#I actually listened to the whole album of PUP by PUP but I didn’t want this post to get too lonh

[foxgloveinspace]

I felt well enough to listen to some music on my new headphones this evening! Here’s a little playlist/dump of what I listened to

#very much so #I actually listened to the whole album of PUP by PUP but I didn’t want this post to get too lonh #long* #I also spent some time figuring out which equalizer I like the best and trying to make a custom one but think the ‘excited’ on is my fav #lots of bass but the vocals don’t get buried #but I also just like it when it’s off?? idk. I’m trying to decided lol #Spotify #also I didn’t want to try sleep token tonight cause I need to sleep… lol #but maybe tomorrow. I will sit in the floor with my headphones and my journal and I’ll just listen to sleep token #also wow!! I put the last one on after posting and holy crap it sounds so good

[johnbazley]

Sincerity is scary

On liking what you like and writing about it

In 2015, I quit my job as a staff writer at Alt Press. My editor told me I couldn’t write about the then-mostly-underground band PUP, whom I loved, because I had to write a listicle about scene bands’ Halloween costumes, which I hated. That was when I knew it was over. I couldn’t scrounge the love for it anymore. I called my editor one night from my bedroom, nervous about the possibility that I’d never write about music again, and quit the job I had wanted for years. The next morning, I drove around Monmouth County with a coffee from Starbucks and listened to that PUP album, trying not to think too hard about why I liked it.

I got into writing about music when I was eighteen because all of my friends were in local bands, and I wanted to write them into exposure. By the time I turned twenty-one, most of my friends’ bands broke up. By twenty-two, the blogs I had come up reading and writing for had all shut down. I took a big step back from music writing and went to grad school, deciding finally that I didn’t want to edit Pitchfork or write a cover story for Rolling Stone anymore. I realized that most jobs in music writing don’t give the writer much opportunity to write about what they actually want to write about, and they certainly don’t pay enough to make that compromise feel worth it, so I decided to give up. I went to grad school, seeking an MFA.

I spent my first semester wonder if the whole thing was a mistake—I didn’t make many friends during my first few months in the program, and I wasn’t sure whether or not I wanted to create the type of writing that Sarah Lawrence’s non-fiction program teaches: personal essays and memoir, mostly. I really wanted to write about what made me like that PUP album so much, the way I felt while listening to “Resevoir” the day after I quit my dream job. I wanted to write about the shows I attended in high school and college, the nights that made me feel alive when I was depressed into suicidal ideation. It took me a long time to gather the courage to do it. I didn’t want to get laughed out of the room. 

Here’s what I wished I knew then: the most universal language of writing is the personal. I learned that after reading Hanif Abdurraqib’s They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us over winter break that year. When I feel disillusioned with my writing practice, I read the introduction to the book, written by poet and scholar Eve Ewing:

…Hanif Abdurraqib is something between an empath and an illusionist. Among the thousands who have read his work, I am confident that I am not alone when I say that Hanif lured me in with a magic trick—by apparently knowing the textures of my relationship to songs and athletes and places that I love. He knows our secrets. He has an uncanny ability to write about music and the world around it as though he was sitting there on the couch with you in your grandma’s basement, listening to her old vinyl, or he was in the car with you and your high school friend who would later become your boyfriend, singing until you were hoarse, or he was on the bus with you when you sat in the back with your headphones on trying to look a lot harder and meaner than you really were. He seems to know all about that summer, that breakup, that mix she made you that you lost when someone broke into your car later that year. 

It’s that feeling, that the writer was there with you during the biggest moments of your life, that makes good writing sing. This paragraph makes me remember what incredible writers like Hanif are capable of, what I am capable of when I try. It makes the blog-world feel small and petty. I think about this paragraph when I need a reminder that I’m the only one who gets to decide if my writing is sincere or not.

This line of work doesn’t pay much. The rejection can hurt. Sometimes, it is that “magic trick”—that feeling that the writer knows exactly how you feel, and gives you permission for feeling it—that makes writing about music feel worth doing at all. When I first started to read They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, I couldn’t believe that someone allowed Hanif Abdurraqib to write poignant, earnest, deeply-personal essays about the music that I grew up listening to, feeling more strongly about than anything, about Fall Out Boy, about The Wonder Years. It took me too long to learn that, in order to write like that, the only person I needed permission from was myself.

I published an essay about Fall Out Boy’s Infinity On High in Catapult Magazine last year. In drafting that essay, I tried to avoid writing about the way that album sounds, its place in the Fall Out Boy discography. Instead, I tried to focus on its place in my world. I wrote how it came to me during a time of economic and personal uncertainty, how it makes me miss all of the people I loved who moved away after the Great Recession hit, how something as simple as burned CD dropped in my lap by a friend created an entire world within me. I wrote it in grad school to please myself, to feel like I was getting away with something by writing about pop-punk in my Very Serious Grad School Workshop. When Catapult published it, Pete Wentz read it. He even shared it on Twitter, complimenting the exact thing I was going for:

When I read that tweet, I collapsed the floor, dumbstruck not by the fact that Pete Wentz read my essay, but that he got it. That he glossed over the part where I admitted that I didn’t care for Folie a Deux too much when it dropped because the heart of the essay—the sincere part, the part that was hard to write—resonated. 

I guess what I’m getting at is that I’m tired of the game. It’s easy to write about music; I’ve been doing it since before I could drive. It’s also easy to say that someone’s work isn’t sincere because you don’t agree with it. It’s difficult and terrifying to write what’s true. I’m tired of the way that music writers treat cynicism like honesty, that way sincerity and uncorrupted enjoyment, sentimentality, nostalgia, is scoffed at as a ploy for retweets. 

The truth is, there’s no glory in being the coolest kid in the room. If there’s an in-crowd, I want out. We’re all broke at the end of the day, anyway. I don’t want to be the first one across the indie rock finish line. I’d rather read something personal, something about how a top 40 emo-pop album got you through a difficult time, or how one Bright Eyes song allowed you to come out to yourself, or how Lorde’s Melodrama convinced you to drop your abusive partner. I want to know about your life. I think that’s a million time more interesting than whichever indie band’s bandwagon we’re all hopping on this week. I’m more concerned with your textures—the memories associated with music that make music feel like something more than some files on our iPhones—than I am with finding another band I’ll listen to once and abandon. If you need permission, here it is.

#bsidecollection

[carebearbliss]

Stray Kids as your boyfriend

Chan: the considerate/selfless boyfriend

Honestly, is there anything he wouldn’t be willing to do for you?

His personality is just made out of 100% boyfriend material

Would probably give you the world if he could (his heart is as big as the moon let’s be honest here)

And with that, would probably automatically give you a couple of his sweaters before you even asked for them (or tried to steal them)

Would regularly check up on you, both mentally as well as physically, to make sure you’re okay

The type to care more about you than he would for himself, goes out of his way to make sure you know that you are loved

One word: C U D D L E S 

So so so gentle with you, wouldn’t want to do anything to hurt you ever

Sings you to sleep over the phone when you can’t fall asleep

Midnight conversations about the most innocent/most random of things, like how fluffy marshmallows are or how soft your hair is

Minho: the playful/sarcastic boyfriend

His presence alone is enough to make you feel comfortable

The type that will always be there for you and quietly stand by your side

Would help you out with practical tasks without you asking

Lots of sarcastic bantering and back-and-forth teasing, which probably includes playful insults as a normal way of conversating

Very patient and understanding

A very good listener, he would be the type to remember random things about you or ask in-depth questions to get to know you better

Lots of movie dates at home, incl. a pillow fortress and plenty of snacks

Surprisingly funny and confident/daring at times, which makes you either cringe or blush honestly

Has these random moments in which he says something flirtatious suddenly and catches you off-guard

Weird dance battles shall and will ensue

Also midnight conversations, but mostly about the weirdest existential topics like how aliens would look like if they existed or whether clones exist

Changin: the chill boyfriend

Would never yell or raise his voice to his girlfriend, ever

Treats you like a Princess with a capital letter P

But at the same time you’re also his homegirl y’know what I mean?

Recommends his favorite songs to you, occasionally makes you a playlist as well

Chilling at each other’s place, just listening to music, catching up and talking about your interests or what happened during the day

Talks brags about you constantly to his members

Very proud to have you as his girlfriend and wouldn’t be afraid to let you know either (if you didn’t already)

Secretly acts kinda cute at times, especially when he’s excited and you two are having fun

Lots of time spent in the recording studio, with you listening to and evaluating his rapping and the lyrics he has written

Very protective of you, looks out for you even from a distance just to make sure everything is safe and okay

Hyunjin: the caring boyfriend

Can be quite shy at the beginning, but wants to make sure you feel at ease and so asks a lot of questions

Conversations about how your day was, talking about your concerns and comforting you through his kind, sincere words

Hugs and snuggles, and lots of ‘em

Listens attentively to whatever you have to say, remembers little details about you and brings them up occasionally

Tries his hardest to understand you and be empathic towards your circumstances and struggles

The type to smile at you shyly after holding your hand or kissing you (for the first time)

Blushes easily but that doesn’t stop him from initiating PDA

When he’s having a hard time, you’re the first person he would go to for comfort and a listening ear

Lowkey clingy but mostly when you two are alone together

Entire albums on both of your phones full of cute pictures of each other to look through when you’re apart and missing one another

Han: the enthusiastic boyfriend

Lives to make you smile every second you’re spending time with him

Tries out all his pickup lines on you just cause he can

Lowkey says flirtatious stuff just to make you blush, but if you retaliate with a flirtatious line of your own, he’ll get shy

Tbh he’d flirt with you all the time, even if you guys are already in a rocksolid relationship

Proudly proclaims to his members that he has the best girlfriend

Dramatically supportive of you every step of the way

The type to randomly show up at your house with a cake and some balloons to celebrate you passing your exams (or any other occasion, honestly)

Always tries to be his happiest around you

Likes to be close to you, doesn’t necessarily have to be PDA, just likes to be near you as much as possible

Loves to see you eating well, also loves spoiling you with food for that matter 

Felix: the best friend boyfriend

Weird and out-of-control dance battles all. the. time.

A lot of your free time is spent doing silly dances with him or copying memes/making TikTok videos, just goofing around casually

Laughs at all of your jokes, even the ones that ain’t that funny

If you compliment him, even on the tiniest of things, it’ll make his day for a whole week

Finds everything you do to be absolutely adorable

It doesn’t matter where you are or what you two are doing, when you’re together it’s just going to be a good time and y’all know it

Always amazed at how great of a person you are, genuinely looks up to you

Just a general appreciation for having you by his side to comfort and support him when he needs it

Lots of casual snuggle sessions while you’re just chilling

Crazy sing-offs just to see who can sing the loudest/highest

Inside jokes are a must you hear me

Treasures any gift you ever give him like it’s basically his most valuable possession

Seungmin: the sweet boyfriend 

This guy is honestly such a sweetheart, periodt

Not a big fan of PDA, but still likes to hold your hand when you’re walking next to each other

You’re the first person he goes to when he has some exciting/good news to share

Basically, you’re his best friend, and he’s yours :)

Very go-with-the-flow, open to trying out whatever it is you want to do (unless it’s highkey dangerous)

Very gentle & gentlemanly, always takes you into consideration to make sure you don’t feel uncomfortable

When you’re sad, comforts you with lots of comfort food and Disney marathons

Compliments you and says the sweetest things to you just to make you smile

Rarely ever says no to anything you ask of him

Calls you up or texts you out of the blue just to ask you how your day was, then actually listens attentively to anything you have to say

Likes to take lots of pictures of you when you’re on a date

Day6 concert dates y e s

Jeongin: the good/kind boyfriend

Treats you like he’d treat his good friends, but including occasional blushing, internal panicking and shyly looking away when you stare at him for too long

Tries really hard to be a good boyfriend to you, tries to pay attention to your interests and what you have to say

You can’t help but develop a soft spot for him (like the rest of Stray Kids)

Sometimes you make him really nervous, but he’d still randomly initiate PDA like holding your hands 

Ruffles your hair every time you do something that he finds to be adorable, which is kind of always?

Randomly boops your nose then gives you a huge smile

Just really happy when he sees you, like a small pup whose owner just got home y’know?

Melts into a puddle when you compliment him

Doesn’t really care about what you guys are doing, as long as you’re together

The type to watch kdramas just to figure out what kind of romantic gestures he can surprise you with

Then shows up at your doorstep with flowers he picked along the way and a cute card

#stray kids #stray kids imagine #stray kids scenario #stray kids chan #chan #bang chan #stray kids hyunjin #stray kids changbin #stray kids minho #lee know #kpop scenario #kpop imagine #stray kids felix #stray kids i.n #stray kids jeongin #stray kids seungmin #stray kids han #stray kids jisung

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #309

“show me how to lie - you’re getting better all the time  /  and turning all against one is an art that’s hard to teach.”

Have you ever played Jackbox Games? If so, which ones of their party games are your favorites? No, but I looooove watching Mark and The Boys play them on charity streams. They can make up the funniest shit. I can't recall the name of the specific one I'm thinking of... but I enjoy watching most of them. I do think one or two are boring, though. Do you have artistic friends? If so, have you got their artwork displayed? I have some very talented friends, but I don't have anything of theirs displayed somewhere. Have you ever considered pole dancing? Why/why not? No. It takes an incredible amount of strength, plus confidence I don't have. That and I'm just not into it. What's the last thing you fixed yourself? Uhhhhhhh bitch I couldn't tell ya. Are there any CDs you've held onto for sentimental reasons? No. Did you read the Barbie magazines with comics made with the actual dolls? "I didn’t know that was a real thing." <<<< Me either. What's the last thing you knitted? I've never knitted before. Who was your first online friend? Emma. :') She was the first person who joined my RP mob back in the Animal Planet forum days. Why do you take surveys? Be honest. Boredom, distraction, and sometimes I just wanna ramble about whatever. Does mail get delivered to your door or do you have a mailbox outside? Our mailbox is by the side of the road at the end of our driveway. Your doorbell rings out of the blue. What's your reaction? Let Mom answer it. I don't answer the door ever if I don't expect someone or can peek outside and don't recognize them. Are all the lamps in your home LED or other energy saving lights? I don't know. Do you prefer writing by hand or typing? Typing. I can't write very long at all before my carpal tunnel flares up. Think of one of the biggest decisions you've had to make in your life...If you made a different choice, how different would your life be now? I'd be dead, that simple. Have you ever taken a course on CPR? No. What makes you laugh most effortlessly? You can guess it pretty easily. What makes you cry most effortlessly? I make it a rule that I "can't" listen to "Eternally Yours" by Motionless In White because there hasn't been even ONE occasion where it hasn't made me cry, even when I was stupid enough to binge it because it's just a good song. I've broken that "rule" before because I do just genuinely enjoy the song, but I know the pain truly isn't worth it, so I haven't heard it in a decently long time. What is the best smell in the whole world? Cinnamon rolls, probably. My body wash is currently that kind of smell, and Jesus Christ it's the best part of showering. Do you wear a watch? No. Can you tell time from an analog clock? Yes. What a time it'll be when kids can't anymore... Is there a number or a combination of numbers that feels important to you? Only dates, but not numbers themselves. What is the most socially awkward thing you've done? *gestures at my life as a whole* Is your computer decorated in any way? No. If your old class was to have a reunion, would you attend it? No. No. I don't want to relive my high school experience; it would be too painful for me to willingly walk into. What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you? I would say "the breakup," but technically it was letting him basically own me and my every neuron of joy. Not by his will of course, but my own. I was stupid and just... handed those rights over without really realizing it. I can harp forever and ever and EVER about the importance of making sure you own yourself and your emotions. Do you ever donate money to charity? If so, which charity and why? Blah blah blah, I don't get an income, you know this. Whenever I do, I 100% plan on donating to every charity stream Mark ever hosts again, as well as some other people's. I'd love to donate to a lot of places. Would you ever want to get married? If so, why? Yes, because society has made it too instilled in me that it's just like... this ultimate validation of "forever" with your partner, even though I know you can be just as or even far more invested in your relationship without marriage. The only *true* benefit of marriage imo is for legal and financial reasons, but yeah, I still want it. Like I said, it's too deeply embedded in that brain of mine that it's a relationship goal. Why do you live the way you do? I'm not even living the way I want to, so... Have you ever abused an animal? No, and I say "fuck you" with every ounce of sincerity and loathing if you have. Do you think animals are less important than humans? If so, why? Nope. We share this earth and grew from the same roots, so what *really* makes us better? We might be smarter (generally) and more developed as the apex predator, but that does not equate to being more important than, say, even a gnat. That creature has the exact same level of rights to be here as the human species does. I could go on and on and on about this topic. How close was the last person close to you who has died? Not extremely, but she was still important to and loved by me. Grandma and I were very, very different and butted heads more than once, but her love was unconditional, and she showed boundless kindness to others. She showed a courage I see as unmatched in the face of death. I truly, deeply, in the very core of my heart hope she is at peace and experiencing all joys she ever wished for. How does death in general make you feel? Well, it depends on how I'm looking at it. I fully accept it is an inevitable phase in simply existing that none of us will ever evade, so it's not exactly terrifying to me, though of course I don't want it anytime soon. If I'm thinking about people I love dying, I definitely get sad about it and scared of that possibly eternal separation. Is there a person you absolutely loathe? If so, why do you loathe them? Not that I know personally, no. Has anyone ever told you that you're rude? If so, what caused it? No; I think I'm very mannerly, honestly. Have you ever seen a therapist? I've regularly seen therapists since I started middle school. I advocate for everyone to have one, honestly, whether you have a mental illness or not. Have you ever been homeless? In technical terms, yes, but a friend let me stay with her until Mom and I settled into a new place. Have you ever been completely broke? That's the actual story of my life. Well, not me personally considering I've never had to take care of myself financially, but my mom struggles very, very badly with this, and mind you, she's frugal. Just disgustingly underpaid when she worked, and her current status with disability isn't exactly incredibly generous. I live under her roof, so. Have you ever had a steady job? No. Have you ever needed a loan? If so, what for? Have you paid it back? Yes, for school, and no. I do NOT want to know how in debt I am with schools. Have you ever wanted to go to space? Not seriously, no. What's the weirdest thing you've ever seen or heard? I am 99.99% sure mine and Jason's old roommates were having some ~kinky~ sex once while I was alone on the couch against their bedroom. Preeeetty sure the girl was making meowing sounds. They were furries (who I want to emphasize have zero judgment from me; I actually think they're very brave and creative), so that was... something I definitely wasn't used to hearing, haha. What has been the most exciting moment of your life thus far? Probably when Mark N O T I C E D me on Tumblr by reblogging a gif I made of him and his pupper, and I LITERALLY struggled to sleep for three days lmfaoooo. How many birds can you name just by looking at them? Uhhhh a pretty decent amount, I'd say. Which birds are most common around your neighborhood? Crows, sparrows, cardinals and bluejays if you're lucky, robins... pretty basic stuff like that. What do you think is the most interesting sea creature? Octopi are absolutely fascinating with their intelligence. How do you reset your head to zero, so to speak? Take a nap. That usually works. Have you ever gone exploring an abandoned building? Yeah, I love that shit and really wish I could do it more. Bring my camera, too. Are there any foreign television shows you enjoy watching? Some animes. Do you have any clocks in your house that chime when the hour changes? Do those types of clocks annoy you? No. I actually quite like them, though. Has anyone ever let you borrow some of their music, promising you'd love it, but you really didn't? Did you lie to the person and agree, or tell the truth, that you hated it? My dad lent me his Shinedown CD once clearly without thinking I could just look up the album online, haha... He's an old clueless man, leave 'im be. But anyway, of course I listened to it for him and I enjoyed it; I especially loved "The Human Radio," "Kill Your Conscience" and "Pyro." Have you had the same doctor pretty much your whole life, or have you went to a bunch of different ones over the years? Have you ever been to the doctor thinking something was horribly wrong with you, but it turned out to be something minor? Mine has changed a few times, but I haven't had "a bunch." As for the second question, not to my recollection. Is the background on your phone a default picture, or a picture you took? What is the picture of? The lock screen is a pastel-styled list of mental health reminders: "i am strong, i am loved, i am enough." My home screen has been some adorable meerkat pups for a while, which I didn't take. What is your favorite type of print (ex: zebra, stripes, argyle)? Do you have a lot of things with this print on it? Ummmm maybe plaid? No. Are there any stores you feel uncomfortable going into (ex: if you dress girly, do you feel uncomfortable going into Hot Topic)? Are there any stores that you refuse, or just never go in to? The only situation I could think of would be a sex shop. That'd be so fuckin uncomfortable. What is your favorite brand of clothing? Is this a brand that is sort of expensive, or is it pretty affordable? I'm heavily biased towards Cloak, haha. I just support anything and everything Mark takes part it, and it's his and jacksepticeye's business. I have one shirt and it's genuinely great quality and reall comfy. I wouldn't call its products expensive, but they're not cheap, either. What person do you text the most? My mom or Sara, depending on the day. Do you have any pictures that always make you laugh, or cry? Are they digital pictures, or printed pictures? What is the significance? No. Not pictures I have anymore, at least. Have you ever eaten raw pumpkin? Omg I would never. I hate the flavor of any sort of pumpkin food. Does your car have a name? I don't have my own car, but Mom jokingly calls hers "Olivia." Who was the last person you made plans with? One of my sister's in-laws that's actually the mother of one of my closest friends contacted me to plan some family pictures. What is the rudest thing someone has done recently towards you? I can't think of anything recent. How do you feel about your hair right now? It needs to be trimmed and dyed. How fast have you driven a car? I think accidentally leaning towards 80 on a highway. When you're hanging out with friends + you become bored, do you just leave or endure the boredom? Given I can't leave without a car, I deal with it. What did you last plug into your computer? What were you doing with this? The charger for obvious reasons. What color(s) have you dyed your hair? Red, purple, black, then red, purple, and lighter brown highlights. I really wish I could dye it more and actually have the color stick... Was your first kiss perfect? It was to me. What song did you hear last? I have "Over The Mountain" by Ozzy on now. (: Does anyone have any blackmail on you? No. Have you ever walked into the guys' bathroom? HA, once during a teacher work day (my mom was an assistant) at my elementary school. My sisters and friends went in there to be little "rebels." I remember being mega confused with urinals, haha. Then as a teen and adult, I've been in the dance studio's boy's restroom as well as a church's to help Mom clean. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with? My therapist. Are you shy? I am VERY shy. Are you talkative? Generally, no, but when I'm in a very good mood, I tend to be. Has your most recent ex ever seen you cry? Oh jeez, she saw me wail once. When was the last time you were called "cute"? I'm not sure. Would you rather be called "hot", "cute" or "beautiful"? "Beautiful." Do you have a little sister? Yep. Definitely not "little" anymore, though. About to have her Master's in social work... How many arguments have you had with the last person you kissed? Given our childhood, we've fought a lot, but mostly just as kids over very, very stupid things. As adults, we've had a serious argument once or twice and then just some very minor disagreements sprinkled in there. Do you know anyone who's been arrested? Oh yes. What're you planning on doing after this? Another survey. What time did you go to sleep last night? Damn, it wasn't even 8:00. I was EXHAUSTED and actually slept decently for once in my life. Do you like waking up to good morning texts in the morning? I mean, I'd think most people would. It's a sweet, easy way of someone showing they care and think about you. Have you left some things unsaid with a certain person? Yeah. What was the last thing that made you happy? We had syrup to add to my breakfast, haha. I don't know if these are a thing everywhere, but I looove what we just call "pancakes on a stick," which is like a corndog, but with sausage and pancake batter. Dipping it in syrup is amaaaaaaziiiiiiing. Do you like the smell of rain? I don't love it, but it's refreshing sometimes. It's mostly just associated with a bittersweet memory, so it can be triggering to smell. I know, that sounds immensely stupid. What was the last thing you took a picture of? A very, very relatable meme to show Sara, haha. She doesn't have a Facebook, so that'll do. When you go to McDonald's, what drink do you usually get? I always get a Coke. What’s the nickname of your home state? Tar Heel State, from discovering tar in the since aptly-named Tar River. Have you ever thought about your wedding? I mean duh. What’s the worse type of weather in your opinion? Hot and humid, ugh. Especially right after a summer afternoon thunderstorm. It's unbearable. You can't fucking breathe outside, and you set one foot out of the door and it's soaked. Do you have a Kindle or iPad or neither? Neither. Would you rather read or write? Write. When was the last time someone took a picture of you? The time Misty visited last month and we were taking family pictures. Would you rather see Taylor Swift or Carrie Underwood in concert? I wouldn't pay for either or even willingly go to one or the other, but if I had to go for whatever reason, Carrie. She has a beautiful voice as well as a good handful of songs I actually like. I'm not a Taylor fan; there are only like, two old songs by her I enjoy. When someone screws you over, do you get back with revenge? No. I may not be the best at adulting, but damn, I'm not that bad. Name something negative that you hate about yourself? I overthink like a motherfucker. About everything. Is there a dead end road near where you live? I live on one. Huh, that's actually been the case three times... wow. Four if you count the apartment. Who are you tired of seeing in the news a lot (celebrities)? I don't care. I don't even pay attention to the news, other than Covid updates. Have you ever had to call and complain about a product you bought? No. Name something positive you love about yourself: I care a lot about people. Can you smell anything right now? No, besides however my house naturally smells that I'm numb to. Have you spoken to a relative on the phone today? No. How does alcohol affect you? I flush in my face very obviously, and I become more outgoing and talkative. Have you ever eaten tofu and if so, did you enjoy it? I've never tried it, but I very much doubt I'd enjoy it. What was the last type of meat you ate? Pork. What colour is your toothpaste? Blue and white. Have you ever been suspended from school? No. Have you ever inhaled helium? Once, I believe. Are you a fan of Adam Sandler? Yeah, I think he's pretty funny and a talented actor. What was the last fruit you ate? An apple. A candied apple for Valentine's Day, but still an apple, haha. Have you ever watched Parks and Recreation? With Sara's family, yeah. It was fine. Have you watched a movie this week? I haven't watched a movie in many months. Have you set an alarm today? Yeah, just to ensure I was up for group therapy today. Have you asked someone for advice today? No. What was the last website you were on, other than this one? YouTube. Have you ever been to Hawaii? No, but it'd be cool. Well, thinking about the humidity... Have you watched more than an hour of TV today? No; I haven't watched television in a long time. Do you keep magazines by your toilet? No. The last time you got dressed up, where did you go? I got my makeup done and put on a dress for a Halloween "witch" shoot with my friend and some other people. The pictures pretty much don't exist because they're blurry as shit and way too dark because we left too late. I don't know why we even left the house to do it by the time everyone figured their shit out. I was really disappointed because I thought Summer made me look really, really pretty. ;_; Did the one person who hurt you the most in your life apologize? Yes, but I don't know if he really meant it. He might have just wanted me off his back, but I kinda feel now that he meant it, at least regarding how it happened. Are you proud of who you are? Only in the sense that I think I have a good heart. Otherwise, no. I've accomplished so little. Have you ever been to Costco? We don't have those here, so no. Do/did you have to wear a uniform to your high school? No, thank Christ. Only in middle school. How many video games do you own? A whole lot. Have you ever been to a casino? If so, which one(s)? No. Have you ever visited a sex shop? No. How many sets of keys do you have for your house? One. Do you give spare keys to your place to your friends and family? Our landlord/family friend has one. Then obviously my sisters do, too. Have you ever ridden a bicycle through a busy city? Oh hell no. Do you use Instagram? How often do you post there? Yes, two for each of my photography "styles." I don't post a lot myself, but I react to stuff. When was the last time you high-fived someone? I believe the last time I was at my sister's and my nephew caught a Pokemon on his first throw in Pokemon GO. He and his sister LOVE that game; that's the first thing they ask to do when I come over, haha. Their dad doesn't like it because it's "evil" (which he finds most things, really...), and it's something I could roll my eyes into the back of my head about, but I still have to respect his parenting and ask if they can play it first. He let's 'em, just not long. He also took away the Pikachu plushy I gave Aubree because it's her favorite one. :^) Guess who doesn't fuckin like him lmao. Do you like writing? How often do you write? I love writing! I don't do it very much nowadays except through surveys, though. RP is kinda on pause, so surveys is really how I just get stuff out, even if it isn't creative. Are there any posters or artworks hanging in your living room? Artwork and family photos, yes. What's your favourite place to get pizza? I'm a basic bitch that loves her some Domino's. How many times have you been to the beach? Quite a few times. We live only like two hours away, and considering Myrtle Beach is a common dance competition location, we've been a couple handfuls of instances. Has there ever been a fire inside your house? Tell me the story. No. After we moved out of my childhood house though that we actually owned, the fucking idiots who were moving in completely roasted it to pitch by setting boxes on the goddamn stove and accidentally turning it on. The house had to be entirely rebuilt. My parents were livid considering it was THEIR house. Have you ever had a scary encounter with a wild animal? No. What was the best school project you remember doing? I actually really enjoyed the huge essay I did on toxic masculinity the last time I tried college. I've always been very firm about letting men be humans and not emotionless robots, but I learned a lot more while researching and writing. Name a video game you can play over and over again: Shadow of the Colossus is #1. I've beaten it at least 30 times, maybe even 40+; it's been too long since I've seen the save files. It's a relatively short game (you can beat it in less than like, four hours if you know what you're doing) and just very relaxing yet simultaneously absolutely epic to me. God, I want a PS4 to play the remaster, like beyond words. It looks incredible, and I want to try to get white Agro. Have you ever petted a cow, a sheep, or a pig? A pig, yes. I love pigs.

#survey #surveys #questions #lyrics: ''you're gonna go far kid'' by the offspring

[audreyannerp]

Pen Pals

(A roleplay between @askaudreyanne / @audreyannerp and @red-rad-and-rod .) It had been about a week since Audrey met J.C. and his siblings. It was kind of hard to miss them, given Lola seemingly bee-lined towards them during their stay at the park. She was grateful for her pooch’s detour, however, as the three proved to be good company (as did their father, who they had lunch with.) She wasn’t sure how long she should wait before emailing J.C., but figured a week was a long enough wait to not seem overly eager. She did originally intend to only send pictures of the dogs to show his sisters, but now she wanted to talk to him too. She decided to start slow, with a simple email. This is J.C., right? It’s Audrey, from Michigan. Here are some pictures of Lola in some flowers. She wasn’t supposed to be in them, but I just had to snap a few pictures before I got her out! Let me know how you three like them! She hoped asking for a response would lead the way to them talking about more than dogs.

- Ping! Oh, thank goodness, something to actually respond to! Surfing through a seemingly never ending list of ads for things he didn’t need was starting to get tiresome. A few clicks later, J.C. found himself searching through his e-mail. Hmm…junk. Junk. E-mail from Audrey- wait. E-mail from Audrey? … Ah, right! That was who he met over in Michigan when he and the family were over in Michigan! Man…even though they had only hung out for a little bit, he missed her. Her beautiful smile, her cute giggle…sigh~ Snapping out of his little lovestruck trance, he went ahead and read through the message, snickering a bit as he got a glimpse of Lola being a goofball. A short while later (mainly after Syd and Kat stopped squealing over the little pup), he sent back a reply: Yyyyup, it is! At least, that’s what people have been calling me for 23 years… Ahaha, I kid, I kid. 😋 What a little goofball! She’s such a sweetie. Syd and Kat seem to think so too, given the fact that they’ve been fawning over her for the past fifteen minutes or so. And reignited the whole “Mum, Dad, let’s get a dog!” debate, but that’s to be expected. How have things been over by you? - Audrey wasn’t the type to live on her phone or computer, so it was a good thing she had written a note to herself to check her email later. Upon coming home that evening and checking her notebook of reminders, she brought up her email and took a look. She chuckled at J.C.’s response and promptly began typing a reply, pleased he wanted to chat. (Or was at least acting like he wanted to, in order to be polite.) Ohhh deeaarrr XD I hadn’t intended to start a debate. Could you please tell them I’m sorry? Anyway, things have been pretty ordinary over here. Weather is still pretty nice, so I’ve been taking Lola on longer walks. She got a little over excited today though and ran into someone’s garden, as you saw. I was sure to tell her no… after I stopped laughing and taking pictures! XD So, how have things been on your end? - After hitting send, J.C. had to think…did it sound like he seem interested? Did he sound bored? Should he have added more emojis? …Nah, maybe that would’ve been a bit excessive. Maybe a little immature…who knows, maybe Audrey would have thought that Syd or Kat took hold of his computer. Now came the waiting game. He would’ve done a bit more internet browsing, if he hadn’t have been dragged outside by Syd for a game of football. That was probably a more productive way to spend his time, anyway. No real need to worry. (…) Later on, now relaxing with a cup of tea, he went back on and found a reply. Haha, I will! They’ve been getting that for years, but I’m sure they’d appreciate the regards. Glad to see the weather’s manageable. Kind of makes me wish I was back there; right now, we’ve had a couple of gales come through. Nothing too bad, but having to be stuck inside for most of the day. Plus side, it’s supposed to clear up soon. Oooooh, Lola, what’s your mum going to do with you? 😂 Kind of reminds me of this time when Syd was a toddler…she’d done the same thing with our next-door neighbour’s back garden. I’ll have to send the picture in my next e-mail, but the end result was her being held (gently, of course) by her overall straps by our neighbour’s sheepdog! - Audrey discovered his reply the following morning. While she sent her reply early, it was likely the afternoon over where J.C. was. Wish you were here for the weather? Are you sure you don’t just want to see me? HA! I kid. I kid. We barely know each other. Aaaanywaaaaay… A sheepdog holding a toddler? That sounds both hilarious and adorable! You have GOT to send me that picture! Let’s just hope karma doesn’t come back to bite me. Mom and Dad recorded EVERYTHING when I was a kid. They have soooo many VHS tapes in the basement. Photo albums too. For a non-photogenic child, they sure loved taking pictures of me. - Why did time zones have to be a thing? He could respond at ten in the morning, and it’d only be five A.M. over by her…ah well. Upon reading Audrey’s response, he couldn’t help but blush a little. Okay, yeah, part of it was the weather, but part of it was because he wanted to see her. Weeeeell, that would be a major plus, if I’m being honest. …Does that sound creepy? Jeez, I hope it doesn’t; virtual communication’s tricky that way. 😓. If it did sound that way, I do apologize! Guess, ah…guess I should get on with the rest of this reply. Heheh… Don’t worry, little me wasn’t exactly the poster child for being photogenic, either. Guess it must be a parent thing…mine were the same way. I’ve made sure to bury one of the albums that has the MOST embarrassing ones as deeply as I can in storage, but somehow they keep finding it. Speaking of ‘embarrassing’ photos… Ask and ye shall receive~ Not going to lie, her face still cracks me up; sort of like she’s saying “Curses! Foiled again!”

- Audrey was pleasantly surprised to see that J.C. seemed to enjoy her company as well. Aw, really? You’re sweet~ <3 Don’t worry; no creepiness detected! Well, you know parents and their magic able-to-find-stuff powers. You could search for something for hours and they’ll point to it right in front of your face! That photo is somehow more adorable and hilarious than I thought it would be! She really was a scamp from the very beginning, wasn’t she? Anyway, if you’re interested, maybe I could tell you a bit about myself and vice-versa? Make sure I’m someone you want to see again? - Oh, good! This was off to a great start~ Phew! Good, good. Just want to make sure, y’know? True, true. Heck, you could try to send something that you don’t want seen to…I don’t know, Antarctica…and they’d still manage to find it. Haha, yeeeeah; once she started crawling, it was all downhill from there! Sure, why not? I think it’s better one-on-one as opposed to doing it in front of a group, like on the first day of school. That whole “what’s your name, what’s your major, one fun fact about yourself” spiel. How should we do this? Do you want to go first or should I? - Well, I suggested it, so I guess I’ll go first. Now let’s see… My full name is Audrey Anne Davis. I’m currently 24 years old and my birthday is March 27th. I’m a college graduate and I work as a personal trainer at a local gym. My hobbies include working out, cooking, listening to music, and dancing. Not sure what else to put so, uh, your turn! (P.S. Feel free to ask me anything!) - My turn it is, then. Soooo, let’s see…mine is Jean-Claude Henri Malone (née Bellerose), currently 23, aaaand my birthday’s August 23rd. Right now, I’m working on my bachelor’s (almost done, though!)…started in gen. studies, decided to do something with humanities. I do a bit of work at the student bookstore, aaaand my hobbies include listening to music, playing videogames, reading…aaaand I would say I enjoy a bit of footy every now and again. Aha, dancing, eh? Any specific training (e.g. ballet, hip hop, anything of that sort) or is it more like “put on some tunes and see where the music takes you”? (P.S. Likewise!) - I have to admit, I had to Google née and footy. XD Anyway, I learned to dance from my dad. He took some classes when he was a kid, but is mostly self taught. (He’s REALLY good!) I pretty much just go with the music. I know some specific dance moves, but I don’t really know how to do those fancy dances you’d do at a ball. What kind of books do you like to read? I’m not much of a reader myself, but I do listen to audio books on occasion. I’m not exactly the brightest bulb, so I try to stick to books that don’t have seven layers of meanings you have to analyze in order to understand and enjoy them. - Ah, yes, the “English to English” thing. If I find one of those sorts of dictionary, I’ll be sure to send it your way. XD Interesting! That’s how I tend to dance as well…I’ve been meaning to take one of those “ballroom dancing” classes, just for the heck of it, buuuut…dunno, haven’t had the time as of late. (Or a partner for that matter, but that was a different story.) Just kind of want it as some random skill to have under my belt. I’m not super picky- if something looks interesting, I’ll pick it up, read the first couple of chapters, see where it goes. Though I will say, audio books are a godsend…always good for plane or car rides, if you’re not the one driving. I totally feel you on that whole “analysis” thing; that used to throw me in secondary school so much. “The blue door is supposed to represent the main character’s feelings of sadness”…mmmmaaaaybe the author just really likes the colour blue? 🤔 Personally, I always like to recommend “Le Petit Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (don’t worry, there is an English translation…and about 298 others, haha). There’s some analysis like that that could come with it, but not a ton. It’s one of those stories that doubles as a “children’s” story and one for adults, as well. - You never know when you’ll have to break into a waltz! I jotted down that title in my handy dandy notebook, so I should remember to look into it. (The act of writing things down helps me to remember. You should see how many notebooks I go through in a year! LOL) Speaking of children’s stories, have you ever read any Goosebumps books? I only read one as a kid and it really scared me, so I never read any more. I wonder if I could handle them now. The problem is my fight or flight response is just a fight response. If I get nervous, I might hit things out of reflex. I once accidentally broke my dad’s nose as a kid because he snuck up on me. I felt SO BAD. My mom couldn’t stop laughing though. She was actually recording when it happened, so that infamous family moment is on tape. - True, very true! 🤣 I have, actually! Read a few when I was a bit younger- my favourite had to be the ‘Night of the Living Dummy’ stories. They were pretty creepy, I have to admit…although I stumbled upon another series around the same time that, I argue, is quite creepier. I’m not sure if a series known as “Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids” made its way over to the states, but hoooo boy. It was made into a TV series as well…not much better in terms of toning down the creepiness. I used to say it makes Goosebumps look like Mother Goose! 😮 (Granted, I don’t think Goosebumps is supposed to be a series that scares you into good behaviour whereas G.T.F.G.K. sort of is, buuuut…still kind of has you going “WHAT did I just read?!”) Okay, just reading that made me cringe, ouch! Remind me to never spook you…or if there’s ever a time we’re over in the states for Halloween, remind me to not take you to a haunted house/scary movie. If it’s any consolation, there’s quite a bit of embarrassing footage of small me as well, haha. “Cowboy J.C.”, “Super J.C.”, tiny siblings/cousins spitting up on me, you name it. 😅 - It doesn’t sound familiar to me, but I was never on the lookout for such things. Scaring kids into behaving? Ick. I’m of the belief that you should influence a child with positivity. I don’t mean in a spoiling kind of way. I just think finding the cause of a problem is more important than punishing the child. And when it does come to punishments, never do something that can damage them in the long run. Don’t be too lenient though. It is important to learn that actions have consequences. There has to be a balance. Sorry for the ramble there. It’s just that the way children are treated is important to me and I do not censor myself with such things. I’ll be sure to remind you. I’m not a fan of scary things. Unless they’re a fun type of scary, like paper bats or those fuzzy spider decorations. We’ve only ever had really silly looking spider decorations at our house during Halloween because my mom’s arachnophobic. If they’re too realistic, she gets the heebie-jeebies. Speaking of embarrassing, I feel it only fair to you and Syd that I share a photo of my own.

Guess who. - Hey, that’s fair! And makes sense, too. My thing is just…kind of let them do their thing (to an extent) and experience the world, just guide them along the way, you know? If they’re being a little butt (or rather, standard kid who’s still learning) about something, tell them why they shouldn’t be in a way that they understand; cause and effect. Like yes, you may want to eat six ice lollies in a row, but if you do, you’ll get a stomachache. Kiddo knows from experience that stomachaches suck, so a compromise of one or two ice lollies is made. As you said, balance is key. Aaaah, arachnophobia. Guess I’ll have to tell Syd that if she wants to show your mum a cool spider she found to…well, not to. XD; Awww-ha-ha-ha-haaaw, caught red-handed! I guess since I’ve put Syd and you through it, I figure one of mine wouldn’t hurt, either:

Apparently, small me did not like the idea of a fork, haha. - I’m glad we have similar views on children. I think we’re going to get along juuuuuust fiiiiiiiine. (Don’t get me wrong. I won’t hold it against anyone if they aren’t good with kids. Just don’t be mean to them.) Awww, you’re adorable~ Hmm… This email is a little short. I’ll just add some random stuff about me here. I love plush animals and have a LOT of them. My favorite fruit is either strawberries or raspberries. I hate pickles, but I like cucumbers. I can do the splits. … I’m out of stuff to say. - Right? I mean, they’re people, too. Just…y’know, tiny. XD As long as you try, then that’s what counts. Eheheheh, I mean…kiiinda? 😅 This was one of the ones I could find that wasn’t completely embarrassing. I think Dad’s in possession of one of the ones that would made me melt into a puddle of shame. Hm, so’s this one. Guess I’ll follow suit? My favoruite fruits are probably apples and watermelon. I can touch the tip of my nose with my tongue. I like those indoor trampoline parks, buuuut the last place you’ll catch me is in the foam block pit (of course, guess who loves to go in those). If I had to pick my top three favourite animals, I’d have to say either cats (big or small), dogs (same), ooooor elephants. - I can’t really think of much to say this time around, but I’ll leave you with this. Given your favorite animals, I’d say I can always rely on you to address the elephant in the room! - LOL! 🤣🤣🤣 Haha, that’s alright. Guess that means we’ll have more to talk about the next time around. I think?I hope? XD; - It was a few days later that Audrey took the time to really sit down and think of something to write. Sorry for the wait on this one. I wanted to actually have something to say this time. Before I forget though, did you guys remember to try Blue Moon ice cream while you were here? Anyway, I find it so odd to think about how, if it wasn’t for Lola, we might have never met. Well, maybe not never, given our dads work for the same company. We might not have met until much later, if not for Lola. How neat and silly is it that my dog found me a pen pal? Also, I was able to think up some more questions for you! What are some of your favorite animated movies? What about songs? Desserts? Oh! By the way, here’s a video of Daisy my mom took the other day. It’s amazing how high that little dog can jump when treats are involved. - Now, logically, J.C. knew that taking a few days to respond was no real issue. Perhaps Audrey had gotten preoccupied with other tasks. That was typical for a twenty-something nowadays (he should know, he was one). A small part of him, though, couldn’t help but feel as though she had lost interest in him. If he had, he wasn’t the kind of person to be bitter about it…maybe a bit upset, but…Audrey was her own person, she had the right to make her own decisions. When he got a reply a few days later, that fear had melted away…then again, a video of a little dog getting some serious air in the name of treats always helps. Hey, no worries! We did, actually. Interesting flavour! Kind of like cotton candy, but also kind of not. If “blue” itself can qualify as a flavour, I guess, that’s what I’d call it. Kind of bites that wer don’t have it over here. Guess that gives me a reason to go back to the States, LOL. Ooo, okay, let’s see…I’d have to say one of the more recent ones is Ernest & Celestine. When I was little, apparently, I used to watch My Neighbor Totoro at least once or twice a week. I don’t remember, though, if I had watched it in English or in Japanese with the subtitles on. Might have been the latter, I only know the song in Japanese (and that’s….probably the extent of my Japanese XD. I can’t translate it, but I can sing it, so there’s that!). Songs, I’m all over the place, so I can’t exactly list a specific one. Mum and Dad like the Beatles, and they grew on me, sooo I guess there’s them? Will have to get back to you on that one, haha. Dessert-wise…can’t go wrong with creme brulee, that’s for sure~ Hot fudge sundaes are a close second. To be honest, I’ll take any offerings when it comes to sweets. 😋 Ha! Man, she’s got some power there…imagine her trying to make slam dunks! …Granted…that’s….kind of hard to do without thumbs, but…you get what I mean. I think? I know, right? I’m not entirely sure what dogs think about, but can you imagine if she was actively/knowingly playing matchmaker? ‘yes, hello there other human, meet mine’. 🤣 Guess that makes it my turn for questions? Mine are kind of weird, but: What outdoor activity haven’t you tried, but would like to? What was the last song you sung along to? What’s your favorite type of day? (weather, temp, etc.) - Blue really is the best way to describe that flavor! Hard to imagine that ice cream as any other color. Then again, it might work in another color as long as it’s pastel. I think it’s pastel flavor. LOL Ernest & Celestine looks adorable! As for the other one… Honestly, it would probably have scared me as a kid. I think it’s the art style. Something about how big their mouths get, maybe. I don’t know… Nothing against the movie though! Just not my preference in style, you know?I’d say a few of my favorite animated movies are The Lion King, Lilo and Stitch, and the Emperor’s New Groove. I like to think New Groove is safe for any audience because no one dies; not even the villain.I like the Beatles as well! My music taste is varied. If something sounds good, I like it. Genre doesn’t really matter. Creme brulee? I’ve never had that. I do like custard though, so I imagine I would like it. And who doesn’t like hot fudge sundaes?! I love sweets as well! Yeah, I get it! Maybe we could get her a little basketball and hoop? She could carry the ball in her mouth! Her dribbling will be drool! XD I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what dogs are thinking. As for your questions, rock climbing might be fun? I’ve climbed indoor rock walls, but never the real thing. I honestly can’t remember the last song I sung along to. I kind of sing bits and pieces or hum when I listen to music, as opposed to full on singing along. Maybe I can go with the most recent song on my iPod? It was Fortune Teller by Maroon 5. I tend to find good things in any type of day, really. If I had to choose though, I’d say a sunny mid-spring day. The temperature would be right in the middle, not too hot, not too cold. Maybe the occasional cool breeze to help you feel alive, but enough sun that you don’t need a light jacket, but can wear one without burning up. Woof! That was a lot of typing! Maybe we could do an audio chat or something, one of these days? She hoped she wasn’t being too forward, but, seeing as they’ve spoken in person, she reasoned it wasn’t a big deal. - 😂😂😂 Eh, blue, pastel…close enough. Still tasty, regardless! 😋 Totally understandable! To each their own, right? Ooo, I might have to recommend New Groove to Kat. I’ve seen it a couple of times, but she hasn’t. I think anytime we’ve tried to settle down and watch it, something comes up (i.e., she’s going to a friend’s house, I had plans with a few of my friends, etc.). Lilo and Stitch is a pretty good one (def. one of Syd’s faves), and who DOESN’T like The Lion King? Can’t help but sing along with it, haha. Remind me to send you a recipe for some. It can be a little tricky, but it’s not like you have to have four or five things going at once. J.C. stopped typing for a couple minutes, trying to move his wrists around and get some of the building carpal tunnel aches to calm down a bit. Maybe Audrey had the right idea, switching over to audio calls… As for audio chat, I’m perfectly fine with that! Just want to let you know that I am about four to five hours ahead of your time zone (I believe that’s what it is? Daylight Savings is a weird concept…I guess for part of the year, it’s four and then the other part is five.). Whenever you’re feeling up to it. :) - Oh, right. Forgot about the time difference. Oops. LOL I tend to wake up at six in the morning and head to bed around ten at night. My work schedule isn’t a typical nine to five deal, being a personal trainer and all. I generally work when the client isn’t; so it’s usually in the mornings and evenings. I suppose the best time to catch me is early in the morning and midday, my time. Or on my days off, of course. Do you have an account on Discord? I figured we could do our chatting there. - Time-zones, mon amie; Une vraie douleur dans le cul…😩 Early morning, midday, and days off…duly noted! So that’d be afternoon to early evening here, I believe. Works out, though- my available times tend to be later in the day my time. I do- Name on there is OuiOuiJC#0714. If you see a profile picture that has a ferret in a beret, and they’re holding a baguette and glass of wine, that’s me. - Audrey couldn’t help but giggle at his username and profile picture. Rather than email him again, Audrey sent him a friend request from her Discord; AudreySugarSpice#1734. Her profile picture was a pink teddy bear. Guess who~ - Pink bear? Hm, unless one of his sisters had secretly made a Discord account (”Not until you’re older”, as per Mum and Dad’s rules), theeeeen this had to be Audrey. Looking at the username, that definitely confirmed it. Friend request accepted~ Guess who, eh? Hmmm….the Queen of England? 🤣 - Feeling a bit bold, Audrey initiated an audio call with him, planning to greet him with, “How’d you know?” followed by giggles. - …Well, she did say that she wanted to try out audio calls, so why not? Picking up, he answered with a comically dramatic gasp. “Your majesty~! I am not worthy!”   - Audrey giggled more. “I’d have followed up by pretending to be a queen, but, I don’t know how one acts and I can’t do an English accent to save my life,” she laughed. “Anyway, how are you doing? Can you hear me alright?” - “Incredibly proper, supposedly.” he chuckled. “Doin’ alright! Can hear you juuust fine. How about on your end? Hearing me and how things are going, I mean.” - “Same here! Glad I caught ya at a good time… I did catch you at a good time, right? It should be evening over there. Oh, I hope I didn’t pull you away from anything…” - “Haha, naaah, you’re fine! Been with the family for most of the day, so I’ve secluded myself in my room for a bit of ‘me’ time. It’s all good.” - “So I guess your me time is us time now,” she chuckled. “You live with your parents still or are you just visiting? It’s fine either way!” she added in a hurry. “The only reason I have my own place is because of Spike. He’s a workout friend of mine who works in construction and knows a few people in real estate.” - “Guess so; not that I’m complaining.” he responded. “ I spend most of my time here during the summer holiday…and, well, regular holidays.. During school, I live a bit closer to the campus. Soooo…I guess you could say both? Once I get my degree, I’m moving into my own. Haven’t settled on a location yet, really. Depends on if I want to be adventurous or not.” - “Ahhh. I see,” she nodded to herself. “What are some locations you’re thinking of moving to? Just curious.” - “Back to France is always an option…but knowing my family, either they’d be coming here at least once every couple of weeks or vice versa. Aaaaand that back and forth travel can be kind of pricey. I could always head up to and stay in Blackpool- where my university is. Or just take a total leap of faith and try somewhere else. The few times we’ve been over to the U.S. have been kind of nice- maybe I could live there. Might consider multiple citizenship, who knows. Eleven months there, one month here…” - “That does sound pricey… Though I’m sure you know that, if you’re considering the United States, I have to recommend Michigan. I’m biased, yes, but I have at least visited other states, so I’m not blindly swearing allegiance or anything. Fun fact, Michigan is one of the leading fruit growers in the States~ Cherries, especially,” she chirped. - J.C. laughed, “That doesn’t sound like a bad idea; being surrounded by fruit. I also wouldn’t mind living somewhere that gets actual snow in the winter. I mean, sometimes we’ll spend the holidays up in Northern Scotland, but not having to travel to see and play in the snow would be nice.” - “Oh, snow is definitely something we get up here,” she laughed. “Multiple feet of it, in fact. You should see Daisy during the winter; it’s hilarious! You just toss her outside and fwump; she disappears into the snow!“ - “Pffff! You might just have to tie a balloon to her collar or something and just track her that way. Or do you think she would float away?” - “Ha! Enough balloons probably would make her fly away! She’s so tiny! Truthfully, we just look for where the snow is moving. It also helps that she wears little sweaters when it’s cold out. Mom’s tried putting booties on her, but she just kicks them off.” - “Awwwhawhawhaw~ I’d hope she’d have at least a little something to wear. If I’m not mistaken, Michigan and a lot of those northern states can get pretty cold…like ‘stuck inside for days’ or ‘wearing five layers of clothing just to get the shopping done’ cold.” He thought for a minute. “Of…course, that’s all from word of mouth as opposed to personal experience, but…” - “I can confirm that it can get that cold. Ever see A Christmas Story where the little brother has so many layers of clothing he can’t put his arms down? It’s kind of like that.” - J.C. laughed, picturing the scene. “Oh, mon dieu. If we’re ever visiting during that time of the year, remind me to keep Syd away from metal poles!” - “Oh goodness… Yeah, that’s really a thing that happens here. Why do so many people think that’s a myth? Have they never gotten their tongue stuck to a popsicle before?” - “Apparently not. But hey, doing stupid stuff’s a part of life,I suppose. Maybe gain some status or fame in your friend group or among your class/workmates.” Sounded as if he was speaking from experience. - “Why do you sound like you’re speaking from experience?” she teased. - There was a brief moment of silence. “…Beeeee….caaaaaause I mmmmmmaaaaaay have done a few things that…could be qualified as such.” he responded, chuckling sheepishly. “N-nothing major, though.” - “Ooooooo~” she said, trying to sound like a studio audience. “What’d you do?” - The sheepish laughter intensified. “Aaaah…hm. You know those really, really hot peppers that are on the market?  Short and skinny of it is ‘Guys Night In’ and a game of ‘Truth or Dare’. It wasn’t a…Reaper? I think that’s what one of those are called? Only reason I know that is because I probably would’ve ended up in hospital, haha. I think it was aaaa….habenaro? One was, the other’s called  ‘Naga Jolokia’. Ate the habenaro with little issue, didn’t even get a full two bites into the other one before I was gulping down water like no tomorrow.” - “Oh noooo,” she laughed. “Oh nooo-ho-ho! That’s- That’s a ghost pepper, isn’t it?! Ah-ha-ha-ha!” She broke into a laughing fit. - His laughter became less sheepish and a bit more joyful. “Eeeeeeeyup, it is. Of course, I didn’t know that at the time, but hey. I will say, it did go better than when we played that one game with the Jelly Beans. …What’s it called? ‘Bean-Boozled’?” - “Yeah, it’s Bean-Boozled. Basically Bertie-Bott’s Every Flavor Beans but Jelly Belly brand. Dare I ask what could have happened when playing Bean-Boozled?” - “Weeeeell, plus side, I wasn’t the one who ended up with their face in a wastebasket.” he snickered. “The last few times we’d played, I kept getting the really gross flavours, and there was this joke that I was cursed. With our most recent game, the ‘curse’, I suppose, had reversed and the person who got all the good flavours last time got all the bad ones. He was fine up until…ugh, dead fish.” - “Ew-hew-hew!” she laughed. “Though, technically, all fish we eat is dead. It’d be pretty messy if we ate them alive… and gross… Say, that reminds me, you like scary movies, right? I have a question about zombies.” - “I doooooo. What’s your question?” - “How fast does a zombie need to eat before its victim becomes a zombie too and they don’t want to eat it? Like, zombies don’t eat other zombies, right? If you’re killed by a zombie, you become a zombie, right? How does that work?” - J.C. blinked, initially unsure how to answer. “That’s….actually a really good question. I like to think that it depends on the initial method of zombification. If it’s done via a curse, you’ve got a bit more time, whereas if it’s because of a virus, that time shortens, since you’ve got all this zombie saliva coming into contact with your blood. Blood takes about one minute to circulate through your entire body, so…you’d probably have to go all ‘pie-eating contest’ speed if your zombification is viral.” He stopped and thought for a minute. “Granted, you get bit regardless of the initial turning mechanism and still come into contact with their saliva…maybe one method is more virulent and fast-acting than the other? Kind of like how it can take something like food poisoning to show up in as little as half an hour to as long as four weeks, depending on what’s responsible for causing it.” - There was a long pause before Audrey replied with, “Huh… I don’t know what to do with this information… I’d write a story or something, but I don’t have the creativity for that. Hm… Maybe I should mention this to Adelyn… She’s good with this sort of thing.” - “Nor am I.” he chuckled, “Ah, Adelyn, eh? Friend of yours or a relative?” - “Relative,” she informed. “She’s my youngest cousin. She’s on the autism spectrum and is, like, really smart and creative.” - “Ah! Maybe she can tell me if the logic on my answer to your question seems sound.” All of a sudden, he heard a small sneeze outside the door, along with a small ‘THUD!’ and a young-sounding ‘Dangit!”. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh. “Hold on just a sec…” Getting up and walking towards his door, J.C. spoke to who he suspected was on the other side. “I know that’s you, petit singe. Are you eavesdropping?” “Noooooooo…a person can’t just chill against the wall in their own home?” “The wall that has their brother’s room on the other side?” “…All the other walls were taken?” - Though the voice was a bit faint, Audrey figured the little eavesdropper was Syd. “Tell her I said hi,” she called loudly, hoping J.C. could hear her from however far away from the computer he was. - “Can do!” he called back, before turning his voice back towards Syd. “Audrey says ‘hi’, by the way.” Syd gasped, “You’re talkin’ to her?!” She took a deep breath and shouted: “HI AAAAAAAUUUUDREEEEEEEY!!!” J.C., having been up against the door cringed and rubbed his ear a bit. Probably should have seen that coming… - “Oh wow, she’s got a set of lungs on her, huh?” she laughed. - “Tell me about it.” the older brother groaned slightly. “ ‘Kay! Soooo I’m gonna let yooooou twooooo get back to your conversation! Maybe we can do a chat later on; I don’t want to interrupt you two lovebirds~” the ten year old responded, laughing as she skipped away. Once she was gone, J.C. sat back down on his bed, rubbing his temple a bit. “Eheh…sorry about that. Siblings…” - “Never a dull moment, huh?” she chuckled. - “Never.” he laughed. - “Sooo… What were we talking about? … Oh, right; zombies. That reminds me; I punched a zombie once… Well, someone in a zombie costume… Did I tell you about that?” - “Pffffff! I don’t think you have…how’d that come about, anyway?” - “There was this haunted house a few years back. It was pretty intense, so children were required to have an adult with them. Well, these kids really wanted to go and every other adult they asked were either busy or flat out said no… So I wound up being that adult… Well, the haunted house did its job. I was on edge the whole time and, when one of the actors put his hand on my shoulder, I whirled around and punched out of reflex. I felt so bad! I kept apologizing and I even gave him a twenty dollar bill! I know they aren’t paid to be hit, but I had to do something!” - J.C. wheezed before collapsing into a fit of giggles. “Oooooh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho my lord!  That’s aw-haw-haw-haw-haw-haw-ful! Hilarious, as well, but still! But hey, at least you apologized.” - “The kids thought it was funny too,” she chuckled a bit. “Shame I got us kicked out.” - “Aw, that bites,”  the giggles started dying down a bit. “If it’s any consolation, I can be the designated adult if you and I are ever dragged to a place like that. I may let out a high pitch screech if I’m spooked, but I don’t think I’ll karate chop someone. At least, I haven’t yet…” - Audrey chuckled. “I’d appreciate that. I’m afraid my fight or flight response is just a fight response. Not a good scaring subject.” - J.C. snickered, “On the plus side, you at least know that. Better than running into a situation blindly and all confident, then end up running away.” - “As opposed to walking in scared and beating someone up? Not sure if I agree with that… If the person is innocent, anyway… I do wonder how I’d do, should I face a genuine threat… A non human threat, I mean. I know I can take humans.” - “Oh yeah, no; punching innocent people’s never a good idea. I’d imagine if you can pack that much of an unintentional punch on someone, intentionally punching can provide quite a…pack.” He chuckled sheepishly, “I was going somewhere with that. Sounded better in my head.” - Audrey snickered. “I think I get what you’re trying to say. I do imagine I’d do more damage from an intentional hit than I would a startled reflex.” - “D-D-D-D-D-Double comboooooo!” J.C. joked, mimicking a videogame announcer, “Nice hit!” - She laughed at that, having supervised enough sleepovers to recognize a video game reference when she heard one. “Which fighting game is that?” - “Aha, I’m not entirely sure if it is one? I was trying to go something ‘Mortal Kombat’ or ‘Punch-Out!!’-esque, but other than that…” - “Mortal Kombat’s the one with the ‘Finish him!’ line and the catchy theme song, right?” - “Indeed it is. I know there are a few newer versions out, but I prefer the older, less…aaah, gory ones.” - “You mean to tell me they get even gorier?! I saw some as a teenager and they were pretty dang gory.” - “I meeean….maybe more so in the way of being more realistic with the blood and guts and everything, but if you would qualify that as ‘gorier’, then yes.” - “Ahhh, I get it. I suppose that is gorier. It doesn’t matter how much red you add to a stick figure, I’m not really going to be affected by it.” - “To each their own. I suppose.” - “Hm? What do you mean? I thought we were agreeing,” she asked, confused. - “O-oh! I’m pretty sure we still are? I-I meant that in a…different context than what the original meaning of the phrase is? You’d said something about adding as much red as you can to a stick figure and it won’t affect you. I, ah, imagine it can be different for some? That…something like that would? “ J.C. chuckled sheepishly. “I was going somewhere with that, guess my train of thought got derailed…” - “…I think I was in the train when it got derailed because I have no idea where we are,” she laughed. - J.C. snickered before breaking into a short, impromptu song, “We’re goin’ off the rails with our trains of thooooooought…~!” - Audrey’s laughter increased with the song. “Oh my gosh! You are so silly!” - Her laughter had him laughing as well…aaaaand perhaps blushing just a bit. Good to see his dorkiness came in handy outside of cheering up a grumpy sibling or a bummed out friend. “I try, my dear, I try. Just how I am, I guess!” - She giggled softly at being called ‘dear,’ finding it both silly and charming. “Well, you succeed!” she chuckled. “What were we talking about? Fighting games? Something about fighting?” - “Something like that, yeah…come to think of it, how did we even get on that topic, anyway? What were we even talking about before that?” - “I have no idea. I don’t even really play video games. See, this is why I write things down; can’t remember a thing otherwise… Well, aside from the fact that Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. That’s about all that stuck with me from school.” - “I wouldn’t call myself a gamer, really. Kind of in the ‘I know just enough to keep myself from getting my butt completely kicked whenever one of the munchkins wants me to do a Pokemon battle with them’ camp. Maybe the occasional party game like those dancing ones, but otherwise…” J.C. chuckled, “What about ‘Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally’ for maths, or ‘Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492?’. Granted, that’s probably going back a looooong time, but hey.” - “I can play a bit of those Mario Party games, but that’s about it. I mostly button mash everything else. It’s amazing how often I win doing that…” she trailed off. “I know those too! It’s just the cotton gin thing stuck with me, for some reason. When will I ever need that information? Elementary school Jeopardy?” - “Haha, Iiiii’d imagine so. I remember when I was still in primary school, we had this ‘Bring-Your-Parent-To-School Day’ thing, and we did have something like that at one point. Kids vs. the parents. Sort of like…what’s the name of that one show? ‘Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?’. Pretty sure that show wasn’t around when I was that young, so your description’s probably more accurate.” - “I suppose you have a point there. I guess I can use it in a competition with my future kids,” she laughed. “Assuming I one day marry and have them or adopt them or what have you.” - “Same, honestly. I like to think I’ve gotten enough practice with ‘Thing 1′ and ‘Thing 2′, and having a kid of my own would be nice. It’s….different from having siblings, you actually have something that you had a hand in creating, and it’s like a little you.” He paused. “I mean…they’re obviously they’re own person, but half of their DNA is yours.” Cue a small sigh, “I dunno, having a tiny person thinking you’re the coolest thing ever for a time is a nice feeling. Kind of want to experience it on a different level than ‘older sibling-younger sibling’.” Cue another pause, then a somewhat sheepish chuckle, “That…aaaah, I didn’t mean to dump all that on you at once. Had an idea and ran with it. I hope that made at least some sense.” - Audrey giggled, pleased with his ramble. She liked the way this man thought. “Oh, no worries. I like listening to people talk about things that make them happy, especially when it’s about kids. And I know what you mean. I can’t help but wonder what a biological child of mine might look like. What traits of mine might they inherit? That sort of thing.” - “Basically a game of ‘roll the genetic dice and see what happens’, I guess. Sometimes it can be a little scary if you’ve got some potentially harmful stuff in your history, but otherwise it’s kind of cool.” A thought occurred to J.C., evidenced by the sudden change in expression on his face. “…I wonder if anyone’s ever had a child that’s exactly half of one parent and half of the other. Like one side of their head has curly hair and the other side is straight? I guess that could happen with multiples, but I don’t know about a singular child…” - “I don’t think that’s possible,” she scratched her head as she thought. “I know eyes can be two different colors, but I don’t think you can have two types of hair on the same head… Not naturally, anyway. I mean, my hair is kind of in-between Mom’s waves and Dad’s curls… Probably closer to Dad in that respect. Can’t style it very well… It’s not both though.” - “Mm.” He nodded as he listened to Audrey’s thought process. “Guess it all depends on what exactly the DNA wants to do when, for lack of a better term, building someone from scratch happens. ‘You get your mom’s eyes, your dad’s hair, the dimples of some relative a few generations back…’. Genetics are weird.” - “Tell me about it. Dad has no freckles, Mom has a few, I have a ton. Apparently, there’s some hidden super freckle gene somewhere in my family.” - J.C. chuckled, “Guess so. I don’t know a whole lot about what ran in mine, other than brown hair from my mother and…” he paused, “I know there was something on my father’s side, though what it is is escaping me at the moment…” - Audrey figured he must be having difficulty remembering as it’s been so long since his biological family was alive. Deciding it better to change the subject before he delves too deep into such a topic, Audrey thought up a distraction. “Do you remember that thing in school where you draw a square consisting of four smaller squares to figure out possible gene combinations or whatever? I forget what it’s called…” - J.C. thought for a minute; that sounded really familiar… “The thing where you put, like…uppercase ‘B’ for brown eyes and lowercase ‘b’ for blue eyes? I believe it’s a Punnett Square?” - “Yeah! That’s it! You’d think figuring out the odds of certain traits would be more complicated than drawing a few squares, but, there it is.” - He chuckled, “I know, right? Apparently, you can use them in…I believe it’s algebra, as well, but it’s a little more complicated there. ‘Square this number, multiply these two’…” - “Oh, gosh; not algebra!” she yelped in faux terror before chuckling. The two went on talking for a good while after that, but ultimately had to end the call. Finding such a thing quite enjoyable, Audrey made sure to call J.C. again… and again… and again. They’d even gotten to the point where they did video calls. It practically became a routine, but there were still interesting moments to be had. “Check it out! I got a wireless headphone microphone thingy!” Audrey chirped excitedly, waving her hand around her head to show there were no wires. “Now I can still talk to you, even if I step away from the computer a little!” - J.C. let out a playful, dramatic gasp at the reveal. “Ah, fantastique! You’re not confined to having to be close to the computer like I am.” he joked, pulling at his headphone cord a bit, “I have one of those microphones that are built into the computer, but I’m definitely planning on upgrading to a more ‘external’ one soon…seven to ten business days to be exact, should the delivery go without a hitch. Merci, online shopping~” - “Tell me about it! Present shopping has never been so convenient~ Also,” Audrey clapped, summoning Lola to jump onto the couch with her. “No more nearly knocking down the computer whenever Lola wants attention!” - J.C. chuckled at the little pup, “Ah, bonjour, Lola!” “Did you say Lola!?” came a voice from outside his door. “Can I see ‘er? Please, please, please, pleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaase?” The older brother playfully rolled his eyes, “Oh lord, sounds like I said the magic word. You don’t mind Kat popping in for a bit, do you?” - Audrey chuckled and shook her head. “Not at all~ Let me just turn the speakers on so Lola can hear her. You like the attention, don’t you, girl~?” she cooed as she pet her head. - J.C. gave the two a small smile before turning towards his door. “Entrez!” With a small creak, in came Kat, bounding towards her brother’s bed. Thankfully, he didn’t have to worry about as much damage being done once she flopped onto it, as Kat was a good deal smaller than Syd. No real worries about his laptop flying off of the bed and onto the floor or the screen getting kicked in. Once she was on the bed, Kat crawled towards the webcam and made herself comfortable, smiling widely and cooing at the dog. “Hiiiiya, Lola! Hiya, Audrey!” - “Hiya, Kat!” Audrey returned the greeting as Lola stood up and wagged her tail at the excited voice. “Who’s that?” she asked playfully, getting a bark from her dog. “Yes! It’s Kat! Such a good girl~” she gave Lola a generous petting - The eight year old giggled at the dog’s response. “Kinda bites that you guys are so far away, an’ that I can’t reach through the screen an’ give her some pets…but seeing you two’s okay enough! How’ve you been?” - “I’m giving her plenty of pets for you,” she giggled, petting the dog. “Work’s been a little overwhelming here and there, but Lola and your brother have been doing a good job of helping me wind down. What about you? School treating you okay?” - “Uh-huh!”, the little girl nodded,  “Right now we’re doing our sevens times tables in maths and we’re reading Sideways Stories from Wayside School. We’re supposed to be starting this really cool science experiment next week, but I dunno what exactly it is, ‘cos our teacher’s keeping it a secret.” “Maybe you’re doing the ‘butterfly life cycle observation’ thing.” J.C. commented, “I remember doing that a few times in primary school.” - “Oooo, that sounds fun~ Glad that you’re enjoying yourself. School takes up a lot of time, so, best enjoy it, if you can. Maybe you can give Syd some pointers on that.” Syd struck her as someone who didn’t enjoy school much. - “I meeeean, I dunno what exactly it is they do in Year 6, but I can try? She likes when they do more ‘science-y’ stuff and reading more action-packed stories, than having to learn history or maths….buuuut I can try!”   J.C. smirked at his sister’s confidence. “Well, you know the saying: ‘Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it’.” - “Well… there’s a lot of action in history?” she shrugged. “Though that’s rarely a good thing in real life… And you need to know math in order to properly do science. Lots of equations and all that.” - “Yeeeeah, true. But I guess you gotta explain stuff in a way that’ll make it sound interesting with ‘er. Not totally sure how you could make maths interesting.” The older brother snickered, “Maybe if the question’s something like…’If there are 96 pieces of chewing gum in a candy machine and there are 8 friends, how many pieces does each friend get?’. Something that she can kind of relate to. Or at the very least, reword the question, but keep the same numbers.” - “I’d imagine she’d say something along the lines of, ‘Depends on who has to figure it out. They’ll get more than the rest.’ Gotta be careful with how you word these things,” she wagged a finger. - J.C. laughed, “She would. Or ‘Why would they be sharing, that’s 96 whole pieces of gum right there!’.” “I do know she likes when her class gets to do creative assignments, too.” Kat piped up, “Like when they have a spelling list, but get to write a story that uses the words in it. Or when they make a scene from something or a model in a shoe box.” “…A diorama?” “Yeah, that! She tends to make a big mess when she’s making it, but the end product’s pretty good…and she has fun doin’ it too.” - “That’s good! See, you’ve gotta focus on the good with these things. Focus on the bad and you’ll make yourself miserable. I mean, there are difficult aspects to my job, but I try to focus on the fact I’m helping people get healthy and/or stay healthy. Just remind her something good will come soon enough, you know?” - Kat gave Audrey a salute, “Can do!” “It takes a bit of patience, too.” J.C. added, “I know she wants to do some of the experiments that I did in secondary school and uni, but…well, you need to learn to crawl before you can walk, and know how to walk before you can run.” “It’s hard, though, when you’re little.” Kat piped up. “Trust me, I know. And I’m pretty sure Audrey knows too; we were both your age once.” - “Exactly,” Audrey nodded. “I used to get frustrated with what I wasn’t allowed to do, but, looking back, I wasn’t ready. I couldn’t go baking a cake without learning to crack an egg first.” - “…Ssssoooo she can’t exactly go sledding down the stairs without knowing how to steer the sled first?” J.C. snickered, “I mean, in theory, yeah, but you shouldn’t be doing that anyway because you could get seriously hurt. And that’s regardless of how many pillows you’ve tied to yourself, how many you’ve put at the bottom of the stairs, and with wearing knee and elbow pads and a helmet.” - “Even if you somehow managed not to get hurt, I can’t imagine it would be much fun. I mean, it’d probably be a really bumpy ride. I’d much rather sled in the snow.” - “But then we’d have to go waaaaaaay up north if we wanted snow. It almost never comes this far south.” Kat pouted. “If you want some deep snow, yes, but I think if we a tad bit as opposed to- as you put it- ‘waaaaaaaay’, it’d be fine. Maybe even go a bit west, as well.” J.C. looked to Audrey, “How much snow would you say you get over by you?” - “How much snow?” Audrey proceeded to cackle for a good long time before holding up a finger, asking for a moment to compose herself. “Sorry,” she cleared her throat. “We just get so much snow! I mean it. A lot. A little snow for us would be two feet deep. There’s a reason we have snowplows over here.” - Kat gasped excitedly. “We gotta go to Michigan for sledding!!” J.C. sputtered, laughing a little, “So you’d be willing to take a half-a-day flight just to go sledding? Not one that’d be maybe an hour, hour and a half at most?” “Yeah! ‘Sides, you’d be able to go an’ see Audrey! Us too, obviously, but still!” - “Oh, come now, it wouldn’t just be sledding… There’s making snowmen too,” she giggled. “Not to mention the feeling of coming inside from the cold and warming up with some hot chocolate.” - “And snow angels and snowball fights!” the little girl bounced excitedly. - Audrey chuckled. “Now, now, don’t get too excited. We don’t even know if this winter visit will happen.” - “Can it, thooooough?” Kat asked, giving the two the “puppy dog pout/puppy dog eyes” combo. As much as the older brother would love that, doing so was dependent on a lot of factors.  “Iiiiiit’s a bit too early to say yes or no, sooooo…I guess we can chalk it up as a ‘we’ll see’?” - “It’s not up to me, kiddo,” she gave the child a shrug. “I’d certainly welcome you, but I can’t exactly fly you over here.” - “Awww…” “Hey, it’s not a ‘no’.” J.C. pointed out, trying to make the situation a bit more positive. - “There’s still plenty of time to figure it out,” Audrey offered. “I mean, school only started a few weeks ago over here. It’s still pretty warm out.” - “Yeah. You’re telling me you want to skip out on your birthday and Halloween and just go straight to winter?” J.C joked. Kat let out a small gasp and shook her head ‘no’. “Theeeeeeeeen you have to wait, kiddo.” - Audrey chuckled. "I’m looking forward to pumpkin spice season, myself.” - “I love fall.” J.C. sighed, thoroughly content. “Part of it being the pumpkin spice, part of it the cooler weather…” “Part of it being that you can toss me into leaf piles.” Kat added, grinning. The brother snorted, “That’s something that you love, goofball…buuuuut I do get a good laugh out of it. Next time we get a deep enough pile, you’re getting launched.” Kat responded with her arms joyously shooting upwards, and a happy “Yay!” - Audrey let out a small giggled, one of joy more than humor. She really liked seeing this man get along so well with children. This man was destined to be a father, she thought to herself as she smiled dreamily. - “Maybe if you and Syd team up, you can launch me.” he joked. Kat scoffed before laughing, “Yeeeeah, maybe not? Now, Audrey probably could! Either with us or by herself!” - The laughter snapped her out of her dreamy state and she laughed too. “I can’t guarantee a soft landing if I do.” - “He’s had worse!” Kat snickered, imagine Audrey doing just as she stated. J.C. smiled and rolled his eyes at the blonde and ruffled her hair a bit, “Alright, alriiiight…hey, did you finish your homework yet?” Kat shook her head no. “I was takin’ a break. Guess I should get back to it?” J.C. nodded, “Then when you’re done, we’ll go over it….maybe practice some of your multiplication flash cards?” “ ‘Kay….but you promised we would have a tea party after that and dinner, remember?” “Of course I do. You, me, and Mr. Bunnysworth are going over the details of the deed to your dollhouse.” The way he said it sounded so matter-of-fact. Kat giggled at her goofball brother before turning to Audrey and Lola, “Sounds like I gotta get goin’. I’ll talk you guys later!” - Audrey giggled again. These two were adorable! “Talk to you later,” she smiled and waved goodbye. Once Kat was gone, Audrey turned the sound back to her headphones. “Tea party, huh? Since you’re in England, do you have actual tea at those?” - J.C. smiled and blew a bit of air out of his nose, “Occasionally, yeah. Kind of a toss up between that or some juice. In the winter, she’ll use hot cocoa.” - Audrey chuckled. “That’s basically what we do over here. That or we just sip on air. It’s usually air, unless we’re using real cups. Those play tea cups are so tiny.” - “I know, right? You have to take teeeeeeny tiny sips if you want it to last the whole party. Like a little mouse or something.” - “Imagine if you were trying to actually hydrate with one of those,” she snickered. - “Oh jeez. If you drink out of them like a normal human being, it’s almost like doing shots.” He paused for a second. “…Oooor at least, how I imagine one would do them. Never done them myself. The occasional glass of wine on special occasions or on vacation, but otherwise…” - Audrey snorted. “I just imagined someone doing shots of tea, but instead of getting drunk, they just get more and more English!” - ���Ha! I could start out sounding like this.…” He mimicked downing a few cups of tea before speaking again in a “fancier” accent: “…to something like this. And as the day goes on, it just….waters itself down.” - Audrey couldn’t help but cackle at the demonstration. Once she calmed down, she glanced at the clock and spoke again. “Oh goodness; is that the time? I need to let Lola out before she messes on the floor. Be right back!” She darted off camera to let Lola outside. While outside, her headphones were out of range of her computer, so neither of them could hear each other. With the silence, Audrey managed to forget she was wearing the headphones at all. Making her way back inside (and back in range of her computer), she sang softly to herself as she went about getting Lola a treat. - “Can’t be having that now! You two go do your thing, I’ll be over here.” As the two went off, J.C. took the time to readjust a few things with his computer, answer an e-mail, comment on a friend’s photo. His ears perked up a bit when he picked up the sound of Audrey’s voice again. Was she…? She was. He’d heard her sing once already (he had joined in, after all~), but regardless of that, she sounded lovely. Cue a bit of pink coloring his cheeks. - As she made her way back to the computer, she stopped singing and went about taking the headphones from around her neck and putting them back over her ears. “Sorry about that,” she sat back down with a smile, oblivious to the fact he’d heard her. - “Huh? Oh! Oh, it’s no big deal.” He chuckled sheepishly, “When you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go.” Cue the blush getting a bit more noticeable. Seemed to be that she was unaware that he could hear her… - Audrey raised her brow at this and cocked her head slightly to the side. “You feeling alright?” - Ah, crud, he’d been caught. “You, ah….” he gestured to where her headset had been. “You had forgotten to take your headset off, and I caught a bit of you singing when you came back in. N-not that that’s a bad thing! I thought i-i-i-i-it sounded lovely…” - “Oh? Oh!” she brought her fingertips to her mouth for a moment, then brought them back down with an embarrassed smile. “Ah-ha… Oops… Thank you?” - “Eheh…heh…aaaah, no problem…” Well, this was awkward. - “What were we talking about?” she twirled some hair around her fingers as she tried to distract from what had just happened. - “Tea parties and fancy accents, I believe?” J.C. answered, going back to said “fancy” accent as a joke. - Audrey tittered and the two went back to talking. As time went by, the leaves turned color, the temperature got colder, and their online chats became more frequent. “Since Halloween is right around the corner, I have an idea I want to toss out there, if you’re interested.” - J.C., currently in a rather “spooky” sweater, looked up from his hot cocoa, curious. “Shoot. What’cha got rattlin’ around in that brain of yours?” - “You know how I don’t watch horror movies because I don’t want to hurt someone on accident or watch it alone? Well, I can’t really hurt anyone if they aren’t physically in the room with me,” she grinned a bit slyly. “Could be something a bit different, you know?” - “Oooo-hoo-hoo, I like~ So! How should we start out with this? Something super tame like….well, I mean Hotel Transylvania isn’t a horror movie, but it has monsters in it…or do we go for the big guns like The Grudge?” - “I was thinking an actual horror movie. My cousin Chloe got me a nice mountain of horror movie files to choose from. She may have been a bit over zealous though,” she chuckled. “I doubt I’ll ever watch them all. Anyway, I can send the files your way and we can watch it on that Let’s Gaze website we tested out before.” - J.C. laughed as well, “Fine by me! Anything in said mountain that’s catching your eye? I’m not super picky with what we watch.” - “Chloe did mention that some of them can have a bit of humor or ridiculousness to them. What were some of them? Child’s Play… Scream… The Cabin in the Woods… Any of those sound good?” - Taking a sip of his drink as Audrey listed off a few titles, he perked up at the last one. “Oooo, Cabin in the Woods, let’s go with that.” - “I take it you like that one?” she smiled as she went about sending him a link to download the file. - “It’s actually one I haven’t seen,” he clarified, “Child’s Play and Scream, I have seen, albeit a few years ago. Figured I’d start with something ‘new’ before going towards more familiar, y’know?” - “Sounds good. When do you think you’ll have time to sit and watch a whole movie with me?” - “Mmmmm, probably sometime a little later this week? Have a few ‘autumnal’ things that are going on with the family, so I might not be able to find some free time before then. I can keep you posted, though!” - “Is it apple picking?” Audrey asked enthusiastically. “Or throwing your sisters into leaf piles? Pumpkin picking?” - “All 3~” he smiled, “Maybe some preliminary costume searching as well.” - “Ooooooo~ Sounds like you’ve got some busy days ahead of you! My mom, dad, aunts, uncles, and cousins are all going apple picking with me next week! We’re all gonna get some fresh air, pick some apples, make some apple treats… that sort of thing~” - “Ooo, sounds fun! Maybe I can suggest that to Mum and Dad; apple-flavoured stuff- rather, stuff made from apples- sounds really good right now. Plus, it can give Syd a chance to put some of her energy towards climbing some trees.” - “I can send you some recipes, if you need any,” she offered. - “Ooo, that’d be lovely, actually. Spice things up a bit in terms of autumnal snacks, you know?” - Audrey’s eyes seemed to sparkle at the concept of sharing recipes. “Oh! Oh! I have lots of recipes! What do you think you might want; pies, crisps, cobblers, muffins, cakes, cider, applesauce, fritters, breads?!” - Dang, she really DID have a lot of recipes! And they all sounded really nummy~ “Man, you weren’t kidding!” he laughed, “Hm, where do I even start? Maybe we can start with fritters and muffins and go from there.” - “Good choice~ I’ll be sure to send those your way.” She reached for her notebook off camera and jotted down a reminder. “Maybe I could add a nice apple drink recipe in there. Gotta wash those treats down with something~” - “Oo, even better. Kind of like a little bonus treat.“ - Audrey giggled at that. “A treat for your treats~” - J.C. let out a giggle as well…with an unintentional snort. Upon realizing that he had done so, his face went a bit pink. He was still smiling, though, so that was a good sign. - She didn’t comment on the snort. She didn’t want to embarrass him, especially when she did the same thing. “It’s a shame you live so far away. It’d be fun to bake together, I bet!” - He stopped for a second, a thought occurring to him. If they could talk to each other while being in two different parts of the world, what was to stop them from baking? “Unless…we do the baking, but like how we’re doing now. Find some sort of set up to where we can place our computers or phones or whatever out of the ingredient ‘splash zone’, and check on each other’s progress along the way. Baking together, but not physically together, if that makes any sense.” - “We should totally do that,” she exclaimed. “I wonder what we should make. I’d suggest an apple dish, but I don’t go apple picking until next week. Heh. Maybe we should try something simple, just to test it out?” She put a finger to her mouth in thought. “Perhaps a no-bake pumpkin pie? Still autumn themed. Do you guys have boxes of instant pudding over in England? Maybe we should make something with more common ingredients. Hmm… Oh! Pumpkin bread!” - “Oh definitely; do a test run, see how that goes, and then go from there!” J.C. agreed. “Do we have instant pu…I actually might have to check the next time I go out for groceries. Pumpkin bread might be a better option to start with, at least. I know for a fact that we have the stuff to make it here.” - “I’ll have to Google this sort of thing later,” she mused aloud. “I know you guys don’t have graham crackers over there. I’m guessing you’d use shortbread crust for pies in place of graham cracker ones…” - “Usually, yeah, or we use digestive biscuits in place of them. They may have them in the ‘’American’‘ section of a grocery store, but it depends on the store.” - Audrey nodded. “It really is wild how similar, yet different, our foods can be. I’ll try to look through my recipes for ones that are more basic. Here in the states, we tend to use shortcuts that you may not have; like instant pudding.” - “Right? And it can mean something completely different too. The kind that you’re talking about is usually called ‘custard’. If you look up ‘Yorkshire pudding’, that’s usually what we mean. Haggis is technically considered one. …English is weird.” - “Haggis?!” she asked with a weird face. “You’re right. English is weird.” She scrunched her nose. “I’m not going to lie here; if I asked for chocolate pudding and got haggis, I would be very disappointed.” - J.C. laughed, “Same, honestly. I mean, the food itself actually isn’t all that bad; it’s just the way it’s made that makes it sound gross…and…maybe some of what’s in it. To each their own, I suppose.” He shrugged, “I’ve only had it a few times that I can remember; usually when we’ve gone to visit one of my aunts up in Scotland.” - “I’ve never had it myself, but I know it doesn’t taste like chocolate pudding. Hence why I would be disappointed. I’m generally down to try anything at least once.” She thought a moment. “Scotland, huh? Is it as pretty as the pictures?” - “Always a plus.” he smiled. “I’d say so, yeah. One of my favourite places that we sometimes stop over in is Edinburgh, it’s kind of got a fairy tale-esque feel to it. Where my aunt lives is a bit further south, over in Dumfries; more of a riverside kind of town. If you go north enough in the winter, you’re able to see the northern lights, apparently. Haven’t had a chance to myself, unfortunately. I mean, we’ve been pretty far north there that time of year, but never at a point where we can catch ‘em.” - “Oh, that sounds lovely,” she smiled. “Maybe you could ask your relatives to send you pictures, since you haven’t been able to catch them yourself. Oh! Another name for the northern lights is the aurora borealis, right? Sounds all scientific that way,” she chuckled. - He laughed, “Indeed it does. …Y’know, that actually sounds like a good idea. Knowing my luck, if you and I got together just for that, there’d be a wicked snowstorm that moves in on the night we’d be seeing them.” Of course, the alternative of being all snuggled up indoors by a fireplace with some hot cocoa with her wasn’t bad. - She cocked her head slightly, a bit curious, but kept her smile all the same. How exactly did he feel about her if one of his first thoughts about the northern lights would be seeing them with her? “Well, I’m sure we’d find other things to do. Maybe hot cocoa and a crackling fire? I love those~” Seemed she had a similar mindset. - “Maybe in some comfy pyjamas, under one of those weighted blankets.” he added, goofy grin starting to sprawl across his face“…Ooooor a lightweight but super fluffy one. Either or.” - “Oooo~ Both are good! Might depend on how warm the fire makes everything.” She chuckled. “Here we go; talking about a fictional snowstorm. Our conversations sure are something, aren’t they? I was supposed to remember something…” Audrey opened her notebook. “Oh, yeah! I’m supposed to get you some recipes and find one we can both cook together!” Looking off screen, she spotted Lola. “Looks like Lola wants O-U-T and I need to look for some recipes, so I’ll talk to you later, okay?” - “Right, right! That should be fun; here’s hoping that when we do do that, the internet says running smoothly the entire time. Nothing worse that trying to get an exact amount of something from someone, and the connection starts to glitch.” At the mention of Lola, J.C. blew a bit of air out of his nose, smiling. “Haha, silly pup. You go on ahead; I’ll catch up with you later!” -End-

#Pen Pals #roleplay #compiled roleplay #redradandrod

[celebritylive]

Taylor Swift‘s highly anticipated Netflix documentary Miss Americana is now available for streaming — and the pop star’s fans will find the film delivers.

The 30-year-old singer unveiled the movie at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 23 to praise from fans and critics alike.

From tackling her recent public political stance to shying away from showing off too much of her relationship with boyfriend Joe Alwyn, Swift provides her fans with a glimpse inside of her complicated life.

RELATED: Nikki Glaser Apologizes to Taylor Swift for Body Shaming Comments Included in Miss Americana Documentary

Here’s everything we’ve learned from Miss Americana.

1. Swift struggled with an eating disorder early in her career.

The pop singer opened up about feeling “triggered” by paparazzi photos of herself in an intimate moment in the film.

“I’ve learned over the years it’s not good for me to see pictures of myself every day because I have a tendency… I tend to get triggered by something whether it’s a picture where I feel like it looked like my tummy is too big or where someone said I looked pregnant,” Swift revealed.

She added, “That’ll just trigger me to starve a little bit, just stop eating.”

Now, Swift says, she’s managed to find a place where she feels happy with her body and doesn’t put too much thought on images of her that circulate around the Internet.

“I don’t care as much if someone points out that I’ve gained weight,” she said. “There’s always some standard of beauty that you’re not meeting. It’s all just f—ing impossible.”

RELATED: Taylor Swift Opens Up About an Eating Disorder She Previously Battled, Says Paparazzi Photos Were a ‘Trigger’

2. Fans will see how the pop star creates her music and lyrics.

Swift gave director Lana Wilson unprecedented access to her music sessions while at the recording studio. The singer admitted she’d never had anyone with her in the studio that she wasn’t collaborating with during a Q&A after the premiere at Sundance.

“I didn’t want to know if it would stop me from feeling like I could come up with ideas and feeling like I could throw things out,” Swift said. “And there’s so much ridiculous-sounding ad-libbing that you do when you’re writing songs. So much of it sounds ridiculous until it sounds all right.”

She continued, “And a lot of that time, I would just always refuse to have any cameras in the studio whenever I write because I just feel like, what if I can’t do it. A then you’ve wasted a day and then I’ve wasted another creator’s time, I’ve wasted my producers time, I’ve wasted a co-writers time and I can’t write if somebody’s there.”

3. How she decided to go public with her political views.

In the documentary, Swift travels to her home state of Tennessee before the local elections to encourage people to register to vote and to also raise awareness as to how then-Senatorial candidate, Republican Marsha Blackburn, was anti-gay marriage, anti-gay rights and for rolling back protections for women when it came to domestic violence and stalking.

In a powerful scene, Swift and her mother, Andrea, attend a board meeting with members of her organization, including her father, Scott, to convince them to allow her to go public with her stance against Blackburn.

With her mother’s backing, Swift tearfully tells the all-male group, “I’m saying right now that I’m doing something that I know is right and I need to be on the right side of history.”

When Blackburn won the senatorial race, however, Swift was shocked and vowed to help increase voter turnout for the 2020 elections — as well as the release of a new political anthem, “Only the Young.”

RELATED: Taylor Swift Releases New Political Anthem ‘Only the Young’ — Listen Now

4. On keeping her relationship with Joe Alwyn private.

While Alwyn was hardly seen in the film — except for a hug he gives Swift after one of her concert performances — the singer says he helped her in the aftermath of the scandal involving Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West.

“I had to deconstruct an entire belief system for my own personal sanity. I was also falling in love with someone who had a really wonderfully normal, balanced, grounded life,” she said.

“We decided together that we wanted our relationship to be private,” Swift added.

There are hints of Alwyn in the documentary, though. A montage of clips shot by the actor is shown, including Swift laughing as she tells him “I love you” while singing “Call It What You Want,” enjoying private dates in nature and the singer blowing out candles on a birthday cake.

“It was happiness without anyone else’s input. It was just … we were happy,” Swift said.

5. Why winning the trial against a former radio host who groped her didn’t feel like a victory.

In 2017, Swift countersued against former radio host David Mueller for $1 after he claimed in his lawsuit against her that she had gotten him fired.

Despite having the judge dismiss Mueller’s lawsuit, Swift said it was more of an ordeal than a win.

“I was so angry. I was angry that I had to be there,” she said. “I was angry that this happens to women. I was angry that people are paid to antagonize victims.”

Swift continued, “You don’t feel a sense of any victory when you win because the process is so dehumanizing.”

Following the trial, Swift shared a touching moment with her mother backstage at one of her concerts. Hugging her daughter, Andrea sobbed in Swift’s arms after her court win and explained how proud she was that she’d defended herself.

Swift hugged her mother back and comforted her, saying, “It’s OK, now.”

6. She didn’t discover burritos until her late 20s — and has a genius way of adding extra “crunch.”

During a recording session for her Lover album, Swift revealed she’d never eaten a burrito “until like two years ago.”

Enjoying a burrito during a lunch break, she showed a recording producer how she added extra “crunch” by adding a tortilla chip inside the burrito and taking a bite.

7. Revealing she felt “trained” to be good from an early age.

In the first few minutes of Miss Americana, home videos of Swift from her childhood are shown across the screen as it chronicles her early beginnings as a singer-songwriting all the way until she found success.

Swift explained she was “trained to be happy” since her childhood, adding the lesson wasn’t always a good one.

“My entire moral code as a kid and now is a need to be thought of as ‘good,'” she said. “It was all I wrote about, it was all I wanted, it was a complete and total belief system that I subscribed to as a kid.”

She continued, “And obviously, I’m not a perfect person by any stretch but overall the main thing that I always tried to do was just be a good girl. I became the person who everyone wanted me to be.”

RELATED: Taylor Swift Reveals She’s Felt Like People ‘Lean in with … Hunger’ When She’s Felt ‘Humiliated’

8. Feeling she couldn’t “bounce back from” the Kimye scandal.

When West released his notorious 2016 song “Famous” with the lyrics, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex Why? I made that bitch famous,” Swift responded saying she had not been aware the rapper would call her a derogatory name.

In response, Kardashian West released an edited video of her husband on the phone with Swift, acknowledging the “sex” part of the song. West insisted that Swift approved the lyric, though a rep for Swift said, “Kanye did not call for approval, but to ask Taylor to release his single ‘Famous’ on her Twitter account. She declined and cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message. Taylor was never made aware of the actual lyric, ‘I made that bitch famous.’ “

Swift recalled the aftermath of the scandal in the documentary, saying, “When people decided I was wicked and evil and conniving and not a good person, that was the one I couldn’t really bounce back from because my whole life was centered around it.”

RELATED: Taylor Swift Reveals Her Mom Andrea Has a Brain Tumor: ‘We Don’t Know What Is Going to Happen’

9. On her mother’s cancer.

Swift was dealt with another blow when her mother, Andrea, was diagnosed with cancer.

“That has been really hard for me because she is my favorite person,” the pop star. “It woke me up from this life where I used to sweat all these things, but like, do you really care if the Internet doesn’t like you today if your mom’s sick from her chemo?”

In a sweet moment, Andrea explains after her diagnosis she did something she’s “always wanted to do”: adopt a huge dog which she calls her “cancer dog.”

Swift explained the pup was also Andrea’s “third child, like a human-sized dog.”

RELATED: Taylor Swift Says Kanye West Moment ‘Burrowed Into My Psyche’ but She Doesn’t ‘Think Too Hard’ About It Now

10. How the 2009 VMAs made her feel like she didn’t belong.

Reliving the experience of West taking the microphone from her during her 2009 VMA acceptance speech, Swift said the moment was a crucial part of her life.

“It was so echo-y in there. At the time, I didn’t know they were booing him doing that,” she said. “I thought they were booing me.”

“For someone who has built their whole belief system on getting people to clap for you, the whole crowd booing is a pretty formative experience.”

She added, “That was a sort of catalyst for a lot of psychological paths that I went on and not all of them were beneficial. It was all fueled by me not feeling like I belonged there. I’m only here because I work hard and I’m nice to people.”

Miss Americana is now streaming on Netflix.

from PEOPLE.com https://ift.tt/2GEwewC

#Celebrity

[outerspaceisbetterthannothing]

✨ Cal or Ashton you can write whatever you want! You’re the one kind enough to do this.

Whoops wrong emoji 📜        

Thank you for your ask! Hope you like that little domestic scene!  😊

  You opened the fridge and looked at the half-empty shelves. A tired sigh broke out of you. You closed the fridge and turned over to look at the couch where Calum was spread in front of the muted TV.

He picked you up on his way from the studio, saying he just wanted to spend the evening with you and Duke. He didn’t stay to dinner with boys, thinking that the two of you could cook something. Which, of course, meant that you’d be the one cooking, as he was always too tired after the studio. They’ve been working for up to 12 hours every day last couple of weeks, trying to finish this album and tired Calum was the only Calum you’ve seen these days. If you had a chance to see him at all.

You really wanted to nag him about having no food at home. You two could have just stayed at your place and eat dinner, but no, he missed Duke. You opened one of the cupboards where Cal kept dog food, and, of course, there was enough to keep little pup satisfied for half a year. Calum was never really good with taking care of himself, you knew that. So you just exhaled, closed the cupboard, picked up his car keys from the counter and dropped, “Will be back.”

There was no point in making a fight. He was working a lot and never though it to be a big deal. It was your job after all, to take care of him. And sometimes it meant to go grocery shopping at nine in the evening instead of giving in to his unhealthy love to take aways.

“And what are you doing?” you heard him asking from a porch.

You looked back at him with a tired smile, thinking how much you loved this man even when you wanted to punch him for being so self-neglectful.

“I told you, I’ll be right back,” you said stopping at the car. “Go back and relax.”

He sighed mirroring your reaction to his empty fridge and came up to you.

“That’s my car keys,” he noted. “Where are you going?”

“To the supermarket. You’ve got no food, Cal,” you admitted.

He looked back at the front door, confusion on his face. “Really?”

You chuckled. “Yeah, really. Go back inside, i’ll be back in no time.”

“We can just order something,” he offered just like you expected.

“No, we can’t,” you shook your head, determined to be adamant about it. You’ve been giving in far too many times. “You need normal food. And me too, to be honest.”

You saw he restrained from rolling his eyes on you and stretched his hand to you. “Give me my keys and go to the passenger seat.”

“I can drive, you know?” you said, frowning a little.

“Sure you can,” he agreed, going back to the house to grab a hoody and lock the door. “Just not my car.”

You waited inside the car for couple moments. The ride to the shop you started in silence, he was too tired to maintain a normal conversation, you were slightly angry that he didn’t stay at home.

“So I can ride your dick, but not your car?” you finally asked, as he drove up the supermarket parking lot.

He laughed loudly, getting out of the car and taking your hand. He didn’t say anything, just kissed the back of your palm as you entered the shop. He insisted he’d take the cart and asked you to make it quick.

But at the end it was him stopping at every junk food aisle. You were pretty successful with picking up useless staff he was choosing and putting it back on the shelves, while loading the cart with veggies, meat and all the sorts of whole grains. But the packet of Oreos somehow became the stumbling stone for you and led to almost fighting in the middle of supermarket.

“I just can’t take it!” Calum was groaning behind you, “What’s your problem with Oreos?”

“Have you ever read what’s inside of them? There is so much sugar and additives!”

“They are cookies! They are supposed to have sugar inside!”

“Not so much sugar, Calum!” you were almost growling at him. “That is very unhealthy! And one of the reasons you feel so tired every damn night!”

“And how is that connected?”

“Are you kidding me? Have you seen what you’re eating? You’re a grown ass man, a touring fucking musician, who also spends hours torturing himself in the gym, yet your eating habits are of a schoolboy on a holiday! You need normal food with vitamins and minerals and all the good stuff so your body can actually cope with the life you’re leading! Didn’t know you wanted to get a heart attack by forty!” you exhaled, seeing the shock on his face and continued in much calmes voice. “Listen, I know you’re shit at taking care of yourself, always too busy with making music and taking care of everybody else. But you don’t need to make it so hard for me when I’m trying to take care of you.”

“I-” he didn’t find what to answer to that.

You looked at the Oreo pack still in his hand. “If you want cookies, I can make some. But normal cookies with whole grain flour and real cocoa. Not that. Only, we need to go back for the flour and cocoa then, because I don’t think you-”

He didn’t let you finish, his lips crashing yours with the most passionate kiss. You almost fell, mostly because of how unexpected it was, with Calum always being reserved with pda, especially kissing you right in a middle of a supermarket aisle. He finished the kiss, holding your waist and resting his forehead against yours.

“Let’s take that flour and go home,” he mumbled not opening his eyes.

“Can I drive the car?” you asked, smiling.

“No, but you can ride my dick later,” he chuckled, pecking your forehead.

“You’re an ass, Hood,” you said, rolling your eyes and pulling him back to where the flour was.

“I am,” he agreed easily. “But I am also the ass, that loves you.”

You just shook your head and kept smiling. He was an ass, that loved you. And you wouldn’t have it any other way.

Follower Celebration Week!

#calumhood #calum blurb #calum fluff #5sos blurb #followers celebration #casht0n-hoodwin #asks #my writing #200 followers celebration blurbs

[onestowatch]

Aly&AJ Talk ‘Sanctuary,’ Touring the World, and Their Highly Anticipated Return to Music [Q&A]

Beloved sister duo Aly and AJ Michalka carry an enormous amount of nostalgia. After breaking out as teen stars on Disney Channel, they launched a wildly successful pop-rock music career with their 2007 album Insomniatic. We know you listened to “Potential Breakup Song” to cope with your failed 7th grade relationship; we did too. After a decade of silence, they released the suitably titled Ten Years EP, delighting fans with their indestructible bond as sisters and updated synth pop sound. Their latest work, an EP titled Sanctuary, sparked their Sanctuary Tour, which took them all over the United States before heading to Europe for upcoming shows. Many of us grew up with Aly & AJ, making their return to music both evocative of our childhood and empowering as we see them evolve into something new. 

We met up with Aly and AJ in the green room of The Fonda, in actuality painted a Canary Yellow, where they played their first show ever over a decade ago. After getting some kisses from their pup Bix, we sat down to discuss how they find sanctuary on tour, the perks of releasing music independently and their fight against conversion therapy.

OTW: You two have been busy! Tell us about the tour so far. 

Aly: It’s been awesome. We haven’t had any blowout sister fights. 

AJ: Yeah for 40 cities in two months there was no drama. It was a really great run. So we’re about to finish the US tour and head to Europe.

OTW: Where are you most excited to go in Europe? 

AJ: We’re only playing five shows there, we’re just kind of dipping our feet in that territory because we’ve actually never played in Europe. I’m really excited for London. We’re playing Manchester, Dublin, Paris and Amsterdam and I gotta say I’m so stoked for Paris and Amsterdam. 

OTW: You two have been steadily on tour since May. Where do you find sanctuary when you’re on the road?

Aly: Honestly having our dog around has been a massive sanctuary for all of us. Even the band would admit that it’s been nice having a little buddy with us.

AJ: Oh he’s completely been the emotional heartbeat of this tour. 

Aly: We also decorate our bunks and having books in there and inspirational cards and notes.

AJ: I have some polaroids posted and some twinkly lights and even some succulents. Honestly I just get in there and it’s about sleep and rest and rejuvenating for the next show. Also good food. We’re big foodies so finding great restaurants is a big thing for us. 

OTW: Is there a moment in your set that you look forward to?

AJ: I think “Church” is a special song and it opens the set. It grounds us and sets the pace for the show. 

Aly: It’s hard to choose! We also love performing “Sanctuary.” It’s the second to last song that we perform and it says so much in terms of what it means to us and also to our fans. It’s really like a love letter to our fans for sticking it out all these years and being there for us. It’s also a safe place for them to come and be themselves, so it really works both ways which is really neat. 

OTW: Have you had any moments that stood out to you with fans during this tour? 

Aly: I think we’ve had a lot. One moment that we’ve had specifically was in San Diego the other night. We have The Trevor Project out with us on the road and we talk about them at every single show. We’ve been getting every audience to help by not only signing a petition to end conversion therapy, but to also donate to The Trevor Project. We’ve raised almost $40,000 which is really exciting, and last night someone came to our meet and greet and said “I appreciate what you guys are doing with Trevor Project because I was actually sent to conversion therapy. My family didn’t approve of me being out and I think what you’re doing is important.” It struck a chord with AJ and I because we can be some small part in ending conversion therapy and making sure our fans are aware that that’s still happening and shouldn’t be.

AJ: We’ve had incredible fan encounters. It sounds cheesy, but in a weird way I think that’s also been our sanctuary. It truly means so much that people have cared about our music this long and have continued to sustain the excitement seeing as we took such a big break. 

OTW: You guys are doing things independently. Why was that important to you?

AJ: I think it’s given us a really clear-cut form of freedom to be independently putting out this music. Being that Aly and I have been doing this for so long and we have a lot of opinions of what we like and don’t like, it’s been important that this first batch of music comes out independently. It’s given Aly and I the freedom to control where we want our career to head. We do work with AWAL, who distributes all of our stuff, and they’ve been amazing.

Aly: And it’s given us the ability to try things and see the response, whereas I don’t think that you get that in the record company umbrella. It’s kind of like, you succeed or you fail which is really unfortunate because a lot of times being an artist takes an arc to find your sound. Especially for these EPs, it’s been great to put them out independently. I think overall we wouldn’t be opposed to being signed, it’s just wanting to know that it’s the right deal and doesn’t take away our creative control. The goal is to continue releasing good music however that may be, and AJ and I have never been more proud of the music that we’ve made than these past two EPs. 

OTW: “Potential Breakup Song” and “Church” were released over a decade apart. How have your music tastes changed since the start of your career and how has that influenced your sound?

AJ: We’ve definitely grown a ton in this interim of taking such a large break. And I do feel like our taste has grown. We really leaned into 80s synth pop on the Ten Years EP and realized that a lot of the artists we were listening to were artists that we look up to from the 80s and early 90s. I wouldn’t say one band dictated the sound but I do think there’s a collection of singers from the 80s, male in particular, who drew out this sound in Aly and me. 

Aly: I feel like we also started to back off of the pop rock music that we were making when we were younger. I don’t think that genre should exist. I think it should either be pop or it should be rock. If it’s a rock song, let it be a rock song. It’s kind of like saying “smooth jazz,” like just say jazz ya know? As AJ and I go forward, I would like to see it lean slightly alt, but only time will tell what we’re inspired by and who we collaborate with. 

OTW: You two have been juggling busy schedules, with both music and acting endeavors. Do you set aside time to write together or are there a whole lot of voice memos being texted back and forth?

Aly: It’s all about trusting that our vision will come across even if it’s one of us. We don’t both have to be in the room to get a song finished or get it to a place where we’re both really happy with it. If AJ can’t come to the writing session or I’m unavailable, one of us will do the first day of the session and the other will come for the rest. 

AJ: The collaboration is constant. There have been so many times where I’m on the Sony lot in between takes listening to Aly talk about a new song or idea. There’re no set rules, we make music however we need to make it and if that means that one is there and one is not, then that is what it is. The collaborative effort is always there. 

OTW: Can we expect a sibling collab with the Jonas Brothers? 

AJ: They’re like number one right now!  I think we’d be open to it, but I’m not sure if they need us. I mean, if someone wants to campaign for it then sure. We were actually the first tour they were ever on.

Aly: Only OG fans know that, but yeah. It was Cheetah Girls for the first part and then later on they opened for us. 

AJ: I’ll never forget how we all met. It was an East Coast show, freezing out, and they were in giant parkas eating lunch in a cafeteria space at a shitty venue. They were super sweet, we were all babies. 

OTW: Who are you Ones to Watch?

Aly: Honestly I think Armors are mine. Their music is great and they’re all really great dudes.

AJ: I agree. My friend Hayley Orrantia is also one to watch. She just released an EP called The Way Out, about how she dealt with a horrible breakup. It’s been a beautiful way for her to release some of the pain. If you’ve been through a bad breakup you should definitely give it a listen.

#aly&aj #sanctuary #church #pop #synthpop #armors #interview

[dust-tone]

Dust-Tone Interview: Sweatson Klank (fka TAKE)

art by dusq.

Sweatson Klank (formerly known as Take) is nothing short of a musical pioneer. Having been at the center of the ever-growing beats community for almost two decades now, Tom Wilson has helped engineer the creative environment that is known and loved today. You can find his discography scattered amongst nearly a dozen revered labels (including Project: Mooncircle, All City, Friends of Friends, Poo-Bah, Alpha Pup and more). He has also produced an extensive collection of official DJ mixes for beloved radio stations and collectives (BBC, dublab, BTS, Low End Theory, Brainfeeder and many more). Most important to note however is his paramount Sketchbook night which laid the foundation for the famed Low End Theory and the fertile Los Angeles beat community as a whole in the early-mid 2000′s.

While Sweatson Klank is both busy with musical projects and running the label Tone and Manor, we were fortunate enough to sit down and get his perspective on the current musical climate.

Dust-Tone: When did you first start making music and what got you interested in it? Early influences?

Sweatson Klank: I started making music when i was 13. I had a deep connection to music really early on. I got a guitar and took lessons for a year. From there on I jammed with my friends and eventually started a couple little bands in High School. I also got a bass and started playing bass a little here and there. These bands were just little garage bands where we would play parties and wherever we got invited to play, but it was good fun and I learned a lot from those experiences. When i got to college i quickly started looking for other musicians to form a band with but had trouble finding people I related to musically. Around that time I went to a huge house party off campus and really got my first taste of what a dj was truly capable of. This guy, who later became a good friend was rocking a crown of about 300 people with just turntables, records and a mixer. Mind you, this was well before cdjs or Serato. At the time is was still really special to witness a dj playing records and doing so with a technical prowess I hadn't ever seen before. I had an epiphany, that night. I watched this dj just control a crowd and they were loving it. I had been having trouble forming a new band because I had a really strong opinion of what i wanted it to sound like and others didn't seem to see eye to eye with me. I was always telling people how to play and what to play with their instruments. As you can imagine, no one really liked that hahaha. Little did i know i was a producer in the making. I had all these ideas but I wasn't capable of playing them or truly expressing them yet. So back to this party, I was shocked to see this dj setting the vibe and expressing himself through playing records. I sat there all night bugging him to let me try it. Of course, he kept saying no, get lost. Finally as it got later and he got drunker, he told me " If you want to make a fool of yourself go ahead" and handed me the headphones. I had never touched a turntable or mixer in my life, but i had been watching him do it all night. So i got up there and started flipping through his records, which i knew absolutely nothing about, they were all house records. The only record i knew was a Micheal Jackson record - " Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" so i grabbed it and somehow magically blended a perfect mix on my first try and the crowd went nuts!! Most likely because it was MJ and that song gets any party hype hahah.. So i grabbed another record i didn't know and tried again and completely train wrecked and the dj grabbed the head phones back from me and went back on. That one moment of glory though was enough to set it all off for me. The next week i was at his house begging him to teach me and practice on his turntables. Its just snowballed from there. i was hooked, started buying records, eventually got turntables, a club night, started dj'ing all over. I learned to dj playing house music but i was much more into Hip Hop and Funk and Soul. After about a year, i realized i wanted to actually make tracks and not just be a dj. So i got a drum machine, and then a sampler, and a four track and there you have it, i was on my way to doing what i still love to do today.

DT: What are you currently listening to? Does this affect the evolution of your current sound? Do you find yourself holding onto influences and themes of the past over new music tendencies or is how you make music flowing more with the changing of the times?

SK: That question is pretty difficult because I listen to so much music all the time. I really don't listen to any one style of music constantly. I love to discover old music that I didn't know. Record collecting is still one of my favorite hobbies so Im constantly finding stuff from the past that is incredibly inspiring and influential in the music i make today. I think i am much more inspired by the sounds of the past than i am the sounds of most fo todays music. As an artist, your tastes are constantly evolving, and to me thats a beautiful thing. It shows your own growth, and life is all about growing. When I am not in the studio working, i generally prefer to listen to old records. Jazz, Brazilian, African, weird electronic library records, New Age music and i love 80's Soul/R&B boogie stuff!

DT: You've been a pretty important staple in the "beat scene" for over a decade now. Low End Theory (which has now sadly come to a finale), Dublab, AllCity, Warp, Ghostly, Poobah, Project Mooncircle, even BBC and so many more love you. You are the modern hero to the independent beat maker. Do you feel like growing up on the west coast had any impact on early exposure to this musical way of thought? Able to meet the right people, get pushed in the right directions, etc?

SK: Thanks man, so nice of you. I think just having a forward thinking attitude about music and life really helped me most. Low End was a great place that helped me get noticed and meet tons of incredible people who shared similar perspectives on music. Before Low End though, we had a night called Sketchbook which was essentially an early version of all of that. Our goal was just to push the weirder left field side of hip hop and downtempo electronic music before it was actually cool. It was an uphill battle at first but but we just did it out of love for the music and a passion to play stuff no one else was playing.

DT: How has the "beats" community changed since you first entered it? Some would argue what was once a niche LA sound has spread worldwide and transformed through the different cultures. Does this influence your music?

SK: When we started doing this, it was just our own form of expression, we had no idea it would eventually grow into the "Beat Scene"  and now in turn,  people call it Lo Fi hip hop.. i just laugh. Its all good. I think there are tons of great producers out there making really interesting beats!! So Im happy to maybe have been a part of the birth of whatever the movement wants to call itself now. I think I am more in awe and influenced by the OG's than the new comers. To me everyone has one great record in them.. But to put out great music for years and years, thats a different story. That is what inspires and influences me the most. When i leave this earth, I want to leave behind a vast catalog of musical creations, regardless of if any of it was commercially successful or popular. Just like most of the records I admire most from 30-40 years ago. They were never hugely popular, but they were incredible!

DT: What is your creative process like? Do you start with the tool or from the imagination? Or both? Do you find yourself ever using traditional methods for making music or do you normally stick to the DAW? (which DAW/gear do you use?)

SK: My process really varies. Sometimes I start with a sample, other-times i just lay out a chord progression on the piano or a synth and build from there. I try to find new ways to tap into creativity so that im not bored. There is really no one single approach to making music. I use Ableton as my main DAW but I also use a ton of external instruments like synths, guitars, bass, drum machines, percussion instruments, vinyl samples.

DT: Fine Lines, your latest release from FoF Music is incredible. Did you have a specific aural goal with this album or did you just create and let the sound emerge naturally? Are you currently working on anything for the future or currently focusing more on support for your latest release? Anything exciting planned for 2019?

SK: With the 'Fine Lines' album I really wanted to create a cohesive album that embodied a specific vibe. How that vibe is perceived is up to the listener of course, but i sought out to make something that was indicative of my life during the making of these songs. In its most basic explanation its a story of growth, love, battling darkness both inner and outer and the never ending search for true happiness hahha. Yes I have a bunch of stuff slated for 2019. First off i just launched my label Tone and Manor. We just released our first compilation " All Over the Place" Vol. 1 and have Vol. 2 coming out in November.   The Tone and Manor label is a passion project of mine. I teach music production at Point Blank Music Academy and I mentor a lot of young producers and beginners and the label is a way for me to help some of them get their music out there into the often confusing music sphere. I also have a new album coming out in 2019.. Im really excited about that. For this one I am really going back to my roots. Analog synths, samples, instruments and in general a more organic vibe to the music. Its getting closed to finish and im really hyped to share it when its ready. The first single will likely come out early 2019.

DT: Do you find that switching your name brought any confusion? Do Sweatson Klank and TAKE focus on separate sounds or do they have a similar theme you aim for?

SK: Switching my name from Take to Sweatson Klank was purely for the reason that Take became increasingly impossible to find online, being that its a verb used in every other sentence. It was a bit hard at first to re-brand but im glad i did it. The sound has always been me. Its the evolution of me as an artist. If i was still TAKE the songs I've released as Sweatson Klank would be the same. It was really just a name change, not a style change. The intention hasn't changed.

DT: Please recommend something you're currently listening to, favorite place to get food in LA (are you an LA native), and a film or book if you have had time to indulge.

SK: Currently as i write this i am listening to a track from 1985 called 'Plastic Love' by a Japanese Female Soul artist named Mariya Takeuchi. The list of things i listen to could fill up 3 pages hahaha. Lets just say i listen to everything!!! I stay up on the latest hip hop, house, techno but I find more pleasure in digging through old records and discovery things from different times and countries!! Yes, I would say I am an LA native, I moved here from Paris, France when I was 5. Favorite place to eat really depends on the mood! Sushi Gen in Little Tokyo is definitely a regular in my rotation. Current read; The book of Joy by Douglas AbramsI just want thanks for taking the time to shine a light on me and my work, I hope your readers enjoy.

Sweatson Klank’s music is available direct from the artist through bandcamp: https://sweatsonklank.bandcamp.com

And his label’s discography as well: https://toneandmanor.bandcamp.com

Huge thanks to Tom Wilson for taking the time to talk with us and give a window to his world.

#features #take #sweatson klank #los angeles #dublab #sketchbook #low end theory #beat scene #alpha pup #brainfeeder

[blazingtheway]

Through the Looking Glass – Storyline 8 – Together - Part Six

Continuing on from...

↬ Embry Call ↫ Of course, Leah would disagree with us saying she should laugh more, she liked to hide certain parts of herself… and that type of laughing was one that opened you up to people; if they looked closely enough, they could catch a glimpse of something you didn't expect to reveal. I didn't know much of the tribe’s language out of my own stupid, childhood stubbornness. But I had heard that one from #Sam back in the day enough times to know it wasn't flattering. #Tony gave me a look as if to ask what that meant, and I shrugged. I wasn't about to risk messing up the translation in front of these three. "You don't want to know." I chuckled. I looked at #Tony and then Leah giving her a knowing smile. She knew, I was never one for subtlety and it just wasn't something that could be helped. Unless you were related to her there was no denying that Leah was a lot of fun to look at, but we all knew there was a whole lot more to this woman than what you saw. Lately, I was learning that ran so much deeper than I ever imagined. “Leah here actually has pretty good taste in music. I haven’t found a flaw yet…” I narrowed my eyes at her in a mock threat. “But I will.” I had to admit that her Rachel Platten albums weren’t exactly to my taste, but they meant something to her. And that fact alone lent deeper meaning to the songs for me too, and really… wasn’t that the definition of good taste? Finding a true meaning in the sounds and the words. I almost choked on a laugh when she suggested a musical number. “You know I don’t sing!” I smirked at her. “Do you really want me to empty this place out before the night even starts?” ‘That’s not how #Quil tells it!’ #Seth laughed. “I sang to Bear when she was little and only when she was sick. That doesn’t count!” But Leah had that look on her face. The lines drawn on the board below the words ᴍᴇʀᴍᴀɪᴅ ꜱᴘᴜɴᴋ. I smirked; they weren’t going to sell. Maybe I was more competitive than I would like to admit, I could feel every eye in the room trained on us. I kept my eyes locked on hers, still showing glimpses of something more. “Okay! I’m in! But you can’t tell people about the bet to boost sales. The women in this town would do anything to get me on stage and the boys too.” They would know I meant the pack. “And if you don’t hit ten you sing on Monday. Right?” I smirked and took her hand in a firm grip, not letting go until she agreed. ↬ Leah Clearwater ↫ I didn’t need to see Call’s eyes to know that ‘Nope I’m not taking that’ look he was giving #Tony to understand. I knew he’d never taken to learn the tribe’s words, the guys found it hard to do so. I knew if he could #Seth would have passed on learning too as a kid, but our grandmother had taken it on herself to not communicate with us in any other way. So, if we wanted to talk with her, we had no choice but use the tribe’s tongue. “Let me translate it for you Tony.” I smirked looking between the guys all stood beside the bar. “Golagi nigesvna means he is an Idiot, then there is Nudanvdvna which means he is a fool. There is also Nigolagvna which means Stupid” My finger moved from #Mac, to #Seth and then finally landed on Call with a grin. “The list keeps going on, I could come up with a lot more well thought out names for the three of them Tony.” I smirked as I said it. ‘Hey! What did I do?’ #Seth gave me his big puppy eyes, with a puckered lip making me look down to the bar with a shake of my head. “Keep that up kid and I will smack you over the side of your head.” My attention moved back to Call. “Pretty good? Man, you don’t even know the half of it. I could give you a run for your money Call, in more ways than one.” My taste in music was vast, it didn’t stay within the categories that people picked. I wasn’t ‘one or the other’. My taste moved across the full spectrum from hip-hop, to country, to even the old school stuff. I liked songs from across the board, classical, old, new, rap, country. If it was good, and the words and the melody spoke to me. It was listed. Call then took a hold of my hand

and I shook it. He didn’t let go and his eyes were on mine again. I’d never really paid much attention to his eyes, but these days it was all I could see. He locked people in, and I was sure everybody must find it hard to pull away from them when that happened. “You’re always so full of yourself. Because the Girls can’t get enough of what Call has to offer right?” I teased sarcasm dripping in my voice. The truth was that every member of the pack had this air about them, we knew we were good at what we did, and with Call and me especially, modesty was just a waste of time. I kind of liked his no BS towards his playing because he was good. Clearing my throat, I squeezed his hand. “I don’t need to boost the sales, I’m that good just by myself.” But it was the clarification he made a point of making that had me stood still. If I lost, he expected me to get on stage? My eyes flickered to #Mac who was watching all of this with #Tony, but #Seth was the one to speak. ‘I’ll take the forfeit for #HWH.’ My kid brother was trying to protect me in the best way he could. But what he’d forgotten was that it was my job to protect him. I shook my head to him. “Ten 𝙈𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙎𝙥𝙪𝙣𝙠cocktails to be sold, no talk of the bet and no telling the customers of the outcome. But that also means, you cannot talk people out of buying them too Call. Also, to make it fair. One on One... I will be the only one selling the drinks. Seth and Mac can’t push the drinks too. 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 I win… You are up there—” I pointed towards the stage with my free hand. “—And 𝙄𝙛 you by any off-chance slide by the finishing line... I will be up there.” Shaking his hand again I tugged to free myself from his hold. ↬ Embry Call ↫ I shook my head as she explained the words to #Tony, he was never going to remember them. He was blushing again when Leah's attention was on him. That boy was a mess. #Seth was trying to use his puppy dog eyes on Leah... they didn't work nearly as often as they used to when he was a kid. “Oh, she could… and has come up with very creative names for all of us!” I scoffed. I would be lying if I said I hadn’t been shocked at how wide open her taste in music was. Growing up like I did… I was surrounded by all kinds of music. Mom filled the house with it constantly, all kinds, and all genres. She didn’t care what people thought of the 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙styles… Like me. I had no issues leaving musical soundtracks next to my classic rock for all to see. And the pups had learned long ago that, try as they might I had no shame when it came to what I listened too. Her sarcasm was sharp as a blade, I smiled. Just how I liked it, that tone was 100% Leah Clearwater. I felt the worry that things wouldn’t ever be the same after she knew my secrets fade away. And here we were, and she was sniping at me like I was the same person she knew all her life. It sounded counter-intuitive, but it was the best outcome; I didn’t want her to see me differently so this… this was just more proof the Leah really was the Beta we all desperately needed. She was the leader we all would desperately need soon. She was the friend we all needed but never knew we had. She kept her eyes on mine longer than I thought she would, again. “C’mon we all know it’s true.” I boasted. ‘I’ve seen Call in action… He definitely has a way with the ladies.’ #Tony tried to put on a little bravado, but his round face just flushed pink again. ‘We’ve all seen Call in action.’ #Seth rolled his eyes; I knew he was talking about a lot more than just seeing me pick up girls in the bar. The pack had front-row seats to my memories… and I wasn’t shy. ‘Yeah… far too often!’ #Mac agreed but the look on #Seth’s face said, ‘𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙛 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙩’. I smirked when she clarified that I couldn’t talk people out of buying them either. “I’m highly offended, Clearwater, like I would do such a thing.” I smirked and all the while plots were forming in my mind.

↬Leah Clearwater ↫ I rolled my eyes, but we were all laughing at Call’s comment, about the nicknames. And it was fresh coming from him. He was the one in the pack who gave everybody nicknames the moment he met them. I just found colourful ways not to use names. #Mac shifted to lean on the bar, but before he did, he clapped #Tony on the back. ‘Leah doesn’t do too badly herself. The harder she lets them down. The more they seem to want her.’ I rolled my eyes at him. “Are you saying I need to change tactics here? Become all soft and bat my eyelashes like the shorties do with you and #Seth?” #Mac just jabbed his thumb towards #Tony and his red face. ‘Seems like both will get you more than what you want Lee.’ He winked and started to hum ‘Another one bites the dust.’ Then ducked his head away. But I’d not even reached out. If I wanted to smack his head, I would have. But I was intrigued by the red-faced man wishing the ground would swallow him up. “Relax Ton, if you don’t get your arse teased every ten seconds in this place. It means you’re on the 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙨. It’s clear here you are in. No matter if you wanted it or not. #Tony laughed and shrugged his shoulders at me, fidgeting with his shirt. ‘I could think of worse places to be, and you guys are kind of fun.’ I saw the look #Seth was giving Call, and again no words were needed. I could read the kid’s expressions without him needing to part his lips. Shaking my head, I lent on the bar again, my arms crossed under my chest. “You forget I know you Call, 𝘾𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜may be the wrong word. But if I see you mess with the outcome, by the Spirits.. You know I will make you pay.” A glint of daring in my eyes. It was always more fun when they all misbehaved, gave me an open season on kicking their arses. And the Moms had no issues with me setting their 𝙗𝙤𝙮𝙨 in line. ‘You are really going to do this? Get up on stage and sing?’ #Mac looked scared and proud all at the same time. And #Seth just looked uncomfortable for me. The kid knew what it meant for me to keep certain parts of my life to myself. “That would imply that I plan on losing. Do you not know me at all Marcus Knight?” I gave him a raised eyebrow. ‘You know she means business when she starts to use our real names.’ #Seth stage whispered to #Tony, earning him a real smack up the side of his head. ‘Hey! Just telling it how it is. Call and Mac will vouch for me here.’ “Yeah, sure. Whatever. Now what’s next or are we ready to go here?” I pushed back from the bar, getting the cloth to wipe the tops down. My eyes flicked back to Call again, and how easy this was. After all, said and done, after all he’d learnt about me and witnessed in the last weeks. He was still here. Still helping and still keeping my secrets to himself. ‘Igvyi Galuga Howa ayelvdi ( First comes trust ) Leah. It seems to me that ↬ Embry Call ↫ Call has passed this test.’ ↬ Embry Call ↫ I shook my head at her comment about the 𝙎𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨again. It was pretty hard to find a girl that was close to my height; even in heels, most were lucky to come up to my nose. “You know I’m not exclusively into short chick’s right? When you’re six-four it’s pretty impossible to find a girl that doesn’t look short next to me. Even you.” I smirked at Leah and quickly added. “And you’re definitely not a 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙮!” I laughed. I tried not to chuckle at #Tony but the guy had zero poker face. “𝙉𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧play poker Ton… You don’t have a chance!” I teased him. “And hell, yes he’s in!!” I clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Just wait until you hear him sing! He is popular everywhere he goes!” I raised my hands and stopped my internal plotting. She seemed to be reading my mind right now, I could plot later. #Mac was watching Leah… But my eyes were on #Seth and I wondered why he looked… Apprehensive? He loved watching his sister lose a bet… but the kid looked a little shifty. “I dunno she calls me 𝙀𝙢𝙗𝙧𝙮 𝙁𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘾𝙖𝙡𝙡 so often; I’ve forgotten what my real middle name is!” I laughed again; and again, I was struck by how so

little changed in the way we interacted, after she found out what I really was… or used to be, at least. Things had changed a little between us though, but I was putting that down to the secret she had told me and my decision to stand by her… and everything she did for my mother. “So, guys how long till you open?” I asked and turned to #Tony and clapped my hands together, rubbing them like an over-excited kid. “I think it might be time for a soundcheck #Tony? Let these guys see what they’re in for when you come back to play?” ‘You want me to sing? Here?’ He looked back at the stage and then to Leah. ‘Ri-right now?”

↬ Leah Clearwater ↫ “Shorties, Gym Bunnies, Hikers, chicks who are easily charmed by your wise arse ‘Art of Conversation’. At the end of the day you got to make the most of the small pool of talent that is on offer to you I guess.” I was smirking as I said it. There was no shame in his game. The Spirits, I wasn’t one to judge him or anybody. There were plenty of people here on the Rez to do that for us. But it didn’t stop me from teasing the likes of Call and the pups about their 𝘾𝙧𝙖𝙯𝙮𝙯, and how they were the Magnets for the chicks who seemed to become trapped in their honey jars. ‘So—’ #Tony pointed to me and Call and then back again. And I frowned looking at Call and then him. “So?” I asked him, but #Mac was laughing from having cottoned onto what #Tony was trying to say. ‘So, Call isn’t your type?’ I would have choked if I had been drinking something. #Seth all but fell over laughing and I rolled my eyes shaking my head. “Nope! No. No way.” My hand moved in a circle over ↬ Embry Call ↫ ’s face. “This is not something I would take home. I have brains, and I’m not into this Magic Mike XXL look.” I stopped talking as I saw the look in #Tony’s eyes change. “The Spirits” I muttered under my breath, ↬Embry Call ↫was right. ( Not that I would tell him. ) #Tony was the sort of guy who really shouldn’t play poker 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧!! I clarified quickly. “And, I’m not the dating type. On top of that I don’t see guys from within a fifty-mile radius of my house.” Knowing full well that would knock Port off the map too. Before anybody could get in their smart arse comment I smirked at ↬ Embry Call ↫ . “Oh, wow. Did Ms. C not tell you? She changed your middle name for you. It’s now completely official man. 𝙀𝙢𝙗𝙧𝙮 𝙁𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘾𝙖𝙡𝙡 is what is on your legal documents.” Pushing back to look at my phone as it buzzed. “We have an hour to go.” Looking back to #Tony as he was glancing at me. “Sure, go for it Tony. It’s kind of perfect for you to be the first to use that set up.” Pointing my phone over to the stage. “And, you know Call here could help you test it all out too.” I stepped away to read the message; 𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝙻𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚢: 𝙴𝚛𝚒𝚔 𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛. 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚒𝚝, 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚎𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚞𝚙. Out of the side of my eye I saw Call laughing and joking with the guys, and then my wolf showed me a flash from the locker room in Seattle. Call was sat cleaning blood off my face holding his hand up to show me. ‘𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣’𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜.’ She then flashed forward to my fist hitting #Tom in his face, the sound of his nose shattering under the force of my fist, the way I lost control of myself in that split second of time. This was the guy who’d stepped up in a moment when I didn’t think I needed him to show me something I wasn’t ready to see. And then he’d shown up on my door days later to tell me his dark past. I replied. 𝚃𝚘 𝙻𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚢: 𝙽𝚘 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚕 – 𝙻 I could hear the guy’s egging #Tony on to do his thing and I moved around the bar and onto the main floor. The cleaning crew had done a good job, but the stage setup made a little mess that needed to be sorted. #Mac walked into the back and returned with the broom in hand and winked at me. ‘I got this’ He said as he started to sweep up the floor. I didn’t fight him on this one and started to move the tables back into place and pulling the chairs down to set them right.

TBC...

#LeahClearwater #Leah #HotHeadSheWolf #SpiritsHotHead #EmbryCall #Embry #BADBOYEMBRYCALL #Twilight #TwilightRP #TwiRP #AUStories

[hongbubs]

so I was tagged by the sweetest @possumel <333333333333333 thanks so much, love ;)) These are so fun OuO also reading yours was super nice DONT chew dem nails yo ;*

Rules: answer the questions and tag 10 blogs you want to know better

A) age: 27 B) birthplace: random small city in the west part of Hungary C) current time: 11:15 A.M. D) last drink you had: coffee. which is p.much ALL i drink before noon E) easiest person to talk to: huhh @retrogyu @ythurielle @cinnamonsnow aka My Main Binches <333 F) favourite song atm: IT IS LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO ANSWER THIS but lets go with Strawberres and Cigarettes by Troye Sivan G) grossestmemory: ohh boy, i have the approximate memory capacity of a tired goldfish, so... i swear im not avoiding this on purpose! in fact imma go have a cig right now to think back on it.  Okay I’m back. So I remembered like one random pretty gross thing? Back in high school, I was out with friends (dunt remember where or who with exactly XD) and we were drinking like only stupid teenagers with a curfew do, and I got super wasted, naturally, and on my way back home I had a 45 minute train ride and while waiting, I threw up on the tracks? Like, I don’t get sick from drinking much, and even if I ocassionally do, I’m okay enough to find the nearest bathroom or something, but apparently, not that time :”””””””””D. Thats about as much as I recall, lame as it is... I) in love: on my good days J) jealous: nope, not the type K) killed someone: I shot a sparrow once. not very proud of it. and i did some fishing, but strangely that didn’t make me feel so bad? prolly because we actually ate the fish. L) love at first sight: strong attraction, definitely. M) Middle name: dont actually have one! :) N) number of siblings: one younger sis, little shit, i love her even though we couldn’t be more different :D O) one wish: so, so many. but as of this exact moment, for this pup i’m dogsitting not be be quiet because he’s in the middle of making trouble somewhere in the house. R) reasons to smile: also so, so many. as of this exact moment, also the pup i’m dogsitting. he’s a 9-10 weeks old golden retriever. he’s the cutest pupper in existence. I want to cuddle him till i die. sadly, he’s more in his chewing phase than cuddling phase, so blood sacrifice is sometimes required. S) song you last listened to: Uhhhh most likely the new VIXX album. Like, on loop. So I’d say the whole album. T) time you woke up:  7:40something. (see also: pup i’m dogsitting) U) underwear color: tired pink V) vacation destination: we’ve been looking into hostels in Rome with my sis and mom for October just this afternoon OuO W) worst habit: quite some, but the worst is def the smoking. X) x-rays: like, chest x-rays? I’ve had a few of them for work and for scholarship medical check-up... other than that, my knee, once, when I fucked it up skiing.  Y) favourite food: waaaaaaay too many. today my sister made guacamole and it was PERFECT, so atm i’ll say its my sister’s guacamole. in general tho I might have a decisiveness problem????? like, did you see me pick a decisive, one exact answer to any of these?? Z) zodiac sign: Saggitarius. (good thing I don’t have to pick here, uggh xd)

tagging (not 10 blogs but some) @cinnamonsnow (because binch be mad at me if i dont <3) @jen-10 and  @la-feline-noire because I see them in my notifs all the time, @exychamp because she’s back again <3 @asriantrash  because he’s one of my new fave blogs, and anyone else that feels like doing this?

#tag games #personal #fun and games

[mymixofmuses]

Pen Pals

(A roleplay between my Audrey muse and @red-rad-and-rod .) It had been about a week since Audrey met J.C. and his siblings. It was kind of hard to miss them, given Lola seemingly bee-lined towards them during their stay at the park. She was grateful for her pooch’s detour, however, as the three proved to be good company (as did their father, who they had lunch with.) She wasn’t sure how long she should wait before emailing J.C., but figured a week was a long enough wait to not seem overly eager. She did originally intend to only send pictures of the dogs to show his sisters, but now she wanted to talk to him too. She decided to start slow, with a simple email. This is J.C., right? It’s Audrey, from Michigan. Here are some pictures of Lola in some flowers. She wasn’t supposed to be in them, but I just had to snap a few pictures before I got her out! Let me know how you three like them! She hoped asking for a response would lead the way to them talking about more than dogs.

- Ping! Oh, thank goodness, something to actually respond to! Surfing through a seemingly never ending list of ads for things he didn’t need was starting to get tiresome. A few clicks later, J.C. found himself searching through his e-mail. Hmm…junk. Junk. E-mail from Audrey- wait. E-mail from Audrey? … Ah, right! That was who he met over in Michigan when he and the family were over in Michigan! Man…even though they had only hung out for a little bit, he missed her. Her beautiful smile, her cute giggle…sigh~ Snapping out of his little lovestruck trance, he went ahead and read through the message, snickering a bit as he got a glimpse of Lola being a goofball. A short while later (mainly after Syd and Kat stopped squealing over the little pup), he sent back a reply: Yyyyup, it is! At least, that’s what people have been calling me for 23 years… Ahaha, I kid, I kid. 😋 What a little goofball! She’s such a sweetie. Syd and Kat seem to think so too, given the fact that they’ve been fawning over her for the past fifteen minutes or so. And reignited the whole “Mum, Dad, let’s get a dog!” debate, but that’s to be expected. How have things been over by you? - Audrey wasn’t the type to live on her phone or computer, so it was a good thing she had written a note to herself to check her email later. Upon coming home that evening and checking her notebook of reminders, she brought up her email and took a look. She chuckled at J.C.’s response and promptly began typing a reply, pleased he wanted to chat. (Or was at least acting like he wanted to, in order to be polite.) Ohhh deeaarrr XD I hadn’t intended to start a debate. Could you please tell them I’m sorry? Anyway, things have been pretty ordinary over here. Weather is still pretty nice, so I’ve been taking Lola on longer walks. She got a little over excited today though and ran into someone’s garden, as you saw. I was sure to tell her no… after I stopped laughing and taking pictures! XD So, how have things been on your end? - After hitting send, J.C. had to think…did it sound like he seem interested? Did he sound bored? Should he have added more emojis? …Nah, maybe that would’ve been a bit excessive. Maybe a little immature…who knows, maybe Audrey would have thought that Syd or Kat took hold of his computer. Now came the waiting game. He would’ve done a bit more internet browsing, if he hadn’t have been dragged outside by Syd for a game of football. That was probably a more productive way to spend his time, anyway. No real need to worry. (…) Later on, now relaxing with a cup of tea, he went back on and found a reply. Haha, I will! They’ve been getting that for years, but I’m sure they’d appreciate the regards. Glad to see the weather’s manageable. Kind of makes me wish I was back there; right now, we’ve had a couple of gales come through. Nothing too bad, but having to be stuck inside for most of the day. Plus side, it’s supposed to clear up soon. Oooooh, Lola, what’s your mum going to do with you? 😂 Kind of reminds me of this time when Syd was a toddler…she’d done the same thing with our next-door neighbour’s back garden. I’ll have to send the picture in my next e-mail, but the end result was her being held (gently, of course) by her overall straps by our neighbour’s sheepdog! - Audrey discovered his reply the following morning. While she sent her reply early, it was likely the afternoon over where J.C. was. Wish you were here for the weather? Are you sure you don’t just want to see me? HA! I kid. I kid. We barely know each other. Aaaanywaaaaay… A sheepdog holding a toddler? That sounds both hilarious and adorable! You have GOT to send me that picture! Let’s just hope karma doesn’t come back to bite me. Mom and Dad recorded EVERYTHING when I was a kid. They have soooo many VHS tapes in the basement. Photo albums too. For a non-photogenic child, they sure loved taking pictures of me. - Why did time zones have to be a thing? He could respond at ten in the morning, and it’d only be five A.M. over by her…ah well. Upon reading Audrey’s response, he couldn’t help but blush a little. Okay, yeah, part of it was the weather, but part of it was because he wanted to see her. Weeeeell, that would be a major plus, if I’m being honest. …Does that sound creepy? Jeez, I hope it doesn’t; virtual communication’s tricky that way. 😓. If it did sound that way, I do apologize! Guess, ah…guess I should get on with the rest of this reply. Heheh… Don’t worry, little me wasn’t exactly the poster child for being photogenic, either. Guess it must be a parent thing…mine were the same way. I’ve made sure to bury one of the albums that has the MOST embarrassing ones as deeply as I can in storage, but somehow they keep finding it. Speaking of ‘embarrassing’ photos… Ask and ye shall receive~ Not going to lie, her face still cracks me up; sort of like she’s saying “Curses! Foiled again!”

- Audrey was pleasantly surprised to see that J.C. seemed to enjoy her company as well. Aw, really? You’re sweet~ <3 Don’t worry; no creepiness detected! Well, you know parents and their magic able-to-find-stuff powers. You could search for something for hours and they’ll point to it right in front of your face! That photo is somehow more adorable and hilarious than I thought it would be! She really was a scamp from the very beginning, wasn’t she? Anyway, if you’re interested, maybe I could tell you a bit about myself and vice-versa? Make sure I’m someone you want to see again? - Oh, good! This was off to a great start~ Phew! Good, good. Just want to make sure, y’know? True, true. Heck, you could try to send something that you don’t want seen to…I don’t know, Antarctica…and they’d still manage to find it. Haha, yeeeeah; once she started crawling, it was all downhill from there! Sure, why not? I think it’s better one-on-one as opposed to doing it in front of a group, like on the first day of school. That whole “what’s your name, what’s your major, one fun fact about yourself” spiel. How should we do this? Do you want to go first or should I? - Well, I suggested it, so I guess I’ll go first. Now let’s see… My full name is Audrey Anne Davis. I’m currently 24 years old and my birthday is March 27th. I’m a college graduate and I work as a personal trainer at a local gym. My hobbies include working out, cooking, listening to music, and dancing. Not sure what else to put so, uh, your turn! (P.S. Feel free to ask me anything!) - My turn it is, then. Soooo, let’s see…mine is Jean-Claude Henri Malone (née Bellerose), currently 23, aaaand my birthday’s August 23rd. Right now, I’m working on my bachelor’s (almost done, though!)…started in gen. studies, decided to do something with humanities. I do a bit of work at the student bookstore, aaaand my hobbies include listening to music, playing videogames, reading…aaaand I would say I enjoy a bit of footy every now and again. Aha, dancing, eh? Any specific training (e.g. ballet, hip hop, anything of that sort) or is it more like “put on some tunes and see where the music takes you”? (P.S. Likewise!) - I have to admit, I had to Google née and footy. XD Anyway, I learned to dance from my dad. He took some classes when he was a kid, but is mostly self taught. (He’s REALLY good!) I pretty much just go with the music. I know some specific dance moves, but I don’t really know how to do those fancy dances you’d do at a ball. What kind of books do you like to read? I’m not much of a reader myself, but I do listen to audio books on occasion. I’m not exactly the brightest bulb, so I try to stick to books that don’t have seven layers of meanings you have to analyze in order to understand and enjoy them. - Ah, yes, the “English to English” thing. If I find one of those sorts of dictionary, I’ll be sure to send it your way. XD Interesting! That’s how I tend to dance as well…I’ve been meaning to take one of those “ballroom dancing” classes, just for the heck of it, buuuut…dunno, haven’t had the time as of late. (Or a partner for that matter, but that was a different story.) Just kind of want it as some random skill to have under my belt. I’m not super picky- if something looks interesting, I’ll pick it up, read the first couple of chapters, see where it goes. Though I will say, audio books are a godsend…always good for plane or car rides, if you’re not the one driving. I totally feel you on that whole “analysis” thing; that used to throw me in secondary school so much. “The blue door is supposed to represent the main character’s feelings of sadness”…mmmmaaaaybe the author just really likes the colour blue? 🤔 Personally, I always like to recommend “Le Petit Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (don’t worry, there is an English translation…and about 298 others, haha). There’s some analysis like that that could come with it, but not a ton. It’s one of those stories that doubles as a “children’s” story and one for adults, as well. - You never know when you’ll have to break into a waltz! I jotted down that title in my handy dandy notebook, so I should remember to look into it. (The act of writing things down helps me to remember. You should see how many notebooks I go through in a year! LOL) Speaking of children’s stories, have you ever read any Goosebumps books? I only read one as a kid and it really scared me, so I never read any more. I wonder if I could handle them now. The problem is my fight or flight response is just a fight response. If I get nervous, I might hit things out of reflex. I once accidentally broke my dad’s nose as a kid because he snuck up on me. I felt SO BAD. My mom couldn’t stop laughing though. She was actually recording when it happened, so that infamous family moment is on tape. - True, very true! 🤣 I have, actually! Read a few when I was a bit younger- my favourite had to be the ‘Night of the Living Dummy’ stories. They were pretty creepy, I have to admit…although I stumbled upon another series around the same time that, I argue, is quite creepier. I’m not sure if a series known as “Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids” made its way over to the states, but hoooo boy. It was made into a TV series as well…not much better in terms of toning down the creepiness. I used to say it makes Goosebumps look like Mother Goose! 😮 (Granted, I don’t think Goosebumps is supposed to be a series that scares you into good behaviour whereas G.T.F.G.K. sort of is, buuuut…still kind of has you going “WHAT did I just read?!”) Okay, just reading that made me cringe, ouch! Remind me to never spook you…or if there’s ever a time we’re over in the states for Halloween, remind me to not take you to a haunted house/scary movie. If it’s any consolation, there’s quite a bit of embarrassing footage of small me as well, haha. “Cowboy J.C.”, “Super J.C.”, tiny siblings/cousins spitting up on me, you name it. 😅 - It doesn’t sound familiar to me, but I was never on the lookout for such things. Scaring kids into behaving? Ick. I’m of the belief that you should influence a child with positivity. I don’t mean in a spoiling kind of way. I just think finding the cause of a problem is more important than punishing the child. And when it does come to punishments, never do something that can damage them in the long run. Don’t be too lenient though. It is important to learn that actions have consequences. There has to be a balance. Sorry for the ramble there. It’s just that the way children are treated is important to me and I do not censor myself with such things. I’ll be sure to remind you. I’m not a fan of scary things. Unless they’re a fun type of scary, like paper bats or those fuzzy spider decorations. We’ve only ever had really silly looking spider decorations at our house during Halloween because my mom’s arachnophobic. If they’re too realistic, she gets the heebie-jeebies. Speaking of embarrassing, I feel it only fair to you and Syd that I share a photo of my own.

Guess who. - Hey, that’s fair! And makes sense, too. My thing is just…kind of let them do their thing (to an extent) and experience the world, just guide them along the way, you know? If they’re being a little butt (or rather, standard kid who’s still learning) about something, tell them why they shouldn’t be in a way that they understand; cause and effect. Like yes, you may want to eat six ice lollies in a row, but if you do, you’ll get a stomachache. Kiddo knows from experience that stomachaches suck, so a compromise of one or two ice lollies is made. As you said, balance is key. Aaaah, arachnophobia. Guess I’ll have to tell Syd that if she wants to show your mum a cool spider she found to…well, not to. XD; Awww-ha-ha-ha-haaaw, caught red-handed! I guess since I’ve put Syd and you through it, I figure one of mine wouldn’t hurt, either:

Apparently, small me did not like the idea of a fork, haha. - I’m glad we have similar views on children. I think we’re going to get along juuuuuust fiiiiiiiine. (Don’t get me wrong. I won’t hold it against anyone if they aren’t good with kids. Just don’t be mean to them.) Awww, you’re adorable~ Hmm… This email is a little short. I’ll just add some random stuff about me here. I love plush animals and have a LOT of them. My favorite fruit is either strawberries or raspberries. I hate pickles, but I like cucumbers. I can do the splits. … I’m out of stuff to say. - Right? I mean, they’re people, too. Just…y’know, tiny. XD As long as you try, then that’s what counts. Eheheheh, I mean…kiiinda? 😅 This was one of the ones I could find that wasn’t completely embarrassing. I think Dad’s in possession of one of the ones that would made me melt into a puddle of shame. Hm, so’s this one. Guess I’ll follow suit? My favoruite fruits are probably apples and watermelon. I can touch the tip of my nose with my tongue. I like those indoor trampoline parks, buuuut the last place you’ll catch me is in the foam block pit (of course, guess who loves to go in those). If I had to pick my top three favourite animals, I’d have to say either cats (big or small), dogs (same), ooooor elephants. - I can’t really think of much to say this time around, but I’ll leave you with this. Given your favorite animals, I’d say I can always rely on you to address the elephant in the room! - LOL! 🤣🤣🤣 Haha, that’s alright. Guess that means we’ll have more to talk about the next time around. I think?I hope? XD; - It was a few days later that Audrey took the time to really sit down and think of something to write. Sorry for the wait on this one. I wanted to actually have something to say this time. Before I forget though, did you guys remember to try Blue Moon ice cream while you were here? Anyway, I find it so odd to think about how, if it wasn’t for Lola, we might have never met. Well, maybe not never, given our dads work for the same company. We might not have met until much later, if not for Lola. How neat and silly is it that my dog found me a pen pal? Also, I was able to think up some more questions for you! What are some of your favorite animated movies? What about songs? Desserts? Oh! By the way, here’s a video of Daisy my mom took the other day. It’s amazing how high that little dog can jump when treats are involved. - Now, logically, J.C. knew that taking a few days to respond was no real issue. Perhaps Audrey had gotten preoccupied with other tasks. That was typical for a twenty-something nowadays (he should know, he was one). A small part of him, though, couldn’t help but feel as though she had lost interest in him. If he had, he wasn’t the kind of person to be bitter about it…maybe a bit upset, but…Audrey was her own person, she had the right to make her own decisions. When he got a reply a few days later, that fear had melted away…then again, a video of a little dog getting some serious air in the name of treats always helps. Hey, no worries! We did, actually. Interesting flavour! Kind of like cotton candy, but also kind of not. If “blue” itself can qualify as a flavour, I guess, that’s what I’d call it. Kind of bites that wer don’t have it over here. Guess that gives me a reason to go back to the States, LOL. Ooo, okay, let’s see…I’d have to say one of the more recent ones is Ernest & Celestine. When I was little, apparently, I used to watch My Neighbor Totoro at least once or twice a week. I don’t remember, though, if I had watched it in English or in Japanese with the subtitles on. Might have been the latter, I only know the song in Japanese (and that’s….probably the extent of my Japanese XD. I can’t translate it, but I can sing it, so there’s that!). Songs, I’m all over the place, so I can’t exactly list a specific one. Mum and Dad like the Beatles, and they grew on me, sooo I guess there’s them? Will have to get back to you on that one, haha. Dessert-wise…can’t go wrong with creme brulee, that’s for sure~ Hot fudge sundaes are a close second. To be honest, I’ll take any offerings when it comes to sweets. 😋 Ha! Man, she’s got some power there…imagine her trying to make slam dunks! …Granted…that’s….kind of hard to do without thumbs, but…you get what I mean. I think? I know, right? I’m not entirely sure what dogs think about, but can you imagine if she was actively/knowingly playing matchmaker? ‘yes, hello there other human, meet mine’. 🤣 Guess that makes it my turn for questions? Mine are kind of weird, but: What outdoor activity haven’t you tried, but would like to? What was the last song you sung along to? What’s your favorite type of day? (weather, temp, etc.) - Blue really is the best way to describe that flavor! Hard to imagine that ice cream as any other color. Then again, it might work in another color as long as it’s pastel. I think it’s pastel flavor. LOL Ernest & Celestine looks adorable! As for the other one… Honestly, it would probably have scared me as a kid. I think it’s the art style. Something about how big their mouths get, maybe. I don’t know… Nothing against the movie though! Just not my preference in style, you know?I’d say a few of my favorite animated movies are The Lion King, Lilo and Stitch, and the Emperor’s New Groove. I like to think New Groove is safe for any audience because no one dies; not even the villain.I like the Beatles as well! My music taste is varied. If something sounds good, I like it. Genre doesn’t really matter. Creme brulee? I’ve never had that. I do like custard though, so I imagine I would like it. And who doesn’t like hot fudge sundaes?! I love sweets as well! Yeah, I get it! Maybe we could get her a little basketball and hoop? She could carry the ball in her mouth! Her dribbling will be drool! XD I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what dogs are thinking. As for your questions, rock climbing might be fun? I’ve climbed indoor rock walls, but never the real thing. I honestly can’t remember the last song I sung along to. I kind of sing bits and pieces or hum when I listen to music, as opposed to full on singing along. Maybe I can go with the most recent song on my iPod? It was Fortune Teller by Maroon 5. I tend to find good things in any type of day, really. If I had to choose though, I’d say a sunny mid-spring day. The temperature would be right in the middle, not too hot, not too cold. Maybe the occasional cool breeze to help you feel alive, but enough sun that you don’t need a light jacket, but can wear one without burning up. Woof! That was a lot of typing! Maybe we could do an audio chat or something, one of these days? She hoped she wasn’t being too forward, but, seeing as they’ve spoken in person, she reasoned it wasn’t a big deal. - 😂😂😂 Eh, blue, pastel…close enough. Still tasty, regardless! 😋 Totally understandable! To each their own, right? Ooo, I might have to recommend New Groove to Kat. I’ve seen it a couple of times, but she hasn’t. I think anytime we’ve tried to settle down and watch it, something comes up (i.e., she’s going to a friend’s house, I had plans with a few of my friends, etc.). Lilo and Stitch is a pretty good one (def. one of Syd’s faves), and who DOESN’T like The Lion King? Can’t help but sing along with it, haha. Remind me to send you a recipe for some. It can be a little tricky, but it’s not like you have to have four or five things going at once. J.C. stopped typing for a couple minutes, trying to move his wrists around and get some of the building carpal tunnel aches to calm down a bit. Maybe Audrey had the right idea, switching over to audio calls… As for audio chat, I’m perfectly fine with that! Just want to let you know that I am about four to five hours ahead of your time zone (I believe that’s what it is? Daylight Savings is a weird concept…I guess for part of the year, it’s four and then the other part is five.). Whenever you’re feeling up to it. :) - Oh, right. Forgot about the time difference. Oops. LOL I tend to wake up at six in the morning and head to bed around ten at night. My work schedule isn’t a typical nine to five deal, being a personal trainer and all. I generally work when the client isn’t; so it’s usually in the mornings and evenings. I suppose the best time to catch me is early in the morning and midday, my time. Or on my days off, of course. Do you have an account on Discord? I figured we could do our chatting there. - Time-zones, mon amie; Une vraie douleur dans le cul…😩 Early morning, midday, and days off…duly noted! So that’d be afternoon to early evening here, I believe. Works out, though- my available times tend to be later in the day my time. I do- Name on there is OuiOuiJC#0714. If you see a profile picture that has a ferret in a beret, and they’re holding a baguette and glass of wine, that’s me. - Audrey couldn’t help but giggle at his username and profile picture. Rather than email him again, Audrey sent him a friend request from her Discord; AudreySugarSpice#1734. Her profile picture was a pink teddy bear. Guess who~ - Pink bear? Hm, unless one of his sisters had secretly made a Discord account (”Not until you’re older”, as per Mum and Dad’s rules), theeeeen this had to be Audrey. Looking at the username, that definitely confirmed it. Friend request accepted~ Guess who, eh? Hmmm….the Queen of England? 🤣 - Feeling a bit bold, Audrey initiated an audio call with him, planning to greet him with, “How’d you know?” followed by giggles. - …Well, she did say that she wanted to try out audio calls, so why not? Picking up, he answered with a comically dramatic gasp. “Your majesty~! I am not worthy!”   - Audrey giggled more. “I’d have followed up by pretending to be a queen, but, I don’t know how one acts and I can’t do an English accent to save my life,” she laughed. “Anyway, how are you doing? Can you hear me alright?” - “Incredibly proper, supposedly.” he chuckled. “Doin’ alright! Can hear you juuust fine. How about on your end? Hearing me and how things are going, I mean.” - “Same here! Glad I caught ya at a good time… I did catch you at a good time, right? It should be evening over there. Oh, I hope I didn’t pull you away from anything…” - “Haha, naaah, you’re fine! Been with the family for most of the day, so I’ve secluded myself in my room for a bit of ‘me’ time. It’s all good.” - “So I guess your me time is us time now,” she chuckled. “You live with your parents still or are you just visiting? It’s fine either way!” she added in a hurry. “The only reason I have my own place is because of Spike. He’s a workout friend of mine who works in construction and knows a few people in real estate.” - “Guess so; not that I’m complaining.” he responded. “ I spend most of my time here during the summer holiday…and, well, regular holidays.. During school, I live a bit closer to the campus. Soooo…I guess you could say both? Once I get my degree, I’m moving into my own. Haven’t settled on a location yet, really. Depends on if I want to be adventurous or not.” - “Ahhh. I see,” she nodded to herself. “What are some locations you’re thinking of moving to? Just curious.” - “Back to France is always an option…but knowing my family, either they’d be coming here at least once every couple of weeks or vice versa. Aaaaand that back and forth travel can be kind of pricey. I could always head up to and stay in Blackpool- where my university is. Or just take a total leap of faith and try somewhere else. The few times we’ve been over to the U.S. have been kind of nice- maybe I could live there. Might consider multiple citizenship, who knows. Eleven months there, one month here…” - “That does sound pricey… Though I’m sure you know that, if you’re considering the United States, I have to recommend Michigan. I’m biased, yes, but I have at least visited other states, so I’m not blindly swearing allegiance or anything. Fun fact, Michigan is one of the leading fruit growers in the States~ Cherries, especially,” she chirped. - J.C. laughed, “That doesn’t sound like a bad idea; being surrounded by fruit. I also wouldn’t mind living somewhere that gets actual snow in the winter. I mean, sometimes we’ll spend the holidays up in Northern Scotland, but not having to travel to see and play in the snow would be nice.” - “Oh, snow is definitely something we get up here,” she laughed. “Multiple feet of it, in fact. You should see Daisy during the winter; it’s hilarious! You just toss her outside and fwump; she disappears into the snow!“ - “Pffff! You might just have to tie a balloon to her collar or something and just track her that way. Or do you think she would float away?” - “Ha! Enough balloons probably would make her fly away! She’s so tiny! Truthfully, we just look for where the snow is moving. It also helps that she wears little sweaters when it’s cold out. Mom’s tried putting booties on her, but she just kicks them off.” - “Awwwhawhawhaw~ I’d hope she’d have at least a little something to wear. If I’m not mistaken, Michigan and a lot of those northern states can get pretty cold…like ‘stuck inside for days’ or ‘wearing five layers of clothing just to get the shopping done’ cold.” He thought for a minute. “Of…course, that’s all from word of mouth as opposed to personal experience, but…” - “I can confirm that it can get that cold. Ever see A Christmas Story where the little brother has so many layers of clothing he can’t put his arms down? It’s kind of like that.” - J.C. laughed, picturing the scene. “Oh, mon dieu. If we’re ever visiting during that time of the year, remind me to keep Syd away from metal poles!” - “Oh goodness… Yeah, that’s really a thing that happens here. Why do so many people think that’s a myth? Have they never gotten their tongue stuck to a popsicle before?” - “Apparently not. But hey, doing stupid stuff’s a part of life,I suppose. Maybe gain some status or fame in your friend group or among your class/workmates.” Sounded as if he was speaking from experience. - “Why do you sound like you’re speaking from experience?” she teased. - There was a brief moment of silence. “…Beeeee….caaaaaause I mmmmmmaaaaaay have done a few things that…could be qualified as such.” he responded, chuckling sheepishly. “N-nothing major, though.” - “Ooooooo~” she said, trying to sound like a studio audience. “What’d you do?” - The sheepish laughter intensified. “Aaaah…hm. You know those really, really hot peppers that are on the market?  Short and skinny of it is ‘Guys Night In’ and a game of ‘Truth or Dare’. It wasn’t a…Reaper? I think that’s what one of those are called? Only reason I know that is because I probably would’ve ended up in hospital, haha. I think it was aaaa….habenaro? One was, the other’s called  ‘Naga Jolokia’. Ate the habenaro with little issue, didn’t even get a full two bites into the other one before I was gulping down water like no tomorrow.” - “Oh noooo,” she laughed. “Oh nooo-ho-ho! That’s- That’s a ghost pepper, isn’t it?! Ah-ha-ha-ha!” She broke into a laughing fit. - His laughter became less sheepish and a bit more joyful. “Eeeeeeeyup, it is. Of course, I didn’t know that at the time, but hey. I will say, it did go better than when we played that one game with the Jelly Beans. …What’s it called? ‘Bean-Boozled’?” - “Yeah, it’s Bean-Boozled. Basically Bertie-Bott’s Every Flavor Beans but Jelly Belly brand. Dare I ask what could have happened when playing Bean-Boozled?” - “Weeeeell, plus side, I wasn’t the one who ended up with their face in a wastebasket.” he snickered. “The last few times we’d played, I kept getting the really gross flavours, and there was this joke that I was cursed. With our most recent game, the ‘curse’, I suppose, had reversed and the person who got all the good flavours last time got all the bad ones. He was fine up until…ugh, dead fish.” - “Ew-hew-hew!” she laughed. “Though, technically, all fish we eat is dead. It’d be pretty messy if we ate them alive… and gross… Say, that reminds me, you like scary movies, right? I have a question about zombies.” - “I doooooo. What’s your question?” - “How fast does a zombie need to eat before its victim becomes a zombie too and they don’t want to eat it? Like, zombies don’t eat other zombies, right? If you’re killed by a zombie, you become a zombie, right? How does that work?” - J.C. blinked, initially unsure how to answer. “That’s….actually a really good question. I like to think that it depends on the initial method of zombification. If it’s done via a curse, you’ve got a bit more time, whereas if it’s because of a virus, that time shortens, since you’ve got all this zombie saliva coming into contact with your blood. Blood takes about one minute to circulate through your entire body, so…you’d probably have to go all ‘pie-eating contest’ speed if your zombification is viral.” He stopped and thought for a minute. “Granted, you get bit regardless of the initial turning mechanism and still come into contact with their saliva…maybe one method is more virulent and fast-acting than the other? Kind of like how it can take something like food poisoning to show up in as little as half an hour to as long as four weeks, depending on what’s responsible for causing it.” - There was a long pause before Audrey replied with, “Huh… I don’t know what to do with this information… I’d write a story or something, but I don’t have the creativity for that. Hm… Maybe I should mention this to Adelyn… She’s good with this sort of thing.” - “Nor am I.” he chuckled, “Ah, Adelyn, eh? Friend of yours or a relative?” - “Relative,” she informed. “She’s my youngest cousin. She’s on the autism spectrum and is, like, really smart and creative.” - “Ah! Maybe she can tell me if the logic on my answer to your question seems sound.” All of a sudden, he heard a small sneeze outside the door, along with a small ‘THUD!’ and a young-sounding ‘Dangit!”. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh. “Hold on just a sec…” Getting up and walking towards his door, J.C. spoke to who he suspected was on the other side. “I know that’s you, petit singe. Are you eavesdropping?” “Noooooooo…a person can’t just chill against the wall in their own home?” “The wall that has their brother’s room on the other side?” “…All the other walls were taken?” - Though the voice was a bit faint, Audrey figured the little eavesdropper was Syd. “Tell her I said hi,” she called loudly, hoping J.C. could hear her from however far away from the computer he was. - “Can do!” he called back, before turning his voice back towards Syd. “Audrey says ‘hi’, by the way.” Syd gasped, “You’re talkin’ to her?!” She took a deep breath and shouted: “HI AAAAAAAUUUUDREEEEEEEY!!!” J.C., having been up against the door cringed and rubbed his ear a bit. Probably should have seen that coming… - “Oh wow, she’s got a set of lungs on her, huh?” she laughed. - “Tell me about it.” the older brother groaned slightly. “ ‘Kay! Soooo I’m gonna let yooooou twooooo get back to your conversation! Maybe we can do a chat later on; I don’t want to interrupt you two lovebirds~” the ten year old responded, laughing as she skipped away. Once she was gone, J.C. sat back down on his bed, rubbing his temple a bit. “Eheh…sorry about that. Siblings…” - “Never a dull moment, huh?” she chuckled. - “Never.” he laughed. - “Sooo… What were we talking about? … Oh, right; zombies. That reminds me; I punched a zombie once… Well, someone in a zombie costume… Did I tell you about that?” - “Pffffff! I don’t think you have…how’d that come about, anyway?” - “There was this haunted house a few years back. It was pretty intense, so children were required to have an adult with them. Well, these kids really wanted to go and every other adult they asked were either busy or flat out said no… So I wound up being that adult… Well, the haunted house did its job. I was on edge the whole time and, when one of the actors put his hand on my shoulder, I whirled around and punched out of reflex. I felt so bad! I kept apologizing and I even gave him a twenty dollar bill! I know they aren’t paid to be hit, but I had to do something!” - J.C. wheezed before collapsing into a fit of giggles. “Oooooh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho my lord!  That’s aw-haw-haw-haw-haw-haw-ful! Hilarious, as well, but still! But hey, at least you apologized.” - “The kids thought it was funny too,” she chuckled a bit. “Shame I got us kicked out.” - “Aw, that bites,”  the giggles started dying down a bit. “If it’s any consolation, I can be the designated adult if you and I are ever dragged to a place like that. I may let out a high pitch screech if I’m spooked, but I don’t think I’ll karate chop someone. At least, I haven’t yet…” - Audrey chuckled. “I’d appreciate that. I’m afraid my fight or flight response is just a fight response. Not a good scaring subject.” - J.C. snickered, “On the plus side, you at least know that. Better than running into a situation blindly and all confident, then end up running away.” - “As opposed to walking in scared and beating someone up? Not sure if I agree with that… If the person is innocent, anyway… I do wonder how I’d do, should I face a genuine threat… A non human threat, I mean. I know I can take humans.”   - “Oh yeah, no; punching innocent people’s never a good idea. I’d imagine if you can pack that much of an unintentional punch on someone, intentionally punching can provide quite a…pack.” He chuckled sheepishly, “I was going somewhere with that. Sounded better in my head.” - Audrey snickered. “I think I get what you’re trying to say. I do imagine I’d do more damage from an intentional hit than I would a startled reflex.” - “D-D-D-D-D-Double comboooooo!” J.C. joked, mimicking a videogame announcer, “Nice hit!” - She laughed at that, having supervised enough sleepovers to recognize a video game reference when she heard one. “Which fighting game is that?” - “Aha, I’m not entirely sure if it is one? I was trying to go something ‘Mortal Kombat’ or ‘Punch-Out!!’-esque, but other than that…” - “Mortal Kombat’s the one with the ‘Finish him!’ line and the catchy theme song, right?” - “Indeed it is. I know there are a few newer versions out, but I prefer the older, less…aaah, gory ones.” - “You mean to tell me they get even gorier?! I saw some as a teenager and they were pretty dang gory.” - “I meeean….maybe more so in the way of being more realistic with the blood and guts and everything, but if you would qualify that as ‘gorier’, then yes.” - “Ahhh, I get it. I suppose that is gorier. It doesn’t matter how much red you add to a stick figure, I’m not really going to be affected by it.” - “To each their own. I suppose.” - “Hm? What do you mean? I thought we were agreeing,” she asked, confused. - “O-oh! I’m pretty sure we still are? I-I meant that in a…different context than what the original meaning of the phrase is? You’d said something about adding as much red as you can to a stick figure and it won’t affect you. I, ah, imagine it can be different for some? That…something like that would? “ J.C. chuckled sheepishly. “I was going somewhere with that, guess my train of thought got derailed…” - “…I think I was in the train when it got derailed because I have no idea where we are,” she laughed. - J.C. snickered before breaking into a short, impromptu song, “We’re goin’ off the rails with our trains of thooooooought…~!” - Audrey’s laughter increased with the song. “Oh my gosh! You are so silly!” - Her laughter had him laughing as well…aaaaand perhaps blushing just a bit. Good to see his dorkiness came in handy outside of cheering up a grumpy sibling or a bummed out friend. “I try, my dear, I try. Just how I am, I guess!” - She giggled softly at being called ‘dear,’ finding it both silly and charming. “Well, you succeed!” she chuckled. “What were we talking about? Fighting games? Something about fighting?” - “Something like that, yeah…come to think of it, how did we even get on that topic, anyway? What were we even talking about before that?” - “I have no idea. I don’t even really play video games. See, this is why I write things down; can’t remember a thing otherwise… Well, aside from the fact that Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. That’s about all that stuck with me from school.” - “I wouldn’t call myself a gamer, really. Kind of in the ‘I know just enough to keep myself from getting my butt completely kicked whenever one of the munchkins wants me to do a Pokemon battle with them’ camp. Maybe the occasional party game like those dancing ones, but otherwise…” J.C. chuckled, “What about ‘Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally’ for maths, or ‘Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492?’. Granted, that’s probably going back a looooong time, but hey.” - “I can play a bit of those Mario Party games, but that’s about it. I mostly button mash everything else. It’s amazing how often I win doing that…” she trailed off. “I know those too! It’s just the cotton gin thing stuck with me, for some reason. When will I ever need that information? Elementary school Jeopardy?” - “Haha, Iiiii’d imagine so. I remember when I was still in primary school, we had this ‘Bring-Your-Parent-To-School Day’ thing, and we did have something like that at one point. Kids vs. the parents. Sort of like…what’s the name of that one show? ‘Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?’. Pretty sure that show wasn’t around when I was that young, so your description’s probably more accurate.” - “I suppose you have a point there. I guess I can use it in a competition with my future kids,” she laughed. “Assuming I one day marry and have them or adopt them or what have you.” - “Same, honestly. I like to think I’ve gotten enough practice with ‘Thing 1′ and ‘Thing 2′, and having a kid of my own would be nice. It’s….different from having siblings, you actually have something that you had a hand in creating, and it’s like a little you.” He paused. “I mean…they’re obviously they’re own person, but half of their DNA is yours.” Cue a small sigh, “I dunno, having a tiny person thinking you’re the coolest thing ever for a time is a nice feeling. Kind of want to experience it on a different level than ‘older sibling-younger sibling’.” Cue another pause, then a somewhat sheepish chuckle, “That…aaaah, I didn’t mean to dump all that on you at once. Had an idea and ran with it. I hope that made at least some sense.” - Audrey giggled, pleased with his ramble. She liked the way this man thought. “Oh, no worries. I like listening to people talk about things that make them happy, especially when it’s about kids. And I know what you mean. I can’t help but wonder what a biological child of mine might look like. What traits of mine might they inherit? That sort of thing.” - “Basically a game of ‘roll the genetic dice and see what happens’, I guess. Sometimes it can be a little scary if you’ve got some potentially harmful stuff in your history, but otherwise it’s kind of cool.” A thought occurred to J.C., evidenced by the sudden change in expression on his face. “…I wonder if anyone’s ever had a child that’s exactly half of one parent and half of the other. Like one side of their head has curly hair and the other side is straight? I guess that could happen with multiples, but I don’t know about a singular child…” - “I don’t think that’s possible,” she scratched her head as she thought. “I know eyes can be two different colors, but I don’t think you can have two types of hair on the same head… Not naturally, anyway. I mean, my hair is kind of in-between Mom’s waves and Dad’s curls… Probably closer to Dad in that respect. Can’t style it very well… It’s not both though.” - “Mm.” He nodded as he listened to Audrey’s thought process. “Guess it all depends on what exactly the DNA wants to do when, for lack of a better term, building someone from scratch happens. ‘You get your mom’s eyes, your dad’s hair, the dimples of some relative a few generations back…’. Genetics are weird.” - “Tell me about it. Dad has no freckles, Mom has a few, I have a ton. Apparently, there’s some hidden super freckle gene somewhere in my family.” - J.C. chuckled, “Guess so. I don’t know a whole lot about what ran in mine, other than brown hair from my mother and…” he paused, “I know there was something on my father’s side, though what it is is escaping me at the moment…” - Audrey figured he must be having difficulty remembering as it’s been so long since his biological family was alive. Deciding it better to change the subject before he delves too deep into such a topic, Audrey thought up a distraction. “Do you remember that thing in school where you draw a square consisting of four smaller squares to figure out possible gene combinations or whatever? I forget what it’s called…” - J.C. thought for a minute; that sounded really familiar… “The thing where you put, like…uppercase ‘B’ for brown eyes and lowercase ‘b’ for blue eyes? I believe it’s a Punnett Square?” - “Yeah! That’s it! You’d think figuring out the odds of certain traits would be more complicated than drawing a few squares, but, there it is.” - He chuckled, “I know, right? Apparently, you can use them in…I believe it’s algebra, as well, but it’s a little more complicated there. ‘Square this number, multiply these two’…” - “Oh, gosh; not algebra!” she yelped in faux terror before chuckling. The two went on talking for a good while after that, but ultimately had to end the call. Finding such a thing quite enjoyable, Audrey made sure to call J.C. again… and again… and again. They’d even gotten to the point where they did video calls. It practically became a routine, but there were still interesting moments to be had. “Check it out! I got a wireless headphone microphone thingy!” Audrey chirped excitedly, waving her hand around her head to show there were no wires. “Now I can still talk to you, even if I step away from the computer a little!” - J.C. let out a playful, dramatic gasp at the reveal. “Ah, fantastique! You’re not confined to having to be close to the computer like I am.” he joked, pulling at his headphone cord a bit, “I have one of those microphones that are built into the computer, but I’m definitely planning on upgrading to a more ‘external’ one soon…seven to ten business days to be exact, should the delivery go without a hitch. Merci, online shopping~” - “Tell me about it! Present shopping has never been so convenient~ Also,” Audrey clapped, summoning Lola to jump onto the couch with her. “No more nearly knocking down the computer whenever Lola wants attention!” - J.C. chuckled at the little pup, “Ah, bonjour, Lola!” “Did you say Lola!?” came a voice from outside his door. “Can I see ‘er? Please, please, please, pleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaase?” The older brother playfully rolled his eyes, “Oh lord, sounds like I said the magic word. You don’t mind Kat popping in for a bit, do you?” - Audrey chuckled and shook her head. “Not at all~ Let me just turn the speakers on so Lola can hear her. You like the attention, don’t you, girl~?” she cooed as she pet her head. - J.C. gave the two a small smile before turning towards his door. “Entrez!” With a small creak, in came Kat, bounding towards her brother’s bed. Thankfully, he didn’t have to worry about as much damage being done once she flopped onto it, as Kat was a good deal smaller than Syd. No real worries about his laptop flying off of the bed and onto the floor or the screen getting kicked in. Once she was on the bed, Kat crawled towards the webcam and made herself comfortable, smiling widely and cooing at the dog. “Hiiiiya, Lola! Hiya, Audrey!” - “Hiya, Kat!” Audrey returned the greeting as Lola stood up and wagged her tail at the excited voice. “Who’s that?” she asked playfully, getting a bark from her dog. “Yes! It’s Kat! Such a good girl~” she gave Lola a generous petting - The eight year old giggled at the dog’s response. “Kinda bites that you guys are so far away, an’ that I can’t reach through the screen an’ give her some pets…but seeing you two’s okay enough! How’ve you been?” - “I’m giving her plenty of pets for you,” she giggled, petting the dog. “Work’s been a little overwhelming here and there, but Lola and your brother have been doing a good job of helping me wind down. What about you? School treating you okay?” - “Uh-huh!”, the little girl nodded,  “Right now we’re doing our sevens times tables in maths and we’re reading Sideways Stories from Wayside School. We’re supposed to be starting this really cool science experiment next week, but I dunno what exactly it is, ‘cos our teacher’s keeping it a secret.” “Maybe you’re doing the ‘butterfly life cycle observation’ thing.” J.C. commented, “I remember doing that a few times in primary school.” - “Oooo, that sounds fun~ Glad that you’re enjoying yourself. School takes up a lot of time, so, best enjoy it, if you can. Maybe you can give Syd some pointers on that.” Syd struck her as someone who didn’t enjoy school much. - “I meeeean, I dunno what exactly it is they do in Year 6, but I can try? She likes when they do more ‘science-y’ stuff and reading more action-packed stories, than having to learn history or maths….buuuut I can try!”   J.C. smirked at his sister’s confidence. “Well, you know the saying: ‘Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it’.” - “Well… there’s a lot of action in history?” she shrugged. “Though that’s rarely a good thing in real life… And you need to know math in order to properly do science. Lots of equations and all that.” - “Yeeeeah, true. But I guess you gotta explain stuff in a way that’ll make it sound interesting with ‘er. Not totally sure how you could make maths interesting.” The older brother snickered, “Maybe if the question’s something like…’If there are 96 pieces of chewing gum in a candy machine and there are 8 friends, how many pieces does each friend get?’. Something that she can kind of relate to. Or at the very least, reword the question, but keep the same numbers.” - “I’d imagine she’d say something along the lines of, ‘Depends on who has to figure it out. They’ll get more than the rest.’ Gotta be careful with how you word these things,” she wagged a finger. - J.C. laughed, “She would. Or ‘Why would they be sharing, that’s 96 whole pieces of gum right there!’.” “I do know she likes when her class gets to do creative assignments, too.” Kat piped up, “Like when they have a spelling list, but get to write a story that uses the words in it. Or when they make a scene from something or a model in a shoe box.” “…A diorama?” “Yeah, that! She tends to make a big mess when she’s making it, but the end product’s pretty good…and she has fun doin’ it too.” - “That’s good! See, you’ve gotta focus on the good with these things. Focus on the bad and you’ll make yourself miserable. I mean, there are difficult aspects to my job, but I try to focus on the fact I’m helping people get healthy and/or stay healthy. Just remind her something good will come soon enough, you know?” - Kat gave Audrey a salute, “Can do!” “It takes a bit of patience, too.” J.C. added, “I know she wants to do some of the experiments that I did in secondary school and uni, but…well, you need to learn to crawl before you can walk, and know how to walk before you can run.” “It’s hard, though, when you’re little.” Kat piped up. “Trust me, I know. And I’m pretty sure Audrey knows too; we were both your age once.” - “Exactly,” Audrey nodded. “I used to get frustrated with what I wasn’t allowed to do, but, looking back, I wasn’t ready. I couldn’t go baking a cake without learning to crack an egg first.” - “…Ssssoooo she can’t exactly go sledding down the stairs without knowing how to steer the sled first?” J.C. snickered, “I mean, in theory, yeah, but you shouldn’t be doing that anyway because you could get seriously hurt. And that’s regardless of how many pillows you’ve tied to yourself, how many you’ve put at the bottom of the stairs, and with wearing knee and elbow pads and a helmet.” - “Even if you somehow managed not to get hurt, I can’t imagine it would be much fun. I mean, it’d probably be a really bumpy ride. I’d much rather sled in the snow.” - “But then we’d have to go waaaaaaay up north if we wanted snow. It almost never comes this far south.” Kat pouted. “If you want some deep snow, yes, but I think if we a tad bit as opposed to- as you put it- ‘waaaaaaaay’, it’d be fine. Maybe even go a bit west, as well.” J.C. looked to Audrey, “How much snow would you say you get over by you?” - “How much snow?” Audrey proceeded to cackle for a good long time before holding up a finger, asking for a moment to compose herself. “Sorry,” she cleared her throat. “We just get so much snow! I mean it. A lot. A little snow for us would be two feet deep. There’s a reason we have snowplows over here.” - Kat gasped excitedly. “We gotta go to Michigan for sledding!!” J.C. sputtered, laughing a little, “So you’d be willing to take a half-a-day flight just to go sledding? Not one that’d be maybe an hour, hour and a half at most?” “Yeah! ‘Sides, you’d be able to go an’ see Audrey! Us too, obviously, but still!” - “Oh, come now, it wouldn’t just be sledding… There’s making snowmen too,” she giggled. “Not to mention the feeling of coming inside from the cold and warming up with some hot chocolate.” - “And snow angels and snowball fights!” the little girl bounced excitedly. - Audrey chuckled. “Now, now, don’t get too excited. We don’t even know if this winter visit will happen.” - “Can it, thooooough?” Kat asked, giving the two the “puppy dog pout/puppy dog eyes” combo. As much as the older brother would love that, doing so was dependent on a lot of factors.  “Iiiiiit’s a bit too early to say yes or no, sooooo…I guess we can chalk it up as a ‘we’ll see’?” - “It’s not up to me, kiddo,” she gave the child a shrug. “I’d certainly welcome you, but I can’t exactly fly you over here.” - “Awww…” “Hey, it’s not a ‘no’.” J.C. pointed out, trying to make the situation a bit more positive. - “There’s still plenty of time to figure it out,” Audrey offered. “I mean, school only started a few weeks ago over here. It’s still pretty warm out.” - “Yeah. You’re telling me you want to skip out on your birthday and Halloween and just go straight to winter?” J.C joked. Kat let out a small gasp and shook her head ‘no’. “Theeeeeeeeen you have to wait, kiddo.” - Audrey chuckled. "I’m looking forward to pumpkin spice season, myself.” - “I love fall.” J.C. sighed, thoroughly content. “Part of it being the pumpkin spice, part of it the cooler weather…” “Part of it being that you can toss me into leaf piles.” Kat added, grinning. The brother snorted, “That’s something that you love, goofball…buuuuut I do get a good laugh out of it. Next time we get a deep enough pile, you’re getting launched.” Kat responded with her arms joyously shooting upwards, and a happy “Yay!” - Audrey let out a small giggled, one of joy more than humor. She really liked seeing this man get along so well with children. This man was destined to be a father, she thought to herself as she smiled dreamily. - “Maybe if you and Syd team up, you can launch me.” he joked. Kat scoffed before laughing, “Yeeeeah, maybe not? Now, Audrey probably could! Either with us or by herself!” - The laughter snapped her out of her dreamy state and she laughed too. “I can’t guarantee a soft landing if I do.” - “He’s had worse!” Kat snickered, imagine Audrey doing just as she stated. J.C. smiled and rolled his eyes at the blonde and ruffled her hair a bit, “Alright, alriiiight…hey, did you finish your homework yet?” Kat shook her head no. “I was takin’ a break. Guess I should get back to it?” J.C. nodded, “Then when you’re done, we’ll go over it….maybe practice some of your multiplication flash cards?” “ ‘Kay….but you promised we would have a tea party after that and dinner, remember?” “Of course I do. You, me, and Mr. Bunnysworth are going over the details of the deed to your dollhouse.” The way he said it sounded so matter-of-fact. Kat giggled at her goofball brother before turning to Audrey and Lola, “Sounds like I gotta get goin’. I’ll talk you guys later!” - Audrey giggled again. These two were adorable! “Talk to you later,” she smiled and waved goodbye. Once Kat was gone, Audrey turned the sound back to her headphones. “Tea party, huh? Since you’re in England, do you have actual tea at those?” - J.C. smiled and blew a bit of air out of his nose, “Occasionally, yeah. Kind of a toss up between that or some juice. In the winter, she’ll use hot cocoa.” - Audrey chuckled. “That’s basically what we do over here. That or we just sip on air. It’s usually air, unless we’re using real cups. Those play tea cups are so tiny.” - “I know, right? You have to take teeeeeeny tiny sips if you want it to last the whole party. Like a little mouse or something.” - “Imagine if you were trying to actually hydrate with one of those,” she snickered. - “Oh jeez. If you drink out of them like a normal human being, it’s almost like doing shots.” He paused for a second. “…Oooor at least, how I imagine one would do them. Never done them myself. The occasional glass of wine on special occasions or on vacation, but otherwise…” - Audrey snorted. “I just imagined someone doing shots of tea, but instead of getting drunk, they just get more and more English!” - “Ha! I could start out sounding like this.…” He mimicked downing a few cups of tea before speaking again in a “fancier” accent: “…to something like this. And as the day goes on, it just….waters itself down.” - Audrey couldn’t help but cackle at the demonstration. Once she calmed down, she glanced at the clock and spoke again. “Oh goodness; is that the time? I need to let Lola out before she messes on the floor. Be right back!” She darted off camera to let Lola outside. While outside, her headphones were out of range of her computer, so neither of them could hear each other. With the silence, Audrey managed to forget she was wearing the headphones at all. Making her way back inside (and back in range of her computer), she sang softly to herself as she went about getting Lola a treat. - “Can’t be having that now! You two go do your thing, I’ll be over here.” As the two went off, J.C. took the time to readjust a few things with his computer, answer an e-mail, comment on a friend’s photo. His ears perked up a bit when he picked up the sound of Audrey’s voice again. Was she…? She was. He’d heard her sing once already (he had joined in, after all~), but regardless of that, she sounded lovely. Cue a bit of pink coloring his cheeks. - As she made her way back to the computer, she stopped singing and went about taking the headphones from around her neck and putting them back over her ears. “Sorry about that,” she sat back down with a smile, oblivious to the fact he’d heard her. - “Huh? Oh! Oh, it’s no big deal.” He chuckled sheepishly, “When you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go.” Cue the blush getting a bit more noticeable. Seemed to be that she was unaware that he could hear her… - Audrey raised her brow at this and cocked her head slightly to the side. “You feeling alright?” - Ah, crud, he’d been caught. “You, ah….” he gestured to where her headset had been. “You had forgotten to take your headset off, and I caught a bit of you singing when you came back in. N-not that that’s a bad thing! I thought i-i-i-i-it sounded lovely…” - “Oh? Oh!” she brought her fingertips to her mouth for a moment, then brought them back down with an embarrassed smile. “Ah-ha… Oops… Thank you?” - “Eheh…heh…aaaah, no problem…” Well, this was awkward. - “What were we talking about?” she twirled some hair around her fingers as she tried to distract from what had just happened. - “Tea parties and fancy accents, I believe?” J.C. answered, going back to said “fancy” accent as a joke. - Audrey tittered and the two went back to talking. As time went by, the leaves turned color, the temperature got colder, and their online chats became more frequent. “Since Halloween is right around the corner, I have an idea I want to toss out there, if you’re interested.” - J.C., currently in a rather “spooky” sweater, looked up from his hot cocoa, curious. “Shoot. What’cha got rattlin’ around in that brain of yours?” - “You know how I don’t watch horror movies because I don’t want to hurt someone on accident or watch it alone? Well, I can’t really hurt anyone if they aren’t physically in the room with me,” she grinned a bit slyly. “Could be something a bit different, you know?” - “Oooo-hoo-hoo, I like~ So! How should we start out with this? Something super tame like….well, I mean Hotel Transylvania isn’t a horror movie, but it has monsters in it…or do we go for the big guns like The Grudge?” - “I was thinking an actual horror movie. My cousin Chloe got me a nice mountain of horror movie files to choose from. She may have been a bit over zealous though,” she chuckled. “I doubt I’ll ever watch them all. Anyway, I can send the files your way and we can watch it on that Let’s Gaze website we tested out before.” - J.C. laughed as well, “Fine by me! Anything in said mountain that’s catching your eye? I’m not super picky with what we watch.” - “Chloe did mention that some of them can have a bit of humor or ridiculousness to them. What were some of them? Child’s Play… Scream… The Cabin in the Woods… Any of those sound good?” - Taking a sip of his drink as Audrey listed off a few titles, he perked up at the last one. “Oooo, Cabin in the Woods, let’s go with that.” - “I take it you like that one?” she smiled as she went about sending him a link to download the file. - “It’s actually one I haven’t seen,” he clarified, “Child’s Play and Scream, I have seen, albeit a few years ago. Figured I’d start with something ‘new’ before going towards more familiar, y’know?” - “Sounds good. When do you think you’ll have time to sit and watch a whole movie with me?” - “Mmmmm, probably sometime a little later this week? Have a few ‘autumnal’ things that are going on with the family, so I might not be able to find some free time before then. I can keep you posted, though!” - “Is it apple picking?” Audrey asked enthusiastically. “Or throwing your sisters into leaf piles? Pumpkin picking?” - “All 3~” he smiled, “Maybe some preliminary costume searching as well.” - “Ooooooo~ Sounds like you’ve got some busy days ahead of you! My mom, dad, aunts, uncles, and cousins are all going apple picking with me next week! We’re all gonna get some fresh air, pick some apples, make some apple treats… that sort of thing~” - “Ooo, sounds fun! Maybe I can suggest that to Mum and Dad; apple-flavoured stuff- rather, stuff made from apples- sounds really good right now. Plus, it can give Syd a chance to put some of her energy towards climbing some trees.” - “I can send you some recipes, if you need any,” she offered. - “Ooo, that’d be lovely, actually. Spice things up a bit in terms of autumnal snacks, you know?” - Audrey’s eyes seemed to sparkle at the concept of sharing recipes. “Oh! Oh! I have lots of recipes! What do you think you might want; pies, crisps, cobblers, muffins, cakes, cider, applesauce, fritters, breads?!” - Dang, she really DID have a lot of recipes! And they all sounded really nummy~ “Man, you weren’t kidding!” he laughed, “Hm, where do I even start? Maybe we can start with fritters and muffins and go from there.” - “Good choice~ I’ll be sure to send those your way.” She reached for her notebook off camera and jotted down a reminder. “Maybe I could add a nice apple drink recipe in there. Gotta wash those treats down with something~” - “Oo, even better. Kind of like a little bonus treat.“ - Audrey giggled at that. “A treat for your treats~” - J.C. let out a giggle as well…with an unintentional snort. Upon realizing that he had done so, his face went a bit pink. He was still smiling, though, so that was a good sign. - She didn’t comment on the snort. She didn’t want to embarrass him, especially when she did the same thing. “It’s a shame you live so far away. It’d be fun to bake together, I bet!” - He stopped for a second, a thought occurring to him. If they could talk to each other while being in two different parts of the world, what was to stop them from baking? “Unless…we do the baking, but like how we’re doing now. Find some sort of set up to where we can place our computers or phones or whatever out of the ingredient ‘splash zone’, and check on each other’s progress along the way. Baking together, but not physically together, if that makes any sense.” - “We should totally do that,” she exclaimed. “I wonder what we should make. I’d suggest an apple dish, but I don’t go apple picking until next week. Heh. Maybe we should try something simple, just to test it out?” She put a finger to her mouth in thought. “Perhaps a no-bake pumpkin pie? Still autumn themed. Do you guys have boxes of instant pudding over in England? Maybe we should make something with more common ingredients. Hmm… Oh! Pumpkin bread!” - “Oh definitely; do a test run, see how that goes, and then go from there!” J.C. agreed. “Do we have instant pu…I actually might have to check the next time I go out for groceries. Pumpkin bread might be a better option to start with, at least. I know for a fact that we have the stuff to make it here.” - “I’ll have to Google this sort of thing later,” she mused aloud. “I know you guys don’t have graham crackers over there. I’m guessing you’d use shortbread crust for pies in place of graham cracker ones…” - “Usually, yeah, or we use digestive biscuits in place of them. They may have them in the ‘’American’‘ section of a grocery store, but it depends on the store.” - Audrey nodded. “It really is wild how similar, yet different, our foods can be. I’ll try to look through my recipes for ones that are more basic. Here in the states, we tend to use shortcuts that you may not have; like instant pudding.” - “Right? And it can mean something completely different too. The kind that you’re talking about is usually called ‘custard’. If you look up ‘Yorkshire pudding’, that’s usually what we mean. Haggis is technically considered one. …English is weird.” - “Haggis?!” she asked with a weird face. “You’re right. English is weird.” She scrunched her nose. “I’m not going to lie here; if I asked for chocolate pudding and got haggis, I would be very disappointed.” - J.C. laughed, “Same, honestly. I mean, the food itself actually isn’t all that bad; it’s just the way it’s made that makes it sound gross…and…maybe some of what’s in it. To each their own, I suppose.” He shrugged, “I’ve only had it a few times that I can remember; usually when we’ve gone to visit one of my aunts up in Scotland.” - “I’ve never had it myself, but I know it doesn’t taste like chocolate pudding. Hence why I would be disappointed. I’m generally down to try anything at least once.” She thought a moment. “Scotland, huh? Is it as pretty as the pictures?” - “Always a plus.” he smiled. “I’d say so, yeah. One of my favourite places that we sometimes stop over in is Edinburgh, it’s kind of got a fairy tale-esque feel to it. Where my aunt lives is a bit further south, over in Dumfries; more of a riverside kind of town. If you go north enough in the winter, you’re able to see the northern lights, apparently. Haven’t had a chance to myself, unfortunately. I mean, we’ve been pretty far north there that time of year, but never at a point where we can catch ‘em.” - “Oh, that sounds lovely,” she smiled. “Maybe you could ask your relatives to send you pictures, since you haven’t been able to catch them yourself. Oh! Another name for the northern lights is the aurora borealis, right? Sounds all scientific that way,” she chuckled. - He laughed, “Indeed it does. …Y’know, that actually sounds like a good idea. Knowing my luck, if you and I got together just for that, there’d be a wicked snowstorm that moves in on the night we’d be seeing them.” Of course, the alternative of being all snuggled up indoors by a fireplace with some hot cocoa with her wasn’t bad. - She cocked her head slightly, a bit curious, but kept her smile all the same. How exactly did he feel about her if one of his first thoughts about the northern lights would be seeing them with her? “Well, I’m sure we’d find other things to do. Maybe hot cocoa and a crackling fire? I love those~” Seemed she had a similar mindset. - “Maybe in some comfy pyjamas, under one of those weighted blankets.” he added, goofy grin starting to sprawl across his face“…Ooooor a lightweight but super fluffy one. Either or.” - “Oooo~ Both are good! Might depend on how warm the fire makes everything.” She chuckled. “Here we go; talking about a fictional snowstorm. Our conversations sure are something, aren’t they? I was supposed to remember something…” Audrey opened her notebook. “Oh, yeah! I’m supposed to get you some recipes and find one we can both cook together!” Looking off screen, she spotted Lola. “Looks like Lola wants O-U-T and I need to look for some recipes, so I’ll talk to you later, okay?” - “Right, right! That should be fun; here’s hoping that when we do do that, the internet says running smoothly the entire time. Nothing worse that trying to get an exact amount of something from someone, and the connection starts to glitch.” At the mention of Lola, J.C. blew a bit of air out of his nose, smiling. “Haha, silly pup. You go on ahead; I’ll catch up with you later!” -End-

#Pen Pals #roleplay #compiled roleplay #redradandrod #muse: Audrey Davis

[pupfresh]

Pup and Coming: Persona

Persona Genre: Indie/Pop Rock/Pop Punk

What’s your hometown?

Persona was born in a Bethpage, NY basement

How did you become a band?

Costas: We had music written before we had a name. We felt that there was such a diverse and bi-polar sound, that this music needed to have a name to fit its many faces and multiple personalities.

Sam: We became a band after realizing we had a musical connection through alternative indie vibes and were all Greek!

Tom: With this band we didn't want to cater to one sound or put ourselves in a corner like most bands do. When I think of Persona its almost bi polar and so is the sound we developed. We have songs that sound like pop punk anthems and then there's songs that are dark, indie and progressive. When our bassist Sam popped out the name Persona we knew it was a done deal.

CJ: We used to play gigs together in the music scene with other bands. Talked about jamming one day and fell in love at first sight.

Where did the band name originate from?

Costas: We were sitting in our practice space throwing names out one day and Sam said something along the lines of “It needs to fit in the Persona” and I turned to him and said “Persona”. We all looked at each other in agreement that the name just found it self.

Sam: The band name came from the latin word for “Mask” and our endless need to show whats hiding under the mask and monotony of the mundane everyday life.

CJ: I'm not sure, but it’s pretty damn cool. Great play of a word if you ask me.

Where do you guys draw your influences for your music?

Costas: My influences come from past and present experience, the feelings that they have made me feel. Persona collectively is a group of 4 guys who come from different backgrounds and different personal experience. Persona is driven by life, vibes, emotion & heart.

Sam: Third Eye Blind, Minus The Bear, Taking Back Sunday, American Football, Blink -182

Tom: If it wasn't for Blink 182 I don't think any of us would be playing music today. We also draw influences from bands like Third Eye Blind, Cartel, Motion City Soundtrack, The Dangerous Summer, As Tall As Lions, Circa Survive, Minus The Bear and so many more!

CJ: All around. We all grew up with bands like Blink-182, Sum 41, Green Day, and Third Eye Blind. Personally I ventured off to more of the metal/hardcore scene… but still love my roots

What sets you apart from all the other bands out there?

Costas: I think what sets a part from other bands is the fact that you never know what you’re going to get. In my opinion, each song is its own entity and sparks a completely different emotion. Some songs may touch you more on cloudy days, some songs make you want to party on the beach. That’s the beauty of Persona. I feel there are too many bands and records out there that stay within this one element, which is great and all but it doesn’t leave much room for diversity in that sound. Too many bands out there trying to sound like the other guy, who is trying to sound like the other guy.

Sam: We are set apart from other bands with our own natural mix of instruments and vocals. Persona original songs come from our collective personal experiences: when listening or watching Persona play live, one can get a sense of each band members individual experiences through how they play their pars

Tom: What sets us apart from bands is like I said with our name, we don't cater to one genre or sound. Lately during the summer months we've been releasing very bright pop rock songs that make you feel like your being uplifted. During the fall and winter months we plan on releasing darker more progressive and vibed out songs. Usually bands find there sound and are pinned to a corner. With us the options are endless with a name like Persona.

CJ: We are all Greek and handsome so that stands out. Might as well have John Stamos in our band!

What’s your favorite part about being in a band?

Costas: I love the whole process. But I’d have to say writing and jamming. Taking nothing and making it something. Or taking an idea and watching it become something special. Watching a feeling become a song and watching that song come to life is such an incredible experience.

Sam: My favorite part about being in a band is always stumbling upon the perfect mix of musical ideas and influences once we complete a song. There is a unique and natural energy given off by each of our songs that always reveals itself once we pool all of our ideas together.

Tom: The best part about being in a band is expressing your soul through sound and impacting people from the music you make. Getting comments like "I was having the worst day until I heard one of your songs and my day is better" is probably the most rewarding feeling. Playing a show and getting that feeling and vibe reciprocated by the fans has no words to the feeling I get.

CJ: Favorite part of being in a band is just the impact you put on other people. The feeling I get is indescribable when someone writes something positive or even them personally writing to us and saying you changed their life. That’s what special about music, it not only connects people. Its brings out the best in all of us

What are the bands future plans?

Costas: September is a busy month for us! We are playing at Amityville Music Hall on September 29th with Emarosa, A Lot Like Birds, & Jule Vera, which is presented by East Coast Collective. We’ll be back in the studio finishing up 3 more songs we started recording last month! We are trying to keep constant with song and media releases. We will also be announcing some exciting news about a new EP. We are looking to hit the road and bring our live show to you!

Sam: Our future plans include showing the world our music, one interested listener at a time

Tom: To impact as many people as we can through music. We are starting to cross over into the darker sound with the fall/winter months ahead and plan to release a new music video each month and playing with some awesome big names like Emarosa and A lot like Birds. The options are endless and we can't wait what's ahead.

CJ: Planning on putting our hearts in this band, rocking the stage and have the world hear our songs. #believethehype #letemknow

What was your favorite cartoon growing up?

Costas: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Darkwing Duck, Eek The Cat

Sam: Hey Arnold!

Tom: My favorite cartoon growing up had to be Rugrats. I would get home from school, drink some apple juice and put on Nickelodeon waiting for the Rugrats to come on.

CJ: I would say Rockos Modern Life, Close second is courage the cowardly dog. Ill never forget when the first episode was released and it scared the shit out of me

Favorite pizza topping?

Costas: Pepperoni with Cold Cheese

Sam: Buffalo Chicken

Tom: Bacon! or should I say pineapple to anger society for fun?

CJ: We are from LawnGuyLand New York baby! The best pizza and bagels there is! Actually maybe favorite topping is extra cold cheese on top! (little vincents represent)

If you could have one superpower what would it be?

Costas: I’d have to go with flying

Sam: Flying so I can be one step closer to becoming super sayian

Tom: Invisibility so I can see everyone naked!

CJ: To be able to shit out money, cause I shit like 5 times a day and I would never have to work a day in my life again and just be a road dawg cruising gig to gig

What's the first album you ever bought?

Costas: Blink-182 - Enema of the State

Sam: Limp Bizkit significant other edited version

Tom: Bustah Rhymes mixtape from 1995 but, I would say the first real album would be Third Eye Blind's self titles from 1997.

CJ: First album I ever got was Austin Powers: the spy who shagged me soundtrack. First album I believe I bought was at an FYE and it was Sum 41 “All Killer No Filler”. There is not a single bad jam on that record. I think I melted the cd cause I listened to it so much on my discman.

What's the last show you watched on Netflix?

Costas: The Dave Chappelle Special

Sam: Its always sunny in Philadelphia!

Tom: Twinpeaks

Anything else you'd like to say?

Tom: Lets party!

#persona #interview #pop punk #pup and coming #music

[circlesandsoundwaves]

Inner & Outer Portraits: Cory Castro (Free Throw)

Photos and interview by Molly Louise Hudelson.

This piece is a part of an interview series called Inner & Outer Portraits. Inner & Outer Portraits features in-depth conversations exploring personal experiences and the connections that we all feel with music, in combination with photographs of the subject. The goal? To showcase who they are from all angles, both inside and out.

When you write or create something personal, there's often a bit of hesitancy in putting it out into the world. Suddenly, you're revealing some of your deepest truths to the world. Once it's out there, it can feel freeing, but the biggest relief of all comes when you find someone who connects with what you wrote or created. Cory Castro of Free Throw (lead vocals and guitar) says he tries to write songs in a way that listeners can "take their own meaning from it" because "if they relate to it that means I'm not alone."

On May 26, Free Throw released their second full-length album, Bear Your Mind, on Triple Crown Records. From the opening track "Open Window" to the closer "Victory Road", Castro bears his mind for the world to hear, exploring topics like anxiety, family issues, body image, and loss. While Bear Your Mind dives deep, it remains completely self-aware; it’s introspective and personal while also being relatable.

Free Throw's recent headlining tour stopped at the Foundry in Philadelphia on June 24, where I met up with Castro for this piece. In our conversation, he talked about some of the bands he connected with immediately, and how powerful that immediate connection can be. If a flurry of social media posts are any clue, plenty of people have felt this immediate connection with Bear Your Mind. Our conversation got deep, but Castro seemed at ease as we talked, and when it came time to take portraits, there was a lot of laughter as we both joked around.

From why music is important to him to the meaning behind the album title Bear Your Mind, read on for the Inner & Outer Portrait of Cory Castro.

CIRCLES & SOUNDWAVES: What music have you personally connected with?

Cory Castro: There's a lot of it. Music's always been my thing since I was younger; even before I started playing music, I just loved music. I skateboarded a lot and skateboarding and music go hand in hand. When I skateboard, I've always got something in the headphones.

C&S: Which came first- a love of music, or skateboarding?

CC: Love of music, for sure. I've loved music since I was probably 4 or 5 years old- [that] was when I first realized, "oh my god, music is the coolest thing in the world"- but I didn't start skateboarding till I was about 10 or 11.

But as for bands that I've really, really connected with emotionally over the last few years, there's a band that used to be around called Grown Ups- they're from Indiana and the singer of that band is now the singer of Cloakroom- and they have an album called More Songs that is basically one of the hugest influences on what Free Throw does now.

Lately I've been really connecting with Hall & Oates for some reason. I think I'm just getting older, really- getting in to the things that my mom and dad would listen to. The first time I ever heard The Get Up Kids, that was a big one for me.

C&S: What was it like the first time you heard Grown Ups or The Get Up Kids?

CC: It's that moment of epiphany- like you just finally found something that captures inside what you were thinking of, I guess. It was a glorious thing. And some bands that doesn't happen immediately, it takes a little bit to listen to and then it happens- but Grown Ups was definitely a band that it immediately happened for me. Brand New, obviously, was a band that it immediately happened with. When I was in high school in the mid-2000s, Taking Back Sunday and Brand New and bands like that were really popular and so I immediately was like, "Oh man, everybody likes this kind of music that I like"- and a little bit off the topic, but Iron Maiden is a band that I absolutely love for some reason.

C&S: It's interesting- when I was in middle school and high school, it was Taking Back Sunday, Good Charlotte, blink-182 was a big one for me- and for a while I thought, "Well, I don't want to listen to anything else, because I listen to this and there's a stigma of liking anything else"- I don't know if stigma's the right word...

CC: Sometimes you get trapped into a certain scene of music and you find yourself only listening to that kind of music. I definitely went through phases where that was the only kind of music I listened to. Even when I was listening to Grown Ups, the only bands that I was listening to were, like, Algernon Cadwallader, or Snowing, and Grown Ups- all these bands that, outside of Philly, no one really listened to that much. Or they did but not, you know, normal everyday people.

C&S: Philly is the place right now for music.

CC: I love Philly. I love it. Every time we come here I have so much fun and I get to see so many friends- the music scene here is just wonderful.

C&S: What is your favorite song?

CC: My favorite song- like of all time?

C&S: Yeah.

CC: Oh man, I don't know- that's a hard one. I have a favorite song of right now which is probably "If This Tour Doesn't Kill You" by PUP. I love PUP, that band is an amazing band. But of all time? That's a really hard one. We'll go with something funny- the Space Jam theme song. I love that song.

C&S: As a follow-up to that, can you tell a story about a moment or a time when the PUP song really connected with you?

CC: Oh, yeah- every day of my life! [Laughs.] You know, when you're in a van with a bunch of people for a month, month and a half, two months at a time, of course little things start to get to you and you have these moments where you're just like, "Ugh"- but in a real sense, I don't have too many of those true moments where I'm like, wishing death upon someone. Our band is really a group of best friends. We hang out at home; we all- with the inclusion of Kevin over the past year and a half to two years- are just a group of best friends. You know, we get in to our spats, and then we listen to that song and everybody feels better.

C&S: Why is music important to you?

CC: It's my outlet. It's my saving grace, I guess- without it, I don't know what I would do. I don't know what I would be doing, I don't know what my career would be. I have no idea what life would be like, and it's honestly the most therapeutic thing I've ever had in my entire life. 

I've struggled my entire life with mental health issues and anxiety disorder- I was diagnosed with anxiety disorder when I was I think 4 years old.

C&S: I honestly did not realize that they would diagnose someone so young.

CC: I was starting school and every time my parents wouldn't show up on time, I immediately started freaking out and I was convinced that they were dead and those kind of things. I ended up going to therapy and my therapist was pretty sure from a young age that I was suffering from anxiety disorder. And not being able to cope and handle situations the way I should- I freak out way too easily. So I've been dealing with that my entire life and have found a way to express it through music; even if it's not about that subject, playing music in general is something that takes my mind off of it.

C&S: For someone who hears Free Throw for the first time, what do you want them to get out of your band?

CC: Most people immediately establish that we're a drinking band, which is funny but I try really hard to write the songs in a way that is relatable and that people can insert themselves into the lyrics and into the situation and take their own meaning from it…. I want the band to be relatable- I want people to relate to it because if they relate to it that means I'm not alone.

C&S: So it's a circular thing, in a way.

CC: It is, it helps me just as much as it helps other people to realize that they're relating to something- to realize that they're relating to it helps me. It's very much my therapy process and my way of making it through life.

C&S: You put out a new album, Bear Your Mind, about a month ago- tell me about the album title.

CC: Oh, wow- it actually was the last thing to come about. When Kevin tried out for the band, "Weak Tables" was the first song that we wrote for the album. He flew from Boston to try out for the band and we wrote two songs and we were like, "Well, we guess we wrote these songs, so you're in the band now." Immediately after we wrote that song, I knew what I wanted to write the album about- cuz I had been struggling about what I wanted to write the next album about, because the first one was about a very bad relationship that I had.

C&S: And this record is very- what I said when I wrote about the record was that it's very introspective but without being in a way that you're stuck in your own head.

CC: Without being too specific, you know- I wanted it to be introspective and broad. When we wrote [Those Days Are Gone] it had this distinct thing behind it, this distinct event that made me want to write the whole album, and this time around I was like, "I don't want to write another break-up album"- recently I was in a serious relationship for two years but up until that point I hadn't had any kind of break up to want to write about. I'm not just gonna make up things.

I wrote "Weak Tables" about my struggles with social anxiety and sometimes not wanting to leave my house, but I wrote it in a very broad spectrum. As soon as we wrote that song I knew exactly what I wanted the record to be about. I knew that I wanted it to be about my personal struggles since that relationship, and how at first I blamed it on the relationship but then I realized that maybe it was me all along.

It's kind of a journey through my thought process, my brain- the album is basically picking my brain, and that's how the title came about. We were looking for album covers and Cody from the band Alaska had taken some photos while they were in the UK that he sent to us. That picture came up, the one with the mannequin with the TV sitting on its shoulder. Kevin and I were going back and forth trying to come up with album titles and we weren't getting anything great, and I was like, "Dude, I really like the idea of that mannequin holding the TV on its shoulder and not having a head- it's almost like it's carrying its head…. I say 'Bear in mind' a lot on 'Andy And I, Uh...'- what about the idea of if you had to carry your brain around, you had to carry your thought process around? I feel like it fits the record"- and so that's where Bear Your Mind came from.

C&S: You were talking about how "Weak Tables" dives into your struggles with social anxiety- is it hard to talk about that? 

CC: It gets a lot easier. Especially after putting the record out and opening myself up to everybody- it's a little bit easier to talk about. There are a lot of songs on the record that I was worried about putting out cuz you start getting hesitant about actually putting yourself out there like that. Especially "Better Have Burn Heal"- I got really, really hesitant about putting that song out because it was such a struggle for me to admit that I was having these problems and that I was struggling with myself- I didn't even talk to my parents about this! And I knew that everybody was gonna hear it and I was gonna have to talk about it, but I think putting it out there and being able to talk about it was part of the healing process.

Now with the social anxiety thing- yeah, it's kinda hard sometimes; sometimes you wanna clam up and go inside your shell.

C&S: "How do I talk about the fact that I think everyone hates me and I'm just gonna mess up this social situation?"

CC: Mhmm! I have that same thing happening all the time. I always think that people think I'm annoying, for some reason, which is a very strange thing to think about because I don't really think that I'm that annoying of a person, but I get it in my head that everyone thinks that I'm annoying.

C&S: Right!

So you said that you were hesitant about putting "Better Have Burn Heal" on the record, but you did.

CC: Well, it also came with help from those guys. They liked the song and said, "We should put it on the record"; I was like, "I don't know if I wanna talk about really personal things on this song."

Growing up my whole life, I was a bean pole- this small, skinny, somewhat athletic person- I played basketball and I rock climbed and stuff- and then I decided to try a new medication for anxiety. I had been going on and off medication my entire life and I was going through a really bad time for my anxiety, so I tried to go on a new medication- and one of the side effects was rapid weight gain. And I didn't know that at all- the doctor hadn't told me at all.

C&S: All the side effects are like, "Well, it might be this...".

CC: Yeah. And I was also hitting my mid-twenties around this time, so as a growing adult my metabolism was starting to slow down, and then with the side effects from that medication, I gained so much weight so fast. I had also quit smoking cigarettes around the same time- a side effect of weaning yourself off tobacco is gaining weight as well.

I went from about 175 to approaching 250- so I gained well over 50 pounds in a small amount of time, and I freaked out. You get used to yourself as one way and then you have to…. I started doing all this other stuff- dieting and trying to work out and none of it was working the way I wanted it to. Then going on tour, it started to be harder because I couldn't work out or diet on tour. So I started finding little ways to try and make myself feel better about it- and I've lost weight since then but I fluctuate, it's kinda hard- and in a way I learned to accept myself for who I am, which is really nice.

I tried to write the song in a way that people who struggle with not only that but things like gender identity, or anyone who struggles with their identity in general, could insert themselves into that song and realize that it's okay to be who you are. It's cool to be who you are. And sometimes, yeah, it's hard to look at yourself in the mirror or whatever, but then you realize you're here for a reason.

C&S: Every couple of days, I see someone post "Better Have Burn Heal" on Facebook or Twitter saying, "Oh my god, this song hits me." I'm sure you have people coming up to you and telling you what either that song or any song on the record means to them; what's it like when people say, "Wow, this means a lot to me" or "I relate to this"?

CC: It means the world to me when people tell me that. Because- like I said earlier- I wrote the record because I was putting myself out there and I like when people relate to it, because it makes me feel better to… Whenever I used to hear songs that I related to, it made me feel so much better because even if it was a song about something that I hated going on in my life, I heard someone else having the same problem and it was like, "Okay, well at least I'm not alone."

C&S: Were you someone that would ever go up to your favorite band and be like, "Hey..."?

CC: Absolutely. Well, I don't know- I get shy and nervous sometimes. Actually when I first started meeting a lot of the bands that I'm friends with now, I would catch them at a time when we were just all kinda hanging out and be like, "Hey, so, uh- I hate to be a fan right now- but this song did a lot for me, thank you." You know- I still do it from time to time.

But I love it when people come up and tell me that. I know that some people don't like when people like approach them randomly, but it doesn't bother me at all. Even though I have social anxiety, I feel like doing music is kind of my purpose in life, so it kind of forgoes it sometimes, if that makes sense.

C&S: I get that- this is where you feel like you're meant to be.

CC: It's still there, but it helps to know that people are relating and it makes them feel better, too. That definitely helps.

C&S: You have a song on the record called "Dead Reckoning", which you wrote about losing your grandfather when you were 13; when you wrote the song, were you thinking of where you were in your mind then, or how you feel about it now?

CC: When I wrote the song, the music had been written for a while and I knew what I wanted to write the [lyrics] about, I just really couldn't get the words out. It was one of the last songs I finished the lyrics for. One night while we were at the studio, I was sitting there drinking whiskey and just looking at the bottom of the glass, thinking about how I wanted to write this song. I wrote it about my entire thought process from that moment; it's written in a very real-time aspect- that's why it says, "Reflections from the bottom of the glass." I spent the whole night thinking about the idea of losing someone close to you and how it affects you, and I knew that I wanted to include the loss of my grandfather in it, because it was the first loss in my entire life that I experienced that truly destroyed me.

The song is about me sitting there thinking, looking at the bottom of that glass and remembering what it was like. The memory of when my mom told me about my grandfather's passing is so vivid; I have a photographic memory. When I listen to that song, it brings me back; it's kind of hard to listen to. I was downstairs at my other grandparents' house, on my mom's side- this was my dad's father that had passed away. [He passed away] in a car accident actually, which is one of the reasons why I have vehicular anxiety so bad now. My mom had gotten off the phone and I was standing there, wondering why she was so upset, and she told me to sit down. I sat down on the stairs and that's why- even that part is in the song, "I sat there on the steps and did my best to take it in"- and I remember when that had happened I was trying to think of the last thing I said to him, the last moment that I had with him, the last time he gave me a hug, and I couldn't think of any of it and it just overwhelmed me.

I knew when I started writing music that one day I'd write a song about it, I just didn't know when and then it finally happened for this record.

C&S: This is your first official headlining tour; being on a headlining tour vs. supporting another tour, do you feel like you have a different connection with the people there?

CC: Yeah, sometimes- absolutely. When you're headlining and you're the last band there every night and you see all those people still there, you know that they're there for a reason- even if they like the bands before you that have played, the fact that they stuck around means that they're at least interested.

So yeah, I definitely feel a little bit more of a connection with the people, and especially since we're playing longer sets- doing a headlining tour, you go from playing 25 to 35 minutes to playing 45 to 55 minutes. You go to this longer experience of being in front of these people and honestly- starting this headliner the day that the record came out, it's been really, really cool to watch the progress of the crowds learn the lyrics to the newer songs. The first day, they knew the singles, and now people are singing along with songs that I never expected them to sing along with, which is really cool!

I kinda miss being a support band because it's a little bit easier- being a headlining band, you're the first band to arrive and the last band to leave, and there's a lot more to do all the time- but I definitely think the connection with the people is a lot stronger. You're no longer playing for someone else's crowd, I guess, if that makes sense.

C&S: That totally makes sense.

CC: You're playing for- hopefully- people who are there to see your band, which is really cool.

C&S: What does music mean to you?

CC: Absolutely everything. It's- like I said, it's my life. It's my therapy. It's my entire existence, really, I've 100% always been a musical person [and] I don't see that ever changing. 

It means everything to me because all the connections I've made in life have mostly been through music- all the times I've had to deal with my own problems and get over them, I've done it through music. I've seen the world through music now. I've seen Europe and the UK and all of the United States and Canada- I've gotten to do everything I've ever done because of music. So- it is most definitely my everything. It comes first for me.

C&S: Is there anything else you want to say?

CC: Thank you to everybody that got us to this point, whoever has ever supported our band or listened to any of our records, our EPs- even the joke ones, even the "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" song that we did for Christmas once- thank you. From the bottom of my heart and I know from the rest of the guys' hearts, too- it means the world to us. And I hope that people can relate to the new record and enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it and making it.

Bear Your Mind is available now here and streaming on Spotify here. Read Molly’s thoughts on the record here and see photos from Free Throw’s show at The Foundry in Philadelphia on June 24 here. Keep up with Free Throw on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and their official website.

Stream More Songs by Grown Ups on Spotify here. Stream “If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You” by PUP on Spotify here.

#free throw #molly #interview #inner and outer portraits #inner & outer portraits #bear your mind #triple crown #triple crown records #grown ups #more songs #cloakroom #pup #music #band #band interviews #music blog #anxiety #anxiety disorder #body image

[queenrozaay]

“Us” Time | 21 JUL 17

pairing: kim jongin x jennie kim bg: jennie had just landed back in korea after her successful japanese debut showcase. just when she thought she’d finally get a break, she’s rushed off to the pre-recording of inkigayo. had it not been for the fact that her boyfriend’s group was also there, jennie probably would’ve thrown a fit.  it’d been almost a full week she’d seen him last and just his presence alone recharged her soul.

jen: Honestly, being up this late at night to pre-record her performance for Inkigayo this Sunday wasn't ideal. Having landed in Korea a few hours earlier then rushed to the set when she should be asleep right now sucked the life out of her. But it was somehow manageable thanks to a certain someone she was sneaking glances at from backstage while she waited her turn. The other blackpink members were watching performances through the television in their own dressing room, but Jennie wanted to see a particular raven-haired male up close. Manager told her she should come back as soon as possible, though she wasn't sure why considering there were still five or six groups ahead of her. The way he moved across the stage was truly mesmerizing and she could feel her body tense up. Was this how his fans normally reacted when he watched him perform?? Gosh it was amazing just how much a weeks separation in a foreign country could do to someone. Jennie unknowingly bit her bottom lip, fingers clutching the hem of her skirt tightly, heat rushing to her face. What the heck was happening to her?! [ kkt -> jo-lame ] I think you need to take responsibility for what you have done to me. [ kkt -> jo-lame ] I can't go onstage looking as flushed as I do now. [ kkt -> jo-lame ] I don't know if you noticed this coming in but there's an area to the right of the entrance where few pass. I need a hug. A hug. She snorted at that knowing she was going to need much more than a hug to fix all of /this/, but reminded herself to behave.

kji: Cheers, fans screaming from all around the area is what hyped him up so much, he truly felt like a free bird whenever he broke out into a dance and it never felt better.  It surely was tiring to the core and he could feel his muscles slowly giving in to the slight discomforting pain from all this heavy exercising, nonetheless the performance ended on a perfect note. Now here he was, hyped up walking back to their dressing room along with his over the top excited members, listening to them go on about it being a success as well as being in big need of a gallon of water. A kakao talk message? From his girlfriend?? Jongin's grin brightened the whole room as he silently read through them, she was watching his performance it seemed. The length of separation - to others might've seemed like a short amount of time considering other idols go on much longer world tours, but he missed her dearly. [ kkt → ducky  ] Sounds like I'm in trouble? What's all this flushing about, you might have to explain it to me when I get there  be there in 2! Jongin tried to /subtly/ excuse himself, but most of his group mates already knew and just rolled their eyes at his lame excuse, catching him out on it. The dancer only flashed them an innocent grin before slipping out of the dressing room in a hurry. With his fast steps his feet brought him to the area in about a minute, and that's when his heart suddenly begins to beat faster than it did during his stage when he spots Jennie not too far away "Psst, I got an emergency message that my dork was looking for me?"

jen: Jennie popped out in a failed attempt to scare him, eyes disappearing into crescents. "Hellooo, my love! Congratulations on such a successful comeback. You really killed it!" She chirped, taking a small step towards him, spreading her arms wide as if silently asking for a hug. She silently wondered if he could tell from the look in her eyes just how excited she was to see him after being apart for so long. She also hoped the red tint in her cheeks had disappeared by now or else she had some explaining to do.

kji: The sound of her voice set his heart racing, as jumpy as he is at times he was far too ecstatic to see her to get a fright and without even wasting time, hurried into her arms as his slid around her smaller waist to lift her feet off the ground in a tight embrace. "My pretty lil dork! You really liked it? Even better hearing it from you. I still can't believe this comeback happened, but- You're back from Japan! How was japan? I've been seeing you girls even made it in the newspapers." He slowly set his girlfriend down again just so he could pull back and admire the features that he only had the chance to see online for the past while, but also showing how proud he was of how far she they made it, throwing in a charming boyish smile

jen: "Mmm yes. More than liked it I /loved/ it. Except y'know a fair warning would've been nice. I wasn't expecting such.. suggestive choreo." She commented, throwing him a playful little glare only after he'd put her down. But then again, if she /had/ followed EXO closely, she probably would've found out by now that this was the norm. She made a mental note to be a more supportive girlfriend in the future. "Yeah. We'll be staying in Korea for another month. I don't have to head back until the 26th of August for our actual debut. Hey- you know we're performing our remix of 'As If It's Your Last.' Tonight as a gift to our fans! YG has us promoting it for a month too so we'll have our hands full with that." Gosh she didn't even realize how fast she was speaking or just how excited she was to actually see him again until her eyes fully focused on his smiling face once more. "Ah. Sorry. You should've stopped me from my mindless chatter!"

kji: He had a feeling that the choreography was going to get a reaction out of her and he was not disappointed when she pointed it out almost immediately. And so the biggest innocent grin, one that couldn't be trusted plastered on his lips "Surprise? This one was still a pretty decent one,  I don't know if you've seen artificial love but that one- yeah, you might want to watch one of the fancams." He decided not to give away too much detail on what that dance was about if she hasn't seen that performance yet, what fun would it be to give it away without doing what he loves best, teasing her? Jongin couldn't help but wonder did she get cuter after that one trip to Japan or was it just because he hadn't seen her that he's noticing this now? Her bubbly side certainly earned a soft laugh out of him as he leans his back against the wall, pulling her closer into the embrace. "A full month? That's such a relief, I thought you only came back for the weekend, and of course. I'm pretty sure the whole nation is waiting for both, remix and your album. I'm glad YG is taking care of you this much, you deserve that." jongin's eyes sparked with warmth, more than looking forward to seeing her on stage soon. "I can still do that y'know?" With a whisper he dipped his head down, heart racing as his lips came in contact with hers for that longing kiss he'd been waiting for.

jen: That grin he threw at her had her eying him suspiciously. Why did it give her every reason to be skeptical? Well, this was her /boyfriend/ afterall.  He was always finding ways to dig under her skin, she wouldn't put it past him to do it this time again. "Something tells me, I'm in for a lot worse than what I had seen on-stage not too long ago. Am I right..? I'm right aren't I?"  She continued to through questions at him without giving time for him to answer, but probably because somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew.. she knew that this wasn't even near as bad as what they had just performed.  With a small sigh, she threw him a look, visibly pouting even. "Look, if you wanted be to go into cardiac arrest, you could've just /said/ something. I totally would've understood. And as for YG taking care of us- I beg to differ, but we'll save that for another time." She waved that thought off with a small wave of her own hand, then redirected her attention back to him in time to catch that small spark in his eyes. Before she could question it, his soft lips met hers, heart swelling in the most wonderful way.  Man- had it really been that long..?

kji: "Okay so I'm not saying that you're right.. but you might be right. How many times have I told you that I could just do a private show for you before the actual performances? I get turned down pretty much instantly" jongin mumbled with a playful roll of his eyes when he managed to slip his answer in between all those questions, corners of his lips quivering to curl up. But that was his favorite part about it all, jennie always gives the vibe that she'd be able to handle just about anything, right until he mentions something along those lines which transforms her into a cute shy pup.  "Babe, I want you to go into a cardiac arrest" a moment of pause followed before jongin cracked up at those words. "If someone heard me say that I'd probably lose my boyfriend license . And what do you mean- He's overworking you guys isn't he?" A glint of concern appeared in that deep brown gaze, while he enjoyed seeing her perform, seeing jennie be so exhausted after did squeeze his heart each time. He tried not to think about it for now with their lips finally connected, basking in that fuzzy warm feeling that swelled in his chest. A small voice at the back of his head did scream at him not to get too into it, with them still being at risk to be seen. "When are you free? Just to have an us time.." came a sudden question that was muffled against her rosy lips.

jen: A private show huh? She thought to herself, fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt, pressing herself close. It sounded nice, but knowing Jongin he probably had some trick-loophole, something where she'd end up looking foolish for getting her hopes up. But then again she was like that too, so it was a fair trade. It made their relationship all the more exciting. His lips tasted just as sweet as she'd remembered them last- almost like cotton candy even. Her mind was in a daze when he pulled back slightly, allowing her time to catch her breath. "I have time now-" She started, half-lidded eyes catching his for a brief moment. "-and nothing after our recording..?" The idea of them both spending time alone together seemed very appealing to her considering how she'd been gone for a week- a week without Jongin. Had she not been so busy, she probably would've been complaining about wanting to come home every waking second of every day she was in Japan.

kji: If only these few seconds of their shared kiss was enough, but it wasn't, every time he got just a little taste he wanted to wrap her up and crash his lips again with all those feelings that bubble up inside his chest just waiting to be released. His forehead gently leaned against hers, bringing a hand to swipe his thumb along the line of her cheek, careful not to mess the makeup. Just thinking of finally getting to spend that time, now he was the one rushing all his words "What time's your recording? I'll come and collect you right after on my bike. I managed to get a hold of it again,  had some lonely nights of cruising around" he whispered with a smile one that said how excited he was about it, he only prayed the weather wouldn't turn on him so he could actually take out his motorbike.

jen: She couldn't believe she actually whined when he pulled away, lips forming into a small little pout. Whenever they were together, Jennie found herself being more needy in terms of wanting his full attention than usual. Might be the after effects of being apart for so long.  "Well... if you're leaving the pre-recording now since you're all done, I'd say coming back to get me in about an hour or so should be good.  Our set-up this time around isn't that elaborate. Thankfully, the live portion of the show is done tomorrow so I won't have to be back for that until then." She answered, smiling softly at him.  The sound of exploring the city together didn't sound like a bad way to spend tonight. Beats, being here that's for sure. "I'll call you?"

kji: This side of Jennie, the affectionate side that not many got the chance to know - was one of his favorites. How cute was that protest, he didn't want to pull away either honestly, so he placed a gentle kiss to her forehead before straightening up a little more. "Mm, I'd probably have to go back with the crew, plus the bike is parked closer to sm but I should make it back on time. I'll keep my phone right with me" he promised her to answer right away with a quick and playful wink of his too. The best part about their plan was that closer to midnight the streets weren't as crowded, they'd have a little more freedom to drive around, maybe even turn it into into a small date and walk around somewhere. "I probably should head back then, as much as I want to stay and watch my girlfriend kill it on stage."

jen: She nodded her head sadly, but managed to smile some as she stepped out of his embrace. And as if on cue, she heard footsteps slowing to a halt, an out of breath voice calling for her. Jennie quickly looked over her shoulder to find her manager, brow raised trying to take a peek at who it was she was speaking to. Jennie's reflexes were quick though, pushing Jongin out of view and stepping forward to block him all the while. 'Wow, such a kdrama move..' She thought to herself.  "Yeah, I'm coming. Sorry, I was making a phone call." She lied smoothly, shaking her cell phone device up in the air. "It's my mom. Something urgent- let me wrap this up quickly and I'll meet you on-stage in five." She added, offering her manager a small smile.  Her manager didn't question her further and ran off in the direction in which she came.  Jennie hated lying like that, but it was probably best to keep her manager out in the dark for awhile. Redirecting her attention back to her boyfriend, she mouthed an 'I'm sorry.'  Not only did she hate lying to her manager, she disliked hiding the nature of their relationship to the world.  She wanted people to know he was hers, but at the same time she didn't- valuing their privacy. Jennie stepped up to him once more and pressed a quick kiss good-bye on his lips before running along making sure to mouth an 'I'll call you' again.

#jenkai drabbles #jenkai #fluff #jennie kim #kim jongin #jongin #blackpinkexo #blackexo #exo kai #kai #jennie #blackpink jennie

[a-new-american-classic]

It took me some time to get around to actually posting this, mostly because I’ve got my hand in about six different things at the moment (Stay busy, stay functional, right?). But hey, if you want a peek inside, come on in. There’s something for everyone, but not everything is for everyone. And no, there’s no Radiohead, because they’re the most overrated band on the planet.

I guess let’s divide it all up by genre, because I’m not about to sit here and give you a reason for every single one of these 89 tunes.

Punk: I think at this point it’s safe for me to say that if you don’t like the Menzingers, we can’t be friends, and “Lookers” kind of cemented that for me. It’s the most nostalgic thing I’ve heard all year. Elsewhere there’s some Beach Slang, who are clearly the heir apparent to the Replacements.  That Pup song completely rips, and somehow still manages to be just as catchy as anything an pop radio. OH! And Dave Hause came in at the eleventh hour this year with a mix-tape ready track that has me super excited for his new record. Also, Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties put out “‘67 Cherry Red,” And even if you aren’t following along with the story that band is telling, that song has a perfect chorus.

Alt-country/Americana/Folk/Roots/There are too many sub-classifications here.: The Drive-By Truckers hands down wrote the most important record they’ve made since Jason Isbell left the band, and “What It Means” is just gorgeous and heavy and real. It’s like a little southern exorcism. I’m not going to go out of my way to praise Sturgill Simpson. I’m lucky enough to be from Kentucky and have known about Sturgill for a while, before everyone on the planet started thinking he was cool because he got nominated for a Grammy. Kentucky put out lots of good music this year though, Nick Dittmeier, Brooks Ritter, and Bryan Minks all put out really solid releases. The Villebillies also made a record, and even if they’re fucking goofy, I have to give them a little home state love. But outside of that, Margo Price and Amanda Shires both put out killer records this year, Ryan Adams dropped a heartbreaking single with some amazing guitar work, and BJ Barham put out a solo record that’s worth a listen.

Hip-Hop: I feel like I was far less impressed this year than most people. Chance the Rapper didn’t do much for me, which surprises everyone it seems. But. De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and Kanye all made my list. Oh! Childish Gambino too, although that new record is really hard to define.

Indie Shit: I will continue to espouse the virtues of Tegan and Sara to anyone who will listen, even if they’re more synth than guitar these days, “Stop Desire” is one catchy, dance-y little slice of heaven. Band of Horses pulled in J. Mascis from Dinosaur Jr. (Who also made the list) to make “In a Jar” about a thousand times better than it should be. The 1975 were dreadful when I was waiting through their set a few years ago at Boston Calling, but at least their recorded music is interesting.

The Catch-all Category for the rest of them: The Stones dropped a killer blues record, Rob Zombie made a Primus song, and Garbage are just as good now as they were in 1995. Imelda May strayed for the rockabilly thing she was doing to put out the most heartbreaking song of the year (Or it’s at least tied with Ryan Adams, but that’s almost not fair to anyone.) There’s nothing I can say about Bowie that hasn’t been said, but that whole album deserved every bit of the praise it got. Butch Walker helped Brian Fallon make a great solo record, and then went on to make one himself about “another broken east cost girl.”

The embarrassing ones: Fuck it man, Bruno Mars is talented, and Maren Morris made a song that wouldn’t sound out of place on a middle period Taylor Swift record. No shame, they were both good tracks.

My favorite song of the year: Alluvial by Arliss Nancy. I didn’t think they could outdo their last album, but just one track in and I was hooked. Somewhere between Punk and Americana, these guys just hit all the right chords. I’m not entirely sure Cory Call didn’t write this about my buddy Tyler, to be honest. Either way, dude owes me a beer, and I owe him way more for such a great tune.

This has been a mostly pointless exercise into what I liked this year. Wanna fight about it? My inbox is open.