#except I heard him read this like in 2016?

[notyouraryang0dd3ss]

Ok, I’ll guess I’ll just be the Hiddles anon. Lol since my hatred for her really geared up bc of her involvement with him.

Anyway. So wait. She cheated on Joe??? That’s like the third time she’s cheated, if I’m not mistaken.

She cheated on Calvin — or at least there was an overlap — with Tom Hiddleston. Then she insinuated in her shit music, that she used Tom as a rebound or cover bc she actually wanted Joe (she met them both around the same time at the Met Gala in 2016). And she used Joe to “prove” how private she really was bc she blamed Tom for their “romance” being so out there.

The man would travel between London and various places in America without a peep, but, sure, Jan.

Their breakup always cracks me up bc he was supposed to fly from LA to the east coast somewhere to meet back up with her. On her plane. They had paps on the tarmac in LA to show him getting on the plane. Then they had paps waiting with her on the east coast to catch them reuniting. Except when the plane landed no one got out. So she went and climbed onboard. A few minutes passed and she came stomping out of the plane mad as a hornet and shooed the paps away. Word got out that he decided after his awkward and uncomfortable appearance at ComicCon some time before that (when he literally said the words “Taylor Swift and I are in love” 🙄) that he didn’t want to be a part of this PR nightmare anymore. So he didn’t get on the plane. And to add insult to injury, it was said he left a small gift bag on one of the seats. Inside it? A self-help book for getting over narcissism. 🤣🤣🤣 He popped up like a week later in London near where he lived. Proving he can get around without anyone noticing him.

During this PRship is when I really got an idea of how she operates and controls her image. She has a three month plan: the “outing,” so to speak (pix on the rocks kissing with Hiddles), being seen out and about (them kissing and touring in time and other places), pix with his family (they walked on the beach near his mother’s home with his mother, sister, and young niece), and then her supporting her friends (they attended a Selena Gomez concert fighter….he looked like a dad accompanying his daughter and her friends 🤦🏽‍♀️). She also has scripts for what her partner is supposed to say. I’ve heard he kept them and he and his friends would sit around (after they broke up) and read them out loud and laugh their asses off at the terrible writing. It’s probably why he sounded so wooden and uncomfortable when he spoke about her during the, what I call, Snakebite of Summer 2016. The rumors were she was trying to get him to take her to the Emmys that September but he didn’t want to.

Anyway…yeah I have a lot of intel from those days 😂 (sorry for the long ass ask!)

hiddleswift lore? in MY inbox? in 2024? it’s more likely than you think! I love this rundown thank you for explaining it!

She’s cheated 3 times and she’s still the victim in all her music? HOW? And how the hell did she convince her fans too?

So she cheated on Calvin with Tom to get with…Joe? This is so manipulative. I hate feeling bad for men but she genuinely makes me feel bad for her exes. She’s awful. If he actually left the self help book, he’s so funny for that. It’s been 8 years and she still hasn’t changed.

Your analysis of her PR relationships is on point! I see the same thing happening with Kelce. With the release of this album it feels like she’s intentionally fizzling out their romance. The scripts make sense because all of her partners sound the same when talking about her. How miserable she must be knowing all the love her partners have for her is fabricated.

#hiddle anon #anti taylor swift #ask #notyouraryang0dd3ss #anon #tom hiddleston #travis kelce

[foxes-that-run]

Sweet Creature

Harry said that Sweet Creature is about one person, and that he will never say who, adding if he would never tell them it wasn't about them. I think the protagonist has changed since it was written. It was a closer in the Live on tour set, and often emotional like this time in New York.

It was played once on HSLoveOT at Wembley. Harry talked about Gemma first bringing him to London for xfactor and he’d “like to play a song for her tonight”. He thanked London. So its matured in meaning and he sung it to Gemma, who had a baby 8 months later:

19 February 2016

At the Troubadour (at 21:40) on it's launch 19 May 2017, Harry said Sweet Creature was written a few weeks after his birthday 1 February 2016. It was written at the Village in Los Angeles. There is a photo of him at the studio on the 19th February. He also said it was the first song he wrote “for” the album (1:22). Harry said that one song (two ghosts) was written before leaving the band but everything on debut except 3 songs were written between July and December 2016.

Sweet creatures opening melody is similar to Blackbird by the Beatles. Blackbird is a McCartney song, interestingly, Harry was photographed with Ringo at the Clive Davis Grammy party. From I'm Not Happy (possibly the same night) and Pop Tart it might have been the first time they saw each other after the 2015 BBMAs 8 months earlier, 1D had been touring for most of that.

Cry “O sweet creature!” then kiss me hard

‘Sweet Creature’ appears in Shakespeare’s Othello. A tragedy, Othello is newly married to the beautiful (and faithful) Desdemona. The villain, Lago resents Othello and drives him mad by insinuating that the handsome and charismatic Cassio had an affair with Desdemona. Lago tells Othello that he heard Cassio talk in his sleep:

In sleep I heard him say “Sweet Desdemona Let us be wary, let us hide our loves.” And then, sir, would he gripe and wring my hand, Cry “O sweet creature!” then kiss me hard…”

It’s a really interesting reference. On one hand, Harry is singing with genuine affection and fits the imagined role of Cassio. However, as described in Woman Harry was jealous and he’s also the villain, messing with CH, in a laughably effective way.

If the Othello reference holds, Desdemona had also not cheated on Othello. But by 28 February Harry tweeted 'You can shake an apple off an apple tree.' And by April 29 that may have changed (Illicit Affairs / I did something bad).

Lyrics

[Verse 1] Sweet creature Had another talk about where it's going wrong But we're still young We don't know where we're going But we know where we belong

In out of the Woods and interviews about it Taylor talked about the relationship being tentative and plagued by challenges and poor communication.

Harry did not know where he was going, One Direction was broken up and although he started recording he had not signed a solo record deal.

TS and HS were unable to let each other go for years, often singing about belonging, or eventually being together. Particularly Someday, Satellite, As it Was, The 1 and End Game.

[Pre-Chorus] And, oh, we started Two hearts in one home It's hard when we argue We're both stubborn, I know But oh

'Two hearts one home' references Hopelessly by Crosby, Stills and Nash hoping on Harry’s Another Man Mix Tape. “They are One Person / They are Two Alone”, Nash was longing for Joni Mitchell, an idol of Taylor’s. This line is often read as referring to Gemma and when played it again in 2023 Harry agreed. However I think it wouldn’t have been dropped from the set if it was about Gemma.

In 2016 though, his 'home' was not a building. In the first 2 minutes of the Fine Line interview with Zane Lowe Harry talks about not feeling at home and feeling lost in his house in London on a 5 day 1D break, and glad when it ended. Taylor was a home of the heart, a part of his world and separate to the band. Woman Exile has more on ‘home’.

The idea of one’s sweetheart being home is in the Notebook, Harry’s favourite movie. Old Noah says it to his kids when they ask him to come home with him, his wife is his home.

[Chorus] Sweet creature, sweet creature Wherever I go, you bring me home Sweet creature, sweet creature When I run out of road, you bring me home

‘When I run out of road’ reminds us of the amount of Driving in Haylor songs. But this is referring specifically to Harry’s anxiety going solo and trust/hope that Taylor would be there for him. 7 months later in New Years Day she agreed: “I'll be there if you're the toast of the town, babe, Or if you strike out and you're crawling home”

[Verse 2] Sweet creature Running through the garden Oh, where nothing bothered us But we're still young I always think about you and how we don't speak enough

I think here though the Garden is the beach at Taylors Rhode Island home, (bought when they first dated) where the 1989 and 1989 TV covers and rolling stone beach shoot was. This shoot is referenced in the videos for Style and End Game.

Similar lyrical references are in Cruel Summer (snuck in through the garden gate to seal our fate), Blank Space (Rose Garden filled with thorns) and Betty (In the Garden would you trust me).

Not speaking is also a common theme, best put in Fine Line: "Spreading you open Is the only way of knowing you", and The 1: "And if you wanted me, you really should've showed."

And he posted this when it was released

#haylor #sweet creature #harry styles #Youtube #harry styles debut #hs1

[jadejedi]

Romance Book Review: Red, White, and Royal Blue (Casey McQuinston)

JJ’s rating: 5/5

How feral did it make me: 4/5

My book reviews

I have been seeing a lot of negativity around this book and the movie for a while now, and that has made me want to review this book. I will say it’s been a couple of years since I’ve read it last, but I have read it multiple times. The first time I read it I literally could not put it down; I had the audiobook and the ebook so I could read wherever I was lol. 

I genuinely love this book. I think it is a great romance novel and I LOVE Alex and Henry so so much. I think a lot of the negativity is coming from a couple of places. First of all: the politics. Yes, you heard it here folks: the gay rom-com known as Red, White, and Royal Blue is not the next “Communist Manifesto”. Shocking, I know. But McQuinston was clearly not trying to write something politically revolutionary?? So, I don’t understand why that is being held against this book. From my understanding, they wrote this book after the 2016 election as a way of coping, essentially. To me, it is not at all different from something like Parks and Recreation, which is easily as much of a liberal utopia as RWRB. I said this in my review of Victoria Goddard’s The Hands of the Emperor, and I’ll say it here: not every work of fiction needs to have a radical political statement. Even if it features politics. It’s okay to have a book that is just about two young men falling in love against this dramatic political backdrop. Is it a bit cringe? Maybe?? But who cares!!! What isn’t cringe these days?? God. Also, it’s not like this book paints a super pretty picture of the monarchy in particular.

Sure, it's escapism, but so what?? What's wrong with a bit of escapism?

I think the other place some of the negativity is coming from is from the crowd who kind of wants to police what is and isn’t “good queer representation”. If a work isn’t “good enough” (i.e. doesn’t resonate with them personally) they will decry it as “bad representation”. I saw this happen with Simon vs. the Homosapien’s Agenda and the movie, Love, Simon. Like those works, I have occasionally seen RWRB condemned as sort of gay fiction for straight people. As if there is only one way to be queer. As if there is only one queer story. I acknowledge our need for a wide range of experiences portrayed in the media, but to say that we as a society no longer have a need for coming out stories is a bold fucking claim to be perfectly honest. RWRB was one of the first queer romance books I read, and it really meant a lot to me at the time, and continues to do so. I think that there is value in portraying both Alex’s journey of self-discovery and Henry’s journey of realizing that he doesn’t have to be unhappy in his life, that he deserves to be able to openly love who he loves. 

So, with all of that out of the way, here’s the summary. Alex Claremont-Diaz is the son of the first female president of the USA and she is about to be up for reelection. Alex is widely beloved, he’s got a bright future in politics ahead of him, and everything seems to be going his way. Except he keeps getting put in the path of his nemesis, the younger Prince of England, Prince Henry. Henry, who is so cold and uppity and standoffish and Alex is definitely not attracted to him. Nope. Not a bit. 

This book has everything you want in a romance book. Lovable characters, leads with genuine chemistry, lots of heart and emotion, a good dose of humor, and LOVE LETTERS. And HISTORICAL LOVE LETTERS. God. Even though, as I said above, this book is not a revolutionary political story, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t deal with deep and interesting topics. It deals with multicultural relationships, what it means to have a legacy and how much we get to dictate what that legacy is, and some of the realities of being a queer person in the public eye. 

I love this book, and I think if you are a romance reader or just love a good queer romance with a genuinely happy ending, this is the book for you.

#rwrb #red white and royal blue #book review #romance book review #meet ugly #mlm #contemporary romance #rom com

[for-yoongi0309]

SUGA IS A VOICE OF AUTHENTICITY IN A SUPERFICIAL WORLD

VOGUE JAPAN’s first ever solo male cover star SUGA opens up about mindfulness, procrastination, and how his relationship with music has changed.

For VOGUE JAPAN’s August issue, our theme is “INNER BEAUTY”; in other words, searching beyond the surface to see what really drives our dreams and desires. What better icon to represent this than SUGA? By navigating an industry obsessed with the superficial, the megastar is a voice of depth and authenticity, fearlessly candid about the internal struggles he’s faced, and the expectations he carries as one of Asia’s most successful artists. SUGA is also the first man to appear solo on the cover of VOGUE JAPAN in its 24 year history. Wearing Valentino’s Fall/Winter 2023 Black Tie collection, the South Korean artist is a celebration of a world where the connections between gender, fashion, and music are increasingly intertwined.

When it comes to music, SUGA is a true multi-hyphenate. A member of BTS, a rapper, a songwriter, and a producer for various global artists, he also performs solo under the stage name Agust D. His solo moniker is derived from SUGA spelled backwards, with the D referring to Daegu Town, a city in South Korea where he grew up.

In a Q&A with VOGUE JAPAN, before his Japan tour which was held on the 2nd-4th June, we asked SUGA about his first solo world tour, his solo album ‘D-DAY’, and what he does to stay motivated when it all feels like too much. He also opened up about how his approach to making music has changed over the years, offering his answer on a personal handwritten note. It reads: “At first I thought it was fate. Then, when I was writing songs and working, I thought of it as a kind of frenemy. Now I’ve come to think of writing music as family – something that I will spend eternity with.”

The culmination of a trilogy – The latest album D-DAY

Q: What’s the meaning behind the album ‘D-DAY’?

Solo Album ‘D-DAY’ completes the Agust D trilogy (the Agust D mixtape from 2016, and the D-2 mixtape from 2020). It’s like the second chapter of my story as Min Yunki.

Q: The title track "Haegeum" is about liberation. What does liberation mean to you?

I think I have experienced, seen, and heard a lot [in my life]. Just as essential as relaxing, I think the most important thing in life is to liberate your mind so that it’s free of negative emotions. I felt that way especially while working on this album.

Q: You featured RM on the last album "D-2" and this time you’re featuring J-HOPE. How did the collaboration come about behind the scenes?

We needed a rapper to feature on this album as well, so we looked for the most trustworthy rapper we could find. I’ve been working with J-HOPE on making music for over 10 years, and so we decided to entrust it to him

Q: You also collaborated with Ryuichi Sakamoto and met him when you visited Japan.

He had been doing music for such a long time, and was someone I hugely admired and looked up to, so it was an honor just to meet him. He gave me a lot of advice as a mentor, and the conversations we had together were a great help in finishing the album

Q: You experimented with drill music on D-DAY. Are there any particular sounds you would like to take on in the future?

As people involved in pop music, I think it’s our job to challenge ourselves to seek out the trendiest music and sound of the moment.

Q: I heard that you were stuck working on D-DAY in Seoul, so you went to Dangjin City by yourself and spent some time up in the mountains. How did that help?

When I’m in Seoul there are so many things to do, and so when I get stuck working on a song I tend to procrastinate and beat myself up about it. But when I go somewhere else, there’s nothing to do except working on the music, and I can start to feel the passion again.

Q: In the documentary film SUGA: Road to D-DAY, you visited musicians such as Steve Aoki, Halsey, and Anderson Paak. What did you learn from these experiences?

It's interesting to talk about music with other people who are involved in it too. More so than realizing and learning something, it’s really just about talking and having a good time together.

Q: You mentioned in the documentary that you wrote the song ‘Snooze’ for this album while you were in the hospital. What motivates you to continue writing songs to cheer people up, even when you were in a situation that you couldn’t even eat?

Of course, it’s important to take a break when times are tough. But I just did what I had to do, thinking that it would be a waste to take a break, because I knew I would recover eventually. I think anyone else would do the same if they were in a similar situation.

Q: In the FAQ for the BTS anthology album "Proof," you mentioned feeling inferior as the most important emotion. Have your feelings changed now that you have completed this album, which marks the end of your career as Agust D?

I feel that I have grown even more through the Agust D Trilogy, and I think I have overcome my complexes and traumas through making this album. Now, I’m feeling relaxed after my first show, and enjoying the tour without worrying too much.

Long-awaited first solo world tour – The message behind the music

Q: In the past, you have worked on songs during your world tours. Are there any new songs that have been created?

I wouldn’t say I write more songs during any specific time. I’m always writing songs.

Q: The documentary SUGA: Road to D-DAY showed you when you were in a slump, saying that you had no message to convey with the album. Did you come up with a message as you went around the country on tour?

When working on the production [of an album], I always worry about what kind of story I’m telling and what kind of messages to include and so when have a story I want to tell, I immediately start working on it. While working on this album, the words I wanted to convey started to come to me, and I’m sure they’ll keep coming.

Q: What are you looking forward to seeing in Japan?

Our last tour in Japan was in 2019. I wanted to perform there after that too, but it wasn't possible, so this will be the first time for a while. I hope that everyone who has been waiting for me there will be able to enjoy the show to its fullest.

Music and career – Relationship with the members

Q: It has been about 20 years since you began your career and started writing rap songs. How has your relationship with the music changed over that time?

At first I thought it was fate [for me to make music]. Then, when I was writing songs and working, I thought of it as a kind of frenemy. Now I’ve come to think of writing music as family – something that I will spend eternity with.

Q: Is there a moment in your career that was a turning point?

The biggest turning point for me was my first visit to the Billboard Awards in 2017

Q: This June marks a full 10 years since your debut as BTS. What feeling defines that decade for you?

Gratitude. I have been working as an artist and making music since before my debut, but back then I was one of those nameless artists who made music that no one would listen to. Now, I’ve been able to meet my fans and see many people that listen to my music. I am always grateful for that.

Q: What are your fondest memories of the past 10 years? What were the most enjoyable moments?

I have a lot of good memories of touring with the BTS members. The most enjoyable moments are when we’re all on stage.

Q: You often say that you “imagine a future where the seven members of BTS will be together forever”.

We really believe that the seven of us in BTS will always be together, and I believe there are clear things we can do in each of our respective areas. Each one of us has their own unique sphere, and there’s a mutual respect there. I think having that respect is the most important thing.

Q: In an interview with GQ KOREA two years ago, you said, “I have no dreams now, but that makes it easier.” Then, in the documentary, you said, “There is nothing I want to do”. You also said that you want to cherish the present. What is your next “dream”?

Apart from the seven of us making music together and being on stage for a long time to come, I think I have fulfilled almost all of my dreams.

Q: What is something you would like to tell your juniors, or the people that look up to you?

Everything will be fine. There will be times when you feel at your worst. I’ve had that kind of time too. But when you look back at it, it becomes a memory, and you can learn from it. It’ll be okay in the end.

The inseparable mind and body – Dealing with internal struggles

Q: How did you arrive at the idea that regret is in the past, anxiety is in the future, and to focus on the here and now? Do you practice mindfulness?

From a very young age, I was anxious about both the past and the future. I was worried and concerned even though I had no control over it. At one point I felt that it would be easier if I just got rid of those feelings, so I did a lot of things, like meditating and studying.

Q: We live in a world that places a lot of importance on remaining authentic. What kind of person do you think is an authentic person?

A natural person. Someone who doesn't struggle to do everything well, who doesn't hide the things they can’t do, and who shows their true self to the world.

Q: How do you feel about your own mind/body connection?

When my mental condition is not so good or when I’m worried about something, my body reacts to it immediately, even if I’m physically fine. On the other hand, if I’m not in a good physical condition, it also affects my mental health. So I think it’s important to maintain a balance between mental and physical health.

Off-stage SUGA – The real Min Yunki

Q: If you were to describe your personality in three words, what would they be?

Hmmm... that's difficult. 1, hard to figure out. 2, calm. 3, an observer.

Q: In the SUGA: Road to D-Day documentary, you visited friends all over the world. In ‘Dear My Friends’ from the last D-2 record, you sang about friendships that have changed. How have your friendships changed this time around?

All of my close friends now are people who doesn’t force others to be or to do something they don’t wish to. I think that kind of relationship is the ideal.

Q: What kind of people do you find attractive?

People who are spontaneous and positive.

Q: How would you describe your style?

Relaxed.

Q: You have such clear skin – what’s your beauty routine?

I don't have a routine. I simply apply lotion and that’s it.

Q: Finally, what does ARMY [BTS’s fandom name] mean to you?

I enjoy making music and performing on stage, but I’m only able to do that because of my fans. There is no point in standing alone on a big stage. Half of everything I’m able to do is possible because of ARMY.

© ASHLEY OGAWA CLARKE、EMI KAMEOKA、YUI SUGIYAMA、MASAYO UGAWA

Styling: Youngjin Kim, Bongkyu Kim

Clothes + accessories: VALENTINO

Hair: Sohee Han　

Makeup: Dareum Kim　

Set Design: Takashi Imayosh

Coordination: Ayumi Shinnai, Hyeonjeong Kyung　

Art Direction: Tomoyuki Yonezu

#ultkpopnetwork #mgroupsedit #idolsincedits #maleidolsedit #yoongi #suga #min yoongi #bangtan #bts #i. interviews #mg.vogue jpn'23

[spaceoddball1969]

Falling for the Freak - Eddie Munson Fix-It Fic - Chapter 16

Hello hello friends! I hoep you all are doing well! This will not be proof-read - I start a second job tomorrow and I have to be up at 6am (bleh). Anyway, please enjoy!

CHAPTER SUMMARY: The reader and Eddie camp out at Reefer Rick’s while the Hawkins gang tries to figure out how the heck they’re going to stop Vecna and prove Eddie’s innocence.

DISCLAIMERS/WARNINGS: Fluff, language, discussion of murder and demonic possession. Also - not to offend any Stancy shippers - but we’re not doing that here. That is definitely going to be part of this fix-it situation. Jancy is here to stay because Jancy has literally been my ship since day one back in 2016 when this ridiculous show first came out.

Chapte 16

Time felt like it was going by incredibly slow and incredibly fast at the same time. I woke up at first when the sun came up. It lit the room, casting shadows across the walls. I sleepily pulled Eddie closer to me and then everything that had happened the previous day and night came crashing down on me. I opened my eyes suddenly wide awake and I stared at Eddie, who was still asleep next to me. His hair was all over his face and his chest rose and fell slowly. Every part of me ached to be able to scream at the entire town of Hawkins that this man was innocent. If they only knew him, they would see that he couldn’t possibly have hurt Chrissy. He was too good. Too kind. 

I wrestled with myself for a moment, trying to stop the tears from pouring out. I moved closer to Eddie and rested a hand on his chest. He was still mostly asleep, but he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me tight against him. I listened to his heart beating in his chest. It was the best heart I had ever known.

I fell asleep for a little while longer after that. I was woken up by the scratching sound of Dustin’s walkie talkie. Then I heard a muffled voice coming through the speaker. Both Eddie and I sleepily sat up from our place wrapped around one another. Eddie rubbed his eyes as he reached for the walkie talkie.

“Morning, Henderson,” he said.

“Eddie it’s almost noon,” Dustin said. 

“Whatever,” Eddie said, “what’s going on?”

“We’re coming to the house,” Dustin said. “We need you to let us in,”

“Roger that,” Eddie said.

“Over and out,” Dustin said.

“Yeah,” Eddie mumbled. “Over and out,”

Eddie set the walkie talkie back on the night stand and looked at me. His eyes looked heavy with sleep and a little bit of stubble was forming on his face. I pushed his hair out of his face and he closed his eyes at my touch. Eddie leaned his head into my hand and kissed my palm.

“I was really hoping that when I woke up that all of this would have been a dream,” he said. “Except for you,”

“It feels like a dream,” I said. Eddie’s eyes met mine and he leaned forward to kiss me once. He rested his forehead on mine and closed his eyes. I held his face in my hands and stroked his cheek with my thumb. “Come on,” I said. “We should get dressed, they’ll probably be here soon,”

Eddie nodded and we both got out of bed. Eddie pulled on his pants and I gave him his Hellfire shirt. I put on my own clothes and walked with Eddie out to the living room to watch for Steve’s car.

After about ten minutes we saw the car pull up. They moved slow so the engine wouldn’t make too much noise. I watched as Dustin, Max, Robin, and Steve all carfully closed their doors and then snuck up to the front porch. Eddie had the door open before they could knock.

“We’ve got news,” Dustin said as he walked in.

“Good news?” I asked.

“Not really,” Robin said.

“It’s pretty bad out there,” Steve said.

The four of them sat down on the couch across from me and Eddie. Dustin spoke first. “The cops are convinced that Eddie is the murderer. He’s at least the prime suspect. They haven’t put out his name publicly, so that’s at least kind of good. It’ll happen though, sooner or later,”

“And once they do...” Max said.

“I’ll be undesirable number one,” Eddie said, chewing on his lower lip nervously.

“Yeah basically,” Robin sighed defeatedly.

“I don’t mean to be questioning you all, but how exactly are you planning on defeating the evil wizard?” I asked. “How have you stopped this shit before?”

“We usually rely on Eleven,” Steve admitted. “She usually takes care of everything with her superpowers.” He paused, not sure if he should go on. “But she kinda lost them last time.”

“Lost them?” I asked.

“She overexerted herself last time,” Max said. “It was like she blew a fuse or something,”

“And she’s in California anyway,” Dustin said. “It’s not exactly like she could show up today and stop Vecna even if she had her superpowers,”

There was a deafening silence as we all realized how hopeless the situation seemed. It was interrupted by the sudden outbreak of police sirens seeming to come from down the road. We all ducked down to be out of sight from the windows. I crept to the edge of the nearest window at watched as a line of police cars zoomed past the house. 

“They aren’t stopping here,” I said, relief flooding through my body.

“But where are they going?” Dustin asked.

“My trailer park is in that direction,” Eddie said. “Why would they be going back there?”

“You don’t think-” Robin started and then stopped before she could voice the horrible idea.

“There’s going to be another victim,” Max said, standing up. “We’ve gotta follow them,”

They started to pour out of the house and then Eddie grabbed me. “Go with them,” he said.

“What?” I asked. “And leave you here?”

“Yes,” Eddie replied. “Go figure out what’s happening. Make sure that son of a bitch didn’t get my uncle ok?”

I realized Eddie was scared the monster had come back to his trailer and had killed Wayne just like it had killed Chrissy. “Of course,” I said. “I’ll be back,”

“I know,” Eddie said. “Now, go on,”

I rushed out the door and yelled for Steve to hold on. “I’m coming!” I said.

I slid into the back seat with Max and Dustin as Steve pulled out of the driveway. Steve was quick to catch up to the cops. He followed them closely until we reached Forrest Hill. The trailer park entrance was swarmed with cops. All around us there were men in uniforms moving about, mostly trying to keep onlookers at bay. Steve parked the car and we all got out. I was scanning the crowd of people, looking for Wayne or any sign of a body and then I noticed a familiar face. 

“Nancy?” I asked to myself.

It was almost on cue - she looked up from the police officer she was talking to and met my glance. She looked terrified. Me and Steve exchanged a look and he looked equally concerned. We waited a few minutes for Nancy to finish answering the cops’ questions. When she was finally able to, she rushed over to us. 

“What are you doing here?” Steve asked.

“It’s Fred,” Nancy said, “they found his body this morning. I was here with him yesterday trying to get answers about the body found in the trailer - he disappeared. I couldn’t find him, he was just gone - and now...” she spoke quickly until her voice choked and she had to fight back tears. “He’s dead. He’s been killed.”

“Do they think Eddie did it?” I asked. “Do they think Eddie killed Fred?”

“I don’t know,” she replied. “They think he’s involved with Chrissy’s death, but he has no connections to Fred. All I know is they’re looking for him,”

“We know where he is,” Robin said and then the boys shushed her. 

“Come on,” Steve said, “let’s get out of here, we’ll catch you up,”

---

After we had all traded information, we began to strategize. Nancy wanted to pursue the Victor Creel story that she had heard from Wayne Munson. He was supposedly a psychobath from back in the day that had killed his family and ended up in Pennhurst Asylum. Wayne theorized that he had broken out of the asylum and come back to Hawkins. I felt like it might be a long shot, but it at least was something. 

“Wait,” Max said. “I might have something,” We all looked at her expectantly, “Chrissy was seeing Ms. Kelly. Maybe she can fill us in on something we don’t know,”

“Like what?” Steve asked.

“Like a motive?” Max asked. “Maybe Chrissy was dealing with something we’re all unaware of,”

“We’ve gotta split up,” I said. “There’s too much ground to cover.”

We decided that Steve, Dustin, and Max would go pay a visit to Ms. Kelly’s house while Nancy, Robin, and I would investigate the Victory Creel theory. Before we split up, I asked Dustin to borrow his walkie talkie. I turned to the  channel Eddie’s was set to.

“Hey,” I said. “Come in, I’ve got news,”

Eddie’s voice crackled out of the speaker. “What’s going on?”

“It wasn’t your uncle,” I said. “But it was another Hawkins student,”

“Oh God,” Eddie said. “Any plans?”

“We’re going to split up,” I said. “I’m going to the library with Nancy and Robin,”

“Nancy Wheeler?” Eddie asked. “She’s involved?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Dustin is going with Max and Steve to visit the school counselor to ask her some questions,”

“I’m very confused,” Eddie said.

“I’ll fill you in once we know more,” I said. “Over and out,”

“Over and out,” Eddie replied.

I followed Nancy to her car and got in the passenger’s seat. Within a few minutes were back in town and parked outside the library.

“Do you really think that this guy broke out and killed Chrissy and Fred?” I asked Nancy as we scanned through newspaper archives.

“It’s a longshot, I know,” Nancy said. “I just don’t want to leave any stone unturned,”

“Not gonna lie,” Robin said, “it would make me feel a lot better if we’re dealing with just an average psychopath and not some kind of interdimensional dark wizard man,”

“Why did Victor Creel kill his family anyway?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Nancy said, “Mr. Munson wasn’t sure either,”

“Is it possible that this all could be connected?” Robin asked. “Like could what happened to Victor Creel and his family be what is happening to us now?”

“That was like thirty years ago,” Nancy said. “The gate to the Upside Down didn’t open until like three years ago,”

“But what if there was another gate?” I asked. “We’re looking for the wrong things, the wrong connections,”

Robin suddenly got up and left the room. She returned a few minutes later, holding something new for us to scan through. “It’s The Weekly Watcher,” she said excitedly.

“That stuff is just full of fake UFO sightings,” Nancy said, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah but maybe they wrote about good old Victor Creel back in the day,” Robin said, optimistically.

“They’ll probably make it out to be a demonic possesion or something,” I said. “Especially back in the fifties,”

Robin paused. “Um... Y/N” she said. “Are you like psychic or do you have a secret obsession with The Weekly Watcher that we should know about?” 

“No and no,” I said, “Why?”

“You need to look at this,” Robin replied.

Me and Nancy both moved over to where Robin was staring down at a headline printed in large black letters.

MAN KILLS FAMILY, BLAMES DEMONIC POSSESSION

“What the fuck?” I asked.

We scanned through the article. Victor Creel claimed that his family’s house was haunted by a powerful demon. After they had hired a priest to perform an exorcism, Creel claimed that the family was attacked and killed as punishment. Victor was left alive to bare the pain this exact punishment. 

“There’s no way,” Nancy said.

“We’re dealing with the idea that demons and multiple dimensions are possible, how is this going too far for you?” I asked. “It’s a lead,”

“Right,” Robin said. “What if the demon was Vecna?”

“Oh my God,” Nancy said.

---

When we finished up at the library, I asked Nancy to drop me off at Dustin’s house. I needed to pick up some clean clothes and I wanted to grab some supplies for Eddie. My aunt wasn’t home when I entered the house, so I scratched out a note saying that I had come by and was going to spend another night with Robin.

I went back to my room and changed quickly. I pulled out my backpack and stuffed a few shirts and another pair of jeans into it. I located all of Eddie’s shirts that I had stolen from him in the last three months and then went to raid the fridge. 

Just as I was zipping up the backpack, there was a knock at the door. I froze and slowly approached the door. I couldn’t place why, but I felt incredibly uneasy about who was on the otherside. I peaked out the peephole and saw a handsome young man standing on the front porch. He was blonde, blue eyed, and was wearing a green Hawkins High letterman jacket. Before he knocked again, I opened the door.

“Hi,” I said. “Who are you?”

“My name is Jason Carver,” the young man replied. “Is Dustin here? We were meant to hang out today,”

Something felt terribly wrong about this situation. “Uh, no he’s not here,” I said.

“Do you know where he might be?” he asked.

“Not sure,” I said. “Maybe the arcade?”

“Already looked there,” Jason said.

“Then I really can’t help you,” I said. “Sorry,”

“Tell him I stopped by when you see him,” Jason said. “I really need to talk to him,” Jason was just about to turn around to leave when he paused and looked back at me. “Aren’t you Munson’s girl?”

That was it. He was looking for Eddie. “Not anymore,” I said. “Broke up with him a few weeks ago,” 

“So you wouldn’t know where he is then?” he asked.

“Not in the slightest,” I said.

“That’s probably for the best,” Jason said. “Nice girl like you shouldn’t be hanging out with freaks like him,”

“You have a good day now,” I said and closed the door.

I locked it behind me, my heart racing. I watched as Jason met up with several other boys at his car across the street. Then I heard a thump coming from Dustin’s room. I panicked, thinking they were breaking into the house. I grabbed an umbrella that was leaning the corner next to the door and slowly began to approach Dustin’s room. When I was outside, I could hear someone shuffling around inside. I busted the door open, my umbrella at the ready and then suddenly stopped when I saw a familiar face.

“Lucas!?” I cried.

“Y/N!” he yelled. “Don’t swing, I just needed Dustin’s walkie to warn him Jason’s looking for him. I’m going to divert them if I can,”

“Why are they trying to find Dustin?” I asked.

“They know Eddie killed Chrissy and they think that Dustin knows where he is,” Lucas said.

“Wow you are so out of the loop,” I said. “Eddie’s innocent, it’s the Upside Down that’s doing all of this,”

Lucas froze. “How do you know about the Upside Down?” he asked.

“Dustin told me,” I said. 

“Never mind,” Lucas said. “I gotta get these guys out of here. Stay away from Jason, he’s lost his mind,”

---

Once I saw Jason drive away with the rest of his gang, I went out to find my bike. It took too long, but I finally made it back to Reefer Rick’s. The sun had set by the time I stashed my bike in the boathouse. I snuck in the back door and called out for Eddie. I walked slowly through the house hissing Eddie’s name. Finally he popped out from the bathroom, I couldn’t help but notice the pocket knife in his hand.

“Eddie, it’s me,” I said. “Put it down,”

“Sorry,” he said. “can never be too careful,”

“I brought you some stuff,” I said, passing him the backpack.

“God you’re the best,” he said.

We sat in the bedroom with the walkie talkie near as I filled him in on everything we had found out today. We hadn’t heard from Dustin or Lucas and I was beginning to get worried. The house was dark, the only light coming from a candle we found. It lit the bedroom with an orange glow, casting flickering shadows across our faces. Suddenly the walkie talkie sprang to life.

“Code red!” Dustin’s voice shouted. “Code red, we’re coming your way!”

“What’s happening?” I asked.

“We’ll be there in 20!” Dustin shouted. “It’s Max!”

Falling for the Freak Taglist:

@dilophosaurusatenewman @efvyqrs @babeyglo @aestaethicvante @kbakery @kaqua @aereth @starryeyedkoko @livlaughquinn @lorrainlikesprivacy @possiblyexisting @cryuki-patootie @beepisbeep

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fix-it fic #falling for the freak #chapter 16 #joseph quinn #stranger things 4 #stranger things fanfic #stranger things fix-it fic #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson angst #eddie munson is innocent

[alixinwwonderland]

TMMM Fic Masterlist

I’ve been meaning to put all my fic in one place for a while now! Will do my best to keep this up to date.

Please note: as of June 2023, several of these fics are available to logged-in AO3 users only, in response to concerns over data scraping for training AI. The fics that remain unlocked are the ones that have been posted in their entirety or near-entirety here, so locking them (at the moment) felt moot.

midgelenny clickbait

a collection of interviews, listicles, tweets, and more, all revolving around all the different universes in which midge maisel and lenny bruce collide.

extra extra read all about it

Rating: T Three interviews, three years, three times Mrs. Maisel talks about Lenny Bruce in public.

20 Reactions to Midge Maisel Revealing THAT in Her New Memoir

Rating: M Midge Maisel's second memoir drops a bombshell. Buzzfeed is here to round up Twitter's thoughts.

Midge Maisel and Lenny Bruce Answer the Internet’s Most Asked Questions

Rating: M When Wired's Autocomplete interviews start going viral in 2016, a couple of comedy legends agree to take a crack at it.

Lenny Bruce and Midge Maisel Read Thirst Tweets

Rating: M What would a clickbait series be without one (or more) thirst tweet features? Featuring two universes: modern-day Midge/Lenny and comedy-elders Midge/Lenny

The Costume Institute Presents: Comedy & Couture

Rating: M The Fall 2000 exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute pays homage to a century of comedy icons.

add his initial to my monogram

How do you move on from Carnegie Hall? A post-S4 universe.

to my heart he carries the key

Rating: E Midge stops planning and starts working, but there's still someone she needs to see. (It's Lenny. Obviously).

the melody lingers on

Rating: T While Midge and Lenny aren't speaking, a chance encounter helps Midge figure out her own feelings.

what am i gonna do if you turn me down

Rating: T Gordon tries to be a good friend. He regrets his choices immensely.

nice work if you can get it

Rating: T (may raise to M in the future) Midge makes amends and (re)makes a friendship.

season 5 fix-its

i never heard them ringing

Rating: M What happens if Lenny calls, and everything that comes next.

no one in the place except you and me

Rating: E Midge lives half a lifetime in the blink of an eye, then vows to make it different this time around.

four minutes (and then a little more)

Rating: T What's really happening in Midge's life, just outside the frame, throughout Season 5 (aka the post-finale fix-it that can slide right into canon).

the crashes are heaven for a sinner like me

Rating: T At first, Midge doesn’t quite believe what she’s seeing — it can't be him. But, it is. (or, how history sometimes bends in different ways)

miscellaneous

Fics that don’t fit into any series (yet...)

you’ve got troubles (i’ve got ‘em too)

Rating: T Being in the spotlight is hard. Sometimes, you just need a pal.

#midgelenny #midge maisel #lenny bruce #the marvelous mrs. maisel #tmmm #tmmmfic #fanfic #fanfiction #mine #tv: the marvelous mrs maisel #yes i picked a gif that spotlights midge's heart eyes and lenny's cheekbones #what else would you expect of me?

[angstics]

a long introspective post because i know with time i will forget this and i want to remember it all.

night of june 30th, technoblade's death was announced. i didnt believe it for a few minutes because i couldnt watch the video (i still havent). but it was true -- he passed away age 23 from cancer he discovered *less than a year* before his death. i keep quiet about how much i liked minecraft youtubers 2020 - 2021 because that turned out to be a DISASTER. but technoblade was one of the shining beacons. genuinely always the best, completely outside of post-death rose-tinted glasses. always.

before that, i was kind of getting into my chemical romance. id known of them my whole life. from dan and phil references to annoying ass g-note jokes to the twenty one pilot's cancer cover. i heard the Big Three hits but couldnt tell you what they were (except for "welcome") before listening to three cheers for the first time at the end of june. i dont know why i decided to start them. i wasnt really into music -- my top albums the last couple years included burnham's inside, starkid's twisted, and falsettos (2016). i wish i remembered better. if listening to them for the first time isnt a core memory, this is:

after 6 months of relative stability, i understandably hit a depressive episode in july. i would lie on my couch into the early morning for no reason. i wasnt trying to distract myself from his death ... there were no thoughts to be distracted from. it isnt a headspace i understand, especially since i never left it.

but for another unknown reason i thought to watch those mcr live shows. mind, at this point id only listened to three cheers. no exaggeration, i was betwitched by their performance. i most vibrantly remember gerard's eyes. crazy fucking eyes.

i'd forgotten cancer was an mcr song. when top released their cover, i listened to the original. i decided i liked twenty one pilots' more. i switched on that when i saw my chem on snl (i didnt watch BPID all the way through til a week later). it's the stripped down song, it's the direct lyrics, it's the crazy eyes. like he's trying to communicate EVERYTHING through his eyes.

the intro to BPID was like that too. when he ripped the hospital dress off and did the ghoul scream. had that feeling when i saw frank perform vampire money in glasgow. just. completely uninhibited. performace to say something truthful. unlike anything ive ever seen. from someone who wasnt very into music or live performance or theatre, much less the mechanics of it, i suddenly understood it all.

that screenshot is an abridged version of my actual search history. this is how it went.

june 26 i watched ->

side bar, thinking about it now, my interest in pink floyd directly lead to my interest in mcr. early morning july 1st, this is what i was watching (alan parsons project great reccomendation from my friend bink bonk):

july 2 i was watching videos a friend of techno's publicized to commerate him. the mcr video was in the reccomended tag -- a combo of the live pink floyd video and the im not okay mv. crazy how influenced my life is by where youtube leads me.

then i saw a LITTLE bit of BPID before seeing my chem in 2022 for the first time. this was just weeks after bonn. i didnt watch the full eden either. but i did watch all of "welcome" at milton keynes, based on the time stamps

this whole fucking day spent watching mcr videos. reading 2011, zack sang clip frank iero explains reading 2011 drama, mcr iceberg explained, "mcr best perfomance", "mcr best moments", mcr on letterman, mcr snl, "understanding the black parade" (i had not listened to black parade) -- then i left at 4pm. probably to sleep.

july 2nd was The day. i remember while watching these videos a realization hugging me. i knew that i was struck. from july until november, the majority of my conversations had something to do with my chem.

at the very beginning, i texted people about them to gage modern attitudes. growing up, they were adjacent to bands i thought sold out or lost their spark -- panic!, twenty one pilot, fall out boy. as ive said a million times, there is a Reason i didnt get into my chem earlier. just the other day on a SPECIFICALLY EMO SUBREDDIT there were people talking about how they "weren't ashamed to like mcr". where does this shame come from!!!!!! too mainstream for punk, too punk for mainstream. everyone knows this.

well anyway, july 2nd was just the first layer: the performance. july 11 (/early july 12) was another big day. the second layer: gender and sexuality. literally my tags on the first mcr post i reblogged ->

then i saw the great collection by flockofdoves and. well.

same day i found out about "i wanna be your joey ramone" and sleater-kinney, though i wouldnt listen to the song for a short while. that's layer 4: branching out to other music.

layer 3 was music appreciation. i listened to each of their albums in full sequentionally (KIND OF since i relistened to bullets 3 times were i only listened to the others in full 2 times max), purposuefully holding off for weeks between each album. i remember the first time i sat down to listen to black parade. i was buzzing at like 12:30 am because id decided that was the night. the end -> dead rocked my whole world. never got the instinct to bang your head around til those songs. the whole album was fucking amazing but something aboout famous last words got to me. id be sitting in the car with my sister and singing the bridge over and over. the perfect string of words -- with words i thought id never speak: awake and unafraid, asleep or dead.

i used to hate live performances because the music sounded worse than the studio version while giving me nothing performance-wise. id never wanted to go to a concert in my life. but not only did they sound GOOD live, it was a whole different experience. an adaptation that added to the experience in ways entirely different to what is lost. like i said, crazy eyes. and smiles like flowers and the audience louder than the amps and movement led by sound and memory. like. like nothing else. you cant understand this unless youre in love -- completely dedicated to it.

sometime in august i discovered they were coming to my town the next month. the first concert i ever wanted to go to. my parents were a nightmare about it the whole month until i got the permission to go. ive said also said this a million times: it was like rapture.

i dont understand why you would want to do anything that doesnt work towards that same feeling. my parents didnt get that feeling and i couldnt go to another show. it's been months and it still drives me insane. it drives me fucking insane. it drives me insane.

so those are the core memories related to my chem that got me here. it's a lot of love. love so big i cant even hold. it's belief. something close to religious. it's a lot of fear too -- fear the feeling will go away, that i'll "wake up", fear that they'll be taken. one reason i dont like music is the feelings i attach to it are so profound that i cant listen to it without feeling what i felt in the past. it's why i limit how much i listen to my chem. that's another fear -- though i attach positive feelings to the band, im engaging in it while depressed. more than engaging, obsessing. i cant focus on much else.

i hope as i get better mentally, this doesnt leave me. i got into it to cope. it showed me another dimension of art and life and emotion. it's a hard thing to navigate. i want the good, healthy parts of this to be my life. i hope i can figure that out. i hope it works out.

july 26 2020, i looked this up:

i have no memory of this at all.

the night before, i was on a technoblade binge that ended with me watching one of his seminal videos that i remember beat for beat.

i love technoblade forever. i cant watch his videos right now, but i hope i can someday. i love my chem forever. i hope-

#q.txt #2022 #mcr personal history

[allupallu]

My Mega Man Story

Since it´s Mega Man´s 35th anniversary, I wanted to share how I got into Mega Man and how it has influenced me, despite me not having finished any of its games, because I´m bad at them. Mega Man has helped me to come out of my shell, make friends and improve my art.

 It all started in 2016 when I watched AVGN´s video about Mega Man. It was the first time I had heard about it. After that video I started to read more about this series and I got a Mega Man fever. I wanted everything with Mega Man´s face on it. I redrew the 8-bit sprites which are still up in my room. I still can´t believe that I colored them with pencils only.

 Sometime later I started to redraw official artworks for practice. That´s where I developed my style and I brought it back in 2022. For example, the first time I drew Duo, it took me 12 hours in total, because I struggled with his anatomy. Now I can draw him from memory, except his left hand.

 Sometime in 2020 I discovered Reploid REVO and his videos gave me a better understanding of the characters and later I joined his server, where I made friends and was able to share my passion with others. Thank you for hosting last year´s oc jam, I got Leaf.exe thanks to it.

 When I first discovered Mega Man 8 and watched the cutscenes, I cried because I thought Mega Man died at the end. This game is the reason I started to write and got many ocs, mainly because of Duo. I tried to write fanfictions of him, but none of these worked out, at least I got The Spheres, Hope and Courage out of them. I wanted to create a sidekick for him and the first one was called Solo, he was so bad that I ripped him out of my sketchbook, he was kinda a combination of Shadow Man and Duo.

 I also started to write a phantasy story named Truth That Haunts which was the result of my failed MM8 fanfictions. It already has 15 chapters in my mother tongue and 6 in English. It´s main idea is how characters deal with their trauma and trying to become a better person, the idea of evil and justice energy is also there. For example, Nine and his fam, The Spheres and Electron are from this story.

 When I created Themis and Model Duo in spring 2021, I didn´t think that they would be so well liked. The amount of fanart that they got melted my heart, thank you everyone who drew them.

 This Spring I participated in PizzaStart´s Mega Man´s 35th anniversary art collab. I drew Ashe for the collab. I´m very thankful for this opportunity because it pushed me to become better at drawing digitally and it was an honor to be up there with other artists.

#megaman #megaman35th #mega man 8 #storytime

[dilucsflame33]

TMNT-VDAY: Week 1

This is very late but better late than never. 🤣

Anyways, this is for @tmnt-tychou prompt on her Valentine's Day event: OTP.

I've made the week 2 before this one since the second week took less time. So, if you don't like spoilers of any kind then I recommend not reading this.

In which TMNT Universe does your pairing exist?

My pairing exist in Bayverse. This takes place in 2022, present time. It's been over six years since the Kraang attack in the 2016 movie. A lot has happened during those six years, but all of that has been explained in the first book (Burning Mutation) and second book (Party Mutation).

Introduce us to your OTP!

I was having difficulty choosing my OTP because I am making a series and I love them all, but decided to do Donnie and Aurora. Let me introduce you to Aurora, even though you've probably heard of her before. ^^

Aurora is a 24 year old woman who was born and raised in London, but flew to New York for college in Biology and Engineering. Yes, she could easily go to college in London but she wants to start fresh. Plus, she loves to go to New York City.

Aurora is working for TCRI, but doesn't like the way they run things. Her IQ almost reaching Donnie's booksmarts and she isn't dumb whatsoever, but there is a difference between common sense and booksmarts. Shy, reserved, and prefers to stay in the shadows. Think of it as the one emo kid that stays in the back of the class, then roasts everyone when they mess with them.

Except she isn't emo.

She's a classy woman that drinks coffee in the morning and drinks wine when she gets home. She's chubby with glasses, thick curly red hair, and loves oversized clothing. Loves the turtlenecks. Mikey calls her "Velma" because of it.

Aurora can be pretty stubborn and it's hard to persuade her into thinking something different. Science? Yes. Romance? Oh, no! She ain't having it! But her reasoning came from her home background and watching other people's relationships going down the drain. She saw romance a "waste of time" and "energy spender."

Why have romance in real life when you have yourself?

Her college friend, April, was talking to Aurora about her type of men. Aurora rolled her eyes, knowing what her friend was trying to do. "I appreciate your help, April, but I'm not interested in some bafoon that only cares about sex than her woman's feelings and thoughts. And don't get me started on men have no respect for women whatsoever! I am telling you, my dearest friend. There is no such thing as love and romance. All of it is children's fairytale."

Ouch, am I right?

Donnie heard the whole conversation and he winced at the vemom of her words. It's obvious that she has been through somethings that caused her to have such views. So, that's when he was determined to figure it out.

While they were working together, Donnie mentioned about her views on romance. Aurora sighed as she organized some paperwork into files, always a clean freak. "Why do you want to know so badly? It's not like you are interested in me."

Donnie was flabbergasted. He found a woman that is just as smart, beautiful, and over all bad***. And she wants to know why he was interested in her? When there was silence, Aurora told him her backstory. She was raised in a toxic home. Her mother was a sweetheart, the sweetest woman you will ever meet. Then her father was a drunkard who will manipulate and harm her mother in every way. They argued all the time when she was child, it's a never ending thing. When they finally divorced and her mother took Aurora with her, her mother said, "Never fall in love, sweetheart. You will be tormented beyond belief and get your heart broken. Men are just cruel."

Being a child, she believed her mother's words. As she grew older, she saw that her mother was right. She saw relationships fall and heard so many negatives that she decided to never fall in love with a man. Yes, attraction was there but she saw men in their true colors before she could do anything.

Donnie felt so bad for the woman. She never dated anyone because of other people's experiences. She's a huge observer. Then, that's when he decides an offer.

How did they meet?

She has met Donnie not once but twice! He doesn't know who she is until she told him what happened during the fight in the second book.

Donnie was wanting more information about TCRI because they're connected from Tabitha (Raph's girl) and Serenity (Mikey's girl). April mentioned she has a friend who used to go to college with her, then offered to get some answers. Donnie agreed and April met up with Aurora on a girl's day.

Aurora figured out that she was being recorded and was wondering why. April told her about Tabitha and Serenity, then Aurora gave her some answers but some of them were kept secret. April asked Aurora if she wants to team up with her and friends on taking down TCRI, knowing Aurora's views on the company. The British woman agreed and, with permission from Splinter, April took her to the lair.

That's when Donnie saw Aurora for the "first time."

How is the relationship now? (This is continuing with the first question)

The relationship has ups and downs like normal relationships. At first, it wasn't really a relationship. Donnie offered to be her "boyfriend" and prove to her that there are good men out in the world. If she gave him a chance and fall in love, then they will date officially. If not and stuck to her beliefs, then he won't mention any relationship stuff ever again.

He was risking his own feelings into this, and made a huge gamble. He doesn't know if she will ever return his feelings. She knew of them because he confessed to her during the whole conversation. All he saw was a good woman that was having emotional trauma and he wants to prove himself that he wasn't like other men.

That's when he showed her what a true man was like. Months have passed and the more Donnie gave her affection, the more she craved.

When Donnie kissed her knuckles, she blushes.

When Donnie complements her clothes, she smiles.

Donnie gave her gifts, she cried happy tears because she didn't know that men can give their woman gifts (her father never gave her mother gifts).

And that's when she realized, Aurora fell in love with Donatello. Hard. She craved so much of him and felt so guilty for the way she treated him. She apologized profusely while she cried and Donnie held her through it all.

They were meant to be.

What is each other's love language?

Aurora, at first, was quality time. She could be in the same room with Donnie and she will be content. Now, she wants physical touch. Just a graze of his fingers on her hand or waist could make her yearn for more. Cuddles is her favorite thing. When Donnie was busy, she would get in his lap and he would kiss her forehead and play with her hair.

Donnie makes gifts for her. Anything that reminds him of Aurora, he makes it. Either be a rose necklace or anything that will be useful for her. But he enjoys the physical touch. The poor man is just as touched starved like Aurora.

They both enjoyed each other's company and physical touchs.

Do they get married? Have any kids?

Yes, they do get married! It's after the fourth book (Dream Mutation) where I write scenarios that follow after the war and they live in harmony.

They do end up having kids but, consider the gene difference, they don't just pop babies like humans can.

What is your favorite thing about this pairing? (Gush out!)

What I love about this pairing is that there's struggle during the whole bonding phase. Aurora was reluctant on telling Donnie anything, especially her past. She said harsh words, even at his brothers because Mikey was teasing her in a joking way when she first entered the lair.

Mikey said, "What's up, girl! Love how we have another girl in the group!" He was just happy that he was making another friend. You know how Mikey is. Plus, he has a girlfriend. He's just happy that Serenity is having another female friend.

Aurora gave him the stink eye. "You look like the cheating type. Flirting with other women isn't right, you know."

Yeah, she's very judgmental and she lost some points with the family in the beginning. But she saw her actions were wrong and apologized for it. Mikey forgave her (bless his soul) and gave her the biggest hug she has ever received.

I want to write something that people can relate to. My writing has always been more on the realistic side and seeing that Aurora has been through things that we have been through makes me feel happy, in a way.

There isn't any "love at first site" type of thing. There's bonding and getting to know each other. Donnie has patience and willing to do anything for Aurora even though that there is a possibility he will get hurt. But he told himself it will be worth it because she is worth it!

Aurora has been through so much, then Donnie proving that there is such thing as love and good men in the world. She found out that her mother is wrong and love was standing right in front of her. He has sacrificed so much and she felt guilty that she didn't have anything in return.

Donnie told her that he already got what he wanted and that's her. The flaws and scars are with the package of having something worth it. She promised that she will always be there for him through everything. Even when he has no coffee and goes on a rampage, she still loves him anyways.

I hope you love this pairing just as much as I do! 💜

#tmnt bayverse #tmnt 2014 #tmnt 2016 #dilucsflame33 #tmnt donnie #donnie x oc #bayverse turtles #bayverse tmnt #bayverse donatello #TMNT-VDAY

[romantichore]

there’s this old framed poster hanging on a hallway at work. it’s titled “10 keys to success” or something similar. I’ve read it countless times over the last 7 years but somehow it never really stuck to me. except for the very first item, that I always thought was complete bullshit. it reads:

“marry the right person. this will determine 80% of your success.”

I mean, bullshit, right? right.

brief story time: I have been writing since I was around 11 years old. I first began with poetry, then during my teenage years moved to horror, then cheesy romance, and now that I’m an adult I like to think it sits somewhere in between all those. when I entered college, back in 2014/15, and began working full time, I took a break from writing. still did things every now and again up until 2016, then quit entirely and forgot about it until 2021. ever since I picked it up again, I’ve been feeling much happier. it’s something I truly enjoy doing.

it never crossed my mind that writing is something people do for a living, and that, perhaps, I could do so too. writing and publishing a book always sounded like an ambition I wasn’t worthy of pursuing, so I never did. just yesterday I had a horrible meltdown because I’m 27 and still don’t know what I want to do with my life. I’ve quit my teaching job to learn design and now that I’m learning design I’m miserable thinking I’ll have to work in the area. nothing feels right and I always quit before I get somewhere.

except for writing - I always, at some point, return to writing. and it keeps me alive and alert when there’s this plot in my mind and I want to figure out where it leads and I want to understand what the characters feel and why they feel it. I started realizing that, despite my thinking this is an absolutely foolish notion, in my dreams I make a living out of writing. I shyly confessed this to my partner yesterday, with much difficulty because I was just plain choking on my tears. it felt so silly to say it. yeah, sure. become a writer. stupid thought.

yet what I heard from him was that I should do it. I wrote so much last year, he said, and I looked happy. I’m always talking about a character or a plot. he has no idea how the industry works and how hard it’d be to get in, but I should do it. if I want to quit college, he’ll support me. he knows I don’t like the idea of being financially dependent but if committing full time to my passion is what I want then he’s on board. I said I’d think about it.

today I got a call from my old boss, and he offered me a position. it’s a totally new kind of job, different responsibilities, long hours, hard work. but it’s stable, it’s interesting, and I’d be able to quit college and maybe restart on another course further down the line. to me, it seemed like a no-brainer.

I arrived home and told my partner the news. he congratulated me, said it definitely sounds like something I’d be great at doing, but that I should give it some thought. because getting this job means my dreams of writing will become a side project again.

I don’t think he realizes how important his words were. to him, he’s just being supportive. but what I heard was that even when I’m trying to be practical, when I’m thinking of just getting the job because it’s good money, he still puts my dreams first. that he doesn’t mind working harder and shouldering the burden of keeping us afloat if that means I’ll be doing what I love. and perhaps more importantly - I had already forgotten about that conversation. I had already pushed those dreams way back in the drawer again, like I’ve been doing all my life. but he won’t let me. he doesn’t forget.

so yeah. marry the right person. don’t you ever settle for anything less than the person who is going to dream your dreams with you and never let you forget you have them

deal? deal.

#i'm not crying it's just raining on my face

[97-liners]

ok I listened to the recs, thank you for that btw <333, so far i think nct u is my fave unit just cause i'm absolutely obsessed with misfit (and ok! and 90s love) but i both don't know who's in that unit and don't really understand the concept of the unit (side note i think i have successfully gotten to the point where i can recognize and name all of the 127s just from seeing them on my dash all the time even if i just found out that jungwoo existed like yesterday oops ) from the songs you recommended you're so right back 2 u is CRAZY especially the bridge + final chorus and love on the floor is also super fun (second side note i feel bad that i didn't know they could sing like that but to be fair their title tracks, or at least the title tracks i've heard, are NOT doing them justice) but yeah overall i think i prefer their rap heavy songs and uh mark if you're reading this i'm free on saturday which is the day that i am free which is saturday (third side note i am choosing to ignore the fact that johnny is from northbrook because i am 100% sure that someone in my life has probably met him before and i refuse to ever have less than 5 degrees of separation with any idol)

my next goal is to learn about wayv, the only things i know is a. they get diarrhea a lot and share that information frequently??? b. ten is shorter than i thought he'd be and c. that video of xiaojun vlogging in a flood

i was gonna answer this ask this morning but then i forgot so. <3 i can't believe i'm seeing noa nctzen transformation in real time. nct u is like,,,, a changing subunit and imo the coolest thing about the whole nct concept. like, depending on the theme of the comeback, the nct unit could have different members. misfit, ok!, and 90's love all have different lineups, tho i think mark is the one member that's in all three.

tbh i think nct as a whole is great for people who are fans of concept groups, because nct is sooo flexible yet consistent for that. like, 127's sound isn't unique anymore but they were doing boy group noise music since 2016, back when people were using noise music as an insult for them. wayv has such a consistent sound and concept (and tbh the only nct unit with lore) and nct dream.... used to have a very strong concept but now just makes generic 4th gen boy group music but i digress

also. wayv and 127 are definitely the music units, and wayv is my bias unit. they're having a comeback soon!!! imo all their title tracks are good (except regular chinese version) but my favorites are take off, moonwalk, and turn back time. second tier wayv title tracks would be bad alive and kick back. and.... that's all for wayv.

AND ALSO, SAME ABOUT JOHNNY LJFDSAKJFDSL he went to glenbrook north !! and he graduated in 2013 and i graduated in 2015 and i'm very sure our degrees of separation is like. one. if he went to IMEA or science fair or model un or scholastic bowl, then we might have even met at state or smth.

#junranghae #ask

[cryptwrites]

Statement #0162806

(UNOFFICAL) formatted more as a script as i write these in google docs

CW: Cannibalism and Murder

[BLAKE]

I’m surprised they even let you near me. I haven’t had real human interaction except for the fucking pigs outside in years.

[ARCHIVIST]

I was told you’d only give your confession to me? Why? 

[BLAKE]

Because my confession isn’t something anyone but you, or your institute would believe. 

[ARCHIVIST]

I see. Uh, Statement of Elizabeth Blake regarding the murders of 15 people in 2012. Statement recorded direct from subject 28th June, 2016. Statement begins.

[BLAKE]

I had a normal childhood. I played games with the neighborhood kids, I participated in clubs in school, I made honor roll every year and served as secretary at my high school. It was my college year, I was studying Anthropology at Oxford. I usually went thrifting on the weekends because I really couldn’t afford to shop anywhere else. On one of these weekends I was looking through the books they were selling, and one caught my eye, it was a thick red book, the cover felt like cloth. The title was in gold on the front, reading “Human Diets”. I wouldn't have even thought twice about it, but it looked so… clean? It was clean. It wasn’t worn at all. I mean I knew it was old but it looked brand new. Untouched. I opened it and there was a plaque on the inside cover.. I think it was from some german library, I cannot remember which one it said. 

[ARCHIVIST]

(Sighs)

Was it the Library of Jurgen Litner?

[BLAKE]

Yes. That was it. Anyways, I don’t know why but i bought it, it was only a few cents and the cashier didn’t even remember putting it on the shelf. So I went home and put it on my shelf and promptly forgot about it. I only remembered it was even there when I had a friend over and they asked about it. I told them I didn't know what it was and waited for them to leave, flipping through those pages, it was a cookbook. It wasn’t a normal cook book though. It used Human Meat. There were recipes for anything you could think of, popcorn chicken, grilled steak, pepper stuffed pork. Anything, all made out of human meat. The weirdest part is that this didn’t freak me out. I set the book down onto my kitchen counter and picked up my phone. 

There was this boy in my literature class who liked me, William, I called him and invited him over for dinner. I do not know why I did it, I just, did. When he got to my apartment, we watched movies and did normal date night things, the poor boy was clearly shaking from anxiety. I told him it was time to prepare dinner and he smiled. I still think about that smile. I stood up and walked to my kitchen, I asked him how steak sounded for dinner and he let out the smallest noise of agreement i’ve ever heard. I gently played around with the knives in the block, before turning back to him, and asked him for a dance. He stared at me for a second, an expression of confusion and embarrassment crossed his face just for a moment before walking over to me. You know… I think that’s the first time I had ever felt loved. Truly loved. 

I cannot even remember what song was playing but I remember that he went to kiss me and that’s when I did it. I saw the cook book lying on the kitchen counter and I grabbed the small paring knife out of the knife block and sliced the back of his neck. Slicing someone’s skin open requires a lot more force than you think it would, but it was so smooth, I felt him freeze up as the blood dripped onto my hand and down his back. He started to stumble back before I lunged the small knife fully into his neck and pulled it back out. 

William stumbled onto the floor desperately grabbing at his neck, trying to stop the bleeding. I could see him try and scream but I must have hit his vocal cords with the second stab as no sound came from him. He bled out pretty fast, and as he did I opened the cookbook and turned to a Garlic-Rosemary Steak recipe. I pulled the herbs it called for out from my cupboard and turned on the stove. I’ll spare you the details, they’re all in the official police report anyways, but I turned to William, and I cooked him. Bones and all. Now, I need you to believe me, I did not want to kill him. I think I even liked him. I cried out as soon as I realized what I had done.

 I didn’t leave my apartment for weeks. I threw my phone away, I kept my door locked but every time I tried to get rid of that damn book I couldn’t. It wouldn’t let me. So I just sat. In my apartment. I grew deeply ill. Like I was starving. Which couldn’t have been possible as i was eating just fine, but when i checked in the mirror I looked… so thin. Like a living skeleton. You could count my ribs. I didn’t look well. I looked at the cookbook and I knew. I knew it was doing this. I needed to kill again. I needed it so bad. But I didn’t want to. But if i didn’t it was gonna kill me. I swear. That book would have killed me... eaten me… So I did. I went out to a bar, I picked up this girl named Nancy, she was sweet, I invited her back for dinner and I killed her. I then cooked her. 

I didn’t even touch the food afterwards. I felt, so sick at what I had done. I was so tired. I washed the blood off my clothes and I fell asleep. I woke up the next morning and it was gone. The food was gone. And I knew. I knew the book ate it. I sat, and I stared at my kitchen. It was spotless. You couldn’t see, any trace of a murder. The dishes were cleaned, the knife was spotless. I realized I didn’t feel as sick as I had and I knew I couldn't stop feeding it. Otherwise it would feed on me. I tried to go as long as I could without killing. I killed only when I could count my ribs as feeding it seemed to… feed me.. in a way. I stopped eating entirely after a while. Still don’t. 

I went on to kill 13 more people. I remember all of their names, in some weird twisted way, they are my family. I feel horrible for what I did and i regret it everyday, but if I didn't, it was going to kill me. It was going to eat me from the inside out. I need you to tell the family that I'm sorry. I never got the chance either. I just need them to know I'm sorry. 

[ARCHIVIST]

What happened to the book?

[BLAKE]

Oh I don’t know. When I was arrested I never saw it again. It didn’t even come up in court. Which, for a cannibalistic cookbook, you think it would. They only convicted me because the man who was supposed to be my 16th was a cop. Hunter his name was, real handsome fellow. He saw me pull the knife and before I knew it I was pinned against a wall with my hands cuffed behind my back. I thought he was just a little… erotic until I heard his identification.

[ARCHIVIST]

The book, Elizabeth.

[BLAKE]

Yes, sorry, It stopped feeding on me. But I still have the scars it left on me. And I don't eat. Don’t think I can. Last time I tried, I had to go to the infirmary. Apparently, I don't actually have a stomach, and most of my organs are not intact. The few doctors that they allow to see me do not know how I am alive. And only a few of the staff know about it. I don’t even know if I can die. And they won’t kill me so I very well could be spending the rest of eternity in here. Until someone kills me. Or the book does. If it still can. 

[ARCHIVIST]

Did you ever eat your victims?

[BLAKE]

Once. The 12th. Her name was Abigail Decker. I killed her on the 27th of October. It was while I was cooking, I didn’t even realize it at first, but you know when chefs to that thing where they taste their food while it’s cooking to make sure it tastes good? Yeah. I finished cooking and I went to go to bed to let the book do its thing. Kept it happy. I didn’t even register it until the next day when I felt so.. so sick. I ran to my mirror and tore my shirt off, and everything looked fine, I looked healthy. I was so confused. Did I do something wrong? Did I make it angry? No. No I couldn’t eat. I shouldn’t have eaten. I’ll spare you the details but I was a mess by the time I clawed it out of my body. It was strange. I didn’t even bleed.

[ARCHIVIST]

Is that all? That’s your confession?

[BLAKE]

What? You want a shorter version?

[ARCHIVIST]

No I-

[BLAKE]

I, Elizabeth Blake, killed 15 people, attempted 16 in 2012 due to a cannibalistic cookbook from a german Library. That’s my confession, Archivist.

[ARCHIVIST]

Thank you, Elizabeth. Take care.

[BLAKE] 

You as well Archivist.

[ARCHIVIST]

Statement Ends.

SUPPLEMENT

[ARCHIVIST]

Elizabeth Blake is clearly a very distressed, disturbed individual. What worries me the most is the Litner she talked about. It drove her to kill 15, almost 16 people and she got away with it for a year. I decided to respect her wishes and had Tim and Martin reach out to the family’s to let them know her message, of course they weren’t pleased to hear from her, but Tim is good with people. She seemed genuinely regretful. Scared even. Everything from her police report reflects exactly what she told me, minus the book. She killed and cooked people. If I would have taken this statement a year ago i would have brushed it off and decided the Elizabeth just wanted fame, but it’s the mention of the Litner and how… scared she sounded talking about the idea of it killing her that makes me want to believe her. I asked Elias if he knew anything about the book and he said he had indeed heard of it but never came into contact with it. Unsurprisingly, last he heard Michael Crew was in possession of it. 

End Supplemental.

#tma #tma fic #rusty quill tma #jonathan sims #magnus archives #the magnus archives #magpod #they/them #lgbt #queer author #horror #horror writer #horror writing #writer #writers on tumblr #creative writing #writing #martin blackwood #the flesh #jon sims #tma statement #fanfiction #fanfic #tma fanfic #jon archivist #the flesh tma #jurgen litner #i hate jurgen litner #fuck him #bro my friends are gonna hate crime me when they find out im putting these on TUMBLR

[stevensaus]

Ohio Rep. Bill Dean (R-Xenia) Casts Lone Vote To Defend Rapists.

The original story headline at the Cincinnati Dispatch was "Ohio Republican: Bill to scrap spousal rape exception could create 'wedge' in marriages." I think my headline is a bit more accurate. And yes, I think it's VERY important that we ensure that Bill Dean's name is attached to his support of rape. He thought it important enough to publicly vote to defend rapists, after all. Dean was the only lawmaker to oppose Ohio House Bill 161, which aims to "eliminate spousal exceptions for rape and other sex crimes." The legislation would remove "a provision in Ohio law that protects spouses from prosecution against rape, unless the perpetrator threatened force or the couple lives in separate homes. It also removes the marital exception for sexual battery and other sex crimes and allows spouses to testify against their partner in these cases." (Cincinnati Dispatch) Once I knew a couple who had a large number of children. It was only after that friendship had deteriorated that I learned one of the reasons they had so many kids: Even if she knew that she was likely to get pregnant, even if she told him no, he would insist on having sex with her. That was the first time I'd personally heard about a husband forcing his wife to have sex. It was not the last. The stories I've personally heard sometimes feature threats, sometimes whining, and almost always some weaponized guilt. They all feature disregarding and trampling the boundaries and rights of women. {1} According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, a third of rapes are committed by the person's current or former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend. In the 2016-2017 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, the most recent one available, almost 20% of women and 7.6% of men reported sexual violence by an intimate partner. And to Bill Dean, none of them -- at least if they're married -- actually are rape.

> Dean told a reporter, “I personally don’t believe that a man, if he’s married and has physical relations with his wife, that can be considered rape.” {2} -- Dayton Daily News Dean was quick to use rapists as a scare tactic when fighting against reproductive rights, saying the (voter-approved) amendement's "language is dangerously vague and unconstrained, and can be weaponized to attack parental rights or defend rapists, pedophiles, and human traffickers." But when it came to actually doing something to fight against rapists, Bill Dean of Xenia Ohio, actually voted against it. I keep thinking about the real, actual women I know who were raped. I think about them telling me they learned to just suffer it rather than fight back. How they learned nobody would help them. That some people would not even consider it rape, even when she said no. And I think about Bill Dean, how he has ten children, and wonder what other times Bill Dean thinks rape is perfectly fine. You can contact Bill Dean, rapist defender and Ohio State Representative, at 77 South High Street Floor 12 Columbus, OH 43215 Phone: [phone] {1} If you're reading this and are wondering if I know what you did, if you're wondering if I am talking about about you... well, thanks for proving that you know exactly what you did. {2} Yes, the gendering he does here is pretty telling as well, isn't it? Read the full article

#ohio #sexualassault #uspol

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Round-up of new stand-up I’ve seen/heard in the last week:

Hari Kondabolu – Waiting for 2042 (2013), New Material Night Volume 1 (2013), Mainstream American Comic (2016), New Material Night Volume 2 (2012-2018)

This completed my Hari Kondabolu collection, which I should have done ages ago. I really liked him from The Bugle, so a while ago I watched the things by him that I could find for free (his Problem with Apu documentary, his 2017 Netflix special, his 2023 special that he put on YouTube). He also had all this other stuff on Bandcamp, which is great and I absolutely believe in buying things on Bandcamp if they’re available there because it’s the best way for the biggest proportion of your money to go to the artist. However, I’ve had lots of stuff in my Bandcamp cart this year and I’ve been spreading out my purchases, and hadn’t gotten to Hari Kondabolu. I’d love to say I finally decided to pay for his stuff there, but actually, my mother found an iTunes gift card in her basement and gave it to me because I’m the only person she knows who still uses iTunes to organize my music. So I bought it there, which is less good for the artist than Bandcamp and it supports Apple and everything, but it also benefits him way more than it would if I streamed it on Spotify, so it’s not that bad.

Anyway. This was overall really good, and made me think it should have come higher on the list. The is a weird thing for me to have started noticing, but I think Hari Kondabolu is one of the comedians who’s closest to making the type of jokes I’d like to make, in my own illustrious comedy career (a career that so far consists of four six-minute open spots, three of which have gone relatively well and one that was a disaster, and I’m booked for my fifth spot this Monday, so obviously I’m ready to compare myself to Hari Kondabolu). That’s a thing I’ve started noticing, as I’ve started trying to write stuff myself at the same time as listening to this stuff.

Weirdly, I think the only other person who’s made me think “this is the approach to comedy that I’d like to take” as much as Hari Kondabolu does is Pierre Novellie, and those two comedians are quite different from each other, so I’m not quite sure what makes me think that about both of them. They have no similarities in topic or even style, but there might be something in common in the mechanics of the jokes, if you take them apart to see how they were made. I love how well they all fit together. It’s fortunate that Hari Kondabolu’s topics are about what it’s like to be an Indian-American man living in New York City, so even if I want to do what he does, I couldn’t steal his actual jokes, even subconsciously. Pierre Novellie, meanwhile, talks about what it’s like to be a pedant with what was once called Asperger’s Syndrome who used to be really into reading fantasy novels, so… I’ll just have to use willpower to avoid repeating those ones.

Anyway. The point is that I love the way Hari Kondabolu writes. He’s not writing Edinburgh-style themed comedy hours or anything, but he’s still got a lot of structure for an American, I think. I love that he released the two new material albums; they feel genuinely, to use to term that I feel slightly cliché for using, raw. There’s one bit where he makes a joke about his girlfriend and then gets upset when he realizes she’s in the audience because he’d thought she’d be somewhere else that night, which of course gets bigger laughs than his actual jokes, and I might assume that was staged, except that it did significantly derail the conclusion to which he’d been methodically building for some time. You’d think if he'd planned it, he’d have planned it better than that. So I’m pretty sure he really was just recording a night no matter how chaotic it turned.

The first new material album is all from one night in 2013. A bit of that material ended up on his 2016 album – little enough so it doesn’t feel like you’re paying for the same stuff twice by buying both, but enough so it’s interesting to hear how it developed within a few years. His second new material album is his favourite jokes of all the stuff he recorded at this comedy club in Seattle where he worked stuff out between 2012 and 2018. Obviously that one’s less coherent, as it wasn’t all part of the same night. But there was some quite good jokes in there.

I love how carefully planned a lot of his jokes seem. Also, when listening to them in chronological order, you can see how he gets more confident in it. He tries for more ambitious structure, lets himself go longer in between punchlines for the sake of a bigger payoff. On his episode of the Comedian’s Comedian podcast, which I think is one of the best I’ve heard, he talks about how he learned that you can do this from Stewart Lee, and got better at slowing down and planning out his sets after getting into Stewart Lee’s stuff. A statement that sounds trite if made in a British accent, as British comedians trying to imitate Stewart Lee are a dime a dozen. But Americans could maybe use a few more people trying to imitate Stewart Lee, and it works really well for Hari Kondabolu.

He does not actually sound like Stewart Lee in any way, I wouldn’t recognize the influence if I hadn’t heard him talk about it in an interview, but now that I have, I can see how he drew his jokes out more and more as the years went on. Also, the breadth of subjects of his references are almost Lee-esque, though Hari Kondabolu has a fair bit more pop culture in there alongside the more obscure stuff.

Anyway, I’ve gotten unnecessarily technical about this, so I think I should also mention that the shows made me laugh. Content-wise, it’s about what I’d expect from Hari Kondabolu. Mainly political stuff, about race in America and racism in America and gentrification in New York. The occasionally story about his life. A breadth of references from highbrow to lowbrow, humour often coming from the oddness of combining the two. Occasionally making the structure of a joke part of what’s funny, which I always enjoy.

More references than I’d have liked to Tumblr, not because I find them offensive or anything (they were all jokes about how he doesn’t want to get shamed on Tumblr for the way you could take something he’s said out of context and wildly misinterpret it to be politically incorrect, which is fair enough because Tumblr has absolutely been known to do that, though I’d say these days you’re less likely to see that sort of thing here than on Twitter or elsewhere), I just don’t like famous comedians knowing Tumblr exists. It’s okay though, because all his mentions of Tumblr are from pre-2015. Everyone knows Tumblr used to exist, they all just think it died in 2015, and I would like them all to continue to believe that. And by “them”, I mean all celebrities, and also everyone else besides the small number of fucking nerds who hang out here. Like I’ve said before, I don’t know how people do Twitter. Make posts about James Acaster or whatever while knowing James Acaster might actually see it (terrible example because he famously quit Twitter, but imagine I’d said anyone else instead).

Dan Rath – Cockroach Party (2022)

I listened to this one because this Taskmaster season has kicked my level of Sam Campbell fandom up a couple of notches, to the point where I’m willing to check someone out based on having read that they may be vaguely similar to Sam Campbell. I read that about this guy, also saw he was recommended by Daniel Kitson this year, and that was enough for me to find his special that’s on the ABC Comedy Podcasts thing (which people should check out if they’re interested in Australian comedy, there are a few good ones in there, my favourite by far being the Alice Fraser one).

I see where the comparison comes from. He’s a bit Campbell-esque in that he throws joke after joke at you in fairly quick succession, they seem unconnected and largely are but then there will be underlying connections and sometimes he’ll stay on a subject for a while, and despite this he’s not a one-liner comic. Not a long storyteller, not a Milton Jones-like one-liner guy, just a whole bunch of observations in a row, some grounded and some more surreal. Sam Campbell and Dan Rath both do that, though based on this one special, I’d say Dan Rath goes quite a bit darker. Seems less big on props and things, but bigger on jokes about death.

I’d also compare him to Sam Campbell in that it’s kind of a fun game to try to work out where he is at a given moment, in the space between reality and a character. A few times he went on a rant for a quite a while, and I assumed we’d left reality behind ages ago, but then he’d connect a few things and say something that sounded sincere and I’d think I could maybe see the little bit of his “real” personality on which he based this. It seems like keeping you guessing is part of the fun.

He had some really good jokes, and at times they change direction so fast that it’s hard to get complacent about expecting them, which means he can make me laugh on an impressive number of new instances in a fairly short time. I enjoyed it. I recommend it to anyone who likes… whatever that sort of thing is.

Greg Larsen – We All Have Bloody Thoughts (2023)

I went into this one thinking it would be similar to the above, as I had once seen someone mention that Greg Larsen is another Australian comedian who’s a bit like Sam Campbell and Dan Rath. And he made a couple of mentions in this show of how he has done stuff like that before, so maybe this one was a departure for him. Because it was different from what I expected – more storytelling-based stand-up, more of the conventional themed hour. But fortunately, I very much like a good storytelling-based themed stand-up hour, and this was a good one of those.

It was really well put together, I thought. A bunch of funny stories in a row, getting increasingly serious in their topic (but not in the way he told them) as they went along. I said recently that all the comedians are scrambling for a USP that hasn’t been used before, and I think he’s got one. I haven’t heard a hundred other comedians tell stories about their days as a goth metalhead teenager. I haven’t heard a hundred other comedians before tell stories about – I don’t want to spoil too much about a show that’s touring now, but he’s got a sexual orientation that you don’t hear about much.

And the topic that he picked to tie it all together was one I was surprised to realize I don’t think I’ve heard done much, as it’s such a common part of life. Maybe I have heard it done, but not from this perspective. I’ve heard comedians tell stories about how it sucks to work in customer service. Haven’t heard many tell those stories while pointing out something deeper behind them, how capitalism interacts with mental health and physical health and fucks everything up, how a shit low-paying job makes people quite justified if they want to engage in a bit of class warfare. He brought in all that stuff, adding layers to what could otherwise be really run-of-the-mill “working a service job sucks” stories, and the result is something with depth and everything, but it’s also really funny.

Then he builds on that, in ways I guess I won’t detail because I’m trying to have a vague policy of not getting to spoiler-y about still-touring shows, but it gets deeper and better as it goes along, it gets personal and also gets political and also ties the personal and political together, and I’ve said before that any show that does all three of those things and does them well will become a favourite of mine. I liked this one a lot.

Natalie Palamides – Nate: A One Man Show (2020)

Fucking hell. I went into this one with no expectations – I’d just heard she was a very good American comedian, so I thought I’d try it without looking her up. I… I should maybe have looked her up. It was very good, certainly. But I should maybe have gone in prepared for what I was going to get. I’d expected conventional stand-up, and then she rode in on a motorcycle in drag, so I thought, okay, it’s character comedy and there are props. That’s fine. I’ve gotten into Zoe Coombs Marr recently, I can enjoy a female comedian doing stand-up while dressed as a male caricature with a physical injury and a lot going on on stage.

It turned out to be quite a bit more intense than a Zoe Coombs Marr show. And quite a bit more theatrical. I looked it up afterward and learned that it’s won a bunch of awards for theatre and stuff, I think it’s a lot closer to physical theatre than to regular stand-up. Is this what people mean when they say “clowning”? I’m never sure what people mean, this might be some of it. It also got fairly x-rated, and pointing that out makes me feel about 100 years old, because obviously cool people who actually go see theatre like this are used to that and would barely notice. But I am not one of those people. I wasn’t offended by it or anything, I was just surprised and distracted by the novelty of it, because I am cultural philistine and/or 100-year-old who is not used to seeing people remove their clothing and wave around facsimiles of genitals on stage.

It also got intense in terms of tackling some stuff about the intricacies of sexual assault in a pretty full-on way, which I think was good as a bit of art, but did make me sort of wish I’d done enough research to read the trigger warning. That wouldn’t have made me avoid it, would just have made me expect it a bit.

Having said all of that, I think this was really good. The character was very funny, The acting was very funny. The themes were good. The points were made, probably, somewhere in all the waving around of things on stage. At one point she brought out a mat and wrestled on audience member, so that’s fun. The interactive elements looked like lots of fun. The costumes were good.

I definitely recommend this one to people who like whatever this is. Which I believe is feminist physical theatre/drag/interactive performance art. But also comedy. Comedy can be anything. Comedy can be melting ice cubes, or so I've heard. Comedy can definitely be wrestling an audience member while wearing fake chest hair and a moustache, if someone wants it to be.

[ideaforfanficsorsomethingidgaf]

Draft for the first chapter of fanfic that I could finish or not finish like my other fanfics.

Tell me if it's good. Since I can't draw a Spidersona because I'm shit at drawing, why not make a fanfic?

Miguel O’Hara, Spiderman 2099, stood in front of his holographic screens, watching over the videos of how each of the spidermans’ handle their mission with catching anomalies. Everything was running smoothly, especially since the incident with Miles and the Spot. It’s been 2 years since the incident occurred and Miles was somewhat alright with him, Miguel apologized to him and Miles forgave him after some time.

Now, he can crack a joke here and there with ease, even with Miguel in the room. He wasn't friendly close with Miles but he knows that he has his back like Miles does the same to him and that was enough. He kept thinking about the incident as he read another report of one of the recent successful missions in capturing another anomaly when something popped up. It was another notification of an anomaly spotted on another earth, the usual, but this was something a bit different. The notification showcased an unknown earth number, which was rare because Miguel rarely knows any earth that he hadn't heard, seen, or visited before, so this was new. 

“Lyla.” Miguel called out as he zoomed in the notification and pressed on the earth’s number; 121205. Lyla appeared, floating above his shoulder, with her usual fashionable white coat and heart shaped glasses. “Yeah, waddup?” She asked him as she looked at the information he was reading. “Send me more files about Earth 121205.” He said as he leaned back. Then a few holographics screens popped in front of him, as he started reading through them, he was a bit suspicious. 

“What year is this earth’s timeline currently in?” He asked her, as he kept reading the newspaper clippings displayed on the holographic yellow screens. “2023, the same year you met Miles in his earth’s timeline and a few others..” She looked at her nails when she told him that. “Then, why can I only see newspaper clippings of the year 2016? I can’t search for anything after the date July 30th 2016.” Miguel furrowed his eyebrows as he tried searching for more information about this earth. Because the more information he has about the earth then he’ll know which group of spidermans’ to assign the mission for the anomaly capture. Lyla decided to search more about it as she tried to pull up every possible file that has information for Earth 121205. “Huh, that’s strange.” She commented as she read one of the files. “What? What is it?” He asked her curiously. 

“Something strange happened… Almost 8 billion of the world’s population vanished on the night of the 30th of July 2016. Except for one…. You know those random signals we’d randomly get a few years back, before you even created the spider society?” Lyla looked at Miguel with widened eyes. “Yes, and I told you to… find a way to shut them down so it won't bother me again because I initially thought that they were just spam messages.” Miguel slowly told her as he started to realize something.

His eyes got wide and looked at Lyla. “Oh, buddy. They were SOS signaled messages now I realized about it.” Lyla whispered to him in shock. “Shit.” Miguel said to himself as he started to text a message to Jessica Drew. “Miguel, what are you doing?” asked Lyla as she floated above him. “Sending a message to Jess, it's still an anomaly capture but the anomaly can be dealt with easily because it's Kingpin and we know his usual weaknesses, but it will be more of a sightseeing mission as soon as the anomaly has been dealt with.” Miguel explained to Lyla as he sent the message to Jess. “Alright, well, goodluck, Miguel.” Lyla waved before disappearing away. 

"Are you sure about this mission being just the two of us?" Jess raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm sure. Now, like we planned, you haul in the anomaly back here so they can be shipped back to their earth while I'll go check something that I should've done years ago." He told her as they both got ready for the mission. He looked down at his gizmo and typed down the coordinates for Earth 121205. A portal opened up in front of them, they both took a deep breath before walking into uncharted territory, the uncharted territory of Earth 121205. They stepped into the portal, and now they were in a forest with a brick road along. 

Jess looked down on her gizmo and did a quick scan of the area. “The anomaly is a few miles from here, this should be a quick mission. Let’s swing from there, yeah?” Jess asked him as she turned her gizmo off. Miguel nodded and the both of them started to swing along the trees. They both stopped as they gasped, they stood on the strong branch of one of the trees. “I thought you said this earth was almost desolate.” Jess commented to Miguel. “Almost.” Miguel repeated before they continued to swing into the place.

The surroundings were buildings, fully intact. Nature has taken over but as decoration, wrapping around the manmade structures. The pathway was made of red bricks or wooden planks. As they searched for the anomaly around, they came across, what they assumed, was one of the farming fields; 4 acres of farming grounds with crops and plants growing. They continued to walk along and Jess immediately pulled Miguel aside, behind a building. “What? What’d you see?” Miguel asked her. “A mountain lioness walking around freely,” Jess whispered to him, she then looked behind and they started to walk along the alleyway instead to avoid the mountain lioness. As Miguel and Jess continued their exploration, they felt an eerie stillness in the air, as if nature itself held its breath in anticipation. The surroundings were a blend of post-apocalyptic ruins and overgrown flora, creating a surreal and haunting ambiance. But there, amidst the vegetation-covered buildings, they finally spotted the anomaly they sought – Kingpin.

Kingpin stood tall and imposing, his mutant features immediately apparent. His skin was a mix of scales and fur, and his eyes glowed with an otherworldly intensity. As they readied themselves for the ambush, they noticed the faint shimmer of energy that surrounded him, a testament to his immense power.

Suddenly, with inhuman speed, Kingpin detected their presence and charged at them like a wild, animalistic monster. His growls reverberated through the air, sending shivers down their spines. Without a moment to spare, Miguel and Jess instinctively separated, each trying to gain an advantage over their formidable opponent.

As Kingpin closed in, his furious shouts unleashed powerful sound waves that hit both Jess and Miguel with staggering force, slamming them against the moss-covered brick wall with bone-jarring impact. The wall cracked slightly under immense pressure, but despite the pain, both heroes mustered their resilience and quickly regained their footing, determination etched on their faces.

Miguel's talons glinted in the faint light as he lunged at Kingpin, aiming to find a vulnerable spot in the creature's defenses. Kingpin's scales provided some protection, but Miguel's precision and agility allowed him to land a few slashing blows, causing thin lines of crimson to trickle down the mutant's side.

Meanwhile, Jess's mind raced as she analyzed the situation. She knew that brute force alone wouldn't be enough to bring down Kingpin. Her training and instincts kicked in as she utilized her acrobatics and martial arts skills to dodge his attacks. With each dodge, she fired bursts of her webbing, trying to entangle Kingpin and restrict his movements. Some strands wrapped around his limbs, but the mutant's strength was extraordinary, and he managed to break free with a roar.

Drawing on her intellect and quick thinking, Jess realized she needed to distract Kingpin to create an opening for her and Miguel to exploit. With a burst of creativity, she used her webbing to create a decoy of herself, projecting it a few yards away from her real position. Kingpin, falling for the ruse, pounced on the illusion, and Jess seized the opportunity.

She darted in, unleashing a barrage of well-placed punches and kicks, targeting Kingpin's vital spots. Her fists felt the impact of hitting tough scales, but she didn't falter, using her agility to dance around him, always staying one step ahead. Each blow weakened Kingpin, and the realization that he wasn't invincible began to take its toll on his once-confident demeanor.

As Kingpin continued to be perplexed and harassed, Miguel pressed on with his attack. He did this by using his speed and agility. He progressively wore down Kingpin's defenses with the help of his razor-sharp claws, which left traces of wounds along his body.

While the two heroes fought the enormous oddity, the surroundings transformed into a battlefield with objects like vines and trash being flung aside. Kingpin's ferocious roars and Jess's resolute grunts were mixed in with the sound of warfare as it reverberated through the empty streets.

Their combined efforts began to bear fruit as Kingpin's movements slowed, his anger giving way to frustration. He struggled to cope with their coordinated assault, and gradually, the tides turned in favor of the heroes. They exploited every opening, working together like a well-oiled machine, each knowing the other's strengths and weaknesses.

As Jess and Miguel focused on webbing Kingpin, they quickly realized the extent of the anomaly's power. His struggles against the cocoon of webs intensified, and with a fierce burst of energy, he tore through the sticky bindings, breaking free with a force that sent shockwaves through the air.

In a split second, Kingpin lunged at Jess, catching her off guard with his sudden burst of strength. With a mighty shove, he sent her hurtling backward, her body colliding with the brick wall. The impact was brutal, and a sharp pain shot through her head as her vision momentarily blurred. Dazed and disoriented, she fought to stay conscious, determined not to let the pain weaken her resolve, but as her breathing slowed down and the adrenaline that rushed through her body started to lower down, she couldn’t keep conscious anymore and fainted.

Meanwhile, Miguel attempted to regain his balance after the unexpected release of Kingpin's power. But before he could steady himself, Kingpin's massive hand slammed into his back, crushing him against the mossy brick wall. The air was knocked out of his lungs, leaving him gasping for breath as pain flared along his spine. The world seemed to spin around him, and he struggled to stay upright.

With both heroes momentarily incapacitated, Kingpin roared triumphantly, savoring the upper hand he had gained. He advanced menacingly, his eyes locked on his vulnerable adversaries. The anomaly was relentless, and he saw this as an opportunity to assert his dominance over these would-be challengers. Miguel started to breathe heavily, taking in deep breaths as he assessed the situation, trying to find a way to subdue the anomaly while still keeping himself conscious. His sight starts to darken and his breathing starts to slow down, pain rushing through his body as the adrenaline soon wears off.

But he remained conscious long enough, with slow blinks to unconsciousness, as he watches and hears another web being shot out, Kingpin getting scratched with another set of talons and being subdued finally in a cocoon of webs. Miguel can barely see as he sees another person standing in front of him, he slowly looks up, seeing a glimpse of a tattered hood with the shadows hiding the eyes of the savior before he finally passes out from exhaustion and pain. His last thought was that he hoped that Jess was okay, because he knows that she’s only laying down just a few steps away from him, also badly hurt like him.

Throbbing pain was all he could feel all over his body and head. He groaned and slowly opened his eyes. He looked around to see that there was a heart monitor on his left side and an IV bag dripping with the needle connected into his vein on the back of his hand. He looked past the heart monitor to see another monitor but beside that was Jess resting and with bandages wrapped around her head. Whoever helped them had enough strength to carry both of them and place them here in this makeshift infirmary. The door slowly opened and immediately Miguel was on guard but it revealed the same hood he saw before passing out. He can see that when they looked at him, there were hints of recognition in their brown eyes. 

“How are you feeling?” The person asked as they walked in, rolling a cart with a bowl of mushroom soup, a plate of 4 slices of soft white bread and a glass of water. “Headache. Pain.” Miguel grumbled in his gruff voice. "That's normal. Here. Eat some soup and drink some water." They whispered to him as they rolled the cart near him, near for him to reach easily. Miguel reached out for the glass of water and drank it, loving the way it relieved his parched and dry throat. "How long was I out?" He asked them. "Only a few hours at best. 3-4 hours to be specific." They shrugged as Miguel placed the glass back to the cart and reached out to bowl of mushroom soup and the spoon. He started to eat the soup, while occasionally taking a bite of the soft bread. "Hm. Good soup." Miguel complimented them. They stayed silent, sitting on a nearby chair while waiting for him to finish the soup and bread. 

"So… You know who I am yet I don't know who you are." Miguel looked at them as they gazed at their hands. "I know that you and Jess are spidermen in different earths and that the multiverse was also real but I didn't think that I would see the proof of it in front of my eyes. I also know that you’re Miguel O’Hara from the year 2099… I’m also a spiderman, I guess. I was bitten by a radioactive spider that was from the leftover radioactive waste and coincidentally, most of my abilities are the same as yours with the paralyzing venomous fangs, talons, claws, enhanced senses. I also have the spider sense and the organic web shooters but you don't have that, do you? You’re 50% spider and you don't have the common spider abilities that most civilians are familiar with.” They told him. “What’s your name?” Miguel asked them. They chuckled softly. “It’s been 7 years since someone asked me that question, someone that’s human, that is…” They said with a smile but started to frown. “Honestly, I’ve forgotten my name. A name is useless if there is no one to call you by it. You can give me a name if you’d like.” They asked him as they looked up at him. 

Miguel stared at them a bit longer, analyzing them. The person’s skin was brown, marred with scars and scratches. Their hands show calluses that he assumed were from farming. Their hair was a long dark brown but healthy. Their clothes were decent, torn and worn but still good enough to showcase a look. “Ethan.” Miguel finally said. They nodded at him. “The name is Ethan then. Nice to meet you, Spiderman.” They tell him, holding out their hand for a handshake and Miguel shakes it. “Hello, Ethan. It is nice to meet you. Thank you for your help with the anomaly back there and for healing Jess and me.” Miguel said before he realized something, “What happened to the Kingpin anomaly?” He asked them. “Oh, that guy? Well, he’s locked in an asylum cell right now, resting and still subdued. You can get him once the two of you are well rested.” Ethan said as they stood up and rolled the cart out. They opened the door and before they left, they turned to look at Miguel and asked, “May I join the Spider Society?” Miguel looked them in the eyes. “Please?” They added, there was a bit of desperation in their tone. Miguel looked down and closed his eyes before sighing deeply. “We’ll see.” He said to Ethan.

#fanfiction #across the spiderverse #miguel o'hara #jessica drew #spidersona #amwriting

[niamhs-reading-adventures]

Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzales - Review

Rating: 4/5

"I suppose when you trust someone not to hurt you, red flags look heard-shaped." Jordy becomes famous when his older sister marries a European prince. Despite not being royalty himself, Jordy is beloved for his philanthropy and heart-throb charm by everyone, except his ex, Maya. So when Jordy invites Maya, along with 5 other exes, to star on a new dating show Second-Chance Romance, she accepts with the full intention of making him pay for cheating on her. Skye, another ex, accepts because she truly believes Jordy was simply too busy to commit to long-distance romance, and she is hoping to rekindle their spark. But nothing ever goes to plan on reality TV, does it? This story is told in alternating perspectives, between Maya and Skye. As early as chapter 3, we the readers are exposed to Jordy's manipulative tricks when he lies to Skye and says he had no idea Maya was coming on the show until the day they all arrived, despite having known for two months because he personally asked Maya to come on as well. I appreciate that Gonzales put Maya's opening chapters first, as it really set the tone of the whole book, and the idea that Jordy is an arse-hat. I loved seeing Skye's growth, and how she came to accept that Jordy was manipulative and toxic, and not worth chasing. Maya was less enjoyable, though. It felt as though she was so blinded by wanting revenge that she didn't really experience any character growth until right at the end when she decided that her love for Skye was more important than getting revenge on Jordy. Because Maya didn't have as much growth, the romance between her and Skye felt a little forced at times. The setting of a reality TV show in a secluded mansion was really fun, and felt like a realistic glimpse into the process of filming things like The Bachelor. The talking head reactions, the constant re-takes to get the perfect shot of what is then edited to look candid, producers hating the people they have to work with; it's all so tedious, which makes me feel like it's got some truth to it. Side note, if anyone says that two contestants on a dating show falling in love with each other instead of the "target" is unrealistic, I would like to direct your attention to Australia's The Bachelor 2016 season where two women fell in love with each other instead of the Bachelor himself. All in all, this was a fun and therapeutic read for anyone who is still holding onto some hatred towards a dickhead of an ex.     

Originally posted on Goodreads.      

#never ever getting back together #sophie gonzales #ya books #book review #ya book review #loveozya