the time I got out I was so peeved. First one volunteer keeps yelling at us standing in line. Then she pushes me at Jen. And then her co-volunteer tells me to get out. I paid so much money for that photo.. ugh. I steamed for about 15 minutes.. Thank god the photo itself was fantastic. Props to Christopher the photographer who was very professional and fantastic. I got my Jen and Karen ops after. First Jen, where it was a bit calmer in the photo op room. I walked up to her and said, Hi, I’m Sarah and she smiled, I give her a hug because I adore her. And then I said I’m a big fan, thank you, and she said thank you so much. And then I step aside and leave. I love my photo with Jen too. She was very warm, bubbly and kind. She gives good hugs. :) The last photo of the day was Karen. I love Karen. So me, and a fan waiting in line Mikayla, are both big Galavant fans. So we started singing It’s a Good Day to Die right in the Photo Op room. I have no idea if Karen noticed. Oh well. But as I get up to the front. I said Hi, I’m Sarah. She smiled at me. So I said “I know you are Jasmine on Once” (she goes okay, so serious) and I continue “But I love Isabella” (Cue big grin). She gives me a hug and of course I hug her back. Cue Photo. Then I tell her” It’s a good die to die, but I forgot my spatula.” She then has her fake serious face on and points her finger at me and goes “next time” in a deep voice. And I go “I will,” very seriously. And she does it again with her eye brows furrowed.. “Next time.” And then we both laugh and I said but of course. And then I move out of the spot and she meets the next person. Absolutely lovely. I kind of squashed her in the photo, but she liked my tweet of our photo, so I think we’re good. Saturday night, I didn’t have to do autograph lines, so I waited while Meagan, lucky Meagan did Gil’s autograph line. He showed up 20 minutes late, only had ten people in line, but when he started to leave, a group of girls came up and hugged him. So I went up and said that I thought he was wonderful on stage. He takes my hand and squeezes it (after a hug and high five at karaoke, this is still a big deal people!!!), and says thank you with a smile. Aww, he’ll win me over so easy, that man. Sunday came in much too early. We got to the hotel at 8:15 am. I was put on Panel Crowd control all day Sunday. I got to watch Lana and Bex’s gold panel and regular panel. During Bex’s panels, she spent the time making seriously cheeky comments that made us laugh so hard. Her expressions are both adorable and comical and she is just so wonderful on stage. During Lana’s gold panel, she came out with her cell phone and took a photo of the crowd. I might be in the photo, but I haven’t found it online yet. She was very passionate and absolutely loves her fans. She came to the edge of the stage when a little girl wanted to ask a question, and crouched down low to talk to her. She just has such a big heart. And at the end of her gold panel, she snuck back stage and stole a bowl of chocolate kisses for the cast and threw them to the fans. She said I can’t give you all kisses, so I can give you chocolate kisses. So she kept throwing the kisses out until she ran out. But there was two children in the audience, that came up, and she had them come to the front, and she gave them each a kiss and some goldfish crackers. She did talk about how playing multiple personalities at once is very challenging. She was a delight. Beverly’s panel was lovely. She refused to sit down. She would walk up and down the stage talking to the fans. If the question was asked on the left side, she was standing on the left side, talking straight to the asker, and the same for the right side. And when Leslie (a lovely lady I met during autograph session later), said it was her birthday, she asked everyone to sing happy birthday to Leslie and then hugged her. Aww. Emilie’s panel was sweet. Lee introduced her as the sweetest girl in the world. She is so tiny that Lee had to help her onto the stool. (Aww!!). And she was just very sweet on stage. Adam Horowitz snuck in during her panel so I got a little distracted. He came by the back and I said hi, he returned the hi and continued to walk around the back. Then I had to pee, so I grabbed my bag, got a stand in for me, and went to go outside. I passed him on the way out and said Hi, I love Once and I loved Lost. He smiled and said thank you. I then went out to pee, but the line was like 15 people long. So then I went to chat with Meagan and then realized Adam came out so I went to see about a photo with him. I found him by the bathrooms and asked him very politely, which he said yes. He smiled for the camera and I got the photo of us. Then I used the bathroom. My cousin got a photo with him when I came out and I was showing him my photo when we realized there was a long line forming in front of Adam. Yikes. After that I had lunch where they treated us to fried chicken and slaw from Church’s.. hands down, better than KFC. Then was Lana and Bex’s panels in which I had to pay more attention to the fans as they were bending the rules.. OOPs. Or as Bex would say “Sorry..” Later I had Beverly’s photo op. When I got to the front after watching fellow volunteers sing songs in line (hilarious Gentry!!) I walked up and said Hi, I’m Sarah! She said Hello. I said nice to meet you. And she hugged me and of course, its granny so I had to give her a big hug back. But when we were standing there after the photo, I said I’m a big fan, I love Granny. And she took my hand in hers and squeezed it. And then she said “Sarah, Granny loves you too,” (I am still fan girling about this writing this on Friday. wow). I did autograph line for Beverly Sunday night. Sadly, we had fans standing in between us, so she never came to me afterwards. I did the names on posties for the photos and did line control. I did like chatting with the fans, and i was 6 feet away from Beverly most of that time. So, I can’t complain.

The best moments were Karaoke, meeting the cast, meeting the fans, getting to bump into Amber, Erin from #OnceSpoof and Barbara again and finally meeting Giennie and Killihan in person! (Sorry you guys had to do a search party for me…) and getting to spend the weekend with Meagan after being friends online since season 3. I made a lot of new friends. Got to finally meet Ace from #OnceSpoof (god, I love this guy!) and Aimee as well. The friends I made last year, getting to see them again this time was the sprinkles of the awesome cake. Would I do it again? Depends.. would Josh and Colin both be there? Would the rude people not? Hmm, we’ll see.. But I’m thankful for this weekend. I got fantastic autographs and lovely photos. And that karaoke night was one of the best nights I have had in a long time. This cast is fantastic, the fans are fantastic.. #blessed.

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