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luuurien · 2 years

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carter c - the things i love and why i love them

(Noise Pop, Indie Rock, Twee Pop)

Though they play it relatively straight on their third full-length, carter c's latest album is still a fun time all around. While the extra level of polish put on their noisy, energetic indie rock can be a bit hit-or-miss, the things i love and why i love them is still one solid listen.

☆☆☆½

Artists like carter c and their contemporaries are the future of indie music, and it's getting to witness their development as artists this early on that is one of the luckiest things I get to do as someone who talks about music. Carter has been a part of the fuzzy, lo-fi indie rock scene for years now, already with two full-length albums behind them, their D.I.Y style of rock outfitted with twee electronic percussion, noisy microphones, and bright guitar work instantly charismatic and full of life, their sound so spirited and eager that you can't help but let it sneak into the pleasure center of your mind. Still in line with that sound, their third full-length album the things i love and why i love them delicately expands on what they've been doing since the start with a greater embrace of production polish and lyrical sensitivity, letting go of the youthful fervor of their previous release in favor of more weary and thoughtful stories of the love they have for people and the things they've gained and lost in relationships. While the extra level of polish put on their noisy, energetic indie rock can be a bit hit-or-miss, the things i love... is still one solid listen. On the positive side of the spectrum, Carter sounds better than they ever have here, the extra attention to detail with things letting the things i love... get bigger and louder than anything they've done in the past. All three of the album's singles - nighttime oracle, lapis and i think of children, i think of you in trouble - did a great job building excitement for the full release, the crunchy video game synths on nighttime oracle that burst into a scuttling electronic drum groove and sunny guitar strums working wonders as the album opener that instantly sets the tone of the record and primes you for the high-octane experience brought on by the rest of the things i love...'s eleven tracks. The album's strongest tracks follow a similar structure, meat-and-potatoes indie rock with a distinct Carter kick, the higher-fidelity microphone and relaxed guitar work on tvcc making for a surprisingly fresh take on things, and sick's rugged downstrummed chords add a delightful tension to things that ensures the back half of the record doesn't feel stale even a bit. And while the things i love... is a relatively standard indie rock listen, what carries the experience forward is Carter's drive and passionate performances, their bubbly singing on jangle pop tune a quick one before you go and the throaty belting they employ throughout nighttime oracle both incredible effective ways for them to deliver these stories with grit and passion. Carter knows what they're doing, and that confidence beams through every moment of the things i love... There are still a few drawbacks to their crunchy, loose D.I.Y. sound that hasn't changed from past releases, the chief issue being that it limits where they're able to take their music when it's all drenched in distortion and feedback. neon sky suffers the most from this aspect of their sound, a nine-minute song that starts to melt about a quarter through because of how condensed the mix is - it's incredibly difficult to hear their singing and the crescendos stop feeling cathartic when they all sound the exact same, there's just not enough open space for them to let things breathe and subsequently explode. Other times, it can be as simple as things getting a little too samey: place wanders in the same midtempo indie pop drawl for a good three minutes, and poindexter's heavier emphasis on bitpop doesn't have as strong a backbone as the rest of the songs do, leading to a sense of mushiness to the track even as it charges forward with a snappy drum 'n' bass fusion at the end. None of it is bad in the slightest, but it doesn't feel particularly engrossing in any way either, songs that don't establish themselves very strongly and fizzle out the second they're over, the things i love... improving on aspects of Carter's sound while not refining its rougher edges. I can easily imagine how all these songs would work great in the high-energy space of a live concert - indie rock as energetic as this is practically built for it - but in the context of an album, the things i love... can start to wear a little thin across its 43 minute runtime. Still, this is Carter's best release yet, a more colorful and varied take on the charming indie pop they've been making since the start that stays true to its core while still moving forward with fresh ideas and a clearer vision. It trades the instant gratification and intense catharsis of Everything I Do Alone I Want to Do With You for a sound that's more relaxed and self-assured, not needing to blow every song up to maximum proportions and letting the little things shine the brightest every so often. Their music resonates because it is so personal and raw, the things i love...'s barebones sound an inherent part of how Carter makes their music and something that makes it such a special listen, a sound that is entirely theirs and that they refine with every new release. the things i love... is a messy album, but it's a wonderful mess, the sound of a young artist further exploring what they can do and making some killer music along the way. It's not perfect, but it doesn't need to be - getting to see Carter continue to revel in what making music means to them is more than enough to make the things i love and why i love them a precious listen.

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lemonade-if · 2 years

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omg what's the storylines for the other clubs?!

Ah yes, it’s about time I elaborate a bit about the clubs... 😅

Some of the storylines are less about the club and more about the members within the club, so I’ll leave that to be discovered when MC meets them.

---

Volleyball: Click Here to read. <No RO in this club>

Soccer: Soccer is historically Mori High's strongest sport-- they have never missed a Nationals since the school’s founding, and they have won at Nationals for the past two years in a row. While Mori High is not an elite school as a whole, its soccer team is certainly elite. With the retirement of the third years who formerly led the team to victory, can MC step up with the remaining members and keep up this legacy? <Hikaru is in this club>

Basketball: Mori High's current basketball is the most and only talented iteration its ever had, but also the most stubborn and uncooperative-- so much so, the coach suffered a stroke during Kantou Regional Semifinals and resigned soon after. Individually, this is a team that should be able to win Nationals, but collectively, there is neither teamwork nor camaraderie. Will MC be what this team needs to set aside their pride and differences and finally play as one? <Yosuke is in this club>

Track: Of the sports clubs, track is most chill. Everyone joins for their own reasons, so there is no harsh judgement about anyone’s athleticism, motivations, or abilities-- not even from the upperclassmen or top runners. Rather than being hung up on winning medals, the club’s philosophy simply emphasizes being the best you can be, whether that means running a 5k in 4 minutes or 40. Nobody is a loser here. <Akane is in this club>

Cheer: Cheer’s main purpose is to motivate the crowds at sports games, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. This club takes a lot of guts to join, not only because of its physically-intensive practice routines and how loud you have to be able to yell for hours at a time-- but also because of how common it is to encounter ill-mannered rival school students who badmouth your school and your friends...what would you do in such situations, MC? <Ren is in this club>

Music: Within the music club, students either perform solo or form bands with other students. Coincidentally, one of the most popular student bands (in all of Tokyo) currently has an opening-- for any position, as the members are open to role swapping. This band has been on hiatus ever since their vocalist, a third year Mori High student, went missing. On top of being confused and worried for their friend, the band members have also lost all inspiration to create new music... <Leila is in this club>

Journalism: This club is in charge of conducting and compiling campus interviews, writing articles for the digital school newsletter, and creating the annual yearbook, with responsibilities distributed by members’ personal preference. As long as deadlines are met, the day to day activities during club hours are not strictly defined, so this club is also quite popular with students who want to slack off. Yes, that’s Aleksei.

Art: Known jokingly around the school as the "Weirdo Club" because they chose an abandoned storage room as their official club space instead of a normal classroom, this club includes students with artistic interests ranging from traditional painting to tattoos to manga and doujinshi. The club hosts an annual “Mori High Student Exhibition”, which is a well-known event popularly attended by students, parents, alumni, and even random locals. <Shion is in this club>

#LemonadeIF #asks #Clubs

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intoanothermind · 4 years

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Flying Solo - Reggie

Word Count: 2.1k

- Reggie x reader

Synopsis: ever since you died, all you do is walk around the city and watch people going through their lives in restaurants, pubs and other establishments. That is until you meet another ghost in one of these places.

Masterlist

(This is based on a request I asked a few days ago. I’ve tried putting a gif instead of a picture, but tumblr doesn’t let me do it, but I’ll keep tryind. Don’t forget to check out my other Reggie fic and the one I wrote for Luke!)

Stand Tall - Reggie // Akai Ito - Reggie (soulmate au) // Bright - Luke

—

Since I died, I have enjoyed spending time watching the lifers. I walked the streets of Los Angeles and spent hours and hours sitting in restaurants, coffee shops, pubs and other establishments. Many people spent their time on their cell phones or typing on their laptops, but I liked to watch other people interact. I would like it even more if I could eat, but the smell of coffee and pie always calmed me down. And sometimes I would discover some other ghost in those places.

Especially if he moved a customer's food and the person looked around confusedly. I paid more attention when the woman took her eyes off her cell phone, picked up her plate and changed tables, without noticing the two boys sitting at the table. A third boy, who had previously been in front of the counter, sat in the empty seat. They talked for a while - unfortunately I couldn't hear from where I was several tables behind - before the blonde walked out the door and the third boy shortly after. I got up quickly before the cute boy who was making a prank on the client disappeared too.

"Hi." I said, taking the vacant seat for the blonde. "What's your name?"

His blue eyes widened and looked back before turning back to me and pointing at his chest.

"Me?" he asked, confused, and he just seemed even cuter.

"Yes, you." I laughed. "My name is Y/N, what’s yours?"

“Reggie. I'm Reggie.” he smiled and shifted in his chair, looking excited. "How can you see me?"

I shook my head, still smiling. He clearly didn't understand.

"I'm a ghost too." I replied, extending my hand to the side just as a girl passed and my arm went through her.

His smile widened even further, making his eyes narrow.

"Cool!" he opened his eyes wide. "I mean, it's not cool that you died, or anything..."

But my smile has not diminished.

"It’s okay, I had a year to get used to it."

"What did you die of?"

“Car accident last year. I was with my mom coming back from a performance. She crossed over to the other side, I didn't.” my smile became a little sad. "But what about you? How long have you been a ghost?”

"Well..." he made a funny face. "About 25 years ago we ate some bad hot dogs."

I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. "Really?"

"I know." he made a face of suffering. "It was not our best moment."

"Our?"

"Me and my bandmates."

"Those who were here with you."

"Yes! Luke and Alex. We died together.”

"So you must have seen a lot of things together in the past 25 years." I commented excitedly, leaning on the table.

"Not exactly." he made another funny face. "After we left the ambulance, we were in this dark room where Alex was crying and the next thing we remember is falling into a girl's garage a few days ago."

"So that means I have more ghost time than you do!"

“Oh, but we’ve already discovered some really cool things! We managed to play in front of people when we played with Julie!”

My heart sank when I heard that name and I opened my mouth to comment, but I felt a shiver go through my body when someone sat in the chair where I was. I got up quickly, because the worse thing than passing through people was staying in the exact spot where she was. I looked at Reggie and he too had stood up when another girl sat down where he was.

"Do you want to get out of here?"

"For sure." said Reggie, holding my hand and whooshing us to a beach where I have never been.

It was not as crowded as the most famous beaches in Los Angeles, but it had some movement.

"Where are we?" I asked when I noticed Reggie kicking some sand and sitting with his back to the sea and facing a bike shack.

"I used to live here." he replied while I sat next to him. “This bike shack used to be my home. Every now and then I come here and wonder what happened to my parents. ”

"I'm sorry." I murmured, lying my head on his shoulder and just watching the movement in the store.

"Okay. I'm sorry I spoiled the mood.”

"It's all right. I think about my family as well.”

"But you've only been a ghost for a year." he said, turning his head slightly towards me. "Didn't you ever see how they're doing?"

"Once, two weeks after we died." I whispered. “My family was destroyed. I couldn't see them like that without being able to do anything, so I only come back once every few months to see if they were okay.”

"I'm sorry." he murmured, resting his head on mine.

We stayed there for a few minutes in that position, not saying anything, just watching people coming and going in front of the store that used to be his home.

"Did they really kill Han Solo?" the question was asked so unexpectedly, I could only lift my head from his shoulder and look at him a little confused.

"What?"

"Do you know Star Wars?" he said quickly. "We went to a club the other day and Luke and I were trying to catch up on what we missed and a couple of the living told us that they made about eight more Star Wars movies and that they killed Han Solo!"

"Whoa, easy!" I laughed. "I do know the movies. And yes, they did. His son killed him.”

"What?!" he looked shocked at me. "I think I would rather never know about the continuation of the series."

"I’m sorry." I said, but I couldn't help but laugh at the expression on his face. “It certainly wasn't the best moments in the saga. This latest trilogy disappointed a little.”

"I was hoping you would tell me it was a lie." he grimaced before letting out a breath and getting up. “Y/N, I need to go. We have a band rehearsal. We are playing tonight at the pub we met, you should go.”

I stood up as well and smiled at him a little, but I denied it.

“Sorry, Reg. I had a really big connection to music and my family when I was alive. It still hurts to think about it, so I always avoid it. But I promise that one day I will see you playing. ”

"Okay." he gave a big smile. "See you around then."

And disappeared.

~*~

As the days went by, Reggie and I got closer and closer. We met several times and went to different places. Especially places where I could update him on the things he lost in the last 25 years. But then he stopped appearing beside me with that wide smile and dork way. For several days I didn’t see him, wondering if anything had happened. I heard stories about ghosts who were trapped by contracts, others who ceased to exist, and I was afraid that he had crossed over or was in trouble - and I couldn't do anything to help.

The next time he showed up I was on the beach again, in front of the bike shack, waiting for him to show up at some point. When he appeared, I barely gave him time to pull himself together before jumping into his arms and hugging him tight.

“Reggie! What happened? You went MIA, are you okay? I got worried!"

He didn't answer, just pulled away from the hug, held my face in his hands and kissed me. I reacted instantly, kissing him back in the same intensity.

"It hurt to think that maybe I didn't have the opportunity to do that." he murmured when we leaned away.

"What do you mean by that?"

He then set out to tell me about the Hollywood Ghost Club, the stamp, the shocks, the threats, the Orpheum show and how they managed to touch Julie afterwards.

"Julie?" I asked, feeling my throat tighten. “The girl who can see you and make you visible? Is her name Julie Molina? ”

"How did you know?" he asked, confused, and I had to take a deep breath to keep from crying.

"She is my little sister."

Reggie's eyes widened in surprise. "You are the Y/N who died with Julie's mother."

I just nodded.

“So did she play again? Is she fine?"

He gave me a knowing smile.

“Why don't we go back to the house and you can see for yourself? I think you've gone too long without seeing her. ”

I agreed, still a little stunned.

"Hey Hey." he caught my eye until I looked him straight in the eye. He stroked one of my cheeks and smiled when I blushed. "It's gonna be okay. I was really going to invite you to meet the band. ”

"So let's go." I smiled at his excitement.

He hugged me around the waist and we teleported directly to mom’s studio. It was different from how I remembered. The piano was uncovered, the lights were on, and instruments were scattered on the other side. I think they were the instruments that the boys used. But they were not there.

"Yeah, I think the boys haven't arrived yet." Reggie commented, scratching the back of his neck.

"It's all right." I mumbled, moving towards the piano and sitting on the stool.

Reggie sat next to me.

"Do you play?"

"I used to play with mom and Julie." I said, concentrating my energy on my fingers and starting to strum one of mom's favourite songs. I looked at Reggie and he was smiling at me. I continued to play, feeling the music flowing through me like when I was alive. It was great to know that I could play even now.

"Boys, I already said that you can't play while I'm not ... here."

I stopped playing abruptly when I looked at the garage door and Julie was there looking at me as if she had seen a ghost. Well, had had. I got up from the stool quickly and went towards my sister.

"Julie..." I sobbed, trying to reach her at the same time as she held her hand out to me. But my hand went through hers and I started to cry.

"Y/N." she was crying too. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too, Jules." I laughed.

"I thought you crossed over, I never saw you here."

“I came here a few times, but you never saw me. I couldn't stand to stay long. I spent most of my time walking around the city. ”

"What about mom?" she asked hopefully.

I shook my head. “I never saw her. She crossed right away.”

Julie tried to dry the tears, but they just kept coming down.

"Please, don’t go." she pleaded in a voice so low it broke my heart. “You can stay here with the boys. Just please don't go.”

I looked at Reggie in exasperation, but he came over to me and rested a hand on my back and I managed to take a deep breath.

"Okay." I smiled at my younger sister. "I’ll stay here."

"Yes!" I heard Reggie murmuring and Julie and I laughed, slowly composing ourselves.

“Julie? Is everything alright here?" I heard a third voice and turned to see the two boys who were in the pub with Reggie when I met him.

"Alex, Luke, this is Y/N, my sister."

Luke, the one with the brown hair, raised his eyebrows in surprise. "The sister you said that died?"

Julie made a face, but I just laughed and confirmed it.

Alex, the blonde, observed my closeness to Reggie and smirked. "I imagine this is also the same Y/N that Reggie kept talking about."

"Eh... Well... It wasn't like that..." Reggie gasped trying to brush it off, but I just laughed as I grabbed his chin and pulled him in for a quick kiss.

I barely noticed the boys' laughter and Julie's comment on how weird it was to see her sister kissing someone. I was too busy drinking on Reggie's expression, who had his eyes closed and an ecstatic smile on his lips.

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shes-coming-clean · 3 years

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Green Day Documentary Reviews Pt 2

The last one of these seemed to make people happy, and because my brain refuses to think about anything but this band right now, might as well do something productive with that. So here is part 2!

Today’s doc: Green Day: Born To Be (2016)

I decided to get this one over with because I didn’t remember liking it the first time, and wow, it’s even worse than I remember. So this review is going to be a lot more negative overall because oof this one pisses me off. Honestly, one of its strongest qualities is that its only 24 minutes, so at least you don’t have to suffer too long.

Pros

* It focuses on their lives from childhood up through American Idiot and includes a decent amount of detail.

* They don’t have any present day interviews recorded specifically for this documentary, which means they have to get really creative piecing old interviews together to tell a coherent story. And they do that well...about half the time (more on that later)

* There are Portuguese subtitles so that’s nice. We love accessibility in this house

* There is a mention of Two Dollar Bill! Love to see it. Unfortunately, they get the nickname wrong and call him Two Dollar Billie (How do you miss the play on words there?) but still, it’s a nice detail to include

* They actually discuss Billie and Mike’s childhoods in some detail. Tré does not get the same treatment but A for effort - 2 out of 3 aint bad.

And that’s it for pros. On to the cons. We’ll focus on the nitpicky stuff first

* This video only has audio in one ear if you’re using headphones, which is kinda unusual for this channel, so I wonder if there was some kind of mistake uploading it.

* They only seem to have footage from the Dookie era and onward so when they talk about stuff before that, they either use a mix of a couple of old photos of the band, generic stock footage, or more modern video clips. I understand that you have to work with what you have, but this is kind of distracting when you’re hearing the narrator talk about their informal audition for Lookout Records, but you’re hearing and seeing the Good Riddance music video. Like, I’d give it a pass if the song at least commented on or shared an emotion with that part of the story but it just feels random. They really don’t seem to have put too much thought into when they use certain clips, so the performances on screen aren’t always from the time period they’re taking about - even later on in the story. This, and the lack of a clear structure can make it hard to tell what year/era they’re talking about at any given moment.

* They have to rely on past interviews to do a lot of the story telling, but once again, they don’t always care too much about time period and will clip sections out of context. For example, they take a clip of Billie from roughly ‘95 talking about how the last few years have been crazy, and make it about their career downturn in the early 2000s, even though you can CLEARLY see he’s younger than in the other clips.

* There is a narrator who fills in the parts of the story not conveyed in clips which is a good choice...except that he’s really annoying. I can’t tell if it’s his voice or the script he’s been given, but either way, it’s not great.

* The narrator says that all three band members divorced or separated from their wives in the late 90s/early 2000s, except...that didn’t happen. Billie and Adrienne had a rough point, sure, but they didn’t separate or divorce.

So far, most of my critiques have not been massive. I still probably could’ve enjoyed a doc at least a bit even if it had those problems, a lot of which seem to be due to a lack of resources and having to make do with what they had. I can understand that. The same does not hold true for this next part, which is, how they framed the band’s jump to a major label and the years that followed.

Every band, actor, or public figure of any kind will usually have some kind of signature question or complaint that everyone either levies against them or debates. Green Day’s is basically “are they real punks or are they sellouts?” At this point, I think this question is pretty stupid and I have a lot of problems with the mindset behind it (I think it has a lot to do with classism and sexism, but that’s for another time), but it’s part of the band’s public persona at this point, so any documentary has to at least touch on it. Most docs tend to frame the backlash against the band after they sighed with Reprise as the petty complaints of jealous gatekeepers who were pissed that the band was inviting normies into their punk club. Basically, there was nothing Green Day could’ve done about it - it was going to happen either way.

But this doc takes it for granted that Green Day absolutely sold out, and not just that, they fundamentally changed and stopped being punk. Which, like, are we listening to the same album? The only real difference between Kerplunk (released before they signed with a major label) and Dookie (their major label debut) is that the second had an actual budget. The sound and subject matter is very very similar. They were never super “hard core” to begin with - in fact, it was their catchy melodies that made them stand out. Nothing in their style changed. Honestly, I would argue that Dookie has a lot more songs about being angry and punk than Kerplunk does. The only difference is its higher production quality. So, when this doc says things like they “lost their hard fought identity” I honestly don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. And this isn’t just me being a fan. The doc says they changed, it says they stopped being punk, but it doesn’t offer any evidence to substantiate that claim. We’re just supposed to hear the ominous music and the out-of-context clips (which were mostly self-deprecating jokes) and believe it.

When they do provide details, most of them are wrong, or at very least, misleading. For example, they claim that the backlash only happened after the band released the second and third singles off of Dookie, “Basket Case” and “When I Come Around” respectively. It claims that the first single, “Longview” was punk enough to make fans happy while the other songs weren’t, which...ok - I just don’t think you can claim “Longview” is any more punk than the other songs. Honestly, it’s kind of a departure from their normal sound into a more jazzy style. I don’t think you can argue that it’s any more punk than “Basket Case” unless you’re claiming that singing about masturbation makes something inherently punk. Like, what are we even defining as “punk” at this point? Also, the backlash started long LONG before any song off the album had ever been released. It started as soon as they signed with Reprise, so claiming it was because people didn’t like the music is just dishonest.

Overall, I really feel like this doc has a very strange tone, especially for a piece of media supposedly promoting their newest album (Revolution Radio). It pays lip service to how great and accomplished the band is, but takes every opportunity to trash them. Because it goes so hard on the “they sold out” narrative, it implies that the success of American Idiot is just because they got lucky that people liked the product of their lack of artistic integrity. I am more than ok with criticizing a band - even one I like, and I don’t mind when a doc does try to do more than just praise Green Day, but those criticisms have to be backed up. And the whole question of “selling out” is just so so stupid at this point. This doc came out in 2016 - was the most pressing issue that year really whether or not a band stopped being punk 25 years ago?

So, thanks for coming to my ted talk. I hope you liked it and if there’s any other Green Day docs you want me to review next, please let me know. These have been a lot of fun to write and I’m so happy that people seem to like it.

youtube

#green day #billie joe armstrong #mike dirnt #tre cool #alliereviews #green day doc #punk #punk rock #pop punk #dookie #american idiot

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razberryyum · 3 years

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TGCF donghua Special Episode Thoughts (SPOILERS for episode & novel!)

Favorite moment:

Of COURSE that amazing ending sequence, which is the mirror of Dianxia's backstory at the end of the first episode, except this time from Hua Cheng's point of view. Speaking of, holy mother of YUM, dear gods, Hua Cheng:

Look at this "hideous" man. I am DROOLING.

Funny thing is, I didn't even know his appearance was supposed to be a secret, that we technically hadn't seen his face yet all this time. I remember we had a super quick glimpse of him in the Banyue pit and I thought that was his reveal, that that'll be all we'll get for now and I was fine with that...that is, until this ending sequence happened and we actually see him in his entirety. My eyes will forever never be the same. What was I even thinking??? The flashes in the pit were absolutely inferior to the real thing. No comparison. He is so gorgeous; I can't WAIT for Xie Lian to meet him next season.

Second favorite moment:

What I love about this scene is first of all it features some of my favorite lines from the novel, "If you don't know what to live for, then just live for me. If you don't know the meaning of life, then take me as the meaning your life." Even though Dianxia was playing it up for dramatic effect, I loved how he crawled towards San Lang and then uttered the lines with such conviction. I LOVED the way the music reached a cresendo during his words--hell, I love the music in this entire episode, this entire show, period. I also love how bittersweet this scene is: here Dianxia is so embarrassed by his own words that he even laughs about them, dismisses them, not know just how much of an effect they had on the person he said them to, how they really did serve to motivate that person to live on, to exist, utterly for him. Not knowing at all that that person he said what he now thinks were silly words to is right in front of him. The irony!

I'm still making my way through the book so I haven't gotten to the part where all is revealed to Xie Lian yet, but I can only imagine how shocking and emotional this particular revelation would be. It'll probably be ten years before we get to see all that in the donghua, if we ever do, but I'm gonna keep on crossing my fingers and hoping.

"I swear, whether in Heaven or or on Earth, you cannot find someone more sincere than me". The subs left out the Heaven or Earth part but it's still such a good line. Love also how San Lang precedes that by trying to reach out to touch Dianxia but is like too afraid to. The donghua really captured his feelings of...I guess I'd call it timid inferiority...so well.

I have a strong suspicion what that ring is (irl, I've seen companies advertising turning ashes into diamonds as a keepsake of your loved ones...never tried it so I don't know if it's the real deal or some kind of scam) and I cannot wait to get to that revelation as well. Putting aside the potential significance of this momento, the fact that Hua Cheng left Dianxia a ring to wear around his neck is already a beautiful gesture on its own.

I already miss seeing how San Lang looks adoringly at Xie Lian. In fact, I think I'm going to miss San Lang for quite a while since next season I think we'll be mostly spending time with Hua Cheng. Not complaining at all since Hua Cheng will no doubt look at Dianxia just as adoringly, but I will miss this cute guy.

Also already missing the cuteness that is Dianxia. I love all his expressions...the way he said "San Lang" just made my heart explode. How can he be this adorable??? Really, bravo to Jiang Guangtao-laoshi, his voice actor, for such an endearing voice performance. I actually started listening to the Qiang Jin Jiu audio drama because I've become a fan. Imagine Xie Lian being super seductive all the time. That's the ear candy I'm enjoying now, even though I only understand like less than half of the plot due to my shoddy Chinese comprehension.

Proud of how San Lang didn't just lose it when Dianxia cradled his face like that. This man really has unbelievable self control.

I loved that they were chatting in bed like an old married couple. I'm sure this is a glimpse into their future married life. 😁

Besides SanLian, I know Banyue was in this episode as well, I still think she's adorable and love her voice, and I'm glad she gets to enjoy a torture-free life now (I am assuming she does).

I'm glad we got this special episode to really close out the season, but I'm still kinda confused as to why we didn't get it at the actual end of the season but rather as an odd stand alone episode like this. Obviously it picked up right where the 11th episode left off, so it would've slotted in perfectly well. I was hoping the reason they held on to it was because they were going to attach a teaser PV for the next season, but alas that wasn't the case. I wonder if they just needed more time to finish the episode. I still don't quite understand how the Chinese donghua industry works: for something seemingly as popular as TGCF, you would think they'd have good enough budget and resources to finish episodes in time and to make more than just 12 episodes. There are other donghua shows I've seen on Bilibili that have blown way past 12 episodes, so I don't understand why they have to stubbornly stick to a dozen only for something like TGCF. Or is it a danmei thing, I wonder. They just don't want to devote the time and resources to danmei shows beyond just 12 episodes? So weird. Again, VERY GRATEFUL we're getting a second season. SINCERELY praying that we get many more seasons after so that eventually they'll finish out the book. God I hope I finish reading before the donghua team finishes putting out the show.

And that brings me to: Current Reading Progress...chapter 160. Look, I'm gonna be honest, I'm just not a fan of the whole jinx demon concept or the Brocade Immortal. I know all mysteries of the week lead back to the gods and their backstory, but as CONCEPTS, I was just NOT into them so I constantly got distracted. I know MXTX-laoshi was under a LOT of pressure from both censorship and just ridiculous deadlines (I was told she had to produce a chapter a day, which is INSANE), so I feel like a douchebag for even thinking anything negative about the book...not to mention I'm only on Book 3 still so maybe all of this will be wrapped up nicely at the end. But for now, yeah, those two as ideas are a bit underwhelming and almost silly (especially the Brocade Immortal) and maybe I don't need the backstory of ALL the gods. Anyway, before anyone yells at me, there's always a chance I might change my mind about all this by the end...which I hope to get to soon. Didn't finish the book in time for this special episode which was my goal, so readjusting the goalpost back a little further...hopefully just a tad...like a few weeks, because I DO want to get to the unrelenting pain soon so that I can get through the suffering and finally to the HuaLian happily ever after ending.

#Tian Guan Ci Fu #Heaven Official's Blessing #HuaLian #SanLian #TGCF donghua

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teeth-and-tea · 3 years

Text

ANIME & MANGA I HAVE BINGED IN THE LAST MONTH: May 2021

I've Been Hunting Slimes for the Past 300 Years and Now Ive Maxed Out My Level: incredibly long name aside, cute af slice of life that suffers Same Face Syndrome. I'm still happy to watch it because of how feel good and fluffy it is though, Im probably gonna forget about it in two or three years tho. 8/10.

Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro: I found out this was a webcomic first and suddenly all the HORNINESS made so much more sense. A Femdom, Degradation, Humiliation, Dacryphilia Bullies to Lovers story disguised as a high school rom-com which, I'm not going to lie, misses SKEEVY CITY by mere inches on a regular basis. However, I'm a Dom/Switch and this entire relationship sets off my dom brain center like New York City just shy of midnight. So if you're into that sort of scene, this anime is for you. If not, it's still fascinating but you're probably gonna be a little put off by how mean the Girl!Bully is to the guy MC. Unless you find out something about yourself, in which case, congrats! Stay safe, sane, consensual, and learn about the traffic light system on top of safe words, I promise you'll have a better life in general after that. Still Ongoing, currently 10/10.

Fruits Basket: IM GONNA CRY I LOVE THIS ANIME SO MUCH???? The original anime came out when I was in... I think middle school and my parents were really strict on what I watched so I never got to experience the first wave and I never bothered to watch the show ever after I moved out of the house years later. However, now that I'm much older I honestly can say this is one of my favorite anime to date, and all the characters are charming, lovable, with their own problems that I can connect to or sympathize with, and I love the MC which is always a treat tbh. Except Akito. Akito can suck a sandpaper dick. I'm only on S2 tho so no spoilers! Anime 11/10.

Monster Girl Doctor: went in thinking it was gonna be a monster girl who's a doctor with a homoerotic assistant (her name is SAPPHY okay sue me for thinking it) and ended up watching the entire dubbed harem series. Honestly, I've seen worse and this one has consistent follow-through on interesting characters and backstory enough for me to shove aside the blatant under-monstrousness of the female monsters and the harem-ness of everything else. Dubbing is honestly really good, which is a treat, and the monster designs are not the worst and the MC is tolerable. Honestly, I don't mind having watched it! The mix of cgi and the traditional animation together work pretty strangely though, and it often doesn't flow super well. 7.5/10

So I'm a Spider, So What: Dubbed version which honestly isn't that bad. Took me a bit to get into it, but after realizing that it's got a mismatched timeline a la The Witcher, it made so much more sense. Heavily done in cgi, and you can definitely tell between the 2D and 3D animations, but not the worst in the world. I went in not expecting much but it ended up being an Issekai I can stand and even enjoy. On god has a decent story... with the spider. I'd be a liar if I didnt say I skipped some of the human parts just to get back to the best part of the show. 8/10.

Somali and the Forest Spirit: I'm so fucking nostalgic for this thing it makes me want to go and hug my dad. About a human girl under threat of being eaten with a monster-dominated world. Very obvious "humans fear what they don't understand" message but instead of the humans learning tolerance it's what happens when they get annihilated first so like, kudos for the mangaka for having the guts to do that. I cried like a baby regularly. It's really good, I watched the dub and ID WATCH IT AGAIN!!! 9/10.

To Your Eternity: Oh my god. O h my g o d. Fell in love on the first episode, ngl. About if an immortal being learned how to be a person from scratch. I love it. HOWEVER. Keep a box of tissues on you at all times because you're gonna need them. I'm only on EP7 because that's all that's out right now but just know. I love it. Not for everyone but certainly for my "what do we define as human and the human condition" ass. 12/10.

Those Snow White Notes: A sports anime without any sports. About shamisen playing which is cool because I never realized how cool this instrument was??? Its neat af. OP1&2 are by Burnout Syndrom so know theyre fire. Gonna be real, its pretty alright, but not extraordinary. You can tell they were using the characters as archetypes rather than actually characters which kinda kills a lot of the emotional value you could've had, but I'm still gonna watch it. It doesn't make me cringe as hard as other sports anime tho so I consider it toptier in that regards but if you're a big sports anime fan you might be bummed out by it. Every single musical performance is INCREDIBLE tho. A solid 8/10.

Toilet Bound Hanako-kun: THE ART OMFG IT'S SO GORGEOUS. Listen, if you took coptic markers and gave them an animation budget with some manga panel direction thrown in there, that's this anime. It's beautiful. Gorgeous. I'm in love with the aesthetic every second. Story? Really good. Characters? I love the MC and his evil little twin brother asshat. Demons? Not super imaginative but I'm carrying on happy as can be anyways. Dubbing? A bit shaky at times but I found the voices charming if a little off for some of them. I'm already waiting for the second season with popcorn at the ready. 10/10.

Prison School: I watched this directly after Hanako-kun and it was like I got slapped in the face by sweaty unwashed titties and some fedora wearing schmuck's piss kink. No character is likable or redeemable. I finished it, but at what cost? 2/10 and only because a character shit his pants and I laughed.

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle: watched this right after Prison School and it was NECESSARY tbh. Its so CUTE and honestly, im not even kidding you, the fucking funniest anime I've seen in months. I watched the dub and the VAs are having the time of their lives working on this anime not just giving it their all but literally just going ham. Its great. If I read this im sure id be bored outta my mind but the VAs giving it a joyous performance make it an insta fave for me tbh. 9/10.

Sk8 the Infinity: i watched the dub with my bro and I can confirm that its a spectacular show because we both loved it and we have vastly different tastes. Incredibly SUSPENSFUL AND STRESSFUL for an anime about skateboarding but we finished it in a single sitting tbh. The last episode is not dubbed for some reason but we still loved it. Like if Free! was less obnoxious but the only fan-service here is Joe ♡ a beefcake who owns my lesbian heart. I think there's exactly one named female character tho and I legit couldn't tell you what it was if there was a gun to my head. So, over all, 9.5/10.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: I'm going to be entirely honest, I went in thinking it was going to be a boring isekai of no value. I was right about the Isekai part. It was honestly pretty interesting and focused on nation building like you're playing civilization rather than the usual "Get Stronger" narrative or "Get Some Pussy" narrative most isekais take which is delightfully refreshing. Granted there are flavors of that in this which means it doesn't alienate the big isekai watchers out there, but it's not the whole dish and it doesn't make me want to cringe the same way others do. You've got a slime MC just vibing and building a nation of monsters nbd. Does lose points for making the female monsters more humanoid than their male counterparts but makes them back by only doing perfunctory fan-service and nothing that makes me want to cry... except the butt sumo episode but in fairness it was all a terrible dream. Literally, the MC refuses to dream anymore after that. solid animation, decent voice acting, decent story, made me realize how HUGE this is in the Light Novel community???? There's like 18 fucking novels and that's WILD. 8.5/10.

MANGA:

Spirit Photographer Saburo Kono: a one shot special by the mangaka of The Promised Neverland! Honestly a really delicate touch of both super creepy and really touching, and I'm not gonna lie I'm bummed that this isn't a bigger project but the single chapter makes it a good taste for their style. I've been wondering if I wanna read/watch The Promised Neverland and now I think I will. 10/10

Deranged Detective Ron Kamonohashi: from the mangaka of Hitman Reborn comes this Sherlock and Watson derivative! Not even 20 chapters out yet with a sort of spotty schedule, I honestly love it even thought it's exactly as you expect. HOWEVER. Kamonohashi the "Sherlock" character uses mental pressure to kill all confirmed murderers and it's up to Toto the "Watson" character to save all those people before Kamonohashi kills them! It's just recently introduced a "Moriarty" family of crime lords (not a big spoiler don't worry it was obvious) so the tension surrounding Ron's past is amping up rn. Personally, I think the art is GORGEOUS, the characters engaging, and the story quick enough to keep my interest. Most mysteries are solved within a chapter or two so you're not stuck 20 chapters into one locked room mystery which is just peachy tbh. RN, 10/10. If this gets an anime, I anticipate a legion of fangirls who ship the two main characters along with their many friends. I've been alive too long to believe otherwise.

Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro: Yeah I read the manga after I watched the show. A slower build than the anime, but it works for the format, if theyd done the same with the show then I don't think it wouldve done as well. Honestly? Cuter tbh but just as horny. You dont start really LEARNING about your character until like, chap 65 tho and no real "drama" happens until like 75. A good chunk of the chapters are like 8pgs so its a breeze to get through. I love these slow burn idiots of the century. 9.5/10 because you can DEFINITELY tell the mangaka does hentai too.

Yugen's All-Ghouls Homeroom: one-shot by the mangaka for Food Wars, it's no wonder there's this constant perviness from the MC, a guy who can see and exorcise spirits. Takes place at an all girl's finishing school with KICK ASS monsters tbh, kinda bummed its not longer. The MC? Blatant monsterfucker who is also a CONFRIMED monsterfucker???? Idk i vibe with that single emotion. Everything else is hit or miss. 7/10 for monsters and cool concept, lost points for the MC very pointedly being okay with admitting he'd wait for the teenagers to be adults tho. Creepy af. Could live without that.

Hell's Paradise: I finished the entire 127chps in 3 days and I was really enthusiastic about it 90% of the time thinking about how deep it was and then I actually thought about it and I ended up being very neutral about the whole thing tbh. The art is fantastic tho, but DEFINITELY deserving of the M rating. Tits. Tits everywhere. But not tits to be ecchi over, no, monster hermit tits on beautiful women-ish figures. Now generally I give that a pass but a huge theme in the story is that men and women are "no better than one or the other" but like, lady tits are what you see 99% of the time. Men tits are few and far between. I call bullshit on most of the "deep" themes is what I'm saying, so it's like the mangaka was trying for those deep thoughts but missed the margin a little too far for my preference. That being said, the MC is a married man who loves his wife which automatically makes him my favorite character so like... idk so many good things, so many misses, but overall really spectacular themes and imagery. Unique but classic all at once. It's getting an anime and I have NO IDEA how much censorship they're gonna be doing but they're going to be doing SO MUCH. Oh yeah, and one guy is a plant/human hybrid who fucks a 1000 year old plant-hermit which makes him a canon monster fucker. And one canon non-binary character who I, a nonbinary, actually like. So like... gosh I've got mixed feelings. 8.5/10.

Choujin X: From Sui Ishida, mangaka to the mega hit Tokyo Ghoul comes this brand new manga!... Of one chapter, lol. Not really binge-y because it's just the one chapter out right now but I'm already keeping my eye on it. The grasp on anatomy in the art is PHENOMENAL and you can see Ishida flexing his art skill which is great. Can't give a true rating but I'm giving it a tentative 9/10 because I'm excited to see more.

Shag&Scoob: technically not a manga, its an ongoing webcomic I binged an subscribed to in one day and I just think it deserves more attention. Starts off funny with "what if Scooby Doo had a gun" and has been led to "what if all cartoons are aliens that survive and receive their powers by the humans that love them in an epic war with Martians." On god, its good. I finished the current series in a couple hours so it's a breezy read, highly recommend it. 9/10.

To Your Eternity: Yeah I watched the anime and then finished all current 143 chapters in like 3 days. GOD IM WEAK. I don't buy physical manga unless I know I want to remember the story forever and I'm already budgeting for the current books out. Yeah, this is a good series. That being said, definitely not for the faint of heart or those who suffer under common triggers like suicide, molestation, death, etc. It's all framed as bad and necessary to the story don't get me wrong, but it's there and has lasting affects on the characters. Incredible story telling by the creator of A Silent Voice. Keep tissues nearby at all times. 12/10.

#i've been killing slimes for 300 years and maxed out my level #don't toy with me miss nagatoro #spirit photographer saburo kono #fruits basket #deranged detective ron kamonohashi #yugen's all-ghoul's homeroom #monster girl doctor #so i'm a spider so what #somali and the forest spirit #to your eternity #jigokuraku #hell's paradise #choujin x #shag and scoob #toilet bound hanako kun #prison school #sk8 the infinity #that time i got reincarnated as a slime

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wannaholdhandswithfictionalmen · 4 years

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Can I send a request for a fic with venti and a gender neutral mc? It's not really meant to be romantic or anything along those lines. I've just been constantly thinking about how the mc was stripped of everything, including their wings when they lost their fight against the unknown god, and how the gliders might have brought them a bit of comfort when trying to get accustomed to Mondstadt.

Something more heartfelt, maybe the mc just talking to venti after a late night out, or just waking up in the middle of the night to take a stroll in peace away from paimon, amber and the rest of the Chaotic knights of favonious.

This is more of a prompt if anything- I dont usually send requests so I dont know how to format them- sorry about that :'0

A/n: first time writing Venti. Oof. Hopes it's alright and anon I hope this is close to what you wanted.

Genre: Angst. Some fluff. (The power of friendship.)

Warning: It gets a bit angsty before it get softer.

Summary: The reality of your circumstances of the trapped traveler get you and Venti offers you some advice and comfort as your friend.

Word count: 1,420

In The Days To Come (How Much Will I Miss You?);

It was a series of perfect events, little coincidences, Paimon got distracted a while back by the smell of food, fluttering off with 'Delicious. Tasty food! Paimon will be back' before vanishing from your side. The knight of Favonius had no urgent problems to ask for your aid with now that the Dvalin has been saved and Mondstadt and its people can rest easy. You finally had time to yourself, time to feel and think of your new reality.

It was the gentlest tug, pull of melancholy it crept up slowly, slowly, slowly all day nipping at your heels until you felt it from your toes to your head. Numbness, so empty at first then came sadness buried deep, ignored for days for the sake of saving others, making sure others were happy, living in their home, with their family-- while you were still missing yours. It felt unfair. Resentment and anger reared their ugly heads, howling like starving, ravenous beats.

What an overwhelming torrent of emotion, waves after wave, lapping at your chin, your mouth, your nose. Sinking. Sinking. Sinking. No. Drowning.

Until there was nothing but a muffled, muted haze of the world around you.

If you nodded and 'hm', 'yes', 'sure', 'okay' your way through passing conversations no one noticed. Oh, how kind, brave and stoic the traveler was! Our hero! Maybe you didn't want to be a hero. You just wanted your sibling back.

Gliding from the highest building in Mondstadt in the dead of night, you could close your eyes, imagine it, see it, your wings, the wind through your hair, the laughter of your best friend, your constant companion, your sibling-- 'I am absolutely certain, I can beat you!', 'Ha! How hilarious. You just try to keep up!'

Then your feet hit the cobblestone of Mondstadt, your eyes snap open and that dream, that wish, all of it shatters into the most fragile fragments, fading away, slipping out of your mind, no matter how hard you try to grasp onto it, hold it close. Gone.

You just want to cry.

Figures it would be Venti who just so happens to find you. In the late hours of the night, every minute passes towards that too late but also too early threshold of time.

He is whistling, then humming a gentle, soft song. Lyrics and melody unknown to you, deft, nimble fingers strum quiet, easy notes from his lyre.

Quiet footsteps approaching your seating form, nearly hunched over a ledge outlooking most of Mondstadt from this peak near the cathedral and the statue of your friend, it was still a little odd to think of Venti, the whimsical, chaotic bard as a god but easier to wrap your mind around given the fact you had traveled to many different realms and worlds in the past.

"How lucky I am to find a lone traveler, perhaps I could provide you with some company?" Venti interrupts his little performance to sit down beside you, cradling his lyre in his hands, you don't really have the energy to even answer or protest his presence even if you wanted.

"Did you catch a bit of my new tune? I must work on something that will blow away even Master Diluc! Perhaps enough for a night of free drinks in the tavern in exchange for the request of my music!" Venti exclaims rather determinedly as always, especially when it came to getting the best wine possible, for free as well. The lengths he'd be willing to go is almost admirable in a way.

Your answering silence, no laugh, huff or even a scoff at his expense nor a head shake, roll eyes. Nothing.

"Ah poor traveler, your gloom could bring down even the brightest flowers bloom, what has doubled your trouble?" Even his joking yet sincere rhyming can't bring much of a reaction to your face and that eats away at Venti. Never one to want his friends to suffer, not if he is there to help in whatever way he can.

Venti loses his playful, mischievous nature for the moment in favor of being serious. It's then he is more Anemo Archon then Venti the bard.

"What is wrong, friend?"

One tear is followed by many others, everything rushes to the surface, you shake, tremble, break under the weight of your own sorrow. Sobbing out to the blinking stars far, far away.

"What if my sibling is gone forever? What if I never find any clues, signs? What if I spend the rest of my life trapped here, searching and searching?" You sound half hysterical with grief and worry, rambling out every doubt, insecurity you have kept so tightly hidden away. Because everyone else had their own problems and all the problems they wanted you to solve.

"Years side by side, through every trouble, every battle, every adventure, journey, they were always with me. Now? I am alone. My power, my wings, my sibling taken from me." You sniff and cough, squeezing your eyes shut as the world around your blurs and become a mess of colors.

"I am tired. I am scared. Why do I always have to be brave? Strong? My whole life has been turned upside down and I have barely had time to adjust! To take all of this in, it feels like every person I meet needs my help for something unrelated to finding my only family!" You can't help the way your words turn exhausted and bitter.

Venti waits and listens to your venting without interruption. It's only once he is sure you have let it all out that he speaks.

"There is no shame in your sorrow, your pain. You have been thrown into a situation unfamiliar and unless anything you have experienced before and you are being forced to endure this without your closest friend, your sibling." Venti's tone is slow, decisive as if he is giving every single word meticulous thought.

"You are incorrect to assume that means you are alone. You have new friends here, people who care about you, your journey and your goal. Paimon, Me, Jean, Lisa, Diluc, Kaeya, Amber, we all care for you. And you will have our support whenever you need it. Without question." The finality and firmness of his statement leaves no room for argument.

You realize and recognize the truth in his words and Venti stays by your side, in the quiet night as you cry and cry, relieving the tangled knot of everything you had let grow, fester and linger for so long, even before you found Paimon.

Venti plays a soothing harmony, a mellow, delicate dance of the strings of his lyre and his soft voice, singing; something just for you, for the moment of trust and sharing between two friends. It is a lovely, comforting song as your tears begin to dry and the burden on you is lessened for now.

It's easy to smile and hum along with Venti as if you've heard this a dozen times.

You have no idea what is awaiting you on the journey, what struggles you will face, what obstacles and hardships that will cause you to stumble and fall but you do have friends who will be there to pick you back up again and again.

"Paimon just enjoyed a juicy, sweet, savory meal! (Name) you should have join- wait a minute!" Paimon takes one look at you and her cheeks puff out in anger, it's too cute to be truly scary but the glares she shoots at Venti is fiercely defensive.

"What did you do tone-deaf bard?!"

You laugh, reaching out to take hold of Paimon, you hug her gentle. Paimon squeaks out in surprise but you feel her tiny arms gently squeeze your neck.

"I have done nothing wrong, this time." Venti had paused his private little song, ensuring it was something meant to be shared between you two just like this night would be a shared memory to look back on.

Paimon wiggles away from you, floating before you, you watch her stick her tongue out at Venti, blowing and making a hilarious show of her disbelief. "Paimon doesn't believe you! Apologize to them now!"

In the ensuing 'fight' between Venti and Paimon, you watch Venti reach forward and pinch her cheek and the small girl lunged at him in a failed attempt to choke him, you are sure, Venti holds her back with a hand over her face.

You laugh.

Yeah, you had friends and you weren't alone.

#genshin impact #genshin impact one shots #genshin impact scenarios #genshin impact reader insert #genshin impact venti

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hobblywobbly · 3 years

Text

i thought we'd fight side by side forever (thor & loki)

in which thor encounters his brother on a service station in space and comes to a decision

No, this cannot be right. It is impossible.

He saw Thanos kill him and the ship that had exploded leaving not even a single strand of hair behind. There had been no illusion, no trick. He remembers the way he broke down when Tony had told him they could only bring back those who had been snapped and not those before, begging, pleading for another way, anything so that he could hug his brother one final time. Five years Thor spent his days wallowing away, and yet the wound is still fresh.

He remembers how as the dust settled amongst the rubble he waited. Waited for a miracle Thor knew was never happening. Thor doesn’t know how long he stood waiting with bated breath, hoping that the wizard’s portals had simply been late, that any second now Loki and Heimdall will appear before him breathing, hearts beating. It’s only when Bruce had clutched his shoulder gently, eyes shimmering with understanding, that Thor accepted the truth.

“I get it, you know,” Quill had said as the two sat in the cockpit. After a rather grueling battle of rock-paper-lasers, Thor allowed Quill to pilot the ship as captain. At least for the day. The rest of the Guardians were asleep in their respective seats, Rocket cuddling with one of his many guns, Mantis’s head leaning against Drax’s thigh as he snores loudly, Groot’s gameboy beeping loudly while he dozes, leaving only them two awake. “For me, it feels like yesterday that Gamora-” he cuts off shortly. “But there’s gotta be a way for us to bring them back. I just know it.”

And if this had been five years ago, Thor would have agreed without a doubt in his mind. There were powers in this universe not even Thanos knew of, and if he sought hard enough then he’d eventually find the answer. But he is not the young, hopeful fool he had been then. He has time to mourn, to grieve, to accept what was.

Perhaps it is just one of this universe’s many coincidences. It was not the first time Thor has seen someone with his brother’s likeness. He also knows that Loki would never visit some dingy service station. Standards and all that. There is also the possibility that the eye Rocket gave him is malfunctioning again. Yes, that would be the logical conclusion. If they were not in such a crowded space he would’ve removed the eye then to avoid further headaches.

He watches as this Loki look-alike grins at something his silver-haired companion says, mismatched eyes curling at the corners mirroring his smile, and tips back his head.

And Thor hears a sound he hasn’t heard in centuries.

He hears Loki’s laugh.

Not one of his mischievous laughs or out of malice, no, a real, genuine laugh. One born of joy and mirth. One that has not been heard ever since the divide between them as brothers had been placed. Even though the raucous chatter and mediocre music, Thor’s ears catch the rare sound.

(“I can’t believe you fell for that!” Loki wheezes. The boy leans his back against the tree for balance as his skinny arms wrap around his stomach. Thor grunts from where he sits in the fountain, glaring past drenched blonde locks toward his cackling brother. Yet despite his annoyance, he can’t help the fond smile that stretches across his face. Loki’s laughter has always been his one weakness. For someone so good at concealing their emotions, his laugh was the window to his soul, vulnerable and honest. He wipes a tear from his eye.)

The laugh is in his eyes, in the way his face changes into that of relaxed joy and unrestrained mirth. Loki looks so alive at that moment under the neon fluorescent lights. A glimpse into a far-forgotten past when he had been blind to the cruelties of the universe. Before he had been burdened with a glorious purpose that would only lead to his own suffering and death all so that Thor could live. In a time when he had simply just been Loki, free and untethered.

The smile he offers his partner is much softer than his usual performative ones, close-lipped, dimples showing. His features relax a bit and he looks down and away from whomever he’s talking to, almost as if he’s feeling a bit timid as if he were still adjusting to expressing such emotions. It’s such a rare sight that Thor only recalls ever seeing once. A time where everything has settled down around them, the battle is behind them, and they were to see what laid in the future for them together. A time in which Loki had let his guard down around Thor and let his emotions shine.

Maybe that is what has Thor realizing something about Loki is different.

They may have had their differences, but if anyone knew Loki then it was Thor. It’s the small things that tip him off such as the way Loki holds himself, relaxed against the bar rather than trying to look superior to the ones around him, how the lines of stress that have developed over the years are no longer there, and most importantly, the missing scar from when Thor pushed Loki out of the alien spaceship on their escape from Asgard.

For some reason, he is reminded of Bruce’s briefing before they time traveled.

(“And remember that the ones we see in this timeline aren’t the same ones we know. We may be visiting somewhere familiar, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be the same.”)

Time travel. Out of everything Thor has witnessed, that was one of the few he still could not wrap his head around entirety. He’s glad Tony and Bruce had been there to figure it out for him. He recalls his mother and the way she smiled at him, the golden light pouring over her shoulders, small hands holding his just as she did when he was a child.

Thor knows, then, that this is not his Loki. It is Loki, yes, but not the same one he fought side by side against their sister in an attempt to save their home. Vaguely, he recalls Scott explaining how they botched their grab on the space stone and allowed the Loki of that timeline to escape. Yes, if anyone were to break the rules of the universe and prevail, it would be his brother.

His hands twitch at his sides.

It is taking every ounce of self-restraint not to rush over there and pull his brother into a crushing hug. He could vividly imagine Loki’s reaction of pure bafflement as Thor lifts him off the ground in the tightest hug possible and spins. He’d be grinning and laughing and crying all the same whilst twirling them around because; “you’re alive, brother! You’re alive!”

How he would commit this all to memory because the last time he held his brother had been when he was painfully dying, unable to utter a single word or move, succumbing to the confines of space because death would be mercy rather than living after witnessing his entire world crash and burn around him. Thor would introduce Loki to his new friends, and in exchange be introduced to his, feeling that flutter of warmth in his chest that had died so, so long ago.

(“But at the end of the day you’re you, and I’m me. And, I don’t know, maybe there is still good in you. But let's be honest, our paths diverged a long time ago.”)

Loki may have changed his mind about staying on Sakaar, but Thor fears if this Loki follows him once more his fate will end the same. Perhaps it is better this way. Two strangers on different paths that may never converge.

They will always be brothers, yet no matter how much they try there will always be animosity between them, a feud, lingering anger or grudge from the past. Thor watches how Loki interacts with the man wondering if this could have been his Loki’s outcome if not for him.

An elbow jabs into his back.

“Hey, we’re just about finished here,” Quill says and Thor wonders just how long he’s been spacing out for. “Come on, let's get back to the ship before people realize who we are. We’re not exactly...welcomed in this region.”

“This time it wasn’t my fault.” Rocket chimes, passing by the two flanked by Groot.

Thor looks past the sea of heads toward the bar. Just a few steps is all it would take to close the distance. It was never heard to garner Loki’s attention. He’d willingly accept a knife in the back if it just meant hearing Loki say his name again. He’s sure the Guardians would understand after having lost each other time and time again. Quill is watching him and Thor wonders what he’d do in his place.

He feels Mantis grab his hand in both her petite ones as she would when he’d awake screaming, the phantom pain of drifting in space sucking the air straight out of his lungs, the tears that stung in his eyes. Her eyes are full of understanding, antennas glowing gently, and Thor is glad to have a friend by his side in a time like this. He’s glad to have all of them.

Maybe it’s time he moves on.

“I’m ready.”

#marvel #loki #loki laufeyson #thor #thor odinson #minor lokius in da bg #charlie writes

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stuckinapatriarchalbullshitland · 3 years

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@aboveordinary: As for L, which songs did she actually write at least a 70% of… Expectations, Lento, 50 ft? I know she did not write MTT, or did she? What about the lyrics in let me know and the bad part. The bad part lyrics seems like she’s saying …hey, pretty soon you’ll regret this and miss me. In 50 ft, it seems like all she wants is distance, in let me know, communication seems to be the real issue. Do you have analysis of all their songs? C&L?

Artists always say that they write their own music or lyrics. Which of Camila’s songs did she really right 100%, or at least 70% of? I need to know coz sometimes I get confused with the narrative. Like I thought consequences was 100% her song; thus the emotional performance for L in the award show.

👋🏼 Hi @aboveordinary, sorry for the late reply but I had some really busy days.

As I’ve already explained, if a person writes even a single word of a song, that word or phrase is credited to them unless the artist/writer/label of the song buys the copyrights of that word/phrase by having the person who wrote/said it sign a contract with a confidentiality clause by receiving a payment in return.

That said, let’s start with Camila.

I honestly think that she writes at least 80% of the songs she writes with other authors. Camila is a lyricist. A control freak. If things don’t go as she says, she prefers to discard the song. And an example I can give you is ‘God is a Woman’. Camila had changed the God is a Woman demo lyrics that they sent to her, but she eventually discarded it. And why is that? Because things hadn’t turned out the way she wanted and so the authors of that song took it to Ari.

I can also give you another example. Camila, Charli XCX, Noonie Bao, and Sasha Sloan wrote the song ‘Be Right Here’ for her debut album ‘Camila’, but C discarded it and gave it to DJ Kungs, Stargate ft. Goldn who then released it on June 22, 2018.

You can be sure that Camila has written 100% songs like ‘Like Friends Do’, ‘Cinderella’, ‘Only Told the Moon’, ‘Leave for Good’, ‘Cozy Dolla Bill$’, ‘U Shaped Space’, ‘Not Killin It Today’, ‘The Exchange’, etc. She also wrote 100% all of her parts in collaborations such as ‘Bad Things’, ‘Beautiful’, ‘Mi Persona Favorita’, ‘South of the Border’, etc.

Songwriters, and I underline SONGWRITERS, especially in collaborations where they participate in another artist’s song, always write their part 100% precisely because the part is usually small.

Camila is also a ghostwriter. ‘Ain’t Easy’ for example. Camila worked on it with Ryan Tedder and Zach Skelton, even recording the demo, before giving it to the duo Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine who recorded it for the first season of the Canadian reality music competition ‘The Launch’, releasing the song on January 17, 2018. Or ‘Love Life’, initially called ‘Love Life/Low Life/No Lie’, written and recorded by C but released without her by Major Lazer ft. Azaryah on November 16, 2017. And in this song, Camila is 100% a ghostwriter because she doesn’t even appear in the credits of the song. This means that she has sold the copyrights.

As for Lauren on the other hand:

Her first experience in songwriting was on September 17, 2011, at the age of 15. That song was about her suffering from being dumped about a month and a half before by her ex-boyfriend Paul Martinez. She also wrote one about Nick Jonas that same year because she had a huge crush on him.

In 2016 she wrote two songs destined to be for someone else: ‘More Than That’ and ‘Miscommunication’. Miscommunication was for Crystal Chavis, who also posted a snippet on Instagram and Twitter, but then deleted it and the song never came out because she (Crystal) was never actually allowed to release that song in the first place. More Than That instead, as we all know, she kept it to herself in the end. The original version written 100% by her was slightly modified along with other co-writers before being released years later.

Still in 2016, in May to be precise, she worked with Marian Hill: ‘Back to Me’ and ‘XO (I Don’t Miss Ya)’. Between the two, they chose to release Back to Me. Her parts in those songs are written 100% by her.

Lauren herself said that for years she felt dead inside. As if they sucked and took her creativity away by telling her she wasn’t an artist. She indeed thought she had lost her talent since she wasn’t using it. And this fear of hers in not being up to par, she carried it on up to the meeting with Alicia Keys.

Lauren began writing seriously in May 2017, to then completing a couple of songs in their entirety in January 2018. Although she’d written in the past, she still didn’t feel quite ready until May (2017), when she started working and therefore writing seriously for her album. Alicia Keys was the one who finally helped her unlock herself. (She met her when Alicia and Ty had a session together, and therefore before L wrote Expectations, Toy, and Inside).

So let’s say she really started seriously and without difficulty in January 2018. The same year she wrote all the songs that she released and that we know so far. [Expectations, 50ft., Lento, Always Love, etc.] And Expectations is written by her 100%. She wrote it in just 30 minutes.

I hope I’ve been helpful to you. A virtual hug 🤗 with love F ❤️

___

I loved this submit, F. This is your answer @abovetheordinary

#submission #f anon #abovetheordinary #questions

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mermaidsneedwater · 3 years

Text

christmas with you | chapter five

series page

tag list: @yup-indecisive-girl-cece

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of The Year

Stirring in your sleep, you rubbed your eyes as you felt a pair of arms around your waist. Thinking nothing of it, you shifted to your other side and turned around in the long arms, nuzzling into the man’s neck.

“I had the strangest dream,” You said groggily.

“Oh yeah? About what?” the voice responded.

With your eyes still closed you smiled. “It was so weird. You slept with my sister, and then I went to my neighbor, Mark’s house for Christmas.”

Hearing small laughter, you felt the man’s chest rumble slowly before you both began to realize…

Opening your eyes, you were shocked to see that it was Mark’s arms that you were wrapped in.

“AHHH!” You yelled, jumping out of bed.

“AH!” Mark yelled, shocked at your reaction. “Wha? What? Why are you yelling?”

Holding the pillow to separate the two of you again, you scooted as far away as you could from Mark until you were almost falling off the bed.

“We- you… I. I’m… We were…” You squeaked out.

Sitting up in bed, Mark looked around to see that you two had managed to get rid of the barrier between you two.

“Oh… do I smell that bad?” He asked, raising his arm to do a smell test.

“No- it’s not that.” You said slowly. “I just- I’ll sleep on the floor tonight.”

Mark frowned. “Absolutely not. I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“Mark really I-“

“Mark! Y/N! Breakfast is ready!” You heard Dorine call from downstairs.

Thankful for the interruption, you hopped out of bed and pulled on a sweatshirt. Mark followed your lead and the two of you headed down to find an elaborate display of food.

“Mom, how much food did you make?” Mark asked, stretching his arms out. “You know that there are two other meals in the day that I need to save room for right?”

“I don’t want to hear a peep out of you Mark,” His mother said sternly, “You’ve lost too much weight, frankly you should be having at least 5 meals a day.”

Defeated, Mark held his hands up and took a seat at the dining table.

“Y/N dear, please eat as much as you’d like.” She beamed at you.

“Can I help you with anything? You look like you’ve already done all the hard work.” You offered, hoping to distance yourself from Mark.

“Not at all, just sit and eat!” She insisted.

Nodding and then thanking her, you took a seat next to Mark. With the morning newspaper in hand, Raymond came and joined you at the table.

“Did you guys sleep well?” He asked, looking up from his paper.

You turned to glance at Mark, remembering how the two of you had woken up this morning. “Yes, a little too well actually.”

Thinking nothing of your answer, Raymond sipped his coffee and nodded, he then returned to enjoying reading his paper. Dorine paced between the dining table and the kitchen before finally sitting down to eat.

She dug into the pancakes before turning to Mark. “You should show Y/N around town! You know, show her your high school and all that. Our Christmas festivities don’t start until tomorrow. Don’t you think that’s a good idea Raymond?”

Without missing a beat, Raymond responded, not looking up from the article he was engrossed in “Uh-huh, sounds great.”

Mark looked at you, and then at his mom “I don’t know mom, I doubt she’s interested, right Y/N?”

“Actually I’d love to go.” You said, taking a bite of your toast. “I barely know anything about your past.”

Raising an eyebrow, Mark gave you a funny look before agreeing. “Okay, I guess we can go after breakfast.”

You smiled at him before returning to your breakfast. The more time you were out of the house, the less time you’d have to lie and keep up this charade with Mark’s family.

+++

“We don’t actually have to go to see my high school.” Mark told you as he drove the car out of the driveway. “We can just drive around.”

“No,” You shook your head, “I want to see it. Besides, it would be nice to feel like I’m a truthful person again.”

“Okay.” He nodded his head. Mark then turned on the radio, as the two of you drove out of his neighborhood and through the local streets.

When he finally pulled up to the parking lot of the school, you were again amazed at the plainness of the building. Prior to becoming a trainee, Mark truly was like any other kid.

The two of you stepped out of the car and began to walk around the football field of the school.

“So what were you like in high school?” You asked, desperate to fill the silence between you.

“Me? I was kind of a loner.” He said, smiling at the memory.

“Ah, I can see you haven’t changed then.” You teased.

“Hilarious.” Mark narrowed his eyes at you. “But seriously, I wasn’t very athletic, so I never really joined any team sports. I liked gaming, but it was more of a solitary pastime. I liked music, but it just seemed unrealistic career-wise. I thought I’d just become a real estate agent or something.”

“So then when you were scouted, it must have been a dream come true.”

“Well, yes and no. Yes because I got the chance to pursue something I loved professionally, but no because it wasn’t necessarily the route I thought.” He explained. “I actually didn’t even want to do it, but my family and friends pushed me to go.”

“Imagine if you hadn’t taken the opportunity.” You mused aloud. “Your life would be infinitely different.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He said, smiling. “What about you? Did you always know you wanted to do PR?”

Your smile quickly faded as you recalled you original dream. “I wanted to be a ballerina.”

“Really? I didn’t expect that.” Mark shook his head. “So what happened?”

“I don’t really talk about it but, when I was sixteen, I tore my anterior cruciate ligament in my knee during a performance of The Nutcracker. Once you suffer through a knee injury like that… it’s impossible to continue. In an instant my dance career was over.” You reflected sadly. “I never danced again after that.”

“I’m sorry,” Mark said quietly.

“I’ve made my peace with it.” You shrugged. “Besides, working for the PR department of the Ballet Theatre is close enough.”

“So you really never danced again? Ever?” Mark asked.

“After my recovery, I was just too scared. When I realized I could never be a professional, I didn’t see the point in torturing myself.”

Nodding silently, You and Mark walked side by side on the track.

“I loved it though. The thrill of being on stage and feeling the music. It took a long time for me to get over it, dancing was my first love.”

Mark watched you face as you spoke, he’d noticed how excited you became when you began to reminisce. Attempting to lighten the mood he spoke, “Well, if you had become a ballerina then we never would’ve met.”

“That’s true,” You smiled softly. “Hey, I may not be a dancer but at least now I can say I’ve been someone's fake girlfriend.”

Laughing, Mark nudged you with his shoulder and teased “You’re a natural. My family loves you. I think they’re really going to be sad when I tell them I dumped you.”

“Excuse me? You’re not going to dump me, I’m going to dump you.” You turned to him.

“Well I’m going to be the one telling my family so obviously I’ll break up with you, I don’t want to sound like a loser.” He pointed out. “Actually, on second thought, I’ll tell them you dumped me. That way there’ll be more sympathy for me and they won’t ask me about getting another girlfriend because I’ll be too heartbroken over you.”

“Wow, you sure think ahead.” You laughed. “Don’t move on too quickly from me. You can have another girlfriend after a year.”

“A whole year?!” He said, shocked. “That’s a bit too long don’t you think?”

“Hey, you need to respect our relationship.”

“Whatever you say Y/N.” Mark shook his head, chuckling.

+++

“Mark I’m tired.” you complained.

“It’s only a little bit further up.” He turned back to tell you, “trust me. It’s worth it.”

You rolled your eyes, huffing and puffing as you trekked up the hill.

After showing you around a bit, Mark had saved his favorite spot for last. Pulling up into the parking lot of the hiking trail, you raised an eyebrow when he’d unbuckled his seatbelt and began to walk up the steep hill.

Turning around, Mark quickly ran behind you. “We’re here. But I’m going to close your eyes.”

He placed two hands over your eyes. Guiding you to the top of the peak.

“I better not fall to my death.” You joked.

“Keep talking and you just might.” Mark said sarcastically. “Okay I’m going to take my hands off and you can open your eyes.”

“Alright.” You said quietly.

Hearing Mark slowly count behind you, your eyes widened at the sight before you.

He’d brought you to the top of Sturtevant Falls. As you peered below, you could see the waterfall streaming below into a small body of water. The sun had turned the sky into a vibrant mix of blues and oranges as it began to set.

“This is amazing.” You breathed out, turning to look at Mark.

“Isn’t it?” He grinned. “I used to love coming here.”

“It’s beautiful. How did you find this place?” You asked.

“Tammy loves hiking so she’d make me and Grace go with her, halfway through the hike I’d ditch her and come up here until it was time to go home. I’ve spent hours at a time up here, just thinking.”

“You do that a lot.” You commented.

“What? Thinking?”

“Yeah. I think people don’t realize that, you may not say much but you’re always thinking.” You nodded.

Taken aback that you’d noticed such a small detail like that, he blinked a few times unsure of what to say. He’d never felt so seen.

“That’s true. By the way, you’re the second girl I’ve brought up here.”

“The second?! Who was the first? A girlfriend?” You pouted playfully.

“My sister.”

“Well you should bring more girls up here, this is a great make out spot.” You commented.

“Should we test that theory?” Mark winked.

“Ha! You wish.” You shoved him lightly, rolling your eyes.

“Anyway, are you ready to head back home, my dear girlfriend?”

“Oh of course, my wonderful boyfriend.” You stuck your tongue out at him.

+++

After your outing, the remainder of the night was mundane. You sat in the living room with Mark and his parents after dinner simply enjoying each other’s company.

“So Mom,“ Mark started “What’s the plan for Christmas Eve and Christmas?”

“Well, everyone’s coming over tomorrow at twelve o’clock. We’ll do all the usual Tuan traditions, we’ll cook and bake tomorrow’s meal.” She laid out the plan “Everyone will stay the night for Christmas and then we’ll do presents and dinner together at night before sending everyone off home.”

“Sounds great.” You smiled. “I can’t wait.”

“It’s going to be a long day tomorrow, so rest up!” Raymond told you and Mark.

chapter four | chapter six

#mark tuan #got7 #mark got7 #got7 mark #got7 mark tuan #mark tuan got7 #mnw works #got7 fics #got7 Christmas #got7 imagines #got7 drabble #got7 scenario #got7 reactions

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gaylorlyrics · 4 years

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Folklore Songs - what are they about??

This is a developing thread, but I’ve been listening all day so I’m taking a stab at it.

1."The 1"

Common consensus is that this is about Dianna Agron and what they could have been. Telling lyrics are the general idea that the relationship wasn’t truly given a chance (”it would've been sweet, If it could've been me”) and “Roaring Twenties”, referring to the below circus themed party pics with Diana dressed like a flapper

tbh im not totally sold on this - most because it seems more recent with lyrics like, “In my defense, I have none for never leaving well enough alone” sounds like a reference to ME! and “Roaring twenties” sounds like a reference to something that happened this year (2020). Also “throwing pennies in the pool” could be a reference to throwing Penni (Karlie’s agent) in the pool. Finally, Route 1 is the road along California’s coast, where Tay & Karlie drove on their legendary road trip...this makes my lil Kaylor heart worry.

2. Cardigan

This is the first installment in the Teenage Trio, which also includes August and Betty, and is told from the perspective of Betty. It’s about feeling so loved by someone but then being betrayed by them (”Chase two girls [Betty + August’s narrator] lose one”). The line ”And you'd be standin' in my front porch light” foreshadows to James professing love in “Betty”. Potentially Taylor is Betty - but I’m still thinking about that theory.

3."The Last Great American Dynasty"

We <3 a Rhode Island throwback. Here Taylor tells the story of her house in Rhode Island that Rebekah “Betty” (??!?!??!! more on that later) Harkness used to live in. Rebekah married an heir to Standard Oil which made her one of the wealthiest women in the USA at the time. She was also known for making a scene (”She had a marvelous time ruining everything”). Additionally, she founded the Harkness Ballet (”And blew through the money on the boys and the ballet”). After Rebekah’s death Taylor purchased the house and it is now best known as the place of many epic 4th of July parties.

4. Exile

Such a sad song! This is a duet between Taylor and Bon Iver, telling the story of a failed relationship that they have tried to mend many many times. Interestingly, this is also about a love triangle (like the teenage trio) - "I can see you starin' honey/Like he's just your understudy." This line specifically feels like it could be about bearding, and seeing someone else with the person you love, but feeling like - or knowing - it’s fake. “You were my town Now I'm in exile seein' you out” references and end to the relationship Taylor discussed in False God “Staring out the window like I'm not your favorite town I'm New York City”. To me this indicates that it is about Karlie and them breaking up or going through a rough patch - continually trying to fix things - and eventually being unsure that it could ever be repaired.

5."My Tears Ricochet"

This is pretty clearly about Scott & Scooter - “And if I'm dead to you, why are you at the wake? Cursing my name, wishing I stayed” and “You had to kill me, but it killed you just the same” seem to be a reference to them trying to exploit her work and how her leaving Big Machine really ruined the business - plus there’s some LWYMMD imagery. “You wear the same jewels that I gave you as you bury me” also seems to be a clear reference for trying to use Taylor’s own work against her, taking the profits, and pushing her out of the deal. As if we needed more evidence “You hear my stolen lullabies” clearly references her stolen masters.

6."Mirrorball"

Big 80s prom vibes from this song. Mirrorball is about being famous and all of her work - her most personal thoughts and dreams - just becoming different ways for other people to see themselves once she releases her music into the world. Part of being an artist is knowing that your work will reflect more of who the viewer is than who you are yourself. Here she uses the metaphor of a disco ball to explore that idea, and worries that she is losing her own identity through it “I'm still trying everything to keep you looking at me”. She also alludes to her fears that she will age out of relevancy “I know they said the end is near”, something she discussed in her documentary Miss Americana. Obviously this is internalized misogyny because we love Taylor and will listen to her music always and do not subscribe to the belief that women need to be young to be relevant because if they were a man then they'd be the man, and tay’s the man <3

7. “Seven”

Personally, this is one of my favorite songs on the album. It’s so sweet and pure and lovely. This is about young love, with imagery of summer, toys, and child’s dreams to runaway together. Many people have speculated that it is about the same girl that the two unreleased Taylor songs “Sweet Tea and Gods Graces” and “Me & Britney” are about.

[Side note: initially I wondered if Me & Britney was about Britany Maack, Taylor’s long time friend who recently got married, but the names are spelled differently. Also the line in Seven “I can’t recall your face” indicates that this is about someone who Taylor is not currently in touch with.]

Both M&B and STAAG seem to be about the Seven relationship because there are general parallels with outdoor scenery, childlike wonder, and ( in the case of STAGG) sweet tea. Also all three songs indicate a gay relationship: STAGG - “And you can love like a sinner and lose like a winner”, M&B - “That boy she went ran off with, well, I thought he was crazy. Maybe I was just jealous that he'd come between me and Britney”, and Seven - “You won't have to cry or hide in the closet And just like a folk song our love will be passed on”.

8. “August”

This is the second installment in the Teenage Trio, told from the perspective of the “other woman” who James meets while on summer vacation. The other woman (she doesn’t seem to have a name...unless it is August...which it could be? idk) is in love, but realizes that James isn’t in love with her - “Will you call when you're back at school? I remember thinkin' I had you”. The line “Remember when I pulled up and said "Get in the car" references the same incident which is retold in Betty, but this time with James telling Betty it was just a summer fling that didn’t mean anything.

9. This Is Me Trying

Here we have a break up song, about Taylor trying to win her lover back and feeling completely lost without them, unable to concentrate or be around people, and turning to self sabotage. It’s about the general loneliness that one feels when they’ve lost someone they truly love, and the miscommunication that can happen in a relationship when you’re not understanding each other or receiving love in the same way (hence the song’s title). I think this could be about Karlie, it seems clear that their relationship has not been smooth and that they have had many on-and-off times. It could also be serving a purpose of building the Joe break up narrative, but only time will tell for that.

10. “Illicit Affairs”

Taylor loves her secret love - this song reads like a sad version of “I Know Places”. It seems clear that this is about Karlie Kloss. “Tell your friends you're out for a run” is one of my favorite lines because Karlie started Klossy run club, where you commit to running a certain distance in a month - and she posts about it on instagram CONSTANTLY. But overall, the song details a relationship of a woman being with someone she doesn’t love (kushnerd) and sneaking around to meet up with the person she does love (tay!). The line “Tell yourself you can always stop” is so sad to me, the idea that Karlie got into this and keeps telling herself that it will only be a little longer and she can leave when she wants, but staying in her fake marriage anyway.

11. Invisible String

This is pretty much the only pure love song on the album - about feeling connected to someone throughout your whole life, knowing that that somebody is out there, and then finally finding them. Taylor talks about being in Centennial Park in Nashville as a teen, and then eventually showing her lover around. The song is really self referential, with lots of easter eggs for her past work, including Bad Blood and Delicate. She also references Joe Jonas with the line “Cold was the steel of my axe to grind For the boys who broke my heart Now I send their babies presents”.

Some people have pointed out that there is a similar idea presented in Jane Eyre - when the protagonist says to her love interest “I have a strange feeling with regard to you. As if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly knotted to a similar string in you."

12."Mad Woman"

Another Scooter one - “It's obvious that wanting me dead has really brought you two together”. “The master of spin” is word play referencing the masters records scandal. “Watching you climb over people like me” points out that agents and labels are making money off the performers they find and pushing them around. There’s also a reference to Scooter’s wife Yael and how he cheats all the time, but she doesn’t do anything likely because of her own internalized misogyny - “has a couple side flings. Good wives always know. She should be mad, should be scathing like me”.

13. “Epiphany”

The first verse of this touching ballad is about Taylor’s grandfather in WW2, storming the beaches at Normandy - “Crawling up the beaches now "Sir, I think he's bleeding out"”. The second verse is about a nurse helping patients with Covid-19 - “Holds your hand through plastic now "Doc, I think she's crashing out"”. The bridge here talks about wishing there was some great epiphany, some magical solution for the suffering in the world. The chorus refers to experiencing trauma with others and staying loyal even in the hardest times, even if it means literally dying. Although this seems like a departure from the themes of rest of the album, the whole album examines loyalty and considering what you would do for the people you love - so I really don’t think it’s a departure at all.

14. “Betty”

Obviously this is the gayest song on the album and an early fan favorite. It is the final song in the teenage trio, told from the point of view of James, going to win Betty back after betraying her and sleeping with someone else (August!?) over the summer. The line "Will you kiss me on the porch in front of all your stupid friends?”, a line that is very clearly about wanting to kiss a woman, is especially striking (& gay!) when sung by Taylor. The clearest version of this plot is someone begging for forgiveness after betraying the person they love.

There is also a bit of a nod to a line in “Picture to Burn”, a break up song off Taylor’s first album. In PTB Taylor says “So go and tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy that's fine, I’ll tell mine you’re gay”. This lyric has since been changed in versions available online, but on the original album that's what it was. This is interesting because she’s calling attention to knowing that someone is gay and hasn’t told their friends...which you would definitely know if you had dated them.

The names “James” and “Inez” are both mentioned in the song, which are the names of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynold’s daughters. James was already featured on a Taylor Swift album, as the lil baby voice at the beginning of “Gorgeous”. Worth noting that “James” is traditional a male name, but that this character is named after a female.

ALSO I have this theory I’m working on that Taylor is Betty and this whole album is in the same world with the same people, but WILL POST MORE ON THIS LATER.

15."Peace"

Ok - this is Archer 2.0 for me, about how she is worried about how no one will ever love her or stay with her because its too much work - “the rain is always gonna come if you're standin' with me” and “No, I could never give you peace” are pretty telling lines about her concerns that people will think it is not worth it to be friends with or in a relationship with her due to all of the baggage that comes with it.

The opening lines - “Our coming-of-age has come and gone Suddenly this summer, it's clear” feed into my emerging theory that all of these songs exist in the same universe and are about the same three characters...but I’m still figuring that one out. The line “And you know that I'd swing with you for the fences Sit with you in the trenches” reference Seven and Epiphany, respectively - further supporting that all of these songs are in the same world.

16. “Hoax”

Out of all of the songs that make my little Kaylor heart ache - this is the most heartbreaking. Specifically the line “My eclipsed sun” refers to Karlie, who Taylor has called “sunshine” on multiple occasions, and her light being covered up by her contract with Kushnerd and Scooter. The line “Don't want no other shade of blue But you” makes it clear that this song is in reference to the muse for the album “Lover” - aka Karlie.

However, this is a song about betrayal and completely trusting someone, only to find that they stabbed you in the back, as is clear by the line ”Your faithless love's the only hoax I believe in”.

Additionally, the line“You knew it still hurts underneath my scars” seems to again feed into the idea that all of the songs on the album involve the same characters. This one is a bit more clear, it seems that - if this theory is correct - Betty is the narrator of this song, as she referenced her scars before “Drew stars around my scars” in Cardigan.

OK- I'm going to go deep into song by song later, but I just wanted to get something out there!!! Also def interested in hearing what everyone else thinks!

EDIT: I just found some lyrics from The Lakes in an article from Billboard. I wanted to add them in even though we don’t have the full song because I felt like we really ended on a sad note with hoax and then when I saw these I was like there is hope!!

SO the lyric Billboard included in their review was “A red rose grew up out of ice frozen ground / With no one around to tweet it” which is a continuation from the line from “Hoax” - “ This has frozen my ground”. What I’m taking from this is that in the final song Taylor finds hope <3

#folklore #kaylor #Taylor swift #Karlie kloss #betty

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dailytomlinson · 4 years

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When reflecting on music’s most influential artists, critics tend to use statistics to measure their legacy—whether it’s a band reaching #1 on the charts, multiple sold-out tours, or albums that represent a generation. Those types of accolades and praise are for bands that, typically, exist within rock with a predominantly sizeable male fanbase, like The Rolling Stones or The Beatles. For English-Irish boyband One Direction, who actually broke one of The Beatles biggest achievements by having five Top 10 debut tracks on the Hot 100 compared to The Beatles’ four, have sold out multiple tours and delivered five albums five years in a row, they have not been regarded as much of an influential force in the music industry as they should be.

Today—on July 23rd 2020—the band celebrates ten years since they first became a band, even if five years of that time was during a prolonged indefinite hiatus while each of the members pursued solo ventures. A decade marks ten years of One Direction and, for the fans, ten years of an impactful legacy the band, both together and apart, has had on their lives.

After being thrown together on The X-Factor back in July 2010, the band did more in five years than most bands do in their entire careers; they released five albums and sold more than 6.49 million copies in just America alone, filmed one concert documentary and one tour film, completed multiple world tours, and pursued philanthropic ventures. All of those things didn’t come without a price, though. Zayn Malik left the band in 2014 due to his mental health suffering. The band toured consistently every year with hardly ever having any personal time off, and add in an album release a year, they were extremely overworked.

There’s a belief boy bands have an expiry date, and it’s likely their management felt they needed to get as much out of the band while they believed they were still relevant. It’s likely that fans would’ve stuck around if the members took time between their albums and tours. In 2015, when the hiatus began, people wondered if One Direction really could ever come back and, if they did, would fans still really care about them?

“One Direction was one of the biggest and most successful bands,” said @TheHarryNews, a Twitter fan update account. “They achieved amazing things in the five years they were together, despite being overworked by putting out albums and touring every year, which isn’t normal.”

One specific thread that ties together every fans’ thoughts when they reflect on why they decided to become fans of the boys in the first place is the carefree and loving rapport the band has with one another. We’ve all seen The X Factor video diaries, laughed over their banter during interviews, and watched every live performance they did to look out for cute interactions between our favourite members. In their own unique way, One Direction helped defy traits typically associated with toxic masculinity; they didn’t shy away from their affection for one another and made that known in interviews and concerts. Their friendship set them apart, made them more real, and through them, we made friendships of our own.

When someone seeks out new friends, they go to where they feel safest: the communities of people who love the same things as they do. Social media not only propelled the band to international audiences, but it also helped many fans meet the people they now call their lifelong friends. “They have impacted my life in ways I never thought a ‘boyband’ could,” said Lauren, a fan from Buffalo, NY. “They gave me the best friends I could ever ask for, helped me when I was lost and thought I had no one. They ultimately helped me find myself.”

Social media did more than just help us make friends. It was also a major catalyst for the band’s success, and a large part is due to update accounts on Twitter that were created by fans, for fans. Fan-created update accounts would document every single movement and moment made by the band’s five members, whether it was live-streaming a concert or updating fans on the band’s whereabouts. For @With1DNews, a UK/Canada-based update account, it’s a labour of true love for the band that “glued them together” in the first place. “We found each other through our 1D fan accounts on Twitter,” they said. “We started talking about the boys, then our lives, and quickly became great friends.”

Even though they started the account after the hiatus already began, they still felt like fans needed One Direction news. “We had noticed there weren’t really any active 1D update accounts left and we knew a lot of fellow 1D fans were still interested in seeing news about the boys’ careers and lives. It was also because we missed seeing 1D together and hearing about them together. We thought, why not create this space that connects them even if they’re now all going their own way.”

Update accounts take as much time, effort, and energy as an unpaid second job; it requires those who run them to schedule themselves accordingly to cover certain times of each day to ensure their fellow fans get updated in a timely manner, and they do as much fact-checking and researching that any other traditional news outlet does.

Even if some critics might not consider One Direction an influential force in the music industry, the impact they continue to have on their fans is what has set them apart from every other musical act. In a scene in One Direction’s concert documentary, This Is Us, a fan breathlessly states “I know they love me, even if they don’t know me.” This type of parasocial relationship to a band is something not many understand; it’s a sense of intimacy that doesn’t require either party to actually deeply know one another on a personal level but is still as meaningful and significant as actual relationships.

A connection with the band is even more prevalent for Amy, a Los Angeles based writer and mum of two, because of the impact the band has had on her family is something that isn’t tangible but has been detrimental to her children’s development. “I have a child with physical and neurological disabilities who, prior to One Direction, was completely non-verbal and really struggling to find motivation and happiness amongst all the doctors and therapy appointments,” stated Amy. “They have done more for her development, including indirectly teaching her to speak and sing, than any therapy she’s ever done. Up until we found the boys, everything was trial and error; trying to find what makes sense to her and would, in turn, make the world make sense to her. Who knew the key would be a ‘silly’ boy band?”

Many fans have expressed that the band is their happy place – the only positive light in their life when things got tough. For so many, the band came at a time when they desperately needed something to help them through difficult situations whether that be pressure from school, jobs, peers, or life in general. Watching the ‘Best Song Ever’ music video, or a funny interview felt like a cure to smile and laugh after a long day. “They were what we turned to when we felt overwhelmed in our own lives. Now, we’re adults, and they still bring us as much happiness as they did when we were younger,” says @With1DNews.

Not only that, but the band has also helped fans gain more confidence in themselves. By helping create a space and community for them, fans who may have felt lonely, different, or struggled to find a place they belonged had somewhere to go now. They made friends who accepted them, endless content that felt like a burst of serotonin, and a band of boys who told them through lyrics how great and valuable they are, songs like ‘Through the Dark’, ‘Diana’, and ‘Little Things’. Through the band, One Direction fans created their own safe space to work out and navigate their own identity; a space that is free from outside shame where they could be whoever they wanted to be because the people they loved the most accepted them for exactly who they are.

Despite the safety found in those spaces, others have given those fans different descriptions: Hysterical. Rabid. Extra. ‘Screamers.’ Those are just a few of the many words that have been used to describe female fans of boy bands, both past and present. Although these words carry negative connotations, they imply something more powerful than any naysayer could understand or try to define: the sheer force that comes with unashamedly loving something so deeply, you don’t really care about anyone else’s opinions.

Young female fans are the most supportive, passionate fanbase an artist can have, yet they are the most trivialized and ridiculed both within and outside of the music industry. At the start of their career, music’s most beloved band The Beatles was a boy band that catapulted into fame because of, not despite, their female fans. It wasn’t until male fans noticed the band’s progression into an experimental sound when they decided to embrace the band and deem them worthy of their support after they began playing ‘real’ music.

Even if there are major similarities between The Beatles and One Direction, the latter is still regarded by many to be a manufactured pop boy band with a ‘teenybopper’ fanbase. The members of the band have consistently embraced and validated their predominantly female fanbase; Harry Styles has been consistently vocal about this matter, going so far as to say “Teenage-girl fans — they don’t lie. If they like you, they’re there. They don’t act ‘too cool.’ They like you, and they tell you.”

In ‘Girl Almighty’, the fifth track on their fourth album, Four, the band addressed the way their fans have been misjudged and labelled ‘crazy’ because of their passion and not only applauded them for their dedication and love, but bowed down to them as well; “Let’s have another toast to the girl almighty […] I get down on my knees for you.” Not only has One Direction always known who helped them get to where they are today, but they’ve also never shied away from declaring their respect for them, constantly validating their fans’ feelings.

For One Direction’s fans, a decade of the band’s formation represents ten years of a legacy that will continue on, even if the band never formally get back together. For Amy, it doesn’t really matter if they got their start on a TV talent show because it’s the fans that made them and set the band apart from every other boyband. “What we all created together feels so untouchable in regards to boy bands of the past and ones to come. I think people will look back in awe and see what we see; we’ve been so incredibly lucky to have witnessed the magic of One Direction.”

They might not be aware of it, but One Direction was incredible at predicting what was to come in their own music; “Who’s gonna be the first to say goodbye?” / “But it’s not the end, I’ll see your face again” / “We had some good times, didn’t we? We wore our hearts out on our sleeve” / “We could be the greatest team that the world has ever seen.” In ‘Best Song Ever’, a song that ordinary listeners would not exactly consider overly sentimental or profound, there is one lyric that will always stand out for the fans to represent One Direction’s legacy perfectly: “I hope you’ll remember how we danced.” Ten years later, we haven’t forgotten.

#tmrw magazine #230720 #10years1d #press

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likeadeuce · 3 years

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Sensible Butterfly

For @pynchpromptweek #2, The Ladies of Fox Way

Sensible Butterfly, in which Blue gets dressed for a date + chats with her mom

Blue went back to Fox Way after her lunch shift and did the best she could to shower the pizza sweat off of her. Then she put on a long, asymmetrical skirt, and, even though she knew she was taking too long in the communal bathroom, Blue spent what felt like an embarrassingly girlish amount of time choosing what to wear with it. Her favorite forest green peasant blouse felt familiar and cozy, but. . . there was this sleeveless, shimmering multicolor top printed so that the front looked like a giant butterfly, with one wing folding over each of her breasts. She’d sewed it herself, two summers ago, and admired the results. . .it left a bare triangle at her midriff and had a built-in shelf bra that actually gave her cleavage. She had then immediately shoved it in the back of the closet because where the hell was she going to go dressed like that?

Blue took her clothes seriously but the point was for people to look at the clothes, not at her body, and -- well, even at school girls wore more revealing things all the time. Blue was 1000 percent sure that she was a sex-positive feminist and that no one should shame girls for liking their bodies. But if she, Blue Sargent, put on something she had made and deep down loved even while wondering if it was just a little bit too silly, and she went out in the world and all it got her was a lot of eyes on her breasts (the top was even a little more snug and cleavagey than it had been when she was sixteen, take that everyone who said Blue didn’t grow) then she’d just be annoyed and angry and nothing would be worth it.

Now, though, she liked the way she looked and they were going to a theater in the woods and she was going to be with some of her favorite people on midsummer’s eve and Gansey, well. . .

Gansey made her feel good about being watched that way. About being wanted that way.

Screw it. Blue put on the butterfly blouse. She braided some flowers into her hair, went brave and bold with her lip color and eye makeup, and then put some extra of all of these into her bag. She would have a couple hours at Gansey’s before they had to leave for the play, and the idea that they would spend all of that packing seemed . . . unlikely.

On her way out, Blue found Maura in the kitchen, which she wanted, and Orla with her, which she didn’t.

“Looking good, girl,” said Orla, which was somehow more annoying than if she’d said something shitty. “Watch out you don’t stop Richard III’s heart again, though, the boy is not a cat and we don’t know how many lives. . .” She stopped either in response to Blue’s venomous look or Maura’s long-suffering one. “Too soon?”

Blue crossed her arms. “I would like to have a conversation with my mother, please.”

“Oh, sure.” Orla nodded but did not get up to leave. Maura cleared her throat, at which point, Orla gave an exaggerated shrug and flounced.

At this point, Maura might have said something like, “Don’t mind her,” but Blue and Orla had plenty of experience in whether or not to mind each other by now. Instead, Maura pulled Blue into a hug and kissed her forehead. “You look nice. Say hi to the boys for me. I know they’re . . . . busy together, but be sure Adam and Ronan know they’re always welcome here.”

“Thanks, Mom, I’ll. . . listen are you sure you’re cool about me missing things tonight? Gansey was pretty stoked about the four of us going to this show, and it’s a special thing tonight because of the day but I don’t want to leave you and Calla on. . .”

“Nonsense,” Maura answered. “Besides, Friday is still Midsummer on most calendars and I thought just you and I could go to that clearing up the hill and light some candles and listen to a little music like when you were small and --”

“Oh yes!” Blue hugged her mother tightly and tried to blink back tears for the sake of her mascara. “That sounds perfect and. . .” This might make the next part easier to say, casually. “I don’t know how late we’ll get back tonight, the theater’s all the way down in Lexington. I don’t want to interrupt whatever party you’ve got happening and there’s no sense in you waiting up for me so considering all of that, I think it makes sense for me to --” And she rushes the last part. “- stay over at Gansey’s?”

There shouldn’t really be anything to negotiate here. In less than two weeks, Blue and Gansey would be headed out on an open-ended and fully unchaperoned road trip (unless Henry somehow counted as a responsible adult compared to the two of them, which Blue was sure they would all agree he did not). Besides, Maura was the one who had made Blue an appointment to get her IUD, months ago. It wasn’t as though Gansey’s elaborate ritual of returning Blue to her mother’s home with a performatively chaste doorstep kiss was fooling anybody. The only reason Blue could imagine it had continued was that it was all so absurd in the context of the kind of home Fox Way was, and how freely Gansey had come to move in and out of it over the past year and change, that absolutely no one could help being charmed.

Still, Blue could probably count the nights she had spent away from Fox Way in her almost nineteen years. An eighth grade sleepover or the one time the household had scraped together enough money for her to go on the county art program’s two-day trip to New York City -- the Guggenheim, MOMA, and ‘In the Heights’ on Broadway -- were a different quality of experience from “falling asleep next to the boyfriend, in his bed, after having done all kinds of delicious and exciting things to each other.” It was a step in the process of being grown and leaving home that Blue didn’t feel she could skip over lightly.

Maura looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, “Of course. That sounds very sensible.”

And that was Blue. A very sensible butterfly.

#blue sargent #maura sargent #orla #bluesey #the raven cycle #ficlet #mister impossible countdown

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csnews · 4 years

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'I've never seen or heard of attacks': scientists baffled by orcas harassing boats

Susan Smillie - September 13, 2020

Reports of orcas striking sailing boats in the Straits of Gibraltar have left sailors and scientists confused. Just what is causing such unusually aggressive behaviour?

When nine killer whales surrounded the 46ft boat that Victoria Morris was crewing in Spain on the afternoon of 29 July, she was elated. The biology graduate taught sailing in New Zealand and is used to friendly orca encounters. But the atmosphere quickly changed when they started ramming the hull, spinning the boat 180 degrees, disabling the autohelm and engine. The 23-year-old watched broken bits of the rudder float off, leaving the four-person crew without steering, drifting into the Gibraltar Straits shipping lane between Cape Trafalgar and the small town of Barbate.

The pod rammed the boat for more than an hour, during which time the crew were too busy getting the sails in, readying the life raft and radioing a mayday – “Orca attack!” – to feel fear. The moment fear kicked in, Morris says, was when she went below deck to prepare a grab bag – the stuff you take when abandoning ship. “The noise was really scary. They were ramming the keel, there was this horrible echo, I thought they could capsize the boat. And this deafening noise as they communicated, whistling to each other. It was so loud that we had to shout.” It felt, she says, “totally orchestrated”.

The crew waited a tense hour and a half for rescue – perhaps understandably, the coastguard took time to comprehend (“You are saying you are under attack from orca?”). To say this is unusual is to massively understate it. By the time help arrived, the orcas were gone. The boat was towed to Barbate, where it was lifted to reveal the rudder missing its bottom third and outer layer, and teeth marks along the underside.

Rocío Espada works with the marine biology laboratory at the University of Seville and has observed this migratory population of orca in the Gibraltar Straits for years. She was astonished. “For killer whales to take out a piece of a fibreglass rudder is crazy,” she says. “I’ve seen these orcas grow from babies, I know their life stories, I’ve never seen or heard of attacks.”

Highly intelligent, social mammals, orcas are the largest of the dolphin family, and behave in a similar way. It is normal, she says, that orcas will follow close to the propeller. Even holding the rudder is not unheard of: “Sometimes they will bite the rudder, get dragged behind as a game.” But never with enough force to break it. This ramming, Espada says, indicates stress. The Straits is full of nets and long lines; perhaps a calf got caught.

But Morris’s was only one of several encounters between late July and August. Six days earlier, Alfonso Gomez-Jordana Martin, a 31-year-old from Alicante, was crewing a delivery boat near Barbate for the same company, Reliance Yacht Management. They were proceeding under engine when a pod of four orcas brought their 40ft Beneteau to a halt. He filmed them – it looks more like excitement and curiosity than aggression – but even this bumping damaged the rudder. And the force increased, he says, over 50 minutes. “Once we were stopped, they came in faster: 10-15 knots, from a distance of about 25m,” he remembers. “The impact tipped the boat sideways.”

The skipper’s report to the port authority said the force “nearly dislocated the helmsman’s shoulder and spun the whole yacht through 120 degrees”.

At 11.30pm the previous night, 22 July, Beverly Harris, a retired nurse from Derbyshire, and her partner, Kevin Large, were motor-sailing their 50ft boat, Kailani, just off Barbate at eight knots, when they came to a sudden standstill. It was flat calm, pitch black. They thought they’d hit a net. “I scrambled for a torch and was like, ‘Bloody hell, they’re orcas,’” says Harris. The couple checked their position and found the boat pointing the opposite way. They tried to correct several times, but the orcas kept spinning them back. “I had this weird sensation,” Harris says, “like they were trying to lift the boat.” It lasted about 20 minutes, but felt longer. “We thought, ‘We’ve sailed across the Atlantic, surely we’re not going to sink now!’” Their rudder was damaged but got them to La Línea. It was a long night. “Kevin said I should get some sleep. I said, ‘Are you joking? I’m having a gin and tonic,’” recalls Harris.

While enjoying her drink, Harris could have spared a thought for Nick Giles, having a sleepless night alone after an almost identical encounter off Barbate just two and a half hours earlier. He was motor-sailing, and playing music when he heard a sudden bang “like a sledgehammer”. The wheel was “turning with incredible force” as the vessel spun 180 degrees, dislodging the autohelm and steering cables. “The boat lifted up half a foot and I was pushed by a second whale from behind,” he says. While resetting the cables, the orca hit again, “nearly chopping off my fingers in the mechanism”. He was pushed around without steering for about 15 minutes before they left him.

Catastrophic encounters between whales and boats are not unknown – the best-known events all took place in the Pacific. In 1972 the Robertson family from Staffordshire were shipwrecked off the Galapagos Islands after an orca strike (their book, Survive the Savage Sea became a classic). The following year, also on the way to those islands, Maurice and Maralyn Bailey’s 31ft boat was holed by a sperm whale. In 1989 William and Simone Butler lost their boat as a huge pod of pilot whales rammed them. In these and all other known cases, the mammals ignored the humans who took to life rafts; it was the boats that attracted their ire. More usually in encounters, the whale is left dead or injured. The International Whaling Commission records these strikes – more collisions are occurring with private boats as technological advances increase performance speeds.

The encounters described around Barbate were certainly frightening for the crew, who understandably felt targeted, but it’s unlikely they were meant as aggressive attacks. At least two other boats had harmless encounters. On 20 July Martin Chambers, a yacht master for Allabroad Sailing Academy, was unconcerned when they were joined by a pod near Barbate. One individual “had hold of the rudder and stopped us moving the boat”, he says. “That’s the first time I’ve seen them do that.” It seems the encounters increased in intensity, but it’s also worth considering that different boat constructions can suffer different outcomes – rudders on some modern boats can be quite fragile.

“These are very strange events,” says Ezequiel Andréu Cazalla, a cetacean researcher who talked to Morris. “But I don’t think they’re attacks.” Orca specialists around the world are equally surprised, agreeing the behaviour is “highly unusual”, but are cautious, given that the accounts are not from trained researchers. Most agree that something is stressing the orcas. And when it comes to sources of stress, there are plenty to choose from.

“The lack of tuna has led these orca to the very edge with only 30 adults left”

The Gibraltar orcas are endangered – there are fewer than 50 individuals left, with a continuing decline projected – adults and juveniles are sustaining injuries, suffering food scarcity and pollution. Their calves rarely survive. The Gibraltar Straits is, Cazalla points out, “the worst place for orcas to live”. This narrow stretch of water is a major shipping route. And the presence of orcas attracts more marine traffic – highly profitable whale-watching. Theoretically, it is regulated, but some operators flout rules about speed and distance to chase the animals. Constant harassment by boats affects the orcas’ ability to hunt. Which brings us to the biggest stress of all: fishing.

The orcas return to this noisy, polluted stretch of water for one reason – to feed. They specialise in hunting bluefin tuna, also highly prized by humans. The near collapse of bluefin tuna between 2005 and 2010 “has led this orca population to the very edge, with about 30 adults left”, says Pauline Gauffier, who has studied them.

The Straits is an important migratory route for the tuna. It has been economically crucial to this region for thousands of years – the Romans produced coins in Cadiz depicting the once bountiful fish. Local fisheries still use an ancient technique – almadraba, a complex system of trap nets. Each spring, the bluefin arrive to spawn in the Med; many find their way into the nets instead. In July and August, as the tuna leave for the Atlantic, the fishermen switch to drop lines – baited with fish and lowered with rocks. These artisanal techniques are far less harmful than trawling, purse seining or driftnets – and than the reckless sport-fishing boats speeding at 10 knots, trailing long lines.

“They target the orca, because they think there must be tuna under the pods,” says Jörn Selling, a marine biologist for Firmm whale watching and research foundation with 17 years’ experience in the Straits. “They go right through the pods, their hooks cutting the dorsal fins”.

In the past, the orca chased the bluefin to exhaustion, but with fewer and smaller fish available, and the pressures from human activity, some have adapted. As a result, there now exists what biologists call “depradation” – a complex balance between the orca, tuna, and humans – and what the fishermen call “stealing”.

Since 1999, two of the Straits’ five pods have learned to take tuna from the drop lines, leaving the fishermen pulling up the tuna head alone. It’s infuriating for the fishermen, but for the orca, this is high risk. Several have sustained serious injuries. “We see marks caused by fishing lines,” says Selling. “We hear about young orca getting hooked.” There are two females with severed flippers – “Lucia”, Selling says “lost her baby together with her flipper, due to the interaction with tuna fishermen”. Gauffier points out that “there is little the fishermen can do to avoid line or hook injuries” when orca interact; and it’s not known what caused the injuries. But many conservationists suspect some fishermen retaliate violently.

“The fishermen hate the killer whales,” says Selling. The orca are protected, but “unobserved, the fishermen do what they want. They see them as competitors.”

Stories persist of fishermen stunning orca with electric prods, throwing lit petrol cans, cutting dorsal fins. Cazalla has seen two orca with recent injuries (Morris thinks there was an injured individual at her boat). “One has a significant scar – you can see white tissue so it’s deep.” This, he thinks, is unlikely to be from a propeller, which would cause multiple scars.

Selling points out that the orca interact with the almadraba as well as drop-line fishing, and talks of a male which worked out how to navigate the labyrinth of submarine nets to take tuna in Barbate years ago. This orca was later observed with serious injury to its dorsal fin. It hasn’t been seen since.

But the orca have endured harassment for decades. What explains the new behaviour? Was there reduced noise during the Covid lockdown? Selling says yes. “No big game fishing, no whale watching or sailing boats, no fast ferries, fewer merchant ships.” He’s intrigued by the idea that the orca had two months with reduced noise – “Something most of them probably never experienced before” – and considers the possibility they felt angry as the noise restarted (Gauffier thinks this unlikely, but notes that the Barbate pod still actively chases tuna, “for which they need a quieter environment”).

There is one very unscientific phrase I hear repeatedly from several researchers: “Pissed off”. Some speculate that the multitude of stresses these highly sentient cetaceans have endured – years of grieving lost calves, injuries, competition for fish, coupled with a pause and reintroduction of human activity, could have affected their behaviour. There is a great deal we don’t yet know about orca, which, like us, have evolved complex cultures and different languages around the world. A couple of years ago Ken Balcomb from the Center for Whale Research talked about endangered orca being dependent on scarce chinook salmon in the Pacific Northwest. “I’ve seen them look at boats hauling fish. I think they know that humans are somehow related to the scarcity of food. And I think they know that the scarcity of food is causing them physical distress, and also causing them to lose babies.”

Sounds like anthropomorphising? Lori Marino, neuroscientist and president of the Whale Sanctuary Project found in orca brains an astounding capacity for intelligence. “If we are talking about whether killer whales have the wherewithal and the cognitive capacity to intentionally strike out at someone, or to be angry, or to really know what they are doing, I would have to say the answer is yes. They are likely defending a territory or resources.”

Meanwhile, Nick Irving from Reliance is wondering if he should send clients’ boats out after the last three sustained damage: “Is it reckless?” Neither of us say it, but we’re both thinking he doesn’t want to be the mayor in Jaws – the obvious, if lazy stereotype that comes to mind. Word is starting to get out, frustrating Espada. Friends call, asking about the “attacks”, if it’s safe to swim. “Are you mad?” she asks. “Of course it’s safe!” As shark conservationists know all too well, it’s difficult to protect endangered animals with a bad image.

This tiny population’s presence is of huge importance, and if human activity is affecting their behaviour, human activity must be regulated. Gauffier has presented the Spanish Environment Agency with a conservation plan proposing that in the Barbate area, “activities producing underwater noise should be reduced to a minimum”. This is the very least that should happen. Each sailor I spoke to was concerned that their activities had stressed the orca. Victoria Morris, who has been searching for a specialist subject when she returns to study marine biology in autumn has found her topic. The Gibraltar orca has one more ally – which is good because these majestic, beleaguered mammals need all the help they can get.

#news #wild #cetacean #orca #killer whale #gibraltar #whale #dolphin

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softbiker · 4 years

Text

Steve Rogers Oneshot

Warnings: talk about body image/dysmorphia, past ED’s, veganism (idk if that’s a warning???)

Word Count: 3.2k

A/N: This is...very self-indulgent. But oh well. A continuation of the Agent 14 series, in which Steve finds another diet he wants to try and he needs some help getting started. As always, let me know what you think!

Sam finds him one afternoon, staring into the glow of the open fridge, in full superhero stance with his feet planted wide. Nothing abnormal about super soldiers looking for a snack; those boys can really put it away. But this one looks like he’s conducting an interview with the refrigerator contents - in his hand is a small notepad, a worn down pencil stub poised over it, and Sam can see little scribbles and tally marks covering the page.

“Uh…Steve?”

“Hm?” Steve doesn’t turn around, but Sam can see his deep-set frown in profile, harsh refrigerator light illuminating his lowered brows.

“What’re you doing, man?” Sam takes a couple steps closer and peers around those massive shoulders into the offending appliance. “That your grocery list?”

Steve finally looks up, blinking. Absently, he taps the end of his pencil against his chin.

“No, not a grocery list,” he frowns. “I’m just…taking stock, I guess.”

“We do inventory of the fridge now?” Sam sidesteps him, reaching for the orange juice. He still drinks straight from the carton and Barnes can just kiss his sweet ass.

Steve ignores him, sparing only an eye roll in response.

“Don’t worry about it,” he sighs, in a way only Steve Rogers can sigh about groceries. “Just got an idea, that’s all.”

Sam sips his orange juice as he watches him leave the room, more worried by that phrase than anything else Steve could’ve said.

**********

“I’m sorry - you want us to what?”

Steve crosses his arms and gives Clint his most authoritative frown.

“I’d like us to try a plant-based diet,” he repeats, looking at the faces scattered around the common room. This little “family meeting” didn’t warrant using the conference rooms on the upper floors; he had let everyone get cozy after dinner, helped dig through the couch cushions for the remote, and then made his little announcement.

“That means vegan, right?” Natasha says from her armchair, eyes on her phone in her lap. She’d started googling as soon as he proposed this little challenge.

“Woah, woah - hold up,” Sam raises a hand, sitting forward on the couch. “I know you’re not asking me to quit eating meat, Rogers.”

“And dairy,” Steve confirms.

“Eggs, too,” Wanda adds helpfully.

“No meat?” 41’s fingers curl into her baggy bacon-print PJ pants. Her lower lip wobbles. “No-no ice cream?” She looks to Clint, who immediately folds his hand over hers.

“There are plenty of plant-based alternatives-” Steve starts, his tone soothing.

“Is this because of that documentary you watched?” Bucky grumbles. He’s leaning on the back of the couch, eyes narrowed at his long-time friend. “What was the name…the one about the athletes who don’t eat meat…”

“As a matter of fact, yes,” Steve glares back at him. “There’s plenty of evidence to suggest it gives them an edge in athletic performance, so why not-”

“Oh my god, Steve, we’re literally a team of superheroes,” Sam groans. “Earth’s mightiest heroes, and all that jazz. We’re already mighty! We don’t need this! I don’t need this!”

“That so?” Steve raises an eyebrow. One hand digging into his pocket, he produces the little notebook he was scribbling in a couple days before. “I’ve been making some notes-”

“Oh boy, here we go,” Clint mutters.

“In our fridge, the percentage of animal products is a little over 60% - that’s crazy high, guys.” Steve licks his lips, glancing at the skeptical faces around the room as he flips a page in his notebook. “Not only that, but as a whole, our consumption of takeout and highly processed foods has really gone up lately; the team ate a total of 23 meals from fast food restaurants in the last 2 weeks.”

“You’re monitoring our food, Rogers?” Natasha is looking at him now, though he almost wishes she weren’t. Her undivided attention is not for the faint of heart. Steve musters himself and pushes ahead.

“Look - let’s just try it, give it our best shot and then, in a month-”

“A month?” 41 cries, clutching Clint’s hand. “A whole month? But…but what about Bite?”

Oh. He’d forgotten. Sam and 41’s cherished food festival, held every July - a whole park full of food trucks, unlimited samples, live music. One of their photos from last year’s Bite was proudly displayed on the door of the fridge: 41 and Sam each chowing down on a massive bacon cheeseburger - a cheeseburger with Krispy Kreme donuts as the buns.

“Well…” he hesitates

“No. Uh-uh. No way.” Sam folds his arms across his chest and sinks back into the couch cushions. “There is no way you’re making us miss the best event of the year for another one of your health kicks.”

“Sam-”

“Besides! You and Tin Man can eat as much pizza as you want and still outrun a car,” Sam huffs. “No reason to make the rest of us suffer through another one of your diets. Not to mention that I’m not interested in just eating salad and broccoli…that’s depressing.”

Shoulders falling, Steve sighs and drops his notebook in his lap.

“Okay, well. Sam has spoken,” he says, quirking an eyebrow. “Anyone else?”

“Mm, I’m with Sam on this one,” Bucky shrugs, unbothered by Steve’s answering look of betrayal. “Sorry, pal, I guess I just don’t see the point…and besides, we had to go hungry for half our childhood. I’m not gonna live on rations now.”

Steve folds his hands in his lap, staring down at his knuckles with what looks for all the world like a pout. Maybe he should’ve made the team watch the documentary first…that would’ve gotten them excited. Hell, even he was inspired - after all, if a non-enhanced guy could train to carry over a thousand pounds, surely there was some kind of benefit to this lifestyle.

“Alright, how about this,” he pulls his last card, his last idea. “If I can make a meal that will convince you vegan food is actually good, would you agree to try it for a little while?”

Sam and 41 turn towards each other; he raises an eyebrow, she responds with a shrug.

“We can accept these terms,” Sam agrees. “But you’re really gonna have to wow us.”

“Yeah,” 41 nods, settling in next to Clint. “Bring out the big guns.”

From his place behind the couch, Bucky’s shoulders quake with silent laughter.

“You really played yourself on this one, pal,” he chuckles, shaking his head. Reaching across the cushions, he gives 41 a comforting pat on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, squirt. Your ice cream isn’t going anywhere - I’ve known Steve for a long, long time…” He smirks at a now exasperated Steve.

“…and Steve Rogers can’t cook for shit.”

**********

Steve Rogers, in fact, cannot cook for shit. But he’ll be damned if that will stop him from trying.

He’s swiping through recipes and grocery lists on his Stark pad, wondering if baking his own bread would be as easy as it seemed, when the text comes through.

Hey soldier. I heard you were going on a diet. That true?

Steve snorts and chews his lip, thumbs hovering as he thinks over his reply.

Yeah, it’s about time I got in better shape.

Feeling a bit silly, he watches the little dots in the text bubble as she types back a reply, and tries not to feel too pleased with himself at the cluster of laughing emojis she sent.

Well, listen. I’ve been vegan for a while, actually, so if you need any help I’m here!

An eager leap in his heart, and his thumbs fly over the keyboard once more.

Oh, really? In that case…I’m not sure if I can really handle cooking by myself. I have a terrible track record in the kitchen.

Another laughing emoji. They didn’t teach you that in the army?

Shockingly no.

Someone (Wanda? Peter?) may have told him something about double texting, but he can’t help himself as he quickly follows up his text with another.

Anyways, I’m desperate. And the team is desperate for me to not burn down the tower, haha. Can you help a guy out?

Waiting for a reply, his knee bounces under his desk and he clicks the pen in his hand over and over, hardly hearing the annoying little noise as his thumb reflexively twitches on the button. When her response buzzes on his screen, he almost flinches.

Tell you what. Today is my day off, and I needed groceries anyway. Trader Joe’s in an hour?

**********

“What on earth are those?” Steve stares incredulously at the basket. “And why are they…not orange?”

“They’re called Hawaiian sweet potatoes and they just grow that way,” 14 laughs as she reaches for a display of squash next to the potatoes.

“That’s not a sweet potato - I know what a sweet potato looks like,” Steve says, obstinate brows crowding together. Shaking her head, 14 just turns away from the squash towards the avocados on the opposite side of the produce aisle.

“Oh boy, you’re gonna learn a lot being vegan…” she sighs. She squeezes a couple of avocados, testing ripeness and feeling the size before she chooses two and adds them to one of her produce bags. With a satisfied nod, she settles her hands on her hips. “Okay, next on the list: tahini.”

Looking at the cart, Steve can’t tell what his dinner is going to be.

“Tahini? What are we gonna do with that?” He wonders what it is, too, but doesn’t ask.

“Eat it, Rogers.” Smirking over her shoulder, she grabs the front of the cart and pulls him along towards the condiments aisle. “What on earth would you do without me?”

“Die a carnivore, I guess,” he shrugs.

“Hm. Tragic.”

**********

“It’s practically foolproof - all you have to do is cook this, roast the sweet potatoes, and then we’re gonna throw it all in together.”

“Never underestimate my ability to totally ruin a meal.” Steve says, stirring the quinoa. An adorable scrunch wrinkles his nose as he turns to where she’s dicing the avocados. “Ask Bucky. Even army rations taste better than my cooking.”

“You must be very confident in yourself to admit that,” she smiles back. Cheeks warm, he turns back to the pan with a shrug.

Silence stretches between them for a few moments, the quiet of shared work - from the other room, they can hear the TV playing, occasional laughs from Sam and 41 as they catch up on episodes of Brooklyn 99. Outside the windows, the summer sun sinks steadily lower, golden hour glow illuminating the skyline and filtering into the kitchen. She’s barefooted, chipped blue polish on her toes, and her feet pad lightly across the tile floor as she moves her bowl of avocado chunks over to the island. The little sound makes his heart hungry.

“So,” he clears his throat. “How long have you been, uh, plant-based?”

“Hmm. I guess about 6 months or so?” She taps her fingers absently against the marble countertop as she thinks. “Yeah, that sounds right.”

“Wow. Why did you start?”

“Someone dared me,” she winks at him. “No, but really. A friend challenged me to do it with her for a month…and then I realized I felt great and didn’t miss the animal products so much.” She shrugs. “I had more energy, I felt stronger, my skin looked amazing - trust me, after a week, you’ll practically be glowing.” She flicks her hair over her shoulder with a melodramatic flair, rolling her eyes to the ceiling, a playful smile dimpling her cheeks.

He laughs with her, shaking his head. “Oh, thank god. My skin is a nightmare.” His sarcasm sparks her laugh again, and it inflates his chest even more. He feels light, easy, weightless as the dust motes floating through a sunbeam between them.

Her giggles die down when her phone timer buzzes, signaling her to check the roasting potatoes in the oven. Sidestepping him, she leans down carefully in front of the open door, waves of heat assaulting them both as she pokes and prods the vegetables with a spatula. “Perfect,” she closes the oven door with a satisfied nod. “Just a few more minutes. And it looks like that’s almost done, too.” She gestures to his pan and hands him a lid to cover it. “You can go ahead and turn the burner off - the water has cooked out, so we’ll just need to let it sit.”

With the rest of their ingredients prepped and waiting in a neat row on the island, they slide onto a pair of barstools as 14 sets another short timer on her phone. Steve takes a sip from his beer, leaning an elbow on the counter as he turns to face her.

“Have you always liked to cook?” he asks. In his mind, there are a million questions - they roll over each other, constantly trying to push their way out of his mouth, his overwhelming curiosity wishing he could crack open her shell through sheer force of will. Instead, he drums his fingers against the counter, picks at the label on his beer bottle, scratches his beard, and waits for her to speak.

“Oh, no, not at all,” she laughs at the question. She’s not facing him, but she smiles, fingers lightly tracing the stem of her wine glass. “Actually I used to hate it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Surprised?”

Steve is surprised - her kitchen confidence certainly impressed him. Not once has she consulted a recipe, or googled how long to roast potatoes in the oven, how to make lemon tahini sauce. Things that would’ve left him completely stumped and likely going hungry.

“A little. You really seem to know your way around a kitchen, that’s all.”

“Well…” she takes a deep breath, and he can see the shape of it forming in her mind: whatever it is she’s about to tell him, whatever she’s preparing to say - it matters. With a fortifying gulp of wine, she knots her fingers together and forges ahead. “I used to have a lot of…um, body image issues, you know? Super critical of myself, low self esteem…it got pretty bad for a while.” She doesn’t elaborate, because he doesn’t need to know and how could she even begin to tell it? Too many cups of coffee and too few meals, the feeling of a toothbrush in the back of her throat. It hurts her now, the memory of that girl who thought that making herself less would somehow make her enough. She reaches for the wine again. Steve stays quiet, his eyes watchful and soft. It hurts him, too.

“Yeah?” he murmurs.

“Yeah.” Glancing at him, she licks her bottom lip, before turning her eyes back down to her hands. “Anyway - cooking helped me learn how to actually take care of myself.” A half-hearted little shrug, a self-conscious smile. “That’s really all there is to it.”

He nods, holding her gaze, his eyes flicking back and forth between her own. Her shoulders curl where she sits a little hunched at the stool, bare feet tucked up on a bar that ran between the legs of the stool, one knee bouncing rapidly. A minute ticks by, then two, the kitchen gone quiet and warm, hazy with the smell of a good meal.

“You know, a long time ago, before I was…this-” He gestures to himself, his big shoulders and tree trunk thighs, the massive everything of him. “- before the serum, well, I’m sure you’ve seen the pictures. Or a documentary,” he smirks, a little rueful. “I was less than half the size I am now - short, skinny, no matter how much I ate my ribs stuck out. Buck used to try to help me train, doing pushups or learning how to box, but I was still so weak. A strong breeze could’ve knocked me over, probably - plus, I had asthma, and I was always getting sick with one thing or another…honestly, it’s a miracle I didn’t die before the army got me.”

It coaxes a mirroring smile from her, one elbow propped on the island. She shuffles on top of the stool, turning to face him fully.

“I thought…I don’t know, I thought I’d feel…different. Better, once I was stronger.” He shakes his head, chuckling at himself. “But it was more like…I was just in the wrong body. I kept bumping into things, hitting my head on doorframes; I took up more space than I thought I should.” Letting go of his beer, he spreads his hands in front of him, turning them over alternately and staring at the broad palms, the strong fingers, crisscrossed with veins and scars. “Drove myself crazy trying to sketch. I kept breaking my charcoal, snapping pencils…it was like trying to draw with another person’s hands.”

“Did you get used to it?” she asks. The hand not occupied with her wine glass reaches out to gently take hold of his wrist. A delicate thumb drags across his pulse, and she looks down at the lines of his palms, still uncalloused and pink. Her hand cradles his large one as she brings her eyes up to his own.

“More or less,” he shrugs. “Sometimes I still pass a mirror and do a double take.” More often than he would admit, in fact. He thinks of all the mornings he comes home from a brutal run - double marathons, barely sweating - and sees himself getting into his shower, a god he doesn’t recognize staring back at him.

She nods. She understands.

“Taking care of yourself helps. I think - it never quite goes away, but…” her smile is sweet. Hopeful. “The little things. They help.”

Turning his wrist, he grasps her hand with his own. Her skin is soft and warm; smaller fingers slide between his thick ones. Once, a long time ago, their hands would have been the same size.

Just as he opens his mouth to speak, her phone buzzes, vibrating against the counter and startling them both. As she withdraws her hand, she grins up at him.

“You hungry, Rogers?”

“Starving.”

**********

They take their bowls into the living room, joining Sam and 41 on the couch. Steve does his best with the chopsticks at first, but he still hasn’t gotten used to it. In the name of efficiency, he switches to a fork so that he can shovel the food into his mouth faster.

“Woah - what is that?” Sam leans over to get a better look. He sniffs the air. “Damn, it smells amazing.”

“It’s called a Buddha bowl,” 14 says, politely covering her mouth to conceal the sweet potatoes she’s still chewing. With her fork, she strategically arranges the next bite, collecting a little bit of everything: quinoa, potatoes, tahini sauce, avocado, greens. “Because it’s pure bliss,” she adds, before neatly shoving the next forkful into her mouth.

Steve hums in agreement, his own cheeks stuffed full. His bowl is half empty already. Peaking around 14’s shoulder, Agent 41 licks her lips and makes eye contact with Sam.

“I mean…maybe, we could try making some?” she shrugs her shoulders. “With a little Yum Yum sauce, too, I bet that would be good…” Sam is already nodding in agreement, pulling out his phone to look up a recipe.

“Don’t worry,” 14 smiles, patting her friend’s thigh. “I made plenty for everyone.”

As the other two scramble up from the couch and into the kitchen, she catches Steve’s eye and winks.

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