#then years later when i listen to that same music i can picture a part of that fic very clearly | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

earthtoharlow · 11 months

Text

Flashing Lights

Jack Harlow x Singer!OC

Series Masterlist

07) Focus

This chapter is part of my one year anniversary celebration, where there’s a new fic every tuesday!

warning: SMUT (:

LIFEOFMONET

liked by urbanwyatt, chloebailey, druski, choycebrown, torikelly, jackharlow, and 678,086 others

lifeofmonet: I’m back.

Go stream “Focus” on all streaming platforms 💙

view all 17,578 comments

user: REAL MUSIC BACK !!!

user: LISTENING RIGHT NOOOOOW!

chloebailey: so proud of you 🥹

user: the honesty and emotion on this record, unreal 🔥

user: drop the album

user: can you focus on meeeeeee

jackharlow: ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

“Lately, I've been a little fed up, wish you would just focus on me”

Jack sang as he reached to turn the radio up as he drove to the airport to pick up Maryse from LAX. She had been doing press all over New York City going to talk show, to talk show to promote her first single, Focus from her debut album. The song has only been out for a week and a half and it’s already topping the charts and constantly playing on the radio.

With Maryse being in NY and Jack traveling to LA and ATL to record his own album. They hadn’t seen each other as much as they would’ve liked. Which is why Jack planned a special date for the two of them tonight.

Jack decided to wait in the parking deck for her so they could have some privacy knowing the paparazzi would bother them in the pick up area. Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long, Maryse was walking out the revolving doors, 15 minutes later.

His heart stopped when he spotted her. She looked adorable with her blanket wrapped around her shoulders, huge dark sunglasses and her curls tossed up into a messy bun. Jack stepped out of his jeep and leaned against it, so she could see him. He watched as the smile spread across her face at the sight of him. The closer she got she dropped her suitcases and started running towards him

“Oof” Jack let out as the wind was almost knocked out of him as Maryse flew towards him. Maryse wrapped her legs around his waist and pressed her face against his neck.

God, he missed this girl so much. The two stayed like this for what felt like forever. Maryse soon removed her face from his neck, and grabbed his face with both hands before leaning down and kissing him. Jack moaned into the kiss, while sliding his hands from her waist that was holding her steady to her ass, giving them a slight squeeze. Maryse broke the kiss with a giggle.

“I’ve missed you so much.”

They laughed as they both spoke at the same time.

“C’mon let’s get outta here, I’m taking you out tonight” Jack said as he went to put her luggage in the truck before hopping in the car.

“You are?” Maryse started bouncing in her seat with excitement.

“Yeah, but first nap time.”

“Oh thank god, I’m so sleepy.”

JACKHARLOW

liked by urbanwyatt, lifeofmonet, dojacat, yungskylark, saweetie, cozane, thomaschristmas, and 678,568 others

jackharlow: Stream Focus right now! So my girl can stop dressing like this

user: so precious

saweetie: don't do my bestie dirty like this!

user: supportive boyfriend

user: stars, they're just like us!

user: this picture tho lmao

lifeofmonet: .....?

lifeofmonet: you told me I look cute

dojacat: posting my girl in her airport fit is crazy 😔

Jack couldn’t help but think he hadn’t slept that good in months, might even be years. He knew it was because the woman curled up next to him. Maryse’s body fit so perfectly against him. It was like she was made to be here in his arms.

He gently moved the curls that were falling in her face, so he could admire how peaceful she looked. He smiled at the way she slept with her legs tangled with his and one arm wrapped around his body. Jack would be content if he could stay like this forever. But knowing how long it was going to take her to get ready, she would need to get up now.

Jack leaned down and pressed feather light kisses on her face. He watched as Maryse slowly opened her eyes and stared into his blue eyes. “Well, that’s not a bad way to wake up.” Her voice was slow and dragging as she tried to not fall back asleep. “What time is our date?”

“In 3 hours.”

Maryse’s eyes shot back open. “3 HOURS?! Jack, do you not know me at all? I have to get ready now!”

Jack tightened his arms around her to stop her from getting up. She tried to pull away but soon gave up with a pout. He leaned over and kissed her pouting lips before letting her go.

He watched with a smile as she rolled outta bed to find something to wear.

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

“I can’t believe you got me blindfolded. Is this the part where you kill me?”

Jack laughed and rolled his eyes as he continued to walk her up the steps to where they were having their date. He really hoped she loved this because trying to set it up was difficult.

“You didn’t reply, oh god”

“Will you stop being so dramatic? Now be careful this is the last step then I can take this off you”

Maryse stayed silent as Jack carefully walked her to the last set of steps. She could then feel him walk behind her, and rubbed his hands up and down her arm before reaching up to untie the cloth from her eyes. “Ok, open your eyes.”

Maryse slowly opened her eyes and blinked a little to adjust to the light. She gasped as she looked around her.

“Jack…” Maryse was sure she looked crazy as her mouth hung open. She just couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“Like it?” Jack asked her nervously.

She shook her head. “No…I love this” she could feel her eyes start to water.

Jack Harlow rented out the whole Getty Museum just for the two of them, but that wasn’t all there were lights on the floor making a pathway to a table set for 2. It was the most beautiful thing Maryse had ever seen. She slowly turned around and wrapped her arms around him. “Jack, I can’t believe you did this! I can’t imagine how long it took you to pull this off!” Standing on her tippy toes to kiss him.

“Last week you talked about wanting to show me around LA since I’m usually only here for work and you offhandedly mentioned that you visit the Getty whenever you’re here because you love art museums so I figured I would do something special for our first date.” Jack told her as he rested both of his hands on the sides of her face and used his thumbs to wipe away the tears.

“You remembered that?” Maryse asked him

“Of course, I remember everything you tell me. Big or small.” Jack replied before walking her towards the table, and pulling her seat out so she could sit down. He kissed her forehead before walking around to his side of the table.

She watched as he pulled the tops covering their plates off. Maryse was shocked to see a full course meal, Salmon, mashed potatoes, and asparagus. It looked delicious.

Maryse just shook her head in amazement. She could feel herself getting emotional. She was with Nate for years and he never put this much thought and detail into a date before.

Jack reached across the table and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “Stop looking so shocked, you deserve this and more. Now let’s dig in!”

As they ate they talked about everything under the sun, their laughs and conversations echoed throughout the quiet museum.

“Thank you again for those flowers you sent me last week, they were beautiful.” Maryse said to Jack as they were lying on the floor of the museum. Apparently they didn’t have to be out till 3 am so Jack brought blankets and pillows so they could chill until they felt like leaving.

“Beautiful flowers for my even more beautiful girl.” Jack replied as he looked down at Maryse as she was laying in his arms. He watched as Maryse wrinkled her nose up at him, knowing she was going to call him out for being cheesy.

“You’re a cornball”

“You love it!” Jack says before kissing her forehead. “But for real though, I’m so proud of you. I know how hard you’ve been working on your album. You haven’t mentioned it, but I can tell you’re nervous about your album coming out but you shouldn’t be. Focus is already a hit, and your album is going to be a game changer.”

Maryse squeezed Jack letting him know she heard him, before climbing on top of him and pressing her face against his neck. She could feel Jack arms wrap her waist, before moving his hands down and casually resting them right above her ass. Lifting her head up, she leaned down putting their foreheads together.

Jack could see the emotions on her face and simply kissed her lips, assuring her, “You don’t have to say anything.”

Pulling away from the kiss, Maryse spoke in a whisper “You always know all the right things to say.”

“It’s probably a fluke. I think I just say the right things to you.”

Maryse shook her head in disagreement, knowing that wasn’t true and laid her head back down on his chest. It was quiet for a while, the only thing you could hear were their steady heartbeats. Maryse didn’t know it was possible for someone to make her feel the way Jack did. With Jack, she always felt fully cared for. Maybe it was too soon to call this love, but if it was, she completely understood why people go crazy for it. She felt like she was drunk on him.

Maryse’s thoughts were cut short when she felt Jack move his hands up under her dress trying to cop a feel. With her head resting against his chest she could feel a groan rumble in his chest when he noticed she wasn’t wearing any underwear.

“Fuck, Maryse.”

Maryse said nothing as she moved her hips against his, teasing him slightly. She could feel him throbbing in his pants. Not being able to take the teasing any longer, Jack connected his lips to hers with another groan. The sounds of their kisses as they grasped one another were heard in the dim museum. They pulled away from each other long enough so they could pull Jack’s shirt over his head, and so he could unzip his slacks and briefs.

Once all his clothes were off, Jack bunched up her dress around her waist, while Maryse pushed herself up on her knees. Jack could feel her hand grab hold of his thick length steady as she sunk down on him.

“Fuck, baby, you feel so damn good” Jack said in a breathly tone.

All Maryse could do was whimper in response as she gripped his shoulders as she continued to ride him. Jack sat her up in his arms and started attacking her neck with kisses and bites. Sucking along her skin just the way she likes.

The connection Jack had with Maryse was nothing like he had ever felt before. His attraction to her felt off the charts.

He hummed against her skin each time she dropped down into his lap and took him completely. Jack knew they were both getting closer with each buck of her hips. “You take me so well. You were made for this, Maryse.” Jack whispered in her ear

Maryse shivered against him as his hands ran down the length of her back, giving her ass a tight squeeze.

“Such a naughty girl, riding me in this museum.” Jack could feel her clench him tight.

She was getting close with the way her breathing was becoming more ragged and the grip she had on him tightened.

Jack quickly flipped them over and pounded into her hard, making Maryse whimper. He was so close as he pressed kisses against her shoulder. “C’mon baby, cum for me.”

“Jack, please.” Maryse moaned.

“You can do it, baby. Let go.”

The only sounds in the museum were grunts of pleasure as Maryse came, Jack came right behind her. Maryse felt like her senses were on fire, with the way the warmth of his skin engulfed her.

Maryse let out a small sigh of happiness as Jack laid on top of her, chest rising and falling as he tried to catch his breath. They both were in a happy daze for the rest of the night, silently hoping nothing or no one would ruin their happiness.

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

Maryse Monet is finally ready to release her debut album!

In a two bedroom Brooklyn Heights brownstone, R&B star Maryse Monet paces around the living room barefoot, in drawstring shorts and an oversized Missionary Jack tee (Stolen from boyfriend, rapper Jack Harlow) her natural hair in full bloom, while members of her glam team prepare her look for her upcoming appearance on Good Morning America. In three hours, the singer-songwriter was going to announce the title of her debut album; “Ugh, those feels again.” (Dropping March 31st)

Having dropped the lead single, “Focus” the night before which was getting rave reviews from music critics, she still feels anxiety with dropping music.

“Dropping music, to me at least, is like letting the whole world read my diary.” She says. When asked if she ever regrets any music she’s dropped she tells me no.

“No, never. Letting people hear it is a risk, but I believe putting music out into the world is a great teacher to help all my future projects sound better.”

The doorbell rings loudly throughout the house. I watch as the singer leans over the arm of the chair to try and see who’s at the door. Her eyes widen when her manager, CoCo walks into the room holding a bouquet of Peonies. Maryse immediately grabs for them, smelling the flowers. The smile on her face only gets wider as she reads the card. When I ask who the flowers are from there’s a twinkle in her eyes when she tells me they’re from her boyfriend and doesn’t explain further.

The last year has been some sort of Maryse explosion where she went from just being New York’s star quarterback girlfriend to breaking away and becoming a Grammy award winning singer. At 24 years old, Maryse is already a household name. “I’ve really put in the time and work,” she says. “I’m so happy that everything has been, you know, manifesting.”

Growing up with a dad who played guitar and a mother who was a music teacher, Maryse can’t remember a time where music wasn’t part of her life. “Music was playing around the house but I think something outwardly happened when I heard Mariah Carey sing for the first time. I remember getting the craziest chills and goosebumps and I was like, “what is she doing? I want to sing just like that?” I always tell people that music was my first love.”

She then asked me if I wanted to hear her new music. I can feel the tingling excitement build as we sneak away into her home recording studio. As she takes her laptop and plugs it in, she tells me she’ll probably only be about to get through two songs before someone realizes she’s gone missing. Quietly, the r&b star hits play on her upcoming album.

Instantly, a wall of sound hits me. There’s only two reactions you could have to the song. One; saying “Whoooo” and/or Two; fanning themselves vigorously. I was doing both. Her voice was dreamy and hushed, with the song being sultry and slow. This was the type of love song you play to the person who might just last till cuffing season. The one you play with your head stuck out the window as the wind blows in your hair. Maryse was able to play a couple more songs before she was summoned into hair and makeup.

The making of the album has been a long process, she explains, as her hairstylist tries to tame her curls. She started writing the album after returning to dating following the end of a long term and very public relationship.

When we reached out to Maryse's equally famous best friend, Doja Cat, she says the world is finally going to know the real Maryse Monet.

“Everyone knows that she's an amazing musician, but they'll also find out that she’s a real ass bitch, who’s music is going to bring people together and change lives.”

We couldn’t agree more.

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

AN: This might be the longest fic I've ever written, but I really love these two and didn't want to split it into different parts :) I hope this all flows well together. Enjoy them being happy beause drama is coming Thank you for reading and as always tell me your thoughts!

Tag List:

(message me if you’d like to be added or removed)

@heavyhitterheaux @hoodharlow @neon-lights-and-glitter @babiefries @toocriticalharlow @mace23477 @jackmans-poison @dstark-0706 @harlowsbby @itsyagirljaz @leftapricotprofessorlover @laylasbunbunny @ilyangelsxo @comehomeimissyou @minkookie95 @harlowcomehome @jackharloww

#jack harlow #jack harlow x reader #jack harlow x y/n #jack harlow reader #social media au #jack harlow instagram au #flashing lights #brieanniversary

150 notes · View notes

marengogo · 25 days

Text

Silver Lining - What If #8 : Min & Kook or Busan Brothers?

Neuron by J-Hope (with Gaeko & YOON MIRAE) focused playlist.

[Music is a very big part of my life and I’m MOSTLY INCAPABLE of writing without music, so I just thought I'd share what I am listening to while writing this]

🐺 — 🐺 — 🐺—

Ladies, Gentlemen and Distinguished Enbies: HELLO!

How is everyone? Hope you are all enjoying this little break, if you celebrate Easter, and if for any reason you didn’t get a break either you don’t celebrate Easter, or you are part of the “holiday working class” I hope you are at least safe and serene 💜. All that said, let me tell you;

It’s incredible what a few days off can do, aye?!

For one I've been very vivid dreams and, for two, I’m actually in the mood of writing posts, would you look at that! AND BY THE WAY I keep forgetting to do this, but I will at some point later today I need to write an advisory note for the Sonyeondan Colosseum as I haven’t been there in a while but I still get aspiring gladiators, who are dying to participate, and albeit fun, at the moment, I really don't have that much time, to provide these fighters with the appropriate match they deserve 😫. So it is only right that I rely the appropriate information, as I do believe I run a fine institution and as such I am sorry for allowing my administration to slack real life suddenly got so busy and interesting that I didn’t, and still don't, have time to play, but who knows what the future holds right?! There just might appear a contender so unique, I might not resist the urge for a little tussle.

Anyways, back to the topic of this post, as it is sort of a continuation of this one → Solstice & Equinox, it is indeed about the Jikook Travel vlog we still no absolutely nothing about, but of which I woke up with thoughts/ideas about, hence, why I’ve placed this post, yet again, in my Silver Lining series 🤡. In my previous post I tried to predict the vlogs' scheduling, in this post I would like to talk about the possible style this vlog might take, while making, as always, educated guesses and also diving into JK’s filmmaking style.

⚠️I MOST LIKELY WILL WAX HELLA POETIC OVER A LOT OF FILMMAKING STRUCTURES, SO BE HELLA WARNED⚠️

Let’s start right off the bat with:

Also if you are NOT familiar with “Youtuber” Jimin, below is a little summary:

As you can probably tell by some of the ss because there are so many more, believe me!, JM is very enthusiastic about vlogging and, as we all know, JK is very enthusiastic about producing video related content as well as taking it further when he directed Life Goes On for example. Both JM and JK consume copious amounts of video content, be it movies, dramas, anime or shows and they often seem to be watching the same shows as well. Reason why, perhaps, they often seem to be the only privy of their media related inside jokes.

Now, imagine loving to watch shows so much and having as a significant other someone whom not only has so much footage/pictures of you which will never see btw 🤡 but also has the skills to potentially make a show out of you, or with you, because they also enjoy the same thing, what would you do? Sure, you like travelling and he is not too big into that, but some time 7 years ago this person not only took you on a trip, but also found the most memorable way to immortalise this for you, resulting in this person producing more and more travel vlogs. Not sure if JK has come to enjoy travelling, but one thing is for sure;

he seems to enjoy making one helluva good vlog out of it.

Now, before we get into the reason for my title (Min & Kook or Busan Brother?) let’s look into JK’s filmmaking style THIS IS WHERE I AM SURE I WILL NERD OUT, and in order to do this we will look into two of particular videos, as I feel like their travel vlog could be a mixture of this two:

VIDEO 1: [BTS VLOG] Jung Kook l CAMPING VLOG

youtube

VIDEO 2: G.C.F in Budapest

youtube

Let’s start from VIDEO 1. This was a series of vlogs we got from each of the members and were posted on BANGTANTV between July 9, 2022 and December 10, 2022 as always with the Tannies, the actual filming dates may or may not be close to the time they were posted. There are many different types of vlogs out there, because many are the different interests of viewers out there. When looking at our boys, you can clearly see theri vlogs divided in 3 specific types of vlogs:

“HOW TO”-vlog: In this type of video, usually the hosts want to learn to do something, and so they either attempt or they are a master in said craft to do said something, while showing the viewer step-by-step, with the intent/hope that the viewer can learn or feel inspired to want to do it as well.

Jin

Yoongi

“CELEBRITY LIFE”-vlog: This type of video, we follow a typical/particular day in the life of a celebrity. There is usually not so much editing done, and it gives very much the feeling of watching a reality TV show.

Tae

Hobi

“TRAVEL”-vlog: These are usually specifically about showcasing cities, spaces, activities. They are very action filled, so they will not have as many static shots as, for example, the previous two themes

Joonie

Even though JK and Joonie have the same style of vlog, there is something that JK has, which all the other 6 don’t, which is his own “colour”.

JK has a very specific style that is unique to himself within the group, and you can notice in the editing, which makes me think he often takes part in, whereas, even though the type of vlog is different for the other 6 members, the style of editing is the same for all of them. When I say that JK adds his own colour, I mean that, for example, he so often breaks the 4th wall in very conventional and unconventional ways and this is something I've noticed only he does actually in Bangtan.

Aside from JK’s Film Colour, I do believe that this is also an indication of how long we can hope their travel vlog to be. In the end the main event was camping, with other events as well and it was edited to 45mins, which is a long ass video for this type of vlog, it basically means that they realistically had hours of footage and at least 3 type of campers, which I will get into in my next point.

GCF in Budapest has all of JK’s colours as of 2023.

This video is the result of 6 years during which he filmed, edited and directed different projects. GCF in Budapest is very professional, and even though he didn’t do the final edit on this, he did direct it, meaning that there wasn’t a single shot that he hadn’t planned, requested or approved of. Basically, JK is the person that instructed other camera-people the times he wasn’t filming himself as to what shot he needed and wanted for the final project, all the way from principal, to secondary, footage I DON’T THINK YOU CAN’T BUT I’M ABOUT TO NERD OUT, RIGHT NOW. Following are the notable structures in this GCF, with related explanations/examples:

Non-static self-filming - This is the typical vlog style where the main subject is filming himself. But in his case he seems to favour this type of shots when he is moving the most, as if he wants us to fill like we are really travelling with him, as opposed to constantly placing the camera on the surface, not moving, and talking.

B-Roll Footage - is also known as “filler footage”. Usually there is no talking or nothing of importance, but they are quite good for either transitions or comic relief. I LOVE B-ROLL FOOTAGE and JK uses it so well. I believe that b-rolls fit JK so well because of his personality, he tends to space out so often that, in the filmmaking context, this type of footage offers a way to show this dimension of his personality, for example, himself goofing off in the b-roll is perhaps what he does in his head when he is spacing out in real life.

Traditional filming - This is your typical main subject being filmed by a camera-person. As there seem to be two different angles during this type of shot, there were at least 2 different people filming him I will not go deep into the type of camera/s that were you as this is not that kind of post.

Establishing shots - This are shots that make the viewer know where and when something is happening, and they are extremely important in film-making, but not really in vlogging as the title of the vlog already tells you where and sometimes when, if not you’ll find out in the dialog you are, but it is exactly this kind of touch that makes his work feel very cinematographic.

All the aforementioned, are characteristics that I am expecting to see in their travel blog and I am soooooo much looking forward to check our the whole crew, if by any chance we get a roll end credit scene 🥹 to be honest, going back to video 1, since they were in each known location for more than a day, they could make at least 2 self-sufficient vlogs but hey ….

JK surely came a long way from GCF in Tokyo, didn’t he? And even though he hasn’t produced a GCF with the same colours ever since, there was something that was:

To me, filming is the art of skilfully deceiving, while willfully being deceived, during a specific amount of time, after which we all go back to our realities unharmed or “not”, depending on the depth of the film.

Films are like magic.

But what is filming for JK? To be veeeeery honest with you, the person who has a future in acting amongst the Tannies is Kim Taehyung, yet, the two people who can for sure act, on the silver-screen, are Kim Seokjin and Kim Taehyung … so why do I feel like Tae is the only only that has a future in this field? Because Tae can live for and with it. Just knowing how to act is not enough, you have to want to be an actor, for real-real. You know how Hobi breathes dancing? Tae breathes out imaginary characters in a similar way, reason why I can see him having a very prolific career as an actor as well.

Now ... why do I bring this up?

If JK just wanted to become a movie director alongside being the amazing musician he is, he’s had the perfect subject/s to do so. So why has he been so fixated with filming JM? JM is not the type of subject you can use for a long film, sure, he likes to act with his friends, but I don't think that cinema glory is one of his objectives in life I may be very wrong. He can perform/dance like hell crazy for the camera, HANDS FUCKING DOWN, but, once again, serious silver-screen acting isn’t what he wants. So, once again, given a choice of Tae and Jin;

Why JM?

TIME FOR TIN HATS Y’ALL HURRY 👏🏾 HURRY👏🏾 HURRY! 📢

I, Marengo, think that JK had always intended to make GCF in Tokyo as merely a video to preserve the happy memories, during a hard moment in their lives, which they spent together. This video-gift was specifically intended, for JM, in the style that JM mostly appreciated at the time, which might have happened to be YT vlogs. While editing his video, JK perhaps realised that it might have been a bit on the nose, so he added establishing b-roll shots of Tokyo, thinking it might have been enough to divert the attention from JM; but unfortunately failed. For a few reasons, but mainly, the lack of any spoken words in my opinion.

The thing is that for the purposes of what i think his objective was, words were absolutely not needed. “Look! See how happy you were here! It doesn’t matter how shit things are, we can still be happy; You can still be happy!” In the same way, with Life Goes On he wanted us to see their changed everyday life of the time, the sadness, melancholy and hope they all felt. Words were not needed, and this is the type of filming which is closest to the inner colours of Jeon Jungkook. JK is not the best with words, so I believe that he found in filmmaking a form of expressing himself in a more effective way.

HOWEVER, as we all know, even though Life Goes On was well received, GCF in Tokyo’s main critique was “Where is tokyo? All I see is JM”. Yet, his main purpose wasn’t Tokyo, the shots, the song, the editing, clearly indicated that. Nevertheless, if at the time, JM was indeed his queer interest as I don’t believe they were going steady at the time, he wasn’t going to jump out gun blazing to defend his choice; was he now? No, he left us to believe that he was gonna get better, and next thing he did was add more members and better establishing shots, but never forget; gcf in Tokyo is still there and still something he remembers fondly.

Now as for the title of this post 😂😂😂. Be it straight, queer, interrational or whatever, there is one thing that most of couple YT channels have in common:

Their channel name is either a union of their name or there is and &/and to join siad names. When JM was pretending to have a channel with JK during this live → VMINKOOK LIVE he named their channel MinKook, because he was Min and he was Kook so, MinKook and let’s forget for a second that this actually resulted to be a very funny korean pun. I honestly do believe that if you are a platonic duo on YT you will very rarely use your name with your friends name as it seems like it is a universal YT truth that “” & “” channels are couple channels. So if anything, if JM was talking out of subconscious, he maybe had been watching a lot of YT couple channels, at the time, and thought it okay for them to have a channel name that matched the same energy? …

🤡🤡🤡

So my question is: will the channel be named something akin to that couple vibe RISKY AF, WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT?? Or will it be something more like the Busan Brothers name that they are often given … HELLA SAFE, MAKES A LOT OF SENSE? I guess only time will tell!

Ok then, hats off! Let's go back to reality, where we can happily keep waiting for this blasted travel vlog LOL.

Always respectfully yours 💜🫰🏾,

Marengo.

#Youtube #Marengo's Silver World #Jikook #Jikook Travel Vlog

31 notes · View notes

legolasghosty · 2 months

Note

writing prompt of Juke as Enemies to Lovers + "you can throw how many darts at it as you want, but you still put her picture on your wall"

Anon, I am so so so sorry for how long this has taken! I swear my brain just hasn't been working for creative stuff and I'm sorry but here it finally is, I hope you find it!

-----

"I hate her," Luke growls as he enters the studio, slamming the door behind him.

"No you don't," Alex sighs from his corner of the couch, hunched over a history book.

Luke just shoots a glare at him. Alex rolls his eyes and grabs a pencil to start filling out the questions on his worksheet. Luke turns to Bobby, who is taking up the rest of the couch with his unfairly long legs.

"Don't look at me, dude," Bobby sighs, giving him a flat stare. "I'm with Alex on this one."

Alex reaches out and offers Bobby a fist bump without looking up. The two bump knuckles and Luke fumes.

"Do you guys even listen to me?" he exclaims. "Julie Molina is literally the bane of my existence."

At that, Reggie just starts laughing from his spot on the coffee table. "Really, Luke?" he teases. "Julie?"

Alex chuckles as well. "Yeah, not like, I don't know, biology or your curfew or the flu or something?"

"She's literally the worst person I have ever worked with!" Luke cries, fed up with the distinct lack of sympathy from his no longer best friends.

"You printed out her picture in the school yearbook to pin up on your wall," Bobby points out.

"For literal target practice!" Luke nearly yells. "And it's working, I've gotten pretty good at nailing that gap between her front teeth. And her eyes. And all the little colored things in her hair." When his bandmates don't say anything, Luke barrels on. "She won't say two words to me that aren't directly connected to this stupid assignment, she won't meet up anywhere other than school to work on it, and she glares at me for 'humming too loud', even though I know she's an amazing musician!"

Luke has hated Julie Molina for the better part of a year now, and it's easy for him to trace it back to its beginning. She'd performed in a spring recital at the school last year. She'd blown Luke's socks off with her incredible voice. It shook him down to his bones and he couldn't wait to find her afterwards and tell her how amazing it had been. He hadn't been able to find her, but hadn't worried much. They went to the same school after all.

But when he'd finally run into her a few weeks later near the bathrooms, she'd practically bitten his head off the second he called her a musician. And from that day on, Luke hated her. Because he can take people being rude to him, but turning on music?! Only a monster would do that. And in their interactions since then, she's only proven his point. She's a jerk.

"You can throw all the darts you want, but you still put her picture on your wall," Alex groans. "Have you tried actually having a civil conversation with her? Without talking about music?"

"What else would there be to talk about?" Luke demanded, kicking at the leg of the coffee table in pure frustration.

"Movies?" Reggie suggests.

"School?" Bobby adds.

"Literally any other interesting thing about life?" Alex finishes.

Luke lets out an angry huff and spins on his heel, heading for the bathroom. As soon as it slams shut behind him, Bobby lets his palm connect with his face.

"This is pointless," Reggie sighs. "Just got a text from Jules too, stating that Luke is a selfish moron."

Alex pulls out his phone. "I'm texting Flynn. If they aren't going to have a conversation themselves, then I swear I'm going to lock them in a closet until they do."

"I mean they're both already out," Bobby jokes, but he nods. "But yeah, I'm very sick of the headaches induced by them not realizing they're in love with each other."

"Ditto," Reggie says.

#legolas tag #julie and the phantoms #legolas ask #jatp #jatp fanfic #juke #julie molina #luke patterson #alex mercer #bobby shaw #reggie peters #enemies to lovers

22 notes · View notes

meimi-haneoka · 1 year

Text

Clear Card Trivia 1 ~ Literary and musical references/mentions in Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card

Hello everyone! The end of the Clear Card manga is very near, so I thought it was about time to start writing the long list of posts I'm going to release in the upcoming months, since it's almost time to wrap everything up and it would be nice to look back and not only analyze the plot but also trivia and themes/topics discussed (openly or not) in these almost 7 years of serialization of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Arc.

Today we talk about the several literary and musical references spread across the different CCS Clear Card media. The references are quite a lot and I find it so very fitting for a story that features books so much, both under a positive and negative light. Books have a life-saving role, being the only thing young Akiho could cling to, to survive mentally till the arrival of Kaito in her life and the subsequent removal from her abusive family, but for a twist of fate, a spell under the guise of a book is also what was about to destroy her soul forever when said book got filled up with magic. The very first time Akiho's inner book gets set off is precisely in Fujitaka's library. Moreover, a fictional world existing into a forbidden book called Alice in Clockland is also where Kaito sends everyone in the climax of the story. In that fictional world, it is said that books record the memories and feelings of people. And after recording them, that same book can rewrite them. Books are literally an essential element of the plot of Clear Card Arc.

In my list I will take in consideration both the anime and the manga, with a special section for the now-defunct Happiness Memories mobile game! The references are ordered basing on their impact or importance within the plot, and include all the info we have till chapter 72. I might update this post if we get more literary references in the very last chapters of the arc. I will probably not be able to talk in depth about all the possible double meanings and connections of these stories to the real Clear Card plot, as I haven't read most of these books or I'm still in the process of reading them, but I have looked at summaries on Wikipedia, so hopefully I'll be able to feature at least a part of the interesting connections. Anyone who knows these stories or songs in depth is welcome to give more insight!

Soooo, ready to dive in?

1) Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There / Lewis Carrol

Of course the first reference featured in this list couldn't be other than this one! The whole Clear Card arc is heavily based on the Alice In Wonderland narrative, but particularly in the sequel "Through the Looking-Glass". The very first mentions of "Alice-related" stuff is as early as chapter 12, when Sakura and Tomoyo visit Akiho's home and they check out her huge library: here Akiho shows them her book "Alice in Clockland" for the first time. Tomoyo spots the resemblance with the title of the best-known novel, but Akiho says that the book she's holding wasn't written by the author of Alice in Wonderland, and although the language it's written in is composed by runes, she was taught how to read it. Later on we discover that the more she progresses reading this book, the more it gets connected to recurring dreams she's having, with an "Alice" as the main character who experiences all sorts of adventures (unbeknownst to her, she's dreaming about Sakura's adventures with the Clear Cards). Akiho sometimes shares these dreams with Kaito and he always listens attentively, commenting that it'd be good if Alice acquired "more and more skills". We also see Rika (through Sakura) giving away to Akiho one of her Alice picture books, and the girl is definitely thrilled and moved by the kind gesture of who is basically a stranger to her.

Moreover, in chapter 38 & 39, Kaito shrinks Sakura in order to prompt her to create a Card, and sends her down a hole carved in a tree, calling her "Alice". Sakura also created the Shade card supposedly basing it on the Jabberwock featured in Through The Looking Glass. The whole situation prompts Kaito to remember about his first face-to-face meeting with Akiho, which he says happened in a garden fit for Alice in Wonderland. The whole scenery Sakura witnesses in the strange world she's sent to is very reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland/Through the looking Glass, with her being so little and the talking flowers. Of course, the biggest reference to Through the Looking Glass is the whole Alice in Clockland play, in its first version based on Akiho's beloved book with the same title (Naoko initially called the play "The Two Alice", but then decided to change it at last minute, in a twist of fate). Both "before" and "after" the rewriting of memories operated by Momo's book, we not only have an Alice in this story, but also a Cat (which will have a key role) and a Red Queen. Another notable similarity is how Alice, in Through the Looking Glass, crosses "the wood where things have no names", forgetting her own name for a short time while crossing that forest in the company of a fawn. In Alice in Clockland, the Red Queen completely forgot her name once she entered Clockland, in both versions of the play, before and after the rewriting. Akiho/Red Queen regains her memories by lifting the dark veil covering her face, while Sakura/Red Queen regains her memories thanks to Alice telling her the truth about what happened.

Furthermore, the fact that later in the climax Sakura and Akiho are turned into twins by the forbidden magic activated by Kaito might be considered a reference to the famous twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee (although, that's also commonly known as one of CLAMP's obsessions 😂). One more reference is represented by the White Queen in Through the Looking Glass, who can remember events that will happen in the future, and while Sakura can do that herself to a certain degree, certainly this character is better represented by Lilie, Akiho's mother, who could see so much of the future ahead and tried to reach Sakura in her dreams to inform her of an important truth. It is also to be noted that the White Queen's daughter in Through the Looking Glass is named.....Lily.

2) Ten Nights of Dreams (夢十夜) / Natsume Sōseki

"Ten Nights of Dreams" is a collection of short pieces by Japanese novelist Natsume Soseki, where he narrates 10 mysterious dreams set in various time periods, including his own. The book gets featured for the first time in chapter 10 / volume 3 of the manga, and episode n. 6 of the anime. In this scene, Sakura and Akiho are each reading a portion from the 7th dream, the one where the dreamer finds himself on a ship, among strangers, not knowing where the ship is headed to or when he'll see land again. The tone of this dream, like the rest of them, is pretty dark, as the dreamer is extremely discouraged and decides to throw himself into the sea, regretting it when it's already too late. This book gets directly mentioned again in chapter 58 of the manga, when Naoko reflects on the fact that even the tenth night told in the collection is a dream, because there's no point where the storyteller wakes up. This leads her to think how scary it would be to have a dream you can't wake up from, and this will become for her one of the sources of inspiration for the scenario of the school play. When the teacher talked about this book to her students back in chapter 10, she stated "this collection features plenty of mysterious stories, but depending on the person, they could also be considered 'scary' ". I feel like this is exactly how Clear Card Arc could be described too, especially from the POV of the Japanese readers, that I've witnessed these past couple of years on social media. I wonder if this wasn't a way for CLAMP to tip the readers off regarding the thematics and tone that Clear Card would take halfway through. Moreover, the teacher mentions "foretelling dreams" in relation to this book, and that prompts Sakura to consider if the dream she's constantly seeing with the Mysterious Cloaked Figure could be a foretelling dream too.

3) Momo / Michael Ende

"Momo" is a fantasy novel written by German writer Michael Ende (the same of The Neverending Story), and it gets featured in chapter 39 of Clear Card, while Kaito is having a flashback of his first face-to-face meeting with Akiho. At the moment of Kaito's arrival in the rose garden, Akiho was reading a book, and when she's asked about its content by Kaito himself, the girl tells him of a story that is unequivocally that of "Momo": a little girl battles some so-called "time thieves". Akiho seems to love that story, as she has read it many times.

Although it might seem just an easter egg at the level of the Cthulhu books that I will mention later, the presence of the "Momo" novel here is completely different and very significant to the main story of Clear Card. First of all, its complete German title translates in English to "Momo, or the strange story of the time-thieves and the child who brought the stolen time back to the people". As we all know, this sequel of the Cardcaptor Sakura series deals heavily with the theme of time, and Kaito is strictly related to that theme, as he's the major "player" of that element, using magic to stop it or especially to rewind it. In "Momo", the "time-thieves" (also called Men in Grey) are some kind of paranormal parasites with the goal of stealing the time of humans. They appear to people offering to save their time in some so-called "Timesaving Banks", urging them to spare time by dropping any activity that supposedly "wastes time" like relaxing, playing, enjoying things, with the goal of having that time returned back with interests later. But that time saved in the bank is actually stolen and consumed by the Men in Grey for their own survival. Human feelings such as love are a hindrance for them, and they avoid at all costs to form any bond with anyone. Momo is a mysterious little girl, beloved by everyone in her town as she seems to be able to solve anyone's problems or afflictions just by listening and talking to them. She will eventually take on the task of defeating the Men in Grey. Ende's novel is a critique to consumerism in the modern society and how hectic our lives have become, where time is everything and we often never use it for what really matters the most: making us happy. Momo was published in 1973 but its thematics are super relevant even today.

Aside from the easy connection of the topic of time to what Kaito does (although in a more benign way, in our case), "Momo" is also how Akiho chose to name her beloved bunny plushie, who, unbeknownst to her, is actually the magical Guardian of the Book of Time. We don't know when exactly that naming happened, as of chapter 72, but the fact that one of the most treasured and beloved existences in Akiho's life was named "Momo" - the same as the title of the book Akiho was reading when she met Kaito for the first time - suggests hitsuzen is strongly at work here. Akiho might have named Momo after she met Kaito, and to show how important that meeting was to her, she chose to name her after an element that was strictly connected to that meeting. And if she named her so before meeting Kaito, then it shows just how fateful their meeting was. She named one important existence after a beloved book, and precisely when she was reading that same book, she had her first meeting with another important person in her life. The one she will love the most.

It is also to be noted that in "Momo", the time is consumed by the Men in Grey in the form of smoking cigars made out of dried hour-lilies' petals, which are pink flowers representing time itself. Again, a feature of lily flowers, which connects us once more to Lilie.

Depending on how Clear Card will end, and whether Sakura will be able to regain all the memories and the time lost with them, beating the Forbidden Magic activated by Kaito, we might even draw another reference - how Ende's Momo is able to give the stolen time back to the people of her town.

4) "Tsuki ga kirei desu ne" (月が綺麗ですね) / Natsume Sōseki + "Kaze no nai yoru ga boku wo semetogameru" (風のない夜が僕を責めとがめる) / SPARKS GO GO

In chapter 48 of the manga, Akiho, unable to sleep after waking up from an unsettling dream, heads to the garden of her home in the middle of the night. And there surprisingly she finds Kaito, also awake and staring intently at the full moon. In a magical and emotional scene, illuminated by the full moon and prompted by feelings of worry for Kaito's pale complexion - too pale for his own good, Akiho tells him "Can we talk a little bit longer? Because...the moon is really beautiful".

At first, these can seem totally normal words of admiration for the full moon illuminating the two. But actually in this scene, Akiho has just covertly confessed to Kaito that she loves him. Many of you probably already know, but in Japan there's a little story that takes us back again to the famous novelist Natsume Soseki who seems to influence Clear Card so much (he'll get another mention later in this post). There's no actual written evidence of this, so Japanese people tend to consider this as some folklore tale, but when Soseki worked as an English teacher, he allegedly corrected one of his students who translated too literally the English phrase "I love you" in Japanese. He supposedly said "that's too direct, Japanese people don't express such phrase so directly. You should use 月が綺麗ですね (tsuki ga kirei desu ne, 'The moon is beautiful, right?') instead". And that's how the myth of expressing "I love you" in Japanese with "the moon is beautiful, right?" was born. It is very poetic, romantic and subtle so there's no doubt its popularity is really high and used in all kinds of media even today. And, I have to say, it fits romantic, shy and bookworm Akiho to a T. But how can we be sure that Akiho was really-really meaning that? It's because of the quotation marks on the original Japanese script. Akiho was deliberately quoting a source. And her face right afterwards, eyes cast down and red as a tomato, is the final proof of her intention. We still don't know, 24 chapters later, if Kaito's surprised face meant he understood what she was secretly meaning, or not.

However, I have a second source for this particular line from Akiho. One day I was searching on the internet, wanting to know more about this popular phrase, exactly as she worded it (it's slightly different from the classic one) and I stumbled upon the song "Kaze ga nai yoru ga boku wo seme togameru" (The windless night is reproving me) by Sparks Go Go. It's a love song from 1993, and the very first verse features the very same line Akiho said, worded exactly as she did. When I started to translate the lyrics, I was shocked. The lyrics actually fit perfectly the scene in the garden under the moonlight and what was going on between Kaito and Akiho in that moment, so much that it really makes me wonder if Ohkawa wasn't trying to make a double reference here:

Since the moon is beautiful I'll invite you for a stroll outside Tonight it's a bit chilly So wear one more layer of clothing I'm stammering And for some reason I suddenly realize All the feelings I've kept inside till now The windless night is reproving me Even though you're telling me A funny thing that happened to you today Tonight it's a bit different than usual My heart is twinkling Our footsteps echo softly As if I'm about to realize something All the feelings I've kept inside till now The windless night is reproving me The windless night is gently inviting me

As you can see, it's almost a precise description of that scene, with the mention of the stroll at night under the moonlight, the talk and the hidden feelings that are being conveyed in that moment.

I'll conclude this paragraph with something that I usually always mention when I tell people about the "moon is beautiful" 's hidden meaning in relation to Clear Card's storyline, because I think it's highly related. There are several ways to respond "I love you too" to a love confession made in that fashion. And one of the most popular ones that gets associated so much to this phrase (despite not coming from the same author but actually another one, Japanese novelist Shimei Futabatei who lived in the same period of Soseki) is 死んでもいいわ (shinde mo ii wa), which literally translates in English to "I can die happy" or "I can die for you" (you already know where I'm going with this one, right?). Apparently, Futabatei decided to translate in Japanese as shinde mo ii wa the Russian word Ваша present in a passage of the book "Asya" by Ivan S. Turgenev. The word Ваша actually literally translates in English as "yours", and the scene showed a woman deeply committing to her love, but since this is the same period as Soseki, the Japanese novelist used an indirect way to express it. I've read that the choice of shinde mo ii wa is tightly connected to the context of the original story, where a woman of low social status (an illegitimate daughter of a Russian landowner) and a man of higher class fell in love, but kept it hidden for most of the story. Back in those times, such relationship was frowned upon by society and so, indulging in that love could also be seen as the death of someone's life in society. In that sense, that "I would die for you" expresses the spirit of abnegation and complete dedication that such profound love inspires. Now, back to Clear Card, consider who's literally sacrificing himself for Akiho, and draw your conclusions.......

5) Liber Ivonis, Celaeno Fragments / H. P. Lovecraft & August Derleth

When Akiho visits Sakura's home in ch. 26 in order to learn how to cook from her, Sakura also brings her to visit her father's small library. In a very excited way, Akiho recognizes some books of her interest and she asks Sakura if she can take them. Those books are, in order of appearance, "Liber Ivonis" and "Celaeno Fragments" (there's a small typo on the book's title, due to the ambivalence of R/L in Japanese) which are two books featured in the Cthulhu Mythos created by US writer H. P. Lovecraft. Both books seems to be grimoires about occult topics and dark magic spells. It is very likely that the two books are merely easter eggs (they had no influence whatsoever on the plot) or a covertly way from CLAMP to let us know that Akiho was acquainted with magical books.

6) Buying Mittens (手袋を買いに) / Nankichi Niimi

"Buying Mittens" from Japanese author Nankichi Niimi is the book Sakura and Akiho are asked to read to the children of the hospital in episode 19 of the Clear Card anime. The story features a baby fox going on a journey to a nearby village to buy mittens to warm its cold paws in the rigid snowy winter. The story revolves around the themes of trust in other human beings. Although the mother fox advised her little one to be careful of human beings, because if they found out it was a fox, something terrible would've happened, the little fox actually finds out humans are not all the same, and the human being selling the mittens wasn't actually harmful at all.

See, when this episode was released in May 2018, I remember it got a lot of criticism for being a "wasted episode" and not bringing the plot forward at all. But I had already understood back then that this was actually a very symbolic episode for one of the major thematics of Clear Card, which would've shown its full importance only later on the story: how much we can trust other people, especially when we don't know them and they are having seemingly hostile behaviors. I knew the anime staff chose to feature this book for a precise reason. With hindsight, from the manga storyline POV, this is absolutely connecting to how Sakura had her trust tested multiple times in the entire arc, not only towards Kaito who had the most ambiguous behaviors, but also her loved ones, starting from Syaoran himself - who stole her cards in the very beginning and even lied to her, hiding an important truth for her sake; but also Yukito, for a moment, when he activated the Moon barrier all of a sudden, scaring even Kero and Suppi; or how inevitably Sakura's trust in Akiho was also put under pressure once she found out that Kaito was a magician and so inevitably she had to question the reliability of a person very close to him. Trust, trust in your beloved people and even more deciding to trust someone you don't know well is of utmost importance in this arc. If Kaito the magician is, in Buying Mittens, the human known for hurting and hunting and killing foxes, Sakura is the little fox who has to make the important decision of whether she can trust him or not, especially when she's in a moment of vulnerability (in the story the little fox shows the fox paw instead of the human hand to the hatter, who recognizes it as a fox but actually doesn't hurt it at all).

When Sakura found out about Kaito being a magician, she made a careful and delicate decision: she decided to trust Akiho and indirectly to trust Kaito too, avoiding to jump to conclusions and to ruin Akiho and Kaito's relationship by questioning her friend about Kaito's nature. And despite acting in shady ways for the entire arc, and sometimes being just misunderstood - leading everyone to believe he intended to hurt Sakura, in the end we found out that none of that has ever been Kaito's intention from the very beginning.

As repeatedly told by Nanase Ohkawa of CLAMP in Twitter Spaces, Sakura trusts her loved ones, and that actually represents her strength to believe that she will always be ok and everything will eventually be alright.

At the end of the Buying Mittens story, on its way back to his mother, the little fox hears a human mother singing a lullaby to her baby, and the fox draws a parallel to its own mother. Thanks to that, while being cuddled by the mother fox later, the baby fox says "maybe humans are good, after all". Motherhood and mother's love is definitely another thematic common to Clear Card and Buying Mittens, but also finding something that wholesome in common between the two species (humans and foxes) is the key to trust that there can be something good to be found even in "the other" that seems so scary and oppositive in the beginning. I'm certain that will also be a huge theme that will lead Sakura to help Akiho and Kaito in the very end of this climax.

7) Night on The Galactic Railroad / Kenji Miyazawa

"Night on The Galactic Railroad" is the title of the book Yukito is reading to the children of the hospital in episode 19 of the Clear Card anime.

8) "Oborozukiyo" (朧月夜)

"Oborozukiyo" is a Japanese folk song that gets featured in chapter 9 of the manga and episode 6 of the anime. Tomoyo and Akiho sing together this song in 2 different occasions between manga and anime: in the manga they sing it at the hanami in front of group of school friends, while in the anime it is a song that Tomoyo suggests to Akiho to sing together, and at the end of the performance she offers Akiho to join the choir later. The song is also featured in the Clear Card soundtrack album.

9) Special references appearing in the mobile game Happiness Memories:

Botchan / Natsume Sōseki

Natsume Soseki gets mentioned again in the Happiness Memories game when Akiho, in one of the photostories (the one focused on the study of English, with Syaoran reiterating his love to Sakura in English without her knowing what he meant ❤️) tells Sakura she's looking for the English version of some books, namely Night On The Galactic Railroad by Kenji Miyazawa (already mentioned above) and Botchan by Natsume Soseki. Apparently, Kaito suggested her to find those books and read them in English, since she's still having some difficulties with Japanese language. Akiho doesn't initially remember the titles of those books, so Syaoran intervenes and tries to help.

The Wandering Lake / Sven Hedin

"The Wandering Lake" is a book written by swedish geographer Sven Hedin. This one gets seemingly mentioned during one of the photostories set during the old anime arcs, where Syaoran gets invited to the Kinomoto home and bakes a cake with Fujitaka and Sakura (I don't really know much of the details because I never got this card 💦) While they wait for it to bake, Fujitaka and Syaoran talk about their favorite subject, archeology! And Fujitaka apparently makes references to this book (he supposedly mentions the lake name, Lop Nur) while explaining his love for archeology.

And I believe that's all for this first installment of "Clear Card Trivia"!! I hope you enjoyed it and maybe that it surprised you too, for some reference that you didn't catch before today! My love for this story is infinite, for all the reading "layers" it provides us with, and one of those is composed by all the literary references featured in it, since books are really so important in this arc. Knowing all these little quotes and references makes me appreciate CLAMP's efforts to build this arc as something deeper and more meaningful.

As I said in the beginning, I intend to update this post in case something else comes up in the handful of chapters that are left! See you next time, what will I feature? I have looooots I want to talk about!!

#card captor sakura #cardcaptor sakura #ccsakura #clear card arc #sakura card captor #clear card trivia #<- this will be the designated tag for this series of posts!

93 notes · View notes

koenki · 6 months

Text

Hand Holding HCs - Reverie Audios

Part 1/2 cause apparently it's too long to put everyone in one post-

Kane: Don't know if he will be getting his own listener later or what the future holds but will keep this one a lil generic for now While large and imposing, Kane seems like the type to be gentle with what he cares about. The type that would take his (potential) partner's hand in his to lean down to kiss the back of it. Staying bowed like that a moment while his lips linger, he would look up to catch their gaze, a knowing smirk on his face when he see's their face flush and muscles tense. He knows exactly what he's doing to them, and loves every second of their flustered responses. Dion: I imagine anything formal he does know how to behave, gentlemanly behavior if it's what he's tasked to do; he could joke around and smile and imitate what Kane did but more impish and playful But when it's chill- where he is with his relationship with Bunny now I could imagine him dragging bunny around by the wrist as they're walking around, as they slow down it goes to holding Bunny's hand like cupped, and at some point, if Bunny is comfortable to it cause Bunny seems to go with the flow a lot so wouldn't push too much, they would be the one to lace their fingers together- Likely catching the flame demon off guard in a sweet moment before he holds on more securely. Desmond: The relationship with Love is very respectful to each other, slow pacing and gentle. There is a lot of asking permissions between them. Early on, Love was the one to initiate, at first it would be a touch to the wrist and pulling back with a soft apology before Des gives the okay. It becomes habit, not out of fear but sometimes words aren't needed, just a quiet sign asking for permission. As Desmond gets more comfy he'll be the one returning the gesture, and taking their hand securely in his, they'd give each other lil squeezes of assurances. The hold is never too tight either, easy for the other to be able to slip out of the others should they want/need to. Ellis: I can just picture them sitting together on a stormy afternoon at home with Gem; on the couch reading respective books under a blanket, kinda cuddled against each other, Eggs purring up a storm as he rests on one of their laps, probably Gem's. and at some point in the comfort and quiet they hold hands under the blanket. Maybe the first time it happens Gem looks to Ellis in surprise before grinning and going back to their book, but leaning against each other like this was cozy and warm. If Eggs sees this he's gonna meow and demand attention, so either one of them has to let go of the other to pet the floof, or a book has to be put down. Either of them are comfortable to initiate the touch. Gage: Sweet boy loves the physical contact more than anything, this is his love language; Can't get enough. If he and Bug are in the same room but aren't close enough to touch, something feels off and it has to be fixed. Hand holding is an every day thing and both will engage on it. From wake up kisses in the morning on the hands up to meeting their lips, to driving in the car with one hand on the wheel, one hand in the other's to drop Bug off at work on his way to his own. This man could have both hands in a cast and be like "Buuuuug, touch pinkies with me." While they literally would be cuddled up together on the couch. Law: This man much like Gage is not afraid of physical affection and will take Sweets hand in his so long as his hand isn't full with a rowdy 3-year-old already. With Nat sitting up on papa's shoulders, and Sweets hand in his as they walk through the park, it's a peace like no other- until said child wants to make a break and run free. He loves getting to hold them, starting with the hand and pull them closer, dancing in the living room to no music to whisper sweet nothings in their ear when they're alone. Maybe Law also wants to live out some romcom fantasies with the piano in place now, teaching Sweets a few songs by guiding their hands across the keys. Do they actually learn anything doing this? Probably not, doesn't mean it isn't fun.

Neo: Foxy-boy initiates. Not cause Darling won't or doesn't want to, but because they wanna encourage him to take lead if that's what he wants to do. First few times it was a lil shaky, gentle, but he does so confidently now, because every time he takes the lead for it, it makes Darling have that beautiful toothy grin of theirs that he loves. When it's late at night and Darling is behind him, arms wrapped around, he will put his hands over theirs, thumb rubbing over the back of them in small circles until they both fall asleep.

#reverie audios #Kane #Dion #Desmond #Law #Gage #Neo #Ellis #writings #what did I just do #??#sorry I'm so sappy #brain is pure molasses now

22 notes · View notes

goldengirlls · 2 years

Note

okay first of all I am so beyond proud of you!!!!!!! no one deserves this more than you and I just love you so much. I'm having such a proud mom moment right now.

can I get a fluffy brother's best friend with rafe cameronnnn??? maybe they are going to the same college (he is no more than like, 2 years older) and her brother asked him to look after her for him and he starts falling for her, and her him (even tho she totally had a crush on him in like her pre-teen, early teenage years because who wouldn't?)

summary — you are in love

pairing — brothers best friend!rafe cameron x fem!reader

warnings — a few seconds of sadness but a whole lotta fluff and a kiss or four later!

author’s note — megan i adore you and your support and it means the world to me and i did change it up a bit, hope you dont mind!!

Love was cruel with two blue eyes and sandy colored hair, who also happened to be your brothers best friend.

Bright eye and a school girl crush, with your heart on your sleeve. Having listened to Taylor Swift on repeat growing up, you knew this is what love felt like.

Over the years you fell harder for him each day. It was how your name sounded rolling off his tongue. Always going out of his way to make sure how your day was and checking in on you. Rafe always made you feel important even when you felt like you didn’t.

And maybe you thought he started to feel the same way, but then senior year came around and football and senior parties took over his life and that left you in shadows, only ever getting the small waves in passing and a forced smile as you turned to walk down the other way.

The memories of him were all you had to hold on to.

A year later, freshly graduated and a freshman at UNC you felt like you could conquer anything— including the blue eyed boy that you were madly in love with.

A week later with no sightings of him, you we’re excited that maybe just maybe, you could start over and forget about him, but the universe had something else in mind.

Loud music, too many bodies and maybe the promise of a kiss would completely wipe the idea of him out of your memory.

Too wrapped up in your thoughts, your tan body collided with the back of a figure, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I didn’t—“

“y/n?” The Taylor Swift songs started speaking.

The universe for sure hated you became you looked like a deer in headlights trying to gather your thoughts and form a sentence or coherent thought.

“Rafe?” Eyes trailing up the tall figure, noticing the changes and how much he’s grown from the last time you saw him.

The last few times he’s been home you had successfully avoided him at all costs making up lame excuses to be out when he was over. And for awhile it worked.

“Hey, how’re you?” Wrapping his arms around your waist, home, “Been hoping I’d run into you.”

“Oh yeah, well I’ve been busy with school and getting settled and yeah.” Flustered and upset at the thought of never having the one thing you wanted.

Rafe was star struck. He couldn’t remember what you looked like. Of course he kept up with you on Instagram and occasionally seeing you on other peoples snapchat stories, but you were a work of art that a picture couldn’t capture. Rafe Cameron couldn’t remember when it happened, but he fell hard for his best friend’s little sister. Too caught up in his thoughts he didn’t register that you stopped talking and started waving a hand in front of his face.

“Sorry, I, uh, can we go talk somewhere quiet?” The million dollar smile that you fell in love asked you. “Somethin’ I need to tell you.l

All you could do was nod and take his hand when he offered his up. Following him through the crowd and out of the house to a more quiet part of the backyard he took a seat and patted the empty next too him.

“So I uh, shit okay,” Raking his fingers through his messy shaggy hair, trying to find some composure that was nowhere to be found. “y/n, I need to tell you something.”

He knew. That’s all that filled your mind. Rafe Cameron knew that you loved him and he was here to let you down gently because you were his best friends little sister.

“Have you ever had those feelings? Y’know those feelings that you shouldn’t have but you do?”

“Yeah.”

“I uh have some of those for someone I shouldn’t and I don’t know how to tell her.” Picking his head up and meeting your eyes.

“Oh.” Swallowing the tears that were threatening to spill, stupid feelings, “Have you thought of just telling her.”

“I’m in love with you.”

“Yeah just like that.” Forcing your water lined eyes shut and picking your back up.

Rings littered fingers grabbing your cheeks to meet his eyes, “I’m in love with you.”

Millions of emotions and feelings running through your body as you process the words you yearned for, for years from the boy you’d been in love with since you were twelve and he was thirteen.

“y/n? Can you say something?” Nerves crawled under his skin, “Shit, I shouldn’t have said anything, I just —“

The lips he craved to feel for as long as he could remember were on his begging for entrance to his mint and beer mouth. Cold and nimble fingers met his warm and flushed cheeks as you pour everything into this exact Taylor Swift moment.

Pulling away from the best feeling, “I’m in love with you too.” Pressing your lips against and feeling him smile against your pillow like lips.

besties!! @r0und3bitch @mackenzielovee @cutesouls @onmykneesforrafe

#rafe cameron fanfic #rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron #rafe fanfiction #outer banks #obx #outerbanks #rafe #rafe x you #rafe cameron x fem!reader #rafe cameron x y/n #rafe x y/n #rafe cameron x female reader #rafe x reader #rafe fanfic #rafe imagine #rafe cameron fluff #rafe cameron imagine #goldenjo’s 3k celebration

387 notes · View notes

chelsea-xxx2003 · 10 months

Text

Chapter 1

Summary - In which Miles visits his uncle and sees an old photo that has a familiar face on it.. He asks his uncle about the photo and Aaron take him down memory lane.

(Part 1)

Exam week was over. The student rush to the library was over. Winter break was finally here. Every building top was covered in snow. Winters in New York were harsh Miles was packing his bag in last period to he could go back. Miles was comfortable with his place at Brooklyn Middle. He felt like 'his people were there', you know the kind of people that are on the same wave pattern as him.

Now he was done with packing his stuff and way on his way back home. "Yo man, what you doin anything this winter break?" his friend asks.

"Eat, sleep. You know the Christmas basics"

And with that they did their handshake and Miles was out the door. He walked through the corridors, down the stairs and out the main entrance. He had his backpack. He was about to start playing music in headphones to walk home when......

🚨WHOOOOP🚨

"Miles Gonzalo Morales. Your father has come to pick you up" His father announced from his car. Miles turns around with an annoyed look on his face. He quickly shoves his bags and himself in the car before his dad can embarrass him more.

"Hey dad, you know I texted you saying that I could walk home."

"Oh really, I don't think I saw it." He definitely saw the message but went anyway. He has a fun time embarrassing his son sometimes. They catch up in a conversation as they drive home. Miles talks about school and his dad talk about work.

"Listen I picked you up on my break, moms not home because she's working until late. Here are the keys. I'll see you later."

"M'kay dad see you later."

Now Miles was home alone. Usually he wouldn't mind, seeing his parents work long hours. But he really wanted some company. That's when he decided to go visit his uncle. He wears a plain top, hoodie, black cargo pants, puffer jacket and his Chicago Jordan 1's. When he was done he was out. Made sure he locked the door. Now he could properly listen to music undisturbed as he walks to his uncles place, after he grabbed a bite to eat.

He ate a beef patty on his way there. Once he arrived he pressed the button to his uncles apartment and waited.

"Hello?" His deep voice answers through the speaker.

"It's Miles"

All he hears a beep which signals that the door opens. He runs up a few stairs and skips over some as he does so. He reaches the door and knocks as few times. Within seconds the door is opened.

"Yo Miles what's up man. How you been."

"Not too bad. Finished with a couple exams and it was ight."

"That's cool."

Miles walks over to the punching bag and starts pushing it with a bunch of techniques. Once he tires himself out he goes to sit on the sofa with his uncle. He catches a glimpse of a photo what is framed on the wall. It looks like an early 2000s photo by the quality of the picture. The picture had his uncle in his younger years, himself as a baby no older than one and him standing on this ladies lap. He stared at the photo closer. This lady looked so familiar but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

She was holding baby Miles. He was standing on his wobbly feet on her lap. He had a huge smile on his face. It looked like he was giggling. The lady holding him has a smile on her face.

"Miles what's got you looking like that." Aaron approaches behind him and sees what he is looking at.

"Who's that holding me as a baby. I mean she looks familiar but I don't quite remember."

Aaron chuckles a little. "You don't remember her?"

"Nah"

"That's Maya Thompson. Your auntie Maya?"

Miles turned his face to him with his eyebrows raised. He wanted him to elaborate.

Aaron smiled as he looked at the picture. "You called her auntie Maya every time she visited you."

"Where is she now?" Miles asks out of curiosity.

"She's umm... she's working. She's an estate agent and event planner. So she's somewhere around the world." He has this sullen look on his face. He turns and goes to sit on the sofa. Miles joins him.

"Can you tell me more about her."

A/N - Thank you for reading this little story of mine. I hope you continue. I just thought Aaron doesn't get much love. The chapters that I write might be irregular from time to time. Some may be long and some may be short.

#spider man #spider verse #miles molares #uncle aaron #aaron davis #into the spider verse #Aaron Davis x oc #aaron davis x reader

34 notes · View notes

azulas-lightning-bolt · 28 days

Text

okay so I’m not normally one to do {character} w plot of {disney character} or just another character in general but. but hear me out.

anastasia mako. HELP. for a little background I’m playing anya (anastasia) in my school play and my friend’s little sister is making us both watch the movie. it’s breaking my tradition of NEVER watching the movie before performing a show, so I’m just blasting the musical soundtrack on my headphones and posting this, so,,,

ANYWAYS! since I make everything about mako, let’s get going with this.

anastasia-mako parallels:

-orphan

-resemblance to royalty (specifically eyes—gold for mako, blue for anastasia)

-really funny when they get bitchy

-best friend is their little brother (alexei-bolin)

-important person who’s actually a street rat x street rat relationship dynamic (anya x dmitry, korra x mako)

-communist party/equalists!!

-keepsake item (music box/scarf)

-that’s all I’ve got but like. just listen.

zuko has two daughters; izumi and naoki. Izumi is destined for the throne and naoki doesn’t particularly want it—she’s left to her own devices, for the most part. then, naoki falling in love with an earthbender named san; they have two children, mako and bolin. mako and bolin are mixed, but current firelord zuko loves them all the same. they are raised in the palace until mako is eight and bolin is six. it’s at that point that a group of dissenters on zuko’s policies attack the palace, killing princess naoki and prince san in the castle, before abducting and likely also killing the little princes.

but a month later, the prince bolin returns! the fire nation celebrates, the beloved second branch of the royal family is not completely gone! but the halls of the palace are silent and devoid of celebration; the prince mako has not returned. and by the stone wall of silence prince bolin has made himself, it’s likely he never will.

but a month later, bolin speaks again for the first time since his parents’ death—mako is alive out there, somewhere, and they just need to find him. immediately, search efforts are employed, scouts and soldiers and notices sent out all around the world calling for help to return their prince. firelord zuko even offers a large bounty for his return, though he hates when it’s called such.

meanwhile, in republic city, a boy with no name and no memories wakes up on the side of a road. fresh snow painted the ground, blood (his blood?) soaking it red. the scarf wrapped around his neck matches in pigment. he shivers in clothing made of fine silks and meant for the warmth, trekking forward. he quickly discovers his clothes are worth enough to find something rougher for warm and cold. (he doesn’t consider for a second selling the scarf.) he doesn’t even know his own name, but the cold sinking beneath his skin tells him it’s a deal he needs to cut.

he finds odd jobs around. his first is working at a hospital. he doesn’t get payed monetarily, but they heal the nasty lightning scar that mangles him, stretching from his cheek and down his arm to his waist and feed him. the nice old lady named kya gives him odd looks now and then (she’s never met the prince mako, but she’s seen pictures. she should check. she just needs to check.) but she gives him extra clothes for free, so he doesn’t mind. he moves to washing dishes when the hospital can hire better equipped staff and his scar is healed. he needs to get actual yuan now—he wants to pay for passage to the fire nation. the scarf he clung to, a little embroidery was stitched into it; ‘together in caldera’. that’s his only clue to the eight years before, and he’s desperate to chase it.

he becomes a street sweeper after that, and uses whatever name people give him. he’s been masok and yiso and aizah and saijan and noriaki and roki and kichirō and just about every name under the sun. usually, people call him after their late family. something in that feels oddly fitting to him, but he doesn’t dwell on it. the name that sits the most in his head is masok, so it’s masok that he sticks with.

he spends his years with the triads. they all look at him the same way—a way he doesn’t see them look at the other kids who have no choice but gang work. he’s stared at like a prize. he gets invited to play a game of pretend, but he knows games with old men never end well for children, and he’s far too old for games like that by age 10.

he eventually settled in as an assistant for an office worker who rarely spares him a glance—he counts himself lucky that he’s no longer on the wrong side of the law and that he was never caught. where he is now pays well and if he keeps it up a while longer and is smart with saving, he’ll be on an airship and to caldera city in no time at all.

republic city falls into crisis, a madman calling himself amon leading the ‘equalists’ to try and destroy all benders. he only takes that as incentive to get out faster, while he still can.

and then, of course, the avatar comes crashing into his life in the most insane way possible. you would think it’d be unlikely for the avatar to encounter a paper-pusher, and you’d be right, except this particular avatar just ran over said paper-pusher with her giant ass polar bear dog which OW PLEASE GET IT OFF NOW!

she apologizes by taking him to meet her rich friend, asami, who’s helping her deal with the whole amon situation. he is decidedly not smitten immediately with either of them, especially because the avatar literally ran him over with her polar bear dog. but korra starts prodding him about the missing fire nation prince and for some reason asami (who had until then seemed reasonable) agreed. they argued that, without his scar and after growing out his scraggly close cut hair, he would look exactly like the prince. not even to mention that their timelines match up, and masok’s mystery past. he tells them they’re crazy, but the idea creeps on him, looming in the back of his head.

what if he is the prince? it does match up, there is a resemblance, and those little snippets of memory tug incessantly at his mind. a little brother, a loving grandfather, was it all really?

they teach him about the fire nation royal family. to jog his memory, they say, as he learns about bolin and zuko and izumi and naoki and san. they teach him to stand straight like a prince and not slurp his noodles and raise his chin but not look down his nose.

he follows along with their schemes, much to his chagrin, as he finds himself put on blast in amon’s threatening grip. an example is to be made of him, the world is told from a large screen. he tries not to break his composure, but something in this is familiar and his heart is beating out of his chest in an effort to understand exactly what.

amon says that mako should’ve learned his lesson years ago, when the palace was attacked, and never shown his scarred face again, much less at the avatar’s side.

mako, amon said.

and suddenly mako (yes, mako. that felt right on his tongue.) recalls bombs and screaming and burning flesh and a dead mother and father and the need to protect a little brother who was ripped away and a burning, burning, burning, and electric pain all down his side and then waking up and remembering none of it or any of what came before and he is the lost prince of the fire nation. he strikes up with fire and lightning crackles along his fingertips and he tells amon to finish him the way he finished his mother and father.

amon asks who he thinks he is, a pathetic child, to stand against the equalist forces. and mako (mako, mako, mako. that is who he always was.) proudly declares what he had not known he had a right to. he is prince mako, of the fire nation. amon will rise, or amon will die.

a stunning lightning strikes him at his side and amon does not get to choose. show us who you are, amon, an urging comes from within mako. he peels off the man’s mask. he is water tribe, a scar… painted(?) on his face. mako is on camera, he knows, but if there is something more than the identity reveal causing the panic on amon’s face, mako needs to find out.

the texture of his scar is nothing like mako’s, and he dumps water on it to be sure. the paint comes off dripping and—amon’s limbs twitch again and the water bends away from him. the leader of the equalists is a waterbender.

amon dies, as simple as that, with his brother at his side.

mako is ready to take some time to process what was revealed publicly, on national broadcast, that he hadn’t even known himself, but he can’t seem to catch a break. first korra and asami are affectionately assaulting him (oh god he’s in love with them both) and then prince bolin (bo, he always called him bo) is walking through the trap door of his attic.

mako just about falls over. why was he here? was he going to say that mako had died that night, and all his ‘memories’ were just tricks of the mind to suit his fancies? was he going to accuse mako of slandering the royal family because he looked so terribly taken care of that it was insulting to be associated with him?

none of this happened. he teared up, green eyes locking onto gold. he barrels forward, wrapping his waveringly declared brother in a hug. mako calls out a too-familiar nickname, too late to stop himself, sucking in a breath nervously.

it’s been too long, he is told. it’s time to go home. he still has the scarf, he affirms in hysterical relief.

and mako, masok, the street orphan with nothing but a brightly dyed red scarf to his name, puts on the robes of a fire nation prince with the avatar and a genius inventor at his side. he sweeps onto a balcony, falling into straight-backed composure with ease, greeting a sea of citizens.

a servant declares to his right,

“Prince Mako has returned home!”

#mako lok #legend of korra #lok #tlok #zuko #bolin lok #korra #asami lok #makorrasami #briefly #izumi lok #naoki and san tlok #anastasia au #amon tlok #I know anastasia technically chooses to continue being anya.#but for the sake of the mental image of mako in fn prince robes.#stay with me here guys.

9 notes · View notes

lingthusiasm · 9 months

Text

Transcript Episode 82: Frogs, pears, and more staples from linguistics example sentences

This is a transcript for Lingthusiasm episode ‘Frogs, pears, and more staples from linguistics example sentences’. It’s been lightly edited for readability. Listen to the episode here or wherever you get your podcasts. Links to studies mentioned and further reading can be found on the episode show notes page.

[Music]

Gretchen: Welcome to Lingthusiasm, a podcast that’s enthusiastic about linguistics! I’m Gretchen McCulloch.

Lauren: I’m Lauren Gawne. Today, we’re getting enthusiastic about when linguists keep using the same example texts over and over again. But first, have you ever wished that Lingthusiasm could be a little, um, less enthusiastic?

Gretchen: Most of the time, no, but we’ve heard some complaints. Actually, we heard one person once said to us that they tried to listen to Lingthusiasm to fall asleep, and they couldn’t do it because we were too high energy and enthusiastic. Many years later, we have now taken on board this comment and also, just for fun, we have made a [ASMR voice] slowed down, soothing [regular voice] version of Lingthusiasm where we read a bunch of linguistic sample sentences, some of which we mention in this episode, [ASMR voice] in much longer and more relaxed form.

Lauren: [ASMR voice] Get many soothing sentences of linguistics nonsense read to you.

Gretchen: [ASMR voice] By joining us on Patreon at patreon.com/lingthusiasm. [Regular voice] Plus, of course, get access to a bunch of other bonus episodes at the usual speed and volume also on Patreon and help us keep the show running.

Lauren: If you’re interested in why we chose the sentences that we read in the bonus, we’ll be talking about that this episode, so keep listening.

[Music]

Gretchen: Lauren, can I tell you a story?

Lauren: Yes, please.

Gretchen: This story is about the north wind and the sun.

Lauren: Hm.

Gretchen: “The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger when a traveller came along wrapped in a warm cloak. They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveller take his cloak off should be considered stronger than the other. Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew, the more closely did the traveller fold his cloak around him. At last, the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shone out warmly, and immediately the traveller took off his cloak. And so, the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two. The end.”

Lauren: A classic Aesop’s Fable. In fact, literally one of Aesop’s Fables there. But I know it specifically as the example text that people record to illustrate the sounds in a given language.

Gretchen: Yeah. I think I actually had an illustrated children’s picture book of this when I was a child.

Lauren: Because of your interest in phonetics across the world’s languages?

Gretchen: Yes, that is definitely why my parents bought me this as a five-year-old. No, I think they just liked the moral, “You can do more with persuasion than you can with force,” which was the last sentence in the illustrated Aesop’s Fable version that I had as a child. But imagine my surprise when, many years later in linguistic school, I encountered this story as a classic example text.

Lauren: This text gets translated into many different languages, and it’s read as the example passage of what it sounds like to tell a story in a language as part of a series called “Illustrations of the International Phonetic Alphabet.”

Gretchen: The Journal of the International Phonetic Association – this is the one, I think, where all of the articles used to actually be written in phonetic transcription rather than in standard orthography, which is fantastic.

Lauren: Now they’ve moved to standard orthography, but what is also fantastic is all these articles that illustrate the way that different languages sound. You can download and listen to the recordings that are made as part of those journal articles, including recordings of a narrative passage, which is usually “The North Wind and the Sun.”

Gretchen: I guess it’s a relatively classic passage. It does involve personifying the elements, but many cultures do allow you to personify the elements. I think some other passages that sometimes get used as comparative linguistic passages are particular stories from the Bible because the Bible has been translated in a bunch of languages. But this is not great because people often use a stylised, formal style of language for Biblical texts that really doesn’t reflect how people talk in everyday life. Much as Aesop’s Fables are a bit culturally specific, the Bible is also very culturally specific.

Lauren: I do also appreciate when they were recording examples of New Zealand English, they did translate it to “The Southerly Wind and the Sun” to make it more geographically appropriate.

Gretchen: Oh, excellent. Yes. They do change out the words sometimes whether you have “the Sun shone” or “the Sun shined,” sort of depends on variation. Sometimes, they have this exact text being read aloud, and sometimes they let people retell it in their own words. Of course, if you’re translating it into lots of different languages, you can localise that translation however you want.

Lauren: You told me a story. I think it’s only fair that I tell you a story.

Gretchen: Oh, yes, please.

Lauren: Are you ready?

Gretchen: Yes.

Lauren: Okay. “Please call Stella. Ask her to bring these things with her from the stone: six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue cheese, and maybe a snack for her brother Bob. We also need a small plastic snake and a big toy frog for the kids. She can scoop these things into three red bags, and we will go meet her Wednesday at the train station.”

Gretchen: This is a bit of a different style of story to me than the Aesop’s Fable style. “Small plastic snake” – I don’t think this one was found in Ancient Greece.

Lauren: And perhaps less of a direct moral to this one.

Gretchen: It also is a little bit directive, like, “Oh, it’s my job to call Stella. All right.” This story comes from the speech accent archive, which is a website that has many hundreds, probably a thousand – I wasn’t able to get a precise count of speech samples – of people speaking English who have both a variety of accents of English and also who’s first language is something else, and a variety of non-native accents in English, all reading this same English paragraph, so that if you want to know what Ugandan English sounds like, you can listen to some audio clips of some people from Uganda reading this passage, and you can be like, “All right, here’s what it sounds like.”

Lauren: Everyone’s reading the same thing. We have a nice clear benchmark. It has lots of different sounds, lots of S-y sounds I noticed as I was trying to read this out to you.

Gretchen: It’s got “slabs” and “snake” and “snack” and “store” and “spoons,” so a lot of these S-plus-consonant-clusters and several – “these things into three” – /ð/ /θ/ /θ/. You get a bunch of different sounds and sound sequences. The note on the speech accent archive website says, “This paragraph contains practically all the sounds of English,” which I think is because, depending on your variety of English, exactly which sounds are in it and not can vary, but they’ve made an effort to get at least most of them.

Lauren: The fact that they’ve made this effort to get all the sounds means that perhaps the meaning of the story becomes less important I think it’s fair to say.

Gretchen: It’s a little silly.

Lauren: It gets a little bit silly trying to make something that sounds sufficiently coherent, but you’re really focused on the individual sounds.

Gretchen: “Six spoons of fresh snow peas” – I dunno that I really measure snow peas in spoons, but people can read somewhat nonsensical text, and that’s also okay. This is very English-centric. There’s not an effort to translate this story into other languages because it’s focused around trying to get a specific range of sounds in English.

Lauren: I just know this as “The Stella Passage.”

Gretchen: I would call this one “Please Call Stella.” I think that’s just what I would refer to it as. There’s also some passages – so there’s a longer passage that’s about rainbows, known as “The Rainbow Passage.”

Lauren: “The Rainbow Passage.”

Gretchen: Which I will not read in full because it’s a whole page, but it begins, “When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colours.”

Lauren: Aww.

Gretchen: Yeah, it’s kinda sweet. “The Rainbow Passage” and another passage called “The Grandfather Passage” are familiar to me from linguistics and came up recently because a friend mentioned that they’re used in people who are doing gender voice training. If you’re trans, you want your voice to be perceived as a different gender, something that some people do is adjust the way they produce certain vowels and consonants so that they sound more characteristic of a particular gender. People often practice on particular reading passages, which are part of speech training. You can record yourself and keep an idea of what your progress is over time. This “Rainbow Passage” and “The Grandfather Passage,” which is another one that’s about your grandfather – this very old school guy who wears a frock coat.

Lauren: He’s eccentric but sound of mind if I recall.

Gretchen: Yes. I think this is a very old school grandfather. I don’t think anyone’s current grandfather wears a frock coat these days unless they’re a historical reenactor or something. But these are some passages that sometimes get used in speech training. There’s a really interesting interview on the Gender Reveal podcast with Renée Yoxon who does trans voice coaching if anyone wants to know more about how that goes.

Lauren: It’s really fascinating the lives that these example texts live as they continue on in the world. Another set of example sentences are the Harvard Sentences, which are around 700+ sentences that are used mostly used in training speech-text synthesis programmes or testing telecommunications systems.

Gretchen: The Harvard Sentences, there’s 720 of them – about 10-word sentences – so there’s tons of them. They’re also designed for their phonetic value. They’re designed to contain English sounds in a range of different contexts. For example, in English, we say the /k/ sound in “keen” slightly differently from how we say the /k/ sound in “cool” or in “stick.” You need to have words that contain it at the beginning of the word, at the end of the word, before several different vowels, so that when you’re trying to put it into words, it sounds a little bit less robotic.

Lauren: This is why they also get their other name, which is the “Harvard Balanced Sentences,” because they have a balance of the most commonly occurring English speech sounds in a balanced range of contexts.

Gretchen: Right. We thought maybe this would make them a little bit extra soothing. Also, there’s 700 of these, so we can’t read them all to you in this episode because that would get a little bit boring and tedious, and you might go to sleep.

Lauren: In fact, that is a perfect application for recording all 720 of them as a soothing ASMR experience.

Gretchen: Wait, can we call this “Lingthusiasmr”?

Lauren: I think we can.

Gretchen: “ASMR,” if you haven’t encountered it, is the “autonomous sensory meridian response,” which is the relaxed chills feeling that people feel down their spine when you listen to certain kinds of slow and relaxing sounds. I’m not entirely sure that our episode will induce ASMR. We’ll have to test that empirically. But I do think it sounds very soothing and will probably help you sleep. Please let us know if it works if you think this is fun.

Lauren: I have to say, from the experience of recording them, they are such boring nonsense that they become kind of surreal.

Gretchen: I really felt like I was zoning out as I was reading them. We read them 10 at a time and took turns, and by the end of the 10 list, I would be sort of like, “Oh, I’m very slow. My heartrate has gone down. I’m relaxed.” I think it’s important to recognise that when people are reading example sentences, that is work, and it takes concentrate to try to read exactly the words on the page in a consistent tone of voice and not stumble over words. We definitely had to re-record some bits and edit them back together to make them sound smooth.

Lauren: Having recorded other people for phonetics experiments, this just once again reminded me of how much respect I have for people and their patience and their willingness to participate in recording sentences like this for analysis.

Gretchen: Thank you to our patrons for letting us do not only the podcast in general but also occasionally fun, weird experiments like this. Let us know if it actually helps you sleep or if this is fun or we should never do it again. All of these are options. Did you notice anything else about the content of the sentences as you were reading all 700, Lauren?

Lauren: I did. We – I have to say – did skip a few sentences because they did not produce the chill, relaxed vibes we were going for, especially the ones about forest fires and cutting off people’s heads.

Gretchen: Yeah, some of the sentences were a bit violent. We thought, you know, if you’re trying to fall asleep, and then you hear “The prince ordered the person’s head to be cut off,” you’re like, “I don’t know if I wanna hear that.” Even though it’s a fairytale setting, it’s still not very cheerful. We didn’t record all 720. We thought we would sacrifice balanced, scientific accuracy for being-able-to-fall-asleep-itude. I noticed that sentences that we kept, which was most of them, had this agricultural vibe.

Lauren: Which is pretty funny given that these are from the 1950s and ’60s.

Gretchen: They’re from the ’60s. They had cars in the 1960s, and yet, there’s one car in all of these sentences, and there’s a lot of horses.

Lauren: There are a lot of horses, indeed.

Gretchen: And wagons and carts. There’s one bus and one train and one car, and there’s all these horses and wagons. It’s just sort of pastoral.

Lauren: I also appreciate the person who wrote them who put all of the examples with “fudge” in there, but that might be just because I was hungry while we were recording.

Gretchen: Delicious. We did consider briefly trying to come up with replacement sentences that would still be phonetically balanced, but it’s a lot of work to come up with sentences that contain certain sounds in particular combinations and also make enough sense that you can read them even if some of them are a little bit silly.

Lauren: In fact, a lot of phonetic elicitation is done by just getting people to say a particular single word, maybe inside a sentence, so that you get it in a more natural environment rather than just listing individual words where you get this [list intonation voice] LIST intoNATION as people READ through the LIST.

Gretchen: If you want people to say, for example, a bunch of colours, you shouldn’t just have them say, “Red, orange, yellow, green.” You could instead do, “I saw the red thing,” “I saw the blue thing,” “I saw the green thing.” And then you can cut out the “red” and “blue” and “green” from the middle of “I saw the whatever thing,” so that it’s in the middle like that. Is that right?

Lauren: Yeah. Sometimes, in phonetics we’re so interested in just the sounds themselves. We don’t even care if the words make sense let alone the sentences. People will come up with nonsense words that they can record to get particular sounds.

Gretchen: I have a fun story about that from when I was an undergrad where we had to come up with a bunch of nonsense words for stimuli, only one of the words that we came up with – I forget what it was. I think all of our words were like consonant-vowel-consonant, so it was something that was like a slang swear word or a word related to some sort of risqué topic, and the prof was like, “Oh, we can use this word, right?” And all the students sort of look at each other and start giggling. We’re like, “Who’s gonna tell him?”

Lauren: Okay, excellent public service announcement. If you are creating nonsense words for a phonetic study, maybe run them by a couple of your students first just to check.

Gretchen: Run them by somebody who has a bit of a dirty mind. Look them up on Urban Dictionary. Ask a few people if you’re not working on a language where you have something like Urban Dictionary just to make sure that they’re not actually a word that’s gonna have your participants giggling.

Lauren: So far, we’ve been discussing sentences and texts for studying the sounds of language, but there’re also some commonly reoccurring texts that people use when they’re looking at sentences or even larger units of language to study.

Gretchen: One of the these is what I know as “The Frog Story,” which is a wordless picture book that has a little boy and a frog in a jar, and the frog escapes, and the boy and the dog have to go after the frog, and then they find the frog on a log. It’s very charming, and there’s no words there, so people just have to look through it once, and then you go through it again and retell that story based on the pictures.

Lauren: I have a copy of this book, and there are five or six in the series. They’re super charming. But every time I pull it off my shelf, I get mildly surprised that it’s not called “Frog Story,” it’s called, “Frog, Where Are You?”

Gretchen: Oh, I always forget this because in linguistics people just call it “The Frog Story.”

Lauren: It’s by Mercer Mayer from 1969.

Gretchen: You can tell when you’re in someone’s talk, and they’re saying, “The boy looked for the frog behind the tree,” and you’re like, “I know how you elicited this sentence.” But the nice thing about it not having written words is that you can use it with children, you can use it with speakers of a bunch of different languages. It does have some relatively culturally-specific concepts like, you know, do you recognise pictures as telling a story in a particular order? Is this cartoon drawing of a frog legible to you as a frog? But it is at least more culturally abstract than just having people directly translate a particular type of story word-by-word.

Lauren: I appreciate it because it leads to some really charming example sentences when people are discussing, say, how the structure of sentences works or maybe how people put together a story in a particular culture.

Gretchen: It’s got that sort of, you know, the frog runs away, and then the frog is found, and it follows that narrative arc of losing something and the finding it, which is I think relatively straightforward to tell in a bunch of languages.

Lauren: A book is very easy to take with you regardless of where you’re doing your analysis. You don’t need to have electricity or anything compared to another really common thing that’s used to get people to tell stories, which is a short video called “The Pear Story.”

Gretchen: “The Pear Story” is so charming. It’s this six-minute film that was produced at the University of California at Berkeley in 1975. It has no language in it. There’s sound effects, but no one says anything. You have this story that they showed to a bunch of speakers of languages who are asked to then retell the story from the images.

Lauren: You can tell it’s from 1975 because people have amazing pants and hair from the era.

Gretchen: Oh, yeah, there is for sure some flair in those pants. The story is, roughly, having just watched it – this is on YouTube if you want to watch it for yourself – but there’s a man who’s a farmer, I guess, who’s got a kerchief around his neck. He’s climbing a ladder up a tree, picking some pears, and putting them in a basket. He picks a whole basket full of pears and sets it down with the other basket of pears below the tree, and he goes back up the ladder. Then some guy comes by with a goat for no apparent reason.

Lauren: [Laughs] Yes.

Gretchen: As you do. Then a little boy comes by on a bicycle and picks up one of the big baskets of pears and puts it on the front handlebars of the bike and drives off with it. Bum bum bum.

Lauren: Right.

Gretchen: Then the kid on the bike runs into another group of three kids. One of them has a little paddle thing that has an elastic thing with a ball on the end.

Lauren: And they’re bouncing the paddleball thingamajig.

Gretchen: Yeah, that thing. And the kid on the bike runs into a rock and falls off the bike, and the pears fall all over the place. The kid’s okay. But the other kids help him put the pears back in the basket. And he goes off on the bike again except he’s – oh, he’s lost his hat, and the kids give his hat back as well. Then Bike Kid goes off into the sunset, and the other kids go off, and they’ve secretly each got a pear in their pocket that they took as thank you for helping with the basket. Then the farmer comes back down the tree and is like, “Oh my god! Where did my pears go? Where did the whole basket go?” And the three kids who were helping were like, “Oh, I dunno.” That’s the end of the story.

Lauren: One thing your retelling reminds me of is that this is actually really nicely shot. It’s clear that it’s in California, right. It feels like they actually got some film people to shoot a really, really nice film.

Gretchen: Right. And I think they got actors to be the characters because the characters look like they’re the wrong age for grad students.

Lauren: Which is often what happens when people are shooting an elicitation video on no budget.

Gretchen: Right. Like, it’s not just you and five of your friends from grad school. Because the kids are too young to be grad students, and the farmer looks middle aged. There are some middle-aged grad students, but it’s less like, “Okay, you got a bunch of people in their 20s to do this – 20s and 30s to do this.” It’s beautifully shot. It’s got nice lighting and all of this stuff. They got a goat. I dunno where they got the goat.

Lauren: Well, the goat reminds me, but when they put this pear story together – and it is literally called “The Pear Story,” unlike “Frog Story” which has a secret other name – when they put this together, they deliberately had these things they were trying to see whether they would come up or how people would do them in narratives across language. The goat being there that has nothing to do with the story is whether people pay attention to background information. The fact that we start off – you said “a farmer” at the start, and when he comes back, he’s “the farmer.” You’re reidentifying the same person. Even the paddleball little bouncy thingy thing was deliberately something that people might not have a name for immediately so that they would have to do essentially what we did and negotiate what it’s called.

Gretchen: So, you learn the language’s word for “thingamajig” or “toy,” or I don’t – the way you describe something you don’t necessarily have words for because languages do have ways of describing things they don’t have words for. If you put something that the word for which is very obscure, I don’t know what the word is for this in English, then people have to figure out how to describe it. I guess, I dunno, probably all languages don’t have words for pears, but presumably, you might say “fruit” or something like that if you didn’t have a specific word for “pear.”

Lauren: Not getting too bogged down in the detail, but what makes it really powerful is that there was a book about analysing Pear storytellings in the 1980s. People have continued to use “The Pear Story.” So, it starts to become something where you can benchmark experience in storytelling across languages. For example, there’s this really great paper about Meithei, which is a language in the northeast of India where Shobhana Chelliah was working with this language and noticed that when people tell stories there’s not an expectation that you necessarily say who is doing what, but it should be apparent from context. You might not necessarily say “the boys” or the “the farmer” every time they do something. Instead, you focus more on the actions, and it’s through the conversation that people keep track of who’s doing what. It was really hard to know exactly who was doing what in a story that people were telling about what happened in their own village or in their own family last week. She recorded a bunch of people telling “The Pear Story” and could literally count the number of times they said, “the farmer,” “the boy.”

Gretchen: And because the researcher already knows what happens in the video, it gives you this shared common ground. And generally, the task is something like you have people watch a video, and then you have them retell the story of the video to someone who hasn’t seen it, say, “Tell it to this person who hasn’t seen it,” or “Tell it to me,” and you say that you haven’t seen it. It’s a relatively natural-ish context. People often know a story that they’re telling to someone else who hasn’t experienced it. I mean, it’s as natural as you can get for something that’s relatively constrained so that everyone’s doing the same task, whereas “The Frog Story,” you have people flip through page by page and narrate what’s happening on each page, “The Pear Story” tends to be you have people watch the whole thing and then retell the story afterward.

Lauren: Because it’s being recorded in a bunch of other languages, they could literally go back and say, “Yeah, in Meithei, there really are fewer times that people say who is doing what compared to the existing tellings that we have in languages like English.” So, a really neat example of how this kind of task can be really helpful in understanding how different languages do storytelling differently.

Gretchen: Do you have any examples of this from the gesture literature?

Lauren: I do, indeed. Because you can immediately tell when something is situated in the gesture literature because they make people watch a particular Sylvester and Tweety Bird cartoon from Warner Brothers.

Gretchen: Okay. They didn’t get a bunch of University of California grad students to act it out in the field?

Lauren: They did not. But anytime you see an example of a cat climbing or a cat swinging or something about a bird, you almost always know that it’s taken from a particular cartoon called “Canary Row,” which is where Tweety Bird is in one apartment building, and across the road, Sylvester’s in the other. Sylvester in this eternal quest to get to Tweety Bird – there’s lots of different actions that Sylvester performs. When you get people to retell it, you get really great gestures out of them. I feel when I read a gesture studies paper, and they’ve played this – and it doesn’t require language, so you can play it to speakers of English or Turkish or Japanese. Every time I see example sentences from “Canary Row,” I just feel this, like, “Aww.”

Gretchen: “Aww.”

Lauren: “It’s a gesture paper.”

Gretchen: It’s cute how stories like this can also become part of linguistics as a cultural area where you feel part of gesture studies as a culture by seeing the Sylvester and Tweety one. “The Pear Story” was part of my grad school tradition when we did a field methods class. It was like, “Okay, we’re gonna learn how to use ‘The Pear Story’ when it comes to elicitation.” I took other field methods classes where we didn’t use “The Pear Story,” but in this one, it was part of that enculturation. There’s probably other examples of texts that are canonical sets of examples in other lineages of linguistics, we’re just showing the ones that are available to us in our context.

Lauren: Yeah, I know Frog Story is really popular with people doing language documentation because you can just pack a book in your field kit. It’s also popular with child language acquisition researchers because parent-child interaction around books is a relatively common thing, especially in Western cultures. It becomes fun the more you work in these areas, and you begin to recognise recurring texts from the examples that people produce in talks or in papers.

Gretchen: I think we could really, if we ever wanted to get into publishing a line of children’s books – you know, produce “The North Wind and the Sun,” “Please Call Stella” – you could illustrate that like a children’s book. I guess Mercer Mayer already has the copywrite on “The Frog Story,” but you know, maybe he’d like to produce a special edition just for linguists. You could have a whole line of linguistically relevant children’s books.

Lauren: Exceedingly charming.

Gretchen: Somebody commission this from us.

Lauren: Getting people to produce sentences either by reading passages or reading stories or retelling stories is one way to come up with example sentences to illustrate a feature of a language. But there is also a long tradition in linguistics of people coming up with example sentences.

Gretchen: Right. Because we all know at least one language in some capacity. Sometimes, you study a language by going and finding a speaker or a signer and saying, “Hey, can you say this? Or can you say some stuff for me?”, and I’ll record it, and I’ll analyse it, but you, yourself, are also someone who knows a language. So, if I wanna say, “‘Please call Stella’ is a sentence in English,” I don’t necessarily need to go and ask 20 of my friends to be like, “Yeah, I think that any English speaker would just understand me.” There’s the armchair-inside-your-office method of saying, “Yeah, if I think that ‘The dog chased the cat’ is a grammatical sentence in English.” I don’t necessarily need to go ask 100 people just to confirm this relatively basic thing. Then there’s the slightly expanded version which is, “Okay, I think this is a sentence in English,” and then you do a talk about your paper for a research group or at a conference, and there’s a dozen people in the room, or there’s 20 or 40 people in the room, and if they all speak English or French or whatever the language of your paper is in, and everyone in the room agrees, “Yeah, we think the sentences that you’ve presented in this language are valid,” then it’s like you’ve surveyed those 20 or 40 people. I think sometimes that linguists should give themselves more credit for this. There are really interesting papers trying to replicate these grammaticality judgements and like, what if we tested some of these sentences on 100 and see – like, sometimes there are regional differences, or people will have individual idiolect differences about which things they find work for them as a sentence or not. It is worth testing some of these. But often, if you have actually tested them on everybody in your department, or everybody who was attending this particular conference talk, it is actually running them by 20 people or 40 people, which is a pretty good statistical number.

Lauren: There is also a tradition of creating sentences and getting people to check them when it’s not a language you have strong intuitions about yourself. One of my favourite things to do while doing this is to create sentences that I know people won’t find grammatical just to double check I haven’t missed anything about how things might work in the language.

Gretchen: And to reinforce that you are not expecting them to just say yes for every single sentence.

Lauren: Yeah. Running past, “Ah, can we say, ‘Please Stella call’?”

Gretchen: People are like, “No, what? No.”

Lauren: I do feel sorry for people who I do this to who are just like, “Has she learnt nothing from us?”

Gretchen: It’s also fun when people will have – you know, because sometimes you just need some names. Like, who’s Stella? Why is she in these sentences? You need some names of people to be in your sentences. Sometimes, people will come up with cute, recurring characters from if they’re watching a particular TV show, they’ll start naming characters in their class about things. David Adger’s book, Language Unlimited, he uses his cat and his husband as the example people in these sentences, which is very charming.

Lauren: How did you come up with examples for Because Internet?

Gretchen: I particularly wanted in Because Internet to not have the people in the example sentences seem gendered. Sometimes, you see a lot of Johns and Marys in example sentences, and I just think that’s boring.

Lauren: There’s a lot of Stellas buying snacks for her brother Bob.

Gretchen: Those are very generic Anglo names. And I was like, “Well, this is kind of dull.” And also, that in Because Internet, the book is trying to be fun and interesting for people, I thought if I make silly example person names, that will make it more fun to read, and that’s one of my goals. I deliberately used the “Boaty McBoatface” method of coming up with example sentences.

Lauren: Okay. What does that look like?

Gretchen: Can I read you an example?

Lauren: Sure.

Gretchen: “You’re more likely to start using a new word from Friendy McNetwork, who shares a lot of mutual friends with you, and less likely to pick it up from Rando McRandomface, who doesn’t share any of your friends even if you and Rando follow each other just like you and Friendy do.”

Lauren: I like that if you had just used “Stella” and “Bob,” by the time we got to “You and Bob would use more words in common” because I can’t remember if Bob is the one you’re friends with.

Gretchen: Exactly. Naming them after the trait that they’re supposed to have – like “Friendy McNetwork” is the one you have a lot of shared friends with and “Rando” is the one that you know them, but you don’t have any friends in common. Then when you get to the second half of the sentence, “even if you and Rando follow each other just like you and Friendy do,” it’s really easy to track which one is which in the earlier part of the sentence. There’s practical considerations, but also, I found it kind of fun, you know, they’re gender neutral. They’re clearly not anyone’s real name. They’re sort of fanciful and a bit fun.

Lauren: I always like a bit of whimsy when it comes to examples. In our recent auxiliaries episode, we really leaned heavily into the farm theme that we created for that episode.

Gretchen: Yes, we did. Because it’s sometimes when you know that you’re gonna need a whole bunch of examples in a text or an episode, it’s fun to theme them so that you’re not just reaching for the same – like I think we used examples like “I like cake” a lot, or like, “I eat ice cream.” A lot of our examples are about ice cream and cake, which is fun. I mean, we do like both of these things, but sometimes, for an episode that’s gonna be really example heavy, using horses and farmyard animals and stuff is a fun way to make it a little more distinct from other episodes.

Lauren: This is where you can really tell the difference between a piece of linguistic work where the examples have come from someone’s intuitions to illustrate something compared to when the focus has been on finding examples from the stories and recordings and conversations that people have that are much more spontaneous where they might not always be so smooth and perfect. You might be missing the person who’s doing the thing in “The Pear Story,” but there’s a really great example of how it has some kind of particular emphasis or spin. Whether you use created examples or found examples can really change the flavour of how you’re doing your analysis.

Gretchen: Right. I think ideally, one wants to have a balance of both. It can be useful to have things that are easier to compare to other languages because they’re more similar, and then also, you really wanna consider the language in and of itself and not be always forcing it in the mould of “Well, let’s be able to compare it.” Also, we wanna see “What are people doing in this language when you don’t have a preconceived idea of what you’re doing with them?” It’s a balance between those two types of things. One’s easier to work with, and one is potentially gonna give you insights that you weren’t looking for.

Lauren: On top of juggling that, it’s also worth paying attention to whether you’re beginning to get a bit of a bias in the examples in terms of the vibes as well as what’s happening linguistically.

Gretchen: A lot of these examples are coming from the ’60s and ’70s, and they present this very bucolic view of what types of things people talk about. I noticed that there’s a lot of male entities in a lot of these sentences, except for our friend Stella, to whom we call.

Lauren: But Stella’s doing a lot of work.

Gretchen: She’s getting all those things for her brother Bob. But “The Pear Story” has a farmer with a moustache in a tree, and it has a boy on a bicycle, and I think it has a girl go by on a bike as well, but there’s a lot more male entities in several of these examples. Same with “The Frog Story,” which has a little boy and a frog. It might be that gender signifiers in different cultures are different, and that some people read these stories and read the characters gender-neutrally or read them as female. And I don’t wanna say that this isn’t a possibility, but from the English perspective of people who were composing these, they’re gender biased in a particular way.

Lauren: For sure. It’s not just vibes. There’s a great paper from 1997 by Macaulay and Brice that looks at just how gender stereotyping happens, especially in syntax examples for sentence structure. They do see not only there’re more examples where they use men or male names, but if they do have women or female names in the examples, they are usually being acted upon or required to chase down snacks for their brothers.

Gretchen: I think that one may be particular to the “Please Call Stella” example. But you’re more likely to have a sentence that’s like, “John saw Mary,” than you are “Mary saw John,” even though both of those are equally valid. For a while – this was wild to me when I learned it – for a while, there were explicit style guide policies that said by default you should prefer male names in the subject position and female names in the object position. I’m like, whoa, that was a policy at some point! Okay.

Lauren: Was it? It’s not even unconscious bias. It’s deliberate choice.

Gretchen: That was a deliberate choice back in the day. That was a style guide thing. Undoing that, now that it’s become this unconscious thing that people are still doing, is more challenging. The fun thing, I guess, about how a lot of example sentences in old school syntax papers use “John” and “Mary” and “Bill” is that there is someone who took a bunch of example sentences from papers since the refer to the same people and stitched them together into a single narrative about the adventures of John and Mary and Bill.

Lauren: Another in our children’s picture book series.

Gretchen: Oh my gosh, this is like the See Spot Run of linguistics!

Lauren: It’s not only worth paying attention to who is doing what but the “what” that is happening. There’s this really unfortunate fact that when you want to have a sentence where someone is doing something to someone else, the best – in terms of showing stuff linguistically – thing to have them do is hitting.

Gretchen: Oh no.

Lauren: Because it’s very clear that there’s one animate, active person doing something to another entity, and it’s very distinct and clear and active.

Gretchen: It’s something where you can have an animate person acting on another animate person. For example, if you cut the bread or something, you have an animate acting on an inanimate like “bread” or “cheese” or something, so it’s more clear who’s doing what to who because the cheese isn’t gonna come around and try to cut me – unless I have a very sharp cheddar. Dun dun dun.

Lauren: Ahhhhhh. [Laughs]

Gretchen: Whereas if you have “The girl hit the boy” or something – like little kids sometimes hit each other – that’s the more benign version of that example. It’s true people sometimes hit each other. This is a thing that you can talk about in languages. It’s very often transitive. But also, it can lead to these uncomfortable example sentences where you’re like, “Ah, this seems to be reinforcing certain types of patterns of violence.”

Lauren: Especially when you’re writing, say, an entire book that’s a descriptive grammar of a language, and again and again you just have these men hitting other people and animals, and you’re like, “I do think this adequately represents what’s happening linguistically, but I feel really off about what it’s showing people culturally.” It may not even be about this culture. It’s about what the linguist is trying to do.

Gretchen: Sometimes, people try to replace this with a verb that’s less violent like “kiss.”

Lauren: Also, a bit weird.

Gretchen: But that gets into consent issues. If you just go around kissing people, they might not like that. You’d say, “Well, why not use a verb like ‘see’?” But the thing is, “see” often does extra, additional things in the structure in many languages. Like, some languages you have to use “see” plus a word meaning “at” or “to.” You can’t just “see” someone. You “see at” someone or “see to” someone. If you want a very straightforwardly transitive example, something like “see” is like you have to test it to see whether it works in the language. Yeah, it's very complicated because there aren’t a ton of verbs that involve people directly acting on other people, and sometimes they have meanings that you don’t want to introduce.

Lauren: So, between what you’re trying to do linguistically, what level of language you’re analysing, and then how you wanna present those examples and the language that you’re working with, balancing what’s happening with example sentences is really hard.

Gretchen: Right. In addition to the named entities sometimes having a gender bias, there’s also – when you’re working on a given language, people will often pick a couple common names in that language to use. I think a lot of Japanese examples use the name “Taro,” which is a relatively common name. I’ve learned some common names in various languages when you have someone who’s doing a paper, and they’re like, “Oh, yeah, these are the two common names that we’re gonna use.” You know, picking a couple common names in a given language sort of works. But in English where there’re lots of English speakers from lots of different cultures who have lots of different backgrounds, if we leave ourselves with “John” and “Mary,” that also presents this 1960s, old-school, very waspy version of who could be an English speaker.

Lauren: The great this is that you don’t have to do this hard work yourself. There’s been this great project called the Diverse Names Generator where they’ve done the work for you of finding names that skew masculine or skew feminine or are gender neutral and come from a range of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

Gretchen: These names on the Diverse Names Generator website, which is very easy to use, have International Phonetic Alphabet transcriptions, so if you don’t necessarily know how to pronounce them, you can see them there. You can add contributions yourself if you think, “Oh, there could be some more names.” You could just use a baby names book – and I’m sure people have – but one of the advantages that this has is it lets you filter for certain types of things that might be relevant to linguists. Sometimes, you wanna have the names in your example sentences, you want the first one to have a name that begins with A, and the next one a name that begins with B, and the next one that begins with C or something, just to help keep track of the different names of participants. You can also do things like filter for certain types of lengths or certain types of initial letters to make them balance out for other types of things you might want in your example sentences. I’ve also seen recommendations to just use gender neutral, especially very short, names for all of your sentences, so names like “Lee” or “Alice” or “Pat,” “Sam.” The complication of this is that sometimes gender-neutral names shift depending on the decade. One of these earlier recommendations has “Kim” as a recommended gender-neutral name. I dunno if that name reads as gender-neutral anymore.

Lauren: Hmm, a good reminder that even as we use sample texts that have become traditional in linguistics, it’s also worth revisiting them and thinking about what we want to have present in the examples that we create.

Gretchen: Right. In addition to making things that are in conversation with this linguistic lineage where there may be hundreds or thousands of examples in a given language, thinking, “Okay, what could be the future set of examples that we wanna use or the future set of texts that we wanna use, and what are the gaps that we’re trying to fill in as far as figuring out what we might wanna be able to compare across languages in the future?”

[Music]

Lauren: For more Lingthusiasm and links to all the things mentioned in this episode, go to lingthusiasm.com. You can listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube, or wherever else you get your podcasts. You can follow @lingthusiasm on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr. You can get IPA scarves, “Not Judging Your Grammar” stickers, and aesthetic IPA posters, and other Lingthusiasm merch at lingthusiasm.com/merch. I tweet and blog as Superlinguo.

Gretchen: I can be found as @GretchenAMcC on Twitter, my blog is AllThingsLinguistic.com, and my book about internet language is called Because Internet. Lingthusiasm is able to keep existing thanks to the support of our patrons. If you wanna get an extra Lingthusiasm episode to listen to every month, our entire archive of bonus episodes to listen to right now, or if you just wanna help keep the show running ad-free, go to patreon.com/lingthusiasm or follow the links from our website. Patrons can also get access to our Discord chatroom to talk with other linguistics fans and be the first to find out about new merch and other announcements. Recent bonus topics include our 2022 listener survey responses, using linguistics in the workplace, and our very special, [ASMR voice] very soothing, Lingthusiasmr episode where we read the Harvard Sentences to you in a calm, soothing voice. [Regular voice] If you can’t afford to pledge, that’s okay, too. We also really appreciate it if you can recommend Lingthusiasm – and maybe Lingthusiasmr? – to anyone in your life who’s curious about language.

Lauren: Lingthusiasm is created and produced by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne. Our Senior Producer is Claire Gawne, our Editorial Producer is Sarah Dopierala, and our Production Assistant is Martha Tsutsui-Billins [and our editorial assistant is Jon Kruk]. Our music is “Ancient City” by The Triangles.

Gretchen: Stay lingthusiastic!

[Music]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

#language #linguistics #lingthusiasm #episode 82 #transcripts #podcasts #example sentences #field work #phonetics #syntax #the frog story #the pear story #the harvard sentences #the rainbow passage

39 notes · View notes

elisysd · 3 months

Text

Not this fucking family

Masterlist

Seven years and half after Paris

Ethan and Julia - 32 years old

There was nothing better than a family holiday, Ethan was sure of it. He could spend his whole day relaxing under the sun and he was perfectly happy. They were lost in the middle of the sea, without anyone to disturb them, his very own definition of paradise. His wife was sunbathing right next to him, a babyphone right next to her, enjoying a nap that she hadn’t been able to have for weeks now and Louis who was enjoying his first summer ever since he had graduated, was playing the guitar in the background, scribbling down some notes here and there. He seemed fidgety, something he had started to be less and less as years were passing by and that he had started college. He had found a big passion for music to the point he had started producing his own. He had even started to release some songs here and there, mostly piano instrumentals but was trying to add more instruments and was overall experimenting a lot. And Ethan was proud to say that he always was the first one to listen to every beat Louis was making. He was his number one fan.

But the last few days he had barely gotten out of the villa’s bedroom they were renting and was spending his days making music. It wasn’t particularly unusual but he seemed more under pressure and Ethan wondered why.

“Still deep into your chords?” asked Ethan, walking to him.

“I’m trying to figure out a part of this song and I don’t know what is wrong with it. It does sound right.”

“Can I listen?”

“No!”

There was definitely something wrong with him. Louis was always happy to share whatever he was working on with Ethan and when he saw a blush on the face of the twenty - three years old, he quickly understood where the problem, if he could call it that way, was coming from.

“I see…. Is it for a girl? Or for a boy?”

When Louis blushed even harder and didn’t reply, Ethan knew he was right.

“If you want to talk about it… I can listen and I can even help you. I’ve always been good with women. Don’t repeat that to Joolsie. If it’s a man… I can get some advice from Ludwig.”

“It’s a girl.”

“A classmate?”

Louis shook his head before looking around him, making sure no one was listening.

“She’s perfect. She’s so pretty. And she loves art, she reads Lord Alfred Tennyson’s poetry and she loves photography. She is always snapping pictures of people when they aren’t looking. And she smells like roses. Her favorite color is purple. At least I think because the few times I’ve seen her she always had something purple on her.”

Ethan was speechless, he clearly wasn’t expecting that and felt almost scared to see how much detail Louis had gathered on the girl.

“And have you ever talked to her? Asking her out for a coffee… things like that.”

“Only once. And god no! Every time I want to say hi, I end up with sweaty palms and I want to throw up.”

“What’s her name?” Ethan asked gently.

“Georgia.”

The name rang a bell to Ethan. He was sure he had already heard it somewhere but impossible to remember where. He would need to ask Julia. She always knew everyone.

“So, this Georgia…. are you writing songs for her?”

“Not for her. But… Most of what I’ve been composing lately is about her. Each note, each chord… She is everywhere. I even found the name of my EP. I’ll call it Roses.”

He was down bad. Very bad. Later that day, as Julia was changing Emily for the night, Ethan got up to her, trying to seem as disinterested as possible.

“Joolsie…” he started, letting the vowel drag on.

“Eth…” she replied in the same tone.

“Do you know someone called Georgia?”

“We know someone called Georgia, indeed.”

“We? Who?”he asked surprised.

“You are disappointing. It’s not like she had been following you around for the past year and a half.”

And suddenly he knew very clearly who Louis was talking about.

“Martin’s sister. The new Ferrari junior photograph… it makes more sense now.”

He wanted to bang his head against a wall. Out of all people, Louis had to have a crush on Martin’s sister. It had to be in this family. The nightmare was never ending.

“Why do you ask about her?”

“No reason.” he quickly answered.

“I don’t believe you.”

“I can take it from there with Emily. I can take her to sleep. You don’t have to do absolutely everything.”

“Verstappen.”

“That’s my name. Yours too.”

“Don’t play who is the most stupid with me, you know I win every time.”

“Fine. But you have to promise me you won’t say anything to anyone and especially not to your brother.”

When she nodded he sat down on the bed, his daughter cradled in his arms.

“I think Louis has a crush on her.”

“I know.”

“You know?”

“Of course! I have eyes! Have you not noticed that Louis was coming to more races since she joined the team?”

“I thought it was to support me!”

“You’re naive sometimes.” she sighed.

“I can’t believe it… after all this time, Martin still finds a way to annoy me.”

“How is that annoying you? We’re talking about his little sister!”

“Louis is in love with her! If they get together and get married, Martin will be a part of our family!”

“Damn it, it’ll mean you’ll have to see him on family’s reunion. Bummer.”

“You’re mocking me. I don’t like that. I so don't like that, that I’m going to leave you all alone and I’m going to spend the night with Emily because at least she is nice with me.”

It didn’t last long before Ethan came back and slipped under the covers, hugging his wife from behind.

“Does our daughter already kicked you out?”

“She is fast asleep. So now, I can keep on annoying my wife. My beautiful and smart and perfect wife that I love so much.”

“You’ll love me less when I’ll ask you to stop trying to go for the fastest lap.”

“I would never. I’ll never stop pushing if it means I come back to you and Emily faster. You’re both my favorite checkered flag.”

Author's note: And with that, it's officially the end of Gold Rush. Thank you so much for reading this story and allowing Julia and Ethan to be a part of your life.

Don't hesitate to leave a comment or an ask, as well as reblogging and leaving a like. Besides the fact that I absolutely love to read you, it helps a lot for the story to find its audience. I also have a taglist for this story, so if you want to be added so you never miss a chapter, let me know.

Taglist:

@herondalism @aundercover @musingsbyshreya @karmabyfernando @reengard @mycenterfold @smoooothoperator

#writing #fiction #charles leclerc #f1 fanfic #f1 fic #f1 x oc #charles leclerc fanfic #max verstappen fanfic #max verstappen

14 notes · View notes

ctitan98official · 3 months

Text

Donna Beneviento long lost child au part 3

Alright, mama Donna for the win! Let’s get into it!

You moved into Beneviento Manor (With what little possessions you owned) after you had a chance to meet your mama.

She was so excited. Her dark eyes glittered with joy as you two walked hand-in-hand from Mother Miranda’s house to hers.

You were incredibly surprised to find that her home was FULL of dolls! Not just any dolls either… These things moved… And one, named Angie, even talked! She was a bit sassy, but you liked her style. She’s your new best friend.

Donna explained that she had undergone a procedure (That Mother Miranda performed apparently??). She had received something called a cadou that she implanted some of the dolls with to make them come alive.

You were… Very confused, but Donna acted like it was the most normal thing in the world. You would need to have a chat with Miranda about this later. You still didn’t quite understand.

Donna’s cooking… Holy shit. It’s the best food you’ve ever had. You beg her to teach you some of her recipes.

“I’d have it no other way, cara mia.” She tells you and kisses your cheek. She’s sweet.

Donna is very affectionate. Sometimes, if she sees you walk past the room she’s currently in as she reads or creates, she immediately drags you somewhere to cuddle with her. It’s so nice. You had been missing this your entire life. Her voice is so soothing. You pretty much always fall asleep if she’s running her hands through your hair and speaking to you at the same time.

Donna enjoys learning what you like. Movies, music, art, hobbies, etc. She could listen to you talk about all of the the things that interest you forever. She loves getting to know you.

Donna also shares things with you that she loves. She shows you her workshop and lets you watch as she crafts her dolls. She’s… Amazing. Her talent and imagination blow your mind. Of course, she makes you a little doll of your very own shortly after you arrive. You love it so much.

You’ve noticed that Donna only wears her veil around other people. She doesn’t wear it when it’s just you and the dolls. It makes you happy that she trusts you.

——————————————————————————

One day, you’re curious to learn more about your other parent, Lucien, and finally work up the nerve to ask Donna about them. You don’t want to upset her by making her remember how tragically they passed away, but you can’t help but wonder what they were like. “Hey… Mama? Can I ask you something?” You ask Donna as you both sit down for breakfast.

Donna can see how nervous you are. “Anything, sweetheart.” She encourages and places her hand on top of yours.

“Um… Well, it’s about… Lucien?” You finally say.

Donna gives you a sympathetic smile. “You’d like to know more about them?” She ventures.

You nod your head and look away, feeling a bit guilty.

“Y/N, they’re your other parent, tesoro. You don’t need to feel bad about asking me about them. I’ll tell you anything you’d like to know. Okay?” She says and reaches out to cup your cheek.

You blush, feeling a bit embarrassed, but nod.

Donna recounts funny stories and heartfelt moments she had with Lucien. She’s such a natural storyteller. You are completely transported by her words. From what Donna says, it seems that you are a lot like Lucien…

As Donna finishes one particular story, a look of recognition sparks across her features. “You know… I bet the pictures I have of the two of us together are in the attic. I haven’t been up there in years, though…” She says, putting her hand to her chin in thought.

You perk up at this. “I can go look!” You offer.

Donna giggles at your exuberance. “Only if you promise to be very careful and take Angie with you. That attic is quite old, but Angie knows the basic layout of it.” She tells you.

You grin at her and agree to her conditions.

Angie cackles happily as you both race up the stairs.

“Look at all this cool shit!” Angie exclaims after you two climb the ladder into the attic and you shine a flashlight into the dark.

You whistle at all the dust before you start to cough and sneeze a lot. “Damn, this place is filthy!” You say as you look around.

As you explore, Angie starts to get spooked. “Um… Y/N? This place is kinda creepy.” She says as she clings to your side.

“Don’t be a scaredy-cat, Angie. There’s nothing up here to be afraid of.” You say… And then a big-ass spider descends and lands on your nose. All hell breaks loose. “YAHHHH!” You screech, violently batting your face to get the spider off.

Angie starts panicking and running around in circles.

In your alarm, you accidentally trip over Angie and fall right through a weak spot in the rafters.

Poor Donna was happily sipping her tea in the kitchen and reading a book when the horrible sound of you falling through the attic hits her ears… She might have said a few cuss words in Italian she’s not proud of too.

Donna rushes up to see you lying face down in dust and debris with Angie sprawled out over your head.

“Tesoro! Are you alright?!” Donna yelps and kneels down to check you over.

You groan, sore but otherwise unharmed.

However, Angie is laughing her ass off. “That was fucking radical!” She shrieks.

Donna gives Angie a dirty look and the doll’s mouth snaps shut.

“What happened, sweetheart?” Donna asks and helps you sit up while dusting you off.

“Oh, you know, just old boards I guess.” You try to say nonchalantly, scratching the back of your head.

Donna doesn’t look convinced so she turns to Angie and raises an eyebrow expectantly.

“Y/N saw a spider and lost it.” Angie shrugs her shoulders and tattles.

“Snitches get stitches, Angie!” You threaten. “Wait… You might like stitches since you’re a doll… Okay, what about: Snitches get-!”

“That’s enough, Y/N.” Donna says, tiredly rubbing her eyes.

Luckily, there wasn’t a lot of structural damage from the fall. You clean up the mess and you’re able to replace the flooring fairly easily… You made Donna send a few dolls up to the attic to make sure there weren’t any more spiders first, though.

After that fiasco is over with, it turns out that the photos Donna thought were in the attic were actually in a chest in one of the unused bedrooms in the house.

Donna gives you a sheepish look as she tells you about her realization. All that messing around in the attic for nothing, it seems.

You just laugh really hard which makes her chuckle too.

Donna happily sits down with you to look through the old photographs.

Suddenly, she gasps. “This is Lucien and I on our wedding day, Y/N.” She says, bringing her hand to her mouth in shock. She didn’t recognize this particular picture, so someone must have taken it and given it to her parents or something.

“Wow…” You say as you finally see what your other parent looks like. “No wonder I’m so good looking. My parents are basically movie stars!” You joke and wrap your arm around Donna.

Donna smiles at you and puts the framed photo in your hand. “I’d like you to have this, tesoro. You deserve to be able to look at it whenever you want to.” She says and kisses your cheek. “Plus… You’re also technically in this photo.” She giggles and points to her swollen belly in the picture, making you laugh.

You two find lots of handwritten letters from Lucien and little presents and trinkets they’d given to Donna.

Donna felt guilty for keeping these items hidden away, but… She had been so devastated when Lucien died. When she was forced to move back into Beneviento Manor, she was afraid to take things out that she thought might remind her of them. Now that you’re here, Donna feels like she can begin to truly process her grief and move forward.

Losing her soulmate was hard enough, but losing her precious child too? It had been too much trauma for her to work through on her own.

Everything will be okay now, though. You and Donna have each other (And the dolls). You love your mama so much and she absolutely adores you.

Now… If only Donna would introduce you to that cute Elena girl…

Note: That part about Y/N falling through the attic may or may not have happened to me XD I love the tragedy and sweetness of this au T^T

Masterlist

#donna beneviento #re8 #re8 village #donna beneviento x reader #donna beneviento x y/n #angie beneviento #resident evil village #resident evil imagines #resident evil 8 #resident evil #re8 incorrect quotes #re8 shitpost #y/n is stupid

17 notes · View notes

herrlindemann · 1 year

Photo

LEGACY - October 2005, Interview with Oliver

'Rosenrot' is the name of RAMMSTEIN's latest work, which will be released exactly four days after this issue of Legacy on October 28th. A top placement in the charts shouldn't be taken away from this album. Everything the band has touched has turned to proverbial gold. Where is it going, the motor ship RAMMSTEIN, in 2005? The predecessor 'Reise, Reise' was just under a year ago and questions were allowed to be asked.

After the music journalists present were allowed to listen to the album twice in the morning, everyone later turned up for their interview. I met bassist Oliver Riedel for an intimate meeting in private. I hope I do not disturb you? “No, everything is fine.” Already a year ago I heard - at least that's what I think - one or the other song here, which didn't make it on 'Reise, Reise' at the time. The most urgent question first: How much of 'Rosenrot' was there at the time 'Reise, Reise'? “For 'Reise, Reise' we recorded 18 songs. A total of seven songs remained, and we quickly came up with the idea of making another album next year. But seven songs is a little bit for an album! In any case, the tour plan was already in place at that time and so the idea came up that we could write four more songs in the intervening, counter-free time. It ended up being quite difficult. Really new are 'Benzin', 'Mann gegen Mann', 'Spring' and 'Te Quiero Puta'.” Oh, the Spanish song is new? I thought this one in particular was left over from the last recordings in Spain. “No, that has to do with Till's interest in Latin America. He's in Costa Rica a lot and always annoys us backstage before the concerts with his Mariachi songs. Of course, it made sense that we would also write a Spanish song at some point.” Especially in this song I find the female singing successful. This is how witches should sound! “We said to the record company: We need a deep and smoky female voice. A bit 'slutty'. Suddenly a lady from South America was sitting in our producer's studio, singing her part and then she was gone again.”

All of the songs on 'Rosenrot' seem to take a step back compared to those on the predecessor. “Most of the songs that we don't release on 'Reise, Reise' are definitely quieter ones. ‘Reise, Reise’ had to be powerful for us! The idea then was to make the new album quieter overall.” Is it the calm before the storm? Is the MS RAMMSTEIN stranded, as one might assume from the new cover, or is she on her way to new shores under full steam? “Actually, the album should be called 'Reise, Reise Vol. 2'. We quickly forgot about that title. Since we see the new album as an independent one, we needed a new title. That was a bit unfortunate, since the cover was already finished. So the ship on the cover picture is now called 'Rosenrot' and everyone can think about what it stands for. Opposites? The cold world? Where has the love gone? No idea. But the ship does not symbolize the now and us as a band.” So on the one hand both albums belong together, on the other hand they don't? "Exactly. At the moment we are not planning an actual tour with our own stage design for 'Rosenrot' or anything like that. That will certainly change again in the distant future.”

Already with the last album I noticed that everyone can now show what a good musician they are. In addition, the band itself seems more relaxed to me. “In the end we were bored at times by the old and traditional Rammstein sound. Sequencer is running, drums play 'uff uff uff', guitar and bass play the same thing too. We didn't want to do that kind of groove anymore. It is also clear that the drums are looking for new rhythms. Our real strength is certainly the 'march', but you should always do what you feel like doing. Then you are authentic.” But you obviously have more fun together than when you were doing 'Mutter’, right? “Absolutely! 'Mutter’ was our darkest chapter. After a long time of touring we were at our limits, there was a real imbalance in the band. For example, it's nice now that Richard can make his solo record. There he can express himself musically in a way that he would never be able to within the band.” Was the band ever near the end? “No, it was only briefly put on hold. However, we quickly became aware of what we had already achieved and how the band can be missed.” Like in a marriage? "Somehow. But in a marriage, it's rare to just take a break. The positions are probably a bit harder.” How often do you bother? “If the points of contact allow it. Paul and I have children of the same age - that's where you meet. During rehearsals we see each other every day, on tour sometimes only in the evening and Richard is in New York right now — that's why you don't see him at the moment.” So more like a meeting in the living room. You come and go and if someone is there, then you are happy. "Exactly.”

'Benzin', the first single with a brutal video, fits like a glove to the current oil crisis. But it could also be a biker song. What does ‘benzin’ stand for exactly? “This is certainly a multiple topic. But fire is actually a part of our band history. It has been with us the whole time. Paul just went to Till and said 'petrol' would be a cool word. Can't you write a text about it? And that's exactly what Till came up with when he heard this word.”

'Mann Gegen Mann’ apparently has a same-sex background. It should be great when thousands of metalheads sing this song together at concerts. Because actually, in the metal scene in particular, prejudices are extensively cultivated. So why this topic? Is it just about the taboo or breaking it? “We don't want to discriminate against gays. The song is more for gays. We simply wanted to take the weight off the topic and make it more natural.” What should the fan take away from this song? “A normal understanding of the other.”

For example, the lyrics to 'Ein Lied' would force me to write a proper rock number. Then this piece turned out to be extremely quiet, with a nasty kid melody. How did music and lyrics come together here? “The lyrics are always hanging on the wall in the rehearsal room or studio and 'Ein Lied' was created in just 10 minutes. There was the riff, Till took the lyrics and sang. We recorded the piece and it was done. The text of 'Mann gegen Mann', on the other hand, already existed in the ‘Mutter’ times, for example.”

I could already read it in advance: the Brothers Grimm and Goethe connect in 'Rosenrot'. For me actually - as far as RAMMSTEIN is concerned - it is somehow obvious. “The news naturally wants to give us a level or a depth that we don't actually flirt with. Till has always used this old and romantic form of verse. That's why he doesn't just deal with the Brothers Grimm or Goethe all the time.” Are Till's texts untouchable? “Nothing is untouchable. If someone in our company spends a long time grappling with an issue, they are of course anxious to push it through. But it can also lead to tunnel vision and we only try to correct that a little. A lot of people had to listen to that.”

'Spring' not only has a wall of guitars, but also lyrics dealing with the topic ‘boss’ or 'the mean mob'. Is there a connection to the band? Is the song a criticism of the mob who are on the prowl and treating others unfairly? That's how RAMMSTEIN went before. "Clearly. The mob creates its own creature. He wants to push you in a direction. Therefore you are right.” Looking back, let's take the discussion about your first cover. “We hadn't dealt with this topic before. We were naive. Of course, that was good for us in the end. Otherwise our own aesthetics might not have come about at all. The discussions about Rammstein have never hit the core, but only aimed at the surface.”

'Rosenrot' masterfully knows how to damage surfaces and perhaps also penetrate deeper to the core. The ice has broken and the MS RAMMSTEIN is picking up speed again. Let's wait and see what kind of waters the men will sail into in the future. Perhaps sails will be set, perhaps there will be kerosene propulsion. You can be curious, because this band always causes discussions between love and hate. Where would the (music) world be today without RAMMSTEIN?

#Rammstein #Oliver Riedel #Till Lindemann #Paul Landers #Flake Lorenz #Christoph Schneider #Richard Kruspe #interview #translation #2005 #*scans #*

66 notes · View notes

snjeguljicaaa · 8 months

Note

I didn't mean to make you sad. For that I do apologize. In this day and age I don't think many lovers give genuine appreciation to one another like they should.

There is a part of me that stayed involved with music. When I was a young boy I played the flute and clarinet, my mother kept telling me I had the perfect hands of a pianist. I didn't have the attention span and it didn't help that the others had made fun of me for my choice in musical instruments. It was also hard for me to understand the notes or to focus on the teaching.

Listening to the things you have posted makes me smile, seeing the pictures you post makes me blush and it all takes me back to what could have been without it being bittersweet.

I just think about the "young men" around your age and shake my head, realizing they will be kicking themselves later in life. If we are honest, most of them don't realize there is more to a woman than... Well you know.

I agree with you. I think that physical predispositions are very important in playing instrument. it is also not the same to play a single line (most often a melodic one, which is, for example, a clarinet/flute) or an instrument that is both melodic and harmonic at the same time-piano/guitar/harp). but flute and clarinet are definetly a great combination haha aand we have something in common because I also played the clarinet for years. :D

thank you again for the kind words. And to be more honest, I'm not sure if even older men can see further.. (maybe im wrong) but that's how it is..

7 notes · View notes

modernmanblues · 4 months

Note

Happy New Year to you!! ✨ Here’s to another year of loving our favorite hot men from the 70s and 80s lol. Speaking of hot men, I have listened to some of 10cc’s music and so far the songs I really like The Film of My Love, Speed Kills, and Headline Hustler. Their sound mostly reminds me of The Rolling Stones and The Who but they still manage bring new stuff to the table I think. I actually think the singer sounds a lot like Ringo Starr’s singing voice but that may just be me. So I read their bio on Spotify, too. So that Graham guy is quite the songwriter and wrote for other bands like The Yardbirds and The Hollies? I thought that was cool. By the way, I find Graham pretty attractive, too. Looks like they had one or two songs that became hits in America but that’s about it. From my understanding, being successful in America was like the holy grail for uk bands at this time. It they achieved that goal, they were on a very good track. When The Kinks got banned in the US, that seemed to hurt them a lot. Sadly for 10cc they didn’t stay popular in the US for long. But still, seven years is not bad at all. I know of bands that had much shorter life spans. It looks like they had a good run regardless. By the way, I’m curious about how you discovered them! Also, I’ve actually reblogged from you before the Secret Santa game! It was a post with two black and white pictures of Ray Davies. He’s just so..😍 I couldn’t resist. Anyways, talk to you later!

hello, dear. and a happy new year to you!! ✨

everything alright with your new year so far? and hey, here’s to another year of us loving these sensational 60s/70s men. they just don’t make them like they used to, do they?

while i may ogle at other 70s guys here and there, i cannot deny just how insufferable i am about that Eric Stewart. he is just..*chefs kiss* bellissimo!! the cherry on top. the icing on the cake. an absolute adonis. he just does it for me. no one like him really. and given that his birthday is on January 20th, and he is my soulmate sign aquarius, the gemini in me can’t help but make such a big fuss him around this time of year. a beautiful man, that Eric. i love him with all my heart.

Eric does have a Ringo way about him, doesn’t he? he is after all from Manchester, just across from The Beatles’ neck of the woods Liverpool. i really do feel like guys from Manchester and Liverpool have a certain charm about them that’s just so captivating, i can’t quite put my finger on it. anyway, i think part of the reason why i’m so attached to Eric is the fact that i feel like he is all four Beatles combined. he possesses Paul’s charming and cuddly persona, John’s wit and sensitive attitude, George’s humbleness and Ringo’s happy go lucky mindset. he is the entire package, what more could a girl want?

oh and don’t get me started on Graham. he is so charming, even in real life. i’ve seen him a couple times in concert and my goodness, he really has kept up his good looks all these years. good on him. what a talented fella too! after all, he did get his start on music arranging songs for those early British Invasion bands you mentioned. i think it’s brilliant, all the work he’s done.

it is such a pity that 10cc never made it in America. i’m sorry to say it but i blame it on the recording company they were signed into, who basically ended up gouging the poor boys for their money and did little to promote them in America. it has been said that they could’ve been much bigger, and be talked and raved about in the same way as The Beatles or Pink Floyd. but the management was the culprit for their demise. so sad, really but either way they were and still are such a brilliant little band.

and i am so happy you like all those 10cc tracks you mentioned, as they are my personal favourites as well! i recommend giving their Sheet Music and Deceptive Bends album a listen when you can. they won’t disappoint!

and my oh my, that Ray Davies..he turns heads doesn’t he? another beautiful guy along with his brother, David. as of recent though, i’ve been crushing heavily on Dave. i love how cheeky he is. little bugger, that one.

well it was really nice hearing from you again, darling. all the best to you in the new year. feel free to stop in anytime, always love chatting xx

#veryfancydoilies

4 notes · View notes

hairasuntouchedaspartoftheamazon · 1 year

Note

i listen to a bit of mcr but i was not aware there were characters?? and a plot? and it sounds intriguing 👀

I am not the best person to ask about this as I only started really getting into the lore about three weeks ago, also I'm really only familiar with the Danger Days/Killjoys lore and stories, I'm vaguely aware that there's some level of lore for the other albums and performances because MCR are nerds like that. but if you want Danger Days lore, lore you shall receive. Below the cut because this is allowing me to ramble about my current hyperfixation:

@ryebreadlord this is also for u bestie

Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys is MCR's fourth and as of yet final studio album released in 2010. it's also a concept album, set in the distant year of 2019 in the irradiated nuclear desert of Southern California where Better Living Industries (BLind) has built up a fascist and repressive regime in Battery City. (If Battery City is supposed to be a particular city in California I'm not aware). There's a lot of lore that was explained both through the two music videos for the album(which I'll get to later), the band commentary, and Gerard Way's later comic book series that explores the world.

The album was hugely controversial among fans when it came out because it's a STARK departure from MCRs previous albums and sound. Where many had previously dubbed them "emo" "vampiric", etc. this album came out and said "no, we're fucking pop punk and we're going to kill you with color". For this reason among others it is my favorite.

Lore-wise, there's a lot of content but not a lot of info as to how it all fits together. The main points are thus:

SETTING

-There's Battery City(Batt City), controlled by BLind through a combination of propaganda, military force, and heavily drugging the populace with 'voluntary' medications that can fix anything. Things BLind thinks need to be fixed include emotions, personal expression, and anything that is non-conforming. Citizens wear white, are incapable of showing strong emotion (or any emotions at all), and essentially work as wage slaves to BLind to create their entertainment, propaganda, supplies, and medications. City mottos include ‘keep smiling’ and ‘we can fix you’ and ‘the aftermath is secondary’. When citizens show deviation from the expected norm, they are either given more medications and ‘re-educated’ (implied to be brainwashing/torture techniques that erodes people’s personalities and emotions) or turned into Draculoids.There's a Chairwoman who rules over it all, with the police force being separated into two parts. There's the Draculoids (Dracs), which are bodies who, yes, wear vampire masks that control their brains and put them under control of higher ups in Battery City and the Scarecrows. I say bodies because afaik Batt City can reanimate dead bodies with the use of the masks, and also if a living person has one of the Drac masks put on they will lose their free will and operate as a Drac. Now Scarecrows (Crows) are experienced fighters who typically lead squadrons of Dracs. Scarecrows have their free will, but are utterly in service to BLind, spending most of their time in a sleep stasis and awoken when deemed necessary by the Chairwoman/BLind officials. They're fucking terrifying and if one is after you, you're in deep shit. Scarecrows, afaik are also called Exterminators. Where Dracs are mindless muscle (picture Stormtroopers but in bad prom suits and vampire masks), Crows are the brains. They usually have specific missions and targets. Weapons used include laser guns and rifles. They also have trucks and motorcycles, all painted white.

-There's the desert, which is irradiated and fairly inhospitable after the vaguely referenced "Analog Wars" and "Helium Wars"(may be the same thing with different names or two different series of wars). The place is split into (depending on who you ask) 6-8 Zones, (Zone 1 being the area directly surrounding Batt City, and the rest being arranged around it. No, they are not in concentric rings.) The Zones are connected by a variety of roads in disrepair, with one of the biggest and best maintained being Route Guano(also referred to as the Getaway Mile). Crows regularly lead patrols of Dracs around the Zones. The inhabitants of the Zones fall into two groups, the Neutrals and the Killjoys. Neutrals do not care about the politics/policies of Batt City, they just wanna be left alone to live their lives. Neutrals typically dress sensibly for the desert and move out fast when they hear trouble is on the way. It's left unclear whether these are people who were living in the area before everything went to shit or if they're wanderers from outside the Zone or if they're refugees from Batt City. The comics and fanon imply that they have semi-permanent settlements throughout the desert. and finally, what you've been waiting for, there's the Killjoys.

-Killjoys are comprised both of people who've never lived in the City, and those who escaped the City somehow. (there's a lot to say about that, I'll get to it). The Killjoys have two missions: to live fucking fabulously and to take down BLind. They dress impractically and colorfully and uniquely, steal weaponry and supplies from BLind and co-opt it for their own use, and regularly fight against Dracs and Crows for both survival and fun. Killjoys run in crews of 3-10 (but sterotypically 4) people and typically have hideouts/homes throughout the Zones. They're very good at scavenging, and make most of their living by stealing from BLind, scavenging old gas stations and other buildings still left standing, and (for the sake of my trained city planner heart) probably doing small amounts of gardening when they stay in one place long enough. (I include that point because I understand that 80% of the shit in this album is fun set dressing but the part of me that is a TRAINED ENGINEER(@ryebreadlord understands) knows that like you can't support a society on scavenging like that they have to be producing SOME of their own supplies. I've seen a few fics deal with the realities of a society like this really well and it heals my heart. moving on) Weapons used include stolen laser guns that are painted obnoxious colors, various self-made bombs, fucking bazookas, and a lot of being obnoxious and willing to fight dirty. They have a combination of old cars/vehicles from pre-Batt City (the titular Fabulous Killjoys drive a 1979 Trans Am, no it doesn't make logical sense pls roll with it), and vehicles stolen from BLind and souped up/painted. Killjoys do live fabulously, not only being dangerous rebels in awesome outfits but also holding concerts, creating zines, and basically being an explosion of artistic creativity as a huge fuck you to BLind. They are not a unified fighting force, just many groups of people with similar goals and attitudes. Can work together though.

This is where we pause and I ask you to go watch the NA NA NA music video with this new context, and also because it's a good intro to our main characters.

CHARACTERS

There are a bunch of named characters(mostly throughout the comics), but as someone who has only partially read the comics, I'm gonna focus on the ones that are explicitly present in the events of the album/music videos. also, heads up, Killjoys choose names for themselves that sound cool/dangerous/fun. if you liked this album when you were 15 you probably picked a killjoy name for yourself.(I did) The Fabulous Four are the characters that MCR play in-universe, one crew of Killjoys among presumably many.

-Party Poison: Played by Gerard Way, generally assumed to be the leader of the Fabulous Four. Distinctive for their bright red hair, bright yellow domino mask, and bright blue jacket. Generally the driver of the Trans Am. Confirmed non-binary.

-Jet Star: Played by Ray Toro, generally assumed to be the sharpshooter/medic of the Fab Four(based on a bit of info from the comics and music videos, this is likely more fanon than anything but I like it). Distinctive for his long curly hair, spaceman helmet with a lightning bolt on it, and black leather jacket with the American flag covered by a spider(as seen on the Danger Days album cover). Over the course of the album events, he gains an eyepatch over his right eye as a result of a fight with BLind. Previously wore black sunglasses.

-Kobra Kid: Played by Mikey Way, generally assumed to be the close quarters/heavy hitting fighter of the Fab Four. Distinctive for his bleach blond hair, red leather jacket, and motorcycle helmet with 'GOOD LUCK' written on the visor. Because of band interviews we have learned that not only is he British(???), but he also knows karate and rides a motorcycle. (This is your periodic reminder that MCR is comprised entirely of weird nerds).

-Fun Ghoul: Played by Frank Iero, generally assumed to be the detonator of the Fab Four a.k.a. the one creating and setting off bombs. Distinctive for his black dyed hair, bright yellow shirt, Frankenstein mask, and (for some reason) unanimously fanon-adopted Chelsea smile. (genuinely no idea where this came from but I'm not opposed to it). Funnily enough, the only one of the Fab Four not mentioned by name anywhere in the album.

-The Girl: Played by Grace Jeanette, her story is not explored directly in the course of the album but she is the main character of the later Killjoy comics. No she does not have a real name, partially because she is (via comics lore) basically the messiah who with her electricity manipulation powers is fated to someday bring down Batt City. Generally assumed to be under the protection of the Fabulous Four. Distinctive for being a) the only eight?(her age is inconsistent throughout the lore) year old girl in a group full of teenage/twenties rebels and b) her blue puffy vest and gray helmet with a STOP sign on it. (this is also where I state that we're not sure of the Killjoys canon age. could vary from teenagers to early thirties based on MCRs age when filming. fanon goes in different directions for this.) point being, the Girl is one of the few characters we got a canon age for.

-Dr. Death Defying: Played by Steven Montano, the radio DJ speaking during the 'Look Alive Sunshine' and 'Jet Star and the Kobra Kid/Traffic Report' tracks. Dr. D is a radio host that disseminates information among the scattered Killjoys, tipping them off to danger and possible supplies, as well as playing some kickass tunes to keep the revolutionary spirit pumping. Travels in a wheelchair due to injuries sustained during the Analog Wars. Distinctive for his long hair and headband as well as probably never leaving the radio station.

-Korse: Played by Grant Morrison, the head hitman of BLind's Scarecrow division. Leads squads of Dracs into the desert in pursuit of Killjoys to kill or 're-educate' in Batt City. Distinctive for his frilly vampire shirt, gray trench coat, and baldness. Pursues the Fab Four on a regular basis, both because he hates them and because Batt City wants the threat the Girl poses to be eliminated.

Named characters from the comics that I’m aware of include fellow Killjoys Show Pony and Cherri Cola, DJ Hot Chimp, salesman Tommy Chow Mein, and the fictional band Mad Gear and the Missile Kid. Also every fic writer out there has created Killjoy OCs. It’s lovely.

PLOT

The two songs that have music videos and therefore are technically the only ones with plot are 'NA NA NA' and 'SING'. (Fun fact, on YouTube, the teasers of the characters released before the album in Nov. 2010 have one of those two songs playing in the background). The rest of the songs tie into the themes/ideas of the album and the surrounding world (Bulletproof Heart, Save Yourself I'll Hold Them Back) or explore various facets of the world (S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W/, DESTROYA). The exception is 'Jet Star and the Kobra Kid/Traffic Report', which is practically a timestamp for the universe and takes the form of Dr. D giving announcemnts over the radio. They're very much set in the Killjoys universe, and there's been a LOT of good meta written about this. I’m probably gonna make another entire post on that.

But to the point.

NA NA NA sets us up with the Fab Four living out of their base, which is an old diner/motel, hanging out with The Girl, and periodically getting into kickass firefights as they rebel against BLind in various ways. However, by the end of the video, a fight lead by Korse goes badly, resulting in all the Fab Four being incapacitated and The Girl being kidnapped by Korse. It’s in this fight that Jet Star loses/seriously damages his right eye and Fun Ghoul (probably) gets his Chelsea smile. The Girl is taken into Batt City, presumably to be studied/brainwashed. Remember, Batt City is aware of her abilities and obviously never wants her to take them down.

The SING music video opens up with the Fab Four storming BLind so they can get The Girl back. The entire video is a rescue mission and SPOILERS AHEAD the entirety of the Fab Four die by the end of it. Yes, you heard me right, the Killjoys die three songs into the album, protecting the Girl as other Killjoys (Dr. D, Show Pony, and probably Cherri Cola) get her out of Batt City. (This is where I take a brief pause to say that the song Save Yourself I’ll Hold Them Back actually fits the plot of this video so much better but that is probably part of the point, I am going to make a post about this later). The video is high key depressing, as you can see in the Fab Four’s faces that they know they aren’t going to make it out of this fight alive. And they don’t, but the Girl is saved from the control of the Chairwoman and makes it out of Batt City.

And then this is where shit gets weird.

‘Jet Star and the Kobra Kid/Traffic Report’ is a track about halfway through the album that takes the form of Dr. D updating Killjoys on the state of the Zones. In this update, he states that Jet Star and the Kobra Kid have gotten in a fight with an Exterminator and gotten killed. “But Seb!” you might be saying right about now, “How can Jet and Kobra die two songs after the entirety of the Fab Four have already died in SING?”

The answer is I don’t fucking know. What we do know is that Danger Days as an album is non-chronological, and does not form a complete story. Like folk songs, some events are immortalized, but the tracks do not form an entire narrative, mostly just giving us glimpses into the world, introducing our heroes, and detailing two or three events that would be important to the Killjoys in this world, i.e. The Girl being kidnapped and later rescued, as well as the deaths of the Fab Four. So it makes sense that contradictions exist. In the real world, when folk stories are being told (and yes Danger Days functions as a folk album in-universe, FIGHT ME ON IT) things get mixed up and only the really important bits are consistent.

My personal theory, one very similar to some popular fanon theories and that somewhat lines up with comics lore, is that after their deaths in SING, the Fab Four became the faces of a revolution/movement against BLind. For all the anarchist/punk spirit of the Fab Four, you’ll notice that none of their activities in the music videos are coordinated at all. Like, they don’t have grand plots to take down BLind, they’re just trying to survive and inconvenience the pigs where they can. The rescue mission for the Girl is laughably simplistic, they literally just blast their way in and out again. They weren’t rescuing her as a ‘fuck you’ to BLind, it’s a very personal rescue mission for someone they care about.

So they probably weren’t very important while alive, but after their deaths their actions became legendary and more stories got told about them, with events changing from telling to telling. Thus multiple deaths, weird inconsistencies, and non-chronological storytelling. So yeah, the lore breaks down a lot, but that’s the main plot points of the album. I’m not fully going to get into comics lore here, because again, I haven’t finished them!

ASSORTED LORE

This is where I link to my Killjoys bible, a.k.a. a very nice list of all the slang terms/assorted bits of lore from this universe. I've gone over some of it but if you want more, here it is. Some of this is fanon, other bits are straight from the comics or album.

also here's a link to the Killjoy comics, which I haven't finished yet.

That’s all I got for right now, at least in terms of what is mostly canon. There’s a LOT of really good fanon and meta out there, which I definitely wanna expand on at a later date, but hopefully this is a good launching point into the world of the Killjoys.

Keep your boots on, keep your gun ready, and die with your mask on if you’ve gotta. This has been the traffic.

-Seb

#Sebastian speaks #Sebastian loves MCR #i may have gone overboard here #NO REGRETS #danger days the true lives of the Fabulous Killjoys #danger days #MCR #party poison #jet Star #Kobra Kid #fun ghoul

26 notes · View notes