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xoxoladyaz · 5 months

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Krampus Baby

Me: we should write a cute little holiday blurb to publish on Christmas Eve, maybe something Hallmark-y, maybe some mistletoe -

Also Me: KRAMPUS EDDIE KRAMPUS EDDIE KRAMPUS EDDIE

So that's what we've got for you today, my lovelies!

CW: BDSM, allusions to punishment, brief descriptions of sex, implied future monsterfucking

“Babe, this isn’t what it looks like!”

“Oh, really? And what exactly does this look like, Eddie?!” Steve stood in the doorway to Eddie’s all-purpose-game-room-slash-music-studio-slash-office and glared at him, his arms crossed tightly across his chest.

Eddie shot a frantic look at the guys. Gareth and Phil were very conveniently looking elsewhere (the traitors). Jeff, who was the only one brave enough to make eye contact with Eddie, just shook his head slowly. “You’re on your own, dude.”

Well, shit.

The truth is, Eddie knew he was the only person to blame for the situation he’d found himself in. But in his defense, it’s not like there’s a manual that you get when you become a Krampus that says “hey, here’s how you tell your boyfriend/girlfriend/partner/spouse/whatever that you’re a Krampus, meaning that you spend all of Christmas Eve travelling around your assigned region and birching people that Santa/Jesus/someone says needs to be scared onto the straight and narrow.”

Well. Maybe he could have just led with that and gone from there?

Fuck, this would have been so much easier if he’d just agreed to be a Santa but no, his dramatic gay eighteen-year-old born-in-the-North-Pole ass just had to pick the more flamboyant career option. And sure, it was fun for a while – he’d always had a flair for theatrics and performing and every December 24 he gave the performance of a lifetime – but after about ten years of birching undeserving creeps he’d realized hey, maybe something like this could be fun the other 364 days of the year with humans he actually liked (or, ya know, that he at least thought were hot and wanted to get off with.)

And so Eddie the Krampus became Eddie Munson, training Dom at the Hellfire Club, and after twenty-seven years of walking this earth, he finally felt like everything in his life had fallen into place. Naturally that’s when he met Steve Harrington, a bratty little prince with perfect hair and an even more perfect ass and fell madly in love – far past the point of no return, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars. He’d never really given a lot of serious thought to love or dating or anything like that because, you know, the whole Krampus thing, but from the moment he laid eyes on Steve his entire world had shifted to orbit around his beautiful, delightfully dorky, somewhat clueless human. Even more incredibly, Steve seemed to feel the same way because he'd given Eddie a key to his house after only four weeks of dating and happily reorganized his home so Eddie could have his own space and fuck, Eddie was going to marry this human and make him immortal and traipse all around the world with him until it was time for him the next generation of Krampus’ to take over.

(Krampusses? Krampusi? Krampussies? There really wasn’t a great plural form of his job title, was there?)

Right, it was a great plan, no, it was a perfect plan, because nothing could be better than almost-eternity with Steve. There was just one teeny tiny minor flaw with his plan, that being the fact that he, uh, forgot to tell Steve.

And now it was December 24th, and Eddie and the guys had finally gotten home from a long night of birching (which wasn’t really fun anymore now that Eddie got to punish someone he loved in a very, very fun way almost daily) and were unwinding with a beer when Steve had stormed in – Steve, who was asleep when Eddie left.

Steve, who was now seeing Eddie in his Krampus form for the first time (along with Jeff and Gareth and Phil). Steve, who looked angrier than the time that Eddie tried to experiment with forks in all of the electrical outlets in their house.

Steve, who was probably the first human to ever cause a Krampus nightmares.

“I can’t believe this. I seriously cannot fucking believe this, Eddie - ”

“Look, baby, I know this looks kind of crazy,” Eddie started slowly, extremely conscious of the way his horns protruded out of his hair, of the soot on his furry legs and the loud clopping sound his cloven hooves made as they tapped nervously on the floor. (He’d never felt bad about how he looked in this form; hell, he even thought he looked kind of hot. Not everyone can pull off the whole “burning-red-eyes-and-weirdly-long-tongue” thing like he could. But now that he found himself caught in Steve’s fiery gaze, he wanted nothing more than to disappear into a tiny ball, to make Steve forget that he’s ever looked like this.) “And I was meaning to tell you, I really was, but - ”

“Oh, really?” Steve scoffed, narrowing his eyes at Eddie even further. “You were meaning to tell me that you were punishing other people, is that what you’re trying to say?”

“ – wouldn’t believe me anyways, I mean, most people don’t believe in Krampus – wait, what?” Eddie cut off as Steve’s words worked their way into his brain. “I – what?”

“You heard me,” Steve scoffed again. “You just forgot to tell me you’re punishing other people? Even though we’ve been exclusive for almost a year? Even though you moved into my house?!”

“I – Steve, wait, it’s not like that - ”

“Oh, really,” Steve repeated himself, “so you didn’t spend Christmas Eve running around and whipping people who aren’t me?”

Eddie shot another look at the guys, all of whom looked as shocked as Eddie felt. (Except for Gareth, that little fucker was grinning like this was the funniest thing he’d ever witnessed.) “Steve, it’s not - ”

“It’s not like what, Eddie? It’s not like you threw a fit the one time someone else tried to Dom me but apparently that doesn’t go both ways! Apparently, I have to share you! You better not be fucking them, Eddie Munson,” Steve seethed, “because I swear to God – ”

“No, no, no! Steve, I wouldn’t, I would never,” Eddie raced out, cautiously stepping closer to his boyfriend. “And it’s not – it’s not like us, okay, it’s literally just punishment and nightmares and stuff. Most of them won’t even remember me tomorrow!”

“Oh, but some will?”

“I – maybe?”

“What Eddie is trying to say,” Jeff saved him by jumping in, “is that this is just a job for us, man. It’s literally just a job. We really don’t get that sort of enjoyment out of it. Hell, most of us aren’t even in the lifestyle outside of this.”

“Yeah, Eddie’s just weird,” Gareth snickered, although he sobered somewhat when Eddie turned to glare at him.

“He loves you, man. He wouldn’t cheat,” Jeff finished. “That’s not what this is.”

Steve huffed, although the crease in his brow had softened somewhat. “You’re really a Krampus, then? And the horns and shit are real?”

“Yeah – yeah, super real, see?” Eddie said, grabbing hold of his horns and yanking them as hard as he could. Ouch. “This is just my Krampus form. I, uh, don’t wear it out all that often.”

“But you have horns.”

“Uh, yeah,” Eddie replied nervously.

Steve’s face went through a few emotions before settling on angry. “You mean I could have been holding onto your horns the entire time we’ve been fucking?”

Eddie heard the sound of someone choking loudly behind him, but he didn’t have the brain space to care about that; in fact, the only brain space he had was completely overrun by images of Steve on his back, hands gripped around Eddie’s horns as Eddie drove him further and further into their bed. “I, uh - ”

“Well,” Steve cut off his blabbering with a cold look, “since it’s Christmas Eve and all, I might as well do a little punishing of my own.” He turned on his heel and stomped out of the doorway, pausing briefly to yell back over his shoulder. “You’re sleeping on the couch!”

“BABE!” Eddie whined back, stomping his hoof on the ground. “Until when?!?!”

“Until I say so!” Steve hollered as he disappeared out of view.

“That went well,” Gareth said drily once Steve was out of earshot. The sound of their bedroom door slamming echoed into Eddie’s man-cave and all four Krampus’ winced.

“Yeah, good luck getting out of that one, man,” Phil said, and with a nod he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Gareth snorted and followed suit, leaving Eddie and Jeff standing alone.

“Honestly, I really think it could have gone worse. You might need to speed up the timeline on that ring, though.” Jeff clapped Eddie on the shoulder. “Unless you have another plan.”

“Oh,” Eddie replied slowly, quietly, a maniacal grin spreading across his face. “I have a plan, all right.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t worry me at all,” Jeff rolled his eyes. “It’s your funeral, man.”

“Mmm,” Eddie hummed, thinking about the brand new switch he’d purchased for Steve – one of his many, many gifts for the man. “At least I’ll die doing what I love.”

“And that is?”

Eddie smirked even wider. “Why, punishing Steve.”

#let me know if you wanna see steve get punished #because I am having some THOUGHTS let me tell you #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie #steddie fanfic #steddie fic #steddie holiday fic

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thirsty-lakedream · 1 year

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Third Roomate

I arrive after a long day of classes and this is the first thing I see when I walk into the apartment.

I’m not too surprised. It’s quite normal to see my roommate sitting on the couch and watching one of his shows. What I did not expect is how he looked.

“Hey, Matt…”

The guy glances over but says nothing, instead turning his attention back to the tv. Instead of his normal sci-fi shit he instead is watching a baseball match.

“Matt, yo I’m talking to you.” I try to block the screen with my body but he simply leans over, pointing the remote to the screen.

“In a sec man, I’m trying to watch the game.” I roll my eyes. I doubt he actually knows what’s going on about, just trying to play into his new look. “And stop calling me Matt, you know my name.”

I roll my eyes, “God you are obsessed. You know, when I agreed to buy ‘Gabriel’ with you I thought I’d at least get a turn every so often…”

“Oh come on.” The muscles blonde stood up, towering nearly a foot above me. If I didn’t know any better, I’d feel a bit intimidated. “I’m just having some fun with our new toy before you take him for the rest of the night!”

“Is this fun? Your sitting all alone pretending to be some dumb jock interested in sports. Tell me Gabe, did ‘Matt’ even go to class today?”

He shifted slightly trying to hide away, but with his big frame it was difficult to. “Not exactly… But don’t worry, l attended for him.”

“Dude! Are you serious?” Turning away from the guy, I barged into my roommate’s room, where I found him exactly where I thought I would. He stood in the center wearing a full-body haptic suit and VR headset strapped onto his head. He faced the wall, seemingly staring at nothing. The equipment was rigged to his PC, with the screen showing all sorts of familiar diagnostics and body mapping windows.

“You’ve seriously been using Gabriel all day? Even when you know I called using him tonight! Now his batteries are gonna be dead before I can even use him.” You grab him by the shoulder trying to shake him back to reality.

Matt didn’t turn to me but responded to my accusation “Relax bro. He’s been on the charger since he got home so you don’t have to worry! Look!” From behind me Gabriel walked up, standing attentively.

Both Matt and Gabriel spoke in at the same time in unison. “See? Look I’m Gabriel and I’m ready to go out with my frat bros all night!” Matt performed a mocking jig and Gabriel mimicked the exact movement. He then touched his finger to the temple of his virtual reality goggles and in an instant Gabriel halted all movement.

You see, Gabriel isn’t a real person, he never was actually. He’s what’s known as a techno-puppet. Like how in a video game you can use a controller to manipulate your avatar. It works the same way but instead you control this hyper realistic doll. It wasn’t hard to see why Matt took such a liking to living as him. We spent the last month building this entire life, even forging papers to make him an ‘official’ student in our college. We have people thinking he’s our third roomate, but in reality he’s just a toy for us to experience an exciting college life.

I waited for a moment as he took off the VR equipment and handed it to me. Hiding away into my own room, I excitedly put on the gear. Sitting myself down comfortably on my bed, felt around the headset until I found the power button. Pressing it, the technology in the haptic and goggles whittled to life. After a brief loading time, my vision awoke and I found myself once again standing in Matt’s room. My roomate grinned trying to hide his envy as I was now in control of Gabriel. Maybe ill give him a taste of his own medicine for hogging the beautiful body by taking him for the entire weekend. I know Matt is harboring a secret crush on our puppet so teasing him around the apartment can be a warmup to get into my new persona

#android #puppet #male puppet #male asfr #body possession #technology possession

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jalapenobee · 10 months

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Ok here's the sskk/skk au (it's just hc's) (may or may not be inspired by @/inamagicalhallucination's famous no powers au)

Atsushi:

- can dance, yeah, but it's more like letting loose and jumping around idk

- like tapping his foot, bouncing his head, jumping in a circle that kinda thing

- it looks fun tho

- when he sings. Hmm. His voice would be like benson boone ig cause yeah

- but like. The vibe. Nicky youre-type songs but with really depressing topics

- like that one short he released with the 's-a-d overload'

- everyone loves him and he loves them back

- he likes being with people but not necessarily for the attention

- just like. Walking into a supermarket and saying 'OKAY PEOPLE IM PAYING FOR ALL YOUR GROCERIES' shit like that

- he's the type of singer who will either cling to the mic stand or jump around with the mic

- he interacts with the crowd at shows so much

Akutagawa:

- he can sing yeah it's pretty but it kinda hurts to so he prefers dancing

- his voice isn't as low as you'd think? Kinda scratchy tho

- keeps an absolute straight face while dancing. The ladies love it

- okay idk how to describe dancing styles but it's kinda like tense (in a good way?) slow movements and then sudden stops/starts/change in direction

- he's a contortionist btw

- yknow creeping - the weeknd? Yeah its like dancing to that

- or fever - enhypen that kinda thing

- stays kinda low to the ground like he'll be on his knees or crouching or bending over

- thinks atsushi has the best singing voice like ever (except for chuuya because shit??? bastard has talent everyone loves him)

Dazai:

- omg his voice can go super high. Like jason derulo/adam levine type shit

- also he has jason derulo vibes. Lots of love songs and ones about suicide

- everyone's lowkey worried about him but love him nonetheless

- LOVES the attention omg he feeds on it (and drags atsushi (and that means akutagawa too) everywhere with him)

- shinju shinju shinju

- absolutely loves collabs mainly because he gets views from a different audience

- super big on holiday specials

- will ruin chuuya's routine on stage. He will pull him close or trip him up or randomly kiss him

- oh yeah they're together but will deny it in the grave

Chuuya

- singing voice would have like takayan vibes but not as harsh like 'resentful life' that one yeah

- sings and dances about the same? Has his own title as a singer separate from dazai

- can sing just about any song except for slow ones

- uses his head a lot when he's dancing

- like flicks it from side to side or smth

- kinda like how dazai attempts to ruin his routines he ruins his singing

- he will incorporate moves where he like clings to dazai or strokes his face or smth idk

- their performances are very fun to watch heh

- very dynamic poses. Uses a lot of arm movements and doesn't like move from place to place unless it's one big move

- everyone loves the opening moves to his dances for some reason like it'll literally just be clapping and walking backwards or smth to hype up the crowd and it. Works.

- he sings along sometimes with dazai

Ok so

- akutagawa and dazai have been in the dancing/singing careers for a while

- chuuya is an experienced singer but only started dancing a couple years ago (dazai asked him to try and it spiraled from there)

- atsushi is pretty new to singing and has no dancing experience whatsoever he just wings it

- he met aku at a coffee shop because I live for references and they got to talking

- aku mentioned he was a dancer and atsushi was like really? Can I see? And it went from there

- 2S4K (their group name) didn't form until after dazai snagged a collab with sskk and yeah

- dazai knew atsushi for a while but only through tanizaki who works at a record company

- he (dazai) and akutagawa went to the same college (yeah aku was the quiet new dude who just followed him around)

- dazai and chuuya have known each other forever don't even ask

- i haven't thought about anyone else's roles much yet but I think fukuzawa and kunikida own a record label company which ranpo helps out at (he's still world's greatest detective)

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theflyingfeeling · 9 months

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random thoughts and highlights about the gig at Tapiola Festivaali today 🖤

first fucking row 😭

so idk if it was that that made the show feel exceptionally good, and I find it difficult to rank the BC shows I've been to in any order of excellence, but I'd say this one would go pretty high on that list; their energy was unmatchable and, as always at BC gigs, I truly had the best fun I've ever had 🥺

(which is why I'm still a little dumbfounded and emptyheaded and will probably spend the entire tomorrow crying because I miss them so much and have no idea when I'm gonna see them again jdkdkfjkfkfkf can't they just drop some tour dates for next year soon or at least the "big show" they keep teasing us about so I can experience the serotonin boost of buying another BC concert ticket and have something to look forward to in my sad little life ahaha)

but yeah anyway I am so fucking horny for Aleksi y'all. Wanting him carnally was NOT on my bingo card for this year but here we are 🪦

like. He' just so confident and booby. You know? Cocky bastard. I'd let him *** inside.

@ss4nni caught his stick and we all got to hold and gawk at it. I may have even licked it a little (siis for real sillon kun mukamas nuolasin sitä ni mun kieli oikeesti koski sitä vahingossa lol sori Sanni 🙈)

(too Finnish didn’t understand: I pretended to lick it for the lols but accidentally licked it a little for real. Please pray for me to regain my sanity one of these days)

I definitely am may be a little delusional about a bunch of stuff but I feel like I made eye-contact with Olli one time and then another time when I was doing a little thigh exercise for Left Outside Alone (just pumping up and down instead of just squatting lol ain't just some random dudes gonna tell me what to do)

I waved at Aleksi one time when he came over because yes that's how desperate I was for an interaction with him and he mercifully acknowlwdged my efforts by looking at me and giving me the tiniest nod. So yeah I think I'll name our first-born son Tapio & y'all are invited to the christening 🥰

(unrelated to BC but Abreu performed before them and she winked at me because I'm hot stuff 😌)

got to witness many many many cute Olli/Allu moments (mostly touches) with my bare eyeballs, I feel so blessed and nourished I think I'll live on this for the rest of the year 💗 (she says, knowing very well she will indeed be sobbing her eyes off tomorrow and the whole next week most likely)

I think they all were genuinely impressed by the audience's energy (or at least the first row was fucking fire 🔥🔥🔥🔥) and I know they praise the audience at every show but I'm still gonna go ahead and take their every sweet word as a personal compliment <3

I loved seeing Niko so much? He's a tiny guy and loves crouching so it's not always easy to see him from farther away lol and he was wearing sunglasses the entire show (it was cloudy) but behind the glasses I like to believe he looked at me/us many many times Niko Niko Niko I love Niko 🥰

And Joel was so happy too 😭 happy Joel = happy me, automatically and every time, I need to know when I get to make him happy again by going to see their show, he deserves it and I deserve it 😭😭😭

So yeah, once again BC did what was said on the can: made me forget all about my pathetic little problems and I kinda need that in order to survive so if you need me I shall be refreshing their social media like a junkie asking random passers-by if they happen to have any speed on them, eyes red and visibly shaking because that's how bad I need my next fix

Many many thanks to everyone who hung out and came to say hi!! You all are some of the best people I know, I don't know how you tolerate me or if you even do lol but I'm always laughing so much when I'm with you and I'll miss you guys as much as I'll miss BC 💕💖💕💗💓💞💖

#blind channel #i'm a bit tired in a hyper-energetic kind of way so this all was written very tongue in cheek #i hope it makes someone giggle at least #my concert #gig reports by theflyingfeeling #...at least i think that was the tag lol

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ethicstownpod · 8 months

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If it's alright, I'd really like to hear more about January's 'Some Kinda Gender'. I understand it might be a spoiler/private so no pressure I'm just really interested

I think everything January is and/or isn't going to do in coming seasons is fun to find out as it happens. We've heard him do a lot of thinking about things he's done, but really only 1.5ish episodes thinking about what he's actually like as a person. And, more importantly, what he'd like to be like as a person. That is, if he can even get over the fact that he isn't one.

But I'm more than happy to talk generally about gender performance in s1 and generally. Buckle up, it's probably going to be a bit of a long one! I'm really into this, lol.

So before I really got to know any of the St Kilda cast I got to see most of them act at table reads. Spectacular experience, they're all incredible actors and fascinating people. But Rhys and I were never at a table read together, so the first time I properly met him he was just a regular human guy. As the script Naomi was working on currently stood he was going to play someone's boyfriend and I was like 'yeah, sure. This is a human man who could be a boyfriend.'

Then at like 2am the director came in and was like 'English accent! You're the villain now!' We'd been hanging out for a couple hours at that point. Rhys is vibrant, but a very gently spoken person. And I wasn't at all thinking 'Oh no, he can't do that' because like,,, that's his job. But I was very interested to see what he would do.

The first time I see him on set he has the whole villain get-up on and it is camp. Not in a camp-but-as-a-compliment way, thought it was cool af, but literally 2000s cartoon queer villain camp. Slicked hair and make-up that matched his suit. And I was like okay, damn, blinked and this dude got a whole new gender, good for him.

And then, to no one's surprise and to my absolute delight, he acted the fuck out of that campy outfit. Snippy and cocky and commanding. And obviously I knew, y'know, from being alive, that anyone performing 'camp villain' is doing a specific gender performance, but it was so cool to see someone I had got to know out of costume do that.

So I was thinking about this - and the other times I'd seen Rhys act in the interim - when I was doing final script edits/deciding what January/Ian would sound like. January was always going to have his voice actor's natural accent (as long as they weren't American, lol) and that was intentional.

The only actual vocal note I gave Rhys when coming up with an Ian voice was to go deeper, but I also told him that ep 8 was kind of Ian's campy villain monologue. He's just talking to hear the sound of his own voice at that point, he could have just killed Artemis and saved himself a lot of trouble.

Ian, as he tells you, has been pretending to be this January persona the whole time. And for most of episode 8 you have no reason not to believe him. His name is Ian. He can prove he was putting on a voice. He has a wife, not a spouse (yeah, I know a wife is a spouse, but he'd never say wife, would he... hmm...), a teenage daughter, not two young children. And everything January said was a lie.

BUT THEN! He gets upset, and his voice just... slips. That doesn't tend to happen when you're speaking in your natural accent.

Ian is just a persona too. He's this hyper-masculine husband, father, son, politician, bread-winner type turned old-timey camp-horror-villain and that's all a performance.

More importantly than being Ian, January isn't real. He isn't an anxious, fumbling, queer-in-a-librarian-kind-of-way radio host. But he also isn't this super-masc intimidating politician type; hence, when we actually meet Ian he's just,, kinda gay.

Everything is a performance for January and it must be exhausting. Someone just decided he was a human man one day, and sure he wants to be a human man, but he has no idea how to do that. He needs a break to figure out who he is. Unfortunately he instead did some murdering about it, so he probably won't get one.

#ethics town #tysm for the ask!!#mm gender #queer

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therosebunpost · 1 year

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Inspired by true events of my life, I give you yet another story idea:

(Also inspired by a conversation I had with a friend after they so wonderfully listened to me ramble about two dudes from the 80s for hours on end. You are an absolute real one my dude)

But basically let me set the scene for you. Reader is in their 20s (I turned 22 during this event, though any where in the 20s range is fine), and they largely have felt like they’re life has passed them by. Their high-school experience wasn’t very note worthy, they’ve never been on an actual date, hell they haven’t even kissed anybody. (Hahahaha! I wasn’t kidding about that true events thing my dudes. 👁👁) So, this year they’ve decided they’re going to try and have as many experiences as they could. Obviously they want to have more experiences after one year, but it’s easier to think one year at a time.

On their birthday, they’re checking off a few boxes. 1. See a live performance. 2. Go axe throwing and hang out at a bar. Lucky for her, they have a mall that can do both! So, reader gets all dressed up to go out and see this cover band. Shes alone largely by choice but also she doesn’t have a lot of friends, vibing to the music until the intermission which is where she meets Steve. Steve, who was sitting at the table beside them, feels sympathy over the fact that she’s alone. (He may have had a few drinks, so he’s feeling just a bit more emotional and reminiscent over his own days of loneliness. Plus he’s with his friends, so the contrast just hits him.)

Reader casually mentions it’s their birthday and they came because they didn’t have anyone else to go with, is unaware they’ve made a terrible mistake. Steve, who is now fueled with alcohol and extroverted ambition, sneaks away to tell Eddie of this. “It’s her birthday Munson! Come onnn, please?” Eddie obviously can’t say no to Steve, so when he walks out on stage, he gets the whole band to sing happy birthday to her.

Reader is mortified. Especially as Steve plops back down, all smiley and sweet, so she can’t even really be upset with him. She pretends to be happy, even tipping the band after their performance because she just has to now. Unaware to her though, Eddie’s been watching from the sidelines and could see the horror, so he pulls Steve aside.

“You…asked her if she wanted us to sing her that, right?”

“Wha- Why would i do that?? It would have ruined the surprise!”

“Steve.” Eddie directs him to look at her again, at the way she seems to wince when people wish her happy birthday as they leave. “I think she was trying to keep a low profile, dude. She was alone, no birthday stuff in sight. Usually if they have birthday celebrations the place would have notified us already.”

“….Oh. Oh no.”

“Yeah…”

Steve starts ahead, fully intending to apologize, Eddie following after him incase things go south. He tries not to wince when Reader looks spooked as the two approach her. “I’m..so sorry, I didn’t realize you might have been trying to keep a low profile! It’s just, well, my boyfriend is in the band and I thought it’d be a fun surprise- I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

Eddie comes up behind him, clapping him on the back with a chuckle. “He really didn’t mean to scare you, Sweetheart. Stevie here just gets a little over excited. Hope you liked the show at least?”

Just a tad intimidated by having not just one, but two attractive guys talking to her, Reader is quick to nod. “It’s fine! Really, I made a promise to myself that I wasn’t going to tell anybody. I really should have kept to that, you didn’t know. The show was great, thank you.” Then after a few more words, Reader turns to leave, but not before hearing Eddie as he leans close to Steve. “I don’t blame you for wantin’ to impress her Harrington, she’s real pretty.” Cue flustered Reader all but booking it away.

So, you’re probably wondering where the axe throwing comes in, right? Well, instead of just one day to celebrate their birthday, Reader is having a birthday week! So, the next day they go back to the mall where there’s an Axe throwing lane and a bar. Once again shes alone, and shes determined not to let anybody know it’s her birthday. She’s just going to have a fun, low key time chucking axes, and hanging out at the bar. Well, that was the plan until her server turns out to be Steve Harrington. Steve, who may have accidentally let it slip to Robin that it’s Reader’s birthday, who is now apologizing again after Robin makes a big deal out of it.

Basically, Reader just can’t get peace because of Steve’s inability to understand the idea of flying under the radar.

I’m thinking it could be a whole series of blurbs of different experiences that Reader could go on with Steve and Eddie!

#thebunspeaks #stranger things #steve harrington #eddie munson #steve harrington x reader #eddie munson x reader #fluffybunnycorner #stranger things hc #legit the thing with the band singing to me actually happened #though instead of Steve it was a very nice lady #and the leader singer didn’t resemble Eddie but like come on #I had to make it a Steddie thing #plus corroded coffin becoming a cover band is kinda funny #but yeah that was a mortifying experience #memorable but mortifying

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intothewiiild · 2 days

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I got back from my trip to see more TT gigs in Manchester yesterday and ... I have thoughts. Have some more bullet points. I also write a little bit about how my autism affects my concert-going at the end.

I still have not taken a single decent photo of Mark. Tragic.

Mark joked about Gary getting a sunburn, which was funny.

I've said it before, but I really love Mark's energy on this tour.

I went with my Mum this time and she said the thought Howard was the most handsome member of the band, which was fair enough.

Loved the tough, burly-looking guy behind me who reluctantly said "Yeah I didn't mind that, that was good" after Howard had finished One More Word. Compared to TT shows from, say, 15 years ago, I've been seeing more and more men (of all ages) genuinely enjoying themselves instead of looking like they've been dragged along by their wives. I love.

The 3D glasses add nothing to the show and just make you look a bit silly when you put them on.

There was a bat flying around the arena during The Champion.

I felt like the chat in the "story of Take That" story was a bit more streamlined this time. It felt less like they were reading the script off a page. I especially love Mark's expressions whenever he introduces Gary for his performance of A Million Love Songs.

Howard sounded really good on Speak Without Words!

Had a tiny crush on the tall twenty-something dude in front of me who'd gone to the gig on his own and who got adopted by the three British women next to him within minutes of sitting down. I've said it before, but going to gigs on your own is very rarely the lonely experience people think it is. Go to gigs alone!

Time And Time Again is a good song but the performance is ... a struggle vocally. 😬

As much as I've loved my time in Manchester, I still had an autistic shutdown when I got home from the airport because I spent so much of my time not really being able to process all the various stimuli before and after the gigs. I'm getting better at regulating my emotions and dealing with sensory overload by limiting the time I explore the city/neighbourhood before gigs, but I do not enjoy feeling exhausted for several days because I did something fun!

#take that

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 2 years

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On my recent super-popular post about how Lilo & Stitch has no villains, there’s one comment that reoccurs the most (aside from the one about how the real villains are colonialism or the United States government):

So you know what? Let’s do it. Here we go with

Psycho Analysis: Dr. Jacques von Hamsterwheel

"It's Hämster-viel!”

Oh, sorry. My bad. Let’s try that again:

Psycho Analysis: Dr. Jacques von Hämsterviel

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

This diminutive bastard certainly looks like a harmless little critter, but don’t let looks fool you; he is the unholy union of that French asshole from Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Dr. Habitrale from the video game Stitch: Experiment 626 and is every bit the card-carrying villain Jumba is. However, while Jumba is all talk when it comes to being evil due to being a genuinely nice and extremely gay alien, Hämsterviel is just completely without redeeming qualities (and even worse, he’s heterosexual). He’s a nasty, miserable little bully, and quite frankly is just what the series needed.

Oh, and he was only in the DTV sequels and series, not the first movie. That’s why he wasn’t in the original post, guys. I was talking about the original film.

Motivation/Goals: This guy, in true evil scientist fashion, wants to conquer the galaxy. To this end he sends out Gantu to do his dirty work and acquire the 625 experiments who aren’t Stitch. If you’re looking for depth, Hämsterviel is not your guy.

Performance: No, that’s not John Cleese there; that is Jeff Bennet, the professional voice actor you might know as the titular character of Johnny Bravo, Petrie in the DTV Land Before Time sequels, Dexter’s dad on Dexter’s Laboratory, Brooklyn on Gargoyles, the one and only Candlejack from Freaka

...Sorry, don’t know what happened there. Anyway, as you can see from just that tiny sampling of his career, the dude is insanely talented and is able to pull off a lot of voices. Is it any wonder he’s killing it in this performance as an evil alien “hamster” with an ego as big as he is small?

Final Fate: Hämsterviel was a fool to think he could stand up to the power of family. Lilo, Stitch, and everyone else (including Gantu and Reuben) team up and beat his ass, sending him right back to jail… only this time, there’s no one who’ll be willing to bust him out. For a so-called evil genius, he really didn’t think this through very well.

Final Thoughts & Score: I think it is really easy to just write Hämsterviel off as an unnecessary addition to a franchise that didn’t need a cartoonish villain to cause conflict, and who sullies the tone and message of the original film. This just goes to show that sometimes doing what is easy is fucking stupid, because Hämsterviel rules.

Okay, he’s not the greatest or most complex villain who has ever existed. In fact, he’s fairly simplistic, but considering he’s the villain of a “Monster of the week” show that is a lighthearted continuation of a slightly heavier sci-fi drama, this is acceptable. He has enough quirks and characterizations that he is immensely fun to watch and, what’s more, watch him eat a big serving of humble pie nearly every episode. He’s like Rita Repulsa, except less sexy.

And honestly, I think even if the series is lighter and goofier with him in it, he provides a nice balance while reaffirming the core found family values of the series by acting as the antithesis to Lilo’s family. Hämsterviel is just completely, irredeemably evil; he refuses to change, and even when he’s finally defeated and hauled off in Leroy & Stitch, he hasn’t changed his tune. His cruel, abrasive attitude caused him to belittle and backstab Gantu and Reuben so much that both of them ended up betraying them, and the guy also threw Jumba under the bus. He’s just horrible, and he fails almost every single time. And do you know why? Because he ain’t got the power of family, baby!

Yes, Hämsterviel showcases the sort of miserable, unpleasant failure you’ll become if you’re a self-absorbed, self-reliant prick who thinks you’re above such silly things as “Companionship” and “love” and whatever. Even if Lilo’s family is a bit messy and at odds sometimes, they all love and care about each other to the point where, when given their life dreams and scatter across the galaxy, they decide that being a big stupid family together on Earth is way cooler and more important, and you know what? They’re right, because they save the world and send Hämsterviel to the space pokey. He is literally the only kind of villain who could possibly work in the series: An arrogant jackoff who is incapable of even understanding what it means to have a family.

As far as fun, Saturday morning cartoon-style villains go, Hämsterviel is a fun little villain, and definitely one of the most memorable parts of the sequels. I almost thought about giving him a 7, but honestly I think he’s iconic enough to get an 8/10. I think he can stand aside some of the great Disney villains as a fun comedic villain.

Oh, and did you know he actually had a cameo in the first film?

Maybe I should have mentioned him in my original post after all...

#Psycho analysis #Lilo & Stitch #Stitch #Dr. Jacques von Hamsterviel #Hamsterviel #Hamsterwheel #Jeff Bennet

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girderednerve · 5 months

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ok i'm doing it, i'm fandomposting, my treasured mutuals may at this point look away, etc etc

stranger things

i actually think it would be fun if eddie strangerthings was trans. i like trans people and i want more trans people in stories so i'm not defending this viewpoint. i just think it would be extremely funny if steve had a whole figuring out he's bi over eddie thing, they get together & are happy together for a year or so, and then eddie comes out to steve as a woman, at which point steve gets to do an extremely funny "wait. wait. i'm straight again. i'm straight again? i'm so straight i knew you were a woman before you did? that's what happened?" i would just really like steve to be the kind of straight guy who actually, you know, likes women. not that he's never an idiot about it in this scenario which i have lovingly crafted in my brain, just that he actually really likes women and he's happy that he's dating a woman.

i did this with my partner, whom i started dating before i knew she was a woman: we then got to joke for a bit that when i thought i was a lesbian i was right! there was in fact no discontinuity! no thoughts on if that's actually true or like theoretically rigorous, but it's a fun & mildly affirming joke to make with your partner, and i think all of my life experiences should be explored through silly stories about made-up people from bad television shows or whatever. i never claimed to be deep. anyway

canonically, eddie spends all this time performing an extremely specific flavor of metal masculinity that is high-risk in context. people hate him and he leans into it when we see him. the fact that he's performing is a deflection to some degree; he gets to control what people are responding to, even if he can't control how they respond. transgressive gender performance is part of that, and it's compelling to me.

the scene where eddie's talking to chrissy, which i do think was meant to nod at the 80s movie freak+prom queen romance, is a moment of mutual recognition; they literally acknowledge each other's performances. chrissy's being crushed alive by the kind of gender performance she has to do. there's a cost to being a thin cheerleader, although i think we're all reasonably tired of hearing about how hard it is to be popular and conventionally beautiful. she's swamped by jason's letterman jacket & pigeonholed by his expectations of her, and she's frankly pigeonholed in the narrative: beautiful, self-loathing in a cliché way, condemned to die before the end of the first episode and then be invoked as a justification for a witch hunt. nothing but a martyred white woman, the most gendered kind. eddie & chrissy play off of each other in an interesting way, and i'd much rather they just be girlfriends, but what show did i watch? not that show.

honestly eddie & robin would be pretty cute too, but woe betide who first creates the ao3 tag, am i right? actually, while i'm dumping all my weird stranger things takes in here, i think steve and robin should fuck exactly one time because she's curious what it's like and he's willing to indulge her. they both go "huh. well, okay" about it and continue being friends. this does a couple things for me: one, it's funny. two, it suggests to us that men & women can have sexual relationships which are not gravitational, which i like. three, i'm annoyed by the fandom trend with those two being that they have an extremely intense, codependent friendship but the very idea that they have sex is outright offensive. two dudes giving each other a handjob which doesn't have to be sexuality-defining is like, a fandom trope! do we think that robin's identity is so fragile that she can't fuck around a little bit, in the interests of finding out?

#clearing out drafts! this was written during hurricane ian :')#i am real stressed about work stuff so. um. thinking about terrible tv which i will not be watching more of ever again #needless to say that z*onism is Not sexy etc.

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ristoranteivorykeys · 2 years

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twst mermay 10 — transformation

in which floyd forgot to take his transformation potion and nearly paid the price for it in the middle of pe. ft. ruggie bucchi, floyd leech, and ashton vargas

╰┈➤ 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬: slight spoilers for chapter 6 (nothing that would ruin your chapter 6 experience, but better to scroll down if you want to keep your experience free of spoilers; a fast upload finally 😳 i remembered ruggie saying that he saw floyd transforming during swimming class so i wondered what would happen if it was a transformation in the middle of flying class. then in chapter 6, azul brought up floyd forgetting to take his potions, so this came to life!

╰┈➤ 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐨: mermay masterlist

It happened in the blink of an eye.

A second ago, Floyd filled the skies with his boisterous laughter, a blue blur with fins for ears zooming high above the tallest trees and performing loops and other tricks on his broom. The next thing, the laughter vanished, replaced with choked sounds that caused some students to freeze. And like a shooting star ensnared by gravity’s pull, he fell at dangerous speeds to the ground.

Of course, being the nearest one, Ruggie had to be the one to reach out his arms and catch the eel.

“Yo, yo Floyd, I’m here, okay? C-can you still speak?”

Floyd never looked so helpless and pathetic. He struggled to breathe, and his hands were reaching out for something not quite there. Ruggie did everything that he knew that should help him breathe, but his breathing was getting more ragged by the second.

“W-wa-wa—” he croaked out. His voice could barely form anything cohesive.

“What are you saying,” Ruggie exclaimed. “I can’t understand anything!”

“Floyd!” Vargas’ booming voice resounded in the field as he rushed to the scene. “Bucchi, what happened?!”

His hand brushed upon something foreign on Floyd’s side. Without hesitating, he lifted the shirt. Instead of flesh, three lengthy holes occupied the side where his ribs would be located.

“Get him to a body of water,” he yelled to the surrounding students. “Somebody help me get Floyd to the pool! Magic, anything, just give a lift!”

Immediately, the rest of his classmates rushed to lift the eel mer. Ruggie lifted Floyd’s head, and they started dashing to the river that should be located across the Mystery Shop. “It’s okay, Floyd, it’s okay, we’re almost there,” he reassured. “We’re gonna get you to a body of water right away.” Come on, come on, it’s gonna take about 5 to 10 minutes until Floyd’s done for, he frantically thought.

It didn’t take long for them to reach the river. With not a single countdown or a cue or any care, all the students dumped Floyd into the water. A teal glow emanated from the water, lasting for what seemed to be a few seconds before it faded away. The water calmed down, not a single sign of the merman resurfacing.

“I-is Floyd okay,” one of the students asked.

“He better be,” the hyena answered with a clenched fist.

As he spoke, Floyd’s head penetrated the surface. Gone was the desperate helpless look, and his iconic open-mouthed smile replaced it.

“Heyyyy, I’m alive!” he exclaimed with the wave of his hand. His clothes were no more, and his skin was no longer the more familiar pale flesh color, but tinted teal. A reminder to his peers of his otherworldly nature.

Sheer relief flooded over Ruggie. If he wasn’t surrounded by his classmates, his knees would have given way and he’d have fallen to the ground. Huge sighs simultaneously escaped him and the rest of the students.

“Y’know, that was kinda fun,” he commented with a lilt. “I hadn’t had a near death experience in so long.”

Ruggie’s jaw dropped at his words. “Dude, are you an idiot or something,” he exclaimed. “You nearly died.”

“But I turned out alive,” he replied, his smile never fading away. “All thanks to you guys.”

“Floyd!” Vargas’ voice boomed throughout the area, startling everyone as the teacher jogged to the scene. “Floyd, are you okay?”

“Never been better,” he answered happily. “It feels awesome being in the water again~.”

Vargas sighed, a hand placed on his chest. “That’s a relief. I’m glad that you’re okay.” He then crossed his arms, his expression sterner. “But let that be a reminder to not forget taking your transformation potions. We do not want to deliver any devastating news to your family. I want to see you all develop good muscles like myself, and I can only see that if you’re alive. Clear?”

“Yes, Coach Lobster…”

“Here, I have a spare potion on hand right now.” The coach bent down to Floyd, handing him a vial containing a clear blue liquid. He took it, and in a second, he opened the vial and drank its contents in one fell swoop.

The same teal glow earlier emanated from his body, but this time, Ruggie had to shield his eyes from the brightness of the light. This time, Floyd appeared in his human form, wearing the same sweaty clothes he wore before the transformation. He crawled up to the grass, stretching as he did so.

“As for everyone here, you did a fine job in saving your fellow second year,” Vargas praised, his grin almost reaching his eyes. “Especially you, Bucchi. You acted immediately, and that is what every student here should learn to do.” His gaze shifted to Ruggie, much to the hyena’s discomfort.

“Uh, thanks Coach.”

“Alright, we dawdled enough here.” He clapped his hands. “Everyone, back to the field!”

As he turned to the direction of the stairs, the students started walking. Ruggie didn’t take his eyes off of Floyd, watching him as he stood up and followed him, becoming the last person at the back of the group.

“So coach, do we get plus points,” one classmate asked in the front. His gaze appeared hopeful.

How typical. Of course Night Raven students would help if it meant they benefited somehow.

“Now where did you get that idea,” Vargas asked with a raise of his brow. “There aren’t going to be any bonus points because you saved a life.”

Collective groans echoed amongst the students.

Eventually, they returned to the field, where everyone split off to do whatever it was they needed to do. Once the area seemed enough that he knew people wouldn’t eavesdrop, Ruggie approached Floyd.

“Yo Floyd,” he said, tapping him on the shoulder.

“What’s up, Remora?”

“Y’owe me one for this, you know?” A grin rose on his face.

“Hmph, fine. You did do something for me, anyway,” Floyd said with a shrug. “Alright, what do I gotta do?”

Ruggie’s grin only grew. “So you see, I got a bit of an interest in the Mostro Lounge…”

#twisted wonderland #twst #floyd leech #ruggie bucchi #twst mermay

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lord-radish · 7 months

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The Chibnall run of Doctor Who really bums me out because I really liked what it was trying to do, but something always seemed to bring the show down.

The new monsters - fine at worst. I remember speculating with a mutual about whether other Stenza take other body parts of their victims as battle trophies. I liked the P'Ting, and I LOVED the dudes from Demons of the Punjab. The giant spider was mid and the time-travelling racist was a cardboard cutout, but I felt like the earnest attempt at trying something new in series 11 was good and they could have done more than just a P'Ting cameo later in the run.

I like that they tried to have a larger crew of companions, even if the writers seemingly couldn't write four main characters and decided to sideline one of them every episode. I feel like Mandip Gill put a lot of character into her performance in series 11, even though Yaz was the most sidelined character in favor of Ryan and Graham's "granddad" arc. I was disappointed that Ryan got sidelined for most of series 12 while Graham seemed to mourn Ryan's nan more than he did. Then Dan came and went.

I can appreciate that they tried to up the ante with the Flux season, but it was such a precarious watch where one episode would be one of my favourites since like 2008, and the next one would be underbaked in that Chibnall sort of way and frustrate things. Boring invincible villains, a whole sideplot starring new characters that barely ties into the season's arc, and mangling the Timeless Child plotline - but also the one Weeping Angel episode that I was genuinely entertained and gripped by, and a fantastic Sontaran episode too. If it stuck the landing, I would have forgiven the bad stuff - but it didn't! The season just ends with a thud!!

And at the centre of it all, like glue holding the entire thing together, was Jodie Whittaker's Doctor. She's my favourite Doctor since Tennant, and she elevated the material that she worked with. But the material just... wasn't there. Demons of the Punjab is a GOATed episode, but Orphan 55 might be my least favourite episode of the revival series. I didn't like most of Moffat's run, period - at best, Orphan 55 ties with Sleep No More as my least favourite episode - it depends on whether you prefer dull, uninspired storytelling in the former or a cynical attempt to cash in on trendy, creepypasta-esque horror storytelling in the latter.

But none of this is in a vacuum. Chibnall tried - I genuinely liked the Timeless Child stuff at the end of series 12. The script writers and episode directors tried - Demons of the Punjab and Village of the Angels are fantastic episodes of the show, period. The VFX crew tried - the first episode of the run looked great, the title sequence was fantastic and the effects in that final season were outstanding. The actors tried - Jodie Whittaker, Mandip Gill and Bradley Walsh were high points of this series, while I felt like Tosin Cole got totally shafted. And fuckin Sasha Dhawan? Seriously? Dude owned.

And I liked the approach that the show was taking after the overly self-serious and self-aggrandizing vibe of Moffat's run. I thought searching for the TARDIS was a fun little arc to start the run. I liked the whole "ancient pre-Time Lord alien races" thing that Chibnall does, even in The Power of Three (despite that villain sucking). The security drone Daleks were lightyears better than the New Paradigm Daleks. The Doctor felt like she was sharing the experience with her companions, instead of portraying herself in this loud, egomaniacal way where she has to assert how awesome she is. But the run STILL fell below expectations.

And the worst part is that because the run was so heavily politicised and so much of the hate came in the form of review-bombing and ideological "culture war" horseshit, it was next to impossible to have a productive conversation about Chibnall's run for ages. It's like the right-wing shitheads who poisoned the well with The Last of Us Part II; I couldn't have a productive conversation about that game for years because the haters were doing shit like analysing in-game cafeteria menus and using them to disprove the possibility of a buff woman in a zombie apocalypse, despite thinking the game was like a low-range 7/10 at worst.

So much of the backlash was ideological and political that people would rather blame a shitty episode on the fact that the Doctor transformed into a woman than the fact that it felt like a rejected SyFy Original Movie script with a single rubber costume.

It's just so disappointing in hindsight. At least they broached the topic of Thasmin with some tact, even if they didn't go through with it. Honestly, I stan Yaz forever.

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ioannemos · 8 months

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had some more dreams™️ the other night, less "guess i'm not handling that as well as i thought" and more plot-adjacent

one was like a reboot of knight rider or something (which is funny to me bc i've never seen the original - all i know is dude had a really smart car). the protag was a black guy whose life got upended when his rich gf thought he was cheating on her (he wasn't), threw him out, took the keys to his nice car, etc. he was a hard worker but in a really cutthroat workplace. so he's homeless and needs a car, so he goes to an honest john's dealership and ends up with k.i.t.t. (like the gal in bumblebee with, well, bumblebee). didn't actually get to the fun part in this one, just the lead-up. the guy was living in this out-of-the-way corner near a highway overpass with the support of like two friends (a couple, i think; no idea why he couldn't crash on their couch). ngl there was one very funny bit, a scene where the ex-gf was ranting to a friend like "now i know he's cheating! i was starting to re-think it but then i saw him buying all these sun dresses. why else would he be buying them??" followed by a hard cut to the dude wrapping one around his waist after taking a camp shower. don't ask me why he was using sun dresses instead of towels, maybe they were cheaper at the thrift store??

the other notable one involved time traveling shenanigans to solve a series of puzzles in what i think was a buddhist temple. one puzzle solution was finding an elongated plastic fork and spoon and using them to pick up sacred objects that otherwise couldn't be reached; another had something to do with a bell, i think? and another involved stratigically killing oneself (don't ask me now how this helped bc i don't remember). there were multiple versions of people trying to solve the puzzles who sometimes killed themselves or other versions of themselves (which was confusing for me and the people in the dream). there were also visions of the future and the past, causing more chaos. the evil guy responsible for the puzzles never showed up in person but his wife was there, or rather the enchanted object that was as close as one could get. she was basically a golem with the original wife's hair or something stuffed in her, and the more she lost the more confused she got and the less human she looked, which is an intriguing concept... me and the other person trying to solve the puzzles (i honestly don't even remember the gender of the person) were driving past the temple when someone killed the engine of our car from a distance, which i noticed but pretended i didn't. we went inside, picked up a few 'something's not right' clues, and then i got tired of the slow build-up and went into the main room and said something to the effect of "okay i'm done pretending, let's get on with it" and the puzzles kicked into gear

as a side note, this latter dream helped me figure out a key quality of some of my dreams lately: they're like improv theater. i've never done improv, mind you, but there are parameters of what's supposed to be happening, lines that people are supposed to say, actions they're supposed to take... there are general guidelines that can be rehearsed or thrown out as wanted/needed, a sense that i am myself, playing myself, and playing a person other than myself by turns. it's a common thread for me to notice someone or something out of place but to very deliberately go on as if i didn't. in more than one dream i'll experience the same "scene" more than once, and i remember one dream where afterward someone commented on something in the scene as if she hadn't been present, which would make sense if we'd been rehearsing and she was just commenting on my performance there's probably a lot to unpack here but let's just throw out the whole suitcase, huh?

i can't remember if the animal people were in either of these or in their own. i really only remember a white tiger with extremely long fur on its tail, a dog, and maybe mind-controlling snakes?

#this sure was a post #personal #abbie needs a twitter #abbie needs a dream journal

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lawain-dimensional-heroes · 9 months

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potential drabble - 39 shining star

The five had fun together making music and learning music that they started to forget that it was night time. Naona had given the five an earful about not playing so loud at night, but the five ended up chuckling to themselves and calling it a day.

While the three younger siblings were off to bed, Maroon and Miku were heading outside for a walk, with him having a pleased look on his face.

"...You know, it's not often I get to experience birthdays like this, where I actually had a normal day where I can just be a normal dude for once. It felt...Nice. Like an escape of the life I have been living, or should I say now like living a part of my life I'm getting back?"

A chuckle escaped his lips as he looked at the night sky.

"Still can't believe it though, to have met you, to be friends with you, to be in a relationship with you. And that's not even starting to mention these the fun we had together. Though those might not be the idol-like things or even anything music related. We're kind of very different in that sense."

She shook her head, walking a little bit faster so she can look at him as she shook her head.

"It's alright, I didn't expect it either-- and I didn't expect you to impact my life this much, I thought the life of an idol was something I would always keep, but I saw more to my life outside of it and what my life was becoming on the inside. If it wasn't for you and your friends, I wouldn't have met all these wonderful people, I wouldn't have been friends with who are now our friends, the twins wouldn't have a normal childhood even if one is a bit more special now. I wouldn't have felt like an actual person outside of the idol life I have lived."

With each step the two took, the closer they got to the central area of the city.

"Sure, I have colleagues who treat me equally and the fact we share a similar job, hobby and somewhat same goals, but you gave me a perspective I needed, you and your friends gave me room to be myself the way I want it to be the entire time. That is not something that can happen by just working more... And I hope I can keep that going."

"...Right." Once they got to the concert, Maroon was looking at the building, remembering the first time they've met.

"...It's only a couple of months from now. Your final concert in Lawain City. And after that, you will have to make a choice. The fans, the company and your colleagues, or your life-- you can't take an in between route as that will ruin both sides-- as much as we may wish there's balanced option."

A soft breeze was picking up as he glared at that same building, wanting to grit his teeth in annoyance.

"...You dedicate your life to the people you perform to lift their hearts yet you have to lift yours and get punished for getting anyone in your life who lifts yours. In a way you're slaving away and for what? Like being born in royalty, your entire life is basically to serve the people, leaving you with little to no choice."

"..." She looked at him as he said those words. In a way their jobs are similar, even if it doesn't seem like it in the first place.

"...If you were in my situation. What would you do?"

"...Isn't it obvious?" Maroon responded before looking at her with a grin on his face. "I follow my own path, no matter what others think about it. It's my life, not theirs-- just as much as this is your life. You said that you were able to be yourself, that is what I find to be the most important: stay true to yourself till the very end. If that path is where you enjoy the most and where you can be yourself, then you should follow it."

"...And so that means I need to push on, even if it hurts?"

"Strive and shine, Miku, for that's what stars do. Eternally burning, eternally shining, for those who stay true to themselves even amidst the pressure and expectations, shine the brightest and get to have their dreams come true. Whether you're the most royal of nobles, or the most average person in existence, to yes, even the most vile of beings doesn't matter, you create the path you choose to walk for that is what your flame-- your heart desire and let no one extinguish it. redirecting that flame is never wrong, but you'd be damned if it goes extinguished, cause a burning flame can be a guide for those who wish to strive for a better life."

"..." She was silent, but she was looking at him that entire time. "...To Strive and Shine for that's what stars do, huh..." She was holding onto his wrist and gently tugging him, signaling to follow her and thus he did. They went inside the concert's halls, then the staff room, then the green room, the backstage and then the stage itself, even if it was dark.

"Maroon, you know how hard an idol life is-- you've seen these horror stories yourself, right?"

"Of course. It's why I said that you were taking a crazy risk choosing me. Not only that but my reputation is also something to consider--"

"Maroon..." She once again turned to him as she wrapped her arms around his torso. "You and I know each other longer than today, your reputation doesn't matter to me. I know you better than that Dragon of Destruction some may say you are, just like how you by now know me as more than just the #1 idol, right?"

"..." A grin appeared on his lips as he wrapped his arms around her waist and let her get a bit closer to him. "Yeah, you're sweet, kind, with a deep interest in the idol life, even if you're doubting on staying an Ido--"

He felt his lips were softly touched and it was by her own. A smug look came from her face.

"I'm not ready to quit my idol life just yet, but I am ready for the next chapter of my life. I will start anew here, even if they already know my name. It's partly why I wanted to make that studio in the first place, so that I can get ready for that next stage in life as an independent idol and musician. Back then I had no one to support me with my career until MEIKO and KAITO entered my life. But now, I not only have them, but everyone else, my fans, my friends and now your family and of course--"

Another kiss on the lips, this time it lasted 5 seconds.

"--I have you, my shining star-- the one who people described as the So called Dragon of Destruction, while in reality you're the little guiding drake, a sweet yet fierce rebel and dare I say a force of nature that completely changed my perspective."

"..." These kisses did stiffen the blonde a little bit in two ways, but he listened attentively to what she said as his eyes were locked onto hers.

There was silence for seconds while they kept making eye contact. It was silent until the tealnette spoke-- almost sung something familiar.

"...君に出会って　みんな出会って "アタシ゛であって良かったよ何回言ったって足りないよ声に出して--"

But before she can finish it, his lips was the one who moved toward hers-- a kiss that also lasted a total of 5 seconds before he spoke up as a gentle smile appeared on his lips.

"...Y'know, that song is kind of fitting, consider it's your birthday and all that. Let me guess, you were going to almost full consider finishing it, saying that you'll always be there, right?"

"Mhm--" Miku nodded. "I've decided to stay here. Of course I'll make visits to my home country, but that doesn't change the fact that I want to take the chance."

"Hmmm...Then I guess I can officially say this then: Congratulations. You may need to go through a lot like finishing studying, getting a side-job to make an income while you work on building up your new career, getting an visa to make your a resident of this city, even find a way to make you combat ready if you want to have some means to protect yourself, but it'll be worth it."

"...A means to protect myself? Wait, you don't mean you want me to go through the same procedure as Rin, do you?" She asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"...Yes, I do. But that's if you want to. Besides, you're among similar people and a boyfriend with experience in that-- like look at Rin, she's gotten so much better in controlling it. Plus it's not certain you'd get fire powers as it depends on your personality. But that'll be an experience for when we get to it. How about we go experience something else, first?"

"...S-sooo...We're 18 now and we're together as a couple...At night..."

"...Taking that gamble, huh Miku?"

"...Let's keep it safe first, but...Yes."

"..." A chuckle appeared on his face as gently raises her chin up to look at him. "...Then let us go someplace we can experience it together alone."

#ic #drabble?#prism dragon | maroon #Vocaloid-02 | Hatsune Miku

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seonghwasblr-moved · 2 years

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Maja’s STRAY KIDS Concert experience and thoughts (aka probably just me fangirling)!

Under the cut, cause I don’t know how long this will turn out to be.. Will also include some of my bad pics lol

September 17th 2022!

The day my mind was blown to oblivian, cause Minho THE MINHO is actually real, like what an actual wild concept. Not in like a “I don’t see him as a real person” weirdo kind of way, but in a “I have only ever seen this dude on a computer screen and it’s wild that he actually exists” kind of way. It’s the same for all of the members of course, but I am nothing if not Minho biased lol.

Ever since the evening the day before the concert, I was so freaking nervous. Like one would seriously think I was the one performing, that’s how nervous I was lmao. Guess it was the realization that I was actually seeing my dude of all dudes (read ultimate bias (sorry Seonghwa)) irl. Even now, just thinking about it makes my stomach turn lmao. I still can’t believe it.

I had a way better seat than I expected, and I really felt like they were SO close even though I was on the second floor. It was truly wild.

When the concert started I seriously couldn’t do anything, but watch in awe. I was literally just shook SHOOK! They started with Maniac and Venom, which has never been my favourite songs, but they were absolutely amazing. AND THEN THEY DID RED LIGHTS AS ONE OF THE FIRST SONGS, LIKE WHAT THE HELL. Can’t believe one of my first looks of skz irl is them tied up by their necks??

When they said hello, I was just out of it. It was truly like an out of body experience, I could not with my excitement lol (in reality I just kept on saying “wahh” every five minutes).

Minho was of course Minho, and when he greeted us, he was like “you already know my name”ish and got us to yell his name, but then he was like “No, there’s something missing at the front” and everyone was like “???” and he was like “I’m Stray Kids’ Lee Know” as if we could know that was his intention. I love him and he is just ethereal and his humor is just amazing. Also, I have never been more happy to know Korean than I was at this concert. It really made it so much more fun, cause the members were all hilarious!!

I don’t remember what it was, but at their ment, Chan said some kind of joke and Felix just went “Ah, how fun” in the most dry tone ever and everyone laughed. He seemed to be confused tho, cause I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean for it to be that dry lol.

Then (I think it was now?? Oh well) Minho and Seungmin were charged with having to introduce the new song, but it was just them meowing and barking at each other?? Minho got so red lmao. The song was Easy lol. Apparently the thing was that it was very easy to guess? Which it really was not.

I don’t remember everything in the correct order probably, but who cares lol. They also said they were going to try something new, and that the people on the second floor (aka me) would also get to see them close! So every time the light went out, everyone was just waiting for where they would appear again lmao.

Y’all, I got to hear CHEESE live? Like damn, absolutely amazing! I love CHEESE lol

They also did Lonely St. with standing mics!! Absolutely amazing if you ask me lol. But tbh the whole concert was, so yeah.

They showed their mashup for the new album and then they performed the three unit songs!! 3Racha began by absolutely slaying, and damn, rapper Bang Chan is back back!!! Then Danceracha went on to absolutely end me. Like my jaw was literally at the floor the whole time. It was sexy sexy sexy. Like Wow but times ten. Who knew that was even possible? And the Vocalracha ended the unit songs, by having the best song ever. It’s such a happy “I really like you!!” kind of song and they absolutely slayed, I can’t wait for the studio version for real!!

At the following ment, Minho was like “I have a question for STAY and you have to answer truthfully! Did you all do the STAY pose, when you met outside of the stadium?” then the other members went on about how it must be embarrassing to do, and Minho was like “I’m in I and I can do it?” and they were all like “You’re not an I. There’s no way you’re an I.” Then they went on to coming up with other things STAYs could do to see if someone was a STAY. Changbin (I think it was him) suggested finger hearts, but they all agreed, that that would be awkward if the other person wasn’t a stay lmao. They ended up settling for doing the skz greeting with eachother, cause that would be easy to play off, if the other person wasn’t a stay.

They also performed Circus and Fam Korean versions!

After they performed Fam, they wanted to hear us yell their names but without the in-ears in. It went like *Chan says his line about I.N and we yell “I.N”* and everything went great until it got to, when we had to yell Hyunjin’s name. This is where, some people have probably seen the video online, if not you can find it HERE! Han said his line about Hyunjin, but like 80% of the stadium didn’t yell his name and it was just confused silence. Here is where I’ve seen some weird misunderstandings run around on twitter, about how “Korean fans never screams a lot for Hyunjin >:(” and “Why did nobody scream his name? :(” and “The fans didn’t know they were supposed to scream the names”, but take it from someone who was there and didn’t scream his name at first, it wasn’t like that at all. It wasn’t some weird “Korean stays don’t like Hyunjin kind of thing” like what even? It was just confusion! Han said his line which was just “Artist”, but it sounded so much like he said “I.N” and everyone was confused, cause we had already screamed his name once. That’s really all there was to it. So Han just repeated his line and everyone screamed “Hyunjin” really loud after that! It wasn’t at all any ill-feelings towards Hyunjin. It was just pure confusion lmao!

At one point they got into some carts(?) I’ll call them carts lol, and they drove around between the second and first floor! They were so close, like what even. They were like really really close, I still can’t believe it..

As it does at every concert, they have to say goodbye, and Han was tasked with the role of being the one to be like “We really want to stay, but...” and we, the fans, were all like “Awww :(” and Han was like “This makes me the bad guy” and everybody laughed.

Between them leaving the stage and the encore (Is it really an encore, when everyone know it’s going to happen?) there were three STAY games. The first one was, the camera filming someone in the audience and that STAY had to immitate the pose on the screen. Then the next one was immitating the dance and doing an ending fairy, and the last one was just for everyone to scream as loud as they could lol. That was also a reorcurring theme in the concert. The members kept on being like “that’s not enough” and making everyone scream even louder. No wonder my throat hurt when I got home lol.

They came back for the “encore” and they performed HAVEN!! MINHO’S VOICE IN HAVEN LIVE!! VERY IMPORTANT!! I absolutely am in love with him in a non delusional way, of course.

When they did their ending ments, they were all so happy. They were all talking about how it was a dream to perform at the KSPO stadium, and how STAY made that dream come true and how thankful they were. Felix talked about how it was the first time they were able to get that close to the fans (when they went in the carts and had to literally walk through the fans to get back to the stage), and he had never seen the love in the fans eyes that close before. He said he wondered if he really derserve all that love, and I can tell you he does! Am I tearing up writing this? Maybe.. Chan said all the fans were like 🥺🥺 looking at the members that close, and it was cute and there was so much love.

Minho was very serious in his ending ment. He said it’s good to be serious sometimes. He talked about how, when he got back from the US after the tour, he had some time to himself and he kind of had an identity crisis? He said he thought a lot about who he is. Is he Stray Kids’ Lee Know or is he Lee Minho? He said it’s very important to take some time to yourself and be serious and think about stuff. He said that STAY should also take some time for themselves sometimes!

At the end nobody wanted them to leave and they didn’t want to leave either. Chan kept on asking if they should just start from the beginning again, and he started imitating the sound of the intro to the concert version of Maniac, and some of the other members joined in. In the end, they did have to go. Felix was the last one leaving and he kept on yelling “I love you STAYs” and it was just really wholesome.

Anyways I love them a whole damn lot. I still can’t believe I saw them live. I didn’t really know how to feel, when the concert was done lol. Surprisingly I didn’t cry at the concert or anything, cause I think I was in lowkey shock lol. I was yesterday too, but now, writing this long post, I am suddenly really emotional and touched lol. This was a big day and I enjoyed every single second of it (even though my buttcheek kind of hurt from the hard seat lol)!

I love Stray Kids and Lee Minho a whole damn lot. That’s just the end of it.

Oh, someone posted a fancam of THE WHOLE DAMN CONCERT on youtube.. damn

#maja talks #stray kids #*unveil 11

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chemnections · 1 year

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my favourite parts from the new LS Dunes interview

like all of it lol but i'm putting it in anways

(01/26/23)

Frank: “It’s like, it truly is a phenomenal time because we’re just all buds. We’re all friends, and so that, I think, is the cornerstone of the band. And I think it’s like Tucker said, it’s infectious. I think when the band is having a good time you can tell. It’s just like when you can tell, like a band is fighting or they’re having a really rough time of it. Sometimes that push and pull and that, not the animosity, but the tension can add to the performance. Right. I’ve never enjoyed that too much. I mean, I’ve enjoyed it like watching a fight is enjoyable, you know what I mean?

But ultimately, I don’t feel like I’m invested in it. Right. So I enjoy a band that likes playing with one another. I enjoy a band that has each other’s backs and I enjoy a band that’s having fun doing what they’re doing. ‘Cause if you’re not having fun up there, what the f*** like, I can’t have fun watching you. You know what I mean? “

Frank: “Oh yeah. Dude, when that stuff becomes un-fun or like unexciting, then you need to stop. I mean, like it’s always fun. It’s funny, as we’re talking like the group chat is still going. We were talking earlier that this kind of thing, man, when you have the opportunity to hear a song and fall in love with it and then realize it’s your song. It’s a song that you and your friends made from nothing, that feeling is second only to having kids or to making a human being. Like it’s, you made this wonderful thing that wasn’t here before you. You know what I mean? And you made it from, with your hands from nothing. That feeling of, I guess of bringing beauty into the world is, it’s unmatched. And that’s what keeps us, at least for me, I mean, that’s what keeps me going and doing this kind of thing. Because this is an industry that very rarely loves you back. You know what I mean?

You sacrifice your time, your money, your body, all of it to just put out a record and do this thing and play these shows and people are like, “Alright, what’s next?” You know what I mean? So yeah, you’re only as good as your last release. And so if you’re looking for fame or riches or a pat on the back, you’re in the wrong place. You know what I mean? You have to provide your own level of success and your own barometer for that. You know what I mean? Because very often people will tell you…”

“Yeah, man. I mean, music, art, all that stuff. It’s a subjective industry. And very rarely the people that deserve it get the accolades. It’ll go to the prettiest or it goes to the flavor of the month and that’s fine. You know what I mean? Whatever, dude, that’s cool. But people sacrifice quite a lot, and you need to have your head on straight and realize that you do it for you and you do it because you have to. It’s like breathing, you don’t even know why you’re doing it. You don’t even know that you’re doing it, but you have to in order to survive. And that’s what creating is like."

Tucker Rule: “Making it” in this industry is basically just making something you love

[I'D LOVE TO TALK ABOUT BOTH OF YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ALBUM. FRANK, HOW DID YOU AND TRAVIS GO ABOUT SPLITTING UP GUITAR DUTIES?]

Frank Iero: We didn’t. It was just whoever got there first, kind of set the tone, to be honest. And I thought it was going to be real hard to be honest. I really did think it was going to be more difficult. I thought we were going to have to go in and start editing and kind of taking stuff out and going back and forth. And I didn’t know… I’d never worked with Travis before. And sometimes, when working with another musician that’s been in a writing process and stuff like that, like they get very precious about their parts. But he was unbelievably easy to work with.

I think we come from the same aspect of like, if it’s not right for the song, if it’s not good for the song it doesn’t matter. And that is, I think that’s a really hard lesson to learn. It comes with experience and maturity over time, that not everything you write needs to be in there. We have to service the song. And it wasn’t even a discussion that needed to come up. It was just like, this isn’t working or this is working. I want to exploit what you’re doing here. I want to work with you here. I think what you did in the verses, what the verse should be. I’ll just focus on what the chorus is. And it was like two halves of one brain going. It was crazy.

[I'M STARTING TO SEE THAT WORKING AS A MUSICIAN FULL TIME, YOU MIGHT GET JADED FROM CERTAIN THINGS THAT KIND OF PICK AT YOU OVER THE YEARS, WHEREAS THIS WAS REALLY JUST A FRESH, NO F*S GIVEN, NO HOLDS BARRED PROJECT. AND THAT'S ACTUALLY REALLY HARD TO FIND.]

Frank Iero: It is. It is, man. You know, every project is different. Every situation is different. You can’t allow yourself to get defeated by one and have it ruin the next one. I’ve seen that. I’ve seen that happen. And it’s like in those cartoon where all the life has been sucked out of the entity. You know, you see musicians like that, man. They’re not having any fun. I remember touring early, early on with My Chem. And we got asked to go on tour. I’m not going to say the name of the band, but I’ll tell you later, Tucker.

Tucker Rule: Thanks Frank.

Frank Iero: We got to go on tour with this band that I really, really liked. And I was very excited about it. And we show up and I found out really quickly that this band was over it. Like they were done. And to the point where like, I remember one time, we had come off stage and the guitar player from the headlining band came in and said, “Ah, you guys are so lucky. You guys are done. I got to go up there and play now.” I was like, “Motherf*er, I’ll go up there again.” Like, are you serious? I didn’t get it then. I still don’t get it. I’m old now, too. Probably older than that person was when he said that to me. But I don’t know, man, like I love this stuff so much. And there’s definitely times where you don’t feel like… The last thing you feel like is getting up in front of like a hundred people or a thousand people or whatever and playing a show because you feel sick and you’re tired. You got this going on or something happening back home. But once you get up there and that music starts, a switch flips, man. And it’s like you’re either a lifer or you’re a dickhead.

Tucker Rule: Dude, jumping on that, too, Frank, I mean, I definitely go through that from time to time where I just don’t feel like doing it. You know what I mean? But then I get up there. Note one, that’s what makes you remember. It’s the 23 other hours in the day that I don’t want to do because that’s the only hour that I want to actually do. You know what I mean? It’s funny how you’re just you know, you’re about to put your body through the paces. So you’re kind of like, oh, man, I don’t really feel like doing this. I don’t have the energy. And then all of a sudden you’re on fire. You know what I mean? There’s just nothing like it. There’s nothing like it. And I think that’s what the addiction to what we do is, is that that like your hair stands up even if you’re playing a song that’s 22 years old. You know what I mean? You’re just on fire because it’s like you belong there.

Frank Iero: That’s what you’re meant to do. Yeah.

[TUCKER, THIS ALBUM IS ADMITTEDLY PRETTY HEAVY ON THE DRUMS. WHAT ARE YOUR PERSONAL FAVORITE MOMENTS AS A DRUMMER ON THIS RECORD AND HOW IS PLAYING IN L.S. DUNES COMPARED TO PLAYING WITH OTHER BANDS OF YOURS?]

Tucker Rule: Oh man, a personal favorite of mine is “Grey Veins.” There’s a pre-chorus that Frank actually wrote and he wrote the drums for it as well. And it turned out to be my favorite thing. And again, taking the ego away from myself, having a guitar player write the drum part was like I was super excited about because it worked. I heard it and it worked. And I was like, okay, I’m going to go in the studio. I’m going to do what you gave me and I’m just going to put my drums on it, my idea on it. And it just worked. And it’s like, I don’t know, I just love that. I always think about that. It’s like when your favorite part of your record is a part that you didn’t write. That means that you love the record and you love the process and you love how it… It’s just very rewarding to have that feeling.

[FRANK, YOU’VE GOT AN ADMIRER.]

Frank Iero: I got to tell you, my favorite part of the record is is the drums on “Past Lives.” If you notice, Tucker never goes to a crash cymbal until the second, like that very last chorus, the second half of it where it opens up. Everything on that song is close hi-hat to open hi-hat. And it’s all like that very straight, like you’re getting this, the meter of it. But then when he opens up and gets syncopated it just explodes. And it’s crazy. The amount of reserve, I guess, or like… Yeah, the ability to hold back until that last chorus of that song. Holy shit, man. It’s like, how do you do that? I don’t have that in me to not eat that last cookie or like, you know what I mean, to not…

Tucker Rule: Totally. It’s trust, man. It’s trust in your dude, just trust to know that you all don’t need me to get heavy. It’s happening. It’s happening around the whole thing. And it’s like, all right, you wanna… Let’s make this thing explode at the end. And I think that the reserve there is trusting the rest of the people in the band. Trusting that everyone’s got it and you can move around the drums. It doesn’t need to be like, “Okay, the crash cymbal means it’s heavy now.” The bass can make it heavy, the vocals can make it heavy. The lyrical content can make it heavy.

Frank Iero: I got to tell you, it took me maybe 10 listens on that song to realize that you weren’t opening up like a normal drummer would. Like you get the chorus. All right I’m gonna crash and then I’m… It’s gonna expand the sound, right? And then where do you go from 11? How do you turn up from 11 to get that last chorus over the hump? This motherf*er like it’s crazy, dude, it’s nuts. It’s nuts. Higher and like those little junkie junks. I don’t know what they’re called, like whatever.

Tucker Rule: Yeah, we had a lot of drum crap.

[LIKEWISE, WHAT ABOUT FRANK FOR GUITAR PARTS? HOW DOES PLAYING IN L.S. DUNES' COMPARE, AND WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR PERSONAL FAVORITE PARTS TO PLAY ON THE RECORD?]

Frank Iero: Oh, man. I think my favorite song to play live would be maybe “It Takes Time.” Just because there’s just so much going on. I mean, this record is pretty riffy. And it really is. You can get lost in that ramen a bit. And I feel like a lesser group of guys would make a pretty shitty record with the amount of noodling happening. But I mean, kudos to Anthony, really, for being able to find a collection of melodies when there’s already so much melody happening. I mean, you have a bass player that is running around that beat. I mean it’s incredible what Tim and Tucker can do. Honestly, I feel like you could probably take all the guitars off the record and you would still be a very interesting, amazing listen if you just listen to bass and drums with Anthony on top. So I’ve always felt like for a good record or my favorite records it’s drums and vocals. The rest is kind of like it’s the cream inside the Oreo like the cookie makes it. It’s like, that is just the icing on top. So I’m going off on a tangent. I apologize. But there’s a lot of different moments on this where I feel like I took maybe some liberties or got myself out of a comfort zone. There’s a tapping part on “Grey Veins” that I never would have attempted if it wasn’t like, Oh, yeah, I’m just gonna hang out and impress my friends kind of thing.

Tucker Rule: That’s my favorite part.

Frank Iero: Thank you. So there’s there’s stuff like that. I think “It Takes Time” is one of the songs that I enjoy playing the most too, because I feel like that was like, when I finally did go in the studios, Tucker came and my friend James Bowman, who’s been teching for me. And we sat down and was like, us and Will, who produced the record. And there was a couple of parts on that song where I was like, “I don’t know if this is gonna work. I listened to the song at the hotel. And and I came up with this part last night, so I want to try it”

And that was one of those songs that was like, I had changed a lot from the demoing. It was also a moment where I had recently broken my wrist in like 10 places, right? So I felt off this ladder, it was f–ed up. And I had to have surgeries. And so I had to postpone my recording from September to December. I had my last surgery in November. So I think I may have still had like stitches and stuff like that. It was one of those things where it was like, “All right, this is a make or break moment. I don’t know if I’m able to play, but this is the only time we can do it. So I got to try.” And so that song in particular was one of those where it was like, “Hey, listen, I don’t know if this is gonna go well, but if I can do this, if I can pull this off, then I know I’ll be able to play and a lot of the anxiety that I’m feeling will be lifted.” So that was a make or break moment for me.

Tucker Rule: I don’t think anybody understands the gravity for real of the fact that like, literally, maybe two weeks before Frank went into record, he didn’t think that he was going to be able to go record, he literally had fresh stitches in and was like, celebrating small victories.

[YOU’VE ENDURED A LOT OF PHYSICAL HARDSHIP IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS, FRANK. CREDIT YOUR PARENTS FOR MAKING YOU DRINK MILK AS A CHILD OR SOMETHING.]

Frank Iero: I’m lactose intolerant. [laughs] It goes back to like Tucker said, like, we come from the East Coast… It’s weird, man. The Jersey mentality is, you don’t boast about yourself. You don’t complain. You put your head down and you do the goddamn work, because nobody cares. Nobody wants to hear it and when that translates into musicianship to it’s like, there’s 1000 bands here. We all want it, so you better be really good. And nobody cares if you’re not feeling good that day. Nobody cares about whatever happened to you, because everybody’s got hard times. So get up there, shut up, and be great.

[ALONG THOSE LINES, YOUR DEBUT SINGLE HAS STUCK WITH ME EVER SINCE I FIRST HEARD IT. YOU GUYS SAY ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU HAD FUN, BUT YOU ALSO MADE SOME DAMN GOOD SONGS. WHY INTRODUCE YOURSELVES WITH “PERMANENT REBELLION”?]

Tucker Rule: As soon as I heard it with vocals on it I was like, “Shit, man, that’s crazy.” And even my wife was like, “Oh, my God, that’s so cool. That should be your first song.” And like, I always joke that my wife is such a huge barometer because she’s very hard on me musically. It’s like, “Ah, what is that?” Like very honest and brutal, straight dagger to the heart. So any bad review that could ever come out, like I don’t even care my wife’s already given it to me. So when she heard it, I was like, “Oh, you like that?” And then like the rest of the band was like, “That’s so sick.” That’s when… It was just, we didn’t really need to talk about it. It makes your hair stand up. It’s crazy.

Frank Iero: Jamia [my wife] hates everything I do. She’s not a fan of any of the music that I make. She’d be like, “Oh, that’s all right.” But like she’s not listening to that stuff. She doesn’t like it. And it keeps you humble, it does.

Tucker Rule: Yeah, they are New Jersey.

[TO ME, SO MUCH OF THIS ALBUM IS ABOUT SURVIVAL AND PERSEVERANCE. “I'M NOT AFRAID TO TRY,” ANTHONY SINGS AT THE VERY TOP OF THE ALBUM. “DON'T WANNA FILL THE SPACE WITH SOMETHING THAT I'M NOT, CHEW ON THE IRON. IF I CAN'T MAKE IT 'TIL 2022 AT LEAST WE'LL SEE HOW LONG I CAN SWIM.” AT FIRST I FOUND THIS LINE REALLY DARK, BUT THE MORE I THOUGHT OF IT, IT ACTUALLY FEELS VERY FULL OF LIGHT AND DETERMINATION.]

Frank Iero: I think it’s one of those things that when you’re at your darkest is when you can find the light. If you’re looking to get out of it. Sometimes it’s very comforting to stay in that darkness. And like when you’re sad, you want to listen to sad songs and stuff like that. Sometimes our depression is comforting. But when you finally had enough or you feel like I can’t do this if I continue on this path, it’s not going to be good and you start to look for the silver lining and things or start to look for a way out. I think that this band was a way out of that darkness and I think a lot of lyrics ended up reflecting that.

Tucker Rule: I had just had my first daughter in the pandemic. She was born in March of 2020. And that was such a bright spot. And all her firsts were such a bright spot in the pandemic, but this band was like really, really also a huge bright spot. So I think that the hopeful sound of the record, I think really is how we lived the record, how we lived making it, how we were excited to wake up and work on these parts, how we were excited to give accolades to one another for just being so excited. And I don’t think there was a day that didn’t go by that we were like, “I can’t believe we’re in this band. I can’t believe I get to do this with you guys.” Like it was truly a really, really bright spot in a dark time. And even in the brightest of times it would have been the brightest spot. I just think that it’s meant to be, it was supposed to be, and it was supposed to happen now. This couldn’t have been made five years ago. This couldn’t have been made three years ago. It had to be now.

[THE LAST THING I'LL SAY ABOUT THE SONGS THEMSELVES, I LOVE A MASSIVE WALL OF SOUND JUST LIKE THE NEXT GUY, BUT I HAVE TO SAY I FELL HEADFIRST FOR THE CLOSER, “SLEEP CULT,” WHICH YOU MENTIONED EARLIER. TO ME THAT WAS THE SONG THAT SORT OF SAID, THIS BAND CAN DO ANYTHING THEY PUT THEIR MINDS TO, ANYTHING THEY WANT, MAKE ANY KIND OF MUSIC THEY WANT. ARE THERE ANY SONGS THAT WE HAVEN'T MENTIONED YET THAT YOU WOULD HOPE THAT LISTENERS REALLY LISTEN TO OR TAKE A DEEPER DIVE INTO IF THEY'RE JUST GETTING TO KNOW L.S. DUNES FOR THE FIRST TIME?]

Frank Iero: What’s funny that you say “Sleep Cult” too, because that’s one of those songs too that I feel like ‘Live’ has even taken on just a different life, ended up creating more of an outro for it. And if one of your questions was like, “Hey, what’s your one regret or thing that you want to go back and change on the record?” It’d be like, I want to record “Sleep Cult” again so that we could get that ending in there. So I think that that though is testament to the band still being a living, breathing entity and evolving and changing and writing together. And so I love that stuff so much. As far as other songs on the record, man, it’s hard to to pick a favorite. I do feel though that “2022” is essential listening. I mean, I think it’s the perfect opener, but even if it didn’t feel like an opener I feel like it should be the first song people hear.

And I don’t mean heavy like breakdown heavy. I mean like it’s a heavy song and what he’s singing about and the way that, I mean, Tucker really started the ball rolling on getting that song to be different from Anthony’s original demo, which was just very delicate, still hauntingly beautiful. I mean, like gorgeous on its own, but it wasn’t a full band song until Tucker came in and started to play that beat behind the opening. And as soon as I heard that I knew… It forced me to do something that I’d never done before the way those chords are changing. And it’s a really special moment. It feels like… Sometimes as a musician you write something and other times it just flows through you. Just like one of those, like, I don’t know, like divine inspiration kind of things is kind of silly, but like, I truly believe that in order to be an artist you have to be in tune with the universe and allow things to kind of flow through you. And that was one of those moments where I heard the drum beat and I just started to play.

And the funny thing about that song as well is that’s the first time I played the song all the way through. That is what’s on the record. That song was recorded in my basement here in this chair, actually. So, yeah. Did I answer the question? What was the question?

#ls dunes #frank iero #tucker rule #past lives #interview

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