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lovelivingmydreams · 3 years

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A story by heroes and villains

Book 2: secrets revealed Virgil Anker: trust and caution

Masterlist book 1

It's not easy to know who to trust and who to be wary off. But Virgil better learn soon.

When Virgil got back to the new house, he took a shower and sat himself on the couch in his pj’s. He was listening to his ‘winding down’ playlist. He was grinning to himself. Someone else was wearing his design. Sure he’d made Janus a shirt way back in freshmen year, but he barely wore it outside the house. This would be seen by tons of people. And it looked so good! He couldn’t wait till Monday. He could imagine Roman’s reaction. Would there be pictures in the papers? On the news? He just might buy a paper so he could keep a clipping to look back on later. Thinking about gushing over the costume with Roman at school made him think about seeing Janus again. J had skipped school after what happened in the hallway, leading to him having detention all of last week. He hadn’t even so much as looked at Virgil since. Not in a, “I am mad and ignoring you way,”. He looked ashamed. Scared. That was what made it so hard for Virgil to stick to his plan. Janus looked so hurt and lost and ashamed. And during lunch, he was nowhere to be found. Virgil needed to talk to Picani about this tomorrow. It would be a busy session. He contemplated where things had gone wrong for the millionth time for a while until he heard the door and looked up to see his fathers enter the room. “You’re back!” he greeted as he sat up. “So I gotta know, who’s your fourth guy?” he wondered casually. His dad just looked at him confused. “What do you mean?” “For your poker nights,” he clarified with a chuckle. Imagining Patton or uncle Thomas playing poker was kind of funny. It seemed so out of character for them. Still he couldn’t imagine what else would take all three of them getting together like this. Thomas had taught musical theatre classes, back when he was still a professor, and now he was the dean. Then again, Virgil wasn’t certain his uncle was always present. Tonight might just have been one time he happened to be there. But Patton definitely had been part of this project as much as Logan was. The past six months at the very least, but most likely from the start. “No cardgames I’m afraid kiddo. We’ll tell you about the project once it’s finished. It’s all confidential for now I’m afraid,” Patton told him gently. Virgil looked long and hard at Patton. He wasn’t lying. And confidential stuff made a lot of sense. He shrugged, letting it go. Even if his first guess was right after all and his dad was doing some kind of superhero stuff as BrainStorm, if Patton was there to help him Virgil felt assured that they’d be safe. Though he wouldn’t know how Patton, or Thomas, got wrapped up with anything involving a former super villain. “Okay, keep your secrets,” he sighed as he stretched. “Night Pat, night Lo,” he bid before heading upstairs. “Goodnight Virgil, I love you.” Virgil looked back at his dad when he heard that. “Love you to dad,” he replied with a smile. “Love you three kiddo!” Patton added, making Virgil laugh. “Love ya Pat.” And with that he went upstairs to his room. His new room was bigger than the one in his old house. But he didn’t care much about that. His old room had memories. He missed it honestly. He started to worry that he’d been too quick to say that he wanted to move out. No matter how nice the new house was, and how conveniently it was positioned, it would never quite be like the one he’d known most of his life. He let himself drop on his bed. It was pointless to think about that now. At this point, another family had probably moved into their old home. They’d brought their own furniture. Probably painted over the walls. Erasing the little doodles he’d made when he was little and bored. Before his mind could go any farther down that path, he heard a buzzing. Roman sent him a text. “Greetings! I just got back. Sorry for not checking in earlier. Could not be helped. Did you get home alright?” Virgil chuckled and texted back. “LOL. You worry too much. Hope you had a fun night.” Virgil certainly did. Just thinking about it made him impatient. Oh why not? Before he could second guess himself, he pressed call. “Virgil?” Roman sounded surprised, but Virgil was already way to giddy about his news. “I had to tell you now. I saw him!” he whispered. “Who? And why are we whispering?” Roman asked, mimicking his volume. “I’m supposed to be asleep,” he admitted, earning himself a chuckle. “Ok… Who did you see?” Roman asked. “Dream Prince!” expecting the logical next question he edited his story a little. “I went for a walk and I guess he was doing patrol in my neighborhood, I caught a glimpse of him,” well, that was an understatement. But he couldn’t tell Roman everything. Not yet. He’d lectured Prince about being cautious just today. He trusted Roman. But anyone could overhear them at any time. “He was wearing my costume! You were right! I can’t wait to get a good look at it in action!” Again. “You think someone got a picture? I didn’t have a chance. God I should’ve taken a picture so I could show you!” Though he wasn’t sure if he could’ve managed to get a believable citizens picture of him. He doubted Prince could be photographed if he didn’t want to be. “I’m sure I’ll see your work plastered around the front pages Monday. Pretty sure you missed out on the Saturday edition. But the news stations might talk about it.” Virgil’s cheeks hurt from smiling. “You sure you don’t want your name attached to it?” Virgil considered that for a moment. It would be kind of cool, he supposed. But he was trying not to draw any attention to his civilian self so long as he did the vigilante gig. Asides from that, he didn’t want anyone to be able to claim any of his future successes were due to his connection to a superhero, or have expectations based on this one work. “Yeah… I just… I know I should want the credit. But, just in case he becomes like this big time hero,” which seemed very likely to Virgil. His powers were pretty amazing and he had the personality to make it big. “I don’t want my possible career to be defined before it starts, you know what I mean?” He hoped he did, because he was starting to get confused by his own phrasing. “Maybe I’ll come forth with the original sketch when I’m like, 30, to prove it was me if it still matters by then,” he concluded. “Sounds like a smart plan. I’m going to let you go. I do need my beauty sleep after all.” Oh, he made it too easy. “You said it, not me,” he chuckled. “Night Princey.” “Buenas noches. Mi querido amigo,” Roman replied dramatically. Virgil rolled his eyes. Though he smiled as he realized Roman just called him ‘dear friend’. Trying to hide the way that warmed his chest he let out a groan. “Bon nuit,” he huffed in retaliation before hanging up. Janus had taught him a bit of French over the years. And just like that his thoughts returned to his old friend. Janus had been well behaved the past week. He hadn’t gotten in a single fight. Maybe he should try and show that he noticed. Just saying ‘hi’ wouldn’t be that bad right? Show that he meant it when he said he wanted to get back to being friends, real friends, at some point. With thoughts of a happy ending for everyone, Virgil fell asleep. The next morning he woke up early. He made sure to be quiet as he got ready for the day. Once downstairs he turned on the tv. And sure enough, the local station was talking about Dream Prince. A professional picture of him leaping across the street from one rooftop to another serving as background. The anchors were talking about his heroic deeds of last night, ranging from walking a girl home to taking down those criminals ‘single handedly’. “No one can deny it. This young hero finds no feat too great or too small, and he does it with style. Looks like he’s settled on a look.” They thought his costume had style! Virgil was vibrating with excitement. He couldn’t sit still. He had to do something with all this energy. He started on breakfast. Bacon, eggs… It had been a while since he’d felt up to making a big breakfast and been the first to wake up. Patton was as much of an early riser as he and Logan. Which meant he hadn’t had Virgil’s secret omelet recipe yet. He was bouncing on his feet as the two anchors were analyzing the costume in as much detail as they could. They found the heels a bold choice and the mask an elegant way to incorporate a crown. When Virgil heard his dads move about upstairs he turned the news off and set the table. Patton really liked the eggs. That or he really wanted Virgil to think so. Three servings made him think that it wasn’t pretend though. After breakfast, uncle Thomas picked him up for their trip to the zoo. Virgil had been looking forward to it. It felt forever ago since he last spent some one on one time with his honorary uncle. “That’s a nice one. You really got the eyes down well,” he complemented as Virgil finished a sketch of a koala. “Thanks,” Virgil said, pretty happy with the result as well. “You are really talented. Guess it runs in the family. I remember your dad scribbling away in his poetry notebook all the time.” Virgil looked at his uncle with wide eyes. “You knew my father?” he asked perplexed. Thomas frowned down at him for a moment before his eyes widened in understanding. “Oh, no. I never personally met your birthfather. I meant Logan,” he clarified. Virgil was a little disappointed. For a second he’d hoped to learn a little more about his birthparents. But if Thomas had been talking about Logan… “My dad wrote poetry?” Thomas chuckled. “Yeah. He was pretty good. Though he’d disagree. He felt more comfortable using his sharp tongue on the debate team. He won us some prizes,” he recalled. Virgil took this in. He had wondered what his dad was like at his age before. Now was a good time to ask more. “So poetry and debate team… Guess that is why you two became friends, huh?” he asked. Thomas shook his head a little awkwardly. “Not exactly. With my social anxiety I probably wouldn’t have approached him if my mom hadn’t told me about his mom losing custody…” “What!?” Virgil gasped. He never knew that. Thomas cringed realizing he had maybe said to much. He looked down at Virgil. “Your grandparents weren’t parents of the year. Not abusive, but… neglectful I suppose. Logan never talked about it, so I don’t know the details. Just what little ” “He was in the system?” Virgil asked with a shiver. He’d heard about the system. He was glad he never had to experience it. “No, like for you there was someone ready to take him in right away,” Thomas told him. Virgil wanted to ask who had adopted his dad. But he had an idea… And he kind of didn’t want to hear he was wrong. He wanted it to be his parents. It would explain why Logan had such a hard time talking about them, but had so much love and respect for them when he did. “What was it like rooming with him? Was he secretly a slob in college?” he asked hopefully. Thomas relaxed and started talking about a few college stories, though he quickly veered into high school and early parenthood stories. At the end of the day Virgil had a good handful of animal sketches, an idea for his art project for the semester and Thomas dropped him off at Picani’s office. “Hello Virgil. How are you today? I heard you had a good scare earlier this week.” Virgil let out a deep sigh, sat down and started his story. Leaving Picani’s office a little bit later than planned, he felt a lot better. Or, well ‘better’ never had been the right word. He’d realized that sometime during the camp. After talking about Picani about what bothered him, he was still bothered by it. But he understood things more clearly. He felt less confused and had an idea of what to do about it. Picani never told him everything would be okay. He helped him understand what was wrong and how to either steer it in a better direction, or learn to live with it. He now felt less uncertain about wanting to give Janus a sign that there was still hope for them, even after what happened last week. He felt less guilty over indulging the people asking him out even though Roman was still very much on his mind. He even felt better about getting more information than he should’ve from uncle Thomas. It had been a relief talking about his theory that his dad had been in his parent’s custody for at least four years and that that was, maybe, the reason why he took him in when they passed. And the fact that he had at least one set of grandparents that might be still alive. He wasn’t going to ask about them though. If they held bad memories for his dad, he didn’t think he wanted to know them. It was very low on his list of priorities. The fact that his dad never mentioned them told him enough. The whole scare with the ceiling lamp was discussed and Picani left it alone when Virgil said that he didn’t want to waste too much time on it. “I’m home!” he announced as he came through the door. He heard Patton call a greeting from the kitchen and saw his dad come from the living room to meet him in the doorway. “Dad!” he called out eagerly as he gave his father a hug. “Virgil? Not that I do not appreciate you seem excited to see me. But is there a particular reason?” There were a few honestly. Knowing a bit more about how he ended up being raised by the smartest, most patient man he’d ever met had him excited. On top of that knowing what his dad was like at his age made him feel closer to him. He decided to focus on the latter. He’d turn sixteen soon. If Logan hadn’t initiated the conversation by then, he would. He could be patient for another month. “Uncle Thomas told me about your teen years. I didn’t know you were on the debate team!” he told him. He could imagine his dad thriving in that environment though. Maybe they should check out the debate team this year in between Roman’s play and Virgil’s art exhibit. Logan gave Virgil a small smile, a bit of pride in his eyes. It was rare for Virgil to see his dad proud of himself. He liked it. “Well, yes. It was a bit of a hobby of mine, as well as an attempt to get better at socializing,” Logan said modestly. Virgil picked up on the operative word in that sentence. ‘Attempt’. “You were a socially awkward nerd,” he concluded with a chuckle. He was so used to being nothing like his dad. Finding flaws and similarities to himself in the man he’d idolized as long as he could remember, it was strangely exhilarating. Logan, however seemed to misunderstand what had Virgil so thrilled. “Hey, that’s a complement! I’m a socially awkward artsy kid. Sounds like I’m your son after all!” he clarified. That reminded him though. “Speaking off. Uncle Thomas told me you wrote poetry back in the day.” “Really!?” Patton exclaimed from the kitchen. Logan was blushing. Scrambling for a way out of the conversation it seemed. “I… Experimenting with different forms of self-expression is a natural part of discovering one’s identity as a teenager. It was a phase. I would like to forget about it.” Virgil was about to argue against it, but Patton beat him to it. “Aw, but poetry is so romantic,” he pouted. And Virgil could see the way that affected his dad. Well, their date nights were about to get ten times more sappy. Hopefully going for the heart, and his ego, would work out just as well for Virgil. “That’s too bad. I thought I could make a project around your old work for art class,” he sighed disappointedly. And just like that his dad’s firm posture melted away. “I’ll see if I can find some of my old notebooks. Just ask my consent before you pick one.” Virgil couldn’t resist hugging him again. “Thanks dad. You won’t regret it. I promise.” He felt his father put his arms around him gently. A wordless “you’re welcome”. Virgil was feeling very chatty during dinner and so told his parents all about his day. They had to go to the university again tonight. Since Virgil was planning on meeting up with Prince and not sure if he’d be out all night or just long enough to talk to the guy, he bid them both a good night now. Just in case he’d be too tired to wait for them to get home once he got back. As soon as they were out the door Virgil dug in his closet for his face mask, something he wore when he was feeling sick and didn’t want to infect others. And his shades. He was going to take a chance on Prince today. He made sure he had his evidence at the ready. He’d updated it earlier that week and last night he hadn’t learned anything new. He decided to go with the same look as yesterday so Prince would recognize him more easily. He made his way to the street and vanished in the alleys. After a few minutes he found the rooftop they’d used as their rendezvous point last night. Hopefully Prince wouldn’t make him wait too long. He lowered the intensity of his cloak to be more easily spotted should someone be looking for him. Suddenly he heard a sound behind him. “Good evening my shadowy friend,” the grand voice of Dream Prince drifted through the air. Virgil turned around, his coat flaring out with the movement. “Hey there highness,” he greeted as he tossed him the evidence bag. Clear of any fingerprints or DNA as far as he could manage it, as usual. Prince studied it for a moment. “Is this…?” he sounded surprised. “A show of good will. I thought about it…” not enough. Maybe he was biased because he reminded him of Roman. Or because he’d seen him during his training wheel days. Maybe he didn’t want to be alone anymore. “You seem alright. I’ll… I’ll have your back. If you have mine.” They could help each other. Grow stronger together. Weren’t heroes always at their strongest once they learned to work together? “You do know that if I hand this in, they’ll know I made contact?” This guy. Virgil chuckled, finding this strangely endearing. “You mean you haven’t told them yet?” Prince’s posture straightened almost defiantly. “You didn’t say you were alright with that!” Was he actually insulted by the idea of reporting back to his people without Virgil’s permission? Guess he’d read him right. Good to know. “Okay. Well, consider this my permission. If I don’t want to be found, I’ll disappear Prince.” He’d find a way to avoid Prince if it was necessary. “Tell the chief all communication with me goes through you. If you don’t mind.” Because Virgil didn’t trust the chief enough to go anywhere near her. Prince nodded as he reached for his ear. “I am currently debriefing Phantom. I’ll let you know when I’m done here. Tell chief I’ll stop by with a package. Radio silence until further notice.” Virgil couldn’t stop himself from letting out a chuckle. This guy. He really needed to be more careful. “You ever thought I might be a bad guy? You shouldn’t cut off your back up like that in front of me.” Had they taught him nothing at the GTH? “You’ve had plenty chances to take me out,” Prince pointed out, much to Virgil’s surprise. “You could have let those goons get me the first time you saw me. You could have attacked me while I was busy with those guys yesterday. And who knows how many times over the summer. And on top of that. Who says my communicator is my only way of contacting back up?” Okay, so maybe Prince knew what he was doing after all. “Fair enough. So what now?” He had no idea what would come after this. He just knew that Prince reached out, and he’d accepted. The ball was back in Prince’s court. “Now… I warn you about the collector.” That sounded very serious. He almost wanted to get out before he could get involved, but a gut feeling told him that this was important. He eyed the edge of the roof. Well might as well get comfortable. “I feel like this is a sitting down kind of conversation.” Once they both sat down, Virgil put on his sunglasses and dropped his cloak completely. It was symbolic or whatever. Letting his guard down in a visible way. He turned to the prince expectantly, a little annoyed at how the dark glasses limited his vision. Prince took in a deep breath and started his story. “The collector is an old enemy of Manifestor. He recruits Gifted, and those he thinks deserve to be gifted for some kind of revolution. You and I are probably his kind of people. Young, full of potential. All that stuff creeps like that love to go on about.” Virgil’s eyes widened. That did sound bad. He was suddenly very glad he had not confided in anyone about his powers so far. Who knew if the Chief was on the Collector’s payroll? Or maybe Picani was being spied on. “So we should be careful, you and I. I want to help you out,” Prince told him as he offered him two small objects. A stone and lip balm? “These can help you hide your identity without having to use your… Do you have a name for it?” Prince wondered. Virgil wasn’t sure if he could disguise his voice. But if he did, he was not going to risk Prince being someone from school who might recognize his voice. “Cloak,” he replied before dropping his guard again. “Cloak… Cool,” Prince nodded as he showed the black stone. “So this, is a voice modulator. I adjusted it to fit your tempest voice as best as I could.” Virgil couldn’t help laughing. Tempest voice? That sounded so cool honestly. But man was it dramatic. “You clearly have not heard it,” Prince pointed out and he had a point. He sounded normal to himself. “What’s with the lipstick?” he asked. “This will paint your hair black faster than any hair dye. It’s also a very good hair gel and it washes out right away,” Virgil bit his lip as Prince offered him the items. He was not used to being helped. Not as ‘Phantom’ at least. He still struggled with it as Virgil. Letting Roman help him with his English assignment yesterday had been hard. But he had to let people help him. He had to take a leap of faith here. So he took the items and got up to try them out. “No peeking!” he warned, though he would keep his cloak up. It was more to test if Prince would be tempted to go against his wishes. He didn’t. Virgil placed the modulator on his throat where Prince had his red stone and applied the balm to his hair. He spread it out and took a moment to decide on the style he wanted to go with. He tried for windblown, though he wasn’t sure if he did it right without a mirror. “Okay, let’s try this,” he said testing out his new voice. Wow, if that was what he really sounded like then Tempest voice might just have been the most accurate description. He looked back at Prince who was getting up and waling over to him. “Okay. So… what’s the plan?” he asked, curious what Prince was expecting out of this collaboration. “Well… We could try and meet up here regularly. We might not always patrol at the same time, and you might be busy. But I could… If you are okay with it… I could help you coordinate with the cops. Like you kinda suggested earlier. Or we could like, do some patrolling together? Keep each other company…” Oh, that was cute. Prince could be insecure. Virgil was starting to think he was unshakable. “It might be nice talking someone who gets it you know? You’re my age right?” he wondered. Nice try. Very subtle. “I mean… I guess, but I’m not sure how old you are exactly,” he shrugged casually. He wasn’t going to give anything away that easily. “Fair point.” Or maybe there hadn’t been an ulterior motive. He was getting paranoid. “Anyway… What do you want?” Virgil thought about that for a moment. He hadn’t expected to be asked for his opinion. “I mean… Debriefings sound cool,” he said casually. “I’d like to patrol with you, but my parkour is no match to that walking on air trick you got…” He was kind of jealous of that one if he was honest. “I was thinking of hanging around the clubbing district at the end of the night and making sure some party goers get home safe. I’ll see you around there when you’re done?” This talk was fun and all, but Prince should probably check in with his team soon. And Virgil needed to think about things for a minute. “That sounds like a good idea,” Prince agreed as he gave him a bow. “Until then. Know that the GTA’s resources are now at your disposal through me. So if you want to get a proper suit or other fun toys, you need only ask.” And with that Virgil’s new ally sprinted of into the night. A real suit huh? Virgil shook his head. He’d have to think on that some more. For now, he had work to do.

Hero au

@cirishere @hestianerd1 @moonlightshow00 @naturallyunstablegamer @alias290 @meowthefluffy @frida0043 @angelic-cali @selenechris @theblackveilinreverse

#sanders sides #ts sides #hero au #virgil sanders #roman sanders #logan sanders #patton sanders #janus sanders #prinxiety #logicality

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steve0discusses · 3 years

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The Fullmetal Alchemist Live Action Movie Part 9: Ctrl-Z

Well guys, we did it, this is the last installment of the FMA movie. Probably forever because this movie hella bombed and I am 99% positive they will not bring it back (and if they do, it will be a complete reboot because this is a mess) We are left with one burning question--how the hell can you resolve any of this?

Especially this alley of human corpses that you have to keep secret from the public:

PS, I did not skip really anything other than some closeups of them shooting stuff. We just have to trust that Hawkeye can just shoot 60,000 dudes with that tiny gun that probably only holds 6 bullets. (12 bullets? I know nothing about guns.)

But we’ll just have to assume that the corpses are dealt with in their own special way, because the movie will never address these again. So, meanwhile, back at the stone, Ed is dealing with how his MacGuffin is a mix of dead people.

Like this is an aside but dude--the drama that’s still boiling off of whatever is left of the hot turd that became Bon Appetit, like HOT DAMN. People always say everything you like will be problematic in 10 years but MAN. Fully expected for Scott Adams to get problematic. But Bon Appetit? The seemingly innocent cooking show?

Yo, I’m not over it.

Yo, I’m not over how much Bon Appetit lied directly to my face: that freakin smokescreen illusion of a perfect working environment. Cannot wait for the Netflix documentary that will inevitably come out.

So glad I was too lazy to make any fanart of that show. Or that I was not good enough at art to make fanart of Dilbert.

(I say knowing full well that the original English voice actor of Ed Elric had a huge ass harassment coverup that spans 15+ years and the legal followup and trial has been a huge mess.)

Anyway, Ed doesn’t even know how problematic that rock is. He doesn’t even know that the dead people in that stone are his distant relatives and that he’s one of the only living Xerxes’ians (Xerxicans? What do you call people from Xerxes anyway?) that are left on the planet, but it still carries weight. Not as much, but it still carries weight.

What follows is what the movie decided was the most important character development of Fullmetal Alchemist, mostly because it’s the only thing in FMA left after they did this massive edit.

(read more under the cut)

(If the rock were still active then Lust would not be dead, she’d just reform, we’ve been over this. And youknow it’s been a minute for me, maybe this was also a thing in the anime where you can still use stones that are from leftover dead homunculi...it just doesn’t make sense to me. They would reform. But I will let this go.)

And if you were like “Hey back in the anime, it felt like it was a lot harder to get into Truth Hut--didn’t you have to kill a guy most of the time?” and you would be correct! I guess the idea is that Ed doesn’t want to kill the souls already in that rock in order to do the exchange--but this idea is never said out loud in the movie, although it was clearly indicated in the anime. Kind of...something they should have mentioned.

But anyway, now we’re back in truth hut but this time Ed can wear pants.

Over in the corner we have Al’s body, confirmation that he is still a real boy.

I guess they had to put this in, since Al’s only character angst in this movie is whether or not he’s real. They can now at least give us some closure about that.

And as the spectral deity decides to make a bargain, Ed realizes that profiting off of war crimes is a bad look.

PS I really don’t know if I should cover the ass on Al’s body over there. It’s kind of got feet in front of it.

We know that’s a dude in a speedo, right? I don’t have to cover that up? Cuz I’m not.

And while we have closure for Al as being a real boy, we really don’t have a lot of closure for Ed. I’m proud of him for not doing a war crime, but it’s not like he freed any of the souls in that stone and it’s not like he got to the bottom of the conspiracy, and it’s not like we got any payback for Hughes.

Ed is still in emotional limbo at the end of this movie, which is pretty disappointing. But again, I think they were REALLY gunning for a second movie, because most of the stuff at the end of this is them hinting that they’re going to continue the story another time...

but like...they knew they weren’t gonna get a second one. There’s just no way they couldn’t have known after how poorly it did in box offices.

Gotta love anime and their refusal to let the not even real people kiss.

They’re not real. They’re characters in a movie. Let them kiss. It’s fine. No one will get arrested.

But whatever.

This hurts my eyes.

But don’t worry, even though that looks like the end, with that sort of crazy ass flare that allows us to hide any of the background we didn’t feel like drawing, it’s not the very, very end.

It just can’t be, not without out one of these:

That’s right it’s trains!

And also, look at this movie segueing right back into Yugioh. Look at that. We got a cursed demon child and Some Basic Girl playing cards on a moving vehicle? Just the way it should be.

So, that’s over--and honestly--this was a hard movie to make. I think they made a lot of good choices, being honest--but I also think they made a lot of bad ones that overshadow the good stuff by a whole lot.

And since this isn’t really a critique but just a deep dive, lets talk about what we would have done differently. Because honestly? There’s no right answer. You have 130 minutes to tell the whole story. What would you do? See I asked bro what he would have done and his answer was “I would make the only villain Shou and that first villain” who’s name I didn’t remember either, so I decided to look it up on the FMA wiki and I saw a big surprise!

That Adolf Hitler is listed as one of the villains of Fullmetal Alchemist??? Guys did I...am I reading that right on this Wikipedia page?

Is this is not the only Fullmetal Alchemist movie???????

OMG, guys there’s another Fullmetal Alchemist movie and I kid you not, it has Hitler in it.

I mean I’m not going to cap it because I got a list of other things to cap (as I know several of you are patiently waiting for) but like..........why have I never heard of this?

Anyway, bro would just condense everything to just the first 4 episodes and include scar and all the rest. Me? I would do the opposite and start at the very end right when Ed and Al meet up with their Dad, and only talk about Xerxes and the Homunculi and their family relationship and no one else.

I dunno if either of our ideas would work because obvi writing a movie is a lot more than just having an idea. You gotta get that through marketing, through people in suits who don’t know how stories work, through actors who’s hair will not hold a braid, etc etc. I mean one person just decided to put Hitler in it, and that movie got way better reviews so...hell do I know about writing anything?

But overall, the movie served it’s purpose by distracting me from the real world for a little while. So, thanks all for sitting on on this nice little excursion from our typical programming, been a weird year, so I was grateful for this buffer. We will go back to our Yugioh routine in the next update which will go up-----at some point. No idea when, I don’t have a schedule anymore for obvious reasons. But we made it to the start of the last season! Bakura’s in it? We see Pharaoh in actual Egyptian wear? I’m looking forward to a lot of really botched and questionable history, so I’ll see you there.

If you just got here and want to read the beginning of this Fullmetal Alchemist Movie journey with me you can here:

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/fma/chrono

#FMA #Fullmetal Alchemist #Fullmetal Alchemist the Live action movie #recap #photo recap #ed elric #al elric #Roy Mustang #Hawkeye #TRAIN #Winry #cards also make an appearance because I can't go anywhere without cards these days

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lyspersona · 4 years

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Dad; BTS x Daughter; reader

Word count:17k words {1721 words}

Genre: Fluff

Reaction: Them doing your hair

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Jin(5 years old)

Jin was having an important ceremony today with the boys and had to attend it. But he didn't want to leave you here with a babysitter or family member so he decided to bring you. You guys were looking in a body length mirror that was placed in your room to see how you guys looked in your formal wear. As he looked at you he felt that there was something missing but he wasn't sure what. "Princess can you turn to look at me please?" He asked as you would nod your head 'yes' and present your small body in your formal outfit to him. "Do you like it daddy?" You would ask. " of course I do, but I feel like there's something missing princess what do you think?" He would say to you as he looked at you from head to toe. "Yeah daddy, I feel like I should have my hair styled nicely!" You would say as you wait for his reaction. "You are right my princess, come with me and sit in one of your little chairs so I can do your hair" as he would head to the bathroom and get all of your hair supplies before sitting on your bed where you had placed the chair.

-a couple minutes later-

Jin put all the hair supplies away before coming back to look at his hard work. "Looks amazing princess, you were right that's what was missing!" He would say with a smile on his face as he watched you stand in front of the mirror with a big smile on your face.

"Okay princess time to go, I just got a text from your uncle Yoongi saying that they were outside so let's go!" He would say with excitement as you both made your way out of the house.

Yoongi(6 years old)

Yoongi had a couple days off and was having fun spending it with you. Today you guys were having a lazy day, watching tv with ice cream and so many other snacks around. You guys were in the living like that from the morning, besides having all the snacks though. You guys were watching a tv show as you leaned into your fathers arms while hugged you loosely while still watching the show. Then one seen soon sparked your interest. In the show the dad was having a father and daughter day and was doing his daughter's hair while they joked around. "Daddy...?" You would say as you sat up and scooted up in your fathers lap. "Yes munchkin?" He asked as he looked down at me waiting for me to continue. "Can we do what the father and daughter are doing in the show pleasssseee?". He looked at the tv, back at you and then the tv again. "Okay...go get your hair supplies from your room and bring it here while I go get a bean bag for you" he would say as he watched you get up and run up the stairs with excitement. A couple minutes later after waiting for you to come back, he sees you making your way over with your arms full. Once situated, Yoongi starts taking something's from the bunch of supplies you brought with you. "Let's start doing days like this all the time okay munchkin?" He would say as he starts to part your hair down the middle. "Okay!"

Hoseok( 12 years old)

You were waiting for your dad and uncles to wake up. They were filming a episode in New Zealand for their bon voyage series. You are sitting at the table, in the mini van, eating cereal as you waited for your dad to wake up. You start to hear a groan and see uncle Namjoon waking up. "Y/n? Good morning are you waiting for your father to wake up?" He asked as he made his way out of the bed towards you. "Yeah I'm waiting for him so we can get this day started!" You said back. After a hour later your dad finally wakes up and makes his way towards you. "Hey piglet, how long have you been up" he asked as he gave you a kiss on the cheek. "Not long but I was waiting for you so we can get ready for the day" you answered back. "Okay let me go get ready somewhere else so you can get ready and get your hair supplies ready for me okay?" He would say as he sees you nod your head 'yes'.

-a couple of minutes later-

Hoseok comes back and sees you sitting in the same spot you were in when he left but in different clothes. "Okay let's start doing your hair piglet!" He would say with excitement. As he started to do the first braid Jungkook wakes up. "Hey Hobi hyung! I didn't know you were the one to do y/n's hair. I thought you took her to get it done". From that day on Hoseok was always up and ready to do your hair for the others to see his handy work.

Namjoon(9 years old)

You were watching your dad and uncles practice Black Swan in their practice room. You really wanted to try but didn't want to get in the way of their practice. You watched them practice for hours and hours until they finally took a fifthteen minute break. Your father comes over towards you, to see you holding his water bottle up to him to take. "Thanks sweetie" he says as he sits next to you. It became quiet between you two besides the voices in the background. "Daddy.." you called shyly. He looks over at you waiting for you to continue. "Can you ask uncle Hobi if he can teach me the dance to black swan?" You ask waiting patiently for his answer. "Sure let me go ask him" he would say as he walks over to Hoseok to ask. After a minute, he comes back over with a smile on his face. "Come over towards me and your uncle but first bring the brush from your book bag and a hair tie" he says as he walks away towards Hoseok in the middle of the dance studio. You grab what he tells you to grab and make your way over to the middle of the practice room. "Okay let's put your hair in a simple ponytail" Namjoon says has he grabs the brush and starts brushing your hair. "Whoa Namjoon I didn't think you did y/n's hair" Hoseok says with a bright smile. "Yeah I do but simple, only simple ones. Okay sweetie go ahead and have fun learning"

Jimin(7 years old)

Jimin was helping you get ready for your school talent show. You were in a play and was going to be the lead role. "Buttercup are you done getting ready I have to do your hair!" He yelled from his room. "Yeah I'm coming now Daddy!" You yelled back as you made your way to his room. You didn't see him in the bedroom so you went into his bathroom to see him setting up the hair supplies. "Okay Buttercup straighten or curled?" He asked. "Curled!" You say back excitedly. He plugs in the curlers and let's it warm up. "Okay let's make you look even more cute buttercup!" He says as he starts to do your hair.

Taehyung (9 years old)

Taehyung decided to have a daddy and daughter sleepover. He ordered lots of food and made a big foray in the living with your help. You did many activities, like video games, board games and even doing each other's makeup. Right now your both sitting in the fort wondering what you could do next as a fun activity. "How about drawing pictures or coloring" Taehyung suggested. "Hmmm...no my hand is still a little cramped from playing video games" you say back. Taehyung nods his head and you both start thinking of another thing to do. After a couple of minutes, Taehyung's face lights up and he gets up I leaves the room without telling you what he thought of. You sit there confused but still wait for him to come back. He finally comes back, but not empty handed. "Okay peanut, how about we do each other's hair! I brought bows and hair ties and clips to put in our hair" He says with excitement. "Okay but you do my hair first okay daddy?" You say with the same excitement and sit in front of your father as he starts to part and pin your hair with the clips and bows.

Jungkook(4 years old)

Jungkook was in his hotel room doing a vlive. You were in the back on your shared bed as you played with your stuff animals and toys. "My ladybug is in the back of me right now playing with her toys" Jungkook suddenly says after reading a question from someone on the vlive. "Yea she still aw-" Jungkook was caught off by a tug on his arm. He looks down at you with a smile on his face. "Yes ladybug what's wrong?" He asks you as he sees you standing there with some hair supplies in your hands. "Can you do my hair daddy..?" You ask shyly out of the camera frame. "Of course, get up here little one" he would say as he grabs you to place you on his lap. "Are you okay with me talking with Army?" He ask as he brushes his fingers through your hair. "Yeah that's okay daddy!" You say back with a smile on your face. "Okay well in that case what kind of hairstyle do you want ladybug?"

#bts jeon jungkook #bts yoongi #btsxarmy #bts suga #bts jimin #bts #bts army #bts reactions #bts taehyung #bts rm #bts namjoon #bts jin #bts seokjin #bts jhope #bts hosoek #bts jungkook

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writingkeepsmewhole · 6 years

Text

I’m Forgiven?

This is part 5 of Vampire Princess. This is a long one. Octavia goes to the founders day party her making admins with Damon.

Damon Salvatore x OC Octavia

Warnings:None?

Taglist I’ll happily tag you” @problematicpastry @butifulsoul125 @kpoplover1306xdepressedgirl315

Part 1 Part 4

It’s been a few weeks since my almost, whatever I had with Damon. Caroline has not treated me any different making me guess Damon hasn't told her. Making me feel even more guilty for not saying anything. The guilt thickens when I catch Elena looking at me with the judgmental big sister look she gives Jeremy.

I found myself staying in my room more and more because of it.

Sad thing is I talked to a crow more than I have people.

Walking down the stairs dressed in fluffy ripped up skirt and a corset top and a leather jacket. My hair was braid and I had purple smokey eye and nude lips. My knee high black boots in place on my feet.

I took note of Jeremy storming up the steps. Sighing I finished the walk into the kitchen to see Elena sitting at the table.

“What did you do to our little brother?” I asked earning myself a slight glare.

“Nothing, I just-.” She was interrupted by the doorbell ringing.

“I’ll get it.” She says standing up.

Sighing I move to the the bowl on the counter taking a apple.

“No pancakes?” Jenna asked smiling.

“Not today I’m going to have a people free day thank you.” I say grabbing my bag where I left it on the couch the night before.

“Same as you have had a people free week?” She asked making me tense slightly.

“Exactly.”

“Hey, O?” She says right as I get to the front door.

“Are you okay? I mean I’m here if you want to talk.”

“I’m fine it's just hard getting use to everything.” I say putting on my best fake smile.

“Oh alright. Well if you promise you are okay.”

“I promise.” I say smiling again then quickly leaving before she can ask me anything else.

Hearing a caw as soon as I stepped outside made my head snap to the porch swing seeing my crow sitting there.

“Don’t poop on my swing.” I say pointing at it then walking down the street.

After a few hours of drawing at the park I decided to grab lunch at the grill.

I changed my mind when I saw Caroline talking to Bonnie. She saw me to though waving me over.

Sighing I moved to sit next to Bonnie.

“Hi Care.” I say smiling softly.

“Hey are you okay O?” Bonnie asked looking at me.

“Just having a bad, well week.” I say shrugging.

“I’m sorry do you wanna talk about it?”

“Yeah we can talk if you want.” Caroline said chipper as always.

Sighing I decided it was best to just tell her tired of the guilt.

“It’s about Damon…” I say slowly not knowing where to start.

“Is this about you guys talking the other night at the game and Elena thinking you two were doing something?” She said quickly surprising me and Bonnie.

“How did you know?”

“O, Damon told me silly.” She says smiling.

“It’s fine I’m not mad at you or him it was a misunderstanding.”

“Caroline I don’t think-.”

“It’s okay really trust me. I’m not mad.” She says smiling as if to make me feel better.

“Anyways I better go I have to get dressed for the party tonight. Are you two coming.”

“Yeah I’ll be there.” Bonnie says smiling up at her as Caroline moved out of her seat.

“And you Octavia?”

“Umm, Yeah Elena is making me go.”

“Awesome see you two there then.” She says smiling and walking off.

“That was weird.” I said.

“I think that was just Caroline she has been like that a lot lately.”

“Maybe she is on drugs?” I ask looking at the door then at Bonnie.

“Or just really happy.”

“Something.” I say as a waitress comes over to take my order.

“So what happened between you and Damon?” Bonnie asked.

“I don’t know even if it really was something. We didn’t do anything we just….”

Not knowing what to say I found myself playing with the salt shaker.

“Octavia tell me.” She says taking the salt from my hand and setting it down.

“We were just talking, we were just standing really close is all.”

“Did you want something to happen?” She asked

“That’s the part that scares me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. I think I just need to laid.” I say laughing softly.

“Well, just be careful I get a bad feeling from Damon.

“Like a witchy feeling?” I asked earning a slight glare.

“No just be careful.”

“Always.” I say smiling at her.

Pushing myself away from the table I stand up and grab my bag.

“Where are you going?”

“Home I have party to get ready for.” I say lifting my shoulder in a shrug.

“You don’t seem to pleased about it.”

“If Caroline is going so is Damon so that’s just gonna be really awkward.”

“Why Caroline didn’t seem mad about it.”

“Yeah but I don’t know how Damon feels about it. Or I for that matter.” I say accepting the fact I was perplexed by Damon.

“Well I’ll be there to give you an excuse to stay away from him.”

“Bon Bon you are never an excuse you're a priority.” I say winking at her earning a laugh.

“I’ll see you later.”

“Bye.” She says waving.

Waving I turn and leave the Grill and start walking home.

“I’m home.” I yell when I walk into the house only greeted by silence.

“If there is a psycho killer here let me eat before you take me out thanks.” I say walking to the kitchen only stopping to throw my bag on the couch.

Opening the fridge I sat to making a sandwich with a cold pop.

“Yeah because this is healthy.” I say looking at the more than enough chips on the plate.

Going into the living room I eat a chip while turning on the TV.

“Another body found.” Flashes across the screen making me sigh.

“Why are you watching the news. You hate the news.” Says a voice making me jump.

I turn around to see Jeremy looking at the TV.

“I just turned the TV on ya creeper.” I say turning back to face the TV.

“Why are you sneaking up on me.”

“You are the one that started yelling as soon as you got here.”

“So you just decide to sneak up on me because I yelled.”

“Yeah seemed like a good idea. I didn’t really plan anything it just happen.” He says moving to sit beside me.

“Well what’s up with you? You seemed pretty mad this morning.”

“Oh you know just are big sister being a grade A bitch like always.” Jarmey says making me blink at him a little shocked.

“Sorry she has just been on my case for a while.”

“Yeah mine too.”

“What did you do?”

“Almost kissed Caroline’s boyfriend.”

“The older dude?”

“Yeah.”

“Funny didn’t peg you for liking older men.”

“He’s not that old.”I say shoving him with my shoulder making him laugh.

“Hey I don’t judge just didn’t know you liked wrinkles.”

“He’s not that old!” I say again laughing it mixing with his own.

After we calmed down and ate my sandwich I nudged Jarmey with my elbow.

“Alright tell me what’s going on with you and Elena?” I say earning a sigh from him.

“She is giving our parents stuff to Ms. Lockwood for the party tonight.”

“Yeah I know.” I say softly not wanting to anger the beast.

“Yeah well you know she is giving Dad’s watch. Just giving it over like it meant nothing to him.”

“The men of this family are meant to have it. It’s not meant to be in some case with people staring at it remembering how are parents died and giving us some pity glance all over again.” He says his voice getting louder and strand the more he talks.

“I’ll talk to her.”

“No I don’t want you to talk to her. No one should have to talk to her she should just think about someone other than herself.” He says standing up.

I take a breath and stand up and wrap my arms around him.

I was always put in the middle maybe that's why I was closer to Jeremy than Elena. After our parents died she separated herself and left me and Jarmey alone so it was only natural for us to be closer.

“What’s going on?” Asks the person we were just talking about.

“Why do you care?” Jarmey asks pulling away from me and going upstairs.

“What’s wrong with him?” She asks point to the steps.

“You.” I say picking up my plate and moving to the kitchen.

“What do you mean me?”

“Oh ya know you being you thinking about making everyone like you because you have to return to normal.” I say knowing that this not just about Jeremy.

“Is this about Jermay or you?” She asks blocking me from getting to the sink.

“What do you think?”

“I think that everyone around me is turning on me for no reason.”

“Maybe you should think about that and figure out why.” I say setting the plate on the counter and trying to turn around only to be stop by Elena grabbing my arm,.

“Just tell me what’s going on.”

“You are only worried about yourself.” I say honestly and pulling my arm away from her and going upstairs.

Stepping into my room I locked my door and my bathroom door. Going to the desk I turned on music making it loud on purpose.

I went to my closet and dug out every dress I owned throwing them on the bed.

“Alright which one of you ladies is going out with me tonight.” I say bending to pick up a short black dress.

“Too sluty.” I say putting it back in the closet.

Picking up a sweater dress I look at it wondering when I bought it. Giving the fact it still had the tag on it made me think it was a gift.

Hanging it back up I grabbed another and another until I settled on a red dress i forgot I had.

Leaving it on the bed I turned to grab took at my shoes but stopped seeing an all too familiar crow sitting on my window.

Smiling I moved to open the window the crow hopping and making a soft noise.

“Hello there.” I say slowly reaching out to pet it.

“Sadly you are the only one not to make me mad today.” I say softly stroking its head.

Getting up I return getting dressed.

A few hours later I was ready to go.

I was dressed in a tight dark red dress my leather jacket from earlier. My hair let down making it super fluffy. A cut cress red eye, wine colored nails and red and black ombre lips. Then black boot wedges to match.

“What took you so long?” Elena asked as I walked down the steps.

“Do you see these lips?” I asked pointing to my face.

Sighing she rolls her eyes at me.

“Alright I get it can we go now.”

“After you.” I say gesturing to the door.

It didn’t take long to get the Lockwood's house. It was the largest house in town as far as I know. Though Elena said Stephan was just a bit bigger. I didn’t make a joke about that sentence though the twelve year old in me wanted to.

As soon as we got to the property I remember the last and only time I was here.

It was only a month after me and Tyler got together and I was dumping him for being a dick to Jeremy.

“Everything okay?” Elena asked as we followed in line of everyone going in.

“Yeah why wouldn't I be?” I asked glancing at her.

I was still mad about this afternoon but not enough to make things weird for Stephan

“Well last time you were here you broke up with your boyfriend.” She says softly touching my arm.

“Yes who I was only with for a few weeks. That was also like a year ago so I’m okay.” I say rolling my eyes at her as I walked threw the door greeted by Tyler’s mom.

“Hi Carol.” I said waving at her and quickly ducking through the crowd of people.

Scanning the room I quickly decided to find my hiding spot outside.

I was stopped by bumping into a waiter. Apologising I looked up just in time to catch Elena waving me over.

Sighing I moved to stand next to her.

“Want to go look at everything everyone brought in?” She asks smiling trying to make up for today I’m guessing.

“Sure.” I say shrugging.

Smiling she lets Stefan lead her into the room of different artifacts from the different founding families.

I purposely kept away from our parents things. I didn’t need any sadness on top of the guilt I felt.

I know Caroline said it was okay but it didn’t feel that way it was more of a nagging feeling in my jut that I had to fix it. How? I didn’t know but I knew I would try.

Feeling eyes on me I look up to meet bright blue ones, that belonged to none other than Damon. Meeting my gaze he smiled softly and tilted his head. The movement getting Caroline’s attention making her turn to look at me.

“Octavia you came!” She says smiling brightly but not moving from Damon’s side.

“I did. Elena forced me to go after Jeremy reused.” I say moving to stand in front of her but not looking at Damon.

“Younger brothers can be that way.” Damon says his voice seeming to suck out the air in the room.

“Damon.” Stephan says turning to join our group.

“Brother.” Damon says smiling.

It didn’t take a genus to know Damon and Stephan did not like each other. It making me wonder what happened that made them mad at one another.

“Look at all these old names.” Elena says trying to clear the air.

Her saying names that are still familiar being paste thru generations.

“Wait does that say Damon and Stephan Salvatore?”

“Our ancestors. Tragic really.” Damon says looking at Elena then me.

“They don’t want to hear about boring history.” Stephan says almost taking a step closer to Damon.

I lift an eyebrow wondering how they made it this long without killing each other. I remembering when they came to my house and that they seemed tense then.

“I would love to get to know more about your family.” Elena says smiling at Stephan.

I roll my eyes wanting to leave but not wanting to be rude. I also didn’t want Damon to think he got under my skin.

“Well I’m bored and I want to dance. But, Damon won’t dance with me.” Caroline says pouting.

“Nope.” Damon says shaking my head making me once again roll my eyes.

‘Why do girls like jerks?’ I think to myself.

“Could I borrow your date?” She asks surprising me.

“Oh umm..” Elena says looking at me.

“Don’t look at me I didn’t bring a date.”

“You didn’t?” Damon asks smirking.

“No.” I say ignoring the feeling he was judging me.

“I don’t really dance.” Stephan says.

“Of course you do. He can do it all.” Damon says smirking enjoying his little brothers pain.

“Well I’m not taking no for an answer. We’ll be right back.” Caroline says pulling on Stephan’s arm leading him out of the room.

I look shocked then look at Elena to see if she is going to do anything.

“Well that’s my cue.” I say moving towards the door.

I stop when I feel cold fingers wrap around my arm. Spinning around I stop when I meet bright blue eyes with my own.

“Wait. I need to talk to you.” He says his gaze staring into mine.

I feel my whole body relax and go calm all at once. Taking a breath I nod softly.

“Alright. About what?”

“Elena could you give us a moment?” He asks looking at her smiling politely his hand still on my arm.

“Oh, umm sure. I need to find Stefan anyway.” She says walking out.”

“Now, where were we. Oh right. Me apologizing for the other night. I’m sorry for being a jerk and trying to kiss you. My therapist says I’m acting out. Trying to punish Stephan.”

“If that’s so why go after me?” I ask confused.

“Because you are his girlfriend's twin sister. You tell each other everything. So getting to you gets to her and back to him. We both know how girls blow everything out of the water.” He says smirking making me wonder why I’m not pissed at him for saying all that.

“Why are trying to punish Stefan is it because of Katherine?”

“I guess you could say that. It kinda runs in the family. Sibling rivalry and all. It actually started with the original Salvatore brothers.”

“What happened?” I ask tucking a piece of hair behind my ear wanting to get to the bottom of Damon’s and Stefan’s dislike for one another maybe I could help.

“The Salvatore name used to be royalty in this town. Until the war. There was a battle here.”

“The battle of willow creek right? We are learning about it in class. Wow that makes me sound like I’m fourteen.” I say earning a chuckle.

“Well just a bit.” He says smiling it making his blue eyes almost glow.

“Well what most history books don’t tell you is when the soldiers fired on the church the people they killed wasn't there by accent. The were believed to be sympathizers so they got rounded up to be burned alive. Stephan and Damon had someone they loved very much in that church. When they left to safe them they were shot in cold blood.”

“That’s awful.” I say holding my chest unable to imagine on your way to save someone knowing you’ll never make it.

“It was.” He says nodding as if he was there.

I guess if it was his history hearing the story so much he probably felt like he was there.

“Who was in the church?” I ask softly touching his arm.

“A woman I guess.” He says looking down at my hand then back up at me.

“Doesn't it always come down to the love of a woman?” He asks softly.

Lifting the corner of my mouth in a smile I shrug.

“I guess.”

“You can leave now. Sorry for keeping you so long.”

“It’s okay. Care to walk me out?” I ask feeling my heart jump making me blush.

“This mean I’m forgiven?”

“For now.” I say smiling.

Earning one back he holds his arm out to me. Looping my arm with his we both walk outside Damon quickly returning to Caroline and me to well myself.

Deciding I have had enough social life I call a cab home knowing it’s stupid expense but not knowing how else to get there.

I knock on Jeremy’s door yelling at him that I’m home him yelling back. Walking into my room I kick off my heels and go into the bathroom starting the process of getting ready for bed.

I dress in some shorts and a way to big t-shirt. Climbing into bed I get the weirdest feeling like something was missing. Looking around my room I took at where everything important to me is it all still in it’s correct places.

Shrugging I lay down turning off my light and get some sleep.

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cleverbroadwayurl · 6 years

Text

Skinny Love (Jeremy Heere x Reader Pt 11)

Song: Skinny Love by Birdy (Bon Iver originally wrote it, but I prefer the Birdy cover)

Need to Catch Up? PART 1 PART 2 PART 3 PART 4 PART 5 PART 6 PART 7 PART 8 PART 9 PART 10

Want More? PART 12 PART 13 PART 14 PART 15 PART 16 PART 17 PART 18 PART 19

Word Count: 8425 (I’m so sorry this got away from me)

A/N: OH MY GOD I DID IT! Part 11 here she is! Please feel free to give me feedback, good or bad (pls I needed to research and if the actions (you’ll know which ones) aren’t healthy please help me I have not had healthy actions)! My requests are still open for those of you wondering! I’m all open to do teasers/sneak peeks but it might take me a little bit because there’s literally only 1 line of part 12 written (unless you want that one line that I’m debating on changing, go ahead). This is a pretty self indulgent part, just a fair warning! I was even going to call it something else bc that would be even more self indulgent but I decided against it. It’s in the moodboard though so not completely omitted you guys Anyways! Please enjoy this fic, I think I’ll stick with bi-weekly updates for the time being!

Trigger Warnings: hooo boy lots: mentions of an abusive relationship, mentions of an abusive boyfriend, mentions of sexual assault, implications of sexual assault, some close to nsfw stuff (at least for my little pure ass), mentions of the Halloween Party IF I MISSED ANYTHING AT ALL PLEASE LET ME KNOW

Taglist: @retrogarden @be-more-heidi-hansen @catatonic-kuragin @bluhimaweirdo @scarsonthecuffsofyourjeans

Michael: No worries dude. Michael: Get some sleep. You deserve it.

Jeremy had hoped that you wouldn’t call again. Not that he didn’t want to see you, it’s just that with the information he had now, he just…yeah he really hoped you wouldn’t call or text unless something miraculous had happened. Like maybe you broke up with your boyfriend and you just happened to want to see Jeremy to see what he was doing for dinner that night. Maybe you two would eat dinner before going back to his empty house, only to have Rich or something bring over some wine (did you like wine? You seemed classy enough to enjoy it), and the two of you would celebrate your freedom and happiness. Maybe there’d be tipsy kisses, quickly turning into—

He shook his head of those thoughts as Luigi hit Kirby with a combination move yet again. Fuck, since when did Michael get so good at Super Smash Brothers? Usually the two were evenly matched, Jeremy’s Kirby wreaking havoc on Michael’s usual Luigi. But tonight, he couldn’t seem to focus. The computers were long gone, leaving Jeremy and Michael at a one on one battle once again. They’d only set them at level 5, as it had been a while since they’d done Throwback Night on the N64.

The match continued, Jeremy making a steady comeback as Michael’s lives depleted to only 2. Jeremy was at 1, but it wouldn’t be too hard to knock Michael off another time. He had led Michael to the edge of the map, getting ready to leap out of the way of Luigi’s charge move, which would hopefully send him over the edge. Or, he could swallow Luigi and just jump off the edge as a kamikaze. As soon as Jeremy was going to hit the button to jump up and avoid the fatal strike, his phone vibrated. He glanced over, seeing your caller ID before throwing the controller on the ground, and reaching to pick up his phone, Kirby’s last noises fading into the distance as Luigi stood victorious.

“Hello?” He gasped into the phone, hoping, praying that this time he’d managed to catch you before something horrible happened.

“Jeremy?”

“It’s me,” he nodded, before realizing that you couldn’t see him. “Do you need help?”

“Uhh, yeah, I do—fuck—I’m going out to my car right now. Are you free to meet somewhere? I’m sorry to completely ruin your night, but like I just, I really need some help right now.”

“Let’s meet at my house, do you remember where it is?” Jeremy asked, palms immediately accumulating moisture.

“Yeah, I’ve got it.” He could hear your car door slam through his phone, the doors locking mere milliseconds after closing. The engine turned over, a small string of ‘shit’s coming out of your mouth.

“Hey, you good?” Jeremy spoke urgently into the phone.

“I-I’m good Jeremy. I’m on my way now,” you exhaled, he could imagine you running your hand through your hair. “I’m so sorry to do this again, but—shit, I thought I had more time.”

“It’s totally fine, I promise. Just focus on getting here safely.”

“Do you need me to go?” Michael whispered, taking advantage of the sudden silence. Jeremy didn’t respond, eyes not even glancing at his best friend, mind running wild with your state.

“Hey, I just turned onto your street. I’ll be there in like 30 seconds.”

“I’ll go upstairs and unlock the door for you. Come in whenever you need to,” Jeremy noted, immediately getting up, Michael following suit.

He could hear you turn the car off and he unlocked the door. Stepping back, Jeremy immediately made eye contact with Michael, nodding to his best friend, as if to say ‘your lips are sealed. Nothing leaves this room’. The other boy nodded, not breaking eye contact. There was a moment of stillness before the front door handle turned, sending Jeremy’s heart from 10mph to 60 in half a second flat.

You bolted in, closing the door behind you. Your eyes locked onto Jeremy’s before you sped up and ran directly into him. He wasn’t ready for the amount of force that you rushed at him with, but as soon as your arms wrapped around him, Jeremy recovered. The phone you had in your hand was still lit up, showing the boy you hugged that you hadn’t even bothered to hang up. It didn’t take long for him to return the gesture, feeling your breath against his skin. It was hard and hot, but he could feel it slowing down at a steady rate.

“Thank you,” you mumbling into him, clinging to him as if he was your life preserver in an ocean filled with death.

It wasn’t long before you broke the hug. You looked around you, eyes fixating on Michael in nearly no time at all. Red crept into your cheeks while all color drained from your face. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you,” you looked at the ground for a second, “I’ll just go.”

“I was actually just leaving,” Michael smiled at you, quickly picking up on your habits. “My moms want me home tonight. Something about them wanting to try ‘Family Game Night?’ Anyways, I’ll see you later.”

“Are you sure?” you asked hands beginning to tremble.

“Yeah. I’m positive. Text me later, okay Jeremy?” Michael asked breaking eye contact with you and looking over at his best friend.

Jeremy only nodded in response as Michael made his way to the front door, opening it and leaving. Heaviness remained, the lightheartedness of his best friend gone. It was as if the situation was suddenly becoming real to the two of them and Jeremy could see you begin to crumble. “I’m sorry,” you whispered, “If I knew, I wouldn’t have called you.”

“Hey,” the boy took a step closer to you, softness completely taking over his whole demeanor. “It’s alright. The most important thing right now is that you’re safe, okay?”

You nodded stiffly, eyes not even glancing in Jeremy’s direction. He took a chance and step forward, careful not to intimidate you. The lanky boy stood next to you as your eyes fixated on a singular spot on the ground. This worried him. Actually, it more than worried Jeremy, but he couldn’t think of a better word. At the very least, he knew what to do, which was comforting thought. He knew to ask for consent and to double check with you at all times. He knew that being your support system wasn’t only though soft touches and kind words, but it was also just simply through his presence. You didn’t always need someone to hold you and tell you everything was going to be okay, yeah sometimes you just needed a friend.

But those thoughts disappeared as he noticed your arms fold. Your shoulders collapsed, almost as if you were trying to build a way between you and the rest of the world. It wasn’t extremely noticeable, but Jeremy recognized the gesture almost immediately. He held his hand out, just above your shoulder as an attempt to comfort you. Just as he was about to lower that hand, something told him not to. There was something…familiar about the way you stood and the way you presented yourself in this particular moment. Maybe it was because you’d done a very similar thing not too long ago. That couldn’t be it, though. No, this was much different, and it upset Jeremy that he just couldn’t place it.

“Do you need anything?” Jeremy asked, resisting every urge to wrap you up in his arms.

You froze. There was a silence that fell over the room, and unfortunately, there was absolutely nothing calm about it. A new tension sat you two, the boy hoping he didn’t cross a boundary. You didn’t move as your voice spoke. “This is gonna sound really weird, but can I possibly take a shower?”

Jeremy was taken aback by your request. Out of all of the things he was prepped for, asking for a shower was something he wasn’t. He mentally went over in his head which bathroom he should guide you to. His dad’s might be more than embarrassing, but if his wasn’t cleaned, it would be the only option. Although his memory might be playing tricks on him, Jeremy could remember his dad saying something about doing laundry and going through the bathroom to pick up a little bit. Then again, Jeremy had been playing The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit when his dad started cleaning around the house, so maybe it was the game? He wasn’t sure. Which meant that somehow, Jeremy had to see if his bathroom was clean without drawing suspicion from you.

Apparently it had been a bit since Jeremy had said anything, because you began speaking again, this time your eyes darting from his to anywhere else in the room. “I don’t mean to intrude, you can totally say no, I just wanted to clean my self up I guess? Not that you didn’t do a good job the last time I was here, because believe me, you did much better than I ever could, but like I just want to rinse off, is that okay? You know what, just forget I said anything, I’m fine, thank you,” your voice was a whisper by the end of you little speech, eyes fixating on the floor once again.

The teenage boy inhaled, trying his hardest to remain calm. This was a moment to rue them all; you’d just confirmed that your boyfriend didn’t care about your basic needs. His fists clenched and then quickly relaxed. He could feel his face growing red; breathing becoming a labored task. And not only had you just confirmed something that Jeremy hoped hadn’t been happening, but you seemed to get worse since the last time he saw you. A week or so ago, you were at least making eye contact and a little bit more stable. You were more capable, sure of your choices. This was different, and Jeremy knew it.

“You can totally take a shower here, okay?” He smiled as softly as he could before almost leaving you alone to take a shower. It was now that Jeremy realized you had you had never been in his bathroom, or even remotely near it. He took a breath, unclenched his jaw, and reached his hand out. “I’ll take you there.”

His voice surprised him. Jeremy didn’t expect any kind of softness to exit him while he was choosing new ways to completely fuck up your boyfriend’s life, but he’d managed it. Now that was fantastic acting. Jeremy silently thanked Christine for all of her acting tips and tricks, noting to buy her lunch before going off to college. Because if anything, she had just saved his ass.

You took his hand hesitantly before he led you up the stairs and down the hall. Jeremy knew that he could’ve just told you where the bathroom was, but he didn’t want to leave you alone. Something told him that there would be consequences to his actions tonight, more so than the other time you’d appeared at his doorstep. For some reason, there was a tension in the air that wasn’t there before. The pressure set in as his hand clenched the door handle, knuckles immediately turning white upon contact. The anger had left, leaving only a bundle of nerves in its place.

His hand twisted the door knob, only opening it a fraction of the way he normally would’ve, and turned on the light just to be sure that it wasn’t a complete disaster. Jeremy let the nerves go as he scanned the room; his dad had definitely come in earlier that day and cleaned. He opened the door wider so that you could step in with him, your hand still securely wrapped in his.

“So you can use whatever you’d like,” Jeremy said, pulling his hand away from yours as gently as he could. He didn’t make eye contact; he couldn’t make eye contact. His stomach formed knots, the tips of his ears getting hot as he continued “Towels are under the sink when you’re done.”

He finally looked at you, noticing that you were watching him carefully. Not exactly making eye contact, but rather just staring, almost contemplating what was going to happen next. A small smile formed on your face, hand coming up and covering part of your mouth. “Thank you so much, Jeremy. It means…it means a lot.”

“It’s no problem,” he smiled back, rubbing his palms on the sides of his jeans. You two switched places somewhat awkwardly, concern pooling into Jeremy’s eyes. “I’ll be in my room across the hall if you need anything else.”

“Thank you.”

Jeremy nodded before exiting the bathroom, hearing the door lock quickly behind him. There was a small celebration: first of all, his dad was away for the night, making your timing nearly perfect, and second of all, he was glad, so fucking glad, that his dad had picked up in his bathroom. The celebration didn’t last very long. While the bathroom was clean, his room definitely wasn’t. He nearly sprinted across the hall, almost tripping over his own feet as he did so.

As soon as he got into his room, Jeremy shut his laptop and kicked things under his bed. He wasn’t sure how long this shower would take, you could be out in just a few minutes. You could catch him doing something—literally anything from doing something dumb or, even worse, frantically cleaning. He didn’t want that, anything but that. He wanted to be cool in a way that would possibly impress you, but still allow you to feel safe. Jeremy stood back for a second, admiring his fast work, before situating himself on his bed, thumb opening his phone and scrolling through whatever social media he could find.

After what felt like a while, he glanced at the time. He blinked a few times to make sure his phone was correct. Had you really been in the shower for 30 minutes? Jeremy paled. Was this normal? Did you pass out? Would Jeremy have to call someone in order to help? He physically shook his head. Long showers are normal. They had to be, right? Yeah, he was sure that you were okay. Then again, if something did happen, Jeremy wasn’t sure if he would be able to forgive himself for leaving you alone when you needed him most.

Now he was searching for something, anything, to get his mind off of you. He didn’t want to think about all of the horrible possibilities right now. The idea that you were currently standing in the shower bleeding out was not exactly a comforting thought. No, he needed to focus on something different, something that wasn’t you.

15 minutes of absolutely agonizing waiting, you knocked on his door, dressed in the same stuff you were before. He sat up almost immediately as you asked Jeremy if you could join him on his bed. He only nodded, shifting slightly to give you enough room.

Both of your legs hung over the side as you looked around at the posters that hung on Jeremy’s wall.

“Cool room,” you said, still looking around.

“Thanks,” Jeremy replied, his hand going to scratch the back of his neck. You flinched, only slightly, but the lanky teenager caught it. He gulped before speaking without any forethought “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” you reassured, a slight waver to your voice, “I’m fine. How are you?”

You finally made eye contact with Jeremy, except his heart didn’t swell like it normally did. No, this time it broke. Your normally vibrant eyes were dull, red surrounding them as if you’d been crying in the shower. He could see the veins glowing brightly, his eyes moving downward to see the puffiness underneath. Your smile was watery, glassy tears still forming in your eyes at an alarming rate.

The way you sat was almost frightening. It was now clear that you had intentionally sat in such a way where your body would take up the least amount of surface area at one time. You were hunched over, arms crossed and almost touching your thighs. As much as Jeremy wanted to admit that the worst he’d ever seen you at was the last time you went to his house, it wasn’t. This definitely was. Maybe it was the lack of emotions; the numbness you seemed to have. He needed to find out what happened, and preferably soon. But for now, he would stick with small talk. He needed to keep conversation light.

“I’m fine,” he noted, not daring to break eye contact. “Do you need a hug?”

You hesitated, fingers picking at one another. Jeremy hoped he hadn’t crossed any boundaries with you. Out of all of the terrible things that could happen, that was at the top of his list. Your eyes tore away from him and Jeremy could feel his heart ache more than it did before. “Sure,” you spoke softly, as if you’d offend Jeremy if you talked to him too loudly.

He wrapped his arms around you, being as careful as he could with each passing second. The moment he got close enough, you rested your body onto his. He could feel the tension release and your head hit the crook of his neck. Your breathing evened, going from labored to the simplest task.

“Sorry,” you muttered, pulling away from the hug.

“It’s okay,” Jeremy replied sheepishly.

There was silence in a room for a second, almost debating your next move. Jeremy noticed you shiver, arms crossing again before your hands began moving up and down your bicep. He moved without thinking over to his closet, trying to find something to make you comfortable. His fingers touched the edge of his blue sweater, and in an instant, he knew that it was the perfect thing to give you.

He took it from the hanger, hands carrying the sweater with a certain kind of delicacy. Jeremy sat next to you once more as your eyes shifted to look at him. Unfolding the sweater, he looked at it for a moment before draping it over your shoulders. Jeremy knew he had succeeded in making you feel even just a little bit better when you gave a soft smile. You took a breath in, as if you were inhaling the moment. If there was something Jeremy knew, it was that neither of you wanted to forget this.

“You looked cold,” Jeremy broke the silence.

The dullness returned to your eyes as you nodded. His mind starting racing, he needed to make this better, and fast. “It’s kinda funny you know,” he started, hoping that this one little thing he thought was ironic wouldn’t upset you, “you said that you had borrowed my sweater before, now it’s actually true.”

You gave a chuckle, and Jeremy lit up. Yes! You put your arms through the sleeves of his blue sweater, pulling the ends to cover your hands just enough. There was a pause. Your eyes met his, faces almost inches apart from one another’s. Jeremy could practically feel his eyes closing, his face getting redder by the second. “Can we lay down?” you asked innocently, shooting big doe eyes at the awkward boy who sat beside you.

It was his turn to be speechless, his face only getting redder. You swung your legs around and began leaning back. Jeremy waited until you were comfortable before leaning back himself. Both of you laid down on your side, faces merely inches apart. The two of you remained like that for a little bit, before you broke contact with Jeremy, laying on your back instead of facing him like before. He watched as you did so, eyes scanning you body. You were stiff, not completely comfortable still. He watched your eyes shift, staring at his ceiling with a blank stare. It was in this moment that Jeremy realized just how much you meant to him. You were everything, even in these moments of absolutely nothing.

“Do you want to talk about something?” he asked cautiously. His eyes eventually trained on your emotionless face as you stared up at the glow-in-the-dark stars Michael had put on his ceiling when they were just 14. It started as a joke, Michael teasing Jeremy about how ‘afraid of the dark he was’, but now he’d grown to love them. They halfheartedly glowed as twilight fell upon the room, but Jeremy didn’t dare move a muscle to turn on a lamp.

He could barely make out your features, but Jeremy saw you nod. “I just don’t know where to start.”

“You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to,” Jeremy reminded.

“But, like, I don’t know, I feel like I need to tell someone.” You went silent for a second, eyes scanning his ceiling. You gulped. Even in dusk, he could see that clearly. Nerves were getting to you, no doubt about it. “I don’t know how though.”

Jeremy didn’t know what to say. He had been through this, sure, but he wasn’t quite sure what you were alluding to. At this point in time, it could be anything. But he knew one thing for sure. If you wanted to tell him, he would give his full attention to you, no matter how long it took. “It’s okay. It doesn’t need to be perfect. You can wait on telling me, too.”

You shook your head, eyes still focused on the stars above. “I won’t do it later. Or, at least, I don’t think I will.”

The caring boy nodded, eyes almost encouraging you to speak.

There was a beat before your face contorted into a grimace, eyes just squinting open as you spoke. It was a while before you actually said anything, but Jeremy was happy to wait. It took a minute before you spoke again, your body and face completely stoic. “Have you ever been…” You trailed off, but soon tried again. “Have you ever been like…in a situation where…I don’t know…you—uhh you didn’t want something, but maybe the other person didn’t stop?”

Jeremy paled before his cheeks turned bright red. His fists balled up, next tensing. He could feel his veins begin to make an appearance, his jaw clenching in the process. He remained still, but his breathing hardened, like he’d been running for miles. He was going to kill your boyfriend. It didn’t matter if he’d be in prison, it didn’t matter if he got in trouble with his dad. The only thing that mattered was your safety, which right now, was being completely ignored. Fuck, he’d seen it before, he’d seen the fucking texts and now it was too late. Jeremy could feel his hands move, almost getting up to get his keys and personally drive to the police station and get you to the hospital because there was no way, no way, your stupid punk ass dipshit boyfriend was getting away with—

“I’m sorry, that sounded really awful. Maybe we shouldn’t talk about it,” you noted, almost sensing Jeremy’s anger.

For just a moment, everything was still. This wasn’t about him, or revenge on your boyfriend right now. This was about you. Sweet, good, amazing, you, who didn’t deserve half of this. What made it worse was Jeremy knew that feeling. He knew it way too well and wouldn’t have wished it on his own worst enemy, much less the one person who meant the world to him. “I get it,” Jeremy mumbled.

“What do you mean?” you asked, eyes immediately darting towards Jeremy.

“The Halloween party junior year at Jake Dillinger’s house. Someone pulled me into a room and started…making advances that I didn’t want. I couldn’t even stand up and leave, you know? I’m not even sure how I did it, but I managed to get out of there and into the bathroom as fast as I could. I mean, if things didn’t work out the way they did…”

You nodded, not needing Jeremy to even utter the words. “I guess this is sort of similar.”

“What do you mean?” Jeremy asked.

“I mean like,” you stopped, almost as if you’d been frozen instantly. “Sometimes he kisses me and I don’t want him to. But if I say no, then it’s game over, you know? And it’s not like I can just pull away, either. He like…holds my face against his, finger tips digging into the back of my neck. Even if I’ve stopped kissing, he won’t let go no matter how hard I push against him.” Jeremy didn’t say anything as you kept going. “But like tonight it escalated.”

You didn’t meet eyes with the boy beside you; you hadn’t for a while. “I guess tonight was basically a repeat of the Halloween party for you, but like it was me in that situation instead. Things went to far, I ran for the bathroom and got the fuck out of there. I just grabbed my stuff and left, even though he kept apologizing to me. And you know, maybe I would’ve actually believed them if they weren’t so false all the time.” You paused for a second, regaining some composure. “Fuck, what did I get myself into?”

“Something you don’t deserve,” Jeremy interjected. He could feel his fists clench again, heat rising in his veins. Oh your boyfriend was gonna pay. He was gonna fucking pay.

You sighed, a waver coming from your throat. “Thanks, but I mean like, maybe it’s my fault? Like I do say yes and he isn’t really good at picking up on hints. I know that. Just like I know I can say no. But it’s like, would he even stop if I did? Would he hurt me if I said no? Would he be offended and just start screaming at me over text like he’s done a thousand times now?”

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Jeremy started, “but I can’t hear you say this anymore.” His hands waved, as if they could stop you all on their own. “What you’re telling me is that you don’t have the option to say no. That’s not consent.”

“But sometimes I don’t say anything. That means he doesn’t know I don’t want it, right? So, it’s my fault.”

“Not even a little bit,” the boy beside you said, losing all of the building anger. There was no way that this was your fault, no matter how anybody twisted it. He had to tell you that, at the very least. Jeremy decided to use the example from before to show you exactly how wild you sounded. “I didn’t say no at the Halloween party. I was forced into a situation where I didn’t say anything. People made advances and I didn’t mutter a single yes or no. Does that mean I consented?”

“No, of course not,” you said, eyes shifting towards Jeremy’s figure.

“Then doesn’t it work the same way for you?”

You were quiet for a second, and Jeremy hoped that he’d won you over. He knew he hadn’t when your face remained the same, not showing any emotion at all. “This is different.”

“How?” he asked, jumping at the opportunity to tell you that you didn’t deserve this.

“You weren’t dating that person. You didn’t have a future with them, a history with them, you had nothing.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with it,” Jeremy said, still watching your face for any sign of him being helpful. “And I think you know that.”

You nodded, tears beginning to well in your eyes. “I’m not being crazy, right?” you whispered.

“Not even a little bit.”

As soon as those words left his mouth, all of the parts of the evening clicked together in Jeremy’s mind. You had stood without taking too much space, worried about touching other people and what that would mean. It made sense how you crumbled into yourself, the feeling of violation taking over its host. The shower, and more specifically, the time you took in the shower. It was to try and get that dirty feeling off of you, an attempt to feel better, maybe a quick fix. The lack of emotion put into every singular moment was fitting now that he knew the truth. The tension in the room, the lack of comfort, everything fell right into place.

“Thank you,” you spoke up suddenly, a tear running down your cheek.

“You’re welcome,” Jeremy assured. It took all the strength he had to not wipe the tear away and wrap you up in his arms just to hold you for a while.

“I guess I’ve just forgotten what it’s like to kiss someone that I want to, you know? I don’t really remember what consent feels like.”

For the second time that night, Jeremy’s heart broke. To him, what you just said meant that it had been so long since you’d been treated like a human being that you forgot what it was like. You forgot what it was like to be shown decency or love. It was only natural for Jeremy’s next words to be “I hope you do someday.”

“Thank you, Jeremy. For everything. Really. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

There was a second of silence, both of you not sure what to say next. It was getting dark exponentially quick, so Jeremy quickly leaned over and turned on his lamp that sat on his night stand. It wasn’t much, but it was better than the darkness that surrounded them before. It was calm again. Jeremy basked in the relaxation for just a few seconds before you spoke up again.

“Why do I feel like I’ll never get that?” You asked to no one in particular. Your voice was still a little shaky, and your eyes didn’t leave the stars.

“What do you mean?”

“Like I don’t know,” but Jeremy knew that you did know exactly what was running through your mind. It was almost like sugarcoating; something to cushion the blow. “It seems like my boyfriend now is the only person who’d even remotely like me. It took years fir him to even get the courage to talk to me again after I turned him down in middle school.”

Jeremy gulped, his palms starting to sweat. He didn’t want to confess, at least not in these circumstances and not until you’d broken up with your boyfriend, but at the same time, his chest screamed for his heart to do something, anything. He didn’t even get to finish his thought before you kept going.

“And, god Jeremy, you hear about those people who get stuck in this cycle of abuse, person after person just worse than the last, because the victim is looking for someone to save them. I feel like I’m gonna be one of those people.”

“You’re not,” Jeremy whispered loud enough for you to hear. “You’re not like those other people.”

“Maybe I am,” another tear slipped down your cheek. “I mean, I didn’t think this would happen. I thought I was smart, but now look at me. I’m dumb, I’m clueless, I’m hopeless. I saw it coming, I knew what was going on, but I pushed it away. I thought I was just being dumb, anxiety acting up again or some bullshit. Jeremy, I did this to myself. I knew I should’ve left the minute he made me uncomfortable with his dependency, but fuck, I didn’t.”

“You’re not dumb,” the sweet boy said, gently running his fingers against your arm. “You’re wonderful. You’re incredibly smart, and you’re nowhere near hopeless. You didn’t let this happen to you, not even a little bit. And if anything, he’s the stupid clueless fuckface who made you feel this way. I know it sounds crazy, but god, he isn’t the only one who is going to like you. You have tons of people that’ll like, hell, love you. They’ll be speechless when you walk into a room and root for you and your happiness. Not the other way around.”

You stopped for a second, taking in every single word. “How do you know that?” you asked, softer than before.

Jeremy went beet red. “Well, I uhh, I just know.”

There was another pause between you two, and god Jeremy hoped he helped. It was all he could give right now, and it was his best. He just hoped that his best was enough.

“I’m sorry, I’ve been talking about myself way too much. What’s going on with you?”

“Oh, uhh, it’s okay. You said you needed to say something, so you did.” He got quiet for a second before muttering out an “I’m glad you did.”

You looked at him finally, your whole face tinged pink. Your eyes remained puffy and glassy, but Jeremy didn’t mind. He thought they were magical anyways. He could see all of you eye’s undertones, from the lights to the shadows and everything in between. He noted the dark swirling black pupil staring back at him, a hint of happiness inside. “How did I get so lucky?” you asked after a little bit.

“Wha--?”

“Jeremy, you are the sweetest person I’ve encountered in my entire high school career. I’m not sure how you do it, but you manage to calm me down and keep me safe for hours on end. I haven’t felt this safe in months,” you smiled your genuine smile, the one that Jeremy missed dearly, at him. “Thank you.”

“It’s no problem,” he stuttered out awkwardly. “I just wanted to keep a…a friend safe.”

You softly chuckled, your hand softly brushing his for just the slightest millisecond. Jeremy could feel his cheeks heat up at the soft contact between you two, causing you to giggle. “You’re cute when you blush.”

That made Jeremy go even redder than he was before. You gave a small laugh in response, gently putting your hand out to meet his. “Do you mind if I scoot closer?” you asked, a smile still painting your features.

The only thing Jeremy could do without sounding like a dork was nod. You did just as you had asked, rolling completely onto your side to face the nervous boy. There was a moment where everything was still, your eyes him with a grace he had only known from daydreams. He shivered a little bit, but it wasn’t from the air conditioning that was being pumped into the room at a regular rate. Jeremy kept the stillness going, contemplating on his next move. He wanted to show that he cared; that you meant the world to him. He wanted to show how important you were, that you mattered, even when you didn’t believe his words. He wanted to show that, fuck it, he loved you. He loved you with his whole heart, mind, and soul. As you laid beside him on his bed, Jeremy could practically feel his impulse control depleting. Maybe that’s why he didn’t stop himself from saying, with the most delicate tone, “Can I kiss you?”

You continued to stare, confusion forming on your face. Damn it, you were going to say no. He should’ve known, you were a good person, and you probably would never cheat on your boyfriend, even if you might be desperate to. But all of those thoughts were lost as a smile formed on your lips, almost crooked it was so big. It reminded Jeremy of when he first started admiring you from afar. “You know what?” you began, finger grazing over his knuckles, “Yeah. Thank you for asking first.”

The two of you leaned in, goofy happiness evident in your features. Your hand moved from Jeremy’s and grazed his cheek. He shivered at your touch, immediately craving more of it. He anticipated it to be something similar to a peck, just a short snippet of what he got before. Instead, he could’ve sworn you’d hired Disney to give him a fireworks show he’d never forget. It was in that moment that Jeremy was so happy his dad was out for the night.

If you were honest with yourself, you didn’t intend to have so much passion. But sometimes, you just had to indulge in the way Jeremy felt against your skin. It’d been forever since you felt some kind of warmth, but with the sweet boy, it felt like the entire world was set aflame. Your hand remained on his cheek, as you just focused on every aspect, taking in every feeling, every emotion, everything you’d been missing out on for almost a year.

Jeremy’s hand snaked its way around your hip, a powerful shot of comfort and purity pulsating through your body. It was like a drug; and you definitely just became addicted. You began to get closer to him, adding a rhythm as soon as you got there. It wasn’t long before Jeremy caught on, his hands promoting the gentle sway you’d set. His fingers ran their way through your hair as your arm wrapped around his torso, almost enveloping you in a sense of security; a sense of home. As cliché as it was, it was a hand that reached out, a lifeline to happiness, hope, success, and so much more. It was like everything you could’ve dreamed of even wanting was just there, keeping you safe inside of his arms.

Your heart started beating faster as your breathing got heavier, the beat to your rhythm now speeding up. Jeremy’s hands held your hips dangerously close to his. He stopped the sway and broke contact, and you almost whined at him stopping, even for just a second to readjust. Luckily, Jeremy could almost read you like a book, and lifted up the hem of your shirt, his calloused fingers now rubbing circles onto your bare hips. “Is this okay?” He asked, concern pooling into his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” you half stuttered out, still a little disoriented. “Thank you for checking in.”

He nodded, lips coming into contact with your jawline. Jeremy kissed downwards, going from your jawline to your neck. You cursed yourself for being somewhat ticklish as a giggle practically erupted from you. You could feel Jeremy chuckle against your neck, small laughs coming from him as well. He kept going, small vibrations from his laughs making the night almost better that it had been before. Because for the first time, these kisses weren’t about perfection like some bullshit you see in the movies. No, this was about comfort, making sure that everything was exactly how you wanted it to be, making mistakes like giggling perfectly wonderful.

Jeremy continued down your neck, small blushes and smiley gasps leaving you. He went slowly, almost teasingly, but you knew that it was for your own comfort. At some points, you could see the tips of his ears turn red, the soothing circles on your hips becoming a little bit rougher. Your hips were nearly touching at this point, every rough circle bringing them closer and closer. It wasn’t long before his kisses got lower, a little past your neck and just onto your collarbone. He had to manipulate your shirt a little bit to get there, but somehow he’d managed it.

Everything froze. You froze. Jeremy pulled back immediately, allowing your body to turn so your back was against the bed. He just wanted to make sure that you were okay, but he was only met with numb, unblinking eyes now staring up at the ceiling. His hands began to sweat and shake, unsure of what exactly was going on and what exactly he should do next. Fuck, did I do? It was like you had died right there in Jeremy’s arms. It didn’t help that your face had paled and your body had the illusion that you’d stopped breathing. He checked your pulse, making sure it was still there (it was, but at a slower rate than it had been before).

He sprinted out of his room to get you water from the kitchen, hoping that would help in even the slightest way. As soon as he got down the stairs and into the kitchen, Jeremy nearly slipped, his socks slippery against the hardwood. He recovered quickly before grabbing a bright orange plastic cup and filling it with water. His mind raced at the possible things he did wrong, Rich’s rules burning in his mind. The cup was finally filled and Jeremy ran back up the stairs. He entered his room slowly, just in case your state had changed and you needed quiet or something.

You hadn’t moved.

It had been well over 30 seconds to a minute, and yet you were still completely frozen. Your hands were relaxed, but he could still see them tensed into that position. He set his cup down on the dresser, walking towards you to double check your vitals once more before probably calling an ambulance. He sat down beside you, hand gently placing your wrist into his grip.

You shot up with an audible breath, hand immediately resting on your sternum. Your breaths were deep and fast, eyes darting around the room. Jeremy had jumped back, a small yelp escaping him. You squeezed your eyes shut, breathing finally going back to normal.

Jeremy inched closer, concern flashing over his features as he scanned you up and down. “Are you okay?” he asked, craning his neck forward slightly.

“Oh, yeah,” you attempted to play it off as if nothing happened. You inhaled, hands still shaking. “I’m fine, how are you?”

The lanky boy shook his head, running his hands through his hair, “Are you sure? Do you need something?”

“I uhh I’m good.” You looked down at your lap and Jeremy’s blue sweater. “Thank you.” There was a moment of nothing, each of you anticipating what the other would say.

“Is everything okay? You look upset.” you asked, now staring at him curiously. When he looked back, the first thing Jeremy saw was the now prominent bags under your eyes and the slight color that had flushed onto your face. Your hands weren’t keeping still, fidgeting with one another while you waited for his response.

“You uhh,” he started, unsure of exactly how to explain the events that just happened. “You like…I don’t know,” he took a breath, “went numb on me.”

Your eyes immediately broke any contact with him and looked back down at your lap, almost in shame. “Sorry.”

Jeremy’s heart broke again. You knew what had just happened, even if he didn’t. And what was worse is that this has happened before, without someone to help you or anything. He decided to try and keep things light, maybe not bring it up for a while. “I brought you some water,” he spoke softly.

“Thank you.” A pause. “I should go. Thank you so much for tonight, Jeremy, really.” You began to get up to grab your things to go.

“Hold on a second, okay?” Jeremy asked, holding out his hand as a form to stop you without physically touching you. “I don’t want you getting into an accident or something. I think we can agree that that would be the last thing we want right now.” There was a new feeling to the room, not necessarily disgust, but it wasn’t something good. He spoke up again, trying to convince you that staying safe was better than being sorry. “You can stay here for a while and calm down if you want.”

You thought for a minute; Jeremy could practically see the gears turning in your head. The waiting for you to decide was nearly agonizing for him. Out of all of the things that happened tonight, and the new information he’d gotten, Jeremy had now become hyperaware of your boundaries and sense of safety. He was worried that he had done something wrong just merely minutes ago. There was a moment to ask, that was apparent, but this one was not it.

Just as Jeremy was about to open his mouth to apologize for anything that he did to make you uncomfortable, you wiped your eye with his sweater’s sleeve. You looked at him again, almost scanning him up and down before turning your torso towards him. Somehow, Jeremy read your signals and opened his arms, only to have you bolt into them. Hot tears wet Jeremy’s shirt and he wished that he had some more tissues to give you, but the closest ones were across the hall, sitting in the bathroom innocently. He wrapped his arms around you, his hand gliding up and down your back as your sobs subsided. Jeremy leaned his head down to your ear, speaking as softly as he could. “Do you want to lay down again?”

You nodded and Jeremy pressed a kiss to your forehead before breaking the hug so you could lay down. He waited for you to get comfortable again before grabbing the bright orange cup that held your water and handed it over. You took a tentative sip, watching Jeremy carefully. He awkwardly looking around, not used to someone searching him up and down with the look you gave him. His eyes landed on his laptop and an idea popped into his head. “Do you maybe want to watch something on Netflix for a little bit?”

“Yeah, that’d be great. Thank you,” you mumbled. It was Jeremy’s turn to nod as he grabbed his laptop. He stood facing you, but his screen facing away from you as he opened the mac book pro. Logging in wasn’t the problem, it was the browser window that just happened to still be up. He exited it quickly and then searching for the Netflix app. The app opened with one quick keystroke, and the caring boy handed you his laptop.

“You can pick what we watch,” Jeremy smiled sheepishly.

“Oh no, I couldn’t. I don’t want to pick something that like, you don’t want to watch.”

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, Jeremy was slowly plotting exactly how he was going to get revenge on your boyfriend, a court order possibly included. You weren’t even secure enough to pick something to watch, even if he literally just said he didn’t care whatever it was. He inferenced that your boyfriend said what he just did often (fuck, how did he manage to mimic him?! That was the exact opposite of what he wanted to do), and then would hurt you because you made the wrong choice. It was probably over text, similar to all of the other verbal and emotional abuse you’d received.

But he pushed those thoughts aside, deciding that focusing on you would be the most productive at this moment in time. Especially since you were side eyeing his Netflix account, preciously sipping your water. Damn it, how did you always manage to be so attractive; so aesthetically pleasing? He stepped forward, getting settled into his bed himself as he spoke. “We can watch anything, okay? My number one priority right now is keeping you safe, calm, and happy. And if you want to watch Disney, a TV show you like, hell even some romantic comedy or 90s teen movie like Clueless, I’d be perfectly okay with it.”

“No, Jeremy, I really…I’m intruding already and I just…”

He looked at you, concern filling in his eyes. It didn’t matter what your choice was to him. All that mattered was you, your happiness, your safety, and your overall well-being. If your choice was some ridiculous thing he’d never heard of, he’d watch it. Because tonight wasn’t about him. He knew it wasn’t about him from the minute you walked into his front door and Michael ha left for the night. This was totally, completely, 100% about you.

And if this was about you, he didn’t want to push you into something you weren’t comfortable with, even if the task was as simple as picking something that you wanted to watch. As much as it made his blood boil, Jeremy knew he wasn’t going to win this fight. He had to use a tactic of some kind, something to make you more comfortable with making a choice. Then the idea hit him like fall damage in any Zelda game. “You’re not intruding, okay? It’s totally fine that you’re here, and you actually made my night a lot better. I mean, I like Michael, but we always do the same things. It’s nice to get some variety, you know?”

You didn’t respond to him, eyes still fixated on the laptop screen.

“How about this?” he touched your arm gently, causing you to look over at him, “I pick three things I’d be okay with watching. You can veto all of them or pick one of them. If you veto, I’ll pick another three.” Jeremy didn’t just pull this out of his ass of course. It was a tactic Michael had used with him after the SQUIP-incident. He could remember not wanting to make his best friend even more upset by choosing the wrong thing, or worse, feeling a phantom shock.

You nodded at his idea, a small smile forming on your lips. He could see on your face that you knew that he understood your circumstances. Jeremy mirrored your smile before listing three possible things to watch. Suddenly, your choice was easy to make. The title rattled off of your tongue as Jeremy searched it up.

The laptop was situated between yours and Jeremy’s legs, acting almost like a barrier. That barrier broke about half an hour into the program. Your empty water cup rested against your thigh as Jeremy felt a weight on his chest, almost too engrossed in the laptop to notice.

He looked down and saw you asleep against his chest, blue sweater sleeve pulled down just enough to give you sweater paws. Your head and right arm rested against his chest, the light from the lamp causing a warm glow to enclose the room. He kissed the top of your head before pausing the media and putting his laptop next to the bed on the floor, careful not to wake you. The bedside lamp would be trickier, but he somehow managed it before resting his head against his pillow, his right arm wrapping around the small of your back.

Jeremy smiled to himself before closing his eyes for the night, so happy, so delirious that he’d managed to keep you safe and sound for a second night.

#Jeremy Heere x reader #jeremy heere imagine #bmc x reader #bmc imagine #be more chill imagine #be more chill x reader

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wineanddinosaur · 4 years

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VinePair Podcast: Live With Kyle MacLachlan, Pursued by Bear for the Great Drinks Experience

Celebrity wines aren’t exactly a new trend: From Francis Ford Coppola to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, to Jon Bon Jovi, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Sting, many a famous name has placed itself behind a wine brand. The rarity is to find a celebrity as involved in their winemaking business as acclaimed actor Kyle MacLachlan of “Twin Peaks” fame.

As part of VinePair’s Great Drinks Experience, MacLachlan and Pursued by Bear winemaker Dan Wampfler joined VinePair CEO Adam Teeter and co-host Zach Geballe for a live recording of the VinePair podcast last week. During the episode, we discuss how MacLachlan and Wampfler became connected to the Washington wine world; why the state can compete with any other growing region on the planet; and how MachLachlan got his start acting — and wine drinking — to impress a girl.

From blending to barrel selection, MacLachlan and Wampfler work hand-in-hand to ensure each of their wines is exactly what they intend it to be: a reflection of Washington State’s great vineyards, and a diligent winemaking approach.

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Watch on VinePair

Or Check Out Our Conversation Here

Adam: My name is Adam. I’m one of the co-founders of VinePair. On your screen you’ll also see Zach, one of my co-hosts. Erica could not be with us tonight, our third co-host. We have Dan and Kyle who are on to talk to us about their wines. We’re going to record the podcast live. What that means for all of you out there is that you’re going to hear how it all happens. We’re going to do a quick intro to the podcast like we normally would, Zach and I will have some banter, then we’re going to go straight to Kyle and Dan. Until then, they’re just going to sit awkwardly on the screen, and that’s fine because at least Kyle has a cool background.

Zach: Dan, show them where you are!

Kyle: Dan has a light! Dan’s in a nice setting.

Dan: Hey, you guys!

A: We’re going to talk through all of these wines. There’s going to be time at the end for you to submit your questions. They can be submitted on your Q&A tab on your screen. With that in mind, Zach, are you ready to go?

Z: Let’s do it.

A: All right cool, we’re recording. From Brooklyn, New York, I’m Adam Teeter.

Z: And in Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe.

A: And this is the VinePair Podcast. Zach, what’s going on man?

Z: You look great. I’m jealous. We’re doing this one live, and I can see you. You’ve gotten a haircut. For those of you who are watching this live can tell perhaps, that I did not.

A: I had to commit, finally. It’s receding, so it’s done.

Z: It’s a good look. I might have to do the same.

A: Thank you very much! It’s funny that we’re doing a live podcast because it’s now 9 p.m. in New York and it’s only 6 p.m. on the West Coast. We’ve already had two of these sessions tonight. I just had a great session talking with Marc Farrell, the founder of Ten to One Rum, so I’ve had some rum.

Z: Nice.

Kyle: I’m jealous!

A: We’ve already heard from one of our guests, who I’m super excited to welcome on the podcast. Without further ado, I want to welcome Kyle MacLachlan of Pursued by Bear Wine and Dan Wampfler of Pursued by Bear and Abeja. Did I say that right, Dan?

Dan: Yes, you did. You nailed it. Abeja, which is Spanish for “honeybee.”

A: Awesome. Kyle and Dan, thank you for joining us. We appreciate it.

K: Great to be here. Thanks for having us on, Adam and Zach. This is great.

A: As many know, I tease Zach about living in Washington.

K: That’s fine with me.

A: I would love to know from both of you, initially, what makes Washington wine so special. A lot of people who are wine drinkers in the United States mostly think about California when it comes to wine. But Zach especially has been pushing me for years that the wines from Washington State are amazing. Kyle, I know you had friends encourage you to start a winery. So why Washington State? What is it about Washington State that draws people to wines?

K: I grew up on the east side. I’m from Yakima originally. Eastern Washington runs in my blood. Growing up there — it was the kind of place where you grow up and want to leave, to go seek your fortune, so to speak. It was surprising to me that I found myself back there, really enchanted with what was happening in the wine world. I learned about it simply by tasting wines, and my eyes were opened. I thought, no one seems to be talking about them. I realized, this is a legitimate place to make stuff that’s world-class. That started me thinking about how I might get involved. Through a circuitous route, I met up with Dan, and he’s been involved since 2005 or 2006, when I first started.

A: Dan, what about you? Are you from Washington State originally?

D: No, I’m from Michigan originally. I moved out to Washington in 2000 or 2001. I have an undergrad and masters degree in wine production from Michigan State. I moved out to Washington to take a job as the research winemaker for Ste. Michelle Wines Estates back when it went under a different name.

A: Wow.

D: I moved from research through production, large to small to family-operated.

A: If you were to synthesize Washington State wines, could you both do it? When we think of Napa, we think of Cab. When we think of Oregon, we go to Willamette and we say Pinot. What should we think about as consumers, when it comes to Washington?

D: We can do anything. Maybe not Pinot yet, but we’re still planting. When I moved out 20 years ago, it wasn’t a mature industry. It was a maturing industry that still had critical mass of quality producers and scale. It wasn’t agri-tourism. It was a wine industry. That was exciting to me. Since I’ve been a part of the industry, the fruit quality in the vineyards, the vineyard management, and wine production has continued to raise the bar. What sets us apart from any other industry that I’ve witnessed, is the camaraderie. A high tide raises all boats. With that comes a high tide and a high bar of wine and fruit quality.

K: I completely agree. As Dan said, we can do anything there and anything well. We take inspiration from Bordeaux. We take inspiration from Napa, but we’re not imitating. We have our own flavor profile in Washington state, and it’s a good one. As I got involved in it, I was as surprised as anyone to learn that you really can grow anything there, apart from Pinot as Dan mentioned, but that’s still to come. It’s amazing. You can find anything in abundance and in quality.

Z: I want to ask about one of my favorite varieties here in Washington, Syrah. We have a Syrah here, the Baby Bear from Pursued by Bear. I know Dan, you also make a Syrah at Abeja. Syrah is the variety that I point to a lot when trying to explain what’s possible here in Washington, but our viewers and listeners are probably sick of me saying it. Why don’t you guys say it? And talk about Syrah in particular. We’ll come back to the Baby Bear that I’m drinking right now. What is it about Syrah in Washington that makes for really amazing wine?

D: Syrah is a winemaker’s wine. I’ll explain that. I’ll pick on Chardonnay for a second. Chardonnay, we can steer as winemakers in so many different directions. It’s not that we can overcome terroir, but we can push it one direction or another with so many different winemaking techniques using barrels and yeast. We can do the same thing with Syrah. It’s a very diverse grape in its flavor profile. It’s also sexy in every single one of those categories, whether it’s Old World or New World. It’s a sexy variety from bookend to bookend.

K: I was just drinking some, and I felt very sexy there.

A: Can you go back to the beginning of the creation of Pursued by Bear and tell us a little bit about the name of the winery? It’s a famous direction from a play in Shakespeare. What was the real desire to create a winery? There are a lot of wineries out there that are owned by celebrities, but you’re very hands on. That’s different.

K: I spend a lot of time there, in Dan’s guest bedroom downstairs. It started with a desire to get home more frequently. My career keeps me between New York and Los Angeles a lot, and my dad was still living at the time, in Yakima. I thought this would be something that we could share together, embarking on a journey. I entered into it with no expectations, not thinking it takes three years before your harvest is actually ready to drink, minimum. I just wanted to jump in with both feet without much thinking. That was made possible by my former winemaker Eric Dunham, as Dunham Cellars. He was my introduction into wine in Washington and the community. It really is a community of like-minded people. Crazy, but all like-minded. We do support each other and revel in each other’s differences. We all strive to create world-class wine. We share this common passion and goal. “Pursued by bear” is a smaller portion of a longer stage direction that goes “Exit, pursued by a bear,” which happens in Act III, Scene III of Shakespeare’s play, “The Winter’s Tale.” It’s the most specific, strange, esoteric stage direction he ever wrote. It made me laugh, the idea that the actor gets chased off stage by a bear. It seemed so appropriate to what I was trying to do. It also harkened back to my day job, working as an actor. I grew up going to school in Washington. I was in the theater department there. I graduated in 1982 and was going to go seek my fortune as a repertory theater actor. It all seemed to make sense to me. It was more cohesive when I started. Just jumping in, I met Eric and this idea of making wine was something that had been on my mind for a while. When I finally asked him, I asked if he would partner with me. He said, “Yeah, what do you like to drink?” I said Cabernet, and he said let’s make Cabernet. It was really just that casual, handshake kind of deal. For those of us who knew Eric remember him as being completely like that. Your word is your word. Shake hands and have some fun. Dan came into that family shortly after I met Eric. We were a band of brothers there for a while.

D: I don’t think we shook hands. It was more like shots and hugs at that point, throwing back bottles of Cabernet and Syrah.

K: That’s how we roll in Washington.

Z: Shots and hugs is what Adam and I do when we hang out in person.

A: Which is never. You do live on the other side of the country.

Z: It happens.

D: You guys have cheap shots you can take. That’s the shots and the hugs that you have.

A: Did you buy land? Did you think about that? How much are you taking from growers? How much was it a real trial by fire? There’s a lot of people that think they can start a wine label and figure it out.

K: I was totally way in over my head. I partnered with some really smart people that knew what they were doing. I just jumped in with the idea that this could be a fun adventure. I liked the people I was meeting. I enjoyed the community. When you’re from the east side, whether Yakima or Walla Walla, and there’s some similarities there, when families get together they don’t talk about the east side as much. We’re the black sheep. I had terrific guidance, and I was genuinely interested in learning. I didn’t sit back. I wanted to know where the grapes were being sourced from. I wanted to learn about the AVAs and the sites. I found the process fascinating. It kept me going. It was also a great excuse to grab my dad, jump in the car, drive to Walla Walla, hang out with the Dunhams, taste wine, and have a great time. That was a big part of it in the beginning. I had considered Napa for about 30 seconds, until I started thinking about how much it was going to cost to buy a ton of grapes. It was way outside of my range.

A: Now it costs even more.

K: Washington made much more sense. To be honest, it was the story. My wife reminds me: She says, you’re from Washington. That’s the story right there. One thing my wife really understands is how to tell a story. All signs were pointing in that direction.

Z: You guys have both talked about the experience of making a wine. There’s a whole component of the industry in Washington that’s maturing that has to do with wine tourism. Dan, I know that at Abeja that’s a big part of what goes on. Can you guys talk about what the experience is like to visit Walla Walla? Right now, we’re in a period of time where people traveling to visit isn’t happening so much. In whatever normal times will be, what is that experience like?

D: Walla Walla is four hours from Portland, Boise, and Seattle. We operate a country inn, a luxury inn on our 30-acre parcel. We have the ability to accommodate 28 people. There are weekends where we are booked 100 percent from people outside of the country. Not now. Everyone that’s coming now is driving, and we are still fully booked: This weekend, last weekend, this coming weekend. We’re in Phase Two. Walla Walla is magical because when you head over from Seattle, for example, you go over the mountains and the trees fade away right around Ellensburg. You roll into Walla Walla and it’s lush and filled with vineyards. It’s filled with good people and a quaint downtown. We have some of the best wines and accommodations, but it’s our people that make us stand above, with the best areas of the world.

A: Talk about the relationship you two have. Kyle, you’re very involved with the wine, but Dan you’re the winemaker. How does that work? There’s always the curiosity wondering how it works when someone is the owner-proprietor and not the winemaker, but they’re very involved in the winemaking process. Kyle, how often are you at the winery? Are you helping crush? What are you doing with blending and tasting? Dan, how much are you agreeing with him or not?

D: I will say on Kyle’s behalf, this is by far and away, not a vanity project. Kyle comes to town, less so now, but quite often. We pick vineyard sites together. We pick barrels. We do barrel trials together. We blend every single blend together. Now, we’re sending samples his way. He and I will taste back and forth with samples that were pulled from the same barrels at the same time. We’ll go through and compare notes. We’ve got our beakers and our graduated cylinders and our pipets. We’re doing the blends, and we’re sharing spreadsheets. Kyle’s very involved. That’s the exciting part. He’s inquisitive. He knows what he likes, and he has a phenomenal palate. He knows what he doesn’t like. We agree on most things, but we steer together. Kyle?

K: I feel like I’ve got my brother here next to me when we do our blending and our tasting. We really get along. We see the direction of the brand headed in the same way. I love going up as much as I can get there: participating in the blending, visiting the vineyard sites, talking about the barrels and what we’ll use each year, how much neutral and new, and new sites coming up. Dan was a member of the Washington Wine Commission, and I think you still are. He knows everybody there. He knows all the growers. He’s got great relationships with so many of them. I bring a little bit from my side, like getting introduced to these French oak barrels that we use which are just phenomenal. They work so well with the big red fruits that we get from Washington State. It just pairs beautifully. That was my contribution in coming into the relationship when I first started. There were sources that Dunham was using that I used as well. Then I began to branch out from that as I began to explore. One of the sites that I love is Hugh Shiel’s place, Dubrul. He’s got a wonderful site in Washington. The fruit that comes off of there is very special. You get more and more involved. I lean on Dan for so much. He’s got a terrific palate and his wife has an extraordinary palate. We both rely on her. It really is a partnership. We’re in this together. I’m really flexible and open. I know what direction we want to go in. I feel like I get the same response from Dan. We’re both heading in the same way. We really work well together.

A: Amazing.

Z: Adam, we should talk about these wines.

A: Yes fine, Zach. We can.

A: The first one I want to talk about is Blushing Bear. It was one of our top rosés two years ago. It’s a phenomenal wine. I’d love Kyle, if you talked with us about it. How long have you made a rosé for?

K: Not long: 2015 was the first vintage. It was more like: Everyone is making a rosé, we should make a rosé. Hey Dan! Let’s make a rosé. I wanted to copy the French. There’s a rosé that comes out of the Bandol region. It’s some of my favorite. I was clueless. I didn’t know if we could get the varietals for it in Washington.

D: Mind you, he asked in August. “Hey, can we get this?” I said, “I’ll see what I can do.”

K: Which is why we came up with 75 cases for that first vintage. When we did it, it was phenomenal. When you blend Grenache and Mourvèdre, at the time we had Cinsault as well, you put those varietals together in the right combination and you get that same sort of acid and bright quality that comes with Washington. You have yourself a really fantastic rosé that’s got bite and mineral and flavors and aromas. 2015 was our first, and we’ve made it every year since then. We’ve upped our production higher than 75 cases. We’re still under 500, I think.

A: How much are you producing total?

K: This year we’re right around 2,000 cases.

A: Can you find the wine in all 50 states?

K: We distribute in roughly 18 states, the U.K., and Japan.

A: Oh, Japan! It’s pursuedbybearwine.com, right?

K: Exactly.

A: I love this wine. The fruit is really present. It’s insanely refreshing. There’s a nice quality of lemon and strawberry. It’s everything you want in a rosé.

K: Yes. There’s a little grapefruit and guava in there. We’re both going for something that’s light and refreshing, but it has a little bit of a mouthfeel. It has a nice finish. It’s great chilled. It’s also nice slightly below room temperature. If it gets up to cellar temp, or even a little more, the aromatics come out. You can enjoy it on that level as well.

D: We don’t saignée. Everything is farmed and brought in as rosé. Everything is brought in and we whole- cluster press. We leave it in the press long, we go to our fermentation vessels, we ferment everything in separate lots, then we blend at the end. It’s a true rosé wine, in that it’s not an afterthought. It’s start to finish, our outcome goal.

A: Dan, for our listeners and viewers who don’t understand what saignée is, can you explain that?

K: He’s a singer from… never mind.

D: Saignée is French, meaning “to bleed.” If you have a tank full of red fruit, you open a valve and you bleed off some of the free run. 99 percent of all red skin grapes produce white juice. It’s that skin contact time that extracts the pigments, colors, and tannins. Intentionally, we bring in the fruit for rosé, we keep the fruit in contact in the press, as opposed to just bleeding off from a Cabernet Franc or a Mourvedre, or whatever the varietal is. That’s a much more challenging circumstance to get the color and the aromas. When you nail it, it’s so much more pure, less tannic, sexy, and elegant.

Z: Don’t you have the benefit that the grapes are grown to make rosé? The wine is not a bi-product of making the red wine.

D: Exactly right.

Z: I wanted to ask Dan really quickly about this Chardonnay that I’m drinking. I’ve always been a big fan of the Abeja Chardonnay. On the label here, it just says “Washington State.” Why is that?

D: Great question. First, I want to mention, as the winemaker at Abeja, I’m not the only one. My wife is my co-winemaker. We make all winemaking decisions together. We’re on family vacation, so she has taken the kids in the other room, so there’s no dogs barking or kids interrupting. We’ve been on multiple Zoom calls … anyway.

A: That’s what life is. That’s normal now.

D: It is. To answer your question: Washington State for two reasons. One, we have three different styles of Chardonnay. This is Washingtonian in style. You can help me answer how we make that Washingtonian style, but it’s the acidity, the ripeness, and the character. Second of all, a significant portion of the fruit comes from the Celilo Vineyard outside of the Columbia Valley AVA, from the Columbia Gorge AVA. Because of the percentage difference, it’s also Washington State, as opposed to the Gorge or Walla Walla or Columbia Valley.

Z: You guys can tune in later for my Celilo Vineyards seminar that will only be attended by me and Dan. Dan, can you talk about the winemaking approach? You said Washingtonian, and you nailed the key points here of an expression of ripe fruit with still a lot of acid. What is it in the winemaking process or the thought process that allows you to find this balance of generosity of fruit while still preserving acidity?

D: Fruit source, fermentation style: Is it cool? Are we whole-cluster pressing? What juice are we choosing? Are we new oak? Are we stainless? Are we a balance? All of those decisions play into the steering. Like I led with, Chardonnay can be manipulated as a winemaker in so many different styles and directions. We’re not trying to push it respectfully in a Burgundian way. We’re not trying to push it respectfully in a Chablis way. We’re trying to keep it not tone deaf from where the fruit comes from, which is a blend of several different vineyards. Solilo, our estate vineyard in Walla Walla, and a vineyard based in the Columbia Valley Central. It has the blend of fruit, acidity, and ripeness. It has the blend of texture. My wife and I are all about texture in the wine. We use 100 percent French oak in this wine, although not 100 percent new. There’s a significant percentage of experienced oak. We’re not trying to create “Chateaux Two by Four.” We’re trying to get oak and toast levels to frame the fruit and give it lift and celebrate what those vineyards have to offer.

A: Zach, you opened Baby Bear. I did not.

Z: I did! Adam’s saving that for a more important night than this, apparently.

K: I’ll send you some more.

A: Do you want to talk about that wine as well?

Z: Yeah! Before I give my thoughts, let’s hear from Kyle and Dan. What’s the approach here? You were talking before about Syrah from Washington, that it can go in a lot of different directions. What direction is this trying to go? What do you see as being the guiding principle behind this wine?

K: The Syrah was born in 2008, the same year my son was born. That’s why we called it Baby Bear. I already had Pursued by Bear, so I was stuck with Baby Bear, and off we went. If you can’t make a good Syrah in Washington, you should probably just get out of the business. It’s just the grape that works. I was attracted to the Dunham brand initially because of Eric’s Syrah, his single vineyard Syrah. When I got into the world and we were making Cabernet, I wanted to make a Syrah as well, which we did. But, I wanted to distinguish it from what Eric was doing. In order to make the difference, we brought in special barrels. We were using the same vineyard sources as Eric, from the Columbia AVA and Horse Heaven AVA , which is a fantastic AVA, closer to the Columbia River. There’s still wild mustangs up on that plateau, so they say. Pretty cool spot. We decided to use a large-format barrel to age this. We got a 600-liter puncheon barrel. They’re just beautiful. They’re gigantic. They hold 50 cases of wine. The idea is that you’ve got more liquid in the vessel and less contact with the staves.

D: The surface area to volume ratio is more generous.

K: Chemist right there talking: That’s exactly right. I started to experiment with aging. We started off as a traditional 22 month, 24 months the first few vintages. 26 months, then I started pushing to 28 months, 30 months, 32 months. I held back before we got to 34 months. This is almost three years in barrel. I would taste it and think it was phenomenal. As Dan says, the barrel gives you its oak, and then it stops. Then it’s basically holding the wine. It’s softening, and the tannins are refining. It’s so cool. I could do this because I didn’t need to move it to market as quickly as some wineries. This is not the way I’m making a living, thank god. My living is paying for this experience. It allowed me to be a little more experimental. The blending hasn’t changed much. It’s these two vineyards. The ratio varies sometimes depending on how much comes in: 60/40, 50/50. We do a little bit sur lie. One of the barrels, sometimes we’ll let that just add to the mouthfeel of the wine. Whatever we set in motion from the very beginning, that’s how we’ve kept it from the get-go. No Viognier in sight, this is just 100 percent pure Syrah.

D: We’ve tried to blend different fruit sources almost every year, almost. We keep coming back to this. It works. The two components on their own are great. We’ve had other components on their own that are better. There’s been no better blend between the two. As Kyle said: 60/40, sur lie aging. When we first started doing the sur lie, the cellar crew and even Kyle said it was rough. I said, “Hold on.” We kept it in the barrels, and a couple months later, the chocolate fudge brownie of red wines evolved. Egad! We’ve got it. Let’s do this. Between the puncheons, between the sur lie, and between those two 50/50 blends, we’ve created a unique blend that’s magical.

Z: You mentioned earlier, Dan, texture. That’s a really important thing for understanding these kinds of wines. The flavor in Syrah is important for sure, but when you get a well-made Syrah, which this certainly is, you get that really beautiful, smooth wine. There’s enough that grabs on that almost velcro-y, but it’s not abrasive.

A: You’re making me regret that I should’ve opened the bottle. Not cool.

Z: Adam, it’s not that late. It’s only 9:30 in New York. You can still open the bottle.

A: Now I’m actually glad I’m saving it, though. You guys are making it sound like it’s absolutely incredible, but I’m also missing out a lot. I’m sure people at home or listening on the podcast are feeling that way as well. You should buy some at pursuedbybearwine.com. In terms of the Cabernet, which is the last wine we have from Abeja, I am curious. I’ve had a lot of winemakers say to me that Washington is going to be the next Napa. It’s the future, because of climate change. We’re getting questions that I’m watching come in during the Q&A that are asking about that as well. Is Washington the next Napa because of climate change? Will there be better Cabernet made in Washington than in Napa. I’m curious to hear your thoughts. What happens to Cabernet in Napa? Both of you? What do you think Cabernet can do in Washington? Are these people correct? Will climate change really move up how we think about Washington as the country’s premier growing site? As we all know, Cabernet being the most popular grape in America is not changing any time soon. What does that mean?

D: Wait a minute. You’re saying that Washington isn’t already the most premier Cabernet area?

K: My thoughts exactly, Dan.

A: Fine, fine.

D: I was going to go with my standard Zoom joke where I just mouth the words, and people say you’re on mute. I realized this is not the time for it. I appreciate you teeing that up for me. I’m not a climatologist, but I do believe the global warming trend is continuing to show itself. We are intentionally planting at higher and higher elevations. We are watching crop loads throughout the season each year. In some of the hottest years, like 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008, and some of the coolest years that we’ve experienced in 2010 and 2011, crop load is a huge thing. You get the ripeness of the grapes across the finish line, but you have to get them there at the right time. We work with our grower intimately to make sure that we’re pacing with what’s going on in the growing season, as well as being connected to the site specificity. We are making as good a Cabernet as anyone in the world already. We’ve been doing so for over a decade, different than, but as well as. As more attention is drawn to Washington State, more and more people fall in love with it, then we’re able to over-deliver on quality at the price points because our farming costs are less, and our labor costs are less. Our water costs are less. All these things are being pressured, so it’ll start going up, too, but we’re nowhere near in the economic stresses of Napa. There’s some amazing Cabernets, that are world class, that are coming out of Washington. It’s not a new thing.

A: This wine’s amazing.

D: Well, we have a good team.

K: The Cab is great. You know, Washington is hot. Time will tell as to whether global warming, because it’s impacting different parts of the world in different ways, how much of an impact it’s going to have. It remains to be seen. As Dan mentioned, higher elevations are a little bit cooler. It’s been hot here though. We fight that. Canopy management becomes really important. Washington is a different fall-off. When we get to fall and temperatures begin to change, they don’t drop gradually and nicely like in California. They go along and then they drop off the edge of a cliff. As Dan said, you’ve got to know when to bring your fruit in and harvest. That’s a critical time. Fortunately, Dan is good at anticipating that and knowing when the fruit needs to come off and when it needs to be sheltered.

D: We have a couple of advantages as well. One, we don’t have the fog rolling in. We’ve got cool nights. We don’t have the humidity stresses. Yes, we have mildew pressure like any growing region, but we don’t have it to the extreme that other regions do. We also have the diurnal shift that everyone talks about when they nerd out about wine. It can be 100 degrees at night during an August growing day. It can cool down to 58 degrees, like in Arizona. That diurnal shift allows the ripeness and intensity during the day, then it cools down and lets the vines rest at night.

Z: The other thing that Dan mentioned that’s important here is that there’s a lot of opportunity in Washington to add additional plantings to go up on hillsides. Napa is pretty much planted out at this point. A lot of those warmer vineyard sights, valley floor, are stuck. For now and in the past, it worked to their benefit. If we continue to see more heat and less cooling influence from fog and airflow, that becomes more of a problem because there’s nowhere else to plant grapes. Washington has a lot of land under vine, but only a tiny fraction of what the potential is here in the state. That’s a good resource, although planting vineyards is expensive. It takes a while for them to be usable, but at least it’s a longer-term possibility.

K: Zach, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure there are less acres planted in the state of Washington than in Napa.

A: Zach, you’re the somm. Come on!

Z: I’m not a walking encyclopedia.

A: You are.

Z: I would bet that it’s relatively comparable. Washington might have a little more land under vine than Napa at this point. That’s just an educated guess. All of you listening can Google that and tell me how wrong I am.

D: Anybody from the Washington Wine Commission could answer that.

A: The wines are amazing, but I’m seeing a lot of questions come in from viewers. And I have some myself that might not be related to wine. But let’s be honest, they’re also related to some of the characters you’ve played, Kyle. I’ve got to ask one first. Are you a Cosmo drinker?

K: Any port in the storm, I say.

A: Another one from viewers: If Agent Cooper was a wine, what wine would he be?

K: That’s a good question. Let me see. He’d be a Bordeaux. He’d be something classic. The reason I say Bordeaux is because when I met David Lynch in 1983, and I screen tested for “Dune,” which is the first thing David and I worked on together, when I finished my screen test, I came back to my hotel room, no idea how I’d done, and there was a bottle of Lynch Bages sitting on the table in my little hotel room. It was a gift from David, his way of saying thank you. He wasn’t making all of the decisions about the cast, but it was a really nice gesture. Since then, we’ve traded Lynch Bages all the time. It’s our thing. Cooper is a big part of David, obviously, so I would go with a Bordeaux, even a great vintage of Lynch Bages, like 1990 or 1996. We’ll call him that.

A: Okay. Another one that’s pretty good: If a great wine script came to you that highlighted Washington wines like “Sideways” or “Bottleshock,” would you consider acting in it or helping produce it? Can you think of a movie that would be that movie?

K: Sounds like a writer or a producer. I consider everything. I look at everything. I love to read. I love stories. It comes down to quality. Is it a good story?

A: That’s a fair point.

D: Washington wine is a good story, so I would encourage him to take the role or direct it.

K: That’s what we want to hear!

A: In terms of Pursued by Bear, you don’t make any white wines, correct?

K: We do not. Rosé is as close as we get.

A: Are there plans to make white?

K: No plans, although Dan and his wife make a Semillon that I had six months or a year ago when I was there.

D: Viognier.

K: Was it? Are you sure? It wasn’t Semillon?

D: We don’t make a Semillon. Pretty sure.

K: Must’ve been a different Dan, then.

D: Respectfully. Respectfully, we don’t. Well, maybe we will now.

K: That’s how much I’d had to drink. Anyway, it was extraordinary. No real plans at the moment. It’s tough. Although if I were to make one, Dan and his wife are extraordinary winemakers. We would come up with something fantastic. The idea of a label is so exciting, white wine and what we can do with that. I have five wines now: Pursued by Bear; Baby Bear Syrah, and rosé; the Bear Cub which is a new, lower price point wine which actually goes back to the original blend of the Pursued by Bear. Cab, Merlot, and Syrah. After 15 years, we go back to the original blend because the Pursued by Bear is moving more towards a traditional Bordeaux style. Then I have a single vineyard that I do out of the Walla Walla AVA that’s just been labeled and bottled, called “Twin Bear.” It’s super-small production at 93 cases. It’s a fun little thing to do. It’s beautiful: Cabernet, single vineyard, really elegant. I’ve got my hands full.

A: This one’s not the most fair question, but it’s to both of you. If you were to pick a favorite wine you make, which one?

K: What do you think, Dan?

D: Favorite wine that we make? Whatever’s in my glass right now, so I’ve got four. Favorite wine is like picking your favorite child. We all have one, you just don’t tell your spouse. Just kidding, both of our children are amazing. We don’t bottle anything that we don’t already have a great deal of pride and love for. I love all of these wines, otherwise they wouldn’t make it to the bottle. It depends on the season. If I’m in the middle of a winter night in a hot tub, I’m going to reach for a Cabernet. If I’m on the porch in the summer drinking a Chardonnay, I’m a happy camper. Right now, the rosé is singing. That’s a challenging question to answer. It depends on what I’m eating and what I’m doing.

A: Kyle?

K: I’m really in love with the Bear Cub right now. We just did it in 2016. It has a difficult past. 2016 in Washington was a big year. It was a year that I decided to up production a little bit. I went a little crazy with my wish list. We sourced from a lot of places. Suddenly, instead of producing 500 cases of Pursued by Bear, I had up to 1,500 cases of Pursued by Bear. I said, that’s not going to work. We’ve got to do something with this extra wine. We made the Pursued by Bear. We picked the best lots. Then we picked lots that were almost as good. We turned them into Bear Cub. It gave me a chance to go back to the original blend, at 6 and 7 percent of Syrah in the Bear Cub blend. That was really fun. It was nice to be able to go back and made the wine like we made Pursued by Bear. The Syrah gives it an immediacy. It’s immediately friendly. It’s available. It’s got beautiful aromatics. Because it’s a little unexpected, I’m really digging the Bear Cub right now.

A: Final question: Can both of you think of the first wine you had in your lives that was interesting? That you wanted to know more about? Either in order to make wine or because it was fun to drink. Whatever that was for you, do you have that?

D: I’ll go first. I started brewing beer when I was in high school. I fell in love with fermentation science. Beer led me to wine because I didn’t want to brew beer. You can do that in two weeks. I didn’t want to do distillation because I don’t have 15 years of patience.

K: You’re making it sound so scientific. You were in high school, man! You were making stuff so you could get trashed. Come on.

D: I was really popular in college being the fermentation guy, for sure. My dad, who’s not a traditional wine drinker, he’s a “Miller-Light-after-mowing-the-lawn” kind of guy, he was out at a business dinner, and everyone was around the table discussing what they had brought or what was on the menu or what the most expensive wine was that they’d ever consumed. My dad listened to everyone’s story, and they said, how about you, Dave? He said, “As a matter of fact, I have a case of wine in my basement that was 40 grand.” Everybody was shocked. It was wine that’s a varietal from northern Minnesota. I figured my son’s college tuition was about 40 grand, and this was his senior project, so he gave me a case of it, and it was like, “All right, you win.”

K: I love that story. Mine isn’t quite the same, although admit it, Dan. You were making alcohol so you could get girls. That’s why I got into acting. It’s all about that. In high school, I had a girlfriend, Heidi. I would go over to her house with her family for dinner. We would sit at the table, a proper dinner, the whole family was there. We each got to drink a glass of wine with dinner. I didn’t even know what it was, but it made me feel super grown up. It was a nice wine. That started me thinking in the wine world. That’s my story.

A: Awesome. Dan, Kyle, thank you both so much for joining us today. I really appreciate it. This has been amazing. Kyle, if you do want to send more Baby Bear, or other wines, feel free. I’ll send you my address. This has been amazing. The wines are great. We’ll share with everyone how you can buy both of these wines, both in the chat here as well as in the credits of the show. We really appreciate both of you.

Z: Thank you guys.

D: Thank you very much.

K: Loved it. Thanks for having us on.

A: Take care.

K: Be good. Cheers.

A: Thanks so much for listening to the VinePair podcast. If you enjoy listening to us every week please leave us a review or rating on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever it is that you get your podcasts. It really helps everyone else discover the show. Now for the credits: VinePair is produced and hosted by Zach Geballe, Erica Duecy, and me: Adam Teeter. Our engineer is Nick Patri and Keith Beavers. I’d also like to give a special shout out to my VinePair co-founder Josh Malin and the rest of the VinePair team for their support. Thanks so much for listening and we’ll see you again right here next week.

Ed. note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The article VinePair Podcast: Live With Kyle MacLachlan, Pursued by Bear for the Great Drinks Experience appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/kyle-machlachlan-pursued-by-bear-gde/

0 notes

isaiahrippinus · 4 years

Text

VinePair Podcast: Live With Kyle MacLachlan, Pursued by Bear for the Great Drinks Experience

Listen Online

Listen on iTunes

Listen on Spotify

Watch on VinePair

Or Check Out Our Conversation Here

Zach: Dan, show them where you are!

Kyle: Dan has a light! Dan’s in a nice setting.

Dan: Hey, you guys!

Z: Let’s do it.

A: All right cool, we’re recording. From Brooklyn, New York, I’m Adam Teeter.

Z: And in Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe.

A: And this is the VinePair Podcast. Zach, what’s going on man?

Z: You look great. I’m jealous. We’re doing this one live, and I can see you. You’ve gotten a haircut. For those of you who are watching this live can tell perhaps, that I did not.

A: I had to commit, finally. It’s receding, so it’s done.

Z: It’s a good look. I might have to do the same.

Z: Nice.

Kyle: I’m jealous!

Dan: Yes, you did. You nailed it. Abeja, which is Spanish for “honeybee.”

A: Awesome. Kyle and Dan, thank you for joining us. We appreciate it.

K: Great to be here. Thanks for having us on, Adam and Zach. This is great.

A: As many know, I tease Zach about living in Washington.

K: That’s fine with me.

A: Dan, what about you? Are you from Washington State originally?

A: Wow.

D: I moved from research through production, large to small to family-operated.

K: I was just drinking some, and I felt very sexy there.

D: I don’t think we shook hands. It was more like shots and hugs at that point, throwing back bottles of Cabernet and Syrah.

K: That’s how we roll in Washington.

Z: Shots and hugs is what Adam and I do when we hang out in person.

A: Which is never. You do live on the other side of the country.

Z: It happens.

D: You guys have cheap shots you can take. That’s the shots and the hugs that you have.

A: Now it costs even more.

A: Amazing.

Z: Adam, we should talk about these wines.

A: Yes fine, Zach. We can.

D: Mind you, he asked in August. “Hey, can we get this?” I said, “I’ll see what I can do.”

A: How much are you producing total?

K: This year we’re right around 2,000 cases.

A: Can you find the wine in all 50 states?

K: We distribute in roughly 18 states, the U.K., and Japan.

A: Oh, Japan! It’s pursuedbybearwine.com, right?

K: Exactly.

A: I love this wine. The fruit is really present. It’s insanely refreshing. There’s a nice quality of lemon and strawberry. It’s everything you want in a rosé.

A: Dan, for our listeners and viewers who don’t understand what saignée is, can you explain that?

K: He’s a singer from… never mind.

Z: Don’t you have the benefit that the grapes are grown to make rosé? The wine is not a bi-product of making the red wine.

D: Exactly right.

A: That’s what life is. That’s normal now.

A: Zach, you opened Baby Bear. I did not.

Z: I did! Adam’s saving that for a more important night than this, apparently.

K: I’ll send you some more.

A: Do you want to talk about that wine as well?

D: The surface area to volume ratio is more generous.

A: You’re making me regret that I should’ve opened the bottle. Not cool.

Z: Adam, it’s not that late. It’s only 9:30 in New York. You can still open the bottle.

D: Wait a minute. You’re saying that Washington isn’t already the most premier Cabernet area?

K: My thoughts exactly, Dan.

A: Fine, fine.

A: This wine’s amazing.

D: Well, we have a good team.

K: Zach, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure there are less acres planted in the state of Washington than in Napa.

A: Zach, you’re the somm. Come on!

Z: I’m not a walking encyclopedia.

A: You are.

D: Anybody from the Washington Wine Commission could answer that.

K: Any port in the storm, I say.

A: Another one from viewers: If Agent Cooper was a wine, what wine would he be?

K: Sounds like a writer or a producer. I consider everything. I look at everything. I love to read. I love stories. It comes down to quality. Is it a good story?

A: That’s a fair point.

D: Washington wine is a good story, so I would encourage him to take the role or direct it.

K: That’s what we want to hear!

A: In terms of Pursued by Bear, you don’t make any white wines, correct?

K: We do not. Rosé is as close as we get.

A: Are there plans to make white?

K: No plans, although Dan and his wife make a Semillon that I had six months or a year ago when I was there.

D: Viognier.

K: Was it? Are you sure? It wasn’t Semillon?

D: We don’t make a Semillon. Pretty sure.

K: Must’ve been a different Dan, then.

D: Respectfully. Respectfully, we don’t. Well, maybe we will now.

A: This one’s not the most fair question, but it’s to both of you. If you were to pick a favorite wine you make, which one?

K: What do you think, Dan?

A: Kyle?

K: You’re making it sound so scientific. You were in high school, man! You were making stuff so you could get trashed. Come on.

Z: Thank you guys.

D: Thank you very much.

K: Loved it. Thanks for having us on.

A: Take care.

K: Be good. Cheers.

Ed. note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The article VinePair Podcast: Live With Kyle MacLachlan, Pursued by Bear for the Great Drinks Experience appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/kyle-machlachlan-pursued-by-bear-gde/ source https://vinology1.tumblr.com/post/622355918051491840

0 notes

johnboothus · 4 years

Text

VinePair Podcast: Live With Kyle MacLachlan Pursued by Bear for the Great Drinks Experience

Listen Online

Listen on iTunes

Listen on Spotify

Watch on VinePair

Or Check Out Our Conversation Here

Zach: Dan, show them where you are!

Kyle: Dan has a light! Dan’s in a nice setting.

Dan: Hey, you guys!

Z: Let’s do it.

A: All right cool, we’re recording. From Brooklyn, New York, I’m Adam Teeter.

Z: And in Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe.

A: And this is the VinePair Podcast. Zach, what’s going on man?

Z: You look great. I’m jealous. We’re doing this one live, and I can see you. You’ve gotten a haircut. For those of you who are watching this live can tell perhaps, that I did not.

A: I had to commit, finally. It’s receding, so it’s done.

Z: It’s a good look. I might have to do the same.

Z: Nice.

Kyle: I’m jealous!

Dan: Yes, you did. You nailed it. Abeja, which is Spanish for “honeybee.”

A: Awesome. Kyle and Dan, thank you for joining us. We appreciate it.

K: Great to be here. Thanks for having us on, Adam and Zach. This is great.

A: As many know, I tease Zach about living in Washington.

K: That’s fine with me.

A: Dan, what about you? Are you from Washington State originally?

A: Wow.

D: I moved from research through production, large to small to family-operated.

K: I was just drinking some, and I felt very sexy there.

D: I don’t think we shook hands. It was more like shots and hugs at that point, throwing back bottles of Cabernet and Syrah.

K: That’s how we roll in Washington.

Z: Shots and hugs is what Adam and I do when we hang out in person.

A: Which is never. You do live on the other side of the country.

Z: It happens.

D: You guys have cheap shots you can take. That’s the shots and the hugs that you have.

A: Now it costs even more.

A: Amazing.

Z: Adam, we should talk about these wines.

A: Yes fine, Zach. We can.

D: Mind you, he asked in August. “Hey, can we get this?” I said, “I’ll see what I can do.”

A: How much are you producing total?

K: This year we’re right around 2,000 cases.

A: Can you find the wine in all 50 states?

K: We distribute in roughly 18 states, the U.K., and Japan.

A: Oh, Japan! It’s pursuedbybearwine.com, right?

K: Exactly.

A: I love this wine. The fruit is really present. It’s insanely refreshing. There’s a nice quality of lemon and strawberry. It’s everything you want in a rosé.

A: Dan, for our listeners and viewers who don’t understand what saignée is, can you explain that?

K: He’s a singer from… never mind.

Z: Don’t you have the benefit that the grapes are grown to make rosé? The wine is not a bi-product of making the red wine.

D: Exactly right.

A: That’s what life is. That’s normal now.

A: Zach, you opened Baby Bear. I did not.

Z: I did! Adam’s saving that for a more important night than this, apparently.

K: I’ll send you some more.

A: Do you want to talk about that wine as well?

D: The surface area to volume ratio is more generous.

A: You’re making me regret that I should’ve opened the bottle. Not cool.

Z: Adam, it’s not that late. It’s only 9:30 in New York. You can still open the bottle.

D: Wait a minute. You’re saying that Washington isn’t already the most premier Cabernet area?

K: My thoughts exactly, Dan.

A: Fine, fine.

A: This wine’s amazing.

D: Well, we have a good team.

K: Zach, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure there are less acres planted in the state of Washington than in Napa.

A: Zach, you’re the somm. Come on!

Z: I’m not a walking encyclopedia.

A: You are.

D: Anybody from the Washington Wine Commission could answer that.

K: Any port in the storm, I say.

A: Another one from viewers: If Agent Cooper was a wine, what wine would he be?

K: Sounds like a writer or a producer. I consider everything. I look at everything. I love to read. I love stories. It comes down to quality. Is it a good story?

A: That’s a fair point.

D: Washington wine is a good story, so I would encourage him to take the role or direct it.

K: That’s what we want to hear!

A: In terms of Pursued by Bear, you don’t make any white wines, correct?

K: We do not. Rosé is as close as we get.

A: Are there plans to make white?

K: No plans, although Dan and his wife make a Semillon that I had six months or a year ago when I was there.

D: Viognier.

K: Was it? Are you sure? It wasn’t Semillon?

D: We don’t make a Semillon. Pretty sure.

K: Must’ve been a different Dan, then.

D: Respectfully. Respectfully, we don’t. Well, maybe we will now.

A: This one’s not the most fair question, but it’s to both of you. If you were to pick a favorite wine you make, which one?

K: What do you think, Dan?

A: Kyle?

K: You’re making it sound so scientific. You were in high school, man! You were making stuff so you could get trashed. Come on.

Z: Thank you guys.

D: Thank you very much.

K: Loved it. Thanks for having us on.

A: Take care.

K: Be good. Cheers.

Ed. note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The article VinePair Podcast: Live With Kyle MacLachlan, Pursued by Bear for the Great Drinks Experience appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/kyle-machlachlan-pursued-by-bear-gde/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/vinepair-podcast-live-with-kyle-maclachlan-pursued-by-bear-for-the-great-drinks-experience

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chaospenelope · 6 years

Text

Present Perfect.

The Pack

It was so very early as the alarm clock flicked on, playing a jarring tune. Neda jolted up with a gasp, her eyes wide open. She cursed herself when she noticed the clock, slamming the button in aggravation. Phineas glanced with a bit of concern, his fur ruffled in all different directions. His head just barely lifted from the pillow. She was a bit embarrassed after noticing this. She patted his head reassuringly and got up to get ready. She started to brush her teeth in the attached bathroom.

Her husband walked in moments later he stood next to her and started using the long mirror to comb his fur. Once they switched positions, both brushing fur and hair, they got dressed and went to wake the cubs. Neda opened the first door and disappeared inside. Robin had already brushed her teeth. Now she was looking something to wear. Phineas was walking down the hall when he noticed his son holding a small steaming cup in his hand. His fur was still a little damp. "You're up early." "Yeah, Lava wouldn't stop shaking me until I got out of bed." The Cub said as he took a sip. "There's a pot of coffee in the kitchen if you want any." "Where is Lavier now? Is she done getting ready?" He son pointed at the bathroom behind him and them walked away. "Alright, you want a braid or ponytail today?" Neda asked as she gently ran the brush through Robin's silky black hair. "I think I want pigtails today." She tried not to move her head as she looked through the hair clips. "What color?" Neda, meanwhile, was looking at the scrunchies, her hair brushing was second nature at this point. "Green? ...Light blue. Yeah, light blue." She said, deciding it was a better match to her black shirt, jeans, and jean jacket. She used some sapphire colored pins to put up her bangs as the rest was tied into two long pigtails. "It's not too tight, is it?" Robin shook her head up, down, and side to side to test it. "Nope, just fine." "Good." She patted her on the shoulder and got up to leave. "Mother Neda?" Robin looked up as she turned to her. "Thank you." "You're welcome dear." Neda smiled warmly and left the room. Robin got down from her bed and carefully pulled a box from her closet. It was nicely wrapped thanks to a little help. There was a nice blue ribbon tied on top and a sticker with Freddy's name on it. Since the children didn't exactly have enough money to buy all the presents they wanted William and Robert helped them with a secret Santa drawing. Robin got Frederick. She took a long time to think about what the best present for him would be. Sure she knew of things he probably wanted but getting him food or a cheap plastic microphone was a little too impersonal. Being a savvy saver she was she managed to get what she felt was a pretty good gift. She piled into the car with the others. Her box dwarfed compared to Nade's plain blue box with a bunch of those sticker ribbons tacked on. "Who did you get?" She asked. "Spring." He then added. "I'm not gonna lie, I was hoping for her. She's so easy to get presents for." "Chica isn't so hard either." Lavier placed her snow pattern gift bag with red crinkly paper on the floor board before hoisting herself up. "I was just going to buy her a book if I got her." "Did you?" "Nope." "C'mon guys, it's supposed to be a secret, remember?" Penny left her penguin paper wrapped box on her lap as she buckled her seat belt.

The restaurant was a couple of hours from opening. A week away from the big night everything was decorated with the shine and wonder of a winter fantasy. The chairs were taken off the tables and the lights turned on. It was alive despite the lack of customers with the chatter of excited children. "Tomorrow is gonna be so fun." Goldie spoke before going back to humming as she sat on the stage. She, Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica sat on the stage with their legs dangling off the edge. "I hope this year Foxy can convince his Papa to let him come with us." "Maybe...Man, things are going so fast. Feels like yesterday day was Birthday..." Bonnie couldn't help but feel a twinge of loss, of wastefulness. "What did we do these past three months?" "We had a lot of fun." Freddy answered, trying to cheer her up. "We went up to the river to find fish and found a bird that needed help. We built a leaf fort. We-." "We saw a bunch of shooting stars, we helped a family of crows buy a taco, and saw a parade of puppies." Goldie added. "And we almost fell through the ice and bloody froze to death because someone wanted to see if we could skate yet. Just feels fast since so many events are cluttered together. Speaking of which, how are we going to celebrate Penny's birthday if she's gone?" "Well, our Mama and Papa talked to their mama and papa and talked to Bonnie's papas and I think they talked to your mama and they all decided we can celebrate it a day after they get back." "Oh." Everyone perked up as the front door's entrance bell rang. The four cubs and two adults came in. "Hey, good morning!" FredBear looked up from the pamphlets. He brought the closest parent in for his infamous hug. "Glad we could make it. The cubs were really looking forward to it." Neda returned the hug earnestly. "Hello Bon, hello Plushy." "Nice of you to drop by before you leave town." BonBon stated in his own endearingly sarcastic tone. He smirked and waved as they greeted him. Plushy smiled at the children. "The presents go on the back table since Kit isn't here yet. Here, let me help you with it." "Okay!" "Thank you!" They put the gifts up and joined their friends. "Hey guys, what's up?" "Thinking about the stuff we did these past few months." "Like the time we accidentally broke a wild beaver's dam?" "I forgot all about that..." "What do you mean 'we'? You and Foxy are to blame for that one. I told you you shouldn't walk on the old dam. You're lucky you didn't break your legs off." Chica scolded. Lavier only rolled her eyes. Chica then relented, saying. "But, I suppose we wouldn't have found that bird if we hadn't went runnin for or our lives, so something good came out of it..." SpringBear looked out at the parking lot with her head resting on her paws. She immediately perked up. "Foxy's here!" Kit waved through the glass, his tail wagging excitedly as he ran to the door. He pushed it open with his dad a mile away. "Ahoy!" He cried, holding his fireplace paper wrapped present proudly. "I come with invaluable treasure!" He boasted. The others hopped down to greet him. "Kids, don't jump off the stage like that." Plushy warned after the fact. "Sorry Mama." "Sorry Mom." "It's alright, just don't do it again, alright?" "Yes ma'am." They spoke sincerely as they sat at the table with the presents they brought in front of them. "So, who goes first?" FredBear looked around as most of them cried 'Can I' or me please'. Robin remained quiet, looking at her present worryingly. "I think this calls for a game of draw straws." Neda took nine straws and cut them in varying sizes with her Swiss army knife keychain. With her back to them she put them in her hand and made the parts that stuck out even. She turned back around and held them out for them to get. Each took their turn picking and after. It was all said and done they compared. "So I go first then?" Chica handed over her small box wrapped in green paper, adorned with a gold ribbon. "Here Nade. I believe this is something you'll like." He looked it over for a minute and tried his best to carefully pull off the tape, but when it tore the paper anyway he just ripped it off quickly. "Hey," His face lit up as he realized what it was. He carefully peeled the tape off the figure's name. "Boris Karloff's Mummy funko? How'd ya know?" "It's simple, I just saw what you were missing in your collection and picked one." Phineas and Neda exchanged glances, thankful she hadn't gotten the other one. "Thanks Chica, I hope whoever got you got something good." "You're welcome Nade." She returned a sincere smile, proudly puffing out her chest as he examined his gift with the happiest expression. "Oh! It's my turn!" Lavier pushed her bag to Bonnie. "Hope you like it." "Love the paper." She smiled and plunged her hand in. She pushed the contents around. She seemed perplexed as her fingers touched onto more than one thing. "Oh. Cool." She looked over the doughnut earbuds. "I needed these." She placed it aside as she picked up two more things. "Nice." She smiled, they were both Mystery mini figures from the new game she was playing. After feeling the packs throughly she started pulling out the final thing. She held the shiny pikachu keychain like a gold bracelet. "I thought these were sold out. Thanks pal!" "Glad you liked them I wanted to get you something better but-." "These are perfect. What are you talking about?" She put her arms around her bounty and started to examine the mystery packages again. "Should I open these now?" "Yeah!" "I wanna see!" "Yar, let's dig into this mystery treasure!" "If you want." "Okay." She eagerly tore open the first one, not hesitating in unwrapping the cardboard around it. "Oh, cool! The clown Neighbor from the teaser." "Huh, He looks little like it." Neda observes from across the table. "He kinda does. Neat." Bonnie put him aside and opened the second. It was a normal one with binoculars. "You're lucky! I always get doubles." "Whoa, Dad, he's wearing the same clothes as you." "He must have great taste in fashion." "Wait, Bonnie, you forgot something." Lavier added. Bonnie, confused, put her hand back in the bag. Her eyes widened as she felt a shape wrapped in paper. She took it out and started to admire it. "Wow, it's me and my dads? Did you make these?" "Yeah...You like it?" "Are you kidding? I love them!" Bonnie spoke as she placed her things back in the bag except the the small clay figures. She was still looking them over. "Thanks Lava." "It be my turn to trade." Foxy declared, passing his box to Penny. "You got me?" She gave a small laugh. "I actually got you." She peeled the paper off tenderly. When she was done folded it and the ribbon and opened the box. She let the cloth unfold as she held it up. "I am definitely wearing this tomorrow." She admired the detailed graphic of a dragon looking at the moon. "Thanks Foxy, this is awesome." "It's so pretty!" "Wicked!" "You're welcome matie!" "Here Chica." Freddy gave her the white gift bag with purple crinkly paper. "A new collar for Cupcake? With little purple paw prints! Oh how lovely." She shook it a little to test the bell. She smiled at the sound of the cheery chime. "Thank you very much. Can't wait to show Mum and Cupcake." "You're welcome." Penelope silently and hopefully moved hers toward Foxy. She watched as he shredded the paper with little hesitation. "A ship, with me own crew?" The young fox smiled wildly. He flipped the box over and read all about the pirate construction set. "That's a lot of small pieces. I might be needing help from me maties..." "I'm glad you like it Foxy." She felt all those hours of dish washing and trash transporting was worth it. "Is my turn yet?" Goldie asked innocently. She looked at all the straws left to make sure. Then she gave her present. "Here Lava, this is for you." "Thanks." She paused, studying the odd shape the puppy in Santa hat was wrapping around. It was a box with a bulge in the middle. Then something hit her and she excitedly unpackaged it. "Alright! A new soccer ball! Oh, Can we play outside, please?" She hopped up in her seat. "Not right this second." Phineas spoke in a chuckle. "Maybe after we're all done exchanging presents." "Aw man, okay." She eased back down. The ball wedged between her and the table. "Alright, now it's my turn!" Bonnie looked over to Robin and slid her nice glittery paper wrapped, bow topped box to her. "Thank you." Robin retrieved it and, like her sister, carefully undid all the paper and bow. She gasped as she lifted the lid. "Soft little slippers!" She lifted the black slippers put her hands inside them. They both had a heart on the front. "I remember how much you liked mine, so I got you a pair." "Can't wait to put them on tonight." She kept her hands inside them as they rested on the table. "Nade, honey, it's your turn." The little bear's head rose up from his figure. "Me? Oh, right." He handed his present over. "Here Goldie." She looked the box over in excitement and pushed the box lid off. "Ooooh! I love her!" She reached in a pulled out her new stuffed doll and hugged them tightly. It was a black a white Shiba Inu with a detachable raincoat. "Thank you! Thank you thank you!" She ran over to hug him. "N-no problem Goldie...Please let go. I can't breathe." "Sorry." She said, still hugging her toy. "Robin. I think you're the only one Pumpkin." The red bear looked up from her slippers. She felt the worry build up again but quickly pushed it down. She hastily handed the present to Frederick. "Here Freddy. Hope it's alright." "Um, thank you." He took the box but seemed concerned. "Robin, are you okay?" "I'm fine, it's just, the present...I couldn't afford a new one so..." "Hm?" He looked back at the package. He carefully opened it but his curiosity begged him to rush. "Robin..." When he finally opened it he felt like he was going to cry. He stood up and hugged her. "Thanks a lot." "I'm glad you like it." She smiled, hugging him back. "You said you wanted one like your dad's but-." "It's perfect." He assured her. He took the black top hat and placed it on his head. His ears were just barely keeping it from swallowing him. "I love it Robin. This is the best present ever. I'll wear it all the time!" "Looks like you'll have to some growing first." Plushy giggled. She tried her best to adjust the hat, only succeeding in covering the entire top of his head. "Who turned out the lights?" He asked jokingly as he took it off. Everyone got a little chuckle out of that. They each compared and talked about their gifts. "Wait, before we forget." Goldie interrupted as the thought came to her. She ran to the table, got the last two presents and brought them over. "We got these for Alex and Sid, since hey couldn't be here." "Aw, thanks guys. They're gonna flip." Lavier looked over the gifts and then her own. "We still have still have some time before breakfast right? ...How about we break this bad boy in?" "Can we go in the back and play?" The little ones asked in varying degrees of politeness. The adults exchanged amused glances. "Don't see why not. Rob, Will, and Phil are out decorating the big tree. Play where they can see you. We'll let ya know when the cinnamon rolls are done." The little ones let out excited cheers as they carefully put away their new prizes, except Lavier, who was ready to start kicking hers around.

#The Pack fnaf au #five nights at freddy's #The Pack #Holiday season #freddy fazbear #golden freddy #bonnie bunny #chica chicken #foxy the pirate fox #Penelope NightShade #Robin NightShade #lavier NightShade #Nade NightShade #Neda NightShade

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hetmusic · 8 years

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A conversation with Hanging Valleys | HumanHuman

A couple of years ago emerging singer-songwriter Thom Byles appeared on our radar with a uniquely intricate and warm alternative-folk style that brought us highly re-listenable tracks such as “The Great Outdoors” and “In Your Blood”. In more recent months, the English-Mexican musician has stepped out with a new project - Hanging Valleys.

First question, are you looking forward to the showcase?

Oh definitely! Our last gig was the the start of August, so it’s quite a big gap for us. It’s really nice to have the showcase to look forward to and to put all of our efforts into it. The venue looks great as well! Intimate spaces are really what we look to perform in, because we’re not the loudest of bands, but we have a lot of intricacies so when it’s a small, intimate show the audience can pick up on all of those.

I’ll look forward to hearing that myself! So, while Hanging Valleys is technically a new project, you’ve been on HumanHuman’s radar for two years as an artist under your own name - so, why the name change?

Originally, I released a couple of songs under my own name, and they were a it too complicated for me to play by myself [laughs], so I recruited the help of a couple of friends who liked the songs and who were up for playing them. The more time we hung out together, they started having little contributions and ideas and suddenly we were co-writing some of the stuff together. It just felt like the next step to incorporate them and change the name to reflect that.

That would be with Mike Phillips and Alexis Meridol?

Yeah, that’s right. Mike’s been one of my best friends for a long while and we always go on these little adventures with each other. With Alexis as well, we climbed Ben Nevis together. We’re all really into our music as well, but I didn’t realise that they were into what I was doing, even though they’ve always supported me by coming to my shows. We just came together and all of a sudden the chemistry was really great. It’s nice to be able to play with friends as well.

I can imagine that would be a really supportive environment. Do you find it’s easier to songwrite on your own or alongside your friends?

I still find it easier to write by myself. I generally work on the base ideas by myself, where before I would see the idea through the end. Now, I get it to a point and then bring it to the guys to get their input.

And have you noticed a change in your sound since becoming a band?

I wouldn’t say there’s a change in the sound… we’ve just added a few things to it. I guess it is changing in a sense, the same feeling and vibe is definitely still there, but we’re bringing in a few extra elements. Mike’s a really great electric guitar player, so we thought it would be interesting to incorporate that and have those kinds of tones come in as well. It’s more about adding to the sound than changing it I suppose.

Yeah, that’s true, especially if you look at a track like “Endless Waves”, which has your original sound but with more elements of indie-rock. Was there an aim to do something different in that song or was it a natural outcome?

I think it was more of a natural outcome. That was the first one that I co-wrote with Mike. I had this whole idea beforehand, plus the second acoustic guitar parts, and then we started playing around with him on the electric guitar and it was sounding great, so we brought it into the song. It was never really a conscious effort to change things, it just went that way.

Understandably your music draws comparison to the likes of Bon Iver, José González, and even James Vincent McMorrow. Have any of these artists had an influence on your sound?

Wow, that’s flattering! [laughs] It’s funny, you know, because I’ve been playing for quite a while, so I’ve been writing songs before I had heard of most of those. Well, José González I had heard “Heartbeats” ages ago when I was at school and thought that was a really great track. I’m sure they must have influenced me in someway, but not consciously, like all music I think. My mum used to have Enya playing around the house, she’s the queen of vocal harmonies, so I think that must have had some contribution. Another one is Beach Boys, I just really enjoy their falsetto high harmonies. I love the music of those three you mentioned as well. I really got into there music after discovering them a little later on, but I wouldn’t say I’m completely influenced by them. I can understand the comparison though.

Is there a main influence in your music? Maybe there’s one musician you particularly love?

I couldn’t tell you… different things have come from different artists. For the epic scale and etherealness you can’t get better than Sigur Ros; I’ve definitely been influenced by the emotion that they can bring with their music. As for the acoustic guitar, I’ve listened to a lot of Michael Hedges and Andy McKee - I really like their style of playing, so I’ve probably nicked a few ideas off those guys!

We keep coming back to guitar and obviously that’s one element that leads your music, so when did you first pick up that instrument? And why not opt for something else?

Ah well, when I used to walk to school I had a little walkman with some jazz and blues tapes that my dad owned, so from that I wanted to pick up the saxophone, but I was a bit useless at it [laughs]. I borrowed the school saxophone, but the school in Mexico only had an orchestra, they didn’t have a blues band or jazz band, so I was just sitting there not really fitting in. I ditched the saxophone and moved on to the piano. I enjoyed that, but I still didn’t feel quite at home on it. Then my dad, at quite a late stage in life, decided he wanted to learn to play guitar, so I used to listen in on his lessons. Finally I asked if I could switch over, [laughing] because I was getting jealous! That’s when I felt that this was the instrument that I’d been looking for.

Do you remember what song you first learnt to play on the guitar?

Something really embarrassing! I think I was listening to the Offspring at the time [laughs] I also had some Limp Bizkit floating around and Blink-182, but I actually think it was a Nirvana song... I played it at the school talent show when I was twelve, I think it was “Come As You Are”. Yeah, let’s go with that one!

Okay! What have you been listening to recently in terms of newer music?

I just bought a couple of CDs the other day and I’m into a bit of surf rock at the moment, so I got Portamento by The Drums, which I hadn’t hear very much of before, and Surfer Blood’s second album Pythons. I’ve also been listening to RY X recently. I went to see him play at Union Chapel and bought his new album there. I thought he was amazing.

I’m incredibly jealous, I absolutely love his music!

Yeah! And Union Chapel is such a great venue for it. If you ever get a chance to see him live, I highly recommend that.

To get back to your music, a favourite song of yours is “In Your Blood”. There’s a hymnal quality, an organic progression throughout and it’s as though you’re taking the listener to the “sweet forest” of your lyrics. Would you say aspects of nature a source of inspiration for you?

Oh definitely. I don’t know what it is about going into nature and being amongst amazing scenery that’s being there evolving for thousands and thousands of years, but I really draw something from it. I think it’s the same with Alexis, we always head out into nature. The UK is a really amazing place for it as well, because you have so much variety in such a short space. It’s always nice to hang out with the guys to go camping or hiking, it’s just about being in that environment. I think the most memorable time was in Scotland where you’re able to wild camp legally. We just disappeared and you don’t see anyone else for days. It’s this beautiful, kind of untouched nature and it’s really special to be around it.

I guess that connection with nature is also brought out in your new band name, Hanging Valleys. Was there a particularly reason that you settled on that?

We were looking for a while for something that reflected the music, the mood and the feel. I think it was Mike who stumbled across that and we thought well it sounds nice, it’s a cool concept and there’s great imagery to go with it.

What can we expect to hear next from Hanging Valleys? Before the interview you said you were recording something today…

Yeah, we have one song that’s pretty close to being finished, which is more of a summery song, I suppose a bit more upbeat. We’re also in the process of recording three other songs that have more of a spectrum, some are more similar to “In Your Blood” and a few slower ones. We’re just really enjoying playing music together at the moment, so it’s coming out quite organically still. I don’t think any of the songs sound too similar, we’re just taking off from our inspirations and seeing what comes out. We should have two songs coming out in quite short succession before the end of the year.

That’s exciting! Does it feel like you’re heading towards an EP or an album?

Yeah, the plan is to release and collate those together into an EP with maybe a few unheard tracks as well. It’s all about finding the time! [laughs] Alexis works full time and so we just do it whenever we can.

Is there anything on the cards this year that you’re particularly excited about for the band?

For the first time we have a nice string of dates abroad in September. We’ve done little trips in the past, but this feels closer to a tour. It’s really exciting that it’s progressing in that direction and more people seem to be responding to the music. It’s exciting to have new shows on the horizon and to be able to play for a crowd that likes that kind of music.

And of course, it will all be starting at the HumanHuman showcase!

Exactly! That’s the number one date, the one we’ll be rehearsing for. Can’t wait!

https://humanhuman.com/articles/hanging-valleys-interview

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