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#there's even one in my area! billy talent have also been there before!
arsonist-chicken · 2 years
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Knock knock, don't mind me, just asking how the festival went! Did you have fun? Did you end up watching that scary band after all? Did you make it home safely? The audience (me) wants to know everything!
Definitely not asking this because I miss you, shush, what are you even talking about?
It took a few weeks, but here's the Nova Rock report for you! ✨🦝🌈 it's only 4400 words, have fun.
Huh, I didn’t go 🥺🥺😭💖💗 over "I missed you" and the withdrawal symptoms you mentioned on discord, haha no, what?
The most important things first: I did have so much fun; I did watch the not-actually-scary band, and we did make it home safely and even without any delays (well except the one who had to travel to NRW with the DB but well) with only a weird little sunburn on my back from my shirt with cut-outs at the back.
We took the night train, so I went to the train station, thought "why are there always such weird people here at midnight", then remembered I was sitting there in my pyjamas with my hair still smelling of the fresh hair dye. I read your new chapter, had to stop myself from screaming, asked my sister + friend (NOT the random lady there) what they thought about the blind cat, we found a little ladybug in our compartment who then continued being in our tent, at the camp side, on the train home, and in my room back at home again. He’s actually flying around my lamp right now (well he was when I started writing this, he’s since left for the outsides).
We went with a whole bunch of people (like.. 20? My friend’s brother and his friends and friends of friends, you know), met two VERY annoying drunk Bregenzerwälder with their Hölzler shoes (who the FUCK wears those shoes to a festival??) and luckily lost them again, but everyone who was with us was really cool and chill to hang out with.
They had to cancel the first few bands because of the deep mud the rain had turned the stage areas into, but nothing I wanted to see luckily (although, go listen to Gloryhammer’s “Fly Away”, very fun), so I just sat there at the camping ground with my phone trying to listen to my zoom class (because of course the one lesson the whole semester I really wanted to be at was that week, but well, at least online); and after we went to a band I didn’t know before but someone said they were good, and they were (Coffeshop Company)! Which is something I really like about festivals, you can just go hang out by the stages for a bit to listen to new bands and see them on stage and if you don’t like them, you can just move along to another stage or sit with others by your tents. AND AND AND!! Oh yeah, we saw Evanescence for a bit, they’re okay. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY. I had been trying to see Rise Against live since I was 14, so 10. Years. now, and now I finally did see them!! And they were everything I expected! They were so energetic and they joked around a bit and the singer pointed out a few signs, and their energy and everything was so good! And their songs are fucking amazing live, they’re SO GOOD. Everyone and their grandmother always insisted on telling me how bad their sound was live, and now I got to judge for myself finally, and they were so GOOD!
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BRING ME THE HORIZON BRING ME THE HORIZON BRING ME THE HORIZON! Friday was BMTH day! It was still muddy as hell, like my sister went to the toilets and came back with her whole boots covered up above the ankle in mud, but the organisers really came through and covered the entire stage area with what I learned is called Holzschnitzel (wood chips), so no problems there anymore. We went to see Battle Beast, which – wow, the singer’s voice is unbelievable! She has such power in her voice! We also had some food, my sister dropped a perfectly fine mozzarella stick into the mud (highly relevant info), and my friend and me went to see Maneskin. I wasn’t that excited for them anymore because I don’t like their new music very much, but I thought I’d go see them for a bit, and well – they have amazing stage presence! They just come out and start off right off the bat with such power and energy, I can really see how they pull new audiences in at festivals! The ... guitarist? Bassist? I’m not sure which one the woman plays and I can’t tell the difference anyway, but she had some, uuuh, trouble with her outfit, in that she had a bit of tape on her chest and otherwise a net shirt that kept riding down to her stomach and some tech guy or the singer had to keep pulling back up for her. She also had HIGH heels which I don’t understand how she didn’t fall even once, running around in that, good for her. The singer once almost hit someone with a bottle or something and said, “Sorry if I hit you, my brother, my sister, whatever you are”, which 🌈🌈🌈 They’re, well... I could do with less sexual stuff but it’s their show. It was funny though how within 20 minutes, three of them were wearing almost nothing on top, except the guitarist (?) with his full long-sleeved cowboy outfit and cowboy hat.
We left a bit early and still watched the rest of Skillet 😊 had a snack on the floor while Korn was playing (they’re not bad actually), and then went into the first... like the areas in front of the stage are divided right? We went into the front section for Heilung. Because BMTH was playing right after them and we really wanted to be towards the front for them because well. Bring Me The Horizon 💖 which meant I had to stand there and suffer through 75 minutes of a god-awful boring weird band. They’re… you know, I already talked about them in the blind cat post, I’ll keep it short here: I thought they’d be creepy from seeing their music videos, especially with the red-blinking windmills in the background, but turns out, you can’t scare or creep me out if you just bore the hell out of me first. Their music is so slow it makes me want to scratch my skin off to feel something, they don’t interact with the audience at all, and you can’t understand their lyrics because they sing in I don’t know how many languages, half of them dead. On top of being boring as fuck, they’re also weird as hell, using instruments made of [redacted] and having very unpleasant to watch parts in their show that I don’t think they should be allowed to just act out like that at a festival that allows 8-year-olds in. Yes, the parents are responsible, but like I said – at a festival, you also just randomly walk around the stage area and see what happens even if you’re just passing by to a different area. Actually even forgetting about minors, I’m 24 and I didn’t like seeing that. Anyway, they’re boring, they’re weird and pretentious, don’t listen to them, @ Nova don’t book them again jesus christ.
ANYWAY. FRIDAY WAS BRING ME THE HORIZON DAY. Aka the absolute highlight. They came on stage, you could see how HAPPY they were to be there, they started out with “Can You Feel My Heart”, they’re happy, I’m happy, I feel nothing but joy FINALLY hearing them again after having been rescheduled three or so times. Remember how I said they’d cancelled bands because of the mud, and I said to a friend if I missed BMTH for any reason, I’d cry? Because I’d been waiting to see them since, well. Whenever in 2020 the concert would have been idk man. WELL. Turns out, the security at that festival is abysmal every year (we got checked twice in four days, but god forbid you take a plastic bottle or Tetrapak with you to the stages), and they didn’t close the front area when there were as many people there as allowed. I’m not gonna drag this out with details but long story short, it was okay during the first song but got too bad to stay when the second song + circle pits started (I have… opinions on them, should I elaborate?), we tried to leave but it was very cramped, we got separated, and next thing I know some guy (thank you <3) pulls me up from the floor and helps a security guy get me over the fence, who then drags me away to the paramedics, whom I tell I’m fine, just a bit dizzy, I just want to sit down on the side and watch from there, I can hear “Teardrops” fading into “Dear Diary” aka the song I’d been fucking annoying about being excited to hear, so naturally, they drag me away to the Red Cross tent. Where I just sit for a few minutes getting more and more upset over missing one of the few bands I really, really wanted to see. Anyway, we met two others from our group there too, a guy had twisted his ankle or something and his girlfriend, who – she is SO SWEET, she always asked how everyone was, she’s funny, she gave me Traubenzucker (seriously I still don’t know the English word) and hugged me and said we should just all go out and sit down on the side to watch the rest of BMTH, which we did, and actually suddenly a bunch of our group were there somehow? Anyway, I cried a little more watching them until I calmed down again, and the rest of the show was SO GOOD FUCK. They have such energyand excitement to be there and they go hard on stage, they really do, and the singer’s voice is so nice again now that he’s recovered, there is so much power behind and in his voice when he sings; anyone who says BMTH have become soft or worse or whatever since they have less screaming can fight me (the Florians?). I’m already looking forward to seeing them again in February (covid don’t even LOOK at February you fucking bitch) so much! They still played “Kingslayer” which is always great, “Drown” which is *chef’s kiss*, a few more songs (my concert memory is so bad, the most I can usually say is yeah it was great), and ended with “Throne”, which you know, *all the chef kisses in the world*. Seriously, if you like BMTH and ever get the chance to see them live – GO! They’re SO GOOD live, they’re so happy to be there, their energy takes over the audience immediately, you can scream along or just be there and vibe… They’re just such a great band, in general and to see live (ignoring my situation here, not the band’s fault but the security’s + drunk large guys who don’t look out for others), it’s so fun to be at their shows – oh, everyone who likes BMTH should get the chance to see them live! They’re so GOOD my god I’m excited for the new single tomorrow.
Have you listened to the 30 second thingy they put out already? I can’t get over the way he sings “forever”, someone who actually knows something about music explain to me what it is about that particular way he sings that makes it so 🥺✨💖🍀 Something about the way his voice… vibrates? So to say, and the slight rasp maybe? Not even mentioning the lyrics themselves! This week sure is a busy week for me with a new BMTH song tomorrow plus the BC album on Thursday and then everything else going on as well plus weaselling my way into the playlist with whatever BC song I’ll like the most by then at the drag party so I’ll see what you’ll come up with to bribe me.
Saturday was Electric Callboy day! It was finally warm and sunny and one guy convinced all of us to go to a band no one knew but said were fun to see live, and they were (Liedfett)! I wouldn’t listen to them otherwise but live there, they were fun, and somehow our group turned their band name into a Marco Polo thing. Also, since pretty much almost all of us were there, we asked a guy to take a picture of us and I’m 95% sure the guy was high of some sorts, but the photos turned out well. Also, another guy took a picture of all of us at the camping side once and I don’t know if he was a photographer or something, but he moved around, changed angles and took about 40 pictures, “so you’ll have a really good one!” My sister, friend, and me went to a Ferris wheel they had put up and from the top, you could see across the whole area, which was both huge but also looked smaller than I had expected. A few of us got some food and watched a bit of Jinjer, they’re okay but a bit boring maybe. But but but! After them, Electric Callboy played! Awww Ruby, I wish I had a picture of their faces pretty much anytime they showed them on the screens up-close, they looked so HAPPY, it was beautiful to see! They were so GOOD and so excited to be there and play their show and they always smiled and laughed so beautifully*, it was wonderful to see 🥺 And it was so fun too, they talked quite a bit, once before “Spaceman”, the smaller singer Nico, as Fine taught me, took Kevin to the front of the stage to teach the audience the lalala-ish sound, but the way he did that was to take Kevin by the hand and walk with him to the front of the stage hand in hand while saying something like “Komm mal mit mein Lieber, also der Typ, der kann Sachen machen mit seiner Zunge, ich schau ihm jeden Tag beim Üben zu, haltet eure Freundinnen und Freunde fest, da könnt ihr noch was lernen”.. oder so. Ngl for a second I was wondering if surely he wouldn’t just go ahead and kiss the guy, right? Oh, a few others of our group who didn’t or not really know them came too and they all loved them, some even said they were their highlight of the festival! Which is not at all surprising, I mean you’ve seen them too, right, you know how just… Their energy and fucking around and their easy-to-vibe-with music make it really easy I think for anyone to really, really enjoy their concerts, even if you don’t really know them. I know I already loved them in April when I forgot to listen to more of their songs than I knew at the time before their EC/BC Munich concert, and it was still so much fun. Their stage presence and happy-go-lucky attitude and how obviously happy they are to play their music just makes it really easy to have fun. *I asked Fine, Laura, and Lou if it would be very weird to send them a message or email or something telling them how nice it was to see how happy they were on stage and how beautiful their smiles and laughs were, and got an “you are so cute” in return, but I’m telling you – they were the cute ones with how utterly HAPPY they were 🥺 I feel like I haven’t said a lot besides “it was so nice to see how happy they were” in various shades and slightly to the left but it just cannot be said enough. It was beautiful to see. Maybe I’ll still write them a message or a letter or something. Oh I also saw parts of The Offspring, Bad Religion, Seiler und Speer, Dame, and Deichkind later that day but none really convinced me, so in the end I had an early night (like... midnight “early”).
Sunday was Billy Talent day! Also a few other bands before that, Kissin’ Dynamite are fun to watch and their singer seems like a little shit (I could see him and Joonas fucking around on stage together), a bit of Eluveitie (boring) and In Flames (better than I remembered). We went around a bit before Billy Talent for food and then one booth had just run out of all meats, mozzarella sticks, whatever else, idk they only had fries left so we went to get a pizza, had a discussion in line with some guys about what the pizza names mean, and found out some sinners put eggplant on pizza. My friend works at a zoo and told us they can only feed eggplants to one breed of their stags because not even the pigs eat those. Oooh, Billy Talent were also so fun to watch! I’m not sure why there were so many more people than the day before, maybe because they were the second-to-last band to play? Anyway, very fun! Almost all of our group were there again, I knew about half of the songs they played and it’s just so easy to sing along and see everyone else also sing and jump along and just enjoy being there! Except the couple right in front of us who just spent the whole show making out. Why. Move. The singer made fun of the shape of the stage, talked a bit about other stuff and joked around, they also just have a presence that makes you enjoy their concert regardless of how well you know them, they make it easy to have fun.
Ah, the last band was Five Finger Death Punch, which I didn’t really know before, maybe a song or two in passing, but they were really entertaining to watch. To me – apparently quite a few people thought the singer talked to much or sang weirdly or was drunk? I don’t know, I didn’t hear it, I just had fun with his jokes and I thought his voice was quite powerful too. I don’t really know them but I think they were a good final act to put on.
There’s not much to be said about the trip home, we got up at 5 or so to avoid the “everyone leaving” waves, had some more floor breakfast at the Vienna train station, chatted some more, and on the train everyone fell asleep one after the other, but not before witnessing me almost losing my jacket with no idea how it ended up there and despite looking at it several times before another traveller asked his friend whose jacket that was, and throwing my phone on the floor five seconds later. I had to get off earlier than the others at my uni town, which meant I got a hug goodbye from the only guy still motivated to stand up (feel you), almost forgot my chair, and then almost fell down the train stairs. I was tired okay. Also at like... 8pm or so, a few hours after I’d already showered and thrown everything into the dishwasher washing machine, we finally got the text from the one who had to take the DB to NRW that she’d arrived home, about two hours late, unsurprisingly. I know I complain about the ÖBB a lot and rightfully so I think, but how do you all just live like that regularly?
Remember how you said on discord you’d gotten withdrawal symptoms and I said it was five days and you said, "5 days in which anything could have happened you know"? Well. Nothing happened for me (where is my festival romance huh? BC concert first date idea? Huh, did someone say something?), however. I sit at the camping side with a bunch of others on Saturday noon, enjoying the sun finally being here, when I hear my sister + friend say my name, so I go over to see what they’re gossiping about me, only for my sister to tell me a guy from our group randomly (“randomly”, you should have been there, it was so fucking obvious there was something there, and that’s from me who never notices shit until it’s pointed out to me) asked her if she’s single the day before, she later asked him to do something after the festival and he said he would have asked her if she hadn’t asked first. They’ve had a few dates since then, I think it’s going well.
I haven’t talked about the sunsets yet! Oooh, so that festival is in the Pannonia fields, which basically means in the middle of nowhere on some farmers’ fields which are packed with windmills which at night blink red rhythmically and that looks so cool at night! Just a few dozen windmills in the background blinking red in sync. And the sunsets were beautiful! Just being by the stage, listening to or waiting for a great band to play, and left and right of the stage seeing the sunset over the fields 🥰 (don’t go there to see mountains, the area’s highest one is 302m)
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Oooh!! Do you know how I hate phones at concerts a little? Like I get taking a few pictures or short videos, but I’m really annoyed by people recording whole songs or the whole concert wth is wrong with people because the people behind you can’t see goddamn it. I don’t want to be mean to or about teenage audiences, I don’t. It has to be said though, the difference in phone usage at concerts with a primarily teenage audience vs a primarily adult audience is staggering. This year, I’ve been to a Louis Tomlinson, 5SOS, and EC/BC concert and now the festival, and the difference in the audience is huge. At LT + 5SOS, there were so many people there who were constantly recording and watching so much of the concerts through their phones (you miss everything?!), whereas at EC/BC and the festival, people also took photos or recorded but like… very, very few people constantly did so, most took a picture or video of their favorite songs and then put their phones away again. And I have to say, the difference in the energy of the audience is very noticeable. People are just much more into it, just being there enjoying the show, singing and jumping along etc. etc., you know what I’m talking about. I once saw a video of a Halsey show where phones were banned, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that since then every time I see people constantly on their phones at concerts.
It was also so goddamn nice to be – well technically you’re reachable, most people have their phones with them, but in reality, I can just turn on flight mode and only take it off that when I need to find my friends (well and that one class) and ignore everything else for four days. Ideal existence tbh. No uni, no work, no being contacted if you don’t want to, no other adult responsibilities, just hanging out with fun people, sharing snacks, and enjoying good music together, half of the days even in the sunshine. Speaking of sun, why did no one tell me my hat looked stupid, I wore that for the whole weekend 😤 oh, also, I got a BMTH shirt! It’s so pretty and it’s white but somehow still too warm for a 30-degree day. Then again everything is, probably. But I had a clean shirt to wear for the journey home with my dust-covered skirt, that was nice.
I met a woman with really pretty multi-coloured hair at the showers. Once there was suddenly a bridal party at the camping spot asking for a beer for their flunky ball bridal party game and invited us to join and offered glitter tattoos. Oh, the guy who hurt his ankle, some of our group borrowed a… those small things you can put boxes or other stuff on you need to transport and wheel it around? One of those to have the guy stand on and wheel him back to our camping area. We found a really nice spot a bit farther away from one of the stages for when we wanted to see a band but just relax and vibe, maybe have some food there and sit down a bit, that was a good spot, I swear we weren’t just on our feet 12h every day in front of the stages. Just peppering in all the random things here that I’m remembering that didn’t fit elsewhere. We built the ladybug a little home in one of the glass holder nets in my camping chair. You said you missed me. Oh, we camped in the Green Area which is just like, less trash and noise, and by day two, there was a hole in the fence which was quite practical because it made the way to the stage area shorter. By day four, a whole fence thingy had been moved. Also, that area was supposed to be quieter but they had a party area or something that played music with heavy bass until 4am or so, which apparently bothered quite a few people about sleeping, but I found quite soothing actually. Oh, the fiancé/husband of the bride with her bridal party was also somewhere with his friends, I kept seeing them in their pink safety vests vs. the women in the orange ones.
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So yeah, the security, paramedics, and non-alcoholic drink situation where not it (they had… Red Bull and water stations, but 95% of the drinks sold were alcoholic – please remember the minimum age is 8, also some people (hi) don’t like to drink, especially not at festivals), but the people I was there with, the bands, how obviously happy they all were to be there, the eating food on the floor with each other, the shared snacks at the camping area, the just hanging out and chatting at the camping area talking about the bands and whatever else really, the “guess what I just saw on my way to the toilets” stories shared, the random people around us, the “travelling together and having food and listening to music together” human experience – yeah, that was very much it 🥰🥰🥰💖✨🌈🦝🍀 Writing all that down took about 2 pages of my happy memories book, 100/10 would recommend grabbing your favorite snacks and a few friends, putting your phones into flight mode, and wandering off to a festival for a few days 🥰🥰🥰
#id in alt text#well the happiness didn’t last long because my flatmate bothered me as soon as I turned my phone back on at the train station but whatever#and I’m angry at myself for missing BMTH because honestly I was probably just being dramatic but I still saw most of them and they are#SO GOOD RUBY SO GOOD I love BMTH with my whole soul I’m not ready for a new album I’m very much ready though to hear it#at the concert in February that I will see in its entirety so help me#oh this got long didn’t it hold on let me look at the word stats – ah 304minutes.#Well word also counts if it’s just open in the background so maybe let’s clock it in at 2h#or so to see if I really got everything plus a bit to 🦝🦝🦝 over you saying you missed me#also you could give recommendations for next years' artists so i nicely begged for BC + Alex Mattson#good for them for going to wacken but i will never in my life go there again#it's five hundred fucking hours away and it's huge which is great for the bands i think but as the audience you're just always so#far away from the stages you practically only see the screens. at least as far as i remember and i was there in 2014 so don't take my word#for it#in conclusion BC please come to a festival around here#there's even one in my area! billy talent have also been there before!#huh actually let me check if you can suggest bands to them too they could do with a bit more in that direction and a bit less#of party pop and techno music#i went there for russkaja and saltatio mortis and they were great! blind channel next?#i'm going to a harry styles concert on monday that i'd also forgotten i still have a ticket for and i'm excited#because his music is good enough and i'm going with friends and we're gonna have a little car roadtrip there again#(i say roadtrip it's 2h or so away but we're going together and we're gonna listen to music and have some snacks so <3)#but i am decidedly not excited about the screaming and screeching 15-21 year olds#very excited to find a spot in the back and just chill and hang out there and enjoy it from there in peace#nova rock report#the-very-rubiest#asks#have fun with that i know I'd hate to read that many long-ish paragraphs but i didn't know where to put the breaks and also tumblr#was acting up about actually letting me post it
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musical-shit-show · 2 years
Text
waste my time
Pairing: Dewey Finn x Reader
Inspiration: Prompts #29 (you know this means nothing, right?) and #62 (enjoying the view?) from Prompt List #2
Warnings: cursing, drinking, mild drug use (marijuana), anxiety, depression, Dewey is a little bit of an asshole if you squint, light angst, a touch of fluff
Word Count: 3,745
Author’s Note: Okay this turned out a bit longer than I anticipated, but I’m really starting to like writing for Dewey. I suppose this is set before the events of SoR, but whatever…my one shot, my rules. If enough people ask (or if I get a jolt of inspiration) I might write a sequel. As always, please check out my full masterlist, about me page, and prompt lists! And if you have a request, please send one to my ask box! And of course, like, comment, and reblog if you enjoy! Thanks for reading :)
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“Can we please leave now?”
“You know, you could try and have fun at one of these things for once,” your best friend Patty scoffed at you, “Even I’m having a good time. That’s how I know you’re being a stick in the mud.” You chuckled humorlessly as she handed you a beer.
The music was thumping so hard you could barely hear yourself think. Quickly, you took a sip of the cheap brew. How you had been roped into attending a Halloween party where you knew barely anyone, you’ll never know. Patty always had a way of dragging you to social events, because, well, her boyfriend Ned also had a way of dragging her to social events. Except now, you seemed to be the only one who was miserable out of the dozens of increasingly drunk twenty-somethings.
So, there you were, only having been in attendance for little more than a half hour and already eager to leave. Not only were you growing more and more claustrophobic as party goers crammed themselves into the seemingly ever-shrinking Brooklyn apartment, but you were also dreading the arrival of a certain wannabe rock star.
“He’s not here yet,” Patty said, catching you eye the front door, “Thankfully.” You didn’t know how it was possible, but you found Dewey Finn even more infuriating than Patty did, and she was the one who had to deal with his constant freeloading and loud scream-singing.
It wasn’t that you thought he was a bad person, per se. But he made it very clear that he did not give a shit about anyone but himself, and you couldn’t stand that. And what pissed you off even more is that he seemingly managed to make everyone like him, despite his utterly selfish ways.
It was at that moment that there was a cheer near the entrance of the apartment, and you rolled your eyes into the stratosphere; Dewey had just arrived, hoisting a keg the size of a small toddler into the crowd, stupid grin plastered on his face.
As he made his way to the kitchen, you could see that he was wearing tight black jeans with a matching black button-down shirt that was rolled at the sleeves, and a red tie. His hair was unkempt, as usual, and he was also sporting a thick ring of eyeliner around his top and bottom lash lines. ‘Oh, right,’ you thought, ‘Ned had mentioned something about him coming as Billy Joe Armstrong. Figures.’
For as long as you’ve known him, Dewey wanted to be a professional musician and performer. And he was actually pretty talented; the only problem was that he could never stay in a band long enough to make a decent amount of money.
“Hey, Dew!” Ned called happily, waving to his best friend who was emerging from the tiny kitchen area like a god among men. He and Patty had decided on a couple’s costume, Fred and Daphne from Scooby-Doo. Unoriginal, but you had opted for Wednesday Addams, so you couldn’t really judge. Even holidays like Halloween brought you little joy these days.
Patty took another swig of her beer, and you surmised that it would be the first of many if she was supposed to put up with Dewey all night. As he neared, you got a better look at him. More specifically, you couldn’t help but take note at how well that eyeliner suited him. It gave his typically dopey face a little bit of edge.
“Enjoying the view?” you heard him say over the blaring music, a small, impish smile spreading across his face. Shit. He had obviously noticed your staring. You thanked the powers that be that the lights were low; the last thing you needed was for him, Ned, and Patty to catch your face reddening in embarrassment.
Instead, you clenched your jaw, instantly tensing your muscles. “Nope, I was just thinking about how if your music career never takes off, you can always work at CVS recommending makeup products to emo teens.” Patty snorted into her bottle, amused. She loved it when you exchanged verbal blows with Dewey; when she did it, it always ended in an argument between her and Ned. This way, she could just watch and relish in your takedown.
However, Dewey seemed unfazed on this particular evening. “You’d know about emo teens in that getup, huh?” his tone playful yet not without bite, “That eyeliner looks almost as black as your soul.” You couldn’t help but laugh incredulously. If he didn’t make you want to tear your hair out, you’d be almost impressed with his little comeback.
“Alright, enough you two,” Ned said as you continued to stare daggers into Dewey’s eyes while his continued to mock, “I’m going to get a drink. Dew, could you uh, help me with the keg?”
“Of course, oh best friend of mine,” Dewey replied, straightening his tie and winking at you and Patty, “Enjoy the party, ladies. I’d love to see you two let loose for once.” Ned practically pulled Dewey’s arm out of the socket towards the kitchen, not in the mood for a spat to break out.
“In your dreams, Finn!” you called in their direction, feeling your temperature rise even further. Your night was already going about as well as you had imagined, you didn’t need Dewey Finn tormenting you with his antics any more than you needed a hot sauce enema.
Patty let out a dry laugh and grabbed another beer from the cooler that sat next to the torn-up couch, “Wanna get drunk?” Your mouth twitched upwards.
“Very.”
*
The alcohol was not working. Why wasn’t it working? You felt mildly tipsy, yes, but it wasn’t enough to stop the familiar tightening feeling of dread that was firmly present in your chest and quickly spreading throughout your body.
You soon found yourself in a bedroom, whose you weren’t sure. You didn’t care. You just needed to get away from everyone. Luckily, it wasn’t difficult. Patty was doing shots with Ned and some of their other friends, and it was almost too easy to tell her you needed some air and could fend for yourself. The truth was, you were so overwhelmed, by both the party and, well, everything else.
Work had been kicking your ass, your love life was in the toilet, and you still felt like you didn’t belong in the city. You could feel hot tears welling behind your eyes, allowing a few to spill onto your black skirt. You blinked rapidly, tilting your head towards the ceiling. The last thing you wanted was to fuck up your makeup and ruin your night even further.
Suddenly, your panic attack was interrupted by the bedroom door swinging open. You have got to be shitting me, you thought sourly as Dewey stood in the frame, looking even more disheveled than usual. The faint smell of hops wafted in your direction, and you prayed he wasn’t totally fucked up; Drunk Dewey was even less pleasant to be around than his sober counterpart.
He looked at you, then the pile of coats that adorned most of the bed, and then frowned. “Goddamn it, you didn’t happen to see a black and white guitar pick anywhere, would you?” he ran a hand through his messy brown hair. You shook your head, attempting to steady your breathing. Screw your makeup, the actual last thing you wanted was for Dewey Finn to catch you in a moment of weakness.
Luckily, he seemed too caught up in his guitar pick crisis to notice. “Can’t you just get another one?” you asked, your voice faltering ever so slightly. Dewey pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly annoyed by your seemingly harmless question.
“Another one?” he repeated, exasperated, “No, you don’t understand, it’s Van Halen’s pick. The pick he used while recording and on tour, it’s one of my most prized possessions.” He started haphazardly throwing coats onto the carpeted floor, scanning the comforter for his precious souvenir. You quickly decided he wasn’t as drunk as you first thought, given that he seemed to have all of his wits about him. And, if he was sloshed, he was certainly holding himself together much better than he usually did.
“And why exactly did you bring it here?”
“I had a gig tonight and I was nervous. That pick always gives me good luck, okay?”
That was almost…sweet. You had never thought Dewey Finn of all people would need help performing in front of a crowd. “Okay,” you finally said, throwing your feet off the bed, letting them dangle for a few seconds.
“Look, I know you hate me and everything but—”
“I’ll help you look,” you cut him off, standing up. For once, he wasn’t be a total douche, and you felt a little bad for him. Even if it was over a guitar pick.
The two of you scoured the room, throwing the remaining coats aside. Finally, Dewey found the pick buried deep in his own coat pocket, which ended up irritating you only slightly.
“Uh, thanks,” he said sheepishly, shifting his weight from one leg to the other, “For helping me look.”
“Don’t mention it,” you said, deadpanned, “Seriously. Don’t.” He couldn’t tell if you were kidding. Neither could you.
“Wanna go out onto the fire escape, ya know, for some air?” he asked, gesturing to the window facing the still busy city street, “That is, if you don’t want to push me to my untimely demise.”
“Don’t give me any ideas,” you say with a smirk, “But sure. Why not.”
The two of you crept out onto the fire escape gingerly, the air shocking your senses despite your tipsiness. However, it doesn’t do much to quell your anxiety.
“You really don’t like this shit, do you?” Dewey said, taking a gulp from his beer after scanning your demeanor.
“That obvious, huh?” you said dryly. He raised his eyebrows and nodded. “I…used to. I’m trying to again. It’s just…weird right now, I don’t know. I feel like I’m not myself here.” You turned from him, embarrassed, as you hugged your arms to guard you from the chill. It actually helped, or at the very least you convinced yourself that it did.
Dewey frowned. “Well, that’s no good.” He held his bottle over the railing precariously, watching it dangle five stories above the ground. “But hey, maybe when you get back to being yourself, you’ll finally see how awesome I am.”
You turned to face him, and punched him lightly on the shoulder in retaliation. He barked a laugh, and felt your guard falling. Maybe he wasn’t as terrible as you thought. And you were a little drunk. And he was also a little drunk. And you felt the sudden urge to kiss him.
You shook your head, ignoring the thought. But the way he was looking at you made your stomach do a somersault. It was a mix of morbid curiosity and genuine concern with a just a dash of flirty energy. A dangerous cocktail, really. Luckily, Dewey spoke again before you could do something you’d regret.
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” he said, bracing himself for a verbal assault, “but uh, every time I see you, you just seem so fuckin’ stressed. Have you tried, I don’t know, relaxing?”
You scoffed. Of course that would be his suggestion. He made everything sound so easy, didn’t he? “No, that never crossed my mind, Finn. How astute.” He shook his head, raising his arms in mock surrender. After so many spars over the years, you had never seen him give up on an opportunity to criticize you so quickly. You couldn’t help but grow a little suspicious.
“Hey, I said it earlier but I really think you’d benefit from letting loose a little, ya know?”
“And how do you suppose I do that?” you asked, your tone coming out more frustrated than you intended, “I’ve tried everything.”
A wicked smile spread across his face, “Well, not to be too obvious, but have you ever tried smoking?” He produced a small joint from his pocket, along with a black lighter decorated with red and orange flames.
You nodded your head, looking unenthused. “Tried it with Patty once in college. Didn’t work.” And it was true. Despite smoking what you considered far too much weed, you barely felt a thing aside from a slight bout of the munchies. What you thought would quell your nervousness only ended up resulting in a stomach ache.
“I doubt Patty had anything of substance,” he remarked, a smirk dancing on his lips, “I’m pretty sure a horse tranquilizer wouldn’t be able to mellow that woman out.” You couldn’t help but crack a smile. You usually found Dewey’s humor irritating, but you kept wondering if that was your own bias. Maybe you were just searching for reasons to despise him.
Still, you couldn’t trust yourself, not with the night you’d been having. “What’s the catch?” you asked, narrowing your eyes, “I thought we couldn’t stand each other, remember?”
“No catch,” he said, his voice shockingly devoid of sarcasm or snark, “Consider it even for helping me find my pick. Plus, I think we’d all benefit from you being high. At the very least, it’ll serve as my entertainment for the rest of the night.” You couldn’t help but laugh. Maybe you were too harsh on Dewey. Not that Patty didn’t have her own reasons for disliking him, but that didn’t mean you had to keep up your animosity when he had at least treated you like a human being since he entered the coat-ridden bedroom.
You stared at the joint apprehensively as he held in between his calloused fingers. He rolled his eyes, playfully this time. “This is the good shit, I promise,” he purred, waving the joint in front of your face, “Don’t you trust me?”
“Not in the slightest,” you mused, gnawing on your lower lip, “But when have I ever been right. Light me up, rock star.”
*
Far be it from you to admit when Dewey Finn was right. But holy shit. Whatever strain he had did the trick, because you actually felt yourself relaxing for the first time in months, even after just a few puffs.
You didn’t care that you had been outside for the better part of an hour; even more surprisingly, you didn’t care that you were sharing a joint with someone you thought you despised at the start of the night. “Okay, I’m not saying I’m gonna become a stoner now or anything like that but…” you drawled, hugging your arms to your chest, “That did help a bit. So…thanks.” You were already feeling the effects of the both the alcohol and weed wearing off, seeing as you only consumed small amounts of both. Still, you couldn’t help but appreciate Dewey’s attempt to help, despite your past dislike of one another.
Dewey couldn’t help but flash a wide smile, leaning on the railing of the fire escape. “Don’t mention it,” he said sweetly, “Or maybe do. I’d love to take credit for being the person who finally removed that stick lodged firmly up your a—”
Before he could finish the crude remark, you placed a hand on his broad chest, pushing him flush to the railing. “If you value your life, you won’t finish that sentence, Finn,” you threatened, your eyes darkening. Dewey’s widened in fear, if only for a moment. You were of course, unserious, but you didn’t mind making him squirm a bit.
You flashed a smug look and he instantly matched you playful yet aggressive energy. “Oh please, you wouldn’t send the life of the party tumbling to his death, would ya?” he clasped his hands together, mock begging for mercy, “I know you can’t hate me that much, babe.”
You shivered. You tried to write it off as the chill in the air finally catching up to you, but you knew that it was also from Dewey’s smooth talking. You noticed your hand was still pressed up against him as the space between you lessened.
“Well, no,” you relented, finally letting go of him, “I mean, you annoy the shit out of me most of the time but tonight has been…okay.”
“I’ll take okay.” The two of you sit in silence for a few minutes, an energy hanging in the air that you can’t quite place. You glanced over at him, goosebumps prickling up on his exposed forearms. “Since tonight has been so okay…mind if I ask why you were crying earlier?”
You felt your face go flush in embarrassment. You could’ve sworn he hadn’t seen, but it was clear he was more observant than you gave him credit for. “I guess, well…I haven’t been myself. For a while now. And I just don’t know if I belong here: in this city, with these people. Ned and Patty have been a part of my life for so long but…I don’t know. Maybe I’m better off somewhere else.”
Dewey nodded, casting his eyes towards Manhattan across the river. The two of you looked on, the sounds of the street filling the quiet you shared. The light pollution was illuminating the night sky despite it being nearly midnight. “For what it’s worth,” he sighs, “I don’t ever feel like I belong either. I just try to convince myself that I do, and hope everyone else follows.”
“Well, you’re damn good at it,” you remark, “Everyone loves you, Dewey.”
“Yeah,” he laughs, “Not Patty. Not my band. Not you.” His last words hang in the air awkwardly as he immediately goes red. At least you weren’t the only one feeling embarrassed that evening. “I didn’t mean—”
“I know what you mean,” you said, smiling with ease. Once you actually had a real conversation with him, you realized how freely you were able to speak to Dewey. “But for what it’s worth, I owe you an apology. I just always pegged you for an obnoxious deadbeat, but I guess we have more in common than I thought.”
“It’s okay. I may have also thought you were a lame ass wet blanket for years, but I’m willing to bury the hatchet if you are.” You both laughed at each other’s expense and suddenly, that urge returned. Only this time, you couldn’t blame it on the little alcohol you drank or even the weed. You just wanted to kiss him. You wanted to kiss Dewey Finn.
You felt your stomach churn at the thought. Sure, maybe he wasn’t as bad as you thought, but were you so easily won over? Was he just charming you to end your little feud, or was he playing you? And even if he wasn’t messing with you, what the fuck would Ned and Patty say?!
“By the way,” he said in a low voice, snapping you out of your thought spiral, “I’ve seen a million Wednesday Addams costumes, but, uh, the goth girl thing works for you.”
“Oh yeah?” you said, holding back giggle. God, you felt like an idiot school girl around him now.
“Yeah,” he gulped, his face growing pink. Was it possible he was experiencing some of the same strange, conflicting feelings about you? From what you gathered over the years, it didn’t take much for Dewey to let his dick be in the driver’s seat when it came to decision making.
Feeling bold, you chose to throw some compliments his way, “Thanks,” you said, batting your eyelids, wondering how seductive you could possibly be when it looked like you were headed to a demented funeral, “You look good too. Green Day was one of my favorite bands growing up, so the Billy Joe costume was…definitely a sight to behold. In a good way, I mean.”
“Ah, so you were staring at me earlier?” Dewey raised an eyebrow, feeling extremely self-assured. You decided to let him inflate his own ego this one time, mostly because it made him more attractive all bloated with confidence.
“It’s possible,” you conceded, “But if you tell anyone, I’ll deny it.”
He laughed brightly, and your stomach did another flip. “That’s okay. It’s reward enough to know you secretly have the hots for me.” You pursed your lips, scowling at him. You could barely admit these new feelings to yourself, there was no way in hell you were going to admit to Dewey that you wanted to pounce on him at that very moment. So instead, you decided to do what you had be doing for the last couple hours: deny, deny, deny.
“Do not.”
“Do too.”
“Do not!”
“Do. Too.” He inched closer to you, his gaze growing more intense with each passing millisecond. You felt your breath hitch suddenly in the back of your throat. And before you had any time to think, you sort of lunged at him, your lips catching his angrily, passionately. He tasted like cheap beer and tequila. A normally shudder-inducing combination, but you couldn’t get enough of it.
Though he knew he was egging you on, Dewey was still caught by surprise. Still, it didn’t take longer than a moment for him the wrap his arms around you, securing your body against his as he kissed you hungrily. Despite the weather outside being chilly and dry, his lips were soft and plump, and you couldn’t help but nip at them as he let out a faint, almost imperceptible moan. You felt your fingers tangle in his hair as his snaked to grip the side of your neck towards your jawline.
Once you realized what you had done, you broke away, looking Dewey dead in the eye, “You know this means nothing, right?” You could deal with your attraction to him later; for all you knew, this little incident would never be spoken of by the two of you ever again. Maybe that would be for the best.
Dewey blinked dumbly a few times, then smirked, “I’m sort of counting on it, babe.” He pulled you in again, his breath visible in the cold October air as it washed over you like a tiny puff of smoke. He couldn’t help but kiss you again, and perhaps stupidly, you kissed him back for a few seconds until his broke it, his smile sinful. “I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.”
“Looks like we’ve got ourselves a deal, rock star.”
*
Thanks for reading! Like/comment/reblog if you enjoyed!
Read the sequel here!
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nacricissa · 10 months
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A slightly less racist Twilight
This is specifically attempting to remove the "overwriting the legends and traditions of an existing indigenous tribe" problem, not any of the other problems.
I don't think the werewolves being indigenous is important for anything other than racist reasons (ooh the mystical native is so much more magical type nonsense), so the werewolves can be a group other than "Particularly macho Quileute men, in the presence of vampires"
What traits must this group have?
Innate magic: this does not narrow things down, as many humans have innate gifts.
Hereditary magic: this is also true of humans (Bella= Charlie + Renée pretty solidly according to Edward)
Magic triggered by the presence of vampires?
Magic that makes them immortal once triggered??
Existing in the 1950s/1960s in Forks (this is when I assume the Cullens first visited Forks based on Emmett's and Billy's ages, but I may be missing a detail in my timelines)
Having legends about vampires which predate this
Is imprinting necessary?
Well, since I'm not trying to change that, I'm calling it a later problem, and so the innate powerset of this people started with someone whose innate talent was similar to Eleazar's, except it manifested in this truly hazardous sexual/romantic fixation, who then got obsessed with someone whose talent was somehow wolf-related and badda-bing badda-boom down the chain we go from there, adding other werewolf traits like the high temperature, good sense of smell, pack mind, and vampire synesthesia (converting the natural aversion to vampires many humans have- a real and normal sense Bella lacks in the same way someone born with a wonky inner ear won't have equilibrium- into a smell) along the way.
How old is this group?
I'm going to assume, for the sake of argument, that vampires are of European origin (see, some of the racism I am not trying to fix). There is nothing stopping vampires from having migrated to the Forks area prior to European colonization, but it is not guaranteed that a lasting impact would have been made.
Vampires can avoid being detected by humans pretty easily, if they don't feel like being dramatic today
Assuming vampires arose after the establishment of agriculture in Europe, the greater number of cities in their continent of origin would likely be a strong incentive to stay there, or return after a visit to this one
Even if there was contact, the legend may not have taken, or may have morphed beyond recognition by the time other vampires arrived.
The number of nomads in North America in the modern day is implied to be relatively low, with minimal risk of intersection despite the ability to run across the entire thing in like a day.
The first contact need not have resulted in the existence of werewolves, that could be the second, third, or whatever time a vampire entered the area that caused it.
Therefore, we can put the origin of the legend of the Cold Ones arbitrarily far back, if we wanted, except we don't want it to be a myth of the Quileute people in general, so if it originated before European colonialization, it must be a group of indigenous people from like, around, who've formed a group based on the fact that they know vampires are real; essentially a vampire-hunting society of professionals (these were very common among all humans everywhere, but mostly for making things, like weapons, or boats) from among whatever people were within a distance of reasonable contact.
This society would have been present during colonization, and would thus either have been
a) colonized
b) discarded as primitive nonsense or
c) both
If it originated after, we can do a similar thing, except this time the vampire-hunting society of professionals also includes Europeans from the get-go, and will end up being more European from day one.
This group would inherently be a secret society; most groups of professionals are, in this case to protect the fact that they can turn into wolves at will from society at large which might not like that. Imprintees and children are inducted by default, so Jacob would be a descendent of this society, but not an active member until the Cullens show up.
How old is this group?
This time I mean as in median age. Jacob says he's not ageing, but all the wolves from Ephraim's generation are dead, on a pretty normal human schedule. I would argue that this version could simply not include the immortality, only an age compression; you age faster, up to peak physique when your powers are triggered, then stay at that age until you are actually that age, then age normally. This makes imprinting on kids either slightly less weird, or even more weird, as the age gap is not guaranteed to "close" completely. But that's never going to be good so I'm not going to worry about it.
How does the presence of vampires affect the society?
In the books, the presence of a vampire is necessary for a werewolf to get werewolf puberty, and start presenting all the associated hereditary traits. This is important enough to the structure of the books I don't want to try to mess with it... as it comes to some of the characters. Things would play out very differently if Jacob or Leah knew they could turn into wolves from the get-go.
However, any good secret society needs an initiation rite, so exposure to the severed limb of a vampire to induce werewolfism in descendants once they come of age, which would probably be the time when the age compression would be least visible to outsiders, so about 23-25. This would presumably make the current werewolves' parents werewolves, but it doesn't have to. Descendants who choose not to be initiated, or who are excommunicated from the society would be able to pass on the gene, but not the access to a vampire bit on demand, leaving random potential werewolves out in the community, though those genes would slowly get diluted by the absence of the imprinting instinct, so the numbers would not exponentially increase.
I imagine Billy and Sam would be initiated before the start of the books, but anyone else is basically a coin toss. It's not like a lot of these characters histories' are super well-developed, and also New Moon is the book I've read the least so what development there is I am not very familiar with. There is also the option of maintaining the cannon lack of other werewolves by having the relic lost by a hilarious misunderstanding when the Cullens first arrive. Say, the society goes to hide it, so the Cullens don't know they can make more of themselves at will (Edward would in theory know, but he should also in theory know about the "vampire presence" theory from his first visit, which he doesn't, which means he is not paying much attention to the werewolves' theories about the world, only the treaty). However, instead of being hidden, it is tossed into the sea, or otherwise irrecoverably discarded, because the person assigned to hide it and the person doing the assigning didn't communicate very well, because all pack members were needed for a show of force, and pack members are notoriously bad at communicating with the uninitiated since they are used to working with people that are used to reading their thoughts.
The influence of the Cullens in forks would be twofold
First, random werewolves begin popping up in the community, joining the pack mind and being forced to join the society with a group-enforced silence law similar to the action of the Volturi upon the vampire community; we are organized, so we will destroy you if you try to divulge our secret. The power wielded by the society would be greater than just "We can turn into a wolf pack and kill you" because of the pack mind. Initiates can be taught much more quickly, because they can be guided through things by their parents through the pack mind, and the coordination and high skill workforce resultant of this would allow similar power dynamics that any clique would have in a small town. They would presumably end up with members in positions of civil or social power within the larger community. Incidentally, because of Jacob's teenage dismissal of society rules, he counts as a "random community werewolf"
Second, a resurgence of the professionalness of the society. Presumably, given the low concentration of vampires in the world, the trade of vampire slaying cannot readily be passed down. Instead, other trades, like accounting, law, medicine, and so on, are passed down instead to further the economic interests of the society in the community. The Cullens appearing the first time would represent a sudden need for what had become a mostly ceremonial tradition, sparking some amount of conflict within the group, as past and present incentives conflict. Some members would renew efforts to maintain the vampire-hunting knowledge, thus meaning the pack members during the time of the books would have a better reason to have foundational knowledge of the specific mechanics of how a werewolf pack takes down a vampire, the elements of a story most likely to be omitted over time because the strategy is really quite boring. Only real good writers can pull off writing more than the broadest of strategies before it gets boring. You don't read a lot of stories with more detail than "parry", a phrase it is difficult to take as instruction on it's own
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cyarskaren52 · 4 months
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Fq Florida! Will never go there not even for vacation. I’ll take two more months of cold Michigan winter before I step my pinky toe in Florida that gun shaped state has evil azz hews and clears who wants my black behind dead!
HOMELATESTCULTUREENTERTAINMENTBEAUTY/STYLEAWARDS SEASON 2023
RACE MATTERS
Woman in Fla Was Fatally Shot by Her Neighbor, But the Shooter Walked Free. Why?
This will anger you: Ajike “AJ” Owens was shot and killed by her neighbor who was allegedly yelling racial slurs at her and threatened her children.
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Kalyn Womack
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How does a woman get shot and killed and her shooter is still on the loose? Residents of Ocala, Florida are asking the same question in the killing of a Black woman who was gunned down by her neighbor Friday. According to NBC News, the incident was the result of an ongoing feud.
Terry Crews Talks AGT, Hidden Talents, & Falling For A White Chick
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Terry Crews Talks AGT, Hidden Talents, & Falling For A White Chick
Ajike “AJ” Owens’ children were playing in a fieldnear an apartment complex when suddenly, a white woman came from the area and began yelling racial slurs at them, according to an account from attorney Benjamin Crump. One of the children accidentally left behind their iPad which the woman seized. When the child went to retrieve it, the woman allegedly threw the device both hitting the boy and cracking the screen. The woman also allegedly threw a pair of roller skates at the children as well. 
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Naturally, the children went back home to tell their mother what happened. Owens then walked over to the neighbor’s door to speak to her about the incident but things took a fatal turn.
“She knocked on the door, and at that point, the woman allegedly shot through the door, hitting AJ, who later died from her injuries,” Crump said in the statement.
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Read more from NBC News:
At a news conference Monday, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods did not confirm or reject Crump’s account, telling reporters he was not “going to stand here and tell you what they’re putting out there is inaccurate. It’s just I don’t know yet.” Here’s what the sheriff said he does know: - There had been a long-standing “neighborhood feud” between the shooter and Owens about her children. - The children may have been hit by an unspecified object. “Was something thrown at them? Yes, but not directly at them of what we’re being told now,” Woods said. “It just unfortunately may have hit them.” He added: “The children are a big part of answering a lot our questions.” - When Owens came to the shooter’s door, there was a heated exchange. Owens was shot through the door. - At least two of Owens’ four children may have witnessed the shooting, which occurred about 9 p.m.
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Because Florida is a good ol’ “stand your ground” state, law enforcement must determine whether Owens posed an imminent threat or was simply acting as a mother trying to get to the bottom of an attack on her children. While they dilly dally on that decision, they are not authorized to make an arrest, the Sheriff Woods said. 
Well... they made an arrest when Andrew Lester shot 16-year-old Ralph Yarl from behind his front door - the same manner Owens was shot - despite Lester’s self-defense claim that he was frightened by the teen. 
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“A closed, locked door. The door never opened. My daughter, my grandchildren’s mother, was shot and killed with her 9-year-old son standing next to her. She had no weapon. She posed no imminent threat to anyone,” Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, said via NBC. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0221GBwwquPMbu6X7jpLb1TBsK8dyzwxzempQ4thD1EMkKSwkpXspW6GDJ87tdeRzGl&id=26423400230&mibextid=ncKXMA
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ledenews · 2 years
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Nailers Derek Army: ‘If You Don’t Want to Win, Don’t Come to Wheeling’
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It was Media Day. The players were walking around in their jerseys but only shorts because headshots are headshots. The head coach, Derek Army, was nowhere to be seen on the main floor of Wesbanco Arena. There were only three days until the home opener against rival Toledo. No matter the names on the Wheeling roster, or who the head coach might be, the Nailers inherently hate the Toledo Walleye, the team that will visit Wesbanco Arena tomorrow evening for the home opener. But apparently, they love THIS head coach. “Love him.” “He’s a great coach.” “I came here to play for him.” “He’ll be coach of the year.” And then forward Cam Hausinger walked by and said, “I wear #16 because it’s his old number. Army is a legend around here and wearing his number is the only way I can get some love in Wheeling.” “That’s not really true because he’s a Wheeling Nailer through and through and the fans know it,” said Army, whose wife Jenn recently gave birth to their second child. “He plays harder than most of the players in this league, and that’s what this organization needs from every player that puts the Nailer jersey on. “This town wants blue-collar players out on that ice who are willing to break through the boards for a win,” he said. “That means everything to the folks in Wheeling so that’s what I plan to give them starting this weekend.” Hausinger is correct about one thing. Army is very popular in the Friendly City because, before he was the head coach who led the Nailers to an above-.500 record and to the postseason in 2021-22, he was as hardcore a player as Wheeling hockey fans had ever seen on the arena’s ice. And he won here, too. Army was the team leader when Wheeling advanced all the to the 2016 Kelly Cup Finals against Allen, Texas, but only after he chose to return to the Mountain State’s Northern Panhandle after several assignments in the American Hockey League. “The message has been during our preseason camp to play fast, break out quick, and get up the ice to hound the opponent as much as possible. It’s a puck pursuit kind of style,” Army said. “And they have to really play in the gritty areas, when the games are the toughest, and they have to have each other’s backs. That’s how you have to play the game on this level. “I always go back to what we had the year (2015-16) we went to the Finals and what we had on that team talent-wise. But it was also a team that did those little things, and we played together as a team,” he recalled. “In sports – no matter the sport – you don’t get that very often, but I can see some of that already because we brought some guys back this year. I like our team, I really do.” Derek Army was a player for Wheeling before becoming an assistant coach, but now he's been named the Nailers' head coach. Can't Cancel This Culture Make no mistake, Derek Army cares, and when he is on or near the ice, he cares about his players and he cares about winning. Now if something or someone becomes an obstacle between Wheeling’s head hockey coach and what he’s attempting to accomplish? “Oh, I’m always quick to flip out. I flip out at the team. I flip on the refs. There have been a few times when I’ve flipped out and I don’t know who I’m flipping out on,” Army admitted. “When I flip out, I pretty much lose my marbles. I start looking for anything to throw or break. So, yes, (equipment manager) Billy (Higgins) always has a stick waiting for me so I can destroy it. “I do have to dial it back this year because it did cost me some money last year,” he said sarcastically. “I was fined for breaking the key fob on the wall in Kalamazoo. Now, they charged me to fix every key fob in the hallway and I know I only destroyed one, so they got their way. My blood gets boiling, what can I say? I care.” Army played his college years at Providence before first arriving to Wheeling in April 2014, and then he became one of just five players ever to play parts of five seasons with the Nailers. The Rhode Island native finished with 59 goals, 71 assists, and 130 points in 159 games. As soon as he retired as a player, he followed his father’s footsteps into the world of coaching. Tim Army has been a head coach or an assistant in the NHL, AHL, and NCAA levels during his career, and he currently is the man in charge of the Iowa Wild. “And you know what? My Dad has never hesitated when it’s come to calling someone out, and neither have I,” Army said matter-of-factly. “I had to go after guys when I was the interim coach here in 2020, and I believe it was a good thing because I put it out there as soon as I was the guy, I was the coach. And right then, that team changed, and by the end of that season, that team reflected what we all became together. “I didn’t have to single out one player last year, and trust me, I’m not afraid to do that at all,” he said with a smile. “But once a head coach’s standards get known around the league, players either want to come here, or they don’t. If you don’t want to win, and if you don’t want to do everything you can to win, then don’t come to Wheeling.” Read the full article
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allthemenofmydreams · 3 years
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Euro Final - Ben Chilwell
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This whole tournament has been full of ups and downs for Ben. Starting with his absence from the bench in England's first game, everything seemed to be going well in the next one when Southgate finally put him on the bench. But as I said, all seemed to go well because, after that game, Ben had to isolate himself, and if things weren't already difficult just because he couldn't see his family. Now he was deprived of seeing, and training with, his teammates. He had to stay alone in his room.
I always admired Ben for his strong mentality and positivity, but with everything that has happened to him these past few weeks, I started to worry about his mental health. He had to miss a game, and in the next game, when his isolation was over. He reappeared off the bench. Honestly, I lost faith that Ben was going to be able to make his major tournament debut after being isolated for having contact with his clubmate Billy Gilmour who tested positive for Covid.
If I lost my faith, I couldn't imagine how Ben would feel. Every time we talked on the phone or FaceTime, I knew we were both lying. I knew he was trying to sound positive about all this stuff and that it would be a matter of time before I saw him play. Because that's what I told him and what he told me, I don't think either of us wanted to face that reality, so we lied to ourselves in a way that didn't hurt us.
Every time I hung up, I started crying. And every time I saw England's starting line-up, I was pissed off. I was angry because I knew they were wasting Ben's talent. After all, he had had an incredible first season with Chelsea and because he played a big part in the Champions League final. I knew Ben deserved to play, more than some of his teammates, I knew he had all the weapons to prove he deserved to play in the Euro, yet they deprived Ben of playing and showing his skills.
As England progressed in the tournament, I had a lot of mixed feelings; I was sad, angry, and happy. And when England beat Denmark in the semifinals, I was very happy. I felt this would be Ben's chance, or at least I was trying to convince myself. I was happy for him because after everything he's been through in this process, and playing or not, he deserved it as much as the rest of the team because they were all making history.
The final match arrived and I was on my way to Wembley Stadium, wearing my England jersey with my boyfriend's last name on it. I had a knot in my stomach, my palms were sweating, and all the noise was overwhelming. After being stuck at home for so long with no social contact, this was a bombshell for me and was making me anxious. If it wasn't for Ben's message, I definitely would have freaked out.
Ben
"Breathe in and out Y/N."
Your message came at the best time. As I inhaled and exhaled, I imagined a moment of Ben, so I could relax. Eventually, that relaxed me. I started breathing normally and feeling better.
"We're not together but I know all these people are going to scare you. It's more than we're used to in the last few games, and it's a hurricane after over a year of not socializing... And I don't want you to pass out again."
After a long time watching the games from home, when we finally had the opportunity to go and watch a game, which was also the FA Cup final. The number of people that attended to watch the game was not even half of the number of people that attended today. That day, I remember I was walking down the aisle to enter the stadium when I started to gasp for breath. We were still in an open area, but all those people made me feel like I was in a room where the walls were squeezing in. I was also wearing a mask that made breathing difficult, and a few seconds later, everything went black. The last thing I remember is waking up in the team infirmary, and at halftime, Ben went to see if I was okay.
Another message brought me back to reality.
"I'm off the bench again, but I trust this team, and I know we're going to bring it home. Besides, I don't mind not playing if I'm finally going to get to hug you."
I read his message and replied to it as I walked around the stadium to find my seat. I was sad for him because all his chances of playing were now zero.
Me "Oh, babe. I'm sorry to hear that, but I know you'll make the country proud. I'm so sad that my vacation break from you is coming to an end."
I replied sarcastically. I couldn't wait to feel his strong arms wrapping around me. I was eager to feel his warm body and his perfume, I mean his perfume is all over our house, but it sure isn't the same. It's not the same fragrance when it comes from Ben's body.
Ben "If you prefer, you can stay at home while I go to Ibiza."
Me "I'm not letting u go without me."
Ben "If your good to me, maybe I can take u with me."
Me "I think it should be all the opposite."
We exchanged a couple more messages until I found my seat and the game started. Minute 2 and England scored! Luke Shaw gave us the lead. It was too early to think about the trophy but, it gave us hope. Unfortunately, in the second half, Italy scored and tied the game. Time passed, and it went to extra time, which led to penalties.
We were waiting for the penalties. My heart was racing, my hands were sweating, and my stomach was burning. From goals and missed shots, happiness turned to sadness. We lost, England lost. Italy was now the new champion of Europe.
As soon as the ceremony was over. I ran to the room where the post-match dinner with the families was to be held, and where the players would finally see and have contact with their families. I couldn't wait to see my man, to hug him, but most of all to comfort him. It was a hard blow, but I was proud of him and the whole team.
I opened the door and looked for number 21. Ben's number. I was about to take a step when a voice behind me stopped me.
"Looking for me?"
I turned around immediately. I knew that voice perfectly well. It was the voice I had missed for over a month. I rushed into Ben's arms and burst into tears.
"I missed you!" I murmured into the crook of his neck.
"I missed you too, like crazy." He kissed my forehead. "These days have been hard without you."
"I know, and I'm sorry for what happened, although I'm still proud of you."
"None of that matters anymore, when I can finally be with you" we both smiled. I was more than happy to finally see that beautiful withe smile and those blue eyes that made me fall in love every day. "Shall we get in?"
"Yup," I said, taking his hand. "A well-deserved dinner. I still can't believe you guys made it to the finals."
"It didn't end the way we hoped, but it's still something I'll never forget, and I'm proud of what we accomplished."
After all of Ben's ups and downs, I was glad to see him smiling and positive. I could tell he was looking forward to the vacation because I was too. He has worked so hard these past few months that he deserved a break.
We walked into the lounge to join the rest of the guests.
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breanime · 3 years
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The Five Senses: Taste (with Bonus Boy)
This is completely the fault of @thesandbeneathmytoes
warning: steamy!
Billy Russo: Billy was a disciplined man. He made his money his own way, through shedding a lot of blood and morals, so when he got a chance to flaunt that wealth... He did it. Which is how you ended up on your back on his desk, fully naked and on display, as Billy poured 500 dollars worth of champagne on your body. He stood, caged in by your legs, and leaned over your wet body, licking up the champagne that had begun to trickle between your breasts. “Mm,” he hummed, smirking as he lapped up the champagne, “tastes like...” His warm mouth trailed down your body, following the dews of champagne as they rolled down your form until he was right at your center, lightly sucking on your clit. “...perfection.”
Logan Delos: Logan loved the taste of himself on your lips. He kissed you greedily, his tongue sliding against yours; he could taste his own cum on your lips, and he fucking loved it. He pushed you down onto the couch, his hard, warm body covering yours as he kissed you. “You taste like me,” he grinned, settling himself between your open legs, “and I taste like you, don’t I, princess?” “Yes,” you answered, the word coming out in a breathy whisper. Logan pushed three fingers inside of you, curling them as you gasped and arched your back, trying to get closer to the pleasure. You watched, chest heaving, as Logan withdrew his hand and slid his three dripping fingers into his mouth, sucking them clean for the taste of you. “Delicious.”
Jax Teller: It had been a surprise to Jax, how much he enjoyed licking strawberry lube off of you, but he loved it. He fucking loved it. Your legs were thrown over his shoulders, and Jax’s head was firmly between your thighs, licking your pussy as you moaned and shook in his grasp. He grabbed the lube from the side dresser, not even having to look up, and squeezed the bottle, and both of you moaned as you shivered at the feel of the thick gel on you. “You’re so fuckin’ sweet, darlin’,” Jax growled, smirking against you, “My favorite afternoon snack...” You grabbed onto his hair, pulling the strands as he ate you out, the sounds of his mouth sucking and smacking against you, mixed in with both of your moans, filled the room. Jax had just come home from a run about 15 minutes ago, and you knew your evening was just getting started. 
Coco Cruz: You grabbed onto the headboard in front of you, head thrown back as Coco licked a stripe up your clit. He had you on your hands and knees, his strong hands on your waist as he ate you out from the back. His hair was pulled back into a bun, giving him more access to your wetness, and Coco lapped you up like a starving man. He hadn’t seen you in a week, and as soon as he walked through the door, he had growled out “I need to fucking taste that pussy”...and so here you were. Coco lifted his chin, that long, talented tongue of his swirling around your most sensitive parts, making you scream. You jumped when he puckered his lips on your clit, and Coco smacked your ass as a warning. “Stay still,” he said, his voice muffled by your flesh, “I’m fuckin’ starving, baby.”
Angel Reyes: Angel loved eating you out. He loved making you feel good. He loved having you spread out, like a Goddess, all for him. You were completely naked, and he was fully dressed, situated comfortably between your shivering legs. Angel had lost track of time; he’d been eating your pussy for at least 45 minutes, making you cum until you couldn’t say anything but his name. He himself had cum just from making you cum, and he’d taken a handful of his own cum and spread it against you, licking it up as he ate you out. That had driven you crazy, and you’d orgasmed harder than you’d ever orgasmed before. Now he was taking it down a notch, giving you slow, deliberate licks as you shook around him. “Angel,” you sighed, tears streaming down your face, “My Angel... My Angel...” He grinned, his face wet with your arousal, his rings glittering from your cum, and his mouth eager for more. “I know what you need baby... You need more...”
Miguel Galindo: Miguel’s face was your throne. You rolled your hips on top of him, and he groaned, his grip on your hips tightening. Miguel fucking loved eating you like this, loved giving you control: you set the pace, you got to determine how much of yourself you gave to him, and how much you held back. But he knew you, and he knew you’d never hold back from him. Beneath you, Miguel was hard enough to cut diamonds, but he liked that too--the waiting. He licked up into you, enjoying the feel of your wetness gathering in his beard and on his cheeks, he loved the taste of you....He loved that he was the only one who got to taste it. Miguel turned his head a bit, changing up the angle, sneaking a bit of control back from you, but you allowed it. You allowed it, he knew, because it felt so fucking good, his tongue inside of you, his nose pressed up against your most sensitive area. Neither of you spoke; you didn’t have to. Your back-to-back orgasms said all that needed to be said. 
Nick Amaro: Nick’s tongue flicking against your clit was one thing, but the sexy, hushed whispers in Spanish was another. You were shaking, your back was against the headboard, and you leaned over, your breasts leaning on the top of Nick’s head as he ate you out. He’d said it time and time again: he loved the taste of you. He treated it like a personal mission, eating you out, making you cum. He had three fingers inside of you as he licked and sucked at you, whispering how pretty and how sweet you were in Spanish. He moved his head from side to side, chuckling at the low moan you let out at the action. “That feel good, mi amor?” He asked, his mouth still attached to you. You nodded, pulling at his short hair, “Y-yes....” “You taste so damn good, mi vida,” he licked your clit, flicking it under his tongue, grinning at the way you squirmed at the action. You were close, he could tell, and he couldn’t wait to lick you clean. 
Johnny Tuturro: The waves of the ocean hitting the beach weren’t loud enough to muffle your moans. You gripped the towel beneath you in your fists, back arched and mouth open as Johnny ate you out like you were his last meal on earth. Johnny had one hand on your breast, your biking top stretching under his large hand, and the other was on his dick, pumping it as he fucked you with his tongue. You twisted in his grip, his mouth was so wet and warm and perfect, it was all you could do to keep your screams contained, and he wasn’t helping. He wanted you to scream, it enhanced the quality of the taste. “Fuck,” he gasped out, pulling back from you with a wet pop of his mouth, “You taste so good, baby.” He didn’t wait for a reply, instead, he just buried his face between your thighs again, licking into you as you screamed, cumming directly into his waiting mouth. You couldn’t see him, but you could feel his smile against your skin. 
Rio: If there was one thing Rio had in spades: it was patience. He’d been teasing you for an hour now, his long, skilled fingers trailing up and down your warm skin, his mouth devouring you...He was eating you out now, the strokes of his tongue long and slow, making you shiver when he reached your clit. Rio leaned forward, sucking the sensitive bud into his mouth, rolling his tongue against it. You jumped, and he chuckled, his arm flying out and pushing you back onto the bed. “Chill, ma,” he said, that low, deep voice making you swoon, “I ain’t done...” He licked into you again, and you moaned, a step away from begging. “Taste so good,” he drawled, his voice muffled, “Could eat you every day of the week and never get tired of it...” He pulled back, grinning at you. “That what you want, baby?” “I want you to fuck me,” you breathed out. He laughed, and you watched as that sinful tongue of his came out to lick his wet bottom lip. “Don’t worry, ma, I will...after I finish eatin’.”
Bonus Boy
EZ: There was something about eating you out in the middle of the night that EZ loved. He loved the taste of you, loved the way you still smelled of your body wash, loved the taste of it on your sweet, soft skin. You sighed, so sweetly, as he licked into you. He could do this all day. EZ’s hands were on your thighs, keeping them spread as he ate you out, his strength the only thing keeping you from potentially crushing his head between them. He licked at you carefully, little kitten licks, taking in the taste of you in small bursts, so happy to be able to make you feel good. So happy that you were his. The sun was coming up, and EZ could swear that he could taste the sunlight between your legs. You tasted like freedom, like security...you tasted like love. When you came, crying out as the morning rays filtered through the blinds, EZ opened his mouth and took it all, moaning in tandem with you at the sensation. He sat up, chin glistening, grinning down at you. “So,” he chuckled, taking your outstretched hand in his and kissing the back of it, “Best two out of three?”
*******************************************************************************************Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think! And if you really enjoyed it and you can send in a tip here, I would greatly appreciate it!
Also, let me know which sense you’d like me to do next: Smell, Touch, Sight, or Hearing, and what Bonus Boy you’d like to see me do, even if it’s a guy I haven’t written for yet! It can’t always be EZ! And don’t say Felipe lol
Everything Taglist: @sweetybuzz25  @mrsjaxtellerfan  @rhabakoli  @encounterthepast @realduckvader   @justvnash @knowles-morgan  @ateliefloresdaprimavera @evanlys19  @nyxxnoxx @carlaangel86  @luminex3 @jigsawlover10  @gollyderek @otomefromtheheart  @lexxierave  @amethyst09 @falsehopesndreams  @a-dorky-book-keeper @witchygagirl @glimmerglittergirl @fvckthisbxtchup  @ben-c-group-therapy @felicity-x0 @amirra88 @yourfellowangel @vibranium-soul @xserenax-13  @woahitslucyylu​  @gemini0410 @ktiz90 @theoceanhathsolace @starrynite7114 @my-rosegold-soul @papa-geralt-of-cirilla​ @abbiesthings @peaches007 @ifoundmyhappythought @tegggeeee  @bisexual-space-slut @mariaenchanted @thesandbeneathmytoes @sheeshgivemeabreak @queenbeered @sesamepancakes @venusis-inretrograde
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sinslasherfics · 3 years
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Would you please write headcanons of the slashers finding out that their s/o knows how to sing and is part of a rock band?
The thing is that the band isn't hard rock or anything , the music is kind of like the style of the song Lovefool by the cardigans or Sofia by Clairo . So it's a very soft sounding type of music .
coming right up 🖤
(gifs not mine)
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POLY GHOSTFACE
they didn’t know about it until it started taking over your time with them
stu’s pouty and billy is too
naturally their first instinct is to find out what has been taking all your time that you’re supposed to spend with THEM.
so you tell them you’re in a rock band
both are super ecstatic about it
you’re 1000x cooler to them now
not that you weren’t before, though
“what’s your part in the band?!”
“what do you play!?”
“*gasp* CAN YOU SING FOR US?”
10000% supportive
will attend any and every concert you have
you’ll know they’re there, too
they’re the loudest in the crowd
“THAT’S MY S/O!”
when their there, it’s not the kind of rock they expected
i mean all they rock they’ve listened to is some heavy kind of shit
they like the soft rock kind of thing you do
it’s sounds heavenly to them
and your vocals are music to their ears
after they get back with you from one of your concerts, they’re gonna wanna hear you sing for them
stu will annoy you until you do
“please. please? please! i just think you’ve got the prettiest voice!”
pouts a lot
you’re gonna give in, no doubt about it
billy will probably be more smooth with his approach
put on some jams he knows you love
then when you start singing stu comes in outta nowhere and joins in
he’ll start playing air guitar or something and you’ll end up having a mini concert with him in the middle of your living room
billy just watches, a smile on his face
your biggest fans!!
will brag about you 24/7 to all of their friends
super proud to be your boyfriends
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MICHAEL MYERS
stoic as ever
tell him you’re in a band and he has no reaction at all
that’s not to say he doesn’t care
he just doesn’t show emotion all to well
he’s listened to you practice some songs before, he knows for a fact you’re talented
he knows talent when he hears/sees it, and he appreciates talent
dont expect him to show up to any concerts, though
he’ll support you (stare at you while you sing) from the comfort of his home but will not willingly go into crowded areas like concert venues
he has to say he’s pretty impressed with the large amount of fans your band already has gathered up
decides one day it wouldn’t be so bad to support you
he’s not doing it for you what are you talking about he’s doing this this for himself
he’s doing it for you
it’s pretty easy to spot him in the crowd
he sees you’ve noticed his presence, as you send a smile his way
now, he was also thinking this would be some heavy rock kind of thing
after all, you hadn’t specified
so he was pretty surprised to hear such soft kind of rock
something new for a change
it was okay to him
would be a million times better if there wasn’t so many people pushing and shoving in the crowd
you were amazing, though
and he definitely thinks you better than any of your bandmates
again, he’ll never openly tell you that
but you’ll know
you can tell, even if he tries to keep up the emotionless facade
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JASON VOORHEES
he’s kinda wary about it
of course he thinks it’s awesome but he gets nervous letting you out of his sight for things like band practice
and no way was he gonna let your band members anywhere near crystal lake
so he’s at an inner battle with himself
he knows it makes you happy and you love doing it
but he also knows that he worried a lot about you and letting you out of his sight could possibly end in something bad
assure him constantly that he doesn’t have to worry
he’ll warm up to the idea of your band eventually
does not mean he likes your bandmates though
also will sure as hell not let them step foot onto his property
he lets you leave for practices and concerts and all that
sometimes when your gone he’ll get super anxious
to the point where he even considers leaving to look for you
he just wants to know your safe
he doesn’t leave though
he knows you’ll always come back to him
and since he wouldn’t want to step foot off camp crystal lake, bring the concert to him!!!
well....bring yourself and no one else
you explain to him the kind of rock it is, and he nods along
he hasn’t really heard much of the genre and is eager to learn about it
he turns out to love it a lot
will definitely look more into that kind of music
anyway, once you perform your one person show for him he’ll be super interested and in awe
he’ll be super happy to listen along and clap for you
lots and lots of encores
he just loves to hear you sing
especially in that soft kind of genre
sing him a lullaby, maybe?
please please please do!!
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BRAHMS HEELSHIRE
it’d be kinda hard to be in a band or anything with this boy
he just doesn’t like the idea of you spending time with anyone other than him
and especially if your band/concert time takes up time that’s meant to be spent with him
aka all the damn time
so I doubt he’d let you be in a band for that long or at all
but let’s say he does for some odd reason
you tell him all about it, and he dully listens
did you say you were in a ROCK band?
okay he’s a little interested
you can tell because he perks up a little
you go on to tell him its more soft-rock
either way he still wants to hear some of the music you make
and once you sing to him you should be ready to sing to him whenever he asks you to from now on
expect lullabies to become part of the daily routine
gets even more possessive
your voice should only be for HIS listening, HE’S your boyfriend.
ok yeah your probably not gonna be in a band for long
but you can throw your own little ‘concerts’ for him in the comfort of the living room!
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BO SINCLAIR
will also act like he could care less
don’t let his little act fool you
he’s curious!! proud!! amazed!! 
he’s a bastard though don’t ever expect him to say it.
he’s heard you sing before, more like hum
whenever he’s fixing cars or luring in some new victims, your right beside him humming away
he guesses those are your own original songs, since he hasn’t heard anything familiar to it before
he comes to find that he likes the soft-rock genre
you’d never guess he likes your singing, he always shuts you up whenever you start it
“will you stop the damn humming? i’m tryna work out here and you’re nothin’ but a damn distraction.”
you’ll find that if you hum again for a second time he won’t tell you to be quiet
sometimes you’ve caught him slightly bopping his head to it
also, he’ll have songs on the radio of the soft rock genre
obviously found out the genre existed from you
and soon he knows possibly every song of the genre
like brahms, he does NOT want any bandmates of yours around
you need band mates? lester’s probably got a banjo somewhere, work with it.
he’ll continue with the snarky comments, but you know he doesn’t mean them
i mean, he looks at you like you hung the moon and stars whenever your lips move to make music
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kingstylesdaily · 3 years
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What the 2021 Grammy Awards Will Look Like
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Artists including Billie Eilish, BTS, and Taylor Swift will perform in a circle of five stages with masked crew at the center — in a ceremony that first-time showrunner Ben Winston calls “part Grammys, part Abbey Road studio session”
Ben Winston is exhausted. The television producer, who moved from the U.K. to Los Angeles six years ago to start The Late Late Show With James Corden, is a week away from executive-producing his first Grammys telecast. “I literally had two hours of sleep last night,” he tells Rolling Stone via Zoom.
On Sunday, March 7th, the Recording Academy revealed a slate of performing artists for March 14th’s 63rd Annual Grammy Awards that includes Billie Eilish, BTS, Taylor Swift, Cardi B, and Harry Styles. But while those names are on the lineup, Winston knows nothing about live TV is ever set in stone — especially in the time of a pandemic —so he’s been spending his days double- and triple-checking plans, waking up at 4:30 a.m. dry-eyed and restless. He’s worked to make a show “with heart,” he says — one that “doesn’t feel isolated, quiet, or alone.” He also had to take extra steps to ensure the three-and-a-half hour show, which will not take place at the Grammys’ usual home of the Staples Center, is Covid-safe for performers and attendees. Despite all that, he appears remarkably enthusiastic and alert.
Here’s what viewers next Sunday can expect from music’s biggest night, according to Winston: a multi-stage, audience-free show that highlights the year’s creative triumphs, social justice movements, as well as Covid-19’s impact on the arts. Winston hints at several “unbelievably powerful” performances on the slate, adding that the Grammys “absolutely are acknowledging what’s happened” in the country in the last year.
Winston, who in 2018 co-produced Bruno Mars’ well-received live show at the Apollo for CBS, also wanted to highlight independent venues, which are the “lifeblood of this industry” and a launchpad for emerging musicians — so the Grammys will feature guest spots from owners and workers of iconic American venues, including L.A.’s Troubadour and Hotel Café, N.Y.’s Apollo, and Nashville’s Station Inn. “I drive past the Troubadour on my way home from work every night,” Winston says. “It’s a significant thing for me when I look at it all boarded up. I always think, ‘When those boards come down, this will be over.’ That will be the sign. That will be the day where it’s like, ‘We got through this.'” Winston realized from his conversations with venues that many of them put on their last shows on March 14th, 2020, meaning the Grammys will mark the one-year anniversary of the shutdown.
Employees will come on camera to “tell us a little bit about their venue” and present some of the awards. “So, you’ve got, like, a bartender at a beautiful, independent venue — and she’s giving out Album of the Year to these megastars,” he explains. His goal is to acknowledge the people who work tirelessly to keep these stomping grounds afloat and have recently lost their jobs. “Those venues are made up by the bartender and the security guard, the manager, the box office person, and the cleaner at the end of the night.” He hopes to remind people of the importance of supporting local venues again when it’s safe to do so.
Originally, the Grammys were scheduled for January 31st, but organizers announced a move to March right after the new year. Winston says he felt American morale was at a low point in January — between political insurrection, an impeachment trial, and Covid-19 running rampant in Los Angeles — and it “didn’t feel right” to put the show on in the middle of that. The Recording Academy and CBS, which exclusively airs the annual show, both supported his decision to postpone. “I can now do everything that I wanted to do in my best-case scenario for this year,” he says of Sunday’s show.
Sunday’s location is an undisclosed building in Los Angeles, but Winston teases that the new venue is “massive,” “magical,” and “the biggest building I’ve ever been in indoors.” “I don’t want it to look like I’m criticizing Staples, because it’s the most amazing venue,” he emphasizes, sharing that he’s open to bringing the Grammys back to the arena in the future if they ask him to. While he does believe that Staples is a safe place, he says he wanted to go above and beyond to make even the most-skeptical participants feel undoubtedly safe.
A team of Covid safety officers oversaw the production set-up, and artists will enter the stage from different directions to minimize contact. Each artist also has their own backstage area. The space “allowed us to build an entire world,” he says.
The show will involve five stages of the same size and shape, four of which are for performances and one of which is for presenters. Stages are organized in a circle, facing one another, and crew members will work from the middle of the set. “People will perform while the other three or four artists on their stages watch, applaud, and enjoy. As soon as that one finishes, the next one goes, the next one goes, and the next one goes. Every 45 minutes, you change out those stages, and you bring another four megastars into the room,” says Winston, who was partly inspired for the “part-Grammys, part-Abbey Road studio session” setup by British shows he watched as a child, including Jools Holland and TFI Friday.
It’s going to be a “bespoke night of music that I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to repeat,” Winston says. “It’s about taking a camera into a room, and making an amazing musical moment by filming it quite simply and elegantly.” Performances, which started being planned in April 2020, will be a mix of live and pre-recorded — a fully live show would involve too many crew members moving sets and risking close contact — but the whole thing is intended to feel completely live. (Winston challenges viewers to try and guess which sets are pre-recorded; he designed them to be difficult to tell.)
To help plan the sprawling, immersive show, Winston brought in a suite of collaborators including co-executive producer Jesse Collins, who produced The Weeknd’s Super Bowl halftime show; co-executive producer Raj Kapoor, who handled creative direction for various artists on the last seven Grammys and produced Vegas residencies for the likes of the Backstreet Boys and Mariah Carey; producer Fatima Robinson, whose expansive background in creative direction and choreography landed her the Black Eyed Peas’ 2011 halftime show and Kendrick Lamar’s 2016 Grammy performance; producer Misty Buckley, who handled production design for Kacey Musgraves’ 2020 Christmas show; talent executive Patrick Menton from Dick Clark Productions; Corden collaborator Josie Cliff; and Super Bowl halftime, Olympic ceremony, Oscars, and Emmys director Hamish Hamilton, who Winston describes as a “legend” he’s admired since he was 14 years old. (David Wild, who has written for the Grammys since 2001 and became a producer in 2016, is the only person returning to his role.) Winston also points out that artists were heavily involved in designing their own performances.
Rather than have cameras pan over empty seats and an awkwardly small stage, the production team decided to reinvent the visual format with the five-stage setup. The pandemic’s limitations, coupled with the advantages of new faces coming in with fresh perspectives, helped them refrain from thinking in terms of what the Grammys had done before, he said.
For the most part, Covid-19 didn’t force too many changes. It did give Winston a lot of anxiety.
“There’s been so much uncertainty with what you’re allowed to do,” he says. Changing international quarantine rules made him question whether certain performers could fly in, while health guidance keeps fluctuating: “Every time my computer or phone dings, my first instinct is, ‘Oh, God, what’s gone wrong?’ I don’t know if that’s ever been my mentality before.”
While all the performers are confirmed and currently Covid-free, “you never know, one of their girlfriends could have Covid and have to quarantine, it’s all just bonkers,” Winston says. “There’s one artist that may, in the end, not be able to make it here due to rules of the country they’re currently in. There’s one immigration issue that we’ve got left.”
The show does not have replacements on hand if anyone pulls out — it’ll just cut that performance out.
Above all, Winston wants the 2021 Grammys to focus attention off of dire times. “I want people to be able to watch the 2021 Grammys in 2040 and go, ‘Wow, what an amazing show that was,’ and not go, ‘Oh, that was the Covid year, that’s why they had to do that,'” he says. “I think that’s what we could achieve if we get it right on Sunday.”
via RollingStone.com
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aurora-daily · 3 years
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AURORA
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Interview by Stuart Williams for Euphoria Magazine (July 9th, 2021).
Norwegian songstress AURORA returns with brand new single “Cure for Me,” a glistening, message-driven piece that looks to set summer 2021 alight. “The ‘Cure for Me’ single was actually born two years ago,” she tells EUPHORIA in an exclusive interview. “I was in Australia on tour and then instead of having a day off in between the gigs, I asked my drummer and co-producer Magnus if we could rent a studio for a day and have some fun. I had this theme I wanted to get out of my head [hums melody]. I just really wanted to make a song with this ugly theme and we made it — my team kind of discovered it a few years later and said, ‘Ah, this is lovely, we should make it a single.’”
Speaking about the synth-laden track, AURORA finds herself reflecting on a controversial practice evident around the world. “It was originally inspired by those countries in the world that still forbid being gay and also the countries where conversion therapy is still allowed,” she says. “I think even in Norway it’s allowed — that’s the main reason I wrote this song. I was like, ‘I want to make a fun, celebration song about I don’t need a cure for me, I don’t need it, I’m perfectly fine.’ It’s absurd how the world can ever think that people will ever need a cure for love. Then I also know that it can mean a few different things, which I’m excited about, but it’s mainly the fact that it’s very easy to make people believe that there is something wrong with them. People tend to go to that fact so quickly — it takes so little before we’re like, ‘Oh, something is really wrong with me. I didn’t react the same way that they did, I must be fucked up.’ Or, ‘I don’t look like them; OK something is wrong.’ You know, we think something is wrong with us all the time and the media is telling us we’re not good enough. Everything all the time is trying to make us think that we’re insane. That’s kind of sad isn’t it? So it is kind of an opposite thing.”
With “Cure for Me” evoking a deepened understanding of an important subject to the artist, AURORA finds herself looking inward. “I am very lucky because I’ve never been that affected,” she shares. “I’ve been told many times in my life that, ‘You’re a bit [makes cuckoo bird sound].’ I’m very little Norwegian in many areas; I’m very Norwegian in some. It’s a very strange culture here and if you are very open, emotional, impulsive, and if you have a bit of a different brain, [it] doesn’t take much before you get aware even as a child that, ‘Oh, I am a bit different’ and it messes with your head a bit. It messed a bit with my mind in the beginning when I first started noticing it. I’ve never really cared and I don’t care now — I find so much joy and liberation in simply existing in the way that fits me the most. That’s a joy I find hard to let go of. We’re so diverse and that’s the whole point. That’s the foundation in our species that we are all different and we still manage to twist it around and make people feel bad about it.”
With the pandemic pushing live music events back further and further, the singer is eager to explore the track in a live setting. Speaking about her feelings from the release of the new single, AURORA says, “I wish I was nervous because I love being nervous, it’s like being in love isn’t it? But I am not nervous, I rarely am — it seems like a waste to me to be nervous about something I can’t control. But when I’m done with it, I need to just release it and it’s out of my hands, out of mind and out of sight — it belongs to the world. So no, I’m not nervous at all, but I am very excited. It’s always interesting and a fun experiment to see how people react when you do something a little different. It varies a lot what people think about it, so that’s very interesting to watch.”
Describing the process of creating the track, she says, “I like experimenting with the people you have around you. I like using the people I love and I like working with close people, you know. I feel like you don’t need to look out and search for the big names out there when you have talented friends, and you can just make music with them instead. Magnus is very good — I love working with him because he doesn’t write lyrics and interfere too much. I can’t write with anyone because I don’t like it so much, so it’s nice for me to be able to write and do what I want. When we produce the music we are sometimes very on the same page and sometimes we disagree. It’s fun to either fight for your opinion or learn that you were wrong, and I love that. We just have fun.”
Six years ago saw singer-songwriter AURORA release “Runaway,” the opener to All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend, an album that saw her career catapulted into the stratosphere. Today “Runaway” has 275 million streams on Spotify, 140 million views on YouTube, and is rising week over week in the Official Singles Chart Top 100. Not only this, the track has also been given new life on social media app TikTok and is being streamed 2 million times daily. The roots of “Runaway” emerged at 11 years old, AURORA says. “I often think about that — of course our mind I guess perceives the past like, ‘Oh my God, it went so quick’ and I can remember things from when I wrote the song when I was 11 and now I’m over 10 years older than that. It is weird but I guess I remember the times, I’ve been really depressed two times in my life and then time moves so slowly that it’s exhausting and suffocating, so I feel like it’s a very good sign when you feel like time has gone past.”
It’s hard to believe that in 2015 the track found its way to the ears of a then-12-year-old Billie Eilish. It arguably led to Eilish starting her music journey — a career that has made her a global phenomenon. The track, AURORA says, has found a brand new life out in the world. “It has lived its life and therefore the success ‘Runaway’ is achieving I don’t manage to take it personally because it’s not me anymore, you know?” she says. “It’s sort of like, it’s a baby and every song is a child when you make them and it’s best part: making the child. It’s the most fun in every way, I think, in all possible metaphors. But I think when you raise the song, it’s a teenager or an adult and you just have to let them go and let them live their best life out there.”
Reflecting further on a younger version of herself, AURORA explores a very different mindset from that age and then now. “I remember when I first started writing I was really aware and had this epiphany that, ‘Oh my God, music can help with so much and music can speak about the unspoken. It can explain the unexplainable and put words into these impossible emotions,’” she says. “It has to do with being human. I took music very seriously, music was always very serious for me — very emotional and very explosive. Like a medicine, but I took it really seriously and I have so many sad songs. They all have a little light in them, I don’t manage to bring out sadness unless there is light to complement it I guess. I have so many sad songs and with time I kind of learnt that, ‘Oh my God, there is a whole world out there and people also need to dance and have fun in this life.’ I kind of learnt as I grew older that I can write songs that are fun and I can address things in the world that I love and hate, and I can speak up. Music can be much now: it can be a political force, it can be an emotional force and a release. Now I’m just enjoying all the signs of it. But it’s changed a lot, I’m more open now to what music can be, which is delightful.”
The human experience is a theme AURORA touches on throughout her musical output, however the physical act of producing art has been a huge outlet for the artist during this time. “I am very comfortable with this staying-inside-being-anti-social situation,” she shares. “It’s very good for me and I’m actually enjoying it quite a lot. Even though I can feel it in the people that [there is] this itch under the skin. I can feel the itch for things to change and go back to normal, but I’m also really enjoying things as they are now. I’ve been painting quite a lot. I always find it very intimidating to paint big pictures, obviously you know, it’s very easy to make a small piece of art, for me at least. I’ve been trying to make a really big one so it’s really big, and it’s very scary; but it’s very soothing. Painting to me is like the same as music but the opposite, because it’s an outlet for the art and it’s quiet and serene. While music is very explosive for me so it’s a very nice thing to have in my life. I feel very balanced.”
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aelaer · 3 years
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First: welcome home & I hope you get the sleep you need to get back into your routines! Second: it's Feb. 2, a significant day to our beloved Stephen Strange. I know you're exhausted right now, and the timing is poor--but perhaps when you're up to, you could write a little one-shot about his feelings all these years later (is it 2022 or 2023?) on the anniversary of the accident that changed his life forever. Can't think of anyone better suited to write it! xx
This was sent a year ago but last month I planned to have it out for Feb 2nd, hah.
For canon, he comes back in 2023 in what I think was likely after Feb 2nd, so realistically he can address the anniversary again in 2024. It'd feel like only 3 years for him while, in actuality, it'd been 8. But when it comes to his experienced time versus actual passing time, Stephen's pretty messed up without the Decimation already (I'm not sure how I feel about the name of the "Blip" yet.)
The prompter also requested first person after I asked for more details, and I haven't ever written Stephen in first person so I thought I'd give it a go. I know first person isn't everyone's cup of tea, but if you're willing to give it a shot, call me very obliged.
Warning for canon compliance :P
——————
Staring Back In Time Rating: G (well, other than language)
An entry from the memoirs of Doctor Stephen Strange, Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, during his time as the Master of the New York Sanctum, several months after the Battle of Earth against Thanos:
February 2, 2024
Calendars don't mean as much as they used to. Once upon a time my life was ruled by the calendar. Consultation here, surgery there, society dinner over the weekend. Dates were important and generally set without change once marked down.
It doesn't work that way as a sorcerer. I keep a schedule, of course, one that marks down classes with apprentices and adepts and meetings with other Masters, never mind all the business outside of Kamar-Taj. But I learned early on that these set times shifted occasionally to accommodate the emergencies that the order often had to quash down, and it became obvious that as a Master, my schedule was more of a hopeful guideline than anything set in stone. Flexibility was a necessity.
Ever since my return to the living, keeping anything resembling a set schedule has been more of a laughable dream. Earth being the center of two universe-changing, Infinity Stone-powered events in a matter of hours did serious damage to the fabric woven about reality across the planet, and the Masters of the Mystic Arts are going to be dealing with the multidimensional repercussions for years to come. Nothing is predictable in my day-to-day anymore.
My relationship with time was fucked the moment I confronted Dormammu, so I can't say it's a large surprise that calendars have become mostly irrelevant.
If someone had told me that I, Doctor Stephen Strange, a man of order and precision, would learn to live with such unpredictability, I would have laughed in their face. But I'm not the man I once was (and thank God for that; that man was a dick). However, it's also because of this change that I didn't realize the day until it was nearly done.
I was reviewing my schedule for tomorrow, which I had set up on Google Calendar (Google had, naturally, survived the Decimation just fine, but like most other non-vital services, had many of their upcoming products delayed for years. But their email and calendar services continue to work great). Tomorrow's a Saturday, which means nothing in my world. My work continues on. The threats on our reality care little for weekends or holidays.
Still, it was only during this review, shortly before I planned to retire for the night, that I realized that today is February 2nd.
I won't ever forget the day, of course. It was both three years ago and eight years ago—or perhaps many lifetimes ago would be a more accurate description, though I lost track of time in both of my major journeys with the Time Stone. One day I'll write about them. Not now, but one day. Both memories are still too fresh.
The memory of the day of the accident, though? It feels both like yesterday and centuries ago. Some parts of the day are engraved in my memory like a film. I remember the last surgery down to the individual conversations. Christine's "thank you". Nick's watch. The cling of the bullet as I dropped it onto the tray.
I can remember my last conversation with Billy, too, in the car. Every damned word. But the drive itself is fuzzy, even in my head with my memory. I remember it began to rain during the drive, not beforehand, and I know the road was narrow and two-laned. I know I avoided a direct route to avoid traffic, driving first into Jersey before heading north and crossing the river again. But the rest is forgotten to time, or perhaps to trauma.
I was told that Billy was the first to call 9-1-1 as he heard the tearing of metal and shattering of glass before the connection was lost. The driver I hit—I learned much later that she escaped with only minor injuries—called a couple minutes later. But it was out in the mountains, dark, and raining. It took them hours to find me and extract me from the car.
Funny. Never thought I'd ever write about one of the worst days of my life like this. But I was told early on that personal journals were encouraged for all who stay in Kamar-Taj. Something about its therapeutic benefits was mentioned at some point. I only picked up the practice once I learned that each gifted journal was inaccessible to others until the time of their death, and after I mastered the art of enchanting a pen to write the words I spoke. Unfortunately this journal appeared to others after the Decimation, but Wong has reassured me that no one read it and it has since disappeared again from public view. 
Still, the point is that, one day, someone just might read this—account of a man who was part of an effort to save the universe. And it is difficult for a reader to judge my actions if they don't know how I was the one who ruined my life. My driving was reckless and stupid. I was running a little late, but it wouldn't have mattered in the long run had I been fifteen, twenty minutes, thirty minutes late. Not really.
Then again, I suppose it would have. I certainly wouldn't be here right now.
One could say that the accident and everything that has followed is some sort of penance for my hubris as a surgeon. I enjoy my newer abilities—quite a bit—but the responsibility that has come with them has not come without its own hardships and sacrifices. Perhaps the worst of the sacrifices were the ones I was unable to prevent others from performing, all for the sake of the universe.
Those sacrifices were made willingly, but I cannot help but feel responsible for them, regardless. 
During my first winter again returned to the living, when the days grew colder and my hands ached in the bad weather, and the only thoughts to accompany the pain were bitter, another thought was born. I was tempted, for the first time in a long time, to give it all up, restore my fine motor skills with channeled magic, and go back to the world I once knew, for a life much, much easier than this one is now. Even with all the troubles that had cropped up as people tried to reorganize a world that doubled in size overnight, it was miles away from the difficulties we were facing in Kamar-Taj.
Their sacrifices—the fates I pushed so many people towards—quelled the idea quickly. It did little to ease the physical pain or sting of guilt, but it lifted the temptation. And ever since that day, I have considered the situation and I don't think I will ever be tempted by the idea of giving up my duties for an easier, pain-free life again.
And I suppose that counts for something.
——————
(Hey look, my interest in geography's leaked again.)
I've always wondered where Stephen actually crashed mostly because New York City is *flat* and those mountains were *very much not flat*. I figured out the bridge that he crossed to get out of the city (there are like, 21 bridges that lead out of Manhattan) was the George Washington Bridge, and it leads to New Jersey—but that's not necessarily useful because it can quickly turn back into New York state if you turn north. We also know he crashed down into a body of water, which *might* be the Hudson, but also might not, but that the body of water is to his left, which narrows it down a bit. But again, not much. And the site of his crash is so dark in the videos and screenshots that I can barely tell what's on it. It looks like a bridge and some industrial building, so the Hudson's a good guess, but otherwise? Well, basically I turned on the topography part of Google maps and started searching.
The 202 on the east side of the river just north of Peekskill (again in New York) matches the movie road's windiness, height, and closeness to the river, and even has a bridge that could be just to the north of the crash site. Unfortunately the railing's off and there's no industrial building thingy by the bridge. It also makes the route out of the city via George Washington Bridge make no sense. Like the Stark Industries area in LA in the films, it's probably a completely fictional landscape.
But as I wasn't able to find a better locale that was still close enough to NYC to direct an emergency helicopter to, my headcanon for this scene is that he left via George Washington bridge to avoid some major traffic or something, crossed the river via the 287 a bit further up north to get back to the east side of the river, then went up the 9 to the 202. Unless someone who lives in the area can find the actual road he was driving (if it's real), this is what I'm gonna go with. (And if someone DOES please let me knowwwww). Funny enough, I don't see him getting led to *his* hospital totally unrealistic, because he'd need a very talented orthopedic surgeon with a specialty in hands to come in, and generally speaking a patient can be helicoptered to another hospital where such a surgeon is available. If Stephen is working at the Metro-General, it's likely they can afford a large cast of talented surgeons. So I don't think Nick was necessarily the lead surgeon in his case, just one of many necessary surgeons.
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amwritesitall · 4 years
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Harriet Hayes Dating a Younger Woman Would Include
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Masterlist
anonymous said: can you do headcanons for all sarah characters that you write for dating a (much) younger girl ?
I hope you guys like this one :)
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Harriet Hayes
You’re one of the new writers hired to work on Studio 60 fresh out of college
Studio 60 is your first big job
In your first few months, you don't interact with Harriet much
You spend most of the time in the writer's room and your tiny closet of an office
During this time you do make a name for yourself around the studio for being a hell of a writer
Most of your sketches making it into the show every week
And the best ones star a certain blonde actress
Harriet is your muse and writing for her is some of your best work
After weeks upon weeks of you writing hit after hit for the woman, she finally goes to Matthew and Danny and asks who's writing all of this great material
She expected them to say it was Matthew, but instead, they say it's you
Matthew gestures over to where you're sitting in a spare area writing on a notepad
(Sometimes you like to get out of your cramped office and write wherever you can find a free space)
"(Y/N), she's one of our newest writers and surprisingly almost always gets a great sketch into the show. I think she might have a crush on you or at least your talent"
Matthew winks at the woman and Harriet looks over at you
"Well, I must go meet my new favorite writer," Harriet says smiling before making her way over to you
"Hey! What about me?" Matthew calls after her
"You've been replaced!"
You look up as Harriet sits down in front of you, shocked that she’s even paying attention to you
It’s not that she’s ever been rude to you, but usually the cast doesn’t interact with new writers that much
“Hi, Ms. Hayes,” you say nervously
“Oh please, (Y/N), call me Harriet,” she says smiling brightly at you causing you to blush
She adds “I thought I should meet the writer who’s giving me such amazing material to work with this season”
“It’s an honor to meet you, Harriet”
The two of you chat about your writing and careers 
You end talking for almost two hours before one of the other cast members has to grab Harriet to go work on something
Once Harriet leaves your kind of in awe
The awe keeps coming when later in the night you’ve finally gone back to your office and there’s a knock on your door
You reach over and open it (because, yes your office is that small) to reveal Harriet standing there
“So, this is where the magic happens?”
“Until I get too cramped and move to right somewhere else,” you say making her giggle
“I was wondering if you wanted to finish writing for the day and go get some dinner?” 
She bites her bottom lip as she waits for your response
“Is Harriet Hayes asking me out on a date?”
She smiles
“If you want it to be then, yes”
And that’s how you land your first date with Harriet Hayes
The date goes really well
The two of you go to some bar near the studio
You learn more about the woman and she loves getting to know you as well
This time there are no interruptions, so you and Harriet talk for hours until it gets so late that you and her should probably call it a night
Before the two of you part ways, Harriet gives you a kiss on the cheek
Unknown to the two of you, someone with the press got pictures of you and Harriet’s date
They are released the next day, but you don’t even notice
Harriet’s manager tells her about the pictures circulating and she just shrugs it off
That same day Harriet knocks on your office door around noon holding a takeout bag
“I thought you might be in need of a lunch break,” she says gesturing to the food she’s carrying
You had been working so hard that you hadn’t even noticed what time it was
The two of you eat lunch in her dressing room
Harriet totally asked around to see what she should get for lunch for you and her because she didn’t know what you liked
Harriet doesn’t bring up the pictures of you and her circulating because you didn’t seem to have noticed and she didn’t want to make it awkward
For the next two weeks, Harriet finds excuses to come find you
Sometimes it’s coffee in the morning
Takeout bags filled with lunch
Or she catches you at the end of the day and invites you to dinner or drinks
At show’s after-party, she even spends most of her time with you
Pulling you out onto the dance floor
Wrapping an arm around your waist
The two of you haven’t really put a label on what you and Harriet are, but everyone around you and her thinks you’re a couple
Harriet gives you kisses on the cheek
Hugs you whenever she sees you
And always makes time to see you
Some nights she even kisses you on the lips before the two of you part ways
Finally after two weeks of whatever is going on between you and Harry, at the after-party you and Harriet are sitting at a table in a quieter part of the club and she has her hand resting on your thigh
“Harry, what are you and me?”
“What do you mean?”
“Are you my girlfriend?”
Harriet chuckles and smiles at you, “Do you want to be my girlfriend?”
“Um, hell yes”
This causes the blonde to smile even wider
“Then, yes, I’m your girlfriend”
Harriet leans in and kisses you, not caring if anyone sees
Not that the two of you are officially girlfriends, Harriet finds even more excuses to see you
Most nights she also invites you back to her place 
She drops by your office sometimes just to see how you’re doing and gives you a kiss
You give her a good luck kiss before every show even though you know she’s going to do great
The two of you don’t confirm you’re relationship until Harriet says something in an interview
The two of you haven’t been hiding your relationship, but you and her also didn’t comment on it to the tabloids
You and Harriet are an acting/writing duo to be reckoned with
You end up moving in with Harriet during the shows summer break
Sometimes you try to write while your home with Harriet and Harriet is awful about distracting you
She just wants you to pay attention to her and she’s adorable
“Harry, do you want me to finish this sketch or not?”
“That depends. Will you give me kisses afterward?”
“Yes”
“Then fine”
She sits quietly by you as you finish it
She loves watching you work
Harry thinks the face you make while you’re concentrating is adorable
One night, after a couple years of dating, Harriet leans up in bed and asks “Am I still your muse?”
You smile and kiss the woman
“Hannah Harriet Hayes, you will always be my muse.”
-
Dating a Younger Woman Would Include: Billie Dean Howard, Lana Winters, Cordelia Goode, Bette and Dot Tattler, Sally McKenna, Audrey Tindall, Ally Mayfair Richards, Wilhemina Venable, Alice Macray, Tammy, Harriet Hayes (you are here)
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gayenerd · 3 years
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This is another article I found during the internet k-hole I went into while looking for information about Adrienne’s ex-fiance, saved in a document, and now can’t find online anymore. I think it was originally featured in the Mankato Free Press, but the author apparently had a blog detailing her 2009 efforts to get in contact with Adrienne and campaign for Green Day to play in Mankato again. There’s some more interesting tidbits about the Mankato punk scene and an interview with Adrienne there. 
Campaign Green Day: Reflection
By Amanda Dyslin
Free Press Features Editor
June 10, 2009 11:29 pm
— It was dark in the middle of the southern Minnesota countryside, somewhere by St. Peter in the summer of 1992.
On a farm with a barn and not much else, there was one light pole casting a shallow glow on three guys standing atop 6-foot wide, 5-foot tall wire spools — a makeshift stage to gain high ground over 200 or so people watching. Next to them was a big, old, beat-up beast of a car pulled up by the owner so 15 or so people could stand on top and gain a better view. One of them had a video camera.
Ben Gruber, then a sophomore at Loyola High School, was there. In fact, he and a buddy had helped haul equipment for the band, and even gave the drummer, Tre Cool, a ride before the show in Mankato. The music was good, he said. A lot more polished than other punk bands he’d seen in Mankato.
He was aware of the five-year-old band, born in Berkeley, Calif., he said. They’d put out a couple of smaller recordings, including their full-length debut “39/Smooth” on Lookout! Records. But they were two years from their breakthrough record, “Dookie,” which would have pretty much everyone at the show that night in awe of what they had experienced — maybe one of the last stripped down, small-scale punk shows Green Day would ever perform.
Mankato punk
The Libido Boyz are often considered the anchor of the Mankato punk scene in the late 1980s/early 1990s. It was a time when the city was rich with garage and basement punk bands, drummer Chad Sabin said before a reunion show in 2007. PSD and Plain Truth were a couple of other bands that got a lot of attention at the time.
Marti’s All Ages Music, located where the Vietnamese restaurant Tonn is now on Front Street, was an open building with a bathroom and a couple of booths where kids could put on shows. A couple of bands went on to the big time after playing there. The Offspring was one of them.
Many claimed having heard of friends who had seen Green Day play at Marti’s. According to a former talent booker, the closest Green Day ever came to playing the venue was when frontman Billie Joe Armstrong and his girlfriend, Adrienne Nesser, walked in and left right after The Offspring’s set in 1994. Marti’s tried to get Green Day to play the venue numerous times, but it was way too small for even the moderate level of fame they’d already gained pre-“Dookie.” Marti’s had the same trouble with the punk band Fugazi.
“It was pretty much no frills,” Gruber said. “There wasn’t much to do there.”
The bulk of the punk scene was made up of high school and college-age punk-rockers who would play anywhere, Sabin said. Like a lot of kids at the time, the Libido Boyz just wanted to play loud, chaotic music, which also is what people seemed to want to hear. Kids would cram into basements for concerts or listen outside garages.
“On any given week or weekend, there would be a show with anywhere from two to 10 bands playing,” Gruber said. “There was a really good crop of musician-age kids who were into (punk) for a while (before) grunge became very popular.”
During the next few years, the Libido Boyz got big. They played in the Cities and toured the state and eventually started playing shows across the country, including New York and San Francisco. Out West is where they met Green Day, who would become the biggest punk band to come through Mankato.
“They were just dirty punks like us,” Sabin said.
Former Libido Boyz bassist Dave Begalka said they played punk shows with Green Day from time to time while on tour. Mike Dirnt, Green Day bassist, actually did Begalka a big favor once when they played a show in Cleveland together.
Some of Begalka’s bass gear went missing, and a couple of months later he saw Dirnt when they both were playing shows in the California Bay Area. Turns out, the bass gear was mixed up with Dirnt’s equipment that night, and he’d been keeping it safe for him the whole time.
“I thought that was just downright a swell thing to do,” Begalka said. “As I recall, I think we couch surfed at Billy Joe’s that night. ... By the way, I still use the lost guitar strap that went around the U.S. with Green Day.”
The Libido Boyz and Green Day crossed paths in another way as well, through Adrienne, who was a student at Minnesota State University and living in Mankato.
The first lady
Adrienne (Nesser) Armstrong, now 39, was born in Minneapolis and started at MSU in the late 1980s, graduating with the class of 1994 with a degree in sociology.
She met Billie Joe on Green Day’s first tour in 1990. Some report it was a show at First Ave in Minneapolis, and she is quoted at greenday.net as saying only about 10 people were there. She asked Billie Joe where she could get a copy of the band’s CD, and the two hit it off.
While on tour, Billie Joe kept in contact with Adrienne by phone. Their first kiss inspired an early Green Day song, “2,000 Light Years Away.” Their relationship caused Billie Joe to arrange two tours around Minnesota so they could see each other, a relationship which lasted about a year and a half.
Although it’s unclear, witnesses who saw Billie Joe and Adrienne around Mankato during that time say the reason Green Day played shows in the area at all was simply because she was here. The shows weren’t a part of any tour, but rather impromptu ways to pass to the time.
The relationship fizzled after they decided the distance was too much of a strain. Adrienne got engaged to Billy Bisson, the frontman of Libido Boyz, the following year. Reports differ from either side, with some saying the relationship dissolved on its own. Bisson has been quoted as saying Billie Joe stole her away.
While in Mankato, Adrienne worked at various places, including the Piercing Pagoda in the River Hills Mall and Pagliai’s Pizza, and is described by those who knew her as a beautiful punk rock girl who everybody had a crush on.
Cheryl Rueda, manager of Pagliai’s, worked with Adrienne and three of the Libido Boyz at the restaurant when Adrienne was dating Bisson. Adrienne also babysat for Cheryl’s kids.
“She was a beautiful girl,” Rueda said. “I think the world of her. She was just a regular person.”
Thursday nights Adrienne babysat for Cheryl’s two kids, Andre and Marisa, who were about 3 and 6 at the time. She would often have a craft project or activity to do to keep them entertained. She even took them out trick-or-treating during a blizzard one year.
“She was their favorite babysitter,” she said.
Carrie Zempel Heise worked with her at a bar called The Jungle, now Dutler’s Bowl.
“I ran into her after the bar had closed down (she was working at Pier 1 Imports), and she told me she was moving out West soon,” Zempel said. “Months later, word got back that she had married Billie Joe, and then the next thing I saw was an interview with him in Rolling Stone magazine talking about his pregnant wife!”
When Adrienne finished school, Billie Joe convinced her to move to California and marry him. Rueda said it happened so fast it seemed she was gone over night. Before she left, she and friends had a big garage sale, said Amy Lennartson of Eagle Lake. She and Lennartson originally had plans to move to San Francisco together and open a business.
“She headed West that May, and I stayed over the summer to finish up my time at MSU,” Lennartson said. “Then, in true rock star fashion, I returned home from a Fourth of July vacation to a wedding invitation from Adrienne — to a wedding that had already happened.”
The wedding took two weeks to plan and happened in five minutes July 2, 1994, in Billie Joe’s backyard, according to the VH1 “Behind the Music” documentary. “We didn’t think about it, we just did it,” Adrienne said.
Protestant, Catholic and Jewish vows were exchanged because neither had a religion. The honeymoon took place 10 minutes from Billie Joe’s house at the Claremont Hotel. The day after the wedding, Adrienne found out she was pregnant.
The couple has two sons, Joseph Marciano, 14, and Jakob Danger, 10.
Adrienne now co-owns Adeline Records in Oakland, Calif., and Adeline Street clothing line. She works with the Natural Resources Defense Council, and co-owns Atomic Garden, an eco-friendly clothing and home goods store.
There is at least one friend in Mankato Adrienne is reported to keep in contact with. But said friend — whose basement Green Day was reported to have played in and who reportedly visited the Armstrongs in California — wasn’t eager to talk about it.
Rueda kept in contact with Adrienne for a while. Adrienne would send the Rueda kids Green Day T-shirts and things. She also sent a family photo to the Ruedas years ago. When Adrienne’s first son was 1 1/2, she came back to Mankato to visit and Rueda saw them. She was the same person she had always been, Rueda said.
A few years ago, Adrienne asked a friend in Mankato to go to the Ruedas’ house and videotape the kids so she could see how much they had grown up. Otherwise, the Ruedas haven’t heard from her since.
Big time
The night Green Day played St. Peter, the original plan was for them to play at someone’s house behind where Casey’s is now on Lee Boulevard in North Mankato.
Two local bands went on first. But the cops came and broke it up because of the noise. Gruber and his buddy offered to drive equipment and Tre Cool to a house on Fifth Street in Mankato, where somebody had offered up their basement. But the band took one look and said it was way too small.
That’s when a girl whose family lived off Hwy. 99 near St. Peter offered her place.
“This whole caravan of cars ended up driving out to her place,” Gruber said.
It was too hot to play in the barn. Gruber suggested the guys make a mini stage out of the wire spools, which they thought was pretty punk rock, even commenting on that stage and show later on a bootleg recording, he said.
Gruber said he later recognized songs such as “Welcome to Paradise” off of “Dookie” that they played that night — the night most people look to as the epitome of nostalgia when it comes to Green Day’s presence in Mankato. People still go to YouTube to check out the nine or so minutes of footage from that concert, despite being out of focus, jittery and too dark to see much.
“Took me back,” Gruber said of watching the footage. “That guy filming, he was probably standing right next to me and my friends.”
A couple of hundred people have similar memories from that night, having accidentally stumbled upon a concert that would become local legend. None of them could possibly have imagined what Green Day would become.
“Dookie,” released in 1994 — which followed 1992’s “Kerplunk,” having sold 50,000 copies — sold more than 10 million copies in the U.S. That album, along with those of The Offspring and Rancid, is credited for reviving mainstream interest in punk music, and it won Best Alternative Album at the Grammy Awards.
Future albums, “Insomniac” and “Nimrod,” went double platinum, and “Warning” went gold. None of them reached the level of success of “Dookie.”
But 2004’s punk rock opera “American Idiot” changed everything. Debuting at No. 1 and selling five million copies, critics absolutely drooled over it. “American Idiot” won Best Rock Album at the 2005 Grammys and swept the MTV Video Music Awards.
“Boulevard of Broken Dreams” spent 16 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and won the Grammy for Record of the Year. During the band’s 150-date tour in support of the album, they drew crowds of 130,000 people over two days in the United Kingdom.
The band’s new album, “21st Century Breakdown,” was released worldwide May 15 and received rave reviews. Last week the band played “The Tonight Show” with Conan O’Brien.
Their world tour kicks off in July, with the Minneapolis show at the Target Center July 11.
Copyright � 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.
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danwhobrowses · 3 years
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WWE Royal Rumble 2021 - Initial Thoughts
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I know I’m late, but employment is still a thing, and I had to prioritize that over an all-nighter, but it’s time for the Royal Rumble, one of the more exciting shows of WWE’s schedule, so let’s get on with it!
Spoilers for Royal Rumble, you have been Warned
I might not invest too much in kickoff matches but the Women’s Tag Match was not a good time
It was fine before the end, but who the hell decided that Charlotte should control 90% of the champions’ offense and have the hot tag!? Asuka is the RAW WOMEN’S CHAMPION, not Charlotte. After the tag Asuka literally had one spot and she was dead, completely taken out of the match for *checks notes* being thrown over the Announcer’s Table...you know that thing several wrestlers come back from easily.
The finish was just too much too, Ric distraction didn’t work, Lacey distraction didn’t work, Kirufuda Clutch didn’t work but then the brass knuckles did. Too much.
And why TF are we putting titles back on Nia!? We should’ve just given the titles to the Riotts, or the winner of the Women’s Dusty Classic. It also cuts me deep that Asuka and Shayna are treated this way, even as champion Asuka is a side character to Charlotte T_T
Main show though and I don’t like the package and interviews between entrances
Drew vs Goldberg was just...meaningless.
It was cringy enough that Cole had to spout drivel to make 60 year old Goldberg seem strong but to have Drew be ‘injured’ by a barricade spear - something much more tired wrestlers have and will get back up from in less time and continue a longer match - was daft. Also saying that Goldberg’s spear or jackhammer is the best move of all WWE is stupid, it was a WCW thing
Thank God Drew Won, but the post-match does remind you of the meaningless circumstances this feud came about. Suddenly Goldberg is okay with Drew’s same manners of respect
I mean, Carmella’s entrance and gear is cool, but do you think it eats at Corey a little that Carmella’s ‘behind the curtain’ bit is a tad...red light district?
Sasha’s promo didn’t hit for me unfortunately
Reginald didn’t deserve to be ejected for that! He caught Sasha and get beaten up for it
Jesus Carmella! Sasha got barely any of that dive
Screeching and faffing aside, Carmella got a good showing...I do hate quick tap outs in title matches though
Sami cuts a good promo, but his content wasn’t exactly the best. New Day are hardly the management’s faves, it’s taken this long for E to get a singles run, Fans literally had to Yes Movement their way into giving Kofi the world title.
New Day’s Brodie gear was good though
Bad Bunny as the ‘Biggest Latin Artist’? Is Cole for real? I didn’t even know who he was before today
If the song is about Booker T then why is he dancing around GI Bro?
Come on Book, you hang on the Sucka! That’d be like if the Rock just went ‘If ya smell what the Rock is cooking’ without the drags or pauses
Ric’s ‘with a tear in my eye’ promo was after the Rumble though...
It’s actually a sad stat that just over half of the Rumble winners win titles
No Morrison segment for the escape spot!? He did it as much as Kofi dammit!
Sorry Greatest Royal Rumble is not canon for me
This Stat Attack has taken far too long
I’m okay with Mike Rome but couldn’t a woman have announced the Women’s Rumble? Where’s Lillian at!?
NAOOOOOOOMIIIIIIIIIIIIII GIRL WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?
That hair is amazing as well
I know you can’t say it, but we all remember that Benoit won the rumble in the first two as well
Was...Bianca wearing earrings on her entrance, she looked like she was taking them off
Billie actually had the right idea, can’t be in the match until you enter the ring, it’s clever stuff
That tank did not look like it was meant to turn that direction XD
It actually surprises me every time how tall Shotzi is, I always imagine her short
Billie no...not with Shayna
The piped boos are highly unrealistic to boo even a heel Toni Storm
Shotzi eliminated and then horrible singer Jillian comes in? Urrrrgh, Bad Singer Jillian was terrible
Wrestling wise she hasn’t missed a beat though
Billie’s surprisingly being a highlight here with actual narra-OHMYSHITITSVICTORIA
Gear was a bit meh but Victoria definitely can still go
Oh Peyton the purple looks good on you, and her Widow’s Peak was not bad at all
Ah, good for Santana, for a moment I thought it said Santina and got a very bad chill
Damn Liv, Speed Machine!
Ooof, the betrayal is real Billie
THIS IS MY BRUTALITY!
Somehow I’m genuinely upset by every elimination so far, good job!
Aaaaaand then they got rid of Victoria and brought on Charlotte to immediately take out Rhea -_-
That was a clever move from Bayley but damn Ruby landed hard
Are we seeing a Bayley/Peyton team? Or is she just eliminating the Riotts for revenge for Billie, but also Liv Nooooo!
Torrie now, eh okay
Ouch for Dana
Lacey...no, this ain’t working
Poor Peyton, her elimination was a side chapter
And we missed Bayley’s elimination!? For Shame
Mickie! Good to see ya! Aaaaand being beaten by Charlotte...
Nikki Cross is back too! Hopefully they find a good story for her
Alicia Fox? I guess she sobered back into the good gra...R-Truth? No
Oh yeah, Humberto is a thing
Jerry shut the fuck up!
The 24/7 stuff was super unnecessary, we did not need to take focus off this match
Lacey eliminating Mickie, rude.
Dakota should’ve gotten more time, she barely lasted a minute
Reginald again deserves better
See Tamina vs Rhea would be exciting...if Tamina was booked better
Naomi’s chemistry with Bianca is really insane right now
Lana *reminded of her feud with Shayna and Nia* Also Lana *goes for Rhea*
That was a hard tackle on Alexa by Rhea...aaaaand she’s eliminated mid ‘transformation’ a bit worthless for me
Road Warrior Ember Moon! And right into the Eclipse that’s the good shit
Baszler probably shouldn’t have eliminated Lacey story-wise
The Betrayal is real for Tamina as well
What’s with the crazy camera cuts!?
Nia eliminating Baszler? Nah...
Hold on Cole, baiting Nia over the ropes isn’t a ‘tremendous elimination’
The betrayal is real for Lana too, Nattie sure shrugged off that double assault
I get that the narrative is that Charlotte has beaten both Bianca and Rhea before, but to hang against both of them after already being in a match and hanging on from two apron attacks was daft. Stop making her super strong, she’s mega talented yes but giving her the Brock Lesnar energy does her no favours
That close call though with Rhea and Bianca was great, need more spots of two wrestlers about to be eliminated at the same time
The final bit of chain wrestling too was great, that’s what you need at the final part of a rumble, the mini-match
I had Rhea as my win prediction but am more than happy for Bianca, who was my second choice. Winning at No. 3 is great and her emotional promo just gets her more over. Bianca vs Sasha’s gonna be wild too
Overall the Women’s Rumble was good, most of the women got shine and there were a few mini stories too, do wish that more time was given to some women and that Sonya was in the rumble but the returns were good and most of the eliminations got me good
Miz talking about guaranteeing a championship run like he didn’t lose the last cash-in and didn’t have a chance to cash in previously this night when Drew was ‘reeling’ from the barricade spear.
I reiterate that I wish Sonya was in the rumble, but do like her endorsement of Bianca
Again, this 24/7 stuff is wrong place and time right now
Last Man StANDing Match for the UniVERSal Championship
Cole, there is Champion’s Advantage. Triple H vs Michaels Last Man Standing, neither men made the 10 so Trips kept the title, 17 years ago. Royal Rumble 2004.
See, this is where a Finisher Spotfest works, because it’s not about pinfalls it’s about keeping people down
The camera switches are not doing good on this portion of the side of the thunderdome
Yes, attacking the knees, this is the Cerebral ‘rope breaks with his pinkie finger’ Owens I like to see
Ooof the Golf Cart, a la Kane and Stadium Stampede
Why is this training area just like a second arena
Lil’ running ref in the background
Right into that conveniently placed mini-ladder
Not the forklift! Think of Judy Bagwell!
Oh that curtain is the thing Becky took a photo of! I mean she was always gonna be backstage
Corey before the match ‘there must be a winner’, Corey after Owens went through the stage LED ‘The ref should consider stopping the match’
Did the Ciampa move there to stand up
I don’t think you’re allowed to use a Ref Bump that way
Then the Second Ref restarts the count and stops at 5!? If this doesn’t come back next SD it’ll be a misstep
It was a physical match, not the best I think the finish brought it down. The problem is that KO has lost 3 times now and the last time is a botch finish, and we can’t have him lose again - the poor guy needs a win
ON THIS DAY, I SEE CLEARLY!
I will say this immediately, revealing Edge and Orton as 1 and 2 beforehand was a terrible idea, just because you don’t have a live crowd doesn’t mean the people watching from home can’t be surprised
‘Number 3 is the worst number to draw on average’ - Belair just won at No. 3
Ali at 4? Then went after Edge and not Orton?
Sami, just don’t get in Orton’s face
Refs what are you doing? No rules in Rumble, where were you with Nia and Shayna with that logic
‘What does Shin need to do to be more successful?’ - for one not face AJ Styles, he is still a tag, US and IC champ as well as a RR winner, that’s quite successful
Carlito finally shows after the Legends Night tease and yes those are some abs
So...Randy’s just sleeping with this knee injury
Big E enters with some snappy camera angles again
I was hoping for more Ali - especially since Ricochet came immediately after - buy angry E was nice to see
Wait is that Elias’ entrance? Where’s the guitar strum?
Priesty, wonder if this is his main roster call
What DJ leaves his equipment on stage anyway?
‘The biggest star in the world in the music business’ - for real?
‘I’ve heard of flying squirrels but flying bunnies!?’ - Corey you need to watch Tokyo Joshi Pro, they got a flying sugar rabbit
To quote Ross Tweddell, MMMmmm Riddle...does not do it for me
Stop with the camera cuts I beg of you!
Mayor of Knox County!?
Ricochet eliminated by Kane, le sigh
The betrayal is real for DBry
Big Elim for Priesty though
‘Now it’s a Royal Rumble’ - reminder that Edge is a KOTR winner too, and that Nakamura is the King of Strong Sty-oh and Corbin eliminated him :/ what was the gauntlet about if you’re gonna Corbin him?
Otis’ new gear is slick
aaaaand Corbin’d again
Big Dom Fuck im Uhhhhhh Spinebuster’d
Damn he got him though
Dang that bounce sound from DBry
Bobby no why you gotta do Dom like that!?
Hurricane back from his Gangrel crossing and disposing Sammy Guevara’s broken body in Elite Deletion to do another rumble
One of these days, he’ll hit that Chokeslam and shit will go wild
Christian! This time getting the more emphatic reaction
Oh that smile, that hits you in the chest cavity...then Riddle ruins it
Rey comes in and WWE made him an advertisement ¬_¬
Edward James Omos what are you doing? well...I know what he’s doing, IC feud between AJ and E
Edward James Omos fuck you for eliminating Rey
The betrayal is real for Shamu
Cole how did you know it was Seth before his entrance hit?
I don’t think we were supposed to pick up Shamu welcoming Christian back but that was sweet
Then finally BWOAR
And Bwoar eliminates Cesaro, what was the point of his push? (it’s because his contract’s nearly up isn’t it?)
Again with the camera switching
Seth No! And where’s the boos pipe music!? DBry was a heavy favourite, that would’ve caused heat
Can’t believe Mmm Riddle lasted ahead of DBry
I didn’t forget about Orton, but the finish was good, that Orton tease got us good
It was a decent rumble, in hindsight you could tell Edge was winning given how they put express focus on Michaels winning at number on in the stat attack, Edge being face in peril for the first 10 entrants and Cole reminding us how long Edge has been in there
I don’t at all hate the end result, though I do question whether it was the best choice in the long run. Edge had his rumble win returning from injury already and throwing more legends at Drew does imply a heavy lack of depth in the current roster. Edge didn’t really need the win, but I’m not disappointed in him winning
The Men’s Rumble itself wasn’t as good as the women’s I don’t think, a lot of favourites of mine were unceremoniously dumped out quickly, any layered storytelling didn’t get enough time and it did feel a little by the numbers, almost a microcosm of modern WWE booking
Overall it was still a decent PPV, happy with the winners of the rumbles and that’s mostly all we need from a Royal Rumble. The Road to Wrestlemania starts here
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