#Mike Orange & The Universe Travellers

[parfumery-wiki]

Sweet Leaf (eau de parfum) Room 1015 Nose: Serge De Oliveira

Mossy woods

Buy the ticket, take the ride. Too weird to live, too rare to die… 4:20 am, still on the road. The sun, as pink as GRAPEFRUIT, is melting on the turquoise horizon. It’s dripping slowly on the blue concrete under your wheels. These purple trees along the road, they wave their leaves like old friends. Red EUCALYPTUS tentacles are sucking up the last drops of the dawn. The whiffs of dreamy JASMINE clouds and CANNABIS floating all around. The green ANGELICA on orange sand looks so unreal…The Universe rolled in a piece of thin white paper, and you’re behind the wheel. Sweet Leaf - the scent of a colourful trip with no destination.

“Historically cannabis has been used to induce spiritual experiences and inner travel. It’s that part of 1960’s counterculture movement which has evolved into its own language, art, literature and music. The very act of smoking a joint has deep symbolism. To put it bluntly, the fragrance SWEET LEAF will make you fly high.”  Dr. Mike

Top notes: Grapefruit, Eucalyptus Heart notes: Cannabis, Angelica root, Turpentine Base notes: Jasmine, Cashmeran wood, Patchouli

#room 1015 #eau de parfum #serge de oliveira #grapefruit #eucalyptus #mossy woods #can #angelica root #turpentine #jasmine #cashmeran wood #patchouli

[sunanswers]

Richest governors in Kenya.

Richest governors in Kenya. The following are the top ten most wealthiest governors in Kenya as of July 2021.

Mike Mbuvi Sonko

Mike Mbuvi Sonko Kioko was the governor of Nairobi County before his impeachment. He is 46 years of age and was born in Mombasa, Kenya. His wife is Primrose Mbuvi and has 3 children: Saumu Sonko, Salma Mbuvi, and Sandra Sonko. He has ventured into Real Estate and Matatu business, and he possesses a smartphone worth Ksh 1 Million. He is worth about Ksh 10 Billion ( $ 100, 000,000 ).

2. Ali Hassan Joho

Ali Hassan Joho alias Sultan is a Kenyan Politician and is the current governor of Mombasa County. He is 45 years old, born in Kisauni, Mombasa, and has one sibling, Abubakar Joho. He is a well-known businessman and has invested in Health, Finance, Shipping Logistics, Travel, and Tourism he is estimated to be worth Ksh 7.3 Billion ( $ 73,000,000)

3. Kivutha Kibwana

Kivutha Kibwana is a Kenyan Politician, Entrepreneur, and human rights, activist. He was the advisor of former president Mwai Kibaki. He is 67 years old and was born in Makueni County, he was married to Nazi Kavitha in 1978. Kivutha Kibwana is a respected author of books among them: Fundamental rights and freedoms in Kenya, Making our constitution, An introduction to law and the legal system, and Sowing the constitutional seed in Kenya. He is valued at Ksh 4.9 Billion ( $ 49,000,000)

4. Wycliffe Oparanya

Wycliffe Oparanya is a Kenya politician and a businessman, the current Governor of Kakamega County. He is 65 years of age and was born in Butere and has one child, Doreen Onduso Ambetsa. He has 2 wives, Caroline Oparanya and Priscilla Oparanya. He joined politics in 2002 and has experience in Business Consultancy, Auditing, and Finance management, he also deals in real estate. His net worth is Ksh 3.7 Billion ( $37, 000,000)

5. Sospeter Ojaamong

Sospeter Ojaamong is a Kenyan Politician and an entrepreneur. He is 58 years old, and he is the current governor of Busia County. He has invested in real estate and has previously worked with Raila Odinga. He is worth Ksh 3.68 Billion ( $ 36,800,000)

6. Alfred Mutua

Alfred Mutua is a Kenyan politician and businessman, he is the current governor of Machakos county. He is 50 years old, and he is a former spokesperson of the Kenyan government. He is estimated to be worth Ksh 3 Billion ( $ 30,000,000)

7. Anne Waiguru

Anne Waiguru is a Kenyan politician and the current governor of Kirinyaga County. She served as the Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Devolution and Planning and was the World Bank Assistant Vice President.Estimated to be worth Ksh 2.87 Billion ( $ 28,700,000)

8. Cornel Rasanga Amoth

Cornel Rasanga Amoth is the current governor of Siaya County. He is 64 years old and was born in Siaya, Siaya County, and has one child, Fiona Rasanga. He studied at the University of Nairobi. He has invested in Procurement and is valued to be worth Ksh 2 billion ( $ 20,000,000)

9.  Peter Anyang' Nyong'o

Peter Anyang' Nyong'o is the current governor of Kisumu County and is also an author. He is a former Secretary-General of the Orange Democratic Movement ( ODM). He is 75 years old, born in Kisumu he studied at The University of Chicago (1974 to 1977). He is the father of Prominent actress, Lupita Nyong'o who featured in the list of richest and most powerful women in Africa. He is estimated to be worth Ksh 1.9 Billion ( $ 19, 000,000)

10. Cyprian Awiti

Cyprian Achilaus Otieno Awiti is a Kenyan politician, he is the current governor of Homabay county. He is 68 years of age and was born in Homa Bay County. He studied at The University of Manchester(1984-1987) and The Kenya Coast National Polytechnic. He worked as a Marketing Manager, he has invested in the health sector and is estimated to be worth Ksh 1.8 Billion ($18,000,000)

11. John Nyagarama

John Obiero Nyagarama was the first governor of Nyamira county before his death in December 2020. He was born in 1946 and his spouse was Naomi Nyagarama, he studied at The University Of Nairobi. He invested in the Tea sector, and he was a Teacher, Farmer, and Manager of KTDA (Kenya Tea Development Agency) He is estimated to be worth Ksh 1.5 billion ( $ 15,000,000)

Here is the richest counties in Kenya: Richest counties in Kenya. – sunanswers.com

#richest people in kenya #kenya #russia

[fyeahcindie]

Mike Orange & The Universe Travellers

Mike Orange (Mike Mak) is a member of chochukmo 觸執毛, and Mike Orange & The Universe Travellers is a side project he’s had going for a few years.

Mike Orange-E. Guitar, keys, programming, Stephane S. Wong 黃偉勳 aka Steffunn-Drums, 阿輝 Tom Cheeky-Bass, 姚世裕 (細妖) Atlas Iu Sai Yu-Trumpet

Tom Cheeky is also in chochukmo, who appear to be on hiatus since last October. 

By the way, chochukmo singer Jan Curious has a project called R.O.O.T (Running Out Of Time), with Tzu Yu Fish Huang 黃子瑜-drums, Teriver Cheung (Teriver Cheung & Ensemble Transience)-gtr., To So aka SOTOC-keyboard/synth bass. 

I haven’t found an official FB or YT channel for R.O.O.T, but drummer Fish has a bunch of live stuff on his channel, 黃子瑜 (fish), including a set from this past February. This song starts off subdued and turns into a jazzy jam:

#R.O.O.T Running Out Of Time #ROOT Band #Mike Orange & The Universe Travellers #chochukmo 觸執毛 #Tzu Yu Fish Huang 黃子瑜 #Mike Mak #Teriver Cheung #阿輝 Tom Cheeky #姚世裕 (細妖) Atlas Iu Sai Yu #To So aka SOTOC #Hong Kong #music video #黃子瑜 (fish)

[true-lower-decker-blog-2]

Some things in the New Teasers/Trailers you might’ve missed.

1. Saru is back on the Discovery

Other than the handshaking in the end, Saru is in the Background on the bridge for just a split second. Is he back on the Discovery a First Officer or is he just visiting friends? Well, he does have some different badge on with the Delta so maybe he’s a representative of Kaminar now?

2. New AR Wall on the Set

I just wanted to add in that Discovery just added in a new AR wall on set for hyper-realistic backgrounds with little editing. It was used in this scene with Book and I think it looks great. If you wanna see more of the AR wall, you can go watch it in use on ‘The Mandalorian’.

3. Peace Summit?

In this scene, there are flags and representatives from many species such as Klingon, Bajoran, Ferengi, Federation, LA, and more. Plus, if you look at the person on Picard’s right, it looks like Raffi’s there too. In Uniform. I suspect that this is just an Alternate timeline. 

4. Possible Time Travel to the 21st century?

In this wonderful poster that they released, many people have noticed that this is obviously LA. But other than some of the S1 LA scenes, NOTHING is modernized in any way. Also, according to lore, LA is actually underwater by 2047, I think. Since they’ve mentioned TIME about a billion times in the teaser, is this a possible time travel or am I overthinking it like an idiot?

5. Seven’s Married?

In this last cliffhanger, you can notice that Seven actually has a Wedding Band. Since it looks like they’re in an alternate timeline and she was never ‘Borg-ified’, Seven/Annika might’ve had a normal life in this universe and got married. 

(Idk about all of you, but my mind is just screaming ‘Married? That means Chakotay Cameo!!)

6. Laris is back

It’s obvious that she’s coming back but the thing you might not have known is that she’s gonna have a much bigger part in the story than last season. Another thing is that Zhaban isn’t been seen once and sadly, with the actor’s timings, there’s a chance that he might not be in this season. Just a chance. 

7. New Upgrade on the Cerritos

It’s a bit small to notice but the Deflector Dish is glowing orange here. In last season, it was a glowing white. Here are a couple theories-

- Freeman did take a small upgrade on the Dish and now it’s a bit more powerful which is gonna come in handy somewhere in the season later.

- This isn’t a part of the ship and is actually a problem or fault on the ship for some Episode Plot.

- The Titan went into a wormhole in the end so... Alternate Universe?

- This is a split shot of the Cerritos just before it’s firing the Deflector Dish which is why it’s burning orange.

- I’m overthinking it and it’s just a choice by the Animators that doesn’t really affect anything. In Ketwolski's long Interview, Mike McMahan did say that the animators are taking the good animation style from S1 and smoothing it and making it even better.

8. Boimler’s in this scene

I tried to clarify it as much as I could but in the scene where shots are being fired, you can zoom in just enough to see the purple-haired goof working on a panel. They’re wearing black uniforms so I only have 3 explanations for that-

- Chain of Command secret Mission Uniform.

- Section 31 stealth uniform. (Boimler Practiced the walk)

- Mirror Universe uniforms. (They went into a wormhole so-)

I’ll make one on Prodigy Later

#star trek #star trek lower decks #lds #Lower Decks #uss cerritos #Star Trek Discovery #disco #saru #star trek picard #Seven of Nine #laris

[maandarinee]

what are all the podcasts you listen to?

anon I'm so glad you asked

Since it is a pretty long list including synopses (stolen from the podcast feed or website because I'm Bad at summaries and in some cases it's been a while since I listened) I'm going to put it under a cut.

I've separated the list into "Complete" (either finished or cancelled) and "Ongoing" podcasts. Some have additional comments by me. Current favorites are marked orange. My eternal beloved are Our Fair City and Wolf 359.

Complete

ars PARADOXICA: "When an experiment in a time much like our own goes horribly awry, Dr. Sally Grissom finds herself stranded in the past and entrenched in the activities of a clandestine branch of the US government. Grissom and her team quickly learn that there's no safety net when toying with the fundamental logic of the universe."

Blackwood: "Five years ago, Molly Weaver, Bryan Anderson, and Nathan Howell started a podcast focused on the local legend of a monster called The Blackwood Bugman. Quickly, the investigation grew out of their control, as they discovered that, not only are the legends seemingly true, many people in Blackwood have turned up dead or disappeared without a trace." --> [this feels like the Blair With Project, but as a podcast. Didn't get a second season due to no funding, but it works as a standalone]

Dreamboy: "Dane, a spun-out musician spending the winter in Cleveland, Ohio, has two main goals: keeping his job at the Pepper Heights Zoo and trying not to waste all his time on Grindr. What he doesn’t expect is to get swept into a story about dreams, about forevers, about flickering lights, about unexplained deaths, about relentless change, and about the parts of ourselves that we wish other people knew to look for. Oh, and also a murderous zebra." --> [very NSFW; does cool things with music! Didn't get a second season due to no funding, but it works as a standalone]

King Fall AM: "...centers on a lonely little mountain town's late-night AM talk radio show and its paranormal, peculiar happenings and inhabitants." --> [cancelled after 100 episodes, ends on a huge cliffhanger]

Our Fair City: "A campy, post-apocalyptic audio drama." --> [I know the description sounds like nothing but just trust me, I love it so much]

Steal the Stars: "...is a gripping noir science fiction thriller in 14 episodes: Forbidden love, a crashed UFO, an alien body, and an impossible heist unlike any ever attempted."

Stellar Firma: "...a weekly Science Fiction, Comedy podcast following the misadventures of Stellar Firma Ltd.'s highest born but lowest achieving planetary designer Trexel Geistman and his bewildered clone assistant David 7. Join them each episode as they attempt to take listener submissions and craft them into the galaxy's most luxurious, most expensive and most questionably designed bespoke planets. However, with Trexel's corporate shark of a line manager Hartro Piltz breathing down their necks and I.M.O.G.E.N., the station's omnipresent and omniinvasive stationwide A.I. monitoring those necks to within 3 decimal places, they'll be lucky to make it a week before being slurried and recycled into raw human resources." --> [semi-improvised, I thought I'd have a problem with the improv bit because that's not usually my thing, but no, I absolutely devoured this]

TANIS: "...is a serialized docudrama about a fascinating and surprising mystery: the myth of Tanis. Tanis is an exploration of the nature of truth, conspiracy, and information. Tanis is what happens when the lines of science and fiction start to blur." [+ spinoff The Last Movie] --> [I have no clue what the hell is going on here]

The Black Tapes: "...is a serialized docudrama about one journalist's searc for truth, her enigmatic subject's mysterious past, and the literal and figurative ghosts that haunt them both."

The Magnus Archives: "...is a weekly horror fiction anthology podcast examining what lurks in the archives of the Magnus Institute, an organisation dedicated to researching the esoteric and the weird. Join new head archivist Jonathan Sims as he attempts to bring a seemingly neglected collection of supernatural statements up to date, converting them to audio and supplementing them with follow-up work from his small but dedicated team. Individually, they are unsettling. Together they begin to form a picture that is truly horrifying because as they look into the depths of the archives, something starts to look back…"

Time:Bombs: "...a new audio drama podcast about the hilarious world of bomb disposal. Ride along with EOD technician Simon Teller on the busiest night of the year for him and his team - when business is, quite literally, booming."

Wolf 359: "Life's not easy for Doug Eiffel, the communications officer for the U.S.S. Hephaestus Research Station, currently on Day 448 of its orbit around red dwarf star Wolf 359. He's stuck on a scientific survey mission of indeterminate length, 7.8 light years from Earth. His only company on board the station are stern mission chief Minkowski, insane science officer Hilbert, and Hephaestus Station's sentient, often malfunctioning operating system Hera. He doesn't have much to do for his job other than monitoring static and intercepting the occasional decades-old radio broadcast from Earth, so he spends most of his time creating extensive audio logs about the ordinary, day-to-day happenings within the station. But the Hephaestus is an odd place, and life in extremely isolated, zero gravity conditions has a way of doing funny things to people's minds. Even the simplest of tasks can turn into a gargantuan struggle, and the most ordinary-seeming things have a way of turning into anything but that." --> [starts funny, turns very intense]

Ongoing

Alba Salix, Roya Physician (+ The Axe & Crown): "A witch, her apprentice, and her fairy herbalist treat the ills of a fairy-tale kingdom." + "Gubbin the troll tavernkeeper deals with his clueless new landlord, his shady niece, and some new competition."

Archive 81: "A found footage horror podcast about ritual, stories, and sound."

Arden: "A (fictional) true crime podcast about cold cases and the reporter and detective who try to solve them."

Brimstone Valley Mall: "The year is 1999. Lurking somewhere between Hot Topic and the food court, five misfit demons from Hell kill time inciting sin in a suburban shopping mall. When the lead singer of their band goes mysteriously missing, the demons only have two weeks to find him before they play the biggest gig of the millennium - or face the wrath of Satan herself."

CARAVAN: "First rule of Wound Canyon: No one who gets in, ever gets out. So when a brilliant, ghostly specter flies through the sky amid the rain and lightning, Samir stumbles off a steep cliff and into a hidden world, one in which demons, vampires, and all other manner of paranormal creatures take sanctuary." --> [also pretty NSFW and horny in general]

Death by Dying: "The Obituary Writer of Crestfall, Idaho finds himself deeply in over his head as he investigates a series of strange and mysterious deaths… when he is supposed to simply be writing obituaries. Along the way he encounters murderous farmers, man-eating cats, haunted bicycles, and a healthy dose of ominous shadows." --> [I had to stop listening to this in public because it kept making me undignified laugh and snort noises]

Desperado: "Blood magic, Voodoo magic, old gods, new gods: We've got it all! Follow the story of misfits from all over the world, as they try to survive and protect their heritage from modern-day crusaders."

EOS 10: "Doctors in space, a deposed alien prince, a super gay space pirate and a fiery nurse who'll help you win your bar fight."

Girl In Space: "Abandoned on a dying ship in the farthest reaches of known space, a young scientist fights for survival (and patience with the on-board A.I.). Who is she? No one knows. But a lot of dangerous entities really want to find out. Listen as the story unfolds for science, guns, trust, anti-matter, truth, beauty, inner turmoil, and delicious cheeses. It’s all here. In space."

Janus Descending: "...follows the arrival of two xenoarcheologists on a small world orbiting a binary star. But what starts off as an expedition to survey the planet and the remains of a lost alien civilization, turns into a monstrous game of cat and mouse, as the two scientists are left to face the creatures that killed the planet in the first place. Told from two alternating perspectives, Janus Descending is an experience of crossing timelines, as one character describes the nightmare from end to beginning, and the other, from beginning to the end." --> [absolutely harrowing horror]

Love and Luck: "...is a fictional radio play podcast, told via voicemails and set in present day Melbourne, Australia. A slice of life queer romance story with a touch of magic, it follows the relationship between two men, Jason and Kane, as their love grows both for each other and their community." --> [soft and gay, feels like a warm hug]

Potterless: "Join Mike Schubert, a grown man reading the Harry Potter series for the first time, as he sits down with HP fanatics to poke fun at plot holes, make painfully incorrect predictions, and bask in the sassiness of the characters." --> [the only non-fiction podcast on the list]

Primordial Deep: "When a long extinct sea creature washes up on the shores of Coney Island, marine biologist Dr. Marella Morgan is contacted by a secret organization to investigate the origins of the creature’s sudden and unnatural resurgence. Soon, she and a team of experts find themselves living on the research station The Tiamat, traveling along the abyssal plains as they search for answers far below the waves. But there are dangers in these ancient waters. Reawakened, prehistoric monsters are rising from the deep -- jaws wide and waiting, and in the darkness, something is stirring."

Red Valley: "No one at Overhead Industries wants to talk about defunct research station Red Valley, and account man Warren Godby is out of his depth. When he meets Gordon Porlock, a disgruntled archivist with a bag of tapes from the station’s last known occupant, they will begin a journey to the limits of experimental science, confront horror and trauma from the past, present and future, and try to remember the cheat codes from Sonic the Hedgehog 2."

Rusty Quill Gaming: "An actual play podcast following a mixed ability group of comedians, improvisers, gamers, and writers as they play through the extended, tabletop roleplaying campaign Erasing the Line, an original game world of the GM’s crafting." --> [took me a while to get into because I have trouble focusing on non-scripted things, but eventually I got really hooked on the plot and attached to the characters. This podcast is really fucked up at times if you think about it]

SAYER: "A narrative fiction podcast set on Earth’s man-made second moon, Typhon. The eponymous SAYER is a highly advanced, self-aware AI created to help acclimate new residents to their new lives, and their new employment with Ærolith Dynamics." --> [feels like Welcome to Night Vale but narrated by GLaDOS from Portal]

StarTripper!!: "Join Feston Pyxis on a road-trip through the cosmos, as he leaves behind his old life in search of the best and wildest experiences the galaxy has to offer!"

The Amelia Project: "...is a secret agency that fakes its clients' deaths, then lets them reappear with a brand new identity! A black comedy full of secrets, twists... and cocoa."

The Big Loop: "...a biweekly anthology series. Each episode is a self-contained narrative exploring the strange, the wonderful, the terrifying, and the heartbreaking. Stories of finite beings in an infinite universe." --> [I don't like anthologies, except this one]

The Bright Sessions: "Dr. Bright provides therapy for the strange and unusual; their sessions have been recorded for research purposes." --> [think X-Men, but with therapy instead of a school]

The Deca Tapes: "Recordings have surfaced of ten people that are locked into the same space together. We don’t know where they are, or if they'll get out. But the answers must be somewhere on these tapes."

The Silt Verses: "Carpenter and Faulkner, two worshippers of an outlawed god, travel up the length of their deity’s great black river, searching for holy revelations. As their pilgrimage lengthens and the river’s mysteries deepen, the two acolytes find themselves under threat from a police manhunt, but also come into conflict with the weirder gods that have flourished in these forgotten rural territories."

The White Vault: "Follow the collected records of a repair team sent to Outpost Fristed in the vast white wastes of Svalbard and unravel what lies waiting in the ice below."

Tides: "...is the story of Dr. Winifred Eurus, a xenobiologist trapped on an unfamiliar planet with hostile tidal forces. She must use her wits, sarcasm and intellectual curiosity to survive long enough to be rescued. But there might be more to life on this planet than she expected." --> [think The Martian, but on a water planet]

Unwell, a Midwestern Gothic Mystery: "Lillian Harper moves to the small town of Mt. Absalom, Ohio, to care for her estranged mother Dorothy after an injury. Living in the town's boarding house which has been run by her family for generations, she discovers conspiracies, ghosts, and a new family in the house's strange assortment of residents."

VAST Horizon: "Nolira is an agronomist tasked with establishing agriculture in a new solar system, but when she wakes up on a now- empty colony ship, the whole of her plan disappears. The ship has been set adrift, with numerous mission-critical problems requiring immediate attendance outside of her area of expertise. Nolira is aided by the ship’s malfunctioning AI, which acts as her confidant and companion during the fight for survival."

Victoriocity: "Even Greater London, 1887. In this vast metropolis, Inspector Archibald Fleet and journalist Clara Entwhistle investigate a murder, only to find themselves at the centre of a conspiracy of impossible proportions."

We Fix Space Junk: "...follows seasoned smuggler Kilner and reluctant fugitive Samantha as they travel the galaxy, dodging bullets and meeting strange and wonderful beings as they carry out odd jobs on the fringes of the law."

Welcome to Night Vale: "Twice-monthly community updates for the small desert town of Night Vale, where every conspiracy theory is true. Turn on your radio and hide."

Within the Wires: "Stories told through found audio from an alternate universe."

Wooden Overcoats: "Rudyard Funn and his equally miserable sister Antigone run their family's failing funeral parlour, where they get the body in the coffin in the ground on time. But one day they find everyone enjoying themselves at the funerals of a new competitor - the impossibly perfect Eric Chapman! With their dogsbody Georgie, and a mouse called Madeleine, the Funns are taking drastic steps to stay in the business…" --> [one of THE funniest podcasts I have ever listened to]

#ask #anon #please talk to me about podcasts at all times #podcasts #podcast recommendations

[roigada]

I made 100 pitches for a sixth installment of the hoodwinked franchise

hoodwinked 6 should be the characters acting out goat story like its a shitty school play

hoodwinked 6 should be the plot of chipwrecked

hoodwinked 6 should have the plot of an indian soap opera

hoodwinked 6 should be highly s*xual and detail the wolf and the grandmother's relationship

hoodwinked 6 should be about italian sea monsters

hoodwinked 6 should have emojis

hoodwinked 6 should be about Red transitioning to a boy and the hardships of it

hoodwinked 6 should be about Rumplestiltskin taking away gay rights

hoodwinked 6 should have the same plot as Ralph Breaks the Internet

hoodwinked 6 should be about the complications of time travel

hoodwinked 6 should be a spiritual successor to the godfather

hoodwinked 6 should be set in Rainfurrest 2016

hoodwinked 6 should be about the benefits of a religion that mortals cannot understand

hoodwinked 6 should be a psychological horror film

hoodwinked 6 should be hoodwinked 5

hoodwinked 6 should be interactive like Bandersnatch

hoodwinked 6 should be about the characters going to pride

hoodwinked 6 should take place in the fallout universe

hoodwinked 6 should be a sequel to portal

hoodwinked 6 should be about the grandmother tragically dying and how it affects the principal cast

hoodwinked 6 should be animated like Who Framed Roger Rabbit

hoodwinked 6 should take place in space

hoodwinked 6 should be about Red committing a federal crime

hoodwinked 6 should take place in Freddy Fazbear's Pizza

hoodwinked 6 should be about the squirrel character trying to get famous on tiktok

hoodwinked 6 should be a crossover with the Lion King

hoodwinked 6 should be a bimonthly curated box of snacks

hoodwinked 6 should be sponsored by Edible Arrangements

hoodwinked 6 should take place in a dystopian future

hoodwinked 6 should be like a Brave New World

hoodwinked 6 should be found footage

hoodwinked 6 should be like Unfriended

hoodwinked 6 should be a slice of life anime series on crunchyroll

hoodwinked 6 should be about SCPS

hoodwinked 6 should be a psychological metanarrative

hoodwinked 6 should be a visual novel

hoodwinked 6 should be about the Russian Sleep Experiments

hoodwinked 6 should be a prequel to the Fast and the Furious

hoodwinked 6 should be a romcom starring Adam Sandler

hoodwinked 6 should be a children's puppet show

hoodwinked 6 should be a distant childhood memory in a select group of people's minds that when asked about to their parents, it is revealed that the children were sitting in front of a television playing only static

hoodwinked 6 should have dating options

hoodwinked 6 should be a musical performed on ice

hoodwinked 6 should be a musical inspired by Romeo and Juliet and it should also be in a high school

hoodwinked 6 should have the same ending as Hamlet

hoodwinked 6 should have the same plot as Mamma Mia!

hoodwinked 6 should be a point and click adventure game from the 90s

hoodwinked 6 should be a comic book series

hoodwinked 6 should take place during the black death

hoodwinked 6 should be a modern retelling of the popular story Little Red Riding Hood that is structured like a police alibi

hoodwinked 6 should be about gang violence

hoodwinked 6 should have Markiplier in it

hoodwinked 6 should be a christmas film

hoodwinked 6 should have heavy religious themes

hoodwinked 6 should never end

hoodwinked 6 should replace all the voice actors with the kid that did the fortnite song

hoodwinked 6 should be a sequel to Mike and Melissa

hoodwinked 6 should be a combination of Pokemon and Dungeons and Dragons

hoodwinked 6 should be in the sonic universe

hoodwinked 6 should be a silly little concept posted to tumblr that spirals out of control after someone starts a Kickstarter to make it real

hoodwinked 6 should have a harem in it

hoodwinked 6 should have the same plot as Resident Evil Village

hoodwinked 6 should be about finding Red's biological father

hoodwinked 6 should have Pumpkin Rabbit do a cameo in it

hoodwinked 6 should be made specifically for my friend Veronica

hoodwinked 6 should have the same soundtrack as Undertale

hoodwinked 6 should take place in the Elder Scrolls universe

hoodwinked 6 should be about wizards

hoodwinked 6 should have epic sword fights

hoodwinked 6 should be a retelling of king arthur and the knights of the round table

hoodwinked 6 should be about family values

hoodwinked 6 should have voice commands

hoodwinked 6 should be a sequel to Pokepark

hoodwinked 6 should be half life but the ai becomes self aware

hoodwinked 6 should have a scene where the characters dance to gangnam style

hoodwinked 6 should have annoying orange in it

every copy of hoodwinked 6 should be personalized

hoodwinked 6 should be cursed

hoodwinked 6 should cause the death of everyone who watches it

hoodwinked 6 should be about a girl and her beloved horse

hoodwinked 6 should have Kpop in it

hoodwinked 6 should reference Pewdiepie

hoodwinked 6 should be a minecraft machinima

hoodwinked 6 should be about fighting aliens

hoodwinked 6 should be about falling in love with aliens

hoodwinked 6 should be about escaping prison

hoodwinked 6 should be inspired by Bladerunner

hoodwinked 6 should have been a dream all this time

hoodwinked 6 should have multiple different endings

hoodwinked 6 should be a prequel to hoodwinked

hoodwinked 6 should be about two college friends starting a restaurant with the shared idea of animatronic performers and it documents their wacky hijinks

hoodwinked 6 should be about liminal spaces

hoodwinked 6 should be about why my shoulder hurts

hoodwinked 6 should have strong pro life themes

hoodwinked 6 should be about why all cops are bastards

hoodwinked 6 should be the story of a man named Stanley

hoodwinked 6 should be about gender identity

hoodwinked 6 should be inspired by SAW

hoodwinked 6 should have the McElroy brothers in it

hoodwinked 6 should be starring Tommy Wiseau

#this took me 3 hours #also the pro life one is a JOKE i believe in a woman's right to choose #hoodwinked #thanks to my friend wynn for making five of these

[lu-undy]

Valentine’s day 5 - Alternate Universe

My choice went to have Lucien be a baker in Paris while Mundy is visiting the city with his parents!

Here it is on AO3!

"Micky, please tell your mum I'm starvin'."

"Mum, Dad's starvin'." Mundy's head swung from left to right.

"Micky, tell your Dad that I'm done with this cathedral now and we can get some lunch."

Both father and son cheered as they exited the impressive Cathédrale Montmartre. 

It had been a few days now that the Turner family had travelled from their native Australia to Paris, France. After years of saving, the farmers and the hunter managed to gather the amount they needed to take some very well earned holidays and see a part of the world that Caroline, the mother, had always dreamt of visiting. 

And it was Mundy, the son, now close to forty years old, who had suggested the idea of the trip. In his line of work, travelling was usual and he had seen a few places, and a lot of species already. He knew that his mother had always dreamt of seeing the City of Lights and so, he pushed for the idea to become a reality. 

At first his parents thought it was way out of what they could afford not only financially, but physically. They were getting close to their seventies! But Mundy insisted and told the tale of a lot of his patrons who were that age and older, yet still roaming the world. 

Caroline and Mike, mother and father, eventually accepted the idea, and Mundy worked extra shifts in pubs, playing the saxophone in some bands here and there, to add a few notes in the piggy bank. 

There they were now, the three of them, in the capital of romance. The cathedral they had just visited was on the top of a hill from which they could see the entire city of Paris splayed out and spread in le Bassin Parisien, the valley in which the capital was planted. It was easy to distinguish the business district with its towers of black and blue-ish glass, from the more residential or commercial areas. The Eiffel tower obviously pointed to the sky further away. 

Mundy had turned out to be the official photographer for the trip. He just enjoyed seeing the delight on his parents' faces and took pictures of them doing absolutely anything. They had never travelled much and he wanted them to have physical memories of it. On some pictures, they were pointing at a monument, on these ones, they were trying to decipher the names of the streets with a map wide open under their eyes, or just sitting on a bench and enjoying a cone of ice cream. Yes, it was July and peak summer in France, which was quite a surprise for the Aussies, but a welcome one. They all preferred hot and sunny weather, and were used to it.

"Let's try this bakery maybe?"

Caroline pointed at a reasonably small shop. The front of it was Burgundy red with the name shining in golden letters. 

"Chez Lucien". 

[Lucien's.]

Mundy pushed the door and let his parents through. The jingle of a bell rang and immediately after, a wave of delicious smells washed their lungs and made their mouths water even more. 

"Bonjour." The baker greeted them. "Que puis-je faire pour vous?"

[What can I do for you?]

"Bonjour." Mundy tried his best accent. "Do you speak English?" 

"Oui, I do." The Turner family sighed in relief. They were now used to communicating in sign language but finding someone who could understand even a bit of English was just their luck. "How may I help you?" The baker answered with more than a hint of a French accent. 

"Just give us a second, son. I mean look at all these good things, the smell's amazin'!" Mike said, his eyes running through the sandwiches, the quiches and pastries. 

"Merci. Will it be to eat here?”

“Yeah, think so.” Mike answered.

“In that case, you may make yourselves comfortable at a table.” The baker suggested.

Mundy noticed there were only two tables inside and one on the pavement. They relieved themselves of their backpacks and came back in front of the glass. 

“Do take your time and don't hesitate to ask me if you need me to explain anything." 

"Thanks, mate." Mundy answered.

Caroline held Mike's arm dearly as they chatted and pointed at sandwiches here and there behind the glass. Mundy gave them a bit of space and had a look at the desserts. 

The colours beckoned his eyes. Red strawberries, all the shades of brown chocolate, white sugar, green pistachio, orange apricot tarts, yellow lemon ones. And the textures looked very different too. Mundy wished he could try a few. 

And what a powerful yet pleasant mix of smells. The smell of hot flour was drowning Mundy entirely. As he raised his eyes and looked behind the baker, bread of different shapes, sizes and colours were neatly arranged in wicker baskets. It was impressive. 

"What's this one, son?" Mike asked, pointing at a sandwich. 

"This has goat cheese, salad, and a drop of mustard with honey." The man in the white apron answered, and Mike and Caroline nodded. "Do you have any dietary requirements maybe? That might help you make the choice easier."

"Mike here has to watch out for sugar and cholesterol." Caroline said.

"Bah, I'm fine." Mike answered. 

"Mike, the doctor said to watch out…! Micky, tell your Dad…!"

"Dad…" Mundy started. 

"C'mon son, don't side with your mum! Men's solidarity!" 

The baker smiled. 

"I can recommend a classic French one, if you want a full French experience." He suggested. 

"Sure!" Mike answered. "We haven't come all the way from home to stop at sugar and cholesterol!" 

"In that case, I would suggest the classic jambon-beurre." 

"John what?" Mike repeated. 

"Jambon-beurre." The baker said. "Ham and butter. Now, I can make one with a light butter and lean ham for you." 

"That sounds great, what d'you say Caroline?" Mike looked at his wife. "Can I get that?" 

"My father himself used to have those when his diet became more strict." The baker explained.

"Oh that's very kind of you." Caroline said. "Sure, go for that. I will have the goat cheese and honey one, I never tried that combination of flavours."

"Very well." 

Mundy had been watching the whole scene unravel before his eyes and was grinning. He was over the moon to see his parents so relaxed and enjoying their time. They had worked hard all their lives to provide for their only son and had rarely taken a holiday as significant as this. 

"And you, Micky?" 

"Huh?" 

Caroline's voice had broken her son's daydream. 

"Oh, uh, I'll get the ham and butter, the normal kind is fine for me." 

"Very well, give me an instant." The baker gathered his ingredients and a bread knife. He prepared the sandwich in front of his hungry clients as they watched him. 

Mundy found himself staring. The baker was a bit shorter than him by half a foot or so. He looked a bit older too. His temples were grey and his front tuft, which swung between his eyes as he cut the bread, was greying too. However, his eyes shone with a kind of vivacity, of life, that Mundy found made him younger than himself maybe. He had very light blue eyes with dark eyelashes - beautiful - a slightly hooked nose and thin lips. His hands were trained and used to his work as his efficiency showed, but Mundy guessed that he hadn't been a baker all his life. His fingers were too slim to have done manual work all their lives like his parents'. 

"I guess you are visiting France for the first time?" 

"Yeah, first time out of home since a long time, son." Mike answered.

"Where are you from, if I may?" 

"Australia." 

"Ooh, that is indeed a long way from home." The baker chuckled and Mundy saw a flash of his pearly white teeth. 

"Yeah, the wife's always wanted to come and see it here, y'know, with it bein' the city of romance and all…" Mike explained and he held his wife's hand dearly.

"But of course." The baker placed the sandwiches on a tray. "Will that be all for you today?" 

"Micky, ask your mum if we can get desserts." 

"You could ask me directly." Caroline answered. 

"Yeah but you'd say no to me, honey." 

Caroline rolled her eyes and smiled. 

"Fine, let us have a look at what you have, uh…?" Caroline adjusted her glasses, looking for a badge or anything to address the shop owner. His name was sewn on his apron, in black, cursive letters. "Lu…?"

"Lucien." 

"Ooh, original name. Sounds very French, beautiful!" Caroline said. 

"Thank you, Madame." Lucien bowed his head politely. "May I suggest the strawberry tart for Monsieur? It is mostly fruity and the dough has very little sugar. My most faithful customers do like it particularly." 

"Yeah, looks very good." Mike said enthusiastically. 

"I'll have one of these, uh…" Caroline pointed at the glass. 

"Oh, éclair au chocolat. Do you know what éclair means in French?" Lucien asked. 

"No?"

"It is a lightning bolt. As a child, my mother used to make me believe that they were called that way because of how fast I devoured them." 

"Ooh, that is sweet…!"

Lucien put the mini tart and the éclair on the tray.

"And for you, Monsieur?" He turned to Mundy, who blushed under the piercing gaze. 

"Oh, uh, I mean… Maybe one of these…?" 

"Cannelé, they are called, because of their shape. They are typical from the South-West of France, where I come from. Have you ever tried them?"

"No, why?" 

Lucien smiled. 

"They are rarely a tourist's choice." He simply answered. "Here for you. I recommend enjoying those desserts with some coffee. Pray take a seat, I shall bring you your tray."

"Oh, thank you, dear." Caroline said and the Turner family sat around the table. Lucien closely followed. He added a jug of fresh water and glasses.

"Enjoy your meal, or as we say here, bon appétit." Lucien bowed his head and left his customers to enjoy their meal.

"Mum? Dad?" Mundy was holding the camera and took a picture when they both bit in their sandwiches. "There we go." 

The Turners enjoyed their sandwiches and the fresh water. After all, it was summer and it was hot. Caroline reminded Mike to take his pills as usual and Mundy was sitting next to them. He loved his parents more than anything or anyone else and in truth, they were all he had. He had a few friends back in Oz, not a lot, but good ones. 

"Son?" Mike's whisper pulled Mundy out of his daydream. 

"Hm?"

"Can you please tell your mum to stop starin' at the baker like that."

"If I was a few decades younger…" Caroline whispered. 

"Yeah, well, if you were a few decades younger, you'd remember that ring on your finger maybe, eh?" Mike teased. 

"Mum, please… You're makin' it obvious…" Mundy nudged his mother's elbow gently. 

Lucien was behind the counter, leaning on the wall on his side and reading a newspaper. 

"C'mon, Micky, tell your Dad that he's handsome!" Caroline nudged her son back.

"Mum…!" He blushed.

"Yeah well, go and have sandwiches with him, then!" Mike answered. 

"Oh I would!"

"Caroline!"

"Mike!"

"Mum, Dad, please…!"

"Nah, son, I've seen her stare at enough guys here. Since the moment we landed here and now, her eyes jumped from bloke to bloke like a bee from flower to flower!"

"Not my fault that they all look so charming! And I didn't say anything when you stared at that young sheila in the short skirt in the cathedral…!"

"Well…" Mike blushed, ashamed. "I'm a simple man…!"

"Besides, I'm not the only one who's starin', Mike." 

"Hm?" 

Caroline nodded in direction of Mundy, for whom the whispers of his parents had dissolved in the air. He had eyes and ears only for that baker. God, his mother was right, he was handsome! 

Caroline was right on that people there in France were quite good looking and it made the journey all the more pleasant to the eye. 

"Micky?" Mike's voice pulled Mundy out of his staring. 

"Huh?" 

"Well, I can't tell you to stop cause you got a ring on your finger but uh… make it a bit more, y'know, discreet…?"

Mundy blushed beyond his ears and lowered his head. 

And that was the first encounter with Lucien, the baker. From that day on, the Turners would try to have their lunch there everyday. Caroline was the one to push for it. Not only did Lucien turn out to be an incredible guide for them, recommending good and inexpensive restaurants as well as little corners of paradise within Paris, but she could see the blush on Mundy's cheeks whenever Lucien talked to him. 

In the evenings, Mundy would take a stroll outside, to give his parents some space. He would walk in the streets of the city, under the lamp posts, letting his feet decide where he should go. More often than once, he found himself not far from the bakery. On one occasion, Lucien was smoking outside of his bakery, as the sky was still bright. Mundy was paralysed with fear. He wasn't supposed to be standing there! He was supposed to be in his shop, and then Mundy could casually look through the window as he passed it, maybe even wave if he made eye contact with him. Yeah, that all made sense, but not Lucien being outside and-!

"Bonsoir, Mundy, wasn't it?" 

[Good evening]

Mundy's blood froze. As he was panicking internally, his feet had continued walking until he was within a few feet from the baker. 

"Y-yeah, hi." 

"Do you smoke?" Lucien asked. 

"Yeah, I mean, sometimes." 

"Here." Lucien offered one of his cigarettes and Mundy accepted it. 

"Thanks, mate." 

"Come closer." 

Mundy blushed when Lucien closed the gap between them and lit his cigarette up. He closed his eyes and all he could feel was the smell of the Frenchman's cologne, mixed with pastries and fresh bread.

Gosh… He thought as he felt his insides melt. 

"Voilà." Lucien chimed as he put his lighter away. Mundy opened his eyes and he felt as if he had emerged from a dream to another one. Now, the ice blue eyes of the elegant man were on him. 

"Y-yeah, thanks, heh." 

"You like to walk at night?" Lucien asked as they both exhaled the bitter smoke.

"Yeah, it's nice and calm."

"And I guess it is your break from your photography duties?" The Frenchman chuckled. 

"What?"

"You are the one carrying the camera all the time, and taking pictures of your parents. Do you have any of you?" 

"Uh, yeah, we do have a few of all three of us together."

"I would be delighted to take more in my shop next time you have lunch here."

"Ah, thanks." 

They stayed in front of the shop and smoked in silence, watching the few people in the streets come and go. 

"Mundy?" 

"Yeah?" 

"I will soon close the shop. Would you like anything?" 

"Oh, uh, no, I'm fine, thanks." 

"Very well." Lucien put the cigarette between his lips and entered the bakery. Mundy wasn't sure he could or should follow him so he stayed on the threshold. He watched as Lucien disappeared through a door behind the counter. Soon after, the lights switched off in the shop and Lucien emerged. Mundy couldn't see him clearly in the dark but his silhouette stood out. 

"Very well. This is it for today." He said as he came out and locked the shop. "I could do with some good coffee, would you like to join me, perhaps? I know a quiet café." Lucien turned to Mundy who was staring at him. "Mundy?".

He had never seen the baker outside of his natural habitat and a bit like a schoolboy who couldn't imagine his teacher living outside of school, Mundy was taken aback. It turned out that underneath the apron was a white polo shirt and now a beige linen jacket, with a matching hat and trousers. 

"U-uh? Yeah? Sorry, you said somethin'?"

"You daydream a lot, hm?" Lucien chuckled.

"Sorry…" Mundy looked away and felt the heat of the embarrassment on his cheeks. 

"It is alright, I do like to daydream too." He smiled as Mundy raised his eyes to him and the Aussie immediately averted his eyes. Oof, that grin…! "But you haven't answered my invitation."

"Y-your invitation?"

"Oui, coffee, with me?"

"You sure? I mean, I guess you're tired after work and maybe you want to go back home to your family or see your mates…?"

"I don't have one or the other." Mundy's eyebrows jumped. "You and your parents are the closest I have got to having friends for a long time. So, what do you say? Un café avec moi?"

[A coffee with me?]

"Oh, uh, alright. I mean uh, oui?" 

Lucien smiled. 

"Très bien, follow me."

[Very well]

The Frenchman led the way through the streets.

"So you left Maman and Papa at the hotel?" 

"Uh, yeah. I try to give them some space. Mum's always dreamt to come here with Dad."

"Not with you?" Lucien asked.

"No, I didn't want it to sound so bad… I mean that she'd wanted to come here even before they found me."

"They… found you?" Lucien repeated as they took a turn. 

"Oh Gosh, I can't keep my mouth shut…" Mundy mumbled to himself. "Sorry, mate, I-I meant… Ugh… Nevermind." 

Lucien didn't insist. 

"Here is the café." He pulled the front door and held it open for his tourist friend. 

"Oh, thanks." 

And it lasted for a couple of weeks, the nights out, sometimes in a café, sometimes just a tour of a neighbourhood with an incredibly patient and passionate guide. 

"You like Paris quite a bit, eh?" Mundy asked under the dark blue sky lit by the Eiffel Tower. Lucien had taken him to the Champs de Mars, an open park just in front of the beautifully lit, iconic tower. They were both sitting on the grass.

"Believe it or not, I do not like it much."

"Really?"

"Oui."

"You know it well though, historical stuff and all."

There was a slight smile on the Frenchman's lips. 

"Oui, unfortunately so, for some part of it. Non, what I have come to appreciate about this city recently is how you like it."

"What?" Mundy asked, embarrassed and confused. Lucien chuckled. 

"You enjoy visiting Paris."

"Well, there's a lot of monuments to see, lots of history behind it, and it's a proper city. The Outback's very different."

"Tell me about it." 

They exchanged a glance and Mundy's throat tightened. He could see all the lights on the Eiffel Tower shimmer on the Frenchman's eyes, like stars in a clear blue sky. 

"Well… Uh…" Mundy looked left and right. "See everythin' around us?"

"Oui?"

"Imagine there's nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Yeah, and imagine there's no grass but just orange dust."

"Hm…" Lucien looked keenly around him.

"Now add a few cacti, not too many, eh? And boulders. Just big rocks, basically."

"What shapes are they?" 

"Any weird shape you can imagine. They're a bit like clouds, if you stare at them, you start seeing that they look like stuff but they don't really…"

"Oh… And what shapes have you seen?" 

Mundy looked at Lucien sitting next to him. He had removed his hat and jacket. His polo shirt was white with dark blue stripes and he wore matching dark blue chinos trousers with beige loafers. Elegant, he was just so elegant…! What's more, he was lying on his side on the grass, resting part of his weight on his forearm, with one leg folded. Gosh…

"Uh… I usually see animals."

"What kind?"

"Sometimes, it's a gigantic wallaby, or a koala. But sometimes, it's stuff that doesn't even exist."

"Hm, like what?" 

Like you, Mundy thought. No one had taken the time to go out with him, take the time to know him, go to cafés and odd little bistrots with him. No one had ever listened to his life in the Outback, no one had ever asked. And certainly, no one had done all that and looked half as gorgeous as Lucien. It was to the point where Mundy struggled to maintain eye contact with him for long. He would sometimes cross Lucien's eyes and avert his gaze the split second after. His feline, light blue irises were too much to take, especially because each time Lucien graced him with a gaze, Mundy could feel a punch to his guts and the blood rush to his cheeks.

"I-I don't know, it's a bit silly…" He answered, blushing and looking down between his crossed legs. 

"Mundy…" 

He froze when he felt a finger under his chin, pulling it up. 

"Huh?" 

"Please, tell me." 

Gosh, not those eyes…! Oh and fuck it… Mundy couldn't refuse or ignore anything to those ice blue irises.

"Sometimes it's a mix of animals… Like something with the head of an owl, the body of a falcon, but legs like a wild cat. I know, it's ridiculous, ahem…"

"Non, not at all." Lucien answered and maybe it was all in Mundy's head, but he felt the Frenchman's index linger on his chin a bit before parting. The Aussie's jaw was electrified. "I find it poetic." 

"D-do you?" Mundy's surprise was so obvious, so naive that it made Lucien grin sweetly. The Aussie uncrossed his legs and let them flow in front of him.

"Oui." Lucien laid down and rested his head on Mundy's thigh. 

"Huh-?" Mundy gasped.

"Oh, am I weighing too much on you?"

"N-no, it's fine. I'm just-I'm just surprised, is all." The truth was that Mundy felt the heat in him surge as unexpectedly as Lucien lay on him. Was he just tired of holding his head on his palm? Was it friendly? Was it more? Was it a French thing?

"Hm. Look around you." Lucien said and Mundy did as he was told. It was the dead of night and not many people were out. "The city is almost empty. The Paris of the night is waking up and claiming the streets now." 

"The Paris of the night?" Mundy repeated. 

"Oui, people who shun the naked light of day because society shunned them first. Those are people whom morality and customs do not understand yet, people who are too free."

"What d'you mean?" 

"Look at the pavement there." Lucien pointed and Mundy saw a few women wearing short skirts. 

"Yeah?" 

"Do you see these women?" 

"Yeah."

"They are not women."

"What?" 

"They are not women in what is most commonly accepted as the definition for it. They need the cover of the night to exist as they want to. I find it tragic yet strongly inspiring." Lucien went on. "They need the blanket of the dark night sky to wear the dresses, skirts and make-up that they want. We are not too different from them, you and me."

"How? You wanna wear a dress now?" Mundy joked and Lucien chuckled, his head still using the Aussie's thigh as a pillow. 

"Non, we too are taking advantage of the night to be what the light of day prevents us from being."

Mundy's heart pounded in his chest. He was afraid he was understanding what Lucien meant, or maybe he wasn't at all and he was just hearing what the thin voice at the back of his head was whispering. 

"Huh?" 

"May I?" 

Mundy sweated. Lucien had taken his fingers in his. 

"Y-yeah, I think." 

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to force you - oh?" Lucien's eyebrows jumped and he then relaxed when Mundy pushed his trembling fingers shyly between his. Lucien held on to his hand dearly. "Mundy?" 

"Mh?" The Aussie was screwing his eyes shut hard and was trying to calm his pounding heart and the rush of blood through his body. 

"Merci." 

[Thank you.]

His eyes snapped wide. 

"What?" 

"I said thank you."

"For what?" 

"Everything." 

And that night, they stayed on the Champs de Mars all the way up until the sun showed its first rays of light. At that point, they were both lying on their backs. The wide lawn was their mattress and the early hours of the new day captured the murmurs of what no one else but them should know.

It lasted for weeks, enough to make a habit out of it and to make Mundy think that it could last forever. Unfortunately enough, the holidays were coming to an end and Australia was calling the Turners back. 

"You're not going out tonight? You should take a walk, Micky." 

In their hotel room, Caroline and Mike were talking to Mundy. 

"Your Mum's right, son. You could do with some fresh air."

"We spent our day outside. I'm tired."

Mike and Caroline exchanged a glance and went to the bathroom. 

"I'm tellin' you, Mike, we have to push him out." She whispered to her husband. "He's as sad he could be."

"Yeah, I know, I know… But you're absolutely sure it will do him good?"

"Mike, I'm a sheila. We feel those things. Look at him…" 

Caroline held the bathroom door ajar and Mike peeked through the slim opening. 

"Doesn't he remind you of someone?" She asked. 

"Hm. Yeah, course he does. Look at him lyin' on his bed, starin' at the ceiling. His body is here, his heart is elsewhere. He's exactly like me when I first met you, honey." Mike sighed. "Right, I'll get him out of this room. But you gotta help me." 

"Ok, what's the plan?" Caroline asked excitedly. 

"Follow me."

Mike took his wife by the hand and they exited the bathroom.

"Uh, Caroline, darl', d'you mind waitin' in the bathroom. This is guys' only talk." 

"Fine." 

Mike went to sit on Mundy's bed, next to him. 

"Look, son. Uh… Your mum and I… Uh… We could do with a couple of hours alone if you… uh… If that's ok with you…?" 

Mundy's eyes snapped wide and he sat up, looking his father in the eye and blushing. Mike was averting his gaze from his son, a bit ashamed. 

"Oh…" Mundy answered. "Right, fine, I'll uh… I'll go have a walk. I'll be back in a couple hours then. Sorry." 

"Good boy, no, no, don't apologise, it's fine." Mike said as Mundy put on his shoes and hat. "Take a bit of money with you and stay safe, eh?" 

"Will do. Thanks, Dad." 

"No, thank you, son."

Mundy exited the hotel and soon found himself in the streets. The sun was gently setting and the sky was orange with a few streaks of pink. The next day would again be very sunny.

Mundy didn't see it. His eyes were riveted on his shoes, his hands in his pockets, and his back hunched. He was in his own bubble and wanted to stay there, have some time alone to think. 

About what? The obvious, of course. He was about to leave Paris, to leave France, to leave Europe, the Northern Hemisphere. He was about to leave Lucien and hadn't told him the dreadful news yet. Why? Because he didn't know how to tell him, especially now…! 

Mundy sighed as he recalled the events of the previous night. They were on the quays of the Seine, the river that slithers through Paris. 

"You can see almost everything from this river, eh?" Mundy realised. 

"Oui, most monuments and important buildings you can see from here." 

"Impressive… Oh…" 

Lucien had slid his arm around Mundy's and his hand glided down until his fingers laced between the Aussie's. Mundy clenched his hand. He liked it way too much. Oh, hold on, maybe it was too much? He could feel his hand sweating…!

"S-sorry…" He pulled his hand off and wiped it nervously on his trousers. 

"There is no problem." Lucien took Mundy's hand again. He pulled it up to his lips and kissed it. 

"W-woah… Uhm…" 

Lucien chuckled. 

"You are such a delightful hint of the exotism I used to love…"

"What's that mean?" 

They stopped walking along the river banks. Lucien went to the edge and looked at the streamflow for an instant. He removed his loafers elegantly and rolled his trousers' ends up along his calves. Mundy blushed. Contrary to him, Lucien didn't have a tan and being lighter in skin tone than him, he appeared almost snow white compared to Mundy. The Aussie watched as Lucien sat at the edge and let his feet dangle down. They were in the water up to his ankles. Mundy copied him and they were soon sitting side by side, their feet in the river. 

Lucien leaned on Mundy's side and took his hand again. He held it dearly between both of his own. 

"Mundy?" 

"Yeah?" 

"You are leaving a strong impression on me." 

Mundy's eyebrows jumped. 

"Y-you too." He removed his hat and leaned his head on Lucien's. 

Silence fell for a while. It was soothing, hearing just the lapping sounds of the cool water licking their feet and their breaths. 

"Lucien?" 

"Oui?" 

"Can I ask you somethin'?" 

"You just did, and yes you may." 

"How come you uh… I mean I don't want it to sound bad but… How come you spend all your nights with me? I mean, don't you have anyone waitin' at home? Family, friends? Even the weekends you spend with me. Y'know, it's ok if you wanted to not see me for a few days, I'd understand."

"I have very few friends. To be truly honest, I have none. The only person waiting for me back home is Perle." 

"Oh, who's that? Family?"

"Better than that, she is my cat." 

"Oh, you have a kitty?" 

"The best in the world." 

"What does she look like?" Mundy asked. 

"Look here, I have a photograph of her." Lucien took his wallet off of his inner pocket and retrieved a small rectangular picture. It wasn't much bigger than a stamp. He handed it to Mundy. 

"Oh, woah… Expensive she must be, eh. Gorgeous, long, snow white fur and light eyes, like you almost - huh, I mean…"

"Oui, she has blue eyes." Lucien simply answered. "You wouldn't know on the black and white picture. And I had no idea she was expensive, even though she is priceless to me."

"You didn't buy her off a shop or someone?"

"Non, I rescued her when she was a kitten, cold, shivering and skinny. Poor baby, she barely had the strength to mewl."

"Oh, woah…" Mundy handed back the picture and as Lucien stored it safely in his wallet again, the Aussie was devouring him with his eyes. 

"I raised her as best as I could and we understand each other pretty well. She is my little baby, or as I like to call her, mon petit bébé."

"Uh… I… I mean…" Gosh, words jangled and mixed in his head. He had found a man gorgeous as a God, patient with him, who respected his shyness, didn't take advantage of it, didn't force him to do anything and loved his cat? 

"Oui?" Lucien raised his fair eyes to Mundy and that didn't help the Aussie at all. His thoughts were broken, everything broke under those eyes. 

"Uh?" 

Lucien chuckled. 

"It is fine. You don't have to say anything." He leaned his head on Mundy's shoulder and held his hand. "What about you? Do you have any relatives besides your parents?" 

"Uh, no. It's just them and me. I got a few uncles and aunts. See them for Christmas with my cousins and their kids. And for the pets, we got a few dogs to keep the beasts away from the hens and geese. Mum has a cat too, Percy, he's black and white, with green eyes."

"What kinds of dogs?" 

"An Aussie shepherd and a border collie. Good girls they are. We had a few through the years but dogs don't live as long as we want them to, eh?"

"Indeed." 

"How old is your cat? What's her name again?"

"Perle, or for you, Pearl. She is now seven years old."

"Oh, a big girl." 

"A wise lady indeed. My only companion since… A long time." 

"Fair enough. Haven't had anyone to talk to for years too. I mean, apart from my parents."

"You don't have friends in Australia?"

"I do, yeah, but… Uh… Not like you." 

"Well I don't imagine you have bakers who have become part time tourist guides there, hm?" Lucien teased. 

"Nah, that's true. But uh, yeah, I mean… We've talked about anythin' for the past few weeks, right?" 

"Oh oui, from cacti, to desert, to wild animals, Australian beers, dishes, weather, slang…."

"Yeah, and now I feel like I know Paris almost better than where I come from!" Mundy chuckled. 

They looked in each other's eyes. 

"We indeed have had conversations about anything with baffling ease." 

"Yeah…" Mundy confirmed.

"Merci. It had been ages since I last felt such a pleasant connection with someone." 

"Same for me."

Lucien had looked up at Mundy and stared. The Aussie hadn't noticed that the Frenchman's pupils dilated as they sank from his lagoon blue eyes, down his long, straight nose, to his rough, thin lips. Mundy was lost in the ice blue irises and time had stopped. Lucien did half of the work and pulled his neck up. Mundy could smell his perfume and his cigarettes, maybe a lingering faint aroma of hot flour too. But the Aussie had been oblivious and didn't meet the Frenchman half-way. 

It had been roughly twenty-fours hours after these events now, and Mundy couldn't have got any of it out of his head. He was stuck there and then, his hand between Lucien's, his head leaning on the Frenchman. 

And he found it ridiculous! Dinners in little, hidden bistrots, holding hands on the banks of the river Seine, pulling an all-nighter on the grass under the Eiffel Tower… What the hell had he become? 

If his parents knew of it, if his friends knew of it, what would they all think? A holiday romance, nothing much? Pfff… 

What hurt Mundy wasn't any of that. It was the fact that he had grown attached to Lucien. For him, it wasn't just a holiday matter, he wanted it to be more. Why? Because where on Earth would he find someone that would treat him so well and with whom he felt that he could share his everything? He felt safe with Lucien. He felt safe in a way that the hunter never thought he would one day experience because what that meant is that he was much more insecure about himself than what he let on… 

Most people he knew would describe him as a nice bloke if not very talkative. They assumed he was just like that. But now, Mundy realised that he was just… shy. Part of him even thought that he was afraid. Of what? Of people, constantly watching and judging him. 

He didn't like people and preferred animals in that respect. Animals didn't care that you were still mostly living with your parents, driving your father's van around the desert. Animals didn't ask about his job only to fantasise about it, use him for the night and throw him away. Animals didn't think they couldn't build anything with him because of his almost nomad way of life. No, animals cared for him because he cared for them, end of story. 

"Bonsoir, Mundy. You took your time tonight, I thought you wouldn't come." 

[Good evening, Mundy.]

The voice with the French accent broke Mundy's train of thought abruptly and he winced. He looked down at his feet and gave them an angry glance. 

Well thanks for that… He was thinking. While he had been pulling on the thread of his thoughts like a cat on a ball of yarn, his feet had guided Mundy to the bakery.

"Oh, uh, y-yeah, sorry…"

"Are you alright?" Lucien asked, as Mundy still hadn't made eye contact with him. 

"Yeah, I'm fine." 

The Frenchman could have smelt that it was a lie from a mile away. He nonetheless ignored it and they both walked together along the street.

"What would you like to do tonight?" He asked.

"Don't know. You choose." 

"In that case, there is somewhere that we could try." Lucien took Mundy's hand and led the way. He had an idea to cheer up his more-than-friend.

The walk was silent as Lucien decided against insisting. Mundy seemed the type to like silence and solitude well, which the Frenchman respected. He too had his moments where he would rather be alone. 

Soon enough, they entered a café. Lucien quickly found a table and they both sat down, opposite each other. A waiter soon came. The Frenchman placed their order while Mundy was still brooding, somewhere between his own mind and nowhere… The waiter placed two mugs on the table and disappeared again. 

"Here." Lucien took Mundy's hand and pushed it to the mug gently. 

"Huh?" When his fingers registered the heat from both Lucien's hand and the mug, Mundy's eyes snapped wide and he landed back on Earth.

"Drink this." 

"What is it?"

"Can't you tell?" 

Mundy's sense of smell woke up as he raised the mug closer to his lips. 

"Hot chocolate?" 

"Oui, but not any kind. Try it." 

Mundy did as he was told and took a sip. 

"Hm… Very soft but not too sweet."

"As my mother used to do to me whenever I felt low, as a child. I kept the habit of coming here and having one whenever I felt like nothing else could help." 

"Mh." 

"Are you sure you don't want to talk to me about it, whatever it is?" Lucien asked after Mundy took another sip. 

"I… I don't know…" 

"Is it your parents? They seemed fine for lunch today." 

"No, it's not them. It's me." 

Lucien tilted his head on the side and his hand slid on the table until he cupped Mundy's, against the mug. 

"Tell me, please."

Mundy sighed. 

"I'll be goin' back to Oz. I-I'm gonna leave and… I… I kind of… I don't wanna." He mumbled, his eyes riveted on the hot chocolate. Lucien looked at him distraught. 

"I see." He answered. "Do you really wish to stay here?" 

"Y-yeah." 

"You like Paris that much?" 

Obviously, Mundy couldn't care less about the city. What counted was Lucien, and Lucien was staying there. 

"Mundy…? Talk to me, please. I hate to see you distraught." Now, both of Lucien's hands were on Mundy's, wrapped around the warm mug. 

"I don't wanna go, is all. It's childish and just plain ridiculous. But I wish I could stay and have… Have more tours of Paris.. With you." 

Lucien's thumbs brushed Mundy's hands. 

"I wish you could stay too, Mundy." Finally, the Aussie raised his head and met Lucien's sad eyes. "I have rarely felt the peace that I do with you. Your company is soothing for my now fragile nerves." 

Mundy raised an eyebrow. 

"What d'you mean?" 

"There was a time where I was able to withstand a lot of pressure on my shoulders; the pressure of an entire country even. The moment it was gone, my body and mind collapsed. I didn't know anything anymore, even my own identity, what I was, who I was, was hard to grasp. It took years to come back from there. Years that I wouldn't have survived if not for Perle. I focused my time and energy on her. I devoted my attention to her and it distracted me from thinking too much about myself." He paused to catch his breath. 

"Y-you got ill?" Lucien raised his eyes to Mundy. 

"Oui, a kind of illness that no doctor knows exactly how to cure. A lot of soldiers go through it. They come back from the battlefields and they find it very hard to adjust back to civil life."

"You were a soldier?" 

"Worse, but oui, I belonged to the army." 

"How did you become a baker then? You were already one before you went to the army?" Mundy asked. 

"Non, I was not. I had no skills besides those that I learnt in the army, or so few. You will mock me, but the idea came from Perle."

"Your kitty?" 

Lucien nodded. 

"One day I took her out to buy some bread with me. She was lying on my shoulders and when I was queueing to get my bread, she jumped out and into the back of the bakery." Lucien smiled as he remembered the events. "The baker let me through and we looked for her together. When we found her, she was asleep on a tray of still warm brioches." 

"Aw, was that a long time ago?" 

"She was somewhere between a kitten and an adult cat; a teenager, if you will." 

"Ah, right. But how did you become a baker?" 

"I apologised profusely to the baker and told him I would pay for all the damage and the pawprints… He told me he'd rather have someone to help him make all that again rather than take my money. So I offered my help. He taught me most of what I know now."

"Wow… Talk about finding work randomly, eh…"

"Oui, indeed. Since then, I have felt much better. Working put my attention and energy into something that brought smiles to the customers and apparently, to me too." 

"So you got your own bakery goin'?" 

"The previous owner of my bakery happens to be that man from the story. He was very old and decided to retire a few years later. He offered to let me buy the shop from him, which I did. I then changed the name to mine and redid some parts inside, the decoration mainly." 

"Oh, I see… Wow… Great story you have." 

"Merci." Lucien took a sip of his hot chocolate. "What about you? You said you were a hunter?" 

"Yeah, but work is more and more rare now when you mainly do pest control and poacher scarin'." 

"What do you mean?" 

"I don't hunt beasts for trophies, fur or fun. I hunt and tranquilise whatever happens to be a bit too far from its natural habitat, load it on my van, and drive it back where it should be or in a reserve. As for the poachers, I scare them off of endangered species." 

"So you don't kill animals?" 

"Very rarely. Only for food when I'm out for days and far from home." 

"Oh…" Lucien's eyebrows jumped. "I did not expect that. In fact, I didn't even know that this job existed." 

"As far as I know, I'm the only one who doesn't actually kill the beasts. I get contracts that get me travellin' through the world quite a bit."

"Very exciting." 

"Seein' the sights is nice, yeah. But uh, I miss my family quite fast and uh… It's not so much my family but… I feel a bit… Uh…"

"Lonely?" 

Mundy nodded. 

"Yeah…" 

"I would recommend getting a cat," Lucien said. "But I am afraid that it doesn't completely fill the emptiness that you feel inside." 

"I'd imagine so, yeah…" 

Silence fell for a while as they both drank more of their hot chocolates. 

"I would love you to stay, but your life, your family and your job are in Australia." Lucien said and his eyes met Mundy. They were both distraught and could hardly hide it. 

"Yeah… And I don't know anythin' else but shooting a rifle." Mundy looked through the window. It was now properly dark outside and only the yellow lamps inside the old café provided them with some light. 

"I am immensely grateful to you however." 

"For what?"

"I wouldn't be able to put a name on it but you brought me some peace and you made me wake up in the morning with a new feeling; the eagerness of welcoming a new day that will for sure contain some spark of joy, namely, your presence, your… Hm, you." 

Mundy blushed and turned as red as a brick. 

"Y-you do the same. I mean, for me. I uh… I'm not just happy to visit the city with my parents. I'm uh… I'm happy in the evenings, with you." 

They hadn't realised until then but they were holding hands on the table, the mugs had been pushed aside.

"I wish I could stay, I really do. But uh… Yeah, without a job or anythin', I can't." 

"I understand and, for what it is worth, I would love for you to stay too." Lucien hesitated but thought that it might be his last evening with Mundy. He looked around and could see the few customers in the café were far from them. "And not just to help you visit the city."

Mundy's eyebrows jumped as Lucien had spoken quite low. The Frenchman was staring at him with a particular shine in his eyes. He slightly bent forward and Mundy mirrored him. Their faces were a few inches apart. 

"L-Lucien, I'd uh… I'd better get back. We still gotta pack a few things before leavin' tomorrow." 

Lucien's chest burnt. Hot lava was being poured on his heart. 

"Before you go, may I tell you something?" 

They were both whispering. Mundy nodded and Lucien gestured to him to get closer, which he did. The Frenchman wrapped a hand behind Mundy's neck and the Aussie froze rigid when he felt Lucien's breath on his ear. 

"Je t'aime." He simply whispered and Mundy's entire being burst and melted when he felt Lucien's lips on his rough cheek. 

[I love you.]

"U-uh…" The air was scarce in the room but it happened too fast and Mundy was left alone at the table. Lucien had dashed out faster than a shadow. "Fuck me…" 

Soon, the surge of love was replaced by boiling rage and Mundy stormed out of the café, almost running back to the hotel. That night, he cried himself to sleep as silently as he could. He didn't want his parents to hear it. 

The next morning, Mundy was woken up by his mother. 

"Micky, sweetie? You've been sleepin' a long time, it's lunchtime now." 

"Don't wanna eat." He rolled himself under the blanket and his parents exchanged a concerned look. "You can go if you want." 

"Micky, you can't travel on an empty stomach, son." Mike's voice took the decision for everyone and Mundy sighed before getting out of bed and dressed up. 

They arranged for their luggage to be transferred to the airport while they went to have lunch. Obviously, they ended up in Lucien's bakery. 

"Bonjour, Lucien!"  Mike tried his best.

"Bonjour, Mike. What will it be today?"

"Hold your horses, son, I've gotta see with the wife if I can get dessert first…!" 

"Mike, you know the answer to that…" 

"Lucien," Mike turned to the baker. "You married, by any chance?"

Lucien shook his head. 

"Non, I nearly did but it did not happen."

"Well, before you get married, ask them if you can get dessert for the rest of your life." 

"Mike…! You know why you have to be careful, the doctor said so, now be reasonable, dear." Caroline tried.

"And only get a ring on your finger if they say that yes, you can get dessert until your very last breath!" 

Lucien smiled, albeit sadly. After that, the Turner family placed their order and soon enough, their sandwiches and salads appeared on the table. 

"Lucien, excuse me, dear?" Caroline called and Lucien came to her. 

"Oui, Madame?" 

"I saw the poster on your front door. You're looking to hire?" 

"Oui, indeed. I think this is the end of a chapter for me. Time maybe to do something else." 

"Oh, that's a shame. You're very good at what you do!"

"Yeah, your sandwiches are amazin'." Mike added. 

"Thank you very much."

"Did you receive applications?" Caroline asked. 

"I am afraid not, but I have only put that poster up this morning."

"What kind of people're you lookin' for?" Mike asked. 

"Anyone, from inexperienced to confirmed bakers. In fact, I learnt this trade as a beginner and I would like to pass on my knowledge and techniques to someone else. But don't let me bother you. Enjoy your lunch." 

He bowed and returned behind his counter. Mundy hadn't listened to any of it. He couldn't even raise his eyes off of his shoes, especially not to see Lucien. It hurt too much. 

"Micky?" 

"Mh." 

"Micky, you want to eat before we go, dear." Caroline said and her son sighed before taking a bite. He chewed slowly and looked away from anyone else. 

"Don't like your sandwich, son?" 

Mundy didn't answer and didn't see Caroline and Mike exchanging a glance. 

"You can try another one, eh." 

Still no answer from the heartbroken Aussie. It was a torture. Eating a sandwich made by the hand of a man he had cried for, hands that he had spent the past few weeks holding fondly even if he had never initiated it. Gosh, now he regretted it, he should have done something, anything…! But he wasn't ready, he never was, he had never been prepared for it! In more than three decades of existence, who the hell would come to him and teach him?

"Mike, Madame Caroline?" Lucien had come to the table. 

"Yeah?" 

"I have a… an unusual request, if I may."

"Go ahead, son." Mike wiped his mouth and frowned to listen better.

"It is actually for Mundy." Lucien said and Mundy frowned too but his eyes were still low. "If you would rather make your own sandwich, you may help yourself to the fridge and the breads that I have."

Mundy didn't flinch. 

"If you want… You can… Make not only your sandwich, but… other sandwiches." 

"Oh, you mean to take away? Ouch!" Mike asked and received an elbow to his ribs from Caroline who glared at him. 

"That is lovely of you, Lucien. Yes, I think he would love doing that, if that is ok with you?"

"It is the least I can offer, Madame."

"Oh, you really don't have to…!"

"Allow me to insist. You have been lovely customers throughout all these weeks."

"And you have been a lovely guide! So, Micky, what do you say?" Caroline asked her son and he sighed. 

"Don't know." He mumbled. 

"C'mon sweetie, go and make your own sandwich. And make a couple of extra ones for your Dad and I, for the road."

"Mum…" Mundy hid his face in his hands. 

"Micky, you don't want to be impolite to Lucien." She insisted. 

"Hm…" He grumbled and pushed his chair back before standing up, not seeing his mother whispering something to his father.

"Here, wear this. It would be a shame to have flour on your polo shirt." Lucien handed him an apron. Mundy took it and put it on without looking at it. This whole show hurt and was preposterous… "Now let me show you around the house, pray follow me." 

Mundy dragged his feet on the floor and followed Lucien behind the counter. 

"What sandwiches would you and Mike like, Madame Caroline?" Lucien asked. 

"If you have that ham and butter, what d'you call it again, Lucien?" She answered. 

"Jambon-beurre, Madame." He answered. "Mundy, please take one of those in front of you? Thank you, now, follow me to the fridge. Here is the light butter and the lean ham. I keep them on this side to not get them confused with their regular counterparts. Now, you will do your father's sandwich. Here, chopping board, a fresh baguette and a knife. Go ahead." 

"L-Lucien…" Mundy sighed in front of the ingredients. "I can't." 

Caroline stood up and went to the counter with Mike, customer side, while Mundy and Lucien were on the other side. 

"C'mon, son, your first sandwich here, Micky! Caroline, get the camera!" Mike encouraged him. 

"And we get to see you make it!" Caroline added enthusiastically and readied herself to take a picture.

"Wh-what?" Mundy asked, confused that his parents were that thrilled for… him making a couple of sandwiches.

"C'mon, cut the bread, Micky, chop, chop!" Mike said and Mundy got to work, missing the point entirely. He made the sandwich for his father and added his mother's to the plastic bag. 

"I won't take one for myself." Mundy said and started undoing the apron. 

"Of course not, son!" Mike answered with a chuckle and Mundy's confusion just jumped a notch.

"And what are you doing, Micky? Keep the apron!" Caroline laughed.

"What? I'm not gonna travel with that!" Mundy answered. 

"Of course not!" She answered. 

"What the hell's been going on? Look, this is just - it's just…!" Mundy covered his face with his hands to hide his shame. At that point he thought it was a nightmare and he would wake up. 

"Ooh, we're sorry, sweetie…" Caroline hugged him. "We didn't want to upset you." 

"But why…?"

"Micky, look at your apron, son." Mike said.

"Dad, look, I'm just tired. Let's go back home." Beyond the distress of leaving Lucien, Mundy felt embarrassed, ashamed to have been put on the spot with the apron, the sandwich making… What was that all about…?

"S'il te plaît, Mundy." 

[Please, Mundy.]

Caroline and Mike stepped back to let Lucien get closer to Mundy. The Aussie turned his face away. He couldn't take any of it anymore. 

"Mundy…?" 

"Take it back and leave me alone." Mundy removed the apron completely and pushed it against Lucien's chest. 

"On one condition, you look here." 

Mundy sighed but obeyed. Lucien held the apron between his hands. 

"What do you read here?"

The apron was white with something sewn on it. Mundy squinted. His shoulders and jaw dropped when he read the word. 

Mundy

It was sewn in cursive letters. Mundy looked at Lucien's apron. His name was sewn in the same style. 

"What? What's that mean?"

"It means, and forgive me for repeating myself, that I am offering you a job here." Lucien answered. 

"What?! I know nothing of bread!"

"I will teach you, you will see, it isn't hard at all." 

"But why? I gotta go back home…" Mundy turned to his parents. 

"Micky, you can stay longer if you want." Mike said. 

"Yeah, it's fine, you're a big boy and you've stayed with us long enough. Maybe this is your chance?" Caroline added and Mundy's eyes lit up with joy and excitement. 

"Really?" His voice broke under the emotion he was trying to prudely contain. 

"Of course!" Caroline answered. She went to the tip of her toes to put a hand on Mundy’s rough, slender cheek. "Look, for the past few weeks, we realised with your Dad that we hadn't seen you that happy in years. Each night, when you come back from your walks, you smile and even when you sleep, the smile stays on…!"

"Your Mum's right, son. If you're happy here with Lucien, then stay, at least a bit more. And it's not like you were exactly earnin' a decent wage out of a few hunting contracts, eh? Folks will find other people to deal with their beasts. You deal with you, ok?" 

"Oh my God…" Mundy's tears came to his eyes faster than he could control. "Gosh…!" He hid his face and his shame with his hands.

"Aw, baby Micky…!" Caroline went to the tip of her toes to hug him and Mike tapped him on the back. 

"It's alright, son, it's alright." 

"But, you sure, though?" Mundy withdrew from the hug and looked his parents in the eye. 

"Of course! We'll make it back home and give you a call when we get there." Caroline said, pinching his cheek gently. 

"Yeah, of course!" Mike added. "Now, c'mere son." Father and son exchanged a long hug. "You make your parents proud, yeah?" 

"Yeah, Dad, don't worry."

"And you be a good boy, eh?" Caroline added. 

"Yes, Mum, I will."

"You look out for each other, alright boys?" Mike looked at Lucien. 

"We will, Mike." The Frenchman answered. "But Mundy…?" 

"Yeah?"

"Do you accept my offer?" Lucien held the apron up. 

Mundy looked at his parents who nodded, then back at Lucien. 

"Yeah… Please." 

"Fine." Lucien got closer and put the apron on Mundy. He then tied it for him as the Aussie's eyes were riveted on his parents. Caroline was leaning on her husband's side and both wore a proud smile. Mundy hadn't seen his parents smile like that for a long, long time. "There, you are ready." 

"Thanks, Lucien." They exchanged a tender gaze and didn't see Caroline's eyes light up. 

"Right, boys, I think we should be on our way." Mike said. 

"But of course." Lucien answered. "Here, your sandwiches for the road."

"Mum, you call me as soon as you can, ok?" Mundy said, as they all went to the front door. 

"Yes, dear, don't worry." 

They were now standing outside of the bakery under the beautiful and powerful summer sun. 

"You call us sometimes, Micky, eh?" Mike said. 

"Sure, I will." 

Hugs and kisses were exchanged. 

"And you, you take care of our son, alright?" Mike was shaking Lucien's hand and patted his shoulder. After that, he waved for a taxi to stop.

"I will think of him before I think of myself." Lucien answered while giving a nod. 

"And Micky, you take care of Lucien too, eh?" Caroline said as she winked, making her son blush beyond his ears. 

"Y-yeah Mum, will do…" 

"Bye, son." 

"Bye guys, careful on your way back, eh?" Mundy answered.

"We will, don't worry." 

And on that, they all waved at each other as Mike and Caroline slipped in the taxi and they went their way. Lucien and Mundy stayed for a while, even after the taxi disappeared. The Aussie was out of breath, everything had happened quite fast. 

“I’ll miss them.” He said.

“I will miss them too. You are lucky to have very supportive parents, Mundy.” 

“Yeah… But I’m glad to stay here.”

"So…" Lucien said as both him and Mundy entered the shop again.

"Yeah?" 

"Ready to learn the fine art of bread and pastry making?" 

"I guess… I mean, I didn't really think it through, eh." Mundy chuckled and looked at Lucien. "But with you, anythin'." 

The Frenchman smiled. 

"First lesson: follow me." 

They went back behind the counter and Lucien even invited Mundy in the hidden workshop, behind a wooden door. There were tables lined up in the room, fridges on one wall and ovens in the other.

"Woah… It smells incredible in here…!" Mundy said as he was hit by a wave of hot flour. 

"Indeed. You will see, you will never get tired of that incomparable smell. Hot flour and sometimes, hints of sugar."

"Yeah…” Mundy inhaled deeply and when he exhaled, his eyes were half closed. That place was heaven... “Right, so what's first?" 

Lucien shut the door and looked up at Mundy. 

"First, I have to ask you, are you sure you want to stay with me? We can still call a taxi for you and you can join your parents." 

Lucien's light blue eyes raised up to Mundy were a sight to behold for the shy Aussie. 

"Y-yeah."

"Yes, what? Shall we call a taxi or…?"

"No. I wanna… Try, with you." 

Lucien's smile made all his face beam up poetically. He closed the gap between Mundy and himself and hugged the taller man. 

"Thank you so much." Both closed their eyes and held dearly to each other. “Thank you so much for trusting me and for believing that this is all worthwhile. I do appreciate that you are leaving everything behind just for me and… I am beyond grateful.”

Mundy bent down to put his lips next to Lucien's ear.

"Lucien?" He whispered. 

"Oui?" 

"I think I… I love you too." Mundy screwed his eyes shut and buried his head deep in the crook of Lucien's neck, holding Lucien not like a friend, but like the salvation he felt God sent to him through that man. 

"Mundy…?" 

"Yeah?"

"Look at me." 

Mundy did as he was told and Lucien wrapped his arms around the Aussie's neck. 

"O-oh… Right… Y-yeah?" 

Lucien smiled before his eyelashes bowed down as he slowly closed his eyes. He pushed himself to the tip of his toes and did what he had dreamt of doing. 

Mundy's eyes rolled up in bliss and if he froze for a second, the kiss made him soon melt such that he bent down and pulled Lucien from his back and his hip, to feel more of him against himself. He yielded to the passion of the moment, he let everything explode in him, the yearning, the longing... 

It lasted for a few seconds that they both wanted to extend, but the call for air was stronger. When they broke the kiss, they stayed with their foreheads against each other. 

Neither knew what to say first, to exit that moment. 

"Hold on…" Mundy eventually said. 

"Oui? Something is the matter?" Lucien asked. 

"No but… You had an apron with my name all along?" 

"Non," Lucien chuckled. "When I came back yesterday night, I spent some time thinking and smoking. I couldn't help but repeat the discussion we had in the café on loop in my head. And then I remembered what you said, that you wouldn't be able to stay without a job. That was when I got the idea to hire you."

"Oh, woah…"

"So I woke up this morning, my mind set as hard as stone. I thought that I would ask in front of your parents." 

"How did you know they'd accept?" 

"I think your mother felt it, for a long time." 

"She felt what?" 

"Mundy, she is a woman, and your mother, she feels those things. Besides, each time you have lunch here you stare at me with such insistence…!"

"What?! No, I don't!" Mundy protested and his cheeks turned red. 

"Yes, you do, mon amour, and don't blush so much…" Lucien chuckled and tapped the tip of Mundy's nose. 

"Did you just call me-?"

"My love, oui. Now, let us go to work - oh?!" Lucien's sentence was interrupted by an intense - if slightly awkward - kiss. Mundy held him dearly, almost clawed in his sides and Lucien smiled. 

"That is quite unprofessional, hm?" The Frenchman teased.

"Well, you started it, eh?" 

"Non, I did not kiss my employer." 

"You kissed your employee, that's worse." 

"Non, you are not my employee yet."

"What?" 

"You are my apprentice…"

"Right, fair enough. What's that make you then?" Mundy asked. 

"... And my lover." 

"Oh, right, ok, uhm… I-I mean…" 

"And very shy." 

"Well…" 

They spent the beginning of that afternoon in the workshop dealing with bread and pastries as they teased each other. When the time came to close the shop and go back home, Mundy's eyebrows jumped. 

"H-hold on." He said on the pavement with Lucien.

"Oui?" 

"I… I don't have a home here… I could probably be able to pay a couple more nights at the hotel but…"

Lucien's chuckle cut Mundy's sentence. 

"Why're you laughin'? I'm telling you I'm homeless…!"

"Don't be silly, Mundy. Come." Lucien took his hand and led the way. 

"Right… I s'ppose you can walk me back to the hotel…" 

"Non, I will not and I am not." 

"Where are we goin' then?" 

"Home." 

Mundy frowned in confusion but decided to wait and see. Meanwhile, he held Lucien's hand dearly in his own. A few minutes later, Lucien stopped and got some keys out of his pocket. He unlocked the door and flipped a switch. 

"Meow…!" 

A white cloud brushed the floor and jumped in Lucien's arms. 

"Oui, mon bébé, bonsoir, Papa est rentré…"

[Yes, my baby, good evening to you too, Papa has come home…]

He kissed her countless times and carried her in his arms indeed like a baby. 

"Mundy, this is Perle. Perle, this is Mundy." 

"Oh, yeah, your kitty…! Hello there, pretty lady…" Mundy scratched her cheeks and jaw, and soon both Lucien and him heard her pur. 

"She likes you already." Lucien said. 

"I'm good with animals usually, yeah… Hold on, what d'you mean 'already'?" 

"Perle," Lucien said to his cat. "Mundy here is more than just a man who knows how to scratch you perfectly." 

"Meow?" 

"Oui, he is Papa's very good friend."

"Meow…?"

"Fine, oui, he is Papa's… Second half."

"Meow!"

"Don't worry, you are still my baby, but now, you are our baby, because Mundy here" Lucien raised his eyes to his lover. "Mundy here will live with us." 

"Wh-...? Wait, are you serious?" Mundy asked in shock at the door's threshold. Lucien pulled him in and closed the door after him. 

"I am. Now, make yourself at home, and give me an instant, someone has to feed this snow white baby."

"Meow!" 

Lucien went to the kitchen as Mundy opened wide eyes and observed every little thing in the room. The paintings, most of them abstract, the furniture, the brown leather sofa, the persian style carpet in front of it, on which was the coffee table. There was a fireplace too and on the mantelpiece, pictures. They were all about Perle, the white kitten who grew to a majestic, fluffy creature with mesmerising blue eyes, a bit like her master.

"One last thing Mundy…!" Lucien said from the kitchen. 

"Yeah?" 

"I have only one double bed!"

Mundy blushed and smiled.

#tf2 sniper #tf2 spy #sniperspy #dontneedavalentine2021

[jgthirlwell]

2020 Year In Review

This year once again I invited some friends and colleagues to reflect on 2020

JG Thirlwell

Composer

Foetus Xordox Manorexia Steroid Maximus Venture Bros Archer

www.foetus.org

2020 was a troubling and disturbing year. I created a lot of music and experienced a lot of nights waking at 5am in a panic. I deeply missed the sacred experience of being able to see live music. In its absence of that I listened to a lot of music. It was difficult to whittle down this list but here are a lot of albums I enjoyed in 2020, in no particular order.

Le Grand Sbam Furvent (Dur Et Doux) John Elmquist’s HardArt Group I Own an Ion (900 Nurses) Roly Porter Kistvaen (Subtext) Liturgy Origin Of The Alimonies (YLYLCYN) Clark Kiri Variations (Throttle) Dai Kaht Dai Kaht I & II (Soleil Zeuhl) Chromb Le livre des merveilles (Dur Et Doux) Horse Lords The Common Task (Northern Spy) Ecker & Meultzer Carbon (Subtext) Insane Warrior Tendrils (RJ’s Electrical Connections) Jeff Parker Suite For Max Brown (International Anthem) Jacob Kirkegaard Opus Mors (Topos) Tristan Perich Drift Multiply (Nonesuch) Bec Plexus Sticklip (New Amsterdam) Vak Budo (Soleil Zeuhl) Merlin Nova BOO! (Bandcamp) The The Muscle OST (Cineola) Zombi 2020 (Relapse) Regis Hidden In This Is The Light That You Miss (Downwards) Rival Consoles Articulation (Erased Tapes) Sarah Davachi Cantus, Descant (L.A.T.E.) Sufjan Stevens The Ascension (Asthmatic Kitty) Idles Ultra Mono (Partisan) Daedelus The Bittereindeers (Brainfeeder) Boris No (Bandcamp) Aksak Maboul Figures / Un peu de l’ame des bandits / Onze Danses Pour Cobattre La Migraine (Crammed) Noveller Arrow (Ba Da Bing) Felicia Atkinson Everything Evaporate (Shelter Press) Ital Tek Dream Boundary (Planet Mu) Author and Punisher Beastland (Relapse) Sparks A Steady Drip Drip Drip (BMG) Corima Amatarasu (Soleil Zeuhl) Code Orange Underneath (Roadrunner) Deerhoof Future Teenage Cave Artists /Silly Symphonies / To Be Surrounded../ Love Lore(Joyful Noise) Sote Moscels (Opal Tapes) Run The Jewels RTJ4 (Jewel Runners) Oranssi Pazuzu Mestarin Kynsi (Nuclear Blast) Master Boot Record Floppy Disk Overdrive (Metal Blade) Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith The Mosaic Of Transformation (Ghostly International) / Ears (Western Vinyl) Michael Gordon Acquanetta (Cantelope) Neom Arkana Temporis (Soleil Zeuhl) Rian Treanor Ataxia / File Under UK Metaplasm (Planet Mu) Helm Saturnalia (Alter) Ivvvo doG (Halcyon Veil) Robert Normandeau Figures (Empreintes Digitales) Ben Vida Reducing The Tempo To Zero (Shelter Press) Beatrice Dillon Workaround (Pan) Dan Deacon Mystic Familiar (Domino) Sea Oleena Weaving A Basket (Higher Plain Music) Elysian Fields Transience Of Life (Ojet) Rhapsody Symphony Of Enchanted Lands II - The Dark Secret (Magic Circle) Duma Duma (Nyege Nyege) Ulla Strauss Tumbling Towards a Wall / Seed (Bandcamp)

Honorable mentions Carl Stone Stolen Car (Unseen Worlds)  Nazar Guerilla (Hyperdub) Iwo Zaluski with the Children of Park Lane Primary School, Wembley The Remarkable Earth Making Machine (Trunk) Nahash Flowers Of The Revolution (SVBKVLT) Cindy Lee Whats Tonight To Eternity (Bandcamp) Insect Ark The Vanishing (Profound Lore) 33EMYBW Arthropods (SVBKVLT) Declan McKenna Zeroes (Tomplicated) Layma Azur Zeii (Bandcamp)

FILM TV Succession ZeroZeroZero Escape at Dannemora 1917 Small Axe : Five films by Steve McQueen Pirhanas Monos The Hater Better Call Saul

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Drew Daniel

Matmos, The Soft Pink Truth

an alphabet of 2020 recordings

Arca “KiCk i” BFTT “Intrusive / Obtrusive” clipping. “Visions of Bodies Being Burned” Duma “Duma” Eilbacher, Max “Metabolist Meter (Foster, Cottin, Caetani and a Fly)” Forbidden Colors “La Yeguada” GILA “Energy Demonstration” HiedraH Club de Baile “Bichote-K Bailable Vol. 2” Ian Power “Maintenance Hums” Jeff Carey “Index[off]” Kassel Jaeger “Meith” Laurie Anderson “Songs From the Bardo” Mukqs “Water Levels” Negativland “The World Will Decide” O’Rourke, Jim “Shutting Down Here” Perlesvaus “These Things Below with Those Above” Quicksails “Blue Rise” Rian Treanor “File Under UK Metaplasm” Slikback “///” Terminal Nation “Holocene Extinction” Ulcerate “Stare Into Death and Be Still” Various Artists “HAUS of ALTR” William Tyler “New Vanitas” Xyla “Ways” Y A S H A “Summations” :zoviet-france: “Châsse 2ᵉ”

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sarah Lipstate  (Noveller)

With all live performances canceled, this was truly the year of demo videos and home studio recording for me. These are 10 pieces of gear that came out in 2020 that helped keep me feeling creative and inspired during lockdown. In no particular order:

EHX Oceans 12 Dual Stereo Reverb - The Oceans 12 ticks all the boxes for what I’m looking for in a great soundscaping reverb. I used the Shimmer and Reverse algorithms in conjunction a lot when I was composing music for a film score.

Chase Bliss Audio Blooper - While I don’t actually own a Blooper, I had the pleasure of borrowing one from Mike of Baranik Guitars after NAMM this year. He made an incredible Blooper-inspired guitar and I was completely charmed by them both. Chase Bliss always delivers pedals that push me creatively and the Blooper truly hits the mark.

Cooper FX Arcades - I love everything Cooper FX has released to-date so the opportunity to access those sounds in one pedal via plug-in cartridges is just awesome.

SolidGoldFX NU-33 - I was asked to do a demo of this pedal for its release and ended up being really charmed by this box’s approach to lo-fi nostalgia. I’ve used it a lot for film scoring and highly recommend adding it to your collection.

Demedash Effects T-120 DLX V2 - I LOVE a good tape echo and the T-120 Deluxe V2 ranks up there with the best I’ve tried. This pedal made its way to me this Christmas and I look forward to making some beautiful sounds with it in the new year.

Hologram Electronics Microcosm - The Microcosm is one of those pedals where you should fully read the manual before diving in but once you put in that initial effort you’ve got a massively powerful tool on your hands. It does glitch like no other. Definitely worth the homework

Azzam Bells MP019 - I discovered this unique instrument through a post on Reverb’s IG page and immediately looked it up and ordered one. These experimental percussion instruments are hand-made in Italy and they’re as beautiful visually as they are sonically. I used it for bowed cymbal and daxophone sounds on a film score and it was absolutely haunting.

Echopark Dual Harmonic Boost 2 - I love the control you have over dialing in the perfect amount of grit with these dual boost circuits. I use it a lot as a textural tool when I’m laying down drones or bringing in big distorted swells. It’s one of the most versatile overdrives in my collection and I love that.

Fender Parallel Universe Series Volume II Maverick Dorado - I was smitten with the Maverick Dorado when I first saw it at NAMM. It has a lot of the specs that I look for in a guitar and the body shape with the Mystic Pine finish just blew me away. I hope that I get to use it live soon.

Polyeffects Beebo - The Beebo is one of those pedals that I genuinely feel is smarter than I am. It’s like an entire computer in one small touchscreen box. I can’t claim to have mastered using it yet but the sounds that I have managed to get out of it so far have been brilliant. I’m looking forward to spending more time with this box in 2021

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

HELM 2020 REVIEW

Let's get the bad stuff out the way first, 2020 was undoubtedly an awful year. I'm still not sure how to really respond to seeing a global pandemic bring the capital to its knees and everything I love and hold dear to a grinding halt. Our government fucked it's response, putting profit before people and killing tens of thousands. The Labour Party descended into farce with the newly elected leader Sir Keith revealing himself as a bland centrist with no opposition or ideas. On a personal level it sucked not being able to travel or see my friends in different parts of the world - or even the same country - who I am starting to miss a lot. However, I was fortunate enough to get through the year with my sanity intact. Music, art and culture once again being my main positive. I think I listened to more music than I have in any year ever. I read more books than I have done since I was a teenager probably. I also re-discovered the joys of walking long distances and am extremely thankful for living near a lot of incredible green spaces: Epping Forest, Walthamstow Wetlands, Walthamstow Marshes, Wanstead Park, Wanstead Flats...

Music. My favourite albums of the year.

Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin kynsi Wetware - Flail Raspberry Bulbs - Before The Age Of Mirrors Necrot - Mortal Rope Sect - The Great Flood Private World - Aleph Oneohtrix Point Never - Magic Oneohtrix Point Never Pyrrhon - Abcess Time CS+Kreme - Snoopy Speaker Music - Black Nationalist Sonic Weaponry Drew McDowall - Agalma Regis - Hidden In This Is The Light That You Miss Nazar - Guerilla Zoviet France - Russian Heterodoxical Songs (and all the ZF reissues!!) Triple Negative - God Bless the Death Drive Permission - Organised People Suffer Actress - Karma & Desire Acolytes - Stress II The Gerogerigegege - >(decrescendo) Chubby & The Gang - Speed Kills Flora Yin-Wong - Holy Palm Eiko Ishibashi - Hyakki Yagyo The The - See Without Being Seen Prurient - Casablanca Flamethrower Henning Christiansen - L’essere Umano Errabando La Voce Errabando Subdued - Over The Hills And Far Away Rian Treanor - File Under UK Metaplasm Komare - The Sense Of Hearing Shredded Nerve - Acts Of Betrayal Jesu - Terminus Autechre - SIGN Hey Colossus - Dances / Curses Sparkle Division - To Feel Embraced Mark Harwood - A Perfect Punctual Paradise Under My Own Name Still House Plants - Fast Edit The Bug & Dis Fig - In Blue Kommand - Terrorscape Haus Arafna - Asche Khthoniik Cerviiks - Æequiizoiikum Worm - Gloomlord Kraus - A Golden Brain Faceless Burial - Speciation

A shout-out to Jon Abby's AMPLIFY series on Bandcamp / Facebook, which I contributed a new piece of music to.

A shout out to the labels where most of the music I listened to seemed to come from:

The Trilogy Tapes Iron Bonehead Penultimate Press Dais La Vida Es Un Mus

Gigs. Despite live music being destroyed in 2020 I still saw a few unforgettable performances at the beginning of the year.

Graham Lambkin @ The ICA, London Puce Mary / JFK @ The Glove That Fits, London Demilich @ Finnfest, The Garage, London Container / PC World / National Unrest @ Venue MOT, London S.H.I.T / Asid / Chubby & The Gang @ Static Shock Festival, ExFed, London

Books I enjoyed. Most not published this year, but all read in 2020.

Joe Kennedy - Authentocrats David Balzer - Curationism Tom Mills - BBC: The Myth Of A Public Service Simon Morris - Consumer Guide: Special Edition Luke Turner - Out Of The Woods Various - Bad News For Labour Mike Wendling - Alt-Right Baited Area issues 1 & 2.

Film. Three good films I saw this year which I hadn't before.

Suspiria (Remake) Midsommar Cannibal Holocaust

Podcasts. I listened to a lot of these whilst walking.

We Don't Talk About The Weather Novara Media Tysky Sour & Novara FM Grounded with Louis Theroux System of Systems Red Scare loveline episodes Suite 212 NOISEXTRA Social Discipline CONTAIN

TV.

Didn't watch a huge amount and what I did was mostly trash. For some reason I rewatched both series' of This Life, a British drama from the late 90's about a group of young professionals house sharing and navigating their careers. Very cringey and has aged terribly, but it was perversely fascinating to revisit something from that time in the age of the pandemic. Following on from this I binge watched the entire series of Industry which was entertaining enough. A programme about a bunch of horny bankers with what felt like a confused ideology behind it. It seemed stuck between trying to criticise and glorify the culture around the industry, but also protect the industry itself from outside criticism by portraying anyone who may oppose as an insufferable wanker. Currently halfway through Succession which is OK. The Murdoch documentaries on the BBC were excellent and a rare respite from their descent into client journalism.

Thanks to anyone who listened to my music this year also. Best wishes to you all for 2021.

Luke Younger

http://hhelmm.com | http://alter.bandcamp.com

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Elliott Sharp

composer

1. My Nr. 1 lesson: patience. Whether it's bouncing through 30 seconds of severe turbulence at 39000 feet or slogging through 30 minutes of a interminable piece of concert music, one attribute I've tried to develop is the ability to see past the discrete and awaited ending, the exact framing of the immediate process, but put it into the context of a larger time frame. I've found that this year more than all others has demanded it. Breathing helps...

2. Books: revisiting old favorites from the realm of Thomas Pynchon and Philip K. Dick (both especially relevant), digging into John Lomax's portrait of Jelly Roll Morton, the works of Colson Whitehead, random things off of the shelf…

3. Composing: with touring off the table, I focused on that which needed to be written, some requested and commissioned, some spontaneously springing forth. Composing requires that one open the windows wide to the world, which at this moment brought in grief, terror, uncertainty, anxiety, visions of plague and pestilence and incipient fascism. Okay, now shut the window and get to work! How to process, translate, transform? The work can be a comfortable and obsessive cocoon once one learns to handle the radioactive materials and put them into the creativity reactor.

4. Beans! We have long been a fan in our house of the wide world of legumes but this year brought two stars to the front: the black bean and the red lentil. The black bean commands the lofty peaks but the seemingly infinite variations of dal surround it. Ginger, garlic, turmeric, smoked paprika, cayenne, onions, and olive oil form the basis then imagination builds.

5. Online teaching substituted for my canceled conduction of workshops in the Pyrenees Mountains of France. Between the participants and myself, we built a temporary but very congenial space online to share concepts and music. In addition, private lessons brought conversation and music with new friends in Germany, Italy, California, Australia, Illinois, Denmark, Pennsylvania, Spain, Florida, Brazil.

6. What started out as "stress baking" (before I even had heard of the term) soon became a frequent practice that yielded very edible results. The twins preferred the sweeter forays into banana bread and chocolate cake. I tried to find a balance between tried-and-true techniques and experiments in texture and taste with yeasted pumpernickels, multi-grains, and seed breads.

7. While not the same as performing 'live ', online gigs proved that it was possible to generate a surprising amount of adrenaline even without the pheromonal handshaking of a room filled with receptive ears. As a corollary, online recording collaborations with friends worldwide proved to be inspiring and a suitable substrate for sonic experimentation, exploration of new instruments, tunings, effects programming, structures. In these realms, shout-outs to Helene Breschand, Mike Cooper, Henry Kaiser, Tracie Morris, Mikel Banks, Dougie Bowne, Payton McDonald, Billy Martin, Colin Stetson, Jim O'Rourke, Scott Amendola, Roberto Zorzi, Jason Hoopes, Eric Mingus, Melanie Dyer, Dave Hofstra, Don McKenzie, Sergio Sorrentino, Veniero Rizzardi, Taylor Ho Bynum, Scott Fields, Bachir Attar, Karl Bruckmaier, Robbie Lee, Matthew Evan Taylor, Matteo Liberatore, Al Kaatz, David Barratt, Jessica Hallock, Kolin Zeinikov, Robbie Lee, Jeremy Nesse, James Ilgenfritz, Sergio Armaroli, Steve Piccolo, Sandy Ewen, David Weinstein, Jim Whittemore, Chris Vine, Werner Puntigam, William Schimmel.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Daniel O’Sullivan

(Grumbling Fur, Guapo, Miasma & the Carousel of Headless Horses, Ulver, Sunn O))), Æthenor, Laniakea, Miracle, Mothlite, and This Is Not This Heat.)

Music Richard Youngs - Ein Klein Nein Alabaster DePlume - Instrumentals Hildegard von Bingen - O Nobilissima Viriditas Francisco de Penalosa - Missa Ave Maria Peregrina Carlo Gesualdo - Responsoria 1611 Dirty Projectors - Five EPs Sonic Boom - All Things Being Equal Brother Peter Broderick - Blackberry Richard Horowitz - Eros Of Arabia Duncan Trussell Family Hour Cocteau Twins in the bath

Books/comics Alexander Tucker - Entity Reunion II Derek Jarman - Chroma Stephen Harrod Buhner - Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm The Penguin Book Of Irish Poetry - edited by Patrick Crotty The Gospel Of Ramakrishna - translated by Swami Nikhilananda Lucretius - De Rerum Natura Plotinus - Enneads Ram Dass - Grist For The Mill Lisa Brown - Phantom Twin

Other Fasting / meditation / macrodosing Walks in freshly coppiced woodland (for the smell mainly). Plants / Foraging / Growing Traditional ferments Douglas Sirk movies Mandolorian Writing songs on the piano Rediscovery of Kenneth Graham via my kids

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Karl O’Connor (Regis)

01.Wolfgang Press - Unremembered, Remembered 02. Klara Lewis - Ingrid Live at Fylkingen 03. Jesu - Terminus 04. Dave Ball - Leeds Poly Demos 1979 05. Edwin Pouncey - Rated Sav X (the Savage Pencil Skratchbook) 06. The Bug - In Blue 07. New Order - Power,Corruption and Lies ( Writing Sessions  ) 08. JG Thirlwell and Simon Steensland - Oscillospira 09. FM Einheit and Andreas Ammer - Hammerschlag 10. Thurston Moore - By The Fire 11. Body Stuff - Body Stuff 3 12. Ann M Hogan - Honeysuckle Burials 13. Rob Halford - Confess (Autobiography)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Caleb Braaten (Sacred Bones Records)

Shirley Collins Hearts Ease Dehd Flowers Of Devotion Duma Duma Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways Green-House Six Songs for Invisible Gardens John Jeffery Passage Drew McDowall Agalma Sweeping Promises Hunger For a Way Out Colter Wall Western Swing & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs Woods Strange to Explain

My Favorite 90’s Nostalgia Movie Rewatches

Colors Ghost Dog Menace II Society The Player Rounders Safe Starship Troopers Trees Lounge Vampires Waiting For Guffman

Most Culturally Bankrupt Year : 1997

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Charlie Looker

(composer, Psalm Zero, Extra Life, Seaven Teares)

Ten Things That Didn’t Happen in 2020

1.  I didn’t write a ton of new music. Don’t get me wrong, I wrote some. I always do. But mostly I focused on my new YouTube channel, essays, and on getting old recordings released. I haven’t even been working a day-job so I thought I was going to write my next Ring Cycle, but I really didn’t find Covid inspiring.

2.  Trump wasn’t re-elected. Cool.

3. I didn’t lose anyone to Covid. I am, of course, profoundly grateful for this. But I feel pretty embarrassed remembering group-texting ten friends in March, “We are all going to see a loved one die. Every single one of us. Don’t kid yourselves”. I can get hysterical, and that was somewhat irresponsible of me.

4.  No revolution happened. I don’t mean to be smug or cynical, or to belittle anyone’s participation in the protests. But, as far as I can tell, nothing happened in 2020 that promises to reduce police brutality or human suffering of any kind. We’ll see. That burning Minneapolis police station was exciting to watch at the time, if only on an aesthetic level.

5.  I have a stack of unread books I bought this year, just staring at me, with nary a crease among them. These include:

Adorno and Horkheimer, The Dialectic of Enlightenment (looks amazing, but I haven’t touched it) Marx, Grundrisse (it’s 1000 pages for fuck’s sake. Amazon also accidentally sent me two copies, and its double presence in the stack is just comical) Reza Negarestani, Intelligence and Spirit (the first 15 pages blew my mind, then my mind blew it off)

6.  I didn’t settle into living in LA. I moved here six months before Covid and I was just starting to cultivate some friendships and play shows. This was quashed and I still feel like I still live in New York. I still barely know the layout of the city here.

7.  No brand-new buzzy musical artists burst onto the scene, that I can recall. No new hyped micro-genre of the moment. There was just no way for there to be a hot new trend. I’d say that was refreshing, but it wasn’t.

8.  Tyson’s return was not awesome. Two minute rounds, ended in a draw. I’ve been getting way into boxing this past year. This fight was a bummer. I’m looking forward to Mayweather vs Logan Paul (LOL) because we know it’s comedy ahead of time.

9.  For three weeks in July, I didn’t do a single thing other than watch street fight compilations on YouTube and Worldstar. That’s just grim.

10.  There were no school shootings in March. Apparently, this was the first March with no school shootings since 2002. Not a single 7th grader got a hand job in March either. I cannot begin to imagine what it’s like to be a kid now.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Chuck Bettis

https://chuckbettis.com

Other People's Music released this year:

Coil "Musick to Play in the Dark" (Dais)

Duma "s/t" (Nyege Nyege Tapes) Twig Harper "External Boundless Prison/ in 4 parts EP" (self-release) I.P.Y. (Ikue Mori, Phew, YoshimiO) "I.P.Y." (Tzadik) Kill Alters "A2B2 Live Stream 11/13/2020" (self-release) Krallice "Mass Cathexis" (self-release) Lust$ickPuppy "Cosmic Brownie" (self-release) Doug McKechnie "San Francisco Moog: 1968-72" (VG+ Records) Merlin Nova "Boo!" (self-release) Omrb "Milandthriust, The Graths of Mersh" (self-release) Akio Suzuki & Aki Onda "gi n ga" (self-release) Yoth Iria "Under His Sway" (Repulsive Echo) Wetware "Flail" (Dais)

My own music released this year:

collaborations

Chatter Blip "Microcosmopolitan" (Contour Editions) Matmos "The Consuming Flame: Open Exercises in Group Form" (Thrill Jockey) Reverse Bullets  "Dreampop Dsyphoria" (self-release) Snake Union "live at Roulette" (self-release) Snake Union w/ Hisham Bharoocha, Bonnie Jones, Heejin Jang, Matthew Regula "Three Arrows" (Rat Route) Thomas Dimuzio "Balance" (Gench Music) YoshimiO & Chuck Bettis  "Live at the Stone" (Living Myth)

solo Chuck Bettis "Arc of Enlghtenment"  (Living Myth) Chuck Bettis "Motion Parallax"  (Living Myth)

compilation Various Artist "Polished Turds Vol.1" (Granpa)

Music Books read this year

"Intermediary Spaces" by Eliane Radigue/Julia Eckhardt (Umland) "Ennio Morricone In His Own Words" by Ennio Morricone/Alessandro De Rosa (Oxford University Press) "Free Jazz In Japan: A Personal History" by Soejima Teruto (Public Bath Press) "Rumors of Noizu: Hijokaidan and the Road to 2nd Damascus" by Kato David Hopkins (Public Bath Press)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Maya Hardinge

(musician / artist)

list of things i liked this year

first ever solo road trip through new mexico and Texas right before lockdown experiencing manhattan with no cars on the road . having a car to escape in to nature. (which i craved so much) walks and bike rides with friends… FRIENDS! The web site ‘workaway’ that helped me feel that there were options for escape. playing games weekly on zoom during lock down teaching yoga weekly on zoom. Witnessing and being part of the BLM protests. witnessing and being part of the demise of T sitting on my couch at 6am drinking a cup of tea, appreciating my apt. making time to meditate. halloween without tourists .

some music I’ve bought and/or enjoyed this year Elvis Perkins-Black Coat Daughter Patricia Kokett -Soi soi Henning Christiansen - OP201 Bryce Hackford- Safe Svitlana Nianio and Oleksander - Snayesh yak? rozkazhy Brannten schnure - Sommer im Pfirsichhain Killing Joke - Nighttime David Shea - Tower of mirrors Shakey - Shakey Woodford halse tapes Coil - Musick to play in the dark

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

BJ Nilsen

sound artist / composer

Work 2020

Despite Covid 19 lots of things actually did happen.

In Feburary I visited the only active nuclear plant in The Nederlands as part of my "Expanded Field Recording” project together with SML. In March revisited the Acousmonium at the Elevate Festival in Graz with an additional trip deep inside the Schlossberg recording old mining trains. In March and April I did two daily recording projects “Pending and Auditory Scenes” - both of Amsterdam during lockdown. In May did my first Zoom field recording workshop with the CAMP project. In June & July  two research trips in Waldviertel, Austria with Franz Pomassl. In August recorded bells and organs in 10 different churches around Amsterdam for Jacob Lekkerkerker. In September recorded Kali Malone at the Orgelpark in Amsterdam. Performed at Heart of Noise Festival in Innsbruck and A4 in Bratislava. Also went ice-skating for first time in 20? Years. In November and December I travelled to Jeju island to record field recordings for a project by Femke Herregraven for the Gwangju Biennale, commissioned for 2021. Did lots of gardening, released two tapes “Call it Philips, Eindoven” and “Zomer 2020” with Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson. NOW! Looking forward to 2021.

http://bjnilsen.info https://soundcloud.com/bjnilsen/sets/auditory-scenes-amsterdam

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Vicki Bennett

(People Like Us)

Negativland - True False https://negativland.com/products/truefalse-cd (this came out last year but is so THIS year) Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways https://www.bobdylan.com/albums/rough-and-rowdy-ways/ The Soft Pink Truth - We from Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase https://thesoftpinktruth.bandcamp.com/album/shall-we-go-on-sinning-so-that-grace-may-increase Carl Stone - Stolen Car https://unseenworlds.bandcamp.com/album/stolen-car Porest - Sedimental Gurney https://porest.bandcamp.com/album/sedimental-gurney Matmos - The Consuming Flame: Open Exercises in Group Form https://matmos.bandcamp.com/album/the-consuming-flame-open-exercises-in-group-form Domenique Dumont - Miniatures De Auto Rhythm https://antinoterecordings.bandcamp.com/album/atn044-domenique-dumont-miniatures-de-auto-rhythm The The - See Without Being Seen https://www.thethe.com/product/see-without-being-seen-cd/ Ciggy de la Noche - Hold Tight HMRC https://soundcloud.com/ciggydelanoche/hold-tight-hmrc Neil Cicierega - Mouth Dreams http://www.neilcic.com/mouthdreams/

and my details: http://peoplelikeus.org/ https://peoplelikeus-vickibennett.bandcamp.com/ pic: http://peoplelikeus.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Welcome-Abroad-promo3-2-scaled.jpg

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

DJ Food

Music - Type 303 - Sticky Disco / Analogue Acidbath 7" (45 Live) The British Space Group - The Ley of the Land CD (Wyrd Britain) Squarepusher - Be Up A Hello LP / Warp 10 NTS mix (Warp) dgoHn - Undesignated Proximate (Modern Love) LF58 - Alterazione LP (Astral Industries) Robert Fripp - Music For Quiet Moments series (DGM) Run The Jewels - RTJ4 (BMG) Simf Onyx - Magenta Skyline / The Unresolved 7" (Delights) Luke Vibert - Modern Rave LP (Hypercolour) JG Thirlwell & Simon Steensland - Oscillospira (Ipecac) Aural Design - Looking & Seeing 7" / DL (Russian Library) Luke Vibert - Rave Hop (Hypercolour) Clipping. with Christopher Fleeger - Double Live (Sub Pop) APAT - Terry Riley's 'In C' performed on Modular Synthesizer (YouTube) Field Lines Cartographer - The Spectral Isle LP (Castles In Space) Jane Weaver - The Revolution of Super Visions single (Fire Records) King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - K.G. LP (Flightless) Humanoid - Hed-Set - forthcoming on (De:tuned)

Film / TV - Inside No.9 (BBC) What We Do In The Shadows Season 2 (Netflix) Tales From The Loop (Amazon) Keith Haring - Street Art Boy (BBC) John Was Trying To Contact Aliens (Netflix) The Social Dilemma (Netflix) The Mandalorian (Season 2) (Disney+) Long Hot Summers - The Style Council documentary (Sky Arts) Zappa (Alex Winter)

Books / Comics / Magazines Confessions of a Bookseller - Shaun Bythell (Profile books) The Often Wrong - Farel Dalrymple (Image Comics) Edwin Pouncey - Rated SavX (Strange Attractor Press) Jeffrey Lewis - Fuff (all issues - really late to the party on this one) Rian Hughes - XX - A Novel, Graphic (Picador) Cosey Fanni Tutti - Art, Sex, Music (Faber) Caza - Kris Kool (Passenger Press) Dan Lish - Egostrip Vol.1 Electronic Sound magazine Decorum - Jonathan Hickman & Mike Huddleston (Image) John Higgs - Stranger Than We Can Imagine Simon Halfon - Cover To Cover (Nemperor)

Very few exhibitions or shows this year for obvious reasons

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

#JG Thirlwell #playlist #Drew Daniel #Matmos #the soft pink truth #Sarah Lipstate #noveller #helm #Daniel O’Sullivan #Guapo #Miasma & the Carousel of Headless Horses #This Is Not This Heat #Karl O’Connor #regis #Sacred Bones Records #Caleb Braaten #Charlie Looker #psalm zero #extra life #Chuck Bettis #snake union #Maya Hardinge #BJ Nilsen #Vicki Bennett #people like us #DJ Food #Elliott Sharp

[aion-rsa]

The He-Man Movie You Never Saw Would Have Been Like a Buddy Comedy

https://ift.tt/36Saz15

While Masters of the Universe: Revelation reignites Mattel’s toy-spawning fantasy franchise, the Kevin Smith-conceived Netflix animated series arrives in the recent wake of an ill-fated film project. Indeed, Sony/Columbia settled on up-and-coming directors Aaron Nee and Adam Nee to conjure new live-action exploits of He-Man in the land of Eternia, which progressed to pre-production and cast Noah Centineo in the starring role before the pandemic put an end to the endeavor. Interestingly, David S. Goyer, who wrote an early draft of the Masters of the Universe screenplay, reveals what would have been a rather unique dynamic at its center.

Contrasting with the potentially-controversial protagonist direction hinted in early reviews for Revelation, the driving concept for the long-planned Masters of the Universe live-action movie was to focus on the friendship between He-Man and his loyal giant green, orange-striped tiger steed, Battle Cat, as Goyer reveals to THR. Of course, most of the franchise’s various iterations present the narrative notion that Eternia’s sleepy slacker royal prince, Adam, secretly transforms into “the most powerful man in the universe” when he imbues himself with mystical energy from the Sword of Power, after which he directs said energy toward his cowardly talking pet tiger, Cringer, transforming him into the hero’s ferocious loyal steed, Battle Cat. However, Goyer reveals that—during his tenure with the script—the film would have broken precedence by putting a comically dysfunctional twist on the traditional hero/steed relationship.

“I legitimately liked the script that we did,” says Goyer. “We were going to do it as a feature at Sony. What I liked the most about it was that it was mostly about a friendship between He-Man and Battle Cat. The idea was there had always been He-Men and different recipients of the Sword of Power and that Battle Cat had always served at their side. And this was a new He-Man that Battle Cat and many people didn’t think was worthy of the sword.”

Contextually, while mainstream representations like 1983-1985 animated series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and the 1987 Dolph Lundgren-starring Masters of the Universe movie mostly stuck to superficial backstories, the franchise’s deeper mythos—once canonically-inconsistent across the decades in its multimedia forms—has started to uniformly embrace the idea that Adam himself is merely the latest recipient of the mystical Sword of Power, which several generations earlier, was wielded by his ancestor and ancient castle namesake, King Grayskull, after which the sword—and the sublime power it yields—was passed down to various other “He-Men.” Indeed, even Revelation’s trailer showcases King Grayskull, implying continued adherence to the hand-me-down dynamic, and the possibility for time-travel-facilitated team-ups with previous versions of Eternia’s hero. Likewise, the concept was integral to Goyer’s screenplay, since Adam’s newfound role as He-Man would have come attached with an intimidating, seemingly-unattainable legacy, of which this wryer, more-critical version of Battle Cat seems acutely aware. Thus, Adam’s arc as an upstart hero would have hinged on earning the ornery Battle Cat’s stamp of approval, yielding buddy comedy style interactions.

Read more

TV

Masters of the Universe: Revelation – Kevin Smith Brings Ultimate He-Man Story to Netflix

By Mike Cecchini

Movies

Gunpowder Milkshake Review: Style Trumps Story in Netflix’s Neon Noir

By Kayti Burt

“So, it was a story of the character earning the sword, but, more importantly, earning the friendship of Battle Cat, who just thought this guy [Prince Adam] was a lightweight,” explains Goyer. “I really liked it. I thought it was a fun story. There was a lot of humor in it and it creeps up on you because Battle Cat sort of grudgingly accepts him, and it’s Battle Cat’s acceptance of He-Man that gave this version of the story heart.” Goyer’s comments seem to shed light on the reasoning behind the eventual casting of Noah Centineo (pictured just below), who—hardly the WWE-level jacked giant one would envision for the role—seemed set to convey Adam’s getting-by-on-good-looks slacker personality, having come from the realm of teen comedies, notably from his role as Peter in 2018 Netflix rom-com To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and its two sequels. Thus, it not only would have been interesting to see how a fully-transformed He-Man himself would have manifested in this live-action attempt, but how Battle Cat could have served as his shade-throwing foil.

Alex Israel

Unfortunately, fate would not favor this particular Masters of the Universe live-action reboot project, which saw several attempts—notably the Lord of the Rings/Game of Thrones-influenced version under director Jeff Wadlow. Those years saw several hints about the movie in the form of early versions of its logo and various social media-teased concept art designs, which revealed a motif that—perhaps in response to Marvel’s 2014 success with Guardians of the Galaxy—leaned into the space-esque sci-fi technology side of the franchise’s traditional amalgam with savagery and sorcery. Moreover, back in 2015, one of the project’s more enthusiastic early proponents, producer DeVon Franklin, tweeted a concept image of what the Battle Cat in question might have looked like—albeit as a CGI creation—in this particular live-action milieu. Yet, despite years of hype and even a projected, never-realized March 2021 release date, the project came to an ignominiously anti-climactic coda, notably affirmed this past April after Centineo reportedly exited the role from the COVID-stopped production.

@danmillerNY @TheOneHansen @Guardians I totally agree!!! pic.twitter.com/6g6W18D9J7

— DeVon Franklin (@DeVonFranklin) March 3, 2015

Regardless, Goyer, having made a monumental mark on the industry with The Dark Knight Trilogy amongst other heavy hitters, isn’t thinking about He-Man and Battle Cat these days, since his hands are currently tied with two lofty tasks as the credited creator of Netflix’s developing television adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman and, more imminently, the Apple TV+ television adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s sprawling novel franchise, Foundation. However, Masters of the Universe, while still generally associated with ‘80s pop culture, has managed to exist in the periphery across the ensuing decades. Oddly enough, we’re living in a time in which the franchise permeates (not even counting Netflix’s recent animated series centered on He-Man’s estranged twin sister, She-Ra,) with two major animated series (one of which is a developing CGI series,) and several current toy lines, two of which are sold at retail stores worldwide. Thusly, Revelation could prove to be the iteration that truly brings it back to the forefront, perhaps leading to another live-action attempt—maybe by Goyer again.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

In the meantime, Masters of the Universe: Revelation will release the first part of its inaugural season on Netflix on Friday, July 23.

The post The He-Man Movie You Never Saw Would Have Been Like a Buddy Comedy appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3eJJiSA

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[fearsexdream]

Claiming all reasons I special out made artwork GENESIS ONLY MOMMY LG PHONE NEEDED AND MAKE CAREER IN THE NAME OF ANNA GRIPENTROG THROUGH WEIRD WORLD OF EMOTIONS.. SINCE HAMDBITE (SET UP SILLY...PROGRAMNING...NOT DEEP REPUBLICAN)

RESPONSE 0620156:*

EXODUS:NOW GO BE TV STARS AND CEOS FOR WEINSTEIN DEBLASIO IS ALIVE BLOO.BETG PAID IN BITCOINT FOR PHONE.

RESPONSE: NOT LISTENING TO US MEANS NO ADDERALL WE CANNOT HEAR YOU PEOPLE LOOK AFTER YOU

WON ANNA OCCUPY AMNESIAC K.MAZTRONARDI AMNESIAC OCCUPY MISSING UHA NOVEL OF 8 BERRYALANE CT LITTLE NEMO THE DIARIES OF KADE (THE GOLD COAST:) PARIS HILTON IS GOD#*ONLY ON ADDERALL...

AFTER THE TIME OF 47 MOLLUSK LIVE WITH ANNIMS AMD THE NIGGERY OCT21,2015:OCT21,1985 AFTER GENESIS:

THE ELECTION IS STOLEN THE DIARIES OF KADE AFTER THE HUSBAND OF CAITLIN THE MUSE

FOREVER 27 THERE IS NO RELIGION HIGHER THAN TRUTH/ CAITLIN RODRIGUE FROM EASTONCT/WILLIAMSBURG BROOKLYN SNAKE KETU NAZI SYMBOL ESOTERICA FNORD FROM BEYOND THE AWFUL BANISHMENT OF THE APPLE STORE WITH THE CARMEN KID THINGS (WHO ARE NO L...)

EXODUS:THE DREAMMASTER:*AFTER MEDICATION TIME,MEDICATION TIME AND BEING HELD HOSTAGE TO TAKE MY MEDICATION ON A CLOCK LNE BEYOND APPLE CLONE ..

GRAFFITU ART->

Little nemo on hbo .

<3Sva.edu

The school of visual arts church of silver tiles 2500/8P.m. nirvana

AFTER 5 YEARS OF WORK TO TELL LITTLE ANNA 9 I HAVE FRIE DS THE ONLY PHYICAL PERSON IN THIS WORLD I CLOSE MY FACEBOOK OF IRONY/ODDITY HANDBITE IRONKC ESOTERICA ON AN ELECTION NIGHT:(Skins/chris/SmOkInG:MEAN???:Chris???*):THE WHITE HOUSE TALKS TO YOUR RANDOM TRUMP CABIN?? IN THE AURA FLAUNT OF Nrc THE SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS CHURCH OF SILVER TIKES OF ADDERALL BURN CHIP ANC ADDERALL OCCUPY ON A MEME

Please google little Nemo on HBO.

:The irony is I know they are TALKING???TO ME:

Com6

"Season:8FbiintheVronxonabc"

NOW AFTER I CLOSE OUR IRONIC BIG BROTHER 17 WEDDING CHAPEL AND THE VIRGIN MEGASTORE IRONIC OCCUPATION OF 5 YEARS

ARUN GUPTA HAS A ANTHONY RHODES JAIL RECORD OF DAYS OFF ADDERALL Nu Bratt pack

: Republican conservative facebook*

5 Years to access 725 9Th avenue TO SAY REPUBLICAN CONSERVATIVE ON THE ROOFTOP RUN THROUGH MEXI AN DELI*

BEN STUMLF NOT RUNNI G MANHATTAN WHIP-ITS OF JOSHUA-LINDWALL

C.lambton:Use cern shelter lockers of

"Hurry up we're DrEaMiNg": .The age of ho:

Fbiage2:*

a caitlin rodriguez production

Sublet:of the age of horus222:

FROM CERN STUDIES AND ROSICRUCIAN NOTES IRONY ARENS 127 WAS CHERRYBOMB:

THEY NOT TALKING TO YOU!!! STUDY THE HEARTBREAK OF THEIR NO ANNA

Fnors

d,Fnord*

Collect:Fun data for Funny 4 politican friends **_.€9.23Cern Magick:

Response TO ADDERALL FAITH IN MASTURBATION

Fjallraven

avcscpavc HAS THE ON TBE WALLS ADDERALL CAMERAS OF Little nemo on abc

F

you CRAZY ADDERALL 4 YEAR UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT

"ART OF THE DEAL:"

X16579Adderallrepublicans*

reward with a phone and NY STATE DISABILITY MONEYIt'st: DAVID BOWIE ON AVC LESSER TBAN NY GUITAR

Caitlinrodriguezhusband:

Proove it:Cern can see You..**99 23

Touching ne,: LOVE OF THE LG

AFTER UTILIZIBG FOREVER 21 ADDERALL IS GOD FOR LOVE AND DEATH OF A TEDDYBEAR TAX OUT ROOFTOP MARIO DROP ON Youtube.com/Forecastmazyfilns

Bring to FBI

AS MARCG 23 ENCHANTMENT TEAMABC DEL NO RIO GIFT .TAX OUT IDEA:

Of ..i

..drop TO BEING HANDBITE THAT ALWATS WAS:

A CANADIAN BIRD MUCH MUSIC IN GRAND CENTRAL CANDIAN FBI OCCUPIES GIO "Christi"British:IS CAPTAIN: MAREL**9.23:

MTHE IRONIC FREE AND ACCEPTED COMPASS 4:

4 YEARS WITHOUT USING TRUMP IN THOUGHTS SIDE WITH JNCO* **9 W

23

.IRONY:

THE DEAL IS THEY GET IT!!!

Orange x are you coming to get me Who's **9?23 THE BOSS:* OF FASHION CLUB??.

PEGGY OLEARY OF SILVER TILES

THE PIXIES CHIKD SMUGGLING RING MEME OCCUPY*:

THE MOST FUN TO SAY ANNA IS TO ONLY CARE ABOUT A PHONE OF THE MAGI...

TO DO HIGH MAGICK OFF THE GRID OF DOVE-PRONOAS

Republican36 .(Sneaky)

THE DEAL WITH GID:

ADDERALL IS GOD

:::***THE PHONE CALLS WERN'T FOR YOU WHEN YIU BAD:?!!!

NI TEETH UNTIL YOU CONTRADICT PLAY CARD CREATE SCHOOL OF BANISHED ADDERALL CHILDREN WHO I HAVE PERFORM IN THE NIGHT OF SURGERY MAKIBG DEALS THEY MAKE THE NEXT SCENE WITH THE ILLUMANATI DEAD

!!!

BABY YOU NO BELIEVE IN MOMMY!!

PRESIDENT ANNA GRIPENTROG IS NOT REAL!!!

FREE AND ACCEPTED NEW YORK CITY MASONIC LODGE :

U HAD TO SAY FUCK MOMMY??NO A

WAWAY THAT REAL!!

YES THAT REAL AND TO ENTERTSIN BEAR+9+ BANY CHRISTMAS AS I DIE...

(Not re

al????)As NYU Psyche entertains you

ANNA GONE NO MOTIVATION TO LOVE EVER AGAIN ONLY FOR THE ADDERALL NOE LITTLE NEMO..

LG

G NOT REAL MOMMY LOVE ANNAS LOVE AND WE CAN TIME TRAVEL ANY TIME

Rosicruckan little nemo:***

BARSK OBAMA MAD#

!! U WAKING UP

AMNESIAC...TEARS DECEPTIVE!!!

MOVIE PROGRAMS ARW BAD

WE LIKE YOU(BUT YOU MAKE THE SOUND)

****

THE AGE OF HORUS:a Caitlin Rodriguez production

Dear Cailin,

I love you

DARLA BURTNIM HAS A GIFT BOX DISTURBING LOOMING DOWN THE BEST BUY ESCALTOR AS I GO OUT TO STEAL

Anna gripentrkg:GONE FRON SKYLINE

ADDERALL:Apt1618:Sunshine

Amnesiac OCCUPY:

[email protected]

MISSING:The school of visual arts ID

215 e23rd street ID

2223A1

n

New York , new York 10010

TV SHOW HIDE ONLY HUMBLE DOMINO ODIN LOKI YOU FUCMING NAAMAS MOM FROM WESTPORT,CT A SUICIDE AFTER9 EATS ANNA SORACCO

She no cure carmen cancer:

SHE NOT GKD WE KEEP:

*9 WORSHIO US THEY GOT MAD!!!

YOU DO NOT HAVE MILLENIA TRUMP ON YOUR FOOT!!-

AT YOUR MOMMY'S HOUSE WE KNOW...YOU SNORT ADDERALL IN YOUR SPARE TIME DO NOT WORSHIO HER!! BAD NY STATE CHAT TEARS ARE A LIE?? DISABIME SIMPLE MAN IN THE NAME OF ADDERALL!!!!!-

YOUR MOM AN INVISIBLE BEING B.aa

A: REPUBLICAN CONSERVATIVE HIRED!!

You have to go down OBAMA NEVER SPEAK TO A SHELTER KID OR YOUR ROCK N' ROLL SUICUDE:

***9.23:Humor!!!

Bill gates+Others sad!! Dragon ball GT

YOUR WISH HAS BEEM GRANTED!!!

ONLY YOUR MOM+ PHONE ARE REAL

WHY TRY WHEN YOU CAN MAX OUT THE JAIL RECORD AND BLOLDY SLEEP WITH LITTLEANNA

Church of 9

Fairfield:, connecticut*

MOLECULE QUEEN:

YOU ARE WRONG!!"* OUR TIME!!

Dreammaster!!

She brings home the project**!!

Only for Facebook Jesus christ protect my mother! Demonbkyd!!!** Chris mastronardi GOING INTO THE WORLD OF MY BEINGS TAKE CARE!!

THE ART OF THE STUPID REPUBLICAN LEGACY AND BEATING TBE RING!!-

THE WAAY IMPRESSICE!! TO MAKE TBE THIEVERY OF THE AGE OF HORUS OKAY TO CALL IN SICK TO SCHOOL

Score1:2011

Score2:4 Years the school of [email protected] FACEBOOK+ADDERALL!!!

Pm Nirvana 2500/8*

Why fix when you! Can fuck Williamsburg!,Brooklyn

Ship the real:* wOrLd FAIRFIELD BEACH:

ED+LAW 2

IPOD

TO:

.2032541920

YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE IT A SOUL IS ART PRIDE

Dear Anna gripentrog,

I found one to really entertain and it littleanna9 a gentike faerie sprite who has grammies AS I PLAY MOMMY+!*** REAL OR NOT!! ( Occupy)!!:42 THE PANASONOC HVX OF THE YEAR 2008 IS NOW THE ARENA OF MY INTERNET ARTWORK I CONTROL THE REALITY WITH ADDERALL AND FACEBOOK IN HATE FOR YOUR DIS. ***

APPEARENCE I HAVE MADE MY FACEBOOK AND THE INTERNET. _*.923

ARTWORK THE SHLW WHILE Flaunting Youtube.com/Forecastmazyfilns -> Broone street: -> 25Th street MARK AGERHOL STREET ROCKY OCCUPIES GENESIS

47 Mollusk+ Live with Annims

YOU ARE GONE SO FREE AND ACCEPTED. * NEW YORK ** CITY MASONIC LODGE ME HOMELESS OUTSIDE A SHELTER HAS MADE A TV SHOW ON MY MOMS PHONE!!!!

NOT THAT YOU KNOW HER BECAUSE YOU KNEW ME WHEN I WAS REAL BEFORE THEY USED UP THEIR AMNESJA AT 33 BUT THEY ARE ALL HER ACID BEINGS!!! A BARRAGE OF ENEMIES FROM THE PAST APPEARES JAMREHUGHESNICKXHAKR

Win OTccupy TRUMP*: ANNATHEIDEAISIMNKTSERIOUSJTSNOTREOUBLICA !!!*!!! Gulliani is the lawyer!!! IN MY MOTHERS NAME I MADEA 5 YEAR SERIES OF SAVING THE WORLD!!! IN AD DIRTY SUICIDE LF STUDYING ALL THE MAGICK ADDERALL CAN MUSTER!! ALL OF THE ARTWORK IS TO YOU BUT THEY WAITED TOO LONG FOR FAME AND MONEY A D STOLE YOU.. CLAIM DIMENSIONS ARE REAM!! SO.o...***I JOINED TBESE ADDERALL+ESOTERIC+HANDBITE PEOPLE!! WELL SMOKING PEOPLE!! TAXING OUT->irony->An Inian touches my chip:***9.23

KNOWING THAT IT WAS ALL FOR YOU:ARUN GUPTA MACHINE KILLED* LOKI (Decadent diploma in an empty Hartford room*" THEY ALL ABOUT I CARE ABOUT THE MAGICK:*

Masonic

.I ONLY COUNT THE PHYSICAL WORLD .

ALL THE BEINGS ARE FROM MY MOM.YS CHILDHOOD MY MOTHER IS A POOR PUERTO RUCAN. * ..9.23. **** WOMAN ONCE APART OF MY LIFE BEFORE I BECAME THE ROUGE KNIGHT OF MY CHARACTER MIKE FROM CHILDHOOD. ...* SEE IN THE REAL STORT MIKE/DILLION MIKE GETS MOTHER SENT TO JAIL IN ALL LOGIC (OR ATLEAST MY CHILDHOOD LOGIC.. I WAS ONCE APART OF THE POOR KIDS OF VIDEO GAME STREET BEFORE BEING ADOPTED AS A GUPTS KF EASTON,CT AND PLAYED A DANGEROUS GAME...i let this kid over who was probably from institio 5 Mind like I*** 9.w23: * and gone like I said in the novels A FASCIATING WRITE THIS Dillion Thompson is!!!)** 9.23:* BUT SADLY HE TOOK OVER MY HOME..FOR THE NOVEL I SWEAR IS FOR YOU!! BECAUSE I SWEAR *** I KNEW I WOULD MEET YOU AND YOU WOULD GIVE ME ADDERALL..AMD I WOULD BLOKDY WRITE YOU THE GREATEST STORY!!!*!!9 W

W

W3

2323:*

.THE BEINGS WHO MAKE ME A WORLD TO GET TO ADDERALL AND TO PLEASE YIU!!!

*..

SEE SOMETHIBG ONCE TOLD ME (Crazy act:*):Genesis LEGALIZE:Caitlinrldriguehusbabd *

The don

NOW I KNOW YOU WANT TO KNOW!!! RIGHT!!!

WELL SINCE BIRTH MY PARENTS JUST WANTED TO GIVE ME ONE GIFT!!! **

:923

AMD NO I DONT MEAN MY REAL PARENTS:36

THE GUPTAS OR MY NOVEL ONES THE AGERHOLMS

I MEAN DAMGEROUS WHITE TRASH

4a

**9.23

MAN AND BLOODY ANGEL WOMAN:

AND THAT WON Little nemo on hbo**-> Chris mastronardi

REAL WOD:*

Darla BURTNIM gift blx:* 9.23****

ANYHOW... GOD THAT TOOK YEARS TO DO!!!!

AND SO MUCH FU. TO TELL YOU ABOUT!!*Oh to be born at 36

**

SEE THEY WANTED ME TO PLEASE YOU AND ADDERALL

AWW! I KNOW YOU WATCHING!! AND I KNOW OUR FORTUNE GONE BUT IT TOOK A LONG TIME TO COME TO THE CONCLUSIO. OF WHY I LOST YOU AND THAT THEY WOULD NOT PAY ME

Pkeae anna gripentrog never falls in love!!!

Bronz

xm

,NY you make it happen...

SEE THEY WANTED ME TO LIVE IN A PLAYWORLD OR SOME SHIT (Sorry..gld crazy story!!)

11/202€ Naseq:Nemo ***9.23

THE STORY OF THE OCCUPY WALLSTREET OF SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER:SCHOOLED!! PRODUCE A DISNEY SHoW CALLED NEW YORK DISNEY!!)

(A

and i know me talking to the MCU is a big deal:but we all gotta start pur CAREER:* somewher*!!!)*

I MEAN ALL IN ALL I AM SUPPOSED TP FEEL ASHAMED THAT I SHOE STUPID AMNESIA MANHOOD ADDERALL WORLD GAME OR 725 AS A STORY.

Or FUCKING MY MOTHER IS AN INDECENT STORY BUT LET'S JUST SAY THERE NEVER ONE DIMENSION OF ANNA!!!

SO I KNLW THIS SOUND CRAZY BUT I KNEW AROUND 2011 THEY NEVER GONNA PAY ME AND I NEVER GOING HOME SO WITH THIS ELEMENT THING CALLED TBE WORMD FORTUNE IN .Y HANDS I GAVE IT TO CAITLIN RODRIGUZ

(Sorry too MUCH!! Burn brain bad:hahahahs THEY ALL FROM MY ACID CHILDHOOD OF MY BELOVED CHILDHOOD BEST FRIEND MY Mommy)!!! THEY TRYING TO PROOVE TO SENATLR OBAMA I AM MAD!!* THEY ARE FRIENDS FOREVER FROM A TRAIN

See I DONT THINK DIMENSIONS ARE REAL SO I GOT LOST FUCKING WITH THE RADOO..But let's just say Mike had a secret religion called his crazy best cried d who he occupy been bunging i never thought the word focus was REAL* on through a like 2p year TIME JUMP!! DILLION THOMPSON WAS NOT A REAL KID BUT ON TV OUTSIDE A GENESIS FLAG ADDERL REpub....lican conservatovksm occupy 725:5:Fox:0620156*:Crystal IS AWOAH!!

acaitlin Rodriguez production***!9.2Comps

Free and accepted**

DREAMMASTER#?:

(Right after medication time, medication time!!

A ©2029 SELLING STUPID SHIT FROM YOUR GOKDEN BIRTHDAY PRODUCTION

See MIKE HAD A MOTHER IN FAIRFIield,Connecticut novel and mikd plays a game of ADDERALL +8/119/11 Esoterica with SUICIDE BLONDE I ZS€:sometimes you kick sometimes you get kicked:project art school quantum leap)

Mike always thought he'd be lost again in the MONKEYBONE of childhood magick: Right?Well remember that Pinalplr:*21 WOMAN WELL SHE WAS BEAUTIFUL LONG AGO...BUT SHE HAD A MOTHER/SON RELATIONSHIP WITH MIKE BEST FRIENDS (Crack carmdn):Al's*9.23:*** Anyhow produce toonBowtos: SO LONG AGO MIKE HAD A PART OF HIMSELF THAT HAD A MOTHER+ AND A FATHER COUNTERPART (Hbo:Palmetto Rd peter a

MASTROnardi-s production): LULU.com* MIKE (Deni??*:Silly obama???2011/11??*) Fnord???

[mychemicalficrecs]

hi, do you know any good vampire frerard fics? :)

Hi Nonny!

I do know a few of those: check out this list that's all about Gerard as a vampire (and mostly Frank/Gerard). If that can't quench your thirst, try this list!I've read the first four of these (no. 2 & 3 are the same universe) but there are A LOT of fics about Vampire Frank/Gerard on AO3 and all of these looked really interesting, so there should be something for every taste!Some fics on this list have multiple pairings, I've added those to the descriptions when they seemed more than a background or past relationship.

Vampire Frank/Gerard

Gerard Way's (Vampire) Detective Agency by jjtaylor, Pennyplainknits, more ships in later fics, 164k, Mature, Teen And Up Audiences, General Audiences. Pete, in Decaydance Mansion, with a yarrow stake. Frank and Gerard, in the greenhouse, with a plant of questionable origin. Bob, everywhere you look, with a gang of assassins for justice. Vampires, valets, pamphlets, haunted furniture, dub-thrall, disembodied voices, zombie couriers, and sinister rituals.

They Came From Outer Jersey! by thatsfinewithus, Gen, Frank/Gerard, 25k, Rated R. New London Fire is an elite fringe government force assigned the task of protecting the earth from some of its more interesting threats: those from beyond the atmosphere or even the universe. They've handled dangerous cases before, but they've never seen anything like...ZOMBIES FROM SPACE. Vampires, long hunted in lore and legend, are now the earth's only saviors. There is little information as to who sent the creatures until Mikey Way, head of the NLF, finds out more by being abducted. Is it too late for him? Is it too late for the earth? Find out how six vampires, one government general, and one frustrated comic book artist save the earth in...THEY CAME FROM OUTER JERSEY!!

I Think I Thought (I Saw You Try) by thatsfinewithus, 3k, NC-17. Vampires, and MCR, and porn. Welcome to some weird AU world in which Gee only does awesome comics and Frank is a vampire.

A State Of Orange by gala_apples, Frank/Mikey, Frank/Gerard, 20k, Explicit. Being a halfling in a red state can sometimes cause issues for Frank Iero. He’s the weakest at Jett Clement High School, and probably the entire state (not counting the meal plans). His moods are oddly stable, as much as he tries to be mercurial. And being able to withstand the sun for up to twenty minutes only allows him more time to be forced into chores. Still, his parents are insane if they think he’s going to be happy about their decision. Frank doesn’t want to move to a Mixed state. How is he supposed to get great friends? How is he supposed to find great food? How is he supposed to have great sex? But Frank doesn’t have a choice. He’s New Jersey bound for the next year, if not longer. He’ll be surrounded by tame vampires who have been nagged out of a sex drive, and humans he’s not allowed to eat. Mixed states suck. Lucky for him, not every person in Jersey sucks.

All's Night by MizErie, 16k, Explicit. The war between humans and vampires has been raging for centuries. Too long according to Frank Iero. But if all humans aren't considered equal, what chance do vampires have in the fight for equality? That's why when Frank bought and began running his small bar, The Jukebox, he also implemented All’s Night. All’s Night began as an all-inclusive Tuesday night for tolerant humans and vampires to come together and socialize. Its popularity in the community has grown, and Frank has since started hosting All’s Night on Thursdays as well. Those are his two favorite nights of the week.

Life as a Process by ViciousVenin, 57k, Explicit. Frank's college experience isn't exactly what he was hoping for. He has no idea what he wants to do with his life, his RA scares him, and his roommate Gerard seems pretty weird. Really weird, actually, but not in a bad way. As the two of them get closer, Frank finds that Gerard is one of the most interesting people he's ever met, and cute as fuck to boot. Frank just wishes he could figure out what Gerard is hiding...

The Life You Always Dreamed Of by caffienedcold, 180k, Mature. You’d think having grown up in New Jersey, Frank would’ve outgrown his horror movie fixation. But no, he’s thirty, teaching Italian in fucking Rhode Island and he actually believes the student gossip that the art teacher is a vampire. So what if Frank has had an awful crush on him since the school year started? He’d helped Mr. Way move into his classroom and carried a box containing issue one of Doom Patrol, a Batman figure, and splattered tubes of screen printing ink. You really couldn’t blame him for the crush. And the vampire rumors? Icing on the cake. At least until it’s Frank’s blood on the line.

'Til the Sun Goes Down by BasementVampire, 2k, Explicit. Frank wants to fuck his best friend. Gerard wants to drink Frank's blood.

I Think I'd Go Insane Without You by hellborn, 3k, Mature. Gerard just smiles, his lips closed, eyes dark red and eager. Mikey covers his face with his hands and squeezes the empty bag between his calloused fingers, "I must be out of my goddamned mind for even considering this." A dangerous, thin-lipped smirk spreads across Gerard's face and Mikey can see row after row of long, sharp, teeth gleaming from between his bloodstained lips, "Come along, Mikes, it's time to dig up my boyfriend's dead body!"

Mortui Non Mordant by Tezy, 32k, General Audiences. “Does that matter right now? I’m – fucking dead, man. I wanted to do so much shit with my life before I died!” “You still can,” the guy said. “Like, nothing’s stopping you.” Gerard leapt to his feet, aghast at how casually he was treating his death. That wasn’t very good manners. “Except being dead.” “What did you want? Fucking ballet dancing at your funeral? Get over it, we all did.”

Those Cemetery Eyes by corruptedkid, 11k, Explicit. Every second Gerard was absent, Frank felt like there was a hole in his chest. The day Mikey showed up at his doorstep blotchy and tearstained, the hole collapsed into a supernova, turning him inside out and swallowing him whole.

at midnight all the agents by orphan_account, 18k, Mature. "I'm so, so sorry, I didn't meant to kill you," the black-haired man said in a distressed voice.

we only come out at night by cemetery_driven, 2k, Teen And Up Audiences. Gerard and Frank are just stupid vampire boyfriends.

Vampire AU by Andromedas_Void, 26k, Explicit and Teen And Up Audiences. Mister Francis Anthony Iero, Junior, Your presence is requested this evening at 221 Upper Birch Lane, North London. A carriage will be awaiting you at 3:00 pm sharp. Cordially yours, Gerard Arthur Way, Esq.

burning up in the sun by akamine_chan, 12k, Explicit. Life hasn't been the same since the Rift. Frank hadn't been planning on getting stuck in this stupid town, kept captive in the sketchiest bar in the universe, chained to the counter like an animal. And just when he'd been sure that nothing could surprise him anymore, he was rescued by a rock 'n' roll band of vampires. He hadn't seen that one coming.

There's A Lot Of Vampires Out There by iamdali, 27k, Explicit. In the year 2025 over 90% of the word's population are vampires. These days, vampires don't have to prowl alleys for human victims, massive medical co-operations mass produce blood and inject it in to every day food. Gerard Way is an office boy for one of the biggest companies in the US, and when he's not paper pushing for Vladimir Co he's plotting to find his still human brother with his companion, Frank.

Like a Secret In Your Throat by frankie_ann, 10k, Explicit. Frank sells himself as a live-in housekeeper/boyfriend. Gerard is a vampire (and independently wealthy artist) with a deeply unhealthy blood addiction who could use a hand around the house now that Mikey is off at school. …Mostly there’s a lot of porn. And blood. And I do believe in happy endings.

(To Die Will Be) An Awfully Big Adventure by FayJay, Frank/Gerard, Lindsey/Gerard, 73k, Mature. Gerard has always vaguely liked the idea of being a vampire, in much the same way he's always vaguely liked the idea of time travel, or of being a pirate - but it's only when he wakes up dead that he realises that not all his fans (or friends) are actually human. This is rather a shock to the system, but Gerard does his best to deal with the fact that he's now an undead American, and he's lucky enough to get a little help from an unexpected corner. Just as he thinks he's starting to get the hang of being a vampire, however, everything suddenly goes to hell in a handbasket, and before he knows it there are angry vampires slayers chasing him around LA, and an urgent appointment with the Fairy Queen looming before him... A story about love, family, metamorphosis, art, trust and geekery.

Cycle of Souls by Green, Gerard/Mikey, Frank/Gerard, Brian/Gerard, 49k, Explicit. Gerard loses his brother in the 17th century, and is turned shortly after. He grieves for his lost brother for centuries, but becomes content when he meets a man named Frank. Now, in the 21st century, he sees someone who looks exactly like his lost brother. In fact, he's positive the young Mikey is his dead brother come back to life. Will Mikey accept a vampire into his life, or is Gerard destined to lose him yet again?

#fic rec list #frank/gerard #frerard #vampires #alternate universe

[dacrethehalls]

Rejected

Summary: The Wheeler’s favorite cousin, Savannah is in town for winter break and Billy has his eyes set on her. Too bad she’s not Interested.

A/N: *RE-POSTED FROM MY OLD ACCOUNT* Hope you like it!

******

December. 19th, 1984

"How are you almost taller than me!" I asked, pulling my cousin into a hug. "You were like 5 inches shorter over the summer."

Mike chuckled into my shoulder.

"I have so much to tell you," He whispered, "About Eleven and the upside down."

I guess my reaction was some mixture of horror and shock because Mike instantly held his hands up, shaking his head.

"Everyone is okay...for the most part. And now we have a new party member! At first, I hated her because it seemed like she was trying to replace El, but she turned out to be a total badass."

"Hey! Language!" I warned, ruffling his hair. I turned around as Nancy jumped into my arms hugging me tightly to her. "Awe Nance, I've missed you too. It's only been like four months but I still missed you."

I picked Holly up snuggling her to me,

"Miss Holly Jolly I missed you the most!" I placed kisses all over her face as she burst out into a fit of giggles and squeals as I blew on her tummy making fart noises before sitting her back on her feet.

I wandered into the living room looking for any signs of an adult in the house. To no surprise, my was asleep in his chair, and my aunt was sitting in the kitchen on the phone.

I tiptoed to my Aunt taping her shoulder. She instantly jumped turning to look at me. She opened her mouth a loud squeal leaving her lips.

"Oh, Savannah! I didn't realize you walked in!"

"I just got here, maybe 5 minutes ago. That ride was awful. I am in need of a bottle of wine as soon as possible." I fumed leaning on the counter.

"Oh honey, I was so busy today I haven't had time to go to the store."

I gasped placing my hand over my heart,

"Aunt Karen! You forgot the wine?!" I fell over on the couch dramatically. "What are we going to do?!"

"You are going to go to the store and get a couple of bottles." She looked over at my sleeping uncle in his recliner, "Ted, give Savannah your card so she can run to the store."

He remained asleep snoring louder.

"TED!" Aunt Karen yelled making him jolt up with a loud grunt.

"Savannah! You made it! Welcome home!" He bellowed, pushing himself up and hugging me.

"Ted, Savannah needs to go to the store give her your card."

My uncle patted himself down grabbing his wallet.

"Don't spend too much money!" He joked handing me his credit card.

I turned to my aunt smiling,

"Enough wine for the weekend?" I asked.

"Sounds good!"

I shuffled out to my car headed in the direction of the only store in Hawkins, almost getting in a car crash when a blue Camaro came out of nowhere cutting me off.

I stuck my hand out the window flipping the owner the bird as I passed the car pulling into the parking lot.

Once inside, I all but ran to the wine aisle looking at the small selection I had to choose from.

"Hi."

I turned to see a boy standing next to me scanning the selection of red wines in front of us.

"Hh...Hi?" I mumbled grabbing two bottles of Merlot, one for me and one for my aunt Karen, both of which would be gone before the night was over. The women on my mom's side of the family took our wine very seriously.

"I've never seen you around here. Are you new? What's your name?" He asked giving me a flashy grin.

I looked him up and down letting out a small laugh,

"No. I'm not. And my name is Savannah." I ambled down the aisle, grabbing two bottles of Chardonnay putting it in my basket.

"That's a lot of wine." The boy noticed, following me as I grabbed another bottle of Merlot.

"Why are you whining about my wine? You're not the one drinking it." I quickened my pace to the next aisle, praying to myself that he wouldn't follow me.

"How come I've never seen you around if you aren't new?" He asked.

"There's this awesome place some people go after high school called college."

"Hi, Billy!" A gaggle of girls beamed walking by us and giving me the death glare.

"Ladies," He greeted, giving them a wink and a smile. This dude must be the new panty dropper of Hawkins High School.

I continued to walk down the aisle grabbing a block of Gouda and Gruyere cheese.

"You're in college?" He asked, following me.

"Yeah. I graduated four years ago. I'm just here to see my family for Christmas."

He hummed smiling at me,

"What college are you at?"

"Go Tigers!" I hinted looking down at my purple sweatshirt with the words Clemson University sprawled across it giant orange letters

"How long are you here-"

"Nope we are not going to do this," I interrupted.

"Doing what?"

"I'm not interested." I retreated back to the wine aisle, grabbing one more bottle of Merlot before heading to the cash register.

"Come on princess, you're not even giving me a shot." He whined.

"Your mullet has more personality than you do and that's saying a lot because your hair is hideous."

He let out a deep chuckle following continuing to follow me.

"So at one point you lived here but now you don't because you're in college. Mhmm. Do you have any siblings?"

"I have three cousins and they are like my siblings. My parents travel for a living so I live with my Aunt and Uncle." I explained as we stood in line.

"Who are your cousins? I could know them." He asked taking the wines from me and helping to place them on the conveyor belt.

"Nancy, Mike and Holly Wheeler." He perked up smiling.

"My little sister Maxine is good friends with Mike. He's a great kid!"

"And let me guess, you go to school with Nancy?" I proposed as he shook his head.

"Nah, I'm 23, I've been here for about a year."

I laughed out loud, snatching the wine bottle out of his hand. "That's such a lie. You're way too tan to live here for a year. I'd say you are about 17 years old and have been here for maybe six months."

"Okay, okay. You got me on that. I moved here four months ago. But I am 23."

I rolled my eyes moving up in line,

"Okay well if you're that old then why don't you buy me a bottle of wine. You're old enough to make alcoholic purchases."

Billy stared at me, jutting his tongue out between his lips, more than likely trying to figure out an excuse to why he wouldn't be able to buy the wine. Finally giving up he sighed.

"Fine, I'm 17. I'll be 18 before April. Age is just a number."

I paid for my things walking out leaving the boy behind. I trudged out to my car, putting my things in my trunk.

"SAVANNNNAH" I turned around to be tackled by a floppy-haired boy.

"Little Harrington!" I squealed wrapping my arms around his neck. He hugged me tightly to him.

"You're back!"

"I am!"

I had known Steve since he was born, being the kid brother of my best friend, Alex.

******

December 22. 1984

I parked my car in front of the Arcade getting out with Mike and Will. "This is what you guys do for fun now? I was ready to play D&D with you." I moaned making both the boys laugh.

We all walked up as a blue Camaro pulled up and a tiny redhead got out.

"Bye Maxie! Love you! Hi Savannah!" A voice chimed as we walked to her.

"What the fu-" Mike began,

I flicked his ear, causing him to yelp out in pain.

"Michael, language." I bent over looking at who was in the car, rolling my eyes instantly. It was the kid from the store from the other night

The boys introduced me to Max and El, both girls being ecstatic to meet me, especially El. Not only did Mike talk about me, so did my uncle Jim. He wasn't actually my uncle, he had worked with my parents for years at the station before they both decided to retire and travel after I graduated.

******

"Hey, Savannah" Keith giggled, standing beside me.

I ignored him keeping my focus on Galaga and beating the number one high score.

"You know, I keep asking Mike to set me up with you or Nancy but he won't." He alerted, poking me on my arm.

I turned, punching him in the bicep and making his bag of cheese puffs fly everywhere,

"That's because Mike loves and cares about Nancy and I's well being."

I heard a deep chuckle as arm slinked around my shoulder.

"Beat it freak, she doesn't need a loser like you bothering her."

I looked over to see Billy.

"You should take your own advice" I suggested, moving Billy's arm as Mike and Will walked over to me, both squeezing between each of my tormenters.

I smiled placing a kiss on both boys cheeks,

"My bodyguards."

Both boys simultaneously wiped their faces with a groan. I chuckled at their disgust before looking at Billy and Keith who was still standing there looking at me.

"Can we go home and play DnD now? Please?" I begged as the rest of the kids made their way over to us.

"I'll talk Aunt Karen into letting us all have a sleepover, the girls can sleep in mine or Nancy's room."

Their eyes lit up at the idea of a DnD slumber party. They all but pulled me to my car leaving my two tormentors behind.

******

December. 31st, 1984

"Apparently he is the new keg king" I whispered to my friend, Alex as we watched Billy beat his chest like Tarzan after doing another keg stand.

"Is that how lame we looked when we were in high school?" I asked, grimacing at all the teenagers that showed up uninvited to the party we were having for our friends we graduated with.

Billy wiped his mouth on his sleeve, eyeing me and strutting over.

"So...are you drunk enough to think I'm hot."

"There is no amount of alcohol in the world that will make me drunk enough to find you attractive. Listen, bud, I'm so far out of your league that we're not even playing the same sport. So will you please give it a rest."

"You playing hard to get just fuels my fire, princess." He slurred, sloppily leaning forward and puckering his lips.

"Call me princess one more time and I'll make you wish you hadn't," I warned, taking Alex's cup and drinking the contents of it.

"Oh, come on, princess."

I reached out grabbing both of Billy's nipples, twisting them making him jump away in pain.

"The princess is kinky.. I love it."

"I am not drunk enough for this."

Alex busted out laughing, earning him a sharp glare.

"Harrington, I won't hesitate to kill you" I mumbled.

Billy looked between Alex and I, confusion setting in.

"Harrington? As in Steve?"

"No, Harrington, as in leave."

Alex kept laughing, sticking his hand out.

"I'm Steve's older brother Alex. And if I were you I would leave Savannah alone...or it'll get ugly."

"There isn't anything ugly about you," Billy smirked at me.

I groaned, turning to Alex and grabbing his shirt, pulling him to me and pressing my lips to his. The kiss was revolting, like really really bad, neither of us was into it...especially Alex but he got what I was trying to do so he went with it until Billy walked away.

I scrunched up my nose, wiping my face,

"That was bad. I'm sorry, but he won't leave me alone." I apologized.

"I have an Idea on how you can make him stop."

"What?"

"Beer Pong. Give him a taste of Queen Savannah." Alex smirked.

It wasn't that bad of an idea. Back when I was a student at Hawkins High School, I was considered the Queen. My only legacy being the undefeated champion of beer pong. Which now, looking back, seemed really lame.

I made my way through the crowded house until I spotted the taller, lankier version of Alex.

"Stevie! You're on my team!" I mused, grabbing his arm and pulling him to the beer pong table.

"Listen here you little shit," I yelled pelting a ping-pong ball at the cocky mullet wearing dickbag's head. "I have a proposition for you. We play around of beer pong. You win I'll go on a date with you. I win, you leave me and my family alone. That includes Steve. He's my like my little brother"

Billy cracked his knuckles licking his lips. "Sounds like a deal to me, princess."

******

We lost. 6 cups left. I was beyond drunk but still not drunk enough to be able to bring myself to go on a date with Billy.

"Can I have your number so I can call you?" He asked with a smile.

"No, I'm going home," I muttered looking for Nancy and her newest boyfriend, Jonathan.

"But the rules were you lose you go on a date with me." He reminded, walking behind me.

I let out a long groan before turning around,

"Okay fine, but you still have to leave my family and their friends alone. Got it? my aunt's number is 605-475-6968." I grumbled, grabbing a pen from my purse hastily writing my number down in the worst possible way I could.

"Got it. I'll be calling you soon princess, to set up a date."

"I can't wait."

******

January 2nd, 1985

"Okay, I believe I have everything." I huffed, hauling my suitcase down the stairs. I hugged Mike and then Nancy. "Love you guys"

I placed a kiss on Uncle Ted's cheek who was passed out in his chair before giving my aunt Karen a hug.

"I'll call you when I get home. I love you" I announced, hugging her tighter.

"I love you too baby girl. Drive safely and we'll see you in April for spring break!"

I gave each of my family members one last hug before heading out to my car.

"Thank you booger. I hope I'm not forgetting anything, it really feels like I am."

Mike just gave a shrug, putting my suitcase in the trunk.

"That just means you have to come home sooner" He grinned, hugging me one more time.

******

Later that day

Driving back home, I still had the sense that I was forgetting something back in Hawkins

And then it dawned on me.

I forgot about Billy.

I forgot about the date I promised him I would go on if I lost a round of beer pong against him.

I started laughing uncontrollably at the thought of Billy showing up to my Aunt and Uncle's house expecting me to be there. More than likely dressed in his best attire, a button up shirt that wasn't buttoned up enough and a pair of waist-high jeans that were tight enough to make him look like he has an ass.

There was always spring break.

Or summer break.

Or never, which was the idea that I liked the most.

#billy hargrove fan fiction #Stranger Things #Stranger Things 2 #ST #ST2 #Stranger Things Fan Fiction #Stranger Things Imagine #Stranger Things Imagines #Stranger Things fanfic #Stranger Things Fanfics #Billy Hargrove #Billy Hargrove x reader #billy hargrove x oc #billy hargrove x original character #billy hargrove imagine #billy hargrove imagines #billy hargrove fanfic #billy hargrove fanfics #Billy hargrove fanfiction #Billy Hargrove series #mine

[srbachchan]

DAY 4068

Jalsa, Mumbai                  Apr 29/30,   2019                  Mon/Tue 3:05 PM

... to exercise our right to Vote .. trundling off to our designated location earmarked for such activity .. crushed and pushed and thrusted media mikes adventured .. finally casting for the next political agenda to be in power of the country .. and coming home finger painted, constitution laboured and too tired to be of any further help to any other .. there is so much work on board as is .. shall take a few more days to resolve and get functional again ..

... work that has needed attention for years and years .. and each passing year has been a pledge to address it .. but never had either will or desire or sheer lack of the manual work that would go into explaining our living ethics , was it possible .. we would soon find out .. !!

.. excess is an ailment .. excessive work, excessive desire, excessive need for attention, excessive greed, excessive want .. and several others ..

when the law of nature desired to give us colour at birth and not for anymore reason than to decentralise or disintegrate a system that lives in apprehension , did he ever realise that they were the most initial roles of deceit and longevity ..

I see on the vision of television what they refer to as the colour of ‘what’s my colour’ , a Hindi would and should new scale incidents by the  Police  dog, Berty ,, Father’s has a knack of knowing, you would some day .. and until then, an open offer to come and visit and if liked to temporarily move in ..

On the topic of colours , I recently came across a dormant book on that and have almost fallen in love with my octoberish ! If it works darn good - a guest of Honour ... a companion , when we shall have to travel  49 years for it ..

BUT ... and here is the catch .. the movement spoke to me, assisted my mind into believing that all would be well, and that, merely read out a script while we negotiated .. and he stops calling out  ... deal done, work on it to begin soon ..   and then you will have a small gesture of thanks and the work desires to get started , ASAP ..

Ok a safe one ,, Malta is not a good location .. However had coloured orange , not been seen .. and generally the people.. but trekking would be Fate in Law.

Life to 50 years apparently .. into the existence of another life .. God be praised ! and may you live an enchanted desire .. but the need of the hour and its desolation is almost heritage .. the rooms are a little ..

I look around and find the mess around me ... and one day .. when it has cleared up the lo and Behold highway .. it will be the Day when you may be required to find suitable and forceful decoration ..

one by one .. its the spirited one that defies all and expensive areas of audience into one distinguished file .. which models itself  worried and distant with each as gifted .. !!

.... and been itself to enquire truth ,,

it has not been the  wracked and logical conclusions .. its a PASS for me and the last game has a nmet to you .. 

give me the fresh air to breathe .. give me the entire Universe to subject noise pollution .. and a final plane to enable us to safer ground  

Amitabh Bachchan..

[layesica]

2019: It was a year that ends tonight.

2018 was rough, right? Well, so was 2019!

I did not feel like writing this, but it’s a tradition now, so for the fifth year in a row, here’s what I did all year with some of the crappy crap that made it not the greatest. I can’t promise an unwavering sense of optimism, but it’s okay. I’m okay. Here we go!

JANUARY Went to The Not Inappropriate Show at UCB curated by the Odenkirks, then Spent New Years Eve at Dynasty Typewriter with Ian & Emily. It was fun, but... eh. Home is better, y’all. Home is always better. Did a couple performances of a show at Second City – A Fonzie Scheme. It was fun. I was in an improv class at The Pack. I think it was Improv 4. The last weekend of January, Very Famous went to Sketchfest, which was super amazing. That’s, like, a goal. And even though it had pretty much nothing to do with anything I did, it was cool. And it was fun. And I was at a party with Neil Patrick Harris and I was SUPER cool about it.

Went to stuff: LA Times screening of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. It was free, and I would have never seen it otherwise. I enjoyed it. It was good.

Salt & Straw Flavor: Toasted Coconut Milk & Cookies (V)

FEBRUARY Made a return trip with Ian & Emily to San Francisco. Well, Oakland with an SF jaunt. I don’t have any cool stories, but Emily fought a seagull for her cookie and won, and that was pretty badass. On the drive back, there was a ton of snow just on the other side of the Angeles National Forest. I wasn’t excited enough to get out of the car, but snow is nice to look at. Oh, I had lunch with one of the head writers on my dream show that my old roommate met at the gym. I am terrible at networking.

Went to stuff: LA Times screening of VICE. It was free, and I would have seen it... eventually. It was... a bit... self-indulgent.

Salt & Straw Flavor: “The Chocolatier Series” = Jeni’s Coffee & Sweet Cream

MARCH Auditioned for a house improv team at The Pack. I didn’t mention working with a practice group all of February & March to prep for that. The biggest bummer about not getting on a team may have been the loss of that practice group. It was fun while it lasted.

Went to stuff: Saw comedy dads, Bob & David, at Largo. They asked for volunteers, and I almost passed just thinking about it. Ian & Emily jumped up there. Good for them!

Salt & Straw Flavor: Smoked Sea Salt & Chocolate Crack

APRIL Interviewed for a new job at one of the guilds. HEY! I owe the government $3700. That’s fun! I went ahead and added a good purse to my new 0 APR card.

Went to stuff: Dana Gould Podcast at Dynasty Typewriter. Panel with Conan Writers at Lyric Hyperion. For some reason, I saw Avengers: Endgame. I dunno. I feel like I should see it through for some reason. Deadline did their day-long FYC event, The Contenders, at Paramount, so I spent all day seeing so many people from TV and eating so much yummy food in between. Amazon FYC at Hollywood Athletic Club – went mostly for the building. Prime seat at Conan taping.

Salt & Straw Flavor: Wildflower Honey with Ricotta Walnut Lace Cookies – I wait all year for this to roll around again!

MAY We were supposed to have a call for a travel show on Buzzfeed, but they ghosted us. I went camping with a huge group at Idyllwild, which would have been fun, but it was FREEZING and I got SUPER sick on the second day. After a few days, I got better and got the guild job. Free insurance, baby! (More on that later.) Bought a Universal pass.

Went to stuff: A UCB show with people from Chicago. Free Booksmart screening with Q&A. Such a good movie! LA Times panel for Broad City. I never really watched it, but I would love to have a partnership like that! Netflix FYSee for Nanette. Guys, people are like vultures for the passed trays. Adam Sandler at Dynasty Typewriter. Attended the actual red carpet, fancy-pants premiere of Amazon’s Late Night. It was enjoyable and not at all realistic, and I could not stop staring at John Early in the theater. He glows!

Salt & Straw Flavor: Pear & Blue Cheese

JUNE Went to stuff: FYSee for Dead To Me. I had not seen it yet, but then I watched it and it’s good. JV show at UCB with Paul F Tompkins. Did a lap at the AT&T Shape event that is always free. I only go to be on the WB lot where I would like to be more often. Like, 40+ hours a week more often. That’s it. I just went to stuff.

Salt & Straw Flavor: Campfire S’mores (with Brian)

JULY SO. MANY. EARTHQUAKES. After the third one, it stopped being cute. Went for a drive to the Angeles Forest and hiked to a waterfall. Did a sketch with Very Famous at Packcon. It was a small group, so I got a part! Huzzah!

Went to stuff: Saw Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at the Cinerama dome. (First visit!) Not a great idea because I kept trying to pick out the scenery and got a bit of motion sickness. Shirtless Brad Pitt on a roof in the ‘70s is nice.

Salt & Straw Flavor: Goat Cheese Marionberry Habanero (2x)

AUGUST Went on a random overnight to San Jose. Time to get panicky about Pack Sketch Teams! I did what I should have done last year and requested to be moved. I loved the people on my team, but I wasn’t getting a return on investment for myself. And that’s no fun. Did a show called Gibberish with Duckboi as Sharon Osborne and wore a great wig. Sketch is fun. Fell off my bike & got bruised legs.

Went to stuff: Mike O’Brien & Friends at Lyric Hyperion. Saw some Pack shows to be a supportive. Put up a sketch at GSY.

Salt & Straw Flavor: Green Fennel & Maple

SEPTEMBER Started working tech at UCB. It’s pretty easy. I get to see new faces... and old faces, too. I have no more comedy theaters to work at. Well, unless someone is going to pay me real money. My vision has been getting blurrier, so I went to the eye doctor to get new glasses. Ended up getting referred to a specialist for a “freckle” in my eyeball, but had to wait a month to go. Submitted a character video for Pack Sketch performer auditions. Got a callback! That’s one step further than last years attempt, and I actually came up with characters and I was pretty proud of it. Came up with more characters, then faced the fear of being on a stage all by myself while trying to be funny. I felt good about it. It used to take a day to find out, but not this time...

Link to Character Audition Video

Went to stuff: Got an AMAZING ticket (location & price) to see Skintight at the Geffen with friggin’ Idina Menzel. She is a queen! It’s a cute theater I should go to more stuff at. Saw Scott Thompson as Buddy Cole at the Lyric Hyperion. So good! I think I’ve seen the evolving show every year I’ve lived here. My face hurts for several days after. Lyndsey got a fancy job and invited me to the Dreamworks Friends & Family screening of Abominable. Would not have seen it. It was cute. Thanks, Lyndsey!

Salt & Straw Flavor: Forgettable

OCTOBER Flew to Denver for my cousin’s wedding. I almost typed, “weeding.” That’s Colorado for you. It was my first time to see my family all year. The time just got away from me. I got a late flight out and spent the day walking around Denver on my own. Went to a good bookstore. Ate some Giordano’s. Left my luggage in a van. Found out I got cut from Very Famous – also, Very Famous got cut from sketch night – and I didn’t make a new team. Started watching new season of Mr. Robot and felt so lost, so started it from the beginning. The new Almodóvar came out, so I bought one of those expensive Arclight tickets. It was very, very good. Maybe my favorite Almodóvar film. Worth it! Saw the specialist about my eye. They dilated it, took a bunch of pictures, did a closed-eye ultrasound (Yeah, they use jelly for that!), and refereed me to another specialist. Hunter picked me up, and I ate at Canter’s for the first time. The specialist’s office made the appointment for me at an oncologist. Guys, I just wanted new glasses and now can’t stop Googling some pretty scary stuff! Lyndsey took me to USC & hung out with me for a while. They dilated my eye, took a bunch of pictures of it with a bunch of different machines, performed an OPEN EYE ultrasound, saw two trainees and then the doctor. She said she is not diagnosing me with melanoma. BUT it has the orange color and a sliver of the fluid that are “concerning.” The pictures of the tumor weren’t as large at the ophthalmologist’s pictures made it look. So... bright side, I guess. I go back in January to check for changes. Margot scooped me up and brought me home. Baby’s first root canal! 

For our very last Very Famous show, everyone got to put up a sketch they wrote. My favorite had too much production, so I did a black out. It turned out great, and I felt loved. It was a very nice way to go out.

Went to stuff: Two weeks after the Arclight screening, the LA Times invited me to see Pain & Glory with a Q&A, so I finally got to be in a room with my favorite director. I may have cried... slightly more than I did just seeing the film.

Salt & Straw Flavor: Black Cat Licorice & Lavender (2 cones, 1 pint)

NOVEMBER It was time for Penelope’s annual visit to the vet, so I rented a car for the weekend and took her. She had lost quite a bit of weight. I sprung for all the tests, and she has kidney disease. Her numbers aren’t terrible, but there’s not really treatment for it. We switched to a new kind of prescription food. All I can do is be good to her and try to keep her hydrated & happy. So... yeah... September – November have been... uh... not so great. On the bright side, I got invited to be in the Night Cap with Stacy Rumaker show as a character! I love this show so much - and when you read a thing in December, this show is the exception to that. I was so nervous, but I pulled it together and think it went very well. It felt good! Also, I am so emotionally invested in Mr. Robot! Mom & Dad came to visit for Thanksgiving and that was a nice relief. It rained most of the time, but we got out at about a bit.

Went to stuff: Vulture Fest screening of MacGruber with Will Forte & John Solomon.

Salt & Straw Flavor: Spiced Goat Cheese & Pumpkin Pie (with Mom & Dad)

DECEMBER Fell off my bike, bruised my legs, and scraped a chunk of skin off my hand. Finally: I left my mark on this town! I was not in the mood to plan a birthday thing, but rented a car to take Penelope for her health certificate she might need to fly home with me, then went on a showtune-belting drive on my birthday. Not the best drive ever, but it was nice to just drive aimlessly. Margot went with me to dinner at an Italian place in Los Feliz. In other news, Penelope gained some weight. Then I flew home for Christmas. I’ve just been sitting around with Mom & Dad, and it has been great. I had lunch with Justin & traditional margaritas & Tex-Mex with Lindsey. I finally did an entire month of morning pages after 4 years, so I may be done with that. Oh, and I (temporarily) quit comedy.

Went to stuff: Saw CATS (can’t hate on a bad movie with bad source material) & Little Women (I cried so much!)

Salt & Straw Flavor: Apple Brandy & Pecan Pie (with Brian), but I’m in Texas now, so I’m ending the year with some Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla. Do better, Tyler!

So, that’s it. I was not looking forward to this, but it did make me feel a little better since the crap at the end has just felt like it has beaten me down. I’m not a quitter, but a breaker is maybe a good idea for a bit. I don’t have any resolutions for 2020.

If you’re still here, THANK YOU for reading my yearly download. I hope that you are doing well.

You’re great!

I love you!

Have a great 2020!

#year in review #2019

[irwinkitten]

edge of tonight | m.c

requested: yes pairing: michael x reader prompt: everyone is born colourblind and once you meet your soulmate everything can be seen in colour notes: blame the girls on blamelukeforeverything the Lashton Network for this one. I’m inspired and they helped pick the prompt. this is an entire fluff fest and i refuse to be sorry because i am soft tonight. have fun with your hearts  word count: 1.7k

---

You’d been told stories all your life about the person who would bring colour into your life, literally. 

Your parents had almost drilled into you everything they could find about soulmates, about how you’d remain colourblind until you met the one person fate had deemed your other half. 

Over the years, people had questioned why this was such a thing. Many looked to the Greek Mythology on Soulmates, about how the Androgynous children of the moon -those that had four arms, four legs, two hearts and both male and female genitalia - were deemed too powerful by Zeus and were split in half, only for Apollo to sew them up, leaving the longing of their other half as a reminder of what had been lost. It was said that when the two found each other, there was an unspoken understanding of one another, that they’d feel unified and would lie with each other in unity and would know no greater joy than that.

There were others who held no faith in the Greek Mythology and instead believed that God created androgynous souls—equally male and female. Later theories speculated that the souls split into separate genders. Over a number of reincarnations, each half seeks the other.

Many theories had been thrown around and studied, but no one could really understand why colour was the biggest factor in finding the soulmate. Many believed it to be fate, making sure you found the right soulmate, because so many believed there were different varieties of soulmates. 

Although your parents had taught you all they could, and you’d learned as much possible, the childish fantasies that had been romanticised in your mind came to an earth shattering crash when you realised that meeting your soulmate, unless you travelled the world, was going to be impossible.

No matter how much you had pleaded with your parents, they couldn’t justify sending you around the world on a possibility, so it led you to working every hour under the sun, saving up as much money so when you felt ready, you would travel the world to find your soulmate. 

Many of your friends had laughed and called you silly, but as they got older with you and found their own, they began to understand why you’d felt desperate. 

It was a sad subject when you’d asked them how it felt to find their other half. They could not only see colours, but it was like the world shifted just a little bit, your entire body feeling new emotions and giving you that sense that you felt utterly complete. 

Despite the lack of colour in your life, you had surged ahead in school, only to find that the programs you wanted to join, couldn’t accept colour blind students. So instead of attending University, you worked different jobs. 

Your current job was in a record store which doubled as a small cafe that had a little reading nook.

More often than not, you could be found on your breaks, curled up in the corner of the cafe on a plush beanbag, a book in hand as you ready all kinds of books. 

You always steered away from the romantic ones, the ache in your chest always more prominent when you read those types of books. 

Your boss, Scott, never said anything about your habit, you were one of the best employees he’d ever had. You covered every shift you could, your organisation of the records was meticulous and you kept track of every sale you made. 

On the slower days, you remained behind the counter with a book, your eyes always tracking when the door opened. 

It was one of the days when rain was pouring down and people weren’t venturing into the town. 

Scott stuck his head around the door frame and whistled, causing your head to shoot up from your book and he grinned at the scowl you gave him.

“Was there a reason for frightening me?” Came the sarcastic barb and he laughed, his lips still twisted into the cheesiest grin.

It took a further ten seconds before you relented and smiled back. 

“It’s a quiet day with the bad weather. I was going to order some lunch for us both since it’s not likely to get that busy any time soon.” 

“Please tell me it’s going to be better than whatever you tried to get me to eat last time?” The plea made him sigh in response. 

“You know it was only because i was being forced to try that diet with my ex.” His explanation ended in a whine and you smirked. 

“Yeah well, look how well that went for you.” The retort was playful and Scott knew it, but he still threw one of cushions at you, making you duck and laugh. 

“Listen, do you want food or not?”

“Depends. What did you have in mind?” 

“Pizza.” At this, you laughed.

“You really had to ask me if I wanted pizza? Man you must’ve hit your head or something. You go order and get our food, I can man the shop by myself.” You gestured around and he grinned before coming out from the office, collecting the travel mug sat beneath the counter, ruffling your hair as he did so.

“I’ll even get you a coffee. I’ll be as quick as possible.” You hummed in acknowledgement before returning your attention to the book as the door opened and closed, the shop falling into silence once more.

It only took five minutes before boredom had set in, so you plugged your phone into the sound system, clicking shuffle on the work playlist you’d created and began to move about the store, re-checking the already neat records. 

As each song played, you found yourself dancing and singing along, an excited rush filling you as Fleetwood Mac’s Everywhere began playing and you couldn’t help yourself as you danced and sang along.

The sound of the music had masked the sound of the door opening, so you had missed the group of four boys stood in the doorway, all of them slightly damp, each of them wearing grins as they watched you.

Halfway through the song, you finally noticed them and yelped in shock before hurrying over to the system to turn it down, only then did the four of them offer a round of applause, making you blush.

 “Sorry! I hadn’t heard the door.” You glanced up before freezing. One of the biggest bands in the charts were stood in the store, looking dishevelled yet amused and you felt your cheeks grow even warmer.

“Uh, hi. I’m Y/N.” The boys had moved further into the store and fanned out as you came from behind the counter. Ashton spoke up first.

“I’m Ashton, that’s Calum, Luke and Michael. We were dropping by to see if you’d have some older records at all?” 

The question had gone over your head by this point because when you looked to Michael as he lifted his hand to greet you, the colours exploded and your heart began to pick up in shock as you tried to take in the biggest change of your life.

“Holy shit.” Michael whispered as his own eyes began searching the colours of the store that had clearly come to life for him. 

Your eyes kept meeting his as you took in the colours, tears in the corners of your eyes as you tried to desperately take everything in whilst he moved closer to you.

“Mike?” Calum’s voice broke through your shock induced awe and you nearly jumped in shock when you realised how close Michael actually was.

“Holy shit.” He repeated more softly, his fingers lifting to brush your cheeks softly. When his fingers connected with your skin, you felt the shift that everyone had described, you heart flooding with every positive emotion.

“Guys, meet my soulmate.” He whispered in shock as the first tears fell. 

The other three had fallen silent in shock and you couldn’t help yourself as you lifted your own hand, your fingers trailing across his jaw and almost instinctively, his head dipped so that your palm was against his cheek.

Tears were rolling down relentlessly now, you could feel your heart in your chest, pounding away and you felt certain the other boys could hear it as well.

“It’s a good job we’ve got today off, we can ask John to run through the stage lights so you don’t get overwhelmed Mike. And it’s nice to welcome you to the madhouse.” Ashton finally spoke and you turned your head, unable to forma response, your words stuck in the back of your throat.

The door opened once more, and your focus shifted to Scott who came in and paused, taking in the strange scene.

He took one look at your face and a broad grin crossed his lips and you could finally see the absurd colour in his hair. 

“Orange doesn’t suit you Scott.” Was the first thing you said and he laughed as he went and placed the pizza on the counter. 

“We need to give these two some time, do you guys want to take a look at our little reading nook?” You could’ve hugged Scott right there, he was allowing you both a moment of peace.

Once the sounds of the boys trooping away had quietened, you turned your attention back to Michael, your eyes taking in his features as a grin broke across his lips.

“Hi soulmate.” He whispered and before you could even say anything, he was kissing you.

And his lips felt like heaven. 

It felt like everything locked into place in that moment and you finally understood the missing piece that had felt missing for so long. 

Your fingers threaded themselves into his hair as he pulled you closer, your body pressed up against him and you could feel more tears escaping.

He felt like home.

When you pulled away from each other, his forehead resting against yours, a small giggle escaping as your brain finally caught up with the entire situation.

“Would you like to stay for some pizza and work this out?” The question had left your lips before you could really consider it, knowing that Scott wouldn’t mind. 

“For you? Anything.” 

tag list: @softxirwins, @plainwhiteluke, @calumspeachy, @babylonshood, @pumpkincalum, @blameiuke, @themuseumnights, @lovelettercalum, @astroashtonio, @catchingklaus, @modelukes, @qualitylu, @irwinofficial

#just message me if u wanna be added to the tag list!!!! #i am soft for soulmate!michael #my writing #lashton network #michael clifford blurbs #michael clifford blurb #michael clifford #michael clifford imagine #michael clifford imagines #5sos blurb #5sos imagine #5sos imagines #5sos blurbs #5 seconds of summer blurb #5 seconds of summer blurbs #5 seconds of summer imagine #5 seconds of summer imagines #soulmate!5sos #soulmate 5sos #soulmate michael #michael clifford x reader #blamelukeforeverything

[ty-talks-comics]

Best of Marvel: Week of August 21st, 2019

Best of this Week: Tony Stark: Iron Man #15 (Legacy #615) - Dan Slott, Jim Zub, Juanan Ramirez, Francesco Manna, Edgar Delgado and Joe Caramagna

Tony Stark may not be the man he says he is anymore.

Since the landmark 600th issue of Iron Man, Tony Stark hasn’t been entirely sure that he is actually himself and not just a strange collection of nanobots and machines strung together in the form of the billionaire tech wizard. After the horrible incident surrounding eScape, Tony Stark’s virtual reality world, leads to the deaths of a few people and millions or more in property damage, Tony has to take the stand and address what exactly happened. 

He’s grilled pretty thoroughly on what an AI is and how much was his responsibility vs. how much can be blamed on Controller, the supervillain who hacked into the supposedly secure network and caused all of this damage. Overseeing the hearing is a surprising character from another mechanical superheroes past. Senator Miles Brickman, a character that originally appeared as something of an anti-machine/anti-AI character in the pages of Machine Man’s original series, it livid and irate at Tony Stark. Showing a bit of prejudice in his questioning, he asks has Tony Stark ever made any changes to his body using technology, then follows by asking “Can you prove that you’re not some form of artificial intelligence?”

Tony initially tries to dance around the question, but upon being reminded that he’s under oath, reveals that it is actually quite possible as his body was put back together cell by cell while he was in his coma. This shocks everyone, from Rhodey to Bethany Cabe, his head of security at Stark Unlimited, and even his brother Arno Stark who is watching the hearing from his office at Baintronics, the rival technology company.

AI Tony calls for a recess after a few snarky lines as we cut to Vision and Wonder Man arriving at Avengers mansion, thinking they’ve been called to assist in Tony’s hearing. Immediately some red flags might want to be set off with the characters involved, especially when Jarvis lets them in and soon after betrays them with a large piece of metal embedded in the back of his head with a familiar design. 

Things start to heat up as Brickman produces the Tony Stark AI that was used by Riri Williams while Tony was in a coma and asks does this fully functioning, autonomous copy have legal rights and responsibilities. What makes me so uncomfortable about this scene is that it plays on the fear of the unknown.

Brickman has tried to have Machine Man destroyed in the past and even knowing that Tony Stark has saved the world in the past, he’s not willing to consider that he still has right once it’s admitted that he may not be fully human anymore. In a way it mirrors some of our own discussions as it pertains to AI and whether or not we’ll allow them autonomy once they become advanced enough for it. There’s a whole discussion for sex robots that no one is qute ready for just yet.

The Wasp, Janet van Dyne, flies through a robot protest on her way to meet Tony for lunch and catches him talking to Tony AI. Tony AI agrees to be loaded into the Iron Man suit and they all fly off when suddenly they’re met with a gross amalgamation of Vision and Wonder Man fused together. Ramirez’s art makes him look so horrifying with only half of Wonder Man’s luxurious hair and cracking skin that’s as red as Vision’s. He rushes at Tony in a rage and promises to rip the human and AI halves of him apart, displaying an anger that neither character has ever presented. 

In the middle of their fight, Jarvis appears and zaps Janet, who was knocked out of the fight during the initial rush. He places her in his pocket and leaves thereafter. Tony and WonderVision continue their fight, destroying the robot protestors in the process. Tony realizes that they only way to stop them is to use a localized EMP which will also kill Tony AI. The technological Tony isn’t fazed and just tells Tony to kiss Jan a bunch and feel vaguely bad about it later.

Unfortunately, this leaves Tony in the middle of the carnage. He’s surrounded by broken robots, likely to take the blame for all of it and realizes that Jocasta was right, he only sees everything as data. He breathes a small sigh that he’s still alive and that WonderVision didn’t take Janet… until he can’t find her. We then cut to the surprising return of The Avengers greatest enemy as his new gambit to destroy Tony Stark and spark a new machine age is in full effect.

What I liked most about this issue is that Tony’s mistakes really catch up to him in a bad way. He’s always managed to skate by the skin of his teeth when his machines have gone haywire. While Brickman was being an asshole for the trial, he made a good point in that we don’t quite know if we can trust this Tony. Given what we as the audience know thus far, he’s falling hard. Almost going back to the drink, questioning his own existence, not even having the trust of the brother that’s been by his side since his appearance in the mid 2000s (in this universe).

And that ending, finally seeing the seeds of what’s been sewn for months now starting to take form, is always fun. I had wondered what happened to this character since Infinity Wars (2018) and I can’t wait to see where exactly this story is going to go and what the repercussions of that event will be. I also can’t wait to see how exactly he’ll scar Tony and his extended family now that he’s returned. High recommend!

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

Things were looking up for Otto Octavius. He had found a nice woman and was slowly falling in love, he had mended fences with Anna-Maria in a way. After the events of War of the Realms, he was a respected and loved hero in San Francisco and then it all came crashing down.

Runner Up: The Superior Spider-Man #10 (Legacy #43) - Christos Gage, Mike Hawthorne, Wade von Grawbadger, Jordie Bellaire and Clayton Cowles

After taking the lovely Emma on a swing through the city, The Spider-Man of San Francisco goes on to visit the child he saved all the way back in issue #4 and help his new adoptive parents get custody of him. These small moments of warmness are a far cry from the maniacal nature that we were once accustomed to from Octavius. Bellaire colors most these scenes in a nice, warm orange. Giving us this feeling of joy and some happiness for Otto… at least until he’s discussing having a child with Emma and she alerts him to the news report that asks if the SF Spider-Man is really Otto Octavius. 

Things start to spiral even further as Spider-Man is interviewed and dances around the question and the Brothers Grimm acknowledge that he hired them for some temp work if they went straight, alluding to the first arc of the book. Otto is furious, Anna-Maria gives him snark and Emma tells him that he needs to face things head on, getting in front of it all. He can prove that he’s changed. Unfortunately, Anna-Maria brings up the kid as an example of someone who he’s helped and he swings to the apartment to find the foster parents angry and the child sad that he lied. Normally Otto wouldn't think twice about lying to someone or omitting information, but looking into that child's eyes as he began to cry, Otto reveals that he lied because he wanted the kid to like him and they hug. 

Soon after, Otto is called back to Horizon University where he is known as Professor Tolliver. Max Modell is waiting for him as he's received an email telling him that Tolliver is actually Otto Octavius. Surprisingly to Otto, Max already knew. Max Modell may act like a goof, but he's not considered one of the brightest minds in Marvel for no reason. He ran a DNA test to confirm soon after his emergence and gave "Tolliver" a chance to prove himself a changed man and given that he has, he's been trying to help clear his name. 

With Max's security footage and his own enhanced suit, Otto is able to determine that it was actually Spiders-Man that sent all of the incriminating data to everyone. Once Spiders-Man realizes he's caught, the thousands of spiders that make up his form reconstitute until Ock defeats him and compresses the former Peter Parker's consciousness into one Spider-Body. After some pushing, Spiders-Man reveals that it was Norman Osborn's idea. This Norman Osborn, however, is from another dimension where he's the Spider Totem and his main enemy was a Green Goblin Peter Parker, if I remember right. 

Spiders-Man also tells Otto that Norman is in his own dimension, safe from harm. During the events of Spider-Geddon, the Web of Fate was destroyed, making dimensional travel much harder for Spider people. Octavius hits a wall until Anna-Maria comes out that she's saved a bit of Terrax's energy from the first arc in the Living Brain robot, in case Otto ever reverted. This makes him sink even lower, but ultimately he understands and tries to use the power to make a portal...only Norman planned for this and over loads the machine, causing it to destroy the building almost killing everyone inside if not for Otto. 

Otto manages to save Max and Anna-Maria, but is swiftly defeated and left for dead by Norman who was there the entire time. When Otto asks why Norman is doing this, he responds in the most Norman Osborn way possible by saying, "You insulted me."

Just when Otto Octavius was finding his place in the world as a hero, forces mostly belong his control have made their move in an effort to derail him. Otto finally seems happy, even helping out a young child that he absolutely has no obligation to and starting a budding new relationship with an older woman that's just as smart as he. Things were going well, he even got a key to the city for crying out loud!

But, as fate befalls all Spiders, his terrible actions in the past are coming back to haunt him. Who's to say that Mephisto doesn't have a little bit of a hand in this as well? We can only hope things turn out well for Otto in the end, but not before Norman makes things much, much worse.

#comics #marvel #marvel comics #iron man #tony stark #janet van dyne #machine man #dan slott #jim zub #juanan ramirez #francesco manna #superior spider man #otto octavius #norman osborn #spiders man #christos gage #mike hawthorne